News Desk

With the ruins of the Gaza Strip lying around him, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz last week renewed his push to set up illegal settlements in the battered territory’s north.

“I intend to establish three Nahal outposts, which is also a military entity, in those places that were in northern Gaza,” Katz told Channel 14, referring to bases that combine farming with an armed presence in a bid to consolidate control over a territory.

The minister said, in his view, establishing these settlements would enhance security – but execution would have to be “in the right way, at the right timing, while coordinating”.

It was not the first time the member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party has made such remarks. In December, Katz said the Israeli military would “never leave all of Gaza” but “in due course” would establish Nahal posts despite a United States-brokered plan stipulating a full Israeli military withdrawal and barring the re-establishment of Israeli settlements.

His comments also echoed a recent statement by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that “the groundwork to establish three settlements in the North Gaza area” had been completed. Smotrich, who also holds the portfolio of “settlement administration” in the Ministry of Defence, has repeatedly called for the full occupation of the Gaza Strip.

Such a push has been central to the goals of Israel’s settler movement, which in January 2024 organised a conference attended by government ministers to advocate for the re-establishment of settlements in the Strip.

“This is their ideology. They want the Gazans out of Gaza and they want to settle there like they settle in the West Bank,” former Israeli diplomat Alon Liel told Al Jazeera.

All settlements on Palestinian land are illegal under international law, but settlement expansion and annexation have been a core objective of Netanyahu’s hard-right government. In recent years, it has carried out unprecedented settlement expansion, resulting in the forced displacement of dozens of Palestinian communities and the de facto annexation of land in the occupied West Bank.

Issam Younis, a prominent Palestinian human rights defender and director of the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, said he was not surprised by Katz’s latest comments. “It was very clear from day one in the genocide that the main goal was to make life impossible in Gaza by destroying everything,” he told Al Jazeera. “It’s a race for time – take over land, starve Gaza and deny it any chance at life, then expel the population and build settlements.”

Younis said Israel’s conduct during its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza and the “ceasefire” agreed in October under the US plan clearly showed that expelling the population is the main objective of the Israeli government.

“Dehumanising statements by senior Israeli officials reaffirmed this: calling Palestinians in Gaza ‘human animals’, saying that there are no civilians in Gaza, then saying clearly that the objective was to expel the population and create settlements in the Gaza Strip,” Younis added.

Israel made no secret of that objective. In early 2025, the government announced it was setting up an agency to oversee the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from Gaza as part of a plan proposed by Katz.

The announcement drew widespread international condemnation. Experts warned that such a move would amount to a war crime. Last month, the Israeli government decided to rebrand the agency and replace talk of “voluntary migration” with the “free movement plan” while using “language deemed more acceptable internationally”, according to Israeli media.

The policy enjoys widespread support in Israel. A 2025 poll commissioned by the University of Pennsylvania found that 82 percent of Jewish Israelis support the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza.

Meanwhile, nine months into a “ceasefire”, during which Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,127 Palestinians, conditions in Gaza remain unbearable.

The United Nations says at least 265 children have been killed during the period while hunger persists and the debilitated healthcare system continues to suffer acute medicine shortages.

“Only 20 percent of what Gaza needs has been allowed to enter – things related to water and health and to life in general,” Younis said, referring to Israeli restrictions on aid entering the Strip. “Gaza is being starved and parched for water.” For him, the aim is clear: expulsion, “even if they call it voluntary migration”.

Liel said Israel is doing the minimum on the humanitarian track to avoid upsetting US President Donald Trump, who has set up what he has named the Board of Peace to oversee the administration and reconstruction of the Strip.

“I don’t think that Israel wants Gaza to be reconstructed like Trump is dreaming,” he said.

Palestinians have been increasingly frustrated with the Board of Peace’s failure to pressure Israel or implement the recovery and construction plans outlined in Trump’s “ceasefire” plan, including the entry of critically needed assistance.

“The Board of Peace is complicit until it moves to rebuild Gaza immediately,” Younis said. “Otherwise, it would not be allowing Israel to create the conditions that make life impossible for Palestinians in Gaza, which will result in expulsion.”

Israeli forces have also expanded the “Yellow Line”, demarcating Israeli-controlled areas within Gaza, to encompass 70 percent of the Strip. “We are not retreating from the ‘Yellow Line’, unequivocally, as long as Hamas does not truly disarm, and even after that, we remain inside Gaza,” Katz told Channel 14 during his tour of northern Gaza, saying the destruction of the territory was “the result of a deliberate policy”.

The settlement push comes as Israel is gearing up for elections, which will be held on October 27.

According to Liel, Katz and other ministers are openly talking about building settlements in Gaza because their calculation is that it would boost their electoral chances amid a shift to the right by the electorate.

Many observers expected the weeks leading up to the polls to be accompanied by a serious escalation in Gaza, the West Bank and other Israeli “war fronts” without changing the political situation in Israel.

“The wish of this Israeli government was that as many [Palestinians from Gaza] will leave. Hopefully voluntarily. If not, Israel will help, and this is the reason you don’t want to rebuild Gaza,” Liel said.

‘King [Messi] abdicates, but the prince [Lamine Yamal] takes the throne!’
Spain fans filled the streets of New York with chants and songs ahead of the World Cup final against defending champions Argentina. Spain’s supporters are confident a new generation can bring the trophy home.

BBC Breakfast hosts Lewis Vaughan Jones and Luxmy Gopal shared some sad news on Sunday

The hosts of BBC Breakfast announced a heartbreaking death during the latest show.

Lewis Vaughan Jones and Luxmy Gopal were on the red sofa on Sunday (July 19) to deliver the latest headlines from across the UK and around the world.

Later in the programme, the presenters announced the death of beloved Australian actor Terence Donovan. The 90-year-old actor was best known for playing Doug Willis in Neighbours, Senior Detective Mick Peters in Division 4, and Detective Sergeant Vic Cameron in Cop Shop.

Terence’s son, Jason Donovan, confirmed the news on Instagram, posting a joint statement with his brother, Paul.

The statement read: “It is with great sadness but also a sense of celebration of a long, full life that myself and my brother Paul announce our father Terence died peacefully last night here in Melbourne.

“Obviously, this is an extremely emotional time, and we ask you to respect our privacy. We want to pay tribute to all the wonderful staff at Cabrini Hospital, Melbourne, who looked after him in his final days.”

Jason and Paul added, “Our dad was a huge character. Larger than life. He was our best friend… Our world. We will desperately miss him, but we take comfort knowing we were all here by his side in his final days.

“Knowing that he lived life to the max. Knowing that in life it’s either a daring adventure… or nothing at all! How lucky are we to have a dad like you.”

Announcing the news on the latest episode of BBC Breakfast, Luxmy shared: “The Australian actor Terence Donovan has died at the age of 90.”

Lewis added: “He was best known for his role as Doug Willis in Neighbours, who returned to the show several times over the years. His son, the actor and singer Jason Donovan, announced the news on social media.

“[He] described his father as a huge character and his best friend, saying he lived life to the max.”

Jason Donovan has been supported on social media after announcing his father’s death, with Dannii Minogue writing: “I am so sorry you have lost your father.”

Someone else added: “Sending lots of love to the family at this very sad time. What a legacy to leave, an absolute trailblazer. Fly high, Sir Terence.”

A third said, “So sorry for your loss, Jason and Paul. What an absolutely fantastic actor and man your dad was! Sending love and condolences to you all.”

Another fan wrote: “What an amazing man, thinking of you and all your family at this difficult time.”

BBC Breakfast airs daily on BBC One at 6am

Who: Spain vs Argentina
What: FIFA World Cup 2026 final
Where: New York-New Jersey Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States
When: Sunday at 3pm (19:00 GMT)
How to follow: We will have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 15:00 GMT before our live text commentary stream.

Chaos vs calm. Godfather vs heir. World number one vs world number two.

The storylines could not be any better.

As the sun shines on the New York skyline, football’s biggest stage gets ready for its perfect closing act: the FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and Spain.

It is a gift for the football purists, a clash of philosophies, if you will – Argentina, the reigning champions who have made a habit of embracing the suffering, and Spain, the European winners who have taught the world a masterclass in control.

On one hand is the unstoppable, almost unnatural force of Lionel Messi – whose movements on the field are no less than spells from a magic wand – and on the other is Lamine Yamal, the teen prodigy whose flair on the field and flamboyant personality off it show signs of a superstar in the making.

So when the confetti falls and the fireworks erupt, will it be Argentina lifting a historic second straight world title, or will the golden generation of Spain bring back joy after 16 years of waiting?

Here’s all to know about the seismic showdown:

How did Spain and Argentina reach the World Cup final?

Spain topped Group H with seven points, beating Saudi Arabia and Uruguay and drawing with Cape Verde. They began their knockout campaign with a 3-0 thrashing of Austria in the round of 32 before beating Portugal 1-0 with a late goal in an Iberian football derby in the round of 16.

Their route to the semifinals was confirmed with a late 2-1 win over Belgium, and then they stunned favourites France, taming their attack to win the semifinal 2-0.

Argentina had a strong showing in the first round, topping Group J by beating Algeria, Austria and Jordan. In the round of 32, they were pushed to their limits before squeezing past Cape Verde 3-2 in extra time, and came from two goals down to beat Egypt 3-2 in a controversial last-16 contest which drew allegations of officiating bias.

Against Switzerland in the quarterfinals, they again played a full 120 minutes before securing a 3-1 win and broke English hearts with a late 2-1 comeback win in a highly charged semifinal encounter.

Marvellous Messi’s Last Dance?

If there were not already enough new records Messi has made in the past month, the 39-year-old diminutive forward is set to add another to his tally – the oldest outfield player to feature in a World Cup final.

It could also be his last.

Leo – as Argentinians commonly call him – has not spoken about his future, but with an illustrious career, headlined by his 2022 World Cup triumph, this year’s tournament seems to be his last, especially if he fulfils a rare back-to-back World Cup title dream.

“He has made history. He is a legend,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said of Messi, one of the greatest players to have graced the football field.

A decade ago, frustrated after a Copa America final loss to Chile, his fourth defeat in a final for Argentina, Messi hung up his boots. The narrative then centred around the fact that despite all his success at the club level, international glory had eluded Messi.

But fast forward to 2026, the Argentina captain has led his team to successive World Cup finals and is bidding for his first Golden Boot – a twist of fate even Messi would not have imagined.

“To have been able to get to a final in the way that he has in this moment, at the age of 39, I think it is incredible,” Scaloni added. “That is why I said we should enjoy having him, because look at what happened with Diego [Maradona] and how we ended up missing him.

“We still have Leo, and we should appreciate that. He is the historic figure and the legend, as are all these players who have given us these marvellous years.”

The little magician from Rosario will lead Argentina’s charge on Sunday, as La Albiceleste aim to become just the third team in the tournament’s history to retain the World Cup after Italy (1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1958 and 1962).

Slick Spain out to silence Argentina

Unlike Argentina, whose game largely depends on the individual brilliance of Messi, Spain are a team built solidly on the collective.

La Roja love to keep the ball and suppress the attacking potential of any opponent.

Their organised, sturdy defence has kept six clean sheets, already the most by any side at a single World Cup tournament, and leaked just one goal en route to the final.

On Sunday, Spain will carry more hunger than fear against Argentina, “the team to beat”, as described by captain Rodri.

“We’ve been through a gradual process of growth, where we’ve seen a team mature over the last few years,” Rodri said. “This team and this ⁠generation were going to make a name for themselves … and now reaching the final of a World Cup.

“So we’re pleased with the journey the team has taken, but we’re not stopping there; our ambition goes much further.”

The bookmakers’ favourite from the beginning, Spain have played like a side that knows best how to deal with pressure. They produced the performance of the tournament in their stunning semifinal defeat of France, silencing Les Blues’ valiant attack.

Rodri said while that display was “one of the best” the current Spanish side had ever produced, they would need to scale new heights to defeat Argentina and clinch their first world title since 2010.

“I think we have to raise the level because they are the champions. And I’m really confident that we can do [it],” he added.

Spain vs Argentina predictions

The Opta supercomputer views Spain as the favourites in the final, with a 45 percent probability of winning in 90 minutes. It predicts a 26 percent probability of Argentina winning in regulation time, while there is a 29 percent probability of the match going to extra time or penalties.

Overall, Spain have a 59.56 percent chance of winning the 2026 World Cup, while Argentina have a 40.44 percent probability of retaining the title they won in Qatar four years ago.

Who are the referees for Spain vs Argentina?

• Referee: Slavko Vincic (Slovenia)
• Assistant referee 1: Tomasz Klancnik (Slovenia)
• Assistant referee 2: Andraz Kovacic (Slovenia)
• Fourth official: Adham Makhadmeh (Jordan)
• Reserve assistant referee: Mohammad Alkalaf (Jordan)

Spain vs Argentina: Kickoff time, where to watch

• Spain: DAZN Mundial (9pm, Central European Summer Time)
• Argentina: TyC Sports, TyC Play (4pm, Argentina Standard Time)
• United Kingdom: BBC One, BBC iPlayer, STV, STV Player, ITV1, ITVX, Red Button 1 (8pm, British Summer Time)
• US: Fox, Fox One, Peacock, Telemundo App and Network, Universo, Telexitos (3pm, Eastern Daylight Time)

To check the TV listings for your country, head to FIFA’s TV listing schedule here.

Where is Spain vs Argentina being played?

The World Cup final will be played at MetLife Stadium, home to two National Football League (NFL) teams: the New York Giants and the New York Jets. For the FIFA World Cup, the venue has temporarily been rebadged as New York-New Jersey Stadium.

Built in 2010, this huge multipurpose stadium holds up to 82,500 spectators for football matches. The venue also hosted the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup final and both semifinals.

What is the weather forecast and air quality for New Jersey?

AccuWeather predicts mostly sunny and less humid weather for Sunday in New Jersey.

Smoke from Canadian wildfires has blanketed much of the northeastern US, triggering ⁠health alerts. On Thursday, the air quality in New Jersey was rated “unhealthy for sensitive groups” by several air quality measurement platforms.

But for Sunday, the US government’s official air quality monitoring site, airnow.gov, expects the air quality index (AQI) to be “moderate”.

Spain vs Argentina: Head-to-head

This will be only the second World Cup meeting between Spain and Argentina, with Argentina winning 2-1 in the group stages in 1966.

• Matches: 16
• Spain wins: 6
• Argentina wins: 6
• Draws: 2

Spain vs Argentina: Past results (All friendlies)

• Spain 6-1 Argentina (March 2018)
• Spain 1-4 Argentina (September 2010)
• Spain 2-1 Argentina (November 2009)
• Spain 2-1 Argentina (11 October 2006)
• Spain 0-2 Argentina (November 1999)

Spain vs Argentina: Team news

No injuries reported in either camp.

Spain’s predicted lineup

(4-2-3-1): Simon (goalkeeper); Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella; Rodri, Ruiz; Yamal, Olmo, Baena; Oyarzabal

Argentina’s predicted lineup

(4-1-3-2): Martinez (goalkeeper); Molina, Romero, Lisandro, Tagliafico; Paredes; De Paul, Fernandez, Mac Allister; Messi, Alvarez

The Pentagon has reached new framework agreements with three defense contractors as part of a strategy to acquire thousands of lower-cost air-launched cruise missiles in the coming years. The deals are directly in support of the U.S. Air Force’s Family of Affordable Mass Missiles (FAMM) program. The Air Force has already said that it is aiming to buy nearly 28,000 FAMM munitions in the next five years.

Under FAMM, the Air Force plans to acquire multiple types of lower-cost cruise missiles in different configurations. This will include ‘lugged’ types (FAMM-L) designed to be launched directly from hardpoints on aircraft, as well as ones intended to be employed from cargo planes via palletized munitions systems (FAMM-P). The service is also pursuing extended-range FAMM-BAR designs, with BAR here standing for “Beyond Adversary’s Reach.”

“Through [FAMM] agreements with Anduril, CoAspire, and Zone 5, the DoW will accelerate rapid validation of a new family of low-cost, air-launched cruise missiles – capabilities that will strengthen the Arsenal of Freedom,” according to a press release from the Pentagon today. “The agreements are a direct outcome of several Acquisition Transformation Strategy initiatives, including stabilizing demand signals, procuring industry-driven solutions, and maximizing flexible contracting.”

Anduril, CoAspire, and Zone 5 were also among the companies to receive framework deals from the Pentagon in May as part of plans to buy 10,000 lower-cost ground-launched cruise missiles through 2029. This is under a separate program called Low-Cost Containerized Missiles (LCCM). Leidos is part of the LCCM effort, as well. At that time, the Pentagon announced an additional agreement with Castelion regarding the production of 12,000 Blackbeard lower-cost hypersonic missiles. It’s also worth noting here that, since then, Norwegian defense contractor Kongsberg has aquired Zone 5.

“A key feature of these [FAMM] deals is the establishment of seven-year, multi-year agreements which, subject to congressional appropriations and enactment of all necessary authorizations, will be awarded upon the successful validation and competitive selection of the munitions,” today’s release adds. “The Department was granted 5-year authorization for FAMM in the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and is actively seeking congressional approval in the FY27 NDAA and Appropriations Bill for a 7-year multi-year procurement program to provide stability to new entrants.”

The Pentagon’s press release does not name any specific munitions.

Anduril has confirmed that its contribution will be versions of its Barracuda-500 design, and that it is aiming to start making deliveries under FAMM next year. The company will also be delivering a surface-launched version of the Barracuda-500 for the LCCM effort. Anduril first unveiled the full Barracuda family, which includes several tiers of what it calls “expendable autonomous air vehicles,” back in 2024, as you can read more about here. There are reports that at least one version of the Barracuda-500 has received an official U.S. military designation, AGM-189A.

Introducing: Barracuda-M Family of Cruise Missiles

“We joined the FAMM-L program in February 2026 and will execute the first ground and flight tests for Lug-Launched Barracuda-500M in the next several months,” Anduril noted in its release. “We completed the first successful flight test of Pallet-Launched Barracuda-500M in September 2024 and have since conducted dozens of successful flight tests that have further validated the maturity, performance, and modularity of the Barracuda-500 system, including Networked Collaborative Autonomy flights, terminal engagements, and payload performance validation testing.”

Zone 5 has also confirmed that it will be supplying its AGM-188A Rusty Dagger missile.

“By leveraging modern manufacturing and commercial technology, we are breaking the traditional cost curve, enabling the Department of War to field scalable, affordable capacity. The AGM-188 Rusty Dagger will deliver thousands of weapons per year for fighter and cargo aircraft employment but importantly without sacrificing exquisite performance,” Zone 5’s CEO Thomas Akers said in a statement. “Modern conflict has made one thing clear – the ability to rapidly scale production without sacrificing capability is critically important for air superiority. Rusty Dagger is built to deliver affordable, adaptable, highly survivable, incredibly lethal and rapidly deployable weapons that give the U.S. and our allies the ability to outpace and overwhelm evolving threats without being constrained by cost or production limitations.”

The deal with CoAspire is for that company’s Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile.

“The inclusion of CoAspire in this groundbreaking FAMM program multi-year agreement underscores CoAspire’s ability to revolutionize our country’s strike capabilities, offering a long-range solution that can be deployed across multiple platforms,” Doug Denneny, CoAspire’s CEO, Owner, and Founder, said in his own statement. “We, and our 56 first-tier suppliers across almost every state are excited to support the Air Force’s need to affordably procure thousands of FAMM cruise missiles over seven years. We applaud the Department’s inclusion of CoAspire as the only small business in this historic production opportunity. This is a true commitment to expand the defense industrial base while growing jobs across the US and bringing affordable cruise missile capabilities to the Air Force.”

RAACM Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile

Rusty Dagger and RAACM were both developed initially under the Air Force’s Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) program. ERAM’s main initial focus has been on delivering lower-cost air-launched strike capabilities to Ukraine. Zone 5 has previously confirmed that AGM-188A deliveries to Ukraine have begun, but it is unclear whether they are now being employed operationally. ERAM is known to be feeding into the FAMM effort, as well.

Overall, “offering both lugged and palletized variants, the FAMM provides the Air Force with flexible logistics, handling, and deployment options,” the Pentagon’s press release today notes.

“The multi-year approach utilizes firm-fixed-price contracting with a minimum quantity floor. Shares are split among all qualified vendors to ensure multiple production lines are positioned to surge,” the release further explains. “Contractors that meet or exceed production schedules will be eligible for additional procurement quantities – pending congressional appropriations – fostering a competitive environment that rewards efficiency and speed.”

These latter points highlight the fact that the FAMM program, as well as the LCCM effort, has a larger goal of addressing the critical need for strike munitions that can be produced at scale and in a cost-effective manner. TWZ has been calling attention to this broader reality for years, which has only been underscored by the latest conflict with Iran and a succession of other global crises. As we previously wrote after the announcement of the LCCM framework deals:

“Expenditures of critical air-to-surface and surface-to-surface munitions, as well as anti-air interceptors, by the U.S. military, as well as its allies and partners, in conflicts in recent years have only underscored the vital need to bolster these inventories. Demand for stand-off munitions, in particular, would be far greater in any future high-end fight against a near-peer adversary like China. That is a scenario where American forces could easily find themselves tasked to prosecute tens of thousands of targets, just in the opening phase.”

“Furthermore, existing munitions are often exquisite in design, and take months, or more often years, of lead time to produce. The Pentagon’s focus on “disruptive new entrants and commercial innovators,” rather than any of America’s long-established prime defense contractors, with its newly announced framework deals, is extremely significant in its own right. This is the latest example of a major shift away from awarding high-profile contracts to large legacy providers, helping to diversify the industrial base and promote competition. This also means moving away from companies accustomed to very long lead procurement and production arrangements.”

The Pentagon has also made clear that the FAMM framework agreements with Anduril, CoAspire, and Zone 5 do not preclude other companies from being brought into the program in the future. “The Department will also preserve competition opportunities for new vendors to be onboarded for additional quantities and new capabilities in the future as technology continues to advance,” per today’s release.

The market space for lower-cost cruise missiles has exploded in recent years in the United States and elsewhere globally. Relevant designs also occupy a space where the defining lines between these weapons and long-range kamikaze drones, as well as decoys, are increasingly blurry. Overlap between the FAMM and LCCM programs also highlights how many of these weapons are being adapted for launch from air, land, and maritime domains, which can help streamline production and supply chains, as well as offer operational benefits.

Taking deliberate steps to leave the door open to future competition reflects a larger push to avoid so-called ‘vendor lock’ in the U.S. defense contracting space. This has also been punctuated by moves to ensure greater government control of intellectual property rights and a focus on modular, open-architecture systems across major U.S. military acquisition efforts.

With the FAMM framework deals announced today, on top of the LCCM agreements back in May, the Pentagon is continuing to lay a vital foundation for the procurement of thousands of lower-cost strike munitions for years to come.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

L7 BASSIST, vocalist and songwriter Jennifer Finch has died aged 59, it has been announced.

Finch passed away after battling an aggressive form of brain cancer, according to a statement.

Her former group has paid a moving tribute to their late bandmate.

They wrote in a statement: “With a very heavy heart we announce that our beloved bandmate, friend, and fellow troublemaker Jennifer Finch has passed away today.

“She had a long courageous fight with brain cancer and was loved by many wonderful friends, musical peers and fans worldwide.

“We love you Jennifer.”

‘LEAVES A VOID’

Digital Underground member dies as band pay tribute to 90s hip-hop star

ROCKER DEAD

90s punk rockstar lead singer of band Amen dies aged 59 as tributes pour in

L7 recently shared the news that Finch had been diagnosed with cancer and would be missing their upcoming Last Hurrah Tour in October.

She had suffered serious complications and required extensive treatment and in-home support, the band said.

Posting to Finch’s own Instagram, the band described her as a “true original who lived entirely on her own terms”.

“The impact she made on music, art and everyone lucky enough to know her cannot be measured”, the post added.

Finch helped power L7 through the 90s alternative-rock boom.

She played base alongside guitarists Donita Sparks, Suzi Gardner and Dee Plakas and helped define L7’s place at the intersection of punk, metal and grunge.

Formed in Los Angeles in 1985, L7 became known for break-out tracks including “Pretend We’re Dead,” “Shove,” “Andres” and “Fuel My Fire.” 

But Finch’s creative work spanned far beyond the stage.

She was also a photographer, writer and visual artist.

The statement announcing her death also acknowledged “the extraordinary outpouring of love and support” shown to Finch.

It comes after another popular 90s band cancelled their entire UK tour following the tragic death of a band member.

The band said in a post online: “We are completely heartbroken over the tragic and untimely loss of our bandmate, brother-in-arms, and friend for 30 years, Justin Cary.

“We were looking forward to connecting with new and old fans around the world this summer and fall, but for now we need time to be still and grieve.”

Heartbroken by the loss, the band added: “Hundreds of pictures. Thousands of memories, 30 years worth. Thank you, Justin.”

The performer died at the age of 50 after suffering a stroke on June 18.

The Kiss Me musician had been receiving treatment at Albany Medical Center in New York.

He underwent two surgeries following the stroke and was placed in intensive care.

More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online

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Mogadishu, Somalia – Thousands of reel-to-reel tapes sit in an air-conditioned room in the archive of Somalia’s public radio, Radio Mogadishu, stacked on steel shelves and lined up like old manuscripts beneath a thick layer of dust.

Each reel contains a small fragment of Somalia’s 20th-century history, from news bulletins to speeches, music and voices that were once beamed out across the nation’s airwaves, some dating back to the early 1950s.

Abdiqadir Geedi Robleh, an archivist at Radio Mogadishu, threads a reel onto an old tape machine, connects it to a computer, and records the contents of each tape. A tape with a love song by Mohamed Mooge Liban, a prominent singer fills the room, and Robleh is transported, he says, to his youth.

He is working with a small team to digitise and methodically order approximately 400,000 hours of broadcasts, officials here say, before the magnetic tape deteriorates beyond recovery, taking with it a crucial record of the country’s past.

“This is the world’s largest store of Somali language music, culture, dramas and everything else, and at the moment it is locked away from the public in a kind of prison,” Robleh tells Al Jazeera. “We’re working to preserve it but also open it up in future to the public.”

Founded in 1951 during the Italian colonial era, Radio Mogadishu would grow into Somalia’s largest and most important public broadcaster. It initially broadcast in Italian and Somali before introducing foreign language services, including everything from Swahili and Oromo to English and Arabic.

In its heyday, it was among the most influential and distinctive voices in East African media, reaching audiences as far afield as Tanzania, Ethiopia, and the Middle East with a style of radical pan-African broadcasting reminiscent of Radio Cairo in the Nasser years.

With the exception of a brief hiatus in the 1990s, when it fell under the control of a warlord, it has served not only as a key source of news for Somalis and audiences across the region, but also as a vital repository of the country’s collective memory.

The effort to preserve its archives has gathered new momentum this year.

In early June, Somalia’s information ministry and the UNESCO regional office for Eastern Africa – the UN’s heritage agency – brought archivists from across the country to a workshop in Mogadishu, aimed at eventually registering its contents with UNESCO’s Memory of the World programme, which catalogues archives of important historical value.

“Protecting this knowledge isn’t just relevant for Somalia, but it is relevant for everyone,” said Guilherme Canela, a senior UNESCO official who is overseeing the project.

An expert assessment carried out in April counted roughly 45,000 tapes and reels, representing an estimated 400,000 hours of material recorded since the station’s founding. More than 85 percent remain playable, but around one in 10 has deteriorated with age, and more than 5 percent has been destroyed or severely damaged, according to UNESCO.

Radio Mogadishu’s collection was recognised both for its size and because so much of what it holds exists nowhere else.

Some were damaged in an electrical fire in 2018, Robleh says, while others were lost during fighting in 1992, when US forces battled Somali militias in the streets of Mogadishu.

During the worst of the civil war, police colonel Abshir Hashi Ali risked his life to prevent the contents of the archives from being looted. When fighting engulfed Mogadishu following the 1990 collapse of the government, he said he ran back “with the aim of conveying to Somalis the wealth that is stored here”.

Abdi Jeite, the station’s director, says the digitisation drive began as early as 2012, but has been held back for years by a lack of resources. By his estimate, only approximately 10 percent of the archive has so far been converted.

“We’ve got some new tools, and more training for our archivists, but there is still a lot of support needed,” he says.

To understand why the archive matters so much, it helps to understand what radio once meant in Somali life.

“Radio Mogadishu was arguably the preeminent media institution in post-independence Somalia,” Iman Mohamed, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota and historian of Somalia, tells Al Jazeera.

“In a society that prizes orality above the written word, radio was uniquely effective at creating a common public sphere through which ordinary people could feel bonded to one another and to a shared sense of nationhood,” Mohamed adds.

Though Somali audiences could also access BBC Somali, Radio Hargeisa, and opposition stations when the government began to deteriorate in the latter part of the 20th century, it was Radio Mogadishu that dominated the “soundscape of urban Somalia”, Mohamed said.

That dominance made Radio Mogadishu a national factory of talent. “If you were a musician, poet, playwright or producer, Radio Mogadishu was the platform you wanted to appear on,” Robleh, the archivist, said. “It made Somalia’s stars.”

Robleh, the archivist, added that many BBC Somali journalists who went on to have distinguished careers first cut their teeth at Radio Mogadishu, which became an important pipeline for Somali-language talent to the BBC.

Hassan Dahir, a former journalist at the station, was one of many Somali children who grew up dreaming of working there. For years, he recalled, Radio Mogadishu was virtually the only source of news for millions, “the eyes and ears of the community”, he told Al Jazeera.

“Its reach was so extensive that even nomadic herders followed events as far afield as the Vietnam War and the American Civil Rights Movement,” Dahir said.

Under Siad Barre, the military officer who seized power in a 1969 coup and ran Somalia for two decades under a self-styled socialist, revolutionary government, the station became an instrument of state ideology, mixing news, drama and religious programming with nationalist and anti-colonial content.

The station beamed pan-African songs Oh Africa, still asleep by Halimo Khalif Magool, which spurred the continent’s inhabitants to awaken and take charge of their own destinies. Mahamud Abdullahi Sangub’s Reject the Color of Imperialism was another popular song of the era in this same tradition of politically charged music, with lyrics like: “Africans listen to each other, reject the colour of imperialism, reject it, reject it, reject it!”

Many of those songs have been covered, sampled or repurposed since, and younger Somalis often encounter them with no idea who performed the originals, or the politics that shaped them, say Mohamed.

Its news coverage focused on anti-colonial wars in places such as Mozambique against Portugal, the struggle against apartheid in Rhodesia and South Africa and the Civil Rights Movement in the US. It covered everything from colonial battles in Guinea-Bissau to the arrest of African American political activist and author Angela Davis.

“We were telling the stories of people resisting their oppressors”, said Dahir.

The station was a “mouthpiece of the government”, cautions Mohamed, but took on a crucial role of inculcating “a patriotic and revolutionary ideological orientation in the Somali people”.

One of the most important projects the radio supported was the Somali mass literacy campaign, when the government sent students to rural Somalia in 1972 to teach the newly developed Somali script. The campaign led to a dramatic increase in literacy across the country.

It also became deeply entangled with Somalia’s regional foreign policy, as the government spent much of the 20th century at loggerheads with Ethiopia before eventually invading in 1977.

That rivalry led Radio Mogadishu to dedicate airtime to Ethiopia’s marginalised ethnic communities, as well as armed rebel movements, particularly those from Eritrea. Among its most notable initiatives were broadcasts in Oromo and Sidama.

Dahir, the former Radio Mogadishu journalist who covered Ethiopia, told Al Jazeera that these were the first-ever radio programmes in either language, both of which had been suppressed for many years in Ethiopia under policies that privileged Amharic, the language of the country’s elite.

The station itself has taken on a far smaller role in Somali life since.

The collapse of the central government in 1991 broke the state’s grip on broadcasting, opening space for private radio, television and online outlets, which have proven popular with the Somali public.

It has lost most of its foreign-language programming, and with it, much of its revolutionary edge. The Somali state also continues to be constrained by limited resources as it rebuilds after decades of conflict.

In November 2021, the al-Qaida-affiliated armed group al-Shabab, which has waged a long rebellion against Somalia’s government, assassinated the station’s then-director, Abdiaziz Mohamud Guled, in a suicide bombing in Mogadishu.

Iman Mohamed, the historian, says that with the civil war in the country, now in its third decade, preserving the archive for posterity has become more urgent.

“The destruction of archives during the civil war has left an enormous gap in Somalia’s documentary record, which means that anyone researching the country’s history is almost entirely reliant on foreign archives or oral history,” Mohamed said.

“That is especially problematic for young people,” she adds. “Recovering what we can matters for the youth who will never have known the world that Radio Mogadishu broadcast in its heyday.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently launched a public attack on the International Criminal Court (ICC), vowing to “dismantle the ICC—brick by brick.” Washington’s position is that the ICC has no authority to try officials from non-member states—such as the US itself—or their allies, and that it will not accept any international court exercising jurisdiction over American citizens without US consent. Washington therefore intends to use diplomatic pressure and sanctions to counter the Court.

If one still believes in the international community’s definition of war crimes, this looks like a political move to absolve the United States and Israel of war crimes committed in the Middle East. To that end, Washington is pressuring allies — including states that are parties to the Rome Statute — to withdraw from the ICC.

“Trump said in January, ‘I don’t need international law’ to highlight his ‘America First’ policy. He is now keeping that promise, and the ICC is just one example.”

The day before Rubio announced his intent to dismantle the ICC, fourteen countries, including the United States, publicly reaffirmed their support for the ten-year-old ruling in the South China Sea Arbitration—a decision handed down by another international arbitration body: an ad hoc Arbitral Tribunal constituted under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Ironically, of the fourteen countries, only the Philippines—the actual party to the case—has a direct stake in South China Sea rights. The other five countries with genuine interests in the South China Sea did not join this “cheerleading squad”: Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, and Indonesia. Of these, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei are, like the Philippines, “principal claimant states.”

Aside from the US and the Philippines, every other country among the fourteen marking the tenth anniversary of the ruling is an ICC member state: Australia, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Romania, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom.

These 12 ICC member states have no stake whatsoever in South China Sea affairs, yet they support an international arbitration body — and are now being pressured by the United States to boycott another international arbitration body they themselves belong to. Fourteen countries are happy to use international law to pressure China, but when international law becomes inconvenient for the US and Israel, is that suddenly a different matter?

The Philippines finds itself in the most awkward position of all. Manila withdrew from the ICC in 2019, yet after Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office as president, it allowed Interpol and Philippine airport authorities to arrest former president Rodrigo Duterte in 2025 and hand him directly over to the ICC for trial.

The real story behind this episode is domestic political rivalry within the Philippines, combined with Washington’s long-standing displeasure with Duterte. International institutions have played the role of “witch-hunt enforcer,” helping the US and Manila nail a political opponent to the cross.

In the past, the international community could invoke Rome Statute standards to brand Duterte’s “war on drugs” a crime against humanity. But what now?

The ICC cannot prosecute non-member states, but it can prosecute individuals—such as Benjamin Netanyahu. Moreover, under the Rome Statute’s territoriality principle, the Court has jurisdiction if the alleged crime occurred on the territory of a member state. In the Middle East case, Palestine is a state party. In the Philippine case, although Manila withdrew from the ICC in 2019, crimes committed before that withdrawal remain within the Court’s reach.

The reason the US can attack the ICC so freely is that other international arbitration bodies do not follow this same “detour through territoriality” to claim jurisdiction over non-member states, nor do they try individuals—they adjudicate sovereign states (or transnational corporate entities). As such, they strictly adhere to the most fundamental principle of international law: the principle of state consent.

Interestingly, the tribunal that presided over the South China Sea arbitration itself violated the principle of state consent by ruling on a case brought against China, which refused to participate. This is precisely why China has never recognized the ruling as having any legal basis. Yet the fourteen countries that support the ruling seem untroubled by this violation of a core principle of international law.

In other words, both the ICC and the ad hoc tribunal behind the South China Sea arbitration suffer from the same flaw: overreach. The ICC has been accused of an “idealism” that oversteps state sovereignty, while the South China Sea tribunal has been criticized for “procedural overreach”—under UNCLOS, an ad hoc tribunal has no authority whatsoever over land territorial sovereignty, yet the tribunal accepted the Philippines’ framing that “downgraded” what were really sovereignty and maritime-delimitation questions into a simple matter of “the legal status of islands and reefs” and used that framing to assert jurisdiction for itself.

Taiwan was an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire of the South China Sea arbitration. Itu Aba (Taiping Island), which is under the actual control of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and has both fresh water and the capacity to sustain human habitation, was nonetheless ruled to be a mere “”rock”—stripping it of any 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

Given that both international arbitration bodies suffer from the same problem of overreach, if one follows the US in opposing the ICC, shouldn’t one logically also oppose the South China Sea ruling? This month, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs launched an “urgent assessment” to awkwardly grapple with exactly this dilemma, since Manila has skin in both games—the Duterte case and the South China Sea ruling.

If Manila agrees to help dismantle the ICC, what happens to Duterte, still awaiting trial in The Hague? And if China then uses that same logic to reject the South China Sea ruling, what then? The other twelve member states that joined this “witch hunt” find themselves in an equally awkward spot.

Second only to the Philippines in embarrassment is Japan. Tokyo is the ICC’s largest financial backer; the Court’s current president, Tomoko Akane, is Japanese; and Japan has long been one of the ICC’s staunchest supporters. Is Tokyo now expected to help the US dismantle the ICC or to withdraw from it altogether?

Japan also finds itself in a glaring contradiction over the South China Sea ruling. If Taiwan-controlled Taiping Island—with an area of 510,000 square meters (roughly the size of 71 standard football pitches), fresh water, and the capacity to sustain habitation)—was ruled a mere “rock,” then how can Okinotorishima, an outcrop Japan claims sovereignty over that covers just 9.44 square meters (about the size of a double bed), possibly qualify as an “island”?

By that logic, Tokyo’s support for the South China Sea ruling effectively concedes that Okinotorishima has no exclusive economic zone at all — a self-inflicted contradiction that China has been quick to mock.

One could, therefore, say all fourteen countries backing the South China Sea ruling are applying a double standard, and that thirteen of them have no connection to the South China Sea whatsoever. Aside from the Philippines, the only country with any real claim to South China Sea interests is the United States — and the US holds international law in contempt, going so far as to vow to destroy an international arbitration institution outright.

This episode symbolizes the unraveling of the international order—a world reverting to the law of the jungle. The United States is dismantling the very international order it built, and the ones hurt most are precisely its own allies.

The Philippines and Japan have been given the responsibility of encircling China on the front line by the United States, but the footholds of the two countries are also being dismantled by the United States. In front of them, there is only the risk of opposing China and the weakening guarantee.

Above all, the United States has proven, by its own actions, that the so-called international order was never fair and never operated on a fixed standard — it was merely a temporary tool for an empire to rule the world. And when the tool stops being useful, it gets discarded, leaving its followers staring, embarrassed, at the tool still in their hands.

Not many people would even think of getting a chance to come face to face with Madonna, but for singer and activist Emmanuel Kelly, he will be one of the very few sharing the stage with her at the first of its kind World Cup Half Time Show.

Alongside the Confessions singer, Justin Bieber, Shakira, BTS, Burna Boy and more, in a special show curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, Emmanuel will join some of his musical heroes for the performance of a lifetime.

As he prepares to meet Madonna – whom he describes as an artist who has created a whole “generation of music” – he just has one question on his mind. “I’m just going to embrace the moment. I’m going to ask every one of them, ‘Hey, listen, can you please just put me on your songs?'” he tells us in an exclusive chat ahead of the Half Time show.

Just four weeks ago, Emmanuel heard from Chris with an offer he couldn’t refuse. The pair have been friends for some time now, with Emmanuel having joined the band of their iconic Music of the Spheres World Tour. He was also part of the Club World Cup Half Time show last year, curated by Chris too – but having starred in the other, he didn’t think there would be any chance of doing this one too.

“About four weeks ago, it wasn’t even gonna happen. I sent Chris a text and said, ‘Hey, congratulations.’ And he wrote back saying, ‘Do you wanna join?’ I didn’t tell anyone but my partner and then suddenly we got this email from FIFA and Global Citizen confirming it all, as if it was planned all along,” he recalls.

Emmanuel’s current predicament is a far cry from the start of his life. He had a devastating and tough childhood, being found as an infant, abandoned on a battlefield in Iraq, before being taken in by those at Mother Teresa Orphanage in Baghdad where he met his now-brother Ahmed. Because of his birth mother’s exposure to chemical warfare, he was born with underdeveloped limbs.

When found by his future adoptive mother, Australian humanitarian Moira Kelly, in 1998, him and Ahmed moved to Australia two years later and following surgery, which allowed him to be fitted with prosthetic limbs, he became a citizen of Australia in 2009.

A viral appearance on Australia’s X Factor in 2011, where he was voted off before getting into the top 24, and it wasn’t long after that he came to meet the Coldplay star. They were introduced several years ago through a mutual friend, with Chris quickly giving Emmanuel the nickname “natural antidepressant”. The pair’s bond has only grown over the years, with Emmanuel describing his friend as more like a “brother”.

“I grew up in Iraq and I was a brother to a lot of people in that orphanage where I had to take care of these kids. I always say the only thing thicker than blood is love,” he tells us,

“In an entertainment industry that sometimes focuses too much on the superficial, Chris was there for me. For the first time in a long time, I was in a very dark place. It was then I met Chris.

“He became a brother to me. He became a mentor. He became a guide. He became the shining light. He feels his purpose is spreading love and happiness and joy and he has been doing that for so many years. He gave love and joy to me in a time of darkness and in a time I really needed it.”

As Emmanuel’s fiancé Joanne so wonderfully puts it: “In Chris’s mind, Emmanuel just has the secret to joy. He values him as someone that, despite everything he’s gone through, he approaches everything from a perspective of joy.”

Summing up the half time show for us in just a few sentences, Emmanuel didn’t want to give anything away but he did tell us the focus was on unity and love.

“There’s more good in this world than there is bad. We see the bad more so we just need to start focusing on the good more. Focus on the good, love yourself and global unity. That’s the message of the show.”

As well as his musical endeavours, Emmanuel co-founded 0utlyer, which has a mission to employ 1,200 differently abled people in the entertainment industry across film and television production and music and live events curation company.

“Our goal as a company is to help the world and reshape the question. It’s not about what this community needs or necessarily what can we do for this community; but it’s how do we repay the favour of what the community’s already done. There’s two billion people that have already done, but done it in the shadows and we need to shine a light of what this community is actually doing,” he says.

Emmanuel has also just released a new song called Hello. “Hello just sends a message about loving yourself. When things are down and out, just smile to yourself. Smile in the mirror. Tell yourself you love yourself.

“Go up to some random individual on the street and just say hello to them. It brings joy. Sometimes the simple thing of just saying hello to somebody, you don’t know what that does to that person.”

*In further news Kelly has now signed with UK-based Champions Speakers the UK and Europe’s leading keynote speaker agency , and will share his story via a series of inspirational public speaking events, bringing his message of resilience and inclusion to audiences across business, education and beyond.

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US Central Command says new strikes on Iran are designed to further degrade Iran’s ability to choke the Strait of Hormuz.

The United States military said Sunday that it launched new strikes on Iran to “swiftly punish” the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for an attack that killed two American service members and left one missing and four requiring hospitalisation.

An area near Sirik in Iran’s Hormozgan province and Qeshm Island have been hit on the eighth consecutive night of US air strikes on Iran, according to Iran’s semi-official  Mehr and Tasnim news agencies.

The attacks happened early on Sunday, hitting Sirik at 1:30am local time (22:00 GMT, Saturday), and Qeshm Island at about 3:38am (00:08 GMT, Sunday) and again at 6:10am local time (0240 GMT) according to Iranian reports.

Tasnim also said the US military targeted a location near Shadegan in Iran’s Khuzestan province at 5:55am (02:25GMT Sunday).

The reports said there were no casualties and that residential and commercial infrastructure was not damaged in the attacks.

In a post on X, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the US military launched new strikes “designed to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz”.

The post added that strikes were also in retaliation for Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks on a US base in Jordan that killed the two US service members on Friday.

US Central Command later said its strikes targeted “Iranian military coastal surveillance and air defense facilities, maritime capabilities, and missile and drone storage sites.”

Since the war began in February, 16 US service members have been killed and more than 430 wounded.

The Tasnim news agency said there were reports of explosions in Qom, Arak and Behbahan that were later denied by local authorities.

The governor of Arak said that “the situation is completely normal and so far we have not had any reports of attack or explosion”.

Iranian retaliatory strikes

Tasnim news agency said the Iranian army targeted US military assets in two bases in Kuwait.

A statement from Iran’s military said, “In response to the repeated aggressions of the enemy”, the army targeted a US “ammunition depot at Al-Adiri camp and the Patriot radar and air radar” at the Ali Al Salem base in Kuwait.

“Unforgettable lessons”

Before the latest US strikes began, Iran’s supreme leader warned of “unforgettable lessons” if the US continued its attacks on Iran.

Initially, the battle focused on control of the Strait of Hormuz. But US strikes have now widened to include civilian infrastructure, including bridges and desalination plants for drinking water.

State-run news agency IRNA said the Bonji desalination plant was destroyed, cutting off water supplies to about 10,000 people, and a desalination plant on strategic Qeshm Island inside the strait was damaged.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi told state television the US is violating terms of the interim deal and “no longer implementing them”.

Iranian authorities said at least 50 people have been killed and more than 500 wounded in US strikes in the past three weeks.

Late Saturday, the Iranian embassy in India named two girls – Sogand Dardmand and Fatemeh Zahra Akbari – who were among seven killed in a US strike on Bandar Khamir in southern Iran, which took place on Thursday.

Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said that the last eight nights of US strikes on Iran have caused “anger” and “frustration” among the populace.

“People don’t really know whether they are going to see the continuation of this confrontation, or how long it’s going to take, and also if there is a possibility for a diplomatic settlement to resolve all these complexities and find a long-lasting solution”, he said.

The US has launched a new wave of strikes on Iran after two American soldiers were killed by Iranian strikes in Jordan. President Donald Trump called it ‘swift punishment’, as Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro reports.

Casualty fans were left both surprised and baffled on Saturday’s episode to see a returning face

Casualty aired explosive scenes involving Dylan Keogh on Saturday night.

Viewers will recall that only recently, recovering alcoholic Dylan, played by William Beck, relapsed after struggling with the news that his colleague, Stevie Nash, had been having an affair with his son Dr Matty Linlaker.

Since relapsing, Dylan has pushed his loved ones away, including son Matty, and he has caused concern in recent scenes after he was seen driving erratically with a bottle by his side.

At the start of Saturday’s episode, Dylan headed to a care home to visit his father, Brian Carroll. However, alcoholic Brian didn’t recognise his son due to his years of drinking and things soon got unpleasant when Brian said some horrible things about his son, claiming he never loved Dylan.

Taking to Twitter, now X, viewers were quick to do a double take over Brian as they quickly spotted that he had been recast with a different actor. Brian made his first debut in 2015 and he was last seen on the BBC medical series in 2018.

In the earlier episodes, Brian was played by actor Matthew Marsh but on Saturday’s episode, the character of Brian was being played by actor David Beames.

Viewers were quick to share their reaction to Brian’s return after eight years, especially as it was a new actor playing the character. One person said: “Woah that is a different Brian? What happened to Dylan’s little sister with Hazel? #Casualty”

Another person wrote: “Dylan’s father is back?! #Casualty”, a different viewer put: “they’ve recast dylan’s dad! oh! #casualty” while another fan added: “Hang on… That’s not Matthew Marsh… Dylan has a new dad? #Casualty.”

Later in the episode, upset by his father’s cruel words, Dylan rushed out of the care home and started drinking from the clear bottle as he drove off, leaving his son Matty a voicemail saying: “Things are going to change”, adding that he’s not like his own father and that he cares about Matty.

Upon listening to the message, Matty and Stevie were concerned to hear a crash at the end, where it looked as though Dylan had been involved in a serious car crash.

However, thankfully, Matty discovered his dad uninjured and upon confronting his father for drink driving, Dylan insisted he hadn’t drunk since his initial relapse. A breathalyser later confirmed that he was telling the truth.

The emotional episode ended with Dylan vowing to make things right again and start AA meetings, as well as therapy to tackle his addiction.

Casualty continues on BBC One.

July 18 (UPI) — At least eight people are dead and 34 are missing after a massive landslide fell in Chongqing, China, Friday morning.

Rocks and soil slid down the mountain and buried more than 10 residential buildings in the suburbs of the city in Pengshui County, in central China. There were 10 people pulled from the rubble and sent to hospitals. More than 1,100 people were forced to evacuate their homes.

The landslide included 635,664 square feet of materials, officials confirmed. The largest rock is estimated to be about 105,944 square feet, Wang Chuanjun, head of Planning and Natural Resources in Pengshui County, told The Independent.

Heavy rains got in the way of rescue operations. The area got about 8 inches of rain overnight Friday and Saturday morning.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission has allocated about $4.4 million to help with restoration of infrastructure and public services to the area.

San Juan arrives at the Cruz de Mayo Wake

For this second installment of our work on Venezuela’s life cycle festivities (click here for part I), we present an in-depth conversation with the renowned Venezuelan musician, cultural practitioner, and percussionist Rolando Canónico. Together, we reflect on the immense responsibility of preserving Venezuelan traditions, specifically during festivals such as Cruz de Mayo and San Juan. From his dual role as a professional musician and cultural worker, Canónico addresses the tension between the commodification of music or competitive virtuosity and absolute respect for ancestral rhythmic and melodic patterns, defending the playing of the drum as an act of genuine devotion rather than a spectacle. He further delves into the powerful spiritual and syncretic connection he experiences when “dialoguing” with the instrument, underscoring his firm commitment to protecting and passing on this invaluable family and cultural heritage to new generations in Caracas.

A percussionist, drummer, and cultural creator, Canónico has participated in Fundación Bigott and renowned musical groups such as Caracas Sincrónica and Francisco Pacheco y su Pueblo. His trajectory is intertwined with a more discrete, yet vital, task: safeguarding Venezuelan musical memory. What began as a conversation between friends turned into a deep discussion about ethics, spirituality, and the responsibility of honoring the legacy of our ancestors in the twenty-first century.

Family and heritage: the weaving of a music lineage

To understand Rolando Canónico, one must look back at his ancestry. “My paternal grandparents passed away many years ago: Luisa Amelia Aponte de Canónico and Benito Canónico,” he recounts. Benito Canónico was the author of “El Totumo de Guarenas,” an important folk music composition. A musical heritage that flows through Rolando’s veins. However, as we delve into his role as a “host” of these festivities, Rolando turned his gaze toward his maternal lineage –to the women who, through the energy of daily life, kept the flame of devotion alive.

His story takes us to the Afinque Marín in the densely populated Afro-Venezuelan community of San Agustín, Caracas, where his maternal great-grandmother became a cultural bridge. “When that wave of people from Barlovento arrived –that migration boom from Barlovento to Caracas –she had the opportunity to be there when all these cultural expressions arrived,” he explained. It was there that, without any artistic pretensions, driven solely by faith, his great-grandmother began to adorn the Cruz de Mayo.

This responsibility passed to his grandmother, Rosa Emilia Pérez Sanz. “She embraced it as such,” Rolando told us, describing a pedagogical-community learning process where knowledge wasn’t taught in classrooms, but rather through observation and habits shared with neighbors. Music, for its part, was naturally incorporated through his mother, the founder of local band Los Tucusitos, blending Christmas carols with the fervor of the Cruz de Mayo vigil. For Rolando, that early exposure to music, combined with the discipline of his musical training, allowed him to turn a family passion into a profession.

A double celebration: a rite of transition and coming together

The celebration that Rolando Canónico holds at his home in La Pastora is not a one-off event, but rather part of a 43-year tradition that has been formally recognized by the Culture Ministry’s Institute of Cultural Heritage for the past 15 years. Every last Saturday in May, the house becomes the setting for a symbolic transition: the farewell to May, dedicated to Cruz de Mayo (May Cross), and welcoming June, the month of San Juan.

The logistical effort is monumental. “It’s not just a matter of sitting there, shouting some stuff, and that’s it,” Rolando emphasized. The process begins days in advance, with the presentation of newborn children and spiritual cleansings. Rather than merely attending as spectators, the community becomes an active participant: “People already know when it is; they don’t even ask anymore –they just show up with a small bouquet of flowers, a candle, fruit, or even a kilo of vegetables for the soup.”

The masterfully designed altar serves both festivities. “We make one, but it also serves as decoration for both,” explained Rolando, describing a symbolic overlap where the Cross is moved aside to make way for San Juan. This is the moment when devotion becomes tangible.

One of the most tense and beautiful moments of the night is the ritual procession. When San Juan arrives, the Cross, guarded by its devotees, seems to resist the change. “That encounter there, that clash, there comes a moment when San Juan announces that he’s going to come out, and the Cross doesn’t want him to,” Rolando tells us with the intensity of someone who has deeply witnessed that “struggle.”

To manage this tension, Rolando delegates to a decimista [poet], who acts as a mediator. He not only sings but also has the authority to say “He said it right!” at the precise moment when the euphoria outside the house reaches its climax. It’s a necessary exercise in control: “I have to do it this way because otherwise the whole thing turns into a conflict.” As the sirens* and golpes de tambor** intertwine, the cross at the altar gives way to the triumphal entry of San Juan, closing one portal to open another.

Rolando Canónico narrates the intensity of this coming together:

That encounter there, that clash, there comes a moment when San Juan announces that he’s coming out, and the Cross doesn’t want him to. So the devotees of the Cross hold their ground. It’s something beautiful, truly beautiful. Right there in that moment, with San Juan already coming down the stairs and the fulía [traditional rhythm] playing at the altar, the devotees form a circle so the fulía doesn’t stop. In the end it’s not a struggle but a meeting. The meeting where San Juan rises as he descends the stairs, already looking toward the Cross, and he’s trying to leave the house to welcome those who are coming. It’s as if he’s saying, “I’m letting you know that I’m on my way here.”

Regarding the energy that is unleashed when the festival reaches its peak with the arrival of the San Juan statues, Canónico adds: “That’s the moment when the altar of the Cross begins to be dismantled, when all the crosses are removed to make way for San Juan.” “That clash there between the Cross and San Juan gives you a powerful feeling,” he continued. “And when the three San Juan statues meet in front of the house, I can’t even describe it…”

Responsibility toward our ancestors and their legacy

If there is something Rolando Canónico is known for, it is his intransigence toward shoddy work. In a world where the commodification of traditional music threatens to sever it from its roots, he stands as a bulwark.

“In my house, I don’t accept things done poorly.” For him, the drum is not an instrument for competition or for displaying empty virtuosity. “I’m not putting on a show. I’m fulfilling a family promise,” he emphatically clarifies. His authority within the festival doesn’t stem from arrogance, but from a deep understanding of and respect for the musical codes, styles, discipline, and rigor that his teachers instilled in him.

This rigor extends to his training of new generations. Rolando is fully aware of his role as a guide and seeks to prepare his nephew and other young people so that the tradition is not diluted by stage “improvisations.” It is a pedagogy by example: he inaugurates each drum, ensuring that the rhythmic foundation is consistent with what has been passed down for centuries.

Finally, the conversation heads into more intimate territory: the relationship between the musician-artist and the divine. When asked if he experiences an altered state of consciousness while playing, Rolando responds with overwhelming sincerity. “I am a devotee of San Juan the Baptist; I am a santero… my spirituality is deeply connected to the drum.”

For Canónico, there is no separation between the musician who reads the score and the practitioner who offers his prayer through the drum’s vibrations. “That’s the best spiritual cleansing there can be here –playing the drum the right way,” he affirms. “I say ‘the right way’ because with the drum, you have to communicate with it.”

This dialogue, this meeting between the sacred and the profane, is what makes the festival in La Pastora, in Rolando’s own words, a “formidable experience.” By the end of our interview, it’s clear that his work is not merely a tribute to the past, but a strategy for cultural re-existence. As our interviewee aptly summarized at the end of our meeting, the true responsibility of a cultural artist is to ensure that, when San Juan arrives at his doorstep, the drum sounds exactly as it should: with the truth of the ancestors and the strength of a future that, thanks to people like him, is guaranteed a place in Venezuela’s collective memory.

Notes

*Sirenas are a cappella songs with an octosyllabic quatrain meter used to express devotion to both the Cross and San Juan.

**Golpes de tambor refers to multiple rhythms where drums, usually in sets of three, are the main protagonists. From a melody standpoint, singers take turns between solos and choruses.

See below for more details on the festivities and the surrounding music.

Fabiola José is a Venezuelan singer. She has performed in countries across South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. Her singles and albums are available on all digital platforms. She hosted and produced “Cantante y Sonante” for Radio Nacional de Venezuela. In 2018–2019, she created a series of videos for social media, published on her YouTube channel #HechoEnCasa. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Music from IUDEM, Caracas (2005); specialized under Maestro Tom Krause in Spain (2007); and an M.A. in Arts and Cultures of the South from UNEARTE, Venezuela (2020).

Fidel Barbarito is a Venezuelan musician and researcher, with a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music and history, respectively. He teaches in the undergraduate and graduate programs at the National Experimental University of the Arts (UNEARTE). Together with Fabiola José, he promotes several musical projects aimed at disseminating traditional folk repertoires, integrating them with contemporary compositions inspired by these sounds. Joropo llanero. Parranda de reexistencia is one of his published essays.

The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Venezuelanalysis editorial staff.

The Sounds of Celebration

To gain a deeper understanding of the rich soundscape that defines the festivities at the Canónico family home, we break down how the musical universe of these celebrations is organized. It is not merely a decorative sideshow, but rather the ritual language through which faith is expressed.

The music in the Cruz de Mayo wake: a devotional geography (drop-downs with more info)

The Cruz de Mayo ceremony, which precedes the arrival of San Juan, features a structure that honors various regions of Venezuela. Canónico explains that this part of the festival requires specific discipline and respect for the different genres according to their geographic origin.

The order of the genres

Devotional music follows a set pattern that begins with the “Salve Llanera.” Afterward, songs representative of various regions are performed: Lara, Oriente, Falcón, and finally Zulia.

The poet and the sirenas

The mediator plays a crucial role. He recites poetry (“décimas”) and also has the authority to sing sirenas. This person is responsible for maintaining the choir and the performance during the most intense moment, when the altar of the Cruz is being prepared for the transition.

Interpretive rigor

There is a strict hierarchy. Although the community is invited to participate, the singers are committed to specific roles. For example, those responsible for the salve must perform it with the rigor that tradition demands, avoiding any “improvisation” or inappropriate mixing with other genres.

Music for San Juan Bautista: the strength of the drum (drop-downs with more info)

Once the ritual procession takes place and San Juan enters the house, the soundscape changes radically. Canónico explains that, unlike the Cruz, San Juan marks the beginning of a sequence in which the drum takes center stage.

Performance spaces

There is a geographical distinction within the house. The genres permitted to be performed inside the home, directly in front of the altar, are limited and sacred: sirenas, culo e’ puya, quitiplás, and San Juan de Guatire. All other musical performances take place outside the house.

The main reference

Rolando Canónico, as the host and a cultural leader, inaugurates each drum. He performs the Afro-Venezuelan section—specifically the Miranda fulía—alongside his nephew and his godson, ensuring that the rhythmic pattern remains true to tradition and does not veer toward competitive or show-oriented styles.

Ethical guidelines

At the Canónico household, a clear policy has been upheld: to play not for the sake of competition or virtuosity, but out of devotion, tradition, and beauty.

Talking to the instruments

For Canónico, playing the drum is not a technical performance, but a dialogue. He asserts that, in this context, the saint dwells within the drum and that playing it is a form of spiritual cleansing. When the instruments sound, the performer seeks to “detach” himself from rigid patterns in order to let a powerful energy flow, especially when several San Juan statues gather in front of the house.

This musical framework is, in Canónico’s words, a “system” in which every drumbeat and every décima has a specific place and time to ensure that the legacy of the ancestors remains alive without being corrupted by trends or commodification.

Rolando Canónico is a prominent Venezuelan percussionist, educator, and cultural practitioner, recognized as a key figure in the preservation of traditional community music and Afro-Venezuelan percussion. Initially trained at the Bigott Foundation’s Popular Culture Workshops, he has built a prolific musical career by joining iconic groups such as Francisco Pacheco y su Pueblo, Pomarrosa, and Caracas Sincrónica, as well as accompanying important Venezuelan artists, including Cecilia Todd, Cheo Hurtado, Betsayda Machado, Fabiola José, and Luisana Pérez, on recordings and on stage.

Beyond his virtuosity as a session musician, Canónico stands as an active guardian of Venezuela’s musical tradition, demonstrating a deep ethical and spiritual commitment to organizing community festivals, ensuring that historical accuracy and the identity of the ancestors remain alive for future generations.

SINCE stepping out of the stand-up spotlight, Johnny Vegas has embraced a calmer life running an antiques business – and now his long-term partner is getting involved.

In a new interview, the Benidorm star has opened up about Vikki Jones in a rare glimpse int his love life.

Johnny, 55, has been dating Vikki for three years and says the pair love working together.

He told The Times: “They say never work with your partner, but it’s great. She and Bev make fun of me most of the time.”

Bev is Johnny’s self-described “long-suffering” childhood friend and assistant, who appears alongside him in his Quest series Johnny Vegas’ Little Shop Of Antiques.

Explaining why he rarely speaks about Vikki publicly, Johnny said: “I wasn’t keeping it under cover, but I don’t share much about it on social media.”

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His antiques venture, Vintage Vegas, began as a pop-up shop at Dagfields Craft and Antique Centre near Nantwich, Cheshire.

It featured in his eight-part TV series, which followed Johnny and Bev as they hunted for unusual treasures to sell.

Johnny describe his business venture as “collectable things of all sorts, really.

“I have a very dangerous bit of knowledge on lots of things. I couldn’t tell you about 18th-century furniture or anything, but I have to think I like it and hopefully I have an eye for this stuff.”

The Benidorm star admitted he was initially unsure whether customers would visit just to get a selfie.

He said: “It’ll be an interesting experiment to see if people come in not just to see me.

“We’ll find out if it’s viable down the line when the circus has left town, so to speak. We’re learning as we go. I never thought I’d see myself as a shopkeeper.”

Johnny has also opened up about stepping away from stand-up comedy after years of struggling with nerves.

He said: “Stand-up was great, but it was manic. The nerves took their toll. Never say never, but I just see that as a project that needs to rest.”

Johnny was previously married to Kitty Donnelly from 2002 until 2008, and they share an adult son, Michael.

He wed his second wife, Irish broadcaster Maia Dunphy, in 2011.

The former couple, who share 11-year-old son Tom, announced their separation in 2018 and later briefly reconciled before splitting again.

July 18 (UPI) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mandani on Saturday said his government is reviewing whether it could legally arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over accusations of war crimes.

Netanyahu is expected to visit the city for the United Nations General Assembly in September.

In 2024, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the prime minister’s arrest over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including starvation and attacking a civilian population.

“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani told The New York Times. “He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court, and what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these past many years.”

Mandani said his legal team is reviewing the city’s options.

“We’re not talking about a personal assessment of Benjamin Netanyahu,” the mayor told The Times. “We’re talking about the International Criminal Court and the fact that they have a warrant out for this prime minister’s arrest, and I think it’s important to talk about the weight that that has as a charge and that also, as the mayor of New York City, I’ll be following the laws of New York City.”

Netanyahu has denied the ICC charges and disputes the court’s jurisdiction.

In a previous interview, the prime minister claimed without evidence that Mandani is a Hamas supporter.

“He is with the terror actors,” he told WABC. “I think, secretly, he hates America.”

Michael Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., called Mandani’s comments “pure political theater.”

“The U.S. is not party to the Rome Statute that underlies the ICC,” he wrote on X, adding, “The U.N. Headquarters Agreement grants diplomatic protections to visiting heads of government.”

Tuchel can continue to rely on captain Kane – for now.

The Bayern Munich striker will be 36 when the next World Cup rolls around, but seems in no mood to hand up his England boots.

Kane – who scored six goals at this World Cup, but was an unused substitute against France – told the BBC: “One of the best England groups that I have ever been a part of.

“When you see the boys around the hotel, when you see us training on the pitch, when you see us in the changing room, it is a unique group. We had that bond and had so much belief in each other.”

On Tuchel, Kane added: “It is his first major tournament. I think he has learned a lot of the squad, the campaign, the travel and the games and what it takes – the pressure.”

One of England’s wounds that was deepened by the win over France was Tuchel’s decision not to send on Bukayo Saka against Argentina.

The Arsenal winger, an unused substitute in the semi-final, scored a hat-trick on Saturday against Les Bleus – then afterwards said he is fully fit, having endured some injury worries earlier in the North American campaign.

“Of course, I would love to have played more but it’s too late to talk about that,” Saka told BBC One. “I try to do my talking on the pitch and it’s done now, move on. I’m fit.”

On noise around the manager, he said: “I think that’s just part of the game… it’s how you react to it, how you use it as fuel and today we finished strong and that’s all we could really do and we did that.”

England’s twisting World Cup 2026 story has a bittersweet ending – with a thrilling victory in the game no-one wants to be a part of.

But how this campaign will ultimately be remembered might not be truly determined until after this team have produced their sequels.

SINGER Lily Allen legs it backstage during her recent concert tour in a range of eye-popping lingerie.

The 41-year-old Smile hit-maker showed off a pale blue body suit and matching fur trimmed neglige by Italian label Intimissimi.

The mother-of-two is a brand ambassador and wore the outfit during her recent West End Girl tour described as a highly personal piece of musical theatre.

The stage show was inspired by her acrimonious split with American actor husband David Harbour in 2025 also documented in her hit album of the same name.

The bodysuit inspired by Intimissimi’s Pretty Flowers Collection, the Italian’s brand core fashion lingerie offering.

Lily finished the UK run earlier this month with sell out shows at London’s O2 arena.

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She was later snapped riding an electric hire bike in London depsite owning a £120,000 Porsche.

Lily hasn’t been seen driving the German sports car since she said a a truck ran it off the road back in January.

A winess said: “She probably thinks pedal power is the way to go around London’s crowded roads.”

Lily has defended herself against complaints that the setlist of her West End Girl Tour is “too short”.

The singer released the album in October of last year and it features 14 songs.

The album in its entirety is only 45 minutes, which has led some to question if the £86 ticket fee is value for money.

July 18 (UPI) — Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Saturday shot back at President Donald Trump, saying his comments about Canada’s efforts to control the ongoing wildfire crisis are a “shame” and “totally unacceptable.”

Trump threatened Friday to impose tariffs on Canadian imports and accused the country of “willful negligence” in its management of the blazes.

“I find it a shame, the administration in the U.S. and Congress people, writing these letters and blaming us,” Ford said in a press conference on Saturday. “They have a very short, short memory. We had the water bombers, everyone ready, going over to California — it was last year. We sent hydro linemen down to the Carolinas and Georgia to help out.”

Ford added, “That’s what neighbors do, right? You don’t get on and start threatening and criticizing because, guess what? One day it’s going to be your turn.”

As of Saturday, there were 959 active wildfires burning through Canada, 102 of which started in the past 24 hours, Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre reported.

The blazes have left more than 100 million Americans under air quality alerts, from Minnesota to Virginia.

“We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests, and Brush therein, and the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Despite the dispute, Ford said Canadians would stand at the ready should Americans need support in the future.

“We’re going to be down there without hesitation to support our neighbors, which we should be,” he added.

Two U.S. troops were killed in action and one remains missing in Jordan on Friday while defending against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks, U.S. Central Command announced on X. Another “four American service members were medically evacuated to Jordanian hospitals. They have since been discharged. Other personnel who were evaluated for minor injuries have returned to duty.”

“Out of respect for the families, CENTCOM is withholding additional information, including the identities of the fallen warriors, until 24 hours after the next of kin have been notified,” the command added.

CENTCOM did not say where in Jordan, however, yesterday, CBS News reported that “Iran attacked at least two Jordanian bases this week, resulting in several American service members being injured in the attack after their facility was struck.”

We noted yesterday that data from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) at 10:59 PM EDT indicated a fire adjacent to the runway near an area where aircraft are parked at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. However, TWZ cannot independently verify what happened at the base and if any equipment was destroyed or damaged and how personnel there were affected. We’ve reached out to CENTCOM for answers.

We reached out to CENTCOM for confirmation.

Video emerged on social media purporting to show attacks on the base.

Muwaffaq Salti, as we have frequently reported, has come under attack numerous times. In March, CNN obtained imagery from Planet Labs showing an AN/TPY-2 radar damaged, or even possibly destroyed, following an Iranian attack there.

The air base has long been a major regional hub for U.S. operations, and is being very actively utilized in the current conflict. It hosts the greatest concentration of U.S. tactical aircraft in the region, and thus is an extremely important target, where, as we pointed out last night, even one ballistic missile landing on an apron could destroy multiple prized aircraft and take the lives of U.S. service members or cause injuries.

Iran also hit Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia yesterday, Axios reporter Barak Ravid stated on X.

In addition, officials in Kuwait yesterday said one of the country’s power and water desalination plants “was attacked as a result of the Iranian aggression…leading to a fire and damage to the plant’s facilities and several electricity generating units.”

“The fire is now under control and repairs are ongoing,” the Kuwait government added.

The two deaths and the injuries came as the conflict between the U.S. and Iran is escalating rapidly, with each side now attacking critical infrastructure and Iran intensifying strikes on U.S. bases across the region.

Amid the fighting, “Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Qaribabadi stated that Tehran has suspended its commitments under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Washington as United States attacks continue,” the official Fars News Agency reported.

Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, whose social media empire promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny has made them among the world’s most polarizing internet personalities, were arrested Saturday in Miami as British authorities sought their extradition on rape and sex trafficking charges.

The brothers were taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service on a sealed warrant, agency spokesperson Brady McCarron told the Associated Press, placing the United States at the center of an international legal saga that has stretched from Romania to Britain.

British prosecutors announced Saturday that they were seeking the brothers’ extradition on charges alleging they raped and trafficked women between 2010 and 2017.

The dual U.S. and British citizens moved to Romania in 2016. They were arrested there in 2022, accused of participating in schemes to lure women for sexual exploitation. They denied those allegations, and the Romanian case hasn’t gone forward because of legal and procedural problems.

Last year, they were allowed to leave Romania and flew to Florida on a private jet.

The brothers are expected to appear in Miami’s federal court early next week, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive law enforcement operations.

The pending charges in the United Kingdom accused the brothers of abusing women in an area north of London, where they grew up. Their lawyers had said they denied the allegations.

Joseph McBride, an attorney representing the Tate brothers, said in a phone interview Saturday evening that he has not been able to speak with his clients but called the new charges in the U.K. “filth and slander” intended to derail defamation lawsuits filed by the brothers in the U.S.

“They’re pulling out all the stops to make sure these guys never get their day in court,” McBride said.

“We are confident that once a competent judge sees the facts, and once the Department of Justice confronts this egregious abuse of its own authority, Andrew and Tristan Tate will walk free. America does not do Britain’s political dirty work.”

Andrew Tate, 39, first reached a mainstream audience as a contestant on the U.K. reality television show “Big Brother” in 2016. He was removed from the show when a video surfaced that appeared to show Tate assaulting a woman. He and his brother Tristan, 38, are vocal supporters of President Trump.

Andrew Tate has amassed more than 10 million followers on X but has been banned from platforms including YouTube, TikTok and Instagram for violating hate speech guidelines. His most widely condemned rhetoric includes comments that women who are sexually assaulted should bear some responsibility for their attacks, graphic descriptions of how he might attack women and criticisms of people who seek treatment for mental illness.

The Tate brothers have consistently denied allegations of abuse and human trafficking, claiming that violent and misogynistic statements have been taken out of context or were intended as jokes.

In a statement Saturday, the U.K.’s Crown Prosecution Services said that in addition to the charges announced against the brothers in 2025, involving alleged crimes against three women, it was bringing a total of 38 new charges related to “four further victims.”

Both brothers are accused of rape and human trafficking. Andrew Tate faces an additional charge of profiting from prostitution, and 19 charges “for offenses relating to indecent images of a child and extreme pornography,” according to U.K. authorities.

“There is no place for male violence against women and girls, and we will continue to work tirelessly to support victims and investigate all reports made to us,” said Karena Thomas, an assistant chief constable of the Bedfordshire Police, which investigated the case.

Durkin Richer writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Savannah Peters in Santa Fe, N.M., contributed to this report.

July 18 (UPI) — Brazil’s top court on Saturday denied a request from former President Jair Bolsonaro to be visited by Argentinian President Javier Milei while under house arrest.

The attempted visit by Milei, a political ally of the far-right Bolsonaro, was part of a campaign to drum up political support for the son of the former president, who is running against leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence for a coup attempt but has been in his home in Brasilia since March due to his health condition.

He was already barred from participating in national politics as part of his sentence.

But Bolsonaro was placed under further restrictions on Friday for breaching conditions of his house arrest, after he wrote a political letter supporting his son’s candidature for president.

The son, right-wing state Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, then showed the endorsement letter during a live stream on social media.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes barred Bolsonaro from receiving any visits of a “political-electoral” nature until after Brazil’s general elections in October.

Bolsonaro’s defense lawyers argued in court he was unaware that his son would divulge his writing on social media, though the former president titled the text “letter to the Brazilian people.”

“The letter — written and personally signed by Jair Messias Bolsonaro — was addressed ‘to the Brazilian people,’ demonstrating that it was not of a private nature but rather intended for political and electoral purposes, with dissemination to the general public, using Flavio Nantes Bolsonaro as an intermediary, or in his own words, as his ‘spokesperson,'” Moraes wrote in his decision, G1 reported.

“The text of the ‘Letter to the Brazilian People,’ therefore, clearly shows that Jair Messias Bolsonaro intended to communicate with his political supporters through his son’s social media accounts,” the justice added.

Bolsonaro is now barred from receiving visits for 30 days, except by his medical and legal teams.

He is also not allowed to be visited by his son for 90 days.