years

JESSIE J has announced she’s parted ways from her baby daddy Chanan Colman three years after the birth of their son.

The singer took to Instagram to share the news with fans and revealed they broke up “some time ago.”

When Spain appointed Luis de la Fuente as head coach in December 2022, few expected him to deliver the Nations League (2023), European Championship (2024) and World Cup (2026) in so short a time frame.

Spain had just been knocked out of the World Cup by Morocco in the last 16 in Qatar and the federation needed a replacement after Luis Enrique left his role.

“They went with this guy [De La Fuente] who understood the style and the system,” added Balague.

“It was a very risky decision – I don’t think anyone thought he would be so successful.”

It appeared risky because De La Fuente took charge of Spain, who have won three of the past five men’s European Championships – (2008, 2012, 2024) – without having managed a big club.

After retiring as a player in 1994, De La Fuente spent 15 years in different roles with a succession of different clubs, including managing in the lower Spanish leagues, youth roles and assistant coach positions – before he took charge of Spain’s youth teams.

“De la Fuente knew most of these players from the academies and they are growing as a team,” former Spain midfielder Juan Mata told BBC Sport.

“This is not only a team for the present, but also a team for the future.”

Since being appointed senior boss after stints in charge of the under-19s, under-21s and at Olympic level, De La Fuente has implemented a culture of respect for their rivals, for the process and preaching patience and calmness.

“Most of you are younger than me and you need to respect experience,” the 65-year-old told journalists at his pre-match news conference in New York on Friday.

“Once we finished the game, there were footballers who said ‘coach, now what else is there to win as we have won everything in all the categories’.

“We came to the conclusion that what remains is the next match in September because this team are relentless.”

The success of the national teams and Spanish coaches has spilled over to club football.

Despite Pep Guardiola’s decision to leave Manchester City after 10 trophy-packed years, at least a quarter of the managers who start the 2026-27 Premier League season are Spanish.

Spain are now unbeaten in their last 38 matches in all competitions, the longest ever run by any European or South American team in history.

MIAMI — Cuban dissident and Grammy-winning musical artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara arrived in Miami on Saturday after being released from a five-year prison sentence on condition that he leave his country.

Alcántara, 38, was greeted at the airport by a crowd that was cheering, singing and holding their phones high in the air to get a photo of him. They draped him in a Cuban flag, printed with the words “Patria y Vida” — Homeland and Life — the title of a song he shared a Grammy for that became an anthem for Cuba’s political opposition against repression.

The United States granted him parole into the country last week, according to a social media page maintained by his friends and supporters. They wrote that he accepted exile as the only way to escape persecution and continue his art and activism.

Alcántara co-founded a group of Havana artists, writers and musicians called the San Isidro Movement, named for the neighborhood where Alcántara lived.

He was arrested July 11, 2021, during a public protest. In 2022, a court sentenced him to five years in prison for public disorder, contempt and disrespect toward national symbols.

His arrest and incarceration had long been denounced by human rights organizations and the U.S. government. Groups including Amnesty International called him a political prisoner, a designation the Cuban government rejected.

Alcántara was held in a maximum-security prison, he said, and was expected to be released earlier this month. But for days, advocates said they still could not contact him and did not know where he was.

The organization Cubalex, which legally advises dissidents and reports human rights violations from outside of the country, filed a habeas corpus petition on his behalf Monday.

Until he boarded a plane Saturday, his advocates were unsure of his location or whether he truly had been released.

His said his first stop on American soil would be at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Miami to make an offering.

Other political prisoners remained behind bars in Cuba, including his fellow artist Maykel “Osorbo” Castillo Pérez, his advocates said, and they hoped Alcántara’s release would lead to Pérez also being freed.

Alcántara brought from Cuba a broken statue of the Virgin Mary, which he described as a symbol of hope and healing, a chance to put back together something from fragments.

The Pentagon has reached new framework agreements with three defense contractors as part of a strategy to acquire thousands of lower-cost air-launched cruise missiles in the coming years. The deals are directly in support of the U.S. Air Force’s Family of Affordable Mass Missiles (FAMM) program. The Air Force has already said that it is aiming to buy nearly 28,000 FAMM munitions in the next five years.

Under FAMM, the Air Force plans to acquire multiple types of lower-cost cruise missiles in different configurations. This will include ‘lugged’ types (FAMM-L) designed to be launched directly from hardpoints on aircraft, as well as ones intended to be employed from cargo planes via palletized munitions systems (FAMM-P). The service is also pursuing extended-range FAMM-BAR designs, with BAR here standing for “Beyond Adversary’s Reach.”

“Through [FAMM] agreements with Anduril, CoAspire, and Zone 5, the DoW will accelerate rapid validation of a new family of low-cost, air-launched cruise missiles – capabilities that will strengthen the Arsenal of Freedom,” according to a press release from the Pentagon today. “The agreements are a direct outcome of several Acquisition Transformation Strategy initiatives, including stabilizing demand signals, procuring industry-driven solutions, and maximizing flexible contracting.”

Anduril, CoAspire, and Zone 5 were also among the companies to receive framework deals from the Pentagon in May as part of plans to buy 10,000 lower-cost ground-launched cruise missiles through 2029. This is under a separate program called Low-Cost Containerized Missiles (LCCM). Leidos is part of the LCCM effort, as well. At that time, the Pentagon announced an additional agreement with Castelion regarding the production of 12,000 Blackbeard lower-cost hypersonic missiles. It’s also worth noting here that, since then, Norwegian defense contractor Kongsberg has aquired Zone 5.

“A key feature of these [FAMM] deals is the establishment of seven-year, multi-year agreements which, subject to congressional appropriations and enactment of all necessary authorizations, will be awarded upon the successful validation and competitive selection of the munitions,” today’s release adds. “The Department was granted 5-year authorization for FAMM in the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and is actively seeking congressional approval in the FY27 NDAA and Appropriations Bill for a 7-year multi-year procurement program to provide stability to new entrants.”

The Pentagon’s press release does not name any specific munitions.

Anduril has confirmed that its contribution will be versions of its Barracuda-500 design, and that it is aiming to start making deliveries under FAMM next year. The company will also be delivering a surface-launched version of the Barracuda-500 for the LCCM effort. Anduril first unveiled the full Barracuda family, which includes several tiers of what it calls “expendable autonomous air vehicles,” back in 2024, as you can read more about here. There are reports that at least one version of the Barracuda-500 has received an official U.S. military designation, AGM-189A.

Introducing: Barracuda-M Family of Cruise Missiles

“We joined the FAMM-L program in February 2026 and will execute the first ground and flight tests for Lug-Launched Barracuda-500M in the next several months,” Anduril noted in its release. “We completed the first successful flight test of Pallet-Launched Barracuda-500M in September 2024 and have since conducted dozens of successful flight tests that have further validated the maturity, performance, and modularity of the Barracuda-500 system, including Networked Collaborative Autonomy flights, terminal engagements, and payload performance validation testing.”

Zone 5 has also confirmed that it will be supplying its AGM-188A Rusty Dagger missile.

“By leveraging modern manufacturing and commercial technology, we are breaking the traditional cost curve, enabling the Department of War to field scalable, affordable capacity. The AGM-188 Rusty Dagger will deliver thousands of weapons per year for fighter and cargo aircraft employment but importantly without sacrificing exquisite performance,” Zone 5’s CEO Thomas Akers said in a statement. “Modern conflict has made one thing clear – the ability to rapidly scale production without sacrificing capability is critically important for air superiority. Rusty Dagger is built to deliver affordable, adaptable, highly survivable, incredibly lethal and rapidly deployable weapons that give the U.S. and our allies the ability to outpace and overwhelm evolving threats without being constrained by cost or production limitations.”

The deal with CoAspire is for that company’s Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile.

“The inclusion of CoAspire in this groundbreaking FAMM program multi-year agreement underscores CoAspire’s ability to revolutionize our country’s strike capabilities, offering a long-range solution that can be deployed across multiple platforms,” Doug Denneny, CoAspire’s CEO, Owner, and Founder, said in his own statement. “We, and our 56 first-tier suppliers across almost every state are excited to support the Air Force’s need to affordably procure thousands of FAMM cruise missiles over seven years. We applaud the Department’s inclusion of CoAspire as the only small business in this historic production opportunity. This is a true commitment to expand the defense industrial base while growing jobs across the US and bringing affordable cruise missile capabilities to the Air Force.”

RAACM Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile

Rusty Dagger and RAACM were both developed initially under the Air Force’s Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) program. ERAM’s main initial focus has been on delivering lower-cost air-launched strike capabilities to Ukraine. Zone 5 has previously confirmed that AGM-188A deliveries to Ukraine have begun, but it is unclear whether they are now being employed operationally. ERAM is known to be feeding into the FAMM effort, as well.

Overall, “offering both lugged and palletized variants, the FAMM provides the Air Force with flexible logistics, handling, and deployment options,” the Pentagon’s press release today notes.

“The multi-year approach utilizes firm-fixed-price contracting with a minimum quantity floor. Shares are split among all qualified vendors to ensure multiple production lines are positioned to surge,” the release further explains. “Contractors that meet or exceed production schedules will be eligible for additional procurement quantities – pending congressional appropriations – fostering a competitive environment that rewards efficiency and speed.”

These latter points highlight the fact that the FAMM program, as well as the LCCM effort, has a larger goal of addressing the critical need for strike munitions that can be produced at scale and in a cost-effective manner. TWZ has been calling attention to this broader reality for years, which has only been underscored by the latest conflict with Iran and a succession of other global crises. As we previously wrote after the announcement of the LCCM framework deals:

“Expenditures of critical air-to-surface and surface-to-surface munitions, as well as anti-air interceptors, by the U.S. military, as well as its allies and partners, in conflicts in recent years have only underscored the vital need to bolster these inventories. Demand for stand-off munitions, in particular, would be far greater in any future high-end fight against a near-peer adversary like China. That is a scenario where American forces could easily find themselves tasked to prosecute tens of thousands of targets, just in the opening phase.”

“Furthermore, existing munitions are often exquisite in design, and take months, or more often years, of lead time to produce. The Pentagon’s focus on “disruptive new entrants and commercial innovators,” rather than any of America’s long-established prime defense contractors, with its newly announced framework deals, is extremely significant in its own right. This is the latest example of a major shift away from awarding high-profile contracts to large legacy providers, helping to diversify the industrial base and promote competition. This also means moving away from companies accustomed to very long lead procurement and production arrangements.”

The Pentagon has also made clear that the FAMM framework agreements with Anduril, CoAspire, and Zone 5 do not preclude other companies from being brought into the program in the future. “The Department will also preserve competition opportunities for new vendors to be onboarded for additional quantities and new capabilities in the future as technology continues to advance,” per today’s release.

The market space for lower-cost cruise missiles has exploded in recent years in the United States and elsewhere globally. Relevant designs also occupy a space where the defining lines between these weapons and long-range kamikaze drones, as well as decoys, are increasingly blurry. Overlap between the FAMM and LCCM programs also highlights how many of these weapons are being adapted for launch from air, land, and maritime domains, which can help streamline production and supply chains, as well as offer operational benefits.

Taking deliberate steps to leave the door open to future competition reflects a larger push to avoid so-called ‘vendor lock’ in the U.S. defense contracting space. This has also been punctuated by moves to ensure greater government control of intellectual property rights and a focus on modular, open-architecture systems across major U.S. military acquisition efforts.

With the FAMM framework deals announced today, on top of the LCCM agreements back in May, the Pentagon is continuing to lay a vital foundation for the procurement of thousands of lower-cost strike munitions for years to come.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Casualty fans were left both surprised and baffled on Saturday’s episode to see a returning face

Casualty aired explosive scenes involving Dylan Keogh on Saturday night.

Viewers will recall that only recently, recovering alcoholic Dylan, played by William Beck, relapsed after struggling with the news that his colleague, Stevie Nash, had been having an affair with his son Dr Matty Linlaker.

Since relapsing, Dylan has pushed his loved ones away, including son Matty, and he has caused concern in recent scenes after he was seen driving erratically with a bottle by his side.

At the start of Saturday’s episode, Dylan headed to a care home to visit his father, Brian Carroll. However, alcoholic Brian didn’t recognise his son due to his years of drinking and things soon got unpleasant when Brian said some horrible things about his son, claiming he never loved Dylan.

Taking to Twitter, now X, viewers were quick to do a double take over Brian as they quickly spotted that he had been recast with a different actor. Brian made his first debut in 2015 and he was last seen on the BBC medical series in 2018.

In the earlier episodes, Brian was played by actor Matthew Marsh but on Saturday’s episode, the character of Brian was being played by actor David Beames.

Viewers were quick to share their reaction to Brian’s return after eight years, especially as it was a new actor playing the character. One person said: “Woah that is a different Brian? What happened to Dylan’s little sister with Hazel? #Casualty”

Another person wrote: “Dylan’s father is back?! #Casualty”, a different viewer put: “they’ve recast dylan’s dad! oh! #casualty” while another fan added: “Hang on… That’s not Matthew Marsh… Dylan has a new dad? #Casualty.”

Later in the episode, upset by his father’s cruel words, Dylan rushed out of the care home and started drinking from the clear bottle as he drove off, leaving his son Matty a voicemail saying: “Things are going to change”, adding that he’s not like his own father and that he cares about Matty.

Upon listening to the message, Matty and Stevie were concerned to hear a crash at the end, where it looked as though Dylan had been involved in a serious car crash.

However, thankfully, Matty discovered his dad uninjured and upon confronting his father for drink driving, Dylan insisted he hadn’t drunk since his initial relapse. A breathalyser later confirmed that he was telling the truth.

The emotional episode ended with Dylan vowing to make things right again and start AA meetings, as well as therapy to tackle his addiction.

Casualty continues on BBC One.

When Washington celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, the celebrations will arrive bruised. There will be the customary funding disputes, a federal commission fighting against a more partisan task force from the White House, and a public worn by years of political turmoil, all of which will turn what could have been an occasion of civic healing into another USA ‘celebration’ in the world. None of this has gone unnoticed in Beijing, given that this ‘celebration’ is being interpreted more as a diagnosis than a birthday. What is being asked throughout the commentaries from Qiushi (求是), on CCTV, in Tsinghua and Peking University, is simply put, what kind of America is turning 250?

Within the last five years, the interpretation given from both the official channels and the more informal academic channels in Beijing has varied considerably. Most importantly, these streams have been diverging for some time and therefore offer significant insight into how Beijing has been interpreting the country it has been comparing itself to for the last 20 years.

From “the East rising” to a measured retreat

Many are familiar with the upbeat version of the story. After 2020, the phrases that framed China’s worldview included “great changes, unseen in a century” (百年未有之大变局) and “the East is rising, the West is declining” (东升西降). The latter, used by Xi Jinping in remarks to senior officials in early 2021 and again in 2023, provided the slogan for the official narrative. The Covid-19 pandemic, the insurrection at the US Capitol, and a decade of US political instability seemed to provide the empirical evidence for a thesis, rooted in Chinese Marxist theory, that capitalist systems contain the principle of their own disintegration. This was rationalized and systemized after the 2008 financial crisis and has remained largely unchanged.

However, the reality is far more complicated than the slogan implies. Researchers who have traced the terminology in Chinese academic publications through the CNKI database have found that scholarly use of “the East is rising, the West is declining” (东升西降) peaked around 2021 and has subsided since then, even though the idea itself remained more prevalent than it was during the entire duration of Donald Trump’s first presidential term. In other words, the slogan was being diplomatically retracted within scholarly circles at the very moment it was most associated with official optimism. When Xi’s speech in 2023, which was published in Qiushi in January 2025, described the West’s decline, it was more a formal, official copy of a sentiment than a newly published speech.

The official rhetoric, however, did not soften. A Brookings study found a near doubling in the use of “American decline” terminology in official Chinese documents from 2025. State Security Minister Chen Yixin wrote in Qiushi in December of 2025, what could be described as a near complete inventory of the ills of the world: the usurpation of unipolar dominance gives way to economic decline and social disintegration, a domestic credit crisis and the collapse of foreign mythic structures. Around the same time, a popular phrase borrowed from gaming, the “kill line” (斩杀线) found its way to official Chinese publications. A Qiushi article from January 2026 described an America, the working class of which had been pushed (beyond the point of no return) along the path of ruin by an unrepairable (decomposing) industrial base while financial capitalism strangled the benefits. The conclusion that was drawn was that we had already entered the post-American world.

The correction of early 2026

Then the story changed once more, and the correction was from within Beijing’s own strategic community.

The consensus in Chinese policymaking following the Busan summit in October 2025, was that China had won the trade war and forced the US into a stalemate. The years of maximum pressure, they said, did not lead to the systemic concessions China had sought, but rather worsened American inflation and reduced productivity. For a few months, the optimism was high. However, by 2026, the optimism was replaced by apprehension. A series of adverse events for China, from losing equity in a German port buyout, to the Nexperia debacle, to the Iran war, led many to wonder if China’s victory was, in fact, a loss. The dominant question that the strategic community was debating was whether American power was in decline or if it was in fact, power rebounding.

What was most interesting was who took the cautious side. Both Chen Wenling and Yan Xuetong argued that the US had, and has, the military and economic capability to project power. In their view, the US had the edge, and Trump’s high stakes, risky policy decisions were based on the belief that the US had the dominant position. The gap was definitely closing, but was not yet a reality. The advice they gave was to be patient. If China was able to “manage its own affairs well,” it was likely that the US would be compelled to return to a more stable relationship.

The key observation regarding prominent intellectuals in Beijing is this. They have never been champions of the triumphalist position. Yan Xuetong has spent a great deal of time dismissing talks of “The East is rising and the West is declining” and multipolarity as delusional. His recently published book, Inflection of History (历史的拐点), which was published by CITIC Press in December of 2025, predicts a US-China bipolarity which, during the next decade, would be expected to stabilise rather than destabilise. In this scenario, over the next decade the gap in capability between the two powers would be expected to converge, although the US would retain an overall advantage. In this scenario, the US would retain overall dominance in services, cyberspace and global influence, while China would retain relative superiority in manufacturing and be dominant in the international arena. In this scenario, Yan does argue that Trump would be expected to damage American power, especially with regards to the international balance, through the closure of laboratories, the loss of researchers, and a declining international trade. However, damage to the leader of the bipolar order is not the same as the collapse of the order, and Yan is very cautious not to make confuse the two.

As China’s foremost authority on US studies, Wang Jisi (王缉思) of Peking University, has placed the greatest emphasis on the need for a clear and level-headed approach. His influential essay, titled, “Has America really declined? Chinese people should hold a sober understanding” ( 美国到底有没有衰落？中国人应有清醒认识), leads with the argument that the most important factors influencing the relationship are domestic political issues, and are not to be found in some quantifiable assessment of relative national strength, or within the confines of the Thucydides Trap. He has argued that the effects of Trump’s immigration restrictions would be more symbolic than real, and would not negatively impact the long-term potential of the US economy. Along with American scholar David Lampton, he wrote, that while both societies have convinced itself that the other is an existential threat, which is a dangerous narrative trap, similar to a noticeable shift of power.

Why AI keeps rewriting the script

If the quest for technological dominance was to be provided as a single reason for the inconsistency in the narrative, it would be the most accurate. The same confidence that characterized 2025 is the same that will characterize the sobriety of 2026. When Trump had his second inauguration in January 2025, DeepSeek had launched their R1. It disrupted the presumption of AI dominance in America and had a day effect of 200 billion on Nvidia’s valuation. For Chinese decision makers, since then, it has been electric. Carnegie researchers described it as the rediscovery of technological confidence. The effect was the realization of the theory of “The East is rising and the West is declining” (东升西降): a monumental achievement with controls on exports from a young lab in Hangzhou.

The second installment was more sobering. The launch of DeepSeek’s next model, V4, in April 2026, was received with indifference. In fact, DeepSeek’s own internal product documentation stated that V4 was between three and six months behind American models. Furthermore, V4 was reliant on domestic chips from Huawei, and was, in most assessments, dependent on American technology that was not easily replaceable. For Chinese analysts, this was not a case of falling behind, but one of the more difficult problems of maintaining the technological edge. Reshoring and tariffs told a similar story. The American industrial base, which the “kill line” (斩杀线) commentary presumed was a terminally stagnated industrial base, was the target of a renewed, aggressive, and partially successful push to bring industry back to America. A competitor with such a focus on rejuvenation and renewal is not, on the surface, a declining competitor.

The G2 Puzzle

There’s another element coming from Washington that adds to the complexity of the story of American decline. This element relates to Trump. Before the Busan meeting, Trump used the term “G2,” and several Washington officials followed suit. The decline thesis cannot account for this. If America is indeed in decline, why is it offering G2 (shared leadership) with China?

Chinese reflexive responses are interesting. The official position, as expressed in Zhou Li’s (周力) December 2025 article, is that G2 as a hegemony is incompatible with China’s commitment to a multipolar world and would alienate the Global South which China is trying to court. These scholars have found their own workarounds. Yan Xuetong and Zheng Yongnian have suggested that G2 is more a description of a scenario of existing bipolarity than a policy to adopt. Xia Liping of Tongji University has suggested that G2 be rephrased as “China-US coordination” (中美协调) instead of “China-US co-governance” (中美共治), which makes it easier for Beijing to accept peer status while not succumbing to a duopoly. The attempt to manage the terminology suggests that the US at 250 is still sufficiently powerful that its offer of co-leadership is significant, even to a China that is more confident than ever.

A mirror, not a verdict

What emerges from five years of this commentary is not a single Chinese view of America at 250 but a layered one. The loudest polemical phrase is that the US, a hegemon, is in an irreversible decline. Within a Chinese context, this serves a purpose unrelated to the US. The state media have found it convenient to juxtapose gun violence and homelessness against the backdrop of Chinese economic performance. The decline of the US economy flouts the-premise, as socialism is the ultimate victor among capitalist competition.

But that was in the loud tier. In the reserved tier, the people in Beijing who are actually relying on reading Washington have converged on a more cautious and, frankly, more accurate assessment. They have described America as a relative decline, but erratic, and still very formidable as well as technologically advanced, especially in the field of the upcoming and new challenges of competition. The assessments have consistently referred to America as “declining but dangerous,” and this phrase has proven to be the most accurate of the lot. Reality has justified the phrase. The same cannot be said of unqualified and total victory.

The inconsistency in narratives can be attributed to the fact that the accounts are serving two purposes simultaneously. They are both analysis and propaganda, and the two types of work are at odds with each other. After AI successes or trade wins, the propaganda is ahead of analysis. After the impacts of reshoring or when a Chinese model stays behind, the analysts bring it back. The occasion is provided by the anniversary, but the underlying reason is that China has not decided, and maybe cannot decide, if they think that simply waiting will work in their favour or if the gap they have slowly been closing over the past 25 years is going to be a stubborn gap.

At 250, in other words, the United States functions in Chinese discourse less as a subject to be judged than as a mirror. What Beijing sees in it, in any given month, tells you a great deal about how confident Beijing is feeling about itself

July 17 (Asia Today) — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a final rule Thursday limiting stays by international students and exchange visitors to no more than four years and requiring them to undergo federal review when seeking extensions.

The rule replaces the open-ended “duration of status” system for holders of F student visas and J exchange visitor visas with fixed admission periods tied to their programs and capped at four years.

About 1.5 million current F- and J-visa holders will automatically be transferred to the new system.

The change, combined with a shorter post-graduation grace period and mandatory extension reviews for students seeking Optional Practical Training, could disrupt the fall semester and reduce demand for study in the United States.

Exchange visitors will also be limited to four-year stays. Foreign journalists holding I visas will generally have to renew their status every 240 days.

Federal review required for extensions

F- and J-visa holders who need to remain in the United States beyond their authorized period will have to apply to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for an extension of stay.

Applicants will be required to submit biometric information and undergo security, identity and fraud screening. They must also demonstrate satisfactory academic progress and financial stability, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The change ends a system in place since 1978 that allowed students to remain in the country as long as they maintained the required course load and complied with the conditions of their immigration status.

Homeland Security officials said more than 2,100 F-1 students who entered the United States between 2000 and 2010 were still maintaining F-1 status in 2025.

The department said the rule was intended to prevent people from repeatedly enrolling in classes to avoid leaving the country, a practice officials described as creating “forever students.”

“For nearly half a century, the outdated duration-of-status system has undermined national security and created an environment where immigration fraud could flourish,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said.

“By enforcing clear and finite periods, the United States is restoring its ability to properly screen and manage those who remain in our country,” he said.

Nearly 24,400 Koreans and family members affected

The roughly 1.5 million F- and J-visa holders currently staying in the United States under the duration-of-status system will receive fixed admission periods of up to four years beginning on the rule’s effective date, Bloomberg reported.

Foreign journalists entering on I visas will generally be admitted for 240 days and must apply for additional 240-day periods. Chinese journalists will be limited to 90-day extensions.

More than 1.8 million entries were recorded on student visas in 2024, an increase of more than 11% from the previous year, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

The United States also hosted about 500,000 J-visa exchange visitors and 37,000 foreign journalists holding I visas.

Students from India, China and South Korea are expected to be among those most affected by the rule, Bloomberg reported.

According to the South Korean Embassy in Washington, 11,861 South Korean students held F-1 visas in 2025 and 1,347 family members held F-2 visas.

Another 7,985 South Koreans held J-1 exchange visitor visas and 3,180 family members held J-2 visas, bringing the total number of South Korean F- and J-visa holders and their dependents to 24,373.

An additional 349 South Koreans held I visas.

The rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Friday and take effect 60 days later, in mid-September.

Its implementation during the fall semester could create confusion involving visa extensions and student enrollment records, Bloomberg reported.

Shorter grace period could disrupt employment pathway

The rule cuts the grace period after graduation from 60 days to 30 days for students preparing to leave the United States, transfer schools or change immigration status.

It also bars graduate students from changing their educational objectives and requires government approval before they transfer to another institution, Reuters reported.

Doctoral students, whose programs commonly take about six years, may have to apply for extensions before completing their studies and face the possibility of denial, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Doctors participating in long-term training programs will also have to seek extensions after four years, according to Bloomberg.

Nearly all students using Optional Practical Training, which permits eligible graduates to work in the United States for up to three years, will effectively be required to apply to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for extensions for the first time.

Visa holders who remain beyond their authorized periods could face three- or 10-year bans on re-entering the United States, depending on the length of the overstay.

Technology and financial companies frequently hire international graduates through Optional Practical Training before sponsoring them for H-1B specialty occupation visas.

More restrictive access to practical training could narrow that employment pathway, The Wall Street Journal reported.

David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, said the restrictions on changing educational objectives and transferring schools lacked a legal basis.

He said graduates who fail to find an employer sponsor within 30 days could “immediately become unlawfully present.”

Education groups consider challenge

Fanta Aw, president and chief executive officer of the Association of International Educators, called the rule a misguided and unnecessary policy change.

She said it would inject “uncertainty, bureaucracy and fear” into a system that had operated effectively for decades and said the association was considering all available options to challenge it.

Todd Lyons, a former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in May that the agency had launched an investigation into fraud involving Optional Practical Training.

Lyons said investigators had identified 10,000 international students employed by companies suspected of fraud and described the program as a “magnet for fraud,” Bloomberg reported.

The number of international students in the United States fell 1.4% during the previous fall semester, while new international student enrollment declined 17%.

Student visa issuance fell 36% during the previous summer, and the new rule could accelerate the decline as it takes effect during the fall semester, Bloomberg reported.

The regulation will also be subject to congressional review before its implementation, Reuters reported.

Doug Rand, a former Homeland Security official, said most Americans understand both the value of welcoming international students and the need to eliminate unnecessary regulation.

“This rule will achieve precisely the opposite result,” he said.

International education expert Rajika Bhandari said students would consider not only whether they could obtain visas and enter the United States but also whether they had viable long-term options after completing their studies.

She said Asian students and graduate students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields would be particularly affected.

“The implications of this change are not yet fully understood by students, but they will be profound,” Bhandari said.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260717010006341

LeBron James didn’t have a speech prepared.

“I’m just speaking to y’all from the heart,” the NBA’s all-time leading scorer told the audience Thursday night at the Time 100 Sports gala in New York.

In James’ heart and on his mind at that moment was his oldest son Bronny James, who nearly three years ago suffered sudden cardiac arrest as an 18-year-old rising freshman while practicing with the USC basketball team. He later was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect but eventually was able to resume his basketball career.

James and his son ended up becoming Lakers teammates for two seasons before the 23-year veteran became a free agent this summer. Bronny James is entering his third season with the Lakers after contract became fully guaranteed earlier this month.

“Obviously, if it wasn’t for the coaching staff and the medical team and everybody at USC being there in a timely fashion, we’d possibly be sitting here without our oldest son,” said James “So thank you to everybody and all the efforts when it comes to cardiac arrest.”

In June, Time magazine released its inaugural issue highlighting the 100 most influential people in sports, with James on the cover as “athlete of the century.”

James was one of the featured speakers at the gala honoring those individuals, as were fellow Time 100 Sports list members New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson, Olympic gold medalist skater Alysa Liu, Invictus Games founder Prince Harry and women’s soccer legend Alex Morgan.

Savy King and Damar Hamlin speak onstage during the Time 100 Sports gala July 16 in New York.

(Jemal Countess / Getty Images for TIME)

Earlier in the evening, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin and Angel City FC defender Savy King gave a presentation on their experiences as athletes who suffered cardiac arrest while playing in games for their respective teams.

Like Bronny James, they were both young athletes at the time of their incidents — Hamlin was 24; King was 20 — and both were fortunate to have trained medical staff members on hand to perform CPR and use defribulators to save their lives.

Their message hit home for James.

“Guys, take that serious,” he said. “If you got kids in elementary, you got kids in middle school, kids in high school, colleges. Make sure they have these devices available where you can get them, practice them. It’s very important, super, super important. Obviously, we know how important it is to our family, so we’re a big advocate of that.”

In all, 32 defendants convicted and 25 acquitted or cleared by statute ‌of limitations over 2018 Morandi bridge disaster.

A court has sentenced the former CEO of Italy’s main highway operator ⁠to 12 years in prison over the collapse of the Morandi road bridge in the port city of Genoa.

Judges delivered their verdict on Thursday in Genoa in the first trial over the collapse of the bridge, which killed 43 people when it fell apart on August 14, 2018. It is considered one of the country’s worst infrastructure disasters.

Atlantia CEO Giovanni Castellucci ⁠was found guilty of vehicular homicide and negligence related to the Morandi bridge’s collapse.

The bridge was operated by Atlantia’s motorway unit, Autostrade per l’Italia, which has come under severe scrutiny in this affair.

Castellucci is already in prison, serving a six-year sentence over another fatal incident in 2013 on a viaduct in southern Italy, and was not in court to hear the verdict.

Also convicted on Thursday were Autostrade’s former head of maintenance, Michele Donferri Mitelli, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison and the former CEO of the SPEA engineering company, Antonino Galata, who received five years and six months.

In all, 32 people were convicted and handed sentences ranging from one year and 11 months to 12 years. Others were either found not guilty, or lesser charges had expired under the statute of limitations.

Relatives of the victims, meanwhile, packed the court to hear the outcome of a case that has become a symbol of Italy’s decaying infrastructure and slow justice system. The verdict came after four years of trial hearings for 57 defendants, including company executives, engineers and transport ministry officials, on charges of manslaughter, endangering transport safety and falsifying official documents.

The 1,182-metre (1,293-yard) bridge, which had been dubbed Italy’s “Brooklyn Bridge”, was designed by the architect Riccardo Morandi and inaugurated in 1967.

By the turn of the century, experts continued to warn that the structure was deteriorating, yet critical repairs were never carried out.

Prosecutor Walter Cotugno dubbed the bridge “a ticking time bomb” at the verdict.

The collapse of the then-51-year-old bridge triggered years of investigations into the maintenance of its decrepit infrastructure. A 50-metre (160-foot) high section of the bridge collapsed with as many as 35 vehicles on it, which fell onto warehouses and a riverbed below.

“I ⁠wish to apologise to the victims’ families, to the people of Genoa, and to all Italians for the suffering caused by the tragic Morandi disaster, fully aware that our gesture can never erase their pain,” Autostrade CEO Arrigo Giana wrote in an apology statement on Wednesday.

Prosecutors argue that years of ‌inadequate maintenance, ignored warning signs and delayed safety work contributed to the collapse, alleging that vital work was postponed, while profits continued to be generated and distributed.

The defence’s main argument was that the bridge had a hidden construction defect, namely corrosion of its cables, that caused its collapse, not a lack of maintenance.

Dodgers left-hander Justin Wrobleski could have been content with his performance the first couple of months this season. After all, he’d come into the year fighting for a rotation spot, and he’d shown in that time that he was ready to be a full-time major-league starter.

That wasn’t enough.

While still holding on to his identity as a pitcher who goes right at hitters, Wrobleski tallied 20 strikeouts over his last two starts of the first half.

“We’re just doing a good job with the plan,” Wrobleski said last week, days before he was named a first-time All-Star. “I feel like I’m continuing to get better at knowing where to go with two strikes, knowing where to go versus a certain hitter with two strikes and just kind of reading the game.”

Wrobleski is the only Dodgers pitcher set to appear in Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani pitched too close to the game, and Ohtani eventually pulled out of All-Star activities altogether in order to have his left knee drained on Sunday.

The story of how Wrobleski got there, in his first full season in the rotation after debuting two years ago, includes plenty of twists and turns.

“It’s a chronicle story in his young career, the down to up, but at the end of the day, he’s been a rock for us these first three months,” Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said in a conversation with The Times. “Was hoping he got in on the first set of announcements, but at the end of the day, he’s an All-Star, and he’s earned every bit of it.”

When Wrobleski wasn’t included on the initial National League All-Star roster, the Dodgers coaching staff went to work lobbying for him to be a replacement player. Manager Dave Roberts publicly made the case for Wrobleski and closer Tanner Scott whenever he had the chance.

Then, a week later, Wrobleski (10-2, 2.69 ERA) got the call after Cincinnati Reds right-hander Chase Burns bowed out because of tightness in his groin.

“He’s done so many intangible things that I think get lost in the shuffle of numbers and metrics,” Prior said of Wrobleski. “But he’s eaten innings, he’s provided length for us when we needed length. He went toe-to-toe with [Phillies three-time All-Star Zack] Wheeler. He went toe-to-toe with [José] Soriano when he was dealing with the Angels, kept us in ballgames.”

Admittedly, a year and a half ago, Prior wouldn’t have imagined Wrobleski would be an obvious All-Star pick this quickly.

The tipping point came when Wrobleski surrendered eight runs to the Washington Nationals in his first start last season. And it didn’t help that his last start of the previous season was a 10-run slog against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“It was a long, raw, emotional sit-down with him,” Prior said. He said after the conversation with Roberts, assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness and the rest of the staff, “we left with like, ‘Which way is this going to go?’”

But persistence has been a hallmark of Wrobleski’s career, dating to his college years, when he infamously bounced back from a car hitting him on a scooter and a baseball breaking his jaw. He also underwent Tommy John surgery two months before the Dodgers selected him in the 11th round of the 2021 MLB draft.

So, committing to a delivery change last season wasn’t all that intimidating.

Wrobleski returned to the majors in mostly a bullpen role. And his steadiness in those shorter outings culminated in a strong postseason run that included four scoreless appearances in the World Series.

“We talk about, who can you depend on to not let the moment get too big?” Prior said. “And I think Wrobo had proved that all the way through September, but clearly proved that the moment is not too big for him to continue to make pitches. And that was exciting to see too as a staff.”

Still, Wrobleski wasn’t guaranteed a rotation role this season. And Prior was frank about that over the offseason.

Wrobleski’s first outing of the season was in relief, but the Dodgers had earmarked him as their sixth starter for the second turn in the rotation.

In his first five starts, Wrobleski posted an eye-popping 0.56 earned-run average.

His swing-and-miss rate and strikeouts were down, but pitching to soft contact was getting him positive results. The most glaring example came against the St. Louis Cardinals in early May, when he threw six shutout innings without recording a punchout.

Dodgers left-hander Justin Wrobleski recorded 20 strikeouts in his last two starts before the All-Star Game.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Wrobleski wasn’t going to coast on that early success, however. He kept fine-tuning his delivery and adjusting his pitch mix, right through a rough patch in late May and into a consistent June.

“He went from paring down his arsenal to kind of two pitches, to regrow his arsenal while he’s learning how to pitch at this level,” Prior said. “I think the big thing is now these guys have different looks.”

Wrobleski’s four-seam fastball and slider have done the heavy lifting. The rest of his secondary pitch mix has been a moving target.

He and the pitching coaches have talked through the most effective use of his curveball. He started integrating his sinker more consistently in late April, especially against left-handed hitters. He’s tinkered with different grips for his change-up, a pitch he started using more in mid-May. Three weeks ago, he introduced a sweeper. And in his last two starts, he threw that pitch 19 times.

“At the heart of it, though, is he never lets off the gas pedal,” Prior said. “He just gets the ball, he’s on the rubber, he puts the hitter on defense from the get-go before they’ve even seen a pitch. And that’s something that not everybody can do.”

So, despite the journey, when Wrobleski looks back at the pitcher he was a year and a half ago, he doesn’t see a complete overhaul.

“Same guy but different, I guess,” he said. “It’s crazy. I’ve had to go through a lot of small tweaks and changes. And it’s just all been about just having belief that I could continue to do it. And I knew that there were a lot of things that I could do just to get better, and I wasn’t as far away as maybe it seemed on the outside — or, as people thought it was.

“I felt like I was close that whole time, even though the results weren’t really there. It’s been cool to see the results come.”

The tower was once London’s tallest building, but has been closed to the public other than for special events for decades. Now, it’s becoming a hotel as well as opening a whole new tourist attraction for the capital

For decades, the BT Tower has been an icon in the London skyline, a 1960s structure that has been everything from a revolving restaurant to a news display for the capital.

But the tower’s doors have remained closed to the public since 1981, other than a handful of special events. Unless you worked in telecoms you won’t have been able to appreciate this London landmark up close.

The Grade II-listed building, based in Fitzrovia, was completed in 1964 and originally named the Post Office Tower. At 177 metres high, it was the tallest building in London for years, but was damaged by a bomb in 1971. Its tower-based restaurant and viewing galleries had to close as a result.

The public has been unable to access the building since 1981. It was renamed the British Telecom Tower a few years later. Since then, it has been used as a communications hub. Most Londoners know it for its breaking news alerts, which play on a huge 360-degree screen wrapped around the tower.

Now, architecture firm Orms has revealed plans to turn the London landmark into a luxurious hotel with a rooftop pool. Its plans were shown at a public consultation earlier this week, with visuals showing how the completed project will look.

In addition to the hotel, the tower would include a visitor experience space giving views across the London skyline. On the ground floor, the retro 1960s buildings would be converted into shops and cafés, with plans to remove “unsightly” modern additions.

Other plans include a new public square with pedestrian routes through the complex, according to the Architects’ Journal. This is where the entrance and exit to the new visitor experience will be found. A new staircase would open up the main body of the tower, and hotel rooms would be arranged around its core.

Past consultations have also speculated on the uses for levels 24 to 30, which could become “spaces for art and cultural engagement”, although no solid plans have been revealed just yet.

Camden Council is set to receive the planning application for the site this autumn, and if successful, work could begin in 2029, once BT decommissions and removes equipment from the site.

The BT Tower isn’t the only London landmark being brought back to life as a hotel. Custom House on the River Thames, a beautiful Georgian structure, is set to become a 179-room luxury hotel including a basement spa with a 25m pool, waterfront restaurants, and quayside areas open to the public.

Admiralty Arch on The Mall, long associated with royal parades, is also set to open as a Waldorf Astoria hotel this autumn, and will offer views of Buckingham Palace in some of its rooms as well as restaurants and a spa.

Have a story you want to share? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com

Six-time Olympic medallist Suni Lee has announced she is coming back to gymnastics after not competing since the 2024 Olympics.

The 23-year-old took team gold with the USA in Paris along with all-around and uneven bars bronzes.

She claimed all-around gold, team silver and uneven bars bronze at Tokyo 2020.

Lee’s return, revealed in a video on Instagram,, external comes two years before the Los Angeles 2028 Games.

Commenting “I’m back”, she said in a voiceover: “I know what I’m capable of. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get there. Back in the gym. We’ll see.”

The video ends with the words: “This is more than a comeback, stay tuned.”

Fellow American Jade Carey, who also won medals in Tokyo and Paris, recently made her comeback after a similar break.

US President Donald Trump and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi have met at the White House in Washington, DC, with both leaders pledging to deepen economic ties and boost Iraq’s oil output. The meeting comes as the US prepares to reduce its military presence in Iraq. Al Jazeera’s Tanya Noury has the latest.

ONCE the golden couple of Hollywood, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s multi- million-pound divorce battle rumbled on longer than they were man and wife.

And ten years since proceedings first started, the bitterness between those involved shows no sign of slowing down.

Brad, 62, watched in horror this week as the final steps were taken to remove any trace of him from the once-glorified “Brangelina” clan.

In a brutal move, his children Maddox, 24, and Zahara, 21, have both filed court papers to officially change their surname from Jolie-Pitt to just Jolie.

Siblings Shiloh, 20, and Vivienne, 18, have already turned their backs on the Pitt name, while Knox, 18, has also dropped it from informal documents and is estranged from Brad.

This leaves only Pax, 23, still using the Pitt surname.

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Insiders say that Brad has been left privately “devastated” by the decision.

A source said: “One by one, his children, who he was once so close to, have removed their connection to him.

“He really wonders if he’ll ever rebuild bridges with his shattered brood now.”

It is the latest twist in the family saga, following on from allegations of physical abuse, financial coercion and severe family PTSD as well as a Father’s Day Instagram post from Pax calling Brad a “world-class a**hole”.

It all helps cement Brad and Angelina’s divorce as perhaps the most toxic the entertainment world has ever seen.

In September, it will have been a decade since Maleficent star Angelina, 51, first filed for divorce from movie heart-throb Brad.

Their relationship started not long after they met on the set of 2005 film Mr & Mrs Smith, when Brad was still married to Jennifer Aniston.

They wed in 2014 but, less than two years later, in September 2016, they split in explosive fashion.The former couple had previously adopted Maddox, Zahara and Pax before having Shiloh, Vivienne and Knox.

But Brad, who was once inseparable from all six kids, has now been well and truly frozen out.

Legal notices published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal yesterday reveal that both Maddox and Zahara have filed petitions to change their surnames.

If approved, the changes will become official in court, with Maddox’s hearing set for September 14 and Zahara’s two weeks later.

Zahara has publicly gone by Zahara Jolie since starting university.

Shiloh legally dropped “Pitt” after turning 18 in 2024, while Vivienne was credited simply as “Vivienne Jolie” as a production assistant for the Broadway show The ­Outsiders.

Pax is the only one still using the Pitt surname, but he has an incredibly difficult relationship with his dad, who he once claimed made his younger siblings ­“tremble in fear”.

Brad’s relationship with his children seemed to change for ever after an ill-fated flight in 2016, which also marked the end of the high-profile showbiz marriage.

The couple are said to have tried to keep their blistering rows from the children, but that became impossible in the confines of a private jet.

In a report filed by the FBI about the incident, Angelina claimed Brad yelled at her before pulling her into the toilet, where he pushed her against the wall and punched the ceiling repeatedly.

It is also alleged that when one of their kids tried to protect their mum, Brad “choked one of the children and struck another in the face”.

It has long been rumoured that it was Maddox who was assaulted.

The report said Brad then poured beer on his family as they tried to sleep.

The incident led to an investigation by children’s services, with Angelina being awarded temporary full custody and Brad only allowed supervised visits. He was later fully cleared.

Just days later, Angelina filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable diff­erences.

Pax’s private Instagram post on Father’s Day 2020 suggests the kids experienced problems before and after the plane incident.

He wrote: “You time and time again prove yourself to be a terrible and despicable person.

“You have no consideration or empathy toward your four youngest children, who tremble in fear when in your presence.

“You will never understand the damage you have done to my family because you’re incapable of doing so.”

Brad later confirmed that his boozing had become a problem, revealing he had visited Alcoholics Anonymous groups.

He said: “I had taken things as far as I could take it, so I removed my drinking privileges.

“You had all these men sitting around being open and honest in a way I have never heard.

“It was this safe space where there was little judgment, and therefore little judgment of yourself. It was actually really freeing just to expose the ugly sides of yourself.

“There’s great value in that.”

The confession did nothing to quell the animosity between the parties, though.

And while the divorce might have been finalised in 2024 — after eight agonising years — another legal fight is still rumbling on.

The former lovers are locked in an acrimonious $350million court battle, known as the War Of The Rosés, over Angelina’s decision to secretly sell her stake in their ­Chateau Miraval vineyard and home for $64million to Russian booze tycoon Yuri Shefler in 2021.

Brad then sued her in a bid to void the sale.

The couple bought the 1,300-acre Miraval estate in Provence, southern France, in 2008 and married there in 2014.

Angelina claims she originally wanted to sell her stake to Brad, but he demanded she sign an $8.5million non-disclosure agreement as part of the deal.

Her legal team argued it was a coercive tactic to prevent her ­talking about his alleged abuse.

A trial has been scheduled for February 1 next year.

Insiders have claimed that Brad’s partner of four years, Ines de Ramon, 33, has tried to persuade him to end the hostilities.

A source said: “Ines wants to have a life together — with possibly children in the future — without the albatross that is the eight-year War Of The Rosés.”

While Angelina’s attorneys have filed explosive allegations in court, she has kept a mostly dignified silence.

In 2020, the actress turned human rights advocate addressed the ugly split in a rare interview with Vogue.

She said: “I separated for the wellbeing of my family. It was the right decision.

“I continue to focus on their healing.”

During another interview, when asked if she worried about the safety of her children, she said: “Yes, for my family. My whole family.”

And during the Press tour for her 2021 Marvel film Eternals, in which she played Thena, a warrior battling memory loss and a fantasy-world version of PTSD, she revealed that she had been diagnosed with the condition.

She said: “I had talked to the director about experiencing PTSD myself a few years ago and my own fears about not being strong enough to protect those that I love.”

And while Brad might have moved on, Angelina, who was widely once considered one of the world’s most beautiful women, remains single.

Last month, she said: “To be candid, I haven’t dated since I divorced a decade ago.

“So I kind of get in my head that that aspect of me is not centered in my life if I’m focusing on my children, my family.”

It is true that all six children have certainly been caught up in the crossfire of their parents’ decade-long war, with the sorry saga serving as a cautionary tale to other Hollywood couples on the cusp of divorce.

Now, as the February 2027 trial over the battle for the French vineyard looms, peace still seems a long way off.

And while Brad might still be fighting over his financial future, his legacy with his family appears to be long gone.

The Swoosh is staying at USC for the foreseeable future.

USC and Nike agreed this week to a 10-year extension of their all-sports apparel deal through 2036, the school announced on Tuesday.

Their partnership was already among the longest-running apparel deals in college athletics. Now it’s ensured to carry into its fifth decade.

“USC and Nike have grown together for more than 30 years,” athletic director Jennifer Cohen said in a statement, “and we are thrilled to continue one of the great partnerships in college athletics.”

At the time that USC first signed exclusively with Nike, such corporate sponsorships were a relatively new revenue stream for the school. Now, in the revenue-sharing era, they’ve become a ubiquitous — and essential — part of operating an athletic department.

This new deal should look a bit different than the last few times that USC extended their apparel deal with Nike. For one, it includes an NIL component, with select top-tier Trojan athletes slated to score their own NIL deals with Nike.

As part of the extension, USC’s new Bloom Football Performance Center will become the first facility in the nation fully outfitted with Nike strength equipment. Nike also agreed to design “custom uniform collections” for the USC men’s and women’s basketball programs and to renovate the USC Bookstore.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Other Big Ten schools signed with Nike signed during a stretch between 2015 and 2016 that became an apparel arms race around college football. Ohio State signed a 15-year, $252-million deal with Nike in 2016, while Michigan inked an 11-year, $174-million deal with Nike and Jordan Brand.

THE abandoned BT tower is set to be turned into a fancy hotel – and the first images of what it could look have been revealed.

The London attraction first opened in 1964 as the Post Office Tower, and was the city’s tallest building until the NatWest Tower opened in 1980.

The BT Tower then closed in 1981 to the public, bar some private events.

It has since been bought by MCR, an American hotel chain who also owns the High Line Hotel and TWA Hotel in New York, for £270million in 2024.

And new images released by architect Orms (behind The Outernet and The Standard Hotel) show what to expect from the 177m tower when it reopens.

The main attraction will be the rooftop swimming pool on the fifth floor, and open to both hotel guests and the public.

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The ground floor will be used for retail and food and drink spaces, while the hotel will take over the first and second floor. 

The Howlands Building will get a three to four storey extension upwards, which will be the hotel space as well.

Levels 24-30 are unconfirmed as to what they will be used for but could become art or culture areas.

And a public space will be part of the exterior as well, to make it more easily accessible. 

Designers Orms are behind the renovation, who has replaced Heatherwick Studios.

They said in the application: “While maintaining the overall structure, we will remove unsightly modern additions to the 1960s exterior on the ground floor.

“We will then introduce retail on the ground floor and add a modest pavilion structure on the roof.”

A planning application will be submitted in September, although works cannot start in 2029 due to BT decomposing on equipment inside.

Expected opening dates of the hotel are in 2033.

The tower was once known for its rotating restaurant, although this was forced to close after an IRA bombing.

Tom Segura and Christina Pazsitzky have reportedly split.

The comedy power couple are calling it quits after 18 years of marriage, according to TMZ. A source told the outlet that the pair separated a couple of months ago but remain amicable and plan to continue co-hosting their podcast, “Your Mom’s House.”

Reps for Segura and Pazsitzky did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.

Segura, 47, and Pazsitzky, 50, tied the knot in November 2008. Segura told “TigerBelly” podcast in 2018 that he met Pazsitzky while they were both doing open mic nights around Los Angeles. She was in a relationship with someone else (whom she lived with), so Segura and Pazsitzky were just friends. According to Segura, there was no flirtation in the early days, and he treated her with the respect he did any other fellow comic.

“I always thought she was attractive, but she was taken,” he said. “And then I got the call from one of my spies. … They broke up. And I was like, ‘I’m gonna swing in there, see what’s up.’”

According to Segura, he tried to ask Pazsitzky on what he thought was an L.A.-appropriate date — a hike — and she said no. He thought that meant she wasn’t interested in him, when, really, she just wasn’t interested in hiking.

“I called her the next time, and she’s like, ‘Hey, I know this bar you can still smoke at. Do you want to go there?’ And I was like, ‘OK. This is why she doesn’t want to go on a hike.’ So then, yeah, we went on dates and it just continued.”

Both comedians have used their marriage as source material for their comedy routines over the years and discuss their relationship on various podcast appearances, but especially on their own podcast, “Your Mom’s House,” which debuted in 2012.

In 2024, Pazsitzky told The Times that when they launched the podcast “we lived in a crummy two-bedroom apartment, we were newlyweds and we had no money. We got a mixing board, two mics and a computer, and at that point, we slept in one room and used the other room as an office. It bordered this other house where this lady would cook the smelliest food and have aggressive sex.”

“Oh, yeah, she was newly divorced and very performative with orgasms too,” Segura added.

The couple, who have two children, also spoke about their relocation from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, in search of a slower pace and easier travel while touring. “Our lives are very normal, and we’re grounded family people. At the end of the day, we come home, our kids fart on Tom’s head, and I make dinner.”

A CITY with 3,000 sunshine hours a year that is barely visited by Brits is getting its first UK flights in more than a decade.

Launching later this month, Air Zimbabwe will connect the UK to Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.

The first route takes of on July 22 from London Gatwick, with three flights a week.

It will be the first direct flights to the capital in 14 years, amid plans to open up travel between the UK and Africa.

The route was scrapped back in 2011 due to a financial difficulties at the time.

Fights start from £490 each way, or £675 return.

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While Zimbabwe welcomed 1.78million tourists in 2025, 76 per cent of this was from Africa.

Despite this, the UK is the biggest market for the city when it comes to European arrivals.

Harare is known as the City of Sunshine for its sunny weather all year round thanks to it high altitude.

It is also much better to visit in the autumn and winter, as this is where highs of 30C can be found (compared to the cooler summers of 20C).

The city is also known for its beautiful green spaces, such as Mukuvisi Woodlands where you can everything from zebras and giraffes to wildebeast and impalas.

It also a great jumping off point for going on safari, or visiting Victoria Falls.

Here are some other new flights launching in the UK soon:

GOODBYE boys, Wonderbra icon Eva Herzigova is officially off the market.

The supermodel, 53, married her longtime partner, Gregorio Marsiaj, following a 25-year romance.

Eva, who featured in the famous 1994 Hello Boys campaign for push bras, looked radiant in a flowing white dress as she tied the knot in Turin, Italy, on Saturday.

Joined by their three sons, George, Philipe and Edward, along with a close circle of relatives and friends, Eva and businessman Gregorio exchanged vows at a church, followed by a civil ceremony and an intimate dinner.

The couple first met in 2001 and got engaged in 2017.

Eva was previously married to Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres in 1996, but the couple divorced two years later.

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She has also been linked to record executive Guy Oseary and model Kelly Rippy.

The model has previously rubbed shoulders with royalty.

In 2017, King Charles opened a pool with supermodel Eva.

Charles hailed the makeover “decidedly splendid” in New Cumnock, Ayrshire.

Eva joined a host of VIPs including Olympic swimmer Duncan Scott and entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter at the re-launch.

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Genesis Scottish Open final round

-17 T Kim (Kor); -15 MW Lee (Aus); -13 R MacIntyre (Sco), M Fitzpatrick (Eng), J Keefer (US), K Nakajima (Jpn); -12 M Thorbjornsen (US), R McIlroy (NI); -11 SW Kim (Kor), V Perez (Fra)

Selected others: -9 T Fleetwood (Eng), V Hovland (Nor); -4 J Rahm (Spa), -2 J Thomas (US)

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Tom Kim’s drought is over. The South Korean shed tears of joy and relief after excelling on a compelling final day at the Genesis Scottish Open to claim his first title in three years.

Kim has endured a form and confidence crisis since his previous victory – as well as plummeting down the world rankings – but served a reminder of his talents with a faultless 64 to finish 17 under at the Renaissance Club.

The 24-year-old has sought counsel from Tiger Woods during the dark times and revealed the 15-time major winner was among the first to congratulate him on this long-awaited victory.

He triumphed by two shots, with Min Woo Lee the runner-up as crowd favourite Bob MacIntyre faltered in pursuit of a second home title, ending four adrift alongside Matt Fitzpatrick.

MacIntyre, Lee and Fitzpatrick had shared the lead after the fog-disrupted third round, but it was Kim who surged from one back for a brilliant win. He was the only player in the field to avoid a bogey in the fourth round.

“I can’t really wrap my mind over it,” said an emotional Kim of his win. “It’s really special and I’m just at a loss for words.

“Obviously I’ve had a tough couple years. I got to taste a lot of that humble pie and I got to really learn about myself and I’m still trying to grow, still trying to learn.

“I’m definitely appreciating this more now than I did a couple years ago, which is really cool. I thought about my family, all the people around my corner that have suffered with me and also celebrated with me and kind of remembering all those people really brought tears to my eyes.

“Obviously on TGL being on Tiger’s team, I’ve been able to ask him questions on certain things. He’s been really helpful a lot of the time. This was my first win in three years, and the first person that texted me was Tiger Woods. Shows you the person he is and how much he cares.”

As well as a winner’s prize of £1.2m, Kim secures a place in next year’s Masters at Augusta National.

Rory McIlroy’s third-round 73 left the world number two with too big a deficit to overcome despite matching Kim’s closing six-under 64, the lowest score of the day.

Americans Michael Thorbjornsen and Johny Keefer, who tied for seventh and third respectively, will make their Open Championship debuts next week, while the other spot at Royal Birkdale goes to Frenchman Victor Perez.

Ten newly identified victims were buried as the more than 8,000 slain Bosnian Muslim men and boys were remembered.

Thousands have gathered in Bosnia and Herzegovina to mark 31 years since the Srebrenica genocide, as leaders and activists worldwide use the anniversary to call on people to fight dehumanisation.

On Saturday, mourners, survivors, foreign dignitaries and religious leaders gathered at the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial Center to commemorate those who were killed in 1995. People took part in the annual peace march before 10 newly identified victims were buried.

Bosnian Serb forces overran the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995, killing more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys over several days. Srebrenica had been declared a protected “safe area” by the United Nations Security Council two years earlier.

Denis Becirovic, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said honouring those who were killed was crucial to maintaining stability.

“If we fail to preserve the truth about our past, we will have neither a present nor a future,” he said.

The Dutch ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Henk van den Dool, said education was key to preventing a repeat of similar atrocities.

“One of the common goals we share with the Srebrenica Memorial Center, with the mothers, and with the survivors is to translate this enduring warning into meaningful action. One of the most meaningful and effective ways to do that is through education,” he said.

Pursuit of justice

Every year on July 11 , newly identified victims are buried at the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial Center, as investigators continue to search for the remains of people buried in mass graves in surrounding areas.

More than a thousand victims remain missing following the genocide, which is widely recognised as the worst atrocity committed in Europe since the Holocaust during the Second World War.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the massacre “a crime against humanity”, while the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, posted on X that he was “deeply moved” during his trip to Srebrenica last week.

“Today, as we stop to remember the victims and families who mourn them, we must also commit ourselves to fighting violence and dehumanisation wherever we encounter it and stopping hatred from taking hold,” Khan said.

More than 100,000 people were killed during the Bosnian War between 1992 and 1995. The conflict followed the dissolution of Yugoslavia, triggering a series of ethnic conflicts and wars of independence among the Balkan states that had previously formed a single country.

In recent days, campaigners have drawn comparisons between the Srebrenica genocide and Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, decried that senior Israeli officials are yet to be held legally accountable for their crimes.

“The United Nations this week remembered the genocide in Bosnia – the 8,000+ Muslim men and boys killed in Srebrenica in July 1995. The leaders of the genocide were convicted. The perpetrators of Israel’s genocide in Gaza remain at large,” Roth said on X.