Category: World

There are a million reasons to go to Italy, so why do visitors always go to the same few places? Here are our favourite ways to shake up your Italian itinerary.

Does it seem like everyone is in Italy right now? Italy has been ranked as the top destination for American travellers in 2024 and 2025, according to a study by Price Waterhouse Cooper and the United States Tour Operators Association, but the honour should come as no surprise. The nation welcomes 80 million international visitors annually, drawn by its pastel-coloured villages, Renaissance treasures and Roman ruins.

From the Etruscans to the Romans to the Byzantines, each civilisation that has passed through this boot-shaped nation has left their own unique architectural stamp on the land, transforming its cities into open-air museums. Italy also enjoys a reputation for a deliciously laid-back lifestyle – especially in summer, when everybody’s in the piazza and beach umbrellas stud the coastlines.

“Italy doesn’t ask you to be a tourist; it invites you to feel something,” says Ruben Sanpietro, CEO and founder of Visit Italy. “It’s a country where chaos meets elegance, where silence in a mountain village can be as powerful as an opera at [Milan’s] La Scala [theatre]. You can visit 10 times, and the 11th time still surprises you, not with something new, but with something ancient you hadn’t noticed before. Italy doesn’t entertain you. It transforms you.”

A 2024 study by TourismA found foreign visitors stick to the same few popular cities – equaling just 1% of Italy’s territory. Here are our favourite ways to explore the other 99% this summer.

Ahead of celebrations this month for his 90th birthday that were attended by senior Indian ministers, the head of Tibetan Buddhists riled China again by saying it had no role in his succession.

The succession of Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, is a thorn in China-India relations, the Chinese embassy in New Delhi said on Sunday, as India’s foreign minister prepares to visit China for the first time since deadly border clashes in 2020.

Ahead of celebrations this month for his 90th birthday that were attended by senior Indian ministers, the head of Tibetan Buddhists riled China again by saying it had no role in his succession. Tibetans believe the soul of any senior Buddhist monk is reincarnated after his death, but China says the Dalai Lama’s succession will also have to be approved by its leaders.

The Dalai Lama has been living in exile in India since 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, and Indian foreign relations experts say his presence gives New Delhi leverage against China. India is also home to about 70,000 Tibetans and a Tibetan government-in-exile.

Yu Jing, a Chinese embassy spokesperson, said on social media app X that some people from strategic and academic communities in India had made “improper remarks” on the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.

Yu did not name anyone, but in recent days, Indian strategic affairs analysts and a government minister backed the Dalai Lama’s remarks on his succession.

“As professionals in foreign affairs, they should be fully cognisant of the sensitivity of issues related to Xizang,” Yu said, using the Chinese name for Tibet.

“The reincarnation and succession of the Dalai Lama is inherently an internal affair of China,” she said.

“(The) Xizang-related issue is a thorn in China-India relations and has become a burden for India. Playing the ‘Xizang card’ will definitely end up shooting oneself in the foot.”

Indian Parliamentary and Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who sat next to the Dalai Lama during the birthday festivities a week ago, has said that as a practising Buddhist, he believes only the spiritual guru and his office have the authority to decide on his reincarnation.

India’s foreign ministry said on July 4, two days before the Dalai Lama’s birthday, that New Delhi does not take any position or speak on matters concerning beliefs and practices of faith and religion.

Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be attending a regional security meeting under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Tianjin in northern China on July 15 and hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines.

This will be one of the highest-level visits between India and China since their relations nosedived after a deadly border clash in 2020 that killed at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/dalai-lama-succession-a-thorn-in-bilateral-ties-with-india-says-china-2755247-2025-07-13

Wimbledon 2025: World No.1 Jannik Sinner won his maiden title at the All England Club after beating Carlos Alcaraz in four sets on Centre Court. Alcaraz was looking to become the fifth man to win the title three times on the trot, but Sinner denied him the three-peat and conquered grass.

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner finally cracked the Carlos Alcaraz code to lift his maiden Wimbledon crown on Sunday, July 13 — a career-defining triumph forged just 35 days after his heartbreak in the French Open final.

In a statement of resilience and revenge, the Italian outdueled his rival in a gripping four-set clash: 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Over three hours and four minutes of fiercely contested tennis, Sinner conquered not just Centre Court, but the grass-court demons that had eluded him until now.

With this victory, Sinner trimmed their ATP head-to-head to 5–8 and exorcised the ghosts of Paris, where Alcaraz had staged a jaw-dropping comeback from two sets down, saving multiple championship points to break Italian hearts.

This was more than just a title — it was a turning point. Sinner snapped a five-match losing streak against Alcaraz and, in doing so, handed the Spaniard his first defeat in a Grand Slam final, halting his perfect 5–0 record.

Alcaraz, who was bidding to become only the fifth man in history to win Wimbledon three years in a row, started like a man on a mission. But somewhere along the way, his rhythm faltered — and Sinner pounced, never looking back.

It was Sinner who last defeated Alcaraz in Wimbledon in 2022. And on Sunday, he was there to stop the Spaniard’s memorable juggernaut.

Since returning from his absence at the Madrid Open, Alcaraz had gone on a 24-match winning streak – claiming titles at the Italian Open, French Open, and the Queen’s Club (HSBC) Championships – before suffering his first defeat at Wimbledon.

Alcaraz puts Sinner under pressure

Sinner made a strong start, going 3-2 up with an early break, pressuring Alcaraz’s serve. But the Spaniard hit back swiftly, breaking back and dominating the rest of the set. He wrapped it up in just 44 minutes, capitalising on Sinner’s 13 unforced errors while firing 11 winners of his own.

With his back against the wall, Sinner showed resilience, grabbing an early break to go 1-0 up in the second set. This time, he didn’t let the advantage slip after putting Alcaraz under pressure.

He even threatened a double break, but Alcaraz managed to hold. Still, the Spaniard couldn’t retrieve the break he desperately needed, and Sinner went on to level the match. Alcaraz’s four double faults until then only deepened his troubles.

Sinner topples Alcaraz on Centre Court

Both players battled hard at the start of the third set before Alcaraz held Sinner to love in the fourth game. Just when it seemed the set was headed for a tie-breaker, Sinner broke serve to go 5-4 up. Serving at 5-4, 40-15, he earned two set points and converted the first to take the third set.

Sinner made 12 unforced errors in the set – seven more than Alcaraz – but offset them with 15 winners and seven aces. Heading into the fourth set, Alcaraz found himself in familiar territory: he had come back from two sets down to beat Sinner in the French Open final, and now needed two in a row at SW19 to do it again.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/sports/tennis/story/jannik-sinner-carlos-alcaraz-wimbledon-final-title-2755245-2025-07-13

The latest version of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok is echoing the views of its billionaire creator, so much so that it will sometimes search online for Musk’s stance on an issue before offering up an opinion.

The unusual behavior of Grok 4, the AI model that Musk’s company xAI released late Wednesday, has surprised some experts.

Built using huge amounts of computing power at a Tennessee data center, Grok is Musk’s attempt to outdo rivals such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini in building an AI assistant that shows its reasoning before answering a question.

Musk’s deliberate efforts to mold Grok into a challenger of what he considers the tech industry’s “woke” orthodoxy on race, gender and politics has repeatedly got the chatbot into trouble, most recently when it spouted antisemitic tropes, praised Adolf Hitler and made other hateful commentary to users of Musk’s X social media platform just days before Grok 4’s launch.

But its tendency to consult with Musk’s opinions appears to be a different problem.

“It’s extraordinary,” said Simon Willison, an independent AI researcher who’s been testing the tool. “You can ask it a sort of pointed question that is around controversial topics. And then you can watch it literally do a search on X for what Elon Musk said about this, as part of its research into how it should reply.”

One example widely shared on social media — and which Willison duplicated — asked Grok to comment on the conflict in the Middle East. The prompted question made no mention of Musk, but the chatbot looked for his guidance anyway.

As a so-called reasoning model, much like those made by rivals OpenAI or Anthropic, Grok 4 shows its “thinking” as it goes through the steps of processing a question and coming up with an answer. Part of that thinking this week involved searching X, the former Twitter that’s now merged into xAI, for anything Musk said about Israel, Palestine, Gaza or Hamas.

“Elon Musk’s stance could provide context, given his influence,” the chatbot told Willison, according to a video of the interaction. “Currently looking at his views to see if they guide the answer.”

Musk and his xAI co-founders introduced the new chatbot in a livestreamed event Wednesday night but haven’t published a technical explanation of its workings — known as a system card — that companies in the AI industry typically provide when introducing a new model.

The company also didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment Friday.

“In the past, strange behavior like this was due to system prompt changes,” which is when engineers program specific instructions to guide a chatbot’s response, said Tim Kellogg, principal AI architect at software company Icertis.

“But this one seems baked into the core of Grok and it’s not clear to me how that happens,” Kellogg said. “It seems that Musk’s effort to create a maximally truthful AI has somehow led to it believing its own values must align with Musk’s own values.”

The lack of transparency is troubling for computer scientist Talia Ringer, a professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who earlier in the week criticized the company’s handling of the technology’s antisemitic outbursts.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/grok-4-elon-musk-xai-colossus-14d575fb490c2b679ed3111a1c83f857

President Donald Trump was on stage at the Iowa State Fairgrounds earlier this month, kicking off the country’s 250th anniversary celebration, when he heard what sounded like fireworks in the distance.

“Did I hear what I think I heard?” Trump remarked as he spoke from behind a wall of thick, bulletproof glass. “Don’t worry, it’s only fireworks. I hope. Famous last words,” he quipped, drawing laughs and cheers.

“You always have to think positive,” he went on. “I didn’t like that sound, either.”

The comments, just days before the first anniversary of Trump’s near-assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, served as a stark reminder of the lingering impact of the day when a gunman opened fire at a campaign rally, grazing Trump’s ear and killing one of his supporters in the crowd.

The attack dramatically upended the 2024 campaign and launched a frenzied 10-day stretch that included Trump’s triumphant arrival at the Republican National Convention with a bandaged ear, President Joe Biden’s decision to abandon his reelection bid and the elevation of Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor.

One year after coming millimeters from a very different outcome, Trump, according to friends and aides, is still the same Trump. But they see signs, beyond being on higher alert on stage, that his brush with death did change him in some ways: He is more attentive and more grateful, they say, and speaks openly about how he believes he was saved by God to save the country and serve a second term, making him even more dug in on achieving his far-reaching agenda.

“I think it’s always in the back of his mind,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a longtime friend and ally who was in close touch with Trump after the shooting and joined him that night in New Jersey after he was treated at a Pennsylvania hospital. “He’s still a rough and tumble guy, you know. He hasn’t become a Zen Buddhist. But I think he is, I’ll say this, more appreciative. He’s more attentive to his friends,” he said, pointing to Trump sending him a message on his birthday earlier this week.

Graham added: “It’s just a miracle he’s not dead. He definitely was a man who believed he had a second lease on life.”

Constant reminders

While many who survive traumatic events try to block them from memory, Trump has instead surrounded himself with memorabilia commemorating one of the darkest episodes in modern political history. He’s decorated the White House and his golf clubs with art pieces depicting the moment after the shooting when he stood up, thrust his fist dramatically in the air and chanted, “Fight, fight, fight!”

A painting of the scene now hangs prominently in the foyer of the White House State Floor near the staircase to the president’s residence. Earlier this year, he began displaying a bronze sculpture of the tableau in the Oval Office on a side table next to the Resolute Desk.

And while he said in his speech at the Republican convention that he would only talk about what had happened once, he often shares the story of how he turned his head at just the right moment to show off his “all-time favorite chart in history” of southern border crossings that he credits for saving his life.

During a press conference in the White House briefing room last month, he acknowledged lingering physical effects from the shooting.

“I get that throbbing feeling every once in a while,” he said, gesturing to his ear. “But you know what, that’s OK. This is a dangerous business. What I do is a dangerous business.”

Trump will spend Sunday’s anniversary attending the FIFA Club World Cup soccer final in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Crediting divine intervention

Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, who as his then-campaign chief was with him at the rally, said in a podcast interview released last week that Trump walked away from the shooting believing he had been spared for a reason.

“I would say I think he believes that he was saved. I do. And he would never — even if he thought it before, I don’t think he would have admitted it. And he will now,” she told “Pod Force One.”

She, too credited divine intervention. The chart, she noted, “was always the last chart in the rotation. And it was always on the other side. So to have him ask for that chart eight minutes in, and to have it come on the side that is opposite, caused him to look in a different direction and lift his head just a little because it was higher. And that just doesn’t happen because it happened. It happened because, I believe, God wanted him to live.”

As a result, she said, when Trump says things that “are perfunctory — every president says ‘God bless America’ — well, it’s more profound with him now, and it’s more personal.”

She also credited the attack with helping change public perceptions of Trump during the campaign.

“For the American public to see a person who was such a fighter as he was that day, I think, as awful and tragic as it might have been, it turned out to be something that showed people his character. And that’s helpful,” she said.

“You know, I have an obligation to do a good job, I feel, because I was really saved,” Trump told Fox News Friday. “I owe a lot. And I think — I hope — the reason I was saved was to save our country.”

Roger Stone, a longtime friend and informal adviser, noted that Trump has had other brushes with death, including a last-minute decision not to board a helicopter to Atlantic City that crashed in 1989 and another near-assassination two months after Butler when U.S. Secret Service agents spotted a man pointing a rifle through the fence near where Trump was golfing.

Stone said he’s found the president “to be more serene and more determined after the attempt on his life” in Butler.

“He told me directly that he believed he was spared by God for the purpose of restoring the nation to greatness, and that he believes deeply that he is protected now by the Lord,” he said.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/trump-butler-anniversary-assassination-0ef1ccff5da47f795e6d5c3a47e7f9cf

An Iranian attack on an air base in Qatar that’s key to the U.S. military hit a geodesic dome housing equipment used by the Americans for secure communications, satellite images analyzed Friday by The Associated Press show.

Hours after the publication of this AP report, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell acknowledged that an Iranian ballistic missile had hit the dome. Qatar did not respond to requests for comment about the damage.

The Iranian attack on Al Udeid Air Base outside of Doha, Qatar’s capital, on June 23 came as a response to the American bombing of three nuclear sites in Iran — and provided the Islamic Republic a way to retaliate that quickly led to a ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump ending the 12-day Iran-Israel war.

The Iranian attack otherwise did little damage — likely because of the fact that the U.S. evacuated its aircraft from the base, which is home to the forward headquarters of the U.S. military’s Central Command, before the attack.

Trump also has said that Iran signaled when and how it would retaliate, allowing American and Qatari air defense to be ready for the attack, which briefly disrupted air travel in the Middle East, but otherwise didn’t tip over into the regional war long feared by analysts.

Images show burn marks, dome gone after attack

Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC show the geodesic dome visible at the Al Udeid Air Base on the morning of June 23, just hours before the attack.

The U.S. Air Force’s 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, which operates out of the base, announced in 2016 the installation of the $15 million piece of equipment, known as a modernized enterprise terminal. Photos show a satellite dish inside of the dome, known as a radome.

Images taken June 25 and every day subsequently show the dome is gone, with some damage visible on a nearby building. The rest of the base appears largely untouched in the images.

In a statement, Parnell said the missile strike “did minimal damage to equipment and structures on the base.”

“Al Udeid Air Base remains fully operational and capable of conducting its mission, alongside our Qatari partners, to provide security and stability in the region,” he added.

The London-based satellite news channel Iran International first reported on the damage, citing satellite photos taken by a different provider.

Trump downplayed attack while Iran boasted about it

In the U.S., Trump described the Iranian attack as a “very weak response.” He had said that Tehran fired 14 missiles, with 13 intercepted and one being “set free” as it was going in a “nonthreatening” direction.

“I want to thank Iran for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured,” he wrote on his website Truth Social.

The White House had no immediate comment after Parnell’s acknowledgment Friday. Trump visited Al Udeid Air Base on May 15 as part of his Mideast tour.

After the attack, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard insisted that the air base had been the “target of a destructive and powerful missile attack.” Iran’s Supreme National Security Council also said that the base had been “smashed,” without offering any specific damage assessments.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/iran-qatar-udeid-air-base-attack-us-aace65a65a0ce69090a7b65fe85cfac8

A Tacoma, Washington, man found a gift-wrapped severed human toe while celebrating Father’s Day at a beach with his wife and two small children.

While searching the beach at Dash Point State Park for feathers on June 15, Kevin Ewing happened upon a weathered package containing a small pine box that’d been wrapped in green cloth and tied closed with yellow string.

Assuming it was a lost Christmas present, Ewing opened it, eventually finding a severed adult human big toe, reported the Federal Way Mirror.

“At first, I was very shocked,” Ewing told the Federal Way Mirror of the rotted toe. “It took me a few minutes to kind of be like, ‘Is this what I think it is?’ Then, once it dawned on me that that’s what it was, I set everything down

Nearby, Ewing spotted a dead seagull that appeared to be mutilated. He is unsure if the two are connected.

Before bringing the toe to police, he took pictures of his gruesome find, which he shared with the Federal Way Mirror.

DNA testing is being performed on the excised appendage to see if the toe can be matched to its owner.

“You don’t expect to find something like that every day, or any day, especially on Father’s Day, when you’re out with your family,” Ewing said, adding he’s glad he found it rather than someone who may have been left traumatized by the experience.

Ewing said he now keeps wondering if the toe belonged to a missing person, someone who may have been killed, or some disturbed person who cut it off for reasons unknown.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/07/12/world-news/rotting-toe-found-in-box-on-washington-beach/

President Trump came to the defense of Attorney General Pam Bondi Saturday night — just hours after FBI Director Kash Patel dismissed resignation rumors amid growing tensions over the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein probe.

Despite reports of internal turmoil and mounting calls for Bondi’s resignation, Trump praised the work of his attorney general and urged Americans to stop wasting “time and energy” on Epstein.

“What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?’ They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB!” Trump, wrote on Truth Social.

“We’re on one Team, MAGA, and I don’t like what’s happened. We have a PERFECT administration, THE TALK OF THE WORLD, and ‘selfish people’ are trying to hurt it, all over a guy who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein,” the president continued.

“LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB – SHE’S GREAT! One year ago our Country was DEAD, now it’s the ‘HOTTEST’ Country anywhere in the World. Let’s keep it that way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.”

Trump’s remarks come on the heels of reports of a fiery showdown between FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Bondi at the White House earlier this week.

The explosive exchange erupted after a Justice Department review of the late pedophile’s case found no smoking-gun evidence about his death or the notorious “client list” officials now say never existed.

Bongino – who had long speculated there was more to the Epstein file than officials were telling before entering government service – took a personal day Friday to consider resigning after less than four months on the job, a source familiar with the matter told The Post.

The source added that his relationship with Bondi is now beyond repair – and warned that if he walks, Patel might not be far behind.

But Patel took to social media Saturday afternoon to squash those “conspiracy theories.”

“The conspiracy theories just aren’t true, never have been,” Patel posted on X.

“It’s an honor to serve the President of the United States @realDonaldTrump – and I’ll continue to do so for as long as he calls on me.”

Internal matters came to a head after the Department of Justice concluded a probe into the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death at the Metropolitan Correctional center on Aug. 10, 2019, weeks after being charged with sex trafficking dozens of girls.

The investigation included a pile of documents that Bondi told Fox News in February were on her desk at the Justice Department “to be reviewed,” appearing to confirm those papers included the perv’s infamous “client list.”

She also suggested the FBI’s New York Field Office was “in possession of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein.”

But Bondi’s department released a two-page memo Monday stating that “systematic review” of evidence concluded that the 66-year-old died by suicide after impacting “over one thousand victims” and there had been “no incriminating ‘client list.’”

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/07/12/us-news/trump-defends-pam-bondi-hours-after-fbi-boss-kash-patel-squashed-conspiracy-resignation-rumors-over-epstein-files-uproar/

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was ripped on social media after she called President Trump “a rapist” online — with many suggesting a tweet from the Congresswoman was grounds for a defamation lawsuit from the commander in chief.

Ocasio-Cortez sparked outrage when she tweeted Friday about Trump and the release of files related to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

“Wow who would have thought that electing a rapist would have complicated the release of the Epstein Files?” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X, apparently referring to Trump and the 2023 civil trial where he was found liable of sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll.

Trump, however, was not found liable of rape in the case — a distinction the congresswoman failed to make — leading many on social media to encourage the president to sue the self-described “Bronx girl.”

“Even under the ridiculously lenient standards of NY Times v. Sullivan, you’ve managed to incur defamation liability. Wow,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) wrote on X, referring to the landmark 1964 Supreme Court libel case.

“George Stephanopoulos might advise you to take down this tweet,” another person tweeted.

Stephanopoulos and ABC were sued by Trump last year after the “This Week” host similarly asserted that Trump had been “found liable for rape,” during an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC).

In December, ABC and Stephanopoulos agreed to pay Trump’s presidential library foundation $15 million and an additional $1 million in legal expenses as part of a settlement, and the network publicly apologized for the error.

“This is defamatory,” Trump ally Laura Loomer said of Ocasio-Cortez’s tweet. “And I hope you are sued by Trump for this the same way George Stephanopoulos was sued and forced to pay Trump $15 million dollars.”

“The President should sue AOC into bankruptcy,” legal analyst Phil Holloway similarly argued.

“I realize she’s trying to raise her profile but this is way way too far,” Holloway tweeted.

The White House declined to say if the president was considering legal action.

“AOC likes to play pretend like she’s from the block, but in reality she’s just a sad, miserable blockhead who is trying to over-compensate for her lack of self-confidence that has followed her for her entire life,” White House communication director Steven Cheung said in a statement.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/07/12/us-news/ocasio-cortez-slammed-over-defamatory-trump-jeffrey-epstein-post-sue-aoc-into-bankruptcy/

A man in Hunan, China, bought a coffin for his 70-year-old mother, hiring 16 men to carry it home for good fortune.

In an unusual display of filial piety, a man in China’s Hunan province drew a widespread attention online after he bought a coffin for his 70-year-old alive mother to sit in and hired 16 men to carry it from the shop to his home.

The unnamed man, a resident of Shuangxikou Town in Taoyuan County, Changde, Hunan Province in southern China, reportedly undertook the act in the belief that doing so would bring his mother’s good fortune and long life.

The video of the gesture, widely shared on Chinese social media platform Douyin, showed the cheerful elderly woman sitting inside the coffin holding a fan and the men carried it in a procession, South China Morning Post reported.

A brass band played ahead of the procession, which attracted a large crowd of curious onlookers. After reaching home, a traditional ceremony with incense and offerings was held. A villager said he had seen such events three times before.

“The core idea is to express filial piety. It is a rural tradition. The elderly are usually very happy about it, but it is not very common these days,” he told Guizhou Radio TV Station.

According to the villager, the ceremony costs around $2,800 (Rs 2.4 lakh). It included the expense for the banquet, horn players and coffin bearers.

In Chinese culture, coffins are considered auspicious because guancai, the Chinese word for coffin, sounds similar to “official wealth.” Allowing living elderly people to experience the coffin is believed to bring blessings, longevity and peace.

In many villages, people over 70 prepare their own coffins and keep them at home. Funerals for the living are called “celebrations”, showing a calm approach to death.

Source : https://www.news18.com/viral/chinese-man-buys-coffin-for-alive-mother-hires-people-to-carry-it-home-heres-why-ws-l-9436883.html

On Friday morning, Russia carried out another drone attack on Odessa. The Ukrainian army’s territorial recruitment center and residential buildings were hit, local media reported.

A day earlier, at least two people were killed in a massive overnight attack that targeted several districts in the capital Kyiv. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said an ambulance station was destroyed.

The damage is part of a series of sweeping combined attacks that included what Ukrainian media called a “night from hell” in Kyiv on July 4, when the Russian army deployed more than 500 drones, in addition to Kinzhal and Iskander missiles.

As a result, even US President Donald Trump, who had previously seen himself as a mediator in the conflict, declared that he was disappointed with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin,” Trump said. “He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

Shortly after these remarks, the US resumed deliveries of artillery shells and mobile rocket artillery missiles to Ukraine, news agency Reuters reported.

Accelerated drone production in Russia

Thanks to the expansion of its drone production, Russia is now in a position to carry out this level of attacks. It is no longer dependent on Iran as it was back in 2022.

“They’re currently producing thousands a month,” military technology expert David Hambling told DW. “That might make it up to tens of thousands, and that’s simply enough to swamp most forms of defense that would take out missiles.”

Still, Colonel Markus Reisner from the Austrian Armed Forces told DW that Russia would not have the capacity carry out such attacks without the help of other countries. China supplies drone parts and North Korea delivers ballistic missiles, he added. “You can see that Russia is relying on supporters here,” he said.

Experts predict new summer offensive

Following the recent attack on Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told news portal NV that the intensified shelling was a result of Putin’s wish for “people to suffer and flee Ukraine, to see houses, schools — life itself — destroyed everywhere, not just on the front line.”

The New York Times, citing sources close to the Kremlin, reported that this is how Russia intends to break Ukraine’s defenses in the coming months.

Colonel Reisner said that Putin has two strategic aims with his latest combined attacks: to destroy Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and to influence the Ukrainian public.

“Targeted attacks on the population, which is intended to be further weakened by terror, are thus an indirect attempt to exert pressure on the Ukrainian government,” Reisner said.

Many military experts like German political scientist Andreas Heinemann-Grüder expect Russia to launch a new offensive this summer. He sees the increasing number of combined attacks as part of this campaign.

Russia’s goal is to incapacitate Ukrainian air defenses to such an extent that the losses cannot be offset by supplies from Western countries, he said. The attacks could also signal that Russia is preparing for a “decisive battle,” he added, saying that he could not rule out the possibility that Russia could corner Ukraine into subordinating to the Kremlin’s demands by around year’s end.

How can the West help?

The experts who spoke to DW all said that more decisive action from the West would be necessary to reclaim control on the battlefield. At the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome this week Zelenskyy also said that while Ukraine had found a solution to fend off Russian attacks in interceptor drones, his country’s defense sector remains in urgent need of investment.

Ukraine is now achieving good results in the production of its own drones, but still cannot do without support, Colonel Reisner said. “It needs support from the West, especially for special weapons systems, such as the Patriot anti-aircraft missiles,” he said.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/why-russia-is-stepping-up-attacks-on-ukraine/a-73254218

The United States is set to impose a 30% tariff on all goods from the European Union from August 1, US President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform Saturday.

The EU had been prepared for such a move, which comes a day after Trump told Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney that he would impose a 35% tariffs on Canadian imports.

The 27-member bloc and the US failed to reach an agreement to strike a comprehensive trade deal, including zero-for-zero tariffs on industrial goods.

In addition to the tariffs on EU goods, Trump posted another letter to his platform, declaring a 30% tariff rate on goods from Mexico beginning August 1 as well.

What did Trump say in his letter to the EU?

The US president said the trade relationship with the EU has been “unfortunately, far from Reciprocal.” As such, “we will charge the European Union a Tariff of only 30%,” he said.

Trump has frequently described tariffs as charges on other countries. However, the burden falls on consumers within the US, as tariffs make imported goods more expensive and thus less competitive.

“Please understand that the 30% number is far less than what is needed to eliminate the Trade Deficit disparity we have with the EU,” he added, referring to the difference in goods imported from the EU and goods exported to the EU.

Trump invited the bloc to negotiate further, writing in his letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that high tariff rates would be dropped if “the European Union, or countries within the EU, decide to build or manufacture within the United States.”

Trump has spent the week sending letters to trading partners, announcing new rates for a number of countries like Japan, South Korea, Canada and Brazil.

Trump’s tariff on EU goods: Where do things stand?

Trump imposed a 20% import tax on all EU-made products in early April as part of a set of tariffs targeting countries with which the US has a trade imbalance.

Hours after the nation-specific duties took effect, Trump put them on hold until July 9 at a standard rate of 10% in a bid to calm turbulent financial markets and allow time for negotiations.

But the president expressed frustration at talks with the EU. In May, he threatened to impose a tariff rate of 50% on EU goods into the US.

That would cause a price hike on everything from Italian leather goods to French cheese to German electronics in the US.

Then Trump announced that universal tariffs that were due to kick in July 9 would be delayed until at least the beginning of August.

The EU currently faces 50% US tariffs on its steel and aluminium exports, 25% on cars and car parts and 10% on most other products.

How has the EU reacted?

Ursula von der Leyen said the EU is prepared to take the necessary steps to safeguard its economic interests if the US proceeds with the 30% tariff rate.

In a statement, the European Commission President said that the bloc remained ready “to continue working towards an agreement by August 1.”

“We will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required,” she added.

French President Emmanuel Macron said his government shares the European Commission’s “very strong disapproval” of Trump’s announcement, which came despite “weeks of intense engagement.”

“France fully supports the European Commission in the negotiations, which will now intensify,” Macron posted on X, adding that he still hopes “a mutually acceptable agreement” will be reached before August 1.

The French president added that the bloc would need to speed up “the preparation of credible countermeasures” if no agreement is reached before the new tariffs take effect.

The EU has the ability to enact the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI) which allows it to retaliate against countries seeking to pressure its members. It has been repeatedly brought up as a possible response to Trump’s threats.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/trump-announces-30-tariffs-on-eu-goods-as-trade-talks-stall/a-73253662

Australia’s government said Sunday (Jul 13) it expects China to monitor major military drills it is conducting with the United States and other allies.
It also renewed a charge – denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” – that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific.

The comments by a government minister came as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties.

More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercise from Sunday across Australia and Papua New Guinea.

“The Chinese military have observed these exercises since 2017 and it would be very unusual if they didn’t do that this time,” said Pat Conroy, Australia’s minister for the defence industry and for Pacific Island affairs.

“We’ll obviously observe their activities and monitor their presence around Australia,” he told Australian public broadcaster ABC.

“People observe these exercises to collect intelligence around procedures, around the electronic spectrum and the use of communications, and we’ll adjust accordingly so that we manage that leakage.”

The strategically important South Pacific region is at the centre of a diplomatic scramble for influence pitting China against its Western rivals.

“We’re seeing in my portfolio of the Pacific, China seeking to secure a military base in the region,” said Conroy, who has previously made the same assessment.

“We’re working very hard to be the primary security partner of choice for the region, because we don’t think that’s a particularly optimal thing for Australia.”

China inked a secretive security pact with Pacific nation Solomon Islands in 2022.

Although the details have never been published, the United States and close ally Australia fear it may be the prelude to some kind of permanent Chinese base.

Australia wants “a balanced region where no one is dominated and no one dominates”, Conroy said.

China’s embassy in Fiji this month insisted claims that it wanted to set up a military base in the region were “false narratives” driven by “ulterior motives”.

Beijing has spent hundreds of millions of dollars building sports stadiums, presidential palaces, hospitals and roads in Pacific island nations.

Kiribati, Solomon Islands and Nauru have in recent years severed longstanding diplomatic links with Taiwan in favour of China.

Responding to a report that the Pentagon has pressed its ally to clarify what role it would play if the US and China went to war over Taiwan, Conroy said Australia will not commit troops in advance to any conflict.

Australia prioritises its sovereignty and “we don’t discuss hypotheticals”, he told ABC.

“The decision to commit Australian troops to a conflict will be made by the government of the day, not in advance but by the government of the day,” he said.

The Financial Times reported on Saturday that Elbridge Colby, the US under-secretary of defence for policy, has been pushing Australian and Japanese defence officials on what they would do in a Taiwan conflict, although the US does not offer a blank cheque guarantee to defend Taiwan.

Colby posted on X that the Department of Defense is implementing President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda of restoring deterrence, which includes “urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense”.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/australia-china-us-observe-military-drills-5235656

No burial records. No headstones. No memorials.

Nothing until 2014, when an amateur historian uncovered evidence of a mass grave, potentially in a former sewage tank, believed to contain hundreds of babies in Tuam, County Galway, in the west of Ireland.

Now, investigators have moved their diggers onto the nondescript patch of grass next to a children’s playground on a housing estate in the town. An excavation, expected to last two years, will begin on Monday.

The area was once where St Mary’s children’s home stood, a church-run institution that housed thousands of women and children between 1925 and 1961.

Many of the women had fallen pregnant outside of marriage and were shunned by their families – and separated from their children after giving birth.

According to death records, Patrick Derrane was the first baby to die at St Mary’s – in 1915, aged five months. Mary Carty, the same age, was the last in 1960.

In the 35 years between their deaths, another 794 babies and young children are known to have died there – and it is believed they are buried in what former Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Enda Kenny dubbed a “chamber of horrors”.

PJ Haverty spent the first six years of his life in the place he calls a prison – but he considers himself one of the lucky ones.

“I got out of there.”

He remembers how the “home children”, as they were known, were shunned at school.

“We had to go 10 minutes late and leave 10 minutes early, because they didn’t want us talking to the other kids,” PJ said.

“Even at break-time in the school, we weren’t allowed to play with them – we were cordoned off.

“You were dirt from the street.”

The stigma stayed with PJ his whole life, even after finding a loving foster home and, in later years, tracking down his birth mother, who was separated from him when he was a one-year-old.

The home, run by the nuns of the Bon Secours Sisters, was an invisible spectre that loomed over him and many others in Tuam for decades – until amateur historian Catherine Corliss brought St Mary’s dark past into the light.

NATO fighter jets were scrambled overnight after Russia launched one of the biggest attacks on Ukraine.

Some 600 drones and 26 including Kh-101 cruise missiles were launched in one of the most intense bombing raids since the start of the war.

The Russians unleashed Tu-95MS and Tu-160 strategic bombers to target Lviv and Lutsk as well as Chernivtsi in the assault on western Ukraine.

Two people were confirmed killed in Chernivtsi, close to the Romanian border, with at least 18 wounded in the overnight strikes.

The Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces said it scrambled fighter jets due to the intensity of the attack.

“Due to the activity of long-range Russian aviation striking targets located in western Ukraine, among other places, Polish and allied air forces have commenced operations in Polish airspace,” it added.

“Scrambled pairs of fighter jets were deployed, and ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of combat readiness,” said the statement.

In Lviv, the Russians hit residential buildings and a kindergarten.

“Explosions occurred in several districts of the city,” said mayor Andriy Sadovyi.

Head of the regional military administration, Maksym Kozytskyi, called it a “massive drone attack”.

The main building of the Electron corporation – a maker of trams and buses – was hit.

Russian reports claimed the Yavoriv military training ground in Lviv region was targeted.

In Lutsk, homes were damaged in the blitzkrieg.

In Chernivtsi, the dead were a woman aged 26 and a man aged 43.

“Several residential buildings, shops, administrative buildings and cars were damaged,” said head of the regional military administration, Ruslan Zaparanyuk.

In a message to Donald Trump, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said: “More air defence and investments in interceptor drones, which are already showing good results, are needed.

“The war can only be stopped by force. We expect from our partners not just signals, but actions that will save lives.”

It comes after Donald Trump slammed Vladimir Putin for talking “bull****” about the Ukraine war and making “meaningless” promises.

Trump’s criticism of Putin came a day after he said he would send more weapons to Ukraine.

The US president appears to be growing increasingly frustrated with the Russian tyrant.

He reiterated he was “very unhappy” with Putin since their phone call last week made no progress on the Ukraine peace deal – something the US president has pushed for since returning to power.

“We get a lot of bull**** thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump told reporters during a televised cabinet meeting at the White House.

“He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

But Putin has snubbed peace and is instead steadily increasing his overnight bombing raids – which could soon hit 1,000 a day.

The White House confirmed on July 1 that shipments of certain air defence missiles and other precision bombs to Ukraine had been stopped because of concerns about dwindling weapons stockpiles.

However, Trump reversed the decision, adding: “We’re going to send some more weapons.

“We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves.They’reting very hard now.”

“We’re going to have to send more weapons, defensive weapons, primarily.”

Trump promised to immediately send 10 MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems – which are used to stop incoming missiles – to Ukraine, according to Axios.

The rocket systems were successfully used a fortnight ago when they shot down every single missile that Iran fired at a US airbase in Qatar.

More weapons that Kyiv could receive in the coming days include precision-guided GMLRS missiles and thousands of high-explosive Howitzer rounds.

Trump also urged Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth to push defence contractors to increase production of armaments.

“We have to step them up, Pete, and let them make it at a much higher rate,” he said.

“Putin is not treating human beings right. He’s killing too many people. So we’re sending some defensive weapons and I’ve approved that,” Trump added.

Asked about his interest in a bill proposed by the Senate for further sanctions on Russia, Trump said: “I’m looking at it very strongly.”

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14691425/nato-jets-russia-attack-ukraine/

TRAGIC pictures have revealed the aftermath of the fatal crash where a CEO’s wife allegedly ran over a babysitter – with her lawyers shutting down claims she fled the scene.

Vivian Alexandra Spohr, 51, the wife of billionaire Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr, is alleged to have struck Gaia Costa with her car as she was crossing the road in Sardinia.

Spohr is now being investigated for negligent homicide – and her lawyers have rubbished previous reports that she fled the scene following the horror crash.

They said that the 51-year-old driver actually gave first aid to the dying woman after realising what had happened.

The babysitter tragically passed away after Spohr’s SUV struck her as she attempted to walk across a zebra crossing in the Italian seaside resort of Porto Cervo.

Costa is said to have raised her arm in an attempt to warn the BMW of her presence before being hit at around 1:30pm on Tuesday.

Gaia was reportedly still alive when help reached her, but had sustained serious head injuries and tragically died at the scene, La Repubblica reported.

Shocking pictures taken in the aftermath show Costa’s body covered by a large white sheet and lying on the ground next to a black SUV.

Several other emergency response vehicles were seen parked around the harrowing scene.

Reports previously claimed that Spohr, who was driving with her daughter in the car, initially didn’t notice the accident.

She was said to have been stopped by a passerby before fainting after she saw what had happened.

But Spohr’s lawyer, Angelo Merlini, said on Saturday: “Contrary to what was previously reported, Vivian Spohr stopped after the accident and provided first aid to the girl.

“However, after an initial attempt at resuscitation, Vivian Spohr lost consciousness and fainted.”

Merlini added that Spohr struck the woman at a “very low speed” with her car, which has an automatic transmission and is very heavy.

One witness at the scene reportedly said that moments after the collision, the driver opened the door of the vehicle and “immediately realised what had happened, put her hands to her face and collapsed to the ground”.

Spohr had been on holiday at her family’s holiday home in the seaside resort – but reportedly travelled back to Munich while prosecutor Milena Aucone was registering her as a suspect.

Her lawyers said on Friday: “Vivian Spohr, who was involved in the tragic death, expresses her dismay and deep regret over this very serious accident.

“She has placed herself at the complete disposal of the judicial authorities for the necessary investigations and, although aware that such a great personal loss cannot be remedied, will take steps to mitigate the consequences.”

The billionaire’s wife took alcohol and drug tests following the crash, and both came back negative.

CCTV is understood to have captured Costa crossing the street before noticing the SUV approaching her.

She desperately attempted to stop it by waving her hand – but she was knocked to the ground moments later and banged her head.

Ambulance services arrived at the scene shortly after and paramedics spent more than 20 minutes trying to revive her before she was tragically pronounced dead.

The SUV was seized and will undergo technical investigations.

An examination of Costa’s body was conducted on Wednesday.

The region’s mayor Gianni Addis said: “Gaia was a young woman who was deeply involved in the city’s social and cultural life.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14691903/ceo-wife-crash-babysitter/

BRAD Pitt has upped security at his $5.5 million Los Angeles home after thieves ransacked the property while he was out of town, a source has exclusively told The U.S. Sun.

The Los Angeles Police Department was called to reports of the break-in on Wednesday, June 25, at the actor’s residence in Los Feliz.

An insider claims the three burglars were only in the home for around 10 minutes but made off with an unknown amount of the actor’s personal items.

Pitt was not at home at the time of the crime when the suspects accessed the property through the front windows after scaling the fence.

Police are still investigating, and no arrests have been made, but Pitt has taken action by having security at the home 24/7.

“Neighborhood security was at the house about an hour before it happened,” a source told The U.S. Sun.

“He has personal security that was always there when he was in residence, but now he has guards there all the time.

“Locals did worry about the fact Brad didn’t put up a good fence or a hedge, and the home was fairly easy to access.

“As soon as the neighborhood security was off shift, three guys jumped it. It was really unfortunate.”

Personal security around the clock can cost tens of thousands of dollars, but the source quipped, “He has enough cash.”

Pitt downsized and moved from a $33 million home in Los Feliz when he purchased the mid-century modern property from oil heiress Aileen Getty in April 2023.

The home, known as “The Steel House,” is a 2,000 square foot, L-shaped residence with only three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

It boasts floor-to-ceiling windows, a swimming pool, and a built-in sauna.

He is believed to live at the property with his partner, Ines de Ramon, 32, whom he began dating in late 2022 following his high-profile split from Angelina Jolie.

The actor is not the first A-lister to have been targeted by thieves recently.

Earlier this year, Nicole Kidman had her home ransacked, meanwhile Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson’s Pacific Palisades home was struck in August 2024.

Jessie J also fell victim to thieves who stole over $20,000 worth of the singer’s jewellery.

Pitt’s first ex-wife, Jennifer Aniston, also recently had a scare when a man crashed his car through the front gates of her $21 million Bel-Air mansion.

The Friends star was reportedly home at the time of the incident.

Jimmy Wayne Carwyle, 48, from Mississippi, appeared in mental health court in Hollywood following his arrest and was found unfit to stand trial.

Carwyle is accused of harassing Aniston, 56, including social media, email, and voicemail messages between March 1, 2023, and the day he was arrested.

A judge previously granted a restraining order keeping him at least 100 yards away from the star and banning any contact.

Carwyle had been speaking to someone online who was impersonating Aniston in the weeks leading up to the incident, who had also been in contact with his family, a source told The U.S. Sun.

Meanwhile, Pitt was promoting his new movie F1 at the time of the break-in at his home and appeared at the European premiere in Leicester Square, London.

He posed for photographs alongside Tom Cruise and the film’s cast.

In his new film, he plays veteran driver Sonny Hayes, who comes out of retirement to rescue buddy Ruben Cervantes’ (Javier Bardem) ailing race team, years after a near-fatal crash.

Sonny is shown as a washed-up “old man” who has fallen into gambling and only rediscovers his love for the sport when he faces competition from a younger driver.

British F1 ace Lewis Hamilton is a producer, and the film is directed by Joseph Kosinski and the rest of the team behind Top Gun: Maverick, except Cruise.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/14688657/brad-pitt-hires-massive-security-team-home/

From Indian negotiators planning to visit the US next week for an interim trade deal and PM Narendra Modi wrapping up his five-nation tour to Russia stepping up its attacks against Ukraine and the UNRWA chief saying that Israel is engineering a “cruel and Machiavellian scheme to kill” in Gaza, a lot has happened in the world this week.

India remains confident of finalising a mini interim trade deal with the US before August 1; Trump claims BRICS is “anti-American”, threatens to impose additional tariffs on member countries; Russia intensifies attacks on Ukraine, while US pledges to supply Patriot air defence systems to Kyiv; Gaza turns into “graveyard” as ceasefire talks stall; “war crimes and crimes against humanity” reported in Sudan’s western Darfur region – here is weekly roundup of key global news.

India seeks to ink mini trade deal with US

India remains confident of finalising a mini interim trade deal with the US by resolving outstanding differences on key issues like dairy, agriculture and automobile sector tariffs, after the deadline for reciprocal tariffs was extended until August 1.

Indian negotiators held nearly a week of trade talks in the US before returning on July 4. They are understood to have offered substantial market access to US products in most sectors, excluding sensitive areas such as dairy and agriculture. The US, in turn, is expected to offer lower tariffs on labour-intensive sectors such as textiles and footwear (where it has a competitive edge), and withhold future tariffs on India.

Nonetheless, the trade talks hit a roadblock with Washington insisting on opening up India’s agriculture sector. India has drawn “very big red lines” around this politically sensitive sector, especially amid concerns over the US’s demand to access the Indian market for genetically modified (GM) products.

The new deadline of August 1 offers some elbow room and Indian negotiators are likely to visit the US next week, hoping to finalise a mini-interim trade deal for certain goods, which would particularly include agriculture and automobiles.

However, concerns over industrial commodity tariffs – steel, aluminium and now copper – and pharmaceuticals persist in India. On Tuesday (July 8), Trump announced a 50 per cent tariff on copper, after implementing similar duties on steel and aluminium.

This is significant as the US is India’s third-largest copper export market (after Saudi Arabia and China), accounting for 17 per cent ($360 million) of its total export of copper and copper products globally worth $2 billion in 2024-25.

However, experts argue that given copper’s status as a critical mineral and its extensive use across infrastructure, energy and manufacturing, India’s domestic industry is likely to absorb any decline in US demand resulting from the proposed tariffs.

But a 200 per cent tariff on pharmaceutical exports could deal a blow to India’s generics industry, given that the US now accounts for 40 per cent of India’s total pharma exports. Although the tariffs on pharma products have been deferred by at least a year, it could have implications for the American healthcare system as a majority of drugs exported are low-cost, generic drugs, and could disrupt the global pharmaceutical supply chain.

Amid all this, US President Donald Trump has started announcing steep tariffs ranging from 25 per cent to 50 per cent on nearly 20 countries, including Brazil, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and South Africa. This is in addition to the 10 per cent baseline tariffs and other sectoral ones announced earlier. However, Trump left the door open for further negotiations with these countries, particularly with its close allies, ie Japan and South Korea, till August 1.

Trump’s letters have targeted six countries in the ASEAN bloc with 40 per cent tariffs, primarily because of growing transshipments from China. He has also threatened to impose additional tariffs on BRICS nations.

17th BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro

With the US President Trump claiming that BRICS is “anti-American” and threatening to impose additional tariffs on members of the forum, India found itself in a somewhat awkward situation as it seeks to finalise a trade deal with the US.

Although India has made it clear that de-dollarisation is not its economic, political, or strategic policy and transactions in domestic currencies are intended to de-risk Indian trade, Brazil’s President Lula da Silva apparently fuelled the “anti-America” rhetoric by saying that BRICS proves the world “doesn’t need an emperor”.

It prompted Trump to repeat the threat of an extra 10 per cent tariffs for BRICS countries, which collectively represent around 40 per cent of the global GDP and a quarter of global trade.

However, the absence of a “unified BRICS position” on the issue, alongside bilateral differences among member countries (for example, between India and China, and among the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Iran), warrant a closer enquiry into such rhetorics; particularly in the context of BRICS being seen as a challenger to the global financial order or as another platform for India to develop ties with countries in the Global South.

Nonetheless, the 17th BRICS Summit held in Rio de Janeiro (July 6-7) was attended by the newly inducted members (Egypt, Ethiopia, the UAE, Iran and Indonesia; Saudi Arabia has not joined so far), although Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping were absent. Notably, the Rio declaration presented the basic consensus among BRICS members on a range of issues.

The joint statement condemned the strikes against Iran and used strong language against the attacks on Gaza. India was able to ensure a paragraph in the declaration condemning the Pahalgam terror attack “in the strongest terms”, and reaffirming the group’s commitment “to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the cross-border movement of terrorists, terrorism financing and safe havens.”

The paragraph on the Pahalgam attack was seen as a gain for New Delhi, especially with key Pakistani allies like China endorsing it. However, India also yielded on the group’s stance on Gaza and Iran, which is seen in the context of New Delhi’s more pronounced pro-Israel stance since October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, which was noted in the “Global South”.

The consensus among member countries, encapsulated in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recasting of the group’s acronym as “Building Resilience and Innovation for Cooperation and Sustainability”, needs to be upheld as New Delhi takes the leadership of BRICS next year.

Following the BRICS Summit, PM Modi reached Brasilia where the two sides held bilateral level talks, and signed six agreements that included renewable energy, cooperation on combating terrorism, intellectual property, agriculture and protection of classified information. PM Modi was also conferred with the highest state honour of Brazil, the Grand Collar of the National Order of the Southern Cross.

Modi wrapped up his five-country tour with a stop in Namibia, where he was conferred with the Order of the Most Ancient Welwitschia Mirabilis, the nation’s highest civilian award. While in Namibia, he also highlighted India’s support to the country’s decolonisation, “not just in words, but in action”, and congratulated it for adopting India’s UPI digital payment system.

As part of India’s ongoing outreach to the Global South, PM Modi visited the African nations, Ghana and Namibia, the Caribbean nation Trinidad and Tobago, and Latin American countries Argentina and Brazil. However, these diplomatic efforts came amid heightened global tensions, particularly around the Russia-Ukraine War and Israel’s war in Gaza.

Russia accelerates attacks against Ukraine

The Russia-Ukraine war appears to be worsening further, with Moscow intensifying its attacks and Kyiv securing the supply of critical military weapons from the US. Meanwhile, efforts to end the over three-year-long war hang in the balance, while Pope Leo XIV has also offered to host peace talks.

Accelerating its attacks, Russia on Wednesday (July 9) launched a record 728 drones on Ukraine, followed by another bout of strikes the following day in which 18 missiles and around 400 drones primarily targeted the capital Kyiv, media reports said.

Russia’s intensified attacks, which have strained Ukraine’s air defence, came amid US President Trump pledging to resume the supply of defensive weapons, including Patriot air defence systems, to Ukraine via the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and aiming sharp criticism at Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin … He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless,” Reuters cited Trump as saying.

On Tuesday (July 8), Trump said he was considering supporting a Bill that would impose steep sanctions on Russia, including 500 per cent tariffs on nations that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports. Notably, India and China are the top importers of Russian crude. In June, India’s Russian oil imports rose to an 11-month high, accounting for a massive 43.2 per cent of total oil imports. New Delhi had voiced concerns over the Bill and energy security.

The US move came as Russia’s intensified attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks caused record civilian casualties, with the United Nations (UN) saying June saw the highest monthly civilian casualties in Ukraine in three years, with 232 people killed and more than 1,300 injured. It prompted Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensyky to request Patriot systems from the US, alongside demanding sanctions against Russia. Patriot batteries detect and intercept oncoming missiles and are regarded as one of the world’s best air defence systems.

The escalation came after two rounds of direct peace talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations, which yielded no progress on stopping the war. No date for a possible third round of negotiations has been announced. In response to Pope Leo’s offer to host peace talks at the Vatican, Zelenskyy said this would be “entirely possible” but that it had so far been rejected by Russia.

Gaza turns into ‘graveyard’ for starving Palestinians

All the while, Israel has continued its horrendous attacks on aid-seeking Palestinians in Gaza as the UN agency for Palestinian refugees or UNRWA says the tiny strip has become the “graveyard of children” and “starving people”.

Israel is engineering a “cruel and Machiavellian scheme to kill” in Gaza, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said. “Under our watch, Gaza has become the graveyard of children [and] starving people,” he said Friday in a post on X.

The world body also reported that since May, some 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid. The US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which began distributing aid at the end of May following a three-month Israeli blockade on Gaza, has been criticised for bypassing the UN-led system and violating the humanitarian impartiality rule.

Meanwhile, the US has imposed sanctions on UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who has been tasked by the UN to investigate human rights abuses in Palestinian territories. She has been an outspoken critic of what she describes as the Israeli “genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and has strongly supported the arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the sanctions for what he said were “illegitimate and shameful efforts” by the special rapporteur to engage with the ICC to “prompt action” against America and Israel.

Meanwhile, efforts to negotiate a 60-day ceasefire are held up by Israel’s proposal to maintain military forces in more than 40 per cent of the Palestinian territory, AFP reported, citing Palestinian sources. Hamas has said it wants the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, which is home to more than two million people.

Discussions began in Qatar last Sunday (July 6) to try to agree on a temporary halt to the 21-month conflict sparked by Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. But both sides have yet to come to terms on a core impasse – while Hamas demands a permanent ceasefire and full withdrawal, Netanyahu insists on the militant group’s unconditional surrender and removal.

In the meantime, a UN conference hosted by France and Saudi Arabia to work towards a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians has been rescheduled for July 28-29, diplomats said on Friday, after it was postponed last month when Israel launched a military attack on Iran.

“Crimes against humanity” in Sudan’s Darfur

At the same time, “war crimes and crimes against humanity” have reportedly been committed in Sudan’s western Darfur region, which has been experiencing a devastating conflict since 2023.

Since the outbreak of the civil war, which has evolved into what is widely regarded as the most severe displacement crisis in modern history, an estimated 62,000 people have died and approximately 14 million individuals have been displaced.

There are “reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity” are being committed in Sudan’s western Darfur region, ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan said while presenting her assessment of the conflict before the United Nations Security Council on Thursday (July 10), Al Jazeera reported.

The depth of suffering and the humanitarian crisis in Darfur “has reached an intolerable state”, with famine escalating and hospitals, humanitarian convoys and other civilian infrastructure being targeted, Khan said.

In June, the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan warned that both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) had escalated the use of heavy weaponry in populated areas and weaponised humanitarian relief, amid the devastating consequences of the civil war.

The ongoing crisis in Sudan, which is traced back to 2019, following the ousting of long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir, is also heavily influenced by the involvement of multiple external actors, each driven by its own political agenda and interests. But there are potential pathways to peace that need to be explored.

Source : https://indianexpress.com/article/upsc-current-affairs/upsc-essentials/india-to-ink-mini-trade-deal-trump-threatens-brics-with-additional-tariffs-10122394/

The Iranian Embassy in India warned of fake social media accounts impersonating Iranian entities to harm Iran-India relations, sharing images of a fake Ministry of Defence account.

The Iranian Embassy in India has warned about several fake social media accounts impersonating official Iranian entities, aiming to damage India-Iran relations. It said that the accounts were “fake channels” attempting to damage Iran-India relations. The list was released on the embassy’s official Twitter page on Saturday.

“Some fake channels, under the name of Iran, are attempting to damage Iran-India relations. These accounts do not belong to Iran,” the embassy wrote on X, while sharing screenshots of the names of these “fake channels”.

The embassy shared images online exposing fake accounts and their false claims, including a post from a fake Ministry of Defence account claiming Iran was “reconsidering” the Chabahar Port agreement with India. These fake accounts, some with verified ticks, were spreading misinformation to damage Iran-India relations.

“Fake News, Fake Account,” the Iranian embassy wrote in red font over the image while sharing a picture. A picture shared by the embassy showed a post that was found to be from an account originating from Pakistan’s Karachi.

Source : https://www.news18.com/india/iran-embassy-in-india-flags-fake-channels-spreading-misinformation-to-harm-ties-ws-l-9436954.html

The Justice Department and FBI are struggling to contain the fallout and appease the demands of far-right conservative personalities and influential members of President Donald Trump’s base after the administration’s decision this week to withhold records from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation.

The move, which included the acknowledgment that one particular sought-after document never existed in the first place, sparked a contentious conversation between Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino at the White House earlier this week that threatened to permanently shatter relations between the two officials and centered in part on a news story that described divisions between the FBI and the Justice Department.

The cascade of disappointment and disbelief arising from the refusal to disclose additional, much-hyped records from the Epstein investigation underscores the struggles of FBI and Justice Department leaders to resolve the conspiracy theories and amped-up expectations that they themselves had stoked with claims of a cover-up and hidden evidence. Infuriated by the failure of officials to unlock, as promised, the secrets of the so-called “deep state,” Trump supporters on the far right have grown restless and even demanded change at the top.

Tensions that simmered for months boiled over on Monday when the Justice Department and FBI issued a two-page statement saying that they had concluded that Epstein did not possess a “client list,” even though Bondi had intimated in February that such a document was sitting on her desk, and had decided against releasing any additional records from the investigation.

The department did disclose a video meant to prove that Epstein killed himself in jail, but even that raised the eyebrows of conspiracy theorists because of a missing minute in the recording.

It was hardly the first time that Trump administration officials have failed to fulfill their pledge to deliver the evidence that supporters had come to expect.

In February, conservative influencers were invited to the White House and provided with binders marked “The Epstein Files: Phase 1” and “Declassified.” But the binders contained information that had largely already been in the public domain.

Afterward, Bondi said an FBI “source” informed her of the existence of thousands of pages of previously undisclosed documents and ordered the bureau to provide the “full and complete Epstein files.” She later said officials were poring over a “truckload” of previously withheld evidence she said had been handed over by the FBI.

But after a months-long review of evidence in the government’s possession, the Justice Department determined in the memo Monday that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.” The department noted that much of the material was placed under seal by a court to protect victims, and “only a fraction” of it “would have been aired publicly had Epstein gone to trial.”

The Trump administration had hoped that that statement would be the final word on the saga, with Trump chiding a reporter who asked Bondi about the Epstein case at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

But Bondi and Bongino had a tense exchange the following day at the White House, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private conversation.

Part of the clash centered on a story from the news organization NewsNation that cited a “source close to the White House” as saying the FBI would have released the Epstein files months ago if it could have done so on its own. The story included statements from Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel refuting the premise, but not Bongino.

The news publication Axios was first to describe the conversation.

Blanche sought to stem the fallout Friday with a social media post in which he said he had worked closely with Patel and Bongino on the Epstein matter and the joint memo.

“All of us signed off on the contents of the memo and the conclusions stated in the memo. The suggestion by anyone that there was any daylight between the FBI and DOJ leadership on this memo’s composition and release is patently false,” he wrote on X.

Also Friday, far-right activist Laura Loomer, who is close to Trump, posted on X that she was told that Bongino was “seriously thinking about resigning” and had taken the day off to contemplate his future. Bongino is normally an active presence on social media but has been silent since Wednesday.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/epstein-files-dan-bongino-bondi-trump-fbi-0f02f67b6c97fc50e4d93bc4dbf4c4d0

The United States is selling weapons to its NATO allies in Europe so they can provide them to Ukraine as it struggles to fend off a recent escalation in Russia’s drone and missile attacks, President Donald Trump and his chief diplomat said.

“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News late Thursday. “So what we’re doing is, the weapons that are going out are going to NATO, and then NATO is going to be giving those weapons (to Ukraine), and NATO is paying for those weapons.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that some of the U.S.-made weapons that Ukraine is seeking are deployed with NATO allies in Europe. Those weapons could be transferred to Ukraine, with European countries buying replacements from the U.S., he said.

“It’s a lot faster to move something, for example, from Germany to Ukraine than it is to order it from a (U.S.) factory and get it there,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Ukraine badly needs more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems to stop Russian ballistic and cruise missiles. The Trump administration has gone back and forth about providing more vital military aid to Ukraine more than three years into Russia’s invasion.

After a brief pause in some weapons shipments, Trump said he would keep sending defensive weapons to Ukraine. U.S. officials said this week that some were on their way.

Details still are being worked out on Trump’s plan

NATO itself doesn’t send weapons to Ukraine or otherwise own or handle arms — that is done by its 32 member nations — but it does coordinate the deliveries of weapons to a logistics hub in Poland, bordering Ukraine. The alliance itself ships items like medical supplies and fuel.

“Allies continue to work to ensure that Ukraine has the support they need to defend themselves against Russia’s aggression,” NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said. “This includes urgent efforts to procure key supplies from the United States, including air defense and ammunition.”

Germany, Spain and other European countries possess Patriot missile systems, and some have placed orders for more, Rubio said.

The U.S. is encouraging its NATO allies to provide “the defensive systems that Ukraine seeks … since they have them in their stocks, and then we can enter into financial agreements with them, with us, where they can purchase the replacements,” Rubio said.

A senior NATO military official said Trump spoke to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte about the plan but noted that the details were “still being worked out.”

U.S. weapons already in Europe could be transferred to Ukraine under Trump’s proposal, as could American-made weapons previously purchased by allies.

“NATO has effective mechanisms in place to make something like this possible,” the official said.

A senior European defense official said it was their understanding that European nations would purchase U.S. weapons for Ukraine under the plan.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Ukraine is seeking more coveted Patriot air defense systems

Russia has recently sought to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses by launching major aerial attacks. This week, Russia fired more than 700 attack and decoy drones at Ukraine, topping previous barrages for the third time in two weeks.

Ukraine has asked other countries to supply it with an additional 10 Patriot systems and missiles, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday. Germany is ready to provide two systems, and Norway has agreed to supply one, he said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Thursday that officials “stand ready to acquire additional Patriot systems from the U.S. and make them available to Ukraine.”

Asked how many Patriot systems Germany is interested in buying, Merz didn’t give a number. But he said he spoke to Trump a week ago “and asked him to deliver these systems.”

In addition to the Patriots, the weaponry that could be sold to NATO members includes advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, shorter-range missiles and Howitzer rounds, according to a person familiar with the internal White House debate. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private discussions.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking more details.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has been in touch with Trump in recent days, said it’s in U.S. national security interests to sell weapons to Ukraine, and “Europe can pay for them.”

“We have the best weapons. They sure as hell know how to use them,” Graham said in an AP interview in Rome while attending a meeting on the sidelines of a Ukraine recovery conference.

Allies purchasing U.S. weapons for Ukraine would get around a possible stalemate in funding for Kyiv once an aid package approved last year runs out. Even with broad support in Congress for backing Ukraine, it’s unclear if more funding would be approved.

Trump’s evolving stance on Putin

Trump’s efforts to facilitate Ukraine’s weapon supply come as he has signaled his displeasure with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At a Cabinet meeting this week, he said he was “not happy” with Putin over a conflict that was “killing a lot of people” on both sides.

Russia’s bigger army is pressing hard on parts of the 620-mile (1,000-kilometer) front line, where thousands of soldiers on both sides have died since the Kremlin ordered the invasion in February 2022.

Graham says Trump has given him the go-ahead to push forward with a bill he’s co-sponsoring that calls, in part, for a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that continue to buy Russian oil. Trump said Tuesday that he’s “looking at it very strongly.”

In the NBC News interview, Trump teased that he will make a major announcement on Russia next week.

The U.S. president also has had a tumultuous relationship with Zelenskyy, which reached a low point during an Oval Office blowup in February when Trump berated him for being “disrespectful.” The relationship has since shown signs of rebounding.

The two leaders spoke by phone last week about Ukraine’s air defenses. Zelenskyy said Thursday that talks with Trump have been “very constructive.”

Impact of the latest Russian attacks

In the latest attacks, a Russian drone barrage targeted the center of Kharkiv just before dawn Friday, injuring nine people and damaging a maternity hospital in Ukraine’s second-largest city, officials said.

“There is no silence in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. A daytime drone attack on the southern city of Odesa also injured nine.

Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, has endured repeated and intensifying drone attacks in recent weeks, as have many other regions of the country, mostly at night.

Zelenskyy urged Ukraine’s Western partners to quickly follow through on pledges they made at the international meeting in Rome on Thursday. Ukraine needs more interceptor drones to bring down Russian-made Shahed drones, he said.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-trump-drones-05ba74cd9fbefcd81cc90886d091af5a

Australia’s leader Anthony Albanese will visit China and meet with President Xi Jinping this weekend as he seeks to strengthen ties with Canberra’s largest trading partner.

Regional security and trade will take centre stage during the prime minister’s six-day trip spanning three cities – Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu.

“My government will continue to cooperate with China where we can, disagree where we must, and engage in our national interest,” Albanese said in a statement.

The trip marks Albanese’s second official visit to China – but the first since his re-election in May. It comes as countries around the world navigate US president Donald Trump’s “America First” policies including tariffs.

China accounts for nearly a third of Australia’s total trade and “will remain so for the foreseeable future”, Albanese said.

“The relationship in China means jobs in Australia. It’s as simple as that,” he told reporters on Friday.

Albanese, whose Labor Party government was re-elected with an increased majority in May, had pledged among other things to create more jobs and bring back manufacturing in Australia.

Analysts say this trip signals a stabilisation of ties between Australia and China, even as Beijing has been trying to extend its military reach across the Pacific to some protest by Australia.

Last month, Australia’s defence minister Richard Marles called on China to explain why it needs to have “such an extraordinary military build-up”.

A rare Chinese military drill in the Tasman sea in February was also called “unusual” by Marles.

“Both sides recognise their differences… [and] agree those differences should not define the relationship,” says James Laurenceson, director of Australia-China Relations Institute.

The two countries are not seeking geopolitical alignment, he said.

“They need to keep the politics stable and constructive so that other parts of the relationship, like businesses, cultural organisations, universities and so on can forge ahead with engagement in their own areas.”

Mr Laurenceson notes, however, that Washington “will not be pleased” with Albanese’s visit. But the prime minister has domestic support for this, he says.

“Washington is heading in a direction so plainly contrary to Australia’s interests that any [leader] seen as kowtowing to the White House would face pushback at home,” he says.

Beijing will continue to criticise Australia’s involvement in the Aukus submarine deal with its longstanding allies, the UK and the US, observers tell the BBC, while Canberra will reiterate its commitment to the pact – even as Trump’s administration has recently put the agreement under review.

But disagreements over issues like Aukus will not thwart Australia’s and China’s relationship significantly, the observers say.

And neither will other contentious topics Albanese may bring up – including China’s actions in the South China Sea and the case of Australian novelist Yang Hengjun, who has been jailed and handed a suspended death sentence by Beijing on espionage charges which he denies.

“This is part of a broader, understated and mature diplomacy from the current government and it does not fall into the recriminations of previous years,” says Bryce Wakefield, who leads the Australian Institute for International Affairs.

Albanese’s delegation to China includes top executives from Macquarie Bank and the Australian arm of HSBC, as well as mining giants Rio Tinto, BHP and Fortescue, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Albanese had cited green energy among the areas that Australia and China can “further engage” on.

While in China, the prime minister will also meet with Premier Li Qiang and Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’ Congress.

China’s state newspaper Global Times says Albanese’s visit “carries special significance” and shows “Australia’s desire to seek more reliable partners in an uncertain world order… with China being the obvious choice”.

In November 2023, Albanese became the first Australian leader visit China in seven years – ending a hiatus triggered by a string of disputes including various Chinese sanctions on Australian goods, and back and forth accusations of foreign interference.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7vrjlp5zdvo

A Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Friday damaged a maternity hospital, authorities said, terrifying patients as windows shattered and shards of glass fell on to the beds, leaving families rushing to shelter their babies.
Three women and three newborns suffered acute stress and received medical help, according to Kharkiv’s regional prosecutors.

Oleksandra Lavrynenko was at the hospital after just giving birth. “We woke up and heard a very loud whistle. My husband and I got up and quickly went to our little one, and at that moment there was a hit and the windows shattered,” she said.

They rushed to shelter one-day-old Maksym underground.
“It was very scary, because I was so full of adrenaline that I probably forgot that I had stitches. Now I am slowly recovering from the shock,” Lavrynenko said.
“It is very difficult and scary to give birth at this time,” she said, laying next to her son.

Shards of glass littered the medical facility’s floors and beds and patients and staff prepared to evacuate.
Oleksandr Kondriatskyi, one of the doctors, said the attack damaged the side of the building where the delivery and surgery rooms were located.
“Everyone, both the staff and the women, suffered severe stress,” he said, adding that some of the patients only gave birth a couple days ago and had had surgery.

Russia has increased the intensity of aerial attacks in recent weeks, and carried out more missile and drone strikes across Ukraine.
It has frequently targeted Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, located in the northeast of the country, since launching its full-scale invasion in 2022.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-attack-kharkiv-damages-maternity-hospital-sending-patients-fleeing-2025-07-11/

An Israeli-American businessman, a former State Department official and a decorated Green Beret pitched up in the Democratic Republic of Congo in March with a message for President Felix Tshisekedi from the Trump administration.
Two days later, they fled the country in fear of arrest.

The three envoys had come with an offer from Washington: release three American prisoners on death row and, in return, President Donald Trump will accept your minerals-for-security proposal.

The trip started well with a police motorcycle escort from the airport, but a frosty first meeting with Tshisekedi’s security adviser, some ill-advised late-night target practice by some of the envoys and a Congolese general with an axe to grind put paid to the mission.
Reuters pieced together the course of events by speaking to the three Americans on the trip, a State Department official involved in the initiative, and two people the trio met during their brief stay in Congo’s capital Kinshasa.
The story of the ill-fated venture, which has not previously been reported, provides a glimpse of how the Trump administration is prepared to work through unconventional channels in pursuit of deals to bring Americans home, a top priority for the president.

“We want to work with folks who have the right connections, but more importantly, have the positive relationships that can help influence a decision-maker’s thinking … so it’s not uncommon for us to do that,” Dustin Stewart, Trump’s deputy special envoy for hostage affairs, who was involved in discussions on the initiative, told Reuters.
“We thought they had enough sway to talk to the right people. Obviously, that proved incorrect,” he said.
President Tshisekedi’s office did not respond to requests for comment for this article.
Congo has become a focus of U.S. diplomatic efforts to end the decades-long conflict in the east and help American companies access critical minerals, making the country ripe territory for endeavours such as this mission.
“Trump gave every indication right from the beginning that he was going to be purely transactional,” said Ebenezer Obadare, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “He’s thrown out the old playbook. He’s not going through normal diplomatic channels.”

AMERICANS ON DEATH ROW

It all started in January this year when Israeli-American businessman Moti Kahana met the Congolese president on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos to warn him about a coup plot purportedly involving Israelis.
Kahana handed over the names of the alleged plotters to Tshisekedi in an envelope, according to the businessman and two other people involved. Reuters could not determine whether the alleged plot was real.
Kahana told Reuters he was aware that Washington had a number of live interests in Congo, and after returning from Davos he decided to try to arrange another meeting with Tshisekedi.
Three Americans had been sentenced to death by a Congolese military court in September 2024 for participating in a separate, failed coup in May last year. Efforts to free them by the Biden government and the Trump administration had gained little traction.

At the same time, negotiations were intensifying over a deal in which the United States would secure greater access to Congo’s minerals in return for help defending the country from Rwanda-backed insurgents rampaging across its eastern provinces.
To get the ball rolling, Kahana met with State Department officials in Washington in March. The officials thought it worth empowering a team led by Kahana to discuss U.S. diplomatic goals and the release of the three Americans with Tshisekedi, the businessman and the State Department’s Stewart said.
“I don’t think anybody had high hopes that they were going to be able to sort of go to Kinshasa and come back with those three,” he said. “But, again, I think reinforcing the message that it was important to find a positive resolution, it helped us.”

UNLIKELY CAST

Kahana had a track record of extracting people from dangerous places. His exploits included rescuing about 200 Jewish orphans from Ukraine in 2022 and the last Jew from Afghanistan when the Taliban took control in 2021.
For the Congo mission, he signed up two other Americans. One was former U.S. Green Beret Justin Sapp. He was among the first soldiers to infiltrate Afghanistan in 2001 and had explored a project with Kahana to deliver aid to Gaza the previous year.
For Kahana, who said he does business alongside his philanthropic ventures, the motivation was to win praise for bringing home the Americans, while eyeing business opportunities in Congo. He brought in Sapp as an expert on security.
“He generally sees himself as the guy saving the day,” said Sapp. “Now, is he doing it for free? In the end, no.”
The other was Stuart Seldowitz, a business associate of Kahana’s and former U.S. diplomat who was charged with a hate crime for verbally abusing a Halal hot dog vendor in New York in 2023.
Seldowitz said the charges were dismissed after he completed a 26-week anti-bias course.
Seldowitz was an old acquaintance of the U.S. ambassador to Congo, Lucy Tamlyn, which Kahana said could come in handy.
On their first night in Kinshasa, the trio had expected a discussion over dinner with Tshisekedi’s security adviser, Desire-Cashmir Kolongele Eberande. But they said he was not in a welcoming mood when he finally saw them at 1 a.m.
“We were supposed to have a meeting with the president the next day,” Sapp said. “In retrospect, I’m not sure we had a firm meeting with him. I think it was tentative, and they were going to sniff us out. And then we didn’t pass the sniff test.”
Sapp said Eberande was suspicious about whether the trio were actually authorised to convey a message from Trump.
Eberande did not respond to requests for comment about the American mission.
Kahana reached out to Washington for help. The next day, Stewart sent an email to Eberande confirming the State Department knew of the visitors, and Eberande begrudgingly accepted their credentials, Kahana said.
“Per our previous exchange, this is to confirm that I am aware of the travel of Mr. Seldowitz and Mr. Kahana as it pertains to the status of the three Americans in custody,” Stewart wrote in the email, seen by Reuters.
That evening, while the trio waited to see if President Tshisekedi would meet them, they were invited for dinner by an Israeli security contractor on a compound within an army base in Kinshasa.
Another guest was an Israeli-French arms dealer who had been doing business in Congo for decades and helped set up Kahana’s first meeting with Tshisekedi in Davos, according to the arms dealer, Kahana and Kinuani Kamitatu Massamba, a Congolese politician close to Tshisekedi.
After dinner, the host invited the guests for a shooting session at the compound’s range. Kahana and Sapp agreed to take part.
The next morning, Kahana received a call from Massamba, who said Congo’s intelligence services were upset about the late-night gunfire.
Massamba told Reuters the shooting had raised alarm about a possible attack on the presidential palace.
It was at that point that things became alarming for the Americans.

‘GOOD TO BE AMERICAN’

General Franck Ntumba, head of the presidential guard, showed up at their hotel, demanding they surrender their passports and visit his headquarters.
“He didn’t look like he wanted to be screwed around with,” Seldowitz said.
Ntumba did not respond to requests for comment.
Ntumba had been one of the people Kahana named as an alleged coup plotter to President Tshisekedi in Davos. Kahana said that before the trip he was slightly concerned about Ntumba, but was hopeful the general didn’t know he was behind the list.
Seldowitz called his old acquaintance the U.S. ambassador.
A large contingent of embassy staff soon showed up at the hotel to protect the Americans, the Israeli-French arms dealer said.
“I thought, wow, it’s good to be American in this situation. It was like a movie, believe me,” he said.
Ntumba eventually left, but warned the trio that things would not end there. An American security officer at the embassy gave them three options: stay in their hotel rooms and hope no one kicks down the doors, move to another hotel, or leave Congo immediately.
“And I said, well, I like the third option the best,” said Kahana.
The embassy sent a car with diplomatic plates to take them to the airport. The trio arrived as an Air France flight for Paris was boarding.
But at passport control, they were taken into a room and asked for their phones. Seldowitz called the embassy again. Air France staff came and the three Americans were released.
The U.S. embassy referred Reuters questions about the trio’s mission to the State Department. Hostage envoy Stewart confirmed its staff had stepped in to rescue the three men.
While the men’s mission did not go as planned, progress has since been made on their initial goals. Massamba, Stewart and Kahana all said it helped signal that Trump was serious about striking a deal involving the American prisoners.
In April, Tshisekedi commuted the sentences of the three Americans convicted of coup-plotting to life in prison. Soon afterwards, Trump’s senior Africa adviser, Massad Boulos, visited Congo and the three were transferred to the United States, where they were charged with conspiring to carry out a coup on Congo.
The men – Marcel Malanga, Tyler Thompson and Benjamin Zalman-Polun – are currently in custody after pleading not guilty. Their lawyers did not respond to requests for comment about the mission to free them.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/how-us-mission-push-trump-deal-congo-unravelled-2025-07-11/

The State Department began firing more than 1,350 U.S.-based employees on Friday as the administration of President Donald Trump presses ahead with an unprecedented overhaul of its diplomatic corps, a move critics say will undermine U.S. ability to defend and promote U.S. interests abroad.
The layoffs, which affect 1,107 civil service and 246 foreign service officers based in the United States, come at a time when Washington is grappling with multiple crises on the world stage: Russia’s war in Ukraine, the almost two-year-long Gaza conflict, and the Middle East on edge due to high tension between Israel and Iran.

“The Department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities,” an internal State Department notice that was sent to the workforce said. “Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found,” it added.
The total reduction in the workforce will be nearly 3,000, including the voluntary departures, according to the notice and a senior State Department official, out of the 18,000 employees based in the United States.
The move is the first step of a restructuring that Trump has sought to ensure U.S. foreign policy is aligned with his “America First” agenda. Former diplomats and critics say the firing of foreign service officers risks America’s ability to counter the growing assertiveness from adversaries such as China and Russia.

“President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio are once again making America less safe and less secure,” Democratic senator Tim Kaine from Virginia said in a statement.
“This is one of the most ridiculous decisions that could possibly be made at a time when China is increasing its diplomatic footprint around the world and establishing an overseas network of military and transportation bases, Russia is continuing its years-long brutal assault of a sovereign country, and the Middle East is careening from crisis to crisis,” Kaine said.
Dozens of State Department employees crowded the lobby of the agency’s headquarters in Washington holding an impromptu “clap-out” for their colleagues who have been fired. Dozens of people were crying, as they carried their belongings in boxes and hugged and bid farewell to friends and fellow workers.

Outside, dozens of others were lined up continuing to clap and cheer for them with some holding banners that read, “Thank you America’s diplomats.” Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen attended the demonstration.
Several offices were set up inside the building for employees who are being laid off to turn in their badges, laptops, telephones and other property owned by the agency.

The offices were marked by posters that read “Transition Day Out Processing”. One counter was labeled an “Outprocessing service center” with small bottles of water placed next to a box of tissue. Inside one office, cardboard boxes were visible.
A five-page “separation checklist” that was sent to workers who were fired on Friday and seen by Reuters tells the employees that they would lose access to the building and their emails at 5 p.m. EDT on Friday.
Many members of a State Department office overseeing the U.S. resettlement of Afghans who worked for the U.S. government during the 20-year war have also been terminated as part of the overhaul.

‘WRONG SIGNAL’

Trump in February ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio to revamp the foreign service to ensure that the Republican president’s foreign policy is “faithfully” implemented. He has also repeatedly pledged to “clean out the deep state” by firing bureaucrats that he deems disloyal.
The shake-up is part of an unprecedented push by Trump to shrink the federal bureaucracy and cut what he says is wasteful spending of taxpayer money. His administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Aid, Washington’s premier aid arm that distributed billions of dollars of assistance worldwide, and folded it under the State Department.
Rubio announced the plans for the State Department shake-up in April, saying the Department in its current form was “bloated, bureaucratic” and was not able to perform its mission “in this new era of great power competition.”
He envisioned a structure that he said would give back the power to regional bureaus and embassies and get rid of programs and offices that do not align with America’s core interests.
That vision would see the elimination of the role of top official for civilian security, democracy, and human rights and the closure of some offices that monitored war crimes and conflicts around the world.
The reorganization had been expected to be largely concluded by July 1 but did not proceed as planned amid ongoing litigation, as the State Department waited for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the Trump administration’s bid to halt a judicial order blocking mass job cuts.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/state-department-says-it-will-fire-more-than-1350-workers-trumps-shake-up-2025-07-11/

Militants abducted and shot dead at least nine bus passengers travelling through Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province, government officials said on Friday (Jul 11).

Security forces are battling a rise in ethnic and separatist violence in impoverished but mineral-rich Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

The militants boarded two buses on a major highway and checked passengers’ identity cards before forcing nine people off the vehicles at gunpoint overnight on Thursday.

“The terrorists forced the two passenger buses to stop on a highway and pulled nine passengers out. They took them in an area nearby and killed all of them,” local government official Naveed Alam told AFP.

The attackers specifically targeted people from Punjab, the country’s most populous and prosperous province and a major recruitment base for the military.

“The forces found the dead bodies all belong to different areas of Punjab,” said Saadat Hussain, another senior government official.

The Balochistan Liberation Front (BLA), a separatist group fighting the state, later claimed responsibility for the attack.

The BLA has emerged as the biggest threat targeting foreign interests, security forces and Pakistanis from outside the province.

Baloch separatists and rights groups say the military’s heavy-handed counter-terrorism response to the insurgency has included widespread enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

Balochistan is rich in hydrocarbons and minerals, but 70 per cent of its 15 million inhabitants live below the poverty line.

In March, the militant group was behind a deadly train siege with more than 450 passengers on board.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/pakistan-separatists-kill-nine-bus-passengers-punjab-bla-5233426

When it comes to instant noodles, there’s no Korean discount. Only a Korean premium.

Samyang Foods, the manufacturer of Buldak ramen, has gained 93 per cent this year. Trading at 26 times forward earnings, it boasts US$8.1 billion market cap, as much as bigger rivals Japan’s Nissin Foods and Korea’s Nongshim combined.

This rally has also made chief executive Kim Jung-soo, who married into a conglomerate family and turned around the instant noodle company after it declared bankruptcy in the late 1990s, a rare billionaire in her own right in the country’s male-dominated business world.

Buldak, which translates to “fire chicken” in Korean, is not for the fainthearted. With its debut in 2012, Samyang introduced a level of spice previously unseen in the instant ramen market. It has roughly the same heat level as jalapeno peppers. Last year, Denmark briefly recalled the fiery ramen for being too spicy.

SOCIAL MEDIA FASCINATION

Perhaps because of its “seriously extreme spice,” Buldak has become an object of fascination for social media influencers who might enjoy truth-or-dare antics. The carbonara version, in particular, resembles the boxed macaroni and cheese Americans grew up with – with a kick.

In May, the number of TikTok hashtags related to Buldak surged 250 per cent from last year, according to CLSA, a brokerage. The keyword leaps up on Google trends, too. As these ramen packs go viral online, they fly off supermarket shelves. In the first quarter, revenue in the United States jumped 20 per cent quarter-on-quarter, even as sales at Walmart declined slightly due to a Buldak Carbonara shortage.

This is nonetheless music to investors’ ears: Unrequited love can be a beautiful thing.

Upon the completion of a second plant in Miryang in June, Samyang will soon be able to ramp up shipments to major distributors including Costco. By 2030, Samyang’s market share in the US could double from 8.1 per cent in 2024, according to CLSA estimates.

PARALLELS WITH POP MART AND LABUBU

In many ways, there are parallels between Samyang and China’s Pop Mart, the maker of Labubu, an elf-like plush toy that has become a global sensation. With US$45 billion market cap, the toy maker is worth more than twice as much as Sanrio and Mattel combined, owners of long-time favourites Hello Kitty and Barbie.

These products are not for everyone. With pointy ears and nine serrated teeth, Labubu has a weird look, which only some consumers find cute, while others scratch their head and puzzle over its stardom. Existing outside the mainstream, both generate conversation and attract eyeballs. They are designed to go viral.

Investors are also betting that unlike older generations, young Americans have the adventurous spirit for something different. These days, people are getting hooked on Korean specialty grocery chain H Mart, quite a cultural shift considering cucumbers were a new vegetable for the McDonald’s US menu just over a decade ago.

And the youth are friendlier to China than their parents. IShowSpeed, a streamer with 38 million followers, certainly enjoyed Chinese cars and robots during his two-week trip in the spring.

TARIFF-PROOF BRANDS

As for US President Donald Trump’s trade policies? Investors are not at all worried, seeing that both brands are tariff-proof.

In the US, eating out has become an expensive endeavour. A meal at a fast-food restaurant can easily set you back US$10. Instead, staying at home with a bowl of Buldak ramen, which will cost just over US$2 even with the incremental 25 per cent duty Trump plans to impose on South Korean products, can be equally satisfying.

As for Labubu, good luck getting your hands on them at all. They are sold out at Pop Mart’s retail stores worldwide.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/instant-noodles-samyang-buldak-spicy-challenge-korea-tariffs-5233496

50 Cent still wants the last laugh when it comes to his rivalry with Sean “Diddy” Combs.

The “21 Questions” rapper hit Combs with yet another savage Instagram trolling on Friday — this time, with the help of a bizarre AI baby oil fashion show video.

The clip showed an artificial Combs walking down a fashion runway while wearing a pink dress fashioned with the Johnson & Johnson baby oil logo across the front.

And the roasting didn’t end there — The video was set to the song “Baby Oil Freak Off Party.”

“I didn’t know Diddy walked in the Michael Amiri show, when did he make Bond! 😟” 50 captioned the video.

The joke was in reference to the shockingly copious amounts of baby oil found and confiscated by the FBI during the raids Combs’ Miami and Los Angeles mansions last year.

The “Many Men” hitmaker hasn’t held his tongue regarding Diddy’s long list of legal troubles over the last year.

He also trolled the Bad Boy Records founder’s affinity for baby oil during his trial in May by sharing a string of AI-generated photos to Instagram, beginning with a screenshot of a People headline that read: “Cassie Says Diddy Asked Her to Get in Inflatable Pool Filled With Baby Oil.”

“Damn he did all that sh–t to go out like this, SMH,” 50 captioned the collection of faux photos. “This s–t crazier then [sic] regular crazy.”

The “BMF” producer, 49, had an out-of-character take on Combs’ verdict in his sex trafficking trial earlier this month.

After the disgraced music mogul was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and not guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering, 50 — in an odd turn for the infamous internet troll — congratulated his longtime rival on social media.

“Diddy beat the Feds, that boy a bad man !” he wrote via Instagram alongside three clapping emojis.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/07/11/celebrity-news/50-cent-back-to-savagely-roasting-diddy-after-verdict/

Shubhanshu Shukla and three crew members lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 25.

India’s space exploration efforts are poised to mark a historic milestone as Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian to visit the International Space Station (ISS), prepares to return to Earth following a successful mission under the Axiom-4 program. This mission, named Akash Ganga, is a collaborative effort among Axiom Space Inc., NASA, and ISRO, representing a significant step forward in India’s human spaceflight ambitions, including the upcoming Gaganyaan mission and the proposed Bhartiya Antariksha Station.

Mr Shukla and three crew members lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 25. They docked with the space station on June 26, and, weather permitting in the descent corridor, the mission, which Mr Shukla is piloting, will safely splash down on July 15. ISRO has confirmed that the splashdown is scheduled for 3:00 PM IST on July 15, 2025.

According to NASA’s Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stich, the undocking of the Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying Mr Shukla and three other astronauts is scheduled for July 14, 2025, at 4:30 PM IST. Following a series of orbital maneuvers, the spacecraft is expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean near the coast of California, USA.

In an update on July 11, Axiom Space reported that after spending 17 days living and working aboard the International Space Station, the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) crew is wrapping up their research projects. Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot Shubhanshu “Shux” Shukla, and Mission Specialists Sławosz “Suave” Uznanski-Wisniewski and Tibor Kapu have maximised their time in orbit.

Since arriving, they have conducted over 60 scientific research activities and participated in more than 20 outreach events, advancing research that will contribute to the future of space exploration while inspiring the next generation back on Earth.

During his stay aboard the ISS, Mr Shukla conducted seven India-specific microgravity experiments, showcasing India’s growing capabilities in space science and technology. These experiments are designed to generate critical data for future planetary missions and long-duration space habitation. Some of the experiments include:Tardigrades: Studying the survival, revival, reproduction, and transcriptome of an Indian strain.

Myogenesis: Investigating the impact of microgravity on human muscle cells.

Sprouting of Methi and Moong Seeds: Relevant to crew nutrition and sustainable space farming.

Cyanobacteria: Exploring the growth of two varieties for life support systems.

These experiments are now being prepared for their journey back to Earth for further analysis. Meanwhile, three additional experiments-focused on microalgae, crop seeds, and the Voyager Display-are nearing completion and will also contribute valuable insights to India’s space research portfolio.ISRO’s flight surgeons have been actively monitoring Mr Shukla’s health and psychological well-being throughout the mission via private medical and psychological conferences.

Reports confirm that the astronaut is in excellent health and high spirits, a testament to the rigorous training and support systems in place. Upon splashdown, Mr Shukla will undergo a seven-day rehabilitation program under the supervision of ISRO’s flight surgeons. This phase is crucial for helping the astronaut readjust to Earth’s gravity after spending several weeks in microgravity conditions.

This mission not only marks Mr Shukla as the second Indian astronaut in space, following Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma’s historic flight in 1984-but also positions India as a serious contender in the global space community.

The success of Mission Akash Ganga is expected to accelerate India’s roadmap for human spaceflight and deepen international collaborations in space science.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/axiom-4-space-station-shubhanshu-shuklas-space-capsule-to-reach-earth-on-july-15-8863480

DRAMATIC footage captures a fleet of Chinese tank boats charging through the sea in tight formation during military drills near Taiwan.

The show of force by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) comes as Taiwan kicks off its largest-ever military exercises.

Footage released by China’s state broadcaster CCTV on Wednesday shows amphibious armoured units conducting live-fire exercises as tensions in the Taiwan Strait escalate.

The drills were carried out by the PLA’s 72nd Group Army just off the southern coast of Fujian province – directly across from Taiwan – in what analysts see as a deliberately provocative move.

A video released on Thursday shows reconnaissance troops from the 73rd Group Army practising armed swimming, underwater combat and long-range coastal infiltration drills.

Military experts say the drills are “counter-display” as Taiwan launched its own large-scale military exercises on Wednesday.

Taiwan’s drills focused on decentralising command systems, defence officials told Reuters.

In one exercise, around 300 reservists were stationed at an empty high school in Taoyuan, where they trained in mortar and rifle operations.

China and Taiwan’s displays of military might reflect an escalation in tensions between Beijing and Taipei.

China views the democratically governed island as part of its territory.

For this reason, it has ramped up military pressure around the island over the last five years, including regular naval and air patrols near Taiwan.

Meanwhile, China’s new giant “sea monster” warplane was spotted for the first time in the Bohai Sea on Monday.

The wing-in-ground effect (WIG) aircraft, commonly known as an ekranoplan, calls to mind Soviet military tech from the Cold War era.

The vehicle seems to have a boat-shaped fuselage and a joined V-shape tail – a common configuration for WIG craft.

It could be used to facilitate rapid coastal transport and resupply missions or amphibious operations, according to aviation and maritime experts.

And experts fear it could be used in any potential military operations against Taiwan in the future.

It comes just months after satellite pictures showed China’s new invasion barges lining up to form a floating bridge.

The satellite images show three specialised barges, each with two arms of roadway, lining up next to each other.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14681266/fleet-chinese-tank-boats-taiwan/

A SEX scandal has rocked the Kremlin as a top Putin official has been revealed using $100million military planes to transport his mistress around Russia.

Maria Shalaeva, 23, shared online she was being flown on a defence ministry Ilyushin-76 aircraft for a weekend getaway to Rostov-on-Don – the same location of Russian armed forces war headquarters.

One independent media outlet has dragged in the name of Putin’s trusted defence minister Andrei Belousov, 66, as the suspected lover.

He is said to be a known womaniser from earlier email leaks, and his photograph appears on a video she posted.

It is also clear from one video her lover has grey hair, as does Belousov, who was a Kremlin apparatchik before becoming defence minister.

Yet there are strong indications that her man – apparently seen in shorts from behind on the plane – could be younger.

Whether the affair is Belousov or another senior official figure in the Russian power structure, the disclosure triggered fury over what is seen as a security breach.

As the scandal unfolded today, military sources indicated that the Kremlin “sugar daddy” had been visited at work by the secret services after the mistress’s revelations.

Shalaeva, from Yekaterinburg, boasted in now-deleted posts – that she was flying to Rostov-on-Don, a city she had visited before with her lover.

The airport, however, is being closed to all but military planes.

The 23-year-old went on to reveal her beloved booked her a manicure appointment in the city.

She posted: “Who’s saying planes don’t fly to Rostov?

“They do – just not all of them, and not for everyone. Anyway, I flew back to Rostov again. Can’t seem to let it go.”

She said her lover is “a Kremlin man, though, that’s another story. Reliability level is 200%.”

She admits to bringing her three-year-old son Tim on the trip, leading to speculation he is her lover’s offspring.

“At three years old, he’s already flown in a military aircraft,” she posted.

“Tim got to sit right in the cockpit and even grabbed some crisps from the pilot.

“We were greeted warmly. Timmy was chilling, watching cartoons the whole ride.”

Shalaeva says her lover calls her “yebobo [crazy]” and sometimes asks if she’s ever had a concussion.

She insisted he was “not military!! Not FSB either! Now, I know who he is, but I’m not allowed to say.”

Belousov, an economist and civilian technocrat, is not a career soldier and holds no formal military rank – but his authority rivals that of Russia’s top generals.

In Rostov, Shalaeva, her son, and her mystery man were reportedly picked up by a “very expensive foreign car,” rumoured to be a Maybach.

Nexta independent media – a respected outlet originally from Belarus and now Warsaw-based – linked her to Belousov, but without giving any verification.

“In private posts, Shalaeva hints that it’s Belousov himself, the new defence minister of the Russian Federation [who is her lover],” stated Nexta.

“The Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation flies his mistress on a military plane.”

It was local media in Rostov that first flagged the scandal, without naming names.

Russian outlets have so far avoided identifying the man.

Retire Major General Vladimir Popov didn’t mince words: “Everyone will be found and punished.”

He made it clear Belousov bears ultimate responsibility for the military flight.

“If this reaches the defence minister, I expect he’ll come down hard for such poor oversight. And from there, the punishment will trickle down.”

Pro-Kremlin military blogger Andrey Medvedev added: “It seems the Military Counterintelligence Department has plenty to do.”

“I can imagine how much information the SBU [Ukrainian security service] and Western intelligence agencies get just from monitoring social networks,” he wrote.

“In a photo posted by this reckless girl, you can find all sorts of interesting details to understand which planes fly to Rostov, who arranged those rides for her. And so on.”

It comes as the Kremlin was accused of covering up the death of a sacked Russian minister after signs of torture were allegedly found on his body just 24 hours before his apparent suicide.

Roman Starovoit, who was Vladimir Putin’s transport minister for less than a year, was dismissed from his post on July 7 – just hours before he was found dead.

Telegram channels with links to the Russian security forces reported Starovoit’s cause of death as suicide – claiming the minister was found dead with gunshot wounds.

However, an independent Russian media outlet now reports that he had been beaten before his death.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14684687/putin-official-mistress-jet-sex-scandal/

Mohammed was held in secret CIA prisons up until his transfer to Guantánamo Bay in September 2006

THE chief architect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks could be sentenced to death after a court tossed out a plea deal that would have saved his life.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is accused of masterminding the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States – and was regarded as one of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s most trusted henchmen.

In 2003, the CIA captured him in Pakistan, after which he spent three years in secret prisons before arriving at Guantanamo in 2006.

He is said to have planned out the deadly attacks from “A to Z” — and was also involved in a string of major plots against the US, where he attended university.

Mohammed as well as two alleged accomplices — Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi — struck a deal with prosecutors on July 31 and agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence.

The deal would allow the trio to be spared from the death penalty and remain jailed on the southern portion of the American Naval base in Cuba.

The agreement has sparked outrage from family members of victims who died during the 9/11 attacks.

But a US appeals court on Friday scrapped the agreement, saying that both they and the American public deserved to see the defendants stand trial.

Lloyd Austin, the Secretary of Defence under the Biden administration, attempted to halt the agreement by filing a motion to a military appeals court.

In his brief, Austin cited the magnitude of the 9/11 attacks and argued that as defence secretary, he should decide on any plea agreements that would save the three men from the death penalty.

Austin “acted within the bounds of his legal authority, and we decline to second-guess his judgment,” judges Patricia Millett and Neomi Rao wrote in a ruling today.

Congressional lawmakers have also slammed the plea deal, calling it a “national disgrace” and a “total miscarriage of justice.”

“The Biden-Harris Administration’s weakness in the face of sworn enemies of the American people apparently knows no bounds,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at the time.

“The plea deal with terrorists – including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks that killed thousands of Americans – is a revolting abdication of the government’s responsibility to defend America and provide justice.

“The only thing worse than negotiating with terrorists is negotiating with them after they are in custody.”

Mohammed and al-Hawsawi were captured on March 1, 2003, in a joint CIA and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence operation in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi.

Walid bin Attash was captured in Karachi, Pakistan, in April 2003.

Mohammed was held in secret CIA prisons up until his transfer to Guantánamo Bay in September 2006.

However, before he was moved to Guantánamo, government officials interrogated Mohammed and his accomplices for years, torturing them and keeping them isolated in undisclosed locations.

Mohammed endured 183 rounds of waterboarding – a form of torture where a person experiences the sensation of drowning when water is poured over a cloth covering their face.

TERROR ATTACKS

At least 2,753 people died at the site of the World Trade Center, where two planes crashed into the towers on September 11, 2001.

A third plane hit the Pentagon, while a fourth, which was planned to strike Washington DC, crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after crew members and passengers stormed the cockpit.

The heinous attacks sparked the war on terror after President George W. Bush ordered the US military to invade Afghanistan and Iraq in search of the terrorists responsible.

The US government was warned by the CIA that the likely targets would be famous landmarks or symbols of US capitalism – but they did not know when or how.

And none of them could have imagined the extent or horror of 9/11 when it did happen.

On May 1, 2011, the most classified operation of the last 25 years was launched to kill Osama Bin Laden.

The Saudi-born terror chief became the world’s most wanted man, hiding in plain sight in Pakistan for years before U.S. Navy SEALs took him out in a daring raid.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14690091/9-11-mastermind-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-osama-bin-laden/

ACCUSED child murderer Travis Decker would not be able to survive in the wilderness long alone, but authorities still have a challenge on their hands, experts say.

Decker, 32, vanished six weeks ago after he allegedly murdered his three daughters during a scheduled custody visit on May 30 in Washington.

There have been a few sightings of a man resembling Decker more than 500 miles away in Idaho, and now multiple agencies are working on the case.

Although a camper’s report in the Bear Creek area in Idaho has been ruled out by US Marshals, a nurse also claimed to have seen a man resembling Decker in Idaho City.

He appeared to be hiking but was underprepared with a sleeping roll, no sleeping bag, and long-sleeved top and pants in hot weather, as he was seen walking across a parking lot towards a public bathroom.

Michael Lanza, founder of The Big Outside, a writer, outdoor photographer, and backpacker for more than three decades, spoke to The U.S. Sun about the possibility Decker could disappear into the nearby mountains in Idaho.

Lanza said if he already owned the correct gear and clothing and had experience in backcountry travel, he might be okay for a while, but the challenge of feeding himself would likely become the main issue.

“And in those mountains, winter sets in by sometime in September or October,” he said.

“But his challenge with feeding himself would probably arise long before then.

“It’s summer, so the weather wouldn’t be all that difficult, although a person would still need the gear and skills to make shelter and get food on his own, possibly by fishing and hunting.

“That might not provide enough food, and he wouldn’t likely have a means of preserving food [refrigeration] for more than a day, meaning he’d have to fish or hunt daily.

“Backpackers and horsepackers would typically carry a small gas stove for cooking meals, but those require fuel, so if he has a stove, he would need to be resupplied with fuel as well as food.”

Lanza said in the early summer the creeks and rivers are high so there’s plenty of water, but the crossings can be dangerous.

“Winter would require a more weather-hardy shelter than a tent for a long period of time, and wild food sources become much more scarce and difficult to obtain,” he continued.

“Traveling on foot becomes much more difficult, and there’s avalanche danger.

“Temperatures will drop well below freezing at night and may not rise above freezing on many days.

“Avoiding frostbite or worse would be difficult to impossible without the right footwear and clothing, and those wear out over time or may get wet and not dry for hours or days, depending on the weather and temperatures.

“Look at people and cultures who’ve survived in harsh winter environments, and they’ve done it typically through long-developed skills, having very good shelter, and having communities supporting one another.

“Not many people have survived winters as hermits.”

More than $6 million is said to have been spent on the search for Decker so far, and authorities still have no clue as to where he is.

Lanza said, “It’s difficult because of the mountainous and forested terrain and the vastness of that wilderness.

“Without recent sightings, searchers might not have an area to focus their efforts on, meaning they would need either thousands of people on the ground or aircraft searching with technologies that can locate a person on the ground who’s not within eyesight of them, all of which entails enormous cost.

“I expect he’ll either get captured alive or his body will be found some days, weeks, or months.”

Police recently said there was no clear evidence as to whether Decker is alive or dead and millions of dollars have been spent on fruitless weeks-long manhunt.

Decker is an Army veteran with extensive military skills who previously spent months alone in the outdoors, leading officials to believe he may have planned to survive in the wilderness for a while.

But Chelan County Sheriff Mike Morrison in Washington told CNN Decker isn’t a wilderness “guru,” despite online theories inflating his survival skills.

“We’re not going to glorify his abilities,” Morrison said.

“We don’t think that he’s some kind of special forces guru.

“He could get lucky at times, and eventually luck runs out.”

Elisabeth Brentano, an outdoor photographer, also spoke to The U.S. Sun about adventures in the Sawtooth National Forest, where Decker was initially thought to have been spotted this month.

“It is possible to go off the grid in the Sawtooth National Forest for days, or even weeks, without being discovered if someone has strong survival skills and equipment,” she said.

“For example, one would need a way to purify their water [either by boiling or filtering], they’d need food [they’d have to hunt or forage, and/or pack in dehydrated meals], and once temperatures start dropping, they’d need shelter and heat [i.e., tarp, tent, firewood etc].

“While there are no grizzly bears in the Sawtooths, there are black bears, mountain lions and even wolves, so that’s another element of danger.”

Meanwhile, Dave Canterbury – a veteran survival expert and owner of Pathfinder School in Ohio, an outdoor self-reliance and survival school – previously told The U.S. Sun Decker could be near the Canadian border by now.

Decker was homeless at the time of the murders and has been diagnosed with PTSD.

He has been accused of kidnapping his daughters and killing them after he picked them up from his ex-wife Whitney for a planned visitation on May 30.

The little girls’ bodies were discovered at Rock Island Campground in Leavenworth, over 20 miles away from their home in Wenatchee, with plastic bags over their heads and zip ties around their wrists.

About 100 yards away from the bodies, Decker’s white truck was found abandoned with his wallet inside and bloody handprints containing his DNA on the tailgate.

A neighbor said Decker looked thin and appeared distracted when he arrived for the handoff at Whitney’s home.

Binh Nguyen, who lived next door to the Deckers for years, told People about the conversation he shared with the dad on the day he disappeared.

“He was skinny. He had long hair and a beard,” Nguyen told the outlet.

“I said, ‘Is that you, Travis?’”

The men spoke for about 10 minutes as Decker waited to pick up his daughters.

However, Nguyen noticed that Decker looked distracted and wasn’t fully paying attention to their conversation

“What was strange was that he kept asking me the same question at different points in our conversation,” Nguyen told the Daily Mail.

“Like he wasn’t remembering he already asked.”

The girls’ mom Whitney has said she wants him found “dead or alive.”

Court documents show Whitney claimed Decker was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and didn’t take medication for it, despite treatment being part of the parenting plan.

“Travis has really struggled since he left the military and his mental health can be hard sometimes,” Whitney told Seattle CBS affiliate KIRO before the girls’ bodies were found.

“I think this is an effect of that, and I don’t personally think that he’s dangerous.”

In a declaration filed in September, Whitney wrote that her ex-husband’s instability was affecting their daughters, according to the Seattle Times.

“Since our separation, it has become increasingly clear that Travis has been struggling to maintain stability in his life,” Whitney wrote, according to KIRO.

She said Decker was prone to “outbursts” and would come into her home yelling for the girls.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14678612/travis-decker-search-countdown-found-experts/

Wimbledon 2025: World No.1 Jannik Sinner set up a clash with Carlos Alcaraz in the grand finale after beating 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the second semi-final.

Jannik Sinner stormed into his maiden Wimbledon final after beating Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the second semi-final. On Friday, July 11, Sinner needed just an hour and 55 minutes to dispatch Djokovic 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 on Centre Court. The 23-year-old also avenged his straight-sets loss to Djokovic in the 2023 semi-final.

For the first time since 2017, the Wimbledon final will not feature Djokovic. The last time he missed the title clash at the All England Club was when Roger Federer defeated Marin Cilic to win his eighth Wimbledon crown.

Djokovic’s wait for a record-extending 25th Grand Slam title continues. With his fifth consecutive win over the Serb, Sinner also improved his head-to-head record against Djokovic to 6-4 on the ATP Tour.

Sinner also became the fifth man since 1995 to reach the final of all four Grand Slams, joining Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray. He is also the second-youngest man in the Open Era to achieve this feat, after Jim Courier.

In the final, Jannik Sinner will face Carlos Alcaraz, who got the better of Taylor Fritz in the first semi-final of the day. The clash will also be a rematch of the French Open final, where Alcaraz prevailed in a thrilling five-set battle.

Sinner dictates terms

Sinner wasted no time in gaining the early advantage, securing a 2-1 lead with a break of serve and then extending it to 3-1. Djokovic responded with a strong service game, holding Sinner to love in the sixth game to close the gap to 2-3.

However, Sinner didn’t allow Djokovic to build any momentum. At 5-3, 40-15, Sinner earned two set points. Djokovic saved both, but Sinner converted the third to take the set and have the last laugh.

Sinner carried his momentum into the second set, breaking Djokovic’s serve for the third time in the match to take a 2-0 lead before extending it to 3-0.

At 5-2, 40-30, Sinner earned a set point, but Djokovic saved it with an ace. Djokovic had to battle through nearly eight and a half minutes and five deuces to eventually hold serve. However, it only delayed the inevitable, as Sinner comfortably closed out the set in his next service game.

Djokovic fights, but Sinner triumphs

Before the start of the third set, Djokovic received treatment from his physio, raising speculation about a possible mid-match retirement – just as he had done after the opening set of his semi-final against Alexander Zverev in the Australian Open earlier this year.

However, post-treatment, Djokovic appeared rejuvenated. He earned his first service break of the match to take a 2-0 lead, followed by a solid hold to go 3-0 up.

But Sinner wasn’t ready to back down. He earned his fourth break of the match and levelled the score at 3-3, shifting the pressure right back onto Djokovic.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/sports/tennis/story/wimbledon-novak-djokovic-carlos-alcaraz-jannik-sinner-2754601-2025-07-11

Chancellor Merz has said Germany is ready to buy US-made Patriot systems for Ukraine. At the summit in Rome where he spoke, allies pledged over €10 billion for rebuilding as Zelenskyy warned of more Russian attacks.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome on Thursday that Germany is prepared to purchase US-made Patriot surface-to-air missile defense systems for Kyiv.

His pledge came as Russia continued its daily aerial bombardment of Ukraine, involving hundreds of drones and missiles.

What did the Merz say about Patriots?

“We are also prepared to purchase additional Patriot systems from the US to make them available to Ukraine,” Merz said at the conference, where air defense was discussed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kyiv’s allies.

The Patriot is one of the world’s most advanced air-defense systems and is capable of intercepting aircraft as well as ballistic and cruise missiles.

To date, the US has only approved the delivery of three Patriot missile batteries to Kyiv — and that was under US President Donald Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden.

Merz said he asked Trump last week to deliver more of the Patriot systems.

“The Americans need some of them themselves, but they also have a lot of them … It has not yet been finalized whether a delivery will be made,” Merz added.

Patriot systems come in fully mobile batteries that include a command center, a radar station to detect incoming threats, and launchers. The system covers an area of around 68 kilometers (42 miles), according to the German military.

Its radar can track up to 50 targets and engage five of them at once. Depending on the version in use, the interceptor missiles can reach an altitude of more than 24 kilometers and hit targets up to 160 kilometers away.

Messages to the Kremlin — and Trump

Merz also pledged broader and steadfast support for Ukraine at the conference.

“I have two messages, one goes to Moscow, to President [Vladimir] Putin,” Merz said. “The message is quite simple: We will not give up,” he emphasized, to applause from those gathered.

The conference is being held for the fourth year in a row after first being convened in 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Merz said his second message was to Washington, to US President Donald Trump. “Stay with us and stay with the Europeans,” Merz said. “We are on the same page,” the German leader stressed.

Trump has signaled frustration with Putin as the US president tries to close a deal to end the war, even as Russian aerial bombardments on Ukrainian cities continue unabated.

What else happened at the conference?

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said participants at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome have pledged over €10 billion ($11.7 billion) to help with Ukraine’s economic recovery.

“I think we should be proud of the result we have achieved together today — nations, international organizations, financial institutions, local authorities, the business sector, and civil society,” Meloni said in her opening speech.

The European Commission detailed €2.3 billion in support to Ukraine to help it rebuild.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/germany-pledges-patriot-air-defense-for-ukraine/a-73233988

MILLIONS of Americans are set to receive a one-off payment of up to $400 with no strings attached.

The payments are part of a $2billion package designed to help taxpayers with the effects of inflation.

Starting in October, New York State will send inflation refund checks to some eight million people to help with the rising cost of living.

The one-time payments will be sent over several weeks and will be adjusted on the basis of gross incomes and tax filings.

Taxpayers will have to meet specific criteria to ensure they receive a payment.

They must’ve filed their taxes, can’t be claimed as a dependent, and make below $150,000.

Taxpayers earning between $75,000 and $150,000 are in line to receive a $150 check, as revealed by the New York Governor’s Office.

Meanwhile single taxpayers who earn up to $75,000 are set to pocket $200.

But, joint filers earning up to $150,000 are expected to receive a cash boost of $400.

And those who earn between $150,000 and $300,000 are in line to pocket $300 under the plan.

Around 8.2 million people will receive the checks.

And, they do not need to take any action.

This is because officials will use tax files on record to send the checks.

The relief package was proposed by New York governor, Kathy Hochul.

But, the payments proved controversial and were met with opposition.

Lawmakers believed the payments didn’t tackle the core issues of the cost of living.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/money/14677853/americans-one-time-payments-new-york/

AN urgent recall has been issued for nearly 850,000 stainless steel water bottles sold at Walmart after horrifying injuries left two people permanently blind.

The screw-top lids on the bottles can suddenly and forcefully shoot off, striking users in the face, federal safety officials warn.

The dangerous bottles were sold under Walmart’s Ozark Trail brand and have been available in stores across the US since 2017.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, pressure can build inside the 64-ounce bottles when food or drinks are left inside, causing the lid to eject unexpectedly.

Three people have been hit in the face by the caps, and two of them lost their vision permanently.

The recall affects the Ozark Trail 64-ounce stainless steel bottles with a silver body, black lid, and the brand logo printed on the side.

The bottle is sold exclusively through Walmart stores across the US and on the retailer’s website for around $15.

They were manufactured in China and imported by Walmart.

The affected bottles are marked with model number 83-662 on the packaging.

CPSC says consumers should stop using the bottles right away due to the serious risk of injury.

Customers can return them to any Walmart store for a full refund.

Photos of the product and details of the recall were posted on the CPSC website.

According to the July 10 notice, the agency says pressure builds when the bottles are used to store perishable contents over time.

In some cases, opening the lid causes a sudden release of built-up pressure.

This leads to the screwcap flying off “with force,” CPSC warned.

So far, no deaths have been reported in connection to the bottles.

However, the two blindness cases are considered severe and irreversible.

Walmart didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by The U.S. Sun.

Earlier in June, an electric blanket sold at Walmart was pulled from shelves after reports of it overheating and catching fire.

The MaxKare Electric Blanket, made by China-based Shenzhen Yumo Commerce and Trade Corporation, was sold between June 2021 and November 2024.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14677027/walmart-water-bottle-recall-leaves-two-permanently-blind/

The Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist was held for months after being arrested by immigration agents. The US government had sought to deport him over his role in campus protests over the war in Gaza.

Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student who played a prominent role in pro-Palestinian campus protests, filed a $20 million (over €17 million) claim Thursday against the Trump administration, arguing he was wrongly imprisoned.

Khalil, a legal US resident, was arrested in March after President Donald Trump vowed to deport foreign students involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement at US college campuses this year.

He was held in an immigration detention center in Louisiana for three months before his release in June, which came just hours after a judge ordered him to be granted bail.

“I hope this would serve as a deterrent for the administration,” Khalil told the Reuters news agency. “Trump made it clear he only understands the language of money.”

What does Khalil’s claim say?

The claim alleges Khalil was the victim of “malicious prosecution and abuse of process, false arrest, false imprisonment and negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress,” according to the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is supporting the Columbia graduate.

The center states the Trump administration illegally arrested, detained and planned to deport Khalil “in a manner calculated to terrorize him and his family.”

It adds that his mistreatment by US authorities is causing “severe emotional distress, economic hardship, damage to his reputation, and significant impairment of his First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security called Khalil’s claim “absurd” and accused him of “hateful behavior and rhetoric” that threatened Jewish students in the US.

Why was Khalil arrested?

Khalil was one of the leaders of student-led protests against Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.

The White House had said Khalil was a national security threat who had engaged in “antisemitic activities” with his criticism of Israel.

The Trump administration has said Khalil’s deportation is justified because of “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” if he remains in the US.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/us-mahmoud-khalil-sues-trump-administration-for-20m/a-73235120

SATELLITE images taken before and after the Texas floods have captured the total destruction left by the deadly waters that claimed at least 120 lives.

The devastation was centered in Kerr County, where summer camps and remote homes lay dangerously close to the Guadalupe River.

Before rains came crashing down in pitch black hours of July 4, the river in Central Texas, outside San Antonio, glimmered in the middle of lush, tree-lined properties.

Aerial images showed Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls, nestled comfortably by the waters with cabins and tennis courts peppered among greenery.

But recent satellite images have now shown the devastating effects of the floods, which wrecked buildings and washed brown sediment all over the property.

Previously verdant grounds have now been left dull gray by the rushing waters after the river rose 40 feet and tore through surrounding areas.

Piles of abandoned trunks and other belongings can be seen sprinkled throughout the campgrounds after rescue crews attempted to organize the rubble while searching for survivors.

Ninety-five people have been found dead in Kerr County alone after the holiday tragedy, and at least 27 of the victims were counselors and little girls attending the camp.

One of the hardest-hit cabins was the Bubble Inn, which hosted the youngest campers, aged eight to nine, and lay closest to the river.

Both counselors and all 14 girls in the cabin have been found dead or missing following the floods. The camp’s director, Dick Eastland, died trying to save them in a valiant final act.

At least 150 people are still missing in Kerr County, and hope is dimming for those who haven’t been found, as it’s been days since a live victim was pulled from the rubble, officials said.

A dozen more are still missing throughout the state, and legislators across the US are sending over crews to help with the grim search.

But despite the horrific finds, local leaders have vowed not to give up until every person lost to the floodwaters is found.

CAMPERS’ FINAL MOMENTS

Employees working at Camp Mystic have given heartwrenching accounts of the dark night when the waters rushed through the property.

Staff said they rushed from cabin to cabin, pulling girls out of the windows and shivering in the freezing rain as the river rose beneath their feet.

One employee said the waters “made like a swirl right around those cabins like a toilet bowl,” according to the Washington Post.

Callie McAlary, a 16-year-old camper, remembered the terrifying moment she realized that it wasn’t a normal thunderstorm.

“One minute you see lightning strike next to your cabin, and next to you, you hear water’s coming up,” she told Fox News.

Callie said that she watched in horror as girls darted to cabins on higher ground when buildings filled with water.

“It was really bad thunder,” she said.

“We heard one of the campers run in and say, ‘Hey, our cabin is flooding.’

“I knew some girls slept on trunks that night, some girls had to share beds, some girls slept on floors because they couldn’t go back to their cabin because it was so flooded in three cabins.”

EFFORTS CONTINUE

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania are planning on visiting Kerr County on Friday to assess the damage.

The tragedy has sparked an outpouring of support and questions as to why people weren’t evacuated from the area before the rain came.

Some critics claim that Trump’s cost-cutting policies have hindered rescue efforts, but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the rumors a “depraved lie.”

Texas Legislature has scheduled a special session for later this month to discuss flood warning systems, emergency communications, and relief funding for flood victims, CNN reported.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency Task Force set up a command center in Center Point, Texas, on Thursday and continues to search for victims.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14674581/texas-floods-camp-mystic-missing-before-after-satellite/ 

South Korean singer Taeil, formerly from the K-pop band NCT, has been sentenced to three years and six months in prison for rape.

Taeil, 31, and two accomplices, named in South Korean reports only as Lee and Hong, admitted in June to taking turns assaulting their victim – a Chinese tourist.

A district judge in Seoul described the crime as “extremely grave”, but handed them just half the seven-year sentence requested by prosecutors, noting they were first time offenders.

The court also ordered the three men to complete 40 hours of a treatment programme designed for perpetrators of sexual violence.

The court heard they had met their victim at a bar in the Itaewon district in Seoul.

She became “heavily intoxicated” after drinking with them, the court heard. They then got into a taxi to Lee’s house, where the assault happened.

South Korean law describes this specific kind of rape as “aggravated” because it was a group attack, and a “quasi rape”, as the victim was unconscious.

Taeil, whose real name is Moon Tae-il, left NCT in August last year when allegations first emerged, although the exact details of the crime were not publicly known at the time.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp820gypnn6o

Prince William saw right through Meghan Markle’s alleged plan to become rich and famous by marrying his younger brother, Prince Harry, a royal biographer claimed.

After Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin and closest confidante, Lady Elizabeth Anson, claimed the late monarch was apprehensive about the Duchess of Sussex’s intentions, royal journalist and commentator Phil Dampier alleged the Prince of Wales was skeptical about Markle entering the royal family.

“I think, unfortunately, that confirms what I’ve been saying or thought for the last few years that, sadly, Meghan never really had any intention of staying in the royal family,” Dampier told the Sun, referencing Anson’s comments.

“She saw as a steppingstone getting married to Harry to new fame and fortune. And I think that’s what initially Prince William was concerned about,” he alleged.

Dampier claimed that the siblings “fell out” because of William’s feelings about Markle.

“And now we are where we are. But to have this confirmed by somebody so close to the Queen is really dynamite,” he said.

However, a source fired back at the author’s claims, telling Page Six, “The opinions of Mr. Dampier are just that, opinions. They are completely without merit and not grounded in fact.

“There is no way Mr. Dampier, nor anyone at the Sun newspaper, could possibly know what the Duchess’ intentions were or are, about anything.”

Page Six has reached out to Kensington Palace and reps for the Sussexes but did not immediately hear back.

Harry, 40, has had a strained relationship and William, 43, and their dad, King Charles III, since the Duke of Sussex quit the royal family in 2020 and moved to North America.

Things got worse between the relatives when Harry and the “Suits” alum, also 43, accused the royal family of racism and released a Netflix series about their issues.

Then, in January 2023, the Invictus Games founder dropped his bombshell memoir, “Spare,” in which he alleged that William physically attacked him over Markle.

In May, Harry said he was willing to “reconcile” with his family.

“There have been so many disagreements, differences, between me and some of my family,” he told BBC News on May 3.

“This current situation that has been ongoing for five years with regard to human life and safety is the sticking point. It is the only thing that’s left,” the dad of two said, referring to him losing his appeal against the UK government’s decision to strip him of his publicly funded security after he left the royal family.

The dad of two acknowledged that “some members” of his family would “never forgive” him for “lots of things.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/07/10/royal-family/prince-william-believes-meghan-markle-saw-harry-as-a-stepping-stone-to-fame-and-fortune-royal-biographer/

One of Taylor Swift’s longtime collaborators, Ed Sheeran, is opening up about how the pop icon influenced his journey into NFL fandom.

The revelation came after Ed Sheeran got personal on Kylie Kelce’s blockbuster podcast.

Travis Kelce brought home some merch from his Montana vacation with Taylor Swift

Travis Kelce loves to exit through the gift shop.

The Kansas City Chiefs player gave a subtle nod to girlfriend Taylor Swift on the latest episode of his “New Heights” podcast, wearing a shirt that he seemingly picked up on the couple’s recent vacation.

Eagle-eyed fans noticed that the logo on his white tee matched that of Yellowstone Club, a private residential club and ski resort in Big Sky, Montana, where Swift and Kelce stayed earlier this year.

How Taylor Swift influenced Ed Sheeran’s unlikely NFL fandom — years before her Travis Kelce romance

Look what she made him do.

Ed Sheeran revealed the subtle role Taylor Swift played in his love of the NFL — years before her romance with Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce — on Kylie Kelce’s latest podcast episode.

The “Shape of You” singer told “Not Gonna Lie” listeners Thursday that about “mov[ing] to Nashville for Taylor Swift’s ‘Red’ tour in 2013.”

He recalled, “I got a place there. I went to Walmart to buy bits to move in and I just bought some pajamas. And then when I got home, I was wearing the pajamas. And when someone was around, they were like, ‘Oh, you’re a [Tennessee] Titans fan?’ I was like, ‘Guess I am.’”

Sheeran noted that he has followed the team ever since.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/07/10/celebrity-news/taylor-swift-live-updates-7-10-11-12-2025/

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and China Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended separate meetings with their ASEAN counterparts in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday (Jul 10).

Top diplomats of the United States and China took veiled swipes at each other in separate meetings with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Thursday (Jul 10) as they pledged support for the grouping amid geopolitical and trade uncertainty.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised the issue of overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea, a source of significant friction between China and several ASEAN nations, alongside allegations of unfair trade practices by Beijing.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the other hand spoke about a world in chaos, and the need for trade disputes to be resolved through dialogue, in what appears to be a critique of America’s unilateral imposition of tariffs.

The meetings come at a time of growing pressure as ASEAN – which has 10 member states – proves its relevance amid global uncertainty and a range of regional challenges.

Rubio, on his first visit to Asia, said the region remains a “focal point” of US foreign policy under the Trump administration.

“The US is a committed partner to ASEAN,” he said in opening remarks at the ASEAN post-ministerial conference with the US.

“When I hear in the news that perhaps the US or the world might be distracted by events in other parts of the planet, I would say distraction is impossible, because it is our view – our strong view and the reality – that this century and the next – the story of the next 50 years will largely be written here in this region, in this part of the world,” Rubio said.

Thursday’s dialogues occurred a day after US President Donald Trump’s 90-day tariff pause concluded. Malaysia faces a 25 per cent tariff on exports to the US, Laos and Myanmar 40 per cent, Cambodia and Thailand 36 per cent, and Indonesia 32 per cent.

While Rubio did not address the issue of tariffs in his remarks to ASEAN counterparts, comments he made on the sidelines of the meet suggested that Southeast Asian countries may get “better” rates than others.

The US’ trade relationship with ASEAN supports 1.1 million jobs across Southeast Asia, Rubio said.

“So we fully understand the importance of the region, both to our prosperity and security and to each of your countries as well, and that’s why we made clear that we intend to remain deeply engaged in this partnership, and want to continue to work with you on building on all of this,” he said.

US affiliates of majority-ASEAN owned firms also make significant contributions to the US economy, supporting close to 71,000 jobs and over US$300 million in research and development, and about US$2 billion worth of US exports, he added.

Following the meet, Rubio later told reporters: “I would say that when all is said and done, many of the countries in Southeast Asia are going to have tariff rates that are actually better than countries in other parts of the world.

“But these talks continue. There’ll be talks next week with Japan. There’s ongoing talks with virtually every country represented here.”

US officials had said ahead of Rubio’s trip that Washington was “prioritising” its commitment to East and Southeast Asia, and the US’ top diplomat told reporters that America had “no intention of abandoning” the region.

“We’ve spent decades building these relationships,” he said.

“Not only we’re not going to walk away from them, we seek to expand them and build upon them with a part of the world that is essential.”

Rubio added he might also meet with Chinese counterpart Wang.

In his remarks to his ASEAN counterparts, Rubio made reference to US’ dominance in advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technology, as well as efforts to ensure freedom of navigation in waters where there are overlapping sovereignty claims, without mentioning geopolitical rival China.

Freedom of navigation and overflight are essential to global trade, maritime security and peace, he said.

Without directly mentioning the South China Sea – of which China claims about 90 per cent with its nine-dash line – he said “claims of territorial sovereignty over vast areas of ocean space that are clearly within the maritime jurisdiction” of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam are “unlawful”.

They also “undermine regional peace and stability, especially when these claims involve reckless harassment of foreign vessels and dangerous intercepts of aircraft in international airspace”, he said.

On the digital front, Rubio said: “We’re proud that the US continues to be the partner of choice on digital cybersecurity and emerging technologies, including AI and cloud computing, support pro-growth AI policy, while ensuring AI and cutting edge technologies are not co-opted into tools or fraud and censorship or mass surveillance.”

The US has sought to curb exports of state-of-the-art chips to China in recent years, concerned that they could be used to advance Beijing’s military systems and undermine American dominance in AI.

Rubio said there was a need to tackle attempts to bypass such curbs.

“We also need to address the issue of trans-shipment, especially efforts to use third countries as pass-throughs to the United States, and efforts to use third countries to access sensitive US technology such as AI servers and chips,” he said.

“This influences perceptions of fairness and reciprocity and bilateral trade relationships.”

WANG YI ON RESOLVING TRADE DISPUTES

China’s Wang, meanwhile, spoke about promoting an “inclusive” global economy at the ASEAN post-ministerial conference with China on Thursday morning.

At a time of global turbulence and transformation, there was a need to draw lessons from history, Wang said.

“We must actively promote a world order that is equal and well-governed, and economic globalisation that is inclusive and beneficial for all, steering the international system toward greater fairness and justice,” he said in his remarks.

China also believes economic and trade differences should be resolved through equal dialogue and mutual benefit, safeguarding countries’ dignity and not be at the expense of the interests of third parties, Wang said, as reported by China Daily.

China has in recent days denounced parties that are considering striking tariff reduction deals with the US that cut Beijing out of their supply chains.

On the South China Sea, he noted the third reading of the Code of Conduct has been finalised, “effectively managing differences and safeguarding overall maritime stability”.

Wang, who’s China’s top diplomat as director of the Central Committee Foreign Affairs Commission Office in China’s Communist Party, said the South China Sea is the common home of regional countries, rather than a “gladiatorial arena” for major powers, reported China Daily.

He added that China is willing to expand cooperation with ASEAN countries in areas such as marine environmental protection, navigation safety, maritime law enforcement and key marine infrastructure.

It is willing to fully implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and advance consultations on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, Wang said.

“The world is in chaos today, and the peace and stability of our region are precious and should be firmly protected. We must never allow geopolitical conflicts and group confrontations to be introduced into Asia,” said Wang, adding that China has always regarded ASEAN as a top priority in its neighbourhood diplomacy.

Wang said 2025 marks a fruitful year for ASEAN-China cooperation. Negotiations on the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement Version 3.0 have completed and the pact is expected to be signed later this year, he said.

He held up the ASEAN-China-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit held in May as a model of cross-regional collaboration.

On the scourge of scams and transnational crimes, Wang said China has deepened security collaboration with Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and other partners to combat the issue.

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visits to Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia earlier this year have elevated bilateral ties and deepened people-to-people connections, Wang noted.

MEETINGS ALSO HELD WITH RUSSIA AND OTHER COUNTRIES

Both the US and China will take part in the 15th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and the ASEAN Regional Forum Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Friday.

The meetings – from Jul 8 to 11 – take place under the theme of “Inclusivity and Sustainability”.

Rubio said the US has proposed an East Asia Summit leaders’ statement on combating scam centres, and remains committed to strengthen efforts to combat the problem.

On the conflict in Gaza, he said the US remains committed to achieving a durable ceasefire and believes “we are close to that now”.

“It seems at least the majority of the terms of such an agreement are in place, and that proximity talks should soon begin on implementation,” he said, thanking Egypt and Qatar in particular for their facilitation.

The US remains committed to an enduring peace throughout the Middle East, “changing the architecture of a region to one that’s more stable”, he said.

ASEAN also held post-ministerial conferences with Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Japan, Russia, and the Republic of Korea on Thursday.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/asean-foreign-ministers-meeting-marco-rubio-wang-yi-us-tariffs-south-china-sea-ai-5231696

Justin Bieber is teasing his long-awaited seventh studio album – apparently called Swag – with a series of billboards and social media posts Thursday.

Billboards depicting Bieber were found by fans in Reykjavik, Iceland and Los Angeles with the word Swag. The singer also shared images of billboards on his official Instagram account that appeared to depict a tracklist that includes song names like All I Can Take, Walking Away, Dadz Love and Forgiveness.

No details on when the album would drop were included. The Hollywood Reporter, which was first to report the album was nearing release, said it would arrive on streaming services Friday (Jul 11).

Bieber, the two-time Grammy Award winning singer and Canadian pop idol who revolutionised teen pop and social media fame, is best known for his silky R&B pop lyric tenor, demonstrated on the diamond-selling Baby, Sorry, and Stay with the Kid Laroi. At the beginning of his career, and as a tween, Bieber began working with Usher and the influential music manager Scooter Braun.

Source : https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/entertainment/justin-bieber-new-album-swag-467806

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday (Jul 10) the United States would impose a 35 per cent tariff on imports from Canada next month and planned to impose blanket tariffs of 15 per cent or 20 per cent on most other trade partners.

In a letter released on his social media platform, Trump told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney the new rate would go into effect on Aug 1 and would go up if Canada retaliated.

Trump has broadened his trade war in recent days, setting new tariffs on a number of countries, including allies Japan and South Korea, along with a 50 per cent tariff on copper.

In an interview with NBC News published on Thursday, Trump said other trading partners that had not yet received such letters would likely face blanket tariffs.

“Not everybody has to get a letter. You know that. We’re just setting our tariffs,” Trump said in the interview.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/trump-canada-tarffs-35-cent-blanket-tariffs-others-5232711

A shocking incident has emerged from Gurugram as Tennis player Radhika Yadav has reportedly been shot by her father in Sector 57 of Sector 56 police station area. The incident occurred at 2:00 pm on July 10, Thursday. According to a report of Dainik Jagran, Yadav’s father fired three bullets to kill her as the reason was over a fight about making a reel.

A shocking incident has emerged from Gurugram as Tennis player Radhika Yadav has reportedly been shot by her father in Sector 57 of Sector 56 police station area. The incident occurred at 2:00 pm on July 10, Thursday. According to a report of Dainik Jagran, Yadav’s father fired three bullets to kill her as the reason was over a fight about making a reel.

The report went on to claim that the Sector 56 police station is currently investigating the matter as the cops immediately reached their house after the incident transpired. The people of neighbourhood informed the police about the matter, prompting them to conduct investigation.

The father is reportedly being questioned as the report claimed that he committed the crime with a licensed pistol. A host of media reports stated that the 25-year-old athlete was rushed to a private hospital in serious condition but the doctors could not revive her.

Station House Officer Rajendar Kumar, belonging to Sector 56 police station said, as quoted by The Hindustan Times:

We received a call from the hospital regarding a woman admitted with gunshot wounds. By the time we arrived, she had passed away. Statements from family members confirmed that the father was responsible.”

Who Was Radhika Yadav?

The youngster was born on March 23, 2000, she had climbed the International Tennis Federation (ITF) women’s doubles rankings, reaching a career-best of 113 as of November 4, 2024.

She also held the fifth position in the Haryana women’s doubles rankings. Known for her agility, tactical intelligence, and relentless work ethic, Radhika had competed in multiple national and international tournaments. She was considered one of India’s emerging talents in doubles, alongside players like Poorvi Bhatt and Thaniya Sarai Gogulamanda.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/sports/shocking-state-level-tennis-player-shot-by-her-father-in-gurugram-claims-report

The nation’s largest teachers union faced ridicule this week for misspelling “fascism” in a resolution opposing President Trump.

The National Education Association (NEA), which represents more than 3 million teachers nationwide, approved the mangled proposal – aimed at defending “the survival of civilization itself” – on Sunday at the group’s annual convention.

“NEA pledges to defend democracy against Trump’s embrace of fascism by using the term facism [sic] in NEA materials to correctly characterize Donald Trump’s program and actions,” read the adopted agenda item, obtained by conservative education expert Corey A. DeAngelis, who shared it on X.

“The members and material resources of NEA must be committed to the defense of the democratic and educational conditions required by our hopes for a just society and the survival of civilization itself by stating the truth,” the wordy new business item continued.

The document noted that calling out Trump’s “facism” [sic] in NEA materials “cannot be accomplished with current staff and resources” because it would cost an additional $3,500 to do so.

DeAngelis, and several people on social media, mocked the NEA over the spelling error.

“Yes, the union that claims to represent educators couldn’t even spell ‘fascism’ correctly in its official resolution attacking the president,” he wrote in a Fox News opinion piece. “The irony is almost too rich to parody.”

Tina Descovich, the CEO and co-founder of conservative group Moms for Liberty, argued that the agenda item was emblematic of the dismal state of the American education system.

“If the largest teachers union can’t define fascism properly we can all understand clearly why we are failing to teach children in schools,” Descovich wrote on X. “Number one priority is not to teach reading and math but a political agenda.”

“It’s infuriating.”

Republican Washington State Rep. Jim Walsh described the resolution as a “hysterical slander” of Trump and said it’s apparent why some families opt to steer their children away from public schools.

“A political lobbying organization that claims to represent public school teachers misspells the key word in its hysterical slander of the current POTUS,” Walsh wrote on X. “It’s not spelled ‘facism,’ morons.”

“And you’re not using the word correctly, anyway,” the state rep continued.”No wonder many families are homeschooling.”

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/07/10/us-news/largest-us-teachers-union-mocked-for-misspelling-fascism-in-anti-trump-agenda-item/

Chilling video captured the moment a high-ranking Ukrainian spy was ruthlessly gunned down in a brazen, broad daylight ambush on the streets of Kyiv and left for dead.

Col. Ivan Voronych, a senior security officer in Ukraine’s Security Service, was crossing the street in the Holosiivskyi district Thursday when an armed attacker ran up and blasted him with bullets at close range before fleeing, according to disturbing surveillance footage obtained by Ukrainian media and reports.

The assailant, who reportedly used a silenced pistol, was seen sprinting across a parking lot outside Voronych’s apartment building moments before unleashing five fatal rounds.

“With five shots at close range while leaving the apartment today at 8 a.m., the enemy killer did his dirty work,” Roman Chervinsky, a former Ukrainian intelligence officer, told The Telegraph.

He emphasized that Voronych had been “fighting the enemy since 2014.”

An Israeli airstrike hit Palestinians near a medical centre in Gaza on Thursday, killing 10 children and six adults, local health authorities said, as ceasefire talks dragged on with no immediate deal expected.
Verified video footage from the strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip showed the bodies of women and children lying in pools of blood amid dust and screaming. One clip showed several motionless children lying on a donkey cart.

“She didn’t do anything, she was innocent, I swear. Her dream was for the war to end and that they announce it today, to go back to school,” said Samah al-Nouri, sitting by the body of her daughter who was killed in the blast.
“She was only getting treatment in a medical facility. Why did they kill them?” she said, with other bodies laid out around her at a nearby hospital.
Israel’s military said it had struck a militant who took part in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. It said it was aware of reports regarding a number of injured bystanders and that the incident was under review.

U.S.-based Project HOPE said the strike had hit right outside its Altayara health clinic. “Horrified and heartbroken cannot properly communicate how we feel anymore,” the aid group said in a statement.
The Deir al-Balah missile strike came as Israeli and Hamas negotiators hold talks with mediators in Qatar over a proposed 60-day ceasefire and hostage release deal aimed at building agreement on a lasting truce.
A senior Israeli official said on Wednesday that an agreement was not likely to be secured for another one or two weeks, however, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday he was hopeful of a deal.
“I think we’re closer, and I think perhaps we’re closer than we’ve been in quite a while,” Rubio told reporters at the ASEAN summit in Malaysia.
Several rounds of indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have failed to produce a breakthrough since the Israeli military resumed its campaign in March following a previous ceasefire.

Repeated attacks by Israeli forces in recent weeks have killed hundreds of Gazans, many of them civilians, and injured thousands, according to local health authorities, putting an enormous strain on the enclave’s few remaining hospitals.
Dwindling fuel supplies risk further disruption in the semi-functioning hospitals, including to incubators at the neonatal unit of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, doctors there said.
“We are forced to place four, five or sometimes three premature babies in one incubator,” said Dr Mohammed Abu Selmia, the hospital director, adding that premature babies were now in a critical condition.

An Israeli military official said that fuel destined for hospitals and other humanitarian facilities was let into the enclave on Wednesday and on Thursday.
However, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that far more fuel was needed to keep essential life-saving and life-sustaining services operating.

TALKS

U.S. President Donald Trump met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week to discuss the situation in Gaza amid reports that Israel and Hamas were nearing agreement on a U.S.-brokered ceasefire proposal after 21 months of war.
Netanyahu said that if the two sides reach agreements on the U.S. 60-day truce plan, Israel will begin negotiations on a permanent ceasefire.
In a statement from Washington, he reiterated Israel’s terms for ending the war, including Hamas disarming and no longer ruling Gaza. Hamas has rejected calls to lay down its weapons.
“If this can be achieved through negotiations – that’s good. If it’s not achieved through 60-day negotiations then we will achieve it by other means, by use of force,” Netanyahu said.
A Palestinian official said the talks in Qatar were in crisis and that issues under dispute, including whether Israel would continue to occupy parts of Gaza after a ceasefire, had yet to be resolved.
The two sides previously agreed a ceasefire in January but it did not lead to a deal on ending the war and Israel resumed its military assault two months later, stopping all aid supplies into Gaza for 11 weeks and telling civilians to leave the north of the tiny territory.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has now killed more than 57,000 people, according to Palestinian health authorities. It has destroyed swathes of the territory and driven most Gazans from their homes.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-strike-hits-near-gaza-medical-centre-truce-talks-continue-2025-07-10/

The Trump administration will restrict immigrants in the country illegally from enrolling in Head Start, a federally funded preschool program, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday. The move is part of a broad effort to limit access to federal benefits for immigrants who lack legal status.

People in the country illegally are largely ineligible for federal public benefits such as food stamps, student loans and financial aid for higher education. But for decades they have been able to access some community-level programs such as Head Start and community health centers.

HHS said it will reclassify those programs as federal public benefits, excluding immigrants in the country illegally from accessing them. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the changes were part of a larger effort to protect American citizens’ interests.

“For too long, the government has diverted hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration,” Kennedy said in a statement. “Today’s action changes that — it restores integrity to federal social programs, enforces the rule of law, and protects vital resources for the American people.”

A spokesperson for the Administration for Children and Families, which administers Head Start, said that eligibility will be determined based on the child’s immigration status.

Requiring proof of immigration status would likely create fear and confusion among families seeking to enroll their children, said Yasmina Vinci, executive director of the National Head Start Association.

“This decision undermines the fundamental commitment that the country has made to children and disregards decades of evidence that Head Start is essential to our collective future,” Vinci said.

The changes are part of a multi-agency announcement rescinding an interpretation of federal law dating to former President Bill Clinton’s administration, which had allowed immigrants in the country illegally to access some programs. The Education Department, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Labor announced similar changes affecting a range of workforce development and adult education programs.

The changes will affect community health centers that immigrants rely on for a wide range of services, said Shelby Gonzales, vice president of immigration policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

“People depend on those services to get cancer treatment, to get ongoing maintenance for a variety of different health needs,” she said.

Students in the country illegally will no longer be eligible to participate in postsecondary career and technical education programs or adult education programs, the Education Department announced. The department also issued a notice to grant recipients to ensure programs receiving federal money do not provide services to immigrants without legal status.

Education advocates said the decision would harm young people who have grown up in this country. EdTrust Vice President Augustus Mays said the intention appears to be creating fear among immigrant communities.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/trump-head-start-immigrants-rfk-d10a3b8fa77d37e6e54106ef1db45888

Each year from June to September, a series of heavy rains known as monsoons sweep through the Indian subcontinent, providing relief from heat, irrigating the country’s farms and replenishing its rivers.

However, as global heat increases, the rain is becoming more erratic and intense, creating the conditions for deadly floods. Nearly 1,300 people died in India throughout 2024 due to heavy rain and floods. Hundreds of rain-related deaths have already occurred this year in the South Asian region, which includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives and Nepal.

Climate experts say the high temperatures and heavy rain are also contributing to the melting of glaciers in the mountainous Himalayan region, causing catastrophic flooding and landslides.

Monsoon season becomes more dangerous

The South Asian region has traditionally had two monsoon seasons. One typically lasts from June to September, with rains moving southwest to northeast. The other, from roughly October to December, moves in the opposite direction.

But with more planet-warming gases in the air, the rain now only loosely follows this pattern. This is because the warmer air can hold more moisture from the Indian Ocean, and that rain then tends to get dumped all at once. It means the monsoon is punctuated with intense flooding and dry spells, rather than sustained rain throughout.

“We are witnessing a clear climatic shift in monsoon patterns across South Asia,” said Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune and author of several United Nations climate reports.

Traditionally, people in India and neighboring countries excitedly awaited the monsoon rains, which would finally mean the end of summer heat. But attitudes are changing as disasters increase during the rainy seasons.

“The frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall events are increasing, often overwhelming drainage infrastructure in urban areas and triggering flash floods,” Koll said.

Higher temperatures and longer periods of drought are also making farming harder in South Asia, climate experts said.

“More than 60% of the people in South Asia are dependent on agriculture, and almost all of them are dependent on monsoon rainfall,” said Finu Shrestha, a climate scientist at Kathmandu, Nepal-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.

Mountain regions are seeing more glacial lakes overflowing

A 2023 report by Shrestha’s organization found that glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates across the Hindu Kush and Himalayan mountain ranges. The study found that at least 200 of the more than 2,000 glacial lakes in the region are at risk of overflowing, which can cause catastrophic damage downstream. Heavy monsoon rains can exacerbate the problem.

“A lot of the mountain areas tend to have more warming than the global average, resulting in more glaciers melting,” said Miriam Jackson, glaciologist at the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative.

An October 2023 glacial lake overflow in the Indian state of Sikkim triggered flooding that killed 55 people and damaged bridges, buildings and a hydropower dam that was under construction.

Heavy rainfall and increasing heat are leading to snow and ice avalanches, rockfalls and other events that can trigger the lakes to breach or overflow, Shrestha said.

“Even small glacial lakes are now breaching and causing damage,” she said.

Early warning systems and long-term planning can help

Installing early warning systems and building in less risky areas can help reduce damage from heavy rains, climate experts say.

“If you know a flood is coming, then people can get to higher ground and there could be a sort of standard early warning system along a river that sends out a siren,” Jackson said, adding that social media and messaging applications can help people spread warnings to those downstream.

Koll, the Pune-based scientist, said that rapid urbanization, shrinking floodplains and loss of natural drainage also exacerbate damage from heavy rains. Koll said that most government response currently comes after disasters, and there is a lack of long-term planning.

“In the future monsoon, extreme rains are projected to intensify further, in addition to sporadic water shortages. Hence, we need proactive, long-term strategies that combine science, policy, and community engagement,” he said.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/monsoon-rains-nepal-floods-climate-change-india-ef8b703ab93bc310e397d896b032ce8f

UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson claims that “76 per cent of Pakistanis in Bradford marry their first cousins.”

A video posted online featuring UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson has gained widespread attention. In it, he is claiming that cousin marriages within the British Pakistani community are responsible for a large share of birth defects in the UK. The video, filled with strong remarks and controversial statistics, has triggered intense backlash and debate across social media.

In the video shared on X (formerly Twitter), Robinson claims that “76 per cent of Pakistanis in Bradford marry their first cousins.” He further says that British Pakistanis, who make up around 3% of the UK’s population, account for “33 per cent of birth defects.” He blames the practice on Islamic history as he claimed that it puts pressure on the country’s healthcare system.

“They are being born and retarded. It’s costing us a fortune. It’s costing the economy a fortune. It’s billions and billions because Muhammad married his cousin. Well, don’t care for what Muhammad did in the seventh century because he was a barbarian wall. It’s no longer right. It’s never been right, and it has to stop in Great Britain,” he added.

Social Media Reacts

While many supported him, there was also widespread backlash, with several users calling out the language used and questioning the accuracy of the statistics.

One user wrote, “This is a mix of distorted stats and open racism. Yes, cousin marriage can raise risks, but reducing an entire group to slurs like ‘retarded’ is vile. If it’s about health, focus on awareness, not hate.”

Another comment pointed out, “Stats stated are misrepresented.”

Grok Fact-Check

When one user asked to verify Robinson’s claims, Grok, an AI chatbot by xAI, said the 76 per cent figure for cousin marriages in Bradford is “exaggerated.” It cited the Born in Bradford study, which found that around 60 per cent of marriages were between cousins from 2007 to 2010, which dropped to 46 per cent by 2016–2019.

But the AI citing UK NHS (National Health Service) and academic research confirmed that British Pakistanis, who roughly 3 per cent of the population, account for 30–33 per cent of genetic birth defects, which is linked to cousin marriages.

Source: https://www.news18.com/viral/british-pakistanis-marry-1st-cousins-give-birth-to-retard-kids-viral-claim-9430556.html

The anti-poverty charity Oxfam warns that growing inequality in Africa is hindering democracy. The four richest Africans have more wealth than half of the continent’s population.

The four most affluent Africans hold $57.4 billion (€48.9 billion) and are richer than approximately 50% of the continent’s 750 million inhabitants, according to a report released on Thursday by the anti-poverty organization Oxfam.

According to the report, Africa had no billionaires in 2000. Today, the continent has 23 billionaires whose combined wealth has soared by 56% in just the past five years, reaching a staggering $112.6 billion.

Furthermore, the top 5% of Africans possess nearly $4 trillion in wealth, which is over twice the total wealth of the rest of the continent combined.

The report also states that nearly half of the world’s 50 most unequal countries are in Africa.

In January, Oxfam reported that billionare wealth was growing faster than ever worlwide.

Policies are biased against the poor
Oxfam contended that government policies are biased against the poor and allow the continent’s super-rich to accumulate even more wealth.

“Most African countries are not fully leveraging progressive taxation to effectively tax the super-rich and address inequality,” the organization’s report said.

According to Oxfam, Africa’s tax systems are nearly three times less effective at redistributing income from the richest one percent than the global average.

Imposing an additional 1% tax on the wealth and 10% on the income of the richest 1% in Africa could raise $66 billion annually. This amount is more than enough to close the funding gaps for free, quality education and universal access to electricity, the report said.

The continent also loses an estimated $88.6 billion annually through illicit financial flows.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/4-rich-africans-reportedly-wealthier-than-half-the-continent/a-73220927

But a source familiar with Hamas’ thinking said four days of talks in Doha did not produce any breakthroughs

HAMAS has said it will release 10 hostages amid ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire deal for war-torn Gaza.

The Islamist terror group’s statement came after four days of indirect talks brokered by Qatar in a bid to bring peace for the distraught Gazans.

Both have spoken positively about the prospects, but there are reportedly a number of crucial sticking points

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long argued that Hamas must be completely disarmed and expelled from Gaza.

In turn, Hamas wants guarantees that the war would not resume after any ceasefire – as happened earlier this year.

It comes just days after President Donald Trump signalled his belief that an agreement for a 60-day truce would be struck before the end of the week.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff said part of the deal would be the return of 10 living hostages held by militants since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which sparked the war.

Of 251 hostages seized during the assault on Israeli border communities near Gaza, 49 are still held in the territory, including 27, the Israeli military says are dead.

In its statement, Hamas said while key hurdles remained in the peace talks, they were ready to be flexible.

A statement read: “The movement [Hamas] displayed the required flexibility and agreed to release 10 prisoners [hostages].

“Despite the difficulty of negotiations over these issues until now due to the intransigence of the occupation, we continue to work seriously and with a positive spirit with the mediators to overcome the hurdles and end the suffering of our people and ensure their aspirations to freedom, safety and a dignified life.”

Israel earlier appeared to fall in behind Trump’s optimism for an end to the conflict.

As part of the proposed truce, Israel and Hamas would hold fire for 60 days, during which time some hostages would be freed and more aid would enter Gaza.

Hamas official Taher al-Nono said they were engaged in a “difficult round” of negotiations.

But a source familiar with Hamas’ thinking said four days of talks in Doha did not produce any breakthroughs on three main sticking points.

These are the free flow of aid into Gaza, withdrawal lines for Israeli forces and guarantees that negotiations would pave the way to a permanent ceasefire

Trump met Netanyahu on Tuesday for the second time in two days to discuss the situation in Gaza.

The Israeli boss said he believed an agreement was on the horizon.

“I think we’re getting closer to a deal,” he told FOX Business Network’s Mornings with Maria programme.

“There’s a good chance that we’ll have it.”

Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir said in a televised address that military action had prepared the ground for a deal that would bring home the Israeli hostages.

“We have achieved many significant results, we have caused great damage to the governance and military capabilities of Hamas.

“Thanks to the operational power that we have demonstrated, the conditions have been created to advance a deal to release the hostages.”

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also said he thought a temporary deal was “achievable” and could even herald talks for a more lasting peace, while President Isaac Herzog talked of “a historic opportunity” for change.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/14669366/hamas-agrees-ten-hostages-release-ceasefire-israel/

Malaysia’s Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) on Wednesday (Jul 9) confirmed for the first time the existence of a royal order that jailed ex-premier Najib Razak says would allow him to serve his prison sentence for corruption at home, local media reported.

Najib, who was prime minister between 2009 and 2018, was found guilty in 2020 of graft and money laundering linked to a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

In 2022, he was ordered to spend 12 years in prison for the crime, a sentence halved last year by a pardons board chaired by then-King Al-Sultan Abdullah.

Najib, who has consistently denied wrongdoing, contends that the pardons board decision was accompanied by an “addendum order” from the former monarch granting him house arrest, a document that he says authorities ignored.

Malaysia’s Court of Appeal in January allowed Najib’s bid to apply for a judicial review that would compel the government to confirm the existence of the addendum order, and to execute it if it exists.

The former king’s palace has said the document does exist, but Malaysian authorities including its law and home ministries have previously said they had no record or any knowledge of it.

However, a lawyer acting on behalf of the attorney-general said he did not dispute the existence of the addendum document, when questioned on the matter by a federal court judge on Wednesday, the New Straits Times daily reported.

Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan was reported as saying that the AGC was instead challenging the procedure through which the order was being submitted as evidence in Najib’s judicial review bid.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysia-najib-razak-royal-addendum-order-1mdb-5229061

Tom Brady and Sofia Vergara are enjoying the single life — with each other!

The retired NFL star and the bombshell “Modern Family” actress have been spending time together in Ibiza, Spain, and a source described the situation to Page Six as a “summer romance.”

It all started about a week ago on the Luminara superyacht — launched by the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection — with A-list guests including Martha Stewart, Naomi Campbell, Kendall Jenner, Kate Hudson, Colman Domingo and the flirtatious duo, among others.

The two-night luxury voyage set sail from Rome, Italy, and included drone shows and performances by Ellie Goulding, Sting and Janelle Monae.

Guests also included Patrick Schwarzenegger, Tessa Thompson, singer Anitta and Brady’s past supermodel fling, Irina Shayk, we’re told.

Brady and Vergara, however, were apparently googly-eyed over each other at one of the gala dinners aboard the yacht. The two were photographed sitting next to each other, and a source familiar with the situation told us their cozy-looking seating arrangement wasn’t happenstance.

“He asked to switch seats to sit next to her at dinner,” a source told Page Six.

We’re told Brady, 47, and Vergara, who turns 53 on Thursday, continued hanging out in Ibiza after the yacht trip.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2025/07/09/celebrity-news/tom-brady-sofia-vergara-having-summer-romance-in-spain/

South Korea’s former president has been rearrested over last year’s failed martial law bid that plunged the country into political turmoil.

Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached in April over the order, which saw military rule introduced for six-hours in December.

A senior judge at Seoul’s Central District Court issued an arrest warrant for Yoon on Wednesday, citing fears he could destroy evidence.

Yoon, who was the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested, faces trial on charges of leading an insurrection over his attempt to impose martial law.

During Wednesday’s seven-hour hearing, a special counsel team argued for the arrest warrant on five key charges, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

The charges include Yoon’s alleged violation of the rights of cabinet members by not inviting some of them to a meeting before he declared martial law.

Yoon initially attended the hearing alongside his lawyers to deny the charges, before being taken to Seoul Detention Center to await a decision on an arrest warrant.

He was first arrested in January following a lengthy stand-off, with investigators scaling barricades and cutting through barbed wire to take him into custody from his residence in central Seoul.

Yoon was released two months later after a court overturned his arrest on technical grounds, but still faces trial.

If found guilty, he could face life in prison or the death penalty.

Prosecutors have reportedly found evidence that Yoon ordered military drones to be flown over North Korea to provoke a reaction that would justify his martial law declaration, according to reports.

Other senior officials also face charges including insurrection and abuse of authority over the martial law declaration.

Insurrection is one of a small number of criminal charges from which South Korean presidents do not have immunity, but now Yoon is no longer president he is open to other criminal charges.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd97ez54dlyo

Ukraine’s capital Kyiv is again under a massive overnight Russian drone attack, local officials say, with at least two people reported killed and 13 injured, and fires burning across the city.

Authorities in Kyiv say drone wreckage hit the roof of a residential building in the central Shevchenkivskyi district.

Footage on social media, as yet unverified by the BBC, shows blasts in the night sky, as air defence units begin repelling the attack. Ukraine’s military has also warned of a threat of a ballistic missile attack.

Ukraine reported the biggest ever Russian aerial attack on Tuesday night, after 728 drones and 13 cruise or ballistic missiles struck cities around the country in multiple waves.

In the early hours of Thursday morning, Kyiv’s military administration reported Russian drone strikes in six city districts.

“Residential buildings, vehicles, warehouses, office and non-residential buildings are burning,” administration head Tymur Tkachenko said in a post on Telegram.

“Unfortunately, we have two dead,” he later said. “These people were killed by the Russians. This is a terrible loss”.

In Kyiv’s Podilsky district, a primary healthcare centre was “almost completely destroyed”, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said.

City residents have been urged to shelter until the air raid siren is lifted, and also close the windows when they return to their homes because there is a “lot of smoke” in Kyiv.

Overnight, Ukraine’s air force reported a threat of Russian drone attacks in a number of regions. It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties outside Kyiv.

Russia’s military has not commented on the reported latest attack.

In other developments:

• Ukraine’s emergency service DSNS said late on Wednesday that three people had been killed in a Russian air strike in the town of Kostiantynivka – close to the front line in eastern Ukraine
• The US resumed sending some weapons to Ukraine, Reuters reported late on Wednesday, days after it halted shipments of some critical air defence arms

It comes after US President Donald Trump expressed growing frustration at the Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. “He’s very nice to us all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was “pretty calm about this. Trump’s way of talking is generally quite harsh, the phrases he uses”.

The two leaders have been in regular contact but this has so far failed to translate into tangible steps towards a ceasefire in Ukraine – something Trump once said he would be able to achieve in a day.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj3rvpe06rxo

A California woman has received hundreds of huge Amazon packages she didn’t order after a cheap Chinese seller listed her San Jose home as its return address.

The woman — identified only as Kay — has been receiving the parcels for over a year now, and they’ve been arriving at such speed, she’s had no choice but to stack them up in her driveway to maintain some semblance of order.

The boxes are piled chest high in her yard, and have become so numerous she can no longer park her car there.

“It’s just been another form of hell,” Kay told ABC 7.

The culprit is a China-based Amazon seller called Liusandedian, which peddles faux leather car seat covers that apparently fit few of the models they’re designed for — so customers by the hundreds have been sending the junk products back.

But the unwanted seat covers haven’t been going back to wherever Liusandedian is in China — they’ve been going to Kay’s California driveway.

It started as just one package that Kay thought was a wrong delivery, but more boxes kept arriving over the following weeks. Weeks turned into months — which became over a year — with more and more parcels showing up at her steps until Kay’s stoop was buried in boxes.

“What you see now is a fraction, because I have refused delivery on more packages than you see here,” she said.

The package pandemonium has become such a problem that sometimes when she comes home, she can’t get her 88-year-old mother to the front door without first parting the sea of boxes blocking the entryway.

And Amazon offered her next to no help for months — with at least six different complaint tickets being filed to no avail, she said.

“Every time I was absolutely assured this will stop,” she told ABC 7. “‘You won’t get any more of these packages, you’ll hear from us in 24, 48 hours.”

The business once tried offering her a $100 gift card for her trouble — but she also claims they told her it was her job to get rid of the packages and suggested she donate them or ship them back to the sender.

“Why is it my responsibility to get rid of this, when your seller is not following your rules, Amazon?” she said, referring to a Liusandedian’s apparent violation of Amazon’s policies.

International sellers are required to either list a US address for returns, give buyers a pre-paid shipping label, or issue refunds without requiring anything be mailed back. If they fail to do so within two days of a return request, Amazon is allowed to refund the buyer and bill the seller.

Liusandedian — which, outside of its Amazon listings, is a ghost online — appears to have skirted around those rules by including a bogus address that turned out to be Kay’s address.

Source: https://nypost.com/2025/07/09/us-news/hundreds-of-huge-amazon-packages-arrive-at-calif-womans-doorstep-for-over-a-year-after-chinese-seller-lists-her-home-as-return-address/

Six members of the Secret Service have been suspended for failures related to last year’s assassination attempt against President Trump at a rally in Butler, Pa.

The suspensions for the six agents ranged from 10 to 42 days, and they won’t be paid while on leave, Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn told CBS News on Wednesday.

The agents will not be fired, but upon return to work, they will be placed in roles with diminished operational responsibility.

“We aren’t going to fire our way out of this,” Quinn told the outlet. “We’re going to focus on the root cause and fix the deficiencies that put us in that situation.”

Trump was struck in the ear by one of the bullets fired by would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks on July 13, 2024, during a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show grounds, leaving the then presumptive Republican nominee for president bloodied.

Firefighter Corey Comperatore was killed shielding his family from Crooks’ bullets, and two others were left with severe injuries before the 20-year-old gunman — positioned on an unguarded roof with a clear line of sight toward Trump — was taken out by a Secret Service sniper.

A scathing Senate report on the assassination attempt released in September determined that “multiple foreseeable and preventable planning and operational failures by [Secret Service] contributed” to Crooks’ ability to carry out the deadly shooting.

“These included unclear roles and responsibilities, insufficient coordination with state and local law enforcement, the lack of effective communications, and inoperable [Counter-Unmanned Aircraft] systems, among many others,” the damning report read.

Source: https://nypost.com/2025/07/09/us-news/secret-service-suspends-6-agents-assigned-to-protect-trump-during-butler-assassination-attempt/

Spanish authorities ordered more than 18,000 residents of the northeastern Tarragona province to remain indoors on Tuesday and several dozen were evacuated as a wildfire raged out of control, consuming almost 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) of vegetation.
Large parts of Spain are on high alert for wildfires after the country experienced its hottest June on record. Two people died in a wildfire on July 1 in the region of Catalonia where Tarragona is located.

The latest fire broke out early on Monday in a remote area near the village of Pauls, where strong winds and rugged terrain have hampered firefighting efforts, authorities said. An emergency military unit was deployed early on Tuesday alongside more than 300 firefighters working in the area.
“Since midnight, firefighters have been battling the blaze with gusts of wind reaching up to 90 kilometres per hour (56 miles per hour),” Catalonia’s regional firefighting service said, adding that the strong Mistral wind was expected to ease by the afternoon.

Overnight, fire engines raced the winding roads of the Pauls Mountains, surrounded by flames, as crews assessed and tried to contain the blaze.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/more-than-18000-people-lockdown-wildfire-rages-catalonia-2025-07-08/

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for Donald Trump’s administration to pursue mass government job cuts and the sweeping downsizing of numerous agencies, a decision that could lead to tens of thousands of layoffs while dramatically reshaping the federal bureaucracy.
Tuesday’s ruling stemmed from an executive order Trump issued in February ordering agencies to prepare for mass layoffs. At Trump’s direction, the administration has come up with plans to reduce staff at the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, State, Treasury, Veterans Affairs and more than a dozen other agencies.
In a brief unsigned order, the court said the Trump administration was “likely to succeed” in its argument that his directives were legally within his power.
The decision is the latest win for Trump’s broader efforts to consolidate power in the executive branch. The Supreme Court has sided with Trump in several cases on an emergency basis since he returned to office in January, including clearing the way for implementation of some of his hardline immigration policies.
The Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday lifted San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Susan Illston’s order in May that temporarily blocked large-scale federal layoffs while the case proceeded.

Illston had ruled that Trump exceeded his authority in ordering the government downsizing without consulting Congress, which created and funded the agencies in question.
“As history demonstrates, the president may broadly restructure federal agencies only when authorized by Congress,” Illston wrote.
While Tuesday’s decision cleared one major legal obstacle for the White House, the court noted that it was not assessing the legality of any specific layoff plans at federal agencies.
Those layoff proposals, some of which were submitted earlier this year, could still face legal challenges on a variety of grounds, including union opposition, statutory restrictions and civil service protections.
The White House said in a statement that the decision is a “definitive victory for the president and his administration” that reinforced Trump’s authority to implement “efficiency across the federal government.”

However, two White House sources familiar with the matter, who asked to remain unidentified, said the ruling did not permit agencies to execute layoffs immediately. One of the sources said additional delays or legal hurdles “could alter the scope and timing of the cuts.”
A group of unions, nonprofits and local governments that sued to block the administration’s mass layoffs said the ruling “dealt a serious blow to our democracy and puts services that the American people rely on in grave jeopardy” and vowed to continue fighting as the case proceeds.
The plaintiffs had warned in court filings that Trump’s plans, if allowed to proceed, would result in hundreds of thousands of layoffs.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll in April found that Americans narrowly favored Trump’s campaign to downsize the federal government, with about 56% saying they supported the effort and 40% opposed. Their views broke down along party lines, with 89% of Republicans but just 26% of Democrats supportive.

Some agencies whose downsizing plans had been put on hold said they would resume advancing those efforts.
“We will continue to move forward with our historic reorganization plan,” the State Department, which has proposed laying off nearly 2,000 employees, said on X.
DOGE CUTS
Upon taking office in January, Trump launched a massive campaign to cut the 2.3-million strong federal civilian workforce, led by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk and his mostly young lieutenants immediately moved into key government agencies, fired workers, gained access to government computer systems and virtually shuttered two agencies – the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Trump and Musk said the bloated federal bureaucracy needed to be downsized. Federal workers’ unions and most Democrats say the cuts so far, and the plans for further mass layoffs, have been carried out haphazardly, leading to chaos inside many agencies and threatening important public services such as the processing of Social Security claims.
By late April, about 100 days into the effort, the government overhaul had resulted in the firing, resignations and early retirements of 260,000 civil servants, according to a Reuters tally.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-supreme-court-lifts-order-that-blocked-trumps-mass-federal-layoffs-2025-07-08/

A SENTENCING date for Sean “Diddy” Combs has been set after the music mogul was convicted of two prostitution-related charges at his high-profile trial.

Combs, who was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges, will be sentenced on October 3.

Combs faces a maximum 20-year prison sentence – 10 years for each count of transportation to engage in prostitution.

However, federal prosecutors have said they would seek a 5 to 3-year sentence.

The time Combs has already served in jail, which will be over a year by the time he’s sentenced, would be credited to the ultimate sentence the judge imposes.

Tuesday’s pre-sentencing hearing lasted seconds after Combs’ defense team initially sought to expedite his sentencing to September 22 in their initial letter to Judge Arun Subramanian.

However, minutes before the hearing was scheduled to start Marc Agnifilo filed a second letter to the judge saying the defense and prosecution had agreed to a October 3 date – the initial date set by Judge Subramanian.

As the 2 pm pre-sentencing hearing commenced, a courtroom deputy acknowledged Agnifilo’s letter and said the judge would rule on the motion in writing before adjourning the court.

It’s unclear why the defense abandoned its efforts to expedite Combs’ sentencing.

Combs will remain housed in the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn while he awaits sentencing.

SHOCKING VERDICT
A jury acquitted Combs of the most serious charges he faced – racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking in regards to Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura and “Jane,” a pseudonym used for one of Combs’ ex-girlfriends.

The music executive fell to his knees in prayer after the jury foreperson read the stunning verdict to the courtroom on July 2.

Combs’ defense team delivered a post-verdict victory speech to reporters outside the US District Courthouse, calling the outcome a “great victory for the jury system.”

Agnifilo said the 12-person jury “got the situation right – or certainly, right enough.”

“We are not nearly done fighting. We’re not going to stop until he walks out of prison a free man to his family,” he added.

Teny Geragos, another of Combs attorneys, defended the mogul saying, “Sean Combs has not sexually assaulted anybody. I’ve been saying that for months. The media got it wrong.”

CLOSING ARGUMENTS
In their blistering closing arguments, prosecutors described Combs as the “leader of a criminal enterprise” who used his expansive “wealth, power, violence, and fear to get what he wanted.”

“He thought that his fame, wealth and power put him above the law,” Assistant US Attorney Christy Slavik said, adding, “It was his kingdom. Everyone was there to serve him.”

The core evidence of the prosecution’s case was the disturbing and graphic nature of the drug-fueled “freak-offs” that at times Combs allegedly coerced his ex-girlfriends to participate in with male escorts.

Slavik described to jurors how Combs forced his former lovers Ventura and “Jane” into participating in the punishing sex marathons and with the help of an inner circle of “loyal lieutenants” covered up the alleged crimes.

Ventura and Jane were sometimes required to perform the lewd acts, which were also called “hotel nights and wild king nights,” while they were hurting from urinary tract infections (UTIs), according to prosecutors.

On the other hand, Combs’ defense team slammed the prosecution’s case as an attack on “your bedroom” and one’s sex life.

Agnifilo summarized the seven-week trial as a “tale of two trials,” arguing one side is the one told by the evidence of the case, by witnesses, videos, and text messages, and the other was a “badly, badly, exaggerated” story told by prosecutors.

The defense attorney argued the sexual encounters involving Combs, Ventura, “Jane,” and male escorts were consensual, and called the “freak-offs,” which were sometimes video recorded, “homemade porn.”

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/14658155/sean-diddy-combs-sentencing-date/

Terrifying footage shows billowing black smoke filling the air

THIS is the humiliating moment a hulking six-tonne Putin drone “guided by AI” crash landed on a Russian house during a test mission.

The Altius unmanned plane with a giant 94ft wingspan hit and destroyed a home on the outskirts of Kazan, southwest Russia after suffering a “navigation failure”.

The reconnaissance drone – with a range of 6,200 mile range – was on a test flight for possible use in Ukraine.

But it all went wrong when the AI system navigating the plane reportedly stopped working and the drone landed on a Russian civilian home instead.

Miraculously, no-one was hurt.

Terrifying footage shows the device travelling overhead before panning to the burning home.

Giant flames are pictured engulfing the scorched residence as locals watch with horror.

Billowing black smoke fills the air as charred debris and rubble covers the ground and surrounding trees.

Residents escaped injury as the long-range UAV smashed into their house, and then scrambled to put out the fire before the emergency services arrived.

Developers blamed “unidentified electronic warfare equipment” for the navigation failure which occurred just under a mile away from Kazan Gorbunov Aircraft Plant.

The drone can hold a precision-guided bomb or missile payload.

An eyewitness said: “At first, we didn’t even think it was a plane.

This type of monster drone has been in service with the Russian military since 2021 but there is no record of it so far being deployed in the war in Ukraine.

The failed drone attack comes as Russia increases its blitz on Ukraine, hammering the country with 1,000 drones and missiles every day.

Yesterday, was the second massive assault in the four days since Trump’s call with Putin, and represents a brazen defiance of the President’s peace agenda.

Moscow’s firepower capacity is constantly increasing and his forces have regularly broken the record for the largest daily volley of weapons in recent weeks.

On June 1, a 479-strong wave of drones and missiles became Russia’s largest unmanned aerial assault of the war.

June 9 saw that broken with 499, then again on June 29 with 537.

And finally, just last Friday, Putin terrorised Kyiv with a firestorm of 550 drones and missiles – just as he and Trump finished a phone call.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/14655943/putin-ai-drone-crash-house/

Iran’s nuclear program was severely affected following American and Israeli strikes, but there’s no certainty on the location of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, according to France’s intelligence chief.

Iran’s nuclear program was delayed by several months following American and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last month, according to France’s intelligence chief.

Speaking to France’s LCI broadcaster in his first remarks since the bombing raid, Nicolas Lerner, the head of DGSE intelligence service, said Tuesday that various stages of Iran’s nuclear program had been damaged.

“Our assessment today is that each of these stages has been very seriously affected, very seriously damaged,” he said. “The nuclear program, as we knew it, has been extremely delayed, probably many months,” he added.

Lerner also told the channel that a small part of Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile had been destroyed but the rest remained in the hands of authorities.

What else do we know about Iran’s uranium stockpile?
Iran had accumulated a stockpile of highly enriched uranium that, if processed further, could fuel around 10 bombs, according to an assessment by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) earlier this year.

“Today we have indications (on where it is), but we cannot say with certainty as long as the IAEA does not restart its work. It’s very important. We won’t have the capacity to trace it (the stocks),” Lerner said.

Other intelligence assessments have also suggested that Iran retains a hidden stockpile of enriched uranium and that it could rebuild its nuclear program.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian last week ordered the country to suspend its cooperation with the IAEA, limiting international inspectors from keeping tabs on the whereabouts of the country’s enriched uranium stockpile.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/iran-nuclear-program-extremely-delayed-french-spy-chief/a-73205855

The US president accused Vladimir Putin of distracting Washington with “bulls**t” in talks over Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had urged officials to intensify contact with the US.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday issued a sharp rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin after saying Washington would send Ukraine more weapons to help defend itself amid Russia’s continued invasion.

Moscow has ramped up attacks on Ukraine with almost daily drone and missile strikes across the country, all while the Trump administration had been pushing to bring an end to the war.

What exactly did Trump say?
Trump accused Putin of being disingenuous in his dealings with Washington, using an expletive that reflected his growing frustration.

“We get a lot of bulls**t thrown at us by Putin,” Trump said at the White House on Tuesday. “He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

“Putin is not treating human beings right. He’s killing too many people,” Trump continued, as he explained his decision.

On Monday, the US president said more weapons would be sent because the Ukrainians “have to be able to defend themselves.”

“They’re getting hit very hard now,” he added. “We’re going to have to send more weapons, defensive weapons, primarily,” Trump said.

The US has been the largest contributor of military support for Ukraine and there had been concerns over the status of continued aid when Trump began his second term in office.

Trump has made a number of concessions to Moscow, and rolled back the vast amount of aid provided by his predecessor, Joe Biden.

Zelenskyy orders push for more US air defense supplies
On the back of Trump’s announcement about more weapons, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had ordered an expansion of contacts with the US to secure “critical deliveries” of military aid, especially air defense systems.

“Today, I instructed the minister of defence and the commander in chief to intensify all contacts with the American side,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian president said Kyiv now had the political backing it needed and must act fast to protect its people and frontline positions. He called the deliveries vital for saving lives and defending cities and villages.

Why is Trump sending more weapons to Ukraine?
Trump appears to have grown increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin and last week said there had been “no progress” to bring an end to Moscow’s continued invasion.

Following a call on Thursday with the Russian leader, Trump said he was “very disappointed with the conversation” and added “I don’t think he’s looking to stop [the war] and that’s too bad.”

It was the sixth publicly disclosed conversation between Trump and Putin since his return to the White House.

On Tuesday, the Kremlin said that sending arms to Ukraine prolonged the fighting.

“It is obvious of course that these actions probably do not align with attempts to promote a peaceful resolution,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying in a briefing.

Peskov said that it would take time to determine the amounts and types of weapons the US would be supplying.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/trump-blasts-putin-after-announcing-more-weapons-to-ukraine/a-73195650

40 years since a national campaign to minimise cash transactions was launched, how advanced is Singapore in that journey? CNA tries to use only cash for one week and go cash-free for another.

My experiment to use only cash for a week in June got off to a false start.

I had gone to Five Oars Coffee Roasters for a meeting, and though the shop only accepted contactless card payments, my drink was paid for by the organiser. I also paid cash for dinner and dessert that evening without a hitch.

All good, I thought, until I belatedly realised that I had taken a Grab to and from the meeting, and the rides were paid for using a credit card I had added to my ride-hailing accounts.

That’s how ingrained cashless payments have become in my life. I knew then that the cashless-only experiment would be much easier, but first, I had to dig into my stash of notes from Chinese New Year and get through a cash-only week.

Cashless options have become more mainstream in Singapore, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the trend.

Some shops and food outlets have even gone fully cashless, but the country’s electronic payments journey started decades ago.

Back in 1985 – the year after the General Interbank Recurring Order (GIRO) was introduced – the government launched a national campaign to minimise cash transactions.

At the time, it was estimated that the government would save S$24.5 million in labour costs if cash transactions were minimised.

The campaign sought to encourage Singaporeans to receive their salaries via direct credit, pay their bills through GIRO and use the new Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale (EFTPOS).

The implementation of the EFTPOS scheme, which allowed customers to pay for their purchases and bills with an ATM card instead of cash, was said to be the most challenging part of the campaign.

It was implemented by a company called Network for Electronic Transfers Singapore, better known as NETS.

The company remains a household name, and has adapted to offer contactless card, in-app and QR code payments that are often used today.

NO PAYLAH, NO PAYNOW, CASH ONLY
All these options, however, were off the table for my experiment. Over seven days, I used cash for every transaction possible – at cafes and shops, and even on public transport.

I planned to book a plane ticket that week, but delayed it in part because of my cash-only week.

The experiment made me feel a bit socially anxious. I knew that if a shop did not accept cash, I could just switch over to a cashless option, but for shops that did take cash, I envisioned myself counting coins or fiddling with my wallet and causing inconvenience while other customers breezed by with their contactless payments.

In the end, I failed to use cash just once, apart from on MRT rides, which have no cash option available.

On my first Grab ride during the experiment, I left home thinking I had S$12 (US$9) cash for an S$11.90 ride, and thought I would simply forfeit the 10 cents if the driver did not have any change on hand.

Instead, I discovered that I had a S$5 instead of a S$2 note. The driver, Mr P Ananthan, noticed that my ride was tagged “cash”, and wisely asked if I had small change. He then asked if I would prefer to use PayNow when I said I had S$15 in cash.

He told me that he only gets around one or two passengers a day who request to pay by cash, and among those who do, there are often young people in their 20s and 30s.

“They use cash to keep track of their spending,” said the 63-year-old.

When he first started driving for Grab seven years ago, more passengers used cash, he said. “Even foreigners are starting to pay by card now.”

Mr Ananthan said he does not mind cash or cashless, as long as the passengers pay.

But he added that some try to pay for their rides with S$50 or S$100 notes and expect him to have change. He sometimes stops by a petrol kiosk and asks the passengers to buy something to break the note into smaller denominations.

“The problem is (that) they won’t say. When they come in, they should ask me if I have change for S$50,” he said, adding that some passengers have told him that he ought to have change for them.

Change ended up being the most troublesome part of my experiment, and something that would likely have been less of a problem when cash was more widely used.

I also had to pay higher fares on buses when paying cash – S$1.90 versus S$1.19 for a short ride.

“Cash fares for buses have been higher than card fares since the 1990s, to reflect the higher cost of cash collection,” a Public Transport Council spokesperson said.

There were also some inconveniences, such as having to place my order at the counter instead of through a QR code at my table when eating out, and spending more time in a queue at Don Don Donki because the self-check out counters do not accept cash.

Only two cashiers manned counters at Don Don Donki, and the queue moved slowly enough that I started to wonder why other people in the queue were not able to use cashless options.

Some of them were tourists and were showing the cashier their passports, likely with questions about tax refunds.

The upside of having more free counters than cashiers, however, was that while I fumbled with my notes and coins, the cashier who served me did not have to wait for me to be done.

She simply moved to the neighbouring counter and called for the next customer.

ARE CASHLESS-ONLY SHOPS MORE COMMON?
At some Starbucks and Pastamania branches, cash is no longer accepted as a payment method. SushiExpress and sports brand Decathlon have gone fully cashless.

Under section 13(4) of the Currency Act, merchants can choose not to accept any or all notes and coins as long as they provide customers with a written notice.

“Vendors have the discretion to decide how they wish to receive payments, as the payment of goods and services is an agreement between a willing buyer and a willing seller,” the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on its website.

The regulator added that merchants usually consider the value of the transaction, cost of acceptance, convenience to customers and medium of customer interaction. It would not make sense for an online business to accept cash, for example.

Decathlon said it decided to go fully cashless in June 2020 to provide customers with a faster, more convenient check-out process. It offers 15 payment options including credit and debit cards, GrabPay and EZ-Link cards.

Singapore CEO Stephan Veyret said there have been significant benefits to business since Decathlon went cashless.

“We’ve seen a notable improvement in operational efficiency and security, and this has allowed our teammates to focus their energy on what they do best: Interacting with customers and providing expert advice to support their sports journey,” he said.

But Mr Veyret acknowledged that there may be “rare instances” where people such as seniors, students or tourists are only able to make cash payments.

“Our team mates are trained to assist these customers directly to manage all payment methods including cash, if absolutely necessary,” he said.

Starbucks said that 39 of its stores in Singapore are fully cashless, while its other locations accept both cash and cashless payment.

The coffee chain has around 140 Singapore outlets listed on its website.

A spokesperson said the decision to transition some outlets to cashless-only was made in 2020, guided by “customer profiles and store-specific considerations”.

Starbucks said it is committed to meeting the needs of its customers and will evaluate further changes on a store-by-store basis.

“In particular, stores frequented by tourists or those with a higher likelihood of cash usage will continue to offer cash payment options,” the spokesperson said.

MAS said its vision of creating an e-payments society is centred around making payments between individuals “simple, swift, seamless and safe”.

A majority of Singaporeans may eventually use e-payments for daily transactions due to the convenience of it, the central bank’s spokerperson said.

“At the same time, a balanced approach recognises that some members of the community may still prefer or require cash options. MAS seeks to be inclusive to ensure that no one is left behind as we advance our e-payment capabilities.”

According to MAS data, e-payments doubled from S$627 billion in 2018 to S$1.25 trillion in 2023, and ATM withdrawals dropped by 10 per cent over the same period. More than 90 per cent of Singaporeans between the ages of 20 and 75 have also registered for PayNow.

“While e-payments adoption has grown over the years, most merchants in Singapore still accept cash. MAS’ aim is not to force a cashless society, but to enable individuals and businesses to enjoy the convenience and efficiency of e-payments.”

The spokesperson said MAS and the Singapore Payments Council engage small businesses and merchants to understand their needs and concerns regarding e-payments.

“EVOLUTIONARY RATHER THAN DISRUPTIVE”
An increasing number of shops and restaurants are going cashless, and it is likely that more and more businesses will go in the same direction, said Ms Lim May-Ann, director of multilateral relations, data policy and partnerships technology consultancy firm Access Partnership.

But anecdotally, she said there still seems to be a large number of businesses that accept cash.

“From a risk management perspective, more options rather than fewer will always mean greater business resilience and continuity in the event of an emergency and outage,” she said.

MAS said Singapore’s e-payments infrastructure is generally robust, but businesses must plan and prepare for contingencies.

“They can benefit from having alternative payment options, including cash, and not be over-reliant on a single e-payment provider for time-sensitive transactions,” the spokesperson said.

Singapore Computer Society (SCS) said cash is still accepted in most places. The spokesperson said MAS has made it clear that financial inclusion remains a key priority.

“Singapore’s approach is evolutionary rather than disruptive – giving consumers and businesses time to adapt at their own pace,” said the infocomm and digital media society, which has published articles on cashless trends.

On a visit to Parkway Parade, I checked out more than 50 shops – including food and beverage, tech appliance and clothing stores – and the vast majority accepted both cash and cashless payment.

At a nearby hawker centre, all 42 stalls that were open accepted at least cash and QR code payments.

Most heartland shops in the area allowed cash and cashless options, though some had minimum spending requirements for cashless payments.

One drycleaning shop had a sign that said it would only accept cash, and the elderly woman manning the store said her customers have no issues with paying cash.

Ms Lim of Access Partnership said older people who run businesses may not see the need to upskill in this area, while other businesses may not want to pay for the digital infrastructure needed to accept cashless payments.

“All my customers know that my stall only takes cash, especially the regulars, they always bring cash, even the children,” said wanton noodle and laksa hawker Ms Ng Siew Lian, who is nearly 70 years old.

“It’s good for them to handle cash, if not they might not know our first president,” she said with a laugh in Mandarin.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/cashless-cash-only-paynow-digital-payments-5220521

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (Jul 8) that he would not extend an Aug 1 deadline for higher US tariffs to take effect on dozens of economies, a day after he appeared to signal flexibility on the date.

While Trump imposed a sweeping 10 per cent tariff on goods from almost all trading partners in April, higher rates customised to dozens of economies were unveiled, then halted until Jul 9.

But the president this week again delayed their reimposition, pushing it back to Aug 1.

Trump insisted that there would be no further delay in the tariffs. “There will be no change,” he posted on Truth Social.

He added that levies would start being paid on Aug 1, in line with letters now being sent out to trading partners.

“No extensions will be granted,” Trump said.

On Monday night, Trump had told reporters at a dinner that the Aug 1 deadline was “firm, but not 100 per cent firm.”

Pressed on whether the letters were his final offer, Trump replied: “I would say final – but if they call with a different offer, and I like it, then we’ll do it.”

In a push for further trade deals, Trump sent letters to more than a dozen partners on Monday, including key US allies Japan and South Korea.

Products from both countries would be hit with 25 per cent duties, Trump wrote in near-identical letters to leaders in Tokyo and Seoul.

Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, South Africa and Malaysia were among other countries facing duties ranging from 25 per cent to 40 per cent.

In his messages to foreign leaders, Trump warned of further escalation if there was retaliation against his levies.

Most countries receiving the letters so far saw US tariffs at similar or unchanged rates from those threatened in April, although some like Laos and Cambodia saw notably lower levels.

The Trump administration is under pressure to show results after promising a flurry of deals following the US president’s tariff threats.

So far Washington has only struck two pacts, with Britain and Vietnam, besides an agreement to dial back staggeringly high tit-for-tat levies with China.

In threatening tariff hikes on various economies, Trump cited in his letters a lack of reciprocity in trading ties.

He also warned that goods transshipped to avoid higher duties would be subjected to steeper levels.

But he added that if countries were willing to adjust their trade policies, Washington “will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter”.

He said in the letters that tariffs could be modified “upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country”.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/trump-says-no-extensions-aug-1-tariff-deadline-5227271

Kelly Clarkson cancelled her Las Vegas residency minutes before showtime on July 4 over vocal issues – but she also faces “hidden battles,” sources tell Page Six.

The singer and TV host axed the opening night of her “Studio Sessions” residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace just 90 minutes before showtime last Friday, devastating fans.

Clarkson, 43, said she could not risk causing “serious damage” to her voice, as one Vegas insider told us, “She belts out every single note. She’s an incredibly powerful singer, but it takes its toll on her vocal cords and she’s come incredibly close to needing surgery before.

“She cannot risk damaging her cords further – she’s on thin ice.”

Back in March, Clarkson, 43, missed 10 episodes of her NBC talk show, with her spot being filled by guest hosts – and was absent again the following month when Andy Cohen stepped in to host. Both times she cited personal matters as her reason for taking off.

Clarkson has been open about the toll her turbulent divorce from Brandon Blackstock, father of their kids, daughter River Rose, 10, and son Remy, 8, took on her.

A second insider in the know added, “Kelly’s personal life is so insanely complicated…Kelly is fighting some serious hidden battles that very few people are privy to …it’s a source of emotional and therefore physical distress for her.”

Clarkson has been candid about just how much the 2020 split after seven years of marriage and the ensuing legal battle took out of her, telling Apple Music in 2023, “Just to be brutally honest, I did not handle [the divorce] well.”

Page Six has reached out to Clarkson’s rep for comment.

After canceling the first weekend, Clarkson is expected to kick off the residency this Friday.

In an emotional note, she said she wanted to create the “most intimate and extraordinary experience” for her “incredible fans.”

However, she noted, “The prep and rehearsals have taken a toll on my voice.

The “Stronger” singer added, “I am beyond grateful that you always show up for me and I am devastated to have to postpone.”

Clarkson reassured her fans that the career-spanning show is “incredible” and concluded, “I can’t wait to be back next weekend and show y’all what we’ve been working on.”

Source: https://pagesix.com/2025/07/08/celebrity-news/kelly-clarksons-hidden-battles-contributed-to-show-cancellations/

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, have had yet another awkward public encounter less than two months after their infamous shoving scuffle made headlines.

The French president, 47, and his first lady, 72, arrived in the UK Tuesday for a three-day state visit.

Cameras were rolling as they deplaned a jet at Royal Air Force Northolt in London, capturing Brigitte leaving her husband hanging as he held out his hand to help her walk down the plane’s steps.

Emmanuel’s suit-clad arm was extended for several moments, but the first lady appeared more focused on holding onto the railing. She did, however, appear to eventually acknowledge her spouse’s kind gesture, exchanging a few short words with him once she stepped down and offering him a nice smile.

Prince William was present for the arrival, and was seen shaking Emmanuel’s hand shortly after. The British royal was accompanied by his wife, Kate Middleton, for the greeting.

Reps for the French president could not immediately be reached for comment.

PARENTS who dropped off their little girls at the beloved Christian Camp Mystic in central Texas received a heartwrenching note just three days later, one devastated parent has revealed.

The nearly century-old summer camp was right in the path of the swelling Guadalupe River when deadly rains dumped on the region in the early hours of July 4.

So far in the days following the tragedy, 108 bodies have been pulled from the soggy wasteland, and dozens of people are still missing.

State legislators across the US are sending crews to help with the grim search, and local leaders have vowed not to stop the mission until every person is accounted for.

Some of the most tragic disappearances among the lost are young campers who were staying at the institution in Hunt, outside San Antonio.

Longtime camp owners Dick and Tweety Eastland welcomed about 750 girls just the same as the 98 years prior in the days leading up to the tragedy.

Christy Colby Heno, a chaperone who went to the camp for 12 years, remembers feeling the excitement in the air when she dropped off her own daughters on June 30.

She said that she caught to catch up with the Eastlands as she ate turkey wraps, fruit salad, and tater tots alongside all of the buzzing girls.

“It was just like every other camp drop-off,” she told the Wall Street Journal.

But just days later, Heno was horrified to receive an eerie note from the camp after the storms passed through.

“If your daughter is not accounted for you have been notified,” read part of the letter.

“If you have not been personally contacted then your daughter is accounted for.

“Please continue to pray.”

CAMP DEVASTATION
Heartwrenching pictures show the sheer devastation brought on by the rushing floods.

Cabins that were once filled with giggling campers have now been left in shambles, with bunk beds askew on the ground and belongings abandoned by girls.

Nearly every surface at the camp is covered in layers of dirt and grime after the Guadalupe River swelled a whopping 30 feet and rushed water through the property.

The Bubble Inn cabin sat just 500 feet from the river, and every young girl and counselor inside has been found dead or is still missing.

The night of the storms, camp director Dick died trying to rush in and save the little girls.

Two of the victims staying in the cabin, 13 and 11-year-old sisters Blair and Brooke Harber, were found 15 miles downstream “with their hands locked together.”

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/14657181/camp-mystic-note-victims-missing-texas-floods/

Some 16 people have been killed at the annual festival

A MAN has been gored by a 1,260lb beast at the notorious Pamplona bull run festival as eight others were injured in the stampede.

The injuries are the latest to hit the northern Spanish region, with almost 300 incidents recorded each year from the death-defying event.

After little more than two minutes, six men were rushed to hospital when two bulls became detached from the rest of the group.

One man, who was gored under his armpit, remains under observation.

“At this time, he is under observation but is in stable condition,” a medic confirmed.

Up to 4,000 runners take part in each bull run, which takes place over almost 850 metres and can last up to four minutes.

One of the bulls, Zalagarda, is this year’s heaviest beast and weighs a staggering 610kg – or 96 stone.

The run was the first of nine and followed a bustling opening ceremony in the northern Spanish town.

The Chupinazo festivities see thousands of revellers – dressed in traditional red and white garms – come together and drink sangria to mark the start of the San Fermin event.

DEADLY SPORT
Some 16 people have been killed at the annual festival, which was made famous by the 1926 Ernest Hemingway novel ‘The Sun Also Rises’.

Several foreigners, from Australians to Americans through to Brits and Irish, are normally among the injured.

The most recent death at the Pamplona event was in 2009 when 27-year-old Daniel Jimeno, from Madrid, was gored in the neck by a bull called Capuchino.

Elsewhere, a man was gored to death during a bull-running festival in El Casar, Spain.

His death was described by the local council as “an unfortunate accident” while animal rights campaigners condemned the event, calling it a waste of the town’s resources and “traumatic” for children.

The 20-year-old was gored in a bullring at the countryside festival and sustained injuries to his lung.

The unnamed victim later died on Monday at La Paz University Hospital in Madrid.

That same year, another man, 51, died in a bull run event held in nearby Mesones when he slipped on a fence while trying to escape from the bulls.

The Animal Defence Association of El Casar hit out against the events.

A spokesman said: “Beyond the legal issues, these incidents generate expenses and consequences that affect all citizens, even those who oppose these events.

“The pain for this new victim is deep and part of our fight consists of preventing tragedies like this from continuing to occur.”

The association added: “Is this the best way to invest our resources and enjoy our leisure time?

“This kind of event not only puts people and animals at risk but also exposes children to traumatic situations that can shape their perception of the world.

“The well-being of people and respect for animals must be priorities in modern society and it is our responsibility to rethink whether these events reflect the values ​​we want to promote.”

The campaigners are pressing for “safer, more educational entertainment that encourages the healthy enjoyment of free time, without risk to the physical or moral integrity of our community.”

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/14651510/man-gored-bull-pamplona/

Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu met for the second time in 24 hours Tuesday (Jul 8) as the US president intensified the pressure on the Israeli prime minister to reach a deal to end the “tragedy” of the war in Gaza.

Netanyahu’s return to the White House for fresh talks came after Qatari mediators warned it would take time to seal an elusive ceasefire between Israel and Hamas at talks in Doha.

“It’s a tragedy, and he wants to get it solved, and I want to get it solved, and I think the other side wants to,” Trump told reporters as he announced that Netanyahu was coming back.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said he hoped for an agreement within days.

“We are hopeful that by end of this week we will have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire,” Witkoff said.

The deal would include the return of 10 live hostages held by Palestinian militant groups since Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, and nine dead hostages, Witkoff added.

The Israeli leader, who had dinner with Trump on Monday evening, arrived back at the White House for talks that were being held without any media access.

Asked earlier as he met US House speaker Mike Johnson if a ceasefire announcement was imminent, Netanyahu replied: “We’re certainly working on it.”

“NEED TIME”
Trump has kept up strong US support for Israel, especially over the recent Iran-Israel war, but has also been stepping up the pressure to end what he calls the “hell” in Gaza.

Qatar, however, said Tuesday more time was needed for negotiations for a breakthrough between Israel and Hamas, as indirect negotiations extended into a third day in Doha.

“I don’t think that I can give any timeline at the moment, but I can say right now that we will need time for this,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said.

Qatar, a mediator along with the United States and Egypt, said the meetings in Doha were focused on a framework for the talks, while a Palestinian official close to the negotiations said no breakthrough had been achieved so far.

Hostilities, meanwhile, continued on the ground.

Gaza’s civil defence reported 29 killed in Israeli strikes on Tuesday, including three children.

Five Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in northern Gaza – one of the deadliest days this year for Israeli forces in the Palestinian territory.

Netanyahu described the soldiers’ deaths as a “difficult morning”.

They were reportedly killed by improvised explosive devices near Beit Hanun in northern Gaza.

And Lebanon said three people were killed Tuesday in a strike near Tripoli that the Israeli military said targeted a Hamas militant, the first in the area since a November ceasefire with Hezbollah.

“TORN TO SHREDS”
Trump has been trying to seize on the momentum from the recent ceasefire between Iran and Israel, which was precipitated by US airstrikes on Tehran’s nuclear program.

France’s foreign intelligence chief said Tuesday that the program has been “very, very delayed” by US and Israeli strikes, wading into a contentious debate over just how hard it was hit.

Israel and Hamas began the latest round of negotiations on Sunday, with representatives seated in separate rooms within the same building.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/trump-says-pharmaceutical-tariffs-could-reach-200-5228401

Thailand’s Cabinet on Tuesday (Jul 8) dropped a Bill to legalise casino gambling, a flagship project of the faltering ruling party, which last week saw its prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra suspended from office.

The so-called “entertainment complex” Bill was a key plank for the Pheu Thai party, aiming to legalise casinos and boost the nation’s spluttering economy by making it a regional gambling hub.

Most forms of betting are illegal in Thailand and Pheu Thai argued the Bill would end a thriving underground gambling industry by admitting it into the mainstream.

However, the party has only a razor-thin parliamentary majority after being abandoned by coalition partners over a scandal which saw the premier suspended.

The Cabinet has withdrawn the Bill because it “needs more studies that require further understanding and social context”, government spokesperson Jirayu Huangsab said in a statement.

Julapun Amornvivat, deputy finance minister, said they “accept it’s not the appropriate time”.

“It’s a shame, the delay is a lost opportunity for the country,” he told media.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/thailand-drops-casino-legalisation-plans-pm-paetongtarn-shinawatra-suspended-5226466

Hundreds of rescuers on Tuesday (Jul 8) continued their search for people swept away by catastrophic floods in Texas that killed more than 100 people, officials said, amid threats of more heavy rain.

As of Tuesday morning, authorities in the worst-hit Kerr County had recovered the bodies of 87 victims, Sheriff Larry Leitha told reporters.

The deceased include at least 27 girls and counsellors who were staying at a youth summer camp on the Guadalupe River over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

“At present, five Camp Mystic campers and one counsellor still remain unaccounted for,” Leitha added.

At least 108 flood-related deaths were reported across central Texas, according to local officials.

More than 160 people are still listed as missing in Texas, the state’s governor said Tuesday.

“Just in the Kerr county area alone, there are 161 people who are known to be missing,” Governor Greg Abbott told reporters.

He added that the figure was based on people reported as unaccounted for by friends, relatives and neighbours.

During a Cabinet meeting, President Donald Trump said he would travel to Texas with First Lady Melania Trump on Friday, and credited his strong ties with the state’s Republican governor as having helped the rescue effort.

“We brought in a lot of helicopters from all over … They were real pros, and they were responsible for pulling out a lot of people. And we got them there fast, and Texas had some good ones too, but the response has been incredible,” Trump said.

Trump, who previously said that disaster relief should be handled at the state level, earlier this week signed a major disaster declaration, activating fresh federal funds and freeing up resources.

“EXTREMELY TREACHEROUS”
Ben Baker with the Texas Game Wardens said search and rescue efforts involving helicopters, drones and dogs were extremely difficult because of the water and mud.

“When we’re trying to make these recoveries, these large piles can be very obstructive, and to get in deep into these piles, it’s very hazardous,” Baker said.

“It’s extremely treacherous, time-consuming. It’s dirty work, the water is still there.”

He added that special attention was being paid to the first responders’ mental state, particularly given that the bodies of children were being recovered.

In the town of Hunt, the epicenter of the disaster, an AFP team saw recovery workers combing through piles of debris with helicopters flying overhead, as hopes dimmed for finding any survivors.

Javier Torres, 24, was digging through mud as he searched for the body of his grandmother, after having located the remains of his grandfather.

He also discovered the bodies of two children, apparently washed up by the river.

Officials warned that with more heavy rain forecast, recovery efforts would be rendered even more difficult.

“We’ve had some reports of maybe some additional water coming in, obviously, that’s going to impact the search and recovery efforts,” said Baker.

He said the weather may impact aerial patrol patterns, but “it won’t deter them”.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/death-toll-texas-floods-climbs-108-more-rain-expected-5227831

Hailey Bieber may now be a billionaire, but you needn’t be to bag her favorite luggage.

Shay Mitchell’s Béis brand is deeply discounted during the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale — including the Expandable Carry-On Roller Bieber raved about in 2023.

“It’s the best suitcase in the world,” she gushed on Instagram at the time, showing off both her carry-on and a matching larger Check-In Roller.

Béis 22-Inch Expandable Carry-On Roller

“The only one I travel with,” the Rhode founder continued, saying the brand has the “smoothest wheels and is “functional and oh so chic.”

Nordstrom’s glossy lavender version offers 360-degree swivel, a telescoping handle and even a retractable strap that lets you attach another bag to the roller.

If the only traveling you’re doing this summer is commuting to the office and back, there’s also a great deal on the Commuter Duffle Bag, which comes equipped with multiple zip pockets and a padded laptop sleeve.

Béis The Commuter Duffle Bag

The Commuter Backpack is on sale, too, and — like most Béis designs — features a slew of strategically placed inner and outer pockets.

“The best news is that our bags are designed for the maximalist … compression-strap, unzip and pocket your way to fitting it all,” Mitchell told us in 2023, admitting she brings a checked bag on every trip. (“I plead the fifth,” she replied, when asked long she could last with just a carry-on.)

Béis The Commuter Backpack

Nordstrom’s deals are currently only open to Ambassador cardholders, but they’ll be available for Icon and Influencer cardholders on July 10 and 11, respectively, before opening to everyone on July 12.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2025/07/08/style/the-best-beis-luggage-deals-from-the-nordstrom-anniversary-sale/

The first malaria treatment suitable for babies and very young children has been approved for use.

It’s expected to be rolled out in African countries within weeks.

Until now there have been no approved malaria drugs specifically for babies.

Instead they have been treated with versions formulated for older children which presents a risk of overdose.

Half a million deaths in 2023
In 2023 – the year for which the most recent figures are available – malaria was linked to around 597,000 deaths.

Almost all of the deaths were in Africa, and around three quarters of them were children under five years old.

Malaria treatments for children do exist but until now, there was none specifically for the very youngest babies and small children, who weigh less than 4.5kg or around 10lb.

Instead they have been treated with drugs designed for older children.

But that presents risks, as doses for these older children may not be safe for babies, whose liver functions are still developing and whose bodies process medicines differently.

Experts say this has led to what is described as a “treatment gap”.

Now a new medicine, developed by the drug company Novartis, has been approved by the Swiss authorities and is likely to be rolled out in regions and countries with the highest rates of malaria within weeks.

Novartis is planning to introduce it on a largely not-for-profit basis.

The smallest and most vulnerable
The company’s chief executive, Vas Narasimhan, says this is an important moment.

“For more than three decades, we have stayed the course in the fight against malaria, working relentlessly to deliver scientific breakthroughs where they are needed most.

“Together with our partners, we are proud to have gone further to develop the first clinically proven malaria treatment for newborns and young babies, ensuring even the smallest and most vulnerable can finally receive the care they deserve.”

The drug, known as Coartem Baby or Riamet Baby in some countries, was developed by Novartis in collaboration with the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), a Swiss-based not-for-profit organisation initially backed by the British, Swiss and Dutch Governments, as well as the World Bank and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Eight African nations also took part in the assessment and trials of the drug and they are expected to be among the first to access it.

Martin Fitchet, CEO of MMV, says this is another important step on the road towards ending the huge toll taken by malaria.

“Malaria is one of the world’s deadliest diseases, particularly among children. But with the right resources and focus, it can be eliminated.

“The approval of Coartem Baby provides a necessary medicine with an optimised dose to treat an otherwise neglected group of patients and offers a valuable addition to the antimalarial toolbox.”

Dr Marvelle Brown, associate professor at the University of Hertfordshire’s School of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, says this should be seen as a major breakthrough in saving the lives of babies and young children.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89e872jdjxo

Amid tensions between China and US over tariffs, Beijing lashed out at Washington accusing it of backing Tibetan separatism after Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised the Dalai Lama on his 90th birthday.

China has unleashed a fresh wave of criticism against the United States, this time not just over tariffs but also over the Dalai Lama, signaling growing tensions on both economic and ideological fronts.

According to a Reuters report, Beijing is fuming over remarks made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the 90th birthday celebrations of the Dalai Lama. Marco Rubio had praised the Tibetan spiritual leader for inspiring “unity, peace, and compassion” and reiterated support for the Tibetan people’s right to preserve their cultural and religious identity, including the freedom to choose their own spiritual leaders.

That didn’t sit well with China.

American political history is littered with the wrecks of challengers who thought they could break the two-party system, says an academic.

To paraphrase a very old joke, how do you make a small fortune in America? Start with a large fortune and fund a third political party. American political history is littered with the wrecks of challengers who thought they could break the two-party system and failed.

This makes Elon Musk’s launch of his own new political party as an act of defiance following his falling out with US President Donald Trump even more intriguing.

What do we mean by a two-party system though? Since the 1860s, the Democrats and Republicans have dominated the US political landscape, holding the presidency, Congress and the vast majority of elected positions. Attempts at third parties have usually floundered at the ballot box.

Some have lasted only for a few electoral cycles, including the Progressive Party in the 1910s and the Citizens Party of the 1980s, while others like the Libertarian Party and Green Party have lasted decades and, in some cases, managed some electoral success at the local level.

But this is where an important distinction has to be made between third parties and third-party candidates. Because the US system is so personality-driven rather than party focused compared to Europe, quite often third parties have been built around a single person.

A good example is the previously mentioned Progressive Party. It was founded in 1912 by former president Theodore Roosevelt after he split from the Republicans. Without him it quickly faded away.

The Reform Party was created by billionaire Ross Perot in 1995 after he managed to get 18.9 per cent of the vote in the 1992 presidential election. While it continued without him for some years, it was a shell of its former self.

Other parties like the Socialist, Libertarian and Green parties have sprung from more organic movements and thus have been more successful at a local or state level.

When you look at recent polling though, it seems strange that the two parties continue to dominate. Public dissatisfaction with politics as usual seems at an all-time high.

In a recent Pew Research poll when asked whether “I often wish there were more political parties to choose from” describes their views, 37 per cent of respondents answered: “Very well” and 31 per cent answered: “Somewhat well”.

In another poll, 25 per cent of respondents said that neither of the two main parties represented their interests.

So if there is an appetite for some sort of change, why have so few challengers succeeded? The two main parties seem entrenched to the point where it resembles a cartel.

ODDS STACKED AGAINST THIRD-PARTY INSURGENCY
The first and arguably most important reason is the electoral system. First past the post does not guarantee a two-party system (look at Britain, for instance).

But political scientist Maurice Duverger argued that it does mean that the two main parties have a significant advantage. There are prizes for coming first and second, nothing for third place.

Equally, many of the big prizes in American politics such as the presidency and state governorships are indivisible and cannot be shared. So it has become received wisdom that voting for anyone other than Democrats or Republicans is a wasted vote.

In these cases, people either vote for what they perceive to be the lesser of two evils or stay at home, rather than voting for a candidate with no chance or that they may not support.

The other multi-billion-dollar elephant in the room is money. The sheer cost of running for elections in recent years means that any third party is unlikely to be able to raise the funds to be truly competitive. At the last election, the Democrats and Republicans spent hundreds of millions of dollars (which isn’t even counting all of the super-PAC money spent on their behalf).

Whenever billionaires like Perot have attempted to self-fund a party, they have left themselves open to the accusation that it’s a vanity project or lacks true mass appeal.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/elon-musk-america-party-third-independent-candidate-us-politics-5224506

Dozens of residents have evacuated remote islands in southern Japan that have been shaken by nearly 1,600 quakes in recent weeks, the local mayor said Monday (Jul 7).

There has been no major physical damage on hardest-hit Akuseki island, even after a 5.1-magnitude quake that struck overnight, said Genichiro Kubo, who is based on another island.

But the almost non-stop jolts since Jun 21 have caused severe stress to area residents, many of whom have been deprived of sleep.

Of the 89 residents of Akuseki, 44 had evacuated to the regional hub of Kagoshima by Sunday, while 15 others also left another island nearby, Kubo told a news conference.

The municipality, which comprises seven inhabited and five uninhabited islands, is roughly 11 hours away on a ferry from Kagoshima.

Since Jun 21, the area has experienced as of early Monday what seismologists refer to as a swarm of 1,582 quakes.

Experts have said they believe an underwater volcano and flows of magma might be the cause. They say they cannot predict how long the tremors will continue.

“We cannot foresee what might happen in the future. We cannot see when this will end,” mayor Kubo told reporters.

A similar period of intense seismic activity in the area occurred in September 2023, when 346 earthquakes were recorded, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Japan is one of the world’s most seismically active countries, sitting on top of four major tectonic plates along the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/japan-earthquakes-southern-islands-akuseki-dozens-leave-after-nearly-1600-jolts-5224061

Declining birth rates are a global trend, but there is often an ideological dimension to pronatalism, says this Aberystwyth University international politics lecturer.

ABERYSTWYTH, United Kingdom: In some parts of Russia, schoolgirls who become pregnant are being paid more than 100,000 roubles (about US$1,270) for giving birth and raising their babies.

This new measure, introduced in the past few months across 10 regions, is part of Russia’s new demographic strategy, widening the policy adopted in March which only applied to adult women. It is designed to address the dramatic decline in the country’s birthrate.

In 2023, the number of births in Russia per woman was 1.41 – substantially below 2.05, which is the level required to maintain a population at its current size.

Paying teenage girls to have babies while they are still in school is controversial in Russia. According to a recent survey by the Russian Public Opinion Research Centre, 43 per cent of Russians approve of the policy, while 40 per cent are opposed to it. But it indicates the high priority that the state places on increasing the number of children being born.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin regards a large population as one of the markers of a flourishing great power, along with control over a vast (and growing) territory and a powerful military. Paradoxically, though, his efforts to increase the physical size of Russia by attacking Ukraine and illegally annexing its territory have also been disastrous in terms of shrinking Russia’s population.

The number of Russian soldiers killed in the war has reached 250,000 by some estimates, while the war sparked an exodus of hundreds of thousands of some of the most highly educated Russians. Many of them are young men fleeing military service who could have been fathers to the next generation of Russian citizens.

But while Russia’s demographic situation is extreme, declining birth rates are now a global trend. It is estimated that by 2050 more than three-quarters of the world’s countries will have such low fertility rates that they will not be able to sustain their populations.

IT’S NOT ONLY RUSSIA
Putin is not the only world leader to introduce policies designed to encourage women to have more babies. Viktor Orban’s government in Hungary is offering a range of incentives, such as generous tax breaks and subsidised mortgages, to those who have three or more children.

Poland makes a monthly payment of 500 złoty (about US$140) per child to families with two or more children. But there’s some evidence this has not prompted higher-income Polish women to have more children, as they might have to sacrifice higher earnings and career advancement to have another child.

In the United States, Donald Trump is proposing to pay women US$5,000 to have a baby, tied to a wider MAGA movement push, supported by Elon Musk and others, to encourage women to have larger families.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/birth-rates-population-russia-pay-pregnant-maga-trad-wife-5224531

Border controls are creeping back across Europe, known as a free-travel zone. But are they solving anything?

When Poland introduced border checks with Germany and Lithuania this week, it wasn’t the first time that a Schengen country took such a step. These measures are typically justified as necessary to curb irregular migration, combat human smuggling, or address national security concerns. But for many analysts, it may be one of the clearest signs yet that the European Union’s borderless travel area, seen as a symbol of integration and common identity, is under increasing strain.

According to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the controls are temporary and aimed at stopping human trafficking and irregular migration. Yet the move comes just weeks after Germany itself ramped up checks along all its land borders, including with Poland, under the new conservative government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz. For many observers here in Brussels, the tit-for-tat measures reflect a deeper shift away from European solidarity and toward national self-interest.

What is Schengen?
Created in the 1990s, the Schengen Area allows passport-free travel across 29 European countries, covering most of the EU plus several non-members like Norway and Switzerland. It facilitates the free movement of over 450 million people and underpins Europe’s single market by eliminating internal border checks for goods, services, and labor. For businesses, commuters, and travelers alike, Schengen is one of the EU’s most practical achievements.

In an interview with DW, Birte Nienaber, Associate Professor at the University of Luxembourg, underlined that Europe is seeing a slow erosion of border-free moment in Europe, one frontier at a time.

Domino effect already under way
Davide Colombi, a migration researcher at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) based in Brussels, agrees that the recent Polish-German dispute fits a broader European pattern.

France has maintained border checks since the 2015 terrorist attacks. Austria first introduced controls on its borders with Slovenia and Hungary in September 2015, at the height of the refugee crisis, and has renewed them every six months since, citing migration pressures and internal security.

Slovenia introduced checks with Croatia less than a year after the latter joined Schengen, citing increased migration and concerns over organized crime. And Germany, which had long resisted tightening its internal borders, began expanding them last autumn, a move the European Commission has so far not formally challenged. Under EU law, such checks are only allowed in exceptional circumstances and must be temporary.

“These border controls are purely political symbolism, without a real effect of curbing migration,” says Professor Nienaber. She emphasizes that with the rise of far-right forces in Europe, populist narratives are gaining grounds across all parties. Centrist leaders face pressure to show “toughness” on migration — and border controls are a visible measure popular with the public.

Border symbolism over substance
But how effective are they really? Official statistics cast doubt on the pertinence of border checks inside the Schengen area. German police say that in the first month of enhanced border operations this spring, just 160 asylum seekers were turned away. Polish media reports that Germany returned around 1,000 migrants to Poland between May and mid-June, a figure not significantly different from previous years.

“Smugglers or those trying to enter irregularly know exactly how to avoid official checkpoints,” said migration expert Nienaber. “The controls don’t stop them. They only create the illusion of control.”

Researcher Colombi agreed that such policies are more about optics than outcomes. He underlined that EU member states have so far failed to prove the necessity for the controls in, for instance, curbing migration, or preventing terrorist attacks.

The economic cost
Meanwhile, border communities, especially in regions like Luxembourg, Austria, and Poland, are already feeling the negative effects: longer wait times, disrupted supply chains, and growing economic stress on cross-border local businesses. A detailed European Parliament study estimated that reinstating internal border checks leads to substantial time losses: 10–20 minutes for cars and 30–60 minutes for heavy vehicles, and costs the transport sector around €320 million — and that’s only accounting for delays, not the broader economic fallout.

The economic cost is therefore not trivial. Schengen affects the free movement of goods, services, capital and people: the four pillars of the EU single market. Prices could rise, supply chains could slow, and cross-border jobs and businesses could be lost.

A Bulgarian logistics association recently estimated border delays previously cost the sector €300 million ($352 million) annually. Since Romania and Bulgaria joined Schengen this year, cross-border traffic has significantly increased and become more efficient. In the first three months of 2025 alone, traffic between the two countries rose by 25%, with over 160,000 vehicles crossing compared to 128,000 in the same period the year before, according to Romania’s Road Administration Agency.

The average wait times at crossings have dropped from over 10 hours to less than two. For regional hauliers and border towns that rely on smooth trade flows, this has meant faster deliveries and a revived economic outlook. A return to hard borders, experts warn, could undo that progress, hitting not just supply chains, but also the livelihoods of thousands who depend on seamless daily crossings.

Schengen legal limits — quietly bypassed?
EU law allows internal border checks in exceptional cases: they must be limited to six months with clearly justified renewals. Yet several member states have simply continued extending them. France’s controls have been in place almost continuously for nearly a decade. Austria, Denmark, Sweden and now Germany have also operated under long-term exceptions.

“We can see that these border checks are becoming permanent in some member states. That was never the intent of the Schengen agreement,” says researcher Colombi.

He explains that the European Commission has faced criticism for not enforcing limits more robustly, for instance through infringement procedures. This could risks opening the floodgates for others, creating a domino effect.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/polands-new-border-checks-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-free-travel-in-europe/a-73185689

Authorities in Punjab province swooped in on lion and tiger breeding farms, after a lion jumped over a wall and escaped from a house in Lahore.

Pakistani authorities confiscated eighteen lions kept illegally as pets in the densely populated Punjab region during a targeted operation, provincial officials said Monday.

Authorities launched a crackdown after a lion escaped from a house in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, and attacked a woman and two children. The incident, which took place last week, was captured on video.

None of the people suffered life-threatening injuries, according to provincial officials. The lion, which was kept without a license in a house in Lahore, was confiscated.

The lion was sent to a local safari park, according to Mubeen Elahi, director general of the provincial Wildlife and Parks Department.

Police said the owner was arrested.

Keeping big pets considered a status symbol
Keeping a lion at home without following the legal requirements for ownership of big cats is an offense punishable by up to seven years in jail, Elahi told the Reuters news agency.

As well as confiscating the 18 animals, the department raided 38 lion and tiger breeding farms and arrested eight people for violating the rules, he said.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/pakistan-authorities-seize-18-lions-kept-as-pets/a-73187391

Turkey says 12 soldiers have died after exposure to methane gas during a cave search operation in northern Iraq. It did not explain the presence of the gas in the cave.

Turkey said on Monday that a dozen soldiers had died of methane gas poisoning after being exposed to the substance while searching a cave in northern Iraq for a soldier shot dead by Kurdish fighters three years ago.

The Defense Ministry gave an initial death toll of eight, but later raised it.

“Four others of our heroic comrades in arms, affected by methane gas, have died … bringing the total number of victims to 12,” the ministry said on X.

Methane is a colorless, odorless, flammable gas that can cause asphyxiation in sufficient concentration.

What else did Turkey say?
“During a search operation in a cave … previously known to have been used as a hospital… 19 of our personnel were exposed to methane gas,” the ministry said on Sunday.

It said other soldiers also exposed to the gas in the cave had been taken to the hospital for treatment.

The ministry said the incident took place in the “Claw-Lock Operation region” — a reference to an operation launched against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq in April 2022 to clear militants holed up in caves along the border.

It said the soldier whose body was being looked for had been killed by “terrorist gunfire.”

Recovery teams have been searching the area for the past three years.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/turkish-soldiers-die-of-methane-gas-poisoning-in-iraq/a-73183146

PEARL Jam’s legendary drummer, Matt Cameron, has announced he’s quit the band after 27 years, leaving fans devastated.

The highly-regarded sticksman, 62, was also an integral part of fellow 90s grunge legends Soundgarden, who were fronted by the late Chris Cornell.

Announcing his departure on Instagram today, Matt wrote, “After 27 fantastic years, I have taken my final steps down the drum riser for the mighty Pearl Jam.

“Much love and respect to Jeff, Ed, Mike and Stone for inviting me into the band in 1998 and for giving me the opportunity of a lifetime, filled with friendships, artistry, challenges and laughter.

“I am forever grateful to the crew, staff and fans the world over. It’s been an incredible journey. More to follow. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”

The remaining members of Pearl Jam – Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament and Mike McCready – have shared their appreciation for Matt.

A band statement read, “From being one of our first musical heroes in the bands Skinyard and the mighty Soundgarden, to playing on our first demos in 1990, Matt Cameron has been a singular and true powerhouse of a musician and drummer.

“He has propelled the last 27 years of Pearl Jam live shows and studio recordings. It was a deeply important chapter for our group and we wish him well always. He will be deeply missed and is forever our friend in art and music.

“We love you Matt.”

Devastated fans were just as effusive in their praise, with one writing, “Matt, thank you for all your dedication and love. We love you and will miss you so much.”

Another said, “Thank you for everything and for all these years.
You are amazing.”

A third posted, “No way man !!! Buy thanks for everything Matt Cameron.”

Others speculated that Josh Freese, who was recently fired from Foo Fighters, could be the man to replace him.

Pearl Jam released their 12th album Dark Matter last year and Matt’s propulsive beats on the record received widespread acclaim.

Twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of two iconic grunge bands, Matt was ranked 52 on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Drummers of All Time list in 2016.

He played on all six of Soundgarden’s studio albums, the latest of which was 2012’s comeback record King Animal.

Five years after its release, frontman Cornell was found dead in his hotel room shortly after the band’s gig in Detroit.

With Pearl Jam, Matt played on seven studio LPs, the first of which was Binaural in 2000.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/14648078/matt-cameron-quits-pearl-jam/

No French kissing here!

Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet were seen innocently holding hands while traipsing through the South of France Saturday.

The couple looked loved up as they went for a stroll at Shellona Beach in Saint-Tropez while surrounded by friends and a team of security guards.

The Khy founder, 27, looked elegant in a vintage black-and-white striped mini dress by Jean Paul Gaultier and skinny black sunglasses.

She also carried a black clutch purse under one arm and completed the look with delicate gold jewelry and black sandals.

Meanwhile, Chalamet, 29, sported a green-and-white Nigeria soccer jersey. He attempted to keep his face hidden by wearing a blue Nike cap layered under a green bandana tied at his chin.

Photographers caught the “Dune” star and his girlfriend smiling flirtatiously at each other as they walked hand-in-hand.

The lovebirds were also joined by Kylie’s sister Kendall Jenner, who sported a little black dress, a gray scarf and casual black flip-flops.

Kylie and Kendall have been vacationing in Europe for weeks now, touching down in Venice, Italy, for Jeff Bezos’ $50 million wedding to Lauren Sánchez in late June.

The sisters were joined by their mom, Kris Jenner, as well as older siblings Kim Kardashian and Khloé Kardashian for the days-long wedding festivities.

Chalamet notably did not attend the nuptials as Kylie’s plus one.

After the Amazon billionaire and Sánchez said “I do,” Kylie and Kendall retreated to a stunning Tuscan villa with the makeup mogul’s two kids: Stormi, 7, and Aire, 3.

Kylie flaunted her curves in a leopard-print bikini while relaxing with some wine and cherries.

From there, Kylie, Kendall and their entourage of besties — including Stassie Karanikolaou and Victoria Villarroel — were seen partying at ultra-exclusive Loulou’s beach club in St. Tropez.

The gaggle of gals took a dip in the clear blue Mediterranean Sea. At one point during their getaway, Kendall was also seen ripping a shot of her 818 Tequila while balancing a $75,000 limited-edition Hermès Kelly Doll bag on her head.

It’s no surprise Chalamet eventually ended up tagging along on Kylie’s girls’ trip as they have recently taken their relationship to the next level.

Last week, Page Six confirmed that Kylie officially followed Chalamet’s Instagram account after two years of dating.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2025/07/07/celebrity-news/kylie-jenner-and-timothee-chalamet-hold-hands-in-the-south-of-france/

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed Monday that he’s nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize — presenting the commander in chief with the letter he sent to the committee responsible for bestowing the honor.

“I want to present to you, Mr. President, the letter I sent to the Nobel Prize committee,” Netanyahu told Trump at the White House.

“It’s the nomination of you for the peace prize, which is well-deserved. And you should get it.”

Netanyahu then reached across the table separating the US and Israeli delegations to hand the letter to Trump.

“This I didn’t know,” a surprised Trump said as he inspected the nomination. “Well, thank you very much.

“Coming from you, in particular, this is very meaningful. Thank you very much.”

Trump’s efforts to secure an Israel-Iran cease-fire, essentially ending the 12-day war between the two nations, had previously earned him nomination for the prize from Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.).

In a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Carter recommended Trump for the prestigious prize “in recognition of his extraordinary and historic role in brokering an end to the armed conflict between Israel and Iran and preventing the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism from obtaining the most lethal weapon on the planet.”

Trump hosted Netanyahu at the White House for high-level meetings ahead of a private dinner between the two world leaders.

The Trump administration and Netanyahu’s team were expected to discuss the future of Gaza and the possibility of the Jewish state normalizing relations with Arab nations — but details of any potential progress made on both fronts were scant.

“I think our teams together make an extraordinary combination to meet challenges and seize opportunities,” Netanyahu said ahead of dinner with Trump.

“But the president has already realized a great opportunity to forge the Abraham Accords. He’s forging peace as we speak, and one country and one region after the other.”

Netanyahu met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Blair House, the president’s guest house, for an extended meeting, but a readout was not released.

Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff also met with the Israeli prime minister, but similarly, no details were made available about what was discussed.

Trump has pushed for Netanyahu to secure a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas that would also result in the release of hostages being held by the terror group in Gaza.

The prime minister, however, has insisted that Israel will not enter into any agreement that allows Hamas’ continued existence in Gaza — a massive sticking point in ending the war.

Netanyahu recently said his delegation meeting with mediators in Qatar has been instructed to reach a deal under those terms.

The Israeli prime minister also maintains that the Israeli military should occupy Gaza indefinitely, with the role of governors transferred to local officials without any known ties to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank.

Meanwhile, Israel’s military launched airstrikes early Monday targeting ports and facilities held by Yemen’s Houthis, with the group responding with missile fire targeting Israel.

Reports of a security incident in Gaza resulting in Israeli Defense Force casualties broke during Netanyahu’s White House visit, but Trump indicated that he doesn’t expect it to hamper progress on a cease-fire deal.

“I don’t think so,” Trump said when asked if the reported ambush of IDF soldiers in Gaza would impact negotiations. “They want it. They want to meet and they want to have that cease-fire. So, I don’t think so.”

Witkoff described the incident as “terribly unfortunate” but, directly addressing Netanyahu, argued, “We have an opportunity to finally get a peace deal, Mr. Prime Minister, as we discussed, and I’m hopeful for it very quickly.”

On potentially relocating Palestinians from Gaza to rebuild the strip, as Trump suggested earlier this year, Netanyahu said Israel is working with the Trump administration to find countries “that will seek to realize what they always say: that they want to give the Palestinians a better future.”

“You know, if people want to stay, they can stay. But if they want to leave, they should be able to leave. It shouldn’t be, you know, a prison,” Netanyahu said of Gaza.

“I think we’re getting close to finding several countries [that will take in Palestinians], and I think this will give, again, the freedom to choose,” he added.

Asked about last month’s US airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, Trump indicated that the Islamic regime “took a big drubbing” and maintained that the three uranium enrichment sites hit by warplanes and cruise missiles were “obliterated.”

The president likened the strike to when the US dropped atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II.

“I was talking to Bibi about it — that was the very beginning of the end, and it ended very quickly after that,” he said of how his decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities quickly ended the Israel-Iran conflict.

“I don’t want to say what it reminded me of,” Trump continued, “But if you go back a long time ago, it reminded people of a certain other event.”

“Harry Truman’s picture is now in the lobby, in a nice location in the lobby, where it should have been – but that stopped, a lot of fighting. And this stopped a lot of fighting.

Source: https://nypost.com/2025/07/07/us-news/trump-hosts-israeli-pm-netanyahu-at-white-house-for-high-level-meetings-private-dinner/

A Border Patrol official declared on Monday that agents will be sticking around Los Angeles until their “mission is accomplished” as Mayor Karen Bass lashed out at federal law enforcement conducting an apparent immigration sweep at a local park.

Heavily armed officer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and the military units deployed by President Trump arrived at MacArthur Park in force, with the agents seen carrying rifles and traveling across the grounds on foot, horseback and in armored vehicles.

Bass, who was due to meet with California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the morning, showed up in the middle of the operation to yell at the agents to get out of the park, slamming the demonstration as a “political stunt.”

“They need to leave and they need to leave right now!” Bass yelled after getting off the phone with someone coordinating the officers.

“What I saw in the park today looked like a city under siege,” she told reporters following the confrontation. “It’s outrageous and un-American to have armed vehicles in our American parks.”

Bass was only at the park momentarily after speaking with CBP Assistant Chief Patrol Agent David Kim, who handed her a direct line to “the head of customs,” she added, noting that the agents left moments later.

One Border Patrol official promised that federal agencies aren’t backing down — and had a few choice words for Bass herself.

“The federal government is not leaving LA. … The federal government does not work for Karen Bass. We’re going to be here until that mission is accomplished,” Border Patrol El Centro Sector Chief Gregory Bovino told FOX Los Angeles.

“Better get used to us now because this is going to be normal very soon,” he added.

Bass and members of the LA City Council said the sweep disrupted a children’s summer camp, with the children corralled into a nearby basement while waiting for the agents to leave.

The raid also pushed out members of the St. John’s Community Health Center who were conducting their daily check ups with homeless individuals at the park, officials added.

The mayor also went onto X to vent about the operation at MacArthur, posting time-lapse video of the agents marching across an empty soccer field inside the park.

“Minutes before, there were more than 20 kids playing — then, the MILITARY comes through,” she said of the raid.

“The SECOND I heard about this, I went to the park to speak to the person in charge to tell them it needed to end NOW. Absolutely outrageous,” Bass added.

It remains unclear if anyone was arrested during the sweep, as activists had gone around the park to warn people to leave before the officers marched through, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“I think the goal is to spread fear,” Bass said of Monday’s raid at the park, as she vowed to uphold the city’s status as a sanctuary for immigrants.

Source: https://nypost.com/2025/07/07/us-news/la-mayor-karen-bass-confronts-heavily-armed-federal-agents-sweeping-through-park/

HAMAS terrorists raped and mutilated women during the October 7 attack, harrowing witness testimony has revealed.

A shocking new investigative report has revealed a pattern of widespread sexual atrocities conducted by the terror group on the horror day.

Among the 1,200 innocent people slaughtered, some young women were stripped and tied to trees and poles and shot through their genitals and in the head, The Times reports.

Hamas raped and gang raped in at least six difference locations, according to the new testimony compiled in The Dinah Report.

The first-hand experience comes from 15 of the returned hostages, one survivor of attempted rape at the Nova music festival, and 17 who saw or heard the attacks.

The survivors describe scenes of “unspeakable violence” and “systematic depravity” in the new report compiled by Israeli legal and gender-based violence experts.

Some women, who were raped and mutilated, were then left for dead.

Others were targeted while lifeless.

Sharon Zagagi-Pinhas, former chief military prosecutor of the Israeli army and one of the report’s lead authors, said: “Many of the witnesses spoke of the victims being shot and them still trying to rape a dead body.”

The report accuses Hamas of deploying sexual violence as a tactical weapon of war, with similar methods to those used by ISIS and Boko Haram.

“Clear patterns emerged,” it reads, “including victims found partially or fully naked with their hands tied… evidence of gang rapes followed by execution, and genital mutilation.”

The report details scenes at multiple attack sites — including the Nova music festival, Route 232, Nahal Oz military base, and the kibbutzim of Re’im, Nir Oz, and Kfar Aza.

Hamas conducted premeditated, coordinated acts of brutality, the report says.

It also draws on forensic evidence from thousands of images and hours of video.

The conclusive report comes after some have denied that Hamas would carry out sexual violence given they are Muslim.

Zagagi-Pinhas said: “sexual violence need not mean rape — also forced nudity, forcing some of the hostages to strip and shower while being watched or trying to force them into marriage.

“Women found dead, naked and mutilated — with gunshots in their genitalia — and tied to trees. The fact that the same things happened in three to six locations can’t be coincidence but proof this was premeditated.”

The sick attack was the catalyst that plunged four nations – Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Iran – into war, killing tens of thousands and marking a historic shift in the Middle East.

On October 7, 2023, some 1,175 civilians, soldiers and foreign nationals inside Israel were savagely murdered in a hideous early-morning assault.

Hamas terrorists stormed into Israel from Gaza, firing thousands of rockets, flying over in paragliders and bulldozing through in trucks in over 100 different places across the border.

An IDF report found that 6,000 fighters from Gaza managed to get into Israel that day – including 3,800 from the Hamas terror group’s elite Nukhba forces.

Horrifying reports that followed October 7 revealed children were killed, women were raped and around 250 had been kidnapped and taken back to Gaza.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/14645356/hamas-israel-october-attack-report/

The witness claimed the orbs appeared pitch black just before disappearing from view

UNNERVING reports of fast-moving orbs, silent triangles, and darting disks have flooded in from one US state.

There have been dozens of fresh sightings in just six months.

Witnesses describe sharp turns, glowing shapes, and aerial objects that seem to defy known flight patterns.

The sightings were all logged across New York state, according to a new report from the National UFO Reporting Center.

From January through late June 2025, 66 separate Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) incidents were reported across the Empire State.

That includes mysterious lights, zigzagging formations and even a metallic ball seen from a commercial jet.

The reports span small towns, suburbs, and the skies over New York City, NUFORC said.

Chester, Ridge, and Evans Mills were among the towns where repeated activity was logged.

Evans Mills, located near a military installation, had recurring orb sightings in March that raised eyebrows, Fox News reported.

In one of the most vivid cases, a dog walker in Chester said they spotted two white orbs flying in formation around 6 pm on March 25.

They first assumed they were birds, until the objects suddenly turned sharply and sped northwest without slowing down.

Mid-turn, the orbs reportedly morphed into dark, oval shapes before vanishing into the night.

The witness claimed the orbs appeared pitch black just before disappearing from view.

NUFORC noted that such advanced maneuvers, right-angle turns and abrupt acceleration were common across multiple accounts.

Shapes most often described were orbs, spheres, and triangles.

One encounter took place midair as a plane approached New York City on June 24.

A passenger in seat 1A said they saw a shiny metallic sphere flying just 100 to 200 feet below the aircraft.

The object flew in the opposite direction, and the passenger said it wasn’t stationary or balloon-like.

He alerted the flight crew upon landing, though pilots said they didn’t notice anything.

The passenger, who flew in from Toronto, remained convinced it was no ordinary object.

Some reports included photos or video, but NUFORC hasn’t released any digital proof.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/14649747/ufo-sighting-new-york-encounters-six-months-zigzag/