Dakota Ditcheva says she expects social media abuse to only get worse as she continues her fighting career.
The 27-year-old is fast becoming one of the most recognisable female faces in MMA and she has more than 300,000 followers on Instagram.
Ditcheva is used to going viral for her knockouts, but as calls grow for social media platforms and governments to do more to protect users, specifically female athletes, Ditcheva says he has stopped reading comments on her posts.
“[Hate] is a given in this sport, which is so upsetting to have to accept that and be prepared for that as a sports athlete and it’s something I’ve kind of been training myself for,” Ditcheva tells BBC Sport.
“My mum is constantly making sure I’m not reading certain things and preparing me for it getting worse and me avoiding it. I’m lucky I can speak to my parents and siblings.”
Ditcheva has spoken openly in the past about the sexualisation she faces on social media and recently had a man contact her mother claiming they were in love.
“I had a certain person who started messaging my mum and saying we’d been speaking, and that I liked their post which meant that we were together and in love, and it got really obsessive,” Ditcheva says.
“It kind of freaked me out and it got really intense, the type of stuff they were typing. I was lucky I had my mum who helped me deal with that and kind of explain what these people are going to be doing.
“This is not something we’re born to understand, and born to put up with these strange occurrences all the time, we’re just normal people living normal lives and getting worried about stuff.”
Today on The Stream: Are influencers a trustworthy alternative to traditional journalists?
Gen Z, in particular, is turning to social media rather than traditional media outlets for their news. This episode explores the rising influence of content creators as trusted sources of information. It examines how governments and organisations are increasingly harnessing this trend as a tool of soft power. Are audiences genuinely being informed, or subtly influenced? And in this evolving media landscape, what role does journalism still play?
Presenter: Stefanie Dekker
Guests: Sophia Smith Galer – Digital journalist and author Gina L Divittorio – Writer and comedian Yayu Feng – Assistant professor, University of St Thomas
July 20 (UPI) — A World War II veteran who became a social media sensation and captivated millions of people with his stories has died at the age of 102.
Jake Larson, who became known as “Papa Jake,” died “peacefully and was cracking jokes til the very end,” her granddaughter, Mikaela Larson, said in a TikTok post Saturday.
“I am so thankful to have shared my Papa Jake with you all,” Makaela Larson said in her post. “When the time is right, I will continue to share Papa Jake’s stories and keep his memory alive. We appreciate all the kind words and posts. As Papa would say, love you all the mostest.”
Jake Larson was born in Owatonna, Minn. on Dec. 20, 1922 and joined the National Guard when he was age 15 by claiming that he was 18. He was assigned to the U.S. Army’s 135th Infantry Regiment in the 34th Infantry Division, known as the “Red Bull.”
He was deployed to Ireland during WWII, and then shipped to June 6, 1944, one of 34,000 Allied soldiers who stormed Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, which was occupied by Germany.
“Papa Jake” gained a worldwide following on social media with the help of his family, and later created a TikTok page with the “@storytimewithpapajake” handle, where his appeal grew to more than 1.2 million followers, and where his posts have garnered more than 11 million likes. He also has more than 16,000 YouTube subscribers.
Many of his social media posts recounted his encounters on Omaha Beach, where he escaped enemy machine gun fire in addition to other recollections of fighting advancing German soldiers.
“It seemed like the landing was an eternity, with all the firing going on….I can’t describe it. And people would say ‘Were you scared?’ I was scared of stepping on a landmine, and that’s what I was trying to prevent,” he said in a video posted by the U.S. Army last month.
“I was 5 foot 7 at that time. I weighed 120 pounds and I said, “Thank God the Germans aren’t good at shooting toothpicks.”
At least 2,400 hundred Americans died during the Normandy invasion.
“There’s going to be casualties but we’re willing to risk that,” he said in the video. “We had to get this done. We have to relieve the world of this guy called Hitler.”
Larson received a Bronze star from the U.S. Army and the Legion of Honor, France’s highest honor. His interview on D-Day by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour won an Emmy award in June.
The hashtag gains global popularity as Israel continues to kill Palestinians seeking food and children die of malnutrition.
Hashtag #GazaIsStarving is trending across social media as Palestinians face a worsening hunger crisis caused by Israel’s relentless bombardment of the enclave and allowing limited aid.
On Sunday, the Arabic version of the hashtag had appeared in more than 227,000 posts on X, where it recently topped the platform’s trending list. On Instagram, the hashtag has been used in more than 5,000 posts.
Most posts are attributing to a post from October 31, 2023, quoting Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu Sittah’s warning: “People have started going hungry.”
Nearly two years later, the phrase has become a global rallying cry as Israeli forces kill dozens of starving Palestinians every day.
The social media trend also came amid warnings from the United Nations and other aid agencies that Israel is starving Palestinian civilians, including more than a million children, by blocking food and medicines from entering the enclave.
Since May, nearly 900 Palestinians have been killed near aid sites run by GHF, a notorious aid agency backed by Israel and the United States.
Under the hashtag #GazaIsStarving, social media platforms have been flooded with images and videos showing the extent of the humanitarian crisis, which many countries and rights groups have called a genocide.
The following X post shows Palestinian children visibly suffering from malnutrition during medical examinations at a UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) clinic in Gaza City. Israel has banned UNRWA from distributing aid in Gaza.
The following July 10, 2025 video, released on Saturday and verified by Al Jazeera, shows Israeli security forces using pepper spray on Palestinians seeking food at a GHF aid distribution hub in Shakoush area of southern Rafah.
The scene below illustrates the severity of Gaza’s food crisis and the level of desperation for aid, with children clashing over rations and scraping the bottoms of pots for food in the north of Gaza.
The following video, filmed on July 19 near a GHF distribution site in Rafah, captures civilians fleeing the scene as Israeli tanks and bulldozers are seen moving through the area.
The following verified photos taken on July 19 show Yazan Abu Foul, a two-year-old child suffering from severe malnutrition, amid restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid and essential supplies in Shati refugee camp to the west of Gaza City.
England defender Jess Carter says she will take a step back from social media after experiencing “a lot of racial abuse” during Euro 2025.
In a statement on Sunday, the Lionesses also said they would now stop the anti-racism move of taking a knee before matches, saying it was “clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism”.
“From the start of the tournament I have experienced a lot of racial abuse,” said the 27-year-old Carter.
“While I feel every fan is entitled to their opinion on performance and result I don’t agree or think it’s OK to target someone’s appearance or race.
“As a result of this I will be taking a step back from social media and leaving it to a team to deal with.”
The Football Association said it was “working with police to ensure those responsible for this hate crime are brought to justice”.
New York City, the US: Swinging around a tree mimicking the signature open-arm lean of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, Zohran Mamdani asks, “Hey! Have you ever voted before?” An enthusiastic group of Hindi/Urdu-speaking New Yorkers respond: “Yes!”
In the June 4 video posted on X, the 33-year-old Democratic Socialist member of the New York State Assembly then explains ranked choice voting using mango lassi, a yoghurt-based drink from the Punjab region of India, amid clips from popular Bollywood films and scores.
This is just one example of the kinds of videos populating Mamdani’s social media leading up to his 56 percent win in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary on July 1.
Mamdani was relatively unknown before the primary election, polling as low as one percent in an Emerson College survey in February 2025. But his grassroots campaign mobilised a multicultural coalition of voters, in part, by speaking directly to them — in their native tongue.
The government of New York state estimates that New Yorkers speak more than 800 languages, and as many as 2.5 million struggle with communicating in English. Experts, however, say Mamdani successfully used his skills in multiple languages to appeal to voters who often are not targeted by mainstream election campaigns, highlighting policy proposals targeting voters’ biggest concerns, like affordability.
Moments after ranked-choice voting totals were finalised, Mamdani’s team posted a campaign message garnering more than 5.7 million views on X alone, explaining a five-point breakdown of “What We Won on Election Day”: Trump voters, Adams voters, new voters, coalitions and turnout.
“Most campaigns focus on ‘triple primes’ – New Yorkers who voted in the last three primaries,” said Mamdani. “But this strategy ignored most of our city. We knew we could turn them out if they saw themselves in our policies.”
Speaking between clips of himself using Hindi, Urdu and Spanish, Mamdani explained, “We ran a campaign that tried to talk to every New Yorker, whether I could speak their language or simply tried. And the coalition that came out on Tuesday reflected the mosaic of these five boroughs.”
Among the areas Mamdani won by large margins were South Asian neighbourhoods such as City Line, Ozone Park and Jamaica Hills; Latino neighbourhoods including Corona, Washington Heights, Pelham Bay and Woodhaven; and Chinese communities in Flushing, Chinatown and Bensonhurst.
A Ugandan-born South Asian Muslim immigrant himself, Mamdani speaks both Hindi and Urdu – a fluency that allowed him to extend his reach to voters through social media videos.
Soniya Munshi, associate professor in urban studies and adviser to Asian-American community studies at Queens College, told Al Jazeera that these types of videos worked as conversation starters through Bollywood references that span the decades – from the 1970s onwards – recognisable to many South Asian diasporas of different ages and with different pathways to the US.
“I saw his Hindi/Urdu video move from Instagram to text chats among second-generation South Asians to WhatsApp family threads to discussions about Zohran’s platform for an affordable NYC,” said Munshi, who herself is a second-generation South Asian New Yorker. “These videos opened up a bigger conversation with friends, families and communities about our experiences, our conditions, our own hopes for the city we call home, and they also moved voters to come out for Mamdani.”
Cultural references and direct messaging
More than half of New York City’s South Asian population is of Indian descent, but Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities have seen the most growth over the past two decades. South Asians now make up 22.5 percent of the city’s Asian population, most of them immigrants. Mamdani’s campaign materials – in Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Bengali and other languages – spoke directly to immigrant New Yorkers about the material issues affecting their lives.
“It’s critical to note the significance of Mamdani’s videos in Hindi/Urdu and Bangla,” said Munshi. “These two communities are among those with the highest levels of limited English proficiency households, essential workers, and poverty rates of all immigrant groups in NYC … Ultimately, what made these South Asian language videos so powerful was the culturally relevant references combined with the direct message of his vision and platform.”
Chowdury Md Moshin, 68, a native of Bangladesh who now lives in Jackson Heights, sat in Travers Park on a warm late June day reading a newspaper, his stark white hair and shirt contrasting with the bright green of the swaying trees around him.
A speaker of Bengali or Bangla himself, Moshin appreciated hearing from a mayoral candidate speaking a language he understands.
“I think he will be a good mayor and will make New York City cleaner,” said Moshin. “I love him.”
In one of the videos posted during the final push before the Democratic primary election, Mamdani demonstrated ranked-choice voting with Council Member Shahana Hanif’s 39th New York City Council District, using a plate of mishti doi, a sweet yoghurt dessert from the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent.
“His Bangla-language video with Shahana Hanif, the first Bangladeshi Muslim woman to serve as city councilperson in NYC, was also significant,” said Munshi. “Bangla is not a South Asian language Mamdani is fluent in, and we see him making a good effort to speak with Hanif about the election.”
The digital agency behind this content, as well as Mamdani’s first viral video with over 3.5 million views on X, is called Melted Solids. The Brooklyn-based collective, founded in 2019 by Anthony DiMieri and Debbie Saslaw, has worked with Mamdani on various campaigns since as early as 2021.
In an interview with Adweek, Saslaw spoke to the 2025 primary, saying, “I’m [a] marketer and storyteller, and what I thought was necessary and needed in the political space was the ability to speak to regular New Yorkers, like using advertising … as a vessel to hear their concerns.”
Mara Einstein, digital marketing critic and author of Hoodwinked: How Marketers Use the Same Tactics as Cults, told Al Jazeera that, “They [Melted Solids] know him, which is why they could produce content that conveyed his specific voice.”
“They are also not a traditional agency,” added Einstein. “What Melted Solids did that was different is get rid of the red, white, and blue colour scheme that has dominated political campaigns. Purple and yellow/gold [colours used by Mamdani’s campaign for flyers, signs and branding] is striking and unexpected. The typography harkens back to grocery store signs, giving it a neighbourhood-y, everyman feel.”
Democrat mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s digital marketing agency used purple and gold to brand his campaign, breaking away from traditional red and blue colours [File: Richard Drew/AP]
‘I like how he talks’
For a campaign run on affordability and reaching every New Yorker, this analysis bodes well. But ultimately, experts say that Mamdani’s social media engagement performed well because his vision and platform were at the core of all of his content.
“The social media content was delightful to watch, well-produced, and engaging, but what was most important was that it had substance,” said Munshi. “It gave us something to talk about that was bigger than Mamdani as an individual or even his campaign. It activated something at a collective level.”
Outside the polls in Woodside on election day, Munshi asked an older Spanish-speaking Latina woman whom she planned to vote for. The woman reached into her purse, pulled out a worn Working Families Party flyer, and pointed to Mamdani’s face. “Him,” she said. “I like how he talks.”
“To me, this indicated that Mamdani’s communication wasn’t just about the language he is speaking in,” said Munshi. “But how he used language – clear, simple, focused, relatable to New Yorkers who are concerned with their everyday needs in this city.”
With five months until the general election, Mamdani and Melted Solids still have work to do as they face off against incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who is backed by US President Donald Trump.
But if former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s failed 2025 mayoral bid – backed by $25m raised by the super PAC Fix the City – is any indication, Einstein said, “No marketing, no matter how good it is, can sell a bad product. Cuomo is evidence of that.”
Current and former Facebook leadership reached the agreement with shareholders only one day into the trial.
Mark Zuckerberg and current and former directors and officers of Meta Platforms have agreed to settle claims seeking $8bn for the damage they allegedly caused the company by allowing repeated violations of Facebook users’ privacy.
Zuckerberg and his counterparts reached the agreement on Thursday with shareholders who brought the lawsuit.
The parties did not disclose details of the settlement, and defence lawyers did not address the judge, Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery. McCormick adjourned the trial just as it was to enter its second day, and she congratulated the parties.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Sam Closic, said the agreement just came together quickly.
Billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who is a defendant in the trial and a Meta director, was scheduled to testify on Thursday.
Shareholders of Meta sued Zuckerberg, Andreessen and other former company officials, including former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, in hopes of holding them liable for billions of dollars in fines and legal costs the company paid in recent years.
The Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5bn in 2019 after finding that it failed to comply with a 2012 agreement with the regulator to protect users’ data.
The shareholders wanted the 11 defendants to use their personal wealth to reimburse the company. The defendants denied the allegations, which they called “extreme claims”. Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021. The company was not a defendant.
The company declined to comment. A lawyer for the defendants did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“This settlement may bring relief to the parties involved, but it’s a missed opportunity for public accountability,” said Jason Kint, the head of Digital Content Next, a trade group for content providers.
Zuckerberg was expected to take the stand on Monday and Sandberg on Wednesday. The trial was scheduled to run through the end of next week.
The case was also expected to include testimony from former Facebook board members Peter Thiel, Palantir Technologies co-founder, and Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix.
Longstanding concerns
Meta investors alleged in the lawsuit that former and current board members completely failed to oversee the company’s compliance with the 2012 FTC agreement and claim that Zuckerberg and Sandberg knowingly ran Facebook as an illegal data harvesting operation.
The case followed revelations that data from millions of Facebook users was accessed by Cambridge Analytica, a now-defunct political consulting firm that worked for Donald Trump’s successful US presidential campaign in 2016. Those revelations led to the FTC fine, which was a record at the time.
On Wednesday, an expert witness for the plaintiffs testified about what he called “gaps and weaknesses” in Facebook’s privacy policies, but would not say if the company violated the 2012 agreement that Facebook reached with the FTC.
Jeffrey Zients, a former board member, testified on Wednesday that the company did not agree to the FTC fine to spare Zuckerberg legal liability, as shareholders allege.
On its website, the company has said it has invested billions of dollars into protecting user privacy since 2019.
The trial would have been a rare opportunity for Meta investors to see Zuckerberg answer probing questions under oath. In 2017, Zuckerberg was expected to testify at a trial involving a lawsuit by company investors opposed to his plan to issue a special class of Facebook stock that would have extended his control over that company. That case also settled before he took the stand.
“Facebook has successfully remade the ‘Cambridge Analytica’ scandal about a few bad actors rather than an unraveling of its entire business model of surveillance capitalism and the reciprocal, unbridled sharing of personal data,” Kint said. “That reckoning is now left unresolved.”
Meta stock was down 0.4 percent for the day as of 11am in New York (15:00 GMT) and 3.1 percent over the last five days.
An $8bn trial, pitting Meta Platforms shareholders against Mark Zuckerberg and other current and former company leaders, over claims they illegally harvested the data of Facebook users in violation of a 2012 agreement with the United States Federal Trade Commission, is under way.
The trial kicked off on Wednesday with a privacy expert for the plaintiffs, Neil Richards of Washington University Law School, who testified about Facebook’s data policies.
“Facebook’s privacy disclosures were misleading,” he told the court.
Jeffrey Zients, White House chief of staff under former President Joe Biden and a Meta director for two years starting in May 2018, is expected to take the stand later on Wednesday in the non-jury trial before Kathaleen McCormick, chief judge of the Delaware Chancery Court.
The case will feature testimony from Zuckerberg and other billionaire defendants, including former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, venture capitalist and board member Marc Andreessen, as well as former board members Peter Thiel, Palantir Technologies cofounder, and Reed Hastings, cofounder of Netflix.
A lawyer for the defendants, who have denied the allegations, declined to comment.
McCormick, the judge who rescinded Elon Musk’s $56bn Tesla pay package last year, is expected to rule on liability and damages months after the trial concludes.
Cambridge Analytica scandal
The case began in 2018, following revelations that data from millions of Facebook users was accessed by Cambridge Analytica, a now-defunct political consulting firm that worked for Donald Trump’s successful US presidential campaign in 2016.
The FTC fined Facebook $5bn in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, saying the company had violated a 2012 agreement with the FTC to protect user data.
Shareholders want the defendants to reimburse Meta for the FTC fine and other legal costs, which the plaintiffs estimate total more than $8bn.
In court filings, the defendants described the allegations as “extreme” and said the evidence at trial will show Facebook hired an outside consulting firm to ensure compliance with the FTC agreement and that Facebook was a victim of Cambridge Analytica’s deceit.
Meta, which is not a defendant, declined to comment. On its website, the company has said it has invested billions of dollars into protecting user privacy since 2019.
The lawsuit is considered the first of its kind to go to trial that alleges that board members consciously failed to oversee their company. Known as a Caremark claim, such lawsuits are often described as the hardest to prove in Delaware corporate law. However, in recent years, Delaware courts have allowed a growing number of these claims to proceed.
Boeing’s current and former board members settled a case with similar claims in 2021 for $237.5m, the largest ever in an alleged breach of oversight lawsuit. The Boeing directors did not admit to wrongdoing.
The Meta trial comes four months after Delaware lawmakers overhauled the state’s corporate law to make it harder for shareholders to challenge deals struck with controlling shareholders like Zuckerberg. The bill, which did not address Caremark claims, was drafted after the state’s governor met with representatives of Meta.
Most publicly traded companies are incorporated in the state, which generates more than a quarter of the state’s budget revenue. Meta, which was reportedly considering leaving Delaware earlier this year, is still incorporated in the state.
Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital fund co-founded by Andreessen, said earlier this month that it was reincorporating in Nevada from Delaware and encouraged other companies to do the same. The company cited the uncertainty of the state’s courts and referenced the Musk pay ruling.
Andreessen is expected to testify on Thursday.
In addition to privacy claims at the heart of the Meta case, plaintiffs allege that Zuckerberg anticipated that the Cambridge Analytica scandal would send the company’s stock lower and sold his Facebook shares as a result, pocketing at least $1bn.
Defendants said evidence will show that Zuckerberg did not trade on inside information and that he used a stock-trading plan that removes his control over sales and is designed to guard against insider trading.
July 10 (UPI) — Social media influencer Nick Adams is President Donald Trump‘s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Malaysia.
Trump announced the nomination on Wednesday while Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Malaysia on a diplomatic trip to participate in an Association of Southeast Asian Nations event in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
“Accepting this call of duty should be the easiest decision made by any American,” Adams said in a video, as reported by The Hill.
“It is nothing short of a lifetime honor to take the president’s goodwill and spread it to the great people of Malaysia,” Adams said.
Our country is the land of tremendous opportunity,” he added. “In our new golden age, these opportunities will grow like never before.”
Adams, 40, is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Australia and has been a supporter of Trump’s for many years.
During his first term in office, Trump nominated Adams as a board member of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, NBC News reported.
Adams formerly was the deputy mayor of Ashfield, which is a suburb of Sydney, Australia.
His personal website describes Adams as a critic of illegal immigration, critical race theory and “radical feminism.”
He also says he is a “champion of American exceptionalism.”
Adams in 2016 established the Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness, which is a non-profit that teaches the United States’ founding documents and American values to grade-school students.
He says he earned bachelor’s and graduate degrees from the University of Sydney and has authored several books.
Adams has more than 3 million social media followers.
As with paint colours or lipstick shades, naming a mountain range requires serious consideration. It should suggest character, create intrigue, and kindle desire. Who doesn’t want to explore the Crazy Mountains of Montana, or make a fiery pact with California’s Diablo Range? While studying a map of Spain, my interest was piqued by a patch of grey and green emptiness bearing the enticing words: Sierra de la Demanda.
I’ve travelled all over Spain for work and play in the last two decades, but somehow these “demanding” mountains had eluded me. Located in the remote northern interior, halfway between Madrid and Santander, their isolation (and a dearth of English-language Google results) only added to the mystique. The Sierra de la Demanda covers a vast area across Spain’s least populated regions of Burgos, Soria and La Rioja. An investigation of more detailed maps revealed an almost roadless expanse of limestone peaks, valleys, ravines, rivers, gorges and glacial lakes, with the highest peak, San Lorenzo, towering at 2,271 metres (7,451ft). The calling was real.
An abandoned railway station speaks to the depopulation of this region of España vacía. Photograph: Lois Pryce
This is not the Spain of white villages and dusty olive groves. On the Demanda’s north face, where the climate is wetter and cooler, the improvised allotments, stone ruins and makeshift shacks are reminiscent of the forgotten corners of eastern Europe. Climbing higher, above the treeline, the terrain becomes harsh and rocky with sweeping views across plunging, pine-covered valleys. But unlike the dramatic outline of Spain’s more famous mountain ranges, the Demanda appear gradually, almost secretly, their true splendour only emerging once you’re deep in their midst. Every season brings its own charms. Winter is a snowy picture postcard, but in spring the meltwater sends waterfalls thundering down the mountainsides among wildflower meadows. Summer is hot and arid, but by autumn the temperatures hover in the mid-20Cs with (mostly) solid blue skies, and the ground is swathed in pink heather and alpine flowers.
The town of Ezcaray, on the north side, is the closest thing to a tourist hub – a scenic former textile centre on the River Oja that operates as a base for the small ski resort of Valdezcaray, built in the 1970s (the Palacio Azcárate has doubles from €90, B&B). The sealed road ends abruptly after the ski centre, becoming a rocky trail that makes for a nail-biting drive (especially in a hire car) along a ridge that’s at more than 1,800 metres (6,000ft), before looping back to Ezcaray in a dizzying descent of hairpin bends. The views are stupendous in every direction – fold upon fold of untouched mountain wilderness and, apart from the occasional hiking trail signpost, nothing human-made in sight.
Halfway around the loop road, if you’re craving more back-country adventure, a dirt track, appearing as an almost imperceptible black line on the Michelin map and marked with a rusty, hand-painted sign, takes you down into the southern foothills via the Lagunas de Neila, a cluster of glacial lakes, surrounded by cliffs and pine forests. The lakes can only be reached on foot, and at an altitude of 6,000ft make for an invigorating dip. The Laguna Negra is named after its dark waters, but in the late afternoon sun it appears a deep, shimmering blue. The water is, as you would expect, bracing, but it’s the sheer scale of the surroundings, and the solitude, that will take your breath away. The only sound accompanying my swim was a chorus of surprisingly loud frogs, ribbeting from the reeds.
The eerie Necrópolis de Cuyacabras, where dozens of adult- and child-sized tombs are carved from a slab of rock in a pine forest. Photograph: Alamy
On their south side, heading downhill from the lagunas, the Demanda feel different. The climate turns drier and warmer, and Spain becomes familiar again, with its oak forests, medieval ermitas (chapels) and sleepy villages where old men wave from their chairs outside the taverna. Although there are plenty of well-marked hiking and mountain bike trails here, this is still “España vacía” – empty Spain – and human activity remains a rare sight outside the towns. This phenomenon of the interior’s depopulation is much discussed by Spanish politicians and citizens, and the low density is tangible here – traffic is light and most of the activity is among the animal kingdom. Deer leap through the trees, boar amble across the road, and as the forests give way to open rocky landscapes, griffon vultures perch in their hundreds along the high cliffs before swooping and circling in the late afternoon thermals.
The village of Quintanar de la Sierra, in the southern foothills, makes a good base to explore the Demanda, and the Hostal Domingo offers affordable rooms (doubles from €55, room-only). Like all the villages in the area, life moves slowly and peacefully. Locals get around on horses and in beat-up 4x4s, the shops shut all afternoon, nobody speaks English, and everyone, young and old, socialises in the town plaza where a café con leche will set you back €1.50. Like the ski centre, the hotels and bars are a non-ironic throwback to the 1970s, their only concession to the 21st century being charmingly rudimentary websites and an email address. This is the land that social media forgot, and is better off for it. Although it may appear on the surface that there’s not much in the way of tourist attractions, as you delve deeper into its hidden corners, an intriguing and eclectic landscape of history and culture reveals itself.
Dinosaurs roamed this part of Spain, and hundreds of their footprints are visible near the town of Salas de los Infantes, which also boasts a dinosaur museum. Moving on a few miles, and a few million years, is the eerie Necrópolis de Cuyacabras, dating from the ninth to 11th centuries, where dozens of adult- and child-size tombs are carved from a slab of rock in the depth of a pine forest. Meandering through the villages, Roman bridges, abandoned monasteries and ruins of all eras – from medieval to mid-century – appear at every turn. For lovers of industrial archaeology (AKA clambering around abandoned buildings), an enticing disused railway runs through Salas, its crumbling stations and rusty tracks half hidden beneath tangles of vegetation.
One town where the monastery remains in immaculate order is Santo Domingo de Silos (stay in the Hotel Tres Coronas de Silos, an 18th-century palace nearby; doubles from €95, room only). Its abbey, dating back to at least the 10th century, became world famous in 1994 when its monks scored a chart-topping album of Gregorian chants, and visitors can listen to the vespers being sung every evening.
The Territorio Artlanza is a full-scale reproduction of a medieval Castilian village, created by local artist Félix Yáñez. Photograph: Wirestock/Alamy
Three miles over the hill from Silos, you’ll find yourself at an altogether different but equally revered site – Sad Hill cemetery, one of cinema’s most well-known locations, where the closing scene of The Good, The Bad & The Ugly was filmed in 1966. Twenty miles west, venturing deeper into fantasy land, is the Territorio Artlanza, which claims to be the largest sculpture in the world. A magical, full-scale reproduction of a medieval Castilian village, created by Félix Yáñez, a local artist, from materials salvaged from rubbish dumps, it includes porticoed squares, a perfectly equipped school, a carpentry shop, bakery, forge, canteen, wine cellars, an alchemist’s pharmacy and even a small chapel.
Empty patches on maps that elicit few Google search results are rare in these hyperconnected, overshared times. There is a timelessness to the Sierra de la Demanda that feels like innocence, and while other parts of Spain struggle with the pressures of over-tourism, these mountains are a lungful of fresh air. The charms of the Demanda are simple and unshowy, and ironically, make few demands on the visitor – except to breathe deeply and tread lightly.
Founded in 2006, LSD was the latest pro-democracy party to hold street protests amid a national security crackdown.
The League of Social Democrats (LSD), the last remaining active pro-democracy party in China-ruled Hong Kong, has announced its disbandment due to “immense political pressure”.
The “difficult” decision announced on Sunday in effect leaves the financial hub with no opposition force holding street protests after the imposition of sweeping national security laws in recent years.
In a statement, the relatively small left-wing party, which was founded in 2006, said it had reached its conclusion after “careful deliberation”, particularly with regards “to the consequences” for its members.
“Over these 19 years, we have endured hardships of internal disputes and the near-total imprisonment of our leadership, while witnessing the erosion of civil society, the fading of grassroots voices, the omnipresence of red lines, and the draconian suppression of dissent,” it added.
But “the road has narrowed beyond passage”, the LSD continued, warning that the “terrain ahead is even more treacherous”.
National security laws
China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, punishing offences such as subversion with the possibility of life imprisonment following mass pro-democracy protests in 2019. Under the legislation, many leading activists were prosecuted or jailed, dozens of civil society groups dissolved and media outlets critical of the government were shuttered.
A second set of laws, known as Article 23, was passed in 2024 by the city’s pro-Beijing legislature. They punish a range of offences, including treason, sabotage, sedition, the theft of state secrets, external interference and espionage. Sentences range from several years to life imprisonment.
The LSD was the only pro-democracy party that still staged small street protests from time to time and held street booth activities to carry on its advocacy despite the risks.
While never as popular as the more moderate Democratic Party and Civic Party, it won three seats in the 2008 legislative elections – its best showing.
The LSD is widely known for its more aggressive tactics when fighting for change. Its members have thrown bananas, eggs and luncheon meat at officials or pro-Beijing lawmakers as a protest gesture. Its party platform said the group advocated nonviolent resistance but would not avoid physical confrontations – a stance that set it apart from older, traditional pro-democracy groups.
‘No other choice’
On Sunday, party leader Chan Po-ying did not elaborate on the pressure the LSD received but said she was proud to say the party had still contributed to the city’s pro-democracy movement.
“We have stayed true to our original aspirations and haven’t let down the trust placed in us by those who went to prison,” she said. “While we are now forced to disband and feel an ache in our conscience, we have no other choice.”
The announcement comes just before Hong Kong, a former British colony, will mark the 28th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule on Tuesday.
The city used to witness annual pro-democracy protests on the anniversary and other demonstrations demanding better policies, but those ceased after most organising groups were disbanded and activists were jailed.
Critics said the drastic political changes under the security laws reflect Hong Kong’s shrinking freedoms despite Beijing’s promises to keep them intact after the 1997 handover. But the governments in Beijing and Hong Kong insist the measures are necessary for the city’s stability, saying they balance security with safeguarding the rights and freedoms of the city’s residents.
In April, Hong Kong’s biggest pro-democracy party, the Democratic Party, also voted to give its leadership the mandate to move towards a potential disbandment. A final vote is expected at a later date.
“Athletes across all sports have been discussing this for a long time, but it hasn’t really changed. Hopefully something can get done soon.”
Asked for his view – as both an ex-player and father-of-four – about what could be done to eradicate toxic abuse, Murray said: “If I’m being honest I don’t know. Me and my wife are trying to keep our children off social media until they are much older, because I think it can be pretty damaging.”
Murray’s eldest child is nine, while his youngest is four. Many social media apps have a minimum age of 13 for users.
Technology firms will have to do more to protect young people from harmful content under the Government’s Online Safety Act. It is being introduced in phases and social media platforms are now obliged to protect users from illegal or harmful content, while more child safety measures are being introduced next month.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told the BBC the government will also explore whether further protective measures can be put in place on social media platforms.
Figures provided by data science firm Signify, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) show that in 2024, about 8,000 abusive, violent or threatening messages were sent publicly to 458 tennis players through their social media accounts.
Following Boulter’s comments, fellow tennis players demanded more action, including calls for the introduction of identity verification.
Several of the England women’s football team also plan to give up social media for their forthcoming European Championship defence in Switzerland.
Murray said: “I don’t know whose responsibility it is, I don’t know if the government needs to do more to tackle it, or [X owner] Elon Musk and people like that can do more to stop these messages getting through to individuals.
“I don’t mean just athletes, but then you get into the whole debate around free speech and it’s a difficult one.”
Murray also said athletes could help themselves “by trying to avoid looking at the comments and going on our phones immediately after matches”, but the onus was not on them to solve the problem.
Former British tennis player Naomi Broady, 35, told BBC Radio 5 Live about her experiences of abuse on social media, saying: “I’ve seen the worst of trolling and after I had children, I don’t show their faces any more.”
Trump signs executive order extending the deadline for TikTok’s sale or divestment from Chinese parent company ByteDance to September 17.
United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order extending the deadline for China-based ByteDance to divest its US assets of the short-form video app TikTok by another 90 days, he says, despite a law that mandated a sale or shutdown.
“I’ve just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025),” the president said in a post on Thursday on his social media platform, Truth Social.
The ban would have otherwise kicked in on Thursday.
“We are grateful for President Trump’s leadership and support in ensuring that TikTok continues to be available for more than 170 million American users and 7.5 million US businesses that rely on the platform as we continue to work with Vice President [JD] Vance’s Office,” TikTok said in a statement.
Vance’s office has been involved in negotiations with the platform.
Passed in April 2024 and known as the the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the law required TikTok to stop operating in the US by January 19 unless ByteDance had completed divesting itself of the app’s US assets or demonstrated significant progress towards a sale.
This is the third time the president has extended the deadline. Trump began his second term as president on January 20 and opted not to enforce the law. He first extended the deadline to early April and then again last month to June 19.
Democratic senators argued that Trump has no legal authority to extend the deadline and suggested a deal under consideration would not meet legal requirements.
The White House on Tuesday said the app will be “mandated a sale or shutdown absent significant progress”.
“President Trump does not want TikTok to go dark,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday.
She added that the administration will spend the next three months making sure the sale closes so Americans can keep using TikTok with the assurance that their data is safe and secure.
In March, Trump said he would be willing to reduce tariffs on China to get a deal done with ByteDance to sell the app.
A deal had been in the works this spring that would spin off TikTok’s US operations into a new US-based firm majority-owned and operated by US investors. That was put on hold after China said it would not approve that deal because of the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
TikTok has a wide US user base, especially among younger audiences. According to a survey from Pew Research conducted in December, a third of all US adults use TikTok, and among the under 30 demographic, it is higher at 59 percent while 67 percent of teens use the platform.
WASHINGTON — The go-broke dates for Medicare and Social Security trust funds have moved up as rising health care costs and new legislation affecting Social Security benefits have contributed to earlier projected depletion dates, according to an annual report released Wednesday.
The go-broke date — or the date at which the programs will no longer have enough funds to pay full benefits — was pushed up to 2033 for Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund, according to the new report from the programs’ trustees. Last year’s report put the go-broke date at 2036.
Meanwhile, Social Security’s trust funds — which cover old age and disability recipients — will be unable to pay full benefits beginning in 2034, instead of last year’s estimate of 2035. After that point, Social Security would only be able to pay 81% of benefits.
The trustees say the latest findings show the urgency of needed changes to the programs, which have faced dire financial projections for decades. But making changes to the programs has long been politically unpopular, and lawmakers have repeatedly kicked Social Security and Medicare’s troubling math to the next generation.
President Trump and other Republicans have vowed not to make any cuts to Medicare or Social Security, even as they seek to shrink the federal government’s expenditures.
Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano, sworn into his role in May, said in a statement that “the financial status of the trust funds remains a top priority for the Trump Administration.”
“Current-law projections indicate that Medicare still faces a substantial financial shortfall that needs to be addressed with further legislation. Such legislation should be enacted sooner rather than later to minimize the impact on beneficiaries, providers, and taxpayers,” the trustees state in the report.
The trustees are made up of six people — the Treasury Secretary serves as managing trustee, alongside the secretaries of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the commissioner of Social Security. Two other presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed trustees serve as public representatives, however those roles have been vacant since July 2015.
About 68 million people are enrolled in Medicare, the federal government’s health insurance that covers those 65 and older, as well as people with severe disabilities or illnesses.
Wednesday’s report shows a worsening situation for the Medicare hospital insurance trust fund compared to last year. But the forecasted go-broke date of 2033 is still later than the dates of 2031, 2028 and 2026 predicted just a few years ago.
Once the fund’s reserves become depleted, Medicare would be able to cover only 89% of costs for patients’ hospital visits, hospice care and nursing home stays or home health care that follow hospital visits.
The report said expenses last year for Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund came in higher than expected.
Income exceeded expenditures by nearly $29 billion last year for the hospital insurance trust fund, the report stated. Trustees expect that surplus to continue through 2027. Deficits then will follow until the fund becomes depleted in 2033.
The report states that the Social Security Social Security Fairness Act, enacted in January, which repealed the Windfall Elimination and Government Pension Offset provisions of the Social Security Act and increased Social Security benefit levels for some workers, had an impact on the depletion date of SSA’s trust funds.
Romina Boccia, a director of Budget and Entitlement Policy at the libertarian CATO Institute called the repeal of the provisions “a political giveaway masquerading as reform. Instead of tackling Social Security’s structural imbalances, Congress chose to increase benefits for a vocal minority—accelerating trust fund insolvency.”
“It’s a clear sign that populist pressure now outweighs fiscal responsibility and economic sanity on both sides of the aisle,” She said.
Pair that with a Republican reconciliation bill that increases tax giveaways while refusing to rein in even the most dubious Medicaid expansions, and the message is unmistakable: Washington is still in giveaway mode.
AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan said “Congress must act to protect and strengthen the Social Security that Americans have earned and paid into throughout their working lives.” “More than 69 million Americans rely on Social Security today and as America’s population ages, the stability of this vital program only becomes more important.”
Social Security benefits were last reformed roughly 40 years ago, when the federal government raised the eligibility age for the program from 65 to 67. The eligibility age has never changed for Medicare, with people eligible for the medical coverage when they turn 65.
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, an advocacy group for the popular public benefit program said in a statement that “there are two options for action: Bringing more money into Social Security, or reducing benefits. Any politician who doesn’t support increasing Social Security’s revenue is, by default, supporting benefit cuts.”
Congressional Budget Office reporting has stated that the biggest drivers of debt rising in relation to GDP are increasing interest costs and spending for Medicare and Social Security. An aging population drives those numbers.
Several legislative proposals have been put forward to address Social Security’s impending insolvency.
Hussein writes for the Associated Press. AP reporters Amanda Seitz and Tom Murphy in Indianapolis contributed to this report.
England forward Alessia Russo says she prefers to stay off social media during major tournaments because of how “damaging” abuse can be.
The 26-year-old was speaking about the issue alongside her Lionesses teammates as they prepare for their European Championship defence in Switzerland next month.
Manchester United midfielder Grace Clinton 22, says she will try and stay away from social media to avoid a “toxic environment” while Chelsea forward Lauren James said “the abuse never really stops”.
“I think every player might have a different story about that side of the game but it’s definitely one that can be really damaging,” said Arsenal forward Russo, 26.
“I have faced it in the past and I think most players here have. When I was younger I probably got sucked into it more.
“I read it more than I should have and listened to it more than I should have. The only opinions that matter are my team-mates, my coaches and my family.
“In my first Euros I was on social media and I would have a look, have a scroll, and I got caught in a trap sometimes.
“Going into the World Cup, I completely came off everything and I had people to run my Instagram. I just focused on the tournament.
“It’s personal preference and whatever works for the team. Staying away from it and staying focused as a team is what works for me.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast, James discussed abuse she received, saying: “Sometimes it’s not even to do with my performance, even when someone loses at Fifa [EA Sports FC video game], my card scores against them and they’re sending me abuse.
“I guess when it’s your first time though, maybe it might touch someone but I’m used to it, I’m going to just brush it off my shoulder.”
Chelsea midfielder Kiera Walsh told 5 Live she no longer uses social media, while club teammate Lucy Bronze added: “People write horrible things and obviously our families read it as well and it can be upsetting if you see something that’s not very nice.
“Social media is amazing in one way and absolutely awful in another way. I think most of us have been off at some point.”
Manchester United midfielder Ella Toone said that while she will still uses Instagram during the tournament, she will respect the decision of any team-mate who decides to keep off social media while in Switzerland.
“I know other people turn their phones off. We have that conversation and all know how each other wants to go through the tournament,” she said.
“If I see something on Instagram I’m not going to tell someone or blurt it out to the team because they don’t want to see it. I think it’s a personal preference.”
Having experienced online abuse as a young player, both her and Russo want to help younger players in the squad deal with it.
“I think from experiences me and Alessia have had in the past, we’ve always been the people that want to make sure the younger or less experienced players coming into the squad feel relaxed and feel OK,” Toone added.
“We have such a talented squad. We have bags of talent coming into their first tournament so we want to make sure they are at ease and feel confident within themselves.”
British number two Katie Boulter says she’s had “hundreds of messages” containing “love” and “appreciation” since BBC Sport published an article where she shared the abusive messages she receives on social media.
Boulter agreed to sit down with BBC Sport to provide unprecedented insight into the volume and nature of abuse received by players, including sharing screenshots of her private inbox.
More than one-fifth of news consumers surveyed engaged with podcaster Joe Rogan, Reuters Institute says.
Social media and video platforms have eclipsed traditional media as news sources in the United States for the first time, a report has found.
Fifth-four percent of surveyed Americans used platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and TikTok for news during the previous week, up from 27 percent in 2013, the report by the Reuters Institute showed on Tuesday.
Only 50 percent relied on TV, while 48 percent looked at news websites or apps, according to the 2025 Digital News Report.
Young people drove the shift, with 54 percent of Americans aged 18-24 and half of those aged 25-34 choosing social media and video platforms as their “main” source of news.
The move towards social media was strongest in the US and Brazil, where 34 percent and 35 percent of respondents, respectively, described it as their “main” source of news, followed by the United Kingdom, France, Denmark and Japan.
Individual online influencers, most of them right-leaning, are also reaching large numbers of news consumers, the report found.
More than one-fifth of US respondents said they had seen podcaster Joe Rogan discuss the news during the week following US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, while 12-14 percent encountered Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens or Ben Shapiro, according to the report.
Political commentator Tucker Carlson attends Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025 [Shawn Thew/Pool via Reuters]
The report also found that the so-called “Trump bump” experienced by news platforms in 2016 has not carried over into his second presidency, with only social media and video platforms seeing their audiences rise.
Across nearly 50 countries surveyed, four in 10 respondents said they trusted most news “most of the time,” a figure that has been stable for the past three years, according to the report.
Trust was highest in Nigeria, where 68 percent expressed confidence, followed by Finland, Kenya, Denmark, South Africa and Thailand.
Respondents in Greece and Hungary had the least trust, with just 22 percent believing the news, followed by those in Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania.
Nic Newman, the report’s author, said the declining influence of traditional media has been a boon for politicians, who are “increasingly able to bypass traditional journalism in favour of friendly partisan media, ‘personalities’, and ‘influencers’ who often get special access but rarely ask difficult questions”.
“These trends are increasingly pronounced in the United States under Donald Trump, as well as parts of Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, but are moving more slowly elsewhere, especially where news brands maintain a strong connection with audiences,” Newman said in an overview of the report.
“In countries where press freedom is under threat, alternative ecosystems also offer opportunities, at their best, to bring fresh perspectives and challenge repressive governments,” Newman said.
“But at the same time, these changes may be contributing to rising political polarisation and a coarsening debate online.”
Sexton, who explained his rivalry with O’Gara during the formative stages of his Test career was “tough”, said he is not sure if Prendergast or Crowley have been affected by the online discourse.
“Sometimes you can get a sense, but I’m not sure. All you can do is try to advise in terms of what worked for me,” added the five-time Six Nations winner.
“I was exposed to it a little bit at the very start and it’s tough, because as a kid all you want to do is play for Ireland and then you do it and suddenly you’re getting criticised – not all the time, but sometimes – and you’re like, ‘wow, this is tougher than I thought it’d be’, but it builds a resilience.
“You find out who are your mates, who you can trust and those you can lean on. Going forward, they’ll be stronger for it.”
While Sexton feels Prendergast and Crowley deserve time to prove their worth, he believes they are already ahead of where he was at the same stage of his career.
“The work ethic they have, they’re humble guys,” said Sexton, who will continue to work with Ireland’s fly-halves in a full-time capacity after he completes his British and Irish Lions coaching duties this summer.
“They want to learn and practise hard and that’s the thing you look at the most as a coach; the attitude and how humble they are because ultimately that’s what will stand to them going forward.”
Social media and video networks have become the main source of news in the US, overtaking traditional TV channels and news websites, research suggests.
More than half (54%) of people get news from networks like Facebook, X and YouTube – overtaking TV (50%) and news sites and apps (48%), according to the Reuters Institute.
“The rise of social media and personality-based news is not unique to the United States, but changes seem to be happening faster – and with more impact – than in other countries,” a report found.
Podcaster Joe Rogan was the most widely-seen personality, with almost a quarter (22%) of the population saying they had come across news or commentary from him in the previous week.
The report’s author Nic Newman said the rise of social video and personality-driven news “represents another significant challenge for traditional publishers”.
The institute also highlighted a trend for some politicians to give their time to sympathetic online hosts rather than mainstream interviewers.
It said populist politicians around the world are “increasingly able to bypass traditional journalism in favour of friendly partisan media, ‘personalities’, and ‘influencers’ who often get special access but rarely ask difficult questions, with many implicated in spreading false narratives or worse”.
Despite their popularity, online influencers and personalities were named as a major source of false or misleading information by almost half of people worldwide (47%) – putting them level with politicians.
The report also stated that usage of X for news is “stable or increasing across many markets”, with the biggest uplift in the US.
It added that since Elon Musk took over the network in 2022, “many more right-leaning people, notably young men, have flocked to the network, while some progressive audiences have left or are using it less frequently”.
In the US, the proportion that self-identified as being on the right tripled after Musk’s takeover.
In the UK, right-wing X audiences have almost doubled.
Rival networks like Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon are “making little impact globally, with reach of 2% or less for news”, it stated.
Other key findings about news sources:
TikTok is the fastest-growing social and video network, used for news by 17% of people around the world, up four percentage points since last year.
The use of AI chatbots to get the news is on the rise, and is twice as popular among under-25s than the population as a whole.
But most people think AI will make news less transparent, accurate and trustworthy.
All generations still prize trusted brands with a track record for accuracy, even if they don’t use them as often as they once did
The report is in its 14th year and surveyed almost 100,000 people in 48 countries.
From Shakespeare’s eloquent soliloquies to Gen Z’s rapid-fire abbreviations, language is evolving as quickly as the world itself. Driven by social media, globalisation, and shifting cultural norms, the way we speak is constantly being rewritten. We explore how emerging linguistic trends reflect how younger generations connect with their world, and whether these changes threaten native languages and cultural identities.
Presenter: Stefanie Dekker
Guests: Hayat al-Khatib – Professor of applied linguistics, Arab Open University – Lebanon Jonas Fine Tan – Linguistics student, Oxford University Oliver Carter – Linguistics content creator
