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Mike Vrabel doesn’t want to be a distraction.

The New England Patriots coach knows that much of the chatter around his team in recent weeks has nothing to do with the reigning AFC champions’ offseason workouts or their plans for the NFL draft later this week.

Instead, it’s been about a “personal and private matter” that Vrabel decided to address at the top of his news conference Tuesday in Foxborough, Mass. Although he didn’t specify, the second-year Patriots coach seemed to be referring to photos recently published by the New York Post’s Page Six of him and Dianna Russini, who was at the time a reporter for the Athletic, interacting at an Arizona resort.

The photos appear to show Russini and Vrabel — both married to other people — holding hands, hugging and sitting in a hot tub and a swimming pool. In the April 7 article that accompanied the photos, Russini and Vrabel gave statements denying that anything inappropriate was happening between them.

In his first public comments since the article was published, Vrabel did not mention Russini or the photos. Instead, Vrabel spoke about how he has handled the situation and what his family, the team and the fan base can expect from him “going forward.”

“I’ve had some difficult conversations with people that I care about — my family, the organization, the coaches, the players,” Vrabel said. “Those have been positive and productive. We believe in order to be successful on and off the field, you have to make good decisions. That includes me; that starts with me.

“We never want our actions to negatively affect the team. We never want to be the cause of the distraction. These are comments and questions that I’ve answered for the team and with the team. We’ll keep those private and to ourselves.

“I care deeply about this football team and am excited to coach it. I also know that I’m going to attack each day with humility and focus. And what I can promise you is that my family, this organization, the team, the staff, the coaches, everybody, our fans, most importantly, will get the best version of me going forward.”

A Patriots spokesman said team officials have no plans to address the issue further. The NFL has indicated it is not investigating the matter.

In the Page Six article, Athletic executive editor Steven Ginsberg expressed full support for Russini and said the photos “are misleading and lack essential context.” Days later, however, the New York Times, owner of the Athletic, reported that the digital sports outlet would conduct an investigation.

On April 14, Russini submitted her letter of resignation to the Athletic, then posted it on X. In it, Russini states she has “no interest in submitting to a public inquiry that has already caused far more damage than I am willing to accept.”

“This media frenzy is hurtling forward without regard for the review process The Athletic is trying to complete,” Russini wrote. “It continues to escalate, fueled by repeated leaks. … Rather than allowing this to continue, I have decided to step aside now — before my current contract expires on June 30. I do so not because I accept the narrative that has been constructed around this episode, but because I refuse to lend it further oxygen or to let it define me or my career.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The EU’s special representative for the Gulf said Saturday that any lasting solution for the Middle East must be led by countries in the region rather than imposed from outside, Anadolu reports.

Speaking at a panel during the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in southern Turkiye, Luigi Di Maio said the current crisis in the Gulf is another sign of the “further erosion of international law.”

“If we want to try to find a solution for avoiding again another crisis, like the ongoing crisis or a wider crisis, a farther spillover, we need to work all together,” he said.

Di Maio said the EU remains committed to multilateralism and international law, while stressing that Europe does not want to be “part of this war.”

At the same time, he said European countries are supporting Gulf partners in self-defense, including intercepting drones and missiles from Iran under bilateral agreements.

READ: US, Iran likely on Monday to hold 2nd round for technical talks in Islamabad: Sources

He also warned that instability in the Gulf affects the wider world, not only because of oil and gas, but also due to trade in fertilizer, helium for semiconductors and other goods moving through the Strait of Hormuz.

Di Maio said the collapse of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal showed the importance of involving regional countries in negotiations.

“Every solution for the Middle East has to be a region-led process,” he said.

He said stronger connectivity and defense cooperation can make the region more resilient to future crises, adding that “autonomy does not mean isolation.”

He praised mediation efforts by Turkiye, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, saying they had helped secure a ceasefire and could contribute to a broader agreement.

READ: French soldier killed in attack on UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon: Macron

Washington, DC – Preliminary data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has found that international development aid from its members dropped by about 23 percent from 2024 to 2025.

Much of that decline was attributed to a major shortfall in funding from the United States.

The forum, which includes many of the the largest economies across Europe and the Americas, said on Thursday that the US saw a nearly 57 percent drop in foreign aid in 2025.

The OECD’s four other top contributors — Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and France — also saw declines in their foreign aid assistance.

The report marked the first time foreign development assistance from all five of the OECD’s top donors simultaneously declined. The total assistance for 2025 totaled only $174.3bn, down from $214.6bn the year before, representing the largest annual drop since the OECD began recording the data.

OECD officials warned the dramatic decrease comes at a time when global economic and food security has been cast into doubt amid the stresses of the US-Israeli war with Iran.

“It’s deeply concerning to see this huge drop in [development funding] in 2025, due to dramatic cuts among the very top donors,” OECD official Carsten Staur said in a statement.

Thursday’s preliminary data shows that only eight member countries met or exceeded their funding from 2024.

“We are in a time of increasing humanitarian needs,” Staur added, citing growing global uncertainty and extreme poverty. “I can only plead that DAC donors reverse this negative trend and start to increase their [assistance].”

The data covers the 34 members of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC), which provide the vast majority of global foreign assistance.

But the numbers offer an incomplete picture of global development aid, as it fails to include influential non-DAC members including Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and China.

The data tracked by the OECD distinguishes official development assistance from other forms of aid, including military funds.

US drives ‘three-quarters of the decline’

In its preliminary assessment, the OECD noted that the US “alone drove three-quarters of the decline” in 2025, the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term.

Trump has overseen widespread cuts to the US’s aid infrastructure, including dissolving the US Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of a wider effort to shrink government spending.

The US contributed about $63bn in official development assistance in 2024, which was cleaved to just short of $29bn in 2025, according to OECD.

Research this year from the University of Sydney has suggested that cuts to US funding over the past year have corresponded with an increase in armed conflict in Africa, as state resources grow more scarce.

Other experts have noted that the slashed assistance is likely to prompt upticks in cases of HIV-AIDS, malaria and polio.

Analysts at the Center for Global Development have projected that the US cuts were linked to between 500,000 and 1,000,000 deaths globally in 2025 alone. A recent article published in the medical journal The Lancet found that a “continuation of current downward trends” in development funding could lead to over 9.4 million new deaths by 2030.

The Trump administration, meanwhile, has maintained it is transforming, not eschewing, the US aid model.

In recent months, it has struck a handful of bilateral assistance agreements with African countries that it says are in line with its “America First” agenda.

But while the details of such deals have not been made public, critics note that some negotiations appear to have involved requests for African countries to share mineral access or health data.

‘Turning their backs’

Oxfam, a confederation of several non-governmental aid organisations, was among those calling on wealthy countries to change course following Thursday’s report.

“Wealthy governments are turning their backs on the lives of millions of women, men and children in the Global South with these severe aid cuts,” Oxfam’s Development Finance Lead Didier Jacobs said in a statement.

Jacobs added that governments are “cutting life-saving aid budgets while financing conflict and militarisation”.

As an example, he pointed to the US, where the Trump administration is expected to request between $80bn and $200bn for the US-Israeli war with Iran, which has currently been paused amid a tenuous ceasefire.

The administration has separately requested a historic $1.5 trillion for the US military for fiscal year 2027.

“Governments must restore their aid budgets and shore up the global humanitarian system that faces its most serious crisis in decades,” Jacobs said. 

British singer-songwriter Lola Young is opening up about the “breaking point” that steered her toward recovery.

The “Messy” hitmaker told Rolling Stone in a recent interview that she was grateful that she fainted onstage late last year, and framed the scary ordeal as a wake-up call. “What do you call that? Like, a breaking point which allowed me to then be able to be here today, allowed me to be better for my fans, better for the future, and better for myself,” she told the outlet.

In September, the Grammy winner collapsed onstage during a performance at the All Things Go Music Festival in New York City. Following the health scare — which drew speculation and worry from fans who’d watched the viral video of Young stumbling and dropping her microphone before falling backward — Young canceled the remainder of her tour, which included a 21-stop North American run.

The tour, in support of her third album, “I’m Only F— Myself,” was expected to conclude with two dates at the Hollywood Palladium in December. Instead, she spent two months seeking holistic addiction treatment in a facility that prioritizes psychotherapy. She’s now attending 12-step meetings and working with a sponsor.

When announcing that she would have to nix forthcoming performances to prioritize her health, Young told fans on social media that she was “going away for a while” and apologized, writing, “I love this job and I never take my commitments and audience for granted so I’m sorry to those who will be disappointed by this. … I really hope you’ll give me a second chance … once I’ve had some time to work on myself and come back stronger.”

Young told Rolling Stone that, naturally, some folks were really angry that she’d canceled her tour. “[I]t was a decision that I had to make, and it was sad that I had to do that. What else was I going to do, die? That was the reality of where my addiction was heading.”

This wasn’t the first health incident for Young, who is known for her chart-topping breakout hit, “Messy.” The budding megastar performed at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in 2025, and during her Weekend 1 performance, she struggled to get through. The heat lingered around 100 degrees, and while Young danced and sang, she began to visibly gag and retch before running off the stage and asking for a bucket.

The acclaimed artist has been candid about her struggles with cocaine and alcohol addiction and often explores those struggles in her lyrics. In the song “d£aler,” a bouncy goodbye letter to her drug dealer, she sings about spending the day trying to be sober but feeling miserable nonetheless: “I wanna get away, far from here / Pack my bags, my drugs, and disappear.” … “Pack my bags and tell my dealer I’ll miss him.”

Young also sat down with the Times UK and said that she didn’t want to say too much but confirmed that she was in recovery for drug addiction. “But what I would say is that recovery is an ongoing process. I’m not the finished article, but I’m doing a hell of a lot better.”

Billy Porter says a poorly treated urinary infection nearly killed him.

On Wednesday, the 56-year-old Broadway icon appeared on “Today” to promote his new children’s book, “Songbird in the Light,” and discussed a recent health scare that’s given the actor a new outlook on life.

“I am on the road to complete recovery,” he said, tearing up. “It is a gift to be alive. It’s still emotional to talk about it.”

Last year, Porter crossed the pond and made his West End debut starring as the Emcee in the musical “Cabaret,” which ran Jan. 28 through May 24 at London’s Playhouse Theatre. The Tony-winning actor said he was having a ball and living his purpose, but then he got a urinary infection.

“The medicine in the U.K. is trash,” he told “Outlaws” podcast host TS Madison earlier this month. “Four rounds of antibiotics and 10 to 12 weeks later, it’s a kidney infection with kidney stones.”

Porter eventually thought the infection had cleared up and returned to New York, where last fall he was gearing up for a Broadway revival of the musical starring as the production’s first Black Emcee, but his history-making run was cut short.

“I go into rehearsals for ‘Cabaret’ on Broadway … and everything seems fine, and a month in, the kidney stone pain comes back,” he told Madison.

On a Tuesday in September, Porter checked himself into the hospital due to debilitating pain, and then the “Pose” star subsequently fell into a coma and woke up days later on a Saturday evening.

“They went in to do a routine check. They saw that the kidney stone was trapped in my urethra, and they went in to put a stent in, redirect the urine, blast me with real antibiotics — not U.K. antibiotics — and blow up the kidney stones. When they got in there, there was so much pus and bile and infection behind the stone, it bubbled up and I went uroseptic in minutes.”

“I was dead for three days,” Porter said.

Porter said he was placed on an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine, which, according to Mayo Clinic, pumps blood outside of the body to a heart-lung machine, removes carbon dioxide from the blood and sends oxygen-rich blood back to the body. It’s essentially a life-support system.

While Porter was in a coma, he said, one of his legs went into compartment syndrome, which happens when there’s too much pressure around your muscles, causing reduced blood and oxygen flow and possibly leading to necrosis. “They had to cut me open on either side of my leg while I was in a coma, from my knee to my hip, and leave it open for two days so they could save my leg,” he told Madison, visibly choked up over the ordeal.

Porter told “Today” that the experience was mind-altering yet also inspiring. “My work here on this earth is not done, and that gives me hope.”

His new children’s book, “Songbird in the Light,” which follows a young boy who grapples with bullying while learning to embrace his talent and love himself, hit bookshop shelves this week.