The U-20 World Cup is also known as the “tournament of superstars of tomorrow,” marking their first fork in the development of these young players. They still have the option of choosing their country to play for when they are younger. Your decision locks you in at the senior level. Where should your loyalty lie, asks Samatha Johnson? Which country do you come from, or which country do you come from?
Published On 2 Oct 2025
Donald Trump, president of the United States, announced on social media that he wanted to cut what he called “Democrat agencies” and used the shutdown to reform the federal workforce.
Trump made the announcement via his Truth Social post on Thursday that he would meet with Russ Vought to discuss “temporary or permanent” spending cuts that might cause Democratic lawmakers to experience a lose-lose situation.
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He claimed that he and Vought would decide “which of the numerous Democratic Agencies” would be cut, continuing their efforts to reduce federal spending by threatening widespread employee layoffs and making “irreversible” cuts to Democratic priorities.
Trump remarked, “I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity.” They are not stupid, so perhaps this is their intention to quietly and quickly restore America’s greatness once more.
Trump’s re-election campaign, which included the controversial Heritage Foundation, was one of the highlights of the post’s explicit support of Project 2025, which the conservative Foundation had drafted.
Democrats repeatedly cited the effort’s objectives as warning of the repercussions of a second Trump administration, saying that it was intended to reshape the federal government around right-wing policies.
Vought outlined the pressure he hoped to apply to Democrats in his opening statement on Wednesday. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and his House counterpart Hakeem Jeffries’ campaign pledged to withhold $ 18 billion from the state’s top taxpayers for the Hudson River rail tunnel and the Second Avenue subway line in New York City.
Additionally, Vought is terminating $ 8 billion worth of Democratic Senators-related green energy projects in states.
Instead of simply furloughing federal employees as is customary during a shutdown, the White House is getting ready for mass firings. Early this week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that layoffs were “imminent.”
Leavitt, a member of the Democratic Party, said on Thursday, “If they don’t want their constituents to suffer further harm,” they need to reopen the government.
Trump’s announcement on his Truth Social website coincided with the government’s second day of a pay-sipping stoppage, which is expected to result in 750, 000 employees being fired from their positions across a variety of organizations.
Leavitt stated to reporters on Thursday that there were likely to be “in the thousands” of job cuts.
Meanwhile, Schumer and Jeffries have said the frequent firings would not be tolerated in court and that the job cuts threat was an attempt at intimidation.
According to Jeffries, “the Trump administration has been doing these things since January 20th,” in reference to the president’s first day in office. The point is “the cruelty,” he says.
Due to the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday, the Senate won’t vote on Thursday; instead, it will vote on Friday and most days until the standoff is resolved.
To approve a bill that the House passed in September, it would require five more Democratic votes to pass the 100-member Senate.
Republicans were reportedly considering sending their senators home after the vote, effectively guaranteeing the shutdown drags into the next week because Democrats were anticipated to again block the Republican reopening plan.
However, House Speaker Mike Johnson stated to reporters that Senate leaders must adhere to an initial plan to work through the weekend in Washington despite members being away all week.
Johnson stated in a press conference at the US Capitol that “the House is coming back next week, hoping that they will send us something to work on so that we can get back to work and do the people’s business.”
He attributed it to Democrats, who “handed it over to the president” and “effectively turned the legislative branch off.”
Democrats are obliging themselves to support a bill that doesn’t pass, warning of price increases for millions of Americans across the country. They are still pressing their demands to maintain healthcare funding.
The standoff runs the risk of dragging even further into October, when federal employees who are still employed will start to lose pay checks. During the shutdown, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), roughly 750, 000 federal employees would be furloughed on any given day, or $400 million in daily wages.
The wider economy might experience the same economic effects. The CBO reported that “reduced aggregate demand in the private sector for goods and services, pushing down GDP.”
According to the statement, “Stalled federal spending on goods and services resulted in a decline in private sector income that further decreased the economy’s demand for other goods and services.”
Overall, according to CBO, there was a “dampening of economic output,” but it subsided once workers resumed their jobs.
On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also stated to CNBC that the government shutdown might hinder economic growth in the US.
According to the United Nations, at least 91 people have died in the Sudanese city of El-Fasher as a result of RSF (paramilitary Rapid Support Forces) attacks over the course of the past ten days.
The RSF and Sudan’s army engaged in intense fighting in the city, which is the largest urban center in the Darfur region, which is still under the military’s and its allies’ command, known as the Joint Forces.
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The RSF has been putting more than a year of siege on El-Fasher, the state’s capital, since it launched a new offensive in recent weeks, raising concerns about potential atrocities.
From September 19 through September 29, the city’s Daraja Oula neighborhood was repeatedly attacked and subjected to RSF artillery shelling, drone strikes, and ground incursions, according to UN rights chief Volker Turk.
He demanded immediate response to “large-scale, ethnically driven attacks and atrocities in el-Fasher.”
He claimed that “atrocities are not inevitable,” adding that “they can be averted if all actors demand respect for civilian life and property, respect international law, and stop atrocity crimes from being committed.”
El-Fasher has become the focus of the fighting since the army recaptured Khartoum in March.
According to the Sudanese army and city residents, the RSF has increased the pace and frequency of its attacks, including the frequent use of drones, as it has intensified its nearly 500-day siege of the city, which is one of the longest in contemporary urban warfare.
More than 260, 000 people are reportedly still trapped in the city  without access to adequate food, water, or medical supplies.
The majority of people can’t eat what little food still has. In a recent opinion piece for The Guardian, Sarra Majdoub, a former UN expert on the subject, reported that while the average monthly salary, when salaries were still being paid, was $70, while a kilo of millet sold for $80, and a kilo of sugar or flour for $80.
A medical professional in El-Fasher reported to the AFP news agency that at least six people had been killed and ten had been hurt in the city’s Wednesday artillery and drone attacks.
At least 78 people were killed last month when an RSF-linked drone attacked al-Safiyah Mosque during morning prayers.
Because there was “no visible ground scarring or crater inside the mosque,” the Yale Humanitarian Lab’s satellite images and analysis indicated that the weapon was likely an RSF suicide drone because it had “no visible ground scarring or crater inside the mosque,” which suggested the weapon detonated when struck with the roof of the mosque.
Due to the RSF siege, civilians in the city have been largely concentrated in the north, close to the Sudanese army’s main position, but have not been able to flee.
The army reported last week that it had managed to deliver supplies to its soldiers in the city, a testament to how treacherous the siege has been.
According to Turk, “the cruelty of the situation is compounded by persistent arbitrary RSF restrictions on bringing food and essential supplies into the city and credible reports of civilians being tortured and killed by RSF fighters for doing so.”
Because the RSF has almost completely encircled the city, extending a 68km (42 mile-long) berm it has dug at its perimeter, civilians who have tried to flee frequently have to make life-threatening journeys to nearby camps for displaced people.
Human rights organizations have reported killings and violations committed by the RSF against those who attempted to flee El-Fasher.
The city’s current situation is “extremely dire,” according to Mukesh Kapila, a professor of global health and humanitarian affairs at the University of Manchester.
Published On 2 Oct 2025
Published On 2 Oct 2025
At least three people have died in Morocco during protests against alleged corruption and decisions in public spending, as the country braces for a sixth night of demonstrations.
Security forces opened fire on demonstrators on Wednesday, killing three people in Leqliaa, a small town outside the southern city of Agadir.
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Morocco’s Ministry of Interior said the three were shot and killed during an attempt to seize police weapons, though no witnesses could corroborate that. Hundreds have been injured, and the Moroccan Association for Human Rights has said that 1, 000 people have been apprehended amid the protests.
Amid the escalating violence, Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch on Thursday said he was open to dialogue to end the protests.
The demonstrations have been organised online by a loosely formed, anonymous youth group calling itself GenZ 212, using platforms including TikTok, Instagram and the gaming application Discord.
Through chants and posters, they have highlighted the flow of billions in investment toward preparation for the 2030 World Cup, while many schools and hospitals lack funds and remain in a dire state.
Pointing to new stadiums under construction or renovation across the country, protesters have chanted, “Stadiums are here, but where are the hospitals”?
Morocco’s Interior Ministry claimed Thursday that hundreds of cars were damaged, as well as banks, shops and public buildings in 23 of the country’s provinces.
In posts on Wednesday discussing the protests, the GenZ 212 group said it rejected violence and was committed to continuing peaceful protests. It said it had no argument with security forces, only with the government.
The group announced on Thursday that further “peaceful protests will be organised today, as part of a civilised and responsible expression of our demands”, urging demonstrators not to resort to violence. The group reminded protesters “to respect the peaceful nature” of the movement.
As Morocco prepares to host football’s Africa Cup of Nations later this year and legislators , gear up for parliamentary elections in 2026, attention has been drawn to the deep economic disparities in the country.
Peaceful protests against economic and social conditions have been recurrent in Morocco, but this week’s demonstrations are the most violent since at least 2016 and 2017, when protesters clashed with security forces in the Rif region in the north.
Tesla sales have surged in the third quarter as buyers in the United States rushed to take advantage of electric vehicle (EV) tax credits that were eliminated under President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax bill passed this year.
On Thursday, the automaker reported a 7.4 percent increase in sales compared with the same period last year as demand was driven by customers looking to buy before the credits officially expired at the end of September.
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Sales jumped to 497,099 cars for the quarter, compared with 462,890 in the third quarter last year.
Tesla also delivered 481,166 units of its Model 3 compact sedan and Model Y crossover in the quarter, well above Wall Street expectations.
The Elon Musk-led carmaker frequently talked up the expiry of the tax credits, using it alongside discounts and financing deals to spur sales and leases of its EVs. Investors are worried because sales are now expected to slump as the $7,500 federal tax credit disappears.
“While the third quarter was strong, we expect fourth-quarter sales will see a decline, consistent with the first half of the year, largely due to the US tax credit expiration,” said Seth Goldstein, senior equity analyst at Morningstar.
The carmaker is due to report quarterly results on October 22.
Full-year deliveries are projected to be 1.61 million cars, roughly 10 percent below 2024, according to Visible Alpha. Tesla will need to deliver 389,498 vehicles in the fourth quarter to meet that projection.
In China, Tesla in September began delivering the long-wheelbase, six-seat Model Y L, a family-focused variant that was expected to spur demand in the world’s largest EV market.
Meanwhile, EV maker Rivian on Thursday lowered the midpoint of its annual deliveries forecast but beat estimates for quarterly deliveries owing to a boost in demand from buyers rushing to take advantage of tax credits.
Europe remained a weak spot as rivals aggressively promoted plug-in hybrids while Chinese EV brands started gaining ground in the hyper-competitive market.
The company’s European sales in August, including in the United Kingdom, fell 22.5 percent from a year earlier, cutting its market share to 1.5 percent, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
Tesla has delayed rolling out the lower-cost Model Y in the US, pushing the timing by several months with an eventual plan to build the variant in China and Europe.
Analysts said Tesla’s ability to cushion a post-credit slowdown will depend heavily on its push into lower-priced models.
“The challenge now is dealing with the potential slowdown that follows, and that’s where a new, more affordable model becomes crucial to keeping momentum going,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown who personally owns Tesla shares.
The stripped-down version is designed to be roughly 20 percent cheaper to produce than the refreshed Model Y and could scale to about 250,000 units a year in the US by 2026.
Investors believe that could help Tesla in the long run.
“While EV demand is expected to fall with the EV tax credit expiration, this was a great bounceback quarter for [Tesla] to lay the groundwork for deliveries moving forward, but there is still work to do to gain further ground from a delivery perspective,” Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities, said in a note provided to Al Jazeera.
Tesla holdings account for the bulk of Musk’s wealth, and a recent surge in the company’s stock price helped his net worth breach the $500bn mark on Wednesday, bolstering his position as the world’s richest person.
The company’s board has proposed a shareholder vote on a new CEO award that could grant Musk about 12 percent of the company, worth up to $1 trillion if performance and valuation targets are met.
The billionaire has tried to position Tesla more as a technology company by focusing on AI-based self-driving systems, robotaxis and humanoid robots.