In another emotional instalment, two people who are foundlings, tell Davina and Nicky their stories and hope to trace family
06:00, 18 Jun 2025Updated 06:08, 18 Jun 2025
Davina McCall and searcher Simon Prothero in Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace(Image: ITV)
Every single story from Long Lost Family could be turned into a daytime sobathon movie in its own right. Pretty much every episode leaves viewers weeping into their wine, and this show is the perfect example of a cast-iron format that nails it every time. Davina McCall is walking along a coastline in a coat we all want to buy immediately.
She tells us the sad story of someone searching for their relative. Cut to said person’s kitchen and Davina has news. Pause. She produces a photo. Maybe even a letter. Everyone is in floods of tears, and that’s before the reunion even happens. Kleenex anyone?
Elsewhere, Nicky Campbell is providing a shoulder to cry on, while someone spits into a test tube. The spin-off series, Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace (tonight June 18, ITV, 9pm) focuses on foundlings, people left as babies, often in the most extraordinary places and in the first hours or days of life. We’ve heard about babies left in cardboard boxes, on doorsteps, at churches, in hospital car parks, and in one case a London phone box and even under a hedge.
Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell help people find loved ones
In tonight’s emotional episode, Simon Prothero tells how he was found as a newborn in the summer of 1966 in the outside toilet block of a children’s home in Neath, Wales. Simon, who was adopted and grew up 10 miles away, says: “I don’t know where I was born, when I was born, what the circumstances were. I don’t know who my mother is.” As the team cracks into action, it’s especially sad as we learn that Simon’s adoptive parents and his wife Helen have died, but a DNA search connects to a large family from North Wales. Watch out for the moment Simon discovers his birth mother is alive and in her 80s, though she’s not yet ready for contact.
In another story, Lisa Dyke tells how she was discovered as a newborn in May 1969, just a few hours old, outside a health clinic in Christchurch, Dorset. She’d been put into another baby’s pram. She says: “Why was I left in another child’s pram? Who left me? I just want to know the truth.”
Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace is airing on ITV tonight at 9pm.
There’s plenty more on TV tonight – here’s the best of the rest..
RACE ACROSS THE WORLD, BBC1, 9pm
It’s been emotional, as five intrepid pairs have taken on the 14,000km race of a lifetime, from the Great Wall of China to the southern tip of India. In the end, mother and son Caroline and Tom took first place in a hard-fought win. Six months later, the contestants meet for the first time in this reunion episode, sharing their greatest highs and agonising lows. The teams reminisce about being forced out of their comfort zones and traversing the two most populated countries on earth.
For former married couple, Yin and Gaz, it’s a chance to learn who has won the race. Brothers Brian and Melvyn look back at how the race enabled them to make up for lost time, while sisters Elizabeth and Letitia tell how the adventure changed them. Teenage couple Fin and Sioned, who were catapulted into the deep end for their first backpacking experience together, share their future plans. An intimate insight with behind-the-scenes insights and unseen moments. “I wish we were starting it all again,” says Caroline.
THE BUCCANEERS, APPLE TV+
For anyone not familiar with ‘The Buccaneers’, they are a group of fun-loving young American girls, who exploded into the tightly corseted London of the 1870s, setting hearts racing. Now, the Buccaneers are no longer the invaders – England is their home. In fact, they’re practically running the place.
Nan (Kristine Froseth) is the Duchess of Tintagel, the most influential woman in the country. Conchita (Alisha Boe) is Lady Brightlingsea, heroine to a wave of young American heiresses. And Jinny (Imogen Waterhouse) is on every front page, wanted for the kidnapping of her unborn child.
All of the girls have been forced to grow up and now have to fight to be heard, as they wrestle with romance, lust, jealousy, births and deaths. Last time we got a taste of England. This time we’re in for a veritable feast. Also starring Christina Hendricks as Nan’s mum Patti, this is an addictive culture-clash historical romp.
EMMERDALE, ITV1, 7.30pm
Getting increasingly frustrated with his motorbike, Bear snaps and threatens Kammy. Paddy sees this from a distance and puts a stop to it. Paddy and Mandy are dumbfounded when Bear later acts as if nothing has happened. Bear becomes irritated by their questioning and heads away upstairs, leaving Paddy and Mandy to fear that things are getting worse. Vinny continues to give Kammy the cold shoulder. Vanessa tries to get through to Tracy, but Tracy’s not interested in her excuses.
EASTENDERS, BBC1, 7.30pm
Kat doesn’t feel any better following her conversation with Alfie and feels that he isn’t being completely honest with her. The drinks start flowing at Elaine’s divorce party. As the night gets steadily messier, Elaine shocks Linda by declaring that the Prosecco is on the house all night. Later, a tipsy Elaine offers to book Priya a singles cruise, saying she can pay her back later. Linda is then horrified to see £5k leave the business account and confronts Elaine.
CORONATION STREET, ITV1, 8pm
Glenda and Sean hand out leaflets advertising the Rovers’ Drag Night. Todd suggests to Theo they should go. When Debbie admits to Bernie that she finds it hard being in the same room as Ronnie, Bernie suggests they head to her hotel. Dee-Dee opens a letter stating that Laila is due for her vaccinations but when Michael tells her that James is in Leeds, she realises that she’ll have to take Laila herself. Kevin gets ready to leave for his chemo session.
Since the start of 2025, a number of beloved LGBTQIA+ figures have sadly passed away, leaving behind family, friends, fans and their incredible legacies. While they are no longer with us, their impact and work will never be forgotten. See below for a list of all the LGBTQIA+ stars who have crossed over.
BBC
The Vivienne
Date of passing: 5 January 2025
Age: 32
Known for: The Vivienne rose to fame as the winner of the first-ever season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK in 2019. Three years later, she made an iconic return for All Stars 7, the franchise’s first winners’ season, making history in the process as the first international contestant to crossover to the U.S. series. Following her victory, The Vivienne quickly became one of the UK’s most recognisable drag entertainers, with appearances on shows such as Celebrity Juice, Emmerdale, Celebrity Mastermind,Celebrity Karaoke Club, and I Like to Watch UK. In 2023, she made history again as the first drag artist to compete on Dancing on Ice, where she placed third.
Cause of Death: On 17 March, The Vivienne’s family and publicist Simon Jones shared that the beloved performer died “from the effects of ketamine use, causing a cardiac arrest.” “James’ family and I feel it is important to say how James tragically died… I hope that by us releasing this information we can raise awareness about the dangers of ongoing ketamine usage and what it can do your body,” Jones said in a statement.
Instagram: @TimKruger_Reloaded
Tim Kruger
Date of passing: 1 March 2025
Age: 44
Known for: Born in Dűsseldorf, Germany, Tim Kruger made his debut in the adult film industry in 2006. Three years later, he co-created the popular TimTales website with his longtime partner Grobes Geraet. In addition to running one of the biggest gay porn platforms of all time, Kruger also appeared in material for other studios and worked as a director and producer.
Cause of Death: In a statement posted on the TimTales website, presumably from Geratet, it was revealed the late adult entertainer’s death was a result of “a tragic, yet simple accident at home.” “There were no drugs involved, nor was there any indication of foul play or suicide,” he wrote. “Though my heart is broken into pieces, I find solace in the countless memories he gifted us. And I know that he died knowing he was loved. Tim’s legacy of compassion, love, and joy will live on in all who knew him.”
Jiggly Caliente
Date of passing: 27 April 2025
Age: 44
Known for: Jiggly Caliente first rose to fame as a breakout star on the fourth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race (2012), winning over fans and judges alike with her lovable, larger-than-life personality. She also delivered one of the franchise’s most unforgettable moments when she lip-synced to Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ in her now-iconic “Baked Potato Couture.” After coming out as a trans woman in 2016, Caliente established herself as an actress, starring in acclaimed shows such as Broad City, Search Party, and Pose. She made her long-awaited Drag Race return for the sixth season of All Stars. Although her stint was short-lived, she later transitioned from contestant to judge on the highly acclaimed Filipino spin-off.
Cause of Death: On 24 April, it was reported that Caliente had experienced “a serious health setback” due to a severe infection, during which she was hospitalised and had to undergo the amputation of most of her right leg. On 27 April, the late drag superstar’s family announced with “profound sorrow” that the drag icon, whose real name was Bianca Castro-Arabejo, had “passed away peacefully” at 4:42 a.m. that same day.
Damien Stone
Date of passing: Was announced on 11 March by his family.
Age: 32
Known for: Originally from Moldova and raised in the United States, Stone was active in the adult industry from 2017 to 2021. Over the course of his career, he featured in approximately 120 scenes for well-known sites including TransAngles, Bromo, NakedSword, MEN, WhyNotBui, TheGuySite, ManUpFilms, and more. Following his retirement from studio-produced adult films, Stone focused on his career as a bodybuilder and launched an OnlyFans account. On his LinkTree profile, which links to his OF and OmegaLabs, Stone was “raising awareness, driving donations and sharing information in support of racial justice and equality”.
Cause of Death: Stone’s cause of death, as confirmed by his family, was complications related to an enlarged heart.
AJ Bediako
Date of passing: 27 May 2025
Age: 32
Known for: AJ Bediako was one of the original ‘Brit Crew’ members on the first-ever season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, appearing in episodes three, five and six. According to his Instagram, he worked as a certified fitness coach, offering lessons online and in person at F45 Training Brixton and PureGym Clapham. In his bio, he proudly displayed that he was “O.G. BritCrew”. As an actor, he appeared alongside Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth in The Huntsman: Winter’s War (2016) as a Huntsman, as well as in episodes of Venus vs. Mars (2015) and One Crazy Thing (2016).
Cause of Death: A cause of death has not officially been announced.
Instagram
Roman Mercury
Date of passing: February 2025
Age: 45
Known for: Originally from São Paulo, Brazil, but based in the United States, Mercury first got his start in the adult film industry in 2022. Over the course of his career, which lasted up to his death, the 45-year-old talent starred in 93 scenes for well-known sites including Raging Stallion, Menatplay.com, Hotoldermale.com, Nasty Daddy and more (per Internet Adult Film Database). In addition to his studio work, Mercury also had popular pages on OnlyFans and JustFor.Fans.
Cause of Death: On 11 March, Mercury’s close friend and industry peer, Greg Dixxon revealed to Out that the late star’s death stemmed from a heart attack. “I was informed by the family that his passing was due to hypertensive cardiovascular disease, meaning he suffered from a heart attack,” he told the news outlet.
Kolby Falks
Date of passing: May 2025
Age: 39
Known for: The Australian native, known as Anthony Cox to his family and friends, made his debut in the adult film world in 2022. Although his time in the industry was brief, he starred in 76 projects and amassed over 400,000 followers across Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube. He also led a fruitful career as a content creator on the subscription-based websites OnlyFans and JustFor.Fans.
Cause of Death: As of this writing, a cause of death has not been announced.
Jonathan Joss
Date of passing: 1 June 2025
Age: 59
Known for: The beloved voice actor and musician was best known for his roles as John Redcorn in King of the Hill (1997-2009) and as Chief Ken Hotate in Parks and Recreation (2011-2015). Other notable credits include Ray Donovan (2016), Tulsa King (2022), Walker, Texas Ranger (2023).
Cause of Death: Joss was shot and killed outside his home by Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez, his neighbour. In a statement, the late actor’s husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, opened up about Joss’ final moments, telling NBC News: “I just kept telling him: ‘It’s OK. You need to cross over. You don’t need to keep struggling. You need to go ahead and cross over easy.’”
Sha’Vi Lewis
Date of passing: 24 February 2025
Age: 39
Known for: Sha’Vi Lewis rose to fame as a competitor on Project Runway’s 18th season. Before showing off his designing skills on the hit fashion series, the late talent served as creative director for the menswear brand Stephen F. He also had his own clothing line.
Cause of Death: As of this writing, a cause of death has not been announced.
Captain Cook used the Endeavour to circumnavigate the main islands of New ZealandCredit: Credit: Pen News
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Experts have spent 25 years identifying the shipCredit: Credit: ANMM via Pen News
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Just 15% of the wreckage remainsCredit: Credit: ANMM via Pen News
It was then sold, renamed the Lord Sandwich and was last seen in the US in 1778, during the American War of Independence.
During the war, the ship was scuttled (intentionally sunk) to create a blockade to prevent French ships from entering the harbour and supporting the American forces.
And it has now been confirmed that a shipwreck off Newport Harbour, Rhode Island, USA, called RI 2394, is in fact the HMS Endeavour.
In a new report the Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) announced the verdict, after 25 years of studying the wreck.
“This final report is the culmination of 25 years of detailed and meticulous archaeological study on this important vessel”, said museum director Daryl Karp.
“It has involved underwater investigation in the US and extensive research in institutions across the globe.”
“This final report marks our definitive statement on the project.”
The ship was hard to identify because anything that would have been of value, such as a bell, would have been stripped from the boat before it was intentionally sunk.
However, experts were able to determine that the shipwreck is the lost ship by comparing it with plans for the Endeavour.
For example, they discovered timbers which matched with the placement of the main and fore masts of the ship.
Divers uncover shipwreck of Glasgow vessel almost 140 years after it vanished without trace
Additionally, measurements from the wreck corresponded to those taken during a 1768 survey of the ship.
Analysis of the ship’s wood also revealed that it had come from Europe, which is consistent with records show that the Endeavour was repaired there in 1776.
ANMM archaeologist, Kieran Hosty, said: “We’ll never find anything on this site that screams Endeavour. You’ll never find a sign saying ‘Cook was here’.
“We will never see a ship’s bell with Endeavour crossed out and Lord Sandwich inscribed on it.
Who was Captain Cook?
Captain James Cook was one of Britain’s most renowned explorers, celebrated for his contributions to navigation and mapping during the 18th century.
While he charted the eastern coastline of Australia in 1770 and claimed it for Britain, Cook was not the first European to encounter the continent, as Dutch explorers had sighted it earlier in the 17th century. His expeditions, however, significantly advanced European knowledge of the region and laid the groundwork for British settlement.
Similarly, Cook’s role in New Zealand’s history was pivotal but not first in sequence. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman had visited New Zealand in 1642, long before Cook’s arrival. Nevertheless, Cook’s meticulous circumnavigation and mapping of New Zealand were instrumental in understanding its geography and establishing connections with the indigenous Māori people.
“We’ve got a whole series of things pointing to RI 2394 as being HMB Endeavour.
“The timbers are British timbers.
“The size of all the timber scantlings are almost identical to Endeavour, and I’m talking within millimetres – not inches, but millimetres.
“The stem scarf is identical, absolutely identical.
“This stem scarf is also a very unique feature – we’ve gone through a whole bunch of 18th-century ships plans, and we can’t find anything else like it.”
However, the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project previously said the identification is “premature” and has not yet ruled out that the Endeavour could be another shipwreck .
Only 15 percent of the ship remains and researchers are now focused on what to do to preserve it.
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Captain Cook was one of Britain’s most renowned explorersCredit: Credit: Pen News
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Scientists compared plans of the ship with the wreckageCredit: Credit: ANMM via Pen News
The accomplished mother that photographer-writer Rachel Elizabeth Seed never knew is the star of her deeply affecting “A Photographic Memory,” one of last year’s best documentaries, finally making its way to Los Angeles theaters. This poetic gem is a journey from the weight of absence to the serenity of presence, thanks in no small part to the inquisitive, gifted woman pulled from obscurity: Sheila Turner-Seed, whose life was short but full and worth revitalizing.
Turner-Seed, a journalist, was 42 when she died in 1979, leaving behind an 18-month-old daughter, a bereft photographer husband (Brian Seed) and a legacy of wide-ranging, globe-trotting reportage that culminated in a renowned oral and visual history called “Images of Man.” The project was anchored by Turner-Seed’s groundbreaking interviews with the world’s best living photographers at the time, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Cecil Beaton, Lisette Model and Gordon Parks. And though she only ever referred to herself as an amateur with a camera, Turner-Seed once saw a photo of hers land on the cover of the New York Times.
That her daughter also pursued photography and nonfiction storytelling could be viewed as the manifestation of a deeply felt connection. Was following her mother’s passion the most readily available way to process a personal loss the director essentially had no memory of? Seed only began exploring the true breadth and emotion of her mother’s legacy when she herself reached the age that her mom died, a milestone fraught for many grown, parentless children.
What the younger Seed found, accompanied by memories from her mother’s colleagues, was a rich archive of adventurous work and personal expression: photos, journals, contact sheets, Super8 film, audio pieces and a trove of interviews. These discussions reveal a soulful, probing mind that not only kept her subjects on their toes, but warmly elicited thoughtful answers about the nature of their moment-in-time art.
Turner-Seed’s own writing lays bare a struggle for self-fulfillment, to reconcile the traditional values pushed by her Jewish immigrant parents with a restless need to discover and make her own way. In an especially revealing journal entry from 1972, she wonders if she’ll grow in her chosen fields if she marries and has a child — but also, will she want to? A lanky, warm presence with a sociable smile, Turner-Seed is never far from a keenly observed thought or ambivalent feeling.
Why “A Photographic Memory” stands out, however, is her daughter’s handling of this precious life. It’s a heartbreakingly imaginative conjuring of the parent-child connection that never came to be, but which Seed and her editors (including documentary cutting legend Maya Daisy Hawke) finesse to life.
With melancholy and playfulness both, Seed threads in her own introspective voice-over and contemporary footage (poring over material, visiting her dad, sparring with a boyfriend). She also adds grainy period re-creations of her mom’s interviews, Seed playing her own parent in these 8mm snippets. Eventually, technology allows these distant intimates to share a frame.
Biographical and essayistic, “A Photographic Memory” suggests both a woman interested in locating her remarkable mother, gone too soon, and an artist exploring her own place. Of the impulse to take a photo, to grab the moment, we hear Cartier-Bresson excitedly tell Turner-Seed, “Life is once, forever.” Her future daughter’s marvelous movie embodies that idea beautifully.
This sacred mask is etched with symbols of Sona, a sophisticated and now rarely used writing system
A wooden hunters’ toolbox inscribed with an ancient writing system from Zambia has been making waves on social media.
“We’ve grown up being told that Africans didn’t know how to read and write,” says Samba Yonga, one of the founders of the virtual Women’s History Museum of Zambia.
“But we had our own way of writing and transmitting knowledge that has been completely side-lined and overlooked,” she tells the BBC.
It was one of the artefacts that launched an online campaign to highlight women’s roles in pre-colonial communities – and revive cultural heritages almost erased by colonialism.
Another intriguing object is an intricately decorated leather cloak not seen in Zambia for more than 100 years.
“The artefacts signify a history that matters – and a history that is largely unknown,” says Yonga.
“Our relationship with our cultural heritage has been disrupted and obscured by the colonial experience.
“It’s also shocking just how much the role of women has been deliberately removed.”
Women’s History Museum Zambia
Samba Yonga holding the wooden hunters’ toolbox in one of the beautifully photographed images posted on social media for the Frame project
But, says Yonga, “there’s a resurgence, a need and a hunger to connect with our cultural heritage – and reclaim who we are, whether through fashion, music or academic studies”.
“We had our own language of love, of beauty,” she says. “We had ways that we took care of our health and our environment. We had prosperity, union, respect, intellect.”
A total of 50 objects have been posted on social media – alongside information about their significance and purpose that shows that women were often at the heart of a society’s belief systems and understanding of the natural world.
The images of the objects are presented inside a frame – playing on the idea that a surround can influence how you look at and perceive a picture. In the same way that British colonialism distorted Zambian histories – through the systematic silencing and destruction of local wisdom and practices.
The Frame project is using social media to push back against the still-common idea that African societies did not have their own knowledge systems.
The objects were mostly collected during the colonial era and kept in storage in museums all over the world, including Sweden – where the journey for this current social media project began in 2019.
She did – and when he asked her what country she was from, Yonga was surprised to hear him say that the museum had a lot of Zambian artefacts.
“It really blew my mind, so I asked: ‘How come a country that did not have a colonial past in Zambia had so many artefacts from Zambia in its collection?'”
In the 19th and early 20th Centuries Swedish explorers, ethnographers and botanists would pay to travel on British ships to Cape Town and then make their way inland by rail and foot.
There are close to 650 Zambian cultural objects in the museum, collected over the course of a century – as well as about 300 historical photographs.
Women’s History Museum Zambia
Mulenga Kapwepwe looks at one of 20 pristine leather cloaks in the Swedish archive collected during an expedition between 1911 and 1912
When Yonga and her virtual museum co-founder Mulenga Kapwepwe explored the archives, they were astonished to find the Swedish collectors had travelled far and wide – some of the artefacts come from areas of Zambia that are still remote and hard to reach.
The collection includes reed fishing baskets, ceremonial masks, pots, a waist belt of cowry shells – and 20 leather cloaks in pristine condition collected during a 1911-1912 expedition.
They are made from the skin of a lechwe antelope by the Batwa men and worn by the women or used by the women to protect their babies from the elements.
On the fur outside are “geometric patterns, meticulously, delicately and beautifully designed”, Yonga says.
There are pictures of the women wearing the cloaks, and a 300-page notebook written by the person who brought the cloaks to Sweden – ethnographer Eric Van Rosen.
He also drew illustrations showing how the cloaks were designed and took photographs of women wearing the cloaks in different ways.
“He took great pains to show the cloak being designed, all the angles and the tools that were used, and [the] geography and location of the region where it came from.”
The Swedish museum had not done any research on the cloaks – and the National Museums Board of Zambia was not even aware they existed.
So Yonga and Kapwepwe went to find out more from the community in the Bengweulu region in north-east of the country where the cloaks came from.
“There’s no memory of it,” says Yonga. “Everybody who held that knowledge of creating that particular textile – that leather cloak – or understood that history was no longer there.
“So it only existed in this frozen time, in this Swedish museum.”
Women’s History Museum Zambia
The Swedish collection includes 300 historical photographs, including this one of women wearing leather cloaks
One of Yonga’s personal favourites in the Frame project is Sona or Tusona, an ancient, sophisticated and now rarely used writing system.
It comes from the Chokwe, Luchazi and Luvale people, who live in the borderlands of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Yonga’s own north-western region of Zambia.
Geometric patterns were made in the sand, on cloth and on people’s bodies. Or carved into furniture, wooden masks used in the Makishi ancestral masquerade – and a wooden box used to store tools when people were out hunting.
The patterns and symbols carry mathematical principles, references to the cosmos, messages about nature and the environment – as well as instructions on community life.
The original custodians and teachers of Sona were women – and there are still community elders alive who remember how it works.
They are a huge source of knowledge for Yonga’s ongoing corroboration of research done on Sona by scholars like Marcus Matthe and Paulus Gerdes.
“Sona’s been one of the most popular social media posts – with people expressing surprise and huge excitement, exclaiming: ‘Like, what, what? How is this possible?'”
The Queens in Code: Symbols of Women’s Power post includes a photograph of a woman from the Tonga community in southern Zambia.
She has her hands on a mealie grinder, a stone used to grind grain.
National Museums of World Cultures
This archive photo shows a grinding stone used by Tonga women that would go on to used as a gravestone
Researchers from the Women’s History Museum of Zambia discovered during a field trip that the grinding stone was more than just a kitchen tool.
It belonged only to the woman who used it – it was not passed down to her daughters. Instead, it was placed on her grave as a tombstone out of respect for the contribution the woman had made to the community’s food security.
“What might look like just a grinding stone is in fact a symbol of women’s power,” Yonga says.
It is conducting research in communities and creating an online archive of items that have been taken out of Zambia.
“We’re trying to put together a jigsaw without even having all the pieces yet – we’re on a treasure hunt.”
A treasure hunt that has changed Yonga’s life – in a way that she hopes the Frame social media project will also do for other people.
“Having a sense of my community and understanding the context of who I am historically, politically, socially, emotionally – that has changed the way I interact in the world.”
Penny Dale is a freelance journalist, podcast and documentary-maker based in London
A study of 2,000 UK holidaymakers found health emergencies are the top worry when in a different country, with theft also being a big concern.
Travellers regularly use unsecure networks when abroad(Image: undefined via Getty Images)
Holidaymakers are more concerned about misplacing luggage and missing flights than they are about being pickpocketed or losing their passport. A survey of 2,000 travellers revealed that health emergencies top the list of worries when abroad, with theft also a significant concern. Meanwhile, a third are apprehensive about getting lost, and a quarter worry about their accommodation not being safe.
However, only 8% are anxious about falling victim to online threats while overseas – a risk that is particularly prevalent on unsecured networks in foreign countries. With the most frequent activities carried out by those who connect to Wi-Fi when abroad include online banking, shopping with a credit card, streaming TV or music, and checking work emails.
Some have even been scammed when booking their trip(Image: undefined via Getty Images)
Melissa Voeller, a cyber safety advocate for Norton, which conducted the study, stated: “When we travel, we often focus on physical safety, like guarding our belongings or catching our flight, but digital threats don’t take a holiday.
“From public Wi-Fi risks to phishing scams disguised as hotel confirmations, cybercriminals target travellers when their guard is down. That’s why it’s just as important to secure your digital life as it is to secure important documents like your passport.”
The research discovered that 86% of travellers believe they are cautious when arranging travel. However, 29% have been scammed or targeted, either during the trip or while planning it, with 23% confessing they’re not particularly knowledge about online safety.
It was revealed that 14% are uncertain about the risks associated with connecting to an unsecured Wi-Fi network, which commonly include malware distribution; where unsecured networks can be used to distribute malicious software to your device.
Holidaymakers regularly use their bank apps (Image: undefined via Getty Images)
To gain access to this Wi-Fi whilst travelling, 45% have provided their email address, 30% have entered their first and last name – and 28% even revealed their hotel room number. After connecting many encountered suspicious pop-ups, data breach alerts and even online scams.
Melissa commented: “Public Wi-Fi might be convenient for checking maps or posting on social media, but it can be a hotspot for cybercriminals, too. Logging into banking apps or entering personal information on an unsecured connection abroad can be just as risky as losing your wallet.”
She cautioned: “A few clicks in the wrong place could give hackers access to everything from your email to your banking details, making you more vulnerable to threats.” It was revealed that only 26% say they have used a VPN while travelling, yet Melissa says it’s a key way to safeguard privacy whilst away.
Travel expert Simon Calder said: “Staying connected while travelling is second nature these days, whether it’s checking flight details, finding directions or booking last-minute tickets. But public Wi-Fi, especially in places like airports or hotels, isn’t always as safe as it seems.
“That’s why using a VPN is a smart move. It gives you added peace of mind that your online activity stays private and for your eyes only, no matter where your travels take you.”
Karol Nawrocki, Poland’s right-wing opposition candidate, narrowly won the second round of voting in the country’s presidential election on Sunday, according to the National Electoral Commission (NEC).
Here is all you need to know about the results:
Who won the presidential election in Poland?
Nawrocki won with 50.89 percent of the votes, the NEC website updated early on Monday.
He defeated liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, who secured 49.11 percent of the vote.
The outcome was a surprise because exit polls had projected a narrow loss for Nawrocki.
What happened in the first round of the election?
The first round took place on May 18, where, as expected, none of the 13 presidential candidates could manage to reach a 50 percent threshold.
Trzaskowski won 31.4 percent of the vote, while Nawrocki got 29.5 percent. As the top two candidates, Nawrocki and Trzaskowski proceeded to the run-off.
Who is Karol Nawrocki, Poland’s new president?
Nawrocki, 42, is a conservative historian and amateur boxer.
He contested as an independent candidate, backed by the outgoing president, Andrzej Duda’s Law and Justice (PiS), Poland’s main opposition party.
The newly elected president’s academic work, as a historian, centred on anti-communist resistance. At the moment, he runs the Institute of National Remembrance, a Warsaw-based government-funded research institute that studies the history of Poland during World War II and the period of communism until 1990.
At the institute, Nawrocki has removed Soviet memorials, upsetting Russia.
He administered the Museum of the Second World War in the Polish city of Gdansk from 2017 to 2021.
Nawrocki has had his share of controversies. In 2018, he published a book about a notorious gangster under the pseudonym “Tadeusz Batyr”. In public comments, Nawrocki and Batyr praised each other, without revealing they were the same person.
United States President Donald Trump’s administration threw its weight behind Nawrocki in the Polish election. The US group Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held its first meeting in Poland on May 27. “We need you to elect the right leader,” US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during the CPAC event.
Calling Trzaskowski “an absolute train wreck of a leader”, Noem said, “I just had the opportunity to meet with Karol and listen: he needs to be the next president of Poland. Do you understand me?”
How did Nawrocki win?
Experts say the consistency of Nawrocki’s messaging on the campaign trail may have earned him his win.
“People choose someone they see as strong, clear, and consistent,” Liliana Smiech, chairwoman of the Foundation Council at Warsaw Institute, a Polish nonprofit think tank specialising in geopolitics and international affairs, told Al Jazeera.
“Even with the accusations against him, voters preferred his firmness over Trzaskowski’s constant rebranding. Trzaskowski tried to be everything to everyone and ended up convincing no one. Nawrocki looks like someone who can handle pressure. He became the president for difficult times.”
Unlike Trzaskowski, Smiech said, Nawrocki “didn’t try to please everyone”.
Yet he managed to please enough voters to win.
What is the significance of Nawrocki’s win?
Most of the power in Poland rests in the hands of the prime minister. The incumbent, Donald Tusk, leads a centre-right coalition government, and Trzaskowski was the ruling alliance’s candidate.
Nawrocki has been deeply critical of the Tusk administration. The president has the ability to veto legislation and influence military and foreign policy decisions.
On the campaign trail, Nawrocki promised to lower taxes and pull Poland out of the European Union’s Pact on Migration and Asylum, an agreement on new rules for managing migration and setting a common asylum system; and the European Green Deal, which sets benchmarks for environmental protection for the EU, such as the complete cessation of net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.
Like other candidates, including Trzaskowski, Nawrocki called for Poland to spend up to 5 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defence. Poland spent 3.8 percent of its GDP on military expenditure in 2023, according to World Bank data.
“Some expected a wave of support for the left or liberal side, especially among young people. That didn’t happen. Nawrocki won in the 18-39 age group,” Smiech said.
“It’s a clear message: people still care about sovereignty, tradition, and strong leadership. Even younger voters are not buying into the idea of a ‘new progressive Poland’.”
What were the key issues in the Polish election?
The Russia-Ukraine war, which began in February 2022, is a concerning issue for the Poles, who are fearful of a spillover of Russian aggression to Poland due to its proximity to Ukraine.
While Poland initially threw its full support behind Ukraine, tensions have grown between Poland and Ukraine.
Nawrocki is opposed to Ukraine joining NATO and the EU.
Yet, at the same time, Poland and Nawrocki remain deeply suspicious of Russia.
On May 12, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said an investigation had revealed that Russian intelligence agencies had orchestrated a massive fire at a shopping centre in Warsaw in May 2024. This is why multiple candidates in this election proposed raising the defence budget to 5 percent of the GDP.
Abortion is a key issue in Poland, which has some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe. In August 2024, Prime Minister Tusk acknowledged that he did not have enough backing from parliament to deliver on one of his key campaign promises and change the abortion law. PiS, which backed Nawrocki, is opposed to any legalisation of abortion.
Other issues included economic concerns about taxes, housing costs and the state of public transport.
What’s next?
Nawrocki is expected to be sworn in on August 6.
Smeich said Nawrocki will need to prove that he is not just good at campaigning, but also at governing.
“Expectations are high. People want someone who will defend Poland’s interests, stay firm under pressure, and not give in to media or foreign influence. He’s starting his term in a tough moment — exactly the kind of moment he was elected for.”
Musa Murjanatu, 40, was once a thriving trader in Niger State, North-Central Nigeria, where terrorists have taken roots for clandestine operations. As a prosperous merchant known for food supply in the Bassa area of Shiroro, Murjanatu has not only lost her home, but also her economic power, wallowing in penury in a displacement camp.
With almost two decades in the consumer goods business, she had built a reputation as a hard-working woman who could transform modest capital into a flourishing enterprise. Her home, a large compound in Bassa, was always filled with the laughter of family members and relatives who often visited. Three years ago, everything changed.
“I left my home in Bassa due to terrorist attacks,” Murjanatu said. “Whenever they attack us, we run uphill and return two or three days after they have finished committing their atrocities. When it became unbearable, we fled, leading to our displacement. Some fled to Erena, we came to Kuta, some to Gwada, Charagi, Ilori, Gunu, and some are currently in Minna.”
Musa Murjanatu, a displaced resident of the Bassa community in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, laments on the living condition in Kuta displacement camp. Photo credit: Isah Ismaila/HumAngle.
Her once-thriving business was reduced to ashes when terrorists stormed Bassa, shooting sporadically, setting homes ablaze, kidnapping residents, and looting whatever they could. She fled with only the clothes on her back, walking for days alongside other survivors to reach Kuta, where a temporary displacement camp had been established in a central primary school.
“I arrived in Kuta without my belongings because I had just taken my bath when they invaded our community. I only had a wrapper on when we started running. When we reached Gurmana [a 10 km distance from Bassa], people were kind enough to help us with clothes to cover up properly. Then we got help and came down to Kuta,” she revealed.
The lives of Murjanatu and thousands of other women and children have been flipped by the escalating wave of terror attacks by armed groups in the agrarian communities in Shiroro. In the past three years, she has lost count of the number of close and distant relatives claimed by gruesome terror attacks.
“I have lost people. My brothers and their children were slaughtered; my in-laws were killed. I’ve lost over 70 close relatives and direct family members to terrorism. I sleep and wake up with a heavy heart,” she cried.
She is just one among the thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) struggling to survive in neglected displacement camps in the Shiroro Local Government Area.
In 2020, the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) revealed that only 4,030 people were displaced across four local government areas of the state. As of 2024, the figure has increased to 21,393.
As of June 2024, a total of 1.3 million residents have been displaced across the North-Central and Northwest regions of Nigeria, as data from the International Organisation for Migration’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) has shown.
The data encompasses over two thousand households in the states of Benue, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Niger who have been displaced by either communal clashes, terrorism, or kidnapping, among other issues.
Children washing some utensils at the only borehole built by the Development Initiative of West Africa [DIWA] in Kuta camp. Photo credit: Isah Ismaila/HumAngle
While the reasons for the displacements vary considerably across the affected states, the report indicates that terrorism, in the form of killing and kidnapping, is the causal factor of the displacement of thousands of people in Niger State.
The forgotten souls
The Kuta IDP camp, located in the headquarters of the Shiroro LGA, is now a sanctuary for thousands of displaced women and children from Bassa, Allawa, Manta, Gurmana, and other communities ravaged by insurgent attacks. What was initially set up as a temporary shelter has become a permanent residence for many, with no clear path to resettlement.
The displacement crisis in Shiroro LGA is as much a humanitarian tragedy as it is an economic and social disaster. Many of the displaced seeking refuge in the central primary school in Kuta lack access to basic amenities, such as food, sanitation, and medical services, which are woefully inadequate.
The block of classrooms in the central primary school in Kuta is serving as shelter for the displaced persons in the camp. Photo credit: Isah Ismaila/HumAngle.
It was only recently that the Niger State governor, Umar Bago, revealed that plans are underway to build permanent structures in each of the affected areas and close down the temporary ones presently occupied by displaced persons. The proposed shelters will also serve as temporary homes “pending when the insurgency will end in the affected areas”.
When HumAngle visited the camp in March this year, the conditions were dire—overcrowded classrooms, insufficient food supply, and inadequate medical care. Sources revealed that they have been abandoned without any state intervention for over six months now.
The desk officer in the central camp, Yusuf Bala, revealed that when the camp was initially set up here, there was a rapid response from both the state and local government. Now, things are different.
“They sleep in classrooms. Due to the excessive heat we are experiencing, we have decongested the camp. Some are leaving the camp. We have about 734 households [women] here in this camp. We have 1,113 children, 204 men, because most of them are on the move. We are managing over 2,000 displaced persons here in this camp.
Yusuf Bala, the desk officer of Kuta displacement camp since 2019, raised concerns about the neglect and lack of support from the government for six months. Photo credit: Isah Ismaila/HumAngle.
“Currently, the situation is dire. There are issues, and we no longer receive food and medical supplies. These interventions have stopped coming in. We have written to the local and state governments. Since the beginning of this year, nothing tangible has come into this camp from the state ministry of humanitarian affairs. It has always been unfulfilled promises,” he said.
Bala, who has been managing the camp since 2019, added that until recently, when the erstwhile commissioner of health visited the camp with some heart doctors from Greece to conduct checkups and brought some food items and medical supplies to support them, “interventions don’t come in regularly.”
“As you can see, we are in fasting period, and nothing has been brought to the camp,” the desk officer said. “We only have a classroom designated as a clinic. The plain truth is we only have a mattress in it; there are no medical supplies. The personnel only attend to minor cases and give out prescriptions to those who can afford to buy the medication.”
Ahmed Almustapha, a displaced resident of Rumache village in Bassa, doubles as a humanitarian officer in the camp. Photo credit: Isah Ismaila/HumAngle
Ahmed Almustapha, a son of the late district head of Rumache, killed by terrorists, also confirmed that displaced widows and orphans in the camp have been abandoned. “Children are hungry, women are traumatised, and there is no end in sight to their suffering. These people feel completely abandoned,” Almustapha said.
“There are a lot of widows now taking care of their children by themselves without any support. Some have to beg to be fed. We don’t even know what the government is doing. We have lost a lot, and there is nothing that is being done about it.”
“As I speak with you now, I can’t remember when they last brought food for our people in the IDP camp here. We are appealing to the government to do the needful and come to our aid,” he noted.
Raising 12 children single-handedly
In one corner of the camp, under the shade of a classroom, sits 67-year-old Hauwa Zakari Mashuku, a grandmother who now shoulders the responsibility of raising twelve grandchildren. One of her children is among the hundreds slaughtered in numerous midnight raids in their homes.
Hauwa Zakari Mashuku, a grandmother of 12, has been living in the Kuta displacement camp for about eight years now. Photo credit: Isah Ismaila/HumAngle
For Hauwa, in the slightest of thoughts, this insecurity is something that wouldn’t last, but it has been eight years since she visited her community. The best she can do is to give a mental picture of how things were in the past.
“My husband and his brother were kidnapped while they were running to safety. When they attacked our village, I jumped into a river to protect my life, even though I couldn’t swim. As we speak, I have high blood pressure all from this insecurity,” she revealed.
With no source of income and limited intervention, Hauwa is overwhelmed by the burden of providing for her grandchildren. “Our businesses have collapsed. The grains we had in the village before running away have either been stolen or set ablaze. How can you have peace of mind?” she lamented.
This firewood gathered by children in the Kuta camp is subsequently sold to neighbouring homes and roadside food businesses. Photo credit: Isah Ismaila/HumAngle.
Her grandchildren, ranging from ages three to sixteen, spend their days in hunger, scattered across the Kuta community to gather what they can, sometimes at the mercy of handouts and the pieces of firewood they gather to sell for their survival in the camp.
For many displaced women like Hauwa, security remains a major concern, leaving them with the fear of returning to their villages as insurgents still control vast areas. Those who have summoned the courage to return are left with difficult choices: to farm and share their crops with terrorists, become informants, or pay taxes.
The displacement dilemma
“Our children and younger generation are not in schools; they are scattered in IDP camps,” Dangana Yusuf, a displaced resident of Bassa, told HumAngle. “When illiteracy is high, it can be catastrophic. We can see how it is fuelling terrorism today.”
Salamatu Abdullahi, a displaced mother of seven, told HumAngle that sending her children to school is impossible as they struggle to survive with limited intervention. Photo credit: Isah Ismaila/HumAngle.
Among the displaced are thousands of children who have been forced out of school due to the conflict. Many have witnessed unspeakable horrors—the killing of parents, the burning of their homes, and the trauma of displacement. Without education, their futures hang in the balance.
Almustapha, a displaced local and humanitarian worker, expressed his anguish over the bleak future that lies ahead. “The thought of our future is heartbreaking,” he lamented. “Once operational, schools are now shut down due to the attacks, leaving over 10,000 children in these communities without access to education. The consequences are alarming – an uneducated generation spells disaster.”
Murjanutu also stated: “It has been five years since anyone attended school in Bassa. These terrorists have put a stop to education in our community. No one is willing to risk their child going to school and getting kidnapped. Here in Kuta, we desire for our children to attend school, but we can’t even afford to feed them. How, then, can we send them to school?”
As for Salamatu Abdullahi, another displaced mother of seven who has only spent about two years in the camp, school is not an option for now as her priority remains how to feed her children, who have been forced to be breadwinners at a very tender age.
“Five of my children have headed to a mining site to get something so that we can feed ourselves. Sometimes they get lucky, sometimes they don’t. We have lots of orphans; we also have widows currently mourning their husbands. We are here in this camp without food or a form of business,” Salamatu said regretfully, noting that, “If our children are in school, how can we survive? You can’t even study properly without food in your stomach. That is why we don’t even talk about sending them to school.”
Breadwinners have been reduced to beggars. Many displaced women in Kuta were once traders, farmers, and skilled artisans. Now, they rely on handouts. Without financial aid, they cannot rebuild their lives.
Attempts by some to start small businesses outside the camp—selling roasted corn, firewood, or sachet water—are met with challenges, including a lack of capital.
“I left a lot behind. I had two grinding engines; they were burnt. One of my sons is a tailor; his shop was burnt down by terrorists. I sell awara [tofu]. I fry buns up to 10 measures daily. But now there’s nothing. Whenever I remember how things were and how it is now, I feel bad,” Salamatu added.
“If I can’t get some sort of support to start a business and take care of my children, I will be happy. Above all, I wish to go back home because my home is better than living here.”
For now, women like Murjanatu and Salamatu depend on meagre food rations often distributed by the few humanitarian agencies who drop by. In most cases, they rely on handouts and the petty services they render in markets.
“I barely get ₦1,000 ($0.65) daily to take care of myself and six children; now, I don’t know where my next meal will come from,” Murja said, with her voice laced with grief.
They told HumAngle that some children in the displacement camps spread into the market in Kuta while school activities are ongoing to pick up spilt grains—rice, maize, and millet—from the pans of sellers and bring them home for their parents to sort and prepare a meal for their hungry stomachs. “When they bring it, we then pick out the stones before cooking it. We are living in bondage,” she added.
The insecurity has had devastating effects on the displaced local population, and their current situation in the Kuta IDP camp presents a plethora of challenges, especially the abandonment and lack of access to education.
“We want to go back home and take care of our children. Living in such conditions can push a child to steal or engage in prostitution. When a young girl is hungry and her parents cannot afford to feed her, she can be easily deceived to engage in immoralities just to fill up her stomach,” Murja lamented
As the sun sets over the Shiroro Dam, casting its reflection on the still waters of the Kaduna River, these women displaced by insecurity want “to go back home and live our lives as farmers.” Until then, their silent struggles may be another forgotten chapter in the annals of history.
This is the third of a three-part investigation on the human costs of the infiltration of Boko Haram elements in Niger State. Additional reporting by Ibrahim Adeyemi.
Venezuela’s ruling coalition, led by President Nicolas Maduro, has won the parliamentary and regional elections by a landslide, maintaining a significant majority in the powerful National Assembly, according to the country’s electoral authority.
Sunday’s legislative and gubernatorial elections were held as several opposition groups called for a boycott in response to what they described as fraudulent results of the July 2024 presidential vote. Maduro was declared the winner of the 2024 disputed vote.
Following the results, the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) will continue to control key institutions, such as the attorney general’s office and the supreme court, as their members are chosen by the 285-member assembly.
Here is what you need to know about parliamentary and regional elections:
What were the official results of the 2025 regional and legislative elections?
Preliminary results released by the National Electoral Council (CNE) on Monday showed that the PSUV and its allies won 82.68 percent of the votes cast the previous day for seats in the National Assembly.
The ruling coalition also won 23 out of 24 state governor positions, the CNE said.
A coalition considered close to the ruling socialist party won 6.25 percent of the vote, while an opposition alliance won 5.17 percent, CNE rector Carlos Quintero said in a declaration broadcast on state television.
Maduro hailed the election results as a “victory of peace and stability” and said it “proved the power of Chavismo” – the left-wing, populist political movement founded by his predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
A man casts his vote in Venezuela’s parliamentary elections, in Caracas, Venezuela, May 25, 2025 [Maxwell Briceno/Reuters]
What did voters elect?
The CNE oversaw Sunday’s election for 260 state legislators, 285 members of the unicameral National Assembly and all 24 governors, including the newly created governorship purportedly established to administer Essequibo, a region long under dispute between Venezuela and neighbouring Guyana.
Opposition candidates won the governorship of Cojedes state, a fall from the four they won in 2021.
Why election in Essequibo, a disputed region near Guyana, was controversial?
The Venezuelan government revised the electoral boundaries to elect a governor and eight representatives for the Essequibo, an oil-rich region that Caracas disputes with Guyana in a colonial-era dispute.
The vote took place in a micro-district of 21,403 voters in Venezuela’s Bolivar state, on the Guyanese border. Caracas had specially created it for Sunday’s legislative and regional elections. There were no polling stations in the 160,000sq km (61,776sq miles) territory of Essequibo, administered by Georgetown.
Guyana has administered the region for decades, but Caracas has threatened to partially annex it – a threat that Maduro repeated on Sunday. The Guyanese government, before the vote, warned that participating in Venezuela’s election could amount to treason.
The Maduro government last year passed a law creating a new state in the disputed territory, despite the ongoing case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The Venezuelan actions have come despite a 2023 court order asking Caracas to avoid any action that would change the status quo of the territory.
The Venezuelan government has said it does not recognise the court’s authority in the case.
How did the opposition respond to the results?
Opposition figurehead Maria Corina Machado declared in a post on X late on Sunday that in some areas of the country, up to 85 percent of eligible voters snubbed the election, which she slammed as an “enormous farce that the regime is trying to stage to bury its defeat” in last year’s election.
Edmundo Gonzalez, who is recognised by the United States and several other countries as the winner of the July 2024 presidential election, said, “We witnessed an event that attempted to disguise itself as an election, but failed to deceive the country or the world.”
“What the world saw today was an act of civic courage. A silent but powerful declaration that the desire for change, dignity, and a future remains intact,” he said in a post on X.
A priest blesses Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado during a rally against President Nicolas Maduro [File: Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo]
Meanwhile, another opposition faction, headed by two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles and Zulia state Governor Manuel Rosales, urged people to vote to avoid the opposition being cut out of all governance.
Capriles was elected to the National Assembly, while Rosales lost his governor’s seat.
What was the voter turnout, and what factors influenced it?
Turnout in the elections was 8.9 million, or roughly 42 percent of 21 million voters eligible to cast their ballots, according to the CNE.
However, the country’s main opposition leaders had urged voters to boycott the election in protest over the July 2024 presidential election.
What are the implications of these elections for Venezuela’s political landscape?
The results are a big boost for Maduro who will further consolidate power as the ruling coalition now exercises almost complete control over the democratic institutions.
It will also demoralise the opposition, which has been in a disarray, with the executive secretary of the opposition’s Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), Omar Barboza, stepping down in March. Barboza cited lack of unity as one of the reasons to quit his post weeks before the elections.
Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo, reporting from Argentina, noted that during the campaign, the opposition had been divided on the boycott call, making it difficult to present a more forceful challenge against Maduro.
She added that most analysts have said they “could not guarantee if the elections were free and fair”. “They denounced the lack of international observers, among other things,” she said.
What’s next for Maduro?
Maduro’s success in recent elections comes despite the decline of the economy following years of mismanagement and international sanctions.
US President Donald Trump has recently revoked permission for oil giant Chevron to continue pumping Venezuelan crude, potentially depriving Maduro’s administration of a vital economic lifeline.
Licence to Chevron was given in 2022 under Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, after Maduro agreed to work with the opposition towards a democratic election.
Washington has also started to deport Venezuelan immigrants, many of them to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Last week, the US Supreme Court revoked the deportation protection for some 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants in the US.
As the Trump administration cut billions of dollars in federal funding to scientific research, thousands of scientists in the U.S. lost their jobs or grants — and governments and universities around the world spotted an opportunity.
The Canada Leads program, launched in April, hopes to foster the next generation of innovators by bringing early-career biomedical researchers north of the border.
Aix-Marseille University in France started the Safe Place for Science program in March, pledging to welcome U.S.-based scientists who “may feel threatened or hindered in their research.”
Australia’s Global Talent Attraction Program, announced in April, promises competitive salaries and relocation packages.
“In response to what is happening in the U.S.,” said Anna-Maria Arabia, head of the Australian Academy of Science, “we see an unparalleled opportunity to attract some of the smartest minds here.”
Since World War II, the U.S. has invested huge amounts of money in scientific research conducted at independent universities and federal agencies. That funding helped the U.S. to become the world’s leading scientific power — and has led to the invention of cellphones and the internet as well as new ways to treat cancer, heart disease and strokes, noted Holden Thorp, editor in chief of the journal Science.
But today that system is being shaken.
Since President Trump took office in January, his administration has pointed to what it calls waste and inefficiency in federal science spending and made major cuts to staff levels and grant funding at the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, NASA and other agencies, while slashing research dollars that flow to some private universities.
The White House budget proposal for next year aims to cut the NIH budget by roughly 40% and the National Science Foundation budget by 55%.
“The Trump administration is spending its first few months reviewing the previous administration’s projects, identifying waste, and realigning our research spending to match the American people’s priorities and continue our innovative dominance,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said.
Already, several universities have announced hiring freezes, laid off staff or stopped admitting new graduate students. On Thursday, the Trump administration revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, though a judge put that on hold.
Research institutions abroad are watching with concern for collaborations that depend on colleagues in the U.S. — but they also see opportunities to poach talent.
“There are threats to science … south of the border,” said Brad Wouters of University Health Network, Canada’s leading hospital and medical research center, which launched the Canada Leads recruitment drive. “There’s a whole pool of talent, a whole cohort that is being affected by this moment.”
Academic freedom
Universities worldwide are always trying to recruit from one another, just as tech companies and businesses in other fields do. What’s unusual about the current moment is that many global recruiters are targeting researchers by promising something that seems newly threatened: academic freedom.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this month that the European Union intends “to enshrine freedom of scientific research into law.” She spoke at the launch of the bloc’s Choose Europe for Science initiative, which was in the works before the Trump administration cuts but has sought to capitalize on the moment.
Eric Berton, president of Aix-Marseille University, expressed a similar sentiment after launching the institution’s Safe Place for Science program.
“Our American research colleagues are not particularly interested by money,” he said of applicants. “What they want above all is to be able to continue their research and that their academic freedom be preserved.”
Imminent ‘brain drain’?
It’s too early to say how many scientists will choose to leave the U.S. It will take months for universities to review applications and dole out funding, and longer for researchers to uproot their lives.
Plus, the American lead in funding research and development is enormous — and even significant cuts may leave crucial programs standing. The U.S. has been the world’s leading funder of research and development — including government, university and private investment — for decades. In 2023, the country funded 29% of the world’s R&D, according to the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science.
But some institutions abroad are reporting significant early interest from researchers in the U.S. Nearly half of the applications to Safe Place for Science — 139 out of 300 total — came from U.S.-based scientists, including AI researchers and astrophysicists.
U.S.-based applicants in this year’s recruitment round for France’s Institute of Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology roughly doubled over last year.
At the Max Planck Society in Germany, the Lise Meitner Excellence Program — aimed at young female researchers — drew triple the number of applications from U.S.-based scientists this year as last year.
Recruiters who work with companies and nonprofits say they see a similar trend.
Natalie Derry, a U.K.-based managing partner of the Global Emerging Sciences Practice at recruiter WittKieffer, said her team has seen a 25% to 35% increase in applicants from the U.S. cold-calling about open positions. When they reach out to scientists currently based in the U.S., “we are getting a much higher hit rate of people showing interest.”
Still, there are practical hurdles to overcome for would-be continent-hoppers, she said. That can include language hurdles, arranging child care or elder care, and significant differences in national pension or retirement programs.
Brandon Coventry never thought he would consider a scientific career outside the United States. But federal funding cuts and questions over whether new grants will materialize have left him unsure. While reluctant to leave his family and friends, he’s applied to faculty positions in Canada and France.
“I’ve never wanted to necessarily leave the United States, but this is a serious contender for me,” said Coventry, who is a postdoctoral fellow studying neural implants at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
But it’s not easy to pick up and move a scientific career — let alone a life.
Marianna Zhang was studying how children develop race and gender stereotypes as a postdoctoral fellow at New York University when her National Science Foundation grant was canceled. She said it felt like “America as a country was no longer interested in studying questions like mine.”
Still, she wasn’t sure of her next move. “It’s no easy solution, just fleeing and escaping to another country,” she said.
The recruitment programs range in ambition, from those trying to attract a dozen researchers to a single university to the continent-wide Choose Europe for Science initiative.
But it’s unclear whether the total amount of funding and new positions offered could match what’s being shed in the United States.
A global vacuum
Even as universities and institutes think about recruiting talent from the U.S., there’s more apprehension than glee at the funding cuts.
“Science is a global endeavor,” said Patrick Cramer, head of the Max Planck Society, noting that datasets and discoveries are often shared among international collaborators.
One aim of recruitment drives is “to help prevent the loss of talent to the global scientific community,” he said.
Researchers worldwide will suffer if collaborations are shut down and databases taken offline, scientists say.
“The U.S. was always an example, in both science and education,” said Patrick Schultz, president of France’s Institute of Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology. So the cuts and policies were “very frightening also for us because it was an example for the whole world.”
Larson, Ramakrishnan and Keaten write for the Associated Press.
A GANGSTER jailed for plotting to blow up a football stadium has lost his bid to stay in Britain — but is still here.
Maksim Cela, 59, claimed returning to Albania would put him at risk from rivals.
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Gangster Maksim Cela has lost his bid to stay in Britain — but is still here
His claims were thrown out by a judge on Friday after a two-year fight costing taxpayers tens of thousands of pounds.
But the crook, who arrived in 2023, five days after serving a sentence for murder and terrorism in Albania, has not left and launched yet another appeal.
But Judge Jeremy Rintoul of the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber said: “I do not accept that the appellant has told the truth about the nature of the threats.
Read More on DEPORTATIONS
“I find that the appellant’s refusal to acknowledge guilt weighs heavily against him.”
Cela was jailed in Albania for masterminding the murder of a crime-busting police officer and plotting to bomb a football stadium.
In his legal battle, he claimed the elderly mum of the dead officer might seek revenge.
He was named as the mafia boss in the case only after The Sun fought for 23 months to overturn an anonymity order.
Sources last night confirmed Cela was still in the UK and had lodged another legal appeal.
The Home Office said: “Foreign nationals who commit heinous crimes should be in no doubt we will do everything to make sure they are not free on Britain’s streets.”
It remained unclear last night where Cela was living — but he can remain here while his appeal is being prepared.
Inside the TikTok Job Centre used by Albanian crimelords to advertise £100,000-a-year drug dealer jobs
When Pan Am Flight 103 set off from Heathrow to New York, its passengers and crew were looking forward to returning home to celebrate Christmas – but tragically, they never made it
The disaster took place on December 21, 1988(Image: Daily Record)
The Lockerbie bombing where 270 people sadly lost their lives is still the deadliest terror attack in the history of the UK, even though it took place more than 30 yeas ago. It was 21 December, 1988, when the Pan Am Flight 103 from Heathrow to New York exploded just 38 minutes into its flight while travelling over Lockerbie, with the wreckage of the plain raining down on the houses below.
And it wasn’t just the passengers who lost their lives – the small Scottish town lost 11 residents, including a family of four, Jack and Rosalind Somerville and their children, Paul, 12, and Lindsay, 10, who died when a section of the aircraft fell on their home in Sherwood Crescent.
In Lockerbie, residents opened their front doors to see 259 bodies dropping out of the sky, landing on the street in front of them. After the bomb exploded, everything went dark and eerily quiet in the town.
On 21 December 1988, flight N739PA was destroyed by a bomb killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew (Image: Mirrorpix)
The 243 passengers boarding their pre-Christmas flight at London Heathrow or via Frankfurt in Germany came from 21 countries and ranged in age from two months old to 82. Forty per cent of the 270 total victims were aged 25 or younger, many of them children, while two-thirds were American.
Of the 16 crew onboard the plane, called ‘Clipper Maid of the Seas’, some were returning home to spend the festive season with their families, while others were set to enjoy some last-minute Christmas shopping in New York. They included senior purser Mary Murphy, who hailed from Twickenham and had been flying for over 25 years, and junior purser Milutin Velimirovitch, who had kindly rearranged his schedule to help a friend.
The ill-fated plane heading for New York had landed at noon at London Heathrow that day from Los Angeles, parking at Gate K-14 before pushing back for its flight at 6.04pm and taking off from runway 27R at 6.25pm. Just after 7pm, an air traffic controller at the Scottish Air Traffic Control Centre tried to make contact with the plane to no avail, before a loud noise was heard on its cockpit voice recorder.
Bunty Galloway told The Guardian she had been watching TV just like any other night when she heard a strange noise and opened her front door to see two young women fall in front of her house, with the body of a child already lying at the foot of her steps.
The damage caused by the explosion devastated a small Scottish town(Image: AFP/Getty Images)
The bomb had exploded at 7.03pm, when the plane was 31,000 ft above Lockerbie. Radar showed that eight minutes after the explosion, the plane’s wreckage had spread to one nautical mile, with a British Airways pilot flying from Glasgow to Carlisle contacting the Scottish authorities after seeing a huge fire on the ground.
Investigators later found signs of an explosion on one of the baggage containers from the forward hold. Scottish police and FBI agents would learn the bomb, containing 350 to 450 of Semtex, had been concealed in a Toshiba radio cassette player inside a brown Samsonite suitcase, which also contained various items of clothing purchased in Malta.
Records in Frankfurt suggested an unaccompanied bag had been routed from a flight from Malta to Frankfurt, where it had been loaded onto the feeder flight to London and onto the subsequent ill-fated flight to New York. After a painstaking investigation in 2001, Libyan intelligence officer Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was found guilty of 270 counts of murder in connection with the bombing and sentenced to life in prison. He was released on compassionate grounds in 2009 and died from prostrate cancer in 2011, always denying his involvement in the bombing.
In December 2020, the US Attorney General announced new charges against Abu Agila Mohammad Mas’ud Kheir Al-Marimi, a former Libyan intelligence operative, for his role in the bombing, with a trial set to take place in Washington in May.
Lockerbie: A Search for Truth premieres on Sky and NOW today
Getting lost on holiday can be a nightmare, but one travel expert has shared his top tip so that is doesn’t happen to you
This method will make getting lost impossible(Image: Alberto Menendez Cervero via Getty Images)
Ever found yourself hopelessly lost while on holiday? It can be a real dampener, especially if you’ve got plans. While stumbling upon hidden gems in a new city can be exciting, it’s not ideal when you’re racing against time to meet reservations.
This is why travel expert Neil Atkinson, the brains behind Luxury Group Stay, has revealed his number one trick for never losing your way – and it involves a bit of a throwback approach. Neil said: “Downloading an offline map of the area you’re travelling to is one of the most important travel hacks I always recommend. It’s completely free and can save you hours of stress, whether you’re exploring the Lake District or wandering through Barcelona.”
Having an offline map means even without data, you’re sorted. Just don’t forget to download the map while connected to the internet. Neil said: “I always tell people to do it before leaving home, or at least while still on hotel Wi-Fi.”
This tip will stop you getting lost(Image: electravk via Getty Images)
There are some drawbacks, although they’re small fry. Neil said: “You’ll only get driving directions when offline, not public transport routes, and you won’t see real-time traffic updates.”
The great news is offline maps are light on storage, so even for sprawling cities, you won’t need to fret over space, reports the Express.
Neil’s parting wisdom focuses on preparation: “Make sure to download a wider area than you think you’ll need. Better to have too much map than too little when you’re in the middle of nowhere!”.
To grab a map for offline use, just follow these steps:
Fire up your Google Maps app on your iPhone or Android
Hit your profile snap in the top right nook.
Choose “Offline maps” then “Select your own map”.
Tweak the blue square to blanket your intended spot.
There’s an oft-repeated Disneyland creation myth: Artist and animation art director Herb Ryman was given 48 hours to draw an early, heavily detailed and romanticized map of the theme park, which would be used to help sell the project to investors. Although that’s all true, Ryman’s work — one of the most famous and important Disneyland drawings — was far from the first map of Disneyland, as it is often colloquially referred to.
Ryman’s work was in fact an iteration of sorts, based upon years of master planning from Walt Disney and early collaborator Marvin Davis, a cinematic art director responsible for much of Disneyland’s early designs. Some never-before-seen work of Davis and other Disneyland designers will be unearthed in the new book “The Happiest Place On Earth,” from animation producer Don Hahn and theme park designer Christopher Merritt. Both Hahn and Merritt have over the years morphed into theme-park historians, and the book is being released July 15 to coincide with Disneyland’s 70th anniversary.
“Marvin Davis claimed that, as he sat there, probably in a room by himself at the studio with Walt standing over him poking him in the shoulder, he did 133 revisions of these maps to get to the Disneyland layout by 1955,” Merritt says. “A few of these maps have been shown before but a lot of these have not been seen before.”
The archives at Walt Disney Imagineering, the secretive division of the company responsible for theme-park experiences. Found in the archives were multiple maps from Marvin Davis that explore Disneyland’s roots.
(Walt Disney Co.)
The book will trace the development of Disneyland, starting in the early ’50s when Disney flirted with the idea of placing the park next to the studio in Burbank — concepts drawn by Harper Goff — to many of Davis’ gradual advancements of the theme-park form. Study them, and they reveal how many of Disneyland’s core ideas were in place by the early 1950s, although they morphed. Alice in Wonderland, for instance, was once envisioned as a walk-through attraction, to be placed across the way from an archery in Fantasyland.
Hahn makes the case that many of the early seeds for Disneyland were planted during a 1948 trip that Disney and animator Ward Kimball took to Chicago. There, the two attended the Chicago Railroad Fair, which had, among its attractions, Abraham Lincoln reenactments and a re-creation of a frontier town.
“His first memo he did when he got home from the Chicago Railroad Fair was all about trying to create these certain regions,” Hahn says. “If you look at the early Burbank parks, there was a western village, there was a stagecoach, there was a railroad station, there was a Tom Sawyer-ish island. A lot of those things came from the Railroad Fair.”
And there was a lot of early experimentation and many a discarded idea. One of Merritt’s favorite rejected concepts was a Tomorrowland exhibition dedicated to hunting for uranium. The attraction has been referenced by Disney and others over the years as a “lost” attraction, but “The Happiest Place on Earth” will feature some never-before-seen concept art from Imagineer Claude Coats.
“Uranium Hunt was an attraction strangely enough to be placed in Tomorrowland, although Claude designed it with Southwestern rock work,” Merritt says. “It was kind of outside rock maze, and the idea was they would hand you Geiger counters, and there was going to be real radioactive uranium embedded in the rock work that you would measure. In the end, they would give you a souvenir uranium to take home with you, which is just crazy-pants.”
Not all of the early Disneyland ideas are as outlandish. What follows are a few of the maps — and some early designs — that led to what would become Disneyland as we know it today.
Early sketches reveal an opera house, general store and more
A Harper Goff-drawn concept for a Disney theme park in Burbank. This is believed to have been drawn in 1951.
(Walt Disney Co.)
An early 1950s sketch layout of Disneyland, focusing on merchandising outlets.
(Walt Disney Co.)
Disney first considered a theme park across from its studios in Burbank, land that is today occupied by Walt Disney Animation Studios and the West Coast headquarters of ABC. The idea, in its early conceptions, included much of what would later make its way to Disneyland — a train, a steamboat and less detailed versions of Main Street and a Frontierland.
Of particular note here is the second photo, unearthed in “The Happiest Place on Earth” for the first time. The focus is on merchandising locations, but those who study the image will spy an opera house and a general store, believed to be the first time such concepts appear. There’s also a spaceport, a haunted house and a re-creation of London’s Tower Bridge. Shops are said to be themed to properties such as “Cinderella” and “Pinocchio.”
“It shows the holistic thinking, too, of not just the attractions but commerce,” Hahn says. “Where the stores would be, where the cafes would be, and kind of a guest-experience mentality. That was a real theme-park innovation, where you’re transported in time to Frontierland but the food and the costumes add up to Frontierland as well. You see the beginnings of that in a map like this.”
The beginnings of Frontierland and the Storybook Land Canal Boats
An early Disneyland map drawn by Marvin Davis. This map was likely drawn around 1953.
(Walt Disney Co.)
These early Disneyland schematics from Davis begin to capture Disneyland’s “hub” idea, that is, a central area that leads to and from its themed spaces. There’s a large theater space, believed to be designed in the hopes of Disneyland becoming a television production locale, and a significant plot dedicated to a river with surrounding attractions — the map calls for a space for otters, as well as a swamp area.
The Frontierland concept is still present, complete with a pony ranch and a stagecoach, as is a haunted house and a land themed to miniatures, a concept that would ultimately become the Storybook Land Canal Boats. Merritt notes that this design is location-agnostic, as Anaheim had not yet been decided upon for Disneyland.
Of particular note here is an introductory land like a Main Street, U.S.A., leading to a central hub. “These maps are revelatory when you look at them all in sequence,” Merritt says.
Davis’ early maps also highlight a residential street with large Victorian homes. The second image, in particular, mentions a town hall and a church. Hahn and Merritt believe this land was heavily influenced by the look and tone of “Lady and the Tramp.”
Main Street starts to materialize
An early Harper Goff design that influenced the look of Frontierland.
(Walt Disney Co.)
Some early Harper Goff designs for what would become Disneyland.
(Walt Disney Co.)
Early Disneyland concept art from Harper Goff
(Walt Disney Co.)
These, says Merritt, are a selection 1951 drawings from Harper Goff. The work is exploratory, in that it could have been envisioned for multiple parts of the park. While Goff’s impact on Frontierland is well documented — and Hahn notes, perhaps, an influence from Knott’s Berry Farm’s Ghost Town in these images — it’s also believed some of these designs were kicked around as a potential Main Street, U.S.A., concept.
Main Street, says Hahn, is often noted as being largely influenced by Disney’s time as a child in Marceline, Mo. While that isn’t really doubted these days among Disney’s fan base, Hahn says that theory wasn’t arrived upon immediately. He notes that some of Goff’s early concept work has a slight Victorian bent, which Goff drew from both “Lady and the Tramp” and his own childhood.
“It’s really the childhood of nobody,” Hahn says of Main Street. “It’s an idealized America. Goff grew up in Colorado, and a lot of these are his Victorian memories of his Colorado hometown. These are set designers who were bringing their movie chops to Disneyland.”
Welcome to the park’s destination: Anaheim
A pivotal early Disneyland map drawn by Marvin Davis.
(Walt Disney Co. )
Merritt and Hahn believe this third early schematic of Disneyland from Davis — the drawing is undated — is perhaps the first to envision Anaheim as the park’s destination. The image needs only to be rotated and one can see many of the pieces that would comprise the park — a Main Street, a central hub and, for the first time since Goff’s drawings of the Burbank park, a train that encircles the grounds.
Zoom in, and one will see there’s a large “emporium” to greet guests — and shoppers — on Main Street, U.S.A., as well as a castle-like moat to mark the entrance to Fantasyland. Still present are TV production spaces at the front of the park, and the map lists a host of attractions, including a horse-drawn carriage, train rides and boat rides.
Maps begin to show the Disneyland attractions we know today
A fall 1953 map of Disneyland from Marvin Davis.
(Walt Disney Co.)
A September 1953 map of Disneyland from Marvin Davis.
(Walt Disney Co.)
A September 1953 map of Disneyland from Marvin Davis.
(Walt Disney Co.)
These three Davis maps are from September 1953, made just days apart. The bottom drawing is a bit more simplified, as it was designed to be shown to TV networks and financiers. One can see a ride inspired by Disney’s “True-Life Adventures” on the right side of the park. This would ultimately become the Jungle Cruise and be flipped to the left side of the park.
All three maps, however, were instrumental in the final design of Disneyland, envisioning Anaheim as the ultimate destination. Of note in the middle image is a Recreation Land, home to a ball field, a mini-golf course and a bandstand. At this time, Disneyland was still envisioned as housing a circus, a concept that was explored in the actual park after opening but soon discarded. Yet Fantasyland, a Land of Tomorrow, Frontierland and what would become Adventureland are all present.
Fantasyland is home in these drawings to attractions themed to “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Peter Pan,” “Alice in Wonderland,” Pinocchio” (denoted as Pleasure Island) and “Fantasia.” Also present is what would become Autopia, signifying that Disneyland in late 1953 had many of its early attractions solidified. Still, many, such as a Mother Goose area, would pop-up and then disappear from the maps.
Says Merritt, “You’re going to want to get your magnifying glass to look at some of this stuff.”
