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We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
When it comes to building a robust core, one of the most effective exercises you can incorporate into your routine is the basic bridge. This seemingly simple move is a powerhouse for enhancing core stability, which is crucial for overall body strength.
A strong core is the backbone of physical independence, aiding in longevity and making everyday tasks and chores feel effortless. The basic bridge exercise specifically targets the pelvic muscles, hamstrings, glutes, and deep core muscles. Importantly, it does so without putting excessive stress on the neck, unlike some other core exercises. By regularly practicing this move, you can also improve your posture and stability. As you advance, you can experiment with variations to concentrate on particular muscle groups and further enhance your performance.
To truly gauge the strength of your core, the bridge exercise serves as an excellent benchmark. We consulted with Carly Harvey, a seasoned personal trainer, online coach, and Clubbercise instructor at Champneys. Harvey explains that maintaining a bridge position for an extended period, particularly after the age of 50, can classify your core strength as “elite.” With a focus on lifestyle transformation through balance rather than restriction, Harvey is certified to train women going through peri/menopause, further emphasizing the importance of tailored fitness approaches.
Developing a strong core and glute muscles not only enhances balance and mobility but also contributes significantly to back health. By supporting your body effectively, you pave the way for improved physical well-being.
The Importance of Core Strength
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Having a solid core and strong glute muscles improves your balance, mobility, and back health by ensuring your body’s well-supported.
“This enables better pain free movement as weak glutes and core put pressure on the lower back causing discomfort and reduced mobility. Having better pelvic control hugely improves stability and balance, which means less chance of falls or injury,” Harvey adds.
What Makes the Glute Bridge Hold an Effective Test of Core Strength?
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According to Harvey, this exercise is a stellar choice for testing your core strength and stability.
“Maintaining this position with good form and technique (keeping the spine neutral and hips level while pushing through the glutes and not the back) challenges pelvic control and stabilizes the core,” Harvey explains. “Doing this exercise post-50 is important to keep the body safe and stable as you age, using the muscles that support real-life movement, balance and stability.”
The gluteus maximus, hamstrings, erector spinae, and deep ab muscles are mainly activated during the glute bridge hold. These muscles are essential when it comes to daily movements like getting up from a chair, climbing stairs, and keeping the body stable.
If You Can Hold a Bridge This Long After 50, Your Core Strength Is Elite
If you’re able to hold a glute bridge for 90 seconds or more at the age of 50+, this is considered “elite” performance
“This signifies a higher level of core and posterior strength than is expected for this particular age group,” Harvey notes.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
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Common mistakes during the glute bridge include pushing through your back rather than your glutes, which can cause reduced glute activation and overextension of the spine. In addition, avoid uneven hips and pushing more through one side over the other. Make sure your knees maintain alignment throughout the exercise.
Peter Mandelson, a Labour Party heavyweight with ties to scandal, was initially denied security clearance but still managed to secure the role of British Ambassador to the United States. This controversial appointment has sparked urgent demands for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to resign if he misled Parliament regarding the decision.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is under fire for allegedly deceiving both Parliament and the public about appointing Peter Mandelson as the ambassador to Washington. This issue has unfolded into one of the most significant political scandals of the current British government, prompting rival parties to call for Starmer’s resignation.
There is ongoing uncertainty regarding the Prime Minister’s knowledge of the situation. Official statements claim he was unaware that Mandelson’s security clearance had been denied by the security services, a decision that was ultimately overruled. The reasons behind Mandelson’s initial rejection remain unclear. This scandal, which has been developing over several months, has already led to the resignation of the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, known for his opposition to Breitbart News. McSweeney’s departure appears to be an attempt to shield Starmer from further scrutiny.
The British newspaper The Guardian, which is left-leaning but not necessarily supportive of Starmer, reported on Thursday that according to multiple sources, the vetting process for Mandelson’s appointment was incomplete when the Prime Minister announced him as the future ambassador in 2025. The vetting concluded with a rejection on January 28th of that year, a decision that was subsequently overturned by the Foreign Office, allowing Mandelson to assume the position.
This revelation suggests that the British government’s security protocols were bypassed—a move that, while technically allowable, is extremely rare. It appears to have been done to avoid the political fallout from retracting the ambassador’s appointment after it had been publicly announced.
When the United States published fresh tranches of Jeffrey Epstein emails earlier this year, Mandelson’s name featured heavily. While Mandelson’s association with Epstein was long known, and before Starmer decided to make him ambassador, the emails appeared to show the relationship between the two men was deeper and longer-lasting than previously publicly known, and appeared to display that lies had been told.
Mandelson is now being investigated by police for alleged charges of misconduct in public office over emails that appeared to show him emailing confidential British government documents to Epstein while Mandelson was a government minister under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
When Starmer was called upon to defend his decision to appoint earlier this year when the Epstein emails were released, he said several times that Mandelson had been vetted by the security services and that he’d gotten clearance. These remarks were interpreted at the time as a clear bid by the Prime Minister, and others who spoke for him, to shuffle the blame onto the security vetting process. For instance, Starmer had said in February that there was “security vetting carried out independently by the security services, which is an intensive exercise that gave him clearance for the role, and you have to go through that before you take up the post.”
When Starmer came to power after the last UK General Election, it was on a platform promising probity, thoroughness, and a ‘buck stops here’ model of accountability. Indeed, as leader of the opposition, Starmer had previously made absolutely clear that he believes that a Prime Minister who misled the House of Commons should resign, which is precisely what he is now accused of doing.
Brexit pioneer and leader of the country’s top-polling political party Nigel Farage was among the first of those calling on Starmer to now resign over the scandal. He said: “Keir Starmer said in February that the security services had given Mandelson “clearance for the role”. Now we discover that he has blatantly lied, the Prime Minister should resign.”
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said “we now know” that Starmer misled Parliament and that accordingly he should now take “responsibility”. The hard-left Green Party also called for him to step down, and said in their statement:
Keir Starmer has lied and lied again over his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson and he must resign. Starmer told parliament ‘due process’ had been followed. This report makes clear that was untrue.
He has tried to blame the vetting process, when in fact it is reported that a decision was taken to ignore a failed vetting. We need answers on what and when Starmer and David Lammy knew about this decision to overrule the vetting report.
The Greens also called for the reason Mandelson failed vetting to be revealed. While it is evident his relationship with Epstein was a national security risk, it’s by no means clear if that was the only skeleton in the closet unveiled by the security services during that process.
Much depends on whether the Prime Minister and those close to him can convince the country that, despite being in charge of the country and having intervened to make Mandelson ambassador against normal practice, that the whole process of vetting, its reporting, and then it being overruled was done secretly without their ever being told.
Open Heaven 17 April 2026 Friday Daily Devotional By Pastor E. A. Adeboye – Reversing Barrenness
Open Heaven 17 April 2026 TOPIC – Reversing Barrenness
MEMORISE: He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the Lord. – Psalm 113:9 (KJV)
READ: 2 Kings 4:8-17 (KJV)
8 And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.
9 And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.
10 Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.
11 And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there.
12 And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him.
13 And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee? wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host? And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.
14 And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.
15 And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door.
16 And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son. And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.
17 And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Kings 21-22
Open Heaven 17 April 2026 MESSAGE
Years ago, a woman, who was waiting on God for children, kept going to her pastor for prayers. After a while, the pastor said, “I’ve prayed for many people who were looking for children, and now, they have their children. Why is your case different?” The woman then revealed that she had once tried to terminate a pregnancy, but the procedure went wrong, and in order to save her life, the doctors removed her womb. On hearing this, the pastor asked in shock, “You’ve had no womb all these while, yet you kept asking me to pray for you to have a child?” From that day on, the pastor started avoiding her. When she noticed this, she turned to God and said, “I won’t go to my pastor anymore. I will come to You, my Maker.” Shortly after that, she had a dream one night. In the dream, she was naked, and as she stood in a spot, a huge man approached her with an animal’s skin in his hands. On getting to where she was standing, he wrapped the animal’s skin around her belly and disappeared. That experience signalled the end of her barrenness. The last time I heard about her, she had given birth to five children!
God can reverse the irreversible. In Genesis 21:1-2, He reversed the deadness of Abraham and Sarah’s bodies and gave them a child after many years of barrenness. Likewise, in 1 Samuel 1:4-20, He remembered Hannah and opened her womb. In today’s Bible reading, the Shunammite woman saw Elisha passing by and compelled him to come to her house to eat. She fed him on many other occasions and built him a small chamber in her house to host him whenever he passed by. When God decided to visit her, Elisha told her that she would have a son, and she told him not to deceive her. That was a clear sign of unbelief, but the Almighty God bypassed her doubts and gave her a son because of her heart of service.
Beloved, are you expecting the miracle of a child or fruitfulness in any area of your life? Keep serving the Lord and honoring Him. Hold on to His word, and you will never be disappointed. I pray that He will reverse any form of barrenness in your life and cause you to be fruitful in all areas of your life, in Jesus’ name.
Open Heaven 17 April 2026 PRAYER POINT
Father, please make me fruitful in every area of my life.
Open Heaven 17 April 2026 HYMN 16 – Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus
1 ‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His Word; Just to rest upon His promise; Just to know, “Thus saith the Lord.”
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him! How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er! Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! O for grace to trust Him more!
2 O how sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to trust His cleansing blood; And in simple faith to plunge me ‘Neath the healing, cleansing flood!
3 Yes, ’tis sweet to trust in Jesus, Just from sin and self to cease; Just from Jesus simply taking Life and rest, and joy and peace.
4 I’m so glad I learn’d to trust Thee, Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend, And I know that Thou art with me, Wilt be with me to the end.
Accessing the Devotional The Open Heavens devotional is conveniently available as an application across all major mobile platforms and operating systems, including iOS, Android, Nokia, Windows Mobile, and PC. This wide accessibility ensures that users can engage with the devotional from virtually any device. For more information or to access the Open Heaven for Today 2026, visit
REMINDER!!! JESUS IS COMING SOON
ARE YOU BORN AGAIN? IF NO, WHY NOT ACCEPT JESUS NOW!
Accept Jesus Christ today and secure a life of eternal rest and Glory by saying this short prayer below:
Lord Jesus, I believe you died for my sins, Forgive me of all my iniquities. I accept you as my Lord and Saviour from today and forever.
Come and Be the Lord of my life and I am willing to obey Your command and live according to Your will by Your Grace, Thank you for accepting me into Your fold
AMEN!!! John 6:37…and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife is under intense criticism following her lukewarm apology for past social media posts in which she used racial slurs and made homophobic comments. Notably absent from her apology was any mention of her controversial posts that appeared to support terrorism.
Rama Duwaji, 28, recently expressed regret regarding inappropriate content she posted on her X and Tumblr accounts during her teenage years and early twenties.
“When a tabloid recently resurfaced old tweets from my teenage years, I felt profound shame when confronted with the harmful language I used; being 15 doesn’t excuse it,” New York City’s first lady told Hyperallergic.
“I have read and considered the reactions of others, and I understand the pain I caused. I am truly sorry,” she added.
However, many online were quick to point out that Duwaji’s apology did not extend to her posts that praised the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, or her support for Palestinian terrorists.
The Washington Free Beacon, which uncovered the posts in a March 18 report that linked the posts to her using facial recognition software, noted that Duwaji was in her early 20s when she shared posts lauding Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s Leila Khaled, who participated in plane hijackings in 1969 and 1970.
In 2015, at the age of 17, Duwaji also shared a post honoring Shadia Abu Ghazaleh, who bombed an Israeli bus, as the ‘first Palestinian woman to fight in resistance after 1967 occupation.’
‘Duwaji did not attribute her Ghazaleh post to youthful ignorance,’ the Free Post noted.
Rama Duwaji, 28, who is married to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, issued an apology in an interview following a report by the Washington Free Beacon of her history of inappropriate posts made online in her teenage years and early twenties
The discovery of the First Lady of New York City’s purported profile comes shortly after she made headlines for liking posts that celebrated the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel
More recently, Duwaji called reports that Hamas was sexually assaulting Israelis on October 7 a ‘mass rape hoax,’ Free Press reporter Olivia Reingold added in her own post on X on Wednesday.
She even provided illustrations for an essay by Susan Abulhawa, an author who called the October 7 attack ‘spectacular’ and blasted Jewish Israelis as ‘vampires’ and ‘rootless, soulless ghouls,’ according to the Free Beacon.
Mayor Mamdani has since called those remarks ‘reprehensible.’
But online, many hit out at Duwaji for not speaking out about her posts herself.
‘Rama Duwaji was NOT 15 when she shared a post calling Jews filth and other racial slurs,’ one X user wrote in response to reports about the New York City First Lady’s apology.
‘And NO ARTIST accepts a job not knowing what’s involved [with] author and story. AND it has since come out the affiliation with the Mamdanis and “the author” go back 15 years.
‘THEY ARE ALL LYING TO SAVE FACE,’ the X user concluded.
Conservative commentator Paul Szypula echoed those remarks in his own post.
‘Rama isn’t really sorry,’ he claimed. ‘She’s just sorry she got caught.’
‘Her “apology” was probably drafted by one of Mayor Mamdani’s PR people to cover for Rama’s vile beliefs.’
Duwaji did not apologize for her posts celebrating Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 or supporting Palestinian terrorists
Duwaji allegedly made a post to X in 2013 which used the N-word
The New York City First Lady’s history of hateful content appeared to begin in 2013, when she used a vile racial slur in a tweet to a friend.
The post reads: ‘Helllll yeah, n****. Super duper genius* excuse you.’
That same year, the same account posted a list of new followers, referring to them with an apparent homophobic slur.
‘Whyyyyyy are all these fgts folllowing [sic] meeeeeeeee,’ the post read.
But just two years later, Duwaji appeared to start posting about Israel – and allegedly even re-shared content that blamed the creation of Al-Qaeda on white people.
‘You can’t blame Muslims for terrorism because they didn’t construct, fund, or train Al-Qaeda,’ read the upload to Tumblr, which came when Duwaji was in her 20s. ‘White people did that, too.’
The account also took aim at US troops, noting how they were not brave and were ‘mercilessly slaughtering third world civilians to maintain American hegemony.’
A spokesman for Duwaji told the New York Times that she had no comment when asked what content the first lady was apologizing for.
The content appeared to have been deleted from the accounts when the Daily Mail conducted a search.
The first lady of New York also appears to have taken aim at US troops in 2015, noting how they were not brave
One image from the post she liked showed a bulldozer used by Hamas to break through into Israel on that day in which nearly 1,200 people died
The discovery of the posts came shortly after she made headlines for liking posts that celebrated the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, including one that called reports of sexual violence a ‘mass rape hoax.’
The post made by leftist group The Slow Factory included images of groups of people after having taken over an IDF vehicle, with ‘Free Palestine’ scrawled over it.
Another image said: ‘Breaking the walls of apartheid and military occupation’, followed by the date.
The image showed a bulldozer used by the group to break through into Israel on that day, in which nearly 1,200 people died.
But Mamdani has dodged questions about her liking a post in support of the October 7 attack.
‘My wife is the love of my life, and she is also a private person who has held no formal position on my campaign or in my City Hall,’ the mayor previously said.
When he was then asked whether Duwaji felt any remorse over her more recent posts on Thursday, Mamdani refused to directly answer the question.
‘You know, she shared some of her reflections in this interview,’ he said of his wife’s apology. ‘I won’t add much to them.’
‘What I will say, however, is that she is someone of incredible integrity, she is someone I am lucky to call my wife and that I am proud of her each and every day.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Duwaji for comment.
The government has said that defence spending will rise to 3 per cent of GDP by 2026.
Experts are challenging the government to outline exactly what that will mean in real-world terms.
Australia is set to boost its defense budget to an unprecedented level, as Defense Minister Richard Marles announced plans to elevate military spending to 3% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This marks the highest allocation in Australia’s peacetime history.
Speaking at the National Press Club on Thursday, Marles emphasized the significance of this increase while unveiling the 2026 National Defence Strategy. “We are witnessing the largest peacetime surge in our defense investment ever,” he stated, underscoring the government’s commitment to strengthening national security.
Despite this ambitious move, the government faces skepticism regarding the figures. Some experts have criticized the administration for engaging in what they describe as “desperate, Enron-like creative accountancy” to achieve the 3% target.
The controversy stems from differences in how defense spending is traditionally calculated. Unlike the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which includes military pensions in its calculations, Australia, not a NATO member, has historically used a different metric.
Critics argue that by adopting the NATO methodology, Marles could present a more substantial increase in defense spending than what might be inferred from a straightforward financial analysis. This includes incorporating various financial elements that inflate the overall expenditure figures.
Michael Shoebridge of Strategic Analysis Australia said it was “shameless and simply pretends we are spending more” on the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
“If the government and defence were as creative in building the ADF’s military power as they are in pretending to so, we’d be in much better shape,” he added.
Three per cent of what?
Marles said the country was currently spending 2.8 per cent of GDP on defence.
“Based on current GDP projections, we now have spending committed in the budget that will take us to a defence spend of 3 per cent of GDP by 2033.
“It is much more than this when you include other supporting investments in critical infrastructure, the defence of networks, civil preparedness and resilience, innovation, and the full strengthening of our defence industrial base.”
The newly announced spend was touted as “the most of any comparable, like-minded country in the Indo-Pacific” by the defence minister, who added that it was “more than most countries in NATO, including the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Canada”.
According to the traditional Australian standard, we are currently spending 2.03 per cent of GDP on defence, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has argued.
Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at ASPI’s Defence Strategy Program, told SBS News the NATO method “basically brings in all sorts of other non-defence things, such as housing, health care, and pensions”.
“That’s not as helpful in terms of deciding how much money the government is actually spending on capability.”
Marles denied the accusation that his government was attempting to project a larger figure than it was planning to spend, telling National Press Club host and Sky News reporter Tom Connell that it did not “have a new way of measuring defence spending”.
“We are using the NATO measure, which is how you compare apples with apples,” he said.
Still, the increase will only be 0.3-0.4 per cent over the next eight years.
“When you think about that, that’s not an awful lot, given the fact that the minister quite correctly said: ‘Look, we’re in very dangerous, challenging times with real uncertainty ahead,’” Davis said.
Opposition defence spokesman James Paterson said the government is artificially inflating the numbers.
“Accounting tricks do not make our country safer, and changing the rules about how we measure defence spending is pulling the wool over the eyes of the Australian people, not being upfront and honest with them about exactly how much we are spending,” he said.
“We have not previously counted things like military pensions towards our defence expenditure. And if we’re now going to do so, the government should be utterly transparent about how that has changed the figures.”
How Australia’s defence budget stacks up
In 2024, Australia was spending closer to 1.9 per cent of GDP on defence, according to government figures.
According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute data, around 60 countries spent more than Australia on defence that year, as a percentage of GDP.
“Spending as a per cent of GDP is a poor way to measure defence spending,” Carr said. “It doesn’t tell you if you’re spending it on the right things. It doesn’t tell you if you’re spending enough.”
“We have to look at these in terms of what specific problems we are trying to solve.”
Defence spending has been projected out to 2035-2036, but it remains to be seen what will happen beyond.
At the very top of the defence spend list, you have countries that are actively engaged in military conflict.
Ukraine, which continues to fight off Russian invasion, spent 34.5 per cent of its budget on defence in the same year. Israel, Russia, and Myanmar were all in the top ten.
“Australia is a historically secure country, and we remain in a very secure place, so I think a much better measurement than 3 per cent is asking: ‘Do we have a clear idea of what the problem we’re trying to solve with this military spending and our defence forces?’” Carr said.
Why an increased defence spend
The defence budget increase is designed to protect Australia’s national interests in a global context that is “increasingly contested and uncertain,” the defence department has said.
Marles spoke to the necessity of increasing defence spending in the context of a deteriorating ‘rules-based order’ of global politics.
“Any rules-based order can only prevent conflict when it is underpinned by the hard power necessary for collective deterrence,” he said. “Australia must contribute to this, and we are.”
The conflict in Ukraine, the war in Iran, and the looming potential threat from an increasingly militarised China are all perceived threats that the increase is designed to meet.
Natural disasters, cyber warfare, and the potential assistance of neighbouring nations during times of crisis are also considerations factored into defence-spending decisions.
“There’s a lot of those kinds of demands increasingly being faced by the government, and you might have to start doing two or more at once,” Carr said.
“That’s perhaps the biggest change of what’s new in our environment.”
Trump’s NATO demands and Australia
The increase brings Australia closer to alignment with what both NATO and US President Donald Trump have been demanding.
In June of last year, NATO ruled that member nations ought to achieve a defence spending of 3.5 per cent of annual GDP by 2035.
The US president has frequently made comments suggesting that America would not fulfil its NATO obligations for countries it did not believe had paid their “fair share” for defence.
He has even suggested that America could “pull out” of NATO entirely, saying the country gets very little in return for its contribution to the alliance.
“‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’” Trump told a campaign rally in 2024. “‘No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.”
However, Davis said Trump’s NATO demands may not have been the prime motivator behind Australia’s defence spending boost and the adoption of the NATO measure.
“I think it’s more our own understanding of the strategic environment and what we need to do to ensure our own security,” he said.
While not referring to Trump, Marles reiterated the nation’s alignment with the US, saying Australia was “deeply engaged” with the US military and needed to maintain this relationship to secure regional stability.
“Let’s also be clear: there is no effective balance of power in the Indo-Pacific absent the continued presence of the United States,” he said.
Erika Jayne has expressed her opinion that Amanda Frances, at 41 years old, might be “too young” for a spot on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”
Credit: Instagram, Bravo
During a recent interview, Erika, 54, not only suggested the return of Lisa Rinna, 62, to the popular reality series, but also shared her thoughts on Rachel Zoe potentially joining the cast. Additionally, she addressed her relationship status with boyfriend John “Shrek” McPhee and opened up about the various challenges she’s encountered on the show in recent years. Meanwhile, there are ongoing legal developments, including a lawsuit filed by the trustee overseeing her estranged husband Thomas “Tom” Girardi’s bankruptcy case.
In her conversation with Paper magazine on April 15, Erika elaborated on her views about Amanda Frances. “I think Amanda’s too young,” she stated. “I think she’s a sweet girl, but I think she’s too young. Housewives should be at a stage in life where they’ve experienced a lot, both the ups and downs, and I just feel Amanda hasn’t reached that point yet.”
When asked who she believes would make a suitable addition to the show, Erika suggested Lisa Rinna as a prime candidate.
As for who would be better, Erika named Lisa.
“I wish Rinna would come back because she was such a great asset to the show,” she noted.
According to Erika, cast members have to know what it takes to make a good show.
“And it’s not necessarily you being a nice, regular, easy person—there needs to be excitement and plot twists. You need all different personalities,” she explained, noting that she liked Rachel, 54, “very much.”
“Rachel has fit into the cast seamlessly. She’s a professional. She knows what she’s doing, and she’s having a great season,” Erika gushed.
She then said that she and John were “still dating.”
“[But] he doesn’t watch the show, and he’s not on the show,” she confirmed.
As for the hardships she’s gone through on RHOBH, Erika said the last two seasons have featured her rebuilding after a “very long fallout” related to Tom’s fraud crimes.
“I still have challenges ahead of me, but I’ve definitely been able to enjoy life a lot more. It’s been a much more calm, peaceful time for me,” she shared.
Meanwhile, in a social media update, it revealed that designer Marco Morante‘s lawsuit against her, which suggested she had falsely accused him and his Marco Marco business partner, Christopher Psaila (who filed his own $18 million lawsuit against Erika in a separate state), of making $800,000 in fraudulent charges to her credit card, had been dismissed.
As seen in a screenshot shared by Real Reality Homosexual on Instagram, a judge granted a motion to dismiss the Florida-based case, with a note that the plaintiff must file an amended complaint by April 24 to reinstate it.
Around the same time, attorney Ronald Richards shared an additional update on the trustee case, noting that “an entity related to counsel in the Marco Marco case, Christopher Psalia case has agreed to purchase the lawsuit we filed against Erika Girardi for $2,000,000.”
“This means they will step into the shoes of the Trustee if approved by the Court and try the case against Erika,” he added, along with a copy of the purchase agreement.
🚨🚨🚨Breaking: An entity related to counsel in the Marco Marco case, Christopher Psalia case has agreed to purchase the lawsuit we filed against Erika Girardi for $2,000,000. This means they will step into the shoes of the Trustee if approved by the Court and try the case…
The daughter of a missing woman from the Bahamas has voiced her anger toward her stepfather upon her arrival on Great Abaco Island this Thursday.
Karli Aylesworth has previously criticized her stepfather, Brian Hooker, who was the last known person to be with her mother, Lynette Hooker, on April 4. Brian claims that Lynette accidentally fell overboard from their dinghy at approximately 7:30 p.m. while they were heading towards their sailboat anchored near Elbow Key.
Brian was taken into custody by the Royal Bahamas Police Force on April 8 and spent five days in jail as authorities investigated the circumstances of Lynette’s disappearance. He was released on Monday night without any charges being filed against him.
On Tuesday morning, Brian told various news organizations that he intended to stay in the Bahamas to continue the search for Lynette. However, he departed for the United States on Wednesday, arriving in Atlanta by mid-afternoon, according to a source who spoke to Fox News Digital.
Karli Aylesworth, accompanied by her partner Steven Hansen, touched down in Marsh Harbour, The Bahamas, on Thursday, April 16, 2026. Aylesworth is the daughter of Lynette Hooker, the American woman who remains missing. (Photo by Matthew Symons for the New York Post)
“I think it shows his character. He somehow lost my mom at sea and cries on camera saying he’ll never stop searching, then leaves the next day,” Aylesworth told the New York Post upon her arrival to the town of Marsh Harbour, close to where her mother went missing.
Brian Hooker leaves his hotel with lawyer Terell A. Butler in Freeport, the Bahamas, Tuesday, April 14, 2026.(Matthew Symons for Fox News Digital)
She deplaned at the tiny Leonard Thompson International Airport in Marsh Harbour with her boyfriend, Steve Hansen. They were reportedly met by a uniformed police officer before taking off in a taxi.
Hooker’s attorney, Terrel Butler, said he was going to visit Hooker’s mother.
Karli Aylesworth and partner Steven Hansen arrive in Marsh Harbour, the Bahamas, Thursday, April 16, 2026.(Matthew Symons for NY Post)
“Following his release from custody without charge, Mr. Hooker is now facing another emergency. In addition to the trauma of his wife of 25 years being missing, Mr. Hooker has received urgent word of his mother’s grave illness,” Butler told NBC News.
“He has traveled to [the] United States of America to be at her bedside during this critical time.”
After her mother’s disappearance, Aylesworth told Fox News Digital she was aware of “prior issues” with Brian’s behavior.
Brian and Lynette Hooker sit on a dinghy in the water in an undated image.(Brian Hooker/Facebook)
“There have been prior issues brought to my attention, which may be important for any thorough investigation. If this truly was an accident, I can understand and live with it,” Aylesworth said. “However, there needs to be an intensive review of the facts and circumstances of this tragic incident before that can be determined.”
Karli Aylesworth and her partner Steven Hansen arrive in Marsh Harbour, the Bahamas, Thursday, April 16, 2026.(Matthew Symons for NY Post)
Aylesworth said she has been “privy to very little information,” adding her “sole concern is to find out what happened to my mother and make sure a full and complete investigation is performed into her disappearance.”
She also told “Fox and Friends” that something “doesn’t add up” with her mother’s disappearance, and accused Brian of having a “history of domestic violence” and anger issues.
Meanwhile, Bahamian police said their search for Lynette was coming to an end as early as Thursday after analyzing “tide, drift and wind” and deciding there was nowhere else to look. A U.S. Coast Guard investigation remains ongoing.
Lynette Hooker went missing after she fell off a small boat on Saturday evening. Her husband, Brian Hooker, reported her missing early Sunday morning.(Lynette Hooker/Facebook; Brian Hooker/Facebook)
Brian has maintained he had nothing to do with Lynette’s disappearance and that it was purely an accident driven by windy conditions and choppy seas.
Before he was jailed, he said he was “heartbroken” over Lynette’s disappearance.
“I am heartbroken over the recent boat accident in unpredictable seas and high winds that caused my beloved Lynette to fall from our small dinghy near Elbow Cay in the Bahamas,” he wrote.
“Despite desperate attempts to reach her, the winds and currents drove us further apart. We continue to search for her, and that is my sole focus.”
Peter D’Abrosca is a reporter at Fox News Digital covering crime and campus extremism in higher education.
Follow Peter on X at @pmd_reports. Send story tips to peter.dabrosca@fox.com.
Background: News footage of the home in Springville, Utah, where neighbors heard gunshots on March 20 (KSL). Inset (left): Sarah Johnson (Springville Police Department). Inset (right): John Handricks (Facebook).
A Utah man has been taken into custody in connection with the suspected deaths of his mother and her friend, as authorities believe both individuals are deceased.
Matthew Leonard, 28, reported his mother, 50-year-old Sarah Johnson, missing on March 26, according to the Springville Police Department. Police later revealed that Johnson was last spotted at her Springville, Utah, residence on the night of March 20, alongside 50-year-old John Handricks. Handricks had also been reported missing from Salt Lake City, Utah. Following a thorough search of the Springville home and interviews with witnesses, investigators suspect that Johnson and Handricks may have been shot and killed.
Several weeks after the pair vanished, law enforcement apprehended Leonard, who now faces charges of two counts of aggravated murder.
According to court documents reviewed by local NBC station KSL, Leonard had been under law enforcement scrutiny in the weeks preceding the disappearance of his mother and Handricks. He was previously arrested on March 9, facing charges of electronic communication harassment. Reports indicate Leonard had sent numerous text messages and made multiple calls to his girlfriend, who is also the mother of his child. Despite being instructed to cease contact, he proceeded to send 11 messages and make 11 calls within a 90-minute window.
Authorities noted that some of Leonard’s messages contained threats of self-harm, and he exhibited signs of paranoia in the days that followed. Consequently, his girlfriend sought a protective order against him on March 13, as stated by police.
When Handricks was reported missing to Salt Lake City police on March 23, the reporting party said he had last been seen with Johnson on March 20. Police spoke to Leonard on March 26 to ask him about Handricks being seen with his mother. That day, Leonard filled out paperwork to report Johnson missing.
Leonard pleaded guilty to the harassment charge on April 7, the day after Springville police said they received “unconfirmed” information that Johnson and Handricks were dead. According to the court documents, it was Johnson’s father who told police that his granddaughter apparently got a text from her friend that said Johnson “had been shot and the body had not been located.”
Police said witnesses saw Johnson and Handricks at the Springville home with Leonard on March 20, “one of whom heard possible gunshots inside the residence.”
According to the court documents, detectives executed a search warrant at the home on April 11. While investigating inside the house, detectives said they found “evidence of blood, shell casings, and a bullet slug.” In Johnson’s bedroom, they observed blood “in the grooves between flooring planks.” Large pools of blood were allegedly present in the same room against two separate walls, leading detectives to believe that the victims were deceased. The detectives noted that there was an attempt to clean up the blood and said they believed Leonard “disposed of the bodies.”
Leonard was arrested the same day. He is currently being held at the Utah County Jail without bail.
KSL reported that the Utah County Attorney’s Office requested additional time to gather evidence before formally charging Leonard with two counts of aggravated murder. He is also facing pending charges of possession of a substance with intent to distribute, use or possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance, prohibited dangerous weapon conduct, and obstruction of justice. His next court date was not available.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump prepared to embark on Air Force One, heading first to Nevada and then to Arizona. His mission was to highlight the benefits of the Working Families Tax Cuts and the positive impact these measures have had on average Americans. In his usual style, Trump engaged with reporters in an impromptu press briefing before boarding the aircraft, where he shared some significant updates: most notably, Iran’s decision to relinquish its stockpile of enriched uranium.
Trump stated:
WATCH:
Very important is that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon and they’ve agreed to that. Iran’s agreed to that, and they’ve agreed to it very powerfully. They’ve agreed to give us back the nuclear dust, which is way underground because of the attack we made with the B-2 bombers. So, we have a lot of agreement with Iran, and I think something’s going to happen very positively.
WATCH:
AFP VIDEO President Trump says Iran has “agreed to give us back the nuclear dust that’s way underground.” He was speaking to the press at the White House. pic.twitter.com/tAfQpj9RZe
In Florida, April is observed as ‘Hot Car Death Prevention Month,’ a time dedicated to highlighting the severe dangers associated with leaving children unattended in vehicles. This initiative aims to increase awareness and encourage preventive measures to avert these tragic incidents.
Florida ranks among the states with the highest number of pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths, underscoring the urgency of this campaign. Palm Harbor fire officials point out that distractions are the leading cause of caregivers inadvertently leaving their children in cars.
To address this issue, authorities emphasize the importance of never leaving a child alone in a vehicle, regardless of the duration. They have introduced the acronym ACT as a reminder to take proactive steps against this hazard.
Dr. Ebony Hunter, an Emergency Center Physician at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, stresses, “There is no safe amount of time to leave a child unattended in a parked car.” Her words serve as a critical reminder of the potential consequences of even a brief lapse in attention.
Avoid heatstroke
Create reminders: put your phone, keys, a shoe, etc. in the backseat where the child is.
Take action: if you see a child in a hot car, call 911.
“There is no safe amount of time to leave a child unattended in a parked car,” said Dr. Ebony Hunter, Emergency Center Physician, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital.
In late March, the first pediatric vehicular heatstroke fatality in Florida was recorded for 2026.
“A child doesn’t thermoregulate or regulate their bodies temperatures like an adult can. So, they regulate or get hotter, three to five times faster than an adult would,” Dr. Hunter said. ‘
Noheatstroke.org said since 1998, over 1,000 children have died in hot cars, and more than half of these deaths happen across the country due to the child being forgotten by the caregiver.
“The biggest thing we’re seeing is distractions and it’s especially our cellphones. We get on our cellphones, or we get a phone call and it’s not in our routine. We’re on our way to work and it’s not in our routine to drop off the baby that day at daycare,” said Liz Willi, PIO for Palm Harbor Fire Rescue and Chair for Pinellas County Safe Kids.
With the extreme heat in Florida, it becomes especially dangerous.
“The temperature in the vehicle can rise as much as 19 degrees in 10 minutes,” said Petra Stanton, Injury Prevention Program Manager with Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Safe Kids Florida Suncoast.
Medical experts said this accident can happen to anyone, so people need to take every precaution they can.
“Leave yourself a reminder in the front, maybe put a baby item on the front seat next to you to remind you, a blanket or a bottle to remind you to look in that back seat,” Willi said.
Officials said these types of incidents are 100% preventable. One example is that technology has advanced so much; they now have sensors that will send you an alert if you don’t unbuckle your child from their car seat.
