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Ukraine Launches One of War’s Largest Drone Attacks on Russia, Killing 6, as Retaliatory Strikes Kill At Least 5 in Ukraine

By
Zipporah Njoki
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Ukraine launched hundreds of drones across Russia on Sunday in one of its largest aerial attacks of the war, part of an intensifying campaign against Russian military and economic targets nearly four and a half years into Moscow’s full scale invasion.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it destroyed 822 Ukrainian drones overnight. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said about 600 drones were detected heading toward the Russian capital, with roughly 200 of those, about a third, destroyed over the Moscow region itself.

Casualty figures in Russia varied across reports and had not been fully reconciled. The Associated Press reported six deaths in Russia, while the BBC reported seven deaths nationwide. Broken down by region, the reported deaths included 1 in the Moscow region, 5 in the Rostov region, and 1 near Belgorod, a combined total of 7 that aligns with the BBC’s nationwide figure.

What We Know So Far

In the Moscow region, Governor Andrei Vorobyov said an 83 year old man was killed after a Ukrainian drone struck a private home, with additional injuries reported in the town of Podolsk. He also confirmed a Ukrainian strike sparked a fire at a warehouse belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, in the town of Koledino. Distance estimates for the warehouse’s location relative to Moscow varied between reports, ranging from about 15 to 28 miles from the city center. Video of the aftermath showed a large plume of smoke rising over the site.

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Wildberries facilities in recent weeks, accusing the company of handling military related goods and framing the strikes as part of a broader effort to damage Russian economic infrastructure that Kyiv says underpins Moscow’s war effort.

In Russia’s Rostov region, Governor Yury Slyusar said a drone attack involving more than 150 drones targeted three towns, killing five people, damaging homes and a railway station, and sparking a forest fire. Ukraine’s military said it also struck a missile fuel production facility in the region overnight, a claim Russia did not immediately address. A separate drone strike on a bus near Belgorod killed one person, according to the regional governor.

Russian strikes on Ukraine over the same period killed at least 5 people. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a Russian missile attack on Kryvyi Rih killed 2 people and wounded 14 others, and that 1 additional person was killed in Sumy. Ivan Fedorov, head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, said 2 people, a man and a woman, died when their home was struck. Fires broke out across Kyiv, wounding 6 people, including a child, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who said air raid sirens had sounded four times since Saturday night.

The mayor of Kryvyi Rih said a 44 year old man previously reported missing was later found dead in rubble there, though it is unclear from available reporting whether this death is the same as one of the 2 deaths Zelenskyy cited for Kryvyi Rih or an additional death not yet reflected in that count. The mayor also said 14 workers at a steel plant were wounded in the same strikes, matching the 14 wounded figure Zelenskyy separately cited. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had targeted a metallurgical plant in Kryvyi Rih, a steelworks it said was producing weapons components, the Kremenchuk oil refinery it said supplied fuel to Ukraine’s military, and several military industrial sites in Kyiv, including a manufacturing facility tied to Ukraine’s domestically produced Flamingo missiles. Russia separately said it struck a dry cargo vessel near Odesa that it claimed was carrying military equipment.

A strike on a book market in Kyiv’s Pochayna district destroyed stalls and merchandise. Valentina, 69, whose husband owned a stall there, told the BBC she recognized his books scattered on the ground and said she never expected the war to reach her family this directly. Nearby, vinyl record shop owner Luba, 42, said she lost stock worth roughly 500,000 hryvnias, describing many of the destroyed records as rare and irreplaceable.

Zelenskyy said Saturday that Ukraine had used Flamingo missiles to strike a rocket research and production center in Samara, Russia, located roughly 560 miles from the Ukrainian border, underscoring the growing range of Kyiv’s domestically produced weapons. He said 13 Ukrainian regions came under attack over the course of the week, with Russia launching more than 1,550 attack drones, nearly 1,560 guided aerial bombs and 62 missiles during that period.

NATO Jet Downs Drone Over Romania

Romania’s Ministry of National Defense said a Spanish Air and Space Force F-18 fighter jet shot down a drone that entered Romanian airspace early Sunday. Surveillance systems detected the drone at 4:44 a.m. about 15 miles north of the city of Galati, near the border with Moldova, which sits between Ukraine and Romania. The ministry said the drone had entered from Moldovan airspace and was shot down at 5:01 a.m. after the Spanish aircraft, conducting NATO air policing duties, received engagement approval. Debris fell in an unpopulated area near the Ukrainian border. Officials did not specify the drone’s origin.

Romania’s acting Foreign Minister, Oana Toiu, said the Spanish deployment supporting the country had been scaled up at the request of Romania and NATO to reinforce the alliance’s eastern flank following prior drone incidents, marking Spain’s fourth such deployment. The incident follows a string of earlier episodes, including Romanian pilots shooting down three drones over three consecutive days in recent weeks using F-16 fighter jets, part of a broader pattern of dozens of drone incursions Romania has reported since Russia’s full scale invasion began, some of which have resulted in drones crashing and exploding on Romanian territory.

Why This Matters

The scale of Sunday’s Ukrainian drone attack, among the largest of the war, reflects Kyiv’s intensifying strategy of using long range drones and missiles to target Russian military industry, energy infrastructure and logistics hubs supporting the war effort, including civilian adjacent targets like Wildberries that Ukraine says serve military supply functions. The strikes are increasingly reaching deep into Russian territory, as illustrated by the Samara strike roughly 560 miles from the border, signaling growing confidence in the range and reliability of Ukraine’s domestically produced missile systems.

Zelenskyy’s remarks characterizing Russian strikes as deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure, paired with vivid accounts from Kyiv shop owners who lost their livelihoods in the bombing, underscore how the war’s aerial phase increasingly affects ordinary economic life far from the front line, even as ground combat remains largely static along a lengthy front line with only marginal territorial changes for either side.

The Romanian drone incident adds to a growing pattern of spillover incidents affecting NATO territory near the Ukrainian border, highlighting the alliance’s reliance on rotating partner deployments, in this case Spanish fighter jets, to reinforce its eastern flank as such incursions continue.

What Happens Next

Both Russia and Ukraine appear positioned to continue trading long range strikes, with each side targeting the other’s military industrial capacity and logistics networks as ground combat remains largely stalled. Zelenskyy’s disclosure of the week’s full attack figures, including more than 1,500 drones and dozens of missiles launched by Russia, suggests the pace of aerial exchanges shows no sign of slowing.

Continued drone incursions into NATO territory near Ukraine’s borders, as seen in Romania, are likely to keep prompting alliance level responses, including further rotational deployments of partner aircraft to reinforce airspace monitoring and interception capacity along the eastern flank.

Reporting drawn from the Associated Press, The Moscow Times, Reuters and the BBC

Teen Arrested in Virginia State University Shooting That Wounded 5

By
Omonigho Daibo
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Police arrested a 19 year old found hiding in a dormitory closet at Virginia State University on Saturday in connection with an overnight shooting that left five people wounded, including one with critical injuries.

Chesterfield County Police identified the suspect as Camron Harris of Henrico, Virginia, and said he is not a student at the university. Four of the five people injured were also not VSU students, police said, with the victims ranging in age from 17 to 23. One of the injured, a 20 year old student, was treated and released from the hospital. The names of those wounded have not been released.

The shooting occurred just after 1:30 a.m. Saturday near the university’s Quad Annexes, where campus police and Chesterfield County officers found five people with gunshot wounds outside campus dormitories. The incident triggered a campus lockdown as students were preparing for the start of the new school year.

What We Know So Far

Police obtained eight felony warrants for Harris, including charges of malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive, and it was not immediately clear whether Harris had retained an attorney to speak on his behalf.

The university said in an earlier statement that authorities were searching for multiple suspects, though police provided no additional information Saturday evening about the status of that broader search beyond Harris’s arrest. University officials said earlier in the day that law enforcement did not believe there was an immediate threat to the campus community, and the lockdown was subsequently lifted.

Residence halls at the university had opened for students about a week before the shooting, with classes scheduled to resume Monday. Many students had just completed the university’s orientation program for incoming students, known as the New Trojans Experience.

A large law enforcement presence remained on campus Saturday morning. The university urged students to monitor their email for additional safety updates and information about support services. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Hanover County Sheriff’s Office assisted Chesterfield County Police in the response, according to county officials.

What Authorities and the University Are Saying

Virginia State University said in a statement that it recognized the concern the shooting had caused among students, parents, alumni and the broader campus community, adding that student safety and wellbeing remained its highest priority.

Arthur Fridrich, the university’s former director of distance education, who lives near campus and visits regularly, described the shooting as heartbreaking for the community given its timing at the very start of the school year. “For those that were shot, my heart bleeds,” Fridrich said, adding that he hoped the victims would recover and not let the incident come to define their lives.

Why This Matters

Virginia State University is a historically Black university located in Ettrick, about 24 miles south of Richmond, and was the first fully state supported four year college for Black Americans. With about 5,700 students, most of them undergraduates, the university has worked in recent years to expand while also improving campus safety and preserving its historic character, according to Fridrich.

The timing of the shooting, occurring just as new and returning students settled into residence halls and completed orientation activities, adds to its impact on the campus community, striking at a moment typically associated with optimism and fresh starts for incoming students. Fridrich’s comments suggest the incident is likely to cast a lasting shadow over this particular class of students, regardless of how the criminal case unfolds.

The fact that four of the five people wounded were not enrolled at the university, and that the arrested suspect also had no student affiliation, raises questions about how the shooting unfolded and who its intended targets may have been, questions that remain unanswered pending further details from investigators.

What Happens Next

Harris faces prosecution on the eight felony warrants obtained by police, including malicious wounding and firearm charges. The status of the broader search for additional suspects referenced in the university’s earlier statement remains unclear, since police have not provided updates beyond confirming Harris’s arrest.

Classes are set to resume at the university Monday as scheduled, even as the investigation into the shooting continues. University officials are expected to continue communicating safety updates and support resources to students in the coming days as the community processes the incident heading into the new academic year.

Reporting drawn from the Associated Press and CNN

5 Killed in Michigan Shooting Spree, Suspect Dead After Manhunt

By
Emmanuel Paul
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A series of shootings across three locations in rural Missaukee County, Michigan, left five people dead Friday, along with the suspected gunman, following an extensive search involving two homes and a wooded area, Michigan State Police said.

Troopers responded around 11:40 a.m. to a report of a shooting at a home in Lake Township, about 170 miles northwest of Detroit, where they found three people dead and a 13 year old girl in critical condition after being shot four times. The girl managed to call 911 herself to report the shooting and identify the shooter before officers arrived, according to state police.

The suspect, identified as 39 year old Chad Hickman, had fled the property before troopers reached the scene. As a large scale search for him got underway, officers found a fourth victim dead at a separate home in the county.

What We Know So Far

At the first home, state police said officers found a 45 year old man, a 40 year old woman and a 16 year old boy dead, along with the wounded 13 year old girl. At a second home in Missaukee County, officers found a 53 year old man dead. Hickman’s vehicle was later located near Whitlock Lake, leading investigators to his body along with that of a 29 year old woman in a nearby wooded area.

State police spokesperson Lt. Ashley Miller said investigators could not yet determine whether Hickman died by suicide, pending autopsy results. She said authorities identified him as a suspect quickly but declined to say how, adding that his identity was never in doubt once officers began responding.

Names and relationships among the shooter and victims had not been officially released as of Saturday, pending family notification. However, a relative identified two of those killed in a Facebook post as Amanda Everitt, 40, and her 16 year old son, Eric. David Everitt, Amanda’s father and Eric’s grandfather, wrote that the world had lost two beautiful people, referring also to a third person clinging to life. He described the surviving 13 year old girl as a hero for managing to call 911 and identify the shooter despite being shot four times. The girl was hospitalized in critical condition Friday but was reported stable by Saturday.

Court records reviewed by the Detroit News show Hickman was convicted of misdemeanor fourth degree child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of children in a 2010 case brought by the Missaukee County Sheriff’s Department, for which he served a year in jail. That earlier case stemmed from a complaint by his former wife, Katie Hickman, who filed for divorce in September 2023 after the marriage significantly deteriorated, according to a 2025 written opinion from Judge Melissa Ransom. The judge noted it was uncontested that the marriage involved allegations of domestic violence attributed to both Hickman and his ex-wife, and the opinion cited Katie Hickman’s testimony describing the marriage as marked by control, coercion and fear.

What Authorities Are Saying

Miller said the situation was heartbreaking for the community and challenging for the investigators involved, adding that authorities remained committed to a thorough investigation and would provide updates as new information became available.

Describing the impact on the area, Miller said Missaukee County is a very small community that has been rocked and crushed by the incident, with residents searching for answers about why it happened.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she had been briefed on the shooting and was monitoring the situation, saying her thoughts were with the victims, their families and the Missaukee community.

Why This Matters

The scale of Friday’s violence, five victims across three separate locations plus the suspect, represents an unusually large casualty count for Missaukee County, a rural area of about 15,000 people in northern Michigan unaccustomed to this kind of coordinated violence. The tight knit nature of the community, as Miller described it, means the loss is likely to be felt broadly rather than confined to those directly connected to the victims.

The emergence of Hickman’s prior domestic violence history, including a decade old criminal conviction and more recent allegations raised during his 2023 divorce proceedings, adds important context to the case, suggesting a pattern of behavior that preceded Friday’s shootings by years. Whether investigators ultimately connect the shootings to the earlier domestic violence allegations remains part of the ongoing inquiry into a motive.

The survival of the 13 year old girl, despite being shot four times, and her ability to call 911 and identify the shooter, played a critical role in helping investigators respond quickly and ultimately locate Hickman, underscoring how her actions may have helped prevent additional violence during the manhunt that followed.

What Happens Next

Investigators worked through the night processing each of the shooting scenes, according to Miller, and the investigation into a possible motive remained ongoing as of Saturday. Authorities have not said when they expect to release the full names and relationships of the victims and suspect, or when the medical examiner’s findings on Hickman’s cause of death will be available.

The surviving 13 year old girl remained hospitalized in stable condition as of Saturday. Given the unresolved questions about motive and the connection, if any, between Friday’s shootings and Hickman’s documented history of domestic violence allegations, further details are expected to emerge as the investigation continues.

Reporting drawn from the Associated Press, NBC News, the New York Post and the Detroit News

Indonesia Earthquake: Magnitude 7.7 Quake Kills 20

By
Emmanuel Paul
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A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia’s Flores island early Saturday, killing at least 20 people, collapsing buildings and triggering brief panic across a region long accustomed to destructive quakes.

Authorities said six people were injured and two remained missing after a landslide set off by the quake. Indonesia’s disaster agencies issued a tsunami warning and urged coastal residents to move to higher ground, later lifting the warning roughly three hours after the quake. Accounts differed on what monitoring showed in the interim, with one report saying officials detected no significant sea level changes posing a threat, while another said tsunami waves of less than three feet were recorded in several areas before the warning was lifted.

Indonesian and international seismic agencies also gave differing readings on the quake’s exact timing and depth. The U.S. Geological Survey placed the quake at 5:58 a.m. local time at a depth of 10 kilometers, while Indonesia’s geophysics agency, BMKG, recorded the initial quake at 4:58 a.m. at a depth of 15 kilometers. The epicenter was located roughly 42 miles north northwest of the city of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province.

What We Know So Far

Fathur Rahman, head of the Maumere Search and Rescue Agency, said rescuers had recovered at least 20 bodies across the three hardest hit regencies of Sikka, West Manggarai and East Manggarai, including eight bodies pulled from a landslide in the village of Reok in Manggarai. Six people with severe injuries were taken to nearby hospitals, and rescuers were continuing to search for two villagers believed buried under mud from a hillside landslide triggered by the quake.

East Nusa Tenggara Governor Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena said separately that at least five people died when rubble collapsed on them as they slept, though it remained unclear whether that figure was included within or separate from the overall count of 20 confirmed deaths.

East Nusa Tenggara Police Chief Rudi Darmoko said the earthquake caused severe damage and building collapses, adding that power outages across affected cities and villages had disrupted the flow of information and complicated search and rescue work. He said landslides in Ende regency had cut off the Trans Flores highway, a roughly 435 mile paved mountain road spanning the island from Labuan Bajo to Larantuka.

Rescue teams had not yet reached Nagekeo regency, the area closest to the epicenter, as of the latest reports, with communications signals affected and road access blocked by landslides. One rescue team attempted to reach the area by ferry instead. Indonesia’s national disaster mitigation agency, BNPB, said about 2,000 residents in Nagekeo evacuated to temporary shelters, with damage reported to homes, warehouses and government facilities alongside traffic congestion and power outages.

Television footage showed hospital patients being evacuated as a precaution, with staff moving beds, IV stands and oxygen equipment outdoors to set up temporary treatment areas. Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency deployed a helicopter to support logistics and potential evacuations, citing the region’s island geography as a significant challenge for ground based transportation and access.

What Witnesses Are Saying

Sikka resident Yohanna Embu said numerous buildings in the area were damaged by the shaking, including the collapsed waiting room at the port terminal in Maumere, and described panicked residents running toward higher ground.

The Rev. Guidelbertus Tanga, rector of St. Peter Major Seminary in Sikka, said students and nuns fled in panic as the roof of an assembly hall collapsed during morning Mass, adding that at least one priest suffered a broken leg after jumping from a building’s second floor during the quake.

Nona, a 51 year old resident of Talibura village, described the shaking as massive and said she and 12 others inside her home all ran to safety together. A video verified by Reuters showed part of a building collapsing into dust and rubble near a port in Maumere as bystanders screamed and ran.

Why This Matters

The quake was felt across a wide area, including East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara and parts of South Sulawesi, with BNPB reporting shaking that lasted roughly one minute in several locations. Damage was also reported in Labuan Bajo, the gateway town to Komodo National Park, one of Indonesia’s best known tourist attractions, as well as in Bima in neighboring West Nusa Tenggara province.

Indonesia’s vulnerability to this kind of disaster stems from its location along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone of intense seismic and volcanic activity where multiple tectonic plates meet. The same area of Flores was struck by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake in 1992 that triggered a tsunami killing about 2,500 people, underscoring the region’s long documented exposure to catastrophic seismic events. 

Indonesia’s history includes several other major disasters, including a magnitude 7.5 quake in 2018 that caused tsunami and liquefaction damage in Palu, killing more than 4,400 people, and the magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra in December 2004 that triggered a tsunami killing 230,000 people across a dozen countries.

Australia’s tsunami warning center said the earthquake posed no tsunami threat to the Australian mainland, its islands or territories, indicating the disaster’s impact remained regionally contained despite its scale.

What Happens Next

Search and rescue operations are continuing in hard hit areas, with helicopter support deployed to reach communities that remain difficult to access by road due to landslide damage. Authorities have not said when they expect to restore full communications and access to Nagekeo regency, the area closest to the epicenter.

Given the ongoing search for two people believed trapped under landslide debris and the communication gaps still affecting some regions, officials cautioned that the full scope of casualties and damage may not be clear for some time. Aftershocks are expected to continue following the initial quake, consistent with the pattern typically seen after major earthquakes in the region.

Reporting drawn from the Associated Press and Reuters

Luigi Mangione Faces Life in Prison After Pleading Guilty

By
Omonigho Daibo
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Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty Friday to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, admitting in court that he tracked the executive to a New York investor conference and shot him on a Manhattan street in December 2024.

Mangione, 28, appeared in Manhattan federal court in a beige jail uniform, shackled at the feet but not handcuffed. Reading from a prepared statement, he described shooting Thompson on the morning of December 4, 2024, saying simply that Thompson died as a result.

Thompson’s widow, Paulette, sat in the front row of the courtroom gallery and appeared to fight back tears as Mangione described the shooting, with family members seated beside her offering comfort.

What We Know So Far

Mangione told the court he used a 3D printer to manufacture part of a gun and traveled to New York intending to kill Thompson. He said he had emailed UnitedHealthcare leadership seeking details about the company’s 2024 investor conference while posing as an investor managing more than 50 billion dollars in assets, and said he received a response within an hour, faster than he had experienced in prior interactions with insurers. He told the court he noted that the conference, despite the company’s stated mission of improving the health system, would be attended by executives, board members and investors rather than doctors, nurses or patients.

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett asked Mangione whether he understood he could spend the rest of his life in prison. He answered that he did. Prosecutors said they intend to seek a life sentence, the maximum allowed, at Mangione’s sentencing, scheduled for December 18.

Both prosecutors and Mangione’s defense lawyers said the plea came without any deal or promise of leniency, and it was not entered to avoid a potential death sentence, since that possibility had already been eliminated when a federal murder charge was dismissed earlier this year on legal grounds. Judge Garnett may still consider Mangione’s decision to plead guilty as a mitigating factor at sentencing.

Following the plea, Mangione’s lawyers moved to dismiss a separate state murder case in New York on double jeopardy grounds, arguing he should not face prosecution twice over the same underlying conduct. New York’s double jeopardy protections can apply when an earlier prosecution ends in a guilty plea, though the law allows exceptions for charges involving different elements or aimed at preventing different kinds of harm.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the state case, said it remains committed to pursuing it and would contest the defense’s dismissal motion. A trial in that case had been scheduled for September 8 before Justice Gregory Carro, and Mangione would face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of second degree murder there. Legal analyst Catherine Christian, a defense lawyer and former Manhattan prosecutor, said the stalking charges Mangione pleaded guilty to still require proof of intent to kill, which could complicate prosecutors’ efforts to argue the state charges are meaningfully distinct.

What Authorities Are Saying

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald, whose office handled the federal case, said no grievance or ideological cause can ever justify murder. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said violence is not a cause and that a killer is not a hero, addressing those who have expressed support for Mangione since the killing.

Mangione’s defense lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said her client has accepted full responsibility for Thompson’s death, arguing he should not face two separate prosecutions over what she called a single tragic event. A spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the office remains prepared to litigate the defense’s motions and stays committed to pursuing justice for Thompson and his family.

Thompson’s family said in a statement that the plea represented an important step toward justice, while noting that Mangione still faces separate state prosecution. UnitedHealth Group said it remains grateful to law enforcement for bringing Thompson’s killer to justice, describing his death as devastating to everyone who knew him.

Why This Matters

The case became a flashpoint in the broader national debate over the U.S. health insurance industry after investigators said ammunition recovered at the scene bore the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose,” language echoing criticism of how insurers handle claims. Authorities have said Mangione’s private writings similarly criticized insurers, details that helped transform the killing into a cause among some critics of the industry, even though Mangione was never a UnitedHealthcare customer, according to police and the company.

Mangione’s courtroom statement citing years of back pain and frustration with the insurance system provided the most direct public account yet of his stated motivation, though officials have been clear that personal grievance does not excuse the killing. The tension between public sympathy in some quarters and the formal legal proceedings against him has made the case unusually prominent for what would otherwise be a conventional, if brazen, workplace adjacent killing.

The double jeopardy fight now shaping up in the state case adds a significant legal wrinkle, since a successful dismissal motion could mean Mangione faces no additional charges beyond the federal stalking plea and eventual sentencing, despite New York prosecutors having pursued a separate murder case for more than a year.

What Happens Next

Mangione’s federal sentencing is set for December 18, where prosecutors will seek a life sentence. Judge Garnett will decide how much weight, if any, to give his guilty plea as a mitigating factor.

The more immediate question is whether the state murder case in Manhattan proceeds toward its scheduled September 8 trial or is dismissed under the double jeopardy motion Mangione’s lawyers have now filed. Bragg’s office has signaled it will fight to keep the case alive, setting up a legal dispute over whether the stalking and murder charges are sufficiently distinct under New York law, a question that could delay or reshape the state case’s timeline regardless of the outcome.

Reporting drawn from the Associated Press and Reuters

Nigel Farage Wins By-Election but Skips Vote Count Amid Mockery

By
Zipporah Njoki
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Nigel Farage won back his seat in Parliament on Friday, defeating a field of 34 candidates including costumed satirical contender Count Binface in a special election widely dismissed by critics as a stunt.

Farage, leader of the Reform UK party, received 22,239 votes, about 63 percent of the total, according to results announced Friday. Binface finished second with 9,455 votes, roughly 27 percent, his best result across eight election campaigns. Turnout reached 44 percent on what was the hottest day of the year so far.

Farage triggered the vote by resigning the Clacton seat he had held since 2024, days after a parliamentary investigation opened into whether he failed to declare a 5 million pound gift from an overseas cryptocurrency billionaire. He said running again would let voters demonstrate their support for him directly.

What We Know So Far

Britain’s major parties, including the governing Labour Party and the main opposition Conservative Party, boycotted the race, calling it a stunt designed to let Farage dodge scrutiny of his finances. Their absence opened the field to dozens of independent and minor party candidates, with Binface, the alter ego of comedian Jon Harvey, emerging as Farage’s most prominent challenger.

Binface ran on a deliberately absurd platform that included promises to cut some people’s taxes while raising everyone else’s, build a single affordable home, and nationalize singer Adele. Despite the satire, his vote total marked a dramatic jump from a previous special election two months earlier, in which he received just 95 votes running against now Prime Minister Andy Burnham. By clearing the 5 percent vote threshold, Binface qualified for a refund of the 500 pound deposit required of all candidates.

Farage declared victory early Friday morning and did not attend the official declaration ceremony, where he would have stood alongside the other candidates, many running joke campaigns. He said he skipped the event after Essex Police informed him of an organized campaign to disrupt the result, and a Reform UK spokesperson separately said there had been a credible threat against him. Essex Police disputed that account, and an acting returning officer overseeing the count said there was no reason not to proceed with the process as planned.

What Authorities and Candidates Are Saying

Farage told supporters at a victory event that he refused to stand on stage and be demeaned by what he called nobodies after winning what he described as a resounding victory. He characterized the result as a rejection of the political establishment by Clacton voters.

Binface, speaking to reporters at the count before final results were announced, said the moral victory already belonged to him, while adding that he would respect whatever the voters of Clacton decided.

Labour Party chairwoman Bridget Phillipson said the outcome was no real victory for Farage, arguing that the scandal surrounding his finances had only deepened while he distracted the public with the by-election. She said the vote did not clear his name and instead suggested he had more to hide.

An Essex Police spokesperson said the force maintained a proportionate and robust policing operation to ensure the safety of everyone involved in the count.

Why This Matters

Farage’s win confirms his continued strength in Clacton but does little to resolve the underlying investigation that prompted his resignation in the first place. Parliament’s standards watchdog is examining an undeclared 2024 donation from Thailand based cryptocurrency billionaire Christopher Harborne, which Farage has said was a personal gift used for his security and did not require disclosure since it came before his election. Newly elected lawmakers, however, are required to declare political related gifts worth more than 300 pounds received in the prior year.

Farage separately faces scrutiny over his financial ties to George Cottrell, a longtime associate who served eight months in a U.S. prison for fraud roughly a decade ago after offering to launder money for undercover agents posing as drug traffickers. London police have also confirmed a separate investigation into undeclared donations made to Reform UK ahead of the 2024 general election, reportedly tied to financial support from Cottrell and his mother.

Because the parliamentary investigation was only suspended, not concluded, when Farage resigned, it is expected to resume now that he has reclaimed his seat. If investigators find he breached parliamentary rules, he could be forced out of Parliament entirely, potentially triggering yet another election in Clacton, this time with major parties likely to field candidates rather than boycott.

Farage’s broader political standing remains significant given his central role in Britain’s vote to leave the European Union a decade ago and his continued strong national polling, even as sustained scrutiny of his finances has caused some erosion in his numbers in recent months.

What Happens Next

The parliamentary standards investigation into Farage’s undeclared donation is expected to resume following his return to Parliament, with the outcome likely to determine whether he faces further consequences, including potential removal from his seat. The separate police investigation into Reform UK’s 2024 campaign donations also remains ongoing.

Should Farage ultimately be forced out and a new election called, the contest would likely look very different from Friday’s vote, with major parties expected to field candidates rather than repeat their boycott, setting up a more conventional electoral test of Farage’s support in Clacton.

Reporting drawn from the Associated Press, Sky News and Le Monde

New US Aircraft Carrier Deploys to the Middle East

By
Emmanuel Paul
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0

 The Pacific based aircraft carrier USS George Washington has begun moving toward the Middle East as reports emerge of mental health and supply problems aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has spent a record setting stretch at sea supporting the U.S. war against Iran.

The Lincoln’s deployment has included more than 240 uninterrupted days at sea. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that reports describing conditions aboard the carrier had been completely misrepresented, even as several Democratic lawmakers press the Pentagon for greater accountability and information.

Extended carrier deployments during the Iran conflict have raised concerns both about the toll on service members kept away from home for long stretches and about growing strain on the ships and their equipment. Hostilities between the U.S. and Iran have eased in recent weeks, though the Navy has reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Trump administration has not offered a clear timeline for winding down the conflict. Hegseth told reporters the blockade can be maintained indefinitely.

What We Know So Far

The George Washington left port in Da Nang, Vietnam, last week, according to a Navy statement, and has since been spotted crossing the Singapore Strait alongside a cruiser and a destroyer. A Navy official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ship movement details confirmed the carrier had entered the Strait of Malacca, putting it on a course toward the Indian Ocean. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that the Washington is expected to replace the Lincoln as one of two carriers stationed in the Middle East, a shift that would leave the Pacific without a U.S. carrier presence for an unspecified period.

The Lincoln deployed from San Diego on November 21 and arrived in the Middle East in January, ahead of the Iran war’s launch on February 28. The Navy has acknowledged that the conflict created what it called a highly contested environment that disrupted traditional supply hubs in the region, leading to shortages and lost mail aboard the carrier. A Navy statement said leadership prioritized mission critical supplies in order, starting with food, then hygiene items, then mail, and said sailors currently have access to clean water and healthy meal options.

The Navy said it has not observed an increase in suicidal thoughts or attempts aboard the ship, though officials declined to provide supporting data, citing operational security and patient privacy. A Navy official said a sailor aboard the Lincoln went overboard in early August but was quickly recovered, treated by the ship’s medical staff and transferred off the vessel for further care. The official would not say whether the incident was being treated as a suicide attempt.

When reports of food shortages aboard the Lincoln first emerged in April, the Navy disputed them as false. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao and other Navy leaders held a tense town hall last week for families of sailors aboard the Lincoln, during which commanders of the Navy’s air and surface forces pledged to do everything possible to relieve the carrier from its deployment.

What Authorities Are Saying

Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote in a letter to Navy leadership that the Lincoln’s prolonged deployment carries particular significance given ongoing operations against Iran and the possibility that substantial U.S. naval forces could be needed in the region for an extended period.

Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Marine Corps veteran, said he is seeking to organize a bipartisan oversight visit to the ship, describing the way sailors are being treated as dangerous.

Hegseth, speaking to reporters during a visit to Panama, said he wants the Lincoln’s sailors home and its crew rotated as quickly as possible, while defending the Navy’s support for the ship. “I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody,” Hegseth said, describing their work in difficult conditions as remarkable.

Why This Matters

The deployment of the George Washington toward the Middle East reflects a broader strategic shift in how the Trump administration is allocating naval resources, prioritizing sustained presence in the region over the Indo-Pacific despite ongoing tension with China. Officials have described China as a settled force that mainly needs to be deterred from regional dominance, a notably different characterization than the framing used under the Biden administration, which treated China as the top global adversary.

The reported conditions aboard the Lincoln, including supply shortages, lost mail, and now scrutiny over mental health support, echo problems seen on other carriers during extended deployments tied to the broader conflict. The USS Gerald R. Ford returned home in mid May after an 11 month deployment, the longest since the Vietnam War, during which it supported both the Iran war and the operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. The Ford experienced a fire in a laundry space during its deployment that forced it back to the Mediterranean for repairs and left hundreds of sailors without sleeping quarters for a period.

Concerns about overextending ships and crews predate the Iran conflict, with a series of mishaps affecting vessels battling Houthi rebels in Yemen during 2024 and 2025, including an extended deployment for the USS Harry S. Truman. Taken together, the pattern suggests a broader strain across the Navy’s carrier fleet tied to the cumulative demands of sustained operations across multiple regional conflicts in recent years.

What Happens Next

The George Washington is expected to continue its transit toward the Indian Ocean and eventually the Middle East, though the Navy has not confirmed an exact timeline for when it would formally relieve the Lincoln. Congressional scrutiny is likely to continue, with Blumenthal’s formal questions to Navy leadership and Gallego’s proposed oversight visit both signaling sustained political pressure for greater transparency about conditions aboard the Lincoln.

Whether the Navy releases additional information addressing lawmakers’ concerns, including data on mental health incidents aboard the ship, remains uncertain given officials’ stated reluctance to share such details publicly. The Lincoln’s eventual return home, originally expected in May, is likely to remain a closely watched marker of how the Navy manages the broader strain of its extended Middle East deployments.

Reporting drawn from the Associated Press, MS NOW and The Wall Street Journal

11 Charged in US Fake Marriage Scheme for Green Cards

By
Omonigho Daibo
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0

Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment Wednesday charging 11 people with orchestrating more than 1,000 sham marriages over more than a decade to help foreign nationals, primarily Chinese citizens, fraudulently obtain U.S. permanent residency, the Justice Department said.

Officials described the operation as one of the largest marriage fraud schemes ever prosecuted in the United States. Foreign nationals paid facilitators as much as $100,000 for a sham marriage and help obtaining a green card, according to the indictment, while participating U.S. citizens were paid up to $30,000, typically in installments tied to milestones in the application process.

Attorney General Todd Blanche said the operation amounted to a long running, highly organized effort to help people illegally obtain U.S. citizenship status. Accounts differed on the scale of money involved, with the unsealed indictment describing a multimillion dollar scheme while Blanche, in separate remarks to reporters, described it as a multibillion dollar cottage industry, a discrepancy that had not been clarified as of Wednesday.

What We Know So Far

According to the indictment, the network operated from at least 2016 through July 2026, arranging sham marriages between foreign nationals and U.S. citizens across multiple states, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida, as well as in Vanuatu and China, though it was based principally in New York City.

The scheme relied on a layered structure, according to prosecutors: facilitators who oversaw the operation and identified foreign national customers, recruiters who found willing U.S. citizens and ensured their continued participation, and assistants who prepared immigration paperwork and coordinated submission of fraudulent green card applications to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Marriage officiants, attorneys, tax preparers and insurance providers also allegedly supported the scheme. Recruiters were paid commissions of up to about $5,000 for each U.S. citizen they brought into the scheme.

Prosecutors said the defendants paired foreign nationals with U.S. citizens who often met for the first time immediately before obtaining a marriage license, followed by staged wedding ceremonies and photographs designed to make the marriages appear genuine. After the ceremonies, participants allegedly manufactured further evidence of legitimacy, including staged family photographs, joint financial and utility accounts, joint tax filings and shared insurance policies. When USCIS interviews were required, participants were coached on how to conceal the true nature of their relationships and provide false answers to immigration officers, according to the indictment.

The 11 defendants named in the indictment are Amy Cheng, also known as Amy Zhou, 72, of Brooklyn; Xiao Mei Chan, also known as Carmen, 64, of Queens; Christine Lu, also known as Lily, 52, of Queens; Jing Yan Ye, also known as Serene, 43, of Staten Island; Xiao Yan Chen, also known as Anna, 48, of Brooklyn; Gang Zheng, also known as Michael or Mike, 61, of Queens; Anthony Cheng, 47, of Staten Island; Michelle Duenas, 35, of Staten Island; Angela Duenas, 26, of Staten Island; Sigrid Cetino, 32, of Peekskill, New York; and Erika Johnson, 43, of Ossining, New York.

The defendants were arrested Wednesday morning and were expected to be arraigned the same day. Law enforcement executed search warrants at multiple locations in New York, including in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and Flushing, Queens. It was not immediately clear whether the defendants had retained attorneys to speak on their behalf.

Each defendant faces one count of conspiracy to commit marriage fraud and immigration fraud, carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to encourage the unlawful residence of noncitizens in the United States, carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Prosecutors said the scheme is believed to have generated tens of millions of dollars from foreign nationals seeking permanent resident status.

What Authorities Are Saying

Blanche said the schemes carry real costs, undermining the country’s ability to control who is and is not allowed to become a citizen.

U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald for the Southern District of New York said the operation functioned as a nationwide and international, multimillion dollar marriage fraud enterprise built to exploit immigration law for profit, adding that Wednesday’s arrests dismantled a central part of one of the largest such schemes charged in U.S. history.

USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said anyone willing to lie or cheat their way to legal status poses a direct threat to national security, and that the agency is aggressively pursuing marriage fraud networks and their leaders.

Homeland Security Investigations Acting Executive Associate Director John Condon said the decade long scheme had effectively turned marriage fraud into an international business model, resulting in hundreds of fraudulent green card applications submitted to federal immigration authorities.

Why This Matters

The case represents one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in U.S. history by scale, both in the number of sham marriages allegedly arranged and the length of time the network is accused of operating. Its reach across multiple U.S. states and into China and Vanuatu illustrates how such schemes can extend well beyond a single local operation into an organized, transnational enterprise involving dozens of participants beyond the core group of defendants, including hundreds of recruited U.S. citizens.

The prosecution arrives amid the Trump administration’s broader push to tighten restrictions on both legal and illegal immigration, positioning this case as a high profile example of the administration’s stated commitment to rooting out fraud within the legal immigration system specifically, rather than focusing solely on unauthorized border crossings.

The scale of financial exchange described in the indictment, with foreign nationals paying up to $100,000 each and total proceeds estimated in the tens of millions of dollars, underscores the significant demand and profit incentive driving this kind of fraud, even as legitimate pathways to permanent residency remain available through standard immigration channels.

What Happens Next

The 11 defendants are expected to appear in court following their arraignment, with the criminal case proceeding through the Southern District of New York. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jake Sidransky and Reyhan Watson are prosecuting the case, which remains under investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force, USCIS’s Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.

As with any indictment, the charges represent accusations only, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Given the scale of the alleged scheme, additional arrests or charges against other participants, including recruited citizens or additional facilitators, remain possible as the investigation continues.

Reporting drawn from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Associated Press

Lionel Messi Returns to Inter Miami Bench After Father’s Death

By
Simeon Bateren
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0

Lionel Messi rejoined Inter Miami on Wednesday, taking a spot on the substitutes’ bench for the club’s Leagues Cup match against Club Leon at Chase Stadium, days after the death of his father, Jorge Messi.

Jorge Messi died Saturday at a hospital in Rosario, Argentina, at age 68. Reports differed slightly on the timeline of the days that followed. One account said Messi flew to Rosario on Saturday and attended a private memorial service there, while another said he attended his father’s funeral near Rosario on Sunday before flying back to Miami on Tuesday night. The discrepancy in the exact dates had not been resolved across the differing reports.

It marked the first time Messi, Inter Miami’s captain, watched a match kickoff from the bench rather than the starting lineup since his return.

What We Know So Far

Messi had shared an emotional tribute to his father on Instagram earlier in the week, reflecting on how difficult it was to play through this summer’s World Cup, where Argentina lost to Spain in the final, while his father battled an unspecified illness. In the post, Messi wrote about waiting for messages from his father after each match and growing increasingly worried as they stopped arriving, and described trying to advance as far as possible in the tournament in hopes his father could still see a game. He also expressed uncertainty about his future in the sport. “I don’t know what I’ll do without you, I don’t know how to go on,” Messi wrote.

Inter Miami coach Guillermo Hoyos said Tuesday that news of Jorge Messi’s death had deeply affected the team, describing it as a source of great pain that the locker room had genuinely felt. Hoyos did not specify at the time when Messi would rejoin the squad, though Messi made himself available in time for Wednesday’s match.

Inter Miami entered the match needing a win against Leon, combined with other results going their way, to advance to the knockout stage of the Leagues Cup, a tournament featuring clubs from Major League Soccer and Mexico’s Liga MX. The club had opened the group stage with a win over Atletico San Luis before losing 2-1 to Monterrey while Messi was away attending his father’s memorial.

For Wednesday’s match, Hoyos started Argentine midfielder Rodrigo De Paul and Brazilian midfielder Casemiro, while forward Luis Suarez was unavailable due to suspension and forward German Berterame was out recovering from a concussion.

What Authorities Are Saying

Hoyos said the pain of losing a parent is something everyone eventually faces but that it remains difficult to fully process even when it is a shared human experience. He said there are often no adequate words for that kind of loss, adding that the team had felt the weight of what Messi was going through.

Why This Matters

Messi’s decision to rejoin the squad just days after his father’s death, even in a bench role rather than as a starter, reflects both the emotional difficulty of the moment and the competitive stakes facing Inter Miami, which needed a positive result to keep its Leagues Cup campaign alive. His father served not only as a parent but as his longtime agent and a central figure throughout his career, making the loss especially significant for a player who has spoken publicly about how closely the two remained involved in every stage of his professional life.

Messi’s public comments about uncertainty over his soccer future, raised directly in his tribute post earlier in the week, add another layer of significance to his return, since any indication of a shortened timeline for his career carries major implications for Inter Miami and the broader landscape of North American soccer given his stature in the sport.

What Happens Next

Inter Miami’s results Wednesday will determine whether the club advances to the Leagues Cup knockout stage, with the team needing both a win over Leon and favorable results elsewhere in the group. Messi’s role going forward, including whether he returns to the starting lineup for subsequent matches, remains unclear given Hoyos’s earlier comments that no firm timetable had been set for his reintegration.

Messi’s broader comments about his soccer future are likely to remain a significant storyline regardless of Wednesday’s outcome, given the uncertainty he expressed in his tribute to his father just days before returning to the bench.

Reporting drawn from ESPN and France 24, citing Inter Miami coach Guillermo Hoyos and Lionel Messi’s Instagram tribute to his father.

Lionel Messi Pays Emotional Tribute to Late Father

By
Simeon Bateren
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0

 Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi shared an emotional tribute to his father, Jorge Messi, on Instagram Wednesday, describing how difficult it was to lead Argentina through this summer’s World Cup as his father’s health steadily declined.

Jorge Messi died Saturday at a hospital in Rosario, Argentina, following treatment for an unspecified illness. He was 68.

“Dad, I still can’t believe you have gone,” Messi wrote at the opening of his post, adding that it was hard to accept he would never speak with his father again.

A Father Who Was Also His Agent and Closest Confidant

Messi described his father as far more than a parent in the tribute, calling him his friend and his agent and saying he had never known his father to be wrong about anything, adding that everything had, in the end, turned out the way Jorge had said it would.

Jorge Messi’s influence on his son’s career is widely regarded as foundational within soccer. He relocated the family to Barcelona when Lionel Messi was 13 to support his son’s development and remained closely involved throughout a career that included eight Ballon d’Or awards, numerous trophies with Barcelona and a World Cup title with Argentina in 2022, serving not only as a parent but as his son’s agent and manager of his business affairs.

𝐋𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢’𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. 💔🥺

Dad, I still can’t believe that you’ve gone. I don’t fall, or rather, I don’t want to fall. It’s very hard for me to imagine that I’m not going to see you anymore, we’re not going to talk anymore. I know you were suffering and that it’s for the best, but you left too soon. We still had a lot left to enjoy together.

You asked me so much to play in the last World Cup, and it was in the days just before it started that you got the worst. It was the first time you weren’t going to be at a tournament, but Mom told me that you were going to get better and that you’d be well enough to travel.

I told you we were going to reach the final so you could travel.

Every time a match ended I waited for, missed your message.

That’s when I realized the situation was really bad. Even so, I didn’t stop thinking about going as far as possible, to buy you time and so you could see a match.

We reached the final and you couldn’t be there. I wanted to win it to bring it to you and show you a new one. I couldn’t; my legs wouldn’t give any more. This time I tried to go against my body, but I couldn’t. I never managed to feel good.

When I arrived you thought we had lost the final on penalties. We couldn’t talk about any of everything that happened. You couldn’t enjoy anything. We weren’t champions, but you have no idea how much we enjoyed every single match. Once again, you were right: I had to be there and play it.

I don’t know what I’m going to do without you, I don’t know how to go on. I only played football and now I have quite a few doubts about whether I’ll keep doing it for much longer. You were by my side from the beginning; there was so little left until the end. Why couldn’t you hold on that little bit more so we could finish together?

I’m going to miss you a lot, but you’ll always be present.

Rest in peace and look after us from above the way you did down here. Thank you for everything.

I love you, Dad. ❤️​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Playing Through a Father’s Declining Health

Messi wrote at length in the tribute about the days leading up to this summer’s World Cup, recalling that his father had repeatedly asked him to play in the tournament even as his health worsened just before it began, marking the first tournament his father would not attend in person. According to the post, Messi’s mother had reassured him that Jorge would recover enough to travel, and Messi told his father the team would reach the final so he could still make it there.

This account adds context to a moment that drew public attention during the tournament itself. In Argentina’s opening match against Algeria, Messi appeared visibly emotional after scoring the first of three goals in that game, later saying he had been crying for reasons unrelated to the match. His tribute post now makes clear that his father’s declining health was very likely connected to that emotional moment.

Waiting for Messages That Stopped Coming

Messi described waiting for messages from his father after each match and growing increasingly worried when they stopped arriving, which he said was when he understood how serious his father’s condition had become. Even so, he wrote that he kept pushing to advance as far as possible in the tournament, hoping to buy his father time and give him the chance to see a match in person if Argentina reached the final.

A Final His Father Couldn’t Fully Experience

Argentina reached the final, where the team lost to Spain, but Jorge Messi was unable to attend. Messi wrote that he had wanted to win the tournament to bring the trophy home to his father, but said his body had nothing left to give despite trying to push past his physical limits during the match. He said that by the time he returned home, his father believed Argentina had lost the final on penalties, and the two were never able to fully discuss what had actually happened during the tournament. Messi wrote that although the team did not become champions, his father had once again been right that he needed to be there and play.

Uncertainty About What Comes Next

Messi closed the letter by expressing genuine uncertainty about his future in the sport, writing that soccer was the only thing he had ever done and that he now had real doubts about how much longer he would continue playing. He said his father had been by his side since the beginning of his career, with comparatively little time left before its end, and wrote that he wished his father could have held on long enough for them to finish that journey together. He ended the tribute by thanking his father and telling him he loved him.

Messi’s public uncertainty about his soccer future, expressed directly in the tribute, is likely to draw significant attention given his stature as one of the sport’s most accomplished players and his central role with Inter Miami and the Argentine national team.

The full text of Messi’s tribute is available on his official Instagram account.

What Others Are Saying

Tributes and messages of support poured in from across the sport following Jorge Messi’s death. Inter Miami defender Facundo Mura said the entire team had been affected by the loss of their teammate’s father. Cristiano Ronaldo commented on Messi’s post offering condolences and strength to Messi and his family during the difficult period.

Inter Miami coach Guillermo Hoyos said there is currently no timetable for Messi’s return to the team following his father’s death.

What Happens Next

Messi had returned to Argentina following his father’s death and missed Inter Miami’s recent Leagues Cup match against Monterrey. The club was scheduled to conclude the group phase of that tournament Wednesday night against Leon, though Hoyos said there remains no set date for Messi’s return to play.

Given the uncertainty Messi expressed in his tribute about his long term future in the sport, his return timeline and any statements he makes about his career going forward are likely to draw continued attention from fans and the broader soccer world in the coming weeks.

Reporting drawn from the Associated Press, ESPN and ABC Sports, citing Lionel Messi’s Instagram post and statements from Inter Miami coach Guillermo Hoyos and defender Facundo Mura.

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