News Desk

Analysts expect AI chip demand to remain strong.

Nvidia has forecast fourth-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates and is betting on booming demand for its AI chips from cloud providers even as widespread concerns of an artificial intelligence bubble grow stronger.

The world’s most valuable company expects fourth-quarter sales of $65bn, plus or minus 2 percent, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $61.66bn, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The results from the AI chip leader mark a defining moment for Wall Street as global markets look to the chip designer to determine whether investing billions of dollars in AI infrastructure expansion has resulted in towering valuations that potentially outpace fundamentals.

“The AI ecosystem is scaling fast with more new foundation model makers, more AI start-ups across more industries and in more countries. AI is going everywhere, doing everything, all at once,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a statement.

Before the results, doubts had pushed Nvidia shares down nearly 8 percent in November after a 1,200 percent surge in the past three years.

Sales in the data-centre segment, which accounts for a majority of Nvidia’s revenue, grew to $51.2bn in the quarter that ended on October 26. Analysts had expected sales of $48.62bn, according to LSEG data.

Warning signs

But some analysts noted that factors beyond Nvidia’s control could impede its growth.

“While GPU [graphics processing unit] demand continues to be massive, investors are increasingly focused on whether hyperscalers can actually put this capacity to use fast enough,” said Jacob Bourne, an analyst with eMarketer. “The question is whether physical bottlenecks in power, land and grid access will cap how quickly this demand translates into revenue growth through 2026 and beyond.”

Nvidia’s business also became increasingly concentrated in its fiscal third quarter with four customers accounting for 61 percent of sales. At the same time, it sharply ramped up how much money it spends renting back its own chips from its cloud customers, who otherwise cannot rent them out, with those contracts totalling $26bn – more than double their $12.6bn in the previous quarter.

Still, analysts and investors widely expected the underlying demand for AI chips, which has powered Nvidia results since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, to remain strong.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said last month that the company has $500bn in bookings for its advanced chips through 2026.

Big Tech, among Nvidia’s largest customers, has doubled down on spending to expand AI data centres and snatch the most advanced, pricey chips as it commits to multibillion-dollar, multigigawatt build-outs.

Microsoft last month reported a record capital expenditure of nearly $35bn for its fiscal first quarter  with roughly half of it spent primarily on chips.

Nvidia expects an adjusted gross margin of 75 percent, plus or minus 50 basis points in the fourth quarter, compared with market expectation of 74.5 percent.

Israel has kept troops in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights since December’s ouster of Bashar al-Assad.

Syria has denounced a trip by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials to the country’s south, where they visited troops deployed to Syrian territory they’ve occupied for months.

Israel expanded its occupation of southern Syrian territory as the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad was overrun by rebel forces in December.

“My government strongly condemns this provocative tour, which epitomises Israel’s ongoing aggression against Syria and its people,” Ibrahim Olabi, Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

“We renew our call on the UN and this council to take firm and immediate action to halt these violations, ensure their non-reoccurrence, end the occupation and enforce relevant resolutions, particularly the 1974 disengagement agreement” that followed the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

Since the overthrow of al-Assad, Israel has kept troops in a UN-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights separating Israeli and Syrian forces.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric described Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials’ “very public visit” as “concerning, to say the least”.

Dujarric noted that UN Resolution 2799, recently passed by the Security Council, “called for the full sovereignty, unity, independence, and territorial integrity of Syria”.

Israel has previously said the 1974 agreement has been void since al-Assad fled, and it has breached Syrian sovereignty with air strikes, ground infiltration operations, reconnaissance overflights, the establishment of checkpoints, and the arrest and disappearance of Syrian citizens.

Syria has not reciprocated the attacks.

‘Zero signs of aggression’

During the Security Council meeting, Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, did not directly address Netanyahu’s visit but instead lectured Syria’s ambassador.

“Show us that Syria is moving away from extremism and radicalism, that the protection of Christians and Jews is not an afterthought but a priority. Show us that the militias are restrained and justice is real and the cycle of indiscriminate killings has ended,” Danon said.

Olabi responded: “The proving, Mr Ambassador, tends to be on your shoulders. You have struck Syria more than 1,000 times, and we have responded with requests for diplomacy … and responded with zero signs of aggression towards Israel. … We have engaged constructively. and we still await for you to do the same.”

Netanyahu was accompanied to Syrian territory by Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, Defence Minister Israel Katz, army Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and the head of the Shin Bet security service, David Zini

Syria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned “in the strongest terms the illegal visit, … considering it a serious violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

This month, Israel’s army renewed its incursions into Syria, setting up a military checkpoint in the southern province of Quneitra.

In September, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Israel had conducted more than 1,000 air strikes and more than 400 ground incursions in Syria since al-Assad was overthrown, describing the actions as “very dangerous”.

Reporting from the UN in New York, Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo noted Syria and Israel continue to negotiate a security pact that analysts said could be finalised before the end of the year.

“The testy exchange between the two ambassadors likely won’t derail that. But it does show how little trust there is between both countries – and how Netanyahu and his government continue to try to provoke Damascus,” Elizondo said.

COMMUTERS in London were left stunned after they spotted a Brit comedy legend mid-rant on the Tube.

He was seen directing his emotion towards a to TikTok star as the pair travelled the Bakerloo Line on the London Underground.

One social media user uploaded their antics to social media with the caption: “Simulation on the morning commute today.”

It saw comedian Chabuddy G, real name Asim Chaudhry, brandish an Oyster card as a microphone whole sitting on the brown Tube line’s iconic printed seats.

He stunned passers by – and Subway Takes’ Kareem Rahma who was sitting alongside him – as he said: “It’s not all about length, it’s about girth,” before doing a hand gesture to represent his point.

Dressed in a khaki jacket in sunglasses he continued to seeingly reference someone’s manhood as he added: “Like that big.”

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The People Just Do Nothing star, who appeared to be filming a segment for the viral series, rounded off the clip and said: “Thank you very much.”

Meanwhile Kareem, who was holding his own Oyster card as his microphone, was in stitches following the chat.

He wore a grey jacket and brown corduroy trousers as he slouched back for the latest Subway Takes chat.

After the clip was uploaded to TikTok, user feuxlikefiya wrote: “Chabbudy g on subway takes before I’ve had my morning coffee.”

One user was quick to reply: “Subway Takes have gone downhill they’ve got Kareem on the Bakerloo Line.”

Another added: “Average Bakerloo Line experience,” as a third put: “Man said they came London.”

A fan then mused: “Not the Bakerloo Line.”

One then joked: “The fact you were acc on the tube fr.”

Kareem is co-founder of the internet talk show, with the star generally using a MetroCard with a microphone tagged on to chat to Americans on the Subway.

The show quizzed guests about their favourite hot take – yet one episode was filmed and promptly deleted, according to the host.

KAMALA’S CHAT

In July, we reported how Kareem had claimed a chat with Kamala Harris prior to the US election was so “weird” it had to be erased.

He revealed he sat down with Kamala in summer last year, just months before November’s election.

He told Forbes in an interview posted to TikTok: “Her take was really confusing and weird, not good, and so [we] mutually agreed we shouldn’t publish it.”

Kareem claims the Democratic Party reached out to him to say that Kamala and Tim Walz, her vice-president running partner, were “really interested” in being on the show.

The presenter said he got “lucky”, because he “didn’t want to be blamed for her losing”.

Doubling down, Kareem said Kamala’s take was “really, really bad, and it didn’t make any sense”.

Finally putting viewers out of their misery, he revealed that Kamala’s take was “bacon as a spice”.

Kareem is a Muslim, meaning he can’t eat pork-based products and has never eaten bacon – making it a particularly odd choice for Kamala to go with.

Kareem previously showed footage of the awkward encounter to the New York Times – which reported he was “taken aback” by Kamala’s statement.

Harris’s campaign reportedly apologised for the blunder and offered to re-film the episode, but Kareem declined.

Kareem previously said his main reason for not airing the interview was because he didn’t want to upset the Muslim community by spending air time on trivial matters when something as serious as the Israel-Hamas war was ongoing.

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He said: “It was so complicated because I’m Muslim and there’s something going on in the world that 100% of Muslims care about.

“And then they made it worse by talking about anchovies. Boring!”

Nov. 19 (UPI) — The U.S. State Department has approved the possible sale of Patriot air defense launchers to Ukraine worth up to $105 million.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which is within the Department of Defense, delivered the certification to the U.S. Congress, the agency said in a news release Tuesday.

DSCA’s primary mission is to support U.S. foreign policy to train, educate, advise and equip foreign partners to respond to shared challenges, including in Europe.

The Patriot system will not will not alter the basic military balance in the region, or the impact on U.S. defense readiness, the agency said.

The Patriot contractors are RTX Corp. of Arlington, Va., and Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Md.

The United States first shipped Patriot systems to Ukraine in April 2023, more than a year after Russia invaded its neighbor under the direction of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We’ve been talking about closing the sky since day one of this war,” Zelenskyy wrote on X on Nov. 10. “We understand that it’s our vulnerability. And we realize that Putin had a huge number of missiles, while we had very few air‑defense systems and only a small remaining stock of Soviet‑era missiles.

“These systems were no shield at all. Nevertheless, we built the air‑defense we could, and we continue to develop it.”

The Patriots are a deterrent to missiles and drones against military targets and civilian locations.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal applauded the decision, posting on X: “We are grateful to our American partners for such an important decision. Peace can only be achieved through strength!”

Zelensky has been pushing for more Patriot system.

“We want to order 25 Patriot systems from the United States,” Zelenskyy wrote in July. “For us, that’s a clear budget, and we understand the financial scope; however, certain elements are missing from the agreement.

“European colleagues can help us here — they can lend us their systems now and then take back ours once they arrive from the manufacturers. These systems are produced over several years, and we would not want to wait.”

Ukraine had requested an upgrade of M901 launchers to M903 configuration; classified and unclassified prescribed load lists and authorized stockage lists for ground support equipment; necessary ancillaries, spare parts, support, training and accessories; and other related elements of logistics and program support.

M903 launchers can carry up to PAC-3 missiles and other types of Patriot missiles, according to Lockheed Martin. The PAC-3 MSE has improved capabilities, such as updated software and systems that allow it to home in on and destroy an enemy target.

Implementation of this proposed sale will require five additional U.S. government and 15 U.S. contractor representatives to the European Combatant Command for up to one month to support training and periodic meetings.

The actual dollar value depends on final requirements, budget authority and signed sales agreement.

“The Patriots won’t solve all, or perhaps even many of the problems associated with Russia’s strikes against Ukraine, however they will provide an additional layer of coverage and redundancy that can help protect Ukraine’s civilian population, civilian infrastructure, and military forces,” Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Amos Fox, now a fellow at Arizona State University’s Future Security Initiative, told the Kyiev Post.

Retired US Army Colonel Richard Williams, a former deputy director in NATO’s Defense Investment Division, also told the Kyiev Potg that European nations are “perhaps more suited to assist Ukraine with this threat.”

In July, the United States told Switzerland it would send Patriot systems intended for sale to the Swiss to Ukraine instead.

President Donald Trump made the announcement to reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland after attending the Club World Cup final at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium.

“They’re going to have some because they do need protection, but the European Union is paying for,” he said. “We’re not paying anything for it, but we will send it.”

Other nations have sent Patriots to Ukraine.

During a conference in Germany in July, NATO’s top commander said that he will send more Patriot systems to Ukraine.

Patriot production has been limited, with nations not wanting to send their systems and to maintain stockpiles.

The United States and other partner nations also need Patriot batteries elsewhere, including in the Middle East and Taiwan, which would use them against a possible Chinese invasion.

To Russia, the Yantar is a oceanic research vessel – to others, including the UK, it’s a spy ship, and a worry for Britain’s defence chiefs.

The vessel has long been suspected of secretly mapping out Britain’s undersea cables, where more than 90% of our data, including billions of dollars of financial transactions, are transferred.

But now, a new escalation, with revelations the Yantar’s sailors targeted Royal Air Force pilots in patrol planes with lasers.

Shining lasers into a pilot’s eyes is provocative, and to use the Defence Secretary John Healey’s words, “deeply dangerous”. It’s illegal in the UK and can lead to a prison sentence.

Healey’s direct message to Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin was stark: “We see you. We know what you’re doing. And if the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready.”

By that, he is implying should the Yantar cross inside Britain’s 12-mile maritime boundary there would be a military response.

This isn’t the first time the Yantar has popped up near Britain’s shores – at the start of the year a Royal Navy submarine made the highly unusual move to surface right in front of the ship as a sort of deterrent measure.

The concern is that this is part of an ongoing operation by the Kremlin to locate and map all the vital undersea cables and pipelines that connect the UK to the rest of the world.

It is also part of a wider pattern of Russian activity, as it tests Nato’s reactions, resolve and defences. We’ve seen similar moves with the recent drone incursions across Europe, and Russian warplanes flying into Nato airspace.

When three Russian fighter jets entered Estonian skies without permission in September, Italy, Finland and Sweden scrambled jets under Nato’s mission to bolster its eastern flank.

This is all interesting intel for Russia.

As an island nation, Britain is heavily reliant on its network of undersea cables that carry data. There are also vital oil and gas pipelines connecting Britain to North Sea neighbours such as Norway.

These cables and pipes are largely undefended and apparently of great interest to Russia’s research vessels.

Nato has identified deep-sea cables as part of the world’s critical infrastructure. But they are also strategic pressure points, it says, warning that adversaries could exploit them through sabotage or hybrid warfare, threatening both civilian and military communications.

Retired Royal Navy Commander Tom Sharpe made clear what the spy ship could be doing: “The most obvious one is they sit above our cables and our critical undersea infrastructure and they nose around in the cables that transfer up to $7tn worth of financial transactions every day between us and America alone”.

The Yantar may be described by Moscow as a research vessel, but it is part of Russia’s secretive Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research, or GUGI, which reports directly to the defence ministry.

And while the ship bristles with hi-tech communications equipment, it’s what we can’t see that is of most concern.

It can operate remotely-piloted miniature submarines that can dive down to sea beds many thousands of metres below the surface. These are capable of mapping the locations of cables, cutting them or planting sabotage devices that could, potentially, be activated in a time of war.

The Royal Navy is experimenting with various means of combating the threat, such as a new vessel called Proteus, but critics fear much of the damage to Britain’s coastal security may already have been done.

Any foreign vessel operating in British waters must comply with UK national laws and international maritime conventions.

The cornerstone of these complex rules is the UN Convention on the Law of The Sea (UNCLOS). This allows foreign ships to navigate through coastal waters provided that their passage is “innocent” – meaning it doesn’t threaten the peace or security of a coastal nation like Britain.

President Putin was at an AI conference in Moscow on Wednesday, and gave no immediate reaction on the situation unfolding north of Scotland.

Russia’s Embassy in London says it’s not undermining UK security and it has condemned UK Defence Secretary Healey’s statement as provocative.

But all this is happening while war rages in Ukraine, a conflict Putin blames on the West and which seemingly he has no intention of stopping soon.

The “Harry Potter” wand has been passed.

Daniel Radcliffe, who portrayed the boy who lived in the Wizarding World’s original film series, said on “Good Morning America” on Tuesday that he had reached out to new “Harry Potter” actor Dominic McLaughlin — no owls required.

“I know a few people working on the production, so I wrote to Dominic,” said Radcliffe, who appeared on the morning show to promote his return to Broadway in “Every Brilliant Thing.” “I sent him a letter and he sent me a very sweet note back.”

The new “Harry Potter” series is currently filming in the U.K. McLaughlin stars as the eponymous orphan who learns about his magical heritage after he receives his acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Arabella Stanton and Alastair Stout will portray Harry’s best friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, respectively.

Radcliffe said he hopes the young actors are “having a great time” and that seeing their pictures made him “just want to hug them.”

“I don’t want to be a specter in the life of these children at all,” Radcliffe said. “I just wanted to write to him and say, ‘I hope you have the best time and an even better time than I did. I had a great time, but I hope you have an even better one.’”

Radcliffe starred in all eight films of the first film series, starting with “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (2001) through “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” (2011). His golden Gryffindor trio included Emma Watson as the muggle-born bookworm Hermione and Rupert Grint as the loyal but sometimes insensitive Ron.

Written and executive produced by Francesca Gardiner, the new “Harry Potter” HBO series has been billed as “a faithful adaptation” of the popular seven-book series by author J.K. Rowling, who serves as an executive producer. Multiple episodes will be directed by executive producer Mark Mylod.

The cast of the new show includes returning “Harry Potter” actor Warwick Davis, who will be reprising his role as Professor Filius Flitwick. Joining him on the Hogwarts staff are John Lithgow (Albus Dumbledore); Nick Frost (Rubeus Hagrid); Paapa Essiedu (Severus Snape); Janet McTeer (Minerva McGonagall); Sirine Saba (Pomona Sprout); Richard Durden (Cuthbert Binns); Bríd Brennan (Poppy Pomfrey); Luke Thallon (Quirinus Quirrell); and Paul Whitehouse (Argus Filch).

The World Food Programme is warning that 318 million people will face critical levels of hunger next year. The United Nations agency says that is double the number from 2019.

What is behind this worsening crisis that is putting so many people in danger?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Jean-Martin Bauer – director of food security and nutrition analysis at the World Food Programme

Shahin Ashraf – head of global advocacy at Islamic Relief Worldwide

Manenji Mangundu – Oxfam’s country director in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

A controversial Russian general is now in Venezuela leading a rotational advisory mission, the head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR) told The War Zone exclusively. Colonel General Oleg Leontievich Makarevich commands the Russian Ministry of Defense’s Equator Task Force (ETF), Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov said. Makarevich is in charge of more than 120 troops who are training Venezuelan forces on a wide range of military functions, according to Budanov. Those activities are not in reaction to the current U.S. military buildup in the region.

The War Zone cannot independently verify Budanov’s claim and we have reached out to the White House, Pentagon and U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) for confirmation. We will update this story with any pertinent details provided. Questions to Budanov were prompted in part by a story in Intelligence Online claiming that an elite Russian drone unit has arrived in Venezuela to teach troops there how to use first-person view (FPV) drones.

The Ukrainian intelligence chief’s comments come as the Trump administration has established a significant presence of U.S. forces in the Caribbean. While Task Force Southern Spear is ostensibly aimed at countering narcotics trafficking in the region, the effort is also focused on pressuring Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. You can catch up with our recent coverage of the ongoing Caribbean operation here.

Makarevich and his troops are likely to remain in Venezuela during any U.S. attack, Budanov suggested.

“I think they will be behind the scenes and officially Russia will try to speak to the U.S. because their units are in Venezuela,” Budanov said. “It’s just a game.”

The Russians are serving as “military advisors and also teachers,” Budanov explained. “In general, it’s infantry, UAV and special forces training.”

Among other things, ETF is also providing Venezuela with signals intelligence, Budanov added.

The deployment of Russian troops to Venezuela is a long-standing rotation that has existed for years, Budanov noted. He also said that GUR has not identified any change in Russian troop levels in Venezuela since Trump’s Caribbean push began. However, it appears that Makarevich, who has been in the South American country since the beginning of the year, has had his deployment there extended, Budanov said. Typical rotations for Russian commanders last about six months, he pointed out.

Makarevich and about 90 Russian officers and other troops are located in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, according to a document Budanov shared with us. The rest are stationed at Maracaibo, La Guaira and Aves Island.

The U.S. likewise has advisors throughout South America who also train troops, offer operational advice and sometimes serve as observers.

As for a high-ranking Russian politician’s claim that Moscow recently provided Pantsir-S1 and Buk-M2E air defense systems, Budanov was uncertain.

“The Buk-M2 we see,” he told us. “The Pantsir we don’t know about.”

That politician, Alexei Zhuravlev, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, also threatened that Russia could increase the supply of advanced weapons to Venezuela, including long-range standoff weapons, like cruise missiles. Another concern for the U.S. could be Russia providing Shahed-family drones capable of striking targets at great distances and at low cost. In the past, Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened that he could provide standoff weapons to America’s enemies, Venezuela among them, as we have previously noted.

A separate document Budanov shared with us provides greater insight into the ETF mission in Venezuela. It explains how Russian troops are providing training in several key areas and assessing the combat capabilities of the Venezuelan Armed Forces. That includes armor, aircraft, artillery, drones and even dogs. In addition, Russia is helping Venezuela monitor domestic groups and foreign governments, according to the document.

We cannot independently confirm the provenance of the document or the accuracy of the information stated within it.

It is interesting to note that Makarevich, 62, was put in charge of this task force. Putin fired him as commander of the Dnipro Group of troops in October 2023 after Ukraine’s successful Kherson counteroffensive. During that operation, Ukrainian forces recaptured Kherson City in November 2022. You can see Russian officials talking about that event, a huge defeat for Russia at the time, in the following video.

Makarevich is also accused by Ukraine of ordering the June 2023 destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam. The incident caused massive flooding and severe economic and environmental damage. At the time, then-Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu blamed Ukraine, saying that Kyiv blew up the dam to prevent Russian offensive actions in the region.

Meanwhile, the world continues to wait on Trump’s decision about what to do with the huge U.S. military presence in the region. It includes the aircraft carrier USS Ford, three of its escort ships, seven other Navy surface warships, a special operations mothership, a wide array of aerial assets and about 15,000 troops.

In another apparent step closer to taking some kind of kinetic action, Trump has “signed off on C.I.A. plans for covert measures inside Venezuela, operations that could be meant to prepare a battlefield for further action,” The New York Times reported.

Asked if Ukraine’s GUR has assets in Venezuela, Budanov offered a coy response.

“We collect all the information about them,” he said.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

Clarkson’s Farm has been popular with viewers since it first aired back in 2021 on Prime Video.

For the last four years, fans of Prime Video have been engrossed in Jeremy Clarkson’s exploits as he navigates the challenges of running Diddly Squat Farm on his popular show. This follows a recent heartfelt announcement from the presenter.

Clarkson’s Farm quickly became a fan favourite when it debuted in 2021, with viewers captivated by the comedic hurdles and blunders the former Top Gear host encountered while trying to run his Cotswolds farm.

Throughout his journey, Jeremy has been assisted by a cast of characters including Kaleb Cooper, Charlie Ireland, Gerald Cooper, Harriet Cowan and his partner Lisa Hogan, all of whom have become beloved figures on the show.

However, Jeremy’s long-time producer Andy Wilman revealed that the presenter didn’t believe he would ever have another hit after leaving the BBC motoring programme.

Speaking on Wednesday’s episode of The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X, Andy confessed that they never anticipated the success of the show, reports Gloucestershire Live.

He said: “That was absolutely out of the blue. Jeremy never thought he was going to have another hit, you know? We were done.”

As Dominic Byrne praised the quality of the show, Andy explained that they had an agreement with Amazon for Grand Tours which required them to continue working, leading to individual projects.

He added: “Jeremy went, ‘I want to do life on my farm.’ And if I had a quid for every exec who rang me and went, ‘Can you talk him out of that?'”

Admitting he rang the TV personality to explain that nobody fancied him doing a programme about farm life, Jeremy confessed he couldn’t fault people for attempting to dissuade Andy from it.

Andy revealed that Jeremy was anxious as he reckoned it might be ‘the most boring thing’, but the personalities on Clarkson’s Farm made a massive difference to its triumph.

He added: “We didn’t see that cast coming.”

Thanks to Clarkson’s Farm’s popularity, it’s led to Kaleb securing his own show which he’s presently shooting in Australia.

The fresh four-part series on Prime Video will witness the TV personality exchange Chipping Norton for existence down under.

Discussing the forthcoming programme, he said: “I spend most of my time with the most travelled man in the world, so I got brave and booked my first ever flight to see what all the fuss was about. Australia here I come!

“And Australia, you’ll be gaining a new farmer for a couple of months as I discover if I can make my farming contracting business go international.”

Clarkson’s Farm is available to watch on Prime Video. Tune into The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X weekdays from 6:30am – 10am and on Global Player

Nov. 19 (UPI) — The federal government said Wednesday that October’s full jobs report will not be released following the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said instead it will unveil its October payroll data in addition to a full report for November.

October’s unemployment rate will not be included because, according to BLS officials, those figures “could not be collected” due to the shutdown.

Last week, the Trump administration warned the shutdown by the Republican-controlled congress may likely impact the Consumer Price Index and federal jobs reports slated to be released as expected.

The White House claimed the showdown “permanently damaged the federal statistical system, with October CPI and jobs reports likely never being released.”

But the bureau indicated it will bump its November jobs data release nearly two weeks to Dec. 16.

Some 42,000 jobs were added in October in companies with at least 250 workers following September’s drop of around 29,000, according to Automatic Data Processing Inc.

“Private employers added jobs in October for the first time since July, but hiring was modest relative to what we reported earlier this year,” Nela Richardson, ADP’s chief economist, said earlier this month.

Meanwhile, the lack of data fuels further speculation on Wall Street.

ADAM Peaty and Holly Ramsay have broken their silence on a bitter family feud, insisting “we don’t want sympathy”.

Tonight, the Olympian, 30, took to social media and accused his family of “encouraging” false claims about him and his fiancée.

Adam said his wife-to-be Holly, 25, and his sister Bethany had both been “targeted” and “hurt” by the drama, which now involves police.

It reads: “Over the past few days, a lot has been reported and comments posted about the private life of Holly and myself.

“My sister Bethany, has also been targeted. This has been almost entirely one-sided and, in many cases, excessive and intrusive. It has been deeply hurtful and upsetting to read, especially given the false basis upon which we have been targeted.

“What makes it worse is that it has been encouraged by members of my family.”

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The champion swimmer assured fans there were two sides to the story and insisted he only has good intentions.

It follows claims that he has changed since meeting Holly and becoming part of the Ramsay clan, distancing himself from his working class roots.

He continued: “Bethany, Holly and myself cannot go into detail given an ongoing police investigation into serious matters that arose long before recent events.

“For those who know me personally, you know that I work so hard on trying to improve myself as a person who wants to contribute to making the world a better place. I am continuing to learn about myself and how I can be the man I want to be; a worthy partner, father, businessman, friend and athlete; even through these challenging times.

“Bethany, Holly and I will get through this – we do not ask for sympathy. We just need people to be aware that there are always two sides to every story. To those of you who have reached out and shown kindness and understanding – thank you. It is deeply appreciated.”

Adam’s aunt Louise previously branded his fiancée Holly “divisive and hurtful” in a bitter online rant after her sister Caroline wasn’t invited to her hen do at Soho Farmhouse. Caroline was later banned from the couple’s wedding at Bath Abbey next month.

Bethany attended the hen party, as did Holly’s mum Tana Ramsay and close friend Victoria Beckham.

Taking to Instagram, Caroline praised her sister by sharing a quote which read: “The moment you realise: the little sister who once drove you crazy is now the one who keeps you sane.

“Your loudest supporter and forever best friend.”

It continued: “She eventually becomes the comfort zone which every elder sister secretly needed all along.”

Caroline added: “Louise I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being my protector through this difficult time x.

“To the people who are being so cruel to my sister, please stop. Sadly you obviously don’t understand the bond of sisters.

Worried Holly called the police last weekend while Adam was on his stag do in Budapest over concerns he could be assaulted by his brother James when he got back to the UK.

Adam was escorted by five police officers through passport control upon touching down in the UK. His brother was later arrested at his Staffordshire home.

A source close to Adam and Holly said: “This feud is heartbreaking from both sides.

“But the reality is that Adam sees his mum Caroline to be enabling his brother’s actions rather than pushing him to deal with his demons.

“Poor Caroline must feel utterly torn and it’s just very hard for everyone.

“Gordon has been incredibly supportive of Holly and Adam; after all, he’s been through similar issues with his own brother.”

Adam’s father Mark previously told The Sun that the feud had spiralled out of control.

He said: “They’re brothers.

“They’ve always been close but like any normal family, brothers fight, argue, fall out, make-up and start all over again. But it’s got out of hand.

“There’s been very little empathy towards Jamie’s genuine mental health difficulties.”

While Caroline, who supported Adam’s swimming career from a young boy to record breaker, has claimed she wants to repair the rift.

She told the Daily Mail: “I know it’s the end. But please, the message I want Adam to hear is no matter what happens in the future, please know I love you, your dad loves you, you can come home and talk to me at any point.

“There’s nothing you’ve done that I would not forgive. I love you so much.

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“I hope your marriage is a good one, I don’t wish any ill on you and I want you and Holly to have a long and happy marriage, like your dad and me. The reason I’m speaking out is I want all this to end.”

She added that she has reached rock bottom over the family feud, which has seen Adam pull closer to the Ramsays.

“We’ve already started working on that.” US President Donald Trump said his administration is searching for a possible resolution to the war in Sudan. He added that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had raised the conflict in a conversation with him.

The United States Department of Justice has acknowledged that the grand jury reviewing the case against James Comey, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), did not receive a copy of the final indictment against him.

That revelation on Wednesday came as lawyers for Comey sought to have the indictment thrown out of court.

At a 90-minute hearing in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, Comey’s lawyers argued that the case should be dismissed outright, not only for the prosecutorial missteps but also due to the interventions of President Donald Trump.

Comey is one of three prominent Trump critics to be indicted between late September and mid-October.

The hearing took place before US District Judge Michael Nachmanoff, and Comey’s defence team alleged that Trump was using the legal system as a tool for political retribution.

“This is an extraordinary case and it merits an extraordinary remedy,” defence lawyer Michael Dreeben said, calling the indictment “a blatant use of criminal justice to achieve political ends”.

The Justice Department, represented by prosecutor Tyler Lemons, maintained that the indictment met the legal threshold to be heard at trial.

But Lemons did admit, under questioning, that the grand jury that approved the indictment had not seen its final draft.

When Judge Nachmanoff asked Lemons if the grand jury had never seen the final version, the prosecutor conceded, “That is my understanding.”

It was the latest stumble in the Justice Department’s efforts to prosecute Comey for allegedly obstructing a congressional investigation and lying to senators while under oath.

Comey has pleaded not guilty to the two charges, and his defence team has led a multipronged effort to see the case nixed over its multiple irregularities.

Scrutiny over grand jury proceedings

Questions over the indictment — and what the grand jury had or had not seen — had been brewing since last week.

On November 13, US District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie raised questions about a span of time when it appeared that there appeared to be “no court reporter present” during the grand jury proceedings.

Then, on Tuesday, Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick took the extraordinary step of calling for the grand jury materials to be released to the Comey defence team, citing “a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps”.

They included misleading statements from prosecutors, the use of search warrants pertaining to a separate case, and the fact that the grand jury likely did not review the final indictment in full.

Separately, in Wednesday’s hearing, Judge Nachmanoff pressed acting US Attorney Lindsey Halligan about who saw the final indictment.

After repeated questions, she, too, admitted that only the foreperson of the grand jury and a second grand juror were present for the returning of the indictment.

Halligan oversaw the three indictments against the Trump critics: Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former National Security Adviser John Bolton.

All three have denied wrongdoing, and all three have argued that their prosecution is part of a campaign of political vengeance.

Spotlight on Trump-Comey feud

Wednesday’s hearing focused primarily on establishing that argument, with Comey’s lawyers pointing to statements Trump made pushing for the indictments.

Comey’s defence team pointed to the tense relationship between their client and Trump, stretching back to the president’s decision to fire Comey from his job as FBI director in 2017.

Comey had faced bipartisan criticism for FBI investigations into the 2016 election, which Trump ultimately won.

Trump, for example, accused the ex-FBI leader of going easy on his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, calling him a “slime ball”, a “phony” and “a real nut job”.

“FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds,” Trump wrote on social media in May 2017.

Comey, meanwhile, quickly established himself as a prominent critic of the Trump administration.

“I don’t think he’s medically unfit to be president. I think he’s morally unfit to be president,” Comey told ABC News in 2018.

He added that a president must “embody respect” and adhere to basic values like truth-telling. “This president is not able to do that,” Comey said.

In Wednesday’s hearing, Comey’s defence also pointed to the series of events leading up to the former FBI director’s indictment.

Last September, Trump posted on social media a message to Attorney General Pam Bondi, calling Comey and James “guilty as hell” and encouraging her not to “delay any longer” in seeking their indictments.

That message was “effectively an admission that this is a political prosecution”, according to Dreeben, Comey’s lawyer.

Shortly after the message was posted online, Halligan was appointed as acting US attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia

She replaced a prosecutor, Erik Siebert, who had reportedly declined to indict Comey and others for lack of evidence. Trump had denounced him as a “woke RINO”, an acronym that stands for “Republican in name only”.

Dreeben argued that switcheroo also signalled Trump’s vindictive intent and his spearheading of the Comey indictment.

But Lemons, representing the Justice Department, told Judge Nachmanoff that Comey “was not indicted at the direction of the president of the United States or any other government official”.

Last December, Ravyn Lenae stood in the street and pointed her phone at herself to film a TikTok set to her song “Love Me Not.”

“Me after linking with him one last time cause I’m not bringing him into 2025,” she captioned the video — a cutesy kiss-off to a guy she’d clearly decided was holding her back from where she was meant to go.

Nearly a year later, it appears the singer was right: In early April, “Love Me Not” — a swinging, lightly psychedelic soul number about a hot-and-cold lover — gave Lenae her first entry on Billboard’s Hot 100; a week later, she made her debut at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Several months after that, she performed to an enthusiastic crowd at Lollapalooza just before “Love Me Not” peaked at No. 5 in mid-August.

Now, with one of 2025’s biggest hits under her belt, Lenae, 26, is winding down her breakout year by opening for Sabrina Carpenter as Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet tour wraps up this week with six sold-out shows through Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.

“A lot of this period has been me asking other artists, ‘Is this how it normally is?’” Lenae tells me on a recent evening. “How do you balance the social aspect and the online aspect and the touring with also staying highly creative?”

Not to mention tending to a personal life.

“What’s that?” she asks with a laugh. “That’s literally nonexistent.”

The runaway success of “Love Me Not,” which has been streamed more than 700 million times on Spotify, is no doubt what’s put the breathy-voiced Lenae before many listeners for the first time. (A remix featuring Rex Orange County has another 164 million Spotify streams.)

At one point as the song was blowing up, she responded to a fan on TikTok who’d been surprised to learn that Lenae is Black — “Y’all didn’t read the name Ravyn Lenae and think, ‘Oh, that’s a Black girl?’” the singer asks in the clip — then went ahead and clarified that also she’s not British, as some evidently had assumed.

Yet “Love Me Not” actually comes a decade into a career that began while Lenae was still in high school. She signed to Atlantic Records at age 16 and soon was touring and working in the studio with the likes of SZA and Steve Lacy; “Hypnos,” her debut LP, came out in 2022 and made Pitchfork’s closely watched list of the year’s best albums.

“I’m pretty conceited about the fact that I’ve loved Ravyn for as long as I have,” says the singer and actor Reneé Rapp, who like Carpenter took Lenae out on the road this year as an opening act. Rapp discovered one of Lenae’s early EPs when she herself was in high school and has been a fan ever since. “I’m like, ‘You bitches are new, and don’t get me wrong — I’m so happy you’re here. But let’s get it right: I was boots on the ground first.’”

To Rapp’s ears, Lenae’s airy soprano “has this beautiful ping at the top that I’ve only ever heard in Minnie Riperton,” she says. “She’s just like a little fairy. She floats around, and her voice does the same thing.”

“Love Me Not,” which is still hanging out in the upper reaches of the Hot 100, is from Lenae’s sophomore album, “Bird’s Eye,” which came out in August 2024. She recorded the song with the producer Dahi, who’s known for his work with Kendrick Lamar and Vince Staples; Dahi started the track years ago with Anderson .Paak then put it in a drawer before he’d finished it.

“At the time, I was really into MGMT,” Dahi says, referring to the alternative rock duo whose dreamy-jangly guitar sound echoes throughout “Love Me Not.” With Lenae, he pushed the song toward classic R&B — “something that would be played on ‘Happy Days’ or some s—,” he says — but retained a spacey vibe that keeps it from feeling rooted in any specific era or genre.

Lenae says her goal was to create something “soulful and Black but that transcends time and race”; the result can be heard in a lineage of enduring hard-to-classify hits like Outkast’s “Hey Ya!” and Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” that charm listeners across demographic lines.

“If you don’t like ‘Crazy,’ there’s something wrong with you,” Lenae says as a pedicurist exfoliates her feet in a West Hollywood hotel room. It’s the end of a long day that began with an early-morning flight from New York, where Lenae performed with Kali Uchis on “The Tonight Show” and at Madison Square Garden. Now, after a photo shoot, she’s changed into gray sweats to sneak in a moment of self-care during our chat.

“With the heels I’m wearing all the time, you can see the corns,” she says, looking down to check out the pedicurist’s progress. “I wonder what Beyoncé’s feet look like. ’Cause if mine look like this? She’s putting in work.”

Though “Love Me Not” was singled out by critics right away, the song really took off late last year after a DJ posted a viral TikTok that mashed it up with Solange’s “Losing You” as part of a series exploring “euphoric” breakup songs. An admiring post on X by SZA — “One of my fav albums this year,” she wrote of “Bird’s Eye” — helped bring more attention to Lenae’s music.

Ravyn Lenae in West Hollywood.

(Ian Spanier / For The Times)

The singer grew up in Chicago, where her mother’s parents landed in the late ’70s as immigrants from Panama. That’s their house on the city’s south side in the music video for “Love Me Not,” which Lenae directed and which shows her and her younger sister dancing just outside the bedroom where Lenae slept as a kid.

“I knew this song would be a lot of people’s introduction to me, so I wanted them to immediately jump into my world,” she says. “My grandparents are very shy people, and when my grandma saw the video, she was like, ‘Oh, Ravyn, baby …’”

Singing at talent shows as a 12-year-old, Lenae wanted to be a “a mix between Alicia Keys and Beyoncé,” as she puts it; later, she learned to perform Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” and Rihanna’s “Take a Bow.”

“I was like, ‘I’m-a win ’em over with this one,’” she says of the dramatic ballads. “I’m sure I sound crazy on video.”

Lenae, who went on to study at the Chicago High School for the Arts, came to understand that the soft lilt of her voice distinguished her from those powerhouses; she found inspiration in “the sensuality and the femininity” of music by Diana Ross, Patrice Rushen and Janet Jackson, whose “All for You” album — released in 2001, when Lenae was 2 — would become a touchstone.

“There’s a lot to win by not being the loudest in the room,” says Rapp.

Lenae moved to L.A. in 2020. Her first year here was rough, she says — she missed her mom and felt the burden of a bank account with $100 in it. “I remember some crying in the shower,” the singer says now.

Her 2022 song “Skin Tight,” a yearning flirtation she wrote and recorded with Lacy, registered as a turning point; so did the success of Lacy’s quirky soul-rock hit “Bad Habit,” which topped the Hot 100 on its way to Grammy nominations for record and song of the year.

“That was a historical moment for artists like us that have been working at it for a long time — Black artists who’ve always been a little to the left of what was going on,” Lenae says. “Steve going No. 1 showed there really are no rules and that there’s space for all of us.”

Beyond “Love Me Not,” highlights on “Bird’s Eye” include an intimate acoustic number, “From Scratch,” that Lenae says she and Dahi modeled on Lauryn Hill and D’Angelo’s “Nothing Even Matters”; the lush and whispery “Dream Girl,” which features input by Jackson’s longtime collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis; and “Bad Idea,” a percussive electro-funk jam that interpolates Bow Wow and Ciara’s early-2000s “Like You.”

“All those Ciara hits, I had the choreo down,” Lenae says.

The album also contains the tender yet mournful “One Wish,” which Lenae wrote about her dad not being around as she was growing up.

“I never, ever thought I’d talk about that publicly, but I think I was just at a point in my life where it felt natural,” she says. “And me and him had just started reconciling, so it was very top of mind.” She invited her father to come to L.A. to appear in the song’s video, which depicts a young girl running after a car as a man angrily drives away; the day after the shoot, they went to Roscoe’s and had a long talk about her childhood.

“Yesterday was his birthday, and I forgot,” she tells me. “I felt horrible, but then I was like, Should I feel horrible? I go back and forth with it all the time.”

Lenae is extremely close with her mother, who’ll sometimes join her on the road “just to spend time with me or hold my hand — to sleep in the same hotel bed,” she says. “That’s the person I know I can keep counting on.”

After this week’s dates with Carpenter, Lenae will head east for a handful of shows on iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball tour — one more chance to build upon “Love Me Not’s” Top 40 breakthrough. Then she and Dahi plan to focus on finishing her next album.

So far, Lenae says, it’s shaping up to be “a little more punchy and explosive” than “Bird’s Eye.” One of the new songs is about her mom; Lenae played it for her when she was here visiting not long ago.

“I had the lyrics up, and as she was reading it, she looked up at me and there was a tear in her eye,” she recalls. “Then we started bawling together. I think that one might end up her favorite.”

Nov. 19 (UPI) — Billionaire activist Tom Steyer announced his run for California governor after the former presidential candidate claimed no plans existed for him to again run for political office.

Steyer, 68, pointed to his business experience in a candidate video vying to replace term-limited Gov, Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and rumored 2028 presidential contender, saying he’s running because “Californians deserve a life they can afford.”

“Sacramento politicians are afraid to change this system. I’m not,” he added in a campaign launch video.

He joined the field with other gubernatorial candidates such as former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., ex-U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

A 2020 presidential candidate, Steyer said that his long business background separates him from other candidates.

“I wanted to build a business here. Now it’s worth billions of dollars. And I walked away from it because I wanted to give back to California,” Steyer said.

In 2010, Steyer signed the Giving Pledge vowing to donate half his massive fortune to charity during his lifetime.

On Wednesday, he said California needs to “get back to basics,” which he says meant “making corporations pay their fair share again.”

“Californians deserve a top 10 education state,” he added. “They deserve to be able to afford to live in a decent house. I will launch the largest drive to build homes that you can afford in the history of California.”

He revealed plans targeting the state’s high utility bills with California’s massive energy infrastructure, noting the west coast state has the second highest electricity rates in the United States.

Steyer, a former hedge fund manager and frequent Democratic donor in San Francisco, frequently crusades against big corporate money in politics. He later suspended his 2020 campaign in March after finishing third place in the South Carolina primary election won by Joe Biden.

“If we break up the monopolistic power of utilities, we’re going to unleash a complete wave of innovation and drop our sky-high energy prices,” Steyer continued in the video.

“This is about disrupting the way people think so we can get a completely different and much better outcome,” he said, adding it was “for the people of California.”

Two days after they were abducted from their beds by armed attackers, 24 Nigerian schoolgirls are still missing as the military intensifies its efforts to rescue them.

Married At First Sight UK has come to an end and a series of bombshell splits have been announced

Married At First Sight UK has reached a dramatic conclusion, leaving viewers curious about which couples are still going strong beyond the cameras.

The hit E4 programme has delivered an absolutely explosive series packed with shocking revelations. From Julia-Ruth’s bombshell about getting matching ink with another groom and texting someone else, to devastating break-ups – this series has truly had everything.

However, only five couples managed to reach the final vows ceremony, with four deciding to continue their romances in the real world.

Now that the latest Married At First Sight UK series has wrapped up, we’ve examined which couples made it to those crucial final vows and who’s still together after filming ended.

This follows a series of surprising separation announcements. So which pairs are actually still loved-up? reports OK!.

Davide and Keye – separated

Fan favourites Davide and Keye breezed through their final vows and took their romance into the real world. Nevertheless, it’s now been revealed that the pair are no longer an item.

The duo confirmed their break up this month after Keye admitted to using dating app Grindr, which a devastated Davide uncovered. In a social media statement, Davide revealed the two were no longer speaking but said he “wished Keye the best”.

Confirming their split, Keye said: “In the early hours of a Sunday morning, while Davide was on a flight, I downloaded Grindr. I want to be clear that I was not looking to cheat, hook up, or find someone else. I was in a dark and fragile place and reached for something unhealthy because I did not know how else to cope.

“What I was seeking had nothing to do with intimacy. It was an attempt to escape emotions I could not sit with, and I reached for substances when what I really needed was support.”

He added: “When Davide found my profile through his, it cost me my marriage. That is something I carry with me every day.”

Leigh and Leah – separated

Viewers will recall the devastating final vows as both Leigh and Leah chose to end their relationship there and then.

Leigh confessed the couple had battled with their communication along with trust issues, whilst Leah spoke about the strain and uncertainty as she revealed she felt she was being put on “trial”.

The pair remain apart, with Leah seemingly dating someone new since leaving the programme whilst Leigh appears to be single at present.

Bailey and Rebecca – separated

Despite keeping a solid relationship going throughout the series and delivering touching final vows, Rebecca and Bailey revealed their break up after filming wrapped.

Rebecca simply posted on Instagram: “To answer all the questions…. Yes, he fumbled.”

Meanwhile, in an extensive statement, Bailey revealed: “Unfortunately it’s time to share that Bec and I are no longer together…

“We tried our best to navigate life after the experiment, and although we spent a lot of great time together on the outside, unfortunately the relationship came to an end. I still have a lot of love for Bec and I’m grateful for the amazing relationship we shared. I had fallen for Bec completely and it really was a true love story.”

He went on to say he accepts responsibility for his role in the relationship breakdown, describing it as “heartbreaking”.

Leisha and Reiss – separated

Leisha and Reiss faced their share of communication struggles during their MAFS UK journey but departed the experiment determined to make their romance work.

Nevertheless, it was subsequently revealed the pair had parted ways.

It seems their communication difficulties persisted beyond the show as Leisha was spotted in floods of tears during an emotional reunion episode.

In a heartfelt Instagram post, Leisha penned: “This experience has taught me that my worth is not defined by someone else’s ability to value it. I may have lost him, but in the process, I found me.”

Abi and John – still together

Abi and John remain the sole couple from the series who are still loved-up and going strong.

The duo stayed solid throughout their MAFS UK adventure, despite arriving as latecomers to the experiment. Earlier this week, John took to Instagram to share some news, stating they had an “announcement to make” before confirming that the couple are still going strong.

In a subsequent post, John revealed that they’ve been spending more time in North Wales, with Abi responding to his update: “Best feeling ever is to step into our new lives together! Wales = Home.”

Married At First Sight UK is available to stream on Channel 4 online

Nov. 19 (UPI) — A federal judge in Texas has ordered state schools to take down displayed posters of the Ten Commandments in supposed violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton directed schools across the Lone Star State to display the Ten Commandments less than a week after a federal court ruled in favor of 11 school districts that fought against the religious exhibition in classrooms.

On Tuesday, federal Judge Orlando L. Garcia issued a preliminary injunction that instructed the state’s districts to remove the display in violation of the Constitution’s Establishment Clause in the First Amendment.

“It is impractical, if not impossible, to prevent plaintiffs from being subjected to unwelcome religious displays without enjoining defendants from enforcing Senate Bill 10 across their districts,” he wrote.

Garcia’s order was effective December 1.

The case was brought on by 15 families of a multi-faith and nonreligious background.

“All Texas public school districts should heed the court’s clear warning: it’s plainly unconstitutional to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

It’s now the second time a court has ruled against the law signed into law in June by Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott, a Republican.

“Families throughout Texas and across the country get to decide how and when their children engage with religion — not politicians or public-school officials,” Laser continued.

Paxton has sued three school districts for refusing.

A legal representative for the American Civil Liberties Union in Texas said Garcia’s ruling was further affirmation of what’s already accepted legal truth: “the First Amendment guarantees families and faith communities — not the government — the right to instill religious beliefs in our children.”

Similar laws were struck down in Arkansas and Louisiana, which became the first state to pass the mandate in summer 2024.

Legal experts suggest the issue will eventually make its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2015, a Ten Commandment monument was ordered by the state’s Supreme Court to be removed from the Oklahoma State Capitol grounds, arguing that Oklahoma’s constitution banned the use of public property for “the benefit of any religious purpose.”

“Our schools are for education, not evangelization,” Chloe Kempf, a staff attorney for the Texas ACLU, added in a statement. “This ruling protects thousands of Texas students from ostracization, bullying and state-mandated religious coercion.”

Every school district in Texas, she added, was “now on notice that implementing S.B. 10 violates their students’ constitutional rights.”

Labour MP Clive Lewis has offered to give up his seat to allow Andy Burnham to challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.

There has been ongoing speculation that Greater Manchester Mayor Burnham wants to take on Sir Keir for the top job, but he would need to be an MP to do so.

Lewis told the BBC’s Politics Live that he was willing to step down from his Norwich South seat to allow Burnham to return to the Commons and put “country before party, party before personal ambition”.

Burnham was contacted for comment. Number 10 declined to comment.

Lewis, who has been an MP for 10 years, said he had spoken to Burnham, and when asked if he would give up his seat for him, he said it was “a question I’ve asked myself”.

He added: “Do you know what? If I’m going to sit here and say country before party, party before personal ambition, then yes, I have to say yes, don’t I.”

Last week, he said Sir Keir’s position as prime minister was “untenable” and told Channel 4 News that Burnham should be given the chance to “step up”.

Lewis first won his seat in 2015, and last year he increased his majority to more than 13,000.

But if he were to step down, any would-be successor would first need to win a selection contest before a by-election was held.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting – who last week denied claims he was plotting a leadership bid of his own – told LBC he thought it was a “peculiar” move by the Norwich South MP.

“I’ve got a lot of time for Andy and I think we need our best players on the pitch,” Streeting said.

“And whether he’s doing that as mayor of Greater Manchester or whether he wants to come back into parliament in the next general election, that is an issue for Andy.

“I think it’s a bit of a peculiar thing for Clive to have said to his own constituents, ‘Oh, well, I’m not interested in being your MP, I’m happy to do a deal with someone’.

“I would just say from personal experience, don’t take your voters for granted.”

In September, Burnham said he had “no intention of abandoning Manchester” but did not rule out challenging Sir Keir after a series of interviews in which he said colleagues had been urging him to stand.

Two Manchester Labour MPs, Andrew Gwynne and Graham Stringer, ruled out standing down for him ahead of the party’s conference in September.

Sir Keir has, meanwhile, said he will lead Labour into the next general election. It came after a bruising time last week, when anonymous briefings were given to journalists that some cabinet ministers – including Streeting – were plotting to oust him.

The ministers concerned have insisted this is not the case – but speculation continues about whether the PM will face a challenge in May, when Labour is expected to do badly in Scottish and Welsh elections, and in English local elections.

Anyone mounting a leadership bid would have to secure the backing of 80 Labour MPs.

SQUEALING on camera last week, TikTok star Yasmin Hadfield couldn’t wait to tell her followers she had a coveted invitation to the opening of the Sephora store in Wales.

After months of controversies followed by a devastating miscarriage, what should have been a happy moment for the influencer mum, 32, quickly turned sour as former fans accused her of faking her involvement with the brand. Here we take a look at what went wrong for Yaz – plus the truth behind THAT controversial invite.

Our insider said: “It’s been an incredibly difficult few months for Yaz – she has battled addiction and had a tragic miscarriage, which she has really struggled to come to terms with.

“That all happened only months after she had overcome not just one but two cheating scandals, which really saw a lot of the internet turn on her.”

The invitation to Sephora opening was a real turning point for her, she felt she was finally being accepted back into the fold of TikTok fame.

But things quickly turned sour, and she was mercilessly mocked when people claimed she had pretended to be invited to the event in Wales. We can reveal she was invited to the opening – but just not by Sephora. 

It’s certainly not been trouble free and at times things have become very murky for the girls.

Insider

Yaz was taken to the event by the marketing team Capsule, who work with a variety of brands, including luxury skincare line Mario Badesco.

She attended alongside her best friend Chloe Birdsall, who has told us what really happened that day.

Chloe explained: “It was so lovely, we got a little lesson about the brand and all the products from their rep, who invited us to the spa in New York which apparently Martha Stewart loves.”

She says the backlash towards Yaz “broke her heart”, adding: “ I think people online got confused by a “collab” and a PR invite? They’re not the same thing. 

“Loads of lovely people got photos with Yaz and it was so lovely after the horrid few years she’s had, seeing her in her element.”

Chloe added: “She would do anything for anyone; she has a heart of gold. We all make mistakes and life tests us but she’s held to a different standard online. It’s horrid to see.”

Yaz lives in Wales and is married to Lee Hadfield – they have a son called Wolf. Eden is married to Lloyd, and they share a son called Sonny. On screen, they had the picture-perfect families. 

Drink and drug addiction

Behind closed doors, something much darker was going on – Yaz was secretly battling drug and alcohol addiction.

Today, she is nine months sober, but at one point, there were fears that addiction could take over her life. Her dad, from Tunbridge Wells, stepped in last Christmas and told her it was time to take action.

Recalling that moment, she explained: “I was just like, right, Yasmin, you literally have one more chance at this beautiful life you and Lee have built. You either take it or you just continue on the path you were on.

“My dad was the only person who could get through to me on Christmas night and he spoke to Lee.”

She credits Lee as helping to ‘put her back together’, and admits she considered wiping her online history – riddled with embarrassment and shame about her dishonesty for all those years.

She said: “I could have so easily removed all the content from the last few years and started from scratch. And not allow people to go back through fishing and trying to look where they can see me a bit bug-eyed or where they can see me looking a bit worse for wear. But I don’t want that. I want to be real.”

She suffered heartache a few months ago when she discovered she had miscarried – leaving her in a state of disbelief and although she shared what was going on with her followers online, Yaz took a real step back.

Yaz and her sisters Eden, 27, and sister Freya are not new to the internet – they’ve been making content for years and have over three million followers between them, but it’s been far from easy.

Shocking claim rocks the family

Our insider said: “Almost straight away, Eden was subjected to backlash and trolling. She was rapidly gaining followers, and while she had millions of fans, there were, of course, some people who picked fault with everything she said or did.

“It’s not been much better for her sisters, and all three of them have come offline at various points to reevaluate their careers.

“Yaz has been painted as a homewrecker, while Eden has dealt with allegations of being a predator. It’s certainly not been trouble-free, and at times things have become very murky for the girls.”

The online barrage was nothing new to Yaz – having been through it all before with her sisters.

Yaz can’t escape Eden’s comments and often feels like she spends a lot of time and energy defending her.

Insider

The first major controversy came when Eden made an off-the-cuff remark about ‘fancying’ a young boy in a play. 

In a video, she said: “The lead was 10 and I fancied him. I’m not ashamed.”

She said she was 18 at the time, and her comment went viral, sparking the first attempt to cancel her for being a ‘predator’. 

Eden later backtracked and apologised, insisting she hadn’t meant what she said. In one of her many apology videos, she said: “To have to say those words is absolutely disgusting. But this is the bed I laid for myself.”

Soon, people picked up on every wrong move she made – and there were a number of instances when she left viewers gobsmacked when she made risky comments in front of kids, which many felt were inappropriate.

Our insider said: “The whole thing caused such a drama and keeps coming back to haunt them both. Yaz can’t escape Eden’s comments and often feels like she spends a lot of time and energy defending her.”

VERY close with her brother-in-law

More recently, wild rumours spread that Yaz was in love with Eden’s husband Lloyd.

Our insider said: “Lots of people think the relationship Yaz has with Lloyd is weird, and they can’t understand how they could be so close.”

She has fueled the speculation, admitting she is indeed obsessed with him.

Yaz told Eden in one video: “I was obsessed with Lloyd. I was honestly obsessed with Lloyd from the second I met him, wasn’t I? 

“I have always loved him. Always will love him. Not having an affair with him, but do have an abnormal obsession with Lloyd.”

Eden became so enraged by the constant comments, she hit out in a fiery video online, but insiders have told us the constant speculation is, in fact welcomed by the girls.

They said: “There is the idea that Eden and Yaz say things they know could get them cancelled because it leads to lots of engagement.  TikTok is their job, so they do need to make money and stay relevant, and this is a great way to get people talking.”

Yaz was caught up in another scandal when an Instagram user accused her of sleeping with her husband while she slept upstairs with their baby.

She fiercely denied the ‘vile’ claims and said she was most upset about being branded a bad mum amid all the drama. 

If anything, Yaz and Eden are hyper-aware when it comes to their children, and despite sharing their lives on camera, Eden will not reveal her little boy’s face.

They are aware of the damage their jobs could cause to their little boys, Yaz previously said: “I think the internet’s got enough damage towards my little boy that he’s going to see one day. It’s all my fault.”

She added: “I’ll be hiding an iPhone from him until he’s 60.”

It’s easy to forget amid all the mess, the good the pair have done – Eden’s videos during the pandemic, where she sat and ate food while chatting to the camera, were lauded, and now Yaz’s sobriety journey has inspired others.

But can they avoid any more drama? Only time will tell – and as they’ve learnt only too well, the internet never forgets. 

Last week, 42 migrants were presumed to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea after their dinghy set sail off the Libyan coast.

At least 29 of them were Sudanese refugees who fled the catastrophic civil war in their country between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the regular army known as the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

Since erupting in April 2023, the Sudan war has caused the largest displacement crisis in the world.

Nearly 13 million people have been uprooted from their homes and more than four million have fled to neighbouring countries, such as Chad, Egypt and Libya.

According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than 86,000 Sudanese nationals are registered as asylum seekers or refugees in Libya – a 60,000 uptick compared with before the war.

As more Sudanese attempt to reach Europe from Libya, this is everything you need to know about their plight.

How many Sudanese asylum seekers have reached Europe since the war started?

From April 2023 to January 2024, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) registered nearly 10,000 asylum applications from Sudanese nationals across the European Union – nearly twice as high as the previous year.

While figures for 2025 have not yet been published, the growing number of Sudanese nationals arriving in Libya suggests that more people are aiming to reach Europe as their final destination.

“I hope to soon take the journey across the sea to Europe,” Hamid, a Sudanese refugee from Khartoum, told Al Jazeera from Libya, where he arrived earlier this year.

“Hopefully, God will make the journey safe,” he added with resignation.

How are Sudanese asylum seekers treated in Europe?

Only a minority of the 10,000 Sudanese asylum seekers have been granted protection so far, with the rest either rejected or waiting for a ruling.

In general, life has not been easy for many young Sudanese men after reaching Europe.

Some EU states are using anti-smuggling laws to criminalise young men for steering the small and overcrowded boats that smugglers put them in.

In Greece, more than 200 Sudanese minors and young men between the ages of 15 and 21 are facing smuggling charges.

Some have already been convicted and sentenced to decades or life in prison, pushing their lawyers to appeal.

Migration experts have long explained that vulnerable youth often agree to “steer” boats in exchange for a discounted price from smugglers, who often charge thousands of dollars from destitute asylum seekers looking for safety.

Does Europe share responsibility for the crisis in Sudan?

The RSF, which has committed countless atrocities throughout the war, emerged from the nomadic “Arab” government-linked Popular Defence Forces, known as the Janjaweed militias, that spearheaded a brutal campaign in the far western region of Darfur at the turn of the millennium.

Those militias were later accused of carrying out countless war crimes and crimes against humanity against mainly sedentary “non-Arab” communities.

Many legal scholars and human rights groups believe the atrocities may have amounted to genocide.

Yet in 2013, Sudan’s then-President Omar al-Bashir repackaged many of the Popular Defence Forces militias into the RSF.

The RSF, looking to acquire international legitimacy, quickly portrayed itself as a possible partner in the EU’s mission to “manage migration” in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa.

In 2014, the EU announced that it was launching the “Khartoum Process”, an initiative that strengthened cooperation between the EU and East African nations to counter irregular migration.

About $200m was pumped into Sudan over the next five years for this purpose.

According to research carried out by Sudan expert Suliman Baldo in 2017, a portion of this money went to strengthening the judiciary and law enforcement and may have possibly been diverted towards the RSF.

The EU has long denied that it financed the RSF in any capacity.

When Sudan’s security forces – including the RSF – killed more than 120 pro-democracy protesters in the capital Khartoum on June 3, 2019, the EU suspended all migration cooperation.

At the time, Sudan expert Alex de Waal said the EU’s reaction was “basically an admission of guilt” that the RSF had benefitted politically and financially from the Khartoum Process.