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EXCLUSIVE: Twinne-Lee Moore played Porsche McQueen in Hollyoaks over a decade ago and the actress turned singer has hinted at a potential return for a reunion with her on-screen family

Hollyoaks could set to welcome back a familar face to the fictional village.

Twinnie-Lee Moore played Porsche McQueen from Novemebr 2014 until December 2015.

The character highlighted the issues of sexual abuse in children and other storylines included a failed marriage when her husband had various affairs.

During her time on the Channel 4 soap, Twinnie-Lee was nominated for the British Soap Award for Best Newcomer and an Inside Soap Award in 2015 for her powerful portrayal.

Since leaving Hollyoaks, Twinnie-Lee has swapped Yorkshire for Nashville to embark a career as a country pop singer-songwriter.

However, the TV star has hinted that a return to Hollyoaks could be on the cards after catching up with her on-screen family at the soap’s 30th anniversary celebration last month.

Speaking to Reach PLC, Twinnie-Lee said: “It’s been a whole decade and it’s so lovely to see everybody.

“The McQueens are obviously my favourite family and I was very honoured to be part of it and it brings back a lot of memories.”

When asked about a potential Porsche McQueen comeback, she added: “You’ll have to ask the writers about that.

“I’m currently in Nashville doing my music. I did pitch to them if they did want to come and do a Nashville series. She [Porsche] did leave on a cruise so you never know.”

Porsche was last seen on screen on Christmas Eve 2015 and Twinnie-Lee revealed that fans still message her a decade later about her character.

She explained: “It’s so wild because people even now still message me about Porsche. I posted something and everyone was like ‘omg come back’, ‘when you coming back’.

“She was such a great character to play, made a real impact and very relatable.”

Last year, Twinnie-Lee returned to the small screen in Emmerdale as Jade Garrick, an illegal gambling and underground fighting manager who Ross Barton (Michael Parr) and Billy Fletcher (Jay Kontzle) worked for for a small number of episodes.

Speaking about her new role at the time, the soap star said: “My life has been a bit crazy recently juggling music and acting with lots of back and forth between Nashville and Yorkshire but I’ve been loving it!!

“I’ve loved being back on screen, especially as the show is shot in Yorkshire, being able to be home with family and go to work on such an iconic show has been nothing short of amazing! The whole team has been so welcoming and really supportive.”

Hollyoaks airs Monday to Wednesday on E4 at 7pm and first look episodes can be streamed Channel 4 from 7am

Oct. 25 (UPI) — Kamela Harris said she may run again for U.S. president in the 2028 election.

The interview will be broadcast Sunday on the BBC and excerpts were released on Saturday.

The former vice president told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that her grandnices would “in their lifetime for” see a woman in the White House and “possibly” it could be her.

“I am not done,” Harris said. “I have lived my entire career as a life of service and it’s in my bones.”

Harris, who turned 61 on Monday, said she hasn’t made a decision yet, more than three years before the election.

Harris lost to Donald Trump in the 2024 election after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21, just than a month before the Democratic convention.

Her book, 107 days, released on Sept. 23, details the short length of her campaign.

Harris dismissed polls that have her trailing in the Democratic nomination behind California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“If I listened to polls I would have not run for my first office, or my second office – and I certainly wouldn’t be sitting here,” said Harris, the former California senator, attorney general and state attorney who challenged Biden for the top spot on the ticket in 2020.

Harris again criticized her 2024 opponent, calling him a “tyrant.”

The White House responded to Harris’s comments.

“When Kamala Harris lost the election in a landslide, she should’ve taken the hint –the American people don’t care about her absurd lies,” spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said.

“Or maybe she did take the hint and that’s why she’s continuing to air her grievances to foreign publications.”

Trump defeated Harris in the popular vote, 77.3 million to 75 million, and the Electoral College vote 312-226.

She noted warnings about him while campaigning have come true.

For example, “He said he would weaponize the Department of Justice – and he has done exactly that.”

And she noted changes to other agencies.

“You look at what has happened in terms of how he has weaponised, for example, federal agencies going around after political satirists … His skin is so thin he couldn’t endure criticism from a joke, and attempted to shut down an entire media organisation in the process.”

Business leaders and institutions are wrong to bow to the president’s demands, she said.

“There are many… that have capitulated since day one, who are bending the knee at the foot of a tyrant, I believe for many reasons, including they want to be next to power, because they want to perhaps have a merger approved or avoid an investigation.”

In July, Harris said she won’t run for California governor in 2026.

“For now, my leadership – and public service – will not be in elected office,” Harris said at the time.

TOWIE star Dani Imbert has hinted that she was still dating Married At First Sight groom Reiss Boyce just weeks ago.

 E4 viewers were left doing a double take when Reiss entered the matchmaking experiment as one of six intruder contestants.

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The 33-year-old previously enjoyed a brush with fame thanks to his romance with ITVBe beauty Dani, 27.

Dani dated Reiss on and off since summer 2023 after a fling with her Towie castmate Roman Hackett.

The pair were smitten with each other before abruptly calling things off.

And now Dani appeared to hint that she was still seeing Reiss up until a few weeks ago.

Dani took to her Instagram Story and shared a screenshot someone wrote, which read: “I saw him with that bird from Towie last month.”

Alongside the post, Dani added the side eyes emoji, hinting there was some truth to it.

Speaking on the show last night, Reiss gave an insight as to why his previous relationship ended.

He admitted it came to an end “because the bickering became too much”.

He also said: “When a girl leaves you, you feel abandoned and lost.”

Dani previously confessed that she and Reiss had known each other for a while and were an item before she started seeing Towie co-star Roman.

She told The Sun: “I am seeing someone else now to be completely honest.

“We knew each other before the whole me and Roman situation, we were kind of seeing each other.

“I called it off with him because I started seeing Roman – then this whole stuff happened off camera since we’ve been filming that stopped me and Roman from speaking again and then I started seeing the boy that I started seeing before.”

Now, after Reiss has married 31-year-old Leisha on the reality series, it has been claimed the painter and decorator told Dani she was “the One” – and that he was heading on holiday rather than filming for the programme.

MailOnline claims Reiss told the beauty they would rekindle their romance after he had gone travelling – with scenes showing him getting hitched now leaving her “hurt.”

A source told the publication: “Dani had been dating Reiss from early 2023 until May 2024, when they briefly split because she feared he was more interested in fame than their relationship.

“Despite the split, they continued seeing each other in secret and were still together in March 2025, when, without Dani knowing, he began filming Married At First Sight UK.

“Reiss told Dani he was going travelling and promised they would reconnect and become official again.

“Dani now feels hurt and betrayed; they had been in a long-term relationship, and Reiss had led her to believe they had a future together.

“In reality, he was filming a dating show and would go on to marry another woman.”

A source told us of the relationship timeline and said: “Reiss and Dani have had an on/off relationship and were close for a while.

“They had split up last year, way before Married at First Sight started, and he was single at the time he signed up to the show.”

Reiss then told The Sun: “Dani is a great girl but it didn’t work out for us romantically.

“I will always think a lot of her and wish her the best, but when I signed up for Married at First Sight I was single and ready for commitment.”

Opposition parties are calling on embattled President Macron to resign before his term ends in 2027.

Caretaker French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has played down the prospect of a dissolution of parliament following talks with political parties to form a coalition and pass an austerity budget to resolve the nation’s worst political turmoil in years.

The talks showed a desire to pass the proposed budget cuts by the end of the year, Lecornu said, following an impasse which has prompted calls for embattled President Emmanuel Macron to step down.

“This willingness creates a momentum and a convergence, obviously, which make the possibilities of a dissolution more remote,” Lecornu said in a speech on Wednesday at Paris’s Matignon Palace.

Lecornu, who himself resigned on Monday after less than a month in power, said he would present a plan to Macron later on Wednesday.

The plan is the latest development in a political crisis that started when Macron called snap elections last year. His goal was to get a stronger majority in parliament, but he instead finished with an even more fractious assembly.

This plunged France into deeper political chaos: with no governing majority, the parliament has been unable to approve the budget to narrow France’s growing debt.

To resolve the deadlock, Macron appointed three prime ministers who either failed to secure a majority or resigned, including Lecornu.

Meanwhile, opposition parties have been seizing the momentum. A leading figure of far-right National Rally (NR) party, Marine Le Pen, has once again called for Macron to resign before the president’s term ends in 2027.

“Let’s return to the ballot box,” Marine Le Pen said on Monday. “The French must decide, that is clear,” she told reporters. Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, NR’s president, refused to join negotiations with Lecornu , French media reported on Tuesday, saying that such talks did not serve the interest of French citizens but rather those of Macron.

They called instead for the dissolution of the National Assembly. Following last year’s elections, NR won more seats than any other, but not enough to form a majority.

In September, a poll by TF1-LCI showed that more than 60 percent of French voters approved new elections. And should those take place, the leaders of the NR would lead the race’s first round, according to a poll by Ifop Fiducial.

Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the far-left France Unbowed party, and Francois-Xavier Bellamy, head of the right-wing Republicans party, also called for the president to resign.

The political chaos is not only emboldening Macron’s rivals, it is also turning his allies away.

“I no longer understand the decision of the president. There was the dissolution and since then, there’s been decisions that suggest a relentless desire to stay in control,” said Gabriel Attal, leader of the president’s centrist party.

“People are abandoning him on all sides, it’s clear that he is responsible for the political crisis which gets worse each day,” said political analyst Elisa Auange. “He seems to be making all the wrong decisions.”

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban’s days as a Hollywood power couple are over — but the story of their marriage’s end goes on.

News of the Australian stars’ separation broke Monday afternoon, shocking pop culture enthusiasts and swiftly inspiring memes by AMC Theater devotees. But as netizens collectively processed the Oscar winner and the Grammy winner’s split on social media (some X users shot their shot, while others looked forward to Kidman’s next round of post-divorce roles), reports began to surface about their home life that suggest the breakup wasn’t a total surprise, especially for their inner circles.

The “Babygirl” star wasted no time once the split went public, officially filing to divorce Urban on Tuesday in Tennessee, citing “irreconcilable differences” in her complaint. Neither representatives for Kidman, 58, nor Urban, 57, immediately responded to requests for comment.

From Urban securing his own home in Nashville to Kidman applying for residency in Portugal, here are some hints that seem to have signaled a split was looming.

Keith’s home away from home

Partners in a loving relationship always need their space, but how much space is too much?

“Babygirl” star Kidman and “Blue Ain’t Your Color” crooner Urban had been living separately for months before news of their split broke, The Times confirmed. Though the pair shared a family home in Nashville, Urban moved out into his own home also in the country music hub, TMZ reported. Kidman’s divorce filing, reviewed by The Times, shows different mailing addresses for the estranged spouses.

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, seen at the 77th Golden Globe Awards in 2020, share two teenage daughters.

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Marriage trouble between the Australian stars “really hasn’t been a secret,” a source told People. The source also confirmed that the pair had been “living separately for a while now.”

“Their lives were moving in different directions,” the source added, “and once he quietly set up his own place, it felt like the writing was on the wall.”

One-sided feelings?

Though Kidman made their separation official by filing for divorce, the “Moulin Rouge!” star reportedly didn’t want to split and “has been fighting to save the marriage.” She has also been caring for their daughters Sunday, 17, and Faith, 14, since Urban hit the road for his High and Alive world tour in May.

Over the course of their marriage, the “Happy Feet” and “Big Little Lies” star often flaunted her relationship on social media, sharing glamour shots from their red carpet outings and celebrating her husband’s win at the 2025 Academy of Country Music Awards. In June she celebrated 19 years of marriage to Urban on social media, sharing a black-and-white photo of them in a dressing room. “Happy Anniversary Baby,” she captioned the tender Instagram photo. However, the singer was notably absent from Kidman’s August Instagram post capturing “summer memories.” Maybe he was just on tour?

Urban, who did not post an anniversary photo to his grid, has mainly used his Instagram to promote his recent musical endeavors. In May, he also shared photos of himself and Kidman celebrating his ACM Awards win. That was the last post featuring his actor wife.

Keith’s new lyrics — and alleged new flame

As reports of the split surfaced this week, so did speculation and theories about what caused the breakup.

Sources told TMZ that the “Somebody Like You” singer, who spoke publicly in the past about marital tensions, allegedly found romance with another woman amid the separation. “Let’s just say, Nicole doesn’t dispute that, but she’s still shocked over it,” sources told the outlet.

Shortly after rumors of an alleged new flame spread, internet sleuths were quick to point out that Urban had changed the lyrics to one of his songs to honor a band mate during his tour. In “The Fighter,” Urban sings about being a stronger, better partner for the person of his desire — that was Kidman, he made very clear during a 2017 interview with Billboard. In 2016, Kidman and Urban released a giddy music video of themselves singing to the duet.

“When they’re tryna get to you, baby, I’ll be the fighter,” Urban’s original lyrics say.

But during a concert preceding the breakup news, Urban can be heard singing: “When they try to get you, Maggie I’ll be your guitar player,” a nod to fellow musician Maggie Baugh, who has been on the road with him for months. In their previous performance of the song, Urban could be heard reciting the original lyrics.

Baugh shared video of Urban’s lyric change to her Instagram, writing in the caption, “Did he just say that👀.” This wasn’t the first time Urban changed his “The Fighter” lyrics to reflect who was sharing the stage with him. When he and country music star Carrie Underwood performed the song at the 2017 CMT Music Awards, he sang, “When they get to you, Carrie Underwood, I’ll be your fighter.” So … romantic gesture or just some live music flair?

Urban’s rep did not immediately respond to an inquiry about his alleged new relationship.

Nicole’s new lease on life overseas

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman arrive at the 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2022.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

As Urban took his music on the road earlier this summer, Kidman was reportedly seeking to make a big move across the Atlantic.

Several outlets reported in late July that the “Eyes Wide Shut” star had applied to be a resident of Portugal, and that Urban’s name was not listed on the application. A source clarified to E! that Urban was absent from his appointment due to his tour, adding that “it’s mandatory for applicants to be physically present in order to apply for the visa.” At the time, Urban was set to submit his application at a later date, the source said. That was months ago, and the U.S. leg of Urban’s tour continues through October. He will play four shows overseas — Portugal is nowhere on the lineup — before returning stateside.

The two own several homes across the U.S. as well as luxurious abodes in Europe and Australia. Among those homes is a “plush” spot in Lisbon, the New York Post reported in July. A source told the outlet at the time that the pair’s “primary residence will continue to be in Nashville.”

Neither Kidman nor Urban have spoken publicly about their separation. In the past, however, their deep and mutual love for each other was the stuff of romance films: He once called her the “one I was searching for my whole life,” and she said “he was the love of my life.”

“Real love happens not when everything is going well but when things are going badly,” Kidman told People in a 2019 cover story. “It’s when human beings come together, if they’re going to, in a far deeper way. You’re then having to work together, and the ‘together’ is what it’s about.”

MARK Labbett has hinted that he could quit The Chase after revealing he’s open to new job offers.

The star has become one of the most popular faces from the ITV quiz show and has even starred on both the American and Australian versions.

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But The Beast has now cast doubt on if he will remain with the show by confirming he would quit the “part-time” gig for something more permanent.

The quizzer and TV personality made the confession as he attended the National Television Awards.

Mark said: “I take great pride in being, as I modestly put it, the best Chaser in the world…

“I love my job.”

But he then quickly added to the Daily Express: “At the same time – it’s a part-time gig.

“I won’t deny it if I’m lucky enough to get a good offer somewhere else for a full-time gig.

“But until that time, I’ll keep working.”

He further hinted that he would be open to taking on more opportunities on international versions of the show.

Mark added: “I love doing The Chase in Australia and America – and who knows – maybe New Zealand, maybe.

“They keep sending me, as I’m good at my job.”

Mark recently spread his wings away from The Chase after signing up to find love on E4 reality show, Celebs Go Dating.

However, his mission was unsuccessful as Mark left the programme single.

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United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that military attacks on alleged drug traffickers will “happen again”, brushing aside concerns over the legality of such attacks and the sovereignty of Latin American nations.

Speaking during a news conference in Mexico City on Wednesday, Rubio pledged continued security coordination with countries like Mexico, but suggested the US would not hesitate to take extreme measures on its own.

His remarks, in part, were a response to President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US had blown up a vessel in the Caribbean Sea a day earlier.

Trump and Rubio identified the small boat as a drug-smuggling vessel coming from Venezuela, though no details were provided. All 11 people on board reportedly died.

Rubio framed the air strike as part of a shifting strategy in the US’s ongoing “war on drugs”.

“The United States has long — for many, many years — established intelligence that allowed us to interdict and stop drug boats. And we did that. And it doesn’t work. Interdiction doesn’t work,” Rubio said.

“What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them.”

Rubio then explained that the attack was authorised personally by Trump. It had been in the south Caribbean Sea at the time of the attack, and Rubio said it was headed for the US.

“Instead of interdicting it, on the president’s orders, we blew it up. And it will happen again,” Rubio said. “Maybe it’s happening right now. I don’t know.”

Rubio’s visit to Mexico City comes as the Trump administration seeks close cooperation with Mexico, but its aggressive foreign policy has spurred concerns abroad.

Latin American nations have struggled to balance the need for working relations with the US and Trump’s increasingly brazen threats.

Experts say that attacks like Tuesday’s boat bombing are likely illegal under international law, which limits military actions on vessels sailing through international waters.

Still, Rubio defended the action as necessary for protecting the wellbeing of the US.

“If you’re on a boat full of cocaine or fentanyl, whatever, headed to the United States, you’re an immediate threat to the United States,” said Rubio.

US military strikes against armed groups around the world have often depended on the idea that such groups, often tied to armed or fighting groups that represent an immediate risk to US national security. That argument has not previously been used as a pretext for military strikes on drug trafficking, deemed a criminal issue.

But Trump’s second inauguration has marked a shift in that approach.

Since taking office in January, Trump has pushed for emergency powers on the premise that Latin American gangs and other criminal groups constitute an “invasion” on US soil.

He has also designated many such groups as “foreign terrorist organisations”.

In August, reports emerged that Trump had signed an order authorising military strikes against cartels and other drug-smuggling operations, fuelling fears that the US would carry out military strikes in Latin America despite concerns about sovereignty.

Such concerns have been particularly prominent in Mexico, the US’s immediate neighbour to the south.

To mark Rubio’s visit, Mexico and the US issued a joint statement emphasising “respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has also repeatedly sought to dispel worries that the Trump administration may take unilateral action on Mexican soil. Trump, meanwhile, has not ruled out such a possibility.

Al Jazeera correspondent John Holman explained that Rubio’s visit was aimed at “smoothing the feathers” and lowering tensions in Mexico.

“There was a lot of fulsome praise. But the elephant in the room here really is that President Trump has been saying repeatedly that, if Mexico wants it, then the US is very happy to send its military down into the country to fight drug cartels,” Holman explained.

“That really wasn’t touched on in this meeting apart from the Mexican foreign minister repeatedly saying that, ‘Yes, we’re going to work with the United States’ — in a very diplomatic way, saying everyone in their own jurisdiction.”

Nevertheless, Rubio and other US officials have emphasised that the US would continue to collaborate on security and drug enforcement with Mexico, which the US has pushed to take a more aggressive stance.

“We’ve got assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships, because this is a deadly serious mission for us, and it won’t stop with just this strike,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on the TV show Fox and Friends.

Not all countries in the region are apprehensive as the US takes on an increasingly militarised approach to criminal groups.

“I, along with most of the country, am happy that the US naval deployment is having success in their mission,” Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The pain and suffering the cartels have inflicted on our nation is immense. I have no sympathy for traffickers; the US military should kill them all violently.”

WASHINGTON — Arriving in Oklahoma City the night after the worst domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history, Merrick Garland grasped the enormity of the task ahead of him. Downtown resembled a war zone. Military vehicles blocked streets. For blocks, federal agents and police were busy collecting evidence. At the federal building, where 168 people had died in a massive bomb blast, rescue workers were searching through rubble for victims, guided by the eerie glow of floodlights that seemed to Garland as bright as the noonday sun.

With shattered glass crunching underfoot on his way to the command center, Garland knew his Justice Department team would have to surmount obstacles typical of any big investigation. But he also understood broader societal forces required special attention if prosecutors hoped to win justice for those slain: Trust in law enforcement was eroding, America was awash in conspiracy theories, and the government didn’t have a grip on the threat posed by right-wing extremists.

Garland’s oversight of the bombing inquiry provides insights into how, as President Biden’s nominee to be the next attorney general, he would run the Justice Department, according to interviews with former prosecutors and agents, as well as a detailed oral history Garland provided in 2013 to the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. Though the attack took place nearly 26 years ago, the former prosecutor’s experiences have become newly relevant as he seeks to lead the federal effort to hold accountable those responsible for the deadly siege last month of the U.S. Capitol and to prevent similar violence.

“Merrick Garland has seen the face of domestic terrorism,” said J. Gilmore Childers, a former Justice Department prosecutor who worked with Garland on the Oklahoma City case. “And he has learned how to recognize that face and what it stands for.”

Garland is expected to win easy confirmation from the Senate, which is scheduled to hold a hearing Monday on his nomination. If confirmed, the 68-year-old federal appellate judge will face serious challenges beyond those posed by extremists who stormed the U.S. Capitol.

He has been tasked with expeditiously implementing Biden administration policies that seek to beef up enforcement of civil and voting rights laws, and reduce racial disparities in the criminal justice system. He will also need to bolster morale at an agency that became mired in the Trump era over how it handled prosecutions of the president’s associates and the rollout of a special counsel’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election while simultaneously overseeing politically sensitive investigations, including a tax inquiry on Hunter Biden, the president’s son.

Garland is sure to get tough questions from senators of both parties. Conservatives are likely to attack him about Biden administration policies they consider to be too liberal. Republican senators expressed similar apprehensions when they torpedoed Garland’s 2016 nomination to the Supreme Court following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon. They argued at the time that Garland’s appointment would swing the high court too far to the left. The GOP-controlled Senate refused to consider the nomination, and left the seat vacant for the next president to fill — though it was nearly nine months before the election. President Trump succeeded in winning confirmation of Neil M. Gorsuch, a conservative federal appellate judge, to the seat.

Still, Garland has drawn support from influential Republicans. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the party’s most recent Judiciary Committee chairman, tweeted shortly after news of Garland’s nomination became public that the judge was “a man of great character, integrity, and tremendous competency in the law.”

His nomination has generated muted enthusiasm from liberal activists concerned he too often sided with law enforcement as a judge, and Democratic senators are expected to ask him about his plans to enforce civil rights laws and the Justice Department’s role in reforming police departments.

Lawmakers are also likely to question him about whether Trump bears legal culpability in urging his followers last month to march to the Capitol before they stormed the complex.

Associates say the federal judge — whose nomination became public hours before the Capitol was besieged — will avoid commenting directly on Trump or the Capitol investigation, but may point to lessons he learned while overseeing the investigation into the Oklahoma City bombing.

Garland has called overseeing that inquiry the capstone of his legal career, which has included a two-decade stint on one of the nation’s most influential appeals courts. Then a top Justice Department official, he spent several weeks in bomb-devastated Oklahoma personally supervising prosecutors and agents before returning to Washington, where he continued to guide the department’s bombing trial preparations.

“This is the central thing, the most significant thing I worked on,” Garland said in the oral history with the Oklahoma City National Memorial, in which he spoke at length about his work on the case.

Lawyers, he added, are not always sure if they make a difference in a specific case. But he never felt that way about Oklahoma City. “Being there makes you feel like you had a role to play in the investigation,” he said, “helping pull people together, and it’s a very satisfying feeling for a lawyer.”

Garland, a 1977 graduate of Harvard Law School, worked in private practice, rising to partner of a major law firm before deciding he needed trial experience, he has said. In 1989, he left his lucrative job and joined the Justice Department as a prosecutor. A few years later, he was tapped by the Clinton administration to serve as principal assistant deputy attorney general, the top advisor to the deputy attorney general who runs the department’s day-to-day operations.

Garland was at his desk April 19, 1995, when an “Urgent Report” flashed across his computer screen. It said there had been explosion at 9:02 a.m. at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Within minutes, the horror became clear: A bomb had detonated and scores of people, including children in a day care center, were missing and presumed dead.

The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was devastated by a bomb that killed 168 people on April 19, 1995.

(Associated Press)

The Oklahoma City U.S. attorney’s office did not have the capacity to spearhead such a vast investigation. The day after the attack, Garland hopped on an FBI jet and headed west.

At first, the government suspected Islamic terrorists were behind the attack. But before Garland could land in Oklahoma, authorities arrested Timothy McVeigh, a former U.S. soldier who had become an anti-government zealot angry over the bloody 1993 storming of the Branch Davidians compound in Waco, Texas.

McVeigh’s initial court appearance was moved from the damaged federal courthouse to nearby Tinker Air Force Base, and Garland arranged that the hearing be open to the media and public, believing that conspiracy theories could be combatted with transparency.

When he met with prosecutors and investigators, he insisted that everyone “do everything by the book,” a mantra veterans of the inquiry still vividly recall. Garland, former agents and prosecutors said, understood missteps would be used to attack the legitimacy of the investigation by McVeigh’s defense team or anti-government extremists.

For example, former agents and prosecutors said, when a company offered to voluntarily turn over records, Garland ordered investigators to instead obtain the information with a subpoena. And when agents wanted to search a car for a second time, Garland told them to seek another warrant.

At the time, the O.J. Simpson trial was generating daily headlines detailing allegations of slipshod police work, and Garland did not want an Oklahoma City investigation to be criticized in the same way.

“It was the most recent sort of ‘Trial of the Century,’ which every few decades there is another trial of the century,” Garland said in the 2013 oral history. “There were a lot of issues in [the O.J. Simpson trial] about how the forensic evidence had been handled and also how the people involved, the investigators had handled themselves, and we wanted to be sure that we were not going to have that kind of circumstance.”

Former prosecutors said Garland’s assiduousness in Oklahoma City and his later assistance in supervising the trial team from Washington set the stage for a successful prosecution of McVeigh and a co-conspirator, Terry Nichols. McVeigh was eventually convicted and sentenced to death. He was executed in 2001. His co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.

Through it all, Garland never betrayed emotion, not even when he and Donna Bucella, another Justice Department prosecutor, toured the devastated federal building, she said. With the stench of death in the air, they peered into the gaping hole left by the explosion and noticed a nearby workstation that hadn’t been touched — papers were perfectly stacked on a desk and a sport coat was draped without a wrinkle over a chair.

“We just looked at each other and nodded,” Bucella said. “That’s all you could do. It was a solemn moment.”

Jamie Gorelick, the deputy attorney general who sent Garland to Oklahoma City, said the future nominee was the right person for the job. A quick thinker, he made tough decisions but also wasn’t a micromanager.

“As attorney general, he would know he can’t run investigations, but he will make sure that the right questions are asked, the right resources are brought to bear,” Gorelick said. “That is certainly a lesson he learned from the Oklahoma City bombing.”

Garland has said he was so deeply affected by the bombing that he asked to remain in Oklahoma City to supervise the eventual trials. But Gorelick and Atty. Gen. Janet Reno rejected his request. After several weeks in Oklahoma City, Garland returned to Washington to help run the Justice Department.

ANCHORAGE — President Trump is on his way to Alaska for a high-stakes summit with Vladimir Putin, indicating he will take a tougher line with the Russian leader over a ceasefire in Ukraine after three brutal years of war.

Speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said Putin would face “economically severe” consequences if negotiations in Anchorage today fail to yield progress toward peace. He said that only Ukraine could decide whether to cede territory to Moscow. And he expressed support for U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine in any future peace agreement, so long as they fall short of NATO membership for the beleaguered nation.

“Yes, it would be very severe,” Trump said. “Very severe.”

Traveling from Moscow, Putin is bringing along several Russian business leaders, according to the Kremlin, a sign he hopes to begin discussions on normalizing relations with Washington. But Trump said he would not discuss business opportunities until the war is settled.

It’s a position that will relieve allies in Europe that have been hoping Trump would approach Putin with a firm hand, after months of applying pressure on Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to prepare to make concessions to Moscow.

Zelensky was not invited to the Alaska negotiations. But Trump said he hoped his meeting on Friday would lead to direct talks “very shortly.”

Trump had said in recent days that a peace deal would include the “swapping” of land, a prospect roundly rejected in Kyiv. The Ukrainian constitution prohibits territorial concessions without the support of a public referendum.

“They’ll be discussed, but I’ve got to let Ukraine make that decision,” the president said of land swaps. “I’m not here to negotiate for Ukraine. I’m here to get them to the table.”

Trump will host Putin at the Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage later on Friday, the first meeting between a U.S. and Russian president since 2021.

Russian Foreign Ministry officials said Wednesday that Putin’s war aims remain “unchanged.” And an aggressive Russian advance along the front lines this week provided evidence to military analysts that Moscow has no plans to implement a ceasefire.

The two leaders are expected to greet one another on the tarmac before meeting privately. Afterward, they will take an expanded lunch meeting with their aides, followed by a news conference, according to the White House.

Coronation Street star Jacob Roberts has opened up about his character Kit Green’s fate following the police officer’s brutal stabbing at the hands of Mick Michaelis

Coronation Street’s Jacob Roberts may have inadvertently revealed the grim fate of his character, Kit Green, following a recent injury admission on Monday (July 14).

Jacob made his debut on the ITV soap last year as police officer Kit, who has been grappling with numerous challenges of late.

Kit was first introduced to his biological mother, Bernie Winter (Jane Hazlegrove), who had previously given him up for adoption. He later reconnected with his troublesome school mates, Mick (Joe Layton) and Lou Michaelis (Farrel Hegarty).

Mick found himself behind bars after murdering Craig Tinker (Colson Smith) last month, while Lou is currently in custody following her recent assault on Gary Windass (Mikey North).

Jacob, who portrays Kit, appeared on ITV’s Lorraine this morning, where he discussed tonight’s shocking episode with host Ranvir Singh. The episode sees Mick return to the street after breaking out of prison, reports Leicestershire Live.

In the hour-long episode, now available for streaming on ITVX, Mick shows up at Underworld in search of his eldest daughter, Joanie (Savanna Pennington).

He traps Sarah Platt (Tina O’Brien) and Tim Metcalfe (Joe Duttine) in the office, while a frightened Sally (Sally Dynevor) hides Joanie on the roof.

Kit soon arrives on the scene, leading to a violent confrontation between the former friends that culminates in Mick stabbing the police officer. A gravely injured Kit is then rushed to hospital, with a horrified Sarah and Bernie looking on.

During his chat on Lorraine, Jacob opened up about a painful incident he experienced while shooting an intense fight scene with his on-screen nemesis.

“Me and Mick, Joe Layton who plays him, all our scenes together, we’re pretty much fighting all the time,” Jacob remarked, teasing the tumultuous times ahead for his character.

“And you only have half an hour to do the fight scenes with the fight coordinator, so there’s no time for error in those sort of scenes,” he further divulged.

“He literally lamped me on the chin, and as a true thespian he reacted straight away, like, ‘Oh, sorry’. I wish he’d just carried on… My jaw was hurting for the rest of the day.”

The 35 year old star didn’t shy away from sharing a personal low point that coincided with his Coronation Street debut—the harrowing ordeal of his rescue dog, Bugsy, going missing.

“The first day I was on Coronation Street, I needed someone to obviously mind him, and my dad had taken him out and I think he escaped the leash. He was out for eight hours,” Jacob confided.

“He was terrible at recall when I got him… I was just stressing throughout the day… I finished work and was out for two hours trying to rugby tackle a dog, but he’s good now.”