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LOUIS Tomlinson has opened up about the death of Liam Payne and has revealed he’s struggling to come to terms with it.

Pop star Liam tragically died after falling from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires in October last year.

The pair were firm friends after being in One Direction together from 2010 and 2016 and they continued their friendship after the band split up.

Speaking about the grief of losing Liam, Louis told The Independent: “I naively thought that, at this point, I’d unfortunately be a little bit more well versed with grief than other people my age.

“I thought that might mean something, but it didn’t at all. It’s something I’ll never really accept. I don’t think.”

Louis is no stranger to grief, having lost his mum Johannah Deakin in 2016, when she died of leukaemia at the age of 43.

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Just three years later, his sister Félicité tragically died from an accidental overdose at the age of 18.

This isn’t the first time Louis has opened up about Liam as he recently spoke about him during an appearance on Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast.

He told the Dragons’ Den star: “I could just go on and talk all day about how amazing he was, but I think we all looked up to him.

“I don’t think we would have been brave enough to say at that age when I was in the bnd, I think I would’ve had too much pride, but we all looked up to him massively.”

Speaking about the devastating moment he found out about Liam’s death, Louis said: “In the car, in LA. I found out through Niall [Horan].

“I had the same feeling that I had with Felicity, and I think anyone has this when they’re around someone who’s struggling; my 150 per cent wasn’t nearly enough.

“And that’s when it’s my own arrogance thinking that I could have helped really, because it was so much deeper than what I could have done for him. He was definitely struggling at that time in his life.”

Liam had flown to Argentina with girlfriend Kate Cassidy for a five-day holiday, to see his ex-1D bandmate Niall Horan in concert.

Liam extended the trip but Kate returned home to the US.

It is claimed Liam then turned to drink and drugs.

One Direction were formed on The X Factor in 2010, with Louis and Liam being joined in the band by Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik, who quit the band in 2015.

The boys came third on the ITV show and went on to sell over 70 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling boy bands of all time.

GEN Z are killing off terms like ‘grub,’ ‘sarnie,’ and ‘pop’ – in favour of ‘scran,’ ‘sub,’ and ‘soda.’

A poll of 2,000 adults has revealed how younger adults are driving a generational shift in food language – from breakfast to dinner.

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Using ‘tea’ to refer to the evening meal, ‘nosh’ to talk about food generally, and ‘cuppa’ for a hot drink are also out of favour among under-29s, along with ‘squash.’

While the term ‘sandwich’ is also in decline, with younger adults adopting American-inspired terms such as ‘hoagie’ and ‘hero’ Instead.

A spokesperson for McDonald’s UK&I, which commissioned the research to mark the launch of its new RSPCA assured pork patty Sausage Sandwich on the Saver Menu, said: “Language is constantly evolving, and food slang is no exception.”

The study also found the biggest influence on Gen Z’s food language is their family, which holds greater sway than the local area they grew up in and social media, which came second and third respectively.

Interestingly, more than any other age group, 49% of Gen Z also believe they use a greater number of regional food words than other generations do.

With nearly half (49%) claiming to use them ‘very often’ or ‘often.’

Across all ages, the main barriers to using regional slang include not hearing it enough in conversation (28%) or believing others won’t understand (17%).

However, 40% are curious to know what unfamiliar regional food terms mean, with 18% looking them up online.

Overall, the research, carried out through OnePoll, found 70% believe regional food terms – whether they relate to breakfast, lunch, dinner, or specific foods or drinks – should be preserved as part of cultural heritage, even if they are declining in popularity.

One of the biggest regional variations was what people call a bread roll.

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While the term was number one for all regions, ‘cob’ is popular among those living in the West and East Midlands (21% and 42%).

And ‘Barm’ is commonplace in the North West (26%), with Fam‘teacake’ frequently used in Yorkshire and Humber (18%).

The spokesperson for McDonald’s added: “Our Sausage Sandwich is already sparking its own naming debates – burger or sandwich.”

Although the research suggests a strong preference – when shown an image of this menu item, 76% of those polled described it as a ‘burger,’ with just 24% opting for ‘sandwich.’

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THE self-proclaimed President of Peace is at it again, unveiling his 20-point peace plan for the Gaza war.

In typically understated fashion, Donald Trump declared his meeting with Israel’s Netanyahu a “historic day for humanity”.

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And to be fair, convincing the hardman to sign up to a deal that could allow Hamas terrorists to walk free from their crimes was a big ask and an important moment.

Netanyahu is on board, with an oversight committee for Gaza lead by Mr Trump and an astonishing late career comeback from Tony Blair.

No Gazan will be forced out of their home, which was a major ask from European nations, while the cost of rebuilding the pummelled strip will be shared around the region.

On paper this looks like decent terms to end horrors.

But as we saw with Ukraine and Putin, these deals can come to nothing if one side doesn’t agree.

So now the world waits on Hamas to accept the terms.

They’ve said no before and collapsed talks and continued their butchery countless times.

But the given the Hamas leadership has been taken out three times now, and up to 20,000 dead fighters have been killed – the organisation is on its knees.

How long can they realistically keep fighting?

A Hamas source told Al Jazeera the group has agreed terms for a ceasefire in Gaza, as a step towards ending the war. The plan calls for a 60-day pause in fighting and the release of half of Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Al Jazeera’s Hamda Salhut reports.

STRICKEN Ukraine will be forced to surrender large swathes of its eastern territory and forget about ever joining Nato under peace terms haggled by Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

The war-torn country’s desire to join the European Union is also in doubt after the two superpower presidents held controversial talks in Alaska on Friday.

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Ukraine would be outlawed from joining the Western defence alliance, but have its redrawn borders underwritten by its US and European allies in the terms suggested by the White House.

Allies have offered “ironclad” security assurances to protect Ukraine from future Russian aggression if a peace deal can be forged.

But it would stop short of Nato Article 5 status, which sees members of the alliance leap to the aid of any member that is attacked.

Ukraine’s desire to join Nato has been blamed as a root cause of President Putin’s invasion.

He has insisted “Nyet” — Russian for “No” — over the proposal.

But the future security of Ukraine is the number one condition of its president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

British and other European troops could be committed to police the peace, with President Trump finally conceding the Americans would play a vital role in the future defence of Ukraine.

Last night, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz publicly stated: “The good news is that America is ready to participate in such security guarantees and is not leaving it to the Europeans alone.”

And PM Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Trump’s “leadership in pursuit of an end to the killing” should be commended.

Calls for an immediate ceasefire were dropped by world leaders yesterday, after Mr Trump announced he was instead pursuing a more stable and lasting “peace deal”.

Plans haggled at Friday’s face-to-face summit are being circulated by the Americans after the US President and the Kremlin tyrant met each other in Anchorage, Alaska, for more than three hours.

The Sun has been told a surrender deal would see Ukraine forced to reject Nato membership and other “multinational deals”.

Negotiations would also begin about ceding control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Eastern Ukraine which are, in part, heavily occupied by Russian troops.

There was confusion last night over whether the talks would focus on territory currently held by the Kremlin invaders, or whether the wider regions were on the table.

Yesterday, EU leaders insisted: “Russia cannot have a veto against Ukraine’s pathway to EU and Nato.”

However, that does not rule out Mr Zelensky deciding to withdraw Ukraine’s stated aim to join both alliances as part of the wider deal.

He will fly to Washington DC on Monday to meet with President Trump at the White House — six months after their disastrous Oval Office bust up, which saw the leader of the free world savage Mr Zelensky live on TV.

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Russia has long claimed Donetsk and Luhansk are more loyal to Moscow than Kyiv, while Mr Zelensky has publicly ruled out giving up the land.

However, he is under massive pressure to concede and end the bloody three-and-a-half year conflict, which has seen more than a million deaths.

European leaders were locked in talks with the White House this weekend, as the world scrambled to catch up with what Mr Trump had offered Mr Putin to end the war.

Last night, UK government sources said the PM was playing a key role in selling the terms of the deal to wider Western allies in a series of calls following the talks between the Americans and Russians.

I welcome the openness of the United States, alongside Europe, to provide robust security guarantees to Ukraine as part of any deal. This is important progress and will be crucial in deterring Putin from coming back for more

Sir Keir Starmer’s statement

President Trump yesterday insisted it is time for Mr Zelensky to choose whether to agree with the terms of the deal — as the pair prepared to meet tomorrow.

The White House has also offered to play host to a trilateral summit between the Russians and Ukrainians if the deal is within reach.

Speaking following Friday’s talks, where he met with his Russian counterpart for the first time in six years, President Trump insisted it was “a great and very successful day in Alaska!”

He wrote on his Truth Social website: “The meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia went very well, as did a late night phone call with President Zelensky of Ukraine, and various European Leaders, including the highly respected Secretary General of Nato.

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“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up. President Zelensky will be coming to D.C., the Oval Office, on Monday afternoon. If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin.

“Potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Last night, President Putin also welcomed progress made at the talks, after leaving the summit without taking questions from hundreds of assembled journalists.

In a televised address released by the Kremlin, he said: “The conversation was very frank, substantive, and, in my opinion, brings us closer to the necessary decisions.”

He added: “We have not had direct negotiations of this kind at this level for a long time. We had the opportunity to calmly and in detail reiterate our position.”

We are clear that Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. No limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces or on its cooperation with third countries. Russia cannot have a veto against Ukraine‘s pathway to EU and NATO

European statement

In a long statement, President Zelensky welcomed the offer of security guarantees outlined by Mr Trump, in a tentative sign he may be willing to sign up to the terms.

He wrote: “A real peace must be achieved, one that will be lasting, not just another pause between Russian invasions. Killings must stop as soon as possible, the fire must cease both on the battlefield and in the sky, as well as against our port infrastructure.

“All Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians must be released, and the children abducted by Russia must be returned.

“Thousands of our people remain in captivity — they all must be brought home. Pressure on Russia must be maintained while the aggression and occupation continue.”

He went on: “In my conversation with President Trump, I said that sanctions should be strengthened if there is no trilateral meeting or if Russia tries to evade an honest end to the war. Sanctions are an effective tool.

“Security must be guaranteed reliably and in the long term, with involvement of Europe and the US.

“All issues important to Ukraine must be discussed with Ukraine’s participation, and no issue, particularly territorial ones, can be decided without Ukraine. I thank our partners who are helping.”

Yesterday the PM was taking part in a round of behind the scenes diplomacy, speaking to the White House and European capitals.

He heaped praise on Mr Trump, saying his “efforts have brought us closer than ever before to ending Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine”.

He went on: “His leadership in pursuit of an end to the killing should be commended.”

But the PM warned: “While progress has been made, the next step must be further talks involving President Zelensky.

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The path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without him. I spoke to President Zelensky, President Trump and other European partners, and we all stand ready to support this next phase.

“I welcome the openness of the United States, alongside Europe, to provide robust security guarantees to Ukraine as part of any deal.

“This is important progress and will be crucial in deterring Putin from coming back for more.

“In the meantime, until he stops his barbaric assault, we will keep tightening the screws on his war machine with even more sanctions, which have already had a punishing impact on the Russian economy and its people. Our unwavering support for Ukraine will continue as long as it takes.”

In a joint statement, Sir Keir and European leaders including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, said: “We are clear Ukraine must have ironclad security guarantees to effectively defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“No limitations should be placed on Ukraine’s armed forces or on its cooperation with third countries.

Russia cannot have a veto against Ukraine‘s pathway to EU and Nato.

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Priti: Trump was right to set up meeting

By Sophia Sleigh

DONALD Trump was right to bring Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table on Friday, says Dame Priti Patel.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary gave her support to the US President’s efforts — while adding that Britain must keep up “tightening the screws” on the Russian tyrant’s regime.

The Tory grandee told The Sun on Sunday: “It is right President Trump has brought Putin to the negotiating table.

“And we support his efforts in ending Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

“Now is the time for the Euro-Atlantic partnership to be stronger than ever in supporting Ukraine, and forcing Putin to end his barbaric war.

“The British government must lead the charge, as we have done, in keeping pressure on Putin through sanctions — and demonstrate we can lead efforts to support Ukraine, and tighten the screws on Russia.”

But others had concerns that no ceasefire had been reached yesterday — even with Mr Trump having warned Putin of “severe consequences” if fighting did not stop.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: “Trump has to tell him to agree to a ceasefire or he will up the ante on sanctions, secondary sanctions and weapons to Ukraine. Putin has to fear what Trump can do — more than his own generals and politicians who would come after him.”

He added that Trump “must understand who Putin is, a KGB man who has one purpose in life — to recreate the Soviet Union”.

Former PM Boris Johnson also said that Trump was right to make a move as Putin was weaker than he seemed owing to the war’s damage to Russia’s economy.

Most Labour MPs remained quiet on the talks. Crossbench peer and intelligence expert Lord Peter Ricketts said they were a “clear win” for Putin.

HANOI — Although the war was hardly mentioned by either side, its presence hovered on the edges of almost every topic as U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Vietnam’s aging leadership met Friday to work toward closer economic and diplomatic relations.

There were the issues of Americans missing in action, and Vietnamese refugees and political prisoners. And there was the presence of Albright herself, on her first visit to Vietnam. Her black sedan with an American flag moving through the streets of what was once the enemy capital received no more notice than a commuter on the way to work.

“There are various things in life I never thought would happen,” she told American and Vietnamese workers at the U.S. Embassy, speaking of the implausibility of such a visit a generation ago. “This is one of them for sure.”

Albright brought with her a list of the steps Vietnam needs to take to achieve the closer economic ties that Hanoi wants with the United States. They include quickening the pace of economic reform, increasing cooperation on accounting for the 1,584 Americans still listed as missing since the war and bolstering respect for human rights.

To some observers, there was irony in the fact that the vanquished were attempting to set an agenda for the victors.

Vietnamese officials, State Department spokesmen said, were receptive to resolving the MIA issue but maintained that their record on human rights cannot be judged by U.S. standards.

“People in Vietnam are saying, ‘We’ve done everything the Americans have asked us to do in every area, and still they don’t give us the trade status we should enjoy as friends,’ ” Le Van Bang, Vietnam’s ambassador to the U.S., said in Washington last week.

Washington and Hanoi have been trying for months to work out a trade agreement that would lead to most-favored-nation status–which all but a few countries enjoy–for Vietnam. U.S. negotiators are seeking a reduction in trade barriers that now limit U.S. business and investment here in return for giving Vietnam more access to U.S. markets.

As a prerequisite for a new trading partnership, the United States wants Vietnam to speed up the processing of 16,000 cases involving Vietnamese who returned home from Asian refugee camps. Washington is considering the resettlement of some of them in the United States but cannot interview individuals until Vietnam has granted them exit permits. The Hanoi government has issued just 359 permits this year, though it had promised to process 1,500 refugees a month.

Albright also asked Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet to release three individuals among the estimated 60 political prisoners that Vietnam is said to be holding: Doan Viet Hoat, Nguyen Dan Que and the Buddhist leader Thich Quang Do.

In her discussions with Kiet and other officials, Albright said, she frequently raised the issues of religious, individual and press freedoms.

When her discussion with Kiet lasted longer than scheduled, she was asked at a news conference how much the war had figured into their talks.

“Interestingly enough,” she said, “there wasn’t a lot of discussion about the war. I very much got the sense . . . there was a great desire to look to the future rather than to the past.”

Significantly, Albright’s first stop in Hanoi was at the compound housing the task force trying to account for missing Americans.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Chase, the unit’s director, told the secretary he believes that Vietnam is making a “full faith” effort to resolve the issue. But he said the Americans need more access to documents and more cooperation in the field.

The recovery campaign costs the United States $10 million a year and is producing diminishing results as more and more service personnel are accounted for. The fate of all but 48 of the missing 1,584 Americans has been “determined,” Chase said, implying that they are believed to be dead.

In the past two years, 40 sets of remains have been identified. But none of the 95 “live sightings” of Americans since 1992 have produced positive results.

Albright’s trip, in pushing speeded-up economic and social reform, took on special significance because Vietnam’s Communist leadership–Kiet, 74; President Le Duc Anh, 76; and Communist Party General Secretary Do Muoi, 80–all intend to step down soon.

Some Western diplomats believe that Vietnam has appeared increasingly uncertain about how far and how fast it wants to move in liberalizing what 10 years ago was a rigid Communist structure. Thus, having a new generation of leadership would be considered particularly significant.

Current and former Facebook leadership reached the agreement with shareholders only one day into the trial.

Mark Zuckerberg and current and former directors and officers of Meta Platforms have agreed to settle claims seeking $8bn for the damage they allegedly caused the company by allowing repeated violations of Facebook users’ privacy.

Zuckerberg and his counterparts reached the agreement on Thursday with shareholders who brought the lawsuit.

The parties did not disclose details of the settlement, and defence lawyers did not address the judge, Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery. McCormick adjourned the trial just as it was to enter its second day, and she congratulated the parties.

The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Sam Closic, said the agreement just came together quickly.

Billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who is a defendant in the trial and a Meta director, was scheduled to testify on Thursday.

Shareholders of Meta sued Zuckerberg, Andreessen and other former company officials, including former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, in hopes of holding them liable for billions of dollars in fines and legal costs the company paid in recent years.

The Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5bn in 2019 after finding that it failed to comply with a 2012 agreement with the regulator to protect users’ data.

The shareholders wanted the 11 defendants to use their personal wealth to reimburse the company. The defendants denied the allegations, which they called “extreme claims”. Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021. The company was not a defendant.

The company declined to comment. A lawyer for the defendants did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“This settlement may bring relief to the parties involved, but it’s a missed opportunity for public accountability,” said Jason Kint, the head of Digital Content Next, a trade group for content providers.

Zuckerberg was expected to take the stand on Monday and Sandberg on Wednesday. The trial was scheduled to run through the end of next week.

The case was also expected to include testimony from former Facebook board members Peter Thiel, Palantir Technologies co-founder, and Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix.

Longstanding concerns

Meta investors alleged in the lawsuit that former and current board members completely failed to oversee the company’s compliance with the 2012 FTC agreement and claim that Zuckerberg and Sandberg knowingly ran Facebook as an illegal data harvesting operation.

The case followed revelations that data from millions of Facebook users was accessed by Cambridge Analytica, a now-defunct political consulting firm that worked for Donald Trump’s successful US presidential campaign in 2016. Those revelations led to the FTC fine, which was a record at the time.

On Wednesday, an expert witness for the plaintiffs testified about what he called “gaps and weaknesses” in Facebook’s privacy policies, but would not say if the company violated the 2012 agreement that Facebook reached with the FTC.

Jeffrey Zients, a former board member, testified on Wednesday that the company did not agree to the FTC fine to spare Zuckerberg legal liability, as shareholders allege.

On its website, the company has said it has invested billions of dollars into protecting user privacy since 2019.

The trial would have been a rare opportunity for Meta investors to see Zuckerberg answer probing questions under oath. In 2017, Zuckerberg was expected to testify at a trial involving a lawsuit by company investors opposed to his plan to issue a special class of Facebook stock that would have extended his control over that company. That case also settled before he took the stand.

“Facebook has successfully remade the ‘Cambridge Analytica’ scandal about a few bad actors rather than an unraveling of its entire business model of surveillance capitalism and the reciprocal, unbridled sharing of personal data,” Kint said. “That reckoning is now left unresolved.”

Meta stock was down 0.4 percent for the day as of 11am in New York (15:00 GMT) and 3.1 percent over the last five days.