SEOUL, Feb. 25 (UPI) — The United States and South Korea will kick off a major joint military exercise next month, both countries announced Wednesday, as they prepare for the transfer of wartime operational control from Washington to Seoul.

The annual springtime Freedom Shield exercise will take place March 9 to 19 and will incorporate “realistic threats, including lessons learned from recent conflicts … to further strengthen the Alliance’s readiness and capabilities through combined, joint, all-domain operations,” the militaries said in a joint statement.

“This exercise will also serve as an opportunity to support ongoing preparations for a conditions-based wartime operational transition, consistent with alliance agreement,” the statement added.

South Korea is looking to complete the handover of wartime command from the United States before President Lee Jae Myung’s five-year term ends in 2030.

The exercise will feature computer simulation-based command post exercises as well as “Warrior Shield” field training, the allies said.

Freedom Shield comes as the Lee administration attempts to improve frayed relations with Pyongyang, which frequently condemns the allies’ joint drills as rehearsals for an invasion.

Local media have reported that Seoul is proposing scaling down field training during this year’s exercise — a move that Washington has allegedly resisted.

At the summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises in August, half of the 40 planned field training exercises were rescheduled to later in the year.

“Complex combined exercises often require additional coordination, looking at the scale and sequencing of these events,” Col. Ryan Donald, public affairs director of U.S. Forces Korea, said at a press conference Wednesday. “The important thing to remember is Freedom Shield and Warrior Shield will go on this March as a major defensive-oriented exercise.”

In addition to U.S. and South Korean forces, personnel from other member countries of the United Nations Command will join the exercise, while the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission will observe to monitor compliance with the Armistice Agreement.

“You’ll see U.S., South Korean and United Nations Command member states participating in tough, realistic, demanding training — and that is the real measure of the alliance,” Donald said.

Col. Jang Do-young, public affairs director of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the press conference that field training exercises were still being coordinated.

He added that March’s Freedom Shield will not include scenarios directly related to a North Korean nuclear attack, but would include training for “deterrence of nuclear threats.”

Last week, a South Korean lawmaker said that Pyongyang is planning to hold a large-scale military parade to show off its latest weapons at the conclusion of the ongoing Workers’ Party Ninth Congress.

The Trump administration has directed U.S. diplomats to actively oppose foreign laws that restrict how American tech companies handle citizens’ data abroad. An internal State Department cable, dated February 18 and signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, described such measures as threats to artificial intelligence services, global data flows, and civil liberties.

Experts say the move signals a return to a more confrontational approach after previous efforts focused on building goodwill with European customers. The administration warned that data sovereignty rules could increase costs, introduce cybersecurity risks, and expand government control in ways that enable censorship.

Data Sovereignty in Focus

Data sovereignty or localization initiatives have accelerated, especially in Europe, amid ongoing tensions over U.S. trade policies and concerns about privacy and surveillance. European regulators, wary of American tech giants, have tightened rules on how data is stored and shared. The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) remains the most prominent example, restricting cross-border data transfers and imposing stiff fines on companies that fail to comply.

The State Department cable cited GDPR as “unnecessarily burdensome” and highlighted China’s restrictive data policies as an example of how technology rules can expand geopolitical influence. Beijing, it noted, bundles infrastructure projects with policies that provide access to international data for surveillance and strategic leverage.

Diplomatic Action Plan

The cable, labeled as an “action request,” instructed diplomats to track proposals that could limit cross-border data flows and to counter regulations deemed excessive. Talking points included promotion of the Global Cross-Border Privacy Rules Forum, a multinational initiative launched in 2022 by the United States, Mexico, Canada, Australia, and Japan to support free flow of data while ensuring privacy protections.

This directive follows a pattern of U.S. opposition to European digital regulation. Last year, diplomats were ordered to challenge the EU’s Digital Services Act, aimed at making the internet safer by forcing social media firms to remove illegal content. The U.S. is also reportedly planning an online portal to help users bypass content moderation, including restrictions on material flagged as hate speech or terrorist propaganda.

Analysis: A More Assertive U.S. Digital Strategy

The cable reflects a strategic shift toward actively protecting the interests of U.S. tech companies globally. While previous administrations attempted to engage Europe diplomatically, the current approach pressures foreign governments to loosen privacy and data storage regulations that could hinder U.S. business.

By framing data sovereignty laws as a threat to AI development, cybersecurity, and civil liberties, the administration is positioning the free flow of data as a cornerstone of U.S. economic and technological influence. At the same time, rising competition from China in digital infrastructure and AI adds urgency, highlighting the geopolitical stakes of controlling international data flows.

The broader implication is a growing clash between national data policies and global digital commerce. As countries enact stricter rules to protect citizens’ data, U.S. tech firms and policymakers are increasingly asserting that global interoperability and AI innovation must take priority, signaling potential tensions in transatlantic and international digital governance for years to come.

With information from Reuters.

FANS of Benny Blanco have been left feeling queasy after noticing a “disgusting” detail from his new podcast.

On Tuesday, the musician – who is married to Selena Gomez -launched his new multimedia podcast, Friends Keep Secrets; but fans were more taken by the host’s hygiene than the show itself.

Just minutes into the first episode, which features Benny and his co-hosts Lil Dicky and Kristin Batalucco, the record producer kicked back on a couch with no socks on.

And fans quickly noticed that he the soles of his feet appeared dirty, quickly taking to social media.

“EW! benny, get off the couch and go take ,a shower. you’re not a toddler,” wrote one fan to X.

Another horrified user said: “The fact that his feet are ACTUALLY that filthy makes me sick to my stomach like selena girl what’s going on”.

SAD UPDATE

Christina Applegate reveals she spends most of day in bed amid battle with MS

“Yikes! That’s definitely a “don’t look down” moment.

Sounds like Benny Blanco didn’t expect his feet to make a cameo on the podcast. The joys of live recordings sometimes the unexpected gets all the attention!,” said a third.

“Benny blanco go wash your damn feet,” simply echoed another.

With Benny’s feet garnering more attention that the podcast itself, others shared messages directly for his wife Selena.

“How is Selena dealing with this?” one social media user said.

One even went as far to say: “Selena needs to divorce him and find someone better”.

Benny and his co-hosts are set to welcome a string of A-listers on the new podcast series, with the producer teasing that Selena will also come onto the show.

The couple have been together since June 2023 and married back in September.

At the time, we reported how they hosted their guests at the luxury El Encanto Hotel in Santa Barbara, and held their ceremony at a residence nearby.

Before things turned romantic, the couple actually knew one another for over a decade – meeting back in 2008 when Selena was beginning her career.

The pop star previously had a very public romance with Justin Bieber, before dating The WKEND for around a year.

WASHINGTON — To defend an increasingly unpopular immigration crackdown during his State of the Union speech, President Trump highlighted the victims of crimes perpetuated by undocumented immigrants.

But as Democrats pointed out, the president’s lengthy speech made no reference to the U.S. citizens, including Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, who were killed by immigration agents.

Recent polls show public approval of Trump’s immigration policies has fallen to record lows level since he returned to the White House. One poll, released Feb. 17 by Reuters and the market research firm Ipsos, showed just 38% of respondents felt Trump was doing a good job on immigration.

Another poll, published last month by Fox News, showed 59% of voters say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is “too aggressive.”

“As President Trump brags about his immigration enforcement at tonight’s State of the Union, I can think only of Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti and the three dozen people who have died in ICE custody since Trump took office,” Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) wrote on X.

Within the first few minutes of his address on Tuesday night, Trump highlighted “the strongest and most secure border in American history, by far.” He also offered — at least momentarily — a softer tone, adding that “We will always allow people to come in legally, people that will love our country and will work hard to maintain our country.”

In reality, the administration has restricted legal immigration. It has revoked humanitarian benefits for hundreds of thousands of people, and an indefinite pause on all asylum applications filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Guests invited by various lawmakers to attend Trump’s speech offered dueling visions of the administration’s mass deportation effort.

Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) said he would bring the father and brother of Sarah Root, who was killed in 2016 after a drunk driver, who was in the U.S. illegally, crashed into her vehicle. Trump held an event Monday for “angel families,” those with a relative who was killed by an undocumented immigrant, and signed a proclamation honoring such victims of crimes.

Democrats, meanwhile, invited immigrants, family members of those detained or deported, and U.S. citizens who were violently arrested by immigration agents.

Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano), for example, said he was bringing the daughter of a Laguna Niguel couple deported last year to Colombia after their arrest during a routine check-in with ICE. And Rep. Jesus Garcia (D-Ill.) invited Marimar Martinez, a Chicago woman shot five times by Border Patrol Agent Charles Exum.

On X, the Department of Homeland Security shot back at Democrats with immigrant guests, saying the lawmakers are “once again prioritizing illegal aliens above the safety of American citizens.”

On Tuesday morning, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) held a news conference on “the state of immigration,” flanked by Christian pastors, in which she touted her Dignity Act, which would provide permanent legal status to immigrants who meet certain benchmarks.

“Throughout the Scripture, there are two kinds of leaders: those who persecute faith communities and those who protect them,” she said.

California Sen. Adam Schiff was among the Democrats to boycott Trump’s speech, and he cited immigration enforcement as one reason for his absence.

“I have not missed the State of the Union in the 25 years I’ve been in Congress, but we have never had a president violate the Constitution, the laws every day with seeming impunity,” Schiff told Meidas Touch outside the Capitol. “We’ve never had masked armed, poorly trained agents, victimizing our cities, demanding to see people’s papers.”

Trump repeated claims about immigration that have been debunked, such as his assertion that President Biden’s immigration polices allowed millions of people to pour into the U.S. from prisons and mental institutions.

Trump also highlighted a figure he has often turned to — that Democrats let in “11,888 murderers.” That number, an inaccurate description of federal data, refers to immigrants who, over the course of decades (including the first Trump administration) were convicted of homicide, usually after their arrival in the U.S. Those immigrants are listed on ICE’s “non-detained docket” typically because they are currently serving their prison sentences.

Turning to Minnesota, Trump said Somalis have defrauded $19 billion from American taxpayers and referred to them derogatorily as “Somali pirates.”

Trump went beyond Somalis to disparage many immigrants, saying “there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruptions and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception.”

“Importing these cultures through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings those problems right here to the USA, and it is the American people who pay the price,” he said.

Trump also highlighted the case of Dalilah Coleman, 6, of Bakersfield who was left with a traumatic brain injury after a 2024 car crash in California.

He called on Congress to pass the Dalilah Law, which would bar states from granting commercial drivers licenses to immigrants without lawful status. He said, without proof, that “most illegal aliens do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic road signs.”

A year after Dalilah’s accident her family met with Partap Singh, the detained Indian immigrant responsible for the crash, at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield. Marcus Coleman, her father, told Fox26 News that the focus shouldn’t be on Singh’s legal status because similar accidents happen every day.

Also present Tuesday night were the parents of Sarah Beckstrom, the West Virginia National Guard member shot and killed in Washington, D.C. by an Afghan immigrant, as well as Andrew Wolfe, who was also shot and survived.

Trump awarded Wolfe and Beckstrom the Purple Heart. He called Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the man charged in the shooting, a “terrorist monster.” Lakanwal legally entered the U.S. from Afghanistan through a Biden administration program in 2021 and his asylum application was approved under the Trump administration last April.

Turning his attention the fall’s midterm elections, Trump warned his supporters that if allowed back into power, Democrats would reopen the borders “to some of the worst criminals anywhere in the world.”

Trump then invited legislators to stand if they agreed with him that “the first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”

Republicans stood, offering one of the longest standing ovations of the night. Democrats remained seated.

Trump told Democrats they should be ashamed for not standing up.

“You have killed Americans!” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) yelled from the audience. “You should be ashamed.”

The opponent, date and venue for Taylor’s final fight have not been confirmed.

August would be a more likely date for a Croke Park bout as the iconic Dublin stadium is hosting the latter stages of the All-Ireland Hurling and Football Championships throughout July.

In September, Taylor was named ‘Champion in Recess’ by the World Boxing Council (WBC) after informing the sanctioning body of her plans to take some time away from the sport.

Last week, Briton Sandy Ryan claimed the vacant belt with victory over Mexico’s Karla Ramos Zamora in Nottingham.

Taylor has a 25-1 professional record with her only defeat coming against Britain’s Chantelle Cameron in Dublin in 2023.

After avenging that loss to become a two-weight undisputed champion later that year, Taylor recorded wins over Serrano in November 2024 and July 2025 having already overcome the Puerto Rican in April 2022.

“I’m not sure who the opponent is or what the date will be,” added Taylor, who won an Olympic lightweight gold medal in 2012 before turning pro in 2016.

“I just know I’ll fight this year during the summer time and all the other details will be laid out in the coming weeks and months.

“Either way I’m in the gym for whenever and whoever it will be. I’m staying sharp and ready.”

THE WORLD’S first Bluey rollercoaster will be in the UK and it has announced its launch date.

Bluey the Ride: Here Come the Grannies! will open on March 28 at Alton Towers Resort theme park in the West Midlands.

The new ride will be in CBeebies Land at the park and is based on the episode where Bluey and Bingo dress up as grannies called Janet and Rita.

The ride will be themed on the two characters causing chaos.

Recent images, that revealed a first look at the ride, show both of the characters dressed as grannies.

The ride is specifically designed for preschoolers and young families.

Read more on travel inspo

TRIP TIPS

I’ve visited Disney 55 times… mistakes parents make that ruin trips & waste money

HOL YES

I’m a travel editor & mum-of-3… my favourite family holidays from just £3pp a night

Howard Ebison, vice president of Alton Towers Resort said: “Bluey the Ride: Here Come the Grannies! is all about celebrating energy, play and those everyday moments families love about the show.

“It’s playful, unexpected and unmistakably Bluey – and we can’t wait to welcome families from March 28 to experience the world’s first Bluey coaster right here at Alton Towers Resort.”

In addition to the new ride, guests will also get the chance to meet-and-greet Mum (Chilli), Dad (Bandit), Bluey and Bingo.

There will be a live show experience as well inside the Big Fun Showtime at the park.

And, if you really want your visit to be all about Bluey, you can stay in new Bluey-themed hotel rooms at CBeebies Land Hotel.

Sun writer, Hannah Ferrett, stayed in one of the already-open Bluey rooms.

She said: “The hotel has done a great job.

“The kids slept in Bluey and Bingo’s room, complete with bunk beds, the recognisable watermelon rug and the cartoon dogs’ pretty Himalayan rock salt night light — a nice touch for little ones.

“The bathroom had pictures of Bluey and her sister plastered across the walls.

“My partner Dan and I were in Bandit and Chilli’s room, which had a king size bed, TV and lots of pictures of Bluey and Bingo as puppies, much to the delight of our kids.”

The room is one of 13 in total that have been designed with kids in mind.

Other rooms include Postman Pat, Bing and Octonauts.

Attractions in CBeebies Land include Peter Rabbit Hippity Hop where visitors join Peter Rabbit and Lily Bobtail as they explore the garden and try to figure out a series of puzzles.

There’s also the In The Night Garden Boat Ride where you head through a real Night Garden and see the characters.

A pass to visit CBeebies Land costs £32 when booked in advance, though you can also grab a £29 toddler and parent pass.

Children under 90cm tall go for free.

In other theme park news, a popular UK theme park is set to demolish much-loved ride – with plans for new attraction.

Plus, Thorpe Park to close its popular waterpark for GOOD after 35 years.

Feb. 25 (UPI) — Australian police evacuated Prime Minister Anthony Albanese from his official residence in Canberra for several hours after a bomb hoax related to a classical Chinese dance and music troupe touring the country that is banned by Beijing.

The New York-based Shen Yun group was sent an email threat on Tuesday saying that explosives had been planted at The Lodge in the Australian capital and would be detonated unless the troupe pulled out of the tour, the BBC and Australia’s ABC News reported.

“Large quantities of nitroglycerine explosives have been placed around the Australian Prime Minister’s Lodge, located on Adelaide Avenue in the Deakin area of Canberra, Australia. If you insist on proceeding with the performance, then the Prime Minister’s Lodge will be blown into ruins and blood will flow like a river,” read the email.

The group is part of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, which is proscribed in China due to its opposition to the Chinese Communist Party, with the United States and other countries accusing Beijing of a brutal campaign of suppression to deprive its estimated 20 million adherents of their rights to freedom of religion and belief.

The government says the group is a dangerous cult.

Australian authorities confirmed only that they had dealt with an “alleged security incident” at Albanese’s home but that “nothing suspicious was located.”

Police said they evacuated Albanese to a safe location for several hours on Tuesday evening local time.

ABC News said there was no evidence the incident was in any way connected to the Chinese government, citing an anonymous Australian government source as saying a member of the local Chinese community opposed to Falun Gong could have been behind the incident.

The Queensland venue where Shen Yun’s tour was due to kick off on Wednesday evening was evacuated by police on Monday after an “unverified threat” linked to the group was made against the iconic Home of the Arts complex in Surfers Paradise, 45 miles southeast of Brisbane.

A search of the site by officers found no suspicious items, police said, but Experience Gold Coast said it had tightened security for the Shen Yun performances being staged at the venue through Sunday.

“We will continue to monitor the situation closely and adjust arrangements if required as the safety of our team and patrons is always our first priority,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

A similar bomb-hoax incident in February 2025 forced the evacuation of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on the day Shen Yun was due to open a 12-date tour, starting at the Kennedy Center.

A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center told The Washington Post that the threat was targeted at Shen Yun performances.

In 2024, Chinese residents of Los Angeles John Chen and Lin Feng were sentenced to 20 months and 16 months in prison for working for the Chinese government to get Shen Yun’s tax exempt status in the United States revoked by paying bribes to an undercover agent posing as an IRS staffer.

In a wiretap transcript submitted by the Justice Department, Chen is quoted as stating the bribes were to facilitate China’s aim of “toppl[ing]” Falun Gong, while in another Chen and Feng discuss orders from a Chinese government official, including deleting the instructions to avoid detection as well as procedures to notify the official if their bribery scheme failed.

A DOJ news release at the time said the Chinese Communist Party designates Falun Gong as one of the “Five Poisons,” or one of the top five threats to its rule, with Falun Gong adherents routinely subjected to “repressive and punitive measures”, including imprisonment.

However, Shen Yun has reputational issues around alleged abusive practices and behavior by the group.

In November 2024, a lawsuit was launched alleging forced labor and trafficking, while dozens of performers described being badly treated by the group in interviews given to the New York Times.

Shun Yen denies any wrongdoing, alleging the lawsuit and complaints were part of an ongoing, politically driven smear campaign by the Chinese government.

The most drastic option also appears the least likely.

Buttler, who signed a new two-year central contract last year, has been a mainstay of England’s white-ball teams for more than a decade. Could they really leave him out entirely for a World Cup semi-final?

That encounter may be at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, where Buttler has made scores of 94 not out, 89 and 116 in the IPL.

Ben Duckett is the spare batter in England’s squad – another man struggling for form.

Duckett is averaging 18.88 across 12 matches this winter across all formats and was out for a first-ball duck in his most recent innings at the start of the month.

Leg-spinning all-rounder Rehan Ahmed would be a left-field replacement. That would be a massive call.

Perhaps Friday’s match against New Zealand, effectively a dead rubber for England given they are already through, is the perfect, pressure-free opportunity for Buttler to help make the hierarchy’s decision an easy one.

“Who is writing Jos Buttler off?,” said former England spinner Alex Hartley.

“If you are, get a grip. He is one of those players where it takes one shot crunched through the covers and he will be back.

“It would be a worry if England were not winning games. I have no doubt when push comes to shove Jos Buttler will be OK.”

The Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain, who rose to fame on the 2015 series, has spoken out about her change of career and experiences of working as a teaching assistant

Winner of the Great British Bake Off Nadiya Hussain has spoken out about the television industry and the difficult choice she made to leave her agent and her manager.

Nadiya, 41, who won the Bake Off in 2015, spoke about the industry just days after it was announced that she was leaving her teaching assistant job, as she continues this next phase of her career.

Speaking about the matter, she discussed the “overwhelming whiteness of TV and publishing” and admitted she was tired of working in what she described as a broken industry.

She told the Guardian: “It’s broken. This last year has been really important for me to realise that, really accept that, actually, I can’t fix a broken industry.”

Nadiya also talked about what 2025 was like for her, and how it gave the renowned baker an opportunity to think about the next decade of her life after admitting that she felt like she had “started to feel like a caricature of myself”.

She added: “It has been really enlightening at the same time. I’ve had the opportunity to sit back and look at how I see the next 10 years…It’s been scary, but I’ve also really enjoyed figuring out what that looks like for me.”

Last year Nadiya released a cookbook titled ‘Rooza’, one containing dishes inspired by important elements of the Islamic world and culture, including Eid and Ramadan. She also created another volume titled ‘Nadiya’s Quick Comforts’.

With her decision to take back control of her career has come new freedoms and new locations, with Nadiya announcing earlier this month that she was leaving her teaching assistant job.

However, in a post on Instagram, Nadiya said she was leaving the role because of the negative impact it was having on her health. Nadiya has a weakened immune system and lives with fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that causes musculoskeletal pain and fatigue, among other symptoms.

In the social media post, Nadiya explained why she had to leave a job she had been in for only three months: “I’ve always wanted to work with children in younger years as a teaching assistant and I applied for a few jobs, which in itself was difficult for lots or reasons.

“I applied and got a job as a TA (teaching assistant) at a primary school and I’ve got to say, apart from raising my own children, it was one of the best jobs I’ve ever done.

“I loved every second of waking up in the morning with a spring in my step for these beautiful children. I just loved every second of doing that job.

“But unfortunately doing a job like that as somebody with a weakened immune system it just played havoc with my health…. I was sick all the time and it got to the point where it was affecting my mental health and I just wasn’t performing, giving my best because I was always sick.”

She added: “But unfortunately with a weakened immune system working as a TA in a primary school was just proving impossible and it was one of the hardest decisions I had to make to step away for it.”

Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris have long circled one another.

The two moved in the same political slipstream, wooed the same set of Democratic donors and, for a time, even shared the same group of campaign advisors.

Harris rose from San Francisco district attorney to elected positions in Sacramento and Washington before twice running unsuccessfully for president.

Newsom climbed from San Francisco mayor to lieutenant governor to California’s governorship, where he quietly stewed as Harris leapfrogged past him into the vice presidency. While she served in the White House, Newsom tried any number of ways to insinuate himself into the national spotlight.

Now both have at least one eye on the Oval Office, setting up a potential clash of egos and ambition that’s been decades in the making.

Newsom, whose term as governor expires in January, has been auditioning for president from practically the moment the polls closed in 2024 and horrified Democrats realized Harris had lost to Donald Trump.

Harris, who’s mostly focused on writing and promoting her campaign autobiography — while giving a political speech here and there — hasn’t publicly declared she’ll seek the White House a third time. But, notably, she has yet to rule out the possibility.

In a CNN interview aired Sunday, Newsom was asked about the prospect of facing his longtime frenemy in a fight for the Democratic nomination. (California’s gallivanting governor is embarked on his own national book tour, promoting both the “memoir of discovery” that was published Tuesday and his all-but-declared presidential bid.)

“Well, I’m San Francisco now, she’s L.A.,” Newsom joked, referring to Harris’ post-Washington residency in Brentwood. “So there’s a little distance between the two of us.”

He then turned zen-like, saying fate would determine if the two face off in the 2028 primary contest. “You can only control what you can control,” Newsom told CNN host Dana Bash.

A decade ago, Newsom and Harris swerved to keep their careers from colliding.

In 2015, Barbara Boxer said she would step down once she finished her fourth term in the U.S. Senate. The opening presented a rare opportunity for political advancement after years in which a clutch of aging incumbents held California’s top elected offices. Between Lt. Gov. Newsom and state Atty. Gen. Harris, there was no lack of pent-up ambition.

After a weekend of intensive deliberations, Newsom passed on the Senate race and Harris jumped in, establishing herself as the front-runner for Boxer’s seat, which she won in 2016. Newsom waited and was elected governor in 2018, succeeding Jerry Brown.

Once in their preferred roles, the two got along reasonably well. Each campaigned on the other’s behalf. But, privately, there has never been a great deal of mutual regard or affection.

Come 2028, there will doubtless be many Democrats seeking to replace President Trump. The party’s last wide-open contest, in 2020, drew more than two dozen major contestants. So it’s not as though Harris and Newsom would face each other in a one-on-one fight.

But dueling on the national stage, with the country’s top political prize at stake, is something that Hollywood might have scripted for Newsom and Harris as the way to settle, once and for all, their long-standing rivalry.

The two Californians would start out closely matched in good looks and charisma.

Those who know them well, having observed Newsom and Harris up close, cite other strengths and weaknesses.

Harris has thicker skin, they suggested, and is more disciplined. Her forte is set-piece events, like debates and big speeches.

Newsom is more of a policy wonk, a greater risk-taker and is more willing to venture into challenging and even hostile settings.

Newson is more fluent in the ecosphere of social media, podcasts and the like. Harris has the advantage of performing longer on the national stage and bears nothing like the personal scandals that have plagued Newsom.

But Harris’ problem, it was widely agreed, is that she has run twice before and, worse, lost the last time to Trump.

“To a lot of voters, she’s yesterday’s news,” said one campaign strategist.

“She had her shot,” said another, channeling the perceived way Democratic primary voters would react to another Harris run. “You didn’t make it, so why should we give you another shot?”

(Those half-dozen kibbitzers who agreed to candidly assess the prospects of Newsom and Harris asked not to be identified, so they could preserve their relationships with the two.)

Most of the handicappers gave the edge to Newsom in a prospective match-up; one political operative familiar with both would have placed their wager on Harris had she not run before.

“I think her demographic appeal to Black women and coming up the ranks as a Black woman working in criminal justice is a very strong card,” said the campaign strategist. “The white guy from California, the pretty boy, is not as much of a primary draw.”

That said, this strategist, too, suggested that “being tagged as someone who not only lost but lost in this situation that has set the world on fire … is too big a cross to bear.”

The consensus among these cognoscenti is that Harris will not run again and that Newsom — notwithstanding any demurrals — will.

Of course, the only two who know for sure are those principals, and it’s quite possible neither Harris nor Newsom have entirely made up their minds.

Those who enjoy their politics cut with a dash of soap opera will just have to wait.

Chelsea were 2-0 down in the match but went on to win 3-2 thanks to Enzo Fernandez’s injury-time goal, which came before the confrontation.

In its written reasons, the independent regulatory commission stated “this was a serious incident” involving a number of Chelsea‘s players.

It added: “It was not accepted that Mr Cucurella was wholly without fault. He was aware of his actions after conceding the corner kick and returning to his feet.

“He sought to invite a reaction from Mr Traore. That is not to justify Mr Traore’s disproportionate reaction from which the mass confrontation ensued.

“Furthermore, the commission noted that three of the Chelsea players were in some way seeking to incite the crowd during and towards the end of the incident.

“There is no justification for this behaviour, irrespective of what had happened during the course of the game or within the mass confrontation itself. It was accepted that the club had admitted the charge and was contrite.”

The commission said both clubs “contributed to the incident” and that Traore’s “disproportionate reaction to Mr Cucurella’s movement as he returned to his feet, was the catalyst for what occurred”.

It also stated: “It was accepted that there was no violent conduct from any other West Ham United players beyond the behaviour of Mr Todibo.

“However, a large number of West Ham United players did behave in an improper and provocative manner and contributed to what was a serious, unsightly incident.”

Feb. 25 (UPI) — The Supreme Court‘s ruling to limit President Donald Trump‘s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs is forcing the administration to look to different statutory authorities to carry out its trade policy.

On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that the president could not use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to generate revenue through tariffs. While this caused Trump to seek another avenue to impose tariffs, landing on a global 15% rate through Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, his plans to use tariffs to negotiate trade deals have not changed.

The decision impacts a great deal of the tariffs Trump has enacted during his second term, Purba Mukerji, professor of economics at Connecticut College, told UPI. She said he has been using the IEEPA to give himself “flexibility” in trade negotiations since returning to the White House.

Trump expressed disappointment in the high court’s decision on Friday but Mukerji said it was expected by economists and is unlikely to disrupt the president’s broader economic policy. Tariffs on steel and aluminum, as well as those that target certain sectors, are likely to remain in place.

U.S. markets have not strongly reacted to the Supreme Court ruling in either direction. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by less than a point on Monday, only to rebound on Tuesday. The S&P 500 followed a similar path.

The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes has reflected some uncertainty, though concerns about AI displacing workers, global tensions and broader trade concerns may be factors as well.

“For the business leaders who make decisions, for importers and exporters and foreign countries that are dealing with us in their trade negotiations, this is not a surprise,” Mukerji said. “So I don’t think there will be any long-lasting consequences of this particular Supreme Court ruling, except to put the whole trade negotiations and trade policy on much firmer footing.”

Consumers hoping to see prices come down are unlikely to see significant changes from the ruling either, Mukerji added.

“As far as consumer prices go, I am encouraged by the fact that we didn’t see the rise in consumer prices that was expected in all sectors coming out of tariffs,” she said. “I don’t expect that to be coming down in the future. I don’t think much will change on the ground.”

A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York published earlier this month reports that 94% of Trump’s tariffs imposed last year were paid by U.S. entities and consumers during the first eight months of 2025.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported in December that it had collected $200 billion in tariff revenue. The largest portion of tariffs collected was on imports from China, a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond said. The report is based on data from the U.S. Treasury Department and Census Bureau.

We Pay The Tariffs, a coalition of more than 800 small businesses, is circulating a petition to call for the federal government to refund businesses due to the tariffs being ruled unlawful.

“A legal victory is meaningless without actual relief for the businesses that paid these tariffs,” Dan Anthony, executive director of the organization, said in a statement. “The administration’s only responsible course of action now is to establish a fast, efficient and automatic refund process that returns tariff money to the businesses that paid it.”

It remains unclear what will happen to the revenue the court ruled has been unlawfully collected. The Supreme Court did not address refunds for tariffs paid.

Mukerji said reimbursing collected tariffs poses some practical challenges. She explained that while the United States maintains a database of who has paid what tariffs, it often shows a delivery company, like FedEx, as the entity that made the payment, not the importer who in reality incurred the costs.

“So you kind of have to reimburse FedEx, who then turns around and reimburses the importer,” she said. “That is a mess because then we depend on the account keeping, say by FedEx, so it becomes more complicated there.”

There is also a matter of fairness as some wholesalers pass the costs of tariffs on to retailers, who then pass them on to consumers, Mukerji said.

Following the court’s decision, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration will look to Section 122, as well as Section 301 of the Trade Act and Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 tariff authorities to pursue “virtually unchanged tariff revenue” this year.

These statutes notably do not require congressional approval to impose tariffs like the Supreme Court affirmed the IEEPA did.

Section 122 gives the president the authority to impose a maximum 15% tariff for up to 150 days. Tariffs imposed under this authority would remain in effect into July at the latest.

Section 301 of the Trade Act gives the president the authority to impose tariffs in response to unfair trade practices, theft of intellectual property and discriminatory policies by trade partners. An investigation by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative must be completed to determine if there is a violation and allow for the use of Section 301 authority.

Trump’s broad tariffs on China were issued in 2018 under the authority of Section 301.

Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act allows the president to impose tariffs and other trade restrictions on imports if they are determined to threaten national security. This must be preceded by an investigation by the Commerce Department into the potential of a threat.

Trump used Section 232 to place tariffs on steel and aluminum during his first term.

While President Joe Biden peeled back on many of Trump’s policies when he came into office, he kept some trade policies like these largely intact and reinforced them through investigations.

For Section 301 tariffs, Biden allowed the required four-year review to continue throughout his term, ultimately raising tariffs on electric vehicles from China as well as some semiconductors, critical minerals and other sectors.

For Section 232 tariffs, Biden kept Trump’s tariff framework largely in place and continued to use the national security justification to keep tariffs as a point of negotiations.

“Biden actually made them stronger,” Mukerji said. “Most of them continued under Biden and they were extended and made even stronger. So these trade policies now have the strength of a solid foundation. These stand on the shoulders of investigations so they have this lasting power.”

The Supreme Court’s decision has caused some ongoing negotiations to shift or pause.

Earlier this week, a planned meeting with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington, D.C., was put on hold. The sides were planning to meet for three days to discuss an interim trade deal that would likely go into effect in April.

The European Union’s parliament canceled a vote to ratify a trade deal with the United States on Monday in response to the Supreme Court decision and Trump’s subsequent new tariffs.

“A deal is a deal,” the European Commission said in a statement on Saturday. “As the United States’ largest trading partner, the EU expects the U.S. to honor its commitments set out in the Joint Statement — just as the EU stands by its commitments.”

With the Supreme Court’s decision, the Trump administration and future administrations definitively have one less tool to use when imposing tariffs. The ruling does not mark an end to Trump’s tariff plans. It only clarifies his authority to impose tariffs. Meanwhile, the president is left to negotiate trade deals under greater scrutiny.

Days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed forging a network of allied nations, including in the Middle East and Africa, to stand against what he called “radical” adversaries, the country’s president is on an official visit to key ally, Ethiopia.

It is not yet known which Arab and African countries will form part of Netanyahu’s hypothetical “hexagon of alliances”, which he said on Sunday will include Israel, India, Greece, Cyprus and others to stand against their enemies in the Middle East. Chief among those enemies is presumably Iran and its network of resistance groups from Hezbollah in Lebanon to the Houthis of Yemen.

Analysts doubt Israel could secure enough influence over nation-states to form a formal security pact.

However, the country is deepening its ongoing charm offensive in Africa, which it began during the genocide in Gaza, as its reputation suffered a decline on the continent, with the African Union (AU) releasing multiple statements condemning Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians.

In a rare visit, Israeli President Isaac Herzog arrived in Ethiopia on Tuesday. The last presidential trip to the East African country took place in 2018.

“The relationship between our peoples is woven deep into the pages of history and human tradition,” Herzog said in a statement upon his arrival. “At the heart of the story of both our nations lies a clear common thread – the ability to join hands, unite resources of spirit and substance, to innovate, develop, and grow for the benefit of all.”

Herzog, on Wednesday, met with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who said the two leaders talked about “ways to improve collaboration in areas of mutual interest,” without revealing further details.

But beneath the surface, observers say the visit also represents a battle for influence over Addis Ababa, which has received similar high-level delegations from Turkiye and Saudi Arabia in recent days.

Shared ties and shared anger

Ethiopia and Israel are bound by several links, from shared histories of their people to shared scrutiny over recent political moves in the Horn of Africa that have angered several of the region’s influential nations.

Both countries maintain friendly ties largely due to the Beta Israel community, or Ethiopian Jews, who hail from northern Tigray and Amhara. Historically, Ethiopian Jews suffered religious persecution, and after Israel’s formation, it sought their emigration under its Law of Return policy. Between the late 1970s and mid-1990s, tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews were covertly transported to Israel – during a time when several African countries, including Ethiopia, had cut off ties with Israel over the 1973 Yom Kippur War and its invasion of Egypt. On the cusp of a civil war in Ethiopia in 1991, Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, launched a daring operation that airlifted 14,000 Ethiopians over the course of just two days.

About 160,000 Ethiopian Jews now live in Israel. Many within the community have struggled to integrate and have complained of discrimination and racism. In 2019, tens of thousands of Ethiopian Jews flooded the streets in protest across Israeli cities after a 19-year-old of Ethiopian origin was shot dead by the police.

Ethiopia-Israel state relations have, meanwhile, remained steady. In 2016, when Netanyahu visited the country in his first prime ministerial visit – Addis Ababa became one of the first African countries to voice support for Israel’s long-sought observer status at the AU. Fierce opposition from South Africa, Algeria and other countries supporting Palestine delayed the process until 2021. Later, in 2023, the AU confirmed it had withdrawn the status.

Mashav, Israel’s aid agency, has, in the past decade, provided aid to Ethiopia in the form of agriculture and water cooperation projects, although Addis Ababa receives much more significant funding from wealthier partners like China. When Israel sponsored several African journalists on media trips to the country last year, Ethiopia was among the countries it invited journalists from.

More recently, both countries are bound by their support for Somaliland, which Somalia claims as part of its territory and which Israel sees as critical to its own national security, Hargeisa-based analyst Moustafa Ahmad told Al Jazeera.

In December, Israel recognised Somaliland’s statehood, becoming the first country to do so. Months before, there were unconfirmed talks about plans to move displaced Palestinians to Somaliland or to South Sudan, another key Israeli ally in the region. Analysts speculate that countries like South Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, another close friend of Israel, may also recognise Somaliland.

Israel’s focus on the Horn of Africa intensified after a late 2024 report from a United Nations expert panel, which found that the Somalia-based armed group, al-Shabab, was actively collaborating with Yemen’s Houthis. Where the Houthis were providing weapons and drone training, al-Shabab was, in return, granting access to a smuggling corridor stretching along the Somali coast and connecting to the Gulf of Aden, where Iranian weapons could be smuggled into Yemen.

The move to recognise Somaliland was therefore meant to disrupt that cooperation by stationing an Israeli naval base in the region, analysts note.

“It’s part of their calculations even if they haven’t said it publicly,” Ahmad said.

Several countries, as well as the AU, have pushed back on Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, calling it a violation of Somalia’s sovereignty. In Somaliland, however, many have celebrated the move.

Addis Ababa under pressure

While neither Israel nor Ethiopia has provided details of topics on the agenda during Herzog’s visit, Somaliland is likely at the top of the list.

Addis Ababa had in 2024 enraged its neighbours after it signed a controversial port deal with Hargeisa that would allow it access to the sea, reportedly in exchange for a future recognition of Somaliland. Although massive and rapidly industrialising, Ethiopia is landlocked, having lost its sea access after Eritrea seceded in 1993. Prime Minister Abiy has often said sea access is critical for his country.

The fall-out between Ethiopia and Somalia was so severe that analysts sounded the alarm over possible armed conflict between the two neighbours until Turkiye, a key development partner for Mogadishu, stepped in to smooth things over by pressuring Addis Ababa to coordinate with Mogadishu instead.

It is likely, analysts say, that Israel is now hoping to push Ethiopia further towards recognising Somaliland, which boasts a 850km (528-mile) coastline. In Hargeisa, many are disappointed after more countries failed to follow Israel’s steps, Ahmad said.

Addis Ababa, though, might not appreciate further pressure at the moment as it faces increasing regional isolation on several fronts.

One key reason is the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which Egypt and Sudan say is blocking the water supply they need for irrigation.

A source of national pride for Ethiopians, the dam was funded almost entirely through citizens’ donations and government funds. Israeli engineers participated in the project, and Israel reportedly sold weapons to Ethiopia to protect the dam amid tensions with its neighbours, although the Israeli government denies this.

At the same time, Addis Ababa is also facing tensions with Eritrea, which has moved closer to Somalia and Egypt. Both countries have historically feuded, and recently, tensions have again risen over the 2020 Tigray War and Abiy’s repeated statements about his country needing access to the sea.

“Addis Ababa is cautious of making a decision that will cement its regional isolation at this time [because] it is clearly hedging among various actors seeking to influence the Horn of Africa and Red Sea region,” Ahmad said.

Pressure is also mounting on Addis Ababa from countries eager to keep the status quo.

On Sunday, Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Ethiopia and said in his speech: “I would like to emphasise that Israel’s recognition of Somaliland does not benefit Somaliland or the Horn of Africa.”

His statement drew a backlash from Hargeisa, which called it “unacceptable interference” aimed at wrecking relations between Somaliland and its partners.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, which is embroiled in an ongoing rift with the United Arab Emirates over how to deal with the conflict in Yemen, also intervened in the fray in February. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Waleed Elkhereiji was in Addis Ababa this week to discuss “regional peace”, just two weeks after Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud arrived in the city for talks with Abiy.

So far, it is unclear if Riyadh has recorded any success in influencing Addis Ababa.

How Israel will fare in that regard is also still unclear.

WITH Easter around the corner it’s time to think about booking a holiday – so we’ve found both the cheapest destinations and the hottest.

The numbers have been crunched and this is where you want to go if you’re looking for an affordable break from just £520pp – with temperatures over 20C.

TravelSupermarket has analysed average seven-night family holiday prices and average March high temperatures to find the best and cheapest destinations.

At the very top is Portugal’s Algarve where family holidays average at £520pp, and in March there are average highs of 21C.

The region in southern Portugal is known for having beautiful golden beaches, some with huge limestone cliffs as well as plenty of fresh seafood.

Some of the most well-known towns in the Algarve include Albufeira, Faro and Lagos.

SUNNY STEALS

Winter sun holidays that cost less than your monthly energy bill – from £75pp

WINTER WARMER

Best winter sun hols with NO jet lag & hot temps, picked by The Sun’s experts

Direct flights to the Algarve can take as little as two hours 45 minutes – so you won’t be spending long on a plane either.

If you fancy going slightly off the beaten track, Deputy Travel Editor Kara Godfrey explored tiny islands off the coast of Faro.

She said: “Ilha Deserta, also known as Barreta, is often called the Caribbean of Portugal thanks to its golden sandy beaches. It takes just 20 minutes to get there, with ferries costing barely a few euros.

“I was one of the few tourists who was on the island, walking around the boardwalks that stretched across the deserted sand. No-one lives on the island, and there is just one restaurant, Estamine.

“Most of the food served is from the nearby area, and I enjoyed a range of oysters, octopus and prawns, while sampling the local wines.“

With loveholidays, a family of four can stay at the Monica Isabel Beach Club during the Easter holidays on an all-inclusive package for seven-nights from £379pp.

The 3-star hotel in Albufeira is steps away from the beach with two swimming pools and a buffet restaurant.

Chris Webber, Head of Holidays and Deals at TravelSupermarket said: “These four destinations are the ones where the maths works on both fronts.

“The Algarve in particular is a standout — it’s the most affordable option and still comfortably clears the 20°C mark, which for late March is genuinely impressive.”

Coming in second place when it comes to cheapest holiday destinations during the Easter holidays is Lanzarote.

The island offers year-round sunshine, sandy beaches and plenty of towns and natural wonders for sightseeing.

Lanzarote has an average price of £758pp and average high temperatures of 23C.

Sun Travel found a deal with loveholidays at the Blue Sea Costa Teguise Gardens from March 30 to April 6, 2026 from £499pp.

This is for a family of four with an all-inclusive package – the hotel has a outdoor swimming pool with a children’s swimming area and it’s within walking distance of three local beaches.

In third place is Agadir which has an average price of £765pp and average highs in March of 24C.

The city in Morocco has a combination of culture, sandy beaches, and endless sunshine – even in March.

It’s a popular spot for water sports, sailing, boat trips, hiking and cycling.

Another must-do in Agadir is explore the souks to check out the many stalls selling traditional Moroccan goods – and souvenirs.

Deputy Travel Editor Kara Godfrey also recently visited Agadir, and here’s what she made of it.

“Rebuilt following a devastating earthquake in 1960, the sprawling city nestles against the Atlantic Ocean and its palm-lined wide roads feel more Miami than Morocco.

“No wonder the South African country looks set to be a holiday. hotspot as Brits look past Spain next year.

“I’m staying in Taghazout, a surf town with an ever-growing number of modern beach-side resorts, just 13 miles north of Agadir and its sizzling souk.

“One of the newest resorts is the five-star adults-only Pickalbatros White Beach, which features pristine white marble steps, manicured gardens and a huge airy lobby offering views of the beach through giant glass windows – it’s affordable luxury at its finest.”

And finally the fourth cheapest is Fuerteventura which has an average price of £800pp and average highs of 22C.

Some of the most popular and family-friendly spots on the island include Corralejo and Caleta de Fuste.

TUI rep Samuel Gonzalez was born and raised in Fuerteventura added: “When it comes to beach day fun, look no further than Corralejo .

“The lively resort has plenty of beaches including the Grandes Playas which has golden sands and bright blue waters.”

Visitors should make sure to visit ‘Popcorn Beach’ in a village called Majanicho.

Majanicho is a small, off-the-beaten-track village known for surfing, a calm lagoon, and it even has a unique beach made of coral – often called “Popcorn Beach”.

The beach near Corralejo is covered in white, popcorn-shaped algae fossils called rhodoliths rather than sand.

Head of Sun Travel (Digital) Caroline McGuire visited the island during February half-term when temperatures were as high as 25C.

For more on Easter holidays – these are the cheapest all-inclusive holidays Sun Travel has found from just £179pp.

And here’s where to find guaranteed sun this Easter – with highs of 28C and UK flights from 3.5 hours.

A MUMMY influencer lifted the lid on how much social media stars actually earn for their content.

On Tiktok, Charli Wooley documents her life with her hubby and young children, and also her incredible shopping hauls and skincare routine.

The mum-of-two has 89,000 followers on TikTok with a combined 9.8 million likes across her hundreds of videos.

In late 2024, Charli went viral thanks to her hilarious video showing a compilation of her husband scaring their oldest son.

The video has 2.9 million likes and racked up a whopping 22.2 million views.

She recently made a video speaking to the camera where she explained exactly how much she earned for going viral and explained she had joined TikTok’s Creator Fund, which pays content creators for their views.

CRASH TRAGEDY

Influencer, 22, dies after ‘losing control of car and smashing into barrier’

MONEY MATTERS

Inside P Louise’s £71.3m make-up empire after making £1.5m in a day on TikTok

To join the program TikTokers must be 18 or older, have a minimum of 10,000 followers, a minimum of 100,000 views within 30 days of the video upload and run an account that follows TikTok Community Guidelines.

“So, I had a video that got 22.2 million views and I earned £3,500 from it,” Charli explained but then went into detail about how the rate of pay is calculated.

She told how TikTok pays a ‘rate per minute (RPM)’, but that rate change depending what time of the month the video is viewed.

“When it gets to near the end of the month in the Creator Fund, the RPM seems to drop. So if you do a video from the first to the 15th, my RPMs are normally about 50p, but when it gets past the 15th, it drops,” Charli said.

“And I think I did this video just after the RPM was lower and I’m pretty sure my RPM was only 20p. So, if my RPM would have been 50p, it would have been so much more but I’m super grateful anyway for what I got.”

Charli continued by saying “I would definitely advise joining” the Creator Fund because “it’s ridiculous that you can get that much money from one video.”

According to the TikTok official website, the Creator Fund “gives TikTok’s best and brightest the opportunity to earn money with their creative talent.”

While it is not a grant or ad revenue program, the Creator Fund provides payment to qualified TikTokers based on a “variety of factors” across their content.

“We want all creators to have the opportunity to earn money doing what they love and turn their passion into a livelihood,” the website continues.

With no limit on the number of qualified TikTokers who can join the fund, payments may increase or decrease at different times throughout one’s run on the platform.

Some factors affecting the funds a qualified TikToker may earn include number of authentic views per video, the amount of engagement, and whether or not the work falls within the Community Guidelines.

President Trump honored two storied military veterans during his State of the Union address, including 100-year-old veteran Royce Williams of Escondido, who survived what is believed to be the longest dog fight in military history.

The former Navy fighter pilot, who was seated next to First Lady Melania Trump in the Capitol during the president’s address Tuesday night, flew more than 220 missions in World War II as well as the wars in Korea and Vietnam.

Trump called Williams “a living legend” before describing his war-time heroics.

“In the skies over Korea in 1952, Royce was in the dogfight of a lifetime, a legendary dogfight,” Trump said. “Flying through blizzard conditions, his squadron was ambushed by seven Soviet fighter planes.”

Despite being outnumbered, Williams took down four of the jet fighters as his plane was hit more than 260 times and he was severely injured.

The incident was kept confidential because the Soviet Union was not officially a combatant in the Korean conflict, and American officials feared that if the air battle became known, it could compel the Soviets to formally enter the war.

Williams didn’t speak about the details of the encounter — even with family members — until records about the dogfight were declassified in 2002.

“His story was secret for over 50 years. He didn’t even want to tell his wife, but the legend grew and grew,” Trump said. “Tonight, at 100 years old, this brave Navy captain is finally getting the recognition he deserves.”

Trump then announced that Williams would receive the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration. Melania Trump placed the blue-ribboned medal around his neck.

Williams was the guest of Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall), a fellow veteran.

“My friend, constituent, and lifelong hero Royce Williams is a Top Gun pilot like no other, an American hero for all time, and now, a recipient of the highest honor in the land,” Issa said in a statement. “It was many years in the making, but it is my honor to have fought all these years for Royce to gain a recognition that he has not sought, but so richly deserves.”

Trump also announced that the Medal of Honor would be awarded to Chief Warrant Officer Eric Slover, an Army helicopter pilot who was gravely wounded in the 2026 raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

“While preparing to land, enemy machine guns fired from every angle, and Eric was hit very badly in the leg and hip. One bullet after another, he observed four agonizing shots shredding his leg into numerous pieces,” Trump said.

Despite the gunshot wounds to his legs, with blood flowing through the helicopter he was piloting, “Eric maneuvered his helicopter with all of those lives and souls to face the enemy and let his gunners eliminate the threat, turn the helicopter around so the gunners could take care of business, saving the lives of his fellow warriors from what could have been a catastrophic crash deep in enemy territory,” Trump said.

Trump added, “Chief Warrant Officer Slover is still recovering from his serious wounds, but I’m thrilled to say that he is here tonight with his wife, Amy. Eric and Amy, come on in.”

Slover, with the aid of a walker, entered the gallery. “In recognition of Eric’s actions above and beyond the call of duty,” Trump said, “I would now like to ask Gen. Jonathan Braga to present Chief Warrant Officer Slover with our nation’s highest military award.”

Trump added that he too hopes to one day receive a Medal of Honor.

“But I was informed I’m not allowed to give it to myself,” Trump said. “But if they ever open up that law, I will be there with you someday.”

A POPULAR attraction found across America is finally making its way to the UK.

Slick City Nottingham will have the world’s first UV AirGlider – a gravity-powered aerial coaster that makes you feel like you are flying.

Slick City already has 95 sites across America and the Nottingham site will mark the company’s first amusement park in Europe when it comes next month.

Inside the new attraction, there will be a mix of dry slides with different drops and twists.

For example, you could head on Fast Lane – a four-lane slide that has been built for friendly competitions with high-speed sliding.

Then there’s Royal Flush – a slide that features a sheer drop and then you spin around in a massive bowl, that will feel like you’re in a flushing toilet.

Read more on travel inspo

HOL YEAH!

I’ve been to Disney 50 times but one £30-a-night UK seaside town is just as good

ALL IN

I found the best value all inclusive London hotel… just £55pp with free food & booze

There’s even one slide – Avalanche – that is meant to make you feel as if you are skiing downhill, just without the snow.

Alternatively, you could head on Big Wave, which first has a steep drop and then builds speed as you slide back and forth along a blue half-pipe.

Then on the UV AirGlider, visitors will be strapped in and gravity will propel them along a track – with a ultra-violet theme – hanging in the air to make them feel as if they are soaring through the sky.

There’s a freestyle air court and sport air court as well, which are specifically designed with a cushioned and bouncy base making them the ideal spots for parkour tricks.

The attraction – which will span over 4,600sqm – will be designed for children aged four-years-old or over, with children under 12 needing an adult with them.

But there will be a soft play area for little ones aged three-years-old or younger.

And parents can sit back in the onsite cafe with a coffee as well.

The Nottingham site will be the company’s first standalone indoor slide park in Europe.

Slick City launched back in 2021 and has grown rapidly, with Keely Buchanan, park manager at Slick City Nottingham saying “it’s pure adrenaline for every age”.

Many people have taken to social media to express their excitement for the opening, with one person even asking whether there will be adult-only sessions, which is something the company does at its American sites.

There are a number of different ticket types available including 90 minute and 120 minute sessions.

For a 90 minute session, admission costs £19.95 per person.

If you want 120 minutes of fun, then it will set you back £24.95 per person.

You can also add on the AirGlider, which costs £4 for one ride or £10 for three rides – though the three rides must be used by the same person.

It is worth noting you will also need to grab a pair of CitySocks, which cost £3 a pair – but you can keep and re-use them.

In other attraction news, these are the 20 most-visited attractions in England that are completely free to enter.

Plus, a new ‘floating park’ with sauna and lido to open in popular London district – in huge £5billion upgrade.

McInnes says he hopes Findlay and captain Lawrence Shankland, who has been missing since 17 January with a hamstring injury, will be back for the final pre-split game against Motherwell on 11 April.

Another key figure, midfielder Cammy Devlin, is due back in “two or three weeks” according to McInnes, as is defender Stephen Kingsley.

Hearts are four points clear of Rangers at the top of the Premiership.

“As it stands we had 11 players unavailable to train today, but we’ve still got enough to train and put a strong team out and a strong squad out on Saturday,” McInnes said.

“So my focus is the ones that are available, and just trying to get one or two who are in the 50-50 category available for the weekend.

“It’s easy to feel sorry for yourself, easy to think: ‘why us? why me?’ But it’s unrealistic to go through a full campaign [without injuries].

“It’s a league for as reason, you have to go through these different tests and challenges.

“There’s no doubt we’re getting challenged at the minute. Once we get through the next four games we will ideally be a bit stronger going into the final run in.

“It will almost feel like a transfer window opening up in April. So you’ve got to take the good with the bad.”

Midfielder McEntee went to see a specialist on Wednesday morning for a shoulder issue after a scan revealed “fairly positive” news.

Baningime has some bruising on his lower leg and McInnes says the midfielder is hopeful he can train on Friday and feature at Tynecastle against Aberdeen.

Kerjota, meanwhile, picked up a hip strain in a closed door friendly against Dundee on Tuesday but may well be fit to play too.

This text traces the evolution of Kuwait from a modest fishing community to a significant regional trade hub under the long-standing Al-Sabah dynasty. While the nation initially sought British protection to avoid Ottoman rule, it eventually achieved full independence in 1961. Although the country officially became sovereign in June, the National Day holiday was rescheduled to February to avoid the intense summer heat. This modern celebration now honors the 1950 inauguration of Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah rather than the literal date of the British departure. The source also places this history within a broader global news context, mentioning various international political and financial events from early 20 … 

London, United Kingdom – Legal experts have documented almost 1,000 incidents in which pro-Palestine voices have been allegedly targeted in the United Kingdom, data that they say represents a “systematic effort” to repress the country’s solidarity movement.

The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) said on Wednesday that it has verified 964 cases of “anti-Palestinian repression” from January 2019 until August 2025, including students being investigated over their solidarity, activists being arrested, employees facing disciplinary procedures and artists having their events cancelled.

The findings of the study, carried out in collaboration with researchers at Forensic Architecture, are a “sample indicative of a far wider and deeper pattern”, said the group comprising lawyers and legal officers.

The ELSC pitched the report as an Index of Repression, a database that is open to the public.

“We’re launching this database to show that repression of the Palestine solidarity movement in Britain is pervasive,” Amira Abdelhamid, ELSC’s director of research and monitoring, told Al Jazeera.

One documented case involves a University of Warwick student who was reported to police by their university for carrying a sign that drew parallels between Israel and Nazi Germany during a campus rally in November 2023.

The student was arrested for “racial aggravation against the Jewish community” and investigated by their university. But in January 2024, after the ELSC stepped in, the police dropped the student’s caution and deleted all associated records. The university confirmed in March that there would be no further disciplinary action.

ELSC said “Zionist advocacy” groups, journalists and media outlets were involved in 138 incidents – including UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), a pro-Israel organisation that it said played a part in 29 of the documented cases.

“The goal of this analysis is to denaturalise this politically produced process,” the group said. “This strategic targeting across sectors represents a kind of division of repressive labour. It aims to dismantle solidarity at every stage, from the formation of political consciousness in universities and schools, to its expression in culture, to its organisation in public spaces.”

Another incident involved a football club’s kit manager who was dismissed after posting his views about Israel’s conduct on social media.

The case of Dana Abuqamar, a University of Manchester student, is also analysed in the database. The Home Office revoked her visa after she told Sky News that, after 16 years of Israel’s blockade of Gaza, “We are both in fear (of) how Israel will retaliate … but also we are full of pride.”

She later clarified that her comments were not in support of the October 7 attacks into southern Israel, during which more than 1,000 people were killed. The UKLFI reported her to the police and her university, but in 2024, she won a human rights appeal.

“The main immediate goal of this anti-Palestinian repression is to depoliticise the movement, to make it seem as though it’s not a legitimate political and ethical struggle, but rather a security problem, a problem of so-called anti-Semitism or a breach of compliance,” ELSC’s Abdelhamid said.“I don’t think that has succeeded … two years on we still see people resisting the repression happening in Britain [and] speaking up and acting for Palestine and against the genocide.”

Since Israel’s onslaught on Gaza began in October 2023, tens of thousands of Britons have rallied in support of Palestine.

According to YouGov, one in three Britons have “no sympathy at all for the Israeli side in the conflict” after Israel killed more than 70,000 people in two years and decimated the Gaza Strip.

The government, led by Labour leader Keir Starmer, has long been accused of cracking down on pro-Palestine solidarity because of a wave of arrests during demonstrations and due to its proscription of Palestine Action as a “terror” organisation – a ruling recently deemed unlawful by the High Court.

In January, Human Rights Watch said that its research found a “disproportionate targeting of certain groups, including climate change activists and Palestine protesters, undermining the right to protest freely and without fear of harassment”.

As court documents tied to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein continue to surface, the scandal has become an international embarrassment, exposing how quickly powerful men can turn into reputational liabilities. That discomfort reached New Delhi, where Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates was expected to deliver the keynote address at the AI Impact Summit but ultimately did not attend amid criticism and apparent unease within the Modi government over his past meetings with Epstein. The spectacle was revealing. Public moral outrage travels swiftly when scandal threatens reputations and diplomatic optics. Yet that sensitivity to association sits uneasily beside a domestic reality in which sexual violence against women unfolds with brutal regularity, drawing neither comparable embarrassment nor consequence. The contrast is grotesque. A political culture capable of signalling discomfort towards a global scandal remains strikingly untroubled by the everyday brutality faced by women at home.

Under the Modi administration, the news cycle churns with reports of gang rapes like factory output — steady, relentless, and numbing in repetition. The rapes have become so common that they are reported like the weather. Heatwave deaths. Flash flood. Five-year-old abducted, raped, murdered. And like the weather, only God is responsible. Not the rapist. Not the court. Not the police. Definitely not the prime minister.

Between the time this piece was commissioned and published, a five-year-old was gang-raped in Meerut, a 26-year-old was gang-raped in Faridabad, and a 17-year-old was gang-raped in Odisha. A 42-year-old was gang-raped in Delhi’s suburbs. A 12-year-old girl was kidnapped and gang-raped in Bikaner. There were more gang rapes in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, and Kanpur. I could give you statistics, but numbers could never convey the larger, all-encompassing terror of living with predators. The threat of sexual violence is as constant as gravity. The cases are gruesome — intestines pulled out, rods inserted, tongues cut out, acid thrown, decapitation, strangulation, and burning. When I look at government data about rape — an average of 86 women are raped every day — it feels as grisly as stumbling upon a mass grave in Excel sheets.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his home minister, Amit Shah, ostensibly obsessed with restoring law and order at any cost, seem entirely unconcerned that India is the gang rape capital of the world on their watch.

The most alarming instance of this was when convicted rapist and Bharatiya Janata Party politician Kuldeep Singh Sengar, found guilty of raping a minor in 2017 and a native of Makhi village in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, was granted bail by a high court, raising the possibility of his reintegration into the very social and political landscape that had once enabled his impunity. A high court granted him bail in December. Thankfully, it was stayed by the Supreme Court, but only after infuriated women gathered in Delhi to protest. Sengar had raped a teenager, who was also gang-raped by his associates. Her father was murdered in police custody. A case was registered only after she threatened to burn herself in front of the chief minister’s residence. Her tragic story showcases how Indian men, like the Modi administration, remain remarkably unembarrassed about the state of affairs.

Sadly, this is not an aberration; it is the system speaking in its mother tongue.

Public memory matters because each new case unfolds against the residue of the ones we were told would change everything. In 2012, I read about the “Nirbhaya” gang rape three days after the incident, on my way from the airport. I had been deliberately avoiding the news until she ended up at Safdarjung Hospital, and my editor needed a health update from me. After I learned all the details of what men had done to this young woman, I thought the world would stand still. A threshold had been crossed. Something told me the world would start anew. There were protests, and people everywhere would know her name, and something like this would never happen again.

All of my naivety was drowned in a chorus of “Not All Men”, as the gang rape was turned into something viral to hang a hashtag on. The refrain did not defend innocence so much as redirect attention away from accountability and back towards male comfort.

It is impossible for me to hear of such cases and not think: What if it were me? My body. That rod. Those men. The suffering and mutilation of women’s bodies is so reliable that there is now a market to help ease our fear. Security apps. Pepper sprays and wearable panic alarms. Every time I write about this subject, I sit with the absolute inadequacy of the written word in the face of men who film the rapes, brag about them, and get rehabilitated nevertheless.

It wouldn’t be out of place to call this moment unprecedented, but it is beyond that. It is existential. Whether it is the United States or India, women are watching the same choreography of power protecting itself, as men of consequence close ranks and wait out the storm. The similarity lies not in scale or context, but in the recurring spectacle of institutions cushioning powerful men while survivors fight alone. For a while now, both countries — allegedly the biggest and the oldest democracies — have been on a trajectory of self-destruction, with men leading the way. Under Modi as well as Trump, rape has become an extension of politics. Women are violated no longer by men alone, but by courts, hospitals, and newsrooms, too. It is the age of monsters. It did not begin with Epstein, Gates, or Sengar, of course, but they are the symbols of it.

While the middle class was busy buying into the dream of upward mobility, careerism, and two bedrooms in a gated suburb, we let thugs cultivate a wholesale misogynist empire that runs on hate for women. I do not know what to do with the rage I feel. What do you do when you are constantly told that your body, your people, your gender are disposable? I don’t know.

What I do know is that the teenager who survived Sengar is still fighting for justice. I know that the survivors of Epstein’s sex trafficking network are fighting for justice, too. These women are fighting with heart and soul and sweat and muscle. I know that I have no right to be despondent while they stand tall, looking every inch the hero they are. I also know that nobody puts up a fight like that unless you love your sisters.

At this dark hour, it feels important to place on record that as the Modi administration recoils theatrically from the shadow of the Epstein scandal at the summit stage, the satire writes itself. A government that cannot, or will not, protect its women should be far more ashamed of what is ordinary than of what is scandalous.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.