Month: June 2025

Kayleigh McEnany and husband Sean Gilmartin welcomed their third child — a girl.

“We are overjoyed to announce the newest member of the ‘Outnumbered’ family,” Emily Compagno said Monday during the Fox News Channel show she co-hosts with McEnany. She noted that viewers could see the baby “letting out a big yawn” in photos provided by her mom and dad.

Avery was born on Wednesday, the network said.

McEnany tweeted Monday that she and her husband are “so in love with our new baby girl, Avery Grace! Blake and Nash love their baby sister, and we are enjoying this beautiful time in life!”

McEnany was a tad more nuanced in notes given to Compagno, who quoted the three-time mom as saying that while big sister Blake, 5, “can’t stop thinking about the baby,” big brother Nash, 2, had “finally warmed up to her.”

In her announcement, the former White House press secretary included Psalm 139: 13-14, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Compagno said the “Outnumbered” crew, headed by Harris Faulkner, was “wishing Kayleigh and Sean all the best as they continue to grow their beautiful family.” She told McEnany to please come back, but “not too soon.”

McEnany announced back in March that she and Gilmartin were expecting their third child.

“It’s very sweet. It’s been a special time,” she said. “I’ve been pregnant during Christmas and during Thanksgiving, and my daughter Blake now knows, so she runs up and holds my stomach and is like, ‘Let me kiss the baby.’ ”

The baby got in just under the June deadline that McEnany shared at the time.

McEnany and Gilmartin, a pitcher who retired from professional baseball in 2022, started dating in 2015 and got married in 2017. After working in broadcast media initially, McEnany served as press secretary to President Trump from April 2020 through the end of his first term in January 2021, landing at Fox soon after.

She’s one of a host of former press secretaries who have landed jobs on cable and broadcast news.

US Treasury says it removed 518 Syrian individuals and entities from its list of sanctions after president’s decree.

Washington, DC – United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to dismantle a web of sanctions against Syria, a move that will likely unlock investments in the country more than six months after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad.

Trump’s decree on Monday offers sanction relief to “entities critical to Syria’s development, the operation of its government, and the rebuilding of the country’s social fabric”, the US Treasury said in a statement.

The Syrian government has been under heavy US financial penalties that predate the outbreak of the civil war in the country in 2011.

The sprawling sanction programme, which included provisions related to the former government’s human rights abuses, has derailed reconstruction efforts in the country. It has also contributed to driving the Syrian economy under al-Assad to the verge of collapse.

Trump promised sanctions relief for Syria during his visit to the Middle East in May.

“The United States is committed to supporting a Syria that is stable, unified, and at peace with itself and its neighbours,” the US president said in a statement on Monday.

“A united Syria that does not offer a safe haven for terrorist organisations and ensures the security of its religious and ethnic minorities will support regional security and prosperity.”

The US administration said Syria-related sanctions against al-Assad and his associates, ISIL (ISIS) and Iran and its allies will remain in place.

While the US Treasury said it already removed 518 Syrian individuals and entities from its list of sanctions, some Syria penalties may not be revoked immediately.

For example, Trump directs US agencies to determine whether the conditions are met to remove sanctions imposed under the Caesar Act, which enabled heavy penalties against the Syrian economy for alleged war crimes against civilians.

Democratic US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar had partnered with Republican lawmaker Anna Paulina Luna to introduce earlier this week a bill that would legislatively lift sanctions on Syria to offer long-term relief.

Real relief for the Syrian people requires repealing certain laws.

My bill with @RepLuna permanently repeals the sanctions and gives the post-Assad Syria a fighting chance. https://t.co/gExbLiKS7z

— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) June 30, 2025

As part of Trump’s order, the US president ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio to review the designation of interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”.

Moreover, the US president ordered a review of the status of al-Sharaa’s group, al-Nusra Front – now Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – as a designated “foreign terrorist” organisation. Al-Nusra was al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, but al-Sharaa severed ties with the group in 2016.

Al-Nusra later became known as Jabhat Fath al-Sham before merging with other rebel groups as HTS.

Al-Sharaa was the de facto leader of a rebel enclave in Idlib in northwest Syria for years before leading the offensive that overthrew al-Assad in December 2024.

Trump met with al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia in May and praised the Syrian president as “attractive” and “tough”.

The interim Syrian president – who was previously known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Julani – has promised inclusive governance to allay concerns about his past ties to al-Qaeda.

But violence and kidnappings against members of al-Assad’s Alawite sect by former rebel fighters over the past months have raised concerns among some rights advocates.

Al-Sharaa has also pledged that Syria would not pose a threat to its neighbours, including Israel, which has been advancing in Syrian territory beyond the occupied Golan Heights and regularly bombing the country.

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s megabill encompassing his domestic agenda on Monday inched closer to becoming law as Republican senators sifted through familiar procedural hurdles toward a final vote on legislation that would dramatically transform the tax code and Medicaid.

Throughout a day of marathon voting, senators offered amendments to the bill that could ultimately decide whether it secures passage through Congress. If the Senate approves the legislation — as it is expected to do by a slim, simple majority and with bipartisan opposition — then the House will have to vote for a second time on the final text before it goes to the president’s desk for his signature.

Anticipating Senate passage, the House Rules Committee has already scheduled a hearing on reconciling the two bills for Tuesday. The White House previously set July 4 as a goal to get the package, called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” passed by both chambers.

But several Republicans are still criticizing the bill, including Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who announced he will not seek reelection in 2026 over the weekend before ripping into the legislation as a “betrayal” to voters.

Although the legislation has hundreds of provisions, its most sweeping would make tax breaks passed in 2017 during Trump’s first term permanent — an expensive proposition — before they are set to expire at the end of this year, while attempting to offset some of those costs with historic cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, social welfare programs that for decades had been seen as a political third rail.

Polling shows that Americans broadly support extending the 2017 tax cuts. Other expensive programs in the bill — including additional funding for border security and defense — also enjoy public support. But polls indicate that the public disapproves of the bill overall by a double-digit margin due to its cuts to core government programs.

“What do I tell 663,000 people in two years or three years, when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding’s not there anymore?” Tillis said in a speech from the Senate floor. “The people in the White House advising the president are not telling him that the effect of this bill is to break a promise.”

Both Paul and Tillis voted against advancing the bill to a floor vote and have indicated they will vote “no” on its final passage.

“Republicans are about to make a mistake on healthcare, and betraying a promise,” Tillis continued. “It is inescapable that this bill in its current form will betray the very promise that Donald J. Trump made in the Oval Office, or in the Cabinet room, when I was there with Finance [Committee members] where he said, ‘We can go after waste, fraud and abuse on any programs.’”

Tillis and a handful of his colleagues, including Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, have expressed concern with elements of the bill that restrict state taxes on healthcare providers, known as the “provider tax,” an essential tool for many states in their efforts to supplement Medicaid funding.

The Senate parliamentarian has already determined that the provision, among others, fails to follow the rules of the chamber and must be removed or modified. Another passage crucial to the bill, which introduces a structure for work requirements for Medicaid, was halted by the parliamentarian.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaks to reporters outside the chamber on June 30, 2025.

(Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press)

Republicans efforts to prohibit the use of Medicaid funds on gender transition care, to cancel regulations that require a minimum staffing ratio at nursing homes and to limit Medicaid access to immigrants were also cut by the parliamentarian, who continued to review amendments to the bill as they were introduced Monday.

The parliamentarian’s moves eat into the stated cost savings of a bill that is already slated to add trillions of dollars to the debt over the next decade — a problem for fiscal hawks in both chambers whose votes will be crucial for passage.

They also gutted key provisions that were top priorities for Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the focus of an intense lobbying campaign by Senate Republican leadership after expressing skepticism over several provisions of the legislation. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who is up for reelection next cycle, has also expressed concern over its cuts to Medicaid.

“This is an ongoing process — the president continues to be very much engaged with the leadership in both the Senate and the House,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters in a briefing Monday. “He understands that legislators want to protect jobs in the communities and their districts.”

Democrats in the Senate have been united in their opposition to the bill, with Mark Kelly, of Arizona, warning Republicans of electoral repercussions.

“If they lose their health insurance,” he told MSNBC in an interview, “sure, they’re going to remember.”

But the potential political windfall for Democrats isn’t stopping the party from attempting to improve the legislation, he said, noting a number of amendments proposed by Democratic senators Monday that would roll back cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.

If the bill does ultimately clear the Senate, Republicans will have only a handful of votes in the House to spare in a final vote. And several are already suggesting they will vote against it, including Rep. David Valadao of California, whose constituents rely heavily on Medicaid.

“I’m not a ‘yes’ necessarily,” said Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska who has announced his retirement. Bacon added that he believes the Senate version has gone too far in gutting healthcare programs. “I think we’ll have a hard time passing.”

An intraparty fight has also broken out among Republicans over the fate of green energy tax credits, which several GOP senators — including Murkowski, as well as Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa — sought to preserve for several more years. A group of House Republicans had successfully lobbied in their version of the bill to speed up the termination of those credits.

Elon Musk, a co-founder of Tesla, and Trump’s close advisor and benefactor before the two men fell out this month, renewed his attacks on the legislation Monday, calling it “utterly insane and destructive” for its price tag.

“It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country — the PORKY PIG PARTY!!” Musk wrote.

“Time for a new political party,” he added, “that actually cares about the people.”

World number 33 Yulia Putintseva raised security concerns about a spectator during her first-round match at Wimbledon, asking for them to be ejected.

Early on in her match against Amanda Anisimova on court 15, the 30-year-old complained directly to the umpire about a spectator, whom she described as “crazy” and “dangerous”.

A club spokesperson said the matter was “dealt with”.

During a change of ends when trailing 3-0 in the opening set, Putintseva, from Kazakhstan, first voiced her concerns.

“Can you take him out, I am not going to continue playing until he leaves. These people are dangerous, they are crazy,” she said.

She was then seen pointing towards an area of the crowd and described the person as wearing green.

The chair umpire came down onto the court and spoke to three members of security staff.

When Putintseva was told play would resume, she was heard saying she did not want to do so until security had handled it.

“Take him out, because maybe he has a knife,” she said.

Putintseva was emotional later in the match and went on to lose 6-0 6-0 in 45 minutes.

She did not speak to the media afterwards.

A spokesperson for the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) told BBC Sport: “Following a complaint about the behaviour of a spectator at the match on court 15, the chair umpire informed security and the matter was dealt with.”

Anisimova, meanwhile, told the BBC she believed the spectator had been saying something “when [Putintseva] was about to serve” and added: “I am sure that we were protected”.

Earlier, AELTC chief executive Sally Bolton said on the subject of security: “We’re well-versed in the measures that need to be put in place so players can go about playing here in the confidence they’re being well looked after.”

June 30 (UPI) — Imports of livestock from Mexico will resume in phases starting next week after a ban in May at ports of entry because of fear of the spread of New World screwworm, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday.

Ports of entry will allow certain cattle, horses and bison to go into Arizona, New Mexico and Texas after they were banned on May 11, the agency said in a news release.

The screwworm has been eradicated from the United States for decades. But it has been detected in Mexico as far north as Oaxaca and Veracruz, about 700 miles away from the U.S. border.

When NWS maggots burrow into the flesh of a living animal, they cause serious and often deadly damage to the animal, USDA said. Mature screwworm larvae can grow up to two-thirds of an inch.

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service experts and their counterparts in Mexico worked to increase New World Screwworm surveillance, detection and eradication.

A phased reopening of the southern ports will start Monday in Douglas, Ariz., based on the lowest risk because of the geography of Sonora and an effective collaboration between APHIS and Sonora.

The other openings are set for July 14 in Columbus, N.M.; July 21 in Santa Teresa, N.M.; Aug. 18 in Del Rio, Texas; and Sept. 15 in Laredo, Texas.

In the past eight weeks, there hasn’t been a notable increase in reported NWS cases in Mexico or any northward movement, the agency said.

USDA has been conducting sterile NWS fly dispersal seven days each week, including the dispersal of more than 100 million flies each week.

Five teams of APHIS staff were sent to observe and gain a deeper understanding of Mexico’s NWS response.

“At USDA we are focused on fighting the New World Screwworm’s advancement in Mexico,” USDA Secretary Brooke L. Rollins said. “We have made good progress with our counterparts in Mexico to increase vital pest surveillance efforts and have boosted sterile fly dispersal efforts. These quick actions by the Trump Administration have improved the conditions to allow the phased reopening of select ports on the Southern Border to livestock trade.

“We are continuing our posture of increased vigilance and will not rest until we are sure this devastating pest will not harm American ranchers.”

On June 18, she met with cattle fever tick riders along the Rio Grande River. If the NWS advances northward into the United States, these tick riders “will play a crucial role in spotting and combating this pest,” an agency news release said.

USDSA is building a fly-production center at Moore Air Base in Edinburg, Texas, that could boost domestic sterile fly production by up to 300 million flies per week. Another one is planned at Moore Air Base, which alo could boost domestic sterile fly production by up to 300 million flies per week.

This week, Mexico will begin renovation of its sterile fruit fly facility in Metapa with completion by July 2026. The changes will allow for production of between 60 and 100 million sterile NWS flies each week.

The goal is produce an estimated 400 to 500 million flies each week to re-establish the NWS barrier at the Darien Gap, which is the border between Panama and Colombia.

Only cattle and bison, born and raised in Sonora or Chihuahua, in Mexico, or are treated according to cattle and bison NWS protocol when entering the U.S. will be eligible for import.

Equines may import from anywhere in Mexico though there is a seven-day quarantine at the port of entry.

USDA plans to remove any federal regulatory hurdles for sufficient treatments and work with state officials on emergency management plans in states.

The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association back the agency’s efforts.

On a Tuesday morning, Kaneng Fom’s* mind told her she was going to die.

The day had begun normally: Kaneng took a short walk down her estate street with her brother, watched her favourite anime, and hoped for an update to the show, before finally getting in the car. Her mother was waiting at the steering wheel to drive her down the road in the Gwarimpa area of Abuja, North Central Nigeria, to get a loaf of bread. The ride was usually smooth for Kaneng, but not that day; the crushing feeling of death and panic consumed her.

That feeling unsettled her mind, tightened her chest, and overwhelmed her breath. Her mother was talking to her in the car, but Kaneng’s anxiety prevented her from truly hearing. She knew how best to describe what was happening; she had learned this phrase online when trying to understand the strange anxiety that randomly overpowers her: a panic attack.

Her mother, however, seeing this for the first time, has different verbiage to handle the condition.

“Jesus!” she yelled.

“She was screaming, ‘Jesus, Jesus,’ until I eventually calmed myself down,” Kaneng recounts. “After she asked me a few questions, she said that I should pray more and if I prayed more or invited the Holy Spirit to go about my day, I would have fewer panic attacks.”

Nigeria is a religious country. About 99.4 per cent of the country’s population is affiliated with a major religion, according to the World Factbook. For those deeply connected to its culture and way of life, like Kaneng’s mother, religion is viewed as a solution to nearly every problem, including mental health challenges.

But while religion offers a source of strength, its dominance also reflects a deeper issue: mental health care in Nigeria is expensive, under-resourced, and often out of reach. As therapy costs rise and stigma remains high, for many Nigerians, then, the default response to psychological distress isn’t clinical but spiritual.

Research by the West African Academy of Public Health shows that many Nigerians like Kaneng are first and solely pushed to seek spiritual sustenance when they face a mental health challenge. 

‘Why worry when you can pray?’

Such was the case for 22-year-old Tolu*, a member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), who identifies with several symptoms from autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and trauma from sexual assault.

“I come from a very Catholic family, so obviously I believed the church should be my first option,” he said. “I was at a church retreat, and my head just wasn’t clear, so I went to the priest for guidance. I was like (to the priest) ‘I don’t think I’m okay mentally’ and all he told me to do was pray. I didn’t ask him for any particular help, but he didn’t provide any particular help either. ”

A study by researchers at the Department of Religion and Cultural Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka in the country’s South East, revealed that some Nigerian religious bodies have positioned themselves as entities capable of curing any struggle, mental illness included. The study explains that this posture, in some cases, allows religious leaders to extort Nigerians who come to them for help. 

Despite estimates from the African Polling Institute suggesting that 20 to 30 per cent of Nigerians may have mental illness, there is a significant lack of care and attention dedicated to addressing their needs. The Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN) also estimates that only about 300 psychiatrists are tending to mentally ill Nigerians, with only about 4.72 per cent of Nigeria’s total health budget allotted to mental health care. For many, accessing a psychologist can be a painful struggle, and when they do get access, the psychologists often lack proper resources.

In the context of widespread need and inadequate support, spiritual solutions become the more accessible, familiar, and often the only option available.

This “faith-centred healing” approach is echoed by popular religious leaders like Jerry Eze, an evangelist and founder of an Abuja-based Pentecostal ministry, Streams of Joy, who conducts services where the “spirit” of depression or anxiety is cast away on the authority of Jesus. 

During a sermon to thousands of congregation members on June 22, Pastor Jerry described anxiety as something people position themselves in. 

“If I position in fear, my seed (blessings) will be eaten. If I position myself in anxiety, then my seed (blessings) will be eaten,” he claimed during the sermon, giving many a sense of power over something they may feel helpless about. To fix this issue, he insisted his devoted listeners command the spirit of fear away, saying, “It does not matter whether there is change (in your fears) or not, keep commanding!”

When Ruth Anya*, a Streams of Joy member, was asked whether Pastor Jerry encouraged the congregation to seek professional mental health care, she replied, “He doesn’t discourage us, and has even encouraged people to speak to loved ones if they are struggling. But we all know we are at Streams of Joy for our miracles.”

People of other faiths face similar situations, where spiritual explanations are often prioritised before other possibilities are explored. In May, Suhayla Yusuf*, a young Muslim woman, told HumAngle that she had turned to an Islamic platform to share her distress over the intrusive thoughts associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but was simply told the thoughts were from the devil, with no further support offered. OCD has different subtypes, and in Islamic discourse, Suhalya’s experience aligns with what is commonly referred to as waswas, a term that translates to “whisperings of the devil.”

The cost of mental wellness

In 2024, Nigeria’s minimum wage was increased to ₦70,000. While this policy has been slow to implement, the price of therapy and the general cost of living in the country have continued to skyrocket beyond what the average Nigerian makes monthly.

To better understand the cost limitation to seeking mental health support, HumAngle researched and found that a leading psychiatry resource in Nigeria offers therapy sessions that range in price from ₦15,000 to ₦155,000. The cost depends on factors such as your location, the therapist’s qualifications, the type of therapy provided, and whether the session is conducted online or in person. Regardless of the circumstances, many Nigerians may find this cost of a single therapy session unaffordable.

“Therapy is largely inaccessible to the average Nigerian. The cost of treatment, especially private services, remains out of reach for most,” Okwuchukwu Mary-Ann, a clinical psychologist, told HumAngle. 

Her reasoning is backed by data: the World Bank estimates Nigeria’s rural poverty rate is 75.5 per cent. The World Health Organisation has reported that those living in poverty are the most likely to experience mental health issues. Therefore, a ₦15,000 session is far too expensive for the majority of Nigerians who need mental health support.

“Finances pose a big problem for me,” Kaneng noted. “I’ve always been supportive of therapy, but I’ve never been able to afford to go. I would ask my parents, but as I told you, my mother thinks I need to pray more, and my father, our breadwinner, agrees.” When asked if they tried to help her beyond this advice, Kaneng said, ‘My mother prayed whenever I brought it up. That was it.’”

Tolu also faces the same challenge, explaining, “I diagnosed myself through a test sent to me by a friend. A big hindrance towards me getting a formal diagnosis is money.”

Morayo Adesina*, a student at the Pan-Atlantic University in Lagos, South West Nigeria, who tried therapy in 2022, told HumAngle it wasn’t a favourable experience. “It wasn’t easy to find a therapist in Nigeria,” she claimed. “As a student, my only options were the school therapist who may potentially expose my secrets to school authorities, or a therapist gotten through my mother who may potentially expose certain aspects of my worldview to her that I didn’t want her to know about.”

Despite her reservations, Morayo had no choice but to trust her mother’s judgment. This path led her to two therapists, the second of whom she stayed with for some time.

“The second therapist I saw cost around ₦50,000 for the first session, and ₦30,000 for subsequent sessions. That was three years ago, though, and the price today should be over ₦70,000,” she said. 

When asked why she stopped, Morayo responded, “I did about four to five sessions before I started to feel like I was wasting my mum’s money.” 

With a few sessions and over ₦100,000 spent on therapy, Morayo was able to reap some benefits from her sessions with the therapist, who eventually gave her a diagnosis for the persistent pessimism and gloominess she has carried as long as she can remember. 

The verdict was depression, anxiety, and, most importantly, a way for Morayo to feel more at ease with herself; “this diagnosis made me feel more normal because it felt like I could at least tie what was wrong with me to something outside of the feeling that I was probably irredeemably broken.”

However, Morayo doesn’t think the sessions were enough, telling HumAngle that the cost and number of therapy sessions necessary to fix what she thinks is wrong with her come at an expensive price. The American Psychological Association has shown that 15 to 20 therapy sessions are essential to heal 50 per cent of people with mental illness, meaning Morayo’s five sessions only scratched the surface. When people like her, a middle-class student, can’t afford to pay for therapy sessions, the chances of the majority lower class seem far less likely. 

Rashid Usman*, an Arabic and Islamic teacher, agrees that the cost of therapy is too high, but believes surrendering oneself to Allah is the perfect way to avoid mental illnesses. “Mental illness is a condition that affects your thoughts, behaviours and emotions when you are too worried rather than allowing your creator to control your affairs,” he argued, noting that instead of spending money on therapy, it is much cheaper to position God at the heart of your problems. 

“People should be taught how to handle and manage anything that could lead to this problem in the way of God, at the worship centre,” he added. Rashid’s answer explains the reason some look to divinity rather than therapy.

Between stigma and possession

The cost of therapy is a significant barrier for many individuals, but the stigma associated with mental illness also presents a considerable obstacle. When Kaneng was asked about the difficulties of managing a mental illness in Nigeria, she sighed and responded, “It’s truly challenging, and it becomes even more difficult when I can’t express my feelings to my parents or convey my desire to seek therapy. I often feel like an outsider.”

Tolu also experienced the same thing: “It is challenging. You go through things people do not understand, and sometimes you want to explain, but you just dismiss the idea because they will most likely misunderstand your situation.”

Nigerian society has taught people like Tolu and Kaneng that it is better to be silent, whispering the particulars of their mental stress only to God. 

Rashid puts it plainly when asked if he thinks mental illness has a spiritual cause, stating, “Yes, spiritual attack from Jin [demon] can alter mental stability.”

Religious leaders from different faiths preach messages that align with his views. In 2022, Adeola Akinniyi, a pastor at Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, published a sermon titled “The Enemy Called Depression,” in which he described mental illness as a spiritual attack.

“The enemy is using the weapon of depression against believers in the church, manipulating sisters, brothers and everyone. That you have money does not stop the enemy from attacking you with the weapon of depression,” he told his congregants.

Faith and therapy 

In the ongoing conversation about the role of religion in mental health, a question arises: Can communion with God truly lead to complete healing from mental struggles? While Kaneng leans toward a hopeful affirmation, her response reveals a more complex truth.

“I’m not irreligious,” she cuts in quickly. “And I do feel some relief when I pray, but never in the middle of a [panic] attack, and they always come back.  I’ve begun to believe that praying or fasting can’t fix certain things, but they provide relief.”

Mary-Ann highlights the risks of relying solely on religious intervention for mental health issues. “This mindset of only seeking religious help can delay the pursuit of additional support, which may worsen symptoms or lead to chronic problems,” she noted.

Several other medical sources warn that unchecked mental illness can become permanent over time, an issue Kaneng thinks befell her.

“My panic attacks are less intense now that I’ve done research into what they are and I try to manage them,” she said. “But over the last two years, they have become more frequent, and I consider them a part of my daily life.”

There are religious leaders who understand the place of mental healthcare, however. 

Femi Ogunleye*, a youth pastor at the Cathedral Church of Advent in Abuja, believes mental health care is not restricted by God, explaining, “Christianity only discourages sin. Wanting help healthily isn’t a sin.”  

He proposes this dual style of healing: “There are medicines that can help (mental health care), you know, and depending on the type [of medicine]. Some can be resolved by going back to God in prayer and reading the word of God, but there are some that you need mental health care. So the church should promote going to mental health facilities when you have such challenges.”

He is not alone in believing that faith and therapy can coexist. Other Nigerian religious leaders, such as the well-known Apostle Femi Lazarus, have spoken extensively on the subject. In a sermon titled “Issues of Mental Health Need to be Addressed in The Body of Christ”, Lazarus affirms his belief that Christians and Nigerians need to pay better attention to mental health problems, saying, “Many people have mental health issues, and we need to first take them for therapy.” 

In Nigeria’s South South region, a group of Catholic nuns is providing free mental health services to women at risk of homelessness in Uyo and surrounding areas.

Additionally, mental health advocates like Mariam Adetona have found ways to properly combine faith with mental health care. On a muslim-advocacy blog, “Reviving Sisterhood”, Mariam spoke about reaching people who need mental health help, saying, “I have noticed many do not think therapy is necessary or are sceptical about its efficiency or effectiveness. In cases like this, I use my own experience with therapy to persuade them, as well as others’ experiences.”

Still, until therapy becomes truly affordable and stigma fades, many Nigerians will continue to find themselves caught between their faith and their pain, turning first to prayer, even when what they need most is professional care.

Names marked with * have been changed to protect identities.

Ilona Verley, who rose to fame in the first season of Canada’s Drag Race, was involved in a car accident last week that left them with serious injuries.

The beloved Two-Spirit drag performer revealed the shocking news in an Instagram post uploaded on 24 June.

“This past week, I almost lost my life, I’m really scared & traumatized about what the future holds,” Ilona wrote.

“I’m so thankful to my dear sister @kikiwannakaikai for working with my mom @sandiverley to put this @gofundmeca together to help with my recovery.

“Any support financially or via sharing is so appreciated from the bottom of my heart, I am so thankful to be a member of so many incredible communities who have raised me, now I ask please help me heal.”

Additional information on Ilona’s injuries was revealed on their GoFundMe page, which was created to help raise funds for their medical expenses.

“Their injuries include: A bone deep laceration across the forehead into the upper nose, A deep laceration in one eyebrow, Broken nose (including exterior gashes), Dislocated Jaw, Severe abrasions across the entire left side of their face, Concussion, Fractured spine, Full-body trauma & deep tissue bruising,” the description revealed.

“Ilona has been fitted with a soft spinal brace and is on a majority bed rest for the next month – 2 months. Further spinal injuries are suspected, unfortunately, at this time, will be non-visible on initial imaging until scar tissue develops often 5-7 days later (this will be reassessed at a follow up appointment this coming week).

“Ilona will be scheduled to a rehabilitation program once well enough and cleared by doctors to move on from bed rest when their body allows, and will remain under their mother’s care during this time.”

Since creating their GoFundMe account, Ilona has raised $20,000 (CAD) out of their $24,000 goal.

The funds will help cover “monthly living costs during the first month – 2 month initial recovery and the many unexpected medical expenses that are not covered during this critical healing period.”

Ilona is also set to receive support from their drag mother, Alma Be, who’s raising money for their recovery with a local event titled Pidge Fest.

“‘She almost Pidged for real!’ Hello Vancouver, a little over a week ago, my drag daughter @ilonaverley was involved in a terrible accident. She sustained many injuries that will require her to be out of commission for the next few months,” Alma announced on Instagram.

“A successful GoFundMe has been running for the past few days where people far and wide have been able to show their love for Ilona. I wanted to throw a local event, and I’m happy to say that 10 drag artists have graciously donated their art, and we will be putting on a show right here on Davie Street! If you know Ilona, then you know how often she says Pidge and all the different meanings The word carries.”

Our thoughts are with Ilona as well as their family, friends and fans.

For more information on their GoFundMe, click here.

Nicolas Batum plans on re-signing with the Clippers on a two-year contract for $11.5 million with a team option for the second season, according to people with knowledge of negotiations not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Batum, 36, had declined his option of $4.9 million with the Clippers for next season that made him an unrestricted free agent, but he always had intention of returning to the organization that he says saved his career.

Viewed as one of the Clippers’ top role players and veteran presence in the locker room, Batum averaged 4.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists last season. He shot 43.7% from the field, 43.3% from three-point range and played in 78 regular-season games.

After the Clippers were knocked out of the first round of the playoffs in May, Batum was asked if he wanted to return to the team.

“If they want me to,” the 18-year veteran said.

For years, Muslim New Yorkers have gathered at Washington Square Park on the Eid holidays for prayer services, putting the city’s religious and ethnic diversity on display.

But this year, right-wing influencers have been sharing footage of the gatherings, presenting them as a nefarious “invasion” tied to Muslim American New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

“The fear-mongering is insane,” said Asad Dandia, a local historian and Muslim American activist who supports Mamdani’s campaign. “I think the community and our leadership know that we’re on the radar now.”

Muslim Americans in New York and across the United States said the country is seeing a spike in Islamophobic rhetoric in response to Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic primaries.

Advocates said the wave of hateful comments shows that Islamophobia remains a tolerated form of bigotry in the US despite appearing to have receded in recent years.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” Dandia said.

‘Islam is not a religion’

It is not just anonymous internet users and online anti-Muslim figures attacking Mamdani and his identity. A flood of politicians, including some in the orbit of President Donald Trump, have joined in.

Congressman Randy Fine went as far as to suggest without evidence that Mamdani will install a “caliphate” in New York City if elected while Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted a cartoon of the Statue of Liberty in a burqa on X.

Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn attacked the mayoral candidate, arguing that Islam is a political ideology and “not a religion”.

Others, like conservative activist Charlie Kirk invoked the 9/11 attacks and called Mamdani a “Muslim Maoist” while right-wing commentator Angie Wong told CNN that people in New York are “concerned about their safety, living here with a Muslim mayor”.

Far-right activist Laura Loomer, a Trump confidant, referred to the mayoral candidate as a “jihadist Muslim”, baselessly alleging that he has ties to both Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood.

And Republican Representative Andy Ogles sent a letter to the Department of Justice, calling for Mamdani’s citizenship to be revoked and for him to be deported.

On Sunday, Congressman Brandon Gill posted a video of Mamdani eating biryani with his hand and called on him “to go back to the Third World”, saying that “civilized people” in the US “don’t eat like this”.

Calls for condemnation

“I’m getting flashbacks from after 9/11,” New York City Council member Shahana Hanif said. “I was a kid then, and still the bigotry and Islamophobia were horrifying as a child.”

Hanif, who represents a district in Brooklyn, comfortably won re-election last week in a race that focused on her advocacy for Palestinian rights and calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.

She told Al Jazeera that the anti-Muslim rhetoric in response to Mamdani’s win aims to distract and derail the progressive energy that defeated the establishment to secure the Democratic nomination for him.

Hanif said Islamophobic comments should be condemned across the political spectrum, stressing that there is “so much more work to do” to undo racism in the US.

While several Democrats have denounced the campaign against Mamdani, leading figures in the party – including many in New York – have not released formal statements on the issue.

“We should all be disgusted by the flood of anti-Muslim remarks spewed in the aftermath of Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the NYC mayoral primary – some blatant, others latent,” US Senator Chris Van Hollen said in a statement.

“Shame on the members of Congress who have engaged in such bigotry and anyone who doesn’t challenge it.”

Our joint statement on the vile, anti-Muslim, racist attacks on Zohran Mamdani: pic.twitter.com/QRGOvh0jdG

— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) June 27, 2025

Trump and Muslim voters

At the same time, Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who represents New York, has been accused of fuelling bigotry against Mamdani. Last week, she falsely accused Mamdani of making “references to global jihad”.

Her office later told US media outlets that she “misspoke” and was raising concerns over Mamdani’s refusal to condemn the phrase “globalise the intifada”, a call for activism using the Arabic word for uprising.

Critics of the chant claimed that it makes Jews feel unsafe because it invokes the Palestinian uprisings of the late 1980s and early 2000s, which saw both peaceful opposition and armed struggle against the Israeli occupation.

While Mamdani, who is of South Asian descent, focused his campaign on making New York affordable, his support for Palestinian rights took centre stage in the criticism against him. Since the election, the attacks – particularly on the right – appear to have shifted to his Muslim identity.

That backlash comes after Trump and his allies courted Muslim voters during his bid for the presidency last year. In fact, the US president has nominated two Muslim mayors from Michigan as ambassadors to Tunisia and Kuwait.

In the lead-up to the elections, Trump called Muslim Americans “smart” and “good people”.

The Republican Party seemed to tone down the anti-Muslim language as it sought the socially conservative community’s votes.

But Corey Saylor, research and advocacy director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Islamophobia goes in cycles.

“Islamophobia is sort of baked into American society,” Saylor told Al Jazeera.

“It wasn’t front and centre, but all it required was something to flip the switch right back on, and I would say, we’re seeing that once again.”

Islamophobia ‘industry’

Negative portrayals of Arabs and Muslims in the US media, pop culture and political discourse have persisted for decades.

That trend intensified after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 by al-Qaeda. In subsequent years, right-wing activists started to warn about what they said were plans to implement Islamic religious law in the West.

Muslims were also the subjects of conspiracy theories warning against the “Islamisation” of the US through immigration.

The early 2000s saw the rise of provocateurs, “counterterrorism experts” and think tanks dedicated to bashing Islam and drumming up fear against the religion in a loosely connected network that community advocates have described as an “industry”.

That atmosphere regularly seeped into mainstream political conversations. For example, then-candidate Trump called in 2015 for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States”.

Even in liberal New York, where the 9/11 attacks killed more than 2,600 people at the World Trade Center in 2001, the Muslim community endured a backlash.

After the attacks, the New York Police Department established a network of undercover informants to surveil the Muslim community’s mosques, businesses and student associations.

The programme was disbanded in 2014, and a few years later, the city reached a legal settlement with the Muslim community, agreeing to implement stronger oversight on police investigations to prevent abuse.

In 2010, the city’s Muslim community burst into the national spotlight again after plans for a Muslim community centre in lower Manhattan faced intense opposition due to its proximity to the destroyed World Trade Center.

While many Republicans whipped up conspiracy theories against the community centre, several Democrats as well as the Anti-Defamation League, a prominent pro-Israel group, joined them in opposing the project, which was eventually scrapped.

‘We are above this’

Now New York Muslims find themselves once again in the eye of an Islamophobia storm. This time, however, advocates said their communities are more resilient than ever.

“We feel more confident in our community’s voice and our institutional power and in the support that we will have from allies,” Dandia said.

“Yes, we’re dealing with this Islamophobic backlash, but I don’t want to make it seem like we’re just victims because we are able to now fight back. The fact that this was the largest Muslim voter mobilisation in American history is a testament to that.”

Hanif echoed his comments.

“Over the last 25 years, we’ve built a strong coalition that includes our Jewish communities, that includes Asian, Latino, Black communities, to be able to say like we are above this and we will care for one another,” she told Al Jazeera.

The Brazilian side advance to face either Manchester City or Al Hilal in a quarterfinal on Friday.

Fluminense have reached the Club World Cup quarterfinals with a stunning 2–0 win over Inter Milan as German Cano’s early goal and Hercules’s stoppage-time strike toppled the Champions League runners-up.

Fluminense struck after three minutes when Cano pounced on a deflected cross and headed in from close range, putting the ball through goalkeeper Yann Sommer’s legs for a dream start in the sweltering heat in Charlotte, North Carolina, the US on Monday.

The Brazilian side nearly doubled the lead in the 30th minute, when Sommer spilled Jhon Arias’s initial effort and Samuel Xavier fired the rebound attempt narrowly wide of the far-left post.

And in the 39th minute, Ignacio thought he had doubled Flu’s advantage, only to be ruled fractionally offside by the automated review system.

The pattern of more Inter Milan possession but more dangerous Fluminense chances continued early in the second half, and Sommer reacted superbly in the 62nd minute to dive and push Arias’s effort from beyond the penalty area just around his left post.

Lautaro Martinez came closest to pulling Inter Milan level, forcing the 44-year-old Fabio into a pair of saves in the 80th and 82nd minute, then striking the post with another low effort only seconds later.

Eleven minutes later, Inter Milan’s at times shaky defence was exposed for a second time. Hercules found himself free at the edge of the 18-yard box following a throw-in, and he drove a composed, low finish into the bottom right corner and sent the Fluminense fans into delirium.

Fluminense captain Thiago Silva said he was “very proud of my team and teammates” for beating such a top side and in extremely hot conditions.

“I’m very happy for myself and the team,” he told DAZN. “Ten days ago, I had an injury, and it wasn’t easy to play today. But I am very happy with the medical team … it was very very important for me to play today.”

The result ensured that there will be two Brazilian quarterfinalists in the first edition of this expanded tournament format, after Palmeiras also reached the last eight.

Fluminense will play the winner of Monday’s later game between Manchester City and Al Hilal in the quarterfinals.

If heavily favoured Manchester City progress, it would present a rematch of the 2023 Club World Cup final, which Manchester City won 4-0.

Inter Milan were eliminated in the second round 30 days after they suffered a 5-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League final. They also narrowly finished second in the Italian Serie A.

Cristian Chivu, Inter Milan’s coach, hailed his team for their attitude as they battled to come back from conceding such an early goal.

“We didn’t give up; we tried until the end. We tried to make some changes even in the formation. It wasn’t our day,” he told DAZN.

“We didn’t expect them to play five at the back, but they were well organised with the low block on defence. It was tough for us to find solutions, especially in the first half when we tried a lot … in the second half, maybe we tried to switch a little bit more, to play outside and with some more crosses.

“We also tried to build something with two strikers in a 4-4-2. Until the end, we tried, but it wasn’t our day.”

It was time for the challenge everyone’s been waiting for in tonight’s Love Island, as the Islanders gathered around the firepit for an intense heart rate challenge

The drama kept on coming in tonight’s Love Island, with a tense recoupling followed by everyone’s favourite challenge – the Heart Rate Challenge. However, fans were left fuming when they realised an iconic part of the show had been changed. Instead of sitting around the firepit, the Islanders were sat in a row on chairs.

The Islanders were over the moon when Shakira read out a text that said: “Islanders, it’s time to get each others’ pulses racing in tonight’s Boys vs Girls challenge. #HeartthrobMode #BootyandBeats”. They then got into their seductive costumes – with Toni kicking things off.

Alima then left the guys speechless, while Meg on the other hand said it was one of the most awkward things she’s ever done in her life.

However, it was Helena who got viewers and Islanders talking as she whispered in Harry’s ear: “I want to f**k you.” Harry then told Tommy to pass it on to the boys afterwards with the rest of the boys left in shock.

Despite this, fans couldn’t get over the fact that the show had changed the location of the challenge which has been a classic since as long as fans can remember.

Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, one fan penned: “this might be the worst heart rate challenge in history… why are they sitting on wooden chairs,” as another responded: “Why the f**k are they in these chairs and not around the fire pit this show is losing it’s traditions.”

“I just know trying to dance on them on those plastic chairs is so uncomfortable and awkward,” as a fourth wrote: “I think I’m gonna die of cringe somehow them being on chairs makes this worse.”

“Why are they on these flimsy chairs instead of round the firepit,” questioned another disappointed fan.

It was then reciprocated when it was the boys’ turn. Despite choosing to recouple with Shakira the night before, when approaching Helena in the heart rate challenge, Harry responded by whispering “do you still want to f**k me” in Helena’s ear.

It was no surprise that Harry’s and Helena’s heart rates were raised the most by each other after those comments, but how will things go down with Shakira?

Shakira wasn’t the only one with a shock in store as Dejon’s heartrate was raised the most by Yasmin – will the villa recover from the fallout?

Love Island continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

Sonia Dhamani, a fierce critic of President Kais Saied, has criticised him for practices against refugees and migrants.

A Tunisian court has sentenced Sonia Dhamani, a prominent lawyer and renowned critic of President Kais Saied, to two years in jail, lawyers have said, in a case that rights groups say marks a deepening crackdown on dissent in the North African country.

Dhamani’s lawyers withdrew from the trial after the judge refused to adjourn the session on Monday, claiming Dhamani was being tried twice for the same act.

The court sentenced Dhamani for statements criticising practices against refugees and migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.

Lawyer Bassem Trifi said the verdict was “a grave injustice”.

“What’s happening is a farce. Sonia is being tried twice for the same statement,” said lawyer Sami Ben Ghazi, another lawyer for Dhamani.

Dhamani was arrested last year after making comments during a television appearance that questioned the government’s stance on undocumented African refugees and migrants in Tunisia.

The case was brought under the nation’s controversial cybercrime law, Decree 54, which has been widely condemned by international and local rights groups.

Most opposition leaders, some journalists, and critics of Saied have been imprisoned since Saied seized control of most powers, dissolved the elected parliament, and began ruling by decree in 2021 – moves the opposition has described as a coup.

Saied rejects the charges and says his actions are legal and aimed at ending years of chaos and rampant corruption.

Human rights groups and activists say Saied has turned Tunisia into an open-air prison and is using the judiciary and police to target his political opponents.

Saied rejects these accusations, saying he will not be a dictator and seeks to hold everyone accountable equally, regardless of their position or name.

Earlier this year, the country carried out a mass trial in which dozens of defendants were handed jail terms of up to 66 years. Critics denounced the trial as politically motivated and baseless.

The defendants faced charges including “conspiracy against state security” and “belonging to a terrorist group”, according to their lawyers.

Among those targeted were figures from what was once the biggest party, Ennahda, such as the leader and former Speaker of Parliament Rached Ghannouchi, former Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, and former Minister of Justice Noureddine Bhiri.

Tunisia had been celebrated as perhaps the only democratic success of the 2011 “Arab Spring” revolutions, with strong political engagement among its public and civil society members, who frequently took to the airwaves and streets to make their voices heard.

The years that followed the revolution, which overthrew long-time autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, saw the growth of a healthy political system with numerous elections declared free and fair by international observers.

But a weak economy and the strengthening of anti-democratic forces led to a pushback, capped off by Saied’s dismissal of the government and dissolution of parliament.

June 30 (UPI) — Argentina’s lower house of Congress will debate a bill Tuesday that would declare a two-year national health emergency in pediatric care. The measure aims to stabilize children’s medical services nationwide, with a focus on Garrahan Hospital, the country’s main pediatric facility.

The proposal seeks to ensure timely, equitable and high-quality access to pediatric care. It also calls for an immediate increase in funding for children’s hospitals and medical residency programs, with salaries updated to reflect their real value as of November 2023.

The debate comes amid a growing strain on Argentina’s public health system, marked by budget cuts, wage disputes and a wave of resignations from key hospitals.

Argentina’s public health system faces a worsening financial outlook. With no 2025 budget approved by Congress, the government extended the 2024 plan with modifications.

Health spending has dropped nearly 29% in real terms — adjusted for inflation — compared to the previous year, following a roughly 30% cut in 2023 — further straining the delivery of services and medical supplies.

The Health Ministry’s budget rose only 6% to $4.31 billion in 2025 from $4.06 billion in 2024. Its share of total government spending fell to 4.5% from 5.6%, despite annual inflation that reached 117.8% in 2024 and is projected at 28.6% for 2025, according to BBVA Research.

Alongside budget pressures, a growing shortage of healthcare workers is adding to the strain.

Argentina has 40.5 doctors per 10,000 residents — above the regional average — but their distribution is uneven, and poor working conditions are pushing professionals out of the public health system.

Delayed wages and heavy workloads are adding to the strain. Health unions warn that in many provinces, salaries have fallen below the basic cost of living, forcing staff to take on multiple jobs. About 70% of healthcare workers divide their time between public hospitals and the private sector to make ends meet, according to DataGremial.

The report also notes that several provinces and the federal government have struggled this year to fill medical residency slots — an unprecedented development blamed on low stipends and a lack of incentives to train in the public sector.

Meanwhile, demand for care remains high — and continues to rise during economic crises — as more Argentines rely exclusively on the public healthcare system. About 36% of the population, or roughly 16 million people, depend entirely on state-run coverage, according to the Health Ministry.

Garrahan Hospital has become a symbol of the country’s deepening healthcare crisis.

Since May, its staff — including doctors, residents, nurses and technicians — have staged rolling strikes and protests to demand emergency pay increases, citing what they describe as severe underfunding of the institution.

The strikes have led to the suspension of outpatient services, with care limited to emergencies and hospitalizations during walkouts, as negotiations with authorities remain stalled.

Staff shortages are beginning to take a toll. According to hospital unions, nearly 200 professionals have resigned from Garrahan in 2025. In recent weeks alone, at least 20 resident doctors left the hospital, saying their full-time wages — about $830 a month — were not enough to cover the cost of living in Buenos Aires.

President Javier Milei recently sparked backlash by falsely claiming that “70% of Garrahan’s staff is administrative” and blaming the hospital’s crisis on overstaffing. Hospital workers pushed back with official data showing that only 10% of employees hold administrative roles, while nearly 70% work in direct patient care, including doctors, nurses and technicians.

They also challenged Milei’s claim that the government had increased Garrahan’s budget by 240%. While acknowledging a nominal increase, hospital staff said inflation and stagnant wages had erased any real gains.

Amid the escalating crisis, a political response has taken shape in Congress, led by lawmakers from several opposition parties and backed by provincial health ministers.

To advance, the bill must still be reviewed by the Budget Committee, which is chaired by the ruling party. Opposition lawmakers say they plan to force debate during a special session July 2, accusing the government bloc of blocking the proposal.

The World Food Programme has sounded an alarm, saying it may have to reduce its aid operations for Sudanese refugees because of cutbacks in its funding.

Four million refugees are in countries neighbouring Sudan after fleeing from the ongoing civil war, and most of them rely on aid.

But that was put in jeopardy after United States President Donald Trump’s administration slashed overseas aid budgets this year.

The European Union, the United Kingdom and Germany have also cut their foreign aid as some nations switch funding to invest in defence.

So who else can step in to fill the gap?

And what will happen to the people who depend on aid to survive?

Presenter: James Bays

Guests

• Carl Skau, World Food Programme’s deputy executive director and chief operating officer
• Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation
• Kholood Khair, political analyst and founding director at the Confluence Advisory think tank

For “Grease” fans in Los Angeles, recent summer nights had a surprise in store. We’ll tell you more, tell you more.

John Travolta, who brought life to bad boy heartthrob Danny Zuko in the 1978 classic, crashed the Hollywood Bowl’s sing-along event Friday. He surprised not just the audience, but also fellow “Grease” alumni as he sauntered on stage in his character’s signature pompadour and leather jacket.

“No one knew, not even the cast,” Travolta, 71, recalled of the moment in an Instagram post shared Saturday.

The “Pulp Fiction” and “Hairspray” star on Instagram shared a closer look at his Danny Zuko-inspired styling and posted a video of him reuniting with co-stars Didi Conn, Barry Pearl, Michael Tucci, Kelly Ward and “Grease” filmmaker Randal Kleiser. Video from the sing-along shows audiences cheering and celebrating Travolta with a standing ovation. His surprise appearance came before the beginning of the sing-along, according to Entertainment Weekly.

“L.A.,” he says to fans before referencing a memorable line from the movie. “I thought you were going back to Australia!”

In that scene from “Grease,” Danny excitedly greets his summer sweetheart Sandy, before quickly playing it too cool and aloof, saving face for his T-Birds greaser squad. Olivia Newton-John indelibly played the role of Sandy. She died on Aug. 8, 2022, at age 73.

During Friday’s event, Travolta and his co-stars led fans in singing “A-womp-bop-a-looma-a-womp-bam-boom,” a line from the “Grease” finale number “We Go Together,” according to video from EW. He and his cast then left the stage and the sing-along began.

“Thank you for a great evening,” Travolta added in his Instagram post.

A proposal to tax remittances sent by individuals without Social Security numbers has passed the House and is now before the Senate. At 3.5%, the levy was initially expected to raise $26 billion over the next decade.

Changes made by the Senate on Saturday greatly narrowed the scope, so the tax would be 1%, and the yield only $10 billion over the next decade. However, the goals have remained the same: deter undocumented migration and recoup funds from those working outside legal status who send money to their families back home.

It might seem like easy money to tax migrants, but that doesn’t make it smart policy. The proposed tax risks undermining both financial transparency and national security. The policy would push billions of dollars into unregulated channels such as cryptocurrency exchanges, make law enforcement’s job harder and ultimately hurt the very communities the United States seeks to stabilize abroad for geopolitical reasons.

The U.S. is the world’s largest source of remittances, and Mexico has the highest dependency on them; 97% of the money Mexican expats send back home comes from the States ($64.75 billion in 2024). A 1% tax on remittances to Mexico alone could take much-needed funds away from migrants and their families and divert it to the state. While this might sound like a straightforward revenue win, the real-world impacts are more complicated and the slippery slope of allowing for remittance tax can have unintended negative consequences for everyone.

First, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has already condemned the measure and said the government will “mobilize” against it. Other countries across Latin America and Southeast Asia, where remittances account for as much as 25% of GDP, are sounding alarms. The U.S. has long relied on economic diplomacy to build goodwill, and taxing remittances could erode that, making it harder to partner on border security, anti-trafficking efforts and the war on drugs.

Next, taxing formal transfers doesn’t stop people from sending money home, it just changes how they send it. And often, the next-best option is far worse. In states like Oklahoma, even modest fees led to a surge in informal money transfers. Similarly, the proposed federal tax, which some lawmakers have said should be up to 15%, is going to push migrants to remit through alternative systems including Chinese- or Russian-owned fintech companies, crypto platforms and cash-based means that operate outside the formal financial system. These underground methods are notoriously difficult to monitor and are exploited for money laundering, organized crime and terrorism financing. While most migrants are simply trying to support their families, moving funds through black market systems exposes them to the risk of being unknowingly entangled in illicit activity.

Federal agencies and academic experts have long cautioned that informal remittance systems complicate efforts to track illicit financial flows. When remittances are pushed out of the formal system, it becomes significantly harder to enforce safeguards designed to prevent money from being diverted to criminal or extremist actors. A federal remittance tax risks accelerating this shift underground, weakening oversight and inadvertently expanding a shadow market where the lines between legitimate and illegitimate transfers are increasingly blurred.

Meanwhile, enforcing such a policy brings its own set of problems. To begin, it outsources immigration enforcement to banks and wire services. A clerk at Western Union could soon be legislated to ask whether a sender has a Social Security number, flag suspicious transfers and carry out new compliance systems. These are all new responsibilities that might lead to an increase of transfer fees, which in the U.S. are already around 6%, increasing the burden on senders. Thus, the tax is a costly and complex undertaking — one that will affect legal residents and U.S. citizens, who even though not subject to the federal tax would still be paying the higher fees to subsidize companies’ compliance.

None of this excuses illegal migration. The U.S. has a right and responsibility to enforce its laws and protect its borders. But not every enforcement tool is effective, and they all deserve scrutiny.

Take the hypothetical example of a grandmother living in Arroyo Seco, Mexico, where one in four households receives U.S. remittances and remittance flows supersede the annual municipal budget. Her son, an undocumented migrant in the U.S., sends $400 a month to help with rent, medication and her grandchildren’s basic needs. An almost 10% levy (combining the proposed tax and transfer fees) would claw back $40 monthly, enough to force her to skip medication for herself or meals for the children. Multiply this story by millions, and you begin to see that this kind of economic destabilization doesn’t just erode household resilience but also weakens entire communities, fuels migration pressures and creates openings for criminal networks and authoritarian states to exploit financial desperation.

Taxing remittances won’t reduce undocumented migration but could fuel more. And it will drive flows underground, forcing families to rely on riskier and less accountable financial channels — such as unlicensed money transmitters operating through apps like WeChat Pay, which lack consumer protections and operate under opaque governance frameworks tied to foreign state interests. It will also burden and disincentivize the very institutions that make lawful transactions possible.

While the remittance tax might score political points, the long-term risk as well as geopolitical and institutional damages might not be worth the $10 billion.

Yvonne Su is the director of the Centre for Refugee Studies and an assistant professor of equity studies at York University in Toronto.

In a swap of former All-Pro defensive backs on Monday, the Pittsburgh Steelers acquired cornerback Jalen Ramsey and tight end Jonnu Smith from the Miami Dolphins for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and a draft pick swap.

Ramsey posted about the trade, which includes the Steelers’ 2027 fifth-round pick to the Dolphins in exchange for a seventh-round pick, on social media. “Breaking my own news!” he wrote alongside a celebratory announcement video on Instagram.

The deal ended persistent speculation that Ramsey might be traded to the Rams, for whom he played from 2019-22. At the Rams’ mini-camp in Maui two weeks ago, coach Sean McVay downplayed the chance of acquiring the three-time All-Pro, who is due to earn $26.6 million this season. Ramsey’s salary-cap number will increase substantially in the next few seasons, according to Overthecap.com.

“Usually, those are scenarios and situations that you have to have plans in place prior to executing some of the decisions that have occurred,” McVay said, perhaps referencing the contract adjustment that quarterback Matthew Stafford received and the signing of free-agent receiver Davante Adams. “Definitely don’t want to rule anything out … but there would be some obstacles that are real that are in the place of maybe preventing that from occurring.”

Rams cornerbacks include returning starters Darious Williams and Ahkello Witherspoon, with Cobie Durant, Emmanuel Forbes Jr., Josh Wallace and Derion Kendrick competing for playing time.

Smith — who enjoyed a career year in 2024 with 88 catches and eight touchdowns for the Dolphins — will receive a one-year contract extension worth $12 million. He joins returning starter Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington at tight end in Pittsburgh.

The Steelers have prioritized improving at cornerback this offseason, signing free agent Darius Slay Jr. in addition to trading for Ramsey, who has 24 career interceptions. Incumbent starter Joey Porter Jr. also returns.

The Steelers had grown disenchanted with Fitzpatrick, who was named All-Pro in 2019, 2020 and 2022 but had only one interception in the last two seasons after moving from free safety to strong safety.

Fitzpatrick was drafted 11th overall in 2018. The Dolphins traded him to the Steelers two games into the 2019 season along with fourth- and seventh-round picks for first-, fifth- and sixth-round picks.

Pro-Palestine activists rallied outside Wimbledon on the first day of the tennis championships in London to protest tournament sponsorship by Barclays Bank, who they say helps to finance Israel’s war on Gaza. Barclays says it is not a ‘shareholder’ or ‘investor’ in defence companies supplying Israel.