The leader of the Democrats in the United States House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, has slammed House Republicans for considering cuts to federal safety net programmes, pointing out that they would impact veterans.
“About 20 percent of households with veterans rely upon supplemental nutritional food assistance,” the representative for New York’s 8th Congressional District said on Thursday, referring to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), sometimes called food stamps.
Jeffries’s statement followed news reports that House Republicans are pushing to limit future SNAP benefit increases, add additional work requirements and shift some SNAP costs – which historically have been entirely paid by the federal government – to states.
Jeffries cited an inaccurate figure. The share of veterans relying on SNAP benefits is about 8 percent, according to an April 2 report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank.
Jeffries’s office did not provide evidence to back up his statement.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report cited Department of Agriculture data showing that 11 percent of veterans aged 18 to 64 nationwide experienced food insecurity from 2015 to 2019. The department defined food insecurity as “limited or uncertain access to enough food” because of a lack of economic resources. The department found that veterans were 7 percent more likely than nonveterans to experience food insecurity after controlling for a range of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics.
The centre’s report used US Census Bureau data from 2021 to 2023 to estimate the number of veterans living in households that received any SNAP benefits during the 12 months before being surveyed.
The report estimated that more than 1.2 million veterans lived in households receiving SNAP benefits, which is 8 percent of the total population of 16.2 million US veterans during that period.
Luis Nunez, a research analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and author of its report, said the 8 percent covers all veterans whether they live alone or with others.
The highest percentage of veterans on food stamps in any state was 14 percent in Oregon, followed by 11 percent in Louisiana, New Mexico and West Virginia.
Nationally, 8% of veterans receive food stamps; no state is higher than 14%
Data from a few years earlier showed lower percentages than the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report.
The Rand Corporation think tank studied data from 2015 to 2020 and found 4.9 percent of veterans nationwide lived in households receiving SNAP benefits at some point in the previous 12 months. A 2022 Government Accountability Office report found 6.5 percent of all veterans received SNAP benefits in 2019. And the Agriculture Department found that in 2018 and 2019, the average was 6.6 percent.
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Jeffries said, “About 20 percent of households with veterans rely upon” the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
An April 2 study found that 8 percent of veterans in the US rely on SNAP benefits. No state had a share higher than 14 percent.
Studies with data from a few years earlier show rates from 4.9 percent to 6.6 percent.
Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez has been ordered to serve the remainder of a ban for his involvement in an altercation with fans while playing for Uruguay.
The sanction was confirmed as an appeal against the ban was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).
In August 2024, Nunez was banned by South American football’s governing body Conmebol for five international games, and fined £15,145 ($20,000), for an incident with spectators after Uruguay were beaten by Colombia.
The 25-year-old was seen physically confronting Colombia supporters in the stands after the final whistle in the Copa America semi-final in July 2024.
Nunez served two matches of the ban before Cas agreed to temporarily lift the suspension in October 2024 while the case against him was investigated following an appeal by the Uruguay Football Association.
Four other Uruguay players were also handed bans, and fined, for their involvement in the incident at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, USA, all of which have been now been served.
Tottenham midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur, 27, received a four-game suspension.
Napoli defender Mathias Olivera, 27, Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo, 26, and Atletico Madrid defender Jose Maria Gimenez, 30, received three-game bans.
The appeal by the Uruguay FA had sought to annul or reduce the suspensions and fines on the grounds the players acted in self-defence, but that was dismissed by Cas.
“The panel found that in this case the principle of self-defence does not apply,” said Cas.
“The conduct of the players constituted a voluntary, violent and unjustified action which was in violation of the Conmebol disciplinary code.”
What happened?
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Conmebol had originally opened an investigation into what they called “unacceptable” scenes following Uruguay’s 1-0 defeat by Colombia.
Disorder broke out in a section of the stadium where many family members of the Uruguay players were seated.
Nunez had climbed railings and made his way into the crowded stands.
More than 70,000 fans were at the game in Charlotte, with estimates suggesting more than 90% of the crowd was there in support of Colombia.
“There was no police and we had to defend our families,” said Uruguay captain Gimenez at the time.
“This is the fault of two or three people who had a few too many drinks and don’t know how to drink.”
Uruguay boss Marcelo Bielsa said his players deserved an apology from Colombia fans for the brawl.
“How can you not defend your mother, your sister, a baby?” Bielsa said in a press conference before his side’s third-place play-off against Canada.
United States President Donald Trump has announced that he will lift all sanctions on Syria, declaring that it was time for the country to “move forward”, giving a nation devastated by years of ruinous civil war a crucial opening in reviving its shattered economy.
Speaking at an investment forum in Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh during his Middle East tour on Tuesday, Trump said the punitive measures had achieved their “purpose” and were no longer needed.
“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” he said. “It’s their time to shine. We’re taking them all off”.
The president ended his remarks with a direct message to Damascus: “Good luck, Syria. Show us something very special.”
The announcement marks a dramatic shift in Washington’s yearslong policy towards Syria, where sanctions targeted ousted President Bashar al-Assad’s government during years of war, and the country at large over its crackdown on dissent and human rights abuses during that nearly 14-year period.
Syrians suffered hundreds of thousands of deaths, and millions were displaced during the war.
“There’s a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilising the country and keeping peace,” Trump said in Riyadh, referring to the interim government led by President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Later Tuesday, Al Jazeera Arabic reported on Tuesday that al-Sharaa will meet with Trump in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, according to the Director of Relations at Syria’s Ministry of Information.
Trump had noted that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in Turkiye this week, and said his decision to end the sanctions was influenced by conversations with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Al-Shaibani welcomed the announcement, calling it a “a pivotal turning point for the Syrian people as we move toward a future of stability, self-sufficiency, and true reconstruction after years of devastating war”, according to the state-run SANA news agency.
Al Jazeera’s Senior Political Analyst Marwan Bishara questioned the motives behind Trump’s decision to lift sanctions and what Damascus is prepared to give in return.
While noting that talks are expected between the US and Syrian top diplomats, Bishara asked, “But then what?”
Bishara said that the US had previously laid out conditions for any rapprochement with the new Syrian government, including reported crackdowns on Palestinian groups and possible normalisation with Israel. “There’s also been talk about normalisation with Israel—that the new Syria will join the Abraham Accords at the expense of the Palestinians,” he said.
Key obstacle removed, but others remain
The sanctions relief will be welcomed by al-Sharaa’s government, which also says it wants to transition away from the corrupt system that gave al-Assad loyalists privileged access to government contracts and kept key industries in the hands of the al-Assad family and its Alawite base.
Omar Rahman, a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, says that while it is important not to overestimate the significance of Trump’s promise to lift sanctions on Syria, it is an important step in the future of a nation devastated by years of war.
“It takes away a key obstacle in their ability to establish some kind of economic development, economic prosperity,” he told Al Jazeera. “But there are plenty of other obstacles and challenges the country is facing.”
Rahman said that Saudi Arabia helped push the US towards its decision to drop sanctions.
“I think the United States was really dragging its feet on sanctions – they wanted to use it as leverage in order to push other policies in Syria,” he said, adding that besides Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were also pushing for this pivotal outcome.
“This wasn’t something that was too difficult for Trump to do,” Rahman added. “He didn’t need to get permission from anybody. He didn’t even need consent from Congress.”
Syria’s new government has sought to rebuild the country’s diplomatic ties, including with international financial institutions. It also counts on wealthy Gulf Arab states to play a critical role in financing the reconstruction of Syria’s war-ravaged infrastructure and reviving its economy.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar announced in April that they will settle Syria’s debt to the World Bank totalling roughly $15m.
The United Kingdom has also removed its sanctions on 12 Syrian government entities, including the Ministries of Defence and Interior and the General Intelligence Directorate.
But military attacks persist.
Israel has carried out multiple air strikes in Syria since al-Assad’s removal. The country’s presidency denounced an Israeli attack near the presidential palace in Damascus as a “dangerous escalation” earlier this month.
Tensions between Israel and Syria soared after the Israeli government accused the Syrian authorities of failing to protect the country’s Druze minority.
The Syrian government and Druze came to an agreement after days of violence, the latter saying they did not need Israel’s intervention or protection.
Israel has previously called Syria’s interim government a “terror group from Idlib that took Damascus by force”.
Bishara warned against ignoring Israel’s role in destabilising Syria. “The one that occupies Syrian territory… is Israel, which is intervening in Syria, trying to divide and weaken it,” he said. He urged US officials to pressure Israel to halt its interference as sanctions are lifted and Syria attempts to rebuild.
Decades needed to recover
A February report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimated that at current growth rates, Syria would need more than 50 years to return to the economic level it had before the war, and it called for massive investment to accelerate the process.
The UNDP study said nine out of 10 Syrians now live in poverty, one-quarter are jobless and Syria’s gross domestic product (GDP) “has shrunk to less than half of its value” in 2011, the year the war began.
Syria’s Human Development Index score, which factors in life expectancy, education and standard of living, has fallen to its worst level since it was first included in the index in 1990, meaning the war erased decades of development.
Sue Cleaver has played Coronation Street’s feisty Eileen Grimshaw for 25 years, but as her time on the cobbles comes to an end she reveals what’s in store for the much-loved character, and it’s probably not what you think
Sue Cleaver has played Corrie’s fiesty Eileen Grimshaw for 25 years(Image: Supplied)
Playing feisty Eileen Grimshaw for 25 years means that actress Sue Cleaver loves her as much as Corrie fans. Despite leaving the cobbles in the next few weeks, Sue, 61, wants nothing but the best for Streetcars switchboard operator Eileen.
So, when soap bosses asked her if she wanted a happy ending for the mum of brothers Jason and Todd, the answer was a resounding yes. What they didn’t know was that she had been considering a new life chapter for four years and had already secretly designed her character’s departure.
Sue tells The Mirror: “There was always the risk that they might have killed me off, but they were supportive and said ‘Eileen’s a big part of the show.’ They asked what kind of ending I wanted, and I said I didn’t want to call it a day, because I love the place. I said I wanted a happy ending. Basically, the journey Eileen is taking is pretty much what I’m choosing to do.
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“It’s new adventures. Just because you’re a certain age doesn’t mean that you have to stop, that your chances in life are finished, that you’re stuck and that you’re heading to your ageing days. There’s still a lot of life left in women my age, and we just need to grasp it and get out there and challenge ourselves and get out of our comfort zones. So, the story, in a sense, is following my own departure.”
Revealing that she has been considering leaving for four years, Sue says that last year she contacted former Coronation Street star Ryan Thomas, who spent 16 years playing her screen son Jason. Ryan left the show in 2016 and, in 2021, announced his retirement from acting. But the two have remained good friends, and he agreed to come back after the personal plea from Sue.
Gail (Helen Worth) storms into the Rovers and accuses Eileen (Sue Cleaver) of gossiping about her – also pictured Jason (Ryan Thomas) and Sarah (Tina O’Brien).(Image: ITV)
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“I asked Ryan to come back over a year ago,” she reveals. “He had no intention of coming back into Corrie, but last April I said ‘look Ryan, I need you to do me a favour. I’ve not told work yet, but I’m going to leave and I’d really like you to come back and take me out.’ And bless him, he said: ‘well I can’t refuse that can I?’ “It was really special and lovely. I felt very supported having him there with me on that final day. We’ve both got busy lives, but we’ve always stayed in touch. I’m very fond of him.”
To Eileen’s delight, Jason turns up out of the blue from his home in Thailand at the funeral of her sister Julie Carp (Katy Cavanagh) later this month. With Eileen growing increasingly disenchanted with her life in Weatherfield, she makes a spur-of-the-moment decision to go back with him. Sue says: “I’m at a stage where I thought it was important to forge a new path for myself. My responsibilities as a parent had ended, and it was the right time for a change.
“It had been in my mind for the last four years to leave, so there’s been a lot of preparation and planning and thinking about it and making sure, but it definitely feels right. It’s exciting times. I’m not scared about the future. The only scary thing was making the decision that it was time. But once I’d made the decision, I knew it was the right thing for me.”
Steve McDonald [Simon Gregson] and Eileen Grimshaw [Sue Cleaver] work together at Streetcars(Image: ITV)
Straight-talking Eileen made an immediate impact when she joined the local taxi firm in 2000. “She was cocky, but she had a very big heart,” Sue says. “She was every woman. Everybody knows an Eileen. Everybody has an Eileen living on their street, and I think a lot of women could relate to her. She brought her boys up single-handedly, she’d been treated badly by men, she was a worrier, she was independent.”
The much-loved character has clocked up a string of failed relationships, including Jesse Chadwick, who ended up with her arch enemy Gail Platt and serial killer Pat Phelan. Most recently, she has been dating undertaker George Shuttleworth. When her terminally ill sister Julie took her own life, Eileen was horrified when she was suspected of having a hand in it. This adds to her increasing dissatisfaction with George, triggering her move to pastures new. Sue says: “With Julie passing, she starts to ask herself, ‘Why am I here? I don’t have to be here. Everyone has grown up; everyone has got their own life. This is my time.’”
Sue, who starred in Dinnerladies and Band of Gold before joining Coronation Street, lives in Manchester with her husband, TV lighting technician Brian Owen. Her son Elliot, 29, lives nearby. In the past few years, she has taken time away from the cobbles to appear in I’m a Celebrity and a tour of the musical Sister Act. She is also an occasional panellist on Loose Women and recently wrote her memoir A Work in Progress.
She hasn’t decided what she will do next, but wouldn’t rule out following her co-star Jack P Shepherd into Celebrity Big Brother. “I just don’t know,” she muses. “I’m open. If it sounded fun, I’d say yes, but if it doesn’t, I’m not going to do it. Strictly looks too much like hard work for me – I’ve got the elegance of an elephant – so I couldn’t see myself doing that at the moment.
Eileen (Sue Grimshaw) has had her fair share of doomed relationships including with killer Pat Phelan (Connor McIntyre)
“But I have no goal. I have no plan. I might go back to school, I’d like to travel more, and I’m having talks about various projects in the future, but I’m only going to be doing things that I really fancy. At this stage in my life, I wanna have fun and a bit of freedom.” While Sue didn’t want big leaving do she says: “Everyone was saying to me ‘are you going to have a party?’ I’m like ‘oh my God, I’m 61, I can’t be doing with parties.’
“And then Antony Cotton said he would ‘sort something.’ He booked a private dining room at the Ivy just for the people that I worked directly with – the Grimshaws and the Street Cars boys. And it was fabulous.” After Sue filmed her final scenes, she was presented with flowers, plus, randomly, an elephant statue from the Grimshaw set. She explains: “When I first moved into the Grimshaws’ house, there was this big elephant ornament. I hated it. I used to say ‘oh my God, it’s disgusting, can somebody just accidentally drop it.’
“Then, as time went on, it became ‘be careful with that elephant, don’t knock the elephant over.’ I got really attached to it and when I was leaving, I said ‘make sure nothing happens to it when I’m not here.’ “On the last day, when they gave me my flowers and presents, suddenly a ribbon-bedecked elephant arrived. I’m its custodian. So, if Eileen ever comes back, the elephant will come back with her!”
(R) Eileen (Sue Cleaver) and (L) Gail Rodwell [Helen Worth) during one of their many screen fallouts(Image: We Love TV)
Eileen’s fieriest moments:
Eileen Grimshaw doesn’t take prisoners, and, as well as her famous spats with her arch-enemy Gail Platt, countless other Coronation Street residents have been on the receiving end of her fiery temper. “I’m told there have been 19 slaps, most of them were for her son Jason, and there were a few punches,” says Sue. “I can’t even remember them all – how horrifying is that, that’s it has become the norm!
“I remember Eileen once hit Steve McDonald, and I nearly knocked (the actor) Simon Gregson out. This was in the days before health and safety. They didn’t get a stunt person in. They just said ‘slap him’. So, I slapped him and he was literally seeing stars. There was another scene with Simon and Craig Charles, where I had to bang their heads together. I got it a bit wrong and actually did it, and it was really hard. I felt awful – you could just hear this loud crack – the sound was terrible!”
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Eileen has also punched Janice Battersby, slapped Pat Phelan and ended up in hospital herself back in 2012, when she was accidentally smacked in the face during a fight scene with Lesley Kershaw, played by Judy Holt. Sue hit the floor and lost consciousness. “I was knocked out cold,” she recalls. “They still used the sound and sent me to hospital!”
A Work In Progress by Sue Cleaver is out now in paperback by Bloomsbury Publishing
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![Steve McDonald [Simon Gregson] and Eileen Grimshaw [Sue Cleaver]](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/article35220211.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_CORONATION-STREET.jpg)
