Health

Events and public transport have been cancelled with public drinking banned

Health warnings have been issued for peopel across Europe including in France, Italy, Spain and Germany. France has been cancelling trains, concerts and sports events and cracking down on public drinking as an exceptional heat wave unfurled across parts of Europe.

Multiple drownings were reported as people sought relief in whatever water they could find About a third of France is under “red alert″ heat and temperatures reached 40C in some areas, in a country where air-conditioning is not widespread.

The forecast for Monday is even hotter. The Eiffel Tower and other Paris venues set up misting stations to cool crowds, among a raft of measures introduced by authorities to minimise risks. Tourists in Rome dunked in fountains.

Spain’s Basque Country cancelled some sports and cultural events. More than 200,000 people across Europe died from heat-related causes over the last four years, and most of the fatalities were preventable, the World Health Organisation’s Europe office said this month.

More above-average temperatures are expected this summer, which can cause heat exhaustion and life-threatening heat stroke. Human-caused climate change is tied to increasing extreme weather events and UN climate agency projections say the next five years should shatter more heat records.

A rapid study found that human-caused climate change was responsible for killing about 1,500 people in an unusually early European heat wave in May. In this latest European hot spell, French media reported that four children drowned on Saturday.

Summer drownings are an annual problem that health authorities say worsens during hot spells. France’s annual Music Day on Sunday was of particular concern. The nationwide summer solstice celebration involves thousands of concerts in village squares, rave venues and Paris clubs, bringing communities together and increasingly drawing British and other international visitors.

Some of the concerts outside Paris were cancelled. The French government banned public drinking in “red alert” zones, and ordered organisers of music day events to limit alcohol consumption to “preserve emergency services and allow medics to concentrate on taking care of the most vulnerable”.

Scores of French trains were cancelled, and the national rail authority dispatched thousands of extra staff to deal with potential problems as the heat threatened rails and electrical cables. Authorities are notably worried about people living in the baking streets, and elderly people in nursing homes or isolated in their homes.

About 15,000 older people died in France in a 2003 heat wave that became a national reckoning. The government mobilised emergency services and military forces for reinforced wildfire readiness, imposed tightened surveillance of water supplies to France’s many nuclear reactors, and ordered 845 schools to close on Monday.

Spain kicked off the summer with large parts of the country on alert because of temperatures expected to hover around 40C — even in the interior of Basque Country, a northern region that typically experiences cooler temperatures. Authorities have suspended outdoor sports and cultural activities in the region.

The heatwave is expected to scorch Spain at least until Wednesday. In Italy, authorities expanded heat warnings — referred to locally as “red flags” — to eight cities on Sunday in northern and central parts of the country.

Temperatures there are mostly in the upper 30s. At one farm outside Milan, owners set up fans and sprinklers to keep cows cool, while visitors to Milan Fashion Week huddled under parasols and clutched fans.

In Rome, tourists dunked their arms and occasionally their faces into the city’s famed fountain pools. The German Weather Service is forecasting temperatures of up to 37C for Monday and Tuesday, and up to 39C on Wednesday.

A 23-year-old man drowned on Saturday in a lake near Rheinstetten in the south-western region of Baden-Wurttemberg, the German news agency dpa reported. Three other people are missing after swimming in the Rhine River, a police spokeswoman told dpa.

Thunderstorms also threatened regions in Germany and Poland. French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu is convening a new government heat crisis meeting on Sunday, and ordered government ministers to plan for better adapting France to heat waves in the future — including “via air conditioning, if necessary”.

Tests confirm a migratory brown skua found in ‌Western ‌Australia had the virus.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Australia will do “whatever we can” to curb H5N1 bird flu after the first mainland case was confirmed in a seabird, which means the virus has now spread to every continent.

Tests confirmed a migratory brown skua found in ‌Western ‌Australia’s Cape Le Grand National Park had the deadly virus, authorities said on Saturday, and a giant petrel found in the same area was also suspected to be infected.

“This is concerning,” Albanese told reporters in Sydney, adding his government would do “whatever we can to restrict any spread”.

Previously, Australia had been the only continent without a confirmed mainland case, although the virus was detected in late 2025 on Heard Island, a sub-Antarctic territory about 4,100km (2,550 miles) from the mainland.

Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said the virus had not yet been detected in Australia’s poultry or agriculture sector.

“We all knew we couldn’t be bird flu-free forever,” she said.

Human infections remain rare, but the highly pathogenic avian influenza has led to the culling of hundreds of millions of birds globally in recent years, disrupting food supplies and driving up prices.

Aid cuts and poor sanitation are deepening fears that Ebola is spreading through displacement camps.

Seventeen medics have died from Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as the death toll surpasses 200 in an outbreak tearing through a health system already weakened by years of conflict, displacement and chronic underfunding.

A senior World Health Organization (WHO) official confirmed the death toll on Friday and said that 75 healthcare workers had contracted the virus since Congolese authorities declared the outbreak on May 15 .

“The outbreak remains serious” and is “evolving so fast”, said WHO emergency director Marie Roseline Belizaire.

“It is a really high price that the system, the healthcare system, is paying, because we don’t have enough of healthcare workers in DRC,” she told reporters by video link from the outbreak epicentre in eastern DRC.

Health officials believe the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola had been spreading for months before the government formally announced the outbreak, leaving doctors, nurses and other medical staff exposed before they knew the virus was present.

Even now, basic protective equipment remains in short supply, with some facilities struggling to secure gloves, masks and other essentials needed to limit infection.

The DRC has one of the world’s lowest ratios of healthcare workers to population, with about 11 health workers for every 10,000 people, according to WHO data. Belizaire said China and Uganda were sending medical teams to support the response.

She added that the WHO was providing psychological support to medics who feared treating patients after seeing colleagues fall sick.

“When they are explaining to you how they live it, how they were infected … [it] can break your heart.”

Outbreak yet to reach its peak

Congolese authorities said on Thursday that the outbreak has killed 232 people and infected 896 others across 31 health zones in the country.

African Union member states have pledged nearly $1bn to respond to the emergency in eastern DRC and neighbouring Uganda, which has confirmed 19 cases and two deaths.

Health officials warn that the outbreak has not yet reached its peak.

The crisis is also raising alarm in camps for displaced people, where overcrowding, poor sanitation and resistance to testing could allow the virus to spread undetected.

At least 30 people have died since early May in Kigonze camp in Bunia in Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak. Camp officials described the death rate as unprecedented.

Authorities could not confirm the causes of death because patients and relatives had refused testing of both the living and the dead until Thursday, according to a camp spokesperson and aid organisation Caritas.

But witnesses and aid sources told Reuters that the dead had symptoms linked to Ebola, including headaches, fever and vomiting.

“People didn’t just die like this before,” camp spokesperson Desire Grodya Bapi told Reuters.

Kigonze is home to more than 15,000 people. The rising number of deaths there has increased fears that Ebola may be spreading among the more than five million displaced people in eastern DRC.

Aid workers say funding cuts have made the emergency more dangerous. Donors, including the United States under President Donald Trump, have reduced support for water, hygiene, and sanitation programmes, which are vital in fighting the disease spread through bodily fluids.

UN data shows funding for toilets and handwashing stations in DRC more than halved between 2024 and 2025, falling to about $38m. This year’s $80m appeal is only 21 percent funded.

DRC has hundreds of displacement camps, some housing up to 100,000 people. Ebola deaths have already been recorded in another camp in Ituri province, which accounts for more than 90 percent of nearly 900 confirmed cases.

Lil Nas X says he feels “less fear in my heart” as he opens up about receiving treatment for bipolar disorder and moving forward from the mental health episode that landed him in hot water with law officials last year.

The Grammy winner (real name Montero Lamar Hill) addressed last year’s events in a video Wednesday morning on Instagram. Lil Nas X, 27, informed fans that he has been in a rehab program “for a few months,” spending time with family in Atlanta and with friends in Los Angeles. Since last year’s incident, the singer said he has been focused on “trying to ground myself down to Earth and get out of my head.”

Lil Nas X was hospitalized and arrested in August after he was seen strolling in only his underwear and white boots through Studio City, eventually shedding those items as the night progressed. The singer received treatment at a nearby hospital for a possible overdose but was accused of assaulting police officers.

He was charged with four felony counts: three counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one count of resisting an executive officer. Police accused the singer of assaulting the officers who were trying to take him into custody. Lil Nas X pleaded not guilty to all those counts.

In Wednesday’s video, Lil Nas X explained that he has also started seeing a therapist and psychiatrist to help address his mental condition — one he initially refused to accept. The singer, smiling and standing against a blue sky in his video, told fans that he was hesitant to take medication that would help address his bipolar disorder and joked that living with mental illness would add more to his plate: “I mean I’m already Black and gay…I’m like already living life on extreme hard mode.”

According to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, bipolar disorder is a treatable mental health condition marked by extreme changes in mood, thought, energy and behavior. Manic episodes, marked by elevated changes in mood or behavior, are a symptom of the condition. People with a bipolar disorder diagnosis more commonly experience depressive episodes.

Lil Nas X spoke candidly about his diagnosis months after a Los Angeles judge in April granted the “Industry Baby” and “Old Town Road” singer’s motion for diversion, ordering the musician to enter a two-year mental health program. TMZ reported at the time that the musician would be cleared of his four felony counts if he complies with treatment and commits no other crimes.

The singer assured fans on Wednesday: “I’m doing better, I’m feeling better, I’m creating freely and there’s less fear in my heart and I’m just like smelling the roses.”

He also reflected on his career thus far — he quickly ascended to fame in 2019 with his viral hit “Old Town Road” — and teased that new music is on the way. Lil Nas X concluded his video by thanking fans for their support and for “holding it down.”

“I love you, and all I wanna do is continue to try to make you proud and make myself proud,” he said. “Let’s go dreamboy, let’s go.”

Mangione would face lighter sentencing if jury accepts he was in a state of ‘extreme emotional disturbance’ during act.

Luigi Mangione, the man suspected of fatally shooting United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, will argue a psychiatric defence during his trial.

Judge Gregory Carro said on Wednesday that Mangione’s lawyers informed him that they will assert that their client was in a state of “extreme emotional disturbance” when he allegedly carried out the shooting in December 2024.

New York state allows murder defendants to make the case that they cannot be held fully responsible for their actions because they were in a state of extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the killing.

Thompson’s slaying, which took place outside a hotel in midtown Manhattan, shocked the United States public. Grainy footage of the act quickly spread across social media.

It also drew attention to the widespread anger over sky-high healthcare prices. Police have said that the terms “delay”, “deny”, and “depose” were written on the suspect’s ammunition, a reference to how health insurance companies avoid paying claims.

If the jury concludes that Mangione was emotionally disturbed at the time of the alleged act, it could move to convict him of manslaughter rather than murder. Such a conviction generally results in a lighter sentence.

Relying on a claim of emotional disturbance means that Mangione would effectively admit that he carried out the act, but that he did so under circumstances of impaired judgement. It differs from an insanity plea, which would allow Mangione to serve his sentence in a psychiatric facility rather than a prison.

Mangione, who sat between two of his lawyers dressed in a blue suit, is set to go to state trial on September 8. The 28-year-old has previously pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges in connection to the killing.

His federal trial, which includes stalking charges, is set to begin on October 13. He faces a potential life in prison if convicted in either case.

US District Judge Margaret Garnett, who is overseeing the federal case, threw out murder and weapons charges against Mangione on technical grounds in January. That ruling eliminated the possibility of Mangione facing the death penalty.

Following Jeremy Clarkson’s emotional cancer admission, questions are being asked about the future of Clarkson’s Farm, which has already been rocked by behind-the-scenes health battles

The latest episodes of Clarkson’s Farm have taken a devastating turn, with Jeremy Clarkson announcing his shock cancer diagnosis.

The former Top Gear host reduced farm manager Kaleb Cooper to tears as he revealed he’d known about the “aggressive” prostate cancer since May. Following treatment, Clarkson confided in Kaleb that he’d had “10 per cent” of his prostate removed via ultrasound, explaining: “The prostate, 10 per cent of it’s dead. The 10 per cent where the cancer is.”

In the season finale, Clarkson addressed viewers from his hospital bed, sharing that there had been complications during treatment. The 66-year-old told fans: “What I wanted to say was if this is all successful, I’ll see you for season six, and if it isn’t, I won’t. Take care, everyone.”

Over on Instagram, ahead of the new episodes dropping, an emotional Clarkson warned followers that a “really, really difficult watch” was in store.

Holding back tears in a candid post, Clarkson said on Tuesday: “Ordinarily, we try to keep the show bucolic and charming and cheerful. But the final two episodes, which drop in the middle of the night tonight, are none of those things really. They’re a difficult watch. They’re really, really, difficult.”

Fans of the hit farming show will know all too well that Clarkson is not the first cast member to share his health battles, with other stars being struck with serious illnesses throughout its five-year run.

Now questions have emerged about the future of Clarkson’s Farm, which has been running since June 2021, with Prime Video yet to issue a formal statement on its continuation.

At present, the show has not been officially recommissioned. In February, Clarkson himself confirmed that, while some recording for the upcoming series had already taken place, some pausing had been required due to the weather.

In his column for The Sunday Times, the presenter wrote: “There’s no filming happening on the farm at the moment. Or farming. It hasn’t stopped raining since the beginning of the year, so I can’t plant anything, and I can’t do anything with my cows either because we are still locked down by TB.”

But planning documents submitted to West Oxfordshire District Council reportedly suggest that season six is in the works. According to The Independent, part of it reads: “Season five will air this year and season six has been commissioned and will air in summer 2027.”

Clarkson’s enthusiasm for the farming show shows no sign of waning. Speaking previously with The Sun, he said: “We’ll definitely do six – Amazon want to (do series six), and I want to. I’ve got a good idea for six. I said I’ll stop doing them when there are no more ideas. But I’ve got two quite good ones, so we’ll do six, and then we’ll see…”

The beloved farm has been plagued by setbacks and personal health struggles. Back in 2024, during the show’s third series, farmhand Gerald Cooper revealed he had prostate cancer.

The fan favourite, known for his distinctive mullet, has since confirmed that he is thankfully cancer-free. Discussing his diagnosis with Prostate Cancer UK, Gerald shared: “It was a shock – but everyone has really supported me.”

He added: “I received tremendous support from family, friends and Prostate Cancer UK – which was also a lifeline. I made it through, and I’m now cancer-free.”

Wanting to do something “joyful” following his recovery, the 77-year-old went on to launch a racehorse syndicate to help raise some all-important awareness of prostate cancer. The horse itself is, of course, named ‘The Mullet’.

Then, in June 2025, it was revealed that castmate Alan Townsend – aka Alan the Builder – was awaiting heart surgery. While carrying out building work on the Farmer’s Dog Pub, Alan confirmed to Clarkson that he had a “quadruple bypass coming.”

When asked whether he had any fears about the procedure, Alan admitted: “Oh, [I’m] frightened to death. I don’t even like thinking about it. That’s why I keep going to work — keep out of the way. They told me to really just take it easy and stay at home. But if you stay, you’ll be worrying to death about it.”

In the latest season, fans were delighted to see Alan back at work after undergoing a gruelling procedure. Opening up to Clarkson about returning to normality, Alan confirmed that the op had been “very painful”, adding, “I don’t want to show you on camera, but it’s a nasty cut.”

Alan shared that he’d been hospitalised because of issues with the arteries in his heart. He explained: “One had collapsed and curled itself up, and the others were about 85-90 per cent blocked. Horrible. I had a bit of a problem with the lungs, I lost 36 per cent of the lungs.”

Coincidentally, Alan and Clarkson had been neighbours at the same hospital, with Clarkson undergoing follow-up heart check-ups at the same time.

The presenter underwent a heart procedure in October 2024, after experiencing a tightness in his chest. Medics revealed he’d been mere days away from a heart attack, in a scare that led to him having a stent fitted.

Opening up about his brush with catastrophe on the first episode of season five, Clarkson blamed his health woes on the pressures involved in launching The Farmer’s Dog. He told Kaleb, “I’m back and not dead. The Grim Reaper will have to wait. It was f***ing close, though.”

Clarkson’s Farm season 5 is on Prime Video

Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com.

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Corey Feldman was rushed to an L.A. hospital after his plane arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday.

The “Stand by Me” star, 54, started feeling unwell on his flight from Chicago to Los Angeles and was met by medical professionals at his gate. A doctor happened to be on board and checked on the former child star while in the air, but it was unclear what the issue was.

Doctors at a Los Angeles hospital were able to rule out gallstones, and on Tuesday, a representative for the “Goonies” star told The Times that they cracked the case, and Feldman is on the mend.

“Corey is doing much better and is now out of the hospital,” a rep for the actor and singer said. “They determined it was a really bad case of food poisoning (which no one ever wants to have on a plane!). Corey wants to thank everyone for all of the love and well wishes. He has definitely seen a lot of the messages and really appreciates everything.”

As for what soured Feldman’s stomach, his rep said, “Corey is vegetarian so I can definitely confirm it was not shrimp!”

Feldman was in Chicago to participate in a 40th anniversary celebration of the 1986 classic “Stand by Me,” one of the earlier films that put Feldman on the map as a young actor. He appeared at anniversary events alongside co-stars Jerry O’Connell and Wil Wheaton.

Feldman is dropping the single “What Am I Here 4” on Monday and is slated to perform two birthday shows, on July 25 at the Arrow Room in Rancho Cucamonga and on July 26 at the Garden Amp in Garden Grove.

The ⁠number of confirmed cases in ⁠the country has ​increased to 837, including 196 deaths.

The current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could become deadlier than the worst outbreak on record, which killed more than 11,000 people, says the head of Africa’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

⁠The ⁠number of confirmed cases in ⁠the country has increased to 837, including 196 deaths, ‌government data showed on Tuesday.

“If we don’t stop the outbreak very soon, it will be worse than what we had in West Africa and eastern DRC,” Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya said during a virtual meeting of African leaders and international donors in Burundi on Tuesday.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Kaseya said tens of thousands of people who may have been exposed to Ebola had not yet been traced or contacted.

“The contact tracing is a major indicator and a major issue. We are missing more than 26,000 people, and we don’t know where they are, and we don’t know if they are contaminating other people.”

A ⁠Red Cross official said that the epidemic had not yet peaked in the country.

“We ⁠are afraid that this could last one year to end this disease,” Bruno Michon, operations manager for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said.

The response has been hampered by a lack of treatment centres and by community resistance to stringent hygiene measures. Health officials said that, more than a month since ⁠the outbreak was declared, the true scale was still unknown.

The bodies of ⁠Ebola victims are highly infectious after death, and unsafe traditional burials – in which family members handle ⁠the body without proper protective equipment – are a leading driver of transmission.

So far, the continent has raised less than a fifth of the $518 million it is seeking to bolster measures to contain the outbreak, according to Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who also chairs the African Union.

The shortfall has raised concern among authorities, who fear the consequences could be devastating if the virus is not brought under control quickly.

There is no approved treatment or vaccine for this strain of Ebola. The World Health Organization (WHO) says it could take up to nine months for a vaccine to be ready.

Neighbouring Uganda has recorded 19 cases, 14 of them among people who had travelled from the DRC. The country has also reported two deaths.

WASHINGTON — While millions of soccer fans cheer or groan over World Cup matches spanning North America, health officials are on high alert for germs.

A heat wave may be the most obvious health threat. But infectious diseases can spread in a crowd, and experts are scrutinizing wastewater, hospital visits, even social media for any signs that an outbreak might be brewing.

Measles, one of the most contagious diseases, is among the top concerns, sparking a warning this week from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO. With a nearly six-week stretch of packed stadiums, bars and tourist sites in 16 cities, officials are on the lookout for a long list of infections, from the stomach bug norovirus to mosquito-borne dengue fever.

“This is truly a marathon,” said Palak Raval-Nelson, Philadelphia’s health commissioner.

The mass gatherings come at a tense moment for budget-strapped health agencies in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hit hard by Trump administration staffing cuts, already was grappling with a growing Ebola outbreak in central Africa and a cruise ship hantavirus outbreak. While CDC officials have advised state and local health departments behind the scenes, it’s expected World Cup disease surveillance dashboard still was “in final development” days before games began, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

“Our public health professionals are pretty stretched,” said global health specialist Rebecca Katz of Georgetown University, who is leading an unusual new hub to help.

At the Health Security Operations Center, a joint effort between Georgetown and MedStar Health, workers are analyzing data from around the country so they can alert health authorities, even emergency rooms, to any early signs of trouble. The center is issuing daily “situation reports” about disease trends around World Cup host cities and team base camps to several hundred local and federal public health groups, emergency management and hospital officials and others who’ve signed up.

“It’s important that we don’t become alarmist,” said MedStar emergency medicine specialist Dr. Shane Kappler. “We’re trying to be the insurance policy.”

Measles is a top concern for potential World Cup spread

Already more than 2,000 people in the U.S. have come down with measles this year, nearly as many as during all of last year, according to the CDC. Patients can spread measles before the rash appears and they realize they’re sick. Not too long ago, the U.S. seldom saw measles except from international travel by unvaccinated people.

Now with frequent U.S. outbreaks, “actually a lot of our international partners are worried about measles being exported to them after the games,” said Georgetown’s Katz.

Measles is spreading in Canada, too, and has exceeded 11,000 cases in Mexico, according to PAHO. It’s urging soccer fans to be sure they’re vaccinated, with a health campaign saying a single measles patient can spread the virus to up to 18 unprotected people.

Is Ebola a concern at the World Cup?

Brown University’s Dr. Craig Spencer, who survived Ebola while working in the West Africa outbreak over a decade ago, said he’s repeatedly asked about the risk of Ebola during the World Cup — but “for me, Ebola is not the No. 1 or No. 2 or even No. 3 threat.”

“I am concerned about importation of measles, I am much more concerned about the importation of other infectious threats that may not seem as scary to us as Ebola,” Spencer said.

Many health experts agree that the risk of Ebola spreading in the U.S. is very low. That’s partly because of government travel screenings and restrictions on people recently in outbreak-affected areas. Moreover, Ebola spreads by contact with bodily fluids from someone showing symptoms, not through the air like measles or respiratory viruses.

“One fortunate thing about this virus is you’re most contagious when you’re really quite ill. It’s not like COVID, where you could be sitting next to someone who doesn’t even know they’re infected and perhaps contract the virus,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, director of Brown’s Pandemic Center.

How to spot brewing diseases

There’s precedent for germs invading major sporting events. Canadian scientists linked a community measles outbreak to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, and clusters of norovirus had to be contained during the Olympics this year in Milan and in 2018 in South Korea.

One way to detect signs of trouble: People with certain viral or bacterial infections shed genetic material that sophisticated testing of wastewater can spot. For example, measles can appear in wastewater days before an emergency room sees its first patients.

A recent surveillance reports from Katz’s center note that wastewater testing recently found diarrhea-causing rotavirus, hepatitis A and norovirus in some parts of the U.S., something to watch as soccer crowds arrive.

In Dallas, officials ramped up wastewater screening including at the international airport, casting a wide net rather than looking for specific illnesses, said Dr. Phil Huang, director of Dallas County Health and Human Services.

His team also is enhancing the usual mosquito testing, checking not just for West Nile virus that regularly spreads in the U.S. but for viruses more common in other countries like dengue and chikungunya.

Public health officials have been preparing for months, said Philadelphia’s Raval-Nelson, including with mock emergency drills and communications with counterparts around the country.

“I don’t want to send a message that there’s one key thing,” she said. “We have the frameworks in place to carry out what we need to.”

Neergaard writes for the Associated Press.

Kevin Turner is in intensive care and his family will need to pay the bill – and the cost of getting him home

A dad faces a £30,000 medical bill after falling ill on holiday because he didn’t declare a common ailment on his travel insurance. Kevin Turner flew to Alicante with his partner Joy Peck in May after feeling poorly the week before with a chest infection.

After taking antibiotics and steroids, the 63-year-old said he felt assured by his GP that he was ‘good to go’ and was prescribed more medication to account for being away. The retired painter and decorator felt ‘off’ when he landed but put it down to the journey. It was when his chest pains worsened the following day that Joy called an ambulance.

After being rushed to a hospital in Alicante, doctors discovered Kevin had a pierced lung and pneumonia and he was put in intensive care. Despite having holiday insurance, Kevin’s family says his medical bills aren’t covered as he didn’t declare his chest infection before travelling – meaning he faces bills of at least £30,000.

Kevin’s daughters Sam Turner, 44, and Natalie Fowell, 40, have set up a GoFundMe to help pay his medical bills and get him home to the UK. Sam, from Winsford, Cheshire, said: “It was really, really scary because obviously you’re helpless. You’re over here and you don’t know what’s going on.

“He did have an existing chest infection that he had visited the doctor for that week and had been given antibiotics and steroids. He did also say that he was due to go on holiday and there were no warnings or concerns around that [from the GP] so he thought he was good to go.

“They just gave him enough medication for the fact that he was going away and that was it. He’d arrived at midnight, had something to eat and drink and gone to bed, feeling a bit off but just put it down to travel. It got progressively worse from there.

“By the next day the pains were just so much that in hindsight he probably already had pneumonia when he got on the flight, but he wasn’t aware. Joy rang me from the hotel and said ‘I’ve had to call him an ambulance, he’s not good’ and we were like ‘right, ok get him to the hospital’, trying to get updates all the time.

“They [doctors] said he had a pierced lung and chest and stomach pain where it’s believed air and gases had built up and had to be drained.”

Wedding co-ordinator Sam flew out to be with her dad on May 30 to be by his bedside. After contacting the insurance company, Sam says she was told that Kevin’s medical bills wouldn’t be covered as he didn’t declare the ongoing chest infection on his travel insurance before flying.

The cost of his bills is estimated to be £30,000, but as Kevin is still in intensive care it may rise. You can donate to Kevin’s GoFundMe here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-kevs-recovery-and-journey-home

Sam said: “It very much looks like it’s a case of, the small print says if there are any significant health changes up to the date of travel then you must notify them. He’s still in intensive care and we’re trying to find out what the prognosis is.

“He hasn’t been out of bed, he hasn’t used his legs or feet and he’s just really worried because he’s lost all feeling in them. The insurance took about two weeks for them to decide that they weren’t going to pay out. It involved a lot of chasing from us.

“I would always say read the small print of the insurance document, make sure you go with a reputable company and look at their reviews.”

WASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was admitted to a hospital Sunday, his spokesperson said, but there was no immediate information about why he was there or his prognosis.

McConnell, 84, was the longest-serving Senate leader in history before stepping aside from that role while finishing his final term, which ends in January.

“Senator McConnell was admitted to the hospital this morning. He is receiving excellent care,” spokesperson David Popp said in a statement without elaboration. It was not immediately clear whether McConnell was in Washington, Kentucky or elsewhere.

McConnell’s health has been a subject of scrutiny for years.

He fell and sprained his wrist while walking out of a GOP luncheon in December 2024. He was hospitalized with a concussion in March 2023 and missed several weeks of work after falling in a Washington hotel. After he returned, he twice froze up during news conferences that summer, staring vacantly ahead before colleagues and staff came to his assistance.

McConnell had polio in his early childhood, and he has long acknowledged some difficulty as an adult in walking and climbing stairs. In addition to his 2023 fall, he tripped and fell in 2019 at his home in Kentucky. He had surgery for a fractured shoulder.

McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and was the Republican leader from 2007 until 2025, serving as both majority and minority leader during that period.

He remains active in the Senate, showing up for work when the chamber is in session, and recently chairing public hearings and grilling officials from his perch as chair of the Senate appropriations subcommittee on defense. He has intermittently used a wheelchair to navigate the Capitol and is routinely accompanied by his security detail, as a former congressional leader.

New rules have come into force from June in the first update for three years

TUI Airways has officially updated its Flight Conditions of Carriage, with the new rules taking effect for bookings starting June 5, 2026. ^{If you booked your getaway before this date, the previous rules (from March 2023) still apply to your trip.}

The update streamlines legal language, tightens health policy provisions, and explicitly outlines fees for amendments. The TUI Conditions of Carriage is the official legal contract between you and TUI Airways when you buy a flight. ^{The rules apply to every single passenger flying on a TUI Airways aircraft. This includes people who bought a “Flight Only” ticket and people who booked a TUI package holiday (where the flight is included).}

It is a dense legal document split into distinct “Articles” (usually around 15–20 pages if printed). Because nobody reads the full text while packing, it is designed to protect both the airline’s operations and outline your consumer rights. In short, they state: “We promise to fly you and your bags to your destination, provided you show up on time, behave yourself, bring valid legal documents, and don’t pack anything dangerous.”

It covers rules around baggage size and weights, ticket validlty and banning passengers. The key updates and points of focus in the 2026 conditions include:

1. Health Requirements & Mask Policies (Article 1)

While daily travel has largely returned to normal, TUI has modernised its terms to give them a clear mandate for future public health scenarios:

• Conditional Mask Requirements: The rules specify that if a local government or health authority mandates them, you must wear an appropriate mask at the airport and on board. ^{Failing to comply can result in a refusal of carriage, and taking it off mid-flight will be treated under TUI’s disruptive passenger policy.}
• Health Statements : TUI retains the right to require you to fill out a health statement prior to flying out of or returning to a UK airport. ^{Passengers showing symptoms of a major health outbreak, epidemic, or pandemic will be denied boarding.}

2. Name Corrections vs. Substitutions

• Spelling Mistakes: You can still correct genuine typos or spelling mistakes on your ticket for free, as long as TUI can reasonably verify it is an honest mistake.
• Name Substitutions : If the change amounts to transferring the ticket to an entirely different person, it will not be treated as a free correction and will incur standard amendment/transfer fees.

3. Ticket Validity and Amendment Fees

• Validity Period: Tickets remain valid for exactly one year from the date of issue.
• Compassionate Exceptions: In the tragic event of a passenger passing away en route, or a death in a passenger’s immediate family after travel has started, TUI explicitly permits the tickets of the passenger and their accompanying immediate family to be changed so they can fly at a different time.
• Voluntary Amendments: If you decide to change your flight details (date, time, or destination) 29 days or more before departure, you will face a baseline amendment charge of £50 / €50 per passenger per booking, plus any difference in the fare price, taxes, or associated fees.

Though technically part of their package holiday booking terms rather than the Flight Conditions of Carriage, TUI also launched a highly publicized Price-Match Promise. ^{If you book a package holiday and find the exact same TUI-flight-inclusive deal cheaper elsewhere, you can claim a refund for the difference—but you must submit the claim within 72 hours of your original booking.}

There are four signs you need to be aware of before you get on a plane

A doctor has explained the red flag warning signs that should never be ignored after a flight. Millions of people will jet off on their summer holidays in the coming months and a vascular consultant says holidaymakers should be aware of tell-tale signs before they become a medical emergency.

Dr Mark Regi, Consultant Interventional Radiologist at VeinCentre, said: “Air travel, particularly long-haul flights, can put extra strain on your circulatory system as most people will have limited movement for a long period of time. People with poor circulation or varicose veins can be at greater risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a blood clot usually found in the leg.

“For most people, a walk around the cabin and some compression socks will do the trick, but it’s always worth knowing the signs to look out for that something potentially serious could be happening.”

Last year influencer Molly-Mae Hague told how she feared she had suffered a blood clot after experiencing severe pain in her leg following a flight home from Dubai. After rushing to hospital doctors gave the former Love Island star the all clear. She told fans: “It needs to be taken so much more seriously because it can happen to anyone at any age.”

Symptoms of DVT include a throbbing pain in the calf or thigh, swelling in one leg, swollen veins and the skin around the leg becoming red, blue or darkened. Dr Regi said: “If any swelling doesn’t ease after a flight and you experience a dull ache or heavy cramping then it’s always worth speaking to a doctor.

“DVT can be serious so keep a close eye on any changes that don’t settle down. If you experience shortness of breath or chest pain, together with these symptoms, seek medical advice straight away as this could be a sign a clot has travelled to the lung.”

Dr Regi continued: “People who already know they have poor circulation, for example if they have varicose veins, should try and move around as much as is practical during any long-haul flights. That’s because twisted or bulging veins can struggle to circulate blood effectively during extended periods of immobility.

“I always recommend investing in medical-grade compression stockings if you have varicose veins. You should also keep hydrated and keep alcohol and caffeinated drinks to a minimum. Exercises such as calf raises and ankle pumps can also keep blood pumping around your legs when you can’t get up for a wander.”

Dr Regi says varicose veins are often seen as purely a cosmetic issue, but they should be taken seriously and treatment is available. He said: “Varicose veins mean they are not working as they should. Treatments are available which focus on the underlying venous insufficiency to alleviate symptoms and prevent complications. Endovenous Laser Ablation (EVLA) is a minimally invasive procedure that uses laser energy to close off affected veins, treating the root cause of varicose veins.”

The looming impact of federal Medicaid cuts has reignited a long-simmering, costly battle between California’s medical industry and one of its largest health worker unions.

SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, with about 120,000 members, has put forward two ballot initiatives to cap the pay of medical executives and require community clinics to spend the bulk of their revenues on patient care.

The California Hospital Assn. has responded with its own ballot proposal that would make it tougher for unions to spend money on political initiatives in the future. It would require approval by a union’s rank-and-file membership for any spending of $1 million or more on statewide measures, or $100,000 or more on local ones.

The competing measures, which have drawn enough verified signatures to qualify for the November ballot, come at a time when the rising cost of healthcare is emerging as a top voter concern.

The Service Employees International Union affiliate has seized upon affordability angst to resurrect a proposal for a cap on healthcare executive compensation, which it has failed to achieve multiple times before. The proposed measure garnered more than 1 million petition signatures.

“This initiative reflects the serious crisis we face and that affordability is a real thing,” said Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute, a Massachusetts-based healthcare think tank. “I think it also reflects grassroots anger and a desire to do something.”

Mikey Vaughn, a certified nursing assistant at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said the hospital often lacks supplies and staffing levels that he and his colleagues need in order to do their jobs effectively and without undue stress, despite its reputation as the go-to place for the rich and famous.

“The executive pay initiative would, I hope, be used to hire staff and to actually provide better resources for our patients,” he said. Vaughn is also a member of SEIU-UHW’s executive board and political committee.

Thomas Priselac, then-president and CEO of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, made $8.8 million in fiscal year 2024, according to the organization’s most recent available federal tax filing. Kaiser Permanente’s CEO, Gregory Adams, made nearly $13 million in 2024. Warner Thomas, head of Sutter Health, made just under $12 million.

Cedars-Sinai spokesperson Duke Helfand said the hospital would be unable to recruit and retain physicians, nurses, and specialists if the measure passed, dramatically impairing its ability to provide healthcare.

“Such a scenario would be disastrous not only for Cedars-Sinai but for hospitals across Los Angeles and California,” Helfand said.

The union wants to cap compensation at $450,000 a year for senior hospital and medical group executives, as well as other administrative and managerial staff. However, the initiative does not stipulate how dollars diverted from payroll must be spent.

The union has dubbed the latest proposal the Health Care Executive Compensation Act of 2026. A coalition of medical industry heavyweights opposing it — hospitals, physicians, and clinics, among others — has rebranded it the Health Care Endangerment Act.

Carmela Coyle, CEO of the hospital association, called the measure a cynical political ploy.

“It’s bad policy and it’s going to have bad consequences across California,” she said.

Glenn Melnick, a healthcare economist at the University of Southern California, said even if the initiative were fully implemented and pay cuts enacted, he doubts it would reduce the cost of healthcare for patients.

SEIU-UHW does not have an estimated total amount the initiative would claw back from pay packages that exceed the limit.

Opponents of the initiative note that it doesn’t just target executive pay; it would affect medical practitioners who are also managers. That could include chief medical officers and chief nursing officers, as well as heads of surgery, emergency rooms, oncology, obstetrics, cardiology and other specialties, they say.

It would be up to each hospital, health system and physician group to report which staff members exceed the cap and by how much.

Ultimately, who is subject to the pay cap “probably will have to be battled out in court,” Coyle said . “That’s why we are throwing everything we can at it.”

The second SEIU-UHW ballot initiative, on community clinics, is already in court. The California Primary Care Assn., which represents clinics, filed a federal lawsuit in April seeking to invalidate it before it reaches the November ballot.

The proposed measure would require federally designated community clinics to spend at least 90% of their revenues on activities directly related to their mission of providing care for low-income populations. If it were to pass, more than 90% of those clinic organizations would be on the hook for penalties totaling $1.7 billion in the first year alone and “would face similarly crippling penalties every year,” according to a report commissioned by the primary care association and conducted by the Berkeley Research Group, an international consulting company.

Louise McCarthy, president and CEO of the Community Clinic Assn. of Los Angeles County, said many pivotal services the clinics provide — such as translation and transportation — would likely not be counted toward the spending requirement.

“They are targeting a group of what they see as employers and we see as the safety net,” she said.

The lawsuit cites the harm to clinics and claims the proposed spending requirement would interfere with federal authority.

Renée Saldaña, a spokesperson for SEIU-UHW, characterized the lawsuit against the initiative as “a really desperate attempt by the clinic industry to try and avoid accountability.”

SEIU-UHW, proud of its political activism, is also behind a controversial billionaire tax proposal that would impose a one-time 5% levy on California residents with fortunes over $1 billion to backfill the funding gap created by federal cuts coming down the pike under Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The law, passed last July and signed by President Trump, is projected to squeeze nearly $1 trillion from the Medicaid health coverage program for low-income people by 2034, including as much as $30 billion annually in California.

The hospital association, the community clinic group and the California Medical Assn., which represents physicians, are neutral on the wealth tax proposal thus far. But Saldaña said all three of the union’s ballot proposals tie into an overarching strategy to counter the widening healthcare disparities caused by the federal law.

“We believe the primary concern of healthcare providers, including executives, should be to serve the community, heal patients, and not be in healthcare just to enrich themselves,” she said on the proposed pay cap.

Over the years, the union has submitted dozens of local and statewide ballot initiatives, including ones to cap the pay of hospital executives, regulate dialysis clinics, and raise the minimum wage of healthcare workers.

The hospital association calculates that SEIU-UHW has spent nearly $125 million on local and statewide initiatives since 2012. But healthcare industry groups have spent far more opposing them. The hospital association data shows that the union spent nearly $36 million on three ballot proposals to regulate the dialysis industry, but dialysis companies poured in $302 million to defeat them, according to state campaign finance records.

The union’s ongoing political efforts “threaten patient access to quality health care,” according to the hospital association’s ballot initiative, which could limit how much unions spend on future ballot measures.

Saldaña hinted at a possible lawsuit should that measure pass, saying “we don’t see the legal viability” of it. The proposal, she said, is an attempt “to silence the front-line healthcare workers.”

Ultimately, a ballot initiative won’t cure the ills that plague healthcare in the United States, said the Lown Institute’s Saini. What’s needed, he said, is “an evaluation and reimagination of healthcare.”

Wolfson 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.

MoneySavingExpert has shared important safety advice for holidaymakers

MoneySavingExpert (MSE) has issued a travel warning to millions of people. Founded by journalist and broadcaster Martin Lewis, MSE regularly posts consumer advice for Brits. In the latest Money Tips Email, the experts offered advice for anyone booking holidays.

In the email, the team told readers: “Summer is coming, and if you’re booked to go away and haven’t got your insurance yet, you need to do it NOW, today, straight away!” As the experts pointed out, booking travel insurance as soon as you book your holiday offers the maximum protection, including cover if something happens that prevents you from travelling.

Before setting off, it’s also advised to get a Global Health Insurance Card if you’re travelling to Europe. In the alert, MSE revealed that over two million cards are expected to expire this year. As a result, millions could miss out on the benefits if they don’t renew ahead of upcoming holidays.

The UK Global Health Insurance Card enables holidaymakers to access healthcare without paying more than a local resident would while travelling in the European Economic Area.

The NHS explains: “The UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) lets you get necessary state healthcare in the European Economic Area (EEA), and some other countries, on the same basis as a resident of that country. This may be free or it may require a payment equivalent to that which a local resident would pay.

“The UK GHIC has replaced the existing European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). If you have an existing EHIC you can continue to use it until the expiry date on the card. Once it expires, you’ll need to apply for a UK GHIC to replace it.”

While people are advised they should also take out travel insurance, it could help you avoid paying the excess if you need medical treatment during your trip. MSE said: “Going to the EU? Ensure you’ve a valid (free) GHIC/EHIC – over 2m expire this year.

“The ‘Global Health Insurance Card’ (GHIC) and its predecessor, the EHIC, give access to state-run hospitals or GPs, mainly in European countries, for the same price as a local. So if they don’t pay, you don’t either. Over two million expire this year, check yours.”

A UK GHIC is free, and you can apply through the NHS website. The NHS advises avoiding unofficial websites, which may charge an application fee. People can apply for a new card up to nine months before their current card expires.

The NHS says: “You can apply for a UK GHIC if you’re a resident in the UK. You can also add your family members to your application when you apply.”

Gunshots, water cannon and tear gas have been used by Kenya’s police in the central town of Nanyuki, where hundreds of protesters lit fires and hurled stones at law enforcement officers as they demonstrated against a quarantine centre for US citizens exposed to Ebola.

Tuesday’s violence came as the proposed quarantine centre at the town’s Laikipia Air Base has caused anger among Kenyans who accuse the United States of shifting the risks of caring for people exposed to the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda onto Kenya.

Kenya has never recorded a case of Ebola, and many residents oppose bringing potential carriers of the virus into the country.

The centre is designed to have 50 isolation beds, run by US staff, and was nearing completion late last week.

Construction has continued despite a temporary halt order from Kenya’s High Court and vocal opposition from local politicians.

President William Ruto’s government has pledged to press ahead with the project, arguing that Kenya owes Washington for years of financial and technical support.

The US has committed $13.5m to support Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts.

Volker Turk, the high commissioner for human rights at the United Nations, has issued some of his harshest criticism yet of the recent sanctions the United States has imposed on Cuba.

On Monday, Turk drew a line between the increasing restrictions on the Cuban economy and reports of heightened death rates, particularly among children.

“The fuel restrictions imposed since early 2026 and recent tightening of extraterritorial sanctions, taken together, are directly harming Cubans, especially the most vulnerable,” Turk said in a statement.

“Children are dying because doctors lack access to essential medical supplies and medicines. This is unacceptable.”

Such “severe sanctions”, he added, run contrary to the “basic principles of international human rights law”. He called for them to be “lifted immediately”.

Turk’s comments are a direct response to the suite of actions taken under US President Donald Trump to tighten pressure on Cuba, a Caribbean island that has already weathered a decades-long US trade embargo.

Starting in January, the Trump administration moved to cut off Cuba’s foreign oil supply, a linchpin for its ageing energy grid.

First, it severed supplies of oil and funds from Venezuela. Then, on January 29, Trump issued an executive order declaring Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US national security. As such, he said, any country that supplied it with oil would be subject to steep tariffs.

In the months since, the Trump administration has continued to layer sanctions on Cuba. In May, for instance, penalties were announced against Cuba’s Interior Ministry, its National Police and its Directorate of Intelligence.

Those were followed this month by sanctions targeting Cuba’s president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, as well as members of his family.

The sanctions are designed to penalise those “responsible for repression” in Cuba, an island whose communist government has been accused of stifling dissent, as well as imprisoning and torturing activists.

Turk on Monday acknowledged Cuba’s human rights record and called on the country to “release all those arbitrarily detained”.

But he also pointed to the mounting death toll associated with the US sanctions, which have isolated the island country from much of the world.

The sanctions freeze any US-based assets the target may have, but they also prohibit entities from conducting business with the sanctioned parties. That can result in difficulties accessing global financial systems and other international platforms.

The de facto oil blockade has also resulted in the increasing frequency of power outages, and essential services like public transportation and medical care have faced reductions. Turk pointed to those downstream effects in his remarks.

“Cuba faces increasing isolation,” he said. “Companies are leaving. Fewer airlines fly to the country. It is almost disconnected from international payment systems.”

Turk’s office has also highlighted the human costs of the sanctions. According to the statistics it cited, infant death rates have doubled, reaching 9.9 for every 1,000 births. The survival rate for childhood cancer, meanwhile, has declined from 85 to 65 percent.

In March, the Cuban government also warned of medical needs going unanswered as a result of the energy shortage. It estimated that there was a backlog of 96,387 people awaiting surgery, 11,193 of whom were minors.

It also underscored that 16,000 patients needed radiotherapy, and another 2,888 required dialysis, two treatments that depend on steady electrical supplies.

Turk’s remarks also pointed to the risks posed by the Atlantic hurricane season and other natural disasters. Within hours of his remarks, western Cuba was rattled by a powerful 6.1-magnitude earthquake. Summer heat alone could cost lives, he explained.

“Rising summer temperatures risk increasing the spread of vector borne and waterborne diseases,” Turk said.

“The hurricane season further increases exposure. This creates a perfect storm for social and economic deterioration and suffering for the Cuban people.”

Trump has repeatedly suggested that he is considering military action in Cuba to remove its leadership after the US-Israel war on Iran reaches an end.

Since January, only one Russian oil tanker has been allowed to reach the island, leaving its foreign fuel supplies largely depleted.

Sweaty, shirtless football players lying on the pitch have seldom raised eyebrows as they did last week when photographs of European players struggling to train in the heat sparked concerns over sweltering US summer temperatures at the World Cup.

Scientists have long cautioned that extreme heat could disrupt sporting events. Last month, climate experts warned that one in four World Cup games could be played in very hot conditions, affecting fans and players alike.

Those warnings materialised last week; social media was abuzz with sunburnt players — mostly from European teams used to cooler climates — dousing themselves with water to cool off. Norway’s team even opted to wear ice collars around their necks during the friendly against Morocco.

But England captain Harry Kane quickly dismissed speculation over how much the heat would affect players, saying it “won’t be a factor”, thanks to his team’s World Cup training regimen.

So, how much will higher temperatures actually affect players at the World Cup? Al Jazeera takes a look.

What have experts said about heat during World Cup matches?

Th 2026 World Cup could be the hottest on record since the tournament began in 1930 due to a sharp rise in global temperatures, explained Al Jazeera weather presenter Everton Fox.

“Around half a dozen of the venues are prone to extreme heat; places like Dallas, Houston, Miami and the Mexican venues are all likely to swelter,” Fox said.

Daytime temperatures there are expected to average 28C, though the stadiums in Dallas, Houston and Atlanta have air conditioning.

Approximately 26 of the 104 matches could reach at least 26C in the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) index — which measures how effectively the body can cool itself — while five games are expected to be played in conditions of 28C WB or higher, according to World Weather Attribution (WWA), a network of climate scientists.

Of those 26 matches, 17 will be played in stadiums with cooling systems, reducing risks for players and fans.

But more than a third of the games with a one in 10 chance of exceeding 26C will be in venues without air conditioning.

How do hotter temperatures impact athletes’ performance?

Heat stress due to increased humidity, exposure to solar radiation and the effects of wind speed will impact players running around in direct sunlight, Fox said.

“All this makes it harder for the body to cool down as it becomes harder for sweat to evaporate as quickly,” said Fox, a senior meteorologist with more than 30 years of experience.

Physical performance coach Raiyan Abbasi explained that, although the body sweats to achieve thermoregulation – a process that allows the body to maintain its core internal temperature – excessive sweating due to heat could lead to dehydration, cramps and increased fatigue.

Are athletes used to such high temperatures?

“Yes, the majority of athletes will know how to deal with this kind of heat since they’re elite players training and competing in various conditions,” said Abbasi, who has worked as a physical performance coach for British clubs Swansea and West Ham, as well as the Pakistan national side.

Teams will have a performance coach and medical staff to make sure players are ready for the tournament, including through acclimatisation, Abbasi explained – echoing what Kane said over the weekend after his side beat New Zealand 1-0 in Tampa, Florida, where temperatures soared beyond 30C.

Do athletes from hotter nations have an advantage?

World Cup nations whose players train in hotter climates may have a slight advantage when it comes to adjusting to high temperatures in the US.

“But essentially, countries that prepare and perform well can minimise that difference,” Abbasi said, adding that heat can be used positively too.

“Heat is a significant factor in creating good athletes; one way to improve athletic capabilities is to train in the heat.

“It can make big adaptations in your body to improve body temperature.”

Could the World Cup have been held before or after summer in the US?

Fox noted that international tournaments are traditionally in the European domestic off season, which is when the 2026 World Cup is being held.

“Ideally, US weather is most conducive in the spring and autumn, but you’d then be looking at the tornado season in spring and hurricane late summer through autumn before you even begin to think about their domestic sports which locals have more interest in,” Fox said.

What measures has FIFA taken for players and fans?

FIFA said it has carried out heat-risk planning, with measures including three-minute hydration breaks in each half of games, cooling infrastructure for fans and players, adapted work-rest cycles, and enhanced medical readiness that scale according to real-time conditions.

“The hydration breaks probably need to be longer to gain full benefit, but then you risk turning it into a game of four quarters,” Fox said jokingly, although he argued that FIFA could have confined games to northern parts of the US and Canada.

FIFA has also delayed kickoff times for some matches to start outside the hottest afternoon hours.

This is a “natural” part of being a woman, he said

A doctor has revealed why women start to put on belly fat as they age, stating it’s a “normal” part of life. According to the expert, women can expect to see their weight fluctuate when they get older.

In a clip from his podcast No Appointment Necessary, shared to his Instagram page, Dr Amir Khan issued some reassurance about weight before and after the menopause. He explained how fat is distributed on the body differently as a result of this hormonal change.

Menopause is a natural life stage that typically affects women between the ages of 45 and 55. It happens when hormone levels in the body drop to a point where periods cease completely.

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As a consequence of these hormonal shifts, the body can experience a broad range of symptoms that can impact both physical and mental health. These include hot flushes, mood swings, and brain fog.

However, it can also affect how your body stores fat. On the podcast, his co-host Cheery Healey said: “Lots of women find that when they go through perimenopause and menopause, they gain weight.”

Dr Amir responded: “So, before the menopause, fat distribution in women is usually around the hips, thighs, and buttock area. And that fat distribution is completely normal and healthy and women should have fat there, you don’t want to lose it.”

He explained why. “It’s really good for your fertility,” he said.

“It’s really good for your overall health. It is expected and needed.”

But after menopause, you might notice that you are more prone to weight gain around the tummy. Dr Amir continued: “After the menopause, as the hormones shift, things change.

“And that fat usually deposits around the tummy area and the hips as well and so people can refer to it as a ‘meno belly’. It’s not really a great term but it is just the shift of weight, really.”

He added: “Normal, natural, not the end of the world, part of being a woman, an adult woman.” His advice is supported by the NHS website, which says: “Weight gain during perimenopause and menopause is common.

“It often happens around the stomach and upper body.”

Other symptoms of menopause

The other symptoms of menopause, as listed by the NHS, include:

• Changes to your periods
• Hot flushes and night sweats
• Sleep problems
• Mood changes, poor memory and brain fog
• Vaginal problems such as dryness, a burning feeling, irritation or itching in and around the vagina
• UTIs (urinary tract infections)
• A faster, slower or more noticeable heartbeat (palpitations)
• Weakening bones (loss of bone density), which can lead to osteoporosis
• Feeling the need to pee more or not being able to control when you pee (urinary incontinence)
• Headaches and migraines that are worse than usual
• Muscle aches and joint pains
• Hair thinning or hair loss
• Skin changes, including dry and itchy skin
• Reduced sex drive (loss of libido)
• Sensitive teeth, painful gums or other mouth problems

The health body says you should contact your GP if:

• You think you have symptoms of menopause or perimenopause and want to know what your options are
• You have symptoms like a fast heartbeat (palpitations)
• You still have periods but your bleeding pattern has changed and you’re bleeding more, not less, than before
• You have not had a period for 12 months or more, and you have any vaginal bleeding

The most commonly prescribed treatment for menopause symptoms is hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

Kenyan President William Ruto said allowing the US to build an Ebola quarantine facility in Kenya was the “right thing”. At least two people were killed this week in protests against the facility, which is being built on a US air force base for Americans exposed to the virus.

June 4 (UPI) — Melinda French Gates has added another $215 million to her organization Pivotal, which funds social initiatives for women and families around the world.

The latest boost in funding is specifically to address problems with women’s reproductive and menopause health, she said. French Gates has contributed $600 million to women’s health over the past two years.

As part of this round, she is donating $10 million to The Menopause Society for the education of healthcare professionals and to expand outreach in areas where access to menopause care is limited.

“For too long, perimenopause and menopause have been treated as invisible — something women are expected to manage quietly, without clear answers or support. That must change. By getting healthcare practitioners better training and investing in research, we can help ensure women have the care they need to live full and healthy lives,” French Gates said in a statement.

While midlife issues have seen more attention, thanks to social media, that attention doesn’t always translate to correct information from practitioners.

“The piece that I’m focused on with Pivotal is: How do we make sure that women get accurate information about what we do know about this phase of life? And how do we make sure that all providers are trained?” she told Time in an interview.

“In midlife, I would say we both don’t have enough knowledge or tools,” she said. “The research should have been started more than 50 years ago. We should have had many, many, many studies about this period of life, so that we have different tools, not just hormone replacement therapy. Then, we have a lack of provider training, which is the piece I’m going to work on with this particular amount of funding.”

The Menopause Society said the funding will help reach women who need the care.

“Menopause is a universal life stage, but quality care is not universally available,” said Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director of The Menopause Society, in a statement. “With this funding, we can scale evidence-based training for front line clinicians and extend our reach to areas where menopause care has long been overlooked. This is a meaningful step toward ensuring that women receive the informed, compassionate care they need and deserve so they can make smarter healthcare decisions. It also allows for exploration and a better understanding of the need for system changes.”

While the donation is critical, Faubion said the attention generated by French Gates is even more important.

“It shows that somebody like Melinda Gates and Pivotal feel that this is an important issue,” Faubion told the Independent. “It will illuminate the gaps that are still there … and it makes people not only aware, but maybe motivated to take some action.”

Though women make up half the population, health issues that affect them get only 2% of private healthcare funding, according to the World Economic Forum.

“The role of philanthropy, in my opinion, is to look at some of these societal problems that have been left behind, and shine light on them, show ways of making progress so you can then crowd in other donors and ultimately crowd in government funding,” French Gates told The Independent. “Part of what I’m doing here, I hope, is sending a signal to say, ‘This is really important. Let’s do something about it.’ And my hope is that I’ll be able to get others who will join me.”