By the time Collin Sexton arrived at the Lakers’ practice facility Wednesday morning, just hours after a nearly three-hour slugfest against the Portland Trail Blazers, Jarred Vanderbilt was already deep into a morning workout. The Lakers were beginning a grueling five-game, seven-day stretch, but Vanderbilt was on the practice court in a full sweat at full speed.
It’s no surprise to Sexton that Vanderbilt approached his long-awaited regular-season debut the same way Wednesday against the Clippers.
“He’s always going to be ready for whenever his name is called,” Sexton said. “But that just shows a true professional.”
Vanderbilt starred in his bench role in his delayed season debut Wednesday in the Lakers’ 103-87 win over the Clippers at Intuit Dome. The offensive numbers are unremarkable: no points, one shot, one assist and a turnover. The impact was undeniable. The Lakers outscored the Clippers (1-3) by 22 points in his 21 minutes and two seconds on the court.
Vanderbilt, who had seven rebounds, was one of three Lakers bench players to have a plus-minus of plus-21 or better Wednesday, along with Sexton (plus-23) and Sandro Mamukelashvili (plus-21).
“The second unit, we have to come in and pick up where the starters left off,” said Sexton, who had 21 points, including 11 during the third quarter. “That’s the biggest thing. We got to come in and impact the game right away. We can’t come in and ease into it.”
Vanderbilt’s energy helped the Lakers (4-1) win the rebounding battle for the first time this season. He didn’t waste any time after he subbed in with 3:26 remaining in the first quarter. On his first possession in the game, Vanderbilt repeatedly tipped a loose ball up in the air to keep it alive long enough for Austin Reaves to grab an offensive rebound.
The 6-foot-8 forward did not appear in the Lakers’ first four games. He has been on the fringes of the Lakers rotation in part because his three-point shot is not reliable enough to offset his consistent defensive tenacity and energy. But with the Lakers struggling to find a backup center behind Walker Kessler, Lakers coach JJ Redick said Vanderbilt could get an opportunity to play out of position.
Redick said he had previously had conversations with Vanderbilt about ensuring he would be in a position to succeed. Redick views Vanderbilt more as a wing or a forward than a center, where he occasionally played during 2025 after the Lakers traded for Luka Doncic and were shorthanded in the frontcourt. But with Kevon Looney being the only other full-time center behind Kessler this season, there could be moments when Vanderbilt plays the five by necessity, Redick acknowledged Wednesday.
When Kessler wasn’t on the floor Wednesday, Redick said the duo of Vanderbilt and the 6-foot-9 Mamukelashvili was “the best pairing in terms of having another big out there that can space and shoot and play-make.” Mamukelashvili had 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals in 30 minutes.
Looney, who was minus-eight in five minutes on the court against the Trail Blazers on Tuesday, did not play Wednesday. The three-time NBA champion offers a completely different skill set than Kessler at the position, and only one week into the season, Redick said the staff is still figuring out how Looney best fits into the team’s scheme.
“You’re trying to figure out who you are as a group [at the beginning of the season],” Redick said. “You’re also, like, for a team with a lot of new guys, you’re trying to figure out what they are. You follow players for years. You can watch them play, and you got to figure out where they fit and how you can, again, put them in a position to succeed. So that’s still a work in progress with all regards.”
The Lakers looked to bolster their depth at center by signing 7-foot center Lawson Lovering to a two-way contract Wednesday and waiving forward AK Okereke. Lovering was with Memphis’ G League affiliate, where he averaged 7.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 30 games last season. He was undrafted out of Utah, where he finished his collegiate career that started at Colorado.
US sports team owners include some of the wealthiest people in the world, and many spend millions of dollars on US politics. But why? Ahead of the US midterm elections, Al Jazeera’s Samantha Johnson follows the money to explore why sports owners spend millions on politics.
Christine Lagarde will leave the post in February, nine months before the end of her eight-year term.
Published On 29 Oct 202629 Oct 2026
European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde will step down months before her term ends, kicking off a race to succeed her against a turbulent backdrop in the eurozone.
Lagarde announced on Thursday that she will leave the post on February 7, about nine months before the scheduled end of her eight-year term. She said in a filmed statement posted on X that she was leaving “with a sense of good work done and an ECB that is fit for the future”.
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The move gives European Union leaders time to choose her successor before April’s French presidential election, which polls have suggested far-right candidate Marine Le Pen is favoured to win.
The timing could allow current European Council members, including French President Emmanuel Macron, to take part in appointing Lagarde’s successor before France’s vote.
Macron, who is not allowed to run again, thanked Lagarde in a post on X for “the determined action she led at the head of the European Central Bank” during “a period marked by numerous crises”.
“The transition at the head of the ECB must now be prepared in an orderly and balanced manner with our European partners,” the leader of the eurozone’s second-largest economy added.
However, Markus Ferber, a German member of the European Parliament, warned: “If the impression arises that such a departure is timed around national elections, it damages trust in an institution that must stand above any domestic political calculation.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, leader of the eurozone’s largest economy, said Lagarde had led the bank “with great aplomb during challenging times”, and European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen thanked Lagarde “for everything you have done for Europe and the euro”.
French Finance Minister Roland Lescure praised her tenure. “Christine Lagarde has been an exceptional President of the ECB. As Europe navigated through crises and difficult times, she brilliantly modernised and strengthened the institution,” he posted on social media.
Marcel Fratzscher, president of the German Institute for Economic Research, told the Reuters news agency the early exit gives governments “an opportunity to appoint a successor who will safeguard European values and protect the ECB’s independence”.
Markets appeared unfazed. “Our view is that institutional behaviour is likely to outlast Lagarde and be quite similar, whoever takes over,” Simon Dangoor, head of fixed income macro investing at Goldman Sachs told Reuters.
Lagarde, appointed in October 2019, steered the bank through the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the United States-Israel war on Iran.
The ECB faced criticism for responding too slowly to the 2022 inflation surge, caused by post-pandemic supply chain bottlenecks and the war on Ukraine. Inflation is currently running at almost double the bank’s 2 percent target amid worries over France’s public finances.
A former French finance minister and head of the International Monetary Fund, Lagarde arrived in Frankfurt in 2019 as the first ECB chief with no formal economics training or central banking experience, prompting some market participants to warn of a “credibility risk”.
In March 2020 as the pandemic shook sovereign debt markets, she said the bank was not there to narrow the gap between Italian and German borrowing costs. She went on to show that political diplomacy could steer a central bank through historic shocks.
Sources told the AFP news agency that leaving early would give Lagarde “greater freedom to express her views”. She has hinted she could campaign in the French presidential race, saying a European voice was needed in the debate.
THE evenings are drawing in and the mornings are getting chillier – so now is the perfect time to plan your winter sun getaway.
For the next two weeks, the temperature in Agadir, Morocco, sits between 26C and 29C – making it the perfect spot to escape the UK.
Agadir is hitting highs of 29C over the next two weeksCredit: Getty
And the even better news is that return flights cost as little as £43 and take around four hours.
The city sits on southwestern coast of the country and is framed by the Anti-Atas mountains, which date back millions of years.
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The city is home to three souks to explore, such as Souk El Had, which is the largest in the city with a staggering 13 entrance gates and and around 3,000 to 6,000 shops and stalls selling spices, leather goods, fresh fruit and crafted goods.
You could also visit La Medina d’Agadir, which is a craft village with workshops and smaller shops.
For a bit of history, head on the cable car to Agadir Oufella Kasbah, which is home to 16th century hilltop ruins as well as panoramic views of the city and marina below.
And of course, Agadir is home to a brilliant six-mile Plage d’Agadir beach with golden sand and a promenade lined with shops, cafes and palm trees.
If you are a keen outdoor explorer, take a half or full-day trip into the Atlas Mountains, with limestone canyons and natural rock pools ideal for a cooling dip.
North of the city, Taghazout Bay is another great day trip – it’s a small fishing and surfing village with secluded spots serving up fresh seafood.
Return flights to the city cost as little as £43 in NovemberCredit: Getty
Deputy Travel Editor Kara Godfrey, who has visited the city, said: “The Moroccan city is home to the country’s largest market, Souk El Had, as well as a bustling harbour and modern marina.
“Rebuilt following a devastating earthquake in 1960, the sprawling city nestles against the Atlantic Ocean and its palm-lined wide roads feel more Miami than Morocco.
“At Taghazout Beach, hordes of eager surfers took to the sea before I’d even finished my morning coffee.
“As a novice surfer, I opted to watch those riding the waves, while my companion made friends with the stray dogs and hawkers selling Moroccan breads.”
Soon there will also be a new TUI Magic Life all-inclusive beachfront resort in Agadir as well, set to open summer next year.
The resort will have more than 400 rooms, three restaurants, four bars and three outdoor swimming pools.
Can’t head to Agadir in the next couple of weeks? Well the good news is that the city benefits from around 300 days of sunshine each year.
A Netflix documentary has been described as ‘disturbing’ and ‘jaw-dropping’ by viewers, who say it’s ‘impossible to turn off’. Give it a go if you’re struggling to find something to watch
People have been struggling to switch it off (stock)(Image: Netflix)
Everyone with a Netflix subscription knows how overwhelming it can be to find something good to watch. And sometimes, they give up altogether, heading to bed without ever making it past the title screen.
But one user claims there’s no need to waste precious time searching on this occasion, as he’s got the ideal documentary recommendation – and believes everyone will soon be discussing it. EccyReviews, who watches and critiques films and television programmes across his social media channels, is encouraging Netflix subscribers to give Tell Me Who I Am a watch.
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What’s the plot?
The 2019 documentary chronicles the story of Alex Lewis, who suffered memory loss after an accident.
Its IMDb description reads: “Alex Lewis trusts his twin brother, Marcus, to tell him about his past only to discover that he’s hiding a dark secret about their childhood.”
Speaking about the documentary, EccyReviews said: “You’re going to be running to Netflix to go and watch this documentary because it is one of the most insane stories you will ever hear.
“Everyone I know who’s seen this documentary cannot stop talking about it. The documentary I’m talking about is called Tell Me Who I Am.
“It follows a young man who after a motorcycle accident, wakes up to find he has lost his complete memory.
“He doesn’t know who his brother is, who his father is or even his own mother. And when he returns home he knows that there is something strange going on in his house.
“After years and years of never really speaking about his past, he meets up with his brother across this table to find out his entire backstory.
“Now it is genuinely disturbing, emotional and jaw dropping once you hear what happened to him. And honestly, if you haven’t seen this documentary you are massively missing out. So get it on your watch list right now.”
Where to watch Tell Me Who I Am?
The documentary is available to stream on Netflix in a single viewing, with a runtime of one hour and 26 minutes.
If you’re more in to reading, the book is also available to purchase, having become a Sunday Times bestseller.
What do people say?
Commenting on the recommendation, one TikTok user said: “I don’t have the patience to watch full documentaries, but this actually had me glued to the tele, it’s so disturbing because it’s true, I’ll ask the question for everyone, would you have told him?”
Another added: “What an incredible story. Heartbreaking. An incredible watch.”
A third user said: “Watched this before and highly recommend… it’s so upsetting in parts but will keep you hooked.”
At a new luxury yacht club, boats will be outfitted with slatted decks, hulls and portholes, but they won’t be bobbing in a marina. Instead, they will be anchored to the dusty desert floor — in Joshua Tree.
Lucky Find Hospitality, a boutique hotel development and management firm, says the company is less than a year away from breaking ground on Compass Yacht Club, a nautical themed hotel where guests will stay in yachts designed to serve as hotel rooms. These rooms — specifically, 30 two-level luxury yachts and 28 boat houses — will be arranged in a circle around a central clubhouse that will feature a restaurant, bar and swimming pool, all just a five-minute drive from the entrance to the national park.
A rendering of one of the 58 boats that guests could book during their stay.
(Compass Yacht Club)
“You fall asleep in a yacht, wake up in the desert with a view of the mountains, and you’re a few minutes from one of the most beautiful national parks in the country,” said Nick Ovanessoff, managing director of the firm. “It sounds a little crazy, and that’s exactly why we love it.”
The improbable nautical-themed resort has been a long, hard labor of love, said Lucky Find Hospitality’s CEO, Rigel Bitterman. Born in Idyllwild and raised on a sailboat in San Diego, Bitterman grew up camping and rock climbing in Joshua Tree National Park. After helping to launch close to 40 boutique hotel projects around the globe, his company purchased a 23-acre parcel across the highway from Auto Camp in 2023. The team has been working ever since to clear the many geotechnical, biological and cultural hurdles that make developing anything in the high desert so challenging.
“It’s wild how long it takes to get things done out there,” Bitterman said.
A rendering of the interior of a room.
(Compass Yacht Club)
The property was already zoned for commercial use when Lucky Find Hospitality purchased it, but a section of the parcel is in a FEMA flood zone, which meant that the company had to work through the federal government as well as local municipalities to obtain permits and entitlements. Lucky Find has also prioritized environmentally friendly development processes, spending extra time to ensure that the Compass Yacht Club will use minimal water and be constructed of sustainable materials. To cause minimal impact on the environment, the yachts will be built off-site and placed on the desert floor by a massive crane.
Yet another challenge came from the local community, which has historically been hostile to new development. Bitterman has tried to play nice, hosting ongoing quarterly town hall meetings to keep locals abreast of the project and receive feedback from them, but the meetings are inevitably confrontational.
“I’m tarred and feathered every time,” he said.
One community member described the project as “gentrification at its finest” at a town hall last December. Another suggested that Lucky Find Hospitality replace the hotel’s yacht theme with something more appropriate for the desert: spaceships.
It seemed to be a popular idea.
“The whole room started chanting ‘Spaceships, spaceships,’” Bitterman said.
Each luxury yacht will be constructed of sustainable materials.
(Compass Yacht Club)
Despite the expected — and unexpected — challenges, Bitterman is confident the project will move forward. Approval on the final conditional use permit should be coming by the end of the year, which will allow portions of the property to open to the general public in addition to hotel guests. If all goes according to an already elongated schedule, the team will break ground in 2027 and Compass Yacht Club will open by the end of 2030. In the meantime, Lucky Find Hospitality together with its design partner Rad Labs, has a modular yacht hotel room design ready to go.
Over the past 10 years Lucky Find Hospitality has helped launch hotels where guests sleep in yurts, treehouses, glamping tents and Airstreams and. But Bitterman said Compass Yacht Club has been the company’s wildest, hardest and most dear to his heart projects yet.
“It’s partly my origin story, growing up on a boat and always being fascinated by boat design,” he said. “Everything we do is small and unique, but I’ve never been able to bring something to market quite like this.”
With less than a week until Election Day, Democrats remain divided over their nominee in Michigan’s pivotal Senate race. The question now is whether those divisions will outweigh voter frustration with President Trump and the Republican Party.
Criticism of Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has persisted for months, both privately and publicly, since a contentious primary divided voters and party leaders. Rather than focusing solely on uniting the party’s traditional coalition in the aftermath of the primary, El-Sayed has sought to bring new voters — particularly college students and rural residents — into the fold.
But the lingering Democratic tensions spilled into public view again Wednesday, when Jason Turkish, the fiance of El-Sayed’s former primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens, told The Detroit News that he would vote for Republican Mike Rogers.
Hours later, Stevens appeared on CNN to reaffirm that she would be voting for El-Sayed, but urged his campaign to “shut out the hate and call it out.”
“Make people who are in my coalition, right, make them feel comfortable about coming to the polls,” said Stevens, who drew significant support from Jewish and Black voters during the primary.
El-Sayed’s criticism of Israel, past remarks and associations with controversial streamer Hasan Piker have long drawn concern from some in Michigan’s large Jewish community. Turkish and others in the Jewish community have said El-Sayed hasn’t done enough to address concerns ahead of the general election.
The latest controversy centered on an ad by Rebellion PAC, an independent left-wing group, that linked U.S. support for Israel to high grocery prices.
“That has nothing to do with our campaign,” El-Sayed said of the ad. “It’s certainly not what I want to be talking about right now.”
Stevens and other Democrats urged him to go further to denounce the content of the advertisement rather than merely distancing himself from it.
Republicans face political challenges of their own, particularly voter dissatisfaction with Trump, the Iran war and high costs. Rogers has remained closely aligned with the president on most issues, appearing alongside him at a Michigan rally Sunday where he credited Trump with bringing manufacturing jobs back to the state.
El-Sayed has sought to capitalize on that dissatisfaction, holding campaign events in heavily Republican areas, including Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. His campaign even released an ad featuring clips of prominent conservative figures praising him, including Tucker Carlson. The former Fox News host has also been accused of antisemitism, which he has denied.
But that outreach has created another source of friction with some Jewish voters.
Rabbi Aaron Starr of Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield criticized both the Rebellion PAC ad and El-Sayed’s campaign ad during a call with reporters.
“We are one week away from the election, and it feels like the temperature has turned way up,” Starr said. “Instead of things getting better over the last seven weeks, they’ve actually gotten worse.”
Rangers’ next challenge comes on Saturday as they head to Hampden where Aberdeen await in the semi-finals of the Scottish League Cup and McInnes is hoping to get the better of his old club.
But he admits, despite Aberdeen’s recent poor form and the fact Rangers are firm favourites to win through, his side will have to “deliver it on the pitch”.
“People might view us as favourites for it and I understand that but we’ve’ still got a game to win and Aberdeen are capable of a big performance,” said McInnes.
“I’m just concentrating on us, if we get to our levels then hopefully it’s going to be enough to win the game but a strong 90-minute performance is going to be required, I feel.
“To get the first trophy would be so important, reinforcing confidence, reinforcing belief. Traditionally, semi-finals can be fraught with a lot of nerves and tension and sometimes they’re not the best games, because of what’s at stake.
“A semi-final is a stand alone game, sometimes form goes out the window. They’ve got a good, experienced manager in Robbo (Stephen Robinson) and they’ve got some good players, experienced players in Aberdeen and they’ll be relishing the opportunity as well.”
Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville believes root of team’s problems is Glazer family, urges them to sell-up.
Published On 29 Oct 202629 Oct 2026
Gary Neville says managers sometimes need to be dismissed “for their own good” as Manchester United persist with under-pressure boss Michael Carrick.
Carrick’s future at Old Trafford has been the subject of intense speculation after a miserable run of eight games without a win.
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Sunday’s 3-0 humbling at home to Bournemouth left the English giants one point above the Premier League relegation zone.
United have won just two of 12 matches in all competitions this season, with a return of seven points from eight league games representing their worst start to a league season in 40 years.
But Carrick, 45, and a former United and England midfielder, remains in charge and is expected to give a pre-match news conference later on Thursday ahead of the team’s league match away to Chelsea on Saturday.
“I reckon what’s happened in the 24 hours after Bournemouth is that [the United hierarchy] literally debated [Carrick’s future] back and forth,” former Manchester United captain Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast.
“I don’t know this, but they’ve debated it to the point where they’ve got themselves into a muddle, and thought, ‘we’ll just stay with him’.”
“I think staying with him is a result of the lack of planning, the lack of probably available options, the lack of decision-making around the two people that probably are available. That’s when you’re really struggling.”
Neville, a former United teammate of Carrick, added: “Sometimes a manager needs sacking for their own good. I needed sacking at Valencia. I was happy that they put me out of my misery.”
‘Enough is enough’
Both Eddie Howe, previously in charge of Newcastle, and former Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann have been touted as possible replacements for Carrick at Old Trafford.
Carrick, however, appears to have the backing of the United faithful, being warmly applauded by fans as he made his way down the tunnel following the defeat by Bournemouth.
Moments later a chorus of boos erupted as the players left the pitch, as supporters made clear where they think the blame lies for United’s current malaise.
Carrick was handed a two-year deal in May after inspiring an impressive revival following the team’s struggles under Ruben Amorim — United secured third place in the Premier League and a return to the Champions League.
The drastic decline this season is an all-too-familiar story for United supporters, who last witnessed a Premier League title triumph 13 years ago under Alex Ferguson.
Neville believes the root of United’s woes is majority owners the Glazer family, saying “enough is enough” as he urged them to sell up.
The Glazers took control of the club in a controversial takeover in 2005. They remain majority owners after selling a minority stake to British billionaire businessman Jim Ratcliffe in 2024.
Neville, a longstanding critic, reiterated his call for the United States-based family to sell.
“There’s 1.2 billion pounds [$1.6 billion] of debt in that football club, they’re hamstrung in some ways,” said Neville, adding: “You’ve got a failure of 13, 14 years on the football side, you’ve subbed it out to somebody else [Ratcliffe] which is ridiculous, and not took responsibility … Enough is enough, they have to sell the whole club.”
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman rejects ‘disinformation campaign’ amid allegations by some Israeli politicians of voting interference.
As Israel awaits the final results of its highly contested elections, some political figures have sought to drag Qatar into the fray with claims of voting interference – an accusation Doha rejects.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and media outlets associated with it have, without evidence, accused Qatar of sending money to Arab parties in Israel for get-out-the-vote drives.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman on Thursday categorically denied the allegations of interference or funding of any activities aimed at influencing the election results.
“We reject the accusations made by certain Israeli politicians and their contacts in the media, who have launched yet another disinformation campaign aiming to drag Qatar into Israeli political disputes following this week’s elections,” Majed al-Ansari said in a post on X.
The unsubstantiated Israeli claims, which the spokesperson described as “ridiculous and dangerous in equal measure”, are the latest in a long-running campaign against Qatar.
Netanyahu has previously boasted about attacking Qatar in September 2025 during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza while Israeli influence experts and political advisers also worked on a secret campaign targeting Qatar in the weeks after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel.
“[Some Israeli politicians] accuse Qatar of buying off Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli political left and now, in this latest campaign, the Arab vote. If these claims were to be believed, Qatar would apparently own all of Israel,” al-Ansari said.
Partial results indicated that Netanyahu’s bloc would not secure a majority in the Knesset in Tuesday’s parliamentary elections. Those results showed the two Arab lists securing a record number of seats in the new parliament, but the main parties have rejected the idea of partnering with them.
Despite the latest claims, Dean Livine, the acting director for Israel’s Central Elections Committee, has rejected allegations of foreign interference in the elections. “The Knesset elections were conducted lawfully. The integrity of the elections at polling stations was rigorously safeguarded,” he wrote in a letter to an MP and fellow committee member.
“The repeated invocation of Qatar in Israeli electoral rhetoric reveals an excessive obsession with our country among certain Israeli political and media figures,” al-Ansari said, adding that Qatar should “not be used as a scapegoat for the political failures of certain Israeli politicians”.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman said some Israeli politicians, instead of shifting attention onto Qatar, “would be better off focusing on their own voters, improving people’s everyday lives, and undoing the damage they’ve created in the region”.
He reiterated that Qatar has “no involvement” in Israel’s political or electoral competition.
“These are internal Israeli matters in which we do not interfere, and we will not accept any attempt to draw Qatar into its domestic political disputes.”
Qatar is a key mediator in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and played a central role in talks to halt Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Doha is also leading mediation efforts between Washington and Tehran to end the United States-Israel war on Iran.
Al-Ansari said the latest accusations would not distract Doha from its “important role as a mediator, our diplomatic and humanitarian efforts, our support for the Palestinian people, or our commitment to a just and comprehensive peace and regional stability.”
The latest series of Celebrity Traitors has been nothing short of chaos with fiery roundtables and a traitor who simply couldn’t resist revealing his fate in the opening episode
The trio of traitors were deemed the most trustworthy in the game(Image: BBC)
Celebrity Traitors is back on tonight as BBC viewers learn who is set to be banished, will it be Joanne McNally or Sharon Rooney? But with both faithfuls in the firing line, we can only imagine it’ll be sheer disappoint in Thursday’s show.
Of course the three Traitors also appear to be stronger than ever – with Maya Jama, King Kenny and James Acaster all voted the most trustworthy in their latest mission. As a result, Celebrity Traitors host Claudia Winkleman handed Kenny the all-important double vote to use at the roundtable. But while the faithfuls are yet to suspect either of them as a traitor, some fans believe a decision Claudia made at the beginning instantly killed off the game.
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In a post on Reddit, one person labelled this season as “great TV” while someone else claimed choosing Maya as a traitor wasn’t a good choice.
They added: “This series was doomed when they cast Maya Jama as a traitor.” Claiming to be a “huge Traitors fan”, they also said they’re not fussed about this year’s winner.
Someone else claimed the presenter has made “terrible traitor choices”, with the exception of Kenny. They continued: “I get that she’s a traitor and thus obviously wants to sabotage and weaken the faithfuls, and she should!
“But at the same time, from a viewership perspective, if there’s not a single competent faithful and it seems too easy for the traitors, it’s not an interesting watch.
“She couldn’t have predicted just how bad this series’ faithfuls are, but still, I mourn for the alternate season we could’ve had if potentially competent faithfuls like Hannah and James A weren’t recruited.”
But in the main post, the viewer wondered why this season is “getting so much stick”. They added: “It’s great TV. People getting upset because it’s not turning out the way they wanted it… it’s reality TV. It could have 100s of different outcomes. That’s life.”
Another agreed: “Yeah I’ve loved it so far, it’s been really fun.” A third commented: “The show is fine. The viewers are the problem,” while a fourth chimed in: “I’ve enjoyed it. It’s not as funny as last year’s but I’m into it and I care about the result. I really want a 3-traitor win!”
Later tonight we’ll see who will be banished from the castle – will it be Joanne or Sharon?
Celebrity Traitors will be back on at 8pm tonight on BBC One and again tomorrow at the same time.
Anyone breaking the rules can be fined up to 40,000 Thai Baht (£890) or face being being jailed for up to 10 years.
Earlier this year, two English tourists were fined the full £890 after being caught vaping on the beach, and warned they faced prison time if caught again.
The Thai embassy states: “While electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes are used around the world as a way of helping people quit smoking, travelers coming to Thailand should be aware that these devices are, in fact, illegal in the kingdom.”
Singapore
Just as strict as Thailand is Singapore, which has fully banned vapes since 2018.
Even having one on you and not using it is illegal, with fines up to S$2,000 (£1,171) for that alone, as well as up to six months in prison.
Tourists who are caught repeatedly breaking the rules face being banned from visiting the country altogether.
Places like Thailand (pictured), Singapore and Mexico have strict fines and even jail sentences for vapersCredit: Getty
Mexico
Mexico cracked down on vaping with new rules introduced back in January 2026.
Anyone caught bringing in a a vape can be fined up to $500 (£375) on the spot while public use of one also comes with a $150 (£112) fine.
Maldives
Leave the vapes at home if heading to the Maldives as they are banned, with fines up to $320 (£240) if caught carrying or using.
Vietnam
Since 2025, vaping has been fully banned across the country which means both carrying and using them.
Fines can be up to $190 (£142) while hotels could remove you from the property if caught.
CEBU, Philippines — The United States and Japan have agreed to establish a Japanese facility for the joint production of advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, the Japanese defense chief said.
It is the latest move by the allies, which have repeatedly expressed alarm over China’s growing assertiveness in Asia.
Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi made the announcement in a news conference Wednesday night in the central Philippine province of Cebu, where he met U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the sidelines of an annual meeting of Southeast Asian defense chiefs and their major Asian and Western counterparts.
Koizumi renews concern over China’s naval activity
Koizumi raised concern Thursday about China’s increasing naval activity in southwestern Japan. He said that three Chinese destroyers and a coast guard ship together crossed the Osumi Strait south of the southern main island of Kyushu and headed east to the Pacific Ocean this week. It was the first such fleet configuration his ministry has spotted, he said.
Koizumi said he cited the incident as “an example illustrating the challenging security environment in the region” in his remark at a session Thursday. His ministry will keep watching the Chinese activity with high level of interest, he said. Japan has been accelerating military buildup in southwestern Japan to deter China.
The annual meetings aim to avert a major regional conflict and strengthen defense cooperation. On the sidelines of the meetings, however, the U.S. and China and their allies have often traded criticisms.
Japan, US to bolster joint missile production capacity
The missiles that will be produced as part of a joint effort called “Operation Supercharge” are essential for the F-35 fighter jets, Koizumi said. The two sides agreed to build a final assembly and inspection plant for the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM, in Japan, he said. The U.S.-made F-35s are one of the world’s most advanced aircraft and are also used by the Japanese military.
During his brief meeting with Hegseth in Cebu, Koizumi said he “shared a sense of crisis … regarding the increasingly severe regional situation and we agreed to strengthen the deterrence and response capabilities of the Japan-U.S. alliance with greater speed and intensity than ever before.”
“We reaffirmed the importance of a free and open international order based on the rule of law, which rejects any attempts to unilaterally alter the status quo through the use of force, coercion or other means,” Koizumi said.
Hegseth reassures U.S. engagement in the region
Hegseth renewed the Trump administration’s repeated assurances of commitment to help deter aggression in the region in a separate meeting on Wednesday with ASEAN defense ministers, who were led by the host, Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. Like Koizumi, Hegseth did not mention China by name in expressing his security concerns in the region.
“The approach we’re taking, we describe as strong, quiet and clear,” Hegseth told the ASEAN defense chiefs. “Strong enough to deter coercion and aggression, quiet enough to avoid needless escalation or public theatrics to let our actions speak for themselves.”
His message is “clear enough that our friends, our partners and potential adversaries understand precisely where the United States stands and that we will defend our interests and the interests of our allies and partners,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth has assured the Philippines, the oldest treaty ally of Washington in Asia, that the Trump administration will build a robust deterrence against China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed South China Sea. Beijing claims the busy waterway, a key global trade route, virtually in its entirety.
Australia shows commitment to defend the rule of law in the Pacific
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said his country’s forces, along with allies like the U.S., will press on with efforts to defend the rule of law despite China’s increasing assertiveness, including in the South China Sea. Australia protested last year after a Chinese J-16 fighter aircraft released flares and passed within 100 feet of an Australian P-8 Poseidon surveillance jet over the disputed waters.
“That doesn’t deter us from doing what we need to do and that’s essentially asserting the rules-based order here in the end of the Pacific,” Marles told The Associated Press in Cebu on Wednesday. “Freedom of navigation on the high seas is profoundly important for Australia.”
The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, all ASEAN member states, along with Taiwan, also have overlapping claims in the South China Sea. Confrontations have particularly escalated between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and navy vessels in disputed shoals and outlying waters.
Washington has warned that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.
Beijing and Tokyo have a separate dispute over tiny Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea, with both sides often accusing the other of infringing on their maritime territory.
Gomez and Calupitan write for the Associated Press. AP journalists Aaron Favila in Cebu, Philippines, and Haruka Nuga in Bangkok and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.
United have gone eight games without a win as they head to Chelsea – their worst run of results since 2015-16.
Not since the 1988-89 campaign have they had a sequence of nine matches without a win.
Nearly 40 hours passed between United losing against Bournemouth on Sunday and the club providing clarification on Carrick’s future, with the Englishman being given a chance to turn things around at Old Trafford.
Talks involving the Glazer family, minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox took place before Carrick’s immediate future was confirmed.
It seems likely he will remain in post for next Tuesday’s Champions League match against Roma, and the Premier League encounter with Aston Villa at Old Trafford on 8 November, after which there is a two-week international break.
Carrick, though, says he does not need guarantees over his position.
“I don’t need any assurances from anyone,” he said.
“I totally get the position. I understand the job. I understand the responsibilities. I understand what comes with that. So, I really don’t need any assurances from anyone in that regard.”
Asked if he was surprised to still be in a job, Carrick said: “No. I’m here to do my job. I’m here to do the best for the team, and I’m desperate to make us better and improve things. So, I’m not surprised, no.”
American Jake Paul to headline Christmas Eve boxing event in Dubai, with his opponent yet to be announced.
Published On 29 Oct 202629 Oct 2026
YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul will return to the ring on December 24 in Dubai just over a year after suffering a broken jaw in his knockout loss to Anthony Joshua, he said.
American Paul, 29, will headline the Christmas Eve card, with his opponent yet to be announced.
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The bout will be Paul’s first since his sixth-round knockout loss to former heavyweight champion Joshua in Miami on December 19 last year, when his jaw was fractured in two places, injuries that required multiple surgeries in December and February.
“I have spent years proving people wrong, taking risks and pushing myself against opponents nobody thought I would face,” Paul said in a statement.
“Nothing that’s happened has changed my belief in myself or what I’m working toward. I am hungrier than ever and on December 24 I’m returning to the ring in Dubai to start the next chapter of my journey.
“We’ve got plenty of names on the list; let’s see who signs the contract,” he added.
Paul has a 12-2 professional record, with his only defeats coming against Britain’s Tommy Fury and Joshua.
He also fought Mike Tyson in an exhibition fight in which he beat the former heavyweight champion in a unanimous points decision, although the bout drew criticism as a sham event.
When Paul McKinney, a farmer in northeast Arkansas, thinks of his son’s childhood, he remembers a small boy playing in vast fields.
To a child, a flooded rice field is “like a giant, 40-acre swimming pool”, he said.
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Rice has been a staple on McKinney’s farm for four generations. Next year, however, the family plans to plant much less. Instead, they will focus on soya, a crop that is cheaper to produce.
Like farmers across the United States, McKinney is making tough decisions this year in response to higher fuel and fertiliser costs, which have skyrocketed since the start of the war on Iran.
This week, farmers also face tough choices at the polls. Democrats are expected to make gains in the midterm elections, as voters react to high prices economy-wide by switching parties or staying home.
Observers are watching farm country closely. Texas and Kansas could send Democrats to the Senate for the first time in decades. In the House of Representatives, two majority-rural districts, Wisconsin’s Third and North Carolina First, could become tipping points for Democratic control.
Still, many of the country’s most rural areas, like Arkansas, are also its most safely Republican.
That leaves an uphill battle for Democrat Hallie Shoffner, who quit farming last year to challenge Republican Senator Tom Cotton in a campaign squarely focused on rising costs.
Democratic US Senate candidate Hallie Shoffner, a sixth-generation farmer, poses for a photo at her family farm, which is no longer in operation, in Shoffner, Arkansas, US [File: Karen Pulfer Focht/Reuters]
How high costs hurt farmers
Even before the US-Israel war on Iran, high input costs were straining farmers, said Ryan Loy, an extension economist for the University of Arkansas’ Division of Agriculture.
Loy pointed to a trade war with China that began in 2018, the ongoing war in Ukraine and disruptions related to the 2025 tariffs as factors driving up input costs and disrupting markets. A drought across the US heartland, made worse by climate change, has added to the strain.
Farmers across the country are working to adapt. In Arkansas, many farmers skipped rice in favour of soya. Soya is “the least input-intensive crop, and perhaps can break even or have the shallowest loss”, Loy said.
Now Arkansas, usually the country’s top rice producer, has its lowest rice acreage since the 1970s. Many farmers hoped 2026 would bring economic recovery so they could return to rice.
Then, the war on Iran hit. With the Strait of Hormuz blocked, fertiliser costs jumped just as farmers were fertilising during the spring planting season.
Loy tracked the increase in a sample budget that he maintains for Arkansas row crop farmers. “Urea fertiliser specifically peaked about 39 percent over our budgeted amount,” Loy said. Diesel costs came in about 72 percent more than budget averaged across the planting, growing and harvesting seasons, Loy found.
Those changes represent a significant economic hit. “For our state alone, it’s an additional cost of about $343m,” Loy said.
Last week, US President Donald Trump announced an $8bn fuel relief programme for farmers, following $12bn in tariff-related aid in 2025. If the fuel relief payment were divided equally between the 50 states, it would cover less than half of the extra costs that Loy estimates Arkansas’ farmers paid this year.
McKinney, a member of the Arkansas Farm Bureau, said the announcement was welcome. Still, he hoped for longer-term solutions that would prevent “this constant battle for survival”.
For many farms, survival is indeed getting harder. Farm bankruptcies for the first three quarters of 2026 were up 19 percent compared to this time last year, according to a recent analysis by the University of Arkansas’ National Agricultural Law Center. They were up 73 percent compared to 2024.
‘We can’t keep doing this’
McKinney’s son, who grew up playing in muddy rice fields, now helps his dad farm their 24,000 acres. So does McKinney’s nephew, who this year is driving a combine.
“As has been done for us, we would love to be able to hand that down to the next generation,” said McKinney. “But you also have to think about what is going to be best for them.”
McKinney questions how long farming will provide a sustainable living. “It’s some heavy things to think about,” McKinney said.
For Shoffner, a sixth-generation Arkansas farmer, that reckoning came last year.
Higher costs, lower crop prices and the uncertainty of trade wars and tariffs “made the numbers stop working” for their 2,000-acre farm operation, Shoffner told Al Jazeera.
“I know what it feels like to work hard, make every adjustment you can, and still have to sit down with your family and say, ‘We can’t keep doing this,’” Shoffner said.
To protect her parents’ land and retirement, Shoffner closed the family’s farm. That “heartbreaking” decision helped spur her Senate run.
“I decided that if I can’t farm, I will fight,” Shoffner said.
If elected, Shoffner wants to end the war on Iran, build trade policies farmers “can actually plan around”, invest in local processing and distribution, and pass a robust Farm Bill — strategies she hopes will help farmers and rural economies more broadly.
“If we want rural communities to have a future, the people producing our food have to be able to make a living doing it.”
Cotton did not respond to a request for comment.
US Senator Tom Cotton has a hefty war chest for campaign spending [File: Annabelle Gordon/Reuters]
How will farmers vote?
Economic pain may not change farmers’ votes, however, in Arkansas or nationwide. Michael Shepherd, a political scientist at the University of Michigan, said many farmers, like many rural voters, are committed Republicans.
Committed voters tend to view the economy through a partisan lens, according to Shepherd. “Their political behaviours, their voting choices, things like that, are not particularly responsive to changes in the agricultural economy,” he said.
Some polling this year, however, did suggest the potential for movement. A poll by the Farm Journal in April found that 35 percent of farmers who “usually” vote Republican and 15 percent who “always” vote Republican were still considering how they would vote.
And September polling from Purdue showed that, for the first time this term, a majority of farmers surveyed think the country is “on the wrong track”.
Even if farmers are swayable, of course, Shoffner still may not be the one to sway them: her campaign has been far outspent by Cotton’s, an established lawmaker who has received funding from interest groups like AIPAC and leaders at companies like Anthropic and Palantir.
“If one side has a massive war chest, and the other side has very limited resources, then that game of tug of war can be won much easier than it should be,” Shepherd said.
And even if farmers do change their votes, they may not decide elections.
McKinney, who is now farming one of the Shoffner family’s former fields, said farmers represent a shrinking percentage of rural voters — their strength now is in organising, not numbers.
Still, even where candidates like Shoffner don’t win, their campaigns might signal to funders that similar races may be competitive in the future or help Democrats win down-ballot seats.
In Arkansas’ second congressional district, for example, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is betting on Democrat Chris Jones. It’s a long-shot campaign, but across the country, at least some long-shot candidates are expected to win.
“All indications are that this is gonna be one of the biggest shifts away from the president’s party that we’ve observed,” Shepherd said.
EXCLUSIVE: The Celebrity Traitors is heating up with the semi-final airing tonight, but a former star believes that one of the Traitors will have to turn on another, in a huge twist
A former star of The Traitors has questioned whether Maya and King Kenny could hang James Acaster ‘out to dry’(Image: BBC)
A former star of The Traitors has predicted a major twist. Tonight’s episode will see at least one Faithful banished from the castle, in yet another devastating blow for the Faithful.
So far, only two Traitors have been banished from Ardross Castle, leaving the team of Faithful shrinking by the day. In yet another twist, the Faithful unknowingly branded the three Traitors – Maya Jama, James Acaster and King Kenny the most trustworthy stars.
But what they didn’t know was that Kenny was later given a chilling double vote for the roundtable, after he and his fellow Traitors worked out who their next victims would be. This series has seen Maya come out on top, with many of her banished and murdered co-stars believing that she could potentially win the programme.
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Former contestant Andrew Jenkins, who appeared on series two of the BBC show, also believes that Maya could go all the way. “Maya Jama has 100 per cent got what it takes, and all of them, to be honest,” he said. He went on to add: “The three traitors have all got a good case because they’ve all been voted the most trustworthy, so they’re all doing really well.”
However, Andrew believes the Traitors will turn on one another before tomorrow night’s final. He commented: “I think the biggest obstacle is going to be that they turn against each other. I think one of them will have to turn against the other one. But they’ve got no heat on them from any of the faithful. So I think Maya Jama is playing a really good game.”
But after James A refused to take part in a task which would benefit the Traitors last week, Andrew says he empathises with the comedian. Both James and Andrew started off on the show as Faithful, before being recruited by The Traitors. “You’re trying to play so many games,” he said.
Speaking in connection with Buzz Bingo, Andrew went on to add: “You’re trying to take the heat off you, you’re trying to be part of a team, and it’s hard trying to juggle it all. So I do understand. I can see it from both sides of the fence. And yeah, he probably has put a bit of a target on his back now. Do Maya and King Kenny trust him now? So he could be hung out to dry now.”
This year has also seen increased paranoia in the castle, with EastEnders hardman Ross Kemp initially fearing he’d been murdered after a co-star merely touched him. However, he was later murdered in plain sight by James A and Maya, who bored him so much he yawned.
“It’s hard,” Andrew said of the paranoia inside the castle, adding: “It is really hard. You get paranoid because you’ve seen previous series. You know how other people have been murdered, so you’re going to suspect things. Nobody wants to drink from any cups; nobody wants to do anything. You get really paranoid.”
Tonight will disclose whether the brutal roundtable voted in favour of Joanne McNally or Sharon Rooney being banished from the castle, as the Faithful and Traitors once again go head to head ahead of tomorrow’s final.
The Traitors airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 8pm.
It’s finally election day and you’re ready to head to the polls to cast your ballot in California’s 2026 midterm, but you don’t know where the nearest polling location is. Or perhaps you misplaced your ballot.
Here are some common last-minute election-day hiccups and how to navigate them so you can earn your “I voted” sticker on Tuesday.
I forgot to register to vote
You can still register as a conditional voter on election day through the “same day” voter registration process.
Eligible citizens who need to register or re-register to vote within 14 days of an election can complete this process at county elections offices, polling places or vote centers.
If you’ve become a U.S. citizen fewer than 15 days before the election, you may register to vote by visiting your county elections office anytime before the polls close on election day. You must bring proof that you are a U.S. citizen and sign a form saying you are eligible to vote in California.
For all those registering, the application requires a state driver’s license or California identification card number, or you can use the last four digits of your Social Security card.
If you don’t have any of those, you can still register. You’ll be assigned a unique identifier to validate your registration.
With same-day registration, you are “conditionally” registered to vote, and your ballot is provisional. Once officials have confirmed you are registered to vote in that county, your ballot is then processed and counted.
I don’t know where my polling place is
You can look for the nearest polling place by entering your address in the “Find your polling place” tool on the California secretary of state’s website.
The Los Angeles County office of the registrar-recorder/county clerk has a vote center locator that includes the wait time to cast your ballot.
I’m here at the polling place but forgot my ballot at home
You can request a provisional ballot at any polling place in the county in which you are registered to vote.
A provisional ballot is a regular ballot that is placed in a special envelope prior to being put in the ballot box.
It’s counted once election officials verify that you are a registered voter in that county and haven’t already voted in the election.
I can’t submit my mail-in ballot myself
You can have someone else submit your ballot.
Anyone can drop off your mailed ballot as long as you authorize them to do so and they do not get paid on a per-ballot basis, according to the secretary of state.
You and the person you’ve authorized to submit your mailed ballot must fill out and sign the outside of the ballot envelope.
I forgot my check-in code for in-person voting
Los Angeles County election officials say you can check in at a vote center by scanning your “quick check-in code” — a number that verifies your voter registration.
Your unique code can be found on your mailed sample ballot and vote center postcard. Take either of those hard copies to the vote center.
If you forgot the hard copies, you can find the code online. You retrieve it by verifying your voter registration here. You’ll need to input your last name, birth date, the house number of your residential address and your ZIP Code. For assistance call, (800) 815-2666, Option 2.
I’ve heard about touch-screen voting machines not working
It’s a common issue: You touch your voting machine screen, and it doesn’t show your intended selection.
Flag a poll worker if you’re having difficulty. If you’ve already printed a ballot that doesn’t reflect your intended selections, don’t cast it; notify a poll worker who will follow procedures for replacing the ballot.
How late is too late to put my ballot in a ballot box?
There are three ways you can submit your mailed ballot on election day:
You can put it in a ballot drop box. The cutoff time to do so is the same time that polls close, 8 p.m.
Drop it off at a polling place, vote center or county elections office by 8 p.m.
Drop it off at a United States post office. To ensure your ballot is postmarked by election day, mail it at least by Thursday — five days before Tuesday’s election. If mailing on election day, get a hand-stamped postmark from a postal employee at a U.S. post office.
Where is my nearest ballot box?
The Los Angeles County registrar-recorder/county clerk’s office has an online tool here to help you find a ballot box near you.
I think I forgot to sign my mailed ballot envelope
If you turned in your vote-by-mail ballot and forgot to sign it, your vote will still count.
Your county elections official will notify you by mail, phone or email. You can also be notified by way of the “Where’s My Ballot?” tracking tool, which offers automatic notifications that will ping you if there are issues with your ballot.
To remedy the issue, your county elections office will provide you with a form to fill out and return completed.
The form will be given to you two days prior to the day your county certifies the election, so be sure to fill it out and return it to your county elections office right away.
How late is too late to vote at the polls on election night?
In California, any voter who is in line at 8 p.m. when the polls are scheduled to close is allowed to vote, according to the secretary of state.
If there is a line when the polls close, a poll worker stands at the back of the line to let people who arrive after 8 p.m. know that the polls have closed.
Any voter who arrives after the polls have closed may not be allowed to vote, even if voters who were in line to vote before the polls closed are in the process of voting.
The defending Super Bowl-champion Seattle Seahawks added three-time All-Pro offensive lineman Quenton Nelson. The San Francisco 49ers reacquired All-Pro defensive lineman DeForest Buckner. Both teams executed trades with the Indianapolis Colts.
Have the Rams made plans or had trade discussions?
“No,” McVay said. “Based on our situation, I mean the good thing for us is, what you look at is hopefully some of those trades will be guys getting back from injury that haven’t played for us.
“That’s kind of the way we look at it.”
Multiple Rams star players are on injured reserve or are done for the season because of injuries.
Edge rusher Myles Garrett, the reigning NFL defensive player of the year, has not played since undergoing knee surgery after the season-opening defeat by the 49ers in Australia. He has been eligible to return since before the Rams played the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 18, but McVay said Wednesday that the Rams would not open the 21-day window for Garrett to return.
Tight end Terrance Ferguson, on injured reserve because of an ankle injury, also is eligible to return but will not practice this week.
Defensive lineman Poona Ford is out for the season because of a triceps injury, and defensive lineman Kobie Turner must sit out three more games while on injured reserve because of a groin injury. Star receiver Davante Adams is on injured reserve because of a hamstring injury that is expected to keep him out several more weeks.
General manager Les Snead is known for pulling off unexpected deals — see his trade for Garrett last June. But the Rams lack draft capital and have a league-low $206,406 of cap space, according to Overthecap.com.
So the Rams are apparently looking inward.
“The amount of guys that have not been available, that are key and focal points for really both sides of the football, you look at those guys hopefully being able to return within a month,” McVay said, “and that’s kind of where that value lies for us.”
Snead has a history of making big moves before or at the deadline.
In 2018, they traded for edge rusher Dante Fowler Jr. In 2019, they traded for cornerback Jalen Ramsey. In 2021, they signed receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and traded for edge rusher Von Miller.
Last season, the Rams made a low-key move, trading for defensive back Roger McCreary.
McVay acknowledged that “you always think about” possible deals and that the “conversation” might be different if more players were out for the season.
“But the good thing is a lot of the guys that are big, huge parts that we’re missing, we do expect to get back at some point, just not exactly sure when that is,” he said.
Months of forest fires and toxic haze in Indonesia has severely disrupted daily life. The crisis has caused widespread health problems, forcing schools to close and leaving businesses across the country struggling.
Public anger in Syria has threatened to boil over following disagreements between Amman and Damascus over Jordanian attacks on the southern Syrian regions of Deraa and Suwayda on Monday evening.
Jordan said its air force had killed more than 20 ISIL (ISIS) fighters in retaliatory strikes on what it called “dens of terrorist organisations in southern Syria”, linked to suspects accused of being behind last week’s attack on a Greek Orthodox church in the kingdom, which was claimed by the group.
But the next day, anger mounted in Syria as images spread of a slain grandmother and her three grandchildren.
While Jordan has launched attacks on Syria in the past, including assaults that led to civilian casualties, this latest episode seems to have captured public anger.
“The anger also reflects an expectation that the authorities in Damascus should now be able to protect Syrians and demand answers when they are killed or harmed,” Navvar Saban, a researcher in security and military affairs at the Arab Center for Contemporary Syrian Studies, told Al Jazeera.
“If people feel Damascus is more concerned with protecting the relationship with the Jordanians than accountability, some of the anger could turn inward.”
Contradicting accounts
Monday’s attack reportedly came in response to the assault on a Greek Orthodox church that killed nine people and wounded at least 34 others in the village of Hamoud in the Karak governorate, about 120km (75 miles) southwest of the capital, Amman.
Jordanian authorities said the attack was carried out by “extremist terrorists”.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II promised to respond with an “iron fist”.
“Jordan has absorbed many terrorist attacks before, but this one was especially brazen given the Christian church and the nature of the event being targeted,” Sean Yom, an expert on Jordan at Temple University in the United States, told Al Jazeera.
“Because of its unprecedented nature, explicitly targeting a protected Christian minority in the tribal heartland of Karak, the government instantly felt popular demands to show results from the investigation and arrest of the perpetrators. This pressure to be responsive is especially acute right now, because security and policing remain core strengths of the Jordanian state.”
Jordanian authorities arrested three men connected to the attack on the church on Monday. That evening, Jordan also launched the attack on southern Syria, which it said was carried out in coordination with authorities in Damascus.
But Damascus has contradicted that account.
The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it had informed Jordan of its “complete reservation” over the attacks, and said they took place “without prior coordination or notification with the Syrian side”. An official described the strikes as “treacherous”.
“Both governments have something to defend politically,” Saban said. “Amman wants to show that it acted against a serious threat through legitimate security channels. On the other hand, Damascus cannot afford to appear to have approved an operation that killed Syrian families. The investigation needs to establish who communicated with whom, when, and about which target. Until then, I would avoid either assuming Syria secretly approved everything or treating the coordination as a simple misunderstanding.”
The family’s bodies were recovered after they were killed by the Jordanian strike on a tent in the village of al-Taff, in the Lajat area of northeastern Deraa province. Syria’s civil defence said three other family members were wounded in the attack.
Meanwhile, in the al-Shayah farms near Nassib, in the Deraa countryside, an 80-year-old man named Riyad Karrad was also killed by a strike. Another man named Mutlaq Abu al-Khalil, 60, was killed in Shuhayb, in Suwayda’s northern countryside.
Syrian customs authorities closed the Nassib border crossing with Jordan on Tuesday, before reopening it to passenger and commercial traffic on Wednesday.
Syrian-Jordanian relations
Jordan has launched several air strikes on Syria since 2023. It says those strikes generally target arms or drug smugglers.
Under the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad, southern Syria became the site of cross-border drug smuggling, including the stimulant captagon. Some of those operations are believed to have continued after the fall of the Assad regime. At times, the Jordanian strikes have killed civilians, such as a January 2024 attack that Human Rights Watch said killed women and children.
Since the fall of the regime in December 2024, relations between Amman and Damascus have been lukewarm, though slowly improving. Analysts say this is down to shared interests.
“Syria needs healthy trading and commercial partners like Jordan, and Jordan wants Syria to become more secure and coherent for three reasons,” Yom said.
“A strong and friendly Syria can accept more repatriated refugees from Jordan, where there are still hundreds of thousands. It can also help seal the porous border and prevent arms and drug smuggling activities along their shared frontier. And lastly, a stronger allied Syria helps Jordan resist Israel’s creeping annexation, including the West Bank as well as more parts of Syria and Lebanon. So both have mutual interests tied to their sovereignty in maintaining good relations.”
Amman was also the site of a July 2025 trilateral agreement signing between Syria, the US and Jordan aimed at resolving internal disputes over violence in Suwayda.
“Only days before the strike, the two foreign ministers were discussing a strategic partnership and preparing another meeting of their High Coordination Council that is a significant investment in the relationship,” Saban said. “My expectation is that this is a serious strain rather than a rupture. Both governments have strong reasons to keep cooperation over the border, armed groups smuggling, etc. But this incident raises an uncomfortable question for Damascus.”
For its part, Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned the strikes as a violation of the country’s sovereignty but seemed to indicate relations with Amman would continue to be strengthened. It said Damascus is coordinating with Amman to establish a joint security committee to strengthen border security and prevent similar incidents.
In the meantime, Saban said that regardless of coordination with Damascus, accountability is needed to subside public anger.
“Even if an investigation established that Damascus approved some part of the operation, that would not explain why those people were killed or remove the need for accountability,” he said. “Ultimately, the families deserve a specific answer about the strike that killed their relatives, their friends, their family. Syrians need to understand why their families got killed.”
