stall

DEONTAY WILDER has welcomed a fight with Jake Paul – in a bid to dish out a “reality check”.

Wilder has become the latest champion of the past linked with a bout against YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul.

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And while it so far remains just another possibility on the table – Wilder is ready to come to the table for that lucrative conversation.

He told Brian Mazique: “Nothing has been presented to us, at the moment it’s not real, but if it came my way of course I’m 100 per cent taking it.

“He’s been doing his thing in the business although it’s not the traditional way, it’s not the logic way of how a fighter comes up or how he gains stardom and fame and fortune.

“Unfortunately, it’s a more brutal road than that. Some of these guys never, ever in their lifetime see $50,000, let alone $100,000 or $1million or $2million.

“It just doesn’t go like that. That module of how it is, it’s not like that. But it’s the wave of what young people are looking to or what they like.

“Unfortunately, people try and go off the vote of popularity. What’s going on, what’s popular, what can make them money.

“Money makes the world go round and everybody is trying to make that dollar – no matter what skill you’ve got if you can generate a crowd that generates to asses in seats that generates money.

“So all of this is a cycle that’s used and here it is you’ve got a guy that’s been doing good in generating money and putting asses in seats although he’s selective in how he fights and who he fights, I would say.”

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Paul moved up to heavyweight in November when Mike Tyson controversially made a comeback aged 58.

And despite the scrutiny surrounding the showdown – over 100 MILLION tuned in on Netflix to watch Tyson lose over eight shorter rounds of two minutes.

Paul, 28, then returned in June to beat ex-middleweight world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, 39, over ten rounds to earn himself a No14 cruiserweight rank in the WBA.

The American – whose only loss in 13 fights came to Tommy Fury in 2023 – soon after entered shock talks to fight Anthony Joshua.

And two-time heavyweight champ AJ looked to be nearing a deal to face Paul next year.

But talks have since stalled after Paul announced a November 14 exhibition against lightweight champ Gervonta Davis, 30, who is FIVE STONE lighter.

Paul’s camp claim they still intend to fight Joshua, 35, in 2026 with the Brit legend  sidelined since his September 2024 loss to Daniel Dubois, 27.

But Wilder, 39, has now thrown his name into the mix to fight Paul in an attempt to teach the prankster-gone-prizefighter a lesson.

He added: “That’s exactly how I would approach it. It would be a big reality check.

“That would be the title of the show ‘Reality Check’. At least for me.”

Wilder suffered consecutive losses – to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang – before returning to victory against little-known Tyrrell Herndon in June.

And he is now in talks to fight ex-UFC champion Francis Ngannou – who lost his two boxing bouts to Tyson Fury and AJ.

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Israeli forces have continued to pound the besieged Gaza Strip, killing at least 72 Palestinians, including several aid seekers, as ceasefire talks stall amid a deepening fuel and hunger crisis.

An Israeli attack near an aid distribution point in Rafah in southern Gaza killed at least five people who were seeking aid on Monday, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The killings raised the death toll of Palestinians killed near aid sites run by the controversial Israeli and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to 838, according to Wafa.

In Khan Younis, also in southern Gaza, an Israeli strike on a displacement camp killed nine people and wounded many others. In central Gaza’s Bureij refugee camp, four people were killed when an Israeli air strike hit a commercial centre, Wafa said.

Israeli forces also resumed stepping up attacks in northern Gaza and Gaza City. Israeli media reported an ambush in Gaza City, with a tank hit by rocket fire and later, with small arms. A helicopter was seen evacuating casualties. The Israeli military later confirmed that three soldiers were killed in the incident.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said Israeli forces responded with “massive air strikes in the vicinity of [the] Tuffah and Shujayea neighbourhoods, levelling residential buildings”.

The Wafa news agency said at least 24 Palestinians were killed in Gaza City and dozens more were wounded.

The attacks come as UN agencies continue to plead for more aid to be allowed into Gaza, where famine looms and a severe fuel shortage has brought the already battered healthcare sector to its knees.

Gaza’s water crisis has also intensified since Israel blocked nearly all fuel shipments into the enclave on March 2. With no fuel, desalination plants, wastewater treatment facilities and pumping stations have largely shut down.

Egypt’s foreign minister said on Monday that the flow of aid into Gaza has not increased despite an agreement last week between Israel and the European Union that should have had that result.

“Nothing has changed [on the ground],” Badr Abdelatty told reporters ahead of the EU-Middle East meeting in Brussels.

‘A real catastrophe’

The EU’s top diplomat said on Thursday that the bloc and Israel agreed to improve Gaza’s humanitarian situation, including increasing the number of aid trucks and opening crossing points and aid routes.

When asked what steps Israel has taken, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar referred to an understanding with the EU but did not provide details on the implementation.

Asked if there were improvements after the agreement, Jordanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi told reporters that the situation in Gaza remains “catastrophic”.

“There is a real catastrophe happening in Gaza resulting from the continuation of the Israeli siege,” he said.

Meanwhile, stuttering ceasefire talks entered a second week on Monday, with mediators seeking to close the gap between Israel and Hamas.

The indirect negotiations in Qatar appear to still remain deadlocked after both sides blamed the other for blocking a deal for the release of captives and a 60-day ceasefire.

An official with knowledge of the talks said they were “ongoing” in Doha on Monday, the AFP news agency reported.

“Discussions are currently focused on the proposed maps for the deployment of Israeli forces within Gaza,” the source reportedly said.

“Mediators are actively exploring innovative mechanisms to bridge the remaining gaps and maintain momentum in the negotiations,” the source added on condition of anonymity.

Hamas accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who says he wants to see the Palestinian group destroyed, of being the main obstacle.

“Netanyahu is skilled at sabotaging one round of negotiations after another, and is unwilling to reach any agreement,” the group wrote on Telegram.

Netanyahu is under growing pressure to end the war, with military casualties rising and public frustration mounting.

He also faces backlash over the feasibility and ethics of a plan to build a so-called “humanitarian city” from scratch on the ruins of southern Gaza’s Rafah to house 600,000 Palestinians if and when a ceasefire takes hold.

Israel’s security establishment is reported to be unhappy with the plan, which the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said amounts to plans for a “concentration camp”.

It has been five months since Martin Fowler was brutally killed off on EastEnders leaving his fruit and veg stall unattended – but now a new stall keeper has been uncovered

Changes are coming to Albert Square as the iconic fruit and veg stall is set to have a new owner. Long time fans of the BBC soap will be well aware that Martin Fowler held down the stall until her was brutally killed off earlier this year.

Now it has been revealed that returning character Oscar Branning will take control of the market stall as he begins to resettle into life in East London. EastEnders fans will be well aware that Oscar is the teenage son of Max Branning and Tanya Cross and the younger brother of Lauren Branning.

The character first appeared on the BBC show 2007 and been played by Gabriel Miller-Williams from 2007 until 2008, Neo Hall from 2008 until 2015, and Charlee Hall from 2013 until 2017. Oscar is now being played by Pierre Moullier with an upcoming storyline set to explain how he ends up running the fruit and veg stall.

Discussing his casting recently, Pierre explained that he can’t wait for soap fans to see him on screen and learn where the show writers take his character. He said, as per OK! Magazine: “It’s pretty surreal to join EastEnders – it keeps hitting me that I’m actually on Albert Square.

“When I found out I was joining the Brannings, it was so exciting as they are such an iconic family, and I love that there are so many skeletons in the closet.” And teasing his character arc, he added: “Oscar is so much fun to play and the audience should be prepared for the unexpected as he’s a complex guy.”

EastEnders’ Executive Producer Ben Wadey shared his excitement over Oscar’s return. He said: “I’m very excited to bring Oscar Branning back to Walford and introduce viewers to him now that he’s all grown up.”

And hinting at the drama to come, Ben added: “Oscar is very much a Branning which means there’s going to be plenty of drama in store this summer. We’re delighted to welcome Pierre as he takes on the role and ca”t wait for viewers to see him bring Oscar to life.”

Plot details suggest that Oscar returns to Albert Square to shake up the life of his sister Lauren, played by Jacqueline Jossa. But when Lauren offers Oscar a trial shift on the stall – and encouraged by Penny Branning, played by Kitty Castledine, to take on the work – he begins to consider if he can build a life for himself in the city.

Earlier this year, EastEnders fans were devastated when Martin Fowler was killed off in a shock twist during a 40th anniversary special episode. James Bye, who played the character from 2014 to 2025, explained why the time was right to walk away from the character.

He said in a statement following his explosive exit: “Saying goodbye is not easy, but after 10 years at EastEnders and on the night of the show’s epic 40th anniversary, the time felt right. It’s an honour to leave on a story of this magnitude. A huge thank you to all the fans of the show – EastEnders wouldn’t be what it is without you – and to the BBC and EastEnders team for trusting me with this role for so many years. This fruit and veg man will always hold a special place in my heart. It’s time to look forward, and I’m incredibly excited for what the future holds. RIP Martin Fowler.”

Executive Producer Chris Clenshaw said at the time: “It’s incredibly sad to say goodbye to James, who has been a much-loved, loyal company member for 10 years. James’ performance in tonight’s live episode was nothing short of outstanding and one that I know will touch so many of you watching at home due to his loveable portrayal of Martin Fowler, which has made him a firm favourite amongst the viewers. When discussing James’ exit, we knew that we needed to give Martin Fowler the big explosive storyline that his character deserved.

“To leave the show in such an emotional storyline, during a live episode is something incredibly courageous to do as an actor, and one that I’m sure will cement itself in EastEnders history. I would like to thank James for everything he’s given to EastEnders, and although we will all miss him here at Elstree, he will always remain a member of the EastEnders family and we wish him the best for the future.”

Martin was first played by Jon Peyton-Price when EastEnders began in 1985 and he held onto the role until 1996. James Alexandrou then took on the role and played from 1996 until 2007 after which time James took over. Martin was killed when he was crushed by a fallen structural beam in an accident and died following a heart attack.

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The deficit hawks

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The Medicaid guardians

The state tax (Salt) objectors

Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a new prisoner swap and the return of thousands of war dead during direct talks in Istanbul although little headway was made towards ending the war.

The delegations met on Monday at the Ottoman-era Ciragan Palace in the Turkish city, and officials confirmed that both sides will exchange prisoners of war and the remains of 6,000 soldiers killed in combat.

Negotiators from both sides confirmed they had reached a deal to swap all severely wounded soldiers as well as all captured fighters under the age of 25.

“We agreed to exchange all-for-all seriously wounded and seriously sick prisoners of war. The second category is young soldiers who are from 18 to 25 years old – all-for-all,” Ukraine’s lead negotiator and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov told reporters in Istanbul.

Russia’s lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said the swap would involve “at least 1,000” on each side – topping the 1,000-for-1,000 POW exchange agreed at talks last month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking from Vilnius, Lithuania, said the two parties “exchanged documents through the Turkish side” and Kyiv was preparing for the next group of captives to be released.

The Istanbul meeting marks the second direct dialogue in less than a month, but expectations were low. The talks on May 16 produced another major prisoner swap but failed to reach a ceasefire.

“The exchange of prisoners seems to be the diplomatic channel that actually works between Russia and Ukraine,” Al Jazeera correspondent Dmitry Medvedenko said, reporting from Istanbul.

“We’ve actually had exchanges of prisoners throughout this war, not in the numbers that have been happening as a result of these Istanbul talks,” Medvedenko added.

Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Kyiv also handed over a list of children it accuses Russia of abducting and demanded their return.

As for a truce, Russia and Ukraine remain sharply divided.

“The Russian side continued to reject the motion of an unconditional ceasefire,” Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergiy Kyslytsya told reporters after the talks.

Russia said it had offered a limited pause in fighting.

“We have proposed a specific ceasefire for two to three days in certain areas of the front line,” Medinsky said, adding that this was needed to collect the bodies of dead soldiers from battlefields.

At the negotiating table, Russia presented a memorandum setting out the Kremlin’s terms for ending hostilities, the Ukrainian delegation said.

Umerov told reporters that Kyiv officials would need a week to review the document and decide on a response. Ukraine proposed further talks on a date between June 20 and June 30, he said.

After the talks, Russian state news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti published the text of the Russian memorandum, which suggested as a condition for a ceasefire that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the four Ukrainian regions that Russia annexed in September 2022 but never fully captured.

As an alternate way of reaching a truce, the memorandum presses Ukraine to halt its mobilisation efforts and freeze Western arms deliveries, conditions that were suggested earlier by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The document also suggests that Ukraine stop any redeployment of forces and ban any military presence of third countries on its soil as conditions for halting hostilities.

The Russian document further proposes that Ukraine end martial law and hold elections, after which the two countries could sign a comprehensive peace treaty that would see Ukraine declare its neutral status, abandon its bid to join NATO, set limits on the size of its armed forces and recognise Russian as the country’s official language on par with Ukrainian.

Ukraine and the West have previously rejected all those demands from Moscow.

Ceasefire hopes remain elusive

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the talks “magnificent”.

“My greatest wish is to bring together Putin and Zelenskyy in Istanbul or Ankara and even add [United States President Donald] Trump along,” he said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who chaired the talks, said the world was watching closely. He acknowledged the two sides had discussed the conditions for a ceasefire but no tangible outcome was announced.

Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian member of parliament, told Al Jazeera he was not very optimistic about the talks in Istanbul.

“Russia clearly shows that they don’t want to end the war because Ukraine proposed a 30-days ceasefire in March, and the American and Europe proposition was the same, but only one country [Russia] refused,” Goncharenko said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has ramped up its military efforts far beyond the front lines, claiming responsibility for drone attacks on Sunday that it said damaged or destroyed more than 40 Russian warplanes. The operation targeted airbases in three distant regions – the Arctic, Siberia and the Far East – thousands of kilometres from Ukraine.

“This brilliant operation will go down in history,” Zelenskyy said, calling the raids a turning point in Ukraine’s struggle.

Ukrainian officials said the attacks crippled nearly a third of Russia’s strategic bomber fleet. Vasyl Maliuk, head of the Security Service of Ukraine, said the mission had taken more than a year to plan.

Zelenskyy said the setback for Russia’s military would increase pressure on Moscow to return to the negotiating table.

“Russia must feel the cost of its aggression. That is what will push it towards diplomacy,” he said during his visit to Lithuania, where he met leaders from NATO’s eastern flank and Nordic countries.

Ukraine’s air force, meanwhile, reported that Russia launched 472 drones on Sunday – the highest number since the start of its full-scale invasion in 2022 – aiming to exhaust Ukrainian air defences. Most of those drones targeted civilian areas, it said.

On Monday, Russian forces bombarded southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, killing three people and injuring 19, including two children. Separately, five people were killed and nine injured in attacks near Zaporizhzhia in the neighbouring Zaporizhia region.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces had intercepted 162 Ukrainian drones overnight across eight regions and Crimea while Ukraine said it shot down 52 of 80 drones launched by Russia.

Zelenskyy warned that if the Istanbul talks fail to deliver results, more sanctions against Russia will be necessary. “If there’s no breakthrough, then new, strong sanctions must follow – urgently,” he said.

WASHINGTON — House Republican leadership is pressing ahead toward a vote on landmark legislation that would codify President Trump’s agenda this week, the first major push to pass Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” since he resumed office.

The bill would overhaul the tax code and extend many of the tax cuts passed during Trump’s first term, while increasing spending on defense and border security — costly policies that would be offset by new work requirements and conditions on Medicaid, cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and the phasing out of green energy tax credits.

Success is far from guaranteed for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who is navigating negotiations with fiscal conservatives and coastal moderates within his caucus to secure enough votes within his razor-thin majority. But the bill did take one procedural step forward Sunday night, clearing the bill through the House Budget Committee in a rare weekend vote.

Four members of that committee voted “present,” and have not committed to ultimately vote in favor of the bill. Those four alone — Freedom Caucus members Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma and Ralph Norman of South Carolina — are enough to sink the bill in a final floor vote.

More moderate Republican lawmakers from states like California, New York and New Jersey, where residents face higher state and local taxes than in much of the rest of the country, are pushing for an increase in the state and local tax deduction cap, known as SALT, to be included in the bill — a provision that is opposed by the Freedom Caucus. They also are pushing back against efforts to wind down green energy tax credits that are popular with their constituents.

The Congressional Budget Office issued a preliminary estimate that new conditions to Medicaid coverage built into the bill would result in at least 7.6 million people losing health insurance by 2034. The CBO has yet to release a full assessment of the bill’s effect on the debt and deficit.

Johnson has said that the bill will go to the House Rules Committee on Tuesday or Wednesday. He then aims to put the bill to a vote on the House floor on Thursday.

The White House has been involved in the negotiations in recent days.

“Passing this bill is what voters sent Republicans to Washington to accomplish,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Monday. “That’s why it’s essential that every Republican in the House and Senate unites behind President Trump to pass this popular and transformative legislative package.”

Even if Johnson succeeds in passing the legislation, the bill will then move to a Senate filled with Republicans who have expressed skepticism of the House legislation.

“Not only myself, but a number of us in the Senate have been very clear: We have to reduce the deficit,” Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah said in an interview with CNN. Asked if he wants serious changes to the House bill, Curtis said, “Yes.”

Earlier in the week, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said the House bill represented “real Medicaid benefit cuts” that he would not vote for.

“I can’t support that,” Hawley said. “No Republican should support that. We’re the party of the working class. We need to act like it.”

In a statement on social media Monday, Johnson called the bill a “once in a generation opportunity to help restore our economy to greatness.”

“The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will bring the historic relief and prosperity President Trump and Congressional Republicans promised the American people,” he said.

The strike leaves hundreds of thousands of commuters in New Jersey and New York without rail access.

New Jersey’s commuter rail engineers are on strike after negotiations for higher wages failed to materialise, leaving trains idle for commuters in the third-largest transit system in the United States for the first time in more than 40 years.

The strike began on Friday after The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, which represents 450 NJ Transit engineers who drive the agency’s commuter trains and agency management, broke off talks late Thursday after an unsuccessful 15-hour bargaining session.

The labour clash came weeks after negotiators had agreed on a potential deal in March, but the union’s members voted overwhelmingly to reject it.

NJ Transit has said it cannot afford the pay rises that the engineers are seeking because 14 other unions that negotiate separate labour contracts with the agency would demand the same, higher wage rates for their members.

The union pushed back on the gripe and has said that “NJT claims it doesn’t have the money to pay engineers a salary in line with industry standards, but somehow found a half-billion dollars for a new and unnecessary headquarters.”

New Jersey Transit opened a new headquarters earlier this year.

The union has said it is simply aiming to raise the engineers’ salaries to match those at other commuter railroads in the region.

“They [rail engineers]  have gone without a raise for six years and have been seeking a new contract since October 2019,” the union said in a statement.

NJ Transit says the engineers currently make $135,000 on average and that management had offered a deal that would yield an average salary of $172,000. But the union has disputed those figures, saying the current average salary is actually $113,000.

The parties have exchanged accusations of bad-faith bargaining.

The strike means that hundreds of thousands of daily passengers in New Jersey and New York are without service. NJ Transit said its rail system began its shutdown at 12:01am local time Friday.

In a news conference, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and NJ Transit’s Chief Executive Officer Kris Kolluri told reporters talks had paused but that management remained willing to resume negotiations at any time.

“We must reach a final deal that is both fair to employees and affordable,” Murphy, a Democrat, told reporters. “Let’s get back to the table and seal a deal.”

Murphy and Kolluri said the US National Mediation Board had reached out to both sides to propose reopening talks on Sunday morning, or sooner if the parties wished.

The union statement made no mention of when talks might be restarted. Protests began at several locations across the rail system, including NJ Transit’s headquarters in Newark, Penn Station in New York City, and the Atlantic City rail terminal.

The governor and the NJ Transit CEO also outlined contingency plans for dealing with the work stoppage, the first transit strike to hit New Jersey since a three-week walkout in 1983.

Workers urged to stay home

The looming strike had already prompted the agency to cancel trains and buses to MetLife Stadium for pop star Shakira’s concert last night and again for this evening.

In an advisory, NJ Transit encouraged commuters to work from home starting on Friday if possible.

The agency said it would increase bus services on existing lines and charter private buses to operate from several satellite lots in the event of a rail strike but warned buses would only be able to handle about 20 percent of rail customers.

Kolluri said last week that the union was “playing a game of chicken with the lives of 350,000 riders”.

“We have sought nothing more than equal pay for equal work, only to be continually rebuffed by New Jersey Transit,” Tom Haas, the union’s general chairman, said earlier this week.