Category Archives: NEWS

13 Striking Photos You Missed This Week

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During the ever-changing news cycle, it’s easy to miss captivating images that fly under the radar. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered.

We’re highlighting exceptional photos from around the world this past week.

Check them out below.

Above: In this photo provided by NASA, a partial solar eclipse is seen as the sun rises to the left of the US Capitol in Washington on June 10, as seen from Arlington, Virginia. 

BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images

Activists put the finishing touches to a sand drawing of the G-7 leaders and calling on them to share the vaccine and waive the patents on Watergate Bay beach near Newquay, Cornwall, on June 10, ahead of the three-day G-7 summit. Leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the United States meet this weekend for the first time in nearly two years, for the three-day talks in Carbis Bay, Cornwall.

Eugene Garcia via AP

A pair of migrant families from Brazil pass through a gap in the border wall between Mexico and Yuma, Arizona, on June 10, to seek asylum. The families are part of an influx of asylum-seekers entering the US in the Yuma area from South America and elsewhere. 

Phil Noble via AP

Military personnel wait as President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive on Air Force One at Cornwall Airport Newquay, near Newquay, England, ahead of the G-7 summit in Cornwall on June 9.

Hadi Mizban via AP

People take part in the Baghdad Kite Festival in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 5. 

Ben Curtis via AP

Abeba Gebru, 37, from the village of Getskimilesley in Ethiopia, holds the hands of her malnourished daughter, Tigsti Mahderekal, 20 days old, in the treatment tent of a medical clinic in the town of Abi Adi, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, on May 11. She had the baby at home and walked 12 days to get the famished child to a clinic. “She survived because I held her close to my womb and kept hiding during the exhausting journey.” 

Kemal Aslan via AP

A man relaxes on a canoe at the Caddebostan shore, on the Asian side of Istanbul, Tuesday, June 8, surrounded by a huge mass of marine mucilage, a thick, slimy substance made up of compounds released by marine organisms, in Turkey’s Marmara Sea. Turkey’s president has promised to rescue the Marmara Sea from an outbreak of “sea snot” that is alarming marine biologists and environmentalists. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said untreated waste dumped into the Marmara Sea and climate change had caused the bloom of the thick, slimy substance made up of compounds released by marine organisms.

RANEEN SAWAFTA via REUTERS

Relatives of Palestinian security officer Adham Alioh, who was killed by Israeli forces, mourn during his funeral in Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank June 10. 

ANNEGRET HILSE via REUTERS

The German Athletics Championships in Braunschweig on June 5 feature Rebekka Hasse in the women’s 100 meter semi-final 

Patrick Semansky via AP

First lady Jill Biden turns around to show the word “love” on the back of her jacket as she speaks with reporters after visiting with Carrie Johnson, wife of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, ahead of the G-7 summit, Thursday, June 10, in Carbis Bay, England. 

EMILY IRVING-SWIFT/AFP via Getty Images

Divers taking part in a project to document shipwrecks in Cyprus with 360-degree images to promote the Mediterranean island as a dive destination for tourists take photos of the Lef1 shipwreck off the coast of Larnaca on June 8. LEF1, a 50-foot vessel, was sunk on Dec. 10, 2019, to a depth of around 50 feet. It is one of several sunken vessels in artificial reefs to promote marine life in the area.

SAEED KHAN/AFP via Getty Images

This picture taken on June 10 shows a family enjoying the first snowfall of the season at a golf course in the Blue Mountains of Australia. 

CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images

Former world welterweight king Floyd Mayweather (R) and YouTube personality Logan Paul fight in an eight-round exhibition bout at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on June 6. Mayweather, who weighed in at 155 pounds, dominated his 190-pound opponent, much to the delight of a substantial crowd at the home of the Miami Dolphins. 

Michael Probst via AP

People walk on the pier at the Baltic Sea in Scharbeutz, Germany, as the sun rises Monday, June 7.

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Bakery Gets Sweet Revenge For Backlash To Its Pride Month Cookies

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A Texas bakery hit by anti-gay hate proved that revenge is best served warm, crunchy and delicious.

Confections, a shop in Lufkin, Texas, posted an image of heart-shaped cookies iced with the rainbow flag last week to mark Pride Month.

But it later reported on Facebook that bigoted backlash to the message of love left the business “struggling to stay afloat,” with cancelled orders and a plummeting amount of followers on it social media. 

The lament turned into an SOS – and it was answered by thousands of supporters. The response prompted “tears of joy,” Confections wrote on Facebook on Friday: 

The bakery was “overwhelmed by all the sweet words of support posted, messaged and emailed.”

Confections was selling the individual treats from a large order that got canceled. The bakery shared a photo of a customer line wrapped around the block.

Brian Cuban, a Texas lawyer and recovery advocate who’s the brother of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, also got involved.

“When things slow down a bit, let us know if shipping is possible. I’d like to support you,” Cuban said, according KYTX. “If shipping isn’t possible, I’ll buy some by phone/email and you can donate my cookies to a local LGBTQ org or children’s charity.”

By Saturday, Confections was sold out of its entire inventory – neither a crumb nor a hater in sight.

So, with nothing to sell, co-owner Miranda Dolder wrote that Confections had given credit-card donations to an animal rescue. More paying it forward.

On Sunday, the shop reported it was hard at work making rainbow bows and said it was working on routing donations to nursing homes.

Cookies and love beat hate every time.

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Meghan Markle And Prince Harry Announce Birth Of Second Child, Named After The Queen

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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have welcomed their second child, a baby girl. The new baby, born in California, is the Queen’s 11th great-grandchild and Prince Charles’ fifth grandchild. 

“It is with great joy that Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, welcome their daughter Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, to the world. Lili was born on Friday, June 4 at 11:40 am in the trusted care of doctors and staff at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara,” a spokesperson for the Sussexes said in a statement to HuffPost.

“She weighed 7 lbs 11 oz. Both mother and child are healthy and well, and settling in at home. Lili is named after her great-grandmother, Her Majesty The Queen, whose family nickname is Lilibet,” the statement continues. “Her middle name, Diana, was chosen to honor her beloved late grandmother, The Princess of Wales.”

“This is the second child for the couple, who also have a two-year-old son named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. The Duke and Duchess thank you for your warm wishes and prayers as they enjoy this special time as a family.”

Lilibet was first used when Princess Elizabeth was just a toddler and unable to pronounce her own name properly. Her grandfather King George V would affectionately call her ‘Lilibet’ imitating her own attempts to say Elizabeth.

archewell.com

The official statement from Meghan and Harry published on the Archewell website.

The Duke of Edinburgh also referred to his wife as Lilibet, writing to his mother in law after their wedding: “Lilibet is the only ‘thing’ in the world which is absolutely real to me.”

Lili’s middle name Diana honours Harry’s later mother Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a car crash in 1997 when Harry was just 12. Lili has been born almost a month before the princess would have celebrated her 60th birthday on July 1.

Lili’s cousin Princess Charlotte also has Diana as one of her middle names, as well as Elizabeth. She is Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.

Anyone wishing to send a present to Meghan and Harry is asked to support organisations working for women and girls.

A message on the Archewell website reads: “For those inquiring on sending gifts, we would ask that you support or learn more about these organisations working for women and girls: Girls Inc., Harvest Home, CAMFED or Myna Mahila Foundation.”

The couple announced on Valentine’s Day that they were expecting their second child in a heartwarming post on social media.

“We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are overjoyed to be expecting their second child,” a spokesperson for the couple told HuffPost in a shared statement at the time.

MISAN HARRIMAN

A photo of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex that accompanied the couple’s pregnancy announcement on Valentine’s Day.

Harry and Meghan welcomed their first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, on May 6, 2019.

Archie, who turned two in May, is seventh in line to the throne, though he does not have a title. Meghan and Harry’s daughter will be eighth in line to the throne, ahead of Prince Andrew in ninth.

While it was previously thought that the couple didn’t want to give Archie a title, Meghan told Oprah Winfrey that the royals actually made the decision ― which would mean Archie wouldn’t have royal security, either. 

“He needs to be safe,” the duchess told Winfrey. “If you’re saying the title is what’s going to affect their protection — we haven’t created this monster machine around us, in terms of clickbait and tabloid fodder. You’ve [the Firm] allowed that to happen, which means our son needs to be safe.”

The Diana Award, established to continue the legacy of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, added their congratulations.

In a tweet the organisation said: “Congratulations to The Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the birth of their daughter Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.

“We extend our warmest wishes to The Duke, The Duchess and little Archie.”

The Prime Minister tweeted: “Many congratulations to The Duke & Duchess of Sussex on the birth of their daughter.”

The Wellchild charity, of which Harry is patron, congratulated the couple.

The organisation tweeted: “Congratulations to The Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the birth of Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.

“We wish our Patron The Duke, and The Duchess every happiness as they start this new adventure.”

With files from PA Media.

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Facebook Cuts ‘Indefinite’ Donald Trump Suspension To A 2-Year Sentence

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Donald Trump could return to Facebook on January 7, 2023.

Former deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, now Facebook’s vice president of global affairs, announced Friday that the company has cut short its “indefinite” ban on Trump, which was imposed after he used the platform to spread baseless claims of election fraud and incite the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. 

In its place, Facebook has implemented a conditional two-year ban.

Should Facebook determine the former US president fit to return to the platform at the end of that ban, he’d be back just in time for the 2024 presidential election primaries. However, if “there is still a serious risk to public safety” at that time, Trump’s ban would be extended again, then reevaluated.

How Facebook intends to evaluate Trump’s risk to public safety isn’t exactly clear. Clegg said only that the decision would be based on “external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest.”

If Trump’s account were to be restored and he failed to meet the very basic demand of not posing a threat to public safety, Facebook said he would be met with “rapidly escalating sanctions,” including a potential permanent ban.

Tasos Katopodis via Getty Images

Former US President Donald Trump speaking shortly after the 2020 election.

Trump greeted the development in characteristic fashion: with outright lies and a sprinkle of half-truths.

“Facebook’s ruling is an insult to the record-setting 75M people, plus many others, who voted for us in the 2020 Rigged Presidential Election,” he said in a statement. “They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win. Our Country can’t take this abuse anymore!”

Trump received 74,222,958 votes in the 2020 election, while President Joe Biden won with 81,283,098 votes. The election was not rigged. It’s unclear what “many others” the former president is referring to.

Although Trump often claims he has been censored and silenced, the fact that his statement on the matter is nevertheless being widely read greatly weakens his argument. 

Civil rights advocates condemned the diminished sentence. Madihha Ahussain, a senior policy adviser for nonprofit anti-discrimination organisation Muslim Advocates, said too much was at stake for Trump’s ban to be loosened. 

“Facebook’s decision to reinstate Donald Trump’s accounts just in time for the 2024 presidential election puts the public and our democracy in danger,” Ahussain said in an emailed statement. “Trump used Facebook to incite a deadly riot in the US Capitol and spread outrageous conspiracies about the election that are still being used to undermine voting rights across the nation. A two-year time-out for that is a joke.”

Facebook’s decision on Trump follows its reversal on Thursday of its much-maligned, yet long-held, policy of exempting politicians from the content moderation rules that apply to everyone else. The policy gave politicians free rein to spread lies and post hate speech because Facebook deemed the content newsworthy.

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Trump’s Blog Has Shutdown After Just 1 Month

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A “communications platform” former President Donald Trump launched in early May as a means to reach his followers is shutting down after usage tanked.

Trump senior aide Jason Miller justified the site’s forced retirement to CNBC on Wednesday, saying it was “auxiliary to the broader efforts we have and are working on.”

Miller declined to elaborate on those efforts, but did confirm the website “will not be returning.”

The webpage, “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump,” was hawked as a replacement for Trump’s posts on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms after they banned him following his baseless claims of election fraud, which incited the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

But its actual utility came into question soon after its May 5 launch. Social media interactions plummeted from 159,000 its first day to just 15,000 three days later, a Washington Post analysis found.

Internet denizens were also quick to note that it was less of a platform and more of a blog, albeit one that encouraged visitors to share Trump’s long-winded posts on their own social media accounts.

The shutdown may be a boon to MyPillow CEO and stalwart Trump ally Mike Lindell, who launched his own social media website in April. Lindell said at the time that his platform is all about free speech – unless you want to swear or use God’s name in vain, which will get you banned.

“Another thing you can’t do in there is totally defame someone,” said Lindell, who is being sued for libel by Dominion Voting Systems to the tune of $1.3 billion.

“From the Desk of Donald J. Trump” was preceded in death by Trump Airlines, Trump beverages, Trump: The Game, numerous Trump casinos, Trump magazine, Trump Mortgage, Trump Steaks, a Trump travel website, Trump telecom, Trump University, and Trump Vodka.

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Boris Johnson And Carrie Symonds Are Married, Downing Street Confirms

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Downing Street has confirmed that prime minister Boris Johnson married his partner Carrie Symonds over the weekend.

The couple tied the knot at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday afternoon, with a small group of their friends and family present for the ceremony.

Reports of the wedding began circulating on Saturday, with a spokesperson confirming the following morning: “The Prime Minister and Ms Symonds were married yesterday afternoon in a small ceremony at Westminster Cathedral.

“The couple will celebrate their wedding with family and friends next summer.”

PA

Carrie Symonds and Boris Johnson on their wedding day

PA has reported that the celebration will take place in July 2022, with Symonds set to take on her new husband’s surname, being known as Carrie Johnson as of Saturday.

An official photo has also been released of the pair on their wedding day, with the bride sporting a white dress and floral headband, while the PM is seen sporting a black suit with a blue tie.

According to The Sun, Westminster Cathedral was cleared by staff at 1.30pm on Saturday, who told visitors it was “going into lockdown”.

PA

Westminster Cathedral, where the PM was married on Saturday

The wedding was officiated by Father Daniel Humphreys, who had given the couple pre-marriage instructions, and oversaw the baptism of their son Wilfred, who was born in 2020.

This is the first marriage for 33-year-old Carrie Johnson, while it is the prime minister’s third.

He was previously married to the artist and journalist Allegra Mostyn-Owen between 1987 and 1993, and the barrister and journalist Marina Wheeler.

Johnson and Wheeler’s divorce was finalised in 2020.

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Twitter Is Obsessed With Prince William’s Vaccination Gun Show

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It looks like Prince William’s Covid-19 vaccine came with some mighty big guns.

The Duke of Cambridge got his shot from NHS staff at the Science Museum in London on Tuesday, and he and wife Kate Middleton have since posted a photo of the vaccination on their various social media accounts.

But while the photo was meant to promote the value of getting the Covid-19 shot, many people were focused on “guns” – specifically the one located where the duke’s right arm is supposed to be.

The pic got people pumped (in a manner of speaking).

One woman was so impressed by William’s muscles that she made a humble request to his father, Prince Charles: “He needs another jab in the other arm.”

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‘Time For Blair’ Is Trending And Everyone Knew What To Do

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With the Labour Party in turmoil following the loss of the Hartlepool by-election and the subsequent botched shadow cabinet reshuffle, questions are being asked about the leadership of Keir Starmer.

Does the former Director of Public Prosecutions have the charisma to match Boris Johnson? Could anyone realistically do better against a government spending lots of money and successfully vaccinating its population against a deadly pandemic?

As many wrestle these questions and more, one man has an answer: Time for Blair. 

That’s the simple solution proposed by Andrew Adonis, the former Labour Cabinet minister in the 2000s who now sits in the House of Lords.

The proposition on its surface is pretty simple: bring back the man who steered Labour to a hat-trick of general elections, a man with a proven track record of success. 

And he boiled it down to just three words. And used it again.

The polls, however, don’t quite see it that way, with Andy Burnham and Jeremy Corbyn regarded as better placed than TB.

But the argument seemed lost on most who engaged with the idea on Twitter, and there seemed to be three directions to take it.

The most popular was to reference Blair’s foreign policy, and implicit in all of them was the war in Iraq. 

A second was to apply the maxim to the more trivial moments in life. 

Or deliberately get confused about which famous Blair is being referenced.

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Covid: ‘More Transmissible’ India Variant Threatens June Re-Opening

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The Indian Covid variant could make it “more difficult” for England to move further out of lockdown in June, Boris Johnson has said.

After cases of the Indian variant more than doubled in the past week, the prime minister told a Downing Street press conference on Friday that the four-step “road map” we will move to step three in England from Monday as planned – be he raised the possibility of altering the final stage. 

The PM said: “But I have to level with you that this new variant could pose a serious disruption to our progress and could make it more difficult to move to step four in June.

“I must stress we will do whatever it takes to keep the public safe.”

At the briefing, chief medical officer Chris Whitty said there is “now confidence” that the India variant is “more transmissible” than the strain first discovered in Kent.

It is expected that the Indian variant will overtake Kent to become dominant in the UK, though there is currently no evidence to suggest vaccines do not work against it.

Johnson said that if the Indian variant proves to be “significantly more transmissible” than other Covid strains “we’re likely to face some hard choices”.

In recent days, the government has launched a series of measures in a bid to dampen any impact from the Indian variant.

The latest is people over 50 and the clinically vulnerable being offered their second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine eight weeks after the first – rather than 12.

The variant is now in at least 15 areas of England – including Bolton, Blackburn, London, Sefton and Nottingham –  where councils and Public Health England officials are working to contain any clusters.

This includes surge testing, encouraging people to isolate if they test positive and longer opening hours at vaccination centres.

Johnson said that if the variant turned out to be much more transmissible than other variants, the country could face “hard choices” as he warned of the need to be “utterly realistic”. 

He said: “This doesn’t mean that it’s impossible that we will be able to go ahead with step four, I don’t think that’s the case at all. But it does mean there is now the risk of disruption and delay to that ambition. And we have to be utterly realistic about that.”

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Robert Peston Gets Schooled After Saying Teachers Did ‘Not Very Much Teaching’ In Lockdown

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Dominic Lipinski – PA Images via Getty Images

ITV News political editor Robert Peston in Downing Street.

ITV News’ political editor Robert Peston has been told to go back to school after saying teachers did “not very much teaching” during lockdown.

The senior broadcast journalist made the eyebrow-raising claim in a series of tweets poring over official data on the economy, released on Wednesday. 

He suggested that rising inflation was being driven, in part, by massive government spending to ensure the UK economy did not tank.

Peston went on to ponder whether the trend was underpinned by “the government paying teachers for not very much teaching, when lockdown closed schools”. 

The journalist has 1.1m followers on Twitter, and what you might generously describe as taking his brain for a walk did not go down well on the social media platform. 

Even one of the ultimate Westminster insiders – Larry the Cat, or at least a Twitter account with 400,000-plus followers claiming to be the former Downing Street feline – could not come to his defence.

The broadcaster moved to clarify his comments as the backlash continued and the number of comments massively outstripped the retweets and likes – the dreaded ratio-ing.

But there was a “don’t shoot the messenger” energy to his sort of mea culpa as he insisted teachers’ “productivity is impaired by lock down”.

The BBC’s former business editor was leaning into the strict economic definition of “productivity”, rather than displaying a more empathetic understanding of teachers being “productive” as they grappling with mass virtual learning and pastoral care that doubtless went above and beyond the call of duty. 

The Guardian reported last year about “Britain’s teacher heroes” during lockdown, detailing how one teacher created his own YouTube character and another took students on virtual walks.

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