blasts

HOLLYWOOD star Reese Witherspoon is shaken and stirred by James Bond films — saying they objectify women in bikinis.

The Oscar winner, 49, blasted Bond Girls such as Halle Berry and Ursula Andress.

She said: “Women deserve better stories because women save the day all the time.

“We are not wearing bikinis while we do it.”

Reese was in London to plug her co-written novel Gone Before Goodbye.

Reese Witherspoon is best known for her roles in Legally Blonde, critically-acclaimed Walk the Line, and the dark comedy Cruel Intentions.

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She’s been taking home awards since 2006 including Academy Awards, BAFTAs, Teen Choice Awards, and Golden Globes.

She’s set to feature on a new series of The Morning Show alongside Jennifer Aniston.

Her first break came when she appeared in several local TV adverts at just age seven.

She was soon securing major movie roles as a teenager and throughout the 1990s. 

The right wing‘s war on Netflix wages on.

The Pentagon issued a statement blasting the streamer’s programming and leadership Friday following an inquiry about the new series “Boots” from Entertainment Weekly. While the response from Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson did not directly address the gay coming-of-age military show, it did slam Netflix for following an “ideological agenda” that “feeds woke garbage to their audience and children.”

“Under President Trump and Secretary [Pete] Hegseth, the U.S. military is getting back to restoring the warrior ethos,” Wilson’s statement said. “Our standards across the board are elite, uniform, and sex neutral because the weight of a rucksack or a human being doesn’t care if you’re a man, a woman, gay, or straight. We will not compromise our standards to satisfy an ideological agenda, unlike Netflix whose leadership consistently produces and feeds woke garbage to their audience and children.”

The Trump administration’s efforts to restore this “warrior ethos” thus far has included banning transgender people from serving in the military, body-shaming top military brass and other service members and declaring an end to “woke” culture and policies. The statement comes amid the Pentagon’s move to enforce a new unprecedentedly restrictive media policy that paints basic reporting methods as criminal activity.

Based on Greg Cope White’s 2016 memoir “The Pink Marine,” “Boots” follows Cam Cope (Miles Heizer), a gay teenager who enlists in the Marines at a time when being gay in the military was still a crime. Noting the show’s timely themes, Times television critic Robert Lloyd called it a “perfectly decent, good-hearted, unsurprisingly sentimental miniseries” in his review.

The show’s creatives also worked closely with several advisors with past military experience to authentically portray the Marines and military life in the 1990s.

The Pentagon’s criticism against Netflix follows the recent campaign led by billionaire Elon Musk calling for people to cancel their subscriptions to the streamer. The on-again/off-again Trump ally railed against Netflix on X earlier this month after clips of “Dead End: Paranormal Park,” an animated Netflix series featuring a trans character, was making the rounds on the social media platform. The show was canceled after its second season was released in 2022.

Despite being the target of right-wing ire, Netflix also has a history of being called out for its anti-trans programming. In 2021, transphobic remarks made by comedian Dave Chappelle in his special “The Closer” led to protests, walkouts and even a resignation of a trans employee. The streamer followed that in 2022 by releasing a comedy special from Ricky Gervais that also featured transphobic material.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said handing over the Ukrainian diver is not in the country’s best interests.

A Polish court has blocked the extradition of a Ukrainian diver wanted by Germany in connection with the 2022 Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions, a handover that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said earlier this month was not in his country’s best interests.

The Warsaw District Court rejected the extradition of the man, only identified as Volodymyr Z, on Friday and ordered his immediate release.

The government had previously said that the decision about whether Volodymyr Z should be transferred to Germany was one for the courts alone.

Tusk has said the problem was not that the undersea pipelines, which run from Russia to Germany, were blown up in September 2022, but that they were built at all.

The explosions ruptured the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which was inaugurated in 2011 and carried Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea until Russia cut off supplies in August 2022.

They also damaged the parallel Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which never entered service because Germany suspended its certification process shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

The explosions largely severed Russian gas supplies to Europe, marking a major escalation in the Ukraine conflict and squeezing energy supplies.

Germany’s top prosecutors’ office says Volodymyr Z was one of a group suspected of renting a sailing yacht and planting explosives on the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm.

He faces allegations of conspiring to commit an explosives attack and of “anti-constitutional sabotage”.

His Polish lawyer rejects the accusations and says Volodymyr Z has done nothing wrong. He has also questioned whether a case concerning the destruction of Russian property by a Ukrainian at a time when the countries are at war is a criminal matter.

Volodymyr Z’s wife has told Polish media her husband is innocent and that they were together in Poland at the time the pipelines were blown up.

He is one of two Ukrainians whose extradition German judicial authorities have been trying to secure in the case.

A man suspected of being one of the attack’s coordinators was arrested in Italy in August. This week, Italy’s top court annulled a lower court’s decision to order his extradition and called for another panel of judges to reassess the case, his lawyer said.

The meeting was supposed to be the prelude to the purchase of Finnish icebreaker ships.

But as United States President Donald Trump welcomed Finland’s President Alexander Stubb to the Oval Office on Thursday, he veered into a discussion of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO) — and his ongoing feud with one of its members, Spain.

At a NATO summit in June, Spain was the most prominent holdout against Trump’s push to increase defence spending among member states.

Trump has long sought for all NATO members to commit 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) to building up their military assets. But Spain successfully pushed for an exemption at June’s meeting, allowing its expenditures to remain around the previous benchmark of 2 percent.

That resistance lingered on Trump’s mind at Thursday’s meeting, as he discussed the US commitment to NATO with Stubb.

“As you know, I requested that they pay 5 percent, not 2 percent,” Trump said of the NATO members.

“And most people thought that was not gonna happen. And it happened virtually unanimously. We had one laggard. It was Spain. Spain. You have to call them and find out: Why are they a laggard?”

He then mused about taking retribution: “They have no excuse not to do this, but that’s all right. Maybe you should throw them out of NATO, frankly.”

It was a bitter note in an otherwise friendly meeting with Stubb, whom Trump hosted in March at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Since his first term as president, Trump has wavered in his public comments about NATO, at times embracing the alliance and, at other moments, rejecting it as “obsolete”.

But seated next to Stubb and Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Trump took a decidedly enthusiastic approach to defending Finland, one of the newest members of NATO. It joined the alliance in April 2023, followed by Sweden less than a year later.

Reporters at Thursday’s Oval Office meeting pressed Trump about what he might do if Russia expands its war in Ukraine to other countries in Europe.

In Finnish politics, the spectre of Russian interference looms large: The former Soviet Union invaded Finland in the 1930s, and since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, relations between the two countries have soured even further.

Finland closed its shared border with Russia in 2024, an international divide that stretches across 1,340 kilometres, or 841 miles.

“What if Russia and Vladimir Putin attacks Finland? Would you defend Finland?” one reporter asked Trump on Thursday.

Trump did not mince words in his reply. “I would. Yes, I would. They’re a member of NATO.”

He nevertheless cast doubt on the prospect of a Russian invasion under Putin.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen. I don’t think he’s going to do that. I think the chances of that are very, very small,” he said, turning to Stubb. “You have a very powerful military, one of the best.”

When pushed to specify how he might defend Finland in case of an attack, Trump offered one word in reply: “Vigorously.”

Those warm remarks offered a stark contrast with his approach to Spain. In the wake of the June NATO summit, for instance, Trump called Spain’s position “hostile” and threatened its economy, pledging to make it pay “twice as much” in tariffs to the US.

“I think Spain is terrible, what they’ve done,” he told reporters, accusing the country of taking a “free ride” at other countries’ expense. “That economy could be blown right out of the water with something bad happening.”

NATO was founded with 12 original members and has since expanded to include 32. Spain joined in 1982. So far, no members have ever been expelled.

Richard Deakin, a security consultant from Halesowen, West Midlands, has sparked debate after sharing footage on TikTok of his conversation with easyJet staff at Luton Airport

A tourist has accused easyJet of using a “money-making tactic” following a dispute about his baggage.

Footage on social media shows easyJet staff ask Richard Deakin, 37, to repeatedly put his luggage in the sizer as he checked in at Luton Airport. He claimed the suitcase – his hand luggage – fit easily but he said staff continued to ask him to pop it in the sizer. Richard asked a fellow passenger to film him doing so to “prove a point,” a clip he later shared on TikTok where it has been watched by more than 106,000 people.

He feared he was going to miss his flight to Málaga, Spain for his four-night break and became “quite angry” at staff’s insistence. He eventually made the plane, but is now speaking out to encourage people not to simply stump up cash if their luggage is within the dimensions.

The security consultant said: “If I hadn’t been so persistent they would’ve forced me to pay that fine. It’s a money-making tactic. Before I put [the bag] in I was confident it was the right size because I’d measured it and weighed it.”

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Richard, who is from Halesowen, West Midlands, added: “At first it’s a bit of a struggle pushing it down but then it just slides in and goes all the way down to the bottom.

“It was hard to get in because I had several tubs of gravy granules because in Spain it’s quite expensive. I was quite angry. I did know I could just take a few things out of my bag but I was being a bit pedantic out of principle. If you want to pick on me, I don’t mind having a debate about it.

“After that video was recorded a manager came down and asked me to do it again. This is the bit that really [annoyed] me. I said ‘it’s just been witnessed by six of your staff who said it’s okay and this is the video’. He said ‘I need to see it again’.

“I’d done it once or twice before the video, and [then] two times with managers. It looked like the flight was going to take off and I was scared at that point. The ego got put away in the back pocket really quick. I took the book and the charger pack out and put [the bag] in [the sizer].”

Richard had enough clothing in his bag for the short stay last month but, despite measuring the little bag at home, came into difficulty at check-in. He admitted it was “hard to get in” but claimed it fit clearly in the end.

The security professional added: “So many people wouldn’t have been so persistent and fallen right into the trap. There are people that won’t stand up and talk and ask the question so they’re getting charged.

“While I understand the rules, it’s frustrating to pay for a bag that was underweight and would have been placed in the same overhead locker as everyone else’s.”

The tourist’s social media clip has divided opinion with some criticising him for “yelling” at employees. Some, though, users jumped to Richard’s defence in the comments.

One user wrote: “EasyJet should be ashamed.” Another user commented: “I will avoid EasyJet at all costs. It’s a greedy, uncaring airline. Shame on them.” A third added: “If it fits, it doesn’t matter if it’s easy or not.”

Other users criticised Richard for his demeanour. One user wrote: “Why are you yelling at them?” Another commented: “Why are you shouting at them for doing their jobs?” A third user commented: “That bag is too big. Simple as that.”

An easyJet spokesman said: “We have a well understood bag policy and customers are only charged if their bags are too large, in fairness to customers who have paid to bring larger bags, and we do not tolerate aggressive or threatening behaviour towards our ground crew. Once Mr Deakin was able to fit his bag in the gauge, he was not charged and was able to board.”

ROBERT Jenrick should stop lecturing the public on integration, Sir Keir Starmer has blasted.

The PM hit out at the Shadow Justice Secretary after he claimed he “didn’t see another white face” during a visit to Birmingham.

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Sir Keir slammed the comment on Thursday night, saying “it’s quite hard to take anything that Robert Jenrick says seriously.”

He accused the senior Tory of “running a leadership campaign” instead of making serious political arguments.

Speaking on a flight to Mumbai, where he will meet Indian President Narendra Modi, Sir Keir said: “We’re working hard on questions of integration, but we need no lessons or lectures from Robert Jenrick on any of this.

“He’s clearly just engaging in a leadership campaign.”

The row erupted after senior Conservatives rallied behind Mr Jenrick’s claim that Britain must confront “ghettoised communities” and a “dangerous” lack of social cohesion.

Labour figures branded the comments “racist”, but Tory leader Kemi Badenoch defended her colleague, saying there was “nothing wrong with making observations.”

Shadow Cabinet Minister Claire Coutinho also backed him, saying: “If you walk through an area and don’t see a single white face, it is a sign that integration has failed.”

The controversy broke out during the Tory party conference in Manchester after The Guardian obtained a secret recording of Mr Jenrick describing a 90-minute visit to Handsworth earlier this year.

He told members at an Aldridge-Brownhills dinner: “I went to Handsworth in Birmingham the other day to do a video on Twitter and it was absolutely appalling.

“It’s as close as I’ve come to a slum in this country.

“But the other thing I noticed there was that it was one of the worst integrated places I’ve ever been to.

“In fact, in the hour and a half I was filming news there I didn’t see another white face.”

Just nine per cent of Handsworth’s population is white, with most residents of Pakistani, Indian, and Bangladeshi heritage, official data shows.

Asked if he regretted his comments, Mr Jenrick told the BBC: “No, not at all and I won’t shy away from these issues.”

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He said he mentioned skin colour “because it’s incredibly important that we have a fully integrated society regardless of the colour of their skin or the faith that they abide by.”

He also linked the terror attack in north Manchester last week to a lack of integration.

Ms Badenoch again backed her shadow minister, saying she would take The Guardian report “with a pinch of salt.”

The Tory leader said: “What he and I both agree with is that there are not enough people integrating.

“There are many people who are creating separate communities.”

Labour last night pounced on the remarks, saying Mr Jenrick had “crossed a red line.”

J.K. Rowling wants you to know that “Harry Potter” actors “have every right” to disagree with her about trans rights — but she’s taking the kid gloves off.

The author took to social media Monday to share a lengthy post slamming Emma Watson, who on a podcast recently addressed her own feelings about their rift. Watson was among the Wizarding World actors who spoke out in support of the transgender community amid the firestorm around Rowling’s numerous anti-trans comments in 2020.

“Like other people who’ve never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is,” Rowling wrote on X as she alluded to the alleged harm to women’s rights Watson has caused with her support of the trans community. “Her ‘public bathroom’ is single occupancy and comes with a security man standing guard outside the door,” the author added. “Has she had to strip off in a newly mixed-sex changing room at a council-run swimming pool?”

Rowling has long argued that only those who are assigned female at birth should be recognized as women. Rather than acknowledging trans people and identity, Rowling referenced only “ideology” and “an activist movement” in her post.

The author specifically called out Watson and fellow “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe for what she sees as their continued public critiques of her anti-trans politics and “assum[ing] the role of de facto spokespeople for the world [Rowling] created.”

Rowling’s lengthy post came in response to Watson saying in a recent episode of “On Purpose With Jay Shetty” that their opposing views on trans rights do not mean she can’t or doesn’t “treasure” Rowling as a person.

“I will never believe that one negates the other and that my experience of that person, I don’t get to keep and cherish,” Watson said. “I think it’s my deepest wish that I hope people who don’t agree with my opinion will love me, and I hope I can keep loving people who I don’t necessarily share the same opinion with.”

In her X post, Rowling said that when she was receiving threats of violence because of her transphobic comments in the past, Watson wrote her a letter that “contained the single sentence ‘I’m so sorry for what you’re going through’ (she has my phone number)” while speaking out against her publicly. Rowling also noted that Watson’s latest comments come at a time when “full-throated condemnation of [the author] is no longer quite as fashionable as it was,” with anti-trans activists and politicians gaining ground in their attacks on trans rights.

“Emma is rightly free to disagree with me and indeed to discuss her feelings about me in public — but I have the same right, and I’ve finally decided to exercise it,” Rowling said.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro told the UNGA the world must end the “genocide in Gaza,” blasting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the US, and Europe as genocidal. He also tied US strikes on Caribbean boats to wider abuses driven by racism and domination.

Love Is Blind UK is back for another four episodes, with a cast reunion party providing plenty of drama.

*Warning – This article contains minor spoilers for Love Is Blind UK season 2 episode 7.*

Some newly-engaged couples were tested in the second part of Love Is Blind UK season 2, with some of their co-stars opting to stir the pot during the reunion party in episode 7.

Earlier in the pods stage of the Netflix show, gaming entrepreneur Kieran was chatting to both Sophie and Megan.

However, he eventually decided to commit to Megan, calling things off with Sophie before going down on one knee and asking him to marry her.

Sophie appeared deeply angered by Kieran’s decision, as she stormed off set before the first part of the show had finished.

While things have been going smoothly for Megan and Kieran, their relationship was tested when Sophie appeared at the party.

Megan looked visibly uncomfortable as Sophie walked in, but the pair went on to exchange a quick hug as they greeted one another.

The girls then helped Sophie match the boys’ names to their faces, with one of them telling her Kieran was in the “funky jacket”.

Sophie then said: “Yeah, Meg, I don’t know how you let him wear that.”

Seemingly unbothered, Megan smiled back: “I love it.”

“Okay,” Sophie laughed, as Megan could then be seen telling the camera: “Sophie and I weren’t the closest in the pods, but I know the intention of these little comments being made.

“She’s trying to make me doubt Kieran, so take it with a pinch of salt and chuck it over the shoulder, carry on.”

Later that night, Sophie and Kieran were seen catching up, with the pair keeping it civil and clearing the air.

“I truly do wish you the best,” Sophie told him, with the pair doing a “cheers” before walking off.

Moments later, she said: “I feel like he got closure. I feel very much over the situation.”

Asked how she feels about Kieran having seen him in real life, Sophie later added to the girls: “He’s not my type. Like, not in a horrible way, but I just don’t normally date blondes. Well, at least you guys have good-looking lads.”

Speaking to Megan and Ashleigh about the situation, Kieran admitted: “I’m a little bit confused about everything I’ve heard about Sophie, because I just got the same pod Sophie that I got the whole experiment.”

Looking fed up, Megan said: “It’s hard for me. It’s annoying because I’ve seen so many sides of her that you’ve not seen.

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“I don’t want anyone to manipulate you – especially when they’re acting the way they are,” she added.

Checking to see if Megan was okay, Kieran clarified: “You know I don’t care about anyone else other than you.”

“I know that; it’s just frustrating,” Megan admitted. “And it’s really hard when I’ve told you. It’s really hard for me, now I have this relationship with you that this girl is…”

“Maybe it’s naivety from me, because I always see the best in people regardless of who they are,” Kieran reflected.

“I just struggle when you’re like ‘everything is fine’ and you’re giggling and I’m like…” Megan added with a grimace. “I just don’t want people mugging you off.”

“I’m definitely protective of Kieran and I don’t want him to look like he’s being mugged off, basically,” she reiterated to the cameras.

Love Is Blind UK season 2 episodes 1-8 are available to watch on Netflix now.

FORMER Stoke captain Glenn Whelan has blasted a new Premier League rule during Manchester United’s defeat to Arsenal.

The ex-midfielder objected to a broadcast decision made by Sky Sports.

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Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was interviewed at half-time and asked to give his thoughts on the opening period whilst in the tunnel.

Whelan fumed at the change, tweeting: “🤬🤬🤬🤬 ffs… who’s signed this off bet they’ve never wore a pair of football boots.”

Sky Sports new TV deal with the Prem grants the broadcaster greater access than ever.

They will air half-time interviews with players and managers and have more access to the dressing room.

Odegaard’s interview was the first to appear on Sky Sports this season.

Premier League teams will have to allow broadcasters access to one of the new enhancements at least twice per season.

However, clubs will be able to deny access to their dressing rooms if they are losing – as outlined in Section K of the league’s latest handbook.

Clubs will also be able to have the final say on whether audio from inside the dressing room is recorded.

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If access is denied then clubs will have to accommodate another request for access later in the season.

The process of adding the new enhancements has been thoroughly mapped out by the league, outlining the procedure that clubs and broadcasters will have to take.

Broadcasters must request enhanced access at least five days before the match they want it for, identifying what kind of access they would prefer.

WASHINGTON — On the eve of the start of the Republican National Convention, President Trump on Sunday touted a “very historic breakthrough” in treating coronavirus, announcing that the government had authorized the emergency use of blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients to combat the disease.

But scientists said the therapeutic benefits of the treatment, which has already been used on some 70,000 patients, were not yet fully understood, and some public health experts questioned whether political considerations had colored the decision-making process.

It was not the first time Trump had hailed what he described as a game-changer in treating the virus, which has killed more than 175,000 Americans. And it echoed a previous pattern of the president overriding or undermining his government’s own scientists in confronting the 6-month-old outbreak, which has devastated the U.S. economy and upended daily life across the nation.

In an appearance at the White House, Trump, whose pandemic policies have come under scathing attack from Democrats, claimed credit for personally prodding what he depicted as a reluctant federal bureaucracy into action with the Food and Drug Administration’s emergency order.

“That’s such a powerful term, emergency use,” he said. “Today’s action will dramatically expand access to this treatment. … The results have been incredible.”

“We’re not going to let it be held up,” he added.

Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary, Alex Azar, appearing alongside him, hailed it as a “major advance in the treatment of patients.” Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn cited the “totality of data” as backing the use of convalescent plasma as safe.

The White House had contended for days that the FDA was dragging its feet on approving lifesaving therapeutics — a contention sharply disputed by Scott Gottlieb, a former head of the FDA under Trump.

“I firmly reject the idea that they [the FDA] would slow-walk anything or accelerate anything for that matter, based on any kind of political consideration and any consideration other than what’s best for the public health,” Gottlieb said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

The president’s announcement came against the backdrop of public opinion polls that suggest about two-thirds of Americans do not approve of his handling of the pandemic, which has hit the United States harder than any other advanced country.

At last week’s Democratic convention, Trump’s pandemic policies were excoriated, and the outbreak’s grim course is expected to be a central campaign talking point by the Democrats’ nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden. Trump this week will formally accept the Republican presidential nomination.

The president — who has often sought to deflect the blame for failures in fighting the virus, which has killed more than 176,000 Americans — suggested in a tweet late Saturday that a shadowy “deep state” was trying to harm his reelection prospects.

That, he implied, might be preventing the FDA from moving ahead swiftly with regulatory approval of treatments for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. “Must focus on speed, and saving lives!” he wrote.

In earlier appearances on Sunday’s news-talk shows, Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, provided no evidence to back up the president’s claim of a deliberate slowdown in approving coronavirus therapeutics, blaming “bureaucrats who think that they can just do this the way they normally do it.”

“The president’s right to call it out,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

In a separate appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Meadows suggested that Hahn‘s job might have been in jeopardy.

“It’s almost impossible to fire a federal employee, regardless of what they do wrong,” he said.

Telegraphing Sunday’s announcement in advance, Trump last week blasted the FDA for a decision against authorizing convalescent plasma’s emergency use after the National Institutes of Health cited relatively scant data.

In announcing the emergency use authorization — which is different than FDA approval — the chief scientist for the FDA, Denise Hinton, wrote that “convalescent plasma should not be considered a new standard of care for the treatment of patients with COVID-19.” She added that “additional data will be forthcoming from other analyses and ongoing, well-controlled clinical trials in the coming months.”

Other scientists questioned Trump’s role in promoting the treatment. Benjamin Corb, public affairs director of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, said Trump was “once again putting his political goals ahead of the health and well-being of the American public.”

“The FDA last week held up on issuing this authorization at the behest of government scientists who are awaiting clinical trials to prove the safety and efficacy of the treatment,” he said in a statement.

In the CBS interview, Gottlieb described convalescent plasma as having “incremental” known value.

“I believe plasma is probably beneficial,” he said. “But I think some people wanted to see more rigorous data to ground that decision. And I think that’s part of what is going on here with respect to that tweet, and questions about the FDA decision-making.”

Trump’s move fueled existing concerns about politics, not science, taking a lead role in White House coronavirus policy. Andrew Slavitt, who was a senior healthcare official in the Obama administration, tweeted before the announcement that convalescent plasma, if given early enough in the course of the disease, did appear to result in a lowered death rate.

Slavitt, who served as acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said officials and scientists he had spoken to still had many questions and concerns about the data to date.

In the course of the pandemic, Trump has often publicly undercut senior scientists, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert.

The president has denigrated mask-wearing, which is urged by virtually all public health professionals, and touted the use of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug indicated in controlled clinical trials to offer no benefit in treating COVID-19.

Trump also attracted widespread ridicule earlier this year when he mused that ingesting disinfectant might be a treatment worth studying. Poison hotlines and a number of public officials then took to the airwaves and social media to implore people not to drink bleach.

In the late spring and early summer, Trump also pushed governors to reopen their states whether or not they had achieved containment benchmarks set by his own administration. In several big Sunbelt states, including Texas and Florida, that policy was blamed for igniting some of the most serious outbreaks to date, which are now subsiding but shifting to other parts of the country.

New daily cases have dropped below 50,000 for more than a week, and deaths, which stayed around 1,000 a day for the last four weeks, are probably about to drop below that level.

“The concern is that if there is sort of a third wave, a third iteration of the national epidemic, it could be more diffuse, spread across a broader section of the Midwest and the West, because cases are building in those parts of the country,” Gottlieb said. “And that’s what’s concerning people right now.”

UK Foreign Secretary Lammy, Home Secretary Cooper call on China to stop targeting opposition voices living in Britain.

The United Kingdom has condemned Hong Kong authorities for offering payment in exchange for assisting in the arrest of pro-democracy activists living in Britain, even as the British government begins the process of reinstating an extradition deal with the autonomous Chinese city.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper issued a joint statement on Friday shortly after Hong Kong announced cash rewards for information leading to the arrest of 19 pro-democracy activists based abroad, including in Britain, who are accused of violating the strict national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.

In their statement, Lammy and Cooper called on China to stop targeting opposition voices in Britain.

“The Hong Kong Police Force’s issuing of further arrest warrants and bounties on individuals living in the UK is another example of transnational repression,” their statement read.

The bounties range from 200,000 to one million Hong Kong dollars (about $25,000-$125,000), depending on the individual the Hong Kong authorities seek to arrest.

This is the fourth time Hong Kong authorities have made reward offers, which have drawn strong criticism from Western countries, to which China, in turn, has denounced as “interference”.

In their statement, the two British ministers said that “this Government will continue to stand with the people of Hong Kong, including those who have made the [United Kingdom] their home. We take the protection of their rights, freedoms, and safety very seriously”.

But a recent proposal by the British government to reform extradition rules has prompted serious concerns, with some fearing it could pave the way for a resumption of extraditions to Hong Kong, which have been suspended since the 2020 national security law was enacted.

On Friday, Al Jazeera reported that the UK Home Office applied to Parliament to make changes to the country’s legislation regarding extradition on July 17, followed by a letter to Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp the next day.

“It is in our national interest to have effective extradition relationships to prevent criminals from evading justice and the UK becoming a haven for criminals,” the July 18 letter from Security Minister Dan Jarvis said.

The Home Office also plans to restore an extradition framework with Chile and Zimbabwe, according to the letter, which was shared on X by Conservative MP Alicia Kearns.

Cases for Hong Kong and Zimbabwe would both be considered on a “case-by-case basis”, Jarvis said.

About 150,000 Hong Kong nationals migrated to the UK under a special visa scheme introduced in 2021.

In 2024, legislators in Hong Kong approved a new national security law ­– referred to as Article 23 – that gave the government new powers to crack down on all forms of dissent on the grounds of alleged treason, espionage, sedition and external interference in Hong Kong’s internal affairs. Since then, Hong Kong has been offering bounties for the arrest of activists who have fled the city while facing charges related to the pro-democracy protests.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, is a particular sticking point for the UK due to its historical relationship and the sharp decline in political freedoms in Hong Kong since China imposed controversial national security legislation in 2020.

The former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the guarantee of a high degree of autonomy, including freedom of speech, under a “one country, two systems” formula.

The famine we’re seeing in Gaza now is the most horrific stage of Israel’s starvation campaign, a UN expert on food has told Al Jazeera. He’s calling on countries to stop Israel starving Palestinians to death.

Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro, accuses Supreme Court justice of behaving ‘like every dictator’, after assets and accounts frozen.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has ordered the freezing of the accounts and assets of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s third son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, while the former president may now face arrest over his activities on social media.

Eduardo, a Brazilian congressman who has been active in Washington, DC, drumming up support for his father’s court battle, called the decision “another arbitrary and criminal decision” by Moraes.

“Moraes relies on illegal decisions to protect himself from the consequences of his crimes. Like every dictator,” Eduardo Bolsonaro said in a post on X on Tuesday.

“If he thinks this will make me stop, I make it clear: I will not be intimidated, and I will not be silenced. I prepared myself for this moment,” he said.

“This is just another demonstration of abuse of power and confirms everything I have been denouncing in Washington and to authorities worldwide,” he added.

CNN Brasil first reported that the confidential court decision was issued on Saturday as part of a probe into Eduardo Bolsonaro’s conduct in the United States.

In a separate court order issued on Monday, Justice Moraes, who oversees the criminal case in which the former president is accused of plotting a coup to overturn the result of the 2022 election, said any attempt to circumvent a court ruling in which he ordered Bolsonaro to wear an ankle bracelet and banned him from using social media could result in arrest.

Brazilian news outlet G1 reported that Moraes summoned Bolsonaro’s lawyers to clarify their client’s alleged non-compliance with his court order restricting his use of social media. According to G1, Moraes gave the lawyers 24 hours to present an explanation, adding that if the defence does not adequately justify Bolsonaro’s online behaviour, he may order the immediate arrest of the former president.

On Friday, Bolsonaro described the decision by Moraes to prohibit his social media use as “cowardice”, and said he intended to continue engaging with the media to ensure his voice was heard.

Vera Chemim, a Sao Paulo-based constitutional lawyer, told the Reuters news agency that she believed the country’s former leader is now on shaky ground, noting that media interviews, while not explicitly mentioned in the court order, could still be used to justify Bolsonaro’s arrest.

“Bolsonaro is now completely silenced,” she said. “Any misstep could lead to a preventive arrest.”

The tightening restrictions on Bolsonaro come after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Brazilian court officials, and specifically Justice Moraes, were conducting a “political witch-hunt” against the former president. As a result, the US was revoking travel visas for “Moraes and his allies on the court, as well as their immediate family members”, Rubio said.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula swiftly labelled Washington’s decision to impose visa bans on court officials “arbitrary” and “baseless”, saying that foreign interference in his country’s judiciary was “unacceptable”.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian goods starting on August 1, as he called on Lula to drop the charges against Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro, whose right-wing policies while in power earned him the nickname “Trump of the Tropics “, has denied that he led an attempt to overthrow the government but acknowledged taking part in meetings aimed at reversing the 2022 election outcome.

The US has closed its ports of entry to Mexican cattle for fear of the parasitic, flesh-eating worm spreading north.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has denounced a decision by the United States to once again suspend imports of her country’s cattle over a flesh-eating parasite called the screwworm.

On Thursday, Sheinbaum used her morning news conference to call fears of the worm overblown. She pointed out that a single case in the eastern state of Veracruz had prompted the import pause.

“From our point of view, it is a totally exaggerated decision to close the border again,” Sheinbaum said.

At the centre of the cross-border debate is the New World screwworm, a species endemic to the Caribbean and parts of South America. It had previously been eradicated from the northernmost part of its range, in Central and North America.

The US, for instance, declared it eliminated from the country in 1966.

But the parasite may be making a comeback, leaving the US government alarmed about its potential impact on its cattle and beef sector, a $515bn industry.

The New World screwworms appear when a variety of parasitic flies, Cochliomyia hominivorax, lay their eggs near wounds or sores on warm-blooded animals. Most commonly, its hosts are livestock like horses or cattle, but even household pets or humans can be infested.

Each female fly is capable of laying hundreds of eggs. When the eggs hatch, they release larvae that tunnel into the flesh of their hosts, often causing incredible pain.

Unlike maggots from other species, they do not feed on dead flesh, only living tissue. If left untreated, infestations can sometimes be deadly.

The fear of New World screwworms expanding northwards has caused the US to halt shipments of Mexican cattle several times over the past year.

In late November, it put in place a ban that lasted until February. Then, on May 11, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the US would once again bar entry to Mexican cattle after the “unacceptable northward advancement” of the bug.

A port of entry in Arizona was slated to reopen to Mexican cattle starting on Monday. But that plan was suspended under a new announcement on Wednesday, which implemented the cattle ban once more, effective immediately.

“The United States has promised to be vigilant — and after detecting this new NWS [New World screwworm] case, we are pausing the planned port reopening’s to further quarantine and target this deadly pest in Mexico,” Rollins said in a statement.

The statement explained that the US hopes to eradicate the parasite, pushing its encroachment no further than the Darien Gap, the land bridge in Panama that connects South and Central America.

It also asserted that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) was “holding Mexico accountable by ensuring proactive measures are being taken”.

Part of its strategy will be to release male flies — lab-raised and sterilised through radiation — from airplanes in Mexico and the southern US. Female flies can mate only once, so if they pair with a sterile fly, they will be unable to reproduce.

The same strategy has been deployed in the past to control the New World screwworm, as an alternative to more hazardous methods like pesticides that could affect other animals.

In a social media post on June 30, Rollins touted gains in recent weeks, including “over 100 million sterile flies dispersed weekly” and “no notable increase” in screwworm cases in eight weeks.

She thanked her Mexican counterpart, Julio Berdegue, for his help.

“He and his team have worked hand in hand with our @USDA team since May 11 to get these ports reopened. We are grateful,” she wrote.

Budget airline Ryanair has scathed a cluster of European countries in what it describes as a ‘scandal’ of understaffing and mismanagement responsible for thousands of delayed flights

Ryanair has unleashed a savage attack on five European countries, including the UK, over thousands of delayed flights. The budget airline has slammed France, Spain, Germany, Greece, and the UK for having the ‘worst’ Air Traffic Control (ATC) delays in 2024, based on Eurocontrol data.

It is a drum Ryanair has long banged, and comes shortly after it published its name-and-shame ‘ATC League of Delays’. ATC delays can be caused by a plethora of reasons, including unavoidable factors such as the weather or military activity.

However, Ryanair argues a huge ‘majority’ of these delays are directly caused by understaffed airports and ‘mismanaged ATCs’. “Despite 20 years of investment in SESAR (Europe’s failed ‘Single Sky Project’) no progress has been made,” the airline fumed.

“The new Commission under Ursula von der Leyen has committed itself to delivering competitiveness and efficiency in Europe. Yet, it continues to allow the mismanagement and staff shortages in French, Spanish, German, Greek and UK ATC services.”

READ MORE: Brits start ‘snubbing’ Spain and head to sizzling 38C tourist hotspot instead

According to Ryanair’s latest press release, in 2024, France experienced a staggering 35,1000 flight delays – impacting some 6.3 million passengers. Spain came a close second, with 32,700 delayed flights affecting 5.9 million passengers. Germany (18,700 delayed flights), Greece (5,000), and the UK (3,380) were also cited in the top five worst ATCs.

“If the Danes, the Belgians, the Dutch, the Irish and the Slovakians can properly staff their ATC services and eliminate ‘ATC capacity’ delays, then why can’t we expect a similar service from the very well-funded (by airlines), but hopelessly mismanaged French, Spanish, German, Greek and UK ATC providers,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said. “The difference is that these are protected State Monopolies, who don’t care about customer service.

“They don’t care about passengers, and they don’t care about their airline customers either. Every year they are short-staffed and they are responsible for over 90 per cent of Europe’s flight delays, which adds an extra 10 per cent to aviation emissions in Europe.”

The boss described the data as a ‘scandal’ of short-staffing and mismanagement, arguing it is now time for the European Commission to ‘intervene and demand an efficient, competitive ATC service’ from all of Europe. “Ryanair, our customers, and our passengers are fed up with these avoidable ATC delays, which are imposed on us every Summer by the French, the Germans, the Spanish, the Greeks and the British,” he added.

Christian Petzold a travel expert and Marketing Director over at BCN Travel, echoed Ryanair’s sentiment – arguing ATC delays continue to ‘frustrate’ both passengers and airlines every summer. Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, he said: “Ryanair are right to point out the contrast with high-performing ATC services in countries like Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Slovakia.

“These countries have managed to staff their control centres and keep operations smooth even in peak summer. For example the Irish Aviation Authority is consistently one of the best for punctuality and minimal en-route delays, due to proactive recruitment and training pipelines for air traffic controllers. In contrast strikes, understaffing and bureaucratic inertia cripple ATC in France and Germany – two of the busiest airspaces in Europe.”

Christian added that the European Commission must take “action and demand accountability” as well as push for competition. Otherwise, passengers will see no ‘real change’ in European aviation.

The Mirror has approached the European Commission for comment.

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Explosions and air raid sirens are being heard again in Iran and Israel as the two nations continue to exchange missiles and drones, a day after the Israeli military killed top Iranian generals and nuclear scientists in the worst such escalation in decades.

Iran’s retaliatory strikes have killed at least four people and wounded more than 200 others in Israel since Friday, as a barrage of dozens of Iranian missiles lit up the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv overnight.

On the Iranian side, at least 80 people, including women and children, have been killed and more than 320 others injured, as the Israeli army targeted residential areas in capital Tehran, military sites and nuclear facilities, killing at least nine nuclear scientists so far.

Accusing Israel of initiating a war, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said it “must expect severe punishment” for killing several top-level military commanders and scientists.

In a message on state TV, he said Israel “should not think that it is over because they attacked and it is finished”.

“No. They started this and initiated the war. We won’t allow them to escape unscathed from this great crime they have committed,” Khamenei said.

Following decades of enmity and conflict by proxy, it is the first time that Israel and Iran have traded fire with such intensity, with fears of a prolonged conflict engulfing the region.

‘Tehran will burn’

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz warned on Saturday that “Tehran will burn” and its residents will pay dearly if Iran continues its missile strikes against Israeli civilians.

“The Iranian dictator is turning the citizens of Iran into hostages and bringing about a reality in which they – especially the residents of Tehran – will pay a heavy price because of the criminal harm to Israeli civilians,” said Katz.

“If Khamenei continues to fire missiles towards the Israeli home front, Tehran will burn,” the minister added.

On Saturday, two projectiles hit Tehran’s Mehrabad airport which hosts an air force base with fighter jets and transport aircraft, and is located close to key Iranian government buildings.

“The attacks caused explosions at the airport but did not affect any runways, buildings or facilities,” Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA said.

The Israeli military also continued to launch strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran.

“There has been limited damage to some areas at the Fordow enrichment site,” ISNA news agency reported Atomic Energy Organization of Iran spokesperson Behrouz Kamalvandi as saying on Saturday.

“We had already moved a significant part of the equipment and materials out, and there was no extensive damage and there are no contamination concerns.”

Israel’s Iron Dome penetrated

Meanwhile, several Iranian missiles penetrated Israel’s Iron Dome defence system and struck central Tel Aviv, Rishon LeZion and Ramat Gan areas.

Air raid sirens blared in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, sending residents rushing into shelters. An Israeli official said Iran had fired about 200 ballistic missiles in four waves.

A high-rise building was hit overnight in a densely populated area of central Tel Aviv. At least nine buildings were also destroyed in Ramat Gan, according to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.

Mike Huckabee, the United States ambassador to Israel, said he had to go to shelters five times overnight amid Iran’s missile barrage. “It’s now Shabbat here. Should be quiet. Probably won’t be. Entire nation under orders to stay near shelter,” he posted on X.

The Israeli army on Saturday said seven of its soldiers were wounded in a ballistic missile attack on central Israel. They were taken to hospitals and have since been released, according to a military statement.

This is the first confirmation of Israeli military casualties since the escalation of hostilities between Iran and Israel began two days ago.

Meanwhile, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that five people in the occupied West Bank were also injured as rocket shrapnel fell near the town of Sa’ir near Hebron. The five injured included three children, aged six, seven and 12.

Wafa earlier reported that Israel had imposed widespread closures across the occupied West Bank amid the escalating conflict with Iran. Israeli forces have shut down roads, set up checkpoints and prevented freedom of movement for the Palestinians.

Iran warns Israel’s allies

Iran has also warned Israel’s allies – the United States, the United Kingdom and France – that their bases and ships in the region will be targeted if they help defend Israel.

“Any country that participates in repelling Iranian attacks on Israel will be subject to the targeting of all regional bases of the complicit government, including military bases in the Persian Gulf countries and ships and naval vessels in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea by Iranian forces,” a government statement said, according to Iran’s semiofficial Mehr news agency.

Iran has already accused the US of being complicit in the attacks and said it shared full responsibility for the consequences.

Shahram Akbarzadeh, professor of Middle East politics at Deakin University in Australia, said both Israel and Iran appear to be “settling in for the long haul” and more attacks could be expected. He said the US would also be dragged into the conflict.

“When Israel launches attacks on Iran, Iran has to respond, and I think Israel is actually banking on this dynamic – that once the conflict starts, the United States has an obligation and a commitment to Israeli security,” Akbarzadeh told Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged people in Iran to stand up to the “evil and oppressive” regime under Khamenei and seek “freedom”.

Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi said according to the people in Iran, Netanyahu’s message was unwelcome.

“We have to remember that Iranian people are living under the shadow of war, which is now getting translated into a real war. They are also under the pressure of sanctions,” he said.

“People are angry, specifically at the fact that it’s not just military officials and nuclear scientists but very ordinary citizens who were affected by the recent strikes.”

KYIV’s mayor and former world champion boxer Vitali Klitschko entered the ring with Volodymyr Zelensky, accusing him of “authoritarianism”.

The former heavyweight blasted the wartime Ukrainian President for paralysing his city with “raids, interrogations and threats of fabricated criminal cases”.

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Klitschko said the president’s decision to use martial law to appoint a rival military administration in Kyiv stopped his city from making progress.

The 53-year-old mayor’s claims come after ex-comedian Zelensky was taunted earlier this year by Donald Trump and his right-hand-man JD Vance.

The Don tripled down on his criticism of Zelensky in a blistering Truth Social rampage in February, branding the Ukrainian President a “dictator” and a “moderately successful” comedian.

And just days after that, a furious Trump dramatically booted Zelensky out of the White House amid a seething row over US backing of the Ukraine war, sparking global chaos.

Trump has also accused wartime hero Zelensky of “refusing to have elections” – despite this being normal protocol under martial law.

Klitschko’s allegations towards Zelensky of authoritarianism come as his Kyiv administration faces a string of arrests.

Some of Klitschko’s deputies have been purged by the national anti-corruption bureau under an operation called Clean City.

The probe has exposed widespread corruption under the mayor’s watch – and seven of his subordinates have so far been arrested, with another three under investigation.

The former athlete has now lashed out at Zelensky, saying that the work of his city council has been plagued by fake criminal cases and threats.

He says that these hampered the ability of Kyiv authorities to make key decisions.

Kyiv’s mayor told The Times: “This is a purge of democratic principles and institutions under the guise of war.

“I said once that it smells of authoritarianism in our country. Now it stinks.”

He also accused President Zelensky of using military administrations across the country to take power from elected mayors.

This is not the first time ex-sportsman Klitschko – who is also said to have presidential ambitions – has called out his rival Zelensky.

The Kyiv mayor called out the Ukrainian President in February amid stalling peace negotiations.

Zelensky then hit back at the boxing champ, saying: “Klitschko is a great athlete, but I didn’t know he was a great speaker.”

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Klitschko said that his recent criticism of Zelensky has been protected by his celebrity status.

“Many of the mayors are intimidated, but my celebrity status is a protection,” he explained.

“You can fire the mayor of Chernihiv, but it is very difficult to fire the mayor of the capital who the whole world knows.”

He added: “That is why everything is being done to discredit and ruin my reputation.”

Political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko said that the conflict betwene the two rivals goes deeper.

The expert said it reflected concern about abuse of city funds in wartime, calling it a “response to manifestations of corruption in the Kyiv city administration”.

He told The Times: “During the war money should go primarily to defence, to protect the country, yet there is all this construction.”

Questioning the corruption in Kyiv, he added: “In some other cities, even stadiums are being built.

“In the Donbas there are large landscaping projects. The frontline is near by, and the money is not going to defensive structures, but to greenery.”

Kyiv locals have been baffled as luxury flats keep popping up instead of shelters or schools — often built on public land using a dodgy “toilet loophole”.

This starts with setting up a par-per-use toilet for example, to then receive something similar to squatters’ rights.

Many of the ten Kyiv officials under investigation have been charged with corruption relating to the approval of these land permits.

Klitschko’s ex-deputy has been charged with taking bribes to help war conscripts escape, while a former city councillor accused of embezzlement has fled to Austria.

He responded to claims of corruption under his watch, saying that he had sacked eight of the officials being investigated.

“I have 4,500 employees in this building alone and about 300,000 employees working for the city,” he said.

“Corruption cases sometimes happen, but we react harshly and quickly.”

He added: “We co-operate with law enforcement, provide all the necessary information and hope for an impartial investigation of all cases.”

Klitshcko’s main rival in Kyiv, Tymur Tkachenko, has slated the mayor for showing “weakness” during wartime.

Tkachenko told The Times: “Mr Klitschko could not close the brothel in the basement of the same building where he lives.”

He was referring to Tootsies, a notorious strip club raided and shut down by the security service last month as part of an investigation into sex trafficking. 

Klitschko hit back at claims he was tied to the strip club which is near a hotel complex he owns, calling it a “lie” meant to smear him.

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