News Desk

Aug. 12 (UPI) — The U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday that 11 people have been charged with in connection in a marriage fraud scheme that allegedly lasted more than a decade.

The department said in a release that those charged conspired to orchestrate more than 1,000 fraudulent marriages. These marriages allegedly were intended to obtain immigration status for foreign nationals, mostly citizens of China.

“The individuals who were arrested today allegedly orchestrated elaborate schemes to illegally obtain citizenship for foreign nationals through sham marriages,” U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said. “Schemes like this are a deliberate affront to the United States and our laws and will not be tolerated under the Trump administration.”

The indictment was filed in the Southern District of New York. Some people paid up to $100,000 for a sham marriage to help them obtain a green card, with the U.S. citizens involved receiving as much as $30,000 from that fee, the Justice Department said.

At a press conference, Blanche said this marks one of the biggest marriage fraud prosecutions in U.S. history.

“This scheme was not a quick, fly-by-night operation, but rather a years-long, multimillion-dollar cottage industry to criminally assist people who would not, or legally could not, otherwise become citizens of the United States,” he said.

Those allegedly running the scheme include defendants Amy Cheng, Xiao Mei Chan, Gang Zheng and Xiao Yan Chan. Others charged include “recruiters” who allegedly found U.S. citizens to take part and “officiators” who presided over the marriage ceremonies.

The Justice Department said organizers allegedly paired foreign nationals with U.S. citizens, arranging fake marriage ceremonies and staging photographs meant to make the wedding look authentic. Scheme participants also allegedly manufactured further evidence, including joint financial accounts and insurance policies.

Jamie McDonald, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said at the press conference that the scheme generated “tens of millions of dollars.”

US Department of Homeland Security is expected to buy up to $20m in gloves amid criticism of the president’s immigration crackdown.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump is planning to spend tens of millions of dollars to equip federal immigration agents with gloves capable of delivering electric shocks.

According to a notice posted on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security has estimated it will invest between $10m and $20m in such gloves by the end of March 2027.

The devices are known as the CT-G5 G.L.O.V.E., an acronym that stands for “Generate Low Output Voltage Emitter”. They are currently used by some jails and police departments.

Their manufacturer, Compliant Technologies, says the gloves are used to “quickly distract with small uncomfortable electrical pulses” when applied to a person’s skin. The Department of Homeland Security indicated they would be used for “distraction and de-escalation”.

A user manual states the gloves can deliver a maximum of 380 volts, which “inhibits/distracts the subject from performing coordinated muscle movement”.

The planned purchase has already sparked a backlash among rights advocates, who fear the gloves will be used to harm protesters and immigrants in the department’s custody.

The Department of Homeland Security oversees an array of agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has led Trump’s campaign of mass deportation.

Monday’s announcement specified that ICE has a requirement to make the purchase and distribute the gloves to agents within Enforcement and Removal Operations, one of its subsidiaries, and Homeland Security Investigations.

But ICE has faced increasing criticism for its tactics, including accusations of racial profiling and excessive force.

At least four people have been shot dead during encounters with ICE agents since the start of this year. Dozens more have died in ICE custody.

On Wednesday, the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) issued a statement criticising the anticipated glove purchase, calling it a path to further violence against vulnerable communities.

It also noted that, in June, the Republican-led Congress passed tens of billions of dollars in ICE spending as part of the Secure America Act.

“This is a rogue agency with an $80 billion slush fund that allows them to concoct and fund new ways to visit cruelty upon our communities,” NILC President Kica Mantos said in the statement. “Arming poorly trained agents with electric shock gloves to inflict pain on our neighbors is disgusting and barbaric.”

The Department of Homeland Security offered no immediate response to The Associated Press news agency, one of the first news outlets to report on the story.

The founder and CEO of Compliant, Jeff Niklaus, told the publication in an email, “Unfortunately, we are unable to speak on this subject.”

Compliant has argued in the past that its devices are “humane” and do not cause injury.

“The technology is safe as it does not penetrate the subject’s body, while also allowing other officers to grab the individual being stimulated with no fear of feedback into their bodies,” the manufacturer says on its website.

However, Compliant recommends avoiding use of the device on “higher risk” individuals, including the elderly, small children, pregnant people and those with severe disabilities. Officers must also complete a course to use the gloves and be recertified every two years, according to the company.

The notice, listed as a no-bid contract, could be published by Friday.

NICK Reiner has been indicted in the deaths of his parents after they were found fatally stabbed in their family home in December.

Nick, 32, previously pleaded not guilty to the murders of his film director dad Rob Reiner and his mother Michele, but a newly unsealed indictment reveals an additional allegation.

Rob and Michele were found with their throats slashed on December 14 inside of their Los Angeles home.

Nick, the couple’s youngest son, was indicted by a grand jury on the updated murder charges, replacing the initial charges filed against him in 2025.

He has since pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder with special circumstances allegations of lying in wait and personally using a knife, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The indictment was returned on July 20 and unsealed on Wednesday after Nick entered his plea.

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The new lying in wait allegation carries the possibility of a life sentence without parole or the death penalty.

The indictment allows prosecutors to speed up the process for Nick’s case to go to trial, avoid a preliminary hearing and avoid witnesses testifying about the circumstances and Nick’s history.

“This was a profound betrayal by someone who was loved and trusted by the very people he is accused of killing,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman.

“We hope that by having a grand jury return an indictment in this case it will bring us one step closer to a trial and achieving justice.”

Rob and Michele attended a holiday party hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien with Nick on December 13, and later got into a heated argument with their son.

Their daughter Romy found them dead inside their home on December 14 around 3:30pm PST.

Nick, who has a history of substance abuse and mental illness, was arrested later that night and has since been held inside the Twin Towers jail in California.

His arraignment in January was postponed after his star lawyer Alan Jackson, who represented Karen Read, withdrew from the case abruptly, saying he had “no choice” but to leave.

Nick is scheduled to appear in court on September 15.

Prosecutors have not yet decided whether they will seek the death penalty in his case.

A family friend told The U.S. Sun that Nick’s siblings Jake and Romy want him to avoid the death penalty.

“Rob & Michele’s family, despite everything, do not want Nick to get the death penalty, as they insist this horrific incident was the byproduct of a mental health crisis,” the insider said.

Jake released a lengthy Substack post in April titled “Mom and Dad,” where he revealed the moment he learned of his parents’ deaths.

“It was at that moment I received a call from my sister Romy telling me our father was dead,” the 34-year-old wrote.

“Minutes later, she called back telling me our mother was also dead.”

Jake took an “unendurable” 45-minute Lyft ride to his parents’ home, writing in his Substack post, “My world, as I knew it, had collapsed.”

Timeline of Rob and Michele Reiner’s death

Rob Reiner and his wife of Michele Singer Reiner were found dead in their Los Angeles home on December 14, 2025.

Timeline:

• December 13, 2025: Reiner and his wife Michele attended a holiday party on the evening of December 13 with their son, Nick.
• Sources conveyed to The U.S. Sun that the couple and their son were engaged in a heated public argument while at the event.
• December 14, 2025: Reiner and Michele were found dead in their Brentwood home in Los Angeles at around 3:30 pm PST.
• The couple’s daughter, Romy, reportedly discovered her parents’ bodies.
• Online police records show Reiner and Michele’s 32-year-old son, Nick, was arrested at 9:15 pm PST on December 14.
• December 15, 2025: Authorities in Los Angeles announce that Nick Reiner was arrested and charged with murder.
• Nick was booked into a Los Angeles jail at 5:04 am and was being held on $4 million bail, which was later revoked.
• December 16, 2025: Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman formally charged Nick Reiner with two counts of first-degree murder.
• Hochman said his office would consider the death penalty in Nick’s case.
• Nick’s scheduled court appearance on December 16 was postponed due to what his attorney said was a procedural issue.
• December 17, 2025: Nick Reiner briefly appeared in court. A plea was not entered.
• December 23, 2025: The death certificates of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner disclosed that the couple died of multiple sharp force injuries caused with “a knife, by another.”

Jake did not name Nick in his writing, referring to him only as his “brother.”

“We lost more than half of our family that night in the most violent way imaginable,” Jake said.

“Sure, any loss of a parent is devastating, but nothing compares to losing both of them at the same time and, on top of that, having your brother be at the center of it.”

Rob was a famous Hollywood filmmaker, known for directing films like The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally.

He famously rewrote the ending of When Harry Met Sally after meeting his wife.

Nick and Rob worked together to create the film Being Charlie in 2015, with characters that thinly resembled versions of the father and son.

The film explored how drugs could harm a relationship between a successful actor and his son.

Jake remembered his mother as “the engine, the backbone, and the heart of our entire family,” in his Substack post.

“My dad is my hero. I love how he would analyze my dreams or how I felt I could come talk to him about anything. No subject was ever off-limits,” Jake said of his father.

“He was authentic, passionate, and his sense of humor has always been my sense of humor.”

Aug. 12 (UPI) — Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are escalating their criticism of Paramount Skydance’s attempt to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, with one lawmaker accusing the Paramount CEO of “colluding” with President Donald Trump and his administration.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, sent Paramount CEO David Ellison, a letter Wednesday, inviting him for an interview to “answer the committee’s questions about your Donald Trump-enabled shopping spree to consolidate news organizations, movie studios, cable channels and streaming stations.”

Raskin opened his letter referring to a New York Times opinion piece by Ellison in which the CEO defended the deal and said he would stay silent “no more.”

“This is great news,” Raskin wrote. “Over the past 12 months, I have sent you four letters. You have responded to none of them.”

“I have repeatedly sought answers from you about the Paramount Skydance merger and your planned acquisition of Warner Bros.Discovery in light of troubling reports that your company is colluding with President Trump and his administration to curtail media independence, spread political censorship and suppress dissent.”

Raskin also wrote that he’s sought answers about alleged political interference in CBS News reporting and that he has “significant concerns” that the acquisition would “dangerously” consolidate power in a single conglomerate.

Paramount had not commented on the letter Wednesday afternoon. However, Makan Delrahim, during a summit this week hosted by Politico, said the company is “transparent” and responsive to lawmakers’ concerns.

As of now, Raskin cannot require Ellison’s cooperation. However, if Democrats win control of the House in the upcoming midterm elections, Raskin — who is expected to become committee chairman — could subpoena Ellison.

Raskin previously told Politico that he plans to increase oversight of the merger and that “anyone involved should be prepared to answer under oath for their roll in this brazen campaign to bend America’s free press to Donald Trump’s political, financial and personal will.”

In 2025, Paramount paid $16 million to settle a lawsuit (which many called “meritless”) brought by Trump, and Democrats have said the money could be considered a bribe to allow the Paramount-Skydance merger, which was approved shortly afterward.

However, the merger has been postponed because of an antitrust lawsuit brought by attorneys general of 12 states and the Writers Guild America. A trial is set for March.

The UK and Europe have enjoyed their most dramatic solar eclipse for nearly 30 years, with millions thought to have witnessed the once-in-a-generation event.

Those watching the astronomical phenomenon from the UK were treated to a partial eclipse which peaked shortly after 19:00 BST, when most saw more than 90% of the Sun covered by the Moon.

But parts of Greenland, Iceland and Spain experienced the complete darkness and spectacle of a total eclipse.

Large crowds at viewing sites across the UK and Europe reacted with gasps and cheers, with astronomy enthusiasts saying it serves as a reminder of how “amazing” the universe is.

The path of the total eclipse began at the northern tip of Siberia in Russia, far away from crowds and telescopes.

But it soon began curving around the Arctic Ocean arriving in Iceland in the early evening before sweeping southwards to treat the UK to part of its wonder

The partial eclipse began at about 18:00 BST in northern Scotland and just before 18:20 on the south coast of England.

It was imperceivable at first, but for those blessed with cloud-free skies, crowds noticed the Moon nibbling away at the Sun.

ARIANA Grande has hard-launched her romance with her on-again-off-again ex Ricky Alvarez just days after announcing plans for a “public break.”

The hitmaker shared two snaps in her latest Instagram round-up with her former beau.

She told fans recently that she would be withdrawing from the spotlight once she finished her current run of gigs on September 1.

In her most recent post, the American singer gave fans a glimpse into her busy life on her Eternal Sunshine Tour.

She shared a series of mirror selfies, pictured work days, nights out with her friends and the times she spent cuddling with her pooches.

But, amid the chaos Ariana dropped two cosy photos with her ex Ricky, 35.

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Her former backup dancer could be seen with one of his arms wrapped around her as they got ready to leave the house.

While their faces were cropped out of this snap, she posted another where he can be spotted despite it’s blurry aesthetic.

Ariana, 33, can be seen clinging on to her man and cuddling up to him as they posed in the mirror.

She and Ricky previously dated 2015 and 2016 but it now seems the pair are officially back on after years apart.

Ariana soft-launched their rekindled romance back in July as she changed a line in her famous breakup song Thank U, Next.

The song lyrics read: “Wrote some songs about Ricky, now I listen and laugh,.”

Making some tweaks to the words, Ariana sang the second half as: “We always find our way back.”

This comes after Ariana announced she’d be taking a “step back from visibility” following growing fears for her health.

The Dangerous Woman singer’s dramatic new look has left fans concerned for her wellbeing over the past few months.

Online speculation only grew with the unveiling of her Petal music video, which was released last week.

In the clip, she plays a rising young star battling the highs and lows of the showbiz world.

The video became a huge topic of conversation all over the world – and it wasn’t because of her song.

Soon after the Petal video went live a representative for Ariana confirmed she would be “taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour,” via People.

Despite insisting onstage that her break from the spotlight was planned “a long time ago” she axed plans to star in the West End revival of the classic Stephen Sondheim musical Sunday in the Park with George.

It’s also been rumoured that she’ll no longer be taking part in the press tour for her upcoming movie release Focker-In-Law.

Aug. 12 (UPI) — The U.S. Treasury Department has officially repealed a rule that required U.S. companies and individuals to report “beneficial ownership information” to the department.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network bureau of the Treasury Department — which is meant to safeguard the U.S. financial system from illegal activity, work against money laundering and terrorism financing and help with national security — issued a final rule Tuesday that permanently removes the requirement. The reporting rule existed in connection with the Corporate Transparency Act.

The network, called FinCEN, also announced that it would delete all previously reported information from its databases.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called it “a victory for common sense” and said that it eliminates a “burdensome reporting requirement.” An interim final rule has been in place since March 2025.

This final rule also exempts U.S. citizens with FinCEN identification from having to update or correct their information and eliminates a requirement for foreign businesses to report U.S. citizens who helped them register to do business in the United States.

As defined by FinCEN, a beneficial owner is one who directly or indirectly owns at least 25% of a company or exercises substantial interest over the company.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., issued a statement Tuesday saying the repeal guts the Corporate Transparency Act and is a “gift to cartels, criminals and U.S. adversaries that exploit shell companies to move millions through our financial system.”

“The Trump administration has dismissed law enforcement warnings, ignored the role that shell companies play in crimes ranging from drug trafficking to fraud to sanctions evasion and gutted a statue that Secretary Rubio once championed as ‘the most significant anti-corruption and money-laundering law in decades,” Warren said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted that statement about the act on social media in December 2020.

Congress passed the Corporate Transparency Act in 2021. The reporting requirement went into effect in 2024.

Atletico Madrid have agreed a £34.2m (40m euros) fee to sign Cristian Romero from Tottenham.

The 28-year-old is set to become Atletico’s fourth signing of the summer, while Spurs will also retain a 15 per cent sell-on clause as part of the deal.

Argentina international Romero was the subject of interest from Premier League champions Arsenal in recent days, but Tottenham did not want to sell their captain to their north London rivals.

He leaves Tottenham after five seasons, having made 156 appearances for them, scoring 13 times, following an initial campaign on loan from Atalanta in 2021.

The centre-back played for Argentina during their run to the World Cup final this summer, missing just one game.

Romero was scheduled to return to pre-season with Spurs in the coming week after being given extra time off following the tournament in North America.

He captained the side last season as Tottenham narrowly avoided relegation from the Premier League.

Having signed permanently from Atalanta in a £42.5m deal, Romero became a key figure in their defence.

The news will be a blow to Spurs fans who are also set to lose Djed Spence to Inter Milan, who are in advanced talks to sign the England full-back in a £25.6m (30m euros) deal.

With the additions of midfielders Kang-in Lee and Morten Hjulmand and left-back Alejandro Grimaldo, Atletico are set to take their transfer spending over £100m this summer should they complete the Romero deal.

Head coach Diego Simeone is aiming to strengthen his squad after they finished fourth in La Liga last season, with Villarreal beating them to third place.

Boney Island, a much-loved, homemade, skeleton-centric L.A. Halloween attraction for more than 20 years, will now be a ghost.

Creator Rick Polizzi — known to many for his 1996-2009 role as a producer of “The Simpsons” — announced on social media Monday that Boney Island is coming to an end.

The reason: A planned move to Santa Clarita has run into “unforeseen permitting and production challenges.” Polizzi said the county-wide slump in TV and film production is partially to blame.

After a string of venue changes, Polizzi said he was in talks to rent a set of soundstages at Santa Clarita Studios, and a large amount of Boney Island sets, props and other materials had already been moved to Santa Clarita.

But several logistical challenges proved hard to solve, and one element was the studios’ decision to reduce their inventory of soundstages. As a result, Polizzi said, “the rug was kind of pulled out from under us.”

Santa Clarita Studios President Mike DeLorenzo said that this fall, the studio will let go of leases on three of its 35-plus soundstages. Of Boney Island, DeLorenzo said that “we truly wanted this to happen, but it just didn’t make sense financially.” By the tally of FilmLA, on-location production days for film and TV in greater Los Angeles fell by 46% from 2022 to 2025.

With no other remedies in sight, Polizzi and company put out word on Instagram and Facebook, saying that after carefully considering locations, city permitting costs and storage, “we have made the difficult decision to officially bring Boney Island to an end” and sell the collection.

Reaction was quick, sad and peppered with family memories. “Thank you for creating so much magic for my family as well as so many others,” wrote one admirer on Instagram. “My kids and myself will forever walk around in a squeaky voice reciting: “Help meeee…I feeel like a yo-yo.”

Former “Simpsons” producer Rick Polizzi in his Sherman Oaks treehouse, known as “Boney Island,” in 2025.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Boney Island, a playful homage to Coney Island, was born in the late 1990s when Polizzi set out to build a Halloween attraction in his Sherman Oaks front yard for his family and neighbors. He was joined by “Aqua Dazzle” owner Rex Danyluk and friends as they designed an immersive, imaginative experience without a haunted house, a maze or jump scares. Instead it featured cavorting skeletons, magic acts and water shows.

“It’s not all the gore and horror stuff that everything else is,” Polizzi said. “I started it for my daughters.”

Eventually, the yard’s tall treehouse and growing crowds each Halloween led to permit disputes and the prospect of criminal charges.

“We were a victim of our own success, because it got so crowded we had to hire traffic control,” Polizzi told Spectrum News in 2025, adding that “one neighbor across the street always hated it.” Polizzi estimated that he’d spend more than $50,000 trying to get proper city approvals before dismantling the treehouse in 2025.

“I had the cool experience of actually ascending into the treehouse,” said Kim Cooper, co-owner of Esotouric tours and former visitors to the treehouse. “You look at this thing and you think: Wait a minute. That’s possible?”

Polizzi, in 2025, flips through a scrapbook he made about Boney Island.

(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)

Boney Island’s red-tape battles with the city of Los Angeles, Cooper said, show that “there is sadistic, demented element in the city [government] that does not like to see people who have an independent sense of élan and freedom.”

Still, Boney Island seemed likely to live on elsewhere. While the red-tape battles were being fought, the attraction moved from Polizzi’s yard to Griffith Park in 2018, went dark for several years, then resurfaced at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles in 2023 and 2024, drawing tens of thousands of people. But the Exposition Park location proved difficult for many guests, Polizzi said, and the event went dark again last year while organizers searched for a new location, preferably a gated space with at least 70,000 square feet. Polizzi said he explored many options, including the L.A. Zoo, another corner of Griffith Park, Descanso Gardens, the L.A. County Arboretum, but none quite fit. Some of those spots host elaborate holiday light displays that require set-up in late October.

The best option seemed to be the soundstages at Santa Clarita Studios. “It was going to be challenging to have it inside to begin with, but I was looking forward to it,” Polizzi said.

At this point, he added, it would take a last-minute location discovery to change things.

“I would love to keep it going, I just don’t have a place for it,” Polizzi said.

Aug. 12 (UPI) — Thousands of Canadians have signed a petition demanding the government kick the U.S. ambassador to Canada out of the country.

The petition, which had almost 60,000 signatures as of Wednesday morning, will be presented to the House of Commons this fall by Green Party leader Elizabeth May. It says that Ambassador Pete Hoekstra should be declared persona non grata and the Canadian government should request his removal from the country.

The petition accuses Hoekstra of repeatedly making public statements that undermine Canada-U.S. diplomatic relations, including characterizing the 2025 Canadian federal election as “anti-American;” normalizing the Trump administration’s threats to annex Canada as the “51st state;” and accusing Canada of interfering in U.S. domestic politics while making repeated interventions in Canadian political discourse. The petition also said Hoekstra was linked to a Michigan-based voter identification app used by the Alberta separatist Centurion Project, while claiming no knowledge of its use, and that The Alberta Prosperity Project [a separatist organization] met with U.S. State Department officials three times between April 2025 and January 2026, with Hoekstra claiming to have no knowledge of those meetings.

The petition was created by a woman from Calgary.

A representative for the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa declined to comment on the petition except to say the embassy is aware of it, the CBC reported.

In June, Hoekstra said that Canada’s annexation by the United States would be a great topic of discussion for Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Hoekstra was a member of the House of Representatives representing western Michigan from 1993 to 2011. He was the ambassador to The Netherlands, his country of birth, during Trump’s first term. He was named ambassador to Canada in April 2025.

In 2023, the Canadian government declared Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei persona non grata after he was accused of gathering information in Hong Kong about the family of Conservative Member of Parliament Michael Chong.

The following year, six diplomats and consular officials from India were expelled after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police alleged that the agents were targeting Canadian citizens. They linked the tracking to the murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijar in Surrey, British Columbia, in 2023.

The police linked the campaign to the June 2023 murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C.

Carney and the Canadian government have worked to improve relations with China and India.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

Leavitt is departing her role to spend more time with family after giving birth to her second child, according to Trump.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will be departing her role at the end of the month to prioritise her family, United States President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social.

“Karoline has been a real leader in the White House, and has done a phenomenal job fighting for Justice, Liberty, and Freedom, since 2018,” Trump wrote in a post on Wednesday, revealing the staffing shake-up.

He noted that Leavitt would remain one of his “top outside advisors” and an “influential voice within the Republican Party”.

Leavitt is the latest in a series of senior Trump officials to step down from his second administration.

Since the start of this year, high-level figures like former Attorney General Pam Bondi and ex-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem have been fired.

Other officials — including former Secretary of Labour Lori Michelle Chavez-DeRemer and Todd Lyon, acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — have resigned amid scrutiny over their leadership.

Leavitt’s departure, however, comes on the heels of her maternity leave. She and her spouse Nicholas Riccio gave birth to their second child, a baby girl named Viviana, in early May.

The 27-year-old stepped away from her duties as White House press secretary in late April. She returned to the White House podium for her first formal press briefing in mid-July.

“Karoline has been one of the best White House Press Secretaries in the History of the Office”, Trump said in his post.

He added that Leavitt would continue to serve his administration as the Republican Party seeks to “conclusively win the Midterm Elections” in November.

This is a developing story. More details to come.

PROFESSOR Green has revealed he’s got no savings despite his chart-topping success – and faces selling his house.

The rapper first hit the Top 10 in 2010 with debut single I Need You Tonight before going on to have a number one single with Read All About It in 2011.

But despite his chart success and collaborations with the likes of Lily Allen, Example and Emeli Sande, the star has revealed his finances do not reflect that.

In a new interview with The i Paper, Professor Green – real name Stephen Manderson – said: “So many artists get chewed up, spat out and come out the other side of it with f**k all.

“Everyone around them makes money – apart from them, because they’re good with words, songs and feelings, but they’re not good with money.

“It’s weird to get to this age and realise I’ve had no financial advice. I’m 42 and I spoke to a financial adviser for the first time recently, which was very telling.”

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He continued: “I’ve got no real savings, no investments, no stocks, no shares, no ISAs.

“It’s hard to comprehend that I’ve got so much of my money tied up in a house that I don’t entirely own.

“Now that interest rates are no longer 1.7 per cent, I even wonder whether I should sell my house and rent, to future-proof myself.

“I’m forever on Rightmove, looking at houses I can’t afford.”

While he has continued to make music, Pro Green has also turned his hand to TV in recent months, appearing on The Masked Singer as the character Teabag in January.

Then in May he appeared on the 15th series of Celebs Go Dating on E4.

The White House defended reports it planned to spend nearly a $1bn on controversial construction projects.

The Trump administration has responded to controversy over construction and expansion projects at the White House by saying the work was “long-overdue and necessary” and “inextricably tied to the security of the President, the White House grounds and the certain security infrastructure assets”.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has long insisted construction is being funded by private donors and is necessary for security reasons. But on Wednesday, The Washington Post cited documents it obtained that showed the administration was planning to spend nearly $1bn on the construction work, which includes a large new ballroom to replace much of the White House’s East Wing.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle, in a statement to Al Jazeera, cited recent security incidents, including attempted attacks on the president and events around the 250th anniversary of US independence, as reasons for the work.

Ingle said the work was being done in coordination with the Secret Service and White House Military Office. He also said approximately $400m in funding for the new ballroom was coming from “President Trump and generous American patriots”.

About $875m has been put into the White House Repair and Restoration account, which typically has only several million dollars and is used for routine maintenance and upkeep. Some $500m of that money came from the Secret Service and the White House Military Office, tasked with securing the president and his family, as well as top US officials. Another $305m, according to The Post, came from private donations, while the provenance of another $70m was not indicated.

The White House reconstruction project has faced scrutiny from lawmakers, as well as courts, over concerns that vested interests, including private businesses seeking government contracts, are paying for the work in exchange for government favours. A federal judge in Washington, DC, last week ordered a halt to work specifically for the ballroom, saying it needed Congressional approval under existing law. In June, the advocacy group Public Citizen said it found corporate donors to the project had received more than $50bn in government contracts during the previous six months.

The U.S. needs to change the way it tracks and defends against future missile threats, the deputy commander of U.S. Space Command (SPACECOM) said on Tuesday. The need to do so comes as changes in missile technology are moving faster than the current defeat system can keep up with.

“Historically, if you start from the high end here, missile defense and missile warning were operating on separate and distinct stovepipe networks,” Lt. Gen. Rick Zellman said during a panel at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium (SMD) in Huntsville, Alabama, attended by TWZ. “Missile warning, of course, was going to detect a launch and let people know something’s coming inbound and see a duck and cover and whatnot, and missile defenders were looking to get a little bit more fidelity in their track and be able to shoot down an incoming missile,” he continued. “But today we don’t really have any ballistic missiles. Everything is maneuvering. Everything is complex, and so we can’t provide warning without providing a lot more observations on these missiles.”

As a result of the evolution in missile technology, “the lexicon that we’re starting to see is missile tracking, right?” the general proffered. “And so missile warning and missile defense are really coming together in that realm. Missile warning was a space legacy mission area, and of course missile defense is missile defense. And you can see how these things are coming together. So really, the distinction between missile warning is almost obsolete at this point.”

The U.S. military has space-based early warning sensors that are integrated into its existing sensing, and has been for decades. But these warn of launches, they generally don’t track a weapon throughout its flight cycle. For some years now, work has been underway to substantially expand on space-based missile defense capabilities, to include the start of the fielding of new satellite constellations to help track ballistic missiles, as well as hypersonic boost-glide vehicles and other threats, during the mid-course portion of their flights. This is on top of a major push to move other kinds of terrestrial sensing to orbital layers, some of which could potentially have a secondary missile defense role.

To achieve the objective of fusing missile warning and tracking functions together, “we have to leverage a couple of really good partners,” Zellman stated, pointing to two in particular. One is the Space Development Agency (SDA), tasked with quickly delivering needed space-based capabilities to the U.S. military. The other is the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), charged with developing, deploying, and sustaining layered and integrated missile defense capabilities.

The SDA, noted the general, “is developing a number of missile-tracking satellites as part of their tranches that they’re launching.” The MDA, meanwhile, has “a long history of integrating battle management,” Zellman discussed.

“So those two together are really helping Space Command take separate disparate stovepipe information and bring it together,” he stated.

“It also has to talk about decision speed, and this really is going to require us to look at more than man-in-the-loop [MITL], and maybe a man on the loop [MOTL] situation,” he noted. MITL is when a human is fully engaged in assessing and controlling the operation compared to MOTL, which usually relies on more heavily automated systems where the human approves critical decisions, usually based on distilled data presented by the system. AI is becoming a large part of making that possible in an increasingly successful way.

The reason to make this change, Zellman explained, is that “we have to make these decisions faster, and that data flow has to be able to enable our layered defenses – whether that’s coming from a THAAD [Terminal High Altitude Area Defense], or a Patriot, or directed energy, or SM-3, or space-based interceptors in the future – all that is going to be dependent on our decision speed.”

“At the heart of all this for the United States Space Command is one of our unified command plan responsibilities, and that is as a global sensor manager,” the general said. 

“We don’t use sensors dedicated to a single mission,” he explained. “They may have originally been conceived to do space domain awareness or missile warning, or in some cases, missile defense, but we try to take the goodness of all those sensors and use them for all three of those mission areas.”

Under SPACECOM, “we take those sensors and we dynamically task them and prioritize accordingly, so we can support multiple commands around the globe. And that really, once again, gets to the theme about defending at home and abroad is being able to support these multiple commands simultaneously.”

The command’s “modern systems, whether it’s a long-range discrimination radar or some of our systems that have been around a little bit longer – like an upgraded early warning radar – they’re all inherently multi-mission,” Zellman put forth. “A single radar can see an object in space and give me space domain awareness information, and a little bit later it can see a missile launch and provide warning, and then hopefully down the road a bit more… provide essentially a track so that we can shoot an interceptor at it and kill it.”

“All these three things can be done in the same duty cycle with that same system, and so we have to be able to dynamically task these systems to ensure that whichever is the priority mission at that time is the one that is being serviced,” the general cautioned. “Historically, space domain awareness information went to space operators, and I would argue missile warning information probably went to both space operators and the missile defense community. But today, that information has to all be put in one data location, and we pull the information we need for the mission we have at hand.”

Long Range Discrimination Radar Capabilities

“We recognize that what we do in space at Space Command is really fundamental to what the missile defense community has to do for missile defense,” Zellman vocalized. “So that really talks about the high end. Let’s talk about the low end.”

Lt. Gen. John Rafferty, commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense, and Joint Task Force-Gold “mentioned some of this today,” Zellman noted, referring to an earlier SMD panel. “We see, I think, the low end on Epic Fury. Sure, the missiles are more high end, but we’ve seen our adversary employ a number of one-way attack systems that are coupled with these ballistic missile volleys, and we are really at this point in the history of warfare because of the democratization of space.”

“Space isn’t a sanctuary,” the general shared. “It’s no longer just the playground of nations with a lot of money. The commercialization of space has created what many call essentially a transparent battlefield. And because I can see everything all the time with commercial ISR, it’s given our adversaries capabilities that they haven’t had in the past.” 

“That ISR [intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance], if you couple it with a platform that has access to GPS or some other PNT [position, navigation and timing] system, and then you add in another layer of over-the-horizon comms, like say from an Iridium or a Starlink, and you have a pretty lethal asymmetric weapon system that our adversaries can get a hold of.”

Regardless of how much integration and automation occurs, it’s still a people business in Zellman’s eyes.

“So whether it’s a combination volley of attack drones or hypersonic glide vehicles, the mission at SPACECOM remains the same, and that’s to synchronize global missile defense and space domain awareness using a common set of information,” Zellman said. “But that synchronization doesn’t just happen in a vacuum; it happens with the joint warfighters that are standing on watch.”

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

Amy Winehouse’s dad Mitch was left devastated last month after unsuccessfully suing two of her pals for selling some of the star’s belongings.

But now Amy’s closest friend, fellow singer Tyler James, has revealed he plans to auction off more items which were once owned by the late superstar.

Last month the High Court ordered Mitch to pay almost £1million in legal fees after he lost his case against Amy’s stylist Naomi Parry and her pal Catriona Gourlay.

Both women insist they were either given or loaned the items they sold by Rehab singer Amy, and had not stolen them — as Mitch claimed.

And Tyler told how he had been upset when his own Amy auction had to be cancelled after Mitch called in the lawyers.

Handwritten song lyrics and Amy’s red bowling shirt were among the lots he had planned to sell at auction.

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Tyler told me: “I’ve been through hell. I just couldn’t deal with it.

“Sotheby’s explained to me that due to Mitch’s lawyers contesting ownership, they couldn’t go ahead with the sale and that I needed a lawyer. I felt as if I had done something wrong.”

Tyler and Amy met at the Sylvia Young Theatre School and lived together for several years until her death from alcohol poisoning at the age of 27 in 2011.

Tyler — who appeared on The Voice UK in 2012 — now hopes to restart plans for his own auction, saying that last month’s High Court ruling “changes everything”.

He said: “I loved Amy more than anyone else in the world.

“I supported her through all the years of drug addiction, self-harm . . .  you name it. I wanted to protect her.

“We had been through so much together, and nothing can take away what we shared — not possessions.”

Of the previously cancelled auction, he said: “I don’t know why he [Mitch] stopped it. He knew how much Amy meant to me.

“Shortly after she passed away, we went to Amy’s place and there were two pillows on her bed. He gave me one of them.”

Of Naomi and Catriona’s recent court victory, Tyler added: “I don’t speak to the girls much any more, but I’m really pleased for them.

“But maybe — and this sounds selfish — I’m much more pleased for myself. I haven’t decided what to do yet, but I will be ringing Sotheby’s.”

October marks two decades since the release of Amy’s second — and most successful — album, Back To Black.

Something tells me fans will be lining up to bid on whatever treasures Tyler has.

It’s Paris fashion chic . . . 

No fashion is tutu much for Paris Hilton as she poses in this striking mini-dress from a new collection she has helped design.

The socialite has teamed up with Betsey Johnson for a new range, which is launching this week to celebrate the US designer’s 84th birthday.

This white bow dress costs $119 – around £88 – and it sounds like they had a hoot designing it.

Paris told People mag: “We had the best time brainstorming together, playing with looks at fittings, and making TikToks on set.

“She has this magnetic energy that lights up the room, and getting to create something with her has been such a dream.

“She is just as fun, original and full of personality as her clothes, and she brings so much creativity into everything she does.”

Rihanna doesn’t lack drive

Rihanna had a full-circle moment as she took her kids to the home she grew up in – but they didn’t look too impressed.

She shared photos on Instagram of herself with sons RZA and Riot, as well as daughter Rocki, outside the modest property in Barbados.

The street was originally named Westbury New Road but was renamed Rihanna Drive in 2017 – and her childhood crib is now a tourist attraction.

The Umbrella singer wrote: “One minute I feel like that kid from Westbury. The next minute I’m bringing my own kids back to ‘Rihanna Drive’. Trippy how life works!”

Julie hangs up her ‘Princess’ crown

She made two of the most famous movie musicals in Mary Poppins and The Sound Of Music, but Julie Andrews’ days on screen are definitely over.

The Surrey-born star, now aged 90, announced she has retired from her acting career, but will still pursue other creative paths.

It means she will not star in Princess Diaries 3 – currently in development – after playing Queen Clarisse Renaldi in the 2001 original and 2004 sequel opposite Anne Hathaway as Princess Mia.

Explaining how she passed up the chance, she said: “I think I’m retired, really, would be about the best description for that. The film’s team asked me all last year if I would be keen to do it.

“It was very, very hard to say no, but I did because I felt I had a wonderful ride, and this one would flourish very well and wouldn’t need Granny going in there at my age.”

Julie’s last on- screen role was in the children’s Netflix series Julie’s Greenroom.

In a separate interview, she added of Princess Diaries 3: “I’m not going to be in it. I think the story is slightly different, and I’m not quite sure how they’re dealing with that.

“But it’s too late for me to do it.”

Be a prop star at sale

Pop culture fans can bag themselves something special as Propstore is putting on one of the biggest-ever auctions of signed memorabilia.

More than 1,700 film, TV and music props will be up for grabs, including a 1997 Spice World T-shirt signed by the Spice Girls, and a Back To The Future poster signed by Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd and other cast members.

Other notable lots include a replica sword from The Bodyguard autographed by Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, and a vinyl LP from the cult movie Labyrinth, signed by one of its stars, David Bowie.

Before the live auction, which will run from August 26 to 29, you can see the full list of lots for yourself at propstoreauction.com.

Frankie’s binge too far

Who said the world of pop music was full of boozy antics?

S Club Juniors and The Saturdays star Frankie Bridge has revealed she’s just had her first hangover – years after her music career ended.

Speaking on the Bottoms Up podcast, she admitted: “I’m not a massive drinker. I’m a massive lightweight. I actually just had my first proper hangover last week – at the age of 37.

“It was honestly the worst day of my life and I was so pathetic, I cried. I washed my hair and then I couldn’t brush it so my friend Leah had to brush my hair for me and I was like, ‘This is a new low’.”

It came on the last day of her holiday after a night drinking mojitos, but she added: “I was fine by the time I got home and went in the gym.”

Trust me Frankie, if you were still able to go to the gym, you would never want to experience my hangovers.

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree says another reunion is a “question of when rather than if”. The band last played a gig two years ago, and he said: “I seem to remember us at Heathrow, saying, ‘We’ll do that again’. That’s my take.”

Spotify fake alert

Spotify is going to start flagging AI artists so that listeners know if they are getting computer-generated rubbish.

The streaming platform said fake acts’ profiles will be labelled “AI personas” and their music will be excluded from recommendations via its algorithm.

It’s hoped the crackdown will deliver a boost to real musicians and prevent artificial acts from taking over.

Spotify said: “True artist-fan connection can only be built on a foundation of trust and authenticity.

“In music, that means listeners need to be able to trust that the artist behind the music is who they say they are.

“That’s more essential than ever in the age of generative AI.” Good for them.

Country twist for ‘rock’ star

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson showed off his vocals in Moana and its sequel, as well as in the new Disney live-action remake.

Now the hardman actor is eyeing a career as a singer – by getting into country music.

The former wrestler said: “Music has always been such an anchor for me, and very specifically in genres that I love, like traditional country music.

“We’re exploring that now. I’ve reached this point in my life and career where, honestly, when I wake up in the morning I swing my legs out of bed, and whatever the thing is that I’m doing, I wanna feel like I’m just running towards it.

“And the most gratifying things we do are when it’s for us, because we have enough pressure to deliver for so many other entities.”

Country music is on the rise, with US singer Luke Combs playing three sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium last month, while Taylor Swift went back to her country roots for her Toy Story 5 soundtrack single I Knew It, I Knew You, which topped the charts.

But Dwayne will be keen not to follow in Hollywood star Will Smith’s footsteps. Last year, he released his comeback album, Based On A True Story – but it sold just 268 physical copies in the UK in its first week.

I have faith The Rock won’t settle for that type of knockout.

One former resident of Weatherfield could be about to make a shock return to Weatherfield, more than a decade after she departed the ITV soap, and fans have “worked out” how

One former resident of Weatherfield could be about to make a shock return to Coronation Street – almost 15 years on from her departure. Fans are convinced Amber Kalirai is making a comeback.

In the latest scenes on the ITV soap, Alya Nazir (Sair Khan) has decided to sell her share of the Speed Daal restaurant, leaving her colleague Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) a little surprised to say the least. Leanne’s new boyfriend Idris, who turned up as Alya’s long-lost cousin before hastily announcing he was in fact her long-lost uncle, seems determined to get his hands on it.

But now, fans have claimed that they would like to see Amber Kalirai, the daughter of shopkeeper Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin), make a comeback and snap up the business for herself.

One fan wrote on X:”Totally random Amber Devs daughter should be the new speed daal owner,” and the idea quickly spread across social media.

Taking to Facebook, one fan said: “Wouldn’t it be interesting if the new co owner of speed daal was Devs daughter Amber,” and another said: “Be good to see her back, she is never mentioned.”

A third wrote: “Great little actress. I would love to see her back in Corrie!” and a fourth said: “Loved her-underrated character-stood up to Dev.” A fifth simply demanded: “Bring Amber back!”

Amber was played by actress Nikki Patel, 36, who made her debut on Coronation Street in 2005 and stayed with the programme for four years.

In the summer of 2011, Amber made a comeback and stayed for just under a year, bowing out in March 2012. During her final few months on the cobbles, Amber made friends with Rosie Webster (Helen Flanagan) and Sophie Webster (Brooke Vincent), who fell for her in what was a case of unrequited love.

In the end, though, unable to mend her already-tricky relationship with stepmother Sunita Alahan (Shobna Gulati), she got a job in London and has not been seen since.

When Sunita was killed off after being trapped in the fire at the Rovers Return in 2013, Amber was informed but was unable to attend the funeral as she was travelling with her new boyfriend.

Away from Coronation Street, Nikki has appeared in Waterloo Road, Holy City and Call The Midwife but has also performed in numerous plays, and, earlier this year, announced that she had written a new BBC sitcom titled The Patels, which, if commissioned, will focus on two Gurajti women who must put their difference aside for the sake of their sons.

Speaking to Female Pilot Club, she explained: “There are some heavy issues that they’re talking about but they do it in such an accessible, beautiful way, with a normalised family, which could be difficult. And that’s kind of presented in a dramatic setting.

“I just want to be part of a conversation with that community, potentially help people, [because] there are families going through this right now now where the kids are afraid to be and show who they really are.

“And I think it’s so sad and it’s crazy to me … so I kind of want to be part of a change. Maybe that’s really big wishful thinking. But like I said, comedy is a way to try and do that.”

Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITV X.

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Aug. 12 (UPI) — The International Energy Agency warned Wednesday of a sharp drop in global stocks oil amid renewed disruption to exports via the Hormuz Strait and Caspian Sea resulting in “lower volumes of oil” transiting the seas to markets around the world.

In its August Oil Market Report, the agency said measurable global oil inventories — strategic reserves, on tankers at sea — plunged by 69 million barrels in July to just under 7.9 million barrels, down from 410 million barrels per day at the start of the war at the end of February.

Onshore stocks declined by just 6 million barrels per day as the pace of IEA releases of its emergency stocks eased, even as China continued to draw down on its crude oil reserves.

“Although the market is projected to return to surplus towards the end of this year, risks remain substantial and the urgency of reopening the Strait has increased, as previously available inventory buffers are rapidly depleting,” the IEA said.

The IEA data comes two days after the U.S. Department of Energy said the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve had fallen to less than 300 million barrels in the previous week, its lowest level in 43 years — but still well above the 70 million barrel minimum for it to run as intended.

President Donald Trump ordered 172 million barrels to be released in March after exports from Gulf producers including Saudi Arabia Kuwait, Bahrain, and the UAE were severely curtailed by Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz.

Use of other routes to move oil and the drawing down of inventories, including China’s massive 1.4 billion barrel reserve which has seen a sharp drop in its oil imports, have so far helped ward off the damaging global oil shortage it was feared the closure of the Hormuz Strait would trigger.

The IEA also warned that the destruction of global demand for oil was escalating, driven by the continuing closure of the Strait of Hormuz and high fuel prices suppressing consumption, forecasting a 1.6 million barrels per day drop in demand in 2026, up from its previous estimate of 1 million barrels per day.

However, it said said the pace of market contraction would slow, down from a 4.9 million barrels per day decline in the second quarter to 2.8 million barrels per day drop in the third quarter, and return to growth in the final quarter, with expansion of global demand of 2.4 million barrels per day expected in 2027.

On the supply side, the IEA said overall production for 2026 would fall more sharply than demand, but would bounce back to outpace demand in 2027.

Production rose by 2.4 million barrels per day to 101.5 barrels per day in July, but remained well short of the 6.3 million barrels per day supply growth pace seen in July 2025, with 8.3 million barrels per day of Persian Gulf output “still shut in.”

“Renewed hostilities and maritime disruptions in July and early August undermined the recovery efforts, reducing projected third quarter 2026 oil supply by 1.7 million barrels per day compared with last month’s report.

“Global oil supply is now projected to decline by 4.3 million barrels per day on average in 2026 and rebound by 8.3 million barrels per day next year to 110.3 million barrels per day,” the IEA said.

In one of the more unusual examples yet of where Ukraine is sourcing military hardware, a Danish military museum has begun transferring vehicles from its own collection for use in the war against Russia. Panzermuseum East, a privately run museum in Denmark specializing in Soviet and Warsaw Pact armor, announced that it has delivered its first batch of armored vehicles to Ukraine.

“We have now completed the first shipment of vehicles to Ukraine. The first one to be picked up was our fine BMP-1, and the second was the MT-LB SNAR-10. We hope they’ll last a long time and make a difference,” the museum said on social media today.

The museum describes itself as Scandinavia’s largest collection of vehicles, uniforms, and equipment from the former Eastern Bloc.

The donation includes a BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle and an MT-LB amphibious tracked armoured fighting vehicle fitted with the SNAR-10 battlefield surveillance radar. This is an uncommon artillery reconnaissance variant that was designed to detect troop movements, vehicles, and artillery fire while directing friendly fires.

While governments across Europe have emptied Cold War stockpiles to support Kyiv, it is considerably rarer to see museum exhibits making the journey to the front. The transfer underscores the increasingly varied mix of equipment finding its way into Ukrainian service after more than four years of high-intensity warfare.

Entering service in the late 1960s, the BMP-1 is among the most iconic Soviet armored fighting vehicles ever built. Although obsolete by modern standards, Ukraine already operates the type in significant numbers, meaning integrating another example should be straightforward, assuming it remains mechanically sound.

The BMP-1 was a revolutionary design when it appeared, becoming the world’s first true infantry fighting vehicle by combining mobility, armor, and the ability for infantry to fight from within the vehicle. Armed with a 73mm low-pressure gun, a coaxial machine gun, and a 9M14 Malyutka (AT-3 Sagger) anti-tank missile launcher, it was designed to accompany tanks across the battlefield while carrying an eight-man infantry squad. More than 20,000 were built, and the vehicle was exported widely across the Warsaw Pact and beyond, spawning numerous variants and licensed copies.

Today, its armor and armament are outdated, but it continues to be prized on account of its amphibious capability, ease of maintenance, and the availability of extensive stocks of spare parts and upgrade packages.

Despite being more than half a century old, the BMP-1 continues to demonstrate its utility on modern battlefields. Reflecting sustained demand for the Soviet-designed infantry fighting vehicle, Slovakia’s STV Machinery secured a contract to serially produce newly manufactured BMP-1 hulls for an unnamed foreign customer. The company says the hulls will incorporate modern armor materials and updated production techniques, with manufacturing capacity expected to reach up to 100 vehicles annually, underscoring the enduring value of the platform.

Previously, there have been known BMP-1 transfers to Ukraine from Greek stocks (40 BMP-1A1s, delivered from October 2022 onwards), and from Slovak stocks (30 BVP-1s, from November 2022). Another 56 upgraded ex-East German BMP-1s were provided by the Czech Republic.

The more intriguing donation is the MT-LB SNAR-10. Based on the ubiquitous MT-LB multipurpose tracked vehicle, the SNAR-10 carries a ground surveillance radar intended primarily for artillery spotting and battlefield reconnaissance. The system can detect moving vehicles, troop concentrations, explosions, and shell impacts, helping artillery units adjust fire and build battlefield awareness.

Exactly what condition either vehicle is in is unclear. Museum vehicles are often maintained in running condition, particularly at private collections that conduct demonstrations, but they also lack military equipment, sensitive electronics, or functional weapons. The museum has not disclosed whether the vehicles required refurbishment or modification before transfer.

The donation nevertheless reflects a broader trend that has become increasingly apparent throughout the conflict. Ukraine has sourced equipment from virtually anywhere it can be found. Beyond government transfers, Kyiv has received privately donated vehicles, civilian pickups converted into military transports, restored Soviet-era equipment, commercially purchased armored vehicles, and even aircraft and helicopters acquired through unconventional channels.

As traditional Cold War reserves continue to shrink across Europe, previously overlooked sources of compatible Soviet-designed equipment have become increasingly valuable. Private collections, museums, training establishments, and industrial storage yards have all become potential sources of hardware that can be returned to operational service.

The SNAR-10 is especially noteworthy because it represents a relatively niche capability rather than simply another armored hull. Battlefield surveillance radars remain useful assets for locating enemy activity, adjusting indirect fire, and supporting reconnaissance, even if newer drone-based systems increasingly perform many of the same functions. Even if the SNAR-10 is delivered without an operational radar, it would still be useful for its MT-LB chassis.

More broadly, whether these two vehicles ultimately see frontline service, are used for training, or serve as sources of spare parts remains unknown.

However, the museum’s wording (“first shipment”) strongly suggests more donations for Ukraine may already be planned.

Beyond the BMP-1 and SNAR-10 that have now gone to Ukraine, the Panzermuseum East collection remains packed with Warsaw Pact hardware, including T-72 and T-55 main battle tanks, a PT-76 amphibious light tank, a 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer, BRDM reconnaissance and anti-tank vehicles, BTR-60 command vehicles, and more. The museum also displays dozens of Cold War military trucks, field support vehicles, artillery pieces, and other specialist equipment.

Examples of foreign museums releasing collection vehicles for Ukrainian military use remain uncommon but not unheard of. Ukrainian museums have also returned equipment to military units, based on available reports, as well.

Britain’s Tank Museum did not donate vehicles, but it helped Ukraine by giving Cook Defense Systems — which also produces tracks for the British-made Challenger 2 main battle tank — access to its Soviet vehicle collection, manuals, and physical components to reverse-engineer tracks and sprockets for T-72s, BMPs, and MT-LBs. You can read more about that here.

The departure of these armored vehicles from a Danish museum floor for an active war zone is another reminder of the extraordinary lengths Ukraine and its supporters continue to go to sustain the country’s war effort, and of how almost any usable piece of Soviet-designed equipment can still find new life on today’s battlefield.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

AN A-list Hollywood actor was spotted shopping at a Pokémon market in Brighton – but would you have been able to recognise him in the crowds?

A TikTok user shared a snap of the star, 48, looking around a gymnasium in a white cap and glasses.

Molly Wheatley, user name @xo_mxlly_ox, captioned the snap: “That’s just a random man in a white hat…”

But then in the next slide she revealed exactly who it was, as she posed for a picture with none other than Tom Hardy.

Fans rushed to the comments section to swoon over the Venom star, with one writing: “WOAH.”

Another said: “my jaw hit the floor.”

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“I knew it was him before the second picture. I KNOW THAT HANDSOME MAN FROM A MILE OFF,” a third chimed in.

A fourth added: “Idk you but I hate you!!”

A fifth chimed in: “I would simply keel over.”

A sixth joked: “He is a pretty good tom hardy look alike tbf.”

Tom, who was born in Hammersmith, London, is a well known English actor who has starred in a number of popular films and TV shows since shooting to fame in the late 90s.

Some of his movie roles include in Star Trek: Nemesis, RocknRolla, Bronson, Warrior, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Mad Max: Fury Road, Dunkirk, Venom, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Bikeriders and Havoc.

Meanwhile he’s also been in Wuthering Heights, Peaky Blinders, Taboo, Oliver Twist, and most recently MobLand.

He has also won the Rising Star Award at the British Academy Film Awards in 2011, as well as the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actor in an Action Movie in 2015.

And fans will be over the moon to know that Tom is reprising his role as Harry Da Souza on MobLand, after it was said that the hunky actor had been fired from the Paramount+ hit.

Deadline confirmed the integral cast – which is also made up of Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren – will remain for the third instalment, and that includes Tom.

And last month The Sun exclusively revealed a world-exclusive first look at the upcoming action.

Aug. 12 (UPI) — A retired Royal Air Force fighter pilot who is the only person to have traveled faster than the speed of sound on land, set a world land speed record for a hydrogen-powered car of more than 400 mph in Utah.

Powered by two 800 horsepower hydrogen internal combustion engines, Briton Andy Green‘s bullet-shaped Hydromax Streamliner, averaged across two runs, reached a speed of 406.32 mph on Tuesday at the Bonneville Salt Flats, smashing the previous record set in 2004 by more than 220 mph.

World motorsport’s governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the governing body of world motorsport, verified the attempt as the highest speed ever achieved by a hydrogen-powered vehicle.

The engines were from an earth-moving machine made by the British heavy plant manufacturer JCB, delivering massive power to the drivetrain by mixing pressurized hydrogen gas with air which is then ignited, similar to combustion engines, but with no emissions.

Green also set a world land speed record of 350 mph for diesel power in another JCB-developed car in 2006.

“Setting a world land speed record with hydrogen power, 20 years after Dieselmax, is a huge privilege. This record is a huge achievement by a world class team and superb technology,” Green said.

JCB chairman Lord Anthony Bamford said going after the record was in part a proof of concept exercise to show that hydrogen was a viable solution to the demand from heavy industries for a clean energy that could rival traditional fuels in efficiency.

He also believes hyrdogen is more effective for construction and agricultural machinery and plant than electric battery power.

In October 1997, Green pushed his twin jet-engine powered Thrust SSC to 763.035 mph, smashing through the sound barrier as it streaked across the Black Rock Desert in northwestern Nevada.

The record stands to this day.