caused

World champion Luke Littler was denied entry to Wednesday’s Players Championship 33 event after he arrived late because of traffic congestion caused by a serious incident.

The 18-year-old was set to play in the penultimate Players Championship event of 2025 at Wigan’s Robin Park Leisure Centre.

But he had to withdraw after missing the 11:00 GMT registration deadline for players.

It later emerged someone had died in an incident on the M6.

Littler posted on Instagram: “Missed registration today for the pro tour, but someone sadly lost their life. Thinking of everyone.”

Littler was replaced by fellow Englishman Charlie Manby, who is ranked 174th in the PDC’s order of merit. He upset 2018 world champion Rob Cross 6-5, before being knocked out in the second round.

The event was won by England’s Chris Dobey, who beat Ireland’s William O’Connor 8-6 in the final to leapfrog Cross to eighth in the order of merit.

U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested that contaminated fuel may have been a factor in the U.S. Navy’s loss of an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter and an F/A-18F Super Hornet in the South China Sea on Sunday. In a very strange chain of events, the two aircraft, both assigned to the supercarrier USS Nimitz, went down within 30 minutes of each other while on separate missions. The crews of the Seahawk and the Super Hornet were both safely retrieved.

“They’re gonna let me know pretty soon,” Trump told reporters while flying aboard Air Force One on Monday. “I think they should be able to find out. It could be bad fuel. I mean, it’s possible it’s bad fuel. Very unusual that that would happen.”

Asked whether he thought “foul play” led to the crashes, Trump said “I don’t think so,” and reiterated his contaminated fuel theory. 

“We don’t believe it was anything nefarious,” a U.S. Navy official told The War Zone.

U.S. Pacific Fleet (PACFLEET), which oversees naval operations in the South China Sea region, declined to comment on Trump’s statements about the crashes and referred us to the White House. We have yet to receive a response and will update this story with any pertinent information provided.

The first of the two mishaps occurred about 2:45 PM local time, according to PACFLEET.

That’s when the Seahawk, assigned to the “Battle Cats” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 73 (HSM-73), “went down in the waters of the South China Sea while conducting routine operations from” the Nimitz, a PACFLEET release stated. “Search and rescue assets assigned to Carrier Strike Group 11 safely recovered all three crew members.”

A half hour later, an F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter assigned to the “Fighting Redcocks” of Strike Fighter Squadron 22 (VFA-22) “also went down in the waters of the South China Sea while conducting routine operations from Nimitz,” PACFLEET announced. “Both crew members successfully ejected and were also safely recovered by search and rescue assets assigned to Carrier Strike Group 11. All personnel involved are safe and in stable condition. The cause of both incidents is currently under investigation.”

While the particular circumstances of the recent mishaps in the South China Sea remain under investigation, fuel contaminated with water and/or other foreign substances, or that otherwise falls below specifications, can present serious problems for aircraft, including causing engines to fail in flight. Checking fuel quality is a common part of an investigation following any aviation mishap, military or civilian.

In addition, carrier-based aviation operations present unique conditions when it comes to the transfer of fuel, both into storage tanks on the ship to begin with, which can occur while the carrier is underway at sea, as well as in port, and then into aircraft. Personnel aboard all Navy carriers perform regular fuel quality checks at multiple steps in the fuel distribution process.

Trump’s comments about the mishaps came as the President is traveling throughout Asia. He is scheduled to have a meeting on Thursday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to discuss trade issues.

Nimitz, the Navy’s oldest carrier, is on its final cruise before its planned decommissioning next year. The flattop is currently in the process of returning to its home port in Naval Base Kitsap in Washington State after having been deployed to the Middle East for most of the summer, primarily as part of the U.S. response to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on commercial shipping.

Also known by its hull number CVN-68, the Nimitz, which was first commissioned into service in 1975, is the lead ship in its class. The vessel’s design built on the Navy’s prior experience with its pioneering nuclear-powered supercarrier, the one-of-a-kind USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which served from 1961 to 2012.

The Navy began preparing for the Nimitz’s demise in 2023, which you can read more about here. The Newport News Shipbuilding division of Huntington Ingalls Industries has received multiple contracts already to begin laying the groundwork for removing the nuclear fuel from the carrier’s reactors and other aspects of the disposal process.

Whether contaminated fuel turns out to be a factor in, or even the root cause of the Seahawk and Super Hornet going down in the South China Sea, remains to be seen. U.S. military aviation accidents typically take weeks if not months to complete.

Contact the author: [email protected]

A major outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Monday disrupted a large portion of the internet, taking down apps, websites and online tools used by millions of people around the world, before services were eventually restored.

From banking apps and airlines to smart home devices and gaming platforms, the hours-long breakdown revealed how much of modern life depends on cloud’s infrastructure.

Here is what we know:

What happened and what caused the AWS outage?

At about 07:11 GMT, Amazon’s cloud service experienced a major outage, meaning some of its systems stopped working, which disrupted many popular apps and websites, including banks, gaming platforms and entertainment services.

The problem started in one of AWS’s main data centres in Virginia, its oldest and biggest site, after a technical update to the API – a connection between different computer programmes – of DynamoDB, a key cloud database service that stores user information and other important data for many online platforms.

The root cause appears to have been an error in the update that affected the Domain Name System (DNS), which helps apps find the correct server addresses. A DNS works like the internet’s phone book, turning website names into the numeric IP addresses that computers use to connect to servers.

Because of the DNS issue, apps could not find the IP address for DynamoDB’s API and were unable to connect.

As DynamoDB went down, other AWS services also began to fail. In total, 113 services were affected by the outage. By 10:11 GMT, Amazon said that all AWS returned to normal operations, but there was a backlog “of messages that they will finish processing over the next few hours”.

At the time of publication, Downdetector, a website that tracks internet outages based on user reports, was still showing problems with platforms such as OpenAI, ESPN and Apple Music.

Updated look at the total impact of the AWS Outage up to this point!https://t.co/Bgpm1fFGtf pic.twitter.com/TAAxjagNl6

— Downdetector (@downdetector) October 20, 2025

What is a cloud and what exactly is AWS?

A cloud is a way of storing and using data or programmes over the internet instead of on your computer or other physical storage devices.

When people say something is “in the cloud”, it means the files, apps or systems are running on powerful computers (called servers) in data centres owned by companies like Amazon (AWS), Google or Microsoft, not on your personal device.

In this case, AWS allows companies to rent computing power and storage. It supplies the technology that runs websites, apps and many online services behind the scenes.

One of AWS’s core services is DynamoDB, a database that stores important information for companies, such as customer records. On Monday, Amazon reported that customers were unable to access their DynamoDB data.

AWS is the biggest cloud service provider in the world.

Cloud outages are not rare, but they have become more noticeable as more companies rely on these services every day.

“The fallout impacted people across a number of different spheres,” Joshua Mahony, the chief market analyst at Scope Markets, told Al Jazeera. [But] of course this kind of comes with the territory with tech companies; the key is they can resolve it quickly, and it doesn’t cost them a lot of money.”

He said Amazon would likely weather the storm from the incident.

“You’re looking at something that is relatively contained,” he said. “Amazon Web Services has cornered 30 percent of the market alone. Their users are not going to suddenly jump ship. Their businesses are deeply ingrained.”

Which services and apps went down?

The outage affected dozens of websites, including Snapchat, Pinterest and Apple TV, according to Downdetector.

Other communication apps were also affected including: WhatsApp, Signal, Zoom and Slack; gaming services such as Roblox, Fortnite and Xbox; and places like Starbucks. Etsy also experienced issues.

In the United States, people were having issues with financial apps too, including Venmo.

Some users said their Ring doorbells and Alexa speakers stopped working, while others could not access the Amazon website or download books on their Kindles.

The language app Duolingo and creative tool Canva were among those reporting errors on their websites, and several media organisations were hit, including the Associated Press news agency, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Banks, the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, and AI firm Perplexity also reported issues, along with US airlines Delta and United.

Why did so many major apps go offline at once?

When AWS had its outage, it was not just Amazon’s tools that were affected. Thousands of other companies that use AWS for storage, databases or web hosting were also hit. These companies include many major apps that rely on AWS to run key parts of their systems.

“Whenever we see these headlines, the first thought that goes through everybody’s mind, that sends a shiver up the spine, is, ‘Is this one of those cyberattacks? Is this a military or intelligence-led thing that has led to this disruption?’ And in this case, it’s not,” Bryson Bort chief executive of the cybersecurity company Scythe told Al Jazeera.

“In fact, most of the time, it isn’t. It’s usually human error.”

How did Amazon respond?

AWS acknowledged the outage and said engineers were “immediately engaged” to fix the problem.

AWS said it worked on “multiple parallel paths to accelerate recovery”. It also reported that the main issue had been fully resolved, though some users continued to face minor delays as systems recovered.

The company also said it would publish a detailed post-event summary explaining what happened.

Flooding set off by heavy rainfall in Mexico has left at least 28 people dead and more missing, and has caused landslides, damaged homes and highways, according to local authorities.

Downpours in the affected areas in the central and southeastern parts of the country led to overflowing rivers and road collapses that cut off power in some municipalities, the national coordinator for civil defence, Laura Velazquez, said on Friday.

Civil defence authorities reported intense rainfall in 31 of 32 states, with the worst-affected areas being Veracruz in the east, Queretaro and Hidalgo in the centre, and the north-central state of San Luis Potosi.

One of the hardest hit areas was the central state of Hidalgo, where 16 deaths have been reported, according to state Interior Secretary Guillermo Olivares Reyna.

At least 1,000 homes, 59 hospitals and clinics, and 308 schools have suffered damage in the state because of landslides and overflooding rivers.

In neighbouring Puebla state, nine people died and 13 were missing. According to the state governor, some 80,000 people were affected by the heavy rains, while a gas pipeline was ruptured by a landslide.

In the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, two people died, including a police officer, according to its state governor. Some 5,000 homes were damaged and the navy evacuated nearly 900 people to shelters.

Earlier, authorities in the central state of Queretaro confirmed that the child had died after being caught in a landslide.

The heavy rainfall also caused power outages affecting more than 320,000 users and damage to almost 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) of roads in six states, authorities said.

Tras las fuertes lluvias, la Secretaría de Marina (@SEMAR_mx ) desplegó tres mil 300 elementos en Puebla, Veracruz y San Luis Potosí.

También puso a disposición 18 embarcaciones, seis helicópteros, tres plantas potabilizadoras, tres aviones, tres cocinetas y cuatro mil… pic.twitter.com/O7ES5XBoKC

— Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo (@Claudiashein) October 11, 2025

Translation: Following the heavy rains, the Secretariat of the Navy (@SEMAR_mx ) deployed 300 personnel in Puebla, Veracruz, and San Luis Potosí. It also made available 18 vessels, six helicopters, three water purification plants, three aircraft, three mobile kitchens, and 4,000 food baskets ready to be distributed.

“We are working to support the population, open roads and restore electrical services,” President Claudia Sheinbaum said after a meeting with local officials and cabinet members. She shared photos of emergency responders carrying supplies as they waded knee-deep in flooded streets.

The country has deployed more than 8,700 military personnel to help monitor, evacuate and clean up affected areas.

Mexico has been hit by particularly heavy rains throughout 2025, with a rainfall record set in the capital Mexico City.

Tropical Storm Raymond is currently off the country’s Pacific coast, dumping heavy rains as it moves northward. It is projected to make landfall on Mexican territory until Sunday. Raymond was announced midday on Thursday by the United States National Hurricane Center, making it the third system this week off the western coast of Mexico. It joined Tropical Storm Priscilla and post-tropical cyclone Octave, which threatened heavy rain and flooding in their paths.

Powerful waves crashed into Mexico’s Pacific coast as Hurricane Priscilla brought flooding along Puerto Vallarta’s waterfront. pic.twitter.com/P3s5lsiz9r

— AccuWeather (@accuweather) October 10, 2025

Meteorologists have warned that the Pacific Ocean cooling pattern called La Nina, which can warp weather worldwide and turbocharge hurricanes, has returned.

It may be too late in the hurricane season to impact tropical weather in the Atlantic, but this La Nina may have other impacts, from heavy rains to drought across the globe.

Former USC quarterback Mark Sanchez is facing a felony charge after his physical altercation with a 69-year-old truck driver this weekend left the other man with what the prosecuting attorney described Monday as “significant and very severe” injuries.

The driver, Indiana resident Perry Tole, also filed a civil lawsuit Monday against Sanchez, alleging that he had suffered “severe permanent disfigurement, loss of function, other physical injuries, emotional distress, and other damages” as a result of the 38-year-old former NFL player’s actions.

Marion County, Ind., prosecutor Ryan Mears told reporters at a news conference Monday that Sanchez was being charged with a level five felony of battery involving serious bodily injury, which Mears said could result in one to six years in prison.

After a preliminary probable cause affidavit was filed by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department on Saturday, Sanchez was charged with three misdemeanors — battery resulting in injury, unauthorized entry of a motor vehicle and public intoxication.

Further investigation by the IMPD preceded the filing of a second probable cause affidavit Monday morning, which led to the felony charge against Sanchez.

“Once we were provided with additional information about the victim’s current medical condition, it became clear to us that additional charges needed to be filed,” Mears said during the joint news conference with IMPD Chief Chris Bailey.

Mears added that it’s possible that more charges could come connected to the incident that occurred late Friday night and into early Saturday morning in an alley outside a downtown Indianapolis hotel.

“One of the things that I’m going to stress to everybody is that we are still in the early stages of this investigation,” Mears said. “Chief and his team have a number of search warrants that are still outstanding. They’re still tracking down additional information. This is, by no means, the end of this investigation. This, by no means, means that these are going to be final charges that we move forward with.”

Sanchez remained in the hospital and was listed in stable condition as of Monday morning. According to court documents, the 2009 Rose Bowl MVP was booked on the misdemeanor charges Sunday and a $300 bond was posted on his behalf at that time.

Mears said Monday that since the case will be now transferred to a major felony court, it would be up to the new court whether an additional bond will be issued based on the new charge.

Attorneys James H. Voyles Jr. and Jennifer M. Lukemeyer, listed in court documents as representing Sanchez in the criminal case, declined to comment to The Times.

An initial court hearing scheduled for Tuesday morning has been postponed until Nov. 4.

According to the first IMPD affidavit, which was based on hotel surveillance footage and a statement Tole gave to the police, Tole had backed his box truck onto the hotel’s loading docks while performing his job with a company that recycles and disposes of commercial cooking oil.

Sanchez allegedly confronted Tole and said that the hotel manager had told Sanchez he didn’t want the driver to replace the cooking oil. The Fox Sports analyst, who was in town to call Sunday’s Raiders-Colts game for Fox Sports, allegedly smelled of alcohol at the time.

During the ensuing altercation, Sanchez threw Tole toward a wall and also onto the ground, the affidavit said, before Tole, believing he was in danger, sprayed Sanchez with pepper spray and eventually stabbed him.

“Certainly the thing that stands out to us is this was a situation that did not need to occur,” Mears said Monday. “… We’re literally talking about people fighting over a parking space or a dispute about where people are parking, and it resulted in someone receiving just incredibly significant injuries.”

Tole suffered a laceration on his left cheek and was taken to a different hospital than Sanchez, the affidavit said. Max Lewis of WXIN-TV in Indianapolis reported Sunday that Tole’s family said that the cut “went through his cheek and hit his tongue,” making speech difficult.

Lewis also posted photos he said were provided by the family that showed the driver in a hospital bed with sheets that appeared to have several blood stains on them near the area of the cut on the man’s cheek. Tole, whose eyes had been blackened out to protect his identity at the time, is wearing what appears to be a neck brace and is hooked up to monitors.

Later on Sunday, family members told the New York Post of Tole, “He’s OK.”

They added: “We are talking to lawyers first. We want to be careful what’s said.”

Tole’s civil lawsuit, filed Monday in Marion County Superior Court, states that he suffered “significant injuries to his head, jaw and neck.”

Sanchez’s employer, Fox Corporation, is named as a co-defendant in the civil suit, on a count of neglient hiring, retention and supervision. Fox Sports did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Times.

Tole is seeking compensatory and punitive damages to be determined at trial.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

BARRY HEARN reckons Luke Littler has made darts so popular that there aren’t enough days in the year to squeeze in the amount of events needed to meet fan demand.

The PDC chairman has said that “main man” Littler is one of the reasons behind darts‘ incredible growth in recent years.

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Littler, 18, burst onto the scene at the 2024 World Championship and has since cemented himself as one of the best players in the world.

His meteoric rise has seen him be crowned world champion on his second attempt, pocket in excess of £1MILLION in prize money and add over 15 PDC titles to a growing trophy cabinet.

Speaking to Sky Sports about what Littler’s emergence has done for the sport, Hearn said: “It’s [darts] just getting bigger and bigger.

“I’m actually having a problem that there is only 365 days in a year!

“The demand worldwide is so huge that I could fill that twice.”

Adding: “It’s non stop. The players are responding with performances beyond what I’ve ever seen in my life, in terms of averages and checkouts.

“Led by the main man Luke Littler, who is fast becoming a phenomenon.”

The increased interest in darts has meant an increase in prize money too.

Luke Littler prize money breakdown

Here is all the prize money Luke Littler has won so far after being crowned 2025 PDC World Darts Championship winner:

World Championship 2025 – £500,000

World Championship 2024 – £200,000

Grand Slam of Darts 2024 – £150,000

European Tour – £91,000

Player Championships events – £71,500

Players Championship final runner-up – £60,000

UK Open 2023 + 2024 – £17,500

World Matchplay – £10,000

World Grand Prix – £7,500

European Championship – £7,500

(Unranked) Premier League Darts – £315,000

TOTAL: £1.43 million

This year’s World Championship will be worth an eye-watering £1MILLION to the winner – double last year’s jackpot.

While there has been a total increase of £7MILLION across the PDC calendar thanks to a historic Sky Sports £125million five-year TV deal.

Speaking on the changes, Hearn said: “This is the first year where our prize money goes past £25million, World Championship is worth £1million, more European events because of demand in Europe.

“The Premier League is heading out of the UK and going to Belgium, it’s non stop”.

Right-wing Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir sparked outrage from nations across the Middle East when he led a Jewish prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound. His actions broke a 1967 agreement that only Muslims are allowed to pray at the site.

A preliminary report by Indian authorities into what caused the Air India plane crash in June has revealed switches were flipped to cut fuel to the engines just moments after takeoff. Aviation experts think that means pilot error is unlikely to blame for the disaster which killed 260 people.

Emma Hickey and her partner Stephen Brougham took their two kids to Costa Adeje, Tenerife, Spain when the 42-year-old mum fell badly ill, prompting a trip to hospital

A mum is fighting for her life after plummeting down hotel stairs and hitting her head.

Emma Hickey and her partner Stephen Brougham took their two kids to Costa Adeje, Tenerife, Spain, on June 13 for a sun-soaked 12-day getaway. Just 10 days into the trip, the mum-of-two woke up with a ‘really bad case’ of mosquito bites, so went to hospital and was prescribed injections

Despite feeling unwell for the next few days, the 42-year-old carer ‘soldiered through the holiday‘ for the sake of her kids. But as they walked down the hotel staircase on their way to a pharmacy on June 23, Emma complained of feeling dizzy before suddenly collapsing and falling head-first onto a concrete step.

Stephen, 44, says it was ‘horrific’ to watch his partner convulsing on the concrete steps after passing out. She was immediately rushed to hospital. A hospital CT scan revealed the mum-of-two had a brain bleed and neck fractures, so she was put in an induced coma.

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READ MORE: ‘Modern travel is changing our brains – but there is a solution’

A friend of the family has set up a GoFundMe page to support plasterer Stephen and his two kids, while they are stranded in Tenerife waiting for Emma to recover. The dad-of-two says it could be ‘a very long time’ until his partner is well enough to fly home and he is unsure if the travel insurance will cover the soaring medical costs.

Stephen, from Dublin, Ireland, said: “We came away for a lovely family holiday and it’s been a living nightmare. She woke up with a really bad case of mosquito bites so we went to the local doctor and the doctors didn’t know what it was so they sent her to hospital

“The doctor there said they’d never seen a case of this mosquito bite in Spain before. She got a prescription and sent her away. For the next few days she wasn’t feeling well but was soldiering through the holiday for the sake of the kids trying to do what she could but she wasn’t herself.

Stephen said that his wife went for a nap on the 23rd, leaving him to take the kids out to lunch.

“She was up having a good sleep and she looked and seemed a lot better. She said she wouldn’t go to the hospital but would walk out to a pharmacy and see what they thought,” he continued.

“We walked out the back entrance of the hotel as there’s a shop and a pharmacy there. Street level is probably about four or five storeys up. She was feeling a bit dizzy and she collapsed and fell from the second last step of the upper staircase down below onto the other set of stairs head-first without raising her arm to protect herself.

“She passed out on the steps and started convulsing, she was in a terrible state. It’s been horrific because I actually witnessed the fall and how bad the fall was. That’s a mental scar that I’ll never forget. Words can’t describe how bad it is.”

Stephen called an ambulance, which rushed his partner to hospital. A CT scan showed she had suffered a brain bleed and needed an operation. Doctors discovered some fractures in her neck. She was then put in an induced coma and will remain in intensive care until she wakes up.

Stephen said: “They did an operation and there were blood clots on the brain that had been putting some pressure on the brain. They’re not saying what impact the pressure on the brain of the blood clot will have after she comes round. “There could be secondary issues there so in the meantime she’s just been on the machine. She hasn’t felt well all week so we can only presume that the mosquito bites, the medication, the heat and the fact she tried to soldier through the holiday just for the sake of the kids [caused it].

“They were draining the life out of her and they’re all over her body, dozens and dozens. They looked uncomfortable and you could see that they were sore. They turned into bruises. I can only connect the two.”

Stephen, who is self-employed, and is searching for alternative accommodation for him and children Sophie Hickey, 13, and Bobby Hickey, 7, while they wait for Emma to recover. He is hoping the travel insurance will help the rising medical costs after reviewing her medical records.

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“We know that hospital is $1,400 (£1,022) a day so we’re going to have a significant medical bill. The hotel we’re staying in at the moment is an expensive hotel. Then just feeding the kids and keeping them occupied. I’m not working now because I’m over here,” he said.

He’s now encouraging others to ensure they get travel insurance and to be aware of the dangers of insects abroad.

June 27 (UPI) — Iran officially acknowledged its nuclear sites had sustained “serious and significant damage” from U.S. air and missile strikes last weekend.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that while the extent of the damage was still being assessed by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, it was undeniable that the losses were substantial and that the country’s nuclear facilities “have been seriously damaged.”

The admission by Araghchi in an interview with Iranian state television on Thursday came amid conflicting reports on the efficacy of the unprecedented military action launched by the United States against three nuclear sites on June 21.

Earlier Thursday, Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khanamei claimed the opposite of his foreign minister, saying damage to the sites had been minimal and instead hailing the “damage inflicted” by Tehran’s “victorious” retaliatory strike on the United States’ Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar on Monday.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has said the strikes using 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs and long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles “completely and fully obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program — although public briefings have focused on the “primary site,” a key underground uranium enrichment plant at Fordow, with few details forthcoming on the facilities at Natanz and Esfahan.

U.S. officials have pushed back on a leaked preliminary report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency that assessed the strikes had only set back Iran’s nuclear development by a few months at most, with the White House calling its findings “flat-out wrong.”

Araghchi said inspectors from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, might never be allowed back into Iran.

Iranian lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday, effectively banning any future cooperation with the IAEA, which Tehran has accused of carrying out reconnaissance on behalf of Israel and the United States.

The legislation has been waived through by the Guardian Council and will go forward to President Masoud Pezeshkian’s desk for him to sign into law, or veto.

“Without a doubt, we are obliged to enforce this law. Iran’s relationship with the agency will take a different shape,” Araghchi warned.

The independent London-based Iran International said Tehran was considering quitting the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on Thursday, reasserted Iran’s right to pursue peaceful nuclear development afforded to it by the treaty, according to state-run Press TV.

Citing Article IV of the 1968 agreement, he said Iran was determined to keep its nuclear program going “under any circumstances.”

The statement came a day after Trump, announcing fresh Iran-U.S. talks, said he wasn’t interested in existing or new agreements because the only thing the U.S. would be asking for was “no nuclear.”

Araghchi took to social media to claim Iran had conducted itself honorably and abided by international diplomatic norms, contrasting its record against that of European countries and the United States in particular, accusing Washington of treachery for attacking when Iran-U.S. talks were still in play.

“Our diplomatic legitimacy was undeniable. In every conversation I had with foreign ministers, they either approved Iran’s rightful position or were forced into silence. We stood firm, and even adversaries acknowledged our position,” he said in a post on X.

“We have had a very difficult experience with the Americans. In the middle of negotiations, they betrayed the negotiation itself. This experience will certainly influence our future decisions.”

Araghchi confirmed no resumption of talks was planned despite Trump saying Wednesday that the two countries would meet “next week.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at her regular briefing Thursday that nothing was “scheduled as of now,” but that communication channels between the United States and Iran remained active.

Emily Jansson, 34, was on a flight from Canada to Dubai for a girls’ trip when she suddenly began experiencing ‘weird chest pains’ and coughing fits

A terrifying mid-air medical emergency has been recounted by a woman who suffered a life-threatening blood clot in her lungs during a long-haul flight. Emily Jansson, a 34 year old mother of two, was on her way from Canada to Dubai International Airport for a getaway with friends on February 5, 2025.

However, the lengthy journey took a nearly fatal turn when she started to experience “weird chest pains” alongside uncontrollable coughing.

Jansson had just awoken after sleeping for a significant portion of the 13-hour flight and was waiting to use the bathroom when she lost consciousness and collapsed, remaining out for about five minutes. “I was waiting for the bathroom and I got this really deep, dull aching pain in my chest out of nowhere,” she recalls of the ordeal.

In the fall, Jansson sustained injuries as she knocked her head, resulting in a bruised eye and arm, and afterwards found herself grappling with confusion and fragmented memories.

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Upon landing, which luckily occurred only two and a half hours later, she was swiftly taken to Rashid Hospital Dubai where urgent medical scans revealed a chilling diagnosis. A bilateral saddle pulmonary embolism.

This is an extensive blood clot situated within the primary artery of the lung which divides into branches for each lung.

The seriousness of her condition meant that any delay in treatment could have been catastrophic, reports the Mirror US. Doctors were astonished at her survival, admitting that given the circumstances, “it was essentially a miracle” she didn’t succumb to cardiac arrest.

In hindsight, Jansson identified multiple risk factors that contributed to her in-flight emergency. These included prolonged immobility despite wearing compression stockings, and the estrogen birth control pill Zamine, both posing substantial threats to her wellbeing during the flight.

This combined contraceptive pill, containing both progestogen and estrogen, can increase the likelihood of blood clots. She is currently on anticoagulant medication to prevent further clotting and will remain on this treatment for a minimum of six months.

She explained: “I was restricting my body’s blood flow, which contributed to my clot developing. I had little idea about the danger I was in. After taking estrogen birth control for six years before consistently, I didn’t know my risk of blood clots was so high.”

A saddle pulmonary embolism, a condition where a blood clot obstructs the artery feeding the lungs, only represents 2 to 5 per cent of all pulmonary embolism cases. If not addressed promptly, it can result in heart failure and cause sudden death in approximately 30 per cent of instances.

“I was terrified and partly in denial when they told me what I had. I knew someone who had the same thing and how serious it was and I was just freaking out,” Jannson admitted.

Jannson spent six days in hospital receiving thrombolytic therapy and clot-dissolving medication. She recuperated with a friend in Dubai for three weeks post-treatment.

“It’s important that people know about the risks of this particular birth control, Zamine, and the safety of flying. If you’re on a long-haul flight, make sure you move around and let your body breathe,” she cautioned.

Jannson elaborated: “I was fortunate that there was a doctor on board and some very amazing, competent flight attendants. They essentially saved my life when it shouldn’t have been possible.

“I’m still recovering from this episode, and my body has been through a lot. But I’m hopeful my experience can educate people about the risks of blood clots. And just as a reminder that life is so precious and to just really appreciate it.”

The Skye Bridge is a road bridge over Loch Alsh, which connects mainland Scotland to the Isle of Skye. The bridge was the scene of controversy over the fees charged to use it

The UK is home to some of the world’s most impressive bridges, with iconic structures such as Scotland’s Queensferry Crossing, and the Humber and Tyne bridges. With a total of 3,680 bridges, they provide vital links between regions and cities across the country. Scotland alone boasts 577 bridges, one of which sparked public outrage due to the toll fees charged for its use.

This bridge quickly earned the title of the world’s most expensive, until the charges were eventually abolished. The Skye Bridge, which opened to the public on October 16, 1995, connects the island to the mainland, reports the Express.

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Construction began in 1992, led by Scottish company Miller, but the design was the work of German engineering firm DYWIDAG Systems International, in partnership with civil engineering company Arup.

The main structure is a concrete arch, supported by two piers, linking Skye to the small island of Eilean Bàn, with the remainder of the bridge extending level to the mainland.

Spanning a total distance of 1.5 miles, the main arch stands approximately 35m high, allowing a clearance of 30m for boats at high tide. The bridge offered a faster and more efficient route for locals to reach the mainland.

Before its construction, which cost an estimated £28 million, residents faced lengthy queues during the summer months for the ferry from Kyle of Lochalsh to Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye.

The decision to impose a toll for crossing the Skye Bridge, which escalated from a mere 40p to an eye-watering £11.40, sparked outrage among the public, earning it the title of Europe’s priciest bridge.

Locals often quipped: “The Skye Bridge – the only place in the world where you get mugged AND get a receipt!” Skye and Lochalsh residents didn’t take long to rally together, forming the protest group Skye Bridge Against Tolls or SKAT.

After relentless campaigning, the authorities finally caved to the pressure, scrapping the tolls on 21 December 2004.

Protesters alleged that the firm running the bridge had raked in over £33 million from tolls, dwarfing the bridge’s operational costs pegged at £3.5 million.

MORE than half of Brits who used to watch Doctor Who say they turned off because it had become “woke, boring rubbish”.

That is the result of an ­independent survey conducted as star Ncuti Gatwa exited the Tardis with a paltry 2.3 million viewers on Saturday.

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In a shock twist, he appeared to regenerate into the Doctor’s former companion Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper — but many are not convinced she is the Time Lord’s 16th incarnation.

The Sun exclusively revealed last month that Ncuti, 32, would be leaving the role after two series — the shortest tenure of any actor in the role since Christopher Eccleston, who left the rebooted BBC show after one series in 2005.

The survey quizzed 2,135 adults and found 42 per cent of current and former viewers said it had got worse since its relaunch two decades ago, with ­stories increasingly preachy and worthy.

Even one in three current viewers think it has got worse.

Plotlines over the past three years have featured trans heroines, non-binary baddies and drag-queen villains — and the Doctor coming out as gay, and crying in most episodes.

James Johnson of pollsters JL Partners said: “This is the first ever major poll done on attitudes to Doctor Who and the results are bleak.

“The public believe a once-great show has lost its way — and their biggest complaint is it puts pursuit of wokeness above entertainment value.

“The main words associated with it are rubbish, boring, and woke.

“If the BBC want to grow the show’s audience once more, they will need a total revamp.

“And to get back to telling entertaining stories rather than preaching lessons that simply do not have an audience among the British public.”

The poll found 46 per cent of current viewers think it puts social justice and woke issues above quality, compared with 37 per cent who believe the show puts quality first.

Those who have stopped watching say it puts social justice and woke issues first by a ratio of three to one.

The average age of current viewers is 42, compared with 51 for ex-fans.

They are also heavily Labour voters compared to a more politically diverse former audience.

The wokery ratcheted up after Doctor Who was taken over for a second time by showrunner Russell T Davies in 2023.

He was the man who rebooted the show in 2005 with Eccleston, followed by David Tennant.

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Who has starred in Doctor Who?

Which actors have portrayed the famous Time Lord over the years?

• First Doctor: William Hartnell (1963 – 1966)
• Second Doctor: Patrick Troughton (1966 – 1969)
• Third Doctor: Jon Pertwee (1970 – 1974)
• Fourth Doctor: Tom Baker (1974 – 1981)
• Fifth Doctor: Peter Davidson (1982 – 1984)
• Sixth Doctor: Colin Baker (1984 – 1986)
• Seventh Doctor: Sylvester McCoy (1987 – 1989)
• Eighth Doctor: Paul McGann (1996)
• Ninth Doctor: Christopher Eccleston (2005)
• Tenth Doctor: David Tennant (2005 – 2010)
• 11th Doctor: Matt Smith (2010 – 2013)
• 12th Doctor: Peter Capaldi (2014 – 2017)
• 13th Doctor: Jodie Whittaker (2018 – 2022)
• 14th Doctor: David Tennant (2023)
• 15th Doctor: Ncuti Gatwa (2023 – present)

A respectable 5.1 million tuned in to see his “comeback episode” with David returning to play the Doctor for a second time in 2023.

The actor then handed over to Ncuti who had his first full series as the Fifteenth Doctor last year.

One Whovian writing on X/Twitter, said: “Thanks to RTD (Russell T Davies) Ncuti is tainted and ‘15’ will be remembered as the worst Doctor with the worst era in the history of Doctor Who.”

The Sun revealed BBC bosses were considering a hiatus for the show, though execs maintained they would not make a decision until the second series had aired.

Russell T Davies teased a return on Saturday, saying: “After 62 years, the Doctor’s adventures are only just beginning!”

But that seems optimistic given their current multimillion-pound deal partnership with Disney+ is facing an uncertain future — and the viewing figures for one episode of the last series fell as low as 1.6 million.

A spokeswoman for Doctor Who said: “Doctor Who remains one of the biggest dramas on the BBC and is the most watched drama for under-35s, as well as being one of the most popular brands on BBC iPlayer.

“As we have previously stated, a decision on any future deal between the BBC and Disney+ regarding Doctor Who is yet to be made and any other claims are pure speculation.”

Flash floods triggered by heavy rains have devastated a central Nigerian state, killing at least 150 people and displacing thousands since Thursday, and rescue workers say the toll could rise.

Search and rescue operations are ongoing as roads have been damaged and homes destroyed while bodies are believed to have been swept down the Niger River.

Here is what to know about the floods and how prone Nigeria is to such events.

What areas in Nigeria are flooding?

Flash floods hit Mokwa, a market town located in Nigeria’s north-central Niger State. It followed intense rainfall that began about 3am (02:00 GMT) on Thursday, according to the Nigerian Red Cross Society.

Mokwa is a key meeting and transit point for traders from the south and food growers in the north. It is about 350km (217 miles) by road east of Nigeria’s capital, Abuja. Mokwa has an estimated population of 400,000 while Niger is the country’s fourth largest state by size, covering more area than Belgium or Switzerland.

How many people have died?

More than 150 people have been confirmed killed while rescue teams continue to recover bodies and search for missing people.

The actual death toll is likely higher as many victims are believed to have been swept down the Niger River, Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris said, reporting from Mokwa.

“The usual thing is when an official tells you 151 are dead or missing, you are likely to multiply that by two, three or four,” he said.

At least 3,018 people have been displaced, 265 houses destroyed and two bridges washed away in the floods, according to Ibrahim Audu Husseini, a spokesman for the Niger State Emergency Management Agency.

Of those injured, 121 were in hospital, and more than 100 people were missing, Gideon Adamu, head of the Red Cross in Niger State, told the AFP news agency on Saturday.

“We can’t give up the search as long as there are families crying out,” Adamu said.

Farida Auwalu, the lone survivor from a family of 16, lost seven children in the deluge. The bodies of four of Farida’s children have been found and buried.

“My hope is to see the remaining bodies and give them a decent burial and have closure,” she told Al Jazeera.

What caused the flooding in Nigeria?

Experts said the frequency and severity of floods in Nigeria have increased due to climate change, unregulated construction and poor drainage infrastructure.

Mokwa residents also believe the flooding was caused by “a bigger problem upstream, maybe a dam burst, but up to now, officials are not confirming that”, Idris said. Niger State has three major dams – Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro – while a fourth is under construction.

Despite flood risks being identified, there has been a lack of political will to implement the solutions for them, according to Ugonna Nkwunonwo, a flood risk analyst at the University of Nigeria. “The amount of rain you expect in a year could probably come in one or two months, and people are not prepared for that kind of rainfall,” he told Al Jazeera.

Many areas in the country lack proper drainage systems, and existing ones are often clogged with waste, causing water to accumulate on the streets during heavy rains. Additionally, rapid urban development without proper planning has led to the construction of buildings in flood-prone areas, reducing the land’s natural ability to absorb water. Deforestation for agriculture and development further reduces the land’s capacity to soak up rainfall, increasing the flow of water over the land.

Local leaders and residents are calling for state and federal authorities to intervene with long-term support and infrastructure to rebuild their communities and protect them from flooding.

“Warnings have been put out by authorities for people exposed or communities living along river banks to move to higher ground, especially when the rains start to peak, but every year, we continue to see more and more lives and property damaged because of rainfall,” Idris said.

How are authorities responding?

Emergency services – including the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, the Nigerian Red Cross and local volunteers – are engaged in search and rescue operations.

President Bola Tinubu has also ordered an emergency response, including the provision of aid and temporary shelter.

“Search-and-rescue operations are ongoing, and all relevant federal agencies have been mobilised to support the state government’s efforts,” Tinubu wrote in a social media post on Saturday.

However, damaged roads and bridges have complicated rescue and recovery efforts.

Some flood survivors are struggling to get basic aid. “No one brought any money or food to help the victims. As you can see, many don’t have a place to sleep,” Hassan Umar told Al Jazeera in Mokwa.

A key bridge that connects the northern and southwestern parts of the country collapsed, leaving motorists stranded and disrupting movement of vehicles across the region.

What was the most recent natural disaster in Nigeria?

In September, severe flooding in the northwestern city of Maiduguri in Borno State submerged two-thirds of the city, killed at least 30 people and displaced nearly half a million.

More than 200 inmates also escaped from a flood-damaged prison. The disaster was triggered by weeks of intense rainfall and the collapse of the Alau dam in northeastern Nigeria.

Across the country in 2024, flooding killed more than 1,200 people and displaced 1.2 million in at least 31 of 36 states, according to NEMA.

Which states in Nigeria are prone to flooding?

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency has warned of possible flash floods in 15 of Nigeria’s 36 states, including Niger, from Wednesday to Friday.

In the south, low-lying states like Bayelsa, Rivers and Delta in the Niger Delta region experience frequent flooding due to their coastal locations. In the north, Kogi, Benue and Borno states are also prone to floods because they are on major rivers.

The country’s rainy season typically begins in April to mid-May and lasts through October while August is the wettest month. Heavy rainfall during this period causes problems every year because it destroys infrastructure and is exacerbated by inadequate drainage.

Although flooding is common during Nigeria’s rainy season, now is not the peak of the rains, Idris said. “In some states, the rains have only been there for a month, and yet we’re seeing this.”

Donald Trump’s decision to ban Harvard from enrolling foreign students has caused irreparable damage, says one student leader. The order was the latest move in the administration’s escalating battle with the Ivy League school. A federal judge has now temporarily blocked it.

Study authors argue progressive taxes on wealth and carbon-intensive investments could provide a solution.

The wealthiest 10 percent of the world’s people are responsible for two-thirds of the global warming since 1990, according to researchers.

The way in which the rich consume and invest has substantially increased the risk of heatwaves and droughts, wrote the researchers of a study published on Wednesday in the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Climate Change.

This is the first study to quantify the impact of concentrated private wealth on extreme climate events.

“We link the carbon footprints of the wealthiest individuals directly to real-world climate impacts,” lead author Sarah Schoengart, a scientist at the public university of ETH Zurich, told the AFP news agency. “It’s a shift from carbon accounting toward climate accountability.”

Compared with the global average, for example, the richest 1 percent contributed 26 times more to once-a-century heatwaves and 17 times more to droughts in the Amazon, according to the study.

Emissions from the wealthiest 10 percent in China and the United States – which together account for nearly half of global carbon pollution – each led to a two- to threefold rise in heat extremes.

“If everyone had emitted like the bottom 50 percent of the global population, the world would have seen minimal additional warming since 1990,” co-author Carl-Friedrich Schleussner said. “Addressing this imbalance is crucial for fair and effective climate action.”

Burning fossil fuels and deforestation have heated Earth’s average surface by 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 degrees Fahrenheit), mostly during the past 30 years.

‘Wealthy emitters play a major role in driving climate extremes’

Schoengart and her colleagues combined economic data and climate simulations to trace emissions from different global income groups and assess their impact on specific types of climate-enhanced extreme weather.

The researchers also emphasised the role of emissions embedded in financial investment rather than just lifestyle and personal consumption. The impact of this consumption and investment is particularly severe in tropical regions such as the Amazon, Southeast Asia and Southern Africa – all areas of the world that have historically contributed the least to global emissions but have been disproportionately impacted by extreme weather.

“Our study shows that extreme climate impacts are not just the result of abstract global emissions. Instead we can directly link them to our lifestyle and investment choices, which in turn are linked to wealth,” Schoengart said. “We found that wealthy emitters play a major role in driving climate extremes, which provides strong support for climate policies that target the reduction of their emissions.”

The authors argued that targeting the financial activities and investment portfolios of high-income individuals could lead to significant climate gains.

“Climate action that doesn’t address the outsized responsibilities of the wealthiest members of society risk missing one of the most powerful levers we have to reduce future harm,” Schleussner said.

Owners of capital, he noted, could be held accountable for climate impacts through progressive taxes on wealth and carbon-intensive investments, thus providing much needed support for adaptation and damage in vulnerable countries.

Earlier research has shown that taxing asset-related emissions is more equitable than broad carbon taxes, which tend to burden those with lower incomes.

Recent initiatives to increase taxes on the superrich and multinationals have mostly stalled, especially since US President Donald Trump’s return to power in January.

In 2021, nearly 140 countries agreed to work towards a global corporate tax for multinational companies with nearly half endorsing a minimum rate of 15 percent, but those talks have stalled as well.

According to the antipoverty NGO Oxfam, the richest 1 percent have accumulated $42 trillion in new wealth over the past decade.

It says the richest 1 percent have more wealth than the lowest 95 percent combined.