Category News

Florence Pugh parties til 4am at lavish Spanish wedding of Game of Thrones star brother

By in Entertainment News, News

The Marvel star jetted off to Spain and danced the night away at her brother’s sun-soaked wedding

Florence Pugh parties until 4am at brother Toby’s wedding(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Florence Pugh partied the night away as she celebrated her Game of Thrones star brother’s wedding on Saturday (6 September).

The Oscar-nominated actress, 29, took to Instagram to share snaps and clips from the big day as Toby Sebastian, her brother and Game of Thrones’ Trystane Martell, “got hitched” to his long-term partner Scarlet Alexandra.

As those who saw Florence’s film A Good Person will already be aware, the actress has an incredible singing voice, which she used to serenade the couple during the day’s events. Wearing a red maxi dress, she sang alongside her sister, Rafaela, from the balcony of the villa in Spain where the reception took place.

READ MORE: Ed Sheeran quits the UK and admits the major thing he’ll miss about EnglandREAD MORE: Loose Women star Frankie Bridge in tears on train as fans express their concern

Rafaela Pugh in yellow and Florence Pugh in red
Florence and sister Rafaela serenaded their brother Toby(Image: Instagram/florencepugh)

Spain holds a special place in the hearts of the Pughs. The family moved to Spain when Florence was young after a doctor recommended it to help the future Marvel star after she was diagnosed with tracheomalacia, a condition which makes the windpipe soft and liable to collapsing, but can be eased by warm weather. They lived in Spain for a number of years before returning to Oxford.

Florence has been open about the condition, saying on Running Wild with Bear Grylls: “We were in Spain because I have a breathing issue, and when I was younger they kind of just advised that a hotter climate would be better.

“I have asthma and I have this thing called tracheomalacia as well. And so from a young age, I’ve just had a different breathing system.”

Spain is also special to bride Scarlet, as she grew up in Andalucia, though she is now based in London, having set up her own illustration business, Sax Doodle.

Toby Sebastian in a nvay suit with Scarlet Alexandra in her wedding dress
Toby and his wife Scarlet got married in Spain(Image: Instagram/florencepugh)

Posting a clip of the newlyweds being toasted at their ceremony, Florence gushed: “They got hitched!”. She also shared a picture of Rafaela fanning the groom, who was melting in the Spanish heat and a navy suit. The actress captioned the post: “Brothers always need their little sisters to fan them on their wedding day!”

READ MORE: Can matcha really cause hair loss? Expert weighs in on claims going viral online

Toby posted his own clips from the wedding reception, including some of the whole Pugh clan out on the dance floor. “What a weekend, what a wedding,” he said on one clip. “There aren’t many people in the world I would stay up partying until 4am for.”

He also posted a picture of himself with his grandmother, known as Granny Pat, where she wore a white suit with a blue silk neck scarf. Granny Pat became a star in her own right when she stole the show at the Venice Film Festival in 2022, having joined her granddaughter for the screening of Don’t Worry Darling.

Pat in a white suit with Florence pugh in a black and silver dress
Florence Pugh and Granny Pat stunned on the Venice red carpet(Image: Getty Images)

The famous siblings’ father, Clinton, was also in attendance. Clinton made headlines last year after he clashed with the local council in Oxford and blamed having to sell his beloved cafe, Cafe Coco, on the decision to make the area it was in a Low Traffic Neighbourhood. The businessman called Oxfordshire City Council’s decision an “ill thought out traffic calming disaster”. Despite financial help from his daughter, he closed the cafe in April.

He posted on Instagram: “It’s been emotional! Cafe Coco was sold in April after 31+ years. 1.5 miles of road closures. Removal of 600 parking spaces and no buses from the park and ride!

Article continues below

“Thank you Oxfordshire County Council for your ill thought out traffic calming disaster. Thank you to all the wonderful stars who helped make Cafe Coco so special.”

Trump asks Supreme Court to let it cut billions in foreign aid

By in News, World News

Days after a federal judge ruled that United States President Donald Trump’s administration cannot unilaterally slash billions in foreign aid funding, the Department of Justice has asked the Supreme Court to intervene.

In a court filing on Monday, lawyers for the administration asked for an emergency stay to halt the order issued by the lower court and allow the administration to continue to withhold about $4bn in congressionally approved funds.

Last month, Trump said he would not spend the money, invoking disputed authority that was last used by a US president roughly 50 years ago.

Last week, US District Judge Amir Ali ruled that the Republican administration’s decision to withhold the funding was likely illegal.

The money at issue in the case was approved by Congress for foreign aid, United Nations peacekeeping operations and democracy-promotion efforts overseas.

The Justice Department said in its filing on Monday that the administration views the $4bn of disputed foreign aid funding as “contrary to US foreign policy”.

Congress budgeted billions in foreign aid last year, about $11bn of which must be spent or obligated before a deadline of September 30 – the last day of the US government’s current fiscal year – lest it expire.

After being sued by aid groups that expected to compete for the funding, the administration said last month that it intended to spend $6.5bn of the disputed funds. Trump also sought to block $4bn of the funding through an unusual step called a “pocket rescission”, which bypasses Congress.

Ali ruled on Wednesday that the administration cannot simply choose to withhold the money and it must comply with appropriations laws unless Congress changes them.

The judge’s injunction “raises a grave and urgent threat to the separation of powers”, Justice Department lawyers wrote in Monday’s filing, adding that it would be “self-defeating and senseless for the executive branch to obligate the very funds that it is asking Congress to rescind”.

Under the US Constitution, the government’s executive, legislative and judicial branches are assigned different powers.

Trump budget director Russell Vought has argued that the president can withhold funds for 45 days after requesting a rescission, which would run out the clock until the end of the fiscal year. The White House said the tactic was last used in 1977.

Lauren Bateman, a lawyer for a group of plaintiffs, said on Monday that the administration is asking the Supreme Court “to defend the illegal tactic of a pocket rescission.”

“The administration is effectively asking the Supreme Court to bless its attempt to unlawfully accumulate power,” Bateman said.

In recent months, the Supreme Court has issued a number of decisions in Trump’s favour through the use of emergency rulings – rarely requested by previous administrations but which Trump has sought and received in record number.

From the beginning of his second term in January to early August, Trump had sought 22 emergency rulings, surpassing the 19 requested in all four years of President Joe Biden’s administration and nearly three times as many as the eight requested during each of the presidencies of Barack Obama and George W Bush, both of whom served two terms, or eight years.

The rulings differ from typical cases in that they are often issued in extremely short, unsigned orders that give little in the way of legal reasoning despite the high stakes involved. That lack of transparency has led to criticism from legal scholars as well as rare pushback from federal judges.

Israel’s settler outposts choke Palestinian life in West Bank’s villages

By in News, World News

On a sweltering summer day, the insides of villagers’ homes in Ras Ein al-Auja smelled of rot. The villagers said that the day before, settlers had – not for the first time – severed the power lines between their homes and the off-grid electricity networks the community had built up with help from humanitarian organisations, causing the food in their refrigerators to spoil.

Israeli authorities have long denied access to basic services such as water, electricity and sanitation to this Palestinian community and others in Area C, and almost all of these communities face demolition orders. Israel typically accuses Palestinians of building without permits to justify the orders, but it makes it near impossible to acquire the permits.

The Israeli military did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment for this article.

According to Ghawanmeh, Israeli settlers from the three surrounding outposts – all established in the past two years – cut the off-grid electricity systems “five or six times a week”.

Last year, settlers prohibited the Bedouins from accessing the al-Auja spring, which locals depend on for both their herds’ and their own water needs. The Palestinian villagers and local reports indicate that Israeli military forces allowed the settlers to block access to the spring.

Now, all of the land where the Palestinian locals had grazed their herds is off-limits, forcing them to keep their livestock penned up.

Ibrahim Kaabneh, 35, has only 40 sheep and goats left. He once had 250, but he said he sold most of his herd after he and a relative were attacked by settlers last year and the settlers stole his relatives’ herd.

“I needed to get money to feed the rest of the herd before they would die or be stolen by the settlers,” he said inside his sparse family home with his children looking on quietly in the summer heat.

With settlers attacking them if they bring out their herds to graze and no longer able to access the water spring as well as being denied access to the nearby water pipes connected to Israeli settlements, Kaabneh now must spend about 200 shekels ($60) a day on fodder for his animals while paying for water tanks every two days.

“Even the livestock that we still have, we feel like they’re not ours,” Kaabneh said. “Any moment, they can be stolen. Any moment, they can be attacked.”

Kaabneh lives about 200 metres (220 yards) away from a second Israeli outpost that was established a year ago. The outpost, containing a corrugated iron pen allegedly stolen from an already-expelled Bedouin community nearby, is a preview of what the newest outpost will look like as it expands, according to locals.

The outpost established in August is even closer to the Bedouins living here. This has added to the fears among community members who feel “suffocated” by encroaching settlers. Since the war in Gaza started, settlers have burned homes in the community and are alleged to have assaulted community members, including Kaabneh’s uncle, who was struck by a bulldozer. Settlers also come to the village inappropriately dressed or drunk, the Palestinians say.

Kaabneh says he has trouble sleeping, and he is wary of leaving his home even to get groceries because he fears for his family. Women and children avoid leaving their homes for more than an hour or two at a time.

An access road to the community – built with funding from the United States Agency for International Development, as a billboard attests – now has at its entrance a series of concrete blocks painted with Israeli flags, and community members face constant harassment to run the most basic of errands.

“Once we step outside of the house, it seems like we’re doing something wrong or we’re doing something illegal,” Ghawanmeh explained. “Children, the women and everyone here is in constant fear and in constant danger whenever they leave the house for whatever necessary reason.”

James Whale’s funeral: Nigel Farage, Eamonn Holmes and Matt Goss among mourners saying goodbye

By in Entertainment News, News

The funeral of radio great James Whale has taken place in Maidstone, Kent, as mourners from the world of showbiz and politics said goodbye to the popular broadcaster

Nigel Farage is overcome with emotion as he walks to the service alongside Lizzy Cundy(Image: Humphrey Nemar)

Friends, family and colleagues turned out to remember broadcasting legend Jame Whale as he was laid to rest this afternoon.

The radio titan died last month aged 74 following a long and brave battle with cancer. The former Celebrity Big Brother star had been diagnosed with kidney cancer back in 2000, but after being given the all-clear he announced five years ago the disease had returned.

Since he death four weeks ago, tributes have flooded in and today those closest to him gathered together for his funeral in Kent. Politician Nigel Farage, fellow presenter Eamonn Holmes and singing star Matt Goss were among those paying their respects to James at St Nicolas church in Maidstone.

READ MORE: James Whale’s final words about ‘hard’ months and Christmas sadness in posthumous columnREAD MORE: James Whale dead: Kidney cancer symptoms you should know include subtle urine colour change

Pallbearers
James Whale was laid to rest as pallbearers carry his coffin inside the church (Image: w8media)

Friends Lizzy Cundy and Bobby Davro also gathered with his family and other mourners at the service. A wake was later held for the popular entertainer – awarded a richly-deserved MBE in the New Year Honours, recognising his extraordinary contribution to to his industry and charity during his lifetime.

He will leave much of his estate to his wife Nadine, as well as giving his two children some money as well. Tragic James spoke about his Christmas regrets before joking about hanging out with some broadcasting heroes in the sky as his typically light-hearted final words were revealed weeks after his death.

James died in early August following years of battling cancer
James died in early August following years of battling cancer (Image: PA)

In his posthumous last column for the Daily Express, which was written in the weeks before his death, James offered a departing message and heartbreakingly told fans that he didn’t want to die. He reflected on his extraordinary life and his fight against illness as he typically offered some final political thoughts.

“If you’re reading this then I’m dead,” he bluntly started his last article for the publication. “I’ve always wanted to write that. Well, obviously not always. But, bear with me because there’s something very tempting, after more than half a century as a journalist and broadcaster, of having the final word!

Eamonn Holmes
Eamonn Holmes attended the service in Kent this afternoon (Image: Humphrey Nemar)

“And this I suppose is it, my friends. You’re reading this and I’m in the great radio studio in the sky, hanging out (hopefully) with some of my own broadcasting heroes. ’m writing at the age of 74 facing, probably, the last few weeks of my life. I can’t pretend it’s not hard on me or my lovely wife, Nadine, and my family and friends, too.

“But it feels necessary, and I hope they’ll understand. I’m sure they’ll be chuckling. After all, I couldn’t be silenced in life and, well, even now I’m still banging on! Of course, I don’t want to die. I first beat kidney cancer 25 years ago despite being given a 50-50 chance of survival.

Matt Goss pays his respects
Friend Matt Goss was seen paying his respects (Image: w8media)

“Then five years ago, my cancer came back and this time round it’s been more of a score-draw. It’s spread to my spine, my brain, all over really. I’ve made a career of cutting people off. It was pretty revolutionary back in the day when I first introduced live phone calls to my late-night show at Metro Radio in Newcastle. Now, I suppose, the plug’s been pulled on me!”

But with the humour soon came heartbreak, and James then spoke about not being alive to see Christmas. “It happens to us all in the end. But without wanting to blow my own trumpet (though if I can’t blow it now, when can I?), I think I’ve probably beaten the odds several times already just by lasting this long.

The service took place at St Nicolas church,Maidstone Kent.
James’ Order of Service on an emotional day (Image: Humphrey Nemar)

“It’s safe to say though that I won’t be around to celebrate Christmas and, while that makes me sadder than I can say – there have been plenty of tears – it’s the hand I’ve been dealt.”

“I’d love to be around to see if Reform UK wins the next general election and whether my old friend and sparring partner Nigel Farage can sort out Britain’s many problems; learn whether Keir Starmer even makes it to the elections – let alone Rachel Reeves!

The service took place at St Nicolas church,Maidstone Kent.
The service took place at St Nicolas church in Maidstone (Image: Humphrey Nemar)

“And, touch wood, to see Ukraine free once again from Russian warmongering. But in the grand scheme of things, I’ve not had a bad run. Even if I’ve not quite made the average age for men of my generation (82, since you ask), I’ve comfortably out-performed the expectations of those born only a decade or so earlier than I was.”

In a statement on the day of his death, TalkTV said: “We are sad to announce that James Whale MBE died earlier today, aged 74, following a lengthy battle with cancer. As a broadcasting legend for over 50 years, James will be missed by so many at TALK and the wider News UK family.”

Bobby Davro
Lifelong friend Bobby Davro was one of the mourners (Image: Humphrey Nemar)

The news, and his previous diagnosis, raised awareness around kidney cancer. James is said to have been a founding member of the chairt Kidney Cancer UK and was referred to as its lifetime president when he died last month.

James married Nadine Lamont-Brown in 2021, just 14 months after revealing his advanced cancer diagnoses. His late wife Melinda, whom he was married to for 48 years, died of Stage 4 lung cancer in 2018.

Article continues below

James and Melinda had two sons and two grandchildren. Nadine has stood by him through his battle, acknowledging they don’t have the “luxury” of time.

For more information or support about cancer, you can contact Macmillan Cancer Support.

Uncapped Calitz in Ireland squad for England ODIs

By in News, Sports News
Cricket Ireland

Batter and wicketkeeper Ben Calitz has been called up to the Ireland squad for the first time for the three-match T20 series against England in Malahide this month.

The uncapped 23-year-old is part of a 14-man squad for the series which is historic because it will be the first time the two sides have met in the T20 format of the game in Ireland.

The teams have only met twice in T20 internationals, the first encounter in 2010 ending as a no result, with Ireland winning by five runs by virtue of the Duckworth Lewis [DLS] method at the T20 World Cup in Melbourne in 2022.

Ireland will be without Mark Adair, Fionn Hand and Josh Little, who are unavailable as they work through rehabilitation programmes.

Calitz is Canadian-born and has represented his native country at under-19 level, but moved to Ireland in 2022.

After initially playing club cricket, he played for Munster Reds in the Inter-Provincial series, then represented Northern Knights in 2025.

In April this year he was selected for the Ireland Wolves’ tour to the United Arab Emirates.

England have named a squad which largely does not include any of their multi-format players, many of whom are being rested before this winter’s Ashes series.

The team will be led by Jacob Bethell, who at 21 is set to become the youngest man to captain England in an international, with Jordan Cox being rewarded for his outstanding form in The Hundred with a call-up.

Ireland squad

Related topics

  • England Men’s Cricket Team
  • Ireland
  • Northern Ireland Sport
  • Cricket

‘Playing perfectly’ – how does Alcaraz rank vs tennis legends at 22?

By in News, Sports News
BBC Sport
Daniel Austin
BBC Sport senior journalist
  • Comments

When Carlos Alcaraz won his sixth Grand Slam title on Sunday, he did so by thoroughly outclassing the world’s number one player in probably the best performance of his career so far.

Defending US Open champion Jannik Sinner – whose record on hard courts over the past two seasons is among the most imperious of any player on any surface in tennis history – was induced into a timid display in which he was overawed by the Spaniard.

The quality of Alcaraz’s performance in his 6-2 3-6 6-1 6-4 victory led to something of an existential crisis in Sinner, who insisted afterwards that he needs to revamp game in order match Alcaraz’s level.

For his part, Alcaraz believes he is reaching new heights.

“I played perfectly,” he said after lifting the trophy. “This is the best tournament so far that I have ever played. The consistency of my level has been really, really high – it’s something I’ve been working on.”

At age 22, Alcaraz is already talked about among the sport’s greatest ever players. But just how well does he rank against them so far?

Speed and surface mastery put Alcaraz on a pedestal already

Since Alcaraz joined the ATP Tour as a 16-year-old, he has been lauded for the variety of his play, being able to combine cutting low slices with ferocious forehands and deft drop shots to consistently catch opponents off guard and win points in breathtaking ways.

But his ability to stitch together that kind all-around quality on any surface is what is already setting him apart from anybody else.

Alcaraz has now won two Grand Slams on each of the hard, grass, and clay surfaces – only Rafael Nadal (aged 24), Mats Wilander (aged 24), and Novak Djokovic (aged 34), have ever achieved the same feat in the men’s game.

The speed at which Alcaraz is racking up the majors is astonishing, too – he has taken only 18 tournaments to win six slams, equalling the record set by Bjorn Borg in 1978.

Only Borg has won six slams at a younger age than Alcaraz, doing so by winning three on clay at Roland Garros and three on grass at Wimbledon.

At 22 Nadal also had six (but won the last of those when he was a few months older than Alcaraz), while Pete Sampras was on five, and Wilander four.

Alcaraz won the first of his Grand Slam titles in New York in 2022 aged 19, and followed it up with his maiden Wimbledon triumph the following year.

The rate at which Alcaraz is winning matches on the biggest stages also makes clear that he already belongs in the most illustrious company.

Serve supremacy takes game to new level

Alcaraz’s serve has never been a weakness, but he rendered it one of his most irrepressible weapons in New York by increasing his power to levels he has never before shown.

Against Sinner he served a stunning ten aces, raising his average serve speed from 113mph to 120mph between his opening round victory against Reilly Opelka and the final.

During the tournament Alcaraz won 84 percent of his first-serve points and 63 percent on his second-serve, both higher than anybody else in the tournament, and hit the fastest serve of any player during the final, clocking a whopping 134mph.

Compared to Roland Garros and Wimbledon earlier this year, when Alcaraz beat and then lost to Sinner in the finals, the difference in serve speed is stark.

The set Alcaraz lost in the latest final was the only one he dropped in the entire tournament, and the three breaks of serve he suffered during the fortnight are the second-lowest in Grand Slams since 1991 – Sampras was only broken twice when he won Wimbledon in 1997.

How could Alcaraz improve from here?

Despite his glowing review of his own performance at Flushing Meadows, Alcaraz still believes he has a way to go before he reaches his pinnacle.

“At 22-years-old, it’s difficult to already be at your maximum level”, he said after demolishing Sinner. “Little by little I’ll keep improving to try and get there.

“The best Carlos hasn’t come out yet.”

Aside from terrifying the rest of the Tour, that statement begs a big question – how exactly can Alcaraz possibly improve from here?

It’s true that the Spaniard remains prone to occasional bouts of erratic shot-making during high-level matches, sometimes succumbing to half-an-hour or so spells in which his touch and depth appear to desert him.

Carlos Alcaraz smiles while holding the US open trophy while Jannik Sinner stands behind him as fireworks eruptGetty Images

Cutting those periods out could be a way to maintain his peak ruthlessness and restrict the chance for top quality opponents to gain a foothold in matches.

And if the improvement in the serve is anything to go by, perhaps Alcaraz could even add further development to some of the already immensely impressive skills he possesses.

During Sunday’s final he hit a couple of groundstrokes that surpassed 100mph, a staggering level of speed to be reaching during rallies against any player, never mind one who hits as hard as Sinner. Striking at that kind of speed on a more regular basis would make him almost impossible to beat.

No matter how he develops his game and how many more majors he wins from here, Alcaraz has already demonstrated that he is among the very best players the sport has known.

Related topics

  • Tennis