Kim Kardashian recently faced criticism from Formula 1 enthusiasts on social media following an awkward moment with a TV presenter at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The reality television icon turned heads on the racetrack Sunday as she showed her support for her new beau, Lewis Hamilton, at the prestigious event.

Accompanied once more by her sister Khloe, Kim was present in Monaco, observing the pre-race festivities alongside her entourage in the renowned French locale.

During this time, Martin Brundle, a renowned presenter from Sky Sports, known for his traditional grid walk at each Formula 1 race, approached her.

Brundle, who is famous for his pre-race stroll along the grid seeking interviews with celebrities and drivers, spotted Kim and Khloe near the track and attempted to engage them in conversation on live television.

But both Kardashian sisters chose to rudely ignore Brundle, refusing to say a single word to him before they turned to their entourage in a bid to seemingly get him moved away.

Kim Kardashian has been criticized after she ignored a TV reporter at the Monaco Grand Prix

Kardashian refused to speak with Martin Brundle of Sky Sports during his iconic grid walk

Kardashian wore a cream dress and sky high heels as she arrived at the Monaco Grand Prix

The embarrassing moment sparked fury among the fans watching on at home.

One commented: ‘Kim Kardashian is not too good to talk to Martin Brundle. What a complete lack of class.’

Another added: ‘Didn’t we just know Kim Kardashian would refuse to speak to Martin Brundle. 

‘Famous for absolutely nothing, can’t carry an umbrella herself and she ignores Martin when talented sports persons and international actors embrace him. She has no place on our grid.’

A third replied: ‘Can we please ban these disrespectful ingrates like Kim Kardashian and Cara Delevigne from F1? If you won’t show the respect the people who make the sport what it is deserve, you have no place in our world’.

‘Kim Kardashian couldn’t give up 20 seconds of her precious time to have a chat with Martin Brundle, terrible viewing. It’s just pure arrogance. He doesn’t ask for much does he? Just a few words about their experience,’ another unhappy viewer commented.

Another posted: ‘How rude was Kim Kardashian? Brundle there to ask questions and she looks at some dude to see if Brundle was worth talking to. Poor.’

‘Can’t believe Lewis didn’t give Kim Kardashian the talk about Martin Brundle royalty,’ another quipped. 

One fan replied: ‘Kim Kardashian just staring at Martin Brundle and ignoring him on the grid walk. She knows it’s okay to use words, right?’ 

She was joined once again by her sister Khloe, 41, with the two matching in their neutral looks

It is Kardashian’s first race since going public with Lewis Hamilton at February’s Super Bowl

Kardashian wowed in a chic cream dress and sky high heels to cheer on Hamilton on Sunday.

The 45-year-old made her first appearance at a race since going public with the Ferrari driver during qualifying on Saturday.

She was joined once again by her sister Khloe, 41, with the two matching in their neutral looks.

The sisters were transported to the circuit’s VIP entrance on a boat, making a dramatic entrance that was fitting for the glamorous circuit.

Khloe meanwhile dressed for the scorching temperatures in a lace-trimmed slip dress and a white waistcoat. 

Kardashian and Hamilton, who have been friends for over a decade, have been going strong for nearly six months after they were first spotted getting cozy on New Year’s Eve in Aspen. 

They went public with their romance at the Super Bowl in February then subsequently went Instagram official.

Just last week, Kardashian and Hamilton took a huge step in their relationship as he was seen with her four children, who she shares with ex Kanye West, for the first time. 

A source previously said that the couple have an ‘intense’ relationship and added that Kardashian’s family absolutely ‘adores’ him.

The clock is ticking for the hemp industry and its supporters as they scramble to persuade Congress to halt or postpone an impending prohibition on their products.

If no legislative action is taken, a ban on intoxicants derived from hemp is set to be enforced in November.

There is a bipartisan push to prevent the ban—originally driven by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and woven into last year’s government funding legislation—with interest from likely successor Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) as well.

However, McConnell views the maintenance of this ban as a key part of his legacy, meaning any attempts to alter or delay it will have to gain his approval.

“If Mitch is actively discouraging action, I suspect there won’t be significant shifts in votes,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) remarked to the Hemp Industry & Farmers of America (HIFA), according to a call transcript viewed by The Hill.

McConnell wants hemp to remain an agricultural product, rather than the synthetic marijuana version in the beverages, vapes and gummies that have become ubiquitous in gas stations, smoke shops and convenience stores. 

Cruz was the only other Republican to vote for an amendment sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) last fall that would have stripped the hemp language.  

Cruz said he thinks any solution likely won’t happen until McConnell retires at the end of the year. 

Barr, who was endorsed by President Trump, won Kentucky’s GOP primary and is considered the favorite to win the Senate seat.  

“This played out very much as a personal battle between Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul,” Cruz said.  

“I think with Andy [Barr] coming in next year, you, you might see a different dynamic there. I think Andy will be a very different senator than Mitch is, and I think he’ll be a very different senator than Rand is, and that might be beneficial to resolving this issue,” Cruz said.  

McConnell led the charge to legalize hemp in the 2018 farm bill, with the intent that it could be used in agriculture and textiles.  

But the law’s broad definition and subsequent lack of federal regulation created a loophole that allowed companies to extract and synthesize high levels of THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana responsible for a high.   

The market soon flooded with hemp-derived gummies, drinks and vapes that can give people a marijuana-like high without being considered marijuana. The products are sold without consistent age restrictions or labeling regulations and oftentimes resemble candy. 

So McConnell sought to close the so-called “hemp loophole” and take those products off the market, and his provision was included in last November’s government funding bill.  

Multiple bills have been introduced or are under discussion that would either postpone implementation of those restrictions or create an entirely new regulatory and tax structure for hemp-derived THC products.  

“We are closer than we’ve ever been to having good legislation around this, and also the farthest we’ve ever been, because we also could lose everything in a few months,” said Thomas Winstanley, executive vice president at Edibles.com.   

Barr’s proposal, introduced as an amendment to the House Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration appropriations bill, offered a regulatory pathway that would keep intoxicating products on the market.  

Speaking during a HIFA meeting last month, Barr said he wanted to create a “level playing field” with alcoholic beverages. 

“No one industry should have a unique, special competitive advantage based on the law,” Barr said. 

But the Rules Committee rejected his amendment, as well as others from Reps. Russell Fry (R-S.C.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), respectively, that would have delayed the planned recriminalization.  

Rep. James Comer’s (R-Ky.) amendment to defund enforcement was withdrawn minutes before the panel met. 

Barr is expected to introduce his bill as standalone legislation in the coming weeks.  

But lobbyists indicated that even parts of the hemp industry don’t support his bill, because it’s too permissive and would leave the door open for companies to continue to abuse the loophole.  

There are other legislative vehicles in play, including from Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), who chairs the Energy and Commerce health subcommittee.  

But re-opening the loophole is opposed by the marijuana industry and much of the alcohol industry.  

Barr is co-chairman of the Congressional Bourbon Caucus, and acknowledged the opposition his effort is facing. 

“I don’t think you have to choose. I think you can be an advocate of both hemp products and Kentucky bourbon. So the issue is a level playing field,” he said. 

But sources in both alcohol and marijuana industries think there isn’t much political will. The deadline for the ban isn’t until after the midterm elections, and the intoxicating hemp industry, while growing, isn’t moving voters. 

“Who in America is voting or changing how they vote based on hemp law?” said a marijuana industry source. 

One alcohol industry source added, “Their products don’t even register in our polling for consumers.”

“Yes, there’s a market for them, but it is incredibly small.”  

After a decade of striving for success in Hollywood, Billy Eichner nearly decided to leave the entertainment industry behind, but a conversation with Joan Rivers changed his mind.

“The closest I got [to quitting] was back in 2009,” shared the 47-year-old comedian in an exclusive chat with Page Six, while promoting his latest audiobook, “Billy on Billy.”

Just four years prior, Eichner had been the subject of significant buzz, with a glowing feature in the New York Times that led many to believe his career was on the brink of transformation. “Everyone implied that my life was about to change dramatically,” he recalled, noting that agents assured him he would land his own TV show within half a year.

“In reality, they weren’t completely wrong—it just took six years rather than the six months they predicted.”

The former “Billy on the Street” star confessed that during this period, he was plagued by anxiety, fretting over financial stability and the pressure of meeting everyday expenses.

“You can romanticize being a struggling artist in your 20s,” Eichner shared, “but I was 30 [then] and so that wasn’t as cute to me. I had a harder time rationalizing [it], at that point.”

So, he reached out to Joan Rivers, whom he had known for several years and worked with on a failed pilot.

“She invited me to come to dinner and drinks,” Eichner recalled, “and it’s at that dinner where she encouraged me to hold on a little bit longer.” She also told him that he had a “unique energy.”

“I think she really saw something in me and she thought I could make it,” he theorized. “And it truly is the reason I decided to give it another couple of years. And sure enough, that was 2009. In 2010, my first video went viral, and in 2011, ‘Billy on the Street’ became a rising TV show.”

The “AHS” alum isn’t sure what Rivers saw in him.

“Maybe she saw our backgrounds were similar,” he shared. “We were unconventional, we were outrageous. We were from New York City. She obviously loved gay men, and she responded to that part of me. You know, we were Jewish, we love the theater, even though we were trying to carve out our careers.”

Amazingly, Rivers was the first standup comedian Eichner ever saw when his dad snuck him into her performance at the Shore Haven Beach Club when he was eight, “and 20, 25 years later, she became my real champion.”

The “Bros” star said he was happy to include his memories of Rivers, who died in 2014 at age 81, and to honor her.

The surprisingly touching book also honors Eichner’s parents, Debbie and Jay Eichner, who both died before their son’s success and were incredibly supportive of all his endeavors.

Eichner said he’s been moved by people’s reactions to his parents.

“It’s been kind of surreal, in a great way, to watch all of these people who didn’t know my parents, now feeling like they did,” he noted. “And there are so many comments saying, ‘If only every kid were as loved as you were by Jay and Debbie Eichner, the world would be a different place.”

This is the sixth installment in a series that explores the hurdles facing the NATO alliance.

With President Donald Trump urging NATO allies to increase their contributions to European defense, nations nearest to Russia are responding most swiftly, while some major Western European economies are feeling mounting pressure to follow suit.

Retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, who serves as a senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and previously worked as deputy director for strategy, policy, and plans at U.S. European Command, noted that this change is already noticeable throughout the alliance.

“Europe is definitely taking action, but the response varies by location,” Montgomery explained to News Media.

“If you ask me who’s contributing the most, it’s undoubtedly the Eastern European countries.”

As President Donald Trump presses NATO allies to shoulder more of Europe’s defense burden, countries closest to Russia are moving fastest. (Burak Akbulut/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Montgomery pointed to the Baltic states, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria as countries moving aggressively to strengthen deterrence against Russia.

His assessment comes as NATO allies work toward a new defense spending benchmark agreed at the 2025 summit in The Hague, which calls on members to invest 5% of GDP in defense and security-related spending by 2035, including 3.5% for core defense requirements and 1.5% for defense-related infrastructure and security investments.

John Deni, a research professor at the U.S. Army War College, said the trend shouldn’t be surprising. 

“Given the threat of Russia, allies in the East are acquiring capabilities more quickly, and they’re spending even more than allies in the West,” Deni told News Media. “This shouldn’t surprise us because they’re the ones closest to the threat.”

Deni noted that many eastern allies are rapidly purchasing equipment already available on the market rather than waiting years for domestic defense programs to mature.

President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte attend the start of a NATO leaders summit in The Hague, Netherlands, June 25, 2025. (Ludovic Marin/Pool via Reuters)

The transformation is visible across NATO’s eastern and northern flanks. Poland has become one of the alliance’s largest military spenders, Romania is increasing defense investments, and Finland and Sweden have added advanced military capabilities to NATO following their accession.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised Finland and Sweden Thursday at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, using them as examples of allies strengthening the alliance.

“Sweden and Finland have actually contributed because they brought their own defense industry, their own advanced technology,” Rubio said. “They have been great partners.” 

Romanian Foreign Minister Oana-Silvia Ţoiu echoed that message in an interview with News Media following an emergency U.N. Security Council session convened after a Russian drone strike injured civilians in the Romanian city of Galați.

“We do agree with President Trump on the need to increase budgets,” Ţoiu said.

Ţoiu said Romania raised defense spending to 2% of GDP during Trump’s previous term and plans to allocate “an average of 3.4 percent” next year through military procurement and strategic infrastructure investments.

“Europe is clearly stepping up, but they’re stepping up by geographic variation,” Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery told News Media. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)

“We have launched initiatives that are directed at the eastern flank because it is increasingly more clear that that needs to be protected,” she said.

She argued that Romania’s role extends beyond national defense.

“We need better deterrence, better defense capabilities there in order to ensure our responsibility in protecting not just the Romanian border, which is the longest border to the war, but also it is in the same time a European border and the border of the Allied territory,” Ţoiu said.

For frontline states, the urgency is driven by geography as much as politics. Romania shares a border with Ukraine and repeatedly has dealt with Russian drones entering its airspace. Poland has become one of NATO’s top military spenders, while the Baltic states are racing toward defense expenditures approaching 5% of GDP.

Montgomery said the eastern flank’s urgency contrasts sharply with the pace in much of Western Europe.

Among the continent’s five largest economies, and despite a slight decrease in military spending in 2025, the U.K. remains the largest investor relative to GDP, with 2.4%, trailed by Germany (2.3%), Spain (2.1%), France (2%) and Italy (1.9%), according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Oana-Silvia Toiu, Romania’s minister for foreign affairs, speaks during an emergency Security Council meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York on June 1, 2026, after a Russian military drone entered Romanian airspace and exploded, injuring civilians. (Lev Radin/Sipa USA)

“The Germans are the one country, I think, with a large economy that is starting to make the right kind of investments.”

Germany, he argued, could become the backbone of Europe’s future defense industrial base.

“Germany developing a large, impressive defense industrial base is good for NATO, it’s good for Western security, and it’s even good for our primes,” Montgomery said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has embraced higher defense spending and backed NATO’s new spending goals, positioning Berlin as a potential hub for Europe’s future defense industrial base as allies seek to reduce long-term dependence on the United States.

But despite rising defense budgets, experts warn Europe remains heavily dependent on American military capabilities.

Barak Seener, a senior fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, said Europe still relies on the United States for many of the systems required to fight a modern war.

Despite rising defense budgets, experts warn Europe remains heavily dependent on American military capabilities.  (Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency via AP, File)

“Europe is heavily dependent on NATO for its strategic airlift and sea lift, its air-to-air refueling, its cyber capabilities, its space assets, its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance,” Seener said.

Without those capabilities, he warned, European forces would struggle to maintain situational awareness during a major conflict.

Montgomery said Europe faces three major challenges: expanding military capacity, rebuilding its defense industrial base and developing high-end support capabilities that have long been provided by the United States.

Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery pointed to the Baltic states, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria as countries moving aggressively to strengthen deterrence against Russia.  (Kuba Stezycki/Reuters)

“When you are freeloading for 30 years, you create enormous deficits in terms of people, equipment, technology and know-how,” he said.

“The primary forces to defend Europe should be European,” he said. “The United States should provide additional forces that allow maneuver and offensive operations.”

Montgomery also criticized reported Pentagon deliberations over delaying long-range strike deployments to Germany and reconsidering future Tomahawk missile sales, arguing the systems are critical for deterring Russia.

“The goal here is not to fight Russia in the Baltics or in Poland. The idea here is we want to deter Russia from even trying to attack.”

Looking ahead, Montgomery remains optimistic about NATO’s future.

Montgomery predicted Europe will continue increasing defense spending and expanding its defense industrial base, while the alliance benefits from steadier transatlantic relations.

“I think you’ll have a U.S. president that probably doesn’t provoke the Europeans as much. You’ll have Europe that’s investing more,” he said.

U.S. Army M1 Abrams tanks take part in the Armed Forces Day parade in Warsaw, Poland, Aug. 15, 2025.  (Artur Widak/NurPhoto)

He also predicted NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte would be remembered for helping hold the alliance together through a period of significant change.

“I think five years from now, NATO will be stronger,” he said. “And I hope we have Ukraine in there.”

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The U.S. Defense Secretary has expressed strong criticism towards Europe, accusing it of allowing an “invasion” of immigrants during a speech marking the anniversary of D-Day.

During the 82nd commemoration of the Allied forces’ liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe in France during World War II, Pete Hegseth addressed the sensitive topic of immigration amidst his remarks honoring the soldiers who landed on the Normandy beaches.

Speaking to an audience that included both former veterans and current military leaders, Hegseth remarked, “Regrettably, today, different European beaches are being overrun by dangerous ideologies.”

He continued, “Beaches in Spain, Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria are seeing boats and men arrive. When will European capitals take action against this invasion?”

The former officer emphasized that Europe has become too “comfortable” with its hard-won freedoms, stressing the importance of maintaining these freedoms, as he stated, “Freedom must be preserved by today’s leaders and warfighters, or what was fought for will only be temporary.”

Hegseth’s comments come only days after the Trump administration were criticised for ‘trying to interfere in our democracy’ following criticisms of Henry Nowak’s murder. 

However, his remarks have been met with backlash by British politicians, calling his analogy ‘perverse’.

Jake Richards told LBC that he thought it was ‘totally inappropriate’ and ‘wrong’ to mention immigration in the speech for war heroes.

The Labour MP for Rother Valley said: ‘I’m actually horrified that at a moment when we’re there to remember those heroes who fell for all of us to enjoy the freedoms that we do today, that at that moment you would launch some sort of political argument, if you can call it that, about illegal migration.’

The US Defence Secretary has criticised Europe for allowing an ‘invasion’ of immigrants in a D-Day anniversary speech

D-Day veterans at the British Normandy Memorial yesterday to mark the 82nd anniversary of the Normandy Landings 

He acknowledged that small boat migration was one of the biggest issues that came up in his constituency but highlighted that ‘when we’re discussing D-Day and the history of those heroes, it’s not the moment for politics, the moment for those types of arguments, and I wish he hadn’t made them.

Mr Richards added that he hoped Hegseth ‘regrets it too’.

Labour MP and former RAF officer Calvin Bailey said Hegseth’s comments were ‘perverse’ and ‘incredibly depressing’ to compare immigration to fascism.

He told LBC that D-Day was ‘not simply a commemoration of military courage, but a commemoration of a coalition of free peoples brought together to defeat fascism’.

Mr Bailey wanted to remind Hegseth that ‘people of all faiths and ethnicities and backgrounds…fought for a common cause’.

He added: ‘The lesson of D-Day is not that nations should fear people because of where they came from, but that free societies are strongest when they unite around democratic values.

‘Whatever your views on migration policy, D-Day is just such a perverse place on which to suggest that people arriving on Europe’s shores analogous to the threats faced of those on the beaches of Normandy.’

Mothin Ali, deputy leader of the Green party, said Hegseth ‘should keep his beak out and focus on the real problems in America, gross inequality and no access to basic healthcare for millions of Americans’.

Defence Secretary John Healey lays a wreath during the ceremony at the British Normandy Memorial

He added: ‘Give me Europe any day of the week where immigration and the integration of different cultures has been a positive aspect of Europe for millions of years.

‘Increased immigration into Europe in recent years is largely due to US foreign policy mistakes.

‘Destabilising countries across the Middle East, supporting dictatorship and civil war in Africa not to mention the exploitative trade deals.

‘The migration crisis will only get worse as the effects of the climate crisis deepen.’

Strict immigration control remains a top priority for the Trump administration’s domestic policy agenda, who have deported hundreds of thousands of people since the President came into office. 

On Friday, Republicans managed to get a further $70billion in extra funding to go towards Trump’s immigration crackdown after Senators passed a controversial bill.

Top US politicians have also waded into the controversy surrounding Mr Nowak’s death. 

The 18-year-old was stabbed to death by Vickrum Digwa, 23, a Sikh man armed with a ceremonial blade, in Southampton. Digwa lied to police that he had been the victim of a racist attack and acted in self-defence.

Police then arrested Mr Nowak, ignoring his pleas that he needed help and could not breathe from his stab wounds.

The recently released bodycam footage has sparked widespread outrage, with many protestors taking to the streets condemning a ‘two-tier’ policing system. 

Vice President JD Vance used similar rhetoric to Hegseth blasting the ‘European elites’ for their ‘invasion of migrants,’ which he blamed for the murder of British teenager Henry Nowak. 

Vance wrote on X Friday: ‘Henry Nowak died the same way a civilization dies: abandoned, handcuffed by authorities who neither trusted nor cared for him, and accused of hate crimes he did not commit.’

‘He should still be alive today, and he would be if the last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it,’ he added.

Vance wrote that the only response to such an incident ‘is righteous anger,’ adding that nobody ‘should ever die the way that Henry Nowak died.’

A spokesman for the Prime Minister Keir Starmer said shortly after Vance’s post: ‘In recent days we have seen people trying to interfere in our democracy and seeking to stir up division on our streets.

‘The Nowak family are grieving after Henry’s horrific murder. They have said they do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We should be respecting their wishes.’

The Trump administration have also said: ‘Ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline. They must be rejected across the West.

‘The United States sends our condolences to the family of Henry Nowak and the people of the United Kingdom at this troubling time.’

Starmer has repeatedly denounced anyone speaking out about the tragedy, including UK lawmakers and even Elon Musk.