Three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur is taking a break from competitive tennis, the 30-year-old said in a social media post.
Tunisia’s Jabeur, the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam final, has struggled with her form in recent months, failing to get past the third round of a major this year.
The two-time Wimbledon finalist’s campaign came to a disappointing end at the All England Club last month as she retired from her first-round clash against Viktoriya Tomova, unable to continue after a long medical timeout.
The former world number two suffers from asthma and experienced breathing difficulties at this year’s Australian Open.
Ons Jabeur of Tunisia get medical assistance during her match against Varvara Gracheva of France at the first round singles match at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships last month [Kin Cheung/AP]
Jabeur, often called the “minister of happiness” for her cheerful personality, said she was not feeling truly happy on the court.
“For the past two years, I’ve been pushing myself so hard, fighting through injuries and facing many other challenges. But deep down, I haven’t truly felt happy on the court for some time now,” she said in a statement.
“Tennis is such a beautiful sport. But right now, I feel it’s time to take a step back and finally put myself first: to breathe, to heal, and to rediscover the joy of simply living.”
Jabeur, married to former fencer Karim Kamoun, has also been open about her wish to start a family.
“Thank you to all my fans for understanding. Your support and love mean the world to me. I carry it with me always,” she added.
As the military battles the besieged enclave, Israel’s only Catholic church, according to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, bombed three people and injured at least ten others, according to the military.
The Holy Family Church in Gaza City was struck on Thursday, and according to a statement from the Patriarchate, at least one person is in critical condition. The church’s priest suffered minor injuries, the article continued.
According to the Catholic charity Caritas Jerusalem, the parish’s 60-year-old janitor and an 84-year-old woman were among those who were killed.
At least 32 Palestinians were killed by Israeli-caused attacks in Gaza on Thursday, according to medical sources who spoke to Al Jazeera.
A Palestinian activist’s video of the Holy Family Church’s attack shows the church’s pastor, Father Gabriel Romanelli, following the Israeli attack. The priest is seen in the video, wearing a bandaged, otherwise good right leg.
After condemning the deadly attack, the Patriarchate said in its statement that “the people in the Holy Family Compound were people who found in the Church a sanctuary … hoping that the horrors of war would at least spare their lives.”
According to Shadi Abu Dawoud, a 47-year-old Palestinian Christian, the main hall of the church was home to “peaceful civilians” consisting of dozens of displaced citizens, mostly children and elderly people.
When Israeli forces attacked, he told Al Jazeera, “My mother suffered serious injuries in the head while she was wandering in the church’s yard with other elderly women.” This Israeli airstrike completely surprised us. This is a barbaric and unlawful act.
Mohammed Abu Hashem, 69, who lives next to the church, claimed that a massive explosion left the area covered in black smoke as he was destroying his home. He added that he never anticipated the Israelis would attack the church.
He claimed that the Israeli airstrike was “absolutely horrifying.” Beyond words can describe the horror we are experiencing. Nothing could possibly describe what we are going through. It is not even close to what you hear or watch on television.
The assistant parish priest of the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, Father Bashar Fawadleh, the parish priest of the Christ The Redeemer church in Taybeh, near Ramallah, claimed to have spoken with him about the attack.
“He described the bombing as being very difficult. According to Fawadleh, they bombed the church itself. Our perception is that between life and death, between hope and sorrow.
Fawadleh called for a ceasefire once more to put an end to the “horrible war in Gaza.”
“War of extermination”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attack was the result of “stray ammunition” and that Israel was “remaining committed to protecting civilians and holy sites.”
According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the president contacted the Israeli leader after having “not a positive reaction” to the strike. His statement was made after that call.
Leavitt claimed that the prime minister’s statement to the president, “That was a mistake by the Israelis to hit that Catholic church, was.
Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut reported from Amman, in the capital of Jordan, citing the Foreign Ministry’s earlier statement that an investigation was being conducted.
The military frequently absolves itself of any kind of wrongdoing, which makes it a little difficult to believe any kind of Israeli investigation that occurs after 21 months of war. No one is held accountable, Salhut said.
She added that despite repeated attacks since the start of the war on Gaza, Israel continued to defend its claim that it did not target churches or religious institutions.
According to a telegram sent by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, Pope Leo, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, was “deeply saddened to learn of the loss of life and injury caused by the military attack” on the Gaza church.
Pope Leo “assures the parish priest, Father Gabriele Romanelli, and the entire parish community of his spiritual closeness,” according to the telegram.
He reiterates his “call for an immediate ceasefire,” and he expresses his sincere desire for peace, reconciliation, and lasting peace in the area.
In a show of support for the church’s parishioners, his predecessor, the late Pope Francis, had made frequent calls with them each night. The call was made the day before he passed away in April.
An Israeli tank “directly” struck the church, according to Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, in comments to  and Vatican News .
“We are not certain about this because a tank hit the church directly, the Church of the Holy Family, the Latin church,” he continued.
Israel has repeatedly attacked religious sites, including mosques and churches, since the start of the conflict in Gaza. At least 18 people were killed when the Israeli army bombed the oldest church in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, just days after the deadly assault.
Israel “exterminated” by attacking Palestinian civilians who were sheltering in religious sites and schools in Gaza, according to a report from an independent UN commission last month.
Israel has destroyed more than 90% of Gaza’s school and university buildings, according to a report from the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which includes East Jerusalem and Israel.
Hamas criticized the attack as “a new crime committed against innocent displaced persons” in the meantime.
In a statement shared on Telegram, the group stated that “it fits within the context of the comprehensive war of extermination against the Palestinian people.”
Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister of Italy, attributed the strike to Israel, saying that Israeli attacks on “the civilian population that Israel has been carrying out for months are unacceptable.”
Authorities in Bangladesh have imposed heavy security measures to prevent a repeat of further political violence, after clashes between security forces and supporters of deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left four people dead and more than 50 injured.
Hundreds of police were deployed Thursday to the site of a planned rally in Faridpur by the National Citizen Party (NCP), a new political party formed by students who spearheaded the unrest that ousted longtime leader Hasina last year, local media reported. Their presence underlined the volatile political tensions that remain in the divided country nearly one year on from the mass protests that toppled Hasina from power.
On Wednesday, an NCP rally in Gopalganj district, Hasina’s ancestral home and a stronghold for her support base, erupted in violence when supporters of her Awami League party tried to disrupt the event.
Four people were killed and more than 50 were injured in the violence, local media reported, citing police.
Victims shot
Footage from Gopalganj showed pro-Hasina activists armed with sticks setting upon police and lighting vehicles on fire as NCP leaders arrived in vehicles at the party’s “March to Rebuild the Nation” event commemorating the uprising against Hasina.
More than 1,500 police, along with army and border guard personnel, were deployed to respond to the violence, the Dhaka Tribune reported, citing a police report. Armed personnel carriers were seen patrolling the streets as security forces responded to the unrest.
The English-language Daily Star, citing Gopalganj civil surgeon Abu Sayeed Md Faruk, named the four dead as Dipto Saha, Ramzan Kazi, Sohel and Emon. The newspaper reported that hospital staff had said that eight others were being operated on for bullet wounds.
Home Affairs adviser Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said that 10 police personnel were also injured in the violence, local media reported. He added that 25 people had been arrested over the unrest.
The streets of Gopalganj were quiet on Thursday, with shops closed and few vehicles on the road, the Dhaka Tribune reported, as authorities imposed a curfew on the district in response to the violence.
Divided nation
The violence in Gopalganj has underlined the volatile divisions that remain in Bangladesh nearly a year after Hasina was forced to resign, fleeing to exile on a helicopter to India, as the interim government struggles to ensure security.
Wednesday’s clashes drew promises of a harsh response from the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus that has governed the country since Hasina’s ouster last August.
Yunus said in a statement Wednesday that the attempt by Hasina’s supporters to disrupt the NCP rally was “a shameful violation of their fundamental rights”, and warned that the violence would “not go unpunished”.
The government said on Thursday that it had established a committee to investigate the violence, which would be chaired by Nasimul Ghani, senior secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, and report its findings within two weeks.
Blame traded
Despite its promises to crack down on those responsible, Yunus’s government has faced criticism for failing to deliver security in the divided country.
Hasina’s Awami League party, which authorities banned in May, posted a number of statements on social media platform X condemning the violence, including one saying that all the gunshot victims were supporters of the party. It blamed the interim government for the deaths and injuries.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), one of two parties, alongside the Awami League, that have traditionally dominated Bangladeshi politics, also criticised the government on Thursday over the violence, saying it had failed to maintain law and order.
Meanwhile, the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami party condemned the attacks on the NCP and announced protests of its own.
Earlier this month, Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal indicted Hasina and two senior officials over alleged crimes against humanity linked to a deadly crackdown on protesters during the uprising against her rule. In a separate, earlier ruling, Hasina – who lives in self-imposed exile in India – was sentenced in absentia to six months in prison for contempt of court by the tribunal.
France has officially handed over its two remaining military bases in Senegal, leaving the onetime colonial power with no permanent presence in either West or Central Africa.
France returned Camp Geille, its largest base in Senegal, and its airfield at Dakar’s airport in a ceremony on Thursday attended by top French and Senegalese officials, including Senegalese Chief of the General Staff Mbaye Cisse and General Pascal Ianni, the head of the French forces in Africa.
The pullout ends the French army’s 65-year presence in Senegal and comes after similar withdrawals across the continent as former colonies increasingly turn their backs on the nation that once ruled them.
France’s withdrawal from Senegal also comes as the Sahel region faces a growing conflict. The violence across Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger is threatening Gulf of Guinea nations to the south.
About 350 French soldiers, who had primarily been tasked with conducting joint operations with the Senegalese army, are now leaving the country, marking the end of a departure process that began in March.
General Cisse said the handover marked “an important turning point in the rich and long military journey of our two countries”.
France is “reinventing partnerships in a dynamic Africa”, Ianni said. “We are turning a page in the military history of our two countries, … a very special relationship and one essential for the countries of the region.”
After storming to victory in elections last year by promising dramatic change, Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye demanded France withdraw its soldiers by 2025.
However, unlike the leaders of other former French colonies such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, which are run by military governments, Faye has insisted that Senegal will keep working with Paris.
After gaining independence in 1960, Senegal became one of France’s staunchest African allies, playing host to French troops throughout its history.
Faye has also urged France to apologise for colonial atrocities, including the massacre on December 1, 1944, of dozens of African troops who had fought for France in World War II.
With governments across Africa increasingly questioning France’s military presence, Paris has closed or reduced the numbers of its soldiers at bases across its former empire.
In February, France handed back its sole remaining base in Ivory Coast, ending decades of French presence there.
The month before, France turned over the Kossei base in Chad, its last military foothold in the Sahel region.
Coups in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali from 2020 to 2023 have swept military strongmen to power. Their governments have collectively ejected 4,300 French soldiers. All three countries have cut ties with France and turned to Russia instead for help in fighting the Sahel’s decade-long unrest.
The Central African Republic, also a former French colony to which the Kremlin has sent mercenaries, has likewise demanded a French pullout.
Meanwhile, the French army has turned its base in Gabon into a camp shared with its Central African host.
New details about last month’s Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, which killed 260 people, have emerged this week, shifting focus onto the actions of the senior pilot during the last moments before the plane crashed.
According to a report published on Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal quoting sources close to United States officials’ early assessment of evidence, the black box audio recording of the last conversation between the two pilots indicates that the captain might have turned off the switches controlling the flow of fuel to the plane’s engines.
Last week, a preliminary report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) found that both engines had shut down within the space of one second, leading to immediate loss of altitude, before the plane crashed into a densely populated suburb of Ahmedabad. However, that report, which stated the fuel-control switches had moved to the “cutoff” position, did not assign blame for the incident.
Two groups of commercial pilots have rejected suggestions that human error may have caused the disaster.
What happened to the Air India flight?
At 1:38pm (08:08 GMT) on June 12, Air India Flight 171 took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad for London Gatwick Airport, carrying 230 passengers, 10 cabin crew and two pilots.
About 40 seconds after taking off, both engines of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner lost power during the initial climb. The plane then crashed into the BJ Medical College Hostel in a populated suburb 1.85km (1.15 miles) from the runway.
The aircraft broke apart on impact, causing a fire that destroyed parts of five buildings. All the passengers on the plane died except one – Vishwaskumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national of Indian origin. Some 19 people on the ground were killed as well, and 67 were injured.
(Al Jazeera)
What did the AAIB report say?
The AAIB is investigating the crash, the deadliest aviation incident in a decade, along with Boeing and experts from the US and United Kingdom. A preliminary report from the investigators released on Saturday found the aircraft had been deemed airworthy, had up-to-date maintenance and carried no hazardous cargo.
But the report noted that a 2018 US Federal Aviation Administration advisory warned of a potential flaw in the fuel-control switch system of some Boeing planes, including the Dreamliner. The report said Air India did not inspect the system and it was not mandatory for it to do so. During the crash, recovery systems activated, but only partial engine relight occurred, the report stated.
Both engines shut down just after takeoff as fuel switches moved from the “run” to “cutoff” positions. The report cited a black box audio recording in which one pilot asked, “Why did you cut off?” and the other denied doing so. The speakers were not identified.
Despite taking emergency measures, only one engine partially restarted, and moments before impact, a “Mayday” call was issued before communications were lost.
Air traffic control received no response after the distress call but saw the aircraft crash outside the boundary of the airport. CCTV footage from the airport showed one of the flight recovery systems – known as the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) – deploying shortly after liftoff, followed by a rapid descent.
Who were the pilots?
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, served as the pilot-in-command on the flight. A soft-spoken veteran who had logged more than 15,600 flight hours, 8,500 of them on the Boeing 787, Sabharwal was known for his reserved nature, meticulous habits and mentorship of junior pilots.
He trained at India’s premier aviation school, the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, and friends who spoke to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recalled him as deeply committed to his career as a pilot as well as caring for his ageing father, a former civil aviation official.
First Officer Clive Kunder, 32, was the pilot flying the aircraft at the time of the crash while Sabharwal was the pilot monitoring.
Kunder had accumulated more than 3,400 flying hours, including 1,128 hours on the Dreamliner. Flying was his childhood dream, inspired by his mother’s 30-year career as an Air India flight attendant.
At age 19, he trained in the US and earned a commercial pilot’s licence before returning to India to join Air India in 2017.
Described by family and friends in the WSJ as joyful, curious and tech-savvy, Kunder was said to be passionate about aviation and excited to be flying the 787.
People stand next to a condolence banner as they wait for the body of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal [File: Hemanshi Kamani/Reuters]
What has emerged this week?
According to US officials who examined evidence from the crash and were quoted by the WSJ, the cockpit voice recording suggests it was Sabharwal who may have moved the fuel control switches to “cutoff” after takeoff, an action that cut power to both engines.
The switches were turned back on within seconds, but it was too late to regain full thrust.
As the flying pilot, Kunder would have been occupied with the climb-out, making it unlikely he could have manipulated the switches, according to unnamed US pilots quoted by the WSJ. Sabharwal, as the monitoring pilot, would have had a freer hand, they said.
What are the fuel-control switches?
Located on a key cockpit panel just behind the throttle levers between the two pilot seats, these switches manage the flow of fuel to each of the aircraft’s two engines.
Pilots use these fuel cutoff switches to start or shut down the engines while on the ground. In flight, the pilots can manually shut down or restart an engine in the event of a failure.
How do fuel-control switches work?
The switches are designed for manual operation. They are spring-loaded to stay firmly in place and cannot be moved accidentally or with light pressure during flight operations.
The switches have two settings: “cutoff” and “run”. The “cutoff” mode stops fuel from reaching the engines while “run” allows normal fuel flow. To change positions, a pilot must first pull the switch upwards before shifting it between “run” and “cutoff”.
Could the crash have been caused by human error?
Experts are cautious about this. US aviation analyst Mary Schiavo told the Financial Express in India that people should not draw premature conclusions, arguing that there is as yet no definitive evidence of pilot error.
She highlighted a similar incident during which one of the engines suddenly shut down midflight on an All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 during its final approach to Osaka, Japan, in 2019.
Investigators later found that the aircraft’s software had mistakenly interpreted the plane as being on the ground, triggering the thrust control malfunction accommodation system, which automatically moved the fuel switch from “run” to “cutoff” without any action from the pilots.
Schiavo warned that a similar malfunction cannot yet be ruled out in the Air India crash and stressed the importance of releasing the full cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript to avoid misleading interpretations.
“There is nothing here to suggest pilot suicide or murder,” she said. “The voices, words and sounds on CVRs must be carefully analysed.”
India’s Federation of Indian Pilots criticised the framing of the preliminary findings in the media this week.
In a public statement, the federation noted that the report relies heavily on paraphrased CVR excerpts and lacks comprehensive data.
“Assigning blame before a transparent, data-driven investigation is both premature and irresponsible,” the statement read before adding that it undermines the professionalism of the crew and causes undue distress to their families.
Canada forward Olivia Smith has signed for Arsenal in a world record fee believed to be $1.34m.
Arsenal signed Smith from Liverpool on Thursday to make the 20-year-old, who made her international debut at 15, the first million-pound women’s footballer.
That fee would surpass the $1.1m Chelsea paid when signing Naomi Girma from San Diego Wave in January, which set a new benchmark in women’s football.
“She’s one of the most talented young players in the game and has huge potential for further development here at the club,” Arsenal director of women’s football Clare Wheatley said.
Smith, right, in action for Liverpool with Manchester City’s Leila Ouhabi [Craig Brough/Reuters]
Smith’s move highlights the increase in spending in women’s football, with transfer records being broken regularly in recent times.
Zambia striker Rachael Kundananji joined Bay FC from Madrid CFF for a record $788,000 last year, and that figure was quickly exceeded by Girma’s move to Chelsea.
“It’s a privilege and an honour to sign for Arsenal,” said Smith.
“It’s my dream to compete for the biggest titles here in England and in Europe, and I’m excited to get started and contribute to doing that here with Arsenal.”
The investment in women’s football in the English top flight has started to be matched by that of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).
Kundananji’s move to Bay FC came only two weeks after Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala, who won the African Footballer of the Year award for the sixth time in 2023, signed for the San Francisco-based club from Barcelona.
