Omani Sultan Haitham bin Tariq and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks in Beijing, where they discussed strengthening bilateral ties and expanding economic cooperation.
Published On 2 Nov 20262 Nov 2026
Share
More than 350 sportspeople – including Olympians Dina Asher-Smith and Tom Daley – have signed a letter to the prime minister calling on him to meet former sprinter Beth Dobbin and commit to increased funding towards ME research.
Dobbin, 32, recently revealed in an interview with BBC Sport she had been diagnosed with “life-decimating” ME (myalgic encephalomyelitis) and as a result spends more than 22 hours a day in bed.
ME is a chronic, fluctuating disease, causing symptoms such as sleep problems, issues with thinking and memory, pain, and severe persistent fatigue that does not improve with rest, and more. It has no known cure or specific treatment.
More than 400,000 people in the UK are thought to have ME, though the true figure could exceed one million, with severity ranging from people able to work or study to those requiring round-the-clock care and tube feeding.
On 21 October, Dobbin wrote to the prime minister but did not receive a response – and she has now been backed by athletes across sport.
“For many of my team-mates, I dropped off the face of the earth four years ago when I developed severe ME,” she said.
“I’ve been taken aback and extremely touched by how many of them – and so many others in the sports world – have jumped at the chance to help by signing this letter. It means so much to me.
“I hope that, with all of them behind me, Andy Burnham is listening and will commit to doing what’s needed to deliver real change for a community that has been neglected for so long.”
Among the 360 sporting figures to have signed the letter are Everton manager David Moyes, his United States women’s counterpart Emma Hayes, and former Chelsea and England centre-back Millie Bright. Athletes Laura Muir, Eilish McColgan and Adam Gemili are among 114 Olympians and Paralympians to have added their support.
The letter calls on Burnham to “level the playing field” for funding into ME research with that for other illnesses “to give hope to the many affected that something is being done about this life-destroying, much-ignored illness and its spiralling impact”.
It says: “The disease has received extremely low levels of research funding compared to other conditions. Between 2019 to 2024, UK government research funders committed just £6.6m in funding for research into ME, compared to £79.1m for Parkinson’s and £496.4m for dementia.
“Prior to this, biomedical research funding was almost non-existent. As a result of the lack of research funding, there are no approved treatments.”
MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee is going absolutely nuts. The Brewers have sold out Game 3 and Game 4 of the World Series.
The Tampa Bay Rays will host those games, but the Brewers invited fans to come to their stadium and watch on the big screen. The Brewers sold more than 31,000 tickets to each of their watch parties at $15 apiece. On Friday morning, StubHub offered them for resale, starting at $168.
There is nothing quite like a city uniting behind a team that never has won a World Series. Ask Logan Henderson.
Henderson, the Brewers’ starting pitcher Saturday in Milwaukee, grew up a huge fan of the Houston Astros. He was 15 when he saw his first World Series game.
“My parents had always said, if we were fortunate enough to be able to watch them go to the World Series, we’re going to do everything we can to get there,” Henderson said. “I was blessed that my parents got tickets to go to the games.
“There’s nothing like it. I’m on the other side of it now. I was a spectator and a fan, now I’m a player. It’s definitely surreal.”
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Logan Henderson follows through on a pitch during Game 2 of the NLCS against the Dodgers in Milwaukee on Oct. 12.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
His first World Series game as a spectator and fan? Game 4 of the 2017 World Series.
“I went to the one before the crazy one,” he said. “L.A. ended up winning that game.”
In the crazy one, the Dodgers blew two four-run leads, tied the score with three runs in the ninth inning and lost in the 10th.
If we knew then what we know now, Game 4 would be the crazy one: Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood constantly changing his signs, suspicious that the Astros might be up to something, whatever that might be.
Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood delivers from the mound during Game 4 of the World Series against the Astros on Oct. 28, 2017, in Houston.
(Pool / Getty Images)
Wood was vindicated three years later, when a league investigation revealed the Astros had been cheating in 2017, stealing signs from a television monitor next to the dugout and relaying them to batters by banging on trash cans. The practice, according to the report issued by commissioner Rob Manfred, was refined during the regular season and extended “throughout the postseason.”
The scandal outraged the Dodgers and their fans. The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to demand Manfred award the 2017 championship to the Dodgers. Their players wanted nothing to do with that. A real championship, after all, would come with champagne and beer in the clubhouse and a parade through the streets.
Still, the players did not turn the other cheek.
“Everyone knows they stole the ring from us,” Cody Bellinger said.
“They cheated,” Kike’ Hernández said. “They got away with it. They got a ring out of it.”
When the Astros’ team buses arrived at Dodger Stadium for games during the pandemic season of 2020, when ballparks were closed to the public, Dodgers fans gathered outside to boo.
Dodgers fans boo Jose Altuve of the Astros after he struck out in a game on Aug. 3, 2001, at Dodger Stadium.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
Those were Henderson’s guys inside those buses: Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, George Springer, Lance McCullers Jr. Those were the guys that brought home the Astros’ first World Series championship, as Henderson’s Brewers are trying to do for Milwaukee.
“Personally, as a fan, Hurricane Harvey hit Houston really hard, and the Astros brought a championship to the city,” Henderson said.
“That meant absolutely everything to the city. I hope that means what it did for me to the fans in Milwaukee here.”
The Rays also are trying to bring their first championship home to Tampa Bay. In 2017, hard as this might be to believe today, the mighty Dodgers had not won a championship in 29 years.
And now, as a major leaguer, Henderson has an acute appreciation of the little things that can mean the difference between victory and defeat, between a parade and another plaintive chorus of “wait ‘til next year.”
It could be a pitcher that blows a throw he could make in his sleep, sending his team home for the winter. It could be a defense perfectly executing a seldom-seen play. It could be a ball that clanks off the roof and into play instead of flying into the stands for a home run.
It could be stealing signs and banging on trash cans.
“I would rather face a player that was taking steroids than face a player that knew every pitch that was coming,” Wood tweeted after Manfred’s report on the Astros’ cheating.
Henderson knows how hard this is to do. The Brewers haven’t appeared in the World Series in 44 years, and owner Mark Attanasio said nervous fans already are wondering whether their next appearance will be 44 years away.
So I asked Henderson if, all these years later, the scandal changed how he felt about those Astros.
He paused.
He exhaled.
He paused again.
“Maybe a little bit,” Henderson said. “It’s unfortunate. I try not to think about it or talk on it too much. I think now, being in the game, my perspective on it is a little different.
“I think for the kid in me — and the huge baseball fan I was — that team will always have a special place in my heart.”
Qatar, Turkiye, Pakistan and Indonesia sign ‘Badr’ defence pact
Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid reports on the ‘Badr’ Memorandum of Understanding, a new defence agreement signed today by Qatar, Turkiye, Pakistan and Indonesia to boost joint weapons production, research, and technology cooperation, reducing reliance on foreign suppliers.
Published On 21 Oct 202621 Oct 2026
Share
The Rams moved to augment their struggling special teams on Tuesday, signing veteran kicker Brandon McManus.
The Rams worked out McManus and veteran Matt Prater on Tuesday and then chose McManus to replace Blake Grupe, who is on injured reserve after suffering a knee injury during his Rams debut in an 18-16 defeat by the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.
McManus will be the third kicker on the roster this season for a team that opened as the favorite to win Super Bowl LXI but is now struggling with a 2-4 record heading into Sunday’s game against the Raiders in Las Vegas.
Harrison Mevis, signed by the Rams at midseason in 2025, was released last week after making only five of nine field-goal attempts this season. Grupe kicked a 44-yard field goal against the Cardinals but was injured on the ensuing play when he knocked a Cardinals kick returner out of bounds.
Punter Ethan Evans kicked an extra point that put the Rams ahead, 17-15, with less than a minute remaining before the Cardinals kicked a winning field goal.
McManus, 35, has made 297 of 362 field-goal attempts (82%) during a 12-year career that has included stints with the Denver Broncos, Jacksonville Jaguars and Green Bay Packers. In 2025, he made 24 of 30 field-goal attempts for the Packers.
The Rams also placed receiver Davante Adams and defensive lineman Poona Ford on injured reserve because of hamstring and triceps injuries, respectively. Coach Sean McVay said Monday that Adams would be sidelined six to 10 weeks and that Ford is out for the season.
Brazilian Rafael Camara will join the US-based Haas team for his debut Formula 1 season in 2027.
The 21-year-old, who is leading the Formula 2 championship, has been chosen after a selection process including a total of four drivers.
Camara was picked over the reigning F2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli and Haas reserve drivers Jack Doohan and Ryo Hirakawa after they were assessed in tests in previous years’ F1 cars.
Camara, Fornaroli and Hirakawa were all assessed at a test at Portugal’s Portimao track in August, Doohan separately.
Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu said that Camara had been the quickest driver at the tests.
“I always said we would choose driver by performance. He showed incredible speed. That was the fully overriding factor above everything else,” Komatsu said.
“In Portimao, he was just simply outstanding. We really wanted to go for someone who had that natural speed.
“He showed that he could handle himself very well with not a huge amount of time to learn the car. He showed us more than just raw speed.”
Komatsu added that all the drivers tested came with financial backing, adding: “But it was clear he was the quickest guy, so we took him purely based on that.”
Haas have not said who will race their other car next season, but it is considered only a matter of time before Briton Oliver Bearman is confirmed in the seat for a third season.
Komatsu said: “It is our intention to continue with Ollie. It is just a matter of timing and finalising certain details.”
Bearman and Camara are both members of the Ferrari driver academy.
Frenchman Esteban Ocon will leave the team at the end of the year after two seasons alongside Bearman, Haas confirmed at the end of last month.
Camara said: “It’s an important step in my career and I want to thank (owner) Gene Haas and Ayao Komatsu for the trust they have placed in me.
“Now my focus is on preparing myself in the best possible way for this new challenge.
“There will be a lot to learn, and I’m looking forward to working closely with the team, understanding the car and continuing to develop as a driver.”
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — It’s a long way from Washington, has a small population and hasn’t backed a Democrat for Senate in nearly 20 years.
Yet President Trump on Tuesday will devote a big chunk of his dwindling time ahead of crucial midterm elections to head all the way to Alaska — attempting to bolster a Republican incumbent senator in another sign of GOP fears about retaining control of Congress after Election Day on Nov. 3.
Trump is headlining a rally for Sen. Dan Sullivan in Wasilla, about 45 miles north of Anchorage — famous for being the hometown of former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and the headquarters of the Iditarod sled dog race across the state.
Trump’s stop is part of a western swing also taking him to rallies in Arizona and Montana on Wednesday.
“I’m right now going to Alaska to try and help Dan Sullivan. That’s a long way away,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for the trip on Tuesday. “I would only do it if I thought he was good. And he’s very good. And so, I’m going to Alaska to help Dan Sullivan, and then I’m stopping in numerous places.”
Democrats last won a Senate seat in Alaska in 2008, and the state hasn’t elected a governor from that party since 1998. The only time Alaska didn’t vote Republican for president was during Lyndon B. Johnson’s landslide 1964 reelection.
Yet high gasoline prices from the Iran war and persistently elevated inflation have damaged Trump’s approval ratings enough to leave Democrats dreaming of Alaska upsets.
Seeking his third Senate term, Sullivan faces Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman running to put “Alaska First,” emphasizing cost-of-living issues.
Alaska pollster Ivan Moore said he’s seen a decline in Trump’s support statewide that mirrors the president’s falling approval ratings nationally — meaning the Senate race may be decided by Trump 2024 voters who are now unsure they still back him.
“The visit is certainly appropriate. Whether the visit will be effective or not is another matter,” said Moore, who said when he first heard that Trump would visit Alaska, he didn’t believe it would actually happen.
The Trump administration has prioritized the opening of more of Alaska to oil and gas drilling. Vice President JD Vance already campaigned in Fairbanks for Sullivan.
The senator also recently joined Trump in the Oval Office where the president announced a $54 billion investment by South Korea’s government into an Alaska natural gas project. That’s despite South Korea saying the deal, and its total value, haven’t been finalized.
Still, Trump trekking four time zones west to get to Sullivan’s home turf — an unusually long trip so close to the midterms — is his strongest show of support.
Alaska is home to around 740,000 people, making it slightly less populous than Denver. It ranks 48th out of 50 states in population, smaller than all but Vermont and Wyoming.
Trump nonetheless headlined a 2022 rally in Anchorage opposing Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski after she voted to convict him on a charge of incitement of insurrection during his second impeachment trial, following the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump endorsed Kelly Tshibaka, who challenged Murkowski that year, but that didn’t stop incumbent Murkowski from winning reelection.
Trump has complained about Alaska’s unique elections system. The state has open primaries, in which the four top vote-getters — regardless of party affiliation — advance to the general election, which uses ranked choice voting.
That’s led to a scenario where there also will be another Dan Sullivan on the ballot on Nov. 3: retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan, whom Trump and other allies of Sen. Sullivan have called a sham candidate. Dan J. Sullivan has denied this.
At his rally, Trump also plans to stump for Republican Rep. Nick Begich. Begich is facing a competitive challenge from Bill Hill, an independent.
Alaska has a history of rewarding candidates with an independent streak — something Vance acknowledged during his trip to Fairbanks last week. “In very deep red years, Alaska is competitive. In very deep blue years, Alaska is still competitive,” Vance said. “I think it’s just a reality of the politics of the state.”
Independence has been hard to find in the Republican Party where Trump for years had total control. Some Republicans facing tough elections have begun tiptoeing away from Trump on key issues like Iran and tariffs, but not Sullivan, who has been vocal in supporting both.
In a post last week, Trump questioned why three Republicans were running against a Democrat for governor. “How stupid are we to do this?” he said on social media. This comes at the same time state Republican party leaders are urging voters to rank Republicans on the ballot and leave the Democrats blank.
“We want to be clear: we do not support ranked choice voting. It is a confusing, burdensome and costly voting scheme,” party leaders, including GOP chair Carmela Warfield, said in a statement Saturday. “That said, ranked choice voting is the system Alaska will use for the 2026 General Election, and we must work within it for this election to keep Alaska’s recent momentum going strong.”
Trump has also triggered a trade war with Canada, which shares a 1,500-plus-mile border with Alaska and is among the state’s most important trading partners.
The U.S. banned nearly $1 billion worth of imports from its neighbor to the north — including alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motorcycles — after previously imposing 50% tariffs on about $20 billion in Canadian products. Canada has responded with reciprocal bans and its own import levies, and the back-and-forth could raise prices for Alaska consumers.
Making Canada an enemy of sorts is “discomforting” for many Alaskans, said pollster Moore.
“We associate, I think, probably more closely with the Canadians — more than a lot of the Lower 48,” he said.
Weissert and Bohrer write for the Associated Press. Weissert reported from Washington. AP reporter Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.