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Portugal recovered from a shock loss to Ireland on Thursday to qualify, while Norway is through for the first time since 1998.

Portugal booked their ticket to the 2026 World Cup with a 9-1 victory over Armenia on Sunday, while an Erling Haaland brace rubber-stamped Norway’s place in the global showpiece as they romped to a 4-1 win in Italy.

After being held by Hungary and then stunned by the Republic of Ireland last time out, Portugal sealed top spot in Group F at the third time of asking with a resounding win over bottom-side Armenia.

In the absence of the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo, star midfielders Bruno Fernandes and Joao Neves both scored hat-tricks as the Portuguese ran riot in Porto.

Renato Veiga, Goncalo Ramos and Francisco Conceicao were also on the scoresheet.

“The most important thing was qualifying for the World Cup,” Paris Saint-Germain linchpin Neves told RTP.

“For me, as I always say, the team always comes before the individual. I’m very happy to have scored my first goal for the national team, and my second and third as well.”

Portugal will compete in a seventh consecutive edition of the World Cup, a tournament which the Euro 2016 champions have yet to win.

“We’re at the World Cup! Let’s go, Portugal!” Ronaldo posted on social media.

The striker could miss the start of the tournament depending on whether FIFA extend his suspension beyond the mandatory one-match ban he served against Armenia.

Ireland sewed up the playoff place in the group thanks to Troy Parrott’s 96th-minute hat-trick goal, handing them a 3-2 win over third-placed Hungary.

Daniel Lukacs gave the hosts the lead in Hungary after four minutes, before Parrott levelled from 12 yards shortly afterwards.

Barnabas Varga’s 37th-minute goal looked to have been enough for Hungary to seal second spot until 23-year-old Parrott notched his fourth and fifth international goals this week.

Parrott was the hero with his brace in Thursday’s 2-0 defeat of Portugal, and he struck to equalise again for Ireland with 10 minutes remaining in the Hungarian capital.

The AZ Alkmaar forward then sparked wild Irish celebrations as he prodded home Liam Scales’s knockdown deep into injury time to send Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side into March’s playoffs.

‘Absolutely insane’

Italy needed a miracle in Milan to pip Norway to first place in Group I due to the visitors’ gargantuan goal difference advantage.

Pio Esposito scored early at the San Siro to give the home side the faintest of hopes, but they were unable to again break down stubborn Norwegian defending as Stale Solbakken’s side held firm.

Antonio Nusa levelled just after the hour before Haaland, inevitably, netted twice in 60 seconds to turn the tie on its head. Jorgen Strand Larsen then put gloss on the result in injury time as Norway romped to an eighth win from eight outings.

It will be Norway’s first appearance at the World Cup in 28 years.

“I’m happy, but more relieved. There’s a lot of pressure and stuff, and I feel it. But it’s fun,” Haaland, who netted 16 goals across the campaign, told TV 2.

“It’s indescribable. Absolutely insane. The way we did it is absolutely incredible. It’s huge,” Martin Odegaard said.

Israel beat Moldova 4-1 but finished six points adrift of second-placed Italy, who go into the playoffs.

France booked their place in next year’s tournament in North America with a win over Ukraine earlier in the week, and a much-changed side concluded their campaign with a 3-1 win in Azerbaijan.

Ukraine saw off Iceland 2-0 thanks to two strikes inside the final 10 minutes from Oleksandr Zubkov and Oleksii Hutsuliak to claim second place in Group D.

Thomas Tuchel’s England completed a perfect group-stage performance as they won 2-0 against Albania to finish their campaign with a 100 percent record, featuring 22 goals scored and zero conceded – a European record for a team playing at least six qualifying matches.

“I think it’s as good [a squad] as we’ve ever had,” Harry Kane, who scored both England goals, told ITV.

“I think when you look at the starting 11, you look at the players coming off the bench, we’re going to go into the tournament as one of the favourites.”

With Albania already assured of second place, Serbia beat Latvia 2-1 in a dead-rubber in Group K’s other match.

Here are the key events from day 1,362 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is how things stand on Monday, November 17:

Fighting

• Russia said its forces had moved forward sharply in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhia region, taking the settlements of Rivnopillya and Mala Tokmachka as part of a major push aimed at taking control of the entire region. Currently, Russia says it controls 75 percent of the area.
• Ukrainian forces have struck the Novokuibyshevsk oil refinery in Russia’s Samara region, Kyiv’s General Staff said. It said it had recorded explosions and a fire at the site of the strike, but was still assessing the extent of damage.
• Ukrainian officials said on Sunday morning that Russian attacks on the country had killed at least four civilians and wounded 17 others over the last 24 hours.
• The Russian TASS news agency reported that Ukrainian attacks on Russia wounded two civilians in the Belgorod region.
• TASS added that Russia’s air defences destroyed more than 50 Ukrainian drones on Sunday evening. Earlier on Sunday, it said Russian air defences intercepted two Neptune guided missiles, four HIMARS rockets and 197 drones.

Energy

• Russia’s Novorossiysk port resumed oil loadings after a two-day suspension triggered by a Ukrainian missile and drone attack, the Reuters news agency reported, citing two industry sources. The Ukrainian attack has been described as the most damaging to date on Russia’s main Black Sea crude export infrastructure.

• Ukraine has secured imports of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Greece to cover its winter needs from December through to March next year, officials said during a visit to Athens by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin had a conversation with Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin last week during a visit by Kazakhstan’s president to Moscow, state media reported, as United States-led sanctions continue to take a financial toll on the company.

Environment

• The Greenpeace environmental campaigning group has revealed that France was sending reprocessed uranium to Russia for treatment so it can be reused, despite the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine. Greenpeace said that while it was legal, the trade was “immoral” as many nations seek to step up sanctions on the Russian government over its invasion of Ukraine, launched in 2022.

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1. Consider why you don’t like them

2. Talk, don’t ban

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3. Widen the circle

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Russia’s policy towards Southeast Asia is undergoing a remarkable adjustment period. From focusing on defense cooperation, which has been its traditional strength, Russia is gradually shifting its focus to more sustainable areas. This shift reflects Russia’s flexible efforts to maintain its presence in a region strongly affected by great power competition, while demonstrating its ambition to position itself as a reliable and independent partner, contributing to the balance of influence against the expanding US involvement in the Indo-Pacific.

From diplomatic presence to substantive cooperation

For many years, Russia’s Southeast Asia policy has been largely confined to diplomatic presence and participation in ASEAN-led multilateral forums. However, in the wake of Trump 2.0’s tariff adjustments, Moscow has increasingly recognized Southeast Asia as a potential market to fill the economic void left by sanctions. This realization has led to more proactive and substantive shifts in Russia’s regional policy.

Since the beginning of 2025, Russia has stepped up bilateral cooperation with key ASEAN economies such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand, focusing on areas that the US and China have not yet focused on competing in, such as oil and gas exploitation, agriculture, and civil nuclear power. At the same time, Russia has also expanded its network of embassies, cultural centers, and trade promotion agencies in most ASEAN countries, thereby creating a multi-layered approach from politics to economics.

One of the most notable changes is the shift of Russia’s traditional trade to non-dollar payment mechanisms to minimize the risk of sanctions. According to statistics from the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, in 2024, trade turnover between Russia and ASEAN reached a record for the second consecutive year, increasing by 5.8%. Over the past decade, trade turnover has increased by 70%, with most transactions being settled in local currencies or currency swaps. At the same time, Southeast Asia is also a potential area to promote exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), fertilizers, and military materials, helping to reposition Russia as a stable energy supplier.

Diversifying partners outside of China

The trend of diversifying partners beyond China has emerged as a new driving force in Russia’s Southeast Asia policy. After years of relying on the Chinese market as a “lifeline” for its wartime economy, Russia has increasingly recognized the asymmetry in its trade relations as China has gradually gained an overwhelming position. This has forced Russia to rebalance its dependence and expand its influence by seeking alternative partners.

The “multi-directional” policy that Russia is implementing is clearly demonstrated through the strengthening of bilateral economic relations with a number of countries in the region. According to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, the international situation is opening up many new opportunities for Russia to strengthen relations with the region of more than 650 million people. On the contrary, from the perspective of ASEAN, cooperation with Russia has its own appeal, because investment capital from Russia is considered less politically binding than the “debt trap” risks often associated with projects within the framework of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, limited financial resources have caused this direction of Russia to largely stop at the level of framework agreements or projects waiting to be launched.

In addition, Russia has also proposed establishing cooperation mechanisms focusing on less sensitive areas such as maritime security, counter-terrorism, and disaster relief. Although these initiatives have not yet reached the institutional level, they reflect Russia’s efforts in the regional innovation race with the US and China.

Connecting Southeast Asia to the Eurasian Axis and the Global South

Since launching the “Pivot to the East” policy in 2014, Russia’s strategic interests have gradually shifted from the European region to a vision of Eurasian integration. While in the early stages, this policy was mainly aimed at demonstrating efforts to “pivot” according to the trend of global power shifts; entering the 2020s, Russia has concretized its orientation with in-depth initiatives.

Following the Free Trade Agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and Vietnam in 2015, Russia continued negotiations with Indonesia and Thailand, aiming to form an economic network that is less dependent on the dollar system. Russia is also promoting initiatives for the construction of a connecting corridor between the Russian Far East and Central Asia with maritime routes in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Speaking at the International Conference on Eurasian Security in Minsk, Belarus, on October 28, 2025, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized that Russia wants to build a common development structure for the entire region and does not exclude any country on this continent. Transcontinental connectivity projects such as the Vladivostok-Chennai transport corridor or the Asia-Europe maritime and air route are integrated by Russia into its vision of an expanded Asia-Europe economic space, reflecting its efforts to bring Southeast Asia into the Russia-led “Greater Eurasia” strategy.

At the same time, Russia has been actively promoting the “multipolarization” discourse through mechanisms such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), in collaboration with China and India, to strengthen the image of a post-Western order. Russia’s support for Indonesia’s entry into BRICS not only reflects the group’s efforts to expand its sphere of influence but also demonstrates Russia’s strategy of integrating Southeast Asia into the emerging South-South partnership network. Through this, Russia wants to demonstrate its flexible integration into the Asia-Pacific region while also being a voice to show that Russia is not isolated in the process of restructuring the global order.

Taking advantage of ASEAN principles

One of the factors that helps Russia maintain a stable position in Southeast Asia is its ability to effectively exploit ASEAN’s neutral space. Unlike the US or China, which often pursue a strategy of competing for influence by “choosing sides” under pressure, Moscow chooses a flexible approach based on the principle of non-interference in ASEAN’s internal affairs and consensus.

Thanks to these principles, Russia’s participation in ASEAN-led multilateral mechanisms is not interpreted as an attempt to form political alliances or challenge the existing order, but on the contrary, is seen as consistent with the spirit of openness and inclusiveness. It is ASEAN’s neutral space that provides Russia with access in a variety of roles, from observer to dialogue partner to direct participant, thereby legitimizing Russia’s presence in Southeast Asia.

In fact, Russia actively participates in ASEAN-led mechanisms such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting Plus (ADMM+), and the East Asia Summit (EAS) to promote cooperation in less sensitive areas, helping Russia both strengthen its image as a constructive contributor and avoid creating suspicion from the West.

Rebooting defense and energy diplomacy

Through the two pillars of defense and energy, Russia has put into its foreign policy to reaffirm its position. These are considered the spearheads by which Russia still maintains its most substantial competitive capacity compared to the US.

In the defense sector, Russia is restoring bilateral cooperation with traditional partners such as Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Previously, Russia accounted for about 25% of the arms market share in Southeast Asia, maintaining its position as the largest supplier in the region. However, instead of continuing to rely on sales contracts, Russia is now focusing on expanding the “after-sales” sector, such as training, maintenance, technology transfer, and joint research in the defense industry. At the multilateral level, Russia actively participates in high-level defense dialogue mechanisms such as ADMM+ and ARF to demonstrate the voice of a responsible partner, promoting peace and stability in the region.

Along with defense, Russia considers energy a common concern to expand its influence in Southeast Asia. Russia takes advantage of its deep-sea oil and gas exploitation techniques and develops nuclear power technology to strengthen cooperation with developing economies with large energy consumption needs. Leading energy corporations such as Zarubezhneft and Rosatom have been cooperating with Vietnam in gas exploitation projects on the continental shelf of the East Sea. Russia also boosts LNG exports to Thailand and the Philippines to expand its market share in the region while cooperating with Indonesia’s Pertamina Group in developing petrochemical refining and building civil nuclear energy infrastructure. These steps reflect Moscow’s efforts to establish an Asian energy supply chain to replace the disrupted European market.

Position on the East Sea dispute

Russia’s stance on the East Sea dispute is clearly cautious. Basically, Russia supports the settlement of disputes by peaceful means based on international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), while emphasizing the central role of ASEAN in conflict management. Unlike the US, which always emphasizes the issue of freedom of navigation, Russia chooses the role of a “balancing third party,” maintaining cooperative relations with all parties. However, Russia also avoids making specific statements regarding China’s sovereignty claims in order not to harm the Russia-China relationship, which is currently the leading pillar of its foreign policy.

In addition, Russia also supports the early completion of the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC), considering it an important tool to maintain stability and calling on all parties to exercise restraint. Instead of directly engaging in disputes, Russia maintains its presence through limited oil and gas cooperation within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ), demonstrating Russia’s commitment to the legitimate sovereignty of its partner countries. At the same time, participating in joint exercises with ASEAN countries also helps Russia affirm its image as a responsible power, promoting trust and the ability to coordinate security at sea.

However, Russia’s influence in the South China Sea is still limited. The war in Ukraine has significantly reduced the frequency of Russian military patrols in the region. In addition, the increasingly close relationship between Moscow and Beijing has also made some ASEAN countries cautious, worried that Russia’s “neutrality” could be broken.

The adjustments in Russia’s Southeast Asia policy clearly reflect Russia’s efforts to adapt to a situation where it has to allocate resources to multiple goals. It is easy to see that Russia has chosen to shift from an ideological orientation to a pragmatic strategy, focusing on areas that can generate specific benefits. Instead of directly confronting the US or competing for influence with China, Moscow seeks to exploit gaps to position itself as a balancing factor.

Russia’s current Southeast Asia policy is a survival adaptation, reflecting a strategic effort to maintain influence in a regional structure that is reshaping under the pressure of US-China competition. Under increasing pressure from the US, Russia is forced to pursue a more autonomous path in Southeast Asia to maintain its strategic space. However, Russia’s influence is still limited by its internal capacity and competition from other powers. Russia may not be able to shape the rules of the game or lead the order, but it is certainly a factor that cannot be left out of the Southeast Asian strategic chessboard.

DR Congo reach inter-confederation playoffs for 2026 World Cup after beating favourites Nigeria on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo kept their hopes of a World Cup place alive as they edged Nigeria 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at the end of extra time to win the African qualifying playoffs in Morocco.

DR Congo now await the draw on Thursday for the inter-confederation playoffs in March where six teams will chase two places at the 48-team finals.

Captain Chancel Mbemba converted the decisive kick on Sunday after Congolese substitute goalkeeper Timothy Fayulu, brought on a minute before the shootout, made two saves in the shootout.

Frank Onyeka had Nigeria ahead in the third minute but Meschack Elia equalised for the two sides to be level 1-1 after extra time.

The mini-tournament in Rabat was for the best runners-up across the nine African qualifying groups, whose fixtures were completed last month with the nine winners automatically booking a berth at the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States next year.

Nigeria, who have been to six previous World Cups, were off to a perfect start as the Congolese cleared an early cross but only onto the edge of their penalty area where Onyeka snapped up the ball and powered home an effort, helped into the net by a slight deflection off Axel Tuanzebe.

But the Congolese could have been level within nine minutes had Ngal’ayel Mukau not put his close-in effort over the crossbar after Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali had flapped at the ball.

They did equalise in the 32nd minute after Alex Iwobi had been stripped of possession inside the Congolese half, and a quick counter saw Cedric Bakambu square for Elia to score despite the efforts of Nigeria captain Wilfred Ndidi to intercept the ball.

A clever backheel at a corner early in the second half from Bakambu saw Nwabali make a sharp stop, and there looked a decent penalty shout for the Congolese as Noah Sadiki was upended by Benjamin Fredrick in the Nigeria box in the 55th minute, but the referee did not show any interest, and there was no VAR check.

DR Congo looked more ambitious as the contest wore on, but it was characterised by a wary approach from both sides, keen not to make any mistakes with so much at stake.

Nigeria needed extra time to get past Gabon in their Thursday semifinal and looked much more fatigued than their opponents, who beat Cameroon inside 90 minutes in their semi later the same night.

There were two opportunities in extra time on either end, with Nigerian substitute Tolu Arokodare heading over and then with the last effort of the game, Mbemba had his effort saved by Nwabali.

DR Congo went on to hold their nerve in the shootout and still have a chance to compete at their first World Cup since 1974, when the country was still known as Zaire.

Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Ghana, Cape Verde, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Algeria and Tunisia have already qualified directly for the 2026 World Cup from Africa.

Bolivia from South America and New Caledonia from Oceania have already reached the six-team continental playoffs.

In Asia, the UAE host Iraq in their second leg on Tuesday to decide another playoff entrant. The first leg was 1-1.

Also included will be the best two group runners-up from the North American, Central American and Caribbean federation once normally qualifying ends on Tuesday.

Europe has its own playoff system for the remaining non-automatic berths for the 48-team World Cup.

Ecuadoreans are voting on whether to lift a constitutional ban on foreign military bases as right-wing President Daniel Noboa pushes for help from the United States in confronting spiralling drug-fuelled violence.

Nearly 14 million people cast ballots on Sunday in a referendum that also asks whether to reduce the number of lawmakers.

The vote comes as Ecuador grapples with unprecedented bloodshed, with the country’s homicide rate projected to hit 50 per 100,000 people this year, the highest in Latin America.

Polls suggest more than 61 percent of voters back allowing foreign bases, which would likely see the US return to the Manta airbase on the Pacific coast.

US forces operated from Manta between 1999 and 2009 as part of anti-narcotics efforts, until leftist President Rafael Correa held a referendum on foreign troops, resulting in their constitutional ban.

Ecuador, once considered one of the more stable countries in the region, has in recent years faced a sharp rise in violence, with drug cartels, including powerful ones from Mexico, exploiting porous borders and weak institutions to expand their influence.

Noboa, a 37-year-old heir to a prominent banana-exporting fortune, who took office in November 2023, has responded with militarised crackdowns, deployed soldiers to the streets and prisons, launched raids on gang strongholds, declared states of emergency and tightened security at key infrastructure hubs.

The first half of this year saw 4,619 murders, the highest on record, according to Ecuador’s Organized Crime Observatory.

As voting opened, Noboa announced the capture in Spain of Wilmer Geovanny Chavarria Barre, known as Pipo, leader of the notorious Los Lobos gang, who had faked his death and fled to Europe.

He was arrested in the Spanish city of Malaga after Ecuadorean authorities worked with their Spanish counterparts to track him down.

Interior Minister John Reimberg linked Chavarria to more than 400 killings and said he had run criminal networks from behind bars for eight years until 2019.

Noboa said the Los Lobos chief had overseen illicit mining schemes and maintained trafficking connections with Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel, all whilst hiding in Europe under a false identity.

The US designated Los Lobos and Los Choneros, another Ecuadorian crime syndicate, as “terrorist” organisations in September.

Critics question whether military force alone can address the crisis.

Former President Correa has described the return of foreign forces as “an insult to our public forces and an assault to our sovereignty”, adding: “We do not need foreign soldiers. We need government.”

The referendum also includes questions on a constituent assembly that opposition groups fear could allow Noboa to consolidate power.

In August, Noboa led a demonstration against Constitutional Court justices, with officials calling them “enemies of the people” after they limited expansive security laws.

Critics of the president also argue that a constitutional rewrite will not solve problems like insecurity and poor access to health and education services.

Ecuador became a major cocaine transit hub after the 2016 peace deal in Colombia demobilised guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), with international trafficking organisations quickly filling the void.

The country’s Pacific ports, proximity to coca-producing Peru and Colombia, and weak institutions have made it central to the global cocaine supply chain.

Noboa, who survived an attack in October when his car was surrounded by protesters and struck by bullets, has compared his security approach to that of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, posting images of shaven-headed inmates in orange uniforms at a new mega-prison.

Chief investigator declines to say how many arrested; some were identified by videos on social media.

Syria has arrested members of the country’s security and military services as part of a probe into sectarian violence in the southern province of Suwayda earlier this year that left hundreds dead.

Judge Hatem Naasan, head of a committee investigating the eruption of violence in Suwayda in July, said that members of security services and the military “who were proven to have committed violations” based on findings and videos posted online had been detained.

“Videos posted on social media clearly showed faces, and they were detained by the authorities concerned,” Naasan said, adding that security personnel were detained by the Interior Ministry while members of the military are being held by the Defence Ministry.

Videos that surfaced online had shown armed men killing Druze civilians kneeling in public squares and shaving the moustaches off elderly men in an act of humiliation.

Naasan did not specify how many arrests were made. Nor did he announce a death toll, saying this would come in the final report that is expected by the end of the year.

He acknowledged that “some foreign fighters randomly and individually entered the city of Suwayda”, saying that some had been detained and questioned. He stated that none of them were members of the Syrian armed or security forces.

Fighting broke out in the Druze-majority province after a Druze truck driver was abducted on a public highway, drawing in Bedouin tribal fighters from other parts of the country.

Government forces were deployed to restore order, but were accused of siding with the Bedouins. Hundreds of civilians, mostly Druze, were killed, many by government fighters.

A ceasefire was established after a week of violence.

Claiming that it was protecting the Druze, Israel also intervened, launching dozens of air attacks on government forces in Suwayda and even striking the Syrian Ministry of Defence headquarters in the centre of the capital Damascus.

Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes around the country since the end of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty in December, mainly targeting, it says, assets of the Syrian army, but also carrying out incursions.

After the acts of violence in July, many in Suwayda now want some form of autonomy in a federal system. A smaller group is calling for total partition.

President Ahmed al-Sharaa has been painstakingly trying to usher Syria back into the international fold, with notable successes. In September, he was the first Syrian leader to address the United Nations General Assembly in six decades, and he was invited to the White House on Monday for a second meeting with United States President Donald Trump.

Al-Sharaa, who wants to unify his war-ravaged nation and end its decades of international isolation, was the first-ever Syrian leader to visit the White House since the country’s independence in 1946.

Both the US and European Union have dropped sanctions against Syria, and major Gulf Arab investment is giving the war-devastated nation a critical economic lifeline.

But al-Sharaa’s quest for national unity after a 14-year ruinous civil war still faces major internal and external challenges ahead.

Having etched his name into Republic of Ireland folklore, Troy Parrott let the tears flow.

At the end of a whirlwind 72 hours, the striker’s raw emotion was understandable. On Thursday, Parrott upstaged Cristiano Ronaldo with two goals to sink Portugal and take the Republic of Ireland’s play-off push into the final game.

Carrying a nation’s hopes on his back in Budapest, the 23-year-old Dubliner rose to the occasion in spectacular fashion.

Against Hungary, his penalty brought the Irish level after they fell behind to an early Daniel Lukacs header. Then, after Barnabas Varga’s stunning strike, he equalised again with a deft finish 10 minutes from time.

The Republic of Ireland needed a win to make the play-offs, and after substitute Johnny Kenny was denied, Parrott seized the match-winning moment when he latched on to Liam Scales’ header, poked the ball into the Hungary net and wheeled away in ecstasy in a heart-stopping finale at Puskas Arena.

“I’m really, really emotional. They’re tears of joy. Ah, what a night, what a night,” the AZ Alkmaar striker, who led the line in Evan Ferguson’s absence, told RTE.

“This is why we love football, because things like this can happen. Look, I love where I’m from, so this means the world to me. My family is here.

“It’s the first time I’ve cried in years as well, I really, really can’t believe it. Everyone is crying.

“I said against Portugal that this is what dreams are made of, but this tonight, I don’t think I’ll ever have a better night in my whole life.

“That is really a fairy tale. You can’t even dream about something like that. Honestly, I have no words to describe my emotions right now.”

Saudi firms are reducing the large salary bonuses that used to attract foreign talent in sectors like construction and manufacturing as the kingdom adjusts its spending and economic aims, according to four recruiters interviewed by Reuters. Saudi Arabia, the leading exporter of oil, is making progress with its Vision 2030 plan, which focuses on decreasing reliance on oil revenues, generating jobs, and diversifying into industries like tourism, real estate, mining, and finance.

The nation has invested heavily in large-scale projects that increase the need for skilled foreign workers, but there have been challenges with project delivery and timelines. Foreign workers can no longer expect to negotiate high salary premiums, which could reach 40% or more, as offers are now much more modest. Recruiters note that the changes are partly due to the kingdom’s economic adjustments and an increase in available candidates eager to work in the region.

The shift in pay reflects a broader change by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which previously backed major infrastructure projects but is now leaning towards sectors like artificial intelligence, logistics, and mining for better returns. Projects like NEOM, a planned futuristic city, and the Trojena tourism hub, which will host the 2029 Asian Winter Games, face delays due to the current economic strategy.

With decreasing oil prices affecting public finances, the government’s budget continues to struggle, necessitating oil prices around $100 for balance, according to the IMF. Recruitment has slowed, and companies are now more cautious in salary negotiations, shifting their focus towards high-demand jobs in technology sectors.

In contrast to Saudi Arabia, the UAE remains a preferred choice for many skilled workers due to its tax-free salaries, established facilities like schools and healthcare, and social reforms for a more liberal lifestyle. This has made it challenging for Saudi Arabia to compete; salary differences between the two regions are minimal now. The Saudi government is pushing for labor market reforms to increase private sector jobs for citizens, which has led to record low unemployment rates among Saudi nationals. To attract top talent, companies need to offer competitive packages that account for living costs, work-life balance, and a clear project vision.

With information from Reuters

Officials launch probe days after breach emerged amid widespread concern and speculation over leaked data.

Somalia’s Immigration and Citizenship Agency has confirmed that hackers breached its electronic visa platform, exposing sensitive personal data of travellers who used the system.

The admission on Sunday marks the first official acknowledgement by Somali authorities after the United States and United Kingdom issued warnings earlier in the week.

At least 35,000 people, including thousands of American citizens, may have had their data compromised when “unidentified hackers” penetrated the system, according to a US Embassy statement issued on November 13.

Somalia’s Defence Minister Ahmed Moalim Fiqi had praised the electronic visa system this week, claiming it had successfully prevented ISIL (ISIS) fighters from entering the country, as a months-long battle continued in the northern regions against a local affiliate of the group.

The leak came to wider attention last week after clusters of accounts on the social media platform X began circulating what they claimed was personal information from affected individuals.

The breach has cast a spotlight on the vulnerabilities of a digital system that Somalia’s government had promoted as essential for improving national security.

The immigration agency said it was treating the issue with “special importance” and announced it has launched an investigation into the issue.

The agency said it was investigating “the extent of the attempted breach, its origin, and any potential impact”, adding that a report would be published and those affected would be informed directly.

However, the statement did not indicate how many people were affected, nor did it give any sense of how long the process might take.

The government has since quietly moved its e-visa system to a new website.

The UK embassy warned travellers on November 14 that “this data breach is ongoing and could expose any personal data you enter into the system,” advising people to “consider the risks before applying for an e-visa”.

Mohamed Ibrahim, a former Somali telecommunications minister and tech expert, told Al Jazeera that while hacking is a significant challenge, the authorities’ lack of transparency is troubling.

“Somalia isn’t high-tech, and hacking, in itself, is neither here nor there. But they should have been upfront with the public,” Ibrahim said.

“Why was the website’s URL changed, for example? That hasn’t even been explained,” he added, referring to the domain name change for the e-visa application site.

On Saturday, the Somali immigration agency’s director-general dismissed media reports about the breach as “coordinated misinformation campaigns” intended to undermine state institutions.

“A Somali individual cannot undermine the dignity, authority, honour or unity of the state,” Mustafa Sheikh Ali Duhulow told an audience in Mogadishu on Saturday night, without directly addressing the hacking allegations.

The breach has sparked fury among officials in Somaliland, the breakaway region that declared independence from Somalia in 1991, who have generally resisted attempts by Mogadishu to impose control over the territory.

Mohamed Hagi, an adviser to Somaliland’s president, called Mogadishu’s administration “institutionally irresponsible” for keeping the visa portal active despite the breach.

The incident came amid escalating tensions between Somalia and Somaliland over airspace control.

Somalia’s government has been working to tighten control of its national airspace and centralise visa procedures, despite authority in the country being fragmented among autonomous regional states.

Just one day before the breach emerged, Somaliland declared that “entry visas issued by the Federal Government of Somalia bear no legal validity” within its territory.

Follow the build-up, analysis, and live text commentary of the CAF playoffs final for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Foreign minister says Iran has not been enriching uranium at any of its sites since Israel and the US bombed them.

Tehran, Iran – Iranian authorities maintain that the United States and its allies are set on a forceful approach over the country’s nuclear programme, so negotiations appear far off.

The administration of US President Donald Trump has left no room for talks by repeatedly presenting “maximalist demands”, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday at a news conference in Tehran.

“The current approach of the US government in no way shows readiness for an equal and fair negotiation to secure mutual interests,” he said on the sidelines of the state-organised Tehran Dialogue Forum, which diplomats and envoys from across the region attended.

Iranian officials said they have been receiving messages from neighbouring countries that are trying to mediate and keep the peace. A letter from Araghchi was also delivered to Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Sunday that deals with Iran, the ceasefire in Gaza and other issues, according to Iranian media.

Araghchi said communication channels remain open with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as well. Iran’s envoy to Vienna, where the nuclear watchdog is based, was joined on Friday by counterparts from China and Russia in a meeting with the representatives of the United Nations agency.

“There’s no enrichment right now because our nuclear enrichment facilities have been attacked,” the foreign minister said at the news conference. “Our message is clear: Iran’s right for peaceful use of nuclear energy, including enrichment, is undeniable, and we will continue to exercise it.”

Last week, the latest IAEA confidential report on Iran’s nuclear programme was leaked to Western media, which reported that the UN agency has not been able to verify Iran’s stockpile of 60 percent-enriched uranium since its facilities were bombed and severely damaged by the US and Israel in June.

The IAEA said it needed “long overdue” inspections of seven of the sites targeted during the war, including Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.

Iran has granted the IAEA access to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant and the Tehran Research Reactor but has said security and safety conditions have not been met for inspections at other facilities as the high-enriched uranium stays buried.

Another resolution?

Iranian officials signalled over the weekend that three European powers – France, the United Kingdom and Germany – which were part of the country’s now-defunct 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, may be mobilising to introduce another Iran-focused resolution to the IAEA’s board.

Iran responded to several previous censure resolutions with escalations in uranium enrichment, and Israel launched its June attacks on Iran a day after the IAEA passed a European-tabled resolution that found Tehran noncompliant with its nuclear safeguards commitments.

Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Sunday, the deputy for international and legal affairs in Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, said Iran “reserves the right to reconsider its approaches” if a new resolution moves through.

He said the three European countries’ effort was a US-backed move to reinstate UN sanctions against Iran despite strong opposition from China and Russia last month and it “eliminated them from the field of dialogue and diplomacy with Iran”.

“Another resolution will bear no additional pressure on Iran, but the message it will send shows that collaboration and coordination are not important to them,” Gharibabadi said.

Iran’s nuclear programme chief, Mohammad Eslami, also slammed the West and the IAEA, telling reporters on Sunday that the UN agency is being used for political purposes, which “enforces double standards and a law of the jungle that must be stopped”.

“The attacks on Iran’s facilities were unprecedented. It was the first time that nuclear facilities under agency supervision were attacked, which meant a violation of international law, but the IAEA did not condemn the attacks,” Eslami said.

Iran’s military commanders continue to signal defiance as well. Defence Minister Amir Hatami told a meeting of lawmakers on Sunday that armed forces have been “sparing no moment in improving defence capabilities” after the 12-day war with Israel.

Tensions remain high in the region after the war with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday confirming that it seized a Cyprus-registered tanker that transited through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Old Global Arrangement Is Breaking Apart

For decades the world economy rested on a clear arrangement. Wealthy nations consumed, financed innovation and set global standards. Developing nations supplied affordable labour, delivered production capacity and powered the rise of outsourcing. This structure created jobs, raised incomes and guided national strategies across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

That system is now weakening. Wage gaps that once justified outsourcing are closing rapidly. Factory wages in China have more than doubled over the past decade. Salaries in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Mexico and Eastern Europe have risen as these economies matured. Service wages in the Philippines and several African nations have also increased enough to erode the advantage that global firms once assumed was permanent. The global labour discount is disappearing and honestly the logic of offshoring is losing strength faster than many expected.

The New Producer Is Not a Country

Artificial intelligence is accelerating this shift. AI systems now complete tasks that once required large numbers of workers in the Global South. Customer support, document processing, routine software maintenance, claims handling, financial verification and data entry are already moving to automated systems that operate at scale with high accuracy and very low marginal cost.

This is not simply a productivity gain. It represents a substitution of labour itself. The International Monetary Fund estimates that about forty percent of global jobs contain tasks that can be automated. Surveys show that nearly thirty percent of companies plan to replace entire categories of work with AI within a year. These numbers are not abstract. They reflect changes that are already underway inside Western corporations, and many leaders barely talk about it publicly yet.

The Global North is becoming a producer again, but the production now happens through models rather than offshore workers. When a system can perform a task at a fraction of the cost of a remote employee and without coordination risk or geopolitical uncertainty, outsourcing collapses quickly and sometimes silently.

A New Global Divide Is Emerging

The world once divided neatly into high income consumers and low income producers. That divide is being replaced by a new line of separation. The decisive factor now is control over compute infrastructure and ownership of data and advanced models.

Compute is becoming the new labour force. Data is becoming the new export commodity. Intellectual property is becoming the new foundation of national power.

Research shows that developing countries face the highest automation exposure because they supply the kind of predictable and repetitive work that AI can absorb easily. Scholars describe this as a dual vulnerability because these nations depend heavily on sectors with high substitution risk while lacking the resources to adopt advanced technology at an equal pace. The risk is clear but the response has been slow.

The Global South Faces a Narrow Window

The consequences are immediate. The Philippines depends heavily on outsourced services. Bangladesh and Vietnam rely on labour intensive manufacturing. Kenya, Rwanda and several West African nations have built emerging digital service sectors under the assumption that global firms would continue sending work for decades.

An African regional analysis warns that up to forty percent of tasks in outsourcing roles could be automated by the year twenty thirty, with women and low income workers facing the highest risk. If Western companies reduce labour demand sharply, millions of workers across the Global South will face disrupted futures at the same moment and many governments are not prepared for that scale of change.

What The Global South Can Still Do

AI does not remove opportunity. It moves opportunity. Developing nations can remain competitive if they shift quickly.

They can strengthen their position in rare earth minerals and strategic metals that power batteries, servers and large data centres. By building refining and processing capacity instead of exporting raw ore they can capture higher value in the AI supply chain. They can also use their geography to become low cost energy hubs that attract global compute infrastructure, something that is slowly becoming a huge competitive advantage.

Nations can treat local data as a strategic national asset. Agricultural data, healthcare records and cultural archives can be structured into national datasets that foreign firms must license. This turns data into a renewable export product and helps retain control over how information is used.

They can also specialise in scientific and technical niches where talent matters more than capital, such as precision agriculture, advanced materials or climate analytics. Countries do not need to dominate entire industries. They just need one area that the world depends on.

Finally they must adopt AI internally to raise productivity. Early adoption helps nations move workers into higher skill roles before the full force of automation arrives, and without waiting for external pressure.

Reinvention Is the Only Path Forward

Competing on price alone is now impossible. Humans cannot become cheaper than algorithms that operate at almost zero cost. Developing nations must move beyond labour based strategies. They must build value in areas that reward expertise, judgement, culture and creativity. They must invest in local compute, protect intellectual property and build their own data resources.

The choice is not between the old model and the new model. The old model is ending on its own. The only choice is what must replace it, and that decision cannot be delayed much longer.

A New Chapter in Globalisation

Globalisation is not disappearing. It is shifting into a new form. The earlier version relied on inexpensive labour in developing nations. The new version relies on intelligent systems concentrated in wealthier nations. The global consumer now has a new producer that is faster, cheaper and infinitely scalable.

Countries that once supplied the workforce must now decide whether they will redefine their place in the global economy or allow their relevance to decline. Some countries may adapt. Many might not.

A new chapter has begun. The nations that understand this shift will shape their future. The nations that do not will be written out of the story far quicker than they realise.

In the quiet of his Ramallah studio in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian artist Nabil Anani works diligently on artworks deeply rooted in a movement he helped create during the political tumult of the late 1980s.

Cofounded in 1987 by Anani and fellow artists Sliman Mansour, Vera Tamari and Tayseer Barakat, the New Visions art movement focused on using local natural materials while eschewing Israeli supplies as a form of cultural resistance. The movement prioritised self-sufficiency at a time of deep political upheaval across occupied Palestine.

“[New Visions] emerged as a response to the conditions of the Intifada,” Anani said. “Ideas like boycott and self-reliance inspired a shift in our artistic practice at the time.”

Each of the founding members chose to work with a specific material, developing new artistic styles that fit the spirit of the time. The idea caught on, and many exhibitions followed locally, regionally and internationally.

Nearly four decades later, the principles of New Visions – self-sufficiency, resistance and creation despite scarcity – continue to shape a new generation of Palestinian artists for whom making art is both an expression and an act of survival.

Anani, now 82, and the other founding members are helping keep the movement’s legacy alive.

Why ‘New Visions’?

“We called it New Visions because, at its core, the movement embraced experimentation, especially through the use of local materials,” Anani said, noting how he had discovered the richness of sheepskins, their textures and tones and began integrating them into his art in evocative ways.

In 2002, Tamari, now 80, started planting ceramic olive trees for every real one an Israeli settler burned down to form a sculptural installation called Tale of a Tree. Later, she layered watercolours over ceramic pieces, mediums that usually do not mix, defying the usual limits of each material, and melded in elements of family photos, local landscapes and politics.

Sixty-six-year-old Barakat, meanwhile, created his own pigments and then began burning forms into wood, transforming surface damage into a visual language.

“Other artists began to embrace earth, leather, natural dyes – even the brokenness of materials as part of the story,” Mansour, 78, said, adding that he had personally reached a kind of “dead end” with his work before the New Visions movement emerged, spending years creating works centred around national symbols and identity that had started to feel repetitive.

“This was different. I remember being anxious at first, worried about the cracks in the clay I was using,” he said, referring to his use of mud. “But, in time, I saw the symbolism in those cracks. They carried something honest and powerful.”

In 2006, the group helped create the International Academy of Art Palestine in Ramallah, which was open for 10 years before being integrated into Birzeit University as the Faculty of Art, Music and Design. The academy’s main goal was to help artists transition from older ways of thinking to more contemporary approaches, particularly by using local and diverse materials.

“A new generation emerged from this, raised on these ideas, and went on to hold numerous exhibitions, both locally and internationally, all influenced by the New Visions movement,” Anani said.

A legacy maintained but tested

The work of Lara Salous, a 36-year-old Palestinian artist and designer based in Ramallah, echoes the founding principles of the movement.

“I am inspired by [the movement’s] collective mission. My insistence on using local materials comes from my belief that we must liberate and decolonise our economy.”

“We need to rely on our natural resources and production, go back to the land, boycott Israeli products and support our local industries,” Salous said.

Through Woolwoman, her social enterprise, Salous works with local materials and a community of shepherds, wool weavers and carpenters to create contemporary furniture, like wool and loom chairs, inspired by ancient Bedouin techniques.

But challenges like the increasing number of roadblocks and escalating settler violence against Palestinian Bedouin communities, who rely on sheep grazing as a basic source of income, have made working and living as an artist in the West Bank increasingly difficult.

“I collaborate with shepherds and women who spin wool in al-Auja and Masafer Yatta,” said Salous, referring to two rural West Bank areas facing intense pressure from occupation and settlement expansion.

“These communities face daily confrontations with Israeli settlers who often target their sheep, prevent grazing, cut off water sources like the al-Auja Spring, demolish wells and even steal livestock,” she added.

In July, the Reuters news agency reported an incident in the West Bank’s Jordan Valley, where settlers killed 117 sheep and stole hundreds of others in an overnight attack on one such community.

Such danger leaves Palestinian women who depend on Woolwoman for their livelihoods vulnerable. Several female weavers working with Salous and supporting her enterprise have become their families’ sole breadwinners, especially after their spouses lost jobs due to Israeli work permit bans following the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and the start of the Gaza war.

Visiting the communities where these wool suppliers live has become nearly impossible for Salous, who fears attacks by Israeli settlers.

Meanwhile, her collaborators must often prioritise their own safety and the protection of their villages, which disrupts their ability to produce wool to sustain their livelihoods.

As a result, the designer has faced delays and supply chain issues, making completing and selling her works increasingly difficult.

Anani faces similar challenges in procuring hides.

“Even in cities like Ramallah or Bethlehem, where the situation might be slightly more stable, there are serious difficulties, especially in accessing materials and moving around,” he said.

“I work with sheepskin, but getting it from Hebron is extremely difficult due to roadblocks and movement restrictions.”

Creating vs surviving

In Gaza, Hussein al-Jerjawi, an 18-year-old artist from the Remal neighbourhood of Gaza City, is also inspired by the New Visions movement’s legacy and meaning, noting that Mansour’s “style in expressing the [conditions of the occupation]” has inspired him.

Due to a lack of materials like canvases, which are scarce and expensive, al-Jerjawi has repurposed flour bags distributed by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) as canvases for creating his artwork, using wall paint or simple pens and pencils to create portraits of the world around him.

In July, however, the artist said flour bags were no longer available due to Israel’s blockade of food and aid into the Gaza Strip.

“There are no flour bags in Gaza, but I’m still considering buying empty bags to complete my drawings,” he said.

Gaza-born artist Hazem Harb, who now lives in Dubai, also credits the New Visions movement as a constant source of inspiration throughout his decades-long career.

“The New Visions movement encourages artists to push boundaries and challenge conventional forms, and I strive to embody this spirit in my work,” he said while noting that it has been challenging to source the materials from Gaza that he needs for his work.

“The ongoing occupation often disrupts supply chains, making it difficult to obtain the necessary materials for my work. I often relied on local resources and found objects, creatively repurposing materials to convey my message.”

Anani, who said the conditions in Gaza make it nearly impossible to access local material, added that many artists are struggling but still strive to make art with whatever they can.

“I believe artists [in Gaza] are using whatever’s available – burned objects, sand, basic things from their environment,” Anani said.

“Still, they are continuing to create in simple ways that reflect this harsh moment.”

Tens of thousands of people have thronged the streets of an Amazonian city hosting the COP30 talks, dancing to pounding speakers in the first large-scale protest at a United Nations climate summit in years.

As the first week of climate negotiations limped to a close with nations deadlocked, Indigenous people and activists sang, chanted, and rolled a giant beach ball of Earth through Belem under a searing sun.

Others held a mock funeral procession for fossil fuels, dressed in black and posing as grieving widows as they carried three coffins marked with the words “coal”, “oil” and “gas”.

It was the first major protest outside the annual climate talks since COP26 four years ago in Glasgow, as the last three gatherings had been held in locations with little tolerance for demonstrations – Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Azerbaijan.

Called the “Great People’s March” by the organisers, the Belem rally came at the halfway point of difficult negotiations and followed two Indigenous-led protests that disrupted proceedings earlier in the week.

“Today we are witnessing a massacre as our forest is being destroyed,” said Benedito Huni Kuin, a 50-year-old member of the Huni Kuin Indigenous group from western Brazil.

“We want to make our voices heard from the Amazon and demand results,” he added. “We need more Indigenous representatives at COP to defend our rights.”

Their demands include “reparations” for damages caused by corporations and governments, particularly to marginalised communities.

After a 4.5km (2.8-mile) march through the city, the demonstration halted a few blocks from the COP30 venue, where authorities deployed soldiers to protect the site.

Inside the venue, COP30 President Andre Correa do Lago admitted that the first exhaustive week of negotiations had failed to yield a breakthrough and urged diplomats not to run down the clock with time-wasting manoeuvres.

Countries remained at odds over trade measures and weak climate targets, while a showdown looms over demands that wealthy nations triple the finance they provide to poorer states to adapt to a warming world.

Italy won the European Championship in 2021, but have not played at a World Cup finals since 2014 when they beat England but lost to Costa Rica and Uruguay and failed to make it beyond the group phase.

Their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign could not have got off to a worse start.

A tame 3-0 loss in their opener against Norway, with Manchester City’s Erling Haaland scoring one of the goals, led to manager Luciano Spalletti publicly announcing his own sacking two days later, though he still took charge of the following 2-0 home win over Moldova.

From then on, Italy have been playing catch-up, with flawless Norway winning their opening seven qualifiers, scoring 33 goals in the process, including 14 for Haaland.

Italy turned to Gennaro Gattuso, a former combative midfielder who helped AC Milan twice win the Champions League and Italy secure their last World Cup trophy in 2006.

Despite managing AC Milan and then winning the Coppa Italia with Napoli, a 23-day spell at Fiorentina saw him leave without taking charge of a game, before he only lasted seven months at Valencia and five months at Marseille.

His most recent appointment had been with Croatian club Hajduk Split, and many felt him becoming Italy manager was a mistake.

“When I heard Gattuso was in line it just seemed to demonstrate the giant collapse of Italy,” Italian football journalist Mina Rzouki told the Euro Leagues podcast.

“There were so many clips going around on social media about that Italy team just before they won the World Cup and you are talking about Paolo Maldini, [Fabio] Cannavaro, [Alessandro] Nesta, [Francesco] Totti, [Alessandro] Del Piero and it was just an embarrassment of riches.

“Now when you look at Italy over the last few seasons, even though they won the Euros, there was just a fall – but the one thing you could rely on was that Italy created these great coaches. Yet none of these great coaches were called up or have succeeded. Spalletti did not succeed.”

Horncastle added: “The players have had their backs against the wall after losing to Norway in June and now the approach that is being imposed on Italy by the Italian media is ‘you have to win all your remaining games and have to score lots and lots of goals’.

“Italy had a great coach in Luciano Spalletti, although, for whatever reason, it didn’t work out. Gattuso is a more famous manager for his press conferences than the football he has put on the pitch.”

The plans, inspired by Denmark’s approach, aim to slash irregular immigration and counter the UK’s far right.

The United Kingdom has announced a drastic reduction in the protections for asylum seekers and refugees under a new plan aimed at slashing irregular immigration and countering the far right.

The measures, modelled on Denmark’s strict asylum system, were announced late on Saturday as Prime Minister Keir Starmer comes under pressure from surging popularity for the anti-immigrant Reform UK party.

“I’ll end UK’s golden ticket for asylum seekers,” Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood declared in a statement, with the Home Office, as her ministry is known, calling the new proposals the “largest overhaul of asylum policy in modern times”.

Mahmood is due to lay out the policy in parliament on Monday.

Meanwhile, the head of the UK’s Refugee Council warned the government that the measures would not deter people from trying to reach the country and urged a rethink.

“They should ensure that refugees who work hard and contribute to Britain can build secure, settled lives and give back to their communities,” Enver Solomon said.

Currently, people get refugee status for five years, after which they can apply for indefinite leave to remain and eventually, citizenship.

Mahmood’s ministry says it would cut the length of refugee status to 30 months. That protection will be “regularly reviewed”, and refugees will be forced to return to their home countries once they are deemed safe, it added.

The ministry also said it intended to make those refugees who were granted asylum wait 20 years before applying to be allowed to live in the UK long-term.

Asylum claims record high

Asylum claims in Britain are at a record high. Polls suggest immigration has overtaken the economy as voters’ top concern.

Some 109,343 people claimed asylum in the UK in the year ending March 2025, a 17 percent rise on the previous year and 6 percent above the 2002 peak of 103,081.

The Home Office said the reforms would make it less attractive for irregular migrants and refugees to come to the UK and make it easier to remove those already in the country.

A statutory legal duty to provide support to asylum seekers, introduced in a 2005 law, would also be revoked, the ministry said. That means housing and weekly financial allowances would no longer be guaranteed for asylum seekers.

It would be “discretionary”, meaning the government could deny assistance to any asylum seeker who could work or support themselves, or those who committed crimes.

Starmer, elected last year, is under pressure to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats from France, something that also troubled his Conservative predecessors.

More than 39,000 people, many fleeing conflict, have arrived this year following such dangerous journeys – more than for the whole of 2024 but lower than the record set in 2022.

The crossings are helping raise the popularity of Reform, led by firebrand Nigel Farage, which has led Labour by double-digit margins in opinion polls for most of this year.

More than 100 British charities wrote to Mahmood, urging her to “end the scapegoating of migrants and performative policies that only cause harm”, saying such steps are prompting racism and violence.

Makhachev makes light of stepping up a weight class to beat Della Maddalena by unanimous decision.

Islam Makhachev out-classed Jack Della Maddalena in a five-round beat-down to claim a unanimous decision victory and win the UFC welterweight championship at Madison Square Garden, with Valentina Shevchenko retaining her flyweight title in the co-main event.

Makhachev made light of stepping up a weight class after relinquishing the lightweight crown to chase a new challenge, utterly dominating his Australian opponent for 25 minutes with his smothering grappling to claim his 16th UFC victory in a row on Saturday night.

The 34-year-old softened up his 29-year-old adversary with calf kicks before launching a relentless wrestling attack and Della Maddalena had no answer, getting stuck on the mat dealing with submission threats under tremendous pressure for long periods.

“This is my plan. It’s not a secret, all my opponents know this, and nobody can stop it,” Makhachev said before calling for his first title defence to be at the proposed event on the White House lawn in 2026.

All three judges scored the contest 50-45 as Makhachev became the 11th fighter in UFC history to hold titles in two different weight classes.

Della Maddalena – who ended an 18-fight career win streak, that featured 14 finishes – walked out of the cage without conducting the traditional post-fight interview and lost his first title defence since he beat Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision in May to wrest away the welterweight championship.

In the co-headliner, Zhang Weili’s dream of joining the elite group of double-champions came up short as the wily Shevchenko out-pointed her in another dominant performance to retain the flyweight crown.

Shevchenko (26-4-1) won her 11th overall title fight once she swept the scorecards 50-45 against Zhang.

Shevchenko displayed her full array of skills, sniping at her Chinese opponent and hurting her with punishing kicks to the body, and taking her to the mat and controlling her whenever she felt in danger.

The fighter from Krygyzstan became the first female UFC fighter to record 60 career takedowns – and the fight indeed ended with Zhang on her back.

“I was preparing for this fight as the hardest challenge in my life,” Shevchenko said in the cage after her customary victory dance.

“This is what I call the art of martial arts. When they are here in front of me, they cannot do anything.”

The show went on without an appearance from President Donald Trump, a close friend of UFC CEO Dana White, who normally has a cage side seat for the tri-state area’s biggest events.

UFC fans at the Garden, though, did get a big fight well ahead of the main event when a massive brawl broke out near one of the tunnels used for fight entrances and spilled through the stands and near press row.

The stir – which involved MMA fighter Dillon Danis – had the crowd howling and caused a short delay to the start of the pay-per-view card as police and security tried to bust up the melee.

Fists continued to fly at a furious pace once UFC 322 truly got under way.

Beneil Dariush (in 16 seconds of the first round), Carlos Prates (at 1:28 of the second round), and Michael Morales (at 3:27 of the first round) each won with devastating knockouts to open the card.