Temperatures are predicted to hit 30C for the second day in London today as a heatwave continues. The east of England and the Midlands are both forecast to see highs of 28C, according to the Met Office.
An amber heat health alert was issued for some areas on Friday by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) until 18:00 BST Tuesday, with temperatures set to peak on Monday.
This is the second amber alert in two weeks and means weather impacts are “likely to be felt across the whole health service”.
The head of extreme events and health protection at UKHSA has urged people to check on those who are more vulnerable and take “sensible precautions while enjoying the sun”.
The alert stretches across London, the East Midlands, South East, South West and East of England.
A yellow heat alert, less serious than amber, has also been issued for Yorkshire and Humber as well as the West Midlands. It denotes “significant impacts” for the health and social care services.
On Monday, the UKHSA has warned, “Much of the country will see temperatures in the early to mid-30s” (C) at the height of the heatwave.
The country’s current record high for June rests at 35.6C, set in Southampton’s Mayflower Park in 1957 and met again at Camden Square in North London in 1976.
Darren Farmer, Director of Operations at London Ambulance Service has warned: “It’s really, really important to keep hydrated” and to “keep away from alcohol” in the heat.
Keeping out of direct sunlight in the middle of the day and taking your medication in a timely manner are also key, Farmer added.
Temperatures at Glastonbury festival, which is now in the last of its five days, are expected to reach 27C on Sunday. The hottest year for the festival was 2017, when highs of 30C saw dozens of people being treated by paramedics.
Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.
Opening this weekend and winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, “Sorry, Baby” is the feature film debut for writer, director and actor Eva Victor.
Personally, it’s among my favorite films of the year for its complex mix of comedy and drama, offbeat whimsy and deep vulnerability. (I’d previously called it “fresh, inventive and invigorating” and that still feels right to me.) The story tells some five years in the life of Agnes (Victor), a teacher at a small East Coast college attempting to move forward following a traumatic event.
Director Eva Victor of “Sorry, Baby,” photographed at the Los Angeles Times Sundance studio in January.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
In her review for the paper, Katie Walsh called the film “a movie that lingers,” attributing that to “the profound and nuanced honesty Victor extracts from each moment.”
I spoke to Victor about the process of making the film. The story is rooted in Victor’s own experiences, so every stage, from writing to production to bringing it to audiences, has had its own nuances and contours.
“It’s a very personal film for a lot of people and there’s a sadness to that because it’s a community of people who have experienced things that they shouldn’t have had to,” says Victor. “It’s life-affirming for me to know that I wrote the film in a leap-of-faith way to be like: ‘Is anyone else feeling like this?’ And it’s nice to know that there are people who are understanding what that is.”
World premiere ‘Tombstone’ restoration
Val Kilmer, photographed at the Regency Hotel in Manhattan in 1993 circa the time of “Tombstone.”
(Joe Tabacca / For The Times)
On Saturday, the Academy Museum will screen the world premiere of a 4K restoration of 1993’s “Tombstone” as a tribute to actor Val Kilmer. Directed by George P. Cosmatos, the film tells the legendary story of the shootout at the O.K. Corral, which has become one of the foundational myths of the American western. Kilmer stars as Doc Holliday, who comes to the aid of his friend, retired lawman Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell). The cast also includes Bill Paxton, Sam Elliott, Powers Boothe, Michael Biehn, Charlton Heston, Jason Priestley and Dana Delany.
The role was a special one for Kilmer, who titled his memoir “I’m Your Huckleberry” after a line in the movie.
In his original review of the film, Peter Rainer declared the film the latest of the then-in-vogue “designer Westerns” and highlighted Kilmer’s turn, writing, “Val Kilmer’s Holliday is classic camp performance, although it may not have started out that way. His Southern drawl sounds like a languorous cross between early Brando and Mr. Blackwell. Stricken with tuberculosis, his eyes red-rimmed, Doc coughs delicately and matches Ringo line for line in Latin. He also shoots straighter than anyone else in the movie — his powers of recuperation make Rasputin seem like a pushover.”
The film will also be playing on July 26 at Vidiots.
‘Familiar Touch’
Kathleen Chalfant, left, and Carolyn Michelle in the movie “Familiar Touch.”
(Music Box)
Winner of three prizes at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, “Familiar Touch” is the narrative feature debut of writer-director Sarah Friedland. The sensitive and compassionate story follows Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant), an 80-something retired cook, as she settles into an assisted-living facility while grappling with memory loss.
Friedland and Chalfant will be at select showings throughout the weekend for Q&As.
In his review of the movie, Robert Abele wrote, “The mystery of Ruth’s mindfulness — which ebbs and flows — is at the core of Chalfant’s brilliant, award-worthy performance. Hers is a virtuosity that doesn’t ask for pity or applause or even link arms with the stricken-but-defiant disease-playing headliners who have gone before her. Chalfant’s Ruth is merely, momentously human: an older woman in need, but no less expressive of life’s fullness because of it.”
Esther Zuckerman spoke to Friedland about shooting the film at Pasadena’s Villa Gardens retirement community in collaboration with staff and residents. The production held a five-week filmmaking workshop, involving the residents as background actors and production assistants.
“It came a lot from the anti-ageist ideas of the project,” Friedland says. “If we’re going to make this film the character study of an older woman that sees older adults as valuable and talented and capacious, let’s engage their capaciousness and their creativity on all sides of production.”
Points of interest
Tsui Hark’s ‘Shanghai Blues’ in 4K
Sylvia Chang in the movie “Shanghai Blues.”
(Film Movement)
Though he is best known to American audiences for his action movies, Hong Kong director Tsui Hark has been versatile in many other genres. Now getting a new 4K restoration from the original negative for its 40th anniversary is Tsui’s 1984 screwball romantic comedy “Shanghai Blues.”
Opening in 1937 Shanghai, the story concerns an aspiring musician, Do-Re-Mi (Kenny Bee), and a woman, Shu-Shu (Sylvia Chang), who, after a chance encounter, vow to meet again in the same spot after the war. Leaping forward to peacetime a decade later, the two find themselves living in the same building without realizing it, as he becomes involved with her roommate (Sally Yeh).
The film will be playing at the American Cinematheque at the Los Feliz 3 on Fri., Tues. and Sat., July 5. It will also play multiple Laemmle locations on Weds.
And expect more on Hong Kong cinema later this summer when Beyond Fest launches a series of new restorations of such classics as “Hard Boiled,” “The Killer” and Hark’s 1986 “Peking Opera Blues.”
‘Much Ado About Nothing’
Director-actor Kenneth Branagh, left, Keanu Reeves, Emma Thompson, Robert Sean Leonard and Denzel Washington at Cannes in 1993.
(Patrick Billard / AFP via Getty Images)
On Monday, Vidiots will screen Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing.” About a bunch of incredibly good-looking people having a great time in the Italian countryside, the film stars Branagh, Emma Thompson, Kate Beckinsale, Michael Keaton, Robert Sean Leonard, Keanu Reeves and Denzel Washington.
Branagh and Thompson were married in real life at the time, and in his original review of the film, Kenneth Turan wrote, “Actors as well as athletes have a prime of life, a time when everything they touch seems a miracle. And the crowning pleasure of watching Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh in this rollicking version of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ is the way it allows us to share in that state of special grace, to watch the English-speaking world’s reigning acting couple perform at the top of their game. … Seeing them beautifully play off each other is an enormous pleasure for lovers of the romance of language as well as fanciers of romantic love.”
‘The Spirit of ’76’ live commentary
David Cassidy in the movie “The Spirit of ’76.”
(Philosophical Research Society)
On Thursday, July 3, as part of the 7th House screening series at the Philosophical Research Society, there will be a screening of 1990’s “The Spirit of ’76” featuring a live commentary by stars Jeff and Steven McDonald of the band Redd Kross.
The film is something of a singular object: a loving satire of the 1970s made from the perspective of the burgeoning ’90s, written and directed by Lucas Reiner, with a co-story credit to Roman Coppola, costumes designed by Sofia Coppola and a cast that includes David Cassidy, Leif Garrett, Olivia d’Abo, Don Novello, Rob Reiner, Carl Reiner and Devo.
From the extremely drab future of 2176, three adventurers are sent back in time to July 4, 1776 but mistakenly land in the year 1976. They meet two teenagers (the McDonald brothers) who help them navigate the present and find their way back to their own time.
In his original review of the film, Kevin Thomas did not catch the vibes, as he wrote, “Movies do not get more inane than ‘The Spirit of ’76’ … You have to wonder how this film ever got made, let alone released.”
In other news
Jerry Bruckheimer is still revved up
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, photographed at his Santa Monica office in June.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Among the big releases this weekend is Joseph Kosinski’s racing drama “F1,” starring Brad Pitt and Damson Idris. The film reunited Kosinski with screenwriter Ehren Kruger and producer Jerry Bruckheimer following their huge success with “Top Gun: Maverick.”
Josh Rottenberg spoke to the 81-year-old Bruckheimer about his legendary career working on movies such as “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Bad Boys,” “Armageddon” and countless more, making sleek commercial pictures that have been defining the Hollywood blockbuster for decades.
“It’s changed a lot,” Bruckheimer says of the movie business. “Streaming hit a lot of places hard. They spent too much money and now they’ve got problems with that. Some of the studios aren’t healthy. But the business, if you do it right, is healthy.”
Bruckheimer is not one of the doomsayers foretelling the end of movies.
“I’ve been doing this over 50 years and that doom has been there every time a new technology shows up,” he says. “And yet, look at what’s happened. Look at ‘Minecraft.’ Look at ‘Sinners.’ Look at ‘Lilo & Stitch.’ If you do it right, people show up.”
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans voting in a dramatic late Saturday session narrowly cleared a key procedural step as they race to advance President Trump’s package of tax breaks, spending cuts and bolstered deportation funds by his Fourth of July deadline.
The 51-49 vote came after a tumultuous session with Vice President JD Vance on hand if needed to break a tie. Tense scenes played out in the chamber as voting came to a standstill, dragging on for hours as holdout senators huddled for negotiations. In the end, two Republicans opposed the motion to proceed to debate, joining all Democrats and independents.
It’s still a long weekend of work to come.
Republicans are using their majorities in Congress to push aside Democratic opposition, but they have run into a series of political and policy setbacks. Not all GOP lawmakers are on board with proposals to reduce spending on Medicaid, food stamps and other programs as a way to help cover the cost of extending some $3.8 trillion in Trump tax breaks.
Ahead of the expected roll call, the White House released a statement of administrative policy saying it “strongly supports passage” of the bill that “implements critical aspects” of the president’s agenda. Trump was at his golf course in Virginia on Saturday with GOP senators posting about it on social media.
“It’s time to get this legislation across the finish line,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.).
But as the day wore on, billionaire Elon Musk, a key Trump advisor for the first months of the administration, lashed out against the package — as he has in the past — calling it “utterly insane and destructive.”
“The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!” he said in a post on X.
The 940-page bill was released shortly before midnight Friday, and senators are expected to grind through the hours of all-night debate and amendments in the days ahead. If the Senate is able to pass it, the bill would go back to the House for a final round of votes before it could reach the White House.
With narrow Republican majorities in the House and Senate, leaders need almost every lawmaker on board in the face of essentially unified opposition from Democrats. GOP Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky voted against.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Republicans unveiled the bill “in the dead of night” and are rushing to finish the vote before the public fully knows what’s in it. He was expected to call for a full reading of the text in the Senate overnight, which would take hours.
The weekend session could be a make-or-break moment for Trump’s party, which has invested much of its political capital on his signature domestic policy plan. The president is pushing Congress to wrap it up and has admonished the “grandstanders” among GOP holdouts to fall in line.
The legislation is an ambitious but complicated series of GOP priorities. At its core, it would make permanent many of the tax breaks from Trump’s first term that would otherwise expire by year’s end if Congress fails to act, resulting in a potential tax increase on Americans. The bill would add new breaks, including no taxes on tips, and commit $350 billion to national security, including for Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
But the cutbacks to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy investments, which a top Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, said would be a “death sentence” for America’s wind and solar industries, are also causing dissent within GOP ranks.
The Republicans are relying on the reductions to offset the lost tax revenues, but some lawmakers say the cuts go too far, particularly for people receiving healthcare through Medicaid. Meanwhile, conservatives, worried about the nation’s debt, are pushing for steeper cuts.
Tillis, who said he spoke with Trump late Friday explaining his concerns, announced Saturday he cannot support the package as is, largely because he said the healthcare changes would force his state to “make painful decisions like eliminating Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands.”
The release of that draft had been delayed as the Senate parliamentarian reviewed the bill to ensure it complied with the chamber’s strict “Byrd rule,” named for the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.). It largely bars policy matters from inclusion in budget bills unless a provision can get 60 votes to overcome objections. That would be a tall order in a Senate with a 53-47 Republican edge and Democrats unified against Trump’s bill.
Republicans suffered a series of setbacks after several proposals, including shifting food stamp costs from the federal government to the states or gutting the funding structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, were deemed out of compliance with the rules.
But over the past few days, Republicans have quickly revised those proposals and reinstated them.
The final text includes a proposal for cuts to the Medicaid provider tax that had run into parliamentary hurdles and objections from several senators worried about the fate of rural hospitals. The new version extends the start date for those cuts and establishes a $25-billion fund to aid rural hospitals and providers. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who had opposed the cuts, vowed “to do everything I can” to make sure the reductions never go into effect.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said that under the House-passed version of the bill, some 10.9 million people would lose their healthcare coverage and at least 3 million fewer would qualify for food aid. The CBO has not yet publicly assessed the Senate draft, which proposes steeper reductions.
Top income earners would see about a $12,000 tax cut under the House bill, while the package would cost the poorest Americans an additional $1,600, the CBO said.
The Senate included a compromise over the so-called SALT provision, a deduction for state and local taxes that has been a top priority of lawmakers from California, New York and other high-tax states, but the issue remains unsettled.
The current SALT cap is $10,000 a year, and a few Republicans wanted to boost it to $40,000 a year. The final draft includes a $40,000 cap but limits it to five years.
Many Republican senators say that is still too generous. At least one House GOP holdout, Rep. Nick LaLota of New York, has said that would be insufficient.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) sent his colleagues home for the weekend with plans to be on call to return to Washington. But as the Senate draft was revealed, House GOP support was uncertain. One Republican, Rep. David Valadao of Hanford, said he was opposed.
Mascaro, Freking and Cappelletti write for the Associated Press. AP writers Ali Swenson and Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
Lake rekindles the Wales captaincy role he adopted during the 2024 summer tour of Australia and the autumn internationals.
He has been asked to lead the squad again after his good friend Jac Morgan was one of only two Welshmen picked for the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, alongside scrum-half Tomos Williams.
“I was just proud of him and happy for him,” said Lake. “We came through together and have done a lot together.
“To see his name read out was amazing. I was on the flight in South Africa with him at the time when he found out and we all expressed how happy and proud we all were.”
Lake’s own Lions ambitions were hampered by an injury-affected Six Nations in which he missed the start of the tournament because of a bicep injury.
After being absent for the first three games, Lake was reduced to replacement appearances against Scotland and England.
His latest setback continues a series of niggling injuries that has limited the Ospreys hooker to just 20 caps so far.
“It’s tough, but things happen for a reason I guess,” said Lake. “But I’m feeling good and my body’s feeling good.”
There are six uncapped players in the 33-man squad in Japan and Wales have benefitted from having a month together.
“We’ve trained well and hard,” said Lake. “It’s kind of a new group so a lot of time has gone into just building relationships.
“Having a certain understanding of each other and how they work has been important.”
June 28 (UPI) — Friends and family members of people detained in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids are raising concerns over conditions inside detention centers in California.
One family member reported not being able to meet with his father who is being held at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles and instead having to leave blood pressure medication for him, CBS News reported.
CBS also quoted one immigration lawyer who collectively referred to the Los Angeles facility and others in California being used to detain thousands of people as a “ticking time bomb.”
Other family members report similar conditions faced by detainees.
“She’s saying that she’s not being fed, that she’s sleeping on a concrete floor and that her and a couple of people have to huddle in order to keep warm,” Zulma Zapeta told KTLA in an interview about her mother.
Zapeta’s 41-year-old mother Guadalupe Gutierrez, has been detained at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County, Calif.
Zapeta claims she has not been able to provide necessary medication to Gutierrez, who has been in the United States for over two decades and does not have a criminal record.
Civil rights attorney Sergio Perez called the situation inside several of the state’s federal detention centers “cruel and inhumane,” in an interview with KABC-TV.
“I saw people waiting for hours, elderly women and men without chairs in a concrete hallway infested with flies, and not receiving any information as to how long it was going to take to view their loved ones,” Perez, executive director for the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, said in the interview.
“This year alone, the number of children held for two weeks or longer, as this child and their family was, has increased sevenfold,” the center said on Facebook. “Border Patrol runs some of the harshest and cruelest prisons that will never be safe for children — making every day spent there dangerous.”
Officials are currently holding around 59,000 immigrants in federal detention centers across the country, CBS News reported this week, citing internal government data.
That puts the number of detainees being held at 140% capacity, compared to the 41,500-person figure passed by Congress.
Earlier this month, the city of Glendale, Calif., said it was terminating contracts with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to house federal detainees at local police stations, calling the issue too “divisive.”
Private prison firm CoreCivic confirmed earlier in the month that it reached a deal with DHS and ICE to convert one of its facilities to house federal detainees. The Nashville-based company is converting its existing detention facility located in California City, in Kern County, Calif. The detention center currently has 2,560 beds for inmates.
Senate Republicans narrowly advanced a budget bill that is pivotal to President Donald Trump’s second-term agenda ahead of a self-imposed 4 July deadline.
In a 51-49 vote largely along party lines, the Senate has moved to open debate on the bill, a key initial hurdle that Republicans scrambled to overcome. Two Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the move to take up the bill.
Party leadership had been twisting arms for the initial vote on the “Big Beautiful Bill” on Saturday, following the release of its latest version – all 940 pages – shortly after midnight.
Republicans were divided over how much to cut welfare programmes in order to extend $3.8tn (£2.8tn) in Trump tax breaks.
The bill’s fate on the Senate floor remains uncertain, as Republicans in the chamber continue to quarrel over the bill’s provisions. Vice-President JD Vance travelled to the Capitol on Saturday night to offer a tiebreak vote, though party leaders were ultimately able to negotiate majority support without his help.
Meanwhile, Democrats say they will drag out the process in protest at the bill, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying his party will force Republicans to read out the nearly 1,000 pages of text before the Senate can begin debate and potentially take up a final vote.
Separately, some Republicans in the House of Representatives have expressed concerns over the changes in the Senate version of the bill. The sprawling tax and spending measure passed the House of Representatives by a single vote last month.
The Senate’s version of the bill included a series of changes meant to address points of disagreement among Republicans. Still, party leaders struggled to secure enough votes.
In a memo sent to Senate offices, the White House endorsed the latest revisions to the bill and called for its passage.
The memo reportedly warned that failure to approve the budget “would be the ultimate betrayal”.
Republicans Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina joined Democrats in rejecting the bill.
As the Senate vote concluded, President Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media platform, that Tillis was making a “BIG MISTAKE”. He wrote that he would be meeting with candidates who “come forward wanting to run in the Primary against “Senator Thom” Tillis”.
However, the bill did win over some Republicans who had expressed scepticism, including centrist Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin intially voted against it, but changed his vote at the end of the voting session.
The latest version was designed to appease some backbench Republican holdouts.
Other amendments incorporate input from the Senate parliamentarian, an official who reviews bills to ensure they comply with the chamber’s procedures.
It includes an increase in funding for rural hospitals, after some party moderates argued the original proposal would harm their constituents.
There are also changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), which provides food benefits to low-income Americans.
Under the latest bill, Alaska and Hawaii would be temporarily exempt from a proposed requirement for some states to start footing the bill for the programme, which is currently fully funded by the federal government.
The revision comes after Alaska’s two Republican senators pushed for an exemption.
The legislation still contains some of its core components, including extending tax cuts passed by Republicans in 2017, as well as the addition of new cuts that Trump campaigned on, such as a tax deduction on Social Security benefits and the elimination of taxes on overtime work and tips.
More contentious measures are also still in place, including restrictions and requirements on Medicaid – a healthcare programme used by millions of elderly, disabled and low-income Americans.
Democrats have heavily criticised this piece of the bill, saying it will limit access to affordable healthcare for millions of Americans.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 7.8 million people would become uninsured due to such Medicaid cuts.
Senator Patty Murray, a Washington state Democrat, took to social media on Saturday to argue the bill contains “the largest healthcare cuts in history”.
Another critic of the bill is Elon Musk, who wrote on X on Saturday that the latest iteration of the bill “will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harms to our country”.
Musk took issue with taxes the bill proposes on solar and wind energy projects.
The bill now needs a simple majority to clear the Senate. With Republicans holding 53 seats out of 100, plus a tiebreaker from Vice-President JD Vance, the party can only afford three defections.
Air staff can refuse to serve drunk passengers, but one former cabin crew member claims she would act when anyone started getting “tipsy” on-board
Flight attendants have a sneaky trick for dealing with passengers veering toward intoxication(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
A former flight attendant has revealed one non-confrontational tactic she claims to have used when presented with “tipsy” passengers on-board.
The unnamed crew member said she had personally “watered down” alcoholic drinks of passengers who she felt were becoming intoxicated on-board. The revelation was made on social platform, Reddit, when curious flyers posed different questions about the role of cabin crew.
The topic came up on an Ask Me Anything thread where the question was asked if there is a limit to how much alcohol can be served to a passenger on international flights. The original poster (OP) shared that while there is no set limit, passengers “cannot be intoxicated” on-board.
When pressed further by another poster about what happens if passengers do start to show signs of being drunk, the OP revealed one sneaky tactic she had previously used.
Alcohol is typically available as part of a meal on long-haul flights and can sometimes be purchased duty-free on short-haul flights(Image: Getty Images/Hero Images)
“We will watch and if we notice a passenger becoming tipsy we will start diluting the drinks,” the OP shared. While this has not been confirmed as a standard practice, research from Stratos Jets seem to back up the claim.
The study – which was viewed by The Sun – interviewed 119 flight attendants and more than 35% of cabin crew members admitted to watering down passengers’ drinks. Additionally, 74.8% of interviewees shared that they had refused service to an intoxicated passenger on a flight, something flight attendants have the right to do.
Cabin crew members reserve the right to stop serving alcoholic beverages to passengers. It is also against the law to be drunk on a plane and you can be refused entry if you’ve had one too many before a flight.
Some airlines are cracking down with fines for disruptive passengers(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The official rules for drinking on a flight
According to The Air Navigation Order 2016: “A person must not enter any aircraft when drunk, or be drunk in any aircraft.”
Additionally, according to the UK Civil Aviation Authority: “Disruptive passengers can lead to planes being diverted and, where this happens, the disruptive passengers themselves risk having to pay the cost of the diversion. They can also face criminal charges with severe penalties or even prison sentences.”
Passengers who also buy cheaper bottles of alcohol at duty-free are forbidden from opening it up on-board, and must wait until they have landed to enjoy it responsibly.
Ryanair announced on June 12 that disruptive passengers whose behaviour results in them being removed from the plane will now be fined £500.
Ryanair says “unruly passengers” is an “industry-wide issue” and the hefty fine will be the “minimum” punishment and will continue to pursue disruptive passengers for civil damages.
Disney+ is offering a fantastic deal for streaming fans, with households able to get four months for £1.99 a month
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
Disney+ is still offering a subscription for £1.99 but it ends really soon(Image: Chesnot/Getty Images)
Disney+ is presenting a cracking deal for streaming enthusiasts in the UK, offering four months of access for £1.99 a month instead. However, time is running out to grab it with the offer set to expire on June 30.
For less than the cost of a Starbucks brew or a meal deal, Disney+ streamers can indulge in Marvel Cinematic Universe shows, including WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Hawkeye, Moon Knight, and Ms. Marvel for much less than the usual price – and the rate will last until the end of October.
The platform also boasts a variety of Star Wars series, such as Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Ahsoka, The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and The Clone Wars, ensuring there’s a wealth of content to keep viewers hooked for months. Classic Walt Disney animated films like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Hocus Pocus, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and The Lion King are also ready for your viewing enjoyment.
There’s also new content including the new season 4 of FX’s The Bear (that premiered on June 26) and the riveting new sci-fi drama, Alien: Earth, which is set for release later this summer (August 13). These join the newly-released Snow White and Ironheart.
The Stolen Girl is another smash hit that has garnered critical praise. The Disney+ £1.99 offer lasts for four months, providing streamers plenty of time to explore the extensive library of content on offer.
Disney+ has brought back its popular deal that lets new and returning customers join its Standard with Ads plan for £1.99 per month for four months.
This means members can stream hit shows like Andor, The Bear and Alien: Earth, plus countless titles from Star Wars and Marvel, for a fraction of the usual price.
However, it’s crucial to remember that the £1.99 offer pertains only to the Standard with Ads version, so subscribers will have to tolerate commercials while watching their beloved shows, which may cause irritation.
Disney+ has been met with praise on Trustpilot, where one happy user commented: “Very good selection, friendly support and easy to cancel if you need to. Very easy to navigate their site, and the openness and transparency they show should be a model for others.”
Nevertheless, one disgruntled customer criticised the ad frequency, remarking: “Way too many adverts. Luckily I got it free for three months, but would not pay to extend it.”
For families seeking additional streaming services, numerous offers are available. Sky has its own streaming deals, such as the £15 per month Sky Stream package.
Furthermore, DAZN is giving sports enthusiasts an opportunity to sample its service through a limited-time trial offer. The Disney+ £1.99 deal can be snagged by households here.
Almost every summer, Valencia High football coach Larry Muir tries to make it a mystery as to which of his newcomers projects as a top player. He likes to keep it a secret until after the summer competition is finished.
Well, Valencia is headed on its two-week dead period next week, so Muir couldn’t hide his thrill watching freshman quarterback Evan McCalister unleash a long pass on the final play Saturday in the Simi Valley passing tournament. The ball was caught in the end zone for a dramatic touchdown by sophomore Michael Wilder as Valencia players roared in delight with a victory over Sierra Canyon to complete a 5-1 afternoon.
The 6-foot-2 McCalister, 14, has been getting playing time behind returnee Brady Bretthauer since graduating from middle school. There’s little doubt he has the arm and mental make-up to become Muir’s latest summer sensation, joining the likes of Steven Manfro and Brian Bonner, who were both young, unknown players before using the summer to take off at the running back position.
Soph WR Michael Wilder (left) caught a game-winning TD pass from freshman QB Evan McCalister to give Valencia a win over Sierra Canyon in a bracket final of the Simi Valley tourney. Let’s just say Valencia isn’t trading McCalister for anyone. Burbank won another division. pic.twitter.com/fDrZUFfRM4
McCalister moved from Texas and is the younger brother of Denver Broncos defensive back Tanner McCalister.
“He’s very talented,” Muir said. “He sees the field really well. He plays beyond his years.”
Saturday was the busiest day so far for summer football competitions.
Burbank won the Simi Valley championship by beating the host Pioneers in the final of the Platinum Division. The Bulldogs also had wins over Valencia and Sierra Canyon. Junior quarterback Deshawn Laporte led Burbank on offense.
San Clemente went unbeaten to win the eight-team St. John Bosco tournament. Damian Martinez had two interceptions in the final game against St. John Bosco and tight end Shane Kiley had the winning touchdown catch.
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, behind new quarterback Wyatt Brown, defeated Inglewood in the championship of the Baldwin Park tournament.
June 28 (UPI) — Senate Democrats have failed in their attempt to curtail President Donald Trump‘s ability to use the military against Iran without congressional approval.
The vote Friday night was 53-47. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voted with Democrats to approve the resolution, and Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote no in invoking the War Powers Act of 1973.
“If we are to ask our young men and women to fight, and potentially give their lives, then we in this body can at least muster the courage to debate if American military intervention is warranted,” Paul who has advocated for restrained foreign policy, said on the Senate floor before the vote.
“Abdicating our constitutional responsibility by allowing the executive branch to unilaterally introduce U.S. troops into wars is an affront to the Constitution, and the American people,” he said.
Fetterman, a staunch supporter of Israel, told reporters he voted against the resolution “simply because I would never want to restrict any future president, Republican or Democrat, to do this kind of military exercise.”
Days before Trump authorized B-2 stealth bombers to strike three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend, Sen. Tim Kaine had already introduced a resolution under the War Powers Act of 1973, which limits a president’s power to enter an armed conflict without the consent of Congress. Israel first struck Iran on June 13 in an effort to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.
Congress has not issued a formal declaration of war since World War II.
The War Powers Act was approved after President Richard Nixon expanded the Vietnam War into Cambodia. Congress sought Nixon’s power to continue expanding the war amid deep national displeasure about the war. Nixon vetoed the bill, which was overridden by a near unanimous vote of Congress.
In this new situation, the White House would need approval from the House and Senate before U.S. forces could use further military action against Iran.
“I think the events of this week have demonstrated that war is too big to be consigned to the decision of any one person,” Kaine said on the Senate floor. “War is too big an issue to leave to the moods and the whims and the daily vibes of any one person.”
In 2020, eight Republicans joined Democrats in preventing Trump from acting against Iran during his first term in the White House.
“I’ll be voting with Republicans against the war power resolution. When we’re talking about nuclear weapons, the president should have the discretion he needs to act,” Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who supported the 2020 resolution, posted Thursday X.
Susan Collins, a moderate from Maine, joined her Republican colleagues to vote against the bill.
“I continue to believe that Congress has an important responsibility to authorize the sustained use of military force. That is not the situation we are facing now. The President has the authority to defend our nation and our troops around the world against the threat of attack,” Collins wrote on X after the vote.
In the House, Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky had also introduced a war powers resolution but decided not to press for a vote amid the cease-fire in the Iran-Israel conflict, which announced Monday as his supports hit out against Massie.
The Pro Trump PAC MAGA Kentucky released an ad titled “What Happened to Thomas Massie?” seeking his ouster from the House in 2026 after an interview about the resolution on Sunday morning.
A Russian drone attack killed a teacher and her husband in Ukraine’s Odesa, and wounded 14 others, according to Ukrainian officials. Three of the victims, including a child, were in critical condition.
At least two others were killed in another Russian attack on the villages of Kostiantynivka and Ivanopillia in the eastern region of Donetsk on Friday, according to Governor Vadym Filashkin.
Explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Saturday night, with Mayor Vitali Klitschko warning residents to take shelter from Russian drones “heading for the city”, according to the official Ukrinform news agency.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said Russian forces have taken control of the settlement of Chervona Zirka in Donetsk. The ministry later said it had also seized the area between the Vovcha and Mokri Yaly rivers.
Top Ukrainian commander Oleksandr Syrskii also said on Telegram that Russia’s military was “surging towards” the key city of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk, but that “apart from sustaining numerous losses, [it] has achieved nothing”.
In Russia, a Ukrainian drone attack caused several injuries to a 43-year-old man, including a traumatic brain injury, in the village of Glushkovo in the Kursk region, the TASS news agency reported, citing a local official.
Ukraine’s SBU security service said Ukrainian forces using special drones attacked the Kirovske military airfield in Russian-occupied Crimea, destroying three attack helicopters and an anti-aircraft missile system.
Russia’s military said it destroyed 64 Ukrainian drones over western Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea overnight and into Saturday.
Politics and diplomacy
Poland’s outgoing president, Andrzej Duda, during a visit to Kyiv, asked Ukraine to “please be patient” during the handover to his nationalist successor, Karol Nawrocki. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters he would “of course” invite Nawrocki to Ukraine after he assumed office.
Ruslan Stefanchuk, the speaker and chairperson of the Ukrainian Parliament, told Ukraine’s ongoing marathon television broadcast that a bill is being drafted to hold elections after the war, Ukrinform reported.
Three years ago, FX’s “The Bear” splattered across our screens and made it impossible to look away. The yelling; the cursing; the gravy-slopping, bowl-clattering, grease-slick, jerry-rigged anxious sweaty mess of the Chicago sandwich shop the Beef and the wildly dysfunctional group of people who worked there, including elite chef Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), who inherited the Beef from his dead-by-suicide beloved brother Mikey (Jon Bernthal), wowed critics and raised the culture’s collective cortisol count to eye-twitching levels.
Critics used terms like “stress bomb” and “adrenaline shot”; current and former restaurant workers described symptoms not unlike those of PTSD, and viewers ate it all up with a spoon.
Season 2, in which Carmy follows through on his plan to turn the Beef into a fine-dining establishment, only increased the anxiety level. With real money on the table (courtesy of Carmy’s uncle Jimmy, played by Oliver Platt), along with the hopes, dreams and professional futures of the staff, including Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), Marcus (Lionel Boyce), Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), Sugar (Abby Elliott) and, of course, Cousin Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), stakes were cranked to do-or-die.
When the episode “Fishes,” a stomach-clenching holiday buffet of trauma, revealed the twisted roots of a family forged by alcoholism — Carmy’s mother Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) — and abandonment — Carmy’s father — viewers could not get enough.
This being television, we knew that all the wild dysfunction would inevitably coalesce into triumph — you cannot achieve greatness without driving yourself and everyone else crazy first, right? When, at the end of Season 2, the Bear somehow managed to have a successful opening night, despite Carmy locking himself in a refrigerator and having a full-on existential crisis, our deep attachment to “yes chef” pandemonium appeared vindicated. Fistfuls of Emmys and dopamine cocktails all around.
Except being able to open is a rather low bar for success, even in the restaurant business. Carmy is, for all his talent, an utter mess, and creator Christopher Storer is not, as it turns out, interested in celebrating the time-honored, and frankly toxic, notion that madness is a necessary part of genius — to the apparent dismay of many viewers.
When, in Season 3, Storer and his writers opted to slow things down a bit, to pull each character aside and unsnarl the welter of emotions that fueled the Bear’s kitchen, some viewers were disappointed. Which, having become dependent on the show’s stress-bomb energy, they expressed with outrage. “The Bear” had lost its edge, was getting dull, boring, repetitive and reliant on stunt-casting; it should have ended with Season 2 or, better yet, become a movie.
Thus far, the reaction to Season 4 has run the gamut — where some condemn what they consider continuing stagnation, others cheer a return to form. Which is kind of hilarious as this opens with the staff of the Bear reeling from an equally mixed review of the restaurant from the Chicago Tribune. (Shout out to the notion that a newspaper review still has make-or-break influence, though the Bear’s lack of a social media awareness has long been worrisome).
Season 4 of “The Bear” starts with the restaurant’s crew reaction to the Chicago Tribune review and how it will affect the restaurant. “They didn’t like the chaos,” Sydney says.
(FX)
Turns out that Carmy’s obsessive determination to change the menu daily, and keep his staff on perpetual tenterhooks, was perceived as disruptive, but not in a good way.
“They didn’t like the vibe,” he tells Syd in a morning-after debrief. “They didn’t like the chaos,” she replies. “You think I like chaos?” he asks. “I think you think you need it to be talented,” she says, adding, “You would be just as good, you would be great … without this need for, like, mess.”
Coming early in Episode 1, Syd’s message is a bit on the nose, but addiction does not respond to subtlety, and “The Bear” is, as I have written before, all about the perils and long-range damage of addiction. That includes Donna’s to alcohol, Mikey’s to painkillers, Carmy’s to a self-flagellating notion of perfection and, perhaps, the modern TV audience’s to cortisol.
As Season 4 plays out, with its emphasis on introspection and real connection, viewers might consider why “addictive” has become the highest form of compliment in television.
It’s such a sneaky bastard, addiction, happy to hijack your brain chemistry in any way it can. Our collective attention span isn’t what it used to be and the adrenaline rush unleashed by crisis, real or observed, can create a desire to keep replicating it. Even on broadcast and cable television, most dysfunctional family series take a one-step-forward-two-steps-back approach to their characters’ emotional growth. The mess is what viewers come for, after all.
Particularly in comedy, we want to see our characters get into jams for the pleasure of watching them wildly flail about trying to get out of them. Early seasons of “The Bear” took that desire to a whole new level.
But having amped up the craziness and the stakes, Storer now appears to be more interested in exploring why so many people believe that an ever-roiling crucible is necessary to achieve greatness. And he is willing to dismantle some of the very things that made his show a big hit to do it.
Frankly, that’s as edgy as it gets, especially in streaming, which increasingly uses episodic cliffhangers to speed up a series’ completion rate — nothing fuels a binge watch like a jacked up heart rate.
Like Carmy, Storer doesn’t appear content with resting on his laurels; he’s willing to take counterintuitive risks. As an attempt to actually show both the necessity and difficulty of recovery, in a micro- and meta- sense, “The Bear” is an experiment that defies comparison.
At the beginning of this season, Uncle Jimmy puts a literal clock on how long the Bear has before, short of a miracle, he will have to pull the plug. Carmy, still addicted to drama, claims they will still get a Michelin star, despite evidence to the contrary, which will solve everything. (Spoiler: A gun introduced in the first act must go off in the third is one of many tropes “The Bear” upends.)
The rest of the staff, mercifully, takes a more pragmatic approach. Richie, having become the unexpected sensei of the Bear (and the show), does the most sensible thing — he asks for help from the crackerjack staff of chef Terry’s (Olivia Colman) now defunct Ever. Watching chef Jessica (Sarah Ramos) whip the nightly schedule into shape only underlines the absurdity, and damage, of the auteur theory of anything — greatness is never a solitary achievement.
As Carmy loosens his grip, other outsiders pitch in — Luca (Will Poulter) shows up from Copenhagen to help Marcus and also winds up aiding Tina; Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gibson) drafts an actual mentor (played by Rob Reiner) to help him figure out how he can grow the Beef sandwich window and Sweeps (Corey Hendrix) finds his own in another sommelier (played by retired master Alpana Singh).
Donna (Jaime Lee Curtis) apologizes to Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) for her actions and the harm she caused.
(FX)
Carmy, thank God, not only returns to Al Anon, but he finally visits his mother, which allows a now-sober Donna (in another potentially Emmy-winning performance by Curtis) to admit the harm she has done and try to make amends.
It is, inarguably, a very different show than the one that debuted three years ago, with far fewer cacophonous kitchen scenes, and many more Chicago-appreciating exteriors. When the long-awaited wedding of Richie’s ex, Tiffany (Gillian Jacobs), reunites many of the characters from the famous “Fishes” episode, fears about a gathering of Berzattos and Faks prove unfounded. Despite a high-pitched and hilarious spat between Sugar and her ex-bestie Francie Fak (Brie Larson), the event is, instead, a celebration of love and reconciliation and includes what passes for a group therapy session under the table where Richie’s daughter Eva (Annabelle Toomey) has hidden herself. (This scene, which involved all the main characters, was more than a little undermined by said table’s TARDIS-like ability to be “bigger on the inside” and the fact that it held the wedding cake, which did not fall as they all exited, is proof that “The Bear” is not a comedy.)
Not even the digital countdown could generate the sizzling, clanking, sniping roar of chronic, organic anxiety that fueled the first two seasons. And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss it — I love my adrenaline rush as much as the next person.
But that’s the whole point. Real change doesn’t occur with the speed or the electricity of a lightning bolt; as many addicts discover, it’s about progress, not perfection. Recovery takes time and often feels weird — if you want to have a different sort of life, you need to do things differently.
That’s tough on a hit TV show, as the reactions to Season 3 proved (we’ll see how it fares when Emmy nominations are announced in a few weeks). Few series have made as large a shift in tone and tempo as “The Bear,” but its intentions are clear. To illuminate the necessity, and difficulty, of breaking an addiction to anything, including chaos, you can’t rely on talk; for your life to be different, you have to do things differently.
A coalition of groups including environmental activists and Native Americans advocating for their ancestral homelands converged outside an airstrip in the Florida Everglades on Saturday to protest the imminent construction of an immigrant detention center.
Hundreds of protesters lined part of U.S. Highway 41 that slices through the marshy Everglades — also known as Tamiami Trail — as dump trucks hauling materials lumbered into the airfield. Cars passing by honked in support as protesters waved signs calling for the protection of the expansive preserve that is home to a few Native tribes and several endangered animal species.
Christopher McVoy, an ecologist, said he saw a steady stream of trucks entering the site while he protested for hours. Environmental degradation was a big reason why he came out Saturday. But as a south Florida city commissioner, he said concerns over immigration raids in his city also fueled his opposition.
“People I know are in tears, and I wasn’t far from it,” he said.
Florida officials have forged ahead over the last week in constructing the compound dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” within the Everglades’ humid swamplands.
The government fast-tracked the project under emergency powers from an executive order issued by Gov. Ron DeSantis that addresses what he casts as a crisis of illegal immigration. That order lets the state sidestep certain purchasing laws and is why construction has continued despite objections from Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and local activists.
The facility will have temporary structures such as heavy-duty tents and trailers to house detained immigrants. The state estimates that by early July, it will have 5,000 immigration detention beds in operation.
The compound’s proponents have said its location in the Florida wetlands — teeming with alligators, invasive Burmese pythons and other reptiles — makes it an ideal spot for immigration detention.
“Clearly, from a security perspective, if someone escapes, you know, there’s a lot of alligators,” DeSantis said Wednesday. “No one’s going anywhere.”
Under DeSantis, Florida has made an aggressive push for immigration enforcement and has been supportive of the federal government’s broader crackdown on illegal immigration. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has backed Alligator Alcatraz, which Secretary Kristi Noem said will be partly funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Native American leaders in the region have seen the construction as an encroachment onto their sacred homelands, which prompted Saturday’s protest. In Big Cypress National Preserve, where the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport is located, 15 traditional Miccosukee and Seminole villages remain, as well as ceremonial and burial grounds and other gathering sites.
Others have raised human rights concerns over what they condemn as the inhumane housing of immigrants. Worries about environmental effects have also been at the forefront, as groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity and the Friends of the Everglades filed a lawsuit Friday to halt the detention center plans.
“The Everglades is a vast, interconnected system of waterways and wetlands, and what happens in one area can have damaging impacts downstream,” Friends of the Everglades executive director Eve Samples said. “So it’s really important that we have a clear sense of any wetland impacts happening in the site.”
Bryan Griffin, a DeSantis spokesperson, said Friday in response to the litigation that the facility was a “necessary staging operation for mass deportations located at a preexisting airport that will have no impact on the surrounding environment.”
Until the site undergoes a comprehensive environmental review and public comment is sought, the environmental groups say construction should pause. The facility’s speedy establishment is “damning evidence” that state and federal agencies hope it will be “too late” to reverse their actions if they are ordered by a court to do so, said Elise Bennett, a Center for Biological Diversity senior attorney working on the case.
The potential environmental hazards also bleed into other aspects of Everglades life, including a robust tourism industry where hikers walk trails and explore the marshes on airboats, said Floridians for Public Lands founder Jessica Namath, who attended the protest. To place an immigration detention center there makes the area unwelcoming to visitors and feeds into the misconception that the space is in “the middle of nowhere,” she said.
“Everybody out here sees the exhaust fumes, sees the oil slicks on the road, you know, they hear the sound and the noise pollution. You can imagine what it looks like at nighttime, and we’re in an international dark sky area,” Namath said. “It’s very frustrating because, again, there’s such disconnect for politicians.”
Great Britain and Ireland defeated the Continent of Europe to seal a first Vagliano Trophy victory since 2005.
Following the Curtis Cup win over the United States last September, the GB&I women again held their nerve in the biennial match, winning 12½-11½ at the Royal Hague Golf & Country Club in the Netherlands.
Led by non-playing captain Maria Dunne, GB&I found themselves trailing by one heading into the singles with Europe claiming two early wins.
However, the GB&I team fought back with the English trio of Patience Rhodes, Nellie Ong and Isla McDonald-O’Brien all scoring wins before Ireland’s Aine Donegan and another England player, Sophia Fullbrook, took GB&I over the winning line in a remarkable finish to claim a first win in 20 years.
“It’s been an unbelievable day,” said Dunne.
“I said to the team early this morning that I had a really good feeling about today. They did the job in the foursomes, momentum went our way and they just fought. I told them last night ‘just keep fighting, keep fighting for every single point or half point’ and that’s exactly what they did.”
Rhodes, Donegan, Beth Coulter, Lottie Woad and Hannah Darling were all part of the team which won the Curtis Cup and all played their part once again.
Woad and Coulter lost to Paula Martin Sampedro and Carolina Lopez-Chacarra Coto respectively, but things began to turn GB&I’s way with Ong’s 6&5 victory, and McDonald-O’Brien edged out Camille Min-Gaultier 2&1 to pull the visitors closer, before Rhodes delivered another crucial point with a two-hole triumph over France’s Sara Brentcheneff.
Protestors took to the streets of Bangkok Saturday, calling for the removal of Thailand’s prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, less than a year after she was sworn into office. File Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA-EFE
June 28 (UPI) — Protestors took to the streets of Bangkok Saturday, calling for the removal of Thailand’s prime minister, less than a year after she was sworn into office.
Demonstrators blocked streets in the country’s capital city, taking issue with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s phone call with Cambodian leader Hun Sen.
The call was recorded and made public this week. In it, Shinawatra appears to be close with Hun, the former prime minister and ex-military officer who is the current head of the Cambodian Senate and the country’s de facto leader.
Shinawatra has since apologized for the phone call, which took place because of a border dispute between the two countries.
Following the phone call, Thai officials sent a letter of protest to the Cambodian government.
Earlier this week, authorities closed Thailand’s border to travelers looking to cross into Cambodia, following a dispute over scams. One Cambodian soldier has been killed in the rising tensions between the neighboring countries.
More than 6,000 people converged for the protests in heavy rain Saturday, Thai police reported.
Local media reported Saturday that Shinawatra reaffirmed the public’s right to peacefully protest, in a country where previous rulers have been overthrown in military coups, including two of the prime minister’s relatives.
Shinawatra became Thailand’s youngest-ever elected leader when she was sworn into office last August at the age of 37.
The leader of the country’s ruling Pheu Thai Party is the third member of her family to hold the title of Thai Prime Minister.
Her billionaire father Thaksin and aunt Yingluck both led the country during separate periods. The family made its money in the telecom industry.
Thaksin served as Thailand’s prime minister from 2001 until 2006 when he was deposed by the military. He has had previous close ties with Hun and is set to face trial in the coming weeks over charges he insulted the Thai military.
Yingluck Shinawatra served as prime minister between 2011 and 2014 and was removed by a constitutional court.
Chelsea became the first English side to reach the quarterfinals of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup following a 4-1 win after extra time against the 10-man Benfica in North Carolina.
Reece James scored the opening goal of the game in the 64th minute on Saturday, with a spectacular free kick from a tight angle on the left wing.
Angel Di Maria levelled the match in the fifth minute of stoppage time from the penalty spot after a soft handball decision against Malo Gusto.
Goals from Christopher Nkunku, Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall restored and sealed Chelsea’s advantage in extra time to set up a quarterfinal meeting with Palmeiras.
The result was the least the Blues deserved after dominating the match from start to finish.
The end was heavily delayed, however, when the players were removed from the field of play at Bank Of America Stadium in Charlotte by the referee due to a nearby lightning storm.
The delay was nearly two hours in length, despite only four minutes remaining of the match when the players left the field. Chelsea’s players were visibly annoyed by the decision to halt the game so close to the full-time whistle, and with victory in sight.
General view of players walking off the pitch after referee Slavko Vincic signals a weather delay to the match [Agustin Marcarian/Reuters]
Unusually high temperatures for the time of year contributed to the inclement conditions. Both the cause and the effect are a concern ahead of the FIFA 2026 World Cup also being staged by the United States next summer.
It is the sixth time a Club World Cup match has been halted due to bad weather.
Common public safety protocols in the US mandate that outdoor sports events are suspended for at least 30 minutes when lightning is seen or thunder heard.
The Blues dominated the possession and the chances, the best of which in the first half fell to Marc Cucurella whose curling effort from just inside the box was headed off the line by by Benfica’s Antonio Silva at the back post, with the keeper well beaten.
Cole Palmer drew the finest save from Benfica’s Ukrainian keeper, Anatoliy Trubin, when he was slipped into the box and powered a shot at the near post.
Trubin was left red-faced by the moment of magic from James to win the match as the wide player drilled his effort in at the near post, with the keeper seemingly more concerned about a potential cross.
Chelsea’s Reece James scores their first goal against Benfica [Mike Segar/Reuters]
Benfica’s leveller – after the lightning delay – came after Gusto left his arms flailing in the air and, although soft, the Video Assistant Referee had little choice but to call the referee to review the decision. Di Maria coolly slotted home the resulting kick, despite the stormy conditions that surrounded the stadium.
The comeback from Benfica, after the heavy delay to the match, was merely a further annoyance to Chelsea, whose job was made all the easier by a second yellow shown to Gianluca Prestianni.
The Benfica forward was booked during the celebrations for his side’s equaliser and was then shown a second yellow for a late tackle after only two minutes of extra time.
Palmeiras first to book CWC quarterfinal spot
Paulinho worked his way between a pair of defenders and rolled a shot into the back of the net in extra time earlier on Saturday to put Palmeiras into the quarterfinals with a 1-0 victory over Brazilian league rival Botafogo.
Paulinho, who has made one appearance for Brazil’s national team, dribbled through the defence with an inside cut from the right wing in the 100th minute. He then sent a left-footed shot into the lower left corner of John’s net.
Botafogo created multiple chances for an equalizer in the final minutes but could not get a goal.
Palmeiras’s Paulinho scores their first goal [Lee Smith/Reuters]
The match at Lincoln Financial Field was full of attacking play, with a combined 35 shot attempts. Palmeiras, however, ended the match with 10 men after defender Gustavo Gomez was given a red card.
Gomez received a second yellow card in the 116th minute after tackling Igor Jesus in midfield to prevent Botafogo from starting a counterattack.
The 33,657 fans in attendance helped set the tone for the match with incessant cheering, bringing the flavour of a South American game to the United States.
“Coach has been saying this since the start of the season that we have a dream and dreaming costs nothing,” Palmeiras defender Bruno Fuchs said after.
“We follow that dream, one game after another. Always thinking about the present, about the next game… We’re very happy, we’re pleased to have qualified, and as I said, we have to keep dreaming.”
Another Glastonbury set has been pulled by the BBC after controversial comments after initially being broadcast live on Saturday afternoon
22:43, 28 Jun 2025Updated 01:40, 29 Jun 2025
Bobby Vylan of British duo Bob Vylan(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Bob Vylan became the latest to see their set removed from BBC after a controversial Glastonbury performance. The duo took to the stage at Worthy Farm prior to Irish trio Kneecap’s eagerly anticipated set.
But, like their Irish counterparts, Bob Vylan found themselves victims of the beeb’s cuts. It comes after complaints were made about their set, which was initially shown live on iPlayer. It has since been swiftly removed fans noticed.
One user on Twitter /X remarked: “They’ve already took Bob Vylan’s set off of the iPlayer do don’t expect to see Kneecap on there any time soon lmao.” It comes after another had said: “Someone better quick download that Bob Vylan set as there’s no way that’s staying on iplayer.”
Bob Vylan’s set has been removed from iPlayer(Image: Getty Images)
A third had commented: “The BBC really thought they had it all covered by not live streaming Kneecaps set. Then comes along Bob Vylan.” Another jibed: “Noticed the BBC haven’t uploaded Kneecap and Bob Vylan’s sets to iPlayer yet. Something they said?”
During their set, Bob Vylan sparked chants of “death to the IDF”. The musician was streamed live on the BBC ahead of Kneecap’s highly anticipated performance. The duo also vented their support for Palestine as a large message appeared on the screen behind them. It read: “Free Palestine. United Nations have called it a genocide. The BBC calls it a ‘conflict’.”
Bobby then called out chants “Free Free Palestine” and “Death Death to the IDF,” [Israel Defence Forces], with the bumper crowd shouting it back. He then said: “From the river to the sea Palestine must be, will be, free.”
Bob Vylan at Glastonbury(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The duo also shared their support for Kneecap as they went on: “Recently a list was released of people trying to stop our mates Kneecap from performing here today.
“And who do I see on that f***ing list, but that bald-headed c*** I used to f***ing work for.” Speaking about a colleague at a record company he used to work at, his comments were met by loud boos from the crowd. And he continued to say: “We’re seeing some f***ed up things in the world.
“We’re seeing the UK and the US be complicit in war crimes and genocide happening over there to the Palestinian people. And I know we’re on the BBC, we’re not going to say anything crazy. Leave that for them lads, you know what I mean.
“But unfortunately we have seen a strange reaction to people that come out and voice support for Palestine. Even though anybody with any moral compass can surely see that what is happening over there in Gaza is a tragedy.”
Bobby added: “We are not pacifist punks here over at Bob Vylan Enterprises. We are the violent punks, because sometimes, you have to get your message across with violence because that is the only language some people speak.”
At least 66 children have died of malnutrition in Gaza over the course of Israel’s war, authorities in the Palestinian enclave said, condemning a tightened Israeli siege that has prevented the entry of milk, nutritional supplements and other food aid.
The statement from Gaza’s Government Media Office on Saturday comes as Israeli forces intensified their attacks on the territory, killing at least 60 Palestinians, including 20 people in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City.
The media office said Israel’s deadly blockade constitutes a “war crime” and reveals its “deliberate use of starvation as a weapon to exterminate civilians”.
The office denounced what it called “this ongoing crime against childhood in the Gaza Strip” as well as “the shameful international silence regarding the suffering of children who are left to fall prey to hunger, disease, and slow death”.
It also said it holds Israel, as well as its allies, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, responsible for “this catastrophe”, and urged the United Nations to intervene and open the crossings into Gaza immediately.
The statement came days after the UN agency for children (UNICEF) warned that the number of malnourished children in the Gaza Strip was rising at an “alarming rate”. It said that at least 5,119 children, between 6 months and 5 years of age, had been admitted for treatment for acute malnutrition in May alone.
UNICEF said the figure represents a nearly 50 percent increase from the 3,444 children admitted in April, and a 150 percent increase from February when a ceasefire was in effect and aid was entering Gaza in significant quantities.
“In just 150 days, from the start of the year until the end of May, 16,736 children – an average of 112 children a day – have been admitted for treatment for malnutrition in the Gaza Strip,” said the agency’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Edouard Beigbeder.
“Every one of these cases is preventable. The food, water, and nutrition treatments they desperately need are being blocked from reaching them,” he added. “Man-made decisions that are costing lives. Israel must urgently allow the large-scale delivery of life-saving aid through all border crossings.”
Israel intensifies attacks on north Gaza
The warnings came as Palestinians mourned the 60 people killed in Israeli attacks on Saturday. In Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood, rescuers continued the search for survivors after two consecutive Israeli strikes flattened several residential buildings, killing at least 20 people.
Some nine children were among the victims.
“We were sitting peacefully when we received a call from a private number telling us to evacuate the entire block immediately – a residential area belonging to the al-Nakhalah family. As you can see, the whole block is nearly wiped out,” one resident, Mahmoud al-Nakhala, told Al Jazeera.
“We still don’t know why two three-storey homes were targeted… It’s heartbreaking that people watch what’s happening in Gaza – the suffering, the massacres – and stay silent. At this point, we can’t even comprehend what’s happening here any more,” he said.
The bombings in Tuffah followed another air raid on tents sheltering displaced people in Gaza City.
At least 13 people were killed, including several children.
Other victims included a person who was shot and killed near an aid distribution point run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in southern Rafah.
According to officials in Gaza, Israeli forces have killed more than 550 people at and near the GHF sites, since the controversial group began operations on May 19.
Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Gaza City, said that the GHF remains the only source of food in the Strip as Israel continues to place severe restrictions on the entry of supplies by other groups.
“A lot of people here are trying to stay away from the GHF’s centres because of the danger involved in going to them, because of the ongoing and deliberate shootings of aid seekers there,” Mahmoud said. “But again, staying away is not an answer, because if there are no food parcels, it means that children are going to go to bed hungry.”
Aid groups have condemned the GHF’s “militarised” operations, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying on Friday that the US-backed operation in Gaza was “inherently unsafe” and “killing people”.
Israel’s Haaretz newspaper has, meanwhile, reported that Israeli troops in Gaza were ordered to shoot at unarmed Palestinians at the GHF sites, with one soldier describing the scenes as a “killing field”.
The Israeli military denied the claim.
Chris Doyle, the director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, said the GHF’s aid distribution system in Gaza is an “abomination and utter disgrace”.
“It is an inversion of all the global humanitarian principles about independence, impartiality and neutrality,” he told Al Jazeera.
“As we’ve seen, around about 550 Palestinians have been killed in trying to get food there, to travel by foot, long journeys, and then the families worry whether they’ll ever come back again,” Doyle said.
He went on to describe the situation as another example of how “Israel enjoys complete and utter impunity from any of the norms of war, of international law”.
“This has to be dismantled now, and the proper systems of delivery and distribution of aid set back up,” he added.
WASHINGTON — Just over a quarter of Republicans accept President Biden as the winner of the 2020 election, according to a new survey that underscores the instability of American democracy and the growing partisan divide over the legitimacy of elections.
“There was a hope there would see growing acceptance of Biden’s victory over time, as people moved away from the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement after Jan. 6. Instead, we saw the numbers stay in place,” said Brendan Nyhan, a Dartmouth political scientist and one of the founders of Bright Line Watch, an organization that monitors the health of U.S. democracy.
Sinking confidence in election outcomes appears to have been fueled by former President Trump’s “Big Lie” — his continued claims of voter fraud in key states, even though such allegations were repeatedly discredited in numerous lawsuits and audits. The fallout of such lies was especially evident on Jan. 6, when thousands of Trump supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol in a brazen attempt to halt lawmakers’ certification of Biden’s victory.
Since then, many Republican officeholders and some of the biggest voices in conservative media have clung to the notion that the election was stolen from Trump.
Bright Line Watch’s November survey, released Thursday morning, shows that only 27% of Republicans accept Biden as the rightful winner — the exact same figure as in the group’s February poll — compared with 94% of Democrats who do.
The survey also shows that the 2020 election and its aftermath have hardened partisan attitudes about future elections, leaving Republicans less confident that their votes will be counted accurately in 2022.
Even amid Trump’s constant rhetoric during the 2020 campaign about a potentially rigged outcome, Democrats and Republicans had roughly equal confidence in October 2020 that the coming election would be decided fairly, with 59% of Democrats and 58% of Republicans believing that would be the case.
But the new survey reveals that a partisan gap has opened up in response to that question. Now, 80% of Democrats believe next year’s midterm election will be fair, with just 42% of Republicans saying the same.
“That’s a really scary fact for our democracy right now, that so many Republican voters don’t have confidence in the election,” said Susan Stokes, another founder of Bright Line Watch and a political scientist at the University of Chicago.
As Trump and so many Republicans have sowed mistrust in last year’s election results, they have used their misinformation campaign to justify new laws in several GOP-controlled states to restrict ballot access and, in some cases, allow partisan lawmakers to overrule election officials in determining outcomes.
That could lead to a scenario in which Democratic voters, even those who understand their party is facing stiff political headwinds next year, lose confidence in the legitimacy of the 2022 electoral results.
“This is an asymmetric moment. Republicans are leading the assault on our democracy,” Nyhan said. “At same time, you can imagine a world where an election is decided because of genuinely dubious election administration practices, and Democrats would become quite distrustful of such an election in the aftermath, and rightfully so.
“You can see a situation where neither side trusts the election results,” he continued. “The potential for a spiral of illegitimacy is real, and that’s not sustainable for our democracy in the long term.”
At the federal level, Democrats have been unable to agree on a legislative response that would protect voting rights, largely because they have the most slender of Senate majorities. Two centrists in the caucus, Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), oppose changing Senate rules to enable Democrats to pass a voting rights law with just 50 votes. And they continue to call for a bipartisan agreement even though few Republicans have been willing to compromise in what has become a zero-sum policy battleground.
The November survey, which questioned 2,750 individuals, also found that partisans tend to overestimate the antidemocratic leanings of the other side, like a reflection of the increasingly partisan nature of cable news and the proliferation of incendiary politically oriented posts and memes across social media platforms.
Compared to past Bright Line Watch surveys, fewer respondents expressed support for political violence. Only 9% condoned making threats, 8% were OK with verbal harassment, and just 4% said they accepted the kind of mob violence that occurred on Jan. 6.
But researchers worry those numbers may not reflect how many partisans might be led to take or support extreme actions that they claim to oppose, with the justification that they need to overcome alleged extremism by the opposing side.
“It’s still millions of Americans condoning violence, and that makes for a very explosive environment and is quite dangerous,” Stokes said. “What people are saying to themselves is: ‘Whatever my side is doing, it’s worth it, because the other side is so terrible.’
“It’s not at all hard to imagine a lot of people in the public going along with a real stealing of the election next time because they have come to believe the other side stole it — or even if they don’t, it’s so important to keep the other side out, it doesn’t matter how you do it.”
