hoping

MARRIED At First Sight UK is back with a bang and a whole host of soon-to-be newlyweds looking for love.

Here we get to know brand-new bride Julia-Ruth, who’s more familiar with the spotlight than most reality TV contestants.

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Who is Julia-Ruth from Married at First Sight UK 2025?

Julia-Ruth is a 29-year-old professional dancer, originally from South Africa, who currently calls New Zealand and the UK home.

She has performed with some massive artists, even working as a backup dancer for rap megastar 50 Cent.

Julia-Ruth is one of the contestants starring in Married At First Sight UK 2025.

She had a challenging childhood, including being adopted at the age of 16 by her sister.

Julia-Ruth has experience in reality TV, so this isn’t her first foray into reality romance.

In 2023, she appeared on the Paramount+ programme Are You The One?

Julia-Ruth found love on the show, but the relationship didn’t last.

She has now been single for two years and admits she’s had a bad habit of choosing the wrong men.

So for her next chapter, Julia-Ruth is turning to the experts on Married At First Sight UK.

She’s hoping to find a grounded, ambitious and empathetic partner.

When is Married At First Sight 2025 on?

The new series of Married At First Sight UK starts on Sunday, September 21, 2025.

It runs nightly at 9pm from Sundays through to Wednesdays for its first few weeks on E4.

In previous years, the show aired Mondays to Thursdays, meaning MAFS UK on the weekend is a special treat for viewers this time around.

Expert matchmakers Paul C Brunson, Mel Schilling and Charlene Douglas are returning to make matches and guide couples through the process.

Who are the other Married at First Sight UK 2025 contestants?

Brides

• Anita, 54, operations manager from Durham — following some turbulent times she’s ready to say yes to everything, including a man she’s never met
• Grace, 31, midwife from Norwich — funny Grace is looking for a tall, dark, handsome, confident and humorous partner
• Leah, 35, business owner from Liverpool — searching for a fun and spontaneous partner after coming to the realisation she prefers women aged 25
• Leigh, 30, NHS clinical coder from Romford — following heartbreak, she’s ready for her happily ever after
• Maeve, 29, aesthetics practitioner from Newcastle — ‘trouble maker’ mum who refuses to settle for a man who won’t put the effort in
• Nelly, 30, cosmetic dentist from Manchester — hoping to get everything she deserves after a year alone
• Rebecca, 32, aesthetics nurse and clinic owner from Liverpool — looking for her dream man following a broken engagement
• Sarah, 31, recruitment consultant from Aberdeen — thinking there aren’t any eligible bachelors in her hometown, she’s only after “the nicest guy in the world”

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Grooms

• Ashley, 35, operations director from Bridgend — Sporty father whose ex-girlfriends include a former Miss Universe
• Bailey, 36, sales manager from St Albans — dad who set up a microbrewery, looking for family-oriented partner
• Davide, 33, cabin crew from Portugal — looking for fellow romantic following heartbreak after his huge wedding was cancelled earlier this year
• Dean, 31, team-building host from Feltham — following a year on his own he’s hoping to find his soul mate
• Divarni, 29, musician from London — self-proclaimed ladies’ man looking for partner with a nice smile
• Joe, 31, personal trainer from Huddersfield — former lothario and world traveller who’s ready to settle down after a frank talk from his mum
• Keye, 33, marketing manager from London — hoping the experts will find a man to look after him following his previous marriage ending
• Paul, 60, retired — father of three looking for someone he can share his hobbies with
• Steven, 34, investment banking manager from Essex — dad of two, ready to find lasting love after a year single

NELLY Patel will be a cast member for the tenth series of Married at First Sight.

She has taken a bold step into embarking on the reality TV show, having been single for the past year.

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Who is Nelly from Married at First Sight UK 2025?

Nelly is a 30-year-old cosmetic dentist from Manchester.

In a teaser trailer for the new series, she is shown having one of the most dramatic entrances ever seen on the show.

She advances down the aisle in a Bollywood-style outfit on a dolly covered with brightly coloured flowers in an extraordinary spectacle.

The 30-year-old narrates the video by portraying her nervousness about the reaction of her soon-to-be husband.

She says: “If he doesn’t react well to my entrance, I’d be devastated…

“I’m putting my heart on the line and I just really really hope it doesn’t get squished to little pieces because I don’t know how I’m going to come back from it if it does…”

Described as “Outspoken, confident, and warm”, Nelly has been single for over a year and is now ready to search for true love.

She “knows what she deserves” and is looking for a man who is “strong, emotionally intelligent, and not intimidated by a woman who knows exactly who she is.”

When is Married at First Sight UK 2025 on?

The tenth series of Married at First Sight begins on Sunday, September 21 at 9pm (BST).

Relationship experts Paul C. Brunson, Melanie Schilling and Charlene Douglas will be returning for another series.

For the first time ever, new episodes will be running from Sunday to Wednesday rather then from Monday to Thursday.

The show is on E4 and will be available to stream on demand via Channel 4.

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Who are the other Married at First Sight UK 2025 contestants?

Expert Paul has claimed that the new series will be “one of the most memorable” in the reality show’s history.

Another show source said: “For the first time in MAFS UK history, there will be two gay weddings in the same series.

“In the upcoming run, which hits screens later this month, viewers will see a gay male pair and a lesbian twosome meet for the first time at the altar.”

The 18 participants are listed in full below:

• ANITA, 54, Durham, Operations Manager
• GRACE, 31, Norwich, Midwife in mental health services
• JULIA-RUTH, 29, New Zealand, Professional Dancer 
• LEAH, 35, Liverpool, business owner
• LEIGH, 30, Romford, NHS Clinical Coder
• MAEVE, 29, Newcastle, Aesthetics Practitioner 
• NEELIMA (NELLY), 30, Manchester, Cosmetic Dentist
• REBECCA, 32, Liverpool, Aesthetics Nurse and clinic owner 
• SARAH, 31, Aberdeen, Recruitment Consultant 
• ASHLEY, 35, Bridgend, Operations Director
• BAILEY, 36, St Albans, Sales Manager
• DAVIDE, 33, Portugal, Cabin Crew
• DEAN, 31, Feltham, Team Building Host 
• DIVARNI, 29, London, Musician
• JOE, 31, Huddersfield, Personal Trainer 
• KEYE, 33, London, Marketing Manager
• PAUL, 60, Edinburgh, Retired
• STEVEN, 34, Essex, Investment Banking Manager 

McALLEN, Texas — President Trump’s administration has started requiring parents looking to reunite with their children who crossed into the U.S. alone to show up for interviews where immigration officers may question them, according to a policy memo obtained by The Associated Press.

Legal advocacy groups say the shift has led to the arrest of some parents, while their children remain in U.S. custody. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not confirm that or answer questions about the July 9 directive, instead referring in a statement to the Biden administration’s struggles to properly vet and monitor homes where children were placed.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is part of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and which takes custody of children who cross the border without a parent or legal guardian, issued the directive. The agency said the goal is to ensure that sponsors — usually a parent or guardian — are properly vetted.

The memo is among several steps the Trump administration has taken involving children who came to the U.S. alone. Over the Labor Day weekend it attempted to remove Guatemalan children who were living in shelters or with foster care families.

The July 9 memo regarding sponsors said they must now appear in person for identification verification. Previously, sponsors could submit identity documents online. The directive also says “federal law enforcement agencies may be present to meet their own mission objectives, which may include interviewing sponsors.”

Neha Desai, managing director of human rights at the National Center for Youth Law, said the change provides U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement a “built-in opportunity” to arrest parents — something she said has already happened.

Mary Miller Flowers, director of policy and legislative affairs for the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, said she knew of a case in which immigration officers arrested the father of a child under the age of 12 who had shown up for an identification check. “As a result, mom is terrified of coming forward. And so, this child is stuck,” Miller Flowers said.

Desai also said the interviews are unlikely to produce information authorities don’t already have. Vetting already included home studies and background checks done by Office of Refugee Resettlement staff, not immigration enforcement.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement said it communicates “clearly and proactively” with parents, telling them they may be interviewed by ICE or other law enforcement officials. It said parents can decline to be interviewed by ICE and that refusal won’t influence decisions about whether their children will be released to them.

“The goal is to ensure that every child is released to a stable and safe environment and fully vetted sponsors by ensuring the potential sponsor is the same individual submitting supporting documentation, including valid ID,” it said in a statement.

However, Desai is aware of a situation in which a sponsor was not notified and only able to decline after pushing back.

“We know of sponsors who are deeply, deeply fearful because of this interview, but some are still willing to go forward given their determination to get their children out of custody,” she said.

Trump administration points to Biden

Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security spokesperson, issued a statement that did not address any arrests or mention the specific changes. Instead, she said the department is looking to protect children who were released under President Joe Biden’s administration.

A federal watchdog report released last year addressed the Biden’s administration struggles during an increase in migrant children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2021. The Trump administration has dispatched Homeland Security and FBI agents to visit the children.

Another recent change allows ICE to interview children while they are at government-run shelters. That took effect July 2, according to a separate directive that the Office of Refugee Resettlement sent to shelters, also obtained by the AP.

The agency said it provides legal counsel to children and that its staff does not participate in interviews with law enforcement. Child legal advocates say they get as little as one-hour notice of the interviews, and that the children often don’t understand the purpose of the interview or are misled by officers.

“If we don’t understand what the interview is for or where the information is going, are we really consenting to this process?” said Miller Flowers, with the Young Center.

Jennifer Podkul, chief of global policy at Kids in Need of Defense, said some officers lack language skills, trauma-informed interviewing techniques and knowledge of the reunification process.

“It seems like it’s designed just to cast the net wider on immigration enforcement against adults,” she said.

String of policy changes adding hurdles to reunification process

The July changes are among the steps the Trump administration has taken to ramp up vetting of parents seeking to reunite with children.

The administration has required fingerprinting from sponsors and any adults living in the home where children are released. It has also required identification or proof of income that only those legally present in the U.S. could acquire, as well as introducing DNA testing and home visits by immigration officers.

Children have been spending more time in government-run shelters under increased vetting. The average length of stay for those released was 171 days in July, down from a peak of 217 days in April but well above 37 days in January, when Trump took office.

About 2,000 unaccompanied children were in government custody in July.

Shaina Aber, an executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice analyzing child custody data, attributes the longer custody times to the policy changes.

“The agency’s mission has been conflated and entangled,” she added. “It seems ORR’s mission has been somewhat compromised in that they are now doing more on the immigration enforcement side, and they’re not an immigration enforcement entity.”

Gonzalez writes for the Associated Press.

WASHINGTON — Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose case has come to encapsulate much of President Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda, wants to seek asylum in the United States, his lawyers told a federal judge Wednesday.

Abrego Garcia, 30, was detained Monday by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement in Baltimore after leaving a Tennessee jail on Friday. The Trump administration said it intends to deport him to the African country of Uganda.

Administration officials have said he’s part of the dangerous MS-13 gang, an allegation Abrego Garcia denies.

The Salvadoran national’s lawyers are fighting the deportation efforts in court, arguing he has the right to express fear of persecution and torture in Uganda. Abrego Garcia has also told immigration authorities he would prefer to be sent to Costa Rica if he must be removed from the U.S.

A request for asylum in 2019

A U.S. immigration judge denied his request for asylum in 2019 because he applied more than a year after he had fled to the U.S. He left El Salvador at the age of 16, around 2011, to join his brother, who had become a U.S. citizen and was living in Maryland.

Although he was denied asylum, the immigration judge did issue an order shielding Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador because he faced credible threats of violence from a gang there that had terrorized him and his family. He was granted a form of protection known as “withholding of removal,” which prohibits him from being sent to El Salvador but allows his deportation to another country.

Following the 2019 ruling, Abrego Garcia was released under federal supervision and continued to live with his American wife and children in Maryland. He checked in with ICE each year, received a federal work permit and was working as a sheet metal apprentice earlier this year, his lawyers have said.

But in March, the Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia to a notorious El Salvador prison, alleging he was a member of MS-13.

The allegation stems from a day in 2019 when Abrego Garcia sought work as a day laborer at a Home Depot in Maryland. Authorities had been told by a confidential informant that Abrego Garcia and other men could be identified as members of MS-13 because of their clothing and tattoos. He was detained by police, but Abrego Garcia was never charged — and has repeatedly denied the allegation. He was turned over to ICE and that’s when he applied for asylum for the first time.

Wrongful deportation and return

The Trump administration’s deportation of Abrego Garcia in March violated the immigration judge’s 2019 order barring his removal to El Salvador. Abrego Garcia’s wife sued to bring him back. Facing mounting pressure and a U.S. Supreme Court order, the Trump administration returned Abrego Garcia to the U.S. in June, where he was charged with human smuggling, a federal offense.

Abrego Garcia is accused of taking money to transport people who were in the country illegally. He has pleaded not guilty and asked the judge to dismiss the case, saying it was filed to punish him for challenging his deportation.

The charges stem from a 2022 traffic stop for speeding in Tennessee. There were nine passengers in the SUV and Abrego Garcia had $1,400 in cash on him. While officers discussed among themselves their suspicions of smuggling, he was allowed to drive away with only a warning.

A Homeland Security agent testified that he didn’t begin investigating until this April, when the government was facing mounting pressure to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S. The trial is set for January.

A federal judge in Tennessee released Abrego Garcia from jail on Friday after ruling that he was not a flight risk or a danger. The Trump administration moved to deport Abrego Garcia again on Monday, alleging he is a danger.

Abrego Garcia then stated his intent to reopen his immigration case in Maryland and to seek asylum again, his lawyers said Wednesday. Asylum, as defined under U.S. law, provides a green card and a path to citizenship. Abrego Garcia can still challenge his deportation to Uganda, or any other country, on grounds that it is unsafe.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers say sending him to Uganda would be punishment for successfully fighting his deportation to El Salvador, refusing to plead guilty to the smuggling charges and for seeking release from jail in Tennessee.

Judge keeps Abrego Garcia in the U.S., for now

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have filed a federal lawsuit to ensure that he can exercise his constitutionally protected right to fight deportation. He is entitled to immigration court proceedings and appeals, his lawyers say.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland, who is overseeing the lawsuit, has ruled that the U.S. government cannot remove Abrego Garcia from the country as the lawsuit plays out.

Justice Department attorney Drew Ensign said the government disagrees with the court’s order not to remove him while the lawsuit is pending but that it will comply.

Xinis will not rule on whether Abrego Garcia receives asylum or is deported, but will determine whether he can exercise his right to contest deportation. His asylum case will be heard by a U.S. immigration judge, who is employed by the Department of Justice under the authority of the Trump administration.

The nation’s immigration courts have become a key focus of Trump’s hard-line immigration enforcement efforts. The president has fired more than 50 immigration judges since he returned to the White House in January.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have said he’ll be able to appeal immigration court rulings to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Kunzelman and Finley write for the Associated Press. Finley reported from Norfolk, Va. AP writer Elliot Spagat contributed to this report.

Tusk called the vote as he seeks to regain momentum after his ally lost the presidential election earlier this month.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says his pro-European Union coalition has the mandate to govern ahead of a crucial confidence vote in parliament.

Tusk called the vote as he seeks to regain momentum after his ally Rafal Trzaskowski was defeated by nationalist Karol Nawrocki in the country’s presidential election earlier this month, prompting predictions of his government’s demise.

Tusk, whose fractious centrist coalition built around his Civic Platform party holds 242 seats in the 460-seat Sejm, or lower house, is expected to survive the vote, which could potentially trigger early elections, not scheduled until 2027.

“Governing Poland is a privilege,” Tusk told politicians ahead of the vote on Wednesday. “We have a mandate to take full responsibility for what’s going on in Poland.”

He listed higher defence spending and a cut in his government’s visa issuance for migrants as major achievements since he took power in October 2023 from the nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS).

But a win is unlikely to bring the “new beginning” the 68-year-old leader is hoping for after this month’s presidential race left his coalition rattled, raising questions over his leadership against a backdrop of surging support for the far-right in the country of 38 million.

Following the presidential election, there has been growing criticism that Tusk’s government has underdelivered on its campaign promises, failing to fulfil pledges of liberalising abortion laws, reforming the judiciary and raising the tax-free income threshold.

Tensions within the governing coalition, particularly with the Polish People’s Party (PSL), which advocates for socially conservative values and wants more curbs on immigration, could spell more trouble.

President-elect Nawrocki, an admirer of US President Donald Trump, is also an EU-sceptic who is expected to work to boost the opposition PiS party that backed him.

An SW Research poll for Rzeczpospolita daily showed that about a third of Poles thought Tusk’s government would not survive until the end of its term in 2027.

‘Is it the end of Tusk?’

Polish presidents can veto legislation passed by the parliament, a power that will likely hamper reform efforts by Tusk’s government, such as the planned introduction of same-sex partnerships or easing a near-total ban on abortion.

It could also make ties with Brussels difficult, particularly over rule of law issues, as Nawrocki has expressed support for the controversial judicial reforms put in place by the previous PiS government.

Ties with Ukraine could become more tense as Nawrocki opposes Ukraine’s membership of NATO and has been critical of the support for Ukrainian refugees in Poland.

Nawrocki is expected to begin his five-year mandate formally on August 6 once the election result has been legally validated.

The election commission has found evidence of counting errors in favour of Nawrocki in some districts.

Parliament speaker Szymon Holownia, a government ally, said there was “no reason to question the result”.

Tusk previously served as Polish prime minister from 2007-2014 and then as president of the European Council from 2014–2019. He resumed his leadership of the country as prime minister again in December 2023.

Austria have now won the Eurovision Song Contest three times after victory in 1966 and 2014. Vienna hosted the event following both victories.

On Saturday, Australian opera singer JJ won the hearts and minds of the European public with the surging, storming song ‘Wasted Love’.

In doing so, he beat Israel’s Yuval Raphael into second place and saved the ESC organisers a huge potential headache of whether or not to host a song contest in a warzone.

Austria have now won the Eurovision Song Contest three times after victory in 1966 and 2014. Vienna hosted the event following both victories. In the coming weeks, conversations will take place with potential host cities across Austria.

While it will come as no surprise that Vienna and Innsbruck have officially put themselves forward to host next year’s final, other, smaller settlements are vying to get in on the act. An Austrian travel colleague (who does admittedly live in Vienna so may be a little biased) tells me that others in the running are “the smallest and most charmless towns” the country has to offer.

While one of the bigger players is likely to be given the nod, it is not out of the question that the Austrian committee award it to one of the outside runners. Indeed, after Ireland won the 1992 finals, they decided to host the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest in Millstreet, a town with a population of 1,500 in West County Cork.

Given Eurovision fans will splash out on pairs of glittery lederhosen and make their way to whichever host city gets the nod, a destination guide to the hopefuls may come in handy.

Oberwart

READ MORE: How much using your phone abroad costs as Brits blocked from cheap roaming in EU

It would be a real turn-up for the books if Oberwart’s bid were successful. Located in Burgenland, it is a small town famed for its ethnic Hungarian minority and a population of 8,000 including JJ’s singing teacher. The Mayor of Oberwart, Georg Rosner has put the town forward, despite it lacking the capacity to accommodate the travelling eurofans. What it does have are four main attractions, according to Tripadvisor at least: The Baumwipfelweg Althodis observation deck, the AK-Bücherei Oberwart library, a mini-golf course and a cinema. Also, handily, a large concert venue is due to open later this year.

Graz

While it may not be in pole position, it would not be a total shock if Graz got the nod. Not only is it Austria’s second largest city with 250,000 people, it seems quite charming. Graz used to be known as “Austria’s secret love” and “small town at the river Mur”, due to the quiet, calm pace of life there.

In the heart of the city, there’s Schlossberg mountain, on top of which a fortress used to perch in the 11th century. Looking down from there over the city roofs, you will be able to spy buildings from the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Historism and Art Nouveau eras.

Hidden between the buildings are romantic lanes and hidden courtyards of the Italian-style palazzi. It is recommended to walk up and down the Gothic double spiral staircase that forms the backbone of the Burg to appreciate its unique construction. Graz was once a residence city of the Habsburgs, and the royal legacy is apparent through the likes of Eggenberg Palace, which has public museums, gardens and a magnificent park

Wels

“Wels, the jewel in the central region of Upper Austria, is a city grown out of history in the middle of nature,” claims the Upper Austria tourist board. Wels is best known for its conventions, trade fairs and shops. With a population of 60,000 people, it would be similar to Bangor or Margate hosting the ESC if it were to win. Notable landmarks include the Lederer Tower on the picturesque town square; the town hall, the late Gothic parish church with magnificent 14th-century stained-glass windows; and the former imperial castle where the Holy Roman emperor Maximilian I died in 1519.

WASHINGTON — After downplaying the threat of inflation through most of last year, the Federal Reserve struck a more hawkish tone Wednesday as it signaled readiness to raise interest rates in March and take other aggressive actions to combat high prices endangering the nation’s economic health.

With decades-high inflation strapping workers and unsettling financial markets, Fed officials in recent days have been laying the groundwork for their first rate hike since slashing it to near zero as the pandemic was starting to intensify two years ago.

Investors and analysts are expecting at least two or three more quarter-point rate increases later this year. The Fed is also looking at tightening the country’s money supply further by shrinking its huge portfolio of government bonds and securities that the central bank purchased to lower long-term interest rates and stimulate economic activity.

As recently as last fall, Fed policymakers took a patient approach in withdrawing stimulus even as inflation was heating up, judging rising prices as a temporary consequence of supply chain problems and other factors related to the pandemic that would fade on their own.

But in a statement Wednesday issued at the conclusion of a two-day meeting and in remarks by Chair Jerome H. Powell afterward, the Fed made clear that it no longer held such a benign view of inflation and that its policy focus had pivoted from maximizing employment to its other chief goal: achieving price stability.

“Inflation risks are still to the upside,” Powell said during a news conference. “There’s a risk that the high inflation we’re seeing will be prolonged. There’s a risk that it will move even higher…. We have to be in a position with our monetary policy to address all of the plausible outcomes.”

Stocks sank as Powell answered reporters’ questions, with major indexes giving up gains earlier in the session in another volatile day on Wall Street. Both the Dow Jones industrial average and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 dropped slightly, and were down 7.5% and 9.7%, respectively, from their highs in early January.

Powell said it was too early to talk about future interest rate increases, but at the Fed’s previous meeting in mid-December, most officials projected at least three quarter-point rate increases for this year. And since that meeting, Powell said Wednesday, the inflation picture has actually gotten a little worse. The consumer price index was up 7% in December from a year earlier — the highest in 40 years.

The Fed will issue new interest rate projections and an updated economic forecast at policymakers’ next meeting in mid-March.

Separately, the Fed on Wednesday issued a statement outlining general principles for “significantly reducing” the size of the Fed’s holdings of bonds and securities. Powell said officials haven’t made decisions on the timing or pace of the unwinding of its balance sheet, or the path of policy more generally, which remains largely dependent on what happens with the pandemic.

“We’ll be humble and nimble. We’re going to have to navigate crosscurrents and actually two-sided risks now,” Powell said.

The Fed is betting that it can get inflation under control, in part through its policy actions but also as the extraordinary pandemic fiscal support fades and supply chain bottlenecks improve. U.S. economic growth and the labor market have been strong, which Powell said gives the Fed space to raise rates without inflicting harm.

But economists worry that inflation may already be entrenched and that the Fed could step on the economic brakes too hard and send the country into recession. Doing too little, on the other hand, risks slow economic growth combined with high inflation, a condition known as stagflation, something the nation struggled with in the 1970s.

To avoid getting into such a tight spot, Fed officials historically have sought to take preemptive steps to curb inflation. In the 1950s, then-Fed Chair William McChesney Martin famously stated that the job of the central bank is to take away the punch bowl just as the party gets going.

“Well, the party is well underway,” said Phil Levy, chief economist at Flexport, a San Francisco freight shipment and customs brokerage company.

Levy sees the unusually high demand for goods, rather than transportation and other supply chain issues, as the underlying cause of rising inflation. And if the problem is one of an overheating economy, he and other analysts say, the Fed may have little choice but to apply tough medicine to slow demand.

“Odds of a policy misstep are uncomfortably high,” said Ryan Sweet, who follows the Fed at Moody’s Analytics.

High inflation and uncertainties about how the Fed will react have not only spread angst in financial markets but also cast a pall over many consumers and workers, many of whom saw strong wage gains last year, only to have them swamped by higher prices.

Moody’s Analytics has estimated that with prices rising at 7%, it was costing households on average $250 more a month than if the inflation rate was 2%, which is roughly where it was most of the last decade.

The current predicament means the central bank will have to make hard choices, including weighing the potential damage that higher rates may have on a still-healing labor market and stock markets that have enjoyed years of Fed support.

“The Fed’s biggest challenge is figuring out how to implement policy measures that are hawkish enough to lower inflation, but that also keep financial markets afloat, because volatility in financial markets may bleed into an economy that is already showing signs of slowing,” said Danielle DiMartino Booth, chief executive and chief strategist of Quill Intelligence, a research and consulting firm in Dallas. “The Fed is faced with choosing the lesser of two evils.”

A FAMOUS bagels shop aims to make extra dough — by charging customers £145 for a branded jacket.

Beigel Bake hopes loyal fans will find the limited edition gear as much to their taste as the food products.

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The East London outlet’s embroidered graphic jackets, made with recycled materials, are part of an online range with £50 T-shirts and tote bags for £5.

It says: “Like our beigels, we take pride in providing the best quality garments.”

Some customers praised the idea but one wrote: “It’s cool, but it’s not worth spending that much money for.”

The Brick Lane takeaway was opened in 1974 by Israeli expat brothers Asher and Sammy Cohen.

Asher’s son Daniel now runs it and it makes 3,000 filled bagels a day.

Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme – Sun Club.

Janelle McDonald remembers settling into the arena as a young gymnast in Washington, watching the Huskies and the now-defunct Seattle Pacific University women’s gymnastics team compete in college meets.

Exposure to the sport and eventually Onnie Willis — a fellow Washington native and the first UCLA gymnast to become an NCAA all-around champion — provided McDonald with a thrill as she turned to coaching gymnastics as a high schooler in 1999.

“In my gymnastics career, and as a coach, I was definitely inspired by a lot of former Bruins,” McDonald said. “I loved NCAA gymnastics because of the energy and the joy and the passion that’s out there on the competition floor.”

Now, a new generation of gymnasts will get a firsthand look at the sport when No. 6 UCLA hosts No. 5 Michigan State at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday afternoon in the first gymnastics meet broadcast by Fox. The Bruins and Spartans are the top two Big Ten programs and feature the top four all-around gymnasts in the conference: UCLA’s Jordan Chiles and Chae Campbell and Michigan State’s Nikki Smith and Olivia Zsarmani.

UCLA, which has recorded three scores of 197 points or more in a row, is no stranger to national television or going viral — having competed on ABC multiple times since last season.

“To be able to be one of the teams that gets to be [competing for] the first time on Fox, I think that that’s a pretty exciting thing,” McDonald, the Bruins’ third-year coach, said. “We get to be the team that gets to show, hopefully, a whole new audience what NCAA gymnastics is about.”

It wasn’t long ago that Macy McGowan was one of those gymnasts tuning in for UCLA meets. The freshman, who has competed on floor exercise, uneven bars and vault in all four meets this season, grew up in Seattle but said competing in Westwood was always her dream.

McGowan said she recalls tuning into Christine Peng-Peng Lee’s vlogs on YouTube, watching the NCAA balance beam champion on UCLA’s 2018 national championship team share what being a gymnast in Westwood was like.

“[The vlogs] just made me want to come here,” McGowan said.

Now, McGowan will compete in front of gymnasts like Lee at Saturday’s alumni meet.

“I feel like I’m settling in well,” McGowan said about the start of her college career. “It feels different from competing in club [gymnastics]. I have the same mindset when competing … but we’re on a team now.”

McDonald said McGowan is a rare freshman who does not need the coaching staff’s help to rise to “competitive moments.” Instead, she focuses on week-to-week recovery with meets occurring at higher regularity compared to the club level. Her mentality has paid off so far, as she has scored 9.8 or above in all but three routines.

“She innately has competitive greatness in her,” McDonald said. “She gets to meets and she locks in. There’s a spark in her eye when she’s out there competing.”

Senior Emma Malabuyo is one of the veterans on the roster who has helped ease McGowan’s transition to college — not just athletically but also academically. Malabuyo roomed with the freshman during the last three meets and considers McGowan one of her closest teammates.

Malabuyo represented the Philippines at the 2024 Paris Olympics and is ranked third in the nation on balance beam with a 9.925 average score across the first four meets. The two-time All-American said she views the team’s recent scores as a benchmark and believes UCLA can score even higher.

“Honestly, we are just grazing the surface of what we’re capable of,” Malabuyo said. “I think we can even get better and better.”

McDonald, who traveled with Malabuyo to Paris as her coach at the Olympics, agreed with her gymnast.

“We’re really excited about where we’re at but we still got a lot of work to do to really make sure that when the season is wrapping up, we’re where we want to be and we’re the team that we want to be,” McDonald said.

A sense of despair has engulfed the migrant camp of La Soledad, named after the colonial-era church that towers over the shantytown in downtown Mexico City.

It was supposed to be a temporary stop, a place to regroup and wait for the right moment to continue on toward the United States.

Then President Trump issued decrees that effectively shut down migration along the U.S.-Mexico border, leaving tens of thousands of migrants marooned in camps, shelters and other accommodations across Mexico, from the southern hinterlands to the Rio Grande.

Despondent and broke — many sold homes, borrowed cash, paid smugglers and left children behind in pursuit of the American dream — they now face an existential reckoning: What next?

“There’s great uncertainty right now,” said Manuela Pérez Jerónimo, a 47-year-old from Guatemala who was roasting potatoes over charcoal. “No one knows anything. Will we be able to cross the border? Will we all get deported?”

The Times spoke to some of the 1,500 or so denizens of La Soledad as they weighed their three main options: turn back, wait and see, or push on.

Giving up the dream

There is no census, and migrants come and go, but the majority of people in La Soledad appear to be from Venezuela, the once-wealthy South American nation that has seen an exodus of more than 7 million amid an economic, social and political crackup.

Jormaris Figuera Fernández, 42, and her husband, Jesus Manuel Marquez Murillo, 31, both from Venezuela, at their shanty in La Soledad migrant camp in downtown Mexico City.

(Cecilia Sánchez Vidal / For The Times)

“It became impossible to make a living,” said Jormaris Figuera Fernández, 42, speaking outside a shack of plywood planks and a tarpaulin canopy that she shares with her husband.

The two left Venezuela six years ago, at first joining legions of fellow citizens in neighboring Colombia, where the couple worked in construction, in the coffee fields and other jobs. They later tried their luck in Brazil and Chile, before returning to Colombia.

Then in 2023 they set out for the United States, a perilous trip that began in the Darién Gap, the unforgiving strip of rainforest between Colombia and Panama.

“We heard a lot of people were crossing the jungle — even some with crutches, very overweight people, pregnant women,” said Figuera. “We figured we could do it too.”

It took six weeks to reach Mexico. For more than a year, Figuera cleaned houses in the southern state of Chiapas while her husband worked in the fields.

The two eventually made their way to Mexico City, paying about $200 for their shanty in La Soledad. It features a bed, a couch, throw rugs, a table and a hot plate that, like other appliances in the camp, runs off pirated electricity. It costs about 25 cents each time they use the restroom in a nearby bar.

Following Trump’s election in November, hundreds fled La Soledad, embarking for the border with the idea of crossing into U.S. territory before he took office.

But Figuera and her husband remained, hopeful of gaining legal entry — unlike her son, who, she said, was twice caught crossing the border illegally, spent four months in U.S. custody and is now in New York awaiting a deportation hearing.

“He said it’s very hard, very cold, and extremely difficult to find work without papers,” Figuera said.

Faced with Trump’s shut-the-border dictates, the couple has relented: They plan to return to Colombia — once they figure out a way to get there.

“We came here with a dream, with a purpose — to arrive to the United States to help our families,” Figuera said, tears welling in her eyes. “We are going back now with nothing. Depressed. Deflated. We have failed.”

Waiting and seeing

The two boys, aged 2 and 4, romped through the labyrinth of La Soledad, under lines of drying laundry, past deliverymen pushing stacked handcarts and carpenters hammering away at tottering structures.

Venezuelans Alexandra Roa, 21, and her husband, Luis Abraham Rodriguez, 26, plan to remain in Mexico for the time being with their children, Matias, 4, and Mateo, 2.

(Cecilia Sánchez Vidal / For The Times)

“Its not a great place for kids,” said their mother, Alexandra Roa, 21, standing in front of the family’s plywood-and-plastic dwelling.

They have been in Mexico for seven months.

“We are disillusioned, desperate,” said Roa, who left Venezuela at age 16, settling in Chile for several years before heading toward the United States. “I try to distract myself. But at times I begin to cry and cry.”

Fueling her anxiety are reports of mass deportations, separations of families and military deployments along the U.S. border.

“We don’t want to take the risk of going to the border and then something really bad happens,” Roa said.

She and her husband have decided to wait and see what happens, at least for a few months. He has found work downtown lugging heavy merchandise, pocketing about $10-$15 a day.

She said she prays that some spectral force or improbable pang of conscience will “touch the heart” of Trump.

Her two kids wandered back. It was lunch hour in La Soledad, the air punctuated with the rhythm of cumbia and salsa blaring from boom boxes.

Pushing on

“It was like someone took a pail of ice water and dumped it on my head,” said Dixon Camacho.

He was recalling Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, when word filtered back to La Soledad that Trump had ditched the cellphone application known as CBP One, which more than 900,000 migrants have used to make appointments with U.S. border agents and legally enter the United States.

After months of waiting, Camacho had scored a cherished appointment in El Paso for Feb. 4. Now it was canceled.

Dixon Camacho, 50, a La Soledad resident also from Venezuela, plans to continue toward the border and enter the United States, however he can.

(Cecilia Sánchez Vidal / For The Times)

“I was left without words, with fear, anger, frustration,” said Camacho, 50, who leaned on a couch in a kind of open-air living room in La Soledad. “I wondered: ‘What now? Where do I go? What do I do?’“

A widower, he is the father of six children — adult sons and daughters in Ecuador, Brazil and Argentina, and a pair of teenagers who remain in Venezuela.

He was a transport dispatcher in Venezuela, earning enough to care comfortably for his family — and once even taking a lavish vacation in Brazil.

“Now, we Venezuelans are the poor ones,” said Camacho, who sported a Chicago Bulls cap and jacket in honor of Michael Jordan — though his jacket bears No. 22, not Jordan’s famous 23.

He left Venezuela in January 2024, intending to join a brother in Texas.

On two occasions, Camacho hopped freight trains to the Mexican border state of Chihuahua, placing him on the verge of entering the United States — only to be detained by Mexican immigration agents, who bused him back to southern Mexico.

Settling in Mexico is not an option, Camacho insisted, though the Trump administration plans to ship asylum seekers arriving at the border back to Mexico to await U.S. adjudication of their cases.

Migrants stranded in Mexico City express concern and fear of mass deportation in the Trump era.

(Gerardo Vieyra / NurPhoto / Getty Images)

“In Mexico you basically earn enough to live,” said Camacho. “I haven’t been able to send a single peso back to my kids, my mother.”

He plans to hit the rails north again, even if it means crossing the border illegally. He said he and his friends from La Soledad were mapping out a route.

“We’re all like family here,” Camacho said. “I’m ready to go right now.”

Soon, he said, they would be on their way, undeterred by walls, barbed wire, troops and presidential decrees.

Special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal contributed to this report.

Rafah, Gaza Strip, Palestine – Palestinian farmer Abd al-Sattari owned two houses in Gaza’s Rafah. For the nine months since Israeli forces invaded the southern city, he has been forced into displacement. The 53-year-old had lived with the hope that if one house got hit in one of the Israeli attacks, which have flattened more than 70 percent of the territory, the other one would stay standing to take his family back in when the war finally ended.

On Sunday, even before the ceasefire came into effect, Abd took his eldest son Mohammed and left the rest of their family in their displacement tent in al-Mawasi, on Gaza’s southwestern coast. They rushed to one property, then the next, to face the grim reality: both his houses – one in the area of Shaboura and the other in Mirage – had been reduced to rubble. Abd’s hopes of returning to normalcy have been shattered.

The much-anticipated ceasefire agreement came into effect on Sunday morning, bringing what Palestinians hope will be an end to a gruesome war that has killed more than 46,900 people, demolished much of the besieged enclave and driven more than 2 million people into displacement. Even before the ceasefire began, hundreds of families were rushing back to Rafah, having fled after the Israeli invasion, with their few belongings packed into vehicles, animal-pulled carts and bikes.

Israeli forces continued their attacks on Gaza, killing more Palestinians just before the ceasefire began. But that did not stop some families who had already headed to their old neighbourhoods and set up camp on the ruins of what were once their homes, eager to move past the darkest months of their lives.

As they crossed the cratered roads that crisscross Rafah, some families chanted: “We will rebuild. We will live.”

‘Rafah is gone’

But for many, joy turned to anguish as they returned to devastation.

As he surveyed his first home, spanning 200 square metres (2,000 sq ft), and his second two-storey house of 160 square metres (1,700 sq ft), Abd found only destruction. Visits to the homes of his three brothers revealed similar devastation. With no roof to shelter his family, his dreams of ending their seven-month displacement collapsed.

Sitting amid the ruins, Abd called his wife, who had been waiting in the al-Mawasi camp with the family’s belongings packed onto a truck. Over the phone, he broke the news: their homes were uninhabitable, with no walls, water or basic services. His wife wept bitterly, pleading to return despite the devastation, but Abd insisted it was impossible.

Their eldest son, Mohammed, took the phone to persuade his mother to stay put, reassuring her that they would explore ways to prepare for a future return.

“The Rafah we knew is gone,” Abd lamented. “The streets where we grew up, the places we worked—they are now unrecognisable.”

For Abd’s family of six children, this day was meant to mark an end to the misery of displacement. Instead, they face the grim reality of rebuilding from nothing.

Abd reflected on their dashed hopes. “We thought we would finally escape the tents and live within walls again. But now, it feels like a new kind of annihilation – this time, not from bombs but from the sheer absence of life’s essentials.”

A desperate homecoming

In the days leading up to the ceasefire, Palestinians in Gaza have been bracing for what they hoped would be an end to their misery – more than 1.8 million people suffered from severe hunger and hundreds of thousands were living in feeble tents that barely shielded them from a winter that has killed babies due to hypothermia.

Families like Nasim Abu Alwan’s, who brought his nine children back to find their home obliterated, resolved to live among the ruins. “We’ll haul water from afar if we must,” Nasim said. “We’re done with tents. We’re staying in Rafah, no matter what.”

According to United Nations figures, more than 60 percent of buildings and 65 percent of roads across Gaza have been destroyed since October 7, 2023, when the war started.

“More than 42 million tons of debris has been generated, within which is buried human remains and unexploded ordinance (UXO), asbestos and other hazardous substances,” the UN’s humanitarian agency’s (OCHA) report said.

Other residents of Rafah, like Amjad Abdullah, opted to stay in Khan Younis, unwilling to endure life amid the rubble. “It’s impossible to live here,” he said after finding his neighbourhood inaccessible even by foot. “Rafah has become a graveyard of buildings. Without water, roads, or basic infrastructure, life here is unimaginable.”

According to Mohammed al-Sufi, Rafah’s mayor, the scale of destruction in Rafah is “staggering”.

“The city is uninhabitable,” he told Al Jazeera.

Al-Sufi said that “70 percent of its facilities and infrastructure are destroyed”.

“Key areas like the Philadelphi Corridor, which constitutes 16 percent of Rafah’s area, remain off-limits, while large swaths of eastern Rafah are similarly inaccessible,” he added. The Philadelphi Corridor is a strip of land that extends along Gaza’s border with Egypt.

Municipal workers are racing against time to clear roads, restore water and address the dangers of unexploded ordnance. But the municipality is warning against hastened returns.

“We need a gradual, cautious approach. Without basic services, life cannot resume,” one of the workers said.

Despite the devastation, Rafah’s residents remain defiant. Families cling to their connection with the city, determined to reclaim what little remains. As one father put it, “We’ve suffered too much in exile. Rafah is home, and we will rebuild – even if it takes a lifetime.”

This piece was published in collaboration with Egab.

WASHINGTON —  President Bush expressed concern Thursday about “economic deprivation” this winter in Russia and the other republics of the former Soviet Union and called for an early summit meeting with Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin, saying it is important for the two leaders to stay in “close touch.”

Bush did not specify a date for a meeting with the Russian leader but said he would like it to be soon.

Bush, a great believer in personal diplomacy among chiefs of state, had a close relationship with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev but in the past had been cool, at best, toward Yeltsin.

Now, the President said, “it is important we stay in very, very close touch.”

“I think it’s important. I think he thinks it’s important,” Bush said. “We want to handle this relationship as best we can. It doesn’t hurt to have that personal contact.”

An example of the close relationship that Bush had with Yeltsin’s predecessor was on view Thursday night, as ABC News broadcast film of Gorbachev discussing his departure with Bush in a last telephone call before he resigned Christmas Day.

In the call, Gorbachev, speaking through an interpreter, promised Bush that Soviet nuclear weapons “remain and will remain under strict control. You can have a very quiet Christmas evening.”

Bush, in turn, complimented Gorbachev “for the way you have handled that.” The nuclear issue, he said, “is of vital international significance, of course.”

ABC filmed the call as part of a special “PrimeTime Live” program on Gorbachev’s last days that was aired Thursday night. His resignation, Gorbachev told host Ted Koppel, was a first for Russia: “That is, the process, after all, is a democratic one. The psychological stress is hardest until you make the decision,” he added.

Meanwhile, as White House attention shifts to Russia and its president, Bush and his aides have been pondering how to establish a new set of personal ties.

A meeting between the two most likely would take place in Washington because Bush’s last meeting with Gorbachev was in Madrid. White House aides also are anxious to minimize the number of foreign trips that Bush makes between now and the November election.

In contrast with the last three years, Bush so far is scheduled to take only two overseas trips in the next eight months–one to Asia this month and one to Europe this summer for the annual economic summit of industrial nations.

Answering questions at a White House press conference, Bush said he believes that the breakup of the Soviet Union will make arms control negotiations easier, even though many more parties will be at the table. Now, he said, “we don’t have the concept on their part of viewing the United States as an enemy, as happened over all the years of the Cold War.”

In the future, he added, “I think it will be far easier now to hammer out whatever additional arms control agreements are in the world’s interests.”

Earlier Thursday, Bush signed ratification documents for the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, one of the last major arms control agreements negotiated with the Soviet Union. Ratified by the Senate, it limits manpower and weaponry deployed by the superpowers in Europe. Leaders of the now-independent republics have promised to honor the terms of the arms pacts adopted by the old union.

In his press conference, Bush again asserted that the Administration has received “proper assurances from all the republics” about the safety of the former Soviet nuclear weapons and that “our experts that have been in touch at the expert level see no reason to be concerned.”

But he warned that continued economic problems in Russia and the other republics could lead to instability and danger in the months to come.

‘Trump is back, and it’s a sign we’ll be back, too,’ Brazil’s ex-president tells WSJ amid coup attempt accusations.

Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro has expressed hope that United States President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January will help bolster his own political comeback, amid accusations that he took part in a failed coup in the South American nation.

The Wall Street Journal reported late on Thursday that Bolsonaro is banking on Trump pressuring Brazil with sanctions to delay enforcing a court ruling that bars him from office until 2030 for baselessly attacking the country’s voting system before the 2022 elections he lost.

“Trump is back, and it’s a sign we’ll be back, too,” Bolsonaro said in an interview with the US newspaper.

Bolsonaro’s remarks come just days after Brazilian police released a report implicating the former president in an alleged criminal organisation designed to overturn the 2022 election that he lost to his left-wing rival, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Bolsonaro “planned, acted and was directly and effectively aware of the actions of the criminal organisation aiming to launch a coup d’etat and eliminate the democratic rule of law”, the report said.

The former army captain, who served as president from 2019 to 2022, has denied any wrongdoing and claimed to be the victim of a politically motivated witch-hunt.

Despite the coup accusations and other investigations against him, Trump’s electoral victory earlier this month in the US has injected new energy into Brazil’s far-right and stirred hopes that Bolsonaro can mirror his return to power.

Bolsonaro often expressed admiration for Trump during the Republican’s first term in office from 2017 to 2021, and he was widely dubbed “Trump of the Tropics” during his own presidency.

Similarly to Trump, who continues to say the 2020 election he lost to President Joe Biden was stolen from him, Bolsonaro spent months in the run-up to the 2022 vote in Brazil falsely claiming that the country’s voting system was vulnerable to widespread fraud.

Shortly after his left-wing challenger Lula took office in January 2023, thousands of Bolsonaro’s supporters who were angered over the election results stormed the presidential palace, Congress and the Supreme Court in the capital, Brasilia.

The attack drew comparisons to the insurrection in the US two years earlier, on January 6, 2021, when a group of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in Washington, DC, to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s election victory.

Guilherme Casaroes, professor at the Fundacao Getulio Vargas’s Sao Paulo School of Business Administration, said this week that Brazilian conservatives “are hoping [Trump] will use the threat of sanctions and other punitive measures to put pressure on Brazilian authorities to allow” Bolsonaro to run for president in 2026.

“Even if the threat of US sanctions doesn’t by itself change judicial outcomes in Brazil, a global chorus of sympathy for Bolsonaro may, in fact, help him politically in Brazil, fuelling a sense of grievance and popular desire for his return”, Casaroes wrote in Americas Quarterly.