News Desk

Kyiv, Ukraine – The 2022 destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, whose construction cost $19bn, epitomised the failure of “change through trade”, Berlin’s policy of softening Moscow’s hardline leadership through mercantile ties, according to some analysts.

Pressurised gas was pumped from Yamal, Russia’s Arctic peninsula of deer herders and treeless tundra, to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany’s Baltic region of chalk cliffs and medieval castles.

But on September 26, 2022, several underwater blasts created a kilometre-wide (0.6-mile) bubbling geyser of natural gas that became history’s worst release of methane and screeched the pipeline flows to a halt.

Dubbed an act of sabotage, the apparent operation has drawn the attention of Hollywood director Doug Liman, known for blockbusters such as The Bourne Identity and Mr & Mrs Smith.

Oscar-winning actors Sean Penn and Adrien Brody star in Liman’s upcoming drama, titled Snake Island, about Ukrainian divers who plunge into the Baltic’s blue waters from a sleek rented yacht to blow up the world’s longest undersea pipelines.

Back in the real world, one of the suspected divers, Volodymyr Zhuravlev, a 46-year-old father of three with more than two decades of free-diving experience, was a consultant on Liman’s film set in Croatia. He was arrested in the Croatian city of Pula on August 19 and is to be extradited to Germany.

Last year, another accused member of the sabotage team, Serhii Kuznetsov, was arrested in Italy and extradited to Germany.

The 49-year-old reportedly worked for Ukrainian intelligence and complained that he had been “abandoned by his country and president”.

Their arrests and upcoming trials have highlighted how the sabotage shocked Germany’s economy, overhauled its energy exports and consumption – and still affects ties between Berlin and Kyiv.

“The Nord Stream sabotage reinforced a key lesson from the 2022 energy crisis – Germany had become far too dependent on Russian fossil gas,” Claudia Kemfert, a professor with the Institute for Economic Research in Berlin, told Al Jazeera.

The pipelines were designed to deliver 110 billion cubic metres (3.9 trillion cubic ft) of natural gas a year and made Germany “captive to Russia”, United States President Donald Trump said in 2022.

Nord Stream 2 never became operational but did contain pressurised gas at the time of the explosions. Nord Stream 1 along with other Russian pipelines provided 55 percent of Germany’s natural gas.

It heated homes, generated energy and fuelled the economic pillars of Europe’s largest, export-oriented economy, the chemical and steelmaking industries.

The alleged sabotage “changed the debate on energy security fundamentally”, Kemfert said. “Today, security means reducing fossil import dependence through diversification, renewables, efficiency, grids and storage.”

The crisis also prompted a major, rapid expansion of infrastructure for liquefied natural gas. The latter proved to be a silver lining.

“The central lesson is clear: The less Germany depends on imported fossil fuels, the more resilient its economy and energy system become,” Kemfert said.

‘Politically sensitive’ questions

Meanwhile, the unresolved questions surrounding Nord Stream “remain politically sensitive” in Berlin-Kyiv ties, she said.

After Trump removed Washington from the political chessboard of the Russia-Ukraine war, Berlin became Kyiv’s largest and staunchest Western backer.

But Germany seems adamant about prosecuting the sabotage team.

“It’s a matter of principle for the German government, but it’s also a matter of the rule of law,” Cristian Vlas, an expert with ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data), an international think tank, told Al Jazeera.

And Ukraine’s most coveted post-war dream – integration into NATO and membership in the European Union – could be thwarted if the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party comes to power.

AfD opposes military and financial aid to Ukraine, wants to block its EU and NATO membership, lift Western sanctions slapped on Moscow for invading Ukraine and resume Russian energy imports.

“We can certainly see the rejection of Ukraine’s application as one of the key points on AfD’s agenda,” Vlas said. “It rejects delivering further military support to Ukraine with the purported pretence that it extends the war.”

EU and NATO integration could be “further in time”, Kyiv-based analyst Aleksey Kushch told Al Jazeera, but the suspected act of sabotage still succeeded in severing the “umbilical cord” of the Berlin-Moscow alliance that hurt Ukraine economically and politically.

In 2008, Berlin and Paris blocked a NATO membership invitation to Ukraine, insisting it would “provoke” Russia.

After Nord Stream 1 was launched in 2011, Kyiv lost half of its annual $3bn in transit fees for Russian gas pumped westwards through Ukrainian pipelines.

Berlin also denied arms deliveries to Kyiv after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, Berlin admitted it was wrong about the “change through trade” approach to Moscow’s belligerence.

“We failed on many points,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the ZDF broadcaster in 2022. “It’s true that we should’ve taken the warnings of our Eastern European partners more seriously, particularly regarding the time after 2014.”

After the pipeline blasts, no country or group claimed responsibility, and pundits pointed fingers at Washington, which was opposed to the pipeline’s construction, and Moscow, which some believed would benefit from higher natural gas prices and chaos in Europe’s energy markets.

In turn, Moscow accused “Anglo-Saxon powers” of masterminding the explosions.

It took German prosecutors almost two years to zero in on the sabotage team and accuse Kyiv of organising the bombing.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly denied Kyiv’s involvement.

Germany “knows very well that Ukraine wasn’t behind the implementation and the very conception to carry out this particular operation”, he recently said at a news conference.

So far, the upcoming trials of Zhuravlev and Kuznetsov are not affecting aid from Berlin.

“Germany still has a huge credit of trust towards Ukraine, which, however, won’t prevent prosecutors from doing their job and finishing the case and courts from convicting average executioners,” Nikolay Mitrokhin of Germany’s Bremen University told Al Jazeera.

But aside from the pipeline blasts, tensions have been seen before between the German political establishment and Ukrainian politicians.

In 2022, Andrii Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Berlin at the time, lambasted Germany’s then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz for not providing enough lethal weapons, calling him an “offended liver sausage”.

Also in 2022, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s then-foreign minister, bristled at Berlin’s slow arms deliveries, calling them “disappointing signals”.

“For Ukraine’s future, things are bad because [Ukrainian] elites are confident that that’s the way to get things done and this style, not this individual case [with the sabotage], can cost them membership in the European Union,” Mitrokhin said.

“Germany remembers everything, and after [German Chancellor Friedrich] Merz, who is kind to Ukraine, somebody else who is not that kind could come to power,” he said.

Nepal’s rescue teams, aided by Chinese and Indian experts, are racing to save more than 900 workers believed to be trapped underground at hydropower projects hit by devastating flash floods.

Nepali officials said on Monday that the focus was on reaching the workers in about a dozen hydropower project tunnels blocked by mud and rock debris.

The unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris on the Nepal-Tibet border on Wednesday – caused by a glacier collapse – has killed 903 people with 4,247 missing in Nepal, its disaster authority said.

The flood also wreaked havoc across the border in China’s Tibet region, where at least 16 people died and 546 are missing, said Chinese authorities.

‘Big challenge’

Pictures and videos shared by rescue teams in Nepal showed earth-moving equipment digging and shovelling mud and rocks under lights in the dark of the night as workers watched. Soldiers used torchlights in a big pit they had created to look for space to get into one tunnel.

“A large amount of debris has been deposited and that is posing us a big challenge to open the tunnels,” Nepal army spokesperson, Raja Ram Basnet, told the Reuters news agency.

“Our main focus is on opening the tunnels.”

Hundreds of bodies, many unidentified, have been buried in shallow graves as they began decomposing in the humid weather after being swept down the mountains by the torrent.

At a hospital in the capital of Kathmandu, morgues have reached capacity and families are flocking to other hospitals in hopes of finding missing loved ones, reported Al Jazeera’s Minelle Fernandez.

In addition to the 933 missing hydropower workers, some 500 workers from the Truck and Container Association are also missing, said Fernandez.

The Red Cross has estimated that more than 90,000 people are likely to have been affected by the disaster, which China has linked to the effects of climate change.

Prime Minister Balendra Shah said the flood was an “unprecedented and devastating natural disaster” and it remained challenging to compile a complete assessment of the damage.

“Despite the adverse weather, difficult terrain and continuing risks, we are moving forward with determination to save the lives of our citizens,” he said in a Facebook post late on Sunday, adding that nearly 21,000 security personnel were involved in rescue operations, besides civilian workers and volunteers.

While accessibility has been restored on many roads and highways, almost “40 kilometres of roads have been absolutely swept away”, Al Jazeera’s Fernandez said.

“So there are challenges on the ground in getting this aid to communities, but the authorities, as well as the agencies and their networks are working their way through it.”

China sends experts, aid

China’s state-run CCTV said the government has mobilised more than 2,100 rescue workers and allocated at least 220 million yuan ($33mn) to support relief efforts. Equipment and supplies have been airdropped to frontline rescuers, while Chinese soldiers used life-detection equipment to look for the missing.

Beijing said 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries were unaccounted for in Tibet.

“President Xi Jinping, according to state media, has called for all out efforts to rescue those missing in the mudslide, and this is the second time that the president has made such a call,” said Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing.

“So this seems to be the Chinese leader’s effort to call on people, not only to continue their efforts, but redouble their efforts even as things are looking grimmer and grimmer.”

China has sent nine tunnel rescue experts to Nepal and shared satellite information with Nepalese authorities, said Yu.

Although Nepal has said it does not need foreign help in general search and rescue efforts, it has accepted help from giant neighbours India and China for their expertise in tunnel rescue.

Rescue operations have been suspended several times since Friday because of bad weather and concerns that a lake, formed across the Nepal-China border by the disaster, could trigger new flooding after it began overflowing into Nepal’s rivers.

The weather was good on Monday and rescue work continued to pick up pace, said Narendra Pariyar, the district administrator of Rasuwa, one of the two hard-hit districts.

Who: Aston Villa vs Arsenal
What: English Premier League
Where: Villa Park, Birmingham, United Kingdom
When: Monday, August 30, at 8pm (19:00 GMT)
How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will bring you all the build-up from 16:00 GMT.

An early-season highlight in the English Premier League pits the dark horse for the title in recent years, Aston Villa, against the side that last season finally ended a 22-year wait to lift the top-flight trophy.

Villa had been making the early running in recent seasons and pushing the contenders most of the way, but it finished fourth last season – with only a late-season scramble securing their Champions League qualification as a result.

They did, however, secure the UEFA Europa League in their last campaign.

The Gunners, meanwhile, fired their way to the title to end Manchester City’s recent grip on the Premier League, having won the previous four titles, and show little sign of loosening their own hold this season.

This is a match that has produced some tasty encounters in recent years with revered Spanish coaches in either dugout.

Al Jazeera Sport takes a closer look at Monday’s match.

How have Arsenal started the new Premier League season?

Arsenal are a side brimming with the confidence of champions.

Mikel Arteta’s men have swatted aside Manchester City and Coventry City 3-0 to pick up the Community Shield and make a perfect start to their title defence respectively.

How have Aston Villa started the new Premier League season?

Aston Villa were thrashed 4-0 by Brighton in their opening match of the new Premier League season last week.

A depleted Villa conceded four goals inside the opening 31 minutes at Brighton, and also had Joao Gomes sent off in the first half in a miserable start to the season.

They were also defeated by Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup to kick off the return of European top flight football.

Arsenal’s Konsa set for frosty Villa return after summer transfer

Ezri Konsa could make his Arsenal debut to a frosty reception on his return to Villa Park, following his recent switch.

The England international is just one of a series of departures from Villa in recent months, which has torn apart a much-respected side.

The depth of options available to the Gunners means Konsa may even have to wait for his chance to shine despite the absence of William Saliba due to a long-term back injury.

Will Arsenal have more business to do in the transfer window?

Arteta has revealed that he has had difficult conversations with forwards Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus as both Brazilian internationals appear set to depart Arsenal.

“It’s inevitable. At some point you need to have certain discussions and say certain things that sometimes are tough,” said Arteta.

Martinelli left training early on Thursday amid speculation that he is set for a move to Saudi side Al Hilal for a fee that could reportedly rise to 50 million pounds ($68m).

“I think everybody knows and recognises how much we love Gabi [Martinelli]. Whatever the outcome is, it will be because everybody agrees to that,” added Arteta.

Jesus has fallen well down the pecking order during an injury-disrupted time in north London and was not even included in training on Thursday as he enters the final 12 months of his contract.

“It’s something to do with the numbers that we have in the squad at the moment and the way we’re managing that kind of situation individually with all the players – they have some personal situations,” Arteta said of the former Manchester City striker.

Will Arsenal sign Atletico’s Alvarez?

Arsenal have been linked with bolstering their forward line with a move for Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez.

The Argentinian is caught in an acrimonious standoff after Atletico refused to let him depart the Spanish capital for Barcelona.

“Don’t go there,” said Arteta about Arsenal’s interest in Alvarez. “I’m not going to make any comment about any player that is not with us.”

What is the latest transfer news at Villa after Watkins sale?

Villa manager Unai Emery said Ollie Watkins should be remembered fondly by Aston Villa fans despite not playing in the defeat by Villa, as he neared his move to Al Hilal.

The England international made a 50 million-pound ($68m) exit and has been replaced by Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson.

Watkins will follow Konsa, Morgan Rogers, Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne out of Villa Park, as the side that won last season’s Europa League has been torn apart.

But Emery said a disagreement over his availability last weekend should not mask Watkins’s legacy after netting 108 times over the last six years.

“Last week, I was a little bit disappointed. I was disappointed, but we spoke about it, and now [it’s] clear. He is a fantastic player, fantastic guy, and one mistake is not closing all the good things he did here,” Emery said.

“He was wrong, but we accepted it. The players as well, because he always had very good behaviour and commitment with the club and with me.

“I told him ‘bye’ with a huge hug and with small tears. But now, it’s a new chapter here with Nicolas Jackson.”

Jackson will reportedly cost Villa an initial 47.5 million pounds ($64.3m), with a further 17.5 million pounds ($23.7m) in potential add-ons.

Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has also moved in the other direction to join Chelsea – and the Villa exodus.

Why have Villa sold so many of their star names?

Villa have been forced to cash in on many of their stars due to financial sustainability rules.

But Emery is determined to continue driving the club forward after qualifying for the Champions League twice in the past three seasons, and ending Villa’s 30-year wait to win a trophy.

“We don’t want to be a club to sell players, but the responsibility is there,” added the Spaniard.

“It’s not changing our objective – our priority for the next year is to be competitive and to fight again to be in the top positions.”

What happened the last time Aston Villa played Arsenal?

Arsenal were 4-1 winners in the Premier League at Emirates Stadium when these sides last met.

After a goalless opening 45 minutes on December 30, the Gunners fired their way towards the new year – and the eventual title – with goals from Gabriel Magalhaes, Martin Zubimendi, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus.

Watkins scored a late consolation for Villa.

What happened in the corresponding match between Villa and Arsenal last season?

Villa were 2-1 winners in the corresponding fixture last season on December 5.

Matty Cash gave the home side the lead in the first half at Villa Park.

Leandro Trossard levelled early in the second period before Emiliano Buendia secured an injury-time winner.

Head-to-head

This will be the 208th meeting between the sides, with Arsenal winning 89 of those fixtures and Villa emerging victorious on 72 occasions.

The sides first met in October 1904, with Arsenal winning 1-0 in their English top-flight encounter in London. Villa won the reverse fixture 4-1 two months later.

Stat attack

There has not been a goalless draw between these sides in the last 21 matches, which have produced 63 goals and resulted in 13 wins for Arsenal and seven for Villa.

Villa did go on a four-match winning streak against the Gunners, and have won six of the last 13 meetings with one draw.

Prediction

The Opta supercomputer has given Arsenal a 63 percent chance of winning that game, while handing Villa – the home side – only a 16 percent chance.

Clearly, the supercomputer is not a fan of Villa’s summer transfer business.

Aston Villa team news

Villa have registered Jackson in time to face Premier League champions Arsenal, while Leon Goretzka could also make his debut after joining on a free transfer from Bayern Munich.

Alexandra Gomez is suspended for violent conduct and started the first of a three-game ban, while Amadou Onana misses out with a knee injury.

Aston Villa predicted starting lineup

Suzuki; Cash, Lindelof, Torres, Ruggeri; Bogarde, Kamara; Buendia, Barkley, McGinn; Jackson

Arsenal team news

As well as Saliba, the Gunners will be without Jurrien Timber at the back.

Bruno Guimaraes could return from a minor groin issue.

Arsenal predicted starting lineup

Raya; White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori; Rice, Lewis-Skelly; Saka, Odegaard, Tzolis; Havertz

In a scathing interview, French great Michel Platini accuses Infantino of always loving ‘money and power’.

French football great Michel Platini says FIFA president Gianni Infantino “must go” following the scandals that have surrounded football’s governing body and rocked the sport globally.

“Economic affairs are one thing, but Infantino has failed because he is the guarantor of the rules of the game and he didn’t respect them,” former UEFA president Platini told a French media outlet on Sunday.

The 56-year-old Infantino has been under fire since his aborted plan to bring private investment into FIFA events, such as the World Cup. He was also lambasted over a number of controversies during the recently concluded World Cup in North America.

Platini hit out at the so-called hydration breaks at the World Cup, which often lasted as much as four minutes and were used by the host broadcaster for advertisements.

He also pointed to the half-time show during the final, which largely overran the required maximum of 15 minutes, and the furore around FIFA suspending the red card ban given to American forward Folarin Balogun following a phone call made by United States President Donald Trump to Infantino.

“The ad breaks are not in the rules, the 30-minute half-time break in the final is not in the rules, and the red card, that’s the worst,” said Platini.

“He’s the guarantor [of the rules], he doesn’t respect them, he must go,” added Platini, who was UEFA’s secretary-general under the Frenchman’s leadership.

Since the World Cup, UEFA threatened to boycott FIFA tournaments until Infantino scrapped the FIFA Forward Enterprises plan to bring in private investment.

European football’s governing body UEFA has also accused Infantino of “criminal mismanagement” over the private financing.

FIFA did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for a comment.

‘He always loved money’

Other regional bodies – the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) – have joined UEFA in putting pressure on Infantino, who is hoping to run for re-election in March.

“It won’t be sporting institutions that sort this out and bring him down,” Platini said.

“If UEFA want to bring down Infantino, it will be through the courts.”

“I always knew that he loved money and power,” Platini added about the Swiss-Italian.

Platini was himself accused of fraud in 2015 when he was UEFA president and eyeing the top job at FIFA to replace Sepp Blatter, who was likewise accused of giving an illegal payment of $2m to the Frenchman.

Platini was eventually acquitted of any wrongdoing in 2025 but was forced to step down at the time, with Infantino leaping on the opportunity to be elected FIFA president in his stead in 2016.

“He didn’t bring me down, he benefitted from it,” said Platini.

“But now that there are lots of investigations into him all over the world, there is some noise about how he knew about certain things — let’s see what happens next.”

Platini is suing Infantino, and former FIFA officials Marco Villiger and Domenico Scala, in France “to seek compensation for all the damages he has suffered as a result of the tactics used to prevent him from being elected FIFA president in 2015”.

He accuses the trio of a “criminal conspiracy to commit false accusation … influence peddling … and aiding and abetting influence peddling”.

Naya Rivera and Ryan Dorsey’s son is making his film acting debut.

The “Glee” star’s 10-year-old son, Josey Hollis Dorsey, booked an on-screen role in “The Burning Valley” alongside his dad, Ryan. The two will play the role of father and son in the debut feature film from writer-director Evan Coury that started shooting this month northeast of Pittsburgh.

In an interview with the Tribune-Review, the filmmaker said the movie is about a steelworker who loses his job when the mill announces a shutdown. “It sets him on a journey as he wanders through his Rust Belt town,” Coury said. “My hope is to encapsulate the history of our region through one guy’s personal experience.”

The news of Josey’s big-screen debut comes six years after the tragic death of Rivera in 2020, when she accidentally drowned after renting a boat to take Josey, then 4 years old, fishing in Ventura County’s Lake Piru.

Josey’s foray into acting seems only natural considering his pro parents. Rivera is best known for her portrayal of the Afro-Latino queer cheerleader Santana Lopez in “Glee,” and Dorsey has acted in TV shows including “Justified” and “Palm Royale.” In a 2021 interview with “Entertainment Tonight,” Rivera’s mother, Yolanda Previtire, and sister, Nickayla Rivera, described Josey as the spitting image of his mother. “His tenacity, his drive, his zeal, his adventure for life. He’s just Naya in boy form,” Previtire said.

“He loves entertaining,” Nickayla added. “He loves singing at the top of his lungs.”

And last year, Dorsey told People that Josey, or “Jojo,” had already acted in a couple of plays. “He hasn’t had the the lead part or anything, but he’s so good,” he said, adding that Josey wasn’t “begging” to be an actor just yet.

“I’m just trying to expose him to all the things,” he continued. “He’s playing violin, he’s playing piano, he’s in the chess club, he’s pretty good at baseball. He’s not very good at basketball. He’s played soccer, but I want to continue to expose him to things. I think it could be an outlet for him as he gets older; he can have a good life being creative. It’s definitely in his blood.”

Aug. 31 (UPI) — A supertanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz struck two sea mines, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Monday, days after the Trump administration said it had cleared the vital transit route of the explosive devices.

According to a statement from the IRGC Navy carried by semi-official Tasnim News Agency, the unidentified tanker struck the mines, caught fire and came to a stop.

The IRGC Navy said the vessel had attempted to pass through an “illegal route south of the Strait of Hormuz” when it came into contact with the mines.

The IRGC Navy once again warns that the fate of ships that violate the security regulations of the Strait of Hormuz will be no different from this,” it said.

“Compliance with the regulations issued by the IRGC Navy for passage through the strait is mandatory.”

The U.S.-Iran war has for months been focused on the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has restricted commercial passage through with the use of mines, drones and artillery since the start of the conflict.

The U.S. military has been fighting to regain freedom of navigation through this chokepoint, and President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that vessels are freely able to transit it despite only 8.3% of the normal daily volume passing in the last 24 hours with hundreds of vessels waiting, according to the independent Hormuz Strait Monitor.

Last week, Trump claimed all mines planted by the IRGC in the strait had been cleared and Iran had been warned that any ship planting new mines would be “destroyed.”

U.S. Central Command Commander Adm. Brad Cooper later in the week echoed Trump, saying, “We have successfully cleared sea mines in the strait’s international shipping lanes.”

Neither claim could be independently verified.

The announcement came hours after U.S. forces said it struck a pair of rocket launchers on an island in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, the first U.S. military action taken against Iran in weeks.

Coral reefs make up just 1 percent of ocean coverage, but host a quarter of all life in the sea.

Coral reefs are experiencing bleaching events so frequently that they no longer have time to recover before the next one strikes, scientists have warned.

Global coral cover is now well below ⁠normal levels and at risk of irreversible decline, the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) said in a report released on Monday.

“If we give them enough time, they ‌have the capacity to recover,” lead author Manuel Gonzalez Rivero said. “But we haven’t seen that amount of time being allowed. In fact, the frequency of those bleaching events has pretty much doubled.”

Bleaching occurs when corals expel the colourful algae living in their tissues. Without this algae, they become vulnerable to starvation and disease. Bleached coral are not dead, but they need time in cooler water to recover.

“We had 40 years of coral cover around the world that had remained relatively unchanged until 2010,” said Gonzalez Rivero, a scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. “Since 2010, there has ⁠been a very steep change.”

The latest bleaching in 2023 was the most extensive on record, impacting 77 percent of the world’s coral reef areas.

Rivero warned that another such event is “very likely” this year given elevated temperatures globally.

Coral reefs are critical barometers for global ocean health, supporting more than 25 percent of all marine life despite covering less than 1 percent of the ocean floor.

The GCRMN’s warning came as organisers of the annual Pacific Islands Forum announced that at least five leaders of the 18-nation group will skip the group’s summit.

The forum has been touted for decades as a symbol of regional unity, and is used to discuss pressing matters facing Pacific states, including climate change and ocean health.

Dolly Parton has been laid to rest in a private ceremony.

The immediate family of the country western star who died last week gathered at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum in Nashville on Friday morning.

Parton was buried alongside her husband of almost 60 years, Carl Dean, who died in March 2025. The bronze crypt plate mounted at the mausoleum had the star’s name engraved on it before she died, alongside her husband’s name and a depiction of her Tennessee home.

In a social media post, Amelia Young from Nashville’s NewsChannel 5 shared photos of Parton’s burial site and said that the cemetery had set out velvet ropes and guest books so fans could visit Parton and pay their respects.

“Dolly’s fans and friends from around the world are encouraged to pay tribute to Dolly on social media tagging @dollyparton,” according to the cemetery’s obituary. In lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be made to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.

Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum is Nashville’s largest cemetery, where many other country western stars have been interred including George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Eddy Arnold, Marty Robbins and Porter Wagoner — Parton’s former mentor, for whom she wrote “I Will Always Love You” as a professional farewell when she went solo in 1973.

Parton’s great-niece Lainey Parton shared a tribute following the funeral, writing on Instagram, “This is a really hard post for me to make. I wanted to wait until after my granny was laid to rest yesterday before I tried to put any of this into words.

“From the time I was little, my granny always had a way of making me feel like I was enough. She never made my dreams feel too big or made me feel like I couldn’t do something. She believed in me before I even knew how to believe in myself.

“Most people can think of at least one bad memory with everyone in their family. I honestly can’t think of one with her.

“Because she couldn’t have kids of her own, she always made us feel like we were hers. She loved us that way, and I’ll forever be grateful for that.

“One memory I’ll always hold onto is when she asked me to sing with her on her @smokymountaindna album. I was a freshman in high school and SO nervous. But she had a way of making me feel like nothing bad could happen. She made me feel safe, confident, and like I belonged right there beside her. …

“She didn’t just tell me to chase my dreams, she helped me get there.”

Parton died peacefully last week, her nephew Bryan Seaver announced in a news release shared with The Times. Seaver also announced her death in a video shared to the singer’s Instagram page. Parton was 80.

In a statement, a representative for the country music icon said: “After bravely facing a brief battle with cancer, Dolly departed her Earthly life today at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center surrounded by loved ones.”

The type of cancer was not specified.

Aug. 30 (UPI) — Karina rapidly strengthened into a major Category 3 hurricane Sunday evening and was moving west over the Pacific Ocean, forecasters said.

The hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 125 mph and was located about 960 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California in northwestern Mexico, the National Hurricane Center said in its 5 p.m. PDT update.

It was moving west at 9 mph. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 5 miles, according to the NHC.

Forecasters said the storm is expected to take a slower westward to west-northwest motion over the next few days, with some additional strengthening possible.

Swells generated by the storm are forecast to affect the coast of southwest Mexico and the Baja California Peninsula during that time, according to the NHC, which warned that they are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.

CHRISTINE McGuinness has shown off her incredible abs and tan in a tiny bikini – before declaring she refuses to let summer be over yet. 

The 38-year-old model and TV personality shared a new video lounging on a sun bed in the garden, soaking up the last of the UK’s heatwave before this weekend’s rain. 

Donning sunglasses and a deep bronze tan, Christine posed to show off her chiselled muscles in a sparkly lime green string bikini as she faced the sun to get most of its rays. 

Across the clip, she wrote: “Summer doesn’t officially end until 23rd September! Respectfully, keep your Pumpkin Spice lattes and Santa hats away from me!” 

She then added: “😎 This summer has been one big holiday for Mummy and her mini Mc’s 🥰 … Respectfully, we’re not ready for the school run!☀️😂🥹” 

The mum-of-three has always been a proud lover of the sun, enjoying holiday getaways as often as possible. 

READ MORE CHRISTINE MCGUINNESS

EX FILES

Christine McGuinness says it’ll be ‘strange’ to live apart from ex husband Paddy

BEACH STUNNER

Christine McGuinness stuns as she strips down to tiny thong bikini on holiday

But there’s set to be some big changes in her household after her ex-husband, Paddy McGuinness, went public with a new romance. 

The former couple split four years ago, but have continued to live together in their £2million family home in “separate wings” of their Cheshire mansion. 

This was done for the sake of their three kids – twins Leo and Penelope, 13, as well as nine-year-old daughter Felicity – who are all on the autism spectrum. 

However, now he’s dating BBC publicist Emma Carey, Christine has acknowledged that she will learn how to live without him. 

Asked by Virgin Media Television host Lucy Kennedy, 50, about her and her ex-husband’s “current living arrangements”, she said: “He’s been a huge part of my life. I met him at 19. Which was 19 years ago, which is crazy… yeah, half of my life.”

Christine then added: “I suppose it will be strange living without him one day.

“But right now, the last three years we’ve been separated and it just works.

“We’ve got our own space. We do our own thing. We get on really well and we love our children.”

Aug. 30 (UPI) — Two people were killed and eight others were wounded in a shooting that erupted early Sunday during what officials have called “a large unauthorized adult gathering” in the New Jersey capital of Trenton.

No arrests appeared to have been made as of late Sunday.

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that police responded to the 100 block of Locust Street at about 12:33 a.m. EDT following reports of multiple shots fired, arriving on the scene to find 10 people struck by gunfire. Officials initially reported 11 people shot.

Little information about the cause of the shooting has been made public, but the prosecutor’s office said it occurred as an estimated 100 people were on the street. Trenton Mayor W. Reed Gusciora said it was a gathering of 200 people or more.

The prosecutor’s office identified the two dead victims as a 33-year-old woman and a 42-year-old man.

The eight other gunshot victims, identified as two women and six men ranging in age from, 23 to 43, were treated for their injuries at Capital Health Regional Medical Center and have been stabilized, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The identities of the deceased were being withheld, but Gusciora said the man “had been working to turn his life around after returning home from incarceration and had recently been recognized for his commitment to re-entry and positive change.”

“My heart goes out to the families of the two people whose lives were taken, to everyone who was wounded and to the residents of the Wilbur Section who awoke this morning to another painful reminder of the consequences of gun violence,” Gusciora said in a statement.

“One of the things that makes an incident like this particularly painful is that people’s lives are often far more complicated than a police report can capture.”

More than 50 spent shell casings were located at the scene, authorities said, adding that multiple cars were struck by gunfire.

Authorities and officials said someone in attendance must have seen what occurred and called on those with information about the shooting to come forward.

“Protecting someone responsible for taking a life only puts another neighborhood at risk,” the mayor said.

The shooting is being investigated by the Mercer County Homicide Task Force and the Trenton Police Department.

City officials will be seeking to crack down on large, unauthorized gatherings and are examining strategies used by other cities to prevent further incidents from occurring. Police will immediately engage community partners in the Wilbur Section of the city and talk to residents to “prevent retaliation or additional violence,” the mayor said, adding that a gathering of the size seen overnight creates serious safety concerns for those in attendance as well as residents of the surrounding area.

“This is not about criminalizing people for gathering together. It is about recognizing the difference between a gathering and hundreds of people occupying a residential street without authorization, particularly when firearms and violence become part of that environment,” Gusciora said.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said she’s been briefed on the shooting.

“My attorney general remains in close contact with officials on the ground,” she said in an online statement.

“I’m thinking of the families who lost loved ones, those who were injured and the Trenton community.”

According to The Gun Violence Archive, there have been at least 317 mass shootings involving four or more victims so far this year.

KYLIE Minogue shares some unseen throwback snaps to celebrate Can’t Get You Out Of My Head becoming her first billion-streaming hit.

The pop icon, 58, also told of her pride as the hit surpassed the Spotify milestone 25 years after its release on September 8, 2001.

The video, showing her in outfits including a deeply-plunging white number slashed to both thighs, was a fan favourite.

She wrote: “Thank you to everyone all around the world who has streamed and sang and danced and loved!

“Way before streaming, here I am doing wardrobe and glam tests in preparation for the video.

“Someone tell her she’s hit a billion.”

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The song is currently streamed around 850,000 times per day.

It was the lead single from her acclaimed album, Fever.

The single topped the charts in more than 40 countries with over five million sales globally.

The Aussie may be popping champagne corks but, in an interview with Vogue Australia this week, she said she had reigned in her drinking since her wildest days.

She joins the billion stream club alongside stars including The Weeknd, who tops the chart with 5.5billion streams for hit Blinding Lights.

Ed Sheeran comes a close second with Shape Of You, with 5.1billion.

Earlier this month she said: “I do believe that it has its place in that realm..

“Sonically and visually and at that point in my life, I think, what was I? What, 32? I was settling into myself.”’

It was part of her 21st century comeback after establishing herself with early hits from Stock, Aitken and Waterman and then dance label Deconstruction.

But Can’t Get You . . . was, says Kylie: “Like riding a spaceship.”

Washington has recently stepped up efforts to economically pressure Tehran amid the deadlocked truce talks.

Washington plans to impose sanctions on another bank this week as it steps up its campaign to economically isolate Tehran amid the deadlocked truce talks, the US Treasury chief has said.

In an interview with The Associated Press news agency on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declined to name the bank to be targeted by sanctions.

The announcement comes just days after Washington said it would cut off the United Arab Emirates’s operations of Basque Misr from the US financial system after accusing Egypt’s second-biggest bank of doing business with the Iranian government.

“This is going to be financial violence if we have to,” Bessent told AP on Sunday. “We are showing people that we know who you are, you know who you are, and this has got to stop.”

⁠In an interview with the Reuters news agency, Bessent said the next step may be cutting off an institution entirely from the dollar-based financial system.

“You’re going ⁠to see a lot ⁠more of these every week,” he said on Sunday, ahead of a Group of 20 finance leaders ⁠meeting in Asheville, North Carolina. “We’re starting with the banks, and we’re telling ⁠the banks it’s not OK ⁠to have Iranian money and to aid the regime.”

The US has stepped up efforts to economically pressure Tehran to submit to Washington’s demands, a campaign dubbed “Operation Economic Outcast”, amid the stalled truce talks between both parties.

Last week, the Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on nearly 60 individuals and entities that Washington accused of being part of networks helping Iran generate oil revenue, procure weapons and conduct cyber-operations.

Iran, however, has rejected the latest US sanctions, with Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Ali Madanizadeh saying they will fail.

Violence in the conflict resumed on Sunday, the first time since late July, with Iran launching missiles at two US bases in Jordan following a US attack on Larak Island in southern Iran.

Cooperation against Iran

Bessent is preparing to host the meeting of the G20’s finance leaders, where he will huddle individually with his counterparts from the world’s major and developing economies to encourage cooperation against Iran.

The US Treasury chief also told AP that he would speak to his Chinese counterparts at the meeting and “all options are on the table” in terms of sanctioning Beijing for its continued trade with Tehran. 

But he rejected the idea that the US was reluctant to confront China, calling it “a completely false narrative that the media picked up on”.

He insisted that Beijing and Washington agreed on the need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Niger’s military government has contained an attempted mutiny in the capital, but the uprising has exposed tensions inside an army struggling to contain persistent attacks by armed groups.

It has also highlighted the changing nature of Niger’s security partnerships, with Russian personnel helping government forces contain the unrest.

The mutiny began on Saturday at Base 101, a military installation at Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey, before fighting spread to other sensitive sites, including areas near the presidential palace and the state broadcaster.

Niger’s army said it regained control of the base after hours of fighting. State media reported that dozens of soldiers were killed or arrested, although Reuters said it could not independently verify the figures.

Russia’s Africa Corps was involved in the government’s response.

Russia’s ambassador to Niger, Viktor Voropaev, said Nigerien authorities requested the force’s assistance to neutralise the mutineers. The Associated Press reported that Africa Corps provided ground and aerial support to forces loyal to the government.

The intervention is significant because Russian forces were helping Niger’s military government confront an armed challenge from within its own military.

What happened in Niamey?

The unrest began with a hostage situation at the military base, according to the Associated Press. Soldiers took fellow servicemen hostage before opening fire and attacking what Niger’s Defence Ministry described as “sensitive” sites in the capital.

Gunfire and explosions were heard around the airport, while the state broadcaster was temporarily taken off air. The presidential palace was also targeted, according to Reuters and Al Jazeera.

Government forces eventually regained control of Base 101, while the Presidential Guard remained loyal to General Abdourahamane Tiani, who seized power in a July 2023 coup.

The precise size and leadership of the mutiny remain unclear. Nigerien state media said hundreds of soldiers were involved, but Reuters said it could not independently verify that figure.

Some of those involved were reportedly from areas including Ouallam, Tera and Dosso in southwestern Niger, where the army has suffered heavy losses fighting armed groups.

The uprising appears to be the most serious internal challenge to Tiani’s rule since he came to power.

Why are Niger’s soldiers under pressure?

The precise motives of the mutineers have not been publicly established.

But analysts and security sources have linked the unrest to frustration over worsening insecurity and heavy military losses.

Niger’s army has been fighting groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), particularly in the country’s west.

Reuters reported that an attack by an ISIL affiliate earlier this month killed 18 Nigerien soldiers. The airport complex where Base 101 is located was also attacked earlier this year, including in January by an ISIL affiliate and in June by Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), al-Qaeda’s Sahel affiliate.

The mutiny therefore came against the backdrop of the same security crisis that helped bring the military government to power.

Tiani and other officers who seized power in 2023 accused the elected government of failing to contain armed groups and promised to restore security. But the threat has persisted.

The unrest raises questions about the pressure facing front-line units as Nigerien forces continue to suffer casualties in their fight against armed groups.

Why did Africa Corps intervene?

Africa Corps is a Russian force operating under the Ministry of Defence that took over much of the Wagner Group’s role in Africa after Moscow reorganised its operations following the death of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in 2023.

The force includes former Wagner personnel and operates under Russian state control.

Africa Corps personnel are stationed at Base 101, according to AP, which reported that the force has between 200 and 300 personnel in Niger.

Voropaev said Niger had requested Russian assistance during the mutiny.

AP reported that Africa Corps provided ground and aerial support after forces loyal to the government struggled to regain control of the base.

The episode does not establish that Russia controls Niger’s armed forces.

But it demonstrates that when Niger’s military government faced an armed challenge from within its own military, it was able to call on Russian forces already operating inside the country.

That underscores how significantly Niger’s post-coup security arrangements have changed.

What does Russia gain from Niger?

Niger’s relationship with Russia has deepened since the 2023 coup.

The military government pushed French forces out of the country, while United States forces later withdrew. Niger also joined Mali and Burkina Faso in forming the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), as the three military-led governments moved away from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Moscow has cultivated closer military ties with all three governments.

Africa Corps is part of that wider security relationship, taking over much of Wagner’s former role while operating under Russian state control.

Its intervention in Niamey gives that partnership a new dimension.

Russia was not simply helping Niger fight armed groups. Its personnel were involved in helping the government respond to an armed challenge from within the military itself.

Whether that translates into greater Russian political influence over the military government remains unclear.

What role did Algeria play?

Russia was not the only foreign actor to support Niger during the crisis.

Niger’s presidential office said Algeria provided military assistance. Reuters reported that Algeria sent four fighter jets, a transport aircraft and a refuelling tanker.

The Alliance of Sahel States also backed Niger’s military government, while Turkiye expressed solidarity and called for restraint.

It was not immediately clear whether Mali or Burkina Faso provided direct military assistance. Their political support should therefore not be presented as evidence that their forces participated in suppressing the mutiny.

What does this mean for France and the UK?

The crisis highlights the reversal of Western military influence in Niger.

France had a major military presence in the country as part of its wider counterinsurgency campaign in the Sahel, but French forces withdrew after relations with the military government collapsed following the 2023 coup.

The US subsequently withdrew its forces from Base 101 and Niger’s other military installations.

Niger has since moved closer to Russia and strengthened its ties with Mali and Burkina Faso.

There has been no confirmed new French or British military response to this specific mutiny in the latest reporting.

France’s relevance is therefore primarily its withdrawal from Niger and the resulting shift in the country’s security partnerships. The United Kingdom had a much smaller military role in Niger than France.

Can Russia solve Niger’s security problem?

Africa Corps may have helped the military government contain the immediate threat, but its intervention does not resolve Niger’s wider security crisis.

Armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL remain active, while Nigerien soldiers continue to face heavy losses.

Tiani came to power promising greater security and sovereignty. Yet three years later, the armed-group threat persists, and soldiers have mounted an internal challenge to the government.

Russia can provide personnel and operational support. But there is no evidence from this episode that the Africa Corps can by itself resolve the insecurity driving Niger’s conflict or the pressures facing its military.

The immediate challenge to Tiani has been contained.

But the episode exposes a difficult contradiction for Niger’s military government: it seized power promising to make the country more secure, yet it continues to face a serious rebellion while confronting unrest within the armed forces.

For Russia, meanwhile, the crisis demonstrates the practical value of its growing security relationship with Niger.

When the government faced an internal military crisis, Africa Corps was already on the ground.

That does not mean Russia has replaced Niger’s own armed forces.

But it shows how far Niger’s security architecture has shifted since the 2023 coup, from one heavily reliant on Western partners to one in which Russian forces now have a visible supporting role.

MOLLY MAE Hague has shared an incident where she was scared she was being judged for her parenting when her toddler, Bambi, had a melt down at the hairdressers. 

The TV star and entrepreneur has never been shy about sharing the ins and outs of her life as a mum-of-two via her vlogs, sharing earlier this month that three-year-old Bambi has entered “her aggressive era” that saw her putting people in headlocks. 

Now, in her newest video, she shared an incident where three-year-old Bambi caused a commotion while getting her haircut. 

“Today’s vlogging has not really gone to plan,” she told viewers. “I was going to vlog Bambi’s haircut, but honestly, that was a really traumatic experience. 

“I don’t know why. I mean, to be fair, she’s been saying for a few weeks ‘I don’t want to get my hair cut’, but like you know, just being sort of like a toddler, and just sort of the way a toddler would be, just trying to be difficult, you know how it is.” 

However, it seems Bambi was more sure of her stance than her mum anticipated – and wasn’t afraid to make it known to everyone when they got to the salon. 

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“Got to the hairdressers, full blown, didn’t want to get her haircut, full blown tantrum,” Molly shared. “I did say at one point like, okay, like we’ll just leave it then because it’s really not meant to be a traumatic thing, like this is meant to be a special treat, getting your hair done is meant to be.” 

“But I also know for children it can be a really overwhelming, strange experience because you’ve got people around you that you don’t know,” she said.

“Bambi’s not great with strangers anyway, she really isn’t. It really takes her a while to warm up to people, and I think she went into the hairdresser, and it was just very overwhelming.

“There was like a cape being put on her, a lot of people around her that she didn’t know, a new place that she’d never been to before…” 

Molly admits she’d “do things a bit different next time” by introducing her to the idea more slowly so the toddler understood, and perhaps going to a child-friendly salon rather than a normal adult one which she “thought would be fine”. 

“In the end, her little friend actually came and got her hair cut at the same time, which was really nice,” she explained. 

“When she turned up, things did calm down a lot, and we managed to get her hair cut.” 

However, she noted that she was left uncomfortable with the amount of attention the situation drew. 

“Everyone that was getting their hair done was looking at us like ‘oh’, and I didn’t know if I was handling her tantrum very well,” she admitted. “You know when you’re trying to handle a tantrum and people are watching over you, watching you handle it, there’s no pressure like it. Like, am I doing parenting right, right now?

“It’s hard enough to do it with no eyes on you, let alone when people are watching you with bleach on their hair.” 

A new deal between Caracas and Washington would give US companies access to more than a fifth of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

But there’s opposition in Venezuela, as well as debate about whether the plan is legal.

What could the agreement mean?

Presenter: Tom McRae

Guests:

Jose Chalhoub – political risk and oil analyst

Cornelia Meyer – commodity specialist and CEO of Meyer Resources

Francisco Rodriguez – senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research at the University of Denver, former head of the Economic and Financial Advisory of the Venezuelan National Assembly

Burnt out teachers urgently need better working hours and more support to stop them leaving the profession, the Liberal Democrats say, as the new term approaches.

Nearly half of the teachers surveyed by the party in England said they were planning to quit the classroom in the next five years, with many saying they felt overworked and stressed.

The Lib Dems are urging new Education Secretary Lucy Powell to fully fund teachers’ pay, rather than raiding school budgets to cover increases, and to bring in limits on overtime.

The Department for Education said last year saw the lowest rate of teachers leaving the profession since 2010 but acknowledged there was “more to do”.

The survey asked more than 900 teachers, headteachers and Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs) across England how long they planned to stay in teaching.

Almost half of those in post said they were considering leaving teaching in the next five years, while one in ten were planning to spend less than a year in the job.

More than three quarters of those surveyed, which included former teachers, said they had felt “frequently or constantly burnt out” while at work.

Respondents cited high workloads on marking, lesson preparation and other tasks, which they said gave them less time in the classroom.

The Liberal Democrats’ schools spokesperson Caroline Voaden said this pointed to a government that is “not listening” to the profession.

“We rely on teachers to educate our children, the least we can do is make sure they want to come back after the summer,” she said.

Teacher retention is a challenge successive governments have had to grapple with.

The National Education Union (NEU) reported that 4 in 10 teachers were planning to quit over “huge workloads and excessive accountability” in 2019.

This latest survey was also conducted with the help of the NEU, as well as the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).

“After over a decade of austerity and chronic underfunding in our schools the system is on its knees” said the NEU’s general secretary Daniel Kebede.

“The new academic year is the perfect time for Andy Burnham to signal a fresh start for our schools” he added.

“That means fully funding the pay award and properly funding all our schools and colleges to stem the recruitment and retention crisis and give children the education they deserve.”

“As Lucy Powell enters her first term as education secretary the Liberal Democrats are calling for her first act to be to introduce an emergency package of ‘back to school’ measures to face this crisis head on,” Voaden said.

The Lib Dem proposals include the government fully funding teacher’s pay, which will increase in England by 3.5% from September, with an additional 3% the year after.

Currently, half of the pay increase will come from existing school budgets.

The party is also calling for proper enforcement of teacher’s legally mandated working hours, the introduction of reasonable limits on overtime, and for all schools to be required to introduce flexible working policies.

The party did not identify where funding might come from to pay for the policies.

An education department spokesperson said: “We know teachers do an incredible job and we’re determined to make sure that dedication is matched with the right support.

“Last year saw one of the lowest rates of teachers leaving the profession since 2010, and a record number of teachers returning to the classroom, but we know there’s more to do.

“We’re taking action by announcing pay awards of almost 17% over two years, funding schools to improve maternity pay and offering targeted support to normalise flexible working and manageable workloads so that more teachers stay in our classrooms and thrive.”

Emmerdale star Olivia Bromley shed real tears when she filmed the tragic death of her character, Dawn Fletcher, tonight. Due to marry bad boy Joe Tate, their plans were scuppered when Jimmy King crashed into the wedding marquee, causing a big explosion, and pregnant Dawn was rushed to hospital.

Sent into premature labour, while Dawn gave birth safely to a baby boy with Joe at her side, she had a serious internal bleed. Suddenly, without warning, she crashed and, despite medics’ best efforts to resuscitate her, she died.

In her first interview since the explosive scenes, Olivia, 30, who was originally signed by Emmerdale for just 12 episodes in 2018, tells The Mirror: “It was the toughest storyline I’ve done during my time in the soap.

“I was surprised by how emotional I found it and it was way more emotional than I was expecting. I did cry. It is very strange to kill off your character as an actor and in front of your colleagues. But that said, what a gift to be given. Often people leave and just slip off.”

The actress was told earlier this year her character would be at the heart of a huge exit storyline during the soap’s biggest week of the year. Having reached a crossroads playing Dawn, she says it was almost a relief to have the decision over what to do with the role made for her.

She says: “This is a good time for me to go on a personal level. I had felt ready for the character to go. This character felt like she had done so much and I didn’t know what direction she could go in next. I had played her for a long time, and it felt like I needed to do other things. I am proud this was such a big finale to my time in the soap.”

But news that Dawn was being killed off came as a bolt from the blue and she confesses she would have liked to have left the door open to one day return.

Despite the initial shock, she says: “Psychologically, now I have had time to reflect, I know it’s good for me, because I can say bye to my Emmerdale chapter. It’s been brilliant. I was originally only signed up for 12 episodes and I’ve stayed eight years!”

And if viewers found her final scenes surprisingly realistic, she can now share the secret – that real life paramedics, rather than actors, were used to make the medical scenes convincing. She says: “They had real life paramedics and intensive care workers who came in to play those parts. Emmerdale is a fast-paced soap and we often don’t have time to train actors up, so they bring supporting people in with a lot of experience.”

Likening it to an “out of body” experience, she adds of her character’s death scenes: “They had rehearsed the crash response with Ned [who plays Joe Tate] and the supporting artists first and, right at the last minute, they put me in the scene. I had no idea what was going on.

“They went into the crash response, and it felt like an out of body experience lying there. They were all so professional and brilliant at what they did.”

But Olivia is sad that Dawn’s life ended so tragically. She says: “Even though she was able to cradle the baby with her children and Joe by her side, nobody had picked up on her bleeding internally. Finally, she had got what she wanted and so it was a sad end for her.”

Dawn originally arrived in the village as a drug addicted sex worker. Her big storylines included finding her long lost son and her on-off romance with her big love, ex-husband Billy. But she fell for Joe Tate in January 2025, after embarking on an affair behind Billy’s back.

They got engaged in December 2025 and by February 2026 discovered they were expecting a baby. But in recent months, Dawn, who had two other children and an adopted daughter, had been troubled by her lingering feelings for Billy.

And when he was attacked last month, she believed Joe was responsible and had planned to escape with Billy, rather than marrying the bad boy. However, in a massive plot twist, it became apparent Billy had actually been attacked by Kev – making Dawn want to marry Joe after all.

Olivia says: “Only a few weeks ago, she was talking about escaping with Billy, but in the end chose Joe. If Dawn hadn’t returned to Joe at the end, she would still be alive now. Billy is her true love but ultimately, she is an addict and she was drawn to Joe.”

She continues: “I’ve loved playing Dawn and I’ve enjoyed watching her develop and change. I’ve made many friends too and I am going to miss them a lot – especially everyone at Home Farm and Jay, who plays Billy. We are like brother and sister; we get on so well.”

Away from Emmerdale, Olivia lives happily in Leeds with her partner, who she keeps out of the public eye. She says: “My life has changed since joining the show. It has given me stability and, alongside the character, I’ve grown and changed. It’s made me ambitious in different ways and taken my life in a different way.”

After graduating from Oxford School of Drama, Olivia moved to London to work in theatre, before the call from Emmerdale came. She says: “This did change things for me and to be a working actor for eight years has been very special.”

And she would love to continue working in TV drama. She says: “I want to try some new things. It’s an exciting time and I would love to do a period drama or a gritty 9pm drama like Line of Duty.”

Now awaiting auditions, she has her leaving party to look forward to next weekend. She says: “It’s themed and I think we all deserve a drink after such a chaotic, complex end for Dawn. I’m also looking forward to just being me and not Dawn!”

As for Emmerdale without her? Olivia says: “The audience will go on a rollercoaster I am sure! I will always be so grateful to Emmerdale for giving me this role and to have been able to play Dawn fully until the end has been so much fun.”

*Emmerdale airs every weekday on ITV1 and STV1 at 8pm. Episodes can also be downloaded on ITVX.

Aug. 30 (UPI) — A pair of wildfires burning along California’s Big Sur region expanded quickly over the weekend, jumping containment lines, closing roads and triggering extensive evacuations.

The Plaskett fire and the Timber fire have been burning for weeks in the rugged terrain of Monterrey and San Luis Obispo counties about 200 miles south of San Francisco.

But strong, gusty winds on Saturday sparked a rapid escalation, prompting officials to close the scenic State Hwy. 1 and issue a series of new evacuation orders after the Plaskett Fire jumped containment lines overnight.

That fire ballooned to nearly 15,500 acres and was only `1% contained as of Sunday afternoon, while the Timber Fire had spread to 24,700 acres and was 21% contained.

Firefighters fought to save structures near Sand Dollar and Plaskett Creek, executing “tactical firing operations overnight as the fire backed toward structures and residences,” according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.

The Plaskett fire crossed over the primary bulldozer containment line, officials said, even as ground teams supported by night flying helicopters fought to put out the “slop-overs.”

Monterrey County officials warned residents of Carmel Valley, Calif., to be ready for possible evacuation orders on Sunday as the fire advanced on the community. A mandatory evacuation order was issued later in day for an area southeast of Salmon Creek Trail and north of the San Luis Obispo County line.

The California Highway Patrol, meanwhile, closed Hwy. 1 just north of the county line, as well as further north at a location south of Little Sur River.