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The Mexican community of Cabo Corrientes faces the risk of a direct hit as the Category 4 storm churns off Jalisco.

Mexican President ‌‌Claudia Sheinbaum has urged residents along the Pacific Ocean to stay indoors as Hurricane Simon’s powerful winds and heavy rains pound coastal communities.

As of Sunday, the hurricane’s eye was moving offshore of Mexico’s Jalisco state, with winds of at least 240km/h (150mph).

Torrential rain has already battered residents living between the Sierra Madre mountain range and the ocean. Communities in hilly and mountainous areas have been warned to brace for mudslides.

Simon reached Category 4 strength, on a scale of five, on Saturday, as part of an unusually active Pacific hurricane season.

“With the approaching impact of Category 4 Hurricane Simon, we urge residents of coastal municipalities ‌‌in Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Michoacan to remain sheltered until authorities officially declare that the danger has passed,” Sheinbaum wrote in a post on the social media platform X on Sunday.

In a midday advisory, the United States’ National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that Simon could produce “additional rainfall totals of 8 to 16 inches (20 to 41 cm) over portions of southwestern Mexico”.

Precipitation totals as high as 76 cm (30 inches) were possible in areas of Michoacan, Colima, and Jalisco until Monday.

It’s not clear whether the storm will make landfall. But the greatest risk of a direct hit lies at the moment with Cabo Corrientes, a town that sits on a cape in Jalisco, jutting into the Pacific Ocean.

Mexico’s National Civil Protection ⁠⁠Coordination (CNPC) placed 28 municipalities in Jalisco and Colima under its highest cyclone alert level, while another 93 municipalities were under a ⁠⁠high alert level, according to civil protection bulletins.

Classes were suspended in the affected areas, and efforts to evacuate residents were under way.

Businesses in popular tourist destinations like Puerto Vallarta boarded up windows and placed sandbags at entrances as the storm approached.

Jalisco’s Governor Pablo Navarro warned that the high-powered hurricane was creating “high-risk marine conditions” along the coast of his state, with waves reaching as high as eight metres (26 feet).

On Sunday, he also shared video on social media of the storm surge crashing onto sidewalks and flooding waterways.

“Here is the current state of Jalisco’s beaches this morning — from Barra de Navidad to Puerto Vallarta — as Hurricane Simon passes through,” he wrote in the video’s caption.

“I ask everyone to heed official instructions, take precautions and avoid putting themselves at risk. The safety of Jalisco’s families is the top priority.”

Ethiopia and Eritrea have exchanged accusations of aggression at the United Nations, raising fears of a new conflict in the Horn of Africa region as fighting intensifies in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region.

The diplomatic spat comes as Ethiopian troops and allied armed groups advanced across Tigray, where forces from Asmara have allegedly crossed the border to support rebels fighting the government forces.

The two neighbours, which fought a deadly border war between 1998 and 2000, were allies during Ethiopia’s devastating 2020-2022 Tigray war.

However, they have since been at loggerheads over the 2022 peace agreement that ended a two-year civil war between the government in Addis Ababa and Tigray rebels, and over Ethiopia’s demands for access to the Red Sea.

So, what did Eritrea and Ethiopia accuse each other of, and are they inching towards war?

What did Eritrea and Ethiopia say at the UN?

Eritrean troops had advanced as far as 60km (37 miles) into Tigray, Ethiopia told the UN Security Council on Friday, accusing its neighbour of violating its sovereignty.

In a letter, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedion Timothewos described the alleged incursion as “a blatant act of aggression that engages Ethiopia’s inherent right to self-defence”.

He invoked Article 51 of the UN Charter, which recognises a country’s right to self-defence, but did not specify what measures Ethiopia was taking.

Eritrea, which won independence from Ethiopia in 1993, rejected the accusations of incursions into Ethiopia, calling them a pretext for an Addis Ababa offensive.

Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh, in his own letter to the UN Security Council on Saturday, urged the body to condemn Ethiopia’s “deplorable declaration of war” and take “deterrent measures”.

He warned that an Ethiopian offensive would cause “huge devastation to the peoples of both countries and destabilise the whole region”.

The accusations come amid a broader dispute over access to the Red Sea.

Landlocked Ethiopia has repeatedly argued that securing direct sea access is essential, while Eritrea fears Addis Ababa intends to seize its port of Assab.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed reiterated on Monday that Ethiopia must have access to the Red Sea.

Hossamaldeen Ibrahim, an analyst at Bloomsbury Intelligence and Security Institute (BISI), said the narratives of both countries contain “verifiable elements”.

“The danger lies in the fact that each side now treats the other’s narrative as existential,” he told Al Jazeera.

Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a deadly border war from 1998 to 2000. Relations improved after Abiy came to power in 2018, but have soured again in recent years.

Professor Matthias Rompel from the Institute of Sociology at the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen in Germany, said that both sides have legitimate security concerns, but their accusations need to be distinguished from independently verified facts.

“Ethiopia’s allegations of Eritrean military incursions into Tigray… and …the scale of Eritrean involvement, and particularly allegations that Asmara is orchestrating the rebellion against Addis Ababa, remain difficult to substantiate independently,” he told Al Jazeera.

He added that the latest developments suggest that the confrontation is no longer merely about Tigray. “Ethiopia’s quest for Red Sea access, Eritrea’s concerns about sovereignty, and Egypt’s strategic rivalry with Ethiopia over the Nile are interconnected,” he said.

“The conflict, therefore, has the potential to destabilise the wider Horn of Africa, with repercussions for Sudan, Somalia and Red Sea security.”

What is the latest fighting about, and how is Eritrea allegedly involved?

Fighting escalated on September 23 when a rebel alliance, including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), launched attacks against Ethiopian government forces across Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions.

The rebels captured Tigray’s capital, Mekelle, and its airport before announcing their withdrawal on October 3. Government-allied forces subsequently entered the city.

In the latest on the battlefront, government and allied forces took Idaga Hamus early Friday and Abiy-Adi, in the Tembien area, on Thursday afternoon, according to Ermiyas Ababu, a commander of the government-allied Tigray Peace Force.

Residents, according to Reuters news agency, also reported the takeover of Idaga Hamus. Gebremedhin Kihishen, a business owner in Tembien, said government-allied forces controlled Abiy-Adi.

It was unclear from those accounts who held the towns immediately before the reported government advance or whether Eritrean troops were involved in the fighting.

Ermiyas previously reported Eritrean personnel entering Adigrat on Tuesday and Idaga Hamus on Wednesday, citing reports from his personnel. Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the claims.

The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a United States-based conflict monitor, reported that Eritrean troops crossed into Ethiopia near Zalambessa and came under Ethiopian drone attack while advancing towards Idaga Hamus. Eritrea has yet to comment on the development.

Addis Ababa accuses Asmara of financing, arming and directing armed groups, as well as deploying troops inside Tigray. Eritrea denies the allegations, which have not been independently verified.

The renewed fighting threatens to unravel the 2022 peace agreement.

That conflict began in November 2020 after months of tensions between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and the TPLF, which had dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades before Abiy took office in 2018.

Eritrea fought alongside Ethiopian federal forces against the TPLF, its longtime adversary. The war killed hundreds of thousands of people and was marked by allegations of massacres, sexual violence and widespread hunger.

The November 2022 Pretoria agreement ended major hostilities, but Eritrea was not a party to the deal. Relations between Addis Ababa and Asmara subsequently deteriorated.

Has Ethiopia sent troops north towards Eritrea?

Multiple media reports say Ethiopian government troops and allied militias entered Adigrat, a strategic city roughly 30km (19 miles) from the Eritrean border, on Saturday.

Three residents confirmed their presence to Reuters, while verified footage showed government-allied militia members walking through the city.

Associated Press news agency footage also showed Ethiopian military vehicles entering Adigrat as some residents welcomed the troops.

Government-allied forces have reported capturing Idaga Hamus and Abiy-Adi, while explosions and alleged drone strikes have been reported near Adigrat.

Are Ethiopia and Eritrea inching towards war?

Analysts warn that Ethiopia and Eritrea may already have moved beyond threats and into a dangerous phase of possible military confrontation.

BISI’s Ibrahim said the two countries have moved beyond “inching” towards war, noting that “The situation has entered a high-risk phase of limited but direct military confrontation with a real possibility of rapid escalation into interstate war.”

He warned that the severing of diplomatic ties removed the “last formal mechanism for crisis management”, while Ethiopian military advances towards the Eritrean border increased the risk of “miscalculation”.

Tom Gardner, a correspondent for The Economist, said the current tensions should be understood in the context of decades of hostility between the neighbours.

Their brief alliance during the 2020-2022 Tigray war was an exception and was driven by a shared hostility towards the TPLF, Gardner told Al Jazeera.

“The Ethiopian government’s strategic goal number one is access to the Red Sea, but also removing Eritrea’s government from the picture,” he noted.

“It’s very much looking like the most dangerous moment for the region since that 1998 to 2000 war.”

Rompel from Justus-Liebig-University Giessen said that the current situation is evolving. “The danger of a wider interstate conflict is real, and the situation has already moved beyond a purely diplomatic confrontation,” he said.

“The central danger is not necessarily that either government has decided to launch a full-scale war, but that military miscalculations, mutual distrust and domestic political pressures could trigger a further escalation neither side can easily control.

“A wider conflict is not inevitable, but the space for diplomatic de-escalation is rapidly narrowing,” he said.

India’s capital is bracing for a second day of protests after thousands of people, including the leaders of the “cockroach” youth movement and opposition politicians, were detained amid a major crackdown on demonstrators.

Abhijeet Dipke, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leader, called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “bully” shortly after he was released on Sunday. Thousands of other protesters, some of whom are members of left-wing student groups, were released on Sunday after the Supreme Court called their detention “illegal”.

“Modi, as PM, is an embarrassment to India. Never has this country seen a bigger coward and bully,” Dipke said in a post on X.

The protesters are demanding that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign over a revision of voter lists that they say disproportionately benefits Prime Minister Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Millions of voters, including Muslims, have been deleted from the rolls in a process marred by technical errors and a perceived lack of transparency.

The protests erupted across several Indian cities after an investigation by the Indian Express newspaper found that two election commissioners objected to many of Kumar’s decisions. India’s Election Commission is a constitutional body with three members, and decisions are taken by majority.

What was the scale of the government crackdown?

Ahead of Saturday’s protests, the capital, New Delhi, was turned into a fortress with tens of thousands of police and paramilitary forces deployed, trains and metros suspended, and markets and major roads blocked, to prevent protesters from reaching Jantar Mantar – a designated protest site close to India’s parliament. Jantar Mantar was sealed off.

Jantar Mantar was the site of the July protest that led to the resignation of Education Minister Dharmesh Pradhan. That protest, also led by the CJP, was triggered by a string of exam paper leaks.

Security forces also set ⁠up checkpoints on major roads and entry points across the city of 20 million people, checked buses and inspected vehicles searching for protesters.

Barricades and concrete blocks disrupted traffic, while anti-riot vehicles equipped with tear-gas launchers guarded key routes.

More than 30,000 police and paramilitary personnel were deployed across the ⁠city, according to local media, and mobile internet services were suspended across several areas of the capital to stop people from online mobilisation efforts by the CJP and other youth groups.

Police detained CJP founder Dipke, as well as his associates, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, from an airplane upon arrival in New Delhi from Mumbai.

Dipke shared a video on his Instagram channel, showing a team of police officers entering the Air India plane after it landed. As they came closer, he said: “I have come to get arrested. I am not afraid of you guys.”

In another video shared by Ranka, Dipke said: “This is dictatorship”.

Delhi police also detained YouTuber Dhruv Rathee and Neha Bora, the national president of the All India Students’ Association (AISA), a leftist group affiliated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).

Some opposition politicians, as well as former chief ministers – Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi, and Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala – were also detained, television channels showed.

Despite the unprecedented crackdown, small protests took place elsewhere in the city, including at the popular crafts market “Dilli Haat”. But police also ended up quashing these protests and detaining journalists trying to cover the demonstrations.

Besides New Delhi, some 600 people were also arrested in Mumbai, India’s financial hub, over the protests, according to the ANI news agency.

Have protesters been released?

On Sunday, police officials said all detainees had been released.

The CJP leaders were released on the condition that there would be ‘no breach of peace’ for a year.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference in New Delhi on Sunday afternoon after their release, Saurav Das, the group’s co-convenor, slammed the police for “arriving like mafia dons” and “abducting” them on their plane.

After his release, Rathee said he was “KIDNAPPED.”

Several journalists from news outlets, including Scroll.in, Newslaundry and others were detained. They have all since been released, but Newslaundry said some of their reporters’ media equipment was seized during the detention.

The Committee to Protect Journalists told Al Jazeera on Saturday that it was deeply concerned by reports of journalists being temporarily detained.

“Just as police personnel are doing their jobs, journalists are also doing theirs. A free and independent press is essential to democracy,” Kunal Majumder, the CPJ’s Asia Pacific programme coordinator, said.

How were detainees treated?

Aban Raza, a 37-year old visual artist based in New Delhi who was detained on Saturday, said the “entire experience has left her shocked and angry”.

“We are protesting for the right to vote. It affects all of us. So why is the police suspicious of us and treating us with so much aggression? This makes me angry,” she told Al Jazeera.

Together with three other protesters, including economist Jean Dreze, Raza managed to get close to Jantar Mantar on Saturday morning.

“As soon as we reached close enough to the protest site, we started unfurling our banners which called for the resignation of Election Commission chief Gyanesh Kumar and for free and fair elections. But within minutes, police officials approached us, began tearing our banners and dragging us towards a bus to detain us,” she told Al Jazeera.

“We tried to resist as the police dragged us inside the bus. Both my arms feel very sore today,” she said.

Raza says that some of those detained were not even protesters.

“They were people who had just been picked up whilst they were going about their day. One person was going to the Gurudwara, another was going to meet his wife and they got detained. Most of these people were working class people,” she said.

Raza, who was released on Saturday night, said she is going back to protest on Sunday.

Will the protests continue?

Youth leaders have struck a defiant note, pledging to keep up protests in New Delhi. Some members were detained on Sunday.

The group’s co-convenor Saurav Das, who was released from detention on Sunday, said in a post on X: “After Modi-Shah [Amit Shah, India’s home minister] turned Delhi into a fortress and unleashed what can only be described as a war against their own citizens, one thing has become abundantly clear: Gyanesh Kumar is at the very heart of this government’s survival.”

“But we the young generation will continue to demand accountability. We shall neither be intimidated nor silenced. We are not backing down. We are returning with full strength!” he added.

The CJP has also announced protests in other Indian cities including Mumbai for Sunday evening.

Meanwhile, Neha Bora, the national president of the All India Students’ Association, began a protest on Sunday afternoon in central Delhi.

“Our peaceful protest has started at RK Ashram. Join us here and stand with us!” she said on X.

But shortly afterwards, Bora and several others were detained.

Are India’s opposition parties backing the protests?

The INDIA Bloc – India’s opposition alliance led by the Indian National Congress – has participated in protests alongside the youth-led groups, demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Kumar.

The Bloc is expected to hold a protest on Monday in the capital.

“Yesterday, we held a comprehensive meeting with various leaders to prepare for this march,” Congress general secretary K C Venugopal told reporters on Saturday.

“Gyanesh must go. There will be no backing down,” he added.

Congress party leader and the leader of the opposition in parliament, Rahul Gandhi, has been spearheading a campaign against the election commissioner for months. He was briefly arrested last week over the election protest in New Delhi.

“Modi government has turned the ‘Mother of Democracy’ into a ‘Muzzled Democracy’!” Congress party president Mallikarjun Kharge posted on X.

“Detentions, arrests, jails, lathis [batons] and pellets cannot deter the people of India. Since the days of our freedom struggle, the youth have been at the forefront of shaping the nation’s destiny.”

Why is India’s government refusing to talk to the protesters?

The protests intensified after the Indian Express reported last month that two election commissioners had ⁠questioned Kumar’s revisions that removed roughly 130 million names from voter lists.

The BJP says that of the 130 million names deleted from voter lists, 28 million are dead, 63 million have relocated, 10 million are duplicates and 30 million could not be traced by officials.

The ruling party has also said its electoral success reflects Modi’s popularity and India’s economic growth, and accuses opposition parties of spreading misinformation.

But these protests have become a larger question of democracy and the right to dissent under the Modi government.

While the government had briefly engaged in talks with the youth groups during the July 2026 protests, it has taken a much more hardline stance against demands targeting constitutional and electoral authorities.

The BJP’s officials have also characterised the protests and online opposition as a concerted political effort to destabilise the government rather than highlight legitimate public grievances.

On Saturday, BJP spokesman Sambit Patra dismissed the demonstrators as “anarchic elements” and said that “their flop show has been completely demolished”.

“What is happening at Jantar Mantar, what you can see on TV and a few social media handles, is not India’s story. India is calm and going ahead under good governance,” he told reporters.

Critics and analysts interviewed by Al Jazeera argue that conceding to demands for the election chief’s resignation would validate opposition accusations of vote theft and project weakness for a prime minister sensitive to his political aura.

But Sanjay Kapoor, editor of Hard News Magazine and a political analyst, told Al Jazeera on Saturday that most people coming to the protests do not want Modi’s BJP to continue to govern.

“Modi’s government has begun to lose a lot of credibility at the moment,” he said.

“BJP is afraid that the ground has shifted dramatically against them and they would find it very difficult to come back to power.”

What has been the global reactions to the protests?

On Saturday, the United Nations Human Rights Office expressed concerns over mass detentions before and during the protests.

“We call on the authorities to ensure that the right to peaceful assembly is fully respected and fulfilled,” UN Human Rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement.

He also urged authorities to engage in “meaningful dialogue” to address the “broadly ‌held” concerns expressed.

Amnesty International told Al Jazeera that the detentions signal the Indian government’s desperate attempts to “suppress critical voices”, while Human Rights Watch said that “instead of addressing legitimate citizen concerns, institutions expected to uphold rights appear to be under the stranglehold of rising authoritarianism.”

The Indian mission to the UN in Geneva, however, called the global concerns “misplaced” and said they constitute “an unwarranted interference in the internal affairs of India”.

It stressed that the right to peaceful assembly was guaranteed by India’s Constitution.

“As in every democracy, Indian citizens exercise this right subject to reasonable restrictions in the interest of public order.”

Third strike on Yandex facilities in a week comes as Russia and Ukraine escalate attacks on tech infrastructure.

A Russian data centre run by technology and AI company ⁠Yandex has been shut down after it was hit in a drone attack.

No injuries were reported in the attack on the facility in the city of Vladimir, east of the capital, Moscow, the company said on Sunday.

Emergency services were at the site and several of Yandex’s services were unavailable ‌to users, the company said, as it evaluated ways to restore its systems.

“Operations at the data centre have been completely suspended,” Yandex said in a service alert on Telegram, advising users to activate disaster-recovery plans as the platform operated in emergency mode.

“The remaining resource configuration is considered unstable,” it added, warning that technical support communications could also be disrupted as teams assessed the damage.

It is the third attack on the company’s data centres in the last week, as Russia and Ukraine continue to escalate attacks on each other’s technology infrastructure.

On Friday, Yandex, which ⁠is heavily involved ⁠in Russia’s AI development and is sometimes referred to as “Russia’s Google”, said its data centre in the Kaluga ⁠region southwest of Moscow was struck by ⁠Ukrainian drones and partly ⁠put out of action.

A day earlier, a Ukrainian attack shut down Yandex’s data hub ‌in Sasovo, southeast of Moscow, where two of the three supercomputers used ‌to ‌develop the company’s AI model are housed.

“We always respond in mirror-like fashion,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday, following the Sasovo strike. “You all know, they have been hitting and continue to hit our data centres. We are responding. I can’t share all the details.”

Russia has struck several Ukrainian data centres and telecommunications infrastructure facilities over the past month, including targets in central Kyiv, in an apparent effort to disrupt the country’s connectivity and digital commerce.

Man City face Liverpool in their first game since being found guilty of serious EPL financial breaches.

Red flares, smoke-filled pyrotechnics, strongly worded banners and trenchant chants.

Manchester City can expect a raucous and hostile reception when they arrive at Anfield for their Premier League match against Liverpool on Sunday.

Liverpool supporters are angry, and they are planning to parade their emotions for City as the league leaders play their first match since being found guilty of breaking more than 100 financial rules.

In a decision that could have a drastic effect on the future of the English top flight, an independent commission found that City and their Emirati owners had arranged “sham” deals to artificially inflate revenues and reduce costs by more than 900 million pounds ($1.2bn) from 2009 to 2018.

City, who deny any wrongdoing, have appealed against the devastating verdict.

The multiple breaches of Premier League regulations came during a period when City won three league titles and a clutch of other trophies while Liverpool struggled to break City’s stranglehold on the game in England.

City were given a taste of the resentment that awaits them when Manchester United fans goaded them during their 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Man City’s players and manager Enzo Maresca will get the full taste of a potentially fiery reception from Liverpool fans, who have also waited three weeks to watch their team back in action after the extended international break.

Social media posts and video reactions have made no secret of the anger that will be directed towards City by Liverpool’s supporters.

Spion Kop 1906, a Liverpool supporters group that organises flag and banner displays on The Kop, the famous single-tier south stand at Anfield, urged attendees to come prepared to show their support when the Reds host Man City.

“There’s loads riding on Sunday’s game on and off the pitch, but it’s down to us as a collective to bring the noise and get behind the team,” Spion Kop said on X.

“Bring your flags, bring your scarves and be at it from the very first minute.”

‘LFC vs Cheats’

A social media post promoting a “Bus greeting”, urging Liverpool supporters to gather near ‌‌‌‌the stadium several hours before kickoff ahead of the arrival of the City players’ bus, is also making the rounds on X.

Another post about the bus greeting took a dig at Man City, describing the match as “LFC vs Cheats”.

Merseyside Police said there would be an appropriate policing operation ⁠⁠⁠⁠in place on the day of the match.

Liverpool fans are no strangers to creating a hostile welcome for City.

In 2018 during a Champions League quarterfinal tie, City’s team bus was attacked with bottles and flares when it arrived at Anfield. Liverpool were subsequently fined 20,000 euros ($22,400) by UEFA, European football’s governing body.

Dom Farrell, author of the book Glory Days for the Waifs and Strays, which chronicled City’s rise from the third tier to European champions, expected Sunday’s showdown to be “massively hostile”.

“If they were to win against Liverpool and then beat an off-form Paris Saint-Germain [in the Champions League on Wednesday], you really get a siege mentality going,” Farrell told the AFP news agency.

“But there’s also a decent chance they get turned over, and then it just starts to feel like you’re in this sort of dead zone waiting for the verdict.”

‘Brutal day’

Former Manchester United captain and England defender Gary Neville expected Sunday to be a “brutal day” for visiting Man City, who lead the standings with a 100 percent record and are six points ahead of Liverpool.

“If they want an understanding of how angry the game is going to be, then Anfield will tell them like you would never believe,” Neville said on The Overlap podcast.

“I suspect there may be banners. There will certainly be chanting. There will be a reception like you have never seen for them at Anfield.”

Real Madrid forward has a goal disallowed, is sent off for the hair-pull offence and could miss the next three games.

Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr has apologised ⁠⁠to ⁠⁠his teammates and the club’s fans after being sent off in the 1-0 ⁠⁠win over Villarreal in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu but now faces a ⁠⁠nervous wait for a ruling by the disciplinary committee, which could see him miss Real’s fixture with rivals Barcelona in two weeks.

The Brazilian thought he had scored Real’s second goal in the match on Saturday, but his effort was disallowed after a video assistant referee (VAR) review found he should be dismissed for pulling Nathan Saliba’s hair in the build-up.

After the match, Vinicius, ⁠⁠who came on in the ⁠⁠52nd minute and was red-carded 20 minutes later, posted on social media, saying, “sorry to the team and the ⁠⁠fans”.

Vinicius was celebrating after scoring when referee Isidro Diaz de Mera was called by the VAR to review the moments before his goal. The referee waved off the goal and pulled out a red card for Vinicius.

When he thought Vinicius had doubled the lead, Real manager Jose Mourinho ran to join the celebrations with his players.

But moments later, Vinicius was left livid by the referee’s decision. He screamed at Diaz de Mera while his teammates tried to calm him down as he left the field.

“I don’t think he meant to hurt anyone, but it is a red card,” Villarreal defender Juan Foyth said about the hair yank of Saliba.

Diaz de Mera wrote in his match report that after being shown the red card, Vinicius “protested my decision, raising his voice, toward where I was standing in an aggressive manner, and being held back by teammates”.

Royal Spanish Football Federation regulations state that pulling an opponent’s hair ⁠⁠is regarded as violent conduct.

The ⁠⁠sanction for violent conduct without causing injury to an opponent, according to Article 130 of the league’s rules, is a ban of one to three ‌‌matches.

Real’s next three La Liga games are against Sevilla, Barca and Racing Santander, but missing El ‌‌Clasico ‌‌would be a bitter blow for the 26-year-old Brazil international.

Mourinho did not appear at the mandatory post-game news conference.

US military jet strikes stern of commercial cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman ‘without harming the crew’, CENTCOM says.

United States forces have disabled a commercial cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman after its crew “ignored repeated warnings and attempted to run the ongoing naval blockade against Iran”, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM).

A US military fighter jet struck the stern of the Panama-flagged M/V Ocean Molica, also known as the Arika Sun, with a precision munition on Saturday, “fully disabling the ship’s propulsion without harming the crew”, CENTCOM said in a statement. The vessel was attempting to transit regional waters after “having previously departed an Iranian port”.

CENTCOM said its forces resumed their blockade against all ships “entering or departing Iranian ports on July 14”, disabling four commercial vessels and turning around 135 ships during “three months of strict enforcement”.

US forces also destroyed 10 tankers linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC’s) “multibillion-dollar shadow network” over the same period, CENTCOM said.

Meanwhile, Iran’s IRGC said it struck a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz for attempting to take an “illegal route”, as Tehran seeks to enforce its own blockade on the vital waterway.

In a statement carried by official Iranian media, the IRGC claimed Iranian forces “have taken control of the administration of the strait”.

“In carrying out this mission, a few hours ago, a giant LPG carrier named NV Sunshine, owned by NatWit, which was attempting to transit via the illegal route south of the Strait of Hormuz, was struck,” the statement said.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Sunday that an outbound tanker in the strait was struck on the port side by an unknown projectile, causing a fire on board. The UK agency said crew members were reported safe, while the damage and environmental impact remained unknown at the time of the report.

Tehran has attempted to enforce control over the Strait of Hormuz during the US-Israel war on Iran, insisting that ships obtain permission to cross via its preferred routes. However, vessels have increasingly risked taking an alternative route hugging the strait’s southern coast.

The UKMTO said on Thursday that a vessel sailing 94km (58 miles) north of Madinat ash Shamal, off the north coast of Qatar, was struck by multiple projectiles, resulting in a number of casualties.

The agency did not specify the origin of the ship or the number of people killed or injured, adding that authorities were investigating the incident amid a recent rise in attacks on vessels near the Strait of Hormuz.

Ships in the Gulf attempting to cross the strait, which is the sole maritime route in or out of the oil-rich region, have faced repeated attacks since the US and Israel began the war in late February.

The Strait of Hormuz remains vital to the global economy, with about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passing through the passage before the war began.

Beni, Democratic Republic of Congo – The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has spread to another health zone in the east, while a fatal imported case in Kenya has underscored the risk of cross-border transmission.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in an October 8 update that Alimbongo health zone in North Kivu province had reported cases for the first time. As of October 6, four confirmed cases, including two deaths, had been recorded there.

The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a species of Ebola virus. According to the WHO, cases had been reported in 64 health zones across seven provinces in the DRC. Ituri remained the worst-affected province in cumulative cases, while North Kivu was accounting for a growing share of newly confirmed infections.

As of October 6, the WHO had recorded 8,728 confirmed cases and 4,205 confirmed deaths in the DRC. A further 2,269 people had recovered, and the crude case fatality ratio stood at 48.2 percent.

Kenya confirms imported case

Kenya confirmed its first imported case of Bundibugyo virus disease on October 6, according to the WHO. The patient, a Kenyan citizen who had been living in the DRC, fell ill there and received treatment at several health facilities before travelling to Kenya through Uganda.

The patient travelled by road to Kampala, Uganda, before flying to Nairobi, arriving on October 3. The patient was isolated in hospital and tested positive for the virus. Despite supportive treatment, the patient died on October 5, the WHO said.

Kenyan authorities identified 28 contacts, including family members and healthcare workers. The WHO also reported efforts to trace passengers and crew members from the flight to Nairobi.

Public health measures have been initiated in Kenya and Uganda, including contact tracing and enhanced surveillance.

On October 8, preliminary laboratory results for a suspected Ebola case in Kenya’s Wajir County came back negative, according to the county governor. The result eased concerns about a possible second case, although monitoring continued.

The imported infection has underscored the importance of surveillance and coordination between neighbouring countries. Identifying exposed people and monitoring them for symptoms are central to detecting infections early and interrupting further transmission.

Treatment capacity under pressure

In the DRC, the response is facing mounting pressure from limited treatment capacity, insecurity and difficulties securing cooperation from some communities.

Daniel Makasi Levergénois, founder of Watoto Radio, said insecurity and misinformation were undermining efforts to contain the outbreak. In Beni and Butembo, both in North Kivu, rumours and misconceptions about Ebola had contributed to reluctance among some residents to cooperate with response teams, he said.

In an October 5 update, medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said North Kivu accounted for nearly 40 percent of newly confirmed cases nationwide, up from 24 percent at the end of August.

MSF also reported that, as of September 28, 34 percent of confirmed Ebola patients were being treated in non-specialised health facilities. Dedicated treatment centres lacked sufficient beds, while delays in diagnosis meant some patients were being treated outside facilities equipped to manage Ebola.

The organisation warned that many of these facilities lacked the resources and expertise needed to manage the disease, increasing the risk of transmission among patients and healthcare workers.

“For weeks, treatment capacity has stretched to its limit,” said Stephanie Hoffmann, coordinator of MSF’s Ebola treatment centre in Butembo.

“Because there are not enough beds available, we are sometimes forced to refer confirmed Ebola patients elsewhere, despite the significant risk this poses to the wider community. In addition, standards of care in some peripheral facilities do not always meet the requirements for Ebola treatment. This is extremely concerning.”

Mistrust threatens containment efforts

Alberto Lusenge, a community leader in Beni, said the failure to stop transmission early in Ituri province, followed by new cases and attacks on response workers in Beni and Butembo, had deepened public concern.

Lusenge warned that mistrust could discourage residents from reporting symptoms or cooperating with health workers. He said North Kivu could become a greater focus of the outbreak if authorities failed to secure stronger cooperation from local communities.

The WHO said response teams were following up 23,741 of the 29,535 identified contacts as of October 4, equivalent to 80.4 percent – below the response target of at least 85 percent.

Contact tracing allows health authorities to identify people who may have been exposed, monitor them for symptoms and detect infections early. Gaps in follow-up can make it harder to identify and interrupt chains of transmission.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has called for a community-centred response, including active case finding, systematic contact tracing, daily follow-up of exposed people and sustained engagement with local communities.

A history of deadly outbreaks

The DRC’s 2018–2020 Ebola outbreak, caused by a different virus species, killed nearly 2,300 people. The current outbreak presents distinct challenges: According to the WHO, there are no approved vaccines or specific treatments for Bundibugyo virus disease.

Early detection, supportive care and infection prevention therefore remain central to the response. But as infections spread into additional health zones and treatment facilities struggle to accommodate patients, health authorities face the dual challenge of containing transmission and maintaining public trust.

Jean Kaseya, director-general of Africa CDC, has stressed the importance of rapidly identifying and monitoring people exposed to the virus.

“To bring this outbreak under control, we need to know where every contact is, track them and quickly identify anyone showing symptoms before they pass the virus on to their family, their community or across borders. We will only bring this outbreak under control once the last chain of transmission has been broken,” Kaseya said in a news release seen by Al Jazeera.

The rivalry between Manchester City and Liverpool will be renewed when they meet in Sunday’s supercharged Premier League clash at Anfield.

History suggests Liverpool are often favourites in this fixture, but recent form heavily favours the Manchester club.

City, who have dominated headlines in recent weeks over serious financial breach charges, lead the league’s points table with 15 points – six ahead of Liverpool, who are sixth in the standings.

Sunday’s match will be the 202nd fixture between the teams across all competitions, with Liverpool firmly leading the head-to-head with 95 victories, while City have won 53 matches with 53 drawn.

As Enzo Maresca faces off with Andoni Iraola this weekend, Al Jazeera looks back at the top five clashes over the years:

Liverpool 4-3 Manchester City (January 14, 2018 – Premier League)

Our list begins with this seven-goal league thriller from eight years ago.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain gave Liverpool an early lead that night at Anfield before Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah scored in a rousing eight-minute spell in the second half to build a staggering 4-1 lead.

But Man City struck twice in the final six minutes through Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan, forcing Liverpool to hold on for a nervous finish.

That result not only strengthened Liverpool’s top-four bid but also ended City’s unbeaten run that season.

Nonetheless, City went on to lift the title that term with a record-breaking 100 points, while Liverpool came fourth.

Liverpool 3-2 Manchester City (April 13, 2014 – Premier League)

This game goes further back in history and it’s another laden with goals.

On the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster when 97 Liverpool supporters died, a 10-man Liverpool side beat City 3-2 in a dramatic title-race clash.

Early goals by Raheem Sterling and Martin Skrtel put Liverpool in control, but City fought back through David Silva and a Glen Johnson own goal before Philippe Coutinho struck the winner for Liverpool 12 minutes from time.

Coutinho pounced on a loose clearance by City’s Vincent Kompany in the box, drilling the ball into the bottom corner as Anfield went wild for the ‘Little Magician’.

The victory marked a huge step towards Liverpool’s title charge, but ultimately it was City who won the league that season, finishing two points ahead of the Merseyside club.

Manchester City 2-1 Liverpool (January 3, 2019 – Premier League)

The next game on our list sees City on the winning side.

Sergio Aguero had given City the lead with his first-half strike before Firmino equalised four minutes from the hour -mark.

But Leroy Sane won the three vital points for the hosts, scoring the winner in the 72nd minute.

After a quick counterattack, Sterling picked out the onrushing Sane on the left side, just outside the box, before the German’s left-footed shot hit the inside of the post and the ball rolled into the bottom corner.

With that, Liverpool suffered their first loss of the season, ending a 20-game unbeaten streak.

City also went on to reduce Liverpool’s lead at the top to four points and eventually lifted the trophy, beating the Reds by just one point.

Liverpool 3-1 Manchester City (November 10, 2019 – Premier League)

This match goes back to the season that was the first to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Goals from Fabinho, Salah and Mane guided the Reds to a hugely impressive 3-1 home win over the title holders.

The match is best remembered by Liverpool fans for Fabinho’s stunning goal, as the Brazilian launched the ball into the net from about 25 yards (23 metres) out.

The result also opened up an eight-point lead at the top of the table and went down as a defining moment in Liverpool’s campaign as they ended their 30-year quest to win the league.

That season, Liverpool finished with 99 points, a whopping 18 points ahead of second-placed City.

Liverpool 3-0 Manchester City (April 4, 2018 – Champions League quarterfinal, first leg)

Our top five list ends with a Champions League clash.

Liverpool fired three goals in the opening half-hour, ripping through their opponents in the first leg of this UCL quarterfinal clash.

Once again, Salah, Mane and Oxlade-Chamberlain were among the scorers as Liverpool took control of the knockout tie.

Oxlade-Chamberlain’s fierce finish – a thundering strike from outside the box – was the highlight of this fixture.

Liverpool went on to reach the final, where they fell to Real Madrid.

Physicians accuse Israeli Medical Association of remaining silent as Palestinian healthcare is systematically destroyed.

Hundreds of doctors have gathered outside the World Medical Association (WMA) summit in the Netherlands, calling for the suspension of the Israeli Medical Association (IMA) from the grouping of physicians.

On Saturday, 81 healthcare workers removed their scrubs and hung them in a line facing the WMA assembly in Rotterdam, each bearing the name of a Palestinian healthcare worker currently held in illegal Israeli detention.

It was part of a protest against the continued membership of the Israeli association in the WMA, “despite them breaching almost every ethical principle in the WMA’s Code of Medical Ethics”, the IMA Out! coalition that organised the demonstration said in a statement.

“These scrubs should not be empty. Our colleagues belong with their patients, not in Israeli prisons. Today, we literally placed their names at the WMA’s doorstep,” said Mejrem Ahmetaj, a general practitioner and member of IMA Out!.

Since October 2023, Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed more than 1,700 Palestinian healthcare workers and destroyed nearly all the hospitals and healthcare facilities in the enclave.

The campaign accused the Israeli medical association of remaining silent as Palestinian healthcare has been systematically destroyed.

“The IMA is not a bystander. It defends these attacks and blocks international condemnation while Palestinian healthcare is being destroyed. That is not medical neutrality. That is complicity,” added Ahmetaj.

At a meeting of international doctors, medical leaders and human rights activists during the WMA summit on Thursday, the destruction of Palestinian healthcare and the responsibility of the international medical community were discussed, the campaign said.

“Our Palestinian colleagues are being killed and imprisoned, where they are starved and tortured. Their hospitals have been destroyed and patients driven out or murdered. The IMA has said and done nothing about these war crimes against health workers, patients and hospitals,” said a statement by Jonathan Fluxman on behalf of IMA OUT!.

“Thirty years of WMA dialogue with the IMA has done nothing but give the IMA a sense of impunity … It is time for national medical associations and the WMA to speak out and take action. Break your ties with the IMA and suspend the IMA from the WMA now,” he added.

The IMA OUT! campaign said it delivered a petition calling for the IMA’s suspension, signed by more than 6,500 health workers from around the world.

They also demanded accountability for the complicity of Israeli doctors in the starvation, torture and medical neglect of Palestinian prisoners.

Among those held by Israel is Dr Hussam Abu Safia, head of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, whose unlawful detention has prompted an international outcry.

He was briefly held at the notorious Sde Teiman detention camp and has been subject to torture and medical neglect. Doctors protesting in Rotterdam held up placards demanding his release.

Abu Safia’s son Elyas, addressing a meeting organised by the campaign, said, “My father and all Palestinian detainees must be treated in accordance with medical ethics, and doctors must abide by the Hippocratic oath they have taken. Care cannot be given based on whose life is deemed worthy.”