Category: World

He helped the USA win Olympic gold

The star served in the Korean War before making his Broadway debut

A STAGE and screen star known for his roles in Star Trek and Mission: Impossible has died aged, 97.

Tom Troupe died at his home in Beverly Hills from natural causes – just five days after his birthday, a family spokesperson said.

The tragic star, who was married to the late actress Carole Cook, was also well-known for appearing in My Own Private Idaho and Cagney & Lacey.

He and his wife were formerly known as “the Lunts of L.A. Theater” due to their extensive stage work in the City of Angels.

And the married couple were honored with the 2002 L.A. Ovation Award for Career Achievement.

Troupe portrayed dozens of other characters on the big screen and on stage during the 1990s.

Also a talented writer and director, the star was born on July 15, 1928, in Kansas City, Missouri.

He began his acting career through local theater productions before moving to New York City in 1948.

After studying at the Herbert Berghof Studio – under the great acting teacher Uta Hagen – he even served in the Korean War.

He was awarded a Bronze Star before returning to the Big Apple and making his Broadway debut in 1957.

He played Peter van Daan in The Diary of Ann Frank, also starring Joseph Schildkraut.

Following the debut, he moved to Los Angeles seeking Hollywood stardom, and went on to appear in dozens of films and TV shows in the 1960s, all the way up until the 1990s.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/14768396/star-trek-mission-impossible-star-dies/

Thick black smoke was seen pouring from the vessel when the blaze erupted

A PREGNANT woman is among at least five dead after a ferry carrying hundreds went up in flames.

Chaos erupted as terrified passengers strapped on life jackets and leapt off the burning boat as a raging inferno ripped through the vessel on the water.

The horrific blaze engulfed the KM Barcelona VA off the coast of Indonesia, authorities confirmed.

284 of the passengers and crew were rescued, and no injuries have been reported yet – although rescue efforts are still ongoing.

There are no exact figures of how many people exactly were on the boat, and officials said they were still investigating the cause of the fire.

The inferno broke out at around 1:30pm local time on Sunday, reports said.

Commander of the Indonesian Fleet Command Denih Hendrata said three navy ships had been deployed, and 284 passengers and crew members had been evacuated so far.

He also explained that the rescue operation included help from local fishermen, who picked up survivors wearing life jackets as they drifted to nearby islands in the choppy waters.

Panic erupted onboard when thick black smoke began billowing from the lower decks.

Harrowing footage showed passengers leaping into the water, many of them clad in bright orange life jackets, as the blaze ripped through the ship.

A brave survivor filmed himself clinging to a baby in the sea after leaping off the burning ferry off the coast of Indonesia.

Wearing an orange life jacket, Abdul Rahmad Agu filmed passengers flinging themselves into the water in real-time via a heart-stopping Facebook live stream.

A brave survivor filmed himself clinging to a baby in the sea after leaping off the burning ferry off the coast of Indonesia.

Wearing an orange life jacket, Abdul Rahmad Agu filmed passengers flinging themselves into the water in real-time via a heart-stopping Facebook live stream.

In the live stream, Abdul could be heard saying: “Help, the KM Barcelona V is on fire. There are still many people on board.”

“We are burning at sea… we need help fast,” he pleaded in a panicked voice, his camera shaking as flames tore through the ship in front of him.

Clinging to a baby, he could be heard trying to calm other passengers who also jumped overboard.

The live stream lasted for around 28 minutes – meaning people were left in the water for at least half an hour before they were rescued.

Videos captured the screams and desperate cries for help from passengers as the chaos unfolded.

The sky above was darkened by thick smoke as the vessel burned from the hull up.

Footage showed an overcrowded deck as crew helped passengers buckle their life vests before jumping off the boat.

Rescue operations are ongoing as emergency teams race against time to account for all passengers.

Some of the survivors were seen staring at the destroyed ship from a neighbouring boat as the blaze was put out.

The once blue and white vessel was turned into a burned black carcass as flames tore the boat inside out.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/14765090/ferry-fire-indonesia-passengers-leap-overboard/

Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said on Sunday that an internal investigation has been launched.

THIS is the shocking moment a cop smashes a man’s car window before hitting him twice in the head.

Footage appears to capture the aggressive traffic stop by Jacksonville Sheriff’s officers – and has since gone viral on social media.

The horror incident was posted to Instagram by @904will, who wrote in the caption that he was pulled over in February over his car’s headlights – despite there being “no rain, smoke or fog”.

Footage shows the driver sat in his car as he questions a cop – who is out of shot – on why he was allegedly pulled over for not having his headlights on.

The driver is heard saying: “There’s no rain.”

A cop responds: “It doesn’t matter – you’re still required to have headlights on.”

The driver then asks to see the law, before the officer says they’ll show it to him once he agrees to step out of the car.

He then asks for “a supervisor” – but, as written in the post’s caption, “things escalated quickly”.

The cop stood behind the driver is then captured on footage shockingly shattering the window with two hits using his fist.

He then swaps hands and gives a final punch to the window, with the driver covered in glass with a shocked, scared expression.

The cop is heard shouting: “Exit the vehicle now.”

He then proceeds to disturbingly hit the driver in the head, repeating for him to exit the vehicle.

The driver is then asked to show his hands, which he does willingly as cops then open his door and rip him out of the car.

He then appears to get punched in the head by the same cop and slammed on the ground.

The apparent victim in the horrific encounter said in the caption of the video that he suffered “a chipped tooth and nine plus stitches in my lips”.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/14768584/cop-smashes-car-window-punches-man/

Will Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir soon dislodge President Asif Ali Zardari? Is this the beginning of a soft coup or just another conspiracy theory?

For a country that has been under military rule for half of its existence since 1947, talks of a military coup are not new. But when a Pakistani Army Chief gets to meet the US President even before the country’s Prime Minister, or when a former Prime Minister says the Army Chief is out to kill him, the rumours in the corridors of power are too loud to be ignored. Welcome to Pakistan, where its newly christened Field Marshall, Army Chief Asim Munir, spent two hours having lunch with US President Donald Trump in the White House last month. Now, Munir is going on a tour to Sri Lanka and Indonesia to meet the top leadership there — sans his Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif.

Is General Asim Munir eyeing full power in Islamabad? Will he soon dislodge President Asif Ali Zardari and become the President? Is this the beginning of a soft coup or just another conspiracy theory?

PM Sharif responded: “There is no plan, no desire to be the President on part of Munir.”

But Sharif also knows there are precedents. Munir became Field Marshal recently — only the second time in history after Ayub Khan. Ayub, of course, went on to the become dictator-president.

So, the talk in the region now is: Is Munir the next Ayub? Sharif’s denial has only added more fuel to the fire.

Why Asim Munir is powerful

Munir has held every key post in Pakistan: DG ISI, DG Military Intelligence, Corps Commander, and now the Army Chief. Munir accompanied Pakistan PM Sharif on a string of high-level visits to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Türkiye, Iran, and Azerbaijan in May and June. But since then, his diplomacy tour is only about him. A Field Marshall portraying to all who really calls the shots in Pakistan.

The Pakistani Military on July 10 issued a rare public statement on Munir’s US trip, usually the domain of the country’s foreign ministry. The rare and exclusive luncheon at the White House with President Donald Trump in the Cabinet Room and the Oval Room in June underlined why this was significant — the US also realises that Munir is the one it needs to deal with. The Pakistan PM, interestingly, is still to meet Trump.

Earlier, during the height of Operation Sindoor, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Munir to stand down, not PM Sharif.

Source: https://www.news18.com/india/will-army-chief-asim-munir-be-next-president-of-pakistan-decoding-what-his-moves-mean-for-india-ws-l-9452084.html

Japan Election: The ruling coalition needs a total of 125 seats for a majority. They already have 75 uncontested seats, but NHK projections suggest it may be difficult for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Komeito to get the additional 50 needed.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s future was unclear on Monday after his coalition lost its majority in the upper house in Sunday’s elections, which saw strong gains by a right-wing populist party.

It will mark the first time in the LDP’s 70-year history that it leads a coalition that does not control either house, Japan’s NHK media reported. Despite this, PM Ishiba indicated he intends to stay on in his role.

Here’s all you need to know about Japan Elections:

Who wins the Japan election?
As many as 248 members of the Upper House are elected for six-year terms. Elections are held every three years, with half of the seats up for grabs.

This time, there are 124 seats plus one extra to fill a vacancy, Japanese media NHK reported. It said 75 seats will be decided based on electoral districts. The remaining 50 seats will be filled by people elected through proportional representation from across Japan.

The ruling coalition needs a total of 125 seats for a majority. They already have 75 uncontested seats, but NHK projections suggest it may be difficult for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Komeito to get the additional 50 needed.

How numbers stack up for political parties?
The cards are stacked against PM Ishiba, with all major opposition parties ruling out joining the Liberal Democratic Party and its partner Komeito in an expanded coalition.

According to reports, Ishiba’s LDP and coalition partner Komeito returned 47 seats, short of the 50 seats it needed to ensure a majority in the 248-seat upper chamber in an election. The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party finished second with 22 seats.

If the ruling bloc fails to get a majority, it would be the first time in the LDP’s 70-year history for the party to lead a coalition that does not control either house of the Diet.

One of the biggest winners is…
The fringe far-right Sanseito party emerged as one of the biggest winners in Japan’s upper house election on Sunday. It, however, won’t join coalition for now.

The party won 14 seats, up from one seat, giving it a significant presence in the upper house. It has only three seats in the more powerful lower house.

“Sanseito has become the talk of the town, and particularly here in America, because of the whole populist and anti-foreign sentiment. It’s more of a weakness of the LDP and Ishiba than anything else,” said Joshua Walker, head of the U.S. non-profit Japan Society.

Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition Sanseito party, Kamiya Sohei, said in an interview that he doesn’t plan to join the ruling coalition at this point. He expressed concern that Sanseito’s tiny size renders it liable to be crushed if it becomes part of the ruling bloc.

The party broke into mainstream politics with its “Japanese First” campaign. It gained support with warnings of a “silent invasion” of immigrants, and pledges for tax cuts and welfare spending.

It was born on YouTube in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, Reuters reported.

What does Japan Election Result mean?
While the ballot does not directly determine whether Ishiba’s minority government falls, it heaps pressure on the embattled leader, who also lost control of the more powerful lower house in October.

That comes on top of its worst showing in 15 years in October’s lower house election, a vote which has left Ishiba’s administration vulnerable to no-confidence motions and calls from within his own party for leadership change.

The result further weakens Ishiba’s position just days before the country needs to negotiate a deal with the Trump administration to avert the imposition of punishing tariffs in its largest export market.

Who will replace PM Ishiba?
If Ishiba goes, it was unclear who might step up as the LDP’s 11th premier since 2000 now that the government needs opposition support in both chambers.

“Ishiba may be replaced by someone else, but it’s not clear who will be the successor,” Hidehiro Yamamoto, politics and sociology professor at the University of Tsukuba, told Agence France-Presse.

Source: https://www.livemint.com/news/vaishno-devi-landslide-injures-4-pilgrims-after-heavy-rains-imd-issues-orange-alert-for-uttarakhand-3-more-states-11753068110369.html

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is recovering at home after being diagnosed with intestinal inflammation caused by spoiled food.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is recovering at home after being diagnosed with intestinal inflammation caused by spoiled food, his office announced on Sunday.

He was examined overnight by Prof Alon Hershko of Jerusalem’s Hadassah-Ein Kerem Medical and is receiving treatment with intravenous fluids for dehydration. His condition is described as good. Following doctors’ orders, Netanyahu will rest at home for the next three days while continuing to conduct state affairs.

The incident up follows a series of health issues for Netanyahu, 75, including a routine colonoscopy in May and prostate surgery in December. Both times, Justice Minister Yariv Levin served as acting Prime Minister while Netanyahu was sedated.

In March, Netanyahu underwent hernia surgery under full anesthesia and later missed work due to the flu. In 2023, he had a pacemaker implanted after doctors diagnosed a long-standing heart conduction problem. That surgery came days after he was hospitalized for dehydration, though doctors later linked the incident to an undiagnosed heart issue.

Netanyahu’s most recent public medical report, issued in January 2023, described him as in a “completely normal state of health,” with no signs of arrhythmia and the pacemaker functioning properly. The document, however, was not an official government health report but rather a summary compiled by his personal medical team.

Netanyahu’s most recent public medical report, issued in January 2023, described him as in a “completely normal state of health,” with no signs of arrhythmia and the pacemaker functioning properly. The document, however, was not an official government health report but rather a summary compiled by his personal medical team.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/netanyahu-suffers-dehydration-after-eating-spoiled-food-recovering-at-home-8914034

Morgan Birch was puzzled when her four-month-old daughter, Kimie, suddenly fell ill with a fever and rash.

At first, the Alberta mother assumed it was a common side effect of immunisations – or perhaps a case of chicken pox. Ms Birch then consulted her 78-year-old grandmother, who recognised Kimie’s illness immediately.

“That’s measles,” her grandmother said. Ms Birch was stunned, as she thought the disease had been eradicated.

A lab test later confirmed her grandmother’s hypothesis: Kimie had measles, likely contracted after a routine visit to the hospital in the Edmonton area a few weeks earlier.

Kimie is one of more than 3,800 in Canada who have been infected with measles in 2025, most of them children and infants. That figure is nearly three times higher than the number of confirmed US cases, despite Canada’s far smaller population.

Now Canada is the only western country listed among the top 10 with measles outbreaks, according to CDC data, ranking at number eight. Alberta, the province at the epicentre of the current outbreak, has the highest per capita measles spread rate in North America.

The data raises questions on why the virus is spreading more rapidly in Canada than in the US, and whether Canadian health authorities are doing enough to contain it.

In the US, the rise of measles has been partly linked to vaccine-hesitant public figures, like Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr – although he has since endorsed the measles vaccine as safe.

But Canada does not have a prominent RFK Jr-like figure in public health, noted Maxwell Smith, a postdoctoral fellow in public health at Western University in southern Ontario.

“There are other things that need to be interrogated here I think,” Dr Smith said. “Looking at the Canadian context adds another layer of complexity to this.”

Measles overall is on the rise in North America, Europe and the UK. Cases in the US reached a 33-year high this year, while England reported nearly 3,000 confirmed infections in 2024, its highest count since 2012.

Canada’s 2025 figures have surpassed both. The country has not seen this many measles cases since the illness was declared eliminated in 1998. Before this year, the last peak was in 2011, when about 750 cases were reported.

The MMR vaccine is the most effective way to fight off measles, a highly contagious and dangerous virus, which can lead to pneumonia, brain swelling and death. The jabs are 97% effective and also immunise against mumps and rubella.

How measles spread in Canada
The hardest-hit provinces have been Ontario and Alberta, followed by Manitoba.

In Ontario, health authorities say the outbreak began in late 2024, when an individual contracted measles at a large Mennonite gathering in New Brunswick and then returned home.

Mennonites are a Christian group with roots in 16th-Century Germany and Holland, who have since settled in other parts of the world, including Canada, Mexico and the US.

Some live modern lifestyles, while conservative groups lead simpler lives, limiting the use of technology and relying on modern medicine only when necessary.

In Ontario, the illness primarily spread among Low German-speaking Mennonite communities in the province’s southwest, where vaccination rates have historically been lower due to some members’ religious or cultural beliefs against immunisation.

Almost all those infected were unvaccinated, according to data from Public Health Ontario.

Catalina Friesen, a healthcare worker at a mobile clinic serving the Mennonite population near Aylmer, Ontario, said she first became aware of the outbreak in February, when a woman and her five-year-old child came in with what appeared to be an ear infection. It later turned out to be a symptom of measles.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen measles within our community,” Ms Friesen told the BBC.

Cases spread rapidly from that point, reaching a peak of more than 200 a week across Ontario by late April.

While new confirmed cases have since dropped sharply in Ontario, Alberta has emerged as the next hotspot. There, the spread happened so quickly that health officials were unable to pinpoint exactly how or where the outbreak began, said Dr Vivien Suttorp, the medical officer of health in southern Alberta, where cases are the highest.

She, too, said she had not seen an outbreak this bad in her 18 years working in public health.

Ms Friesen noted that Canada has a higher concentration of conservative Low German-speaking Mennonites than the US, which may be a factor behind the higher number of cases.

But Mennonites are not a monolith, she said, and many have embraced vaccinations. What’s changed is the rapid spread of anti-vaccine misinformation both in her community and beyond after the Covid-19 pandemic.

“There’s hearsay that immunisations are bad for you,” Ms Friesen said, or are “dangerous”.

This is amplified by a general distrust in the healthcare system, which she said has historically ostracised members of her community.

“We are sometimes put down or looked down upon because of our background,” she said, adding that she herself has experienced discrimination in hospitals based on assumptions about her beliefs.

Vaccine hesitancy on the rise
Experts say it’s tough to pinpoint why measles have spread wider in Canada than in the US, but many agree that cases in both countries are likely underreported.

“The numbers that we have in Alberta are just the tip of the iceberg,” said Dr Suttorp.

But there is one big reason driving the outbreak: low vaccination rates, said Janna Shapiro, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Vaccine Preventable Diseases.

Dr Shapiro said there is “an element of chance” at play, where a virus is introduced to a community by accident and spreads among those who are unprotected.

“The only thing that is going to stop an outbreak is getting those vaccination rates up,” she said. “If the public is not willing to get vaccinated, then it will continue until the virus can’t find anymore receptible hosts.”

In general, studies show that vaccine hesitancy has risen in Canada since the pandemic, and the data reflects that. In southern Alberta, for example, the number of MMR vaccines administered has dropped by nearly half from 2019 to 2024, according to provincial figures.

Covid-19 vaccine mandates were fiercely opposed by some during the pandemic, prompting the so-called “Freedom Convoy” protest in Ottawa where truckers gridlocked the city for two weeks in 2021.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g8d39gdr0o

The Israeli military has killed at least 67 people waiting for UN aid lorries in northern Gaza, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry says.

The UN World Food Programme said its 25-truck convoy “encountered massive crowds of hungry civilians which came under gunfire”, soon after it crossed from Israel and cleared checkpoints.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that it had “fired warning shots” to remove “an immediate threat”. It disputed the number of reported deaths.

On Saturday the ministry warned that extreme hunger was increasing in Gaza and growing numbers of people were arriving at its facilities “in a state of extreme exhaustion and fatigue”.

“We warn that hundreds of people whose bodies have wasted away are at risk of imminent death due to hunger,” it said. The UN has also said civilians in Gaza are starving and called for an urgent influx of essential goods.

On Sunday the ministry said it had recorded 18 deaths “due to famine” over the past 24 hours.

Many of the casualties from northern Gaza were taken to Shifa hospital in Gaza City. The medical director there, Dr Hassan al-Shaer, told BBC Arabic on Sunday the facility had been “overwhelmed”.

Outside the hospital one woman told BBC Arabic that “the whole population is dying”.

“Children are dying of hunger because they have nothing to eat. People are surviving on water and salt… just water and salt,” she said.

In an updated death toll, Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli fire had killed a total of 93 people and wounded dozens more across Gaza on Sunday. Eighty people were killed in northern Gaza, it said, while nine people were shot dead near an aid point in Rafah and four more near an aid point in Khan Younis, both in southern Gaza.

In Gaza City, Qasem Abu Khater told AFP he had attempted to get a bag of flour but instead found a desperate crowd and “deadly overcrowding and pushing”.

“The tanks were firing shells randomly at us and Israeli sniper soldiers were shooting as if they were hunting animals in a forest,” he said.

“Dozens of people were martyred right before my eyes and no one could save anyone.”

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) condemned violence against civilians seeking aid as “completely unacceptable”.

In a statement posted on X, the WFP said “malnutrition is surging with 90,000 women and children in urgent need of treatment”. “Nearly one person in three is not eating for days,” it said.

There have been almost daily reports of Palestinians being killed while seeking food since late May. On Saturday at least 32 people were killed by Israeli gunfire near two aid distribution points in southern Gaza, according to the ministry.

Many of the incidents have taken place near sites run by the controversial US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which uses private security contractors to distribute aid from sites in Israeli military zones, but some have taken place near aid brought in by the UN.

Meanwhile the Israeli military has issued evacuation orders for a crowded part of central Gaza where it has not launched a ground offensive during its 21 months of war against Hamas.

The IDF said on Sunday that residents and displaced Palestinians sheltering in the city of Deir al-Balah should evacuate immediately and move towards al-Mawasi on the Mediterranean coast.

The evacuation demand, which could signal an imminent attack, has caused widespread panic among tens of thousands of Palestinians, as well as the families of Israeli hostages who fear their relatives are being held in the city.

The IDF has conducted air strikes in the area, but it has not yet deployed ground troops.

On Sunday, the Israeli military dropped leaflets from the sky ordering people in several districts in southwest Deir al-Balah to leave their homes and head further south.

“The (Israeli) Defense Forces continues to operate with great force to destroy the enemy’s capabilities and terrorist infrastructure in the area,” the military said, adding that it had not yet entered these districts during the war.

The affected neighbourhoods of Deir al-Balah are crowded with displaced people living in tents.

Israeli sources told Reuters news agency that the reason the army has stayed out of these districts so far is because they suspect Hamas might be holding hostages there.

At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in captivity in Gaza are believed to still be alive.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8rp62480r3o

A fast-thinking commercial pilot executed an “aggressive” evasive maneuver to avoid a midair collision with a US Air Force B-52 bomber over North Dakota.

The Embraer E175 jet — en route from Minneapolis-Saint Paul to Minot International Airport in North Dakota — came perilously close to colliding with a B-52 Stratofortress from Minot Air Force Base during the 90-minute flight Saturday night.

The SkyWest Airlines pilot performed an “aggressive maneuver” to avoid the incoming bomber, which crew members as well as passengers on the right side of the jet could see from their windows, Aviation A2Z reported.

Passengers on the plane said the atmosphere on board was “weirdly calm” as the commercial jet made an unexpected series of sharp turns.

“We took a really hard turn, and that’s when the pilot got on the intercom and said, ‘sorry everybody, I’ll explain everything when we land safely,’” she said.

“The way he said it, it almost sounded like he was insinuating that landing safely might not be an option for a moment. We all just kind of looked at each other and stayed quiet.”

Green praised the pilot for providing a highly detailed account of everything that had happened, and said she could tell by his voice he was shaken.

“He was very casual, if you can be casual about something like that, but you could tell he was stressed. He was almost shaking, trying to find the right words, but he was nice and detailed. It felt good that they weren’t just going to brush it off,” Green said.

The pilot told passengers over the plane’s public address system that he received instructions from air traffic controllers to change direction due to inadequate separation from a preceding aircraft on the approach path.

He explained that he had no prior warning of military air traffic — which he said was highly irregular due to Minot Air Force Base having radar capabilities — and quickly determined the safest course of action was to turn the plane behind the bomber, the outlet writes.

After the plane landed safely, relieved passengers thanked the pilot for his transparency during the frightening near-miss.

Minot Air Force Base houses the 5th Bomb Wing and 91st Missile Wing, as well as a large number of US Air Force equipment and vehicles, including 26 B-52 bombers.

Source: https://nypost.com/2025/07/20/us-news/delta-pilots-aggressive-maneuver-evades-b-52-bomber-prevents-mid-air-collision-in-harrowing-flight-nightmare/

Russia is open to peace with Ukraine, but achieving its goals remains a priority, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Sunday, days after U.S. President Donald Trump gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire or face tougher sanctions.

Peskov and other Russian officials have repeatedly rejected accusations from Kyiv and its Western partners of stalling peace talks. Meanwhile, Moscow continues to intensify its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, launching more drones in a single night than it did during some entire months in 2024, and analysts say the barrages are likely to escalate.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “has repeatedly spoken of his desire to bring the Ukrainian settlement to a peaceful conclusion as soon as possible. This is a long process, it requires effort, and it is not easy,” Peskov told state television in an interview.

“The main thing for us is to achieve our goals,” he said. “Our goals are clear.”

The Kremlin has insisted that any peace deal should see Ukraine withdraw from the four regions that Russia illegally annexed in September 2022, but never fully captured. It also wants Ukraine to renounce its bid to join NATO and accept strict limits on its armed forces — demands Kyiv and its Western allies have rejected.

In his nightly address on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his officials have proposed a new round of peace talks this week. Russian state media on Sunday reported that no date has yet been set for the negotiations, but said that Istanbul would likely remain the host city.

Truce or sanctions
Trump threatened Russia on July 14 with steep tariffs and announced a rejuvenated pipeline for American weapons to reach Ukraine, hardening his stance toward Moscow after months of frustration following unsuccessful negotiations aimed at ending the war. The direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Istanbul resulted in several rounds of prisoner exchanges but little else.

The U.S. president said that he would implement “severe tariffs” unless a peace deal is reached within 50 days. He provided few details on how they would be implemented, but suggested they would target Russia’s trading partners in an effort to isolate Moscow in the global economy.

In addition, Trump said that European allies would buy “billions and billions” of dollars of U.S. military equipment to be transferred to Ukraine, replenishing the besieged country’s supplies of weapons. Included in the plan are Patriot air defense systems, a top priority for Ukraine as it fends off Russian drones and missiles.

Doubts were recently raised about Trump’s commitment to supply Ukraine when the Pentagon paused shipments over concerns that U.S. stockpiles were running low.

Drone strikes
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s air force said that it shot down 18 of 57 Shahed-type and decoy drones launched by Russia overnight into Sunday, with seven more disappearing from radar.

Two women were wounded in Zaporizhzhia, a southern Ukrainian region partly occupied by Russia, when a drone struck their house, according to the regional military administration. Two more civilians were wounded in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv province, after a drone slammed into a residential building, local Ukrainian officials said.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kremlin-dmitry-peskov-a36f04fbf04b7ff702920f75fade3789

Some dolphins in Australia have a special technique to flush fish from the seafloor. They hunt with a sponge on their beak, like a clown nose.

Using the sponge to protect from sharp rocks, the dolphins swim with their beaks covered, shoveling through rubble at the bottom of sandy channels and stirring up barred sandperch for a meal.

But this behavior — passed down through generations — is trickier than it looks, according to new research published Tuesday in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

Hunting with a sponge on their face interferes with bottlenose dolphins’ finely tuned sense of echolocation, of emitting sounds and listening for echoes to navigate.

“It has a muffling effect in the way that a mask might,” said co-author Ellen Rose Jacobs, a marine biologist at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. “Everything looks a little bit weird, but you can still learn how to compensate.”

Jacobs used an underwater microphone to confirm that the “sponging” dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, were still using echolocation clicks to guide them. Then she modeled the extent of the sound wave distortion from the sponges.

For those wild dolphins that have mastered foraging with nose sponges, scientists say it’s a very efficient way to catch fish. The wild marine sponges vary from the size of a softball to a cantaloupe.

Sponge hunting is “like hunting when you’re blindfolded — you’ve got to be very good, very well-trained to pull it off,” said Mauricio Cantor, a marine biologist at Oregon State University, who was not involved in the study.

That difficulty may explain why it’s rare — with only about 5% of the dolphin population studied by the researchers in Shark Bay doing it. That’s about 30 dolphins total, said Jacobs.

“It takes them many years to learn this special hunting skill — not everybody sticks with it,” said marine ecologist Boris Worm at Dalhousie University in Canada, who was not involved in the study.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/dolphins-australia-sponge-noses-9ba412c3d0184ee84a66ec8b5a5b5319

A DRIVER intentionally drove into a crowd of club-goers in Los Angeles, police said.

Fernando Ramirez, 29, had been kicked out of The Vermont Hollywood nightclub in the early hours of Saturday for causing a disturbance.

But he returned moments later and allegedly drove into the crowd deliberately and injuring at least 30 people, according to cops.

Ramirez was dragged from the car, handcuffed by security, beaten by furious bystanders, and then shot in the back by a man who fled the scene, police said.

He was arrested on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, according to LAPD spokesperson Officer Rosario Cervantes.

The suspected gunman, who was seen fleeing westbound from Vermont Avenue, is still on the loose, the LA Times reported.

Police described him as a Latino male at 5 feet 9 inches tall, weighing 180 pounds, wearing a blue jersey, and potentially carrying a silver revolver.

Emergency services descended on Santa Monica Boulevard in East Hollywood after a car smashed into a queue of people waiting to go into a nightclub, with the suspected driver kicked out the club prior to the smash.

A total of 23 people were taken to a local hospital for medical treatment, cops said.

Paramedics found the driver of the car with a gunshot wound, according to LA police, who said they were actively searching for the gunman.

The driver was reportedly pulled from the car and attacked by the crowd in the moments after the collision.

LAPD Captain Ben Fernandes said the suspected driver was chucked out of the club for being disruptive before getting in his car and hitting bystanders in “an intentional act”.

He told the LA Times: “From review of the video, he went up to the sidewalk further down and when he hit bystanders it was an intentional act.

“He was pulled from the car, handcuffed by security and then beaten by bystanders before being shot in the back by an individual from across the street.”

A video circulating on social media appears to show the alleged driver – who is handcuffed – being beaten by survivors of the LA crash.

Cops had previously said the unidentified suspect was dragged from his car and suffered a gunshot wound.

Officials are yet to confirm whether he was shot by a member of the public or by authorities.

Captain Van Gerpen said the driver had “lost consciousness” – though it’s unclear how.

Shocking footage from the scene showed people lying in the road near a smashed-up grey car on the sidewalk outside The Vermont Hollywood.

Video shows wounded pedestrians receiving treatment from hero bystanders – while others stand back with their heads in their hands.

Debris was seen strewn across the street as paramedics raced to help the injured.

Dramatic images showed red sirens lighting up the sky – with a heavy presence of fire and police vehicles.

Bystanders were seen gathering at a nearby gas station during the chaos.

Police had reportedly received a 911 call about reports of shots fired during a fight involving 15 people.

LA Fire Department captain Adam Van Gerpen, one of 124 firefighters at the scene, said there were 31 people injured in the smash, 23 of which were taken to hospital.

He said: “They were all standing in line going into a nightclub. There was a taco cart out there, so they were… getting some food, waiting to go in.

“And there’s also a valet line there. The valet podium was taken out, the taco truck was taken out, and then a large number of people were impacted by the vehicle.”

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/14760892/injured-vehicle-ploughs-crowd-los-angeles/

Once known as “hippie sandals,” Birkenstocks are now fashionable, and with a matching near-designer pricetag of $150 and up.

For those looking for the style and comfort of the iconic double-buckled sandal, the Cushionaire Lane Sandal looks just like the pairs worn by Kendall Jenner, Zoe Saldana and Dakota Johnson — but they are on sale right now for a fraction of the price.

Stylish stars like Margot Robbie, Tracee Ellis Ross and Reese Witherspoon have worn the classic Birkenstocks, but with over 50,000 five-star reviews on Amazon, shoppers say the Cushionaire lookalike is just as comfortable.

Available in over 25 colors and fun animal prints (including a “Barbie” pink similar to the ones Robbie wore for the famous fashionista role), the Lane Sandal has a traction sole and cork footbed for maximum comfort.

Among the many glowing reviews, one thrilled shopper wrote, “These sandals are everything I wanted — super cute, comfy, and affordable without sacrificing quality. The material feels durable and well-made, and they look just as stylish as the real thing.”

A second fan echoed the sentiment, writing, “These have become my favorite sandals, and I have multiple colors. Great quality and price point!!”

Some colors — like this beautiful pale pink with white sole — are 40% off, making them under $30 on sale right now.

If you prefer a style that crisscrosses your big toe with a higher ankle strap, Cushionaire also makes the Luna sandal, which gets similar rave reviews from Amazon shoppers.

No matter which you choose, the footbed molds to your foot for a custom fit and has a soft lining for all-day comfort.

No one will know you got them for a steal, but this after-Prime Day deal won’t last forever.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/07/18/style/save-on-this-amazon-sandal-shoppers-chose-over-birkenstocks/

Hear her go uh-oh.

Katy Perry suffered a scare when she nearly fell off a flying prop at her concert Friday night.

The pop superstar, 40, was performing her hit “Roar” as she flew above the crowd in San Francisco on a giant butterfly machine, when the technical prop suddenly malfunctioned.

She told her audience at that moment, “Sing it now. Sing it!” and held out her mic before the butterfly suddenly dropped, making her slightly lose her balance.

The crowd could be heard in video of the mishap reacting in shock and fear, as screams grew louder.

Perry, meanwhile, also seemed to be terrified, as she had a panicked look on her face.

However, the “Dark Horse” singer quickly regained her composure and continued singing the song.

“You’re going to hear me roar,” she sang, while still holding on tightly to the butterfly prop.

Following the concert, Perry took to her Instagram Stories to troll herself over the incident.

She jokingly posted a picture of herself with her mouth wide open during the snafu and wrote over it, “Goodnight San Fran.”

Page Six has reached out Perry’s rep for comment on how she’s doing.

Meanwhile, a source tells us exclusively that the “E.T.” singer only suffered a minor bump but all is “good,” adding, “She paused slightly but then kept singing, almost never missing a beat.”

Perry’s technical malfunction comes just a few weeks after Beyoncé had her own scary incident.

In late June, the Grammy winner, 43, was performing in Houston for her “Cowboy Carter” tour, when an aerial red car she used during her “16 Carriages” performance leaned and then came to a halting stop.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/07/19/celebrity-news/katy-perry-nearly-falls-off-flying-prop-as-it-malfunctions-mid-concert/

A tropical storm that prompted flight and ferry cancellations in Taiwan is forecast to reach typhoon strength before hitting the southern China coast on Sunday (Jul 20).

The storm earlier crossed the Philippines, where a parked truck was crushed by a billboard-like structure toppled by high winds in Quezon City, north of Manila.

Wipha had maximum sustained winds of 101 kph and gusts up to 126 kph as it passed south of Taiwan on Saturday, the island’s Central News Agency said.

More than 20 centimetres of rain was recorded in Hualien and Taitung counties on Taiwan’s east coast, the news agency said. Several domestic flights were cancelled, and service on 14 ferry routes was suspended because of rough seas and strong winds.

On the other side of the Taiwan Strait, many ferries suspended service in Fujian province on China’s east coast.

The storm, the sixth of the season in the western Pacific, is forecast to reach typhoon strength before passing near Hong Kong overnight. It is expected to bring heavy rain along China’s southern coast and then weaken as it heads west to Vietnam and Laos.

In Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific said that all flights arriving or departing between 5 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Sunday would be cancelled or delayed. The airline is waiving ticket change fees, it said.

The Hong Kong Observatory has issued a warning of gale-force or stronger winds and potential flooding in low-lying coastal areas due to storm surges. A 30-kilometre bridge that crosses the water between Hong Kong and Macao will be closed overnight, Hong Kong broadcaster RTHK reported.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/tropical-storm-wipha-threatens-southern-china-after-battering-taiwan-and-philippines-5247301

Drinking is harmful to your health at any age. But as you get older, the risks become greater – even with the same amount of drinks.

Alcohol affects “virtually every organ system in the body,” including the muscles and blood vessels, digestive system, heart and brain, said Sara Jo Nixon, the director of the Center for Addiction Research & Education at the University of Florida. “It particularly impacts older adults, because there’s already some decline or impact in those areas.”

“There’s a whole different set” of health risk factors for older drinkers, said Paul Sacco, a professor of social work at the University of Maryland, Baltimore who studies substance use and aging. People might not realise that the drinks they used to tolerate well are now affecting their brains and bodies differently, he said.

Alcohol can present new problems in older age – particularly at 65 and up – for even light or occasional drinkers. Older adults tend to have less muscle mass and retain less water in their tissues compared with younger people, which can increase blood alcohol concentration, said Aaron White, a senior advisor at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. This means it takes fewer drinks for older people to feel intoxicated, and heightens the risk of severe injury from falls.

According to Dr Nixon’s research, older people also show deficits in working memory at lower blood alcohol concentrations than younger drinkers. In another study Dr Nixon worked on, some older adults in driving simulations showed signs of impairment after less than one drink.

Drinking alcohol can increase the risk of developing chronic conditions like dementia, diabetes, cancer, hypertension and heart disease. But it can also worsen outcomes for the majority of older adults already living with chronic disease, said Aryn Phillips, an assistant professor of health policy and administration at the University of Illinois Chicago who studies alcohol and ageing.

Drug interactions also come into play. Mixing alcohol with prescription medicines that older adults commonly take, such as those for treating diabetes or hypertension, can make the medications less effective or cause harmful side effects, like ulcers or an irregular heart beat. Benzodiazepines, when combined with alcohol, can slow breathing and act as a powerful sedative. Even over-the-counter medication can be dangerous. Aspirin, which some older people take to reduce cardiovascular disease risk (despite the potential side effects), can lead to severe gastrointestinal bleeding, which older people are already at higher risk for, said Michael Wheeler, a professor of nutrition science at East Carolina University who researches alcohol-induced liver disease.

Some older adults also contend that hangovers worsen with age. While there’s no strong scientific evidence supporting this, the hangovers may seem worse because alcohol can exacerbate other symptoms of aging, like poor sleep, Dr White said.

HOW TO REDUCE YOUR RISK

Experts said alcohol use among older adults appears to have risen in recent years, though national trends are difficult to track outside of self-reported surveys. A US federal survey from 2023 found that 12 percent of adults 65 and older – about seven million people – reported drinking at least four or five drinks in a sitting in the previous month.

After decades of mixed messaging around alcohol’s health harms and benefits, recent studies have made it clear that no amount of alcohol is good for you. Still, Dr Sacco acknowledged that “drinking has meaning for people,” and whether to moderate or quit altogether “is a call that you have to make in consultation with your doctor and your loved ones.”

But what is a “safe” amount of drinking for the older set? That’s difficult to say. The available studies attempting to establish exactly how much alcohol it takes to drive up health risks in older populations use different benchmarks for moderate drinking, making it tricky to draw a consensus. “Even as an expert in this field, I understand the confusion,” Dr Wheeler said.

Dr Nixon advised that adults 65 and older should consume no more than one drink per day and no more than seven per week. (The NIAAA does not establish guidelines around alcohol consumption, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines moderate drinking for adults of all ages as two drinks or less per day for men, and one drink or less per day for women.)

Source : https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/wellness/alcohol-older-age-risks-468086

Reports, including from soldiers, suggest that psychologically and physically unfit men are being drafted into the Ukrainian army, where they may endanger themselves and others. How is this happening?

Memory lapses, disorientation, confusion about numbers and colors: These are just some of the issues that Vasyl, a 28-year-old from central Ukraine, deals with on a daily basis. In fact, he’s been receiving psychiatric care for a personality disorder since 2015. But none of that prevented the man — whose real name is being withheld for privacy reasons — being drafted into the Ukrainian military.

According to his partner Olena, Vasyl never really acknowledges his problems and he may well have failed to do so during the physical examination he was given before joining the military. Vasyl was found to be fit for service and recently sent to southern Ukraine for basic training.

Olena tried to explain all this to Vasyl’s new commanding officer. After first being understanding, he dismissed the 2015 report from a psychiatric clinic that Olena brought him, saying that it was outdated.

“But how can that not be grounds for discharge, if his condition is incurable?” Olena asks.

DW has seen the report, which includes a list of Vasyl’s problems. When he’s stressed, the symptoms get worse, Olena notes. That would make him a danger not only to himself but others.

How can the mentally ill be drafted?

There’s a Ukrainian databank that military doctors refer to, in order to find out if potential recruits are sick in some way. It’s called Helsi and on its website in English, it describes itself as “the most popular medical information system for healthcare institutions and medical portal for patients in Ukraine.”

But Vasyl’s psychiatric diagnosis isn’t in that system, says Ukrainian lawyer Yevhen Tsekhmister, because details about psychological illness can only be saved in there if the patient gives permission.

If the diagnosis had been there, then according to the Ministry of Defense’s Order No. 402, it would make Vasyl unfit for service. Order No. 402 determines what the military medical examination should look for and how to assess a soldier’s fitness for duty.

Tsekhmister explains that military doctors only trust official documentation because many men fake psychological disorders in order to avoid being drafted.

“If legal counsel had been sought more quickly, and more up to date evidence had been provided, Vasyl would not have been drafted,” the lawyer said.

Thousands of complaints about draft

At the end of 2024, Ukrainian human rights activist Olha Reshetylova was appointed as a military ombudswoman by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, so that soldiers and soldiers’ families had a way to report violations of their rights.

Reshetylova recommends that individuals take responsibility for updating their own medical history in the Helsi system and with the military, acknowledging that recruits’ mental health can deteriorate during basic training. Senior officers don’t want sick individuals serving in their units anyway, which is why they will often provide treatment if needed, she told DW.

Since the beginning of this year, there have been more than 2,000 complaints about human rights violations committed during mobilization, Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament’s commissioner for human rights, reports. In 2024, there were 3,500 such complaints in total.

Although not all the complaints are justified, “we always react,” he said. “There are cases where my local representatives will go to the draft board themselves to help citizens assert their rights,” he told DW. “Thanks to our interventions, sick people have been discharged from the army.”

It’s true that sick people have been drafted, Lubinets conceded, although here are no concrete numbers as to exactly how manty.

“That can happen when staff ignore the medical documents or the condition of the person,” Lubinets says.

In general, he believes new recruits should be more carefully posted around the military.

“Not every health problem automatically makes you unfit,” he pointed out. “With back problems, you can’t join the stormtroopers but you can work on a computer.”

Soldiers with ‘no teeth, tuberculosis’

A Ukrainian brigade commander told DW about his experiences with the recently drafted. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

“I actually had the privilege of being able to choose my own men,” he reported. “But some came with no teeth or they had tuberculosis — even at the training center!”

Some of those men had already been offered to the brigades several times but nobody wanted them, not even to build trenches, he said.

Kyrylo, whodidn’t want to share his real name either, is another recent recruit who was drafted earlier this year. While at the draft board, he says he saw homeless people with swollen legs, drug addicts and alcoholics. The medical exam is often just a formality and in some places, it doesn’t even happen, he says. It’s not until you get to the training facility that a more thorough medical examination will be carried out.

Another soldier, Oleksandr — who also didn’t want to give his real name — says he even saw epileptics when he was drafted. This kind of recruitment actually led to a man with schizophrenia being assigned to a brigade of marines in 2024, after basic training, he recounts. Luckily the man’s condition quickly became clear.

“They didn’t give him any weapons and sent him away after a few days,” Oleksandr says.

Tsekhmister doesn’t think that sort of thing is all that uncommon.

“A soldier, 1.75 meters tall, weighing 38 kilograms, with poor vision, a developmental disability and a malformed chest, can neither walk nor breathe in a bulletproof vest,” the lawyer argues. “But he’s been in the army since 2022. He’s constantly transferred from one unit to another, or to hospitals, and he receives basic care.”

But since none of the various problems individually make him unfit for service, he can’t be discharged on health grounds.

The unit commanders can’t give these kinds of soldiers “real” jobs, nor can they let them go. The situation is particularly bad among ground troops and logistics services because they’ve become a kind of “dumping ground” for unhealthy individuals, Tsekhmister explains.

“They end up in brigades that are supposed to be building defense lines,” he notes. “But they’re useless there.”

A danger to themselves and others?

Ukraine’s Medical Forces Command, the service responsible for troops’ medical support, insists things are being done the right way.

“Military doctors’ assessments are based on diagnoses made by specialists,” Yuriy Podolyan, a colonel and the deputy commander of the Medical Forces, said in reply to DW’s enquiries. “An assessment based on the combination of several illnesses is not provided for.”

Podolyan also said that the Ministry of Defense’s Order No. 402 complies with local law and international standards.

Military ombudswoman Reshetylova sees it differently and believes that the lack of possibility for that kind of assessment means something has gone wrong and needs review. The Ministry of Defense is apparently already working on that.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/why-are-mentally-ill-soldiers-being-drafted-in-ukraine/a-73330497

Even a month after the US attacks on three major nuclear sites inside Iran, the effects of the airstrikes on June 22 remain unclear amid conflicting damage assessments.

The strikes were a part of what US President Donald Trump called “Operation Midnight Hammer” and targeted the nuclear facilities in the cities of Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan.

The operation involved 125 aircraft and specialty B-2 bombers carrying 30,000-pound bombs officially designated as Massive Ordinance Penetrators — and colloquially known as “bunker busters.”

Fordo heavily fortified

The strike in Fordo was the most significant. It is the country’s most heavily fortified nuclear facility buried deep inside a mountain to shield it from attacks.

It is unclear when Iran began building the plant in Fordo but its existence was revealed to the world in 2009. The facility was designed to house around 3,000 centrifuges, machines used to enrich uranium.

As part of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal — the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) — with global powers, Tehran agreed to convert the site into a research facility and halt uranium enrichment there for 15 years.

But after US President Donald Trump, during his first term, unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018, Iran resumed enrichment activity at Fordo.

Iran has been enriching uranium to 60% purity at the site, well beyond what is required for civilian nuclear power generation purposes. Tehran also announced plans to further expand enrichment capacity at the site.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA )also said it had found uranium particles at Fordo enriched to as high as 83.7% purity — significantly close to the 90% enrichment needed for weapons-grade uranium.

Targeting uranium enrichment facilities

Another target of the US operation was the nuclear facility in Natanz, Iran’s largest uranium enrichment hub, located around 140 miles (225 kilometers) south of Tehran.

Like the one in Fordo, Natanz is also a subterranean nuclear site that can hold around 50,000 centrifuges.

Both the Fordo and Natanz facilities had previously been targeted multiple times in a series of sophisticated attacks.

Iranian officials said these attacks — ranging from the 2010 Stuxnet cyberattack to incidents disabling the Fordo power grid and a remote-controlled explosion in Natanz four years ago — had already caused extensive destruction and severely damaged their enrichment capabilities.

The third nuclear site targeted by the US was the one in Isfahan, which was suspected of hosting near weapons-grade nuclear fuel.

In simple terms, this facility was converting natural uranium into uranium hexafluoride gas, which goes into centrifuges at Natanz and Fordo for uranium enrichment.

Russia provides fuel for Iran’s sole nuclear power plant

The sites at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan are uranium enrichment facilities, and experts estimate that Iran already has more than 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of highly enriched uranium.

Despite the damage US strikes caused to the three sites, the fate of this enriched uranium remains uncertain.

Iranian government sources mostly claim that the enriched uranium has been moved to “secure” locations.

However, several media outlets have quoted Israeli sources as saying that the uranium was distributed among the three sites and “was not relocated.”

A senior Israeli official, who did not want to be named, recently told the BBC that a portion of the enriched uranium was located deep within the Isfahan facility and that Iran could try to retrieve it.

The three targeted sites are believed not to have active nuclear reactors. However, Iran does have an operating nuclear power plant, in Bushehr, some 750 kilometer south of Tehran. The plant, which is monitored by the IAEA, is run by uranium supplied by Russia. Its spent fuel is also returned to Russia to prevent reprocessing into weapons-grade material.

The plant was not targeted in the US strikes.

Monitoring radiation levels in Iran

Following the US attacks, the IAEA said it didn’t notice any increase in radiation levels in the region.

As no active reactors were targeted, the potential risk of radiation is limited to leakage of the uranium hexafluoride gas from enriched uranium storage tanks, centrifuge cascades or pipelines.

If released, the gas would react with moisture in the air to form uranyl fluoride and hydrofluoric acid, the latter being a highly corrosive and dangerous acid.

Contact with this acid or inhalation of its vapors can destroy lung tissue, and cause severe and deadly respiratory problems, which could result in suffocation and death.

“There are indeed indications that uranium hexafluoride was released at the facility site. Both radiological hazards and elevated radiation levels, as well as chemical dangers, were mentioned. This can only refer to the release of hydrofluoric acid,” Clemens Walther, professor and nuclear expert at the Institute for Radioecology and Radiation Protection at the University of Hanover, told DW.

“However, it was clearly stated that the incident was confined to the site itself. No spread into residential areas has been reported.”

Roland Wolff, an expert in radiation protection, medical and radiation physics, said uranium, as a heavy metal, is chemically toxic.

“It can, for example, cause kidney damage. Incorporation increases the risk of cancer as well as the risk of genetic damage due to the short-range alpha radiation. Depending on the scenario, this presents a potential hazard for both workers and the general population,” he told DW.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/us-strikes-on-irans-nuclear-sites-heighten-safety-fears/a-73326007

THIS is the frightening moment a Boeing passenger plane catches fire after take off – as flames are seen spitting out of the engine.

The Delta Airlines flight’s engine appeared to be ablaze – moments before it was forced to divert back to Los Angeles following the horrifying ordeal.

In the shocking footage, the Boeing 767-400 jet can be seen turning slightly as its left engine erupts with a raging inferno.

The horrified onlooker recording the harrowing footage is heard commenting over the concerning scenes.

They say: “Oh, look at that. Whoa!

“Was that a compressor stall? What’s going on?”

The huge aircraft continues to fly on as the terrifying fireball rages on under the plane’s engine.

The fire broke out as the plane was ascending over the City of Angels.

It was on its way to Atlanta, Georgia, before it was forced to return to its takeoff point.

The pilots managed to circle back before landing safely back on the runway.

Later on in the footage, the plane is seen descending back onto the tarmac.

Its landing gear thankfully comes down before the jet lands and the engine appears to be free from anymore flames.

Emergency vehicles are then seen rushing towards the aircraft in order to provide assistance.

And the jet was finally seen being escorted off of the runway back to its bay.

A spokesperson for Delta Airlines told BBC: “Delta flight 446 returned to Los Angeles shortly after departure following an indication of an issue with the aircraft’s left engine.”

The chilling footage was captured by YouTube channel LA Flights which is run by Josh and Peter.

The horrifying footage emerged after another Delta Airlines flight was diverted when a passenger reportedly brought a dangerous item onboard that caused a fire.

Screams rang out, smoke clouded the seats, and flight attendants rushed to grab an extinguisher after the mid-air blaze broke out, one flyer on the plane revealed.

Delta confirmed that flight 1334, which was a Boeing 757 traveling from Atlanta, Georgia, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was diverted because of a battery fire on Monday.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14763558/plane-engine-fire-takeoff/

AT least 38 people have died after a packed tourist boat capsized on a sightseeing tour in Vietnam.

The Wonder Sea boat had 53 people – including five crew members – on board in Halong Bay when strong winds hit the area and flipped the vessel.

Rescue teams found 11 survivors and recovered 37 bodies – with five still missing, according to VN Express.

One person who was rescued died in hospital – bringing the death toll to 38.

Pictures from the scene show stormy skies as rescue boats surround the capsized vessel – with divers in the water scrambling to find survivors.

It’s understood at least three tourists were rescued by a passing boat.

And a 14-year-old boy was rescued four hours after being trapped in the overturned hull.

Bui Cong Hoan, deputy head of the Halong Cruise Ship Association, said: “Although the ship had overturned and the cabin doors were locked, there was still an air pocket about 50 to 60cm wide, enough for oxygen to get in, so the boy survived.”

The boat overturned near Dau Go Cave around 1.45pm local time – with around 20 children on board, reports say.

Most passengers were reportedly from Hanoi, travelling as families – with the oldest being 53 and the youngest just three.

Authorities have not yet confirmed their nationalities – and rescue operations are ongoing.

Rescuers have been battling stormy weather – with thunderstorms and downpours smashing the bay.

It came shortly after Storm Wipha hit the South China Sea, bringing strong winds, heavy rainfall, and lightning.

It’s the third typhoon to hit the South China Sea this year – and it was set to make landfall along Vietnam’s northern coast early next week.

Halong Bay, situated roughly 125 miles northeast of Hanoi, is dotted with nearly 2,000 islands.

It’s designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site – attracting tens of thousands of visitors every year.

Many companies offer overnight boat tours in the area.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14761636/tourist-boat-capsizes-vietnam/

The expert also touched on how Meghan Markle could feel about a reconciliation

PRINCE Harry fears he will be banished from the UK when William ascends the throne, a royal expert has claimed.

The Duke of Sussex is reportedly desperate to heal his fractured family relationships – primarily with his father King Charles.

This comes amid swirling speculation after senior aides to both Harry and the Monarch were snapped meeting in London last week.

Meredith Maines, Meghan and Harry’s chief of staff in California, and Liam Maguire, the head of their UK PR operation, recently met Charles’s communication secretary Tobyn Andreae at the Royal Over-Seas League which sits just three minutes from Clarence House.

It is unclear which side initiated the summit.

The secret peace summit sparked rumours a reconciliation is in the works, but Prince William’s team was notably absent.

It comes after the Duke revealed in his bombshell BBC interview “life is precious” and “I would like to get my father and brother back”.

Royal expert Tom Bower told the Mirror: “Whether they’ll meet again in Charles’s lifetime depends on how long Charles lives.

“I couldn’t say never because I’m sure Charles wants to meet his son, but so much depends on how Harry behaves.

“Harry is seriously worried that when his father dies one day, William will literally banish him and he will have no status in Britain at all…He will be persona non grata.”

The author, who wrote Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors, claimed the Duke is “desperate” to make amends with his father.

Although Mr Bower suspected the Palace could be reluctant to build bridges with the dad-of-two, due to a lack of trust.

The expert also thought it would be unlikely for Harry to meet with Charles when he visits the UK in September for the annual WellChild event.

In September the King should still be on holiday at his Balmoral retreat, ahead of hosting US President Donald Trump in the middle of the month.

And, even if the father and son do get back on regular speaking terms, there’s a lot of damage to unpack.

Mr Bower highlighted Harry’s BBC interview in the wake of losing his security case appeal in May.

In the bombshell chat, the Duke dubbed his defeat a “good old fashioned establishment stitch-up” and pointed his finger at the Royal Household on swaying the decision.

The royal author claimed Harry “fears that once Charles dies he will get no help from William” when it comes to his security case.

Meanwhile, when it comes to Meghan Markle, Mr Bower suggested she would be indifferent to whether or not a reconciliation happened.

The Duchess posted about sending her As Ever wine as a birthday present to her “ladies near and far” on the same day Queen Camilla turned 78.

It is unclear who she is sending the wine to.

She posted the video on what would have been Wednesday in California, but early Thursday morning in the UK.

This comes after another royal expert told The Sun Prince William would never be able to forgive his brother.

But Mr Hugo Vickers said he believed there’s “hope” for Harry and King Charles.

“I don’t think it’s all gone too far,” he said.

“It’s always good to talk. Lots can come out of talking, and you know it could perhaps lead to something.

“We don’t know what they talked about or what their plans were. But that’s a good sign.”

Despite hopes of a reunion between the King and his son Mr Vickers warns a cheery reunion with Will is a far less likely possibility.

He said: “So as for William. It’s much more difficult because the barbs were sent in his direction from Prince Harry, but very much directed towards Catherine.

“That is very insulting, and I think William is likely to be more of an unforgiving person than his father.”

Mr Vickers added: “I think at the moment, if I was advising Prince Harry, I would say, get onto good terms with your father as soon as possible, and then that’s step one and step two, try to get on good terms with your brother.”

Harry is reportedly set to invite his brother and father to the next Invictus Games.

If the Monarch and his eldest son were to attend it could mark the biggest step towards reconciliation so far.

In the meantime, the Duke has been following in his mother Princess Diana’s footsteps in Angola this week.

He was pictured walking among landmines with with charity Halo Trust 28 years after his mother did the same.

Harry’s solo adventure saw him land at Luanda airport and there proceed to take a series of small two-person planes to the site of the mines.

The Duke of Sussex hopes the publicity from the daring stunt will encourage the Angolan government to make more donations to Halo – of with he became patron in 2019.

FAMILY FEUD

With rumours swirling around the possibility of a reconciliation, Harry previously said in his BBC interview that he had “forgiven” his family.

The Duke also claimed reconciliation was now down to Charles.

The feud between the Duke and his family started when he and Meghan Markle announced on January 8, 2020, that they would be stepping down as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family.

Since then it was revealed that Harry has limited contact with his father the King along with a slew of other revelations about the family feud.

There was hope for reconciliation last year when Harry travelled to the UK to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of his Invictus Games.

However, the King and Harry failed to meet due to the Monarch’s “full programme”.

The Duke was offered to spend his time at one of the royal apartments – however he turned it down in what was branded a snub to his father.

Meanwhile, Princes William and Harry have not been in direct communication since the release of Harry’s controversial memoir, Spare, in January 2023.

Their last reported interaction was during the funeral of their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September 2022, but conversations were said to be brief.

The feuding brothers reportedly did not speak to each other despite standing “virtually back to back” among mourners at their uncle’s memorial service last year.

The brothers have been at loggerheads since Harry and wife Meghan quit royal duty in 2020 for a new life in the US, where they have launched a succession of barbs at the Royal Family.

Growing up, Wills and Harry shared many of the same friends who were part of their close, tight-knit circle.

But their relationship took a sour turn after Harry lobbed vile allegations against the Prince of Wales in his memoir Spare.

In the book, he claimed William had physically attacked him and knocked him to the floor in 2019 and made insulting comments about Meghan.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/royals/14762094/prince-harry-fears-banished-uk-william-king/

AT least 30 people have been injured after a car ploughed into a crowd in Los Angeles, with survivors beating up the suspect after the crash.

Emergency services descended on Santa Monica Boulevard in East Hollywood after a car smashed into a queue of people waiting to go into a nightclub, with the suspected driver kicked out the club prior to the smash.

A total of 23 people were taken to a local hospital for medical treatment, cops said.

Paramedics found the driver of the car with a gunshot wound, according to LA police, who said they were actively searching for the gunman.

The driver was reportedly pulled from the car and attacked by the crowd in the moments after the collision.

LAPD Captain Ben Fernandes said the suspected driver was chucked out of the club for being disruptive before getting in his car and hitting bystanders in “an intentional act”.

He told the LA Times: “From review of the video, he went up to the sidewalk further down and when he hit bystanders it was an intentional act.

“He was pulled from the car, handcuffed by security and then beaten by bystanders before being shot in the back by an individual from across the street.”

A video circulating on social media appears to show the alleged driver – who is handcuffed – being beaten by survivors of the LA crash.

Cops had previously said the unidentified suspect was dragged from his car and suffered a gunshot wound.

Officials are yet to confirm whether he was shot by a member of the public or by authorities.

Captain Van Gerpen said the driver had “lost consciousness” – though it’s unclear how.

Shocking footage from the scene showed people lying in the road near a smashed-up grey car on the sidewalk outside The Vermont Hollywood.

Video shows wounded pedestrians receiving treatment from hero bystanders – while others stand back with their heads in their hands.

Debris was seen strewn across the street as paramedics raced to help the injured.

Dramatic images showed red sirens lighting up the sky – with a heavy presence of fire and police vehicles.

Bystanders were seen gathering at a nearby gas station during the chaos.

Police had reportedly received a 911 call about reports of shots fired during a fight involving 15 people.

LA Fire Department captain Adam Van Gerpen, one of 124 firefighters at the scene, said there were 31 people injured in the smash, 23 of which were taken to hospital.

He said: “They were all standing in line going into a nightclub. There was a taco cart out there, so they were… getting some food, waiting to go in.

“And there’s also a valet line there. The valet podium was taken out, the taco truck was taken out, and then a large number of people were impacted by the vehicle.”

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14760892/injured-vehicle-ploughs-crowd-los-angeles/

Sectarian clashes have continued in southern Syria despite an “immediate ceasefire” announced by the country’s president.

Reports say that Druze fighters on Saturday pushed out Bedouin gunmen from the city of Suweida – but fighting continued in other parts of the province. This has not been verified by the BBC.

Government forces deployed earlier this week by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa were blamed for joining in attacks on the Druze. More than 900 people are reported to have been killed in the past week. All sides are accused of atrocities.

The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, demanded an end to “the rape and slaughter of innocent people” in Syria, in a post on X on Saturday.

Rubio wrote: “If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria free of ISIS [Islamic State] and of Iranian control they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent ISIS and any other violent jihadists from entering the area and carrying out massacres.

“And they must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks,” the top US diplomat added.

On Saturday evening, the Syrian interior ministry said clashes in Suweida had been halted after the intervention of its forces in the city.

Reuters news agency reported that fighting persisted in other parts of Suweida province.

Earlier this week, Israel declared support for the Druze and intervened, hitting government forces and the defence ministry in the capital Damascus.

Sharaa announced a ceasefire on Saturday as Syrian security forces were deployed to Suweida to end the clashes. The deal included a halt to Israeli military strikes and was approved by Israel as part of a US-brokered pact, as long as the Druze citizens were protected.

Government troops have been setting up checkpoints to try to prevent more people joining the fighting. But gunfire was reported inside Suweida earlier on Saturday.

A correspondent for AFP news agency said they had seen armed men looting shops and setting fire to them.

Also on Saturday, Israel’s foreign minister cast doubt on the renewed pledge by the president to protect minorities and all Syrians.

Suweida’s Druze community follows a secretive, unique faith derived from Shia Islam, and distrusts the current government in Damascus. They are a minority in Syria, as well as in neighbouring Israel and Lebanon.

In a social media post, Gideon Saar said it was “very dangerous” to be part of a minority in Syria, and “this has been proven time and again over the past six months”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to prevent harm to the Druze in Syria because of their ties to those living in Israel.

Long-running tensions between Druze and Bedouin tribes in Suweida erupted into deadly sectarian clashes last Sunday, following the abduction of a Druze merchant on the highway to Damascus.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR), 940 people have been killed since then.

The ceasefire between Israel and Syria on Friday was announced by US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack on Friday.

“We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity in peace and prosperity with its neighbours,” he said.

The BBC’s Middle East correspondent Lina Sinjab, reporting from Syria, said violence towards the Druze has been spreading across the country.

Earlier this week, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said his office had received credible reports indicating widespread violations and abuses during clashes, including summary executions and arbitrary killings in Suweida.

Among the alleged perpetrators were members of the security forces and individuals affiliated with the interim government, as well as local Druze and Bedouin armed elements, Türk said in a statement.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0m87d4p9gvo

Finn picks up a small, white, teabag-like pouch from a round, brightly coloured tin and places it between his upper lip and gum.

He and his mates use nicotine pouches – or snus – until they vomit, he tells me.

The strength of the nicotine – at 150mg a pouch – is enough, he says, to “immobilise” them, especially when they use two or three in one go.

“It’s the burn at first,” the 17-year-old explains. “You feel this burning sensation against your gums, and then you get the hit.”

The hit, he says, is far stronger than any cigarette, and often he and his friends will lie down before they put the pouch in place, hidden under their lips.

Finn tells me how easy they are to use; they are so inconspicuous he even uses them at school.

“I’ve sat in class before and had one in my mouth that was so strong I was all over the place,” he says. “I was sweating, salivating and struggling to concentrate.”

In the end, he says, his teacher noticed he looked “bright green” and he made his excuses and bolted out of his maths lesson.

Finn, who only wants us to use his first name, is not boasting. In fact, he says, he regrets ever having started using pouches. He now sees himself as an addict and wants to warn others.

“I just got bored of vaping, and now I’m stuck on these.”

A growing number of young people are using nicotine pouches – some swapping from vaping or smoking, others trying nicotine for the first time.

Figures seen by BBC News suggest there has been nearly a four-fold rise in use by 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK – from less than than 1% in 2022, to 3.6% in 2024.

The pouches are widely sold online, in supermarkets and in corner shops. Priced at around £5 for a pack of 20, they come in exotic flavours with varying nicotine strengths – from 1.5mg to claims of 150mg for a more “extreme” experience.

Anyone can buy them. There is no minimum age as with cigarettes, vapes and alcohol. Nor is there any restriction on the strength of the nicotine in the pouches.

“I’ve heard of children as young as 11 or 12 nipping to shops and buying them,” warns Kate Pike, Trading Standards’ lead officer for tobacco and vaping.

She says her organisation is receiving an increasing number of reports from parents and teachers that nicotine pouches are being sold to children.

“It is incredibly frustrating that there is nothing we can currently do to prevent them.”

Andy Byron resigns as CEO of AI firm Astronomer after a viral ‘kiss cam’ video with HR chief Kristin Cabot sparked online speculation and prompted an internal review by the company.

Andy Byron has stepped down as CEO of AI company Astronomer, days after a video of him and Chief People Officer Kristin Cabot appearing on a ‘kiss cam’ at a Coldplay concert near Boston went viral.

The footage, captured at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, showed the two embracing before awkwardly slipping out of frame. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, reacting in real time, joked: “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.” The moment quickly caught fire online, fuelling speculation – including rumours of an extramarital affair.

In response to the online storm, Astronomer placed Byron on leave. The company later clarified that the woman in the video was not Vice President of Human Resources Alyssa Stoddard, countering false claims. It also said Byron had not made any public comment, dismissing widely shared reports as “incorrect”.

In response to the online storm, Astronomer placed Byron on leave. The company later clarified that the woman in the video was not Vice President of Human Resources Alyssa Stoddard, countering false claims. It also said Byron had not made any public comment, dismissing widely shared reports as “incorrect”.

ANDY BYRON-KRISTIN CABOT SCANDAL

U.S. President Donald Trump sued the Wall Street Journal and its owners including Rupert Murdoch for at least $10 billion on Friday, over the newspaper’s report that his name was on a 2003 birthday greeting for Jeffrey Epstein that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to secrets they shared.
The lawsuit filed in Miami federal court names Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp (NWSA.O), and its Chief Executive Robert Thomson, and two Wall Street Journal reporters as defendants, saying they defamed Trump and caused him to suffer “overwhelming” financial and reputational harm.

Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex offender, died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019.
His case has generated conspiracy theories that became popular among Trump’s base of supporters who believed the government was covering up Epstein’s ties to the rich and powerful.
Trump has said he parted ways with Epstein before the financier’s legal troubles became public in 2006.
The president has vehemently denied the Journal report, which Reuters has not verified, and had warned Murdoch that he planned to sue. Dow Jones, the parent of the newspaper, is a division of News Corp.
“We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“I hope Rupert and his ‘friends’ are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case,” Trump added.
A spokesperson for Dow Jones said in a statement: “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
The lawsuit called Trump’s alleged birthday greeting “fake,” and said the Journal published its article to harm Trump’s reputation.
“Tellingly, the Article does not explain whether Defendants have obtained a copy of the letter, have seen it, have had it described to them, or any other circumstances that would otherwise lend credibility to the Article,” the lawsuit said.
To prevail on his defamation claims, Trump must show the defendants acted with “actual malice,” meaning they knew the article was false or acted with reckless disregard for its truth.

A $10 billion award would far exceed the largest defamation judgments and settlements in recent history.
These include a $1.5 billion judgment against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and Fox News’ settlement with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million.
“Ten billion dollars is a ridiculously high number,” said Jesse Gessin, a lawyer with experience in defamation and First Amendment litigation. “It would be the largest defamation verdict in U.S. history.”

WHITE HOUSE ROILED

The Epstein affair has increasingly disquieted the White House, after the Justice Department this month concluded that there was no evidence to support long-held conspiracy theories about his clients and death.

Some of Trump’s most loyal followers became furious after his administration reversed course on its promise to release files on Epstein.
A Justice Department memo released on July 7 concluded that Epstein killed himself and said there was “no incriminating client list” or evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent people.
With pressure to release the Epstein files building, Trump on Thursday said he directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to ask a court to release grand jury testimony about Epstein.
The U.S. government on Friday filed a motion in Manhattan federal court to unseal grand jury transcripts in the cases of Epstein and former associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
She was convicted in 2021 of five federal charges related to her role in Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls. Maxwell is appealing her conviction and 20-year prison sentence to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Public officials, lawmakers, pundits, and ordinary citizens remain deeply interested and concerned about the Epstein matter,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the filing. “After all, Jeffrey Epstein is the most infamous pedophile in American history.”
Blanche said prosecutors would work to redact all victim-identifying information before making anything public.
The release of the grand jury documents may fall short of what many of Trump’s supporters have sought, including case files held by the administration, and a judge may reject the administration’s request to make the transcripts public.

BAWDY LETTER

The Journal said the letter bearing Trump’s name was part of a leather-bound birthday book for Epstein that included messages from other high-profile people.
It also said the letter contained several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appeared to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker.
The newspaper said the letter concluded “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret,” and featured the signature “Donald.”
Allegations that Epstein sexually abused girls became public in 2006, after the birthday book was allegedly produced, and he was arrested that year before accepting a plea deal.
Epstein died just over a month after he was arrested for a second time and charged with sex-trafficking conspiracy.
Trump was photographed with Epstein multiple times in social situations in the 1990s and early 2000s, and had been a neighbor of Epstein’s in Florida.
He was quoted in 2002 in New York magazine as saying, “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
In 2019, Trump told reporters that he and Epstein had a “falling out” before the financier was first arrested.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-sues-wall-street-journal-over-epstein-report-seeks-10-billion-2025-07-19/

U.S. President Donald Trump sued the Wall Street Journal and its owners including Rupert Murdoch for at least $10 billion on Friday, over the newspaper’s report that his name was on a 2003 birthday greeting for Jeffrey Epstein that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to secrets they shared.
The lawsuit filed in Miami federal court names Murdoch, Dow Jones, News Corp (NWSA.O), and its Chief Executive Robert Thomson, and two Wall Street Journal reporters as defendants, saying they defamed Trump and caused him to suffer “overwhelming” financial and reputational harm.

Epstein, the disgraced financier and sex offender, died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019.
His case has generated conspiracy theories that became popular among Trump’s base of supporters who believed the government was

covering up Epstein’s ties to the rich and powerful.
Trump has said he parted ways with Epstein before the financier’s legal troubles became public in 2006.
The president has vehemently denied the Journal report, which Reuters has not verified, and had warned Murdoch that he planned to sue. Dow Jones, the parent of the newspaper, is a division of News Corp.
“We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“I hope Rupert and his ‘friends’ are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case,” Trump added.
A spokesperson for Dow Jones said in a statement: “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”
The lawsuit called Trump’s alleged birthday greeting “fake,” and said the Journal published its article to harm Trump’s reputation.
“Tellingly, the Article does not explain whether Defendants have obtained a copy of the letter, have seen it, have had it described to them, or any other circumstances that would otherwise lend credibility to the Article,” the lawsuit said.
To prevail on his defamation claims, Trump must show the defendants acted with “actual malice,” meaning they knew the article was false or acted with reckless disregard for its truth.

A $10 billion award would far exceed the largest defamation judgments and settlements in recent history.
These include a $1.5 billion judgment against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and Fox News’ settlement with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million.
“Ten billion dollars is a ridiculously high number,” said Jesse Gessin, a lawyer with experience in defamation and First Amendment litigation. “It would be the largest defamation verdict in U.S. history.”

WHITE HOUSE ROILED

The Epstein affair has increasingly disquieted the White House, after the Justice Department this month concluded that there was no evidence to support long-held conspiracy theories about his clients and death.

Some of Trump’s most loyal followers became furious after his administration reversed course on its promise to release files on Epstein.
A Justice Department memo released on July 7 concluded that Epstein killed himself and said there was “no incriminating client list” or evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent people.
With pressure to release the Epstein files building, Trump on Thursday said he directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to ask a court to release grand jury testimony about Epstein.
The U.S. government on Friday filed a motion in Manhattan federal court to unseal grand jury transcripts in the cases of Epstein and former associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
She was convicted in 2021 of five federal charges related to her role in Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls. Maxwell is appealing her conviction and 20-year prison sentence to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Public officials, lawmakers, pundits, and ordinary citizens remain deeply interested and concerned about the Epstein matter,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the filing. “After all, Jeffrey Epstein is the most infamous pedophile in American history.”
Blanche said prosecutors would work to redact all victim-identifying information before making anything public.
The release of the grand jury documents may fall short of what many of Trump’s supporters have sought, including case files held by the administration, and a judge may reject the administration’s request to make the transcripts public.

BAWDY LETTER

The Journal said the letter bearing Trump’s name was part of a leather-bound birthday book for Epstein that included messages from other high-profile people.
It also said the letter contained several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appeared to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker.
The newspaper said the letter concluded “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret,” and featured the signature “Donald.”
Allegations that Epstein sexually abused girls became public in 2006, after the birthday book was allegedly produced, and he was arrested that year before accepting a plea deal.
Epstein died just over a month after he was arrested for a second time and charged with sex-trafficking conspiracy.
Trump was photographed with Epstein multiple times in social situations in the 1990s and early 2000s, and had been a neighbor of Epstein’s in Florida.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-sues-wall-street-journal-over-epstein-report-seeks-10-billion-2025-07-19/

Decontaminated but slightly radioactive soil from Fukushima was delivered Saturday to the Japanese prime minister’s office to be reused in an effort to showcase its safety.

This is the first soil to be used, aside from experiments, since the 2011 nuclear disaster when the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered a cataclysmic meltdown following an earthquake and tsunami that left large amounts of radioactive materials spewing out from the facility, polluting surrounding areas.

The government is desperate to set people’s minds at ease about recycling the 14 million cubic meters of decontaminated soil, enough to fill 11 baseball stadiums, collected after massive clean-ups and stored at a sprawling outdoor facility near the Fukushima plant. Officials have pledged to find final disposal sites outside of Fukushima by 2045.

The Environment Ministry said the 2 cubic meters, now at Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s office complex in Tokyo, will be used as foundation material in one section of the lawn garden, based on the ministry’s safety guidelines endorsed by the International Atomic Energy Agency. The soil does not include any from inside the plant.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/japan-fukushima-radioactive-soil-reuse-ishiba-2051abad89c15a5560a9ec06a7ce1282

The driver of an allegedly stolen car sped across the Manhattan Bridge and lost control, striking and killing two people before careening into an NYPD van Saturday morning, police said.

The grisly scene unfolded just before 7:30 a.m., when a blue Chevrolet Malibu plowed into a man in his 30s on a bicycle and a 63-year-old woman on a bench at Bowery and Canal Street, police said.

Both victims died at the scene while the driver — who had turned 23 Friday — and her female passenger, 22, tried to flee on foot and were taken into custody nearby, cops said.

The vehicle was “full of booze and drugs,” including pills, marijuana and a bottle of alcohol, police sources said.

The female victim was May Kwok, her brother Peter Kwok told The Post.

It’s been 293 days since appellate judges heard arguments in President Donald Trump’s appeal of a $454 million fraud ruling in a civil case brought by state Attorney General Tish James.

The average time for an appellate decision from such a point is 30 days.

Signed decisions can take longer, but almost never this long.

Why the 10-fold hold-up?

That’s not 100% clear but the most likely reason is the same one that led James to file the suit in the first place — and led the judge to impose such a ludicrous fine: raw, ugly politics.

Any judge on the panel can delay the release of a decision without having to give a reason.

Court observers suspect that Presiding Justice Dianne Renwick — appointed by Gov. Hochul and a political ally — may be sitting on the decision.

Why?

Keeping the judgment on hold gives Hochul leverage over Trump on matters from federal aid to congestion-pricing to wind farms.

“Pure extortion,” as one attorney familiar with the case has remarked.

Plus, both Hochul and James are facing an election next year.

A reversal on this major case would embarrass the attorney general and strip her of her biggest victory as she gears up.

It’s also notable that Justice David Friedman, whose relentless questioning of Associate Solicitor General Judith Vine went viral, may be the swing vote in a 3-2 decision to overturn the judgment.

Since he’s set to retire at year-end, Renwick may be stalling until he leaves, hoping his replacement will side against Trump.

That would be a “scandal of epic proportions,” one critic told The Post.

Frankly, this case never should have been brought in the first place.

Judge Arthur Engoron declared that Trump defrauded Deutsche Bank by overvaluing his properties while seeking a loan, but Trump repaid the loan in full, with interest — and no one complained.

And the “fraud” only came to light after Tish James, looking to make good on her campaign promise, dug through Trump Organization files and found something she thought she could turn into a case.

That’s third-world-style prosecutorial overreach.

It’s unlikely the Appellate Division is suppressing a verdict that affirms Engoron’s ruling.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/07/19/opinion/trump-deserves-a-decision-on-his-fraud-ruling-appeal-free-of-political-foot-dragging/

The satellite images were analysed and shared on X by geo-intelligence researcher and satellite imagery expert Damien Symon.

Nearly a couple of months after the government denied targeting Pakistan’s nuclear hub at Kirana Hills during Operation Sindoor, a new satellite image emerged showing the impact zone of India’s missile strike in the sensitive Sargodha district.

India targeted key Pakistani military installations on May 10, as part of Operation Sindoor, to avenge the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which claimed 26 lives.

The satellite images were analysed and shared on X by geo-intelligence researcher and satellite imagery expert Damien Symon.

“Imagery update from Google Earth of the Sargodha region, Pakistan, captured in June 2025, shows — 1. The impact location of India’s strike on Kirana Hills in May 2025; 2. Repaired runways at Sargodha airbase post-India’s strikes in May 2025,” he shared.

Further, another satellite image showed recently repaired runways at the Sargodha airbase, indicating it sustained damage during the Indian strikes in May.

The swift restoration work suggests the airbase is regarded as a high-priority strategic installation.

Kirana is a high-security zone linked to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program. It is believed to contain an underground facility for storing nuclear arms and has reportedly been used for nuclear research and testing, including subcritical tests carried out in the 1980s.

While independent experts continue to assess the newly surfaced evidence, there has been no official statement from Pakistan confirming or denying the development.

Following Operation Sindoor, the Indian Air Force also dismissed claims that it had targeted Kirana Hills.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/new-satellite-image-hints-at-indian-missile-strike-on-pakistans-kirana-hills-during-op-sindoor-9451353.html

The dam project, called the Yarlung Zangbo River Lower Reaches Hydropower Project, involves the construction of five cascade power stations

China has begun building a massive hydropower dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo River, known as the Brahmaputra once it enters India. The project, launched on Saturday in the Tibet region, has raised serious concerns for downstream countries, especially India and Bangladesh.

The ceremony was attended by Chinese Premier Li Qiang, along with officials from central agencies, state-owned enterprises, engineers, and local representatives, according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.

The dam project, called the Yarlung Zangbo River Lower Reaches Hydropower Project, involves the construction of five cascade power stations. It aims to straighten parts of the river’s natural bends and divert water through tunnels.

The total investment is around 1.2 trillion yuan (about $167.8 billion). China has stated that the electricity generated will be mainly used outside the region, while also meeting local needs in Tibet.

What It Means For India

However, this move has sparked alarm in India, which lies downstream. Indian officials fear the dam could affect water flow, agriculture, and ecological balance in the northeastern states. Any disruption in the Brahmaputra’s flow could harm millions who depend on the river for farming and daily life.

India has raised the issue with China several times. After China first announced the dam plans in late 2023, India asked for greater transparency and consultation.

On 27 March this year, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh told Parliament that India had urged China to respect the interests of downstream countries.

Talks were also held during Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s visit to Beijing in January. Both sides agreed to hold a meeting of the Expert Level Mechanism, a platform created in 2006 for discussing river-related issues. India also pushed for the resumption of hydrological data sharing from China, which is vital for managing river flows and preparing for floods.

Earlier this week, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing. He stressed the need to address long-standing issues, including water cooperation, to build stable ties based on mutual respect and sensitivity.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/china-starts-construction-of-mega-dam-on-brahmaputra-in-tibet-what-it-means-for-india-ws-l-9451045.html

THIS is the dramatic moment a brave security guard takes down a brazen anti-Israel protester at the Tour de France – in front of a crowd of shocked spectators.

The demonstrator was running down the main track protesting against Israel’s participation in the event – before the guard brutally tackled him down to the ground.

In the shocking footage, the unruly pro-Palestine protester is seen sprinting down the bicycle course with his hands in the air.

He is seen running mere metres away from several athletes speeding down the track at the same time as him.

But seconds later, the rebellious man is suddenly tackled, thrust against the wall and dramatically hauled over like a ragdoll.

Cheering spectators suddenly turn their attention to the wild altercation as the guard desperately attempts to fully restrain him.

The staff member seemingly throws his hands towards the rogue protester while trying to keep him on the ground to put an end to his disruptive behaviour.

He calls for help from other security staff before launching his walkie-talkie at the protester on the floor in the middle of the jam-packed crowd.

Startled biking fans then appear to stop the guard and push him back slightly.

The extraordinary scenes unfolded just 25 metres from the finish line at the race on Wednesday.

Jonas Abrahamsen from Norway narrowly beat out Switzerland’s Mauro Schmid in the 11th stage of the three-week race.

The brazen protester was wearing a shirt that read: “Israel out of the Tour.”

He also held a keffiyeh, a black-and-white checkered headdress and pro-Palestine symbol.

The stunt was directed at Israel’s Premier-Tech team, which is registered in Israel – despite not featuring any Israeli bikers at this year’s event.

Stage 11 of the Tour de France stretched 156.8 kilometers and took place in and around Toulouse in southern France.

The iconic event has 21 stages – with the race ending at the Champs-Élysées in Paris on July 27.

It comes after two people were arrested at a protest against an Israeli athlete at the World Indoor Bowling Championships.

Protesters gathered outside the event venue in Aberdeen after calling on World Bowls to exclude player Boaz Markus.

Footage showed police guarding the Aberdeen Indoor Bowling Club after dozens of activists with Palestine flags had gathered outside.

A clip shared by political groups also showed activists shouting political slogans inside the venue before they were escorted outside.

And in February, Celtic fans unfurled an anti-Zionist banner during the club’s Champions League clash against Bayern Munich.

The Premiership outfit travelled to Germany with a suspended ban hanging over their head due to previous supporter indiscretions.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/sport/14757395/pro-palestine-protester-tackled-tour-de-france/

KOURTNEY Kardashian has sparked speculation that she might be pregnant with her 5th child.

Fans of the business mogul and mother of four are convinced she’s pregnant with 5th child after catching her ‘bump’ in a bikini snap.

Kourtney, 46, has recently enjoyed a lavish Italy trip – and has shared many snaps from her vacation.

Taking to Instagram to share a photo dump, Kourtney penned: “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie,” alongside a selection of snaps.

Among the snaps, Kourtney could be seen sunbathing, having fun with her husband Travis Barker, and posing in a reflection while donning a bikini.

It was the bikini snap she took in a reflection that caused a huge amount of speculation.

“You can tell from the bikini reflection photo kourtney is pregnant again,” said one fan underneath her Instagram offering.

“She’s pregnant?” asked another.

“Pregnant again congratulations,” penned a third.

‘IS SHE PREGNANT AGAIN?’

Meanwhile, someone took to Reddit to spark a discussion among other fans who think the same.

“Is she pregnant again?” asked the original poster.

They added, “I remember a rumor not too long ago on this sub about her being pregnant and she just posted this, what do you guys think?”

One person responded, “IMO yes 98% sure. She’s been wearing really oversized clothes even during a heatwave in Italy. Baby 🪨y always covering her body.”

“Looks pregnant to me…” said another.

“It’s been looking that way for a min,” penned a third.

“That’s a lot like what my stomach looks like when I’m pregnant tbh but it’s hard to say for sure bc of the quality,” added a fourth.

But other fans thought she did not look like she might be expecting.

‘IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO TELL’

One person wrote, “To me, it looks like the abs/belly of a woman who’s given birth four times, but it’s impossible to tell with the distortion.

“Especially in your 40’s, those center muscles don’t come back as well from separation without surgery.”

While someone else added, “No she’s just over 40 and not playing the surgery game like her sisters. That there is a postpartum fupa.”

Kourtney has three children with ex-boyfriend Scott Disick.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/14754472/kourtney-kardashian-pregnant-rumors-bump-bikini-snap/

SHANNON Sharpe and the woman who accused him of sexual assault have settled their $50 million civil lawsuit.

Sharpe, who has since stepped away from his role on First Take, denied the accusation against him and slammed the suit as a “shakedown.”

The lawsuit, filed in April by a woman identified only as Jane Doe, accused Sharpe of manipulation, beating, and sexually assault.

Jane Doe alleged Sharpe, 57, raped her in late 2024 and again in early 2025 when she was just 20 years old.

The suit claimed that the two had dated for about two years before the alleged sexual assault.

Sharpe has maintained his innocence and asserted that the relationship was “100% consensual.”

SHOCKING U-TURN

On Friday, Tony Buzbee, Jane Doe’s attorney, announced on Instagram that his client and Sharpe acknowledged their “tumultuous relationship” and reached a mutual agreement.

“On April 20, 2025, The Buzbee Law Firm filed a complaint in Nevada making several allegations against Shannon Sharpe on behalf of our client,” Buzbee captioned his post on Friday.

“Both sides acknowledge a long-term consensual and tumultuous relationship.

“After protracted and respectful negotiations, I’m pleased to announce that we have reached a mutually agreed upon resolution.

“All matters have now been addressed satisfactorily, and the matter is closed. The lawsuit will thus be dismissed with prejudice.”

The terms of the settlement have not been made public.

Sharpe has not publicly addressed the settlement.

The U.S. Sun has reached out to Sharpe’s attorney for comment.

SHARPE’S OTHER ACCUSER RESPONDS TO SETTLEMENT

Michele Evans, Sharpe’s initial accuser who filed a lawsuit against him in New York in December 2023, told The U.S. Sun that the settlement means the First Take star will not be held accountable.

“He’s free from being held accountable, even if it wasn’t like he is going to jail, he was still being accountable by taking it to trial and possibly letting everybody see the video of that she has of him doing this,” Evans said of the agreement.

“It’s like you (referencing Jane Doe) have a video. How do you take back something that you have a video of, and you’ve told everybody you have a video of it.

“How do you take that back? I don’t know. That’s confusing.”

JANE DOE’S ALLEGATIONS

In her lawsuit, Jane Doe claimed that she met Sharpe at a gym in Los Angeles in January 2023, and from there he engaged in a relentless pursuit of her.

The woman said she began a “rocky” consensual relationship with Sharpe that lasted two years, according to court documents.

“Defendant Shannon Sharpe, a man who is accustomed to getting what he wants, completely fails to understand this basic concept,” the lawsuit, filed in Nevada, alleged.

Sharpe clapped back at the lawsuit as a “shakedown, orchestrated” by Buzbee.

“I’m going to be open, transparent, and defend myself because this isn’t right. This is all being orchestrated by Tony Buzbee,” Sharpe said in an Instagram Live video in April.

“Tony Buzbee targets Black men,” Sharpe said of the Houston-based attorney.

In response to the lawsuit, Lanny Davis, Sharpe’s attorney, disclosed to reporters that his client was willing to settle the case before Jane Doe filed her suit.

Sharpe was willing to settle for “tens of millions of dollars,” but an agreement was not reached, Davis said at the time.

Davis said he and Sharpe were optimistic they would strike a settlement, but “without any warning” the lawsuit was filed and the nature of the charges went public.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/sport/14758631/shannon-sharpe-rape-lawsuit-settled-first-take/

AT least three people have been killed in an explosion at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility.

Officials raced to the scene after explosives went off next to a vehicle just before 7:30 am on Friday.

Three sheriff’s deputies were killed in an accidental explosion at LASD’s Biscailuz Training Center in Monterey Park, which is about seven miles east of downtown Los Angeles, police said.

A bomb squad was moving some explosives onto a training base when the blast occurred, a source told the Los Angeles Times.

The compound houses the sheriff’s department’s bomb squad.

The FBI and the Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to the scene.

Aerial footage by NBC affiliate KTLA showed police cars at the facility with their windshields and windows shattered.

A backpack can be seen in the parking lot near a cluster of trucks.

Over the trucks, a tarp also appeared to be damaged.

Initially, the sheriff’s office only said that there was a “loud noise” before officials confirmed the explosion.

LASD later issued a statement calling the explosion a “critical workplace incident,” according to NBC News.

TRIBUTES POUR IN

Governor Gavin Newsom offered “full state assistance” to the sheriff’s department.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said she spoke to the US Attorney about the “horrific incident.”

“Our federal agents are at the scene and we are working to learn more,” Bondi wrote on X.

“Please pray for the families of the sheriff’s deputies killed.”

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger said in a statement, “I am heartbroken to hear of the terrible tragedy that has unfolded today at an L.A. County Sheriff’s Department facility.”

Barger said she’s monitoring the situation as officials learn more about what happened.

“My heart is heavy, and my thoughts are with the brave men and women of the Sheriff’s Department during this difficult time,” Barger said.

“We stand with them and their families as they navigate the hours and days ahead.”

Shortly after the tragedy, the official X account of the Los Angeles Police Department posted a picture of an LAPD badge with a black mourning band over it to honor the dead officers.

The killed deputies haven’t been publicly identified yet.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14756832/los-angeles-explosion-lasd-killed/

Left-wing Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, commonly known as Lula, condemned US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and criticism of the Brazilian judiciary in a televised address on Thursday.

Trump has threatened 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods starting from August 1.

The US president has said the tariffs would stay in place until legal charges were dropped against former conservative Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro is on trial over allegations that he was involved in a coup attempt after the 2022 presidential election, which he lost to Lula. Bolsonaro has denied the allegations.

Lula says Brazilian politicians who back Trump are ‘traitors’

Lula called the the tariff threat from Trump “unacceptable blackmail.” He also said “attempting to interfere in Brazilian justice is a grave attack on national sovereignty.”

Lula characterized Brazilian politicians who back Trump’s policies as “traitors to the homeland.”

“No foreigner is going to give order to this president,” Lula said, using the word “gringo” to refer to Trump. The word “gringo” is commonly used by Brazilians, it refers to foreigners and is not used in an offensive manner.

In an interview earlier Thursday with CNN, Lula denied that the proceedings against Bolsonaro are politically motivated. “The judiciary branch of power in Brazil is independent. The president of the Republic has no influence whatsoever,” he said.

Although Lula has criticized Trump, he has emphasized that he wants a “good relationship” with the US president.

Trump posts sympathy letter to Bolsonaro

Lula’s condemnation of Trump comes as the US president posted a sympathy letter aimed at Bolsonaro on his Truth Social account.

“I have seen the terrible treatment you are receiving at the hands of an unjust system turned against you,” Trump said in his letter to Bolsonaro. “I have strongly voiced my disapproval both publicly and through our tariff policy.”

Trump also alluded to the suspension of the conservative video platform Rumble in Brazil, saying that the Latin American nation is cracking down on free speech.

As Trump lashes out at the legal proceedings against Bolsonaro, The Washington Post newspaper reported that the Trump administration is considering sanctions against a key Brazilian Supreme Court judge.

Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes will be tasked with deciding whether Bolsonaro and codefendants will spend dozens of years in jail over the coup charges. The Washington Post reported that Bolsonaro’s son, Eduardo, is working with US officials to impose sanctions on Moraes.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/brazils-lula-says-trump-tariffs-unacceptable-blackmail/a-73318638

Donald Trump has filed a $10bn (£7.5bn) lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal’s parent company Dow Jones and its owner Rupert Murdoch over claims that he wrote a “bawdy” note to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The US president claims the publication slandered him and violated libel laws in an article alleging that a birthday greeting bearing Trump’s name was sent to the late financier in 2003, before he was charged with sex crimes.

Trump said the note, which the paper reported he had sent for Epstein’s 50th birthday, is “fake”.

It came as the US justice department asked a judge to unseal material related to Epstein, following intense criticism of the Trump administration’s handling of the case.

Trump said on social media: “We have just filed a powerhouse Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, fake news ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal.

“I hope Rupert and his ‘friends’ are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case.”

He said the newspaper and Murdoch – with whom Trump has had an up-and-down relationship for decades – were warned they would be sued if they printed the article.

A Dow Jones spokesperson said in a statement to the BBC: “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”

Murdoch, who was seen on Sunday attending the Fifa Club World Cup with Trump, founded a media empire which is credited by some with helping propel the president to the White House.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a letter bearing Trump’s name “contained several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker”.

“Inside the outline of the naked woman was a typewritten note styled as an imaginary conversation between Trump and Epstein, written in the third person,” the paper reported.

It reportedly contained a joking reference that “enigmas never age” and allegedly ended with the words: “A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Trump denied writing the note after the article was published on Thursday, posting: “These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures.”

The US justice department request concerns transcripts from the grand jury involved in the government’s 2019 sex trafficking case against Epstein, materials that are typically kept secret and protected by law.

On Thursday, Trump ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of documents related to Epstein’s secretive grand jury testimony.

The justice department formally made the request to a judge in New York, arguing the materials related to the case – where he was charged with trafficking dozens of girls as young as 14 – “qualify as a matter of public interest”.

The department is also asking for disclosures in the case of his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in the child sex trafficking conspiracy.

A grand jury – a panel of people who vet whether there is enough evidence to charge a person with a crime – can hear from confidential informants and those whose identities are protected for their safety. Materials in a grand jury are typically kept secret under the law, but a judge can unseal documents if they decide public interest outweighs the need for such legal protections in a case.

Either way, it is unclear when or if the documents will be released, or if they contain many of the details Trump’s supporters have been demanding to see.

The developments on Friday came amid a turbulent week for the president as some of his most loyal supporters demanded more transparency and public disclosure in the Epstein case.

Some Trump loyalists have even called for Attorney General Bondi to resign after she reversed course on releasing certain documents related to Epstein.

Chad Bianco, a Republican sheriff running for California governor, told BBC News that Trump’s handling of the Epstein files was not what he was “expecting” and that “millions” of his followers are disappointed.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23g5xpggzmo

A recent controversy surrounding Italian luxury label Prada has put the spotlight on how global fashion giants engage with India – a country whose rich artistic traditions have often suffered because of its inability to cash in on them.

Prada got into trouble in June after its models walked the runway in Milan wearing a toe-braided sandal that looked like the Kolhapuri chappal, a handcrafted leather shoe made in India. The sandals are named after Kolhapur – a town in the western state of Maharashtra where they have been made for centuries – but the Prada collection did not mention this, prompting a backlash.

As the controversy grew, Prada issued a statement saying it acknowledged the sandals’ origins and that it was open to a “dialogue for meaningful exchange with local Indian artisans”.

Over the past few days, a team from Prada met the artisans and shopkeepers in Kolhapur who make and sell the sandals to understand the process.

Prada told the BBC that it held a “successful meeting” with the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture, a prominent industry trade group.

The statement also indicates that Prada may potentially collaborate in future with some manufacturers of Kolhapuri footwear.

While it’s not clear what form this collaboration may take, it’s a rare example of a global fashion giant acknowledging that it failed to credit local artisans and the craft it was piggybacking on.

Many big brands have been routinely accused of drawing inspiration from Indian, and wider South Asian, traditions in their quest to reinvent and stay relevant – but without crediting the source.

Earlier this year, spring designs from Reformation and H&M ignited a fiery debate on cultural appropriation after many said that their outfits appeared heavily inspired by South Asian garments. Both brands issued clarifications – while H&M denied the allegations, Reformation said its design was inspired by an outfit owned by a model with whom it had collaborated for the collection.

And just two weeks ago, Dior was criticised after its highly-anticipated Paris collection featured a gold and ivory houndstooth coat, which many pointed out was crafted with mukaish work, a centuries-old metal embroidery technique from northern India. The collection did not mention the roots of the craft or India at all.

The BBC has reached out to Dior for comment.

Some experts say that not every brand that draws inspiration from a culture does so with wrong intentions – designers around the world invoke aesthetics from different traditions all the time, spotlighting them on a global scale.

In the highly competitive landscape of fashion, some argue that brands also don’t get enough time to think through the cultural ramifications of their choices.

But critics point out that any borrowing needs to be underpinned by respect and acknowledgement, especially when these ideas are repurposed by powerful global brands to be sold at incredibly high prices.

“Giving due credit is a part of design responsibility, it’s taught to you in design school and brands need to educate themselves about it,” says Shefalee Vasudev, the editor-in-chief of Voice of Fashion. Not doing so, she adds, is “cultural neglect towards a part of the world which brands claim to love”.

Estimates vary about the size of India’s luxury market, but the region is widely seen as a big growth opportunity.

Analysts from Boston Consulting Group say the luxury retail market in India is expected to nearly double to $14bn by 2032. Powered by an expanding and affluent middle class, global luxury brands are increasingly eyeing India as a key market as they hope to make up for weaker demand elsewhere.

But not everyone shares the optimism.

Arvind Singhal, chairman of consultancy firm Technopak, says a big reason for the seeming indifference is that most brands still don’t consider India a significant market for high-end luxury fashion.

In recent years, many high-end malls with flagship luxury stores have opened up in big cities – but they rarely see significant footfall.

“Names like Prada still mean nothing to a majority of Indians. There is some demand among the super-rich, but hardly any first-time customers,” Mr Singhal says.

“And this is simply not enough to build a business, making it easy to neglect the region altogether.”

Anand Bhushan, a fashion designer from Delhi, agrees. He says that traditionally, India has always been a production hub rather than a potential market, with some of the most expensive brands in Paris and Milan employing Indian artisans to make or embroider their garments.

“But that still does not mean you can just blatantly lift a culture without understanding the history and context and brand it for millions of dollars,” he adds.

The frustration, he says, is not focused on any one label but has been building for years.

The most memorable misstep, according to him, took place during the Karl Lagerfeld “Paris-Bombay” Métiers d’Art collection, showcased in 2011. The collection featured sari-draped dresses, Nehru-collared jackets and ornate headpieces.

Many called it a fine example of cultural collaboration, but others argued it relied heavily on clichéd imagery and lacked authentic representation of India.

Others, however, say no brand can afford to write off India as insignificant.

“We might not be the fastest-growing luxury market like China, but a younger and more sophisticated generation of Indians with different tastes and aspirations is reshaping the landscape of luxury,” says Nonita Kalra, editor-in-chief of online luxury store Tata CliQ Luxury.

In the case of Prada, she says the brand seemed to have made a “genuine oversight”, evident from the lengths to which it has gone to rectify its mistake.

For Ms Kalra, the problem is a broader one – where brands based in the west and run by a homogenous group of people end up viewing consumers in other parts of the world through a foreign lens.

“The lack of diversity is the biggest blind spot of the fashion industry, and brands need to hire people from different parts of the world to change that,” she says.

“But their love and respect for Indian heritage is genuine.”

The question of cultural appropriation is complex, and the debates it sparks online can seem both overblown and eye-opening.

And while there are no simple answers, many feel the outrage around Prada has been a great starting point to demand better accountability from brands and designers who, until now, have largely remained unchallenged.

It is an opportunity for India, too, to reflect on the ways it can support its own heritage and uplift it.

Weavers toil for weeks or months to finish one masterpiece, but they often work in precarious conditions without adequate remuneration and with no protection for their work under international intellectual property laws.

“We don’t take enough pride and credit our own artisans, allowing others to walk all over it,” Ms Vasudev says.

“The trouble also is that in India we have simply too much. There are hundreds of different craft techniques and traditions – each with its constantly evolving motif directory going back centuries,” says Laila Tyabji, chairperson of Dastkar, which promotes crafts and craftspeople.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmwnlnrd1eo

Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for the ceasefire between India and Pakistan that he announced on social media on May 10 after Washington held talks with both sides.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday (Jul 18) up to five jets were shot down during recent India-Pakistan hostilities that began after an April militant attack in India-administered Kashmir, with the situation calming after a ceasefire in May.

Trump, who made his remarks at a dinner with some Republican US lawmakers at the White House, did not specify which side’s jets he was referring to.

“In fact, planes were being shot out of the air. Five, five, four or five, but I think five jets were shot down actually,” Trump said while talking about the India-Pakistan hostilities, without elaborating or providing further detail.

Pakistan claimed it had downed five Indian planes in air-to-air combat. India’s highest-ranking general said in late May that India switched tactics after suffering losses in the air on the first day of hostilities and established an advantage before a ceasefire was announced three days later.

India also claimed it had downed “a few planes” of Pakistan. Islamabad denied suffering any losses of planes but acknowledged its air bases suffered hits.

Trump has repeatedly claimed credit for the ceasefire between India and Pakistan that he announced on social media on May 10 after Washington held talks with both sides. India has differed with Trump’s claims that it resulted from his intervention and his threats to sever trade talks.

India’s position has been that New Delhi and Islamabad must resolve their problems directly and with no outside involvement.

India is an increasingly important US partner in Washington’s effort to counter China’s influence in Asia, while Pakistan is a US ally.

The April attack in India-administered Kashmir killed 26 men and sparked heavy fighting between the nuclear-armed Asian neighbours in the latest escalation of a decades-old rivalry.

New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, which denied responsibility while calling for a neutral investigation.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/trump-india-pakistan-5-jets-shot-down-ceasefire-5246926

Kang Jing has also previously illustrated Topps sketch cards for Star Wars and Marvel, and even personalised comic covers for a couple of Power Rangers stars.

At first glance, his illustrations may seem like digital compositions or even paintings. But look closer, and you will discover every detail is meticulously rendered in pencil strokes.

From as young as six, Kang Jing, 31, had a natural flair for drawing. He would spend hours sketching his favourite anime characters. And in 2021, the self-taught artist took the leap of faith and launched his comic brand, Chiral Comics.

What started as an Instagram page to showcase his work soon evolved into something bigger, opening doors to work on characters from major franchises such as Star Wars and Marvel. He has also illustrated comic covers for Power Rangers stars Catherine Sutherland, Nakia Burrise and Brennan Mejia.

Now, Jing has collaborated with American publisher Archie Comics – he has illustrated a special Singapore-themed cover in celebration of SG60.

Priced from S$25 onwards, pre-orders are open from Saturday (Jul 19), 12pm, on Jing’s website and through select comic retailers in Singapore – Kalibak Komiks and 1 to 3 Comics.

ARCHIE COMICS: AN SG60 EXCLUSIVE

In January this year, an idea struck him: What if he could blend his favourite pop culture icons with something local for Singapore’s 60th birthday?

“SG60 marks a big milestone for us as a nation,” he shared. “I wanted to find a way to celebrate it through the lens of something I love – by bringing together something iconic from Singapore with a franchise that many of us grew up with,” he shared.

In April, he pitched the idea to Archie Comics and landed an opportunity to design a variant cover for one of their editions.

A variant cover, Jing explained, is a term used in the comic industry, where the cover design is not related to the contents of the book.

While some might assume designing the cover is a minor role, Jing pointed out that cover designs are one of the key driving forces for revenue in the industry.

“To boost sales, publishers [often release] various cover arts of the same story to appeal to collectors with interest for different art styles and artists,” he explained.

He reimagined the original Archie characters as tourists exploring Singapore, with Gardens by the Bay as the central backdrop. He also added local touches: Archie in a SG60 T-shirt, Jughead munching on a durian, and Reggie wearing a Singapore football jersey.

Jing completed the rough sketches in a day before transferring his ideas to an 11 by 17-inch artboard, the standard size used for comic covers, before moving on to inking.

“Inking involves going over the penciled artwork with ink to enhance and finalise the lines,” Jing explained.

To bring the artwork to life, he worked with a colourist from Italy to digitally add the colours. Everything was completed in a month, and it was approved with no revisions needed.

STAR WARS TO STARDOM

When he was first starting out, Jing spent months cold-emailing organisations, sending out his portfolios, and taking on commission work for small businesses to get his name out there.

His big breakthrough came in March 2024, when Jing received a reply from Topps, the American trading company well-known for producing licensed collectibles for franchises such as Star Wars and Marvel.

“I still remember waking up one morning to an email from Topps inviting me to work on their upcoming Star Wars project and that they will be sending me 50 sketch cards to illustrate,” he said.

For the uninitiated, sketch cards are hand-drawn collectible cards created by licensed artists for trading or display purposes.

For Jing, each card was a labour of love. Unlike comic covers, he had to add colours himself using alcohol-based markers meant for comic illustrations.

Before the cards could be released, the final artwork had to be approved by Lucasfilm, the company that is home to the Star Wars franchise.

To date, he has worked on seven Star Wars-themed projects with Topps. One standout was his fifth project, titled Star Wars: Hyperspace, which required him to illustrate planet-themed sketch cards.

“I was provided cards with specific planets labelled on them such as Bespin, Hoth, Kashyyyk, and I had to illustrate characters specific to those planets,” he shared.

“For the planet Mustafar, I illustrated Anakin Skywalker by taking reference from the Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith where there was a climactic battle that occurred on this planet between him and Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

Soon after, he struck another deal with Topps. This time, he was commissioned to create 20 sketch cards for the 2025 Topps Marvel Chrome series.

“Working on Star Wars and Marvel properties honestly felt like a dream that was way out of reach, one of those things you admire from a far but never imagine happening to you,” he said.

The sketch cards were eventually randomised and sold on Topps website in their respective product lines – a place where customers around the world have the chance to pull one of Jing’s hand-drawn cards with the purchase of any products from the listing.

POWER RANGERS: DRAWING HIS MARK ON THE GLOBAL STAGE

The Archie comic cover was not Jing’s first foray into localised comic art.

Last year, Jing teamed up with Boom! Studios, the official comic publisher based in the USA for award-winning titles including Power Rangers, Brzrkr and Something is Killing the Children. He illustrated a Singapore-themed variant cover for one of their flagship titles: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

He unveiled the exclusive issue at Singapore Comic Con 2024, where all 525 pieces of the limited-edition copy were sold out. In fact, it was the success of this cover that fuelled his desire to work on the Archie Comic SG60 project.

The cover was not just a hit, but it was his lucky charm – one that scored him a backstage pass to work alongside the very stars who ignited his passion for comics.

In October 2024, he attended New York Comic Con, where he met the cast members of Power Rangers, Catherine Sutherland and Nakia Burrise, during a fan meet.

“I brought my very first Power Rangers comic cover I did and showed it to them. They loved it and right there they said, ‘Let’s collaborate’.”

The actresses wanted Jing to design a variant cover for them as an exclusive merchandise for their fans, as part of the Power Rangers Prime series, an ongoing title published by BOOM! Studios.

Sutherland also went on to post a picture with him on her Instagram following their meeting.

Working via email, Jing and the actresses exchanged ideas and eventually merged their visions into a single concept.

The entire process took around two months, and the final copies were published in May 2025.

Following the project, Jing also worked with another Power Rangers cast, Brennan Mejia for a variant cover.

Source : https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/entertainment/archie-comics-sg60-chiral-comics-kang-jing-468046

Belgium’s Tomorrowland music festival opened as planned on Friday (July 18), debuting a hastily rebuilt main stage just two days after a fire destroyed its original centrepiece.

Organisers said the newly constructed stage was part of an “alternative setup” designed to replace the festival’s “beloved main stage”, which went up in flames on Wednesday. Authorities have yet to determine the cause of the blaze.

“Our teams are working day and night, with heart and soul, to turn the impossible into reality,” organisers said in a statement. “Tomorrowland will unite, stronger than ever!”

NEW STAGE ERECTED IN 48 HOURS

Local television footage showed hundreds of attendees entering the festival site in Boom, near Antwerp, on Friday afternoon. Fire and police officials gave clearance for the rebuilt stage to open at 4pm local time, two hours after the rest of the 16-stage event.

The new main stage, constructed in under 48 hours, is smaller in scale but designed for a more intimate experience.

“It’s a new concept, the artists will be very close to the audience, in a more intimate way,” said festival spokeswoman Debby Wilmsen.

FOOTAGE OF FIRE WENT VIRAL

The original stage featured elaborate set design, including a frozen fairytale theme with snow-covered castles and a towering ice lion. Videos of the blaze tearing through the structure spread widely on social media.

Despite the fire, organisers expect around 400,000 people to attend the two-weekend event, which features top electronic acts including David Guetta, Lost Frequencies and Charlotte de Witte.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/tomorrowland-main-stage-fire-destroyed-festival-opens-5246766

Food company Yunhaiyao has been fined S$7,000 (US$5,400) over a mass food poisoning incident at tech firm ByteDance’s Singapore office, which left 171 victims sick.

This was the maximum fine the company could have received. But online, some have suggested the penalty was too light, considering the number of people who fell ill.

What happened?

Yunhaiyao, which owns the Yun Nans chain of restaurants, catered lunch for staff of ByteDance at One Raffles Quay on Jul 30, 2024.

After their meals, 171 people suffered gastroenteritis symptoms, including fever, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomachache and headache.

Sixty were taken to the hospital, of whom 22 were warded.

They had eaten a wok-fried diced chicken dish that contained Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, or staph, over 2,000 times above acceptable levels.

Investigations later uncovered a cockroach infestation in a Yun Nans outlet at Northpoint City, which had the catering licence.

This was the Northpoint City outlet’s first attempt at offering corporate catering. Yunhaiyao said in a statement that there were problems in “basic hygiene protocols” among others.

Yunhaiyao has since closed its Northpoint City outlet and its corporate catering business in Singapore.

Yunhaiyao Pte Ltd was liable for the offence, although it was CEO Lu Zhi Tao who appeared in court to plead guilty and receive the sentence on the company’s behalf.

What’s the punishment for food poisoning?

Yunhaiyao pleaded guilty to two charges.

The first charge was under Section 18 of the Sale of Food Act. This states that a person must not sell food that is not of the quality, nature or substance of food demanded by the purchaser.

For a first-time offender like Yunhaiyao, the maximum punishment is a S$5,000 fine. A repeat offender can be fined up to S$10,000 and jailed for up to three months.

The second charge was under Regulation 26(b) of the Environmental Public Health (Food Hygiene) Regulations.

This states that a person engaged in the sale of food shall ensure the premises are free of rodent, cockroach or other vermin infestation.

The maximum punishment is a S$2,000 fine. If the offence continues after conviction, there is a maximum fine of S$100 for each day it continues.

Yunhaiyao’s fine consisted of the maximum S$5,000 for selling food that was not of the quality demanded by ByteDance, and the maximum S$2,000 for the cockroach infestation.

The judge considered the number of victims to be “staggering” and said it was fortuitous that there were no deaths.

Aside from the actual harm caused to the victims, she also considered the high risk of potential harm caused by Yunhaiyao’s “lackadaisical attitude” towards food safety.

Food poisoning cases can also be dealt with under the Environment Public Health Act.

Section 40 of this Act states that food establishments must not sell any food intended for human consumption that is unsound or unfit for that purpose.

The maximum fine for a first-time offender is S$10,000. A repeat offender can be fined up to S$20,000 and jailed for up to three months.

How does this compare to other food poisoning cases?

In 2014, a four-year-old boy died after eating contaminated food at a food court in Northpoint Shopping Centre.

The stall operator was fined S$1,400 for two breaches – failing to register a food handler and failing to protect food in a covered container.

The stall operator’s licence was also suspended until it had thoroughly cleaned the stall and its food handlers were re-certified in food hygiene.

In another fatal food poisoning case, Spize restaurant in 2018 supplied bento boxes contaminated with Salmonella for a company event. Bacillus cereus and faecal coliforms were also found in a fried rice dish.

Seventy-three people fell ill, of whom 47 were hospitalised. A 38-year-old man who had a Salmonella infection died of sepsis and multi-organ failure following acute gastroenteritis.

Spize was fined the maximum S$10,000 under the Environment Public Health Act, for possessing food unfit for human consumption.

Together with related firm Spize Events, the fines came up to S$32,000. They were convicted of 14 offences, including hiring unregistered food handlers and having poor hygiene practices.

At the time, authorities said there was insufficient evidence linking the fatality to negligence by any particular person, so no individual was charged.

Mr Adrian Wee, managing partner of Lighthouse Law LLC, said the higher number of charges suggested that the conduct in the Spize case was more egregious.

There is also a distinction between incidents that arise from a single breach and from multiple breaches, he said.

For the latter, such as in the Spize case, the cumulative penalties can be significant.

Mr Josephus Tan, managing director of Invictus Law Corporation, said every case was different even if they may look similar on the surface.

Courts also consider factors like the severity of the injuries suffered by the victims, the degree of negligence and the duration of offending, he said.

So was Yunhaiyao’s punishment too light?

“Given the magnitude of the food poisoning in this case, it is not surprising that some may feel that harsher penalties may be warranted,” said Lighthouse’s Mr Wee.

But he noted that financial penalties, and imprisonment for repeat offenders, are not the only means of deterrence.

Offenders also face loss of reputation and the potential loss of their shop or catering licences, he pointed out.

Additionally, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) can issue directives to ensure food safety standards are met, and did so in Yunhaiyao’s case.

The company was required to throw away food, clean its premises and re-certify all food handlers in food safety. SFA suspended the Yun Nans outlet at Northpoint City until these measures were taken.

Mr Tan from Invictus believes however that the fines were insufficient in this case and food poisoning ones in general, even though the court could not have imposed more than what parliament legislated.

“A commercial operator must always carry a heavier responsibility if they are in the business of profiting from the masses where any subpar, unethical or illegal practices from their end may have tremendous (impact),” he said, citing the food, transport, healthcare, education and renovation sectors as examples.

He pointed to how, under the Workplace Safety and Health Act (WSHA), workplace-related deaths can lead to fines of up to S$200,000 for individuals and and S$500,000 for companies.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/yunhaiyao-bytedance-food-poisoning-7000-fine-cna-explains-5245351

Jennifer Love Hewitt is finally addressing rumors of a feud between her and Sarah Michelle Gellar.

“I honestly don’t even know what that was or how that all came to be,” the actress, 46, told Vulture in a profile published Friday. “I just think people don’t want the narrative to be easy. Why do we always have to be against each other and out for each other?”

“I haven’t seen Sarah. Literally, we’ve not talked since I saw her at 18 years old when the first movie came out,” Hewitt explained, revealing they have not stayed in touch since the original “I Know What You Did Last Summer” released.

“That’s why it’s so funny to me. People were like, ‘Say something back.’ And I’m like, ‘What am I going to say? I’ve not seen her.’”

“On my side, we’re good. I have no idea where this is coming from,” she added.

Both actresses starred in the 1997 slasher alongside Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze Jr. — Gellar’s now-husband.

Hewitt and Prinze Jr. reprise their role as Julie James and Ray Bronson, respectively, in the latest sequel that hit theaters on Friday. Though the “Cruel Intentions” star’s character, Helen Shivers, was killed off in the first film, she shows up for a quick cameo via a dream sequence.

The “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star and the “Ghost Whisperer” star were both in attendance at the July 14 premiere. However, they noticeably did not pose together on the red carpet — adding fuel to the feud rumors.

Following the event, Gellar shut down speculation from fans who claimed that the stars purposefully avoided each other at the premiere.

“The beef is real,” one person commented on her post from the event. “It makes me so sad there is ZERO recognition for Jennifer Lover Hewitt,” another eagle-eyed fan wrote on Instagram.

Gellar quickly responded to the critics in the comments, writing, “For everyone asking — I never got to see @jenniferlovehewitt who is fantastic in the movie.”

“I was inside with my kids when the big carpet happened,” she added. “And unfortunately JLH didn’t come to the after party.”

“If you have ever been to one of these it’s crazy. I sadly didn’t get pics with most of the cast. But that doesn’t change how amazing I think they all are. Unfortunately some things happen only in real life and not online,” she concluded.

Fans applauded Gellar for her explanation and responded back with kind messages in the comments.

“Thanks for clearing that up queen, was making me a little sad because I love you both so much!”

“Thanks queen, the fans deserved it ❤,” another chimed in.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/07/18/celebrity-news/jennifer-love-hewitt-breaks-silence-on-sarah-michelle-gellar-feud-rumors/

Kate Middleton’s former longtime assistant, Natasha Archer, has unfollowed Meghan Markle on Instagram.

Archer, who was the Princess of Wales’ right-hand woman for many years, recently made her Instagram page public — but has since made it private again — along with some changes.

Eagle-eyed royal fans noticed that Archer, who had followed the Duchess of Sussex’s As Ever brand, has since given them the heave-ho, according to People.

Markle’s account wasn’t the only one that Archer is no longer following.

She reportedly no longer receives updates from several Markle pals, including her makeup artist Daniel Martin, Deflina Blaquier and Heather Dorak.

Archer also hit unfollow on Highbrow Hippie, the page associated with Markle’s hair colorist, Kadi Lee.

However, not all of Markle’s inner circle were banished.

The former royal aide is still following Markle’s “Suits” co-stars, Abigail Spencer and Sarah Rafferty.

She follows the official accounts for her old bosses, as well as King Charles and Queen Camilla.

Other royal accounts made the cut, including Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice’s husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.

Earlier this month, Archer unexpectedly resigned from royal service after working with Prince William and Middleton for 15 years.

She reportedly made the decision to leave Kensington Palace to set up her own private consultancy business.

She began working for the royal couple, both 43, in 2010 as a personal assistant.

Archer grew close to the Princess and became her unofficial stylist, encouraging her to be more adventurous with her sartorial choices.

“Initially, Kate was a reluctant fashion icon, but now she enjoys it. Tash helps source some of the clothes,” a source told Vanity Fair in 2014.

“She shops a lot for Kate online, and calls in hundreds of dresses for Kate to try on. She has persuaded Kate to take some more risks. The hemlines are shorter and Kate’s really pushing the boat out in the fashion stakes.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/07/18/royal-family/kate-middletons-former-personal-assistant-takes-swipe-at-meghan-markle/

Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba faces an increasingly uphill battle in Sunday’s upper house election, and a loss could worsen political instability at a time of daunting challenges, such as rising prices and high U.S. tariffs.

A poor performance would not immediately trigger a change of government but it would deepen uncertainty over his fate and Japan’s future path.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party suffered a humiliating loss in a lower house election in October as its usual supporters registered their unhappiness over past corruption scandals and high prices. Ishiba is struggling to regain voter confidence.

His minority government has since been forced into making concessions to the opposition to get legislation through the Diet, or parliament. That has hindered its ability to quickly deliver effective measures to curb rising prices and win wage increases. On top of shortages and soaring prices for rice, a traditional staple, Ishiba has been stymied by President Donald Trump’s tariff demands.

Frustrated voters are rapidly turning to emerging populist parties, including one that is promoting anti-foreign policies and backpedaling on gender equality and diversity.

Here’s a look at Sunday’s election:

Instability, win or lose

Ishiba has set a low bar for the vote — a simple majority. Half of the 248 seats for six-year terms in the upper house are being decided, and the LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito would need to win a combined 50. Added to the 75 coalition-held seats that are not being contested in this election, it would be a big retreat from the 141 seats the coalition held before the election.

If the ruling coalition fails to secure a majority, “there will be a move within the LDP to dump Ishiba,” said Yu Uchiyama, a University of Tokyo professor of political science. “It makes a leadership very unstable.” Under any successor, the ruling coalition would be a minority in both houses, he said.

If Ishiba’s coalition secures a majority and he stays on, his leadership will remain weak, with little hope of improved support ratings, Uchiyama said. “Either way, it is essential for the minority government to seek opposition parties’ cooperation to achieve any policy.”

Trump, rice and price woes

Measures to mitigate soaring prices, lagging incomes and burdensome social security payments are the top focus of frustrated, cash-strapped voters.

Rice prices have doubled since last year due to supply shortages, overly complex distribution systems and other reasons related to Japan’s farming, causing panic buying as Ishiba has struggled to resolve the crisis.

Trump has added to that pressure, complaining about a lack of progress in trade negotiations, blaming a lack of sales of U.S. autos and American-grown rice to Japan despite a shortfall in domestic stocks of the grain. A 25% tariff due to take effect Aug. 1 has been another blow for Ishiba.

Ishiba has resisted any compromise before the election, but the prospect for a breakthrough after the election is just as unclear because the minority government would have difficulty forming a consensus with the opposition.

The rice issue has cost Ishiba one farm minister. Rice prices remain high even after the farm minister’s replacement, Shinjiro Koizumi, moved quickly and boldly to address the problem by ordering the emergency release of stored rice from reserves, helping to refill grocery store shelves in time for the election.

Koizumi, son of popular former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, is a potential challenger to Ishiba.

An emerging populist right and xenophobia

Stricter measures targeting foreign residents and visitors have suddenly emerged as a key issue.

The Sanseito party stands out with the toughest anti-foreigner stance with its “Japanese First” platform that proposes a new agency to centralize policies related to foreigners. It wants stricter screening for allowing Japanese citizenship and to exclude non-Japanese from welfare benefits. The party’s populist platform is also anti-vaccine, anti-globalism and favors traditional gender roles.

Its stance has encouraged the spread of xenophobic rhetoric in the election campaign and on social media, critics say. A typical claim is that a rapid increase in foreign workers has hurt Japanese workers’ wages and that foreigners use a large share of welfare benefits and have made Japanese society unsafe.

“Foreigners are used as targets to vent their discontent and unease,” Uchiyama said, comparing the scapegoating to that in Europe and the United States under Trump.

Experts say most of the rhetoric is disinformation aimed at frustrations among Japanese struggling to get by. Government statistics show foreign residents account for about 3% of both Japan’s total population and of welfare benefit recipients.

The Liberal Democrats, under a slogan “zero illegal immigrants,” have pledged to crack down on growing illegal employment of foreigners and against allowing them to default on social insurance payments or medical bills. The party also set up a task force to promote an orderly society, a move aimed at enforcing stricter measures on foreigners to address growing public unease. The rising conservative Democratic Party for the People, or the DPP, also is calling to restrict foreign ownership of Japanese real estate.

The move triggered protests by human rights activists and alarmed foreign residents.

Given that its population is rapidly aging and shrinking, Japan needs foreign workers. It should discuss immigration policy more strategically, Takahide Kiuchi, an executive economist at Nomura Research Institute, wrote in a recent analysis.

Still, the opposition is fractured

Conservative to centrist opposition groups, including the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, or CDPJ, the DPP, and Sanseito have gained significant ground at the Liberal Democrats’ expense.

They are believed to be raking in conservative supporters of the ruling party who are disappointed by Ishiba’s leadership and flip-flops on policies. Ishiba is caught between his party’s ultraconservatives and mainstream opposition leaders.

Still, the eight main opposition groups are too fractured to forge a common platform as a united front and gain voter support as a viable alternative.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/japan-ishiba-parliament-election-us-tariff-8eae5abcb7c6f445f3251c934e08d246

The president revealed his wife as a source of counsel on matters of state as negotiations with Vladimir Putin grind on. This week, Donald Trump announced missiles systems for Ukraine and a ceasefire deadline for Russia.

Ukraine has, seemingly, a surprise advocate in the White House: first lady Melania Trump.

A flurry of laudatory posts shared across Ukrainian social media this week came after US President Donald Trump revealed that his wife had taken to pointing out the contradictions in his negotiations with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, toward a deal to end the war in Ukraine.

“I speak to him a lot about getting this thing done,” Trump said on Monday.

“And I always hang up and say: ‘Well, that was a nice phone call,'” Trump said. “And then missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city. After that happens three or four times, you say: ‘The talk doesn’t mean anything.'”

On Monday, Trump set a 50-day deadline for Putin to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or risk substantial economic sanctions. The deadline, like others set by the president, appears flexible. On Tuesday he said that, though he didn’t think 50 days was a long time, “it could be sooner than that.”

‘Agent Melania Trumpenko’

“I go home, I tell the first lady: ‘I spoke with Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation,'” Trump said. “She said: ‘Oh really? Another city was just hit.'”

On platforms such as X and Telegram, Ukrainian social media users shared posts and memes welcoming Melania Trump’s apparent role.

“So all this time Melania was for us?” the prominent blogger Ihor Lachenkov posted.

“Melania for President of the United States 🙈” a Telegram account with 1.5 million followers wrote.

Many have dubbed her “Agent Melania Trumpenko” and modified photos of the first lady to attach Ukrainian iconography to her clothing.

Others have used memes to poke fun at the suggestion that the first lady was the crucial voice that changed the US position on Ukraine.

One such post shared by the national TV news program TSN shows a cartoon animal, a cinema detective and a picture of Melania Trump in a wide-brimmed hat at the 2025 inauguration with the text “Secret Agents: In cartoons, In movies, in real life.”

Another shows Godzilla marked as former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and King Kong marked as prime ministerial candidate Yulia Svyrydenko brawling, saying “A Woman Will Save Ukraine,” only for the Doge dog to attack both, saying: “It will be Melania Trump.”

First lady’s influence

Melania Trump is Slovenian and grew up in the former Yugoslavia. Slovenia has provided humanitarian, economic and military support to Ukraine.

She has voiced her support for Ukraine previously, notably in a 2022 social media post on the platform X (formerly Twitter) calling on people to support the International Committee of the Red Cross’s humanitarian efforts after Russia began its full-scale invasion.

In an interview with DW TV, Tanja Fajon, Slovenian minister of foreign affairs, said she “really [doesn’t] know what Melania’s influence on Donald Trump” is. But, Fajon added, it was “good to know we have a first lady” on Slovenia’s and Ukraine’s side.

Many Ukrainian users have noted that, because of her upbringing in Yugoslavia, which had a fraught relationship with Russia, she is the best-placed member of Trump’s circle when it comes to understanding the threat posed by Vladimir Putin.

US first ladies have often exercised influence within the White House. Melania Trump’s predecessors have involved themselves with social programs and tried to help achieve policy outcomes for their husbands.

In an interview with Ukrainian television Kanal 24, former state security service officer Ivan Stupak said he hoped that Melania Trump’s sympathies for his country were having an effect on US foreign policy.

“We’ve seen in the histories of different countries that first ladies … it’s not a 100% rule, but, in many cases, they don’t just exist in the background, as a formality,” Stupak said.

“I want to believe that she does have some influence,” Stupak said, “that she can say something, and Trump will listen to her.”

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/did-agent-melania-change-donald-trumps-mind-on-ukraine/a-73300763

TECH CEO Andy Byron had gushed about hiring HR chief Kristin Cabot months before they were caught cuddling at a Coldplay gig.

Byron and Cabot were left red-faced as they flashed up on a big screen in front of thousands in each other’s arms.

Married Byron dived to hide behind a barrier, while Cabot covered her face with her hands and turned her back to the crowd.

As he caught view of himself on the gargantuan screen, he appeared to say “f****** hell, it’s me”.

And now it has emerged that the Astronomer CEO had raved about the HR chief when she was hired a mere few months before they were caught on camera.

Byron called Cabot a “proven leader” when she joined the company in November last year.

He gushed: “Kristin’s exceptional leadership and deep expertise in talent management, employee engagement, and scaling people strategies will be critical as we continue our rapid trajectory.

“She is a proven leader at multiple growth-stage companies and her passion for fostering diverse, collaborative workplaces makes her a perfect fit for Astronomer.”

The press release added that Cabot “has a proven track record of preserving and enriching company culture at organizations experiencing rapid growth”.

Cabot released a similarly enthusiastic comment, saying she was “energised in my conversations with Andy and the Astronomer leadership team about the opportunities that exist here”.

Her statement added: “I prefer to think of my role as people strategy versus traditional human resources, as the real magic happens when you align the people strategy with the business strategy.”

The pair were watching Coldplay perform in Boston, Massachusetts, on Wednesday night when frontman Chris Martin panned his ‘kiss cam’ onto them.

Yellow singer Martin exclaimed: “Oh look at these two.”

But, realising their grinning faces were being cast on a giant screen in front of thousands at Gillette Stadium, they both swiftly unlocked arms and shielded their faces.

As a chorus of laughter echoed around the jam-packed stadium, Martin said: “Oh what… either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy.”

Cabot was recruited as software development firm Astronomer’s Chief People Officer just nine months ago in November.

On her LinkedIn, she boasts: “I lead by example and win trust with employees of all levels, from CEOs to managers to assistants.”

Cabot – who has the second surname Thornby in brackets on her page – adds: “I’m a passionate people leader known for building award-winning cultures from the ground up for fast-growing startups and multi-national corporations.”

According to Byron’s LinkedIn, he has been CEO of Astronomer – understood to be worth more than £1 billion – since July 2023.

The cringeworthy footage has gone viral on social media – having been shared thousands of times on X and TikTok.

Hundreds have accused Byron of cheating on his wife, and have shared support for her.

One social media user commented: “Sorry for the wife but glad they’re being exposed and embarrassed.”

Another wrote: “How utterly sad.”

A third said: “They are both incredibly stupid, sorry. Why would you go to a concert of all places if you are having an affair.”

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14746240/andy-byron-kristin-cabot-coldplay-cuddling/

FELIX BAUMGARTNER has died aged 56 after crashing into a pool in a paragliding tragedy.

The Austrian skydiver became a household name when he jumped to Earth from a helium balloon in 2012.

He set world records for skydiving an estimated 24 miles and reaching an estimated top speed of Mach 1.25 (843.6mph), becoming the first person ever to break the sound barrier without vehicular power.

But Baumgartner’s latest adventure ended in tragedy as he plunged to his death while attempting another stunning feat.

According to Sky Austria, the extreme sports lover was in Porto Sant’Elpidio, Italy, when disaster struck.

Baumgartner had been flying in a motored paraglider when he suffered a “sudden onset of illness.”

This caused him to lose control, with Baumgartner’s glider crashing to the ground and into a hotel swimming pool.

He was reportedly killed instantly in the tragic accident.

Meanwhile, a hotel employee was also injured during Baumgartner’s fall.

They were said to be struck by the paraglider as it hit the ground.

The employee was rushed to hospital and is said to have suffered neck injuries.

Baumgartner’s accident came just hours after several tragic final posts on social media.

One showed him working on the glider that led to his death, with the ace captioning his post: “Man at work.”

While another, posted on Instagram Stories, showed a field with Baumgartner commenting: “Too much wind.”

Following the shock news of his death, fans quickly paid tribute to Baumgartner on social media.

One said: “RIP legend.”

Another declared: “Can’t believe, am so sorry for his friends and family.”

One noted: “We will all miss you Felix.”

Another added: “Shocked by the news, RIP.”

Baumgartner was renowned for his feats in parachuting and base jumping, having scaled the world’s tallest buildings and even skydiving across the English Channel.

But his biggest and most famous feat came in 2012 when he used a helium balloon to soar 24 miles in the air.

Millions tuned in to watch the incredible live stream, which was backed by energy drinks giant Red Bull.

And the world held its breath as Baumgartner jumped into the void before hurtling back to Earth at record-breaking speeds of 843mph.

It saw him hit a top speed of Mach 1.25 – making him the first person to break the sound barrier outside a vehicle.

Just before he jumped, Baumgartner declared: “I wish you could see what I can see.”

Immediately reflecting on his jump afterwards, he added: “When you’re standing on top of the world, you don’t think of records any more, all you think is that you want to come back alive.”

Speaking several years later, Baumgartner said: “I wanted to be the first human outside of an aircraft breaking the sound barrier.

“It’s very difficult to a perfect exit, do not over-rotate, there’s no air to use to slow down.

“First 25 seconds it looked like everything’s under control. Then after 34 seconds I hit Mach 1 and broke the speed of sound. That was our goal.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/sport/14745500/felix-baumgartner-dead-paragliding-crash-earth-jump/

VIRGIN Atlantic passengers have been horrified to find their luggage covered in foul-smelling poop and urine in a travel nightmare.

The airline was forced to break its silence after a traveler shared a video of the nasty aftermath, saying, “They didn’t even tell us!!!”

Flyers made the disgusting discovery after landing at John F. Kennedy International Airport, a major international airport in Queens, New York City, on Monday.

After making the five-hour journey from London Heathrow Airport to New York, travelers stretched their legs and headed over to claim their suitcases at the baggage carousel.

That’s when they were met with the horrifying sights and smells of their luggage covered in what appeared to be human excrement.

“You arrive in New York on a Virgin Atlantic flight and they’ve emptied the plane toilet (poo & wee) on your suitcase,” shared TikTok user Sosan on her TikTok account under the handle @sosafoods.

The post has amassed over 3 million views and over 190,000 likes.

“It was the worst thing I’ve ever smelled in my life,” Sosan wrote.

“They didn’t even tell us!!!”

The video shows at least seven mid-sized suitcases splattered in a revolting brown substance.

It’s unclear if the material came from the plane like Sosan said.

Waste from airplane toilets are typically stored in tanks and then removed by ground crews with special vehicles, equipment, and disposal methods to avoid biohazards like these.

POINTING FINGERS

Virgin Atlantic insisted it’s not their fault and that the damage happened in the baggage tunnel at the airport.

“We’re aware of a New York JFK system failure that has affected the baggage of a small number of arriving customers,” a spokesperson for the airline told The U.S. Sun.

“We’re working closely with the team at JFK and local authorities to ensure the issue is resolved.

“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to affected customers.”

JFK didn’t return The U.S. Sun’s requests for comment.

Customers with damaged bags were told by officials how best to clean their baggage, the airline said.

Passengers were also said to have been given the option for their bags to be professionally cleaned by a biohazard team.

‘NO ANNOUNCEMENT’

However, Sosan claims there was no announcement made to the flyers.

“No announcement, no help, no gloves – NOTHING!!” she wrote in the comments of the post.

Another passenger shared a picture of their suitcase, covered in filth, on X with the same complaints.

“How are all these bags covered in human s**t!” the customer said.

“Floor staff saying they can’t provide wipes, new bags or hand sanitizer and that we have to ‘write an email to customer team.’

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14746251/virgin-atlantic-flight-poop-urine-jfk-airport-luggage/

The Karnataka High Court heard arguments from the Centre on the necessity for urgent regulation of digital platforms, particularly in light of rising cybercrime and digital surveillance. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta emphasized that platforms like X Corp should act responsibly and cannot claim the same rights as individuals.

Constant surveillance by social media, rising cybercrime, and the evolving threat landscape has made it necessary for urgent regulation in the digital space, the Centre told the Karnataka High Court during a hearing on the X Corp (formerly Twitter) case over content takedown directives.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union Government, argued that internet intermediaries like ‘X’ must act responsibly and cannot claim the same constitutional rights as individuals.
X Corp had approached the court challenging the applicability of Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, often used to justify takedown directives. It said that blocking orders can only be issued through due process under Section 69A read with the IT Rules and not via direct instructions under Section 79.

“Today, even a smart TV with a camera is a potential surveillance tool. Many public figures ask visitors to leave their phones outside because these devices have effectively become recorders. We are being continuously monitored by social media,” he said, highlighting the extent of digital surveillance in people’s lives.
The Solicitor General also touched upon the growing influence of Artificial Intelligence, calling it a developmental boon but also a potential hazard.
He noted that legal frameworks must evolve to address the threats posed by technological advances.
Dismissing X Corp’s claim under Article 19 (Freedom of Speech and Expression), Mehta asserted that such protections are reserved for individuals, not platforms.
“X is simply a notice board. Only those who post content can claim Article 19 protections,” he said, adding that the Supreme Court in Shreya Singhal v Union of India had clarified that content on public platforms can be regulated in public interest.
Addressing the issue of intermediary liability, Mehta referred to Rule 3(1)(d) of the IT Rules 2021, which requires intermediaries to remove unlawful content upon government or court notification. Failure to comply results in the loss of “safe harbour”, a legal immunity provided under Section 79 of the IT Act.
He clarified that Section 79 is not a penal provision, but a protective exception that intermediaries lose if they ignore legal notices. “Section 79 is an exception to the rule. You can’t claim exemption without accountability,” Mehta argued.
Backing the government’s push for regulation, Mehta said cybercrime complaints in the country rose from around 26,000 in 2019 to over 22.6 lakh in 2024–a staggering 401 per cent increase.
“This massive surge shows the internet is facing threats that endanger individuals, communities, and the nation. A coordinated response involving law enforcement, platforms, and regulators is essential,” he said.
Referring to a recent Supreme Court observation in the Ranveer Allahbadia case, Mehta stressed the need to regulate vulgar and harmful content while protecting free speech.
“The platform itself amplifies content through algorithmic sequencing. If you watch something repeatedly on YouTube, it appears on top–this is curated amplification,” he said.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/india/even-a-smart-tv-with-camera-is-potential-surveillance-tool-centre-tells-karnataka-hc-in-x-corp-case-article-152300211

Superstar attorney Mark Geragos has been ordered to pay $100,000 as part of the case that saw disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti jailed after a jury found Wednesday that he gave Avenatti “substantial assistance or encouragement.”

Stormy Daniels lawyer Avenatti famously attempted to blackmail Nike in 2019 while representing basketball coach, Gary Franklin.

Avenatti brought Geragos — who has represented Michael Jackson, Chris Brown, Winona Ryder, and the Menéndez brothers among many others — onto the case, and Geragos was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the government’s case against Avenatti.

Franklin — who never saw any money from Nike, possibly because of the blackmail attempt — later filed a civil suit against Geragos for his part in the mess.

On Wednesday, the jury in the civil suit found that Geragos “had actual knowledge that Avenatti was committing wrongdoing” against Franklin, and that Geragos “provided knowlingly substantial assistance or encouragement to Avenatti in committing wrongdoing.”

It also found that he breached the professional standard of care or duty of loyalty” to Franklin.

But the jury decided that, overall, Geragos’s actions weren’t a “substantial factor in causing harm to Franklin.”

A rep for Geragos told Page Six the decision “amounts to about as close to vindication as one can get,” adding “we’re satisfied with the result and grateful the jury… got it right.”

Franklin’s attorney, Trent Copeland, told us, “Geragos has spent much of his career mastering the art of spin—but there’s no spinning what this jury just found. He may not have faced criminal charges, but a civil jury found him liable nonetheless.” He added, “No reasonable attorney would celebrate a verdict like that. He can’t run from this.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/07/17/society/superstar-attorney-mark-geragos-ordered-to-pay-100000-in-case-that-saw-disgraced-lawyer-michael-avenatti-jailed/

Tom Cruise and Ana de Armas were recently spotted enjoying a boat ride during a private Spanish getaway, according to pictures obtained by Hello! Thursday.

The Cuban actress, 37, could be seen wearing a flowy white midi dress while the “Mission: Impossible” star, 63, wore a light blue long-sleeved shirt. They both sported fedora hats while soaking up the sun.

De Armas flashed some leg at one point while sitting across from Cruise on a bean bag chair. In more photos, she walked around the boat while he continued to sit down and look at his phone.

The A-listers have been seen multiple times together, starting in February when they were first spotted at dinner in London for what was reportedly a professional meal.

But romance speculation between them began to gain traction when they were later spotted together on multiple occasions that appeared to no longer be in a strictly professional capacity.

Cozy sightings included the two helicoptering into London and having dinner for her 37th birthday, as well as attending David Beckham’s 50th birthday together.

A source told Page Six in June that the two have also dined in a private room at the swanky members-only club Annabel’s in London “a couple of times over the past two months.”

“Tom looks enchanted by her,” the eyewitness said. “And she looks very happy with him.”

While they’ve both stayed mum on their dating lives, de Armas — who previously dated Ben Affleck — did say they were working together on multiple projects during her appearance on “Good Morning America” in May.

“It’s so much fun. We’re definitely working on a lot of things,” she said. “Not just one, but a few projects with [filmmakers] Doug Liman and Christopher McQuarrie and, of course, Tom. And I’m so excited,” she replied.

The two are co-starring in Liman’s upcoming supernatural thriller “Deeper,” which is about an astronaut who encounters something terrifying in space.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/07/17/celebrity-news/tom-cruise-ana-de-armas-make-a-splash-with-private-spanish-getaway/

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed regret after Israeli tank fire killed three people at a Catholic church in Gaza on Thursday (Jul 17), blaming a “stray” round for the deaths after a phone call with US President Donald Trump.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said 10 others were also wounded in the attack on the Holy Family Church in Gaza City – the territory’s only Catholic house of worship – including parish priest Father Gabriel Romanelli.

Witnesses and the Latin Patriarch said a tank shell slammed directly into the church around 10.30am local time (7.30am GMT), but the Israeli military later said an initial inquiry “suggests that fragments from a shell … hit the church mistakenly”.

Pope Leo XIV said he was “deeply saddened” by the loss of life at Holy Family, which the late Pope Francis had kept in regular contact with throughout the war between Israel and Hamas militants.

Israel’s military maintained it made “every feasible effort to mitigate harm to civilians and religious structures”, while Netanyahu promised an investigation.

“Israel deeply regrets that a stray ammunition hit Gaza’s Holy Family Church. Every innocent life lost is a tragedy,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had called Netanyahu after having “not a positive reaction” to news of the strike.

“It was a mistake by the Israelis to hit that Catholic church, that’s what the prime minister relayed to the president,” she said.

AFP images showed the injured being treated at Gaza City’s Al-Ahli Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital, with one receiving oxygen and blood while lying under a foil blanket. Father Romanelli could be seen with a bandage around his lower leg.

Mourners knelt next to two white body bags laid out on the floor.

“In the morning a tank shell targeted us and hit the church, and a number of civilians were killed and wounded,” said Shadi Abu Daoud, a displaced man whose 70-year-old mother was killed in the strike.

Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal confirmed the deaths at the church.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, told Vatican News: “What we know for sure is that a tank, the IDF (Israeli military) says by mistake, but we are not sure about this, they hit the Church directly.”

“SERIOUS ACT”

The patriarchate, which has jurisdiction for Catholics in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan and Cyprus, said it “strongly condemns this strike and this targeting of innocent civilians”.

The site was sheltering around 600 displaced people, the majority of them children and 54 with special needs.

“The people in the Holy Family Compound are people who found in the Church a sanctuary – hoping that the horrors of war might at least spare their lives, after their homes, possessions and dignity had already been stripped away,” it said in a statement.

Foreign leaders, including from France and Italy, called the attack “unacceptable”.

Gaza’s civil defence agency reported that Israeli strikes elsewhere across the Palestinian territory killed at least 22 people on Thursday.

Out of the Gaza Strip’s population of more than two million, about 1,000 are Christians. Most of them are Orthodox but according to the Latin Patriarchate, there are about 135 Catholics in the territory.

Pope Francis had repeatedly called for an end to the Gaza war, condemning in his final Easter message a day before his death the “deplorable humanitarian situation” in the Palestinian territory.

“TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE”

Monsignor Pascal Gollnisch, the head of Catholic charity l’Oeuvre d’Orient, told AFP the raid was “totally unacceptable”.

“It is a place of worship. It is a Catholic church known for its peaceful attitude, for being a peacemaker. These are people who are at the service of the population,” he said.

“There was no strategic objective, there were no jihadists in this church. There were families, there were civilians.”

More than 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for Gaza’s population, displacing most residents at least once and triggering severe shortages of food and other essentials.

The war was triggered by the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/israel-netanyahu-regret-three-killed-catholic-church-gaza-5244716

The new Singapore Oceanarium opens to the public on Jul 24 at Resorts World Sentosa. The revamped space is three times larger than the former SEA Aquarium.

formerly known as the SEA Aquarium – will officially reopen on Jul 24 after a three-month transformation. Located within Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), the revamped space features 22 zones dedicated to marine education, conservation and immersive storytelling.

The new attraction also features a Research and Learning Centre, offering immersive behind-the-scenes experiences, educational programmes and hands-on workshops to promote marine conservation. This space, along with select zones within the Singapore Oceanarium, can also be booked for private events.

To mark its opening, a range of complimentary programmes will be available with the purchase of a same-day admission ticket from Jul 24 to Aug 31. Visitors can view the full list of activities and book their slots online.

Tickets to the Singapore Oceanarium are now available on its official website. Prices start at S$50 for adults and S$42 for children aged three to 12, as well as for senior citizens aged 60 and above.

Singapore residents enjoy discounted rates, with tickets starting from S$42 for adults and S$35 for children and seniors.

CNA Lifestyle attended a media preview of the Singapore Oceanarium on Wednesday (Jul 16). Have your most comfortable pair of shoes on because it took us about three hours to explore the entire space – covering nearly 5km on foot.

But you don’t have to do that on an empty stomach because there are several places where you can grab a bite or a sip during your visit.

Mark Zuckerberg and current and former directors and officers of Meta Platforms (META.O), agreed on Thursday to settle claims seeking $8 billion for the damage they allegedly caused the company by allowing repeated violations of Facebook users’ privacy, a lawyer for the shareholders told a Delaware judge on Thursday.
The parties did not disclose details of the settlement and defense lawyers did not address the judge, Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery. McCormick adjourned the trial just as it was to enter its second day and she congratulated the parties.

The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Sam Closic, said the agreement just came together quickly.
Billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, a defendant in the trial and a Meta director, was scheduled to testify on Thursday.
Shareholders of Meta sued Zuckerberg, Andreessen and other former company officials including former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg in hopes of holding them liable for billions of dollars in fines and legal costs the company paid in recent years.
The Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5 billion in 2019 after finding that it failed to comply with a 2012 agreement with the regulator to protect users’ data.

The shareholders wanted the 11 defendants to use their personal wealth to reimburse the company. The defendants denied the allegations, which they called “extreme claims.”
Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021. The company was not a defendant and declined to comment.
On its website, the company has said it has invested billions of dollars into protecting user privacy since 2019.
A lawyer for the defendants declined to comment.
“This settlement may bring relief to the parties involved, but it’s a missed opportunity for public accountability,” said Jason Kint, the head of Digital Content Next, a trade group for content providers.

Zuckerberg was expected to take the stand on Monday and Sandberg on Wednesday. The trial was scheduled to run through the end of next week.
The case was also expected to include testimony from former Facebook board members Peter Thiel, Palantir Technologies (PLTR.O), co-founder, and Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix (NFLX.O).

By settling, Zuckerberg and other defendants avoid having to answer probing questions under oath. Sandberg was found during the litigation to have deleted what were likely her most sensitive emails and she was sanctioned, making it harder for her to tell her side of the story in court.
The settlement allows plaintiffs to avoid trying a very difficult case. Meta investors alleged that former and current board members completely failed to oversee the company’s compliance with the 2012 FTC agreement. The lawsuit also claimed that Zuckerberg and Sandberg knowingly ran Facebook as an illegal data harvesting operation.
The oversight allegations are known as Caremark claims, considered the most difficult to prove under Delaware corporate law. It was the first time Caremark claims went to trial, and even if the plaintiffs had gotten a judgment in their favor, the case would have been appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court. That court has reversed major shareholder victories in recent years.
The case followed revelations that data from millions of Facebook users was accessed by Cambridge Analytica, a now-defunct political consulting firm that worked for Donald Trump’s successful U.S. presidential campaign in 2016. Those revelations led to the FTC fine, which was a record at the time.
On Wednesday, an expert witness for the plaintiffs testified about what he called “gaps and weaknesses” in Facebook’s privacy policies but would not say if the company violated the 2012 agreement that Facebook reached with the FTC.
Jeffrey Zients, a former board member, testified on Wednesday that the company did not agree to the FTC fine to spare Zuckerberg legal liability, as shareholders alleged.
The defendants’ legal team also showed the court notes that Zients had taken when he was on the board that seemed to show he was urging the board to make user privacy a top priority, which would undercut plaintiffs’ claims.
The trial settlement marks the second time Zuckerberg avoided testifying in the court. In 2017, Facebook abandoned a plan to issue a new class of stock as a way for Zuckerberg to extend his control over the company while selling his shares. The decision came a week before Zuckerberg was expected to testify in the Court of Chancery to defend the stock plan.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/meta-investors-zuckerberg-reach-settlement-end-8-billion-trial-over-facebook-2025-07-17/

The AAIB slammed The Wall Street Journal over its report highlighting a pilot’s role in the Air India Flight 171 crash on June 12 in Ahmedabad, calling it unverified and saying it was too early to come to conclusions.

India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on Thursday called out the US-based The Wall Street Journal for its report on a “pilot’s role” in the Air India Flight 171 crash that killed 260, calling it unverified and selective reporting. The bureau said it was too early to jump to conclusions and wait for the final report to be released.

In a statement, the AAIB said that its preliminary findings into the Air India crash were to provide information about “what” happened and that an investigation into the tragedy was still not complete.

“It is essential to respect the sensitivity of the loss faced by family members of the passengers, crew of the aircraft and other persons on the ground who died. It has come to our attention that certain sections of the international media are repeatedly attempting to draw conclusions through selective and unverified reporting. Such actions are irresponsible, especially while the investigation remains ongoing,” the AAIB said.

The Wall Street Journal, citing an assessment by US officials, said the black box recording indicated that Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, 56, turned off the fuel control switches, seconds after AI 171 crashed into a resident doctors’ hostel in Ahmedabad after takeoff.

“We urge both the public and the media to refrain from spreading premature narratives that risk undermining the integrity of the investigative process,” AAIB said in the statement.

“The purpose of the AAIB’s investigation and preliminary report is to provide information about ‘what’ happened. The preliminary report has to be seen in this light. At this stage, it is too early to reach any definite conclusions. The investigation by the AAIB is still not complete. The final investigation report will come out with root causes and recommendations,” the body said.

The AAIB also said that the probe was being undertaken “in a rigorous and most professional manner in accordance with rules and international protocols”.

“While the accident of this dimension has drawn public attention and shock, however, it needs to be appreciated that this is not the time to create public anxiety or angst regarding the safety of the Indian aviation industry, particularly on the basis of unfounded facts,” the bureau further said.

WHAT DID THE WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORT SAY?

AI 171 was being commanded by 56-year-old Sabharwal, who had a total flying experience of 15,638 hours, and First Officer Clive Kunder, 32, who had 3,403 hours of total experience.

Moments after takeoff, the first officer asked the captain why he moved the switches from “run” to the “cutoff” position, the report said. After noticing it, the first officer panicked, while the captain seemed to remain calm, The Wall Street Journal report said.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which was on its way to London, crashed into the BJ Medical College hostel building in Ahmedabad within seconds of takeoff. The tragedy left 260 people, including 241 passengers and crew on board and 19 others on the ground, dead.

The initial probe report, released by the AAIB, revealed that the fuel control switches of the Boeing 787 flipped from a “run” to a “cutoff” position within a second of each other after lift-off.

The fuel control switches regulate fuel flow into a plane’s engines. The AAIB report, however, does not mention if the switches were moved by either of the pilots to the “cutoff” position.

The report does mention one pilot asking the other why he cut off the fuel supply, with the other responding he did not. However, the full transcript of the conversation was never released, prompting several theories on social media.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/unverified-reporting-probe-agency-calls-out-us-media-report-on-pilots-role-in-air-india-crash-2757337-2025-07-17

The White House and Pakistan’s Foreign Office denied any such plans, calling the reports unverified. Trump is instead scheduled to visit the UK in September.

Two of Pakistan’s top news channels, Geo News and ARY News, have withdrawn reports they aired earlier, which claimed that US President Donald Trump was planning to visit Pakistan in September. The news caused quite a stir, but both channels later admitted they had broadcast the information without confirming it first.

Geo News issued an apology, saying, “Geo News apologises to its viewers for airing the news without a verification.” A senior official from ARY News told Reuters that the channel retracted the story after Pakistan’s Foreign Office clarified it had no knowledge of any such visit.

Earlier in the day, several TV stations claimed that Trump would arrive in Islamabad in September and possibly head to India afterward.

The White House stepped in to clear the air. A US official told media outlets, “A trip to Pakistan has not been scheduled at this time.” Similarly, a spokesperson for the US Embassy in Islamabad told Reuters, “We have nothing to announce.”

Foreign Office Spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan also responded, telling Dawn.com, “We have no information about this matter.”

NO PLANS FOR PAK VISIT

Though there is no official visit planned, US-Pakistan relations have recently improved. Last month, Donald Trump made headlines by hosting Pakistan’s Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, at the White House — something no US president had done before.

It has been nearly two decades since a sitting US president last visited Pakistan. The last visit took place in 2006 when then-President George W. Bush paid a visit to the country.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/trump-not-visiting-pakistan-at-this-time-tv-channels-withdraw-false-reports-glbs-2757451-2025-07-18

On the face of it, the Afghan data breach is very bad indeed.

It is arguably the worst leak of secret UK government names since the former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson went rogue and published a list online containing dozens of names of MI6 officers in 1999.

For a case officer in the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), having your name and details outed in public is potentially a career-killer.

That said, names can be changed, forged or disguised.

What cannot be is biometric data – something increasingly used in counter-intelligence to uncover and catch spies – and there is no indication so far that UK officers have had this data leaked as well.

For serving and former members of the highly secretive Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS), leaks like this one can, in theory, expose them to the risk of threat to life, given the lethal, covert operations some will have taken part in that may have involved the deaths or capture of individuals. The physical risk resulting from this leak to those members of UK Special Forces whose names were on the leaked dataset is judged to be minimal.

Those who face the greatest risk are Afghans still in Afghanistan.

The revelation that, in addition to the thousands of leaked names and details of potentially vulnerable Afghans, there are 100 or more involving British operatives is certainly shocking.

But this “unauthorised data breach” was – belatedly – discovered as far back as August 2023.

So that has given the UK intelligence and special forces communities nearly two years in which to come up with ways to mitigate this disaster and adopt whatever protective measures they can, for both Afghans and Brits on the leaked dataset.

Amongst the worse-case scenarios that MI6 in particular will have had to consider is that Russia, China, Iran or even North Korea may now also be in possession of those leaked names.

It is a fair assumption to make that the Taliban’s intelligence apparatus would have had little interest in the names of long-departed British soldiers and spies. But they would be canny enough to work out who would be interested: the UK’s global adversaries.

For now, those who have most to fear are the 600 former Afghan government soldiers and their estimated 1,800 relatives who are still in Afghanistan.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c07dr898e3po

Indonesian police have uncovered an international baby trafficking syndicate which has allegedly sold at least 25 infants to buyers in Singapore since 2023.

Authorities made 13 arrests related to the syndicate in the Indonesian cities of Pontianak and Tangerang this week, and rescued six babies who were about to be trafficked – all of whom are around a year old.

“The babies were first housed in Pontianak and had their immigration documents arranged before being sent to Singapore,” West Java Police’s director of general criminal investigation, Surawan, told BBC News Indonesia.

BBC News has contacted Singapore Police and Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs for comment, but received no response.

The syndicate’s alleged modus operandi was to target parents or expectant mothers who allegedly did not want to raise their child – in some cases initiating contact via Facebook before pivoting to more private channels such as WhatsApp, according to police.

“Some babies were even reserved while still in the womb,” Surawan said. “Once born, the delivery costs were covered, then compensation money was given, and the baby was taken.”

Police said members of the group included recruiters who tracked down babies to be trafficked; caretakers and people who housed them; and others who prepared fraudulent civil documents such as family cards and passports, he explained.

After being taken from their mothers, the babies were given to caretakers for two to three months before being sent to Jakarta and then Pontianak, where their birth certificates, passports, and documents were prepared, police said.

The babies were sold for between 11 million Indonesian rupiah ($673; £502) and 16 million Indonesian rupiahs each, they added.

According to some of those arrested, the syndicate sold at least 12 male and 13 female babies domestically and abroad – most of them having come from various districts and cities in the Indonesian province of West Java.

Indonesian police on Thursday said that their “immediate task” was to find the adopters in Singapore.

“We will cross-check the data with the babies who departed, so we know exactly who departed, who accompanied them, when they departed, and who the adopters there are,” Surawan told reporters.

Most of the information gathered by police indicated that the babies had changed nationality, he added, noting that authorities were still looking for their passports.

Surawan earlier told BBC Indonesia that the babies were obtained through agreements between the traffickers and the parents, and that none so far had been taken by kidnapping. Parents who reported their child as kidnapped did so because the broker had failed to pay them, he said.

It is suspected that at least some parents may have agreed to sell their children due to financial hardship. They too could be charged with a criminal offence, Surawan said.

“If it is proven there was an agreement between the parents and the perpetrators, they can be charged with child protection crimes and human trafficking offenses,” he explained.

Police in Indonesia have requested assistance from Interpol and Singaporean police to arrest syndicate members who are still abroad, as well as buyers.

“We will list the perpetrators as wanted persons,” Surawan explained. “In addition, we will issue a red notice or request law enforcement in those countries to arrest them.”

Child trafficking syndicates typically target women in desperate situations, according to Ai Rahmayanti, commissioner of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI).

“For example, they became pregnant due to sexual violence, abandonment by the husband, or unwanted pregnancies from casual relationships,” she told BBC News Indonesia.

Abortion is illegal in Indonesia except under certain conditions, such as medical emergencies and pregnancies resulting from rape.

Ai Rahmayanti said baby or child trafficking syndicates often pose as maternity clinics, orphanages or social shelters that appear to care for vulnerable women and children.

“These clinics or shelters use language that sounds compassionate at first, such as ‘you can give birth and take your baby home’. But in reality, they offer money and illegally transfer custody of the baby,” she explains.

While there is no official data on the numbers of babies being sold in Indonesia, KPAI’s own data on human trafficking crimes indicates that the trend is persistent and growing.

While in 2020 KPAI recorded 11 cases of children as victims of illegal adoption, in 2023 it recorded 59 cases related to child abduction and trafficking under the guise of illegal adoption in 2023.

One of the most recent cases that KPAI advocated occurred in 2024, when babies were found in the process of being sold in locations such as Depok, West Java and Bali.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq536dew1l4o

Torrential rains in Pakistan’s Punjab province have killed at least 63 people and injured 290 in the 24 hours since downpours started on Wednesday morning.

Most of the victims were crushed by collapsing buildings, while the rest either drowned or were electrocuted, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.

Authorities in the city of Rawalpindi, next to the capital Islamabad, declared Thursday a public holiday to keep people at home, while those living near a swelling river which runs through the city have been asked to evacuate.

The latest deaths take the nationwide toll to nearly 180 since the monsoon started in late June. More than half of them were children.

The floods have closed several expressways throughout Punjab and either cancelled or delayed dozens of flights.

On Thursday, the province’s Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said an emergency had been declared in a number of areas. “Government institutions are working with utmost effort,” she wrote in a post on X, urging residents to abide by safety guidelines.

In Chakwal, a city deluged by 400mm of rainfall in the past day, photographs and video showed rescue boats trying to locate people stranded in floodwaters.

Military helicopters can also be seen circling heavily flooded areas.

Punjab authorities have warned that more rains and flash floods are expected throughout the weekend. Thousands of rescuers across the province have been put on standby.

Pakistan, which has a population of nearly 250 million, is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change.

It bears the brunt of two major weather systems – one can cause high temperatures and drought, while the other brings monsoon rains.

Pakistan is also home to more than 13,000 glaciers which have been melting at an accelerated pace.

In 2022, monsoon floods submerged a third of the country and killed 1,700 people. They also left the country with economic damages exceeding $30bn.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gkygz3vg5o

The House is expected late Thursday to approve President Donald Trump’s request to claw back about $9 billion for public broadcasting and foreign aid as Republicans target institutions and programs they view as bloated or out of step with their agenda.

The White House had described the package as a test case and said that if Congress went along, more would come. The House’s approval would mark the first time in decades that a president has successfully submitted a rescissions request to Congress. Trump undertook a similar effort in his first term, but the bill faltered in the Senate.

Opponents voiced concerns not only about the programs targeted, but about Congress ceding its spending powers to the executive branch as investments approved on a bipartisan basis are being subsequently canceled on party-line votes. No Democrats supported the measure when it passed the Senate, 51-48, in the early morning hours Thursday. Two Republicans also voted no.

The House has already approved a previous version of the bill. But it now needs to take up the version that passed the Senate before it can be sent to Trump’s desk for his signature.

“We need to get back to fiscal sanity and this is an important step,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters shortly after the chamber opened.

The package cancels about $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and nearly $8 billion for a variety of foreign aid programs, many designed to help countries where drought, disease and political unrest endure.

The effort to claw back a sliver of federal spending comes just weeks after Republicans also muscled through Trump’s tax and spending cut bill without any Democratic support. The Congressional Budget Office has projected that measure will increase the U.S. debt by about $3.3 trillion over the coming decade.

A heavy blow to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

The cancellation of $1.1 billion for the CPR represents the full amount it is due to receive during the next two budget years.

The White House says the public media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense.

The corporation distributes more than two-thirds of the money to more than 1,500 locally operated public television and radio stations, with much of the remainder assigned to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service to support national programming.

Democrats were unsuccessful in restoring the cut in the Senate.

Lawmakers with large rural constituencies have voiced particular concern about what the cuts to public broadcasting could mean for some local public stations in their state.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said the stations are “not just your news — it is your tsunami alert, it is your landslide alert, it is your volcano alert.”

Later in the day Tuesday, as the Senate debated the bill, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the remote Alaska Peninsula, triggering tsunami warnings on local public broadcasting stations that advised people to get to higher ground.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he secured a deal from the White House that some money administered by the Interior Department would be repurposed to subsidize Native American public radio stations in about a dozen states.

But Kate Riley, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, a network of locally owned and operated stations, said that deal was “at best a short-term, half-measure that will still result in cuts and reduced service at the stations it purports to save.”

Inside the cuts to foreign aid

Among the foreign aid cuts are $800 million for a program that provides emergency shelter, water and family reunification for refugees and $496 million to provide food, water and health care for countries hit by natural disasters and conflicts. There also is a $4.15 billion cut for programs that aim to boost economies and democratic institutions in developing nations.

Democrats argued that the Republican administration’s animus toward foreign aid programs would hurt America’s standing in the world and create a vacuum for China to fill.

“When we retreat from the world diplomatically and through our assistance to vulnerable people, America will be alone, without allies, in a less stable world,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. “And you know who will come out ahead? China. Russia. Iran.”

The White House argued that many of the cuts would incentivize other nations to step up and do more to respond to humanitarian crises and that the rescissions best served the American taxpayer.

“The money that we’re clawing back in this rescissions package is the people’s money. We ought not to forget that,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chair of the House Rules Committee.

After objections from several Republicans, Senate GOP leaders took out a $400 million cut to PEPFAR, a politically popular program to combat HIV/AIDS that is credited with saving millions of lives since its creation under Republican President George W. Bush.

Looking ahead to future spending fights

Democrats say the bill upends a legislative process that typically requires lawmakers from both parties to work together to fund the nation’s priorities.

Triggered by the official rescissions request from the White House, the legislation only needs a simple majority vote to advance instead of the 60 votes usually required to break a filibuster. That meant Republicans could use their 53-47 majority to pass it along party lines.

In the end, two Republican senators, Murkowski and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, joined with Democrats in voting against the bill, though a few other Republicans also raised concerns about the process.

“Let’s not make a habit of this,” said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi, who voted for the bill but said he was wary that the White House wasn’t providing enough information on what exactly will be cut.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/pbs-npr-budget-cuts-trump-republicans-b0044285659ab708e23eb2dc2f3eabfa

The Los Angeles lowlife accused of killing “American Idol” executive Robin Kaye in cold blood was previously accused of pulling a knife on his stepfather and threatening his own mother and sister — but only spent six months in custody before his charges were dismissed.

Raymond Boodarian, 22, threatened his stepfather with a blade in November 2023 in the first in a series of busts in just eight months, according to KABC and court documents.

He was arrested in February 2023 for misdemeanor battery and threatening his mother and sister — and then again in June 2024, the network reported.

Details of the latter collar weren’t clear.

Despite pledging not to engage in conflict overseas, the US president has sharply escalated attacks

Donald Trump has overseen nearly as many air strikes in the first five months of his second term as Joe Biden launched in his entire presidency.

The US president’s onslaughts on Houthi militants in Yemen and jihadists in Somalia have been more ferocious than Mr Biden’s, and he has ordered strikes on Iraq, Syria and most recently, Iran.

After campaigning on a pledge to end American involvement in military conflicts, he has sharply escalated the country’s air campaigns, according to the data from Acled (Armed Conflict Location and Event Data), which maps conflicts.

Mr Trump has overseen 529 air strikes since his inauguration, compared with 555 over the entire four years of the previous administration.

Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Somalia were already being targeted by the previous administration, but Mr Trump opened up a new front with strikes on Iran’s nuclear programme.

“The US military is moving faster, hitting harder, and doing so with fewer constraints,” said Prof Clionadh Raleigh, chief executive of Acled, highlighting the intensity of the bombing campaigns.

Mr Trump insists that his intense approach ensures “peace through strength”, an expression often attributed to Ronald Reagan.

“We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars we end and, perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into. It’s called peace through strength,” Mr Trump said in a speech during his inaugural ball.

He has not struck Libya or Afghanistan, and air strikes are often seen as a more clinical alternative to putting US boots on the ground as Barack Obama did.

But the new data have been published amid tensions within Mr Trump’s Make America Great Again (Maga) base over whether he should be pursuing foreign military interventions at all.

Prominent Maga figures, including Tucker Carlson, last month complained that striking Iran ran against Mr Trump’s “America First” isolationist promises.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a high-profile Maga loyalist and critic of intervention, said there was a “very big divide” in Mr Trump’s base over the issue and that she was “sick of” foreign entanglements.

She said last month: “I got elected on the exact same campaign promises that President Trump got elected on. We promised no more foreign wars, no more regime change.”

Yet polling at the time of the strikes showed Mr Trump’s base in fact strongly backed him, with 84 per cent of Maga supporters agreeing with the strikes, including 70 per cent who strongly supported them.

That compared with 72 per cent of traditional Republicans supporting the strikes, with 49 per cent strongly supporting them.

Prof Raleigh said the new data showed that America was not “stepping back” under Mr Trump.

She said: “Trump’s preference for engagement begs the question: does this contradict his promise to end America’s wars – or are the foreign strikes how he wishes to keep that promise?

“The recent air strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites have been framed as a major turning point in US foreign policy. But if you take a step back, they don’t stand out – they fit.

“In just five months, Trump has overseen nearly as many US air strikes as were recorded across the entire four years of the previous administration.

“The US military is moving faster, hitting harder, and doing so with fewer constraints. Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and now Iran are all familiar terrain, but this isn’t about geography – it’s about frequency.”

The great majority of Mr Trump’s strikes have been in Yemen, where in March he dramatically escalated the US air campaign against Iran-backed Houthi militants menacing Red Sea shipping.

The militants have proven stubbornly resilient to US firepower and last week sank two ships, despite having been hit by 470 strikes since January, according to the Acled data. This came at a cost of more than $1 billion to the US military.

Mr Trump has also ramped up strikes in Somalia, where US forces have been hitting the local Islamic State group and also al-Shabaab.

In March, the White House announced that it had killed an Isis attack planner in Somalia.

Mr Trump said jubilantly: “Our Military has targeted this Isis attack planner for years, but Biden and his cronies wouldn’t act quickly enough to get the job done.

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/07/16/trump-airstrike-tally-matches-biden-four-year-total/

A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Alaska, according to the US Geological Survey. The authorities initially issued a tsunami warning but later downgraded it to an advisory, and then withdrew it entirely.

A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Alaska on Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said.

The earthquake took place at approximately 12:37pm local time (2037 GMT) with the epicenter situated some 54 miles (87 kilometers) south of the island town of Sand Point, with a depth of 20.1 kilometers, the USGS said.

Tsunami warning withdrawn
Authorities initially issued a tsunami warning, later downgraded it to an advisory, and eventually withdrew the advisory.

“The Tsunami Advisory is canceled for the coastal areas of South Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula,” said the National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC) said two hours after the earthquake.

According to the USGS, the initial earthquake was followed by over a dozen aftershocks, the strongest of which measured 5.2 in magnitude.

A small tsunami, reaching a maximum height of 0.2 feet (6.1 centimeters), was recorded at Sand Point.

People advised to move away from bodies of water
The NTWC had earlier issued an advisory for “South Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula, Pacific coasts from Kennedy Entrance, Alaska (40 miles southwest of Homer) to Unimak Pass, Alaska (80 miles northeast of Unalaska).”

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/earthquake-strikes-off-alaska-prompting-tsunami-advisory/a-73305153

US Attorney General Pam Bondi had suggested in February that a supposed client list was sitting on her desk

A TOP Republican ally of President Donald Trump has called for the release of the files related to disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

It comes as Trump insisted the much-hyped files are “pretty boring” amid a slew of conspiracies surrounding the death of Epstein – and his so-called client list.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) last week announced that Epstein died by suicide – although conspiracy theories are to the contrary.

The DoJ added that there was no “incriminating client list” to be revealed to the public – and no further revelations would be made regarding the case.

But Trump’s supporters have been left divided over a lack of clarity regarding the hyped records in Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation.

Many within his MAGA movement allege that the files about the paedophile’s crimes have been withheld to protect big names.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson said he supported the release of the files – just days after the Justice Department said the matter was effectively closed.

Speaking on a podcast with Benny Johnson, the Republican said: “It’s a very delicate subject, but we should put everything out there and let the people decide it.

“I’m for transparency,” he added.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi had suggested in February that Epstein’s supposed client list was sitting on her desk waiting for review.

Though last week she appeared to suggest she’d been referring generally to the Epstein case file, not a client list.

Bondi said: “I did an interview on Fox, and it’s been getting a lot of attention because I said I was asked a question about the client list, and my response was, it’s sitting on my desk to be reviewed.

“Meaning the file, along with the JFK, MLK files as well. That’s what I meant by that.”

Conservative figures have since demanded to see all the documents related to Epstein’s crimes, even as Trump has tried to put the issue to bed.

Last night, Trump said the DoJ should release all “credible” information from its probe into the notorious sex criminal.

Though he repeated his claim that the so-called Epstein files were “made up” by his Democratic predecessors in the White House – even though he said multiple times during the election campaign that he would “probably” release them.

He told reporters in the White House: “I don’t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody.

“It’s pretty boring stuff.”

THE ‘EPSTEIN FILES’
One key theory centres on a rumoured client list of individuals who committed sex offences alongside Epstein.

The Trump administration has insisted that no such list exists.

Trump was himself dragged into the conspiracy theories after his former advisor Elon Musk claimed in June — in a now-deleted X post — that Trump was “in the Epstein files”.

His administration’s efforts to appease demands for a full disclosure of the files have largely fallen short.

A bundle released in February that promised to shed light on the Epstein case contained little new information.

Sceptics also allege suspicious circumstances in Epstein’s death, such as the security cameras around his cell apparently malfunctioning on the night he died, alongside other irregularities.

An almost 11-hour video published this month to dispel theories that Epstein was murdered fell flat.

The camera angle showed a section of the New York prison on the night Epstein died – but appeared to be missing a minute of footage, fueling more speculation online.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/14723572/trump-ally-calls-release-epstein-files/

Interim leader Yunus says Awami League members committed ‘heinous act’ in attempt to disrupt rally of student-led NCP.

Violence broke out Wednesday in the southern town of Gopalganj when members of Hasina’s Awami League tried to disrupt a rally by the National Citizens Party (NCP), which is made up of students who spearheaded the unrest that toppled the leader last year.

TV footage showed pro-Hasina activists armed with sticks attacking police and setting vehicles on fire as NCP leaders arrived at the new party’s “March to Rebuild the Nation” programme commemorating the uprising.

Monoj Baral, a nurse at the Gopalganj District Hospital, told the news agency AFP that three people were killed. Local media, including the English-language Daily Star, said that four had died.

One of the dead was identified by Baral as Ramjan Sikdar. The other two were taken away from the hospital by their families, said Baral.

Authorities imposed an overnight curfew in the district.

Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who replaced Hasina three days after her overthrow last year, said that the attempt by the former leader’s supporters to foil the NCP rally was “a shameful violation of their fundamental rights”.

“This heinous act … will not go unpunished,” said a statement from the Nobel Peace Prize laureate’s office.

Hasnat Abdullah, an NCP coordinator, said rally attendees took refuge at a police station after being attacked. “We don’t feel safe at all. They threatened to burn us alive,” he told AFP.

New political force
Bangladesh has been in political turmoil since Hasina was toppled nearly a year ago.

Hasina, who fled to India following a student-led uprising last August, faces several charges. This month, she was sentenced in absentia to six months in prison for contempt of court by the country’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT).

Gopalganj is a politically sensitive district because the mausoleum of Hasina’s father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is located there.

Rahman, the country’s founding president, was buried there after he was assassinated along with most of his family members in a military coup in 1971.

Hasina would go on to contest elections from the constituency.

The NCP march was launched on July 1 across all districts in Bangladesh as part of its drive to position itself as a new force in Bangladeshi politics.

The country’s political landscape has been largely dominated by two dynastic families: Hasina’s Awami League party and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.

Yunus has said an election will be held in April next year.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/16/bangladesh-police-clash-with-pro-hasina-activists-at-least-three-dead

Tomorrowland’s main stage burns down 48 hours before opening; 1,000 staff evacuated safely. Firefighters battle blaze as festival’s future remains uncertain.

Tomorrowland featival fire: A massive fire destroyed Tomorrowland’s main stage just 48 hours before the world-famous electronic music festival was set to open in Boom, Belgium. Dramatic videos showed flames consuming the elaborate “World of Orbyz”-themed structure as fireworks exploded within the blaze, though their connection to the cause remains unclear.

Around 1,000 staff members were evacuated safely, with no injuries reported despite the stage being “completely destroyed” . Thick black smoke billowed over the town, prompting emergency warnings for residents to close windows and doors.

Watch the Viral Video of the Fire at Tomorrowland Mainstage

Over 50 firefighters from Boom and neighboring Antwerp rushed to contain the inferno, preventing it from spreading to nearby woods. Tomorrowland spokesperson Debby Wilmsen confirmed safety as the top priority, coordinating with emergency crews as Boom’s mayor, Jeroen Baert, cut short his German vacation to manage the crisis.

Fire officials assured locals the smoke wasn’t toxic, though structural damage appeared severe – social media images revealed only charred metal frames remained where the iconic stage once stood.

Source: https://www.livemint.com/news/india-needs-1-5-trillion-to-meet-2030-climate-and-energy-goals-deloitte-11752761356895.html

Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT.O), will cut 500 jobs and add a serious warning on the label of its muscle-disorder gene therapy Elevidys, the drugmaker said on Wednesday, following the recent deaths of two patients who were on the medicine.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked Sarepta to include the “black-box” warning, its most serious, for the risk of acute liver injury and liver failure in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who can walk.

Sarepta shares shot up 33% in extended trading, as the company also said its restructuring efforts would reduce annual costs by about $400 million in 2026.
As part of the restructuring, the company promoted insider Ryan Wong as chief financial officer. Wong was serving as senior vice president of investor relations.
It has also halted development of several gene therapies for a group of muscle wasting disorders called limb-girdle muscular dystrophy.
The company has faced heightened regulatory scrutiny after two patients treated with the muscle disorder therapy died from acute liver failure, casting doubts on the treatment’s safety and future demand. Both patients were non-ambulatory, or unable to walk independently.

“We saw some canceled appointments after the second event, and that obviously results in some hesitancy (among physicians),” CEO Doug Ingram said on a call with analysts.
The company said it plans to submit a proposal to the FDA to treat non-ambulatory patients with a drug that suppresses the immune system prior to infusion with Elevidys.
Evercore ISI analysts said the announcement removes the downside scenario of the therapy getting pulled from the market for ambulatory patients.
The company had suspended its Elevidys sales forecast for 2025 and halted shipments to non-ambulatory patients last month.
Sarepta said it has “more work to do and more dialogue to be had with the FDA” to continue shipping for non-ambulatory patients.
While it did not issue formal guidance on Wednesday, Sarepta forecast annual Elevidys revenues of at least $500 million from the ambulant population through 2027, calling it a “stress test”.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/sarepta-cut-500-jobs-after-gene-therapy-setback-2025-07-16/

Sarah Michelle Gellar shut down Jennifer Love Hewitt feud rumors after the duo didn’t take photos together at the “I Know What You Did Last Summer” premiere.

The actress took to Instagram to address fan speculation after Hewitt was missing from Gellar’s photo dump with the cast, including her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr., at the Los Angeles premiere on Tuesday night.

“The beef is real,” one person commented, as another added, “It makes me so sad there is ZERO recognition for Jennifer Lover Hewitt.”

Gellar, 48, swiftly responded to the critics in the comments, writing, “For everyone asking — I never got to see @jenniferlovehewitt who is fantastic in the movie.”

“I was inside with my kids when the big carpet happened,” she added. “And unfortunately JLH didn’t come to the after party.

“If you have ever been to one of these it’s crazy. I sadly didn’t get pics with most of the cast. But that doesn’t change how amazing I think they all are. Unfortunately some things happen only in real life and not online.”

Several fans praised Gellar for addressing feud speculation, with one chiming in, “Thanks for clearing that up queen, was making me a little sad because I love you both so much!”

“Thanks queen, the fans deserved it ❤,” another chimed in.

Others defended the “Scooby Doo” star, adding, “No need to explain. Some people just love to feed into false drama.”

“These people are very disturbing, you can take a picture with whoever you want, queen♥️,” a fan added.

Gellar showed her support for Prinze Jr., 49, in his role in the latest “IKWYDLS” film, which saw him and Hewitt, 46, reprise their roles as Ray Bronson and Julie James, respectively.

The trio starred alongside each other in the original 1997 film, but Gellar, who portrayed Helen Shivers, was killed off.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/07/16/celebrity-news/sarah-michelle-gellar-addresses-jennifer-love-hewitt-beef-rumors-after-ikwydls-premiere/

Israel’s military struck the Syrian defence ministry in Damascus and government forces in southern Syria on Wednesday, as deadly sectarian fighting in the mostly Druze province of Suweida continued for a fourth day.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said its forces were “working to save our Druze brothers and to eliminate the regime’s gangs”. The Syrian foreign ministry accused Israel of “treacherous aggression”.

More than 300 people are reported to have been killed in Suweida since Sunday, when clashes between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes erupted.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was “very worried” about the violence in the south but believed it would end within hours.

“We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight,” he wrote on X on Wednesday evening.

Syria’s foreign ministry said the country “welcomes the efforts made by the US and Arabian sides” to “resolve the current crisis” peacefully.

Israel has not yet commented on the ceasefire bid.

Syrian troops have started to withdraw from Suweida, according to Syria’s state news agency Sana.

It says the military is leaving the city as part of an agreement between the Syrian government and the Suweida’s religious leaders, following the “completion of the army’s pursuit of outlaw groups”.

The Israeli military began striking Syrian security forces and their weapons on Monday, after they were deployed to the city of Suweida for the first time since Sunni Islamist-led rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in December.

Minority groups including the Druze – whose religion is an offshoot of Shia Islam with its own unique identity and beliefs – are suspicious of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and his government, despite his pledges to protect them.

Their fears have been heightened by several outbreaks of sectarian violence over the past eight months, including one in May in which dozens of people were reportedly killed in clashes between Druze, security forces, and allied Islamist fighters in Damascus and Suweida.

In the wake of that fighting, the government reached an agreement with Druze militias to hire local security forces in Suweida province from their ranks.

Netanyahu has said he is committed to preventing harm to the Druze in Syria because of their deep ties to those living in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Wednesday afternoon that “the warnings in Damascus” had ended and that the Israeli military would “continue to operate vigorously in Suweida to destroy the forces that attacked the Druze until they withdraw completely”.

He later posted that “the painful blows have begun”, above a video clip showing a TV presenter diving under a desk live on camera as an Israeli air strike hit the nearby entrance to the Syrian defence ministry in Umayyad Square, in central Damascus.

Fadi Al Halabi, a London-based Syrian filmmaker who is visiting Damascus, said he was nearby when he heard the Israeli fighter jets approach.

“People’s faces were so afraid. Everyone started running [in] the street. No-one knew where to go. Suddenly the air strike[s] began, targeting some of the most crowded areas, including the ministry of defence,” he told the BBC.

The Israeli military said it also struck a “military target in the area” of the presidential palace in the capital, as well as armoured vehicles loaded with heavy machine guns and weapons on their way to Suweida, and firing posts and weapons storage facilities in southern Syria.

Syria’s foreign ministry said the strikes targeted government institutions and civilian facilities in Damascus and Suweida and killed “several innocent civilians”.

“This flagrant assault, which forms part of a deliberate policy pursued by the Israeli entity to inflame tensions, spread chaos, and undermine security and stability in Syria, constitutes a blatant violation of the United Nations Charter and international humanitarian law,” it added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, meanwhile reported that the humanitarian situation in Suweida city had rapidly deteriorated.

It cited sources as saying there were clashes in several area of the city and that tanks had attacked the national hospital, causing panic among the scores of casualties from the fighting being treated there. They also said there were acute shortages of water and medical supplies.

Later, the Syrian health ministry said government forces had entered the hospital and found “dozens of bodies” after “outlaw groups withdrew”, according to the official Sana news agency.

A man named Hosam told the BBC he was in the centre of Suweida city and had witnessed civilians coming under fire from artillery and snipers.

“I lost my neighbour today on the street. One of the snipers shot him. We tried to [get an] ambulance [to take] him to hospital, but we couldn’t,” he said.

The SOHR says more than 300 people have been killed since Sunday in Suweida province.

They include 69 Druze fighters and 40 civilians, 27 of whom were summarily killed by interior ministry and defence ministry forces, according to the group.

At least 165 members of the government forces and 18 Bedouin tribal fighters have also been killed in the clashes, while 10 members of government forces have been killed in Israeli strikes, it says.

The BBC is not able to verify the SOHR’s casualty figures.

The fighting between Bedouin tribes and Druze militias in Suweida is said to have been sparked by the abduction of a Druze merchant on the highway to Damascus last Friday.

On Sunday, armed Druze fighters reportedly encircled and later seized a neighbourhood of Suweida city that is inhabited by Bedouin. The clashes soon spread into other parts of Suweida province, with tribesmen reportedly launching attacks on nearby Druze towns and villages.

Syria’s interior ministry later announced that its forces and those of the defence ministry would intervene and impose order, saying the “dangerous escalation comes in light of the absence of relevant official institutions”.

Earlier this year, Israel’s prime minister demanded the complete demilitarisation of Suweida and two other southern provinces. He said Israel saw President Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as a threat. HTS is a former al-Qaeda affiliate that is still designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN and UK, but no longer by the US.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp90l77187zo

A fresh wave of deadly sectarian violence has rocked Syria, putting into focus the country’s fragile security landscape as the new government attempts to impose its authority over the fractured territory.

On Sunday 13 July, the reported abduction of a merchant from the Druze minority sparked days of deadly clashes between Druze militias and Sunni Bedouin fighters in southern Syria.

Later on Tuesday 15 July, Israel intervened militarily, saying its forces were seeking to protect the Druze and to eliminate pro-government forces accused of attacking them in Suweida. At least 300 people are reported to have been killed in Suweida since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The violence is the first in the Druze-majority province of Suweida since fighting in April and May between Druze fighters and Syria’s new security forces killed dozens of people. Prior to this, clashes in Syria’s coastal provinces in March were said to have killed hundreds of members of the Alawite minority, to which former ruler Bashar al-Assad belongs.

The deadly unrest, along with the violent Israeli strikes, have re-ignited fears of a security breakdown in Syria, as the country grapples with the fallout from over a decade of civil war, and the recent Islamist-led rebel takeover of Damascus in December 2024. Syria’s current leader, former jihadist Ahmed al-Sharaa, has vowed to protect Syria’s minorities.

An “unbelievably rare” piece of Mars – the largest ever found on Earth – has sold for $4.3m (£3.2m) at a New York auction on Wednesday.

The meteorite known as NWA 16788 weighs 54lb (24.5kg) and is nearly 15in (38.1cm) long, according to Sotheby’s.

It was discovered in a remote region of Niger in November 2023 and is 70% larger than the next biggest piece of Mars that has been recovered, the auction house said.

Meteorites are the remains of rock left after an asteroid or comet passes through Earth’s atmosphere.

Sotheby’s auction house described the meteorite, a reddish brown rock, as “unbelievably rare”. Only about 400 Martian meteorites have ever been found on Earth.

“This is the largest piece of Mars on planet Earth. The odds of this getting from there to here are astronomically small,” Cassandra Hatton, vice-chairman of science and natural history at Sotheby’s, said in a video posted online.

“Remember that approximately 70% of Earth’s surface is covered in water. So we’re incredibly lucky that this landed on dry land instead of the middle of the ocean where we could actually find it.”

It remains unclear where the meteorite will end up as information about the sale will remain private.

Additional taxes and fees brought the total price of the rock up to about $5.3m, Sotheby’s said.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg5z34e3e6vo

Singapore tops the 2025 Julius Baer Lifestyle Index as the world’s most expensive city for luxury spending, followed by London and Hong Kong. The report analyses high-end spending habits of the ultra-wealthy, with rising costs driven by inflation and global economic shifts. New York, Zurich, Monaco, and Shanghai also feature among the top 10 luxury cities.

If your idea of a good time involves designer shopping sprees, Michelin-star meals, and the occasional diamond-studded indulgence, then you might want to check your bank balance before booking a flight to Singapore. In the ever-shifting game of global luxury, where cities compete not for affordability but for extravagance, Singapore has once again snagged the crown as the most expensive city in the world for luxury living. And this isn’t a one-time fluke — the city has now topped Julius Baer’s Global Wealth and Lifestyle Report for the third consecutive year. That’s three years of unrivalled opulence, where a pair of designer heels could set you back more than your rent, and a wellness retreat might cost as much as a small car.
But hold onto your tailored suits — there’s a twist in this year’s rankings. London, with all its rainy charm and understated elegance, has leapfrogged past Hong Kong to claim the second spot. Yes, the British capital has become dearer than ever for those looking to live lavishly. And let’s just say it’s not the cups of tea or black cabs that are pushing prices skyward.
The rankings come courtesy of Swiss private bank Julius Baer, whose annual Global Wealth and Lifestyle Index doesn’t just look at your typical cost-of-living metrics. Instead, it crunches the numbers on the lifestyle choices of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) — think private schooling, Botox, fine wine, luxury handbags, and yachts. In other words, it’s a peek into the spending habits of the 1% of the 1%.

A Republican US senator expressed concern for the 50-day period and said that “Putin would try to use the 50 days to win the war, or to be better positioned to negotiate a peace agreement.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday warned that Brazil, China and India could be hit very hard by secondary sanctions if they continued to do business with Russia, something which US President Donald Trump had been repeating for a while. Rutte said this in a meeting with senators in the US Congress.
The remark came a day after President Donald Trump announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened “biting” secondary tariffs of 100% on the buyers of Russian exports unless there is a peace deal in 50 days.
“My encouragement to these three countries, particularly is, if you live now in Beijing, or in Delhi, or you are the president of Brazil, you might want to take a look into this, because this might hit you very hard,” Rutte told reporters, after meeting Trump on Monday, reported Reuters.

“So please make the phone call to Vladimir Putin and tell him that he has to get serious about peace talks, because otherwise this will slam back on Brazil, on India and on China in a massive way,” Rutte warned.
Republican US Senator Thom Tillis expressed concern for the 50-day period and said that “Putin would try to use the 50 days to win the war, or to be better positioned to negotiate a peace agreement after having murdered and potentially collected more ground as a basis for negotiation”.

“So we should look at the current state of Ukraine today and say, no matter what you do over the next 50 days, any of your gains are off the table,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Rutte said Europe would find the money to ensure Ukraine was in the best possible position during the peace talks, adding that under the new agreement with Trump, the US would now “massively” supply Ukraine with weapons “not just air defense, also missiles, also ammunition paid for by the Europeans.”

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/india/nato-chief-mark-rutte-sanction-warning-vladimir-putin-to-india-brazil-china-donald-trump-make-a-call-article-152286855

Jennifer Lopez vowed to be done with marriage after going through four divorces.

While performing onstage for her “Up All Night” tour in Europe, the hitmaker appeared to be responding to a fan sign that read, “J Lo, marry me?”

“I think I’m done with that,” she quipped, per a fan video. “I’ve tried that a few times.”

While Lopez, 55, didn’t share specifics, she was famously first married to actor Ojani Noa, 51, from 1997 to 1998.

The “On the Floor” songstress then went on to tie the knot to Cris Judd, 55, in 2001 before they split in 2003.

Her longest marriage was her 10-year union to fellow singer Marc Anthony, 56, from 2004 to 2014, with whom she shares 17-year-old twins.

Similarly to Lopez, the “Vivir Mi Vida” crooner has been married four times, with his current wife being 26-year-old Nadia Ferreira.

Anthony, however, admitted to Page Six earlier this year that he was the wrong person to ask about the key to a successful marriage.

Lopez, meanwhile, went on to wed her fourth husband, Ben Affleck, in 2022, after breaking off her first engagement with the “Argo” star in 2004.

The “Selena” star pulled the plug on her marriage with Affleck, 52, in August 2024 after they had been quietly separated since that spring.

They finalized their divorce in January, though they’ve struggled to sell their $68 million marital home in Los Angeles, which they’ve since taken off the market.

Last week, Lopez kicked off the European leg of her tour and declared she was “better than … ever” following her bombshell split from the actor.

The Grammy nominee had been performing her new track “Wreckage of You,” which she shared, “came to [her] when [she] was up all night one night.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/07/16/celebrity-news/jennifer-lopez-makes-surprising-marriage-confession-after-going-through-four-divorces/?_gl=1*1q29f97*_ga*MTgwMjY4OTEzMy4xNzQ0ODU3NDg5*_ga_0DZ7LHF5PZ*czE3NTI3MTcwMDckbzI0NSRnMSR0MTc1MjcxNzA0MCRqMjckbDAkaDA

Twenty-one little kids have been rescued from a California couple who allegedly farmed out their fertilized embryos to multiple surrogate mothers, and then hoarded the children inside a massive mansion — where they suffered repeated abuse, cops say.

Guojun Xuan, 65, and Silvia Zhang, 38, were recently found with 15 children in their Arcadia mansion. Another six of their kids had previously been moved out to other homes, WWNY 7News reported.

Xuan and Zhang own a surrogacy business, but cops say they were allegedly abusing the surrogacy program.

Seventeen of the kids are toddlers or infants, under three years old. The oldest is 13.

All 21 children have been taken in by the Department of Children and Family Services.

Zhang and Xuan have been charged with felony child endangerment and neglect. It was not immediately clear if further charges would be mounted against them for their deceptive arrangements with the surrogates.

Police found the youngsters while investigating complaints of a two-month-old who was brought to the hospital with a traumatic brain injury.

Cops believe the baby was injured by the family’s nanny, 56-year-old Chunmei Li, who is accused of committing alarming abuse.

Cops reviewed surveillance footage from inside the home, allegedly showing Li shaking and hitting the infant. The video also showed other nannies allegedly abusing all of the children, cops said.

“The discipline, both verbal and physical, was severe to the point where it supported the beliefs that child abuse was occurring inside the home,” said Arcadia police Lt. Kollin Cieadlo.

Officials believe all of the children are the biological offspring of husband and wife Xuan and Zhang, and were primarily birthed through multiple women hired through their own surrogacy business.

But the surrogates — hired from around the country — weren’t aware they were carrying the couple’s embryos and that there were multiple other surrogates, according to police.

“Many of the children were birthed through surrogacy and then the male and female at the residence took legal guardianship of those kids,” Cieadlo said.

One of those surrogate mothers said she had no idea Zhang and Xuan were keeping the kids for themselves.

“It’s horrific, it’s disturbing, it’s damaging emotionally,” Pennsylvania surrogate mother Kayla Elliot told KABC.

Elliot has launched a fundraiser page to cover legal costs as she fights to get the baby girl she carried for the couple placed in a permanent home after she discovered the child ended up in foster care.

“These agencies, we’re supposed to trust them and follow their guidance and come to find out this whole thing was a scam, and the parents own the agency – that was not disclosed at all beforehand,” she added.

Two neighbors said Zhang and Xuan’s $4 million, 10,000-square-foot home had a similar layout to a hotel, the outlet reported.“It’s kind of set up like a hotel with a big, giant lobby, and all the rooms are like suites,” neighbor Hobart Young said.

“And like a round, what I can only describe as a hotel desk, and a gentleman sitting behind it like a clerk,” said Art Romero, another neighbor of Zhang and Xuan.

Police are still searching for the nannies involved.

Having so many kids through a surrogacy is not illegal, the executive director of the Center of Bioethics and Culture nonprofit told KABC, but could be easily seen as suspicious.

“That to me smells of trafficking, child trafficking,” director Kallie Fell told the outlet.

“What are the intentions of having that many children at home through these assisted reproductive technologies?”

Zhang denied allegations she and her husband ran a baby smuggling operation, calling the claims “misguided and wrong.”

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/07/16/us-news/cops-seize-21-kids-including-17-toddlers-from-california-couple-who-had-them-all-via-surrogacy/

Most voters don’t like the way President Trump has dealt with an investigative review of the federal case against notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, according to a new poll out Wednesday.

A Quinnipiac University national survey found 63% of American voters disliked the Trump administration’s approach to the probe of Epstein, a onetime acquaintance of the president in the 1990s and early 2000s — who also associated with Hollywood celebrities, business titans and British royalty.

Just 17% approved of the administration’s actions in the Epstein matter, while said 20% they were undecided.

The “systematic review” concluded last week that the 66-year-old committed suicide in his Manhattan jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019, after being charged with trafficking dozens of young girls for sex — and never had a “client list” of powerful associates allegedly implicated in his sickening crimes.

The two-page memo was unsigned but bore FBI and Department of Justice letterhead — despite bureau Deputy Director Dan Bongino clashing with Attorney General Pam Bondi and even threatening to quit over the meager findings and public relations fallout.

“There was … no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions,” the memo noted. “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

Epstein harmed more than “one thousand victims,” according to the DOJ-FBI memo, many of whom were allegedly trafficked to his home in the US Virgin Islands.

The financier’s association with influential figures like Microsoft founder Bill Gates, former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew has been the subject of frenzied online speculation since he was found dead in New York City’s Metropolitan Correctional Center almost six years ago.

The odd circumstances of Epstein’s demise included guards falling asleep and cameras outside of his cell not functioning.

Both former attorneys and medical examiners have also theorized that Epstein may not have committed suicide.

A majority of US voters (53%) disapprove of Bondi’s job performance, while 32% approve, the Quinnipiac survey found.

FBI Director Kash Patel is seen favorably by 36% of voters, but 47% disapprove of his job performance.

A slightly lower 41% disapprove of Bongino, and 34% approve of the job he’s doing.

The DOJ previously released records of flight logs and a contact list the financier kept before his second federal arrest in 2019, most of which had already been made public during the 2021 trial of his now-convicted madam Ghislaine Maxwell.

Epstein evaded more serious charges in the mid-2000s as part of a controversial plea deal for soliciting sex from a minor that was brokered by then-Miami US Attorney Alex Acosta, later Trump’s labor secretary in his first term. Maxwell is currently serving 20 years in prison as Epstein’s accomplice.

Trump reportedly banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago in 2007 following an incident with a club member’s teenage daughter — before he was first charged with sex crimes — but has rebuffed attacks from right-wing critics that his administration mishandled its probe of the deceased sex trafficker.

“I don’t understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody,” the president told reporters outside Air Force One on Tuesday. “It’s pretty boring stuff. It’s sordid, but it’s boring, and I don’t understand why it keeps going.”

“Anything that’s credible, I would say, let them have it,” he added, suggesting Bondi — who before the memo’s release suggested the “client list” was on her desk at main DOJ — could disclose more information.

“In February, I did an interview on Fox, and it’s been getting a lot of attention because I said — I was asked a question about the client list, and my response was, ‘it’s sitting on my desk to be reviewed,’ meaning the [Epstein] file along with the JFK and MLK files as well,” Bondi said during a Cabinet meeting July 8.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other Republicans have urged more transparency on the issue, which could lead to congressional subpoenas for federal records — something Democrats have already pushed in some committee votes.

According to the Quinnipiac poll, 40% of GOP voters approve of how Trump handled the disclosure of information about Epstein in federal files, 36% disapprove and 24% have no opinion.

A whopping 83% of Democrats disapprove of the president’s handling of the Epstein files, while 2% approve.

“Unlike Republicans, they [Democrats] stick together like glue. Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bulls—,’ hook, line, and sinker,” Trump posted on Truth Social Wednesday

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/07/16/us-news/poll-reveals-how-americans-really-feel-about-trumps-handling-of-the-epstein-files/

Comedian Shane Gillis spared no one in his ESPY Awards opening monologue on Wednesday night, roasting everyone from Caitlin Clark to Aaron Rodgers to President Donald Trump to Mets star Juan Soto — and everyone in between.

The star of the Netflix show “Tires” drew some laughs — and boos — in his introduction that ended with an homage to the late comedian Norm Macdonald, who hosted the awards show in 1998.

In the same vein as Macdonald, Gillis kicked off his own hosting duties with a biting monologue.

Gillis’ jokes spanned across a wide variety of topics and at times made the usually buttoned-up crowd uncomfortable — even drawing jeers from the balcony at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

His joke about University of North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick and girlfriend Jordon Hudson seemed to land the best with the crowd.

After making a bookie joke about Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, he pivoted to Belichick.

“A bookie is what Bill Belichick reads to his girlfriend before bedtime,” Gillis said on stage. “They read, ‘Very horny caterpillar.’ ‘The Little Engine That Could But Needed A Pill First’ and of course, the classic, ‘Good Night Boobs.’”

However, other jokes seemed to divide the audience.

“Joe Rogan actually wanted me to be here to host this award show so that I could capture Adam Silver because Joe thinks he’s an alien,” Gillis joked at one point. “And Donald Trump wanted me to be here to capture Juan Soto for the same reason.”

One person from the upper level of the venue audibly booed the joke.

Jokes about WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark also were met with some hesitation, saying that he and the Fever sensation are similar because they’re “both whites from the Midwest who have nailed a bunch of 3s.”

“When Caitlin Clark retires from the WNBA, she’s going to work at a Waffle House so she can continue doing what she loves most, fist fighting black women,” he continued.

And he poked fun at Aaron Rodgers’ tenure with the Jets and the future Pro Football Hall of Famer’s reluctance to get vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Aaron Rodgers did not take the vaccine because he predicted that it would be bad for him and then he joined the New York Jets. So maybe he wasn’t right about everything,” he said.

Gillis ended his monologue by referencing an old Macdonald joke that he used when he hosted the ESPYs — taking aim at O.J. Simpson.

Gillis reworked the joke to fit into 2025.

“Travis Hunter won the Heisman Trophy this year,” he started off. ”He’s the first defensive player since Charles Woodson to win the Heisman. Congratulations, Travis Hunter, winning the Heisman, that’s something they can never take away from you. Unless you kill your wife and a waiter, in which case, they can take that away from you.”

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/07/16/sports/shane-gillis-savage-espys-monologue-took-aim-at-everyone/

A rare oil portrait of Mahatma Gandhi, painted by British artist Clare Leighton in 1931 during the Indian leader’s London visit for the second Round Table Conference, sold for GBP 152,800 (Rs 1.75 crore). The oil portrait, believed to be the only one which Gandhi personally sat for, was auctioned at more than double its estimated price.

A rare portrait of Mahatma Gandhi – for which he agreed to pose while seated – has sold for GBP 152,800 (approximately Rs 1.75 crore) at an auction in London, more than double its initial estimate of GBP 50,000 to GBP 70,000 (approximately Rs 57 lakh to Rs 80 lakh). The portrait was painted in 1931 by British artist Clare Leighton.

According to the auction house, Bonhams, the painting is “thought to be the only oil portrait that Gandhi actually sat for”.

“The painting, thought to be the only oil portrait that Gandhi actually sat for, had never before been offered at auction. It had an estimate of GBP 50,000 – 70,000 and was the top lot of the Travel and Exploration sale, which ran from July 7-15 online,” the auction house said in a statement.

The rare oil painting was in Leighton’s personal collection until her death in 1989, after which it was inherited by her family.

The portrait was created during Gandhi’s 1931 visit to London for the second Round Table Conference, a series of conferences organised by the British government to discuss constitutional reforms in India.

Political journalist Henry Noel Brailsford introduced Leighton to Mahatma Gandhi when he visited London in 1931 to attend the Second Round Table Conference. Brailsford supported India’s Independence movement.

A BRITISH JOURNALIST’s ADULATION FOR GANDHI

President Trump was on a sugar high Wednesday, announcing that Coca-Cola would soon include the real sweet stuff in its US-sold beverages.

“I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so,” Trump, 79, revealed on Truth Social.

“I’d like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola. This will be a very good move by them — You’ll see. It’s just better!”

Coca-Cola uses high fructose corn syrup in its US production, in contrast to cane sugar in countries like Mexico and the United Kingdom

The soda maker switched to high fructose corn syrup in the 1980s over concerns about cost and agricultural requirements, but many Coke fans still prefer the taste with real sugar.

Trump is a well-known avid drinker of Diet Coke — which contains no sugar at all.

“I have never seen a thin person drinking Diet Coke,” the future president famously tweeted in 2012.Trump’s discussions with food manufacturers have been in line with the Make America Healthy Again drive led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy announced Monday that artificial dyes would be phased out of ice cream produced in the US due to their potential role in what the administration has called the “chronic disease epidemic.”

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/07/16/us-news/trump-says-coca-cola-agrees-to-use-real-cane-sugar-in-us-drinks-its-just-better/

A female TV anchor in the Syrian capital city of Damascus was seen running for cover mid-broadcast following a huge explosion in the background of the studio as Israeli forces bombed the country’s Defence Ministry and General Staff headquarters on Wednesday.

The video clip shared by Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz on X, showed the anchor reading news about the latest strikes by the Jewish nation on Syria.

Moments later, a massive explosion is heard with huge plumes of smoke and a giant fireball seen in a building in the background of the building where the studio is situated.

“The painful blows have begun,” the Israeli defence minister wrote in Hebrew as he shared the clip. The anchor escaped unhurt in the incident though.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said it struck near the entrance to the Syrian Ministry of Defense in Damascus.

The IDF confirmed that one of the main targets was the entrance to the Syrian regime’s military headquarters. Israel also launched airstrikes near the presidential palace.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/video-anchor-runs-for-cover-live-on-air-as-israel-launches-airstrikes-on-syria-2756840-2025-07-16

A MAJOR tax change could save car buyers up to $10,000 a year – but only if they meet six specific conditions.

The benefit comes from a sweeping tax cut and spending law signed last week by President Donald Trump.

Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” includes a new deduction for interest on loans used to buy eligible vehicles in the US.

The savings apply only to new cars, and only if they’re made in America.

Buyers can write off up to $10,000 per year in interest costs, a big deal, especially with current auto loan rates hovering above 6%.

To qualify, the vehicle must be purchased between 2025 and 2028.

It also must weigh under 14,000 pounds and be used only for personal, not business, purposes.

Only brand-new vehicles are eligible; used cars don’t count under the final law.

There’s also an income cap.

Single filers making $100,000 or less and joint filers making up to $200,000 can claim the full deduction, Spectrum News reported.

Above those income levels, the benefit drops by $200 for every extra $1,000 earned.

That means higher earners will see less – or none – of the deduction.

There is no official list yet of which vehicles qualify, but the rule requires final assembly in the US.

That means foreign cars won’t count, and even some domestic brands assembled overseas could miss the mark.

Senator Bernie Moreno, a Republican from Ohio, who helped push the law through the Senate, said the goal is to boost US manufacturing.

“We want people driving new cars,” Moreno said.

“This means your fleet is younger. It’s safer. It’s better for the environment.”

Representative Dave Taylor, Republican, from Ohio, who introduced the original House version, said the Senate narrowed the bill.

“It started out with including new and used cars,” he said.

“That’s important for my district because it’s one of the poorest districts in Ohio.”

Taylor said the change limits the help for people who tend to buy used vehicles, about 75% of all buyers.

“Hopefully, that’s a change we can make down the road,” he added.

“But for now, it’s a great step forward.”

WHAT ABOUT POOR PEOPLE?

The law may not help lower-income buyers as much as expected, since 80% of cars under $30,000 are imported and won’t qualify.

Still, for those eligible, the deduction could cut deep into interest payments.

Data from Kelley Blue Book put the average new car price at $47,962 in March 2025.

Experian said the average new car loan rate was 6.73%, which adds up to over $8,600 in interest across five years.

That’s about $144 a month – money buyers could now write off, if they check all six boxes.

Moreno said the change would also help phase out the Biden-era $7,500 tax break on electric vehicles.

“We’re giving relief to working families, working Americans,” he said.

“That equals, by the way, almost an exact $7,500.”

But not everyone agrees it will offset price hikes triggered by rising tariffs.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/motors/14720880/new-tax-law-ev-car-loan-deductions/

Syrian government forces entered the majority Druze city of Sweida on Tuesday (July 15, 2025), the Interior Ministry said, aiming to end clashes with Bedouin tribes that have killed nearly 100 people.

The southern city had been under the control of armed factions from the Druze minority, whose religious leaders said they had approved the deployment of Damascus’s troops and called on fighters to hand over their weapons.

A curfew was to be imposed on the southern city in a bid to halt the violence, which erupted at the weekend and has since spread across Sweida governorate.

Government forces said they intervened to separate the two sides but ended up taking control of several Druze areas around Sweida, an AFP correspondent reported.

Military columns were seen advancing toward Sweida on Tuesday morning, with heavy artillery deployed nearby.

The Defence Ministry said later that they had entered the city, and urged people to “stay home and report any movements of outlaw groups”.

An AFP correspondent heard explosions and gunshots as soldiers moved into Sweida.

Troops had begun heading towards the city on Monday, taking control of at least one Druze village, with one Druze faction saying talks were underway with the Damascus government.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported 99 people killed since the fighting erupted on Sunday — 60 Druze, including four civilians, 18 Bedouin fighters, 14 security personnel and seven unidentified people in military uniforms.

The Defence Ministry reported 18 deaths among the ranks of the armed forces.

While Druze religious authorities had called on Monday evening for a ceasefire and said they didn’t oppose the central government, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, one of the three Druze spiritual leaders in Sweida, opposed the arrival of the security forces and called for “international protection”.

Israel, which has attempted to portray itself as a protector of the Druze in Syria and sees them as potential allies, bombed several Syrian tanks on Monday.

The strikes were “a clear warning to the Syrian regime — we will not allow harm to be done to the Druze in Syria”, said Defence Minister Israel Katz, whose country has its own Druze population.

‘Extreme terror’

The fighting underscores the challenges facing interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, whose Islamist forces ousted president Bashar al-Assad in December after nearly 14 years of civil war.

Syria’s pre-war Druze population was estimated at around 700,000, many of them concentrated in Sweida province.

The Druze, followers of an esoteric religion that split from Shiite Islam, are mainly found in Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

Following deadly clashes with government forces in April and May, local and religious leaders reached an agreement with Damascus under which Druze fighters had been providing security in the province.

“We lived in a state of extreme terror — the shells were falling randomly,” said Abu Taym, a 51-year-old father.

Amal, a 46-year-old woman, said: “We fear a repeat of the coastal scenario”, referring to massacres in March of more than 1,700 mostly Alawite civilians in northwest Syria, where groups affiliated with the government were blamed for most of the killings.

“We are not against the state, but we are against surrendering our weapons without a state that treats everyone the same,” she added.

In a post on X, Syrian Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra urged his troops to “protect your fellow citizens” from “outlaw gangs”, and to “restore stability to Sweida”.

The violence began on Sunday when Bedouin gunmen abducted a Druze vegetable vendor on the highway to Damascus, prompting retaliatory kidnappings.

Source : https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/syrian-forces-enter-druze-city-after-deadly-clashes/article69814002.ece

The Indian government on Tuesday reminded the Bangladesh interim government that renowned filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s ancestral is a symbol of Bangla Rennaissance.

The Indian government on Tuesday reminded the Bangladesh interim government led by Muhammad Yunus that renowned filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s home, whose demolition Yunus’ team ordered, is a symbol of Bangla Renaissance and offered help to repair, restore and reconstruct the landmark.

The historic landmark and the century-old property in Dhaka’s Horikishore Ray Chowdhury Road belonged to Ray’s grandfather, the renowned litterateur Upendra Kishore Ray Chowdhury, whose poems and short stories are taught to children in schools in India’s West Bengal, Assam and Tripura and also in Bangladesh, making it an intrinsic part of Bengali culture.

“We note with profound regret that the ancestral property of noted filmmaker and litterateur Satyajit Ray in Mymensingh, Bangladesh, belonging to his grandfather and eminent litterateur, Upendra Kishor Ray Chowdhury, is being demolished,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Given the building’s landmark status, symbolising Bangla cultural renaissance, it would be preferable to reconsider the demolition and examine options for its repair and reconstruction as a museum of literature and a symbol of the shared culture of India and Bangladesh. The Government of India would be willing to extend cooperation for this purpose,” the ministry further added.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also criticised the decision taken by the interim Bangladesh goverment.

The demolition order by the Bangladesh government has also appeared to anger civil society in Bangladesh where the current interim government has appeared to be lax on Islamists and hardliners who want to erase Bangladesh’s secular credentials and erase its Bengali identity, steering towards a more radical Islamic path.

However, some Bangladeshi activists and citizens are also taking efforts to halt the demolition. “This is the historic house of the Ray family. Although it is not yet listed as an archaeological site, it is a century-old home linked to Satyajit Ray’s family. As part of our survey, such structures can be considered for listing as archaeological sites. That’s why I have appealed to the Shishu Academy for information regarding the demolition. Being a centennial structure, we want this house to be protected,” Sabina Yasmin, field officer of the Department of Archaeology’s Shashilaj Museum, was quoted as saying by Prothom Alo.

“The house was in a pity state for years, cracks developed on its roof… but the authorities concerned never cared for the rich history behind old buildings,” Shamim Ashraf, a poet, told the Dhaka Tribune.

The dilapidated building has remained unused since 2007. After the 1947 Partition, the property passed into government ownership and was converted into the Mymensingh Shishu Academy in 1989.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/india-offers-to-restore-satyajit-rays-ancestral-home-after-demolition-order-in-bangladesh-ws-kl-9442879.html

Activists are calling for a stay-at-home strike as they prepare for the next protest over rising fuel and transport prices. Police used rubber bullets and tear gas when protesters gathered in Luanda on July 12.

Anti-government protests in the Angolan capital Luanda on July 12 were met with a harsh crackdown, resulting in injuries and arrests.

“We recorded several injuries, some serious and requiring medical attention,” Adilson Manuel, an activist and one of the organizers, told DW.

“In addition to the injured, there were also arrests. One protester remains in police custody without a clear reason. He is currently held at the Nova Vida police station and will be handed over to the Public Prosecutor’s Office for questioning.”

The protests began peacefully in Sao Paulo Square, a neighborhood in Luanda. Hundreds of citizens — activists, civil society members, taxi drivers, vendors, students and opposition party members — joined a march organized by a social movement against a government decree that raised fuel prices.

Chants filled the air, including the national anthem and improvised songs such as “First Angolan, second Angolan, always Angolan.” Protesters criticized the ruling MPLA party, carrying signs with slogans like “MPLA drank all the oil,” “We’re tired of eating from the trash,” and “The country is good, but the MPLA is no good.”

The MPLA, or People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola party, has governed Angola continuously since its independence 50 years ago.

Rising prices push Angolans to the limit

Taxi fares increased to 300 kwanzas per trip ($0.33, €0.28), and urban bus fares rose to 200 kwanzas on July 7. This followed a fuel price increase from 300 to 400 kwanzas per liter three days earlier in the country that is one of Africa’s largest oil producers.

In recent years, Angola has cut fuel subsidies, also under pressure from the International Monetary Fund , over the burden it was putting on the state budgets. Though Angola has some of the cheapest gasoline prices in the world even after the removal of the subsidies, street vendors and taxi drivers have borne the brunt of the price hikes, sparking frequent protests.

However, rising fuel prices are not the only critical issue for many Angolans. Just weeks ago, students mobilized to protest government policies.

Schools lack basic necessities such as chairs, desks and toilets. A new youth movement called the “Movimento dos Estudantes Angolanos” (MEA) organized protests and strikes, accusing President Joao Lourenco’s government of ignoring youth concerns. Instead of addressing their needs, the government recently raised university tuition fees.

The young protesters warned: “Either the government changes the situation, or it will be overthrown.”

Broader discontent with ruling party

Also, during the latest protests over fuel prices, many voiced frustrations against Lourenco and the ruling MPLA party. Protesters marching to Largo da Maianga, near the National Assembly, were blocked by police at Primeiro de Maio and Largo da Independencia squares.

“Please help us. We are hungry, the whole country is hungry, but our president is not paying attention to this situation,” Agostinho Kipanda, one of the protesters, told a DW reporter.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/angola-mass-protests-over-rising-prices/a-73271742

If Jensen Huang was hoping to reassure Washington that his company’s advanced artificial intelligence chips won’t be used to supercharge China’s military, his comments likely fell on deaf ears.

“We don’t have to worry about that,” the Nvidia CEO said of America’s greatest fear about his firm’s access to the China market in an interview with CNN. He argued Beijing knows it can’t rely on the US technology, which “could be limited at any time”.

It’s optimistic thinking on his part, given the national security concerns that have fuelled years of semiconductor restrictions.

This risk of China’s dependency on foreign tech was highlighted recently when the US imposed and then lifted export controls on chip design software within the span of a month. The abrupt policy U-turn suggests the restrictions were rolled out to be used as a bargaining chip in trade talks.

But it undoubtedly served as more evidence in Beijing’s mind that it is vulnerable to Washington’s ability to deploy such moves on a moment’s notice. This only spurs its desire to bolster self-reliance.

NVIDIA’S REIGN ON CHINA

Huang’s remarks, notably, came on the eve of a planned trip to China this week, where he is slated to meet senior officials and likely emphasise Nvidia’s commitment to the world’s largest market for semiconductors.

The Santa Clara-based firm plans to launch a new AI chip that has been further modified to meet the ever-tightening controls, the Financial Times reported last week, just months after its previous made-for-China H20 chips were banned.

Nvidia needs to move quickly if it hopes to maintain its reign on the mainland. Domestic giants from Alibaba to Tencent have reportedly been testing alternatives made by Huawei, but most still prefer Nvidia’s offerings. This is because of the difficulty of adopting Huawei’s unique software system after years of creating AI tools on Nvidia’s architecture.

But Huawei is planning a fundamental redesign of its next AI chip that would make it much easier for Chinese tech companies to switch, the Information reported last week. The rework is still in its early stages, but addresses a key hurdle that has prevented many firms from using local chips: It would allow code developers write for Nvidia’s systems to run on Huawei’s hardware.

It’s still a longshot, but if Huawei can pull this off, it would accelerate the local adoption of its tech stack. It also means Huang’s pitch to China would start to lose its allure.

Huawei has signalled global ambitions to unseat Nvidia’s dominance. While the Chinese player can still produce a limited amount of chips compared to the US rival, it is trying to establish a foothold in the Middle East and Southeast Asia to expand its reach.

US HAS FAILED TO STOP CHINA’S AI ASCENDANCY

Huang has complained about the multi-billion-dollar hit to his firm from the export controls, but Nvidia is doing just fine. It even hit a milestone last week, briefly becoming the first company in history to achieve a US$4 trillion market valuation.

In the near term, the chipmaker is the clearest winner in a global AI race marked by who can amass the most amount of computing resources the quickest. By this measure, US restrictions have been successful in slowing China’s AI ascendancy, but they have failed to stop it.

Huang’s top concern seems to be whether his firm can stay in China and maintain its market concentration while further stalling the adoption of Huawei’s products – at home and abroad.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether Huang is correct on the possibility of dual-use military applications for his chips. Tough-on-China tech policies have become a bipartisan rallying cry in Washington, and a spate of cyberattacks linked to Beijing isn’t earning it any goodwill. But there was another point in the wide-ranging CNN interview worth paying attention to.

When asked if it matters whether companies adopt American or Chinese models, Huang said: “In the end, I don’t think it does.” He praised DeepSeek’s open-source R1 model, and added it can be finetuned to address concerns about it being trained in China.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/nvidia-jensen-huang-chips-us-export-control-china-deepseek-5239186