chaos

Benchmark S&P 500 rises 1.7 percent, while tech-heavy Nasdaq jumps 3.1 percent.

US stocks have rallied on hopes that the tentative deal to end the US-Israel war on Iran will restore stability to energy supply chains roiled by months of disruption in the Strait of Hormuz.

The S&P 500 rose 1.7 percent on Monday, taking the benchmark index within touching distance of its all-time high.

The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite jumped 3.1 percent, aided by a 19.6 percent gain by SpaceX, which on Friday made the biggest market debut in history and minted the world’s first trillionaire in Elon Musk.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.9 percent, closing at a record high.

Brent crude futures, the primary benchmark for global oil prices, fell nearly 5 percent to just above $83 a barrel, the lowest price since the first week of the conflict.

Asian stock markets were largely flat on Monday morning, after surging the previous day on the back of US President Donald Trump’s announcement of his deal with Tehran.

As of 01:30 GMT, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 was 0.01 percent lower, while South Korea’s Kospi, the best-performing major index this year, was down 0.06 percent.

In Taiwan, the TAIEX was up 0.2 percent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 0.07 percent.

Jay Goldberg, a senior analyst for tech-related equities at the Chicago-based Seaport Research Partners, said the announcement of the US-Iran deal had tilted investors’ risk balancing act towards buying into the market.

“To oversimplify, the debate has been: AI spending is strong, but there’s a war going on,” Goldberg told Al Jazeera.

“The war is over, it seems, so that side of the argument falls away. Investors are now feeling better about taking on more risk,” Goldberg said.

While Washington and Tehran’s framework has raised hopes for a return to stability in global energy markets, it is expected to take months before energy flows fully return to normal, due to the massive backlog of vessels around the Strait of Hormuz and the need to ensure the waterway is safe from Iranian naval mines.

According to the International Shipping Chamber, about 500 ships are still waiting to pass through the strait, which normally carries about one-fifth of global supplies of oil and liquefied natural gas.

SINKHOLES found under a railway bridge have caused all trains to and from Gatwick airport to be suspended leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

The holes near Purley Bridge in South London required “urgent repairs”, engineers from Network Rail have said and the line isn’t expected to open until tomorrow morning.

All services between Purley and East Croydon were closed while an inspection was carried out by a structural engineer.

This has put a stop to all trains heading to Gatwick Airport and Brighton from London Bridge or London Victoria and left thousands stranded.

Travellers lined the road outside the airport while others waited hours for a rail replacement bus service.

The rail disruption has forced many passengers to drive to the airport resulting in major congestion as hundreds of cars try to get to the terminals.

TRAFFIC CHAOS

Major motorway shut in BOTH directions near UK airport with hour-long delays

COMMUTER CARNAGE

Two motorways shut after serious crashes as drivers hit with long delays

Many have taken to social media to express their fury and fear as tempers in the gathering crowds start to flare.

One user said: “Absolute shambles at Gatwick airport! People queuing for over 2 hours to get network replacement coach into London. Tempers flaring amongst crowds. I’m scared!!!”

Others said they were having to fork out for inflated Uber fares back to London.

They posted: “@uber why on earth do you think it’s acceptable to charge people £250 to get from Gatwick Airport to Croydon with all the trains being cancelled? Absolutely criminal!,”

Network Rail explained: “Sinkholes were spotted on the bridge, meaning that ballast, the stones that the track sits on, was falling through the gap, making the track unstable.

“We’ve since carried out a thorough inspection of the bridge and are working to safely plug the gaps so that trains can safely run again.”

Sinkholes appear when rock at the surface collapses and leaves a big hole.

They are often saucer-shaped and can form for many reasons.

A London Gatwick spokesperson said: “There are currently no trains running between Gatwick Airport and London Victoria or London Bridge due to blocked rail lines at Purley.

“Passengers travelling to the airport are advised to consider alternative routes and allow extra time for their journey.

“For those travelling from Gatwick Airport into London, rail replacement bus services are operating between the airport and East Croydon. 

“Due to high demand, passengers at the airport may experience longer waiting times for rail replacement services, and we appreciate your patience while alternative transport is in place.”

Network Rail later took to X to apologise for the disruption and said the lines had to be closed “for the safety of passengers”.

“Over the course of the afternoon our engineers have carried out thorough inspections on the bridge and have worked to plug the sinkholes, allowing trains to safely run again,” they said.

“Though trains are now running we do expect there to be disruption into the night so we’re urging passengers to check before travelling.

“We will be accepting today’s tickets on tomorrow’s services due to the disruption today.”

However, Southern Rail still urged passengers not to travel, saying: “You are strongly advised to delay your journey. A very limited service is now able to run, however these services are expected to be full.”

There has been queues for hours, with some holidaymakers even missing flights

Many Brits are heading to Europe in the coming months for their summer holidays. However, there are major changes to entering European countries this year.

The new EU Entry/Exit System (ESS) was fully implemented on Friday 10, April, with significant travel disruptions happening as a result. Holidaymakers have found themselves in long queues lasting hours as they try to pass through the digital border system.

It has even left some missing their flights and having their holidays in tatters. The EES has replaced manual passport stamping and requires all Brits travelling to the Schengen area to “create a digital record” and register their biometric details, including fingerprints and a photograph.

As delays continue at European airports, there have been mounting worries about how it will affect travel during the summer holidays, which is famously one of the busiest periods to fly.

Travel expert Simon Calder says there has been “a litany” of people stuck in queues at Dover for hours or even missing their flights home due to delays.

He described the system as a “Euro shambles” before being pressed on where in Europe is the worst impacted by the new process. Simon named Milan Malpensa, Lisbon, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt and Copenhagen as the airports with the “worst” delays.

Simon said on The Travel Expert podcast: “From what I have experienced, and certainly one of them is Milan Malpensa. The fingerprint stuff took an hour, and I was the first one off the EasyJet plane from Gatwick.

“Then, I went through the other terminal to check out and it took 45 minutes that time but they wanted those fingerprints again, which is absolutely not in the rules.”

He added: “I have heard terrible stories from Lisbon, other places frequently mentioned, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt. Both of them are huge hubs where you have got a lot of people flying from various regional airports across the UK into Paris and Frankfurt to connect.

“That’s okay if you are going intercontinental but if you are trying to connect to somewhere in Europe it is awful.”

Simon explained he had a friend travel to Frankfurt last weekend, who experienced 90 minute queues.

A friend was there last weekend and it took 90 mins, connection could be toast. Simon went on to name Copenhagen as also experiencing bad delays.

Co-host Greg Dickinson said: “This was a rare instance where the Foreign Office said you may encounter long queues in or out of the airport.”

Despite the issues, Simon was optimistic about the future of travel this summer. When asked if he thinks there will be more delays this summer, he said: “I would hope we might see a bit less.”

‘Worst’ European airports for ESS delays

• Milan Malpensa
• Lisbon Airport, also known as Humberto Delgado Airport
• Paris Charles de Gaulle
• Frankfurt Airport
• Copenhagen Airport

Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic reports from Belfast, where protests over a recent stabbing have escalated into violent riots. Tensions flared after a Sudanese asylum seeker was charged with attempted murder. Riot police have deployed to the scene as buses and vehicles are set alight.

NEW biometric checks for UK travellers at European borders may not “stabilise” for another two years, officials have warned.

The new EES system has caused chaos and long queues at airports with no plans to relax the checks during the busy summer period.

The Entry Exit System (EES) involves people from third-party countries such as the UK having their fingerprints registered and photographs taken to enter the Schengen Area.

This Area consists of 29 European countries, mainly in the EU, and around 1,700 border crossing points requiring the use of EES.

For most UK travellers, the process is done at foreign airports with the digital record being kept for three years.

The airline body International Air Transport Association recently warned border queues could reach six hours this summer.

‘BEHEADING’ HORROR

Belfast ‘knifeman’ is Sudanese asylum seeker who entered UK from Dublin

‘SEX ATTACK’

Schoolgirl ‘raped by 4 Afghan nationals including boy, 16, over several hours’

Airports in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy have been reported to be among the worst affected.

This comes after more than 100 easyJet passengers missed a flight from Milan Linate to Manchester in April because of delays at passport desks caused by the ramping up of EES.

Uku Sarekanno, deputy executive director of EU border agency Frontex, said some member states are “struggling” to adopt the new system.

During a summit of travel industry leaders organised by Abta in Westminster, Sarekanno said: “We expect that the situation will stabilise in one or two years.

“The most challenging part is the first enrolment, that is the moment where fingerprints and facial images will be taken.

“If a person is visiting the EU again (within three years), they don’t have to go through the same process, so they can have a more fast track of entry.”

Experts say queues are going to get even worse for British holiday makers this summer with queue times potentially stretching to as much as six hours.

This will be the first summer since the full introduction of the new Entry/Exit System (EES) across Europe, where passengers have to register their fingerprints and have their photo taken.

According to The Times, Rafael Schvartzman warned that the EES systems are being operated differently between airports, which is causing the problem.

Schvartzman said: “What we are seeing is a very hard risk of really challenging times or waiting times, talking about expectations of three, four, five, six hours which is unacceptable.

“We know for a fact there are many cases where people have lost flights or their connectivity.”

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

Thesun.co.uk is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.

Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thesun and follow us on TikTok @TheSun.

The first rule of a primary election is: Don’t make too much of the results.

The intrepid folks who bother to cast a ballot in these first-round races are largely a group of engaged voters, and drawing conclusions from such a narrow minority is a losing game.

So however the final June results tally out, the lessons learned won’t easily translate to the larger electorate that will almost surely show up in November. But if this election doesn’t tell us much about what fall voters will do, it does tell us something about the Democratic Party that dominates this state: It’s chaotic, to put it gently. And no, that’s not entirely the fault of the “jungle” primary.

Traditional rules seem to have broken down (not a bad thing) and new ones haven’t yet emerged. The old guard has lost control, and maybe vision, and the result is more candidates willing to sidestep seniority and a wait-your-turn mentality to try their luck — especially younger progressives.

Sometimes that chutzpah works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s a mirror of the national trend of Democratic infighting and a glimpse into just how fragmented the party has become as it tries to figure out who it stands for and who it supports before the 2028 presidential election.

“I feel like I’m definitely running against major institutional forces, but that’s how it is,” state Sen. Scott Wiener told me recently. “At times we see sort of a little bit of a fortress mentality, and other perspectives are not welcome, and younger folks, newer voices are not welcome, and and that’s a dynamic that plays out in a lot of different places.”

Wiener, who could be considered king of the line-jumpers, just took the top spot in the San Francisco-centered race to represent the 11th Congressional District, the seat held by Nancy Pelosi since 1987, when Wiener was 17.

By most accounts, Pelosi and Wiener had a mostly cordial relationship until last year, when he entered the race before she announced her retirement. Though Wiener had been clear for years that he planned such a run when Pelosi stepped down, Pelosi is an icon in the city, beloved by constituents and uncontested as queen of the old guard.

Announcing his campaign before she officially made that decision — or had the chance to choose her successor — sent shock waves through the political firmament. When Pelosi endorsed Supervisor Connie Chan in May, it was seen by many as a sign of her displeasure. Chan, who had struggled to gain traction in the primary, came in second with the Pelosi boost and will face Wiener in November.

Across the state, there were other races with upstart contenders. In Southern California, Jake Levine, a progressive Democrat who served in the Obama White House, took on incumbent Brad Sherman. Sherman, who at 71 has served almost 30 years in Congress, resoundingly beat out Levine by more than 20 points.

In Sacramento, there is Mai Vang, a progressive City Council member, who is challenging Rep. Doris Matsui, another member of the old guard royalty. Vang is in a tie for second place with a Republican contender as remaining votes are counted.

And of course, there is the governor’s race itself, which included a field so determined and uncontrollable even before the fiasco of Eric Swalwell’s sexual misconduct scandal that the state Democratic Party started putting out its own polling in a seeming bid to convince some blue contenders to drop out. It didn’t work. Notably, progressive Katie Porter and moderate San José Mayor Matt Mahan stuck in until the bitter end. But old guard candidate Xavier Becerra came out on top.

If these races have a lesson, it’s that different Democratic voters want different things, but the party hasn’t figured out how to embrace that other than offering up the moderate middle ground.

“This is a big question to this Democratic establishment, about how big of a tent they want to build,” said Irene Kao of Courage California, a progressive advocacy organization.

She said that it “bodes well” that so many strong progressive challengers came out for the primary, because it allows a chance for candidates outside the party power structure to find an audience with voters, even if they are ultimately unsuccessful.

And where voters go, the party will eventually be forced to follow. That doesn’t necessarily mean a more progressive Democratic Party, but it likely means a more inclusive one if they want to lure the kind of low-information and low-propensity voters who make or break a general election.

“People are sick of the games, and sick of people trying to just maneuver things to get their own person in,” Wiener said. “People want to have choices.”

A Love Island star has made a surprise exit from the competition just days into the latest series and after a shock double eviction

Love Island fans are set to be stunned as one islander has left the show just days into their time on the villa. After a double bombshell eviction, a third member of the villa has now cut their time short.

George Knight has sensationally quit the villa shortly after sending Samraj and Ellie home. The footballer had only arrived as a bombshell, but is now said to have left due to “private reasons”.

He is still set to feature on Thursday evening’s show, but is thought to already have said his goodbyes. His exit is reportedly not going to be aired.

A Love Island spokesperson said: “For private reasons, George has left the Love Island villa. Duty of care for the Islanders is paramount so at this stage any further comment will come from George. Bosses and viewers alike had been loving his contribution.”

The contestant had made a big entrance and was getting to know Robyn and Mica. Robyn, who quickly friend zoned Sam appeared keen to forge a pairing with George, so it remains to be seen how she will take the news. The pair had already shared a kiss on the terrace.

On Wednesday’s show, Yasmin was in tears as the time for the bombshells to make their decision approached. And their decision wasn’t well received by viewers at home. One labelled it a “sinister” move, while others were shocked.

But while tears ran down the villa and gutted Samraj and Ellie heading for the exit, they were told that all may not be as it seemed. It left fans confused as to what might come next in a series that has already thrown up a number of twists in the first week.

Straight off the bat, islanders had to choose their own couples. This moved away from the public who normally picked who they thought was best matched.

Love Island All Stars winner Gabby Allen told us of the bold move at the time: “The producers are doing a great job at changing things up. This has never been done before.

“A recoupling done by themselves is crazy! I would panic in this situation and hope somebody whisked me off my feet so I didn’t have the decision.”

After the first episode, Gabby also predicted high energy between some of the cast – and Gabby knows vibes when she sees them! “OMG!!! The vibes between Lola & Ope already,” she said.

“These two coming in I feel like is already spicing things up. BOTH of them have very good energy. You heard it here first, Ope is going to do well. Player of not. People are going to like him.”

Like this story? F or more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

AROUND 150 Ryanair passengers were left stranded at a European airport following massive queues.

The passengers at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in France missed their Ryanair flight last week due to lengthy queues at border control caused by staff shortages.

The flight to London Stansted left without some of its passengers as queues at border control meant they couldn’t reach their gate in time for the flight.

One passenger told The Connexion that it was “pure chaos” adding that “there was no structure at the airport” and “people pushing at all times”.

The woman’s flight wasn’t the only one to be impacted either – in total four flights were boarding at the same with destinations including Marrakech in Morocco, Tunisia and two to London.

Reportedly, around 500 people were in the border control area including passengers with babies.

Read more on travel inspo

HOL YES

I’m a travel editor & mum-of-3… my favourite family holidays from just £3pp a night

GO ON

All the little-known websites for cheap or FREE tickets to gigs, theatre & festivals

The woman also revealed that despite just managing to get onboard her flight, the pilot announced shortly after that 150 passengers had not made it.

On its website, the UK Civil Aviation Authority states: “Airports will try to do their best to ensure a smooth operation and provide passengers with a comfortable journey. However, sometimes problems do occur.

“If you miss a flight due to a long queue at security, even though you arrived at the airport on time, it is unlikely that an airline would pay compensation or consider itself obliged to offer you a free alternative flight.

“We are pleased to see that some airlines are helping their passengers find alternative flights voluntarily.

“We would recommend that you contact your travel agent or airline to help book you onto an alternative flight, but you may need to pay extra to do this.

“If you have taken out travel insurance, contact your insurance provider to see if your expenses are covered and make sure you keep receipts for these.”

A Ryanair spokesperson told Sun Travel: “Due to delays caused by border control staff shortages at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport on 30 May, a number of passengers booked to travel from Toulouse to London Stansted were not in the boarding gate area when boarding for their flight closed and missed their flight from Toulouse to London Stansted.

“All passengers that were at the boarding gate when this flight from Toulouse to London Stansted boarded were accommodated and travelled without incident.”

Sun Travel has contacted Toulouse-Blagnac Airport for comment.

Jennifer Cohen has heard her peers this spring lament the precarious state of college football, with the College Football Playoff format in flux, the College Sports Commission under fire and the current model of college athletics hanging by a proverbial thread. As athletic director at USC, Cohen understands the reasons for their doom and gloom.

There’s little clarity about where things stand in college athletics right now, let alone where they’re going. Plus, it has never cost more to run an athletic department — or a football program, with the price tag of rosters exceeding $40 million this season — in part because of name, image and likeness rights.

“There’s no doubt that this last year’s been frustrating, and that’s because we tried to fly a plane and build a plane at the same time,” Cohen told The Times last week. “So it’s certainly not going swimmingly, right?”

Before discussing all that’s wrong with the current college sports landscape, Cohen wants to remind everyone that it hasn’t all been bad.

“It’s important to talk about what are the positives that came from what’s happened,” Cohen said.” And from my perspective, student athletes have benefited now more than ever, you know?”

At USC, Cohen has managed to steer the athletic department through the chaos. As costs have risen exponentially with the advent of revenue sharing, Cohen says department revenue at USC is up almost 60% over a three-year span, sponsorship values have doubled and USC donors have poured money into the Trojan Athletic Fund, which is up 707% since she started.

Jennifer Cohen, left, and university president Carol Folt, right, flash the “V for Victory” hand sign during a news conference in 2023 introducing Cohen as USC’s new athletic director.

(Ringo Chiu / For The Times)

And later this summer, USC will open a $200-million football facility — a rarity in an age when such spending has more often taken a backseat.

None of that is to say USC is immune to the coming financial crunch in college sports.

“We also have to manage expenses, and we’re trying to do that and still support what we think is part of our DNA, which is [keeping all] 23 programs,” Cohen said. “As you look at the financial benefits that football brings to this place, the more you’re gonna take those revenues from football and put it back into football and to football student athletes versus other programs, you’re gonna feel the pinch. And so we’ve tried to mitigate that with new strategies on revenue generation.”

But what about when football rosters costs balloon to $50 million … or $60 million? What about $100 million?

“Hopefully not,” Cohen said. “We’ve gotta match roster spends with revenues and, and, and, and how we run a business.”

“I don’t think there’s one simple answer to this, and I do think that we are at a point where we’ve got to figure out as an industry, how do we do this in a smart way and not just let our competitiveness get the best of us? But that’s hard when football winning is the only way that you pay your bills.”

The Times sat down with Cohen last week to discuss the state of affairs in college football and USC’s athletic department. The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

With college football in such an uncertain place, do you feel like there needs to be some form of outside intervention? Or some major governance change that would help solve these problems?

“I think at some point in time we’re gonna have to find something. I mean, obviously we’re a year in. So I think first we all need to look in the mirror — myself included, as a leader — and say, ‘What did we do in this new system that worked? And what have we done in this new system that doesn’t work? And the question becomes, ‘Can you get everybody across the Power Four [conferences] to do that exercise and be honest enough to find some sort of solutions together? Or do you need to start looking at other solutions? I, for one, fully believe in federal support. I understand why it’s needed. I’m somebody that spent a lot of time on that earlier in my career, and, you know, the patchwork situation of laws is not fair from a competitive standpoint. It’s also very confusing to student athletes and to their families and to our coaches. But I am absolutely not holding my breath for that.

Eric Musselman and athletic director Jennifer Cohen hold a jersey with Musselman’s name during his introductory news conference as the Trojans’ basketball coach in 2024.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

“The most important place where I’m spending my energy is figuring out how we are going to win in whatever environment that we’re dealt. Because I don’t have as much control in my current role to solve for all of those national issues. I am 24/7 thinking about how USC is going to compete in whatever environment we’re in. And I feel really confident that we will. But as somebody that loves college sports, I also think that we are gonna have to find a different alternative than how we’re operating right now to have a sustainable and durable model.”

USC seems to be in a really strong place with NIL, stronger certainly than when you were hired. How would you say that USC has gotten to that point?

“ When we got here, my mantra was if you’re not ahead, you’re gonna get behind. And so there were a lot of areas that we focused on to just try to improve and get ahead, and NIL was one of them. There’s a natural ability here to be really competitive in NIL — especially in the third-party space with brands. You know, we were just looking at some data the other day just in this new CSC-NIL Go model. Our brand deals are valued 2 1/2 times more than the national average, and I think that really speaks to both USC, the city of L.A., and obviously the quality of the student athletes that we have. And I think it’s just been a strategy of embracing the new era, recognizing that it’s really cool to be able to have student athletes benefit in that new era, and it’s important, and that you have to be competitive in that space.

“And so I think it was just a matter of having intentionality in a plan and getting all of our stakeholders aligned around that plan, and it was an urgent matter to keep trying to get ahead in that space. Because if we weren’t, other people were. That’s how we’ve been tackling it, and so we’re really proud of how robust the program is now. But we’re gonna have to keep getting better at it. We’re gonna have to keep evolving.”

The Big Ten has come out in favor of expanding the College Football Playoff to 24 teams. What are your thoughts on that?

“We’re unified as a league around 24, there’s no doubt about that. And obviously that’s gaining traction in some of the other conferences as well. And so where we’re unified, USC’s gonna support that. I think that there’s merits in the 24 model. I also think there’s plenty of fair questions around that. It has to make sense for everybody. So that’s kind of where we stand on it.

USC athletic direct Jennifer Cohen wears a headset with microphone as she’s interviewed before a football game in 2023.

(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

“I think personally speaking, I would have absolutely no problem staying at 12. I think we’ve experienced a lot of change in college sports and in college football. I think we need to understand how that change is impacting not just us, but our fans and others. And so if we end up at 12, I’m confident that we’re gonna find our way in that 12 every single year. And again, uh, that’s where my focus is. I mean, I am nonstop thinking about how USC athletics can compete in whatever model that we’re in, and I feel really good about the plans that we are developing and will continue to develop because we’re gonna have to keep changing to, to make sure that we’re competitive.

Being that it’s now Year 5, is it fair to say that the expectation is that Lincoln [Riley] needs to take USC to the Playoff this year?

“The expectation has always been the same. That’s the thing, that’s the reason why I came here, is that the standard is high. We do expect to make the playoff. We do expect to have a championship run. We do expect to be competing for championships every single year. I think that’s what’s awesome about USC, is that that’s what we all expect of it. And I know that I’m not the only one that expects that. I know our fans expect that. I know that he expects that. And so I really like this team. I really like the kids that we brought in. I love the returners. I love the leadership of this team.

“We’ve got some really outstanding older young men in this program that get it, that have been through a lot and really care about this place and this program. The young guys are awesome. They’re really challenging the older guys. So I feel really good about the talent level of this team, and I feel really good about what Lincoln’s done. I think with this staff, I think we have a highly competitive staff. I think we have a really experienced staff. And then you can’t dismiss what Chad’s accomplished. You know? I think that that’s been the benefit of bringing in not just Chad, but an entire front office staff, taking the pressure off of Lincoln, taking the pressure off of the other coaches so that they can be at their best. I mean, he’s been really energized about that and really focused on taking the strengths that he has. So yeah, the expectation, I mean, we haven’t been shy about that. We expect to win, and I, I feel confident that we’re going to.”

SAN FRANCISCO — There are no immigrants waiting for rulings anymore at San Francisco’s main immigration court, no lawyers making arguments.

The court, which had 21 judges when President Trump was sworn in last year, had only two left when it closed May 1. The rest had been fired, retired or resigned amid a White House purge of federal immigration judges.

The closing is one more reflection of the turmoil that has upended the immigration court system as the administration looks for ways to churn through its massive backlog of 3.8 million asylum cases and deport as many people as possible.

Asylum denial rates have soared as the administration has fired almost 100 judges deemed to be too liberal, and approved using hundreds of military lawyers to replace them. Immigrants have been arrested when they arrive at courthouses or government offices for scheduled appearances.

But amid the nationwide upheaval, San Francisco is the first major city to be left without a primary immigration court, leaving chaos and dysfunction in a region long known for its friendliness to asylum seekers. The two remaining judges will work from another federal building in the city but will be part of an immigration court across the bay.

That reputation, court insiders say, might have led to its downfall.

“It was a vibrant legal scene and so I think if you were looking to target a court you would have to look at what San Francisco stands for,” said Jeremiah Johnson, an immigration judge in the city until he was fired in November. He is now executive vice president of the National Assn. of Immigration Judges.

Most of the court’s 117,000 immigration cases have been moved to a courthouse in Concord, a city about 30 miles away that opened two years ago to help with San Francisco’s backlog of cases. But turmoil has also reached that city. A courthouse that had 11 judges at the start of 2025 is down to five after a series of firings. It had a caseload of 60,000 cases even before the San Francisco cases were shifted over.

San Francisco’s immigration court, which had the third-highest number of asylum cases in the nation, was long considered one of the most favorable to people seeking asylum. From 2019 to 2024, almost 75% of petitioners received some form of relief, compared with 43% nationwide, according to data compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonprofit data research center based at Syracuse University.

That’s partly because San Francisco, with its vast network of pro-immigrant organizations and pro bono or low-cost legal services, had one of the country’s highest rates of legal representation for immigrants.

The Executive Office of Immigration Review, the Department of Justice branch that oversees immigration courts, announced in March that it would close the San Francisco courthouse in 2027 as a cost-saving measure and move its cases to Concord. But the end came early after nearly all the San Francisco judges left or were fired. The Executive Office provided no detailed explanation for the changes, saying in a statement only that it had decided not to renew its lease for the court, and doesn’t comment on personnel matters.

Tight security in Concord courts

Security is tight at the Concord courthouse, perhaps because of the new influx of cases. Armed security guards ask every person if they are carrying weapons or explosives, and they watch as each person turns off their cellphone. Even coffee is not allowed in. Only water is acceptable, and then only if it’s in a transparent bottle.

Judah Lakin, an immigration attorney based in Oakland who also teaches at UC Berkeley School of Law, said the closure of the San Francisco court has made cases more time-consuming since it’s harder for his clients, who often travel from hours away, to reach Concord on public transportation.

One recent 10-minute hearing in Concord took him more than two hours of travel, he said.

But beyond logistics, Lakin said the chaos in immigration courts under the Trump administration has created a fraught court atmosphere. Mass firings have led to last-minute hearing cancellations, cases have been reset with little notice, and clients are often left in prolonged legal limbo, leaving them vulnerable to deportation.

One of his clients, he said, was provisionally granted asylum by a judge, who was then fired before signing the decision. The case was transferred to a second judge, who was also fired. Now on their third judge, his client is still waiting.

“The ground is constantly shifting underneath your feet, whether it’s judges being fired and hearings getting canceled, whether it’s your clients getting arrested, whether it’s getting denials on things that used to be standard and routine,” Lakin said.

“I think that’s on purpose. That’s by design. It’s part of the strategy,” he added.

‘Heartbreaking’

San Francisco’s immigration court was one of the first in the nation to hire judges with non-prosecutorial backgrounds, with many having previous experience working with immigrants at nonprofits or defending them in court.

To see the court close is “heartbreaking,” said Dana Leigh Marks, a former San Francisco immigration judge who retired in 2021 after 35 years on the bench and who was among the first judges in the nation to be hired from private practice.

She sees the Trump administration’s decision to close the largest immigration court in Northern California as part of an effort to undermine due process and eventually dismantle the path to asylum.

“It’s all a part of big ways and little ways that the Trump administration is trying to get noncitizens out of the country,” she said.

Johnson, the fired San Francisco judge, was appointed during the first Trump administration. He believes he was targeted because he granted asylum in 89% of the cases he heard.

“You don’t fire judges if you disagree with the way they’re handling a case; that’s not how courts work. If you disagree, you appeal that decision,” he said.

Johnson, who is the executive vice president of the National Assn. of Immigration Judges, defended his judicial record, pointing out that over eight years, only about 10 of his cases were appealed by the Department of Homeland Security, and very few were sent back for further hearings by the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Unlike federal courts, where there are strict rules of procedure and judges have lifetime tenure, the Justice Department runs immigration courts, and the attorney general can fire the judges with fewer constraints.

There were 754 immigration judges across the country at the start of Trump’s second term. Now, there are about 600, including some temporary judges, according to data collected by the judges’ union. Widespread courthouse arrests of immigrants have caused hundreds of people not to even show up for hearings, leading to deportation orders in absentia.

Nidaa Pervaiz came to the Concord court on a recent day to represent a client from Nepal. She prefers the new courthouse in some ways, since it’s closer to her home.

But, she said, she and her clients are already feeling the impact of the changes. Fewer judges leads to fewer hearings. That means more delays for her clients, whose paperwork can expire even before they can appear before a judge.

“Their whole lives are at stake, and they are coming to make a plea for their future” she said.

Rodriguez writes for the Associated Press.

PASSENGERS are facing travel chaos this bank holiday following a signalling issue impacting routes to Heathrow Airport.

There are major delays on the Elizabeth Line and Heathrow Express trains wreaking havoc for those trying to reach the airport today.

Earlier this evening, customers travelling to Heathrow Airport have been hit with severe delays to their journey.

A signalling failure in the London Paddington area has meant there’s a reduced service on the Elizabeth Line and Heathrow Express trains.

Trains running between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport or Reading may be cancelled, delayed by up to 45 minutes or revised.

These delays are expected to last until the end of the day.

WHAT A BELTER

My trip to US city famous for beating the Brits…and the best boxing film ever

MED OF DREAMS

I visited the Spanish hotel chain with late breakfasts – perfect for lie ins

According to Heathrow Express’ website, there are delays in both directions with only two trains departing every hour.

Meanwhile, the Elizabeth Line has reported severe delays between Paddington and Heathrow Terminals while a signal fault in the Southall area is fixed.

The service is also severely reduced, with some stations currently not being served.

On the National Rail site, they advise those travelling from the east to change at Whitechapel for service to Heathrow Terminal 4.

At the moment, services for Heathrow Terminal 5 will terminate before reaching Heathrow, so passengers are advised to arrive at Heathrow and use the free terminal transfers available at the airport.

Transport for London have said that tickets are being accepted on London Underground.

But for those travelling to Heathrow, the Underground doesn’t offer much of a solution.

This bank holiday the Piccadilly Line is undergoing planned engineering works, with no service from Hyde Park Corner to Uxbridge or Northfields.

However, tickets are being accepted by Great Western Rail and local bus services in order to get passengers to Heathrow Airport.

A spokesperson for Great Western Rail said: “Network Rail are currently investigating a signalling issue affecting the relief lines just outside of Paddington.

“To help keep trains running, some services are being reduced – and we’re advising customers travelling to or from Paddington to check before they travel.”

TfL said: “The Elizabeth line services are currently impacted by signalling issues in the Hayes & Harlington area.

“There is a severely reduced service, with some stations not being served, though we are currently looking to increase services.

“There is alternative ticket acceptance with GWR and local bus services.”

Families heading to France from Dover are enduring a two hour wait, while train services out of London have been hit by cancellations ahead of weekend of route closures

Drivers arriving at the port of Dover have been warned of two hour waits as millions of others elsewhere face bank holiday travel chaos.

Authorities at Dover have alerted customers to a “120 minute processing time for tourist traffic in the buffer zone” before reaching French border control on this side of the Channel. It added: “Please note there is external congestion on the port approach roads.”

Writing on social media, the Port of Dover said: “Thank you for your patience. Our teams are working hard to get everyone through border control and check-in as quickly as possible.” The go-slow comes as Brits flying to Europe also fear lengthy waits to get through border control after the implementation of new passport checks.

READ MORE: UK heatwave 2026 live: Five urgent amber heat health alerts issued for parts of UKREAD MORE: Andy Burnham live: Labour PM hopeful launches Makerfield campaign

Doug Bannister, Port of Dover chief executive, warned Saturday would be even busier: “We’re looking at about 8,000 cars on Saturday, so that is going to be the busiest of the three days. Our busy time for cars tends to be about 5am till until 1pm. If you’re arriving for a sailing during that period of time, we ask people not to arrive more than two hours before their sailing so that we can keep everybody flowing through.”

It is not much better for those staying at home and enjoying the forecast heatwave, with temperatures of over 30C predicted in some areas over the weekend.

National Rail warned the hot weather can “cause overhead lines to expand and sag”, rails to buckle and pose a risk of track-side fires. “Speed restrictions may be imposed,” it added.

Tens of thousands or rail passengers suffered cancellations even before a weekend of disruption due to engineering work and strikes.

Operator LNER said northbound services between London King’s Cross and Peterborough were disrupted due to a fault with the overhead power lines in the New Barnet area. Delays of up to 50 minutes were expected. And southbound, services between York and Doncaster were disrupted due to a fault with the signalling system.

The East Coast Main Line is expected to be one of the worst routes affected in the coming days because of a closure for works in North Yorkshire. A rail replacement bus service will operate but, as a result, will add more than more than an hour and a half to a normal three hour journey.

The closure has impact thousands Middlesborough fans travelling to London for the Championship play-off final against Hull City at Wembley.

Industrial action is also planned on London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway on Friday and Saturday, with passengers advised to “only travel if necessary” as trains will only run on a small number of routes.

Elsewhere, the Transpennine route will also be impacted, including a rail replacement service between Manchester Piccadilly and Huddersfield over the whole weekend, and between Huddersfield and Leeds, Dewsbury and Wakefield Kirkgate on Sunday.

Buses will replace trains on the Great Western main line between Newport and Bristol Parkway, while one train an hour will operate between south Wales and London via Gloucester from Saturday right through to Monday June 8.

Passengers using part of the Thameslink line in London and South Western Railway between Havant, Fareham and Portsmouth Harbour will also be disrupted.

Anit Chandarana, from Network Rail, said: “Bank holidays are still among the least busy times for us in terms of passengers, so it makes sense to plan these major improvements for those days.

“I know it can be frustrating to have to check before you travel, but this investment is about making everyday journeys better – improving reliability, reducing future disruption and helping the railway work better for passengers.”

So much rail disruption will inevitably mean even more people take to roads already predicted to be busy due to the weather and the start of the half term school break.

Adding to the risk of jams is the fact it is the final weekend of the Premier League season, with hundreds of thousands of fans travelling to cheer on their teams.

Motoring group the AA is forecasting Friday will be the busiest day, with around 23.4 million journeys taken, then 2.8 million on Saturday, and 22.4 million on both Sunday and bank holiday Monday.

If you have been disrupted by the travel disruption, email graham.hiscott@mirror.co.uk

Married At First Sight USA Season 19 is back with brand new episodes on E4, but things are already getting tense

A Married At First Sight bride has walked out following an uncomfortable encounter with her husband.

The US edition of the popular reality series has kicked off Season 19 with new episodes broadcasting weekdays on E4 at 8pm. Earlier this week, audiences watched five new couples tie the knot with complete strangers they’d never met before.

Thus far, viewers have remained sceptical about the revised format, particularly following an explosive Australian series, though the programme is still finding its feet as the newlyweds embark on their honeymoons.

In tonight’s episode (May 21), several couples faced significant challenges just days into their marriages. Brittany and Will have discussed their communication difficulties, with Brittany voicing worries about her husband’s failure to ask her questions.

Yet Will also highlighted concerns about their contrasting communication approaches, leading to Brittany walking off by herself, reports OK!.

She said: “I want to dive deep I want to have those conversations”, however Will interrupted her stating: “No, you haven’t asked me any questions.”

Acknowledging she has “been trying”, Will described her questions as “vague and conspicuous” as Brittany replied: “I didn’t realise I needed to be super specific.”

Following further exchanges, the couple failed to reach common ground and Will said: “I don’t need you to hold my hand all the time.” Exasperated, Brittany continued: “It’s bothering me… like really. Sorry, I’m going to calm down”, to which Will responded: “Do whatever you need, it’s okay.”

His reply only wound Brittany up more as she snapped: “I’m frustrated because we’re on two separate, I won’t even say two separate pages, we’re like in different books. I need someone who can communicate.”

Storming off, Brittany told producers it was like talking to someone who does not talk back, while Will made no attempt to follow his wife, telling cameras: “She left for a reason, I’ll let her leave.”

The row followed an uncomfortable moment on their wedding night. But will the pair manage to bridge their differences? Fans will have to keep watching weekdays to discover what happens next.

Plenty of viewers took to social media to share their views, with one person commenting: “This is what happens when couples have completely different communication styles.”

Another posted: “It looks like Will and Brittany need counselling already”, while a third added: “Omg the chats they’re having are not interesting enough for prime time TV.”

Meanwhile, Pat and Rhonda are also grappling with communication issues, with Rhonda revealing she wished her husband would show more interest in her life.

Despite this hurdle, the couple have already declared their feelings for each other, with Rhonda saying: “I love the person that you are, I love your kindness and generosity, I love everything about you.”

One viewer took to X to write: “I love yous already!” while another responded: “‘I love you.’ Already?”

Married At First Sight USA airs weekdays at 8pm on E4.

Summer holidays this year are set to look a bit unusual for Brits, with travellers looking to find ‘certainty’ and ‘safety’ before they book a trip amid ongoing global turmoil

Holidaymakers are facing some big changes this summer, with more and more Brits hesitant to book their getaways amid ongoing uncertainty.

New temporary rules have been brought in that allow airlines to merge or cancel flights in the face of potential fuel shortages over the next few months. The guidance means that an airlines which run multiple flights to the same destination in one day could merge these flights to save on fuel.

This would act as a kind of contingency in the face of the ongoing ripple effects from the Iran-US war, and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz – a narrow waterway through which one fifth of the world’s oil passes. These new proposals would ensure that airlines won’t be penalised for merging routes, to try and keep the number of cancellations to a minimum – and they will retain any landing or takeoff slots.

READ MORE: Families must ‘pay for plane seats’ or face being split as fuel crisis threatens holidays

But this is not the only recent signal that changes are en route in the travel industry. A major lawsuit issued successfully by a holidaymaker over a lack of sun loungers at his resort might on the surface not appear to be a landmark moment, but experts tell the Mirror that it indicates a crucial change in attitude from travellers, who are determined to ensure “certainty” when booking a trip, and demand value for money amid the backdrop of international tensions, reactive financial markets, and the cost of living continuing to bite.

The Mirror takes a look at all the ways in which Brit’s approach to holidays looks to be changing this summer, from new-found hesitancy to visit the US, all the way to a surge in staycations, amid fears of fuel uncertainty.

No more ‘dawn dash’ for sun loungers

A landmark lawsuit brought by a German holidaymaker against his tour operator after he and his family were unable to secure sun loungers during their trip to the Greek island of Kos marks a major change on the horizon. The man travelled to the Greek island with his wife and two kids, paying €7,186 (£6,211) for a package holiday – but other guests at the resort relentlessly ‘reserved’ sun loungers using towels, meaning he and his family were unable to find a space.

David Eggert, 48, from Dusseldorf, said “it was a big hotel, very fancy, with about 400 loungers. And all 400 loungers had towels on them. The people were not actually using the loungers, and the guests went into town or went back to bed and slept.”

He said he believes it is a “very, very important ruling” that the judges in Hanover found in his favour, saying that though the tour operator did not run the hotel itself, they had a duty to make sure there is a “reasonable” number of sun loungers in proportion to guests. “When the holiday season starts in June and July and people face the same problem, they will say: ‘Look, somebody sued a tour operator over this. I’ll do the same’,” he claimed, “If thousands of holidaymakers start suing travel companies, the costs will run into the millions”.

Hotels throughout Europe are reportedly cracking down on the practice of visitors claiming sunbeds with towels or other personal belongings. One holiday camp operator in France is said to have introduced an alarm system where a horn is used on two occasions throughout the day. Anyone who isn’t using their claimed lounger at that time loses it – with their items popped to lost property.

“The recent sun lounger lawsuit may sound minor, but it actually reflects a major change in traveler expectations,” travel expert Declan Somers, CEO of Mobal, tells us. “People now expect the operational reality of a holiday to match the experience being marketed online. After years of cancellations, delays, and travel instability, tolerance for avoidable friction has dropped sharply.”

He adds that the “travel companies that will win big in 2026 are those that focus on reducing uncertainty, managing expectations honestly, and making the travel experience feel controlled, from booking to return.”

Fellow travel expert, Alexandra Dubakova, CMO of Free Tour, echoes these sentiments. “The recent legal victory for the traveler who sued sun loungers is a turning point. It is something that some tourists considered funny and a slightly annoying part of the holiday experience. People had somehow accepted it as a cultural quirk of resort life, and the court ruling changed that. It categorized a lack of facilities as a contractual defect.

“The ruling sets a precedent for tour operators as they can no longer sell a vibe or sunny dream. They need to sell specific and functional inventory. If you advertise a 500-room resort with only 50 loungers, you are now legally liable for a ‘diminished experience’. As a result, we expect hotels to implement strict booking systems to avoid legal issues.”

Merged flights chaos

Dubakova explains that the new rules proposed to limit flight cancellations through mergers might be a necessary evil for airlines to save fuel, but it comes with some downsides for tourists.

“The decision by the government to allow airlines to merge flights and cancel them is, as they say, a double-edged sword. From the airline’s point of view, it is a necessary measure to save costs. Flying near-empty planes just to keep airport slots is a financial disaster and a waste, given the current fuel shortage.

“Unfortunately, for travellers, this means inconsistency. Air travel is about to become more like bus travel. You might book a 10:00 AM flight and get merged into a 2:00 PM one. On the brighter side, it will prevent the last-minute chaos since airlines consolidate two weeks out.”

Before the conflict, Europe as a whole had about 37 days’ supply of available. Now, this is likely to have dropped to 30 days, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) warning that 23 days is the critical point at which some airports would run out of fuel.

As airlines merge flights to conserve fuel, families who booked together may find themselves rebooked onto replacement aircraft where they are scattered across the cabin. Notably, there is no UK law that requires children to be seated with their parents on a plane. Airlines can legally separate even those under five from their parents, although this would be against Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) guidelines.

The CAA says: ‘Young children and infants who are accompanied by adults should ideally be seated in the same seat row as the adult. Where this is not possible, children should be separated by no more than one seat row from accompanying adults. This is because the speed of an emergency evacuation may be affected by adults trying to reach their children.” “

If airlines start consolidating flights, a family of four ‘may be rebooked onto the same replacement flight but not necessarily seated together,” Somers warned.

Brits swerving the US to avoid ‘friction’

Long a popular destination for British holidaymakers, data from the World Travel and Tourism Council suggests that tourists from the UK are avoid booking a holiday to the US amid political tensions – with the country the only one predicted to “see a decline in international visitor spending last year.”

Somers explains: “I’m seeing a noticeable shift in how people view long-haul travel to destinations like the U.S. The hesitation is less about one specific political issue and more about accumulated friction. Think of tougher border perceptions, social tension, unpredictable airport experiences, and the feeling that international travel currently requires more emotional energy than before. Travellers today want journeys that feel smooth and manageable, not just exciting.”

“Yes, tourists are avoiding the US,” Dubakova adds, “which was among the top three vacation spots for Brits. The political atmosphere is negatively impacting the experience of tourists, making them feel unsafe. We are getting twice as many inquiries about Japan and Scandinavia because their political situation is more stable. Unfortunately, it seems the US is losing its automatic status as a preferred summer holiday destination for Brits.”

Rise in ‘staycations’

Brits are choosing to book holidays within the UK because they fundamentally want to feel secure in their investment, Somers explains. “What I’m seeing this summer is not people abandoning travel; it’s travellers becoming far more focused on certainty and operational reliability. Rising fuel concerns and the possibility of airlines merging or cutting flights are pushing many Brits toward UK holidays, not because they suddenly prefer domestic travel, but because it feels logistically safer. Travellers are no longer choosing purely on destination appeal; they are increasingly evaluating how vulnerable a trip is to disruption, rerouting, or cancellation.”

Dubakova agrees, explaining that it’s a way of maintaining certainty and ‘control’. “With the current fear of fuel shortages, Brits have opted for staycations and holidays in the UK based on predictability. People are conducting a risk assessment before planning their holiday. If they book a vacation in the UK, there will be fewer factors that they cannot control. They won’t be worried about being stranded by a sudden surge in airfare- fuel surcharges, or a fuel-related flight cancellation.”

Airports in Japan, China, India, the UAE, Singapore and Thailand have all been impacted, with major airlines cancelling 366 flights and delaying a further 2,949 services.

Hundreds of flights have been axed this weekend as severe weather, airspace chaos and growing operational strain cause widespread disruption.

Airports across Japan, China, India, the UAE, Singapore and Thailand have all been hit, with airlines scrapping 366 flights and delaying a further 2,949 services, according to aviation tracking data reported by Travel and Tour World.

Major carriers affected include China Eastern Airlines, IndiGo, AirAsia and Etihad Airways, with the disruption centred on major transit hubs such as Tokyo Haneda Airport, Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport, Kempegowda International Airport, Singapore Changi Airport and Zayed International Airport.

Industry experts say the chaos is being fuelled by a mix of heavy storms battering parts of Asia, congestion at key airports and the ongoing impact of Middle East airspace restrictions, which have forced airlines to reroute planes and shoulder significantly higher fuel bills.

The broader aviation sector is also grappling with the fallout from geopolitical tensions linked to the conflict involving Iran, which has resulted in airspace closures and extended flight times on major Europe-Asia routes.

It has been reported this week that a number of carriers have already started cutting back international schedules due to spiralling operating costs. Air India has confirmed temporary reductions to several long-haul services between June and August, attributing the move to fuel pressures and operational challenges stemming from diversions around restricted airspace.

Despite the turbulence affecting much of the region, Singapore Airlines has revealed plans to boost capacity on certain routes as passengers increasingly opt for direct Asia-Europe flights that bypass Middle Eastern stopovers.

Australian government travel guidance has also cautioned travellers to anticipate continued disruption related to the conflict, including cancellations, delays and fuel supply problems impacting global aviation networks.

Passengers flying through major Asian hubs this week have been advised to verify flight status updates before departing for the airport, with airlines cautioning that additional schedule alterations remain likely should weather patterns and geopolitical disruption persist.

Many Brits are concerned that the new EU Entry/Exit system (EES) could put a dampener on their holidays, but an obscure clause could mean that the system is paused at the busiest times

Summer 2026 is shaping up to be uncertain for holidaymakers. A combination of the jet fuel issues and new requirements for Brits entering the European Union (EU), means many travellers are braced for delays, cancellations, or long airport queues.

But a little-known clause in the EES rules could become a lifeline for Brits heading to Europe this summer, and it could be invoked if the queues at European airports become too long.

Some countries are already taking their own measures to tackle the chaos caused by EES. Greece has switched from using EES back to manual passport stamping to ensure a smoother entry system. While reports that Italy and Portugal may follow suit have been shut down by Brussels.

READ MORE: Beloved family theme park abandoned and forgotten was once ‘always busy’ and lovedREAD MORE: BBC expert gives Thursday easyJet Jet2 Ryanair TUI holiday update amid ‘rule changes’

However, there are exemptions built into the EES system that could be invoked in “exceptional circumstances” and these could potentially come into play if the new procedures overwhelm EU airports.

A parliamentary briefing notes that the European Commission “referred to the possibility” that EU countries could “suspend EES operations potentially for a further 150 days after the 10 April implementation date.”

This suspension can be for periods of up to six hours in “exceptional circumstances where there are excessive waiting times”, the document went on to say.

This means that up until July 9, some borders would have the power to suspend EES for up to six hours a day.

“Member States should use that possibility only when such suspension is strictly necessary and for the shortest period possible. In the case of partial suspension, the registration of biometric data in the EES should be suspended. In the case of full suspension, no data should be recorded in the EES,” the legislation adds.

Since the implementation of the new system, there have been mixed reports on its efficiency. Some have claimed that it’s made the process of getting through the airport tougher for Brits. Holidaymakers have reported long lines, blaming slow software and machines going down, while others have claimed it’s made little difference in times getting through the airport.

READ MORE: UK Government update for easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, TUI over cabin ‘ban’READ MORE: UK’s best campsites for families with outdoor pools, on-site bars and pizza ovens

Later this year, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) will also come into play, requiring Brits to get a pre-travel authorisation before they enter the EU.

While this visa waiver system was set to cost €7, just over £6, the fee has now been set at €20, about £17.37, almost three times the original cost. All travellers aged between 18-70 will need to apply before they travel once the new system is launched.

Have a story you want to share? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com

When Kevin Hart announced in January that he’d licensed his name to Authentic Brands Group, the popular comedian was silent on a key detail: the future of his namesake media company.

Hart sold some ownership and oversight of his brand in exchange for an undisclosed sum of money and a stake in Authentic, a New York-based firm that manages the likenesses of Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali, Shaquille O’Neal and David Beckham.

Hart used the partnership with Authentic to reset his relationship with the people around him and his company, according to six current and former employees. Hart’s employees say they worry that this deal marks the beginning of the end of Hartbeat, the comedian’s namesake media company that produces films, owns a network of short-form video channels and handles marketing for brands.

Though the announcement made no mention of Hartbeat, the agreement gave Hart money to buy out his private equity partner in the company over time and regain control of the use of his name, image and likeness. Hart’s endorsement deals, which had been a pillar of Hartbeat business, will now be handled by Authentic.

Once valued at about $650 million, Hartbeat has shriveled over the past few years. The company enacted its latest round of job cuts in December, firing the heads of its scripted TV division, as well as employees working across marketing, social media and brand partnerships, said the people. Earlier this year it let go the leaders of its podcast division and later sued them for breach of contract.

Hart has withdrawn from the company, leaving day-to-day management in the hands of a small group of executives. Staff meetings have been canceled. The development of new film and TV projects has slowed. A slate of new podcasts was pitched but never produced.

Hartbeat’s struggles reflected the challenging environment for many Hollywood production companies as media giants merge and cut spending. The company is also a cautionary tale in this age of the celebrity media mogul. Financial firms have plowed money into media companies led by high-profile figures, believing they could use their notoriety to build valuable businesses. Yet even seemingly successful ones have had a hard time.

Hartbeat, like many of its peers, has suffered from mismanagement and grappled with the tension between the needs of the star and his company. Hart, one of the hardest-working people in Hollywood, tired of subsidizing a company that relied so much on him

Hart declined to comment for this story, which is based on conversations with several current and former employees. On Sunday night, Hart, who hosted the widely viewed roast of NFL great Tom Brady two years ago, was the subject of his own roast on Netflix.

Building a Billion-Dollar Business

One of the most successful stand-up comedians and actors of his generation, Hart, 46, has always been entrepreneurial. In 2017, he started Laugh Out Loud, an online video comedy business that later grew to include branded entertainment. He also operated his own production company, Hartbeat Productions, that made programs for streaming services like Peacock, Quibi and Netflix Inc.

With Hollywood in the midst of a production boom, Hart watched his fellow celebrities get rich from their media enterprises. Reese Witherspoon sold her media company, Hello Sunshine, in a deal that valued it at as much as $900 million. Hart’s friend LeBron James raised money for his company, SpringHill, at a valuation of $725 million. Hart believed he could be next.

In late 2022, Hart merged his business interests under the Hartbeat banner and raised money by selling a 15% stake to the private equity firm Abry Partners. The deal valued the company at about $650 million.

The new business was predicated on three pillars: film and TV, short-form video and advertising. Hartbeat had a deal to produce movies for Netflix, a slate of podcasts for SiriusXM Holdings Inc. and original audio series for Audible. Hartbeat also developed relationships with advertisers such as Lyft Inc., Procter & Gamble Co. and DraftKings Inc.

While Hart would star in Hartbeat projects, the goal of the company was to develop projects and new business that didn’t involve its namesake founder. The company could leverage Hart to sell projects and secure broad programming partnerships. Hart would ask that Hartbeat be involved in producing his movies and any advertising campaign for which he was a spokesperson. His fees as a producer and brand ambassador would help pay the bills. The hope was he’d convince other celebrities to use Hartbeat as well. Thai Randolph, who had been running Laugh Out Loud, was named chief executive officer.

Hartbeat opened offices in New York and Atlanta and took over a 40,000-square-foot West Hollywood office once occupied by Oprah Winfrey. Hart redesigned the space and installed a world-class art collection.

The upper-level lobby featured a work by Ghanaian artist Serge Attukwei Clottey, while the conference room had a sculpture by Zimbabwean artist Moffat Takadiwa made of computer keyboard keys. A portrait of Kobe Bryant by Julian Pace hung outside a podcast studio.

Hart’s own office featured a dressing room, a series of paintings by South African artist Feni Chulumanco, multiple TVs and a desk from a prominent French designer. “He really has almost a full-service apartment in his suite,” Kai Williamson, who worked with Hart on the project, told Architectural Digest. Hart was interviewed for a story and also filmed an episode of the design magazine’s “Open Door” video series.

While Hartbeat expanded, Hollywood entered a recession. Economic uncertainty, rising interest rates and growing skepticism about the profitability of streaming caused major media companies to fire staff and pull back on buying new projects. Hartbeat was a little more insulated than most because talent like Hart could usually still get a project made. Still, producing projects without Hart in a starring role became more difficult.

Randolph left the company in late 2023 and was replaced by Jay Levine, who had spent much of his career at Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. Levine brought in a couple of other senior leaders with experience at major media companies.

A contingent of executives pushed Hart to scale back some ambitions, the people said. The company couldn’t afford to be working in so many different businesses at the same time, especially as areas like free, advertising-supported online video, and podcasts got more competitive. Hart was one of the most prolific and productive creative people in the world, starring in and producing movies, TV shows, comedy, short-form videos and advertisements. The point of the company was to relieve the stress on him, not add to it.

While Hartbeat closed its New York office, Hart was reluctant to scale back his vision or replace some long-time lieutenants. Levine negotiated his exit at the end of 2024 and was followed out the door by the company’s chief financial officer and chief content officer. Days before Thanksgiving, Hartbeat laid off about 20 people, nearly one quarter of its work force.

A year of chaos and conflict

In January 2025, Hart announced he would be the new CEO of Hartbeat and pledged to outline the firm’s strategy in the coming weeks. Instead, Hart went weeks and sometimes months without visiting the office, the people said, and empowered Jeff Clanagan and CFO Eric Stoneburner to run the company day to day. (Hart was on set to shoot at least a couple movies last year, in addition to his other work.)

A former concert promoter and movie producer, Clanagan had helped make Hart a major star. He had partnered with Hart to bring his stand-up specials to the big screen, producing shows such as 2013’s Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain, which grossed $32 million at the box office. Clanagan produced some of these specials under the banner of his own company, Codeblack Films, which helps promote, market and distribute video from Black creators.

Clanagan continued to operate Codeblack while serving in a senior capacity at Hartbeat, said the people. He pushed employees at Hartbeat to post its videos to the Codeblack channels as well, saying they could use the additional reach to raise awareness. The videos generated advertising sales for Codeblack.

Clanagan had employees at Hartbeat oversee Codeblack’s social media pages and asked to get those channels loaded into Hartbeat’s content management system. That gave Codeblack’s YouTube channels advantages over others because of Hart’s prominence and his company’s designation with YouTube. Employees raised concerns with human resources and the company’s lawyer.

Clanagan also became increasingly interested in video generated by artificial intelligence. He started a new app called Blktopia, a streaming service for Black viewers programmed with content from online creators and often made by AI. He urged employees to work on it, the people said. Clanagan initially responded to a request for comment and then retracted the text message.

Meanwhile, many of Hartbeat’s main businesses languished. Sales from the company’s YouTube channels fell and investment in new film and TV projects slowed. Hartbeat, once profitable, started to bleed cash. Hartbeat had hired Eric Eddings and Lesley Gwam to produce audio shows that didn’t involve Hart. While the pair developed a slate of projects, they never got approval to make them.

In mid-December, Hartbeat fired about a dozen employees, including some of those who were supposed to develop the podcasts. Eddings and Gwam then decided to start their own company and began trying to raise money. When Clanagan found out, Hartbeat fired them and sued for alleged theft of trade secrets and breach of contract.

A court approved a temporary restraining order but then rejected a preliminary injunction, saying Hartbeat had not demonstrated Eddings and Gwam had used proprietary information or trade secrets. The court said the request was “vague, ambiguous, and overly broad.” The case is ongoing.

Hartbeat also fired the heads of its TV division, Tiffany Brown and Mike Stein, who were in the middle of producing a TV show based on the film Barbershop for Amazon.com Inc. and a second season of the animated series Lil Kev.

The company made no official announcement explaining the cuts. The following week, senior leadership arranged a Zoom meeting. Hart remained off camera until it was his time to speak. He talked for a few minutes about changes at the company and took no questions. Hart changed his phone number in the weeks following the layoffs. (Some of his advisors had suggested he do this years earlier so that he wasn’t so available.)

A few weeks later, Hart announced the deal with Authentic Brands Group. Hart used some of the proceeds to buy out Abry Partners, freeing him to steer his brand deals to Authentic and outside of Hartbeat. A few of his employees and his publicist joined him at Authentic.

“This is a turning point for Hartbeat,” the company wrote in a subsequent email to employees, explaining that the deal would free Hart up to focus on what he does best, while allowing Hartbeat to stand on its own and grow beyond him.

“I know the past few months have been tough,” Hart wrote, adding that for too long the company had been too dependent on him. The email was said to be from “Kevin AKA Boss Man.” It was sent by Hart’s assistant.

Shaw writes for Bloomberg.

At 14:15 local time on 8 April 2026, Israel launched a massive wave of strikes against Lebanon – just hours after US President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran to pause fighting in the Gulf region.

Israel said it struck 100 targets in 10 minutes, dashing hopes in Lebanon that the pause in fighting in Iran would end the violence there too.

The latest conflict between Israel and Hezbollah – the Lebanese militia and political party that is funded and armed by Iran – started on 2 March after the group fired rockets into Israel, which responded with widespread air strikes and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.

Since then, more than 2,600 people in Lebanon have been killed, according to Lebanon’s health ministry, and roughly a fifth of the population displaced, the UN says.

The BBC’s Nawal Al-Maghafi has been piecing together what happened that day and meeting people who lost loved ones on one of the deadliest chapters in the country’s recent history.

Read more about this story here.

Italy and Portugal have been tipped to follow Greece in scrapping the EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) border checks at airports, which have caused chaos for some British holidaymakers

Travel experts believe Italy and Portugal could be the next two countries to ditch EU border checks at airports.

Many British holidaymakers are suffering delays at airports on continental Europe because of the rollout of new border rules. The EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) involves people from external countries such as the UK having their fingerprints registered and photograph taken to enter the Schengen Area.

More than 100 easyJet passengers stuck in delays at passport desks at Milan Linate airport missed a flight to Manchester last month. Greece has already ditched the new rules for UK holidaymakers until September after they led to huge queues.

READ MORE: UK airline operating at major airports enters liquidation as flights cancelledREAD MORE: Indian airline industry warns ‘whole sector on verge of collapse’ over jet fuel

Airports in Portugal are reportedly already waving passengers through if queues get too big. Italy is expected to follow Greece and allow people to enter on a passport stamp as the May half-term looms. Places like Spain, France and Croatia could do the same.

Seamus McCauley, of travel company Holiday Extras, told the Mail: “The rollout has been an utter fiasco. British tourists are worth €3.5billion a year to the Greek economy and it has rightly decided it will not jeopardise that because EES is not working properly.”

He said it “seems certain” Italy and Portugal will do the same as Greece. He added: “After that the whole system could collapse like a house of cards, with Spain, France and Croatia coming to the same conclusion because nobody wants to see their tourist trade go to another country simply to comply with the EU.

“Greece broke ranks and Portugal keeps suspending the rules. Others are almost certain to follow. Something has to give.”

It comes as Ryanair says passengers who need to use its airport check-in or bag-drop services will be required to finish the process 20 minutes earlier.

The airline announced it will close the services an hour before the scheduled departure of a flight – compared to 40 minutes at the moment – to give passengers more time to get through security and passport checks.

This will reduce the “very small number of passengers” who miss their flight while stuck in queues, the carrier added. Ryanair’s website says passengers who fail to check in on time “may be denied boarding without refund”.

The new policy will be in place from November 10.

There was chaos in The Neighbourhood as one family didn’t hold back on how they felt.

Tensions were at an all-time high on Keep Your Enemies Close.

On Friday night (May 1), ITV viewers tuned in to watch more drama unfold in The Neighbourhood as clear alliances were formed.

During the reality competition so far, Jordan from the Lozman-Sturrocks family has been ruffling feathers with the other houses with how he wants to play the game.

However, it resulted in the other houses in the competition not wanting to interact with them as much. While everyone was at a BBQ, Jordan decided to say something as he noticed his family were sitting by themselves while everyone else was having a good time.

Calling attention to everyone, he said: “What’s happened so far in this neighbourhood, I think we can all agree we’ve had a pretty good experience. But, equally, I think there’s been a lot of nasty things happening from other people.

“Mainly you guys (The Bradons), icing them out, not even bothering to speak to them-“

However, Alicia was quick to dismiss his accusation that her family hadn’t been welcoming as she shared they didn’t agree with his behaviour and tactics in the game.

Jordan reiterated: “I’d rather protect my family than get in bed with a bunch of snakes,” which didn’t go down well with the group.

His speech comes after he had made Wendy from The Pescuds cry earlier on in the show when she greeted everyone in the square.

Jordan had ignored her, which didn’t go unnoticed as she remarked: “Are you really not going to talk to me? We’re not at school, Jordan, come on, mate, grow up.” He hit back: “No, we’re so maybe you want to stop trying to be a teacher!”

As she entered another house, Wendy was overcome with emotion at the interaction as she started to cry as she confessed she didn’t want to get upset over it.

However, when he was later told that she had cried over what happened, he did apologise to Wendy for his behaviour.

Sadly, Jordan’s antics on the programme resulted in his family being sent home in the next episode on ITVX, which will be shown on ITV on May 7 at 9pm.

When it was time to vote out which family would be leaving, the Lozman-Sturrocks met the end of their time on the programme, having received the majority of votes.

Giving his parting words, Jordan said: “It’s been a pleasure with everyone. You all deserve to win the money for your own individual reasons, and we wish you all the best of luck, and may the best family win.”

The Neighbourhood is available to watch on ITVX.

A NUMBER of smaller European airports could face closure due to both the Iran war crisis and new entry rules being rolled out.

Experts have warned that regional airports are under threat due to mass cancellations and delays as a result of the fuel crisis and new European travel rules.

Follow The Sun’s award-winning travel team on Instagram and Tiktok for top holiday tips and inspiration @thesuntravel.

The Airports Council of Europe (ACI Europe) said that regional airports face “nothing short of an existential threat” if flights continue to be cancelled.

In a release, ACI Europe stated: “The dramatic increase in jet fuel prices in Europe – peaking at more than $1800/ton (£1332/ton) earlier this month – is resulting in air fare increases and tight capacity management by airlines.

“Regional airports are the most exposed to the fallout of these adjustments, as demand on their routes is typically much more price-sensitive and price-elastic – and thus less profitable for airlines.

Read more on travel inspo

CHEAP BREAKS

UK’s best 100 cheap stays – our pick of the top hotels, holiday parks and pubs

ALL IN

I found the best value all inclusive London hotel… just £55pp with free food & booze

“This means that when considering where to cut capacity, airlines are more likely to do so on routes serving regional airports, as shown by the recent decision by Lufthansa to shut down its regional subsidiary, CityLine.”

Olivier Jankovec, the director general of ACI Europe, added: “The current levels of jet fuel prices and the prospect of a new cost of living crisis mean that many regional airports across our continent are likely to face both a supply and demand shock.”

ACI Europe also revealed that issues could be made worse by the new Entry/Exit System (EES) that is now in place across Europe and “is set to wreak havoc at regional airports serving popular tourist destinations this summer“.

The body added that airports should be allowed to suspend the new system at any point, if airport queues become too long.

It also shared that “regional airports are part of Europe’s critical infrastructure” as they are responsible for 35 per cent of flights.

In order to ease the threat on regional airports, ACI Europe is calling to scrap national aviation taxes as well as keeping a safety net of air for smaller airports.

WASHINGTON — President Trump was preparing to take the stage at the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner Saturday night, eager — by his own account — to “let it rip” before a room of Washington’s elite and reporters he has spent years calling the enemy of the people.

Then shots were heard. Secret Service agents rushed him off the stage. And within hours, the president was at the White House calling for unity, offering overtures to a press corps that he had long clashed with.

“I just want to say you did a fantastic job, what a beautiful evening and we are going to reschedule,” Trump told Weijia Jiang, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Assn., at a news briefing after the shooting at the dinner.

His magnanimity did not last long. On Sunday night, sitting down for an interview with Norah O’Donnell of CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Trump reacted with fury to her reading of the suspected shooter’s manifesto, calling her a “disgrace.”

The manifesto characterized his targets as rapists and pedophiles.

“You’re horrible people. Horrible people,” Trump said. “He did write that. I’m not a rapist. I didn’t rape anybody.

“I’m not a pedophile. You read that crap from some sick person? I got associated with all — stuff that has nothing to do with me,” he added. “You should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I’m not any of those things.”

It marked a return to the familiar dynamic between the president and the press after a night of shared crisis and purpose — raising doubts about how long the goodwill would last.

Just hours before, at the briefing, Trump expressed dismay at the violent outburst at the Washington Hilton, where the black-tie event has been held for more than 50 years.

“I will tell you, I fought like hell to stay, but it was protocol,” the president said. On Sunday he repeated his desire to reschedule the event, telling Fox News that he is committed to attending it in the near future, even proposing to do it within 30 days.

Trump appeared to be enjoying himself moments before Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old tutor from Torrance, allegedly ran past a security checkpoint at the hotel and fired off two shots. Oz Pearlman, a mentalist and the entertainer for the night, seemed to be doing a trick for the president and the first lady when the shots were fired, videos show.

Trump was preparing to deliver remarks at the end of the night. His team was excited about it, and the president had been making tweaks to his speech on Air Force One up until Saturday morning.

“It will be funny. It will be entertaining,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a red carpet event ahead of the dinner.

The speech was going to mark Trump’s first at the White House correspondents’ dinner. He told Fox News on Sunday that he was “really going to let it rip,” and that he had considered the moment an “important event” until it came to a halt.

Trump said he would like to reschedule the event within the next month, adding that he will make an “entirely different speech” — one that he said will be focused on “love.”

It is unclear how long Trump’s media-friendly tone will last, but some Republicans continued to blame reporters for the violent act. Kari Lake, the senior advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, said some reporters attending the event “have spent a decade spreading absolute lies” about Trump.

Trump, for his part, used the security breach at the event to make the case for his White House ballroom project, claiming that the Washington Hilton is “not a particularly secure building” and is a prime example of why legal challenges holding up its construction need to be dismissed.

“We need the ballroom,” Trump told reporters. “Today, we need levels of security that probably nobody’s ever seen before.”

However, the annual dinner’s venue is picked not by the White House, but by the White House Correspondents’ Assn., an independent organization of journalists who cover the president.

Trump has vowed to return to the event in the near future, and has called for it to take place within the next month to show that “bad people” cannot “change the course of the country.” But the ballroom project could not be ready that quickly.

It remains under construction and “ahead of schedule,” Trump has said. Earlier this month, a federal appeals court allowed construction on the project to continue through early June, as legal challenges remain ongoing.

The construction of the $400-million ballroom on the White House grounds has come under searing scrutiny. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued last year to stop the project, has argued that Trump lacked authority to make architectural changes to the White House grounds.

Carol Quillen, president and chief executive of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has argued the White House is “the most evocative building in our country” and any changes should go through a review process, including a public comment period. Trump on Sunday described the lawsuit as one brought by a “woman walking a dog.”

The attempted attack, which marks the third time in less than two years that Trump has faced the threat of a gunman, has reignited questions about the tense political environment besetting the United States.

Trump, for his part, called his job a “dangerous profession” and said he believed he has become the target of attacks because of his presidency’s own consequence.

“The people that do the most, the people that make the biggest impact, they are the people that they go after,” Trump told reporters at the White House after being rushed out of the hotel.

In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, he added: “If you’re a consequential president, you’re in much more danger than if you’re not a consequential president.”

As an example, Trump pointed to his war in Iran, a conflict that recent polling shows has contributed to his approval rating falling to around 40%. The president said the war “should’ve been done by previous presidents … but nobody did anything about it.”

At Saturday night’s dinner, people infiltrated the hotel to protest the Iran war and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Two demonstrators, wearing suits, crashed a red carpet photo shoot in the hotel lobby and called for Hegseth to be arrested for war crimes, underscoring how the foreign conflict is fueling the political rhetoric at home.

In the hours after the shooting, Trump remained defiant. In an interview, he said he was determined to show a unified front and not let “one nut” derail his agenda or events.

“I hate it when a sick, bad person,” he told Fox News on Sunday. “I hate someone like that changing the course of our country.”