Student protests at Lovely Professional University in northern India have turned violent following social media claims that a female student was raped at a girls’ hostel by a worker. The university has denied the allegations as rumours, while police have launched an investigation.
Published On 27 Sep 202627 Sep 2026
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DAN Osborne shared how he battles with a “war in your head” following his split from wife Jacqueline Jossa.
The former Towie star and EastEnders actress split in March after 13 years together and now Dan has revealed his struggles.
Taking to his Instagram stories, the dad of three shared a quote by lifestyle entrepreneur Lewis Howe describing the perfect life.
It read: “The true luxury is waking up without a war in your head, with you nervous system at peace and your body healthy.”
Dan further captioned the post by writing: “Can’t wait for the day I wake up with this feeling,” and added a worried laughing emoji and prayer hands.
His following post was showing off his chiseled abs in a topless mirror selfie and describing how he carries on.
“For now, I’m just going to keep exercising,” Dan wrote.
Dan and EastEnders star Jacqueline split in March after 13 years together, with their relationship often dogged by cheating scandals and crisis talks.
Jac and Dan met at an awards ceremony in 2013 and tied the knot at a Cheshire manor house in 2017.
They are parents to daughters, Ella, 11, and Mia, eight, and Dan also has an 11-year-old son with his ex, Megan Tomlin.
The Sun then recently revealed that Dan was moving on with fitness model Etila Santiago, 33, after he made a secret trip to Miami to visit her after a holiday romance in May.
The Sun On Sunday revealed that Dan grew close to the Brazilian bikini model after bonding with her over fitness and their mutual support of Arsenal — and vowed to see her again soon.
The Sparks fired head coach Lynne Roberts, ending her tenure Friday after two seasons as the franchise continues its search for a return to championship contention.
The move comes after the Sparks finished 16-28 in 2026, missing the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season. Roberts compiled a 36-49 record with Los Angeles after being hired ahead of the 2025 season after nearly a decade leading the women’s basketball program at Utah.
The team has not announced an interim head coach but will conduct a search this offseason.
“We are grateful to Lynne for the commitment and determination she brought to the role, which was evident all the way through our last game last night,” said Sparks special advisor Farhan Zaidi. “Lynne has cared deeply about our organization and for our players and their development. We sincerely thank her for everything she has invested in the Sparks and wish her and her family the best moving forward.”
Roberts arrived in Los Angeles with a reputation as one of college basketball’s top offensive minds after leading Utah to three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances and back-to-back Sweet 16 berths. The Sparks hoped she could oversee a rebuild around a young core led by Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson while making one of the league’s flagship franchises a contender again.
Instead, the turnaround never materialized.
Los Angeles struggled to find consistency on both ends of the court during Roberts’ tenure, dealing with injuries, roster turnover and uneven play while remaining outside the WNBA playoff picture. Despite flashes from its young talent, the Sparks were unable to build sustained momentum, even after acquiring All-Star guard Kelsey Plum, whom they eventually traded before the deadline in July.
The Sparks fired general manager Raegan Pebley midseason after her offseason trade of Jackson to Chicago for Ariel Atkins, a two-time All-Star who is now on a three-year deal.
Before Thursday’s loss to Golden State, Roberts said she believed she should stay the team’s head coach.
“I think what this org needs is some stability, and a vision and a direction, like a plan,” she said. “Not that we haven’t had one, but I think now that we’ve got people in place, just give us a goalpost, and we’ll march down the field in that way.”
Roberts became the latest coaching change for a franchise that has been searching for stability since its last championship in 2016 under coach Brian Agler. Since then, the Sparks have cycled through four head coaches while missing the postseason every year since 2021.
The decision raises questions about the direction of the franchise entering the offseason with several long-term deals for veterans such as Atkins and Dearica Hamby, but also one of the best young players in the league in Brink.
LAS VEGAS — Four-time MVP A’ja Wilson scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Aces to an 89-79 victory over the Sparks on Tuesday night and clinch at least a No. 3 playoff seed for Las Vegas.
The Aces (30-13), on a six-game winning streak, will get home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, which begin Sunday. If the standings hold, they would face No. 6 seed Washington (27-16) in the best-of-three series.
Chelsea Gray scored 17 points for the Aces, Stephanie Talbot had 14 points and Jackie Young totaled 14 points and 11 assists.
Nneka Ogwumike, who was honored before the game, scored 17 points to lead the Sparks (16-27). Erica Wheeler added 16 points.
The Aces used a 15-point run in the first quarter to take early control, going up 17-5. They led by 17 points when the Sparks went on their own long run, an 11-point spurt in the second period to cut the lead to 35-29.
The Sparks then remained within striking distance, but never closed the gap. Las Vegas’ 10-point run in the third period put the Aces back in control with a 63-45 lead.
The Aces presented Ogwumike, an eight-time All-Star and 2016 MVP, with a flower bouquet before the game. Ogwumike, who announced Aug. 19 she would retire after this season, also received a standing ovation from the crowd. She also is president of the players’ union.
The Sparks played without Dearica Hamby (left knee) and Cameron Brink (right ankle). Hamby, who played in the Aces’ organization from 2015-22, averages 14.4 points and 7.0 rebounds. Brink, the second overall pick in the 2024 draft, averages 9.5 points and 5.0 rebounds.
Nneka Ogwumike answered the same question she’s been facing for almost two months.
Why now? Why leave the WNBA when she still leads the Sparks in scoring and rebounding, has played a central role in helping the league negotiate a transformative new collective bargaining agreement and returned to the city where her pro career began?
Ogwumike is at peace with her decision. And when she steps onto the court in a Sparks jersey for the last time Thursday, she will do it without regrets.
“I’m mostly grateful,” Ogwumike said. “I haven’t really been thinking much else besides just being grateful for the opportunity to have had a 15-year career in the WNBA and also to finish in a Sparks jersey.”
There is a lot for which to be grateful.
Ogwumike entered the WNBA as the No. 1 overall pick of the Sparks in 2012. Now, 15 seasons later, she is leaving the league as one of its most accomplished players — and as the most prolific scorer in Sparks history.
Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike, left, tries to drive past Lynx forward Napheesa Collier during a game in Minneapolis.
(Matt Krohn / Getty Images)
“It feels freeing,” Ogwumike said of her decision to retire. “It feels like there’s a level of autonomy that I’m able to have, and I’m very happy about that.”
The numbers only begin to tell the story.
Ogwumike was rookie of the year after averaging 14 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Four years later, she produced the best season of her career, averaging 19.7 points per game, winning MVP and leading the Sparks to their third WNBA championship.
She spent 12 seasons with the Sparks before leaving for Seattle, then returned to Los Angeles this season to finish her career.
Along the way, she established herself among the most productive players in league history. Ogwumike will finish her career fourth all-time in scoring with 8,013 points, behind Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles and DeWanna Bonner. She is third all-time in rebounds with 3,571 and third in steals with 716.
And on July 17, she added one more piece of history to the résumé, passing Lisa Leslie to become the Sparks’ all-time leading scorer.
Sisters Chiney, left, and Nneka Ogwumike pose for a photo at the Bird’s Eye View After Party during WNBA All-Star weekend.
(Daniel Boczarski / Getty Images for Vox Media)
“This is where it all started [for me],” Ogwumike said. “So very happy to be able to share this time, both the beginning and the end of my career in L.A., and I had a majority of my career playing for this organization, so it really does mean a lot to be able to finish in it as well.”
The return, however, did not unfold quite the way Ogwumike or the Sparks had envisioned.
Los Angeles entered the season with playoff expectations after bringing Ogwumike back, signing Erica Wheeler and trading for Ariel Atkins. The Sparks had not made the postseason since 2020, and the hope was that Ogwumike’s return could help change that.
Instead, the season became a struggle. The Sparks will finish 10 games out of a playoff spot, leaving Ogwumike’s final games less about a postseason push and more about what she could leave behind.
“The season is not at all what I expected, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t come out here to do my job and try and be great, and be great as a result,” Ogwumike said. “And as always, playing with my teammates as well.”
That has meant spending time with the young players who will carry the Sparks forward after she is gone.
Sparks coach Lynne Roberts and Nneka Ogwumike talk on the sideline during a win over the Indiana Fever in July.
(Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images)
Ogwumike has particularly focused on Cameron Brink, the young forward who represents a significant part of the organization’s future.
“I think right now I’m really spending a lot of my time trying to pour into Cam as well,” Ogwumike told reporters this week. “I really do think that she’s the future of the league. … I’m happy to be able to leave whatever I can before I throw my feet up.”
It is a fitting final role for a player whose career has stretched across generations of the WNBA.
“She’s poured into me since I got into the league,” Dream forward Angel Reese said in August. “Kind of like one of my first vets, always being there for me, always texting me, and also really like educating me on the things that were going on, knowing that it was a big CBA coming up.”
Her final contribution might not be something that appears in a box score. It might be what she passes on.
“She’ll be missed,” said Valkyries forward Gabby Williams, who played with Ogwumike in Seattle the previous two seasons. “As a friend, but also as a fan. I’ll miss watching her in the W.”
Williams knows what Ogwumike’s career has meant to the league, but she also understands what comes next.
“I’m really happy for her,” Williams said. “Happy she gets to take that next step. I know what it means to her. I’m glad her last year was pivotal for the CBA and she’ll always have her name written on that.”
Ogwumike, though, isn’t spending much time looking backward.
She hasn’t thought about what her final moments in the WNBA will feel like, only the gratefulness she feels to have had her 15-year career.
“I haven’t,” Ogwumike said when asked if she has thought about her last moments in the league. “Still just focused on playing.”
Sparks legend Lisa Leslie has officially been immortalized in Los Angeles.
Leslie, a two-time WNBA champion and member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, became the first female professional athlete to receive a statue outside of Crypto.com Arena on Sunday. After the ceremony, the Sparks earned a 105-84 win over the Portland Fire.
Leslie’s friends and family gathered outside the arena for the unveiling of the statue Leslie dubbed “The First Lady,” celebrating her 12-year pro basketball career in Los Angeles. Many speakers, including former Sparks coach Michael Cooper and Lakers legend Magic Johnson, noted Leslie’s accomplishments while also saluting her as a kind person.
Leslie became the second WNBA player to be honored with a bronze statue outside of a U.S. pro basketball arena, joining the Seattle Storm’s Sue Bird.
Lisa Leslie celebrates on stage after her statue is unveiled outside Crypto.com Arena on Sunday.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“We know there is a low percentage of women who have statues in our country,” Leslie said. “I just feel like we are just starting to get our flowers and reap some of the benefits of hard work, blood, sweat and tears that we put into it.”
Leslie sat courtside with her family watching her former team beat the expansion Fire. Rae Burrell led the Sparks with 20 points and added two assists. Nneka Ogwumike finished with a double-double and Ariel Atkins had 14.
Burrell led the team with 13 first-half points. The Sparks led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, during which several Sparks reached double-figure scoring.
The Sparks kept their foot on the gas in the fourth quarter despite playing without Cameron Brink, Dearica Hamby and Aaliyah Nye.
Many Sparks said they felt blessed to have formed relationships with Leslie. Burrell said Leslie has been a big help during her career. The retired star has responded when players around the WNBA have sought advice.
Ogwumike said the team was happy to attend the pregame statue reveal.
Sparks legend Lisa Leslie takes photos with family and friends at her statue unveiling outside Crypto.com Arena on Sunday.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“That’s history, you know? I am very adamant about players coming in and knowing their history,” Ogwumike said. “That’s something you can’t let go of. I think we can see, especially in the NBA, where they are honoring these legends and they are coming back. I think we’re entering an era where there is so much history.”
Leslie grew up in Compton. During the ceremony, she spoke about watching her siblings whenever her mother went to work as a truck driver. She said she pushed to make good things happen for her siblings and didn’t quit or make excuses when life was difficult. She embraced challenges and often challenged herself.
Cooper said Leslie would go head-to-head with some of the Lakers players during practice to give herself a bigger challenge and it was impressive to watch her hold her own. Leslie was determined to be the first player in the WNBA to dunk, which helped redefine what was possible in women’s basketball.
The statue outside of Crypto.com Arena depicts her dunking a basketball.
Lisa Leslie and her family celebrate as her statue is unveiled outside Crypto.com Arena on Sunday.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
“I hope they see themselves out there. I hope you can find a girl that looks like you, whether she has long hair or short hair,” Leslie said. “That’s the key for kids in general. You have to see yourself. If you see it, then you also start to dream and believe that you can be it.”
Leslie recalled walking around Los Angeles as a child. Her affection for the city receiving a statue here more meaningful.
“I also feel a certain level of pride,” she said. “I feel like we are such good people in L.A.”
Leslie’s statue stands next Lakers Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gigi Bryant. Leslie called Kobe her younger brother during the ceremony and is happy to be close to him again.
Leslie’s career will be hard to repeat, but she sees it as a blueprint WNBA players can follow.
She said she is pleased with the direction the WNBA is heading, leaps and bounds ahead of her experience joining the league in 1997. She said it’s been great to see sponsors pouring in and helping the game grow.
“I am so proud of where the women’s game is,” Leslie said. “But the dream was always that we hoped that our USA, everybody across the board, could see the beauty in us, could see the strength in us and our resilience. I am so proud of the product that’s on the floor.”
ARLINGTON, Texas — Paige Bueckers scored 19 points, Jessica Shepard had her fifth triple-double of the season with 13 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists, and the Dallas Wings beat the Sparks 97-77 on Thursday night for their fifth straight victory.
Both teams were returning from the break for the FIBA World Cup in Germany, where Bueckers helped lead the United States to the title.
Dallas (25-16) tied the franchise record for wins in a season set by the 2003 WNBA champion Detroit Shock (25-9). The Wings have three games remaining in the regular season.
Shepard has the third-most triple-doubles in a season in WNBA history, trailing Alyssa Thomas’ six in the 2023 and eight in 2025.
Maddy Siegrist added 12 points and Arike Ogunbowale had 11 for Dallas. Kitija Laksa and Aziaha James each scored 10 off the bench. Odyssey Sims did not play in the fourth quarter after injuring her right knee late in the third.
Nneka Ogwumike scored 18 points to lead the Sparks (12-26). Dearica Hamby added 14 points and Rae Burrell had 12.
Dallas pulled away by going on a 12-0 run spanning the third-quarter break for a 74-58 lead. The Wings finished with a 46-27 edge in rebounds.
Up next for the Sparks: at Portland on Sunday night.
Islamabad, Pakistan — More than 16 months after India and Pakistan fought a four-day air war, firing missiles and drones at each other, the South Asian neighbours came the closest since then to a military face-off — this time in the Arabian Sea.
Indian and Pakistani naval vessels collided on Tuesday, setting off tit-for-tat accusations. Pakistan’s government summoned India’s top diplomat in Islamabad on Wednesday, mirroring action New Delhi had taken hours earlier when it summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires and lodged a protest of its own over the incident.
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The collision is the first direct military encounter between the nuclear-armed neighbours since their four-day conflict in May 2025, when Indian air strikes and Pakistani retaliation brought both countries closer to full-scale war than at any point in decades.
So far, details of what happened remain disputed. Neither government has released video, track data or an independent account – and each statement places the blame on the other’s vessel.
But analysts say it underscored the risks of unintended incidents in the seas that could potentially escalate into broader crises, when India and Pakistan have few military and diplomatic mechanisms left in place to defuse tensions.
According to Pakistan’s Foreign Office statement issued on Wednesday evening, the navy has been conducting its biennial SEASPARK-26 exercise inside its exclusive economic zone since September 1 .
A country’s EEZ extends 200 nautical miles (370km) from its coast. Its territorial waters are only 12 nautical miles (22km) from the coast, with the rest of the EEZ in international waters. While vessels from other countries can pass through a nation’s EEZ in international waters unencumbered, they cannot exploit the waters economically: that right belongs only to the country whose EEZ it is.
Pakistan said that an Indian vessel, identified as the guided-missile destroyer INS Kolkata, had “repeatedly” tried to enter the exercise area since September 7 .
On September 15 , it said, Kolkata made a “dangerous” change of course that brought it into contact with a Pakistani vessel identified in local media as PNS Hunain, an offshore patrol vessel.
“Pakistan strongly rejects this belligerent Indian action,” the Pakistani Foreign Office said, calling it a violation of a 1991 bilateral agreement requiring warships to stay at least three nautical miles (5.5km, 3.4 miles) apart in international waters.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said the warship was on “routine surveillance” in international waters when a Pakistani vessel approached at high speed and manoeuvred unsafely.
Neither government has named the vessels in its own on-record statement, and India has not confirmed or denied the Kolkata identification.
The two navies last collided in June 2011, when Pakistani frigate PNS Babur brushed against Indian frigate INS Godavari in the Gulf of Aden, while escorting a merchant vessel freed from Somali pirates.
Each side blamed the other then too. That row faded within weeks.
Retired Vice Admiral Ahmad Saeed of the Pakistan Navy said the pattern — two ships pressing close without a clear intent to collide — was familiar from Cold War-era “bumping” incidents between Soviet and US ships in the Black Sea.
But he argued that India and Pakistan are worse placed to manage similar encounters.
“There’s no bilateral Incidents at Sea agreement, the kind the US and USSR signed in 1972, and no navy-to-navy hotline,” Saeed told Al Jazeera. “Article 10 sets a distance, but it gives no manoeuvring rules and no procedure for investigating an incident afterwards. That gap is exactly why each side can just accuse the other.”
Article 10 of the 1991 confidence-building agreement between the two nations requires warships to stay at least three nautical miles (5.6km, 3.5 miles) apart in international waters.
Saeed said the greater risk was what might follow the collision: sharper tactics such as fire-control radar lock-ons or helicopter overflights and eventually “a contact with actual casualties.”
Muhammad Shareh Qazi, a Lahore-based security and maritime analyst, however, pointed to the same 1991 agreement, which he said requires 30 days’ written notice before a military exercise, as well as international collision regulations that apply to both countries as signatories to the UN maritime convention.
“If this collision really had the potential to escalate militarily, you’d have noticed by now,” Qazi said. “There’s a tool for that, called chaff, fired just above the bow or stern purely to signal you could escalate if needed. Nothing like that happened here.”
Both navies also have their own internal accountability channels, he added, with a captain found to have acted without authorisation facing a court martial process separate from any diplomatic protest.
On fishermen routinely detained for straying across the Sir Creek boundary, which is not demarcated between India and Pakistan further south, Qazi said the link to incidents further out at sea was indirect but real.
“Clear demarcation could help close those ambiguities over time, by reducing the ambiguity around where and how these interactions are expected to occur,” he added.
Saeed was more cautious about how contained an incident like this would remain.
“This hasn’t stayed quiet. Both governments went public with protests within a day of each other,” he said, adding that what made the moment riskier than 2011 was that “both publics are primed after last year’s conflict, which was not the case in 2011.”
Similar close-quarters confrontations have become more frequent between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea.
In the most recent flare-up, on July 24 , Philippine officials said a Chinese vessel came within about seven metres (23 feet) of a Philippine fisheries boat near Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine-claimed reef that China has controlled since 2012, and that Chinese coast guard ships fired water cannon at Philippine vessels.
Whether this week’s collision follows that pattern or fades like the 2011 incident depends less on the ships than on what comes next diplomatically, Qazi said.
“If, in the next 24 to 48 hours, an official statement suggests there was a genuine cause to manufacture an incident for the purpose of escalation, then yes, there may be a real possibility of this happening again,” he added.
MADRID: Raphinha scored a hat trick as Barcelona earned yet another big win on Wednesday, routing Racing Santander 7-2 for its best-ever start to a season.
The Catalan club had never won seven games in a row. It has won six straight in the league and another in the Champions League.
Gabriel Jesus and Lamine Yamal also found the net for Barcelona, which has scored at least five goals in five of its seven matches across all competitions this season.
In the English League Cup, Manchester United was stunned 3-2 by Brighton after squandering a two-goal lead to crash out in round three.
In the Europa League, Benfica beat AC Milan 2-0 on the road in the first round of the league stage.
Barcelona and Raphinha stay red-hot in Spain
With his hat trick, Raphinha took his league-leading tally to nine goals in six matches. The Brazil forward has scored a goal in all but one game this season.
“Happy for the goals and for the victory, which is the most important thing,” Raphinha said. “The players have the hunger to always want more. It’s a mentality to always try to score more goals and to create more scoring opportunities.”
João Cancelo also scored for Barcelona, which was helped by an own-goal from Racing’s Asier Villalibre. Maguette Gueye and Yassir Zabiri scored for the visitors.
Barcelona has only failed to score fewer than four goals this season in a 2-0 win against Athletic Bilbao.
Barcelona had previously won six games in a row to start the season — in 1929-30, 1960-61 and 2018-19, the club said.
Yamal had a goal disallowed for offside, missed a penalty and hit the post before finally scoring late for Barcelona.
The La Liga champion has also crushed Elche, Rayo Vallecano and Valencia in the league, and Feyenoord in the Champions League.
Hansi Flick’s team has outscored opponents 33-7 in seven games across all competitions. Barcelona has a three-point league lead over Real Madrid, which won at Elche on Tuesday.
Barcelona goalkeeper Joan García was replaced by Wojciech Szczesny at halftime because of an apparent injury. Szczesny’s blunder led to a Racing goal after the goalkeeper tried to control the ball inside the area and was robbed in front of the net.
Atletico Madrid routed visiting Osasuna 4-0 with goals by Jonathan David, Lee Kang-In, Robin Le Normand and Álex Baena.
It was the second win in a row for Diego Simeone’s team, which moved to third. Osasuna has lost three in a row.
Sevilla jumped to fourth by winning 1-0 at Deportivo La Coruña with a second-half goal by Miguel Sierra. Sevilla has won two in a row. Deportivo stayed seventh.
The game between Levante and Athletic Bilbao was postponed because of heavy rain in the city of Valencia.
United upset by Brighton rally in League Cup
Manchester United was booed at Old Trafford after it fell to a third defeat of the season, and second in as many games following Sunday’s loss to Manchester City.
“We had the game exactly where we wanted it and let it get away from us in a big way,” United coach Michael Carrick told Sky Sports. “We can’t accept that as a group. I take responsibility for it.”
United led 2-0 after 10 minutes through goals from Shea Lacey and Mason Mount. But Brighton rallied with Charalampos Kostoulas pulling one back before halftime, and Pascal Gross and Maxim De Cuyper secured victory after the break.
Defeat means United has suffered elimination from the League Cup at the earliest stage for the second season in a row after being knocked out by fourth-tier Grimsby last year.
Benfica tops Milan as Europa League kicks off
Benfica beat AC Milan in the highlight match in the Europa League.
Dodi Lukébakio and Jakub Kaminski scored a goal in each half for the Portuguese club.
Sparta Prague won 4-1 at Ararat-Armenia for the round’s biggest victory.
Sunderland beat visiting AZ Alkmaar 1-0 in its first European match in more than seven decades. Lyon won 2-1 at Anderlecht, while Bayer Leverkusen defeated visiting Celje 2-0.
Celta Vigo’s winless start to the season reached seven matches after a 1-0 loss at Omonia.
New Delhi is rolling out the red carpet for BRICS, but blocked roads, evictions and restrictions have caused anger.
Published On 11 Sep 202611 Sep 2026
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