THE SIDEMEN’S Josh Bradley has revealed he’s set to become a dad for the first time as his wife is expecting a baby boy.

The streamer took to Instagram to share a series of sweet snaps and captioned them: “Mum and Dad for real this time.”

In the snaps, Josh and his wife Freya Nightingale brimmed with happiness as they shared their joyous news with their followers.

After smashing a pink and blue gender reveal cake, the delighted couple shared they were having a baby boy.

The happy pair also posted a sweet image of their baby scan to their family and fans.

Fans flocked to comment and one wrote: “Announcement & gender reveal in one. YUPPPPP love you both so muuuuchhhh. Coolest parents.”

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Another said: “Yes!!! Congrats!!!”

A third added: “Amazing news.”

A fourth wrote: “Oh my god!!! Huge congratulations to you both. This is the most amazing news.”

While a fifth said: “KSI left and now Josh and Freya are having a baby, the good news can’t stop coming.”

The Sidemen appeared to take a sideswipe at KSI after he announced he was splitting from the YouTubers last week.

In bombshell news the Britain’s Got Talent judge revealed he had recorded his last video with his mates and was flying solo.

The Sidemen put up a long post on their social media which seemed to criticise the way in which KSI did it.

They wrote: “Ideally, we would have loved the opportunity to give JJ the send off he deserved, a proper farewell video, time for everyone to process it, and a chance to celebrate everything we’ve built together.

“Unfortunately JJ released the news before we had agreed on a mutual way of letting our audience know.”

In the video KSI posted he said: “This is honestly the hardest video I’ve ever had to make in my life.

“I’ve gone back and forth on this decision for a very long time. I’ve spent months trying to figure out what the right thing to do is.

“But after a lot of thought, I’ve decided that I’m no longer be doing sidemen videos. Today, 31st of May, will be my final Sidemen video.”

Speaking to Alison Mitchell, former England player Phil Tufnell says the Lord’s pitch was “not a good look'” for Test cricket as he, alongside former England captain Michael Vaughan, criticise the surface used for the first Test between England and New Zealand.

READ MORE: England begin Ashes rebuild with win over NZ

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It seems sensible in theory, but thousands of budget travellers won’t benefit

Earlier this month, budget airline Wizz Air told all travellers to get to the airport three hours ahead of their flight due to new border control checks that have been brought in. Managing director Yvonne Moynihan warns that holidaymakers have missed their return or connecting flights due to lengthy airport queues since the rollout of the Entry Exit System (EES).

Problems were flagged when the travel system was launched in April, but as more people pass through airports this summer for the first time since regulations changed, travellers may face hold-ups. Taking to TikTok, travel specialist Kate Donnelly (@Thedonnellyedit) argues that the latest guidance from the airline is “useless” for most people jetting off this summer.

She said: “We know when you’re travelling short haul that the general advice is to get to the airport two hours before your flight. Wizz Air is advising people to arrive three hours before their departure to beat queues and reduce the risk of missing their flight due to the EES system.

“So, while this advice appears sensible, the reality is that most check-in desks only open two hours before departure, in some cases two and a half hours,” Kate argues that only certain travellers would actually gain from turning up at the airport three hours before take-off.

Details available directly on Wizz Air’s website (as of June 7) state: “Airport check-in and baggage drop-off start two hours and close 40 minutes before departure. It’s worth noting that at some airports, the check-in desk may open or close earlier.”

Nearly all airports listed with an earlier-than-standard check-in time are international. London Luton Airport was the only UK airport with differing rules, with check-in desks that open “180 minutes (three hours) before the scheduled time of departure” for all travellers, reports the Express.

Kate also suggested that passengers travelling with hand luggage only could be among those who stand to gain the most from arriving early. Without any luggage to weigh and drop off, the whole process becomes considerably faster, and passengers “would be allowed to get straight through security and into duty-free”.

The airport itself remains one of the most significant factors that could cause delays, even for those who arrive earliest. Kate claims: “A lot of airports have more than one border control, meaning that you are still going to have to wait until the announcement is made for your gate so that you know which border control you need to go to.”

What is the general advice on when to arrive at the airport?

To avoid any issues, it is best to double-check with your specific airline about the earliest time check-in opens. Arriving as early as possible can give extra time for delays, but being ready too soon could result in pointless delays just by waiting around.

Kate said: “If you are travelling to the Schengen area this summer, two hours before your departure is enough time, based on the fact that the airport processes have not changed. Unless [airlines] decide to start opening up check-in desks earlier and announcing gates sooner, you might as well stick with the two-hour rule.”

The Schengen area is an extensive, border-free travel zone encompassing 29 European countries. It features numerous popular summer holiday destinations such as Spain, Turkey and Greece – which means many British holidaymakers will encounter EES checks.

Hold-ups are likely to come from first-time EES users who are required to scan their passport, have a photo taken, and submit a 4-fingerprint scan (children under 12 are exempt from fingerprints). This establishes a digital record valid for three years, and during new trips within that timeframe, travellers just need to scan their passport and provide one biometric identifier (photo or fingerprint).

JET2 is launching two new flights to Greece next year – and one of them has the longest beach in Europe.

One of the new routes is from Leeds Bradford Airport to Preveza which starts next summer.

The city is home to Monolithi Beach, stretching on for around 15.5 miles – making it Europe’s longest.

It runs along the Ionian Sea from villages Mytikas to Kastrosykia and, thanks to its length, the beach has everything holidaymakers look for whether that’s a sunbed, beach bars, and taverna.

One visitor to the beach said on Tripadvisor: “It’s one of the best beaches I have ever visited! Small pebbles and sand, and blue-green clear waters, and it’s length… I don’t know!”

Another said: “One of the most beautiful beaches I have seen and swum in. Great waters, amazing location. I could live there forever.”

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Away from the beach is Preveza Harbour which a highly popular sailing and yachting destination.

The nearby marina is lined with restaurants, cafes, and tavernas where holidaymakers can sit and watch the boats.

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Another popular place in Preveza includes Parga Town.

The region is home to the huge ancient ruins of Nikopolis which have Roman walls, Byzantine basilicas, a stadium, and two theatres.

Another spot worth discovering is Saitan Bazar, a historic lane with tiny independent shops that are covered in vines and known for having lively atmospheres.

It is the ideal destination for reaching Lefkada, meaning travellers can experience two destinations in one trip.

Visitors can take a bus directly from Preveza to Lefkada takes just 45minutes.

Flights to Preveza will be weekly on Sundays until October 10.

From Leeds Bradford Airport, Jet2 will also fly to the beautiful island of Santorini.

Santorini will be served with weekly Thursday flights until October 7, 2027.

Jet2 chief executive Steve Heapy said: “We are seeing continued demand for our award-winning flights and holidays and many people wanting to book ahead for summer 2027, so we are delighted to respond with this expanded programme from Leeds Bradford Airport. 

“With two stunning, brand-new routes being announced today, our summer 2027 programme gives holidaymakers exactly what they want – more choice and flexibility.”

Jet2 recently revealed it would be adding 30 new routes next summer including to Hurghada and Sharm El Sheik from Leeds Bradford.

June 5 (Asia Today) — Samsung Electronics said Friday it will launch a monthlong customer appreciation campaign worth 400 billion won, or about $261 million, as part of a broader social contribution plan linked to strong performance in its semiconductor business.

The campaign, called “Together With the People, Samsung Electronics Appreciation Festival,” will begin Monday. Customers who buy Samsung Electronics products during the event will receive Onnuri gift certificates equal to 20% of the purchase price, the company said.

Onnuri gift certificates can be used like cash at traditional markets and small neighborhood businesses across South Korea. Samsung said it chose the certificates instead of direct discounts to help stimulate local economies and support small merchants.

The event is part of Samsung Electronics’ earlier pledge to expand social contributions by 5 trillion won, or about $3.26 billion, over the next five years. The company announced the plan after reaching a labor-management agreement last month, saying it would invest in “mutual growth and a healthy ecosystem” as well as “future talent development.”

Samsung said soldiers, police officers, firefighters and correctional officers, which the company refers to as “K-heroes,” will receive a 30% benefit when buying products through the Samsung Electronics Family Mall. More than 700,000 people are expected to be eligible.

Samsung Electronics has operated a separate “K-Hero Family Festa” since 2024 to provide price benefits to members of the military, police, fire services and correctional service.

“The dedication and sacrifice of K-heroes made South Korea one of the safest countries in the world, and Samsung Electronics was able to achieve strong performance and growth thanks to that,” the company said. “The program is intended to honor the devotion and hard work of the heroes around us and express our gratitude and support.”

Samsung is also reviewing additional social contribution measures, including support for partner companies, inclusive finance and artificial intelligence talent development.

The company said those plans may include strengthening the competitiveness of industrial ecosystems through supplier support, expanding financial access for vulnerable groups and small business owners and increasing university-industry cooperation to train talent in AI and other future industries.

“We will continue to think deeply about what role a company should play in our society while considering the expectations of the people,” Samsung Electronics said. “As a company that grows together with society, we will faithfully carry out our responsibilities and role.”

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260605010001833

The Palestinian Authority condemned Israel’s decision to build 2,162 illegal settlement units in the occupied West Bank, calling for US intervention to halt the Israeli “madness.”

“All settlement activity is illegal under international law and does not confer legitimacy to anyone,” the authority said in a statement carried by the official news agency Wafa.

It said the Israeli decision constitutes a “blatant challenge to international law and UN resolutions,” particularly UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which affirms the illegality of the Israeli settlements in all occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem.

It held the Israeli authorities responsible for the “serious consequences” of the settlement policies, warning that they would push the region toward “further cycles of violence and escalation.”

READ: Situation worsening in West Bank, warn Italy, UK, France, Germany

The authority called on the US administration to intervene immediately “to stop the Israeli madness if it genuinely seeks to promote security and stability in the region and globally.”

It stressed that the Palestinian people would remain “steadfast on their land and committed to their legitimate national rights,” saying the illegal settlement plans would not deter them from continuing their struggle to establish an independent Palestinian state on the June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The statement came after Israel’s Higher Planning Council approved the construction of 2,162 new settlement units across several illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The plans include 1,006 units in the Gevaot settlement within the Gush Etzion bloc south of Bethlehem, 922 units in the Har Brakha settlement south of Nablus, and 234 units in Kiryat Arba settlement built on land belonging to the city of Hebron.

Palestinians view the new plans as part of an accelerated Israeli policy aimed at expanding illegal settlements, confiscating Palestinian land and creating new facts on the ground.

READ: Israeli authorities issue order to seize 74 acres East of Bethlehem

A BBC expert has warned more than 270,000 people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

More than 270,000 people across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland have received letters through the post, according to a BBC expert – and those who ignore them could find themselves facing court action. Viewers of BBC Morning Live were recently warned about the thousands of letters connected to county court judgements that have been dispatched over the past 12 months.

Expert Laura Pomfret explained to viewers that a County Court Judgement (CCJ) is essentially a court order issued in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland when someone fails to repay a debt and the creditor pursues enforcement action. She noted it could come from a council, company, landlord or a private individual – and if left unpaid, it can appear on the person’s credit report.

She said: “I think that’s what a lot of people resonate with that they’ve heard of CCJs can be bad for your credit. They stay on your credit report for six years. It can impact you getting a mortgage, even getting um a rental property. Sometimes credit checks are done, even when getting a mobile phone contract.

“It’s definitely something to avoid if someone can avoid it, and worryingly, in the first quarter of this year, over 270,000 new CCJs were registered, and that’s 17.5% up on last year. So this is obviously showing that people are struggling and in the energy industry is something that you know it’s it’s getting bigger and bigger.” She explained that these are frequently issued to those falling behind on energy bills — with the latest Ofgem figures revealing debt standing at £4.5 billion — while Energy UK puts the figure even higher at £5.5 billion.

She added: “That’s like such a big bill that lots of people are pay and people pay every month clearly struggling with it. And interestingly as well, credit card transactions in February were up 6% versus last February whereas debit transactions were only up 1%. And that also shows, you know, that people are having to rely on credit for even the most basic of bills.”

Ms Pomfret noted that receiving a CCJ typically follows a series of threatening letters, meaning the householder will already be feeling anxious. She said: “Firstly, it is upsetting to receive a formal document like that. If you get that through the post, it’s got a court seal on it it’s very formal. It might have followed you, you know, debt demand letters with red writing all over, which is overwhelming.”

“Firstly don’t be overwhelmed is easy to say but don’t be alarmed like it’s just a formal process it’s essentially a document asking you asking you for money and so it if it comes through the post you it will tell you what you owe it’ll tell you how to pay it and it will also tell you the deadline by which to pay so you have a few options when you receive a CCJ.” She explained that the first option was to repay the debt – and if someone does so within a month, it could be removed from their credit file. She said: “After that, it stays on your report, but it says that you paid it. So, please make sure you prioritise paying it.”

It’s also possible to vary the terms of a CCJ, she noted, which involves approaching the court to attempt to alter the conditions of the judgement. “Another thing that you may be able to do is apply for what’s called breathing space. So this is formerly called in England and Wales the debt respite scheme. “What this does is it gives you space from creditors, including the CCJ, and maybe gives you time to make a plan to pay it back or speak to a debt advisor, which is super helpful. The last thing that you may be able to do is you may actually be able to get the judgment or CCJ set aside. or recalled if you believed um that it’s an error.””

She stressed that there would need to be a legitimate reason to apply for it to be set aside, including submitting evidence, primarily that the individual doesn’t owe the money or that it’s a mistake. She added: “Another reason is that you didn’t receive the original claim form. So before a CCJ is issued or a decree is issued, you will get a claim form put forward and there’s an opportunity to respond.

“So you could have, for example, the wrong address, it could have been sent somewhere else. You may not have received it. Now, the court’s not going to take kindly to just saying, ‘I didn’t receive it.’ It’s kind of like the dog ate my homework sometimes for some people, but you may genuinely not have done. So that could be an option. Ultimately, you’re going to need evidence, you’re going to have to fill in the correct forms. You may have to pay fees to get it set aside, but you know, in the long run, it may be worth doing tha if you don’t want it to damage your credit.”

To find the steps and court forms involved in asking a court to vary the terms of a CCJ or decree, such as requesting to pay in instalments, or even how to get a judgment cancelled, you can click on the links below.

For England, Wales and Northern Ireland you can click here.

For Scotland you can click here., external

There temporary protection from your creditors while you get debt advice and make a plan.

In England and Wales this is called Breathing Space, and you can find information on that by clicking here., external

In Scotland this is called a moratorium, and you can find more information on that here.

Let’s go Dodgers. High fives all around.

Because this time, with the newest historical exhibit at Dodger Stadium, the team got it right.

Amid all the historical installations and tributes in the open-air museum that is the Centerfield Plaza, and just a few feet from a Fernando Valenzuela mural, a new display honors Glenn Burke and Billy Bean, two former Dodgers outfielders who were the first and second professional baseball players to come out as gay.

It’s not a fleeting mention on Pride night, it’s a permanent record. A static reminder of progress made — and still to be made. And a much-deserved thank-you.

A wall inside Dodger Stadium honors former Dodgers and LGBTQ+ pioneers Billy Bean and Glenn Burke.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

“It’ll be here tomorrow, it’ll be here on the weekend and if you come next month, it’ll be here,” said the Dodgers’ team historian Mark Langill, who pointed to a spot just down the hall where in 1976 he was an 11-year-old getting Burke’s autograph.

Baseball is steeped in such history. The personal, the statistical, the societal. And the Dodgers’ is incomplete without their stories — Burke’s and Bean’s.

But the Dodgers have not, of course, always gotten this stuff right.

In 1978, they did Burke wrong, trading him — he believed — after management learned he was gay.

In his three seasons in L.A., Burke had proved himself a capable reserve outfielder who was popular with his teammates.

As far as we know, in 1977, he was the first guy to initiate a high five — spontaneously reaching above his head to slap hands with Dusty Baker after the home run that made Baker the fourth Dodger, along with Ron Cey, Steve Garvey and Reggie Smith, to hit at least 30 home runs that season, a MLB first.

Glenn Burke, left, goes to give a high-five to teammate Dusty Baker after Baker hit a home run in 1977. It is believed to be the first instance a high five was exchanged.

(Los Angeles Times)

There’s a fantastic photo of the historic high five included in the tribute to Burke and Bean, which is situated on a hallway wall beneath the left-field bleachers, beside the “Dodger Dugout” augmented reality photo booth.

Burke was also the first guy in that Dodgers clubhouse to crack a joke when the team needed it, his former teammate Rick Monday said.

“When called upon, he could play really well,” Monday said before the Dodgers took the field against the Angels on Friday, when the Dodgers and many of their rainbow-sporting fans celebrated the team’s 13th annual LGBTQ+ Pride Night. “And when we needed a moment of levity, Glenn was not afraid to come forward and put a smile on people’s face.”

But shortly before he died of AIDS in 1995 at 42, Burke published an autobiography, “Out at Home,” in which he described the team’s management being “afraid of my sexual orientation, even though I never flaunted it. To this day, the Dodgers deny trading me because I was gay. But it was painfully obvious.”

“Oh, what he had to deal with and keep it hid,” said Joyce Burke-Henderson, one of Glenn’s sisters at Friday’s pregame unveiling, where family members of both players gasped and cried and cheered the installation’s reveal.

“But as time went on, people did know. And then I think he came to the point where he just didn’t care and he just told it like it was.”

Joyce Henderson, sister of Glenn Burke, speaks about her brother during a ceremony honoring the former Dodger and LGBTQ+ pioneer at Dodger Stadium Friday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Burke came out in 1982, three years after playing his 225th and final big league game, in an Inside Sports article, “The Double Life of a Gay Dodger.”

“We just appreciate that now people are opening their eyes and just trusting in the Lord,” Burke-Henderson said Friday, “that things will go forward and work out and everybody will be loved regardless of their situation.”

The Dodgers first honored Burke in 2022, at their ninth Pride Night.

The next season, they made a mess of the Pride festivities, inviting and uninviting and then reinviting the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group known for its work in support of AIDS patients and whose members dress in drag, as nuns.

In 2023, the Dodgers also invited Bean — who was MLB’s senior vice president for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. He appeared in a pregame ceremony on the field while protesters gathered outside the stadium.

Bean died the next year, at 60, 11 months after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.

Greg Baker, husband of the late Billy Bean, wipes away tears during a tribute honor Bean as a LGBTQ+ pioneer at Dodger Stadium on Friday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Once a Northeast Santa Ana Little Leaguer, Bean became valedictorian at Santa Ana High, played for Loyola Marymount and went on to appear in 272 big-league games — including 51 for the Dodgers in 1989 — before abruptly walking away from baseball in 1995.

It got to be too much, he’d explain later, continuing to hustle to keep his baseball career afloat while keeping his sexuality secret, acutely aware of the blowback he’d get if it got out.

“For nine years,” he told the New York Times, “I felt as though I had one foot in the major leagues and one on a banana peel.”

“When he left baseball suddenly, I knew something was wrong,” Bean’s mother, Linda Kovac, said Friday, pausing to wipe away tears. “He was playing very well, it wasn’t like he was kicked out or anything. And it just didn’t make any sense.”

When Bean finally told his family he was gay, in 1996 — three years before clueing in an unsuspecting public via a Miami Herald article — none of his loved ones blinked. That included his stepfather, Ed Kovac, the homicide cop and former Marine who’d had a partner on the force who was gay.

“He worked with someone that he respected, side by side, on criminal cases,” Linda said. “We’re still friends with that guy.”

Linda and Ed Kovac, parents of Billy Bean, hold hands in front of a tribute dedicated to their son at Dodger Stadium on Friday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

Knowing someone — or of someone — who is gay or lesbian has long tended to dispel falsehoods and quell fears that might exist.

“One of the most important things any one of us can do in our community is be out, to be proud,” said Greg Baker, Bean’s husband. “The fact that someone can be out in a world that typically doesn’t have a lot of role models of the same ilk, it’s a brave thing to stick your neck out. It’s also very important.”

And it’s not a surprise, Baker said, that more athletes aren’t out in sports like baseball. Not with Gallup polling released last week telling us that with public acceptance of same-sex marriage and relationships in the U.S. has flattened after two-plus decades of growing support — down from 71% to about 65%.

“I want to thank the Dodgers organization,” Baker said. “It’s brave of them in this day and age to spotlight someone in our community when other organizations are trying to erase us.”

The Dodgers have done the opposite, putting up a permanent marker. A long time coming, a tribute to last.

The pontiff praises Madrid as a beacon of inclusion as about 1.2 million people gather for Sunday mass.

An oceanic crowd has filled the streets of the Spanish capital Madrid with chants, cheers and applause to greet Pope Leo XIV on the second day of a weeklong apostolic journey to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands.

The Vatican and local organisers said about 1.2 million people braved the heat to be present in the landmark Cibeles Square on Sunday in what is expected to be the largest event during his visit to the country.

Throngs of people pressed along barriers near the square – best known as the rallying point for Real Madrid football fans celebrating the club’s titles – waving flags and shouting “Long live the pope”, as Leo arrived in his white popemobile for the event. Some tossed flower petals marking his arrival.

“May Madrid continue to be a welcoming and inclusive city, where social life is inspired by true human values,” the pontiff wrote in the guestbook as he was handed the key to the city by its mayor.

Leo began his trip on Saturday, ⁠meeting migrants and the homeless and attending a vigil with about 600,000 young people in Madrid. His June 6-12 visit also includes stops in Barcelona and the Canary Islands, where he will meet migrants and refugees who ⁠risked their lives crossing there from West Africa.

He said he hoped the visit, his first to a European Union country outside Italy, ⁠⁠would set an example to the world about respecting “every ⁠⁠human being” and urged leaders to stop dividing electorates.

“I am delighted that he is praying for us migrants and for our safety,” said Andrea Margarita, a 72-year-old Peruvian who arrived in Spain six months ago, as she ‌‌waited in the crowd in a wheelchair with her daughter.

After mass, Leo was scheduled to hold a private meeting with fellow members of his Augustinian religious order in ‌‌the afternoon ‌‌before meeting figures from the world of entertainment, sport and culture at a concert venue in central Madrid.

New York Mayor Mamdani was among those critical of FIFA’s decision to ban water bottles at World Cup stadiums.

FIFA has made changes to its stadium policy, allowing fans to bring disposable water bottles into match stadiums after a ban earlier this week drew backlash from supporters and tournament host city officials.

FIFA’s initial policy permitted fans to carry empty, transparent, reusable plastic bottles up to 1 litre (34oz). However, the governing body made a U-turn on that policy on Thursday and banned fans from carrying reusable water bottles into venues due to safety concerns.

The move essentially meant fans would have to buy water or soft drinks from concession stands in the stadium, where prices would “remain consistent with other events held at each stadium”, according to FIFA.

The backlash prompted FIFA to issue what it called a “clarification” on its stadium policy, saying: “All fans will be permitted to bring in one soft, plastic, 20-ounce (590ml), factory-sealed disposable water bottle into any FIFA World Cup 2026 match in the USA and Canada.

“Fans will not be permitted to bring in hard-sided, reusable water bottles due to safety and security reasons.”

The updated policy made no mention of the policy for stadiums in Mexico.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was pleased with FIFA’s decision to reverse the water bottle ban.

“No one should have to fear being priced out of being hydrated, especially fans who are often waiting for hours before a game in extreme heat,” said football fanatic Mamdani, who has championed equitable prices for this World Cup in his home city. Last month, he made 1,000 tickets costing $50 available to city residents as match tickets reached well into four figures.

Forecasters have warned that fans could face health risks from extreme heat at open-air venues during the World Cup, which is being cohosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.

A report published by the World Weather Attribution research group last month estimated that 26 of 104 games at the World Cup are likely to be played in conditions where the Wet Bulb Global Temperature (WBGT) exceeds 26 degrees Celsius (78.8 degrees Fahrenheit).

WBGT is a measure of heat stress on the human body, which combines temperature, humidity, wind and sunlight.

At last year’s FIFA Club World Cup in the US, where fans complained of searing temperatures, supporters were also barred from bringing water bottles into venues.

FIFA has noted that misting stations, fans, hydration stations and cooling tents would be available in “the stadium footprint”.

Fans at the 2022 Qatar World Cup were also not permitted to bring reusable water bottles into stadiums.

DUA Lipa partied with friends until 6am at the finale of her three-day Sicilian wedding after Elton John sang and played piano for her ceremony.

The Be The One singer, 30, downed Negronis, drank champagne, smoked cigarettes and snogged new husband Callum Turner, 36, through the night, insiders said.

But The Sun can reveal security downed two drones by jamming their signals after they flew over the party, causing a huge security scare for the A-Lister guests.

We can also reveal she wore two dresses over the course of the night, both believed to have been designed by Donatella Versace.

Both dresses were white and floor length, and described by onlookers as “glittering”.

Dua, who wore her hair down, had a long train for her wedding ceremony, but slipped into a more comfortable one so she could dance at the afterparty.

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Guests wept earlier in a hugely emotional moment as Sir Elton John serenaded Dua by playing piano and singing Your Song.

But a source told The Sun there were concerns for the Rocket Man legend, who was visibly struggling with his eyesight and appeared frail as he had to be supported by two men holding him.

A source told The Sun: “He had a person on each arm to guide him because he couldn’t see but he played the piano so well.”

They were then treated to a wedding feast which included a catalan lobster salad, tuna, and pasta with lobster.

Guests also had cannoli – Sicilian sweet pastry treats.

Sir Elton John left after the dinner, around the same time as Versace left too.

An Albanian community group based in Palermo also danced at the reception for Dua as bands played live music to guests whose cheers could be heard from the neighbouring streets.

Kosovo-Albanian singer Besnik Qaka and his band performed inside the venue in the evening.

A spectacular ten-minute firework display wowed guests at 11.30pm, before they moved inside the Villa Valguarnera for the afterparty. DJs played music including discotech.

A huge security presence threw a ring of steel around the event, and staff all signed NDAs and had to hand their phones in at 11am and did not get it back again until they left in the early hours.

Dua and Callum Said I Do in the Garden before the reception began.

Guests sat on wicker chairs adorned with white ribbon and gifted hand-embroidered white handkerchiefs with ‘Stay Mad with Me Forever’ on them in red.

They also got a white cotton bag with a red ‘D and C’ on the chair, which was filled with biodegradable confetti.

Elton, 79, who flew in by private jet for the ceremony, and Dua are close friends after they collaborated on the track Cold Heart in 2021.

Italian fashion designer Donatella Versace, 71, was also at the wedding, held in the grounds of the 18th-century Villa Valguarnera in Bagheria, and is believed to have designed Dua’s dress.

Yesterday’s service followed an official one at Old Marylebone Town Hall in central London last week.

A-list guests in Sicily included Brit actor Joe Alwyn, American actress Grace Gummer and her husband DJ Mark Ronson, and pop star Charli XCX and her husband George Daniel, the drummer with The 1975.

Some guests were understood to have signed non-disclosure agreements to protect the privacy of the star-studded three-day celebrations, which kicked off on Friday.

A ring of steel surrounded the venue with metal barriers erected along the roads leading to it.

The villa, which featured in the opening credits of HBO drama The White Lotus 2, is widely considered one of the most historically and culturally significant villas in Sicily.

One Kiss singer Dua, who has an estimated net worth of £150million, and Callum hired the venue for a reported £86,000.

It was once a Mafia hideout but has since been taken on by 76-year-old Italian author and translator Vittoria Alliata di Villafranca, the Princess of Valguarnera, who still lives in the estate.

A huge floral installation of white peonies, hyacinth and lily of the valley from a local florist served as the backdrop for the couple’s vows in the striking courtyard.

Meanwhile the grand entrance to the villa was adorned with purple bougainvillea flowers — a defining feature of Sicily.

Dua is understood to have walked down the aisle with her dad and manager Dukagjin through the courtyard. Pale wooden chairs draped with a cream ribbon were arranged for 200 guests in a semicircle for the ceremony.

Wedding favours included white hankerchiefs embroidered in red with “Stay mad with me forever” and there was also a photo booth.

Guests arrived in chauffer-driven cars and were served wine and popcorn while waiting for the ceremony to commence.

The ceremony was followed by a traditional Sicilian menu from chef Tony Lo Coco’s Michelin-starred Bagheria restaurant I Pupi.

Guests then partied into the night with an outdoor DJ set.

Dua and Callum — who is among the favourites to be the next James Bond — are staying in a £6,000-anight suite at the five-star 19th Century Palazzo Villa Igiea in nearby Palermo.

They are reported to have reserved two floors of the hotel and are staying in the Donna Franca Suite with the private terrace offering panoramic views of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

They also shut down two city centre squares in Palermo for the first of three days of parties.

Last week The Sun revealed that Dua paid £5,000 to residents who live around the area to thank them.

But she was criticised by locals who stuck up posters accusing the singer of making their public space a “living room for the rich”. Others said: “Palermo is not for rent.”

Sir Elton John left Palermo in a private jet just after 12.30pm local time today.

The music legend, 79, was accompanied by husband David Furnish, 63, who took a photo of the singer with ground staff.

The £24,000 private jet headed towards Farnborough, near his home in Windsor. Elton was a blue tracksuit while David wore a yellow suit.

The votes are still being tallied but the result of Tuesday’s top-two primary election in California seems pretty clear.

Despite an uptick in his performance, hopes for third-place finisher Tom Steyer are fading along with the number of uncounted ballots, suggesting Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton will face off in November.

Given the overwhelming Democratic advantage — both attitudinally and in registration — the outcome of the governor’s race might seem preordained. But it’s voters who decide elections, not know-it-all columnists.

Two of that breed, Mark Z. Barabak and Anita Chabria, can’t see into the future. But they can try to make sense of what just passed, starting with a primary season that was a strange mix of ennui and white knuckles.

Barabak: So Anita, now that the election is over how are you feeling? Relieved? Giddy? Depressed?

Chabria: Tired, with five months to go. And while it’s true neither of us can see into the future, it’s not too much of a long shot to predict that in a state where registered Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans, the next governor will likely be blue.

So while the primary was bruising and confusing, the general election will be much more predictable — it’s Becerra’s to lose, and he’d have to try really hard to do that.

But here’s what I’ll be looking for in the lead up to November: How far will Hilton go to capitalize on this moment for personal gain? There are plenty of real issues to be discussed where the Republican-Democrat divide could offer worthy debate. What should we do about gas prices? What is the right balance between environmental regulation and building housing?

But my fear is, with little chance of winning, Hilton will instead focus on boosting his MAGA credentials.

In the past week, we’ve seen him dive headfirst into voter-fraud conspiracies, following the lead of President Trump. Hilton’s campaign is providing Trump with the biggest platform for this false propaganda of rigged elections that California has ever endured.

That is bad for our state and bad for democracy, and it’s troubling that we will likely be subjected to these lies — and that California could be used to further erode voting rights nationally — for the entire summer leading up to the midterms.

What will you be keeping an eye on?

Barabak: How Becerra spends the next five months.

One presumes he’s smart enough not to take anything for granted. Meaning he won’t spend the time between now and Nov. 3 at some swank beach resort, sipping one of those colorful cocktails with a little paper parasol while musing over his inaugural address.

So it will be interesting to see how Becerra campaigns and whether he uses the next several months to build a mandate and also to prepare California voters for the rough road ahead.

Becerra is smart enough, one would think, not to run as Mr. Sky Is Falling and tell voters, “Boy, oh, boy things are really gonna suck going forward.” But the next governor is going to face some really tough challenges, including a structural budget deficit that’s probably going to require both painful cuts and unpopular tax hikes.

On top of that, there are the inevitable disasters, be they earthquake, fire or flood, the latter quite possibly exacerbated this winter by what may be an epic El Niño. There’s also the continued challenge of dealing with a president who treats California the way a dog regards a fire hydrant.

Finally, there’s the unknowable but certain catastrophes the next governor will face.

All of it makes you wonder why anyone would want the job — though Steyer panted after it enough to burn through more than $215 million of his fortune in a bonfire of vanity.

Chabria: Steyer was bashed for being a self-funded billionaire, but what his support showed is that there is a significant contingent of voters who are tired of the status quo and want a governor with bold ideas.

California definitely faces many problems, but we are also historically a state that pushes forward on hard issues.

Universal healthcare and standing our climate ground in the face of federal rollbacks were two of Steyer’s big talking points, along with standing up to corporate influence. Becerra now inherits those thorny problems if he wants to form a more cohesive Democratic base.

Becerra hasn’t yet offered up his vision of the Golden State, as you point out. As much as it may benefit Hilton to focus on Trump in coming months, the same could be true for Becerra.

Why get into messy policy when you can run on opposing MAGA in a very blue state? I fear the next few months will be more about Trump than California.

Barabak: That’s a charitable way to look at $teyer’s campaign.

Sure, he had plenty of ideas, though I think the promise of delivering universal healthcare — a political nonstarter — was cheap pandering, not visionary leadership.

There’s no shortage of people with good ideas. The only reason anyone paid attention to Steyer, who’s never served in any elected office, was the obscene amount of money he spent on his luxury-class ego trip. So it pleases me voters didn’t reward his arrogance or buy his billionaire-turned-populist, “Amazing Grace” spiel. (“I once was blind, but now I see.”)

And I’m be gladder still that voters showed — once again — the governor’s office is not for sale.

I do agree, however, that Becerra should to more than just cry MAGA! MAGA! MAGA! for the next five months, as if that incantation is magic and will solve all our problems. That applies, by the way, to Democratic candidates everywhere.

All of that said, we should note the governor’s race has yet to be officially decided and Steyer still has at least a theoretical possibility of slipping into the top two.

What do you think about California’s prolonged, much-derided long ballot count? Is the criticism warranted?

Chabria: First, we’ll have to agree to disagree. California is on a healthcare cliff and even middle-class Americans (not just Californians) can’t afford either insurance or care.

Single-payer may be a dream, but it’s my dream — for my kids, for my community and for my state, because healthcare shouldn’t be just for the rich and that is increasingly the direction we are going. So any politician, Steyer included, who fights for inclusion rather than accepting exclusion will get my consideration.

And let’s be real — self-funded or corporate-funded — our elections are, to their detriment, too much about money. My outrage is for the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which unleashed the current no-limits mess and created a system in which it requires hundreds of millions from somewhere, anywhere to run for our highest offices.

But back to ballots: Slow is not fraud. Slow is not bad if it’s accurate. Slow allows for greater voter participation by allowing mail-in ballots, and carefully checking all ballots for problems. Slow takes into account the federal mangling of the post office that has, yes, slowed down our mail.

And, slow happens because most of our county elections offices are understaffed and budget-starved. If you want fast, you’ve got to pay for it.

So keep your britches on people and don’t buy Trump’s (or Hilton’s) manufactured hype. Every system can be improved, but there’s far worse problems than slow.

What’s your take on the ballot controversy?

Barabak: Here’s one where we agree.

California goes out of its way to make it easy to vote, which, I believe, is a very good thing. Kim Alexander of the non-partisan California Voter Foundation, who’s spent decades on the matter, has suggested ways we can have both wide access and a faster count, starting with better funding of the state’s over-extended county election offices.

This prolonged count is something Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Democratic-run Legislature could have anticipated. Shame on them for not doing more to address it.

Chabria: Any final thoughts?

Barabak: Just this. I’ve read the many plaintive pieces written about this boring, wholly-unworthy-of-the-Great-Golden-State field of gubernatorial candidates.

I, too, yearn for that perfect candidate who is firm but flexible, old but youthful in his or her thinking, masculine but also feminine, brilliant but not too smart and larger than life but also totally relatable.

Maybe in 2030.

England took less than a session on the fourth day of the first Test against New Zealand to begin their post-Ashes rebuild with a much-needed victory.

In their first Test since their 4-1 defeat in Australia, England exploited the devilishly difficult batting conditions on a poor Lord’s pitch to beat the tourists by 115 runs and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

From 55-5 overnight in their chase of 254, New Zealand’s disappointing week was complete when they were hustled out for 138, thanks chiefly to Gus Atkinson’s 5-30.

After Saturday’s third day was almost entirely lost to rain, England required only seven deliveries on an overcast Sunday to resume their wicket-taking -Josh Tongue getting one to skid into the prone pads of Tom Blundell.

With the ball moving up and down, and side to side, Glenn Phillips began an overdue New Zealand counter-attack.

Phillips and Devon Conway added 53 for the seventh wicket, helped by Harry Brook putting down Conway at second slip.

But after England captain Ben Stokes induced a miscue from Conway, the end came quickly.

Nathan Smith edged behind, Kyle Jamieson clipped to mid-wicket and last man Matt Henry was bowled, all by Atkinson, giving the Surrey man yet another place on the Lord’s honours board.

The rapid, seam-dominated nature of this match followed a recent trend of matches involving England. Two of the Ashes Tests were done in two days, while this was the first Test in this country without a single delivery of spin bowled by either team since 1988.

The hope is the surface for the second Test at The Oval, beginning on 17 June, produces a more satisfactory contest.

The Japanese government will pay you £14,000 to move to its beautiful countryside as part of a relocation scheme aimed at repopulating remote areas of the country

Everyone needs a change every now and then, and for some, this could be the perfect opportunity. The Japanese government has announced a relocation scheme under which families could be paid up to ¥3,000,000 (around £14,000) to move to the countryside.

The scheme has been created to repopulate more remote areas of the country, as more than 37% of the population live in the three major metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. A statement from Akiya Japan reads: “The Ministry of Internal Affairs projects that nearly half of Japan’s 1,700+ municipalities could become ‘functionally extinct’ by 2040. The subsidy is the carrot. The stick is demographic reality.”

The eligibility criteria are the same for both Brits and Japanese citizens and are based on where an applicant has lived and worked, rather than their nationality.

A statement adds: “A foreign national who has lived and commuted in the Greater Tokyo Area for 5+ years and holds an appropriate visa (work visa, spouse visa, permanent residency) qualifies on the same terms as a Japanese citizen.”

Sharing news of the scheme on social media, TikTok user @quinn__jp said: “This isn’t a joke. Japan is actually paying people to move to the countryside.

“Here’s how foreigners can benefit too. In many rural towns, you can get up to 600,000 yen if you move solo and up to 1 million per child, plus relocation grants if you’re moving as a family.

“That makes a big dent in your moving and settling costs. Across over 1,300 towns, around 80% of local districts, you’ll find the Akiya Bank, with empty houses listed for zero yen or at very low prices.

“Some free houses need lots of renovation, but many municipalities offer subsidies and renovation support through programmes like Chiiki Okoshi and the Regional Vitalization Cooperator programme.

“You can get placed in local roles, anything from running a guest house to agri-tech positions, with housing and visa guidance included.

“Japan needs people, and fast. With urban migration and population decline, local governments are desperate to attract newcomers with homes, jobs and cash.”

However, there are some practical barriers, including an expectation that applicants understand the Japanese language.

Visa implications can also be complex, while renovation loans and mortgage products may be harder to access for non-permanent residents. However, the subsidies help offset these challenges by reducing the amount that needs financing.

Commenting on the post, one user said: “I’d definitely move to Japan if I had some sort of online income (a safety net) like most influencers have.”

Another user added: “I want to move there so bad but I’m scared and I don’t have my passport.”

A third said: “My dream is to get an old house in Japan and trust me it’s not that easy. Currently looking for any place who’d hire me so I can move there on a work visa.”

THE premise was sound, I still insist. Whisking sociable teens Reggie and Stanley away from distractions in the run-up to their A-levels and GCSEs for a week of intense relaxation and revision.

And so we headed to Tui’s Magic Life Jacaranda beach-front complex in Antalya, the jewel of Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.

I realised my “no distractions” argument was a mistake as soon as the boys’ jaws dropped when we rolled up outside the stunning, marble-floored hotel and glimpsed our new home for the week.

We might as well have checked into Alton Towers, or Chessington World of Adventures.

Only those popular family theme parks don’t boast 5H opulence, eight swimming pools, a thrilling aqua park, sandy beach, huge buffet diner and six à la carte restaurants.

And for sports-mad youngsters, the complex — the size of 18 football pitches — boasts a gobsmacking array of facilities which makes it feel like you’re living in an Olympic Village.

WAIL OF A TIME

I drove Irish Route 66 with deserted golden beaches and pirate-like islands

ENGINES OFF

Budget airline axes FOUR flight routes to very popular holiday destination

From tennis, beach volleyball, basketball, badminton and table tennis, to football, archery, darts and cycling, there’s something for everyone.

The hotel puts on daily group sessions and courses, with expert coaches on hand if guests want to pay for extra tuition.

There’s also canoeing or windsurfing, catamaran sailing, water-skiing or wakeboarding off the “Turquoise Coast”, aptly named for its stunning blue waters.

A well-equipped gym is open for more than 12 hours a day — a dream for an 18-year-old and 15-year-old needing to let off steam between hitting the books.

There’s a big indoor pool and spa offering treatments, while classes can also be booked for zumba, Pilates, yoga, aqua aerobics, spin cycling, shuffleboard and trampolining.

And dedicated kids’ and teens’ clubs leave parents free to soak up the sun.

With the boys finding a window between the fun activities to do some revision, I tried out the “abs-blast workout”.

Despite the language barrier between the different nationalities, we were united in grunting and groaning as we were put through our paces in an outdoor fitness hut overlooking the sea.

Meanwhile, the Nordic walking class had a dozen intrepid guests gripping poles and striding off down the beach for a 45-minute cardio-busting thrashing.

Teenagers love their food — and with so many activities going on it’s easy to work up an appetite.

The main buffet was a dream for Reggie and Stan, with chefs rotating special cuisine nights including Turkish, Italian or Tex-Mex.

The fresh salads were incredible and cooks prepared pasta, grilled meats and flatbreads while we waited, mouths salivating.

With breakfast from 7am till 11am, lunch from 12.30 till 4pm, and dinner stretching from 6.30pm till 9pm, it’s hard to imagine ever feeling hungry.

But a coffee house, beach and pool bars offer snacks all day, and the dedicated Wunderbar opens 24 hours, providing drinks and food to insomniac guests.

It’s tempting not to leave the complex. But for guests choosing a break from the idyllic swimming pools, there are day trips offering a chance to learn some of Turkey’s incredible history.

I chose a half-day trip to the nearby ancient port city of Side and its 1,400-year-old ruins.

There’s a huge Roman amphitheatre which used to seat 20,000 locals cheering on gladiators, while the 2nd-century seafront shrines, the Temples of Apollo and Athena, were simply awesome.

Strolling through the modern-day Side, stopping to browse the bazaars selling sizzling kebabs and chunks of delicious Turkish Delight, we stepped on glass walkways, revealing the ancient Roman streets below.

Back at the hotel, the rooms are airy, bright and comfortable.

The vast, five-floor main building offers beds close to the buffet and gym, and glorious views across the sprawling complex.

Smaller, quieter rooms are available, spread throughout the gardens and closer to the gorgeous beach.

Some lucky guests can even opt for “swim-up” apartments, with a balcony stepping into one of the many shared pools.

The staff are friendly and happy to help.

A huge amphitheatre hosts professional shows at night, as well as movie nights and live music.

There are also themed parties and discos on site, and an indoor nightclub for guests wanting to boogie into the early hours.

Magic Life Jacaranda offers a classic “something for everyone” heavenly holiday — even for youngsters preparing for exams.

What the boys missed out on study hours, they more than made up for in memories that will last a lifetime.

Like most guests who have been lucky enough to experience this perfect holiday destination in southern Turkey — boasting blazing sun for more than 300 days a year — we’ll be returning as soon as possible.

Certain nations around the world are so wealthy that they wield enormous power over the global economy. When people think about the world’s biggest financial giants, two names typically come to mind straight away – the United States and China.

However, the next country is not located in Asia or North America. It’s situated in Europe, and its economy is substantially larger than most realise; it also boasts a greater GDP than the UK, Portugal and Greece combined.

Data from the World Population Review for 2025 shows that Germany is the richest country in Europe, with a GDP of $4.74trillion (£3.54trillion).

The UK comes second with $3.84trillion (£2.86trillion), while France is third with $3.21trillion (£2.53trillion), Italy fourth with $2.42trillion (£1.81trillion), and Russia fifth with $2.08trillion (£1.55trillion).

Lower in the table, Portugal sits 18th with $321.44billion (£241billion), and Greece 20th with $267.35billion (£200billion), which means Germany’s GDP exceeds that of the UK and both countries put together.

Germany’s wealth derives from a highly sophisticated and diverse economy. It holds the largest national economy in Europe and one of the most powerful on the entire planet. Germany is also a founding member of the EU and the eurozone, representing nearly a quarter of the whole euro-area economy.

The country is famous for its enormous export sector, standing as the world’s third-biggest exporter, having shipped $1.66trillion (£1.24trillion) worth of goods and services in 2024. It also achieved a trade surplus of $255billion (£191billion), among the largest anywhere in the world.

Its exports include vehicles, machinery, chemicals, electrical equipment, electronic products, pharmaceuticals and plastics, reports the Express.

Germany is likewise Europe’s leading manufacturing powerhouse, accounting for approximately one-third of the continent’s total industrial production.

Germany devotes considerable resources to research and development, allocating roughly 3.1% of its GDP to scientific and technological advancement, while also possessing one of the globe’s most comprehensive social security networks.

According to KPMG, Germany continues to be the world’s third-largest economy in 2026. “Exports of motor vehicles and vehicle parts, as well as chemical products, in particular, have made Germany the world’s third-largest exporting nation. At 70%, the service sector accounts for the largest share of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).”

Israeli police said they killed two suspects allegedly involved in the shooting.

At least one man has been killed and five wounded in central Israel, Israeli medics have said, in what police called a suspected “terror attack”.

Israeli rescue service Magen David Adom said a 35-year-old man died of gunshot wounds in the attack on Sunday, while the other casualties have been transferred to two hospitals. Two of those injured are in serious condition, it added.

Israeli police said they killed a suspect allegedly involved in the shooting following a manhunt. The suspected gunman was a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship from the nearby ⁠Israeli city Tayibe, they said, adding that police forces, border guard soldiers and special units were conducting searches for additional suspects. The weapon used by the attacker has been located, the police said.

“The public is asked to be vigilant, obey the instructions of the police and report any suspicious incident or person to the police,” it added.

In an earlier statement, the police said Israeli forces intervened after a report of shooting towards passersby at a gas station at the entrance to the Kochav Yair area, close to the ⁠occupied West Bank city ⁠of Qalqilya. The Israeli Broadcasting Authority said the attacker began a shooting spree at Kochav Yair and continued at the entrance to the nearby towns of Tzur Yitzhak and Tzur Natan.

A source told the Army Radio that the Israeli internal security agency and police have launched a raid campaign in Tayibe. A security cordoning has also been imposed on several neighbouring Arab villages.

Hamas commended the attack, calling it a “heroic” operation, but did not claim responsibility.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it was holding a situational assessment on the shooting attack.

Lior Zilberberg, from the Israeli ambulance service Magen David Adom, has described the response after the shooting began in central Israel.

“We were in a large training exercise in a nearby community when we received reports … about gunshot casualties at several scenes close to us. We immediately stopped the exercise and set out with intensive care units and ambulances to the gas station in Kochav Yair, Tzur Yitzhak, and Tzur Natan,” said Zilberberg in a statement.

“During the drive, civilians signalled me to stop and called me to provide medical treatment to an unconscious casualty inside a vehicle. He was pulseless and not breathing, with gunshot wounds to his body, and after medical assessments we were forced to pronounce him dead.

“Near the vehicle, another injured person was lying conscious, suffering gunshot wounds to the upper body. After initial medical treatment at the scene, he was evacuated.”

A mushroom farm in Jericho, an heirloom seed library, a project to introduce Kale to the Palestinian market and a local farmers’ cooperative – these small agricultural projects are the latest weapon in the fight against the Israeli occupation. They aim to tackle the policies that make Palestine dependent on the Israeli market and offer alternatives for Palestinians who find themselves forced to buy Israeli products.

After returning to Palestine for the first time in five years, Vivien Sansour noticed changes in her homeland. “All the things I had missed, like the delicious tomatoes and cheese, the things old ladies would come and sell at the front of our house, they were gone,” says Sansour. “I thought I was coming home and I found myself coming back to a place that was foreign to me where I was buying Israeli broccoli in the supermarket and that was what was available.”

In June, she officially launched Palestine’s first heirloom seed library as a way to preserve the knowledge of generations of farmers who have cultivated varieties of organic vegetables, fruits and herbs adapted for the region’s climate and soil. Due to Israeli policies and neo-liberal farming techniques, these varieties, and traditional Palestinian farming as a whole, are facing extinction. These tiny seeds, she says, have the power to stop this from happening. Anyone can borrow a packet of the library’s seeds and grow the local varieties of produce, returning seeds from the next harvest.

“The heirloom seed gives us power to resist our dominance, though our heirlooms seeds we can truly eat what we grow and stop having to be slaves to our master,” she says.

Under the Oslo Accords, around 63 per cent of agricultural land in the West Bank was designated as “Area C”, which means it fell under the control of the Israeli military. As a result, farmers whose land fell in that 63 per cent were unable to farm their land freely, as is still the case. Meanwhile, Israeli settlements in the West Bank have mushroomed, and settlement farms are able to produce a large quantity of crops at low cost using pesticides, leaving traditional farmers unable to compete. Unequal water resources allocated to Palestinians and Jewish settlers living in the same territory makes keeping up almost impossible.

According to the Israeli occupation authorities, the value of goods produced in settlements and exported to Europe amounts to approximately $300 million a year. Israel is flooding the Palestinian market with cheap Israeli products whilst simultaneously controlling the Palestinian exports and imports. Restrictions on the importation of fertilizers has cut agricultural output in the OPT by an estimated 20-33 per cent. This pressure is forcing Palestinian farmers to leave their land, with many having to work on the settlement farms that displaced them on as little as half the Israeli minimum wage, in unsafe working conditions, and without holiday or sick pay.

“Oslo has been a disaster for agriculture in Palestine,” says Sansour. Aside from the restrictions placed on farmers as a result of the agreement, it also brought foreign donations to the agricultural section, she explains. “The aid was designed in a very neo-liberal way on the production of certain items and the elimination of people – that’s the idea of agribusiness.” This sort of funding pushed farmers away from sustainable agriculture to mono-cropping (the production of one type of crop) designed for consumer export or selling to the Israeli market, using methods relying on chemicals, she says.

Sansour highlights the Paris Protocol, an annex of the Oslo Accords, which tied the Palestinian economy with the Israeli economy. This has led to a situation, she says, where the tobacco industry is renting Palestinian land for prices small-scale producers cannot compete with. “We went from producing food to producing poison,” she poignantly adds.

The same factors motivated Lamya Hussain to implement The Kale Project – Palestine, a joint venture by organisations MAAN Development Center and Refutrees to introduce kale to the Palestinian market. Two years on and two solid harvests of three types of kale and the project is looking to expand. “There are many ways Israel controls what is produced and why and how, and we want to challenge this,” says Hussain. “We are challenging the occupation through cross diversity because one of the things the Israeli occupation has done to the agricultural sector is that it’s reduced it to a few basic crops.”

“One key issue facing small-scale Palestinian producers is the challenge to work around previously negotiated economic agreements via which Israeli goods are dumped in the local market,” she explains. “To this end, there is always the risk that Israeli producers can take advantage of the rising demand for kale and flood the market with larger quantities and cheaper prices.” Hussain continues, “It’s very difficult for people like myself or for the project, and even more difficult for smaller scale farmers who are competing against not only consumer market prices and local competition, they’re actually competing with an occupied-led system in the market.”

Fareed Taamallah was one of these small scale farmers struggling to sell his produce in this system. Tired of selling his olives and olive oil in bulk to a trader who then sells it to the consumer while taking most of the profit, he co-founded Sharaka. The organisation links Palestinian farmers and consumers directly, promoting Baladi food, a word for local, seasonal and Palestinian produce.

“In Occupied Palestine, the matter of keeping the farmer in his land cultivating and producing is more important than any other place because it is not only a matter of producing, but also a matter of food sovereignty,” says Taamallah. “Sharaka is trying to tackle part of these problems and help small-scale farmers to stay in their land by helping them to market their product at good prices, and in this way support them to remain steadfast in their groves. On the other hand, we try to help the consumer to have access to the good, healthy food and not depend on the Israeli products that are found in the local market.”

For the Palestinian farming industry, the Israeli occupation has been deadly. But these agricultural efforts are seeking to change the status quo by offering Palestinians alternatives to the Israeli products that fill up their local supermarkets. As Sansour puts it, buying the produce of the occupation is like smoking; “you pay for your own poisoning”.

Images courtesy of The Kale Project – Palestine.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

Call the Midwife favourite Judy Parfitt appeared on ITV’s Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh

A Call the Midwife legend has opened up about their emotional exit from the BBC drama.

Judy Parfitt is best known for playing Sister Monica Joan in the long-running series. Viewers were therefore left heartbroken when the cherished nun passed away peacefully in her bed at Nonnatus House in the season 15 finale.

During her final moments, Sister Monica Joan was emotionally reunited with Sister Evangelina (played by Pam Ferris), who unexpectedly died during the season five finale from a suspected stroke.

Actress Judy Parfitt appeared on ITV’s Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh on Sunday (June 7), where she was joined by Brian Conley, Freddie Fox, Julian Ovenden and Honeysuckle Weeks.

After being shown an “enormously sad” clip of Sister Monica Joan being reunited with Sister Evangelina, Alan said: “I can’t watch that,” with Judy admitting: “Neither can I!”

She added: “Showing me at my best, I see. Also, [I] had a cap and it had the thing [go] round, so all the wrinkles were pushed up. So, [you think], ‘God, do I look as bad as that?’ And the top lighting, it looked like the Grand Canyon!”

On being reunited with Pam Ferris, Judy went on: “It was absolutely wonderful, because, I think, Pam left after four years, and we used to sit together quite a lot during the time she was there, swapping recipes and everything – it was wonderful.

“I hadn’t seen her, we only phoned a couple of times after she left, and it was so wonderful to do that scene with her, because it’s like you’ve found your teammate, sort of [like] tennis or something, and she was throwing the ball back.

“It was just a lovely atmosphere, and we’ve kept in touch ever since then – it was lovely.”

Judy then looked back on being part of the drama for so many years, sharing: “It was like a family, and that’s what I miss terribly. We’d seen each other through marriages, births, deaths, divorce – everything. And we helped each other.

“It was lovely because it was mostly women. Sorry guys, but it was wonderful to be in a show where instead [of there being] 13 men and two women – one young one and one old one – you have a show with all these women. There was no jealousy, no rivalry or anything. It was wonderful.”

BBC viewers will be pleased to learn that they haven’t seen the last of Sister Monica Joan.

Following the latest season of Call the Midwife, the show will rewind the clock to World War II with a prequel series, titled Sisters in Arms, which will be set in Poplar during the London Blitz.

Creator and writer Heidi Thomas revealed that it will include younger incarnations of Sister Monica Joan, as well as Sister Evangelina and Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter).

The returning Sisters will also be joined by three new young midwifes, who are new to the East End.

Call the Midwife is available to watch on BBC iPlayer, while Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh is streaming on ITVX

When Nithya Raman stepped up to a podium on the night of L.A.’s mayoral primary election, she thanked her supporters for standing up to the “powerful interests” who spent millions of dollars trying to “preserve this city’s broken and unjust status quo.”

“At a time when so many people have written Los Angeles off or have lost hope in the future of this incredible city,” the democratic socialist L.A. mayoral hopeful said, “you are proof that Angelenos are hungry for change.”

But as election results rolled in, the movement for change was underwhelming, or at least divided. Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass was in the lead, advancing to the November runoff. That left Raman locked in a battle for a second spot with Republican former reality TV star Spencer Pratt.

Bass is one of several high-profile establishment Democrats to emerge on top. In California’s gubernatorial race, centrist Xavier Becerra, a veteran of the Biden Cabinet, advanced to the runoff after being challenged from the left by billionaire green activist Tom Steyer and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter. Steyer is now behind Steve Hilton, a Republican, and battling to make the runoff.

Still reeling from the rise of Donald Trump, Democrats in California and beyond are struggling to figure out the future direction of the party.

Some progressives, inspired by Zohran Mamdani’s New York mayoral victory, saw 2026 as an opportunity to move the city further left. But the results have been mixed in key races, with veteran Democrats like Bass and Becerra eking out leads even as polls show dissatisfaction with status quo politics in California.

“This was supposed to be a change revolution, but voters clearly said no to the revolution,” said Sara Sadhwani, a politics professor at Pomona College. “Voters want change,” she noted, “but it doesn’t appear right now that there has been an appetite for a major shift in the ideology of the city or the state.”

Xavier Becerra speaks during an election night event in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

Becerra emerged as the Democratic favorite late in the election and won support from many establishment party leaders. Pundits said after a wild primary that included the implosion of Democratic U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell’s campaign amid sex assault allegations, Becerra emerged as a “safe” choice.

Some opponents attacked his moderate views and his willingness to accept campaign donations from big oil companies like Chevron. But that did not stop his rise.

Bass was also beset with challenges, being an incumbent in a city beset with problems.

For her, election night marked a “victory with an asterisk,” Sadhwani said, noting that Bass is first incumbent L.A. mayor in more than two decades to face a runoff. “It would be wrong for Karen Bass to think that this victory … is a ringing endorsement of the work she is currently doing.”

The results underscore Bass’ unpopularity as an incumbent, garnering just 35% of the vote so far. If Raman can catch up and eventually surpass Pratt in the vote count, she could pose a considerable challenge to Bass as more young voters come to the polls in November.

Mike Bonin, a former L.A. City Council member who leads the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State L.A., said if Bass exceeded expectations it was because they were very low.

“Coming in first in a runoff isn’t a huge victory for an incumbent mayor,” he said. “Two-thirds of the city did not vote for her. That’s not a position of strength.”

James Adams, a political science professor at UC Davis, said that Becerra and Bass coming through indicates the centrist Democratic candidates were in a stronger short-term position than their rivals. But problems loom ahead, he said, as the longtime Democratic establishment that’s been governing California for the last 15 years failed to make notable progress in solving problems with affordable housing, homelessness, public transportation and education.

“I think the Democrats’ prospects are very bright in 2026 given the California Republicans’ dysfunctionality and a complete backlash against Donald Trump,” Adams said. “But I have much bigger concerns about the California Democrats long term, because it seems to me they’re setting a record for most consecutive years of failing to fix the state’s problems while getting reelected anyway.”

Democrats in California, he said, were suffering from being in power too long.

“Whenever one party gets into a long-term, dominant position, usually because the other party is just in the midst of self-destructing … the whole thing ends in tears, because the party that is in a dominant position, they don’t have to be that good.”

As the vote count continues in the mayor’s race, democratic socialists in Los Angeles already have some wins down-ballot.

“We are gaining momentum,” said Leslie Chang, a co-chair of the 5,000-member L.A. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, a decentralized anti-capitalist group that advocates for rental protections and defunding the police. Over the last six years, Angelenos have elected four DSA-backed City Council members and a DSA-recommended city controller.

The DSA did not officially endorse Raman, because she entered the race after the group had issued endorsements and another DSA candidate was also running for mayor. However, three of the six DSA-backed candidates for citywide office were projected to win outright.

DSA Councilmembers Hugo Soto-Martinez and Eunisses Hernandez were reelected by such large margins they avoided runoffs. In the city attorney’s race, DSA-endorsed Marissa Roy was in the lead and the mainstream Democratic incumbent became the first city attorney ousted in a primary in nearly a century. City Controller Kenneth Mejia, a progressive anti-establishment candidate who is not a DSA member but an ally of the group, led by nearly 20 percentage points.

When Chang knocked on doors, she said, some voters asked: “Well, what’s the difference between Nithya and Karen Bass?”

A few voters told her that after reviewing Bass’ and Raman’s websites, they found their platforms similar. Chang was surprised. She thought Raman articulated a clear and novel strategy for how to get L.A. out of the housing crisis, but she said some on the left took issue with her working with housing developers to reduce red tape.

Neel Sannappa, chair of the California Democratic Party’s progressive caucus, said Raman was stymied by getting into the race late and having only a few months to campaign. It also didn’t help that a more left-wing challenger, Rae Huang, already had some momentum — not enough to win, but enough to split the left.

“Nithya does represent something real and growing in Los Angeles,” Sannappa said. “There is a hunger for more progressive, left-leaning candidates that want to make sure that we’re investing in people and not so much investing in just police … and being able to build things that are new and innovative.”

Supporters watch election results come in on their phones during Nithya Raman’s election night party at Boomtown Brewery on Tuesday.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

Some have criticized Raman’s coalition-building, noting she was not endorsed by her fellow DSA-backed City Council members. Others said the MIT and Harvard graduate, who has been a councilmember for six years, performed tepidly in a May televised debate and suffered from Pratt’s attempts to tie her to the establishment.

“If you’re a part of the institution, which she is,” Sadhwani said, “then you can’t exactly claim that you’re going to bring massive change.”

Sadhwani said that California’s left, in contrast to New York’s, appears to have a charisma deficit. While Pratt and Hilton had an advantage with their television backgrounds, they also spoke “in plain terms about the real problems that the state faces.”

Part of Bass’ success can also be attributed to assembling a coalition that included the L.A. County Federation of Labor, the L.A. police officers union, the L.A. County Democratic Party and immigrant rights groups.

In the mayoral race, Sadhwani said, “the dominant political coalition still has power, money, the organization.”

“If you can garner the support of the unions, then having a broader message, maybe it’s less important,” she said. “You don’t have to work quite so hard, because the unions have the base machine.”

People attend Mayor Bass’ election party for the California 2026 primaries at the LINE Hotel on Tuesday.

(Carlin Stiehl/For The Times)

Yusef Robb, a longtime Democratic strategist who is an advisor to Bass, attributed the mayor’s lead to her campaign’s success in building a broad coalition and communicating across the political spectrum. Most voters, he said, tend to think less about ideology — and whether a Democrat was mainstream or DSA-supported — than candidates’ positions on bread and butter issues.

“Mayor’s races are first and foremost about what people see outside of their front doors, when they walk their kids to school, when they drive to work,” he said. “At the end of the day, the voters look at the field and say, ‘OK, who do I trust to keep my kids from having to skip around a tent on the way to school?’ ‘Who can I trust to hire more officers?’ … and ‘Who can I trust to fight back against ICE in court through executive action and even in the streets?’ And that’s Karen Bass.”

For Democrats in this robustly blue state, part of the challenge in figuring a path forward is that every candidate — even those already in power — pitches themselves as a bona fide progressive against the status quo.

“We have led a grassroots campaign because we want to bring change to our city,” Bass said on election night. “And that’s what we’ve been doing, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do.”

Raman also tried to tout herself as a change candidate. Articulating her platform in broad strokes rather than bread-and-butter detail, Raman said she wanted L.A. to be a place “where government actually functions and delivers every day on this city’s beautiful bighearted values, where we stand up against ICE, where we show up for our gay and trans siblings.”

But as she talked of neighborhoods “full of trees and shade … and people and good food,” she seemed low-key and equivocal. Her message was a far cry from the pressing one U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) put forward in his presidential campaigns, highlighting the millions of Americans working for “starvation wages” and a young single mother in Nevada struggling on $10.45 an hour.

Ultimately, the fight between Bass and Raman, as a struggle between mainstream and progressive Democrats, is complicated by the fact that Bass came up through the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, founding the grassroots Community Coalition in South L.A. in the 1990s.

Campaign worker Khai Dombroe prepares balloons before Nithya Raman’s election night party.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

And even though Raman is a DSA member, she has tacked to the center during the campaign, distancing herself from past calls to defund the police by saying she did not want the LAPD to lose more officers.

While Raman and Bass have much in common, the most significant difference between them is on homelessness, Sannappa said. Even though Bass comes from a political tradition of not wanting to criminalize the unhoused, he said, she understood her voters include people wanting to move homeless people off the streets.

“Brass tacks is that we need people that are going to be willing to fight for mental health services,” Sannappa said.

“I think Nithya more so represents the direction where the Democratic Party is going to have to go.”

As L.A. becomes less affordable and homeownership becomes out of reach for many Angelenos, young renters have become a rising political constituency — a shift that many say will likely propel the city leftward.

Bonin said he expected the next new rising Democratic coalition in L.A. to be a labor-renter coalition. He cited Councilmember Soto-Martinez, a renter and union organizer, as probably the best avatar of that.

But as the middle-class splinters along generational lines, other political experts warn that many ordinary Angelenos feel increasingly shut out of L.A. politics.

“Once upon a time the Democratic Party was the party of the working class, and today it has become the party of the educated elites,” Sadhwani said. “Perhaps one of the gifts that Donald Trump has given to Democrats is to force them to contend with the everyday issues of voters, which they seem to have distanced themselves from.”

As many Angelenos feel worse off now than four years ago, Chang said Bass was not directly responsible for every problem. Still, she said, she could have done more to move the city in the right direction.

Delaying the wage boost tied to the 2028 Olympics, she said, was a move that failed working people at a time when many are struggling to make ends meet.

“My fear, of course, is people pivot away from corporate Democrats and they choose the MAGA Republican, because that is the most visible fight,” Chang said. “Or because they think, ‘Oh, well, a democratic socialist running on the Democratic Party line, this is just more of the same status quo.’ ”

A look at The Times’ final top 25 high school baseball in the Southland for 2026.

Rk. School (Rec.); Comment; last ranking

1. ST. JOHN BOSCO (27-6); SS Division 1 champion; 3

2. NORCO (28-5); SS Division 1 runner-up; 1

3. HARVARD-WESTLAKE (26-6); SS Division 1 semifinals; 2

4. SHERMAN OAKS NOTRE DAME (23-9); SS Division 1 semifinals; 8

5. CORONA (23-9); SS Division 1 quarterfinals; 6

6. HUNTINGTON BEACH (25-8-1); SS Division 1 Round 3; Division I regional champs; 5

7. LA MIRADA (25-9); SS Division 1 quarterfinals; 11

8. ORANGE LUTHERAN (25-6); SS Division 1 quarterfinals; 4

9. CYPRESS (23-9); SS Division 1 quarterfinals; 10

10. SIERRA CANYON (24-7); SS Division 1 Round 3; 7

11. AYALA (24-5); SS Division 1 Round 3; 9

12. CORONA SANTIAGO (19-12); SS Division 1 Round 3; 15

13. ETIWANDA (20-9); SS Division 1 Round 2; 18

14. OAKS CHRISTIAN (22-8); SS Division 1 Round 2; 12

15. TEMECULA VALLEY (24-6); SS Division 1 Round 2; 16

16. GANESHA (26-3-1); SS Division 2 champions; 25

17; NEWPORT HARBOR (25-10); SS Division 2 semifinals; Division 2 regional champs;14

18. MARANATHA (23-7); SS Division 1 Round 2; 23

19. LOYOLA (19-4-1); SS Division 2 runner-up; NR

20. ELSINORE (22-4); SS Division 2 quarterfinals; NR

21. AQUINAS (21-10); SS Division 2 quarterfinals; 20

22. FOOTHILL (20-12); SS Division 2 semifinals; NR

23. VILLA PARK (19-9-1); SS Division 2 first round; 17

24. SANTA MARGARITA (16-14); SS Division 2 second round; 21

25. GAHR (18-11-1); SS Division 2 second round; 13