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Preparations are also under way for a Gaza summit in Egypt, with US President Donald Trump expected to attend.

Patrick Herminie wins 52.7 percent of the vote, denying incumbent Wavel Ramkalawan a second term in office.

Seychelles’s opposition leader, Patrick Herminie, has won the country’s presidential race, defeating incumbent leader Wavel Ramkalawan in a run-off vote, according to the electoral commission.

Herminie won 52.7 percent of the vote, while Ramkalawan took 47.3 percent, official results announced early on Sunday showed.

In his victory speech, Herminie pledged to lower the cost of living, revive public services and unite the island nation.

“The people have spoken,” the 62-year-old said at the headquarters of the electoral commission.

“I am deeply humbled for the trust that the people have placed in me. I will be the president of all Seychellois, and I will end divisions by ceasing preferences, and giving everyone the opportunity to thrive,” he said.

Herminie’s victory gives his United Seychelles party full control of the government after it also reclaimed a majority in parliament during the first round of the general election last month.

The win is also a complete turnaround for Herminie, who in 2023 was arrested on charges of witchcraft that were later dropped. He previously served as speaker of the country’s parliament from 2007 to 2016.

Ramkalawan, who attended the electoral commission’s announcement of the results, congratulated Herminie, who becomes Seychelles’s sixth president.

“I leave with a legacy that makes many presidents blush… I hope President Herminie continues to maintain such a level,” he said.

Images published by the Seychelles Nation newspaper showed the two leaders shaking hands after the announcement.

Outside the electoral commission headquarters, thousands of Herminie’s supporters erupted in cheers and waved the country’s flag and party banners as they greeted him following his proclamation as the winner, according to videos on social media.

The race between the two main contenders was decided in a run-off after there was no outright winner in the presidential vote two weeks ago. Early voting began on Thursday, but most people in the island nation voted on Saturday.

Herminie and Ramkalawan ran spirited campaigns trying to address key issues for voters, including environmental damage and a crisis of drug addiction in a country long seen as a tourist haven.

Ramkalawan campaigned for re-election on his management of Seychelles’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and expansion of social protections.

But voters opted for Herminie, who accused Ramkalawan of presiding over a proliferation of corruption, and promised to cancel a hotel project permitted by his government that environmentalists say threatens a UNESCO-listed coral atoll.

Herminie has also pledged to lower the retirement age from 65 to 63 and implement recommendations from a truth and reconciliation commission that examined human rights abuses related to a 1977 coup and its aftermath.

A physician by training, he previously headed the government’s anti-drug agency, and has promised to tackle the country’s sky-high heroin addiction, blamed in part on the fact that the islands sit on a drug route between Africa and Asia.

The country’s Agency for Prevention of Drug Abuse and Rehabilitation says that 5,000 to 6,000 people use heroin out of a population of about 120,000. Other estimates put the figure as high as 10,000.

Seychelles, a nation of 115 islands, is Africa’s wealthiest country per capita.

Located across 1.2 million square kilometres (463,000 sq miles) in the western Indian Ocean, it is a prime tourist destination as well as a target for investment from, and security cooperation with, China, Gulf nations and India.

Donald Trump is directing US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to pay military personnel despite the federal government shutdown.

The president said on Saturday that Hegseth must make sure troops do not miss out on their regular paycheque, scheduled for Wednesday. The directive comes as other government employees have already had some pay withheld and others are being laid off.

“I will not allow the Democrats to hold our Military, and the entire Security of our Nation, HOSTAGE, with their dangerous Government Shutdown,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

The Republican and Democratic parties blame each other for failing to agree on a spending plan to reopen the government.

Trump’s message asks Hegseth to “use all available funds to get our Troops PAID” on 15 October, when military personnel would see their pay withheld for the first time since the shutdown began on 1 October.

Many US military employees are considered “essential”, meaning they must still show up for duty without pay. Some 750,000 other federal employees – about 40% – have been furloughed, or sent home, also without pay.

Furloughed employees are legally supposed to receive back-pay after a shutdown ends and they return to work, but the Trump administration has insinuated this might not happen.

“The Radical Left Democrats should OPEN THE GOVERNMENT, and then we can work together to address Healthcare, and many other things that they want to destroy,” Trump posted on Saturday.

Democrats have refused to vote for a Republican spending plan that would reopen the government after nearly 12 days shut down, saying any resolution must preserve expiring tax credits that reduce health insurance costs for millions of Americans and reverse Trump’s cuts to Medicaid, the healthcare program for elderly and low-income people.

Republicans accuse Democrats of unnecessarily bringing the government to a halt, and blame them for the knock-on effects caused by the federal work stoppage.

Finding a way to pay for military salaries could help reduce some of the political risk for congressional leaders if the shutdown drags on.

In an effort to pressure Democrats, the Trump administration has also begun laying off thousands of government workers, an unprecedented move during a shutdown.

“The RIFs have begun,” White House Office of Management Director Russell Vought announced in a post on X on Friday morning, referring to an acronym for “reductions in force”.

The administration disclosed later on Friday that seven agencies had started firing more than 4,000 people, making good on the president’s repeated threats to use the shutdown to further his long-held goal of reducing the federal workforce.

The reductions included dozens of employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to the BBC’s US partner CBS news, citing sources familiar with the situation.

The agency’s entire Washington DC office was laid off, the sources told CBS, adding that among the laid-off employees were those working on the CDC’s Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report, the agency’s Ebola response and immunisations. There were also reductions in the human resources department, they said.

Andrew Nixon, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, told CBS that the let-go workers were not essential, and that “HHS continues to close wasteful and duplicative entities, including those that are at odds with the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda”.

Employees at the Treasury Department and in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the Department of Homeland Security were also among those laid off on Friday, those agencies confirmed.

The American Federation of Government Employees and AFL-CIO, two major unions representing federal workers, have filed a lawsuit in northern California, asking a judge to temporarily block the layoff orders.

“It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country,” AFGE president Everett Kelley said.

A spokesman from the White House budget office told the BBC on Saturday that the layoffs were just the beginning.

“These RIF numbers from the court filing are just a snapshot in time,” he said. “More RIFs are coming.”

In a court filing opposing the unions’ request for a temporary restraining order, the justice department revealed that agencies such as the Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce and Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency could also see staff cuts.

The government lawyers said the labour unions had failed to establish that their members would be irreparably harmed by the layoffs, which is needed for the judge to grant the restraining order. But they said a restraining order would “irreparably harm the government”.

Are you a federal worker in the US? Get in touch here

HumAngle has just been announced winner of the Illicit Financial Flow category in the 2025 West Africa Media Excellence Conference Awards (WAMECA) for our investigation into The Internet Fundraising Marathon Behind IPOB’s Armed Struggle. Kunle Adebajo, HumAngle’s former Investigations Editor, who authored the story, also emerged as the West Africa Journalist of the Year. It is the second time in three years that a HumAngle journalist will receive the honour.

The announcement was made during an awards ceremony in Accra, Ghana, on Saturday evening, Oct. 11, with several journalists from across Africa in attendance.

WAMECA is an initiative of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and is currently in its eighth edition. The award has been described as West Africa’s biggest and most prestigious journalism award.

Two of our reports had been shortlisted under the same category. The MFWA said it received a total of 793 entries from more than 600 media outlets across 15 West African countries, with 335 of those entries coming from Nigeria. The shortlist of 26 had come from these entries, with Nigerian media dominating the list, including TheCable, Premium Times, Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), Daily Trust, and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR).

The other HumAngle report that was shortlisted was by Al’amin Umar, Climate Change Reporter. Al’amin’s work focuses on the complex intersections of environmental change, conflict, and sustainability efforts. He was a 2024 participant of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network, as well as a 2025 grantee of the Earth Journalism Network’s Biodiversity Media Initiative.

His shortlisted report, ISWAP’s ‘Tax’ System is Bleeding Farmers Dry in Northeastern Nigeria, investigated how terrorists from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have been bleeding farmers dry in Borno, northeastern Nigeria, through an illegal taxation system. The report was done with support from the Pulitzer Centre. 

Kunle, whose report won the award, was HumAngle’s Investigations Editor until October 2024, and now sits on the Advisory Board. His work for HumAngle covered conflict alongside its many intricacies and fallouts. He also writes about disinformation, the environment, and human rights. He’s won many journalism awards, including the 2021 Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Journalism, the 2022 African Fact-checking Award, and the 2023 Michael Elliott Award for Excellence in African Storytelling.

The judges noted an improvement in the quality of entries received this year, as well as more diversity in the countries represented.

They said the winning story was “bold, data-driven, and unflinchingly relevant. The story by HumAngle in Nigeria stands out for its extraordinary synthesis of digital forensics, conflict analysis, and accountability reporting. Through meticulous open-source intelligence and cross-border research, the reporter traced how diaspora money or diaspora-led crowdfunding and cryptocurrency networks were financing violence in Nigeria’s South East… This investigation does more than say money is moving; it actually shows how it moves, who moves it, where it goes, and what it buys…”

HumAngle had won the environmental reporting category of the award in 2023 with our first interactive story, All Die Na Die: At The Heart Of Nigeria’s Soot Problem. Merging audio and visuals, the story showed the genesis and process of illegal oil bunkering in Rivers State, Nigeria, and the extent of the resultant soot problem in the state, showing its effects on water, the soil, and even air quality. The author of the investigation, HumAngle’s former Interactive Editor, Temitayo Akinyemi (FKA Muhammed Akinyemi), was also awarded Journalist of the Year. 

Commenting on HumAngle’s winning the award for the second time in three years, Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Ahmad Salkida, said it was a testament to the commitment and excellence with which our journalists approach their profession. 

“Both Kunle and Al’amin continue to personify the excellence that HumAngle stands for and the conviction upon which the organisation is built,” he said. “The conviction that journalism is powerful enough to influence history and shape perception and understanding. HumAngle is proud to have won this award again and will continue to be dedicated to our mission. I am also hopeful that this recognition will translate to even more impact, policy change, and wider understanding of terror financing and the magnitude of the insecurity issues in Nigeria’s South East.”

Accepting the award, Kunle said he was deeply honoured. “I stood on this stage in 2019 to receive a similar award,” he reminisced.”Between then and now, I think my craft has improved significantly… I want to thank the MFWA for their consistent support, for not just awarding journalists, but also making us feel special. I wish you more resources and willpower to continue to do this.” 

Keaton was best known for her roles in Annie Hall, Reds and The Godfather films.

American actress Diane Keaton, known for her Oscar-winning performance in 1977’s Annie Hall and her role in The Godfather films, has died at the age of 79.

Keaton died in California and her loved ones have asked for privacy, a family spokesperson told People magazine on Saturday.

Keaton, who appeared in more than 60 films, stood out in Hollywood with a personal style that favoured androgynous looks: suits, turtleneck sweaters and her trademark hats.

The actress shot to fame in the 1970s with her role as Kay Adams, the girlfriend and eventual wife of Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy as well as her collaborations with director Woody Allen.

Keaton frequently worked with Allen, portraying the titular character in Annie Hall, the charming girlfriend of Allen’s comic Alvy Singer.

“It was an idealised version of me, let’s put it that way,” Keaton said about the film in an interview with the United States TV network CBS News in 2004.

The film also garnered Oscars for best picture, best director and best original screenplay, cementing Keaton’s place as one of the industry’s top actresses and an offbeat style icon as well.

She made a total of eight films with Allen, including 1979’s Manhattan.

Her star-making performances in the 1970s were not a flash in the pan as she would continue to charm new generations for decades, thanks in part to a longstanding collaboration with filmmaker Nancy Meyers, with whom she made four films.

A BAFTA and Golden Globe winner, Keaton scored Oscar nominations three other times for best actress for Reds, Marvin’s Room and Something’s Gotta Give.

Her many beloved films included The First Wives Club, Father of the Bride, The Family Stone and the Book Club movies.

Born Diane Hall in Los Angeles on January 5, 1946, Keaton was romantically involved with Allen, Pacino and Warren Beatty (her Reds costar), but she never married.

“I think I was really afraid of men and also very attracted to extremely talented people that were dazzling,” she told Elle magazine in 2015. “I don’t think that makes for a good marriage with a person like me, someone who just didn’t adjust well.”

Keaton is survived by her two children, Dexter and Duke, whom she adopted in her 50s.

Portugal maintain winning record in qualifying despite Cristiano Ronaldo’s second-half penalty miss against Ireland.

Portugal’s Ruben Neves scored a stoppage-time goal to snatch a 1-0 win over Ireland, which preserved Portugal’s 100 percent record in World Cup qualifying Group F and consolidated the top spot.

Portugal moved to nine points at the halfway stage of the campaign, with a five-point lead over second-placed Hungary, who they host on Tuesday, when they could secure qualification.

Neves headed home a minute into added time on Saturday at the Estadio Jose Alvalade for his first international goal.

It was a poignant tribute to close friend Diogo Jota, who died in a car accident in July and whose No 21 jersey Neves wore in Portugal’s first home game since the Liverpool player’s death.

Cristiano Ronaldo had a penalty saved earlier in the match as Ireland threatened to hold the hosts to a draw, but the late strike kept the Irish at the bottom of the standings with one point.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are streaming back to their land in northern Gaza – a right of return included in the ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel.

Multiple attempts to remove the population have failed.

Many Palestinians say they have avoided another Nakba, or catastrophe – the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 – and defeated Israel’s forced displacement policy.

But the land they are returning to is unrecognisable.

Is Gaza uninhabitable? Or can it be rebuilt under the interim authority that next governs the strip?

And does the ceasefire allow for this complex and lengthy task?

Presenter: Imran Khan

Guests:

Ines Abdel Razek – co-director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy

Ilan Pappe – chairman of the Nakba Memorial Foundation

Ghada Karmi – academic and the author of Return: A Palestinian Memoir

Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters have marched in London, expressing scepticism and cautious hope as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has entered its second day.

“We’re … sharing the relief of the Palestinian people,” said Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has organised mass monthly pro-Palestinian rallies in London since the start of the war on October 7, 2023.

“But we also come here sharing their trepidation that this ceasefire will not hold, rooted in the knowledge that Israel has violated every ceasefire agreement it’s ever signed,” Jamal told the AFP news agency on Saturday.

Despite concerns about United States President Donald Trump’s proposed plan to end the war on Gaza, which calls for a transitional authority ultimately headed by the US leader, Jamal said there was an “immense sense of relief”.

A sea of red and green, the colours of the Palestinian flag, formed along the embankment of the River Thames in central London, where the largely peaceful march began.

Protesters donned black and white keffiyeh scarves, carried signs saying “Stop Starving Gaza” and “Stop the genocide”, and chanted “Free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Police removed several pro-Israel protesters from the crowd.

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from the rally in London, said there has been “no cease to the demonstrations … in the UK expressing solidarity with Palestine”.

Challands said that while 32 such protests have been held so far, Saturday’s was a “huge one” as protesters came from all over the country.

People travelled to the capital on buses and trains from cities including Bristol, Cambridge and Sheffield.

The government in the UK has been making it increasingly difficult for pro-Palestine demonstrations to take place and wants the police to have more power to restrict such gatherings, Challands noted.

Last weekend, London police arrested at least 442 people at a rally in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action in central London.

Israel’s two-year war on Gaza has killed more than 67,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and caused a humanitarian crisis. Famine conditions were declared in some parts of the besieged territory last month, and a UN commission has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

Challands said people were sceptical that the latest ceasefire would hold for a “significant amount of time”.

“They are worried about the perseverance of US President Donald Trump,” he said.

Katrina Scales, a 23-year-old sociology and psychology student attending the rally, said the ceasefire was “not enough” and she planned to keep attending marches.

“I’m here with my friends to help show that there is continuously eyes on Gaza, even considering the current ceasefire,” she said.

Trade unionist Steve Headley, in his 50s, said he is also unconvinced.

“Hopefully now we’ve got the first steps towards peace, but we’ve been here before,” Headley told AFP. He questioned Trump’s “plans for a ‘Riviera’ in Gaza” that the US president touted this year.

For 74-year-old Miranda Finch, part of a group marching under the banner “descendants of Holocaust survivors against Gaza genocide”, the ceasefire was “very little”.

“The Palestinians are not going back to nothing. They’re going back to less than nothing. Rubble on top of bodies on top of sewage.”

Fabio Capogreco, 42, who was attending his fifth demonstration with his two children and wife, said the ceasefire was “too little, too late”, adding that those complicit in the war need to be held accountable.

“Hopefully it’s one of the last times we need to come here to manifest,” the bar manager said. “But I think it’s too early to say everything is OK.”

Protests were also planned later on Saturday in other European cities, including Berlin. A march is also expected on Sunday in Sydney, Australia, where pro-Palestine demonstrations have filled streets in recent weeks.

Operations go from rescue to recovery as no survivors expected to be found, officials say.

Investigators do not expect to find any survivors at the scene of a blast at a Tennessee explosives company, officials say.

The explosion, which was felt for miles, destroyed a building at the headquarters of Accurate Energetic Systems early on Friday in Bucksnort, about an hour’s drive west of Nashville.

“More than 300 people have been through almost every square inch of this facility, and at this time, we’ve recovered no survivors,” Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told reporters on Saturday. “It’s a great loss to our communities.”

Officials did not offer a precise death toll but have previously said 18 people were unaccounted for. Davis confirmed the operation had shifted from rescue to recovery and that investigators would use DNA testing to confirm the identities of those who died.

The factory made explosives for both military and demolition purposes.

Investigators, including agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, were still working to determine the cause of the explosion, officials said. The presence of explosives and other ordnance at the property has made searching the scene complicated.

In a statement, the company called the blast “a tragic accident”.

Davis said it could be days, weeks or even months before foul play is ruled out.

Youth-led demonstrators enter Antananarivo’s May 13 Square for the first time since protests erupted last month.

Some groups of Madagascan soldiers have defied orders and joined thousands of antigovernment protesters assembled in the capital, Antananarivo, as demonstrations against President Andry Rajoelina’s rule gain momentum.

The youth-led protesters entered the capital’s May 13 Square on Saturday for the first time in one of the biggest gatherings since a protest movement inspired by what has become known as the Gen Z protests in Kenya and Nepal erupted on the Indian Ocean island on September 25.

After police used stun grenades and tear gas to try to disperse the demonstrators, soldiers arrived at the scene, where they were welcomed with cheers.

At a meeting at an army barracks on the outskirts of the city earlier, soldiers in the elite CAPSAT unit, which played a pivotal role in Rajoelina’s rise in 2009, issued a rare public call for solidarity as demonstrators demanded the president’s resignation.

“Let us join forces, military, gendarmes and police, and refuse to be paid to shoot our friends, our brothers and our sisters,” the soldiers at the base in the Soanierana district said in a video posted on social media.

They called on soldiers at the airport to “prevent all aircraft from taking off” and those in other camps to “refuse orders to shoot your friends”.

“Close the gates, and await our instructions,” they said. “Do not obey orders from your superiors. Point your weapons at those who order you to fire on your comrades in arms because they will not take care of our families if we die.”

A video broadcast by local media showed some soldiers leaving the barracks to escort protesters into May 13 Square, the scene of many political uprisings, which had been heavily guarded and off-limits during the unrest.

Saturday’s demonstrations were the largest in several days in the youth-led movement, which was sparked by anger over power and water shortages and evolved into a broader antigovernment campaign.

It was unclear how many soldiers had joined the call on Saturday.

The newly appointed minister of the armed forces called on soldiers to “remain calm”.

“We call on our brothers who disagree with us to prioritise dialogue,” Minister General Deramasinjaka Manantsoa Rakotoarivelo said at a news conference.

“The Malagasy army remains a mediator and constitutes the nation’s last line of defence.”

Several people were injured on Thursday as security forces dispersed protesters with tear gas, rubber bullets and armoured vehicles.

Videos of police violence went viral on social media, including a video of one man being left unconscious on the ground after he was chased and severely beaten by security forces, an incident that reporters with the AFP news agency witnessed.

The United Nations on Friday reacted by calling on authorities to “desist from unnecessary force and to uphold the rights to free association and peaceful assembly”.

The UN said at least 22 people have been killed and 100 injured in the protests.

Rajoelina has disputed the toll, saying on Wednesday that there were “12 confirmed deaths and all of these individuals were looters and vandals”.

Rajoelina initially adopted a conciliatory tone and sacked his entire government in response to the protests.

But he has since doubled down, appointing military officer Ruphin Fortunat Zafisambo as prime minister on Monday and picking the first members of his new cabinet from among the armed forces, public security and police.

Among the world’s poorest countries, Madagascar has undergone frequent popular uprisings since gaining independence from France in 1960, including mass protests in 2009 that forced then-President Marc Ravalomanana from power as the military installed Rajoelina for his first term.

He won re-election in 2018 and again in 2023 in contested polls boycotted by the opposition.

Who: India vs Australia
What: ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 group stage
When: Sunday, October 12 at 3pm (09:30 GMT)
Where: Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam, India
How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will have live build-up from 07:00 GMT before our text commentary stream for the action.

India will hope for a quick return to winning ways when they meet defending champions Australia in a blockbuster clash at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 on Sunday.

Both teams began the tournament as favourites, but Australia hold a definite edge in the match as record seven-time world champions and the only undefeated team after the first three group-stage matches.

Meanwhile, India were handed their first loss of the World Cup when South Africa pulled off a stunning turnaround in a three-wicket win on Thursday.

All 15,087 tickets for the eagerly awaited clash were sold out earlier in the week, indicating huge interest in what is now seen as one of the top rivalries in women’s cricket.

India vs Australia rivalry ‘continues to grow’

Australia’s captain Alyssa Healy admitted the interest in the Australia-India rivalry “continues to grow”, and that Australia will be taking on the “sleeping giant” of women’s cricket.

“They’ve [India] been a sleeping giant in the women’s game for a long period of time,” Healy said on Saturday.

The wicketkeeper-batter highlighted the role of the Women’s Premier League T20 franchise tournament in helping India unearth talent and figure out a style of play that suits them.

While Australia haven’t lost a match in the tournament, they have recovered from wobbly situations to post two wins in their two completed matches.

“You’re going to be put under the pump in unfamiliar conditions, against unfamiliar sides at times,” Healy explained.

“We’re allowed to lose games of cricket and be put under pressure in World Cups, and I really back the depth in our side,” she said when asked to comment on Australia’s batting slump against Pakistan on Wednesday.

“We’re fortunate that it’s been a different person every time that stuck their hand up and said, yep, I’ve got this, I can get us to a total or I can take the wickets to restrict the team.”

Despite their unmatched record in women’s cricket, Healy said India will be “a real threat” playing in their home conditions.

India not dwelling on loss

India’s all-rounder Sneh Rana believes her team can bounce back quickly after the loss to South Africa, as they don’t dwell on losses and focus on the next challenge instead.

“We regroup, we study the match, plan how to improve, take the positives, and look forward to the next game,” Rana said on the eve of the Australia match.

She termed the Australians “one of the strongest competitors” but was quick to highlight the fact that India have beaten the world champions in the (2017) World Cup as well as their recent bilateral series.

For the hosts, one of the major areas of concern will be the lack of big scores from their top-rated batter Smriti Mandhana.

The left-handed opener has scored a world record 972 runs in women’s one-day internationals (ODIs) in 2025, but her top score in the tournament stands at 23.

In fact, none of India’s top batters feature among the tournament’s top five run-scorers thus far, with wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh in fourth spot with 131 runs.

Rana, however, said the team is not worried about the lack of runs from the top.

“We have some of the best batters in the world, and it’s just a matter of one good knock [before they score big].”

India vs Australia: Head-to-head in ODIs

Despite the relatively low frequency of women’s international matches in past decades, India and Australia have faced each other in 59 ODIs.

Australia dominate the head-to-head count with 48 wins compared with India’s 11.

Form guide: India

The hosts won their first two matches of the World Cup comprehensively before crashing to a loss against South Africa. Their pre-tournament form has been mixed, with a series loss to Australia at home and an away series win against England.

Last five matches (latest result first): L W W L W

Form guide: Australia

Australia have won two of their three matches in the World Cup, with their fixture against Sri Lanka abandoned due to poor weather.

Apart from the one loss against India in September, Australia have not lost an ODI since September 2024.

Last five matches (latest result first): W W W L W

Team news: India

India may want to swap a spinner for a pace bowler, in which case Shree Charani could make way for Renuka Singh Thakur.

Predicted XI: Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur (captain), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wicketkeeper), Amanjot Kaur, Sneh Rana, Kranti Goud, Shree Charani/Renuka Singh Thakur.

Team news: Australia

Australia have hinted at a return for Sophie Molineux, who could replace Georgia Wareham.

Predicted XI : Alyssa Healy (captain, wicketkeeper), Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, Annabel Sutherland, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Georgia Wareham/Sophie Molineux, Kim Garth, Alana King, Megan Schutt.

Follow our live build-up, with team news, ahead of our full text commentary stream of the FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifier.

North Korea showcased its newest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-20, during a military parade in Pyongyang overseen by leader Kim Jong Un. The missile is believed to be capable of reaching anywhere on the US mainland.

Hamas is pressing Israel to include prominent Palestinians in a prisoner-release list – part of a ceasefire deal that will also see hostages returned from Gaza.

Hamas’s insistence comes after the Israeli justice ministry published the names of 250 prisoners to be freed, but excluded seven high-profile prisoners, including Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat.

The men, who are serving sentences after being convicted of involvement in separate deadly attacks in Israel, have long been seen by Palestinians as symbols of resistance.

Twenty Israeli hostages are expected to be released before 12:00 (09:00 GMT) on Monday as part of the deal proposed by US President Donald Trump.

A senior Palestinian official familiar with the talks told the BBC that US envoy Steve Witkoff had promised to raise the exclusion of the Palestinian prisoners with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but Israel has firmly refused to include them.

It is not clear whether this could be a sticking point, or impact the timeline for the release of hostages from the Gaza Strip and Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

The releases are due to take place in the first phase of Trump’s ceasefire and hostage return deal, approved this week to end the two-year war in Gaza.

It is unclear how the hostages will be released this time – on previous occasions Hamas paraded them in public, infuriating Israel and many of its Western allies.

The bodies of deceased hostages will also be returned. It is thought that at least 26 hostages are deceased, with the fate of two others unknown.

Israel will also release about 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli jails, and another 1,700 Palestinians from Gaza who have been detained.

Hamas had submitted a list of prisoners it wanted released that included Barghouti and Saadat.

Barghouti is serving five life sentences plus 40 years after being convicted in 2004 of planning attacks that led to five civilians being killed.

Opinion polls have consistently indicated that he remains the most popular Palestinian leader, and that Palestinians would vote for him in a presidential election ahead of the current Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas or Hamas leaders.

Barghouti remains a senior figure in the Fatah faction that dominates the PA, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank not under Israeli control.

Saadat, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was sentenced to 30 years after being convicted in 2008 of heading an “illegal terrorist organisation” and involvement in attacks, including the assassination of an Israeli minister in 2001.

Among the 250 prisoners set to be released is Iyad Abu al-Rub, an Islamic Jihad commander convicted of orchestrating suicide bombings in Israel that killed 13 people in the early 2000s.

According to the Israeli justice ministry, he will be released either to Gaza or deported abroad.

The BBC understands that Hamas is also pushing for some possible additional prisoner releases. These relate to Palestinian prisoners who were released years ago as part of an exchange for the hostage Gilad Shalit – and then were rearrested after 7 October.

Hamas argues that since they were part of a previous hostage exchange, they should not be included in the 250 figure.

In Israel, hospitals are preparing for the release of hostages as families await their return.

The first phase of the Israel-Hamas deal saw a ceasefire take effect on Friday and Israeli forces partially withdraw from parts of Gaza. Hundreds of aid trucks a day are now expected to enter. The next phases are still being negotiated.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned from southern Gaza to Gaza City, weeks after fleeing the Israeli offensive that destroyed much of the city.

Gaza’s Hamas-run civil defence agency has said it is conducting recovery operations and pulling bodies from the rubble, with Palestinians still missing across the territory.

Israel’s war on Gaza was triggered by the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage.

Since then, 67,682 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

Additional reporting by Mallory Moench

Allied forces launch joint patrols near Russia after reports of drone incursions into allied airspace.

The United Kingdom has said two Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft joined a 12-hour NATO patrol earlier this week near Russia’s border, following a series of Russian drone and aircraft incursions into alliance airspace.

“This was a substantial joint mission with our US and NATO allies,” Defence Minister John Healey said on Saturday, as concerns rise that Russia’s war in Ukraine will spill over into Europe.

“Not only does this provide valuable intelligence to boost the operational awareness of our Armed Forces, but sends a powerful message of NATO unity to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and our adversaries,” he added.

The mission involved an RC-135 Rivet Joint surveillance jet and a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft flying from the Arctic region past Belarus and Ukraine, supported by a US Air Force KC-135 refuelling plane.

British officials said the operation followed several incursions into the airspace of NATO members, including Poland, Romania, and Estonia.

Growing airspace tensions

In recent weeks, Poland and its allies have reinforced air defences amid increasing Russian drone activity. Earlier this month, Warsaw deployed additional systems along its border with Ukraine – which stretches about 530km (330 miles) – after unidentified drones briefly entered Polish airspace.

Poland temporarily closed part of its airspace southeast of Warsaw in late September during a major Russian assault across Ukraine. It was the second such incident this year, with Polish and NATO forces previously intercepting Russian drones that crossed the border – marking their first direct military engagement with Moscow since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.

Elsewhere, airports in Germany, Denmark, Norway and Poland have at times also temporarily suspended flights due to sightings of unidentified drones. Romania and Estonia have directly accused Russia, which has dismissed the claims as “baseless”.

Putin has pledged a “significant” response to what he called “Europe’s militarisation”, rejecting suggestions that Moscow plans to attack NATO as “nonsense”.

“They can’t believe what they’re saying, that Russia is going to attack NATO,” he said on Thursday at a foreign policy forum in Sochi. “They’re either incredibly incompetent if they truly believe it because it’s impossible to believe this nonsense, or they’re simply dishonest.”

Putin said he was closely monitoring Europe’s military build-up and warned that Russia would not hesitate to respond. “In Germany, for example, it is said that the German army should become the strongest in Europe. Very well. We hear that and are watching to see what is meant by it,” he said. “Russia will never show weakness or indecisiveness. We simply cannot ignore what is happening.”

Relations between Moscow and the European Union have continued to deteriorate since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, driving the bloc to strengthen its collective defences amid fears the war could spill across NATO borders.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud and Ibrahim al Khalili followed Palestinians making their way back to northern Gaza after a ceasefire deal was announced.

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Ashes on summit

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Fragile habitats

What does the law say about scattering ashes?

Satellite imagery shows several GJ-11 Sharp Sword stealthy flying-wing uncrewed combat air vehicles (UCAV) were deployed to a very active dual-use military-civilian airport in western China for weeks between August and September. This would be in line with an operational test and might point to the GJ-11 having reached a semi-operational state. The Sharp Sword is a prime example of China’s heavy investment in flying-wing uncrewed aircraft, which stands in ever more stark contrast to the U.S. military’s eschewing of such designs, at least publicly.

Imagery in Planet Labs’ online archive database shows three GJ-11s at Shigatse Air Base, also known as Shigatse Peace Airport, in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, from August 6 through September 5. The Sharp Sword has been in development for more than a decade and is understood to be designed to at least perform penetrating air-to-surface strike and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. It also has the potential for use in air-to-air combat as an electronic warfare platform.

At least two of the drones seen in the images of Shigatse have overall gray paint schemes, as is commonly seen on other Chinese crewed and uncrewed military aircraft. At least one additional example is seen with a red/brown colored protective covering of some kind. A Planet Labs image of Shigatse taken on September 10, seen below, shows Flanker-type fighters with similar covers.

Though its location is remote, Shigatse occupies a strategic position along China’s southwestern flank with India. It is situated just around 90 miles northeast of the boundary with India’s Sikkim state, which is one of a number of border areas between the two countries that have seen sometimes violent skirmishes. In the past five years or so, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been steadily working to expand its ability to project airpower from multiple bases in the Tibet and Xinjiang Autonomous Regions, as you can read more about here.

Shigatse’s main runway is one of the longest in the world, stretching approximately 16,404 feet (5,000 meters) in length. An additional 9,840-foot (3,000-meter) auxiliary runway, with seven large aircraft parking spots attached to it, was also completed at the facility back in 2017. An expanded apron for military aircraft was also subsequently constructed at the eastern end of the base. Work to further enlarge that apron, and to build what looks to be at least five hangars and other supporting infrastructure adjacent to it, has been underway for around a year now.

In line with all this, Shigatse has a significant and active PLA presence. In terms of crewed aircraft, there is a continuous fighter presence at the base, which has included Flanker-type and J-10s over the years. Satellite imagery shows that other fixed-wing military aircraft, including airborne early warning and control planes, as well as helicopters, operate from there, as well.

Shigatse is also a very well-established hub for drone operations, with various types, including members of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation’s (CASC) Rainbow family, having been continuously based there for years now. Shigatse was notably the first known operating location for the high-flying WZ-7 Soaring Dragon reconnaissance drone. WZ-7s, which also have a constant presence at the facility, are used to collect intelligence along the border with India.

The nature of the PLA’s activity at Shigatse strongly points at least to the GJ-11s having been sent there for some type of operational testing. Prior to this, Sharp Swords had been primarily spotted at test facilities, such as the sprawling and secretive base at Malan in Xinjiang province. The drones have been flying daily at Malan for more than a year now. Mockups have also been spotted at Chinese naval test and training facilities, as well as at parades.

Flying from Shigatse would offer a real-world opportunity to explore and refine tactics, techniques, and procedures for employing the drones operationally, as well as just how they might fit into existing force structures. The base, which lies at an elevation of nearly 12,410 feet (3,782 meters), also offers an especially high-altitude testing location, as well as one that is in proximity to an area of active tension with India and that country’s air defense overlay.

Having multiple Sharp Swords at the facility would also allow for demonstrations of their ability to operate cooperatively, as well as alongside crewed platforms, and potentially do so with a high degree of autonomy. China’s J-20 stealth fighter is regularly presented as a likely aerial companion to the GJ-11. TWZ has been highlighting for years how the two-seat variant of the J-20 would be especially well suited to the airborne drone controller role.

Un passage dans un reportage de CCTV-7 montre la possible collaboration entre un J-20 biplace et des #drones GJ-11 à faible observabilité.

La représentativité est à confirmer. pic.twitter.com/9Xy8Q8KQOO

— East Pendulum (@HenriKenhmann) October 12, 2022

The GJ-11 has already been in development for more than a decade, with a prototype with a substantially less stealthy design having first flown in 2013. A mockup with a drastically refined low-observable (stealthy) configuration broke cover at a parade in Beijing in 2019. Continued work on Sharp Sword now also includes a naval variant or derivative capable of operating from aircraft carriers and big deck amphibious assault ships, which has been referred to unofficially at times as the GJ-11H, GJ-11J, or GJ-21. Just over a year ago, TWZ reported in detail on clear evidence that the development of the GJ-11, overall, was accelerating, pointing to the drone getting increasingly closer to an operational state, at least in its land-based form.

Via ACuriousPLAFan/SDF: 😮

Supposedly not a recent image, but still the carrier mock-up and test facility at Wuhan has gained some new aircraft: Visible now are clearly mock-ups of J-15, J-35, KJ-600 and a GJ-11H on the flight deck.

(Image via @伏尔戈星图 from Weibo) pic.twitter.com/UL6uk81zh4

— @Rupprecht_A (@RupprechtDeino) December 19, 2023

As noted, the GJ-11 is just one example of the PLA’s larger pursuit of multiple types of stealthy flying-wing drones for use as UCAVs and in other roles, especially high-altitude, long-endurance ISR missions. Three previously unseen flying-wing designs have emerged in China just this year. This includes the appearance of two particularly large types at Malan, which TWZ was first to report on in both cases. We had assessed years ago that an explosion of investment in flying-wing drones in China was likely to come, and that academic institutions tied to the country’s weapons development ecosystem would play a key role. The Chinese aviation industry has also been surging ahead, in general, in the development of new advanced crewed and uncrewed designs.

Chinese flying-wing UCAV developments, in particular, reflect something of a trend globally, with Russia, India, Turkey, and France also publicly pursuing this kind of capability to varying degrees. The U.S. military is pointedly absent from this space, at least that we know, despite decades of development work that looked for a time to be on the cusp of yielding operational platforms before various programs were abandoned. You can read more about that history in extensive detail in this past TWZ feature.

When it comes to China’s GJ-11, the imagery of Shigatse from August and September offers new signs that these drones are getting close to at least a limited operational state, if they haven’t already reached that milestone.

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