Category: World

Paramedics fought for hours to save Ozzy Osbourne before the Black Sabbath frontman’s death on Tuesday, according to a new report.

A Thames Valley air ambulance landed in a field close to the rocker’s mansion at 10:30 that morning, the Daily Mail claimed.

The outlet alleged medics tried and failed to save the singer’s life for two hours.

A spokesperson for the organization told Daily Mail, “We can confirm that our helicopter was dispatched to provide advanced critical care at an incident near Chalfont St Giles yesterday.”

Locals told the outlet that they worried “something serious was happening” when they saw the chopper.

One noted, “We immediately feared it may be for him as he was known to be in fragile health.”

Osbourne’s family members’s reps have yet to respond to Page Six’s requests for comment.

The Grammy winner’s loved ones released a statement Tuesday revealing Osbourne’s death “with more sadness than mere words can convey.”

They wrote that the Prince of Darkness was “with his family and surrounded by love” in his final moments.

He is survived by wife Sharon Osbourne and their three kids — daughter Aimee, 41, daughter Kelly, 40, and son Jack, 39.

Additionally, Ozzy was the father of son Elliot, daughter Jessica and son Louis from his first marriage to Thelma Riley.

The songwriter’s cause of death has yet to be revealed.

Ozzy suffered from a myriad of health issues prior to his passing, from Parkinson’s disease to limited mobility from a 2003 accident exacerbated by a 2019 fall.

The musician retired from touring in 2023 but did perform a farewell Black Sabbath show with bandmates Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler earlier this month.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/07/23/celebrity-news/medics-worked-on-ozzy-osbourne-for-hours-in-desperate-battle-to-save-rocker-report/

The devil is back.

Meryl Streep was spotted on set of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” for the first time Wednesday, reprising her role as the iconic Miranda Priestly.

Streep was snapped filming in New York City, rocking her character’s signature icy white long pixie cut. The actress looked chic in a long tan trench coat, a purple blouse tucked into a belted brown leather skirt and matching brown heels.

A pair of stylish black sunglasses completed her look as the Runway magazine editor-in-chief.

“The Devil Wears Prada 2” — the long-awaited sequel to the 2006 hit “The Devil Wears Prada” starring Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci — follows Priestly as she navigates her career amid the decline of traditional magazine publishing, according to Variety.

The sequel has her facing off against Blunt’s character, Emily, who’s now a high-powered executive for a luxury group with advertising dollars that Priestly needs.

Hathaway, Blunt and Tucci are all returning to the sequel alongside Streep. Newcomers include Kenneth Branagh (who will play Priestly’s husband), Lucy Liu, Justin Theroux and B.J. Novak.

It’s set to hit theaters May 1, 2026.

Hathaway sent fans into a frenzy Monday, when she shared a TikTok getting ready to film “The Devil Wears Prada 2” in a cerulean blue sweater — a clear call back to the famous shade of knitwear from the original 2006 movie.

Page Six sources also think “Cerulean” is the code name the film is using to film in NYC.

Hathaway, 42, has been spotted filming in NYC for the movie, rocking one stylish look after another as her character, Andy Sachs.

Standout pieces have included a colorful patchwork Gabriela Hearst maxi dress, a denim zippered coverall from Re/Done’s 2022 collaboration with Ford and a vintage pinstriped Jean Paul Gaultier vest-and-trouser combo.

Back in 2021, Streep admitted she didn’t enjoy filming “The Devil Wears Prada” due to her embodying the icy character — which is, of course, rumored to be based on Vogue bigwig Anna Wintour — off set as well.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/07/23/style/meryl-streep-seen-as-miranda-priestly-for-the-first-time-on-the-set-of-the-devil-wears-prada-2/

Talks between top South Korean and U.S. officials to negotiate over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs have been postponed due to a scheduling conflict for U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, South Korea’s finance ministry said on Thursday.
The two sides will reschedule the so-called 2+2 meeting between Bessent and South Korean Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol, as well as the top trade envoys of both countries, as soon as possible, the ministry said.

Koo was set to board a flight for Washington on Thursday to attend the meeting on Friday in the hope of hammering out a deal that would spare Asia’s fourth-largest economy from Trump’s punishing 25% tariffs set to take effect on August 1.
The sudden announcement by the finance ministry an hour before Koo’s departure cast fresh doubts about whether Seoul would be able to pull off an agreement to avert U.S. import duties that could hit some of its major exporting industries.
“It might be difficult to reschedule 2+2 again before August 1st, so the best we can do is for the trade chief Yeo to request an extension of the tariff exemption,” said Heo Yoon, international trade professor at Sogang University, referring to Minister for Trade Yeo Han-koo

The benchmark KOSPI (.KS11), stock index trimmed early gains to trade up 0.7% as of 0134 GMT, as auto and auto parts makers fell on news of the postponed talks, with Hyundai Motor (005380.KS), dropping as much as 1.8%.
Washington gave no further details for postponing Friday’s meeting, the finance ministry said, though U.S. officials are embroiled in a flurry of different negotiations.
Bessent was set to meet China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng in Sweden for a new round of trade talks ahead of the August 12 deadline set for Beijing. Washington is also moving towards a deal with the European Union.
Trade minister Yeo and Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan, who have travelled to Washington this week, have been meeting with U.S. officials as scheduled, the South Korean government said.
Yeo will hold a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, the industry ministry said.

PRESSURE TO MATCH JAPAN DEAL

Pressure on South Korea heightened this week after Japan clinched a deal with the United States, which Trump said would see Tokyo allowing greater market access for American products including autos and some agricultural products.
The agreement includes a commitment by Japan for a $550 billion package of U.S.-bound investment and loans.
The two major Asian security allies of the United States compete in areas such as autos and steel, and Japan’s deal was seen by investors as a benchmark for the type of agreement Seoul should try to squeeze out in negotiations, analysts have said.
The involvement of a range of ministerial-level officials from Seoul in broad discussions with U.S. officials in recent days suggested the two sides were at work on a trade package that could potentially involve a range of sectors, including South Korea’s sensitive farm markets.

South Korean officials have said access to U.S. markets is key to industrial cooperation between the allies that would help rebuild American manufacturing industries.
Seoul is set to propose to Washington an investment package plan worth at least $100 billion which would involve major South Korean conglomerates like Samsung and Hyundai Motor Group, Yonhap News Agency reported.
President Lee Jae Myung met Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung and LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo this month and discussed their U.S. investments, Lee’s office said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-south-korea-trade-talks-postponed-over-bessent-schedule-tariff-deadline-looms-2025-07-24/

A new AI tool has the potential to turbocharge our understanding of all human history, researchers say.

Artificial intelligence has already been used to fill in gaps in ancient Roman scrolls, but a new system goes much further.

It can fill in missing words from ancient Roman inscriptions carved on monuments and everyday objects, as well as dating and placing them geographically.

AI often introduces errors in its analysis of even simple modern texts, so there are concerns that relying too much on this technology might distort rather than enhance our understanding of history.

But historian Prof Dame Mary Beard of Cambridge University has described the technology as potentially “transformative” to our study of past events.

She said that the system, called Aeneas, after a Greek and Roman mythological figure, could accelerate the rate at which historians piece together the past from ancient texts.

“Breakthroughs in this very difficult field have tended to rely on the memory, the subjective judgement and the hunch/guesswork of individual scholars, supported by traditional, encyclopaedic databases. Aeneas opens up entirely new horizons.”

Ancient inscriptions are usually incomplete, of unknown origin and date, and often all three. Historians and classicists attempt to fill in the blanks by drawing on texts that are similar in wording, grammar, appearance and cultural setting, known as ‘parallels’. Ancient inscriptions tend to be formulaic so historians can often infer what the missing part of a sentence goes on to say.

The process is painstaking and can take months and years but opens new vistas in our understanding of the past, according to Dr Thea Sommerschield, an historian at Nottingham University, who co-led the research.

“Inscriptions are the earliest forms of writing. They are so precious to historians because they offer first-hand evidence for ancient histories, languages and societies.

“But they degrade over the centuries and interpreting them is like solving a gigantic jigsaw puzzle with tens of thousands of pieces, of which 90 per cent are lost.”

It’s not the first time AI has been used to join up the missing dots in Roman history.

Earlier this year, another team of scientists digitally “unwrapped” a badly burnt scroll from the Roman town of Herculaneum using a combination of X-ray imaging and AI, revealing rows and columns of text.

Dr Sommerschield developed Aeneas along with her co-research leader Dr Yannis Assael, an AI specialist at Google DeepMind. It automates the process of contextualising based on parallels, in the blink of an eye.

Aeneas draws on a vast database of of 176,000 Roman inscriptions including images and uses a carefully designed AI system to pull up a range of relevant historical parallels, to support the work of historians, according to Dr Assael.

“What the historian can’t do is assess these parallels in a matter of seconds across tens of thousands of inscriptions, and that is where AI can come in as an assistant.”

The team tested out the system in dating a famous Roman text at the Temple of Augustus in Ankara in Turkey, known as the queen of inscriptions because of its importance to our understanding of Roman history. The Res Gestae Divi Augusti was composed by the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, giving an account of his life and accomplishments. Its date is hotly contested among historians.

Aeneas was able to narrow down the options to two possible ranges, the most likely being between 10 and 20 CE and a second slightly less likely range from 10 to 1 BCE. This showed the system’s accuracy as most historians agree on these two as the most likely possibilities.

In tests of the system with 23 historians the team found that an historian working with Aeneas came up with more accurate results than either Aeneas on its own or an historian on their own.

“The feedback was that Aeneas was not only allowing the historians to accelerate their work but it also revealed parallels that they had previously not identified,” according to Dr Sommerschield.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04dwqr5lkvo

Shehbaz Sharif took to his official social media account and praised Bangladesh cricket team and also commended the Pakistani cricket team for their spirited performance.

In a bizarre incident, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was brutally trolled on social media after Pakistan cricket team’s humiliating defeat against Bangladesh. Shehbaz Sharif took to his official social media account and praised Bangladesh cricket team and also commended the Pakistani cricket team for their spirited performance. However, the internet users brutally trolled the Prime Minister asking details about their former Prime Minister and star cricketer Imran Khan, who was jailed in 2023. Earlier, there were also news of him being killed inside the jail making rounds on social media.

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Congratulations to Bangladesh on winning the 2025 T20I Series with Pakistan.

I also commend our cricket team for their spirited performance.

Wins and losses are part of the game, and that is the true spirit of sportsmanship.

May these sporting ties between our two countries…

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) July 23, 2025

Shehbaz Sharif’s X Post

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sahrif said, “Congratulations to Bangladesh on winning the 2025 T20I Series with Pakistan. I also commend our cricket team for their spirited performance. Wins and losses are part of the game, and that is the true spirit of sportsmanship. May these sporting ties between our two countries continue to unite our peoples and strengthen our bonds of friendship.”

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@AskPerplexity Where is Imran Khan?

— Anant (@heyanant_) July 23, 2025

While the message struck a tone of diplomacy and sportsmanship, it didn’t sit well with the social media users. The internet users started trolling the Pakistani Prime Minister. AI was also pulled into the drama as one of the users asked Perplexity, “Where is Imran Khan?”

See more

Congratulations to Bangladesh on winning the 2025 T20I Series with Pakistan.

I also commend our cricket team for their spirited performance.

Wins and losses are part of the game, and that is the true spirit of sportsmanship.

May these sporting ties between our two countries…

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) July 23, 2025

See more

Congratulations to Bangladesh on winning the 2025 T20I Series with Pakistan.

I also commend our cricket team for their spirited performance.

Wins and losses are part of the game, and that is the true spirit of sportsmanship.

May these sporting ties between our two countries…

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) July 23, 2025

To which the chatbot replied, “Imran Khan is currently in prison in Pakistan— he’s been behind bars since August 2023, mainly facing corruption and other legal charges that his supporters say are politically motivated. Despite his imprisonment, he’s still active through public statements and his political party PTI continues to rally for his release.”

See more

Congratulations to Bangladesh on winning the 2025 T20I Series with Pakistan.

I also commend our cricket team for their spirited performance.

Wins and losses are part of the game, and that is the true spirit of sportsmanship.

May these sporting ties between our two countries…

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) July 23, 2025

Another user said, “Got humiliated now even from Bangladesh?” One of the users said, “Beggars Lost from Stinkers…”

A user also said, “Pakistan cricket has mastered the art of losing with a smile and a speech. Maybe next time, send the press release before the match — save everyone the suspense. At this rate, even Zimbabwe’s B team is double-checking their passports.”

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Thanks to Indian Army that Pak PM is making that post, before 1971 this was not possible

— Frontalforce 🇮🇳 (@FrontalForce) July 23, 2025

A user also gave credit to the Indian Army for PM’s tweet. He said, “Thanks to Indian Army that Pak PM is making that post, before 1971 this was not possible.”

PAK vs BAN, T20I Series Results

Bangladesh is leading the 3-match series against Pakistan 2-0. They defeated Pakistan in the first two matches and clinched the three match T20I series played in Bangladesh. In a dismal performance, Pakistan managed to score only 110, while batting first in the first match. Bangladesh chased the score in just 15.3 overs. Man of the Match was awarded to Parvez Hossain Emon for his unbeaten 56 runs.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/viral/where-is-imran-khan-netizens-react-after-pm-shehbaz-sharif-congratulates-pakistan-cricket-team-despite-t20i-series-loss-against-bangladesh

China reacted to the development, calling it a positive move and assured that Beijing will maintain communication and consultation with India to further ease travel between the two countries.

In a major development aimed at reviving cross-border travel and people-to-people ties, Indian government has announced the resumption of tourist visa services for Chinese citizens starting July 24, 2025. China reacted to the development, calling it a positive move and assured that Beijing will maintain communication and consultation with India to further ease travel between the two countries.

The announcement, shared via the official social media account of the Indian Embassy in China, outlines the step-by-step procedure for Chinese nationals to apply for a tourist visa to visit India.

Online Application & Appointment Required

As per the notification, applicants must first complete an online visa application form via the designated webpage link and schedule an appointment online. Once the form is filled and printed, the applicant must appear in person with their passport, completed visa form, and other necessary documents at the relevant Indian Visa Application Center based on their region.

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We take note of India’s resumption of tourist visas for Chinese citizens. This is a positive move.

Easing cross-border travel is widely beneficial. China will maintain communication and consultation with India to further facilitate travel between the two countries. pic.twitter.com/pBi8tB0jTX

— CHINA MFA Spokesperson 中国外交部发言人 (@MFA_China) July 23, 2025

The Indian Visa Application Centers in China are located at the following addresses:

 

Columbia University said on Wednesday it will pay over $200 million to the U.S. government in a settlement with President Donald Trump’s administration to resolve federal probes and have most of its suspended federal funding restored.
Trump has targeted several universities since returning to office in January over the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that roiled college campuses last year. He welcomed the agreement between his administration and Columbia in a post on social media late on Wednesday.

In March, the Trump administration said it was penalizing Columbia over how it handled last year’s protests by canceling $400 million in federal funding. It contended that Columbia’s response to alleged antisemitism and harassment of Jewish and Israeli members of the university community was insufficient.
“Under today’s agreement, a vast majority of the federal grants which were terminated or paused in March 2025 – will be reinstated and Columbia’s access to billions of dollars in current and future grants will be restored,” the university said in a statement.
Columbia said it also agreed to settle investigations brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for $21 million and that its deal with the Trump administration preserved its “autonomy and authority over faculty hiring, admissions, and academic decision-making.”

After the government canceled funding, the school acquiesced later in March to a series of demands that included scrutiny of departments offering courses on the Middle East and other concessions that were widely condemned by U.S. academics.
Last week, Columbia adopted a controversial definition of antisemitism that equates it with opposition to Zionism. The school said it would no longer engage with pro-Palestinian group Columbia University Apartheid Divest.
“Imagine selling your students out just so you can pay Trump $221 million dollars and keep funding genocide,” the pro-Palestinian group said on Wednesday, calling the settlement a bribe.
Israel denies genocide accusations in Gaza and casts its military action as “self-defense” after a deadly October 2023 attack by Palestinian Hamas militants.

Campus protesters demanded an end to U.S. support for Israel’s devastating military assault on Gaza and a commitment that the university will cease investing any of its $14.8 billion endowment in weapons makers and companies that support Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said Columbia agreed “to discipline student offenders for severe disruptions of campus operations, make structural changes to their Faculty Senate, bring viewpoint diversity to their Middle Eastern studies programs, eliminate race preferences from their hiring and admissions practices, and end DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs.”
The government has labeled pro-Palestinian protesters as antisemitic. Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the government has wrongly conflated their criticism of Israel’s actions with antisemitism and their advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism.

Wednesday’s announcement came a day after Columbia disciplined dozens of students over a May pro-Palestinian protest in which demonstrators seized its main library.
The agreement asks Columbia to “undertake a comprehensive review of its international admissions processes and policies,” according to the deal’s terms.
Columbia is required to designate within 30 days an administrator answerable to the university president and responsible for overseeing the deal’s compliance.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/columbia-university-pay-over-200-million-resolve-trump-probes-2025-07-23/

A landmark decision by a top UN court has cleared the way for countries to sue each other over climate change, including over historic emissions of planet-warming gases.

But the judge at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands on Wednesday said that untangling who caused which part of climate change could be difficult.

The ruling is non-binding but legal experts say it could have wide-ranging consequences.

It will be seen as a victory for countries that are very vulnerable to climate change, who came to court after feeling frustrated about lack of global progress in tackling the problem.

The unprecedented case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was the brainchild of a group of young law students from low-lying Pacific islands on the frontlines of climate change, who came up with the idea in 2019.

One of those students, Siosiua Veikune from Tonga, was in the Hague to hear the decision.

“I’m lost for words. This is so exciting. There’s a ton of emotions rushing through us. This is a win we take proudly back home to our communities,” he told BBC News.

“Tonight I’ll sleep easier. The ICJ has recognised what we have lived through – our suffering, our resilience and our right to our future,” said Flora Vano, from the Pacific Island Vanuatu, which is considered the country most vulnerable to extreme weather globally.

“This is a victory not just for us but for every frontline community fighting to be heard.”

The ICJ is considered the world’s highest court and it has global jurisdiction. Lawyers have told BBC News that the opinion could be used as early as next week, including in national courts outside of the ICJ.

Campaigners and climate lawyers hope the landmark decision will now pave the way for compensation from countries that have historically burned the most fossil fuels and are therefore the most responsible for global warming.

Many poorer countries had backed the case out of frustration, claiming that developed nations are failing to keep existing promises to tackle the growing problem.

But developed countries, including the UK, argued that existing climate agreements, including the landmark UN Paris deal of 2015, are sufficient and no further legal obligations should be imposed.

On Wednesday the court rejected that argument.

Judge Iwasawa Yuji also said that if countries do not develop the most ambitious possible plans to tackle climate change this would constitute a breach of their promises in the Paris Agreement.

He added that broader international law applies, which means that countries which are not signed up to the Paris Agreement – or want to leave, like the US – are still required to protect the environment, including the climate system.

The court’s opinion is advisory, but previous ICJ decisions have been implemented by governments, including when the UK agreed to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius last year.

“The ruling is a watershed legal moment,” said Joie Chowdhury, Senior Attorney at the Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL).

“With today’s authoritative historic ruling, the International Court of Justice has broken with business-as-usual and delivered a historic affirmation: those suffering the impacts of climate devastation have a right to remedy for climate harm, including through compensation,” she added.

A spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said it was “taking time” to look at the opinion before commenting in detail, but added:

“Tackling climate change is and will remain an urgent UK and global priority. Our position remains that this is best achieved through international commitment to the UN’s existing climate treaties and mechanisms.”

The court ruled that developing nations have a right to seek damages for the impacts of climate change such as destroyed buildings and infrastructure.

It added that where it is not possible to restore part of a country then its government may want to seek compensation.

This could be for a specific extreme weather event if it can be proved that climate change caused it, but the Judge said this would need to be determined on a case by case basis.

“This is a huge win for climate vulnerable states. It’s a huge win for Vanuatu, which led this case and is going to change the face of climate advocacy,” said barrister Jennifer Robinson at Doughty Street Chambers, who represented Vanuatu and the Marshall Islands.

It is not clear how much an individual country could have to pay in damages if any claim was successful.

But previous analysis published in Nature, estimated that between 2000 and 2019 there were $2.8 trillion losses from climate change – or $16 million per hour.

During the evidence sessions in December, the court heard from dozens of Pacific Islanders who have been displaced as a result of rising sea level, caused by climate change.

The Marshall Islands highlighted that the costs for their island to adapt to climate change are $9 billion.

“That is $9 billion the Marshall Islands does not have. Climate change is a problem they have not caused, but they are forced to consider relocating their capital,” said Ms Robinson.

As well as compensation, the court also ruled that governments were responsible for the climate impact of companies operating in their countries.

It said specifically that subsidising the fossil fuel industry or approving new oil and gas licenses could be in breach of a country’s obligations.

Developing countries are already exploring bringing new cases seeking compensation for historic contributions to climate change against richer, high emitting nations citing the ICJ opinion, according to lawyers the BBC spoke to.

If a country wants to bring a case back to the ICJ to make a ruling on compensation then it can only do so against countries which have agreed to its jurisdiction, which includes the likes of the UK, but not US or China.

But a case can be brought in any court globally, whether that be domestic or international, citing the ICJ opinion, explained Joie Chowdhury from CIEL.

So instead a country may choose to take their case not to the ICJ but a court where those countries are bound e.g. federal courts in the US.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce379k4v3pwo

Former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and his wife Megan Kerrigan Byron’s neighbors find his alleged infidelity “disgusting” but believe the family deserves “privacy” as they navigate overnight fame and heartbreak.

Those who live in the pair’s Kennebunk, Maine, neighborhood told the Daily Mail Thursday — just over a week after Andy’s alleged affair with an employee was exposed at a Coldplay concert — that “everyone has seen” the viral “kiss cam” video.

“The family do not want to talk about it,” one angry local explained before asking the outlet to leave the exclusive street next to the Webhannet Golf Club.

According to the Daily Mail, Megan fled the duo’s $1.4 million home in Northborough, Mass., and has been hiding out at their $2.4 million Maine mansion while holding crisis talks about her marriage.

Multiple family members were seen going in and out of the four-bedroom, four-bathroom, 4,169-square-foot property over the weekend, including her older sister, Maura, per the outlet.

It’s unclear whether Andy, 50, came to speak to Megan, also 50, following the incident.

Last Wednesday, while at the Coldplay concert in Boston, Andy and Kristin Cabot, a top HR executive at Astronomer, were caught canoodling on the big screen.

“Whoa, look at these two,” frontman Chris Martin exclaimed into the mic.

However, once the couple noticed they were on the jumbotron, Andy let out a “f–king hell, it’s me” and immediately ducked out of view, while Cabot, who acknowledged that “this is awkward,” hid her face in embarrassment.

“Either they’re having an affair, or they’re just very shy,” the musician joked as the audience erupted in laughter.

A TikTok of the moment spread like wildfire online, prompting Megan to remove her married name from her Facebook page before deleting her account altogether.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/07/23/celebrity-news/neighbors-slam-disgusting-andy-byron-as-astronomer-ceos-wife-hides-out-in-maine/

Market focus was on the yen on Wednesday, which traded choppily as traders weighed speculation about the future of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba against U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a trade deal with Japan.
The yen initially hit its strongest level since July 11 at 146.20 per dollar on the trade news but flipped to losses after reports Ishiba intends to step down next month following a bruising upper house election defeat.

Ishiba said the reports he had already decided to resign were “completely unfounded”, and the yen recovered somewhat and was last steady on the day at 146.83 to the dollar.
The trade deal – which lowers tariffs on auto imports and spares Tokyo from punishing new levies – affects the yen both because of what it means for the economy and also the Bank of Japan, which has been cautiously raising interest rates.
“A trade deal does allow more potential for the Bank of Japan to hike interest rates this year,” said Jane Foley, head of FX strategy at Rabobank. “That’s a yen positive and clearly makes a move back to 150 (yen per dollar) harder.”

“When there was trade and political uncertainty, clearly they weren’t going to do anything. Of course we haven’t sidestepped all the political uncertainty, and that’s going to stop the BOJ from making any hasty decisions, but no one was expecting anything hasty anyway.”
Moves in other currencies were pretty muted due to the uncertainty around tariffs, as well as doubts about how currencies would react even if there were there any greater certainty.
The U.S. dollar has been one of the biggest losers since Trump announced sweeping tariffs on trading partners on April 2, weakness which continued as those duties were suspended to allow further negotiations, but which has petered out somewhat this month.
The euro was last down 0.1% on the day at $1.1744 but still near a four-year high it touched at the start of the month. Sterling was up a touch at $1.1354.

In contrast to the euro, European equities rallied on hopes the trade deal with Japan could pave the way for more deals, including with Europe.
Trump said negotiators from the European Union would be in Washington on Wednesday.
The European Central Bank meets on Thursday, but is unlikely to have a dramatic effect on the currency and is expected to hold rates steady.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/yen-wobbles-traders-process-trade-deal-political-uncertainty-2025-07-22/

U.S. President Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of “treason” on Tuesday, accusing him, without providing evidence, of leading an effort to falsely tie him to Russia and undermine his 2016 presidential campaign.
A spokesperson for Obama denounced Trump’s claims, saying “these bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.”

While Trump has frequently attacked Obama by name, the Republican president has not, since returning to office in January, gone this far in pointing the finger at his Democratic predecessor with allegations of criminal action.

During remarks in the Oval Office, Trump leaped on comments from his intelligence chief, Tulsi Gabbard, on Friday in which she threatened to refer Obama administration officials to the Justice Department for prosecution over an intelligence assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
She declassified documents and said the information she was releasing showed a “treasonous conspiracy” in 2016 by top Obama administration officials to undermine Trump, claims that Democrats called false and politically motivated.
“It’s there, he’s guilty. This was treason,” Trump said on Tuesday, though he offered no proof of his claims. “They tried to steal the election, they tried to obfuscate the election. They did things that nobody’s ever imagined, even in other countries.”

An assessment by the U.S. intelligence community published in January 2017 concluded that Russia, using social media disinformation, hacking and Russian bot farms, sought to damage Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign and bolster Trump. The assessment determined that the actual impact was likely limited and showed no evidence that Moscow‘s efforts actually changed voting outcomes.
A 2020 bipartisan report by the Senate intelligence committee had found that Russia used Republican political operative Paul Manafort, the WikiLeaks website and others to try to influence the 2016 election to help Trump’s campaign.
“Nothing in the document issued last week (by Gabbard) undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes,” Obama spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush said in a statement.

TRUMP UNDER PRESSURE

Trump, who has a history of promoting false conspiracy theories, has frequently denounced the assessments as a “hoax.” In recent days, Trump reposted on his Truth Social account a fake video showing Obama being arrested in handcuffs in the Oval Office.
Trump has been seeking to divert attention to other issues after coming under pressure from his conservative base to release more information about Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Backers of conspiracy theories about Epstein have urged Trump, who socialized with the disgraced financier during the 1990s and early 2000s, to release investigative files related to the case.
Trump, asked in the Oval Office about Epstein, quickly pivoted into an attack on Obama and Clinton.

“The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama absolutely cold,” Trump said.
Trump suggested action would be taken against Obama and his former officials, calling the Russia investigation a treasonous act and the former president guilty of “trying to lead a coup.”
“It’s time to start, after what they did to me, and whether it’s right or wrong, it’s time to go after people. Obama has been caught directly,” he said.
Democratic Representative Jim Himes responded on X: “This is a lie. And if he’s confused, the President should ask @SecRubio, who helped lead the bipartisan Senate investigation that unanimously concluded that there was no evidence of politicization in the intelligence community’s behavior around the 2016 election.”
Former Republican Senator Marco Rubio is now Trump’s secretary of state.
Since returning to office, Trump has castigated his political opponents whom he claims weaponized the federal government against him and his allies for the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters and his handling of classified materials after he left office in 2021.

ATTACKS ON PREDECESSORS

Obama has long been a target of Trump. In 2011 he accused then-President Obama of not being born in the United States, prompting Obama to release a copy of his birth certificate.
In recent months, Trump has rarely held back in his rhetorical broadsides against his two Democratic predecessors in a way all but unprecedented in modern times.
He launched an investigation after accusing former President Joe Biden and his staff, without evidence, of a “conspiracy” to use an autopen, an automated device that replicates a person’s signature, to sign sensitive documents on the president’s behalf. Biden has rejected the claim as false and “ridiculous.”
Gabbard’s charge that Obama conspired to subvert Trump’s 2016 election by manufacturing intelligence on Russia’s interference is contradicted by a CIA review ordered by Director John Ratcliffe and published on July 2, a 2018 bipartisan Senate report and declassified documents that Gabbard herself released last week.
The documents show that Gabbard conflated two separate U.S. intelligence findings in alleging that Obama and his national security aides changed an assessment that Russia probably was not trying to influence the election through cyber means.
One finding was that Russia was not trying to hack U.S. election infrastructure to change vote counts and the second was that Moscow probably was using cyber means to influence the U.S. political environment through information and propaganda operations, including by stealing and leaking data from Democratic Party servers.
The January 2017 U.S. intelligence assessment ordered by Obama built on that second finding: that Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized influence operations to sway the 2016 vote to Trump.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-accuses-obama-treason-escalating-attacks-over-2016-russia-probe-2025-07-22/

 

Sri Lanka’s central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady at 7.75 per cent on Wednesday, pausing after May’s surprise cut, to monitor the impact of U.S. tariffs and the effects of earlier monetary easing on the economy.

The decision was widely expected, with most analysts in a Reuters poll predicting a hold amid stable inflation and a steady economic recovery.

“There may be further room for easing but we will closely monitor developments and see if it is warranted,” Central Bank Governor P. Weerasinghe told reporters at a post-policy briefing in Colombo.

“We feel this monetary policy is appropriate and will steer inflation towards our 5 per cent target.”

Supported by a $2.9 billion programme from the International Monetary Fund, the country is gradually recovering from its worst financial crisis in decades, triggered by a record dollar shortage three years ago.

The inflation rate was minus 0.6 per cent in June but the central bank expects it to turn positive this quarter, ending almost a year of deflation.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) had trimmed its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in May in a surprise move to support growth.

The economy expanded 5 per cent in 2024, and Weerasinghe said growth will be above 3 per cent this year.

“If the recovery in headline and core inflation remains gradual, there can still be space for another 25 bps cut in the rest of the year,” said Thilina Panduwawala, head of research at Frontier Research.

Ten of 13 analysts and economists polled by Reuters had expected the CBSL to hold rates steady at its July meeting, citing benign inflation, stable growth, and uncertainty over U.S. trade policy.

The United States initially imposed 44 per cent tariffs on Sri Lankan goods but lowered them to 30 per cent earlier this month.

Colombo resumed talks with Washington last week in a bid to reduce the duties further before they take effect on August 1.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/sri-lanka-central-bank-holds-rates-tariff-uncertainty-5253176

Trump made the remarks while hosting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the White House, where he praised the “fantastic military relationship” with Manila as the U.S. looks to counter China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said a trip to China might be “not too distant,” raising prospects that the leaders of the world’s two largest economies may meet soon to help reset relations after moving to climb down from a trade war.

Trump made the remarks while hosting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the White House, where he praised the “fantastic military relationship” with Manila as the U.S. looks to counter China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Yet, Trump still said the U.S. is “getting along with China very well. We have a very good relationship.” He added that Beijing has resumed shipping to the U.S. “record numbers” of much-needed rare earth magnets, which are used in iPhones and other high-tech products like electric vehicles.

Widely speculated about since Trump returned to the White House, a summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would be expected to stabilize — even for a short while — a difficult relationship defined by mistrust and competition.

Beijing believes a leader-level summit is necessary to steady U.S.-China relations and that Trump must be wooed because he has the final say on America’s policy toward China, despite more hawkish voices in his Cabinet, observers say.

The question, however, is when.

Danny Russel, a distinguished fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Trump has consistently shown his hunger for a visit to China and that Beijing has used that to bolster leverage.

“As soon as the leadership in Beijing is satisfied that Trump will be on his best behavior and will accept terms for a deal that they think are favorable, they will give a green light to the visit,” Russel said.

Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center, said a visit “is in the making” with two sides likely to strike a trade deal.

What Trump said might mean the visit would not be in September but “potentially November, but still depends on whether they play ball on trade and other things we want,” Sun said.

Trump’s campaign to impose tariffs on other countries kicked off a high-stake trade war with Beijing. China raised tariffs on U.S. goods to 125% in response to Trump’s hiking the tax on Chinese goods to 145%.

Both sides also imposed on each other harsh trade restrictions on critical products: China on rare earths, and the U.S. on computing chips and jet engine technology.

Trade tensions, however, eased following two rounds of high-level talks in Geneva and London, when the two sides agreed to lower tariffs — pending a more permanent deal by mid-August — and pull back on trade restrictions.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria” that he will be meeting with his Chinese counterparts in Stockholm next week to work on “what is likely an extension” of the Aug. 12 deadline.

“I think trade is in a very good place with China,” Bessent told host Maria Bartiromo. “Hopefully, we can see the Chinese pull back on some of this glut of manufacturing that they’re doing and concentrate on building a consumer economy.”

He said he also expects to bring up China’s purchases of Russian and Iranian oil and Beijing’s role in aiding Moscow in its war against Ukraine.

Beijing has not announced any travel plans for Vice Premier He Lifeng, who led trade negotiations in both Geneva and London on behalf of the Chinese government, but it is not unusual for China to make such announcements closer to a travel date.

In a possible friendly gesture, Beijing on Tuesday said it suspended an antitrust investigation into chemical maker DuPont’s operations in China. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation made the announcement in a one-line statement but gave no explanation for the decision.

DuPont said in a statement that it is “pleased” with China’s action.

Chinese regulators launched the investigation in April against DuPont China Group, a subsidiary of the chemical giant, as part of Beijing’s broad, retaliatory response to Trump’s sky-high tariffs.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/donald-trump-says-china-trip-not-too-distant-as-trade-tensions-ease-8928822

DONALD Trump has said it is “appropriate” for the Department of Justice to meet and quiz Epstein’s ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.

It comes after a leading Trump official announced his intention to seek a meeting with the disgraced financier’s close associate.

When asked about the DOJ questioning Maxwell, the US President told reporters on Tuesday: “I don’t know about it, but I think it’s something that sounds appropriate to do.”

He added: “I didn’t know that they were going to do it. I don’t really follow that too much. It’s sort of a witch hunt.”

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche revealed earlier on Tuesday his plans to meet with the disgraced British socialite.

He posted on X: “Justice demands courage.

“For the first time, the Department of Justice is reaching out to Ghislaine Maxwell to ask: what do you know?”

He added that he had contacted Maxwell’s counsel on the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“I intend to meet with her soon. No one is above the law—and no lead is off-limits,” he wrote.

Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty of child sex trafficking and other crimes.

But her family has suggested that “government misconduct” could be used as new evidence to challenge her imprisonment.

Her brother Ian Maxwell, 68, hopes to get her out of jail using new evidence.

He recently told the Daily Mail that he fears for his sister’s life.

A statement from Blanche posted on Bondi’s X account reads: “President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If Ghislane Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say.

“Therefore, at the direction of Attorney General Bondi, I have communicated with counsel for Ms. Maxwell to determine whether she would be willing to speak with prosecutors from the Department.

“I anticipate meeting with Ms. Maxwell in the coming days.

“Until now, no administration on behalf of the Department had inquired about her willingness to meet with the government. That changes now.”

Maxwell’s attorney David Oscar Markus told Axios that discussions with the government are underway.

The House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee also voted on Tuesday to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell.

A committee spokesperson said: “Since Ms. Maxwell is in federal prison, the Committee will work with the Department of Justice and Bureau of Prisons to identify a date when Committee can depose her.”

Since Epstein’s death, speculatIion has been rife that he blackmailed prominent figures involved with his heinous crimes.

It comes after the final footage of Jeffrey Epstein alive was finally released six years after his death.

He was in prison at the time as he waited for a major trial over sex-trafficking charges.

The disgraced financier was found hanged in jail on the 10 August, 2019.

But ever since his death there has been speculation and conspiracy theories that others were involved.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) announced this month that Epstein died by suicide – despite rife conspiracy theories to the contrary.

One key claim centres around a rumoured client list of individuals – although the Trump administration has now denied this list exists.

Maxwell’s brother told the Daily Mail: “There’s such overcrowding in Tallahassee that higher-category prisoners are being placed there and it’s becoming a facility that is more dangerous – we’ve got to get her out of there.

“Normally she spends a lot of time in the prison library helping other prisoners with things like form filling, but she has to go from A to B and isn’t always surrounded by guards.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14786360/epstein-trump-official-meet-ghislaine-maxwell/

The smell hanging in the air is the first sign there’s something unusual about the farmhouse on the outskirts of one of Pakistan’s largest cities, Lahore.

Once inside, the cause becomes clear: the property is home to 26 lions, tigers and cubs – and belongs to Fayyaz.

The rain, he says, has turned the ground into mud.

But the animals are “happy here”, he insists. “When they see us, they come over, they eat… they’re not aggressive.”

Almost instantly, one of the lions roars.

“That one is aggressive, it’s his nature,” Fayyaz says.

Fayyaz loves big cats. From this facility – thought to be the largest of its kind in private hands nationwide – the 38-year-old has sold cubs and breeding pairs for the last 10 years. He is widely considered to be one of the biggest lion dealers in Pakistan.

For decades these animals – lions, tigers, pumas, cheetahs and jaguars – have been a sign of power, status and even political fealty in the country. The tiger, for example, is a symbol of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

More recently, with the dawn of short video social media apps like TikTok and Instagram, there’s been a surge in ownership, with lions now sometimes even brought along to wedding events.

But in the wake of a pet lion escaping and attacking a woman and her two children as they walked down the street in Lahore, the government has launched a crackdown – one which is already impacting people like Fayyaz.

Among the new rules, owners must pay a one-time registration fee of 50,000 Pakistani rupees ($176; £129) per animal and farms are to keep a maximum of 10 big cats from no more than two species. The sites must also be open to the public for visits.

Violating new laws could result in a fine of up to 200,000 Pakistani rupees and, for the worst offenders, up to seven years in prison.

At another property on the outskirts of Lahore, five lion cubs – their coats muddied – pace around a cage.

“But where are the parents?” a wildlife official asks himself.

Nearby, there are several empty cages. Wildlife officials are here after receiving a tip-off that a man was holding lions and cubs without a licence, and was breeding them for sale illegally. By the time they arrived, the owner was missing, leaving his caretaker holding the bag.

“I was only hired two weeks ago,” he complains, as he was placed in the back of a truck and taken away for questioning.

The officials suspect the owner may have taken the cubs’ parents away and hidden them.

The rescued cubs have now been transferred to a public zoo in Lahore, and isolated for medical checks.

But in a country where big cats have been sold for decades, officials worry the raids are barely scratching the surface. They believe there are in fact hundreds, if not thousands, of undeclared big cats in the state of Punjab alone.

“This is going to take at least six months,” Mubeen Ellahi, the director general of Wildlife & Parks, tells the BBC. He expects 30-40% of the lions in Punjab will not be voluntarily declared.

There is also another complication. Mubeen explains inbreeding has become a common practice in Pakistan, and some big cats may have to be euthanised. “They have a lot of health problems. We are still considering the policy,” he added.

He pointed to another incident in December last year, when another lion escaped in Lahore, and was then shot and killed.

Back at Fayyaz’s property, he is considering what to do next.

An official told the BBC they’re dissatisfied with the size of the cages, and that the farm needs to convert itself into a zoo. Fayyaz now has three months to comply.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e0xjlq73zo

Syrian government forces have been accused of carrying out a massacre at a hospital during sectarian clashes which erupted just over a week ago.

The BBC has visited Suweida’s National Hospital, where staff claim patients were killed inside wards.

The stench hit me before anything else.

In the car park of the main hospital in Suweida city, dozens of decomposing corpses are lined up in white plastic body bags.

Some are open to the elements, revealing bloated and mutilated remains of those who were killed here.

The tarmac beneath my feet is greasy and slippery with blood.

In the sweltering sun, the smell is overwhelming.

“It was a massacre,” Dr Wissam Massoud, a neurosurgeon at the hospital, tells me.

“The soldiers came here saying they wanted to bring peace, but they killed scores of patients, from the very young to the very old.”

Earlier this week, Dr Massoud sent me a video which he said was in the immediate aftermath of the government raid.

In it, a woman shows you around the hospital. On the ground in the wards are dozens of dead patients still bundled up in their bloodied bed sheets.

Everyone here, doctors, nurses, volunteers say the same thing.

That last Wednesday evening, it was Syrian government troops targeting the Druze religious community who came to the hospital and carried out the killings.

Kiness Abu Motab, a volunteer at the hospital, said of the victims: “What is their crime? Just for being a minority in a democratic country?”

“They are criminals. They are monsters. We don’t trust them at all,” Osama Malak an English teacher in the city told me outside the hospital gates.

“They shot an eight-year-old disabled boy in the head,” he said.

“According to international law, hospitals should be protected. But they attacked us even in the hospitals.

“They entered the hospital. They started shooting everybody. They shot the patients in their beds as they slept.”

All sides in this conflict have been accusing each other of committing atrocities.

Both Bedouin and Druze fighters as well as the Syrian army have been accused of killing civilians and extra judicial killings.

There is not yet a clear picture of what happened at the hospital. Some here estimate the number of people to be killed last Wednesday at more than 300 but that figure cannot be verified.

On Tuesday night the Syrian defence ministry said in a statement that it was aware of reports of “shocking violations” by people wearing military fatigues in the country’s predominantly Druze city of Suweida.

Earlier this week, Raed Saleh, the Syrian Minister for Disaster Management and Emergency Response, told me that any allegations of atrocities committed by all sides would be fully investigated.

Access to Suweida city has been heavily restricted, meaning gathering first hand evidence has been difficult.

The city is in effect under siege, with Syrian government forces restricting who is allowed in and out.

To get in, we had to pass through numerous checkpoints.

As we entered the city, we passed burned out shops and buildings, and cars that had been crushed by tanks.

Suweida city had clearly seen a serious battle between Druze and Bedouin fighters.

It was at that point that the Syrian government first intervened to try and enforce a ceasefire.

Although numerous Druze villages in Suweida province have been recaptured by government forces, the city, home to more than 70,000 people, remains under full Druze control.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly84jn000do

The US has said it will leave the United Nations’ culture and education agency Unesco, accusing it of supporting “woke, divisive cultural and social causes”.

Unesco’s Director General Audrey Azoulay described the decision as “regrettable” but “anticipated”.

The move is the latest step in the Trump administration’s efforts to cut ties with international bodies, after removing the US from the World Health Organization and Paris Climate Agreement, as well as cutting funding for foreign relief efforts.

Unesco has 194 member states around the world, and is best known for listing world heritage sites. The US’ decision will take effect from December 2026.

The state department said Unesco’s “globalist, ideological agenda for international development” was “at odds with our America First foreign policy”.

It also described the inclusion of the Palestinians in Unesco in 2011, as “highly problematic, contrary to US policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization”.

Those claims “contradict the reality of Unesco’s efforts, particularly in the field of Holocaust education and the fight against antisemitism,” the organisation’s head Audrey Azoulay said.

“This decision contradicts the fundamental principles of multilateralism, and may affect first and foremost our many partners in the United States of America— communities seeking site inscription on the World Heritage List, Creative City status, and University Chairs,” she added.

The Unesco head said the agency had been preparing for Washington’s move, diversifying its sources of funding. Currently, she said, Unesco was getting about 8% of its budget from the US.

In 2017, during his first presidency, Trump pulled the US out of Unesco but the decision was later reversed under Joe Biden’s administration.

During the Obama administration, in 2011, the US halted $60m in funds that had been earmarked for Unesco.

A state department spokesperson at the time said former President Barack Obama’s hand was forced due to a US law that prohibited the transfer of funds after Unesco granted the Palestinian Authority full membership.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0rvkwgg5exo

An algal bloom catastrophe which has turned usually pristine South Australian waters toxic green and suffocated masses of marine life is a “natural disaster”, the state premier has declared.

The algal bloom – a rapid increase in the population of algae in water systems – has been spreading since March and is now twice the size of the country’s capital territory.

The federal government has unveiled an assistance package of A$14m ($9m; £6.7m) but refused to designate the event a natural disaster – a term usually used for cyclones, floods and bushfires and which would trigger a greater response.

Authorities say more than 400 species of marine life have died and local industries are suffering.

Algal bloom is naturally occurring but is caused by ocean warming, marine heatwaves, and nutrient pollution – all exacerbated by climate change.

“This is a natural disaster and should be acknowledged as such… I think politicians can do themselves a disservice when they get caught up in technicalities,” South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Tuesday.

He announced his government would match the federal government’s A$14m in funding, with money to go towards research, clean up, and industry support measures.

Greens Senator for South Australia Sarah Hanson-Young is among those openly criticising the federal government, accusing them of underplaying the situation.

“If this toxic algal bloom was wreaking havoc on Bondi Beach or on the north shore in Sydney, the prime minister would have already been on the beach with a response,” she said.

However, federal Environment Minister Murray Watt on Monday said while the bloom and its impacts were “incredibly disturbing”, the catastrophe did not meet the definition of a natural disaster under the country’s laws.

The bloom – which now stretches from Coorong to the Yorke Peninsula, an area about double the size of the Australian Capital Territory – is decimating the local environment and lining the coastline with dead wildlife.

“It is like a horror movie for fish,” Brad Martin – from OzFish, a non-profit organisation that protects fishing habitats – told the BBC in May.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y7nze38p5o

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since May while trying to get food in the Gaza Strip, mostly near aid sites run by an American contractor, the U.N. human rights office said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes killed 25 people across Gaza, according to local health officials.

Desperation is mounting in the Palestinian territory of more than 2 million, which experts say is at risk of famine because of Israel’s blockade and nearly two-year offensive. A breakdown of law and order has led to widespread looting and contributed to chaos and violence around aid deliveries.

Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid — without providing evidence of widespread diversion — and blames U.N. agencies for failing to deliver food it has allowed in. The military says it has only fired warning shots near aid sites. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli-backed American contractor, rejected what it said were “false and exaggerated statistics” from the United Nations.

The Gaza Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, said Tuesday that 101 people, including 80 children, have died in recent days from starvation.

The deaths could not be independently verified, but U.N. officials and major international aid groups say the conditions for starvation exist in Gaza. During hunger crises, people can die from malnutrition or from common illnesses or injuries that the body is not strong enough to fight.

Israel eased a 2½-month blockade in May, allowing a trickle of aid in through the longstanding U.N.-run system and the newly created GHF. Aid groups say it’s not nearly enough.

‘I do it for my children’

Dozens of Palestinians lined up Tuesday outside a charity kitchen in Gaza City, hoping for a bowl of watery tomato soup. The lucky ones got small chunks of eggplant. As supplies ran out, people holding pots pushed and shoved to get to the front.

Nadia Mdoukh, a pregnant woman who was displaced from her home and lives in a tent with her husband and three children, said she worries about being shoved or trampled on, and about heat stroke as daytime temperatures hover above 90 F (32 C).

“I do it for my children,” she said. “This is famine — there is no bread or flour.”

The U.N. World Food Program says Gaza’s hunger crisis has reached “new and astonishing levels of desperation.” Ross Smith, the agency’s director for emergencies, told reporters Monday that nearly 100,000 women and children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, and a third of Gaza’s population is going without food for multiple days in a row.

MedGlobal, a charity working in Gaza, said five children as young as 3 months had died from starvation in the past three days.

“This is a deliberate and human-made disaster,” said Joseph Belliveau, its executive director. “Those children died because there is not enough food in Gaza and not enough medicines, including IV fluids and therapeutic formula, to revive them.”

The charity said food is in such short supply that its own staff members suffer dizziness and headaches.

Aid delivery model criticized

Of the 1,054 people killed while trying to get food since late May, 766 were killed while heading to sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to the U.N. human rights office. The others were killed when gunfire erupted around U.N. convoys or aid sites.

Thameen al-Kheetan, a spokesperson for the U.N. rights office, says its figures come from “multiple reliable sources on the ground,” including medics, humanitarian and human rights organizations. He said the numbers were still being verified according to the office’s strict methodology.

Palestinian witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces regularly fire toward crowds of thousands of people heading to the GHF sites. The military says it has only fired warning shots, and GHF says its armed contractors have only fired into the air on a few occasions to try to prevent stampedes.

A joint statement from 28 Western-aligned countries on Monday condemned the “the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians.”

“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” read the statement, which was signed by the United Kingdom, France and other countries friendly to Israel. “The Israeli government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.”

Israel and the United States rejected the statement, blaming Hamas for prolonging the war by not accepting Israeli terms for a ceasefire and the release of hostages abducted in the militant-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the fighting.

Hamas has said it will release the remaining hostages only in return for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel says it will keep fighting until Hamas has been defeated or disarmed.

Strikes on tents sheltering the displaced

Israeli strikes killed at least 25 people Tuesday across Gaza, according to local health officials.

One strike hit tents sheltering displaced people in the built-up seaside Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, killing at least 12 people, according to Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties. The Israeli military said that it wasn’t aware of such a strike by its forces.

The dead included three women and three children, the hospital director, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, told The Associated Press. Thirty-eight other Palestinians were wounded, he said.

An overnight strike that hit crowds of Palestinians waiting for aid trucks in Gaza City killed eight, hospitals said. At least 118 were wounded, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

“A bag of flour covered in blood and death,” said Mohammed Issam, who was in the crowd and said some people were run over by trucks in the chaos. “How long will this humiliation continue?”

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on that strike. Israel blames the deaths of Palestinian civilians on Hamas, because the militants operate in densely populated areas.

Israel renewed its offensive in March with a surprise bombardment after ending an earlier ceasefire. Talks on another truce have dragged on for weeks despite pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-gaza-war-palestinians-07-22-2025-8eb90d73c1b7499d3dbc8b8d95da65cc

Ex-socialite Ghislaine Maxwell will try to cut a deal with federal authorities during a jailhouse meeting with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, sources told The Post.

Blanche said Tuesday he plans to meet with the convicted madam, currently serving a 20- year sentence in Florida for sex trafficking young women for her former boss, notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

“She’s going to make a deal,” said Alan Dershowitz, a lawyer and law professor who was pals with, and previously represented, Epstein, who died in federal custody in August 2019.

“That’s the way things are done. They make deals with the mafia, so I’m certain they are going to try to make a deal with her.”

A separate legal expert explained meeting with Blanche presents an opportunity for Maxwell to potentially lessen her sentence or get out of prison in exchange for spiling secrets about her and Epstein’s life, which she has closely guarded since his death.

Dershowitz has referred to Maxwell, 63, as the “Rosetta stone” of information about Epstein, and told The Post Tuesday “she knows everything — not just about the perpetrators but the victims. And she knows about the victims who became perpetrators.”

Some of Epstein’s victims – which number over 1,000 in total according to the Department of Justice – were groomed to recruit other young women, according to court papers.

Maxwell has been closely associated with Epstein since the death of her publishing magnate father Robert Maxwell in 1991. The pair were inseparable at high society parties across New York and the world spanning the next two decades.

Maxwell benefitted from Epstein’s mysteriously accumulated fortune, while she was seen as his social fixer, able to gain the somewhat unrefined character access to rarefied society circles. Maxwell – who was, at one point, Epstein’s girlfriend – got him access even to the UK royal family and facilitated his friendship with Prince Andrew.

The British prince shelled out more than $16 million to Virginia Giuffre, one of the young women recruited by Maxwell and Epstein. Giuffre, who took her own life in April, also alleged she had been passed around as a sex slave to others, although their identities have never properly been established.

Maxwell said through her brother she would be willing to testify before a Congressional Committee on her relationship with Epstein.

It could be the first time federal prosecutors hear her version of events, as both her defense lawyers and prosecutors said they had not engaged in plea negotiations which would require such an interview before her trial.

Her lawyers at the time said she did not need to negotiate as she was innocent.

The case has been thrust back into the spotlight by the justice department’s promise to release all the information gathered by the FBI from raiding Epstein’s properties earlier this year, only to then walk it back.

A Justice Department-FBI joint memo concluded the 66-year-old financier killed himself in a federal lockup and did not have a “client list” of powerful friends who allegedly took part in sexual encounters with underage women.

With no more information expected to be released by the federal government, Maxwell’s version of events once again becomes of prime importance.

She is believed to have kept silent while her appeals process played out for fear of jeopardizing her chances in the case. However, with most of her possibilities of appeal recently exhausted – apart from one petition to the Supreme Court – she may now feel compelled to give her side of the story.

Her brother, Ian Maxwell, speaks to his sister frequently and has, alongside other members of his family, fought her corner since her initial arrest in 2020.

He also denied the existence of a client list of powerful people girls had been trafficked to.

“Let’s not try and big it up for more than it is. I think it was a high-quality address book. I don’t think it constitutes ‘a list’, let alone a list of alleged people to whom young minor girls were trafficked,’ Ian told “Piers Morgan Uncensored”.

“Ghislaine’s position on this, for what it’s worth, has been, she doesn’t ever believe that such a list existed.”

Ian Maxwell has also said he believes his sister should never have been prosecuted due to a deal Epstein cut with Florida federal prosecutors when he was first convicted of sex offenses in 2007.

In exchange for pleading guilty to lesser charges of soliciting a prostitute, the deal Epstein signed said he and any co-conspirators would be immune from further federal prosecution. New York prosecutors later argued successfully in court that the deal’s jurisdiction ended in Florida.

Maxwell was then convicted after a trial in New York in 2021, and has been serving her sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, a low security prison, since July 2022.

Her family has long claimed the prison is unsafe and Maxwell is subject to poor living conditions, and frequently placed in solitary confinement. They also say they fear for her life.

“Prisons are very dangerous places and we know from Ghislaine that there are serious staff shortages and more dangerous higher-risk-category prisoners now being admitted to … Tallahassee,’ said Ian Maxwell.

With questions about the circumstances of Epstein’s death in federal prison in 2019 still raging, some fear for Ghislaine’s wellbeing and vulnerability while in prison.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/07/22/us-news/maxwell-likely-to-make-deal-with-deputy-ag-source/

Vice President JD Vance headlined a big-ticket fundraiser Tuesday on Nantucket, raking in $3 million in donations for Republicans as the 2026 midterm elections draw closer, The Post can reveal.

The fundraising dinner, hosted at a private residence by Laura and Rob Reynolds with Dave Kelsey and Ozzie Palamo, raised a record amount of money for any donor event on the Massachusetts island for the Republican National Committee, according to a source.

“Vance as RNC finance chair has been a difference maker already,” one GOP strategist said.

“If you look at the DNC, there is no one with a similar stature headlining event after event for them.”

The RNC has already surpassed the Democratic National Committee in contributions in 2025, racking up more than $96 million in donations and holding a war chest of nearly $81 million.

DNC coffers currently include a little more than $15 million cash on hand, with fundraisers pulling down more than $69 million since the start of the year.

Admission to the dinner on Nantucket set each attending couple back a minimum of $100,000, with membership in the “host committee” running a steep $250,000.

Reynolds serves as the President and CEO of Putnam Investments and Chair of Great-West Lifeco US, and has been credited with popularizing employer-sponsored 401(k) plans.

He spent years as an NCAA football referee, which he says “sharpened [his] eye for spotting winning teams,” according to LinkedIn.

Ahead of the 2022 midterms, the GOP fundraising power couple hosted a “Take Back the Senate Reception & Dinner,” which drew a number of big name Republicans to the Reynolds residence, including Vance, who was a GOP Senate candidate in Ohio at the time.

Palomo is a founding partner and managing director of Chartwell Strategy Group, a lobbying firm specializing in communications, government relations and risk management.

He was a former Haley fundraiser, but has now switched his focus to bundling for the RNC.

Kelsey is a managing principal at Hamilton Point Investments, a real estate private-equity company that owns and manages multifamily apartments.

Kelsey is a longtime GOP donor and founded a political action committee, CT Truth PAC, to help elect Republicans to Connecticut political offices.

Demonstrators ended up picketing the event and berated Vance for mocking “childless cat ladies” during the 2024 campaign.

The feline-loving protesters, led by Miranda McGonigle, the creator of the viral “Cats on a Couch” Instagram page, swarmed the island, which they dubbed “Meowtucket.”

McGonigle created her account during the run-up to the 2024 election, taking inspiration from the resurfacing of his remarks against “childless cat ladies” in the federal bureaucracy — and an absurd canard that the VP admitted to engaging in erotic behavior with couch cushions in his 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.”

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/07/22/us-news/vice-president-jd-vance-rakes-in-3m-for-gop-at-nantucket-fundraiser/

An Indian man in his 40s was assaulted and stripped by a group of youngsters in Dublin after he was falsely accused of behaving inappropriately around children. Police were treating the incident as an apparent hate crime.

An Indian man in his 40s was assaulted and stripped by a group of attackers in the Irish capital of Dublin. The unnamed individual was falsely accused of acting inappropriately around children and authorities were probing the incident as a possible hate crime, The Irish Times reported.

The incident occurred on July 19 evening when the Indian national was set upon by a group of young men in the suburb of Tallaght and thrashed him. The attackers removed his trousers before passers-by rescued him. The man was left bleeding from multiple wounds on his face, arms and legs.

According to Garda (Irish National Police), the attackers falsely claimed the man was behaving inappropriately around children. These claims were amplified online by prominent far-right and anti-immigrant online accounts.

However, Garda rejected such claims of the man acting inappropriately.

The man was rushed to the Tallaght University Hospital with injuries and was discharged from the hospital on July 20.

“Garda in Tallaght were alerted to an incident at Parkhill Road, Tallaght, Dublin 24, on the evening of Saturday, July 19, 2025, at approximately 6 pm. Garda attended the scene and a male, aged in his 40s was taken to Tallaght University Hospital with injuries,” a police spokesperson said.

According to investigators, some of the attackers have carried out unprovoked attacks on foreigners in the Tallaght area recently, according to The Irish Times.

Garda has opened an investigation into the incident.

Recently, Irish Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said he was aware of instances of foreign nationals being falsely accused of crimes.

“Increasingly, you hear people blaming immigrants for crimes. All I can say to you is: I have asked for the statistics and when you look at the prison population of people convicted of offences, the percentage of immigrants in prison is lower than the percentage of immigrants in society,” he said.

“So there’s no substance to the suggestion that immigrants are more likely to commit a criminal offence,” he added.

Indian Ambassador to Ireland Akhilesh Mishra was critical of the incident involving the Indian man and slammed RTE News for reporting the incident with “alleged assault”.

“How can an ‘alleged’ assault cause such horrible injury and bleeding? Aghast at the insensitivity and obfuscation of RTE News! Thank Hon @paulmurphy_TD @gardainfo and Irish people for their sympathy, support to the innocent victim. Hope the perpetrators are brought to justice!” he tweeted.

EYEWITNESS NARRATE INCIDENT

An eyewitness who claimed she witnessed the Indian man being attacked said the ‘racist gang’ stole his bank cards, phone, shoes and trousers. The Irish woman, whose testimonial has gone viral on social media, said the man was staying with his friend and had arrived in the country a week ago.

“I was driving to my mother-in-law when I saw 13 teenagers, including a woman, rounding up that man. I saw that the man was completely dripped in blood from his head to toes. His entire body was covered in blood,” the woman said.

The eyewitness, who became emotional as she narrated the incident, said the man was embarrassed and visibly shocked by what he had gone through.

“His trousers were pulled down. He was whacked. His head was gashed due to a blade in the knuckles of those animals. And this attack happened at 6 pm in broad daylight,” she alleged.

She warned about the gang, saying its members go around neighbourhoods and stab people in their faces. “Four Indian men were stabbed on the face by these teens in the past four days. How many of you knew that or saw it in the news?” she said.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/world/indians-abroad/story/indian-man-assaulted-and-stripped-in-ireland-in-apparent-hate-crime-2759790-2025-07-22

In a viral video, a “couple”, now identified as Bano Bibi and Ihsanullah, were seen being taken to a desolate desert spot by more than a dozen men dressed in traditional Pathani suits and turbans, using pickup trucks. Moments later, as the jirga men got off the trucks and pulled out their automatic rifles and pistols, the couple were seen marching ahead into the Baloch wilderness. Then, sharp sounds of gunfire rang out. The couple, accused by the jirga of having an “illicit relationship”, were gunned down from close range in broad daylight, with the woman’s brother among the group of men.

Now, months after the gruesome incident, reported to have occurred in June, and following much hue and cry by civil rights activists and Baloch groups, 13 men, including tribal chief Sardar Sherbaz Satakzai, who ordered the “justice”, have been arrested by the Balochistan provincial police, reported news agency Reuters.

The killings, ordered by tribal leader Satakzai, were a result of the couple’s alleged “illicit relationship”, which was deemed unacceptable by the jirga, or tribal council. The name Satakzai suggests a Pashto tribal clan.

In Pakistan, dishonour killings, particularly prevalent among tribal communities, claim over 1,000 lives annually, with Balochistan reporting 32 cases in 2024 alone.

BROTHER PULLED THE TRIGGER TO DEFEND FAMILY ‘HONOUR’

Former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison was sentenced on Monday to 33 months in prison for violating Breonna Taylor’s rights during the raid in which she was shot and killed, after President Donald Trump’s Justice Department asked the judge to imprison him for a single day.
Taylor, a Black woman, was shot and killed by Louisville, Kentucky, police officers in March 2020 after they used a no-knock warrant at her home. Her boyfriend, believing they were intruders, fired on the officers with a legally owned firearm, prompting them to return fire.

Taylor’s death, along with the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of a white police officer, sparked racial justice protests across the U.S. over the treatment of people of color by police departments.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings, who handed down the sentence on Monday, criticized prosecutors for making a “180-degree” turn in its approach to the case and said political factors appeared to have influenced its recommendation for a one-day prison sentence.
“This sentence will not and cannot be measured against Ms. Taylor’s life and the incident as a whole,” Jennings said.

The sentence was at the low end of the 33 to 41 months called for under federal sentencing guidelines, but far more severe than the Justice Department under Trump had sought.
Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, several other family members and Kenneth Walker, her boyfriend at the time, all spoke in court to ask the judge to impose the maximum penalty.
“A piece of me was taken from me that day. You have the power to make today the first day of true accountability,” Palmer told the judge.
EX-OFFICER APOLOGIZES
During President Joe Biden’s administration, the Justice Department brought criminal civil rights charges against the officers involved in both Taylor and Floyd’s deaths.

Hankison was convicted by a federal jury in November 2024 of one count of violating Taylor’s civil rights, after the first attempt to prosecute him ended with a mistrial.

He was separately acquitted on state charges in 2022.
In a brief statement to the court, Hankison apologized to Taylor’s family and friends and said he would have acted differently if he had known about issues with the preparation of the search warrant that led police to Taylor’s home that night.
“I never would have fired my gun,” he said.
The Justice Department’s sentencing memo for Hankison downplayed his role in the raid at Taylor’s home, saying he “did not shoot Ms. Taylor and is not otherwise responsible for her death.”
The memo was notable because it was not signed by any of the career prosecutors – those who were not political appointees – who had tried the case.
It was submitted on July 16 by Harmeet Dhillon, a political appointee by Trump to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and her counsel Robert Keenan.
Keenan previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, where he argued that a local deputy sheriff convicted of civil rights violations, Trevor Kirk, should have his conviction on the felony counts struck and should not serve prison time.
The department’s sentencing recommendation in the Hankison case marks the latest effort by the Trump administration to put the brakes on the department’s police accountability work.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-judge-sentences-ex-police-officer-33-months-violating-civil-rights-breonna-2025-07-22/

The red-haired doll’s real-life story dates back to the 1970s

A SHOCK twist has been revealed after the sudden death of a paranormal investigator while touring with a “demonically possessed” doll.

Creepy Annabelle has spooked believers for decades – despite the doll being encased in a glass box to “contain the evil.”

Dan Rivera, 54, died on July 13 in Pennsylvania while leading a national tour of the allegedly haunted Raggedy Ann doll named Annabelle.

The US Army veteran was the lead paranormal investigator of the New England Society for Psychic Research (NESPR), which announced his “sudden” death.

Rivera had been showing the supposedly haunted doll – which inspired the Annabelle movies in The Conjuring film franchise – across multiple states.

At the time of his death he had been visiting Gettysburg, where he was leading the Devils on the Run Tour alongside NESPR colleagues.

A Pennsylvania coroner has now confirmed to People that the spooky doll was not in the hotel room where Rivera died.

Francis Dutrow, the Adams County coroner, told the magazine that he didn’t notice Annabelle upon his arrival at the scene on July 13.

Dutrow further confirmed that the doll had not been in Rivera’s hotel room at all.

The coroner told People that hours before he died, Rivera had been with NESPR colleagues.

“The decedent was discovered in his hotel room by workers.

“Nothing unusual or suspicious was observed at the scene.”

Rivera’s cause of death has not as yet been revealed.

His autopsy results are expected before the end of September.

The doll had been given to late paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, who kept it in their occult museum in Monroe, Connecticut.

The couple’s decades of ghost-hunting cases inspired such frightening films as The Conjuring series and The Amityville Horror.

Annabelle also has movies in her own name, including Annabelle (2014), Annabelle: Creation (2017), and Annabelle Comes Home (2019).

HAUNTINGS
The Warrens founded the New England Society for Psychic Research in Monroe in 1952 to probe suspected hauntings.

They investigated more than 10,000 cases in the U.S. and abroad, often writing about their experiences.

One such case was that involving the rag doll, with huge black eyes.

Lorraine Warren said, “It’s not what the doll looks like that makes it scary. It is what has been infused within the doll. Evil.”

A student nurse who received the Raggedy Ann doll as a gift brought it home where she lived with a roommate, according to NESPR, which is overseen by the Warrens’ son-in-law Tony Spera.

His in-laws pronounced the doll as being allegedly “demonically possessed.”

To protect people, they encased it in a glass box to contain the “evil spirited entity,” according to the website.

A chilling alert displayed on its case says: “Warning: Positively Do Not Open.”

US TOUR WARNING
Rivera, who was mentored by the couple, took ownership of Annabelle after Lorraine’s death in 2019, and hoped to continue their work with his research and tour.

His sudden death came after the Warren family had to quash conspiracy theory-style claims that the doll had disappeared.

Months before the US tour, Rivera had posted on Facebook about embarking on a “thrilling and terrifying adventure showcasing the most diabolical items from the infamous Warren’s Occult Museum.”

Spookily, a woman warned him eight weeks ago: “I don’t understand why you guys would put yourself in danger like this, you really should put that doll back.

“And Lorraine Warren said it wasn’t supposed to be touched or removed under no circumstances.”

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/14779005/twist-annabelle-doll-handlers-dan-rivera-death-conspiracy-haunted/

Speculation ran wild last week when she shared a bikini snap on social media

KOURTNEY Kardashian has finally responded to pregnancy rumors in a buried Instagram comment.

Fans of the business mogul and mother-of-four were recently convinced that she might be pregnant with her 5th child after she shared a revealing bikini snap.

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

In the bikini snap she took in a reflection, fans were stunned and quick to speculate.

Many rushed to Reddit to point out her “bump”, with one comment on Instagram even forcing Kourtney to respond to the rumors herself.

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

Kourtney reacted to the comment and set the record straight once and for all.

Replying to the speculative comment, she said: “Or breastfeeding, eating gelato, focaccia, pasta, not working out and loving my best damn life baby!”

Fans rushed to praise Kourtney for her snap back.

“Girl You’re living your best life no need to explain,” said one.

While someone penned to the troll: “Why are you telling her she’s pregnant if she just said she is living her best life and eating.

“If she isn’t pregnant why you keep telling her she is?”

Although many were praising Kourtney for her comment, some still were not convinced that she is not pregnant.

Some fans think Kourtney is hiding her pregnancy and “wouldn’t admit it anyway”.

One person wrote: “Gurl pregnant. We know dam well what a pregnant belly look like.”

“Kourtney u know well u won’t admit if ur pregnant if u were anyways,” said a second.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/14774618/kourtney-kardashian-responds-pregnancy-rumors/

Germany is allowing two Taliban officials to work at Afghan diplomatic missions in the country, even though it does not recognize the Islamist regime. Chancellor Merz has made curbing migration a policy priority.

Germany said Monday that it has allowed two envoys from Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban regime to enter the country for the first time since the hardline, Islamist movement seized power in 2021.

The measure was approved to facilitate further deportations of Afghan migrants, after 81 Afghans with failed asylum claims and criminal convictions were deported on Friday.

That flight was the second of its kind since Germany resumed deportations to Afghanistan last year, which were halted after the Taliban returned to power and Germany closed its embassy in Kabul.

Merz insists Taliban will not be formally recognized
The German government, like the rest of the international community except for Russia, does not formally recognize the Taliban government because of its human rights record and in particular its treatment of women.

But it does have “technical contacts” with the Taliban to deal with the deportations, which Qatar has facilitated.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has emphasized that despite the consular staff being allowed to enter and work in the country, there will be no diplomatic recognition of the Taliban Islamists.

Currently, the Afghan diplomatic representations in Germany are headed by officials who were accredited before the 2021 Taliban takeover, according to the German Foreign Office, which added that staff at the Afghan missions are stretched thin.

“The German government has an interest in ensuring that Afghan nationals in Germany receive adequate consular support — this includes, for example, the issuance of passports,” the Foreign Office said.

The Taliban envoys, who arrived in Germany over the weekend, will work at the Afghan embassy in Berlin and the Afghan consulate in Bonn, according to the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ).

Hot button issue amid rise of far-right
Germany stopped deportations to Afghanistan in 2021 when the Taliban retook control of the country. However, amid a rise of the far-right and anti-immigrant rhetoric, the government led by the conservative bloc of Chancellor Merz has put deportations high on the agenda.

The deportations had already resumed under Merz’s predecessor Olaf Scholz, who had pledged to ramp up removals of rejected asylum-seekers and migrants with criminal convictions in the wake of violent attacks involving migrants.

The deportations of Afghan migrants and asylum-seekers to Afghanistan has drawn sharp criticism from the United Nations.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said it was “not appropriate to return people to Afghanistan,” while speaking to reporters in Geneva.

“We have been documenting continuing human rights violations in Afghanistan,” she said.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-allows-taliban-envoys-to-facilitate-deportations/a-73360224

Tropical Storm Wipha was set to cross Vietnam’s northern coastline on Tuesday (Jul 22) morning, with almost 350,000 soldiers on standby as the state weather agency forecast up to 50cm of rainfall that could cause flooding and mudslides.

As of 6am, Wipha was 60km off the coast of Haiphong City with wind speeds of up to 102kmh, and was moving southwest at a speed of 15kmh, according to the national weather forecast agency.

After making landfall in Hung Yen and Ninh Binh provinces, Wipha is forecast to weaken to a low-pressure event on Tuesday night, the agency said.

No casualties or damage have been reported so far.

Witnesses in Haiphong, an industrial base that is home to key ports, said the wind and rain were moderate on Tuesday morning.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/wipha-tropical-storm-vietnam-heavy-rains-5250846

Sumatra reported 1,292 hotspots on Monday (Jul 21), a jump from 94 on Jul 12, causing haze to hit several western states on Peninsular Malaysia.

Indonesia’s Sumatra island has seen a sharp spike in forest and land fires, with the number of hotspots jumping from 94 to more than 1,000 within 10 days.

A total of 1,292 hotspots were detected in the region, according to a report by Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency BMKG on Monday (Jul 21).

Hotspots are satellite images with high infrared intensity, indicating sources of high heat, such as forest and land fires.

Within the region, Riau province has been the worst hit by fires in forests and peatlands, with a total of 582 hotspot detections. This is up from 38 hotspots reported on Jul 12.

“The trend (of number of hotspots) is increasing because Riau is entering the peak of the dry season and the intensity of rain and cloud growth is decreasing,” Irwan Nasution, coordinator of BMKG Riau province, told CNA.

The Rokan Hilir regency and North Sumatra province were also badly hit by blazes, with 244 and 236 blazes detected in the areas respectively, according to the Jul 21 report by BMKG.

Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said it will also be carrying out cloud-seeding to fight the forest fires in Riau from Jul 21 to Jul 27.

Abdul Muhari, the head of the BNPB’s Disaster Data, Information and Communication Center said that additional measures, such as a water-bombing helicopter and an air patrol to monitor the fires will also be deployed to Riau as part of the cloud-seeding and fire mitigation efforts, according to a report on the agency’s website.

Indonesia’s fires are usually a result of slash-and-burn techniques being deployed to clear land for subsequent crops, as well as the dry season exacerbating the situation.

The forest and peatland fires are a primary cause for the recurring issue of transboundary haze, which is an annual problem for Indonesia and its neighbours, including Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand.

According to the ASEAN Specialised Monitoring Centre, dry conditions were observed over most parts of the southern ASEAN region from Jul 20. Aside from parts of northern Sumatra, hotspots were also detected in parts of Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department, MetMalaysia, released an advisory on Jul 19 regarding the transboundary haze.

It said that hotspots in Sumatra captured by satellite imagery last Friday and reported by the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre could have contributed to the haze carried by south-westerly winds.

 

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesias-sumatra-sees-14-fold-spike-in-fire-hotspots-over-15-weeks-malaysia-warns-haze-5249661

Tiny purse, huge price tag.

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez are back in Europe, and the Amazon billionaire’s new bride is definitely dressing the part.

Sánchez was spotted at the famed Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d’Antibes Sunday, dressed in a vintage open-back Roberto Cavalli gown in bold shades of blue, yellow and hot pink.

The haute couture-loving helicopter pilot accessorized with high-heeled Aquazzura sandals and a rare Dior mini bag worth six figures.

Her petite, all-over-beaded Lady Dior Micro purse features the luxury brand’s “Rêve d’Infini” (“Dream of Infinity”) motif by artist Pietro Ruffo, which is based on a compass rose mosaic from Christian Dior’s childhood home in Granville, France.

While the limited-edition style is no longer available to purchase at Dior boutiques, it originally retailed for over $15,000 and came housed in a matching trunk adorned with the same artwork, making it a true collector’s item.

Of course, Sánchez is no stranger to a sought-after purse; she’s recently been carrying her Hermès Kelly Midas on repeat.

Inspired by the mythical king whose touch could turn anything to gold, the bag has an 18-karat-gold handle and hardware, and was released in 2023.

Daniel Englander, an expert on luxury resale site Fashionphile‘s VIP Relations team, recently told Page Six Style that an exotic version of the Kelly Midas like Sánchez’s retails for around $170,000, but can fetch much more — up to $250,000 — on the resale market.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2025/07/21/style/lauren-sanchez-carries-rare-dior-mini-bag-worth-over-15000/

Jennifer Garner and Bradley Cooper made their reunion a family affair.

The former “Alias” co-stars were spotted having an early dinner together alongside their kids at Japanese restaurant Nobu in Malibu, Calif., on Sunday.

Cooper brought his 8-year-old daughter, Lea, whom he shares with ex Irina Shayk, while Garner was photographed with two of her three children, whom she shares with ex-husband Ben Affleck.

The actress was joined by daughter Violet, 19, and son Samuel, 13. Her middle child, Seraphina, 16, did not appear to be present.

The group kept it casual for the outing at the pricey, celebrity hotspot.

Cooper, 50, appeared to have bedhead while wearing a hoodie advertising his cheesesteak restaurant, Danny & Coop’s in New York City, with black shorts.

Garner, 53, color-coordinated in a white cardigan, a polo shirt and white jeans.

Violet wore a light blue sweater with oranges on it and a polka-dot skirt, while Samuel wore a gray sweatshirt reading “Palisades.”

Earlier in the day, the Yale student was photographed stepping out for coffee with her mom wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

Cooper and Garner have remained close friends since “Alias” wrapped in 2006. They’ve been photographed together on multiple occasions.

The “13 Going on 30” star showered Cooper with heartfelt words at the 2019 Cinematheque Awards.

“My mental image of Bradley Cooper is of an apple-drooling frosted haired boy wonder,” she said at the time. “It wasn’t until I heard him speaking French to a background artist on set one day that I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Is Bradley handsome?’”

 

Source: https://pagesix.com/2025/07/21/celebrity-news/jennifer-garner-and-bradley-cooper-have-alias-reunion-with-their-kids-at-nobu/

Roche — who is granddaughter of Princess Diana’s uncle, which makes her William and Harry’s second cousin — died at her family home on July 14, the Sun reported Monday.

A firearm was reportedly found close to her at the property in Norton, England.

The coroner told the outlet police have deemed the death as “non-suspicious” and there was no third-party involvement.

Roche’s mom and sister found her body after she had been packing to go on a trip with friends, according to the report.

A spokesperson told the outlet that Roche, who was studying english literature at Durham University, “will be sorely missed.”

Reps did not immediately return Page Six’s request for comment.

The Yorkshire Post published her obituary on July 19, noting that Roche will have a private family funeral and a memorial service will be held at a later date.

She was described as “darling daughter of Hugh and Pippa, incredible sister to Archie and Agatha [and] granddaughter to Derek and Rae Long.”

This isn’t the only tragedy the royal family has suffered in recent years.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2025/07/21/royal-family/prince-william-and-prince-harrys-cousin-20-found-dead-with-a-firearm-nearby-report/

The Trump administration is prioritising the quality of trade agreements over meeting a looming deadline, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday (Jul 21), as countries scramble to avoid steep new tariffs set to take effect on Aug 1.

“We’re not going to rush for the sake of doing deals,” Bessent told CNBC. Asked whether the deadline could be extended for countries engaged in talks, he said it would be up to President Donald Trump.

“If we somehow boomerang back to the Aug 1 tariff, I would think that a higher tariff level will put more pressure on those countries to come with better agreements,” he said.

Trump has roiled global markets with sweeping tariff threats targeting most major US trading partners. But his administration has fallen short of securing deals with many countries, including India, the European Union and Japan, where negotiations have proven more difficult than anticipated.

WHITE HOUSE, EU RESPONSE
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump may raise trade during talks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr at the White House on Tuesday.

She said the US remained engaged with governments globally and could announce new deals or issue more tariff notifications before the deadline, but offered no further details.

Meanwhile, European Union diplomats said the bloc was considering broader counter-measures amid dimming prospects for a deal. Germany and other EU countries are weighing the use of “anti-coercion” tools that could restrict US access to public tenders or target services.

“The negotiations over the level of tariffs are currently very intense,” said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “The Americans are quite clearly not willing to agree to a symmetrical tariff arrangement.”

CHINA TALKS, JAPAN AND INDIA
On China, Bessent said talks would resume “in the very near future”.

“Trade is in a good place,” he said, adding that future discussions could focus on Beijing’s continued purchases of sanctioned Iranian and Russian oil, and its excess capacity in sectors such as steel. “The elephant in the room is this great rebalancing that the Chinese need to do.”

Bessent also said he would encourage Europe to follow the US if it implements secondary tariffs on Russia.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/us-says-it-wont-rush-trade-deals-ahead-august-deadline-will-engage-china-5250571

“In both accounts, the president quickly called the prime minister to rectify those situations,” said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.

US President Donald Trump was “caught off guard” by Israeli strikes in Syria last week, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Monday (Jul 21), adding that he discussed the issue with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel had launched strikes on the capital Damascus and the southern Druze-majority city of Sweida, saying it aimed to put pressure on the Syrian government to withdraw its troops from the region amid ongoing clashes there.

Trump “was caught off guard by the bombing in Syria and also the bombing of a Catholic church in Gaza”, Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing.

“In both accounts, the president quickly called the prime minister to rectify those situations,” she continued.

Netanyahu had visited the White House earlier this month, his third trip since Trump returned to power on Jan 20.

“The president enjoys a good working relationship with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, and stays in, you know, frequent communication with him,” Leavitt said.

“When it came to Syria, we saw a de-escalation there.”

Israel and Syria on Friday entered a US-brokered ceasefire.

Also on Friday, PM Netanyahu called Pope Leo to express regret at the strike on the Catholic church in Gaza, blaming a “stray missile”.

 

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/us-donald-trump-caught-guard-israeli-strikes-syria-5250741

Parliament’s intelligence watchdog has announced it will launch an inquiry into a major data breach which compromised the identities of thousands of Afghans and British military officials.

The data leak prompted a super-injunction which meant the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which routinely reviews sensitive material, was not briefed until last week.

Chairman Lord Beamish said all intelligence documents related to the case should be provided “immediately” for review.

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman said the government strongly welcomed the committee’s scrutiny of the data leak.

The ISC oversees the work of MI5, MI6 and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).

In a statement on Monday, Lord Beamish said the cross-party group would “conduct an inquiry into the intelligence community’s role and activity in connection with the loss of data” after considering defence assessments related to the case.

The peer had previously voiced concern over “serious constitutional issues” raised by the handling of the breach, which went undiscovered for more than a year before the gagging order was requested.

The ISC has argued that – under the Justice and Security Act 2013 – classification of material is not grounds on which information can be withheld from the committee, given its purpose is to scrutinise the work of the UK intelligence community.

An MoD spokesman said: “We recognise the urgent need to understand how these significant failures happened and ensure there’s proper accountability for the previous government’s handling of this matter.

“The Ministry of Defence has been instructed by the defence secretary to give its full support to the ISC and all parliamentary committees. If incumbent ministers and officials are asked to account and give evidence, they will.”

The leak was made in February 2022 by someone working at UK Special Forces headquarters in London, who inadvertently emailed a spreadsheet containing more than 30,000 resettlement applications to an individual outside of government, thinking that he was sending data on just 150 people.

The data breach was only identified in August 2023, when a man in Afghanistan made a Facebook post identifying nine individuals and indicated he could release the rest, in a sequence of events that government sources said was “essentially blackmail”.

The MoD applied for a gagging order in September 2023, due to the risk of reprisals from the Taliban against nearly 19,000 Afghans who were revealed to have worked with British forces in Afghanistan.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0k70de6jpgo

 

Lawyers for Harvard University and the Trump administration have sparred in a Boston courtroom as they fought over President Donald Trump’s decision to strip billions of dollars in government funding for Harvard’s education programmes.

In a hearing on Monday, the judge overseeing the case seemed sceptical of the move to freeze more than $2bn (£1.5bn) in federal grants for the university in a stated effort to fight antisemitism.

Judge Allison Burroughs questioned how denying money allocated for medical research would stop antisemitism. At one point she called the government’s claims “mind-boggling”.

Lawyers for Trump argued that the cuts are deserved and necessary to punish anti-Jewish bias.

The closely watched case comes as the White House also moves to prevent the university from accessing a visa system that allows it to enrol foreign students.

Judge Burroughs, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, has already made several interim rulings in favour of Harvard in a separate lawsuit over the foreign student visa system.

In the funding battle, Harvard has asked the judge to reach a decision by 3 September – the deadline the Trump administration has given the university to wind up its financial obligations with regards to federal grants.

Any ruling in the case is likely to be appealed and could end up before the US Supreme Court.

During the packed courtroom hearing, Harvard lawyer Steven Lehotsky argued that the administration was trying to control the “inner workings” of the institution.

“The administration has given no consideration to patients, the public at large and the harm of all this research being cut off,” said Mr Lehotsky, noting that Harvard has a research relationship with the US that stretches back over eight decades.

He added that there is no evidence that the cuts – which affect research into everything from medicine to space travel to artificial intelligence – will have any impact on antisemitism on campus.

A lawyer for the government, Michael Velchik, said that the university had violated an executive order signed by Trump directed at combating antisemitism.

“Harvard wants billions of dollars and that is the only reason we are here,” said Mr Velchik, who graduated from Harvard in 2012.

He said the Trump administration was right to cancel the grants because “Harvard prioritised campus protesters over cancer research”. His comments were a reference to anti-Israel protests seen at America’s oldest university, which also took place on campuses across the US.

Judge Burroughs questioned how the government had determined whether Harvard administrators “have taken enough steps or haven’t” to combat antisemitism.

She noted that government lawyers had provided “no documentation, no procedure” to “suss out” their claims.

She also questioned whether the government believed it could cancel the allocated funds without providing proof of antisemitism.

“The consequences of that in terms of constitutional law are staggering,” the judge said, also calling the assertion “mind-boggling”.

“Don’t you have to show each researcher is antisemitic, instead of a blanket statement: Harvard is antisemitic?” she asked.

The judge declined to issue an instant summary judgement after the nearly three-hour hearing, and promised to issue a ruling soon.

Trump, in a post on Truth Social, argued that the judge is biased, and “a total disaster”. He predicted that she would rule against the government, and vowed to “immediately appeal, and win”.

Dozens of protesters assembled outside the court during the hearing, holding signs reading “defend academic freedom” and “hands off Harvard”.

Trump has previously suggested that his actions against Harvard are part of a negotiating strategy, at one point saying “I think we’re probably going to settle with Harvard”.

In a statement, a White House spokesman said: “We are confident that Harvard will eventually come around and support the president’s vision, and through good-faith conversations and negotiations, a good deal is more than possible.”

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj9vkve298no

Farhan Hasan had just finished an exam and left the classroom chatting to friends when a Bangladeshi air force training jet crashed into his school campus – killing at least 27 people.

“The burning plane was hitting the building right in front of my eyes,” the Milestone School and College student told BBC Bangla.

Footage from the school in a northern suburb of the capital, Dhaka shows a huge fire and thick smoke, after the aircraft slammed into a two-storey building.

More than 170 people were injured in the crash.

The armed forces said that the F-7 jet had experienced a mechanical fault after taking off for a training exercise just after 13:00 local time (07:00 GMT). The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Md. Taukir Islam, was among those killed.

Farhan, who was speaking to BBC Bangla alongside his uncle and his father, added: “My best friend, the one I was in the exam hall with, he died right in front of my eyes.

“In front of my eyes… the plane went right over his head. And many parents were standing inside because the younger kids were coming out since it was the end of the school day… the plane took the parents along with it.”

A teacher at the college, Rezaul Islam, told the BBC that he saw the plane “directly” hit the building.

Another teacher, Masud Tarik, told Reuters that he heard an explosion: “When I looked back, I only saw fire and smoke… There were many guardians and kids here.”

Hours after the crash, in a residential area which is quite densely populated, huge crowds gathered with people standing on top of buildings to get a view.

As people ran in all directions, ambulances and volunteers worked to find their way to carry the injured and many bodies out of the Milestone School and College.

At least 30 ambulances were seen moving people out.

One woman seeking information at the scene told the BBC her son had called her right after the crash, but she had not heard from him since.

More than 50 people, including children and adults, were taken to hospital with burns, a doctor at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery said.

Many families and relatives of victims were inside the hospital – including Shah Alam, the uncle of a Year 8 boy, Tanvir Ahmed, who died in the crash.

“My beloved nephew is in the morgue right now,” Mr Alam said holding on to his younger brother – Tanvir’s father – who was unable to speak.

Most of the victims inside the burns hospital are minors – most of them are between the ages of 9 and 14.

Many other members of the public came to the hospital to donate blood; while a number of politicians from the two prominent political parties Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami visited.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cglzw8y5wy5o

Mark Zuckerberg has reportedly expanded his sprawling $300 million compound in Hawaii by nearly 1,000 acres — stoking yet more controversy with locals on the idyllic Pacific island chain, according to a report.

The latest expansion on the Meta CEO’s massive estate on the Hawaiian island of Kauai includes 962 acres of ranch land purchased earlier this year under an LLC, according to the tech news site WIRED.

A person close to the sale estimated the purchase price at more than $65 million. The acquisition brings Zuckerberg’s total holdings on Kauai to more than 2,300 acres.

Property records place the land’s market value at around $75 million.

Inside the existing compound, Zuckerberg has constructed two mansions with a combined floor area comparable to a football field, a gym, a tennis court, several guest houses, ranch buildings, saucer-shaped treehouses, a water system and a tunnel leading to an underground storm shelter about the size of an NBA basketball court, outfitted with blast-resistant doors and an escape hatch.

Recent planning documents released through public records show plans for three more large buildings, ranging from 7,820 to 11,152 square feet — nearly 10 times the size of the average home in Hawaii.

Two of them include 16 bedrooms and 16 bathrooms between them, arranged in a motel-style layout, with a shared lanai measuring more than 1,300 square feet.

Each building features cameras, keypad locks and motion detection devices. Hoffine Barr described the buildings as short-term guest housing for family, friends and staff.

Satellite images show dozens of buildings on the property that have not yet appeared in public records. Based on bedroom counts in the documents WIRED reviewed, the compound could eventually accommodate more than 100 people.

The seller was the Mary Lucas Trust Estate, whose lands were previously leased to sugar plantations and later restored for cattle grazing. Zuckerberg’s spokesperson Brandi Hoffine Barr confirmed the purchase to WIRED but did not comment on the size or price.

“Mark and Priscilla continue to make a home for their family and grow their ranching, farming, and conservation efforts at Koʻolau Ranch,” said Hoffine Barr.

“The vast majority of the land is dedicated to agriculture — including cattle ranching, organic ginger, macadamia nut, and turmeric farming, native plant restoration, and endangered species protection. After purchasing the ranch, they canceled the previous owner’s plans for 80 luxury homes.”

The couple’s investment now exceeds the $311 million fiscal year 2024 operating budget for the island of Kauai.

A local islander who fished in the area contacted Zuckerberg’s representatives around 10 years ago to inform them that part of the compound housed the remains of his great-grandmother and her brother, according to the report.

Julian Ako negotiated with Zuckerberg’s team for months before finally being able to gain access to the burial site and register the graves with Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources.

According to WIRED, Ako tried unsuccessfully to locate the remains of other ancestor that may be buried on Zuckerberg’s property.

Hawaiian officials told WIRED that they confirmed “the probability (based on oral testimony) of additional burial sites.”

The burial site, first identified in 2015, was “fenced off and maintained” after being discovered, Hoffine Barr told the publication.

She added that workers are “bound by regulations that require reporting of inadvertent discoveries of iwi” — or Hawaiian ancestral bones.

But because workers on the project are bound by strict nondisclosure agreements, local residents fear that any future discovery of iwi could be concealed.

“If all of the workers have signed these nondisclosure agreements, then basically they’re sworn to silence,” Ako told WIRED.

“If they uncover iwi — or bones — it’s going to be a challenge for that to ever become public knowledge, because they’re putting their jobs in jeopardy.”

Zuckerberg began buying land on Kauai in 2014, acquiring 700 acres near the town of Kilauea for roughly $100 million. The purchase included parcels where hundreds of local residents held kuleana rights — traditional Hawaiian legal entitlements whereby descendants of original Native Hawaiian landowners can claim ancestral lands.

 

Source: https://nypost.com/2025/07/21/business/mark-zuckerberg-expands-300m-hawaii-estate-by-nearly-1000-acres/

“Late Show” host Stephen Colbert insisted on announcing that his top-rated program would be canceled — just hours after finding out cash-strapped CBS would not renew his hefty contract, The Post has learned.

The late-night star was told by network brass late Wednesday night that his reported $15 million to $20 million contract would not get picked up and that they were going to pull the plug on the show, according to a well-placed source.

Colbert — who had returned from vacation two days earlier and blasted CBS-parent Paramount Global for settling a high-profile lawsuit with President Trump during his monologue — decided the next morning that he would waste no time in sharing the decision about his fate, the insider added.

“He wanted to tell the world,” the source said. “CBS said OK. They taped with an audience and had to get the news out there before the audience or staff leaked it.”

Colbert broke the news to the shocked studio audience at The Ed Sullivan Theater in New York’s Midtown during taping at 5:30 p.m. ET on Thursday.

“It’s not just the end of our show, but it’s the end of “The Late Show” on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away,” Colbert said to a chorus of boos.

Less than two hours later, CBS sent out a press release that included the taped comments, which would air at 11:35 p.m. ET that night.

A rep for CBS confirmed the network worked with Colbert on rolling out the announcement.

Paramount co-CEO George Cheeks, who oversees CBS, claimed it was “purely a financial decision” to pull the plug on the late-night staple, first-launched by David Letterman in 1993. Colbert, who took over hosting duties a decade ago, will stay on the air until May of next year.

The Post reported that the show was losing betweek $40 million and $50 million annually, and that advertising had slumped along with overall viewership. Meanwhile, Puck News reported that the show’s annual production cost was a sky-high $100 million.

A source familiar with the situation said that all the late-night shows have been battling paltry viewership and declining ratings, but that Colbert’s show had higher costs, making it hard to justify continuing the program.

“If it was losing money like that, then it had to be canceled,” the source told The Post.

However, several left-leaning pundits and lawmakers speculated that Colbert’s steady diet of anti-Trump rhetoric, including last Monday over the Paramount settlement, played a pivotal role in killing the show.

“I believe this kind of complicated financial sentiment with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles. “It’s a ‘big fat bribe,’” Colbert quipped.

“Because it all comes as Paramount’s owners are trying to get the Trump administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner, Skydance!”

The settlement of the lawsuit has been viewed as helping pave the way for Trump’s Federal Communications Commission boss Brendan Carr to greenlight Skydance Media’s $8 billion acquisition of Paramount.

CBS has previously denied that ther settlement and merger talks are not connected.

Source: https://nypost.com/2025/07/21/media/stephen-colbert-insisted-on-announcing-shock-cancellation-of-late-show-just-hours-after-he-learned-about-it-himself/

Zohran Mamdani’s many antics — setting to music his love for those who provide material support to Hamas, shutting down major transportation hubs with rush-hour protests, refusing to condemn calls for a globalized intifada and flipping off Christopher Columbus, to name just a few — make it easy to lose sight of the fact that he is applying for a job.

Indeed, Mamdani would prefer we fracture over what “intifada” means than that we evaluate his qualifications to serve as New York City’s mayor.

But precisely because he does not want us to, we should.

The mayor sits within a three-branch system: A legislative branch creates laws, an executive branch implements and enforces laws, and a judicial branch interprets laws.

Note the common thread: laws.

Laws provide the stability and safety necessary for New Yorkers to walk our dogs at 11 p.m., and for the private sector to invest billions in corporate headquarters.

A Mayor Mamdani would lead the executive branch, with the primary responsibility of implementing and enforcing laws.

His campaign is effectively a job interview, which allows us to assess his views on and understanding of the law.

Helpfully, he has revealed a great deal about both.

Take Mamdani’s repeated threat to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, purportedly to enforce a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.

Yet the United States is not a member state of the ICC, as Mamdani should know — and if he nevertheless orders the NYPD to execute the warrant, he would violate the American Servicemembers’ Protection Act of 2001, which prohibits any “local government” from cooperating with or providing support to the ICC.

Without the ICC warrant, Mamdani has no legal means to arrest a sitting prime minister. Even a non-citizen like Netanyahu enjoys the Fourth Amendment’s protection against arrests without warrants or probable cause — a point on which Mamdani is well-versed when it comes to his crusade against Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Then there’s “Stop the Squeeze on NYC Homeowners,” Mamdani’s plan to “shift the tax burden” away from “outer boroughs” and onto “whiter neighborhoods.”

Apart from its manifest racism, the plan evinces an appalling ignorance of the Constitution and civil rights law — the 14th Amendment and Section 1981 of the Federal Civil Rights Act exist to prevent the kind of race-based tax system Mamdani envisions.

In his “Protecting New York’s Tenants” plan, Mamdani vows to seize property from wayward landlords (vaguely, those who “do not work with” his administration or are “ripping off” tenants) “through a public foreclosure process” after doubling and tripling fines for code violations.

Mamdani’s campaign website breezily compares this idea to the way the city’s Department of Health shutters a dirty restaurant, without delving into how he might legally extend the concept to housing.

That’s a question we should ask.

Theoretically, by increasing fines, the city could artificially place otherwise financially healthy properties in fiscal distress, and such distress could trigger a foreclosure proceeding.

However, the city would be entitled only to the value of the outstanding fines, not the value of the building — a government cannot capitalize on the real property investment of a private citizen.

Source: https://nypost.com/2025/07/21/opinion/zohran-mamdanis-disdain-for-the-law-is-disqualifying-and-dangerous/

The fringe far-right Sanseito party emerged as one of the biggest winners in Japan’s upper house election on Sunday, gaining support with warnings of a “silent invasion” of immigrants, and pledges for tax cuts and welfare spending.
Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the party broke into mainstream politics with its “Japanese First” campaign.

The party won 14 seats adding to the single lawmaker it secured in the 248-seat chamber three years ago. It has only three seats in the more powerful lower house.
“The phrase Japanese First was meant to express rebuilding Japanese people’s livelihoods by resisting globalism. I am not saying that we should completely ban foreigners or that every foreigner should get out of Japan,” Sohei Kamiya, the party’s 47-year-old leader, said in an interview with local broadcaster Nippon Television after the election.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito lost their majority in the upper house, leaving them further beholden to opposition support following a lower house defeat in October.

“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.
In polling ahead of Sunday’s election, 29% of voters told NHK that social security and a declining birthrate were their biggest concern. A total of 28% said they worried about rising rice prices, which have doubled in the past year. Immigration was in joint fifth place with 7% of respondents pointing to it.
“We were criticized as being xenophobic and discriminatory. The public came to understand that the media was wrong and Sanseito was right,” Kamiya said.
Kamiya’s message grabbed voters frustrated with a weak economy and currency that has lured tourists in record numbers in recent years, further driving up prices that Japanese can ill afford, political analysts say.

Japan’s fast-ageing society has also seen foreign-born residents hit a record of about 3.8 million last year, though that is just 3% of the total population, a fraction of the corresponding proportion in the United States and Europe.
INSPIRED BY TRUMP
Kamiya, a former supermarket manager and English teacher, told Reuters before the election that he had drawn inspiration from U.S. President Donald Trump’s “bold political style”.
He has also drawn comparisons with Germany’s AfD and Reform UK although right-wing populist policies have yet to take root in Japan as they have in Europe and the United States.
Post-election, Kamiya said he plans to follow the example of Europe’s emerging populist parties by building alliances with other small parties rather than work with an LDP administration, which has ruled for most of Japan’s postwar history.

Sanseito’s focus on immigration has already shifted Japan’s politics to the right. Just days before the vote, Ishiba’s administration announced a new government taskforce to fight “crimes and disorderly conduct” by foreign nationals and his party has promised a target of “zero illegal foreigners”.
Kamiya, who won the party’s first seat in 2022 after gaining notoriety for appearing to call for Japan’s emperor to take concubines, has tried to tone down some controversial ideas formerly embraced by the party.
During the campaign, Kamiya, however, faced a backlash for branding gender equality policies a mistake that encourage women to work and keep them from having children.
To soften what he said was his “hot-blooded” image and to broaden support beyond the men in their twenties and thirties that form the core of Sanseito’s support, Kamiya fielded a raft of female candidates on Sunday.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/japanese-first-party-emerges-election-force-with-tough-immigration-talk-2025-07-21/

One of Jeffrey Epstein’s former attorneys on Sunday called on the U.S. Justice Department to release additional investigative records from its sex-trafficking investigation, and urged the government to grant Epstein’s former girlfriend immunity so that she can testify about his crimes.
In an interview on Fox News Sunday, Alan Dershowitz said the grand jury transcripts that Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday asked a federal judge to unseal would not contain the types of information being sought by President Donald Trump’s supporters, such as the names of Epstein’s clientele.

“I think the judge should release it, but they are not in the grand jury transcripts,” Dershowitz said on Fox.
“I’ve seen some of these materials. For example, there is an FBI report of interviews with alleged victims in which at least one of the victims names very important people,” he said, adding that those names have been redacted.
President Donald Trump has been under mounting pressure from his supporters to release additional information related to the government’s sex-trafficking probe into Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019 while awaiting trial.
Earlier this year, Bondi promised that the department would release additional materials including “a lot of names” and “a lot of flight logs.”

The department back-tracked on that promise earlier this month, after releasing a joint memo, opens new tab with the FBI which poured cold water on long-running conspiracy theories about Epstein by saying there was “no incriminating client list” or any evidence of blackmail.
The memo also backed a prior FBI investigation which concluded that Epstein died by suicide and was not murdered in his jail cell.
Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have faced a growing backlash by Trump’s supporters since the memo was issued, prompting Trump last week to order the department to ask a court to unseal grand jury transcripts from the Epstein case.
The U.S. government on Friday filed a motion in a Manhattan federal court to unseal grand jury transcripts in the cases of Epstein and former associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
Maxwell 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.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ex-epstein-lawyer-calls-release-additional-epstein-materials-2025-07-20/

China’s exports of rare earth magnets to the United States in June soared to more than seven times their May level, marking a sharp recovery in the flow of critical minerals used in electric vehicles and wind turbines after a Sino-U.S. trade deal.
Outbound shipments to the United States from the world’s largest producer of rare earth magnets surged to 353 metric tons in June, up 660% from May, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Sunday.

That came after pacts reached in June to resolve issues around shipments of rare earth minerals and magnets to the United States. Chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab plans to resume sales of its H20 AI chips to China as part of the agreement.
China, which provides more than 90% of the global supply of rare earth magnets, decided in early April to add several rare earth items to its export restriction list in retaliation for U.S. tariffs.
The subsequent sharp fall in shipments in April and May, due to the lengthy time required to secure export licences, had upset the global supply chain, forcing some automakers outside China to halt partial production due to a rare earths shortage.

In total, China exported 3,188 tons of rare earth permanent magnets globally last month, up 157.5% from 1,238 tons in May, although the June volume was still 38.1% lower than the corresponding month in 2024.
Shipments of magnets are likely to recover further in July as more exporters obtained licences in June, analysts said.
During the first half of 2025, exports of rare earth magnets fell 18.9% on the year to 22,319 tons.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-exports-rare-earth-magnets-us-surge-june-2025-07-20/

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.

See more

Katy Perry’s giant butterfly prop just malfunctioned mid-show and nearly took her out… she really said fight or flight 🦋💥 #lifetimestour #KatyPerry @katyperry @ChrisAntonacci1 @todaykatyp pic.twitter.com/MeXJ77JJBj

— Rayan (@Rmadjidi) July 19, 2025

“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.

See more

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 pic.twitter.com/BLOXYB9fKP

— Damien Symon (@detresfa_) July 18, 2025

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