Global Pulse

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  • Netherlands to return to Eurovision after 2026 boycott

    Netherlands to return to Eurovision after 2026 boycott

    One of Europe’s most iconic annual cultural events is welcoming back a long-time participant after a year of controversy over geopolitical divisions. The Netherlands is set to make its return to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2027, marking an end to the country’s 2026 boycott after the national public broadcasting umbrella organization NPO stepped in to replace the previously participating network Avrotros, which had chosen to withdraw permanently over the contest’s stance on Israel’s participation amid the ongoing Gaza war.

    Avrotros first pulled out of the 2026 competition and extended its non-participation to 2027, arguing that the contest could no longer uphold its long-held commitment to political neutrality amid deep international divisions over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. That withdrawal aligned the Netherlands with four other European nations—Iceland, Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia—that also boycotted the 2026 Eurovision event over the same controversy.

    In response to growing global pressure and widespread criticism over the inclusion of a participant involved in an active armed conflict, contest organizer the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) introduced a series of landmark rule changes to address concerns. The most significant of these changes bars any country engaged in armed conflict from hosting the competition, even if its representative wins the grand final. This rule allows Israel to continue competing, but would require the EBU to move the hosting rights to a second-place finisher should Israel secure a win. The EBU also announced planned overhauls to the contest’s voting system, noting that persistent politically motivated voting has become a deep, widely recognized problem that threatens the integrity of the competition.

    These reforms were not enough to convince Avrotros to reverse its boycott, with the network stating that the changes did not go far enough to restore the contest’s historic independent and neutral character. However, NPO, the governing body for all Dutch public broadcasting, has stepped forward to take over the country’s participation, announcing this week that fellow public broadcaster NOS will handle all contest coverage, while a fully independent panel of experts will oversee the selection of the 2027 Dutch entrant.

    NPO Media Director Jurre Bosman emphasized the importance of the Netherlands remaining part of the pan-European event, noting: “It is important that, as a public broadcaster, we remain part of this unifying European event at this moment in particular.” In its official statement, NPO acknowledged that Eurovision continues to provoke deeply mixed feelings across the Netherlands, but added that the EBU has taken significant, tangible steps to revise its contest rules to address concerns. The organization also confirmed it has formally asked the EBU to re-center the contest’s historic unifying mission as a core priority for future events.

    EBU officials welcomed the Netherlands’ decision to return. “We are delighted to welcome the Netherlands back to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2027,” Eurovision Director Martin Green said in a statement. “We value the constructive conversations we have had with NPO and look forward to working together to reinforce the Contest as a place that truly reflects the spirit of ‘United By Music.’”

    The 2027 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to take place on May 14 in the Bulgarian coastal city of Burgas, following Bulgarian singer Dara’s victory in the 2026 contest with her hit track *Bangaranga*. The 2027 event will also mark a historic milestone for the competition, as Canada is set to make its debut participation after the country’s invitation was announced last month. The Netherlands last competed in Eurovision in 2025, where the country was represented by artist Claude.

  • Eriksen leaves Wolfsburg by mutual consent

    Eriksen leaves Wolfsburg by mutual consent

    Veteran Danish international midfielder Christian Eriksen has ended his spell at German second-division club VfL Wolfsburg just three months after he collapsed during a friendly international match between Denmark and Ukraine. The 34-year-old, whose contract with the club was originally set to run through June 2027, agreed to a mutual termination of his deal that puts family proximity at the center of his next step.

    This is not Eriksen’s first brush with life-threatening cardiac incident. In 2021, the playmaker suffered a sudden cardiac arrest on the pitch during Denmark’s opening group stage match of the European Championship against Finland in Copenhagen. Following that emergency, he underwent a procedure to have an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) fitted in 2022, a life-saving device that allowed him to make a remarkable, widely celebrated return to top-flight professional football.

    He has not appeared in a competitive match since the June 2025 collapse in the Ukraine friendly. Eriksen joined Wolfsburg as a free agent one year ago following his departure from English Premier League side Manchester United, and went on to make 34 total appearances for the German club across his 12-month tenure.

    In his public statement following the exit, Eriksen noted that prioritizing time near his family based in Denmark has become his primary focus at this stage. “At the moment, it is important for me to be close to my family in Denmark. I’m pleased that we were able to find a solution together,” he said. Reflecting on his time at the club, he added, “My time in Wolfsburg was marked by many highs and lows. I know that the club is now in good hands as it aims to make its way back to the Bundesliga, and I am convinced that a successful future lies ahead.”

    Across a storied 15-plus-year senior career, Eriksen has earned 151 caps for the Danish men’s national team, and previously plied his trade at top European clubs including Ajax Amsterdam, Tottenham Hotspur, Inter Milan, and Brentford, before his spell at Manchester United and subsequent move to Wolfsburg.

    Dieter Hecking, VfL Wolfsburg’s sporting managing director, confirmed the club’s full support for Eriksen’s decision in an official statement. “It was clear that the decision about his future had to be Christian’s,” Hecking said. “We wanted to give him that freedom in this particular situation and have now agreed to his request to terminate the contract. Despite his short time here, he has left a lasting impression on his team-mates, our staff and the fans.”

  • Is Burnham right to blame Russia for spreading online disinformation?

    Is Burnham right to blame Russia for spreading online disinformation?

    Following UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s high-profile warning about Russia-linked disinformation operations targeting British audiences, BBC Verify has launched a deep investigation into how these coordinated influence campaigns operate, and the growing role of artificial intelligence in supercharging their spread.

    Over years of monitoring, the outlet’s fact-checking team has tracked and debunked dozens of covert campaigns organized by groups tied to the Russian government, designed to shift global public opinion on critical geopolitical issues, disrupt democratic elections across the U.S. and Europe, erode social cohesion, and undermine public trust in state institutions.

    In his recent address to the United Nations, Burnham highlighted the insidious, deliberate nature of these Russian efforts to reach and influence ordinary UK residents. One striking example, uncovered by the investigation, dates back to last year, when a wave of AI-altered fake videos targeting ordinary British public sector workers spread across social media. Aaron, a 999 emergency call operator based in Preston, told BBC Verify he was stunned to discover his voice had been cloned using AI to create a fabricated video that falsely framed him as commenting on the 2025 Polish presidential election. Aaron’s case marks a worrying shift: previously focused on public figures and institutions, the Matryoshka disinformation campaign – the large-scale Russian-linked operation BBC Verify and independent research groups have long tracked – is now targeting ordinary private citizens.

    Matryoshka relies heavily on AI to churn out dozens of deepfake videos daily, impersonating respected journalists and major news outlets including the BBC itself to push false narratives about Ukraine and Western countries directly into users’ social media feeds. Ahead of the 2024 U.S. presidential election, BBC Verify documented a strategic shift in the campaign’s focus, moving away from Ukraine-related disinformation to flood platforms with fabricated content about the race. Early evidence now points to the same tactic being deployed ahead of November’s upcoming U.S. midterm elections.

    This is far from the only large-scale coordinated disinformation operation the fact-checking team has exposed. Previously, BBC Verify uncovered a sprawling network run by a former U.S. law enforcement officer based in Russia, which used AI to build hundreds of fake local news websites across the UK, U.S., France and other Western nations to publish entirely fabricated stories. One example, a fake outlet called the *London Crier*, falsely claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had purchased a mansion owned by King Charles at a heavily discounted price. The fabricated story reached hundreds of thousands of users on X, and was even shared by an official Russian embassy social media account. The bogus narrative originated from an AI-narrated fake video uploaded to YouTube, which the platform removed after BBC Verify reported it.

    In 2023, the team uncovered a major propaganda operation on TikTok, where thousands of fake accounts posted misleading multilingual videos – including English-language content – that racked up millions of views, aimed at swaying European public opinion on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. TikTok ultimately removed more than 12,000 fake accounts linked to the operation, after confirming the network originated in Russia. One of the most viral false narratives accused former Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov and his daughter of illegally purchasing luxury property and vehicles.

    Coordinated Russian disinformation interference in Western democratic processes dates back more than five years: during the 2019 UK general election, an anonymous user on Reddit posted a trove of confidential documents purporting to detail secret negotiations for a UK-U.S. trade deal, which were later used by the Labour Party in its election campaign. Though the documents appeared authentic, Reddit later confirmed the leak was part of a coordinated campaign traced back to Russia.

    Despite the clear scale and organization of these operations, measuring their real-world impact remains a major challenge. Researchers note it is difficult to quantify exactly how far many of these false narratives spread, or how much they have actually altered public opinion or shifted election outcomes. It is also important to note that Russia is not the only state that conducts large-scale disinformation operations to advance geopolitical goals. BBC Verify has previously documented X accounts pushing pro-Scottish independence content that were traced back to Iran. At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the outlet uncovered a network of more than 1,200 fake or hijacked accounts across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pushing pro-China government messaging and anti-U.S. propaganda.

    Evidence also shows Western governments have engaged in covert disinformation efforts, though the full scale of these operations remains unclear. A 2024 Reuters investigation revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. military ran a hidden anti-vaccine influence campaign designed to discredit China’s Sinovac vaccine. Meta has also previously removed a coordinated influence campaign originating from France that targeted multiple African nations.

    The rise of accessible, advanced AI has drastically worsened the global disinformation crisis. Modern tools make it far easier to create convincing fake images, misleadingly edit video content from text prompts, and generate coherent, plausible-sounding fake news reports that mimic authoritative journalism. BBC Verify observed this acceleration first-hand during the 2025 Iran-U.S.-Israel conflict: while the early weeks of the Russia-Ukraine war mostly saw disinformation made up of recycled old footage and inaccurate written claims, the outbreak of the Iran conflict this past February brought a tidal wave of AI-generated fake images and videos flooding social platforms.

    Carl Miller, founder of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media at the UK think tank Demos, told BBC Verify that state-run influence operations deliberately amplify and exploit existing social divisions and public grievances, making it extremely difficult to measure their full impact. “Influence operations are quite fragile things, usually, and we need to find ways of making them much more likely to fail if they target us,” he said.

  • Ronaldo spurred on by 1,000 goals and Portugal glory

    Ronaldo spurred on by 1,000 goals and Portugal glory

    More than two decades after making his senior international debut for Portugal, global football icon Cristiano Ronaldo is opening up about the crossroads he faced after the 2022 FIFA World Cup, confirming he seriously weighed hanging up his international boots before choosing to extend his decorated career to chase both team glory and a once-in-a-generation personal milestone.

    The 41-year-old Al-Nassr striker, who will earn his record-breaking 234th Portugal cap in Thursday’s Nations League Group A4 opener against Wales at Lisbon’s Estádio José Alvalade, first confirmed earlier this summer that the 2026 World Cup will mark the end of his legendary playing career, but had left questions open about his short-term international status. Those questions were put to rest this week when he was named in head coach Jorge Jesus’ 25-man squad for the start of Portugal’s 2024–25 Nations League campaign.

    In a pre-match press conference, Ronaldo addressed widespread speculation about his future, confirming that retirement was indeed on his mind after the last World Cup. “Yes, I did,” he told reporters when asked if he had considered stepping away from international duty. “Of course, I’m always thinking on my decisions, my future, the present also. I’m a thinker, you have to think.”

    After holding discussions with the Portuguese Football Federation president and national team coaching staff, Ronaldo said he ultimately decided to continue because he remains convinced he can contribute to Portugal’s pursuit of major honors. “I still believe that I’m able to help the national team to reach what they want,” he explained. “I think I can give to the national team my support, not only through the goals, but also outside of football.”

    Away from his international commitments, Ronaldo has his sights set on a historic personal achievement: becoming the first player in top-level men’s football to reach 1,000 career senior goals. Currently 21 goals short of the mark, he said the milestone is a key motivating factor to keep playing, alongside his goal of helping Portugal lift a third Nations League title.

    “Both aims are important,” he said. “One thousand goals, yes, and the national team. Winning the Nations League, the competition starts tomorrow, it’s a new age.”

    The five-time Ballon d’Or winner also highlighted mentoring the next generation of Portuguese talent as another core reason for continuing his international tenure. The current squad features a host of exciting young prospects including Fabio Silva, Renato Veiga, Nuno Mendes, Joao Neves and Francisco Conceicao, and Ronaldo joked he could even extend his career another 10 years while noting he sees himself as a role model for emerging players.

    “This is a new young generation. But for me the basic point is to be on the pitch to score the goals and to help the team win games,” he said. “For me, the most important thing, I know what I am. I know what I do to be here, to have the success that I have. I know why young kids love Cristiano, because they see me as an example, and I will continue to do that. Even when I am retired… in 10 years! I’m happy with myself. It doesn’t matter if I play tomorrow, if I rest the next game. For me, the most important thing is that I feel good.”

    Portugal head coach Jorge Jesus echoed the sentiment, describing Ronaldo as an enduring “symbol of Portugal and the national team” ahead of the clash with Wales.

    Ronaldo also addressed the persistent criticism he has faced throughout his 20-plus-year career at top clubs across England, Spain and Italy, noting that the Portugal national team setup has consistently been the place where he has felt most supported by fans. “This is possibly where I have felt most cared,” he said. “From the fans, I also feel the Portuguese like me. I do understand that some TV channels like to criticise me, they’ve tried to kill me with a shotgun, but I can still move away from it. Anyway, I am used to it. For over 20 years I have been doing this, but my memories are with people who love me.”

    The match between Portugal and Wales kicks off at 19:45 BST on 24 September, with full live coverage available across BBC platforms including BBC iPlayer, BBC One Wales, BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Sport’s website and app, and multiple radio outlets.

  • Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexual assault

    Harvey Weinstein sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexual assault

    Nearly a year after a New York jury found former Hollywood powerhouse Harvey Weinstein guilty of a criminal sexual act against his ex-assistant Miriam Haley, the disgraced entertainment mogul has been formally sentenced to an additional 15 years behind bars. The sentencing hearing, held in June 2026, brought forward searing testimony from the survivor, who laid bare the long-term harm inflicted by the assault. In her emotional victim impact statement delivered directly to the court, Haley explained the violence has left a permanent, devastating mark on her daily life and her fundamental sense of personal safety that may never fully heal. Wheelchair-bound during the court proceedings, Weinstein repeated his longstanding denial of the allegations against him, but offered a vague apology to “anyone I may have hurt by my actions”. This new sentence stacks on top of a 23-year prison term Weinstein is already serving for separate rape and sexual assault convictions in another high-profile criminal case, extending his total expected time in custody by more than a decade. The conviction and sentencing mark another major milestone in the reckoning over sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry that sparked the global #MeToo movement, holding one of the most high-profile accused perpetrators accountable for additional offenses.

  • Iran’s president tells Trump it will never ‘bend the knee’

    Iran’s president tells Trump it will never ‘bend the knee’

    Seven months into open conflict between Iran, the United States, and Israel, Iran’s newly inaugurated President Masoud Pezeshkian delivered a defiant yet open message to the global community from the floor of the United Nations General Assembly this week. Reaffirming Iran’s unyielding stance in the face of intensifying pressure from Washington, Pezeshkian declared that the Islamic Republic would never “bend the knee” — but stressed that Tehran remains committed to pursuing a diplomatic resolution to the ongoing hostilities.

    His address came in direct response to a recent threat from U.S. President Donald Trump, who warned that he would “annihilate” the Islamic Republic if a new negotiated deal was not reached in short order. Pushing back against this rhetoric, Pezeshkian emphasized that U.S. strategy of escalating sanctions, pressure campaigns, and international bullying would only strengthen Iranian public resolve. “He must know that the resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying,” Pezeshkian told the assembled delegates.

    The Iranian president laid out non-negotiable conditions for any lasting agreement, chief among them a full end to the U.S. naval and economic blockade of Iranian ports and shipping. Pezeshkian argued that Iran could not accept a deal that locks its commercial vessels out of key regional waterways while other nations benefit unimpeded. “It cannot be the case that everyone benefits from the Strait of Hormuz while we are denied access,” he said.

    The strategic Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries roughly 20% of the world’s annual oil and natural gas shipments, has been effectively closed to commercial navigation since the outbreak of hostilities in late February. The closure stems from two overlapping factors: Iranian drone and missile attacks on transiting commercial vessels, and the U.S. naval blockade imposed in response.

    This is not the first attempt at diplomacy to de-escalate the crisis. A preliminary agreement to end hostilities and reopen the strait was reached between U.S. and Iranian negotiators in June, but the deal collapsed within weeks. After Iran resumed attacks on commercial shipping, the United States reimposed its full blockade.

    Even so, diplomatic efforts have resumed on the sidelines of this year’s UN General Assembly in New York. On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff held indirect talks mediated by Qatari brokers. This meeting marked the first formal diplomatic contact between the two sides since the June agreement collapsed.

    Witkoff struck an optimistic note following the discussions, telling reporters he hoped the talks would “prove constructive and promising” and confirming that Qatari mediators would continue their work to bridge the gap between the two parties. But Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqai struck a more cautious tone, describing the discussions as “not anything new” and confirming that Araghchi had held firm to Iran’s core preconditions: an end to the U.S. blockade, and the release of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets held abroad.

    The renewed diplomatic push comes amid growing global concern over the economic impact of the Strait of Hormuz closure, which has sent ripples through global energy markets and raised fears of a broader regional conflict that could draw in additional powers.

  • Watch: How toxic smog from wildfires is making Indonesians sick

    Watch: How toxic smog from wildfires is making Indonesians sick

    Indonesia is currently grappling with a public health emergency sparked by toxic smog drifting from raging seasonal wildfires, new data shows. Since the start of August, nearly 175,000 people across the archipelago have developed respiratory illnesses linked directly to exposure to the hazardous air pollution.

    The annual wildfire crisis, which is often amplified by dry El Niño weather conditions and uncontrolled land clearing for agricultural expansion, has sent plumes of fine particulate matter and toxic chemicals billowing across populated regions of the country. Unlike regular air pollution, wildfire smog carries a concentrated mix of carcinogens and irritants that penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, worsening pre-existing conditions and triggering acute illness even among otherwise healthy people.

    Local health authorities have deployed mobile clinics to hard-hit areas to treat affected residents, but ongoing poor air quality continues to drive new cases daily. The crisis has also renewed calls for more coordinated national and regional action to address the root causes of recurrent wildfires, as climate change continues to exacerbate dry conditions that turn land clearing accidents into out-of-control blazes.

    The public health impact extends beyond immediate respiratory issues, with researchers warning that long-term exposure to this level of toxic smog can lead to chronic cardiovascular problems, impaired child development and increased mortality risk for vulnerable groups including the elderly and immunocompromised.

  • Poland accuses Russian military helicopter of violating its airspace

    Poland accuses Russian military helicopter of violating its airspace

    In an incident that has escalated existing tensions between Moscow and the Western military alliance Nato, Poland confirmed Wednesday that a Russian Mi-8 military helicopter violated its national airspace, triggering a rapid defensive response from the alliance’s eastern flank member.

    According to Poland’s Army Operational Command, the incursion took place at 11:08 local time (09:08 GMT) north of the town of Braniewo, after the aircraft crossed into Polish territory from Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave. Radar systems tracked the helicopter throughout the event, which saw the jet penetrate roughly 300 meters (328 yards) into Polish airspace and remain there for 42 seconds before exiting. In response to the incursion, Poland scrambled active fighter jets and placed all ground defense units on heightened alert.

    Polish military officials framed the incident as a deliberate provocation, noting that the brief incursion follows a pattern of Russian actions designed to test the readiness of Nato’s eastern air defense systems. “The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is once again testing the readiness of our air defence,” the command said in its official statement, adding that Polish air defense units maintain round-the-clock operational readiness to secure the country’s territorial integrity. As of Wednesday evening, the Kremlin had not issued any immediate comment on the accusation.

    This latest incident comes amid a sharp rise in warnings from Nato members in Eastern Europe that Russia is actively probing alliance defenses and stepping up hybrid aggression to undermine Western support for Ukraine. Poland has been among the most vocal countries warning of growing Russian threats, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk just last week saying Moscow was planning coordinated drone and missile strikes against Nato’s eastern flank nations.

    “In recent weeks, the Russian hybrid threat against Europeans… has intensified,” Tusk stated. “The intent is to intimidate us and break our effort to support Ukraine. The result will be the exact opposite. We are not intimidated because we know that our security today and tomorrow is at stake in Ukraine.”

    French President Emmanuel Macron echoed Tusk’s concerns shortly after, confirming that France had also been targeted by a wave of Russian hybrid attacks over the past several weeks. Hybrid attacks, a term referring to tactics that blend conventional military pressure with non-military actions including cyberattacks, sabotage, and misinformation campaigns designed to destabilize adversaries, have become increasingly common across Europe since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While mounting evidence ties many such attacks to Russian actors, Moscow has consistently denied any involvement. Macron pledged that the recent attacks would not go unanswered, and confirmed he had already ordered the development of a comprehensive protective plan for France’s critical infrastructure and defense industry sites.

    In recent weeks, multiple Nato member states across Europe have reported suspicious incidents targeting defense-related facilities: unexplained fires and blasts have struck defense sites stretching from Italy and Bulgaria to Estonia, with multiple affected governments openly blaming Russian sabotage operations. Earlier this month, Germany formally accused Russia of orchestrating an August drone attack on Leipzig Airport, a claim Moscow dismissed as “absurd”. Just this week, Lithuania’s prime minister told the BBC that the Baltic state has finalized public evacuation plans in preparation for potential Russian aggression, while stressing that the country would “not surrender” if attacked.

    Tensions have also spilled over into the Ukrainian border region near Poland. On September 13, a Russian drone strike hit a passenger train on the Ukrainian side of the Poland-Ukraine border, just after a diplomatic convoy carrying former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and senior European security officials traveled along the same rail line. Ukrainian officials have said the drone strike was very likely intended to target the diplomatic train, while the Russian military only acknowledged targeting “railway infrastructure” in the area.

    Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, multiple stray Russian weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles have landed on Polish territory, a pattern that has steadily eroded trust between Moscow and Warsaw, one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters. Moscow has repeatedly denied any intention to attack Nato member states, with Russian President Vladimir Putin repeatedly insisting Russia has no plans to expand the conflict into alliance territory. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov issued a stark warning to Europe earlier this month, saying that it is European leaders who are constantly preparing for conflict with Russia, and warning that “If Europe attacks Russia, it will be a completely different war [from that in Ukraine], and it will be very short.”

    Moscow continues to control approximately 20% of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory, including the Crimean Peninsula that Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

  • Spotlight on new coaches as road to Afcon 2027 begins

    Spotlight on new coaches as road to Afcon 2027 begins

    Eight months after the contentious 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) final, whose final champion remains undetermined, the competitive road to the 2027 edition of the tournament is finally starting. A total of 48 national teams still in the running will contest the first two rounds of qualifying matches during this extended international break, which opens its gates on Thursday. Two additional matchdays are scheduled for November, with the final two group-stage fixtures set to wrap up group competition next March.

    Under the current qualifying format, the top two teams from nine of the 12 total groups will secure their spots in the 24-team final tournament, which will be co-hosted for the first time by three East African nations: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. While pre-tournament infrastructure and preparation work among the co-hosts is reportedly falling behind schedule, all three have automatic qualification to the finals, meaning only one qualifying spot is up for grabs in each of their groups – a quirk that means a second-place finish will not guarantee progression in those groups.

    In the months following the 2025 Afcon and this year’s FIFA World Cup, African football has seen sweeping changes: a wave of new managerial appointments across top national sides, and the retirement of dozens of star players from international duty. This qualifying window brings the first chance to see these new-look squads in competitive action.

    Among the many coaching changes, a handful of high-profile moves have stood out. Herve Renard, the only manager in history to lift the Afcon trophy with two different nations, is returning to lead Ivory Coast 11 years after he guided the West African side to their past continental title. The 57-year-old Frenchman will kick off his second stint with the Elephants on Thursday with a home opener against Ghana – the most anticipated fixture of the first qualifying round. Opposite Renard in the Ghana dugout will be seasoned manager Carlos Queiroz, who is back at the helm after leading the Black Stars to the round of 16 at this year’s World Cup, though Ghana will be missing key talent including Tottenham Hotspur star Mohammed Kudus, who has withdrawn from the squad.

    Another marquee arrival is Patrick Vieira, the 1998 World Cup winner with France, who takes charge of his first international role at Senegal – the country of his birth. The 50-year-old former Arsenal midfield great has described the appointment as “an absolute dream”, though he will open his tenure with two consecutive away matches against Mozambique and Ethiopia, as Senegal’s capital Dakar wraps up preparations to host the 2026 Youth Olympic Games. Other familiar faces are also returning to dugouts across the continent: Pitso Mosimane is back leading South Africa 14 years after his first spell in charge of Bafana Bafana, while 78-year-old Afcon legend Claude Le Roy has signed on for a second stint with Congo-Brazzaville, aiming to become the first manager to reach a 10th Afcon finals tournament – a new record.

    Among other new appointments, Cape Verde, one of the breakout stories of this year’s World Cup after they pushed eventual champions Argentina all the way to a 3-2 extra-time loss in the round of 16, have promoted former assistant Humberto Bettencourt to head coach following the resignation of long-serving manager Bubista. Tunisia has hired Moin Chaaban, formerly of Esperance and Renaissance Berkane, to rebuild after a disastrous World Cup campaign that saw Sabri Lamouchi fired after just one match and Renard unable to turn the team’s fortunes around. Brahim Hemdani has taken over at Algeria following Vladimir Petkovic’s exit, Amir Abdou has moved to lead Burkina Faso after previously managing Comoros, and 2021 Afcon-winning coach Aliou Cisse, who most recently led Libya, will contest his first competitive matches as manager of Angola, opening with a tough away test against Egypt.

    Alongside the wave of new managers, a number of star players have retired from international football since the World Cup, leaving big shoes to fill for their national sides. Senegal is in the market for a new starting goalkeeper after 34-year-old Edouard Mendy, who helped the Teranga Lions win the 2021 and 2025 Afcon titles (the latter of which remains under dispute at the Court of Arbitration for Sport), retired from international duty. Algeria has lost captain Riyad Mahrez, the winger who led the side to the 2019 Afcon trophy, while Ivory Coast will be without midfielders Seko Fofana and Jean-Michael Seri. Tunisia’s Ellyes Skhiri has also called time on his international career, just as the North African side aims to qualify for an 18th consecutive Afcon – an unprecedented streak.

    Veteran striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has also stepped away from Gabon’s national side, saying he felt “humiliated” by how he was treated following Gabon’s group-stage exit from the 2025 Afcon. Aubameyang, 37, was excluded from the national squad after the exit, a sanction that was later reversed, but the striker still chose to turn down a call-up, despite a strong early start to his club season at Deportivo La Coruna.

    This qualifying cycle also brings two historic firsts for smaller African nations. Eritrea has reached the group stage of Afcon qualifying for the first time since the lead-up to the 2008 edition, after beating Eswatini 4-1 on aggregate in the preliminary round back in March. The East African side withdrew from qualifying for the 2023 Afcon and 2026 World Cup, in large part due to longstanding issues of Eritrean athletes absconding during international competitions to avoid returning to the country’s one-party, highly militarized regime. Seven Eritrean players did not return home after the away leg of their preliminary tie against Eswatini, which was held in South Africa. Drawn into Group D alongside co-host Kenya, South Africa and Guinea, Eritrea’s squad for the opening two qualifying rounds relies almost entirely on players from the Eritrean diaspora, with just three home-based players selected. The side will play their opening fixture against Kenya in Nairobi on Saturday, and will host their “home” match against South Africa in Cairo, Egypt, next Tuesday.

    Meanwhile, Somalia has qualified for the Afcon qualifying group stage for the first time in the nation’s history, drawn into a tough group alongside Ivory Coast, Ghana and The Gambia. Ranked 53rd out of 54 African football nations, the Ocean Stars can still celebrate their historic milestone, just as the Afcon returns to East Africa for the first time since 1976.

  • Uproar in France over award-winning author accused of using AI

    Uproar in France over award-winning author accused of using AI

    The French literary community has been thrown into intense debate following explosive allegations that an award-winning rising literary star used artificial intelligence to ghostwrite his critically acclaimed debut novel. The controversy centers on 38-year-old Canadian-Haitian author Thélyson Orélien, whose novel *C’était ça ou mourir* (translated as It was either that or die) recently took home the Prix du Roman Fnac, the first major literary award of France’s autumn awards season. Orélien has also secured a spot as a finalist for two of the French language’s most prestigious honors, the Goncourt Prize and the Renaudot Prize, whose winners are set to be announced in the coming weeks.

    The accusations first emerged this week from a little-known activist group called Balance ton Claude – a name that references Anthropic’s popular AI chatbot Claude. The group claimed on social media platform X that Orélien’s novel is “almost totally” generated by AI, adding that their testing of multiple random passages from the manuscript delivered a uniform result: 100% AI authorship. The group, whose full membership remains undisclosed, says it used an AI detection tool called Pangram, which it describes as “by far the most accurate” detector on the market, with an almost nonexistent error rate.

    Orélien, who was born in the northern Haitian city of Gonaïves and relocated to Montreal in 2010, has forcefully rejected all claims of misconduct. In an interview with French newspaper Libération, the author pushed back against the allegations, saying, “I have always loved creation and literature. I can’t see why I would feel compelled to use a machine.” He noted that he wrote the first draft of his novel back in 2019 – years before publicly available generative AI text tools became widespread. To prove his authorship, Orélien added that he and his publishing house are currently compiling a full dossier of original drafts and working materials to confirm the work is authentic. “My traditions are Haitian and Caribbean. The images, the repetitions and the rhythms are the living word, they are my own,” he said, emphasizing that the text’s unique cultural voice is inherently his own.

    Orélien’s French publishing house Grasset has also publicly stood behind the author, dismissing the claims as “atrociously injurious to a writer with an exceptional life-story” and affirming that his “work of creation is original and powerful.” Orélien’s debut novel follows the journey of a Haitian teacher who escapes brutal gang violence in his home country, navigating a dangerous path to resettlement in Canada, where he eventually regains “the right to breathe without fear.” The book has already become a breakout commercial hit: Orélien’s Canadian publisher calls it the imprint’s best-selling title in 60 years, with translation rights already sold for roughly 20 languages worldwide.

    This controversy is not without precedent. It echoes a similar dispute from earlier this year, when Trinidadian writer Jamir Nazir had his Commonwealth Short Story Prize temporarily withdrawn in July over unproven AI authorship claims. Organizers eventually reversed the decision and re-awarded the prize to Nazir after concluding his work was entirely authentic.

    Critics of AI detection tools including Pangram argue that these technologies are fundamentally unreliable. Multiple independent studies have shown that detectors frequently mislabel human-written text as AI-generated, while also failing to spot AI-written text that has been lightly edited or paraphrased. Detectors work not by confirming AI authorship, but by flagging linguistic patterns that are commonly associated with AI output – patterns that can naturally appear in human writing, particularly from writers who use non-standard dialects. Detectors are almost always trained on standardized English or French, critics note, meaning they are prone to misclassify writing that draws on Caribbean Creole-influenced linguistic rhythms and structures, such as Orélien’s work.

    Defenders of the detection method, however, including the Balance ton Claude group, claim that Pangram’s error rate is extraordinarily low: just one incorrect flag of an AI-generated text for every 24,400 analyses. Unlike older plagiarism checkers that compare new text to existing published works, modern AI detectors analyze statistical and probabilistic patterns in text to identify linguistic signatures that indicate AI generation.

    As generative AI becomes increasingly integrated into creative fields, this high-profile dispute will only amplify ongoing conversations about what counts as authentic original writing, and what level of AI involvement – if any – is acceptable in literary work. It is increasingly common for writers to use AI as an editing tool for human-written work, or to generate a rough AI draft that is then heavily revised into an original piece, creating a gray area that the literary world has not yet fully regulated. For now, the ball is in Orélien’s court as he prepares to present evidence of his authorship, while the French literary world waits to see how the controversy will affect his standing in the upcoming Goncourt and Renaudot Prize selections.