Ten injured after car crashes into rugby supporters in Australia

Published

43 mins ago

2026/10/3

Priyan

A fire truck drives towards a crash site as a police vehicle blocks a road in Wallsend, News South Wales, on October 3, 2026, after a car drove into a crowd [Aljazeera]

A car has crashed into a crowd of rugby league supporters in the eastern Australian city of Newcastle, injuring 10 people, including three children.

New South Wales police said on Saturday that two of the injured – a five-year-old girl and a 67-year-old man – were in a critical condition and the other eight were in stable condition in hospital.

Police said they had arrested the 18-year-old man driving the vehicle and were investigating what happened. They said the crash was not believed to be related to “terrorism”.

The crowd had gathered to farewell the local rugby league side, the Newcastle Knights, ahead of their grand final against the Sydney Roosters on Sunday.

Newcastle Lord Mayor Gavin Morris said the driver, a rugby league fan, had lost control of his vehicle and had been taken into custody.

“He was revving the car, he was excited, he was a supporter, he was there for the joy of the moment,” Morris told the national broadcaster ABC.

“Somehow he lost control of the car … and he’s gone into the crowd,” he added.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “My thoughts are with everyone injured or involved in the horrible incident this morning in Newcastle.”

“Rugby league brings people together, and this should have been a weekend of excitement and pride for Newcastle fans,” he wrote in a social media post.

[Aljazeera]

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Polls open in Latvia against backdrop of perceived Russia threat

Published

50 mins ago

2026/10/3

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A man votes during the general election in Saulkrasti, Latvia, on October 3, 2026 [Aljazeera]

Polls have opened in Latvia for an election taking place against the backdrop of perceived security threats from Russia and a nationwide cost-of-living squeeze.

Saturday’s vote is the first electoral test for Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs after coming to power in May this year when his predecessor resigned due to a backlash from stray drone incursions from Ukraine.

Kulbergs, whose right-wing United List party is currently polling at about 20 percent, is expected to hold onto his position, but the decline of two allies in his current coalition means he is set for a complicated negotiation over the makeup of any future government.

Polls opened at 05:00 GMT and will close at 17:00 GMT. The results are not expected to change Latvia’s pro-European and pro-Ukrainian course.

A woman holds an election campaign leaflet of the "Latvia First" party with a picture of the party's leader, Ainars Slesers, before the general election in Riga, Latvia, September 27, 2026. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File Photo — *A woman holds an election campaign leaflet of the Latvia First party with a picture of the party’s leader, Ainars Slesers, before the general election [File: Aljazeera]*

About 1.5 million people are eligible to vote in the country’s 11th parliamentary election since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Latvian politics are highly fragmented, with parties rarely seeing above 20 percent vote share and coalitions being the norm.

This year, 14 electoral lists are contesting the election, but polls indicate only seven are likely to enter parliament, with the rest expected to fail to meet the minimum 5 percent vote threshold.

Rising living costs, low wages, strains on the healthcare system and long-term population decline have all featured prominently in campaign debates.

Most parties in Latvia are pro-Ukraine; however, the populist Sovereign Power party – which says it wants Ukraine to win but argues money spent supporting Kyiv would be better spent at home – looks likely to become the country’s second-biggest party, with more than 9 percent of the vote. Most other parties have ruled out forming a coalition with Sovereign Power.

Latvia First, a pro-Ukraine and populist nationalist party currently polling at about 9 percent, could be a potential coalition partner for PM Kulbergs.

The Progressives, a pro-European social democratic party, are polling at 6 percent.

Ethnic Russians make up roughly one in four Latvian citizens, but their vote, which has traditionally been cast along identity-based lines, looks set to be made according to economic and social issues.

Latvia is the poorest of the Baltic states, and it has sharply increased its defence spending since Russia invaded Ukraine, now allocating nearly 5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to defence.

[Aljazeera]

Foreign News

What happened on diverted Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv?

Published

3 days ago

2026/09/30

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Passengers embark on a FlyDubai aircraft at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel ['Aljazeera]

A flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel was diverted to Saudi Arabia after issuing a distress signal, in what appeared to be a hijacking attempt, on Wednesday.

The Flydubai flight FZ1073 was diverted as it flew from Dubai to Tel Aviv through Jordanian airspace, prompting Israel to deploy warplanes, the Reuters news agency reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said one of the pilots had stabbed the other and then tried to crash the plane. He added that Israel was preparing for other “potential threats” after the incident.

There has been no official confirmation of a hijacking attempt, however.

Flydubai said an altercation had occurred on the flight deck and that all passengers were safe and accounted for. The plane was secured by on-duty crew travelling onboard, it added.

At Saudi Arabia’s Tabuk airport, where the plane landed, officials said both the plane’s captain and the first officer had been hospitalised after sustaining injuries. Both were taken to the hospital, according to a statement from the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk carried by the Saudi state-run Alekhbariya television.

The UAE has become a popular vacation destination for Israeli tourists since the countries normalised ties in 2020. Here’s what we know about what happened.

Footage taken onboard the plane appears to show the captain of the aircraft lying on the ground with several stab wounds, and a passenger with a bloody wound to the head.

In another video, passengers weep and cry out in distress as the aircraft shakes.

Yasmin Abukasis, the mother of one of the passengers onboard, said her daughter Miriam thought she was going to die. “The plane started to lose control,” she told journalists at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, before other pilots onboard took control of the aircraft.

Flight tracking data indicated the plane descended over 14,000 feet in less than 30 seconds around two and a half hours after leaving Dubai. Flightradar24 said on X that an initial general emergency signal designated by code 7700 was issued at around 05:31 UTC and was later changed to another emergency signal with code 7500 declaring “unlawful interference”.

Passenger Dalia Shpigel told Israeli newspaper Haaretz that some people seated towards the front of the plane broke into the cockpit after the plane began to descend and they realised something was wrong.

“An hour before landing, we felt that there was no control over the plane, that it was starting to jump,” she said. “The guys saw that the plane had begun to dive and broke into the cockpit.”

Netanyahu said he later spoke to one of the Israeli passengers who broke into the cockpit and overpowered one of the pilots who was reportedly trying to sabotage the aircraft’s systems.

“I salute these heroes who demonstrated extraordinary resourcefulness and courage,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “They saved many lives and prevented a major disaster.”

Timeline of events

03:05 – Flight FZ1073 takes off from Dubai05:21 – Altitude fluctuations begin05:22 – Aircraft drops more than 14,000 ft in under 30 seconds05:31 – Signal from aircraft changes to 7700 (general emergency)05:38 – Signal changes to 7500 (unlawful interference)06:45 – Aircraft lands at Tabuk Regional Airport

[Aljazeera]

Foreign News

Iran’s Araghchi meets Qatari mediators as US calls for nuclear talks

Published

4 days ago

2026/09/29

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Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has met with Qatari mediators in New York to discuss a proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while a United States official said there would be no agreement to end the war unless Tehran’s nuclear programme is addressed.

Araghchi told Iranian state media on Monday that the Qatari mediators would carry the ideas discussed at the meeting to the US and that he hoped to receive Washington’s final response by Tuesday.

“We talked about ideas and how to find solutions to fulfil Iran’s conditions and how to implement those conditions,” he said. “They had some ideas, and we had a discussion that they will also present to the American side.”

Asked whether he would stay in New York to await the reply, Araghchi said he would fly to Tehran within hours.

“Whenever the Qataris have a response, they know how to get it to us,” he said.

He described the meetings as part of an existing exchange of messages through Qatari and Pakistani mediators, which he said had taken on “a more serious form” since Iran submitted its proposal.

The Iranian plan , announced on Friday at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, calls on the US to release frozen Iranian funds, lift sanctions and end its naval blockade of Iranian ports. Araghchi said those steps could be completed within four or five days, allowing the strait to reopen and negotiations on a final agreement, including on Iran’s nuclear programme, to begin by the seventh day.

US President Donald Trump, however, rejected the proposal on Saturday, calling it “unacceptable”

The US official, who spoke to Al Jazeera, said indirect discussions were continuing.

The talks were “positive and constructive”, the official said, but stressed there would be no agreement unless Iran’s nuclear programme is addressed. The official said Trump is willing to relieve sanctions and release Iran’s frozen funds in exchange for progress on nuclear issues.

“Iran has indicated they are flexible on the nuclear issues, but the sides still remain apart on the timing of the commitments and who takes which steps first,” the official said.

The official also expressed scepticism of Iran, saying it had broken the memorandum of understanding signed in June by firing on commercial vessels. Tehran denies the accusation and says it was Washington that broke its commitments by failing to halt Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and by seeking to establish alternate shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran had closed the strait, which handled roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas supplies before the war, shortly after the US and Israel launched their offensive on February 28. Iranian attacks on vessels since have sharply curtailed shipping, and oil prices have risen above $100 a barrel.

Even so, crude exports from major Middle East producers rebounded in September to 12.8 million barrels per day, their highest level since the war began, the Reuters news agency reported, citing data from the maritime intelligence firm Kpler.

That is still well below the 18.8 million bpd exported in February.

Some ships have used the US military-supervised route hugging the coast of Oman, travelling at night with tracking systems off and offloading oil to tankers outside the strait. Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, said on Saturday that American forces had assisted 2,000 transits and more than 1 billion barrels of oil in recent months.

The US has also imposed a blockade on Iranian ports and threatened secondary sanctions against airports and companies that do business with Iranian airlines. The United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Oman have already cancelled related flights.

(Aljazeera)