death

There are many reasons why people object to the death penalty. Opponents point to the ever-present risk of wrongful conviction. They note that there’s bias against people of color and low-income defendants, as well as geographic disproportionality in its administration. And there’s the fact that most other civilized societies around the world have concluded that it should be abolished.

But these days, there’s also a strong economic argument for doing away with capital punishment. With California facing its most severe fiscal crisis in recent memory — with draconian cuts about to be imposed from Sacramento that will affect every resident of the state — it would be crazy not to consider the fact that it will add as much as $1 billion over the next five years simply to keep the death penalty on the books.

Here’s the math.

Today, California has 678 offenders on death row, more than any other state. Yet, in the last 30 years, we’ve had only 13 executions. With 20 more people sentenced to death each year — and an average wait of 25 years from sentencing to execution — the number of inmates on death row is continuing to climb.

Now consider what capital punishment costs. According to the final report of the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, which I chaired from 2006 to 2008, the cost of a murder trial goes up by about half a million dollars if prosecutors seek the death penalty. Confinement on death row (with all the attendant security requirements) adds $90,000 per inmate per year to the normal cost of incarceration. Appeals and habeas corpus proceedings add tens of thousands more. In all, it costs $125 million a year more to prosecute and defend death penalty cases and to keep inmates on death row than it would simply to put all those people in prison for life without parole.

On top of that $125-million extra cost per year, California is also facing the need to build a new death house for death penalty inmates at an estimated cost of $400 million.

The commission, whose members were evenly divided between opponents and proponents of the death penalty, agreed that the present system is, as state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald M. George has said, “dysfunctional,” and it unanimously recommended a series of steps to rectify the most serious flaws in the system. We recommended increased staffing in a number of areas, including a 33% increase in the staff of California state public defenders to handle direct appeals and a 500% increase in the California Habeas Corpus Resources Center to take on habeas corpus filings at a much earlier time than is now the case. We also called for a commensurate increase in the staffing of the attorney general’s office to handle the increased caseload.

These staffing increases would cost $95 million more per year. They would bring the time needed to administer California’s death penalty down to about 12 1/2 years, near the national average.

Our report was issued almost a year ago, on June 30, 2008. Since that time, there has been no movement in Sacramento to seek implementation of our proposed reforms. They appear to be in quicksand. And with the fiscal crisis confronting the state, they look to be locked in granite.

So let me make another recommendation. I think it’s time to do away with the death penalty in California.

The system simply isn’t working. No one is being executed; there’s been a moratorium on executions for three years because of legal challenges. Yet death penalty cases are being prosecuted at great expense. We have a lengthy appeals process, death house overcrowding as offenders pile up and millions of dollars being wasted on a system that does not do what it is supposed to do.

It’s time to convert the sentences of those now on death row to life without parole. Doing so would incapacitate some of the worst of the worst for their natural lives, and at the same time ensure that a person wrongfully convicted will not be executed. And it would save $125 million each year.

A courageous governor facing an unprecedented budget crisis would take this step and use the taxpayer money saved to preserve some of the vital services now on the chopping block.

A British woman has been charged in Australia over the death of a man she allegedly hit while riding an e-scooter after a night of drinking.

Prosecutors told magistrates that Alicia Kemp, 24, hit Thanh Phan, 51, from behind at speeds of 20-25km/h (12-15mph) on a pavement in Perth city centre on 31 May.

The father-of-two hit his head and died two days later, prompting police to charge Ms Kemp with death by dangerous driving while under the influence. The charge carries a maximum 20-year prison term.

In a subsequent court hearing, prosecutors alleged Ms Kemp, of Redditch, had been drinking with a friend before both boarded the same scooter. She was denied bail and faces court again on 15 July.

Prosecutors told Perth Magistrates’ Court that CCTV footage showed Ms Kemp’s “inexplicably dangerous” driving, “evasive action” taken by others in her path, and the moment of collision with Mr Phan as he waited to cross the road.

Ms Kemp was denied bail by a magistrate on the basis that she posed a “flight risk”, after prosecutors argued that she was in Australia on a working holiday visa and could attempt to leave.

British media reported on Saturday that her parents were flying to Australia to support her. Her boyfriend has been present at the court hearings in Perth.

Ms Kemp faces an additional charge of dangerous driving occasioning bodily harm while under the influence for injuries suffered by her passenger, who was thrown from the e-scooter and suffered a fractured skull and broken nose.

Police say Ms Kemp had a blood alcohol content level of 0.158 when she hit Mr Phan. The legal drink-driving alcohol limit in Australia is 0.05.

The court heard that the pair had been drinking on the day since 14:30 and were forcibly evicted from the bar because of intoxication.

The pair hired the e-scooter just before 20:30.

In a statement last week, Mr Phan’s family described him as a a beloved husband, father, brother and dear friend.

He had worked as a structural engineer and had previously lived in Sydney, as well as Vietnam and Singapore, Australian media reported.

They called for a review of safety regulations around the use of hire e-scooters “to help prevent further serious incidents that put lives at risk”.

Perth’s city council suspended the use of hire e-scooters on Thursday, with authorities removing the vehicles from the street this week. Deputy Lord Mayor Bruce Reynolds called Mr Phan’s death a “tragic event”.

Western Australia’s police minister is also reviewing e-scooter regulations.

If a movie inspires you to get up in the middle of a Koreatown steakhouse and do the robot with your waiter, isn’t that worthy of some kind of award, even if it’s not an Oscar?

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter. Let’s talk about “The Life of Chuck,” the latest Stephen King adaptation, a film possessing the pedigree of an Oscar best picture contender.

Can ‘Chuck’ extend Toronto’s Oscar streak?

The last 12 movies to win the Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award have gone on to earn an Oscar nomination for best picture. It’s a list that includes eventual Oscar winners like “12 Years a Slave,” “Green Book” and “Nomadland.” Two years ago, Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction” premiered at Toronto and parlayed the momentum from its People’s Choice prize into an adapted screenplay victory for Jefferson.

Suffice it to say, it’s a prime precursor.

Which makes the arrival of “The Life of Chuck,” last year’s People’s Choice winner, all the more of a curiosity. Neon, the indie studio behind best picture winners “Anora” and “Parasite,” bought the film out of Toronto after it won the award, voted on by festivalgoers. With not enough time to craft a marketing or awards season campaign, the studio slotted the movie for the summer of 2025. It opens in limited release today — you can find it in five theaters in the Los Angeles area — and will expand nationwide next week.

“The Life of Chuck,” adapted from a 50-page Stephen King story published in 2020, is feel-good tale about the end of the world. It is indeed about the life of Chuck, a prototypical King everyman, an ordinary accountant we don’t meet until the the second part of the movie’s backward-moving triptych. But we know about him because in the film’s opening section, the one with the world ending and California tumbling into the sea (Steely Dan was right!), Earth’s inhabitants are inundated with baffling billboards and ads featuring a picture of Chuck, thanking him for 39 great years.

Tom Hiddleston, star of “The Life of Chuck,” at the 2024 Toronto Film Festival.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

We eventually learn that Chuck, played as an adult by Tom Hiddleston, is a remarkable dancer and has lived a life filled with loss. In between the tragedies, there were moments of pure, unadulterated joy. The movie, faithfully adapted and competently directed by Mike Flanagan (the man behind Netflix’s “The Haunting of Hill House” and other horror tales), wants to leave you with the message that such moments are enough. And also to remind you that when these occasions come, we should recognize them and store them away as found gold.

It’s an original story arriving in a summer movie landscape dominated by sequels and retreads. Call it counterprogramming. Critics have been split, which isn’t surprising. You either suspend disbelief and settle into this movie’s vibe or you find yourself unmoved and checking the time, thinking that, in the momentary pleasure department, a root beer float would go down easier. I liked it well enough, but given the choice, I’d probably opt for the ice cream.

For “The Life of Chuck” to be an awards season play, moviegoers will need to fall for it as hard as audiences did at Toronto. That feels like a long shot, though maybe the film’s sweetness and optimism will resonate in the current moment. Times film critic Amy Nicholson was mixed on the movie and yet, as I mentioned at the outset, it did make her “make magic out of the mundane” and boogie with a waiter. She sent me the video. Don’t let her tell you otherwise … she’s a dancing machine.

Join us live!

Want to catch the Envelope in person? RSVP for our free live screening and Q&A with the stars of “Landman,” Billy Bob Thornton, Ali Larter, Andy Garcia and Jacob Lofland.

When: Saturday, June 7 at 2 p.m.
Where: The Culver Theater

Since I’m being a little wistful here, let me call your attention to a recent column I wrote about the late, great Linda Lavin, a singular talent who never won an Emmy.

That may surprise you, particularly if you were around when Lavin headlined the long-running CBS sitcom “Alice,” in which she played a widowed mom working as a waitress while pursuing her dream of singing. The series ran from 1976 to 1985, piling up more than 200 episodes, a spinoff for Polly Holliday (Flo, the “kiss my grits” sass-flinger) and a lasting reputation for presenting an early, understated feminist role model. Alice wasn’t nearly as brash as Bea Arthur’s Maude or quite as lovable as Jean Stapleton’s Edith Bunker, but like her contemporary Mary Tyler Moore, she could turn the world on with her smile.

Lavin, who died in December at 87, did earn two Golden Globes for the role and, after “Alice” ended, she won a Tony Award in 1987 for lead actress in a play for her turn as a Jewish mother navigating a changing world in Neil Simon’s “Broadway Bound.”

“It was one of the greatest stage performances I have ever seen, and I told her that the first day I met her,” says Nathan Lane, who had the opportunity to share his enthusiasm with Lavin when they worked together on the Hulu sitcom “Mid-Century Modern.” Lane recalls watching the play and choking up when Lavin absent-mindedly wiped off a phone receiver — her character was always cleaning — right after a wrenching phone call.

“She could do anything and make it look effortless,” Lane says. “Working with her was the happiest experience I’ve ever had in television.”

(Photo illustration by Susana Sanchez / Los Angeles Times; Getty Images / CBS Photo Archive)

In Emmy history, 33 actors — 22 men and 11 women — have been posthumously nominated. Most recently, Treat Williams earned a nod last year for his supporting turn in the FX limited series “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans.” Ray Liotta was nominated in 2023 in the same category for “Black Bird.” And in 1978, Will Geer received three posthumous nominations, including his last season on “The Waltons.” (He lost all three.)

Lavin has a legitimate case. She elevates “Mid-Century Modern” every time she’s onscreen with her vitality and comic timing. In April, she picked up a comedy supporting actress nod from the Gotham Television Awards.

You can read the entire column, which includes some terrific stories from “Mid-Century Modern” showrunners Max Mutchnick and David Kohan, here.

Have a great weekend. Hope you find a moment to dance.

Read more of Glenn’s Emmys coverage

The Netherlands is still supporting the supply chain of Israel’s version of the F-35 fighter jet, more than a year after a court banned direct Dutch exports of F-35 parts to Israel, a report claims.

Research by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) shared with Al Jazeera shows that the port of Rotterdam is frequented by ships carrying F-35 parts for maintenance and assembly. The ships belong to the Danish shipping giant Maersk.

By examining import data and shipping receipts of Maersk and Lockheed Martin – the United States weapons manufacturer that designed the F-35 – the group found that more than a dozen shipments from Israel travelled through the port of Rotterdam on their way to the US from April 2023 until early 2025.

The F-35 fighter jet has been used by Israel to bomb Gaza from the air with devastating effect. Much of the Strip, where more than 50,000 people have been killed since October 2023, is in ruins.

“Maersk now operates a recurring shipping cycle between Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth facility in Texas and Israel Aerospace Industries in Israel, routed through Rotterdam,” the report stated. “In this cycle, Maersk transports pairs of empty F-35 wing containers from Houston to Ashdod, Israel, where they are loaded with completed F-35 wings. The filled containers are then shipped back to the US for final assembly or repair.”

The researchers noted that Rotterdam is a “key stopover point in this process, and shipments for this cycle have occurred beyond February of 2024”.

Then, a judge at a Dutch appeals court ordered the Netherlands to stop exporting and transiting F-35 parts to Israel, saying there was a “clear risk” they were being used in “serious violations of international humanitarian law”.

The Dutch state immediately lodged an appeal at the Supreme Court, but until a decision is made, it is still bound by the lower court’s ruling.

“The findings in the report show that the port of Rotterdam plays an important role in sustaining the operational capacities of Israel’s F-35 fighter jets. This way, the port of Rotterdam is complicit to international law violations in Gaza,” Gerard Jonkman, director of a Dutch NGO, The Rights Forum, told Al Jazeera.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry told Al Jazeera that the court had subsequently confirmed that the judgement in February 2024 applied only to the export or transit of F-35 parts from the Netherlands to Israel and that the Dutch state had implemented the judgement accordingly.

A spokesperson for the port of Rotterdam told Al Jazeera that the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs was responsible for issuing permits for the transhipment of military goods. Port officials check vessel compliance with environmental and safety regulations for shipping on behalf of the government and municipality of Rotterdam, they said.

“The harbour master receives only limited information regarding vessel cargo. The information received mainly pertains to whether the vessel is carrying hazardous substances. Other aspects of vessel cargo are monitored by various other public authorities, such as customs.”

They said they were “aware” of the February 2024 court ruling.

“All activities in the port must comply with international laws and regulations and the permits issued by the government. If we see any indication that this is not the case, the Port of Rotterdam Authority alerts the competent authority.”

‘The Netherlands is still part of the supply chain’

The Rights Forum was one of three parties, together with the Dutch affiliate of Oxfam and PAX for Peace, the largest peace organisation in the Netherlands, that sued the Dutch state over its export of F-35 parts to Israel.

“In this case, there is no direct export from the Netherlands to Israel, but the Netherlands is still part of the supply chain for the Israeli F-35 programme,” Gerard Jonkman, head of the Rights Forum, said of the Palestinian Youth Movement’s findings. “This way the Netherlands facilitates the Israeli F-35 programme and might breach its obligations under international law.”

PAX for Peace project leader Frank Slijper told Al Jazeera: “This indeed shows that the Netherlands is part of the F-35 supply chain.”

A grassroots organisation, the Palestinian Youth Movement believes that targeting Maersk directly disrupts the flow of weapons in the “supply chain of death used to genocide Palestinians”.

According to the group, Maersk has shipped the wings for every Israeli F-35 since March 2022.

In November 2024, following a decision by Spain to deny docking permission to two ships carrying weapons bound for Israel, Maersk adjusted its routes. The company’s fleet now avoids Spain in favour of Rotterdam and the port of Tangier in Morocco

“Maersk has, for years, knowingly supplied the Israeli military with key weapons components used to carry out genocide in Gaza,” Aisha Nizar of the Palestinian Youth Movement told Al Jazeera. “The company has done so without hesitation, potentially violating multiple arms embargo policies across Europe.”

The F-35 is considered a top-of-the-line fighter jet. The aircraft designed by Lockheed Martin costs at least $80m in its most basic configuration.

Currently, 12 countries operate the jet. F-35 parts are made in the United States and several participating partner countries, giving the project the moniker Joint Strike Fighter.

“It is very sad to see that Maersk is not distancing itself from Israel’s crimes against humanity in Gaza and more broadly continues lending itself to the crucial replenishment of Israel’s armed forces,” Slijper said. “Shipping military supplies for the benefit of Israel’s arms industry and the [Israeli army] risks Maersk being complicit in Israel’s crimes.”

The use of the jet by Israel, the only country with its unique version of the F-35, has been scrutinised since the start of the onslaught in Gaza.

Recently, campaign groups took the United Kingdom government to court in a bid to halt the exports of British-made F-35 parts to Israel.

In a statement to Al Jazeera, Lockheed Martin said: “Foreign military sales are government-to-government transactions, and we closely adhere to US government policy with regard to conducting business with international partners.”

Regarding F-35 shipments, Maersk told Al Jazeera that it upholds a strict policy of not shipping weapons or ammunition to active conflict zones and that it conducted due diligence, particularly in regions affected by active conflicts, including Israel and Gaza, and adapts this due diligence to the changing context. It confirmed, however, that its US subsidiary Maersk Line Limited was one of “many companies supporting the global F-35 supply chain” with transport services.

The F-35 programme includes several coalition countries, including Israel.

“As part of the coalition-building of the F-35, Maersk Line Limited regularly transports parts between participating countries, including Israel, where F-35 wings are manufactured,” it said.

Heartwarming tributes have poured in for the late Australian adult film star Koby Falks.

The tragic news was announced on 1 June via the 39-year-old’s Instagram account.

“Koby Falks passed away earlier this week. He was loved by many and will be missed. If this post has affected you, please reach out to Lifeline at 13 11 14,” the post read.

Known as Anthony Cox to his family and friends, the Australian native made his debut in the adult film world in 2022.

Although his time in the industry was brief, he starred in 76 projects and amassed over 400,000 followers across Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube.

He also led a fruitful career as a content creator on the subscription-based websites OnlyFans and JustForFans.

Since his tragic passing was announced, a handful of Koby’s peers, friends and fans have taken to social media to share heartbreaking tributes. 

The late actor’s talent agent, Matthew Leigh, described him as “a light, a creative force, and a genuinely beautiful soul.”

“Though our time working together was brief, the impact Koby had was anything but small. From the moment we connected, I was struck by his warmth, his charisma and his incredible professionalism,” he wrote in a lengthy statement on Instagram.

“He was organised, kind-hearted, and deeply respectful. The kind of person you instantly felt grateful to work with. It was an honour to represent his remarkable body of work and to witness first-hand the power of his presence, both on and off-screen.

“His ability to connect with people, not just here in Australia but across the world, was something truly special. Never did I imagine I would be writing such a post, especially for someone I had the privilege of managing. And I sincerely hope I never have to again.”

OnlyFans star Keller Wolfe echoed similar sentiments, writing: “Rest in peace, mate. My thoughts are with your Partner, your family, your friends and loved ones during this impossible time.”

Lastly, Koby’s partner Sam Brownell celebrated the late talent’s life in a now-deleted Instagram story, writing, “I will love you always.”  

As of writing, the official cause of death has not been revealed.

Days before his tragic passing, Koby took to Instagram and shared a photo of his younger self alongside a caption reflecting on his journey.

“Took me years to drop the act. Turns out, the scariest thing wasn’t being rejected—it was being seen. No more masks. No more performance. Just me, as I am. Raw. Real. Free. Yeah, I fucked up along the way. Yeah, I wore the armour a bit too long. But I never stopped searching for the bloke underneath it all,” he wrote.

“This is for the younger me who just wanted to be loved without pretending. And for anyone else out there still hiding— You don’t have to be a symbol. Just be you. Rough edges and all. That’s where the beauty is.”

Our thoughts are with Koby’s family and friends during this unthinkable time.

NEW YORK — Edmund White, the groundbreaking man of letters who documented and imagined the gay revolution through journalism, essays, plays and such novels as “A Boy’s Own Story” and “The Beautiful Room Is Empty,” has died. He was 85.

White’s death was confirmed Wednesday by his agent, Bill Clegg.

Along with Larry Kramer, Armistead Maupin and others, White was among a generation of gay writers who in the 1970s became bards for a community no longer afraid to declare its existence. He was present at the Stonewall raids of 1969, when arrests at a club in New York’s Greenwich Village led to the birth of the modern gay movement and for decades was a participant and observer through the tragedy of AIDS, the advance of gay rights and culture and the recent backlash.

A resident of New York and Paris for much of his adult life, he was a novelist, journalist, biographer, playwright, activist, teacher and memoirist. “A Boy’s Own Story” was a bestseller and classic coming-of-age novel that demonstrated gay literature’s commercial appeal. He wrote a prizewinning biography of playwright Jean Genet, along with books on Marcel Proust and Arthur Rimbaud. He was a professor of creative writing at Princeton University, where colleagues included Toni Morrison and his close friend, Joyce Carol Oates.

“Among gay writers of his generation, Edmund White has emerged as the most versatile man of letters,” cultural critic Morris Dickstein wrote in the New York Times in 1995. “A cosmopolitan writer with a deep sense of tradition, he has bridged the gap between gay subcultures and a broader literary audience.”

White was born in Cincinnati in 1940, but at age 7 moved with his mother to the Chicago area after his parents divorced. His father was a civil engineer and his mother was a psychologist. Feeling trapped and at times suicidal, White sought escape through the stories of others, including Thomas Mann’s “Death in Venice” and a biography of dancer Vaslav Nijinsky.

“As a young teenager I looked desperately for things to read that might excite me or assure me I wasn’t the only one, that might confirm my identity I was unhappily piecing together,” he wrote in the 1991 essay “Out of the Closet, on to the Bookshelf.”

As he wrote in “A Boy’s Own Story,” he knew as a child that he was attracted to boys but for years was convinced he must change — out of a desire to please his father (whom he otherwise despised) and a wish to be “normal.” Even as he secretly wrote a “coming out” novel while a teenager, he insisted on seeing a therapist and begged to be sent to boarding school. One of the funniest and saddest episodes from “A Boy’s Own Story” told of a brief crush he had on a teenage girl, ended by a polite and devastating note of rejection.

“For the next few months I grieved,” White writes. “I would stay up all night crying and playing records and writing sonnets to Helen. What was I crying for?”

Through much of the 1960s, he was writing novels that were rejected or never finished. Late at night, he would head out to bars. A favorite stop was the Stonewall, where he would down vodka tonics and try to find the nerve to ask a man he had a crush on to dance. He was in the neighborhood on the night of June 28, 1969, when police raided the Stonewall and “all hell broke loose.”

“Up until that moment we had all thought homosexuality was a medical term,” wrote White, who soon joined the protests. “Suddenly we saw that we could be a minority group — with rights, a culture, an agenda.”

White’s debut novel, the surreal and suggestive “Forgetting Elena,” was published in 1973. He collaborated with Charles Silverstein on “The Joy of Gay Sex,” a follow-up to the bestselling “The Joy of Sex” that was updated after the emergence of AIDS. In 1978, his first openly gay novel, “Nocturnes for the King of Naples,” was released and he followed with the nonfiction “States of Desire,” his attempt to show “the varieties of gay experience and also to suggest the enormous range of gay life to straight and gay people — to show that gays aren’t just hairdressers, they’re also petroleum engineers and ranchers and short-order cooks.”

His other works included “Skinned Alive: Stories” and the novel “A Previous Life,” in which he turns himself into a fictional character and imagines himself long forgotten after his death. In 2009, he published “City Boy,” a memoir of New York in the 1960s and ’70s in which he told of his friendships and rivalries and gave the real names of fictional characters from his earlier novels. Other recent books included the novels “Jack Holmes & His Friend” and the memoir “Inside a Pearl: My Years in Paris.”

“From an early age I had the idea that writing was truth-telling,” he told the Guardian around the time “Jack Holmes” was released. “It’s on the record. Everybody can see it. Maybe it goes back to the sacred origins of literature — the holy book. There’s nothing holy about it for me, but it should be serious and it should be totally transparent.”

Italie writes for the Associated Press.

The United States has vetoed a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution that called for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, as Israeli strikes across the enclave have killed nearly 100 Palestinians in the past 24 hours amid a crippling aid blockade.

The US was the only country to vote against the measure on Wednesday while the 14 other members of the council voted in favour.

The resolution also called for the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza, but Washington said it was a “non-starter” because the ceasefire demand is not directly linked to the release of captives.

In remarks before the start of the voting, Acting US Ambassador Dorothy Shea made her country’s opposition to the resolution, put forward by 10 countries on the 15-member council, painfully clear, which she said “should come as no surprise”.

“The United States has taken the very clear position since this conflict began that Israel has the right to defend itself, which includes defeating Hamas and ensuring they are never again in a position to threaten Israel,” she told the council.

China’s Ambassador Fu Cong said Israel’s actions have “crossed every red line” of international humanitarian law and seriously violated UN resolutions. “Yet, due to the shielding by one country, these violations have not been stopped or held accountable.”

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara noted that the US veto makes it “so isolated.”

“Clearly there is a gathering storm … with so many countries” that are standing against the US at the UNSC. “It’s only the US that is trying to block this converging and rising current against Israel and what it’s doing in Gaza … Israel is not defending itself in Gaza, Israel is defending its occupation and siege in Gaza,” Bishara added.

‘Open the crossings’

Despite global demands for a truce, Israel has repeatedly rejected calls for an unconditional or permanent ceasefire, insisting Hamas cannot stay in power, nor in Gaza. It has expanded its military assault in Gaza, killing and wounding thousands more Palestinians and maintaining a brutal blockade on the enclave, only allowing a trickle of tightly-controlled aid in where a famine looms.

At least 95 Palestinians have been killed on Wednesday and more than 440 injured, according to health officials in Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said, “There has been a clear surge of attacks.” He said there were relentless Israeli strikes there in central Gaza and throughout the territory.

Meanwhile, Israel’s military warned starving Palestinians against approaching roads to the US-backed aid distribution sites run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), saying the areas will be “considered combat zones” while it halted aid for a whole day.

That move came after Israeli forces opened fire at aid seekers several times, killing more than 100 Palestinians and injuring hundreds more since the GHF started operating on May 27.

Witnesses said Israeli soldiers opened fire on crowds that massed before dawn to seek food on Tuesday. Images of starving Palestinians scrambling for paltry aid packages, herded in cage-like lines and then coming under fire have caused global outrage.

The Israeli military admitted it shot at aid seekers on Tuesday, but claimed that they opened fire when “suspects” deviated from a stipulated route.

At a hospital in southern Gaza, the family of Reem al-Akhras, who was killed in Israel’s mass shooting on Tuesday, mourned her death.

“She went to bring us some food, and this is what happened to her,” her son Zain Zidan said through tears. Her husband, Mohamed Zidan, said “every day unarmed people” are being killed. “This is not humanitarian aid – it’s a trap.”

The new aid distribution process – currently from just three sites – has been widely criticised by rights groups and the UN, who say it does not adhere to humanitarian principles. They also say the aid model, which uses private US security and logistics workers, militarises aid.

Ahead of the UNSC vote, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher again appealed for the UN and aid groups to be allowed to assist people in Gaza, stressing that they have a plan, supplies and experience.

“Open the crossings – all of them. Let in lifesaving aid at scale, from all directions. Lift the restrictions on what and how much aid we can bring in. Ensure our convoys aren’t held up by delays and denials,” Fletcher said in a statement.

The UN has long blamed Israel and lawlessness in the enclave for hindering the delivery of aid and its distribution in Gaza. Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid, which the group vehemently denies, and the World Food Programme says there is no evidence to support that allegation.

UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesman James Elder, currently in Gaza, described the “horrors” he witnessed within just 24 hours. Speaking from al-Mawasi, Elder told Al Jazeera that Gaza’s hospitals and streets are filled with malnourished children. “I’m seeing teenage boys in tears, showing me their ribs,” he said, noting that children were pleading for food.

The UNSC has voted on 14 Gaza-related resolutions and approved four since the war began in October 2023. Wednesday’s vote was the first since November 2024.

Hamas is still holding 58 captives, a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in previous short-lived ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

Race Across the World paid tribute to a former contestant at the end of tonight’s episode, after it was revealed that Sam Gardiner has died aged 24 in a car crash

Race Across the World has honoured a past contestant following their untimely passing. The emotional tribute came at the close of Wednesday’s episode for 24-year-old Sam Gardiner, who passed away this week.

When the end credits began to roll, the viewers were met with a touching tribute to the series two adventurer. Displayed alongside Sam’s photo, the message read: “In loving memory of Sam Gardiner, 2000 to 2025.”

Fans of the hit BBC travel show expressed their sorrow on X (formerly Twitter), with one posting: “They gave Sam Gardiner an end card. Sad.” Another shared: “The tribute to Sam Gardiner [sad face],” and one more added: “Rest in peace to Sam Gardiner, who took part in series 2 with his Mum, Jo, back in 2020.” A fourth viewer noted: “Lovely tribute to Sam at the end,” while another wrote: “Rest in peace Sam.”

Sam tragically died in a car crash on Sunday (June 1), as confirmed by his family, reports Plymouth Live. His mother Jo, who was his teammate on the 2019 series, and father Andrew offered a heartfelt statement: “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved son Sam in a terrible accident.

“We hold on to the beautiful memories of him, even though words can’t fully do justice to how much light and joy he brought into our world. Sam was adored by his family. As a son, brother and nephew, he was loyal, funny and fiercely protective.”

Sources revealed that after participating in Race Across the World, the experience “opened his eyes to the wonder of adventure and travel”. A heartwarming post was later made on Instagram by the official BBC travel series account, honouring Sam and Jo’s memorable journey from Mexico to Argentina.

“We are all deeply saddened to hear the tragic news about Sam, who died this week following a car accident,” the post read. The tribute expressed how evident it was to those who met him and viewers alike, just how life-changing and significant the journey had been for Sam and his mum, Jo.

The homage was wrapped up with: “Since filming, both Sam and Jo have been an integral part of the Race Across the World cast family and on behalf of us all from the BBC, production and the rest of the cast, we would like to extend our deepest condolences.”

Sam and mum Jo were unable to compete in the final leg of the race after they ran out of money. However, Sam had described his time on Race Across the World as a “life-changing” experience.

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More than 100 Palestinians have been killed trying to get aid at distribution centres run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation over the past eight days. This is a timeline of the key events that led to the UN labelling it a ‘death trap’.

Bobby Knutt’s jumper went under the hammer for a good cause years after the the actor died in 2017

A colourful jumper worn by late Benidorm star Bobby Knutt has sold for nearly £500 at auction eight years after the actor’s sudden death. The pullover, which featured in the hit ITV sitcom, fetched £487 as part of a special costume auction organised by Benidorm creator Derren Litten.

The sale saw several fan-favourite pieces from the show go under the hammer, with proceeds going towards medical treatment for a close friend of Litten’s. Bobby Knutt starred as cheeky pensioner Eddie Dawson between series eight and ten of the popular comedy, which aired from 2007 to 2018. Benidorm became a cult favourite with British audiences thanks to its outrageous humour and funny depictions of holiday chaos at the fictional Solana resort.

Fans also snapped up other memorabilia from the show, including the Solana hotel-branded staff tabard, which sold for £422. A darts shirt worn by Johnny Vegas as Geoff ‘The Oracle’ Maltby sparked a bidding frenzy, reaching over £1,000 before being withdrawn.

Darren explained: “Sadly it was withdrawn as someone was bidding and retracting bids 30 or 40 times a day which, although I don’t understand eBay, is a method of bumping other bidders off the auction item. I will have to find another method of auctioning it. The vast majority sold to very happy buyers.”

The auction, which ran from May 25 to June 2, was set up to raise funds for Litten’s friend Leonard, who is battling Facial Fibrous Dysplasia. This is a rare and serious condition that can lead to blindness and severe disfigurement if left untreated.

Fans and castmates were shocked when they received the news that Bobby Knutt had died suddenly from heart failure in 2017 at the age of 71 while on holiday in France. At the time, Benidorm creator Derren Litten tweeted: “Very sad Benidorm news guys. The wonderful Bobby Knutt has passed away suddenly aged 71. Sending our Beni love to his family.”

Co-star Tony Maudsley, who played Kenneth in the series, added: “Take a bow Grandad Dawson. Your Benidorm family will miss you. RIP Bobby Knutt x.”

Knutt’s had a long and successful career, as he found fame early in life on The Comedians and went on to bag roles in Emmerdale, Coronation Street, and Last of the Summer Wine. In Emmerdale he played Albert Dingle for a decade, and later appeared in Corrie as garage boss Ron Sykes.

Off-screen he was also known for stage work, a stint doing comedy shows on cruise ships, and his role as the voice of Gaffer in the Tetley Tea adverts.

After his death, it was revealed that Knutt left much of his £350,000 estate to friends and his sister, while his four children received little or no inheritance. He asked to be buried with his third wife Donna Hartley-Wass, a former Olympian and champion bodybuilder who passed away in 2013.

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Actor Jonathan Joss, whose varied career notably included roles on “King of the Hill” and “Parks and Recreation,” has died. He was killed Sunday in a shooting in San Antonio, according to police.

According to an incident report shared with The Times, officers responded Sunday evening to a shooting at the 200 block of Dorsey Drive where they found Joss near the roadway. First responders “attempted life saving measures” until EMS officers arrived. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. He was 59.

Police did not disclose details about what led to the shooting, but said officers found and arrested the alleged shooter. Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja, 56, was booked Monday morning on suspicion of murder. His bond is set at $200,000, according to TMZ, which broke the news of Joss’ death.

The Times could not reach a legal representative for Alvarez Ceja. San Antonio police said it is investigating the shooting.

The actor’s husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, alleged in a Facebook post shared Monday that he and Joss suffered “openly homophobic” harassment and threats prior to the fatal shooting, which he claimed was also motivated by homophobia. Gonzales wrote that he and Joss had returned Sunday the site of the actor’s San Antonio home — which burned down in January — to check their mail. The actor also lost three dogs in the fire. The men “discovered the skull of one of our dogs and its harness placed in clear view” and “began yelling and crying in response to the pain of what we saw,” Gonzales wrote.

A man approached them, “started yelling violent homophobic slurs” and “raised a gun from his lap and fired,” Gonzales wrote. He said Joss pushed him out of the way, saving his life, and added that his husband “was murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other.”

“I was with him when he passed,” he wrote. “I told him how much he was loved.”

Joss, born December 1965, is best known for voicing John Redcorn, Hank Hill’s neighbor on the hit Fox animated series “King of the Hill.” Joss lent his voice to the series from 1997 to 2009, taking over from original voice actor Victor Aaron. He also voiced John Redcorn for the show’s video game tie-in in 2000.

Joss spoke about his ties to his longtime character in April as he lamented not being invited to an event promoting the “King of the Hill” revival. Hulu announced Friday that Season 14 of “King of the Hill” will premiere in August. The voice cast touts Mike Judge, Kathy Najimy, Pamela Adlon, Johnny Hardwick, Stephen Root, Lauren Tom, and Toby Huss. Joss recorded lines for the revival prior to his death, according to Variety.

“This show was a part of my life for many years,” he wrote on Facebook. “That character, that voice, that story…they were my home, my pride, my connection to something bigger than myself.”

Joss, who studied acting at Our Lady of the Lake University, began acting in the mid-1990s with minor roles in TV projects including “Walker, Texas Ranger” and the miniseries “Dead Man’s Walk.”

In addition to “King of the Hill,” Joss is known for portraying Wamapoke elder and casino owner Chief Ken Hotate in NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” where he appeared alongside star Amy Poehler. In the series, Joss’ Ken dissuades Poehler’s peppy protagonist Leslie Knope from hosting a local festival on sacred burial grounds.

“There are two things I know about white people,” he jokes in the series. “They love Matchbox Twenty and they are terrified of curses.”

His television credits also include the Paramount+ drama “Tulsa King,” “Ray Donovan,” “Friday Night Lights,” “ER” and “Charmed.”

Joss’ resumé includes films “The Magnificent Seven,” “True Grit” and “8 Seconds,” among others. He also lent his voice to several video games, including “Red Dead Redemption,” “Days Gone,” “Wasteland 3” and “Cyberpunk 2077.”

The actor embarked on several fan events, including meet-and-greets and Q&As, in the months before his death. On Sunday morning, he recalled meeting fans at Tribe Comics and Games in Austin: “Last night’s gig was amazing — huge thanks to everyone who came out and showed us love!” In the same post, Joss told followers he was seeking a ride to San Antonio.

Joss is survived by his husband. They got married this year on Valentine’s Day. Joss referenced the devastation of losing his home in April, writing in his Facebook post he has since “been rebuilding, piece by piece, soul by soul.”

He added, addressing fans: “You’ve been the ones to lift me up, to remind me of the impact I’ve made, and to carry me through some of the darkest day[s] of my life. Your love means more than I can ever say.”

Gonzales wrote in Monday’s statement he and Joss were were in the process of finding a new home and “planning our future together.” He thanked Joss’ fans for their support and vowed to protect and carry on the actor’s legacy.

“Jonathan saved my life. I will carry that forward. I will protect what he built,” Gonzales wrote.

“Mountainhead,” a satirical skewering of tech oligarchs from “Succession” showrunner Jesse Armstrong, arrived this weekend, dropping on the final day of this year’s Emmy eligibility window.

I’m Glenn Whipp, columnist for the Los Angeles Times and host of The Envelope newsletter. While we’re pondering the timeline to upload a human consciousness, let’s consider “Mountainhead” and its Emmy chances.

Another year, another late-breaking HBO movie

Early on in “Mountainhead,” tech bro and Elon Musk stand-in Venis Parish (Cory Michael Smith) uses film history to put the glitches of his company’s latest AI rollout into perspective.

“The first time people saw a movie, everybody ran screaming because they thought they were gonna get hit by a train,” Venis relates, shouting out the Lumiere brothers’ 1895 film, “Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station.” “The answer to that was not stop the movies. The answer was: Show more movies. We’re gonna show users as much s— as possible, until everyone realizes nothing’s that f— serious. Nothing means anything, and everything’s funny and cool.”

In the meantime, though, Venis’ social media platform has given users the tools to create deepfakes so realistic they can’t be identified as bogus. Immediately, people all over the world are uploading videos of their enemies committing atrocities, inflaming centuries-old animosities. Reality has collapsed and, with it, global stability.

But for “Mountainhead’s” quartet of tech magnates, played by Smith, Steve Carell, Ramy Youssef and Jason Schwartzman, everything is just fine. As venture capitalist Randall Garrett (Carell) notes, “We have plenty of calories stockpiled. Western countries have strategic commodity reserves, canola oil, lard, frozen orange juice.”

Later, Randall asks: “Are we the Bolsheviks of a new techno world order that starts tonight?”

“Mountainhead” is in many ways scarier than the zombie apocalypse of “The Last of Us” because it feels like its premise is lurking right around the corner. Armstrong came up with the idea for the two-hour movie in November, after immersing himself in podcasts and books about Silicon Valley. He shot it in March, edited it in April and delivered it in May. It captures the DOGE era, specifically in the casual cruelty expressed by its entitled characters.

“Do you believe in other people?” Venis asks Randall. “Eight billion people as real as us?”

Randall’s reply: “Well, obviously not.”

Cory Michael Smith, left, and Steve Carell in “Mountainhead.”

(Macall Polay / HBO)

“Mountainhead” aspires more directly to comedy, but because we don’t have a history with these four deplorable men, it’s often difficult to find the humor. “Like ‘Fountainhead’ Mountainhead?” Youssef jokes to Schwartzman about the estate’s title. “Was your interior decorator Ayn Bland?” There’s a procession of put-downs like that. When they’re not roasting each other, they’re trying to boost their own agendas — in the case of the cancer-stricken Randall, it’s the quest to live forever as a disembodied consciousness.

For all its Shakespearean drama, “Succession” was wildly entertaining, more of a comedy than, yes, “The Bear.” Kendall Roy performing the rap “L to the OG” at a party honoring his father’s half-century running Waystar Royco will be the funniest two minutes of television probably forever. But half the fun came from the characters’ reactions to this transcendent moment of cringe. We were deeply invested in this world.

For all their money and power, the “Mountainhead” moguls are, like the Roy children in “Succession,” not serious people. But beyond that, “Mountainhead” doesn’t have much of anything novel to say about its subjects. As good as Smith is at channeling Musk’s alien, empathy-deficient otherness, you can come away with the same level of insight — and entertainment — by spending a few minutes watching Mike Myers on “Saturday Night Live.” I don’t need to watch a movie to know that a guy sitting on a gold toilet isn’t prioritizing anyone’s interests but his own.

“Mountainhead,” as mentioned, arrives on the last day of 2024-25 Emmy eligibility, less by design than from necessity. The paint’s still wet on this film. But this does mark the third straight season that HBO has dropped a TV movie right before the deadline. Last year, it was “The Great Lillian Hall,” starring Jessica Lange as fading Broadway legend. Two years ago, it was the excellent whistleblower thriller “Reality,” featuring a star turn from Sydney Sweeney. Both movies were blanked at the Emmys, though Kathy Bates did manage a Screen Actors Guild Awards nod for “Lillian Hall.”

Did the movies land too late for enough people see them? Perhaps. The late arrival time should mean they’d be fresh in voters’ minds when they fill out their ballots. But you have to be aware of them for that to happen.

Awareness shouldn’t be an issue with “Mountainhead.” Enough people will want to watch the new offering from the creator of “Succession,” and there’s not much else on television vying for attention right now. “Mountainhead” should score a nomination for television movie, even with the category being stronger than usual this year with audience favorites “Rebel Ridge,” the latest “Bridget Jones” movie and Scott Derrickson’s enjoyable, genre-bending “The Gorge” competing.

But actors in these TV movies are at competitive disadvantage as the Emmys lump them together with their counterparts in limited series, performers who are onscreen for a much longer time. This decade, only two TV movie actors have been nominated — Hugh Jackman (“Bad Education”) and Daniel Radcliffe (“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”). The lead actress category, meanwhile, has been completely dominated by limited series.

Not that there are any women starring in “Mountainhead” because … tech bros. As for the men, Carell, Schwartzman, Smith and Youssef are very good at conveying delusional arrogance. I despised each and every one of their characters. If hate-voting were a thing, they’d all be nominated.

HERE’S the tanned, toned and totally gorgeous line-up for this year’s Love Island.

The Sun can exclusively reveal Maya Jama’s full squad for the summer includes a footballer, personal trainer and a series of stunning models.

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But their beauty is more than skin deep, as ITV2 has amassed a group with real kudos.

Brilliant former fire-breather Sophie Lee has campaigned for real beauty since she was scarred for life when her act went disastrously wrong, whilst Alima Gagigo has a BA degree in international business.

Love Island bosses will officially confirm the OGs tomorrow, with the series to kick off next Monday.

But for now, take a look at the girls and guys who will be sexing up your summer.

Harry Cooksley

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Footballer Harry Cooksley will be bringing his fancy footwork to the Love Island villa.

The midfielder, 29, has been branded The Surrey Zidane by fans of his team Farnham Town.

Harry – who is known for his goal celebrations – is now hoping to score with the ladies.

A source told The Sun: “Harry’s got the full package – a great, athletic bod and great chat. 

“Love Island’s ladies love a footballer and The Surrey Zidane will be sure to impress as he plays away.

“Execs are finalising who will be in the OG line-up and who will be a bombshell.” 

Tommy Bradley

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Cheeky chappy Tommy Bradley is in tip top shape for the Love Island villa after undergoing a dramatic body transformation.

Tommy documented his prep for the ITV2 dating show on Instagram by posting a stream of videos of his gym sessions.

He was helped by his brother Jamie Bradley, who is a boxer, and the pair love a night out together with the lads.

“Tommy seems to tick all the Love Island boxes as the cheeky chappy of this summer’s series,” a source said.

“He looks to enjoy a night out with the lads and out on the boxing scene with his brother. 

“But he’s also packed on serious muscle over the last year ready for telly’s famous villa and is no longer just a personality hire.”

Sophie Lee

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Fire-breather Sophie will be turning up the heat when she struts into the villa looking for love.

Sophie, 29, is an influencer who almost died in a freak accident on stage in Chicago seven years ago.

The dancer and model, from Manchester, was left with horror burns when an air conditioning unit blew flames back in her face.

Sophie has written a book about her experience and has worked with The Katie Piper Foundation, helping fellow burns victims

A source said: “Sophie is a gorgeous girl and a powerhouse of a woman who has overcome everything life has thrown at her.

“Just like Tasha Ghouri’s amazing time in the villa where she raised awareness for the hearing impaired, Love Island bosses are thrilled to give Sophie the same platform to discuss her accident and how she’s become comfortable in her skin since.”

Shakira Khan

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Shakira Khan likes the finer things in life.

The 22-year-old’s Instagram page is filled with gorgeous travel snaps from Haiti, Dubai and New York – and she’s not afraid of a bikini showcase too. 

In one recent post, she showed off her impressive figure in black and silver bikini top and thong briefs.

Shakira captioned it: “Haiti cos u ain’t me 💋.”

One follower replied: “Wow!! 🤩 gorgeous lady x.”

A source said: “Shakira is jaw-droppingly gorgeous and will land a place in Love Island’s history books as a real beauty.”

Megan Forte Clarke

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Stunning actress Megan will definitely turn a few heads this summer.

Megan originally hails from Ireland but trained at The Brighton Academy of performing arts and musical theatre.

She has more than 20,000 followers on TikTok and isn’t afraid to take the mickey out of herself.

But once in the villa, she Megan might give the swimming pool a miss.

One of her TikTok videos shows Megan screaming and terrified while making her way through the rides at Siam Park water park in Tenerife.

Speaking of her experience, she told a follower: “It took 10 years off my life.”

Megan is already friends with Love Island alumni Harriett Blackmore.

Dejon Noel Williams

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Hunky Dejon Noel Williams will definitely be making the most the villa gym this summer.

The personal trainer and semi-professional footballer is a fitness fanatic and has already worked with a string of big name sportswear brands.

Dejon’s social media accounts are full of sexy photos of his ripped body and he already has an Instagram following of more than 11,000 fans.

His bio reads: “I go beyond the gym—helping you build Strength, Confidence & Discipline for life.”

Dejon recently took part in his first HYDROX competition and told his fans: “I trained for the moment, and the moment didn’t break me. First Hyrox down.”

In 2021, he represented the Grenada national football team.

Blu Chegini

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Businessman Blu will be swapping his wardrobe of smart suits for swimming trucks when he walks into the villa.

Blu is based in London and currently works as a construction project manager.

He graduated from Oxford Brookes University in 2023 with a Bsc Hons in Construction Project Management and works for a firm in the captial’s swanky Fitzrovia.

Blu also spends a lot of time in Marbella, meaning he will feel right at home in the Spanish sun.

Alima Gagio

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Alima Gagio is another of this year’s lot who brings a lot more to the table than just 10/10 looks. 

The stunning Scot has an BA Hons degree in International Business and proudly posted online about her achievement.

Posing with a bunch of flowers on her graduation day from Glasgow Caledonian University, her 2,250 followers rushed to congratulate her. 

Elsewhere the gorgeous travel fan shares images from her holidays around the world, posting updates from Lisbon, Mykonos, Ibiza and Morocco. 

Alima also loves a trip down south to London for a bouji dinner and cocktails with her friends.

Ben Holbrough

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Buff Ben will feel right at home with his top off in the Majorcan sunshine.

The model is 6ft 2ins and is a big fan of showing off his six pack in mirror selfies on social media.

In a video on his Star Now modelling page, he says: “My main line of work is modelling, which I’ve been doing for about five or six years now.

“But when I’m not doing that, my hobbies are either going to the gym or playing football.”

Ben already has a connection to the reality TV world, as he is followed on Instagram by Married At First Sight star Lacey Martin.

Helena Ford

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Blonde beauty Helena Ford hopes to find herself a match in the Love Island villa.

The gorgeous influencer is already mates with Love Island alumni Zara McDermott and loves travelling the world as a member of cabin crew.

Helena is based in the UK, the majority of of her social media snaps have been taken in the luxury destinations she has visited with her job.

She has been pictured in Dubai, Miami, Cape Town and Lake Como in Italy.

Helena also has a TikTok account where she posts ‘come with me’ videos as she jets off around the world.

Megan Moore

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Gorgeous girl Megan is another fan of travelling the world.

The influencer was last snapped in Spain just two weeks ago as she topped up her tan ahead of her big villa entrance.

Little is known about Megan but she already has several thousand fans on Instagram.

Commenting on a recent photo of her, one gushed: “Most beautiful girl inside and out.”

Another added: “Stunning my girl .”

And a third told her: “You are just delightful.”

Kyle Ashman

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Unlike most of Love Island’s line-ups, Kyle doesn’t come into the villa with a social media packed with model shots. 

The hunk has just one snap online, showing off his rippling six-pack as he poses on a rooftop. 

But he looks to be more than villa-ready – and will head straight to the garden gym.

On his Instagram page he has two emojis, one of which depicts a man lifting up a barbell. 

The second emoji suggests he is a devout Muslim and will join the likes of Islanders including Nas Majeed who have practised the faith in the villa. 

Viewers can look forward to filling in Kyle’s blank pages as we learn more about him. 

Bombshells

IF the gorgeous gaggle of guys and girls above isn’t enough, then a troop of bombshells are ready to explode into the villa once the show is underway. 

The Sun revealed last week that 6’5” Aaron Buckett was lined-up and can now share the update that he will appear later in the series to tempt the girls away from their partners.

The PT is such a hunk, execs have decided to hold him back until the early couplings look secure – then deploy him at the perfect time to lure a lass away and create maximum drama.

Elsewhere, two beauties have been named as in the mix for later on. 

They are make-up artist Lucy Quinn, a 20-year-old from Liverpool.

A source told Mail Online: “Lucy is single and ready to mingle. She can’t wait to enter the Love Island villa and is counting down the days until it becomes a reality.” 

Then there is beauty salon owner Rose Selway, who counts Islanders including Lucinda Strafford and Jessy Potts among her clientele.

A source told MailOnline: “Rose is friends with many former stars of the show so has a good idea what it’s like being in the villa and now she finally has the chance to experience it herself.”

The trio will join the throng of Islanders poised and ready to land in the villa throughout the series run. 

An ITV spokesman said: “As always there is a lot of speculation around the Love Island line up – we will be announcing the Love Island 2025 cast in due course.”

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No fewer than 115 persons have been reported killed after a devastating flood submerged several communities in Mokwa in Niger State, North-central Nigeria.

Communities are still struggling from the impact of the severe flooding, which is believed to have been triggered by torrential rainfall and structural failures in some areas. The disaster, which struck the region on the morning of Thursday, May 29, has claimed over 100 lives so far. Residents of the area told HumAngle that the death toll is nearing 150 even as officials work to rescue more victims.

The spokesperson of Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Ibrahim Audu Hussein, told newsmen that over 3000 houses were submerged. Eyewitnesses report entire neighbourhoods submerged, forcing people to abandon their homes in search of safety. 

“There are entire families that have been almost wiped out,” Farouk Mokwa, a resident of the community, told HumAngle. “There is a family of 12, and only one person is alive. There is another family of nine, and only two people have survived so far.”

Farouk himself lost his shop, which functioned as both a chemist and a stop for people looking to buy soft drinks. The shop contained three refrigerators and goods worth millions of naira, he said. 

Rescue teams and emergency responders are on the ground to locate missing persons and provide relief to affected residents. The flooding has also cut off major roads, complicating rescue efforts and making access to food and medical supplies difficult.

So far, displaced people have sought refuge in two primary schools in Mokwa, while those with relatives in unaffected communities have trooped there in search of cover.

Mokwa serves as a commercial hub in Nigeria’s north-central region and a key point for traders and farmers from the north to the south. 

In response, President Bola Tinubu has ordered swift intervention from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to support rescue operations. Residents also said the Deputy Governor had paid a visit to the area to assess the devastation.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) had issued prior warnings of potential flash floods, urging residents to take precautions. 

Nigeria faces annual devastation due to heavy rainfall, which wreaks havoc on infrastructure and is made worse by inadequate drainage systems. In September 2024, HumAngle reported how torrential rains and a dam failure in Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria, led to severe flooding, claiming lives and displacing millions of residents.

Two months after the Maiduguri incident, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) revealed that in 2024, Nigeria saw one of its worst floods in decades, with significant deaths leaving 1.3 million people affected across 34 out of 36 states.

Currently, the number of residents displaced by floods in Nigeria has reached 1.2 million, with over 1000 deaths, according to NEMA.

The worsening flood crises highlight the urgent need for improved drainage infrastructure and long-term disaster management strategies to protect vulnerable communities. As relief efforts continue, affected families are in dire need of temporary shelter, clean water, and essential supplies.

At least 3,018 people displaced and 265 houses destroyed in the floods in central Nigeria as more rains are feared.

More than 150 people have been killed and thousands displaced after floods devastated parts of central Nigeria, local authorities said, as rescue teams continue to recover bodies and search for the missing.

The flooding struck the rural town of Mokwa in Niger State following torrential rains that began late on Wednesday and continued into Thursday.

The death toll has risen to 151 after more bodies were recovered nearly 10km (6 miles) from Mokwa, said Ibrahim Audu Husseini, a spokesman for the Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA) on Saturday.

At least 3,018 people have been displaced, while 265 houses were “completely destroyed” in the floods, he said, adding that many victims were believed to have been swept down the Niger River, warning that the toll could still rise.

President Bola Tinubu extended his condolences overnight and said search-and-rescue operations were ongoing with the support of Nigeria’s security forces.

“Relief materials and temporary shelter assistance are being deployed without delay,” he wrote in a post on social media.

“We lost everything, the families. We don’t have anywhere else to go, the property has gone,” Mohammed Tanko, a local, told Al Jazeera. “We lost at least 15 from this house.”

Another survivor said: “I escaped with only my nightdress. Right now, I can’t even identify where our home used to be.”

More rains feared

Meteorologists warn that more rain is expected in the coming days, raising fears of further flooding across the region.

Flooding is a regular threat during Nigeria’s six-month rainy season, but experts say the frequency and severity of these disasters are increasing due to climate change, unregulated construction, and poor drainage infrastructure.

“Flooding has become an annual event, between the months of April and October,” Ugonna Nkwunonwo, a flood risk analyst at the University of Nigeria, told Al Jazeera.

He warned that while flood risks have long been identified, “there has not been much political power to implement this change”.

“This flooding is a result of climate change, which is affecting the frequency and intensity of rainfall,” he said. “The amount of rain you expect in a year could probably come in one or two months, and people are not prepared for that kind of rainfall.”

Last year, more than 1,200 people died and up to two million were displaced by similar disasters across Nigeria.

“This tragic incident serves as a timely reminder of the dangers associated with building on waterways and the critical importance of keeping drainage channels and river paths clear,” the National Emergency Management Agency said in a statement.

Opapo, Kenya – Perched in the grass alongside the Rongo-Homa Bay Road in Kenya’s Migori County, a rusted sign announces the Melkio St Joseph Missions of Messiah Church in Africa. Beyond it, a sandy path meets big blue and purple gates that barricade the now-deserted grounds from view.

Just more than a month ago, the church in Opapo village was thrust into the spotlight when reports of secret burials and “cult-like” practices emerged.

On April 21, local police stormed the grounds and discovered two bodies buried within the fenced compound – including that of a police officer who was also a church member – as well as dozens of other worshippers who had been living there.

During the raid, 57 people were rescued and taken into custody. In the weeks since, most have been released, but police have banned them from returning to the church and sealed off the compound.

For Kenyans, the incident has unearthed the memory of other controversial churches steeped in allegations of abuse, like the 2023 case where more than 400 people linked to a church-cult starved to death in the Shakahola Forest.

In Opapo village, residents are troubled by the deaths and the decades-long secrecy surrounding the church. Many want to see the permanent closure of the compound and the exhumation and return of the bodies buried there.

Brian Juma, 27, has lived directly beside the church all his life. He told Al Jazeera locals believe it was started by a man who fashioned himself as a sort-of god figure, and who the followers of the church prayed to.

Juma claims that when the church leader died 10 years ago, followers did not immediately bury him but prayed for three days in the hope that he would rise.

Pauline Auma, a 53-year-old mother of six who also lives near the church, said the congregation was set up in their area in the early 1990s, although she could not recall the exact year.

“When it came, we thought it was a normal church like any other. I remember my sister even attended a service there, thinking it was like other churches, only to come and tell us things that were not normal were taking place. For example, she said the Father there claimed to be God himself,” Auma recounted.

In the years that followed, the church recruited members from different locations across the country. Juma said congregants were not from around the area, spoke different languages, and never left the compound to go to their own homes.

According to Caren Kiarie, a human rights activist from neighbouring Kisumu County, the church has several branches across the Kenyan Nyanza region, and sends members from one location to the other.

Many people came to worship and live within the church full time, Opapo villagers remember.

“They were very friendly people who did business around the Opapo area and interacted well with the people here,” Juma said. “But they would never live outside the church, as they all went back inside in the evening. Within the church compound, they had cattle, sheep, poultry and planted crops for their food.”

Though the worshippers could interact with outsiders, locals say the children living there – some with their parents and others who neighbours said were taken in alone – never attended school, while members were barred from seeking medical care if they were sick.

On the day of the police raid and rescue, many of the worshippers looked weak and ill, said Juma, who over the years befriended some young people whose parents belonged to the church. “They were sickly, as they were never allowed to go to the hospital or even take pain medication,” he said, quoting what his neighbours had told him. Auma believes those who were rescued that day were the sickly ones, as the others had escaped.

The 57 initially refused to leave the compound at all, insisting the church was their only “home”. But police took them to the nearby Rongo Sub-county Hospital to be treated. They again refused medical care and instead began singing Christian praise songs in the Dholuo language. Auma said the songs were chants asking God to save them and take them home to heaven.

Disturbed by the commotion, health workers recommended that they be moved from the hospital because they were making other patients uncomfortable. That’s when they were taken into police custody. According to the assistant county commissioner, Josphat Kingoku, the worshippers were released from police custody two weeks ago, but he did not know their whereabouts.

Seeking news about loved ones

In Kwoyo in Homa Bay County, Linet Achieng worries about her 71-year-old mother, who left home to join the Migori church 11 years ago and never returned.

Her mother was introduced to the church by a neighbour who was originally from Migori, Achieng said.

“Initially, she had gone to seek healing from a backache that had troubled her for years,” said the 43-year-old, explaining that the church offered promises of health.

The family initially kept in touch with their mother, asking when she would come home after being healed. She kept making promises to return, but never did. Achieng tried to convince her mother to leave the place, she said, but her attempts were in vain.

“At some point, she stopped talking to us, and when my younger brother and I went to inquire how she was doing, we were sent away from the church and told that unless we were willing to join the church, we were not welcome in there,” she said.

After the raid last month, Achieng learned her mother was among those rescued but says she does not want anything to do with her family.

While many worshipers’ families wait to hear about their relatives, one family knows for sure they will never see their loved one again.

Dan Ayoo Obura – a police constable – was one of those who died at the church compound, reportedly on March 27, according to local media reports.

He had been introduced to the church by his wife, who was a leader there, his relatives said.

Obura had left his workplace at the General Service Unit police headquarters in Nairobi in February before travelling home to Kisumu County on sick leave, according to his uncle Dickson Otieno.

He was taken to a hospital in the area, but after a week at the facility, “he disappeared”, Otieno told Al Jazeera.

“We reported to the police and started looking for him everywhere, panicked that we might never see him again. Later, we had information from some neighbours that he is in Migori at a church. That’s when we went there to ask the church leaders where he was. They told us he was not at the church and had not seen him.

“About a month later, they called us to say that the person we were looking for had died the previous night and that they had buried him that day.”

The family then informed the police and human rights activists like Kiarie, and travelled to Opapo to try and locate his body.

Kiarie, who is a rights defender and paralegal at the Nyando Social Justice Centre, accompanied the family to Opapo in March.

“We’ve not been given the body,” she told Al Jazeera, explaining that she interviewed residents and church members while in Opapo and heard concerning reports about what was happening at the compound.

No one was allowed to have an intimate relationship at the church, she said, while husbands and wives were required to separate after joining. These practices were echoed by the compound’s neighbours in Migori.

“There are also serious claims of sexual violence at the church where the male leaders were having sex with the girls and women there,” Kiarie said. “That was why they did not want any man inside to touch the women because they belonged to them,” she alleged.

Kiarie said since the police raid, the compound’s neighbours have also reported there may be more than just two bodies buried inside – which she said could be what is delaying Obura’s exhumation. “They’re still waiting because they said the issue has been picked up by the national government, and they [the national authorities] want to exhume the other bodies [that may be there],” she said.

Kiarie feels the Migori church may prove to be another case like the Shakahola cult “massacre” if it is found that more people indeed died and were buried there without their families’ knowledge.

From Shakahola to Migori

The events in Migori have opened wounds for many survivors and relatives of the 429 people who were starved to death in Kilifi County’s Shakahola, in 2023.

Led by Pastor Paul McKenzie, the congregants there also left their families and abandoned property, seeking to go to heaven and meet their messiah. But news reports said that at the church, they were radicalised and brainwashed, convinced that if they stopped eating they would die peacefully, go to heaven and meet their god.

Both Grace Kazungu’s parents and two of her siblings perished in the Shakhola church cult, says the 32-year-old mother of three from Kilifi.

Whenever she and her brother tried to question the church’s teachings, the others would not hear a word against it, she told Al Jazeera.

“They would argue that we were ‘anti-Christ’ and that their church was the only sacred and holy way to heaven,” she said.

“Months later, I heard from my brother that they had sold the family’s property and were going to live inside the church after ditching earthly possessions.

“We tried to reach them but were blocked by their leader. My husband broke the news to me one morning after a year that they had been found inside the forest and they were dead and buried.”

After their deaths, they were buried in mass graves within the Shakahola Forest where the church was located. Upon discovery, following a tip from the local media, the police launched an operation to cordon off the area so they could exhume the bodies, test for DNA, and return the deceased to their relatives for proper burial.

They later arrested the church leader, McKenzie, and charged him with the murder of 191 people, child torture, and “terrorism”. He and several other co-accused remain in police custody, pending sentencing.

Unlike Shakahola, the Migori church allowed its followers to work, eat and run businesses in the nearby Opapo and Rongo towns. But like Shakahola, it also kept them living apart from the rest of society, barred them from accessing school, marriage and medical care, and severely punished supposed transgressions, according to locals who heard and witnessed violent beatings and fights inside the compound.

In many societies, religious leaders are widely respected and trusted, and they often influence beliefs and actions in the private and public spheres, explained Fathima Azmiya Badurdee, a postdoctoral researcher in the faculty of Religion, Culture and Society at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

“People are in search of ‘hope’ in the daily issues they confront. Religious leaders are pivotal in this role in providing hope to sustain their futures … or even in life after death,” she explained.

Still, “awareness among religious communities on opportunistic leadership and cult dynamics is needed,” she said, referring to the Opapo and Shakahola forest cases.

“Many people blindly trust religious leaders without questioning them. Words and opinions of religious leaders are taken as the gospel truth. The lack of questioning, critical thinking skills, or even the lack of religious literacy often influences individuals to believe in any extreme forms propagated by these leaders,” she added.

‘I fear she might die’

Most of the 57 Migori worshippers are now back in society once more. However, police extended the detention of four key suspects while investigations and autopsies continued this month.

Assistant county commissioner Kingoku declined to provide details to Al Jazeera about any charges against the worshippers, saying they did not appear in court.

Meanwhile, the Kenya National Police Service spokesperson Michael Muchiri told Al Jazeera: “All individuals found culpable will be taken through the prosecution process as guided by the law.”

Investigations are ongoing into Obura’s cause of death, verification of additional burials alleged by residents, and a probe into whether the church operated as an unregistered “company” rather than a licensed religious organisation.

According to the county commissioner, Mutua Kisilu, the church had been irregularly registered as a company. After the raid last month, Nyanza regional commissioner, Florence Mworoa, announced a region-wide crackdown on unregistered churches.

Muchiri said the government regulates religious outfits in the country and will bring to book all those found to have broken the law.

“Any illegally operating organisation – the government has been clear about it – is quickly shut down. Prosecution, like in the Migori case, follows. Identification of such ‘cult-like’ illegal religious entities is through the local intelligence and security teams and information from the local people,” Muchiri said.

In the meantime in Homa Bay, Achieng finally heard from her mother one last time after the worshippers were released from custody. She told her daughter that she had found a new home and that her family were “worldly” people who she should never associate with again.

“I thought of going to get her from police custody and secure her release, but I [was] worried that she will not agree to go home with me,” Achieng told Al Jazeera. She believes her mother will never return home. “I fear she might die [at the church].”

Meanwhile in Kisumu, Obura’s family continues to mourn him as they work with Kiarie’s organisation and the police to try and secure a court order allowing them to exhume his remains.

All they want, they say, is to transfer him from the church to his ancestral home to bury him according to Luo culture and traditions.

“We are not interested in a lot of things,” Otieno said. “We just want the body of our son so we can bury him here at home. Just that.”

Josh Klinghoffer, the former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist, accepted a plea deal after facing a vehicular manslaughter charge.

Klinghoffer, 45, was charged in the death of Israel Sanchez in March after a collision last year in Alhambra. Klinghoffer was driving a black GMC Yukon at the corner of West Main Street and South Meridian Avenue when he turned left at the intersection while 47-year-old Sanchez was walking in a marked crosswalk. Klinghoffer then struck and killed Sanchez.

On Wednesday in court in Alhambra, Klinghoffer pleaded no contest to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter without gross negligence. He was sentenced to 60 days of community labor and one year of informal probation. He will also have to take a driver safety course and pay restitution.

During the hearing, the prosecutor told Klinghoffer, “If you continue to drive while distracted, and as a result of your driving someone is killed, you can be charged with murder.”

Sanchez’s family sued Klinghoffer for wrongful death after the incident, alleging that Klinghoffer was on his phone at the time of the collision. “Video of the incident shows that defendant Josh Adam Klinghoffer made no braking or slowing motion until after he fatally struck Israel Sanchez, indicating that Defendant was likely driving while distracted.”

“This horrible outcome was foreseeable and demonstrates a willful disregard for the rights and safety of others,” the suit continued.

Klinghoffer’s attorney in the civil suit, Andrew Brettler, said in a statement to The Times last year, “After Josh struck this pedestrian in the intersection, he immediately pulled over, stopped the car, called 911 and waited until police and the ambulance arrived. Obviously, he’s cooperating with the police throughout the traffic investigation. This was purely a tragic accident.”

Klinghoffer played guitar with the Red Hot Chili Peppers from 2009 to 2019, when longtime guitarist John Frusciante returned. Klinghoffer was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the band in 2012. He has since performed as a member of Jane’s Addiction and Pearl Jam.

BUENOS AIRES — An Argentine court on Thursday declared a mistrial in the case of seven health professionals accused of negligence in the death of soccer legend Diego Maradona, the latest dramatic twist in a trial that has captivated the nation and the soccer world for more than two months.

The whiplash decision comes after one of the three judges overseeing the trial stepped down over criticism surrounding her participation in a forthcoming documentary about the case.

Her controversial withdrawal compelled the court to either appoint a new judge in her place or to retry the entire case from scratch.

On Thursday, the judges decided the latter, effectively turning the clock back on all proceedings in the case that accuses Maradona’s medical team of failing to provide adequate care for the soccer star in his final days.

The judges ruled there would be a new trial, without specifying when.

Julieta Makintach said that she had “no choice” but to resign from the case Tuesday after the prosecutor showed a teaser-trailer for a documentary, “Divine Justice,” which traces the aftermath of Maradona’s death at the age of 60 to the start of the trailer, clearly featuring Makintach as a main protagonist.

Maradona, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in 1986, died on Nov. 25, 2020, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, days after undergoing surgery for a hematoma that formed between his skull and brain.