Author: Brooke Hopkins

On 15 June in Brussels, Nato defence ministers discussing deterrence and defence issues in preparation for the upcoming Vilnius Summit in July, confirmed an agreement to strengthen its air defences across Nato’s Eastern Flank. Ground-based air defence units will start rotations along Nato’s Eastern Flank, in addition to Nato’s long standing air policing mission. “At the moment, the Spanish NASAMS is already deployed to Estonia. With this new model, we can also start making plans for subsequent Allied rotations,” explained Estonia’s Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur. Allies have also agreed to improve Nato’s ability to reinforce its forces in the…

Amid reports that the US is close to reaching an interim nuclear deal with Iran, a senior White House official is visiting Israel this week and meeting with Israeli officials. Barbara Leaf, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, arrived in Israel on Saturday, according to the State Department. She is slated to meet with “senior Israeli political and military leadership” during her time in the country, with discussions including “constraining Iran’s destabilizing behavior.” Leaf is also scheduled to hold meetings with Palestinian officials in Ramallah before departing for Jordan on Saturday. Earlier this month, Leaf told a…

While cases of COVID-19 and RSV were decreasing across the United States this spring, infections linked to another lesser-known respiratory virus were increasing. The percent of tests positive for human metapneumovirus (hMPV) surged to 19.6% for antigen tests and 10.9% percent for PCR tests at the beginning of March, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During the four years before the pandemic, the weekly percentage of positive tests never reached higher than 7.7%, data shows.MORE: Suffering from flu, RSV or COVID-19? How you can tell the difference Meanwhile, during the beginning of Match, the percentage of tests positive for COVID and RSV were at…

Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” made a splashy debut at the U.K. and Ireland box office, topping the charts with £5 million ($6.2 million), per numbers from Comscore. The film accounted for 49% of all ticket sales across the three-day weekend, according to Disney. In its second weekend, Universal’s “Fast X” held strong with £2.2 million in second place for a total of £10.2 million. In third position, in its fourth weekend, Disney’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3” collected £1.5 million for a total of £31.6 million. Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” earned £292,155 in fourth place in its…

The 1975 frontman Matty Healy is responding to criticism after months of backlash. Back in February, the singer made a controversial appearance on The Adam Friedland Show that has been making headlines ever since. During Healy’s freewheeling conversation with hosts Friedland and Nick Mullen, the three spent time discussing “Princess Diana” rapper Ice Spice. They debated whether she was Hawaiian, Inuit or Chinese before impersonating those accents. The podcast episode earned significant backlash and has since been removed from Apple and Spotify. Asked if he had baited his fans on purpose, Healy told The New Yorker, “A little bit. But it doesn’t actually matter.”…

LOS ANGELES — A California appeals court said Tuesday that Leslie Van Houten, who participated in two killings at the direction of cult leader Charles Manson in 1969, should be released from prison on parole. The appellate court’s ruling reverses an earlier decision by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who rejected parole for Van Houten in 2020. She has been recommended for parole five times since 2016. All of those recommendations were rejected by either Newsom or former Gov. Jerry Brown. Newsom could request that California Attorney General Rob Bonta petition the state Supreme Court to stop her release. Bonta’s office referred questions to Newsom’s…

Warmer temperatures are welcome by many outdoor enthusiasts, but unfortunately, with the pleasant weather comes the arrival of ticks. Ticks bites can cause numerous illnesses, for example Lyme disease – which is reported from the upper midwestern states and the Great Lakes Region all the way over to the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states, according to the Center of Disease Control (CDC). On the CDC’s website, it reads that a first sign of an infection is a red annular or homogeneous rash at the site of tick bite; it expands gradually over several days to about two inches in diameter. A…

Bad Bunny apologized to Harry Styles during his headlining set at Coachella’s second weekend on Friday (April 21). “Sorry Harry. It was a mistake from my team. We love you. <3,” the onscreen message read. The apology arrived after the Puerto Rican superstar appeared to throw shade at Styles during his historic headlining set at the opening weekend of Coachella 2023 on April 14. While performing “El Apagón,” from his Billboard 200-topping Un Verano Sin Ti album, a video screen behind Bunny displayed a tweet about Styles that read, “goodnight benito could do as it was but harry could never do el apagaon.” Days after the incident, a rep for Bad…

CNN will be the home to a new weekly prime-time show featuring Gayle King and Charles Barkley, the news network announced on Saturday. King and Barkley sat down together on TNT’s NBA Tip-Off Saturday to discuss the details of the live show, titled King Charles, which is set to air on Wednesdays. “I want the show to be nonpolitical,” said Barkley, though he added that the show would touch on politics. “You know (Gayle King) is going to be a straight shooter. I’m going to be a straight shooter,” he added. “I know she’s going to be fair and honest and you…

After a series of price cuts throughout most of this year, Tesla is raising the prices of its two upper-end models: the Model S and the Model X. The decision is a reversal of its strategy that was confirmed just this week by CEO Elon Musk during a conference call with investors. That call followed a disappointing first quarter earnings report, in which the company’s profit margin came up short of forecasts due in large part to lower prices. “We’ve taken a view that pushing for higher volumes and a larger fleet is the right choice here, versus a lower volume and…