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  • Man released on bail after 41 years on death row

    Man released on bail after 41 years on death row

    After spending four decades behind bars on Utah’s death row for a 1985 murder he always insisted he did not commit, 71-year-old Douglas Stewart Carter has been granted release on bail, following new DNA testing that cleared him of any physical link to the crime scene.

    The case dates back to February 1985, when 66-year-old Eva Olesen, the aunt of a local Provo, Utah police chief, was found murdered in her home: she had been stabbed multiple times before being shot in the back of the head. Prosecutors originally alleged Carter, a Chicago native who was living with his mother in Utah at the time, killed Olesen during a botched robbery attempt.

    Shortly after the killing, believing he was a person of interest in an unrelated investigation, Carter fled Utah and was eventually apprehended in Nashville, Tennessee. During interrogation, he signed a confession to the murder that he later repeatedly claimed was coerced by law enforcement. Even though no physical evidence tied Carter to the crime scene at the time of his trial, a jury found him guilty based on the coerced confession and testimony from two witnesses, who claimed Carter had bragged about killing Olesen.

    The narrative of the case began to unravel in 2011, when both witnesses recanted their original testimony. They alleged police had pressured them to lie on the stand, bribed them with cash and gifts, and threatened them with deportation if they refused to cooperate with the prosecution’s narrative against Carter. Carter’s defense team also uncovered additional misconduct: investigators suppressed evidence pointing to an alternative suspect — Olesen’s husband, Orla Olesen, who died in 2009. The defense added that multiple witnesses had reported seeing a white man fleeing the murder scene, while Carter is Black. Orla Olesen, who originally told police he discovered his wife’s body, had been close to facing charges before a senior officer intervened to pause the investigation into him.

    Last year, citing widespread investigator misconduct that undermined the fairness of the original trial, the Utah Supreme Court ordered a complete retrial for Carter. This month, prosecutors released the results of modern, advanced DNA testing of evidence recovered from the crime scene: genetic material from a doorknob and the kitchen knife used in the murder did not match Carter’s DNA profile.

    Despite the new exculpatory evidence, Olesen’s family has pushed back against Carter’s release ahead of his retrial. During Monday’s bail hearing, Theresa Olesen, the victim’s daughter-in-law, told the court the family held serious concerns about allowing Carter to leave custody while his new trial is pending, arguing that the absence of a DNA match to Carter does not prove he was not involved in the killing. Even so, a judge granted bail Monday, over the family’s objections, ordering Carter to wear a continuous GPS monitoring device while he awaits his new trial.

    Carter’s lead defense attorney Neal Hamilton has called on the state of Utah to dismiss the entire case against his client. He told the Associated Press that if prosecutors had their original way, Carter would have been executed 15 to 20 years ago — long before the investigative misconduct and exculpatory DNA evidence came to light, potentially allowing a wrongful execution of an innocent man.

  • Estonia blames Russia for arson at defence company supplying Ukraine

    Estonia blames Russia for arson at defence company supplying Ukraine

    In a formal confirmation that has escalated tensions between Moscow and the transatlantic alliance, Estonian authorities have officially blamed Russian intelligence services for orchestrating a deliberate arson attack against Milrem Robotics, a leading Estonian defense manufacturer that supplies unmanned military vehicles to Ukraine’s armed forces. The attack took place on the night of August 14 to 15 in Tallinn, the Estonian capital, marking the first successful Russian sabotage operation on Estonian soil in 2024, according to the country’s top security official.

    Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal was the first senior official to attribute the attack to Russian special operations, though initial statements did not include granular operational details. Subsequent briefings from Estonia’s Foreign Ministry and Internal Security Service (known locally as Kapo) solidified the assessment. Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told reporters that compiled intelligence evidence leaves no room for doubt: the arson was a pre-planned act of sabotage directed by Moscow.

    Three suspects connected to the attack have been taken into custody: Latvian nationals who had been residing in Russia and had prior involvement in similar hostile operations, Kapo director Margo Palloson confirmed to public broadcaster ERR. The suspects were arrested by Latvian law enforcement earlier this month and extradited to Estonia to face criminal charges. Palloson added that Russian operatives continuously scout for soft targets across NATO member states, seeking out vulnerable individuals to carry out attacks on Moscow’s behalf. Many recruits are often manipulated or misled about the true purpose of their actions, he noted, a tactic used to cover up direct Russian state involvement. This attack, however, was the first successful plot pulled off by Russian actors in Estonia this year.

    Tsahkna emphasized that the assault on Milrem Robotics is not an isolated incident, but part of a wider, coordinated hybrid warfare campaign Russia is waging across the entire European continent. The core goal of this campaign, he argued, is to intimidate NATO allies that provide military and humanitarian support to Ukraine, and erode public and political commitment to continuing that aid.

    Moscow has once again denied all involvement in the attack, consistent with its pattern of rejecting similar accusations across Europe. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, dismissed Estonia’s claims as unfounded, reckless and disconnected from reality, telling reporters on Tuesday that the Kremlin does not take the allegations seriously.

    The accusation comes amid a sharp spike in suspected Russian sabotage attacks across European nations that support Ukraine, just weeks after the Tallinn arson. In August alone, Russian actors have been linked to an explosive-laden drone discovery near Ukrainian cargo planes at Leipzig Airport in Germany, a massive fire at a defense industry warehouse in Bulgaria, a large explosion at a munitions facility outside Rome, Italy, an attempted arson attack on a Ukrainian-owned drone manufacturer in Slovakia, and two suspicious wildfires in Poland – a country that has recorded dozens of similar unexplained incidents since 2022. Hybrid warfare, the term widely used to describe this campaign, refers to non-military tactics including sabotage, cyberattacks and misinformation designed to destabilize adversaries without triggering a direct conventional military conflict.

    In the wake of Estonia’s announcement, Western leaders have rallied to Tallinn’s side and reaffirmed their unwavering commitment to supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression. French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the growing frequency of these hostile acts marks a dangerous escalation of Russian aggression, one that will ultimately leave Moscow isolated and trapped in a strategic dead end. Speaking after the Estonian revelation, Macron referenced the Leipzig Airport incident as further proof of Russia’s ongoing campaign, stressing that the EU and NATO will not allow Russia to break Western unity or undermine support for Kyiv.

    A spokesperson for the European Union reiterated that the 27-member bloc will not suspend or scale back its support for Ukraine in response to sabotage threats. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte echoed that sentiment, calling on European governments to maintain steady resolve and continue their backing for Kyiv. Rutte noted that Russia’s reckless campaign of hostile actions against NATO allies is a deliberate attempt to weaken allied resolve and cut off support for Ukraine, but it has failed on both counts: Russian forces have not achieved their strategic objectives on the battlefield in Ukraine, and they have not succeeded in fracturing Western unity.

    Kapo has warned that Russian intelligence services will continue to seek out new opportunities for sabotage and other hostile acts across NATO territory in the coming months, urging allied security agencies to maintain heightened vigilance against emerging hybrid threats.

  • Man charged over AI image of crocodile in Singapore reservoir

    Man charged over AI image of crocodile in Singapore reservoir

    A high-profile case involving disinformation generated through artificial intelligence has made headlines in Singapore, after a Myanmar national was officially charged by local police for spreading a fake image of a dangerous saltwater crocodile at one of the city-state’s most popular outdoor recreation spots.

    According to official police allegations, 38-year-old Ye Lin created the deceptive image of an estuarine crocodile at Pandan Reservoir using AI tools, before sharing the fabricated photograph with a colleague. The image eventually made its way to Singapore’s national water agency, which received an official report of a crocodile sighting at the reservoir on August 20.

    Pandan Reservoir, located west of Singapore’s central business district, is a beloved destination for local joggers, kayakers, and rowing athletes, drawing hundreds of visitors weekly for outdoor activity. Following the sighting alert, the water agency immediately activated its emergency response protocol: agency personnel and staff from the National Parks Board launched a full-scale search and capture operation across the reservoir’s shoreline and surrounding green spaces. The Singapore Rowing Association and Singapore Canoe Federation were also ordered to suspend all scheduled activities at the site immediately, halting all public and competitive access.

    As public anxiety over the potential predator grew, the water agency confirmed the next day that the crocodile image circulating online and reported to officials had been verified as a fabrication, and formally referred the incident to the Singapore Police Force for investigation. In the aftermath of the false report, the reservoir’s operations were suspended for two full working days, bringing all recreational activities and agency maintenance work to a standstill.

    Authorities further allege that after creating and sharing the fake image, Ye Lin attempted to cover up his actions by deleting both the fabricated photograph and the AI application he used to generate it, resulting in an additional charge of obstructing the course of justice.

    Local media reports indicate that Ye Lin indicated through a court interpreter that he intends to enter a guilty plea when the case proceeds. The case has been adjourned for a further hearing in November. If convicted on both charges, Ye Lin faces severe legal penalties: under Singaporean law, the charge of communicating a false message carries a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment, a fine of up to S$10,000 (approximately US$7,800), or both. The charge of obstructing justice carries an even harsher maximum penalty of up to seven years in prison, in addition to a fine.

    As of this reporting, it remains unclear exactly how the fake image that Ye Lin shared privately with a colleague was ultimately escalated to the national water agency to trigger the full emergency response. The incident has sparked fresh public discussion in Singapore around the risks of AI-generated disinformation and the potential for harmless-seeming fabrications to trigger costly, disruptive public responses.

  • ‘I was lured into a trap’: Evan Gershkovich on moment that led to 16 months in Russian jail

    ‘I was lured into a trap’: Evan Gershkovich on moment that led to 16 months in Russian jail

    In a revealing new interview with BBC Radio 4’s *Today* program, former Wall Street Journal Moscow correspondent Evan Gershkovich has opened up for the first time about the details of his 2023 arrest by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), his 16 months in Russian custody, and the aftermath of his release in a high-profile international prisoner swap last August.

    Gershkovich, 34, who had been living and working in Russia since 2017, described the fateful day of his arrest in Yekaterinburg, 1,000 miles east of Moscow. He had arranged to meet a source for a story at a local restaurant, when six masked men entered the dining hall and approached their table with the unusual line that they had reserved the table. The comment, Gershkovich recalled, was deliberately designed to catch him off guard and freeze him in place. When he and his contact stood up, the FSB informed him he was under arrest on charges of espionage — and he watched as the man he had been meeting disappeared into the crowd.

    It was in that moment, Gershkovich said, that he realized he had been lured into a pre-planned trap. What surprised him most, however, was that he was never interrogated or tortured, tactics that the FSB commonly uses against those accused of spying. This absence of aggressive questioning led Gershkovich to an unexpected realization that brought him a strange sense of relief: he had not been caught as a spy, but intentionally set up to be a political hostage, a bargaining chip in a larger geopolitical game. This understanding, he said, helped him maintain mental stability through his time in prison.

    “They’ve set me up and fabricated this case so that I can be a valuable hostage — a pawn in a greater game,” he explained. “That means it will take a while, but I won’t be here for 12-20 years.” He correctly predicted that his high-profile status as a Western journalist would spark international outcry and eventually lead to a prisoner exchange. His case drew global media attention, with his image displayed on a Times Square billboard and then-U.S. President Joe Biden stating that bringing Gershkovich home was one of his administration’s top priorities.

    Gershkovich was ultimately held in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo Prison, a facility with a long history of detaining high-profile political prisoners and dissidents dating back to Stalin’s Great Terror, where torture and executions were widespread. He described his time there as a deeply isolating experience in a tiny cell that took a psychological toll, but noted that his treatment was better than that of many other detainees. He deliberately smiled for cameras during his public court appearances, he said, as an act of defiance against the Russian government’s fabricated case against him, refusing to let Moscow control the narrative.

    Gershkovich stressed that his relatively mild treatment was not the norm for prisoners in Russia, pointing to the case of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity in 2024 at age 27. When her body was returned months later, it showed evidence of torture and organ removal. “Some people… get tortured. They get broken as human beings, deprived of food, of hot water for showers, told that they’re never going to see their families again,” he said. “I was treated completely differently.”

    As Gershkovich predicted, his detention ended in a prisoner swap 16 months after his arrest, when he was sentenced to 16 years in prison then immediately released in exchange for Vadim Krasikov, a Russian assassin serving a life sentence in Germany for a targeted killing. Gershkovich noted that Moscow achieved its goal in the exchange without facing additional sanctions, calling the Russian plan strategically cynical but effective.

    Gershkovich learned of the impending swap three weeks before it was finalized, a period he described as excruciating, with each day dragging on endlessly. When his release finally came on August 1, 2024, he said it was a moment of pure joy, but in the weeks and months that followed, he faced the difficult challenge of readjusting to normal life. He experienced sleep issues, panic attacks in crowded spaces, and unexplained outbursts of anger as he processed the trauma of his detention. He has since worked with PTSD specialists and found that writing a book about his experience has helped him cope.

    Today, Gershkovich is based in Berlin, and he and the Wall Street Journal have always maintained that the espionage charges against him were entirely fabricated. While he has deep personal ties to Russia — his parents emigrated from the Soviet Union to the U.S. in the 1970s, he speaks Russian fluently, and he built a life and friendships there over seven years — he says he does not know if he will ever be able to return. “I would hope to get back one day, but I guess we’ll have to see what comes after [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” he said. “And it’s not completely clear that the next government will be any better.”

  • ‘Generous’ Zuckerberg gifts GAA clubs €150k after castle purchase

    ‘Generous’ Zuckerberg gifts GAA clubs €150k after castle purchase

    After purchasing a sprawling historic estate in County Waterford, Ireland earlier this year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have made their first major philanthropic gesture in the country: a combined €150,000 donation to three local Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) clubs located closest to their newly acquired Strancally Castle. Each of the three clubs — Shamrocks GAA, Tallow GAA and Lismore GAA — will receive €50,000 (£42,000), disbursed in installments over a two-year period.

    A spokesperson for the couple confirmed that the donation grew from their recognition of the central role GAA clubs play in Irish local life. As new residents of the County Waterford community, the pair wanted to directly support grassroots organizations that are deeply embedded in daily life, the spokesperson added. This marks the couple’s first public charitable contribution to Irish groups since they completed the purchase of Strancally Castle in August 2025.

    Tallow GAA, the oldest of the three clubs founded in 1887, first connected with the Zuckerbergs after club treasurer Kieran Geary reached out via email to inquire about potential sponsorship shortly after the estate purchase was announced. After two weeks of no response, club secretary Lyndsey Murphy received a direct outreach from the Zuckerberg team to discuss support options. Geary told reporters that the club initially questioned the legitimacy of the approach, but the process moved quickly once Zuckerberg’s legal team began formalizing the donation. A Zoom call was later held to map out how the funding would be used, and Geary noted that Zuckerberg’s team expressed openness to the couple visiting the club during a future trip to Ireland. The club plans to gift custom jerseys to the Zuckerberg-Chan family in gratitude for the gift. Geary said Tallow GAA will direct the donation first to underage, senior and adult team programs, coaching resources, before upgrading the club’s community walkway to improve public accessibility. “We aim to be at the heart of the community, so this investment will help us live that mission,” Geary explained.

    For Shamrocks GAA, a small 200-member club founded in 1953 that serves three combined parishes, the sudden donation was equally surprising. Club secretary Tim Lenehan said he initially assumed the outreach was a prank. “I honestly thought initially it was someone pulling my leg, but we let it evolve and did a bit of checking ourselves and it seemed to be legitimate enough,” Lenehan shared. The small club has long struggled with fundraising, as it typically relies on repeated donations from the same small pool of local supporters, so the unexpected windfall has been transformative. Shamrocks plans to use the funding to upgrade its changing room facilities and expand its underage development programs. Lenehan added that news of the donation spread rapidly across the local area, with the entire community aware of the gift within hours of the committee being notified, and the gesture has been overwhelmingly welcomed.

    Lismore GAA, founded in 1897, has also reacted with shock and gratitude to the contribution. Club secretary Emer Barry said she had known about the potential donation for six weeks, but the magnitude of the gift still left the club reeling. “It’s just shock and disbelief at the moment, it is hard to figure out what’s happening and where things are going,” Barry noted. Lismore plans to allocate the funds to long-planned improvement projects, including new floodlighting for its pitch, upgraded perimeter fencing, and expansion of its community walkway. When asked about a potential future visit from Zuckerberg and Chan, Barry said plans remain uncertain, but the club welcomes any opportunity to host the couple. She even joked that if Zuckerberg wanted to pull on a Lismore jersey for a match, the club has no restrictions: “we are always open for players, there is no parish rule in Waterford.”

    Across all three clubs and the wider County Waterford community, the donation has been met with widespread enthusiasm, with many noting that the investment in grassroots GAA will strengthen community programs for years to come.

  • French hard-right leader accuses opponents of ‘total war’ after claims of antisemitism

    French hard-right leader accuses opponents of ‘total war’ after claims of antisemitism

    Seven months ahead of France’s 2027 presidential election, the country’s hard-right National Rally (RN) is facing a major credibility crisis, triggered by a bombshell investigative report alleging that 31-year-old RN party president Jordan Bardella made virulent antisemitic comments as a teenage activist a decade ago.

    Investigative left-wing outlet Mediapart published the findings of what it describes as a months-long probe into dozens of private written conversations Bardella is said to have held in 2013, when he was 17 to 18 years old. The outlet claims the conversations, which include blatant antisemitic tropes — such as claims that “All the banks are owned by Jews” and that Jews seek to establish a global order controlled by Israel — have been independently verified through a broad documentary cache and corroborated by witness testimony. Notably, Mediapart has not released screenshot evidence of the alleged remarks, a point seized on by the RN to discredit the report.

    Bardella, who is widely expected to become France’s prime minister if RN presidential candidate Marine Le Pen wins the upcoming election, has vehemently denied all allegations, labeling them a fabricated political hit job designed to destroy his career and derail the RN’s growing momentum ahead of the vote. In an interview with CNews, Bardella confirmed he had already instructed his legal team to file a libel lawsuit against Mediapart. “Everything is being done to destabilize our campaign,” he stated. “Either Mediapart is running this operation on its own, or it is being manipulated by parties with a vested interest in taking us down.”

    Le Pen, who currently holds a commanding lead in pre-election polling, has issued unwavering support for Bardella, echoing his claim that the alleged remarks are a forged dirty trick. “These alleged comments seem so out of character and absurd that they can only be a forgery — one of those underhanded tactics Mediapart seems to specialize in,” Le Pen said.

    Recent polling from Toluna-Harris has underscored just how threatening the RN’s rise is to France’s traditional political establishment. The survey shows Le Pen would secure 35-36% of the vote in the multi-candidate first round of voting, and go on to win the second round run-off by overwhelming margins against every likely rival: she would beat radical left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon 69% to 31%, and defeat top centrist contender Edouard Philippe 57% to 43%. The RN received another political boost just days before the report dropped, when partial Senate election results gave the party enough seats to form its own official parliamentary group for the first time in the party’s history.

    Under Le Pen’s leadership, the RN has worked for decades to detoxify its public image and distance itself from the openly antisemitic roots of the party founded by her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. Just last year, Bardella became the first senior RN figure to be invited to an antisemitism conference in Israel, and the party has positioned itself as a opponent of militant Islam, even framing itself as a “shield for the Jewish community” in France. Mediapart argues that the alleged Bardella comments reveal that old antisemitic currents have never truly been removed from the party, only covered up for political convenience.

    The report has sparked immediate outcry across the French political spectrum. Left-wing politicians have already called for Bardella to step down from his leadership post, while Yonathan Arfi, head of the French Jewish umbrella organization Crif, said the allegations demonstrate the fundamental limits of the RN’s so-called detoxification effort. However, RN deputy Jean-Philippe Tanguy has pushed back against the claims, arguing that the allegations originate from a group of disaffected, expelled party members who were purged by Le Pen years ago specifically for their antisemitic views. “From what we know, these allegations come from the very antisemitic faction that Marine Le Pen bravely purged from the party,” Tanguy explained. “At the start of the 2010s, this group was large and organized, but they were defeated, and they have held a grudge against us ever since.”

  • Spain announces new housing measures after protests over 87-year-old woman’s eviction

    Spain announces new housing measures after protests over 87-year-old woman’s eviction

    A wave of nationwide public protests driven by outrage over the forced eviction of an 87-year-old Madrid woman has pushed Spain’s minority coalition government to approve a sweeping package of new housing policies aimed at taming the country’s deepening affordable housing crisis. The emergency measures, finalized during a cabinet meeting Tuesday, include a proposed nationwide ban on residential evictions that would remain in place until 2030, alongside extensions of existing rental contracts through 2028, tighter oversight of short-term vacation and shared room rentals, and a full prohibition on residential property purchases by large investment firms. The 87-year-old woman at the center of the unfolding crisis, Maricarmen Abascal, reached a last-minute deal with the property-owning company on Monday that will allow her to return to her home, her lawyer confirmed ahead of the cabinet’s announcement. Abascal was hospitalized after being forcibly removed from her apartment on a stretcher last week, and has not yet been able to sign the agreement due to her ongoing health issues. Following her eviction, hundreds of protesters set up a permanent encampment at Madrid’s central Puerto del Sol square, with parallel demonstrations erupting across major Spanish cities including Barcelona, Seville, Malaga, and Cadiz to demand urgent government action on skyrocketing housing costs and widespread evictions. Speaking after the cabinet vote, Health Minister Mónica García emphasized that the proposed reforms would deliver much-needed relief to more than five million Spanish households struggling with housing instability. “It is time to intervene in the speculative housing market and start striking a balance between ordinary citizens and vulture funds,” García said, adding that the policy agreement would never have happened without widespread public mobilization. “Thanks to the mobilisations and the encampments. Without you, this would not have been possible.” However, the package has already drawn sharp criticism from opposition lawmakers, who argue that the new rules unfairly penalize small, private property owners by grouping them together with large speculative investment firms. Míriam Nogueras, a spokeswoman for pro-Catalan independence party Junts, noted that there is widespread consensus that evictions carried out by large, multi-million euro vulture funds must be halted, but lumping small landlords who have invested their life savings in a single residential property into the same regulatory category is a critical error. “This agreement leaves small landlords out in the cold,” Nogueras told Spanish public broadcaster RTVE. The new housing measures now face a major hurdle in parliament, where the ruling leftist coalition of the Socialist Workers’ Party and junior coalition partner Sumar holds no overall majority. Under Spanish law, the government has 30 days from the formal publication of the decree to secure parliamentary approval for the reforms. Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez is scheduled to present a full breakdown of the policy details at a public press conference later Tuesday.

  • The race to crown the ‘fattest dog of Delhi’

    The race to crown the ‘fattest dog of Delhi’

    In the heart of India’s capital New Delhi, a most unusual democratic contest has captured the public imagination, drawing thousands of engaged voters and passionate campaigners all competing to crown the city’s officially “chonkiest” — or most generously proportioned — dog.

    What began as a throwaway lighthearted joke has evolved into a full-fledged online knockout tournament, hosted by Fat Dogs of Delhi, an Instagram page created specifically to celebrate the capital’s plus-sized canines. The project launched when the page put out a public call for nominations of beloved bulky neighborhood dogs, and the response quickly outgrew all expectations.

    The anonymous Delhi-based creator behind the Instagram account, who spoke to the BBC on condition of privacy, shared that the idea was inspired by similar knockout style competitions run by users on the platform X. “Why not do it as a fun little thing for people to bond over?” she explained. The page accepted the first 64 nominations, and the entries came with names as playful and distinctive as the dogs themselves: Dahi Bhalli, named for a popular tangy North Indian street snack; Mahakutteshwar, a whimsical twist on Hindu temple deity names that incorporates the Hindi word for dog, kutta; and crowd favorites like Googoo, Rambabu, and the bold Kutta Singh.

    Voting kicked off on September 24, structured as a single-elimination tournament. The 64 original candidates were split into 32 head-to-head matchups, with the top vote-getter from each pair advancing to the next round and the remaining contestants eliminated. After multiple rounds of intense online voting, just eight finalists remained ahead of the grand final scheduled for Wednesday.

    Supporters of competing pups have thrown themselves fully into the campaign spirit, creating everything from elaborate custom posters and endorsement reels to viral memes to rally votes for their chosen candidates. Many have reached out to friends, family and even strangers online to drum up support, turning a small social media project into a viral cross-country movement.

    Most of the competing dogs are not individually owned pets; they are beloved community strays, permanent neighborhood fixtures that survive on Delhi’s streets, cared for by loose networks of local residents, shopkeepers and laborers who feed them, name them, and monitor their health. Tragically, two contestants passed away over the course of the tournament, prompting an outpouring of public tributes from followers who had followed and voted for them.

    For the final round, organizers are adding an in-person voting option, with volunteer-staffed ballot boxes set up at three locations across Delhi to complement the existing online voting. Among the final contenders is Googoo, a 46-kilogram mixed-breed currently housed at a local animal care center, where he is ironically on a regulated weight loss program with regular medical checkups. The teen who nominated Googoo told Indian Express he first encountered the dog in a local park in 2021, when Googoo was less than half his current size. Googoo’s loyal fans have already declared him the “GOAT” — greatest of all time — of Delhi’s fat dogs.

    The unprecedented scale of public interest has caught the organizer completely off guard. “I did not expect it to blow up to this extent for sure,” she told the BBC. “I love the sense of community that we have right now.” Since the contest launched, the Fat Dogs of Delhi account has gained tens of thousands of new followers, and excitement has spread far beyond New Delhi’s city limits, with supporters from as far away as the southern state of Kerala and the eastern city of Kolkata picking favorites and campaigning for them.

    Beyond the lighthearted fun, organizers are now channeling the contest’s unexpected viral popularity to support a much more serious cause: improving welfare for Delhi’s stray animal population. The page has begun highlighting local animal welfare organizations and individual activists seeking donations for their work, turning the viral moment into tangible support for community dogs across the region.

    The contest comes amid a long-running, serious public debate over stray dog management in India’s capital. Municipal data estimates Delhi’s stray dog population at roughly 1 million, with surrounding suburban areas including Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram also reporting rapid population growth in recent years. In many neighborhoods, strays are treated as beloved community pets, cared for by local residents. But in other areas, growing stray populations have sparked public fear, fueled by reports of dog bites, aggressive packs and ongoing rabies risks.

    Last year, India’s Supreme Court ordered the relocation of all strays in Delhi and its surrounding suburbs to dedicated animal shelters, responding to growing public concern over the “menace of dog bites leading to rabies” — a ruling that sparked widespread outrage among animal lovers and welfare activists. The order was later revised to allow sterilized, vaccinated dogs to be returned to their original neighborhoods.

    Many campaign participants say that the playful contest has reframed public conversation around Delhi’s community dogs, highlighting the warm, affectionate bonds between residents and the strays that share their neighborhoods. After weeks of passionate campaigning and thousands of votes cast across online and in-person polls, Delhi will soon name its champion: the official winner of the title of Delhi’s chonkiest dog.

  • Rank the biggest scandals in Test cricket history

    Rank the biggest scandals in Test cricket history

    Eight years after the sandpapergate ball-tampering scandal that shook global cricket to its core, Australia is set to kick off its first Test tour of South Africa on October 9, marking one of the most highly anticipated and sensitive homecomings in the sport’s modern history. To coincide with this landmark moment, BBC’s Test Match Special (TMS) has launched a fan poll to determine what the public considers the greatest scandal in Test cricket’s centuries-long history. A panel of TMS cricket experts has shortlisted 10 of the sport’s most infamous controversies, inviting supporters to rank the incidents by their scale and impact; full results of the public vote will be revealed exclusively on the TMS podcast, with detailed profiles of each scandal available for reference alongside the poll.

    The oldest controversy on the shortlist dates back to the 1932-33 England tour of Australia, remembered forever as the Bodyline series. With legendary Australian batter Donald Bradman dominating global cricket, England captain Douglas Jardine devised a divisive new tactic to neutralize him: ordering fast bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce to repeatedly bowl short, hostile deliveries aimed at Australian batsmen’s bodies. At a time when batters wore no protective padding for their upper bodies, the strategy was widely condemned as unsportsmanlike and a violation of cricket’s unwritten spirit of fair play. Tensions boiled over beyond the pitch, escalating to diplomatic tensions between the two nations and threatening to strain intergovernmental relations. England ultimately won the series 4-1, but the result is largely forgotten overshadowed by the scandal that changed cricket strategy forever.

    Another politically charged scandal, the 1968 D’Oliveira Affair, transformed international cricket’s relationship with apartheid South Africa. Mixed-race South African all-rounder Basil D’Oliveira had emigrated to England and qualified to play for the national side, and was in line for selection ahead of England’s planned tour of the segregationist nation. Despite scoring a match-winning 158 against Australia that summer, D’Oliveira was initially omitted from the squad, only called up as a last-minute replacement for injured bowler Tom Cartwright. His inclusion sparked immediate outrage in South Africa’s apartheid government, and the tour was canceled just over a week later. South Africa played just one more Test series before being suspended from international cricket for 22 years, a ban that lasted until the end of apartheid, with only a series of controversial rebel tours breaking the isolation in the intervening decades.

    One of the most unusual controversies in Test cricket occurred during the 1975 Ashes series at Headingley. With the series shortened to four Tests to accommodate the inaugural men’s Cricket World Cup, Australia held a 1-0 lead and looked set to retain the Ashes. England had a golden chance to level the series in the third Test, with Australia reaching 220-3 chasing 445 at the close of play on day four, setting up a thrilling final day finish. Overnight, however, the pitch was vandalized: supporters of convicted armed robber George Davis, who claimed he was wrongfully imprisoned, dug holes into the playing surface, poured oil over the wicket, and spray-painted pro-Davis slogans on stadium walls. The Test was forced to be called off as a draw, allowing Australia to retain the Ashes and robbing England of a shot at a series-deciding win at The Oval. Davis’s conviction was later overturned on appeal in 2011, 36 years after he was first released when his conviction was deemed unsafe.

    In the mid-1970s, Australian media mogul Kerry Packer upended traditional cricket’s power structure with World Series Cricket (WSC), a breakaway competition that split the sport. Packer had approached the Australian Cricket Board with a lucrative offer for broadcast rights to home cricket matches, seeking content for his new Channel Nine network, but the board rejected his bid in favor of a deal with the public Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In response, Packer launched his own rival competition, recruiting the world’s top players to compete in one-day matches and new-format “SuperTests” between teams representing Australia, West Indies, and a World XI. The biggest signing was England captain Tony Greig, who helped recruit other top players in exchange for a role in the organization; Greig was immediately stripped of his England captaincy, and the 1977 Ashes tour was overshadowed by the schism. After two seasons, Packer and the Australian Board negotiated a truce that gave Channel Nine exclusive broadcast rights in Australia. Many of WSC’s most groundbreaking innovations, including colored player uniforms and day-night matches with floodlights, remain core features of modern cricket today.

    The 1987 tour of Pakistan by England brought one of the most high-profile on-field clashes between a captain and an umpire. England had already lost the first Test amid widespread frustration over home umpiring decisions, and the appointment of Shakoor Rana, who had previously clashed with New Zealand skipper Jeremy Coney, for the second Test in Faisalabad only heightened tensions. On day two, Rana halted play to object to a field placement set by England captain Mike Gatting, sparking a furious, public confrontation that was captured on camera and replayed repeatedly around the cricketing world. Rana refused to take the field the following day, leaving England waiting on the pitch for hours with no play, and only resumed after intervention from administrators on day four. A full tour cancellation was narrowly avoided, but mistrust between the cricket boards of England and Pakistan lingered for more than a decade after the incident. Gatting later said he deeply regretted the confrontation.

    Ball-tampering allegations returned to the forefront in 1994, when England captain Michael Atherton was caught on live television rubbing dry dirt onto the match ball during a Lord’s Test against South Africa. Atherton claimed he was only using the dirt to keep his hands dry, rather than altering the ball’s condition to gain an unfair advantage, a story that drew widespread skepticism. The scandal dominated front pages across the UK, culminating in a chaotic press conference where Atherton later described himself as “fed to the lions”. He considered resigning the captaincy, but ultimately received only a fine and retained his position for another four years.

    One of the most damaging match-fixing scandals in cricket history centered on South African captain Hansie Cronje, one of the most respected figures in South African sport and a close associate of Nelson Mandela. Cronje was slowly drawn into a criminal network with Indian bookmakers, and began bribing teammates to fix parts of matches to satisfy betting markets. His most infamous plot came during a dead-rubber fifth Test against England at Centurion Park in 2000: heavy rain had left the match set for an inevitable draw, but Cronje convinced both sides to forfeit an innings, setting up a dramatic final-day run chase that England completed. The England team had no knowledge of the plot, and Cronje’s scheme was only uncovered months later. He confessed to his crimes, gave public testimony at the King Commission of Inquiry into match-fixing, and received a lifetime ban from all professional cricket. He died in a 2002 plane crash just two years after the scandal broke, leaving a complicated and tarnished legacy.

    Another controversial ball-tampering incident at the Oval in 2006 made history as the first and only Test match ever forfeited. Pakistan had already lost the series against England, but was well on its way to winning the final Test when umpire Darrell Hair, a controversial Australian official, accused Pakistan of tampering with the ball and called for an immediate change. After tea, Pakistan refused to resume play in protest of the accusation. Eventually, captain Inzamam-ul-Haq agreed to return to the pitch, but Hair and his fellow umpire had already formally awarded the match to England. Years of legal and administrative wrangling followed: the result was first changed to a draw before being reverted to an England win. Inzamam was cleared of all ball-tampering charges, but Hair received a lengthy ban from ICC officiating roles.

    The 2010 Lord’s Test spot-fixing scandal saw three Pakistani cricketers jailed for corruption, in a sting orchestrated by now-defunct British tabloid the News of the World. Cricket agent Mazhar Majeed accepted a bribe from the newspaper’s undercover reporters, and agreed to arrange for bowlers to deliver deliberate no-balls at pre-arranged points in the match. Pakistan captain Salman Butt and fast bowlers Mohammad Asif and 17-year-old Mohammad Amir carried out the plot, and the News of the World broke the story while the Test was still in progress. All three received lifetime bans from international cricket, and were convicted of conspiracy to cheat at gambling and accepting corrupt payments. Butt was sentenced to 30 months in prison, Asif to 12 months, and Amir to six months in youth detention. Amir has since returned to international cricket after his ban was lifted, but the scandal remains one of the most damaging examples of corruption in modern sport.

    Most recently, and the incident that prompted the TMS poll, the 2018 sandpapergate scandal during Australia’s tour of South Africa saw the Australian cricket establishment rocked by revelations of systemic ball-tampering. During the third Test, television cameras caught Australian fielder Cameron Bancroft rubbing the match ball with a small yellow object. Bancroft and captain Steve Smith initially admitted to attempting to alter the ball’s condition, and days later it was revealed the object was sandpaper. The scandal sparked national outcry in Australia, with then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull saying he was “bitterly disappointed” by the team’s behavior. Smith and vice-captain David Warner, who was identified as the mastermind of the scheme, were stripped of their leadership roles and banned from international and domestic cricket for a year, while Bancroft received a shorter ban. Head coach Darren Lehmann was cleared of any involvement but resigned from his position anyway, taking ultimate responsibility for the team’s culture.

  • Celine Dion kicks off Paris Fashion Week with surprise performance

    Celine Dion kicks off Paris Fashion Week with surprise performance

    Paris Fashion Week, the annual global celebration of women’s spring and summer ready-to-wear collections, kicked off in unforgettable fashion this year, with global music icon Celine Dion delivering a showstopping surprise performance beneath the iconic Eiffel Tower that has captured the attention of fashion and music fans worldwide.

    The Canadian superstar, who revealed her diagnosis of the rare neurological disorder stiff person syndrome in 2022, closed out L’Oreal Paris’s highly anticipated opening show with a powerful rendition of her 2002 hit single *I’m Alive* — a performance that carries extra weight given Dion’s long road back to the stage after years of health struggles. Clad in an elegant, ruched full-length black velvet gown, Dion was later joined on the runway by an all-star lineup of the brand’s global ambassadors, including Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis, *Bridgerton* star Simone Ashley, *How to Get Away With Murder* actress Aja Naomi King, and producer and actor Eva Longoria, all of whom greeted the returning star with visible excitement and support.

    Dion’s surprise Paris Fashion Week appearance comes just weeks after she staged her first public comeback performance earlier this month in Paris, her first full live show since her 2020 concert in New Jersey. That 2020 performance was cut short when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live entertainment worldwide and forced Dion to pause her world tour, as her health challenges later forced her to step back from performing entirely for multiple years.

    The L’Oreal opening show also featured a host of top modeling talent walking the runway: reality star turned supermodel Kendall Jenner turned heads in a sheer black halterneck gown with a high thigh split layered over an ivory corset, while British model and actress Cara Delevingne commanded the runway in a dramatic, sparkling red sheer gown finished with a flowing train. Elsewhere on day one of the week-long event, music icon and fashion entrepreneur Rihanna brought her signature bold style to the front row of the Matières Fécales show, wearing a glamorous shimmering copper two-piece set layered over sheer black undergarments. Matières Fécales, the buzzy brand behind the viral angel wing gown Zendaya wore to the *Odyssey* premiere in New York earlier this summer, has become one of the most anticipated shows of the season. Other A-list attendees on opening day included *Wicked* star Cynthia Erivo, who attended a joint event hosted by luxury jewelry brand Tiffany & Co. and Paris’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

    Paris Fashion Week 2026 runs through October 6, with more than a dozen of the world’s most influential luxury labels set to unveil their new spring and summer collections over the coming days. Scheduled shows include presentations from legacy houses Louis Vuitton, Tom Ford, Schiaparelli, Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier, Balenciaga, and Loewe. But all eyes in the global fashion industry will be on two iconic brands in particular: Dior and Chanel. Both houses appointed new artistic directors in 2025, and this week’s presentations will mark a key moment for the new leaders to cement their creative visions for the legacy labels. Matthieu Blazy stepped into the role of Chanel’s creative director in early 2025, while Jonathan Anderson took the same position at Dior last summer. Industry observers are already expecting a captivating clash of creative aesthetics as the two new leaders show the fashion world what they have planned for their respective brands.