happened

Before his arrest 12 years ago, Ahmadu Gujja was a strong man in his mid-20s and his family’s breadwinner. Life in Gallari, his village, was simple and fulfilling. He farmed, reared animals, and has supported his widowed mother and seven younger siblings since his father’s death. 

Gallari is a community of the Shuwa Arab tribe in Konduga Local Government Area (LGA) of Borno State, northeastern Nigeria. The remote village lies along Damboa road, 28 km away from Maiduguri, the state’s capital, 12 km from the nearest military base, and 98 km away from Chibok LGA. 

In 2014, a tragedy struck. For Gallari, it meant near extinction. For Ahmadu, it meant losing everything overnight. He had just married his second wife and was eagerly expecting the birth of a child from his first wife when the tragedy unfolded.

When HumAngle met Ahmadu, the weight of the memories of that day was almost unbearable. Blind now from injuries and neglect suffered in detention, he struggled through tears to recall what happened.

“I can never forget the day,” Ahmadu started.

On Thursday in April 2014, one week after the 276 school girls in Chibok were abducted by the infamous Boko Haram group, soldiers in a convoy with the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) drove past Gallari without incident. Villagers, including Ahmadu and his neighbour Abubakar, remember seeing them. 

But the following morning, everything changed. Around 9 a.m., soldiers and CJTF members surrounded the village, herding men, women,  and children into a square. 

Ahmadu had barely woken. He was waiting for his wife to finish cooking and to heat water for his bath, a daily routine for Ahmadu before taking his herd to graze. Instead, he was stripped alongside 41 other men. Among them were two strangers, one from a neighbouring village who had come to the market, and another who cut trees for a living. 

“They gathered everyone in the village. They asked if we were Boko Haram. We told them no, but they wanted us to say yes,” Ahmadu recalled.

The soldiers picked all 42 men, tortured them in front of their families, and hauled them away in military trucks to Dalwa, a nearby village. “Some had their ears cut off, others were stabbed. I myself was tied with ropes and beaten by soldiers and members of the CJTF,” Ahmadu recounted the horrors of that morning. 

Before transporting them further, soldiers interrogated the men about the abducted Chibok girls, whether they had seen Boko Haram passing through or witnessed the girls being taken. “We told them we saw nothing, that we don’t know Boko Haram,” Ahmadu told HumAngle.

That same day, the men were moved to Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri. The conditions there were appalling, he recounted.

“The cell was very tight, with no good toilet. We could only defecate in a bucket. There was not enough water, and the food was not enough,” Ahmadu said, adding that their hands were tied tight from behind for as long as he could remember.

They were given pap in the morning, maize for lunch, and semovita at night. Soldiers continued to interrogate them, demanding that they confess to being Boko Haram members.

“We suffered to the extent that if we were hiding something, we would have confessed,” he said.

For one week, they endured torture, including being tied up and left under the scorching sun from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., given just a bottle of water and a biscuit. Within days, three of the men had died due to hardship, untreated injuries, and the unbearable living conditions.

Years of darkness 

After a week at Giwa, 39 survivors from Gallari were flown with hundreds of other detainees to a military detention centre in Niger State, North Central Nigeria. The conditions there were even worse. Their clothes were stripped, and their trousers cut short. They were forced to sleep on bare floors. Water was scarce. It was simply depressing, Ahmadu recounted. 

“They gave us water in a teacup, and it was not daily. Sometimes we spend a whole day without water. They gave us tea with bread, but without water, we couldn’t eat. Sometimes, we drank our urine,” he recounted.

The first year was especially deadly. Ahmadu said many detainees died from hunger and suffering. “We have witnessed several cases of dead bodies disposed of in the cell. I did not have the count, but many Gallari men died within that period,” Ahmadu told HumAngle.

It was in Niger that Ahmadu began to lose his sight, first from a head injury during interrogation, then from months in darkness. “They kept us in a cell for one year without seeing the sun. When they later brought us out, they told us to look at the sun. That was when my eyes began to hurt,” he recalled. “I first lost vision from the right eye, then one year later, I lost the vision of the left eye. Turning me completely blind in a protracted year.”

For years, he suffered without treatment. Doctors in the prison said they had no specialist, and he was denied access to outside care. 

After six years in detention, a court declared Ahmadu and others innocent. But instead of being released immediately, they spent more years in detention. 

“The court said we were not guilty, but we still stayed,” he said.

For more than 11 years, Ahmadu did not hear from his family. “I gave up because I had lost everything. I had stopped thinking about home because it only reminded me of memories I had missed and would never get back. I missed my two wives and the unborn child I left,” he said. 

The isolation drove him to despair. At one point, he contemplated suicide. Ahmadu started shedding tears from the eyes he could no longer see with when he recalled the memories.

A shattered homecoming

In 2024, the detainees declared innocent were moved to Mallam Sidi, a rehabilitation centre in Gombe State in the country’s North East, where they underwent social reintegration activities. That same year, HumAngle compiled a list of the 42 men from Gallari who had been arrested and remained untraceable to their families. We submitted the list to the Nigerian army, asking for their whereabouts. HumAngle never heard back. 

But in April 2025, Ahmadu and two brothers from Gallari — Mohammed and Hashim Garba — were freed and reunited with their families in Maiduguri. “Out of the 42 men from Gallari, only five survived. And out of the five, only three of us were released,” Ahmadu told HumAngle. “The other two, Maina Musa and Isa Usman, remain in custody, waiting for court hearings.”

The military transported them to the Maryam Abacha Hospital in Maiduguri. They were received by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which offered them food and asked about their problems. But no medical care was provided. The military then told them to call their families or find their own way home.

For Ahmadu, returning home after 12 years was devastating. His first wife, pregnant at the time of his arrest, had died with her unborn child from grief and trauma. “She was not eating; she vomited up any meal we made her to eat,” Ahmadu’s mother recalled.

His second wife had been abducted by Boko Haram, bore four children for a fighter before fleeing, and when she heard the news of Ahmadu, she tried to reunite with him. But he refused.

Since his release, Ahmadu has continued to suffer excruciating pain in his eyes and head. With no access to proper medical care, he relies only on the little drugs his mother can afford from local vendors, mostly painkillers that provide temporary relief but do not address his actual ailments.

Two months after his return, Ahmadu continues to live with deep trauma that affects his daily life. His mother, who had long lived with little hope of ever seeing her son again, was overjoyed at his release. In her happiness and out of concern for his condition, she quickly arranged a small wedding so that Ahmadu could have a companion to support him through the hardship of his blindness. 

In June, three months after he was freed, Ahmadu married his new wife. Today, the couple depend largely on his ageing mother, who struggles to provide for them from the little income she makes selling dairy milk. “My biggest fear is for my younger ones. My mother is still the one caring for me,” Ahmadu lamented.

He lives in an unfinished building under thatch that barely gives them shelter. It’s the rainy season, and everywhere is leaking in the room when HumAngle visits his home. Now blind and dependent with no livelihood, Ahmadu lives in humiliation. “Whenever it rains, we cannot sleep because the roof leaks. Before, even our goats had better shelter than this,” he said quietly.

Ahmadu lives with trauma and the weight of a lost life. He longs for justice but fears causing unrest. “If I can get my rights without causing any riot in Nigeria, I will be glad. But I don’t want anything that will cause a problem. We need a lot of help;  I need support to start a business so that I can take care of my new family,” he said.

The brothers’ ordeal

Like Ahmadu, Mohammed, 35, and Hashim, 32, were ordinary herders and farmers before the raid. Soldiers seized them alongside the other men of Gallari. Mohammed remembers the day clearly. He was sitting with his wife, about to eat, before taking his animals out to graze. Then soldiers in nearly 40 vehicles surrounded the village. 

From Gallari to Dalwa, then Giwa Barracks, and finally Niger State, the Garba brothers lived through the same cycle of torture and despair as Ahmadu.

“My friend Dahiru died in my presence because of thirst,” Mohammed said. “We could go four days without water. Some of us even drank urine to survive. By the time the Red Cross came to bring carpets and water, 37 of our people had died.”

Hashim recalled how three men died from torture before his distraught eyes within a week at Giwa Barracks. He also watched his elder brother faint under the beatings. Mohammed’s left ear was cut off, his wrists and back etched with scars from where he had been tied. Hashim, too, bore the marks of restraint and filth, his skin discoloured from months without bathing.

When the International Committee of the Red Cross intervened, conditions improved slightly, but the damage was irreversible.

Although eventually declared innocent by the courts, Mohammed and Hashim remained imprisoned. “We were told to calm down, that someday we would be released. It took 11 years,” Mohammed recounted.

At the rehabilitation centre in Gombe, where they were finally transferred, the brothers heard devastating news from home. “I heard that my wife and unborn child had died. My father, too, had died,” Mohammad said quietly. “When we were captured, my wife was pregnant. She gave birth to a dead child because of the way they took us. Later, she also died.”

Hashim’s grief was different but just as heavy. “We came back with nothing,” he said. 

“Even this phone I use was given to me by my mother. I feel shy when I see people I used to know as children, now grown up. Everything has changed while we were gone,” he said.

The brothers returned to find their family scattered and their property gone. Before his arrest, Mohammed owned about 30 cows and goats. His herd and even his house are now gone. “We only depend on our elder brother, who is taking care of our mother. We want to be self-reliant again,” Hashim said. 

Both men carry lasting scars. Mohammed struggles with heart pain and breathing difficulties. Hashim still bears deep marks on his wrists and head.

“When we first came back, I couldn’t even walk to the toilet without help. I had to reduce how much water I drank just to avoid disturbing people every time,” he said.

But beyond the physical pain is the humiliation of starting life from nothing. 

“We don’t want to be beggars. If I can have a wife, I can have someone to help me every day. But now, even marriage is far from us. Before, I married my wife with ₦100,000. Today, you need nearly a million. And I have nothing,”  Mohammed said.

Upon release, Ahmadu, Mohammed, and Hashim told HumAngle that the authorities gave them ₦50,000 cash. “They wasted 12 years of our lives. How can we recover with ₦50,000? I exhausted the money two days after my release,” Mohammed told HumAngle.

‘When we saw them, we cried’

The release of Ahmadu and the Garba brothers broke years of silence but also reopened deep wounds, especially for families who have lost loved ones forever. “When we saw them, we cried. They were unrecognisable,” a relative told HumAngle.

Other locals, like Kellu Janga, spent everything they had chasing hopes of reunion. She turned to people who claimed they could help to secure the men’s release, but those efforts proved futile. Her grief eventually cost her her eyesight, and she now depends on her grandson Abubakar for survival.

“We need the government to tell us where the rest are. We need justice,” Modu, the village’s deputy head and the only man spared during the mass arrest, told HumAngle.

Gallari’s tragedy has remained invisible, overshadowed by global attention to other incidents like the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls that led to the raid. While the world mourned those girls, Gallari’s men vanished in silence. No official explanation has ever been given. The Nigerian Army has not responded to HumAngle’s letters seeking answers.

Children who were toddlers when their fathers were seized are now teenagers, growing up without fatherly support. Some dropped out of school to fend for themselves. 

Abubakar, only ten when his father and uncles were taken, has carried the burden of raising his siblings ever since. “I just want to see my father again. If he is alive, let them bring him back. If not, we deserve to know,” he said.

‘A gross violation of the constitution’

In the North East, transitional justice has often focused on the reintegration of former Boko Haram members through initiatives such as the Disarmament, Demobilisation, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration Borno Model (DDRR) programme, a counter-terrorism project aimed at rehabilitating and reintegrating surrendered Boko Haram members back into society, and Sulhu, a local peace and deradicalisation initiative. 

While these efforts aim to end violence and rebuild communities, they leave behind unresolved wounds for families whose loved ones were arrested arbitrarily and held without trial for years. For these families, justice is not about reintegration alone but also about truth, accountability, and the right to know the fate of those taken away.

Relatives of detainees interviewed by HumAngle argue that any conversation about reconciliation feels incomplete and one-sided when innocent civilians remain behind bars without trial. Their demand is simple: justice must include the release or fair trial of those held in military detention centres, alongside information about those who have died in custody. 

For them, healing cannot come from dialogue with insurgents while their own sons, brothers, and fathers languish in silence and neglect.

Aisha, one of several individuals and groups in Borno State advocating for justice and the release of their loved ones, expressed the frustration shared by many. “How can we have Sulhu with Boko Haram members who were the cause of the mass arrests, detentions, and killings? Our children, sons, relatives, and parents have been detained without trial for many years, and you want us to accept Sulhu? Release our children if you want justice for all. Our children were innocent when the military arrested them,” she said.

Aisha’s activism began with seeking the release of her own son, arrested along with other youths in a mosque in 2012. Since then, she has become a prominent voice for families whose loved ones remain in military custody.

Sheriff Ibrahim, a lawyer and human rights activist in Maiduguri, described the detention of the Gallari men as “a gross violation of the Nigerian Constitution and international human rights law.” He explained that under Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended in 2011), no person should be detained for more than 24 hours or at most 48 hours without being charged in court. 

“The law is clear. Anyone arrested should either be charged within that time frame or released on bail. To hold people for over 10 years without trial is unlawful and unconstitutional,” he said.

According to Ibrahim, the fundamental rights of the Gallari men and their families were completely violated. Chapter Four of the Constitution guarantees the right to life, the right to human dignity, and freedom of movement. “These men were presumed innocent but were treated as though they were guilty without evidence. Their families too suffered years of separation, uncertainty, and economic hardship,” he added.

He further noted that survivors and families of those who died in detention have the right to seek justice and compensation from the Nigerian state. “The victims, survivors, and their families can sue the government for unlawful and unjustified detention. There were no prior charges against them, no fair hearing, and no due process. These are the most basic rights guaranteed by law,” Ibrahim told HumAngle.

In contrast to the treatment of Boko Haram fighters and innocent civilians, Ibrahim criticised what he described as double standards in the Nigerian justice system. “Former Boko Haram members who committed crimes against humanity are reintegrated into society through government programmes. Yet innocent civilians like the Gallari men were locked away for years without trial. That is clearly a misplaced priority and a failure of justice,” Ibrahim said.

To prevent such cases in the future, Ibrahim called for an independent committee of inquiry involving civil society groups, non-governmental organisations, and other stakeholders. 

“There must be transparency and accountability. If anyone is found guilty of aiding or abetting, they should face charges. But if there is insufficient evidence, then the person should be released immediately and compensated. That is the only way to restore public trust in the justice system,” Ibrahim noted. 

This story was produced by HumAngle and co-published with other media.

The winners moved celebrities, politicians and stars to tears with their stories of courage, bravery and brilliance at the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards

It has been celebrating the very best of everything British for more than quarter of a century. And once again it was the children of courage and incredible stories of bravery in adversity which moved a host of celebrities, actors and sport stars to tears at the 26th Daily Mirror Pride of Britain awards, with P&O Cruises.

The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was there with his wife Victoria to pay tribute to the long line of unsung heroes as they received the recognition they so richly deserve. At just 12 years old, Luke Mortimer typified what the night is all about when he received his Child of Courage trophy.

Luke had all his limbs amputated after contracting meningococcal meningitis septicaemia in 2019. Yet still he thought of others. The audience at the Grosvenor House Hotel gave him a huge round of applause as they heard how he had donated thousands for children with disabilities, through his extraordinary fundraising activities.

READ MORE: Pride of Britain Awards 2025: Amy Dowden and GK Barry lead the red carpet glam

In 2024, he climbed Pen-y-ghent with his mum Christine and brother Harry, 15, meeting his dad Adam and a team of 19 who were climbing the National Three Peaks and Yorkshire Three Peaks. They raised almost £20,000 to help fund prosthetics for Luke and help other child amputees. He told his loved ones that we should all “concentrate on the future” as he set about helping others.

His favourite TV stars Ant and Dec sent a special message to Luke, who told host Carol Vorderman of his motto when life was tough: “Hope for a good time and try and make it happen.”

His dad Adam added: “We are massively proud of him, he takes everything in his slightly smaller stride.”

Marcus Skeet, 17, became the first person in the UK to run from Land’s End to John O’Groats as he fought back from a suicide attempt at the age of 15. He had obsessive compulsive disorder, and became a carer for his dad, who was diagnosed with early onset dementia.

Marcus admitted: “It shattered my heart.” After his suicide attempt, it was a ‘miracle’ that he had survived. Known as ‘the Hull Man’, with 350,000 followers on social media, he watched cars go by as he got caught in a rainstorm, with 790 miles to go in his epic run.

Marooned in a layby, soaked through, he still became a record breaker, raising £164,560 for mental health charity Mind, with his dad there to see him at the end. “I will remember that for the rest of my life,” said Marcus.

His incredible feat took a combination of supreme dedication and endurance and he joked: “I hate running.” Dr. Sarah Hughes, CEO at Mind paid tribute, saying: “His story reads like a film script, courage, loss, hope, and relentless determination.

“But Marcus isn’t a character; he’s a real-life hero.” Pub landlord comedian Al Murray revealed he had been inspired by Marcus to raise money for Mind. Looking for donors in the audience, he said: “Whether you are an actor or a rock star, you cannot fail to be moved by this night.”

Personal trainer Javeno McLean, 40, met his heroes as his work for the disabled, ill and elderly was recognised with the P&O Cruises Inspiration award.

Former world champion heavyweight David Haye joined legends of the ring Frank Bruno and Barry McGuigan to hand over the coveted trophy. They heard how Javeno has been offering free fitness sessions to the needy at his J7 Gym in Manchester.

At 16, he offered to train a boy in a wheelchair who was struggling in the gym. Since then, Javeno has been devoted to creating a friendly and inclusive gym space for all. He told the judges: “When you include people you empower them.”

Haye said it was an ‘honour’ to be chosen to give him the award. On a night of awe-inspiring stories, PCs Yasmin Whitfield, Cameron King and Inspector Moloy Campbell were recognised for their extraordinary bravery.

They answered an emergency call on an ‘ordinary’ working day which almost turned out to be their last. By the time they confronted sword attacker Marcus Arduini Monzo in Hainault, East London on April 20,2024, he had already killed Daniel Anjorin, 14.

Despite having no Taser or pepper spray, Pc King drew his baton and stood between the killer and Yasmin, who suffered horrific slash injuries.

Insp Campbell also suffered a slash wound to his hand after he confronted Monzo in a car park and ran at him, baton drawn. Other officers were able to deploy their Tasers and subdue the killer. PC King ‘stood between Yas and Monzo’, who ran off, before being cornered by cops. He said: “I remember just thinking, I can’t let him finish her off’. I put myself between Yas and him. I thought ‘we’re going to die in this alleyway.'” Insp Campbell admitted: “When I challenged Mr Monzo, I knew it may be the last decision I would ever make.” Monzo was later jailed for life with a minimum term of 40 years. In 2016, footy coach Asha Ali Rage 46, set up her community club, determined to use sport to protect youngsters from gangs. The aptly named Dream Chasers FC in Small Heath, Birmingham has since become a vital hub for her local community.

Asha received her award from England’s ‘Golden Gloves’ World Cup keeper Mary Earps who has done so much to raise the profile of sport for women; Asha’s Special Recognition Award was for “changing the lives” of the young stars of the future. Leanne Pero MBE, 30, won another recognition award for The Movement Factory community dance company which she founded when she was just 15. Londoner Leanne, who survived breast cancer, also started Black Women Rising, a cancer support group that has raised more than £1m to fund support and advice. She said of surviving cancer: “The worst part was finishing treatment.” Teenager of Courage winner Eagling Zach, 14, who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, also donated to the Epilepsy Society by walking laps of his garden in the 2020 lockdown. After trolls bombarded him with flashing images to try to trigger a seizure, he campaigned for legislation to protect people with epilepsy online. Zach’s Law was introduced across England, Wales and Northern Ireland in Sept., 2023, making it a criminal offence, with a maximum five-year jail term, to troll anyone with epilepsy to deliberately cause a seizure. Zach has now launched a petition to ‘make a difference’ and try to ensure public transport is more accessible for disabled people. For Sally Becker, 63, helping those most in need in society has been her life’s work.

She first went to Bosnia in 1993 to help the victims of war. Tasked with taking aid to a hospital, she found herself evacuating sick and injured children in an old Bedford van.

She has now spent more than three decades helping children in besieged areas, such as Gaza, Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine.

In 2016, she founded Save a Child, providing medical treatment for kids in conflict areas. And she launched a mobile tele-medicine programme connecting local doctors with paediatric specialists. She said: “We have saved thousands of children.”

Georgie Hyslop, 15, was thrilled to be made the Good Morning Britain Fundraiser of the year. In 2023, when Georgie, then 15, was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer in the bones, she donated her tissue to Cancer Research. She raised more than £55,000 for hospitals and charities.

Through 14 rounds of chemo and 33 of radiation, Georgie gave cards with encouraging messages, known as “pocket hugs”, to fellow patients, and dressed up as Spider-Man to cheer up a four-year-old patient having radiotherapy.

Georgie, 17, from Ardrossan, Ayrshire, went into remission in July 2024, but the cancer returned earlier this year. She said: “I have lots of fundraising planned and lots to look forward to.”

Set up by three music teachers at an additional needs school in 1995, the Ups & Downs theatre group in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, is for young people with Down’s syndrome as well as their families.

Now led by Lorna Leggatt, whose son Ellis, 26, has been a member since he was five, Ups & Downs offers inclusive activities, including music, dance and drama, to around 70 members, who have Down’s syndrome or a sibling with the condition. Audiences leave their shows ‘deeply moved’.

Fellow PoB winner Harry Byrne lost his mother on Christmas Day; her death caused Harry, then 11, to descend into mental health problems, addiction and homelessness. Harry, 24, was helped by local homelessness charity St Basil’s and discovered The King’s Trust Get Started in Outdoor Leadership programme, landing a job in Coventry.

Now supporting young people facing difficulties, through outdoor activities, he hopes to run his own therapy-based coaching service. Harry said: “I didn’t have many role models or access to the support I needed when I was younger. I’m passionate about getting up every morning and providing just that for the next generation.”

RAF hero John Nichol, 61, the navigator from North Shields, North Tyneside who was shot down and captured in Iraq during the first gulf war of 1990, has attended every single one of the Pride of Britain’s 26 award nights. A good friend of the late awards founder Peter Willis, he said: “I was next to Gary Barlow on that first night and had to give him my hankie. I think there is only me and Carol Vorderman who have been to every one.

“Nobody knew what to expect, but it has become the best of the lot.”

Pictures: Rowan Griffiths, Adam Gerrard, Andy Stenning.

* Watch the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards with P&O Cruises on Thursday October 23 at 8pm on ITV1.

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Is past and present stock market performance a good predictor of how the market will perform in the future? It can be sometimes. Otherwise, no one would bother incorporating historical stock data into models that attempt to project future performance.

With that in mind, investors might want to pay attention to what’s going on now with the S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.56%) in relation to what it’s done in years past. The benchmark index is poised to do something that’s only happened 11 times in 100 years. And it could signal a big move for the stock market in 2026.

Image source: Getty Images.

The third time’s the charm

The S&P 500 soared 26% in 2023. It followed with a 25% gain in 2024. As of the market close on Oct. 10, 2025, the S&P is up a little over 11%. As things stand right now, it’s on course to finish the year with a double-digit percentage gain for the third consecutive year.

Such an achievement is rarer than you might think. Over the last 100 years, the S&P 500 has delivered double-digit returns for three consecutive years only 11 times. Technically, the index has only existed in its current form, including 500 companies, for 68 years. However, the S&P 500’s predecessor — the S&P 90 — dates back to 1926.

Granted, the stock market could end 2025 on a negative note. President Trump’s latest threat of additional 100% tariffs on all Chinese imports, on top of 30% tariffs already in place, is causing significant angst among investors.

It doesn’t help matters that the S&P 500 has been trading at record highs. The Buffett indicator, a ratio of total U.S. stock market capitalization to GDP, is well above a level that its namesake, legendary investor Warren Buffett, has said was “playing with fire.”

However, even if the S&P 500 falls over the next few weeks, a rebound to get the index back into double-digit gain territory would still be quite possible. Stocks often enjoy momentum at the end of a year thanks to a phenomenon known as the Santa Claus rally.

A history of big moves following three double-digit years

What could a third consecutive year of double-digit gains for the S&P 500 potentially mean for stocks in 2026? History shows that big moves often follow.

In three of the 11 cases over the last 100 years where the S&P jumped by double digits for three years in a row, the trend soon came to an abrupt end. For example, the S&P 500’s predecessor began with a bang in 1926, racking up three back-to-back double-digit returns. However, any student of history knows what happened in 1929: The stock market crash in October of that year brought a screeching halt to the previous momentum. The S&P finished the year down 8% and continued to decline for the next three years.

More recently, the index generated strong double-digit returns in 2019, 2020, and 2021. But the S&P 500 plunged 18% in 2022 as the Federal Reserve cranked up interest rates.

In four of the 11 cases, though, the strong momentum extended into a fourth year. The first occurrence came during World War II. The S&P soared 20% in 1942, followed by a gain of nearly 26% in 1943 and a 36% jump in 1944. The best was yet to come, with the index skyrocketing 36% in 1945 as the war ended.

Another great example of a three-year streak continuing into a fourth year was during the heady dot-com boom of the 1990s. The S&P 500 delivered returns of 22% or more in 1995, 1996, and 1997. It slowed only slightly in 1998, with a nice gain of 21%.

^SPX data by YCharts

How will the S&P 500 perform in 2026?

History shows that big moves are common after three consecutive years of double-digit gains by the S&P 500. Unfortunately, stocks tumble nearly as often as they jump in the following year. How will the S&P 500 perform in 2026? It’s impossible to know for sure.

What is possible to know, though, is that the S&P 500 has always risen over the long term in the past. The Rolling Stones weren’t talking about the stock market when they sang “Time Is on My Side,” but their premise definitely applies to investing. Regardless of what the S&P 500 does next year, investors who maintain a long-term perspective are likely to make money.

Netflix’s Wayward has left fans on the edge of their seats, with a number of characters meeting their end – but who dies in the Netflix series?

WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS.

Wayward, a limited series on Netflix, is the brainchild of comedian and actor Mae Martin.

The miniseries features an impressive cast including Toni Collette as Evelyn Wade and John Daniel as Rory, a student at Tall Pines Academy.

Set in the fictional town of Tall Pines in Vermont, the plot revolves around two teenagers and a local police officer who uncover the town’s hidden secrets.

Leila (portrayed by Alyvia Alyn Lind) and Abbie (Sydney Topliffe) are the teenagers at the heart of the story, with Rory forming a friendship with Abbie, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Viewers are eager to find out if Rory, among other characters, meets his end in the series.

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Does Rory die in Wayward?

In the series finale, Leila and Abbie, along with Rory, execute their plan to escape from Tall Pines.

Despite successfully hiding themselves on a bus, their disappearance triggers alarm bells and they find themselves trapped.

Leila, tired of running, decides to stay behind while Abbie and Rory press on.

Unfortunately, they end up cornered, with Rory making the ultimate sacrifice so that Abbie can flee to the getaway car.

His fate remains uncertain – at the very least, he would have been recaptured by the school.

Who dies in Wayward?

Dwayne Andrews (Brandon Jay McLaren) is killed by Alex (Martin), who bludgeons him with a rock.

Martin revealed to Variety that the pair’s relationship was “all a front” and he never liked Alex.

The star revealed: “Maybe for a second he would entertain that this could be a new friendship, but I think he was a pretty territorial guy and it was always a front.”

Leila also confessed to killing her older sister Jess (Devin Cecchetto) during a flashback scene.

It emerged that Evelyn had persuaded Leila to confess she “hated” Jess, leading to Leila pushing her into the pool in a fit of rage, watching as her sister drowned from the sidelines.

Riley (Gage Munroe), despite being popular among the students of Tall Pines, was desperate to escape the school.

Tragically, he was accidentally killed by Alex at the start of the series in an act of self-defence, after Riley lunged at Alex with a kitchen knife.

Lastly, Maurice, the father of a former Tall Pines student, (Mark McKinney) met his demise at the hands of Dwayne, who made his death appear as a suicide.

Does Evelyn die in Wayward?

In the series finale, Evelyn was injected with her own poison by Alex and Rabbit (Tattiawna Jones) and was transported into a dream-like state.

She envisioned herself and a door at the back of her imagined self’s throat, with the doors continuing to multiply.

As Rabbit recited the mantra to Evelyn, her body lay lifeless in the water, but Martin told Variety Evelyn may not be dead yet.

When asked if she was definitely dead, the actor said: “I don’t think so. I think she’s a vegetable and, yeah, I’d be curious to see if she could ever come out of it, but she’s definitely a vegetable.”

Does the dog die in Wayward?

Viewers are also eager to find out if Toast – the dog belonging to Alex and Laura (Sarah Gadon) – survives until the end of the series. Thankfully, he does.

Wayward is on Netflix

As world leaders talked about acting against Israel at the UN General Assembly, more than 360 Palestinians in Gaza were killed, with many more injured, starved and displaced by the ongoing genocide. Israel has killed 66,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023.

Prosecutors have revealed a digital trove of evidence including text messages, in the case against Charlie Kirk’s accused killer Tyler Robinson, who has appeared in court charged with murder.

All the updates as City ease past local rivals United at Etihad Stadium with a brace from Haaland and a Foden strike.

More than 100 people are missing after floods swept through a village in Uttarakhand.

More than 100 people are missing and at least four people have died after flash floods swept through the village of Dharali, in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand.

Teams from the army and disaster response forces are operating in the area to rescue people trapped under debris, local authorities have said.

“A massive mudslide struck Dharali village in the Kheer Gad area near Harsil, triggering a sudden flow of debris and water through the settlement,” the Central Command of the Indian Army said in a post on X.

Flash floods in Uttarkashi, where Dharali is situated, were triggered by intense rainfall known as a “cloudburst”, which caused the Kheerganga river to swell, at around 1:30pm local time (08:00 GMT) on Tuesday.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned that heavy rainfall will continue for the next few days.

What is a cloudburst?

A cloudburst is an intense downpour that delivers a large volume of rain in a short time. It is often accompanied by thunder and hail and can cause flash floods.

At any given time, clouds blanket about 70 percent of the Earth’s surface. Cloudbursts are often associated with cumulonimbus clouds, which contain large amounts of water.

The IMD said that over the past 24 hours, extreme rainfall of 21cm (8.3 inches) or more had been recorded in parts of northwest India, including Uttarakhand, where the flash floods happened – more than the 10cm (3.9 inches) of rain per hour required to be classed as a cloudburst, according to the IMD.

Cloudbursts tend to occur over a small geographical region of 20 to 30 square kilometres (7.7 to 11.6 square miles)

Is this caused by climate change?

Uttarakhand, which has a large amount of mountainous and often unstable terrain, is prone to monsoon-related flooding. Dharali village is nestled in the Himalayas between the villages of Harsil and Gangotri.

Uttarakhand is particularly vulnerable to climate change given the fragility of the Himalayan region. In particular, it is exposed to excessive precipitation, cloudbursts, flood events and periods of very cold weather (cold waves), according to a study published in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction.

That study found that districts in higher regions are more exposed to these effects because of their inability to adjust to weather-related and climate changes and because the ecosystems in these areas are more sensitive to such changes.

Experts say global warming will cause mountain temperatures to rise faster than the global average.

Catastrophic flooding that has historically affected Uttarakhand will become more common as rising temperatures lead to hastening glacier melting, such as the Gangotri, the glacier that is closest to Dharali.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, rising temperatures in the Himalayas will ultimately reduce the size of glaciers, resulting in a reduction in the long-term availability of water for agriculture, people and power systems. It will also cause more solar energy absorption – accelerating the effects of global warming – because areas of glacial melting will be replaced by water or land, and the amount of light currently reflected by existing glaciers will decrease.

New details about last month’s Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, which killed 260 people, have emerged this week, shifting focus onto the actions of the senior pilot during the last moments before the plane crashed.

According to a report published on Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal quoting sources close to United States officials’ early assessment of evidence, the black box audio recording of the last conversation between the two pilots indicates that the captain might have turned off the switches controlling the flow of fuel to the plane’s engines.

Last week, a preliminary report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) found that both engines had shut down within the space of one second, leading to immediate loss of altitude, before the plane crashed into a densely populated suburb of Ahmedabad. However, that report, which stated the fuel-control switches had moved to the “cutoff” position, did not assign blame for the incident.

Two groups of commercial pilots have rejected suggestions that human error may have caused the disaster.

What happened to the Air India flight?

At 1:38pm (08:08 GMT) on June 12, Air India Flight 171 took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad for London Gatwick Airport, carrying 230 passengers, 10 cabin crew and two pilots.

About 40 seconds after taking off, both engines of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner lost power during the initial climb. The plane then crashed into the BJ Medical College Hostel in a populated suburb 1.85km (1.15 miles) from the runway.

The aircraft broke apart on impact, causing a fire that destroyed parts of five buildings. All the passengers on the plane died except one – Vishwaskumar Ramesh, a 40-year-old British national of Indian origin. Some 19 people on the ground were killed as well, and 67 were injured.

What did the AAIB report say?

The AAIB is investigating the crash, the deadliest aviation incident in a decade, along with Boeing and experts from the US and United Kingdom. A preliminary report from the investigators released on Saturday found the aircraft had been deemed airworthy, had up-to-date maintenance and carried no hazardous cargo.

But the report noted that a 2018 US Federal Aviation Administration advisory warned of a potential flaw in the fuel-control switch system of some Boeing planes, including the Dreamliner. The report said Air India did not inspect the system and it was not mandatory for it to do so. During the crash, recovery systems activated, but only partial engine relight occurred, the report stated.

Both engines shut down just after takeoff as fuel switches moved from the “run” to “cutoff” positions. The report cited a black box audio recording in which one pilot asked, “Why did you cut off?” and the other denied doing so. The speakers were not identified.

Despite taking emergency measures, only one engine partially restarted, and moments before impact, a “Mayday” call was issued before communications were lost.

Air traffic control received no response after the distress call but saw the aircraft crash outside the boundary of the airport. CCTV footage from the airport showed one of the flight recovery systems – known as the Ram Air Turbine (RAT) – deploying shortly after liftoff, followed by a rapid descent.

Who were the pilots?

Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, served as the pilot-in-command on the flight. A soft-spoken veteran who had logged more than 15,600 flight hours, 8,500 of them on the Boeing 787, Sabharwal was known for his reserved nature, meticulous habits and mentorship of junior pilots.

He trained at India’s premier aviation school, the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, and friends who spoke to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recalled him as deeply committed to his career as a pilot as well as caring for his ageing father, a former civil aviation official.

First Officer Clive Kunder, 32, was the pilot flying the aircraft at the time of the crash while Sabharwal was the pilot monitoring.

Kunder had accumulated more than 3,400 flying hours, including 1,128 hours on the Dreamliner. Flying was his childhood dream, inspired by his mother’s 30-year career as an Air India flight attendant.

At age 19, he trained in the US and earned a commercial pilot’s licence before returning to India to join Air India in 2017.

Described by family and friends in the WSJ as joyful, curious and tech-savvy, Kunder was said to be passionate about aviation and excited to be flying the 787.

What has emerged this week?

According to US officials who examined evidence from the crash and were quoted by the WSJ, the cockpit voice recording suggests it was Sabharwal who may have moved the fuel control switches to “cutoff” after takeoff, an action that cut power to both engines.

The switches were turned back on within seconds, but it was too late to regain full thrust.

As the flying pilot, Kunder would have been occupied with the climb-out, making it unlikely he could have manipulated the switches, according to unnamed US pilots quoted by the WSJ. Sabharwal, as the monitoring pilot, would have had a freer hand, they said.

What are the fuel-control switches?

Located on a key cockpit panel just behind the throttle levers between the two pilot seats, these switches manage the flow of fuel to each of the aircraft’s two engines.

Pilots use these fuel cutoff switches to start or shut down the engines while on the ground. In flight, the pilots can manually shut down or restart an engine in the event of a failure.

How do fuel-control switches work?

The switches are designed for manual operation. They are spring-loaded to stay firmly in place and cannot be moved accidentally or with light pressure during flight operations.

The switches have two settings: “cutoff” and “run”. The “cutoff” mode stops fuel from reaching the engines while “run” allows normal fuel flow. To change positions, a pilot must first pull the switch upwards before shifting it between “run” and “cutoff”.

Could the crash have been caused by human error?

Experts are cautious about this. US aviation analyst Mary Schiavo told the Financial Express in India that people should not draw premature conclusions, arguing that there is as yet no definitive evidence of pilot error.

She highlighted a similar incident during which one of the engines suddenly shut down midflight on an All Nippon Airways Boeing 787 during its final approach to Osaka, Japan, in 2019.

Investigators later found that the aircraft’s software had mistakenly interpreted the plane as being on the ground, triggering the thrust control malfunction accommodation system, which automatically moved the fuel switch from “run” to “cutoff” without any action from the pilots.

Schiavo warned that a similar malfunction cannot yet be ruled out in the Air India crash and stressed the importance of releasing the full cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript to avoid misleading interpretations.

“There is nothing here to suggest pilot suicide or murder,” she said. “The voices, words and sounds on CVRs must be carefully analysed.”

India’s Federation of Indian Pilots criticised the framing of the preliminary findings in the media this week.

In a public statement, the federation noted that the report relies heavily on paraphrased CVR excerpts and lacks comprehensive data.

“Assigning blame before a transparent, data-driven investigation is both premature and irresponsible,”  the statement read before adding that it undermines the professionalism of the crew and causes undue distress to their families.

Campbell Wilson, chief executive of Air India, this week urged staff not to make premature conclusions about the causes of the crash, telling them this week that the investigation was “far from over”.