Victoria Beckham recently discussed the pressure she has been subjected to throughout her career.
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In a Netflix documentary from last year, Lady Victoria Beckham revealed details about her past (Photo: NBC, Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images).
Lady Victoria Beckham last year opened up about the unrelenting pressure she endured over her weight and looks. The celebrated fashion designer remembered a pivotal moment when she was asked to step on scales on television merely six months after giving birth to her eldest son, Brooklyn, and the lasting impact it had.
Talking in her Netflix series, which premiered in October 2025, the 51-year-old said: “‘Get on those scales’ on television. ‘Have you lost the weight?’ You know, we laugh about it and we joke about it when we’re on television. But I was really, really young, and that hurts.
You lose all sense of reality because I let it affect me and really started to doubt myself and not like myself. Simply put, I’m very critical of myself. What I saw wasn’t what I liked.
“I’ve been everything from skinny posh to pork posh posh.” It’s been a lot, and that’s difficult. What was being written about me or the pictures being taken was not my control. And I suppose I intended to control that.
According to Surrey Live, she also added at the time: “I could control it with the clothing. I could control my weight and I was controlling it in an incredibly unhealthy way … it really affects you when you’re being told constantly you’re not good enough.”
In her early years, her musical career with the Spice Girls, and her preparations for a significant fashion show at Paris Fashion Week, Lady Victoria’s most recent three-part Netflix documentary, “Victoria Beckham,” explores her early years.
Her husband, Sir David Beckham, shared her sentiments, noting that it was frequently accepted to criticize women for their appearance in the 1990s and 2000s.
There were many things happening in television that won’t happen now, that can’t happen right now, according to Sir David in the episode where: “People felt it was okay to criticize a woman for her weight, for what she’s doing, for what she’s wearing, for what she’s wearing.”
He later explained how this had an impact on their lives and said, “My Victoria that I knew sits at home in a tracksuit, smiling, laughing, and having a glass of wine that started to go purely because she was being criticized.
On October 9, 2025, Victoria Beckham aired on Netflix.
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The oldest paintings ever discovered by archaeologists on the Indonesian island of Muna could be up to 67, 800 years old, making them the oldest known paintings in the world.
Researchers from Indonesia and Australia discovered that the tan-colored drawings were created by rubbing pigment over hands against cave walls, leaving a outline, according to scientists’ findings on Wednesday.
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Since 2015, archaeologist Adhi Agus Oktaviana from Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) has been searching for hand stencils in the Muna island region of Sulawesi province.
In the cave where a person rides a horse alongside a chicken, Adhi discovered the hand stencils, which have since been dated, beneath more recent paintings.
Adhi initially said it was difficult to demonstrate to his coworkers that the stencils were human fingers, but he “finally discovered some spots that looked like human fingers.”
Additionally, some of the fingertips were altered to appear sharper.
The oldest hand stencil that has been studied here is distinctive because it was only discovered in Sulawesi, according to Maxime Aubert, an expert in archaeological science at Griffith University in Australia, who assisted in the study’s publication on Wednesday.
According to Aubert, “the tips of the fingers were carefully reshaped so that they appeared pointed.”
Adam Brumm, a co-author of Aubert’s book and an archaeologist at Griffith University, claimed it appeared that the people who painted the hands were attempting to represent something else.
[Maxime Aubert/AP Photo] This image, which Maxime Aubert provided, shows cave drawings of a human figure and a bird with a handprint that has faded in between them in Sulawesi province, Indonesia.
“It almost seemed as though they were purposefully trying to turn this image of a human hand into something else, perhaps an animal claw,” said Brumm.
We don’t know what that meant, but it is clear that they did have some deeper cultural significance. He said, “I think it had something to do with these ancient peoples’ complex symbolic relationship with the animal world.”
By examining the uranium content of the mineral layers that gradually formed atop the pigment, the researchers determined the image’s minimum age.
The researchers laser-zapped the layers of rock with a laser to compare the uranium-containing rock to a more stable radioactive element called thorium after collecting five-millimeter samples of small clusters of calcite that had formed on the walls of the limestone caves.
According to Aubert, this “very precise” method provided the scientists with a precise minimum age for the painting.
Additionally, the researchers discovered that numerous times over a long period of time rock art was performed in the Muna caves. According to Aubert, some of the ancient art was still visible 35, 000 years later.
The original art was discovered by the same team in the Sulawesi region in 2024, and it is also more than 15 000 years older.
Along with neighboring East Timor and Australia, the area around Indonesia is known for some of the world’s oldest archaeological discoveries.
Adhi said the cave paintings provide fresh proof for the theory that Sulawesi was a place for early humans.
According to the Jakarta Post, “it also shows that our ancestors were not only great sailors,” Adhi said, “but also artists.”
According to archaeological evidence that dates back at least 60 000 years, Aboriginal people living in Australia have one of the oldest continuous living cultures on earth.
Following earlier attacks on southern Lebanon that left at least two people dead and almost 20 others injured, Israel claimed it attacked four crossing points on the Syria-Lebanon border, claiming Hezbollah smuggled weapons.
Israel’s most recent violence on Wednesday comes in spite of a US-brokered ceasefire, which ended Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon in 2024 and that Israel has repeatedly violated.
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In a risky escalation that directly targets civilians, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said in a statement late on Wednesday that Israel is “pursuing a policy of systematic aggression” by conducting air strikes on inhabited Lebanese villages.
President Aoun reaffirmed Israel’s refusal to comply with its obligations as a result of the cessation of hostilities agreement.
At least 19 people were hurt in Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese town of Qanarit, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
After an Israeli airstrike on Wednesday in the south of Lebanon’s Qanarit, people flee as smoke rises. [Mohammed Zaatari/AP Photo]
After the Israeli army issued warnings that it would launch attacks on targets inside the nation, Israeli warplanes bombed buildings in several villages and towns in south Lebanon, including al-Kharayeb, al-Ansar, Qanarit, Kfour, and Jarjouh, according to the state-run National News Agency.
One person was killed earlier in the day when an Israeli vehicle was struck by an Israeli vehicle in the Sidon district of Zahrani, according to the Health Ministry. Additionally, according to the ministry, another person was killed in an Israeli attack on a vehicle in Tyre’s Bazuriyeh neighborhood.
A charred car on a main road in Sidon, according to the AFP news agency, was seen by a correspondent who reported seeing emergency personnel and debris strewn across the scene. Two other journalists who were employed close to the site of a heavy Israeli strike in Qanarit, where 19 people were hurt, also suffered minor injuries, along with a photographer from the agency.
The Israeli military claimed on social media that it had “eliminated” a “key Hezbollah weapons smuggler” in the southern Sidon region and that it had targeted four border crossings used for “weapons transfer.”
In a “blatant violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty,” Israeli attacks were condemned in a statement released by the Lebanese army.
The Lebanese military added that these attacks “hod the army’s efforts” to finish the Hezbollah disarmament plan, which was a part of the ceasefire agreement.
A lipreader claims to have decoded Victoria Beckham’s private comments about Nicola Peltz’s daughter-in-law and has analyzed footage from David Beckham’s documentary premiere.
At the start of David Beckham’s documentary series Beckham, an lip-reading expert discovered what appears to be a heated exchange between members of the Beckham clan.
After Brooklyn Beckham made shocking claims about his family on Instagram Stories this Monday, video from the star-studded event has been re-released online and is being scrutinized once more.
Forensic lip reader Nicola Hickling worked with Covers.com to examine video clips from the red-carpet bash that took place in London in October 2023. Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz, and Harper, the parents of David, 50, and Victoria, 51, were present.
Brooklyn appears to be having a quiet conversation with Romeo in the video, and Nicola claims he mouths, “I hated it.
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The lip-reading expert speculates that his comment is related to what just transpired, suggesting that Brooklyn may have felt awkward while holding his parents’ hands in the air earlier, which might have contributed to the 26-year-old’s previous gesture toward David, who appeared to pull away and recoil. Brooklyn appears to say, “She’s in tears,” just a few seconds later.
Given where Brooklyn is looking and how he glances at his spouse, Nicola Peltz Beckham, the expert interprets this as a reference to his wife, reports the Express.
Despite making an effort to appear healthy, Brooklyn’s eyes appear so heavy, according to Nicola. Something went wrong before they arrived at the premiere, according to the statement.
As Cruz and Harper approach a photo wall, Victoria appears to sternly warn them, saying, “I need you to tell them, they can’t do that, and if they do, it’s over for them.”
Victoria, according to her, “sees straight past Brooklyn and Nicola as they approach the wall.”
The former Spice Girl’s assistant was also partially concealing her mouth when a lip reader read, “What a nightmare!” She appears to be referring to Nicola and Brooklyn at this point.
Brooklyn’s allegations have not been addressed in full by Victoria or David.
The administration of President Donald Trump has made the most recent immigration enforcement announcement, this time in Maine, a state with northeastern borders.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed on Wednesday that “Operation Catch of the Day” had been conducting immigration raids the day before.
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A Trump administration spokesman said in a statement that the president’s and the state’s governor, Democrat Janet Mills, were engaged in a political conflict.
According to spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, “Governor Mills and her fellow sanctuary politicians in Maine have made it abundantly clear that they would rather stand with criminal illegal aliens than defend law-abiding Americans.”
However, rumors have been spreading that Maine was chosen for its significant Somali American population in Lewiston and Portland. According to estimates, there are about 3, 000 Somali Americans in the state overall.
At a cabinet meeting in December, Trump has repeatedly criticized the Somali community and compared its members to “garbage.” He recently referred to Somalis and Somali Americans as “a lot of very low IQ people” on his White House podium as recently as Tuesday.
Trump has frequently used racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric in his campaigns for office, and he has repeatedly criticized specific groups, including Haitians and Mexicans, for fabricating a link between impunity and criminal activity.
Portland, Maine’s mayor Mark Dion addresses a press conference on January 21. [Photo: Patrick Whittle/AP Photo]
Minnesota has similarities.
A few members of Trump’s team were implicated in a fraud scandal in Minnesota, a midwestern state, where immigration enforcement operations were launched in December, as a result of his focus on the Somali community.
In addition to the violent confrontations between federal agents and protesters, Renee Nicole Good, 37, was fatally shot in her car after engaging with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
A Wednesday news conference with Portland city officials on Wednesday was dominated by worries that those tensions might spread to Maine.
As ICE agents began their crackdown, the region’s mayor, Mark Dion, stated to reporters that immigrant communities were “anxious and fearful.”
They perceive this behavior as unanticipated and a threat to their families, he said.
He questioned whether a heavy-handed operation was required to stop immigration violations in the area, and he demanded that ICE use a different strategy than it did in Minnesota.
We disagree with the need for a paramilitary approach to the enforcement of federal laws, Dion said. “I want to emphasize one important point.
Federal immigration law is a good one. Its governance and enforcement are legitimate, he continued. What we’ve been concerned about as a council is the enforcement strategies used by ICE in other communities, which in our opinion appear to be threatening and intimidating populations.
Dion expressed hope that ICE would adopt a more targeted approach to apprehending local suspects, though.
The mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota, predicted that Maine would experience the same “massing of federal agents” as Minneapolis, where nearly 2, 000 immigration officers have flooded its streets.
“ICE is engaging in very individualized behavior. He said, “There is a person here, there is a neighborhood there.” Their behavior seems focused, at least in Maine, which would suggest to me that they are acting on the basis of a valid court order, and this is speculation.
He claimed that that was a departure from the “random, show-your-papers kind of experience” that Minnesotans had previously had.
Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis on January 20 at a makeshift memorial. [Angelina Katsanis/AP Photo]
ICE operations scandal atrocious
Despite Dion’s support for a wait-and-see approach to the ICE operation, other city officials took a different stance.
Wesley Pelletier, a councillor for Portland, described the ongoing raids as part of “an agenda of white nationalism and might makes right.”
The federal government is engaged in a “war of terror” against our city, according to Pelletier. “We’ve seen people of all ages being thrown into trucks and on the ground.”
According to ICE Deputy Assistant Director Patricia Hyde, who was quoted by Fox News as saying that the agency had already made 50 arrests as part of “Catch of the Day” so far. In Maine, according to Hyde, ICE has identified nearly 1,400 detainees.
Four arrests, depicting people from Sudan, Guatemala, Ethiopia, and Angola, were highlighted in the Department of Homeland Security’s statement on Wednesday.
The four defendants were described as “the worst of the worst” and accused of crimes ranging from aggravated assault to child abuse, though it was not clear in one case whether the accusation had led to a conviction.
In the statement, McLaughlin said, “We are no longer allowing criminal illegal aliens to terrorize American citizens.”
However, state Democratic officials claimed that the Trump administration had refused to coordinate ahead of “Catch of the Day,” which heightened local anxiety.
Governor Mills announced on social media on January 14 that she had “attended, unsuccessfully, confirm” the upcoming rise in federal immigration enforcement, almost a week before the operation was launched.
She claimed in a video statement that Portland and Lewiston’s local governments had been collaborating on the project. She continued, “angry” about the anticipated surge, too.
According to Mills, “our goal is always to safeguard the safety and rights of the people of Maine.”
Do not be alarmed, I tell the federal government, “Do not come here if your plan is to be provocative and to undermine the civil rights of Maine residents.” The people of Maine do not approve of those tactics.
She also lashed out at the practice of using masks and other facial coverings to cover one’s identity among federal agents.
Because our law enforcement adhere to high professional standards, Mills said, “Look, Maine knows what good law enforcement looks like.” They hold the law accountable. And I’ll let you know this: They don’t detain people to meet quotas, and they don’t wear masks to protect their identities.
Democratic Governor Janet Mills has publicly opposed the policies of the Trump administration.
A political conflict
Mills and Trump have a long history of political rivalry, beginning in a public forum. He hosted a White House gathering for governors in February of last year, shortly after Trump won a second term, and he personally criticized Mills.
Maine: Is it here? “The Maine governor” Trump outlined laws that prohibit transgender athletes from participating in sporting events. Are you going to break it, you ask?
Mills responded, “I’m adhering to state and federal law.” From there, the tension grew even more.
Trump retorted, “You’d better comply because otherwise you’re not getting any, any federal funding.”
Mills responded, “See you in court.”
“Good. In court, I’ll see you again. That’s something I’m anticipating. That ought to be a simple choice. And enjoy your life there after, governor, because you won’t likely be running for office, he said.
Trump demanded an apology and criticized the Democratic governor for months after the incident, which established a frosty relationship between the two leaders.
In addition, his administration stepped up its offensive against Mills, including suspending a marine research grant and freezing Maine’s allocation of other federal funds.
Mills acknowledged the Trump administration’s most recent efforts in a brief statement in response to the ICE deployment this week.
Together, we will prioritize Maine’s citizens’ safety and civil rights above all else, and we will continue to fight for the rule of law and fair trial,” she wrote.
In the middle of the state’s midterm election cycle, Maine will hold its next gubernatorial race in 2026.
On Thursday, January 22, 2018, this is the situation:
Fighting
According to the regional prosecutor’s office’s message on the Telegram messaging app, a 52-year-old woman was killed in a hospital after being hurt by Russian shelling in the Kherson region of Ukraine’s Dniprovskyi district.
According to Vadym Filashkin, head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, Russian forces have dropped 768 guided missiles and high-explosive aerial bombs in areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk region still under Ukrainian control over the past ten days, destroying almost all remaining infrastructure.
Following recent Russian attacks, Ukrainian energy company DTEK announced on Facebook that the country’s capital Kyiv’s power supply had been restored to “critical infrastructure,” but that the “city’s power system is still in deep emergency mode,” with daily outages now lasting for a month.
About 44, 000 homes in the Dniprovskyi and Desnyanskyi districts, where about 44, 000 homes are still without power, were also affected by the attacks on Kyiv’s power generation facilities, according to DTEK in a separate post on Telegram.
Without providing further details, the Ukrainian state’s power grid operator, Ukrenergo, reported a senior executive died while overseeing repairs at a power plant that had been damaged by a Russian strike.
According to the regional emergency services task force, Ukrainian forces reportedly attacked a port in the village of Volna in the southern Krasnodar region of Russia, killing three people and injuring eight, according to the country’s TASS state news agency.
Four oil storage tanks were “engulfed in flames,” according to Veniamin Kondratyev, the regional governor of Krasnodar, earlier on Telegram.
An Uzbek man was found guilty of killing top Russian general Igor Kirillov and his assistant in a 2024 bombing attack and was given a life sentence by a military court in Moscow.
Regional security
Ruben Brekelmans, the head of Dutch defense, claimed in a post on X that Dutch navy ships “escorted Russian vessels away from the North Sea for the second time in a short period.” We are aware that these Russian ships can be used to eavesdrop on and map important maritime infrastructure, according to the minister.
A German-Ukrainian woman was detained on Wednesday after being accused of spying for Russia through contacts with former German Defense Ministry employees, gathering information about drone production for Ukraine, and attending political events.
Due to the crisis in Greenland, NATO members are faced with difficult decisions, but Western allies must remember that Russia, which is increasing its military presence in the Arctic, is their common adversary, according to Norway’s defense minister Tore Sandvik, who spoke to foreign correspondents in Oslo on Wednesday.
Politics and diplomacy
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, is meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine for the World Economic Forum, adding that he believes both the Ukrainian leader and Vladimir Putin want to end the nearly four-year conflict in Ukraine and that a resolution is “reasonably close.”
According to the TASS news agency, President Trump also stated to reporters in Davos that he wanted to see powerful people join the initiative.
Putin stated on Wednesday that the Russian foreign minister would respond to Putin’s request to join the board in due course.
Putin, who was cited by Russian news outlets as saying at a meeting of Russia’s Security Council, said he thought the proposed “board of peace” was primarily intended to deal with a Middle Eastern peace settlement and that Russia was willing to pay Trump for long-term board membership in exchange for $1 billion in Russian assets that had been frozen in the US due to its war against Ukraine.
Rustem Umerov, the negotiator for Ukraine, announced on Telegram that he had a meeting with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the president’s top envoys.
Russian special envoy Kirill Dmitriev and Witkoff met on Wednesday in Davos, according to TASS, and Witkoff described the meeting as “very positive.”
