As the rally in AI stocks fades, investors were cautious at the open on Friday, with European markets opening to mixed sentiment following steep falls in Asian markets.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Indices in London and Frankfurt quickly moved into negative territory, with the FTSE 100 dropping nearly 0.4% and the DAX losing 0.3% right after the opening. The Paris CAC 40 and the IBEX 35 in Madrid were both up 0.3%, while Milan’s main index was flat. So was the EURO STOXX 50, a benchmark index of 50 blue-chip companies from the eurozone.

Investors are awaiting the latest US non-farm payrolls report and keeping an eye on developments in the Middle East.

The US job data is important for forecasting what the Fed’s next move could be. Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, said in a market note, “There is now a near 40% chance of a rate hike by year-end. We expect financial markets to be extremely sensitive to today’s data,” adding that this will be the first such report with Kevin Warsh as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

In the UK, the latest data from Halifax showed that house prices unexpectedly declined in May. House prices fell 0.1% month on month, but were still up 0.5% year on year, missing expectations for a 1% jump.

Oil markets are awaiting further direction

Oil prices stabilised after falling on Thursday. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was slightly down and traded at $94.73 per barrel at 10:00 CET. It had been trading at about $70 per barrel before the start of the war in late February.

Benchmark US crude was little changed at $92.51 a barrel.

Oil prices remain under pressure as the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway crucial for global oil and natural gas transport, remains effectively closed, and the war-induced energy shock is threatening to slow economic growth and fuel inflation in many countries.

American and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative deal last week to extend their ceasefire, but the agreement has not been finalised. Meanwhile, developments in Lebanon have cast doubt on the prospects for a permanent end to the conflict.

On Thursday, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah rejected the latest ceasefire agreement between the Lebanese and Israeli governments.

“While there are few signs of progress in US-Iran talks, the oil market continues to trade on expectations of an imminent deal that would resume flows through the Strait of Hormuz,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a report.

Asian markets lose steam as AI craze cools

Wall Street rallied on Thursday after falling oil prices and bond yields eased pressure on US stocks. Banks, small-cap companies and other stocks that had previously been left behind by the euphoria around artificial intelligence led the gains.

Banks also helped lead the market, including gains of 5% for Goldman Sachs, 4.7% for Fifth Third Bancorp and 4.4% for U.S. Bancorp.

They helped to more than make up for losses among some AI stocks, which took a sudden back seat after dominating the market. Analysts have been saying AI stocks may have run too high, becoming too expensive, and that the broader US stock market may be set for a slowdown following an unrelenting streak of nine straight winning weeks for the S&P 500, its longest since 2023.

On Wall Street on Thursday, computer chipmaker Broadcom’s shares sank 12.6% after it issued guidance that fell short of investors’ expectations, raising concerns about the wider AI and technology sector.

US memory chip maker Micron Technology dropped 7.7%, and cybersecurity company CrowdStrike Holdings fell 3.8%.

Still, the benchmark S&P 500 climbed 0.4%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.7% to a record high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite edged 0.1% lower.

But in Asia, investors dumped key AI-related shares, with South Korea’s SK Hynix plunging 8.6% and Samsung Electronics shedding 5.4%.

The Kospi dropped 5.1% to 8,199.44. The index has roughly doubled over the past year, lifted by gains in major technology companies.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 1.3% to 66,573.85, with technology shares leading the decline, even as official data showed that Japan’s real wages rose for the fourth consecutive month. Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron’s shares fell 7%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 1.2% to 24,948.96, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.3% to 4,045.45.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.7% to 8,623.50.

Taiwan’s Taiex gave up 1.3%, while India’s Sensex was up 0.1%.

In other trading early on Friday, the US dollar fell to 159.96 Japanese yen from 160.03 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1635, up 0.2%. Gold prices were down 0.3%, trading at around $4,490.70.

A couple who were flying out of Manchester Airport were furious after realising a major downside to spending £150 each on seats with extra legroom – with the couple vowing ‘never again’

A passenger on a plane was furious after paying £150 for extra legroom on a flight, before realising one major downside. Being comfortable when travelling is one of the most important things for passengers.

Depending on where you are travelling to, you could be on a plane for up to 19 hours, so being somewhat comfortable is important if you’re planning to sleep while onboard. There are a number of ways people can ensure comfort on a flight including upgrading seats to extra legroom or buying a first-class ticket for the duration of the flight.

Upgrades, however, do come at a cost which can be thousands of pounds on top of the initial flight price – which can already be pricy enough.

But if you’re travelling on a smaller plane, the only upgrade available can be a seat with extra legroom, also known as exit row seats.

Sitting in this row means that you must both be physically and mentally able, and willing, to help cabin crew open the heavy exit door and assist them in the event of an evacuation.

One couple, from Manchester and Yorkshire, flew out of Manchester Airport and decided to upgrade to seats with extra legroom for £150 each.

They were initially happy with their seats, until the flight took of and the seatbelt signs were turned off, and they instantly realised the downside to paying extra money for their flight.

The couple said: “You pay £150 for extra legroom seats just to have people queuing for the toilet right in front of you. The British people see a queue and love to join it. There was a free toilet approx 10 rows back but here they are.”

They shared a video on TikTok showing the situation, where a crowd of people were seen standing waiting for the toilet right in front of them.

The couple were unable to extend their legs and were forced to be sat the same as anyone else on the flight due to the amount of people in front of them.

Other people commented on the video to explain how they had also learned the hard way after purchasing seats with extra legroom.

One person said: “This always happens and exactly why I’d never choose those seats! Plus the smell.”

The couple replied: “Literally never again! we had the ones in the middle on the way to Mexico which weren’t as bad, but these seats were the worst!!”

Another person said: “I just leave my feet out and they have to move around them. I’ve never been stood on …yet.”

A third person said: “I did this when I had a cast on my leg and some pensioner stepped over my leg and tripped then had the cheek to look at me like it was my fault.”

Police on Friday secured remaining ballot boxes at a polling station in southern Seoul, two days after protesters gathered to prevent election officials from removing them in protest of a shortage of ballots during the June 3 local elections.

Police officials broke through a crowd of protesters to remove the two ballot boxes at the polling station in Jamsil, Songpa Ward, after deploying around 1,000 officers to the scene earlier in the day to break up the rally.

The boxes, said to contain around 2,000 ballots, were transported to a ballot counting center at nearby Olympic Park.

Authorities said multiple people suffered minor injuries at the polling station and the vote counting center, where protesters also gathered to demand election officials to stop the count.

The polling station was one of over a dozen locations in Seoul that experienced ballot shortages Wednesday, prompting the temporary suspension of voting at the affected stations.

Angry protesters gathered at the Jamsil polling station, accusing the election watchdog of having committed election fraud and blocking election officials from removing the ballot boxes.

The standoff had prevented the National Election Commission from completing vote counting and officially declaring election winners in the affected areas.

A group of protesters attempted to block the police from entering the polling station, resulting in physical clashes as officers dragged them out. Some protesters claimed the police used excessive force.

Fire authorities said they had treated six people for minor injuries at the polling station and the vote counting center since Thursday night.

Three of them, including a woman in her 40s who complained of a headache, were sent to the hospital.

Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.

YouTuber Jesse Ridgway and his wife, Ashley, shared that they terminated their pregnancy following a Down syndrome diagnosis. What happened online afterward has shocked the couple, but Jesse said he is hopeful that sharing their experience may help other couples feel less alone.

The YouTuber, who’s been a content creator for 20 years and has more than 4.3 million subscribers on his main channel, shared a video on his personal YouTube channel last week that featured he and his wife receiving the results of an amniocentesis — a test for certain genetic abnormalities, chromosomal conditions, and fetal infections — and the results were consistent with Trisomy 21, or Down syndrome.

After the couple read the results, Jesse said that they’d discussed beforehand whether they’d consider terminating the pregnancy. “I know this is traumatic for the whole community. Now that we have a definitive result, we’ll talk with the counselors, and we’re gonna have some hard conversations,” he said. Both Jesse and Ashley were emotionally distraught and crying throughout the video.

Jesse told The Times over a phone call on Thursday evening, with Ashley beside him as she recovered from her procedure, that sharing the diagnosis online happened accidentally. The couple was in the middle of a gender reveal video when they spotted the preliminary markers for Trisomy 21 on the same report.

“We were filming and ready to celebrate with our audience and we were blindsided,” he said. “What do we tell people? How do we navigate this? I reverted to being honest, and yes, that led us to the last 48 hours.”

On Wednesday, Jesse posted a lengthy statement that disclosed the couple’s decision to terminate the pregnancy. Ashley reposted the statement to her own Instagram.

“This week, my wife and I made the very difficult decision to terminate the pregnancy due to Trisomy 21,” the since-expired Instagram story read.

Jesse continued that the decision was “not made lightly” and said he appreciated the messages of support he and Ashley received. “I know some of you may be very disappointed to hear this news. We are devastated. This has been extremely traumatic for both of us, especially Ashley. She underwent the procedure earlier this week and is on the mend. Thankfully, everything went smoothly, but emotionally we are drained.”

The YouTuber continued the series of posts explaining: “When I first confronted this news, I was shocked but optimistic. … I signed on to be a parent, come what may … but I just didn’t fully understand what Down Syndrome entailed. Once we made it public, it became clear that MOST people don’t know what Down Syndrome entails (and no, it’s not the same as Autism).

“50% of babies with DS have heart defects. 75% will have hearing challenges. Over 50% will have vision problems. Impaired immune function, developmental disabilities, learning disabilities, delayed physical development, poor muscle tone, structural issues with face, decreased lifespan, etc. … Sadly, the list is long, feel free to look it up … Down Syndome isn’t a “blessing”, it is objectively sh— from a health perspective. I didn’t realize just how rough it is for the child, let alone the family.”

According to the National Institutes of Health, about 6,000 babies are born in the U.S. each year with the condition, affecting about 1 out of every 700 babies. “[W]ith appropriate support and treatment, many people with Down syndrome lead happy, productive lives,” the agency notes, but there are often significant lifelong health challenges and risks.”

Ashley had the abortion on Monday. Jesse said he spent the beginning of the week tending to her, and on Wednesday he crafted the post to explain what the couple had decided and why.

“I put it out there for my audience, and then it took on another life. Because it’s a contentious topic, I figured there would be some level of like flak or differing opinions, but to see what it’s become has been pretty shocking,” he said. “There are a million abortions every year, and I’m just shocked that one couple deciding to abort for Trisomy 21 is mainstream news. This is happening every day, and it’s just not talked about.”

Jesse said that his and Ashley’s DMs had been flooded not only with messages of support but also dozens of confessions from strangers who had been through the same experience. And while the supportive messages felt “validating,” Jesse said the couple had received a “tremendous amount of death threats. People saying we’re murderers.”

According to Healthline, nearly 100% of women in Iceland who receive a positive test for Down syndrome terminate their pregnancy. In Denmark, 98% are terminated, in France 77%, and in the United States it’s 67%.

When the Ridgways had finished filming the results of the amniocentesis, they debated whether they should share the video. They said they didn’t even want to watch the tape.

“But I kept coming back to, there are so many people out there like us dealing with these things, and nobody’s talking about it,” he said. “I think if we share this, it will have a net positive for other people, and they can feel more comfortable and less shame confronting these things. … I hope other people can see that, that there is some value in this, but I can’t push it any more than I have. People are going to cast their judgments.”

OUR holiday park expert is back and ready to answer your questions.

If there’s anything you want to know about booking a Sun £9.50 holiday, now’s your chance to ask our expert.

One of the best ways to book The Sun’s Hols from £9.50 is through Sun Club, as you can skip the token collecting and also get access to booking early. To book your £9.50 Hols this way, simply head to thesun.co.uk/club and sign up to Sun Club for just £1.99 a month.

Simply ask Tracy Kennedy a question about £9.50 Hols using the form below, and you’ll be in with the chance to win a £100 Amazon voucher.

Your question can be about anything to do with Hols from £9.50 – from which holiday parks have the best beaches to how to go about booking the best deal.

Simply fill in the form with your question, name and email, and you may be contacted if your question is chosen.

Read more on £9.50 holidays

BEACH BARGAINS

Our fave beautiful British seaside towns with their own £9.50 Holiday parks

PARK UP

Major holiday park reopens after huge £5m makeover & you can stay with £9.50 Hols

https://thesun.formstack.com/forms/js.php/travel_agony_aunt_2026Online Form – 9.50 Hols Agony Aunt – 2026

As we release each £9.50 Hols Q&A with Tracy, one lucky person will be awarded the winning question – and they will be contacted to claim their £100 Amazon voucher.

Tracy has already given some great advice on £9.50 Holidays, such as her personal favourite caravan parks and her top picks of parks for couples.

She has also saved £974 in one year by being a Sun Club member, and taking advantage of perks like discounted attraction tickets and early access to booking £9.50 hols.

If you haven’t booked your £9.50 hol yet, or are ready to book yourself another one – you’re in luck.

Thousands of new holidays will be released on the Hols from £9.50 website on July 8, with Sun Club members gaining early access to the new breaks on July 7.

These new breaks will be added across hundreds of holiday parks in the UK and Europe, and the best part is that they start from under a tenner.

Being a Sun Club member, Tracy waits up til midnight to be among the first to gain access to new £9.50 holidays as they are released.

This is because Sun Club members get priority access to booking their £9.50 holidays, as they can log on online to book them the day before those who are collecting codes from the paper.

This is just one of Tracy’s tips and tricks to make sure you are in the best chance of booking a break at your desired holiday park, as dates can get very competitive.

Our expert Tracy is even the co-owner of a Facebook group dedicated to Hols from £9.50, which now has over 297,000 members.

PHOENIX — Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had a decision to make.

Before the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte delivered the walk-off blow to the Dodgers — a towering home run off reliever Tanner Scott, punctuated by a bat flip — Roberts had to choose whether to send Shohei Ohtani to the plate as a pinch-hitter.

In a 3-2 loss, Ohtani, who didn’t start after two-way duties the day before, remained in the dugout.

“It has to be the right spot,” Roberts said.

The defensive picture complicated the calculus.

If Scott had thrown a scoreless inning and sent the game into the 10th, Roberts planned to have Ohtani pinch hit for Miguel Rojas, the third batter due up.

In the ninth, however, unless Ohtani replaced designated hitter Will Smith (who ended up hitting a two-out double), Roberts would have had to put in a defensive replacement for the bottom half of the inning.

“I didn’t want to go two innings trying to figure out how to play defense with Shohei then being out of the game,” Roberts said.

Roberts already had been forced to use the rest of his bench.

Third baseman Max Muncy exited in the fifth inning after a collision at first base, and Santiago Espinal replaced him. When rookie left fielder Ryan Ward walked in the seventh inning, the speedier and more defensively sound Alex Call replaced him on the bases. And in the eighth, the right-handed hitting Rojas pinch-hit for Alex Freeland against Diamondbacks left-hander Brandyn Garcia.

Arizona’s Ketel Marte, center, celebrates with teammates as he steps on home plate after hitting a walk-off home run against the Dodgers on Thursday.

(Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

The Dodgers had Andy Pages, Kyle Tucker and Smith — none of whom were candidates to be pulled for a pinch-hitter — due up in the ninth. But after Smith hit a two-out double, leaving first base open, the Diamondbacks surely would have intentionally walked Ohtani if he pinch-hit for Espinal.

Then, the Dodgers would have had to reconfigure their defense, likely moving first baseman Freddie Freeman to third, catcher Dalton Rushing to first base and Smith behind the plate, forfeiting the designated hitter spot.

That would mean a shaky defensive lineup with the game still on the line in the ninth, with pitchers forced to hit if it went into extra innings.

So, instead, Roberts saved Ohtani.

“Once we get into extra innings, then I would fire that bullet,” Roberts said.

The Dodgers, however, didn’t get to extra innings. Scott struck out the first batter he faced. Then he threw a fastball down and in to Marte, who managed to get the barrel of his bat to it.

“You’ve got to tip your cap,” Scott said. “He’s a good hitter. Should I have gone up and in? Yeah. Or just a slider. I knew he was going to be aggressive.”

Ohtani dealing with blister

Ohtani has been dealing with a small blister on the middle finger of his right hand for his last couple starts, Roberts said.

“I don’t expect it to affect him going forward,” Roberts said Thursday afternoon, the day after Ohtani held the Diamondbacks to two hits in six scoreless innings. “Even [Wednesday], if we wouldn’t have tacked on, he would’ve stayed in there.”

Roberts pulled Ohtani after the Dodgers pulled out to a seven-run lead in the top of the seventh inning.

Roberts also said he didn’t believe the blister affected Ohtani’s command last week, when he threw six hitless innings against the Rockies but issued four walks and hit a batter.

“When his command has been off, I think it’s a bigger thing than just a blister,” Roberts said. “Because it’s a small blister. That’s just when his mechanics are out of whack.”

Karachi, Pakistan – Over a few breezy winter weeks in Karachi, boxing coach Younus Qambrani sent a steady stream of WhatsApp messages from his neighbourhood of Lyari – videos, photos, old newspaper clippings that together formed an extensive archive of how he teaches girls to throw a punch.

In one of the videos, the bearded and skullcap-clad Qambrani, 60, uses the palms of his hands and ducks as his young students practice throwing their punches. The thuds of the colliding boxing gloves and the scuff of the sneakers against the concrete floor of Qambrani’s Pak-Shaheen boxing club mask the din on the street.

Outside, motorcycles speed and sputter on narrow, labyrinthine roads, past omelettes sizzling on outdoor skillets in the many kebab bun stalls that pepper the neighbourhood of nearly 950,000 people: that is the population of Amsterdam packed into about three percent of the Dutch city’s land area.

To millions of followers of Bollywood, the Indian film industry across the border, Lyari is synonymous with brutal gang warfare waged against a perpetually grey background. It is where Bollywood’s highest grossing film of all time, Dhurandhar and its recently released sequel, Dhurandhar The Revenge are set.

The films — about a fictionalised covert mission conducted by India’s Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) on Pakistani soil — have each earned more than $100m. In the first film, an Indian spy infiltrates Lyari’s criminal underworld and neutralises threats to India’s national security. In the sequel, the same agent continues his deep-cover operation inside Pakistan’s crime networks, again moving through Lyari’s streets.

But to Lyari locals, the neighbourhood is much more than the backdrop to blood and gore: It is a melting pot of cultures and tradition, rooted in history far deeper than Bollywood has dared to explore. It has an emerging rap and hip-hop scene, launching acts such as hip hop group, Lyari Underground, and masked rapper, Eva B, onto the national stage. The neighbourhood has also earned the nickname of Mini Brazil for being Pakistan’s mecca of football.

To be sure, Lyari has had a past rife with gang violence and unrest. Armed groups held significant influence from the mid‑2000s into the early 2010s, when battles between rival syndicates were at their peak. Gangs led by figures such as Rehman Dakait and, later, Uzair Baloch – both depicted in the Dhurandhar film and its sequel – turned parts of the neighbourhood into a militarised conflict zone. At the height of the violence, human rights groups reported about 800 people killed in Karachi in a single year, many of them in and around Lyari.

In 2012, the government launched what became known as Operation Lyari, a major crackdown in which police, backed by the Sindh Rangers paramilitary force, moved against armed groups in the area. The operation, and subsequent security campaigns, dismantled the main gang hierarchies and largely ended the era of open, large‑scale gang warfare in Lyari, even if other forms of crime persisted.

But Lyari, said social anthropologist Adeem Suhail, has always been about much more than that period of violence.

“Think of Naples or Sicily in Italy, which are among the major cultural hubs of the country (food, literature, music, etc) despite having long been associated with Mafia violence,” Suhail, an assistant professor at Pennsylvania-based Franklin and Marshall College, told Al Jazeera.

‘Preparing for war’ — of a different kind

Qambrani has been boxing alongside his brothers for as long as he can remember. He began when he was five years old, and was introduced to the sport by his father, uncles and brothers — all boxers. Throughout his childhood, Qambrani says he was a sick and frail child. But he was determined to build muscle and throw punches like the men who had inspired him as he was growing up.

Boxing is so popular in Lyari that in 1989 boxing legend Muhammad Ali visited the neighbourhood, when he was a special guest at the Asian Games in the capital, Islamabad.

Qambrani’s high school, Haji Abdullah Haroon Government College, opened its own boxing club while he was there. He joined, but the club shut down in a few years. So he found another club a little further away and began cycling there to train.

After honing his skills there, Qambrani founded Pak Shaheen Boxing Club in 1992. “I wanted to open a club in my own area,” Qambrani said. At Pak Shaheen, he started out by teaching young boys, aged seven to 16, how to box.

A sports enthusiast, Qambrani built friendships with coaches across the city, often visiting their training centres. At a friend’s karate classes at the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) in central Karachi, he noticed young girls practicing kicks and elbow strikes shoulder-to-shoulder with boys. “If girls can do karate, why not boxing?” he wondered.

Soon he began voicing this question to his peers in the local boxing community, saying he wanted to start training young girls. One of them told him that “little girls have weak brains” — a remark that left Qambrani silent.

Then he went home and began looking through news reports featuring stories of girls and women boxing internationally. He would cut out the news clippings and paste them into a notebook. “My eyes were on the whole world,” he recalled. “Girls are boxing in the outside world, why not here?” he would wonder.

So he started at home: when his daughter Anum turned three, he began playfully sparring with her. She would gaze at the many photos of her father and uncles at boxing championships, slip on his medals, and traipse into the living room, mimicking the victorious poses he struck in those pictures. “She couldn’t even run properly, but she would box,” Qambrani said.

Then, in 2013, he opened the doors of his club to young girls. Anum was 16 at the time, and became its first female member.

In 2015, several of Qambrani’s students participated in the South Asian Games, the biennial multi-sport event where athletes from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka compete against each other.

A year later, Anum won a district level championship called the Jinnah First Ever Karachi Women Boxing Championship held at a Lyari stadium. In the same year, she attended a training camp for women organised by the Sindh Boxing Association. Local media reports described this camp as the country’s first government-supported boxing event held for women.

It was Qambrani’s club where Aliya Soomro, Pakistan’s first woman to win a world boxing title, began her training. Last year, Soomro took a mere 45 seconds to knock out her opponent from Thailand to win the WBA (World Boxing Association) Asia 105-pound category.

For Qambrani, though, boxing is about more than medals and trophies. To him, it’s a vital defensive skill.

“Whoever is prepared for war is prepared for peace,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that the defenceless are the ones most likely to be attacked.

With its legion of young boxers, Lyari’s not defenceless. As its reputation and image are mangled by Bollywood, those who know the neighbourhood also turn to its history for support.

Lyari’s colonial history

It is not just the Dhurandhar films and Bollywood that Suhail, the social anthropologist, blames for what he describes as “terrible and exploitative” representations of Lyari. Journalistic and scholarly literature have been guilty too, he said.

Lyari is Karachi’s oldest recorded settlement — the earliest inhabitants of the neighbourhood came in 1728. The neighbourhood has survived British colonialism, the partition of the subcontinent, and nearly eight decades in independent Pakistan.

Suhail said Lyari had been a diverse working-class cultural hub since before the 1947 partition of British India.

Some of those working class communities were Baloch and Sindhi, because Karachi is at the tip of the southern Sindh province, which neighbours Balochistan province. Others were Marathi, Gujarati, Afghan and Siraiki migrants from labouring and artisan classes.

“This was because the British required labourers and artisans to develop Karachi into a burgeoning Indian Ocean port city.”

Suhail said that most of these labourers settled on the unplanned sides of the Lyari river, a small 50km-long seasonal river originating in the hills of Sindh, which flows through Lyari before emptying into the Arabian Sea.

“These cosmopolitan working class populations brought with them culinary traditions, dances, religious practices (multi-religious, multi-caste), songs, sports and more,” Suhail said.

He added that Lyari has a “strong cultural memory of East Africa and the Arabian Gulf, which adds to its uniqueness.” The neighbourhood is home to both Baloch and Afro-Baloch communities—people of African ancestry living in Balochistan.

Suhail explained that Lyari’s long history as a cultural hub of Karachi is often forgotten “because, after partition, the city’s demographics shifted drastically and Karachi became an Urdu-speaking Muhajir-majority city.” Muhajirs are Urdu‑speaking Muslims who migrated to Pakistan from India during and after the 1947 partition.

Sarwat Viqar, a professor of humanities at John Abbott College in Montreal, Canada, echoed Suhail’s views.

“Because Lyari has been represented one-dimensionally in the media as only a hotbed of criminality, drugs and the gang wars, what has been overlooked are the rich cultural practices that have always been part of life here,” Viqar told Al Jazeera.

Suhail added that Lyari had also consistently been at the heart of labour movements, and a base of support for reformers, anti-colonial activists and later campaigns for the rights of Pakistan’s various ethnic groups, including the Baloch, Sindhi and Pashtun communities.

“Lyari — because it was the first, most diverse, and most vibrant working-class zone as Karachi was becoming a city — also became the hub of working-class politics,” he told Al Jazeera.

But the neighbourhood’s own fortunes have also oscillated over the years.

“The degree of ‘development’ in Lyari has always been a function of how strong the working-class movement in Karachi was,” Suhail said. “When it was strong—such as in the 1930s and again in the 1970s—Lyari saw development. When ruling elites were strong, it did not.”

What Dhurandhar gets wrong

In the film, Lyari first comes into focus when a long-haired Ranveer Singh, playing undercover Indian RAW [Research and Analysis Wing] agent Jaskirat Singh Rangi, eyes the “Welcome to Lyari town” gate.

The gate looks very similar to the real one in Karachi. Other elements on screen ring familiar too: juice shop owners chanting idiosyncrasies to cajole customers; quick and garbled salams; and the somewhat unkempt colonial era architecture of old Karachi.

But then, the three-hour film’s dusty colour grading seems to wash out Lyari’s cultural depth and its vibrant subcultures.

“We can see how the obscene fetishisation of Lyari and the Baloch with violence and criminality is evident” in the film, Suhail said.

Describing Dhurandhar as “mediocre”, he said it lacks the depth of other Indian gangster films.

For example, in Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya 1998 and Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur 2012, we see “culturally dense but non-apologetic depictions of Mumbaikar or Bihari gangs that understand the political economy of colonial and post-colonial state formation and how it crystallises in the gangsters portrayed,” Suhail opined.

Satya unpacks the criminal underworld of India’s metropolis Mumbai, following the titular character who arrives in Mumbai seeking a job but is falsely imprisoned and subsequently introduced to the underworld. Gangs of Wasseypur is set in a time before India’s independence in 1947 and follows power struggles, mafias and generational cycles of revenge in India’s eastern state of Jharkand.

In contrast to these films, Dhurandhar, has “heavy-handed homophobic, Islamophobic, hyper-masculine jingoism” and “the characters themselves appear to have no history at all,” Suhail added.

Unlike Lyari

Back at Qambrani’s club, 10 girls aged eight to 16 gather for an hour of sparring every day except Sunday, training for city tournaments that they compete in every two months.

Qambrani is looking to buy a folding, portable boxing ring to take school to school. His dream: to make boxing accessible to as many girls in the neighbourhood as possible. His challenge: he is struggling to find a portable ring in Pakistan and needs funding.

Dhurandhar and Bollywood do not matter at his Lyari club. Qambrani has a new generation of girl boxers to train.

EXPLAINER

Israel strikes Lebanon despite ceasefire, while Hezbollah rejects deal as death toll tops 3,500.

Israel has continued to carry out deadly strikes across Lebanon despite the announcement of a new US-brokered ceasefire agreement reached by Lebanese and Israeli officials in Washington, DC.

The violence has pushed the number of casualties higher, with Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health reporting that at least 3,526 people have been killed and 10,733 wounded in Israeli attacks since March 2.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has dismissed the ceasefire as a “farce”, warning that northern Israel will remain a target as long as Israeli forces continue bombing Lebanon, raising more doubts about the prospects for a lasting truce.

Here is what we know:

In Iran

• Iran adviser flags concerns over draft deal: Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said the draft memorandum of understanding being negotiated to end the war still contains “ambiguities” that need to be clarified. Speaking to Iranian state television, Rezaei also accused US President Donald Trump of trying to pressure Tehran into accepting Washington’s terms while keeping Iran’s own conditions “in a vague state”.

War diplomacy

• Questions over US strategy: Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett said the White House is facing growing questions over why a negotiated agreement with Iran is still needed after President Donald Trump repeatedly claimed US military action had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme. Halkett said critics are asking: “If these military objectives have been achieved, then is there still a need for talks?” She added that “with each passing week that this war drags on” and negotiations remaining stalled, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the administration to reconcile its claims of success with the continued push for diplomacy.
• Hezbollah rejects conditional ceasefire: Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected the limited truce agreed to by Lebanese and Israeli representatives in the US, demanding a complete ceasefire and a full Israeli pullout from the country. Qassem also warned of more attacks on northern Israel, highlighting the difficulties in reaching a lasting peace. Both sides have blamed each other for breaking a previous ceasefire announced in April.

The Gulf

• Oman oil terminal disruption: Reuters reported that Oman has suspended crude oil loading operations at its key Mina al-Fahal terminal after an explosion near its single-buoy mooring (SBM) berths. Citing unnamed sources, the agency said the blast occurred between SBM 1 and SBM 2 and was allegedly caused by a drone attack.

In the US

• Trump says US does not need a deal to access Iran’s uranium: The US president said Washington could access Iran’s enriched uranium without reaching an agreement with Tehran, arguing the material is effectively “entombed”. Trump also said he does not plan to meet Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, but he suggested a meeting could be possible if a deal is eventually reached, adding that “if it happened … I’d be respectful”.

In Israel

• Ultra-Orthodox protest blocks major highway: Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Israelis blocked Highway 1 in protest against the government’s enforcement of military conscription for religious students, according to Israel’s Channel 10. The demonstrations began after police stopped two ultra-Orthodox students and transferred one to military authorities. Large numbers of police and border guards were deployed to clear the highway and disperse protesters.

In Lebanon

• Hezbollah rejection raises fears of escalation: Reporting from Beirut, Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said Hezbollah remains the key actor on the Lebanese side when it comes to decisions about fighting and any potential halt to hostilities with Israel, “regardless of what the Lebanese government says”. Given Hezbollah’s rejection of the US-brokered ceasefire, Hashem warned that further escalation is likely from both Hezbollah and Israel. He noted that southern Lebanon and the western Bekaa Valley experienced significant Israeli air and ground attacks on Thursday, adding that Hezbollah’s position suggests “it is going to be a very difficult situation” in the days ahead.

TOP Gun: Maverick actor James Handy has been stabbed to death with his girlfriend’s son telling cops in a 911 call: “I just killed the man”.

The 81-year-old, who also starred in Logan and Jumanji, was found unconscious with multiple stab wounds to his chest on his front yard.

Authorities rushed to the scene in Tarzana, Los Angeles on Wednesday morning at around 9.30am after receiving a chilling 911 call.

Police revealed a voice at the end of the line said: “I am the son of man, I just killed the man of sin.”

Officials rushed to James’ home on Erwin Street and raced him to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Some time later, 44-year-old Michael Gledhill – the son of James’ partner – waved down officers as they searched near the home.

GRISLY END

Man bleeds to death after ‘cutting off his penis & slicing throat’ on LA street

Gledhill confessed to carrying out the fatal attack and said he was the one who phoned the police, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Gledhill was arrested for murder and taken to Van Nuys Jail with his bail set at $2,000,000.

The LAPD statement said: “Detectives believe this is an isolated incident and there appears to be no danger to the public at this time.”

A motive for the attack remains unclear.

Neighbors have claimed Gledhill and James were overheard arguing overnight.

The star’s talent agent, Pam Ellis-Evenas, paid tribute saying: “With great sadness I can confirm that the gentleman who was attacked and killed on Wednesday in Tarzana was the actor James Handy.”

James’ career spanned almost five decades with his most recent major role being in Tom Cruise’s Hollywood sequel Top Gun: Maverick in 2022.

He played the role of bartender Jimmy.

Another memorable role for James came in 2017 superhero flick Logan as he played the doctor who treated lead man Hugh Jackman.

James also starred in 1995 cult classic Jumanji alongside Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt and Kirsten Dunst.

His career featured several TV credits such as the role of Arthur Devlin in eight episodes of Alias and recurring stints on Melrose Place and NYPD Blue.

James’ tragic death comes less than a year after Hollywood icon Rob Reiner, 78, had his throat slit inside his LA home.

Son Nick, 32, is currently in jail after being accused of killing both Rob and his mum Michelle, 68, while they were in bed on December 14, 2025.

Nick has pleaded not guilty on both counts of murder and is awaiting trial.

They call this place the Sunshine State for a reason. It beats down with a fierce intensity, allowing little air to puncture it… until a fierce thunderstorm hits.

Such sweltering conditions were exactly what Clarke wanted, though, as he stressed the importance of “acclimatising” this week to the conditions his squad will face throughout their tournament.

The Scots start against Haiti (Sunday, 14 June, 02:00 BST) – live across the BBC – and also play Morocco in Boston, before returning to Miami to face Brazil on Wednesday, 24 June (23:00).

“It maybe would have been a shock if we had came out to the Miami game because it hits you as soon as you come off the plane, the humidity and the heat,” Hendry told BBC Scotland at the team’s hotel in Fort Lauderdale.

“So it’s good that we can come out here for this week, prepare and get used to it and I’m sure that will put us in really good stead going into the game.”

Water breaks will be in operation, and Hendry stressed the importance of “using them efficiently”.

“They’re certainly going to help us from a recovery point of view, but maybe tactical. as well,” he said.

“I’m accustomed to it in Saudi; we have these water breaks and it might disrupt the rhythm of the game a wee bit, but from the players’ point of view it definitely helps.”

By the time the Scots return south following back-to-back games in Boston, it could be they have already done what no other Scotland side have by reaching the knockout stages of a World Cup.

It’s undoubtedly the aim for this talented, together squad, but they’re not looking too far ahead. They’re still Scottish after all.

“It’s just trying to get as far as possible, I think,” Hendry said of what success for the country looks like this summer.

“It’s difficult to look too far ahead. The main ambition is going to be trying to get out of the group. Then we see where we can go afterwards.

“We can’t look too far ahead, just take it game by game and if we do that, enjoy it and play the best we can, then we should be able to achieve that.

“We’ve got to make the most of it and make sure we don’t come out of this with any regrets.”

June 4 (Asia Today) — South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Thursday proposed resuming four-way talks among South Korea, North Korea, the United States and China to help establish peace in Northeast Asia.

Chung, who is visiting Mongolia, also called for expanding the framework to include Mongolia, Japan, Russia and other regional countries. He made the proposal during a special address at the 11th Ulaanbaatar Dialogue in Mongolia.

Chung said Northeast Asia needs to build a new “peace identity” by restoring trust between South and North Korea and rebuilding peace on the Korean Peninsula.

It was the first visit to Mongolia by a South Korean unification minister. The trip was made at the invitation of the Mongolian government.

The Ulaanbaatar Dialogue is a regular international forum that covers security issues in Northeast Asia. It began in 2014 as a private academic conference and was upgraded in 2017 to a Track 1.5 forum involving government and nongovernment participants. North Korea has not attended the forum since 2019.

On the Korean Peninsula peace process, Chung said, “A four-party dialogue among the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the United States and China is possible.”

“We should expand this framework so that other Northeast Asian countries, including Mongolia, Japan and Russia, can also join,” he said.

Chung also referred to the Sept. 19 Joint Statement adopted during the six-party talks in 2005. He said the six parties had agreed to promote lasting peace and security in Northeast Asia.

“It is time to apply that experience to today’s reality and rekindle the flame of dialogue,” Chung said.

Chung also proposed strengthening cooperation under the Greater Tumen Initiative, a multilateral platform for development and economic cooperation in Northeast Asia.

He called for connecting regional railway networks, including the Trans-Siberian Railway, Trans-China Railway, Trans-Mongolian Railway and a proposed Seoul-Beijing high-speed rail link, with the Arctic shipping route.

“By connecting transportation networks with regional markets and trade flows, we can build an innovative logistics network across Eurasia,” Chung said.

“To turn these ideas into reality, I urge the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to rejoin the Greater Tumen Initiative as a full member,” he said. “They would be the biggest beneficiary of this vision.”

North Korea was an early member of the Greater Tumen Initiative but withdrew in 2009.

Chung said three goals must move forward together: rebuilding trust between the two Koreas, institutionalizing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula and advancing multilateral dialogue in Northeast Asia.

“If these three pillars move forward together, we can build a new peace order across Northeast Asia,” he said.

After his special address, Chung met separately with Mongolian Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh and President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh. Chung left South Korea on Wednesday to attend the forum and is scheduled to return Friday.

— 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=20260605010001616

Shimon Peres, who passed away Wednesday aged 93 after suffering a stroke on 13 September, epitomised the disparity between Israel’s image in the West and the reality of its bloody, colonial policies in Palestine and the wider region.

Peres was born in modern day Belarus in 1923, and his family moved to Palestine in the 1930s. As a young man, Peres joined the Haganah, the militia primarily responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian villages in 1947-49, during the Nakba.

Despite the violent displacement of the Palestinians being a matter of historical record, Peres has always insisted that Zionist forces “upheld the purity of arms” during the establishment of the State of Israel. Indeed, he even claimed that before Israel existed, “there was nothing here”.

Over seven decades, Peres served as prime minister (twice) and president, though he never actually won a national election outright. He was a member of 12 cabinets and had stints as defence, foreign and finance minister.

He is perhaps best known in the West for his role in the negotiations that led to the 1993 Oslo Accords which won him, along with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, the Nobel Peace Prize.

Yet for Palestinians and their neighbours in the Middle East, Peres’ track record is very different from his reputation in the West as a tireless “dove”. The following is by no means a comprehensive summary of Peres’ record in the service of colonialism and apartheid.

Nuclear weapons

Between 1953 and 1965, Peres served first as director general of Israel’s defence ministry and then as deputy defence minister. On account of his responsibilities at the time, Peres has been described as “an architect of Israel’s nuclear weapons programme” which, to this day, “remains outside the scrutiny of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).”

In 1975, as secret minutes have since revealed, Peres met with South African Defence Minister PW Botha and “offered to sell nuclear warheads to the apartheid regime.” In 1986, Peres authorised the Mossad operation that saw nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu kidnapped in Rome.

Targeting Palestinian citizens

Peres had a key role in the military regime imposed on Palestinian citizens until 1966, under which authorities carried out mass land theft and displacement.

One such tool was Article 125 which allowed Palestinian land to be declared a closed military zone. Its owners denied access, the land would then be confiscated as “uncultivated”. Peres praised Article 125 as a means to “directly continue the struggle for Jewish settlement and Jewish immigration.”

Another one of Peres’ responsibilities in his capacity as director general of the defence ministry was to “Judaise” the Galilee; that is to say, to pursue policies aimed at reducing the region’s proportion of Palestinian citizens compared to Jewish ones.

In 2005, as Vice Premier in the cabinet of Ariel Sharon, Peres renewed his attack on Palestinian citizens with plans to encourage Jewish Israelis to move to the Galilee. His “development” plan covered 104 communities – 100 of them Jewish.

In secret conversations with US officials that same year, Peres claimed Israel had “lost one million dunams [1,000 square kilometres] of Negev land to the Bedouin”, adding that the “development” of the Negev and Galilee could “relieve what [he] termed a demographic threat.”

Supporting illegal settlements in the West Bank

While Israel’s settlement project in the West Bank has come to be associated primarily with Likud and other right-wing nationalist parties, it was in fact Labor which kick-started the colonisation of the newly-conquered Palestinian territory – and Peres was an enthusiastic participant.

During Peres’ tenure as defence minister, from 1974 to 1977, the Rabin government established a number of key West Bank settlements, including Ofra, large sections of which were built on confiscated privately-owned Palestinian land.

Having played a key role in the early days of the settlement enterprise, in more recent years, Peres has intervened to undermine any sort of measures, no matter how modest, at sanctioning the illegal colonies – always, of course, in the name of protecting “peace negotiations”.

The Qana massacre

As prime minister in 1996, Peres ordered and oversaw “Operation Grapes of Wrath” when Israeli armed forces killed some 154 civilians in Lebanon and injured another 351. The operation, widely believed to have been a pre-election show of strength, saw Lebanese civilians intentionally targeted.

According to the official Israeli Air Force website (in Hebrew, not English), the operation involved “massive bombing of the Shia villages in South Lebanon in order to cause a flow of civilians north, toward Beirut, thus applying pressure on Syria and Lebanon to restrain Hezbollah.”

The campaign’s most notorious incident was the Qana massacre, when Israel shelled a United Nations compound and killed 106 sheltering civilians. A UN report stated that, contrary to Israeli denials, it was “unlikely” that the shelling “was the result of technical and/or procedural errors.”

Later, Israeli gunners told Israeli television that they had no regrets over the massacre, as the dead were “just a bunch of Arabs”. As for Peres, his conscience was also clean: “Everything was done according to clear logic and in a responsible way,” he said. “I am at peace.”

Gaza – defending blockade and brutality

Peres came into his own as one of Israel’s most important global ambassadors in the last ten years, as the Gaza Strip was subjected to a devastating blockade and three major offensives. Despite global outrage at such policies, Peres has consistently backed collective punishment and military brutality.

In January 2009, for example, despite calls by “Israeli human rights organisations…for ‘Operation Cast Lead’ to be halted”, Peres described “national solidarity behind the military operation” as “Israel’s finest hour.” According to Peres, the aim of the assault “was to provide a strong blow to the people of Gaza so that they would lose their appetite for shooting at Israel.”

During “Operation Pillar of Defence” in November 2012, Peres “took on the job of helping the Israeli public relations effort, communicating the Israeli narrative to world leaders,” in the words of Ynetnews. On the eve of Israel’s offensive, “Peres warned Hamas that if it wants normal life for the people of Gaza, then it must stop firing rockets into Israel.”

In 2014, during an unprecedented bombardment of Gaza, Peres stepped up once again to whitewash war crimes. After Israeli forces killed four small children playing on a beach, Peres knew who to blame – the Palestinians: “It was an area that we warned would be bombed,” he said. “And unfortunately they didn’t take out the children.”

The choking blockade, condemned internationally as a form of prohibited collective punishment, has also been defended by Peres – precisely on the grounds that it is a form of collective punishment. As Peres put it in 2014: “If Gaza ceases fire, there will be no need for a blockade.”

Peres’ support for collective punishment also extended to Iran. Commenting in 2012 on reports that six million Iranians suffering from cancer were unable to get treatment due to sanctions, Peres said: “If they want to return to a normal life, let them become normal.”

Unapologetic to the end

Peres was always clear about the goal of a peace deal with the Palestinians. As he said in 2014: “The first priority is preserving Israel as a Jewish state. That is our central goal, that is what we are fighting for.” Last year he reiterated these sentiments in an interview with AP, saying: “Israel should implement the two-state solution for her own sake,” so as not to “lose our [Jewish] majority.”

This, recall, was what shaped Labor’s support for the Oslo Accords. Rabin, speaking to the Knesset not long before his assassination in 1995, was clear that what Israel sought from the Oslo Accords was a Palestinian “entity” that would be “less than a state”. Jerusalem would be Israel’s undivided capital, key settlements would be annexed and Israel would remain in the Jordan Valley.

A few years ago, Peres described the Palestinians as “self-victimising.” He went on: “They victimise themselves. They are a victim of their own mistakes unnecessarily.” Such cruel condescension was characteristic of a man for whom “peace” always meant colonial pacification.

Emmerdale will not air in its usual slot tonight, and isn’t on ITVX owing to the football, and fans of the long-running ITV soap have slammed the decision to take it off air

Emmerdale will not air in its usual slot on Friday night, and isn’t on ITVX either.

The long-running ITV soap, which began in 1972, has been a weeknight staple for much of its time on air, and, earlier this year joined forces with fellow soap Coronation Street to launch the “power hour” amid budget cuts at ITV.

Whilst it normally airs Monday to Friday at 8pm, the Yorkshire-based serial has been pulled to make way for the Women’s World Cup Qualifiers, which will from 7:30pm until 9pm and see Spain go head-to-head with England.

Viewers waiting to get their soap fix will have to wait until Sunday evening, when the episode will instead air at 8:00pm, with Coronation Street following afterward.

In recent years, ITV has made Emmerdale and Coronation Street available on ITVX from 7am on the day of linear broadcast, and, in this case, the new edition will be released on Sunday morning.

With numerous inevitable schedule changes set to take place over the forthcoming World Cup, soap fans flooded social media with complaints. One wrote on Reddit: “Can’t they just stick all the football on, oh I don’t know, the football channel?

“So silly that broadcasters just ignore loyal viewers, some of whom who have been with them for decades, just to shove a sport on – the results of which will be beamed across every platform in real life. TV bosses always treat soaps as bottom of the pile when it comes to these things.” Another said: “Four weeks of disruption nightmare,” and added a string of rolling eyes emojis.

A third raged: “Yes I love the football but as a soap opera fan it’s gonna piss off a lot of people especially who hate football and like Emmerdale and Coronation street and EastEnders and of course Hollyoaks who won’t be affected by this and yes I get it important for the whole world but don’t u think we should have a channel for the world cup not on BBC or ITV.”

Another wrote: “International football should remain on free to view channels and not hidden behind a pay wall like the Premier league and champions league has become,” and a third suggested: “The simple solution is they just air the episodes on streaming regardless if it goes out over the airwaves. It’s kinda defeating the point if streaming platforms follow a schedule where only one thing can be on at once.”

It comes as fans recently predicted something of a bombshell could crop up in the relationship between Robert Sugden and Aaron Dingle, known as Robron, as little has been said since they got engaged in the Corriedale crossover. While viewers will likely have to wait to find out, Robert’s faced backlash from Aaron’s family and friends, and other villagers, due to the drama with Joe Tate and the farm.

One of those people currently against him is Aaron’s best friend Mackenzie Boyd. But in a bizarre turn of events, a new theory from a viewer has sparked much confusion.

A soap fan took to Reddit to ask when Robert and Mack’s affair was going to air. Naturally, the post that seemed so sure it was on the cards left fans confused, as it’s not something that has been remotely hinted at, let alone confirmed on the show. Fans ended up replying, with some needing answers as others questioned if a mix-up had occurred. The original post read: “When do Robert and Mack have their affair?

“Have been hearing about it for ages that it’s happening. Guess they’re waiting for things to blow up with the baby.” Again, as fans pointed out, there has been no suggestion on or offscreen that this is happening.

So where the “talked about” theory has come from, no one knows. This led to fans actually asking the poster what they had heard, to which there was no reply.

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

* Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads .

The beauty of Italy’s Lake Garda

Lake Garda gave us one of the most memorable and unexpected family holidays yet. We hired a car and headed from Milan to Unesco-listed Peschiera del Garda and the family-focused apartment we found on Airbnb. A gentle 15-minute walk to the lakeside restaurants and gelaterias, this was the perfect base for exploring the beautiful town. Special mentions go to: Gelateria la Romana, with its wonderful ice-cream; the boat trip to Sirmione, an old town with thermal springs on a narrow peninsula; and, further up the lake, picturesque Malcesine and the cable car to the top of Monte Baldo to watch paragliders and to take in the amazing views.
Alex

Scandi simplicity in the Åland Islands

The Åland Islands are an unsung – and, we found, surprisingly sunny – gem nestled in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland. We stayed with a baby and a toddler in one of the many simple, comfortable cabins in the woodlands, complete with private beach, boat, sauna and barbecue. The pint-size capital, Mariehamn, is no bigger than a market town and easy to explore with kids. People mostly speak Swedish, although the islands are an autonomous region of Finland. There are not a lot of “attractions”, but if you want to get back to nature without the crowds and enjoy Scandi simplicity and unrushed time with the family, this is the perfect place. Cabins and ferries can be booked at visitaland.com.
Martha Fogg

Something for all generations in Brittany

Last summer I piled eight people from four generations of my family into a campervan and crossed from Portsmouth to Saint-Malo, an affordable and fun way to get a large group to the beaches of Brittany. We headed to Bénodet, which is warmer than Cornwall but not as stiflingly hot as the Med, so the kids didn’t get irritable and the grandparents didn’t grumble. At Port de Plaisance campsite, we found water slides, natural swimming pools and sports, plus nightly karaoke for parents to embarrass themselves, while Grandma took on the locals at petanque. The sandy beaches have lifeguards so are great for sunbathing, swimming, picnics and walking for all ages.
Peter

There was nothing to do in Menorca – great!

A friend told us about Es Grau in Menorca, and he wasn’t joking when he warned that there was nothing to do. But the village has its own beat, and by day two we had settled into the local routine. When we weren’t eating or sleeping, we were kayaking, sea swimming and playing soccer with the kids on the municipal pitch. We had hired a car but hardly used it.
Kieran

A Devon dinghy holiday

Sailing is a fantastic and diverse sport, with the skills learned laying foundations for a lifetime. Our children gained tremendous experience as young teenagers and returned for years to dinghy courses in Salcombe, Devon. They loved their summers of fun learning so much they graduated to Royal Yachting Association instructor level. Both became Atlantic sailors later! Tenacity and perseverance in all weather are qualities that other family adventures can’t touch. We loved sailing with them, too.
David Innes-Wilkin

Zipping around in Pembrokeshire

Bluestone national park resort in Pembrokeshire is a firm favourite with my family. We went in May this year and booked four bedrooms for four nights for £540. There’s a brilliant pool and a mixture of indoor and outdoor fun, including zip lines and guided ebiking in the woods, perfect for our two young boys. There were lovely forest walks and soft play areas. We also enjoyed the golf buggies in which we whizzed between the well-maintained lodge and activities.
Abby Samuel

Winning tip: family heaven in the Netherlands

Holidays in the Netherlands have impeccable family-friendly credentials. Our young family loved Madurodam, a miniature version of the Netherlands in The Hague, which has buttons galore for tiny fingers to work bridges, trucks and boats. The railway museum in Utrecht is the best of its kind, with a VR train ride and an actual rollercoaster (there are vintage trains too). We ended with a visit to Linnaeushof, one of Europe’s largest playgrounds, near Haarlem, for a day of self-powered rides and slides. Not to forget the joys of city trams and pancake restaurants. Family heaven.
Morag

OKLAHOMA CITY — Teagan Kavan struck out five in the final two innings to back a strong start from Citlaly Gutierrez, and Kayden Henry homered to lead Texas to a 4-1 victory over Texas Tech on Thursday night at the Women’s College World Series for a second straight national championship.

Texas trailed 1-0 after four innings, but a bases-loaded throwing error by shortstop Hailey Toney allowed two unearned runs to score in the fifth for a 2-1 lead.

Henry homered off Red Raiders ace NiJaree Canady — in her final collegiate game — to begin the seventh and Leighann Goode singled to drive in the final run.

Gutierrez (11-3) allowed one run on three hits in 4⅓ innings. Kavan notched her fifth save.

Canady (29-7) went the distance and allowed four runs — two earned — on eight hits with three walks.

Lauren Allred had an RBI single in the third to put Texas Tech up 1-0.

Coach Mike White led Texas to the school’s second title in his eighth season.

Second-year coach Gerry Glasgo has led the Red Raiders to their only two WCWS appearances. Texas Tech fell 7-3 in the opener.

Texas won the rubber game of the three-game series against Texas Tech last season to claim its first title.

June 4 (Asia Today) — The biggest upset of Wednesday’s local elections came in Seoul, where People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon overcame early expectations of defeat and won a dramatic late comeback victory in the mayoral race.

Oh’s win allowed the conservative bloc to hold South Korea’s capital despite a strong nationwide showing by the Democratic Party. The result immediately raised Oh’s standing as a potential conservative contender in the next presidential race.

Oh narrowly defeated Democratic Party candidate Jung Won-oh after an extremely close vote count that continued into early Thursday morning, becoming the first person to win a fifth term as Seoul mayor.

“Citizens have once again upheld the democratic principle of checks and balances,” Oh said at a press conference Thursday. “They have left Seoul as the last safeguard of democracy so that South Korea does not tilt completely to one side.”

Political observers said Oh’s victory significantly changes his political status. Holding the capital while the People Power Party struggled nationwide could become a major asset for a future presidential bid.

Oh’s campaign strategy also drew attention because he kept some distance from the party leadership under Jang Dong-hyeok and focused on his own record as incumbent mayor. Analysts said that approach may allow Oh to emerge as an independent center of gravity in any future conservative realignment.

A People Power Party official said Oh had now fully risen as a national political figure representing the conservative camp.

“This Seoul victory is virtually close to a ticket toward the presidency,” the official 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=20260605010001627

Caracas, June 4, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan National Assembly preliminarily approved on Tuesday a reform to the country’s Organic Law of the National Electricity System and Service, proposing a structural overhaul of the National Electricity System (SEN).

One of the most significant changes is the incorporation of the private sector in electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and commercialization activities, breaking with two decades of state monopoly through the National Electric Corporation (Corpoelec).

According to the draft text seen by Venezuelanalysis, private corporations and joint ventures will be able to operate in the electric grid in what is termed a “diversification of actors in the service chain.” The mixed ventures, where the state can hold majority or minority stakes, will be approved directly by the government and not by the National Assembly.

“In recent decades, the electric system has showcased structural and financial limitations […] as a result of the productive reality and the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures,” the proposed law reads. “Faced with this reality, the Venezuelan state must assume an institutional and judicial reengineering.”

The bill establishes concessions with a maximum duration of 25 years, renewable for a further 15 years under specific conditions. Once a concession expires, all infrastructure, assets, substations, and data will automatically revert to the state in good condition and without compensation.

The proposed legislation announces the creation of a new tariff scheme “based on real costs and a reasonable return for investors.” Electricity, like most public services, has been heavily subsidized in recent decades in the Caribbean nation. The bill additionally introduces obligations for electricity distributors to compensate users for damages caused by blackouts or other failures.

The reform likewise establishes the possibility for the executive branch to grant tax exemptions to projects linked to renewable energy, rural electrification, or strategic investments in the electricity sector.

The 42-article legislation will now be subject to discussions and amendments before a second and decisive vote. 

If approved, it would repeal the Organic Law for the Reorganization of the Electricity Sector, enacted by former President Hugo Chávez on July 31, 2007, which merged the country’s seven existing electricity companies through the creation of the National Electric Corporation. The legislation also defined all stages of electricity generation and distribution as “strategic for the nation.”

During Tuesday’s parliamentary session, United Socialist Party (PSUV) lawmaker Orlando Miranda argued that the electricity reform represented a “mixed and private capital strategy under a rigorous regime of concessions and public supervision.” 

He noted that government plans to reinforce the grid with thermoelectric plants in the past 15 years were hampered by US economic sanctions. Miranda went on to add that increased tariffs are being studied to reflect the “real costs” of the system.

For his part, opposition legislator Ezio Angelini (Un Nuevo Tiempo) demanded that the reform address corruption, which he identified as a key factor behind Venezuela’s recurring power outages.

Angelini stated that in 2019 Venezuela generated around 20,000 megawatts (MW) while consuming approximately 12,000. Today, he claimed, the country produces close to 12,000 MW, roughly 40 percent of installed capacity, while demand has risen to 14,000. On May 11, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello stated that electricity demand had surpassed 15,500 MW due to increased oil production.

Zulia state, considered the cradle of Venezuela’s oil industry, and other western regions have experienced daily blackouts lasting between eight and twelve hours in recent weeks. Supply instability also affects other services such as water pumping and cooking gas distribution.

Frequent power outages have also gripped oil fields in the Orinoco Belt, as crude extraction relies on electric motors that are vulnerable to tension fluctuations. According to Bloomberg, the Venezuelan government is urging international energy companies to generate their own electricity for oil and natural gas projects in an effort to shield the grid from the additional load.

Delegations from Siemens and General Electric visited the country in April and held talks with the Venezuelan government headed by Acting President Delcy Rodríguez. However, the two corporate giants are reportedly “hesitant” to take part in major projects due to doubts over Caracas’ financial capabilities.

Additionally, in mid-May, US Chargé d’Affaires in Venezuela John Barrett held a meeting with Electricity Minister Rolando Alcalá to discuss plans to “restore a reliable energy supply through US investment and collaboration.”

Electricity generation in Venezuela depends heavily on the 10 MW-capacity Guri hydroelectric complex in Bolívar state, making the system particularly vulnerable to climatic factors such as the high temperatures affecting the country. Venezuela suffered nationwide blackouts in 2019, with authorities blaming US-led cyberattacks.

The electricity reform follows legislative overhauls to the hydrocarbon and mining sectors that likewise curtailed the state’s role and responsibilities while granting private corporations expanded control over operations and sales, slashed royalties and taxes, and the ability to bring disputes to international arbitration bodies.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.

More than 20 years after Michael Jackson was acquitted on charges of child molestation — and two months since the global superstar’s record-breaking biopic skirted any mention of abuse allegations — a new Netflix docuseries brings his trial and the aftermath to the foreground.

“Michael Jackson: The Verdict,” a three-part documentary directed by Nick Green and released Wednesday, chronicles his 2005 trial in Santa Maria that began with a search raid of the pop star’s sprawling Neverland Ranch and ended with a jury finding him not guilty on 10 counts, including four counts of child molestation. At the center of the case was Gavin Arvizo, a then-15-year-old cancer survivor from Los Angeles.

Because recording was not allowed in the courtroom, the documentary relies heavily on archival footage from media surrounding the trial and firsthand accounts of key figures involved, including prosecutor Ron Zonen, Jackson family attorney Brian Oxman, journalist Diane Dimond, two trial jurors, and friends and supporters on both sides of the case.

The episodes also delve into the 2003 documentary “Living With Michael Jackson,” in which the pop star is interviewed by British journalist Martin Bashir, that sparked questions about his behavior, leading to the charges against Jackson. Jackson’s historically questionable relationships with children, the media circus surrounding the trial and the effect it had on fans, the family at its center and Jackson himself are explored, too.

Here are six key takeaways from “The Verdict.”

Jackson allegedly had his personal assistant order child pornography

One of the docuseries’ most revealing interviews came from Vincent Amen, a former Jackson associate who worked at Neverland Ranch from 2002 to 2003. He said he was put in charge of taking care of the Arvizo family during their stay at the property following media backlash from Gavin Arvizo’s appearance in “Living With Michael Jackson.”

At that time, Amen said, he “wholeheartedly” believed in Jackson’s innocence, especially because Jackson’s friend Frank Tyson, also known as Frank Cascio, a member of the family who filed a lawsuit against Jackson’s estate in April detailing alleged sexual abuse, vouched so strongly for him. Cascio, who met Jackson when he was 5 years old and later became his personal assistant, told Amen, “Michael would never do this with a child.”

Amen’s conviction shifted, however, after he discovered a disturbing magazine that apparently belonged to Jackson in Cascio’s possession.

“Frank cleaned out his house of anything that came from the Neverland Ranch. And he hands me a Nike bag,” Amen said in the docuseries. “I took the bag and I’m driving home, and I felt, ‘Something’s a little suspicious.’ And I said, ‘Let me take a look in this bag.’ I start taking videos to document this. I open the bag. I start looking, and I see a magazine.”

The series shows shaky footage of Vincent apparently finding a nudist magazine called “Naturally.” He flips to a video ordering section with titles circled in black marker, including videos called “Nudist Youth Weekend” and “Euro-Nudist Family.”

“I confronted Frank, I said, ‘Frank, what is this magazine? Because, you know, there’s circles around videos with naked children,’” Amen recounted. “He said, ‘That’s just a phase that Michael and I went through. He circled the videos that he wanted, I ordered them, and it was a phase that we went through.’ They watched them together.”

The Arvizo children called Jackson ‘daddy’ and had their own bizarre nicknames

Along with footage of the nudist magazine, Amen held on to other evidence of his time with Jackson and the Arvizo family, including a set of Polaroid pictures featuring Gavin’s mom, Janet, and younger brother, Star.

In one, Star points directly into the lens. It’s captioned, “You my daddy Michael.” Another photo of a smiling Janet and Star includes a handwritten caption from Janet that says, “Dearest loving Michael, we appreciate you being our family. What God brings together, no man can undo. We love you.”

Under a photo of Star with a cross-eyed expression, he wrote, “I love you, my daddy Michael. Your son, Blowhole.”

“These are the nicknames that Michael would give these young boys,” Amen said.

Bashir documentary marked a pivotal shift in the perception of Jackson

Martin Bashir in “Michael Jackson: The Verdict.”

(Netflix)

Though the first allegations of child molestation against Michael Jackson emerged in 1993, it was footage from Bashir’s “Living With Michael Jackson” that ignited public concern about Jackson’s relationship with Gavin.

In a pivotal scene from the 2003 documentary, Jackson brings Gavin in as an example of a child with cancer that he helped. Gavin, 13 at the time, leans his head on Jackson’s shoulder and holds his hand. Jackson tells Bashir that the two often share a bed at the Neverland Ranch, though in another scene he stresses that it’s not sexual.

“I realized that we had something that was hugely significant, but I didn’t realize the extent of the bombshell until the broadcast,” Bashir recalled in “The Verdict.”

“You can see it. You can look at that moment in the Martin Bashir documentary and you can actually pin the end of his life to that very moment,” J. Randy Taraborrelli, Jackson’s childhood friend and biographer, said in the docuseries.

Given Jackson’s stardom, news and tabloid media swarmed the scene of the trial along with droves of dedicated fans (and a much smaller contingent of detractors). And the archival footage from “The Verdict” shows the extent to which fandom and media frenzy influenced the proceedings.

Jackson’s fans stationed themselves throughout the route he’d take to the Santa Maria courthouse with signs showing their support, sometimes standing and shouting and other times driving alongside him and honking. Jackson had his director of security, Kerry Anderson, film these drives while he waved and engaged with supporters.

As many as 1,000 fans showed up on the first day of the trial, and many would line up starting at 5 a.m. for raffle tickets that would allow them to enter the courtroom. One fan interviewed for the docuseries, Sheree Wilkins, said she quit her job as a preschool teacher to move to Santa Maria for the trial. When the “not guilty” verdicts were announced, she fainted and had to receive medical attention.

TV news stations from around the world, including Taiwan, Japan and Mexico, sent crews to cover the trial.

Even inside the courtroom, where cameras were not allowed, enthusiasm for Jackson’s music could not be contained. Attendees recalled everybody, from the jury to the judge and even the prosecution, “swaying in their seats” when songs played as part of an evidence display.

“I remember me moving in time to his music,” prosecutor Ron Zonen said. “At one point Tom [Sneddon, the District Attorney leading the prosecution] jabbed me and said, ‘Would you stop moving your foot?’ ”

Jackson’s mental and physical health deteriorated

Mark Geragos briefly served as Jackson’s defense attorney.

(Netflix)

According to numerous interviews in “The Verdict,” Jackson’s substance use was problematic before and during the trial.

Jackson was not at Neverland during the raid that predated his charges. According to journalist Dimond, her sources said he was in Las Vegas “having wild parties.”

“There were cigarette burns in the leather couches and chairs. There were empty liquor bottles on every table. And this is where Michael Jackson had been for several days, entertaining young teenage boys, who all spoke German,” she said.

Later, Jackson’s well-publicized physical pain became the catalyst for controversy when he was hospitalized overnight, where he was allegedly given enough pain medication “to tranquilize an elephant,” and failed to show up on time for court the next day. The judge threatened to issue a warrant for his arrest if he didn’t make it to the courthouse within the hour, leading Jackson’s team to speed there at 90 mph.

Throughout the trial, stress took an enormous toll on Jackson, defense attorney Mark Geragos said in the docuseries.

“I watched him just disintegrate, literally disintegrate. The ingestion of substances was just astronomical. There was a time when I actually saw him in the fetal position on the floor, and I thought, ‘What do we do?’ I mean, you don’t want his death to be on your hands because you took some inaction,” he said. “We had genuine concerns whether he could even withstand a trial — physically, mentally.”

The prosecution’s case fell apart at the hands of key witnesses

“The Verdict” lays out, step by step, how the trial ended in Jackson’s full acquittal. One major contributor, the docuseries seems to argue, is the downfall of the prosecution at the hands of its own witnesses.

Defense attorney Tom Mesereau was an expert at discrediting witnesses, subjects told the filmmakers, but certain key witnesses, like Janet Arvizo, struggled to connect with the jury on their own.

“I called her Janet from another planet,” admitted juror Melissa Herard. “Sorry, but that’s just how she acted.”

Jackson’s ex-wife Debbie Rowe was meant to take the stand as a smoking gun for the prosecution but instead revealed no new information and came to Jackson’s defense.

The prosecution also partially hinged its case on past allegations of child sexual abuse against Jackson, but conflicting testimony caused these efforts to backfire. A former Neverland employee claimed to witness Jackson molest Wade Robson when he was a child, but Robson took the stand and denied anything happened.

“It’s hard to convince a jury when the subject of the act itself said it didn’t happen,” Zonen said.

In 2013, Robson reversed his stance and filed a lawsuit against the Jackson estate alleging sexual abuse. His allegations, along with those of James Safechuck, were the subject of the 2019 documentary “Leaving Neverland.”