The Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics open on Monday but one rapper Ghali’s inclusion draws criticism in his native Italy.
Published On 31 Jan 202631 Jan 2026
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The inclusion of Italian rapper Ghali in the cast of performers at the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics has led to a dispute in Italy.
The artist, born in Milan to Tunisian parents, has been criticised in Italy because of his comments on Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
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Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at the latest example of sport and politics colliding and why this case has hit the headlines.
Who is criticising Ghali’s inclusion at the Winter Olympics?
Members of Italy’s right-wing League party, part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, have criticised the choice of Ghali to perform at the event in the San Siro stadium on February 6.
What is Ghali criticised for saying about Israel?
Ghali was at the centre of a political spat two years ago during the popular Sanremo song contest, when he called for a “stop to the genocide” in reference to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
A League party source called Ghali a “pro-Palestinian fanatic” who hated Israel and the centre-right, in comments to the Italian media.
Is Ghali’s Winter Olympics opening ceremony role set to be controversial?
Sport Minister Andrea Abodi said he did not expect Ghali to use the Olympic stage to make a political point.
“I am not embarrassed to disagree with Ghali’s views and the messages he has sent, but I believe that a country must be able to absorb the impact of an artist who has expressed an opinion that we do not share, which will not be expressed on that stage,” he said.
What other names will be alongside Ghali to open the Milano Cortino Games?
Ghali, who has not commented on the dispute, is likely to appeal to a younger audience more than other performers at the opening ceremony, who will include tenor Andrea Bocelli and US pop singer Mariah Carey.
Franco-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura was the target of racist abuse online when it emerged that she would sing at the opening of the Summer Olympics in Paris in 2024.
ORLANDO, Fla. — President Trump’s crackdown on immigration contributed to a year-to-year drop in the nation’s growth rate as the U.S. population reached nealry 342 million people in 2025, according to population estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The 0.5% growth rate for 2025 was a sharp drop from 2024’s almost 1% growth rate, which was the highest since 2001 and was fueled by immigration. The 2024 estimates put the U.S. population at 340 million people.
Immigration increased by 1.3 million people last year, compared with 2024’s increase of 2.8 million people. The census report did not distinguish between legal and illegal immigration.
In the past 125 years, the lowest growth rate was in 2021, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, when the U.S. population grew by just 0.16%, or 522,000 people, and immigration increased by just 376,000 people because of travel restrictions into the U.S. Before that, the lowest growth rate was just under 0.5% in 1919 at the height of the Spanish flu.
Tuesday’s data release comes as researchers have been trying to determine the effects of the second Trump administration’s immigration crackdown after the Republican president returned to the White House in January 2025. Trump made the surge of migrants at the southern border a central issue in his winning 2024 presidential campaign.
The numbers made public Tuesday reflect change from July 2024 to July 2025, covering the end of President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration and the first half of Trump’s first year back in office.
The figures capture a period that reflects the beginning of enforcement surges in Los Angeles and Portland, Ore., but do not capture the impact on immigration after the Trump administration’s crackdowns began in Chicago; New Orleans; Memphis, Tenn.; and Minneapolis, Minn..
The 2025 numbers were a jarring divergence from 2024, when net international migration accounted for 84% of the nation’s 3.3 million-person increase from the year before. The jump in immigration two years ago was partly because of a new method of counting that added people who were admitted for humanitarian reasons.
“They do reflect recent trends we have seen in out-migration, where the numbers of people coming in is down and the numbers going out is up,” Eric Jensen, a senior research scientist at the Census Bureau, said last week.
Unlike the once-a-decade census, which determines how many congressional seats and Electoral College votes each state gets, as well as the distribution of $2.8 trillion in annual government funding, the population estimates are calculated from government records and internal Census Bureau data.
The release of the 2025 population estimates was delayed by the federal government shutdown last fall and comes at a challenging time for the Census Bureau and other U.S. statistical agencies. The bureau, which is the largest statistical agency in the U.S., lost about 15% of its workforce last year due to buyouts and layoffs that were part of cost-cutting efforts by the White House and its Department of Government Efficiency.
Other recent actions by the Trump administration, such as the firing of Erika McEntarfer as Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, have raised concerns about political meddling at U.S. statistical agencies. But Brookings demographer William Frey said the bureau’s staffers appear to have been “doing this work as usual without interference.”
“So I have no reason to doubt the numbers that come out,” Frey said.
The star told what lay behind her dropping one and a half dress sizes reaching a svelt size eight
11:50, 27 Jan 2026Updated 11:51, 27 Jan 2026
Carol will step down in April(Image: )
Carol Kirkwood is well known in front of the camera. As a BBCweather anchor and best selling author she was known for her curvy figure and had even spoken of plans to lose weight.
However, it took something out of her control for the pounds to suddenly drop off. It was at the start of 2025 that she suddenly found herself struck down by a “terrible” illness which led her to drop around one and half dress sizes.
The now 63-year-old developed a tough bout of food poisoning which saw her losing weight and led to a complete switch in her lifestyle. This not only changed her eating habits but transformed her complete outlook on life and what she ate.
The presenter announced on Tuesday she is quitting the broadcaster after more than 25 years to spend more time with her husband, Steve Randall, who she married in 2023. She said the two have been “like ships that pass in the night” thanks to her early starts.
But she previously told how her life changed after suffering food poisoning. She told OK magazine: “Afterwards, I just ate two slices of toast for two days and I wasn’t hungry.
“I’m a snacker. I love chocolate, a glass of wine, crisps, and I thought, ‘Right, you don’t need all this food’. Now I eat when I’m hungry rather than just eating because I can.”
The star did not say how much weight she’s lost saying at the time “my weight is a state secret” but admitted that she was “probably a dress size-and-a-half” smaller. She said she now fitted comfortably into a size 10, and sometimes even an eight.
She said: “I’ve got lots of clothes from years of doing telly. When I couldn’t get into them, I put them away. Now I can. It feels like I’ve got a whole new wardrobe, but I don’t. It’s old clothes that I’m wearing again.”
Carol said she had now discovered how to balance what she ate. She said: “I’ve done every single diet going but now I’m not depriving myself of anything. If I want a piece of chocolate, I’ll have it, but then I actually don’t. It’s like somebody’s flipped a switch in my head.
She told how her day starts at 2.45am. She added: “By 9.30am, if I’m a bit peckish, I’ll have an apple or a banana, then, after my shift, I get home and eat whatever the dickens I want, perhaps a toasted pitta with rocket, tomatoes, sweetcorn, peppers and chicken. In the evening, I might have another pitta with hummus, or some peppers with hummus and, because I’m eating this way, I’m not hungry between meals any more.”
She also was quick to quash any rumours that she had used weight-loss injections. She said: “I have had a couple of emails saying, ‘It’s obvious you’re doing this.’ Each to their own. If somebody wants to do that, I’m not going to judge them — it’s their bodies, their life — but I’m glad I’m doing it this way,” she insists.
The star will leave the BBC in April and today explained her reason behind the decision. She told presenters Sally Nugent and Jon Kay: “I love my job, I’ve loved working at the BBC, but I love my husband more than my job. More than everyone, I should say.
“We only got married a couple of years ago and we’re ships that pass in the night so I’m so looking forward to [spending more time together]. The future is rosy and the time is right, absolutely right for me to go.”
After starting her BBC presenting career on the News channel, Kirkwood went on to appear regularly on BBC One. She has been the main weather presenter on BBC Breakfast since 2010.
As well as fronting the daily bulletins, Kirkwood often presented the weather on location, including from Wimbledon, the Chelsea Flower Show and royal events. She has also reported for The One Show and competed on Strictly Come Dancing in 2015, reaching week eight with her partner Pasha Kovalev.
Why have rapper Ghali’s Israel comments led to Winter Olympics criticism? | Winter Olympics News
The Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics open on Monday but one rapper Ghali’s inclusion draws criticism in his native Italy.
Published On 31 Jan 202631 Jan 2026
Share
The inclusion of Italian rapper Ghali in the cast of performers at the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics has led to a dispute in Italy.
The artist, born in Milan to Tunisian parents, has been criticised in Italy because of his comments on Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at the latest example of sport and politics colliding and why this case has hit the headlines.
Who is criticising Ghali’s inclusion at the Winter Olympics?
Members of Italy’s right-wing League party, part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government, have criticised the choice of Ghali to perform at the event in the San Siro stadium on February 6.
What is Ghali criticised for saying about Israel?
Ghali was at the centre of a political spat two years ago during the popular Sanremo song contest, when he called for a “stop to the genocide” in reference to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
A League party source called Ghali a “pro-Palestinian fanatic” who hated Israel and the centre-right, in comments to the Italian media.
Is Ghali’s Winter Olympics opening ceremony role set to be controversial?
Sport Minister Andrea Abodi said he did not expect Ghali to use the Olympic stage to make a political point.
“I am not embarrassed to disagree with Ghali’s views and the messages he has sent, but I believe that a country must be able to absorb the impact of an artist who has expressed an opinion that we do not share, which will not be expressed on that stage,” he said.
What other names will be alongside Ghali to open the Milano Cortino Games?
Ghali, who has not commented on the dispute, is likely to appeal to a younger audience more than other performers at the opening ceremony, who will include tenor Andrea Bocelli and US pop singer Mariah Carey.
Franco-Malian pop star Aya Nakamura was the target of racist abuse online when it emerged that she would sing at the opening of the Summer Olympics in Paris in 2024.
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Trump’s immigration crackdown led to drop in U.S. growth rate last year as population hit 342 million
ORLANDO, Fla. — President Trump’s crackdown on immigration contributed to a year-to-year drop in the nation’s growth rate as the U.S. population reached nealry 342 million people in 2025, according to population estimates released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The 0.5% growth rate for 2025 was a sharp drop from 2024’s almost 1% growth rate, which was the highest since 2001 and was fueled by immigration. The 2024 estimates put the U.S. population at 340 million people.
Immigration increased by 1.3 million people last year, compared with 2024’s increase of 2.8 million people. The census report did not distinguish between legal and illegal immigration.
In the past 125 years, the lowest growth rate was in 2021, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, when the U.S. population grew by just 0.16%, or 522,000 people, and immigration increased by just 376,000 people because of travel restrictions into the U.S. Before that, the lowest growth rate was just under 0.5% in 1919 at the height of the Spanish flu.
Tuesday’s data release comes as researchers have been trying to determine the effects of the second Trump administration’s immigration crackdown after the Republican president returned to the White House in January 2025. Trump made the surge of migrants at the southern border a central issue in his winning 2024 presidential campaign.
The numbers made public Tuesday reflect change from July 2024 to July 2025, covering the end of President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration and the first half of Trump’s first year back in office.
The figures capture a period that reflects the beginning of enforcement surges in Los Angeles and Portland, Ore., but do not capture the impact on immigration after the Trump administration’s crackdowns began in Chicago; New Orleans; Memphis, Tenn.; and Minneapolis, Minn..
The 2025 numbers were a jarring divergence from 2024, when net international migration accounted for 84% of the nation’s 3.3 million-person increase from the year before. The jump in immigration two years ago was partly because of a new method of counting that added people who were admitted for humanitarian reasons.
“They do reflect recent trends we have seen in out-migration, where the numbers of people coming in is down and the numbers going out is up,” Eric Jensen, a senior research scientist at the Census Bureau, said last week.
Unlike the once-a-decade census, which determines how many congressional seats and Electoral College votes each state gets, as well as the distribution of $2.8 trillion in annual government funding, the population estimates are calculated from government records and internal Census Bureau data.
The release of the 2025 population estimates was delayed by the federal government shutdown last fall and comes at a challenging time for the Census Bureau and other U.S. statistical agencies. The bureau, which is the largest statistical agency in the U.S., lost about 15% of its workforce last year due to buyouts and layoffs that were part of cost-cutting efforts by the White House and its Department of Government Efficiency.
Other recent actions by the Trump administration, such as the firing of Erika McEntarfer as Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, have raised concerns about political meddling at U.S. statistical agencies. But Brookings demographer William Frey said the bureau’s staffers appear to have been “doing this work as usual without interference.”
“So I have no reason to doubt the numbers that come out,” Frey said.
Schneider writes for the Associated Press.
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BBC weather star Carol Kirkwood explains trigger that led her to drop to size 8
The star told what lay behind her dropping one and a half dress sizes reaching a svelt size eight
11:50, 27 Jan 2026Updated 11:51, 27 Jan 2026
Carol will step down in April(Image: )
Carol Kirkwood is well known in front of the camera. As a BBC weather anchor and best selling author she was known for her curvy figure and had even spoken of plans to lose weight.
However, it took something out of her control for the pounds to suddenly drop off. It was at the start of 2025 that she suddenly found herself struck down by a “terrible” illness which led her to drop around one and half dress sizes.
The now 63-year-old developed a tough bout of food poisoning which saw her losing weight and led to a complete switch in her lifestyle. This not only changed her eating habits but transformed her complete outlook on life and what she ate.
The presenter announced on Tuesday she is quitting the broadcaster after more than 25 years to spend more time with her husband, Steve Randall, who she married in 2023. She said the two have been “like ships that pass in the night” thanks to her early starts.
But she previously told how her life changed after suffering food poisoning. She told OK magazine: “Afterwards, I just ate two slices of toast for two days and I wasn’t hungry.
“I’m a snacker. I love chocolate, a glass of wine, crisps, and I thought, ‘Right, you don’t need all this food’. Now I eat when I’m hungry rather than just eating because I can.”
The star did not say how much weight she’s lost saying at the time “my weight is a state secret” but admitted that she was “probably a dress size-and-a-half” smaller. She said she now fitted comfortably into a size 10, and sometimes even an eight.
She said: “I’ve got lots of clothes from years of doing telly. When I couldn’t get into them, I put them away. Now I can. It feels like I’ve got a whole new wardrobe, but I don’t. It’s old clothes that I’m wearing again.”
Carol said she had now discovered how to balance what she ate. She said: “I’ve done every single diet going but now I’m not depriving myself of anything. If I want a piece of chocolate, I’ll have it, but then I actually don’t. It’s like somebody’s flipped a switch in my head.
She told how her day starts at 2.45am. She added: “By 9.30am, if I’m a bit peckish, I’ll have an apple or a banana, then, after my shift, I get home and eat whatever the dickens I want, perhaps a toasted pitta with rocket, tomatoes, sweetcorn, peppers and chicken. In the evening, I might have another pitta with hummus, or some peppers with hummus and, because I’m eating this way, I’m not hungry between meals any more.”
She also was quick to quash any rumours that she had used weight-loss injections. She said: “I have had a couple of emails saying, ‘It’s obvious you’re doing this.’ Each to their own. If somebody wants to do that, I’m not going to judge them — it’s their bodies, their life — but I’m glad I’m doing it this way,” she insists.
The star will leave the BBC in April and today explained her reason behind the decision. She told presenters Sally Nugent and Jon Kay: “I love my job, I’ve loved working at the BBC, but I love my husband more than my job. More than everyone, I should say.
“We only got married a couple of years ago and we’re ships that pass in the night so I’m so looking forward to [spending more time together]. The future is rosy and the time is right, absolutely right for me to go.”
After starting her BBC presenting career on the News channel, Kirkwood went on to appear regularly on BBC One. She has been the main weather presenter on BBC Breakfast since 2010.
As well as fronting the daily bulletins, Kirkwood often presented the weather on location, including from Wimbledon, the Chelsea Flower Show and royal events. She has also reported for The One Show and competed on Strictly Come Dancing in 2015, reaching week eight with her partner Pasha Kovalev.
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