Month: July 2025

Brits on Spain holidays should take note of new rules around Euro notes in holiday hotspots including the Canaries as you could find your cash is refused

Brits planning Spain holidays this year will no doubt be looking to withdraw some cash for shopping, food and souvenirs but there’s a new rule in place you’ll need to be aware of.

Although nowadays most people will favour card payments over cash, the latter can still be useful especially if you’re out and about and find yourself in a shop or restaurant that doesn’t accept card.

However, UK holidaymakers heading to Spain, the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands may want to take note of new rules regarding Euro notes.

Firstly, if you can, avoid withdrawing €500 notes at the currency exchange or bank. The European Central Bank and the Bank of Spain officially ceased production of these notes in 2016, but a small quantity of these purple notes are still in circulation. Although they are legal tender, their usage is becoming increasingly challenging, reports Bristol Live. The hefty value of the notes, along with their link to illicit activities, has resulted in many establishments refusing to accept them.

READ MORE: Spain launches new nationwide register – exactly what it means for Brit touristsREAD MORE: ‘I went to ‘world’s most beautiful village’ but nearby town was much prettier’

If you withdraw money and receive a €500 note, insist on smaller denominations instead. You can also take large notes to a Spanish bank for exchange.

Of course when it comes to cash, most of us will opt for smaller amounts at a time, but if you’re thinking of using up some older €50 notes from previous holidays, you may want to get rid of these quickly. This is because Spain’s central bank has started phasing out old and damaged €50 notes from circulation. This scheme, which kicks off this summer, aims to bolster the security of cash transactions and thwart fraud.

The new changes are being rolled out, so if you’ve got a holiday booked this summer you won’t suddenly find that all of your cash isn’t accepted. However if you do have some Euros lying around the house, you may want to consider using them up on your next holidays.

It’s also worth checking the state of your banknotes, especially if they’ve been crammed into a purse at the bottom of a drawer or suitcase for a few months. That’s because as part of the new rollouts, old and damaged banknotes will also be gradually withdrawn from circulation.

This could mean that tourists might find their worn or torn notes being rejected by cashiers. When you’re swapping your holiday money, make sure any €50 notes are in tip-top shape, and ask for replacements if you spot any damage.

Tattered notes can be exchanged at any Bank of Spain branch or selected partner banks, but don’t forget to bring some form of identification like your passport. They won’t exchange counterfeit or deliberately damaged notes.

For those who usually toss their spare change into a jar after their holiday, it’s worth noting that some countries may soon ditch one and two cent Euro coins too. Countries such as Ireland, Belgium, and Italy have already ceased using these coins, rounding up cash transactions to the nearest five cents instead, and they’re no longer being produced. Meanwhile a number of other Eurozone countries are doing the same,

Do you have a travel story you want to share with us? Email us at [email protected].

Neighbours cast member Annie Jones has taken to social media to document her final journey to Ramsay Street as she films scenes as Jane Harris for the last ever episdoe

Neighbours legend Annie Jones has taken to social media to post a selfie from her last journey to Ramsay Street.

The 58-year-old actress plays Jane Harris in the long-running Australian soap which is coming to an end for the second time.

Annie logged into her Instagram page to share a snap in the car which she captioned: “On our way to Ramsay. St for the LAST time.”

Unsurprisingly, her emotional update was inundated with supportive message from fans who are heartbroken that the show is ending.

One fan penned: “So sad it is ending again. Enjoy your last day of filming and I really hope it will be saved again and come back. I have watched it since the beginning and I’m 72 now and not ashamed to say I love it. So going to miss you all, I watch it at 5.30 like the old days. Hope you all find work again but still hope Neighbours will get saved.”

Another added: “That is so sad, sending best wishes to all of you wonderful cast and crew who have given us so much through our favourite show. This cannot be the end #saveneighbours.”

A third person agreed: “Let’s really really hope it is not goodbye forever,it is too good a show not to be saved, thank you and all the cast and crew over the years for giving us fans so much joy when watching.”

A fourth person wrote: “This is so sad. I’ve watched right from the beginning. Still hoping somewhere it will be picked up xx.”

It was announced earlier this year that Neighbours had been axed just two years after moving to Amazon Freevee.

The daytime TV staple was saved by the streaming platform in 2022 just months after its finale aired on Channel 5, who had axed it earlier that year.

In late 1985, original producers Seven Network dropped it after eight months due to poor ratings.

However, ival channel Network 10 saw potential and it returned two months later, with a huge publicity campaign and introduction of mega stars Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Guy Pearce as new teenage characters Charlene, Scott and Mike.

Kylie and Jason returned for the finale on Channel 5 in 2022 but they will not appear in the last episode of the Amazon Freevee era, it has been confirmed.

The last episode is set to air in December and shoe producer Jason Herbison has previously opened up about what to expect for the last instalment.

“I’ve already written it, and I would say that I definitely am not going to try and compete with that finale’, he told Back to the Bay, noting the 2022 episode.

“I haven’t picked up the phone to Jason [Donovan] and Kylie [Minogue] and Guy [Pierce] again. I’ve left them alone, but it will be very similar in tone.

“I think it’s a very warm, hopeful tone, but it’s also a little bit different. There are things about it that I think might remind people of the previous finale, but it’s also very different.

Neighbours is available to stream on Amazon Freevee

Published on
04/07/2025 – 10:57 GMT+2

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The AI chipmaker Nvidia’s shares hit a new all-time high on Thursday, briefly giving the company a market capitalisation of $3.92 trillion (€3.33tn), the highest in history for any company.

This surpassed Apple’s record of $3.91tr set in December 2024, even though Nvidia’s market capitalisation dipped once again below this level at market close. 

The chipmaker’s shares traded as high as $160.98 at their peak on Thursday, before the price dipped below this level, placing the market capitalisation at around $3.89tr when daily trading wrapped up.

Tech companies’ shares benefitted from a better-than-expected nonfarm payrolls report in the US, an indicator of a resilient US economy.

This optimism was boosted by forecasts that businesses would continue to spend on AI advances, boosting demand for AI chips.

Nvidia shares are up more than 50% in just less than two months. Analysts expect that the company will break the valuation record soon and retain its elevated share price by the close of the trading day.

“Chip giant Nvidia is on track to achieve a new closing high,” said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, adding that the “AI revolution is still intact”.

AJ Bell head of financial analysis Danni Hewson added that, “After all the gloomy predictions that this might be the year the AI bubble bursts, Nvidia’s found another gear. The chipmaker is on track to smash a coveted record and become the world’s most valuable company ever.”

The value of Nvidia currently is more than three times the total market capitalisation of the stock market in Spain and more than four times that of the Italian stock exchange.

July 4 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming U.S. independence from Britain.

In 1826, in one of history’s notable coincidences, former U.S. Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died, 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted.

In 1863, Union troops defeated Confederate forces in a battle at Vicksburg, Miss.

In 1895, the poem “America the Beautiful,” by Wellesley College Professor Katherine Lee Bates, was published. The poem with music by Samuel A. Ward was published as a song in 1910.

In 1910, American boxer Jack Johnson took on former undefeated heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries, beating him in 15 rounds, to stake his claim as the as the greatest heavyweight in the world.

File Photo by Library of Congress/UPI

In 1939, Lou Gehrig gave his “luckiest man on the face of the Earth” speech in announcing his retirement from the New York Yankees. Gehrig had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a debilitating motor neuron disease. United Press writer Jack Cuddy wasn’t impressed with the Yankees’ “Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day,” saying doctors made up his ailment to explain his unexpected retirement.

In 1976, Israeli commandos raided the airport at Entebbe, Uganda, rescuing 103 hostages held by Arab militants.

In 1986, more than 250 sailing ships and the United States’ biggest fireworks display honored the Statue of Liberty in its 100th birthday year.

In 1995, the British Parliament reconfirmed John Majors as prime minister.

In 1997, NASA’s Pathfinder reached Mars to become the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the planet in more than two decades. Pathfinder returned more than 16,000 images and some 8.5 million measurements back to Earth before its final transmission on September, 27, 1997.

File Photo courtesy of NASA

In 2006, North Korea test-launched seven ballistic missiles in what it called “routine military exercises,” causing a firestorm of anger among its neighbors and the United States.

In 2010, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus took command of the Afghan war, acknowledging the “tough fight” ahead for NATO forces while pledging “We are in this to win.”

In 2013, the Statue of Liberty reopened to the public nine months after it was closed because of damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.

In 2018, Hong Kong’s high court ruled unanimously that same-sex couples are entitled to spousal visas like married heterosexual couples.

In 2022, seven people died and dozens others were injured in a mass shooting during an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Ill., near Chicago. Far-right activist Robert Crimo III, then 22, was charged with murder for the shooting.

A participant of the March Fourth rally to ban assault weapons holds a sign for Eduardo Uvaldo, a victim of the Highland Park shooting, outside the Senate office buildings at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on July 13, 2022. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI

EXPLAINER

MPs in the UK have voted to proscribe the group as a terrorist organisation, but what has it actually done?

Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom voted overwhelmingly this week to proscribe the campaign group, Palestine Action, as a terrorist organisation under anti-terrorism laws, putting the group on a par with armed groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).

A draft order to amend the Terrorism Act 2000 to do this, brought by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, passed through the House of Commons on Wednesday by 385 votes to 26.

Cooper tabled the order in parliament just days after Palestine Action activists broke into RAF Brize Norton, the largest station of the Royal Air Force in Oxfordshire, and sprayed two military planes with red paint, resulting in millions of pounds of criminal damage, according to police.

On Friday, the High Court in London is hearing a challenge to the order. Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori has asked for a temporary block on the legislation.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the Airbus Voyager incident in an X post, saying: “The act of vandalism committed at RAF Brize Norton is disgraceful.”

Palestine Action describes itself as “a pro-Palestinian organisation which disrupts the arms industry in the United Kingdom with direct action”. It says it is “committed to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”.

The government claims it is a “terrorist” outfit.

But what has the group actually done?

What happened at Brize Norton?

In the highest-profile move made by the group so far, activists sprayed red paint into the turbine engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft, used for air-to-air refuelling.

According to Manaal Siddiqui, a spokesperson for Palestine Action, “These [Royal Air Force] aircraft can be used to refuel and have been used to refuel Israeli fighter jets.” He added that planes from Brize Norton fly to the British air force base in Cyprus, from where they are “dispatched on spy missions and that intelligence is shared with the Israeli government and the Israeli air forces”.

What else has the group done?

Since its founding in July 2020, Palestine Action (PA) has carried out hundreds of protests across the UK aimed at disrupting the operations of companies they accuse of profiting from Israeli military operations, with a particular focus on the Israeli arms manufacturer, Elbit Systems.

Palestine Action members’ tactics typically involve breaking into facilities, chaining themselves to machinery, daubing buildings with red paint and destroying equipment.

They include the following incidents:

• The group launched a series of break-ins at Elbit’s Ferranti site in Oldham, near Manchester in northern England. Between 2020 and early 2022, the site was repeatedly occupied and vandalised, culminating in Elbit closing the facility in January 2022 – an outcome Palestine Action declared as a major victory.
• In 2021, the group occupied the Leicester drone factory operated by UAV Tactical Systems, a subsidiary of Elbit. Activists chained themselves to the roof for nearly a week. Ten people were arrested, but later acquitted.
• Throughout 2022, PA’s actions became more frequent. In April, they blockaded another Elbit site in Braunstone, Leicestershire. In June, they broke into the Thales UK factory in Glasgow and caused more than 1 million pounds ($1.37m) of damage with smoke bombs and property destruction. Five activists were jailed.
• Following the launch of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, Palestine Action intensified its efforts. They targeted the BBC’s headquarters in London with red paint to protest against the broadcaster’s perceived pro-Israel bias, and blockaded facilities of arms manufacturers including Lockheed Martin, the US aerospace and defence group which has a base in London, and Leonardo, the defence and security group.
• Palestine Action has also expanded internationally. In November 2023, its newly launched US branch occupied the roof of an Elbit facility in Merrimack, New Hampshire, with three activists arrested and later released with misdemeanour charges.
• In August 2024, activists drove a van into Elbit’s headquarters in Bristol, stormed the building and caused extensive damage. At about the same time, they spray-painted the Ministry of Defence, in central London, red and defaced a statue of Arthur Balfour with tomato ketchup inside the House of Commons. Balfour was a former Conservative prime minister who, as serving foreign secretary in 1917, authored the Balfour Declaration which supported the establishment of a Jewish Homeland in Palestine.
• In June 2025, the group carried out one of its most provocative actions to date: infiltrating RAF Brize Norton, the UK’s largest airbase. Activists used electric scooters to breach security and vandalised military aircraft with red paint.

What does Palestine Action say about being banned?

In a statement posted on its X profile, Palestine Action said: “The real crime here is not red paint being sprayed on these warplanes, but the war crimes that have been enabled with those planes because of the UK government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide.”

The group added that the government’s move could risk criminalising legitimate protest.

The statement also accused Starmer of “hypocrisy” since the prime minister, back in 2003, supported protesters who broke into an RAF base to stop US bombers heading to Iraq. At the time, Starmer was a lawyer.

“I think it’s a very knee-jerk reaction from an embarrassed government, and it’s an overblown reaction,” Siddiqui said.

Siddiqui said it was unprecedented for Palestine Action to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation. “The majority of the proscribed groups are international. The majority of them take actions in very, very different ways. Palestine Action would be a complete outlier. It’s a draconian approach for the government to stifle protests that they just don’t like. It’s genuinely terrifying for anyone who cares about civil liberties in the UK.”

In all, 81 groups are proscribed in the UK under the Terrorism Act 2000. They include political movements with armed wings such as Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as armed groups like ISIS (ISIL), al-Qaeda and Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan.

Merit Street Media, the TV network launched last year by talk show host Phil McGraw, has filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors and is suing its distribution partner, Trinity Broadcasting Network.

McGraw’s company filed the suit Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court claiming Fort Worth-based Christian media firm Trinity, or TBN, failed to meet its obligations to provide studio space and secure TV stations and pay TV distributors to carry Merit.

McGraw, who hosted the successful syndicated talk show “Dr. Phil” for 21 years, entered a joint venture in 2023 with Trinity, which agreed to carry Merit on its TV stations across the country and provide production services.

But according to the suit, McGraw is funding the struggling venture out of his pocket — shelling out $25 million over six months. The company laid off 40 employees in June and had to terminate its TV deal with Professional Bull Riders after failing to pay its rights fee.

Merit Street’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing lists the company’s liabilities at $100 million to $500 million. The document, filed in Texas, gives the same range for the value of Merit Street’s assets. Like TBN, Merit Street is based in Fort Worth.

TBN did not respond to a request for comment on the suit.

Merit Street carries “Dr. Phil Primetime,” in which the host delivers right-of-center political commentary as well as guest interviews. The program was put on summer hiatus when the June layoffs were announced.

McGraw recently attracted attention when the show had a camera embedded with Immigration and Customs Enforcement during immigration raids in Los Angeles.

McGraw, once a practicing psychologist, became a self-help guru propelled to fame by Oprah Winfrey, who hired him to help prepare her for a libel case brought by the Texas Beef Group in 1996. Since leaving his daily talk show, he has emerged as a political commentator who is supportive of President Trump.

Merit also has a nightly newscast and a true crime program featuring veteran legal commentator Nancy Grace.

The lawsuit claims Merit’s operations were hampered by TBN’s contracted technical services, which it described as “comically dysfunctional.” Teleprompters and monitors allegedly blacked out during live programs with a studio audience.

TBN was using “amateur” video editing software and Merit staff were unable to use phones in the studio due to poor cellphone coverage, the suit added.

McGraw’s company, Peteski Productions, launched Merit in a joint venture with TBN, which offers religious programming to its TV stations and affiliates across the country.

As the majority owner, TBN was required to provide all back office and production services for Merit. TBN was also obligated to cover the cost of distributing Merit’s programs on its outlets and pay TV providers, the suit said.

The lawsuit claims TBN failed to provide that service, forcing Merit Street to enter its own agreements to get the network carried on TV stations and cable and satellite providers at a cost of $96 million. TBN’s failure to pay led to a number of TV stations to drop Merit Street programming.

The suit also claims TBN failed to deliver promised marketing and promotional services, only providing minimal social media advertising.

TBN missed a $5-million payment to Merit in July 2024, which led the partners to change the terms of their arrangement, the complaint said. Merit became the 70% owner, with TBN taking a 30% stake. But the suit claims TBN still failed to meet its contractual obligations.

The suit said that TBN’s failure to fund Merit forced McGraw and Peteski to provide $25.4 million to finance the network’s operations from December 2024 to May 2025.

The unarmed man was found in the central-west border section before being led to safety by South Korean troops.

A North Korean man has crossed the heavily fortified land border with South Korea and is now being held in custody, the South Korean military has confirmed.

The unarmed individual was located on Thursday in the central-west section of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), before being guided by South Korean troops to safety, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Seoul’s army carried out “a standard guiding operation to secure custody”, a process that involved a considerable number of soldiers, it said.

After the North Korean was detected early on Thursday morning, the task of bringing him to safety took about 20 hours to complete, the Joint Chiefs of Staff added.

He was mainly still during the day, with South Korean soldiers approaching him at night, it noted.

Seoul has not commented on whether it viewed the border crossing as a defection attempt.

There were no immediate signs of unusual military activity in North Korea, the South Korean army said.

Crossing between the two Koreas is relatively rare and extremely risky, as the border area is strewn with mines.

It is more common for defectors to first travel across North Korea’s border with China, before heading on to South Korea.

Last August, a North Korean soldier reportedly defected to the South and was taken into custody in the northeastern county of Goseong.

And then in April, South Korean troops fired warning shots after roughly 10 North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the military demarcation line. Pyongyang’s officers returned to their own territory without returning fire, Seoul said.

The crossing on Thursday comes a month after the liberal politician Lee Jae-myung was elected as the new South Korean president, following months of political chaos, which began with the conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol’s short-lived attempt to impose martial law in December.

Lee has taken a different stance from his predecessor on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, promising to “open a communication channel with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula through talks and cooperation”.

“Politics and diplomacy must be handled without emotion and approached with reason and logic,” he said on Thursday. “Completely cutting off dialogue is really a foolish thing to do.”

As part of his attempt to rebuild trust with his neighbour, Lee has banned loudspeaker broadcasts at the border and attempted to stop activists flying balloons with propaganda into North Korea.

However, it remains to be seen whether Kim will cooperate.

In response to Yoon’s decision to strengthen military alliances with Washington, DC, and Tokyo, Kim called South Korea his country’s “principal enemy” last January.

Diplomatic efforts have stalled on the Korean Peninsula since the collapse of denuclearisation talks between Washington and Pyongyang in 2019 during the first US President Donald Trump administration, after a series of Trump-Kim summits, globally watched spectacles that bore little concrete progress.

Spain has seen the most recent cases of the disease as experts say one activity ‘drastically increases’ the risk of catching it

New cases of a killer virus have been detected in holiday hotspots loved by British tourists – and experts have warned it could reach the UK. It’s been described as the current biggest threat to public health, after breaking out in Iraq and Namibia.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), has also caused two reported deaths in Pakistan – with several cases reported in Spain. Last week, insiders speaking to Parliament’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee revealed it was “highly likely” there could soon be cases in the UK.

In its most recent report the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said a case of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever was recetnyl reported in Spain with the illness ‘known to be circulating among animals in this region and human CCHF cases have been previously reported in the area.”

In the eight years to 2024 a total of 16 autochthonous CCHF cases have been reported in Spain with dates of disease onset between April and August. The province of Salamanca is a hotspot for CCHF, with 50% of the cases being exposed to ticks.

It adds that in certain conditions in Spain people are much more likely to catch Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever: “This risk drastically increases for people performing activities that expose them to tick bites (e.g. hunting, forestry work, hiking, animal surveillance).

The UK Heath Security Agency has said it is estimated that globally between 10,000 and 15,000 human infections, including approximately 500 fatalities, occur annually, although this is likely to be an underestimate as many cases.

Confirmed CCHF cases have been imported into the UK, including one fatal case in 2012 and one in 2014. In March 2022, a CCHF case was reported in the UK following an initial positive test result.

To prevent CCHF:

• Use DEET-containing insect repellent to prevent tick bites.
• Wear gloves, long sleeves, and pants when handling animals where CCHF is found.
• Avoid contact with body fluids of potentially infected animals or people.

“As a general precaution against CCHF, but also against other tick-borne diseases, people who may potentially be exposed to ticks should apply personal protective measures against tick bites. In 2023 experts speaking to Parliament’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee revealed it was “highly likely” there could soon be cases in the UK.

During the hearing, James Wood, head of veterinary medicine at Cambridge University, said CCHF could find its way to the UK “through our ticks, at some point”. The disease is caused by Nairovirus, a condition that is spread by ticks and according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and has a fatality rate of between 10 and 40 percent. Typically, the condition is found at small stages in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and in Asia, reports the Express. However, the disease could be expanding out of its usual territories and moving towards the likes of Britain and France due to climate change.

WHO noted CCHF was among its nine “priority diseases”, a system that lays bare the biggest public health risks. CCHF was first described in the Crimea in 1944, among soldiers and agricultural workers, and in 1969 it was recognised that the virus causing the disease was identical to a virus isolated from a child in the Congo in 1956. Humans (and possibly non-human primates) are the only animal species known to manifest severe clinical CCHF disease.

Symptoms of CCHF

Among the virus’ symptoms include headaches, high fever, back and joint pain, stomach ache, and vomiting. Red eyes, a flushed face, a red throat, and petechiae (red spots) on the palate are also common.

In severe cases, WHO warns, jaundice, mood swings and sensory perception are encountered. As the illness progresses, large areas of severe bruising, severe nosebleeds, and uncontrolled bleeding at injection sites can be seen, beginning on about the fourth day of illness and lasting for about two weeks.

In documented outbreaks of CCHF, fatality rates in hospitalised patients ranged from nine percent to as high as 50 percent. The long-term effects of CCHF infection have not been studied well enough in survivors to determine whether or not specific complications exist. However, recovery is slow.

Globally, there have been case reports, virological or serological evidence of human infection in at least 55 countries. In the European Region and its neighbouring countries, locally acquired human cases and/or outbreaks have been reported from Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Russia, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine. Spain officially reported its first autochthonous case in August 2016, the first in Western Europe, following their first detection of CCHFV infected ticks in 2010. At the end of October 2023, French officials reported the detection of CCHFV in H. marginatum ticks collected from cattle in the eastern Pyrénées, which was the first time the presence of the virus in tick populations had been confirmed in the country.

NEW YORK — Natasha Cloud scored 11 of her 23 points in the third quarter and sparked a huge run to lead the New York Liberty to an 89-79 victory over the Sparks on Thursday night.

Breanna Stewart added 17 points and 14 rebounds and Sabrina Ionescu had 20 points for New York (12-5).

The defending champion Liberty trailed 53-42 midway through the third before Cloud and Ionescu got going. Cloud’s three-point play sparked a 13-0 run and then Ionescu scored 10 straight points for New York to give the Liberty a 63-59 advantage.

New York extended its lead to 69-59 by the end of the period. The Sparks (5-13) cut it to five with 3:30 left before Leonie Fiebich hit a three-pointer to seal the win.

Dearica Hamby scored 25 points to lead the Sparks, who got a boost with the return of Rae Burrell. She saw her first action since injuring her knee in the opener. She checked in late in the first quarter and played 12 minutes, finishing with five points.

The game also marked the debut of Julie Vanloo, whom the Sparks picked up off waivers two hours before tip-off. She came in early in the second quarter and played two minutes.

New York was still missing star forward Jonquel Jones, who has been sidelined with a sprained ankle. Jones told reporters Wednesday that she’s progressing well, but didn’t want to put a timetable on her return. The Liberty welcomed back Fiebich, who had been playing for Germany in the EuroBasket tournament over the last few weeks.

The Sparks built a 41-37 halftime lead behind 10 points from Hamby. Stewart had 11 points and seven rebounds.

Liberty guard Marine Johannes had two standout plays in the first half. She hit a three-pointer off one foot as the shot clock ran out, and later made a no-look, behind-the-back pass to Stewart for a layup.

Here are the key events on day 1,226 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is how things stand on Friday, July 4:

Fighting

• Russia launched a record 539 drones, 11 ballistic and cruise missiles at Ukraine overnight, according to Ukraine’s air force.
• The military said its air defences shot down 270 drones while 208 more were redirected by the army or were drone simulators lacking warheads.
• The attacks on Kyiv injured at least 23 people, damaging railway infrastructure and setting buildings and cars on fire, authorities said.
• The latest overnight attack was one of the largest yet, and Russia will not stop its strikes without large-scale pressure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
• Russia’s air defence units destroyed 48 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
• Ukraine launched a drone attack on the Sergiyev Posad district near Moscow, injuring one person and leaving parts of the religiously significant centre without power, the head of the district said.
• Ukraine’s drone attack on Russia’s Rostov region killed at least one woman and forced the evacuation of dozens of people from their homes, the acting governor said.

Weapons

• Zelenskyy said he hoped to speak with his United States counterpart, Donald Trump, about the supply of US weapons to Ukraine.
• In a phone call on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump did not discuss the US decision to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine, Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said.

Politics and diplomacy

• Trump said he made no progress during his phone call with Putin, who reportedly reiterated he would stop his invasion only if the conflict’s “root causes” were tackled.
• Trump also said he was planning to discuss the conflict with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy on Friday.

Julie

Great ships

Getty Images

Famous landmarks

Classic TV characters

Vintage trains

SSPL/Getty Images

A mobile phone?

Getty Images

Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway left ITV viewers distracted on Friday

Good Morning Britain star Kate Garraway left fans distracted as they all said the same thing on Friday (July 4).

On today’s episode of the popular ITV programme, Kate and her co-host Rob Rinder delivered the latest news from across the UK and globally.

They provided updates from Liverpool following the tragic car crash that claimed the lives of the club’s striker, Diogo Jota, and his younger brother. They also discussed the Home Office’s new initiative aimed at safeguarding town centres from crime and anti-social behaviour.

Kate and Rob also chatted with Sophie Ellis-Bextor about her newest album, and previewed the Oasis comeback tour, which kicks off in Cardiff tonight, reports the Manchester Evening News.

However, several viewers found themselves distracted at the beginning of the show when they noticed that Kate was donning the same outfit that featured in a recent ITV fashion segment.

On yesterday’s (July 3) This Morning, fashion guru Gok Wan hosted a makeover reveal alongside presenters Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard.

They introduced Stephanie to the catwalk, who had begun job hunting after being self-employed. She was also preparing for her stepdaughter’s wedding, and was hoping to find the perfect ensemble for the event.

Gok styled Stephanie in a matching blazer and trousers from Monsoon, adorned with a vibrant leafy print.

The £90 blazer and £80 trousers were complemented with a £49.99 Mango clutch bag, and £22 sandals from River Island.

“It’s got to be about comfort, you’re going off to a wedding. You’re going to be doing everything from dancing, sitting, standing… A pyjama suit is very on trend at the moment,” Gok explained.

Kate’s outfit on GMB caught viewers’ attention this morning, sparking a flurry of social media posts as ITV fans noticed the connection.

One viewer pointed out on X (formerly Twitter): “Kate’s outfit is the one Gok dressed one of his makeover models in on This Morning yesterday!”

Another chimed in: “I’m sure Kate’s outfit was used on a makeover on #ThisMorning the other day?”

A third complimented: “That outfit really suits Kate. It’s the one from This Morning’s fashion segment yesterday.”

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV1 and ITVX at 6am

Joypurhat/Dhaka, Bangladesh, and New Delhi/Kolkata, India – Under the mild afternoon sun, 45-year-old Safiruddin sits outside his incomplete brick-walled house in Baiguni village of Kalai Upazila in Bangladesh, nursing a dull ache in his side.

In the summer of 2024, he sold his kidney in India for 3.5 lakh taka ($2,900), hoping to lift his family out of poverty and build a house for his three children – two daughters, aged five and seven, and an older 10-year-old son. That money is long gone, the house remains unfinished, and the pain in his body is a constant reminder of the price he paid.

He now toils as a daily labourer in a cold storage facility, as his health deteriorates – the constant pain and fatigue make it hard for him to carry out even routine tasks.

“I gave my kidney so my family could have a better life. I did everything for my wife and children,” he said.

At the time, it didn’t seem like a dangerous choice. The brokers who approached him made it sound simple – an opportunity rather than a risk. He was sceptical initially, but desperation eventually won over his doubts.

The brokers took him to India on a medical visa, with all arrangements – flights, documents, and hospital formalities – handled entirely by them. Once in India, although he travelled on his original Bangladeshi passport, other documents, such as certificates falsely showing a familial relationship with the intended recipient of his kidney, were forged.

His identity was altered, and his kidney was transplanted into an unknown recipient whom he had never met. “I don’t know who got my kidney. They [the brokers] didn’t tell me anything,” Safiruddin said.

By law, organ donations in India are only permitted between close relatives or with special government approval, but traffickers manipulate everything – family trees, hospital records, even DNA tests – to bypass regulations.

“Typically, the seller’s name is changed, and a notary certificate – stamped by a lawyer – is produced to falsely establish a familial relationship with the recipient. Forged national IDs support the claim, making it appear as though the donor is a relative, such as a sister, daughter, or another family member, donating an organ out of compassion,” said Monir Moniruzzaman, a Michigan State University professor and a member of the World Health Organization’s Task Force on Organ Transplantation, who is researching organ trafficking in South Asia.

Safiruddin’s story isn’t unique. Kidney donations are so common in his village of Baiguni, that locals know the community of less than 6,000 people as the “village of one kidney”. The Kalai Upazila region that Baiguni belongs to is the hotspot for the kidney trade industry: A 2023 study published in the British Medical Journal Global Health publication estimated one in 35 adults in the region has sold a kidney.

Kalai Upazila is one of Bangladesh’s poorest regions. Most donors are men in their early 30s lured by the promise of quick money. According to the study, 83 percent of those surveyed cited poverty as the main reason for selling a kidney, while others pointed to loan repayments, drug addiction or gambling.

Safiruddin said that the brokers – who had taken his passport – never returned it. He didn’t even get the medicines he had been prescribed after the surgery. “They [the brokers] took everything.”

Brokers often confiscate passports and medical prescriptions after the surgery, erasing any trail of the transplant and leaving donors without proof of the procedure or access to follow-up care.

The kidneys are sold to wealthy recipients in Bangladesh or India, many of whom seek to bypass long wait times and the strict regulations of legal transplants. In India, for example, only about 13,600 kidney transplants were performed in 2023 – compared with an estimated 200,000 patients who develop end-stage kidney disease annually.

Al Jazeera spoke with more than a dozen kidney donors in Bangladesh, all of whom shared similar stories of being driven to sell their kidneys due to financial hardship. The trade is driven by a simple yet brutal equation: Poverty creates the supply, while long wait times, a massive shortage of legal donors, the willingness of wealthy patients to pay for quick transplants and a weak enforcement system ensure that the demand never ceases.

The cost of desperation

Josna Begum, 45, a widow from Binai village in Kalai Upazila, was struggling to raise her two daughters, 18 and 20 years old, after her husband died in 2012. She moved to Dhaka to work in a garment factory, where she met and married another man named Belal.

After their marriage, both Belal and Josna were lured by a broker into selling their kidneys in India in 2019.

“It was a mistake,” Josna said. She explained that the brokers first promised her five lakh taka (about $4,100), then raised the offer to seven lakh (around $5,700) to convince her. “But after the operation, all I got was three lakh [$2,500].”

Josna said she and Belal were taken to Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences in Kolkata, the capital of India’s West Bengal state, where they underwent surgery. “We were taken by a bus through the Benapole border into India, where we were housed in a rented apartment near the hospital.”

To secure the transplant, the brokers fabricated documents claiming that she and the recipient were blood relatives. Like Safiruddin, she doesn’t know who received her kidney.

Despite repeated attempts, officials at Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences have not responded to Al Jazeera’s request to comment on the case. Kolkata police have previously accused other brokers of facilitating illegal kidney transplants at the same hospital in 2017.

Josna said her passport and identification documents were handled entirely by the brokers. “I was OK with them taking away the prescriptions. But I asked for my passport. They never gave it back,” she said.

She stayed in India for nearly two months before returning to Bangladesh – escorted by the brokers who had her passport, and still held out the promise of paying her what they had committed to.

The brokers had also promised support for her family and even jobs for her children, but after the initial payment and a few token payments on Eid, they cut off contact.

Soon after he was paid – also three lakh taka ($2,500) – for his transplant, Belal abandoned Josna, later marrying another woman. “My life was ruined,” she said.

Josna now suffers from chronic pain and struggles to afford medicines. “I can’t do any heavy work,” she said. “I have to survive, but I need medicine all the time.”

‘In front of this gang’s gun’

In some cases, victims have become perpetrators of the kidney scam, too.

Mohammad Sajal (name changed), was once a businessman in Dhaka selling household items like pressure cookers, plastic containers and blenders through Evaly, a flashy e-commerce platform that promised big returns. But when Evaly collapsed following a 2021 scam, so did his savings – and his livelihood.

Drowning in debt and under immense pressure to repay what he owed, he sold his kidney in 2022 at Venkateshwar Hospital in Delhi. But the promised 10 lakh taka ($8,200) never materialised. He received only 3.5 lakh taka ($2,900).

“They [the brokers] cheated me,” Sajal said. Venkateshwar Hospital has not responded to repeated requests from Al Jazeera for comment on the case.

There was only one way he could earn what he had thought he would get for his kidney, Sajal concluded at the time: by joining the brokers to dupe others. For months, he worked as a broker, arranging kidney transplants for several Bangladeshi donors in Indian hospitals. But after a financial dispute with his handlers, he left the trade, fearing for his life.

“I am now in front of this gang’s gun,” he said. The network he left behind operates with impunity, he said, stretching from Bangladeshi hospitals to the Indian medical system. “Everyone from the doctors to recipients to the brokers on both sides of borders are involved,” he said.

Now, Sajal works as a ride-share driver in Dhaka, trying to escape the past. But the scars, both physical and emotional, remain. “No one willingly gives a kidney out of hobby or desire,” he said. “It is a simple calculation: desperation leads to this.”

Acknowledging the cross-border kidney trafficking trade, Bangladesh police say they are cracking down on those involved. Assistant Inspector General Enamul Haque Sagor of Bangladesh Police said that, in addition to uniformed officers, undercover investigators have been deployed to track organ trafficking networks and gather intelligence.

“This issue is under our watch, and we are taking action as required,” he said.

Sagor said that police have arrested multiple individuals linked to organ trafficking syndicates, including brokers. “Many people get drawn into kidney sales through these networks, and we are working to catch them,” he added.

Across the border, Indian law enforcement agencies, too, have cracked down on some medical professionals accused of involvement in kidney trafficking. In July 2024, the Delhi Police arrested Dr Vijaya Rajakumari, a 50-year-old kidney transplant surgeon associated with a Delhi hospital. Investigations revealed that between 2021 and 2023, Dr Rajakumari performed approximately 15 transplant surgeries on Bangladeshi patients at a private hospital, Indian officials said.

But experts say that these arrests are too sporadic to seriously dent the business model that underpins the kidney trade.

And experts say Indian authorities face competing pressures – upholding the law, but also promoting medical tourism, a sector that was worth $7.6bn in 2024. “Instead of enforcing ethical standards, the focus is on the economic advantages of the industry, allowing illegal transplants to continue,” said Moniruzzaman.

‘More transplants mean more revenue’

In India, the Transplantation of Human Organs Act (THOA) of 1994 regulates organ donations, permitting kidney transplants primarily between close relatives such as parents, siblings, children and spouses to prevent commercial exploitation. When the donor is not a near relative, the case must receive approval from a government-appointed body known as an authorisation committee to ensure the donation is altruistic and not financially motivated.

However, brokers involved in kidney trafficking circumvent these regulations by forging documents to establish fictitious familial relationships between donors and recipients. These fraudulent documents are then submitted to authorisation committees, which – far too often, say experts – approve the transplants.

Experts say the foundation of this illicit system lies in the ease with which brokers manipulate legal loopholes. “They fabricate national IDs and notary certificates to create fictitious family ties between donors and recipients. These papers can be made quickly and cheaply,” said Moniruzzaman.

With these falsified identities, transplants are performed under the pretence of legal donations between relatives.

In Dhaka, Shah Muhammad Tanvir Monsur, director general (consular) at Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the country’s government officials had no role in the document fraud, and that they “duly followed” all legal procedures. He also denied any exchange of information between India and Bangladesh on cracking down on cross-border kidney trafficking.

Over in India, Amit Goel, deputy commissioner of police in Delhi, who has investigated several cases of kidney trafficking in the city, including that of Rajakumari, the doctor, said that hospital authorities often struggle to detect forged documents, allowing illegal transplants to proceed.

“In the cases I investigated, I found that the authorisation board approved those cases because they couldn’t identify the fake documents,” he said.

But Moniruzzaman pointed out that Indian hospitals also have a financial incentive to overlook discrepancies in documents.

“Hospitals turn a blind eye because organ donation [in general] is legal,” Moniruzzaman said. “More transplants mean more revenue. Even when cases of fraud surface, hospitals deny responsibility, insisting that documentation appears legitimate. This pattern allows the trade to continue unchecked,” he added.

Mizanur Rahman, a broker who operates across multiple districts in Bangladesh, said that traffickers often target individual doctors or members of hospital review committees, offering bribes to facilitate these transplants.​ “Usually, brokers in Bangladesh are in touch with their counterparts in India who set up these doctors for them,” Rahman told Al Jazeera. “These doctors often take a major chunk of the money involved.”

Dr Anil Kumar, director of the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) – India’s central body overseeing organ donation and transplant coordination – declined to comment on allegations of systemic discrepancies that have enabled rising cases of organ trafficking.

However, a former top official from NOTTO pointed out that hospitals often are up against not just brokers and seemingly willing donors with what appear to be legitimate documents, but also wealthier recipients. “If the hospital board is not convinced, recipients often take the matter to higher authorities or challenge the decision in court. So they [hospitals] also want to avoid legal hassles and proceed with transplants,” this official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, organ trafficking networks continue to adapt their strategies. When police or official scrutiny increases in one location, the trade simply moves elsewhere. “There is no single fixed hospital; the locations keep changing,” Moniruzzaman said. “When police conduct a raid, the hospital stops performing transplants.

“Brokers and their network – Bangladeshi and Indian brokers working together – coordinate to select new hospitals at different times.”

Porous borders and the fallout

For brokers and hospitals that are involved, there is big money at stake. Recipients often pay between $22,000 and $26,000 for a kidney.

But donors get only a tiny fraction of this money. “The donors get three to five lakh taka [$2,500 to $4,000] usually,” said Mizanur Rahman, the broker. “The rest of the money is shared with brokers, officials who forge documents, and doctors if they are involved. Some money is also spent on donors while they live in India.”

In some cases, the deception runs even deeper: traffickers lure Bangladeshi nationals with promises of well-paying jobs in India, only to coerce them into kidney donations.

Victims, often desperate for work, are taken to hospitals under false pretences, where they undergo surgery without fully understanding the consequences. In September last year, for instance, a network of traffickers in India held many Bangladeshi job seekers captive, either forced or deceived them into organ transplants, and abandoned them with minimal compensation. Last year, police in Bangladesh arrested three traffickers in Dhaka who smuggled at least 10 people to New Delhi under the guise of employment, only to have them forced into kidney transplants.

“Some people knowingly sell their kidneys due to extreme poverty, but a significant number are deceived,” said Shariful Hasan, associate director of the Migration Programme at BRAC, formerly the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, one of the world’s largest nongovernmental development organisations. “A rich patient in India needs a kidney, a middleman either finds a poor Bangladeshi donor or lures someone in the name of employment, and the cycle continues.”

Vasundhara Raghavan, CEO of the Kidney Warriors Foundation, a support group in India for patients with kidney diseases, said that a shortage of legal donors was a “major challenge” that drove the demand for trafficked organs.

“Desperate patients turn to illicit means, fuelling a system that preys on the poor.”

She acknowledged that India’s legal framework was aimed at preventing organ transplants from turning into an exploitative industry. But in reality, she said, the law had only pushed organ trade underground.

“If organ trade cannot be entirely eliminated, a more systematic and regulated approach should be considered. This could involve ensuring that donors undergo mandatory health screenings, receive postoperative medical support for a fixed period, and are provided with financial security for their future wellbeing,” Raghavan said.

Back in Kalai Upazila, Safiruddin nowadays spends most of his time at home, his movements slower, his strength visibly diminished. “I am not able to work properly,” he said.

He says there are nights when he lies awake, thinking of the promises the brokers made, and the dreams they shattered. He doesn’t know when, and if, he will be able to complete the construction of his house. He thought the surgery would bring his family a pot of cash to build a future. Instead, his children have been left with an ailing father – and he with a sense of betrayal that Safiruddin can’t shake off. “They took my kidney and vanished,” he said.

Reporting for this story was supported by a grant from Journalists for Transparency.

When a group of armed, masked men was spotted dragging a woman into an SUV in the Fashion District last week, a witness called 911 to report a kidnapping.

But when Los Angeles Police Department officers arrived, instead of making arrests, they formed a line to protect the alleged abductors from an angry crowd of onlookers demanding the woman’s release.

The reported kidnappers, it turned out, were special agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Police Chief Jim McDonnell defended the officers’ response, saying their first responsibility was to keep the peace and that they had no authority to interfere with the federal operation.

In political and activist circles, and across social media, critics blasted the LAPD for holding back the crowd instead of investigating why the agents were arresting the woman, who was later found to be a U.S. citizen.

“What happened downtown on Tuesday morning certainly looked and felt like LAPD was supporting ICE,” said Mike Bonin, a former City Council member who is now executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State L.A.

Kimberly Noriega, left, speaks with her aunt, Anita Neri Lozano, at Veterans Memorial Park in Culver City on Sunday. The family was attending a news conference regarding the arrest of a beloved street vendor, Ambrocio Lozano.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

The incident was one of more than half a dozen in recent weeks in which the LAPD responded to federal immigration enforcement actions that were called in as kidnappings.

The presence of local police officers at the scenes — even if they are not actively assisting ICE — has led some city leaders to question the department’s role in an ongoing White House crackdown that has swept up hundreds of immigrants and sown fear across Southern California.

Incidents of impostors masquerading as law enforcement have compounded the situation, along with rumors — so far unverified — that federal authorities have enlisted bounty hunters or private security contractors for immigration arrests.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called coverage of one reported kidnapping a “hoax” in a post Tuesday on X and said: “ICE does not employ bounty hunters to make arrests.”

In a letter to the Police Commission last week, City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez said the LAPD should make sure federal agents who cover their faces and often use unmarked vehicles are who they claim to be.

“Our residents have a right to know who is operating in their neighborhoods and under what legal authority,” wrote Rodriguez, whose district includes the San Fernando Valley. “Allowing unidentified actors to forcibly detain individuals without oversight is not only reckless — it erodes public trust and undermines the very rule of law.”

She said that city leaders couldn’t allow “bounty-hunter-style tactics to take root in our city,” and urged the commission, the LAPD’s civilian policymaking body, to “develop proper legal and safe protocol that provide for officer safety, transparency and accountability to our communities.”

Residents stand behind a line of Vernon police officers after an immigration raid in the city of Bell on June 20.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

“This lack of identification is unacceptable. It creates an environment ripe for abuse and impersonation, enabling copycat vigilantes to pose as federal agents,” Rodriguez wrote.

State and local officials have proposed legislation to increase transparency around officer identification, but it’s unclear if the bills will become law — and whether they could actually be enforced against federal agents.

Police Commission President Erroll Southers said Tuesday that he and another commissioner met with City Council members to discuss the Police Department’s response to the Trump administration’s aggressive sweeps. Several commissioners questioned McDonnell about how LAPD officers are supposed to respond to reported kidnappings.

Los Angeles police officers stand guard as community members protest recent immigration raids in front of the Federal Building in downtown L.A. on June 18.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

McDonnell said the department created new guidelines that require a supervisor to respond and instruct LAPD officers to verify the purported ICE agents are legitimate, preserving a record of the interaction on body-worn cameras.

The chief said the top priority for officers is maintaining the safety of all those present, but ultimately officers have no authority to interfere with a federal operation.

According to a new poll from YouGov, a public opinion research firm, nearly three-quarters of Californians believe local police officers should arrest federal immigration agents who “act maliciously or knowingly exceed their authority under federal law.”

The same survey also found that a majority of state residents want to completely forbid California officials from collaborating with immigration enforcement and make it easier for citizens to file lawsuits when “authorities violate the due process rights of immigrants.”

The LAPD has long claimed that it has no role in civil immigration enforcement, but the department is now facing pressure from City Hall and beyond to go further and protect Angelenos who are undocumented.

A motion considered this week by the L.A. City Council would, among other things, limit the LAPD’s “support to agencies performing immigration enforcement.”

Eastside residents and others march in Boyle Heights on Tuesday as part of a series of “Reclaim Our Streets” actions being conducted in protest of federal immigration enforcement operations.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

LAPD officials say that the department has responded to at least seven calls in which people contacted 911 to report a kidnapping that turned out to be an ICE operation.

One emergency call came in when a group of masked federal Border Patrol agents was spotted staging near Dodgers Stadium last week, sparking a wave of speculation online about potential immigration enforcement at the ballpark. LAPD officers responded to the scene and again provided crowd control after a group of protesters showed up.

Several police supervisors said that in the past, it was customary for federal agents conducting surveillance in a given LAPD division to give the area’s watch commander a heads-up as a courtesy. But that longstanding practice has ended, leaving them largely left in the dark about the timing and location of planned immigration raids.

Cmdr. Lillian Carranza said it was irresponsible for people to describe the arrests as “kidnappings” and encourage people to call 911, saying that there is misinformation circulating online about how and when federal authorities can arrest someone. Authorities don’t need to present a warrant when encountering someone on the street, she said; all they need is probable cause.

“If people have concerns about the conduct of federal agents, they need to seek justice in court,” she said. “That is the place to litigate the case. Not the streets.”

In a testy exchange last month, McDonnell told the City Council that even if he knew about an immigration operation beforehand, he would not alert city leaders.

The LAPD’s relationship with ICE has been the subject of intense debate on social media platforms such as Reddit, where some commenters argued that the department’s focus on policing protesters was a tacit endorsement of the federal government.

Much of the discussion has fixated on an incident that occurred last week in downtown Los Angeles in which a woman named Andrea Guadalupe Velez was detained by agents clad in bulletproof vests with gaiters over their faces.

A livestream video showed a man, Luis Hipolito, who was later arrested, asking agents for their names and badge numbers.

“I’m calling 911 right now,” he told the agents.

“911, I want to report a crime. I want to report a crime,” Hipolito is heard saying on the phone.

“What are you reporting?” an operator is heard asking.

“They’re kidnapping kids, they’re kidnapping people on Nine and Main Street,” he is heard saying. “I need LAPD right here, right now. Nine and Main Street. They’re kidnapping, they’re kidnapping people.”

After several agents were seen piling on top of Hipolito, LAPD officers arrived at the scene. They formed a line between the agents and the angry crowd, members of whom were shouting to release Hipolito.

Homeland Security’s McLaughlin said Velez “was arrested for assaulting an ICE enforcement officer.”

Federal authorities said in court filings that Velez “abruptly” stepped into the path of an agent in “an apparent effort to prevent him from apprehending the male subject he was chasing.”

Velez, a Cal Poly Pomona graduate who is 4 feet 11, allegedly stood in the path of the agent with her arms extended. The agent couldn’t stop in time and was struck in his head and chest, federal authorities allege.

Velez’s mother, Margarita Flores, was watching in her rearview mirror, having just dropped her daughter off at the scene.

Flores said she saw a man running toward her daughter and then Velez falling to the ground. Flores said the men didn’t have identification or license plates on their car.

Fearing a kidnapping, she told her other daughter, Estrella Rosas, to call the police. When the LAPD arrived, Rosas said, her sister “went running to one of the police officers in hopes that they could help her.”

“But one of the ICE agents went back after her and fully [put] her in handcuffs,” Rosas said. “He physically had to carry her to put her inside the car and they drove away in the car that had no license plates.”

Velez spent two days in a federal detention facility. Charged with assaulting a federal officer, she made her initial court appearance last week and was released on $5,000 bail. She has not yet entered a plea and is due back in court July 17.

Times staff writer Brittny Mejia contributed to this report.

Manchester City, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid and Porto have already been sent packing, while both teams from Argentina – Boca Juniors and River Plate – have also been eliminated.

Brazil’s Flamengo and Botafogo fell at the last-16 stage, but the country’s remaining two sides hope to march on.

“This tournament is a priority in the way an Olympic athlete will do all of his training and programming to peak at a specific time,” Vickery tells BBC Sport.

“Certainly for Palmeiras, who really want to win it. This is an absolute priority for them and they have programmed to be at their peak now.”

Could the climate, which the Brazilian teams are used to, be helping give them an edge?

Both Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola have mentioned the extreme heat since the tournament started.

Chelsea trained in 37C before their 3-0 group win over ES Tunis in Philadelphia.

“It is almost impossible to train or to make a session because of the weather,” said Maresca last week, while Guardiola said before last Thursday’s match with Juventus that his players must be prepared to “suffer” in the challenging heat of Orlando.

The soaring temperatures across the United States have led to matches across the competition implementing water breaks during games.

But not all players have struggled in the heat.

“We’re used to it,” Botafogo right-back Vitinho, who spent two years at Burnley, said of the high temperatures.

Another factor to consider is that all four teams from Brazil had broken away from their domestic season, which runs from March until December, to take part.

While they appear fresh and sharp, teams from Europe went into the Club World Cup on the back of long seasons.

PSG’s first game against Atletico Madrid in Pasadena on 15 June came 15 days after their 5-0 mauling of Inter Milan in the Champions League final in Munich.

Vickery adds: “A few weeks ago the Flamengo president was saying to a mate of mine ‘we’re flying in mid-season’.

“For the European clubs… is it the end of their season? Is it pre-season? The European clubs, their planning hasn’t been to peak now.”

Vickery believes there is something else to factor into the conversation about Brazilian clubs doing well.

“There is more money in Brazilian football [than before]” he says. “The standard has risen over the last few seasons. One reason is because of the influx of foreign coaches.

“Of the four Brazilian clubs here – two have Portuguese coaches [Abel Ferreira – Palmeiras and Renato Paiva – Botafogo].

“There’s plenty of Portuguese and Argentine coaches in Brazilian football and it’s brought more ideas. Even Filipe Luis, the Brazilian coaching Flamengo, his back-up staff are all Spanish.

“There’s an openness to new ideas that there wasn’t a few years ago.”

Mendonca adds: “The timing of this competition is very good for South American teams. They are in the middle of their season, they are very well prepared physically.

“They have better conditions now to keep their talented players and even bring back some players. Flamengo, for example, signed Jorginho after leaving Arsenal, while Danilo and Alex Sandro have come from Juventus.

“Also Botafogo, they have kept Igor Jesus for this competition. After this he will go to Nottingham Forest.

“These are aspects that explain why Brazilian teams are performing very well.”

July 3 (UPI) — Immigration raids and enforcement actions have prompted some Southern California communities to cancel their annual Independence Day fireworks displays, officials announced Thursday.

Organizations opposed to the Trump administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions have said they plan to carry out planned demonstrations on Friday in Los Angeles, regardless.

Last month, several protests turned violent, prompting President Donald Trump to dispatch National Guard troops and Marines to the city, where local police and Gov. Gavin Newsom said the soldiers were not needed to help them enforce the law.

The city announced that it would postpone its annual Fourth of July block party “in light of recent events affecting a portion of downtown Los Angeles and the ongoing circumstances impacting the region,” NBC News reported.

More than 1,600 people have been arrested during ICE enforcement operations since the National Guard and Marines arrived in the city to bolster local efforts to remove undocumented immigrants from businesses and locations that knowingly hire or harbor them.

The Los Angeles chapter of 50501, a group that organized a “No Kings” rally last month in opposition to Trump’s enforcement tactics, has said it plans an all day demonstration outside City Hall on Friday, pushing back on the administration’s immigration actions.

“This isn’t a celebration, ” the group said in a statement. “It’s a stand.”

Prompted by high profile immigration enforcement-related arrests, other, smaller communities that have large immigrant populations are also reconsidering Independence Day celebrations, including East Los Angeles, the Boyle Heights neighborhood, Lincoln Heights and El Sereno, all of which have historically been home to large immigrant populations.

More than 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines remain stationed at federal office buildings in Los Angeles while other Guard soldiers have been redeployed to prepare for a busy wildfire season as hot, windy weather and low humidity have combined to create tinder dry vegetation and other dangerous conditions.

Legal action to remove more federal troops from Los Angeles remains pending in court.

Fear and uncertainty of surprise ICE enforcement actions have cast a shadow of fear and uncertainty over events that still remain planned in Southern California and other places with a high concentration of immigrant populations, including cities in the Midwest and on the East Coast.

Lome, Togo – The chants have faded in the streets, the barricades have been cleared, and an eerie calm hangs over Togo after days of mass protests in the West African nation’s capital. But beneath the surface, anger simmers, security forces remain stationed at key intersections, and many fear the storm is far from over.

From June 26 to 28, thousands took to the streets of Lome to protest constitutional reforms that critics say enable President Faure Gnassingbe to remain in power indefinitely. The 59-year-old – in office since 2005 following the death of his father, who ruled for 38 years – was recently sworn in as president of the Council of Ministers, a powerful executive role with no term limits under a newly adopted parliamentary system.

The protests were swiftly and violently suppressed.

At least four people are believed to have died, dozens were injured, and more than 60 were arrested, according to local civil society groups. Verified videos circulating online show beatings, street chases, and men in plain clothes dragging civilians away.

But in a country long used to political fatigue and fractured opposition, the past week marked a rupture.

Rejecting a political dynasty

To many observers, these protests represent more than a reaction to constitutional reform: They signal a generational break.

“These young people are not simply protesting a new constitution,” said Pap Koudjo, a Togolese journalist and essayist. “They are rejecting 58 years of political inheritance, from father to son, that has brought nothing but poverty, repression, and humiliation.”

Most of the protesters were under 25. Many have never known another leader. They have grown up with frequent blackouts, crumbling infrastructure, joblessness and shrinking freedoms. The constitutional change, which removed term limits from the new executive role and eliminated direct presidential elections, was a red line.

The government attempted damage control. A steep 12.5 percent electricity price hike – another source of rage – was quickly withdrawn. The activist singer Aamron, whose arrest days earlier had galvanised public anger, was discreetly released.

But neither move stemmed the unrest.

“The arrest of Aamron was a trigger,” said Paul Amegakpo, a political analyst and chair of the Tamberma Institute for Governance. “But the real story is that this regime has lost its ability to offer a negotiated and institutional solution to the crisis. It is relying purely on military strength.”

He points to signs of disquiet within the state itself. A rare statement from former Defence Minister Marguerite Gnakade, condemning the violence and Gnassingbe’s leadership, suggests fractures may exist at the highest levels of the security apparatus.

“There’s an institutional void,” Amegakpo said. “Two months after the transition to the Fifth Republic, the country still has no appointed government,” he added, referring to the post-amendment Togo.

Civil society fills the vacuum

Perhaps more telling than the protests themselves is who led them. Not traditional opposition parties, which have been weakened by years of cooptation and exile, but influencers from the diaspora, civil society activists, artists and uncelebrated citizens.

“The opposition has been exhausted – physically, politically, and financially,” said Koudjo. “After decades of failed dialogue and betrayed agreements, the youth has stepped in.”

As protests surged, more institutional voices followed. Several civic organisations issued strong statements condemning the “disproportionate use of force” and demanding independent investigations into the deaths and disappearances. Though not leading the mobilisation, these groups echoed growing alarm about the government’s response and the erosion of civic space.

The Media Foundation for West Africa warned that the environment for free expression in Togo was “shrinking dangerously”, a sentiment echoed by other international observers.

To Fabien Offner, a researcher for Amnesty International, the crackdown is part of a larger, entrenched system.

“What we’re seeing is not an isolated event – it’s the continuation of a repressive architecture,” Offner told Al Jazeera. “We’ve documented patterns of arbitrary arrests, beatings with cords, posturing torture, and impunity – all now normalised.”

Amnesty says families are still searching for loved ones taken during the protests. Some have received no information on their whereabouts or legal status.

“This is not just about protest management. It’s about the systematic denial of fundamental rights,” Offner said.

He added that the government’s claim that protests were “unauthorised” is a misreading of international law. “Peaceful assembly does not require prior approval. What’s unlawful is systematically preventing it.”

Amnesty is calling for an independent inquiry into the deaths, a public list of detainees, and full transparency from prosecutors. But Offner also addressed a more uncomfortable truth: international silence.

“Togo has become a diplomatic blind spot,” he said. “We need stronger, more vocal engagement from the African Union, ECOWAS, the United Nations, and key bilateral partners. Their silence emboldens the cycle of repression. They must speak out and act.”

Even the country’s Catholic bishops, traditionally cautious, warned in a rare statement of the risks of “implosion under suppressed frustration”, and called for “a sincere, inclusive and constructive dialogue”.

Togo’s unrest also reflects a broader trend across West Africa, observers note, where youth-led movements are increasingly challenging entrenched political orders – not just at the ballot box, but in the streets, on social media and through global solidarity networks.

From the recent mobilisations in Senegal to popular uprisings in Burkina Faso, young people are asserting their agency against systems they view as unresponsive, outdated or undemocratic. In Togo, the protests may be domestic in origin, but they are part of a wider regional pulse demanding accountability and renewal.

The government holds its line

“These were not peaceful assemblies – these were attempts to disrupt public order,” said Gilbert Bawara, minister of public service and senior figure in the UNIR governing party.

Bawara denied that security forces committed systematic abuses, and insisted that “if there were any excesses, they should be examined based on facts, not rumours.” He added that the government remains open to dialogue, but only with “visible, structured interlocutors”, not anonymous calls from abroad.

He also defended the recent constitutional changes, arguing that they had followed a legitimate process. “If anyone disagrees, they can petition, they can participate in elections. These are the foundations of a democratic society,” Bawara told Al Jazeera.

But critics argue that such avenues are largely symbolic under the current government. With the governing party dominating institutions, controlling the security forces and sidelining opposition figures through arrests, exile and cooptation, many view the political playing field as fundamentally rigged.

“There are democratic forms, yes,” said analyst Paul Amegakpo. “But they are hollow. The rules may exist on paper – elections, assemblies, petitions – but power in Togo is not contested on equal footing. It is captured and preserved through coercion, clientelism and constitutional engineering.”

Amegakpo said the regime’s recent moves suggest it is more focused on optics than engagement.

“The government has announced its own peaceful march on July 5,” he noted. “But that reveals something deeper: they are not listening. They are responding to social and political suffering with PR and counter-demonstrations.”

Moment of reckoning

What comes next is uncertain. Protests have subsided for now, but the heavy presence of security forces and internet slowdowns suggest continued anxiety.

Analysts warn that if unrest spreads beyond Lome, or if cracks widen within the security apparatus, the country could face a deeper crisis.

“We are not yet in a revolutionary situation,” Amegakpo said. “But we are in a deep rupture. If the regime keeps refusing to acknowledge it, the cost may be higher than they imagine.”

For the youth who led the protests, the message is clear: they are no longer willing to wait.

“There is a divorce between a generation that knows its rights and a regime stuck in survival mode,” said Koudjo. “Something has changed. Whether it will lead to reform or repression depends on what happens next.”

Between Aberystwyth and Cardigan the quiet coastline is sublime, with incredible sunsets, dizzying and spectacular coastal paths, gorgeous quiet beaches and dolphins. Start in Dylan Thomas’s old stomping ground, New Quay, and follow the coastal path south along cliffs and past Cwmtydu beach before finishing at gorgeous Llangrannog, where you get two beaches for one (perfect Cliborth beach requires a lower tide to access). Kayaking and surfing are great, and the Pentre Arms provides refreshments with a view.
Matt Lunt

A scenic parkrun near Sunderland

The Leas near South Shields (a few miles north of Sunderland) is a beautiful stretch of limestone cliffs and coastal grassland that is a haven for sea birds and wildflowers. There are footpaths and bridle paths across the Leas, so it attracts cyclists, dog walkers and runners all year round. The local parkrun uses the paths and it must be one of the most scenic in the country. The rock stacks along the coast are a great place for spotting cormorants, fulmars and kittiwakes among others. No matter the weather I love to walks these paths and feel the fresh sea breeze through my hair. A wonderful place.
Matty

The holy Crail, Fife

Fife is a glorious peninsula bordered by a brilliant coastal path that takes in a variety of beaches, fishing villages and is an area rich in wildlife and diverse landscapes. The area from Crail to St Andrews is of particular beauty, with several gorgeous places to stop for lunch, such as Cambo Gardens cafe near Kingsbarns and the Cheesy Toast Shack at East Sands in St Andrews. There are loads of places to stay and use as a base to explore the region. The larch-clad cabins at Kinkell Byre offer the opportunity to rest in style. And farther north are the wonderful forest trails and sand dunes of Tentsmuir.
Stevie Kirkwood

Cornwall’s Celtic rainforest

Wander the banks of the River Fal and Helford River in south Cornwall, through ancient Celtic rainforest, where the trees meet the sea. This rare habitat gives us a glimpse of prehistory, with lichen-laden branches, crisp, damp air and some of the UK’s rarest wildlife. It feels otherworldly, yet oddly familiar.
Amy

Electric waves of Ynys Môn (Anglesey)

Penmon Point on the easternmost point of Ynys Môn is a great place to watch for sea birds. The stunning Trwyn Du lighthouse looks out to Puffin Island, and if you’re lucky, one might fly right past you. But we have seen even more magic there when it gets dark. If conditions are just right, the waves light up electric blue with bioluminescent plankton as they crash over the pebbles. For refreshments, the Pilot House Cafe is nearby and has a fantastic view from its garden.
Chris Jones

Poignant history in Morecambe Bay

You need to consult your tide tables before visiting Sunderland Point on Morecambe Bay. This extraordinary place of sea-sucked mudflats, salt marsh and vast skies is cut off daily at high tide. I cross the causeway in May when the sea pinks (sea thrift) are flowering and the air is bright with the cries of birds – oystercatchers, curlew and redshanks. It feels remote, but in the 18th century Sunderland Point was a bustling port for Lancaster’s transatlantic trade, which brought prosperity but also inhumanity. A walk round the peninsula leads to the grave of an unknown child slave abandoned here in 1736, now adorned by visitors with painted stones. Its bleak beauty will break your heart.
Morag Reavley

Where the River Foyle meets the sea, Derry

I’ve been walking my dog on the same stretch of coast for four years and I never tire of the sheer strangeness of it. Culmore Point is where Derry’s River Foyle meets the North Atlantic. Some days you can see a line in the water where the silt-filled Foyle meets the sea. Beautiful old-money houses look out across the water to a power station and chemical plant. Farther downstream the weird treeless landscape of the reclaimed land of Eglinton Embankment catches the eye. Spare a thought too for the young men who trained on these river beaches in May 1944 for the Normandy assaults a month later.
Keiran

Fossils, tidal flats and birds in Merseyside

From West Kirby on Wirral, you can walk across the tidal flats of the Dee estuary to the red sandstone formations of Little Eye, Middle Eye, and Hilbre Island, a string of uninhabited islands offering naught but spectacular nature. In summer you can spot grey seals hauling themselves on to sandbanks, and three types of terns (common, little and sandwich) darting past. Listen out for skylarks and meadow pipits too. For an extra challenge, search for the Triassic-era Chirotherium footprint. Always check tide times carefully, and for extra awe, time your return to the sun setting low, framed by the distant Welsh hills.
Sarah

A cycle by the sea in Aberdeenshire

Cycling along the North East Coastal Trail from Portsoy to Macduff in Aberdeenshire is my idea of heaven. In stunning coastal countryside you cycle through charming fishing villages with historic harbours. I’ve spotted dolphins, porpoises and seals on the route. On a rocky coastline just beyond Macduff, there’s an old tidal pool at Tarlair. Though no longer used for swimming, its beautifully restored art deco tea pavilion is the perfect spot to refuel before your journey back. While there, take a short wander to the secluded Salmon Howie beach tucked behind the cliffs – it’s such a beautiful spot.
Peter Diender

Winning tip: fin-du-monde vibes in East Yorkshire

When, as a child, I read Z For Zachariah, I imagined a landscape with the exact fin-du-monde energy of the East Yorkshire beach from Ulrome to Bridlington. On this stretch of Holderness, you’ll find neither the Norfolk chalk boards of iced latte and shakshuka nor the monastic ghosts of farther north. But if six miles of uninterrupted beach walk – in the company of nothing more glamorous than pure air, weather and proper decay (not the genteel sort) – is your thing, this is a place you should visit. Morcheeba soundtrack optional. Tired legs and a cleansed soul guaranteed.
Eliza Ainley

SpongeBob SquarePants would, in theory, have little use for stamps. They would get soggy in that pineapple under the sea.

Neither would Patrick Star (no fingers on the ends of those arms), Mr. Crabs (claws) or Squidward Tentacles (his name says it all). One could argue that even the fans of “SpongeBob SquarePants” wouldn’t have much use for stamps. That crowd doesn’t go in for snail mail — although Gary the Snail might.

Nevertheless, the whole gang from Nickelodeon’s long-running animated show — even Sandy Cheeks, the squirrel in the diving suit — is featured on a new set of commemorative Forever stamps, according to the U.S. Postal Service.

But the point isn’t to use them but to collect them, and perhaps look at the yellow, smiling, gap-toothed face of SpongeBob when you need a quick pick-me-up.

If you happen to be in New York City’s Times Square on Aug. 1 from 8 to 10 a.m. Eastern, you can get your hands on the new stamps. The event is free, but the stamps you’ll have to pay for. (A sheet of 16 will cost you $12.48. They’re 78 cents apiece.)

That’s 40 cents more than each stamp would have cost when “SpongeBob” premiered 26 years ago.

The USPS art director, Greg Breeding, designed the stamps with Nickelodeon artwork to guide him, according to the Postal Service. He’ll be on hand for autographs.

The world of Bikini Bottom was introduced in May 1999, and the show began a full run two months later. Creator Stephen Hillenburg, who died in 2018 at age 57 after battling Lou Gehrig’s disease, was — appropriately — a teacher of marine biology in Southern California before switching to animation. He created colorful teaching tools as well as wrote and illustrated stories with the characters who came to populate the show, as The Times wrote in Hillenburg’s obituary.

To set the record straight, stamps have, in fact, been used in Bikini Bottom.

One example: In the Season 13 episode “Patrick the Mailman,” the starfish delivers a letter to SpongeBob and asks him, “Do you know where this Spon-gee-Boob Squir-pa-Nants lives?” He then makes SpongeBob his postal pal.