face

It was billed as a World Cup Golden Boot showdown between France superstar Kylian Mbappe and Norway goal machine Erling Haaland.

In the end Haaland started on the bench and it quickly turned into the Ousmane Dembele show after the Ballon d’Or winner hit a stunning 25-minute first-half hat-trick as Les Bleus coasted to a 4-1 win at Boston Stadium.

While France went with an array of attacking talent they hope will fire them to World Cup glory in New Jersey on 19 July, Norway decided this final group game was the right time to exclude Manchester City forward Haaland from the starting XI for the first time since 2024.

It wasn’t just Haaland though as Norway boss Stale Solbakken, with his side already through to the knockout stages, opted to make a whopping 10 changes.

“A no-brainer,” he said when asked why he decided to rest so many.

“Both my part and from the physio, health and medical department, and from some of the players themselves.

“The only consideration was for the Norway fans. They would have wanted to see Erling and Martin [Odegaard] play.

“We did a summary after the Senegal game and five or six players [were] very affected after 80 minutes. The entire defensive line and one or two midfielders.”

As a result of the changes, Dembele filled his boots after Mbappe struck the underside of the crossbar inside the opening minute.

“If Erling Haaland needs a rest for the latter stages of the tournament he will take that,” former England striker Ian Wright told ITV Sport before the game.

With Haaland, who had scored four goals in the previous two group games, sat on the bench, his deputy Jorgen Strand Larsen missed a penalty that would have made it 3-2 after half-time.

Haaland had already made his feelings clear about facing France after scoring two in a 3-2 win over Senegal on Tuesday.

“I couldn’t care too much about that game now,” he said after Norway qualified for the knockout stages.

“They’re probably going to win against us. They’re probably going to win the whole tournament.”

So was it a shrewd move by Norway to make so many changes – or the wrong decision?

For decades, Californians have generally said immigrants, who make up more than a quarter of the state’s population and a third of its labor force, are beneficial to the state and its economy. But budget instability and concerns about rising costs are spilling into a debate over the controversial and expensive policy of allowing low-income immigrants without legal status to receive state-funded health coverage.

Now, Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton present a stark choice to voters in the race to be the next governor at a moment when public support for the state’s generous safety net is starting to fray.

Both frame the choice as an economic one.

Becerra, former secretary of Health and Human Services under President Biden, has said it would be “foolish” to exclude the poorest immigrants from routine care and push them into expensive emergency rooms on the taxpayer’s dime. Hilton, a conservative commentator backed by President Trump, has promised to eliminate their coverage and has echoed national Republicans who have skewered California’s expansions to bolster their claims of fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program.

With voters nationwide worried about inflation and the rising cost of living, some Californians might feel less inclined to provide full healthcare coverage to those lacking legal status. What the state does next could have profound implications for its healthcare system and sprawling economy.

Over the past decade, California lawmakers used state dollars to expand Medi-Cal, offering all low-income residents comprehensive coverage regardless of immigration status. But enrollment surpassed initial projections, as did the cost. Medi-Cal coverage of immigrants without legal status costs the state roughly $10 billion a year, according to California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, more than double the initial estimates.

California lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who championed the program, have approved major rollbacks of benefits for those residents. They said the state can’t afford ballooning healthcare costs amid massive federal cuts from the GOP tax-and-spending law known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act; the California Health and Human Services Agency projected up to 3.4 million Medi-Cal enrollees could lose coverage and the state could lose more than $30 billion a year in federal funding under the law, causing major disruptions in the safety net health program.Medi-Cal’s budget for fiscal year 2026-27 is $217 billion, and the program serves more than 14 million Californians.

Meanwhile, many legal U.S. residents and citizens have seen their health premium payments skyrocket this year after Congress let enhanced federal Affordable Care Act subsidies expire at the end of December.

As the state grappled with a deficit last year, a majority of likely voters in California said — for the first time in nearly a decade — they opposed providing health insurance to immigrants without legal status, according to a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California.

“The state faces major challenges, and healthcare is one of the major expenditures,” said Mark Baldassare, the institute’s survey director. “People have become more selective about how they want to see those limited healthcare dollars spent.”

Hilton, running on a platform of affordability and lowering taxes, has seized on the sentiment, casting health coverage for immigrants without legal status as deeply unfair and a direct threat to the state’s ability to help citizens.

“Stop taking money from California taxpayers who can barely afford their healthcare to give free healthcare to citizens of other countries who shouldn’t even be here,” Hilton said in a Facebook video the morning of the June 2 primary.

In campaign stump speeches, Hilton promised to use the savings to lower healthcare costs for other Californians without detailing how. Hilton did not respond to requests from KFF Health News for comment.

“Their messaging is very, very simple: It’s an us vs. them,” said Roger Salazar, a Democratic political consultant who represents a coalition of healthcare advocates who argue providing coverage to people who can’t afford it strengthens the workforce and, as a result, the economy. “It’s just a question of convincing the average voter that it’s much better economically.”

A son of immigrants, Becerra for decades pushed to extend safety net benefits in Congress and has made a similar pitch in his campaign for governor. He did not respond to requests for comment.

“Immigrants, whether documented or not, work hard. They pay taxes, and sometimes they get injured on the job or their children get sick,” Becerra said during a debate last month. “It would be foolish to tell a family that they don’t have access to the pediatrician or the family doc.”

Becerra, who could become California’s first elected Latino governor, objected last year when Newsom and legislative leaders decided to freeze Medi-Cal enrollment for adults without legal status, cut benefits, and impose monthly premiums.

“Stop treating coverage as a budget variable that expands in good years and contracts when revenue dips,” Becerra wrote last month in response to an Orange County Register candidate questionnaire. He has vowed to pursue new, steady revenue to fund basic services, such as by upping taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Californians.

In 2023, California was home to about 2.3 million people without legal status, representing roughly 8% of the state’s labor force, according to the Pew Research Center. And 1 in 5 California children live in a family that includes at least one member without legal status, according to the California Department of Education. Healthcare economists say giving people access to preventive healthcare saves taxpayers money in the long run by keeping the workforce healthy and relieving pressure on an overburdened system.

That, Baldassare said, wasn’t a hard argument to make during the COVID-19 pandemic, when immigrants were celebrated as essential workers and the link between individual well-being and public health was more obvious.

But Medi-Cal costs to cover roughly 1.4 million immigrants have ballooned, according to the latest estimates from the Department of Health Care Services. Because only some lawfully present immigrants are eligible for federal Medicaid benefits, states like California that cover other populations must do so exclusively with state funding.

California’s budget experts have warned that maintaining full Medi-Cal coverage for immigrants without seeking additional revenue would destabilize the state’s long-term fiscal outlook.

In a legislative hearing last year, Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio questioned whether California taxpayers would prioritize the expansions, saying he doubted “illegal immigrant healthcare in the general fund would be at the top of their list.”

After lawmakers approved the spending reductions, support for immigrant health coverage dropped, Baldassare said. Now lawmakers and Newsom are negotiating further cuts.

David Hayes-Bautista, who has spent his career studying the economic contributions of Latinos and immigrants, said Californians without legal status have higher labor force participation and tend to work in industries and occupations that don’t offer employer-based health insurance. As a result, many resort to Medi-Cal, saddling the state with the healthcare costs instead of employers.

“California, as a state, has the world’s fourth-largest GDP, which is true thanks to Latinos,” Hayes-Bautista, director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA, said. Without contributions from Latinos, many without legal status, it drops to eighth place, about the size of Italy’s economy, he added.

Immigrant advocates hope to have a more vocal champion in Becerra, the favorite to become governor in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1.

“He will fight, he will push back, he will do all that he can,” said state Sen. María Elena Durazo, a former labor leader who has championed the immigrant healthcare expansions. “That’s the most we could expect.”

Mai-Duc writes for KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism.

The clock is running down on the most consequential deadline the crypto sector has faced in Europe.

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From the start of July, the transitional window under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) closes for good, and companies that have not secured authorisation must either stop serving European customers or wind down altogether.

MiCA is the EU’s first comprehensive law for the crypto industry, bringing exchanges, brokers and digital wallet providers under the kind of formal oversight that has long applied to banks and other financial firms.

It replaces a fragmented mix of national rules with a single rulebook spanning all 27 member states: a company licensed in one EU country earns a “passport” to operate across the bloc, but in return it must meet standards on how much capital it holds, how it is run, how it safeguards customers’ funds and how it prevents money laundering.

“What emerges is a genuine single market replacing the old patchwork of 27 national regimes,” Yamal Kalaf, co-founder of MiCAR Whitepapers Europe, which advises crypto businesses on MiCA authorisation, told Euronews.

Since the core rules took effect at the end of 2024, existing operators have been allowed to keep operating under older national registrations, but that concession was temporary.

Crypto firms need European licences but many are behind

The scale of the looming shake-out is striking.

According to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), which confirmed in April that there would be no extension, only around 210 firms had obtained full authorisation by May, out of more than 1,200 that previously held national crypto registrations across the EU.

That points to a conversion rate of well under a fifth, leaving the vast majority of the old market without a licence as the cut-off arrives in a few days.

Speaking to Euronews, Roshan Dharia, CEO of distressed-investment firm Echo Base, explained that “the low conversion rate suggests that a meaningful portion of the market has concluded that obtaining and maintaining a MiCA licence is not economically viable within its current operating model.”

National regulators have warned that firms operating beyond the deadline without the new licence face enforcement action. France’s markets watchdog has also cautioned that continuing without authorisation could expose companies to criminal prosecution.

ESMA has told unlicensed providers to prepare orderly wind-downs, including transferring customer assets to authorised platforms or self-custody wallets, and to notify clients in advance so they can move funds safely.

“What we will see after 1 July is a smaller, more institutional market with real passporting. That is not a market in retreat. That is a market growing up,” Miguel Zapatero, Head Counsel at Crossmint, told Euronews.

Crossmint is a crypto infrastructure provider whose licensed rails let developers build wallets, custody and payment products.

A market reshaped around licensed rails

Plenty of familiar names have already cleared the bar.

Coinbase has been authorised in Ireland and Kraken in Ireland and Luxembourg. At the same time, the banking app Revolut secured its licence from Cyprus’s regulator late last year, allowing it to offer crypto services across the EU.

For these firms, the new rules promise a reward as unlicensed rivals retreat, the survivors stand to absorb their departing customers.

“MiCA is a genuine regulatory identity shift, not a registration exercise,” Gal Arad Cohen, partner at law firm S. Horowitz & Co, told Euronews.

The most prominent casualty so far may be Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange.

According to Reuters, which cited two people familiar with the matter, Binance is set to lose permission to serve EU clients because its licence application to Greece’s market regulator, the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, is poised to be rejected.

Without approval in any member state, the exchange would be unable to operate across the bloc from July onwards.

Speaking to Euronews, Patrick Mollard, CEO at Fipto, a blockchain-based payments company for businesses, referred to the Binance case by stating that “scale earns you no shortcut to a licence, and that is precisely the point.”

Binance has pushed back, saying it has worked constructively with regulators for 18 months and believes its application met MiCA’s requirements. The company added that it understood the Greek authority had completed its review and found the filing compliant.

The company has promised a further update before 30 June.

The episode has also reputedly taken on a political dimension.

French crypto publication The Big Whale reported, citing unnamed sources, that ECB President Christine Lagarde had opposed Binance’s bid for a Greek MiCA licence.

Euronews could not independently verify the report, and neither the ECB nor the Greek government has publicly commented on the allegations.

The Big Whale also reported that Binance is exploring a potential MiCA application in France after the setback in Greece, a claim that neither Binance nor French regulators have publicly confirmed.

Binance did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Euronews.

A shake-out for smaller crypto firms

Beyond the biggest names, the deadline is expected to push smaller crypto apps and brokers towards licensed custody providers. Rather than building their own MiCA-compliant systems, many are likely to rely on authorised firms to hold customer assets.

“We will see consolidation and transfer of clients as the deadline will not be met by all currently operating entries,” Floortje Nagelkerke, partner at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, explained to Euronews.

The result, analysts suggest, will be a smaller, more concentrated European market, with fewer players, higher barriers to entry and a clear advantage for those holding a licence, but stronger consumer protections.

“People who hold crypto in the EU after 1 July will, on balance, hold it on safer rails,” Miguel Zapatero, Head Counsel at Crossmint, concluded.

In the early hours of another day of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, 20-year-old Hamza al-Ghazali, who lives in the Zeitoun neighborhood south of Gaza City, set out once again in search of an insulin pen.

It was not the first time he had moved between pharmacies and medical centres, looking for a dose. The effort has become a recurring part of his life since the outbreak of war in October 2023 and the tightening Israeli restrictions on the entry of medicines and medical supplies into the Gaza Strip.

Hamza knows that delaying an insulin dose is potentially life-threatening. Type 1 diabetes requires strict daily treatment and continuous monitoring. However, under war and blockade conditions, managing the disease has turned into a daily, high-risk struggle.

Hamza recalls how his health condition was more stable before the war. He used to obtain insulin from pharmacies at prices ranging between 25 and 35 shekels ($8.5 and $12) per pen, sometimes even less.

“I started to know all the pharmacies, and they also knew me, because I was always buying insulin pens,” Hamza says.

But this changed drastically with the war and the tightening of restrictions on the entry of medical supplies. The price of a single insulin pen rose to between 75 and 100 shekels ($25 and $34), and, as Hamza needs six to seven pens per month, he was forced to try to extend the use of each pen for as long as possible.

Fight for survival

The suffering of diabetes patients in Gaza extends to restrictions on the entry of medicines through border crossings, measures that have led to a severe shortage of insulin, glucose metres, and test strips.

Hamza notes that this shortage has created an unstable medical reality, where, in some cases, medicines that may have been stored for long periods or in improper conditions appear on the market, raising concerns about reduced effectiveness or uncertain quality due to the lack of alternatives.

A year ago, when an Israeli blockade on the entry of food led to a famine in northern Gaza, Hamza was forced to eat anything he could find.

But for Hamza, it wasn’t just about securing enough nutrition for his body, but also about finding the right balance between the insulin he had access to and the food he could find.

If he ate more without sufficient insulin doses, then he could have dangerously high blood sugar levels. If he reduced his food intake out of fear of running out of insulin, then that could result in severe and potentially fatal hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

“I was afraid for myself during the shelling in northern Gaza,” said Hamza. “We were under siege. If the house was bombed, I might survive under the rubble, but die from low blood sugar. And if I ate without insulin, my sugar could rise dangerously. I was living between two fears all the time.”

He adds that the fear was not only about losing insulin, but also about losing glucose metres and test strips, which he relies on daily to monitor his condition. Every time he was forced to evacuate, the first thing he would carry was his “diabetes bag”.

Equipment shortages

Glucose test strips have been in short supply, limiting Hamza’s ability to monitor his blood sugar levels on a daily basis and forcing him to rely on judging his physical symptoms.

Hamza notes that the cost of a glucose metre ranges between 250 and 300 shekels ($85 and $120), but the real problem lies in the availability of test strips.

Without them, the device becomes useless, forcing some patients to repeatedly buy new devices. Hamza estimates that more than 80 percent of diabetes patients in some areas are unable to test their blood sugar regularly, which he describes as a “medical disaster”, as it turns treatment into daily guesswork.

According to data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, between 70,000 and 80,000 diabetes patients in the Palestinian enclave are at risk due to the severe shortage of insulin and test strips, in addition to the collapse of medical follow-up services and poor nutrition.

Endocrinology and diabetes specialist Dr Adli al-Ghouti notes that about 2,500 children in Gaza are living with Type 1 diabetes, and are in a highly critical health condition.

As a result of insulin shortages, a lack of proper storage conditions, and power outages, a real crisis is unfolding.

Al-Ghouti warns that the deterioration of insulin quality, the expiration of the stock available in Gaza, and improper storage can all reduce effectiveness, creating a false sense of security while blood sugar levels remain uncontrolled, potentially resulting in severe complications such as diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening emergency condition.

“Taking an expired dose of insulin may cause significant harm inside the body, while giving a temporary impression of improvement,” Dr al-Ghouti said.

Diabetes is therefore no longer a condition that can be managed easily in Gaza. Between the shortage of insulin, a lack of testing tools, rising prices, and deteriorating nutrition, even the simplest aspects of treatment turn into a daily struggle for survival.

TOURISTS may face fees for rinsing off at a popular Spanish beach holiday resort.

A controversial smart meter has been installed at beach showers, upsetting both locals and visitors.

The smart shower is currently being trialled at Matalascanas Beach at Costa de Luz in south-west Spain.

While it is currently free to use, the plan is for users to be charged via a QR code or they can pay with cash.

The meter accepts two types of coins, with “no change given”, or beach-goers can use their mobile phones to scan the code and pay online.

This initiative has been promoted by two local engineers as a water-saving scheme.

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However, claims that the set-up could cost a family-of-four around £3.50 to quickly wash off the sand on their bodies, has caused a stir.

The smart shower has been installed by the four-star On Hotel Oceanfront, which is understood to be the only shower in operation along the entire 2.6 mile-long beach.

It has already been met with backlash from residents, with many pointing out the issues with the set-up.

“Great idea. You have to get your mobile out and when you go to shower where do you leave it?” asked one person.

Another said: “I understand that water is important but I think this is terrible. Do you have to shower with your mobile in your hand?”

Commenting on an online discussion over the proposed charges, one social media user said: “Little by little, we normalize paying for everything.”

“By next year there will be parking metres, paid showers, and in a few years they’ll charge us for stepping on the sand – private beaches, like in other European countries,” they added.

Another person said: “This year the trial to find out how much they’re going to get, and next year they charge everyone.”

Almonte Council, the local authority covering the beach, has not confirmed how long the free trial period will last.

The estimated cost of a shower lasting less than a minute has been put at around €1 (85 p).

It comes after several beaches on the eastern end of the Costa del Sol decided to shut their showers last summer, with only foot washes remaining open.

However, the situation is expected to be much better this summer following a winter of heavy rain.

Rincon de la Victoria Council announced last month it would be opening its beach showers as normal this year.

Tyrone have been drawn to face reigning All-Ireland champions Kerry in the quarter-finals of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

The draw also pitted Monaghan, the only other remaining Ulster county, against Louth, with Galway up against Dublin and Cork to take on Mayo.

All four quarter-finals will be played at Croke Park on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 June, with the details of dates and times expected to be confirmed later on Monday.

Tyrone are aiming to secure their fifth Sam Maguire title and their first since their most recent success in 2021.

Ulster runners-up Monaghan progressed to the last-eight stage by overcoming Westmeath 1-28 to 2-19 in round three on Sunday.

Munster champions Kerry kept their bid for a third All-Ireland in five years on track with a comprehensive 4-18 to 0-17 victory over Armagh.

The Dubs were 2-26 to 2-22 winners over Donegal after extra-time on Saturday as they attempt to reclaim the title they last won in 2023.

Meath beat Mayo to book their berth in the quarter-finals.

Cork, Galway, Louth and Tyrone all had the benefit of a weekend off after advancing straight to the quarter-finals from round two.

The eight remaining counties are chasing places in the semi-finals, which will be held on 11 and 12 July.

Iranian and US officials are set for high stakes talks in Switzerland aimed at reinforcing the Memorandum of Understanding framework. Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid says intense diplomatic efforts have kept negotiations on track, but key disputes remain unresolved.

The mayor of Venice is proposing an increase to the city’s controversial tourist entry fee, which could see the charge rise to as much as €50 (around £43) in a bid to tackle overtourism.

Brits heading to a beloved European holiday hotspot could soon face a new £43 levy. Simone Venturini, the newly appointed mayor of Venice, is putting forward plans to significantly raise a contentious tourist charge for visitors entering the historic city.

In 2024, Venice made history as the first tourist destination to impose an entry fee, initially set at €5, approximately $4.30, on busy days spanning April to July. Additional days were subsequently added to the scheme, with the charge for last-minute visitors later rising to €10, roughly £8.60.

Politicians maintain that the levy would help alleviate overcrowding in the ancient city and would deter people from visiting during peak periods. This comes as approximately 30 million people annually are believed to flock to Venice.

Mr Venturini is now pushing to raise the entry fee to as much as €50. This, he argues, will “discourage people further from coming to Venice at certain times of the year”.

Speaking to Corriere della Sera, he said: “If today it ranges from €5 to €10, my proposal is to increase it to €30 to €50.”

Critics of the initiative however claim it has made minimal impact on tourist numbers. Most visitors reportedly view it as “relatively insignificant” when weighed against the cost of a single glass of wine or a pint, reports The Telegraph.

Venice has continuously grappled with the challenge of overtourism. This comes as the city’s population has plummeted from approximately 170,000 in 1950 to roughly 48,000 today.

Visitors to Venice consistently exceed the number of locals. However, there were concerns that a hefty entrance charge might put off tourists who were deemed less affluent.

Former city mayor Massimo Cacciari went so far as to describe the fee as “barbarous”. He said: “There is no other city in Italy or Europe where you have to enter with a ticket, as though it was a museum.

“It is barbarous, uncivilised and, in my opinion, against the constitution. It is simply obscene. I thought that Venturini would be more intelligent than his predecessor and would scrap the fee.”

One business owner, however, has urged for the charge to be increased even more substantially. Jewellery shop proprietor Setrak Tokatzian suggests the city ought to be introducing a €100 levy on visitors.

Tourism expert Doug Lansky, recognised as ReThinkingTourism online, reckons the €5 charge would be unlikely to put anyone off. In a YouTube video he said: “I predicted that €5 wouldn’t have any effect.

“I mean, €5 isn’t enough to get me to choose one dinner entre over another at a restaurant, I’ve paid that much for a cappucino or a bottle of water at a concert.”

British heavyweight Moses Itauma will return to action on 29 August to face Filip Hrgovic at London’s O2 Arena.

Itauma claimed an impressive win over Jermaine Franklin in March to stretch his unbeaten record to 14-0 and retain the WBA International and WBO Inter-Continental titles.

That has earned the 21-year-old his first headline fight against Hrgovic, who won bronze for Croatia at the 2016 Olympics and now has a 21-1 professional record.

“This fight is the litmus test Moses is ready for and it is the one he wanted,” said promoter Frank Warren.

Hrgovic stopped Dave Allen in Doncaster last month and the 34-year-old then called for southpaw Itauma.

He and Hrgovic are first and second in the WBO rankings, respectively, and the winner at the O2 is set to be first in line for a shot at Daniel Dubois’ WBO belt.

Hrgovic’s only defeat came against Dubois in June 2024 and he has since beaten three British fighters – Joe Joyce, David Adeleye and Allen.

His bout with Itauma had been earmarked for 25 July, until compatriot Anthony Joshua arranged to face Kristian Prenga on that date.

England did not want to go through the play-offs but were given an unkind draw in the qualifying groups when they met world champions Spain.

It does mean, however, that Sarina Wiegman’s side are in a strong position for the play-offs and will fancy their chances with a kind trip to Greece in October.

They beat potential round two opponents Ukraine in both matches in the qualifying group stage, which will give them confidence too.

There is a tricky tie for Northern Ireland, who come up against a talented young squad from Portugal in round one. Portugal twice beat Northern Ireland in Euro 2025 qualifying.

Their task gets trickier if they make it through to round two with potential opponents Iceland proving to be difficult to break down in their matches against England this year.

Scotland are hoping to reach just their second Women’s World Cup finals having failed to qualify in 2023.

They performed well in this year’s qualifying group stages, including draws with Belgium that showed they can compete with Europe’s strongest teams.

They will need to produce their best in round two if they meet big-hitters Sweden, who have been semi-finalists in the past two Women’s World Cup finals.

Wales have never beaten a top-20 ranked nation in a competitive fixture and are likely to need to do so to qualify – and their away form needs improvement.

But Rhian Wilkinson’s side face familiar opponents in round one. They thrashed Albania 4-0 in their qualifying group so who says they can’t do it again?

Meanwhile, having performed superbly in qualifying, the Republic of Ireland have a tricky play-off route with established European opposition Belgium potentially waiting in round two.

First, Carly Ward’s side will have to navigate a 3,100-mile trip to Kazakhstan, against relatively unknown opposition.

June 16 (UPI) — Voters are heading back to the polls in Georgia on Tuesday for primary election runoffs featuring one contest that pits President Donald Trump‘s endorsement against Gov. Brian Kemp‘s.

Among the key races that will be decided Tuesday is the race to see who will challenge Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in November’s midterm election. Trump has endorsed Rep. Mike Collins and Kemp endorsed Derek Dooley.

Kemp gave Dooley, a former college football coach, his endorsement in August. He reiterated his support in a social media post on Monday, asking voters to choose the “conservative fighter who will put Georgians first.”

Trump endorsed Collins on Friday after early voting ended. The president posted his endorsement on social media, calling Collins a “warrior and winner.”

Elsewhere on the ballot, Republican voters will choose their candidate for the state’s gubernatorial race. Kemp is a two-term governor and is in his last year serving in the office. He faced Democrat Stacey Abrams in the last two gubernatorial elections.

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones captured 38% of the vote in the primary election last month, falling short of the 50% threshold required to win. On the other side, billionaire Rick Jackson received 32% of the vote.

The winner of the Republican primary for the gubernatorial candidate will face Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in November.

BRITISH holidaymakers going to France may be forced to cover their bare chests or risk being slapped with a £130 (€150) fine.

Men have been banned from walking around shirtless in several seaside resort towns – with one mayor citing concerns over hygiene and decency.

Topless sunbathing is still legal in France – but around 20 towns are clamping down on locals and tourists from baring their chests in city centres.

The glamorous resort of Deauville has hiked up its token fine of £15 (€17) to a heftier £130 (€150).

And in the southern French city of Narbonne – which last year saw blistering highs of 43 degrees – men are barred from going shirtless all summer.

The ban came into force on Monday and will end only at the end of September.

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The mayor of the resort town claimed it was common sense for a tourist hotspot to crack down on bare-chests.

“It’s about hygiene and avoiding exhibitionism,” he said.

One Narbonne restaurant owner hailed the crackdown as “a very good thing”, saying that “this isn’t something the staff of our café can easily police on their own without getting into arguments with customers”.

“Having bare-chested guys on the terrace can put off other customers”, added Anthony Hill, 53, who runs Le 89 cafe in the city centre.

But as a heatwave swept across the holiday hotspot – hitting highs of 34 degrees – not everyone welcomed the ban.

“This excessive puritanism is disturbing. Let people live a little. A bare chest never killed anyone”, complained one user named Gabriel on X.

Another seaside port – La Grande‑Motte – has imposed the same restriction and local resident Marie welcomed the change with open arms.

“If I’m out with my kids in the town centre I really don’t want to see guys without shirts. It’s a matter of decency — and there’s also the smell when they walk past you”, the 37-year-old told French TV.

But one holidaymaker, 55, questioned whether the £130 (€150) was “a bit steep” – though he added that he found rule logical.

French law forbids women from going topless – but there is no nationwide ban on men’s shirtlessness.

If a woman walks around bare-chested anywhere other than on a beach she risks being arrested for “sexual exhibitionism” and thrown in jail.

She may also be charged a fine of around £13,000 (€15,000).

In 2020 a row erupted across the nation after cops asked three topless women sunbathing on a southern French beach to cover up.

A family had complained that the women’s bare breasts had upset their children – but when police took action they were blasted for betraying the “French way of life”.

SAN FRANCISCO — The toughest decision of the Sparks’ season to date is fast approaching.

Within the next few games, the team will have to decide whether they are going to keep fan-favorite Kate Martin around.

She joined the roster on a developmental contract at the start of the season after being waived by the Golden State Valkyries the day of roster releases. Developmental contracts were introduced this year as part of the league’s new collective bargaining agreement.

Each team can carry up to two players on developmental deals. Those players are allowed to practice and travel with the team, but they can only be active for a maximum of 12 games during the season.

The Sparks’ Kate Martin shoots over the Fire’s Nyadiew Puoch at Crypto.com Arena on June 7.

(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)

Typically, developmental players are used as emergency depth, stepping into the lineup only when injuries create a short-term need. That hasn’t been the case for Martin, who has been active for eight of the Sparks’ first 13 games, making her a regular part of the team’s plans.

“I’ve been activated for quite a few games and that is a blessing,” Martin said. “I feel very grateful to have been activated for so many games so far, but I think just like not knowing until like game day, trying to figure out, like, ‘Oh, am I going to be activated, am I not?’ I think that’s probably the biggest difference, but you know, they don’t treat me any differently.”

When given the opportunity, Martin has brought energy and impact off the bench. She is shooting 47.4% from the field and taking 1.6 shots from three-point range per game despite playing just 7.4 minutes. Martin often receives the loudest cheers from fans during home games.

She delivered her strongest offensive performance in a loss to the Tempo on May 17, scoring 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, but since then she has been used as a first-half rotation player to rest the Sparks guards as a reliable shooter and defender.

Even with the Sparks at full strength against the Portland Fire last week, Martin still earned eight minutes of play. Then she played four minutes in Saturday’s overtime win against Phoenix.

“We’re figuring it out in real time,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “These are new positions, and so each player only gets 12 games, but Kate does have experience. She is a spark off the bench. Everyone out there trusts her. There’s value to that. It’s hard, though, as a [developmental] player, to play one game and not play the next, and like it’s just hard for the rest of the group. So that part’s been tricky, and we’re figuring it out as we go.”

With seven active appearances already used, Martin has just four games remaining under the terms of her developmental contract. The Sparks must either preserve those appearances for later in the season or make a long-term commitment by signing her to a standard contract or she will become a free agent again.

The challenge is that Los Angeles does not currently have an open roster spot, meaning the team would need to waive a player to make room.

The Sparks’ Dearica Hamby and Kate Martin chest bump to celebrate after scoring against the Dallas Wings at Crypto.com Arena on June 5.

(Luiza Moraes / Getty Images)

Rookies Jihyun Park and 2026 second-round draft pick Ta’Niya Latson have both appeared in fewer games than Martin, as have veteran Emma Cannon and second-year forward Sania Feagin, who was injured earlier this season but hasn’t claimed a rotation spot since her return.

Martin was a regular part of the rotation with the Valkyries in her one season with the franchise, playing in 42 games and averaging 6.2 points per game and 31% shooting from three-point range. She was inconsistent at times, but also provided a spark off the bench and it was a surprise when they cut her.

After an emotional few days after being waived, Martin joined the Sparks, where she was excited for the opportunity to develop. Now, she sees herself as a fit beyond the 12-game limit.

“The system that we want to run at a very fast pace,” Martin said. “Spread the floor and shoot a lot of threes, and I think that I am good at spacing the floor, and I think that what they want to run here offensively benefits my game in a lot of ways, and I think I fit kind of seamlessly in that way.”

Armagh will face Kerry and Donegal will travel to Dublin in the third round of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

Kieran McGeeney’s side, who were stunned by Louth in Inniskeen in Round 2A, will travel to the holders as the last two winners of the All-Ireland will go head-to-head in a bid to reach the quarter-finals.

Kerry were in the third round courtesy of their Round 2B win over Kildare.

After their loss to Cork, Jim McGuinness’ Donegal face a difficult third-round tie away to Dublin, who beat Cavan on Sunday.

Monaghan will take on Westmeath and Mayo will host Meath in the other round three matches.

The winners of those ties will reach the quarter-finals and join Tyrone, Cork, Galway and Louth, who have already qualified for the last eight.

There is guaranteed to be an Ulster county in the final of the Tailteann Cup after Down were drawn with Fermanagh in the last four.

The game will take place at Croke Park on Saturday, 20 June, and the winner will face either Offaly or Wicklow in the decider.

All-Ireland round three – ties to be played on 20 and 21 June

Monaghan v Westmeath

Dublin v Donegal

Mayo v Meath

Kerry v Armagh

Tailteann Cup semi-finals – played at Croke Park on Saturday, 20 June

Offaly v Wicklow

Down v Fermanagh

Stay up to date with all the latest GAA news and results here.

Gene Shalit, the fast-talking funnyman who reviewed films, plays and books for NBC’s “Today” show has died. He was 100.

Shalit’s family confirmed the longtime critic’s death Friday, telling NBC that he “passed away peacefully after 100 years of an amazing life.”

According to a 2010 interview with Guy Ludwig, Shalit’s producer for more than 20 years, Shalit was hired as a contributor at “Today” in 1968. He reviewed books once a month or so, but audiences were so fascinated by his eccentric personality and equally unconventional looks that NBC ramped up the critic’s on-air appearances.

In January 1973, on the same day he was promoted to arts editor, Shalit debuted “Critic’s Corner,” the segment that would ultimately make him a household name. In 2010, Shalit retired as one of the last regular film critics on a major network.

Ludwig referred to Shalit as the “foxy grandpa” of the “Today” show.

Shalit cut his teeth in media as an entertainment columnist for McCall’s magazine, eventually landing the role of senior film critic for Look magazine in 1968 and writing a humor column for Ladies’ Home Journal. His quick wit, punchy puns and unique voice came through even on the page, and NBC took notice.

“No one at NBC had seen him. They’d only read his stuff. So he walked into this executive’s office and the executive took one look at him and said, ‘Mr. Shalit, have you ever thought of radio?’” Ludwig told “Today.”

“They didn’t know how the public would react to someone who looked so different from people who were typically on TV in 1967.”

On “Critics Corner,” Shalit favored humor over the highfalutin. He was an everyman’s critic. Of 1997’s action-thriller “Face/Off,” he said, “Now, ‘Face/Off’ is a literal title, because both of their faces are taken off. Then each face is put onto the other’s head. Even their voices are switched with microchip implants. In other words, this is an entirely reasonable, rational movie!”

“Many critics will give so much of the plot of a movie away that they destroy the movie for the viewer … I just don’t give away the story,” he told the Associated Press in 1993.

During his tenure, he was known to bust up his colleagues, and “Today” anchors ranging from Edwin Newman, Barbara Walters and Jane Pauley to Tom Brokaw, Bryant Gumbel, Katie Couric, Al Roker and Meredith Vieira.

But not everyone appreciated Shalit’s style. In 1989, a leaked in-house memo from “Today” show co-host Bryant Gumbel to Marty Ryan, the former executive producer of the NBC program, complained that Shalit’s film reviews “are often late and his interviews aren’t very good.”

Eugene Shalit was born March 25, 1926, in New York City and grew up in Morristown, N.J. He launched his elementary school’s first newspaper, “The Spotlight,” and purchased a fedora to seal his fate as a journalist. In Morristown High School he wrote the school newspaper’s humor column “The Broadcaster.” In 1949, he graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Shalit was married to Nancy Lewis for 28 years until her death in 1978 and never remarried. The couple had six children: Peter, Willa, Emily, Amanda, Nevin and Andrew. Emily died from ovarian cancer in 2012.

Migration has been a central theme throughout Pope Leo’s weeklong tour of Spain.

Pope Leo has warned human traffickers that they will face God’s wrath if they continue to exploit desperate African people trying to reach Europe via Spain’s Canary Islands.

On Friday, his second day in the Canary Islands, the pontiff said that he wanted to directly address those who “take advantage of people’s desperation [or] organise death routes”.

Throughout his weeklong tour of Spain, the American pope has insisted on the inherent dignity and rights of migrants, urging global leaders to welcome and integrate them into society.

“Stop. Repent,” said Pope Leo. “For every life lost, every family deceived … you will have to appear before divine justice.”

“Repent while there is still time,” he said, invoking the Catholic belief that someone who committed evil acts in life can confess their sins and make amends or be sent to hell upon their death.

Leo was visiting the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the western coast of Africa, as the culmination of a three-stop tour of Spain.

The islands are one of the main gateways into Europe for migrants, who risk a deadly journey across the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, often in improvised and overcrowded small craft.

Earlier, the first man from the United States to lead the Roman Catholic Church, warned world leaders that history would condemn those who allowed people fleeing war or poverty to suffer.

Located more than 1,000km (620 miles) from mainland Spain, the Canaries saw migration peak in 2024, when the islands received 46,843 migrants, compared with fewer than 1,000 in 2015, according to official data.

More than 3,000 people died last year trying to reach the islands, according to the NGO Caminando Fronteras.

The pope also visited an interim housing centre in Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, to hear testimonies from migrants. The facility has received some 70,000 people since it opened in 2021.

One woman, Bousso Diouf, told Pope Leo that migrants did not want special privileges but “respect, humanity and the opportunity to live with dignity.”

Four activists from the Palestine Action group face sentencing in the United Kingdom as “terrorists” on Friday, despite only being convicted by a jury of other criminal charges.

Palestine Action was formally proscribed as a “terrorist” organisation in the UK last July.

Last month, four of six activists on trial were convicted at Woolwich Crown Court in London of criminal damage during a 2024 raid on a factory in Filton, Bristol, operated by Israeli defence firm Elbit. One of the defendants was also found guilty of striking a police officer with a sledgehammer.

The possibility that the judge will rule that the offences have a “terrorist connection” for sentencing purposes has prompted protests.

What is Palestine Action?

The protest group Palestine Action, launched in July 2020, describes itself as a movement “committed to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”.

It seeks to use “disruptive tactics” to target “corporate enablers” and companies involved in the manufacture of weapons for Israel, such as Israel-based Elbit Systems, Italian aerospace company Leonardo, French multinational Thales and Teledyne from the United States. The group has targeted British facilities linked to those companies.

The UK parliament voted in favour of proscribing the group on July 2, 2025, classifying it as a “terrorist” organisation, and bringing it into the same category as armed groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS). The proscription came days after its activists sneaked into an air force base in southern England.

Critics decried the move by MPs, arguing that while members of the group have caused damage to property, they have not committed violent acts that amount to terrorism.

What were they convicted of?

In August 2024, Palestine Action activists raided a factory in Filton near Bristol in southwest England, operated by Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems. They entered the site and caused extensive damage in an attempt to disrupt the production of weapons and drone components they say would be used by Israel in Gaza.

The raid, which prosecutors said caused about one million pounds ($1.36m) of damage, happened 10 months into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza that began in October 2023.

Last month, jurors at Woolwich Crown Court convicted Charlotte Head, 30, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, and Fatema Zainab Rajwani, 21, of criminal damage. The four activists have become known as “the Filton 4”.

Corner was also found guilty of striking a police officer with a sledgehammer and convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Two other Palestine Action activists, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, were found not guilty.

The verdict followed an earlier trial, at which all six defendants were acquitted of aggravated burglary, while the jury was unable to reach verdicts for the criminal damage charges.

Each of the defendants gave evidence, admitting that they damaged Israeli military drones and equipment inside Elbit’s research and development facility in Filton – in order to “save lives in Palestine”, according to a statement by their lawyers.

What would a terrorism sentencing mean?

The jury was not told that, if they convicted, the four could be sentenced under terrorism laws. Criminal damage is not usually a terrorism offence, but in England and Wales judges can decide to treat an offence as having a “terrorist connection” at sentencing, even when the charge itself is not a terrorism offence.

If the court decides there was a terrorism connection, the activists would have to serve their entire sentences in prison, unless they have already completed at least two‑thirds of the sentence and a parole board decides they can be released.

Conversely, non-terrorist prisoners usually serve about 40 percent of their sentence in custody and are released early, but under conditions and supervision, sometimes called licence conditions. If they break those conditions, they can be sent back to prison to finish their sentence.

Additionally, if the activists are sentenced in this way, they can be recorded as “terrorists” for the rest of their lives, would be required to register new mobile devices, email addresses and bank accounts with the police for their lifetime, and face being returned to prison if they breach their licence conditions or reoffend.

What has the reaction to all this been?

On Wednesday, a group of more than 50 lawyers and law professors published an open letter denouncing plans to sentence the four Palestine Action members as terrorists.

The letter highlights that damage to property has been a recurring feature of protest campaigns from the Suffragettes who fought for women to have the right to vote, to environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion.

“It has never previously even been suggested that those taking such action should be treated as terrorists. Blurring the distinction between principled direct action and terrorism is the hallmark of authoritarian regimes,” the open letter stated.

The letter has been signed by law professors from universities in the UK, the Netherlands, Norway and Canada as well as by dozens of practising barristers and solicitors.

According to local news reports, a protest is expected at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday against the potential judgement.

Anticipation. Rumors. Anxiously scanning the horizon, hoping that a brilliant force will leave the masses forever changed. Yes, a new Steven Spielberg movie about close encounters with extraterrestrials is landing — and misses the mark.

“Disclosure Day” is a story of truth and feared consequences. A personality-free cybersecurity expert, Daniel (Josh O’Connor), is on the run with evidence of little gray men arriving on our planet to a rude reception. The aliens are kind. Our species is barbaric. Wittily bruising us with that fact, Spielberg opens with a POV of a wrestler kicking the audience in the face. Welcome to Earth.

Elsewhere in America, a weathergirl named Margaret (Emily Blunt) breezes into her Kansas City studio, babbling up until the minute the news camera turns on, a bravura sequence that channels her restlessness, the station’s tempo and the film’s alarm that this ditz has just this morning been stricken with preternatural powers. (The cinematography and editing are by Janusz Kaminski and Sarah Broshar.) Locally, Margaret is known for announcing hailstorms with a sexy shimmy. Suddenly, she’s fluent in Russian, Korean and telepathy. Although she and her boyfriend, Jackson (Wyatt Russell), are a bad match, she’s giving everyone else life advice like an intergalactic Dear Abby.

When Margaret starts spouting alien-ese — spasms of gutteral clicks — on live TV, she and Jackson rush to the hospital for a brain scan followed by several suspicious men who claim to be with the FBI. Russell’s befuddled Jackson is as useless as a traffic cone but Blunt’s Margaret is a gas before the movie makes her go all glassy-eyed and solemn. Yet, the movie is less inspired by why she was chosen or how she feels about it than in dragging us back in time to the moment when it happened, which isn’t that interesting except for its resemblance to a Disney princess having a psychotic break. The CG animals and aliens look stiff, other than a nifty close-up of an eyeball. (Later, I did like how one alien appears to be wearing sportswear.)

Chasing both Daniel and Margaret around the Midwest is a deep-state company called Wardex that wants to steal back the proof in Daniel’s backpack, a heap of hard drives with footage of 70-plus years of extraterrestrial visitations. It’s a treat to see Spielberg enjoying staging this conspiratorial gossip in different film stocks, from the black-and-white noir of 1947 Roswell to the clinical security-camera look of today. Whatever Wardex does on a day-to-day basis is unclear (we just see video screens and lab equipment). But it acts all-powerful, seeming to know more about outer-space tech than its overseers at the Department of Defense.

The script is by David Koepp of the paranoid thriller “Black Bag” and Spielberg’s 2005 version of “War of the Worlds,” yet, this plot strand about private enterprise isn’t science fiction. Last year, in the unrelated UFO documentary “The Age of Disclosure,” current Secretary of State Marco Rubio admitted that companies have a stronger institutional memory of “exotic materials” than any presidential administration: “The people in government who know where it came from originally — they’re long gone and their successors have no idea that it was there at all.” To add nationalistic insult to injury, the head of Wardex isn’t even American. He’s a Brit played by Colin Firth.

If anything, “Disclosure Day” isn’t paranoid enough. Clutching a mysterious tool the shape of a mouse coffin, Firth’s villain tracks Daniel’s location by mentally transplanting himself into another person’s body, changing the color of their pupils to his own icy blue. His gadget also makes his targets super sweaty. This laborious alien tactic leads to a few fun scenes but frankly feels old-fashioned when the omnipresent surveillance that Spielberg himself warned about nearly 25 years ago in “Minority Report” is now here with recording devices constantly tracking our faces, voices and movements just so we don’t have to dial phones, fetch sandwiches or talk to human drivers. Although his movie urged us against this 24/7 spyware future, we have since embraced the convenience.

I bring this up because “Disclosure Day’s” driving question is how humanity will react to life-altering information. (Not that the plot has much momentum — too many scenes end with the belief that ducking 10 feet out of view makes you invisible, with an antagonist simply giving up.) Daniel insists on total honesty: “People have a right to know the truth,” he says. His girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson) doubts 8 billion people can handle his alien revelations. A Catholic, she’s alarmed that extraterrestrial intelligence could replace the concept of God, naively claiming that “religion holds society together.” Since when?

There’s some wan comedy in an early scene where these new-ish lovers debate the ethics of secrecy while revealing the skeletons they’ve been hiding from each other. Both have pasts you wouldn’t put on a Tinder profile. The script is glancingly empathetic to Jane’s moral turmoil but like Daniel, the film has made up its mind before the movie started. Narratively and logistically, Daniel’s whistleblowing escape limps along with a lack of suspense. Wardex doesn’t even bother to preemptively discredit Daniel in the public’s eye, which, given the two sentences of backstory we know about his character, would be easy.

Nattering in the background are broadcasts about the impending threat of global war at the hands of the United States, Russia and North Korea. Given that scary possibility, the risk that Daniel’s reveal could tip over the world order doesn’t seem that bad. Honestly, I’m dubious of the film’s certainty that folks even have the bandwidth to care about such news, let alone agree on what they’re seeing. The serious journalism Margaret aspires to do is splintering under our distrust of who controls the megaphones. Last month’s infodump of an Armed Forces report listing 209 sightings of unidentified objects was announced with a presidential tweet that “the people can decide for themselves.” I didn’t bother to click. Did you?

Getting information about these space invaders out leaves no time for taking the marvel of their existence in. Decades after Spielberg unveiled his signature shot — a face amazed at wonders we can’t see — he seems wearied by his awareness that today’s moment of revelation would look like a person staring down at their phone. When lens flares continually beam right at the screen, the whole movie feels like enlightenment under duress.

Where are the aliens from and why are they here? Who knows. “Disclosure Day” speeds around frantically, talking constantly and explaining little. Back in 1977, Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” was a popcorn masterpiece of withheld information. Its quiet assurance that experts had a handle on flying saucers and a plan to meet them felt comforting. Here, Colman Domingo’s renegade intelligence operative also refuses to tell anyone anything, but all the unspoken beats just feel like plot holes. Mostly, his character builds what looks like a Hollywood set to reveal a truth he already suspects. That’s what Spielberg is doing too, but a film needs a sense of curiosity.

Instead, the wows come from good stagings of ordinary action: a car crash, a gripped crucifix, a hideout crowded with jostling, thrumming musical instruments. There’s a great train-track crossing sequence that’s also a vicious callback to Richard Dreyfuss’ epiphany in “Close Encounters.” Yet, I wanted to see more of the old Spielberg, the one who expressed awe in moments of silence rather than relentless motion.

That Spielberg has come full circle to his lifelong obsession with the sky had me convinced that this might be a secret sequel to “Close Encounters” beyond the droll joke that both Dreyfuss’ Roy and Blunt’s Margaret are shacked up with unsupportive blonds. They do share a universe; you’ll see a glimpse of what could pass for an outtake from Devils Tower, a.k.a. Mashed Potato Mountain, on one of Daniel’s hard drives. Still, I left underwhelmed. I didn’t need Dreyfuss to step off a spaceship gangplank and say, “I’m back.” I just needed “Disclosure Day” to have the same spark of intelligent life.

SACRAMENTO — State Treasurer Fiona Ma and former California Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero have been declared the two winners of a crowded primary election for lieutenant governor, securing themselves spots on the November ballot.

Ma is a Democrat. Romero is a former Democrat who said she registered as a Republican after splitting with Democrats over the push to oust President Biden as the party’s presidential nominee in 2024.

Both were declared as the top-two winners by the Associated Press. Under California’s primary system, the first and second place finisher advances to the November general election, regardless of their political affiliation.

Ma is a certified public accountant serving as state treasurer. She previously sat on the California Board of Equalization and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She also served three terms in the California Assembly.

Romero is an adjunct professor at Pepperdine School of Public Policy. She served as a Democrat in the Assembly and state Senate, becoming the Senate’s first woman majority leader in 2005.

Other notable candidates included former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs and Josh Fryday, a member of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s cabinet. Both are Democrats.

The position is largely ceremonial. The lieutenant governor serves on various boards that oversee the University of California, California State University and community college systems, and can be called upon to break a tie in the state Senate. If the sitting governor dies, resigns or is removed from office, the lieutenant governor would assume the role.

Ma and Romero have offered some similar viewpoints. Both candidates previously expressed support for the death penalty and opposition to the state’s plan to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.

Neither candidate supports the controversial Billionaire’s Tax Act. Romero, however, has further vowed to shun all potential tax increases.

Ma and Romero will now face off in November. The winner will replace Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who is finishing her second term and could not seek reelection. Kounalakis instead ran for state treasurer.

Briton Chantelle Cameron will meet American Mikaela Mayer in a light-middleweight world title unification bout in Birmingham on 29 August.

Cameron, 35, beat Michaela Kotaskova to win the vacant WBO title in April and is aiming to add Mayer’s WBC and WBA belts to her collection.

Fellow Briton Caroline Dubois is also on the all-female Most Valuable Promotions card at BP Pulse, when she defends her WBC and WBO lightweight belts against American Amelia Moore.

Northampton fighter Cameron has 22 wins from 23 fights as a professional, including a victory over Ireland’s Katie Taylor in 2023.

“I’ve always said I want the biggest fights in women’s boxing, and there isn’t a bigger fight right now than me against Mikaela Mayer,” Cameron said.

“We’re both top-five pound-for-pound fighters, we’re both world champions, and we’re both coming to win.”

Mayer, 35, last fought in October when beating Mary Spencer and has a record of 22 wins in 24 bouts.

Dubois, 25, is yet to lose in 14 fights – winning 13 and drawing one – and has picked up five stoppage victories along the way.

The Londoner put on a classy performance to become a unified lightweight champion when beating fellow Briton Terri Harper on points in April.

“I am looking forward to representing the UK on this card and defending my unified title,” Dubois said.

“The goal is to fight for more belts at the end of the year so I need to focus and take care of business with a big win in Birmingham.”

Moore, 36, will be aiming to pull off a major upset in just her fifth fight as a professional.

BRITS heading to Spain need to be aware of a new rule update that could get them banned from entering the country.

Currently, Brits visiting Spain need to show they have a certain amount of money in their bank at the border.

However, an upgrade to this rule means all travellers from non-EU countries must be able to prove they now have at least €1,098.90 (£948.12).

For longer trips, the figure will rise in line with how many days you are in the country for, working out to around an extra €121.10 (£104.48) per day.

For example, if you intend to stay in Spain for 10 days, you will need to prove you have €1,220 (£1,052.79) in funds.

Brits can prove they have the money in several ways including having the cash, presenting debit or credit cards accompanied by bank statements, showing cheques or providing a letter of credit.

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However, it is worth noting that screenshots of online bank statements are not accepted.

The money must be shown in euros or the equivalent amount in your own currency, so for Brits, this would be in pounds.

Despite the requirement not being new, the amount tourists need to prove has been updated to be in line with 10 per cent of Spain’s minimum wage, which recently increased.

The rule was first introduced in 2021, at the end of the Brexit transition period.

Brexit meant that Brits became “third-country nationals” and therefore have to follow the rules for entering the EU when travelling to European countries.

Similar proof-of-funds requirements are in place across all Schengen countries.

The amounts do vary though – for example, in France, travellers must be able to prove they have €65 (£56.08) per day, yet in Latvia, the figure drops to €14 (£12.08) per day.

Even though proof-of-funds can be enforced by border officers in Spain, checks are not usually carried out on every traveller entering the country.

But if a border force officer asks you to prove your funds and you do not have the amount needed, then they can refuse you entry into Spain.

Advice from the UK Foreign Office states: “Make sure that you have access to enough money to cover all of your costs when travelling abroad, including unforeseen costs, e.g. medical care.

“To avoid getting into financial difficulties abroad, you should take prepaid travel cards, traveller’s cheques, local currency, credit and bank cards with you.

“Check what you can use in the country you are visiting and ensure you have enough money.

“Make a note of how to stop any credit cards or traveller’s cheques being used if lost or stolen, and of traveller’s cheque numbers.

“[And] get comprehensive travel insurance, ensure it provides you with adequate financial cover for your personal needs, and check for any exclusions.

“If you don’t have adequate travel insurance, you will need to pay any costs you are charged.”

TENS of thousands of flights face being cancelled this winter as fears continue to grow over the high cost of jet fuel.

Airlines have already been forced to scrap thousands of flights in recent months since the Iran war broke out.

However, experts have warned that unless costs go down, cancellations could now affect winter schedules.

Italy‘s ITA chief executive Joerg Eberhart said they could be forced to cut as may as a fifth of flights from October to April, he told the FT.

Turkish Airlines echoed this, saying they could be forced to make “frequency cuts of even stop destinations” after summer if it continues.

Others have warned that is puts added pressure on airlines to fill planes, which is often not the case during the quieter winter season.

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Most UK airlines have said that they don’t see any immediate threats to upcoming flights, as many have ‘hedged’ fuel costs, which is paying a set price for a period of time.

However, Ryanair has warned that budget airlines face the biggest struggle, due to the low margins.

The budget carrier’s boss Michael O’Leary previously warned: “If pricing stays higher for longer this summer, we think a number of our airline competitors in Europe are going to face real financial difficulties. I think there will be failures.”

Spirit Airlines has already been a victim of the ongoing fuel crisis, having gone into administration last month.

And while UK flights might not be cancelled, the cost of flights is expected to only go up.

International Airlines Group (IAG), which also owns Iberia and Aer Lingus, said it will likely pass on extra costs to cover the additional £1.72billion costs of its fuel this year.

And Virgin Atlantic has added a new fuel surcharge, ranging from £50 to £360.

Experts have said costs could continue to go up, due to the UK’s reliance on US jet fuel.

This is because US suppliers could divert their fuel inwards due to it being the busy American holiday season, particularly for “driving season” (when domestic holidays boom).

S&P Global’s research director for fuels Eleanor Budds told Telegraph: “Prices could rise again. The UK is replacing a good part of its imports. If the US can’t keep up those volumes, [the UK] is very exposed”.