TODAY marks the dawn of a new era of hope for the Middle East.
As US Vice-President JD Vance said yesterday, a truce brokered by Donald Trump has brought the region to “the cusp of true peace”.
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Donald Trump, pictured with Benjamin Netanyahu, has brought the Middle East to ‘the cusp of true peace’Credit: Reuters
While other world leaders postured and bewailed, the US President used his extraordinary power of persuasion to force Hamas and Israel to strike a deal to end two years of bloodshed.
It means thousands of Palestinians will return to what is left of their homes and get the food and medical aid they need, and Israelis can welcome back loved ones taken hostage during the terrorist massacre which started the conflict.
The 19th Century German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck once said that politics is “the art of the possible”.
But hard-nosed businessman President Trump has proved it can also be “the art of the deal”.
The path to lasting peace is still littered with pitfalls.
A massive Russian aerial bombardment that lasted more than 12 hours has killed at least four people and injured 40 others in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the deaths occurred in the capital, Kyiv, and the victims included a 12-year-old girl.
Russia launched nearly 600 drones and several dozen missiles toward seven regions of Ukraine, its air force said. Zelensky said the “vile” attack also saw at least 16 people injured in the Zaporizhzhia region, including three children.
He warned that Ukraine would retaliate and said the attack showed Moscow “wants to continue fighting and killing”. Russia has not yet commented on the latest attack.
Saturday night’s extended barrage is one of the heaviest overnight aerial bombardments in recent months as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues in its third year.
Zelensky said many of the projectiles were aimed at Kyiv, where the Institute of Cardiology had been damaged.
A bread factory, an automobile rubber factory, as well as apartment buildings and civilian infrastructure were also targeted, he said.
Zelensky said that Zaporizhzhia, Khmelnytskyi, Sumy, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv, and Odesa regions were also hit. Sumy’s regional governor said a 59-year-old man had died in strikes in the past day.
Zaporizhzhia’s Governor Ivan Fedorov said the three children who were injured included two boys, aged 11 and 12, and a nine-year-old girl.
One boy was caught in an explosion while the other had suffered carbon monoxide poisoning, he said. Both are in a serious condition.
Zelensky vowed that Ukraine “will strike back” in a bid to “force diplomacy” from Russia, and said he was counting on a “strong reaction” from Europe and the United States.
“This dastardly attack took place in fact as the end of the week of the UN General Assembly, and this is how Russia declares its real position,” he said.
Zelensky reiterated his support of US President Donald Trump’s threat of harsher sanctions on Russia, as well as his call for European allies to curb their Russian oil and gas imports.
Trump has recently shifted his position on the war, saying for the first time last week that he thought Ukraine could retake the land it had lost from Moscow as the Russian economy flagged under the strain of a prolonged war.
The US president has so far desisted from imposing further sanctions on Russia, but has appeared increasingly frustrated with the lack of eagerness from the Kremlin to begin peace talks.
Zelensky warned on Saturday that Russia would not stop with his country – which is why it was testing European air defences with the recent incursions in several countries belonging to the Nato military alliance.
Meanwhile, jets were scrambled in neighbouring Poland early on Sunday as Russia hit western Ukraine, the nation’s armed forces said.
The Polish military further described the actions – which have become routine since Polish and Nato aircraft shot down three Russian drones in Poland’s airspace on 10 September – as preventative.
Earlier this week, Moscow denied responsibility after Denmark said drones were flown over its airports. Denmark itself has said the incidents appeared to be the work of a “professional actor”, without specifying who this may be.
Estonia and Romania have also accused Russia of violating their airspace.
After the incursions, Nato launched a mission to bolster its eastern flank.
Trump has gone as far as to say that Nato nations should shoot down Russian planes in their airspace.
In a speech to the UN General Assembly on Saturday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country had no intention of attacking EU or Nato member states – but warned of a “decisive response” to any “aggression” directed towards Moscow.
All of Portugal’s main airports are set to be affected, including popular destinations among Brits such as Faro, Lisbon, Porto and Madeira
The Menzies workers strike will affect airports during peak travel times(Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
UK holidaymakers planning to jet off to Portugal could face airport chaos as ground handling staff threaten strike action from September until the start of 2026.
The Metallurgical and Related Industries Union (SIMA) at ground handling company Menzies has issued a strike notice, which covers the period from September 3, 2025 until January 2, 2026, affecting all national airports, according to Portuguese news site Publico.
All of Portugal’s main airports are set to be hit by the industrial action, including popular British tourist hotspots such as Faro, Lisbon, Porto and Madeira.
The strike will run throughout September and every weekend in October(Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
The notice reveals that strikes will occur in alternating periods between September 3 and January 2 2026, encompassing busy travel times like long weekends, bank holidays, Christmas and New Year.
Publico reports that the first strike in September will kick off at midnight on September 3, lasting until midnight on September 9. This will be followed by further strikes on: September 12 – 15, 19-22, and 26 -28.
Then in October, strikes are planned from Fridays to Mondays each weekend. Walkouts are set to follow a similar pattern in November and December. Over the festive period, another strike is planned from December 19 until January 2.
The strike action could wreak havoc at airports, potentially leading to flight cancellations and delays, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Among other demands, the union is asking for base salaries that do not fall below minimum wage(Image: Corbis via Getty Images)
The union is demanding an end to base salaries below the national minimum wage, payment for night shifts, and access to parking for its workers, amongst other requests. Previous industrial action occurred in July but was suspended for the remainder of the summer.
The union declared that during the strikes “workers will ensure the services necessary for the safety and maintenance of equipment and facilities.”
The news come just after more than 10,000 flight attendants for the major Canadian airline, Air Canada, walked out earlier this month after the airlines and union representing the workers failed to reach a deal. The airlines 700 flights per day were immediately cancelled after the industrial action started – including some flights to and from the UK.
Most recently, Jet2 had to issue a warning to travellers to Greece due to a planned industrial action which “may impact Greek Air Traffic Control”. The industrial action was scheduled to run from 9.30am until 1.30pm local time on August, 28, 2025 and forms part of a broader 24-hour strike organised by public sector union ADEDY.
The Hellenic Air Traffic Controllers’ Association called on controllers to walk out in support of a 24-hour strike over disciplinary rules set to be introduced for civil employees which are set for a parliamentary vote this week.
At a time when most of their peers have retired, threatened to call it quits or died, the Beach Boys continue to perform 120 shows per year. Led by original singer Mike Love and longtime multi-instrumentalist Bruce Johnston, this version of the Beach Boys performs the sounds of Southern California to three generations of fans, something which isn’t lost on Love.
“The positivity that our music generates, and the good vibes and good feelings, is a wonderful thing to see,” Love says. “It’s an inspiration to me to see kids with their parents or their grandparents at our shows.”
This weekend, the Beach Boys return to Long Beach for the first time in nearly 15 years to the day, when they performed at Harry Bridges Memorial Park. As Love recalls, the band played one of its first shows in the city at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium on New Year’s Eve 1961.
“That first concert we were paid for as the Beach Boys at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium for the Ritchie Valens Memorial Dance,” he recalls. “We played three songs and got $300, but also on that show was Ike Turner and Kings of Rhythm. We got to hear Tina Turner sing this song called ‘I’m Blue.’ It was primordial and blew my mind.”
Thousands of shows later, the Beach Boys continue to have a receptive audience who will gladly see them perform the hits of yesteryear. Love has no issue leaning into the band’s 1960s heyday. In fact, he sees it as his duty to spread “peace and love” through the Beach Boys’ concerts.
Chatting hours before he departed his Lake Tahoe, Calif., home to fly to Southern California for the band’s latest string of shows, Love reflected on nearly 65 years of the Beach Boys, feeling like he finally got his due by being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, why he’s looking forward to the decidedly un-Beach Boys crowd at Riot Fest, and honoring his late cousin Brian Wilson.
Mike Love
(Udo Spreitzenbarth)
How did it feel to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame?
Better late than never, but it was a great honor. It meant a lot because I wasn’t recognized for my contribution to so many of the Beach Boys’ hits over the years. So, the recognition is a good thing. There are various reasons I wasn’t recognized for it. My uncle [Beach Boys original manager] Murry [Wilson], didn’t put my contribution of the lyrics. “I Get Around,” “Help Me, Rhonda,” “Be True to Your School,” a lot of great songs that I wasn’t credited for. We fired my uncle as manager to get even for me, and he excluded me when he handled the publishing. We didn’t know what publishing was when we started in 1961. We were unsophisticated regarding the business end of it, and we just loved creating music. We loved harmonizing. That was a family tradition that morphed into a long-lasting profession because my cousin Brian and I got together and wrote some songs that people still love to this day.
What is it about the songs that continue to bring people together at a time when people can hardly agree on anything?
The harmonies and the positivity go a long way towards eliminating the negativity. In “Good Vibrations,” I wrote every word of it. I even came up with (sings) “I’m thinking of good vibrations / She gave me excitations” with the chorus melody as well as all the lyrics. But that was written in 1966. The Vietnam War was percolating, and there were student demonstrations. There were problems with integration, and stuff like that made the news. But I wanted to write “Good Vibrations.” I wanted to write this song. I wrote a poem about a girl who loved nature. She was only into the peace, love and flower power, which was also going on at that time. The juxtaposition of the negative and the positive is pretty amazing. It turns out there’s a psychologist in Sheffield, England, who wanted to find out which songs made people feel the best. And our song “Good Vibrations” came in at No. 1, which is unbelievable. In 1966, when it went to No. 1 in England, we were voted the No. 1 group in Great Britain, with No. 2 being the Beatles. Incredible. That was a pretty amazing achievement.
You’ve been joined on stage by the likes of Mark McGrath and Dexter Holland from the Offspring. What does that say to you about the longevity of what the songs have meant?
Dexter sounded amazing on it! He is a really good singer, obviously, but he wanted to do “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” and so we rehearsed backstage [at Oceans Calling Festival in Maryland last September], ran through it about once or twice, and came out on stage in front of 40,000 people, and it was pretty amazing! Mark McGrath is just the most positive and fun guy ever. We have the same birthday, so he’s a few years younger than I am (laughs).
And of course, John Stamos, who inducted you into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
He’s been with us since he was Blackie on “General Hospital.” At this point, he is pretty much an honorary Beach Boy and family.
In the days after Brian’s death, the clip of the band appearing on “Full House” made the rounds on Instagram. What’s it like to remember that when both Brian and Carl were there and you appeared on that show?
John Stamos likes to say that we need this music more than ever now because of so much negativity in the world, and I agree. When I was writing, I accentuated the positive with the harmonies, giving that warm feeling, and the subject matter being fun at times. We’d maybe been a little introspective on “God Only Knows,” maybe “In My Room,” and “The Warmth of the Sun.” The upbeat songs are all fun, positive, and make people feel good. We were just in Spain, and we had standing ovations every night. It was amazing.
What’s wild is seeing the Beach Boys appear on the historically punk festival Riot Fest. Are you familiar with it?
Yeah! We were invited to do it a year ago, but we are doing it this year. Our songs go over well with every demographic and all kinds of people. It doesn’t matter what the format of this is. We’ve done very well with some country festivals, enormously well. It doesn’t matter what the genre of the festival appeals to. We played Stagecoach last year, and there were 70 or 80,000 people at our set. Singing along and dancing around, so we had a great time at that one.
Who are you looking forward to seeing at Riot Fest?
Who is on it other than us?
On your day, it is Weezer performing the Blue Album, Jack White, a reconfigured version of the Sex Pistols, Dropkick Murphys, All Time Low, James …
Weezer! They did “California Girls” on a tribute show that aired on Easter Sunday a few years ago. There’s a lot more guitar in that particular version (laughs). Maybe one of those guys will come and sing with us. What happens at those things is that you’re with a lot of people you don’t ordinarily see, and people like to do unique things.
Do you think the Beach Boys would be considered a punk band, if that was a term, in 1961?
If you listen to some of our songs, like “Surfin’ Safari,” “Catch a Wave” and “Hawaii,” there’s a lot of tempo there. I think those songs appeal to all kinds of genres.
Does returning to Long Beach, near where you all grew up, carry more weight with the loss of Brian?
Well, we have a tribute song called “Brian’s Back” that I wrote many, many years ago. So, back when that was released (in 1976 as part of “15 Big Ones”), we did a video tribute to Brian that we play every night at our concerts, which people love and appreciate. He may have passed on, but he’s always with us every night in the music.
Elton John said that the “Pet Sounds” album would be the one album that would be played forever, which is an amazing accolade,” Love said. “So those songs are pretty much immortal to some degree. So if somebody is capable of replicating them as closely as possible for the record, then great.”
(Udo Spreitzenbarth)
Do you see the Beach Boys continuing to tour in name after you and Bruce are done?
I’m not sure. We haven’t given that a whole lot of thought because we’re very active these days with this configuration. Elton John said that the “Pet Sounds” album would be the one album that would be played forever, which is an amazing accolade. So those songs are pretty much immortal to some degree. So if somebody is capable of replicating them as closely as possible for the record, then great.
But the problem is that mortality is an issue, of course. So, at some point in time, nature will take over and say, “OK, you’re out of here, huh?” But in the meantime, I think we’ve got a good several years to go.
What do people misunderstand about your and Brian’s relationship?
Well, there’s a lot of misinformation given out over this early part of our careers that says I didn’t like the “Pet Sounds” album, which is bull—, because I actually named it and Brian brought it to Capitol Records, who didn’t know what to do with it. If you listen to the tracks of “Pet Sounds,” you say, “How the heck did he ever do that with the greatest musicians in L.A., the Wrecking Crew?” My cousin Brian did some amazing stuff that’ll stand the test of time, if Elton John is right, forever. It’s a true blessing to be able to do what started as a family hobby and became a long-lasting profession.
Is “That’s Why God Made the Radio” the last Beach Boys album, or do you all have one more left in you?
Anything’s possible. We don’t have immediate plans, but I do think of that kind of thing from time to time.
WASHINGTON — Even before he and his family flew home from a Passover visit to Israel last week, 37-year-old former law professor Marshall Breger knew it was going to be bad.
As President Reagan’s special assistant for public liaison with Jewish groups, Breger was besieged by horrified Israeli associates when they learned that Reagan planned to visit a West German military cemetery containing the graves of Nazi storm troopers.
“It was a tremendous outburst, more in pain than in anger,” said Berger, who has worked nonstop, 18 hours a day trying to assuage the feelings of American Jews since returning to his office in the Old Executive Office Building adjacent to the White House.
‘Tough Couple of Weeks’
Breger is not alone in his discomfort. With the Bitburg cemetery controversy still escalating, Congress shunning Reagan’s pleas for continued military aid to the anti-Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua, the deficit soaring and the economy beginning to sputter, the President is having what Sen. Paul Laxalt (R-Nev.) called “a tough couple of weeks.”
Laxalt, Reagan’s close friend and 1984 campaign chairman, insisted that “we’re not at the hand-wringing stage,” but other Republicans–including some members of the White House staff–are not so sure. After more than four years of reigning supreme in Washington as the “great communicator,” they fear that Reagan may have stumbled into the kind of symbolic trouble that has brought lasting grief to other presidents.
The furor over Reagan’s insistence on carrying through his plan for a May 5 wreath-laying ceremony at West Germany’s Bitburg military cemetery comes at a time when the Administration is under bipartisan attack in Congress on both the economic and foreign policy fronts.
Mounting Protests
The mounting protests over the Bitburg visit from Jewish leaders–joined now by Catholic and Protestant leaders–threatens to diminish the President’s popularity and erode his reputation for invincible political footwork.
And that, some of his aides warn privately, could impair Reagan’s effectiveness in dealing with Congress, jeopardize his second-term goals and loom as a factor in the 1986 elections when the GOP–with 22 senators up for reelection–will be fighting to retain control of the Senate.
The concern among Republicans is intensified by the widespread feeling that this year’s dramatic shake-up in the White House senior staff has increased the level of conservative ideology in those immediately surrounding the President but reduced the level of political sensitivity.
But, in a long political career, the 74-year old President has stumbled more than once and has shown remarkable resiliency in recovering lost ground. Thus, few in Washington–Democrats or Republicans–are prepared to bet that Reagan will not emerge once again with his political strength intact.
Reagan, whose trip to Europe next week was supposed to be focused primarily on the annual economic summit and only secondarily on commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, has stuck firmly to his plan for the Bitburg ceremony, insisting that he is living up to a commitment to West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
The furor over the Bitburg visit shows no sign of abating, however, and it is the kind of symbolic issue that sometimes can fundamentally alter the public’s perception of a leader.
Coast-to-Coast Protests
It has drawn coast-to-coast protests, including a statement signed by 53 U.S. senators urging that it “be erased from the President’s schedule.” And on Tuesday, the Rev. Aurie Brouwer, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, and Eugene Fisher, head of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Catholic-Jewish Relations, both issued statements criticizing the visit.
White House aide Breger, who was not directly involved in the decision to visit Bitburg, is still being swamped with protests and does not expect the controversy to die down.
The Bitburg ceremony was “an all-consuming” topic, Breger said, at a meeting he addressed of 1,500 Jewish leaders of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee in Alexandria, Va. Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.) and Sen. Howell Heflin (D-Ala.) also addressed the meeting and called for Reagan to cancel the trip.
Graceful Compromise
Rep. Dick Cheney (R-Wyo.), who served as President Gerald R. Ford’s chief of staff, Tuesday urged that Reagan seek a way out of his dilemma. “My feeling is that the time is ripe for him to make a graceful compromise and not go to the cemetery,” Cheney said. “I’m afraid it will do him grievous damage if he does go.”
Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) agreed. “He ought to drop the trip to the cemetery. He’s suffering needless antipathy. He is diluting and eroding the enormous good will that was his before and after the election. A lot of people who strongly support almost everything else the President has done are mystified by this and by the bad advice he has gotten on making this visit.”
At the White House, Reagan has been warned that not only his politics but his place in history may be jeopardized by the cemetery visit.
‘Nazi Trip’
Reagan needs to realize, one aide said, that his trip will be “perceived not as an economic summit trip but as a Nazi trip. The Nazi symbolism will overshadow everything else. When the presidential motorcade goes down an autobahn, it will be reported that he is traveling on a road Hitler built in 1936. . . . “
The only hope now, the aide said, “is if Kohl realizes what the Bitburg visit is doing and takes the initiative to cancel it, or if Mrs. Reagan realizes what it’s going to do to his image in history.”
The controversy comes at a particularly bad time for Reagan–just as he has put his prestige on the line in uphill congressional battles for aid to the contra rebels in Nicaragua and for a budget proposal that is under such heavy attack that he scheduled a televised address to the nation tonight to apply public pressure to Congress.
Even before the Bitburg controversy, some Republicans had questioned whether Reagan, who enjoyed extraordinary success in Congress during his first term when he concentrated on only one or two major issues at a time, had overloaded his legislative agenda this year.
Political Capital Spent
One of them, Rep. Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.), House minority leader, also suggested that the President expended so much political capital in winning narrow victories for the production of 21 MX missiles that he will be unable to prevail on other important legislative initiatives.
Reagan’s long-awaited tax-simplification proposal–hailed by the Administration as a keystone of his second term–will not be submitted to Congress until sometime after he returns May 10 from his European trip. But special interests already are lobbying heavily against any provisions that might adversely affect them.
Although clearly concerned about Reagan’s mounting problems and the dilemma that he faces over the Bitburg visit, Laxalt thinks the President will ride out the controversy.
Bitburg Called ‘Disaster’
Laxalt himself said he has not heard much about Bitburg on Capitol Hill. “About the only comments I’ve heard,” he said, “came from several senators who said the Jewish reaction had been so violent it might be counterproductive. At least, that was what they were getting in their mail from back home.”
However, a key Republican congressman, speaking on condition he not be identified, called the Bitburg visit “a disaster” and added: “A lot of guys on the Hill are saying, ‘Why doesn’t the President get off this trip?.’ ”
“I can’t understand why the President is so damn stubborn on this,” he said. “Usually, he’s the epitome of the guy who can reverse field and come up smelling like roses.”
SEOUL, June 25 (UPI) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for establishing lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula Wednesday as the country commemorated the 75th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.
“Creating a country that will never experience war again is the right way to respond to the sacrifices and dedication of so many people,” Lee wrote in a Facebook post.
“The most certain form of security is a state where there is no need to fight — in other words, creating peace,” he wrote. “The era of relying solely on military power to protect the country is over. What matters more than winning a war is preventing one.”
The Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, when North Korean troops invaded South Korea across the 38th parallel — a story that UPI Seoul bureau manager Jack James was the first in the world to report.
The United States and 20 other countries fought on the side of South Korea under the U.S.-led United Nations Command. The conflict ended in a ceasefire three years later and left millions dead, including more than 36,000 U.S. soldiers.
Lee paid respects to fallen soldiers and veterans in his statement, saying that modern South Korea’s transformation into a global economic powerhouse would have been impossible without their sacrifices.
“Today’s Republic of Korea was not created on its own,” he wrote, using the official name of South Korea. “It was made possible through the sacrifices and dedication of the soldiers who defended the battlefield, the veterans and their families, and all our citizens who endured the scars of war.”
“I pledge to firmly establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula so that the economy can be stabilized and the people can live secure and safe lives,” he added.
Lee, who won a snap election on June 3 to replace impeached former President Yoon Suk Yeol, campaigned on improving frayed inter-Korean relations. He has vowed to restore a military pact aimed at defusing military tensions along the border and reestablish a communications hotline with Seoul’s recalcitrant neighbor.
Earlier this month, Lee ordered the suspension of propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts across the DMZ to North Korea in a bid to reduce tensions with Pyongyang.
A Russian drone strike hit Ukraine’s Sumy region hours after first direct talks in three years.
It took three years to get officials from Ukraine and Russia in the same room.
But President Vladimir Putin, who proposed the meeting, did not go to Istanbul and the talks ended in less than 90 minutes.
The result: an agreement for a large-scale prisoner exchange, talks about their presidents meeting, and both sides pushing their vision of a future ceasefire.
Yet, diplomacy is not narrowing the great gap between Russia and Ukraine.
So, is President Putin agreeing to further talks to avoid more sanctions?
And with Russia steadily advancing on the battlefield, can President Zelenskyy afford to push for peace without further compromise?
Presenter: Dareen Abughaida
Guests:
Peter Zalmayev – Executive director at Eurasia Democracy Initiative
Pavel Felgenhauer – Independent defence and Russian foreign policy analyst
Anatol Lieven – Director of the Eurasia Program at Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
