defends

JULIA Fox has defended her blood-stained Jackie Kennedy Halloween costume following backlash.

She recreated what former First Lady Jackie wore as husband President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Left unimpressed, fans branded the actress’ outfit choice as “disrespectful” and “tasteless”.

Meanwhile, JFK and Jackie’s grandson Jack Schlossberg, also criticised her choice.

Taking to Instagram, Julia, 35, explained: “I’m dressed as Jackie Kennedy in the pink suit.

“Not as a costume, but as a statement.

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Julia Fox leaves NOTHING to imagination with outfit inspired by Bianca Censori

She added: “When her husband was assassinated, she refused to change out of her blood-stained clothes, saying, “I want them to see what they’ve done.

“The image of the delicate pink suit splattered with blood is one of the most haunting juxtapositions in modern history.

“Beauty and horror. Poise and devastation.

“Her decision not to change clothes, even after being encouraged to, was an act of extraordinary bravery.

“It was performance, protest, and mourning all at once. 

“A woman weaponizing image and grace to expose brutality.

“It’s about trauma, power, and how femininity itself is a form of resistance. Long live Jackie O.”

The real Jackie’s pink Chanel suit was never cleaned following the assassination – remaining stained with JFK’s blood.

Julia – who previously dated Kanye West – is no stranger to attracting attention with her outfits.

The actress flashed her lace thong in some extremely low-cut leather pants while arriving at her pal’s event in New York.

She could be seen wearing black leather trousers with a flimsy cream t-shirt.

Her leather pants were extremely low-cut, which is something she clearly leaned into by wearing panties she wanted to be seen.

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Popping out of the top of her black leather trousers were some pink and black knickers.

Beijing is positioning itself as the defender of free trade as Washington’s tariff hikes disrupt the global economy and Trump skips the economic summit.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to promote economic globalisation and multilateralism at an annual economic regional forum pointedly snubbed by United States President Donald Trump.

Xi took centre stage at the two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit that began Friday in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, as Trump left the country a day earlier after reaching deals meant to ease the escalating trade war with China.

“The more turbulent the times, the more we must work together,” Xi said during the opening session. “The world is undergoing a period of rapid change, with the international situation becoming increasingly complex and volatile.”

The Chinese leader positioned his country as the defender of free trade systems that observers say are being threatened by Trump’s tariff hikes and “America first” policy.

Xi called for maintaining supply chain stability, as opposed to US efforts to decouple its supply chains from China, and expressed hopes to work with other countries to expand cooperation in green industries and clean energy.

Chinese exports of solar panels, electric vehicles and other green tech have been criticised for creating oversupplies and undercutting the domestic industries of countries it exports to.

The US president left the country before the summit, after reaching several deals with Xi meant to ease their escalating trade war. Trump described his meeting with Xi on Thursday as a roaring success, saying Beijing had agreed to allow the export of rare earth elements and to start buying US soya beans in exchange for slashing tariffs.

The US president’s decision to skip APEC, a forum that represents nearly 40 percent of the world’s population and more than half of global goods trade, fits in with his well-known disdain for big, multi-nation forums that have been traditionally used to address huge global problems, with his preference for grand spectacle one-on-one meetings that generate blanket media coverage.

Al Jazeera’s Jack Barton, reporting from Gyeongju, said Xi was “filling the vacuum left by Trump”.

While on his first visit to South Korea in 11 years, Xi is scheduled to meet South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi separately on Friday. Xi and Lee are scheduled to discuss denuclearisation on the Korean Peninsula on Saturday.

Barton said the meeting with Japan’s Takaichi would be “setting the diplomatic tone for the foreseeable future”. The Japanese prime minister is described by Chinese media as a far-right nationalist who has visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.

The site, dedicated to 2.5 million Japanese who died in wars beginning in the 19th century, is a political lightning rod in East Asia. Among those honoured are World War II leaders convicted as “Class A” war criminals, some of whom committed their atrocities under the Imperial Japan flag in China in the 20th century.

“South Korea and China share some of these historical issues with Japan,” Barton said. “They came out essentially saying, we’re going to put legacy issues on one side and diplomacy on another, so there is scope for a positive outcome.”

Xi also met Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday to discuss trade. “We’re expecting perhaps the biggest substantial economic deal to come out of that meeting,” Barton said.

Leaders and other representatives from 21 Asian and Pacific Rim economies are attending the APEC meeting to discuss how to promote economic cooperation and tackle shared challenges.

The APEC region faces an array of issues, including strategic competition between the US and China, supply chain vulnerabilities, ageing populations and the effect of AI on jobs.

South Korean officials said they have been communicating with other countries to prod all 21 members to adopt a joint statement at the end of the summit, so as not to repeat the failure to issue one in 2018 in Papua New Guinea due to US-China discord over trade.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said last week that issuing a joint statement strongly endorsing free trade would be unlikely because of differing positions among APEC members.

Al Jazeera’s Barton said the result might be a “watered-down version”.

“The question really is, can APEC survive this age of US-China rivalry?” he added.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot says he has “no regrets” after making 10 changes to his team for their Carabao Cup fixture against Crystal Palace, a match they went on to lose 3-0 at Anfield.

READ MORE: Slot ‘making excuses’ – but should he have rested key players?

The emotional speech against Islamophobia from the NYC mayoral race frontrunner comes a day before early voting begins.

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani gave an emotional speech addressing “racist, baseless attacks” from his opponents, a day before early voting begins in the race he is projected to win.

Speaking outside a mosque in the Bronx on Friday, Mamdani criticised his opponents for bringing “hatred to the forefront”, noting that their Islamophobia not only affects him as the Democratic nominee for mayor but also close to one million Muslims living in New York.

“To be Muslim in New York is to expect indignity, but indignity does not make us distinct. There are many New Yorkers who face it. It is the tolerance of that indignity that does,” Mamdani said in his speech, less than two weeks ahead of the November 4 general election.

Mamdani, who is currently a member of the New York State Assembly, said that while he had tried to focus his election campaign on his core message of affordability, his opponents in recent days had shown that “Islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement”.

His speech also came a day after his top opponent, former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, laughed after radio host Sid Rosenberg said that Mamdani “would be cheering” if another September 11 attack occurred.

Cuomo, who is a member of the Democratic Party but lost the Democratic primary election to Mamdani in June, responded in agreement with Rosenberg: “That’s another problem.”

Basim Elkarra, the executive director of Muslim advocacy group CAIR Action, described Cuomo’s appearance on the radio programme as “despicable, dangerous, and disqualifying”.

“By agreeing with a racist radio host who suggested a Muslim elected official would ‘cheer’ another 9/11, Cuomo has crossed a moral line,” Elkarra said.

“Cuomo’s willingness to engage in this kind of hate speech, on this kind of platform, shows exactly the kind of leader he is: someone who would rather stoke fear than bring people together,” he said.

Speaking on Friday, Mamdani said he had also been “slandered” by Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa on the debate stage, “when he claimed that I support global jihad”, and faced advertisements from Super Political Action Committees that “imply that I am a terrorist, or mock the way I eat”.

He also shared his memories of his “aunt who stopped taking the subway after September 11 because she did not feel safe in her hijab”, and a staff member who had the “word terrorist spray painted” on their garage, as well as the advice he had received that he “did not have to tell people” he was Muslim, if he wanted to win elections.

Top Democrat endorses Mamdani on eve of early voting

Earlier on Friday, Mamdani received a long-anticipated endorsement from Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democratic Party in the US House of Representatives and the representative of New York’s eighth congressional district, which includes the Brooklyn neighbourhoods of East Flatbush, Coney Island and Brownsville.

While Mamdani has earned endorsements from top Democrats, including New York Governor Kathy Hochul, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and independent Senator Bernie Sanders, the vocally pro-Palestinian candidate has struggled to win over other top New York Democrats, such as Senator Chuck Schumer.

Despite the reluctance of some establishment figures within the Democratic Party, Mamdani resoundingly won the party’s primary election to choose its candidate for the general election back in June.

Current NYC Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who did not contest the primary after facing corruption allegations, endorsed Cuomo this week after withdrawing from the race, although his name will still appear on the ballot.

A recently published poll from AARP and Gotham Polling and Analytics shows Mamdani well ahead of his opponents with the support of 43.2 percent of voters.

He is followed by Cuomo with 28.9 percent and Sliwa with 19.4 percent, while 8.4 percent said they were undecided or preferred another candidate.

Cost of living was the main issue for nearly two-thirds of voters, with public safety and housing affordability also areas of concern, in the same poll.

NEW YORK — Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, pledged Friday to further embrace his Muslim identity in response to growing attacks by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his surrogates that he characterized as “racist and baseless.”

Encircled by faith leaders outside a Bronx mosque, Mamdani spoke in emotional terms about the “indignities” long faced by the city’s Muslim population, choking back tears as he described his aunt’s decision not to ride the subway after the Sept. 11 attacks because she didn’t feel safe being seen in a religious head covering.

He recounted how, when he first entered politics, an uncle gently suggested he keep his faith to himself.

“These are lessons that so many Muslim New Yorkers have been taught,” Mamdani said. “And over these last few days, these lessons have become the closing messages of Andrew Cuomo, Curtis Sliwa and Eric Adams.”

At a news conference later Friday, Cuomo accused Mamdani of “playing the victim” for political purposes and denied that Islamophobia existed on a wide scale in New York.

Throughout the race, Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has been criticized by Cuomo and others over his criticism of Israel’s government, which he had accused of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

But the tone of those attacks have amped up in recent days, drawing allegations from some Democrats that Cuomo’s campaign is leaning into Islamophobia in the final stretch of the campaign.

Appearing on a conservative radio station Thursday, Cuomo appeared to laugh along at host Sid Rosenberg’s suggestion that Mamdani would “be cheering” another 9/11 attack. “That’s another problem,” Cuomo replied.

A Cuomo social media account posted, then removed, a video depicting Mamdani eating rice with his hands and describing his supporters as criminals. A campaign spokesperson said the video was posted in error.

At an event endorsing the former governor, Mayor Eric Adams invoked the possibility of terrorist attacks in New York City, seeming to suggest — without explanation — they would be more likely under a Mamdani administration.

“New York can’t be Europe. I don’t know what is wrong with people,” Adams said, standing alongside Cuomo. “You see what’s playing out in other countries because of Islamic extremism.”

At a debate earlier this week, Sliwa, the Republican nominee, falsely smeared Mamdani as a supporter of “global jihad.”

Asked about Rosenberg’s comments, Cuomo said he “didn’t take the remarks seriously at the time.”

“Of course I think it’s an offensive comment. But it did not come out of my mouth,” he added.

Messages left with Adams’ and Sliwa’s campaign were not immediately returned.

In his speech Friday, Mamdani said he was aiming his remarks not at political opponents but at his fellow Muslim New Yorkers.

“The dream of every Muslim is simply to be treated the same as any other New Yorker,” he said. “And yet for too long we have been told to ask for less than that, and to be satisfied with whatever little we receive.”

“No more,” he said.

To that end, Mamdani said he would further embrace his Muslim identity, a decision he said he consciously avoided at the start of his campaign.

“I thought that if I behaved well enough, or bit my tongue enough in the face of racist, baseless attacks, all while returning back to my central message, it would allow me to be more than just my faith,” Mamdani said. “I was wrong. No amount of redirection is ever enough.”

He continued: “I will not change who I am, how I eat, for the faith that I’m proud to call my own. But there is one thing that I will change. I will no longer look for myself in the shadows. I will find myself in the light.”

Mamdani, who won the primary in stunning fashion, has faced skepticism from some in the Democratic establishment, particularly over his criticism of Israel. On Friday, Mamdani earned the endorsement of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).

Cuomo told reporters that Mamdani’s criticism of Israel had made Jewish people afraid to leave their homes.

He also rejected Mamdani’s claim that Muslim New Yorkers have been made to feel uncomfortable in their own city.

“Don’t tell me New Yorkers are Islamophobic. They’re not,” Cuomo said.

“What he is doing is the oldest, dirtiest political trick in the book: divide people,” Cuomo said.

Offenhartz writes for the Associated Press.

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‘We never please everyone’

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Beijing says it will not back down in the face of threats, urging the US to resolve differences through negotiations.

China has called United States President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on Chinese goods hypocritical as it defended its curbs on exports of rare earth elements and equipment, while stopping short of imposing additional duties on US imports.

In a lengthy statement on Sunday, China’s Ministry of Commerce said its export controls on rare earths, which Trump had labelled “surprising” and “very hostile”, were introduced in response to a series of US measures since their trade talks held in Madrid, Spain, last month.

“China’s stance is consistent,” the ministry said in a statement posted online. “We do not want a tariff war but we are not afraid of one.”

Trump on Friday retaliated to the Chinese curbs on rare earth exports by announcing a 100 percent tariff on Chinese exports to the US and new export controls on critical software, effective from November 1.

Beijing cited Washington’s decision to blacklist Chinese firms and impose port fees on China-linked ships as examples of what it called “provocative and damaging” actions, calling Trump’s tariff threat a “typical example of double standards”.

“These actions have severely harmed China’s interests and undermined the atmosphere for bilateral economic and trade talks. China firmly opposes them,” the ministry said.

Unlike earlier rounds of tit-for-tat tariffs, China has not yet announced any countermeasures.

Rare earths have been a major sticking point in recent trade negotiations between the two superpowers. They are critical to manufacturing everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to military hardware and renewable energy technology.

China dominates the global production and processing of these materials. On Thursday, it announced new controls on the export of technologies used for the mining and processing of critical minerals.

The renewed trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies also risk derailing a potential summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea later this month. It would have been their first face-to-face encounter since Trump returned to power in January.

The dispute has also rattled global markets, dragging down major tech stocks and worrying companies reliant on China’s dominance in rare earth processing.

He continued: “What you have now is [rival teams’] players training [together] before they go back to pre-season together – Phil Foden and Marcus Rashford for instance.

“It’s a different generation. The big thing is the media coverage of it is much better. The players get on better with the media. From the outside that gives a better feeling.”

Gerrard, speaking as a guest on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, said several former Manchester United and Liverpool players get on better now as pundits than they ever did as England team-mates.

“I didn’t feel part of a team. I didn’t feel connected with my team-mates, with England,” he said.

In response, Rooney said: “It [was] difficult to have that relationship with Liverpool and Man Utd players. It’s easier now.

“I speak to Steven all the time 1760074340. You can have better relationships now because you can have a beer together and relax more.

“I was fine with everyone, I got on with everyone. I was aware Becks [David Beckham] and Gary Neville and Scholesy [Paul Scholes], you could see they weren’t going to be close to the Liverpool players.

“But one thing for sure is everyone worked hard for each other. I don’t think that was an issue. We just didn’t manage to get over the line. I didn’t see that at all.”

Rooney, like Gerrard, played in six major tournaments for England but only reached quarter-finals.

But he said the players always “100%” “believed we could win for sure”.

Watch the Wayne Rooney Show on BBC Sport YouTube,, external and iPlayer. Listen on BBC Sounds.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has defended remarks he made in March about the Handsworth area of Birmingham, calling it “one of the worst-integrated places” he had ever been to.

In a recording reportedly made during a dinner and published by the Guardian, Jenrick said he had not seen “another white face” in the hour and a half he spent in Handsworth filming a video about litter.

Jenrick stood by his comments on Tuesday, saying he had no regrets about the language he used.

Labour Party chair Anna Turley criticised Jenrick, saying his comments reduced “people to the colour of their skin”.

Handsworth’s Independent MP Ayoub Khan said the remarks were “not only wildly false but also incredibly irresponsible”.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she did not know the context of the recording but that Jenrick may have been “making an observation” about his visit to the area.

“I wasn’t there so I can’t say how many faces he saw, but the point is that there are many people in our country who are not integrating,” she told BBC Breakfast on Tuesday, adding she was “very worried about what is happening in Birmingham”.

The authenticity of the recording at the Aldridge-Brownhills Conservative Association is not disputed by Jenrick’s team.

In the recording, he goes on to say: “That’s not the kind of country I want to live in. I want to live in a country where people are properly integrated.

“It’s not about the colour of your skin, or your faith, of course it isn’t. But I want people to be living alongside each other, not parallel lives.”

Asked on BBC Radio 5Live on Tuesday whether he regretted the comments made in the recording, Jenrick said: “No not at all and I won’t shy away from these issues.”

“It’s incredibly important we have a fully integrated society”, he said.

“It’s a very dangerous place if we have a country where people are living in ghettoised communities, where people are not living together side-by-side in harmonious communities. We’ve seen the damage that can do in our society,” he said.

“We’ve had major failures of integration in this country for my whole lifetime. We’ve got to fix it, and that’s the comment I was making in Birmingham the other day.”

Responding to the recording, Labour’s Turley said: “This weekend Kemi Badenoch said she stood against a politics that ‘reduces people to categories and then pits them against each other’.

“Robert Jenrick in his leaked comments reduces people to the colour of their skin and judges his own level of comfort by whether there are other white faces around. His comments clearly cross a red line that his leader has rightly laid down.

“People of colour should not have to justify their Englishness, or their Britishness, or their presence in this country, to Robert Jenrick or anyone else.

“Robert Jenrick needs to urgently explain himself and why these comments are in any way compatible with what his party leader said.”

Asked if the number of white people seen in an area is the right measure for integration on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Badenoch said: “The right measure for integration is that people don’t care what people look like.”

She added: “We are a multiracial country. That means we have to work harder to bring people together.”

She said Jenrick was “making a point which I don’t have the context of”.

“I think we should look at these things in the spirit of what was intended, which I believe knowing Rob and hearing him speak, is that he wants, as I do, a country that is well-integrated”.

Jenrick is due to address the Conservative Party’s annual conference on Tuesday, when he will set out plans to put ministers in charge of sentencing policy.

Khan told the Guardian that Jenrick had “misrepresented a storied and diverse community, awkwardly distorting the product of an all-out bin strike to fit his culture-warrior narrative filled with far-right cliches”.

Former Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street told BBC Newsnight: “Putting it bluntly, Robert is wrong.”

“Handsworth, it’s come a hell of a long way in the 40 years since the last civil disturbances there and it’s actually a very integrated place,” he continued.

Street also rejected Jenrick’s recorded comment that Handsworth was “the closest I’ve come to a slum in this country”.

The former mayor noted the “incredible hope, optimism and people taking part in education which is based around British values and thinking how they can make a contribution to the future of their region their city and their area.”

“That is not a definition of a slum,” the former Conservative mayor said.

Dan Bethell claimed his fifth European men’s singles title in Istanbul as part of a successful European Para Badminton Championships for the Great Britain team.

The defending champion once again met Oleksandr Chyrkov in the SL3 final, after beating the Ukrainian in Rotterdam to claim the crown two years ago, and this time saw out a 21-9 21-8 win.

The British team claimed 13 medals in total, including three gold, two silver and eight bronze, which are awarded to players who reach the semi-finals but fail to progress.

“To see so many pathway players performing alongside the GB players is fantastic and shows how much the sport is developing across the country,” double Paralympic silver medallist Bethell, 29, told Badminton England.

“There’s been some amazing performances and victories across the board.”

Englishman Jack Shephard reached the final of the men’s SH6 singles but was unable to defend his title, losing 21-17 21-12 to France’s reigning Paralympic champion Charles Noakes.

But Shephard, 28, did win gold in the mixed doubles alongside 17-year-old compatriot Anya Butterworth, who stepped in after Shephard’s regular partner Rachel Choong sustained an injury before the tournament.

Butterworth also upset the odds to reach her first European singles final, beating second seed Daria Bujnicka in the last four, but had to settle for silver after losing a tight medal match 23-21 18-21 21-11 against Polish top seed Oliwia Szmigiel.

Meanwhile, England’s Krysten Coombs teamed up with men’s singles champion Noakes to win gold in the SH6 men’s doubles.

Scot Andrew Davies claimed bronze medals in both the men’s and mixed doubles in the SH6 category, while Wales’ David Jack Wilson and Englishman Robert Donald finished with bronze in the men’s SU5 singles.

Other British players to win bronze include Emma Louise Stoner (SL4 women’s singles), David Follett (WH1/2 mixed doubles), Curnow Pirbhai-Clarke and William Smith (both SL3/4 men’s doubles).

Marlon Wayans is putting up a “defensive run-stopping front” after his latest film received negative reviews from critics.

The actor took to his Instagram account over the weekend to promote his latest film, “HIM,” which hit the big screen Friday, and told fans to form their own opinions on the project. The movie currently holds a 29% score with critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

“An opinion does not always mean it’s everyone’s opinion. Some movies are ahead of the curve,” Wayans said. “Innovation is not always embraced and art is to be interpreted and it’s subjective.”

The post include screen grabs from the Rotten Tomatoes pages of his other movies that have been classified “rotten” by the website but were later embraced by audiences like 2004’s “White Chicks,” the first two films in the “Scary Movie” franchise, 2013’s “A Haunted House” and 1996’s “Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood.” The post ends with a screen grab of the “HIM” Rotten Tomatoes page.

“I’ve had a career of making classic movies that weren’t critically received and those movies went on to be CLASSICS. So don’t take anyone’s opinion just go see for yourself,” Wayans added.

So far, audiences have given the film a 58% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Times film critic, Amy Nicholson, credited the the film for its “stylishly” craftsmanship but said it was lacking plot.

World number one Luke Humphries defended his Czech Open title as he beat Josh Rock 8-5 in the final.

Rock, who had beaten Michael van Gerwen en route to the final, got an early break of throw to go 2-0 up but England’s Humphries broke back and then reeled off a 12-dart leg to level at 3-3.

The pair then traded legs to reach 5-5 before Humphries won the next three legs on the spin against the Northern Irishman.

Humphries sealed victory with a clinical final leg at the PVA Expo in Prague to retain the title he won a year ago and claim the £30,000 top prize.

The 30-year-old’s three-dart average of 93.89 was marginally less than Rock’s 94.1 but his checkout percentage (34.8% versus 26.3%) was superior.

Humphries has now won the tournament three times in four years following his victories in 2022 and 2024 as he earned the eighth PDC European Tour title of his career.

“If it were up to me, I’d have all 14 European Tours held here. You don’t win three times in the same place by accident and it’s clearly special to me,” Humphries said.

“Since winning the Premier League, the past three months have been tough. I’ve struggled at times, and I felt like I dragged Josh down at the start of the game. But I never give in – I always try to find a way.”

World champion Luke Littler was earlier knocked out in the third round, suffering a surprise 6-4 defeat by Dutchman Gian van Veen.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary and a longtime vaccine skeptic, struck a defiant tone Thursday as he faced bipartisan criticism over changes he has made to reorganize federal health agencies and vaccine policies, telling senators that he is determined to “eliminate politics from science.”

In the testy appearance before the Senate Finance Committee, Kennedy repeatedly defended his record in heated exchanges with senators from both parties and questioned data that show the effectiveness of vaccines. In turn, senators accused him of taking actions that contradict his promise seven months earlier that he would do “nothing that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines.”

“Secretary Kennedy, in your confirmation hearing you promised to uphold the highest standard for vaccines. Since then, I’ve grown deeply concerned,” Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, a top-ranking Senate Republican and a physician, said during the hearing.

Kennedy forcefully denied that he has limited access to vaccines and defended his record in restoring trust in federal healthcare agencies under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“They deserve the truth and that’s what we’re going to give them for the first time in the history of the agency,” Kennedy told senators.

From the outset, it was expected that Democrats would slam Kennedy’s record. Some of them called on him to resign and accused him of politicizing federal health policy decisions. But three other Republicans, including Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who was key in advancing Kennedy’s nomination, joined Democrats in criticizing Kennedy’s actions, mostly pertaining to vaccine policy changes.

Thursday’s session marked a peak of bipartisan frustration over a string of controversial decisions by Kennedy that have thrown his department into disarray. Kennedy dismissed an entire advisory panel responsible for vaccine recommendations and replaced its members with known vaccine skeptics. He withdrew $500 million in funding earmarked for developing vaccines against respiratory viruses. And, just last week, he ousted the newly appointed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention following disagreements over vaccine policy.

In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Susan Monarez, the former CDC director, wrote that she was forced out after she declined to recommend people “who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric” to an influential vaccine advisory panel.

At the hearing, Kennedy said Monarez was lying. Instead, he said he fired her because he asked her if she was trustworthy, and she told him, “no.”

He added that he fired all the members of the vaccine panel because it was “plagued with persistent conflicts of interest.”

“We depoliticized it and put great scientists on it from a very diverse group, very, very pro-vaccine,” he claimed.

In questioning, however, members of his own party questioned his support for vaccines. At one point, Cassidy, a physician, read an email from a physician friend who said patients 65 and older need a prescription to get a COVID-19 shot.

“I would say effectively we are denying people vaccines,” Cassidy said.

“You’re wrong,” Kennedy responded.

In that same exchange, Cassidy asked Kennedy if he believed President Trump deserved a Nobel Prize for his administration’s work on Operation Warp Speed, the initiative that sped the development of the COVID-19 vaccine and treatments.

“Absolutely,” Kennedy said.

Cassidy said he was surprised at his answer because he believes Kennedy is trying to restrict access to the COVID-19 vaccine. He also expressed dismay at Kennedy’s decision to cancel $500 million in contracts to develop vaccines using mRNA technology, which Cassidy said was key to the operation.

Kennedy’s position on vaccines have reverberated beyond Capitol Hill.

Ahead of the hearing, more than 1,000 employees at the health agency and national health organizations called on Kennedy to resign. Seemingly in support of Kennedy’s direction, Florida announced plans to become the first state to end all vaccines mandated, including for schoolchildren. And three Democratic-led states — California, Washington and Oregon — have created an alliance to counter turmoil within the federal public health agency.

The states said the focus of their health alliance will be on ensuring the public has access to credible information about the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

Almost as if in a parallel universe, Kennedy told senators on Thursday that his goal was to achieve the same thing, after facing hours of criticism on his vaccine policies.

“I am not going to sign on to something if I can’t make it with scientific certainty,” he said. “It doesn’t mean I am antivax, it just means I am pro-science.”

HELEN Flanagan has hit back at cruel mum shamers while wearing a tiny bra and defending her boob job decision.

The former Coronation Street starlet, 35, has taken to Instagram to defend her boob job after cruel trolls left nasty comments on a recent snap she shared online.

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Over the weekend, Helen shared some glam snaps of her donning a chic dress.

Cruel trolls were quick to share their thoughts on her look, with one writing at the time: “Who on earth is she? dress is too small anyway.”

And in a sizzling video where she donned lingerie earlier this summer, another troll penned: “You really should save that for the bedroom.”

But now Helen has hit back at the haters with a defiant message.

Taking to her Instagram stories on Sunday, Helen explained how she attended the “most beautiful wedding” over the weekend before showing everyone her Pride outfit.

Helen could be seen donning a tiny bra with a silver sequin suit.

She then said how she would “probably get nasty comments” because she’s showing off her cleavage.

Helen went on to add how she has three kids and breast fed for around three years in total.

“Honestly, when I finished breast-feeding, I could have tied my boobs in a bow. They was so bad,” she confessed.

The next slide then saw Helen showing off her boob job after three pregnancies in an Instagram reel.

She explained how she went under the knife because she was “so self conscious”.

Helen then spoke to her fans again in the next slide where she said she has naturally always had “really big boobs”.

“Before I had kids, I had natural E cup boobs,” she confessed.

She later added how she gets comments “all the time” where people say “oh, you’re a mum, you should cover up” and “your kids would be ashamed of you”.

I don’t think there’s anything shameful about being confident or about being sexy. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

Helen Flanagan

Helen hit back saying: “This is actually my body.”

She noted that even though she has had surgery from breast feeding and had excess skin, despite having had an implant put in each of them – they are now their natural size and how they always were.

“Should I be ashamed of how I look because I’m a woman and this is how I look?” she asked.

“So, I don’t think there’s anything shameful about being confident or about being sexy. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

“I don’t understand how that makes you a bad mum?” she said, sounding confused.

“I’m not perfect, but I try and show my children the importance of being kind,” Helen added, noting how she would never want them to “drag other women down”.

She explained how she wants her daughters to grow up being kind to other women, and kind in general.

“That, I think, is good parenting,” Helen slammed before making a dig at people who call her out for wearing a low cut dress, adding “that’s not nice”.

“That’s bad parenting,” she added.

Helen went on to say how she wants her daughter to dress in ways that make her feel confident as she grows up.

5

Residents accuse officials of not warning them to evacuate as torrential rain, cloudbursts trigger deadly flooding.

Climate change-induced flash floods have killed at least 337 people in northwestern Pakistan, according to the National Disaster Management Authority, while dozens remain missing after the area was hit by flash floods in recent days.

In Kishtwar district, emergency teams continued rescue efforts on Sunday in the remote village of Chositi. At least 60 were killed and some 150 injured, about 50 of them critically.

Mohammad Suhail, a spokesman for the emergency service, said 54 bodies were found after hours-long efforts in Buner, a mountainous district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where torrential rains and cloudbursts triggered massive flooding on Friday.

Suhail said several villagers remained missing. Search efforts focused on areas where homes were flattened by torrents of water that swept down from the mountains, carrying massive boulders that smashed into houses like explosions.

Cloudbursts also caused devastation in Indian-administered Kashmir. Flash floods were reported in two villages in the Kathua district, killing at least seven people and injuring five others overnight, officials said.

Authorities have warned of more deluges and possible landslides between now and Tuesday, urging local administrations to remain on alert. Higher-than-normal monsoon rains have lashed the country since June 26 and killed more than 600.

Government criticism

Angry residents in Buner accused officials of failing to warn them to evacuate after torrential rain and cloudbursts triggered deadly flooding and landslides. There was no warning broadcast from mosque loudspeakers, a traditional method in remote areas.

Mohammad Iqbal, a schoolteacher in Pir Baba village, told the Associated Press that the lack of a timely warning system caused casualties and forced many to flee their homes at the last moment.

“Survivors escaped with nothing,” he said. “If people had been informed earlier, lives could have been saved and residents could have moved to safer places.”

The government said that while an early warning system was in place, the sudden downpour in Buner was so intense that the deluge struck before residents could be alerted.

Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik, chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, told a news conference in Islamabad that Pakistan was experiencing shifting weather patterns because of climate change.

Since the monsoon season began in June, Pakistan has already received 50 percent more rainfall than in the same period last year, he added. He warned that more intense weather could follow, with heavy rains forecast to continue this month.

Asfandyar Khan Khattak, director-general of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, said there was “no forecasting system anywhere in the world” that could predict the exact time and location of a cloudburst.

Idrees Mahsud, a disaster management official, said Pakistan’s early warning system used satellite imagery and meteorological data to send alerts to local authorities. These were shared through the media and community leaders. He said monsoon rains that once only swelled rivers now also triggered urban flooding.

Pakistan suffers regular flash floods and landslides during the monsoon season, which runs from June to September, particularly in the rugged northwest, where villages are often perched on steep slopes and riverbanks.

Experts say climate change is intensifying the frequency and severity of such extreme weather events in South Asia. While Pakistan is estimated to produce less than one percent of planet-warming emissions, it faces heatwaves, heavy rains, glacial outburst floods, and cloudbursts that devastate local communities within hours.

United States President Donald Trump has marked the 90th anniversary of Social Security with a defence of his administration’s policies toward the programme — and attacks on his Democratic rivals.

On Thursday, Trump signed a presidential proclamation in the Oval Office, wherein he acknowledged the “monumental” importance of the social safety-net programme.

“I recommit to always defending Social Security,” the proclamation reads.

“To this day, Social Security is rooted in a simple promise: those who gave their careers to building our Nation will always have the support, stability, and relief they deserve.”

But Trump’s second term as president has been dogged by accusations that he has undermined programmes like Social Security in the pursuit of other agenda items, including his restructuring of the federal government.

What is Social Security?

Social Security in the US draws on payroll taxes to fund monthly payments to the elderly, the spouses of deceased workers, and the disabled. For many recipients, the payouts are a primary source of income during retirement.

The programme is considered widely popular: In 2024, the Pew Research Center found that 79 percent of Americans believe Social Security should not be cut in any way.

Additionally, four out of 10 people surveyed sided with the view that Social Security should be expanded to include more people and more benefits.

But the programme faces significant hurdles to its long-term feasibility.

Last year, the Social Security Administration (SSA) published a report that found the costs for old-age, disability and survivors’ insurance outstripped the programmes’ income.

It noted that the trust funds fuelling those programmes “are projected to become depleted during 2033” if measures are not taken to reverse the trend.

At Thursday’s Oval Office appearance, Trump sought to soothe those concerns, while taking a swipe at the Democratic Party.

“ You keep hearing stories that in six years, seven years, Social Security will be gone,” Trump said.

“And it will be if the Democrats ever get involved because they don’t know what they’re doing. But it’s going to be around a long time with us.”

He added that Social Security was “going to be destroyed” under his Democratic predecessor, former President Joe Biden, a frequent target for his attacks.

Criticism of Trump’s track record

But Trump himself has faced criticism for weakening Social Security since returning to the White House for a second term in January.

Early on, Trump and his then-adviser Elon Musk laid out plans to slash the federal workforce and reduce spending, including by targeting the Social Security Administration (SSA).

In February, the Social Security Administration said it would “reduce the size of its bloated workforce and organizational structure”, echoing Trump and Musk’s rhetoric.

The projected layoffs and incentives for early retirement were designed to cut Social Security’s staff from 57,000 to 50,000, a 12.3-percent decrease.

Under Trump, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has also announced plans to pare back Social Security’s phone services, though it has since backtracked in the face of public outcry.

In addition, Musk and Trump have attacked Social Security’s reputation, with the former adviser telling podcast host Joe Rogan, “Social Security is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”

The two men even claimed Social Security is paying benefits to millions of long-dead individuals, though critics point out that those claims do not appear to be true.

The COBOL programming system used by the Social Security Administration marks incomplete entries with birthdates set 150 years back, according to the news magazine Wired. Those entries, however, generally do not receive benefits.

The Office of the Inspector General overseeing the Social Security Administration has repeatedly looked into these older entries. It confirmed that these entries are not active.

“We acknowledge that almost none of the numberholders discussed in the report currently receive SSA payments,” a report from 2023 said.

It also indicated that the Social Security Administration would have to pay between $5.5m and $9.7m to update its programming, though the changes would yield “limited benefits” in the fight against fraud.

Still, Trump doubled down on the claim that dead people were receiving benefits on Thursday.

“We had 12.4 million names where they were over 120 years old,” Trump said. “There were nearly 135,000 people listed who were over 160 years old and, in some cases, getting payments. So somebody’s getting those payments.”

Questions after ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’

Critics have also questioned whether Trump’s push to cut taxes will have long-term effects that erode Social Security.

In July, Trump’s signature piece of legislation, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), cemented his 2017 tax cuts. It also increased the tax deductions for earners who rely on tips or Social Security benefits.

But groups like the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan think tank, estimate that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will shorten the timeline for Social Security’s insolvency.

“The law dictates that when the trust funds deplete their reserves, payments are limited to incoming revenues,” the committee said in late July.

“For the Social Security retirement program, we estimate that means a 24 percent benefit cut in late 2032, after the enactment of OBBBA.”

Still, Trump has repeatedly promised to defend Social Security from any benefit cuts. He reiterated that pledge in Thursday’s appearance.

“American seniors, every single day, we’re going to fight for them. We’re going to make them richer, better, stronger in so many different ways,” Trump said.

“But Social Security is pretty much the one that we think about, and we love it, and we love what’s happening with it, and it’s going to be good for 90 years and beyond.”

More than 69.9 million Americans received Social Security benefits as of July.

Josie Gibson shares her thoughts on Olivia Attwood’s latest presenting role on This Morning amid huge backlash by trolls as some threaten to boycott show

Josie Gibson has hit back at trolls in defence of Olivia Attwood after she became the victim of cruel jibes following her new presenting role on This Morning. Fans of the ITV daytime TV show have even threatened to boycott the show reportedly due to her rise to fame from Love Island, in 2017.

The 34 year old TV personality, who has since gone on to be a panellist on Loose Women and host her own podcast, had appeared on the third series of the reality TV show. But Olivia is not the first person to have a reality TV background, so too has Josie Gibson, Alison Hammond and Rylan Clark.

Both women were on Big Brother and Rylan shot to fame from X Factor. So it’s perhaps understandable why Josie, 40, has decided to break her silence. It comes after it was announced that Olivia had landed yet another huge TV job.

READ MORE: ITV announce major new reality show The Heat with Olivia Attwood confirmed as hostREAD MORE: Loose Women star Janet Street-Porter reveals which stars are at risk from brutal ITV cuts

In an interview with The Sun, the mum of one who appeared on Big Brother in 2010, said: “Oh my God she’s brilliant. It’s brilliant she gets to do this and I think she’s really good. Yeah, really good. Honestly, you get some backlash like that in this industry and I really don’t know why people do it.”

She added: “I’ll never understand why people do it, you know. To me, I’ve always loved to see people do well and I genuinely love it. I love it when people succeed and I want to bring everybody up and make sure everybody has a go on the horses, do you know what I mean? “

While on This Morning to discuss her new TV show The Price of Perfection in June, Olivia revealed her news to hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shepherd.

Engineering the conversation, Ben told the former Love Island star “We’ve got some big news about This Morning and you in the summer.”

In response Olivia said: “I have some news yes, it’s very exciting. I’ll be joining you guys on the hosting team on the other side of the sofa.”

The TV duo then gestured for Olivia to sit on their side of the sofa to “feel what it’s like.”

Getting up to switch her seat, the newbie said: “This is even more surreal.”

Complimenting the new addition to the presenting team, Cat said: “We look amazing together.” And this prompted Olivia to ask Cat: “Shall we do a show together?”

The Loose Women panellist add more detail to her announcement as she said: “So it’s a couple of shows, I’m very excited, it’s a huge honour. I’ve grown up watching this show, and being part of the ITV presenting team with Loose Women has been a great experience so this just feels like a very natural progression.”

Olivia was brought in to replace Ben and Cat when they take time off for their six week holiday.

But her new role divided fans. One person wrote: “So Attwood is going to be co-hosting #ThisMorning over the summer. FFS like we don’t get enough of her on #Loosewomen, surprised they haven’t asked that talentless Sam Thompson to step in as well!”

Another added: “How many more viewers do they want to lose? Attwood joining the team is really poor decision.”

A third said: “Just when you think the presenters can’t get any worse they decide to take on Olivia Attwood.”

Meanwhile a fourth penned: “Well done … That’s another step downhill for this show! I wonder who else will be hosting over the summer?”

But not everyone thought her inclusion was a bad idea. One fan of the ITV show wrote: “It’s great that Olivia Attwood will be a presenter on This Morning, she’ll be fantastic.”

And a second said: “Love Olivia, will definitely be tuning in.”

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WASHINGTON — It’s Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s turn to defend her record and battle accusations that she’s lost touch with her district.

The out-of-nowhere winner of 2018′s most spectacular election upset, the New York Democrat faces a June 23 primary in which her chief rival, a former Republican, has adopted the mantra “AOC is MIA.” The mighty U.S. Chamber of Commerce has launched a digital ad, with English and Spanish versions, asking why Ocasio-Cortez isn’t supporting “good-paying jobs in the tech industry.”

As Congress’ youngest woman and one of its most recognizable faces, the 30-year-old former activist and bartender remains a heavy favorite to win. Yet with her hard-left views, her celebrity status and the job losses that have staggered her New York district during the COVID-19 pandemic, her opponents say they sense weak spots.

“There’s a real contrast here between AOC’s record, what she’s done for the district, and this perception of her being this Hollywood glam girl,” said Scott Reed, the chamber’s senior political strategist.

The congresswoman’s campaign declined to make her available for an interview. Her pollster, Celinda Lake, said Ocasio-Cortez stands little chance of losing.

“They’re out of touch with the district,” Lake said of the chamber, the nation’s largest business organization.

Ocasio-Cortez began airing a TV spot this week that underlines the importance of turnout in what’s likely to be a low-turnout primary. “Listen, if we want change, we’ve also got to vote for it,” she said.

“She knows how dangerous primaries can be and she’s taking it seriously,” said Sean McElwee, who conducts research for progressive candidates.

The chamber and Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Ocasio-Cortez’s top challenger, are focusing chiefly on two things. One is Ocasio-Cortez’s March vote against a $2 trillion economic relief package, the other her opposition to Amazon’s plan to build a jobs-rich headquarters in a Queens neighborhood in the district, which the company abandoned in 2019.

“She voted against the interests of my neighbors,” Caruso-Cabrera said in an interview, citing the bill’s money for the unemployed and small businesses. Congress approved the legislation.

Caruso-Cabrera has cast Ocasio-Cortez as a divisive elitist who ignores the district, which also covers parts of the Bronx. Caruso-Cabrera said that after Congress approved the coronavirus bill and the pandemic was ravaging New York, Ocasio-Cortez “stayed in a luxury apartment in D.C. with a Whole Foods in the lobby.”

Ocasio-Cortez, the only Democratic vote against the relief legislation, said in a debate last week that she opposed it because its help for large corporations was a gift “for Donald Trump and his friends.” She also said the bill denied benefits to many immigrants. She said the Amazon headquarters plan guaranteed no jobs for district residents and would have cost taxpayers money and boosted rents.

Ocasio-Cortez campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt said the lawmaker has been in New York and Washington 96% of the time, attending over 200 events in the district.

She said the campaign has helped raise over $1 million to help community groups weather the pandemic, and Ocasio-Cortez has attended two protests in the district against police treatment of African Americans, helping distribute protective masks. She said she remained in Washington for days after the relief bill passed feeling ill but wasn’t tested for the coronavirus.

Caruso-Cabrera, 51, has vulnerabilities in the overwhelmingly Democratic district. A registered Republican until several years ago, she’s a former CNBC anchor who lived in Trump Tower before moving to the district last year.

A 2010 book she wrote proposed eliminating entire government agencies including the Education Department. It suggested ending Social Security’s and Medicare’s automatic benefits and instead giving people money to control themselves, risky proposals Congress has rejected. A foreword by her co-anchor Larry Kudlow, now Trump’s economic advisor, called her ideas “long-overdue reforms.”

Caruso-Cabrera said she favors strengthening Social Security and Medicare. “I’m a Democrat,” she said.

Reed said the chamber urged Caruso-Cabrera to run last fall. Ocasio-Cortez is expected to have one of the lowest scores when the chamber releases rankings next week on lawmakers’ votes on business-oriented bills.

The organization tangled with Ocasio-Cortez in a Texas primary in March, when she backed an unsuccessful liberal challenger to pro-business Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar.

This time, Ocasio-Cortez’s advantages will be tough to overcome.

Her household name is a major edge, and her Hispanic heritage is a strong suit in her multiracial district. The $8.2 million she’s raised is more than seven times what Caruso-Cabrera has collected.

“Given how she came into office, she should be the last person to take anything for granted, and obviously she’s not,” said Howard Wolfson, a longtime New York Democratic strategist.

In a stunner of a primary two years ago, Ocasio-Cortez ousted Rep. Joe Crowley, who overwhelmingly outspent her and was considered on track to become House speaker. She accused him of being detached from the district, which grew increasingly diverse during his two decades in office. It currently is half Hispanic, with many of the rest Asian and African American.

Since coming to Washington in 2019 with a huge class of first-term lawmakers who gave Democrats the House majority, Ocasio-Cortez has established a marquee niche.

A self-proclaimed democratic socialist, she’s an author of the Green New Deal, a plan for curbing planet-warming emissions that’s gone nowhere in Congress.

She’s pushed other liberal efforts on health care and immigration and has clashed with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for defying the party line. Those confrontations have diminished, and Ocasio-Cortez, after campaigning for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, has now said she’ll vote for the party’s presumed nominee, Joe Biden.

Much of her clout comes from Twitter, where she has 7.2 million followers. All of this has earned her a cameo in countless Republican ads that depict her, Pelosi and Sanders as dangerous radicals.

Reed said the chamber’s digital ads target 30,000 likely voters with pro-business views and will cost six figures. He said the group may spend more.

“We play to win, but sometimes we play to make a statement,” Reed said. If she prevails, he said the chamber would warn anti-business lawmakers that “we’re going to keep an eye on them.”

Arsene Wenger has responded to Jurgen Klopp’s claims that the Club World Cup is “the worst idea ever invented”, saying teams are in favour of the “fantastic competition”.

Former Liverpool manager Klopp criticised the tournament in June, which has been moved to the summer and expanded to 32 teams.

However, ex-Arsenal manager Wenger, now Fifa’s chief of global football development, said the Club World Cup has the full support of the teams, players and managers involved.

When asked about Klopp’s comments, Wenger said: “I am going to give a very boring answer to a very interesting question. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and I don’t share the view of Jurgen Klopp at all.

“I feel a Club World Cup is needed. If you make enquiries to all the clubs who were here then 100% of answers would be that they would want to do it again. That’s the best answer of what the clubs think of a Club World Cup.

“And the decisive question is do the fans like it or not? We believe the attendances were projected as low and in reality were much higher. The answer is there.”

Fifa is also planning to learn lessons in how to deal with the heat and improve the pitches before the pan-North American World Cup in 2026, which will have most of its games in the United States.

“The heat in some games was a problem but we tried to combat that with cooling breaks, watering the pitches during the break and overall I feel we learned a lot on that front,” Wenger said.

“In two different venues [there was a problem], one of them was Orlando. But we shouldn’t underestimate the quality of the permanent [real grass] pitches.

“The grass is a bit different here. It’s a bit harsher or more resistant than in other countries. The pitches were ‘flat’. But once we watered the grass, everyone was happy.

“Certainly next year in stadiums there will also be more with roofs and the TV times will be more sensitive. At the same time, the weather conditions can be a problem for everybody.

“I asked our analysts to analyse the impact of the heat. We found heat of over 35C had an impact on high-speed running, so sprints, not distances. You have to be equipped to deal with it.”

Chelsea face Paris St-Germain in the final of the competition at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday.