warns

Economists echo Dimon’s concerns as US credit downgrade and tariff-driven uncertainty continue.

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has warned that he can’t rule out the possibility that the United States will fall into what is called stagflation— an economic term that refers to a period when inflation and unemployment are high as economic growth is slow.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday, Dimon said, “I don’t agree that we’re in a sweet spot” in response to a question about some US Federal Reserve officials saying that the US economy was in a sweet spot.

Dimon made his comments while at JPMorgan’s Global China Summit in Shanghai. His comments come against the backdrop of the US facing increasing geopolitical tensions, rising deficits and pressure on consumer prices from changing government policies on tariffs that have led retailers to announce a need to raise prices and left businesses in a wait-and-watch mode over all the economic uncertainties.

Economists like Stuart Mackintosh, executive director of the financial think tank Group of Thirty, echoed Dimon’s concerns to Al Jazeera.

“Stagflation is a real risk we cannot rule out. We’re in a circumstance where we have uncertainty on tariffs, uncertainty on many policies that increase the downward pressure on growth in America.”

Last week Moody’s Ratings downgraded the US economy’s credit rating. The firm lowered its gold-standard Aaa to an Aa1 credit rating for the US, citing its growing national debt.

Dimon’s Thursday comments were underscored by his remarks at the company’s investor day on Monday.

“Credit today is a bad risk,” Dimon said.

While at the summit, Dimon also offered comments on US President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill”, the tax and spending bill passed by the US House of Representatives that includes key parts of the Trump administration agenda including tax cuts, slashes to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), increased funding for immigration enforcement, and new taxes on colleges and universities.

“I think they should do the tax bill. I do think it’ll stabilise things a little bit, but it’ll probably add to the deficit,” Dimon said in a record first obtained by the Reuters news agency.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said that the tax bill would add $3.8 trillion to the national debt.

‘Inflation going up’

In the Bloomberg interview, Dimon added that the US Federal Reserve is doing the right thing to wait and see before it decides on monetary policy. The central bank opted to hold rates steady at its last policy meeting, which was largely in line with economists’ expectations.

Policymakers weighed a stable labour market at the time, even as they acknowledged that could be short-lived.

“This is unsustainable. We might get into a much worse economic picture almost immediately,” Mackintosh said.

More information on the state of the US labour market is expected in the next couple of weeks as both the US Department of Labor and the payroll and human resources firm ADP are slated to release their monthly report on the rate of job growth.

Dimon has also long warned that inflation and stagflation will continue to increase.

“I think the chance of inflation going up and stagflation is a little bit higher than other people think,” he noted.

On Wall Street, JPMorgan Chase’s stock has trended up following Dimon’s remarks. As of noon in New York (16:00 GMT), it was 0.2 percent higher than yesterday’s market close after opening lower this morning.

ITV presenter and financial expert Martin Lewis illuminated three important checks that Brits should make ahead of the holiday season

Martin Lewis has urged Brits to make three crucial checks if they plan to holiday abroad this summer. The financial specialist, 53, said it all comes down to the dates on your passport and ensuring you have the right documents before heading off.

Speaking on an episode of ITV’s Martin Lewis Money Show, he said: “Now, I need to say something very important to everybody. Border control and flight checks are getting more stringent.

“There is an immigration issue going on around the world, and that means countries are getting stricter on who they let in. So, you need to be more diligent with your checks.”

READ MORE: Exact time Brits could see ‘mini planet parade’ spectacle in skies from tomorrowREAD MORE: UKHSA issues warning over ‘serious’ infection that is also ‘highly contagious’

First and foremost, Martin advised travellers to check the expiry dates on passports. If you have less than six months left, this could pose a big problem.

For various countries, including Australia, China, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates, your passport must be valid for at least six months from your entry date. Tourists in European and Schengen countries must also have a passport valid for at least three months after their planned return date.

However, even if your passport is valid for seven months or longer, you may still be denied entry if you do not meet another essential rule. For many nations, including European countries, a passport must have been issued less than 10 years before the holiday departure date.

Martin continued: “If your passport is over 10 years old, many countries won’t let you in. Now, how can it be over 10 years old? Because it used to be that when you renewed, if you had any spare time on your old passport, they could add that on top.

“So, you might have… 10 years, 10 months, and that can bar you too. So, you need to do both of those checks. Now, if you have done those checks, if there is a ‘yes’ to either of those, then the safest thing is to renew before you go.”

The most affordable way to obtain a passport is online through the Government’s website, costing £12.50 less than postal applications. Typically, the passport arrives in three weeks, although it may take longer if additional information or an interview is required.

READ MORE: Denise Welch says her depression is possibly linked to a ‘silent’ health issueREAD MORE: Davina McCall says one thing was ‘the last bit of joy’ to return after brain surgery

In emergencies, travellers also have the option to apply for an urgent passport using the Government’s one-day premium service or one-week fast track scheme. Both schemes are subject to different criteria and cost more than the standard service.

In light of these rules, Martin continued: “If I was seven, eight or nine months away and the rule was six months, I’d probably play safe and get a new passport first anyway, so that I’ve got more on it, because it’s been so tricky.

“And it’s very similar if you are travelling to the USA or passing through the USA, you need to sort your ESTA now. There is heightened border security in the States. If you don’t have, this is your sort of online visa if you like, without one people are being denied entry. You need to be careful.”

How can I get a passport urgently?

Option 1: One-day premium

The one-day premium option is for adults renewing an existing passport. Online applicants pay £222 or £235 for a 54-page frequent traveller passport. Following each application, an appointment will be scheduled, with the earliest booking available two days later.

The Government explains: “You’ll need to hand in your old passport at your appointment. Your new passport will be ready to collect from the passport office four hours after your appointment.”

Option 2: One-week fast track

This alternative option is also available for anyone looking to renew their passport, as well as in these specific circumstances:

• You need to get a child’s passport
• You need to replace a lost, stolen or damaged passport
• You need to change the personal details on a passport (your name, place of birth or gender)

The fast track option is more economical, priced at £178 for an adult passport (£191 for a 54-page frequent traveller passport) and £145 for a child passport (or £158 for a 54-page frequent traveller passport). You can schedule an appointment as soon as the day after you submit your application. Typically, the passport arrives about a week later.

Importantly, you are ineligible to apply for either service if you are outside the UK or applying for your first adult passport. The Government also adds: “If you’ve already applied for a passport and have not received it yet, do not pay for an urgent passport.

“You will not get your passport sooner and you will be charged a £32 admin fee for each additional application.”

May 20 (UPI) — Rising sea levels caused by man-made climate change will see hundreds of millions of people forced to flee inland from coasts even if the rise in the global temperature stays within the 1.5 degrees Celsius target of the Paris Climate Agreement, a British and American team of scientists said Tuesday.

With an estimated 1 billion people around the world living less than 33 feet above sea level and around 230 million at 3 feet 3 inches or less, even 8 inches of rise by 2050 would result in average global flood losses of $1 trillion or more a year for the world’s 136 largest coastal cities, according to their study published in the Communications, Earth and Environment journal.

The scientists from the universities of Durham, Bristol, Wisconsin-Madison and Massachusetts Amherst synthesized multiple lines of evidence to show that a 1.5 degrees Celsius would result in unmanagable sea level rise and that even if it remained at the current 1.2 degrees Celsius of heating a rise of several meters could be expected in the coming centuries.

With the melting ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica now exceeding thermal expansion of the oceans as the main driver, that level of sea rise would cause extensive loss and damage to coastal populations and make adaptation measures, which have long lead times, more challenging to implement.

Analysis of previous periods when the Earth was in a warming phase, recent audits of ice-sheet mass and numerical modeling indicate that even current temperatures could “trigger rapid ice sheet retreat” that would push to the limit any mitigation from adaptation measures.

Even the current 1.2 degrees Celsius of warming might generate “high” rates of sea level rise — categorized as greater than 0.4 of an inch a year — sufficient to create problems that would be very difficult to adapt to.

A cooler global mean temperature was therefore imperative to maintain ice sheet equilibrium because a rapid collapse of one or more ice sheets would result in a sea level rise of several meters with “catastrophic consequences for humanity.”

“To avoid this requires a global mean temperature that is cooler than present and which we hypothesise to be at or below 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial, which is similar to the 1980s when ice when ice sheets were broadly in balance, but further work is urgently required to more precisely determine a ‘safe limit’ for ice sheets,” said the study.

The scientists said some of the worst impacts could be avoided by cutting carbon emissions to rapidly reduce global mean temperatures to below +1.5 degrees Celsius, which the average surface air temperature reached in 2024 for the first time.

However, the study found that even overshooting temperature thresholds temporarily could result in sea level rises of several meters, referencing another piece of research that found that even under a “net zero” emissions scenario sea level rise in the year 2300 would be 1.6 inches higher for each decade the the temperature stays above 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, will have to start raising prices later this month due to the high cost of tariffs, executives have warned in a clear signal that United States President Donald Trump’s trade war is filtering through to the US economy.

As a bellwether of US consumer health, Walmart’s explicit statement on Thursday is also a signpost for how the trade war is affecting companies as Walmart is noted for its ability to manage costs more aggressively than other companies to keep prices low.

Walmart’s shares fell 2.3 percent in morning trading after it also declined to provide a profit forecast for the second quarter, even as the company’s US comparable sales surpassed expectations in the first quarter.

Net sales rose 2.5 percent to $165.6bn, a hair shy of estimates, while same-store sales were up 4.5 percent. Walmart’s quarterly adjusted profit was 61 cents per share, ahead of the analyst consensus for 58 cents per share.

Many US companies have either slashed or pulled their full-year expectations in the wake of the trade war, as consumers stretch their budgets to buy everything from groceries to essentials at cheaper prices. But Walmart’s statement will resonate nationwide, as roughly 255 million people shop in its stores and online weekly around the world, and 90 percent of the US population lives within 10 miles of a Walmart.

US shoppers will start to see prices rise at the end of May and certainly in June, Walmart’s Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said in a CNBC interview. On a post-earnings call with analysts, he said the retailer would also have to cut back on orders as it considers price elasticity.

As the largest importer of container goods in the US, Walmart is heavily exposed to tariffs, and even though the US and China reached a truce that lowered levies for imports on Chinese goods to 30 percent, that’s still a high cost to bear, executives said.

“We’re very pleased and appreciative of the progress that has been made by the administration to bring tariffs down … but let me emphasise we still think that’s too high,” Rainey said on the call, referring to the tariff cuts negotiated over the weekend.

“There are certain items, certain categories of merchandise that we’re dependent upon to import from other countries and the prices of those things are likely going to go up, and that’s not good for consumers,” he added.

Other retailers also said they would be boosting prices. German sandal maker Birkenstock on Thursday said it plans to raise prices globally to fully offset the impact of the US tariff of 10 percent on European Union-made goods.

US consumer sentiment ebbed for a fourth straight month in April, signaling watchful purchasing, while the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted for the first time in three years during the first quarter, fanning worries of a recession.

Narrow margins

Walmart’s CEO Doug McMillon said the retailer would not be able to absorb all the tariffs’ costs because of narrow retail margins, but was committed to ensuring that tariff-related costs on general merchandise – which primarily come from China – do not drive food prices higher.

To mitigate the impact, Walmart is working with suppliers to substitute tariff-affected components, such as replacing aluminium with fibreglass, which is not subject to tariffs.

Despite these efforts, McMillon noted that adjusting costs is more challenging in cases where Walmart imports food items like bananas, avocados, coffee, and roses from countries such as Costa Rica, Peru, and Colombia.

Analysts said Walmart was better positioned than rivals, as its scale enables it to lean on its suppliers and squeeze out efficiencies to shield customers from tariffs, but only so much.

“There will likely be some demand destruction from tariffs; a complete wreck is unlikely,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.

Walmart on Thursday kept its annual sales and profit forecast intact for fiscal 2026, but withheld second-quarter operating income growth and earnings per share forecasts, citing a “fluid operating environment … [which] makes the very near term exceedingly difficult to forecast at the level and speed at which tariffs could go up”.

SIR Keir Starmer is preparing to wave the white flag to Brussels in a fresh Brexit betrayal, Kemi Badenoch has warned.

The Tory chief accused the PM of lining up a string of concessions to the EU just to say he’s “reset” Brexit relations.

2

2

It comes as the PM is heading to Albania today for last-minute talks with EU leaders ahead of a major London summit, where he’s expected to sign a new defence and trade pact.

It is understood that in return, Sir Keir has put fishing rights, immigration rules and legal powers all on the line.

Writing for The Sun, Ms Badenoch said: “Keir Starmer walks into negotiations with a white flag at the ready…

“The Brexit vote was not a polite suggestion, it was a clear instruction: to put Britain first.” She warned British waters could be handed back to French trawlers “for no good reason”, calling it “a fundamental betrayal of Britain’s fishing community”.

And she raised alarm over Labour’s support for an EU Youth Mobility Scheme, saying it “would see us accepting seemingly unlimited numbers of unemployed 20-somethings from Romania and Bulgaria… all coming over here to take UK jobs.”

The Tory leader accused Labour of preparing to make Britain “a rule-taker from Brussels once again” by aligning food laws, restricting farmers from using modern crops.

And she warned the plan to join the EU’s carbon trading scheme will leave Sun readers “saddled with even more expensive bills, just so Keir Starmer can say he ‘got closer’ to Europe.”

Vowing to reverse any Brexit row backs, Ms Badenoch said: “A future Conservative Government will take them back. I will always put Britain first. And when the time comes – I will make it right.”

Ms Badenoch will head to Brussels herself today to speak at the IDU Forum – a global gathering of centre-right parties.

She will argue Britain’s relationship with EU countries can be improved without “being supplicant”.

May 12 (UPI) — Gaza is under the threat of widespread famine as nearly 500,000 Palestinians are facing catastrophic food insecurity, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification reported on Monday.

About 96% of the population in the Gaza strip is facing high levels of acute food insecurity, classified as Phase 4, the organization says. About 22% are classified as facing catastrophic acute food insecurity — Phase 5 — which is described as “an extreme lack of food, starvation and exhaustion of coping capacities.”

“Goods indispensable for people’s survival are either depleted or expected to run out in the coming weeks,” the organization said, according to the United Nations. “The entire population is facing high levels of acute food insecurity. In a scenario of a protracted and large-scale military operation and continuation of the humanitarian and commercial blockade, there would be a critical lack of access to supplies and services that are essential to survival.”

This comes two months after Israel instituted a total blockade of Gaza, cutting off humanitarian aid.

The United States has thrown its support behind a plan to deliver private aid to Gaza, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Friday. He did not say when aid will begin to arrive.

“It is going to require the partnership not only of governments but of [non-government organizations], charitable organizations and nonprofits from around the world,” Huckabee said.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification shared skepticism of the plan for Israel to distribute aid into Gaza, citing “significant access barriers for large segments of the population.” It adds that the proposal is highly insufficient.

The organization warns that the Gaza Strip is likely to fall into a Phase 5 risk of famine by the end of September if Israel’s large-scale military operation continues.

“The latest announcements suggest that this worst-case scenario is becoming more likely,” the IPC’s report says.

U.N. High Commissioner for Humanitarian Rights Volker Turk echoed IPC’s skepticism of Israel’s plan. Turk said in a statement that it threatens the existence of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“This would only compound the misery and suffering inflicted by the complete blockade on the entry of basic goods for almost nine weeks now,” Turk said in a statement. “Gaza’s residents have already been deprived of all lifesaving necessities, particularly food, with relentless Israeli attacks on community kitchens and those trying to maintain a minimum of law and order. Any use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of war constitutes a war crime.”

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continued throughout the weekend into Monday. A school for Palestinian refugees, operated by the United Nations, was struck in the attacks on Saturday. Four people were killed in a bombing at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency facility in North Gaza on Friday.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reports 52,862 Palestinians have been killed and 119,648 have been injured in the conflict.

WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., whose new year will include presiding at a Senate impeachment trial of President Trump as well as leading the Supreme Court, called Tuesday for more focus on civic education at a time “when social media can instantly spread rumor and false information on a grand scale.”

In his year-end report on the judiciary, Roberts steered clear of politics, Trump and the looming impeachment trial, speaking instead about the importance of independent courts and citizens who understand democracy.

“Each generation has an obligation to pass on to the next, not only a fully functioning government responsive to the needs of the people, but the tools to understand and improve it,” he said. “I ask my judicial colleagues to continue their efforts to promote public confidence in the judiciary, both through their rulings and through civic outreach. We should celebrate our strong and independent judiciary, a key source of national unity and stability. But we should also remember that justice is not inevitable. We should reflect on our duty to judge without fear or favor, deciding each matter with humility, integrity and dispatch.”

This is not a new theme for the chief justice. Just over a year ago, Roberts issued an extraordinary statement in response to Trump’s tweeted critique of a judge as being an “Obama judge.”

“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts said. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.”

His devotion to nonpartisan judging will be put to a test in the next year. The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Democratic-controlled House committees and a New York prosecutor can subpoena Trump’s financial records, including his tax returns.

And in the weeks ahead, Roberts will cross 1st Street on Capitol Hill and preside over a Senate impeachment trial of Trump.

The details and timing of the Senate trial await the return of lawmakers to Washington next week. The high court is due to hear arguments in the morning during the weeks of Jan. 13 and Jan. 21.

Roberts’ official title is chief justice of the United States, and as such he is the leader of the entire federal court system, not just the Supreme Court. In this year’s report, he described the importance of the “85 brilliant essays” that appeared in New York newspapers in 1787 and 1788 and became known as the Federalist Papers. They explained the “core principles of our constitutional democracy,” Roberts said.

Alexander Hamilton and James Madison wrote most of the essays, while John Jay, the nation’s first chief justice, contributed only five. “Perhaps if Jay had been more productive, America might have awarded him with a Broadway musical,” Roberts wrote, referring to hit musical “Hamilton.” But he was badly injured in what was dubbed “the Doctors’ Riot,” Roberts said.

It began with a rumor that medical students were robbing graves to practice surgery on cadavers, he said. An angry mob formed and stormed a New York hospital. Jay, who lived nearby, grabbed a sword and tried to defend the medical staff, but a rioter tossed a rock that struck him. He survived, but did not contribute further to the influential essays.

“It is sadly ironic that John Jay’s efforts to educate his fellow citizens about the framers’ plan of government fell victim to a rock thrown by a rioter motivated by a rumor.” The three authors “ultimately succeeded in convincing the public of the virtues of the principles embodied in the Constitution. Those principles leave no place for mob violence,” he wrote.

“But in the ensuing years, we have come to take democracy for granted, and civic education has fallen by the wayside. In our age, when social media can instantly spread rumor and false information on a grand scale, the public’s need to understand our government, and the protections it provides, is ever more vital.”

The court also announced that the chief justice’s mother, Rosemary A. Roberts, died Saturday surrounded by her family in Westminster, Md. She was 90.

Israel’s priority is a ‘wider colonial expansion’, the committee on Israeli practices in occupied territories said.

The world could be witnessing “another Nakba”, or the expulsion of Palestinians, a United Nations special committee has warned.

The committee sounded the alarm on Friday, accusing Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and saying it was inflicting “unimaginable suffering” on Palestinians.

The comments come after Israel announced a plan earlier this week to expel hundreds of thousands of hungry Palestinians from the north of Gaza and confine them in six encampments.

For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the “Nakba“, or catastrophe – the mass displacement that accompanied Israel’s creation in 1948.

“Israel continues to inflict unimaginable suffering on the people living under its occupation, whilst rapidly expanding confiscation of land as part of its wider colonial aspirations,” said the UN committee tasked with probing Israeli practices affecting Palestinian rights.

“What we are witnessing could very well be another Nakba,” the committee added, after concluding an annual mission to Amman.

“The goal of wider colonial expansion is clearly the priority of the government of Israel,” its report stated.

“Security operations are used as a smokescreen for rapid land grabbing, mass displacement, dispossession, demolitions, forced evictions and ethnic cleansing, in order to replace the Palestinian communities with Jewish settlers.”

‘Inhuman, degrading treatment’

The committee also noted Israel’s human rights violations against Palestinians.

“According to testimonies, it is evident that the use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including sexual violence, is a systematic practice of the Israeli army and security forces, and is widespread in Israeli prisons and military detention camps,” it said.

“The methods read as a playbook of how to try to humiliate, derogate, and strike fear into the hearts of individuals.”

The committee’s mission took place as Israel’s weeks-long total blockade of aid to Gaza continues.

“It is hard to imagine a world in which a government would implement such depraved policies to starve a population to death, whilst trucks of food are sitting only a few kilometres away,” the committee said.

“Yet, this is the sick reality for those in Gaza.”

The UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories was established by the UN General Assembly in December 1968.

During the formation of Israel in 1948, approximately 760,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes in what became known as “the Nakba”.

The descendants of some 160,000 Palestinians who managed to remain in what became Israel presently make up about 20 percent of its population.

The committee is currently composed of the Sri Lankan, Malaysian and Senegalese ambassadors to the UN in New York.

The central bank will hold steady amid economic uncertainty driven by tariffs.

The US Federal Reserve has kept interest rates unchanged, brushing off President Donald Trump’s demands to lower borrowing costs, and said that the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.

The Central Bank kept its benchmark rate at 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, where it has been since December, after cutting it three times in a row at the end of last year. Its vote to hold rates steady was unanimous.

In a statement, the Fed said that “uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further”, as it justified keeping rates consistent despite pressure from the White House.

Many economists and Wall Street investors still expect the Fed will reduce rates two or three times this year, but the sweeping tariffs imposed by Trump have injected a tremendous amount of uncertainty into the US economy and the Fed’s policies.

It is unusual for the Fed to say that the risk of both prices and unemployment have increased. But economists say that is the threat created by Trump’s sweeping tariffs. The import taxes could both lift inflation by making imported parts and finished goods more expensive, while also raising unemployment by causing companies to cut jobs as their costs rise.

The economy overall has “continued to expand at a solid pace”, the Fed said in a policy statement, attributing a drop in first-quarter output to record imports as businesses and households rushed to front-run new import taxes.

The Fed said that it was also “strongly committed to supporting maximum employment and returning inflation to its 2 percent objective.”

The Fed said that one of the driving factors behind its decision is the state of the labour market, as well as “inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and financial and international developments.”

The US Labor Department in the jobs report published last week showed 177,000 jobs were added to the US economy consistent with growth levels over the last 12 months. The report, however, was on employment before “liberation day”, when Trump announced his sweeping tariff policy, which has since driven global economic uncertainty. The ADP jobs report, which is a more immediate metric, showed job growth at 62,000.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a news conference after the interest rate decision that leaving rates unchanged keeps the central bank in a good position to respond.

“For the time being, we are well-positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance,” Powell told reporters. “It’s still a healthy economy, albeit one that is shrouded in some very downbeat sentiment on the part of people and businesses,” he added.

“The Fed statement was a statement of the obvious. They gave roughly equal airtime to the threats to growth and inflation, so that tells us we need to wait and see how the data shake out between now and the June meeting before deciding whether they’re going to prioritise keeping inflation expectations contained or to address any hit to growth,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.

The unchanged rates come despite increased pressure from Trump to lower rates. Powell has long stressed the importance of an independent central bank. He said the pressure from the president has not changed their decision-making process. When asked why he has not sought a discussion with the president amid Trump’s public rebukes, Powell said, “I’ve never asked for a meeting with any president and I never will.”

FORMER world No1 darts star Linda Duffy has warned that Luke Littler could retire within five years unless he “gets support.”

The Premier League and World Championship winner has become the biggest name in his field despite being just 18 years old.

2

2

Littler’s meteoric rise has seen him become a household name.

And he has shown he can mix it with the best while also taking flak from fans.

However, former world darts No1 Duffy believes the pressures of the sport could take their toll unless Littler is properly supported on his journey.

Duffy ruled the roost in women’s darts from 1982 to 1987.

And after leaving the game, she went on to become a chartered psychologist.

Duffy has now used her expertise to fire a warning to Littler’s management team, claiming that the teen sensation could bow out within half a decade without proper “support.”

She told Tungsten Tales: “It’s absolutely crucial he receives proper support. Otherwise there’s a risk he’ll walk away from the game within five years because he’s completely burned out.

“Fortunately he has a good manager who understands the importance of giving him time to rest.

BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS

“I see that as a very positive development. Years ago players were older, had more life experience and were more able to cope with the pressures.

“They maybe had some more stability behind them, already had their family, a house, that type of thing.

“There needs to be far more attention paid to psychological support. Burnout is a clear sign of stress and anxiety.

“The pressure can become overwhelming. Players are expected to perform at their very best every single time but that’s just not realistic.”

Premier League Darts 2025

THE Premier League Darts is back with eight players vying for massive prize money and Luke Littler‘s crown.

The teenager, who went on to win the world title in December, won the Premier League in 2024 and will be looking to defend his crown over 18 thrilling weeks.

There were two new entries this season, with Stephen Bunting and Chris Dobey replacing Peter Wright and Michael Smith.

Luke Humphries, Rob Cross, Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price and Nathan Aspinall keep their place in what will be a hotly-contested title race.

INFORMATION

LATEST DARTS NEWS

SEASON SO FAR

A mum has warned parents thinking of taking their kids to Disney theme parks this year to avoid saying one phrase to their children – as it might cause a ‘meltdown’ in the hotel

If you’re thinking of surprising your children with a Disney-themed getaway this summer, you may want to heed this warning. Disney is a huge part of growing up for many children, and getting the chance to visit one of the company’s theme parks can be an unforgettable experience they remember for the rest of their lives.

But one mum has urged other parents to think carefully about how they tell their children the exciting news, as certain phrases could lead to a “meltdown” at the hotel. In a video on TikTok, the mum and travel agent told parents they should never use one common phrase, as it could give your child unrealistic expectations.

When surprising their child with a Disney trip, parents often say something like: “We’re going to see Mickey Mouse“.

But according to the travel expert, you should never say this – as it will just confuse children when they’re not greeted by the Disney mascot as soon as they get off the plane or enter the park.

She said: “When you tell your young children that you’re going to Walt Disney World, do not, under any circumstances, use the words ‘We’re going to see Mickey Mouse’. Every Disney cast member who works in a hotel lobby knows exactly where I’m going with this.

“I cannot count the number of times I have been in one of those hotel lobbies and a family with a kid who is four or five says ‘It’s time for us to go to our room’, and the kid loses it. Through tears, they scream something like: ‘You promised we were going to see Mickey’.

“What you meant when you told them that was at some point on this vacation, you will get to meet Mickey Mouse. But what your child heard was, as soon as we get out of the car or off the plane, Mickey Mouse will be there to give me a giant hug.”

The mum said she understands why parents use the Mickey Mouse phrase, as she knows young children have “no frame of reference” for what Disney World is, so wouldn’t understand if they were told exactly where they were going.

However, she advised parents to try to get their kids excited for the things that are actually happening on that day. For example, try to make the plane journey exciting or talk about using the swimming pool at the hotel.

The travel agent also said that setting expectations like this is “especially helpful” for children with autism, as it gives them a sense of what they’re walking into ahead of time without overwhelming them with information.

She added: “By design, Disney World is an overstimulating experience, regardless of age. The more you can do to take things one step at a time and slow down the pace, the more fun everyone’s going to have.”

Commenters on the post thanked the mum for her helpful advice. Some even shared stories from their childhood about their own experience with going to a Disney park as a young child.

One person said: “Also, TELL YOUR KID YOU’RE GOING. My parents took me out of school a few days early for a Disney surprise trip when I was six. I thought we were ‘going on a trip’ just for a few hours before school. I had a meltdown in the parking lot because I read the parking sign and realised I would miss presenting my book report.”

Another added: “No, I’m still salty because my parents were going to take me to Disney World in kindergarten, but when they asked me, ‘Do you want to go see Mickey Mouse?’ I said no, so they cancelled the trip.”

AMAZON has officially updated customers on a change coming to millions of its speakers.

More than 100,000 people are understood to already be using Alexa+, which was unveiled at an AI event in New York last year.

4

4

4

The new and ultra-smart version of Alexa, hailed as “remarkable” by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, promises a more human-like interaction thanks to generative AI.

That might sound small compared to the 600 million Alexa devices worldwide, but it marks a big step forward. Alexa+, first introduced in February, is being gradually expanded to more users over the coming months.

This upgraded assistant is designed to handle more complex tasks: from booking restaurants to suggesting recipes and managing smart home gadgets, all with less user effort.

It’s a big shift away from the old Alexa’s scripted answers.

Instead, Alexa+ generates responses on the fly, much like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, making conversations feel smoother and more responsive.

However, many of the headline-grabbing features shown in early demos are still missing.

According to Tech Edt, Alexa+ can’t yet generate bedtime stories, recommend gifts, or place food delivery orders through services like Grubhub.

Jassy admitted during the May 2 earnings call that Alexa+ remains “primitive,” with multi-step task accuracy currently sitting between 30 per cent and 60 per cent.

Still, Amazon’s goal is to push that figure to 90 per cent as its Nova Act browsing engine improves.

Amazon’s hardware chief Panos Panay described the new Alexa as knowing “almost every instrument in your life” — from smart home devices and mobile apps to the people you’re connected with.

That means Alexa+ should, eventually, help you handle everything from turning off the lights and adjusting your thermostat to ordering dinner or finding the perfect birthday gift.

But it’s not just about what Alexa+ can do — it’s also about how it does it.

The assistant now speaks with more expressive, natural voices, and it’s better at handling pauses, stumbles, and emotional cues in your speech.

For example, if you start a sentence and change your mind halfway, Alexa+ should still understand.

That said, the rollout hasn’t been entirely smooth.

Some features expected at launch have been delayed because they didn’t meet Amazon’s release standards.

The Washington Post reported that functions like visual recognition of family members, personalised chore reminders, and certain U.S.-only services like Grubhub ordering have been pushed back by at least two months.

Another controversial point is data management.

While Alexa+ can now read and summarise uploaded documents — such as legal contracts or family recipes, users currently can’t delete these files on their own.

Instead, they must contact Amazon support, and even then, some data might remain on record.

Only newer Echo Show devices (like the Echo Show 8, 10, and 15) currently support Alexa+, meaning owners of older Echo models or certain Fire TV products will need to upgrade if they want to access the new assistant.

There’s also a web version at Alexa.com, but a related project known internally as Metis — a chatbot designed to compete with ChatGPT — hasn’t launched yet.

4

May 2 (UPI) — Lebanon‘s Higher Defence Council on Friday warned the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, against launching attacks or firing rockets into Israel from Lebanese territory, stating that strict measures will be taken to end any actions that violate the country’s sovereignty.

The warning by the country’s top military body came after the Lebanese Army arrested a number of Lebanese and Palestinians suspected of firing rockets into northern Israel on March 22 and March 28. The rocket attacks provoked additional Israeli retaliatory strikes.

While no group claimed responsibility for the rocket firing and Hezbollah denied any link, security reports indicated that three Hamas members were among those detained by the Army.

Major General Mohamad al Mustafa, the Secretary-General of the Higher Defense Council, said after a meeting attended by President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam that Hamas was “warned against using Lebanese territories to carry out any action that harms Lebanon’s national security.”

“Maximum necessary measures will be taken to put a definitive end to any action that violates Lebanese sovereignty,” al Mustafa said, reading a statement.

He said that legal proceedings will commence early next week against all those detained and anyone who would be proven involved with last month’s rocket attacks will be prosecuted.

Aoun said during the meeting any attempt to “destabilize” the country, “involve it in wars” or “expose it to danger” will not be tolerated.

Salam emphasized the need for handing over “all illegal weapons” and preventing Hamas or any other factions to “destabilize security and national stability.”

Both leaders, who came to power last January, have remained firm on their pledges to disarm all militias and impose the state monopoly on weapons.

Hamas has carried out several attacks from southern Lebanon against Israel during the Gaza war that broke out in October 2023. Israel on its part killed a number of Hamas leaders based in Lebanon, including the deputy head of the group’s political bureau, Saleh al Arouri.

Lebanon has been trying to consolidate its authority and regain its long-lost sovereignty following Israel’s recent war that greatly weakened the once-powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Mainly, 85% of Hezbollah’s positions and military facilities south of the Litani River in south Lebanon already are being taken by the Lebanese Army and its weapons confiscated in line with the Nov. 27 cease-fire agreement that was brokered by the United States and France to end the war with Israel.

The Army has also begun gradually taking control of some Palestinian positions outside the country’s 12 overcrowded refugee camps located in various regions.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to visit Beirut on May 21 for talks with his Lebanese counterpart to discuss a mechanism for disarming Palestinian factions inside the camps and expanding Lebanon’s authority.