Month: July 2025

WASHINGTON — After an overnight session and hours of floor debate, the House voted Thursday to approve the “Big Beautiful Bill” — clearing its final hurdle in a landmark achievement for President Trump, who wrangled Republican lawmakers to pass the most expensive legislation in history by the Fourth of July.

The 218 to 214 vote, which saw two Republican members side with the Democrats in opposition, was delayed by a record-breaking speech on the House floor by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries that lasted eight hours and 44 minutes. “I’m going to take my time,” Jeffries said before launching into a marathon excoriation of the legislation, its Medicaid cuts and its Republican backers. “Shame on this institution if this bill passes.”

The bill encompasses Trump’s domestic agenda, extending tax breaks to millions of American households and businesses that are projected to add trillions to the national debt. The legislation also introduces new tax relief for senior citizens, tip and overtime workers, and new parents.

To offset a fraction of those costs, Republicans approved new barriers to access for Medicaid and cut funding streams under the Affordable Care Act, placing the healthcare of nearly 12 million in jeopardy over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides food stamps, was also cut.

It has been a controversial bill within the Republican Party ever since it was conceived at the beginning of Trump’s second term, with fiscal hawks decrying its record contributions to annual deficits, and moderate Republicans fearing its cuts to healthcare would come back to haunt them in future elections.

Speaking with reporters after the vote, senior White House officials said Trump was the “omnipresent force behind the legislation,” crediting his personal relationships with lawmakers on the Hill for its ultimate success.

“I’ve lost count of the number of meetings the president has had,” one White House official said, adding that the bill “satisfies virtually every campaign promise the president made.”

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that Republicans defied the “doubters and the panicans” to secure passage of legislation that would “add funding for at least 1 million deportations per year.”

Beyond tax relief and healthcare cuts, the bill increases defense spending and adds a historic $150 billion to fund border security and mass deportations, exponentially increasing the budget of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — a fund larger than many national armies.

The president, Leavitt said, would host a “big, beautiful signing ceremony” Friday at 5 p.m. Eastern, marked by fireworks on the National Mall celebrating Independence Day — a deadline he imposed on the Republican caucus to secure passage of the legislation.

It also includes a host of parochial provisions. The bill provides $1 billion for security, planning and other costs for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, and $30 million for the construction of a sculpture-laden “American Garden of Heroes” to be built at an undetermined location.

In total, the Congressional Budget Office projects the bill could add up to $3.3 trillion to the debt by 2034. Republicans dispute the figure as inflated, arguing the CBO assumes status economic growth, while still other groups say the projection is conservative.

In a statement after the vote, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which has advocated fiscal responsibility for decades, warned the bill “would add more than $4 trillion to the debt, accelerate the insolvency of Social Security and Medicare, and leave us even more vulnerable to the whims of the Treasury markets.”

“In a massive fiscal capitulation, Congress has passed the single most expensive, dishonest, and reckless budget reconciliation bill ever — and, it comes amidst an already alarming fiscal situation,” the group said. “Never before has a piece of legislation been jammed through with such disregard for our fiscal outlook, the budget process, and the impact it will have on the well-being of the country and future generations.”

And yet, despite issuing scathing criticisms of the Senate language for its historic contributions to the debt, opposition from the House Freedom Caucus, also founded to advocate for fiscal responsibility, all but melted away in the early hours of Thursday under intense pressure from the White House.

Several of the Medicaid provisions kick in only after the 2026 midterms, buying Republicans time to sell the bill without facing its real-world consequences before the next election. But Democrats are already campaigning against the legislation as the greatest attack on healthcare since Republicans tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017, which prompted a Democratic wave in midterms the following year.

The legislation introduces a work requirement for Medicaid enrollment that will require extensive new paperwork for applicants, and restricts state taxes on healthcare providers, known as the “provider tax,” an essential tool for many states in their efforts to supplement Medicaid funding.

Several Republican lawmakers fear that provision could have devastating effects on rural hospitals. The Senate added a rural hospital fund to the bill to help mitigate some of the impacts of the funding cuts.

The bill also rolls back green energy tax credits that have fueled an entire manufacturing workforce in wind and solar energy in states across the country.

The bill passed through the Senate despite bipartisan opposition, with three Republicans joining Democrats to vote against it. House approval of the Senate text Thursday morning occurred barely 24 hours after the upper chamber’s vote.

On Wednesday night, a number of House Republican lawmakers had said openly they would not support a rushed process to approve the bill. But a floor vote on debate rules kept open by House Speaker Mike Johnson throughout the night kept conversations active, and ultimately swayed the holdouts.

Two Republican House members, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, voted against the final bill, citing its effects to the healthcare system and to the national debt, respectively.

“What a great night it was,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform before the final vote. “One of the most consequential Bills ever. The USA is the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, by far!!!”

In the call with reporters, one White House official also credited Vice President JD Vance for his efforts to secure a victory on the legislation, noting his huddle hours before a final Senate vote on Tuesday with Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a lawmaker who secured exceptional carve-outs for her state in the bill and yet still expressed disappointment with its harshest provisions after voting to approve it.

Democrats will welcome the vice president receiving credit. Several expressed hope to The Times they can tie any successor of Trump’s to unpopular healthcare cuts in 2028.

Dave Roberts had some goals in mind for starting pitcher Dustin May on Thursday. And they had little to do with the final result.

“The first thing is his ability to go deeper in games,” the Dodger manager said. “The sweeper has got to be a more effective pitch. His sinker has got to be more effective.

“I know he’s working through some delivery things with the pitching coaches. I’m kind waiting to see what to expect tonight.”

May would give Roberts far more than he asked for, setting down the first 16 batters in order and pitching into the eighth inning for the first time in his career in a 6-2 win over the Chicago White Sox.

The win was the Dodgers’ fourth in a row and ninth in their last 10 games.

The start was May’s 16th of the season and the seven innings he threw gave him 89.2 for the year, both career highs. Consistency, however, has been an issue. He won just once in June, when his 5.67 ERA was highest among Dodger starters.

His first start in July was a different story, with May (5-5) giving up just two hits and striking out nine — one shy of his career high — in seven shutout innings before tiring in the eighth.

The Dodgers needed just three batters to give the right-hander the lead with Shohei Ohtani drawing a lead-off walk, then scoring on Freddie Freeman’s one-out double into the right-field corner.

Freeman padded that lead in the third, going the other way and looping a two-run double into the left-field corner. It was Freeman’s first three-RBI game in nearly two months. When Michael Conforto followed two batters later with a two-run homer, it was 5-0 Dodgers.

And the lead could have been larger: Freeman lost a homer of his own in his next at-bat when Chicago right fielder Michael Tauchman reached a couple of rows into the right-field bleachers near the foul pole to bring his fifth-inning drive back.

Mookie Betts closed the Dodgers’ scoring with a one-out solo homer in the seventh, just his second since May 19.

May, meanwhile, was cruising, talking a perfect game into the sixth before Brooks Baldwin singled sharply to right. He took a shutout into the eighth before Baldwin ended that, too, with a two-run homer.

May got help from a couple of sterling defensive plays, with Conforto taking a hit away from Miguel Vargas with a sliding catch in left to the start the fifth and Freeman diving to his right to stab Josh Rojas’ low line drive to start the sixth.

Relievers Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates followed May to the mound, throwing a hitless inning apiece to close out the win.

July 4 (UPI) — Former daytime television talk show host Phil McGraw‘s JV Merit Street Media has filed for bankruptcy protection and sued its business partner, Trinity Broadcasting, for breach of contract, saying it destroyed his television network.

McGraw, known as Dr. Phil, hosted his talk show for 21 years before it ended after the 2022-2023 season, a program that remained on the air in syndication.

Merit Street’s lawsuit focuses on Christian television broadcaster Trinity Broadcasting Network, and claims it violated distribution agreements.

“Trinity Broadcasting Network is being sued by Merit Street Media for failing to provide clearly agreed upon national distribution and other significant foundational commitments critical to the network’s continuing success and viability,” according to a statement from MSM, Deadline.com reported. “The suit is part of a restructuring proceeding also initiated by MSM.”

TBN was founded in 1973 by televangelist Paul Crouch and his wife, Jan, and is currently operated by Matthew Crouch. In 2000, Paul Crouch was sued for $40 million by author Sylvia Fleener, who accused Paul Crouch of plagiarism in his book The Omega Code, which had an apocalyptic, end times theme.

Crouch was also accused of paying a former male employee $425,000 to keep the man quiet about a sexual relationship Crouch had with him.

Under terms of the deal, TBN was to distribute original versions of McGraw’s content at no cost in exchange for a controlling equity interest in the network, the lawsuit said.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing comes just weeks after the company laid off 40 employees, the second round of job cuts which followed layoffs in Aug. 2024 that saw the company release a third of its staff.

Hours before a ceasefire took effect between Israel and Iran on June 24, the son of Iran’s last shah, Reza Pahlavi, held a televised news conference in the French capital, Paris.

Dressed in a grey suit and blue tie with his hair combed back, the 64-year-old exiled (and self-styled) crown prince of the monarchy that Iranians overthrew in 1979 urged the United States not to give Iran’s government a “lifeline” by restarting diplomatic talks on its nuclear programme.

Pahlavi insisted that Iran’s Islamic Republic was collapsing. “This is our Berlin Wall moment,” he said, calling for ordinary Iranians to seize the opportunity afforded by Israel’s war and take to the streets, and for defections from the military and security forces.

But the mass protests Pahlavi encouraged never materialised.

Instead, many Iranians – including those opposed to the government – rallied around the flag in a moment of attack by a foreign force. It appears that Pahlavi, who said in his Paris speech that he was ready to replace Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and lead Iranians down a “road of peace and democratic transition”, had misread the room.

While he was willing to align with Israel in achieving what he perceives to be the greater goal of overthrowing the Islamic Republic, the majority of his compatriots were not.

If anything, Pahlavi may have squandered the little support he once had by choosing not to condemn Israel’s heavy bombardment of Iran, which killed more than 935 people, including many civilians, said Trita Parsi, an expert on Iran and the author of Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the United States.

“He has – in my estimation – destroyed much of the brand name [of the shah] … by going on TV and making excuses for Israel when it was targeting our apartment buildings and killing civilians,” he told Al Jazeera.

Pahlavi’s office did not respond to requests for comment from Al Jazeera.

Generational appeal

The level of support for Pahlavi is disputed, but many experts doubt it is extensive.

Still, what support he does have – particularly in the Iranian diaspora – often emanates from opposition to the Islamic Republic and nostalgia for the monarchy that predated it.

Yasmine*, a British-Iranian in her late 20s, said that members of her own family support Pahlavi for the symbolism of the pre-Islamic Republic era that he represents, as opposed to what he may actually stand for, adding that she believed that he lacked a clear political vision.

“He really symbolises what Iran was [a government that was secular and pro-West] prior to the Islamic Republic, and that’s what those who are asking for Reza Pahlavi want back,” she told Al Jazeera.

Her aunt, Yasna*, 64, left Iran just months before the 1979 revolution to attend university in the United Kingdom. While she supports Pahlavi for the reasons her niece mentioned, she also believes Iran will no longer be a pariah to the West if he returned to rule Iran.

“He’s somebody from my generation, and I have a clear memory of growing up in the days under the shah … he’s also so friendly with America, Europe and Israel, and we need somebody like that [in Iran],” Yasna said.

Analysts explained to Al Jazeera that the lack of a prominent alternative to Pahlavi – due to the Iranian government’s crackdown on political opposition – was part of Pahlavi’s appeal.

They also pointed out that support for Pahlavi is tied to the distorted memory that some have of his grandfather, Reza Khan, and his father, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Reza Khan was widely credited with creating an ethno-centralised state that curtailed the power of the religious clergy and violently cracked down on opponents and minorities. That repression continued under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

However, Yasna speaks fondly of the Pahlavi family and hopes Reza Pahlavi can soon carve out his own legacy.

“Reza’s grandfather brought security to the country, and his father helped us move forward. I now think Reza can unite us again,” she said.

Family history

The Pahlavis were not a dynasty with a long and storied past. Reza Khan was a military officer who seized power in the 1920s, before being replaced by Mohammad Reza in 1941.

Foreign powers had a role to play in that, as they did in 1953, when the US and the UK engineered a coup against Iran’s then-elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who had nationalised the assets of the Anglo-Persian oil company, now known as BP, in April 1951.

“The British thought it was their oil,” explained Assal Rad, a historian of Iran and the author of State of Resistance: Politics, Identity and Culture in Modern Iran.

“They had no recognition of the colonial past that allowed them to forcefully take the resource, nor recognition of Iran’s right to take the resource for itself,” she told Al Jazeera.

Prior to the coup, Rad explained that the shah was engaged in a power struggle with Mosaddegh, who openly criticised the shah for violating the constitution. The former wanted to maintain his control, especially over the military, while the latter was trying to mould Iran into a constitutional democracy with popular support.

The coup against Mosaddegh was ultimately successful, leading to another 26 years of progressively more repressive Pahlavi rule.

According to a 1976 report by Amnesty International, the shah’s feared intelligence agency (SAVAK) often beat political prisoners with electric cables, sodomised them and ripped off their finger and toenails to extract false confessions.

“At the end of the day, the shah’s regime was a brutal dictatorship and non-democracy,” Parsi told Al Jazeera.

Economic inequality between the rich urban classes and the rural poor also grew under the shah, according to a 2019 Brookings Institute report by Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an economist at Virginia Tech University.

And yet, the shah appeared detached from the plight of his own people throughout his reign. Rad referenced a lavish party that the shah threw in 1971 to celebrate 2,500 years of the Persian Empire.

The luxurious party brought together foreign dignitaries from across the world, even as many Iranians struggled to make ends meet, highlighting the country’s economic disparities.

“He was celebrating Iran with nothing Iranian and no Iranians invited nor involved, and he even had student protesters arrested beforehand because he didn’t want incidents to occur while he was doing this,” Rad said. “The party was one of these monumental moments that led to the disconnect between him and his own people.”

Coupled with state repression and rising poverty, the Persian Empire celebration was one of the factors that eventually led to the 1979 revolution.

Reza Pahlavi was in the US when the revolution erupted, training to be a fighter pilot.

He was just 17 years old and has never returned to Iran since. Instead, a life in exile began, with the ultimate goal always remaining a return to his home country – and power.

As the eldest of the shah’s two sons, loyalists to the monarchy recognised Reza Pahlavi as heir apparent after his father passed away from cancer in 1980.

He has since spent the majority of his life in the US, mostly in the suburbs of Washington, DC.

Initially focused on restoring the monarchy, Pahlavi has shifted his rhetoric in the last two decades to focus more on the idea of a secular democracy in Iran. He has said he does not seek power, and would only assume the throne if asked to do so by the Iranian people.

Opposition outreach

Pahlavi’s attempt to broaden his appeal came as he also reached out to other opponents of the Iranian government.

Some have outright refused to work with him, citing his royal background. And others who have worked with him have quickly distanced themselves.

One of the most important examples of this was the Alliance for Democracy and Freedom in Iran, formed in 2023, in the wake of antigovernment protests that began the previous year.

As well as Pahlavi, the coalition included Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad, human rights activist and actress Nazanin Boniadi, former footballer Ali Karimi, and the author Hamed Esmaeilion.

But problems emerged from the very meeting organised to form the coalition in February 2023.

According to Parsi and Sina Toossi, an expert on Iran with the Center for International Policy (CIP), Pahlavi rejected any proposal to collaborate with the other attendees at the meeting in Washington, DC’s Georgetown University, either by agreeing to make decisions based on a shared consensus or through some kind of majority vote.

He instead wanted all attendees to defer and rally behind him as a leader of the opposition.

Another issue that followed the Georgetown meeting was the behaviour of Pahlavi’s supporters, many of whom were against anyone associated with left-wing politics, and defenders of the actions of the shah’s regime.

“The monarchists [his supporters] were upset that Reza was put on par with these other people [at the meeting],” said Toossi.

The coalition soon collapsed, with Esmaeilion referring to “undemocratic methods” in what many perceived to be criticism of Pahlavi.

Israeli connections

Two months after the Georgetown meeting, and as the newly formed alliance quickly collapsed, Pahlavi made a choreographed visit to Israel with his wife Yasmine.

As Al Jazeera previously reported, the visit was arranged by Pahlavi’s official adviser Amir Temadi, and Saeed Ghasseminejad, who works at the US right-wing think tank the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), which frequently publishes analyses that call on the US to use military force to deter Iran’s regional influence and nuclear programme.

During the visit, Pahlavi and his wife took a photo with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara.

Yasmine and I were very pleased to meet with @IsraeliPM and Sara @netanyahu. We expressed appreciation for Israel’s continued support for the Iranian people’s democratic aspirations and emphasized that, as the children of Cyrus the Great, Iranians aspire to have a government that… pic.twitter.com/lInuy4lwdC

— Reza Pahlavi (@PahlaviReza) April 19, 2023

The trip highlighted Pahlavi’s close ties to Israel, a relationship that had been cultivated for years, even if it was less publicly acknowledged initially.

During George W Bush’s first term as US president in the early 2000s, Pahlavi approached the powerful American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) – a powerful lobby – to speak at their annual conference, according to Parsi.

The offer was rejected, with AIPAC members explaining that he would hurt his own brand as an Iranian nationalist if he were to speak at their annual conference, Parsi explained.

“AIPAC had told him that perhaps it wasn’t a good idea because it could delegitimise him, which tells you something about how disconnected [Pahlavi] was from the realities of the Iranian diaspora,” he told Al Jazeera.

But, about 10 years ago, during US President Donald Trump’s first term, Pahlavi also began to surround himself with advisers who have long called for closer ties between Iran and Israel and for the US to continue its “maximum pressure” sanctions campaign against Iran’s government, according to Toossi.

Trump’s maximum pressure campaign hurt common people more than the Iranian government. It resulted in sharp inflation and major depreciation of its currency, making it difficult for many Iranians to afford basic commodities and life-saving medications, according to Human Rights Watch.

According to Toossi, Pahlavi appeared somewhat aware of the economic hardships brought on by sanctions, which may explain why he supported US President Barack Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015.

The JCPOA ensured global monitoring of Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for much-needed sanctions relief.

However, Pahlavi quickly began to align with Trump when he came to power the following year, Toossi said. Trump scorned the JCPOA and finally pulled out in 2018 before beginning his maximum pressure policy.

The disconnect between Pahlavi and regular Iranians over this issue could also be seen in his actions during the 2023 trip to Israel.

Pahlavi made a well-publicised trip to the Western Wall, in occupied East Jerusalem, which holds considerable religious significance for Jewish people across the world.

The vast majority of Iranians are still Shia Muslims – even if many are secular– and Pahlavi did not visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. The Western Wall is part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound’s exterior wall.

Out of touch

In hindsight, the 2023 trip to Israel and Pahlavi’s apparent friendly relations with Israeli officials have damaged his reputation, said Toossi.

“In short … what’s been going on with the Iran monarchy movement is a very clear, evident and above-the-table alliance with Israel,” he told Al Jazeera.

“He was really the only opposition figure that was supportive of [Israel’s war],” he added.

According to Barbara Slavin, an expert on Iran and a distinguished fellow at the Stimson Centre in Washington, DC, Pahlavi’s rhetoric was “counterproductive” during the 12-day war.

Slavin said Pahlavi has largely been disconnected from the feelings and perspectives inside Iran because he simply has not been there since he was a teenager, and his failure to condemn Israel’s bombardment of civilians has turned a lot of people off.

“After all the civilians Israel killed, [his relationship with Israel] really has a bad smell,” she told Al Jazeera.

Parsi agrees and adds that he doesn’t think Israel truly believes that Pahlavi can one day rule the country due to his lack of popular support both in and outside of Iran.

Parsi believes Israel is simply exploiting his brand to legitimise its own hostility towards Iran.

“He is … useful for the Israelis to parade around because it gives them a veneer of legitimacy for their own war of aggression against Iran” during the fighting, he said.

“[Israel] can point to [Pahlavi] and say, ‘Look. Iranians want to be bombed.’” Parsi said.

But that is a turn-off for many Iranians, including those against the government.

Yasmine, the British-Iranian, is one of them.

Pahlavi, in her view, was not charismatic and had cemented his unpopularity among Iranians, both inside Iran and outside, with his call for Iranians to take to the streets as Israel attacked Iran.

“He was asking Iranians to rise up against the government so that he will come [to take over],” Yasmine said. “He was basically asking Iranians to do his dirty work.”

*Some names have been changed to protect the safety of interviewees

Brit tourists flocking to a popular Spanish city this summer have been warned over a little-known rule that could result in huge fines of almost £7,000 – especially if you’re staying with friends

UK holidaymakers have been urged to avoid eye-watering fines exceeding £6,000 when holidaying in Spain this year.

Despite the string of anti-tourist protests that have erupted across the country in recent weeks – it’s clear nothing will deter Brits from enjoying a week in the sun. In fact, Spain received a staggering 17 million international visitors during the first three months of 2025, a 5.7 per cent spike compared to the same duration last year.

It means hotspots like Benidorm, Barcelona, and Madrid could see record-breaking numbers of tourists during the summer holidays – even if fed-up locals continue to cause commotion on the streets. However, sun-worshipping Brits have been warned that a simple error may end up wrecking their finances.

Since the UK left the European Union, those who don’t hold an EU passport now need to carry proof they have accommodation when they visit Spain as a tourist for 90 days or less. If you’ve booked a hotel or rental through a site such as Airbnb or Booking.com – this is pretty straightforward.

Simply printing out your booking reference and handing it over to passport control when touching down in Spain should be enough to prove you have already booked accommodation for your stay. However, if you’re staying with friends or family – this is a little trickier.

As previously reported, you may need to obtain a ‘letter of invitation’ (aka carta de invitacion) from your host, which is an official statement that has to be issued by the police. It is your responsibility to get the letter, and your host needs to be either a Spanish national, an EU citizen living in Spain or a non-EU citizen with legal residence in the country.

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Failure to oblige could result in hefty fines of €8,000 (approximately £6,900). “Accommodation hosts now also have a legal obligation to collect quite a bit of personal data,” explains EuroWeekly.

“Expect to hand over your full name, gender, nationality, passport details, birth date, home address, and even your mobile and landline numbers. Don’t be surprised if you’re also asked how you paid for your stay—this is now the norm, not a scam.”

In a statement sent to the Mirror, Last Night of Freedom, the UK’s leading stag and hen do organiser, also warned of other crackdowns in Barcelona. This includes €300 (£258) fines for illegal gatherings (including pub crawls), and €5,000 (£4,310) fines for those found violating short-term rental restrictions – which mainly applies to local landlords rather than tourists.

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Gigi Gorgeous and Nats Getty are calling it quits after six years of marriage.

In a joint statement to PEOPLE, representatives for the former couple said: “Gigi Gorgeous and Nats Getty confirm they have amicably decided to part ways and officially file for divorce. While they have decided to end their marriage, they remain friends and have the [utmost] love and respect for each other.”

According to documents obtained by E! News, Nats filed for divorce on 2 July, citing irreconcilable differences. 27 February was also listed as their date of separation.

A day after the news was announced, Gigi took to her Instagram to give further insight into how she is taking her split from Nats, describing it as an “ending [that] didn’t come overnight”

“After nine transformative years, my marriage has come to an end. A sentence I never thought I’d have to write. And even though this ending didn’t come overnight, the heartbreak still hits like a wave I never quite learned to brace for,” she wrote.

“Our journey has always been grounded in love, authenticity, and resilience. We held each other through things the world never saw, but who we were becoming could no longer fit inside the shape we had made together. This isn’t the end of my heart. I still believe in love. ‘The beauty of a moment isn’t in its duration, but in its existence.’”

Gigi and Nats, the heir to the Getty fortune, began dating in 2016 after meeting at Paris Fashion Week. They announced in March 2018 that they were engaged, with Getty popping the question at Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte.

“I wanted to personally share it with you guys here first on my channel that WE ARE ENGAGED!!!!! I can’t believe it, I am over the moon,” the trans activist wrote in a YouTube video titled: “The Proposal.”

A year later, the pair tied the knot in a larger-than-life wedding at the Rosewood Miramar Beach in Montecito, California.

During their marriage, Gigi and Nats – who came out as trans and non-binary in 2021 – were open books about their desire to start a family.

Shorter enrollment periods. More paperwork. Higher premiums.

The sweeping tax and spending bill pushed by President Trump includes provisions that will not only reshape people’s experience with the Affordable Care Act, but also sharply undermine the gains in health insurance coverage associated with it, according to some policy analysts.

The moves affect consumers and have particular resonance for the 19 states (plus Washington, D.C.) that run their own ACA exchanges.

Many of those states fear that the additional red tape — especially requirements that would end automatic reenrollment — would have an outsize impact on their policyholders. That’s because a greater percentage of people in those states use those rollovers versus shopping around each year, something more commonly done by people in states that use the federal healthcare.gov marketplace.

“The federal marketplace always had a message of, ‘Come back in and shop,’ while the state-based markets, on average, have a message of, ‘Hey, here’s what you’re going to have next year, here’s what it will cost; if you like it, you don’t have to do anything,’” said Ellen Montz, who oversaw the federal ACA marketplace under the Biden administration as deputy administrator and director at the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight. She is now a managing director with the Manatt Health consulting group.

Millions — perhaps up to half of enrollees in some states — may lose or drop coverage as a result of that and other changes in the legislation combined with a new rule from the Trump administration and the likely expiration at year’s end of enhanced premium subsidies put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Without an extension of those subsidies, which have been an important driver of Obamacare enrollment in recent years, premiums are expected to rise 75% on average next year. That’s starting to happen already, based on some early state rate requests for next year, which are hitting double digits.

“We estimate a minimum 30% enrollment loss, and, in the worst-case scenario, a 50% loss,” said Devon Trolley, executive director of Pennie, the ACA marketplace in Pennsylvania, which had 496,661 enrollees this year, a record.

Drops of that magnitude nationally, coupled with the loss of Medicaid coverage for millions more people under the legislation Trump calls the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” could undo inroads made in the nation’s uninsured rate, which dropped by about half from the time most of the ACA’s provisions went into effect in 2014, when it hovered around 14% to 15% of the population, to just over 8%, according to the most recent data.

Premiums would rise along with the uninsured rate because older or sicker policyholders are more likely to try to jump enrollment hurdles, while those who rarely use coverage — and are thus less expensive — would not.

After a dramatic all-night session, House Republicans passed the bill Thursday, meeting the president’s Friday deadline. Trump is expected to sign the measure on Independence Day. It will increase the federal deficit by trillions of dollars and cut spending on a variety of programs, including Medicaid and nutrition assistance, to partly offset the cost of extending tax cuts put in place during the first Trump administration.

The administration and its supporters say the GOP-backed changes to the ACA are needed to combat fraud. Democrats and ACA supporters see this effort as the latest in a long history of Republican efforts to weaken or repeal Obamacare. Among other things, the legislation would end several changes put in place by the Biden administration that were credited with making it easier to sign up, such as lengthening the annual open enrollment period and launching a special program for very low-income people that essentially allows them to sign up year-round.

In addition, automatic reenrollment, used by more than 10 million people for 2025 ACA coverage, would end in the 2028 sign-up season. Instead, consumers would have to update their information, starting in August each year, before the close of open enrollment, which would end Dec. 15, a month earlier than currently.

That’s a key change to combat rising enrollment fraud, said Brian Blase, president of the conservative Paragon Health Institute, because it gets at what he calls the Biden era’s “lax verification requirements.”

He blames automatic reenrollment, coupled with the availability of zero-premium plans for people with lower incomes that qualify them for large subsidies, for a sharp uptick in complaints from insurers, consumers and brokers about fraudulent enrollments in 2023 and 2024. Those complaints centered on consumers being enrolled in an ACA plan, or switched from one to another, without authorization, often by commission-seeking brokers.

In testimony to Congress on June 25, Blase wrote that “this simple step will close a massive loophole and significantly reduce improper enrollment and spending.”

States that run their own marketplaces, however, saw few, if any, such problems, which were confined mainly to the 31 states using the federal healthcare.gov.

The state-run marketplaces credit their additional security measures and tighter control over broker access than healthcare.gov for the relative lack of problems.

“If you look at California and the other states that have expanded their Medicaid programs, you don’t see that kind of fraud problem,” said Jessica Altman, executive director of Covered California, the state’s Obamacare marketplace. “I don’t have a single case of a consumer calling Covered California saying, ‘I was enrolled without consent.’”

Such rollovers are common with other forms of health insurance, such as job-based coverage.

“By requiring everyone to come back in and provide additional information, and the fact that they can’t get a tax credit until they take this step, it is essentially making marketplace coverage the most difficult coverage to enroll in,” said Trolley at Pennie, 65% of whose policyholders were automatically reenrolled this year, according to KFF data.

Federal data show about 22% of federal sign-ups in 2024 were automatic reenrollments, versus 58% in state-based plans. Besides Pennsylvania, the states that saw such sign-ups for more than 60% of enrollees include California, New York, Georgia, New Jersey and Virginia, according to KFF.

States do check income and other eligibility information for all enrollees — including those being automatically renewed, those signing up for the first time, and those enrolling outside the normal open enrollment period because they’ve experienced a loss of coverage or other life event or meet the rules for the low-income enrollment period.

“We have access to many data sources on the back end that we ping, to make sure nothing has changed,” Altman said. “Most people sail through and are able to stay covered without taking any proactive step.”

If flagged for mismatched data, applicants are asked for additional information. Under current law, “we have 90 days for them to have a tax credit while they submit paperwork,” Altman said.

That would change under the tax and spending plan before Congress, ending presumptive eligibility while a person submits the information.

A white paper written for Capital Policy Analytics, a Washington-based consultancy that specializes in economic analysis, concluded there appears to be little upside to the changes.

While “tighter verification can curb improper enrollments,” the additional paperwork, along with the expiration of higher premiums from the enhanced tax subsidies, “would push four to six million eligible people out of Marketplace plans, trading limited fraud savings for a surge in uninsurance,” wrote free market economists Ike Brannon and Anthony LoSasso.

“Insurers would be left with a smaller, sicker risk pool and heightened pricing uncertainty, making further premium increases and selective market exits [by insurers] likely,” they wrote.

Appleby writes for KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism.

Glenavon’s 16-year-old forward Chris Atherton has left Mourneview Park to join Chelsea.

The Northern Ireland Under-17 international made headlines in September 2022 when he became the youngest senior footballer in the United Kingdom at 13 years and 329 days old.

The teenager, who joined the Glenavon academy at four years old, broke the senior record when he came on as a second-half substitute for the Lurgan Blues during a 6-0 win over Dollingstown in the BetMcLean Cup.

Atherton beat the record set by Jordan Allan, who played for Airdrie aged 14 years and 191 days.

He was a first-team regular for Glenavon throughout the 2024-25 season, scoring his first Irish Premiership goal against Loughgall in March, as Paddy McLaughlin’s side finished 10th in the table.

Glenavon announced his exit on X, with a post stating: “Chris Atherton – blue still the colour.

“We can confirm that academy product Chris Atherton has left the club to sign for Chelsea We wish him the best in his career & hope he and his family won’t be strangers at MVP.”

The small village in Wales is no typical UK beach location

Brits longing for an idyllic escape might consider jetting off to distant exotic destinations, but there’s an overlooked treasure right on our doorstep. Portmeirion, tucked away along the Dwyryd Estuary in North Wales, breaks the mould of your average UK coastal spot.

Wander into this village and you could easily believe you’ve landed in Italy, thanks to its captivating array of Mediterranean-style buildings, sun-kissed beaches, and charming boutiques. And the icing on the cake?

It’s reportedly home to some of the UK’s most reasonably priced fish and chips. Last year’s statistics show that visitors typically spend just £8.57 on this beloved dish, according to Capital on Tap.

This placed the coastal gem as the third most economical for fish and chips, trailing only behind Southwold in Suffolk and New Brighton in Wirral. What’s more, it’s got great TV history behind it, having been the location for the filming of hit British TV show The Prisoner.

Portmeirion has also caused quite a stir online, too. Influencer Meera Pankhania is among those smitten with its scenic beauty. “My boyfriend and I were meant to go to Portugal that weekend but as it went on Amber list, we visited here as an alternative and then climbed Mount Snowdon,” she said in a previous TikTok reported by the Mirror.

“We stayed there for two days and while I’ve never visited Italy myself, I felt like I was in Lake Como. To arrive at the place, you travel through some beautiful roads and beautiful scenery.”

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Located in the heart of Gwynedd, the enchanting village of Portmeirion was brought to life by visionary architect Clough Williams-Ellis, who devoted five decades to shaping the site after purchasing the land in 1925.

Today, the village boasts a remarkable assortment of nationally significant listed buildings, including the stunning Grade I Listed Portmeirion Town Hall, built in 1938. However, you might be shocked to learn that Portmeirion doesn’t have any permanent residents, as its primary focus is on catering to tourists and holidaymakers.

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In fact, the village operates on a schedule, generally opening its doors to visitors from 9.30am to 6.30pm, seven days a week, during the peak summer season. Beyond its impressive infrastructure and unbelievable chippy prices, tourists also sing praises about Portmeirion’s afternoon teas too.

In 2024, one visitor took to TripAdvisor to share their thoughts on this, writing: “The best afternoon tea in the world, in the one of the nicest places. The village is stunning and we really made the most of it, being amongst the last to leave.

“We had afternoon tea in the hotel, which was absolutely delicious.” Meanwhile, another added: “There is no other place in England like this, it is so SO unique and amazing.

“If you only visit ONE place before you die, hopefully not just yet! then come here. It is SO lovely! We spent hours here, we did have afternoon tea here and if the weather had been better and we could have gone on the coastal and woodland walks, we would happily have stayed from opening to closing time.”

So, it seems that for those seeking an affordable beach escape this summer, Portmeirion might just be the perfect destination.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below

Our appetite for data is growing fast. And so is the number of data centres filled with computer servers.

They store and process the data generated by our online activity, from social media to shopping to cloud storage.

And they consume massive amounts of water and electricity.

Big Tech companies are building data centres in places like drought-stricken Queretaro, in Mexico.

We met some of the locals who are struggling to get by on rationed water as more of these thirsty facilities are built nearby.

Early Saturday morning, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani stepped on stage in the historically Black neighbourhood of Harlem.

His message was a familiar one: that he would be the best candidate to fight for the city’s marginalised and working classes.

“There have been many a question as to whether this city will simply become a museum of a place that once was — a museum of where working people could thrive,” Mamdani told the crowd.

On June 24, Mamdani scored an upset, winning New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary over frontrunner Andrew Cuomo, a former governor.

Just this Tuesday, the round-three results were released, showing Mamdani with a whopping 56 percent of the ranked-choice vote, dwarfing Cuomo’s 44 percent.

That dominant performance sent ripples around the United States political sphere. But it also led to scrutiny about where Mamdani’s weaknesses may lie.

Preliminary results suggest that Mamdani struggled in lower-income neighbourhoods like Brownsville and East Flatbush, where Cuomo took a marked lead.

In both of those areas, more than 60 percent of residents are Black. The neighbourhoods also share high poverty rates, with Brownsville at 32.4 percent and East Flatbush at 18.9, compared with the citywide rate of 18.2 percent.

One widely cited analysis from The New York Times found that 49 percent of precincts with a low-income majority tilted towards Cuomo, compared with 38 percent for Mamdani.

In precincts with a majority of Black residents, the pro-Cuomo number rose to 51 percent.

Those statistics raised questions about whether Mamdani’s promise to restore affordability in New York failed to resonate — or whether the numbers conceal a more complicated story.

A big-name opponent

Even before the primary results were called, there were some indications that Mamdani faced a steep challenge among lower-income and Black voters.

A Marist poll (PDF) from May found that 47 percent of respondents whose household income was less than $50,000 planned to vote for Cuomo as their first choice.

Mamdani was a distant second among the nine possible candidates, with 11 percent support. Meanwhile, he came in third place in the poll among Black voters, with 8 percent support to Cuomo’s 50 percent.

Experts say Cuomo had several factors weighing in his favour. Jerry Skurnik, a political consultant, pointed out that Cuomo was a well-known figure before June’s primary.

Not only was Cuomo a two-time governor, but he is also the son of a former governor.

His decades-long career in politics included stints in the cabinet of President Bill Clinton. Establishment figures like Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina ultimately backed his campaign.

Mamdani, by contrast, is newer to the political arena: The 33-year-old has served in the New York State Assembly since 2020.

“Most people expected Cuomo to do well in the minority areas,” Skurnik said.

“He had name recognition, and he also had endorsements in most of those areas by local elected officials.”

Skurnik also noted that primaries typically attract older voters, who are considered a greater part of Cuomo’s voting bloc.

There, however, Skurnik points out that Mamdani defied the odds. A New York Times analysis suggested that voters in their 20s and 30s turned out in significantly higher numbers than for the 2021 mayoral primary.

That contributed to the highest overall Democratic primary turnout since 1989, when David Dinkins campaigned to become the first Black mayor of New York City.

“Younger voters came out in much higher numbers than anticipated,” Skurnik said. “Even in areas that Mamdani lost, he did by lower margins than people anticipated, paving the way for his victory.”

Courting the risk-averse

Other experts speculated that Mamdani, as a progressive candidate facing a centrist, might have been perceived as a riskier option.

John Gershman, a professor of public service at New York University, indicated that uncertainty can affect voter choices, particularly for those from vulnerable communities or precarious economic circumstances.

“For low-income families and the Black community, I think very much the calculus is not so much who’s the best candidate, but with which candidate am I risking the least, or am I least likely to lose?” Gershman said.

“In some ways, the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t.”

Gershman added, however, that Mamdani fit into a broader trend within the Democratic Party.

He pointed out that low-income voters leaned rightwards towards Republican Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election despite Democrats having a stronger “anti-poverty element” in their agenda.

Trump even made headway among Black voters, though the majority remain Democrats.

Gershman tied the trend back to name recognition and media habits. More low-income voters, he said, get their news from legacy media sources like television and newspapers.

Cuomo relied more heavily on those outlets for publicity. While Mamdani did make a sizable TV ad buy, he also campaigned heavily on social media with videos that were more informal and conversational.

Some conservative commentators, however, seized upon The New York Times’ analysis to arrive at a different interpretation about why certain voters might perceive risk in Mamdani’s campaign.

Speaking to Fox News, Republican strategist Karl Rove cited the statistics to argue that low-income voters may fear the tax burden that might accompany greater anti-poverty spending.

“Low-income voters said, ‘You know what? We’re not dumb enough to think that this is all going to be cost-free,’” Rove said, taking a swipe at Mamdani.

“There aren’t enough rich people to pay all of the promises he’s making.”

A complex demographic patchwork

But many experts say the broad voting trends fail to capture the complexity and overlaps of the communities they represent.

Michael Lange, a writer and political strategist who researched the primary, noted that many low-income communities in New York are Hispanic or Asian — demographics that gave strong backing to Mamdani.

“There were many lower-income neighbourhoods that Zohran Mamdani did well in, particularly in Queens, [like] Elmhurst and Flushing, that are almost exclusively Asian,” Lange said.

Those areas, he added, “verge on low income to working poor to working class”.

Activist and local historian Asad Dandia, who supports Mamdani, warned it would be wrong to see his campaign as solely drawing white or upper-class voters.

Rather, Dandia argued that Mamdani’s candidacy brought together a patchwork of diverse communities, from the Pakistani enclave in Brighton Beach to the Latino majority in Corona, Queens.

Even in some Black and low-income neighbourhoods, Dandia pointed out that Mamdani came out on top.

“How can you say that he’s not appealing to low-income voters when he’s winning Harlem?” Dandia asked.

But communities are constantly evolving, as are their politics. Juan Battle, a professor at the City University of New York, emphasised that every election cycle is different — and voter priorities can shift.

He pointed out that, during the last mayoral election, crime was the dominant theme. It helped buoy the current mayor, former police officer Eric Adams, to power.

“If this were happening four years ago, where crime was a big issue, I don’t think that Mamdani would have won,” Battle said. “Cuomo would have definitely won.”

No monoliths in election season

Mandami is set to face Adams himself in November’s general elections. Cuomo, too, has not yet ruled out a third-party run on the final ballot.

Still, as the Democratic nominee, Mamdani has become the frontrunner in the race — and his campaign is likely to continue building its coalition, including through appeals to the demographics it may have lost in the primary.

That includes Black voters. But in order to succeed, Portia Allen-Kyle, the executive director of the racial justice group Color of Change, believes that Mamdani needs to understand the spectrum of viewpoints in the Black community.

“Black voters are not a monolith, as we saw that on [election] day,” she said.

Allen-Kyle believes authenticity and innovation will be key to reaching Black voters come November. She also warned against relying too heavily on the same popular shows where other politicians make appearances.

“In the same way you can no longer just go to churches to reach Black voters, we’re not all listening to The Breakfast Club or to Ebro in the Morning,” she explained, referencing two radio shows that Mamdani has appeared on.

As he continues to reach out to Black voters ahead of November, Mamdani has made allies with a civil rights icon: Reverend Al Sharpton.

At Saturday’s event, Sharpton himself reflected on The New York Times’ findings about Mamdani and the Black vote.

“There was a story in The New York Times, two days after the primary, about Black votes,” Sharpton told the crowd.

He pointed out that Mamdani could have chosen to appeal to other communities, where his support was stronger. But Mamdani’s “courage” had won his support.

“Any other kind of politician would have played against the Black community,” Sharpton said. “He decided to come to the Black community.”

An insatiably popular city on the French Riviera has revealed it is clamping down on over-tourism with a bold cap on cruise passengers – in a huge blow to UK holidaymakers

A popular EU hotspot is clamping down on over-tourism after unveiling a brutal visitor cap.

Every year, around three million tourists flock to the ultra-chic city of Cannes, lured in by its golden sandy beaches, designer shops, and A-list-studded film festival. The influx is largely attributed to cruise passengers travelling through the French Riviera, who get dropped off in huge crowds for day-trips.

In fact, in 2024, a staggering 460,000 cruise passengers flocked to Cannes – resulting in concerns of pollution and overcrowding, as well as straining local amenities for permanent residents. However, in a major crackdown confirmed by the council – this could all soon change.

Starting next year, a maximum of 6,000 cruise passengers will be allowed to disembark in Cannes per day. The number of mega ships carrying more than 5,000 passengers will also be cut by 48 per cent, with a long-term aim of banning all vessels carrying more than 1,300 people by 2030.

The harsh limit follows in the footsteps of the nearby city of Nice, which vowed to ban ships more than 190m long and with a capacity of more than 900 passengers from docking in its port, as well as the neighbouring Villefranche-sur-Mer from next summer. However, authorities have since backtracked on the ruling, now permitting ships carrying up to 2,500 people to dock in Villefranche-sur-Mer, but only one at a time, with a cap of 65 per year.

According to EuroNews, cruise operators have criticised the move in Cannes – arguing such restrictions are ‘damaging’ to tourist destinations and holidaymakers. Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) says such a strict cap ‘imposes unjustified restrictions on a sector that enables millions of people to discover the world’.

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The company argued that cruises ‘actively contribute to the vitality of port cities’ by bringing in income to the area. However, Mayor David Lisnard was quick to defend the decision and double down on the cap.

“Cannes has become a major cruise ship destination, with real economic benefits,” the politician said in a statement. “It’s not about banning cruise ships, but about regulating, organising, setting guidelines for their navigation.”

As reported by the Express, Mayor Lisnard has already imposed an environmental charter on cruise companies back in 2019. Back then, he threatened to block passenger excursions if they failed to comply.

Other popular cities including Venice, Barcelona and Amsterdam have also capped cruise ships in recent years – following a string of anti-tourist protests that have erupted across the continent. While it puts the future of Brits’ cruise holiday into jeopardy – it’s likely the move will be well received by fed-up locals, who have long demonstrated against overcrowding and spikes in holiday rentals.

What do you think of the tourist cap? Let us know in the comments section below

Celebrities and the world’s toddlers adore the long-running Aussie children’s TV entertainers, but now in it’s third reincarnation, the punishing schedule has taken its toll on the kiddie supergroup

Robert De Niro, Dolly Parton and Jessie J are fans, they’re worth millions and play sell-out concerts around the world. The Wiggles – aka The Beatles for toddlers – are a preschooler’s entertainment juggernaut that has taken over the world.

They’ve got a new country album out, Wiggle Up Giddy Up, featuring two songs with the rhinestone queen herself, Dolly Parton. And tickets to their current world tour are hotter than an Oasis reunion gig.

They have previously sold out Madison Square Garden in New York for 12 days in a row and, ahead of this week’s show in the US, Hollywood legend De Niro, 81, was granted a backstage pass with his two-year-old daughter, Gia, to meet her idol – founder member, Anthony Field (Blue Wiggle).

Like most people over the age of five, De Niro didn’t have a clue about this global phenomenon until he had Gia with professional martial artist girlfriend Tiffany Chen, 45.

The Wiggles sang their classic banger Rock-A-Bye Your Bear for the veteran actor’s family, which drew a rare smile. And De Niro admitted: “I didn’t know of them until I started seeing them and my daughter loves to watch them… but they’re great!”

With the advent of YouTube and the arrival of their shows on Netflix, a new British audience is embracing The Wiggles.

When they came to the UK recently, Jessie J met them with her son Sky and was treated to some of the Tree of Wisdom’s viral TikTok dance moves.

They’re also part of a wave of Australian children’s TV, like Bluey, that is captivating British kids, giving them Aussie accents and pushing CBeebies off the map.

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Borkowski PR’s Gregor Cubie expects his 19-month-old to join the fan club soon, and wonders if ‘Aussie-ness’ is the magic ingredient wooing international audiences.

“In the same way that Bluey is almost universally popular and accessible, The Wiggles’ sheer Aussie-ness might work in their favour when it comes to their reputation,” he says.

But, scratch the surface, according to Gregor, and you’ll find a long-running supergroup, dogged by controversy, ill health and accusations of “going woke”.

One of Australia’s most successful exports, The Wiggles take it in turns with pop sensation Kylie Minogue and Hollywood actor Russell Crowe to top the Aussie rich list.

Majority owner Anthony is estimated to be worth £25m, on top of the £10 million a year the band rakes in from tours, TV shows, new releases, merchandise and sponsorships.

They have their own TV series Ready, Steady, Wiggle, have produced 62 studio albums, sold 40 million books, CDs and DVDS, and attracted more than 5 billion views on YouTube and 3 billion streams across various music services.

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They’ve been making ear-worm sing-a-long pop since 1991, when kindergarten teaching students Anthony and Jeff Fatt, who were members of the R&B pop band the Cockroaches, and got together with two fellow students – Murray Cook and Greg Page – in Sydney, to make an album of simple, catchy songs for pre-schoolers

After Anthony’s infant niece tragically died from sudden infant death syndrome, the Cockroaches disbanded.

One of the songs Anthony wrote, Get Ready to Wiggle, inspired the new band’s name because they thought “wiggling” describes how children dance.

“We met at university doing a course in early childhood – this connection with music and teaching is what became The Wiggles,” explains Anthony.

While The Wiggles has evolved since those early days, the four original members hold a special place in people’s hearts – Anthony and Jeff Fatt (Purple Wiggle), Murray Cook (Red Wiggle) and Greg Page (Yellow Wiggle). And their hits like Hot Potato and Fruit Salad, were toddler dance floor fillers for the next two decades.

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While members have changed, the primary colours of red, yellow, blue and purple that they wear is no doubt the secret of the Wiggles’ success with the ankle biters.

In Hot Potato: The Story of the Wiggles 2023 documentary, Anthony says: “It doesn’t matter who wears the skivvies, as long as we reflect our audience and communicate with children.”

Like any band, they had to break America to go truly global – and when the Disney Channel played them four times a day to their 85 million subscribers, their success was meteoric. All of a sudden, they were playing 10,000 seater arenas.

PR, Gregor puts their success down to a “combination of their prolific output with its ceaseless ability to hypnotise toddlers”.

He adds: “Also, a less extreme version of the Royal Family’s ‘never complain, never explain’ approach. Instead of saying nothing, they say the bare minimum and carry on as if nothing happened.

“You rarely see naval-gazing and the consistency and popularity of their work keeps generations of kids coming back for more.”

While there aren’t many skeletons to rattle in The Wiggle cupboards, behind their happy faces and signature finger point, members have been dogged by setbacks.

Controversies include the Hot Potato incident two years ago, when a council in Western Australia played their famous song on loop to deter anti-social behaviour at a homeless shelter.

The Wiggles complained, saying their music should only be used to “spread joy and happiness” but the damage was done.

But the fact De Niro was happy to be pictured with The Wiggles is a massive endorsement.

“Robert De Niro seems increasingly like the kind of guy who considers how his every public appearance and utterance might affect his legacy, so it’s a pretty major stamp of approval that he’s happy to be publicly associated with the Wiggles. Fundamentally they are free of reputation risk,” says Gregor.

“The irony is that the Wiggles have had a few controversies which are fairly stereotypical of long-running bands – walkouts, inter-band marriages and divorces; allegations that a song is racially insensitive, accusations of going ‘woke.’ They’ve been ruthlessly parodied on 30 Rock and, of course, the Hot Potato incident was unpleasant.”

For members of The Wiggles, the squeaky clean expectations can be tricky.

“During my time in The Wiggles, I was out at a gig one night and I was having a drink, and the next day a newspaper reported: ‘The Wiggles member caught having a beer’, and that was a shock. I am an adult!” says Murray.

And doing 400 to 500 shows a year – cramming up to three gigs into a single day – took its toll on the original members, with Jeff, Murray and Greg retiring for health reasons in 2012.

A mystery illness forced Greg to leave in 2006. He was replaced by Sam Morans, but came back in 2012. Then he suffered a heart attack on stage during a 2020 reunion show. That same year, Murray had open heart surgery.

Revealing his own struggles, Anthony released a memoir Out Of The Blue last year, detailing the years of mental and physical health problems he’s suffered, including depression, undiagnosed ADHD and chronic pain.

Yet Field created a second generation of Wiggles with Simon Pryce (Red Wiggle), Lachlan Gillespie (Purple Wiggle) and the first female, Emma Watkins (Yellow Wiggle).

“We might be responsible for their first experience of music,” says Emma, speaking about their responsibility to their tiny fans

Sadly, trouble soon upended their paradise, as shortly after Yellow Wiggle Emma married Purple Wiggle Lachie, they divorced and she left the group not long after.

Another shake-up in 2021 saw 15-year-old Tsehay Hawkins becoming Yellow Wiggle.

Now 62, Anthony is the only remaining original Wiggle, in a group of eight performers – Tsehay, Lachlan, and Simon, as well as Caterina Mete, Lucia Field, Simon Pryce, Evie Ferris, John Pearce – who are as gender-diverse and racially-diverse as their millions of fans.

Costumed characters, played by the more junior Wiggles, include Dorothy the Dinosaur, Henry the Octopus, Wags the Dog, and Captain Feathersword.

While some of the newer members say their estimated £72,000 earnings are a fraction of the big bucks of the original members, they have given the group a bigger presence on social media, where the Tree of Wisdom (played by Anthony’s nephew, Dominic Field) regularly goes viral on TikTok, with his exuberant dance moves.

And, in recent years, they’ve been noticing something new – a generational crossover, as kids grow up, but remain fans.

Dorothy the Dinosaur is also now a DJ, who remixes the original Wiggles classics for the older audience. And they’ve been getting down with the cool kids – covering songs by Fatboy Slim, White Stripes and Tame Impala’s Elephant.

“We’re bringing back happy memories,” says Anthony. “And it’s a real privilege to do that.”

Altogether now, kids, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle!

Classic kids TV groups down the years:

The Monkees, 1960s – Four cute surfer boys Davy Jones, Mickey Donlenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith running around in zany plots to brilliant pop tracks, in a sitcom that captured the spirit of the era.

The Banana Splits, 1970s – Four costumed animal characters who’d perform songs and comedy skits in a psychedelic world, was just as weird and fun as it sounds. The makers had clearly been on the wacky baccy.

Rainbow, 1980s – Presenter Geoffrey and his camp puppets Zippy, George and Bungle and hippy singers Rod, Jane and Freddy took us “Up above the streets and houses, Rainbow climbing high” every week. I still miss them.

Teletubbies, 1990s – Some called it the most disturbing children’s show on TV – but even now millions of babies are glued to repeats of these four tubby aliens, Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, Laa-laa, and Po, with coat hangers on their heads living on a mini golf course.

Zingzillas, 2000s – Puppet monkey band Zak, Tang, Panzee and Drum lived on a tropical island and made real music together and introduced tots to rock, soul, jazz and samba styles – along with some dodgy titles like Do You Didgeridoo?

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What a difference eight years makes. During President Trump’s first term, then-Sen. Marco Rubio pushed the president to expand his human rights diplomatic agenda. Rubio recognized that promoting human rights abroad is in the national interest. He urged the president to appoint an assistant secretary for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor — commonly known as DRL — after the position was left vacant for nearly two years. He co-sponsored the Women, Peace and Security Act (ensuring that the U.S. includes women in international conflict negotiations), spoke out against the torture of gay men in Chechnya and co-sponsored the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

So it is shocking that as secretary of State, Rubio is overseeing the near-total destruction of his department’s human rights and global justice policy shops and programs. Rubio knows this decision, one catastrophe among the many State Department cuts he’s contemplating, will undermine the enforcement of legislation he previously championed. It will also imperil decades of bipartisan foreign policy and leave the world a much more dangerous and unjust place. Congress must use its authorization and appropriation powers to protect this work.

We speak from experience. We represent the Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice, an organization of former State Department senior diplomats mandated to promote human rights and criminal justice globally, and to combat human trafficking. If the proposed DRL “reorganization” proceeds, critical infrastructure and expertise, which took decades and enormous political will to build, will be lost. It would also send a chilling message to the world, and to Americans: The U.S. no longer sees the quests for equality, global justice or human rights as foreign policy imperatives, or as priorities at all.

Rubio’s plan would shutter most of the State Department’s offices devoted to human rights and lay off an estimated 80% of the DRL staff, most of whom are experts in human rights and democracy. In a recent Substack post, he claimed these civil servants had become “left-wing activists [waging] vendettas against ‘anti-woke’ leaders.” Surely he knows they have instead proved themselves committed to serve the U.S. government under whatever administration is elected.

Rubio may claim that he is not eliminating DRL, but by stripping it of all policy functions, limiting it to dispensing minimal humanitarian assistance and undermining its ability to influence policy debates, his plan will be the last nail in the coffin in which the Trump administration buries America’s human rights work.

When difficult foreign policy debates are underway at the highest levels, there will be no U.S. experts at the table who specialize in human rights issues. Yet we know it is crucial that America’s foreign policy decisions balance the often precarious tension between human rights and economic and geopolitical issues.

The destruction of DRL means many important initiatives will cease altogether. As one example, the bureau previously funded a global network of civil society organizations working to reintegrate detained children of Islamic State insurgents in Iraq. Without intervention, these children and their mothers (often victims themselves) would have been indefinitely trapped in refugee camps and left susceptible to radicalization and terrorist recruitment. This lifesaving work — which made Americans safer by disrupting the cycle of anti-American extremism — was done at minimal cost to U.S. taxpayers. Now this meticulously crafted network will probably disintegrate, empowering hostile regimes overnight and imperiling the victims of Islamic extremism.

Per the plan, the few surviving DRL offices would be rebranded along ideological lines. The Office of International Labor Affairs would become the Office of Free Markets and Fair Labor, allegedly to prioritize American workers. But a different message is clear: The State Department is eviscerating efforts to prevent human trafficking, forced labor and union-busting overseas, despite the fact that such practices only make it harder for America’s workers and manufacturers to compete in a global economy.

Trump’s foreign policy perversely twists human rights causes into their regressive opposites. For instance, Rubio plans to cancel the role of special representative for racial equity and justice created by the Biden administration — a long-overdue position given the destabilizing role of racial injustice in countries around the world (including our own). Now the department touts racist narratives about “civilizational allies” and asserts that human rights derive from “western values.”

That assertion is offensive, dangerous and wrong. For starters, the flagship human rights instrument is the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Labeling human rights “western” only encourages dictators around the world to falsely claim the efforts are a Trojan horse for American imperialism. Such framing may put a target on the backs of activists in repressive regimes where advocating for the most marginalized — LGBTQ+ people for example — can be a death sentence.

The Rubio overhaul of the State Department may not seem as alarming as the administration’s scorched-earth tactics elsewhere, such as the total elimination of the U.S. Agency for International Development. But his plan — and his weak and unsubstantiated justification for it — should raise alarms because foreign policy mirrors domestic policy and vice versa. Indeed, we fear that America’s retreat from human rights and democracy on the global stage is a preview for more repression to come here at home.

Congress will have to decide whether to approve Secretary Rubio’s dismantling of offices that fight for human rights and justice, a plan Sen. Rubio would have strenuously rejected less than a year ago. As the U.S. confronts emboldened adversaries, rising authoritarianism and increasing instability in the Middle East and elsewhere, senators and representatives would do well to remember that nations that promote and protect human rights and the rule of law are more likely to enjoy peace, prosperity and stability — conditions that used to define the U.S. to the rest of the world and that we need now more than ever.

Desirée Cormier Smith is the former State Department special representative for racial equity and justice. Kelly M. Fay Rodríguez is the former special representative for international labor affairs, and Beth Van Schaack the former ambassador for global criminal justice. The full list of founders of the Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice is available at thealliancefordiplomacyandjustice.org.

ATLANTA — Zach Neto had three hits, including a homer, Nolan Schanuel added a two-run blast and José Soriano gave up only three hits in seven scoreless innings to lead the Angels to a 5-1 victory over the weak-hitting Atlanta Braves on Thursday night.

The Braves avoided a shutout on Jurickson Profar’s ninth-inning homer off left-hander Brock Burke. It was Profar’s second homer in two games since returning from an 80-game PED suspension.

Soriano (6-5) had seven strikeouts and did not allow a base runner to reach second base. Neto scored three runs.

Bryce Elder (2-6) gave up four runs, eight hits and three walks in five innings. Elder’s third consecutive loss is a disturbing trend for a team that placed right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach on the 15-day injured list with a fractured right elbow on Wednesday.

The rotation previously lost Chris Sale (broken rib), AJ Smith-Shawver (Tommy John surgery) and Reynaldo López (shoulder surgery) to injuries. Manager Brian Snitker said he may use a bullpen game Saturday in the second game of a series against Baltimore.

Key moment

After giving up 10 runs, nine earned and three homers in only two innings in a 13-0 loss to Philadelphia on Friday night, Elder gave up two more homers. Schanuel’s two-run shot in the second drove in Neto, who doubled.

Key stats

Matt Olson’s first-inning single to right field extended his streak of reaching base to 33 games, the majors’ longest active streak. Jo Adell’s first-inning single extended his hitting streak to 14 games, the Angels’ longest this season.

Up next

The Angels open a series at Toronto on Friday night when Kyle Hendricks (5-6, 4.66 ERA) faces Blue Jays Eric Lauer (4-1, 2.60).

July 3 (UPI) — President Donald Trump, who campaigned on ending the Ukraine war within 24 hours of returning to the White House, said Thursday that he “didn’t make any progress” toward securing a potential cease-fire in the conflict when he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the day.

“We had a call. It was a pretty long call and we talked about a lot of things, including Iran and we also talked about, you know, the war with Ukraine,” he told reporters from the tarmac of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

Asked if he made any advancement toward achieving the cease-fire he’s been trying to secure, he replied: “No, I didn’t make any progress.”

Trump earlier Thursday announced on his Truth Social platform that he was scheduled to speak with the Russian leader at 10 a.m.

A readout of the call from Putin aide Yuri Ushakov stated the conversation lasted almost an hour, and began with Trump announcing Congress had passed his mammoth tax and spending cut bill, followed by Putin wishing him success on implementing it.

On Ukraine, Putin told Trump that he is “willing to pursue negotiations” but that Russia would also “strive to achieve its goals, namely the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs.”

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, with Putin claiming it was to de-Nazify its neighbor. The conflict that Putin said would be over in a matter of days continues.

Trump campaigned heavily and repeatedly stated that if he were re-elected he would have the war ended within 24 hours. Now, 164 days after returning to the White House, Trump, known for praising the Russian leader, is still trying to secure an end to the war.

The last publicly known conversation between the two was on June 14 — Trump’s birthday.

In a post to his Truth Social account, Trump said Putin wished him happy birthday. They also discussed Iran. “Much less time was spent talking about Russia/Ukraine,” he said, adding “that will be for next week.”

The call was made days after the Pentagon halted shipments of some missiles and ammunition to Ukraine citing concerns about U.S. weapons stockpiles.

Asked about the suspension of weapons in Maryland, Trump said the U.S is still shipping weapons to Ukraine.

“We’re giving weapons but we’ve given so many weapons, but we are giving weapons and we’re working with them and trying to help them — but, you know, Biden emptied out our whole country, giving them weapons, and we have to make sure we have enough for ourselves,” he said.

Southwold in Suffolk is known as ‘Chelsea-on-Sea’ – it’s a popular spot for holidaymakers and boasts a high street almost entirely populated by independent shops

This charming Suffolk village is known for its exclusive atmosphere, with a high street almost entirely filled with independent shops and cafes. Often dubbed Chelsea-on-Sea, this scenic town is the perfect spot for those in search of unique shopping experiences and snug cafes, all set against the stunning backdrop of a beautiful beach and striking seaside landmarks.

Southwold in Suffolk has gained a reputation as one of the UK’s most upmarket towns. Its town council has consistently blocked attempts by chains such as Costa and Waterstones to set up shop here. However, Waterstones was eventually allowed to open, on the condition that it kept the name of its predecessor, Southwold Books.

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As a result, the town is primarily made up of independent businesses, ranging from quaint cafes to unique shops like the Amber Shop, which specialises in amber jewellery and even boasts an accompanying museum.

Among the town’s landmarks is its impressive lighthouse, built in 1890. It houses a rotating 150-watt lamp with a range of 24 nautical miles.

Visitors can even take tours of the lighthouse, courtesy of the local Adnams Brewery, reports the Express. Southwold Pier is a hub of traditional seaside entertainment, with model yacht regattas regularly held on its boating pond, a tradition dating back to the Victorian era.

At the end of the pier, you’ll discover a quirky collection of coin-operated arcade machines, crafted by artist and engineer Tim Hunkin, with paddle steamers often docking nearby.

The Southwold Museum offers visitors a chance to delve into the town’s history, showcasing a variety of exhibits on its local and natural history.

Southwold has a rich history, having been home to George Orwell during his formative years and again in his 30s, where he wrote some of his books.

Like many coastal towns, Southwold’s main attraction is its beach, featuring golden sands overlooked by charming colourful beach huts. Despite some tourists claiming the town is on the decline, it hasn’t deterred many visitors who are still drawn to its charm.

For those wishing to experience Southwold first-hand, a double room at Amber House can be booked for approximately £85 per night.

I didn’t think my level of loathing for the Max sequel to HBO’s “Sex and the City” could get any higher, and just like that, along came Season 3.

You see what I did there? Like every single person who has written about “And Just Like That…,” I have used the title in a naked and half-assed attempt to be clever.

Which honestly could also be the title of the series.

We’re midway through the third — and one can only hope final — season, and I am hoarse from screaming at watching these beloved characters behave as if they had done some sort of “Freaky Friday” switch with 13-year-olds.

Which is actually an insult to most 13-year-olds.

In the course of the barely-recognizable-as-human events that make up this latest episode, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) prolonged her inexplicable bout of homelessness by acting shocked — shocked! — that Seema (Sarita Choudhury), having found her a dream house, would expect her to make a bid over asking price; Lisa (Nicole Ari Parker) dealt with the grief over her father’s death by whining about the amazing send-off orchestrated by his friend Lucille (Jenifer Lewis) despite it including a performance by … Jenifer Lewis; and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) continued to behave as if it were perfectly normal for her husband Harry (Evan Handler) to keep his prostate cancer diagnosis secret from everyone including their children, who would no doubt handle it better than Charlotte.

All of which paled in comparison to the latest installment in the emotional horror show that is the second-time-around courtship of Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Aidan (John Corbett), which has been under threat since it was revealed in Season 2 that Aidan’s 15-year-old son Wyatt (Logan Souza) has some issues, including a recent ADHD diagnosis. Events lead Aidan to impulsively announce that he and Carrie will have to put their relationship on hold until Wyatt turns 20 (when, as everyone knows, parental responsibilities officially end).

Aidan puts his relationship with Carrie on hold because of issues related to his teenage son, Wyatt (Logan Souza).

(Craig Blankenhorn / Max)

Not surprisingly, this plan does not work out, and in this episode, Aidan celebrates the fact that Wyatt is attending a week-long wilderness camp (um, what?) by showing up at Carrie’s apartment, where he immediately breaks a window by throwing a pebble at it. You know, like he used to in the old days before Carrie had a jillion-dollar apartment with 19th century windows that, as she says, “survived the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Draft Riots of ‘63” (memo to Carrie — New York saw no action in the Mexican War).

After going to obsessive lengths to replace the glass, Aidan then confesses that he and his ex Kathy (Rosemarie DeWitt) had to force Wyatt onto the plane (how they managed to be at the gate as unticketed passengers to do this remains a mystery), an event so upsetting that Aidan and Kathy were forced to comfort each other with sex.

For one brief and shining moment, I waited for Carrie to call time of death on one of the unhealthiest relationships this particular universe has seen (and that’s saying something). Instead, and impossibly, she said she understood.

Apparently love means ignoring every sign God could think to send you. Not only did Aidan have sex with his ex, he forced his unmedicated, unsupervised 15-year-old with ADHD onto a plane headed to the Grand Tetons. (Whether the poor kid made it to camp or is currently having a meltdown in the Jackson Hole airport is never mentioned.)

But then Carrie, and the series, has continued to treat Wyatt’s condition, and his father’s obvious irritated denial of its realities, as simply a logistical obstacle in her fairy tale love story. This would barely make sense if Carrie were still in her 30s, and it makes absolutely none for a woman of her age.

I begrudge no one the desire to reboot a groundbreaking series, and two years ago, the prospect of seeing these iconic 30-somethings as mid-to-late 50-somethings was certainly appealing to one who shares their mature demographic. If only Michael Patrick King, the force behind “And Just Like That…,” allowed any of them to have matured. I don’t mean physically — stars Parker, Nixon, Davis and Kim Cattrall (briefly glimpsed at the end of Season 2) — are fit and lovely and obviously older. I mean emotionally, spiritually and psychologically.

“And Just Like That…” has had two and a half seasons to make these women seem like actual people who might exist, if not in real life, then at least the “Sex and the City” universe (remember the opening credits, when Carrie gets splashed by a bus? Hyperrealism compared to the eat-off-the-sidewalks vision of “And Just Like That…’s” New York.)

Instead, the series seems determined to prove that age is just a number by forcing its leads, now including Choudhury and Parker, to act as if 50 is the new (and very stupid) 30.

I get that Miranda is coming to grips with her newly discovered queerness, but surely a successful, Harvard-educated lawyer who has survived a divorce and raised a teenage son would have a bit more confidence and self-awareness in love, real estate and basic guest etiquette — after moving in briefly with Carrie, she eats the last yogurt!

Charlotte has always been an original Disney princess, all wide eyes and faith in the restorative nature of small animals and florals, but at 55, her high-strung reaction to her husband’s prostate cancer (caught early, easily treatable) is helpful to no one. And don’t get me about her little foot-stamping approach to motherhood or how she speaks about her dog.

Aidan’s shocking confession did little to derail Carrie or their relationship.

(Craig Blankenhorn / Max)

As for Carrie, well, it’s one thing to be a relentlessly hopeful romantic addicted to tulle, stilettos and problematic men in your 30s, but Carrie’s pushing 60 now, so when she agreed, with no demur, to Aidan’s absurd five-year plan, I wondered if she had simply gone mad.

Watching as she subsequently rattled around her huge, empty (if incredibly luxe) apartment wearing a see-through, Ophelia-like dress stuffed with roses or traipsed through Central Park wearing a hat the size of a hot-air balloon only exacerbated my fears. Dressing like Marie Antoinette to attend a luncheon at Tiffany’s isn’t sassy fashion sense — it’s a cry for help.

She most certainly needs help. The reunion with Aidan seemed too good to be true, and thus it is proving to be. Even a 30-something Carrie would have known that being in a relationship with a father means being in a relationship with his children. But the notion that she must be kept separate from Wyatt is not just unsustainable — it’s insulting.

What, she’s never experienced, met or even read about children with ADHD or post-divorce trauma? Or is she such a delicate flower that she can’t handle being around a teenager with anger management issues? She lives in New York, for heaven’s sake, the city that invented anger management issues.

Frankly, Aidan’s behavior is far more concerning than Wyatt’s, a flag so big and red that Carrie could make a stunning sheath dress out of it.

Which she appears to be doing, instead of, you know, acting like the grown-ass rich widow she is and calling Aidan out on his bull.

“And Just Like That…” purports to celebrate the mid-life do-over, just as it purports to show that women in their 50s are just as vibrant, complicated and fun as women in their 30s. Both are admirable goals, neither of which the series achieves. Even with its title — ”And Just Like That…” — this series seems determined to erase everything that might have made the older versions of these characters interesting and resonant.

Like the ability to buy a house or say the word “cancer” or get out of an unhealthy romantic relationship before it spits right in your eye.

Gov. Gavin Newsom will spend two days next week in rural South Carolina, fueling speculation that the California Democrat is laying the groundwork for a 2028 presidential run.

During the visit Tuesday and Wednesday, Newsom will make stops in eight rural counties that are among the state’s “most economically challenged and environmentally vulnerable,” the South Carolina Democratic Party said Thursday.

The chair of the state Democratic Party, Christale Spain, said in a statement that Newsom’s tour through the Pee Dee, Midlands and Upstate regions was aimed at showing rural voters in areas that had been “hollowed out by decades of Republican control” that “they aren’t forgotten.”

Newsom’s visit is also aimed at a state that will be among the first to have a Democratic Party primary in 2028. But Lindsey Cobia, a Newsom senior political advisor, denied that the governor is laying the groundwork for a presidential run.

Cobia said Newsom is “squarely focused” on helping Democrats win back the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026 and on “sounding the alarm about how rural families and communities requesting disaster relief are being left behind by the Trump administration.”

Newsom’s tour with the South Carolina Democrats, dubbed “On the Road With Governor Newsom,” will include stops in Marion, Chesterfield, Marlboro, Laurens, Pickens, Oconee, Kershaw and Florence counties. The Post and Courier reported that Newsom’s schedule would include stops in small settings such as cafes, coffee shops, community centers and churches.

The tour will take Newsom to some of the state’s reddest counties. Seven of the eight counties Newsom is scheduled to visit went for President Trump in November, including two where he garnered 75% of the vote.

The South Carolina trip is one of several overtures that Newsom has made to Southern voters in recent years. He stumped for then-President Biden in South Carolina in 2024. In 2023, he faced off in a highly publicized debate with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. And in 2022, he bought ads in Texas and Florida excoriating their governors for their stances on gun violence and abortion.

Newsom isn’t the only California Democrat visiting South Carolina this month.

U.S. Rep Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) of Silicon Valley will be holding town halls in the Palmetto State on July 19 and 20 in partnership with the advocacy organization Protect Our Care, which has been mobilizing voters in swing House districts against the planned Republican cuts to Medicaid.