risk

SUMMER may be on its way out, but Brits are still heading abroad – so double check these rules before you go.

If you fail to check these then you might not get to go on holiday at all.

Expiry date

The very first thing to check before you head on holiday is the expiry date on your passport.

To be valid for travel British passports must have been issued within the last 10 years.

Figures have shown up to 100,000 holidaymakers a year face being turned away at airports if their passport is more than a decade old.

So, before you travel, check the start date, not the expiry.

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For example, if a passport has June 2016 start date but a November 2026 expiry, it has technically expired.

Not realising this soon enough could result in a costly mistake.

Tom Vaughan, travel insurance expert at Confused.com said: “Our research shows that 1 in 5 (21 per cent) Brits have had to renew their passport within just a few weeks of travelling, and less than half (43 per cent) know that EU travel requires a passport issued within the last 10 years.

“If you do get caught out, sorting an emergency passport can now cost up to £240, and that’s before you factor in time off work and a trip to a passport office.

“Unfortunately, travel insurance won’t cover the cost, or any flights or holidays you miss as a result, and children face even longer delays as same-day service isn’t available for their passports.

“So before you finish packing, check two things: the date your passport was issued, and how long is left on it. Our passport checker can help you avoid a last-minute panic and ensure your holiday starts the way it should, stress-free.”

Additional months

A number of countries also require British holidaymakers to have a few additional months left on their passport to travel.

Any Brit heading to Europe will also need at least three months of validity left on their passport after the day you plan to leave.

If there is less than three months left on your passport, you will be refused at the gate or even beforehand and will have to renew your document.

Some other countries require even longer with some wanting six months left on the passport – this includes UAE, Egypt, and Chile.

Spare pages

Some countries actually require blank pages in your passport for manual stamping.

If you’re heading to Europe, one page of blank space is fine.

Countries requiring at least two blank pages for entry include Austria, Italy, Germany, The Bahamas and other tourist hotspots.

Standard UK passports have 34 blank pages, but you can pay extra for one with 54 if you’re a regular traveller.

WASHINGTON — Approaching six months of war with Iran after predicting a six-week campaign, President Trump has few options before him to bring the conflict to a close. But some experts believe a new strategy emerging from his administration could avert a more consequential defeat.

The president has repeatedly flirted with broadening the assault, hoping yet another round of bombardment might force Iran to yield. Yet he has ultimately resisted, once again stepping back this month from options to expand strikes across Iran’s critical infrastructure and leadership. And he has refrained since the beginning of the war from ordering a ground operation that would expose U.S. troops to direct attack, faced with dwindling U.S. munitions stockpiles and an entrenched Iranian government willing to retaliate.

The result has been a U.S. campaign that has failed to achieve any of Trump’s stated war aims — of regime change in Tehran, the elimination of Iran’s ballistic missile and naval capabilities, and the end of its nuclear program — but has also avoided the costs of uncontrolled escalation, experts said.

In remarks Friday, Trump said the United States was still in the process of “defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated.”

“We have the blockade. No ships get through,” he said. “They still have missiles, but not a lot. They still have drones, but just a fraction of what they had. But their manufacturing is largely gone.

“We’re winning big with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he added. “Nobody has any idea how successful we are — they don’t want to write it. But they know. You know who knows how well we’re doing? Iran.”

In an interview published last week, Trump explained his decision not to proceed with expanded strikes, telling Axios, “we are low-keying it.”

“We are only semi-negotiating with them,” he said. “We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money.”

It is a shift from an instinctual posture to one of restraint uncharacteristic of a president who launched the war in February after consulting a mere handful of people, including Israel’s prime minister and fewer than a dozen of his closest aides.

The current approach — an economic choke hold on Iran — is being led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was not involved in Trump’s prewar deliberations.

“The options are escalating militarily, conceding Iranian victory through a phony negotiation, or continuing the economic pressure we have in place. The president’s problem is that he can’t simply choose — the ayatollah gets a vote,” said Elliott Abrams, a veteran diplomat who served under Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush, as well as under Trump in his first term.

“Trump has to choose now between sticking to the blockade and the risks it brings — including high oil prices and a loss in the midterm elections — or accepting defeat by Iran and the risks that brings,” he added, “to our friends and allies and to his own reputation.”

White House officials are betting the risks to Tehran, from soaring inflation and a shortage of goods, are greater than the political costs Trump will incur at the ballot box in November during the midterm elections, with oil prices holding stable under $100 a barrel since mid-July.

“We have the ability to accept costs because our resources are great. Iran does not, because theirs are few,” said Barry Posen, a political science professor at MIT.

And while restraint may not end the conflict on Trump’s preferred terms, it could prevent the kind of open-ended escalation that pulled the United States deeper into costly quagmires in Vietnam and Iraq, said Michael O’Hanlon, director of research in the Brookings Institution’s foreign policy program.

“He has resisted that temptation so far,” O’Hanlon said. “In this regard, he is showing greater humanity and greater thoughtfulness than either of those two American presidents during the Vietnam War. And he has avoided the mistakes of George W. Bush in launching big ground wars without adequate planning or preparation.

“It’s troubling, and far from victory,” O’Hanlon added, “but also far from quagmire or defeat.”

Trump’s reluctance to escalate has so far averted a high U.S. casualty count in the war. According to the Pentagon’s Defense Casualty Analysis System, 18 U.S. service members have been killed and hundreds have been wounded since the start of operations against Iran.

But his reticence to deploy additional U.S. troops within striking distance of Tehran — and the need to protect those already stationed across the region — has forced the administration to rely on long-range weapons systems that cost tens of millions of dollars and require complex international supply chains to produce, leading to critical shortages of drones, missiles and defense systems as the conflict continues longer than planned.

“Even limited operations, such as the air wars over Kosovo and Libya, dragged on much longer than policymakers expected, and the U.S. ran short of critical precision guided weapons,” said Stacie Pettyjohn, director of the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security. “What really differentiates the current situation with Iran is that Tehran can hold U.S. forces in the region at risk with its long-range missiles and drones.”

Karoline Leavitt, the president’s outgoing White House press secretary, said the United States has “more than enough firepower” to carry out any operation the president wishes to order.

But Defense officials acknowledged to The Times that a protracted campaign, and the risk of an escalation that prompts Iran to expand its targeting of U.S. assets and allies in the region, could further stretch weapons systems to dangerously low levels.

A “low-key” campaign will mitigate the threat of dwindling supplies and high casualties, without necessarily providing Trump with a path to victory, said Stephen Biddle, a professor of international and public policy at Columbia University.

“The issue with Iran isn’t how long the war has lasted, though it’s already lasted longer than the Trump administration apparently expected,” Biddle said. “The issue is how we’ll get out of it with our interests intact. The administration has no viable plan for doing that, and none is immediately obvious.”

President Donald Trump has given the U.S. Navy and the Pentagon 60 days to draw up a plan for installing steam-powered catapults and hydraulic elevators on the future Ford class aircraft carrier USS Doris Miller. On and off for nearly a decade now, Trump has talked about ordering the Navy to abandon the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) catapults and Advanced Weapons Elevators (AWE) that are currently at the core of the Ford class design. The EMALS and AWEs have struggled with reliability and maintenance issues, but reverting back to steam and hydraulics on future ships in the class would require a major redesign. Such a costly and time-consuming process would risk creating new delays in the delivery of new carriers, which are already running years behind schedule, and could put the future fleet into crisis.

The directive regarding the catapults and weapons elevators on the future Doris Miller, which is also known by the hull number CVN-81, is contained in a larger memo President Trump sent out yesterday titled “Rebuilding the United States Navy and America’s Shipbuilding Industrial Base.” The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the memo, which also orders various parts of the U.S. government to take new steps to boost U.S. maritime industrial capacity. This includes plans for the establishment of a fifth government-owned naval shipyard, sourcing new ships from foreign shipbuilders and otherwise increasing cooperation with them, improvements to the management of spare parts for submarines, and a broad overhaul of Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA).

The section on the catapults and weapons elevators is brief, but stands out as a particularly significant development. It reads, in full:

“Within 60 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of War, in consultation with the Secretary of the Navy, shall provide to the President, through the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA), a plan on the required measures to replace the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Weapons Elevators with steam and hydraulic systems for the construction of CVN-81, including timelines and resourcing requirements.”

The Wall Street Journal‘s report said that the expectation is that this redesign would carry over to all future Ford class carriers, but that the first three examples would retain their EMALSs and the AWEs. Currently, the USS Gerald R. Ford, hull number CVN-78, is the only ship in the class in operational service. The future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) is currently undergoing another round of sea trials ahead of its expected official delivery to the Navy later this year. The future USS Enterprise (CVN-80) is also now under construction, having been laid down in 2022.

Beyond Doris Miller, the Navy has assigned names to two more future Ford class carriers – USS William J. Clinton and USS George W. Bush – but has not yet placed formal orders for those ships. The service has stated plans to acquire at least 10 members of the Ford class, in total.

The Navy also has 10 older Nimitz class aircraft carriers, all of which are equipped with steam-powered catapults and hydraulic weapons elevators.

USS Nimitz (CVN-68) Flight Deck Operations

TWZ has reached out to the Navy for comment on yesterday’s memo from the White House.

As noted, Trump has railed against the EMALS and AWEs for years now, tracing back to his first term in office. In 2017, he publicly said he would order the Navy to abandon those features, but never followed through. During a visit to the Nimitz class carrier USS George Washington in Japan in October 2025, he again said that he would force the Navy to go back to using steam and hydraulics on future carriers.

“They had steam, which worked so beautifully, and it has for 50 years, right? So we’re gonna go back. Seriously, fellas, I want to make that change. I’m gonna do an executive order,” Trump said last October. “I’m not going to let them continue to do this thing. They’re trying to make it work, they’re trying so hard, and they have something that’s perfect. So we’re going to go back on that and the magnets.”

As we have written in the past:

“In principle, EMALS, together with the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG), is supposed to give Ford class carriers a significant boost in capability over their predecessors when it comes to the speed at which they can launch and recover aircraft. The software-controlled EMALS and AAG, the latter of which has also faced issues over the years, have lower reset times than the steam-powered systems found on Nimitz class carriers.”

Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS)

“The EMALS and AAG can also be more fine-tuned in terms of the forces they exert on aircraft during launch and recovery, expanding the range of types they can accommodate and adding additional margins of safety. This notably helps open the door for embarking smaller and more fragile types on Ford class carriers in the future. This flexibility could be particularly critical for supporting carrier-based drone operations down the line. Wear and tear on individual aircraft can also be reduced.”

“The electromagnetic AWEs are intended to further help improve the overall efficiency of flight operations on Ford by reducing the time it takes to get ordnance and other stores to where they need to go.”

Watch the Advanced Weapons Elevators on the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford

At the same time, as we have repeatedly pointed out, Trump’s criticisms are grounded in very real problems that have plagued the catapults and weapons elevators on the Ford over the years. TWZ has covered the issues with both of these systems, as well as other long-troubled aspects of the ship’s design, in detail. The Navy has been working to mitigate these problems, but has continued to face hurdles. Maintenance demands and heavy reliance on contractors to perform that work remain particular challenges.

“The reliability and maintainability of CVN 78’s EMALS and AAG continue to adversely affect sortie generation and flight operations, which remains the greatest risk to demonstrating operational effectiveness and suitability in IOT&E [initial operational test and evaluation],” the Pentagon’s Office of the Director of Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) stated in an annual report covering developments in the 2025 Fiscal Year (FY25), which was released in March. “Data collected during CVN 78’s FY25 pre-deployment workup cycle indicate that EMALS reliability remains consistent with developmental and operational test data collected in FY23 and FY24. Engineering upgrades to hardware and software have produced gradual improvements in cumulative reliability and availability. Reliance on off-ship technical support remains a challenge. NAVAIR is continuing development on improvements.”

When it comes to the AWEs, “the Ford class has yet to build and transfer ordnance to the flight deck at rates reflective of the Design Reference Mission. DOT&E expects the sustained SGR [Sortie Generation Rate] live demonstration to be the first operationally representative demonstration of high ordnance throughput,” the report, which has since been taken offline, also said. “Of note, the crew is still reliant on off-ship technical support for correction of AWE hardware and software failures.”

The video below shows flight deck operations aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford in March 2026 while the carrier was supporting Operation Epic Fury against Iran.

USS Gerald R Ford Continues Epic Fury On Iran • (MAR 2026)

The SGR live demonstration mentioned here was conducted in February of this year.

“While the Navy is still analyzing the data, preliminary reports from the Sortie Generation Rate test program show that the flight deck design in conjunction with EMALS and AAG have contributed to an increased sortie generation rate compared to that of a Nimitz class carrier,” the Navy subsequently declared. “As of today, these systems are operating as designed, and the Ford continues with scheduled mission tasking.”

“While operating in the Southern Command area of responsibility CVN 78 completed a successful four-day sustained Sortie Generation Rate demonstration in February,” according to a Modernized Selected Acquisition Report (MSAR) on the Ford class program that the Pentagon produced in April, but which was only released publicly more recently. “The event resulted in the collection of over 40,000 data points to support the modeling and simulation of the full 30-day Key Performance Parameter.”

“As of March 2026, 36,863 EMALS launches have been completed aboard CVN 78,” that same report also noted. “Logistics products are maturing and are being prioritized for high use components to support phased depot stand-up which commenced in FY 2022. Logistics contracts are in place with General
Atomics for EMALS sustainment support and interim spares.”

USS Ford Launches, Recovers Fighters With Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS)

In April, then-Secretary of the Navy John Phelan also confirmed that a major review of the Ford class program, centered on planning for the future USS William J. Clinton and the USS George W. Bush, was underway. Questions were raised at that time about whether major changes could be on the horizon, including the potential cancellation of planned orders for more carriers in the class or a transition to a new design.

“Trust me, we measure and monitor a lot of things in the Navy, including that – the airframes and how that works. So I think it’s a function of just understanding it, for example, is the sortie rate generation that much greater? And then what are the cost implications of this electric catapult, and did it really generate the savings?” Phelan told TWZ and others at a roundtable on the sidelines of the Navy League’s Sea Air Space 2026 exposition. “You know, the Navy would like to say we’ve saved $5 billion in terms of savings in number [sic] of men and maintenance. I just need to check that back up, and that’s what I mean by that.”

“I think, like anything, it’s both understanding the cost-benefit analysis of it, because we really want to make sure we’ve got a good handle on the costs,” he added. “I think one of the things we have to do a better job of in the Navy is kind of what I call total cost of ownership. So what does it really cost to sustain and maintain these things? I think we do a reasonable job at that, to be honest. But the infrastructure needs on these are also costs you have to understand going in.”

Trump fired Phelan unexpectedly just days after he made these and other remarks at Sea Air Space 2026. There have been reports that disagreements over separate plans for new Trump class battleships, specifically, as well as other more general friction within the Trump administration, factored into his sudden dismissal.

As mentioned, any plans now to eliminate the EMALS catapults and AWEs from the Ford class design, even just on future carriers like Doris Miller, would be a major undertaking. The core physical structure of the ship, as well as its power generation requirements and other key elements of the design, are heavily rooted in these features. All-new steam piping and the large piston systems, among other elements, would have to be installed in spaces not currently designed to accommodate them. The ship’s flight deck would have been reconfigured, as well.

As a result of the base design decisions, the nuclear reactor plant on the Ford class is also notably set up to generate less steam overall compared to the one on the Nimitz class, according to a past report from the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), an independent non-profit. All of this, in turn, raises additional questions about how much time and effort it would take to retrofit future Ford class carriers to use steam catapults, in particular.

General Atomics, the prime contractor behind the EMALS and the AAG, has unsurprisingly already come out against Trump’s new directive.

“The decision will have broader implications for carrier readiness, national security, and U.S. technological superiority, potentially creating opportunities for adversaries to close the capability gap,” the company said, according to The Wall Street Journal. “It also comes at a time when strengthening the U.S. supplier industrial base is a national priority, making workforce stability, production capacity, and the ability to sustain critical technologies more important than ever.”

It is worth noting here that China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) now has two ships with electromagnetic catapults, the Type 003 carrier Fujian and Type 076 amphibious assault ship Sichuan. The U.S. government previously approved the transfer of EMALS technology to India, which could make it way into the country’s future carrier INS Vishal. Other nations have also been considering EMALS-type catapults for future carriers and other naval vessels.

Huntington Ingalls Industries, which builds the Ford class carriers through its Newport News Shipbuilding division in Virginia, said it would “work closely with the Navy to implement any potential changes to ships under construction,” according to that outlet. At the same time, there are serious questions now about that yard’s ability to meet current timelines for delivering new carriers, which have already been delayed repeatedly.

Around the Yard at NNS: John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) Ship Turn Around

The Navy’s 2027 Fiscal Year budget proposal, released earlier this year, confirmed that the projected timeline for Doris Miller’s delivery had slipped from 2032 to 2034. “The primary schedule driver for CVN-81 is the lack of available shipyard construction space for large assemblies due to delays on CVN-80,” a Navy official told Military Times back in May.

The Navy originally expected to receive Enterprise in 2028, but that timeline has since slipped to 2031. The future USS John F. Kennedy was also originally scheduled to be delivered back in 2022. All of these delays have come along with continued cost growth, as well.

“In December 2025, the Secretary of the Navy notified Congress he was increasing the Cost Limitation Baseline for CVN 79 from $12.936 billion to $13.529 billion,” according to the aforementioned April MSAR report. “The Cost Limitation Baseline for CVN 80 and CVN 81 remain unchanged at $13.529 billion and $14.016 billion respectively.”

As mentioned, Trump’s memo yesterday also focused heavily on further steps to address now long-standing concerns about U.S. naval shipbuilding capacity across the board. America’s specific ability to produce new nuclear-powered surface warships and submarines has now become even more of a focal point in these discussions with the addition of the plans for the Trump class battleships. In May, the Navy confirmed the Trump class warships will have nuclear propulsion using the same type of reactors developed for the Ford class.

The Navy has not acquired a new nuclear-powered surface combatant in decades. Newport News is currently the only U.S. shipyard producing nuclear-powered surface vessels of any kind, and is already heavily strained by current demands, which also include production of new non-nuclear warships. There is only one other yard in the country that produces nuclear-powered vessels of any kind, and is focused on submarine production.

In a time of peace, without all the threats and operational demands the United States is currently facing, or if there was any kind of surplus carrier capacity, making fundamental changes to the Ford class carrier program might very well have been a logical decision. However, all of this also comes at a time when the Navy’s operational carriers are experiencing exceptional pressure. The Nimitz class carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been on a marathon deployment in the Middle East, has become something of a poster child for growing readiness concerns amid reports of severely flagging morale and mental health among the crew. The Navy is now moving to relieve Lincoln.

Still, this is a worrisome situation that has already been building for many years, due in large part to a succession of global crises, and has now been further exacerbated by the ongoing conflict with Iran. Even so, the Navy is trying to keep to its existing schedule for inactivating aging Nimitz class carriers, though the date for when the USS Nimitz is set to leave service has now been pushed back until next year. Retiring existing carriers will only create further strains if the arrival of new members of the Ford class continues to be pushed back.

With the various timelines the Ford class program is looking at now, whether the future Doris Miller or other forthcoming carriers ultimately make the switch back to steam-powered catapults and hydraulic weapons elevators very much remains to be seen. Trump’s current term will end in January 2029, at which point Doris Miller could easily still be in a relatively early stage of construction. Any incoming administration could revert back to the original plan for the ship’s configuration.

Congress could also step in sooner, including to block spending any funds on changing the Ford class design. There is already separate friction emerging between lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle and the White House over the Trump class battleship program, and concerns about how that could impact other naval shipbuilding priorities.

As it stands now, the Navy has roughly two months to at least devise a path forward for returning to steam-powered catapults and hydraulic weapons elevators on the future USS Doris Miller.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

All passengers travelling with Ryanair have been told to take action. If they fail to complete a simple task, they could end up having to pay an extra fee at the airport

Lots of us look forward to going away but, if you travel with Ryanair, there’s some vital information plane passengers have been alerted to. Travellers have been told they must take action or they could have to pay more money at the airport.

It’s no secret that holidays can be expensive, and they can be even more costly when extra fees are imposed; however, you can avoid being stung if you follow a simple travel tip. Advice has recently been shared to help Ryanair passengers, as there’s something they need to do before travelling to the airport to fly.

It’s not the only vital information to have been shared recently either. Previously, an update was issued about seat rules.

Digital boarding passes and travel documents have become second nature for most travellers, making paper copies largely a thing of the past. But, alongside hidden fees, paperless travel can be one of the most frequent causes of unnecessary expense and holiday headaches.

According to one expert, the most frustrating thing catching holidaymakers off guard isn’t related to digital documents at all, but rather turning up at the airport without having checked in online beforehand. Ryanair levies a £55/€55 airport check-in fee when this occurs.

They’ll print your boarding pass free of charge – the £55/€55 is reported to cover performing the check-in procedure at the airport counter itself. However, prices can occasionally differ depending on your travel route.

The Ryanair website states: “If you do not check in online up to 2 hours before your scheduled departure time, you may check in at the airport up to 40 minutes before departure, but you will be charged an airport check-in fee.

“We urge all passengers to check in online before arriving at the airport so these fees can be avoided.” To help people out generally, some other travel advice has also been shared.

Why paper matters

Mark Finley, Manager and printing expert at Choice Stationery Supplies, said: “Paperless works right up until it doesn’t. A dead battery at the gate, no signal, an app that won’t load – a printed backup costs pence and takes the whole problem off the table.”

A flat battery is an inconvenience. A stolen phone is a disaster. Mobile theft ranks amongst the most widespread crimes targeting foreign visitors, with tourists singled out in airports, on public transport and in bustling city centres.

Lose your phone abroad and you lose your boarding pass, booking confirmations, insurance details and tickets in one fell swoop. Printed copies are the one safeguard that can’t be remotely pickpocketed.

Kept alongside your passport, they’ll see you through check-in, car hire and your hotel while you arrange a replacement handset.

More travel tips

Even when a digital boarding pass is accepted, there are other situations where printed documentation may be required. “Car hire desks, border officials, and some airports still want paper,” explained Mark.

“Finding out in the queue is the most expensive way to learn it.”

Mark advises printing out a number of documents before you head off on your travels. These include:

• Car hire voucher
• Visa or ETA confirmation, if required
• Proof of accommodation
• Proof of return or onward travel
• Travel insurance details
• Prescription letter for any medication you are carrying

You may never need to use them but, if you keep these documents together with your passport, you’ll always have a backup should your phone break down or get lost.

BEACHGOERS are being warned to stop trying to visit closed UK beach.

Local authorities have said that a number of Brits have been putting themselves in danger by ignoring signs at a beach that has been closed for two months.

Selwicks Bay near Flamborough Lighthouse in Yorkshire has been closed for several weeks now after an inspection revealed that steps down the cliff side were damaged.

Since the closure, there has been a barrier at the entrance of the steps.

Now the local council is urging visitors to not climb over the barrier or ignore signs near the beach.

Councillor Nick Coultish, the council’s cabinet member for culture, leisure, tourism and planning, said in a statement: “We don’t want to restrict access to this beach, but these steps are in a dangerous condition, so we had no choice but to close them.

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“Please don’t ignore the barrier and closure signs, because there is a real risk that someone could get seriously hurt if the steps give way.

“This won’t be a quick repair, unfortunately. The damage means we may have to rebuild them.

“We look forward to reopening these steps when they are made safe, but until then please don’t use them.”

The steps are the only way to reach the beach, so until new steps are built the beach will remain closed.

The spot is also popular with paddle boarders and the council is concerned that they could become stranded or have to turn back as there isn’t a way to get up from the beach.

Engineers are currently planning a solution for the beach, but the council has said this may take some time.

A MAJOR budget airline is facing travel chaos as staff promise to walk out THIS weekend.

EasyJet cabin crew in France are vowing to walk out due to rota arrangements and working conditions.

A strike notice was issued for August 7 to September 2 which means staff can walk out at any time during that period.

However, 48 hours notice must be given.

And now the strike dates have been announced for August 15 and 16.

Airports facing disruptions include Lyon, Nice, Paris Orly, Bordeaux and Paris Charles de Gaulle.

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A spokesperson for ⁠easyJet told Sun Travel: “We are extremely disappointed that unions representing our France-based cabin crew have announced plans for industrial action on 15 and 16 August, outside any formal negotiation process and despite our offer of adjustments to tackle their concerns.

“Given we have planned negotiations in September, we call on the unions to call off this opportunistic action at this important time of the year for our customers.

“We are sorry for the impact the unnecessary action will have on our customers.

“We will do all we can to minimise disruption. Customers whose flights are affected will be informed directly and will be offered options including a free transfer or a refund.

“We advise customers travelling to or from France on 15 and 16 August to check the status of their flight via our Flight Tracker.”

In a statement from the group of unions said: “Any flight cancellations or disruptions resulting ​from these days of action will be solely attributable to easyJet, which has chosen not to give a ​serious response to the repeated warnings from ​trade unions over the past months.”

A previous strike notice was suspended due to wildfires in the Gironde region.

The unions said at the time: “For nearly a year, the unions have been warning easyJet management about the continuous deterioration of cabin crew working conditions: chronic schedule instability, last-minute changes, imposed trip patterns, particularly burdensome rotations, and a total lack of protective measures.”

A salvage operation is under way to stabilise the stricken tanker behind a major oil spill off Oman, the risk management company coordinating the effort has said.

The announcement by Ambrey on Thursday came a day after Oman’s environmental authority confirmed that oil from the Caroline Bezengi had reached beaches along the sultanate’s central coast.

The tanker, a suspected member of Russia’s shadow fleet used to transport sanctioned Russian oil, has been leaking crude into waters near the Hallaniyat archipelago since June, when the ship’s crew reported an unidentified explosion.

Ambrey said it was working with Omani authorities and that its services had been engaged as part of a “significant international response” that included salvage vessels, aircraft and specialist personnel.

Apart from Oman and an unnamed “leading international oil spill response company”, Ambrey did not elaborate on which other countries or firms were involved in the effort to salvage the vessel, which has flown the flags of states including Cameroon, Palau and Liberia.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) – the United Nations maritime agency – said on Thursday that it was “closely monitoring” the situation and would “continue to support ongoing efforts”, without providing further details.

The International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, a pair of intergovernmental organisations established to provide compensation for oil pollution, said it would not be involved in the cleanup operation after determining that the incident likely resulted from an act of war.

Ambrey, based in Hereford in the United Kingdom, said it expected salvage vessels to reach the Caroline Bezengi soon and that specialist personnel had already boarded the vessel to begin stabilising its cargo.

Ed Wollaston, director of global response at Ambrey, said the “extremely challenging situation” had been complicated by adverse weather from the annual Khareef monsoon.

“However, we have deployed the leading experts in each aspect of the response and have mobilised the appropriate supporting equipment, aircraft and vessels,” Wollaston said in a statement.

“We are working around the clock to mitigate the environmental impact of the situation.”

The oil spill has expanded dramatically in size over the past week, according to analyses of satellite imagery, raising fears for coastlines and ecosystems in the region, including a marine reserve established last year off the Hallaniyat archipelago.

Environmental NGO Greenpeace said on Thursday that, based on satellite imagery, the spill had grown from 45 square kilometres (17sq miles) in late July to about 1,300sq kilometres (502sq miles) as of Wednesday.

Omani authorities as recently as Monday estimated the size of the spill at approximately 400sq kilometres (154sq miles).

Hanen Keskes, Greenpeace’s head of campaigns for the MENA region, said the circumstances of the spill made it “especially challenging” to respond to.

“Given the scale of this – a damaged tanker in a remote location, during monsoon season, with no clear owner or verified insurer to compel a rapid response – this is a case where international assistance should be mobilised urgently,” Keskes told Al Jazeera.

“Capabilities like specialised salvage equipment and expertise can exceed what any one country has on hand, and every day of delay allows more oil to disperse.”

Najmedin Meshkati, an expert in oil spills and a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Southern California, said that authorities should have moved faster to contain the spill.

“That two-month interval was the response window, and it closed. In spill response, source control on day three is worth many multiples of source control on day 60,” Meshkati told Al Jazeera.

Meshkati acknowledged, however, that Omani authorities had been dealt a difficult situation.

“It was handed an orphaned wreck with no responsive owner, no verifiable insurer, no functioning flag state, and a compensation regime containing a war exclusion that may void it entirely,” Meshkati said.

“No mid-sized maritime administration on earth is resourced for that. But that is precisely the argument for escalating harder and earlier.”

Damilola S Olawuyi, a professor of energy and environmental law at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, said the spill highlighted the need for stronger international mechanisms to hold polluters accountable.

“The obligation of the entity responsible for pollution to pay for the cost of cleanup and remediation, ie, the polluter pays principle, has for long been a bedrock of international law,” Olawuyi told Al Jazeera.

“However, in an era of increasing geopolitical realignments, identifying the responsible polluter has become complex, therefore complicating effective risk reduction, response and remediation measures,” he said.

Gen. Michael Guetlein, the top U.S. military officer in charge of the Golden Dome missile defense shield, says he is confident that the initiative will be able to deliver the desired capabilities within its current stated budget of $185 billion. Operational elements of the huge new architecture are currently scheduled to start coming online in mid-2028. This is despite independent estimates that the required ‘system of systems’ could cost exponentially more to develop, field, and maintain. At the same time, Guetlein has now warned that work on Golden Dome could abruptly end, at least for a time, regardless of its total price tag, if a huge budgetary hurdle is not overcome.

Guetlein, whose current title is Director of Golden Dome and is presently assigned to the U.S. Space Force, shared new details about the initiative during a talk today at the annual Space & Missile Defense (SMD) Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, at which TWZ is in attendance.

“What is the bill to the nation? How much national treasure are we asking the American public to commit to the defense of the homeland?” Guetlein said in his introductory remarks. “I’m on record, and I’m still up here saying the exact same number: $185 billion. We started at 175 billion dollars, and we added 10 more billion [dollars] worth of accelerating space capabilities that we thought the nation needed, that were not part of our original architecture.”

“That is a lot of money. It’s one of the biggest systems that we’ve ever put together as a nation. We [have] got to keep it affordable,” Guetlein continued. “There’s two other cost estimates out there that are exceptionally larger, but I’m going to tell you those cost estimates are not estimating what we are building.”

The general did not specify what cost estimates he was referring to, but the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has put out two top-level figures since the initiative was first unveiled in 2025. CBO’s first estimate in May 2025 said the complete architecture could cost up to $542 billion to develop, deploy, and then operate over a period spanning two decades. The office put out a second estimate in May of this year that said the full price tag might actually be nearly $1.2 trillion over the same 20-year timespan. At that time, CBO also explicitly said its analysis had been hampered by a lack of publicly available information about exactly what the so-called “objective architecture” for Golden Dome actually entails.

There are other independent estimates of Golden Dome’s full cost that are even higher than CBO’s May 2026 projection.

“We’re building something completely differently, and that architecture is coming together, and is being proven every single day,” Guetlein stressed today. “We have radars on contract. We have launchers on contract. We have space-based interceptors on contract. Hypersonic ballistic tracking system on contract. Space data network is on contract. Our construction contracts have been let [sic], and we are moving out with haste to get after what the President [Donald Trump] asked us to do in the summer of 2028.”

Space-based interceptors are notably vital to the Golden Dome plan as it has been described publicly to date. They are also central to CBO’s $1.2 trillion cost estimate, which projected that it would be necessary to have 7,800 of them in orbit at any one time for the architecture to work as intended.

The Northrop Grumman video below includes a computer-generated clip depicting a space-based interceptor engaging a target outside the Earth’s atmosphere, starting at 0:13 in the runtime.

Northrop Grumman Third Quarter 2025 Highlights

“We have our first operational site. We are digging dirt around the homeland, getting ready for the capabilities that the President asked us to deliver in the summer of 2028,” Guetlein also said, but did not elaborate on where that work was being done or its exact purpose.

“We’ve had two tests. We can’t talk about those tests, but those tests were phenomenally successful, and they demonstrated that the capabilities that we are putting together, both command and control, our sensor network, and our effectors, are going to be effective against the threats as they are currently designed,” the Golden Dome director added.

“We had committed to the President last year that we would do a major test every single year. So in January this year, I gave a challenge to the Missile Defense Agency of what test I needed to happen in the summer of 2026, and we executed that test,” Guetlein did note later on in the talk. “It was the most complex test with the most threats in the air in the history of WSMR [the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico]. MDA pulled that off and executed that test in six months, and met every single test objective that I gave them.”

“So the MDA team, plus the WSMR team, plus SMDC [the U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command], plus PAE Fires [the Army’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Fires], plus Fort Bliss [in Texas], plus a whole host of other agencies, all came together in less than six months, starting from scratch, and delivered what I will argue is the most complex integrated missile defense test that we have pulled off as a nation,” he continued. “But that test is a fraction of what we got to do to deliver what they’ve asked us to do in [20]28. So the test in [20]27 will be even more complex.”

Despite all of this apparent progress and significant authority to keep pushing ahead, Guetlein warned today that Golden Dome is facing a potentially insurmountable budget impasse. This has to do with how the initiative has been paid for so far, with core funding coming from outside normal defense spending streams via a process called reconciliation.

“When the President submitted his President’s Budget over to the Hill for FY27 [Fiscal Year 2027], I was not in the top line. I’m in what they call mandatory funding, which is another reconciliation-type funding bill,” Guetlein explained. So, yes, we have a CR [continuing resolution], and we’re not going to shut down the federal government, but a CR doesn’t help me under Golden Dome because I don’t have a top line to fall back to to get that percentage of the continuing resolution.”

Continuing resolutions are short-term spending bills Congress passes to keep the government running in the absence of the approval of a full annual budget.

The defense budget for the 2027 Fiscal Year that the Trump administration submitted earlier this year was already historically large, in part because of expected reconciliation funding. The $1.5 trillion “topline” was broken down into a base budget of $1.1 trillion and then “$350 billion in additional mandatory resources through reconciliation.”

“So we’ve got to figure out, as a nation, a different way of funding Golden Dome, at least for [20]27. Right now, that’s under reconciliation,” Guetlein added. “I will tell you that if they don’t figure it out, there is no Golden Dome because there is no funding.”

Guetlein said today that $22.5 billion has been appropriated for Golden Dome so far, and that 95 percent of that money is already committed to specific work.

“I do believe, as a nation, we’re going to figure this out just because the sense of urgency is so great, but it is a challenging budget environment,” he continued.

As an aside, the Senate, which is currently controlled by President Trump’s Republican Party, just passed its version of the new continuing resolution last week. It notably omitted certain defense spending provisions the White House had sought, including $1 billion for work on the Trump class battleship program, another top priority for the administration. That bill still needs to be reconciled with a separate temporary spending bill making its way through the Republican-controlled House of Representatives before it can be sent to President Trump’s desk to be signed into law (or vetoed).

On top of all this, there has been some bipartisan pushback to further use of the reconciliation process and related mechanisms to boost defense spending outside of the U.S. military’s base budget.

“I think it’s safe to conclude there will not be another reconciliation bill,” Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said during a hearing on the U.S. Air Force’s proposed 2027 Fiscal Year budget back in June.

It is also worth noting here that a significant delay in additional funding could have a cascading impact on Golden Dome and its aggressive schedule. The Pentagon could also seek to redirect funds from other parts of its budget, but this could then have similar effects on other efforts. Guetlein did tell reporters after his talk at the SMD Symposium that the Pentagon is looking at contingency options to keep Golden Dome running in the absence of direct funding, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine.

“Several of the space capabilities that we are investing in are also being invested in by the Space Force,” he said, per Air & Space Forces Magazine‘s report. “So, if Golden Dome is not able to continue to invest in those type of capabilities, then the Space Force could decide at that time to continue the investments.”

“Because we have diversified execution of a lot of these capabilities, and a lot of these capabilities are already requested by combatant commands, there are some alternatives that we can pursue. We have not made any decisions on any pathway,” he also noted.

Still, this all comes a the U.S. military is currently in the midst of a host of other major modernization programs, many of which are also deemed critical to national security. This is especially true of costly and expansive programs now underway to update all three legs of America’s nuclear deterrent triad, as well as the command and control architectures that underpin them.

Based on Guetlein’s comments today, Golden Dome now looks to be approaching its first major watershed moment, with this budgetary dilemma set to have significant impacts on how the initiative continues to progress.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

COPS are warning beachgoers not to dig holes “deeper than the knees” due to the risk of serious injury or even death.

Police have said that while the activity might be good fun, families should be wary of digging too deep and trapping people or pets in the sand.

In a statement on Monday, cops said: “Digging on the beach is part of the fun, but large, deep holes in soft sand can be incredibly dangerous.

“A hole can collapse without warning, trapping anyone inside under heavy sand in seconds.”

They added that even “fit and healthy adults” can get buried and struggle to escape, as they advised the public to “keep holes shallow”.

The update continued: “Deep holes also pose a serious trip hazard for children, beachgoers, and emergency services responding to incidents.

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“What takes minutes to dig can take seconds to turn tragic.”

Filling in holes before leaving is essential for ensuring the beach stays safe, they added.

It follows an incident at Skegness in Lincolnshire on Saturday, where a large hole ranging approximately three to four feet wide and 12 to 15 feet deep was discovered.

HM Coastguard Skegness said at the time: “Whoever dug this hole was incredibly lucky that it didn’t collapse in on them.

“Sand is surprisingly heavy and can give way without warning, especially in deep holes.”

It added: “A collapse can trap someone beneath the sand and may lead to serious injury or even death.

“Deep holes can also be a hazard to other beach users who may not see them.”

It is not the first time holidaymakers in Lincolnshire have caused mischief on the beach.

Last year, a team of three coastguards had to fill in a hole on Sandilands Beach that was over two metres deep.

Elsewhere in Cleethorpes, sunseekers at the popular seaside town were warned in April not to dig holes in the wet sand, due to the “avalanche effect”.

Coastguards deputy station manager Shaun Lee said the sand can keep “collapsing” and end up burying people.

“We don’t want to be the fun police – just be aware of what you are doing if you are digging holes,” he said.

Top executives of California’s two biggest utilities warned they would take action to protect their shareholders if Sacramento lawmakers fail to pass legislation limiting their companies’ liabilities for wildfires sparked by their equipment.

“If the legislature does not act, or if they act and don’t actually solve the problem, then we’re going to have to take action,” said Patti Poppe, chief executive of Pacific Gas & Electric, on a July 23 call with Wall Street analysts.

Poppe did not specify what her company would do, but made it clear any action would protect shareholders’ money. Previously, she told Wall Street analysts that if lawmakers failed to pass legislation to protect the utilities, PG&E would use its cash to buy back the company’s shares, according to a report by the bank Jeffries.

That could raise the company’s stock price and benefit shareholders, while reducing money available for the utility’s California programs.

The comments from Poppe and Pedro Pizarro, chief executive of Edison International, came just before the state Legislature returned from summer break Monday to begin the last four weeks of its session.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators have been working behind closed doors to address the state’s escalating cost of wildfires, including those caused by the utilities, The Times reported last month. The big electric companies have told their investors they are talking to Newsom and lawmakers about a bill package that would protect shareholders from paying for utility-sparked fires.

On Tuesday, government fire officials released their investigation into last year’s devastating Eaton fire, blaming Edison’s century-old transmission line, which the utility kept in place even though it had not carried power since 1971.

Last week, Edison’s Pizarro echoed some of Poppe’s statements. He told Wall Street analysts on a conference call that he too was prepared to make financial changes if the legislature does not pass a comprehensive bill that cuts the utilities’ financial wildfire risk before the legislative session ends Aug. 31.

Any legislation that passes without a protective framework for utilities, Pizarro said, would “influence how we prioritize and deploy future capital.”

Pizarro declined analysts’ requests to say where the company would cut back, other than saying it would continue spending aimed at keeping its grid safe and reliable.

“We’re going to evaluate the totality of the package that comes to us and figure out our response that goes along with it,” Pizarro said.

Pizarro also told analysts that without legislation supporting the utilities, Edison’s credit rating could be downgraded. If that happens, he said, it could raise bills for electric customers since the utility may have to pay a higher interest rate for new borrowings.

“That could be a significant cost impact through the cost of debt that gets passed through to SCE customers if we don’t have a framework in the next four weeks that is credit supportive for our utility,” Pizarro told the analysts.

Newsom and lawmakers are drawing up legislation based on recommendations in an April study that the governor ordered last year.

The final report didn’t focus on utilities’ responsibility for sparking at least seven of the 20 most destructive wildfires in state history. It suggested ways to reduce the cost of wildfire liabilities, including by capping fees of attorneys representing victims and reducing payments to survivors for non-economic damages like pain and suffering.

The report also suggested that utilities should no longer reimburse property insurers for damages of fires sparked by electrical equipment. Insurers say this would increase premiums for homeowners.

Edison is now facing thousands of lawsuits from the victims of the Eaton fire, which roared through Altadena, destroying more than 9,000 homes and other structures and killing 19 people. The lawsuits claim it was negligent for the fire, which Edison denies.

The utility created a program to pay for victims’ damages if they agree to give up their right to sue.

Edison has so far paid more than $1 billion to victims. Experts say the fire’s costs could exceed the $21-billion state wildfire fund that Newsom and lawmakers created in 2019 to protect Edison, PG&E and San Diego Gas & Electric.

If that happens, Edison customers must pay for the rest under legislation that Newsom and lawmakers introduced in the final days of last year’s legislative session.

Because of utility protections in legislation that Newsom and lawmakers passed in 2019 and last year, Edison has said it expects its shareholders to pay little for the Eaton fire. The utility says it believes it will be reimbursed for its damage payments to victims by the state wildfire fund and through customer bills, according to the company’s financial disclosures.

A coalition of wildfire survivors, consumer advocates and other groups wrote a letter to Newsom last month, asking him for legislation that keeps utilities accountable for the fires they cause.

The coalition pointed out that despite billions of dollars in damages from the Eaton fire, Edison’s profits soared last year by more than 200% — from $1.3 billion in 2024 to $4.5 billion.

The company’s board also rewarded Edison executives with higher salaries and bonuses. Pizarro received $16.6 million in cash, stock and other compensation, up 20% from 2024.

“For-profit companies that repeatedly cause catastrophic harm must be held accountable, not protected and enriched,” wrote Joy Chen, executive director of Every Fire Survivors Network, who is leading the coalition, in the letter to Newsom.

The letter warned that without reform of current state laws protecting utilities, disasters like the Eaton fire could happen again.

“Altadena is not the first community to endure this cycle, and it will not be the last,” the letter said.

AS the drought continues across Europe, low water levels in Europe are now threatening river cruise holidays.

The River Rhine and the Danube River have started to dry up with passengers being re-routed at the last minute after two ships ran aground.

On the morning of June 29, the ship called Viking Einar ran aground on the Rhine River at Cologne in Germany.

Days later, the Viking Ullur ‘experienced a grounding incident on the Danube River‘ in Bulgaria with 186 passengers being evacuated.

It came ‘into contact with a sandbank during a period of exceptionally low water levels‘, Viking said in a statement.

With no rain on the horizon, river cruise companies are having to take action with some having to change sailings completely.

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One woman who booked with Riviera Travel wrote on Facebook: “We have just received an email to tell us that our Rhine and Switzerland cruise is being re-routed and will not be travelling to Switzerland but instead north to Netherlands and Belgium.”

She added that she was given the option to change the itinerary or “cancel with full refund and have been offered compensation”.

Riviera Travel, issued a statement about potential alterations on its website.

It explained that “individual sailings may continue to develop right up until departure and, occasionally, during the cruise itself.”

Passengers who have booked after August 5 are being contacted up to two weeks before departure with updates and between 48 hours and 24 hours before departure to “explain the latest position, any expected changes and the options available.”

Talking to The Independent, Riviera Travel said that cancelling a cruise is always a last resort.

In another case, one woman heading on a river cruise with TUI shared her new itinerary on a Facebook page.

Instead of sailing from Basel, through Germany to Amsterdam, the new suggested route starts in Zaandam through to Rotterdam, Antwerp, Middelburg, Dorecht and Amsterdam.

In the email, TUI also offered a 15 per cent refund of the holiday cost with £150 holiday vouchers per person on the new sailing.

Other options were to rebook another river cruise with a refund in cost if the new sailing is cheaper, or if it’s more expensive, an incentive of up to 10 per cent of the value of an existing holiday.

Or there was an option to cancel the booking with a full refund.

On TUI’s website, it says “Most sailings go ahead without any disruptions, but water levels on the rivers can go up or down depending on the weather.”

It continued: “If your cruise is affected, we’ll make every effort to complete your itinerary. To do this there may be changes to berth locations, modifying shore experiences or completing some sections of the itinerary by coach.”

Emerald Cruises confirmed that reduced water levels are affecting sections of the upper Danube between both Vienna and Budapest, and Regensburg and Passau near Pfelling.

On its website it has said that it may make “operational adjustments” with passengers possibly being transferred to a “sister ship” as well as embarkation and disembarkation being amended.

There could also be overnight stays in hotels.

AmaWaterways said: “Due to unusually low water levels on sections of the Rhine and Danube rivers, operational adjustments to select sailings have been deemed necessary.”

It continued to add that “modifications may include changes to ports, embarkation or disembarkation locations, motorcoach transfers, ship scheduling or other itinerary elements”.

Breast cancer is a leading cause of death in women under 50 in the UK.

About one in seven women develop breast cancer in their lifetime, yet only 5-10% of cases are linked to inherited genes.

Most cases – 96% – are in women over 40, while 25% are in women over 75.

Men can get breast cancer too, with about 420 new cases every year in the UK.

In England, guidance from Nice recommends GPs ask about family history if a woman is worried that she might have a higher risk of breast cancer, and sometimes if they are over 35 and using an oral contraceptive pill or considering taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

Hormones have been linked to a slightly increased risk of breast cancer, although larger risk factors include alcohol intake and obesity.

The study, by a team from Cambridge University and the Institute of Cancer Research, looks at how to predict breast cancer risk in younger women.

They used a risk calculator called Boadicea that combines factors such as family history, lifestyle, reproductive history and genetic information to give a risk score.

If all women under 50 were to have this done, they estimate about a quarter (26.5%) would be categorised as at above-average risk and referred for further assessment.

This would include a third of women under 50 (34.8%) who develop breast cancer within 10 years.

By comparison, the current Nice criteria would result in 1.4% of women under 50 being referred for further assessment, which would include just 4.4% of those women who develop breast cancer.

A main reason for the disparity, the researchers say, is because three-quarters of women (73%) under 50 who develop breast cancer within a decade have no family history of breast cancer – the key criterion in the Nice guidelines.

Maybe there is something in the fog. Matthew Rhys landed two Emmy nominations in different categories for darkly comedic and darkly chilling turns this TV season.

Rhys is nominated for lead actor in a comedy series for his deft performance as Tom Loftis, a single dad and the mayor of a cursed New England island who is trying to balance the town’s supernatural threats with his efforts to boost tourism, in Apple’s TV’s breakout horror-comedy series “Widow’s Bay.” The word-of-mouth buzz around the series, which premiered in April, intensified each week leading up to its finale last month and prompted chatter around its prospects as a major Emmys contender. The series arrived late in the season, so only its first seven episodes qualify for the 2026 awards cycle, but that was enough for Rhys to nab a nod.

It wasn’t the only performance from Rhys that voters boosted. He is also nominated for lead actor in a limited or anthology series for his role as the sociopath Nile Jarvis, a famed and formidable real estate developer who once was the prime suspect in the killing of his wife, in Netflix’s “The Beast in Me.” Nile finds himself in a cat-and-mouse dynamic with his new neighbor (Claire Danes), an author in search of her next book subject who is suspicious of his innocence.

Prior to this year’s nominations, Rhys received five Emmy nominations over his career, including for his lead roles in “The Americans” and “Perry Mason,” as well as a guest actor nod in “Girls.” He won in 2018 for his role as KGB spy Philip Jennings in “The Americans.”

The Times spoke with Rhys about his nomination; these are edited excerpts.

Matthew Rhys as Mayor Tom Loftis in Apple TV’s “Widow’s Bay.”

(Apple)

Congratulations on your exciting morning — it’s a big day in the Rhys-Russell household [Keri Russell, Rhys’ partner, is nominated for lead actress in a drama for her role in “The Diplomat”]. Let’s start with the most important question: What’s in the fog, Matthew?

[laughs] I love how it took me a moment. I was like, “Wait, what?” Oh, yes, the fog! What’s in the fog is an incredible Season 2.

Place me in the moment when you got the news.

I was in Brooklyn Bridge Marina at the time. I just got off a boat, and I thought, “Oh, God, it’s 11:40.” So I thought quite possibly [they] got to our categories. I checked my phone and there were the many texts. That was the exciting moment because if you haven’t been nominated, there’s no text.

Did one text stand out from the others?

The real pinch-me moment — this is going to sound like a real name drop — but it really got me emotional because I thought, if I’d have told my 18-year-old self that Gary Oldman would text me to congratulate me, I wouldn’t have believed it. That’s when it got me in an emotional way because he’s such a true hero.

Let’s start with “Widow’s Bay,” which recently wrapped its first season. There’s something so thrilling about how it broke through the way that it did. What has struck you about how viewers responded to this horror comedy?

There was a great degree of nervousness about how this would land, whether indeed it would land at all, and the fact that it has, and kind of the depth and the complex nature that’s landed or resonated with people in different ways, is what I’ve loved. Some people go, “Oh my God, it’s so funny”; some people say, “Oh my God, it’s terrifying” — some people say both. And some people pick up on the weirdest things, and then some people pick up on the most obvious, great things. But it’s the length and breadth and the variety of its resonances that has really made me very happy, and really made me doff my cap to [creator] Katie Dippold, for what she did.

What should networks and studios take away from the success of “Widow’s Bay” if they are really paying attention?

Take the risk. And challenge audiences. Everyone’s more than ready for it and thirsty for it in a real way. I really hope this does something in the Hollywood psyche, where they go, “Let’s put away the remakes and let’s just get after new challenging, original material.”

What guidance did you get from Katie about who Tom was and how to play him?

She’s dizzyingly collaborative, so she said, “Tom is yours.” It was more me going, “But what about this for Tom?” She would help, but she really said, “Tom is yours to create now. Everything I’ve done is on the page.” And it was. That’s the beauty of her writing. If you’re true to it, and you don’t get in the way of it, it sings.

The way Tom reacts to situations and people is such a master class in facial expressions. Did you recognize that would be your tool for your performance early on?

We had a kind of sliding scale — Hiro [Murai, executive producer and director], myself and Katie — because it was a departure for me. I’d go, “I don’t know where this lives or where reality lives.” And as much as anyone can say, “Play for real” — playing it for real can mean many things. It can mean a very minimal reaction, and it can mean a great reaction, and so there were times when I was like, “I’m gonna hit the sliding scale, and you let me know where it should be landing, or where, in your opinion, it’s landing in a real way.” Sometimes they were like, “Maybe a little less,” and then they were like “Maybe a little more.” That element of collaboration was wonderful too.

The moment on the boat is a GIF I send often. The jolt.

It’s funny, we have a great and incredible stunt coordinator Paul [Marini]. He said, “You have to lead where the momentum of the energy would be; it’d be your hips. So let your hips lead, and then let your body follow.” And I was like, “Oh, that’s smart.” Then if you do that, then it has a degree of comic effect to it. But my pelvis hasn’t quite recovered.

Matthew Rhys as Nile Jarvis opposite Claire Danes as Aggie Wiggs in Netflix’s “The Beast in Me.”

(Netflix)

Sort of like your dance moment in “The Beast in Me” — lead with the hips. This is your thing, Matthew.

Anytime, in the stage direction, it says “dances,” I’m like [mimics vomit sound]. That strikes ice in my veins because I’m always like, “Oh my God.”

That’s your horror comedy.

That is my true horror comedy because my dancing can be horrific and comical when it is to be neither.

Let’s talk about “The Beast in Me.” Nile Jarvis was also quite the departure from you. What was your entry point to understanding him and figuring out how chilling to make him?

It was a lot of YouTube watching, where you just type in “psychopaths” and stuff comes up. I read Jon Ronson’s “The Psychopath Test” and “The Journalist and the Murderer” [by Janet Malcolm]. The writing was so strong in “The Beast in Me,” so much of Nile was preemptively done for me. As [director] Antonio Campos said, “The trick might be not to do too much because enough has been said.” Everyone has this predisposed idea of who he is and, therefore, the idea we came up with was to do not as little as possible, but to be minimal with it because he’s aware of what everyone thinks of him and there’s a degree of enjoyment and relishing in that.

Have you been able to sensibly eat a roast chicken since?

No, not sensibly. It’s become Pavlovian for me now. When I eat roast chicken, I devour it in a slightly psychotic way. I love that scene. It’s an astute piece of writing to say so much about someone without words.

What would you be best suited to achieve: rebranding the town of Widow’s Bay as a tourist destination or charming your neighbors into signing paperwork for the construction of a running path through the backwoods of their properties?

I’m not saying I could charm the neighbors, but I would attempt to charm the neighbors. Playing Tom was exhausting in a way that playing Nile wasn’t. I always spent the end of the day on “Widow’s Bay” going, “My God, I’m exhausted” — because you’re just vibrating on a higher level with Tom. It’s always like, “Listen, please!” The pitch is always higher; you’re always like, “You’ve got to listen to me!” Or if you’re terrified, you’re just hyperventilating.

I know the news of these nominations is still fresh and I don’t want to tell you how to approach the big night, but I just have to say, this could be the moment you take a page from Philip Jennings of “The Americans” and come with a wig and getup so when they pan to you during both categories, you can make them feel distinct.

That’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’m going to Jennings it. I’m going to PJ it. When it pans to me in the second category, I’m gonna look completely different. I’m going to be dressed as Elizabeth [Jennings].

Well, congratulations. How do you think you and Keri are going to celebrate?

Keri, in true “Americans” style, is having me meet her in a clandestine spot that I don’t know anything about, so who knows what. I don’t know what the afternoon is going to unfold, but it’s a big surprise. She might end up killing me, who knows.

The Odyssey actor said he loved the ‘creamy shredded chicken dish’ for its taste and ‘sentimental reasons’

Tom Holland’s been doing the rounds promoting Spider-Man and The Odyssey this month, and during an appearance on the podcast Dish, he shared a classic 60s dinner that holds a special place in his heart – and it could boast a number of health benefits.

Holland, who plays Telemachus in Christopher Nolan’s film, recorded the episode with hosts Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett the day after England played against Mexico in the World Cup. Starring alongside his wife in the film, Zendaya, who plays Athena, he raved about a dish called Chicken Véronique.

And according to WebMD, one of its ingredients, chicken, could help with weight management and, as a result, reduce the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure. The health experts explain: “Research suggests that 25-30 grams of protein per meal can help us feel more full.

“Protein-rich meals can make us feel fuller despite us eating less, which helps to promote better weight management. Healthier weight leads to improvements in risk factors for heart problems, such as high triglyceride levels and high blood pressure.

“A food rich in protein, chicken can help with weight management and reduce the risk of heart disease.”

The health experts also note that chicken is a lean protein that provides the amino acids our bodies need to build and maintain muscle, which becomes more important as we age. A higher-protein diet can also help support bone density.

Because of this, eating chicken can help keep muscles strong and bones healthier. This can lower the risk of injuries and conditions like osteoporosis.

So the chicken in Tom Holland’s dish could actually provide some benefits to our health. But as with everything, always make sure you are having a healthy and balanced diet, as while a dish may include a healthy ingredient or two, it doesn’t always make the dish itself healthy.

‘

During the podcast, Holland’s younger brother, Sam, who is a chef, shared a pre-recorded video, explaining that their mum and Granny Tess “cooked Chicken Véronique and an apple crumble on a beach in Thailand for the cast and crew of Impossible”.

Now, 15 years later, and it’s “our favourite family meal” especially after Tom has a “long stint away” filming, Sam said, calling it a dish he loves for many “sentimental reasons.”

Tom shared the same memories, re-calling: “We were making a movie in Thailand. It was my first ever film. It was a real family.

“The crew were such lovely people, and we would always go down to this beach called Memories Beach. Cast and crew would be down there every weekend – all weekend.

“We started cooking down there, we became friends with the people that ran the beach bar, and they would let us cook. The English guys would cook one week, and then the Italians would cook the next week.

“Naomi Watts was the star of that movie. So, my granny roasted two chickens in her oven at her house in Thailand. She then drove it through the jungle to this beach, because you had to kind of go down this dirt road for about 25 minutes.

“She made Chicken Véronique. It’s like a kind of creamy shredded chicken dish, but then you peel and roast the grapes. And then you shred the potatoes. It’s absolutely delicious.

“So now if I’ve ever been away and I come home to the family house for dinner, that’s always what we always have.”

Host and chef Angela Hartness replied: “Now you’ve mentioned it’s a really old, classic French dish. And one that you’d have had in the ’60s.”

While they did not cook the classic dish during the podcast, they did cook a dish Tom called a “treat” – spicy pork and pineapple skewers with Greek salad.

Spicy pork & pineapple skewers – full recipe

Ingredients

• 500g pack British diced pork shoulder
• ½ supersweet medium pineapple
• Vegetable oil, for griddling
• 1 satsuma, halved
• 2 salad onions, thinly sliced

For the marinade

• 1 satsuma, juice
• 2 clove/s garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp Cooks’ Ingredients Turkish Pepper Flakes
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Soak 8 wooden skewers in cold water for at least 30 minutes to prevent them burning. In a mixing bowl, combine the marinade ingredients and add a few cracks of black pepper. Add the pork (halve any large pieces) and stir to coat. Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, or preferably overnight.
2. Peel, core, then cut the pineapple half into 24 chunks. Thread 3-4 pieces of pork and 3 pieces of pineapple alternately onto each skewer and discard any remaining marinade.
3. Heat a griddle pan over a medium-high heat, brush the pan lightly with oil, then cook half the skewers for 12-15 minutes, turning twice, until the pork is cooked through with no pink meat, juices that run clear, and is charred in places. Keep hot, while you cook the second batch.
4. Char the satsuma, cut-side down, on the hot pan. Serve the skewers scattered with the salad onions and the warm satsuma juice, squeezed over at the table. Perfect with a leafy salad on the side, if liked

Angela Hartnett serves this recipe with a village Greek salad. You can find check out the recipe for that and handy cooking tips and tricks on the Waitrose website here.

Ospreys finished 11th in the URC last season and were knocked out in the last 16 of the Challenge Cup.

Mark Jones’ side were impacted by uncertainty, with fans protesting against the WRU and Y11 at fixtures in Bridgend.

The unsettling situation was a factor in Wales captains Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan opting to join Gloucester for the coming season.

Signing the Professional Rugby Agreement (PRA) with the governing body offers some level of security until 2028, but the latest development will provide more challenges for both Scarlets and Ospreys.

“Is it really a surprise? We just had a little bit of a break from the debacle,” said former Ospreys and Wales wing Shane Williams on Radio Wales Breakfast.

“The conversation has always been that everyone believes there will be a region cut, that players’ welfare and jobs will be put on the line again.

“It’s no real shock to me, we just have to start the conversation again and the uncertainty hits us again.”

There is the prospect of a tender process to be the western club, or the possibility of reviving the merger that almost happened in 2019.

“It’s easier said than done,” said Williams, who is from Carmarthenshire. “There is huge rivalry and the Ospreys are in the process of rebuilding St Helen’s and there is Parc y Scarlets, which is barely used by anyone else.

“For the fans, there has been a huge rivalry and it would take some job to get those two sets of supporters together to support one entity.”

A NEW passport rule introduced earlier this year has already caught out a number of families.

As many as 1.2million people can no longer use their foreign passport to enter the country.

These passport rules came into play in February and mean that British nationals have to carry a valid British passport to return to the UK.

They can no longer use their foreign passport to enter the country.

An alternative is to have a “certificate of entitlement” costing £589.

Despite being in place for five months, the new rules have been catching people out.

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In one case, a British student was stuck in Rome and missed six weeks of school – she was unable to return home for over a month.

The 15-year-old girl had been visiting her grandmother in Italy in April of this year.

When it was time to return home, she was turned away at the airport because she didn’t have a valid British passport.

The girl’s father sought help from the Home Office and the Foreign Office.

He told The Guardian: “The embassy, the Home Office and the Foreign Office bounced us from one to another.

“They are playing with people’s lives, a child’s education. It is loathsome.”

Eventually, she was issued with an emergency travel document.

In another case, one British woman was caught out when she was trying to travel from Copenhagen to Manchester with her two children.

Colette Bjorn-Alderson, who has lived in the UK for 28 years, had been in the Danish country since April, but was returning to the UK with her six-week- old and 23-month-old for a wedding.

However, her two children only had Danish passports which meant they didn’t have valid travel documents for returning to the UK.

She told The Times that she felt “unwelcome in my own country” after being turned away from the flight.

Colette sent photocopies of her documents to the Home Office – but ultimately the decision was made that the family could not fly.

In June, dad-of-two, Kyle Harris, was refused boarding onto his flight from Kefalonia in Greece back to the UK due to only having an American passport.

The 39-year-old had been on holiday with his wife and two sons and the family has had to extend their time away as a result.

Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains in effect halted.
Tankers are now avoiding another critical waterway – Bab al-Mandeb – as Yemen’s Houthi forces threaten Saudi-linked vessels. Ukrainian strikes have hit Russian export infrastructure.
Three major routes are now disrupted at once: the Gulf, the Red Sea and the Black Sea.

Together, they threaten trade flows equivalent to nearly a quarter of global oil supplies just as reserves sit at multiyear lows.
Goldman Sachs says oil could rise above $120 a barrel by the fourth quarter if disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz alone persist.
Economies worldwide are bracing for another energy shock.

Media freedom organisations and opposition lawmakers have criticised sweeping media reforms pushed through by Israel’s right-wing coalition as part of a legislative blitz before the parliament’s dissolution in advance of elections later this year.

The parliament, or Knesset, last week approved the bill that could give the government a far greater say in Israel’s news and broadcast sectors. The controversial measure strips away traditional oversight safeguards, eliminates requirements for minimum journalism standards and lifts longstanding limits on cross-ownership, among others.

Following the July 17 vote, watchdog groups, including the Union of Journalists in Israel, along with opposition parties, successfully petitioned the High Court of Justice to freeze parts of the legislation. They warned that some provisions that were set to take effect immediately, including the removal of limits on ownership of multiple media outlets and the stripping away of newsroom standards, could permanently distort the media landscape before the October 27 election, potentially influencing its outcome.

The government has until Sunday to respond, after which the court will decide whether to keep the freeze, widen it, or allow the provisions to take effect. Other, less contentious and immediate sections of the law were left to stand.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not vote on the measure. He is currently bound by a 2020 conflict-of-interest agreement that bars him from participating in government decisions that could affect his ongoing corruption trial, where, among other charges, he stands accused of using his position to unduly influence media coverage of his administration.

Nevertheless, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi thanked Netanyahu directly, saying: “Mr prime minister, I want to thank you and tell you that the mission you gave me four years ago – to deliver right-wing reform of the media – was today successfully completed.”

Israeli media reported that such a directive by Netanyahu could be a violation of his agreement. Neither the Prime Minister’s Office nor the Communications Ministry responded to Al Jazeera’s queries over whether Netanyahu’s role in the legislation’s passage represented a conflict of interest. However, Karhi subsequently claimed that he had secured a legal opinion determining that the prime minister was not in breach of the conflict-of-interest agreement.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi have proven repeatedly that they are enemies of independent journalism in Israel,” Martin Roux, of the Reporters Without Borders media monitor, told Al Jazeera.

“This means they’re attacking every Israeli citizen’s right to reliable information from diverse sources. This has been true for years, and it is becoming more obvious every day as the legislative elections, set for the end of October, approach. It’s all about controlling the narrative,” he said.

In a social media post, Karhi claimed the new legislation would bring “more right-wing coverage and less regulation”.

“After a determined struggle against every possible element from the deep state, tycoons, attorneys, officials and fearmongering networks – we managed to pass the right-wing media reform.”

‘Boosting propaganda channels’

However, for many observers, there was little new in overhauling media that had grown used to toeing the government line, with critical coverage of the multiple wars that Israel has engaged in and the international outrage that many have caused typically relegated to the sidelines of the national conversation.

“The reforms are part of Netanyahu’s ongoing media overhaul – undermining the remains of critical reporting and journalistic independence in the country, while boosting Netanyahu’s propaganda channels,” London-based Israeli academic and media analyst Ayala Panievsky told Al Jazeera.

She cited the far-right Channel 14, which she said emboldened Israel’s war crimes and offered unflagging support to what she described as the most right-wing government in Israel’s history.

“In 2020, they amplified ‘the Big Lie’ in the US elections, claiming Trump won the election – they might therefore act similarly following the Israeli general elections in October, if Netanyahu’s coalition indeed loses,” said Panievsky, echoing similar concerns among academics and legal analysts sparked by accusations from lawmakers within Netanyahu’s Likud party that the acting head of the Central Elections Committee, Dean Livne, was “clearly politically biased”.

Analysts and observers from across Israel have long pointed to the strongly nationalist undertone of much of Israel’s current affairs coverage and the absence of space given to Palestinians and Palestinian suffering.

When the United Nations’ Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded in September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, Israel’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the findings as “distorted and false“, a framing echoed across domestic outlets rather than scrutinised.

A subsequent Molad report found only 3 percent of Channel 12’s early war coverage referenced Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, with just two of 206 visuals showing Palestinian civilian casualties. Elsewhere, allegations of Israeli war crimes, including sexual abuse, are either omitted or given pro-government framing, observers told Al Jazeera.

“The Israeli media just doesn’t feature Gaza. It’s not there,” political analyst Ori Goldberg said from outside Tel Aviv. “There’s no sense of solidarity with the journalists killed there, or those they don’t let in. They’re just not mentioned.”

Similarly, discussion panels on the various wars that the Netanyahu administration had embarked upon were typically staffed by ex-generals, who had no question with the need for war, only differences over its prosecution, said Goldberg.

However, even this relative compliance was not enough for a prime minister fighting an election that had come to rely on the appearance of forward momentum and paper enemies to sustain his political project.

“Netanyahu always needs to be seen to be pushing the envelope,” Goldberg added. “He needs a media that will give barely critical coverage of his every word, but one that he can still present as the enemy within.”

A major incident has been declared by Police Scotland as emergency services continue to tackle a wildfire which has been burning in the Cairngorms National Park for 10 days.

The force said it followed “a significant change in weather conditions” which has increased the risk of fire spreading towards the village of Nethy Bridge.

All Nethy Bridge residents have been evacuated as a precaution to allow emergency services to continue their response.

But a local resident told the BBC the wildfire should have been declared a major incident sooner and the lack of communication from authorities had been “pretty poor”.

The BBC has contacted the Scottish government and Police Scotland for comment.

First Minister John Swinney, who held a meeting of the Scottish government’s resilience room early on Saturday, said additional police resources were being deployed to assist with the Nethy Bridge evacuation.

He urged people to “respect the exclusion zone that’s been put in place”, adding that the change in weather conditions illustrated “the scale and difficulty of the situation that we are managing”.

Smoke from the wildfire can now be seen 59 miles away in Aberdeen following a change in wind direction.

Supt Judy Hill said weather conditions “experienced within the Cairngorms over the last 24 hours have added further complexities to this situation”.

“With evidence suggesting the fire is spreading towards Nethy Bridge, the decision has been taken to declare a major incident and evacuate residents as a precaution.”

She said additional police resources were being deployed to help contact those who need to leave their properties.

With temperatures growing ever higher as the sun continues to bake Britain, skin experts and the car industry are combining to issue important health advice for motorists

Millions of Brits are unknowingly putting themselves at risk of sunburn every time they get behind the wheel.

New research has found that 47% of motorists take no precautions against UV exposure despite an estimated 14million experiencing sunburn while travelling by car. Around one in three (31%) said they didn’t even realise it was possible to get sunburnt inside a vehicle, according to the survey by Autotrader and the British Skin Foundation.

While modern windscreens block the vast majority of UVB radiation, many side windows can still allow significant levels of UVA rays into the vehicle. Dr Zainab Laftah, consultant dermatologist and spokesperson for the British Skin Foundation, said: “A common misconception is that being inside a vehicle provides complete protection from the sun.

“In reality, both short periods of intense UV exposure and repeated exposure over time contribute to an increased risk of skin cancer. While standard car windscreens block most UVB radiation, the amount of UVA that enters a vehicle varies depending on the type, thickness and tint of the glass.

“This means a significant amount of UVA can still penetrate vehicle windows, contributing to cumulative skin damage, premature skin ageing, pigmentation changes and an increased risk of skin cancer over time.”

While UVB rays are those primarily responsible for sunburn, UVA rays can cause deep skin damage and heighten the risk of skin cancer. Dr Laftah’s warning comes as demand for open-top motoring rises with the temperature. During the May heatwave, searches for convertibles on Autotrader increased by 8 per cent week-on-week, with models including the Porsche 911, Mazda MX-5 and Mercedes-Benz SL among the most-viewed vehicles on the platform.

She said that those driving convertibles need to be even more wary – and take care they know how long they are spending in the sun. “Many drivers also underestimate how long they’re exposed during everyday journeys, particularly on longer drives or when sitting in traffic,” she said.

“For drivers of convertibles and other open-top vehicles, the risk is even greater because the face, scalp, neck, arms and hands are exposed to direct sunlight for prolonged periods.”

The stark warning follows separate British Skin Foundation research from 2025 which found that a third of Brits had already been sunburnt by early summer. The same proportion (31%) admitted they simply “couldn’t be bothered” to wear sunscreen in sunny weather.

Rory Reid, YouTube director at Autotrader, continued: “Nothing beats driving with the roof down on a sunny day, and every time the weather improves, we see demand for convertibles climb. What many people don’t realise is that spending time behind the wheel can expose them to harmful UV rays, even inside the car.

“Whether you’re driving to work, heading off on holiday or simply enjoying the sunshine, applying sunscreen should be as much a part of your journey as checking your tyre pressures, topping up your screen wash or making sure you’ve got water in the car.”

To browse the UK’s widest choice of new and used cars, including convertibles, visit here.

How to stay safe behind the wheel

• Apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen with SPF30 or higher to all exposed skin at least 15 minutes before setting off, paying particular attention to often-forgotten areas including the ears, neck, scalp, hands and forearms.
• Reapply sunscreen during longer journeys, particularly if you’re spending extended periods behind the wheel.
• Consider UV-filtering window films if you drive frequently or spend long periods in the car.
• If driving a convertible or other open-top vehicle, keep the roof up during peak UV hours (12pm–2pm) where possible, wear protective clothing and ensure all exposed skin is covered with high-factor sunscreen.
• Wear UV-protective sunglasses to protect both your eyes and the delicate skin around them.

HEADING to Turkey for your summer holiday in the next few weeks? Make sure to double check your passport before flying.

Brits are repeatedly being caught out before they travel by things like passport expiry dates and leaving blank pages for stamps.

Thomas Cook has found that travel to Turkey is up 37 per cent year-on-year with Brits heading to places like the sparkling Turquoise Coast.

For those heading on holiday soon, it’s important to have a reminder of the entry rules as they are different to countries in the Schengen Area.

Brits heading to Turkey need at least 150 days left on their passport from the date of arrival.

This is different to the EU rules which requires three months, compared to Turkey’s nearly five months.

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If you don’t have the right amount of time then you may be denied entry by your airline before flying, or at the border on arrival.

Even worse news is that if this happens, travel insurance is unlikely to cover the cost of cancelled accommodation, missed flights or return travel.

Another requirement to enter Turkey is that passports need to have one completely blank page.

This is to allow room for entry and exit stamps or full-page visas.

Airlines may check this before passengers even board the plane, as they could face fines if a passenger is later refused entry.

So if you’re a frequent flyer, check how many blank pages you have remaining in your passport before booking a trip.

The UK Foreign Office currently states: “To enter Turkey, your passport must have an ‘expiry date’ at least 150 days after the date you arrive and at least 1 blank page.

“You will be denied entry if you do not have a valid travel document.”

If you need a new passport for your holiday, you may want to look at applying now as typical renewals can take around three weeks.

There is a fast-track service if your passport isn’t valid and you need to travel soon.

For more information on passport rules, visas and items you need to pack in your hand luggage this summer – head here.

Plumes of smoke from wildfires in Canada are pouring into major US cities across the Midwest, Northeast and mid-Atlantic. Polluted air is affecting more than 100 million people and is creating concern ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final.