This is the moment East Timor was officially declared ASEAN’s 11th member, what Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao called a ‘historic moment’. East Timor, which gained independence from Indonesia in 2002, is Asia’s youngest nation.
Published On 26 Oct 202526 Oct 2025
Share
John Toshack held the record of being Cardiff City’s youngest player for 42 years. Aaron Ramsey then had the honour for 18 years. Rob Tankiewicz? Just 64 minutes.
Midfielder Tankiewicz started in Tuesday’s EFL Trophy match against Newport County at the age of 16 years and 117 days.
That saw him break the record set by Wales captain Ramsey, who made his Cardiff debut at 16 years and 123 days old in 2007, to surpass John Toshack’s previous mark from 1965.
But just as Tankiewicz was getting used to his achievement, Cardiff replaced him with Axel Donczew, even younger at 15 years and 234 days.
Both are attacking midfielders, products of the Bluebirds’ academy and Wales youth internationals, though they both qualify to play for Poland.
Sept. 20 (UPI) — Shinjiro Koizumi seeks the presidency of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, which would enable him to become the nation’s youngest prime minister if he wins.
Koizumi, 44, is Japan’s minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and is the second to declare his candidacy for the party’s leadership role, according to The Chosun Daily.
“I am challenging the presidential election to rebuild the LDP into a party that realizes the safety and security demanded by the people,” Koizumi said during a press conference on Saturday.
“My role is to break through the conventional wisdom of economic management from the deflation era and build a new approach suited for the era of inflation,” he added, as reported by The Japan Times.
Koizumi wants to raise the average annual wage for Japanese workers by a million yen by the 2030 fiscal year and ensure pay increases stay ahead of inflation.
To do that, he wants to enact a supplementary budget for the 2025 fiscal year that would counteract inflation.
He also wants to eliminate the provisional gas tax as quickly as possible.
Koizumi sought the top post within the LDP a year ago but lost to current Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
Ishiba on Sept. 7 announced his intention to resign as Japan’s prime minister.
Former Economic Security Minister Takaichi Sanae previously announced her candidacy to become the LDP’s president.
Arango, who was dealing with illness, battled hard in the opening set but faded in the second as the match was wrapped up in 95 minutes.
“You showed so much fight and gave the people a show,” Jovic said.
“It’s not easy to start out on tour when you’re young… but people like Emiliana make it easier and always have a smile on their face.”
Jovic featured in all four Grand Slams this year – reaching the second round of the Australian Open, French Open and US Open, while she exited Wimbledon in round one.
ADOLESCENCE star Owen Cooper has earned a major honor as the youngest male winner ever at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards.
The actor nabbed the award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
5
5
5
This was also the first nomination for the 15-year-old.
Owen tearfully hugged his parents and colleagues before approaching the stage where actress Sydney Sweeney presented him with the gold trophy.
He then delivered a heartfelt speech, acknowledging all those who had worked on the project.
His words touched host Nate Bargatze, who appeared to stop the countdown he’d set during his opening monologue, penalizing those who went over the allotted 45-second acceptance speeches.
The comedian jokingly threatened to take away money from his $100,000 donation to the Boys and Girls Club for every second an Emmy winner extended their speech.
Owen, however, didn’t have those same rules, despite it being an ongoing bit throughout the show.
Nate addressed the change in rules afterward, revealing that he hadn’t penalized the teenager, although his speech had exceeded the time limit.
Owen was up against some heavy hitters in the category, including his co-star Ashley Walters, Presumed Innocent’s Bill Camp and Peter Sarsgaard, Javier Bardem in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, and Rob Delaney for Dying for Sex.
Before Owen, the youngest actor to win the award was then-23-year-old Michael A. Goorjian, for his portrayal in 1994’s David’s Mother.
Adolescence premiered on Netflix in March 2025 and also stars Stephen Graham, Erin Doherty, and Faye Marsay.
The psychological drama had gained recognition not only for its intense storyline but also for its impressive filming.
All four episodes of the series were shot in one continuous take, with no cuts.
Owen played Jaime, a 13-year-old boy accused of murdering his classmate in Northern England.
Ahead of the star-studded awards ceremony, the young star spoke with People about making his acting debut on the project.
The Emmy Awards Giving Suite will provide an exclusive backstage experience for presenters, nominees, and winners with a generous swag bag worth a fortune. The gifting suite will be open on Emmys rehearsal days as well as during the live telecast on Sept. 14. Among some of the items the stars will get to take home include:
Miage Skincare set – $200
Alma hair restoration treatment – $3,900
Hasbro game pack – $150
Krovblit Fine Art – ranges from $100 to $10,000
Peta x Miomojo vegan leather bag – $400
Beboe marijuana basket – $300
Brightharbor disaster relief for LA fire victims still struggling – Up to $1m in relief
DESUAR day spa experience – $400
Helight Sleep device – $140
Johnnie Walker Blue Label Blended Scotch Whisky – $230
LifeRegen skincare bundle – $200
Senorita THC-infused drinks – $100
SKANDINAVISK candles – $150
Training Loft personalized training, coaching, nutrition & wellness services for one month – $1,000
“It’s my first role — it’ll be the best role of my life,” Owen gushed to the outlet.
“It was the best summer of my life to film, and I just can’t wait to be there on the night of the Emmys. I can’t wait.”
The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed in March that the streamer is exploring options to extend the series after its rave reviews.
5
5
“I can definitely do that.”
Tiah-Mai Ayton, 19, has set her sights on becoming the youngest ever undisputed champion in the four-belt era across both genders in boxing.
America’s Gabriela Fundora was just 22 when she held all the world titles in the flyweight division in November 2024.
Ayton clearly isn’t shy when laying out her ambitions, but why should she? In over 300 fights across Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, kickboxing, jiu-jitsu and boxing, just three of those have been defeats – which she later avenged.
She will contest her second professional boxing bout against Lydie Bialic on Saturday.
When the Bristol fighter was told about Fundora’s achievement, her eyes lit up: “I could do that. I can definitely do that.
“That’s going to be a new challenge for me. I’ve got a long time.”
Ayton is right. She does have a long time, but women’s boxing also moves fast – just look at compatriot Nina Hughes.
She won a world title in just her fifth fight as a professional.
Not only is Ayton setting her sights on records, but she’s got her eyes on gold and plenty of it.
“I want to be undisputed in bantamweight and super-bantamweight and then it goes featherweight and super-featherweight,” said Ayton.
“I want to do those four categories, and I want to be undisputed in all four. It’s high expectations but I think I can do it.”
Only one boxer, Claressa Shields, has won all four world titles in three different weights, no one yet has managed it in four.
The likes of Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano have paved the way for women boxers to earn millions of pounds but Ayton isn’t getting carried away despite her youth.
When asked what she would purchase with her first healthy fight purse, the teenager opted against a flash car.
“I want a farm. I want cows, sheep, goats and chickens. That’s my dream,” Ayton said.
“I’ll just live a quiet life on my farm and then when I train, I’ll go into camp, and then go back and be peaceful.”
A 14-YEAR-OLD snooker player secured the first win of his professional career on day one of the Saudi Arabia Masters.
And at the other end of the age scale, Ken Doherty won the Battle of the Baize Oldies as he eliminated Jimmy White from the Jeddah tournament.
2
2
Polish teenager Michal Szubarczyk hit back-to-back breaks of 68 and 56 as he celebrated a 4-2 victory over English amateur Ryan Davies.
It is a career milestone, one he will remember forever, given he only received his two-year Tour Card at the start of this season.
In round two in the desert nation, Szubarczyk will play Hungarian world No.79 Bulcsu Revesz on Saturday.
And the winner of that clash will then take on Essex cueist Stuart Bingham, who was champion of the world 10 years ago.
The Eastern European – whose highest official break is 126 – took the 2025 European Championships in Turkey by storm, winning the under-16s and under-18s events before reaching the final of the open-age event.
Mark Williams, the three-time world champion, watched that tournament live and said Szubarczyk was “one of the best 14-year-olds I’ve ever seen in my life”.
The Welsh sporting legend added: “He’s up there with Ronnie O’Sullivan at that age.
“Maybe not as good, but not far away. Every time I watched him he was knocking in 80s, 90s, 100s. It was frightening.”
BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK
In April, dad Kamil told SunSport that his son modelled his game on seven-time world champion O’Sullivan.
Kamil said: “One of Michal’s special skills is his ability to play with the audience and the cameras.
“Normal teenagers are tense and stressed. He is more motivated.
“He loves playing when he has an audience, and so I know that anything can happen during this tournament.
“From the first time Michał saw snooker on TV, his hero was Ronnie. It was also my idol. This hasn’t been changed.
“And for both of us whenever Ronnie got knocked out of a tournament, we stopped watching it.
“That man played a key role in creating Michal’s playing style. Mike was fascinated by how offensive Ronnie played all of his games. But he wants to be more than just offensive.
“Ronnie is still motivating Michal to be better and better.”
On Friday evening in the Kingdom, two veterans of the sport took to the baize, though disappointingly only a few people bothered to watch from the stands at the Green Halls.
Former world champion Doherty, 55, took on White, 63, and he prevailed 4-1, hitting a 96 break in frame two.
They had rekindled a rivalry that began in 1991 and saw them battle it out at the World Championships and Masters.
The duo, who have a combined age of 118, are nowhere near their best these days but it is commendable and shows their genuine love for the sport that they are continuing to play professionally.
Doherty, who now plays Latvian Zizins Artemijs in round two on Saturday evening, has now won 17 of their 30 meetings.
Elite players such as Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson will enter the competition – which has a £500,000 top prize – in round five on Tuesday.
BELOW is a list of snooker World Champions by year.
The record is for the modern era, widely considered as dating from the 1968-69 season, when the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) took control of the sport.
The first World Championships ran from 1927 – with a break from 1941-45 because of World War II and 1958-63 because of a dispute in the sport.
Joe Davis (15), Fred Davis and John Pulman (both 8) were the most successful players during that period.
Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan share the record for the most titles in the modern era, with seven each.
Most World Titles (modern era)
Glenavon’s 16-year-old forward Chris Atherton has left Mourneview Park to join Chelsea.
The Northern Ireland Under-17 international made headlines in September 2022 when he became the youngest senior footballer in the United Kingdom at 13 years and 329 days old.
The teenager, who joined the Glenavon academy at four years old, broke the senior record when he came on as a second-half substitute for the Lurgan Blues during a 6-0 win over Dollingstown in the BetMcLean Cup.
Atherton beat the record set by Jordan Allan, who played for Airdrie aged 14 years and 191 days.
He was a first-team regular for Glenavon throughout the 2024-25 season, scoring his first Irish Premiership goal against Loughgall in March, as Paddy McLaughlin’s side finished 10th in the table.
Glenavon announced his exit on X, with a post stating: “Chris Atherton – blue still the colour.
“We can confirm that academy product Chris Atherton has left the club to sign for Chelsea We wish him the best in his career & hope he and his family won’t be strangers at MVP.”
“Adolescence” co-creator Stephen Graham isn’t exactly shy when it comes to praising Owen Cooper, the young actor at the center of his hit Netflix limited series.
“This may be a big thing to say, but I haven’t seen a performance [of this caliber] from someone so young since Leo [DiCaprio] in ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,’” Graham tells me via Zoom. “And I say that because I love Leo and he’s a good friend. And that’s a performance beyond someone his age. It’s the same when I watch Owen.”
Not content to leave it at that, Graham later points out that he recently related a story on Graham Norton’s BBC talk show about the time he told Cooper’s mom that her son was the “next Robert De Niro.” Cooper happened to be on the show too, taking it all in, smiling shyly. And wouldn’t you know it, De Niro was there as well, sitting next to Cooper on the couch, giving him a tender pat on the knee.
So, DiCaprio, De Niro … Do you want to drop a Brando comparison to complete the trifecta? I ask.
“I can’t find enough superlatives to describe the boy,” says Graham, who also co-wrote the show and stars as his father.
Honestly, I can’t either. Apart from Noah Wyle’s heroic, beleaguered doctor in “The Pitt,” you could make the case that Cooper’s turn as Jamie, a 13-year-old accused of murdering a classmate, is the year’s best work on television. The show’s third episode, a two-hander where Jamie is interviewed and evaluated by a psychologist (Erin Doherty) at a juvenile detention facility, is an astonishing showcase, particularly when you consider that it, like all four of the series’ episodes, is shot as a continuous scene.
It also bears mentioning that “Adolescence” marks Cooper’s professional debut as an actor. He is now 15.
Cooper with Stephen Graham in “Adolescence.”
(Netflix)
It’s an extraordinary story, though you have to wonder if some Emmy voters will see it that way. The Emmys have not embraced child actors over the years, with only four teenagers winning trophies: Roxana Zal, 14 when she won for her supporting role in the 1984 TV movie “Something About Amelia”; Kristy McNichol, 15 and 17 at the time of her two supporting drama actress wins for the 1970s series “Family”; Scott Jacoby, 16, for the 1972 TV movie “That Certain Summer”; and Anthony Murphy for the 1971 British limited series “Tom Brown’s Schooldays.”
Murphy was 17 when he won and, like Cooper, had never acted professionally. And after “Tom Brown’s Schooldays,” he never acted again, pursuing painting instead and enjoying a long career in that medium.
Perhaps that explains Emmy voters’ reluctance to go all in and reward young actors. Are they in it for the long haul? Or are they going to do something crazy like go off to college and chase a more stable career, like … just about any other line of work?
With Cooper, such concerns appear to be unfounded. Since “Adolescence,” he has made a BBC comedy, “Film Club,” starring Aimee Lou Wood, and just finished playing young Heathcliff in Emerald Fennell’s upcoming adaptation of Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights.”
Fennell obviously saw the tortured antihero that everyone else did in “Adolescence.”
Easy to see that now. But finding the next De Niro from a pool of 500 to 600 young actors, most of them unknowns, almost all of them around Jamie’s age, was a taller order. Graham says the casting team had considered looking for an older boy, given the demands of the role and the show’s unsettling subject matter.
“But that age is unique,” Graham says. “It’s that breaking point. Your body is changing. Your voice is changing. We needed that authenticity.”
That’s all well and good. But what was it like for Doherty, a veteran actor with many credits — including Princess Anne in “The Crown” — to take on a single-shot, 52-minute episode requiring her to parry and push and prod a young actor on his first job?
Cooper with Erin Doherty in “Adolescence.”
(Netflix)
“It was definitely the cause of most of my nerves before I met Owen,” Doherty tells me. “I was so unflinchingly aware that it is a huge ask, even for an actor who has been doing it for 40 years.”
Then she met him on the first day of rehearsal, and Doherty, who says she is obsessed with the elements, saw that Cooper was a “very earthy human being.” Grounded. Present. Real.
They rehearsed for two weeks and then spent a week shooting the episode, Monday through Friday, two takes a day. They used the last take. Probably because they felt confident they had already nailed it, Doherty says that last time through was like they were “doing it for free.”
“There was more of a playful dynamic between the two of us,” Doherty says. “We were poking each other in ways we hadn’t done before.”
As Doherty’s psychologist nudges Jamie to recognize truths about himself that he doesn’t want to acknowledge and admit that he holds certain toxic beliefs, you see Cooper shift Jamie from guarded innocence to explosive rage and then to surrendering desperation. There are a lot of showy moments, but one of the best comes shortly after the two characters meet when Jamie lets out a yawn. “Am I boring you?” she asks. Look at that self-satisfied smile on his face.
“That was the only time he did that,” Doherty says. “And Owen was probably genuinely tired. But also, I’m thinking, ‘This kid Jamie is really trying to push my buttons.’ We were really playing a cat-and-mouse game.”
With young actors, there’s sometimes the perception that the director is guiding them — which, of course, is the director’s job with any actor. But in that moment, you see Cooper using an accident and turning it into something malevolent.
“Owen has an unspoken magic,” Doherty says. “That’s nothing to do with his age. He has something that can’t be taught, and it’s always going to be with him.”
Israeli forces have killed more than a dozen Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip in the last 48 hours, while thousands more face the threat of imminent starvation amid a drastically deteriorating humanitarian crisis.
On Sunday, four-year-old Mohammed Yassine joined dozens of other children who have starved to death in recent days as the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that more than 70,000 children in Gaza face acute levels of malnutrition.
As well as causing starvation deaths, Israel has intensified its bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza, killing some 600 people in nearly a week.
A strike on a tent housing displaced people in central Gaza killed a mother and her children in the central city of Deir el-Balah, according to Al-Aqsa Hospital, while a child was killed when his family’s tent was struck with a drone in Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
A strike in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza killed at least five, including two women and a child, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Eleven-year-old Yaqeen Hammad, a popular social media influencer, and nine of Dr Alaa Amir al-Najjar’s 10 children were also killed in separate Israeli air raids. Al-Najjar’s remaining child, 11-year-old Adam, is in critical condition in an intensive care unit.
The attacks come amid an Israeli blockade for almost three months that has choked off access to essential food, fuel, and medical supplies. Aid agencies warn that thousands of children are now at risk of death from starvation.
Children account for 31 percent of Palestinians confirmed killed during Israel’s 19 months of war on Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. This figure excludes deaths that have been reported but for which the victims remain unidentified, suggesting the real toll is higher.
A report commissioned by the United Nations also highlighted Israel’s disproportionate violence against children through targeting densely populated areas, with repeated air raids on residential buildings contributing to the rising child death toll.
At least 22 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Sunday, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.
Below are some of the children killed in Israeli attacks:
Known for her smile and volunteer work in Gaza, Yaqeen Hammad was killed after Israel shelled al-Baraka in Deir el-Balah, northern Gaza, on Friday night.
The 11-year-old influencer and her older brother, Mohamed Hammad, delivered food, toys and clothing to displaced families, the Palestine Chronicle reports. She also played an active role in the Ouena collective – a Gaza-based nonprofit group dedicated to aid and humanitarian relief.
Messages of grief and tributes from activists, Yaqeen’s followers and journalists poured in after news of her death spread online.
“Her body may be gone, but her impact remains a beacon of humanity,” wrote Mahmoud Bassam, a photojournalist in Gaza.
“Instead of being at school and enjoying her childhood, she was active on Instagram and participating in campaigns to help others in Gaza. No words. Absolutely no words,” another tribute read on X.
Activists and Palestinian platforms shared on social media painful scenes of Mohammed Yassine on a hospital bed.
Appearing in a video, holding Yassine’s body, Mahmoud Basal of Gaza’s Civil Defence said: “Mohammed Yassine died from hunger, a direct result of the occupation’s prevention of food and medical aid from entering Gaza.”
“Mohammed was not the first child, and the fear has become a certainty that he won’t be the last,” Basal added.
An Israeli attack on the home of al-Najjar on Friday killed nine of her children and critically injured 11-year-old Adam.
Sidar, Luqman, Sadin, Reval, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Rakan and Yahya – aged between seven months and 12 years – all died in the attack, Gaza’s Government Media Office said.
Al-Najjar is a paediatrician at the southern city’s Nasser Hospital, where her husband is receiving care after being critically injured in the attack.
“It is unbelievable,” said Ahmad al-Farra, head of the hospital’s paediatrics department, of the attack’s impact.
“You can’t imagine the shock that [al-Najjar] had when she heard about that [attack]. But up until now, she is trying to be near her son and her husband to survive.”