Month: June 2026

FROM seeing Shakira perform in Rio to a drinking cocktails in the world’s tallest cocktail bar – it’s fair to say I’ve been to a lot of countries in my career as a travel writer.

Since my first trip abroad 30 years ago, I’ve wracked up 60 countries… and counting.

Yet while I love a far-flung trip, some of my favourite cities are a bit closer to home, and MUCH cheaper to fly to.

So here are my 10 favourites which you can get to in just a few hours, and none of the flights there are more than £20.

Agadir

The Moroccan city is perfect for some cheap, quick, winter sun.

Agadir is ideal for those wanting relaxation and was even named the most affordable summer holiday destination earlier this year.

A highlight is Souk el Had, one of the largest markets in Morocco, and I recommend the White Beach Resort Taghazout just outside of the city for a relaxing stay, right on the beach.

Flights can be found with Ryanair for £14.99 from London Stansted or £17.99 from Edinburgh.

Seville

As one of Spain‘s most southern cities, you can expect some scorchingly good weather (just avoid the summers where it hits 40C).

Watch some flamenco, buy some famous Seville orange perfume or explore the Moorish Royal Alcazar Palace.

Make sure to stay at Only U – stays are around £100pp per night and it felt more exclusive members club than hotel thanks to the rooftop pool, onsite florist and bakery and VERY trendy rooms.

Flights can be found with Ryanair for £14.99 from London Stansted or £17.99 from Edinburgh.

Brussels

It was during a Christmas trip to Brussels that I realised it would actually make the perfect girly trip in summer.

I explored the Rue de Flandre neighbourhood – once named one of the world’s coolest – for noodle bars, pizzarias and cosy drinking spots.

I stayed at the Hilton Brussels Grand Palace hotel, with the fancy breakfast room being a highlight. Prices start at £185 for a double room.

Flights from Newcastle start from £14.99 with Ryanair.

Faro

Faro gets overlooked for just being the gateway to the Algarve, but it’s criminal to skip this stunning Portuguese city.

It has beautiful Caribbean-like islands just off the coast which are ideal day trips, costing just a few euros.

It is also home to 3HB the city’s only five star hotel complete with high spec rooms and rooftop bars with firepits perfect for Love Island style chats. Rooms start at £76 pp per night.

Flights start from £13 with Wizz Air from London Gatwick.

Madrid

The Spanish capital has quickly become my favourite place in the country for so many reasons.

There are fun neighbourhoods such as Malasana with bars and shops (try the fantastically decedant bakes in Santo) or visit on weekends to El Rastro, one of Europe‘s biggest flea markets.

If you’re on a budget you can’t go wrong with the recently opened easyHotel too, with rooms starting at £59 per night. It is an easy few metro stops from the city centre – also easy to use even if not used to underground networks.

Flights can be found with Ryanair from £14.99 from Bristol and London Stansted.

Milan

While Milan can be slated as one of the less-loved Italian cities, it is worth a weekend trip – IF you know where to go.

The street-art lined Navigli is popular with locals for its vibey restaurants lining the canal (go just off the main road to Iter for amazing wine and fun interiors).

Try NYX hotel, with double rooms from £156 per night. It is right beside the train station and has a rooftop terrace.

Flights start £14 with Wizz Air from London Luton or from £14.99 with Ryanair from Manchester and London Stansted.

Marbella

Marbella may be a beach club capital but in my opinion, off season is the best time to visit – as I found when I planned a trip in April.

This meant quiet dinners in the local-populated Taberna la Nina Del Pisto, or bar hopping from La Tienda to Vinalium Castillejos for cheap wine.

The Hard Rock Hotel is a hilarious place to stay – make sure to get the music-themed massage where music is played from speakers to the vibrations of the bed. Prices start at £120 per night for a double room.

Flights start from £14 with Wizz Air from London Gatwick, or with Ryanair from £14.99 when flying from Bristol, Birmingham, Newcastle, London Luton or Bournemouth.

Copenhagen

One of my favourite trips was when I was between jobs, and decided to spend a chic weekend in Copenhagen.

I brunched at Atelier September, explored the Fashion Museum and popped into Tivoli for a step back in time, as well as popped to see the famous Little Mermaid statue and Hans Christian Anderson grave.

Hotel SP34 – from £80 pp per night – is a must, if not just for the free wine and cheese hour ever evening…

Flights from Edinburgh and London Stansted from £14.99 with Ryanair or £16.99 from Bristol and Manchester.

Amsterdam

You might have already visited Amsterdam, but let me sell you on Amsterdam Noord.

Get the free ferry over from the main train station along with all the other cycling locals and before dinner and drinks at Next. Don’t forget some of the amazing art galleries and museums – STRAAT and NXT are worth a visit.

Stay at Bunk for a unique stay, built into a church with some VERY interesting artwork and a vibey bar. If you are on a tight budget a pod for one starts at £25.

Flights from London Southend from £14.99 with easyJet.

Palermo

You can’t visit Palermo without getting a famous Negroni and Bar Timi claim to have the best in the city (best chased by some fresh arancini at the food markets.

There are loads of flea markets and antique markets to explore, although you could also leave the city to find a beach club for the afternoon as well.

When it comes to hotels, there is the new NH Collection Palermo Palazzo Sitano which feels quintessentially Sicilian but is also in a great location. Prices start at around £95pp per night.

Flights from London Stansted start from £16.99 with Ryanair.

June 12 (Asia Today) — Thousands of South Korean soccer fans packed Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on Friday, cheering, gasping and celebrating through South Korea’s 2-1 comeback victory over Czechia in its opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

“Dae-han-min-guk! Until the end!” fans shouted as the square turned red with supporters wearing national team jerseys and carrying South Korean flags, cheering sticks and handheld fans.

The Group A match was played Friday morning in South Korea, but the weekday timing did little to slow the crowd. Children, office workers and longtime members of the Red Devils, South Korea’s national soccer supporters’ group, gathered in front of a large outdoor screen set up near the square.

When the opening whistle sounded at 11 a.m., fans shouted “Fighting!” and “Let’s win!” Police unofficially estimated about 3,000 people had gathered at the square at the start of the match.

The temperature in Seoul rose to 28 degrees Celsius, or 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit, under clear skies. Many fans used parasols, portable fans and folding fans to cope with the heat.

Some supporters took vacation days to watch the match in public. Lee Hyun-soo, 37, an office worker who came with his elementary school-age child, said he used annual leave so they could cheer together.

“The next day is the weekend and my child also filed for an experiential learning day, so I took the day off,” Lee said. “It is very hot, but it is better than cloudy or rainy weather.”

South Korea controlled much of the early play but failed to score in the first half. When chances ended without a goal, fans grabbed their heads and groaned in frustration.

The crowd grew sharply near halftime as office workers from nearby buildings joined during their lunch breaks. Some skipped restaurant meals and watched while eating toast or convenience store food.

Kim Sung-il, 28, who works near Gwanghwamun Station, said he came with co-workers to watch the second half.

“Lunch break gives us enough time to watch the second half,” Kim said. “I hope the result lets us start the afternoon shift happily.”

As the crowd swelled, police and event staff moved quickly to control pedestrian flow. Seoul’s real-time city data showed about 14,000 to 16,000 people were in Gwanghwamun Square at noon, more than twice the 6,000 expected by the Korea Football Association.

Police deployed about 260 officers from three mobile units to manage the crowd. Officers and staff repeatedly asked fans to fold parasols while moving and to continue walking in one direction. No major safety incidents were reported.

The match turned tense in the second half. Czechia took the lead in the 59th minute when Ladislav Krejci scored with a header. The mood at the square briefly fell silent.

South Korea quickly answered. Hwang In-beom equalized in the 67th minute and later helped create the winning goal by substitute Oh Hyeon-gyu in the 80th minute.

As Oh’s goal went in, fans hugged friends, jumped in place and shouted in relief. Many stayed in the square after the final whistle, still caught up in the emotion of South Korea’s first opening-match win at a World Cup since 2010.

Kim Ji-min, 23, a university student, said she had been nervous before the match.

“I was very worried before the game, but I am so happy we came back and won,” Kim said.

Shim Sung-min, 42, an office worker, said the match felt cinematic.

“I heard this was South Korea’s first opening-match win in 16 years,” Shim said. “Today’s match felt like a movie. I think I can enjoy the rest of the weekend.”

South Korea’s win gave the team three points to begin Group A and lifted hopes among fans watching from Seoul that the national team can advance from the group stage.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260612010004331

George Russell bounced back from the disappointments of the past few races to take pole position for the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

Russell edged out Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari by just 0.064 seconds as runaway championship leader Kimi Antonelli could manage only third place in the other Mercedes.

McLaren’s Lando Norris took fourth from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, while Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc crashed on his first lap in the final session and will start 10th.

Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri was seventh, from Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg.

More to follow

Now in its 40th iteration, Grand Performances will celebrate this milestone with dazzling performances all summer long at the California Plaza in downtown L.A.

The free concert series kicks off with a performance by the Latin hip-hop funk band Ozomatli on June 13. Tropicalia group Healing Gems and the Afro-Latin fusion band Jungle Fire will also make special appearances, all while DJ Liza Richardson keeps the groove going.

“For 40 years, Grand Performances has been a gathering place where Los Angeles comes alive through music, culture, and shared experience,” said Rafael González, president and CEO of Grand Performances, in a press release. “This year, we honor that legacy by continuing to open our stage, free and for everyone, so that every Angeleno can find themselves in the experience and feel part of something larger.”

On June 27, the Chicano troupe Culture Clash will return to the Grand Performances stage with comedic sketches colored by political and social satire. The trio — which includes Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas and Herbert Sigüenza — formed in 1984 in the San Francisco Mission District. Through its avant-garde live skits, the group has weighed in on topics like race, immigration and politics, including the 2016 election race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Also joining the comedy show are retro cumbia-quebradita musician É Arenas (bassist of Chicano Batman) and the cumbia-fusion, luchador-masked cumbia group La Nueva Ola de Cumbia, as well as DJ Dali. (Editor’s note: De Los is co-presenting the Grand Performances on June 27.)

This summer will also pay tribute to a host of musical legends.

There will be an intergenerational dance party on July 18 with DJ Spinna on the booth, in honor of 76-year-old R&B-pop artist Stevie Wonder — who performed a memorable summer concert in 2013 alongside Ozomatli and La Santa Cecilia.

On Aug. 1, a 12-piece jazz ensemble will gather in tribute to the late Roy Ayers, the pioneering jazz-funk vibraphonist and godfather of neo soul.

Chicano trailblazer Ritchie Valens, best known for classic rock tracks “La Bamba,” “Donna” — will also get his due on Aug. 22, with a stacked program that features live music, narration and archival visuals honoring the late Pacoima legend. There will be performances by Nick Waterhouse, Shannon Shaw (of Shannon & the Clams), Joey Quiñones (Thee Sinseers), Bryan Ponce (The Altons), Denise Carlos & Hector Flores (Las Cafeteras), Angie Monroy (The McCharmlys), Irene Diaz and Jose Varela (Cutty Flam).

The season will wrap up on Aug. 29 with Mexico City cumbia punks Son Rompe Pera, joined by the all-femme percussion ensemble Bloco Obini and violinist Quetzal Guerrero, also known as QVLN (Q-Violin).

Grand Performances has hosted free outdoor performances annually since 1987. The organization’s focus is on giving a platform to both global and local performers, including previous headliners iLe, Adrian Quesada and Ana Tijoux. The full 2026 lineup can be found here.

WASHINGTON — Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor, the World War II hero who went on to become the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam, died late Sunday at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Pentagon announced today. Taylor was 85.

The Pentagon statement did not give a cause of death, but Taylor was reported to have been ill for some time. “Throughout his life, Gen. Taylor epitomized what it means to be a soldier, a diplomat and a scholar,” Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger said.

Crocombe’s selection may raise eyebrows, given other recent picks such as Essex’s Sam Cook or Durham’s Matthew Potts have been overlooked, but it should not be a big surprise.

When England named their Test squad at the start of the summer, Key mentioned the tall, strong quick saying he had “really kicked on” this season.

Crocombe, a product of Sussex’s academy, was first picked by England Lions in 2024 before struggles with injury.

It was when he began this County Championship season with his first five-wicket haul, taking nine in the match against Leicestershire, that he began to seriously catch the eye.

Another right-arm quick, Crocombe bowls at a lively pace.

Overall, his statistics this season are solid – a Championship average of 28.61 while sitting joint 11th in the wicket-takers’ list – and he has the skills England value.

‘$1,250’
‘$1,200’
‘$1,350’
‘FIFA should be ashamed of themselves.’

World Cup fans reveal how much they paid for a seat at the US’s opening game against Paraguay, amid controversy over record-high ticket costs and dynamic pricing.

Muhammadu Mahe wasn’t at home when terrorists came for him one rainy night. It was during the rainy season in 2023. He had travelled to sell livestock and spent the night in the Shinkafi area of Zamfara, North West Nigeria.

The following morning, his brother, Alhaji Usman, rang his phone.

“Dan Hajiya, Yan Bindiga came looking for you last night,” Usman said over the phone. The term, Yan Bindiga, is what most rural residents call terrorists in the area. Muhammadu, who is known as Dan Hajiya in his Ruwan Bado village in the Maradun Local Government Area (LGA), did not fully grasp the message, so he asked, and his brother explained succinctly.

Six armed men on three motorcycles had stormed the village and gone straight to Muhammadu’s house. When they were told he was not around, the terrorists asked one of his children to let them know when he returned. They neither fired a single shot nor abducted any of his three wives and 13 children.

“Normally, they would have abducted a family member to force me to look for them, but they didn’t. It was very surprising,” Muhammadu told HumAngle on the afternoon of June 4 in a town in Zamfara, where he now lives with his family.

Hearing about the terrorists’ visit, he wanted to rush home to check if any of his children had been hurt. He had thought the terrorists were targeting him for more extortion. However, his brother advised him to stay in Shinkafi for at least two more days until they could determine the reason the terrorists were looking for him.

Muhammadu had paid a ₦1.5 million “farming tax” to a terrorist group led by Jamilu, a loyalist of the notorious criminal mastermind, Halilu Sububu, who was killed by the military in 2024. Halilu, originally from Maradun, maintained several camps in the forest reserves in the Sububu/Tubali, Bakura, and Kaya axes. One of such camps is now controlled by Jamilu. Ruwan Bado, Muhammadu’s village, sits not far from Janbako and Faru, two bigger villages in the Talata Mafara town. Terrorist groups routinely attack communities and motorists on the road, a situation that forced several farmers to abandon their farms. 

The lingering crisis engulfing northwestern Nigeria began as a farmer-herder clash in Zamfara over a decade ago. Thousands of people have since been killed, with over a million displaced. Motorcycle-riding terrorists invade communities, schools, farmlands, and roads to abduct people for ransom. Terrorist attacks have persisted in the region despite kinetic and non-kinetic approaches. 

Amid the ongoing armed violence, farmers are severely affected as terrorist attacks disrupt their agricultural activities. Each year, with the onset of the rainy season, terrorists intensify their attacks on rural communities to intimidate farmers, ultimately seeking agreements that often lead to residents paying millions as taxes. Funds collected from farmers help finance their terrorist activities. Farmers who fail to pay are forced to flee their communities for fear of being attacked by the terrorists. However, even paying the tax does not guarantee safety, as seen in several cases, especially in Zamfara State. 

Of recurring attacks and farming taxes

Before the violence escalated in his community, Muhammadu said he had always wondered what he would do without his farms. He is a farmer like his father and grandfather. Everyone in his family is a farmer, including those who have taken government jobs or other businesses. Everyone had a farm before terrorists began to invade their communities. 

The day the terrorists came looking for him was not their first time in the village. Before the rainy season in 2023, Muhammadu said, terrorists attacked the village in broad daylight. “I’ll never forget that attack,” he says as he unravels how the ugly event unfolded. And even before then, there were about three attacks.

A little before 3 p.m. on a Friday, he was sitting down outside the mosque with friends and relatives when terrorists barged into the community, shooting sporadically. He didn’t remember much of what happened immediately after he heard the gunshots, but he ran outside the village. “I ran for several minutes and decided to lie down on my stomach,” he says. His wives and some of his children who were at home also ran out.

The attack didn’t last long. When he returned, people had converged on the village square close to the mosque, with three dead bodies lying on the ground. “It was one of the saddest days of my life. My nephew, Haladu, was one of those killed. His mother is my elder sister. Malam Abubakar Jijji and Malam Usman were also killed in that attack.”

The violent incident changed Muhammadu’s life and that of several others in the community. “Our vigilante members said they got information that the terrorists vowed to turn our community upside down if we didn’t cooperate with them. They said what they did was a warning attack,” he says. Cooperating with the terrorists literally means paying taxes to them before farming. 

The community leaders would later meet to discuss how to negotiate with the terrorists for peace to reign. “We decided to pay the money. We had no option,” Muhammadu says. The terrorists said anyone with more than one farm must pay ₦1.5 million. 

Payment for one farm ranged from ₦400,000 to ₦600,000, depending on the number of acres. His brother, Usman, paid for one farm. The terrorists said the community should not pay the money in a lump sum, but whoever was ready should go and pay their own. 

Muhammadu said he sold some of his livestock to raise the “farming tax”. He had volunteered to take the money to the terrorists in the forest. He took his money and that of another villager, Alhaji Sani, who contributed ₦2 million, resulting in a total of ₦3.5 million. The terrorists asked him to wait on the main road after the Faru community. A few minutes after he arrived, two terrorists on a motorcycle emerged from the shrubs, collected the money, and sped off. 

That same night, Jamilu, the leader of the terrorists, called to inform them that the money had been collected. He instructed them not to go to their farms and to wait for further instructions. While the residents awaited the next directive, the terrorists arrived looking for Muhammadu.

On the run

Muhammadu didn’t wait in Shinakafi for two days, as his brother suggested.

The following morning, he took the first car from Shinkafi to Boko, and from there, another car to Talata Mafara. He disembarked in Janbako, a community neighbouring his village. He said he was being careful because of informants lurking nearby. While waiting for someone to pick him up, his brother called again, asking him to head to Maradun instead because “they got information that the terrorists would kill me”.

He spent three days in Maradun and later sneaked back into his village, Ruwan Bado. At home, he gathered his family members, including his daughters, who were already married, and told them about the situation he had found himself in. 

“They all agreed that I should leave,” Muhammadu says. “One of my daughters thought it was suicidal to return to the community. So, I left for Talata Mafara in the morning.”

The choice of Talata Mafara was intentional as the town sits on the edge of the Bakalori dam with sprawling farmlands where residents engage in year-round farming. From Colony via Rini down to Gora on one side and River Bobo inside Mafara town down to Tumfafiya to the boundaries of Danbaza, stretches of water lie abundant for irrigation farming. 

“I was wrong. I didn’t know that farmers were also fleeing the Rini (in Bakura) and Gora (in Maradun) axis due to incessant attacks. Most of the farms are now abandoned,” he recalls. He moved farther down to the other side of Mafara town, this time to Tsakuwa, a suburb on the road to the communities of Sauna, Garbadu, Morai, and Kagara in southern Mafara. 

However, these communities also face terrorist attacks, making the roads and the farms on both sides of the road very vulnerable. This situation compounds Muhammadu’s problems.

“Since then, I’ve not gone back to Ruwan Bado. My family joined me here after three months.”

Even after three years, Muhammadu says he has not looked back because several people he knows have left the community. His elder brother, Usman, has also left for Maradun town with his family because Ruwan Bado and the communities around it have continued to witness terror attacks. 

“Even some months back, people were killed in our community as the attacks continued,” Muhammadu says. “I don’t know whether the Yan Bindiga (bandits) are still looking for me, but I think it’s unsafe to go home.” Only a few families remain in Ruwan Bado. 

Sani, the person whose farming tax Muhammadu took to the terrorists alongside his, has also left the community for Mafara town. “Even after collecting our money, the terrorists kept returning. There was a time they attacked the community and stole our livestock. I lost more than 10 cows to that attack,” the 63-year-old man told HumAngle. 

Muhammadu said he heard about the attack last year and advised Sani to leave the community. Sani was one of the three well-to-do people in the area. Life was good to him; he had three wives and 17 children, some of whom were already married. Aside from owning five farm fields, he was a trader and livestock merchant before the violence consumed his property. He sold some of his livestock out of fear of cattle-rustling terrorists and retained only the animals he used for ploughing on his farms.

“I encouraged our people to accept the terrorists’ demand for farming tax, believing that we would be allowed to go to the farm. But after we paid, the terrorists allowed us to start working, after which they continued attacking us. It was very unsafe for me to continue living in the community,” Sani, who now lives with his family in a rented apartment in Mafara, said. He has tried, to no avail, to gather the remnants of his wealth to start a business in the town but he said “it’s frustrating because the capital is too small and I don’t even know where to start from.”

As Muhammadu continues to flee, many farmers in the region are suffering from terrorist attacks, especially with the onset of the rainy season in the core northern states. The situation in communities like Ruwan Bado is worsened by a lack of adequate security agents to protect residents. Since there is an absence of conventional security forces in most of the communities, residents pay a farming or protection tax as requested by terrorists to avoid being attacked.

‘There was only a road checkpoint for soldiers on the Colony – Boko road, which is even farther away from us. Without adequate security agents, it’ll be difficult for us to go to farms or markets. When the terrorists attack, it’s only the vigilante group members who fight them back,” Muhammadu said. HumAngle learnt that the Zamfara State government recruited operatives for its Community Protection Guards (also known as Askarawa) and posted them to all communities facing security challenges in the state. But Muhammadu, who left Ruwan Bado in 2023, couldn’t confirm if there are Askarawa in his community now. 

James Barnett, a conflict researcher at Hudson Institute, believes terrorists are using the vacuum created by the absence of governance in some of the rural communities in North West Nigeria. The terrorists believe it’s easier and more profitable to enforce levies than to attack communities. “Communities that have no protection from the state often have no choice but to submit to bandit demands in order to be allowed to farm—and survive,” he said. 

“The regions where bandits are strongest are the sorts of areas where there has been almost no meaningful state presence in years—roads, schools, clinics and the like. Bandits have essentially filled a vacuum in those parts of rural Nigeria that the state has neglected,” Barnett, who has written extensively on the banditry conflict in the North West, added. 

The consequences of this reality are evident in communities, where residents say concerns about survival and security now overshadow everyday economic worries.

“Many villages in Tsafe are no longer thinking about where to get the cheapest fertiliser; instead, they are worried about how to access their farms safely. In some communities, despite paying ransoms and levies to the terrorists, locals are still not confident that their lives will be spared,” Abubakar Bala, a resident of Tsafe in Zamfara, told HumAngle.

COMPLETELY surrounded by Italy, one European country that’s home to the oldest republic in the world makes for a dreamy escape.

With only two million people visiting last year – less than the population of Greater Manchester – San Marino is a great European option if you don’t want the crowds.

Officially a UNESCO World Heritage microstate, San Marino – which is the fifth smallest country in the world – feels like “walking around in a Disney movie” according to one visitor on Instagram.

The Disney-like feel is most likely due to San Marino‘s three towering medieval castles at the top of Monte Titano.

Guaita Tower – which is the First Tower – was built in the 11th century and is the largest of the three.

Visitors can head to the tower and explore the battlements, as well as old prison cells and the Chapel of Santa Barbara.

Read more on travel inspo

GO ON

All the little-known websites for cheap or FREE tickets to gigs, theatre & festivals

STAYCAY

Our travel experts’ best-kept-secret UK holiday spots for summer – from £37 a night

Cesta Tower – the Second Tower – is slightly newer, dating back to the 13th century and sits on the highest of Monte Titano’s peaks at around 755 metres above sea level.

The tower is home to the Museum of Ancient Weapons.

And finally, there is the Montale Tower – the Third Tower – which is the smallest and youngest of the three, built in the 14th century.

This tower is not open to the public though.

There’s also Piazza della Libertà, which is the heart of the Old Town.

Here, visitors can explore a number of shops and small museums, as well as stop at the historic parliament building.

And while you don’t get your passport stamped when visiting San Marino, you can head to the tourist centre inside Porta San Francesco, and get a physical stamp in your passport as a souvenir for €5 (£4.33).

To catch an amazing view of San Marino, head up the Cableway which goes from Borgo Maggiore to the city centre and then to the monument of Bartolomeo Borghesi.

The cities of Florence, Rimini and Bologna are all close by as well, making San Marino the ideal day trip if you’re staying in one of them.

Though if you did want to stay in San Marino, there are a few options including the four-star Grand Hotel San Marino costing from £69 per night in June.

The easiest way to get to the microstate is by hopping on a shuttle bus from Rimini, which costs about €7 (£6.06) and takes around an hour.

When it comes to spending money in San Marino, it is typically cheaper than Italy with the average coffee costing €1.57 (£1.36) and the average beer costing €5 (£4.33).

In comparison, in Florence a beer will set you back at least a euro more and a coffee costs from €2.05 (£1.77).

Flights to Rimini in June cost from £37 return and take between two and two-and-a-half hours from the UK.

Alternatively, if you want to go to Bologna, return flights in June cost from £28 and again, take between two and two-and-a-half hours from the UK.

From Bologna, it then takes about an hour and 20 minutes on the bus to reach San Marino.

FATHER’S DAY is just around the corner, but what to give the dad who’s had his fill of novelty socks?

Welcome to PalmerSport, the world’s best-kept secret for petrolheads.

Most driving experiences get you three laps in a leggy Lambo beside a terrified instructor telling you to change up early.

But there’s none of that at PalmerSport’s Experience Days, the ultimate all-inclusive racing theme park.

Set across 400 acres at Bedford Autodrome, it boasts four purpose-built circuits and more than five miles of track.

The dream of ex-F1 ace Jonathan Palmer, it’s been designed for speed and space so there are no grandstands or Armco to hit.

WAIL OF A TIME

I drove Irish Route 66 with deserted golden beaches and pirate-like islands

TEMPTED?

Tiny ‘Bali of Europe’ town with stunning beaches, €3 cocktails and £20 flights

And it’s a good job, too, as unlike any other gift experience you’ve ever been to, you will be pushed to your absolute limit.

I’m greeted by a hearty full English, before a safety briefing, and then it’s helmets on and straight to my first track session.

Everyone is placed in small teams, and all the sessions are professionally timed so you have a crack at a fastest-lap trophy.

The cars are staggering.

My favourites were the McLaren Artura GT4 and Ginetta G56 GTA – both full-blown race cars with slicks and roll cage.

But I never felt too intimidated once on track, thanks to the brilliant instructors.

They gave me immediate feedback over the helmet intercom, and there’s dual controls to help get you out of trouble.

You build up steadily and your last lap should always be your fastest, plus the 596bhp McLaren boasts in-car video and telemetry so I could analyse my quickest time.

We were hitting 135mph on the short back straight, with the instructor telling me precisely when to stamp on the brakes before slicing towards the apex.

The Ginetta felt like a touring car race, raucously good fun and forgiving.

But the real “heart in your mouth” stuff comes on the West Circuit.

The Palmer JP-LM is a sports prototype inspired by the 200mph racers at Le Mans.

It will pull 2.5g in the corners and sap tears from your eyes under braking.

Listen to your instructor carefully, though – as next time you’re out, it’s solo.

It’s truly mind-blowing to think that, in a land of health-and-safety trigger warnings these days, they will squeeze you into a Formula 3000 single-seater.

There’s no instructor, just pure driving in your own mini-Ayrton Senna nirvana.

You also get taster laps in a new 650bhp Hyundai IONIQ 5 N – that alone would be a £250 experience day.

And I still haven’t finished yet.

There’s a full off-road course, where I get to pilot a Defender 90 over obstacles I couldn’t walk up in crampons.

The all-inclusive day means breakfast, refreshments, lunch and afternoon tea – plus the driving experiences – are all part of the package.

I also get a photo taken alongside the McLaren, and in-car video of my fastest laps in the GT4 and F3000.

While it might not exactly be cheap, if you tried to replicate it independently it would cost you twice as much – and the driver coaching alone is priceless.

EMILY Atack wowed as she stripped to a white bikini and emerged from a pool during her Hen Do.

The Rivals actress is celebrating with her mates in Spain ahead of her wedding to Alistair Garner – and pulled out all the stops with her bridal-inspired swimwear.

Emily, 36, opted for a halterneck with a scallop-trim edge and matching knickers.

The two-piece flashed her toned figure as she fooled around with her pals in the pool, with Instagram images showing her perching on a pals shoulder before she toppled into the pool.

Another video saw her emerging from the waters while the mum of one showed her cheeky side as she flashed her bum in a snap taken from behind.

She later captured an image of drinks perched poolside as she shared snippets of her special getaway.

NO KIDS ALLOWED

Mum-of-one Emily Atack reveals she’s banned children from her wedding

UPFRONT FANS

Emily Atack reveals the VERY raunchy way fans greet after The Inbetweeners

The Inbetweeners star then switched to a LBD with a plunging neckline as the party headed out for the night.

Emily recently revealed that the paid had set a wedding date for September and said she’s very much enjoyed the preparations.

Speaking to Luxury London Magazine, she said: “I think I’ve nailed it. We’re getting married in September. I’ve very much enjoyed the planning process.”

She added: “Choosing napkins and stuff. I’m like, ”My God, my life is here!”

She has also told how it will be a child-free ceremony.

It was thought that the Rivals star was considering getting married in Spain, after looking at wedding venues over there.

Last July, we reported how Alistair popped the question to the screen star.

Emily delighted fans after posting a loved-up selfie with her man to Instagram, which saw her flash the gorgeous sparkler.

In her caption, she wrote: “It’s Friday, I’m in love,” followed by three ring emojis.

She surpised fans by confirming they were expecting their first child together with a baby bump picture.

OK, I’ll admit it. I’m going to miss Spencer Pratt.

I had never heard of the former reality TV star before he said God wanted him to be mayor of Los Angeles. And now that he’s out of the race, he’s still serving up lazy fastballs down the middle of the plate, calling the top two vote-getters — Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman — dummies and morons.

Quick question for Pratt: If you’re on record claiming that 9/11 was an inside job and the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, and you run for office in a deep blue city with President Trump’s backing but not much of a plan or even a clue as to what a mayor can or can’t do, should you be calling other people morons?

And yet the pouting Pratt pulled more than 200,000 votes. So sore loser or not, he tapped into a lack of faith in elected officials and simmering frustration with City Hall, which happen to be the essence of today’s column.

I have five questions for Bass and Raman. They’re somewhat inter-related and have to do with matters I hear about regularly from readers:

Infrastructure (sidewalks, streets, etc).

Homelessness (billions of dollars spent, and a long way to go).

Parks (L.A.’s national ranking for quality and accessibility just dropped again).

Trash and blight (no explanation needed, right?).

And focus. (Do the candidates have a clear set of goals and a plan for achieving them?)

We’ve got five months to visit and revisit these topics, and today I’m going to focus on the first, so here we go.

Infrastructure:

A few days ago, I met with Earl Ofari Hutchinson of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable. Hutchinson is a longtime community activist and commentator, and he had just launched a torpedo in the direction of City Hall.

“There are hundreds of busted, dangerous sidewalks in South L A that have gone unrepaired for years,” he wrote to his network of followers. “They cause hundreds of injuries, and have resulted in massive numbers of claims and payouts in settlements. LA City Officials must act now to jumpstart a crash program to fix these sidewalks.”

On my way to meet Hutchinson, I traveled west along Florence Avenue and saw dozens of typical rough patches on the street and sidewalks. But if there were a contest to identify the all-time worst sidewalks in Los Angeles, Hutchinson’s discovery of the one at 71st Street and 11th Avenue would be a Hall of Fame contender.

For starters, it’s got the classic uplift, and the villain is the usual suspect — ficus tree roots. A 20-foot slab of sidewalk is pitched sharply, as if designed by trip-and-fall lawsuit lawyers. Way back in 2014, in my early days on sidewalk patrol, I was able to crawl under a similarly ruptured sidewalk in West L.A., and I could’ve done the same at 71st and 11th.

But I thought better of it after Hutchinson peered into the opening and said it looked like a comfy home for rats and other vermin.

The homeowner, Sharon Kelly, can’t use her front gate because of the lopsided sidewalk. She let me borrow her tape measure, which revealed a 16-inch rise in the pavement.

“It keeps rising,” Kelly said. “But it was already lifted when we came here.”

That was in 1997. I asked if she’s called the city for help.

“Several times,” she said, and the only response was a slapdash temporary asphalt patch.

Hutchinson said residents have responded in force to his call for emergency sidewalks repairs, just as they did when he crusaded for a crackdown on widespread illegal dumping.

“Dozens of residents have come out of the woodwork, and here’s what they all say: ‘We have called our city council person and various city departments repeatedly, over and over again.’”

And the response?

“Nothing,” Hutchinson said.

While we were talking, two people with walkers steered clear of the worst spot near Kelly’s property. Charles McQuarn, 77, said traversing the neighborhood means zigzagging around all the hazards.

“I gotta come out into the streets, too,” he said.

When he was a teenager, McQuarn said, he worked for a community group that fixed sidewalks. I mentioned that Councilmember Monica Rodriguez has been using Conservation Corps youths to do the same, but it’s time to scale up that program and come up with other remedies to speed the process.

The city is fixing about 600 sidewalks each year, the backlog of requested repairs stands at about 30,000 and if you get onto the waiting list, you’re looking at about 10 years before help arrives.

When we were done on 71st Street, Hutchinson led me over to a nearby stretch of Florence where, for blocks and blocks, it appears as if there have been volcanic eruptions around the trees. Large chunks of cracked sidewalk form mounds, one after another. The Hutchinson Himalayas are a site to behold — a mile-long museum of municipal neglect.

And it’s been like this, Hutchinson said, “for years.”

The question for Bass and Raman: What will you do to speed the repairs?

Homelessness:

Voters have been generous when it comes to repeatedly taxing themselves more, and more, to address homelessness. There’s been Measure H, Measure A, Measure ULA and Proposition HHH.

Yet although billions of dollars have been spent and tens of thousands of people have been helped and housed, more than 40,000 people are homeless in the city and roughly 70,000 in the county. In her primary victory speech, Bass said families shouldn’t have to step around encampments, and Raman has said greater urgency is needed.

Questions for Bass and Raman: Why haven’t taxpayers gotten more for their money with the two of you at the helm, what are you going to do to speed progress and create more accountability, and what distinguishes you from each other?

Parks:

In the annual rankings by the National Trust for Public Lands, Los Angeles has dropped from 90th to a tie for 93rd in park investment and accessibility among the nation’s 100 most populous cities.

The City Council is about to consider a motion to increase park funding through charter reform (with dozens of community groups in support), and progress is ridiculously slow on an agreement to use schools as after-hours playgrounds.

Question for Bass and Raman: Do you support the charter reform, and what else are you going to do to address the sad state of the city’s parks?

Trash and blight:

In downtown L.A., vandalism, shuttered storefronts and post-COVID abandonment have crippled what was a vibrant, revenue-generating economy that benefited the whole city.

In Hollywood, a resident hired her housekeeper to help report illegal dumping of goods that are often used to construct more homeless encampments, leading to all sorts of problems.

On the south lawn of City Hall, a graffiti-tagged monument and fountain have been out of commission for most of the last six decades.

Question for Bass and Raman: At the very least, can you fix the fountain?

Focus:

Like any big city with great assets and unlimited challenges, many residents have a love-hate relationship with L.A. But years ago, someone told me he loves Los Angeles because it’s a messy, multi-cultural work in progress, set on a dramatic landscape between mountain and sea, trying to figure out what it wants to be.

Question for Bass and Raman: Whether in the realm of basic services or grand visions, what three or four primary objectives do you have over the next four years?

In other words, what do you want L.A. to be?

steve.lopez@latimes.com

After topscoring with the bat for Scotland, Kathryn Bryce makes an impact with the ball, taking a superb one-handed catch to remove Ireland’s Alana Dalzell for six in their opening match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup at Old Trafford.

FOLLOW LIVE: Impressive Scotland complete victory over Ireland

Available to UK users only.

June 12 (Asia Today) — A joint prosecution-police investigation team searched National Election Commission servers for a second consecutive day Friday as part of an inquiry into ballot shortages during South Korea’s June 3 local elections.

The team was conducting a search and seizure operation involving the commission’s servers, officials said.

Investigators on Thursday raided seven locations, including the National Election Commission headquarters in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, the Seoul election commission and district election offices in Songpa, Seocho, Gangnam, Gwangjin and Dongjak.

The raids were conducted as part of an investigation into suspected violations of the Public Official Election Act and alleged dereliction of duty.

The warrant reportedly listed more than 10 people as suspects, including former National Election Commission Chairman Noh Tae-ak, former Secretary-General Huh Chul-hoon and heads of regional election commissions.

The team has also begun sorting materials seized in the raids, including ballot printing plans, budget documents, voting records and electronic files. The seized materials are believed to include meeting minutes related to the commission’s decision to reduce the number of ballots printed.

Investigators plan to question election commission officials after reviewing the seized materials to determine how the ballot shortage occurred.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s major crimes investigation unit notified election commission officials Monday to appear for questioning and is coordinating interview schedules.

The investigation follows widespread criticism over ballot shortages at some polling stations during the June 3 local elections. The incident led to public complaints, calls for accountability and the resignations of senior election officials.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260612010004362

Henry Ensher, a former US ambassador, says the US–Iran agreement is not a final settlement but only the start of a process, with many ways it could still go wrong.

British holidaymakers heading to Greece this summer are being urged to do four things before they set off to help interactions with local people go smoothly…

Planning a getaway to Greece this summer? Brits have been cautioned against travelling if they haven’t done this crucial thing.

With numerous new rules and regulations being introduced, including EES (entry-exit systems) and QR codes that can be scanned to streamline procedures in different countries, it can be tricky to work out what you’re required to do before setting off. We’re all aware it’s vital to stick to baggage weight limits to dodge any additional charges, and that arriving with sufficient time to clear airport security is essential.

However, Dimitri has cautioned that before landing in Greece, it’s also crucial to familiarise yourself with four phrases that will help you get by and feel more at ease, while showing locals you’ve put in some effort. He said: “Don’t come to Greece this summer if you don’t know these four expressions.”

1. Kalimera/Καλημρα: Good morning

This is used to greet someone in the morning or daytime. You should stress the second syllable, pronouncing it “KA-lee-ME-ra”.

2. Kalispera/Καλησπρα: Good evening

This is the correct greeting from the late afternoon into the evening. It is pronounced “KA-lee-SPE-ra”.

3. Efharirsto/Ευχαριστ: Thank you

Used to express gratitude. It is pronounced approximately as “ef-ha-ri-STO”, with a soft guttural ‘h’ sound represented by ‘χ’.

4. Parakalo/Παρακαλ: You’re welcome

This phrase serves as a courteous reply to “thank you,” and is equally handy when offering something to someone. It is pronounced “pa-ra-ka-LO”.

Master all of the above, and, while fluency in Greek may still be out of reach, you’ll come across as someone who has genuinely made the effort to connect with locals in their native tongue. What’s more, it’ll help put you at ease too.

Dimitri added: “A friendly tone and a smile make these phrases more natural and appreciated.”

In the comments, one user wrote: “Having lived in Greece its great to see this and yes, learning the language is a plus. I’d add to those who may feel nervous in doing so, just do it.”

Another chimed in: “I learned these whilst in Greece! The locals were so friendly and kind and loved that we wanted to speak with them in their language.”

One joker suggested that simply saying the word “gyro,” would suffice – referring to the much-loved Greek street food made from seasoned meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, then carved and served wrapped in a warm, grilled flatbread such as pitta.

Meanwhile, another enthused: “Greece is my favourite country would love more than anything to learn the language!!”

Will you be learning any Greek before you go this summer? Let us know in the comments…

THE World Cup has kicked off and you can watch matches down your local pub or at a fan zone.

You don’t even have to miss your holiday to join in the football fever.

Hotels, sports bars and holiday parks across the UK and abroad are showing the games so you can cheer on your team wherever you are.

Trisha Harbord selects ten winning breaks where there is lots to do when you’re not in front of the big screen.

EDINBURGH

SCOTLAND are in their first World Cup for 28 years, so excitement in the country is electric — and watching matches in beautiful Edinburgh will be unforgettable.

Try Irish bar Malones, which was voted “Best venue to watch the match 2026”.

SPLASH OUT

Gorgeous free lido with sweeping city views is returning to UK this summer

SCHOOL’S OUT

Just 6 weeks until school summer hols! Cheap all inclusives where kids go FREE

Walk in or book a table at malonesedinburgh.com.

At Belushi’s bar, there are DJs and live music after the final whistle. See belushis.com.

You can also watch in fan zones The Gyle and The Pitt.

WHEN NOT WATCHING: Visit the Royal Yacht Britannia, Tripadvisor’s No1 attraction in the world, take a castle and Royal Mile walking tour, and taste whisky at the Johnnie Walker Experience.

GO: Double rooms at Tynecastle Park Hotel are from £135 a night. See tynecastleparkhotel.com.

BUTLIN’S RESORTS

BUTLIN’S resorts in Minehead, Skegness and Bognor Regis have big-screen venues galore, including Studio 36, which can hold 2,000 people.

The resorts — which just won VisitEngland’s Outstanding Contribution to Tourism award — also have deals including two cocktails for £14 and four pints for £23.

WHEN NOT WATCHING: Cool down in Splash Waterworld with flumes and rapids, hop on fairground rides, enjoy live entertainment and chill in the spa.

You’re also right next to sandy beaches and seaside fun.

GO: The three-night Replay Big Weekender at Bognor Regis from June 26 (England match June 27), including Peter Andre concert, is from £244 per person, based on four sharing a two-bed Comfort room. See butlins.com.

LONDON SOUTH BANK

IT’S always buzzing on London’s South Bank, but the riverside walk is becoming a footie fanbase.

The Big Belly Bar will be screening all matches on ten mega-screens, so there’s no chance of missing any goals or getting a bad view.

Tickets for games cost from £11, including a welcome drink. Book at thebigbellybar.co.uk.

There will also be DJs and live entertainment before and after matches.

WHEN NOT WATCHING: Get breathtaking views of the city from the 442ft London Eye, see sharks at Sealife aquarium and superb art at Tate Modern.

Cross over the river to catch a West End theatre performance.

GO: Double rooms at Travelodge London Central Waterloo are from £55 a night. See travelodge.co.uk.

GREAT YARMOUTH

THERE will be a pop-up series of free screenings for every England fixture at Great Yarmouth’s historic Empire venue in Norfolk.

The Grade II-listed seafront landmark, which has just undergone a huge renovation, will start each match day with a two-hour DJ set, street food and craft beer before kick-off.

Then, the party will continue for an hour after the final whistle.

WHEN NOT WATCHING: Take a stroll along the 15 miles of glorious golden sands and enjoy an 18-hole adventure at the Pirates Cove golf course.

GO: Four nights’ self-catering in a Bronze Caravan at Haven’s Seashore park is from £165 in total. See haven.com.

UK-WIDE AWAY RESORTS

ALL 25 Away Resorts across the UK are showing matches, with some offering a festival vibe of deckchairs and picnic blankets in front of giant outdoor screens.

Whitecliff Bay Holiday Park on the Isle of Wight has lodges, chalets, caravans and camping pitches, some with sea views and hot tubs.

WHEN NOT WATCHING: The resort has heated outside and indoor pools, a private sandy beach, bike hire and crazy golf.

See Carisbrooke and Yarmouth castles, and big cats at Wildheart Animal Sanctuary. Nearby pub the King Lud is also showing matches.

GO: Four nights’ self-catering in a Comfort caravan, sleeping up to eight people, costs from £359 in total. See awayresorts.co.uk.

MYKONOS

EASYJET Holidays reckons more than a quarter of supporters are planning a fan-cation and are highlighting resorts that are going all-out for the tournament — screens on the beach, extended bar hours, etc.

The 4* Acrogiali Beach Hotel in Platis Gialos, on the Greek island of Mykonos, has luxurious zones with big screens on the sands.

WHEN NOT WATCHING: There are lots of bars and gift shops in the village of Platis Gialos. Get a taxi-boat to more secluded beaches.

Water­sports include windsurfing and parasailing.

GO: Seven nights’ B&B, including flights from Gatwick, is from £789 per person. See easyjet.com/en/holidays.

SOUTH OF FRANCE

TAKE a two-hour flight and you can be on the sunny coast of southern France without missing a goal.

The lovely city of Perpignan is home to the friendliest sports bar, Delirium Cafe, showing matches on up to nine screens.

It has 27 beer taps and more than 100 bottled varieties. See deliriumcafeperpignan.com.

WHEN NOT WATCHING: Learn about the city’s history at the ancient fortification Castillet, see the cathedral and go shopping.

Swim in the Med, you are near the beaches of Canet-en-Roussillon.

GO: Ryanair flies from Stansted, Birmingham and Leeds Bradford to Perpignan with one-way fares from £20. Double room at hotel-bb.com from £54 a night.

TUNISIA

WATCH the final week of World Cup matches in a stunning resort by the ocean in Tunisia.

The 4* AQI Skanes Resort will be showing all games, including the final on July 19.

And youngsters can even join Football Academies, with FA and Uefa-certified coaches.

WHEN NOT WATCHING: The resort has more than 200 activities including archery, as well as shows, pools, five restaurants and a spa.

Medinas and souks in Sousse and Monastir are just minutes away.

GO: Seven nights’ all-inclusive from Stansted on July 13 is from £942pp, based on two adults and two kids sharing. See tui.co.uk.

GRAN CANARIA

IMPRESS your friends by telling them you’re off to Gran Canaria for the weekend to watch England’s last qualifying game.

The 4* Servatur Puerto Azul, on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, will have big screens and there’s a 42in TV in your room, so you could watch matches from your balcony hammock.

WHEN NOT WATCHING: There’s a free shuttle service to Puerto Rico beach.

But you don’t need to leave this resort — there are five pools, sports courts, gym, spa, shows and live music. Restaurants and bars, too.

GO: Four nights’ B&B, including flights from Luton on June 26 (England play on June 27), costs from £395pp. See onthebeach.co.uk.

NORWEGIAN FJORDS

JOIN the wave of fans on the high seas. P&O Cruises has TV rights to show all matches on all its ships.

You could be on board for England’s final group game, against Panama, on June 27, if you take a Norwegian Fjords no-fly cruise.

P&O Cruises’ Britannia will welcome fans into ­Brodie’s bar.

WHEN NOT WATCHING: Enjoy the restaurants, spa, entertainment and pools.

Take excursions in beautiful towns and villages including Stavanger, Olden and Alesund.

GO: Seven nights’ full-board in an inside cabin, departing from Southampton on June 26, is from £699 per person. For further details see pocruises.com.

The bitter legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni over allegations of misconduct and retaliation tied to the making of “It Ends With Us” moved closer to a conclusion Friday after a federal judge ordered Baldoni and his production company to pay Lively’s attorneys fees related to his unsuccessful defamation lawsuit against her, while rejecting her bid for additional damages.

In a 47-page order, U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman found that Lively was entitled to recover legal fees under a California law intended to protect people who report sexual misconduct from retaliatory defamation claims, ruling that Baldoni’s side had failed to show she acted with malice when making her allegations.

But Liman denied Lively’s request for treble and punitive damages, concluding that the procedural mechanism her lawyers used permitted recovery of attorneys fees and costs but not broader financial penalties.

Lively’s attorneys, Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb, called Friday’s ruling a victory for their client and emphasized that the judge found “there was no evidence she acted with malice.”

“The Court is awarding Ms. Lively attorneys’ fees and costs and has explained that a prevailing defendant under Section 47.1 may seek damages using different procedural mechanisms,” the attorneys said in a statement. “The parties’ settlement agreement expressly preserves Ms. Lively’s rights to obtain those damages.”

While the judge rejected Lively’s request for additional damages in this particular motion, her legal team said she could still seek them through other legal avenues permitted under the statute.

Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s attorney, sharply disputed Lively’s characterization of the ruling, arguing that the court’s prior decisions had substantially undercut many of her original claims.

“There was no sexual harassment. There was no retaliation. There was no smear campaign,” Freedman said in a statement. “The court recognized it, the record reflects it, and we have maintained it from the very beginning.”

The amount Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios ultimately may have to pay has not yet been determined. Lively’s lawyers must still submit billing records and fee calculations for court approval.

The ruling follows last month’s settlement between Lively and Baldoni, which came just before what had been expected to be a closely watched federal trial in Manhattan. Under that settlement, neither side received financial compensation. But the agreement preserved Lively’s ability to seek attorneys fees and damages under California Civil Code Section 47.1, a relatively new statute designed to shield sexual harassment and assault accusers from retaliatory defamation claims.

Lively sued Baldoni, Wayfarer Studios, Wayfarer CEO Jamey Heath and others in December 2024, alleging Baldoni and his associates orchestrated a coordinated effort to damage her reputation after she raised concerns about misconduct during production of the film, which Baldoni directed and co-starred in. Baldoni denied wrongdoing.

Baldoni and Wayfarer later filed a $400 million defamation suit against Lively, her publicist Leslie Sloane and her husband, Ryan Reynolds, that was dismissed last year. Friday’s ruling dealt specifically with whether Lively could recover attorneys’ fees and damages tied to that dismissed suit under California Civil Code Section 47.1.

The latest ruling comes after Liman earlier this year dismissed 10 of the 13 claims in Lively’s lawsuit, including sexual harassment and defamation claims, while allowing retaliation-related claims to proceed.

In Friday’s ruling, Liman wrote that Baldoni’s team had produced no evidence demonstrating Lively acted maliciously when making her allegations.

“Allegations are insufficient on their own to demonstrate that statements were in fact made with malice,” the judge wrote. “That determination requires some evidence.”

Friday’s ruling offered each side new grounds to claim vindication in a legal battle that has played out as much in public statements as in court filings. Lively’s team pointed to the judge’s finding that she acted without malice, while Baldoni’s attorneys emphasized that many of her original claims had been dismissed.

Still, the settlement agreement bars either side from appealing Liman’s ruling, potentially drawing one of Hollywood’s ugliest recent legal fights to a close.

Reporting from Washington — Most of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ supporters in California say they expect that come November, Hillary Clinton will be elected president — and, by and large, they’re OK with that.

While both Democratic camps prepare for a final battle in the state’s June 7 primary, the latest USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times statewide poll found that just over half of Sanders’ supporters said they expected Clinton to be the next president. About a third of Sanders’ backers said they expected the Vermont senator to emerge the winner, and 12% said they thought Donald Trump would prevail.

Close to 8 in 10 Sanders supporters said in the survey that they would vote for Clinton in a race against Trump, although many said they would do so reluctantly.

Those findings show the reality underlying the still-heated rhetoric of the Democratic primaries: By contrast with the civil war that divides Republicans, Democrats in the country’s largest state have begun to coalesce behind their front-runner.

In the primary race, Clinton holds a modest lead over Sanders, 45% to 37%, among all Democrats and independent voters eligible to vote. Her lead is slightly larger, 47% to 36%, among those most likely to vote. Either way, that’s a significant problem for Sanders.

The poll was conducted before Sanders’ sweep of three Western states — Alaska, Hawaii and Washington — on Saturday, but those victories don’t change the electoral math much. Sanders would need not just a win in California, but something close to a landslide to overcome Clinton’s large lead in delegates before the party’s nominating convention in July.

Something else hasn’t changed: If there’s one blemish in the picture for Clinton, it’s the persistently high percentage of voters who have an unfavorable image of her, 45% in the new poll.

Clinton’s image in heavily Democratic California is more positive than it is in more Republican parts of the country; 52% of the state’s surveyed voters see her favorably. She fares far better than Trump, her most likely opponent in November, who is viewed negatively by almost three-fourths of California voters.

A Democratic voter at a Washington state caucus on Saturday. In the California primary race, Hillary Clinton holds a modest lead over Bernie Sanders, 45% to 37%, among all Democrats and independent voters eligible to vote.

(Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)

But her image with the public lags significantly behind other leading Democrats. That includes President Obama, whose popularity has risen, both statewide and nationally, in recent weeks. He is now seen favorably by 65% of the state’s voters, the highest level since early in his tenure. Gov. Jerry Brown is viewed favorably by 57%. Both men are viewed negatively by about one-third of voters.

The large share of voters who have a negative view of her does not put Clinton in danger of losing California in a general election: She would defeat any of the Republican candidates handily in the state, which has formed the cornerstone of Democratic victories nationally ever since her husband’s win in 1992. Against Trump, in particular, Clinton would win overwhelmingly, the poll indicated, carrying the state 59% to 28%.

But the negative impressions of so many Californians point toward the deeper problem she faces in the country and also to the likely tone of the fall campaign. A Clinton-Trump race, more than any other in recent decades, would feature two candidates who would start the campaign with large parts of the electorate deeply disenchanted with them. Given that, each side is likely to try to focus voters’ attention on the other’s flaws.

“Clinton’s challenge is not one of persuasion, it’s one of motivation,” said Dan Schnur, director of USC’s Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics. “She’s not going to get Sanders supporters to fall in love with her,” he added, but “the other way to motivate your base is to frighten them about the alternative. Against Donald Trump, that should be very doable.”

That’s certainly the case for Gretta Whalen, a 32-year-old freelance writer and communications consultant from Los Angeles, who leans toward Sanders. Clinton, she said, “has been around for so long, and we know so much about her, and not all of it is positive.” Sanders, by contrast, seems attractive, and his ideas feel new, even if “some of them are very pie in the sky and would be very difficult to get the rest of the country on board with.”

But, she added, as she paused from feeding her newborn son, the contest is different “now that we’re looking at a likely race against Donald Trump.” She and her friends, most of whom back Sanders, “are all so shocked that we’re in this place where Donald Trump is a serious contender for president,” she said. Compared with past elections, this campaign “feels a little more surreal.”

“I was much more excited about Bernie” earlier in the campaign season, she added. “We love him as a candidate. We also recognize that he’s not the most realistic winner.”

Just under 1 in 4 voters in the state have a negative image of both of the likely contestants. That group would hold its nose and side with Clinton over Trump, 38% to 23%, with a significant share of them saying they would not vote at all, the poll found.

Sercan Ersoy, a 33-year-old substitute teacher in Oakland, has much more negative feelings about Clinton than does Whalen. A former member of the Green Party who changed his registration in order to vote for Sanders in the primary, Ersoy feels Clinton is “too much of a war hawk” in addition to having too many ties to Wall Street. “I don’t want to vote for her,” he said.

But “if you ask me in late October,” he added, “and there’s a real possibility of a President Trump, I might say, ‘OK. I’ll vote for Hillary.’”

This USC/L.A. Times poll was conducted March 16-23 by telephone, both cellphone and landline, among 1,503 registered voters in California, including 832 Democrats and non-party voters eligible to take part in the June primary. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points for the full sample and 3.7 percentage points for the Democratic primary sample. It was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a Democratic polling firm, and the Republican company American Viewpoint.

The poll found the race between Clinton and Sanders dividing along lines that have become familiar during nearly two months of primaries: Sanders overwhelmingly wins voters younger than 30; Clinton does better with older voters. She leads among women by 11 percentage points, among men by 5 points.

Clinton leads narrowly among white voters but has a much larger edge among blacks and Latinos. In a surprise, given her family’s long-standing popularity with Asian voters, Clinton appears to be trailing Sanders with that group, although his edge, 43% to 35%, is within the poll’s margin of error for such a subgroup.

Clinton’s lead among minority voters is “much more muted” than her edge in previous contests in Texas and across the South, said pollster Anna Greenberg. That’s largely a result of a generational divide, with Sanders leading among younger Latinos, much as he does among young white voters. The other minority groups are too small to allow a detailed breakdown by age.

The other significant division in the primary is by party. California’s Democratic primary is open to registered Democrats as well as voters who decline to state a party. Clinton leads Sanders by 14 percentage points among registered Democrats; Sanders leads by 9 percentage points among the nonpartisan voters — again a pattern seen repeatedly in other states.

Among Sanders voters, 80% polled said they would vote for Clinton in November, although the share saying they would do so “reluctantly,” 45%, outnumbers those who would do so “enthusiastically,” 35%.

About 1 in 8 Democratic primary voters surveyed said they would refuse to vote for Clinton if she is the nominee. That’s half the level of rejection that Trump faces among Republican primary voters.

Among the Democratic primary voters most resistant to backing her in the fall are white men 65 and older, according to the poll. By contrast, only 4% of people who identified themselves as students said they would refuse to vote for Clinton — another indication that Sanders’ core supporters are unlikely to reject her candidacy.

By 72% to 21%, Democratic primary voters said in the survey that they are excited about the prospect of voting for the first female president.

Sanders has centered his campaign around the belief that the U.S. economy is unfairly rigged by Wall Street and big corporations. Not surprisingly, a large majority of his voters share that view.

The poll asked people if they thought that in today’s economy “everyone has a fair chance to get ahead in the long run if they work hard” or if “it’s mainly just a few people at the top who have a chance to get ahead.” By more than 2 to 1, Sanders’ voters said that only those at the top could get ahead.

Clinton’s supporters were more evenly divided, with 52% saying that everyone had a fair chance and 42% saying that only those at the top could get ahead. That reflected, in part, the feelings of Latinos, who are more likely than other Americans to say that hard work still pays off in the long run.

Those who backed Clinton were also more likely than Sanders’ backers to say that “when it comes to good jobs for American workers, our best years are ahead of us.” More than 6 in 10 of Clinton’s voters agreed with that statement, compared with just under half of Sanders’.

Neither group of Democratic voters was as pessimistic as Trump’s supporters, however. A majority of them said that when it comes to good jobs, “America’s best years are behind us.”

david.lauter@latimes.com

For more on Campaign 2016, follow @davidlauter

Sign up for the Essential Politics newsletter

ALSO:

Trump leads Republican primary field

California’s June primary just became crucial in the race for the White House

Full coverage of the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll

Full poll results and detailed crosstabs

Updates on California politics

Live coverage from the campaign trail

BBC Sport Scotland called on the knowledge of 1998 World Cup squad members Darren Jackson and Paul Lambert, as well as the last player to captain Scotland at the women’s finals in 2019, Rachel Corsie, to enlighten and excite us.

All three said it was “surreal”.

Lambert and Corsie explained the build-up – the bit where the fans are frantically booking planes, trains and automobiles – as perhaps being the most “stressful” part of the process from qualifying.

“You’re like, I want to be in the best condition of my life,” said Corsie, who skippered Scotland in France seven years ago said.

“I don’t want to get hurt, I want to get selected, I want to be playing for my club, there’s so many things that you’re thinking and you just think, I just want us to get there.”

“It feels like endless build-up,” Lambert added.

“Then, when you’re selected, that’s when it really sinks in that you know the summer could be the greatest tournament for the national team. It’s the best tournament.”

For Jackson, who didn’t make his international debut until he was 28, said it wasn’t until he lined up in the Stade de France for the tournament opener against Brazil that things started to feel real.

“When you’re standing in the tunnel and the guy standing next to you is Ronaldo, reality kicks in,” he explained.

Add Rivaldo, Dunga, Roberto Carlos, Cafu and the rest and you’ve got a point, Darren. Gulp.