influencer

OVER one million people watched as Brittany Miller made the perfect roast potato over the weekend – for her perfect twins in her perfect home with her perfect smile.

But behind the 29-year-old influencer’s flawless façade lies a sinister web of lies which saw her fake cancer and con her followers. Now, for the first time we reveal the truth behind her shock scam – and why she’ll stop at nothing to achieve fame.

In 2017, Brittany was an unknown 21-year-old living in Oxfordshire, with dreams of becoming the next big social media influencer. Her small online community were then left shocked when she claimed to have been diagnosed with stage three gastric cancer. 

Her friends rallied around her – a crowdfunding page was set up to help support her financially and interest around her started growing.

But then just as fast as her cancer news started spreading – it then disappeared and wasn’t mentioned again. No trace of her extraordinary lie could be found online. 

It wasn’t until 2020 when Brittany collaborated with a breast cancer awareness charity that her former best friend decided to speak out – revealing the whole thing had been a scam. 

Brittany lied to us all – not just her friends but also her followers online

Former friend

The police have confirmed to The Sun that Brittany was indeed convicted of her crime – fraud by false representation.

In July 2020, she was given a conditional discharge for 12 months and was forced to pay compensation and costs to the Crown Prosecution Service. 

Her criminal record will no longer show up on basic checks, which has left her victims furious. 

Speaking anonymously, a former pal revealed that Brittany had in fact been the one to set up the JustGiving page and had begged her friends to circulate it for her.

They told us: “Brittany lied to us all – not just her friends but also her followers online. 

“Now people are following her and they have no idea what she is really like.

“Yes it happened years ago but lying about cancer is really wrong. Lots of her followers will have family members living with cancer but little do they know that every time they watch one of her videos, they are giving money to a fraud.”

MAKING CASH AND FALLING OUT

Indeed, Brittany has built herself a successful online career. Her videos are mostly her dishing up huge meals, making home comfort food or showing hauls from Temu or Shein.

It might not be groundbreaking stuff but she has 3.5 million people following her on TikTok.

Her boyfriend, Ash Griffiths, regularly features in her clips and in July last year she gave birth to identical twins, Elijah and Emiliano, who have also become a big part of her content. 

The couple recently moved into a plush new home in East Sussex, thanks to the proceeds from Brittany’s TikTok account.

Looking back, another friend recalled how Brittany would tell her she was in hospital, having treatment, including radiotherapy and would guilt trip her when she wasn’t available to hang out with her.

Things came to a head when the pal accused Brittany of stealing money from her grandma.

In messages seen by The Sun, someone appearing to be Brittany admits to taking the cash but blames it on the strong medication she was taking. The pair fell out shortly after. 

In the weeks and months after Brittany’s crime was revealed, there has been a lot of online speculation but she has never addressed what happened. 

The former pal told us: “Brittany has done what she can to erase her history and will delete any comments referencing it.

“It’s pretty scary to think she was happy to lie about cancer and makes you wonder just how far she will go to be super successful.

“This isn’t about getting revenge on her, it’s about people knowing the truth, which they deserve.”

PAST MISTAKES AND PRESENT ISSUES

The cancer scam wasn’t the only time Brittany has been caught telling lies.

In 2018, she was convicted of travelling on the railway without having paid the fare. She gave the officer of the railway company a fake name and address. She was fined £320. 

In recent months, Brittany’s parenting has also come under question and  she revealed how an anonymous hater had accused her of child abuse.

Ash, who is the father of their twins, was even quizzed on her being an alcoholic and a “druggy.”

I’m in the spotlight, I get millions of views every video, I get it, there’s nasty people out there

Brittany on her fame

Unlike in the past, Brittany decided to be very open about what had been going on and, in an emotional video, she acknowledged that someone reported her to social services, not only accusing her of child abuse, but holding her responsible for “lots of things”.

She confirmed that she “got questioned about everything” and was “really upset” when she spoke to them on the phone, so much so that she “kept having to pause” because she was crying so much.

No further action was taken but the whole incident left Brittany shaken up. 

She said at the time: “People are so desperate for my downfall and bringing me down, but bringing my children into it is ludicrous – why would you want to do that to them, innocent babies?

“Do what you want to me, whatever, but to them, innocent children who are clearly very happy and healthy babies, that’s crazy, you’re an actual weirdo, you’re an actual loser.”

Brittany added:  “Never in a million years did I think I’d have to go through something like this – obviously, I’m in the spotlight, I get millions of views every video, I get it, there’s nasty people out there, I understand that. 

“I just think, how cruel can you actually be? So, so cruel.”

It’s not just Brittany who has been left shaken up by it all – her former friends now fear they will be targeted by trolls accusing them of spreading lies to social services.

An insider said: “It feels like trouble follows Brittany. She might have this perfect life on social media but it’s not the truth. This drama with social services won’t be the last she’s involved in. But she’s built up an incredible following now – and they will support her, no matter what.”

Brittany has been contacted for comment.

Inside a historic aircraft hangar in Playa Vista, crowds of people gathered on Thursday to browse the latest fashions from handbags to clothing and shoes as they prepared for the holiday shopping season.

These weren’t shoppers or retailer buyers browsing for the latest products. Instead, they were YouTube video creators who were being courted by brands from Lowe’s to Shark Beauty to encourage online audiences to buy their products.

Aaron Ramirez, a 22-year-old influencer who focuses on men’s fashion and lifestyle, stood in front of racks of carefully curated shelves of backpacks as he decided which items he would endorse for his 234,000 YouTube subscribers.

“I can make a video about anything that improves my quality of life and add a link to it,” said Ramirez. “I only recommend products that I really use and really like.”

The San Diego resident was among about 300 creators participating in YouTube’s annual benefit for creators dubbed “Holiday House” that helps internet personalities get ready to sell goods during the busy holiday shopping season.

The event — held at the cavernous converted Google offices that once housed Howard Hughes’ famous Spruce Goose plane — underscores YouTube’s desire to be a bigger player in online shopping by leveraging its relationship with creators to promote products in much the same way that rival TikTok does.

In August, YouTube introduced new tools to help its creators better promote products they plug in their videos. One feature uses AI to identify the optimal place on the screen to put a shopping link when an influencer mentions a product. If a customer clicks on that link and makes a purchase, the creator gets a commission.

Brands that were once skeptical about influencers have embraced them over time as sales-tracking tools have improved and the fan base of video creators has mushroomed.

“It’s like the people that you saw on television and before that the people that you listened to on radio who became the trusted personalities in your life,” Earnest Pettie, a trends insight lead at YouTube, said in an interview. “Oprah’s Favorite Things was a phenomenon because of how trusted Oprah was, so it really is that same phenomenon, just diffused across the creator ecosystem.”

Despite economic uncertainty and tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, shoppers in the U.S. are expected to spend $253.4 billion online this holiday season, up 5.3% from a year ago, according to data firm Adobe Analytics.

Social media platforms have helped drive some of that growth. The market share of online revenue in purchases guided by social media affiliates and partners, including influencers, is expected to grow 14%, according to Adobe Analytics.

Cost-conscious consumers are doing more research on how they spend their money, including watching influencer recommendations. In fact, nearly 60% of 14- to 24-year-olds who go online say their personal style have been influenced by content they’ve seen on the internet, according to YouTube.

“It’s more about discovery, understanding where the best deals are, where the best options are,” said Vivek Pandya, director at Adobe Digital Insights. “Many of these users are getting that guidance from their influencers.”

YouTube is one of the top streaming platforms, harnessing 13.1% of viewing time in August on U.S. TV sets, more than rivals Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, according to Nielsen. And shopping-related videos are especially popular among its viewers, with more than 35 billion hours watched each year, according to YouTube.

With YouTube’s shopping feature, viewers can see products, add them to a cart and make purchases directly from the video they’re watching.

Promoting and enabling one-click e-commerce from video has been huge in China, triggering a wave across Asia and the world of livestreaming and recorded shopping videos. Live commerce, also known as live shopping or livestreaming e-commerce, is a potent mix of streaming, chatting and shopping.

The temptation to shop is turbocharged with algorithms like that of TikTok Shop, enticing people to try more channels and products.

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1. YouTube content creators Diana Extein, left, and Candice Waltrip, right, film clothing try-ons during YouTube’s Holiday House shopping event at Google Spruce Goose on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025 in Playa Vista, CA. 2. YouTube content creator Peja Anne, 15, makes a video with beauty products as her mom Kristin Roeder films during YouTube’s Holiday House shopping event at Google Spruce Goose on Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025 in Playa Vista, CA.

A YouTube content creator who declined to give her name browses YouTube’s Holiday House shopping event at Google Spruce Goose on Thursday in Playa Vista, Calif.

YouTube content creator Cheraye Lewis’ channel focuses on lifestyle and fragrance, and a brand deal with Fenty Beauty helped launch her content to larger audiences.

More than 500,000 video creators as of July have signed up to be a part of YouTube Shopping, the company said.

Creators who promote products can make money through ads and brand deals, as well as commissions.

YouTube already shares advertising and subscription revenue with its creators and currently does not take a cut from its shopping tools, said Travis Katz, YouTube Shopping vice president.

“For us, it’s really about connecting the dots,” Katz said. “At YouTube we are first and foremost very focused on, how do we make sure that our creators are successful? This gives a new way for creators to monetize.”

Companies like Austin-based BK Beauty, which was founded by YouTube creator Lisa J, said YouTubers have helped drive sales for their products.

“They’ve built these long-term audiences,” said Sophia Monetti, BK Beauty’s senior manager of social commerce and influencer marketing. “A lot of these creators have established channels. They’ve been around for a decade and have just a really engaged community.”

To be sure, YouTube faces a formidable rival in TikTok, which is a leader in the live shopping space (its parent company, Byte Dance, is being sold to an American investor group so that the hugely popular app can keep operating in the U.S.).

Two years ago, the social video company launched TikTok Shop, working with creators and brands on live shopping shows that encourage viewers to buy products. TikTok had 8 million hours of live shopping sessions in 2024.

YouTube says its size and technology create advantages, along with the loyalty its creators build with fans when it comes to product recommendations.

Bridget Dolan, a director of YouTube Shopping Partnerships, said “shopping has been in YouTube’s DNA from Day One” and that the company has been integrating shopping features into its viewing experience.

YouTube content creators peruse products and film content during YouTube’s Holiday House shopping event at Google Spruce Goose on Thursday in Playa Vista, Calif.

Santa Clarita-based YouTube creator Cheraye Lewis said that YouTube Shopping helped her gain traction and earn a trusting audience through quality recommendations. Lewis, who has 109,000 subscribers on YouTube, makes videos about items such as fragrances and skincare products.

Lewis has been a video creator for eight years and has worked with such companies as Rihanna’s beauty brand Fenty.

“I try to inspire women and men to feel bold and confident through the fragrances that they’re wearing,” Lewis said at the event Thursday. “I give my audience real talk, real authenticity.”

PORTLAND, Ore. — Five years after protests roiled Portland, Oregon, the city known for its history of civil disobedience is again at the center of a political maelstrom as it braces for the arrival of federal troops being deployed by President Donald Trump.

Months of demonstrations outside Portland’s immigration detention facility have escalated after conservative influencer Nick Sortor was arrested late Thursday on a disorderly conduct charge by Portland Police.

On Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the agency would send additional federal agents. She also said the Justice Department was launching a civil rights investigation into the circumstances surrounding Sortor’s arrest, and whether Portland Police engage in viewpoint discrimination.

Meanwhile, a federal judge heard arguments Friday — but did not immediately rule — on whether to temporarily block Trump’s call-up of 200 Oregon National Guard members to protect the ICE facility and other federal buildings.

The escalation of federal law enforcement in Portland, population 636,000 and Oregon’s largest city, follows similar crackdowns to combat crime in other cities, including Chicago, Baltimore and Memphis. He deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and as part of his law enforcement takeover in Washington, D.C.

A conservative influencer arrested in Portland

Sortor, 27, who’s a regular guest on Fox News and whose X profile has more than 1 million followers, was arrested Thursday night with two other people outside the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. He is set to be arraigned on Monday.

What exactly led up to the arrests was not immediately clear. Portland police said in a news release that officers observed two men fighting and one of the men was knocked to the ground. Neither of the men wanted to file a police report. Police moved in about three hours later, as fights continued to break out, and arrested Sorter and two others.

All three were charged with second-degree disorderly conduct. Sorter was released Friday on his own recognizance, according to Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office’s online records. An email seeking comment from Sortor sent Friday went unanswered and no one answered phone numbers listed for him.

In a post on X on Friday morning, Sortor said his arrest proved that Portland Police are corrupt and controlled by “vioIent Antifa thugs who terrorize the streets.”

“You thought arresting me would make me shut up and go away,” he wrote.

Sortor also said that Attorney General Pam Bondi had ordered an investigation into the circumstances of his arrest and of the Portland Police Bureau.

A history of Portland protests led to this moment

Portland famously erupted in more than 100 days of sustained, nightly protests in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter movement. In his first term, Trump sent federal law enforcement to the city to protect the U.S. District Courthouse in the heart of Portland after protests attracted thousands of people following George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police.

The presence of the federal agents further inflamed the situation, with federal officers repeatedly firing rubber bullets and teargassing protestors. Viral videos captured militarized federal officers, often unidentified, arresting people and hustling them into unmarked vehicles.

At the same time, Portland police were unable to keep ahead of splinter groups of black-clad protesters who broke off and roamed the downtown area, at times breaking windows, spraying graffiti and setting small fires in moments that were also captured on video and shared widely on social media.

A report by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general found that while the federal government had legal authority to deploy the officers, many of them lacked the training and equipment needed to carry out the mission.

The tensions reached a peak in September 2020 when a self-identified member of the far-left anti-fascist movement fatally shot 39-year-old Aaron “Jay” Danielson in the chest. Danielson and a friend were seen heading downtown to protect a flag-waving caravan of Trump supporters shortly before the shooting.

The shooter, Michael Forest Reinoehl, was himself later shot and killed when he pulled a gun as a federal task force attempted to apprehend him near Lacey, Washington.

A different context for today’s protests

The situation in Portland is very different now.

There’s been a sustained and low-level protest outside the Portland ICE facility — far from the downtown clashes of 2020 — since Trump took office in January. Those protests flared in June, during the national protests surrounding Trump’s military parade, but have rarely attracted more than a few dozen people in the past two months.

Trump has once more turned his attention to the city, calling Portland “war ravaged,” and a “war zone” that is “burning down” and like “living in hell.” But local officials have suggested that many of his claims and social media posts appear to rely on images from 2020. Under a new mayor, the city has reduced crime, and the downtown has seen a decrease in homeless encampments and increased foot traffic.

Most violent crime around the country has actually declined in recent years, including in Portland, where a recent report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association found that homicides from January through June decreased by 51% this year compared to the same period in 2024.

City leaders have urged restraint and told residents not to “take the bait” this week after the announcement that the National Guard would be sent to Portland.

Oregon seeks to block National Guard deployment by Trump

On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Karin J. Immergut heard arguments on whether to block the deployment of National Guard troops in Portland, where they would defend federal buildings such as the ICE facility from vandalism.

Oregon sued to stop the deployment on Sept. 28 after Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek failed to convince Trump to call off the deployment in a 10-minute phone call on Sept. 27.

Immergut did not immediately issue a ruling Friday after a short hearing and said she would issue an order later that day or over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the National Guard troops — from communities not too far from Portland — were training on the Oregon Coast in anticipation of deployment.

Thursday’s arrest of Sortor, however, likely means more federal law enforcement presence in Portland.

In an X post, which reposted a video from the protest and a photo of Sortor being detained, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said there would be an immediate increase in federal resources to the city with enhanced Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement resources.

“This violence will end under @POTUS Trump,” McLaughlin wrote.

Rush and Catalini write for the Associated Press.

Carlo Acutis, a digital pioneer, used his computer skills to spread Catholic teaching globally.

A London-born Italian teenager, known as “God’s influencer”, who was an early adopter of the internet to spread Catholic teachings, has been made the church’s first millennial saint at a ceremony led by Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican.

Leo canonised Carlo Acutis, who died in 2006 aged 15, in a ceremony attended by thousands on Sunday in St Peter’s Square. At the Mass, the pontiff also canonised Pier Giorgio Frassati, who died in 1924 but was widely recognised for his charitable work.

During a speech at the event, Leo credited Acutis and Frassati for making “masterpieces” out of their lives, warning congregants that the “greatest risk in life is to waste it outside of God’s plan”.

Often seen photographed in his casual outfits, with scruffy hair, T-shirts and sunglasses, Acutis cuts a different figure from the church’s saints of the past who were often depicted in solemn paintings. This has built a global following for Acutis, with the church intending him to be a more relatable saint for digitally-focused young people today.

Leo said Acutis and Frassati’s lives are an “invitation to all of us, especially young people, not to squander our lives, but to direct them upwards and make them masterpieces”.

Acutis was born in London in 1991 but moved early on in his life to the northern Italian city of Milan with his family, where he lived until he died of leukaemia in 2006.

As a teenager, Acutis taught himself coding and programming, using the skills he had acquired to document recognised church miracles to spread Catholic teaching globally. His pioneering digital efforts took place at a time when literacy around those subjects was not widespread.

He was also believed to have regularly attended church services, been kind to the homeless and children who suffered bullying, which endeared him to Catholic youth globally.

Shortly after he died, Antonia Salzano, Acutis’s mother, began advocating globally for her son to be recognised as a saint, which requires that he carry out miracles during his life.

Pope Francis, whose death in April this year led to a delay in the saint-making ceremony for Acutis, said the teenager carried out two miracles during his life. According to the Catholic News Agency, Acutis healed a boy who had a birth defect affecting his pancreas and a girl who sustained an injury in Costa Rica.

In a 2019 letter to Catholics, Pope Francis acknowledged Acutis’s efforts, saying, “It is true that the digital world can expose you to the risk of self-absorption, isolation and empty pleasure.” He added, “But don’t forget that there are young people even there who show creativity and even genius. That was the case with the Venerable Carlo Acutis.”

Acutis’s body, encased in wax, lies in a glass tomb in Assisi, a medieval town in central Italy, which is a pilgrimage site visited by hundreds of thousands of people annually. Our Lady of Dolours Church in London, where he was baptised, has also attracted growing numbers of visitors. A part of his heart has been removed from his body as a relic and has been displayed at churches globally.

SANTIAGO, Chile, Aug. 25 (UPI) — After spending nearly two months unable to leave Antarctica with his aircraft, American pilot and influencer Ethan Guo, 19, is set to return to Punta Arenas aboard an icebreaker in early September.

Chilean authorities said Guo altered his flight plan and landed without authorization on the continent June 1, and they forced his small aircraft to remain at the Chilean air base in Antarctica at which he set down.

Officials said Guo was not barred from leaving, but he chose to stay at the base until the dispute was resolved. Prosecutors argued that the 19-year-old American influencer broke “multiple national and international regulations” by changing his flight plans without prior notice and landing in a sector of Antarctica claimed by Chile.

“Ethan Guo will board the icebreaker Almirante Viel in early September, which will allow him to return to Punta Arenas. I want to thank the Chilean Navy for helping resolve this humanitarian problem, because he had no way to leave Antarctica other than flying his own aircraft, which was not authorized,” his lawyer, Jaime Barrientos, told UPI.

Since 2024, Guo has led the campaign “Flight Against Cancer,” aiming to become the first pilot to fly solo across all seven continents in a Cessna 182Q, while raising $1 million for childhood cancer research after his cousin was diagnosed with the disease.

On June 28, Guo took off from Punta Arenas, bound for Ushuaia, Argentina, but changed course due to weather and landed instead at Teniente Marsh Air Base on King George Island, about 745 miles away.

Chilean officials said he filed a flight plan to depart from Punta Arenas, which he later failed to follow. By changing course without notice, an emergency protocol was triggered. The country’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation accused him of violating aviation rules and jeopardizing air safety.

Barrientos countered that Guo had received clearance to modify his plan.

“There is irrefutable evidence that he established communication with the DGAC, made the change and was expressly authorized to land at Teniente Marsh,” he said.

Speaking with Chilean newspaper Las Últimas Noticias, Guo said he never lied about his route.

“What happened on June 28 was deeply unfair. I didn’t understand the language they spoke to me in, and I was not allowed to present evidence to defend my case,” he said.

Living at the Chilean base, Guo described the experience as stressful and isolating.

“I spend 90% of my time in my room, and there isn’t much to do. Not everyone here speaks English, but they’ve treated me kindly. Despite the unfair legal process I’ve faced, I have a very good impression of Chile and its people.”

The case was closed through an out-of-court settlement. Regional prosecutor Cristián Crisosto said Guo agreed to donate $30,000 to charity and is barred from returning to Chile for three years.

As for the aircraft, Barrientos said the DGAC reached a deal allowing an authorized pilot to fly it back to Punta Arenas and then to the United States.

“We are complying with DGAC requirements so the plane can be returned as soon as possible,” he said.

Guo’s lawyer emphasized the young pilot’s experience: “He has landed in 50 countries, including war zones, crossed the Atlantic twice and flown more than 10 hours over the ocean. He was fully qualified to make the return flight, but we accepted the alternatives provided by the DGAC.”

For now, Guo said he only wants to move on.

“I haven’t seen my family or friends in months, so I hope to reunite with them soon. I just want to close this chapter of my life.”

Jackie Chan wielding panda bear plushies at the 89th Academy Awards. Brad Pitt serving duck face at the 92nd. Anya Taylor-Joy’s otherworldly hair flip just last year. These are some of the most iconic Glambot videos shot by director Cole Walliser, who has been operating E!’s high-speed red carpet camera, a staple of awards season, since 2016.

It was a much different entertainment landscape then, before #MeToo and #AskHerMore, the latter of which Walliser says he’s inoculated from by virtue of the slo-mo clips the Glambot generates. “For better or worse, it doesn’t allow me to ask more!” he chuckles from his Venice Beach office six weeks out from this year’s Emmys, which will be Walliser’s 10th, though he admits he’s ignorant of the nominees. “I try to stay tuned out to who’s nominated and who’s coming because I don’t want to get nervous,” he tells The Envelope.

Walliser, whose résumé includes music videos for Pink, Katy Perry and Tinashe and commercials for CoverGirl cosmetics, saw early on with Glambot that celebrity culture was poised to break out beyond red carpet telecasts and tabloid magazines: “If I look forward five years, what’s the climate going to be?” he recalls thinking. “It was very clear that it was going to be more on socials. So I thought, ‘If I start now I can be [ahead] of the curve.’”

Nor is he concerned about the growing presence of influencers in the awards space, whether in the form of now-regular campaign stops like “Hot Ones” and “Chicken Shop Date” to the red carpet itself. After all, Glambot is the ultimate short-form content, coming in at one second apiece, and helped pave the way for such successors.

“Part of what people gravitate to with the Glambot is the candid [nature of it],” Walliser says. “There’s a barrier that is broken down that people seem to enjoy.”

It took him a few years to arrive at the synergy between slow-motion clips and behind-the-scenes content that gives the Glambot a second life on social media during the six months outside of the awards season churn.

“It happened organically,” Walliser says, when he asked his assistant to be prepared to take a photo of him and Chan, whom Walliser grew up watching in Vancouver, if the opportunity arose. Ultimately, “it didn’t feel right, so I didn’t ask for a picture.” But unknown to Walliser, his assistant had been surreptitiously filming footage of Walliser directing Chan. He asked her to do it a few more times with other big celebrities. “Seeing how it works in real time was kind of interesting, so I cut it together and put it [online].

“It wasn’t until the 2020 awards season that I really dialed into what the behind-the-scenes content would be,” he continues. “Then the pandemic hit, so I was at home editing my footage and putting it on socials, and that’s when it exploded.”

Now the rise of TikTok and influencers has changed celebrities’ relationship with social media and the entertainment ecosystem at large. The Glambot remains, but it jostles for red carpet real estate alongside streamers and indeed celebs themselves, revealing their looks on Instagram or filming “Get Ready With Me” videos for fashion glossies like “Vogue” and “Elle.”

Does Walliser think the Glambot will go the way of “E! News”?

“Until celebrities are doing their at-home Glambots as good as I am on the red carpet, there’s still job security!” he says with a laugh. Still, the collaboration function on Instagram has been a godsend. “There was a switch when [celebrities] started going, ‘How do I get this? I want to post it.’”

Walliser’s employer’s flagship pop culture program was canceled last month after 32 years on the air, which he calls an “entertainment tragedy.” But whether exemplified by media companies’ pivot to video, then back to print, then back to video again, or broadcasting conglomerates’ mergers and spin-offs, Walliser believes the show, or at least the service it performs, could make a comeback.

“I think at some point we’re going to revalue these information curators that we trust and love because there’s too much content to do it on our own,” he says.

In the meantime, Walliser exudes serenity as he warms up for the Emmys before the hectic triple whammy of the Golden Globes, the Grammys and the Academy Awards in the new year: “I don’t have a life until after the Oscars.”

Until then, he’ll be hoping to capture the bold-faced names who’ve so far eluded the Glambot, including Rihanna, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bradley Cooper and Beyoncé. There’s always a chance — Bey’s Christmas Day NFL halftime performance is nominated for four Emmys.

Although Walliser doesn’t know that.

July 19 (UPI) — YouTube influencer Jon Prosser allegedly violated Apple’s intellectual property rights by illegally accessing and releasing trade secrets regarding the tech firm’s iOS 26 operating system before its launch.

Prosser and co-defendant Michael Ramacciotti allegedly misappropriated trade secrets and violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Apple says in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for Northern California.

Apple revealed its iOS 26 operating system on June 9 during its Worldwide Developers Conference but says Prosser released important details two months earlier.

Prosser’s YouTube channel, “Front Page Tech,” commonly predicts tech launches of consumer goods, including popular Apple products.

Apple says he and Ramacciotti schemed to “break into an Apple development iPhone, steal Apple’s trade secrets and profit from the theft,” Wired reported on Friday.

“Prosser, working with defendant Michael Ramacciotti, improperly accessed and disclosed Apple’s highly confidential, unreleased software designs, including details regarding the unreleased iOS 19 operating system, which is now known as iOS 26, for Apple mobile devices,” Apple says in the lawsuit.

Apple accuses the pair of conspiring to break into Apple employee Ethan Lipnik’s development iPhone to obtain Apple’s trade secrets. Lipnik worked for Apple from 2023 to 2025, when he was terminated by Apple over the leak, Business Insider reported.

The tech firm says it received an anonymous tip on April 4 that accuses either Prosser or Ramacciotti, who shared housing with Lipnik, of engaging the Apple employee in a FaceTime call that discussed the pending iOS 26 release.

The unreleased operating system at the time was known as iOS 19 among Apple employees.

The anonymous tip says Prosser obtained details on the unreleased operating system’s lock screen, home screen, app animations and app interfaces.

It also says Prosser had video from the FaceTime call that shows the operating system’s unique interface.

Apple claims Prosser learned Ramacciotti needed money and roomed with Lipnik, who worked on the unreleased operating system.

Prosser and Ramacciotti “jointly planned to access Apple’s confidential and trade secret information through Mr. Lipnik’s Apple-owned development iPhone,” Apple says.

The tech firm also says Lipnik provided it with an audio message from Ramacciotti that alleges he used location tracking to learn when Lipnik would be gone for an extended period.

Apple says the message indicates Ramacciotti acquired Lipnik’s passcode and “broke into his development iPhone,” which Lipnik did not properly secure in accordance with company policy.

“As he detailed in the audio message, Mr. Ramacciotti made a video call to Mr. Prosser and ‘showed [the] iOS’ on the development iPhone,” Apple claims.

“He demonstrated several features and applications, disclosing details of the unreleased iOS 19 operating system,” Apple says.

Prosser denies Apple’s claims against him.

“This is not how the situation played out on my end,” Prosser said in an X post on Thursday.

“I did not ‘plot’ to access anyone’s phone,” Prosser continued. “I did not have any passwords. I was unaware of how the information was obtained.”

Prosser said he is “looking forward to speaking with Apple on this.”

Apple says it suffered financial losses exceeding $5,000 over a one-year period and seeks monetary and punitive damages in amounts to be proven at trial, plus interest.

It also seeks injunctive relief to cease Prosser and Ramacciotti’s alleged release of Apple’s trade secrets to third parties without written consent and to return or help Apple to locate and destroy any trade secrets that might remain under their control.

Of all the pop hits vying to become the song of the summer, Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” might be the most improbable: A stark and brooding ballad full of lurid Christian imagery — “Shatter me with your touch / Oh Lord, return me to dust,” goes one line — it’s about a guy seeking the kind of sexual-spiritual fulfillment not typically found on the beach or at a barbecue.

Yet the song, which has more than 720 million streams on Spotify, just logged its sixth week since early June atop Billboard’s Hot 100 — more than a month longer at No. 1 than Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild,” to name one of the sunnier tunes soundtracking the season. (Among Warren’s other competitors: Drake, who posted an image of the current chart on Instagram on Monday showing his song “What Did I Miss?” at No. 2 behind Warren’s hit. “I’m taking that soon don’t worry,” the rapper wrote.)

“Ordinary’s” somber tone is all the more striking given that Warren — whose father died when he was 9 and who grew up in Carlsbad with a single mother he’s described as an abusive alcoholic — first made a name for himself as a founding member of Hype House, the early-2020s conclave of TikTokers known for beaming out goofy bite-size content from a rented mansion in Los Angeles. Half a decade later, Warren is still a faithful user of his TikTok account (with its 18.8 million followers), though these days he’s mostly driving attention — often with the help of his wife, fellow influencer Kouvr Annon — to his music, which combines the moody theatrics of early Sam Smith with the highly buffed textures of Imagine Dragons.

On Friday, Warren will release his debut LP, “You’ll Be Alright, Kid,” featuring guest appearances by Blackpink’s Rosé and by Jelly Roll, who brought Warren to the stage at April’s Stagecoach festival to sing “Ordinary” and to premiere their duet “Bloodline.” Warren, 24, discussed his journey during a recent trip to L.A. from his new home in Nashville, where he lives not far from Jelly Roll and Teddy Swims. “I was just texting Teddy,” Warren says as we sit down. “I got off tour and immediately was like, ‘Oh, I want to buy a go-kart.’ Teddy FaceTimes me, he goes, ‘You a—hole. I’m trying to buy a go-kart right now too.’ Apparently, I bought the last go-kart in Tennessee.” These are excerpts from our conversation.

“Ordinary” is clearly drawing on your identity as a Christian. Yet there’s something almost sacrilegious about the song.
I get that criticism a lot.

To me it’s what makes the song interesting — the erotic energy in a line like “You got me kissing the ground of your sanctuary.”
I’m worshiping my wife in a way — she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me. You can’t just write a song like that and be like, “Oh, baby, you’re my everything.” Everyone’s already done “You’re my world,” you know? I wanted to do something different — almost Hozier-esque. I wrote into it being like, I really love my wife, and I have a relationship with God — that’s something I can compare it to.

As the song has gone out, I’ve heard a lot of Christians’ opinions on it, and some people are like, “F— this guy.” There’s also so many people who think it’s a super die-hard Christian song and don’t like it either. I have to be OK with both sides hating me.

You’ve led a peculiar life, which obviously lends context to your music for anyone who knows the details. Yet “Ordinary” is big enough now that many listeners — maybe most listeners — are hearing it without knowing anything about you.
This new song I’ve been teasing [“Eternity”] is about grief, and people are like, “I can’t wait to play it at my wedding.” It’s cool that people are making it their own. It reminds me of Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved,” where people were like, “Oh my God, this is a breakup record.” No, he wrote it about his grandma.

Are you a Capaldi fan?
I love Lewis. I don’t look like a Justin Bieber/Shawn Mendes traditional pop star, but it’s cool because Lewis kind of made it popular to not give a f—. Lewis and Ed [Sheeran], I would say — I mean, I’ve seen Ed’s closet, and it’s just nine white Prada T-shirts.

You have an unusual voice.
Thank you — I think?

It’s deeper than most pop voices right now. Does it seem unusual to you?
No. I asked my wife, “Do I have a basic voice?” She was like, “What are you talking about?” I was like, “I live with this voice, and I think it just sounds like every other bitch.” But I’m my No. 1 hater.

I went back and looked at the series Netflix made about Hype House.
I’m so sorry.

There’s some significant fluctuations in your weight, and I was wondering how working in a visual field from a pretty young age shaped your ideas about eating and exercise.
When I started making money, I didn’t know what to do with it and I just used DoorDash every second I could. As time went on, especially in Hype House, you have so many people’s opinions and everyone’s pointing out your flaws, and the weight was definitely one of them. After that I was like, “OK, how do I fix this?” I’m 24 now — I was 22, 21 at the time, and I was like, “I should be in the best shape of my life.”

But it definitely does take a toll on you. Even now, if you go look at my TikTok comments, thousands of people are loving me. You go on Twitter, the first 400 comments are like, “He’s so ugly,” “His nose is crooked,” all these things. It hits a point where you have a thousand people loving you, but those two people not — you’re like, “Wait, are they the ones telling me the truth? Is everyone else just gassing me up?”

Kind of bleak.
It’s such a strange career. I have the Kids’ Choice Awards on Saturday, and I’m like, “Should I be eating this the next few days?”

Would you say you’re in a good place in terms of how you think about your physical appearance?
Looking in the mirror, probably not. But when it comes to having to approve a photo, I don’t give a s—. I’ll approve whatever, double chin and all.

Is that true?
Truly, I don’t mind, because I don’t think people are watching my videos for my attractiveness. That being said, if I was lighter, I think I’d be happier looking at myself. But at the same time, I don’t care because these songs to me are more about what they’re about and less about how I look. Also, it gives me some leeway if someone catches me lacking at In-N-Out.

Warren’s song “Ordinary” now has more than 720 million streams on Spotify and has just logged its sixth week since early June atop Billboard’s Hot 100.

(Ethan Benavidez / For The Times)

You’ve said you don’t really drink or do drugs but that you get drunk once a year. What would be the occasion?
I just got drunk with Ed Sheeran — I drank two Modelos and I got put on my ass. This was at Santa’s Pub [in Nashville] — me, Noah Kahan and Ed Sheeran. They had just played something, and Ed was like, “Do you want a drink?” I was like, “If I’m getting drunk this year, it’s getting drunk with Ed Sheeran.” So he gave me a Modelo, and I was like, “Whoa, I’m feeling this.” He’s like, “OK, dude, I’m on my 11th.” He hands me a second one, and my wife had to drive me home.

So I’ve been getting a little loose with it. But it’s always beer — I don’t really drink any hard stuff. Nothing against it, I’ve just always preferred Diet Coke. I wish I liked alcohol.

I mean, you can cultivate this. It’s easy to do.
I’ve been trying. I had a sip of my friend’s old fashioned. I thought it was interesting — sugary, but I liked it.

Your song “The Outside” on this new record talks about the illusory nature of happiness and success.
I went into it wanting to write about the things that people go through to turn to God or another power or something to get out of their own heads. I wanted to depict people finding a sense of purpose.

“Hollywood wasn’t all that she thought / City of Angels but her wings got caught / She got high enough to think she met God.”
You move to L.A. to pursue a dream and you see God after doing a hallucinogenic — that’s referencing a friend of mine who’s now a Christian buff who did ayahuasca. The other [verse] is about health care — watching my friends who don’t have it because it’s so expensive.

“‘It’s just stress,’ so the doctor says / His young heart’s beating out of his chest / Student loans and medical debt.”
The Luigi Mangione case happened around the time we wrote that record.

Luigi was in your head as you were writing?
That second verse is literally about Luigi Mangione. Not to get political, but the things that I feel are necessary in life — you have to pay for it, and it causes people to turn to something like God. The song ends with me being like, “I talk to my dad in the sky, hoping he talks to me back.” That song means a lot to me.

Your music is extremely tidy, which stands in contrast to the singer-songwriter mode of the Zach Bryans —
And the Noah Kahans, where they’re flat in some parts and it doesn’t matter because the emotion’s there.

Why is your instinct as a musician to go for something neater?
Because I don’t have the luxury of being able to make what some people view as mistakes. Coming from TikTok to music, I feel like it needs to be neat — it needs to be, “Oh my God, this guy can do this.” The next album I’m working on, it’s more rugged. I’m finding different parts of my voice. I’ve been listening to a lot of older music too, which has been really good.

Such as?
Hall & Oates — dude, “Rich Girl”? Billy Joel too.

Is there still a Hype House group chat?
I have a group chat with not all of them but the ones that — I’m not gonna name-drop them, but the ones getting popular with music. It was formative years in my life — my college experience, I guess. We’re able to look back on it and have a moment of, like, “That sucked, but it was also awesome.”

Would people in the house have called that you and Addison Rae would be the ones to break out as musicians?
No, I don’t think so — especially not me. Maybe Addison — Addison has always been cool. Everyone loved Addison, even in the house, and she’s always been so kind. Even to this day, she’s a good friend of mine. But no one would have guessed me. I don’t think anyone liked me.

In the house?
Just in general. The Netflix show — a lot of it was fake, but looking at that, I feel like I’m such a better person now.

“The next album I’m working on, it’s more rugged,” says Warren, whose debut LP “You’ll Be Alright, Kid” comes out Friday. “I’m finding different parts of my voice.”

(Ethan Benavidez / For The Times)

Are you glad that “Ordinary” happened after the influencer moment in your life — that there’s a bit of separation?
I started this in 2020, 2021 — I put out my first song then, and I was still an influencer, vlogging, doing all those things. Everyone’s like, “He came out of nowhere,” and I’m like, I’ve been doing this for five years.

But nobody cared until well after your time as an influencer — which might be a good thing, right? I’m not sure the overlap served Lil Huddy. In a weird way, you might’ve gotten lucky.
I think about that often. I made videos with my wife — I never really made videos with the content house — and those videos were successful in their own right. I think a lot of my fans today were watching me at that time, but not for the Hype House. Actually, no, that’s not true.

It’s hard to generalize about the audience for a song this big.
All I do is put my head down and promote the records. I’m not paying attention to the scope of things.

Of course you’re checking the numbers.
I’m not understanding the scope besides the numbers. My monthly listeners [on Spotify], someone told me it was 50-something million — that’s sick. But I can’t contextualize that. If I’m walking down the street, how many people have heard the song and how many people know who I am? I know the song is big, but I’m under the assumption that the record’s bigger than I am.

That seems true.
OK, so what does that mean? I can compare it to a Lola Young, or is it a Benson Boone? I think that’s two separate things right now. Also, I don’t know the age demographic. If I walk into a bingo night, are they gonna know who I am?

A bingo night?
You know what I’m saying. The song is No. 1 on Hot AC — that’s adult contemporary. Is it someone’s mom? I don’t know who’s listening to the record. But I write songs about people passing away, and most people — no matter rich, poor, whatever — it’s typically gonna be your 40-and-up who are gonna relate to that record. Kids don’t necessarily deal with loss the same way.

Is it weird to think that a significant portion of your audience is people twice your age?
No, that’s f—ing rad to me — the older audience is the hardest to grab. I think it’s safe to say that most people judge notoriety on whether their mom knows who they are, right? If that’s where I start, that’s cool.

July 10 (UPI) — Social media influencer Nick Adams is President Donald Trump‘s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Malaysia.

Trump announced the nomination on Wednesday while Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Malaysia on a diplomatic trip to participate in an Association of Southeast Asian Nations event in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

“Accepting this call of duty should be the easiest decision made by any American,” Adams said in a video, as reported by The Hill.

“It is nothing short of a lifetime honor to take the president’s goodwill and spread it to the great people of Malaysia,” Adams said.

Our country is the land of tremendous opportunity,” he added. “In our new golden age, these opportunities will grow like never before.”

Adams, 40, is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Australia and has been a supporter of Trump’s for many years.

During his first term in office, Trump nominated Adams as a board member of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, NBC News reported.

Adams formerly was the deputy mayor of Ashfield, which is a suburb of Sydney, Australia.

His personal website describes Adams as a critic of illegal immigration, critical race theory and “radical feminism.”

He also says he is a “champion of American exceptionalism.”

Adams in 2016 established the Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness, which is a non-profit that teaches the United States’ founding documents and American values to grade-school students.

He says he earned bachelor’s and graduate degrees from the University of Sydney and has authored several books.

Adams has more than 3 million social media followers.

When William Rath mapped out his post-law school trip to Los Angeles in May, his itinerary included the city’s quintessential landmarks: gazing up at the Hollywood sign from Beachwood Canyon, taking a celebrity homes tour, scanning the Pacific Ocean for whales off the coast of Long Beach. But amid these classic stops, one destination rose above the rest. Erewhon, the luxury grocer, was a nonnegotiable — not for its groceries, but for the clout, the curiosity and the spectacle.

Rath, a freshly minted graduate from the University of Oregon and influencer, made his pilgrimage to the Beverly Hills location, the gleaming wellness emporium nestled just steps from Rodeo Drive, where Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie routinely draws queues 20-people deep. Unable to find a seat outside, he retreated to his rental car in the shade of a nearby parking garage, and filmed a TikTok review.

“TikTok was the main reason I went. It’s always been on my ‘For You’ page,” says 25-year-old Rath. “I always see a lot of influencers going there and trying different things. It’s a big trend, and it hasn’t stopped.”

Once the domain of wellness devotees and Hollywood insiders, Erewhon has transformed into something more universal: for some, it’s their local grocery store, but it’s also now a bucket list tourist destination. Like the Hollywood Walk of Fame or the Getty Museum, the upscale grocer draws out-of-town visitors in search of not just sustenance, but status — a smoothie, a snapshot and social media proof they were there.

Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie ($20) attracts tourists to Erewhon.

(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)

Aspiration defines much of Erewhon’s appeal. In an era when tourists seek experiences as much as landmarks, the store offers something singular: a way to sample a certain kind of shiny L.A. life. It’s wellness as entertainment, grocery shopping as status symbol. Some tourists are just people on vacation there to gawk, while others are influencers there for content.

“It’s a cultural moment,” says Christina Basias, 36, who has checked out Erewhon’s Santa Monica, Venice and Silver Lake locations when traveling from New Jersey with wife Alexis Androulakis, 38. When they go, the beauty product educators and entrepreneurs scope out new product trends and wellness ingredients that haven’t yet hit mass retailers. “At least 40% of what I see at Erewhon, I can’t find anywhere else,” Androulakis adds.

Founded in 1966 by macrobiotic pioneers Michio and Aveline Kushi, Erewhon began as a natural foods stall in a Boston market before opening a location in L.A. in 1969. The pair borrowed the store’s name, an anagram of “nowhere,” from Samuel Butler’s 1872 satirical novel of the same name, which centered on a utopia where illness is considered a crime. After Tony Antoci and his wife Josephine acquired the brand in 2011, the stores became sleeker and more light-filled; valet parking became the norm. Perhaps most significantly, Erewhon began partnering with celebrities on exclusive smoothie collaborations with none more iconic than Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie.

The exterior of Erewhon is seen in Culver City in 2024.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

By mastering the intersection of curated wellness and celebrity cachet, the brand has turned everyday shopping into a kind of luxury theater.

For many first-time visitors, going to the store is driven by seeing the phenomenon for themselves. That was the appeal for Chloe Forero, an influencer from Chicago, who visited L.A. in May. “It was very much a Whole Foods on steroids,” she says. “It just seemed more like a social experiment than a place people shop day to day.”

Forero, 22, walked away with a sushi roll, two juices and a cookie totaling $65. “The cookie was great,” she admits. “But I ate that sushi thinking maybe this will change my life. Perhaps this sushi will be so good it’ll be worth the price tag that comes with it. It was not.”

Some longtime Erewhon shoppers — yes, some of whom are influencers themselves — grumble on social media about the Erewhon tourists. Meredith Lynch, a Los Angeles native, writer and influencer who frequently dissects influencer culture online, says the Beverly Hills location, in particular, has become a stage. “So much about L.A., for better or worse, is about being seen,” she says. “Erewhon is a place where people go, and they get seen.”

Inside the Culver City Erewhon in 2024.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

The performative aspect resonates with young out-of-towners. Kiara Dewrance, a chef from Cape Town, South Africa, had hoped to try the Bieber smoothie when she visited L.A. last September. But after seeing the price ($20), she opted for two less expensive drinks and still walked away thrilled.

“It kind of feels like when you’re watching a movie. It kind of felt like a movie moment seeing it in real life,” says Dewrance, 27.

Gibson Ardoline, a 19-year-old influencer and business administration major at the University of Florida, spent $91 on lunch when he first toured L.A. last November, which included sushi, juice and one of the store’s hot bar meals. He offset the costs by filming two TikTok reels chronicling his experience, which received more than 1 million views combined and earned him more than what he spent at Erewhon thanks to payments from TikTok as part of the platform’s Creator Rewards Program.

“It was worth going one time, just to have the laugh and say I spent $90 on lunch,” he says, although he wouldn’t disclose how much he made. “It might not be a laugh for everybody, but to me, it was profitable.”

Not everyone leaves ambivalent. Patrick Oatman, a model and economics major at the University of Connecticut, was genuinely impressed when he dropped by Erewhon last June.

“It seemed to be miles away from a regular grocery store, so it was entertaining in that perspective. It felt like this out-of-reach L.A. thing,” says Oatman, 21.

Erewhon carries several branded wellness products, like this Neptune Blue Sea Moss gel.

(Juno Carmel / Los Angeles Times)

For Rath, who hopes to move to L.A. and practice entertainment law one day, his $100 tab was less a trip expense than a rite of passage.

“This couldn’t be my weekly place for groceries, but If I had a job in L.A., maybe I would go, although it would have to be like once every two weeks,” he explains.

When asked to rank Erewhon among the other iconic spots he visited, he didn’t skip a beat.

“Honestly?” he says. “In-N-Out was fine, but I preferred Erewhon.”

The outrageous actions of a content creator seeking the perfect social media image in Thailand have led a Brit tourist to brand her a ‘b****’

A British holidaymaker has hit out at influencer culture for going too far as she urged content creators to let children play.

The comments from @carlyleighgyally on TikTok came as she sunned herself by a beautiful pool in a resort in Thailand.

Carly turned to her social media to express her outrage after a young child who was playing with her dad in the water was asked to move so an influencer could get a perfect picture. She explained: “This family’s here and there’s an adults only pool literally 50 metres round the corner where there are no children.

“This little girl who’s playing with her dad in the pool, she’s on his shoulders, she’s the best swimmer I’ve ever had in my life and she’s like five. I think it’s really wholesome and sweet.”

READ MORE: Influencer, 27, found dead after chilling Facebook post calling for ‘help’

Warning: Explicit language in video.

But when a woman arrived and set herself up with a tripod, she wasn’t happy that the stunning backdrop to the beautiful pool – a lush green landscape – was being “spoiled” by the family playing in it. “This f***** influencer pointed to the edge of the pool and was like: ‘Can you go over there?’,” raged the TikTokker.

“‘F*** off’. If you want a private pool to film content… go rent a villa.”

Much to the dismay of the holidaymaker, the “wholesome” family had moved when told and were now not fully enjoying themselves. “Now they’re really uncomfortable at the side of the pool, they’re not doing what they were doing anymore,” she said. “I’m so annoyed at this b****.”

This unnamed influencer isn’t the only one to annoy the public – earlier this year another content creator was slammed for asking a 12-year-old boy enjoying the sea view from Bondi’s famous Icebergs Pool in Australia to move so she could pose. TikTok users were quick to agree with Carly this time around, with one telling her: “My partner makes it his mission to cannonball all influencer shots”.

Another jaw dropping influencer story was shared in response to her video from a TikTokker called Jen, who said: “My fiance proposed to me on holiday and had paid for the hotel to set up an area with flowers, candles and MARRY ME lights. The area was blocked off with a sign saying ‘private event’.

“After he proposed, we sat drinking champagne and these two influencers came over and started taking photos next to us! One of them even moved the private event sign out of the way! So I told them where to go.”

“Influencers in the wild are the worst people ever,” added Carly of her original video. “You can’t tell children to move, it is the worst humanly thing I’ve ever seen anyone do.”

The Trump administration says the cartel is responsible for a significant share of fentanyl entering the country.

The United States has imposed sanctions against five leaders of a Mexican drug cartel for killings, including the prime suspect in the murder of Mexican influencer Valeria Marquez, and drug trafficking, the US Department of the Treasury has said.

The sanctions levied on Wednesday target the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), which the Trump administration says is responsible for a significant share of fentanyl and other illegal drugs entering the US.

The cartel is said to use murder, including the targeted killing of women, as a weapon of intimidation against its rivals.

“The vicious attack highlights the brutal prevalence of femicide, or the killing of women on account of their gender, in Mexico. Femicide often goes unpunished and affects a significant portion of Mexico’s women,”  the Treasury Department said in a statement.

In February, the Trump administration designated CJNG as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” and “Specially Designated Global Terrorist.”

The cartel is led by Nemesio Ruben “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, who was among the five leaders named on Wednesday. The US authorities have offered a $15m reward for information leading to his capture.

A cartel commander closely linked to him, Ricardo Ruiz Velasco, was also sanctioned.

Ruiz has been identified as the prime suspect in the murder of his purported romantic partner, TikTok influencer Marquez, the Treasury Department said.

Marquez, 23, was killed in May in the beauty salon where she worked in the city of Zapopan by a man who entered and shot her as she livestreamed a video on TikTok, the Jalisco state prosecutor said.

Other leaders sanctioned include Julio Alberto Castillo Rodriguez, Gonzalo Mendoza Gaytan and Audias Flores Silva, according to the Treasury Department statement.

AN influencer and extreme sports enthusiast died after “tumbling through the air” in a 60ft plunge off a British mountain

Maria Eftimova, 28, went hiking up the 3,000ft peak before slipping on rocky ground and tumbling down the mountain to her death.

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Maria suffered fatal head injuries and, despite the best efforts of medical staff, was tragically pronounced dead at the scene.

The influencer, with more than 10,000 followers, was tackling the notorious Tryfan mountain in Snowdonia, North Wales, when she fell to her death.

An inquest into her death heard she was climbing the mountain’s notorious north ridge – a popular but dangerous scrambling route.

Maria was an experienced mountaineer and had completed an ice-climbing course in Norway shortly before the horror unfolded.

The inquest has heard how she posed for a “Mexican wave” with friends before she fell to her death.

Fellow climber Harry Jones said the group were going up the face one-by-one when he witnessed Maria’s tragic fall.

He added: “I could see on one particular ledge Maria stopped in order to get a handhold to pull herself up, I was six ft below her, to the left.

“She swung her right leg up to pull herself up. I asked ‘Got it well?’ and she said ‘I think so.”

He said moments later he witnessed Maria “flying over me” and down the mountainside.

The 60ft plummet left Maria with horrific injuries, including a fractured skull..

Coroner Kate Robertson returned a conclusion of accidental death and passed on her condolences to Maria’s family and friends.

Maria, of St Helens, originally from Sofia, Bulgaria, showcased her outdoor lifestyle online.

Following her tragic death a fundraiser was set up by friends to help cover repatriation costs.

Maria’s tragic death on February 22nd came less than a week after Dr Charlotte Crook, 30, also died while climbing in the same region.

An inquest heard Dr Crook plunged 30ft to her death while walking on Glyder Fach with a fellow medic.

Both women were attended to by Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation.

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Speaking of Maria’s accident, the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue team said: “A group was ascending the north-ridge when one of them fell 20 metres into steep terrain.

“Passers-by with climbing equipment abseiled down and made her safe, and a team member already nearby made his way down and started CPR.

“Colleagues from Welsh Ambulance Service stood by at base while the Coastguard helicopter dropped team members onto the mountain.

“Unfortunately, the casualty had not survived her injuries, and she was brought down to Oggie base.

“The thoughts of all involved are with the casualties families and friends, thank you to all the members of the public who tried to help.”

Neil Oakes, who was on a slightly different route up the mountain at the time Maria fell, told of his horror at witnessing the tragedy unfold.

He said: “I turned and saw Ms Eftimova tumbling through the air below me. She was already in freefall.

“I knew there was going to be an impact on the rocky outcrop below so I turned away for a split second. I was shouting ‘No, no, no, no.’

“When I turned back she was on the ledge below. I knew that it was serious.

“I said ‘She’s gone. She’s fallen.’ I was in shock.”

A man described by law enforcement as one of Southern California’s most prominent street racing influencers has been charged by Los Angeles County prosecutors with 16 counts of conspiracy for organizing a number of so-called “street takeovers.”

Erick Romero Quintana, 22, pleaded not guilty during a brief court appearance Thursday in downtown L.A. He faces at least a decade in prison after authorities charged him with running the Instagram account @privatemeetz, which blasted out the locations of 16 different takeover events across South L.A. to its more than 60,000 followers from December 2022 to November 2023, according to a criminal complaint filed last month.

At one of those events, a 24-year-old girl died after a spinning car careened into the crowd.

Street racing events have long proved to be a deadly part of Southern California’s broader car culture. A Times investigation found that at least 179 people were killed in street racing related incidents between 2000 and 2017. While people often think of street races as the quarter-mile one-on-one speed contests highlighted by the early installments in the “Fast & The Furious” film franchise, so-called “sideshows” or “takeovers” can often prove dangerous too.

At takeover events, racers and spectators rush to an intersection and block traffic, while motorists perform stunts in a small space with little room between the asphalt they’re skidding across and the audience itself. Drivers often perform “burnouts” or “doughnuts,” trying to see how many times they can spin their car in a circle, or compete to see who can skid to a stop closest to a fixed object without crashing into it.

The charges filed against Quintana represent a novel approach to target people involved in the racing scene who aren’t drivers. Sgt. Arnold Castellanos, a member of the LAPD’s Street Racing Task Force, said the first-of-its-kind prosecution is a necessary step.

“Street takeovers have evolved into so much more than just cars doing donuts. Over time ‘car clubs’ have formed, these car clubs ‘compete’ against each other to see who has the better drivers and can ‘bully’ other drivers out of the pit,” Castellanos said. “This has escalated tensions and has resulted in the car clubs acting like gangs.”

Quintana is due back in court in July. Each conspiracy count carries a minimum prison sentence of 16 months.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said the charges against Quintana are the beginning of a broader effort to rein in street racers. Hochman noted that the takeovers can attract large and unruly crowds, which commit secondary crimes in the areas where they take place. He pointed to the large mob that smashed their way into a Compton bakery and robbed it after a takeover last year.

“People like Quintana are the ones bringing together the street racers and the spectators, they are as responsible and accountable for the crimes being committed as all the other participants in the conspiracy,” Hochman said.

Quintana’s attorney, Bart Kaspero, said he was “puzzled” by law enforcement’s approach to the case. While he didn’t dispute that Quintana was behind the account or that he posted locations of takeovers, he said his client didn’t attend the events or drive at any of them. He likened the prosecution to charging someone who handed out fliers to a party where a crime was committed.

“To target the guy who just announced where the meetings are, is a bit of overkill,” he said.

Kaspero described his client as a mere “car enthusiast” and rejected police and prosecutors’ depictions of street takeovers as havens of criminality, or the idea that his client should have known something bad would happen at the events he allegedly organized.

“I think it’s safe to say most people that are there are there for a spectacle,” Kaspero said.

Hochman said it would be impossible for Quintana to argue he didn’t know something dangerous might happen at a takeover event, considering he allegedly organized 15 additional takeovers after a woman died the Christmas Day event he posted locations for in Hyde Park.

Castellanos said Quintana’s account would post Instagram stories with “symbols or abbreviations which coincided with intersections allowing for all to respond in a flash mob fashion and overwhelm the location.” He said people like Quintana exploit the “carnage” that happens at takeover events to gain online clout, hoping they will gain enough of a following to monetize their accounts.

Castellanos said people who attend takeovers have a “Grand Theft Auto” mentality — invoking the popular video game franchise where players can turn pixelated versions of Los Angeles, Miami and New York into violent lawless playgrounds — “where individuals believe they are untouchable and do not fear law enforcement or the criminal justice system.”

HERE’S the tanned, toned and totally gorgeous line-up for this year’s Love Island.

The Sun can exclusively reveal Maya Jama’s full squad for the summer includes a footballer, personal trainer and a series of stunning models.

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But their beauty is more than skin deep, as ITV2 has amassed a group with real kudos.

Brilliant former fire-breather Sophie Lee has campaigned for real beauty since she was scarred for life when her act went disastrously wrong, whilst Alima Gagigo has a BA degree in international business.

Love Island bosses will officially confirm the OGs tomorrow, with the series to kick off next Monday.

But for now, take a look at the girls and guys who will be sexing up your summer.

Harry Cooksley

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Footballer Harry Cooksley will be bringing his fancy footwork to the Love Island villa.

The midfielder, 29, has been branded The Surrey Zidane by fans of his team Farnham Town.

Harry – who is known for his goal celebrations – is now hoping to score with the ladies.

A source told The Sun: “Harry’s got the full package – a great, athletic bod and great chat. 

“Love Island’s ladies love a footballer and The Surrey Zidane will be sure to impress as he plays away.

“Execs are finalising who will be in the OG line-up and who will be a bombshell.” 

Tommy Bradley

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Cheeky chappy Tommy Bradley is in tip top shape for the Love Island villa after undergoing a dramatic body transformation.

Tommy documented his prep for the ITV2 dating show on Instagram by posting a stream of videos of his gym sessions.

He was helped by his brother Jamie Bradley, who is a boxer, and the pair love a night out together with the lads.

“Tommy seems to tick all the Love Island boxes as the cheeky chappy of this summer’s series,” a source said.

“He looks to enjoy a night out with the lads and out on the boxing scene with his brother. 

“But he’s also packed on serious muscle over the last year ready for telly’s famous villa and is no longer just a personality hire.”

Sophie Lee

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Fire-breather Sophie will be turning up the heat when she struts into the villa looking for love.

Sophie, 29, is an influencer who almost died in a freak accident on stage in Chicago seven years ago.

The dancer and model, from Manchester, was left with horror burns when an air conditioning unit blew flames back in her face.

Sophie has written a book about her experience and has worked with The Katie Piper Foundation, helping fellow burns victims

A source said: “Sophie is a gorgeous girl and a powerhouse of a woman who has overcome everything life has thrown at her.

“Just like Tasha Ghouri’s amazing time in the villa where she raised awareness for the hearing impaired, Love Island bosses are thrilled to give Sophie the same platform to discuss her accident and how she’s become comfortable in her skin since.”

Shakira Khan

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Shakira Khan likes the finer things in life.

The 22-year-old’s Instagram page is filled with gorgeous travel snaps from Haiti, Dubai and New York – and she’s not afraid of a bikini showcase too. 

In one recent post, she showed off her impressive figure in black and silver bikini top and thong briefs.

Shakira captioned it: “Haiti cos u ain’t me 💋.”

One follower replied: “Wow!! 🤩 gorgeous lady x.”

A source said: “Shakira is jaw-droppingly gorgeous and will land a place in Love Island’s history books as a real beauty.”

Megan Forte Clarke

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Stunning actress Megan will definitely turn a few heads this summer.

Megan originally hails from Ireland but trained at The Brighton Academy of performing arts and musical theatre.

She has more than 20,000 followers on TikTok and isn’t afraid to take the mickey out of herself.

But once in the villa, she Megan might give the swimming pool a miss.

One of her TikTok videos shows Megan screaming and terrified while making her way through the rides at Siam Park water park in Tenerife.

Speaking of her experience, she told a follower: “It took 10 years off my life.”

Megan is already friends with Love Island alumni Harriett Blackmore.

Dejon Noel Williams

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Hunky Dejon Noel Williams will definitely be making the most the villa gym this summer.

The personal trainer and semi-professional footballer is a fitness fanatic and has already worked with a string of big name sportswear brands.

Dejon’s social media accounts are full of sexy photos of his ripped body and he already has an Instagram following of more than 11,000 fans.

His bio reads: “I go beyond the gym—helping you build Strength, Confidence & Discipline for life.”

Dejon recently took part in his first HYDROX competition and told his fans: “I trained for the moment, and the moment didn’t break me. First Hyrox down.”

In 2021, he represented the Grenada national football team.

Blu Chegini

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Businessman Blu will be swapping his wardrobe of smart suits for swimming trucks when he walks into the villa.

Blu is based in London and currently works as a construction project manager.

He graduated from Oxford Brookes University in 2023 with a Bsc Hons in Construction Project Management and works for a firm in the captial’s swanky Fitzrovia.

Blu also spends a lot of time in Marbella, meaning he will feel right at home in the Spanish sun.

Alima Gagio

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Alima Gagio is another of this year’s lot who brings a lot more to the table than just 10/10 looks. 

The stunning Scot has an BA Hons degree in International Business and proudly posted online about her achievement.

Posing with a bunch of flowers on her graduation day from Glasgow Caledonian University, her 2,250 followers rushed to congratulate her. 

Elsewhere the gorgeous travel fan shares images from her holidays around the world, posting updates from Lisbon, Mykonos, Ibiza and Morocco. 

Alima also loves a trip down south to London for a bouji dinner and cocktails with her friends.

Ben Holbrough

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Buff Ben will feel right at home with his top off in the Majorcan sunshine.

The model is 6ft 2ins and is a big fan of showing off his six pack in mirror selfies on social media.

In a video on his Star Now modelling page, he says: “My main line of work is modelling, which I’ve been doing for about five or six years now.

“But when I’m not doing that, my hobbies are either going to the gym or playing football.”

Ben already has a connection to the reality TV world, as he is followed on Instagram by Married At First Sight star Lacey Martin.

Helena Ford

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Blonde beauty Helena Ford hopes to find herself a match in the Love Island villa.

The gorgeous influencer is already mates with Love Island alumni Zara McDermott and loves travelling the world as a member of cabin crew.

Helena is based in the UK, the majority of of her social media snaps have been taken in the luxury destinations she has visited with her job.

She has been pictured in Dubai, Miami, Cape Town and Lake Como in Italy.

Helena also has a TikTok account where she posts ‘come with me’ videos as she jets off around the world.

Megan Moore

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Gorgeous girl Megan is another fan of travelling the world.

The influencer was last snapped in Spain just two weeks ago as she topped up her tan ahead of her big villa entrance.

Little is known about Megan but she already has several thousand fans on Instagram.

Commenting on a recent photo of her, one gushed: “Most beautiful girl inside and out.”

Another added: “Stunning my girl .”

And a third told her: “You are just delightful.”

Kyle Ashman

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Unlike most of Love Island’s line-ups, Kyle doesn’t come into the villa with a social media packed with model shots. 

The hunk has just one snap online, showing off his rippling six-pack as he poses on a rooftop. 

But he looks to be more than villa-ready – and will head straight to the garden gym.

On his Instagram page he has two emojis, one of which depicts a man lifting up a barbell. 

The second emoji suggests he is a devout Muslim and will join the likes of Islanders including Nas Majeed who have practised the faith in the villa. 

Viewers can look forward to filling in Kyle’s blank pages as we learn more about him. 

Bombshells

IF the gorgeous gaggle of guys and girls above isn’t enough, then a troop of bombshells are ready to explode into the villa once the show is underway. 

The Sun revealed last week that 6’5” Aaron Buckett was lined-up and can now share the update that he will appear later in the series to tempt the girls away from their partners.

The PT is such a hunk, execs have decided to hold him back until the early couplings look secure – then deploy him at the perfect time to lure a lass away and create maximum drama.

Elsewhere, two beauties have been named as in the mix for later on. 

They are make-up artist Lucy Quinn, a 20-year-old from Liverpool.

A source told Mail Online: “Lucy is single and ready to mingle. She can’t wait to enter the Love Island villa and is counting down the days until it becomes a reality.” 

Then there is beauty salon owner Rose Selway, who counts Islanders including Lucinda Strafford and Jessy Potts among her clientele.

A source told MailOnline: “Rose is friends with many former stars of the show so has a good idea what it’s like being in the villa and now she finally has the chance to experience it herself.”

The trio will join the throng of Islanders poised and ready to land in the villa throughout the series run. 

An ITV spokesman said: “As always there is a lot of speculation around the Love Island line up – we will be announcing the Love Island 2025 cast in due course.”

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Israeli forces have killed more than a dozen Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip in the last 48 hours, while thousands more face the threat of imminent starvation amid a drastically deteriorating humanitarian crisis.

On Sunday, four-year-old Mohammed Yassine joined dozens of other children who have starved to death in recent days as the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that more than 70,000 children in Gaza face acute levels of malnutrition.

As well as causing starvation deaths, Israel has intensified its bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza, killing some 600 people in nearly a week.

A strike on a tent housing displaced people in central Gaza killed a mother and her children in the central city of Deir el-Balah, according to Al-Aqsa Hospital, while a child was killed when his family’s tent was struck with a drone in Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

A strike in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza killed at least five, including two women and a child, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Eleven-year-old Yaqeen Hammad, a popular social media influencer, and nine of Dr Alaa Amir al-Najjar’s 10 children were also killed in separate Israeli air raids. Al-Najjar’s remaining child, 11-year-old Adam, is in critical condition in an intensive care unit.

The attacks come amid an Israeli blockade for almost three months that has choked off access to essential food, fuel, and medical supplies. Aid agencies warn that thousands of children are now at risk of death from starvation.

Children account for 31 percent of Palestinians confirmed killed during Israel’s 19 months of war on Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. This figure excludes deaths that have been reported but for which the victims remain unidentified, suggesting the real toll is higher.

A report commissioned by the United Nations also highlighted Israel’s disproportionate violence against children through targeting densely populated areas, with repeated air raids on residential buildings contributing to the rising child death toll.

At least 22 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Sunday, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

Below are some of the children killed in Israeli attacks:

Yaqeen Hammad

Known for her smile and volunteer work in Gaza, Yaqeen Hammad was killed after Israel shelled al-Baraka in Deir el-Balah, northern Gaza, on Friday night.

The 11-year-old influencer and her older brother, Mohamed Hammad, delivered food, toys and clothing to displaced families, the Palestine Chronicle reports. She also played an active role in the Ouena collective – a Gaza-based nonprofit group dedicated to aid and humanitarian relief.

Messages of grief and tributes from activists, Yaqeen’s followers and journalists poured in after news of her death spread online.

“Her body may be gone, but her impact remains a beacon of humanity,” wrote Mahmoud Bassam, a photojournalist in Gaza.

“Instead of being at school and enjoying her childhood, she was active on Instagram and participating in campaigns to help others in Gaza. No words. Absolutely no words,” another tribute read on X.

Mohammed Yassine

Activists and Palestinian platforms shared on social media painful scenes of Mohammed Yassine on a hospital bed.

Appearing in a video, holding Yassine’s body, Mahmoud Basal of Gaza’s Civil Defence said: “Mohammed Yassine died from hunger, a direct result of the occupation’s prevention of food and medical aid from entering Gaza.”

“Mohammed was not the first child, and the fear has become a certainty that he won’t be the last,” Basal added.

Dr Alaa al-Najjar’s nine children

An Israeli attack on the home of al-Najjar on Friday killed nine of her children and critically injured 11-year-old Adam.

Sidar, Luqman, Sadin, Reval, Ruslan, Jubran, Eve, Rakan and Yahya  – aged between seven months and 12 years – all died in the attack, Gaza’s Government Media Office said.

Al-Najjar is a paediatrician at the southern city’s Nasser Hospital, where her husband is receiving care after being critically injured in the attack.

“It is unbelievable,” said Ahmad al-Farra, head of the hospital’s paediatrics department, of the attack’s impact.

“You can’t imagine the shock that [al-Najjar] had when she heard about that [attack]. But up until now, she is trying to be near her son and her husband to survive.”

Mourners gathered to celebrate the life of 23-year-old beauty influencer Valeria Marquez, who was shot dead during a TikTok livestream at her salon in Jalisco, Mexico. Her killing is being investigated as a possible femicide.

A 23-year-old Mexican influencer, Valeria Marquez, was fatally shot while livestreaming on Tuesday.

Marquez, who had more than 113,000 followers on the platform, was broadcasting to her audience when the attack occurred.

According to a statement from the Jalisco state prosecutor’s office, the case is being investigated under femicide protocols, applied in instances where a woman is killed due to her gender.

What is femicide?

Femicide refers to gender-related killings against women and girls. According to the latest report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and UN Women, femicide is rising around the globe.

In 2023, a woman was intentionally killed every 10 minutes by a partner or family member.

Of the 85,000 women and girls killed across the world in 2023, 60 percent (51,000) were murdered by an intimate partner or a family member.

How common is femicide in Latin America and the Caribbean?

Honduras has the highest femicide rate with 7.2 women killed per 100,000 in 2023, followed by the Dominican Republic (2.4 per 100,000) and Brazil (1.4 per 100,000).

Mexico has the fourth-highest femicide rate in Latin America and the Caribbean, alongside Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia – all with 1.3 killings per 100,000 women in 2023.

In terms of absolute killings, Brazil saw the highest number of femicide cases with 1,463 women murdered. It was followed by Mexico, where 852 women were killed as a result of femicide in 2023. Honduras had the third-highest number, with 380 femicide cases.

Femicide is on the rise in Mexico

The rate of femicide is rising on the whole in the country, despite some fluctuations over the years.

It has become a major concern in Mexico with recorded cases rising significantly over the past decade. In 2015, femicides represented 19.8 percent of female homicides. This proportion had increased to 24.2 percent by 2024.

According to the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNCLAC), in 2015, the rate of femicide in Mexico was 0.7 women per 100,000. In 2023, that number now stands at 1.3 per 100,000 women – though that’s down marginally from a peak of 1.6 per 100,000 in 2021. Gender-based violence against women grew globally during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Mexico was no exception.

While statistics from UNCLAC show the rate of femicide in Mexico has declined over the past three years, it remains a pronounced and often silent issue due to underreporting, say experts.

In Mexico, some 85 percent of women aged 15 and over who have experienced physical or sexual violence did not file a complaint, according to Mexico’s National Survey on the Dynamics of Household Relationships.

Where in Mexico has the worst rates of femicide?

The killing of Marquez took place just days before another woman, a mayoral candidate in the state of Veracruz, was also shot dead during a livestream alongside three other people.

According to Mexico’s National Public Security System (SNSP), the national rate of femicide was 1.18 per 100,000 in 2024.

The state of Morelos, in south-central Mexico, had the highest rate of femicide with 4.7 women per 100,000 murdered, followed by Chihuahua (2.35 per 100,000) and Tabasco (2.22 per 100,000).

In Jalisco state where Marquez was killed, the femicide rate was 0.63 per 100,000 in 2024.

Jalisco is ranked sixth out of Mexico’s 32 states, including Mexico City, for homicides, with 906 recorded there since the beginning of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s term in October 2024, according to the data consultancy TResearch.