Month: April 2025

A BODY has been found floating in the water off the coast of a popular beach.

The woman, who has not yet been identified, was spotted by a passing boat fives miles from Brighton beach today.

A lifeboat recovered the body and brought it back to the RNLI station at Brighton Marina.

Cops have now launched an investigation to find out the woman’s identity.

A spokesperson for Sussex Police said: “Police were called at around 12.30pm on Saturday, April 19 after a woman’s body was found by a member of the public in the sea about five miles off the coast of Brighton.

“The RNLI recovered the body.

“Enquiries are ongoing, alongside partner agencies, to identify the woman and establish the full circumstances of the situation.”

1

BREAKINGBREAKING,

Unilateral cessation of hostilities to begin on Saturday at 6pm local time and run until midnight on April 21, the Kremlin says.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced an Easter truce in the conflict in Ukraine, according to the Kremlin.

The unilateral cessation of hostilities will begin on Saturday at 6pm local time (21:00 GMT) and run until midnight on Monday, April 21, the Kremlin said.

It added it expected Ukraine to follow suit and cease all fire during this period over Easter.

We’ll bring you more soon.

LIDL will soon begin selling a Dyson vacuum dupe that is £189.99 cheaper than the original.

Silvercrest Cordless Cyclone Vacuum Cleaner is almost identical to the pricey branded version.

1

The product is set to land in stores next Sunday April 27 giving customers just over a week to get their hands on the products.

Like the original it comes with a handled unit so you can reach hard to reach places around your home.

The product is part of the bargain stores “Middle of Lidl” offers, which land in stores every Thursday and Sunday.

The items are usually sold at a low price and only available while stocks last.

Lidl’s vacuum will cost £59.99 when it lands in stores next week.

Its take on the Dyson cordless vacuum gives customers the chance to save £180.

The branded product is on sale for £249.99 on the Dyson website, marked down from its typical retail price of £329.99.

If you are keen to pick up Lidl’s cut-price version, you will have to act quickly, as it is a limited-edition item; once it’s gone, it’s gone.

It’s one of many dupes rolled out by the discounter in recent times.

Lidl will be flogging the Beldray REVO Cordless Hand-Held Vacuum Cleaner for just £39.99 next Sunday as part of its middle aisle range.

The lightweight gadget is being tipped as a dupe for the Shark Cordless Handheld Vacuum, which usually retails for £129.99—making Lidl’s version around 70% cheaper.

The bargain store is also selling a dupe of a deluxe potting bench from TP Toys that costs £39.99.

The TP Toys original costs £119.99.

How can I save money when shopping at Lidl?

Lidl reduces items at the start of the day and the best deals can be found between 7am to 8am, when most stores open.

Shoppers can often find cooked meats, salmon fillets and breads reduced by 30% or more.

Not only does Lidl have its own range of reasonably priced alcohol, it also has its own knock-offs of branded favourites – so say cheers to its bargain booze.

Everyone knows about the “Middle of Lidl” – it’s here where you’ll find a load of random stuff that you didn’t realise you needed, at decent prices.

But if you are hoping to avoid spending more than you planned, you can check what will be in the “Middle of Lidl” on the supermarket’s website in advance.

The Middle of Lidl is refreshed every Thursday and Sunday.

Shoppers can also keep tabs on what’s appearing in the “Pick of the Week” section on the Lidl website.

The discounts happen every Thursday and are usually on fruit, vegetables, and meat.

The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked the removal of Venezuelan detainees accused under a wartime law of being foreign gang members early Saturday morning, after the ACLU argued the men were at risk of imminent removal to an El Salvadoran prison.

“The Government is directed not to remove any member of the putative class of detainees from the United States until further order of this Court,” the court stated in an unsigned order.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.

The ACLU had asked multiple courts on Friday to temporarily halt the detainees’ removal — arguing in one filing that the Trump administration was busing many of them presumably to an airport to be deported.

In a Friday hearing, Drew C. Ensign, a lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice, told U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg in Washington, D.C., that there were no current plans to deport individuals Friday or Saturday by plane presumably to El Salvador, but the Trump administration reserved the right to remove people on Saturday.

The ACLU asked the courts for an emergency order after Venezuelan detainees from across the country, including California, were transferred to the Bluebonnet Detention Facility in Anson, Texas, and, according to their filings, told they will be removed as soon as Friday night.

The Trump administration flew hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants deemed members of Tren de Aragua last month to El Salvador, where they are being held in a notorious mega-prison called the Terrorism Confinement Center. Families of many of the men sent to El Salvador on the earlier planes say they are not gang members.

The deportations kicked off a high-stakes legal battle testing the limits of President Trump’s deportation plans and his power.

The Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the wartime authority invoked by the administration could resume, but immigrants must be given proper notice and a chance to make their case in places where they were being detained.

Boasberg, who had heard the earlier case about the administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, had ordered a temporary halt to removals. But despite the order, deportation planes were sent to El Salvador, where more than 200 people remain in prison.

The Trump administration has said that once individuals are outside of U.S. jurisdiction, there is little they can do to bring them back to the United States.

“If these people are removed to a foreign prison, perhaps for the rest of their lives, without any due process, it would be in clear violation of the Supreme Court’s opinion,” Lee Gelerent, ACLU attorney leading the case, told The Times Friday.

The case began in a Texas federal court earlier in the week, when the ACLU asked Judge Wesley Hendrix to temporarily stop any removal on behalf of two individuals because they didn’t have a chance to challenge their cases.

Hendrix denied the request. By Friday, lawyers learned of more individuals being held and asked again, after reports circulated that removals were imminent. When lawyers didn’t get a response that afternoon, they sought help from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th District and asked the Supreme Court to step in.

ACLU lawyers argued that the move was necessary because officials at Bluebonnet told detainees they will be deported and asked them to sign notices of removal in English based on their alleged affiliation with Tren de Aragua.

One man at the facility sent his wife a TikTok video depicting various detainees, according to a declaration submitted by ACLU lawyers from Michelle Brané, executive director of a nonprofit that provides services for asylum seekers. In it, one young man says they are all being labeled as members of Tren de Aragua. They aren’t allowed to call their families, and the detainees don’t know where they will be removed to, he says in the video.

“They’re saying we have to be removed, quickly, because we are a terrorist threat to the country,” he says.

Another detainee says they were given a paper to sign but were told that, whether they signed or not, they would be removed from the country.

A third detainee says, “We are not members of Tren de Aragua. We are normal, civil people.” A fourth says, “I don’t have a deportation order. I have all my paperwork in order. I have my American children here,” he says. “I was arrested with no arrest warrant and they want me deported.”

Italy: Minuzzi; Muzzo, Sillari, Mannini, D’Inca; Madia, Bitonci; Turani, Vecchini, Seye, Fedrighi, Duca, Veronese, Ranuccini, Giordano (c)

Replacements: Spinelli, Stecca, Maris, Tounesi, Sgorbini, Stefan, Capomaggi, Rigoni

France: Bourgeois; Boulard, M. Menager (c), Vernier, Grisez; Arbez, Bourdon; Brosseau, Bigot, Khalfaoui, M. Feleu, Fall, R. Menager, Okemba, T. Feleu

Replacements: Riffonneau, Mwayembe, Joyeux, Escudero, Berthoumieu, Champon, Chambon, Queyroi

Referee: Sara Cox (England)

Government says on ‘maximum alert’ due to bid by rivals to kill re-elected president.

Ecuador has declared a state of “maximum alert” over an assassination plot against President Daniel Noboa.

In a statement entitled “The revenge of the bad losers” issued early on Saturday, the Ministry of Government said “all security protocols have been activated” due to the threat emanating from “criminal organizations, in collusion with political groups defeated at the polls”.

Noboa was re-elected earlier this month, promising to continue a crackdown on rampant cartel violence that plagues Ecuador. His opponent, Luisa Gonzalez, has continued to insist that the vote was fraudulent.

The statement follows the leak earlier this week of a military intelligence report that said assassins entering Ecuador from Mexico and other countries planned to carry out “terrorist attacks” against Noboa.

The government statement alleges that “bad losers” from the recent April 13 election hired sicarios (hitmen) from Mexico and other countries in a bid to destabilise the government.

“The state is on high alert. All security protocols have been activated, and the Armed Forces, the National Police, and intelligence agencies are working together,” it reads.

Quoting intelligence sources, it reports “the plotting of an assassination, terrorist attacks, and street riots through violent demonstrations”.

The plot targets “the life of the President of the Republic, state authorities, and public officials”, it said.

Although not offering names, the statement appears to accuse the Citizen Revolution Movement (RC5) of which Gonzalez is leader and that is linked to former President Rafael Correa, of planning the attack.

Media reports in Ecuador also suggested that support may have been forthcoming from foreign leaders including President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico.

Amid a diplomatic fallout that launched last year, Sheinbaum announced on Wednesday that Mexico would not restore diplomatic relations with Ecuador as long as Noboa remains in office.

The Mexican leader had publicly supported Gonzalez in the election.

The reported assassination plot comes amid a pattern of escalating violence in Ecuador, including the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in 2023.

Rampant violence by criminal gangs involved in trafficking from the world’s biggest cocaine producers, neighbouring Peru and Colombia, has also blighted the country.

In the latest instance, at least 12 people were killed on Friday in an attack in the coastal province of Manabi as gunmen dressed in fake military uniforms opened fire on spectators at a cockfight.

Noboa declared an “internal armed conflict” to combat drug gangs in January last year, reflecting the country’s ongoing struggle with organised crime.

Alongside a promise to boost the country’s flagging economy, that was seen as key to helping him win re-election earlier this month.

However, Gonzalez, who had entered the run-off vote following a tight first round in February and claimed “grotesque” fraud, said late on Wednesday that she plans to contest the results with the elections authority.

Palestinians have always been passionate about learning. During the Ottoman era, Palestinian students travelled to Istanbul, Cairo, and Beirut to pursue higher education. During the British Mandate, in the face of colonial policies aimed at keeping the local population ignorant, Palestinian farmers pooled their resources and established schools of their own in rural areas.

Then came the Nakba, and the occupation and displacement brought new pain that elevated the Palestinian pursuit of education to an entirely different level. Education became a space where Palestinians could feel their presence, a space that enabled them to claim some of their rights and dream of a better future. Education became hope.

In Gaza, instruction was one of the first social services established in refugee camps. Students would sit on the sand in front of a blackboard to learn. Communities did everything they could to ensure that all children had access to education, regardless of their level of destitution. The first institution of higher education in Gaza – the Islamic University – held its first lectures in tents; its founders did not wait for a building to be erected.

I remember how, as a child, I would see the alleys of our neighbourhood every morning crowded with children heading to school. All families sent their children to school.

When I reached university age, I saw the same scene: Crowds of students commuting together to their universities and colleges, dreaming of a bright future.

This relentless pursuit of education, for decades, suddenly came to a halt in October 2023. The Israeli army did not just bomb schools and universities and burn books. It destroyed one of the most vital pillars of Palestinian education: Educational justice.

Making education accessible to all

Before the genocide, the education sector in Gaza was thriving. Despite the occupation and blockade, we had one of the highest literacy rates in the world, reaching 97 percent. The enrolment rate in secondary education was 90 percent, and the enrolment in higher education was 45 percent.

One of the main reasons for this success was that education in Gaza was completely free in the primary and secondary stages. Government- and UNRWA-run schools were open to all Palestinian children, ensuring equal opportunities for everyone.

Textbooks were distributed for free, and families received support to buy bags, notebooks, pens, and school uniforms.

There were also many programmes sponsored by the Ministry of Education, UNRWA, and other institutions to support talented students in various fields, regardless of their economic status. Reading competitions, sports events, and technology programmes were organised regularly.

At the university level, significant efforts were made to make higher education accessible. There was one government university which charged symbolic fees, seven private universities with moderate to high fees (depending on the college and major), and five university colleges with moderate fees. There was also a vocational college affiliated with UNRWA in Gaza that offered fully free education.

The universities provided generous scholarships to outstanding and disadvantaged students.

The Ministry of Education also offered internal and external scholarships in cooperation with several countries and international universities. There was a higher education loan fund to help cover tuition fees.

Simply put, before the genocide in Gaza, education was accessible to all.

The cost of education amid genocide

Since October 2023, the Zionist war machine has systematically targeted schools, universities, and educational infrastructure. According to UN statistics, 496 out of 564 schools – nearly 88 percent – have been damaged or destroyed. In addition, all universities and colleges in Gaza have been destroyed. More than 645,000 students have been deprived of classrooms, and 90,000 university students have had their education disrupted.

As the genocide continued, the Ministry of Education and universities tried to resume the educational process, with in-person classes for schoolchildren and online courses for university students.

In displacement camps, tent schools were established, where young volunteers taught children for free. University professors used online teaching tools like Google Classroom, Zoom, WhatsApp groups, and Telegram channels.

Despite these efforts, the absence of regular education created a significant gap in the educational process. The incessant bombardment and forced displacement orders issued by the Israeli occupation made attendance challenging. The lack of resources also meant that tent schools could not provide proper instruction.

As a result, paid educational centres emerged, offering private lessons and individual attention to students. On average, a centre charges between $25 to $30 per subject per month, and with eight subjects, the monthly cost reaches $240 – an amount most families in Gaza cannot afford.

In the higher education sector, cost also became prohibitive. After the first online semester, which was free, universities started requiring students to pay portions of their tuition fees to continue distance learning.

Online education also requires a tablet or a computer, stable internet access, and electricity. Most students who lost their devices due to bombing or displacement cannot buy new ones because of the high prices. Access to stable internet and electricity at private “workspaces” can cost as much as $5 an hour.

All of this has led many students to drop out due to their inability to pay. I, myself, could not complete the last semester of my degree.

The collapse of educational justice

A year and a half of genocide was enough to destroy what took decades to build in Gaza: Educational justice. Previously, social class was not a barrier for students to continue their education, but today, the poor have been left behind.

Very few families can continue educating all their children. Some families are forced to make difficult decisions: Sending older children to work to help fund the education of the younger ones, or giving the opportunity only to the most outstanding child to continue studying, and depriving the others.

Then there are the extremely poor, who cannot send any of their children to school. For them, survival is the priority. During the genocide, this group has come to represent a large portion of society.

The catastrophic economic situation has forced countless school-aged children to work instead of going to school, especially in families that lost their breadwinners. I see this painful reality every time I step out of my tent and walk around.

The streets are full of children selling various goods; many are exploited by war profiteers to sell things like cigarettes for a meagre wage.

Little children are forced to beg, chasing passersby and asking them for anything they can give.

I feel unbearable pain when I see children, who just a year and a half ago were running to their schools, laughing and playing, now stand under the sun or in the cold selling or begging just to earn a few shekels to help their families get an inadequate meal.

For Gaza’s students, education was never just about getting an academic certificate or an official paper. It was about optimism and courage, it was a form of resistance against the Israeli occupation, and a chance to lift their families out of poverty and improve their circumstances. Education was life and hope.

Today, that hope has been killed and buried under the rubble by Israeli bombs.

We now find ourselves in a dangerous situation, where the gap between the well-to-do and the poor is widening, where an entire generation’s ability to learn and think is being diminished, and where Palestinian society is at risk of losing its identity and its capacity to continue its struggle.

What is happening in Gaza is not just a temporary educational crisis, but a deliberate campaign to destroy opportunities for equality and create an unbalanced society deprived of justice.

We have reached a point where the architects of the ongoing genocide are confident in the success of their strategy of “voluntary transfer” – pushing Palestinians to such depths of despair that they choose to leave their land voluntarily.

But the Palestinian people still refuse to let go of their land. They are persevering. Even the children, the most vulnerable, are not giving up. I often think of the words I overheard from a conversation between two child vendors during the last Eid. One said: “There is no joy in Eid.” The other one responded: “This is the best Eid. It’s enough that we’re in Gaza and we didn’t leave it as Netanyahu wanted.”

Indeed, we are still in Gaza, we did not leave as Israel wants us to, and we will rebuild just as our ancestors and elders have.

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

Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who could use a fantasy getaway.

“The Wheel of Time” concluded it’s third season this week and showrunner Rafe Judkins stopped by Guest Spot to tell us about the section from the beloved book franchise that proved most challenging to adapt for the screen.

Also in Screen Gab No. 177, TV critic Robert Lloyd looks at the documentary of acclaimed cartoonist Art Spiegelman and culture columnist Mary McNamara shares her thoughts on why “Government Cheese” is worth your time.

ICYMI

Must-read stories you might have missed

Bella Ramsey, who stars as Ellie in HBO’s postapocalyptic drama “The Last of Us.”

(Bexx Francois / For The Times)

Bella Ramsey is embracing the difficult parts of Ellie and ‘The Last of Us’: The star of HBO’s postapocalyptic drama said shooting Season 2 was much more grueling, but that it helped the actor understand more about themself.

After losing his wife of 43 years, David Cronenberg turned the camera on grief itself: The Canadian director reflects on body horror, Trump, Elon Musk, legacy and his new movie “The Shrouds” — and whether it might be the last one he ever makes.

They found the music of ‘Sinners’ together — just as they have from the beginning: In their unique collaboration, Ryan Coogler and Ludwig Göransson played music together during much of the prep for the film.

In ‘Étoile,’ ‘Bunheads’ creators return to ballet but with a cross-Atlantic twist: Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino are back with a new Prime Video series that puts their love of ballet in the forefront.

Turn on

Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

Art Spiegelman speaking at the National Book Awards.

(American Masters / PBS)

“Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse” (PBS.org)

Presented under the umbrella of “American Masters,” Molly Bernstein and Philip Dolin’s film focuses on comics artist Spiegelman, whose landmark work “Maus,” originally serialized from 1980 to 1991, deals with his family’s experience in the Holocaust — portraying the Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats — and his own attempts to come to terms with its lingering effects, on them and himself, by drawing his way through it. The film functions also as a lesson in comics structure and as an exciting, strangely moving history of alternative comics — from Mad magazine and Zap! (old friends Robert Crumb and Bill Griffith appear) to Raw, the large-format magazine founded by Spiegelman and wife Françoise Mouly (the art editor of the New Yorker since 1993), and into the age of autobiographical graphic novels “Maus” made possible. That “Maus,” with its depictions of fascism, deportation and concentration camps, has been banned from American libraries and schoolrooms is sadly ironic and distressingly timely. — Robert Lloyd

David Oyelowo in the series “Government Cheese.”

(Apple TV+)

“Government Cheese” (AppleTV+)

The word “kaleidoscope” was coined by the mechanism’s inventor from ancient Greek words that add up, more or less, to “the observation of beautiful forms.” It’s a term, and a meaning, that applies to “Government Cheese,” an ever-shifting bewitchment of a series.

Seen one way, it is the story of Hampton Chambers (David Oyelowo), a cheerfully charismatic grifter, recently home from prison. Armed with a self-sharpening drill bit of his own invention, he is trying to go straight despite a justifiably dubious reception by most of his family and the fallout from a very unfortunate event that put him in debt to a very peculiar (i.e. French Canadian) criminal family. Twist the image just slightly, however, and “Government Cheese” becomes more of a spiritual worldview, in which the big picture is blurred at the edges, but the details stand out in brilliant clarity. While in prison, Hampton has God, or at least a form of God, explained to him by a fellow prisoner as a force which makes its grand plan known through a series of small but collectively impactful events. Hampton now believes that the universe is sending him a series of messages — a jumping frog tells him to take a leap of faith, etc. These may or may not be real but certainly resonate with anyone who has searched for similar signs in a chaotic world.

Co-created by Paul Hunter and Aeysaha Carr, the series is set in 1969 Chatsworth and based on Hunter’s memories of his childhood. The aerospace industry figures heavily as does the hyper-stylized earth-tone fashions of the times. Heavily influenced by the Coen brothers, the show often feels like a cross between a fable and a fever dream, but powerful performances by Oyelowo and Simone Missick as Hampton’s wife, Astoria, keep it grounded in its own reality. A well-known director of music videos, Hunter infuses “Government Cheese” with a cinematic vibrancy — Chatsworth has never looked so cool — that keeps you watching even as you wonder what exactly you are looking at. — Mary McNamara

READ MORE >> ‘Government Cheese’ stays outside the box with a surreal Black family in the Valley

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

Jay Duffy as Dain Bornhald in “The Wheel of Time.”

(Prime Video)

The jam-packed Season 3 finale of “The Wheel of Time,” available to stream on Prime Video, included multiple deaths and plenty of betrayals. It’s no small feat adapting the narrative complexity of Robert Jordan’s fantasy book franchise for TV. In this week’s Guest Spot, showrunner Rafe Judkins discussed the book-inspired moment that was most challenging to adapt for screen, what he’s watching and more. — Yvonne Villarreal

You’re given eight episodes to condense so much book content into a coherent narrative. Three seasons in, what have you learned about adapting a saga like “The Wheel of Time” for TV in that framework? Do you wish you had more episodes for Season 3?

When I originally pitched the show, it was for eight seasons with 10 episodes in each season. I thought that, even though limited, this would be a way to get through all 15 books of Robert Jordan’s “The Wheel of Time” series. Unfortunately, production reality often intersects with creative goals, so we’ve had to try to pull off the same story with just eight episodes a season. It leads to a lot of condensing and re-building of the narrative to feel smooth for people who aren’t at all familiar with the books. But the thing about TV is that you always wish you had more time. I think epic fantasy television is at its best and allows the stories to really build and pay off when there are 10 to 13 episodes per season.

Give me an example of an element from the novels that was a challenge to bring to life in Season 3. How did you figure it out?

We had to figure out a way to bring a section of the books called “The Road to the Spear” to life in Season 3. It’s incredibly challenging because in the books, it’s basically one character who sees an entire culture’s history through the eyes of his ancestors, one story after another after another, moving backward in time. It’s one of the greatest parts of the entire book series, but to bring it to life on television, we had to find a way to emotionally connect the audience to these disparate stories, so we had the actor (Josha Stradowski who plays Rand al’Thor) actually wear six different full prosthetic makeups and play the lead character in each of the vignettes moving backward through time. I think it worked well to really help the audience emotionally connect to these stories and simultaneously feel and understand their impact on the character of Rand, who’s witnessed these visions.

What have you watched recently that you’re recommending to everyone you know?

With my whole life contained in the scripted sphere, I actually usually end up watching comedies or reality TV when I’ve got time to myself. And because I’m traveling so much for work, I’m usually watching shows from all over the world — right now I’m loving “Traitors” (UK and U.S. versions!) [Peacock], “Australian Survivor” and the British show “Taskmaster.”

What’s your go-to comfort watch, the film or TV show you return to again and again?

“Xena: Warrior Princess” [Prime Video]! It’s insane at times (insert clip of Xena doing 70 flips after she’s thrown herself out of a pine tree to land on a ship), but it was so different than anything else on TV when it came out. There was also such an emotional core and connection to those characters and I grew up watching them, so it feels like a piece of home when I see it now.

At least 219 people have been injured in attacks since Good Friday, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Israeli attacks have killed 92 Palestinians in Gaza over the past two days, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health.

The attacks, which took place on April 17-19, have also left at least 219 people wounded and hospitalised, the ministry said in a statement on Saturday, with dozens more still trapped under the rubble or in areas that rescuers are unable to reach.

The surge in bloodshed comes as Israel presses a six-week aid blockade and demands that Hamas disarm before any truce can be agreed. The armed group has flatly refused the demand and insists a permanent ceasefire must be part of any deal.

At least 15 children, hit during an overnight air raid on tents in Khan Younis, were among the casualties, according to the statement. A raid on Rafah killed a mother and her daughter alongside two others, according to the European Hospital where their bodies were taken.

“For the vast majority of civilians, nighttime is the time of horror and unrelenting pain,” said Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from central Gaza. “Nobody is safe in their homes, in the makeshift tents, in displacement camps.”

‘Less than a meal a day’

After restarting its military campaign on March 18 following a brief ceasefire, Israel has pledged to intensify its 18-month war on Gaza and occupy large “security zones” inside the Strip.

Since March 2, it has also blocked the entry of food, fuel and aid into the enclave, defying an order by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that it must allow humanitarian access.

Aid groups warn food is running out.

“Kids are eating less than a meal a day and struggling to find their next meal,” said Bushra Khalidi, policy head of Oxfam. “Malnutrition and pockets of famine are definitely occurring in Gaza.”

Earlier this week, Hamas rejected an Israeli proposal to pause fighting for 45 days if the Palestinian group releases 10 live captives and agrees to disarm.

“The request to disarm Hamas is not acceptable to even hear,” senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said. “This is not just a red line. It is a million red lines.”

Hamas has offered to free all remaining captives – believed to be about 58 although several are dead – in return for a permanent end to the war and the Israeli army’s full withdrawal.

The death toll in Gaza has now reached 51,065, with 116,505 wounded, according to the Health Ministry.

“We can see the very psychological toll in the city on the faces of everyone here, people are walking very exhausted, traumatised,” said Abu Azzoum. “They are thinking about the dark future that awaits them.”

SACRAMENTO — Gov.-elect Gray Davis on Thursday named a former White House attorney, Demetri Boutris, to be his legal affairs secretary.

Boutris is a vice president and special counsel to Ronald O. Perelman, chairman of MacAndrews and Forbes Holding Inc., a New York company with interests in Revlon cosmetics, Coleman outdoor recreation equipment, First Nationwide Bank and Consolidated Cigar.

During the 1992 presidential campaign, Boutris, 37, was national director of Greek Americans for Clinton/Gore. He was subsequently selected to work in the White House as counsel to U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor.

Boutris and his family emigrated from Greece to California in 1972. He has lived in San Diego and Los Angeles and he attended Harvard Law School.

“I am both honored and humbled that Gray Davis has asked me to join his team,” Boutris said in a statement from the governor-elect’s transition team.

Davis also named two other members to his upcoming administration Thursday.

D. Robert Shuman, a counsel to the state Board of Equalization and 23-year aide in the state controller’s office, was selected as deputy legal affairs secretary.

Jane Crawford, former political director for the California Professional Firefighters organization and an aide to Davis’ gubernatorial campaign earlier this year, was named to be deputy appointments secretary.

This is Star Wars weekend at Angel Stadium, and on Friday the Angels activated their best player from the injured list, so the graphics on the video board pretty much wrote themselves: “Return of the Neto.”

That would be Zach Neto, not Mike Trout. It could be Trout again, but for last year and again in his season debut Friday, the Angels’ best player was Neto.

For Ron Washington, the Angels’ manager, young players earn their stripes, then they earn them all over again. On Friday, Neto batted seventh.

“When you have a superstar like Mike, when he gets going, he’s the type of guy who can carry the team,” Washington said. “We’re not expecting Neto to carry this team.”

There is nothing controversial in that statement. Trout is bound for Cooperstown, a three-time most valuable player. The idea that a third-year shortstop would be the guy on which Angels fans were waiting did not sit well with Neto.

“I’m not the savior,” Neto said. “I’m just here to do my job.”

He might be a savior, if not the savior. As Neto completed his rehabilitation from shoulder surgery, the replacement shortstops in Anaheim batted .159 with a .372 OPS. In 2021, the last season before the adoption of the universal designated hitter, Angels pitchers batted .150 with a .377 OPS.

Neto put up 5.1 WAR last season, according to Baseball Reference, bettered among American League West players only by Oakland slugger Brent Rooker (5.6) and Houston slugger Yordan Alvarez (5.4).

Zach Neto hits a two-run double against the San Francisco Giants in the second inning Friday.

(Luke Hales / Getty Images)

You may have heard of the two players immediately behind Neto: Texas shortstop Corey Seager (5.0), winner of a World Series championship with the Dodgers and another with the Rangers; and ex-Houston outfielder Kyle Tucker, now with the Chicago Cubs, who could be the winner of a half-billion dollars in free agency in the coming winter.

“If what he did last year is his ceiling, we’re in trouble,” Washington said of Neto, “meaning that there’s a lot more.”

In his first at-bat of the season, against San Francisco Giants ace Logan Webb, Neto rocketed a 106-mph one-hopper that sent Giants shortstop Willy Adames staggering.

As the ball headed into the left-center field alley, Neto raced around first base and dove headfirst into second. The hustle double drove in Nolan Schanuel with the game’s first run, and Neto subsequently scored the game’s second run on an error by Giants third baseman Matt Chapman.

Final score: Angels 2, Giants 0.

The Angels had returned home dragging a four-game losing streak, and Trout said Neto was just what the doctor ordered. For the past week, as Neto completed his minor league rehabilitation assignment, Trout said Neto repeatedly texted him.

“He was bugging me to go to the front office and tell them to bring him back,” Trout said.

“His energy, you can feed off that. The last couple games, the energy has been down a little bit, unlike the first week and a half of the season. We’ve got to pick it up. He’s got some talent, and he knows it.”

Said Neto: “Everybody has a bad road trip. Every team is bound to have one. The Dodgers had one. And unfortunately, it was our turn. So, you know, we’re just here to come back in the homestand, kind of get back on the winning side of it. And keep everything rolling.”

The season is 19 games old, far too soon to draw any conclusions, but the early signs for Trout have leaned toward the unfavorable. Of the nine players in Friday’s lineup, Trout was the only one who finished the game with a batting average below .200.

He leads the team with six home runs. But he is batting .171, and he struck out in all three at-bats Friday. In his last six games, he has two hits — both singles — with one walk and 13 strikeouts in 22 at-bats.

The Angels lead the AL in attendance, with a fireworks show and Star Wars giveaway item on deck Saturday. They are one game above .500, in second place in a division in which every team has given up more runs than it has scored.

As former major league pitcher Joaquin Andujar once said, “You can sum up the game of baseball in one word: You never know.” We don’t yet know about these Angels, but we know their chances are better with Neto.

Foreign Ministry calls on international community to deal with ‘incitement’ to destroy the holy site seriously.

The Palestinian government has expressed “extreme concern” over threats circulating among Israeli settler organisations to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates warned on Saturday of calls by Israeli settler organisations circulating on Hebrew-language social media platforms to attack and demolish the mosque and construct a temple in its place.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, Islam’s third holiest site and a symbol of Palestinian identity, has become symbolic of the intensified tension between Muslims and Jews amid Israel’s war on Gaza.

An Al-generated video depicting the destruction of the mosque and construction of the “Third Temple” under the title “Next Year in Jerusalem,” was published on the platforms earlier this week.

In a statement published on X, the ministry said it considers the posts on social media a “systematic incitement to escalate the targeting of Christian and Islamic holy sites in occupied Jerusalem”.

“The Ministry calls on the international community and its relevant UN institutions to deal with this incitement with utmost seriousness, and to take the measures required by international law,” it said.

Regular target

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is administered by Jordan, but access to the site itself is controlled by Israeli soldiers.

Al-Aqsa has become a regular target of visits by right-wing Israeli politicians and Israeli settlers, who have stormed the compound on an almost weekly basis and performed religious rituals under the protection of Israeli forces.

The compound is also considered an important site by Jews, who believe it to be the site of the First and Second Temples, the latter destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.

Under the decades-old status quo maintained by Israeli authorities, Jews and other non-Muslims are allowed to visit the compound in occupied East Jerusalem during specified hours, but they are not permitted to pray there or display religious symbols.

Last August, right-wing Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir caused outrage by saying he would build a Jewish synagogue at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Once considered a fringe movement, the campaign to build a “Third Temple” on Al-Aqsa is growing in Israel, and many Palestinians see parallels with what has happened in Hebron, where the Ibrahimi Mosque, also known as the Cave of the Patriarchs, was partitioned.

Since taking office in December 2022, Ben-Gvir, as national security minister, has visited the holy site at least six times, drawing severe condemnation.

Love Island star Harriett Blackmore spoke to the Mirror recently about her relationship with Ronnie Vint, the couple double dating with other islanders and her career

Former Love Island star Harriett Blackmore has shared updates on her romance with Ronnie Vint. She’s spoken about them taking their relationship to the next level after All Stars and going on double dates with celebrity pals.

Harriett, 24, met Ronnie, 28, on the ITV2 show last summer. They began a relationship at the time but just months after they left the villa it was announced that they had split up. They rekindled their romance earlier this year though after having reunited on the latest series of spin-off All Stars.

Since leaving the villa for a second time in February, the pair have become ‘official,’ with Harriett accepting a proposal to be Ronnie’s girlfriend last month. She’s also shared that he has spent time with her family since getting back together.

Harriett shared updates on their relationship whilst speaking to the Mirror earlier this week. She teased in the interview that it feels “completely different” with Ronnie now, compared to when the couple were together months ago.

She told us: “Me and Ronnie are really good. He’s such a changed person this time so I’m just enjoying the new man.” She shared: “Even though it’s the second time round, it kinda feels like the first of how it actually should have been.”

Asked if it feels like they have taken things to the next level, and are in a different phase of their relationship, compared to last time, Harriett said: “Yes, definitely and I just feel like y’know before we never actually… We were together but we didn’t have the girlfriend and boyfriend label.” She added: “I think it actually is quite a big deal. We never really crossed that path. Now it’s … we’re girlfriend and boyfriend. It’s just … yeah, it’s just completely different. But I love it!”

Harriett shared that she “struggled” being out of the villa with Ronnie after their first stint on Love Island. She said that dealing with a “new environment” and a “new job,” for example, were “overwhelming” enough without then having to also navigate a new relationship with her partner.

She went on to say: “Now it’s much more enjoyable because we’ve both been there. We’ve done it before. We know kind of what to expect from like the public and like work aspects of things. So now we’re just like y’know letting that happen and then just focusing more on our relationship.”

During our interview, Harriett revealed that the couple have been on double dates with the likes of All Stars winners Gabby Allen, 33, and Casey O’Gorman, 28. She shared that they are also close with fellow islanders Luca Bish, 25, Grace Jackson, 26, Sammy Root, 23, and Elma Pazar, 32.

Discussing the dynamic between the recent All Stars’ cast, she said: “We’ve been on a few double dates with Casey and Gabs. We’re really close with Grace and Luca, because obviously we were friends before. Sammy and Elma, we’re really close with as well. We actually speak to everyone.”

Sharing further insight into double-dating, she told us: “We just have fun! I think we all get along so well and we have so many of the same interests and stuff. It’s just nice to actually have chats outside the villa with no camera and [no one] speaking to you saying ‘you can’t say this, you can’t say that’.”

Harriett said it’s “more relaxed” being able to socialise with the likes of Casey and Gabby outside of the villa. She teased in the recent interview that it allows the islanders to enjoy themselves and “have a good time”.

She also revealed in the interview that her and Ronnie have been out with his pals Olivia Attwood, 33, and her husband Bradley Dack, 31. Harriett shared that they had a “really fun” time after filming Olivia’s So Wrong It’s Right podcast.

Asked if the two couples had been on any double dates, she said: “We have! After the podcast we went out that evening. It was really fun. Obviously Ronnie always speaks so highly of them both and [the] first time round because we were both so busy I didn’t really get the chance to properly like meet them but now yeah we have, and it’s really nice.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Harriett teased that she would like to work with Ronnie in the future. She’s also open to following in the footseps of her close pal Saffron Barker, 24, who competed on Strictly Come Dancing back in 2019.

When asked if she would consider doing the BBC show, dancer Harriett said: “I would love to do say Strictly or a Dancing On Ice sort of thing.” She then added: “Y’know never say never but yeah it’s definitely like one of my goals.”

Harriett shared that she would be interested in “those sorts of shows” for her career but also hopes to collaborate with Ronnie. She said: “I’d probably like to do something with Ronnie, maybe. Just like us two. But definitely for me, myself, [I’d do] the like dancing [shows].” She teased: “Obviously I would never ever do the Love Island [shows] again.”

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