Cultural performances mark the occasion, while messages from global leaders are read out during the ceremony.
The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, has turned 90 to cap a week of celebrations by followers during which he riled China again and spoke about his hope to live beyond 130 and reincarnate after dying.
Dressed in his traditional yellow and burgundy robe, the Dalai Lama arrived at a Buddhist temple complex to smiles and claps from thousands of monks and followers who had gathered on a rainy Sunday morning in the north Indian hill town of Dharamshala, where he lives.
He waved and greeted them as he walked slowly to the stage with support from monks.
“As far as I am concerned, I have a human life, and as humans, it is quite natural for us to love and help one another. I live my life in the service of other sentient beings,” the Dalai Lama said, flanked on the stage by longtime supporters, including Western diplomats, Indian federal ministers, Hollywood actor Richard Gere, and a monk who is expected to lead the search for his successor.
Fleeing his native Tibet in 1959 in the wake of a failed uprising against Chinese rule, the 14th Dalai Lama, along with hundreds of thousands of Tibetans, took shelter in India and has since advocated for a peaceful “Middle Way” to seek autonomy and religious freedom for the Tibetan people.
A Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Dalai Lama is regarded as one of the world’s most influential religious leaders, with a following that extends well beyond Buddhism – but not by Beijing, which calls him a separatist and has sought to bring the faith under its control.
In a sign of solidarity, Taiwan’s President William Lai Ching-te, leaders of Indian states bordering Tibet, and three former United States presidents – Barack Obama, George W Bush, and Bill Clinton – sent video messages which were played during the event.
In the preceding week of celebrations, the Dalai Lama had said he would reincarnate as the leader of the faith upon his death and that his nonprofit institution, the Gaden Phodrang Trust, had the sole authority to recognise his successor.
China has said the succession will have to be approved by its leaders, and the US has called on Beijing to cease what it describes as interference in the succession of the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Buddhist lamas.
Show of solidarity
Guests gathered at the ceremony took turns to speak, including Indian Parliamentary and Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, a practising Buddhist, who had earlier made a rare statement contradicting China by backing the Dalai Lama’s position on his successor.
He later clarified that the statement was made in his personal capacity as China warned New Delhi against interfering in its domestic affairs at the expense of bilateral relations.
On Sunday, Rijiju said the Dalai Lama was India’s “most honoured guest”. “We feel blessed for his presence here in our country,” he said.
Cultural performances were held throughout the morning, including from Bollywood playback singers, while messages from global leaders were read out.
“I join 1.4 billion Indians in extending our warmest wishes to His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his 90th birthday. He has been an enduring symbol of love, compassion, patience and moral discipline,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X.
Channel 4 has added a gripping three-part drama to its roster of shows, which first aired on the BBC in 2018 and was created by the creator of Happy Valley
Channel 4 has added a gripping three-part drama to its roster of shows(Image: BBC/Red Productions Limited/Steffan Hill)
Happy Valley fans have been urged to watch ‘brilliant’ three-part drama that has recently been added to Channel 4’s line-up of Programmes.
Channel 4 has recently added a captivating three-part drama to its line-up of programmes. The series, titled Come Home, is the brainchild of Danny Brocklehurst, known for his work on Fool Me Once and Brassic.
Described as a “touching and intriguing” drama, it explores the aftermath when a mother abruptly leaves her family. Originally broadcasted on the BBC in 2018, the series is produced by the creators of Happy Valley.
Set and filmed in Northern Ireland, the plot revolves around Greg, a father of three, who is left stunned when his wife of 19 years decides to abandon her family.
The official synopsis reads: “Greg and Marie have been married for nineteen years, when, seemingly out of the blue, Marie walks out on him and her three children – the last taboo of parenting.
The series first aired in 2018 on BBC and has now been added to Channel 4(Image: BBC)
“This touching and intriguing drama will take audiences on a roller-coaster of ever-changing emotions and allegiances. Multiple time-frames, viewpoints and flashbacks tell Greg and Marie’s story and force viewers to confront their own truths. How can two people that loved each other become so opposed?
“Can a child learn to forgive their mother for leaving them? And why would Marie make such a shocking and significant decision to change their lives and divide their loyalties forever?”
In an interview with the BBC, creator Danny gave viewers a taste of what they could expect from the show, stating: “The first episode is told from the perspective of Greg (Christopher Eccleston) and the kids, nine months after Marie (Paula Malcomson) has walked out. They are trying to find a way to cope, but a new woman in Greg’s life brings problems rising to the surface.”
“The second instalment of the series spotlights Marie, while the third episode delves into themes of fierce protection and divided loyalties,” he added.
Christopher Eccleston leads the cast(Image: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for HBO)
Christopher Eccleston, known for his roles in Doctor Who and True Detective, stars as Greg, with Paula Malcomson of Ray Donovan and Mayor of Kingstown fame portraying Marie.
The couple’s three offspring are portrayed by Anthony Boyle, seen in Shardlake and Say Nothing, as Liam; Lola Petticrew, known from Say Nothing and Bloodlands, as Laura; and Darcey McNeeley of Derry Girls as Molly.
The show has been met with acclaim upon its debut, with viewers describing it as “brilliant” and “gripping”. Social media users have praised the series, with one stating: “#ComeHome was brilliant.
“Christopher Eccleston is an amazing actor; whole cast were brilliant. Intriguing stuff,” and another commenting: “What brilliant short series, great acting & storyline.”
Ryanair passengers were treated to an unexpected surprise by a man on the flight who wanted to spread kindness with a wonderful gesture and make it the “happiest plane in the sky”
A man flying with Ryanair carried out a random act of kindness for his fellow passengers (stock photo)(Image: JannHuizenga via Getty Images)
A spontaneous act of generosity on a Ryanair flight left passengers so moved that some were reduced to tears. Air travel often brings stories of seat disputes or complaints about fellow travellers, but one young man aimed to bring a wave of positivity aboard his Ryanair journey.
Staffordshire’s Sebbie Hall aspired to transform the aircraft into the “happiest plane in the sky.” In an attempt to “make someone a billionaire,” according to a crew member, Sebbie bought a scratchcard for every family group on the flight. A video on TikTok captures the moment Sebbie and the crew member distributed the cards to seated passengers.
One woman was visibly emotional, while another passenger gave Sebbie a handshake.
Despite living with a rare chromosome anomaly causing physical and communication challenges and learning disabilities, Sebbie continues to spread kindness.
The Ryanair crew member who helped Sebbie in distributing the scratchcards informed passengers that Sebbie has performed a random act of kindness daily for five years, beginning during lockdown to bring smiles to people’s faces.
He has raised more than £100,000 to aid disabled and disadvantaged children across the UK, earning him the title of UK kind hero last year.
The Ryanair staff member’s called for “an absolute round of applause” for Sebbie from passengers on board.
Another employee of the airline announced: “Sebbie wants to say ‘good luck strangers, no strings attached’ but if you win, could you please somehow let him know?” He doesn’t want your money but he’d like to know. Good luck!”
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The TikTok clip featured delighted passengers brandishing their scratch cards showing how pleased they were with Sebbie’s selfless act.
The post racked up more than 800 comments, as curious users asked about any potential winners.
Sebbie responded, confessing that he was unaware of any victories, “but they were happy.”
Many comments celebrated the sweet gesture, one user said: “The lady sobbing would be me if I was on this flight.”
An impressed Ryanair crew member added: “As Ryanair crew, this is incredible! What a smashing young man.”
A third chimed in: “Oh Sebbie, what a wonderful thing to do. We need more Sebbies in the world.”
Emotionally touched, a fourth viewer commented: “I’m definitely not laid in bed bawling my eyes out.” Someone else praised Sebbie as a “real life angel.”
In March 2022, the Sebbie Hall Kindness Foundation was set up, providing financial support for initiatives promoting inclusion for disabled young people and offering communication, arts, and sports resources to families and organisations working with individuals aged 16 and above.
Kindness is Sebbie’s ‘superpower’, and in a recent act of generosity, he distributed Fab ice lollies to passers-by on a warm day, telling them they are ‘fab’.
The display of might outside was unmistakable, as was the soft power inside the building.
President Donald J. Trump signed into law his nearly 900-page “Big Beautiful Bill” of tax breaks and spending cuts, affecting millions of Medicaid recipients while growing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency by thousands of workers.
Now that the bill is in effect, it’s a good time to review what’s actually inside.
Times and Associated Press reporters broke down what the passage of the bill means for the country.
Tax cuts take center stage
The BBB contains roughly $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, according to the Associated Press, and solidified the ones from Trump’s first term.
On the teeter-totter of benefits, the wealthiest families will enjoy an average of $12,000 in tax savings, while the poorest people will have to pay an additional $1,600 a year, on average, mainly due to reductions in Medicaid and food aid.
That analysis of the House version of the bill is is according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
While temporarily adding new tax deductions on tips, overtime and auto loans, the bill also adds a $6,000 deduction for older adults making less than $75,000 a year.
The child tax credit is bumped from $2,000 to $2,200, though millions of lower income families will still be unable to get the full credit.
Caps for state and local tax deductions, known as SALT, will quadruple to $40,000 for five years, offering some benefits to residents of higher-taxed states like California.
Businesses will get a break because they will immediately be able to write off 100% of the cost of equipment and research, which some experts say will boost economic growth.
Deportations, a border wall and missile defense
Another $350 billion is being allocated for border and national security, which includes spending on the U.S.-Mexico border and 100,000 migrant detention beds.
ICE will receive funding to offer $10,000 signing bonuses to new employees, with the aim of hiring 10,000 officers and agents.
Immigrants will fund some of these projects by paying new or increased fees, including when they apply for asylum.
In total, the Department of Defense will receive roughly $1 billion in new funding for border security.
Another $25 billion is being set aside for the U.S. to develop its own Israel-type of Iron Dome missile defense system, called the “Golden Dome.”
Clean energy gets pummeled
Previous tax breaks meant to create incentives for wind and solar energy are being hacked dramatically.
One incentive that will soon disappear is the electric vehicle tax break of $7,500 for new vehicles and $4,000 for used ones.
That was supposed to initially expire in 2032. Instead, the credit sunsets on Sept. 30.
How is this being paid for?
Republicans are cutting back on Medicaid and food assistance programs for those below the poverty line.
Many adults receiving Medicaid and food stamps, including those up to age 65, will now have to fulfill an 80-hour-a-month work requirement.
Medicaid patients will also have a new $35 co-payment to contend with.
About 71 million Americans use Medicaid, and 40 million benefit from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, commonly known as food stamps.
The CBO estimates that 11.8 million Americans will become uninsured by 2034, and 3 million more will not qualify for SNAP due to the changes.
AUSTIN, Texas — The Major League Soccer game between LAFC and Austin FC was postponed Saturday because of inclement weather.
“The decision was made due to severe weather impacting the safety of travel in Central Texas and with guidance from relevant local authorities,” Austin FC said in a statement.
A new date for the match at Q2 Stadium will be announced at a later date.
In the statement, Austin also expressed sympathy for those affected by flooding in the state, which has claimed the lives of at least 43 people. There are also 27 children missing from a summer camp.
“Our hearts go out to the families, friends, and neighbors who have lost their lives, and we urge that those who are able find their way to safety,” the club said. “We also want to express our gratitude and respect for those who are responding to the crisis with life saving measures.”
Football clubs should pay towards the £70 million cost of policing their matches in the UK, the head of the Metropolitan Police has told the BBC.
Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, the country’s most senior police officer, asked why organisers of events that require policing to support their security do not pay for it, and said there should be “more of a polluter pays approach”.
Sir Mark’s comments came as he called for the creation of 12 to 15 bigger police forces as part of his plans for radical police reforms.
He told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme the current model of 43 forces across England and Wales needed to be reduced to cope with increased demand and overstretched funding.
Sir Mark said reforms would help police forces, including the Met, “make the best use of the money we’ve got”.
As part of funding concerns, the commissioner also cited the £70 million cost of policing football in the UK, most of which is spent on Premier League matches in England.
“Why isn’t the organiser paying for that, rather than local communities who lose their resources to go to football matches?” he said.
A move to make football clubs pay was previously suggested to the Times by the head of the UK’s football policing unit and later criticised by sports bodies who said it could threaten events and lead to increased ticket prices.
Writing in the Sunday Times, Sir Mark suggested the number of police forces needed to be reduced by two-thirds and said bigger forces would be better able to utilise modern technology.
He added the 43-force model designed in the 1960s had not been “fit for purpose” for at least two decades and hindered “the effective confrontation of today’s threats”.
Speaking to the BBC, the commissioner referred to an “invisible spaghetti” behind police forces that was responsible for “sucking resources and costs”.
“Lots of the smaller forces can’t actually do all the services locally and they’re having to club together and run complicated collaborations,” he said, adding that with “bigger local forces and one national body” they could “cut away” with a lot of that cost and waste.
The commissioner was questioned by Kuenssberg on the likelihood of the reform going ahead, referencing similar Labour plans in 2006 which were dropped following significant opposition.
Sir Mark said reform was “essential”, adding that spending on policing and public safety has dropped substantially over the last decade or more.
“I don’t see that changing dramatically. We’ve got to make the best use of every pound the government can give to us,” he added.
Put to him that he had warned he would have to de-prioritise some crimes, and asked what the force will not investigate, Sir Mark said: “So I don’t want policing activity to fall off the list, and I know that the mayor and the home secretary have pushed hard for the most police funding that we can get.
“We are determined to improve day in and day out experiences of Londoners on the streets. We can only do that if we focus ruthlessly on police work.”
A MAN in a new relationship was concerned to learn that his girlfriend has friends and an active social life.
Tom has been dating Jo, not their real names, for a month but has only just realised that her vague mentions of ‘friends’ are actually real people he is expected to meet.
He said: “Oh, what? Not again. This is exactly what happened with the last two.
“I want a girlfriend, not a whole bunch of other people to have to meet up and drink with and pretend to be interested in even though they clearly prefer Jo’s company to mine.
“Honestly I’ve no objection to her having them in theory but they’re getting in the way of us spending time together, like when I texted ‘U up?’ at 11pm on Monday and she was with her mate ‘Hayley’, whoever that is.
“I haven’t invited her to five-a-side with the lads, so why would she think I needed to know about all her personal life? What’s next?”
Logan added: “She’s said her brother’s coming over Saturday and we could go for a drink if I wanted. I’ve texted back ‘I think this is getting too complicated.’”
Hold on to your water glasses because you can hear the plot of “Jurassic World Rebirth” coming from a mile away. A ragtag group of adventurers land on a remote island planning to exploit dinosaur DNA — and some of them get chomped. The only new thing about this seventh installment is the cast: Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali as freelance covert operatives Zora and Duncan, Jonathan Bailey as paleontologist Henry Loomis and Rupert Friend as a pharmaceutical titan named Martin who wants to treat coronary disease by harvesting samples from three massive reptile hearts. Gauging by the response every time this sequel has come up in conversation, it should have been subtitled: “This Time There’s No Chris Pratt.”
I went to the theater with my own heart as big as a Titanosaur’s. (Goofy name aside, it’s a real herbivore and you’ll see a herd of them.) After all, screenwriter David Koepp wrote the screenplay for the 1993 original and the franchise’s latest director, Gareth Edwards, made a serviceable “Godzilla.”
Alas, Edwards has made “Godzilla” again. “Jurassic World Rebirth” is a straight monster movie with zero awe or prestige. It’s incurious about its stomping creatures and barely invested in the humans either, tasking Johansson and most of the cast to play fairly similar shades of hardy and determined. You’ll see a nod to the 1962 adventure “One Million Years B.C.” (you know: Raquel Welch, fur bikini), which is more of a template than a kitschy joke. There isn’t a shiver of surprise about who gets the chomp, only disappointment that the fatalities are so bloodless — they’re mild even for PG-13.
Some of this ennui is by design. The narrative backdrop is that after 32 years of who-coulda-thunk-it rampages, humankind is tired of dealing with the darned things. Audiences can relate.
To establish this miserliness of spirit, the present-day scenes start with a Brooklyn traffic jam caused by an escaped sauropod lying collapsed and dying on the side of the road. It’s the same species that transformed Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum into giddy, glassy-eyed children, only now drained of all majesty. Some creep has even spray-painted its hindquarters with graffiti.
Plenty more dinosaurs will arrive in the film’s two-hour-plus running time: swooping Quetzalcoatlus, splashing Mosasaurus, frilled Dilophosaurus and a bitty Whoknowswhatasaurus that Ali’s Duncan keeps in a bamboo birdcage by his boat dock in Suriname. But the only one that made me feel anything was that pathetic sauropod abandoned like a sidewalk sofa.
A beat later, “Rebirth” cuts to a shuttering museum exhibit where workmen are trashing their copy of that iconic banner that reads “When dinosaurs ruled the earth.” The original “Jurassic Park” inspired a generation of kids to dream of scientific discoveries. This era is throwing in the towel.
The action sets sail with a hefty oceanic sequence where Edwards leans on his expertise in sluicing fins and underwater ka-thumps. Our heroes also scoop up a rather ungrateful shipwrecked family: yachtsman Reuben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), his daughters Isabella (Audrina Miranda) and Teresa (Luna Blaise) and Teresa’s good-for-nothing boyfriend, Xavier (David Iacono). Initially, we can’t wait for Iacono’s louse to get eaten but we come to treasure his comic relief, particularly when Xavier wanders off to relieve himself next to a nest of velociraptors. Danger lurks and the doofus just stands around with his johnson in his hand.
Eventually, the crew makes land on Ile Saint-Hubert near French Guinea, where a genetic dinosaur laboratory was evacuated 17 years earlier. In an opening flashback, we learn that a technician concocting a freakish T. rex littered a Snickers wrapper, causing a chain reaction that within two minutes resulted in the snacker becoming a snack.
You may consider yourself inured to product placement. Even so, its use here is brazen and strange, from this case of death by chocolate to an “E.T.” embezzlement in which Isabella befriends a baby Aquilops with red rope licorice. There’s even a scene in an abandoned convenience store which, despite a decade and a half left in the custody of pesky dinosaurs, the snack labels remain tidily pointed toward the camera. At least that setting has a modified raptor pausing at a soda cooler to admire its reflection.
I don’t think Johansson and Ali will take as much pride in “Rebirth,” assuming they bother to watch it. Both get through the film without embarrassing themselves, in part because neither is very committed. Johansson’s tough security expert swaggers, Ali smiles and our sturdy goodwill for both actors keeps us from holding the movie against them. Early on, the two get one scene together where they put on a pretense of speaking in shorthand about the emotional costs of a career in Blackwater-style skulduggery. It has the air of a stretch before buckling in for a long haul flight.
This is composer Alexandre Desplat’s “Jurassic” debut and he dutifully reworks John Williams’ famous notes of wonder and yearning a few ways, like a subtle tinkling when Bailey’s strapping science geek imagines the joy of witnessing a dinosaur not in a zoo or a theme park, but in the wild. Bailey is a fine actor and his Loomis would be the soul of the movie if he wasn’t battling for screen time. He’s the only character who seems to like dinosaurs — everyone else sees them as dollar signs or boogeymen.
The series itself has gotten so bored with the beasties that it continues to invent new ugly mutants. “Rebirth” unleashes the Distortus rex — imagine a parakeet’s head on a bodybuilding cockroach. All the dinos struggle to feel convincing as they seem to change size every time you look at them (and the CG backdrops are chintzy). Yet, I still prefer the trusty regulars like the amphibious Spinosaurs, who resemble dog-paddling hellhounds, the pecking Quetzalcoatlus that gulps people like sardines and, of course, the Tyrannosaurus rex, now striped and able to hide in ways that defy physics but at least get an audible chortle.
“Rebirth” is a confounding title for a downbeat entry that’s mostly preoccupied by death and neglect. Who knows whether we’re at the head or tail of the Anthropocene, but the movie seems weary of our dominion. “I doubt if we make it to even 1 million,” Loomis admits, adding that he hopes to die in shallow silt so he can become a fossil too. With the franchise officially out of ideas, how about skipping to “Jurassic Park: One Million Years A.D.” so a futuristic species can resurrect us for some malevolent fun and games?
‘Jurassic World Rebirth’
Rated: PG-13, for intense sequences of violence/action, bloody images, some suggestive references, language and a drug reference
Naim Qassem says his group will not surrender or lay down weapons in response to Israeli threats, despite pressure on the group to disarm.
The Hezbollah chief says the Lebanese group remains open to peace, but it will not disarm or back down from confronting Israel until it ends its air raids and withdraws from southern Lebanon.
“We cannot be asked to soften our stance or lay down arms while [Israeli] aggression continues,” Naim Qassem told thousands of supporters gathered in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday for Ashura, an important day in the Shia Muslim calendar.
Ashura commemorates the 680 AD Battle of Karbala, in which Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, was killed after he refused to pledge allegiance to the Umayyad caliphate. For Shia Muslims, the day symbolises resistance against tyranny and injustice.
The Beirut area, a Hezbollah stronghold, was draped in yellow banners and echoed with chants of resistance as Qassem delivered his speech, flanked by portraits of his predecessor, Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed by Israel in September last year.
Israel launched a wide-scale assault on Lebanon on October 8, 2023 – a day after Palestinian group Hamas, which counts Hezbollah as an ally, stormed the Israeli territory, killing some 1,100 people and taking about 250 others captive.
The Hamas attack was immediately followed by Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The Israeli genocidal campaign was accompanied by a brutal blockade on entry of food and medical aid, bringing the enclave’s 2.3 million residents to the brink of starvation.
Israel’s simultaneous attack on Lebanon escalated into a full-scale war by September 2024, killing more than 4,000 people, including much of Hezbollah’s top leadership, and displacing nearly 1.4 million, according to official data. A United States-brokered ceasefire nominally ended the war in November.
However, since the ceasefire, Israel has continued to occupy five strategic border points in southern Lebanon and has carried out near-daily air strikes that it says aim to prevent Hezbollah from rebuilding its capabilities. Those strikes have killed some 250 people and wounded 600 others since November, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Health.
“How can you expect us not to stand firm while the Israeli enemy continues its aggression, continues to occupy the five points, and continues to enter our territories and kill?” Qassem said in his video address.
“We will not be a part of legitimising the occupation in Lebanon and the region. We will not accept normalisation,” he added, in an apparent response to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar saying his government was “interested” in such a move.
Qassem said Hezbollah’s weapons would not be on the negotiating table unless Israel “withdraws from the occupied territories, stops its aggression, releases the prisoners, and reconstruction begins”.
“Only then,” he said, “will we be ready for the second stage, which is to discuss national security and defence strategy.”
On Saturday, Israeli drones carried out four strikes on southern Lebanese towns, killing one person and wounding several others. Most of the Israeli attacks have targeted areas near the border, but Israeli warplanes have also hit residential neighbourhoods in Beirut’s southern districts, causing panic and mass evacuations.
Qassem’s speech came as the US envoy to Turkiye and Syria, Tom Barrack, was expected in Beirut on Monday. Lebanese officials say the US has demanded that Hezbollah disarm by the end of the year. Israel has warned it will continue striking Lebanon until the group is disarmed.
But Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has repeatedly called on the US and its allies to rein in Israel’s attacks, noting that disarming Hezbollah is a “sensitive, delicate issue”.
Arsenal are in talks to sign Sporting’s prolific Sweden striker Viktor Gyokeres.
As first revealed by BBC Sport on Thursday, Arsenal have had a clear focus on completing a deal for the 27-year-old in recent days and the club are now advancing in their pursuit of the forward.
Discussions over personal terms for Gyokeres and with the Lisbon club over a transfer fee are accelerating, with Arsenal’s sporting director Andrea Berta leading negotiations.
A deal has not been finalised though, and there remains a degree of caution at Arsenal until agreements are reached.
Gyokeres has been heavily linked with a move to the Premier League after scoring 97 goals in 102 matches during two seasons in Portugal.
But the movement towards a deal for Gyokeres represents a significant development in Arsenal’s summer transfer business given a new striker was the club’s main priority.
It is expected that Gyokeres, who spent three years as a youngster at Brighton and whose career took off during two seasons at Coventry City, would cost about £70m.
French officials allege China’s foreign embassies leading charge to undermine Rafale sales after India-Pakistan conflict in May, says report.
French military and intelligence officials claim China has deployed its embassies to spread doubts about the performance of French-made Rafale jets following the aerial combat between India and Pakistan in May.
The Associated Press news agency, quoting French officials, reported on Sunday that Beijing is working to harm the reputation and sales of France’s flagship fighter aircraft.
French officials say they have found that the Chinese embassies are trying to undermine Rafale sales by persuading countries that have already ordered the jets, notably Indonesia, not to buy them and instead choose Chinese-made fighters.
The AP report said the findings were shared by a French military official on condition that they should not be named.
Four days of India-Pakistan clashes in May were the most serious confrontation in years between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, which included air combat involving dozens of aircraft from both sides.
Military officials and researchers have since been digging for details of how Pakistan’s Chinese-made military hardware – particularly warplanes and air-combat missiles – fared against weaponry that India used in air strikes on Pakistani targets, notably French-made Rafale fighters.
Sales of Rafales and other armaments are big business for the French defence industry and help Paris to strengthen ties with other nations, including in Asia, where China is becoming the dominant regional power.
India confirms losses
Pakistan says its air force downed five Indian planes during the fighting, including three Rafales. French officials say that prompted questions about their performance from countries that have bought the fighter from French manufacturer Dassault Aviation.
India acknowledged aircraft losses but did not say how many. French air force chief General Jerome Bellanger said he has seen evidence pointing to just three aircraft losses – a Rafale, a Russian-made Sukhoi and a Mirage 2000, which is an earlier generation French-made jet.
Debris of an aircraft lies in the compound of a mosque at Pampore in Pulwama district of Indian-administered Kashmir, May 7, 2025 [Dar Yasin/AP Photo]
It was the first known combat loss of a Rafale, which France has sold to eight countries. “Of course, all those, the nations that bought Rafales, asked themselves questions,” Bellanger said.
French officials have been battling to protect the plane from reputational damage, pushing back against what they allege was a concerted campaign of Rafale-bashing and disinformation online from Pakistan and its ally, China.
They say the campaign included viral posts on social media, manipulated imagery showing supposed Rafale debris, AI-generated content and video-game depictions to simulate supposed combat.
More than 1,000 social media accounts newly created as the India-Pakistan clashes erupted also spread a narrative of Chinese technological superiority, according to French researchers who specialise in online disinformation.
French claims
Military officials in France say they have not been able to link the online Rafale-bashing directly to the Chinese government.
But the French intelligence service said Chinese embassy defence attaches echoed the same narrative in meetings they held with security and defence officials from other countries, arguing that Indian Rafale jets performed poorly and promoting Chinese-made weaponry.
The defence attaches focused their lobbying on countries that have ordered Rafales and other potential customer nations that are considering purchases, the intelligence service said. It said French officials learned of the meetings from nations that were approached.
The French Ministry for Armed Forces said the Rafale was targeted by “a vast campaign of disinformation” that “sought to promote the superiority of alternative equipment, notably of Chinese design”.
“The Rafale was not randomly targeted. It is a highly capable fighter jet, exported abroad and deployed in a high-visibility theatre,” the French ministry wrote on its website.
Asked by AP to comment on the alleged effort to dent Rafale’s appeal, the Ministry of National Defence in Beijing said: “The relevant claims are pure groundless rumours and slander. China has consistently maintained a prudent and responsible approach to military exports, playing a constructive role in regional and global peace and stability.”
Dassault Aviation has sold 533 Rafales, including 323 exported to Egypt, India, Qatar, Greece, Croatia, the United Arab Emirates, Serbia and Indonesia. Indonesia has ordered 42 planes and is considering buying more.
Sunday Brunch was back on our screens this morning (6th July) and it wasn’t long before hosts Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer were forced to address some ‘tragic news’
Sunday Brunch presenter Tim Lovejoy brought the programme to an abrupt stop shortly after it began, as he delivered some “tragic news”.
The television favourite made his comeback on our screens this Sunday (6th July) morning with co-host Simon Rimmer, as they invited a host of celebrities into the renowned kitchen.
But just a few minutes into the broadcast, Tim paused to pay tribute to Diogo Jota. The Liverpool footballer was tragically killed in a car crash, with the devastating news breaking less than two weeks following his nuptials.
In the wake of the tragedy, fans have been sharing their deep sorrow, prompting Tim and Simon to dedicate Sunday Brunch’s opening segment to the late sportsman, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Addressing the audience at home and those present in the studio, Tim said: “Before we get on with the show, there has been some really tragic news this week about Diogo Jota, and being a Liverpool fan…”
Tim and Simon dedicating the opening segment of Sunday brunch to the football star(Image: Channel 4)
Simon interjected: “It’s shocking. Pete and I were talking in makeup. A human tragedy, a 28-year-old man, who has just got married and had two young children. I think the way in which the football community has come together is very very powerful.”
Directing the conversation towards Peter Hooton, one of the day’s guests, Simon asked: “What do you think Pete?”
The singer, a devoted Liverpool supporter, expressed: “The way people have rallied round. It’s an absolutely devastating thing for everyone, for the family, for Liverpool fans and just football in general. You can see that with the Club World Cup, with all the tributes in America.”
Former footballer Stuart Douglas confessed: “I couldn’t believe it when I saw it and it just overshadowed everything and that became more important than anything else.”
The Liverpool footballer was tragically killed in a car accident(Image: Getty Images)
He elaborated: “More important than the World Cup, more important than the Euros because someone has lost their life and for the brothers I cannot imagine how his family are feeling. It’s so sad.”
Tim chimed in with a heartfelt message: “Yes, thoughts go out to their family.”
Tragically, the 28 year old and his brother were involved in a fatal car crash in Spain, with the Guardia Civil stating: “The information we have so far is that the car, which was a Lamborghini, was in a road traffic accident and left the road due to a tyre blowout while overtaking.”
They added: “It was in the early hours, 00:30 BST, in the municipality of Cernadilla in the province of Zamora. The car caught on fire, and the two occupants were killed.”
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California is a state of contradictions. We lead the nation in environmental regulation, tout our clean energy goals with pride and champion a rapid transition away from fossil fuels. Yet despite this green image, our economy — and daily life — still very much run on oil and gas.
Fossil fuels account for roughly 8% of California’s $3 trillion economy — but that’s the first 8%. “If you don’t get that first 8%,” I tell my students, “You don’t get the rest of our economy.” Oil powers everything from trucks to tractors to construction equipment. Without it, you can’t build roads or bridges or get goods to grocery stores. Without refined petroleum products, you don’t make cement, steel, plastics or even the lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles.
Despite these realities, California energy policy is leading to the dismantling of the critical infrastructure that supports this essential system. Our state has lost more than 30 refineries in the last few decades. We are now down to just nine major gasoline-producing facilities, and two more are scheduled to close in the coming months, Phillips 66 in Los Angeles and Valero in the Bay Area. Those two plants represent 284,000 barrels of daily production and account for nearly 18% of the state’s total refining capacity.
California sits atop one of the largest untapped reserves in the world, the Monterey Shale. But because of policy and regulation, we import most of our oil — including from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Guyana and Ecuador. California has also imported oil from Russia and Venezuela. Ironically, we have among the world’s cleanest refining standards, but we import fuel from places with lower environmental and labor protections.
All of this is enabled by a supply chain that’s more vulnerable than most realize. We have no major pipelines bringing oil to California. We rely on ships — many from Asia — that take 30 to 40 days to deliver fuel. These foreign tankers pollute at staggering rates. Stunningly, because that pollution happens over international waters, it doesn’t get counted by the California Air Resources Board. Closing a refinery in California and importing more fuel causes a net increase in pollution. And adding to our reliance on foreign oil is risky when global instability is rising.
This isn’t just a self-inflicted energy crisis in the making. It’s also a national security issue.
Military bases in California, Nevada and Arizona depend heavily on in-state refineries for specialized aviation fuel and other petroleum products essential to operations. As refineries shut down, the supply chain narrows, increasing reliance on imports from Asia and elsewhere. These gaps create unacceptable logistical and strategic risks for U.S. military readiness in the western states.
And remember, there are estimated to be hundreds of millions of barrels of accessible oil under our feet. Yet we’ve built an energy model that depends on importing foreign oil and, now, a growing dependency on foreign-supplied gasoline.
This isn’t just unsustainable. It’s also borderline irresponsible.
California’s energy transition is inevitable — but how we get there matters. We can’t pretend fossil fuels are already gone. We still need them for the economy, for mobility, for national security and for the working people who can’t afford a $60,000 electric vehicle or a solar roof.
We have the tools, talent and resources to lead a responsible energy transition, one that leverages our in-state production, balances environmental stewardship with economic pragmatism and protects our most vulnerable communities along the way.
But we have to be honest about where we are. And right now, fossil fuels still power the Golden State.
Especially because of coming refinery rules and a new tax taking effect in July, Californians are set to pay the highest gas prices in the nation. Our prices are inflated by a web of taxes, fees and boutique regulations that has grown thicker and more expensive over time. Even if oil dropped to $0 per barrel and refining were free, Californians would still be paying about $1.82 a gallon at the pump — $1.64 of that from state taxes and fees, plus 18 cents in federal gas tax.
According to CalTrans, Californians drive about 1,200 miles a month. If you’re a working-class Californian and gas goes up 50 cents per gallon, that adds about $500 in annual fuel costs. And because you pay for that with after-tax dollars, you’d need to earn at least an extra $750 just to cover it.
That matters to a construction worker commuting 60 miles a day in a pickup truck. It matters to a single mom cleaning homes across the city or a physical therapist driving to house calls. Most of these people can’t easily trade in their vehicles for Teslas and dodge gasoline hikes. Consumer analysis as noted in CalMatters indicates that the majority of EVs are bought by higher-income Californians living in areas such as Atherton, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and Mountain View.
The people hit hardest by rising gasoline prices are the ones least able to afford alternatives. For most Californians, there is no viable mass transit available. People are just stuck spending more and more of their income on the gas-powered vehicles their lives depend on. Our state’s policies punish people for not being able to adapt quickly enough to a green future that’s not yet built. It’s a regressive tax masquerading as environmental action.
Until California realistically bridges the gap between aspirational climate goals and equitable policy execution, the state’s lofty environmental vision will continue to rest uneasily on the shoulders of its most vulnerable.
The new state excise tax adding about 2 cents a gallon went into effect July 1, and CARB is pushing for a new low-carbon fuel standard that could add and potentially major costs to the prices of gasoline and diesel fuel. No one knows exactly how much — not even the board proposing the rules.
At a recent Assembly oversight hearing, CARB officials were asked if they analyzed their regulations for consumer impacts. Their answer: We don’t calculate that. The room went silent. It was a stunning admission — regulators pushing policy without running the math.
No wonder we’re seeing an exodus of working families. By layering new and unclear costs on top of an already overstretched system, CARB and other regulators are creating what could become a self-inflicted economic shock.
And for what? Not environmental progress. California will be forced to source more and more fuel from overseas — at greater environmental and economic cost. By relying on polluting sources and carbon-intensive shipping, we’ve simply outsourced our emissions to other countries. California is not reducing emissions. We are exporting them.
If this sounds reckless, it is. But more than that, it’s unjust.
These policies are not burdening the wealthy. They’re crushing the working class. They’re forcing families to choose between gas and groceries, between job access and housing stability. They’re also outsourcing jobs overseas.
And they’re being implemented by unelected bureaucrats who, by their own admission in testimony before California lawmakers, haven’t calculated the real-world impact.
The people of California deserve better than this. They deserve honesty, transparency and policy grounded in economic realism, not ideological fantasy and environmental dogma. If recent and coming changes become a tipping point, it won’t be because of some unpredictable global event. It will be because we chose not to look before we leaped.
The path forward demands a pause, a recalibration and a return to common sense. Otherwise, this summer could mark not just another price hike — but the day we began losing control of our energy future.
Michael A. Mische is an associate professor at USC’s Marshall School of Business. A former KPMG principal, he is the author of eight books on business and strategy.
CHICAGO — Bobby Jenks, a two-time All-Star closer and World Series champion with the Chicago White Sox, has died, the team announced Saturday. He was 44.
The White Sox said Jenks died Friday in Sintra, Portugal, where he was being treated for adenocarcinoma, a form of stomach cancer.
Jenks helped the White Sox win the 2005 World Series, saving four games in six appearances during the postseason. He was an All-Star in each of the next two seasons while saving 41 games in 2006 and 40 in 2007.
He retired 41 consecutive batters in 2007, matching a record for a reliever.
“He was embarrassing guys, good hitters, right away,” former White Sox first baseman Paul Konerko said in a video tribute.
Jenks saved 173 games for the White Sox from 2005 to 2010 before finishing his career with 19 appearances in 2011 for the Boston Red Sox. For his career, he was 16-20 with a 3.53 ERA and 351 strikeouts in 348 appearances, all in relief.
“He and his family knew cancer would be his toughest battle, and he will be missed as a husband, father, friend and teammate,” White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. “He will forever hold a special place in all our hearts.”
Jenks began his career with the Angels, who drafted the hard-throwing right-hander in the fifth round of the 2000 amateur draft. He was eventually placed on assignment and picked up by the White Sox.
He is survived by his wife, Eleni Tzitzivacos, their two children, Zeno and Kate, and his four children from a previous marriage, Cuma, Nolan, Rylan and Jackson.
“As a teammate,” said former White Sox outfielder Aaron Rowand, “he was the best.”
LANGLEY, Va. — At CIA headquarters, beyond the handsome granite seal on its lobby floor and a wall of stars carved in honor of the agency’s fallen, experts are at work in the complex tasks of spycraft: weapons-trained officers, computer engineers, virologists, nuclear scientists.
But there are also storytellers, makeup artists, theater majors and ballerinas — Americans who probably never thought their skills would match the needs of a spy agency. Yet the CIA thought otherwise.
Though it rarely gets the spotlight, there’s a revolving door of talent between the country’s premiere intelligence agency and its entertainment industry, with inspiration and influence often working both ways.
The agency is targeting professionals at the intersection of arts and technology for recruitment, CIA officers told The Times, and continues to cooperate with entertainment giants to inspire the next generation of creative spies.
This month, the agency is assisting a New York Times bestselling author on a young adult book examining the foundations of the CIA laid during World War II. Scenes from a major upcoming film production were just shot at its headquarters, a logistical feat at an intelligence campus tucked away in the Virginia suburbs behind rings of security perimeters, where officers roam cracking down on Bluetooth signals. Another popular streaming TV series will be back at Langley to film this fall.
But their collaboration goes far deeper than that, officers said. Creative minds in Hollywood and the entertainment industry have long had a role at the Central Intelligence Agency, devising clever solutions to its most vexing problems, such as perfecting the art of disguise and harnessing a magician’s ability to cast spellbinding illusions. Indeed, in the 1950s, a magician from New York named John Mulholland was secretly contracted with the agency to write a manual for Cold War spies on trickery and deception.
These days, the officers said, creative skills are more valuable than ever in such a technologically complex world.
“You’re only limited by your own imagination — don’t self-censor your ideas,” said Janelle, a CIA public affairs officer, granted the ability to speak under her first name at the request of the agency. “We’re always looking for partners.”
An elusive history
David McCloskey, a former CIA analyst and author of “Damascus Station” and other spy thrillers, offered several theories on why the agency might be interested in fostering a robust relationship with Hollywood, calling it “a two-way street.”
“There definitely have been operational applications for espionage,” McCloskey said. “It’s probably the exception to the rule, but when it happens, it’s compelling.”
It’s easy to see why CIA leaders would be interested in Hollywood, he said, in part to shape impressions of the agency. “But their bread and butter business is receiving people to give secrets,” he continued, “and part of that is getting close to people in power.”
“The closer you are to Hollywood,” McCloskey added, “that’s a really interesting ‘in’ to having a lot of interesting conversations.”
The CIA’s mission to rescue six American diplomats out of Tehran during the Iran hostage crisis, the subject of the film “Argo,” featured a detailed ruse centered around a fabricated movie project.
(CIA Museum)
Some of the CIA’s most iconic missions — at least the declassified ones — document the agency’s rich history with Hollywood, including Canadian Caper, when CIA operatives disguised themselves as a film crew to rescue six American diplomats in Tehran during the Iran hostage crisis, an operation moviegoers will recognize as the plot of “Argo.”
“‘Argo’ was almost too far-fetched to even believe,” said Brent, an in-house historian at CIA headquarters. “It’s almost more Hollywood than Hollywood.”
Canadian Caper was both inspired by Hollywood and relied on Hollywood talent. Agent Tony Mendez had been a graphic artist before joining the agency and helping craft the mission.
Another key player was John Chambers, the makeup artist who gave the world Spock’s ears on “Star Trek” and won an honorary Oscar for his trailblazing simian work on “Planet of the Apes.” He was awarded the CIA’s Intelligence Medal of Merit for his work on the covert rescue effort.
The Los Angeles Times broke the story in February 1975 that business tycoon Howard Hughes had lent his ship, the Glomar Explorer, as cover for a CIA operation.
(CIA Museum)
Just a few years before, Howard Hughes, then one of the world’s richest men and a tycoon in media, film and aerospace, agreed to work with the CIA to provide cover for an effort by the agency to lift a sunken Soviet nuclear submarine off the floor of the Pacific Ocean.
Deploying Hughes’ Glomar Explorer under the guise of mineral extraction, the CIA was able to salvage most of the sub before The Times broke a story blowing its cover — “the story that sunk our efforts,” in CIA parlance.
And another mission was made possible thanks to a device invented by a professional photographer — a gadget that later became the inspiration of an over-the-top scene in the blockbuster Batman film “The Dark Knight.”
In Project Coldfeet, CIA agents gathering intelligence on a Soviet station erected on a precariously drifting sheet of ice in the Arctic needed a reliable extraction plan. But how does one pick up an agent without landing a plane on the ice?
The answer was the “skyhook”: Balloons lifted a tether attached to a harness worn by an agent high into the sky. A CIA plane snagged the tether and carried the agent off to safety.
In “The Dark Knight,” Batman makes a dramatic escape deploying the same kind of balloon-harness contraption.
‘The superhero spy’
CIA leadership often says that acceptance into the agency is harder than getting into Harvard and Yale combined. Yet the agency still has challenges recruiting the type of talent it is looking for — either in reaching those with unconventional skills, or in convincing them that they should leave secure, comparatively well-paid, comfortable jobs for a secretive life of public service.
It is no easy task managing work at the agency, especially with family, CIA officials acknowledged. Deciding if and when to share one’s true identity with their children is a regular struggle. But Janelle said the CIA tells potential recruits there is a middle ground that doesn’t require them to entirely abandon their existing lives.
A professional photographer working with the CIA invented what became known as the “skyhook,’ a surface-to-air recovery system used by the spy agency in an Arctic mission and later featured in the 2008 Batman film “The Dark Knight.”
(CIA Museum)
“People don’t have to leave their companies to help their country and to work with CIA,” Janelle said. “People come here because they love their country and know they can make a difference.”
Janelle is part of a team that regularly engages with creatives who want to portray the agency or spies as accurately as possible.
“Some producers and directors reach out and they do care about accuracy,” Janelle said, “but they ultimately pick and choose what’s going to work for the film or show.”
CIA analysts have also been known to leave the agency for opportunities in the entertainment industry, writing books and scripts drawing from their experiences — so long as they don’t track too closely with those experiences.
Joe Weisberg, the writer and producer behind the television series “The Americans,” and McCloskey, who is working on a fifth novel focused on U.S. and British intelligence, were both part of the agency before launching their writing careers. And as CIA alumni, they had to submit their works for review.
“There’s a whole publication and classification-review process,” Brent said.
That process can be a bit of a slog, McCloskey said: “They quite literally redact in black ink.”
But it is far more difficult for nonfiction writers than novelists.
“There could be bits of tradecraft, or alluding to assets, or people at the agency, which are clear no’s,” McCloskey said. “But with novels, it’s not that hard to write them in a way to get them through the review board.”
Try as they may, studios often repeat the same falsehoods about the CIA, no matter how often they are corrected. Officers and agents aren’t the same thing, for one. And as disappointing as it may be for lovers of spy thrillers, the majority of officers are not licensed or trained to carry weapons.
“One thing Hollywood often gets wrong is the idea that it’s one officer doing everything, when it’s really a team sport here,” Janelle said.
Jessica Chastain, center, plays a member of the elite team of spies and military operatives who secretly devoted themselves to finding Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the Columbia Pictures 2012 film “Zero Dark Thirty.”
(Jonathan Olley / Sony Pictures)
“Zero Dark Thirty,” an Oscar-winning film released in 2012 about the hunt for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was widely acclaimed but criticized by some within the intelligence community over the credit it lends a single, fictional CIA analyst for tracking him down.
McCloskey sympathizes with the writer’s dilemma.
“I can’t have 35 people on a team. From a storytelling standpoint, it just doesn’t work,” he said, acknowledging that little in the field of espionage is accurately captured on screen, even though there are plenty of former spies available to work as consultants.
“There’s no lack of sources to get it right,” he said. “It’s that the superhero spy — the Jack Ryans and Jason Bournes — are pretty much the Hollywood representation of espionage.”
However inaccurately glorified and dramatized, the agency hopes that Hollywood’s work can keep the revolving door moving, inspiring atypical talent to join its ranks.
“We have architects, carpenters, people who worked in logistics,” Brent said. “People might not realize the range of skill sets here at CIA.”
And as Canadian Caper showed, sometimes spycraft requires stagecraft. It’s possible that what’s needed most to complete the next mission won’t be oceanography or data mining, but costume design. Or maybe another ballerina.
Afghans given Sunday deadline amid concerns over security after conflict with Israel, but humanitarian groups warn that mass deportations could further destabilise Afghanistan.
Millions of Afghan migrants and refugees in Iran have been asked to leave or face arrest as a deadline set by the government comes to an end.
Sunday’s target date neared amid public concerns over security in the aftermath of the 12-day conflict with Israel, which the United States joined with air strikes on Iran’s uranium-enrichment facilities.
But humanitarian organisations warned that mass deportations could further destabilise Afghanistan, one of the world’s most impoverished nations. Iran is home to an estimated 4 million Afghan migrants and refugees, and many have lived there for decades.
In 2023, Tehran launched a campaign to expel foreigners it said were living in the country “illegally”. In March, the Iranian government ordered that Afghans without the right to remain should leave voluntarily by Sunday or face expulsion.
Since then, more than 700,000 Afghans have left, and hundreds of thousands of others face expulsion. More than 230,000 departed in June alone, the United Nations International Organization for Migration said.
The government has denied targeting Afghans, who have fled their homeland to escape war, poverty and Taliban rule.
Batoul Akbari, a restaurant owner, told Al Jazeera that Afghans living in Tehran were hurt by “anti-Afghan sentiment”, adding that it was heartbreaking to see “people sent away from the only home they have ever known”.
“Being born in Iran gives us the feeling of having two homelands,” Akbari said. “Our parents are from Afghanistan, but this is what we’ve always known as home.”
Mohammad Nasim Mazaheri, a student whose family had to leave Iran, agreed: “The deportations have torn families apart.”
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that Iran deported more than 30,000 Afghans on average each day during the war with Israel, up from about 2,000 earlier.
“We have always striven to be good hosts, but national security is a priority, and naturally, illegal nationals must return,” Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Tuesday.
Late last month, the UNHCR said, of the 1.2 million returning Afghans, more than half had come from Iran after its government set its deadline on March 20.
“They are coming in buses, and sometimes, five buses arrive at one time with families and others, and the people are let out of the bus, and they are simply bewildered, disoriented and tired and hungry as well,” Arafat Jamal, the UNHCR representative in Afghanistan said as he described the scene at a border crossing.
“This has been exacerbated by the war, but I must say it has been part of an underlying trend that we have seen of returns from Iran, some of which are voluntary, but a large portion were also deportations.”
Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from Tehran, said Afghans have increasingly been blamed for economic hardships, shortages and social issues in Iran.
“These accusations have been fuelled by political rhetoric and social media campaigns following 12 days of conflict between Iran and Israel and claims that Israel has recruited Afghans as spies,” he said.
Over the last several months, a deep sense of unease has settled over laboratories across the United States. Researchers at every stage — from graduate students to senior faculty — have been forced to shelve experiments, rework career plans, and quietly warn each other not to count on long-term funding. Some are even considering leaving the country altogether.
This growing anxiety stems from an abrupt shift in how research is funded — and who, if anyone, will receive support moving forward. As grants are being frozen or rescinded with little warning and layoffs begin to ripple through institutions, scientists have been left to confront a troubling question: Is it still possible to build a future in U.S. science?
On May 2, the White House released its Fiscal Year 2026 Discretionary Budget Request, proposing a nearly $18-billion cut from the National Institutes of Health. This cut, which represents approximately 40% of the NIH’s 2025 budget, is set to take effect on Oct. 1 if adopted by Congress.
“This proposal will have long-term and short-term consequences,” said Stephen Jameson, president of the American Assn. of Immunologists. “Many ongoing research projects will have to stop, clinical trials will have to be halted, and there’ll be the knock-on effects on the trainees who are the next generation of leaders in biomedical research. So I think there’s going to be varied and potentially catastrophic effects, especially on the next generation of our researchers, which in turn will lead to a loss of the status of the U.S. as a leader in biomedical research.“
In the request, the administration justified the move as part of its broader commitment to “restoring accountability, public trust, and transparency at the NIH.” It accused the NIH of engaging in “wasteful spending” and “risky research,” releasing “misleading information,” and promoting “dangerous ideologies that undermine public health.”
National Institutes of Health.
(NIH.gov)
To track the scope of NIH funding cuts, a group of scientists and data analysts launched Grant Watch, an independent project that monitors grant cancellations at the NIH and the National Science Foundation. This database compiles information from public government records, official databases, and direct submissions from affected researchers, grant administrators, and program directors.
As of July 3, Grant Watch reports 4,473 affected NIH grants, totaling more than $10.1 billion in lost or at-risk funding. These include research and training grants, fellowships, infrastructure support, and career development awards — and affect large and small institutions across the country. Research grants were the most heavily affected, accounting for 2,834 of the listed grants, followed by fellowships (473), career development awards (374) and training grants (289).
The NIH plays a foundational role in U.S. research. Its grants support the work of more than 300,000 scientists, technicians and research personnel, across some 2,500 institutions and comprising the vast majority of the nation’s biomedical research workforce. As an example, one study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that funding from the NIH contributed to research associated with every one of the 210 new drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration between 2010 and 2016.
Jameson emphasized that these kinds of breakthroughs are made possible only by long-term federal investment in fundamental research. “It’s not just scientists sitting in ivory towers,” he said. “There are enough occasions where [basic research] produces something new and actionable — drugs that will save lives.”
That investment pays off in other ways too. In a 2025 analysis, United for Medical Research, a nonprofit coalition of academic research institutions, patient groups and members of the life sciences industry, found that every dollar the NIH spends generates $2.56 in economic activity.
A ‘brain drain’ on the horizon
Support from the NIH underpins not only research, but also the training pipeline for scientists, physicians and entrepreneurs — the workforce that fuels U.S. leadership in medicine, biotechnology and global health innovation. But continued American preeminence is not a given. Other countries are rapidly expanding their investments in science and research-intensive industries.
If current trends continue, the U.S. risks undergoing a severe “brain drain.” In a March survey conducted by Nature, 75% of U.S. scientists said they were considering looking for jobs abroad, most commonly in Europe and Canada.
This exodus would shrink domestic lab rosters, and could erode the collaborative power and downstream innovation that typically follows discovery. “It’s wonderful that scientists share everything as new discoveries come out,” Jameson said. “But, you tend to work with the people who are nearby. So if there’s a major discovery in another country, they will work with their pharmaceutical companies to develop it, not ours.”
At UCLA, Dr. Antoni Ribas has already started to see the ripple effects. “One of my senior scientists was on the job market,” Ribas said. “She had a couple of offers before the election, and those offers were higher than anything that she’s seen since. What’s being offered to people looking to start their own laboratories and independent research careers is going down — fast.”
In addition, Ribas, who directs the Tumor Immunology Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, says that academia and industry are now closing their door to young talent. “The cuts in academia will lead to less positions being offered,” Ribas explained. “Institutions are becoming more reluctant to attract new faculty and provide startup packages.” At the same time, he said, the biotech industry is also struggling. “Even companies that were doing well are facing difficulties raising enough money to keep going, so we’re losing even more potential positions for researchers that are finishing their training.”
This comes at a particularly bitter moment. Scientific capabilities are soaring, with new tools allowing researchers to examine single cells in precise detail, probe every gene in the genome, and even trace diseases at the molecular level. “It’s a pity,” Ribas said, “Because we have made demonstrable progress in treating cancer and other diseases. But now we’re seeing this artificial attack being imposed on the whole enterprise.”
Without federal support, he warns, the system begins to collapse. “It’s as if you have a football team, but then you don’t have a football field. We have the people and the ideas, but without the infrastructure — the labs, the funding, the institutional support — we can’t do the research.”
For graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in particular, funding uncertainty has placed them in a precarious position.
“I think everyone is in this constant state of uncertainty,” said Julia Falo, a postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley and recording secretary of UAW 4811, the union for workers at the University of California. “We don’t know if our own grants are going to be funded, if our supervisor’s grants are going to be funded, or even if there will be faculty jobs in the next two years.”
She described colleagues who have had funding delayed or withdrawn without warning, sometimes for containing flagged words like “diverse” or “trans-” or even for having any international component.
The stakes are especially high for researchers on visas. As Falo points out for those researchers, “If the grant that is funding your work doesn’t exist anymore, you can be issued a layoff. Depending on your visa, you may have only a few months to find a new job — or leave the country.”
A graduate student at a California university, who requested anonymity due to the potential impact on their own position — which is funded by an NIH grant— echoed those concerns. “I think we’re all a little on edge. We’re all nervous,” they said. “We have to make sure that we’re planning only a year in advance, just so that we can be sure that we’re confident of where that funding is going to come from. In case it all of a sudden gets cut.”
The student said their decision to pursue research was rooted in a desire to study rare diseases often overlooked by industry. After transitioning from a more clinical setting, they were drawn to academia for its ability to fund smaller, higher-impact projects — the kind that might never turn a profit but could still change lives. They hope to one day become a principal investigator, or PI, and lead their own research lab.
Now, that path feels increasingly uncertain. “If things continue the way that they have been,” they said. “I’m concerned about getting or continuing to get NIH funding, especially as a new PI.”
Still, they are staying committed to academic research. “If we all shy off and back down, the people who want this defunded win.”
Rallying behind science
Already, researchers, universities and advocacy groups have been pushing back against the proposed budget cut.
On campuses across the country, students and researchers have organized rallies, marches and letter-writing campaigns to defend federal research funding. “Stand Up for Science” protests have occurred nationwide, and unions like UAW 4811 have mobilized across the UC system to pressure lawmakers and demand support for at-risk researchers. Their efforts have helped prevent additional state-level cuts in California: in June, the Legislature rejected Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed $129.7-million reduction to the UC budget.
Earlier this year, a coalition of public health groups, researchers and unions — led by the American Public Health Assn. — sued the NIH and Department of Health and Human Services over the termination of more than a thousand grants. On June 16, U.S. District Judge William Young ruled in their favor, ordering the NIH to reinstate over 900 canceled grants and calling the terminations unlawful and discriminatory. Although the ruling applies only to grants named in the lawsuit, it marks the first major legal setback to the administration’s research funding rollback.
Though much of the current spotlight (including that lawsuit) has focused on biomedical science, the proposed NIH cuts threaten research far beyond immunology or cancer. Fields ranging from mental health to environmental science stand to lose crucial support. And although some grants may be in the process of reinstatement, the damage already done — paused projects, lost jobs and upended career paths — can’t simply be undone with next year’s budget.
And yet, amid the fear and frustration, there’s still resolve. “I’m floored by the fact that the trainees are still devoted,” Jameson said. “They still come in and work hard. They’re still hopeful about the future.”
