SYDNEY (AP) — Former Australia rugby international Nathan Charles, who overcame cystic fibrosis to play a contact sport professionally, has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND).
The 37-year-old Charles, who made his test debut in 2014 and earned four caps for the Wallabies, including a 12-12 draw against New Zealand, revealed he has been diagnosed with the same illness as recently retired National Rugby League star Jai Arrow.
MND is an umbrella term for a group of progressive neurological conditions where the motor neurones degenerate. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most common form, and ALS is often called Lou Gehrig’s disease.
During an interview this week on Stan Sport with former Wallaby and now commentator Justin Harrison, Charles said he had only recently been diagnosed.
“For a long period there I just didn’t know what it was,” Charles, who retired from professional rugby in 2018 said. “I’ve had that many tests, seen that many doctors and it just wasn’t getting any outcome, but my health just kept declining.
“And then recently, in the last few weeks, I was actually diagnosed with motor neurone disease, which has been extremely challenging and overwhelming. I know there’s no cure and … your physicality, your body deteriorates and, yeah, your life cuts short.”
Charles played Super Rugby for the Perth-based Western Force and Melbourne Rebels, as well as stints in England and France. Since retiring he has worked as chief executive of Rugby WA and been involved in the Sydney University rugby club.
Lewis Moody, the former England rugby captain and 2003 World Cup winner, was diagnosed last year with MND.
High-profile players who have died from the illness in recent years include Rob Burrow and Scottish rugby union star Doddie Weir.
Charles, on his personal website, said he was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, which primarily affects the lungs and digestive system, when he was three months old and told he may not live past 10.
“I am constantly pushing the boundaries and am living proof that anything is possible,” he said in a post to raise awareness for his the condition. “It is my personal mission to truly exceed the life expectancy of 37 years (which is the life expectancy of people with CF).”
See AP’s full rugby coverage here
FILE - Australia's Nathan Charles, center, charges through the defense of New Zealand's Kieran Read, left, and Brodie Retallic during their Bledisloe Cup rugby union test match in Sydney, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2014. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)
Iranian officials indicated they received an official U.S. response to Tehran’s proposal to end the seven-month war but did not say if it was a rejection. U.S. President Donald Trump publicly dismissed the plan a few days ago.
The response came as oil and fuel exports neared prewar levels with alternate routes.
On an Israel-bound FlyDubai flight from Dubai on Wednesday, a copilot stabbed the pilot and then apparently tried to crash the jetliner carrying around 170 people, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Passengers and crew subdued the attacker, and the plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday. Full coverage is available here.
Iranian officials indicated Wednesday they have received an official U.S. response to Tehran’s latest proposal to end the seven-month war, which U.S. President Donald Trump had publicly rejected just days earlier.
The officials did not say what the response contained and whether it was a rejection.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi presented the U.S. response to President Masoud Pezeshkian at a Cabinet meeting, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told the state-run IRNA news agency.
“We will make every effort to bring the agreement to fruition and will firmly stand up for the rights of the Iranian people,” Pezeshkian said. “The agreement must now be based on a win-win strategy.”
The Cabinet meeting followed Araghchi’s return to Iran after traveling to New York for last week’s United Nations General Assembly, where officials held indirect talks with U.S. officials and also met with Qatari and Pakistani mediators on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders.
A copilot stabbed a captain in an apparent attempt to crash a jetliner Wednesday as it was flying 174 people to Israel. Passengers burst into the cockpit and wrestled with the attacker as the plane descended sharply, witnesses and Israel’s government said.
A pilot on a FlyDubai flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel stabbed another pilot Wednesday and then apparently tried to crash the jetliner carrying around 170 people, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Passengers and crew subdued the attacker, and the plane landed safely in Saudi Arabia.
The plane made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. The shaken passengers from the FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv landed Wednesday evening in Israel on another flight, as onlookers cheered. Israel’s emergency services said they treated three passengers with minor injuries.
It was not clear what motivated the attack, which led Israel to scramble warplanes amid concerns about a possible hijacking. In a CNN interview aired on Wednesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the attacker was an Omani national and was being interrogated in Saudi Arabia, where he was arrested.
— By Samy Magdy in Cairo, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Isaac Scharf in Jerusalem, and Josh Funk
Israeli strikes killed five Palestinians and wounded 19 in Gaza, hospital officials said Wednesday, the latest of almost daily attacks since Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire nearly a year ago, halting the heaviest of the fighting.
Officials at Shifa Hospital said an Israeli strike killed a woman and critically wounded her husband in Gaza City, while another struck a bus, killing four and wounding at least 14. Elsewhere in the territory, a strike in Khan Younis wounded four Palestinians, officials at Nasser Hospital said.
Israel’s military didn’t immediately respond to questions about the bus strike, but said it was reviewing information about the strike in Khan Younis.
Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 1,400 Palestinians since the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which maintains detailed records that are generally seen as reliable. Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in militant attacks over the same time period, while two more were killed by friendly fire.
Hundreds of mourners in Gaza City also held a vigil Wednesday for 105 people killed during the war and whose bodies were recovered in the past several days from the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israeli strikes.
The U.S. military said Wednesday that it had completed the withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, ending a 12-year mission to fight the Islamic State group.
Baghdad touted the move as a sign of the country’s growing strength and sovereignty. It was also celebrated by Iran-backed groups, but raised concerns among some other Iraqis, particularly in the Kurdish region.
U.S. President Donald Trump hailed the withdrawal in a social media post, saying it “marks the end of a very expensive excursion into Hell.”
“It has been a long time, with very bad decision-making that got us involved in this quagmire in the first place, but soon, that will be part of History,” Trump said.
Alternate export routes and a U.S.-protected route through the Strait of Hormuz have helped restore oil and fuel exports from the Gulf to near prewar levels, according to figures from data firm Kpler.
Exports through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal — along with a pipeline to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman and a U.S.-protected route that guides tankers at night — have been a key workaround after the threat of Iranian attacks disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Kpler said during a Tuesday podcast.
About 21.8 million barrels per day of crude and fuel products made from crude are being shipped weekly, on average, compared to the prewar baseline of 23.3 million barrels per day, Kpler said.
“We are not at pre-conflict levels, but we are getting close to there,” said Matt Smith, Kpler's director of commodity research.
Still, the workarounds are time consuming and expensive.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi says that the Suez Canal has lost a cumulative $20 billion in revenue since the Hamas-led attack on Israel unleashed the war in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, and because of maritime navigation disruptions from the Middle East conflict.
During a televised meeting on Tuesday with Cabinet members, top military leaders and local governors, el-Sissi blamed the government’s tight budget and little education and health spending on the volatile geopolitical situation that led to increases in food and energy prices.
Traffic was significantly disrupted after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels began targeting vessels heading to Israel through the Suez Canal after the start of the war in Gaza.
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de-facto ruler says his kingdom is capable of deterring its enemies as the oil-rich country remains embroiled in a proxy war against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
“Your country possesses highly efficient human and military capabilities, capable — by the grace of God Almighty — of repelling threats and deterring them completely, regardless of their sources,” Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said on Wednesday at the inauguration of a new session of the unelected advisory Shura council.
The Houthis recently captured the strategic port city of Mokha and several Red Sea islands, extending their reach toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a maritime route through which about 12% of global trade passes. They, along with allied militias in Iraq, also have attacked Saudi oil facilities and sought to prevent Saudi tankers from using the strait, disrupting the kingdom’s oil exports.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
Israeli passenger Yaniv Hayoun, with blood stains on his shirt, who was aboard a Flydubai aircraft that made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia, is welcomed at the arrivals gate at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Tomer Appelbaum)
A displaced Yemeni boy carries water containers at Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran, on the western outskirts of Aden, Yemen, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
Palestinians carry the bodies of Hamas militants Mohannad Abu Foul and Izz Al Din Al Beik, during their funeral after they were killed in an Israeli airstrike, in Gaza City, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Iraqi security officers flash victory signs while riding in vehicles decorated with national flags during a convoy celebrating the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Passengers wait in line to check in their luggage with FlyDubai at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Mourners carry the remains of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes during the war with Hamas after they were recovered from the rubble, during their funeral in Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
FILE - Israeli tourists leave a FlyDubai plane which departed from Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv and landed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 8, 2020.(AP Photo/Malak Harb, File)
