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CNN, MS NOW and Politico were allowed back into the White House on Thursday, six days after being banned by President Donald Trump, after a federal judge ordered that the journalists have their access restored.District Judge Timothy Kelly ruled overnight that revoking the White House press credentials of the three media outlets ‘likely violated their constitutional due process rights.’Reporters for CNN, MS NOW and Politico who attempted to return to the White House early Thursday ahead of a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping were initially turned away by the Secret Service but were allowed in later around midday.Journalists from other outlets surrounded CNN's tent on the White House driveway and filmed reporter Betsy Klein as she reported live following her return. ‘Welcome back,’ several journalists said.CNN, MS NOW and Politico had requested an urgent court hearing on Thursday after their reporters were initially barred from the White House despite the judge's order.In his ruling, Kelly took issue with how the White House went about expelling the three news organizations.’The 'general rule' is that 'individuals must receive notice and an opportunity to be heard before the Government deprives them' of a constitutionally protected interest,’ the judge said.Trump has long attacked media that have aired critical coverage of him, repeatedly blasting the press as the ‘enemy of the people.’The Republican president barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House on Friday for distributing what he called ‘fake news’ and ‘fiction and lies.’They filed a joint lawsuit asking for a temporary restraining order against the ban on the grounds that it violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which upholds the right to a free press.Ahead of the ruling, the Department of Justice had argued that Trump can ‘control reporters' access to restricted presidential areas, such as the Oval Office.’ Source link
Pune will host the 2032 cycling Road World Championships, governing body UCI said on Wednesday, marking the first time the competition will take place in India. The city, located in the Indian state of Maharashtra, hosted the Pune Grand Tour in January, which was spread across 437 kilometres and four stages, featuring around 170 riders from 35 countries, including 12 locals.The race, won by New Zealander Luke Mudgway, was the first-ever, multi-stage road race in India – a UCI 2.2 classified international cycling event – and was a significant step for the sport in the country. Pune was bidding to host the world championships against Groningen and the Drenthe region of the Netherlands, which were awarded the 2034 edition of the competition. “For the first time ever, we will be in India, the country in the world with the most important population. We know how strong cycling is now in (Pune),” President David Lappartient said in an address at the UCI Congress in Montreal.”As we received two wonderful bids, the UCI management committee decided to reward not only one, but two road world championships.” Related Story Source link
Kabaddi has its roots in ancient rural communities in South Asia and India is the superpower, but Japan has developed a niche taste for the team contact sport — thanks to a comic.At a gymnasium on the outskirts of the port city of Nagoya, hosts Japan face another unlikely kabaddi pretender in South Korea. A few hundred school children shout for Japan’s men in their pursuit of an Asian Games medal that would give the sport a significant boost in the country.A Japan side who have taken time off from their jobs as teachers and food workers won 62-35 to keep their hopes just about alive on Thursday. “There’s a manga comic in Japan called Burning Kabaddi. A lot of the Japan players started out that way, probably more than 80 percent,” captain Tetsuro Abe told AFP.Kabaddi is a sport of speed, strength and agility played between two teams of seven players within a designated area a bit like a badminton court.Played in separate categories for men and women, it is a combination of tag, wrestling and rugby, although there is no ball involved. Kabaddi requires yoga-like breath control as teams send a raider into enemy territory to tag an opponent and return to safety — all while chanting “kabaddi, kabaddi” to prove they’re not using more than one puff.Japan’s breakthrough came in 2010 when the men won a bronze medal at the Asian Games in Guangzhou. But this time the stakes are higher, knowing that a good showing at their home Games will get more eyeballs and potentially lift the sport in Japan.”We all work (in regular jobs) and play kabaddi. We don’t get money for playing kabaddi,” said Abe following the match lasting 40 minutes.”I get special dispensation from my company to come here.” – Royal approval -Japan were thrashed 49-24 by India earlier at the Games, but they lead the way in kabaddi in this part of the continent, winning the inaugural East Asian Men’s Championships in 2025.This week the sport got the royal seal of approval with Prince Hisahito, the nephew of Emperor Naruhito, going to watch. Although a novelty for many in the arena on Thursday, Japan’s kabaddi federation was established in 1981 and national and regional tournaments have been held every year since 1989.Kumpei Tanaka was in charge of 40 children watching kabaddi for the first time thanks to free tickets given to nearby schools. “Two weeks ago we started learning about kabaddi on YouTube, and I taught the kids that way,” he said, calling it “interesting”.Are the children enjoying themselves? “They are mostly chatting, but I think they’re having a nice time,” he replied.A nine-year-old pupil chipped in: “It’s fun, a bit like playground tag we play at school.”With Japan leading against South Korea and eight minutes left of the match, the class filed out of the arena.It was time for lunch. Abe said that one of the major selling points for kabaddi is that no equipment is required.”It’s stuck as a minor sport in Japan and we want to make it more well known and attract sponsors,” he said.”If we have a good environment to do it in, I think we will be able to beat teams like India and Iran.” Related Story Source link
Double Olympic champion gymnast Carlos Yulo said he was “overwhelmed” on Thursday after winning Asian Games floor gold in Japan to complete his collection of major titles.Yulo became the only multiple Olympic gold medal-winner in Philippines history when he won the floor and the vault in Paris two years ago. The 151cm (4ft 11in) Yulo sealed his first Asian Games gold with a score of 14.666 to complete a clean sweep of Olympic, World, Asian and South-East Asian Games titles.”Having this in my collection … it’s all complete now,” said the 26-year-old, who will go for a second gold in the vault on Friday. “We can just relax and hope for the best tomorrow. I will make sure I enjoy tomorrow’s competition,” he added.”I’m just overwhelmed right now. I can’t process it yet.” Yulo, who shot to fame in Paris, is the first Philippines gymnast to win an Asian Games gold.”It feels like it’s kind of the Olympics for me,” he said. “It’s my first time winning the Asian Games, and I’m really happy and excited to go home and share this blessing to the people in the Philippines.”Yulo was especially pleased his breakthrough Asian Games gold came in Japan, where he spends much of his time training. “Competing here feels home to me,” said Yulo, whose brother Karl was also competing in the floor exercise final, finishing in seventh place.”I’m really comfortable here, doing my gymnastics. Maybe because I stayed here for a long, long time and trained with them. “It’s nothing new for me to perform my best here. The challenge is just to perform well. It came today. It was a good routine for me today.” Related Story Source link
For many jobseekers, a vacancy is simply an opportunity to apply for a job. For Rehna Shajahan, every CV represents a person, a family and often a story of uncertainty. That understanding has shaped Mission Employment, a free professional community that Rehna has helped build into a network reaching more than 100,000 people across the UAE, Qatar and other GCC countries.Around 70% of the community comprises jobseekers, while the remaining 30% includes recruiters, HR professionals, employers and others who support candidates through vacancies, referrals and career guidance.The initiative began in the UAE in early 2025, but its reach has since expanded across the Gulf as more jobseekers and recruiters approached Rehna seeking a platform to share opportunities. “Having been born and raised in Bahrain, I have always felt connected to the GCC,” Rehna says. “I believe the challenges faced by jobseekers are similar across the region, particularly for newcomers who may lack local experience, professional connections or proper guidance.” Mission Employment now operates mainly through LinkedIn and WhatsApp. Recruiters can share vacancies free of charge, while jobseekers can post their CVs and professional profiles and connect directly with hiring professionals.For Rehna, the idea is deliberately simple: remove unnecessary barriers between people looking for work and those looking to hire.Recruiters sharing vacancies through WhatsApp are asked to provide their LinkedIn profile, company details, official email address, job description and application process. The information is reviewed before the vacancy is shared. On LinkedIn, recruiters can post directly, while the community is monitored for questionable or misleading content.The emphasis on safety comes from an awareness of the risks jobseekers face online.Rehna encourages recruiters to provide verifiable professional and company information, while members are regularly reminded that genuine employers should not ask candidates to pay for jobs, interviews, offer letters, visas or recruitment services. Candidates are also advised against sharing passports, identification documents, bank details, passwords, one-time passwords or verification codes with unknown parties.“No public platform can guarantee the authenticity of every third-party post,” Rehna says. “However, verification, active moderation, member awareness and quick action against reported content can significantly reduce the risks.”Behind the growing numbers, however, is a considerable amount of personal effort. Rehna runs the initiative alongside her full-time career in talent acquisition. Much of the work is done after office hours, when she reviews posts, checks vacancies, responds to important enquiries and deals with safety concerns.It is not possible for her to personally respond to every CV or message. Instead, she wants the community to develop into an ecosystem where candidates and recruiters can connect directly and members can help one another.Since Mission Employment began, more than 1,000 candidates have personally contacted Rehna to tell her they secured jobs through vacancies, referrals or connections made through the community. She believes the actual number is considerably higher because many candidates apply directly to recruiters and never return to report the outcome. Recruiters, too, have found value in the network, with some reporting that they received relevant CVs within hours of posting vacancies. Several have returned to share additional positions.But among the many messages Rehna receives, one story continues to stay with her. It involved a single mother who had lost her job and was preparing to leave the UAE because she could no longer support her children.She eventually found a new job through a vacancy shared in the community.“She later told me that, although it might have been only one job post or referral from my perspective, it meant that she could remain in the UAE, continue supporting her children and rebuild her life,” Rehna recalls.“She also said that she would always remember me in her prayers.”For Rehna, that message captured the real meaning of the initiative. “Behind every CV is a real person carrying responsibilities, fears and hopes,” she says. “For one person, it may be only a vacancy, referral or LinkedIn post, but for another person, it can mean financial security, dignity and a better future for an entire family.” Her own journey has shaped that perspective.Born and raised in Bahrain, Rehna later moved to India and eventually pursued an MBA from Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi. Her professional experience includes work and internships with organisations such as Google and Amazon, experiences that helped her develop an understanding of careers, recruitment and professional development.She says her experiences also taught her the value of making the most of opportunities and continuously learning. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she completed 81 certifications within 24 hours, an achievement she says was recognised as a world record. After moving to the UAE, she encountered many talented professionals struggling to find opportunities because they lacked guidance, visibility or professional connections.That experience strengthened her desire to share what she had learned.Today, the vacancies circulating through her community span real estate and property development, sales and business development, administration, customer service, healthcare, technology, construction, engineering, logistics, finance and HR.The employment market, she says, remains challenging, with some companies recruiting cautiously amid regional uncertainty. Tourism, aviation, hospitality and international trade have experienced greater uncertainty, although she sees signs of gradual improvement. For jobseekers who have been applying for months without success, Rehna believes simply sending more applications is not necessarily the answer.She advises candidates to identify a clear target, tailor their CVs, highlight measurable achievements, optimise their LinkedIn profiles and build meaningful professional networks. She also encourages candidates to use AI tools responsibly to improve CVs, prepare for interviews and identify gaps, while ensuring that all information remains truthful and personal.Most importantly, she wants people to understand that rejection does not necessarily define their ability.“Repeated rejection does not always mean that someone is unqualified,” she says. “Sometimes the CV, positioning, visibility, networking approach or overall job-search strategy needs to change.”For Rehna, the work is not without challenges. Managing a large community while maintaining quality, safety and credibility is demanding. There are fake vacancies to monitor, expectations to manage and hundreds of requests arriving alongside her corporate responsibilities and personal life.There is also an important limitation she repeatedly stresses: Mission Employment can provide visibility, information, guidance and connections, but it cannot guarantee employment.The final hiring decision remains with the employer.Yet Rehna remains committed to keeping the service free.Her ambition for the next two to three years is to formally register Mission Employment as an NGO dedicated to supporting jobseekers, particularly people who lack professional networks, local guidance or the financial means to access paid career services.She hopes it can eventually become a trusted organisation serving jobseekers across the GCC without losing what made the initiative meaningful in the first place.“Success is not only about reaching the top; it is also about lifting others along the way,” she says.Perhaps that is the most important measure of Mission Employment’s success. Not the number of CVs posted or vacancies shared, but the message from someone who found work, stayed with their family, regained financial security or simply found hope at a difficult moment.And sometimes, she says, the greatest reward is a simple blessing from someone whose life was touched by the opportunity.“Money may come and go, but a genuine prayer stays with us,” Rehna concludes. Source link
This edition of UN News’s The Takeaway recaps key highlghts at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, including focus on the war in Ukraine and a…
President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace unveiled a $2.45bn plan yesterday to begin rebuilding Gaza, but officials acknowledged it faces an uncertain future as Israel and Hamas remain at odds over terms of a US-backed ceasefire. The proposal, laid out by board officials at an event during the UN General Assembly in New York, consists of 66 programs that would rehabilitate Gaza’s infrastructure and economy, destroyed by two years of full-scale Israeli military assault. It was the latest plan aimed at advancing Trump’s Gaza ceasefire, which was announced nearly a year ago but has failed to halt Israeli attacks on Gaza, including one yesterday that killed four people including a Hamas official as per Israeli claims. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in New York: “Obviously this is a longterm project. It’s not something that can happen in six months. But at least gives people a hope. Here’s the future that awaits you if everyone does their part.” Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who devised the Gaza plan while backing Israel’s right to “finish the job” in Gaza if Hamas does not disarm, acknowledged the proposal faced “different delays on different things, for whatever reason.” “We’re just refining, sharpening the axe, getting ready for when we get to the time to cut the tree,” Kushner said. “And hopefully, that will be very, very soon.”Nearly a year after a ceasefire ended major fighting in Gaza, reconstruction has yet to begin with negotiators failing to agree conditions for Hamas to lay down its weapons and Israel to withdraw its troops. Most buildings have been destroyed and more than 2mn residents are confined to around a third of the enclave’s territory, mostly in tents or crowded rooms in damaged buildings among the ruins. The Board of Peace plan announced yesterday estimates physical damage in Gaza at $35.2bn and says full recovery and reconstruction will require about $71.4bn over the next decade. Its plan calls for repairing border crossings, restoring electricity and water infrastructure, deploying 25,000 portable solar power kits and permanently filling tunnels beneath sites needed for priority reconstruction projects. Source link
Pune will host the 2032 cycling Road World Championships, governing body UCI said on Wednesday, marking the first time the competition will take place in India. The city, located in the Indian state of Maharashtra, hosted the Pune Grand Tour in January, which was spread across 437 kilometres and four stages, featuring around 170 riders from 35 countries, including 12 locals.The race, won by New Zealander Luke Mudgway, was the first-ever, multi-stage road race in India – a UCI 2.2 classified international cycling event – and was a significant step for the sport in the country. Pune was bidding to host the world championships against Groningen and the Drenthe region of the Netherlands, which were awarded the 2034 edition of the competition. “For the first time ever, we will be in India, the country in the world with the most important population. We know how strong cycling is now in (Pune),” President David Lappartient said in an address at the UCI Congress in Montreal.”As we received two wonderful bids, the UCI management committee decided to reward not only one, but two road world championships.” Related Story Source link
US President Donald Trump greets Chinese President Xi Jinping upon arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on September 23, 2026. Xi is visiting the United…
Iran and the United States remain far apart on how to end their war but diplomacy must continue, a senior Iranian official told Reuters yesterday, after Iran’s president told the UN General Assembly that Tehran would never surrender to US pressure. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in his speech in New York, condemned what he called “signs of a bullying mentality” from US President Donald Trump, who had used the same forum on Tuesday to threaten to “annihilate” Iran. The duelling speeches at the annual UN gathering bookended the first shuttle talks between the US and Iran for months, though they appeared to have yielded no concessions in the public stance of either side towards ending the war. The senior Iranian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tehran was reviewing Washington’s response to its peace proposals, which prioritise lifting a US naval blockade on Iranian ports and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. “There are still many differences between the Iranian and US positions, but diplomacy is continuing,” the official said. To Page 10US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters yesterday that a deal with Iran would involve hard work over a period of time, adding that Trump also had military options. The US has also said it will impose so-called secondary sanctions against any country that allows Iranian flights. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told state TV Iran would ensure neighbouring countries’ airports could not function if they stop Iranian flights. In his address to the 193-member General Assembly, Pezeshkian homed in on the US blockade of Iranian ports and on the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the war.“It cannot be the case that everyone benefits from the Strait of Hormuz while we are denied access to shipping through this waterway. The permanent deployment of hostile fleets and the expansion of the war will not lead to peace,” he said. “The Iranian people will not bow to pressure,” he added.Oil prices were up almost 2% yesterday in choppy trade as traders weighed the comments of Pezeshkian and Trump. Iranian and US officials held their first known indirect talks on Tuesday since a ceasefire collapsed in July, with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner communicating through mediators. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Tehran had conveyed conditions during a two-hour exchange of messages with Washington via a Qatari mediator. These included an end to the war on all fronts, a halt to US “acts of aggression” and the release of frozen Iranian assets. The diplomatic contact in New York caused a backlash in Iranian media associated with hardliners. An opinion piece run by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, associated with the Revolutionary Guards, said Araqchi was wrong to have contacts with Witkoff and Kushner, “a major gift to Trump”, as Iran had already conveyed its terms. Iranian sources told Reuters the delegation had been ordered not to meet the Americans face-to-face by the Supreme National Security Council, a body that includes figures selected by Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the supreme leader. Khamenei has yet to appear in public since replacing his father, who was killed on the war’s first day. Despite near-daily attacks, traffic through the strait has picked up in recent weeks. Oil producers pay shipping companies fees of as much as a quarter of a cargo’s value to take the wartime risk of sailing through the strait with transponders switched off, before transferring crude to other vessels on the far side.Exports from the United Arab Emirates have already recovered to pre-war levels, and Saudi Arabia has sold 60mn barrels of Gulf oil for both this month and next, to be delivered beyond the strait off the coast of Oman.Nevertheless, a third of Gulf oil is estimated to be missing from global supplies. Source link