World

The 20 nominees for the World Athlete of the Year honours have been announced ahead of the World Athletics Awards taking place in Monaco on 29 November. The nominees – selected by an international panel of athletics experts – include 10 for Women’s World Athlete of the Year and 10 for Men’s World Athlete of the Year.

Global demand soars as fans race to secure their place at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027on the opening weekend of ballot registrations Fans have until 23h59 (CAT) on 21 November to register for the ballot and select their desired matches at tickets.cricketworldcup.com

Train JourneysA global mix of over-the-top luxury and some no-frills favorites—from the Swiss Alps to the Peruvian Highlands. October 6, 2026Canyon SpiritThere’s something so chic, so glamorous that only a train can pull off. While the airlines keep testing our patience with last-minute gate changes and lost baggage, trains just get sturdier, slower, and better with time. And unlike faster modes of transport, the best rail journeys don’t just move you from one place to another. They thread you through landscapes that highways can’t reach–the Peruvian highlands, the Canadian Rockies–and show you a vantage point that only exists at ground level, at this speed, from this window. For the 39th annual Readers’ Choice Awards–which capture the travel experiences our readers love best, from hotels to cruises, islands and luggage–we asked all of you to rank the best of the best rail journeys out there. Yes, there are the big ticket, bucket list journeys we all know and aspire to book for ourselves one day.

The Victoria Inner Harbour is pictured in this file photo. Victoria has once again been named the best small city in the world by Condé Nast Traveler.

Google is celebrating the humanity's achievement of landing rockets with an illutstration on its landing page.

GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization says a possible case of pneumonic plague in Russia presents a "very low" risk outside the country as investigators look into what caused the death of a lab employee there last week. The U. N. health agency said Tuesday that it has been in contact with Russian authorities following reports of the death last week of a woman who worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East.

UVA’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, in partnership with Darden’s Institute for Business and Society, launched the Global Capitalism Index. University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Scott C. Miller and his colleagues knew creating a methodologically sound measure to define capitalism and score its practice around the world would take years. So, before they committed to the Odyssean task, they had to answer a basic but critical question: Will this matter? “The problem is that if you ask anyone what capitalism is, the answers are all different. If everyone’s answer is different, we can’t argue about the validity or value of it. That’s a real problem when trying to determine the value of capitalism to society,” Miller said. “We concluded that this word—capitalism—matters to everyone, so it matters to define it and measure how it really works across the globe.” Today, the result of those years of work makes its public debut: UVA’s Karsh Institute of Democracy, where Miller serves as director of the Democracy and Capitalism Lab, in partnership with Darden’s Institute for Business and Society, launched the Global Capitalism Index (GCI).

Skip to main contentNewsletterNewsReviewsBest New MusicFeaturesListsColumnsVideoOn “My World,” Jam City sounds like a project reborn. The opener of Jack Latham’s new LP is sprightly and lithe, like a Boz Scaggs song stripped bare and then left out in the sun for a while. The keyboards amble around the stereo field as each swoop of the bassline lugs the track forward. The whole instrumental seems to bend and curl around the three vocalists—Aidan, Bawo, and Ox Eye—who release a barrage of hooks: sung, rapped, and deadpanned. “My World” is a three-way pop song that has the clammy cool of Kelela’s “Frontline” (also produced by Latham) and the casual genius of Jai Paul’s “Jasmine,” speaking in musical fragments rather than full sentences: “Get up/Back from the dead like ‘Thriller’/Big fat killer/The lights get dimmer.” It’s nonsense, but it’s also a little exciting, as a voice coos, “I just wanna get fucked up/I just wanna get with you,” the sound of a drunken night out when you’re cycling rapid-fire through emotions. “My World” is a marvel of club-pop engineering on a level that Latham hasn’t reached in a while, a high that he spends the rest of the album almost reaching.

When Mohamed Salah terminated his contract with Liverpool a year early, MLS and the Saudi Pro League emerged as potential destinations for the Egyptian star. Instead, he shocked the soccer world this summer by signing with Trabzonspor in the Turkish Süper Lig. On its face, it appears Salah is taking a discount. He previously earned an estimated $35 million on the field during his final season in England. With Trabzonspor, Salah will collect $19.7 million (€17 million) in guaranteed compensation during each season of his two-year deal, split between a base salary and signing fees, according to a public team disclosure.

Descending a steep hillside into a 100-acre estate is a momentous entrance anywhere, let alone one stretched out between the iconic peaks of Petit and Gros Piton, after a winding journey up and up and up the mountainside. It’s worth the climb. In bouncy Soufrière, the resort’s 130 bright white villas gleam between the thick foliage and fan out over the hillsides until they reach Saint Lucia’s prettiest white sand beach. Between the chocolate, the cocktails, the sunsets, and the salt in your hair, a stay here is a full sensory experience, which continues in the evenings as the Whistling Frogs’ calls ring out into the balmy night, echoing across the mountaintops.

Published: October 06, 2026 at 5:02p.m. EDTCanadian hammer thrower Camryn Rogers has been named a finalist for the Women’s World Athlete of the Year award. World Athletics announced the 10 finalists for its men’s and women’s top athlete awards in a release Tuesday. Rogers, 27, had the five best throws in the world this year, including a toss of 81.13 metres that broke her own North American record and stands second globally all-time. The reigning Olympic champion and two-time defending world champion from Richmond, B. C., won her second straight Commonwealth Games title this summer in Glasgow, Scotland. The other finalists are: Tigst Assefa, Ethiopia, marathon; Chase Jackson, United States, shot put; Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, U. S., 100 and 200 metres; Agnes Ngetich, Kenya, marathon; Marileidy Paulino, Dominican Republic, 400m; Maria Perez, Spain, race walk; Masai Russell, U. S., 100m hurdles; Audrey Werro, Switzerland, 800m; and Yan Ziyi, China, javelin. The winner will be announced at the World Athletics Awards on Nov. 29 in Monaco. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2026. The Canadian Press

Some islands make bigger waves than others. For Hawaii’s Maui, a scenic high roller in our Readers' Choice Awards, it’s surf breaks such as Jaws that made it legendary, while a 17th-century shipwreck off Bermuda inspired Shakespeare to write The Tempest – although it’s the calm, pink sand beaches such as Horseshoe Bay that you wrote home about. Hydra, immortalised by Leonard Cohen, still offers a warm welcome to drifting travellers – a criterion that helped it beat six other Greek islands this year – as do the Caymans, where drivers toot twice just to say hello. Elsewhere, the biodiversity noted by Darwin on the Galápagos back in 1835 made it a clear winner, with sustainability points also going to Palawan in the Philippines and the Isles of Scilly, whose waters are regarded as some of the cleanest in the UK. St Martin's on the Isles of Scilly Nigel Hicks/Getty ImagesThe best islands in the UK10. Isle of Man. Score 84.889. Shetland. Score 85.118. Isle of Wight. Score 85.337. Orkney. Score 86.886. Hebrides. Score 87.505. Jersey. Score 88.434. Isle of Skye. Score 88.503. Isle of Arran. Score 89.342. Guernsey. Score 89.431. Isles of Scilly.

The World Health Organization has said the risk of an epidemic in Russia is low after the sudden death of a lab technician who worked at a plague research institute in Siberia. Darya Shipilova, who was 28, died last week, two days after falling ill. Russian media reports suggested she may have become infected after an accident at her workplace, where dangerous pathogens are kept and studied. Russian authorities have downplayed the incident and say Shipilova died of “pneumonia of an unknown aetiology”. Strict quarantine measures have been imposed at the research centre in the city of Irkutsk and in several neighbouring hospitals. Christian Lindmeier, a WHO spokesperson, said on Tuesday that there was no sign of a wider outbreak. “All ‌of the patients’ contacts have reportedly been identified and are being monitored for ‌illness, and none to date have shown ​symptoms of illness,” he said. Russian ⁠officials were still ​investigating whether viral pneumonic plague caused Shipilova’s death but the WHO had assessed the health risk as “moderate to low” for Irkutsk, “low” for the rest of Russia and “very low” for Europe, he said.

(OSV News) — Catholics around the world will mark World Mission Sunday on Oct. 18, and a “renewed energy” infuses the annual celebration of the Church’s missionary activity this milestone year, one expert told OSV News. “There are more and more dioceses around the country that are finding innovative ways to tell the stories of missionaries, and the need to support missionaries, the need to pray for missionaries,” said Father Anthony D. Andreassi, a priest of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Brooklyn, New York, and a researcher for the Pontifical Mission Societies USA.

Ticket prices range from USD $9.62 (R158) for entry-level tickets to USD $31.31 (R514) for the highest-tier matches. Special consideration has also been given to family bundles, student and pensioner pricing, early-bird local allocations, and community club and school group pricing. ICC CEO, Sanjog Gupta said: “One million ticket applications in just over 48 hours of opening the ticket ballot is a demonstration of the attention, stature and affiliation for ICC Cricket World Cup 2027. ICC events are now spectacles which transcend cultural and geographic boundaries and serve as platforms to widen and deepen fandom for the sport.