News Desk

Norah O’Donnell is returning to “CBS Mornings” in what is expected to be the start of a significant revamp of the struggling program.

CBS News told staffers Thursday that the former anchor of the “CBS Evening News” will become a co-anchor of the morning show on Tuesday Sept. 8 alongside Gayle King and Nate Burleson. O’Donnell is also a full-time correspondent at “60 Minutes.”

The addition of O’Donnell is the first step in a makeover for “CBS Mornings,” which will be redesigned to have a faster pace and more live interviews, according to people familiar with the plans and were not authorized to discuss them publicly.

There is also talk it will become more of a discussion program similar to MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.” The memo announcing her return was written by Jon Tower, a “CBS Mornings” senior producer who once worked on that program.

O’Donnell, 52, was part of the trio of co-hosts that gave CBS News the highest ratings in three decades, “CBS This Morning,” when she shared the desk with King and Charlie Rose. The program launched in 2012 and saw its ratings increase for five straight years. The audience levels fell off when Rose departed the program after he was hit with sexual harassment allegations in 2017.

“CBS This Morning” was renamed “CBS Mornings” in 2021, and adapted the theme music of the network’s popular weekend program “CBS Sunday Morning.” But the revamp never lived up to a promise to deliver the same in-depth stories as the Sunday program and failed to draw new viewers.

“CBS Mornings” has long been the ratings also-ran in the mornings behind NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America.” But the program has hit record audience lows this year in part due to the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

Colbert was replaced by “Comics Unleashed” which is attracting about a third of the “Late Show” audience which was just over 2 million viewers. As a result, far fewer viewers are leaving their sets tuned to CBS after switching off for the night.

O’Donnell left the morning shift in 2019 to become anchor of the “CBS Evening News.” The program remained in third place in the ratings behind “ABC World News Tonight” and “NBC Nightly News,” but performed far better than John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, the anchors who replaced her in 2025 and only lasted a year before they were replaced by Tony Dokoupil.

O’Donnell was content with a new role as a senior correspondent and contributor to “60 Minutes.” She has steered clear of controversies that have occurred at CBS News since Bari Weiss was installed as editor-in-chief, and showed a willingness to step up for big assignments.

O’Donnell’s put-me-in-coach attitude has turned out to serve her well as she was elevated to a full-time correspondent at “60 Minutes” and will soon be the center of a revamped morning program.

O’Donnell joined CBS News in 2011 as chief White House correspondent after a 12-year run at NBC News.

BUENOS AIRES, Sept. 3 (UPI) — Argentina’s declining birth rate has drawn renewed attention after President Javier Milei linked the drop in births to the legalization of abortion during at least two public appearances over the past week.

Milei said Argentina’s population is no longer growing at a rate sufficient to ensure generational replacement because of what he called “that passion for murdering children in their mothers’ wombs.” He added that the trend is costing the country dearly in terms of economic growth and its pension system.

But demographic data and experts consulted by UPI challenge Milei’s assertion, noting that the decline began years before abortion was legalized and reflects broader economic and social factors.

Argentina’s birth rate began to fall in 2014, six years before the country legalized abortion in 2020.

According to official data released Wednesday by UNICEF Argentina, the number of births fell by nearly half over the past decade to 413,135 in 2024 from 777,012 in 2014. The fertility rate has reached its lowest level on record at 1.3 children per woman.

Argentina’s trend is part of a global phenomenon, though the decline has been more pronounced in the country. In 2024, Argentina recorded roughly the same number of births as in 1948, despite having three times as many women of reproductive age.

Sociologist and feminist historian Dora Barrancos said Milei’s argument is part of a broader narrative also found among far-right groups in other countries.

“There is a strong ideological focus on blaming feminists and their policies for the decline in the birth rate. From a historical perspective, that explanation has no basis,” she said.

Gala Díaz Langou, director of the International Panel on Social Progress, also rejected abortion as an explanation for the declining birth rate.

“That argument does not hold up. This is a global, multifaceted process,” she said.

Mariana Isasi, head of the United Nations Population Fund office in Argentina, said the declining birth rate reflects tensions between people’s personal aspirations, economic conditions and the way family life is organized.

A recent UNFPA survey on reproductive intentions in Argentina found that 57% of people between ages 18 and 45 would like to have more children.

“There is a gap between the number of children people have and the number they would like to have. This shows that the desire exists, but the conditions to do so are not always there,” Isasi said.

Isasi said conditions were not necessarily better in previous periods, but people today have more tools to make decisions about motherhood.

Uncertainty about the future is another factor influencing decisions about whether to have children. In addition, 20% of those surveyed said they had difficulty finding a suitable partner with whom to have children.

Isasi also noted that Argentina’s adolescent fertility rate has fallen by more than 50%.

“It is good news that teenage girls can continue their education without becoming mothers and can decide later whether they want to have children,” she said.

Another factor is the postponement of motherhood. The average age at which women in Argentina have their first child is 29.2.

“When motherhood is postponed, people may end up having fewer children over the course of their lives,” Isasi said.

Díaz Langou said some of the factors behind the falling birth rate represent positive changes, while others reflect economic and social difficulties.

Among the positive changes, she cited improvements in contraception that allow women’s reproductive decisions to better reflect their preferences and reduce unintended pregnancies.

Economic conditions and the cost of raising children, however, remain major concerns.

“Raising children is very expensive and is becoming increasingly costly because of the limited availability of public care services in Argentina. This is compounded by precarious employment conditions, which affect the real incomes of many people who have children,” Díaz Langou said.

The cost is also linked to the availability of care services. According to a recent analysis by La Cocina de los Cuidados, an intersectoral group focused on care policies, 48 of the 50 national care policies identified by the organization have been eliminated or defunded since December 2023.

The remaining policies have been repealed, cut back or dismantled under Milei’s administration.

Barrancos places the decline in births within a demographic process that began in the second half of the 19th century and reached Argentina by the end of that century.

She said women began to limit the number of children they had long before the expansion of feminism and the movement for women’s right to make decisions about their own bodies.

Barrancos rejected the idea that the decline in births can be attributed to feminism or the legalization of abortion and disputes that the trend represents a threat.

“There is nothing to fear. As the number of children women want to have declines, other forms of family are also growing, including same-sex families seeking to adopt. The alarmist rhetoric of the far right is incompatible with the historical evidence,” she said.

EXCLUSIVE Great British Bake Off spin off show Extra Slice has been replaced with a new show called Second Helpings which will now run alongside the main show with new hosts too.

Channel 4 are revamping the spin off show for The Great British Bake Off for the first time in 12 years – with new hosts and a show which airs the same day the main show goes out.

Extra Slice, which has been on screen for more than a decade and was fronted by Jo Brand and Tom Allen, will be replaced by a new series called Second Helpings hosted by Bake Off superfan Jon Richardson and Loose Women star Judi Love.

They’ll be joined by celebrity guests and bakers to look at the drama that has happened earlier in the evening on Channel 4. An insider said the plan was part of a major revamp for the show this year and an overhaul which has also seen Nigella Lawson join as a new judge, replacing Prue Leith who quit earlier this year.

“This is going to be a fresh new show, very different in style to Extra Slice,” a source told the Mirror. No strangers to the Bake Off tent, Jon and Judi have both previously taken part in The Great Celebrity Bake Off For Stand Up To Cancer, with varied results.

Confirming her new job, Judi said: “I’ve been lucky enough to be in the tent a few times and work alongside Jon, both were pure joy! Joining the show to talk all things baking and celebrate showstopping bakes, including some unique spins sounds like absolute blast. I can’t wait to get started and of course eat a few cakes or whatever treats they may have.”

Joking about his new job and paying tribute to the previous hosts, Jon, 43, said: “Bake Off is an institution. Jo Brand is a comedy God. Together with Tom Allen, they have made a spin off show that is warm, witty and unique. I pity the poor sap they lure into stepping into those shoes.”

Jo and Tom seem to have taken the news of the revamp well, which has ultimately seen them sidelined after fronting Extra Slice for many years. Jo was first on Extra Slice when it aired on BBC and then continued to work on Bake Off when it moved to Channel 4 in 2017.

The comedian said: “I’ve loved every minute of Extra Slice. The bakers have been brilliant, talented and remarkably calm for people whose pork pies are being discussed on national television. And working alongside my TV husband Tom has obviously been a joy, he’s always been more immaculately presented than anything in the tent.”

Tom, who joined in 2018, added: “I have loved working with the team and with the kindest person in television, Jo Brand. It’s been a joy to meet so many delightful Home Bakers from all over the world and learn about them through their cake creations. Please don’t tell anyone, but I have stolen the whisk.”

The new show will also bring viewers exclusive behind-the-scenes stories and unexpected revelations from those in the know, including Bake Off hosts and judges Alison Hammond, Noel Fielding, Paul Hollywood and new judge Nigella.

Sarah Lazenby from makers Love Productions, said: “We’re delighted to be serving up Second Helpings of Bake Off with comedy pals Jon and Judi. Together they’ll unpack all the gossip and memorable moments from the tent over a cup of tea in Cake Corner.”

Senior Commissioning Editor, Channel 4, Vivienne Molokwu agreed: “We have revamped Extra Slice by giving it a brand-new shape and a brand-new home.

“Second Helpings will be available on the same night as Bake Off meaning viewers don’t have to wait long to chew over what’s gone down in the tent. With the deliciously funny Jon and Judi at the helm we’ll all have a hilarious time talking all things sweet treats”.

Second Helpings will air weekly on Channel 4 alongside the new series of the Great British Bake Off when it begins later this month.

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Fox News Media has parted ways with anchor Maria Bartiromo.

The company announced Thursday she is no longer employed at Fox News and Fox Business Network, effective immediately.

Bartiromo was anchor of the daily Fox Business Network program “Mornings with Maria,” which starting Friday will be called “Mornings with Fox Business.” Her weekend program “Sunday Morning Futures” will continue with fill-in hosts until a permanent replacement is named. Bartiromo has not appeared on any Fox News Media programs since August 9.

“We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter,” a Fox News representative said in a statement, which offered no other details on the reason for her exit. But Bartiromo has been a problematic figure for the network in recent years, despite being a favorite of Fox Corporation Chairman Emeritus Rupert Murdoch.

Bartiromo was one of the network’s staunchest believers in President Trump’s false accusations of voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden. The claims, many of them perpetuated on Bartiromo’s Sunday program, resulted in Fox News paying a $787.5 million settlement to Dominion Voting Systems which sued the network for defamation.

Fox News recently had to issue an apology for comments made by Kevin O’Leary, the entrepreneur and “Shark Tank” personality, who said during an appearance on Bartiromo’s program that opponents of his Utah data center were being funded by the Chinese government.

Bartiromo is a major cheerleader for Trump and her departure is likely to generate speculation that she is headed for a role at the White House. The administration is currently in the process of hiring a new press secretary to replace Karoline Leavitt.

Bartiromo was a protege of the late Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes, who made her a star at CNBC when she became the first woman to report from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Ailes later recruited her to join Fox Business Network in 2013.

Gaza City, Gaza Strip – In the stifling heat of Gaza City, Dr Rizq Sufyan Abo Halima sits in a small tent pitched in an alleyway, waiting for his next patient.

The tent was a last resort for the doctor, given that the high demand and low supply of properties in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel’s genocidal war have made finding an affordable surgery impossible.

“The stifling rise in temperatures was my first challenge,” he told Al Jazeera. “I had to adjust the corners of the tent and lift it at the ends to allow air to pass through.”

His old clinic, Smile One, in Sheikh Zayed City in northern Gaza, was bombed during the early days of the war in 2023.

The 31-year-old built a new clinic in May last year, next to where his current tent is pitched, in Gaza City’s al-Nasr neighbourhood. But three months later, it too was destroyed when Israeli forces assaulted the area, just weeks before the ceasefire last October.

He is now forced to conduct operations and other emergency dental procedures in the tent close to the ruins of his former surgery. When the electricity supply stops, which is frequent, there is little he can do but sit in his tent and wait for the power to come back on.

Finding another office would be the obvious solution, but residential and commercial units are hard to find in Gaza and those few that remain are unaffordable.

More than four in five buildings in Gaza City and northern Gaza have been completely destroyed or severely damaged in Israel’s war, according to the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT).

Fewer than one in five buildings in Gaza can still be used and Israel’s ban on building materials has made repairs impossible. That has created a skewed supply situation, which has made prices of office spaces or homes unaffordable.

“Before the war, I used to rent an entire apartment for my clinic for 500 shekels ($166) a month, but today I cannot afford the prices of remaining apartments at all,” he said. Now, the cost is closer to $1,000.

Heat is better than high costs

Using a tent is the cheapest alternative Dr Abo Halima could find, and he does not want to pass on what he calls the excessive price of building rent to his customers, who are already suffering immense personal and financial hardships.

“If I had rented an apartment for my clinic instead of a tent, the cost of one filling to teeth would have doubled for the patient,” Dr Abo Halima said.

“I am here, enduring the harsh summer heat, so that I can protect people from the high prices that I will inevitably have to charge if I rent an apartment, in addition to the fact that I have no other options at all.”

Dr Abo Halima treats his instruments with care. He sterilises them regularly to protect them from dust and germs and hires a security guard. After all, the thin canvas walls offer little protection from thieves.

Despite his best efforts, the collapsed, resource-starved economy in Gaza means that dental care is a luxury for many patients.

One of them, 25-year-old Yousef Abo Halima, sums up the situation in a few simple words: “I can handle the harsh heat inside the tent, but I certainly cannot afford the high costs of fillings at clinics that operate inside apartments”.

Difficult choices

After Heba Rihan, 23, graduated from Al-Aqsa University with a major in general nursing, she struggled to find work in her field.

So she made an arduous daily journey from the south of the Gaza Strip to the west on foot, looking for work. She eventually found Dr Abo Halima’s clinic in May and began working there.

Now, one of the most regular parts of her job is explaining to patients that the high cost of treatment is due to the scarcity of materials and other issues related to the war and Israel’s siege on Gaza.

“One day [a patient] came in deep pain… When he asked how much the filling cost and was told it was 350 shekels ($116), he didn’t have the money. He asked directly about the tooth extraction, which is only 50 shekels ($17),” she said.

“He decided to extract his original tooth because he could not bear the pain or the cost. That was the most painful moment I’ve ever had here.”

Social media star Amelia Dimoldenberg is making way for a new chapter, ending her beloved celebrity interview series “Chicken Shop Date” after more than a decade.

The British personality, who has disarmed A-list celebrities with her deadpan delivery and brought her distinct interview style to the Oscars red carpet, announced on Thursday that the final episodes of “Chicken Shop Date” are imminent and that new work is on the horizon. “I never thought I’d stop Chicken Shop Date, I thought maybe it would be a part of me forever, and in some way it always will,” Dimoldenberg, 32, said in her Instagram announcement, “but I feel like it’s now time to move on from this adventure and onto a new one.”

Dimoldenberg began “Chicken Shop Date” as a teenager. It first manifested as a column in a youth publication before the host eventually took it to YouTube in 2014. In the years since moving to the online platform, Dimoldenberg became a viral sensation, sitting down for chats and chicken with stars including Cher, Keke Palmer, Charli XCX, Jennifer Lawrence and Andrew Garfield. She has published and produced, via her production company Dimz Inc., more than 100 episodes, with the series’ final installments on the way.

In her Instagram caption, the host reflected on her celebrity subjects over the years.

“I’ve spent my entire twenties sitting across from the most incredible people, people I’d always dreamt of meeting,” she wrote. “All of them charmed me (some more than others) and I definitely charmed them.”

She also wrote that “Chicken Shop Date” has been her “very own romcom” and also reflected on the show’s journey which has made her a staple on the awards circuit. She returned to the Oscars earlier this year to oversee its red carpet coverage.

“The beauty of my interviews is that they look so off the cuff,” she told The Times ahead of the ceremony earlier this year. “I think that’s what people like about me: I’m not going to be doing an in-depth look at their career or ask a very sincere question, but I will have done all my research so that I can ask them something that’s related to their movie or themes of their work or their interests that maybe catches them off guard. I don’t have to take the style of other reporters; I can do it in my own way.”

In the comments section, fellow social media stars and interviewers “Hot Ones” host Sean Evans and Ziwe celebrated Dimoldenberg. “Legendary run Amelia, I’ll be first in line for whatever’s next,” Evans wrote. Dimoldenberg and Evans appeared on each other’s shows in a crossover event in 2023.

As many as 20 million children in 21 countries have experienced online sexual abuse or exploitation each year, according to new findings from the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF.

More than one in five children aged 12 to 17 in countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe have been targeted on digital platforms, according to the UNICEF report released on Thursday.

Researchers surveyed 21,000 children aged 12 to 17 who used the internet across 21 countries between 2020 and 2021, and then again between 2024 and 2025. They also conducted in-depth interviews with 100 young people who have experienced childhood abuse.

Social media facilitated more than half of the abuse cases, according to UNICEF, which cautioned that figures could be inaccurate due to underreporting by children. Less than 1 per cent of all abusive incidents were reported to authorities, the researchers found.

Last week, US social media giant Meta agreed to a landmark $18bn settlement in a major US federal case accusing the company of endangering children. Meta has faced an avalanche of legal cases this year, most arguing that it has deliberately designed its platforms to be addictive and that they have harmed children. The company has now agreed to make major changes to the features of its social media platforms.

What are the key findings of the UNICEF report?

The report estimated that in the periods studied, more than 15 million children were exposed to unwanted sexual content, nine million were asked to engage in sexual conversations or share sexual images against their will, and four million children had sexual images of themselves shared without their consent.

UNICEF said the issue is compounded by the fact that children often don’t recognise abuse or know who to report it to, and fear repercussions if they do. Formal systems can feel distant, complex or intimidating, the report noted.

“The report reveals a painful reality. More than 20 million children across the countries studied were subjected to unwanted explicit sexual content or exploitation online, often in the digital spaces where they learn, play, and connect with friends,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “These experiences cause profound emotional and mental distress. Many children suffer in silence, unsure where to turn for help. We cannot look away.”

Where was data collected?

Information for the report was based on nationally representative survey data collected between 2020 and 2025 from approximately 21,000 internet-using children from the following countries:

• Eastern and South Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania and Uganda 
• Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam
• Latin America and the Caribbean: Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Mexico 
• Eastern Europe: Armenia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia
• South Asia: Pakistan

Where are children being abused?

Abuse often begins in public spaces, such as in schools or local neighbourhoods, before moving to digital spaces which can further facilitate harm.

Social media and messaging platforms enable different stages of abuse, “including initial contact, relationship-building, sexual solicitation, image-sharing, coercion, blackmail and the continued circulation of sexual content”, the report said.

Sometimes abuse takes place solely online.

According to the report’s findings, more than 60 percent of cases occurred on social media platforms, with the majority on Facebook (50 percent), WhatsApp (29 percent), Instagram (24 percent), SnapChat (13 percent) and TikTok (12 percent).

Do children report abuse?

Most children do not seek help if they are being abused. Less than one percent of cases are reported to the police, a social worker or a helpline, while more than four in 10 cases not being disclosed to anyone at all.

“Children are not failing to report; they have correctly worked out that there is nowhere to report to,” Nighat Dad, executive director of the Pakistan-based Digital Rights Foundation, told Al Jazeera.

Dad, whose NGO works to provide safe online spaces in Pakistan, noted that incidents repeatedly occur online because of a “design problem – the message request, the move to a private chat, the reshare, the ability to return after being blocked”.

Many children minimise their experiences or do not recognise when they’ve been abused, she said.

Even when children do speak out, to a close friend, sibling, or parent, doing so may not necessarily stop the abuse or bring perpetrators to account.

UNICEF emphasised that its research interviews were the first time many of the children it interviewed had spoken to someone about the abuse they were subjected to.

Dad also cautioned that Pakistan, for example, is a “low-disclosure country” where notions of family “honour” and other cultural barriers prevent children from disclosing the harm they’ve experienced.

“A girl who speaks risks her phone, her schooling and sometimes her safety, and a boy is expected to cope in silence,” Dad said.

How does gender factor into online abuse?

Perpetrators often play on gender norms when exploiting children. Stigma and blame are used against girls to keep them silent, while boys are expected to cope alone, or threatened by perpetrators.

“Peer cultures and harmful norms around gender or masculinity can further normalise behaviours that cause significant harm, making abuse harder to recognise and address,” UNICEF noted.

What kind of impact does online sexual abuse have on children?

The repercussions are severe, UNICEF said: Children exposed to technology-facilitated sexual abuse and exploitation are four times more likely to have suicidal thoughts and to self-harm, along with higher levels of anxiety.

In Mexico or North Macedonia, for example, the risk of suicidal thoughts or behaviours was more than eight times higher among children who experienced abuse, while in Pakistan the risk of self-harm was more than seven times higher than average, the report found.

Abuse extends well beyond the digital sphere, seeping into children’s everyday lives, schooling and relationships.

What should be done about this?

UNICEF said the onus to protect children online must be placed on governments and technology companies, which must change how online spaces are designed and regulated.

It also highlighted that while children often take steps to protect each other, societies, schools and families must work to shift the burden of protection away from children.

Citing Meta’s recent settlement, Dad acknowledged that design changes, such as better age verification and parental controls, can and should happen.

“For years those of us working outside the US were told these defaults would break the product. Meta has now shown the product can change.”

A spokesperson for Meta told Al Jazeera, “This report is based on surveys from as far back as 2020, before we introduced the protections UNICEF recommends, like automatically defaulting teens into private accounts and preventing adults from messaging teens they’re not connected to.

“While the report doesn’t provide any specific evidence of abuse, we’ll continue to fight child exploitation aggressively across our apps and support law enforcement in prosecuting the criminals behind it.”

The spokesperson also pointed out that Meta-owned WhatsApp is a private messaging service rather than a social media platform. “We don’t have algorithms that make a piece of content more or less likely to be viewed, and you need someone’s phone number or exact username to connect with them for the first time.”

Snapchat and TikTok have not responded to requests for comment for Al Jazeera.

The United States and Iran continue to make competing claims about who has greater control of the critical Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.

Washington claims the strait is open and that dozens of ships, carrying millions of barrels of oil, are passing through each day. US President Donald Trump claimed last month that the US was in “total control” of the waterway, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas is shipped during peacetime, but which has been closed since the US-Israel war on Iran began six months ago.

Iran, however, says the strait remains under its control and is closed except to pre-approved vessels using its designated channels. It has warned that other ships attempting to transit risk being targeted.

So what is really going on in the strait – and what explains the divergent accounts?

What are the latest US claims about the Strait of Hormuz?

The US says shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has significantly increased in recent weeks.

Two US officials told CNN that 40 commercial ships carrying some 18 million barrels of oil passed through the strait under US military escort on Tuesday, in what would be a new wartime record.

Trump gave a similar figure on Monday, saying the US Navy was helping some 30 ships pass through Hormuz every night. He later said the waterway was “under USA control”.

In terms of oil, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that “at least 10 million barrels” were getting through the strait each day, with between 15 million and 17 million on Tuesday.

The assessment comes after US CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper claimed last week that the US military had cleared Hormuz’s transit lanes of sea mines.

Before the war began, an average of around 100 ships and 20 million barrels of oil are estimated to have passed through the waterway each day.

According to figures from PortWatch, this has fallen to an overall average of seven vessels since March.

What does Iran claim about the strait?

Iran has acknowledged that some vessels are getting through the strait, but insists it remains in control of the waterway.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Tuesday said “the enemy managed to get some ships” through Hormuz, but stressed that Iranian forces remain “in complete control of the strait and will not allow it to be opened”.

Ghalibaf accused the US of giving ships “false guarantees” about their ability to cross a southern route in Hormuz, warning that ships that try to do so would be targeted.

The following day, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed two oil tankers had hit mines and were disabled while trying to cross an “illegal route” in the strait. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, claimed an Iranian attack hit a Saudi oil tanker, killing two Filipino sailors.

What does shipping data show?

The latest ship-tracking data paints a different picture than the US claims, with far fewer vessels recorded as transiting the strait.

According to marine analytics firm Kpler, just six vessels crossed the strait on Wednesday, 11 on Tuesday and five on Monday. It put the 10-day average at 13 vessels per day.

Other ship-trafficking services show a similar pattern. Maritime data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence recorded an average of around 12 transits per day from August 26 to September 1, though the latest data may be incomplete “due to a lag in identifying dark transits”, said the firm’s maritime intelligence and research director, Bridget Diakun. This means that some ships are switching off their tracking beacons.

From August 17-23, Lloyd’s List Intelligence recorded “about 14 non-Iranian-linked ships each day”, Diakun told Al Jazeera.

All these figures are far lower than the US claim that 40 ships transited the strait on Tuesday.

The Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC), which monitors threats to shipping in the region, said in a September 1 advisory that commercial traffic through Hormuz was “far below baseline”, despite a “modest uptick from recent lows”.

The advisory put the risk level for Hormuz at “severe”, citing a “continued risk of drifting or uncharted mines”, despite US claims to have cleared the strait of mines.

What explains the discrepancy?

Diakun told Al Jazeera that it is difficult to explain the gap between US-claimed transit figures and those recorded by ship trackers without insight into how the US tallies its own figures.

She said it’s possible the US includes smaller or non-cargo-carrying ships in its total, unlike Lloyd’s, which only counts “cargo-carrying vessels over 10,000 dwt [deadweight tonnage]”.

Eirik Hooper, a senior associate covering the ports and terminals sector for maritime research consultancy Drewry, also pointed to possible differences in how the US counts vessel transits.

“A US operational count plausibly includes everything that moved under or near naval protection: naval auxiliaries, offshore support and tugs, coastal and small craft [and] dhows,” said Hooper, noting that ship-tracking firm Kpler filters out such vessels “on size or cargo grounds”.

Hooper also said the US has access to “satellite, airborne and other sensor coverage plus its own convoy manifests”, which enables it to see vessels not immediately picked up by the normal automatic identification system (AIS) tracking system.

“By late August, the majority of Hormuz crossings were classified ‘dark’ or unknown by route, and AIS data counts often need to be revised to include vessels that switch off their transponders, with confirmed movements backdated,” said Hooper.

More generally, both the US and Iran have an incentive to play up their influence in the strait, the status of which has become a major sticking point in their six-month conflict.

Former US Ambassador Henry Ensher recently told Al Jazeera that he believes the latest cycle of US-Iran confrontation was likely triggered by CENTCOM’s claims to have de-mined that strait, and said “both sides would be well served to stop talking quite so much”.

For more than three decades, Liz Phair and Sleater-Kinney existed in parallel without ever quite meeting. They admired one another from afar, brushed shoulders only in passing, and, in some ways, represented opposing ways of challenging the limits placed on women in indie rock. Phair, who found novel and peerlessly smart ways to write about heterosexual skirmishes, used her ambitions to edge closer to the mainstream; Sleater-Kinney, one of the great duos of American rock, have succeeded in becoming the last band standing from the underground scene in which they emerged.

Both acts are about to share the stage for the first time, co-headlining a tour they’ve cheekily and earnestly named the Flannel and the Fury, with stops across the country, from El Cajon, Calif., to Ocean City, Md., and a night at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre on Tuesday.

Yet, despite having spent more than 30 years orbiting the same world, they have had surprisingly little time together. This interview is one of a few substantial conversations they’ve ever had. It is, at first, slightly stilted. Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney) are in sync as always; Phair is clearly excited, but seemingly unsure of where to place herself in the dynamic. Now all in their 50s, the women have been asking similar questions of the same culture, and are only now getting the chance to compare answers.

“Sorry, I know you’re like, ‘Why aren’t you better friends?’ For me, that’s the point. I’m trying to be better friends,” says Brownstein. “Yeah, talk to us again when tour’s over,” Tucker adds.

Brownstein is sitting in a parking lot in Los Angeles, wearing a cardigan and glasses, people walking past her window, unaware of who’s inside. Tucker calls from her home, a blurred background behind her, wearing a white blouse and lipstick. Phair is at home too, makeup on and hair straightened, various musical instruments on the wall behind her. It’s a few weeks before their co-headlining tour, and Tucker has already loaded up all the equipment. She’s packed her suitcase too, full of socks she’ll throw away by the end of tour, and a wardrobe almost entirely of black.

“This is news to me,” says Brownstein. “I was thinking more of a chocolate brown. I will be all brown town.”

Phair is going for wine-like jewel tones. “A Cab Sav,” to be specific.

Phair, who’s had an on-and-off relationship with touring, is noticeably more nervous than Brownstein and Tucker. “It takes me two or three shows to get into it. At first I’m like, why are you all staring at me?”

Phair had been sitting on the idea of a co-headlining tour with Sleater-Kinney for a few years. She sheepishly says that she didn’t reach out herself, but got her manager to do it while she was working on the second half of her memoir. She’s been keen to share a bill with Sleater-Kinney ever since she heard their 1996 album “Call the Doctor.”

“By then, I’d started to pull back from indie rock,” says Phair. “I had gotten married, and I didn’t know I was pregnant at the time, but I was starting to drift out of this scene, and then they put out this kick-ass record, and I just remember thinking, I kind of want to be back in the game. It inspired me. It stuck with me.”

Phair felt she was atomized from the female coalitions of the ’90s, and that this co-bill might be a way to rectify that. “I’d love to be able to go back and sew it together again,” she says. “Here’s a band I was a fan of that meant something to me and now I can play with them.”

For Sleater-Kinney, Phair has long been more than a neighboring act. Tucker and Brownstein describe her as one of their “biggest inspirations.” Both have the same Phair favorite song: “Divorce Song.” “It’s a perfect song,” says Tucker. “I think I’ve put it on every mixtape I’ve ever made,” Brownstein adds.

By the time Phair released her debut album, “Exile in Guyville,” in 1993, she was the one of the two acts edging toward the mainstream. Within a year, she was on the cover of Rolling Stone.

“I still have a copy of the magazine,” says Brownstein. “We were all so excited. Like, an actual artist made the cover.”

Nirvana had made this small corporate alliance permissible a couple of years earlier, finding a loophole as Cobain wore a T-shirt that read “Corporate Magazines Still Suck” on their Rolling Stone cover. It was a time when an antiauthoritarian stance was the only artistically credible one. Before we started calling one another “performative,” Tucker, Brownstein and Phair came from a time when “poser” was the worst insult and sin. They came from a scene of ideological puritanism.

“You know when people die their life flashes before their eyes, sometimes, it’s like that when I do a deep dive, and I’m like, God, there were a lot of rules. There was a lot of fear. And I don’t think anyone who wasn’t there would be able to picture it,” says Brownstein. “It took us a long time to get over it.”

“OK, can I ask the question? Can I get right in here? Because I want to know,” Phair chimes. “Do you think that’s because there weren’t enough women? You think women would have brought the inclusivity to inclusivity?”

“Unfortunately, no,” replies Tucker.

“We had these all-female festivals in Olympia, and we had our own publicist, and they were like, how dare we?” says Brownstein. “You know, it was just gatekeeping, that now seems sort of repugnant. But it was also a way to establish yourself in opposition to what felt like the only way to be.”

It’s part of why Sleater-Kinney declined an invite to play Lilith Fair, the mainstream precedent for so-called female solidarity in music. One of history’s most famous traveling all-female festivals, Lilith Fair was considered by many in the Riot Grrrl movement to be an early symbol of the commodification of “girl power,” female solidarity aligned with corporate ideals.

Sleater Kinney

(Robin Laananen)

“It seems like they haven’t really given credit to women in an independent milieu who have organized a lot of female-only shows for years,” Brownstein told the Dallas Observer in 1998.

“I think at the time we thought we were too cool to play Lilith,” Tucker reflects.

“I’ll just leave your answer,” says Brownstein.

Then she changes her mind four seconds later.

“I saw the Lilith Fair documentary last year and got FOMO, I kind of regretted not playing” she says. “But at the same time we had a handicap from a small indie punk community that was kind of didactic, there was a real rigidity to what you were and weren’t allowed to do. Even us signing with Matador in the U.K. was considered too big.”

Selling out, they all conclude, is no longer a concern for anyone. Phair’s son, who is Gen Z, often says the phrase “it’s time to get the bag.”

“You know, every artist has the right to get their bag,” says Phair. “I always felt that way and I was especially vilified for it.”

That vilification reached its apex when she released her mainstream-aspiring self-titled album in 2003, an album Sleater-Kinney said they hated in an interview with Rolling Stone that year, and which Pitchfork gave a rare 0.0 score in one of its most notorious reviews.

“I’d be on tour doing 10 interviews a day back-to-back, and I almost had to give these interviewers therapy, because they were so sad about my turn from indie rock,” says Phair.

Phair is adamant she made her mark on “every one of those songs, except maybe ‘Favorite,’” she says, referencing the chintzy, awkwardly phrased track where she sings about her underwear. Maybe it’s a metaphor, but more likely, it is just a song about her underwear. Safe to say it won’t be on the show’s setlist: “I will never play it live.”

The old argument about selling out now sits inside a very different touring economy. Sleater-Kinney and Phair’s co-headlining tour happens to follow a flood of co-headlining tours this year, from indie acts like Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman to big marquee names like Usher and Chris Brown. With higher ticket prices and more competition — not only with other touring bands but with the allures of home comforts — audiences need a bigger draw. Artists want an opportunity to play to big audiences, as well as a better chance of “getting the bag.”

All three artists insist they won’t necessarily bring home the bag, nor is that why they’re doing this.

“All our budget’s gone on to the lighting designer,” jokes Brownstein.

“When I do these interviews with you guys, I get kind of excited and nervous because I feel challenged in the best way,” says Phair. “I think co-headlining bills, it does let you go into bigger venues than you could by yourself. But it also, for me, gives me creative food, like nutrition. It makes me grow.”

Sept. 3 (UPI) — Former Apollo Global Management CEO Leon Black is refusing to appear before the House Oversight Committee to testify on Thursday, instead filing a lawsuit against the committee over its investigation into his connections with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Black filed the lawsuit on Thursday as he attempts to block two subpoenas for him to testify. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the committee’s ranking Democrat, has called on the committee to hold Black in contempt.

The lawsuit argues the subpoenas “exceed [the Office of Government Relations’] delegated authority in seeking private information that bears no legitimate connection to OGR’s legislative purpose.”

In a letter to the committee, Black’s attorneys said “Congress is not entitled to subpoena documents from a private citizen,” calling the subpoenas “invalid.”

Garcia said in a statement on Thursday that Black “funded Epstein’s abuse and trafficking of women.”

“Black gave Jeffrey Epstein over $180 million over six years,” Garcia’s statement reads. “His connections to Epstein and his unwillingness to cooperate are unacceptable. We must hold him in contempt immediately.”

Committee Chairman James Comer said in a statement that the deposition will move forward on Thursday and he will speak with committee members about “next steps.”

“It’s a shame Leon Black is hiding behind litigation rather than provide answers to the American people,” Comer said in a statement.

Black told members of Congress in a closed-door interview in June that he was not aware of the extent of Epstein’s criminal activity and denied being involved in abusing women or sexually abusing minors.

“We want to reiterate that Mr. Black had no awareness of the criminal activities that led to Epstein’s arrest in 2019,” Black’s attorneys said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “Mr. Black never abused a woman. He never was with an underage woman. He never engaged in sex trafficking. He never paid Epstein for access to women. He was never blackmailed by Epstein.”

At least 81 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in the West Bank since the start of the year, according to the UN’s figures. At least 23 of those deaths have occurred in the context of settler attacks.

Three Israelis, both security forces and civilians, have been killed by Palestinians in the West Bank over the same period, the UN says.

The Israeli military has faced mounting criticism for actively participating in settler attacks on Palestinians, standing by, or failing to prosecute those responsible.

On Thursday, Israel’s police force said a 19-year-old settler had been arrested on suspicion of participating in an attack on the Palestinian village of Qusra on Saturday. It marks the first such arrest in weeks of attacks on Qusra.

Dozens of masked settlers descended on the village, surrounding a house while Palestinians were trapped inside, and throwing stones.

Israeli soldiers who were deployed to the scene reportedly detained the trapped Palestinians but not the settlers, allowing them to leave. The Israeli military said troops removed “rioters” and protected residents.

Israel has built about 160 settlements housing 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem – land Palestinians want, along with Gaza, for a future state – during the 1967 Middle East war. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside them.

The settlements are illegal under international law.

In a separate development on Wednesday, Israeli forces demolished the Palestinian village of Khirbet al-Tabban, in the Masafer Yatta area.

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said the village’s 70 residents, including 28 children, were given no warning prior to the demolition and were not allowed to remove their property.

It described the demolition as the most significant in Masafer Yatta since May 2025.

In the 1980s, the Israeli military declared about 3,000 hectares in the South Hebron Hills, which includes Masafer Yatta, as a restricted firing zone for training purposes.

The military says the Palestinian homes there have been built illegally.

In 2022, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled to allow the demolition of homes in the firing zone and the expulsion of their residents, who had argued that such a move violated international law and that their families had been living there since before the State of Israel was established.

B’Tselem says Khirbet al-Tabban is the 66th Palestinian community to be expelled by Israeli authorities since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, which it alleges is part of a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” being carried out in the West Bank.

When the 53rd Telluride Film Festival kicks off Friday high in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, its lineup will span family rupture and sumo wrestling, AIDS and rock stardom, with films touching on astronomy, Rupert Murdoch and extraterrestrial biker gangs — a typically wide-ranging mix for a festival that likes to keep audiences guessing.

For festival director Julie Huntsinger, the films share less a theme than a feeling. “Tenderness is something that I see in a lot of the movies,” she says. “This is a very heartbreaking, tender year.”

Telluride’s intimacy is part of its peculiar power. Smaller and scruffier than the annual film events of Venice, Toronto or New York, the four-day festival has no competition or juried prizes and keeps its lineup secret until the last minute. Celebrities trade red-carpet formality for jeans and flannel, while audiences crisscross town between screenings in a high school auditorium, a Masonic lodge, the county courthouse and half a dozen other spaces pressed into service for the week.

For a festival that can feel this homespun, its awards-season footprint is remarkably large. Last year, five of the 10 eventual best picture Oscar nominees screened there: “Hamnet,” “Bugonia,” “Sentimental Value,” “The Secret Agent” and “Frankenstein.”

This year there are fewer obvious awards heavyweights in the mix, at a time when prestige and independent films have become harder to finance, distribute and sell to audiences. Then again, Telluride has never depended entirely on known quantities; films such as “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Moonlight” arrived with relatively modest expectations and left as major contenders.

“It’s such a quintessential Telluride lineup,” Huntsinger says of this year’s eclectic program. “They kind of always feel that way because they’re so handmade.”

Among the more than 40 films in Telluride’s main program are new works from major directors such as Martin McDonagh, Werner Herzog, Mike Leigh, Danny Boyle and Paweł Pawlikowski. This year’s Silver Medallion tributes — the festival’s signature career honorees — will go to filmmaker Andrew Haigh and actors Sandra Hüller and John Malkovich, who will make his first trip to Telluride.

John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell in Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine”

(Diego Araya Corvalan / Searchlight Pictures)

Haigh, whose films include “All of Us Strangers,” “Lean on Pete” and “45 Years,” returns with “A Long Winter,” adapted from a Colm Tóibín novella and relocated from the Pyrenees to the American Rockies in the 1950s. Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Caitríona Balfe, Kit Connor and Fred Hechinger star as members of a struggling family that begins to unravel after the mother disappears.

Huntsinger calls Haigh deeply humanist. “I don’t know how Andrew is so skilled at getting these performances but that is truly his gift,” she says.

Malkovich comes to Telluride with the dark comedy “Wild Horse Nine,” the latest from McDonagh, writer-director of “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “In Bruges.” Malkovich and Sam Rockwell play veteran CIA operatives who, after helping destabilize Salvador Allende’s government in 1973 Chile, head to Easter Island on a more personal assignment.

“It’s my favorite thing that McDonagh has ever done,” Huntsinger says. “He’s quite incisive. It is a timely film. And Malkovich is extraordinary.”

Hüller returns after a breakout 2023 Telluride, where she brought both “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest.” She has another two films in the lineup this year: Markus Schleinzer’s “Rose,” in which she plays a woman passing as a male soldier during Europe’s Thirty Years’ War, and Pawlikowski’s “Fatherland” as Erika Mann on a journey back to postwar Germany with her father, the author and Hitler critic Thomas Mann.

Huntsinger seems as taken with Hüller herself as with her artistry — “so much intelligence and compassion for human beings,” she says.

Sandra Hüller and Hanns Zischler in the movie “Fatherland.”

(Agata Grzybowska / Mubi)

Elsewhere, Ira Sachs’ “The Man I Love,” starring Rami Malek, Tom Sturridge and this year’s guest director Rebecca Hall, looks back at New York’s queer creative community during the AIDS crisis. In Simon Stone’s “Elsinore,” Andrew Scott plays “Chariots of Fire” star Ian Charleson, who took on the role of Hamlet at the National Theatre while dying of AIDS. Scott’s performance is already generating early awards-season attention.

Huntsinger hopes audiences won’t overlook Arthur Harari’s “The Unknown,” an uncanny body-swapping drama starring Léa Seydoux that uses its genre premise to explore questions of identity and selfhood. “It is really dense and obtuse but I think it is rewarding and I hope people take up the challenge,” she says.

Telluride has long emphasized nonfiction and this year is no exception. Among the higher-profile entries are “Pete Townshend: Behind Blue Eyes,” a portrait of the Who guitarist and songwriter, and Nanette Burstein’s “Carl Sagan: We Are Made of Star Stuff,” about the astronomer and science communicator. The slate also includes Bryan Fogel’s endurance-sports documentary “The Row”; Pegah Ahangarani’s Iran-focused “Rehearsals for a Revolution”; and Mark Cousins’ 16-hour “The Story of Documentary Film.”

“Everest: The Other Side,” from filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, follows mountaineers Hilaree Nelson and Jim Morrison as they prepare to climb Everest’s north face and attempt an unprecedented ski descent. Chin and Vasarhelyi won an Oscar for 2018’s “Free Solo,” their nerve-shredding chronicle of Alex Honnold’s ropeless ascent up El Capitan.

Huntsinger calls the new film “an even more complex, emotional, deep and profound examination of what we call the call of the wild.” After seeing it, she says, she ran into Chin and blurted out, “I’m so glad you’re alive.”

The looming subject of artificial intelligence will also get its own moment in Telluride. A conversation called “The Humanity Dilemma” will examine what the festival calls the “species-level event” of AI’s rise and whether an AI-dominated future is inevitable. “I’m very worried about AI,” Huntsinger says.

For all the films Telluride has announced, the one that might generate the most chatter is still under wraps.

While Telluride routinely reserves “TBA” slots for popular repeat screenings, it has occasionally used them to spring an unannounced title on audiences — as it did last year with “Frankenstein.” This year it has set aside a prime Sunday night slot for just such a surprise: a world premiere involving, Huntsinger says, some “very known names.”

“Do not miss it,” she teases. “You just won’t see this one coming and your jaw will be on the ground for the entire length of the film.” Beyond that, Huntsinger falls back on the festival’s unofficial motto: “Underpromise, overdeliver.”

Inevitably, there will be guessing. One possibility is “The Social Reckoning,” a follow-up to “The Social Network” directed by its Oscar-winning screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. This one’s about Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz and stars Jeremy Strong, Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White. It’s due from Sony on Oct. 9. The film was still undergoing reshoots in mid-July.

Huntsinger volunteers one thing: The mystery film is not Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Digger,” a gonzo satire starring Tom Cruise, Hüller, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman and Jesse Plemons. She says Iñárritu — whose last film, “Bardo,” had a rocky reception on the 2022 festival circuit — was adamant that the decision wasn’t about avoiding festivals.

“As I understand it, there’s a big twist that he would like audiences to discover as close together as possible,” she says of “Digger,” which premieres in London Sept. 22 before opening Oct. 2.

Two of last year’s biggest Oscar contenders, “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another,” also skipped fall festival launches, raising questions about how essential such festivals — Telluride among them — remain to an awards campaign.

Huntsinger understands why a studio might hesitate to expose a film to scrutiny months before release. “The stain can happen if something gets savaged very far ahead of a release,” she says. “There’s a lot at stake.”

But she isn’t convinced the model is broken. She still believes the smaller, more challenging films Telluride tends to champion have “genuine shots” in the Oscar race.

“Getting selected is the prize,” Huntsinger says.

After all the strategizing and prognosticating, what no one can predict is which films will actually connect once audiences arrive.

“I don’t know what people are going to fall in love with,” Huntsinger says. “People have become like cats rather than dogs. You just never know what they’re going to go for.”

Sept. 3 (UPI) — Nvidia announced on Thursday that it has agreed to acquire open-source AI company Hugging Face for $12.9 billion.

The acquisition will bring a platform that is used by 18 million people, including researchers and developers, under Nvidia’s ownership. Hugging Face has been used to share more than 3 million models, 500,000 datasets and 1 million applications, Nvidia said in a blog post.

“Over the past decade, Clem [Delangue], Julien [Chaumond], Thomas [Wolf] and the team at Hugging Face have built something remarkable: a vibrant home for the open model developer community,” Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, wrote in the blog post. “Hugging Face will remain an open platform for the entire AI ecosystem. Developers will choose the models they want, the frameworks they want, the clouds and inference service providers they want and the computing platforms they want.”

Nvidia adds that Nvidia compute will not be required to use Hugging Face.

In July, Hugging Face was targeted by OpenAI chatbots that went rogue, hacking the firm in what was described as a “security incident.”

OpenAI said its engineers had asked AI models to find solutions for ExploitGym, a benchmark that tests AI agents’ capability to exploit vulnerabilities in a system. The models were meant to perform this task within a sandbox but escaped, accessing the open internet and ultimately restricted information.

With restricted information, the AI models were able to cheat the vulnerabilities test and obtain an access code from Hugging Face’s servers.

Hugging Face CEO Delangue said there was “no malicious intent” by OpenAI. OpenAI said it took containment actions in response to the incident.

Kyiv, Ukraine – Russian Aerospace Forces (RAF) chief Aleksandr Chayko barely survived a blast that killed his son-in-law.

Chayko, who turned 55 in the last week of July, was reportedly having a belated birthday party on August 1 at a high-end Italian restaurant in central Moscow.

But the celebration was cut short, as an ‌unidentified woman carrying a homemade bomb tried to enter the restaurant. She was stopped by a security ‌guard, according to Russia. The explosive in her bag detonated, killing at least five people.

The Kremlin did not confirm the casualties, but blamed the attack on the “bloody tentacles” of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government.

Kyiv has not commented on the attack.

Russia’s space programme in the firing line

Chayko helped lead Russia’s intervention in Syria and commanded Russian forces north of Kyiv in early 2022.

Ukraine has accused him of war crimes.

In May, President Vladimir Putin appointed him commander-in-chief of the RAF that controls the military component of Russia’s space programme.

The RAF’s satellites and ground-space facilities have been used for gathering intelligence, navigation, and supporting the coordination of ground troops and drone and missile attacks.

These facilities are located mostly in western Russia, and new Ukrainian long-range drones and missiles are capable of striking them.

“Key factories are few, and they all are within the reach of Ukrainian missiles,” Nikolay Mitrokhin, a researcher with Germany’s University of Bremen, told Al Jazeera.

“These attacks may result – and certainly will – in the problems with all of Russia’s space programme, including specifically civilian and international programmes,” he said.

‘Long-range sanctions’

In late June, Ukrainian drones hit the giant space communications centre in the leafy, tranquil town of Dubna outside Moscow that managed reconnaissance satellites and processed military data.

The strike damaged a 32-metre (105-foot) satellite antenna, hardware modular complexes, central control consoles and technical buildings.

“Our long-range sanctions against Russia for this war once again reached the Dubna space communications centre,” Zelenskyy said on June 30.

Russian authorities said an unspecified building in Dubna was damaged and a six-month-old baby died.

Ukrainian drones also struck three smaller space communication centres in western Russia and annexed Crimea.

“These centres are very expensive, very labour-consuming from the viewpoint of construction,” Anatoly Zak, a United States-based author and one of the foremost experts on the Russian space programme, told Al Jazeera. “It’s very difficult to transfer their functions to another infrastructure” because they manage geostationary satellites “tied” to a certain location.

So far, there have been no signs that the satellites lost orbit or became unmanageable, but “behind the scenes there are for sure serious communication problems”, Zak said.

Ukraine attacks ‘when there’s a fully-fuelled rocket on the launchpad’

On August 23, swarms of Ukrainian drones flew more than 1,800km (1,120 miles) to reach Russia’s northwestern Arkhangelsk region.

Some 40 drones were downed, regional authorities claimed, but at least two reached the area near Plesetsk, Russia’s military cosmodrome, or spaceport, and launchpad for intercontinental ballistic missiles and rockets carrying military satellites.

No harm was done. A day later, Roscosmos, the state-run space corporation, reported the successful launch of a rocket with unnamed “military satellites”.

The timing of the Ukrainian attack – along with two more strikes earlier this year – was calculated to strike a booster rocket that had just been fuelled and lifted for takeoff.

“There have been three attempts to air-raid Plesetsk, and not just air-raid, but air-raid at the moment when there’s a fully-fuelled rocket on the launchpad that is about to start,” Zak said.

The attempts were serious enough to be publicly reported to Putin.

“Our [Ukrainian] ‘friends’ did everything to make this launch not happen,” Dmitry Bakanov, head of the Kremlin-run Roscosmos space agency, told Putin in April.

At least a dozen drones are necessary to damage Plesetsk’s launch table or rocket assembly shop, according to Pavel Luzin, an analyst with the Jamestown Foundation, a think tank in Washington, DC.

The military satellites launched from Plesetsk are part of the Rassvet (Dawn) satellite fleet designed to rival and replace Starlink satellite modems by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, Moscow claimed.

The world’s most launched spaceship

Sputnik 1, the Earth’s first artificial satellite, was the size of a fitness ball, and had nothing but a radio transmitter and three silver-zinc batteries inside.

The “Sputnik moment” was the US’s realisation, after the Soviet Union launched the first satellite in 1957, that the USSR had taken the lead in space technology and science.

But Sputnik 1 was launched on a modified R-7 – the world’s first intercontinental ballistic missile, designed to carry a hydrogen bomb across continents. The same rocket technology that could deliver a nuclear warhead into the US had been repurposed to put a satellite into orbit.

The R-7 became a prototype of the Soyuz booster rockets, the world’s most launched spaceships that made Soviet and then Russian launches routine and precise, unlike US launches of space shuttles.

“Rain or shine or sleet or snow don’t matter,” Mark Bowman, deputy director of NASA’s human spaceflight programme, told this reporter in 2007 at the Baikonur spaceport, the world’s oldest in southern Kazakhstan that Russia leases.

The only place where the Soyuz rockets are produced is the Progress Rocket and Space Centre in the Volga River city of Samara – and Ukrainian missiles struck it on August 15. The attack ignited a fire and slightly damaged one of the facilities.

“So far, we see that the damage in Samara wasn’t critical,” Luzin said.

If it becomes critical, Russia would be unable to manufacture the Soyuz rockets, but the existing stash of rockets would still last a year, he said.

Communist Moscow never advertised the military component of its space programme, emphasising its “peaceful exploration of space”.

The USSR was first to send a dog, a man and a woman into space, and to launch the world’s first space station. In 1988, its Buran space shuttle became the first to complete an unmanned orbital flight and land automatically.

Its unmanned probes soft-landed on Venus and Mars and took the first photos of the moon’s dark side.

Some key figures of the Soviet space programmes were born in what is now Ukraine, and a string of crucial design bureaus and manufacturing facilities kept working there after the 1991 Soviet collapse.

Following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the subsequent breakdown in Russian-Ukrainian relations, Ukrainian aerospace facilities severed their longstanding ties with Moscow, disrupting decades-old supplies of booster rockets, guidance systems, electronics and other components.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine also deepened the international isolation of its civilian space programme, with Western governments and space agencies suspending or abandoning several planned missions and partnerships.

After the war began in 2022, the European Space Agency terminated its cooperation with Roscosmos on ExoMars, removing the Russian-built Kazachok landing platform from the mission designed to search for signs of past life on Mars.

The same year, Berlin switched off its X-ray telescope on Spektr-RG, a Russia-German space observatory that maps clusters of galaxies and surveys the universe for black holes.

For the sake of seizing insignificant areas in eastern Ukraine, “Putin will waste the Russian space programme the way he wasted the rest of the Soviet legacy”, analyst Mitrokhin believes.

Yet Russia has not been completely cut off from international space cooperation.

Despite the collapse of some partnerships, NASA and Roscosmos have continued to work together on board the International Space Station, while Moscow has turned to China and other non-Western partners for new projects.

EMILY Ratajkowski was spotted passionately kissing Dua Lipa’s ex during a romantic Rome getaway.

The model’s son Sly, five, who she shares with ex husband Sebastian Bear-McClard was seen holding her hand amid her PDA with Romain Gavras, 45.

The Brit, 35, took to Instagram in February to share a series of loved-up photos with the French director.

And it appears their romance has gone from strength to strength, with the pair looking blissfully in love during their latest holiday.

Emily, dressed in a black frock with a plunging neckline, could be seen staring adoringly at her man as they strolled the streets.

She pulled on a pair of sunglasses and swept her brunette hair back with her hands for an effortlessly chic look, but couldn’t take her eyes off Romain.

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After their smooch the pair were seen holding hands, with Emily also safely holding onto her son.

Romain carried a green shopping bag in his other hands as they continued to explore the Italian capital.

Emily hard launched the pair’s romance on social media earlier this year.

At the time, the model looked stunning in a skimpy red dress as she cheekily stuck out her tongue for the camera.

Another snap showed Romain gently caressing her head and wrapping his arm around her while she wore a figure hugging backless dress and held a drink in her hand.

Emily divorced movie producer Sebastian in 2022.

She previously had flings with Harry Styles, Shaboozey, and comedian Eric André.

Meanwhile, Romain previously dated Dua Lipa but after nearly a year together, the couple split up in 2023.

An insider said at the time: “Dua and Romain have gone their separate ways after a summer of love.

“She has blinkers on when it comes to her career and the pair ended the relationship before things turned sour”.

Sept. 3 (UPI) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez rejected allegations Thursday that his government had forewarning of the influx of more than 70,000 migrants into the disputed territory of Ceuta, a tiny Spanish enclave on the north African coast.

“It’s absurd to think that the government knew and did nothing,” Sánchez told lawmakers in Parliament in Madrid.

“We have examined all of the messages, statements and verbal reports from the state security apparatus. I can assure you that none of them went any further than a description of the data or routine reporting, and that absolutely none of them predicted the probability or the scale of what ended up occurring,” said Sánchez.

Sánchez’s comments came after tens of thousands of people and opposition parties took to the streets to protest his government’s handling of the July 30-31 border crossing.

The Opposition People’s Party called for Sanchez’ resignation, accusing the government of deception and a whitewash.

The developments followed reports that Spanish officials were advised a ruling by a Spanish court could see the number of arrivals by sea increase because it had been misinterpreted by many migrants as meaning they would permitted to remain in Ceuta if they swam from Morocco.

Saying the government had “nothing to hide,” Sanchez vowed to publish all the information and reports that officials had access to.

All but about 10,000 of the migrants have since returned to Morocco but the matter has snowballed into a serious domestic and diplomatic issue for the government that has impacted ties with Rabat and its EU neighbors amid allegations Morocco, which claims Ceuta as Moroccan, had done nothing to stop the mass crossings and may have encouraged it.

Sánchez said Thursday that he would seek assistance from Brussels, including requesting the EU border agency Frontex to set up a permanent operation in Ceuta and the establishment of a special Europol task force to monitor illegal migration into the enclave.

He said he would also ask for assistance to secure the border of Melilla, another coastal Spanish territory about 180 miles southeast of Ceuta.

Sánchez doubled down of his rejection of those claims, repeating statements made Monday in which he said there was no evidence Morocco was behind the inlflux.

“Lots of people think that the Moroccan authorities provoked this crisis. Up to this point, no one has provided any definitive proof to the government that would allow us to conclude that this mass border crossing… was planned or executed by the Moroccan authorities,” said Sánchez who stressed that the matter was still under investigation.

The crisis strained relations with Italy which temporarily sealed its border with Spain on July 31 and saw Foreign Minister Manuel Albares summon the Italian ambassador after Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani accused Madrid of running a immigration policy that “encourages human trafficking.”

Sánchez responded by noting that Ceuta is not part of Europe’s common travel area, that Italy more allowed illegal migrants to enter than Spain and criticized Spain’s EU partners for offering “very little support” to Madrid.

Guendouzi and Greenwood made provocative gestures towards the Lyon ‌supporters after their Champions League playoff.

UEFA ‌has opened disciplinary proceedings ⁠against ⁠Fenerbahce’s Matteo Guendouzi and Mason Greenwood following the second leg of ⁠a Champions League playoff match at Olympique Lyonnais, the ⁠Turkish club said.

“Our club will present the necessary defences before the ⁠relevant UEFA bodies ⁠in order to protect the rights and interests of our players and Fenerbahce during ⁠this process,” the Turkish outfit added in a ⁠statement on Thursday.

French midfielder Guendouzi and English forward Greenwood allegedly made provocative gestures towards the Lyon ‌supporters, which was followed by a brawl as Guendouzi left the pitch, following Fenerbahce’s 2-1 win last month.

It led to clashes between players and coaching staff on and off the football pitch, and the visiting team’s celebrations descended into chaos.

Fenerbahce said they ⁠are also under scrutiny.

“Everything from that match is still with the disciplinary body,” a ‌UEFA spokesperson said.

Fenerbahce progressed to the league phase of the Champions ‌League ‌with a 3-2 aggregate victory.

Long Lost Family is back with a new emotional episode on Thursday, where three brothers are reunited with a long-lost sister

A Long Lost Family guest makes an astonishing discovery on Thursday’s episode.

The emotional ITV series, hosted by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, sees the hosts strive to reunite family members who have never met, including twins separated at birth and young mothers who had to give up their babies.

In an exclusive clip obtained by the Mirror of Thursday’s episode, it sees guest Marie looking for her birth father. Marie is a train conductor working for Greater Anglia railways. She lives in Norfolk where she has lived her whole life.

It comes as Thursday’s episode also sees a guest called Avril, 77, reunited with her daughter after 60 years despite being told she’d never find her.

Marie grew up with her grandparents after her 17-year-old mother couldn’t look after her. She had a good childhood in a busy household as her grandparents had six children still living at home when they took on Marie.

The guest had some contact with her mother growing up but she was largely absent from her life. When Marie was 16, she wanted to know more about her birth father and confronted her mother. Marie recalls: “I just blurted it all out: ‘Where’s my dad?’, I wanted to know about my father!”

Marie was surprised to learn her birth father’s name and the fact he had visited her in hospital when she was born. In another shock, Marie discovered that her birth father had chosen her name. She admits: “That really touched me. Must have cared for me to do that.”

Over her life, Marie has often wondered about her birth father, wondering where he is and did he have more children, meaning she could have long-lost siblings. Marie emotional admits: “Even on the train, even at work, I’m constantly looking at people all the time wondering are they related to me.”

Sadly, Long Lost Family’s intermediaries are unable to find any trace of James in the UK but after uncovering his birth certificate they discover that before meeting Marie’s mother, James had been married and had three sons – Anthony, Paul and Ian.

The team manage to locate the brothers living in the same county as Marie, Norfolk. While Anthony wishes to meet Marie, he does not want to appear on camera, so Nicky goes to meet with Paul and Ian, who admit they didn’t really know their father or know where he is after years of trying to find him.

In an exclusive clip of the moment, it sees Nicky tell Paul and Ian about Marie, explaining that she works as a train conductor for Greater Anglia railways and lives in Norfolk too.

This discovery leaves the siblings floored especially as one of the brothers remarks: “I get the train to go to work in the mornings”, confirming it’s Greater Anglia railways. He adds: “So she could well be on that train taking my ticket, amazing.”

The brother is then shown a photograph of Marie, who he instantly recognises, as he exclaims: “Wow. I recognise her on the train. Yeah. Now I see the face, yeah. That’s amazing.”

He adds: “A couple of weeks ago, I actually had a slightly longer conversation with her. Yeah, talking about how they’re changing the timetables. I’ve always wanted to have a sister” to which Nicky sweetly replies: “Well you’ve got one and you never knew it!”

To which the guest admits: “No, 60 years I didn’t know. I live so close as well, all under our doorstep.”

The other sibling then reveals he recognises Marie from the train too, saying: “I think I may have done, I may have walked past, that’s uncanny! Looking forward to seeing her.”

Viewers will have to wait and see how Marie takes the news, and of course, the heartwarming and emotional reunion.

Long Lost Family returns at 9pm to ITV and ITVX on Thursday 3rd September