Watch the moment Melanie C throws her ‘wedding bouquet’ to Ibiza crowd as she DJs just days after magical ceremony in UK
MELANIE C threw her ‘wedding bouquet’ to a crowd in Ibiza as she DJed just days after her magical ceremony in the UK.
The 52-year-old and Australian model Chris Dingwall said ‘I do’ in an intimate ceremony in the Lake District last weekend.
Just three days after their special day, Melanie jetted off to Spain to take to the decks at the Chinois Ibiza nightclub.
Melanie looked incredible in a hot pink jumpsuit and the club-goers cheered as she lifted up a bouquet of flowers while dancing away to the music.
The Spice Girls star then turned her back to her fans, chucked them behind her and laughed to herself as she got back to the decks.
Melanie has shared a first look at her wedding after tying the knot with her boyfriend of three years, Chris.
And it came just days after their private legal civil ceremony in Sydney, Australia, where Chris is from.
The couple got married in a stunning ceremony in the grounds of The Country House Cumbria on Saturday.
They were joined by their loved ones, including her Spice Girls bandmates.
Mel B, Geri Horner and Emma Bunton were all in attendance as Victoria Beckham was noticeably absent from the big day – but she was unable to attend due to the World Cup final in the US.
Despite not being able to be there, she designed her pal’s beautiful backless, white wedding gown.
Melanie also wore a custom Adidas robe to get ready for the ceremony, made from ivory silk with white silk stripes and then changed into an Adidas tracksuit look for the evening.
A source told The Sun on Saturday: “Mel and Chris’ wedding was perfect, they couldn’t be happier.
“They chose a classy, laid-back ceremony before a reception with their closest friends and family.
“Mel B gave a speech which got a lot of laughs, as well as some tears — it was really beautiful.
“Geri was there but there was no awkwardness between her and Mel B.
“It was a day for celebrating Mel and Chris’s love for each other and that was all anyone wanted to do.”
Melanie told British Vogue the wedding was “low-key, relaxed, romantic and chic”.
She added: “I’m so excited for the world to know he’s my husband.”
The happy couple met on dating app Raya.
I found the BEST way to see London’s top landmarks: The bargain Thames dining cruise that’s only £38
FANCY a classic sightseeing trip to London? I’ve found the best way to take in the city’s breath-taking skyline.
Us Brits are lucky to have a fantastic capital city which packs in fascinating landmarks, futuristic skyscrapers, and majestic bridges as well as historical 11th century buildings which still stand today.
Book a River Thames Lunch Cruise – ON SALE for £38 (was £53)
And if you’re planning a trip to London anytime soon, there’s one sightseeing experience you won’t want to miss.
City Cruises have a range of Thames sightseeing cruises which let you take in the London city skyline from the water from an open-air deck or swanky indoor lounge.
You can pick from a classic sightseeing cruise, which starts from only £15 per adult and £10.25 per child, or treat yourself to a Jazz, Elvis tribute or even a Murder Mystery cruise.
I decided to try out the London Lunch Cruise on the River Thames, which is the most popular option that City Cruises offer.
Not only is this the most popular experience, but it’s currently on sale – down to £38 a ticket instead of £53. That’s the cheapest lunchtime cruise on the River Thames we could find.
Considering you get a fancy two-course meal, panoramic views of London’s top landmarks like Big Ben and the London Eye, plus expert commentary – this is one hell of a bargain.
The tour starts by stepping onboard at the Tower Millennium Pier, a central spot that’s easy to get to by taking the underground to Tower Hill.
I stepped onboard to find a very spacious cabin, with a sleek downstairs dining area dotted with white tablecloths, plus an upper deck that’s perfect for making use of in sunny weather.
Lots of guests around me were celebrating birthdays or special occasions, dressed up to the nines snapping shots for Instagram or family photos.
And this is certainly the place to take pictures, with flattering golden sunlight pouring in through the windows, plus landmarks like Tower Bridge, The Shard and Big Ben as your backdrop.
Book a River Thames Lunch Cruise – ON SALE for £38 (was £53)
As it turns out, the food onboard was just as impressive as the views.
I only waited around 15 minutes from being seated until my main course arrived – and the presentation of the dish was Masterchef-worthy.
There are two options for your main course: a vegetarian cassoulet with oyster mushrooms and white beans, or a roasted supreme of chicken with fondant potatoes and veg.
I went for the latter, and was blown away by the rich creamy mushroom sauce and the cheesy fondant potato. The decadent dish would have wowed me in a high-end restaurant, let alone on a Thames cruise.
After a short rest came dessert – a baked cheesecake with a gooey white chocolate centre and a heavy drizzle of tart raspberry coulis, plus tea or coffee. Could you picture a more perfect pudding?
With a full belly and warm coffee in hand, there’s nothing left to do but lean back and watch London glide past your window
The route takes you from the pier across to Canary Wharf, where you can admire the futuristic skyline and spot six of the UK’s 10 tallest buildings.
From here you’ll turn back around and head all the way towards Big Ben.
This is when the commentary begins, so you’ll soak up centuries of London history along the way. I recommend heading up to the deck for the best views.
You’ll glide under nine magnificent bridges including Tower Bridge, London Bridge and – my favourite – the Wibbly Wobbly bridge (AKA Milennium Bridge).
You’ll also get up-close with the bright red pillars of the lost 18th century Blackfriars Bridge which jut out from the water.
Plus you’ll cruise under “Ladies’ Bridge” – the unofficial nickname of Waterloo Bridge, which was built largely by women during World War II.
It was fascinating to see historic landmarks nestled in-between glossy modern offices and huge skyscrapers.
One of these impressive slices of history is Cleopatra’s Needle – the oldest structure in London. The obelisk was built in 1450 BC, and made its way over to London from Egypt in 1878.
Finally you’ll pass spots like the Globe Theatre and the London Eye until you reach the Houses of Parliament – stop for a quick selfie – then it’s back to the pier.
Although I live in London, I left feeling like I’d learned so much about my city that I didn’t even before, thanks to the knowledgeable tour guide.
Overall, the lunch cruise was a fantastic way to pack in sightseeing, fascinating history, and a delicious meal into one relaxing experience.
Plus when you step off, you’ve got the Tower of London, Borough Market and more on your doorstep to continue ticking off the best of London.
Click below to browse City Cruises‘ options, starting from £15 for a sightseeing cruise.
Browse City Cruises’ experiences – starting at £15 per adult
Prices correct at the time of publication.
The popular holiday destination with the WORST mega airport queues this summer, according to major airline boss
IF YOU are heading away this summer, you might want to check whether you need to expect lengthy queues at your destination.
A major airline boss has called out the destinations you can expect to experience chaos this summer thanks to Europe’s new Entry/Exit System (EES).
According to easyJet boss Kenton Jarvis, the EU’s EES is “a bit of a mess”, highlighting the Canary Islands in particular, according to TTG Media.
Popular destinations in the Canary Islands include Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Tenerife, Lanzarote and La Palma.
He also highlighted that there are issues in Milan Linate Airport, including recently a number of passengers missed their flight due to long queues at border control.
There are some destinations that are handling the new system well though, such as the Greek islands.
Read more on travel inspo
He added: “The EU had a very long time to prepare for something they have not prepared very well.”
Jarvis also explained that planes can only wait so long for passengers, before they need to leave without them.
This was the case in Milan, where the plane was held for an hour before eventually leaving.
If they had waited longer, they might have missed their slot for take-off or the crew would then go into working overtime.
He is now advising passengers to arrive at the airport earlier, to allow for the extra time to get through border control.
And Jarvis is also pushing for the grace period for EES to be extended into the winter.
If you are unable to get through border control due to queues, in time for your flight, easyJet will put you on another flight with the airline.
Jarvis added: “It should be a good thing when everyone has been registered because they will be able to use e-gates, but until then it is clunky.”
‘Expect more action from the US after the Google fine,’ top EU lawmaker says
Published on
German Socialist MEP Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s trade committee, told Euronews that the EU should brace for further action from the US following the €890 million fine imposed on Google by the European Commission on Thursday.
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Tensions escalated across the Atlantic after US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the fine was “unreasonable” and created “uncertainty” for US-EU trade.
Brussels imposed the fine on the tech giant under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which is designed to curb Big Tech’s dominance in the EU’s digital markets and has been a repeated target of US criticism since Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
“We have the tariff for the deal of Scotland and we have some regulation where everybody, not only US companies but also Europeans or whatever companies, has to respect it,” Lange said.
He added that both the DMA and the Digital Services Act (DSA) remain in Washington’s crosshairs and warned that the EU should prepare for retaliation.
“To be honest, I expect that some action will come,” he said.
Imposing tariffs over forced labour is ‘crazy’
The EU and the US have been bound since July 2025 by a trade deal struck in Scotland that imposes 15% US duties on EU goods while removing EU tariffs on US products.
Brussels, which hopes the deal will shield European businesses from Washington’s erratic decisions and tariff threats, had expected the US to announce a new tariff regime to replace the current one expiring on Friday and was prepared to accept it as long as it did not exceed the 15% cap.
Washington unveiled the new regime on Thursday, targeting trading partners around the world, including the EU, over forced labour.
According to Lange, the fact that the US targeted the EU over forced labour is “crazy”.
“We have a wonderful legislation, even stronger than the United States has,” he said.
However, he believes the new tariffs could eventually be challenged before US courts and hopes trade policy will return to the hands of Congress.
“I guess the courts in the United States will judge about that,” Lange said, adding: “I hope that after the midterms in November, the Congress will take over a little bit more like it is written down in the Constitution of the United States, Article 1, Paragraph 8, that trade policy is in the hands of the Congress.”
“I hope this will give us also additional stability.”
How early you should arrive for your flight this summer after Ryanair boss warns planes WON’T wait for passengers
RYANAIR boss has warned Brits not to be late for their flight as planes will takeoff without them.
The news comes after reports of hour-long delays at border control as a result of the introduction of the EU’s new Entry/Exit system (EES).
Talking on The Telegraph’s podcast, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said: “We will not wait for anybody.
“Our priority is to those passengers who are at the boarding gate when boarding starts. If you’re not at the boarding gate when we finish boarding, the plane is going without you.”
He further added that it is the responsibility of the traveller to leave enough time to get themselves through the airport on time.
It comes after reports of up to six-hour long queues at passport control and in some cases, passengers have missed flights as a result.
At the beginning of June, 150 Ryanair passengers missed their flight from Toulouse to the UK due to the queues.
In another case, British passengers who were still in the airport queuing through passport control missed their Ryanair flight from Athens to London Luton.
One passenger told the BBC at the time that there had been a “mega queue” at Athens International Airport where hundreds of people were waiting at both security and passport control.
The plane took off without around 50 of its passengers.
However, Michael O’Leary said that planes cannot wait for anyone caught up in the chaos.
He added: “We’re not delaying our flights for people who are stuck in passport control queues.
“They have to show up at the airport earlier [and] be at the boarding gate, otherwise they’re not flying.”
Ryanair had previously called for EES to be delayed until September to save the summer holidays – but it has continued to go ahead.
With EES still in place, airlines are advising Brits to leave arrive three to four hours early for your flight to Europe this summer.
Women’s Super League: Man Utd sign goalkeeper Janina Leitzig
Manchester United have signed goalkeeper Janina Leitzig from Leicester City for an undisclosed fee.
The 27-year-old becomes their second signing of the summer following the arrival of defender Andrea Medina.
It is believed the former Germany youth international has signed a three-year deal at United after they triggered the release clause in her Leicester contract, which was renewed in 2025.
Leitzig has been at Leicester for three years, initially on a season-long loan from Bayern Munich, where she became a regular starter.
She leaves having made almost 70 appearances in all competitions but could not save Leicester from Women’s Super League relegation last season.
“It is a real honour to be a Manchester United player,” said Leitzig.
“I’m ready to bring all of my experience of competing at the highest level to help the team to have a successful season.
“I am joining a really excellent group of goalkeepers. Everyone has told me about the great environment that they have created.
“I cannot wait to push all together to maintain the high performance standards that this club deserves.”
Leitzig has been a long-term target for United and BBC Sport first reported in 2023 that they had made contact with the German goalkeeper while on loan at Leicester.
She will wear the number 25 shirt at Manchester United.
Federal court approves use of Tennessee’s new congressional map
July 24 (UPI) — A federal court has allowed Tennessee to use a new congressional map that eliminates the state’s only majority-Black district in November’s midterm elections, rejecting a challenge from civil and voting rights advocates.
The three-judge panel on Thursday denied a motion filed by Black Memphis voters for a preliminary injunction against implementing the map, ruling they lacked evidence of racial motivation for the map’s unorthodox mid-decade redistricting, which could be explained by a political motivation.
“The road to a reliably 9-0 map runs through Memphis. Thus, political motivations readily explain the map’s dilutive effects,” the panel, which consisted of two Trump appointees and one Obama appointee, wrote in its decision.
With the ruling, Tennessee may use the map in next month’s primaries.
November’s midterms have been of increasing concern for President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly voiced worries about impeachment proceedings and investigations if Republicans lose the House to Democrats, and has pushed GOP-led states to redraw their congressional maps to create additional Republican-favored districts.
Texas was the first last summer to agree to Trump’s request, sparking a gerrymandering arms race, with at least 10 states have redrawn their maps. All but Democrat-led California and North Carolina, which has a Democratic governor, are Republican-led.
Tennessee’s GOP-majority legislature passed its redistricting map to eliminate the one Democrat-held seat in May, a week after the Supreme Court issued a controversial decision that weakened a key part of the Voting Rights Act, by greatly limiting the use of race in drawing electoral districts.
The three Black Memphis voters, along with the Black Clergy Collaborative of Memphis, the Memphis A. Philip Randolph Institute and the Equity Alliance sued days later, alleging that the new map unlawfully discriminates against Black Memphis voters by dismantling a district where they had long been able to meaningfully participate in the political process.
In its ruling Thursday, the court said that the plaintiffs had to show that the map redraw was racially motivated, which they failed to do.
“The map’s effects — breaking Black Memphians into three separate congressional districts — are readily explainable by political motivations,” the court said.
“It’s no secret (supported by Plaintiffs’ own statements) that city voters prefer Democratic candidates and that rural voters prefer Republican candidates. So, it makes sense that Tennessee’s legislature would split Memphis into thirds when attempting to create a map that favors Republican candidates. And it’s no surprise that the resulting map would also split the Black population of Memphis into thirds.”
Amber Sherman, a plaintiff in the case, said the court’s decision further disenfranchises Black voters in Memphis.
“It’s painful to know we’ll head into another election under a map that was designed to weaken the Black voters in Memphis,” she said in a statement.
“We deserve the same opportunity to shape our future as anyone else.”
US attacks Iran as Houthis allow Chinese ships to pass: What’s the latest? | US-Israel war on Iran News
The United States has continued to attack Iran for a 13th consecutive night on Thursday and explosions were reported in multiple Iranian cities on Friday morning.
In addition to the ongoing attacks, shipping disruptions continue to intensify. Ship tracking data revealed that just one tanker successfully crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, marking the lowest level since May 7.
However, shipping data from London Stock Exchange Group shows that two Chinese supertankers carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia successfully exited the Bab al-Mandeb strait on Friday. This is despite the naval blockade Yemen’s Houthis announced against Saudi Arabia on Monday.
Here is a recap of what happened on Thursday night and Friday.
Where did the US attack Iran?
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that at 01:00 GMT on Friday, it concluded its latest round of strikes against Iran.
CENTCOM said it targeted Iranian military command centres, drone storage facilities, communication networks, coastal surveillance sites and maritime capabilities.
On Friday, Iranian media reported explosions or attacks across multiple Iranian cities. State broadcaster IRIB reported that explosions were reported in Khondab, Khorramabad, Konarak and Jask. Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency reported that two people have been injured following an early morning drone attack on Khorramabad, citing the deputy governor of the western Lorestan province.
Iran’s Mehr news agency reported on Friday that US missile strikes hit the cities of Andimeshk and Omidiyeh in the Khuzestan province. There were no casualties or injuries.
Al Jazeera’s Tohid Assidi reported from the Iranian capital, Tehran, that explosions were heard on Qeshm island, located in the Strait of Hormuz, on Friday.
Attacks on the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas have injured two people, Iranian media reported on Friday.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Friday that four people were killed and five others were injured in a US missile attack near the southwestern city of Ahvaz.
Where did Iran strike in the Gulf?
Bahrain: In a statement carried by Iran’s Mehr news agency, the Iranian army said it used drones to target fuel storage tanks, equipment warehouses and troop living quarters at Sheikh Isa Air Base in Bahrain.
Jordan: The military added that aircraft hangars, maintenance facilities and accommodation sites at the Muwaffaq Salti/Al-Azraq base in Jordan were also hit, warning that any actions against Iran’s interests would undermine regional security and economic stability.
What have leaders on either side said?
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump stepped up his rhetoric against Tehran. He told the US news website Axios that he may launch the largest strikes on Iran yet, after Tehran carried out another wave of retaliatory attacks on US allies in the Gulf, including hitting a telecommunications tower in Kuwait.
Trump said he was “considering a massive attack” that would be “bigger than ever before”.
“I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it,” Trump said.
Separately, Trump threatened, on his Truth Social platform, that if Iran attacked ships, the US would use Tehran’s frozen assets to pay for repairs.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned on Friday that using frozen state assets to pay for future claims sets a dangerous global precedent.
“Seizing another nation’s assets to pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent,” Araghchi wrote on X.
He cautioned that “those who celebrate or profit from such funds should remember: once governments normalise confiscation, no one’s assets are safe. Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful”.
Where is Ruby Franke now? From sentence to husband and children
Need to know
The YouTube family vlogger is the subject of shocking documentary The Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke, which aired on BBC Two last night.
Hulu true crime documentary The Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke has now aired on BBC Two(Image: Hulu/BBC)
What happened to Ruby Franke? Everything you need to know
- The Devil in the Family: The Fall of Ruby Franke aired on BBC Two last night, examining the disturbing case of the disgraced parenting influencer.
- Franke launched her YouTube channel 8 Passengers in 2015, sharing controversial parenting advice that “began to raise eyebrows among her fans, leading to complaints and calls to police”.
- The full extent of her abuse came to light when her malnourished 12-year-old son escaped through a window and fled to neighbours desperately seeking food and water. Police records revealed the boy had lacerations on his wrists and ankles consistent with having been bound with rope.
- Franke had partnered with family counsellor Jodi Hildebrandt, who believed the children were “evil and possessed by demons”. Both the 12-year-old and his nine-year-old sister were held captive in Hildebrandt’s Utah home.
- Both women were arrested in August 2023 and convicted of four counts of aggravated child abuse. They each received sentences of four to 30 years and are currently incarcerated at Utah State Correctional Facility. Franke’s initial parole hearing is scheduled for December 2026.
- In November 2023, Franke’s husband Kevin Franke filed for divorce following over a year of separation. Following Franke’s conviction, her children were placed in protective custody, but her ex-husband has now been granted full custody and he has since remarried.
READ THE FULL STORY: Where is Ruby Franke now?
What Is a COFO? The Combined CFO/COO Role Explained
Why finance leaders are taking over operations—and why the new COFO role isn’t a simple shortcut.
There’s a new acronym roaming the C-suite. The so-called COFO — a hybrid chief operating and financial officer — is more common than ever, marking a structural shift in how companies are deciding who runs the business. But the combined role is a risky one: it works far better going one direction than the other, industry watchers tell Global Finance.
Salesforce made it official last year. The San Francisco-based company named Robin Washington its first COFO — tasking a 30-year finance veteran with steering both the balance sheet and the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) and digital-labor transformation.
PayPal, headquartered in San Jose, California, took a similar route. The company expanded CFO Jamie Miller’s mandate to cover operations as well as finance, putting one executive in charge of the strategic growth initiatives that used to require two separate memos and a joint meeting to sort out. Two very different companies, same conclusion: the boss who understands the cash is likely the person who’s expected to move it.
While some observers view this trend as temporary, many industry leaders see the hybrid COFO as a permanent shift in corporate leadership.
“I do think this is a trend that’s here to stay,” said Jaylene Kunze, COFO at Denver-based LegitScript, a risk management service.
For decades, the CFO and COO occupied a kind of awkward office marriage: sharing a roof, splitting the chores, occasionally blaming each other when the numbers didn’t add up.
“Historically, the CFO and COO were often set up to work against each other by default since each one’s success depended on the other, but neither had the full picture needed to make the best decisions for the company,” Kunze added.
That being said: Does the COO job disappear? Kunze calls “operational acumen and a real connection” to the business as “essential.” However, she argues the CFO seat has evolved past spreadsheets and GAAP.
“That’s exactly why the COFO role is emerging as such a powerful one,” she said. “It’s not enough to build the model; you must know what growth targets you’re driving toward and which levers to pull, when, and how.”
‘A Whole New Job’
Executive coach Edith Hamilton, who works with CFOs and COOs at NEXT New Growth, noticed the same pattern.
“It’s not title inflation. It’s authority redistribution,” she said, pointing to AI-driven process change as a major accelerant. But the honeymoon, she warns, is short.
“The second emotion is, ‘Oh dear Lord, this is a whole new job.’” Boards, she added, flip the script overnight — from “protect the numbers” to “use your authority to change the business.”
Her verdict: durable, but not universal. “It will work in companies where finance and operations need to be welded together — not merely coordinated.”
Sierra Hinson has been living this arrangement for over a decade under various titles. Most recently, as a “fractional CFOO” through her firm, Additive Insights. Her reaction to the sudden buzz? “What took so long?” Splitting finance and operations creates blind spots and slows everyone down, she said. And it shows up at the worst possible moment — the exit. “In a transaction, buyers look for inconsistency between what the financials say and what the operations show,” she said. “The title is the easy part — the track record is not.”
Missing the Point
Not everyone’s convinced the direction of travel could reverse. Ariela Tannenbaum, former CFO at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and now a profitability architect, thinks the whole debate is arguing about the wrong things. “The COFO debate misses the point on two counts,” she said. “First, titles. Whether you call it inflation or evolution, a title reflects accountability, not capability. The higher the title, the greater the responsibility. Rebranding a role does not dilute it; it expands it.”
Her second point takes aim at the assumption that AI is what’s really behind all this. “Faster information is not faster judgment,” Tannenbaum said. “A CFO or COO in a COFO role will spend exactly as much time reviewing, analyzing, validating, and deciding as before. AI compresses the data cycle. The thinking, judgment, and responsibility cycle remains unchanged.”
What’s actually driving the trend, she argues, is something more old-fashioned: good managers building good benches. “Great financial leaders already mentor, elevate, and develop their teams to the point where the CFO can spread his or her wings to take on an expanded operational mandate,” she said. Given the chance herself, she wouldn’t blink: “I would run the operation with conviction through the financial lens, where clarity lives.”
The Risk of Reversing the COFO Role
But Tannenbaum, like Hamilton, sees the arrangement working in only one direction. “Can an experienced CFO absorb the COO role? Absolutely,” she said. “Capital discipline, resource allocation, performance accountability — these are financial constructs applied operationally.”
The reverse, however, is not symmetrical.
A COO assuming the COFO role introduces real risk: technical gaps in financial analysis, regulatory exposure, and the kind of judgment calls that only come from deep financial experience.
Her bottom line: “The COFO is not a shortcut. But it works in one direction far better than the other.” And for companies simply focused on saving a salary line rather than building real bench strength, she has a warning dressed up as a punchline: “Can’t find two great executives? Look under the light.”
Which brings the debate back to a question. Firms like Ridgeway Financial Service ask CEOs: does your team just report the numbers, or help run the business? Increasingly, in this new hybrid role, the answer is both — same office, same person, one very full inbox.
Anthony Noto covers corporate finance and private credit. Contact him at anoto@gfmag.com
UKHSA symptoms list as holidaymakers told to ‘avoid these areas’
Some people who fall ill will suffer more than others
UK travellers have been warned(Image: Getty)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued an alert to certain holidaymakers, with some told to avoid particular areas while abroad. It comes as cases of a rare disease have jumped up, as per the most recent figures.
UKHSA said in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “Are you, or someone you know, heading off on a tropical trip? It’s worth being aware of chikungunya, a mosquito-borne virus that can cause severe joint pain. Check out our blog post to learn how to stay protected.”
Further information within the blog explains that there were 112 confirmed and probable cases of chikungunya reported among travellers returning to England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2024 – almost one and a half times the number reported in 2023. UKHSA added: “Travel to India accounted for the majority of these cases, followed by travel to Pakistan and Brazil – all popular destinations for people travelling from the UK”.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), between January 2025 and September 2025, chikungunya was responsible for 40 deaths in Europe, as well as some 115 deaths in the Americas. There are currently no targeted treatments available for chikungunya, so preventing mosquito bites is essential.
Recommended precautions include using repellent containing DEET or picaridin to exposed skin, and wearing loose-fitting and light-coloured clothing to cover your arms and legs. Mosquitoes breed in standing water around human habitation.
UKHSA is urging travellers to avoid “areas with natural and artificial water containers” to help reduce their risk of exposure. UKHSA guidance adds: “Unlike some mosquito species that prefer rural areas, Aedes mosquitoes thrive in urban environments and often bite indoors, making hotel room precautions equally important.”
Chikungunya symptoms
First symptoms are usually a high fever and severe joint pain, often worse in the small joints or where there have been previous injuries. Many who contract the virus also experience muscle pain, headaches, sensitivity to light, and skin rashes.
Most people make a full recovery within a fortnight, though the joint pain can persist for months or even years in some cases. Around one in every 1,000 people with the virus experience serious complications.
Young babies, elderly people, and those with underlying health conditions are more at risk of serious complications. UKHSA adds: “Occasional complications affecting the eyes, nervous system, heart, and digestive system have been reported.”
Before any overseas travel it is vital to check Foreign Office information, including any health precautions that need to be taken, here
TUI, easyJet, Ryanair and Jet2 rules on how early to arrive at the airport
As Brits set out to fly abroad this summer, they may need to know when is best to arrive at the airport – some may have been going too early or even way late this whole time
Some airlines arrival times vary (Image: Getty Images)
When to arrive at the airport? It’s a question as old as time itself.
As airports are set to experience heavy amounts of visitors during the school holidays and summer months, travellers are keen to prepare more than ever for any potential delays or ways to make their journey as smooth as possible.
Whichever airline you’re flying with this year, you may find that what they expect of their passengers is very different. The exact arrival time, bag drop-off times and gate closures can vary from airline to airline, so it’s best to check ahead of time.
It’s always wise to give yourself enough time to allow for security checks and face any check-in or passport queues. Often, bigger airports can have bigger queues, and so this is worth bearing in mind ahead of your flying schedules.
TUI
According to TUI, passengers should arrive at the airport at least 2.5 hours before departure for short and mid-haul flights. For long-haul flights, give yourself more time and arrive within 3.5 hours before.
Passengers have the chance to review their specific itinerary when they press ‘Manage My Booking’ on the TUI website, confirming the ideal departure terminal and times.
Easyjet
For easyJet flights, it is suggested that you turn up at the airport at a minimum of two hours before your flight is due to take off. This aligns with the airlines’ bag drop-off desks, which typically open two hours before the flight and close around 40 mins to an hour prior to departure.
As for boarding times, boarding typically starts 40 minutes before departure and closes strictly 30 minutes before the scheduled time.
Ryanair
Ryanair’s Help Centre offers information on specific terminal time recommendations, but overall, the airline operates on a strict two-hour arrival time recommendation. This aligns with the time that the bag drop-off and check-in desks open for passengers, two hours prior to departure time.
Although many Reddit notes advise that passengers should allow longer when flying out of busier airports such as London Stansted or during the peak holiday months.
The boarding gate must be reached at least 30 minutes before the flight leaves, as gates typically close 20 minutes beforehand, and therefore, two hours should allow for enough time for this.
Jet2
Jet2 recommends, according to their website, arriving at the airport at least two hours before your scheduled departure time. The airline’s check-in desks close 40 minutes before this time.
It’s worth noting that if you’re flying with Jet2 and are travelling with hand luggage only, as long as you already have a boarding pass, you can arrive as late as 90 to 120 minutes before your flight’s departure.
What’s on for Team NI on first day of Commonwealth Games?
The first day of the 2026 Commonwealth Games is upon us and it’s a busy enough Friday for various Team Northern Ireland athletes in Glasgow.
It’s an early start Gary Kelly who is in action in the men’s singles against New Zealand’s Shannon McIlroy at 08:30 BST after his win against Niue on Thursday.
Shauna O’Neill and Chloe Wilson will face Niue in the women’s pairs at 11:20 after their victory
At the Tollcross Swimming Centre, it is a morning full of heats from 10:30.
Victoria Catterson will be in the women’s 400m freestyle while Grace Davison and Lottie Cullen will get under way in the women’s 200m backstroke.
Conor Ferguson and Paddy Johnston will be in the 50m backstroke with Alana Burns-Aiken in the 50m butterfly and Adam Bradley in the 100m breaststroke.
Barry McClements will go in the men’s S10 100m butterfly while Team NI will take part in both the men’s and women’s 100m freestyle relay heats.
Should the various swimmers progress through their heats, the semi-finals or finals of all those events will take place that evening from 19:00.
At the SEC Centre, one of Team NI’s boxing contingent will be in action.
Louis Rooney fights in the men’s bantamweight 55kg round of 32 against Mathealira Seholoholo from Lesotho at 11:45.
From 13:00 at the Emirates Arena, Olympic champion Rhys McClenaghan alongside Ewan McAteer and Eamon Montgomery are in qualification action.
Tehran slams Trump’s threat to use frozen Iranian assets as ‘incendiary’ | US-Israel war on Iran News
President Trump says damages will be paid for by Iranian money that the US has ‘in its possession, and controls’.
Published On 24 Jul 2026
United States President Donald Trump has pledged to use frozen Iranian assets to pay for any damage to ships and cargo in the Strait of Hormuz, garnering strong condemnation from Tehran.
Tensions between Iran and the US have escalated since the beginning of July as the two sides trade attacks and Tehran targets US military bases in the region.
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Washington completed its 13th consecutive night of strikes on Iran late on Thursday, with Trump saying he is considering a “massive attack” on the country, “bigger than ever before”.
Writing on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, Trump said that damages would be paid for by “Iranian Money that the United States has in its possession, and controls”.
“These damages may be very substantial but, nevertheless, this is the fair and equitable thing to do,” Trump added.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned Trump’s comments and said in a post on X on Friday morning that seizing another country’s assets to “pay for unrelated future claims is an incendiary precedent”.
“Those who celebrate or profit from such funds should remember: once governments normalise confiscation, no one’s assets are safe. Ensuing chaos will not be pretty or peaceful,” he added.
The case of Iran’s frozen assets has been an issue that the two sides had been discussing in the now-collapsed memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreement that was signed between Tehran and Washington in June as a pathway to end the war.
But the US and other governments have “frozen” Iranian assets for decades.
While the exact amount of frozen money belonging to Iran is not known, some estimates put it at about $100bn.
Washington first froze Iranian funds in 1979 after US citizens were taken hostage at the US embassy in Tehran.
At the same time, Trump pledged “major military punishment” for Iran and its Houthi allies on Thursday after the Yemeni fighters struck two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.
But on Friday morning, the Iranian army announced in a statement carried by the state Mehr News Agency that it had launched a new wave of drone attacks on US military installations in Bahrain and Jordan.
Moreover, ship tracking data seen by the Reuters news agency found that the number of tankers crossing the Strait of Hormuz fell to just one on Thursday, the lowest level since May 7.
Burnham to spend first day working from No 10 North
Burnham’s first day as prime minister in No 10 North will include talks with business leaders, including representatives of the Federation of Small Business, the Confederation of British Industry and the British Chambers of Commerce, about how to generate growth and investment.
Labour wants to create a plan that would pull from existing devolution strategy and local growth policy, to allow civil servants, mayors, councils and businesses to work together more closely.
Burnham’s first week in power has seen him make a series of interventions aimed at easing the cost of living, including announcing a 20% cut in business rates for pubs, social clubs and live music venues from April next year.
However, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has criticised his ambitions for being “too small”.
Speaking on Thursday, she urged him to tackle high energy costs for businesses as well as a gap in defence funding.
“When you are mayor of Manchester, you are handed a big pot of someone else’s money, and you decide where to spend it,” she said.
“I’m sure this is great fun. It can make you very popular. But it is not the same as being prime minister.
“Andy Burnham needs to do better. He is behaving like he’s still the mayor of Manchester. He is now the prime minister of the United Kingdom, he needs to start acting like it.”
Eric Adjepong ordered to stay away from daughter amid abuse claims
“Top Chef” alum and popular Food Network host Eric Adjepong has been ordered to stay away from his 7-year-old daughter following an investigation into abuse claims.
According to the Washington Post, a Maryland judge found that “there is a preponderance” of evidence to believe Adjepong physically abused his daughter, leading to a protective order that bars the celebrity chef from contacting or being alone with his daughter until he completes parenting courses and reunification therapy with the child.
Adjepong’s former wife, Janell Davis-Mack, posted a screenshot of the case information on Instagram last week, writing that she and her daughter had been quiet long enough.
“My daughter has watched me rebuild our life focused on our safety after I divorced her father four years ago,” she wrote. “I’ve also taught her about body autonomy, consent, boundaries, and to tell the trusted adults around her when she feels unsafe.
“My daughter was just granted a protective order against her father because she was brave enough to speak up against who should have been one of the most trusted adults in her life.
“Unfortunately for him — I’ll never stop believing her, protecting her, or reminding her that her voice matters.”
Judge Maurice C. Frazier issued the protective order against Adjepong on July 10; it will remain in place until July 10, 2027. The James Beard-nominated chef is mandated not to contact, harass, abuse or threaten to abuse his daughter or former wife. While the order is in place, Adjepong can have supervised visits with his daughter.
In May, Davis-Mack filed a petition in Howard County, Maryland, seeking protection for her daughter from Adjepong, citing alleged child abuse. Per the Washington Post, Davis-Mack claimed that a nurse who examined their daughter filed a report with the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency, which launched an investigation by D.C. police.
A spokesman for D.C. police told the Washington Post that its Youth Investigations Branch was prompted to investigate claims of “sexual abuse” but that detectives found no probable cause that sexual abuse had taken place and referred the case back to Child and Family Services. On Wednesday, Adjepong posted what appeared to be a screenshot of email correspondence from the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency stating that, on April 29, they received a report of potential neglect or abuse, investigated the claims and found sexual abuse claims “unfounded.”
“I am aware of recent media inquiries concerning a protective order entered on July 10, 2026,” the chef wrote alongside the screenshot. “Because this matter involves my young daughter, whom I love deeply, I intend to protect her privacy and will not discuss the underlying allegations or other sensitive family matters publicly other than to say that these allegations arose in the context of a long running divorce and custody proceeding, which finally concluded on June 2, 2026.
“The Court’s protective order followed careful reviews by law enforcement and the District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency (‘CFSA’). The District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department closed its investigation without filing charges. CFSA concluded its investigation with an ‘unfounded’ disposition, which its report defines as not true.
“I have the utmost respect for the Circuit Court that issued the protective order and am strictly complying with every facet of the order, which is designed to ensure that my daughter is safe and treated respectfully, and to ensure her reunification with her father. The Judge eloquently described the nature of my relationship with her at the hearing. My foremost concern is my daughter’s well-being. It is my fervent hope that in the future my ex-wife and I can resolve these matters privately and through the proper legal channels, rather than in the press, if only for the well-being of our daughter.”
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UK airport drop off fees up by a third – full list of most expensive
The cost to drop friends and family off at the airport this summer has increased by a third at most airports across the UK – with some short stays costing a whopping £10
Drop off fees at airports are higher than ever(Image: Chris Radburn/PA Wire)
Dropping off family and friends at the airport this summer will cost you even more as new research has found that fees have increased by a third over the last year.
It was found that 16 out of 20 airports analysed had increased or introduced so-called “kiss and fly” fees since last summer, according to the RAC.
Some airports are now charging as much as £10 just to stop outside the terminal for a few minutes.
The most costly airports are still Gatwick and Stansted, with terminal drop-offs costing £10 at both.
The bigger shock comes as the only major airport that offered free terminal drop-offs, London City, now has one of the costliest fees charged on a per-minute basis.
Drivers dropping off relatives at London City are now charged £8 for five minutes, making it the highest charge per minute among airports included in the research.
The next most expensive drop off zones are outside of England’s capital.
One is in Scotland, as Edinburgh charges £8.50 for up to 10 minutes. Bristol also charges the same fees.
The RAC noted the average cost of airport drop-off fees has increased by around a third over the past year, despite many of the world’s busiest airports continuing to offer free terminal drop-offs.
The organisation highlighted that none of the busiest airports in the European Union charge drivers for dropping passengers off outside terminals.
In some of the world’s busiest hubs, including Dubai, these fees also do not exist.
Most UK airports do have alternative options that are free, however these are usually located in mid or long-stay car parks, with passengers needing to catch a shuttle bus to the terminal.
RAC senior policy officer Rod Dennis said: “It’s disappointing to see so many airports charging so much for what many regard as a simple act of kindness in dropping off family and friends.
“Having a captive audience should be no excuse for these farewell fees, especially when they’re completely at odds with how major airports around the world operate.
“Of course, airports need to manage the limited space they have carefully, but if free, convenient drop-off zones work at many other international airports, then why not here?”
Mr Dennis also warned drivers to take extra care when using airports with “park now, pay later” systems without barriers.
He said: “Those that drop off but miss the signage or forget to pay soon afterwards can face a parking charge notice as high as £100 – a fee that feels distinctly disproportionate to the contravention.”
There were only four airports in the study that had not increased their costs. Liverpool John Lennon, East Midlands, Belfast City and Southampton.
Most expensive airport drop-off charges:
- £10: Gatwick and Stansted
- £8.50: Bristol and Edinburgh
- £8: Bournemouth, Leeds Bradford and London City
- £7: Aberdeen, Birmingham, Glasgow, Heathrow, Luton and Southampton
- £6: Liverpool John Lennon and Newcastle
- £5.50: Manchester
- £5: Belfast International and East Midlands
- £4.50: Cardiff
- £4: Belfast City
Being a women’s football fan: What’s working and what’s missing?
The biggest complaint from fans is scheduling.
In 2025-26, the WSL replaced the Sunday 18:45 kick-off time with more noon matches, but this also proved unpopular.
“For an away day it’s horrible,” explains Arsenal fan Major. “You’ve got fans leaving at three o’clock in the morning or you’re going the night before and having to pay for a hotel.”
The revised time also clashes with grassroots football, played widely on a Sunday morning. It is a barrier for the younger generation to attend games.
Regular breaks throughout the season are an issue too. Earlier this year, former England defender Anita Asante suggested extended gaps between league games hampers momentum and rhythm for fans.
Another complaint from supporters is accessibility.
While Premier League-level grounds like Emirates Stadium and Everton’s Goodison Park are well equipped, smaller venues are less accommodating.
Jones, a wheelchair user, was frustrated by the lack of Blue Badge parking information when trying to attend London City’s away trip to Tottenham Hotspur.
“A lot of the issues I experience are with communication,” she says. “Every club has an accessibility section on their website but for Tottenham it is only for the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, not Brisbane Road [where Tottenham women play].”
Jones told BBC Sport the onus was on her to seek further information via email, to which she received a reply stating Blue Badge parking had sold out. Only after she spoke to Tottenham’s disability co-ordinator did she learn the venue did not have Blue Badge parking as it was in a residential area.
To compound matters, the wheelchair accessible allocation was on the opposite side of the ground to the away section, leaving Jones isolated.
Tottenham Hotspur told BBC Sport information for the venue is available on the website via the ‘Ask Spurs’ chatbot. However, after an internal investigation, they are making improvements.
Brisbane Road-specific guidance has since been added to their event day accessible parking section on ‘Ask Spurs’, while a matchday-specific guide is in the works.
A spokesperson for the club confirmed: “We’re working on a full Brisbane Road matchday guide for the website for next season to give parity with our Tottenham Hotspur Stadium information.”
Israel carries out blasts across south Lebanon despite ‘ceasefire’ deal | Israel attacks Lebanon News
Israeli attacks come amid ongoing talks with Lebanese officials to implement framework for peace between two countries.
Published On 24 Jul 2026
The Israeli army has attacked the southern Lebanese town of al-Mansouri and carried out blasts in the nearby village of Majdal Zoun, Lebanon’s National News Agency reports, despite the “ceasefie” and ongoing talks between the two countries.
The explosion in Majdal Zoun on Friday was heard as far away as city of Tyre, over 15 kilometres (nine miles) away, according to local reports.
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The attack and demolitions have become a routine feature of life in southern Lebanon, despite a United States-brokered framework that is supposed to end the fighting and lead to “peace”.
On Thursday, an Israeli strike on an ambulance in Nabatieh al-Fawqa injured two medics. The Lebanese Health Ministry called the attack a “flagrant violation of international and humanitarian laws and norms”.
Israel has been systematically levelling entire villages near the border, with Israeli officials openly declaring the objective of erasing Lebanese towns out of existence to create a “security zone”.
Israel occupies nearly fifth of Lebanese territory and has killed more than 4,000 people since fighting erupted on March 2, maintaining that its operations are aimed at stopping Lebanese armed group Hezbollah from launching assaults into northern Israel.
However, the demolitions bear close resemblance to Israel’s tactics in Gaza, where a “ceasefire” has not halted the Israeli military’s campaign to destroy the territory. Rights advocates say Israel’s policies aim to make the strip uninhabitable.
US President Donald Trump promised to “help” Lebanon during a White House meeting with Lebanese president Joseph Aoun earlier this week.
Asked whether there will be a timeline for Israel’s withdrawal from the country, Trump said: “They’re in the process of doing that. They’re in the process of redeploying [to] other sections.”
Under the framework agreement signed in Washington on June 26, the Lebanese army is to take over Israel-occupied territories in the south, provided that Hezbollah is disarmed.
Lebanese and Israeli officials have been meeting regularly to discuss the implementation of the deal with the next round of talks scheduled for August 4 in Italy.
Hezbollah has rejected the agreement outright, with its leader Naim Qassem calling the deal “null and void” and calling for armed resistance to push Israel out of Lebanon.
The deal sets no timeline for withdrawal. Instead, it outlines two “pilot zones” where the Lebanese military “will gradually assume full and effective security responsibility”.
The Lebanese army deployed to the first pilot-zone villages this week. But residents returning to Froun and Ghandouriyeh say their villages were never occupied by Israeli forces, arguing that Israel has not given back any territory.
Ukraine beheads its military as its performance begins to soar | Russia-Ukraine war News
Ukraine replaced its top military and political defence personnel in the past week even as its armed forces arguably achieved their best performance in three years.
Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov’s ouster on July 15 was followed six days later by the replacement of Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskii. Both men were followed out the door by some of their most capable lieutenants.
Ukraine seemed to have found a winning formula, making 2026 Russia’s worst year of the war for manpower losses, territory and economic performance at home.
Some 193,500 Russian troops have been killed or seriously wounded so far this year, said Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence – averaging losses of 32,000 a month for the first time, according to Syrskii – and Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service estimates Moscow is unable to reach recruitment targets.
This pain has produced a net gain of just 81.1sq km for Russia, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank that assesses territorial movements using geolocated open sources, and the trend of gains to losses is improving in Ukraine’s favour.
If June was a disastrous month for the Russian operation, netting it just 30sq km, July has so far been worse, with Russian forces making net losses of 1.6sq km a day, according to the ISW.
Meanwhile, Russia’s war economy, which boomed in 2022-24, has seen growth this year flatten at just 0.2 percent, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted.
Ukraine has replaced defence ministers and commanders-in-chief before, but this was the first simultaneous shake-up of the war and seems to have come amid an internal debate about strategy.
On the day after Fedorov’s ouster, which produced street protests against the move, Syrskii spoke of “an effective strategy that is currently demonstrating concrete results”.
A day after his own sacking, Syrskii wrote a column on the Militarnyi news website saying, “The Minister should not … be a war strategist. This is not his task and not his responsibility.”
“War strategy, planning of operations, the situation on the front — by law, I am responsible to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief,” he said.
The nub of disagreement seems to have been unmanned warfare.
Syrskii created the world’s first Unmanned Systems Forces, the SBS, and fought the world’s first war in which First Person View (FPV) drones caused an estimated 95 percent of enemy casualties.
Ukraine’s middle and long-distance drones have devastated Russian logistics and oil supply, slackening the force it can deliver to the front.
Fedorov pressed hard in this direction during his six months on the job, buying more drones in four months than the Defence Ministry had bought in all of 2025, and even spending soldiers’ payroll money to swell orders.
Syrskii disagreed. “Against us is an enemy that is superior in everything, who fights, in particular, with artillery, aviation, and infantry. I cannot transfer a million-strong army ‘to drones’ in two months and say: now we are fighting like this,” he wrote on Militarnyi.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who recently told The Financial Times that “the sky will be decisive in this war,” said on July 20 he was “continuing to determine what adjustments should be made to Ukraine’s defence strategy and what priorities in production and supply to the military must be implemented as quickly as possible”.
What is Ukraine doing that is working?
Ukraine developed the use of short-range drones on the battlefield to reduce its own exposure and lower casualties. That strategy has yielded results, effectively halting Russia’s advance this year.
Syrskii said Ukraine gained more territory than it lost in May, the month in which it began to strike Russian logistics using the overland route from Russia into its southern regions of Zaporizhia and Kherson.
By the end of May, Ukraine was also disrupting logistics in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, forcing Russia to float fuel and materiel across the Sea of Azov to Crimea. Ukraine then targeted those ships.
Since June 6, Ukraine’s commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces Robert Brovdi said, Ukraine had disabled 196 fuel tankers and destroyed three-quarters of Russia’s ferry capacity across the Kerch Strait, the closest crossing from Russia’s Krasnodar Krai to Crimea.
As an added benefit, Brovdi said, Russia had been forced to redeploy 200 units of its own unmanned forces command, called Rubicon, to protect an equal number of ships, weakening its frontline.
“That’s how many vessels will be destroyed by SBS “Birds” in the Black and Azov Seas during the remainder of July and the first half of August – it’s a matter of honor,” he wrote on his Telegram messaging channel.
The SBS has also struck 117 electrical substations and power stations this month, Brovdi said, most of them in Crimea, plunging much of the peninsula into darkness.
Apart from hampering the armed forces and the economy, that has been a drain on Moscow, which was earmarking five billion rubles ($64mn) in compensation for darkened homes and furloughed employees, in addition to measures announced the week before.
Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said Russian shipping had been paralysed in the Sea of Azov, and that the Kerch Bridge was being allowed to stand “so that the Russians can leave the Ukrainian Crimea,” because “it will reduce our losses during possible future actions directly in Crimea.”
Ukraine’s long-range strikes this week destroyed a Tupolev-95 strategic bomber at the Engels airfield 800km from Ukraine, and a MiG-29 fighter plane at the Khalino airfield in Kursk, in addition to numerous air defence radars and launchers.
Ukraine also struck the Slavneft-Yanos refinery in Yaroslavl, which it described as the largest “in the central part of the country”.
In a shift from its usual military and energy targets, Ukraine struck four warehouses of the Wildberries online retail group, which it suspects Russian recruits use to order much of their protective gear and weapons.
Russia has retaliated this month by targeting Ukraine’s port infrastructure on the Black Sea, to prevent it from exporting the grain harvest.
Container shipper Maersk said on July 22 it was diverting container traffic originally intended to be offloaded at Odesa or Chornomorsk to Romania’s Constanta. This also meant that Ukrainian outbound container traffic waiting in Chornomorsk could not be loaded unless moved to Constanta.
Ukraine has retaliated in turn, claiming to have bottled up Russia’s grain exports coming down the Don river to the Sea of Azov, via which Russia exports 30 percent of its grain.
Russia is also retaliating by increasing the number of ballistic missiles in its nightly strikes on Ukraine’s cities.
Since June 26, Russia has included missiles in almost every strike, contrary to past practice, when it held back its missiles for one massive combined missile and drone strike a week.
Ukraine says it has learned how to intercept 95 percent of drones and 87 percent of cruise missiles, but fewer than half of Russia’s ballistics.
“You hope that ballistics will do for you what everything else has failed to do,” Zelenskyy wrote to Putin in June.
An analysis by Militarnyi suggested Russia was dipping into its missile reserves to achieve this, using more than its monthly production capacity in the first two weeks of July.
Masterpiece British period drama so good fans say ‘Downton Abbey copied it’
One standard-setting British period drama can’t be beat — depending on who you ask
Downton Abbey is available to watch on ITVX. (Image: ITV)
It’s never been a better time to be a period drama fan. Between a whole spate of Jane Austen adaptations (a new Sense and Sensibility film and Netflix’s upcoming Pride and Prejudice show), The Other Bennet Sister delighting audiences with its fresh take, to the upcoming second series of the Outlander prequel, it’s an embarrassment of riches.
But for some period drama fans, it’s worth looking back at the masterpiece dramas that led the way. For many, Upstairs, Downstairs is the one to beat. This generational saga about an upper class family and their servants will ring a bell, but it predates Downton Abbey by half a century.
The shows share a similar premise — an upper class family, their domestic staff, and storylines featuring both — and even same overarching time period, so if you haven’t heard of Upstairs, Downstairs, you can know what to reasonably expect.
Viewers are passionate about the one they prefer. Ever since Julian Fellowes’ crown jewel debuted in 2010 and concluded 15 years later, discussions and debates abound over the years.
Some have gone so far as to brand Downton a “rip off”. As one viewer proclaimed on Reddit: “I like Downton Abbey better, but Upstairs, Downstairs is the better show. Julian Fellowes blatantly copied a few things from UD [Upstairs/Downstairs].”
To which another responded: “I’m watching upstairs downstairs right now and I’ve already been like ‘wait that was in DA’. What stood out immediately is the daughter being politically active but then the gay footman who has a relationship with the baron. Alfred and Thomas have very similar timelines right now. Only on episode 6 but seeing SO many similarities”
A third said: “Julian Fellowes ripped off 65% of the UD characters’ names and plots for Downton.”
Yet another period drama enthusiast defended both: “They are very different shows from very different eras (70s vs 2010s). I loved Upstairs/Downstairs when it aired. I love DA. I don’t think a show from 40 years ago should be compared to a modern one.”
Interestingly, BBC rebooted Upstairs, Downstairs in 2010, the same year as Downton Abbey. It received mixed reviews and only lasted two series.
The Guardian was equivocal in its review: “Downton Abbey v Upstairs Downstairs – who won? Downton Abbey, of course.
“Here’s the problem. Downton Abbey completely changed the way we watch period drama. Fellowes brought all the tight, witty scripting of a Hollywood adaptation to an original story, topped off with a gigantic, knowingly camp wink that delighted jaded viewers.”
The reviewer, however, didn’t mention where Downton Abbey stood against the original 1970s masterpiece.
Upstairs, Downstairs (1970-1975) is available to watch on ITVX. The 2010 reboot is playing on U, a free streaming platform.