LOVED-UP Pete Wicks and Olivia Attwood kiss in a packed hotel bar — just weeks after she split from her footballer husband.
The couple, snapped in London’s Soho on Friday, are said to have begun their fling earlier this month.
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Olivia Attwood and Pete Wicks were seen kissing in a packed London barCredit: The SunPete and Olivia chatting over drinks at Flute bar in SohoLong-time pals Pete and Olivia arrive at the 2025 BritsCredit: Ian West/PA Wire
ITV star Olivia, 34, separated from Bradley Dack in January.
Olivia and Pete have seen their friendship “blossom into an unexpected romance”, pals said last night.
The pair had insisted they were just friends but their public kiss in front of cheering pals proved they are a couple.
Loose Women favourite Olivia, 34, screamed, punched the air and beamed in delight afterwards.
An onlooker snapped their snog at rooftop bar Flute in London’s Soho, where they partied for 3½ hours on Friday night.
The venue is where Towie star Pete, 37, was spotted kissing Love Island’s Maura Higgins in 2024.
Last night a pal of Pete and Olivia confirmed: “They have been spending a lot of time together and an unexpected romance has blossomed from friendship.”
“They have got closer and Pete has held a torch for Olivia for a really long time.
“She is hurting and vulnerable, and he was in the right place at the right time.”
Olivia recently split from footballer husband Bradley DackCredit: GettyThe Flute bar, in London’s Soho, where Pete and Olivia partied for 3½ hours on Friday nightCredit: TripadvisorOlivia and Pete at a yacht party off Ibiza last AugustCredit: BackGrid
The friend added: “They get on really well and are taking it slow, there is no label at the moment.”
Since her marriage separation, speculation has mounted that Olivia has moved on with lothario Pete.
The pair have known each other for around nine years and both starred in Towie in 2019.
Last August they partied with friends on a yacht off Ibiza.
“She was beaming in delight and couldn’t have looked happier.
“And at one point she rose in front of her friends, took Pete by the hand, and they kissed passionately as a group of ten to twelve people cheered them on.
“Olivia and Pete didn’t seem to mind who saw them.
“The noise and spectacle they were making caused everyone in the room to stop what they were doing and look.”
Olivia looked stunning in a black top and skinny jeans, with Pete in a smart jacket.
She stopped and chatted to other revellers in the dimly-lit, discreet venue, even asking other drinkers if they felt she looked OK.
A source said: “She was very sweet and so obviously madly in love with Pete.
“She was anxious that she looked good for her man. They had a blissful night.
Olivia only announced her marriage split in JanuaryCredit: SplashPete has bedded a host of TV personalitiesCredit: Splash
“Friends came and went from their table and when they were alone they were very intense, whispering and pausing conversation to kiss.
“And they were just as tactile when in a bigger group.
“Whatever hardships she has been through, it was very clear that Olivia was ecstatically happy with him next to her at their table.”
Our snaps of the loved-up pair are a hammer blow to her estranged hubby Bradley, who plays for League Two Gillingham.
We told how he blocked Pete on Instagram weeks after the marriage split was revealed.
She was on the ITV table while he was with Kiss FM.
That night Olivia told The Sun on Sunday: “If you are going to be single anywhere this’d be the place. Is Harry Styles single?”
She and Pete later left an after-party together and took a taxi to the Edwardian Manchester hotel.
At 3am Pete was seen carrying two pizza boxes through the lobby before getting into a lift.
Hours later the couple emerged together, with both wearing baseball caps, and were driven off at around 12.30pm.
Speaking ahead of the ceremony Pete told their podcast: “What always happens at these events is Liv and I gravitate towards each other and basically just stick together, don’t we?”
Pete and Maura Higgins share a kiss in Soho in 2024Credit: The SunMaura Higgins and Pete pictured together in 2024Credit: Splash
Olivia replied: “Because I feel like we both have the same objective. And talk to as few people . . .” Pete then added: “As possible.”
Pete then said: “Although we are not going big this year, are we?”, to which Olivia countered: “What do you mean?” Pete continued: “You have a flight the next day.”
Olivia replied: “I know, you need to keep me lucid enough that I don’t get stopped at immigration.”
Pete said: “The danger being that I jump on the flight with you in what I am wearing from the Brits.”
The Sun on Sunday revealed in January that Olivia had split from Dack – following what sources said was a “breach of trust” on his part.
In 2017, she went on Love Island, later saying it was revenge on Dack for cheating on her at the time.
They reunited, and she joined Towie in 2019, on which Pete was already a regular. He went on to dance on Strictly in 2024.
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Saturday that he will order federal immigration officers to take a role in airport security starting Monday unless Democrats agree on a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
In a pair of social media posts, Trump first threatened and then said he had made plans to put officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in airports if the congressional standoff continues. He made the announcement as a partial shutdown contributes to long lines to pass through screening at some of the nation’s largest airports.
The president suggested ICE agents would bring the administration’s immigration crackdown into the nation’s airports, promising to arrest “all Illegal Immigrants.”
“I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, ‘GET READY. NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!’” Trump wrote while spending the weekend in Florida.
The move appears to be a pointed effort to expand the type of immigration enforcement that has become a sticking point in Congress. Democrats pledged to oppose funding for the Department of Homeland Security unless changes were made in the wake of a crackdown in Minnesota that led to the fatal shootings of two protesters. Democrats are asking for better identification for federal law enforcement officers, a new code of conduct for those agencies and more use of judicial warrants, among other measures.
The Minnesota operation was tied in part to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. On Saturday, Trump said ICE officers sent to airports would focus on arresting immigrants from Somalia who are in the United States illegally. Repeating his criticism of Somalis, he said they “totally destroyed” Minnesota.
“If the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before,” Trump said.
Trump’s posts did not offer additional detail on how ICE would take a role in airport security and what it meant for the Transportation Security Administration, which screens passengers and luggage for hazardous items.
The vast majority of TSA employees are considered essential and continue to work during the funding lapse, but they are doing so without pay. Call-out rates have started to increase at some airports, and Homeland Security said at least 376 have quit since the partial shutdown began Feb. 14.
On Saturday, in a rare weekend session, the Senate rejected a motion by Democrats to take up legislation to reopen TSA and pay workers who are now going without paychecks. Republicans argue that they need to fund all parts of the Department of Homeland Security, not just certain ones. A bill to fund the agency failed to advance in the Senate on Friday.
There were signs of progress, though, with the restarting in recent days of stalled talks between Democrats and the White House. On Saturday, Republican and Democratic senators were set to meet for a third consecutive day with White House officials behind closed doors as Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York spoke of “productive conversations.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) urged the bipartisan group to act quickly. He has said that Democrats and the White House need to find compromise as lines at airports have grown.
“If that group that’s meeting can’t come up with a solution really quickly, things are going to get worse and worse,” Thune said Saturday.
Binkley writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.
War, which saw Iran attack Qatar facility, has caused ‘high, volatile’ gas prices that could hit EU storage projections.
Published On 21 Mar 202621 Mar 2026
The European Union has urged member states to start early on meeting next winter’s gas storage targets after Iranian attacks on Gulf energy facilities caused prices to surge on global markets.
Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen sent a letter Saturday urging the bloc’s members to get to work “as early as possible” in the coming months to “mitigate pressure on prices and avoid [an] end-of-summer rush”, asking them to consider cutting their so-called filling target by 10 percentage points to 80 percent.
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The move came days after Iran attacked Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City complex, which provides about 20 percent of global supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The attack, which came amid the US-Israeli war on Iran, was in retaliation for an Israeli attack on the Iranian South Pars gasfield.
State-owned QatarEnergy said that Iran’s attack on Qatar, which has been targeted throughout the duration of the war, knocked out 17 percent of Doha’s export capacity and would affect exports for up to five years.
The slowdown will mainly harm Asian buyers, including China, Japan, and India, which buy some 80 percent of QatarEnergy’s LNG.
But Europe, which only sources around 9 percent of its LNG from Qatar, will nevertheless be exposed to increased competition, with tanker traffic leaving the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz throttled by the war.
Natural gas prices in the EU have risen by more than 30 percent since the start of the war on February 28, spiking after Israel’s attack on Iran’s critical South Pars gasfield and subsequent Iranian attack on Qatar’s Ras Laffan.
Jorgensen said that the EU’s gas supply, which has mainly been furnished by the United States since the bloc weaned itself off Russian energy over the Ukraine war, remained “relatively protected at this stage”.
“But, as a net energy importer on global markets, the resulting high and volatile global prices may also impact the EU gas storage projections,” he cautioned.
Jorgensen warned that developments “threaten regional and global security”, urging member states to refill stores early over a longer period.
The EU requirement for member countries to maintain gas reserves at 90 percent of capacity to meet winter heating and power demand underpins the region’s energy security.
Having cut that target by 10 percent, the energy commissioner noted that, in case of “difficult conditions” and a commission assessment, the countries could deviate by up to 20 percent.
Oil prices have also soared since the start of the war by more than 50 percent.
Joe Kent says he resigned as director of the US National Counterterrorism Center over opposition to the war in Iran, telling an audience at a Washington prayer event that he couldn’t “send young men and women off to die on foreign battlefields” in “good conscience.”
“In that darkness, I found myself,” says Mexican pop star Kenia Os, who collaborated with indie icon Carla Morrison and transmuted online hate into her fiercest album yet
Mexico’s reigning pop princess is entering her femme fatale era.
Kenia Os played up her cute and cuddly side in her previous album, 2024’s “Pink Aura” — but with her upcoming album “K de Karma,” out Friday, Os is putting that era to bed.
Os, born Kenia Guadalupe Flores Osuna in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, has made an incredible leap from social media influencer to Latin Grammy-nominated pop star in under a decade. Yet at 26, she has weathered countless storms — whether facing incessant body-shaming online, or defending her pop music pivot from cynics in the comments.
In an interview with the L.A. Times, the Mexican superstar explains how she transmuted that energy into her most fierce and sexy musical offering yet.
“In that darkness, I found myself,” the 26-year-old says over Zoom from her hotel room in Los Angeles — where she’s traded her signature blood red dress for a black tank top and jeans as she prepares for her upcoming tour.
“This album is totally about empowerment. There’s an energy behind it of divine justice… What’s for you belongs to you.”
Os had plenty of examples of powerful pop divas to draw inspiration from. Though she fondly recalls her mother playing the music of the late Selena Quintanilla and Jenni Rivera, Os was tapped into American talents like Miley Cyrus — namely her “Hannah Montana” alter ego — as well as Demi Lovato, Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez.
“I’ve always been inspired by a lot of female artists,” she recalls. “The power that women wield has always been at the core of who I am an artist.”
As Os looks back on being a teen girl who shared her life gratuitously on YouTube, and later social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, she still feels the sting of body-shaming comments. Os reveals during that time, her weight would fluctuate from dealing with hormonal issues such as PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) and endometriosis.
“It’s very difficult how people judge you for your body, if you gain weight, have a tummy, or whatever,” she says. “It was very complicated to grow from a young girl into a woman [in a world] where you are how you look. Currently, I feel at ease because thanks to the universe, I’ve had the opportunity to take care of my body, understand it, and heal from within. It’s made me a stronger woman.”
Another hurdle that Os had to overcome in her career is an ongoing stigma placed on influencers-turned-pop stars. Although artists like Addison Rae, Tate McRae, and Charli D’Amelio successfully forged their careers as performers on social media before taking center stage, Os sees Mexico as being less receptive to that kind of career transition as the U.S. or Canada.
“In Mexico, it hasn’t been that easy for people to understand that I am a singer,” she says. “I’m not the best, but I’m here, I have my fandom that I love and we’re doing incredible things together.” (Os is referring to her massive following online, which includes 26.3 million fans on TikTok and 18.2 million fans on Instagram.)
When Os first launched as a singer in 2018, some immediately took aim at her dance moves and the digitally augmented sound of her voice. Os admits that she’s come a long way since that first iteration with rigorous singing and choreography lessons; three years later, she signed a record deal with her current label Sony Music Mexico, and released her glossy debut album, “Cambios De Luna,” in 2022.
Since then, Os has come to rule the Latin pop scene in Mexico, boasting multiple sold-out tours of the country.
“It’s been difficult for people to understand that I started out making content — which I still love to do — and suddenly, I’m [also] a singer,” she says. “They try to devalue my work and what I do as an artist. At the end of the day, I’m still as hard-working as I [was] on day one. I’m on the charts with a lot of artists. I’ve put myself in a position where I can say that I’m fully dedicated to music. For me, it’s been a beautiful journey where I’ve learned a lot about myself and I’ve grown so much.”
Os achieved an international breakthrough with her visual album, 2022’s “K23.” The following year she scored a viral hit on TikTok with the flirty “Malas Decisiones,” which has over 340 million streams on Spotify. Os would soon tour the U.S. for the first time, and at the 2023 Latin Grammy Awards, “K23” was nominated in the category of long form music video.
“I loved that experience, and I believe it would be beautiful to win a Grammy, but now I’m more dedicated to my fans, my music and what I like without expecting an award,” she says.
Last year, Os also pulled a page from Taylor Swift’s playbook by releasing the concert film “Kenia Os: La OG” in theaters in both the U.S. and Mexico.
Now with “K De Karma” out, Os is finding strength in further harnessing a sexier and more defiant alter ego — which she introduced in her cinematic music video for “Belladona.” Directed by Daniel Eguren, the visuals emphasize the fatality of her femininity with a car explosion and suited-up businessmen bending to her will.
“It doesn’t feel like that I have to act or pretend to be sexy or sensual,” Os admits. “Now, this feels very natural. It feels very me. This is who I am at this moment as a woman.”
She adds that her album was also inspired by a marginalized group that stuck by her side through her ups and downs: the LGBTQ+ community. As a show of gratitude to the girls and the gays, Os transforms from “Belladona” to Primadonna in vogue-ready house bangers like “Slay,” “Problemática,” and “Boom In Your Face.”
“I wanted to do something fun and different for the LGBTQ+ community,” she says. “I’m very happy and grateful for the love they’ve given me. I believe they’re my most passionate fans — they’re the kind of fans that are there for you the most. To put on concerts where you know most of the crowd belongs to that community, it’s an incredible experience.”
A surprising collaborator on “K De Karma” is Mexican singer-songwriterCarla Morrison. She co-wrote the tender love song “Tú y Yo X Siempre” with Os; the two also collaborated on “Días Tristes,” which is reminiscent of the moody ‘80s pop anthem by Jeanette, “El Muchacho De Los Ojos Tristes.”
Os reveals that she and Morrison worked on a third song that they’re still putting the finishing touches on. “It was very magical to work with her,” she adds. “She’s an exceptional and incredible human being with a big heart. She told me very beautiful words that motivated me all of last year. Those were words that I needed to hear.”
On the personal side, Os is also relishing her relationship withPeso Pluma. After collaborating on the reggaeton track “Tommy & Pamela” in 2024, the two Mexican artists went public as an item last year. Os has even accompanied Pluma on a few stops of his recent Dinastía Tour.
“It’s very beautiful to know that you have a partner that knows what you go through and that can give you advice from his experiences as well,” Os says. “I love that I can count on someone that understands me completely and supports me.”
As for now, she is raring for the Mexican leg of her “K de Karma Tour” that kicks off on April 25 in her hometown. She is hoping to eventually add some dates in the States.
“I want to grow more internationally with this album,” says Os. “As long as my fans love and enjoy this album, that’s all that matters to me.”
Great Britain’s Josh Kerr wins gold in the men’s 3000m at the World Indoor Athletics Championships, with Cole Hocker taking silver for USA and and France’s yann Schrub taking bronze in Poland.
Visitors explore themed zones at the “Cookie Run in Lotte World Aquarium: Ocean Adventure” exhibition in Seoul. Photo by Asia Today
March 19 (Asia Today) — South Korean game companies are increasingly taking popular intellectual property beyond screens, launching immersive offline experiences to deepen engagement and diversify revenue.
The shift reflects efforts to reduce the industry’s reliance on new game releases, which can drive sharp swings in earnings. By combining well-known titles with venues such as aquariums and theme parks, companies aim to boost profitability while strengthening brand loyalty.
Experiential offerings typically include photo zones, merchandise sales and live events, creating both direct revenue and indirect benefits by encouraging players to return to games. Industry officials say the approach also opens the door to expansion into animation, performances and theme parks.
Devsisters will host “Cookie Run in Lotte World Aquarium: Ocean Adventure” from Thursday through June 7, transforming multiple floors of the aquarium into nine themed zones. The event blends eight signature Cookie Run characters with marine life, offering visitors an interactive storyline.
The exhibition also introduces an augmented reality stamp tour, allowing visitors to play mini-games on their smartphones and receive rewards such as character voice messages. Merchandise tied to the franchise will be sold on-site.
The company plans additional tie-ins, including a collaborative program at the “Sky Run,” a 123-floor vertical marathon at Lotte World Tower on April 19.
Nexon is pursuing a similar strategy with “MapleStory in Lotte World,” running through June 14 in Seoul’s Songpa district. The event features a themed “Maple Island” zone, along with recreations of in-game locations such as Henesys and Arcana.
Visitors can import or customize their in-game characters at dedicated experience zones. The event also includes retro gaming areas and themed products such as a “Red Potion” drink inspired by in-game items.
Other major firms are following suit. Krafton has operated pop-up stores based on “PUBG: Battlegrounds,” while Netmarble has hosted events featuring its “Kungya Restaurants” franchise.
“As pop-up stores, exhibitions and collaborations expand, game-based cultural content will become more diverse,” an industry official said.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
The Pentagon has reportedly drawn up plans to send American troops into Iran, possibly to Kharg Island or far deeper into the country to seize enriched uranium. These moves would represent a huge escalation for Operation Epic Fury. Former CENTCOM commander Joseph Votel offers us exclusive insights into the challenges and dangers of having U.S. boots on the ground in the Islamic Republic, and what it would take to seize Kharg Island or attempt to snatch Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium that could be very challenging to access.
Gen. Joseph L. Votel, commander, U.S. Central Command, briefs the media in the Pentagon Briefing Room, April 29, 2016. (DoD photo by U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Clydell Kinchen)(Released) Sgt. 1st Class Clydell Kinchen
Some of the questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity.
Q: Does a seizure of Kharg Island, or an insertion of SOF to recover enriched uranium from Pickaxe Mountain or elsewhere in Iran, seem feasible? What would either of those operations take, in terms of troops and assets?
A: Both of those things are feasible. Let me just start with Kharg Island. We can put troops on there. We can air mobile them in. We could land them by boat. I guess the comment I have about Kharg is, I’m not sure what the significance is of putting troops there. It’s only about 20 miles off the coast of Iran. So you’re definitely under the threat of their weapon systems. You’d be very, very vulnerable there. And I don’t know that it would give us any particular tactical advantage that we don’t already have or couldn’t get someplace else at an offset location where we have established bases and other things like that. So I’m not sure what the tactical advantage of it is.
I get that it has an informational and kind of messaging advantage against the Iranians that we are on their territory. And it may send a message to the broader energy community that we are safeguarding these vital Iranian infrastructures. That might give them some confidence [but] kind of an odd thing to do. But I just don’t really see the big advantage of going to Kharg. But we could certainly do it if we had to.
We would be vulnerable. When you start putting troops on the ground – I know there’s some mishmash and words on that – but that’s troops on the ground right there. It also implies that you are going to have to take care of them, you’re going to have to resupply them, you’re going to medevac them, you have to do all the things that keep them in place for whatever period of time. And that requires that you have a logistical tail, and at some point that tail has to be protected as well. So these are not insignificant considerations and they’re often bigger operations.
I would imagine on a little island like Kharg, you would need a battalion sized force of Marines or soldiers could probably do that. So you’re probably looking at 800 to 1,000 troops, kind of size, maybe a little bit smaller, probably not much larger than that.
The U.S. is reportedly planning to attack or blockade Iran’s Kharg Island. (Google Earth)
Going after the fissile material I think is a bigger operation. Again, I think we have the capabilities to do this. Within our Special Operations community, we have people that are trained to do this and have the right relationships and connections and other things to allow us to get in and do that. So you’d have to be able to project that force onto the ground. This would be going to a place like Natanz or Isfahan – probably one of those locations. Those are well inland – several hundred miles into Iran, a country of the same size as the state of Alaska. So it’s big and it’s diverse. It’s largely in an open plain, so you don’t have a lot of natural terrain protection there. That would have to be taken into consideration.
In addition to the kind of operators you put on the ground, you’d also have to bring in a security force, but probably a sizable security force – a brigade size or 1,000 to 3,000 or 4,000 troops to just secure while they did that work. You’d have to do that. You’d have to make sure you dedicated air power. You’d have to put CAPs [combat air patrols] up over, you’d have to have ISR [information, surveillance and reconnaissance] in place.
Again, you’d have the challenge of people on the ground, so you’d have to logistically sustain them and then be prepared to protect that tail. And then you have to have all of the lift, whether it’s rotary wing or fixed wing, to get them in and get them all back out. And then you have the added challenge of handling nuclear material. So about 450-some kilograms. That’s roughly 1,000 pounds of 60% highly enriched uranium. And that’s a lethal material. So ideally, that would be packaged already, but we’d have to make sure we packaged that and moved it and had someplace to actually take it back to.
A general view of Isfahan (UCF) nuclear power plant about 180 miles from Tehran (HENGHAMEH FAHIMI/AFP via Getty Images) HENGHAMEH FAHIMI
So, yeah, could we do a military operation? Sure. I think it would kind of look like I described there. It would be a big operation, and it wouldn’t be something that would be done in a single period of darkness. It probably takes some time. You’d have to have some special capabilities to go in and excavate these things and identify them.
There’s no real open-source discussion of what the conditions are at these things, you’d have to be prepared for the worst, and the worst would be having to dig down and find it. I’m hoping that our intelligence community understands this a little bit more, and I suspect that is the case. But this is a pretty big, pretty significant operation.
An alternative to this would be waiting until there is a cessation of hostilities and then trying to go in in a more semi-permissive environment with elements of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) who really have responsibility for this. They would bring expertise in to do this. We – or some other military force – would probably assist with some of that. But that may be another option as well. I’m sure they’re looking at all these.
Q: This is not a job for a Tier One unit like SEAL Team Six or Delta, to go in and grab it, right? There’s a lot of discussion about that.
A: Yeah. First of all, you’re not just going to go in and grab 1,000 pounds of nuclear material and then ferret it right out. That’s not the case. Those unique capabilities reside within the Special Operations community. I won’t identify organizations, but they reside within the tip top of our special operations capability. They’re trained and maintained and normally exercise and rehearse on a regular basis. So, yeah, we have the ability to do that. But it’s unlikely – in my view, my estimate, with what I know – that you just send a few folks in there, grab the stuff and get it out. I don’t think that’s the case. I think it’s going to take more. You might be able to do that in a permissive environment, but I don’t think you want to take the risk associated with that in the environment that we’re seeing right now, or perhaps even in a semi-permissive environment.
A: I have no reason to believe that it wasn’t. Is there pressure on our magazine depth? There sure is. We’ve talked about that for a while. CENTCOM planned – which has been developed and modified over the last 20, 25 years – to do this. Every commander had their fingers involved in it. I do not know the current plan. I’m sure that [CENTCOM commander] Adm. [Brad] Cooper has done that. It was a significant discussion, not only about the targets, but certainly about what was required to execute that and also to protect themselves. So my assessment is, yes, I think we have. And I don’t think we’ve seen an instance where we’ve not been able to defend ourselves because we didn’t have any missiles.
There’s no doubt we’ve expended a lot, and that’s put a lot of pressure on the magazines, but the Department of Defense and CENTCOM and Joint Staff, I think, have been able to make sure that they’ve been able to move enough materials into place so we can sustain this operation, now well into its third week.
A U.S. Army soldier, assigned to 1-43 Air Defense Artillery Regiment (ADAR), operates a forklift bearing MIM-104 Patriot Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) canisters at an undisclosed location in the CENTCOM region. (U.S. Army photo by Capt. Nick Beavers) Capt. Nick Beavers
Q: How concerned are you about America’s magazine depth of these defensive weapons?
A: We should be concerned. I think the challenge may not necessarily be in CENTCOM. The challenge may be in other areas like the Pacific, Korea, you know, Europe, you know this. This could be impacting our ability to send things to the Ukrainians, or through our NATO partners, the Ukrainians. So I think that’s where the concerns are. And by the way, you know, all of our Gulf Arab partners and many of our partners around the world use THAAD [Terminal High Altitude Area Defense] and use Patriot missile systems, and so they require resupply as well, and stocks available to them.
I think we have long had an issue with making sure we had sufficient magazine depth. We went through this several years ago when North Korea was flexing its muscles and firing missiles towards Guam and over Japan. We had a serious discussion about this. We saw this with the response to Ukraine as well with artillery rounds. The Army’s ramped up production, three or four fold over the last couple of years. But it’s taken a little bit of time. That’s good. But we need to do that with all these other munitions. So a portion of our resources needs to be dedicated to making sure we have sufficient munitions in place for our contingencies and for our partners who have bought our systems they are relying on.
U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, load equipment and trucks onto a C-17 Globemaster III with U.S. Air Force airmen assigned to the 21st Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at an undisclosed location in the CENTCOM Area of Operations. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Christopher Neu) Staff Sgt. Christopher Neu
Q: What’s your assessment of Iran’s magazine depth of missiles, operable launchers and drones? How long can they keep presenting a threat?
A: There’s been pretty serious damage done to their missile system and I say the system, because it’s not just the missiles. It’s the launchers, it’s the command and control sites, manufacturing sites, it’s the storage sites. I think we’ve done a lot of damage to that. And you’ve probably heard some of the numbers that have come out of CENTCOM – in the 70, 80% range of destruction. I think we’ve done a lot with the drones as well. I think the concern is the last 15 or 20%.
Don’t pay attention to the numbers. The fact of the matter is, they’re going to have a remnant portion of capabilities, and that’s a portion we’re focused on right now. Iran’s strategy has been to broaden the conflict by hitting a lot of different places, 12 or 13 different countries, and then to extend it by continuing to present this threat to us over a long period of time. They don’t have to shoot large volleys of missiles and drones. They just have to get some across. They just have to launch some every day. And that’s going to keep our focus, and it’s going to keep us occupied doing that. So that’s their strategy on this.
They’ve taken a significant hit in some of their capabilities, and I imagine some of the magazines, but there’s some left. I think at the start of the war, their missile strength was somewhere in the 2,000 to 3,000 range. Some of the numbers I’ve seen show there are probably over 1,000 that have been launched now, and so that leaves a considerable number. They don’t have the ability to launch these. And now that we have air superiority over those locations, we can go anywhere we want. We see something, we can take it out right away. So the missiles are very, very vulnerable, but the drones are much easier [for Iran to protect]. They don’t require all that much, and they probably got larger stores that it’s important to appreciate. They were manufacturing these things for Russia, so they probably have fairly sizable stores of drones left.
Prior to Operation Epic Fury, the Iranian regime used the Karaj Surface-to-Surface Missile Plant to assemble ballistic missiles that threatened Americans, neighboring countries, and commercial shipping. The photo dated March 1, 2026, shows the plant prior to U.S. strikes. The… pic.twitter.com/QEs5toZQpX
Q: How closely is China watching this? And what are they learning from it?
A: Well, I think they’re paying very close attention to this. They’re learning how we respond to counter fire. They’re very closely following our air tactics and how we are working with the Israelis on that. They’re looking at the targets we are going after, and trying to understand the scheme of fires associated with all of this.
They will be watching very closely how we deal with the Strait of Hormuz. We’ve got the straits down there – the Strait of Taiwan and all these other ones in Asia – they’ll be paying very, very close attention to this. They’ll be watching what our readiness rates are throughout all of this, and our ability to marshal forces and how quickly we can do this. So I think they’re absorbing a lot about how we are operating.
But they’re also seeing the use of drones. They’re probably trying to pay attention to how artificial intelligence may be being effectively used. And I would imagine that it is by the US and helping us parse a whole bunch of information and select targets and perform other functions. So, they’re paying a lot of attention. I think they’re also paying attention to what this is doing to our readiness in other areas, frankly. We continue to move resources out of the Asia Pacific, and they certainly are taking note of that.
Q: Do you think China will move on Taiwan given all that?
A: I don’t know. I’m not an expert in that particular area. But what I do know is they’ve had some ambitions of trying to be ready for that in the next year or so. I also know that there’s been a wholesale sacking of their military leadership by President Xi. So he’s putting new people into place, that has an impact. It certainly has an impact on the ability to command and control a major operation to [invade] Taiwan. I don’t think we’re going to see this in the near-term. I don’t know that that’s necessarily the lesson Xi’s taken away from us. I don’t know if they’re actually prepared to do that. But they’re certainly paying attention to how we are doing things here and how that could be used in their types of operations.
A view of China’s new ‘invasion barge,’ which involves a temporary pier that can be connected to other vessels via a barge, or series of barges, with jack-up supports. The development of jack-up barges is widely seen as part of preparations for a possible invasion of Taiwan. (PLAN). via X
Q: So far, the Houthis have been on the sidelines. Why do you think that is and at what point will they get involved?
A: The Houthis – one of the extensions of the Iranian network – have always been much more independent than Hamas or certainly Hezbollah or the Shia militia groups we normally see in Iraq and Syria that are loyal to the Iranian regime. [The Houthis] are much more independent in terms of this. They actually have a governing function, full-on governing function, and so they are trying to make decisions for themselves.
I have heard a couple of discussions on this one. One viewpoint would be that the Iranians have told them to hold on: ‘We want to extend again. We want to extend this conflict out. We want to buy some time. We’re going to be patient,’ and then we may look to do that.
Another theory might be that they’re just keeping their powder dry right now and waiting for an opportunity to launch into this. I think there’s probably a variety of reasons why they aren’t doing it. They have an agreement in place with us. They took a pretty serious beat down during our counter-Houthi operations some months ago. So that had an impact on them. They’re probably not anxious to revisit that immediately, because it was pretty devastating for them. So I imagine they’re just being patient.
A: I don’t view it as particularly likely at this point. There may be some further power shifts there. I think the military component – the IRGC component of the regime, those senior leaders – are having much more influence, and that’s influencing these very angry responses we’re seeing from the Iranians on this, lashing out at the Gulf Arab countries. So I think that the military is definitely ascending in this.
But yet, they have preserved the theocratic side of government by putting a new Ayatollah in place, admittedly, one that’s not well known, that appears to be pretty weak [Mojtaba Khamenei, chosen to replace his father, Ali Khamenei who was killed on the first day of the war]. He actually seems to be very aligned with the hard liners on the military side. There’s not much on him. He doesn’t have a huge amount of religious credibility or anything. So, he could be a figurehead, could be expendable for them, frankly, but their regime is very deep. It has great influence, and it’s pretty much wired everything in Iran, so they can remain in power. And so I suspect that they probably will. Whether a more pragmatic leader arises. I don’t know. I don’t know who that might be.
New Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. (Iranian media)
Q: What’s your biggest worry about how this all winds up?
A: That the regime remains in power. They’re going to continue to try to extend and keep this going for a long period of time, and we are going to have to undertake very expensive and deliberate activities to bring this under control. I mean, we’re already three weeks into what has been touted as a four or five week campaign. That’s pretty reasonable based on my experience and knowledge of what CENTCOM is trying to do, and what that plan basically looks like. It makes a lot of sense to me.
And then we have to undertake a very deliberate effort to open the Strait. And then we’ll have to stay committed to helping move ships through there, for some period of time, and Iran will continue to have the ability to interdict that.
My concern is that when we move to a new normal that hasn’t necessarily changed the dynamic all that much, we will have to stay committed to this for some time forward. I don’t know that that was necessarily what we had envisioned at the start of this, or had envisioned for the force long term.
Q: How long do you think this will go on, given what you’re seeing now?
A: I think we’ve got weeks more of operations.
Q: A month? More than that?
A: More than a month, I think probably double digit weeks and single digit months when you throw in a Strait of Hormuz operation, stuff like that. I can see us for a couple of months here.
The amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli is steaming toward the Middle East to boost a growing U.S. military presence there. (Staff Sgt. Samuel Ruiz)
Q: What kind of strain does it put on the U.S. in terms of readiness, in terms of the troops and equipment?
A: Well, most of these naval vessels were not necessarily anticipated or forecasted to be in the Middle East right now. For the most part, they have diverted from other things that they were doing, particularly the carriers. That defers maintenance. It defers normal training cycles, and other readiness cycles that are built into this.
Those ships are fantastic, but they have to go into very deliberate maintenance periods and capital ship maintenance has been an area of some concern for us for a while, because we have so many things going on and because we don’t have the infrastructure that we require to take care of these things. So I think there could be some readiness issues with our maritime vessels. It certainly puts a lot of stress on things like THAADs and Patriots, and again, we have a finite number of those. They’re not in Korea, they’re not other places, they’re not in Europe, they’re here. So that’s going to have an impact, and those organizations are going to have to be reset at some particular point on this.
This is putting more and more stress on our air fleet, our tankers, the C-17 movers, and, of course, all the wear and tear on all of our fighters. I think to our readiness, all of those things have to be taken care of at some particular point. And that’s going to have an impact as we try to rebuild readiness and respond to other contingencies around the world. And in addition to returning to our great power competition. So I think there’s definitely going to be some impacts in this.
An F-35A Lightning II takes off from an undisclosed location in support of Operation Epic Fury. (U.S. Air Force Photo) U.S. Central Command Public Affa
Q: How much of a difference to Epic Fury does it make that the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford has to leave the theater to undergo fire damage repairs in Souda Bay, Crete? That leaves just the USS Abraham Lincoln as the lone carrier during a major contingency operation.
A: We’ve got a lot of aircraft. We’ve got ground-based aircraft. My understanding is we may be moving another carrier in to replace that one. I don’t recall exactly which one it is, but I think I’ve read at least one or two sources that said it would happen. It takes 80 or 90 airplanes, theoretically, out of the cycle. Now those aircraft can be cross-decked, they can be moved to land. And we may be doing that. I don’t really know. But it takes away a big platform. We lose some flexibility here, and those aircraft carriers are basically floating air bases out in the middle of the ocean, and give us the ability to launch and recover things and project power where we need to. It takes away from some major command and control capability. So, yeah, it creates a void. It’s not impossible to backfill. I suspect we probably will be able to do that, but there’s definitely a diminishment there, and hopefully we’re replacing one with one here.
The USS Gerald R. Ford is heading to Crete to repair fire damage, taking the ship out of the Epic Fury campaign. (USN)
Q: Anything I didn’t ask that you want to talk about?
Piglets is a British comedy that’s set in a police training college. The first series aired on ITV1 in July 2024, shortly before getting renewed for a follow-up instalment.
The series follows a newly-recruited group of six very different would-be cops, and the handful of key staff whose task it is to knock them into shape.
Sarah Parish and Mark Heap lead the cast as no-nonsense Superintendent Julie Spry and Superintendent Bob Weekes, whose job it is to oversee the training of the next batch of new recruits.
The new recruits include Steph (Callie Cooke), Leggo (Sam Pote), Geeta (Sukh Kaur Ojla), Afia (Halema Hussain), Dev (Abdul Sessay) and Paul (Jamie Bisping). The cast also features Rebecca Humphries as Head of Admin Melanie, as well as Ukweli Roach and Ricky Champ as police trainers Mike and Daz.
Despite pulling in 5.6 million views for its first six episodes, the show was at the centre of huge controversy shortly after its premiere.
The Police Federation of England and Wales described the comedy’s title – which is based on the slang term “pig” for police – as being “highly offensive” and “insulting”. Piglets also received several Ofcom complaints from frustrated viewers when it was broadcast.
Now, the show’s second season has landed on ITVX, with The Traitors favourite Maddy Smedley joining the cast.
Maddy took to her Instagram earlier this week to promote the new series, saying: “So apparently, ITV aren’t really promoting Piglets series two, so this is the advert for it.”
After explaining how fans can find the show on ITVX, the star added: “I worked my butt off on that show, so this is the advert now, like it or lump it. Let me know what you think of the show, and thanks for your time.”
Despite the controversy surrounding the programme, there are lots of viewers who have shared their praise since its release.
One person wrote on IMDb: “This show is an absolute riot. While it may not be for everyone, the hate this show gets is completely unjustified… It’s a simple comedy with funny characters that mesh together perfectly, combining to create one of my favourite shows from this year. I can’t recommend this show enough. I’d love to have more of this show to watch.”
Another added: “I thought this was absolutely brilliant, well written, funny and such a mixed bunch of characters who gel well together for this type of show. A much needed comedy show in today’s TV world!”
A third said: “Piglets has a lot of laughs and is a lot of fun. Yes, it’s silly, which is why it’s so good. Who doesn’t like laughing at silly jokes and puns and references??? It’s a classic comedy and we need more of this on TV.”
“It was very clean. Firstly, I liked our physicality early in the game. We were physical when we needed to be and kept hold of the ball – I don’t think we made an error until late in the game so it made it very hard for Castleford.
“The ball bounced our way, we had a few calls so it just fell in our lap. You have those days so we’ll take them but it was a very polished performance and I’m happy with it.
“At half-time we challenged them as we thought they might be complacent and take our foot off the gas but we were very consistent with who we want to be. Today was a good step forward for us as a group.
“Kelepi was nice for us and George [Williams] prefers playing on the left and Ewan [Irwin] slots on the right so the balance of the team was nice, and the control.”
Castleford coach Ryan Carr told BBC Sport:
“It was horrible, not good enough. They played really well, we played really poorly, and that sums it up.
“There are no excuses for it. It hurts you, losing middles to head knocks, but at the end of the day we didn’t make the decision to go out, put our bodies on the line and go after it.
“We’re not going to skim over it. We’re going to have a good look at ourselves. I feel like we have been competing in the last few games but it’s a disappointing day for us.
“It’s embarrassing and not good enough. I feel sorry for our members and our fans and we have to make sure that we fix it.
“The tries they scored were things we had talked about all week, that we’d worked hard on, specific drills to combat what they’re good at, because they’re a good footy team.
“But when they’re making a line-break straight through your middle third that’s nothing to do with personnel, that’s just whoever is in that jersey needs to make that tackle.”
1 of 2 | Firefighters search for missing people at a car parts plant after a large fire engulfed the building in Daejeon, South Korea, Friday. Photo by Yonhap/EPA
March 21 (UPI) — A fire at a Daejeon, South Korea, car parts factory Friday has killed at least 14 people and injured dozens more.
There were nearly 60 injured in the fire in a three-floor plant. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said that some of the injured had inhaled smoke, and some were injured when they jumped from the building. It said 25 were seriously injured, but it didn’t say if any were in life-threatening condition. There were 170 people inside when the fire erupted.
Nam Deuk-woo, fire chief of the city’s Daedeok district, said almost all of the bodies were found inside a third-floor space that had been used as a gym locker room, The New York Times reported. Some bodies were so badly burned it will take DNA testing to identify them.
Nam said workers recovered more than 220 pounds of highly reactive chemicals from the site before firefighters could spray water on the fire, and some witnesses have reported that there was an explosion when the fire began.
Former FBI chief Robert Mueller, who probed the alleged Russian interference in the 2016 United States election, has died at age 81.
“With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away” on Friday night, his family said in a statement Saturday.
“His family asks that their privacy be respected.”
Mueller was appointed as director of the FBI by then-President George Bush in September 2001, a week before the 9/11 attacks that would push him into the centre of a national crisis.
He became the key figure behind changing the FBI from combating crime to now countering national security risks following the attack on New York’s World Trade Centre.
In 2013, Mueller stepped down from the bureau and later by 2017 was appointed as special counsel to oversee the Justice Department’s probe into possible Russian interference in the election, which saw Donald Trump secure his first term over Democratic nominee, Hilary Clinton.
Following the announcement of his death, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to write: “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!”
The latest episode of Season 2 of ‘The Pitt’ shows ICE agents at the ER, dramatizing what has happened at hospitals across the country, including in California.
Inspired by the game’s most iconic biomes, mobs, and items, Minecraft World will bring the best-selling game of all time into the physical world for the very first time at a major theme park
Opening in 2027, Minecraft World is a £50 million collaboration between Merlin Entertainments and Mojang Studios.
Inspired by the game’s most iconic biomes, mobs, and items, Minecraft World will bring the best-selling game of all time into the physical world for the very first time at a major theme park.
The news that the world’s first fully immersive Minecraft theme park land was coming to the UK has been known for some time. However, the location of the land has only been revealed now.
The land will feature new Minecraft-themed attractions, including a thrilling coaster, interactive adventures, epic block-built playscapes, and themed retail and dining.
Angela Jobson, SVP of global brand at Merlin Entertainments, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to be bringing Minecraft’s creativity, bold adventures, and ridiculous fun to life at a theme park for the first time at Chessington World of Adventures.
“Minecraft World will allow friends and families to play, explore and craft together on a truly epic scale. Working closely together with Mojang Studios we are meticulously creating an authentic world that the global community of Minecraft fans will want to immerse themselves in and experience the game in a whole new way.”
While little has been revealed about the rides so far, the park promises that they’ll be “unmistakably Minecraft”. Work has already begun on replacing the former Wild Asia area into the Minecraft zone.
Torfi Frans Ólafsson, senior creative director of Entertainment at Minecraft, said: “Minecraft World represents a meaningful milestone in our ongoing journey to expand the Minecraft universe. We’re thrilled to have partnered with Merlin Entertainments to realise a place where you can literally be in the Minecraft Overworld and have an adventure of your own with your family and friends. The team at Merlin Entertainments and Mojang have worked hard to craft an experience that feels immersive, authentic and welcoming, and we can’t wait for our community to experience it.”
Chessington is a 35-minute direct train from London Waterloo. Fans can follow updates by visiting www.chessington.com/minecraftand on social channels.
If you can’t wait until then, there is plenty else to look forward to at Chessington this year.
Chessington’s new World of PAW Patrol will open in spring 2026 and will feature four rides. Chase’s Mountain Mission, a rollercoaster suitable for young kids, Skye’s Helicopter Heroes, which will take kids on a high-flying mission, and Marshall’s Firetruck Rescue, where kids can take a ride on a shiny red truck.
Zuma’s Hovercraft Adventure will be a ‘drifter’ ride, which promises to be the first of its kind in the UK. There will also be Rubble and Rocky’s Playzone, where kids can “climb, slide and explore”. Meet and greets will be available with the pups, and fans can even book a sleepover in one of the PAW Patrol-themed rooms at Chessington’s Azteca hotel. These colourful rooms sleep up to five and include themed bunk beds for the kids.
The world’s first ever immersive Minecraft land is opening in the UKCredit: CHESSINGTONThe land will be fully immersive and replicate the famous gameCredit: chessingtonIt will even include the first ever Minecraft coasterCredit: chessington
The £50million land will have the first ever Minecraft coaster.
It will also have “interactive adventures [and] epic block built playscapes” along with themed food and drink stores and a gift shop.
The park is working with video game developer Mojang Studios as well as Minecraft creators to bring the experience to life.
Angela Jobson, SVP of Global Brand, Merlin Entertainments said: “We are meticulously creating an authentic world that the global community of Minecraft fans will want to immerse themselves in and experience the game in a whole new way.”
This was backed by Torfi Frans Ólafsson, Senior Creative Director of Entertainment at Minecraft, who said: “We’re thrilled to have partnered with Merlin Entertainments to realise a place where you can literally be in the Minecraft Overworld and have an adventure of your own with your family and friends.”
It is set to open in 2027, although little else is known about the new land at this point.
It simply said at the time the land would have “digitally enabled real-life experiences and the creation of touchpoints that will allow guests to unlock exclusive in-game content to continue their gaming journey.”
Minecraft was first released in 2011 and now has over 141 million users.
And the popularity of the world-building game has since resulted in other live-action attractions.
Little is known about the ride yetAnd of course, a gift shop will open when the land does in 2027Credit: chessingtonThe theme park is just 30 minutes from LondonCredit: Alamy
March 21 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order forcing networks and the NCAA to avoid scheduling conflicts with the annual Army-Navy game in December.
The order would create an exclusive broadcast window for the college football game, played between the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md. The game is usually played on the second Saturday in December, but College Football Playoffs and other post-season games have conflicted with the annual broadcast.
“Such scheduling conflicts weaken the national focus on our Military Service Academies and detract from a morale-building event of vital interest to the Department of War,” a White House press release titled “Preserving America’s Game” said. “Accordingly, it is the policy of the United States that no college football game, specifically college football’s CFP or other postseason games, be broadcast in a manner that directly conflicts with the Army‑Navy Game.”
The order says that the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Commerce must work with the NCAA, College Football Playoff and broadcasters to prevent scheduling conflicts during the usual time slot for the game.
“Nobody’s going to play football for four hours during that very special time of the year, in December. It’s preserved forever for the Army-Navy game,” Trump said just before signing the order. “Of course, we’ll probably get sued at some point,” he added.
The president was surrounded by Naval Academy midshipment as he signed the order. Navy won the game against Army on Dec. 13, 17-16.
“Thank you for signing that executive order protecting the sanctity of the Army-Navy game,” Navy coach Brian Newberry said. “It’s a game with a soul, and it deserves to be protected.”
Some have suggested the Army-Navy game be played on a different day or to broadcast other games at the same time.
Army head coach Jeff Monken told The Athletic in February that he would rather play the game on Thanksgiving weekend to avoid conflict with the playoffs.
“I think Army-Navy is a huge part of the history of college football, and what it is today, even,” he said. “Give us a four-hour block on Thanksgiving, or on Friday of Thanksgiving, or on Saturday of Thanksgiving, and give us a four-hour block, and just say nobody else plays during this four-hour block. That’s still protecting the game.”
Media law experts say the White House should be careful of intervening in college sports.
Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, wrote in an email to The Washington Post that the White House should have these important conversations.
“But, it should not be a ‘decider.’ If change is needed at the federal level, it should come from legislation.”
The Army vs. Navy game has been played annually since 1930. CBS Sports has the broadcast rights through 2038.
The game has traditionally been played on the last weekend of November or the first weekend of December, The Athletic reported. It moved to the second weekend of December in 2009 to bring more attention and ratings to CBS.
“We are deeply appreciative of President Trump’s executive order preserving a dedicated window for the Army-Navy Game — America’s Game — a tradition that represents far more than football by honoring our service academies and the mission of developing leaders for our nation,” Navy Athletic Director Michael Kelly said in a statement to The Athletic. “Maintaining its exclusivity ensures the country can come together to recognize the sacrifice, commitment and readiness that are essential to our military. We are also encouraged that this step helps create a pathway for Navy Football to participate in the College Football Playoff when earned, allowing us to both preserve tradition and embrace opportunity.”
“We’re grateful for the President’s leadership and for everyone working to protect, preserve, and unite around America’s game and the values it stands for,” Army Athletic Director Tom Theodorakis said in a statement.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
Welcome to Bunker Talk. This is a weekend open discussion post for the best commenting crew on the net, in which we can chat about all the stuff that went on this week that we didn’t cover. We can also talk about the stuff we did or whatever else grabs your interest. In other words, it’s an off-topic thread.
This week’s second caption reads:
U.S. Air Force Lt Col. John Bergmans, 315th Training Squadron commander, enters the Lawn Atlas Missile Base’s missile silo while exploring the narratives of actual personnel deployed to the site during the Cuban Missile Crisis in Lawn, Texas, Dec. 3, 2020. Bergmans attended the Staff Ride to LAMB in support of the 17th Training Wing Heritage Campaign Plan that was founded on Air Force heritage and the Airmen Warrior Ethos among attending personnel.. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Abbey Rieves)
Also, a reminder:
Prime Directives!
If you want to talk politics, do so respectfully and know that there’s always somebody that isn’t going to agree with you.
If you have political differences, hash it out respectfully, stick to the facts, and no childish name-calling or personal attacks of any kind. If you can’t handle yourself in that manner, then please, discuss virtually anything else.
No drive-by garbage political memes. No conspiracy theory rants. Links to crackpot sites will be axed, too. Trolling and shitposting will not be tolerated. No obsessive behavior about other users. Just don’t interact with folks you don’t like.
Do not be a sucker and feed trolls! That’s as much on you as on them. Use the mute button if you don’t like what you see.
So unless you have something of quality to say, know how to treat people with respect, understand that everyone isn’t going to subscribe to your exact same worldview, and have come to terms with the reality that there is no perfect solution when it comes to moderation of a community like this, it’s probably best to just move on.
Finally, as always, report offenders, please. This doesn’t mean reporting people who don’t share your political views, but we really need your help in this regard.
Ant McPartlin has reportedly reached an agreement with his ex-wife Lisa Armstrong over their late dog Hurley’s ashesCredit: AlamyThe former couple got Hurley back in 2013 and famously went through a custody battle for him following their splitCredit: instagram/lisaarmstrongmakeup
They continued to the publication: “Ant has already collected his ashes, while Lisa intends to do likewise when she returns from her trip.
“It’s likely the ashes will be buried in their own respective gardens so they’ll both be able to regularly pay their respects to Hurley.”
Ant was with make-up artist Lisa for over two decades, with the pair going through a divorce in 2018 which saw them reach a massive £31million deal.
Hurley became Britain’s best known celebrity dog during Ant and Lisa’s highly-publicised custody battle following their divorce.
They eventually agreed to share custody and Hurley spent his time between their homes.
The pair recently came together to say goodbye to Hurley, who they got in 2013.
The Sun revealed how they had to make the decision to put Hurley down at the vet due to him being too ill to recover.
And confirming the situation, Ant explained on his and Dec Donnelly’s podcast: “He passed away in my arms.
“We were at the vet’s and we were all there to see him, all the family, everyone that he loved was there, and it was a very sad, but it was a very lovely moment when we all got to say goodbye to him.”
The presenter, who has two other dogs, went on to share how the grief has been “awful” and has seen him often break down in tears.
Lisa and Ant reportedly agreed to split Hurley’s ashes 50/50Credit: Refer to CaptionAnt opened up about the loss last month on his podcast, sharing how Hurley died in his arms
March 21 (UPI) — A federal judge struck down the Department of Defense’s policy that led to the ouster of most journalists from the Pentagon last fall and replaced them with those who agreed to the department’s new rules.
Though he didn’t order the restoration of other reporters’ credentials, he voided the policy that they refused to sign, allowing them to get credentialed again.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnellwrote on X: “We disagree with the decision and are pursuing an immediate appeal.”
In October, the Defense Department required that all credentialed journalists sign the policy. Signing it gave the Pentagon the ability to label the journalists “security risks” and revoke their credentials if the department decided they had endangered national security. They had to pledge to only publish approved information.
Most news outlets refused to sign, losing their press passes and desks inside the Pentagon. They were replaced with news outlets and people friendly to the administration. The Times then sued the department over its First Amendment rights.
“A primary purpose of the First Amendment is to enable the press to publish what it will and the public to read what it chooses, free of any official proscription,” Friedman wrote in his opinion.
“Those who drafted the First Amendment believed that the nation’s security requires a free press and an informed people and that such security is endangered by governmental suppression of political speech,” Friedman added. “That principle has preserved the nation’s security for almost 250 years. It must not be abandoned now.”
First Amendment attorney Theodore Boutrous, who is representing The Times in the suit, told CNN: “The district court’s decision is a powerful rejection of the Pentagon’s effort to impede freedom of the press and the reporting of vital information to the American people during a time of war.”
“The district court’s opinion is not just a win for The Times, [Times reporter] Mr. [Julian E.] Barnes, and other journalists, but most importantly, for the American people who benefit from their coverage of the Pentagon,” Boutrous said.
Friedman also agreed with the Times that the policy violated its due process rights because it was vague and could be accidentally violated by reporters. Part of the policy prevented reporters from asking certain questions.
“A primary way in which journalists obtain information is by asking questions,” he wrote. “Under the policy’s terms, then, essential journalistic practices that the plaintiffs and others engage in every day — such as asking questions of department employees — could trigger a determination by the department that a journalist poses a security or safety risk.”
First Amendment advocates said they support the decision.
“The court affirmed that our security and liberty rely on the press’s freedom to publish and the public’s ability to access news about government affairs free from state control,” said Gabe Rottman, vice president of policy at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, in a statement.
Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, said the ruling is especially important right now.
“It’s unfortunate that it took this long for the Pentagon’s ridiculous policy to be thrown in the trash. Especially now that we are spending money and blood on yet another war based on constantly shifting pretexts, journalists should double down on their commitment to finding out what the Pentagon does not want the public to know rather than parroting ‘authorized’ narratives,” Stern said in a statement.
