thousands

A NATIONWIDE strike across a European country today has already resulted in hundreds of flights being cancelled.

The walkout has affected public transport workers including train staff and cabin crew across Portugal.

The strikes follow a proposed labour legislation change, which they claim are an  “assault on workers’ rights”.

Airlines have been forced to cancel flights already, with TAP Portugal warning earlier this week that 500 flights would be cancelled and only 79 flights would be running.

Nearly 100 flights have been cancelled to and from Lisbon Airport already.

This includes a number of UK arrivals and departures including:

GROUNDED

Major strike action to affect entire European country TOMORROW including flights

GROUNDED

Two European airports cancel ALL flights at short notice due to unexpected strike

• 7:20am Lisbon to London Heathrow with British Airways
• 10:05am London Heathrow to Lisbon with British Airways
• 11am Lisbon to London Heathrow with British Airways
• 2:30pm London Heathrow to Lisbon with British Airways
• 3:15pm Lisbon to London Heathrow with British Airways
• 4:25pm Lisbon to London Heathrow with British Airways
• 11pm London Heathrow to Lisbon with British Airways

EasyJet and Ryanair flights are yet to be affected, but more may be cancelled throughout the day.

Nearly 60 flights to and from Porto Airport have been cancelled, including Ryanair flights, although no UK routes have been affected yet.

Faro Airport is also seeing cancellations , affecting around 40 arrivals and departures.

These include:

• 6:50pm London Gatwick to Faro with British Aiways
• 7pm Leeds to Faro with Ryanair
• 7:35pm Faro to Leeds with Ryanair
• 7:40pm Faro to London Gatwick with British Airways

Along with cancellations, there are lots of delays as well.

easyJet warned passengers that passengers should expect “some disruption” throughout the day.

They told Sun Travel: “Due to a national strike in Portugal on 3 June, like all airlines operating to and from the country we can expect some disruption to our flying programme. 

“We will be doing all we can to minimise the impact of the strike action and will contact customers directly with their options if their flights are affected.

“While this is outside of our control we are sorry for any inconvenience this strike action may cause.”

Other public transport services are also being affected in the country.

Lisbon Metro said no train services will run at all today, wile the Porto Metro will have “limited services”

The strike could also cause problems in the coming days due to a knock on effect.

BRITS save an average of £184 a year by owning a railcard – and there are more options on offer than you might think.

Train tickets can be expensive, and rail journeys throughout the year can seriously add up.

That’s why for many Brits who like to travel by train, it is a no-brainer to sign up for a railcard.

A railcard is a discount card that allows you to save on train tickets you purchase throughout the year.

Owning a railcard saves you 1/3 off rail fares, which really stacks up the savings, whether you’re a daily commuter or occasional train traveller.

There are several different types of railcard you can choose from to maximise your savings, and you may not realise you are eligible.

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There is the standard Network Railcard, which get 1/3 off rail fares for travel in London and the South East, plus options for different age ranges, veterans, disabled travellers and more.

There is the 16-25 Railcard (for anyone between the ages of 16 and 25, or in full time study) or the 26-30 Railcard (for anyone between the ages of 26 and 30).

All of them can be bought on the last day before your birthday, so in theory you can get them until the last day of being 26 and 31, respectively.

The Senior Railcard is for anyone aged 60 and over, while the Veteran’s Railcard is for anyone who has served “one day or more in the UK Armed Forces”.

There is also the Two Together Railcard (for people who often travel together, such as couples or friends) and the Disabled Persons Railcard, which includes a range of criteria.

If you opt for a Family & Friends Railcard, not only do you get 1/3 off of adult travel but you also get 60% off kids tickets.

And if you have a child aged 16 to 17, get them a 16-17 Saver Railcard – their train fares will be slashed by 50%.

For example, a single journey from London Kings Cross to Newcastle costs £54.90 at full-price on Trainline*. But with a standard Railcard discount, this journey would cost £36.55 instead.

If you fancy a day trip out to the seaside, a full-price single from London Blackfriars to Brighton would usually cost you £23.70.

But saving a third with a railcard, the trip would cost just £15.75 – saving you the extra change for some fish and chips on the beach.

Similarly, a single from Birmingham to Weston-super-Mare would cost you £33.05 instead of £49.70.

Most railcards cost £35 for a whole year, meaning that even if you only make a couple of train journeys a year, they can still save you money.

You can make even more savings by buying one that lasts for three years.

The 16-25 Railcard, Senior Railcard, Family and Friends Railcard and Veterans Railcard all have an option to pay £80 for three years of travel – saving you an extra £25.

When you buy a digital railcard with Trainline, it gets sent to you by email and stored in their app – so you don’t have to worry about losing a physical card.

Once you’ve bought the digital railcard, you can use it right away.

The digital railcards can be kept on many types of device and there is no limit to how many devices you can store your railcard on.

Trainline are an official retailer of National Rail, so these railcards can be used across the entire National Rail network of England, Scotland, and Wales.

These include Standard, Advance, Off-Peak and First Class tickets. All railcards other than the Network Railcard let you save on journeys during Peak hours.

According to Trainline, Brits save an average of £184 per year with a Railcard.

Just don’t try and book a trip with a railcard if you don’t have one or it has expired – you can receive a penalty fare of £100 plus the price of your single journey.

*Prices correct at the time of publication.

The student-led movement, which began after the Novi Sad rail station disaster in November 2024, is pushing for early elections.

Tens of thousands of people, led by university students, have rallied in the Serbian capital to protest against the government and call for early elections.

The Novi Sad rail station disaster in November 2024, which killed 16 people, sparked anticorruption protests, calling for a transparent investigation, forcing then-Prime Minister Milos Vucevic to resign.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic later pushed back hard against the protesters.

With students leading the anticorruption movement, the demonstrations have snowballed into a campaign to push Vucic to call early elections.

Vucic said this week that the ballot could be held between September and November this year.

‘Students win’

Protesters streamed into a central square in the capital, Belgrade, from several directions, many carrying banners and wearing T-shirts inscribed with the “Students win” motto of the youth movement.

Columns of cars drove into Belgrade from other Serbian towns earlier in the day.

Protester Maja Milas Markovic said students “managed to gather us here with their youth and wonderful energy; I really believe that we have [the] right to live normally.”

Serbia’s state railway company cancelled all trains to and from Belgrade on Saturday, in a bid to stop at least some of the people from coming from other parts of the Balkan country.

Vucic’s loyalists, meanwhile, gathered in a park camp outside the Serbian presidency building that he set up before another big antigovernment rally last March as a human shield against protesters. Folk music blared from a fenced area surrounded by riot police in full gear.

Students have said their rally will be peaceful. But there are concerns of violent conflict with Vucic’s loyalists, who are often hooded and masked and who have attacked student protesters in the past.

The protests have “huge support from the public, and that’s because they’re an all-encompassing movement … against the government,” Tetyana Kekic, a journalist in Belgrade, told Al Jazeera.

She said the challenge for the protesters is that they do not have a “clear political platform or policies … and they do not have a leader or a personality which could really challenge the president”.

Serbia’s push to join the EU

The Serbian president has faced international scrutiny for his hardline approach towards the demonstrators.

The Council of Europe commissioner for human rights, Michael O’Flaherty, criticised Serbia’s government in a report this week and said he “will monitor the situation closely” on Saturday.

Serbia is formally seeking entry into the European Union, but it has maintained close ties with Russia and China.

The democratic backsliding under Vucic could cost the country about 1.5 billion euros ($1.8bn) in European Union funding, the EU’s top enlargement official warned last month.

The venue on Saturday is Belgrade’s Slavija Square, the scene of a huge antigovernment protest in March 2025. That rally ended in sudden disruption that experts later said – and the government denied – involved the use of a sonic weapon against peaceful demonstrators.

Students now say they plan to challenge Vucic in approaching elections later this year or next, which they hope will oust the right-wing populist government.

Vucic, government officials, and the pro-government media have branded critics as “terrorists” and foreign agents who wish to destroy the country – rhetoric that has ramped up political polarisation.

May 19 (UPI) — The Sandy Fire in Simi Valley, Calif., has spread across more than 1,300 acres Tuesday, putting thousands of people under evacuation orders.

The fire started as a brush fire on Monday morning but spread quickly due to heavy wind gusts. At least one home has been burned.

The California Department of Forest and Fire Protection said Monday night that “fire activity has decreased significantly” due to calmer winds and higher humidity.

“California is mobilizing resources to support Ventura County communities threatened by the Sandy Fire,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “This activation will ensure responders have the support needed to continue protecting lives and homes as dangerous fire conditions persist. We are deeply grateful to the crews on the front lines and urge Californians in impacted areas to follow guidance from local officials.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Fire crews continue to battle the blaze with 750 firefighters working overnight attempting to contain it.

As of 6:11 a.m. PDT on Tuesday the fire had torn through 1,386 acres with zero containment.

No casualties or civilian injuries have been reported.

“We have made tremendous progress on this fire,” said Andrew Dowd, Ventura County Fire Department spokesperson. “Zero percent containment, don’t let that number fool you. A lot of great work has been done.”

An emergency shelter is open at Rancho Santa Susana Community Park in Simi Valley for people needing somewhere to stay overnight.

The Simi Valley Unified School District has closed all schools on Tuesday due to the fire. On Tuesday afternoon, it will determine if schools will reopen on Wednesday.

SCORES of drivers face a new charge at a major Scottish airport as a price increase begins today.

New drop-off charges have been rolled out at Edinburgh Airport, Scotland‘s busiest air hub which was used by 17 million passengers last year.

It will now cost £8.50 for a ten-minute slot to either drop-off or pick someone up near the main terminal.

The fees have been hiked by £2.50 and were rolled out today.

Bosses have also scrapped a 50 per cent discount for people driving electric vehicles to the airport.

Instead, more spaces have been added to the free drop-off area – where motorists can park for free for 30 minutes.

The price hike has been blamed on a surge in business rates.

Airport chiefs claim they have been hit by a hit by a 142 per cent rise – an £8million increase – which was branded “simply unacceptable”.

Edinburgh Airport’s chief executive Gordon Dewar said: “This decision to impose an unplanned and wholly disproportionate £8million rates increase has an immediate and negative impact on our business.

“We made this clear in correspondence with the Lothians Assessor, who set the increase, and in discussions with the Scottish Government, which has endorsed it.

“A 142% increase reduces our ability to invest, grow and compete. In practical terms, it equates to funding around 200 jobs, two aircraft stands, or five new security lanes. It is not a cost that can be absorbed; it must be covered, and trade-offs like this are unfortunately unavoidable.

“Like many across the hospitality and tourism sectors who have seen business rates soar, we have no choice but to pass part of this cost on to passengers.

“We had not planned to raise fees this year, but the absence of a transitional relief scheme – equivalent to that available in England and Wales – leaves us with no alternative.

“We have always accepted that, given our size, we should pay more, but the scale of this increase is simply unacceptable.”

Bosses previously wrote to the Convenor of the Lothian Valuation Joint Board, which sets non-domestic rates, as well as the First Minister and the Public Finance Minister, to outline their concerns.

Mr Dewar added: “We have made clear to both the Assessor and the Scottish Government that a system which produces such markedly different outcomes for comparable assets operating within the same national economy cannot credibly be described as fair, proportionate or fit for a modern Scotland. This systemic inconsistency lies at the heart of our concern.”

It comes just months after Glasgow and Aberdeen airports – both owned by AGS – increased their drop off fees.

It costs £7 for people to park for up to 15 minutes at both of the sites.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The valuation of all non-domestic property is a matter for the Scottish Assessors who are independent of central and local government.
 
“The Scottish Government estimates Edinburgh Airport will, with Transitional Relief,  have a net non-domestic rates bill of around £8.1 million for 2026-27, compared to £5.4 million before revaluation.
 
“The Scottish Government’s Revaluation Transitional Relief protects those most affected at revaluation – including airports – and will cap increases in gross liabilities up to the next revaluation in 2029.”

WASHINGTON — Thousands of people streamed onto the National Mall for a daylong prayer rally Sunday headlined by President Trump and billed as a “rededication of our country as One Nation under God.”

Against the backdrop of the Washington Monument, worship music blared from a stage that made clear the event’s Christian focus. Arched stained-glass windows, set underneath grand columns resembling a federal building, depicted the nation’s founders alongside a white cross.

The nation’s tradition of separating church and state, however, was not on display. Most speakers celebrated Christianity’s ties to American history, a blending of ideas that critics decried before the gathering as Christian nationalism.

Trump read a passage of Scripture in a video shown at the rally. Filmed in the Oval Office, it was the same footage used during a marathon Bible-reading event last month. The verses from 2 Chronicles are often cited by those who claim America was founded as a Christian nation.

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways,” Trump read, “then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Other leading Republicans, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), were also on the schedule for the event, part of the celebrations marking the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Only one name on the Rededicate 250 program was not Christian. Most were among Trump’s longtime evangelical supporters, including Paula White-Cain of the White House Faith Office and evangelist Franklin Graham of Samaritan’s Purse.

“We are deeply concerned that what is really being rededicated is a nation to a very narrow and ideological part of the Christian faith that betrays our nation’s fundamental commitment to religious freedom,” said the Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, a Baptist minister who leads the progressive Christian organization Sojourners.

The conservative Christian lineup featured guests who often assert that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, a narrative disputed by many historians and other religious traditions and inconsistent with American legal precedent.

Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, noted the religious diversity of early America, including Jews, Muslims and Indigenous people. “I want to shine a light on America’s history as a nation that welcomes, celebrates and protects people of all faiths and those of no faith,” Pesner said.

‘It’s all about Jesus’

Many in the crowd wore Trump hats and patriotic colors, joining the festivities under a sweltering sun.

“It’s all about Jesus,” said Denny Smith, 72, of Rhode Island, who rented a motorized scooter to traverse the National Mall.

Retha Bond, a 58-year-old from southern Illinois, said she was here to hear Trump speak nearby on Jan. 6, 2021. She said she did not join the protesters who rioted later that day at the Capitol, attacking police officers while attempting to overturn the presidential election result, but she has remained a steadfast Trump supporter.

“I’m not saying Trump is the savior,” Bond said. But she said that “this is one of the most important things that could be going on in the world, for us to rededicate our nation back to God.”

At least one event speaker mentioned the slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Kirk’s activism has been a powerful example for Alessandra Seawright, 15, of Santa Fe, N.M., who came to Rededicate 250 with her mother.

“I think we just need more of this in our country, and we just need to share the word of the Lord,” she said. “We love going to events like this.”

They also attended Kirk’s memorial service in Arizona, which mixed Christian worship and political messages. Events like these, Seawright said, help her feel less alone in her conservative Christian beliefs.

Prayer event spurs protest

Hegseth, who has infused Christian language and worship with his role leading the Pentagon — drawing criticism — asked the gathering in a video to pray to “our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Referencing George Washington’s faith, he said, “Let us pray without ceasing. Let us pray for our nation on bended knee.”

Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Meir Soloveichik was the only non-Christian religious leader listed on the program. To applause, he told the crowd, “Antisemitism is utterly un-American” — a seeming reference to debates dividing the right.

Soloveichik serves on the Trump administration’s Religious Liberty Commission along with White-Cain, Graham and Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Robert Barron, Catholic clerics also featured on the program.

The event was organized by Freedom 250, a public-private partnership backed by the White House. Congressional Democrats have questioned the nonprofit’s structure and finances, which they see as a Trump-controlled end run around a separate commission charted by Congress a decade ago to prepare semiquincentennial events.

Progressive groups staged counter-programming. Among them were the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which advocates a strict separation of church and state, and the Christian organization Faithful America. The two groups displayed a large balloon near the mall of a Trump-like golden calf, a biblical reference to idolatry.

On Thursday evening, the Interfaith Alliance projected protest slogans onto an exterior wall of the National Gallery of Art. “Democracy not theocracy,” said one. Another said: “The separation of church and state is good for both.”

Stanley writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Peter Smith in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

OFF the coast of Northumberland is a remote, tidal island that you’ll have to time right to visit – as it is cut off from the mainland twice a day.

Called Lindisfarne, or by its other name, Holy Island, it might be familiar to fans of horror movies.

Follow The Sun’s award-winning travel team on Instagram and Tiktok for top holiday tips and inspiration @thesuntravel.

The island off the coast of Northumberland was used to film post-apocalyptic film, 28 Years Later, which came out just last year.

The 2025 movie was about a group of survivors of the rage virus living on a small island starring actors like Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes.

Filming spots included the tidal causeway and Lindisfarne Castle which attracts thousands of visitors every year.

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The National Trust took over the property in 1944 and it has been open to the public ever since.

Inside the castle, visitors can explore the different rooms, including a dining room, a kitchen, and bedrooms, as well as the upper battery, which has panoramic sea views.

In addition to exploring the interior of the castle, there are plenty of other things to see.

Entry to the castle is £14.30 for adults and £7.20 for children (between 5-17).

The island is also referred to as Holy Island, and it got its nickname after becoming the centre of Anglo-Saxon Christianity in the 7th century.

It was home to saints and it’s considered a very religious place.

But for those who want to move away from its history, there’s plenty to do on the island, like visit its coffee roastery, Pilgrims Coffee.

The business first set up in a yurt, but now even has a cosy cafe on the island too serving up caffeine hits and homemade cakes.

The family that runs Pilgrims Coffee moved from the mainland to Holy Island in 2022.

Another spot to visit is St Aidan’s Winery, where Lindisfarne Mead is made, and visitors to the island can pop in for tastings and browse the shop that sells its wine and beer.

The island has around 160 permanent residents, but it does have places for visitors to stay from hotels to holiday lets.

One of the top spots on Tripadvisor for Holy Island is Belvue Guesthouse which sleeps two guests.

One guest on Tripadvisor wrote: “We had such a lovely stay in Belvue, I think it was one of the best guesthouses we have ever been to!”

There are also cosy B&Bs as well as rooms in the local Ship Inn Pub.

The pub dates back to the 18th century with a dedicated dining room and a beer garden to the back.

It has also made an appearance on TV and was featured as the fictional ‘Seahorse Pub’ in ITV’s Vera.

Visitors can walk the historic Pilgrim’s Way or visit the Gertrude Jekyll Garden.

For seal spotting, head to the harbour or the sand flats around Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve where there are thousands of grey seals especially between February and October.

To get to Lindisfarne, you have to cross the causeway from the mainland which is only accessible at low tide from the town of Beal.

While the tides can be predicted, holidaymakers will need to check the crossings on the day on the Northumberland County Council website.

CONCORD, N.H. — A growing effort to raise suspicion about the security of voting systems has kindled a back-to-the-future moment among conservatives in some parts of the U.S.

Republican lawmakers in at least six states have introduced legislation that would require all election ballots to be counted by hand instead of electronic tabulators. Similar proposals have been floated within some local governments, including about a dozen New Hampshire towns and Washoe County in the presidential battleground state of Nevada.

The push for hand-counting ballots comes amid mistrust of elections stoked by many Republicans who advance the false narrative that widespread fraud cost former President Trump reelection in the 2020 contest.

Despite no evidence of widespread fraud or major irregularities, conspiracy theories have proliferated among his allies that voting systems were somehow manipulated to favor Democrat Joe Biden. That has prompted calls to ban electronic tabulators used to scan ballots, record votes and compile race tallies.

“It’s our responsibility, and it should be our desire, to count every vote and to imbue confidence in our citizenry that our elections are fair and free, and that their vote is being counted,” said New Hampshire state Rep. Mark Alliegro, sponsor of a hand-counting bill that is similar to ones proposed in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Washington and West Virginia.

Alliegro said he was motivated by his analysis of recounts in nearly 50 New Hampshire state legislative races, not by the 2020 presidential election.

But some of the bill’s supporters reference the 2020 election to explain why they argue his hand-count legislation is needed. They cite a belief — despite evidence disproving it — that Trump actually won a landslide victory and that cheating is the only way to explain how New Hampshire voters elected a Republican governor and GOP majorities in the Legislature, but then backed Democrats for federal office.

Critics of the proposals to ditch electronic ballot tabulators and return to hand-counting are blunt about what they see as the motivation.

“It’s coming from conspiracy theories and lies,” said Sylvia Albert, director of voting and elections for Common Cause, a nonpartisan group that advocates for expanded voter access. “It’s attempting to lower people’s confidence in elections.”

Albert and others said it’s unrealistic to think election officials can count millions of ballots by hand and report results quickly, given that ballots often include dozens of races. The partisan review last summer of the 2 million ballots cast in Maricopa County, Ariz., which included a hand count, took several months and hundreds of people to complete.

“If you have a jurisdiction with 500 voters, you might be OK. But if you have a jurisdiction with thousands of voters, tens of thousands of voters, hundreds of thousands of voters, it’s just not going to work,” said Jennifer Morrell, a former elections clerk in Colorado and Utah who now advises state and local election officials.

Even in New Hampshire’s small towns, hand-counting is a complicated, lengthy process when a typical ballot might include 50 questions, said Milford Town Clerk Joan Dargie, who spoke against the proposed legislation on behalf of the New Hampshire City and Town Clerks Assn. She estimates her town would have to boost election workers from 200 to 350, and said many of her fellow clerks have said they will quit if they have to tabulate every ballot by hand. “People who are asking to get rid of machines obviously haven’t worked in an election,” she said.

As one example, Cobb County, Ga., performed a hand tally ordered by the state after the 2020 election. It took hundreds of people five days to count just the votes for president on roughly 397,000 ballots, said Janine Eveler, elections director for the county in metro Atlanta. She estimates it would have taken 100 days to count every race on each ballot using the same procedures.

Counting by machine isn’t just faster. Multiple studies have shown it’s also more accurate, said Charles Stewart, professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The first research on the topic was done almost two decades ago, comparing recounts of New Hampshire races that were originally tabulated by hand with those tabulated by machines. In that study and subsequent research, the machines won, he said.

“Counting votes is very tedious. Human beings are bad doing tedious things, and computers are very good at doing tedious things,” Stewart said.

Most states also conduct postelection audits that are designed to identify any irregularities with ballot scanning and counting. But with many Republicans believing Biden was not legitimately elected, election machines have become a popular target.

In Nevada, a Republican county commissioner is pushing a proposal that would require hand-counting of all ballots, along with a return to primarily in-person voting and beefing up uniformed security at polling places.

“I’m 82 years old, and I’ve been through a lot of elections,” said Washoe County Commissioner Jeanne Herman. “I know that something is not right.”

The proposal has drawn opposition from other commissioners, the biggest labor union in the state and a rare front-page editorial in the largest newspaper in northern Nevada, which said the measure could cost taxpayers “millions of dollars to chase down Facebook rumors of illusory election fraud.”

In West Virginia, a bill to repeal the state law governing tabulation machines died in committee earlier this month. In Missouri, lawmakers have not yet acted on a proposal that would ban electronic voting machines and tabulation equipment and require hand-counting to be livestreamed and recorded.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Rep. Mitch Boggs Jr., said he has no proof elections have been manipulated but is responding to constituent concerns.

“You file what the constituents are asking for,” Boggs said. “But at the end of the day, what they’re really wanting is just the transparency. They want to know that our elections are secure.”

Republican state Rep. Petty McGaugh said the legislation would delay election results and likely undermine their accuracy. When she became clerk of rural Carroll County in 1995, election staff were still hand-counting ballots by marking tallies in blocks of five on paper. She noticed multiple errors and eventually switched the county to an electronic tabulation system.

“I don’t really think that in this day and age we need to go back to hand-counting where it’s so susceptible to human error,” she said. “We’ve got to start trusting electronics and computers.”

In New Hampshire, that message seems to have gotten through. Last week, a state House committee unanimously recommended killing the hand-counting legislation and voters in nine towns where the question was on the ballot in local elections rejected it.

Spain, Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland and Slovenia all withdrew in protest against Israel’s participation in the midst of its war on Gaza.

As the Eurovision Song Contest took to the stage for the Saturday night final in Vienna, thousands protested outside against Israel’s inclusion, and five countries boycotted the event over the genocidal war on Gaza.

Protesters marched through the Austrian capital to highlight what critics described as a double standard. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) organisers refused to exclude Israel, despite banning Russia following its invasion of Ukraine four years ago.

Eurovision, which attracted 166 million viewers last year, is seeing the largest boycott in its 70-year history.

Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland and Slovenia all withdrew because of Israel’s inclusion, with some of their national broadcasters refusing to air the show.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who has emerged as one of Israel’s strongest critics in Europe, said on Friday that the decision puts Spain on “the right side of history”.

Last month, more than 1,000 artists called on fans to boycott Eurovision in an open letter against Israel’s participation. Among the artists were outspoken critics of Israel, Macklemore and Paloma Faith. Macklemore has released songs protesting against Israel’s war in Gaza.

Double standards

On Monday, Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnes Callamard denounced the EBU for allowing Israel to participate.

“The failure of the European Broadcasting Union to suspend Israel from Eurovision, as it did with Russia, is an act of cowardice and an illustration of blatant double standards when it comes to Israel,” she said.

Reporting from Vienna, Al Jazeera’s Charlie Angela said 2,000 demonstrators gathered in the city earlier on Saturday to protest against Israel’s participation.

Angela reported that protesters accused the competition of normalising Israel’s actions in Gaza, adding that Eurovision was “bending over backwards” to justify including Israel while excluding Russia.

Russia has faced a widespread cultural boycott following the Ukraine invasion. It is banned from international football tournaments, and FIFA and UEFA have excluded Russian domestic teams from all competitions, including the Champions League.

The winner of Eurovision will be selected by both a professional jury and TV viewers voting for their favourite act.

Austria won the competition last year, with Israel second.

The Israeli government was later accused of unfairly influencing voting. New rules have since been introduced.

Hours after hunkering down during Russia’s most intense Shahed-136 drone barrage of the war, the head of the country’s defense technology incubator spoke with us about the interceptor drones his country developed to defend against them.

Some of these small munitions cost about $1,000 a piece and can reach speeds of nearly 200 miles per hour. Some also have AI-assisted guidance. They have proven to be a far cheaper alternative to effectors like Patriot interceptors – costing more than $5 million a piece – and even far less advanced missiles for downing Shaheds, which have caused widespread destruction across Ukraine for years. In an hour-long interview, Brave1 CEO Andrii Hrytseniuk talked about how Ukraine developed Shahed interceptors, their effectiveness and the growing interest from the U.S. – which produced its own drone-killing interceptor that Ukraine has used – and other allies. He also spoke about Ukraine’s burgeoning uncrewed ground vehicle industry, which we will discuss in the second part of this interview.

Some of the questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

In total, we have more than 150 Ukrainian companies who are producing interceptors. And these are interceptors of different architecture. Some are small rocket type first-person view (FPV) drones. In some cases, they resemble small planes. In some cases, they resemble big planes. Some of them are X wings, like a combination between FPV and fixed wing. We use different varieties in different regions and different conditions. 

Q: How do you determine which interceptors are right for the job?

A: As an example, in case the Shaheds are coming from the Black Sea, where we have Odessa and other cities on the coast, small interceptors are used only in the last kilometers. The planes are used like loitering munitions, flying for hours and when they find a Shahed, they destroy it.

We need some interceptors that are capable of flying for hours and for hundreds of kilometers. For some, we need just a small diameter zone of protection.

Q: Given the success you’ve had with interceptor drones, have the U.S. and allies in the Gulf reached out, considering the death and destruction caused by Shahed drones launched by Iran?

You can see video of one of those attacks below.

A: I am permanently discussing and we are involved in discussion of interceptors and the potential of interceptors. And of course, it’s one of the top priorities for all countries to build the capability to use interceptors.

Ukraine is able to produce more than 2,000 interceptors per day, and this is not a maximum per day, more than 2,000. And for us, this is not a threshold, not a limit. In the case of export contracts and procurements, we can do much more than 2,000 per day. As an example, during the terroristic attack of Russia, they used more than 1,300 Shaheds and this was just during the last 24 hours. So of course, we need to have a huge number of interceptors.

Q:  Did you use more than 1,000 interceptors to defend against them?

A: I will not share details of how many Shaheds were destroyed by interceptors or other types of weapons, but in total, we were able to hit 97% of all Shaheds. This is the public information from our air defense command.

The following video shows some of the aftermath of the recent Russian Shahed barrage.

Search and rescue operations are ongoing in Kyiv following a Russian strike on a residential apartment building.

As of now, five people have been killed by Russia, and more than 10 people remain missing.

Around 40 people were injured in the attack, while 28 have been rescued… pic.twitter.com/n7z2mB42lu

— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) May 14, 2026

Q: So when the U.S. and allies ask for help, what do you tell them and what is the current status of exports? The last time I wrote about this issue, the law prevented exports.

A: Brave1 works with Ukrainian and international companies to build and test solutions. We are not deeply involved in export questions. So I cannot comment here, because I’m not aware of the current status.

Q: The U.S. sent its own interceptor drones, the Merops system, to Ukraine in 2024. It proved so effective that it was sent to the Middle East to protect U.S. assets during the now-paused war against Iran. How much, if anything, did Ukraine learn from it?

A: Most successful defense manufacturers learned from our military and Brave1 – both Ukrainian manufacturers, and Merops. Without the direct input of the Ukrainian military and experts, Merops would never have become such a high-performing system, as it is now.

Q: What can you tell me about the relationship between Ukraine and the U.S. and allies as a result of what’s taking place in the Middle East?

A: It’s extremely interesting, and a lot of questions are coming to us, and we are sharing our experience.

Q: Have you had direct conversations with the U.S. military?

A: We are working with the majority of our allied countries. We have calls, sessions, conferences where we are sharing our experience, and the results of Brave1 transforming and improving the Ukrainian defense industry. Everyone is interested. This is the magic that it’s possible to do in such a short period of time. Right now, in Brave1, we have more than 2,300 different Ukrainian companies that are building weapons. And when the war started, it was a majority of state run companies and a very small number of private companies, and right now there is a huge list of companies.

Ukraine’s $2,000 Drone Is Destroying Russia’s $50,000 Shaheds. And Everyone Wants It

Q: You told me that Ukraine has a wide variety of interceptor drones, from the small ones to the bigger ones. How many different kinds of interceptors do the U.S. and allies need to defend against what Iran was launching?

A: I believe that the minimum is 10.

Q: 10? Why?

A: It takes 10 different types of architecture. For us, it’s important to have more different products, because it creates competition between Ukrainian companies, and they are much quicker, building new innovations, and they run faster to get ahead of the competitors – of their rivals. Also, it’s important to have not only interceptors. Interceptors themselves do nothing. This is the combination of variety of technologies, radars, permanent control system, the navigation systems, the systems for remote control, because the soldiers operating them should be not on the front line. They need to be in shelters. So this is the variety of different sub technologies, and as a whole, this is the segment of drone-based aerial defense.

Q: Wild Hornets, for instance, claims its Sting interceptor can be operated by soldiers from 2,000 kilometers away. How common is that?

A: Right now our pilots are able to manage interceptors from any place in the world.

Wild Hornets 2,000 Km

Q: Could pilots at the Tampa, Florida headquarters of U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military efforts in the Middle East, operate interceptor drones?

A: Let’s imagine I’m sending my pilot to the U.S. on a business trip and something happens, and my pilot will be needed to manage interceptors. He will be able to do it from New York or California.

Q: Getting back to the 10 different kinds of interceptor drones the U.S. and allies need. What different kinds? What are the differences?

A: Interceptors against ISR drones. Interceptors against Shahed heavyweight kamikaze drones. Interceptors against decoys. Interceptors that are capable of flying extremely high. Interceptors that are capable of increasing their speed to catch jet kamikazes. Interceptors that can throttle very quickly. Interceptors that have a long flight time and can fly a long distance. So there are a variety of different interceptors.

Q: How do you use AI?

A: We have a very responsible attitude about the ethical aspects of AI. Human-in-the-loop sometimes is used, but mostly we use human-on-the-loop where it’s a synchronous usage of human to arm, disarm, to cancel decisions, but not the human-in-the-loop where we need to wait for the human decisions, because speed of decisions should be taken into account. The effective hitting of Shahed drones is much higher when the human is not in the loop, but on the loop.

Q: Has Ukraine learned any lessons watching the U.S. and its allies defend against Iranian Shahed drones?

A: That’s the best question from all my interviews, for the last period of time. I can tell this subjectively from myself, not a representative of Brave1 or the country. One of the main lessons is that you should never be sure that you are secure enough and your technologies are perfect, because you don’t know what is in the pocket of your enemy. And you always need to be ready for the worst case scenario and permanently improve the level of readiness to counteract or react to absolutely non-predictable different things. And the speed of your reaction is crucial.

You can see one such Iranian Shahed attack on U.S. forces in the following video.

Video footage filmed by an American servicemember of an Iranian one-way attack drone, likely a Shahed-136, nearly impacting a radar tower at a U.S. military base in the Middle East earlier this week, possibly located at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. pic.twitter.com/zsPyuFXK1c

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 8, 2026

Q: Is there anything in particular you’ve seen about the performance of Iranian drones against the U.S., Israel, the UAE and other countries that surprises you and that you need to develop new ways to defeat them?

A: No. As you know, there is a strong cooperation between Russia and Iran, and Iranian technologies appear to have been used on the battlefield by Russia, and I’m sure vice versa as well.

Q: Have you seen anything different about how Iran is using these drones?

A: I didn’t see anything different. The things that I saw were the same, but I’m not a military expert. We are focusing on technologies.

You can see Iran’s Shahed drone attack on the U.S. Navy’s facility in Bahrain on the opening day of the war below.

Q: What about Ukrainian companies? How closely are they watching this conflict, and when they talk to you, are they saying anything about what they’ve learned and can use to improve Ukrainian weapons?

A: Everyone would like to help. And because we see that Ukraine, this is the only country who knows – and proven for years – how to defend itself against Russian new technologies. And of course, for us, it’s very painful to see because we have this experience. We know what to do, but all these tens of millions [of] people are facing these problems, but we could help.

Q: In March, President Donald Trump said: ‘We don’t need their help in drone defense. We know more about drones than anybody. We have the best drones in the world, actually.’ What do you think about that?

A: I cannot comment.

Q: Would you say there was a difference in the level of interest from the U.S. and allies at the beginning of the war to now? 

A: Of course, absolutely different interest. Previously, it was almost zero interest. And right now, this is number one topic.

Q: What advice would you give to the U.S. about defeating Shaheds?

A: Number one is, do not believe that you have plenty of time, a lot of time for preparation. The time is gone. The second one is cost matters. And the expenses for defense should be less than the expenses of your enemy to attack you. Number three is permanently focus on asymmetrical solutions.

Q: Like what?

A: When Ukraine didn’t have enough air defense missiles, we invented interceptors (drones). When we had a lack of 155mm ammunition, we invented FPV drones. When we had a lack of helicopters, we invented drone bombers. We had a lack of naval fleet, so we invented naval drones. 

And we see that such tremendous change of new technologies on the battlefield posed a lot of different new innovations everywhere, and we are the Ukrainian government cluster that analyzes all military ideas of different industry players. We see that every month the number of ideas is increasing, nothing. This is just opening new doors to a new era of new technologies.

Q: Have interceptor drones been able to replace those fired by high-end systems like the Patriot air defense system and others?

A: No. It’s not about replacement. Interceptors will never replace Patriot. Patriot is a great technology, the best in the world missiles for protection against ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles. But of course, it absolutely doesn’t make any sense to use it against Shaheds. It’s extremely expensive, extremely it is overkill.

In our next installment, Hrytseniuk talks about how Ukraine plans to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky’s directive to produce 50,000 uncrewed ground vehicles this year.

Contact the author: howard@TWZ.com

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Thousands of people rallied Saturday in the cradle of the modern civil rights movement to mobilize a new voting rights era as conservative states dismantle congressional districts that helped secure Black political representation.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey called Montgomery “sacred soil” in the fight for civil rights.

“If we in our generation do not now do our duty, we will lose the gains and the rights and the liberties that our ancestors afforded us,” Booker said in the Alabama capital.

The crowd was led in chants of “we won’t go back” and “we fight.”

“We are not going down without a fight. We are not going down to Jim Crow maps,” Shalela Dowdy, a plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case said, alluding to racial gerrymandering in several states that has followed the recent Supreme Court decision to roll back the Voting Rights Act.

A crowd of thousands gathered in front of the city’s historic Alabama Capitol, where the Confederacy was formed in 1861 and where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in 1965 at the end of the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march. The stage, set in front of the Capitol, was flanked from behind by statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and civil rights icon Rosa Parks — dueling tributes erected nearly 90 years apart.

Speakers said the spot was once the temple of the Confederacy and transformed into holy ground of the civil rights movement.

Some in the crowd said the effort to redraw lines has echoes of the past.

“We lived through the ’60s. It takes you back. When you think that Alabama’s moving forward, it takes two steps back,” said Camellia A. Hooks, a 70-year-old Montgomery resident.

The rally began in Selma, where a violent clash between law enforcement and voting rights activists in 1965 galvanized support for passage of the Voting Rights Act. It then moved to the state Capitol, where King gave his “How Long, Not Long” speech the same year.

The Supreme Court ruling involving Louisiana hollowed out a tenet of the Voting Rights Act that was already weakened by a separate high court decision in 2013 and then narrowed further over the years. That helped clear the way for stricter voter ID laws, registration restrictions and limits on early voting and polling place changes, including in states that once needed federal pre-clearance before they could change voting laws because of their historical discrimination against Black voters.

Veterans of the civil rights movement are alarmed by the speed of the rollbacks, noting that protections won through generations of sacrifice have been weakened in little more than a decade.

Kirk Carrington, 75, was a teen in 1965 when law enforcement officers attacked marchers in Selma on what became known as Bloody Sunday. A white man on a horse wielding a stick chased Carrington through the streets on that day, he said.

“It’s really just appalling to me and all the young people that marched during the ’60s, fought hard to get voting rights, equal rights and civil rights,” Carrington said. “It’s sad that it’s continuing after 60-plus-odd years that we are still fighting for the same thing we fought for back then.”

The effect in Montgomery

Montgomery is home to one of the congressional districts that is being altered in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.

A federal court in 2023 redrew Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District after ruling that the state intentionally diluted the voting power of Black residents, who make up about 27% of its population. The court said there should be a district where Black people are a majority or near-majority and have an opportunity to elect their candidate of choice.

But the Supreme Court cleared the way for a different map that could let the GOP reclaim the seat. While the matter remains under litigation, the state plans special primaries Aug. 11 under the new map.

Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures, who won election in the district in 2024, said the dispute is not about him but rather people’s opportunity to have representation.

“When Republicans are literally turning back the clock on what representation, what the faces of representation look like, what the opportunities, legitimate opportunities for representation look like across this country, then I think it starts to resonate with people in a little bit of a different way,” Figures said.

Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, a Republican, said the Louisiana ruling provided an opportunity to revisit a map that was forced on the state by the federal court.

“People tend to forget what happened. When this thing went to court, the Republican Party had that seat, congressional seat 2,” Ledbetter said last week. “There’s been a push through the courts to try to overtake some of these red state seats, and that’s certainly what happened in that one.”

Evan Milligan, the lead plaintiff in the Alabama redistricting case, said there is grief over the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act, but it is crucial that people recommit to the fight.

“We have to accept that this is the new reality, whether we like it or not,” Milligan said. “We don’t have to accept that this will be the reality for the next 10 years or two years or forever.”

Chandler writes for the Associated Press.

Thousands of protesters marched through central London on Saturday to mark the 78th anniversary of the Nakba, the forcible displacement of 800,000 Palestinians during the creation of Israel in 1948.

British capital sees heightened security as right wing rally takes place at the same time as Nakba Day march.

Tens of thousands of people are marching through central London in two separate protests – one pro-Palestine demonstration a day after Nakba Day, and the other, a far-right rally staged by Tommy Robinson.

Police in the British capital deployed 4,000 officers, including reinforcements from ⁠outside the city, on Saturday and pledged “the most assertive possible use of our powers” in what they called their biggest public order operation in years.

Armoured vehicles, horses, dogs, drones and helicopters were also deployed to manage the separate protest marches, the UK Metropolitan Police said.

By 1200 GMT, shortly after both marches started, police said they had made 11 arrests for a range of offences. They had earlier forecast ⁠turnout of at least 80,000 – about 50,000 at Robinson’s “Unite the Kingdom” march, and 30,000 more expected to go to the Nakba Day rally.

Authorities had imposed various conditions on the two rallies over their routes and timings, in a bid to keep rival attendees apart.

Prosecutors were told to consider whether certain protest placards or chants may amount to offences and stir up aggression during the rallies.

“This is not about restricting free speech,” said the Crown Prosecution Service’s director, Stephen Parkinson. “It is about preventing hate crime and protecting the public, particularly at a time of heightened tensions.”

The police force, which estimates its operation will cost 4.5 million pounds ($6m), warned in a statement that it would adopt “a zero-tolerance approach”. That includes, for the first time, making organisers legally responsible for ensuring invited speakers do not break hate speech laws.

The British government earlier blocked 11 foreign nationals from entering the country for the “Unite the Kingdom” rally. Right-wing figures claiming to have been barred include Polish politician Dominik Tarczynski, Belgian politician Filip Dewinter, Colombian-American anti-Islam commentator Valentina Gomez and Dutch activist Eva Vlaardingerbroek.

On the eve of demonstrations, Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned: “Anyone who sets out to wreak havoc on our streets, to intimidate or threaten anyone … can expect to face the full force of the law.”

Starmer – facing intense pressure within his ruling Labour party to quit after far-right Reform UK scored huge wins in local elections last week – accused the organisers of Saturday’s far-right rally of “peddling hatred and division”.

Last September, far-right activist Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – drew about 110,000 people into central London for a similar rally proclaiming “national unity, free speech and Christian values”.

X owner Elon Musk addressed that event, which shocked many in the UK for its scale, directness, and clashes between participants and police, which injured dozens of officers.

Meanwhile, the Stand Up to Racism group has combined its antifascism march with the pro-Palestine event to mark Nakba Day, held annually on March 15 to commemorate the 1948 mass expulsion of Palestinians from their land during the establishment of the state of Israel.

The Met said live facial recognition would be used for the first time to police the protests.

THERE’S nothing worse than coming home from holiday to be hit with massive data roaming charges from your mobile provider.

As thousands of Brits head off on their summer hols, many are still being caught out by unexpected data roaming fees.

Get 5% off Holafly eSIMs with discount code THESUNHOLA5

It’s easy to slip into ‘holiday mode’ abroad and fire off a WhatsApp message or check Google Maps, forgetting that every click is racking up a massive bill behind the scenes.

And even if you have a roaming pass from your mobile provider, the monthly cost can be eye-watering – and that’s if they cover your destination at all.

Thankfully, an eSIM from Holafly can help you avoid those unexpected fees.

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The eSIMs start from just £2.99 and offer unlimited data – so no need to keep checking if you’ve nearly hit your data limit.

Plus, Sun readers can bag an extra 5% off an eSIM by using the coupon code THESUNHOLA5.

The code also gets you 10% off monthly plans. These are great if you’re a regular traveller, as they offer you unlimited data globally from £38.95 a month.

Once you buy your eSIM, it arrives via email and WhatsApp instantly.

You simply scan the QR code, or if you’re on iOS 17.4+, you can install it in one simple tap.

It’s easy-peasy and keeps your regular SIM (and WhatsApp number) active, so you won’t miss any messages from home.

And if you’re wondering whether Holafly covers the destination you’re headed to? It’s pretty likely that they do.

The eSIM company have expanded the amount of places they cover to over 200 destinations worldwide.

Whether you’re hitting European hotspots like Spain, France, and Italy, or going long-haul to the USA, Canada, Australia and beyond, you can stay online from the moment you land.

Other providers slap you with fair usage limits that can soon run out – but Holafly offers unlimited data.

There are no hidden fees, so don’t expect any unexpected charges or texts telling you you’ve gone over the limit.

Get 5% off Holafly eSIMs with discount code THESUNHOLA5

How to get your discounted Holafly eSIM

Getting set up with Holafly is incredibly simple, all you’ll need to do is:

1. Download the Holafly app.
2. Browse 200+ destinations and pick how many days you’ll need it for. If you’re travelling in a group, you can even buy everyone’s in one go.
3. Buy your eSIM (saving 5% with code THESUNHOLA5) and activate in seconds via QR code or one-tap install – then enjoy your unlimited data abroad!

With eSIMs, you can forget hunting for a paperclip to poke into your phone or queuing at an airport kiosk for an expensive local SIM card.

Holafly eSIMs saves you the faff of inserting a physical sim card – instead, you can buy and install via the app.

Plus some countries are slowly ditching physical sim cards, meaning eSIMs are the way forward.

For example, starting with the iPhone 14, Apple iPhones in the USA only work with eSIMs and no longer accept physical SIM cards.

When you pick up yours, make sure to use our exclusive code at checkout to bag a saving: THESUNHOLA5.

Don’t get caught out this summer – get your eSIM sorted before you hit the runway.

Get 5% off Holafly eSIMs with discount code THESUNHOLA5

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A WOMAN was left £900 out of pocket and missed her own 50th birthday abroad because of a passport mistake STILL being made by thousands.

Ali Burridge, from Suffolk, was due to fly to Benidorm with 15 of her friends during the May bank holiday weekend for celebrate her big birthday.

Having spent £900 on flights and accommodation, she ran into problems after arriving at the airport

Staff behind the counter at London Stansted gave her the “heartbreaking” news that she couldn’t board the plane due to a passport rule she had “no idea about”.

The rules, which have been in place since the UK left the EU, no longer allows passports to be older than 10 years – unlike previous rules which let you roll up to nine months over.

Thousands of Brits have been caught out by the confusing rule, which is when your expiry date is actually incorrect.

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This also caught Ali out, who bought her passport before the new rules and meant she didn’t realise the extra time on her passport was no longer valid.

She said: “It was awful when I was told the news, to be honest, I’m still in shock.

“I had been looking forward to this since my 40th birthday – we had spent the previous year organising it all. In reality, the rule has cost me money and memories.”

Her sister Tracey said the girls were “in tears” after they landed and heard the news, with them travelling out on an earlier flight.

Ali also said that no issues were raised on the website when she checked in two weeks before, despite it asking for her expiry date.

She continued: “If it had flagged the issues, I would have been able to get a new one, which is annoying.”

Despite driving to Peterborough with an attempt to get a new one at the Passport Office, she was unable to in time for her trip.

Instead, she was forced to stay home whilst some of her friends that had already made it out there enjoyed the sun – who managed to FaceTime her while out there.

She added: “I still know and see a lot of people travelling on the old passport, so I want to raise awareness so this doesn’t happen to others.

“You could be easily caught out like me if you don’t travel often. I’m seeing this situation as a valuable life lesson.”

Thousands of protesters gathered in India’s northeastern Manipur state to mark three years since ethnic violence erupted in May 2023 between the majority Meitei and minority Kuki-Zo communities. The conflict, driven by disputes over land and political power has killed nearly 260 people and displaced around 60,000.

Studies show extreme rain has become more frequent in country, as Pernambuco and Paraiba states again battered.

At least six people have died in heavy rains in northeastern Brazil, with thousands more displaced, according to authorities.

The deaths were reported in the Pernambuco and Paraiba states on Saturday, following two days of rain.

In Pernambuco, flooding and landslides were reported in Recife, the state capital. At least two people were confirmed killed in the city. Two others were killed in nearby Olinda.

About 1,500 were displaced by the storms.

In Paraiba, the state capital, Joao Pessoa and the city of Campina Grande were among the hardest hit. At least two people were confirmed killed in the state, with 1,500 displaced.

The ⁠National Center for Risk and ⁠Disaster Management said it issued 22 emergency alerts during the rain.

“Due to the impacts in Pernambuco and Paraiba and the ⁠weather forecast for the region, the operational level was raised to ⁠maximum alert,” it said.

The ministry reported that rain had eased on Saturday, but urged continued vigilance.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ‌said on X that he had spoken with local authorities to offer support.

“The government continues to monitor ‌the ‌situation to provide all necessary assistance,” he added.

A study released last year by the Brazilian Alliance for Ocean Culture found that rain disasters, including flooding and landslides, tripled in Brazil from 1991 to 2023.

In February, at least 64 people were killed in floods and landslides in Minas Gerais state.

In 2024, at least 183 people were killed in flooding in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

In 2022, 233 people were killed in flooding in the city of Petropolis in southeastern Brazil.

Three months later, at least 130 people were killed in heavy rains in Recife.

April 25 (UPI) — Two wildfires in Georgia have burned thousands of acres and dozens of homes over a couple of days amid extreme drought in the Southeast.

The fires — the Highway 82 Fire in Brantley County and the Pineland Road Fire in Clinch County — have between them scorched more than 40,000 acres and destroyed at least 120 homes, ActionNewsJax and CBS News reported.

Each of the two fires is roughly 10% contained, and are among a host of blazes being fought in southeast Georgia and northeast Florida, where the weather is not expected to cool off any time soon.

“So we got the two most dangerous, biggest, problematic fires anywhere in the United States in the small area we’re having to fight,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp told reporters on Friday.

“We need a change in the weather, but until we get that, we’re just going to stay after these fires and do everything we can to get them contained,” he said.

The Highway 82 fire, which grew overnight by a few thousand acres, has destroyed around 90 homes and businesses, is thought to have been started by a mylar balloon landing on a power line that started to spark, News4Jax reported.

The Highway 82 Fire so far has burned nearly 10,000 acres, prompting mandatory evacuations in some parts of Brantley County and voluntary evacuations across the entire county, according to reports.

Brantley’s county manager, Joey Cason, told reporters that strong winds are expected in the area later today and recommended that people follow mandatory evacuation orders if they are issued.

The Pineland Road Fire, which is burning on what is privately owned forest, was started by sparks from somebody welding a gate, ABC News reported.

That fire has already burned more than 32,000 acres and is experiencing the same weather conditions as neighboring Brantley County.

BRITS have been stuck in huge three hour queues in Spain in recent weeks due to new European entry rules, EES.

But new border rules are set to make it much easier for thousands of holidaymakers.

Whilst Spain hasn’t followed Greece which has temporarily lifted biometric checks , airports are set to help relieve the horrendous waits.

The Spanish airport authority AENA has instructed staff to assist the most vulnerable passengers including families with young children and people with disabilities.

According to reports in the Spanish press, they will allow anyone in these groups to go straight through to passport control if the wait for the new biometric machines is more than 25 minutes.

Brits have been reporting waits for hours because the queues are so long with hundreds of frustrated passengers in them.

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Many have missed their flights because they could not check in on time, with suitcases unloaded and planes taking off without them.

Greece says it isn’t prepared to put up with the situation caused by the new European Union rules and has temporarily suspended biometric checks.

The airports of Palma in Majorca, Málaga, Alicante, Madrid and Barcelona have all confirmed their technology is working properly.

However, they also admit that the volume of passengers at busy times outweighed the capacity, often happening when a number of UK flights land at the same time.

Airport staff have been told to divert families and passengers with reduced mobility to the traditional passport stamping queues if they have to wait 25 minutes at biometrics.

They can also stagger flight arrivals in consultation with AENA’s flight arrival team.

The measures are being described as an adjustment not a suspension.

It’s not just Spain, as there are lots of other airports that have seen massive queues.

Schipol in Amsterdam as well as Faro and Lisbon in Portugal have all seen holidaymakers left stuck at security with a huge backlog of people.

The new travel rules require all non-EU nationals to register their biometrics instead of having their passport stamped at border control.

And our travel expert gave two of her top tips on how to avoid the EES chaos.

In the aftermath of a recent data breach that saw hackers make off with a vast trove of confidential police records, Los Angeles leaders have sought an explanation from the city’s top lawyer, whose office was targeted.

What they have gotten so far, according to Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, are answers that only leave more questions.

In an interview, Jurado said she had expected City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto to appear before the Government Operations committee this week, but instead had received an internal report offering a “high level view” of the breach that left many key details unaddressed.

“When did the city attorney’s office become aware, what actions were taken, and why were city officials not notified promptly?” Jurado said. “Right now, we’re still left to question and trying to assemble the information.”

The Times reported the existence of the hack last week, prompting further scrutiny by public officials — some of whom, like Jurado, said they hadn’t previously been informed. Since then, The Times has reviewed an inventory of 337,000 files that were compromised.

The documents amount to millions of pages, and appear to mostly come from civil lawsuits against the city that have been resolved in court. They range in nature from trip-and-fall cases to police excessive force.

During a brief discussion at the council committee Tuesday morning, Jurado said she had received information that an internal link used by the city attorney’s office to access the files had been clicked at least 5,000 times on the first day of the breach, which is thought to have occurred sometime in March.

The files were not secured by a password, according to sources who spoke previously with The Times and requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation. A senior police official last week assured the department’s civilian bosses, the Police Commission, that none of the department’s own systems had been compromised.

Jurado said she wanted answers for why and how the city had managed to leave exposed sensitive records, such as medical reports, autopsy photos and witness names.

“It’s just horrific to think that that was out there,” Jurado said.

The city attorney’s office responded to questions from The Times by referring to a public report issued April 17, which said a preliminary investigation indicated that “the incident was contained to that third-party environment, and that no other City applications, systems, or department records were accessed or affected.”

The report noted that the hackers teased “small samples” of the data on its dark web site over a week starting March 20, before publishing the whole thing on March 27. The data were taken down after about eight hours, and then reappeared again twice in early April, the report said.

In a separate letter to the police union, the office said it would begin notifying people whose information was compromised “without unreasonable delay.”

The inventory reviewed by The Times shows personnel files for LAPD officers who were accused of using excessive force against a Black military veteran during a traffic stop in 2021. Another file included the identities of witnesses who saw a man die after LAPD officers knelt on him during an arrest, the records reviewed by The Times showed.

Thousands of hours of uncut body camera footage were released. There were also medical records from thousands of cases in which police and other city employees were accused of misconduct. At least 1,060 of the files are labeled as confidential, the inventory says.

The city attorney’s office has said that it alerted senior LAPD officials and the city’s IT department as soon as they discovered the leak, and has in the weeks since been in regular contact with other city departments to assess the scope of the leak. The FBI has begun investigating the matter.

The situation has already cost Feldstein Soto, who is up for reelection, the endorsement of the powerful union for the LAPD’s rank-and-file officers, which withdrew its support after accusing the city attorney of failing to disclose the full extent of the breach.

The leak follows Feldstein Soto’s efforts to weaken the state’s public records law after the release of many police officer photos and other materials, which she demanded be returned.

Several attorneys whose cases were included in the list of compromised files told The Times they have not yet heard from city officials. Some said they could foresee the records leaked being used as justification to reopen old cases — or initiate new ones.

“I’m curious to know what exactly it is that the city attorney’s office had that they may not have disclosed to us in discovery,” Arnoldo Casillas, an attorney for the family of Eric Rivera, a 20-year-old man whose family sued after he was killed by police in Wilmington in 2017 and whose files are among those included in the leak, according to the inventory reviewed by The Times.

The case was later dismissed, but the family has filed an appeal.

Other attorneys whose lawsuits against the city and LAPD were listed among the hacked materials said they wanted to know exactly what was included in the files.

Robert Glassman, who successfully sued for $18 million last year on behalf of two elderly brothers who were badly injured when a speeding LAPD squad car broadsided their vehicle, said he also hadn’t heard from the city attorney’s office.

“You’d think that they would notify [the affected parties] and tell them that they’re working to get their information back,” he said.

Experts said similar cyberattacks on government offices across the country have shown it can take months or years for the dust to fully settle and the full scope of the damage to emerge.

James E. Lee, president of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit organization that provides advice and assistance related to identity theft, said last year alone the center documented an all-time high of 3,322 hacks.

That’s almost certainly an undercount, given the number of cases that go undetected or unreported, Lee said. Of the recorded incidents, roughly 165 targeted government agencies — up from 47 in 2020, he said.

In the past, according to Lee, many attacks of government entities were carried out by state-sponsored actors, but the emergence of AI-powered hacking tools have allowed everyday people to carry off such incursions.

“They want data that they can repurpose: anything that’s going to have financial information, anything that’s going to have driver’s license information is going to be very valuable to them,” he said.

Matthew McNicholas, a lawyer who has represented many officers in their lawsuits against the city, said he has fielded numerous calls from clients worried their personnel and medical records were exposed.

The leaked records, the inventory shows, include a case in which McNicholas sued the city on behalf of a victim who said they’d been sexually molested as a minor by an employee at a city-run recreational center.

McNicholas said he is worried that the leak will expose the private information of police whistleblowers who came forward to reveal discrimination and other misconduct.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

HOLIDAYS are at extreme risk of being cancelled this summer, experts have warned.

The ongoing war in Iran has already resulted in thousands of flights being cancelled around the world, due to jet fuel prices and shortages.

Ceasefire talks between the US and Iran are yet to end the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, after a previous ceasefire lasted just hours.

While UK airlines are yet to see any cancellations, Dan Jorgensen, the EU energy commissioner, said it was “very likely” holidays will be affected, according to Sky News.

This includes both cancelled flights and more expensive costs, he said, as Europe is in a “serious crisis”.

He explained: “Even if we do everything we can do, if the jet fuel is not there, then it’s not there.”

PLANE EXPLAIN

Jet2, TUI, BA, Virgin, Ryanair & easyJet – UK airlines on the fuel crisis

GOING UP

Flights are now costing families HUNDREDS extra due to ongoing Iran war

“It is primarily a crisis of prices and not yet a crisis of supply, but unfortunately we cannot be sure to prevent a crisis of supply, especially on jet fuel in the future, if the crisis continues.”

Earlier this month, the International Energy Agency warned that supply issues could hit Europe in the next five to six weeks.

ACI Europe backed this up, saying: “If the passage through the Strait of Hormuz does not resume in any significant and stable way within the next three weeks, systemic jet fuel shortage is set to become a reality.”

Mr Jorgensen added that even if the Strait of Hormuz opened tomorrow, the “price crisis will still last for quite some time”.

It could even be years, he warned, to get down to price levels seen before the crisis.

UK airlines are yet to be affected by the fuel crisis, as many have ‘hedged’ fuel, meaning paying a set fee.

But Airlines UK, which represents a number of carriers, including BA, Virgin, easyJet, Jet2 and Ryanair, are now calling on the government for support to protect flights and holidays.

This would include temporary use of fuel type Jet A (not currently allowed in the UK) as well as relaxing the strict airport slot rules that would see airlines lose them if they don’t operate flights.

Easing night flight bans and “relieving the burden of Air Passenger Duty” have also been put forward.

A huge number of airlines have already cancelled flights in response to fears of jet fuel running out.

This includes:

• Lufthansa – 20,000 cancelled up to September
• United – around 250 a month cancelled
• Air New Zealand – around 1,000 cancelled
• Scandinavian Airlines – around 1,000 cancelled
• KLM – 160 cancelled
• Cathay Pacific – two per cent of flights up to June 30

Some flights routes have been axed entirely – this includes Norse Airways, London-Los Angeles route.

And flights and holidays have already gone up in price in recent months.

The Transport & Environment (T&E) said in a statement this week that long-haul flights are up to £77 more expensive – working out to more than £300 per family.

And easyJet warned people to book holidays sooner rather than later to avoid more price hikes.

For anyone worrying about their holiday, families are better to book package holidays rather than separate flight and hotels, as most packages offer ATOL protection (meaning you will get your money back if your trip is cancelled).

It is also worth checking your travel insurance, although most policies do not cover anything related to war.