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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.
Taylor Swift has contributed $50,000 to a GoFundMe campaign supporting Ashley Taunton, a 42-year-old certified nursing assistant from Connecticut who was critically injured after pulling over to aid a group of teenagers on a rain-slicked highway last month.
“Wishing you the best recovery possible and sending love to your family!” the 36-year-old “Cruel Summer” singer wrote with the donation, signing the note simply, “Taylor.”
Taunton was traveling south on I-95 in Rhode Island with her youngest daughter on July 18 when she came upon three teens whose vehicle had hydroplaned and crashed during a severe rainstorm.
“When I see there’s somebody in trouble, I tend to want to go help,” Taunton told People, explaining why she decided to stop.
After making sure her daughter remained safe inside their vehicle, Taunton went to check on the teenagers, who she said appeared to be a “little bit banged up” in the aftermath of the crash.
However, as Taunton attempted to help move the group out of harm’s way, another vehicle lost control on the wet roadway and came barreling toward them.
Taunton managed to push one of the teens out of the vehicle’s path before she was struck herself.
Taunton suffered a number of devastating injuries, including multiple fractured ribs, a ruptured diaphragm, internal bleeding and injuries to her liver and spleen.
She was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital, where she began what could be a year-long recovery process that includes extensive physical therapy.
In a shocking twist, Taunton later discovered that one of the teenagers whose life she helped save was Vinny, the son of her longtime friend Jamie O’Rourke.
Taunton recalled that her friend “just lost it” upon learning who had come to her son’s rescue.
“Oh my gosh, that was Ashley? She saved my son’s life,” Taunton recalled O’Rourke saying.
“She was so courageous to put herself in danger,” O’Rourke separately told local outlet WPRI.
A GoFundMe was subsequently launched to help Taunton, her husband, Joe, and their three children with expenses while she recovers.
Swift’s $50,000 contribution became the fundraiser’s largest individual donation.
The Grammy winner has become well known for opening her wallet to people and organizations in need over the years, frequently making sizable donations to food banks, disaster-relief efforts and fans facing financial hardships.
The frightening ordeal, meanwhile, has given Taunton a new perspective on life.
The mom said she is grateful to be alive and has learned not to take her time with loved ones for granted as she faces the long road to recovery.
Search continues for hundreds missing after Nepal floods
Rescue teams in Nepal are racing to find hundreds of people still missing after catastrophic flooding and mudslides, among them dozens of Americans who remain unaccounted for. Fox News foreign correspondent Jeff Paul reported on the intensifying recovery effort on “America Reports.”
The death toll from the powerful floods and mudslides along the Nepal-China border has climbed to at least 676, with bad weather slowing and, in some areas, halting rescue operations.
Nepali officials revised their figures Saturday, bringing the combined number of deaths in Nepal and Tibet to 676, with nearly 3,000 people reported missing, according to The Associated Press. Chinese authorities have confirmed seven deaths and more than 550 missing people, while Nepal’s disaster agency said 669 people had died and 2,426 others were missing.
Specialists believe Wednesday’s flash floods and mudslides across Nepal and China’s Tibet region were triggered when a large section of ice broke away from a glacier and crashed into the Lhende Khola River. Efforts to reach the hardest-hit area have been severely hampered by washed-out roads, damaged infrastructure and limited communications. Conditions are expected to remain challenging, with intermittent rain forecast through the weekend.
“Search and rescue operations have been temporarily halted because it is raining, and the weather is foggy,” Narendra Pariyar, a senior official in Nepal’s Rasuwa district, told Reuters.
MORE THAN 3,000 MISSING AFTER COLOMBIA EARTHQUAKE AS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PROVIDES $15.5 MILLION IN RELIEF
A man holds an umbrella as he stands in front of damaged buildings after flash floods and a mudslide, in Trishuli, Nuwakot district, Nepal, August 29, 2026.(REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha)
While Nepalese authorities have stressed they don’t need countries to send people to help with general search and rescue, they did request that China send tunnel experts as up to 100 people are still trapped in a mud-filled hydropower plant tunnel.
“We have already made requests for such specialised services and technical assistance in areas where we don’t have enough expertise and technical know-how,” Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal told Reuters.
China dispatched five such workers from Tibet by helicopter to assist, according to the country’s state-affiliated Xinhua news agency.
Chinese rescue workers arrive at Maithali Barrack, an army training centre that serves as a primary base for airlifting survivors, following deadly flash floods and a mudslide in Trishuli, Nuwakot district, Nepal, August 29, 2026.(REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha)
Dramatic video showed the rescue of one such person as authorities from Nepal worked to drag the man out of the mud deluge.
Though impending rainstorms are likely to make rescue operations more difficult, officials say a previous threat from a lake that had formed on the border between Nepal and Tibet has substantially subsided.
The lake had been overflowing into the Lhende Khola River, risking further flooding, but that risk had gone down by Saturday, according to Chinese officials.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is reportedly looking to revive her acting career, with those ambitions said to be among the key reasons behind her and Prince Harry’s planned return to the UK.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is said to be considering an acting comeback as she and Prince Harry prepare for a return to the UK
The 45-year-old mother-of-two is reportedly in talks over what could become her most high-profile screen role since Suits, with a possible part in Guy Ritchie’s Netflix crime hit The Gentlemen. Claims of the negotiations surfaced after reports last week said Meghan, Harry and their family are preparing to return to Britain in September.
Meghan is reportedly discussing joining a potential third season of the British gangster comedy-drama, although it’s also said no contract has been signed and Netflix has yet to officially renew the show for another season.
The talks, reported by The Sun, emerge as Meghan and Prince Harry, 41, prepare to relocate to Britain with Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, after six years based in California.
Since her father, sister and two other relatives vanished in the catastrophic flash floods along the Nepal-China border, Mukti Patel has been gathered with family and friends at her parents’ home in Richmond, Virginia.
She has been told that the hotel where they were staying was swept away. Yet while speaking about them Friday and recalling moments they shared, she stopped herself mid-thought.
“I shouldn’t talk in past tense yet,” she said. “We don’t know anything.”
As rescue teams kept digging survivors out of the mud, relatives of some of the more than 2,000 people still missing clung to the possibility — however fragile — that their loved ones might still be alive.
During a Zoom call Thursday night, some families asked whether they could travel to the area and whether a missing relative could have survived in an air pocket, said Sanket Pandey, managing director of Himalayan Glacier Adventure and Travel Company.
The tour group, which has an office in Baltimore, had organized a two-week excursion to the region with 40 guests and seven tour guides. All of them are now missing, Pandey said. Their families are desperate for any information.
“It’s really difficult to have nothing,” he said.
Patel’s family was in the Himalayan Glacier group when the floods struck on Wednesday, killing hundreds of people and leaving more than 2,000 missing. About 90 Americans are among those unaccounted for, according to the U.S. State Department.
Patel, 27, said her dad, Umesh Kumar, 56, had wanted to make the trip for many years and traveled through India to Nepal, where he was joined by her sister, Akanksha, 32, and her sister’s husband, Ishan, 32.
Ishan’s mom, Shilpa, 59, was also on the trek. Ishan and Shilpa Patel have dual Canadian and U.S. citizenship while Umesh Kumar and Akanksha Patel are Canadian citizens, according to Mukti Patel.
Akanksha Patel is a psychiatrist who wants to break stigma around mental health problems, her sister said.
“Everything I’ve done in life has been off the blueprint of my sister,” Mukti Patel said between tears in a phone interview. “There’s no ounce of meanness in her.”
Her father is a joyous person who helped victims of the COVID-19 pandemic, and her brother-in-law, an orthopedic surgeon, has brought great happiness to her sister’s life, she said.
Ishan Patel turned 32 on Wednesday, and the family called to wish him a happy birthday. That was their last contact.
Mukti Patel said she would like more countries to help the rescue and recovery efforts.
Jiwan Jyoti, who has U.S. citizenship, also was traveling with Himalayan Glacier and was listed by the group as missing. They had stopped in Timure, Nepal, before they were set to leave for a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus, Buddhists and others, her longtime friend Manmeet Singh Meet said.
Jyoti, a 50-year-old from Lexington, Massachusetts, called her family from breakfast on Wednesday as she was preparing to cross into Tibet.
Meet said the phone call ended “at around 8:40 a.m. local time in Nepal, and then I think around 8:45, this flash floods came, and then our world turned upside down.”
He later heard that the hotel where Jyoti had been staying — and where her location was last recorded on the Find My iPhone app — was destroyed. Now Meet said he is losing hope that his best friend of 15 years will be found alive.
“She was essentially almost in the epicenter over there,” Meet said.
Vaasavi Unnava, a 31-year-old PhD student, thought her parents had already crossed into Tibet with the same tour group when she learned about the flooding.
“I was not really that worried, but I just sent them a text like to be sure,” she said. The WhatsApp message didn’t get delivered.
Her father, Hanumantha Rao Unnava, and mother, Vasundhara Unnava, had set out on a retirement trip and were most excited to go spend two months in India with family after going to Mount Kailash. The couple from Woodland, California, is among dozens of U.S. citizens missing in the flood.
“They were so, so excited. My dad was talking about finally getting to spend time with his mother,” Vaasavi Unnava said.
Until recently, her father was the dean of the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis, and her mother lectured at the university, she said. Vaasavi Unnava described her dad as “disciplined and duty-bound” but also “a big joker.” She described her mom as “spontaneous and playful” and “the smartest woman I’ve ever met.”
“They have just changed so many people’s lives for the better,” she added.
Even in San Francisco neighborhoods struggling with visible poverty and street disorder, the cost of a basic one-bedroom apartment remains strikingly high — a reality coming into focus as one of America’s most influential bankers prepares to invest $200 million in the Bay Area.
The city’s Tenderloin District has long been associated with difficult living conditions. Over the years, many retailers and residents have moved out as homelessness, public drug use and other street-level challenges have become defining features of the area.
According to a KRON 4 review, the least expensive one-bedroom apartment in the battered neighborhood is at 245 Leavenworth Street, where the unit offers a tight bedroom and a notably compact kitchen.
The apartment does come with some practical advantages. It allows pets, has laundry access down the block and sits across from a small grocery store. The building is also close to three hotels and the Asian Art Museum, with strong walkability and transit access for residents without cars.
Still, anyone moving in would be paying $2,195 a month while stepping into a neighborhood where encampments, homeless crowds and discarded drug paraphernalia are part of the daily streetscape.
A studio is also available in the same building for $1,700, and appears to have a much larger kitchen space and has been updated with newer appliances.
The Tenderloin District has the lowest safety rating in San Francisco, according to Safemap.
And despite the neighborhood’s high walkability score, Safemap determined pedestrians were at a high risk while perusing the streets.
A unit on 245 Leavenworth Street is going for $2,195 in the Tenderlion District of San Francisco. And despite being much cheaper than the average one-bedroom unit, the new resident would have to deal with a massive catch
The small apartment has plenty of natural light, but the area is rating the lowest in safety and is filled with drug addicts and homeless people
Assaults, homicide, and human trafficking are on the up in the Tenderloin District this year, compared to the same time last year, San Francisco Police Department statistics showed.
And despite the eyewatering cost and risky location, it is half the price of an average one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco, which goes for around $4,300, according to Zillow.
In a year, one-bedroom apartments have increased by more than $1,000 per year, compared to the same time last year as lofty AI jobs have driven up prices. August 2025, one-bedrooms sat around $3,150.
San Francisco is also considerably higher priced than Los Angeles, where one-bedrooms typically go for around $2,100.
JPMorgan Chase CEO, Jamie Dimon, recently announced he would be investing $200 million into Bay Area housing and would be opening a new headquarters there.
Dimon designated the region as a new corporate center for the bank earlier this month, after pledging to fund hundreds of waterfront units in the city.
The finance exec praised the Golden City’s booming economy and the stunning comeback it has made on public safety since the initiation of Mayor Daniel Lurie in January 2025.
Speaking at the Chase Center earlier this month, Dimon said Lurie has been ‘doing all the right stuff’ as crime rates have plummeted in the downtown retail hub.
And despite the neighborhood’s high walkability score, Safemap determined pedestrians were at a high risk while perusing the streets. Pictured: Homeless people in San Francisco in December
The sidewalks are full of homeless encampments and drug paraphernalia
Dimon also lauded Lurie’s new zoning plan, but said eyewatering rent prices are still pushing public sector workers like nurses and teachers out of the California city.
‘If you had proper [housing] supply that could be rapidly deployed, you wouldn’t have that problem,’ Dimon said. ‘I think we should raise our hand and do things that fix it.’
America’s biggest bank is helping alleviate this by investing $200million to help fund a 342-unit waterfront housing project less than a mile from Chase Center, he said.
This is part of the bank’s nationwide investment of $750billion through 2035 to help increase housing supply, including building one million affordable units.
Spiraling drug-fueled crime in San Francisco’s downtown area has prompted a mass exodus of retailers from the city in recent years, but it started making a comeback last year as police cracked down on street violence and store break-ins.
Overall, crime in the city dropped 25 percent in 2025 compared with the previous year, with violent crime decreasing by 18 percent and property crime 27 percent.
The trend continued across most crime categories this year, with one notable exception – homicides, with 16 recorded in the first six months of 2026 compared with 12 during the same period last year.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is investing $200 million into the Bay Area as he believes the area has started to clean itself up
Dimon also lauded Mayor Daniel Lurie’s new zoning plan and reducing crime, but said eyewatering rent prices are still pushing public sector workers like nurses and teachers out of the California city
San Francisco Police pushed back on the narrative that this amounted to a trending rise in murder rates, saying the incidents were isolated and could not have been tackled by violence prevention strategies, which have been increasing public safety on the whole.
Dimon appears to agree by making a major bet on the city with his latest long-term investments.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the listing agent for comment.
Laura Owens, the daughter of longtime San Francisco radio personality Ronn Owens, has admitted she falsely claimed she was pregnant after a romantic encounter with former The Bachelor star Clayton Echard.
Owens, 36, pleaded guilty Friday to multiple fraud-related charges tied to Echard, 33, as well as separate charges connected to her former boyfriend, Gregory Gillespie.
Under the plea agreement, prosecutors dropped 10 of the 14 felony counts she had faced. In return, Owens admitted guilt to two counts of fraudulent schemes and artifices, one count of perjury and one count of taking the identity of another person.
She is expected to face probation on the counts other than the first fraud charge. That lead count carries the possibility of probation or a prison sentence of up to 12 and a half years when she is sentenced on October 23.
Owens was indicted in May 2025 on felony counts including fraud, forgery and perjury after prosecutors alleged she fabricated a pregnancy involving Echard.
In August 2023, she filed a paternity petition in court in Phoenix, Arizona, accusing Echard of fathering her twins during an alleged one-night stand.
Echard denied fathering any children with Owens, claiming that the pair did not have intercourse but did have romantic contact, the Daily Mail previously reported.
That November, Owens testified in court that she was 24 weeks pregnant with twins and prosecutors alleged that she produced a doctored sonogram and fake pregnancy video.
Laura Owens, 35, entered a guilty plea on Friday as part of a settlement after she faked pregnancies with two men, including The Bachelor star Clayton Echard
Clayton Echard appeared on The Bachelor Season 26 and denied ever having intercourse with Owens
After facing fourteen felonies, Owens pleaded guilty to four counts – two counts of fraudulent schemes and artifices, one count of perjury and one count of taking the identity of another – with the other ten dismissed. She is pictured at Maricopa County Superior Court on Friday
But shortly after the court appearance, she dropped her lawsuit and claimed to have miscarried.
Her first two fraud convictions relate to the fraud against Echard, which took place between May 2023 and June 2024.
The remaining charges concern her ex-boyfriend Gillespie, who she dated briefly in 2021.
His connection to the case was sparked by their realizing they shared the same family law attorney, KTAR News reported.
‘Ms Owens’s admission of guilt today is a step in the right direction towards acknowledging the significant harm that her crimes caused her victims and the community,’ Gregg Woodnick, Echard and Gillespie’s attorney, told the Daily Mail in a statement.
‘We are tremendously appreciative of the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and their investigators who have worked tirelessly to pursue justice.’
Echard previously told the Daily Mail that Owens’s pregnancy claims turned his life upside down.
He claimed that she immediately became ‘obsessed’ with him after he dumped her and then falsified the pregnancy.
Laura Owens submitted a picture she said was her baby bump to the court during a paternity petition in which she claimed Echard was the father
Echard, who was ‘The Bachelor’ on Season 26 of the hit ABC dating show and who now works as a realtor in Scottsdale, said he felt ‘vindicated’ when prosecutors charged her last May.
He told the Daily Mail in October that he believed Owens’s mother, former radio reporter Jan Black, was the driving force behind her daughter’s legal problems. However, she denied that accusation.
‘I don’t even really blame Laura,’ he said. ‘I think her mom has enabled and encouraged her daughter and Laura doesn’t even realize it.’
Black, however, insisted that her daughter’s pregnancy was real and said Laura has been ‘tormented’ online, hounded by ‘men’s rights podcasters’ and prosecuted selectively by the state of Arizona.
Laura, however, sounded cheerful when the Daily Mail reached her by phone in Arizona at the time.
‘I can’t tell you how much I wish I could make a statement to you,’ she said. ‘And I would be happy to once the criminal side of things is over.
‘I have lots to say, but I would get in trouble. I can say I am innocent but nothing more for now. It’s best if you go through my mother.’
Echard’s version of his relationship with Owens began casually, with no warning signs. He said Owens first reached out to him on LinkedIn in May 2023, asking to contact a brokerage he was part of.
Owens was indicted last May on felony charges of fraud, forgery and perjury after allegedly falsifying a pregnancy with Echard
Documents and photos between Gillespie and Laura allege a disturbing pattern – including a text thread where she allegedly sent him ultrasounds claiming to be pregnant with twins
Echard claimed that when he didn’t want to pursue a relationship with Laura, a ‘switch flipped’ and she began sending him positive pregnancy tests
‘I basically said sure and we exchanged cell phone numbers,’ Echard said. ‘She started to text me saying she wanted to see homes, then she started to be flirtatious. She sent me a provocative photo and the mood shifted. I said you should come over.
‘She was completely normal, which is sad, because she could have had a totally normal life.
The trouble began, he said, when he told her he wasn’t interested in pursuing a relationship after their night together.
‘I was under the influence of marijuana that night,’ he said.
‘If I’d been sober, I wouldn’t have asked her to come over. When I woke up the next day, I felt it was a mistake. She started talking as if we were going down a serious path. I just wanted to be blunt and not lead her on.’
What happened next, Echard says, ‘was very eerie.’
When he gently told Owens he didn’t want to date her, he said ‘a switch flipped. It wasn’t her there anymore.’
Echard said she began sending him five or six angry emails per day, sent process servers to his workplace and filed to have his Arizona Department of Real Estate license pulled.
At one point he asked her to come to his apartment to take a pregnancy test that turned out to be positive and ‘rattled’ him, he said, until he decided she was taking HCG, a pregnancy hormone sometimes used in equine care, to fake test results.
Echard claimed Owens began sending him five or six angry emails per day including this one that shows the pregnancy announcement photo that she planned to post if he didn’t unblock her
Owens was additionally accused of faking a twin pregnancy and another singular pregnancy after her relationship with Michael Marraccini, pictured, fell apart in 2016
Echard said that initially, before he knew if Owens was truly pregnant: ‘I thought she had trapped me.’
Echard added that he was moving on with his life and focusing on his real estate career and new hobby, dancing, which he showcases on his Instagram account.
‘I totally compartmentalize that experience,’ he says. ‘I feel I happened to stumble across one of the most crazy individuals I’ve ever met.
‘The chances of me stumbling across another one? I’m not going to carry baggage from something previous.’
The Daily Mail reached out to Owens and her lawyers for comment.
A sweeping public corruption case tied to a former San Gabriel Valley elected official came to light after FBI agents uncovered $62,900 in cash hidden in his backyard, authorities said.
Ricardo Pacheco, 63, a former Baldwin Park councilman, was sentenced this week to 18 months in federal prison for his part in the bribery scheme, according to an announcement from the Department of Justice.
In addition to the prison term, Pacheco was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and forfeit nearly $220,000, federal prosecutors said.
The prosecution also involved Jacob Galvan, 39, a former Compton councilman, who received the same 18-month federal prison sentence and was ordered to pay $323,557 in restitution.
Federal officials said the two men carried out “corrupt acts while they were elected officials,” including exchanging tens of thousands of dollars in bribes for a police union’s backing and for help securing official city permits connected to marijuana cultivation.
Pacheco served on the Baldwin Park council from 1997 to 2020 and briefly served as mayor pro tem in 2018. He pleaded guilty to corruption in June 2020.
He admitted accepting thousands of dollars in bribes — including a $20,000 cash payment from a Baldwin Park police officer secretly working with the FBI
Between January and October 2018, Pacheco solicited and received $37,900 from the undercover officer.
“The police officer who made the payments did so at the direction of the FBI after another officer and he approached the FBI and agreed to assist in its ongoing corruption investigation,” the DOJ said
“In exchange for the payments, Pacheco voted in favor of the Police Association contract in March 2018.” The contract was worth at least $4.4 million over three years.
Pacheco later became a federal informant, helping investigators take down a half-dozen figures tied to the marijuana industry and local government, the LA Times reported.
As part of his plea deal, Pacheco resigned from the council and forfeited $83,145 seized by the FBI — including the $62,900 buried in two spots in his backyard.
Galvan, who served on the Compton council from 2013 to 2022, admitted paying Pacheco $70,000 in bribes in exchange for his “votes and support for commercial marijuana permits,” according to the DOJ.
Galvan also admitted failing to report more than $500,000 in income to the IRS.
The corruption began taking shape in 2017, when Baldwin Park started seeking approval for marijuana cultivation, manufacturing and distribution within city limits, prosecutors said.
Pacheco began soliciting bribes from businesses seeking marijuana development agreements and permits, while Galvan acted as a “consultant” who connected marijuana operators with the councilman.
“In exchange for the illicit payments, Pacheco agreed to use his position in city government to assist the companies with obtaining marijuana permits, including voting in their favor.”
Pacheco’s restitution hearing is scheduled for the coming weeks.
Queen Camilla is said to be “firmly on Team Kate” as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle make their return to the UK, with royal commentator Andrew Lownie claiming she is encouraging King Charles to impose “clear boundaries” with the Sussexes.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived in Birmingham this week ahead of what is being described as an “extended stay” in Britain, during which their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, have been enrolled at school.
Although reports have suggested the King was informed of their plans only three days before the news became public, Mr Lownie has backed claims of an Establishment “plot” to ease the couple back into life in the UK after they stepped down as working royals and relocated to the United States in 2020.
“The King and the Prince of Wales have long been aware of the Sussexes’ plan to return to Britain, but it has suited their purposes to distance themselves whilst public opinion is tested,” Mr Lownie told this newspaper.
He also claimed the Prince and Princess of Wales are “concerned” that Harry and Meghan, who are expected to live in a non-royal residence outside London, may be seeking the kind of “half-in, half-out” arrangement that was rejected when they first left frontline royal duties.
While their arrival threatens the possibility of ‘two competing courts’, there is little doubt about where the Queen’s loyalties lie, according to Mr Lownie.
‘The Queen, who is very close to Kate, has been stiffening the resolve of the King to establish clear boundaries for [Harry and Meghan],’ he claimed.
‘There remains a great deal of family dissension about the way the King has handled the Sussex problem on top of the ‘ too little, too late’ strategy on the disgraced former prince Andrew and his family’.
Queen Camilla is ‘firmly on Team Kate’ amid Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s return and is urging the King to set ‘clear boundaries’, royal expert Andrew Lownie has said
The historian claimed Camilla wants the King to ‘establish clear boundaries’ with the Sussexes. They are pictured here at Royal Ascot in 2018
The Daily Mail has contacted Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace for comment.
Perhaps Camilla’s stance is unsurprising, considering Harry’s ‘very unflattering’ portrayal of her in Spare and in subsequent interviews promoting his ghostwritten memoir, which was leaked in January 2023.
The crux of Harry’s accusations was that Camilla had embarked on a ‘dangerous’ campaign to ‘rehabilitate her image’ in the wake of her affair with the then-Prince of Wales.
He described a ‘long-term strategy’ to become Queen Consort that involved ‘trading stories’ with the press to bolster her public image.
‘Shortly after our private meetings with her, she began to develop her long-term strategy, a campaign directed at marriage and, with time, the Crown (with the blessing of our father, we supposed),’ the duke wrote.
‘News stories started appearing in all the newspapers about her conversations with Willy, stories which recounted lots of small details, none of which came from my brother, of course.’
When Columbia Broadcasting System News’ 60 Minutes host Anderson Cooper grilled Harry about his ‘unflattering portrayal’ of the Queen Consort, the duke doubled down on claims Camilla ‘needed to rehabilitate her image’ after Diana’s interview with Martin Bashir.
Princess Diana’s interview with the former BBC journalist Martin Bashir in 1995 marked the first time that she had publicly addressed claims that Charles and Camilla had an affair during her marriage to the then-Prince of Wales.
At the time, she sensationally told Bashir: ‘There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.’
Prince Harry greeting Camilla, then the Duchess of Cornwall, at a thanksgiving service for his godfather Gerald Ward at St Mary’s Church, Chiltern Foliat on October 3, 2008 in Hungerford
When CBS News’ Anderson Cooper grilled Harry about his ‘unflattering portrayal’ of the Queen Consort in Spare, the duke doubled down on claims Camilla tried to ‘rehabilitate her image’
Speaking to Cooper, Harry accused his stepmother of ‘trading information’ with the press in an attempt to get more positive stories written about herself, before sensationally suggesting that her ‘connections’ with the media would end up with ‘people or bodies left in the street’.
‘[Her need to rehabilitate her image] made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press,’ he told Cooper.
‘And there was open willingness on both sides to trade information. And with a family built on hierarchy, and with her, on the way to being Queen Consort, there was gonna be people or bodies left in the street because of that.’
When asked where his relationship with Camilla stands today, Harry conceded that they ‘haven’t spoken for a long time’, but added that he ‘loves every member of his family’ and that when he and the Queen Consort ‘see each other, we’re perfectly pleasant’.
When they were finally reunited at Highgrove House last month, insiders told the Daily Mail the mood was ‘polite with no recrimination’.
Queen Camilla joined Charles as they hosted the Sussexes, including their grandchildren Archie and Lilibet, for tea at the monarch’s Gloucestershire residence, while the Prince and Princess of Wales chose to skip the reunion in favour of a charity polo match.
But Harry should not mistake the Queen’s ‘fixed smile’ for forgiveness just yet, claimed Mr Lownie.
The author suggested Camilla has grown ‘very close to Kate’ in the years since Megxit while remaining wary of the King’s younger son and his wife.
Mr Lownie suggested Camilla has grown ‘very close to Kate’ in the years since Megxit while remaining wary of the King’s younger son and his wife
The pair put on a united front on Remembrance Sunday last year, with a body language expert telling the Daily Mail they shared a ‘warm chat’ while watching the service at the Cenotaph.
Remarking on Camilla and Kate’s heartwarming moment, communication coach Judi James told the Daily Mail how the pair supported one another during the solemn event.
‘There was an exchange of what looked like warm chat between the present and future queens here, with Camilla’s rather playful smile and side-eye appearing to make Kate beam back down at her,’ she explained.
Camilla has not just grown closer with Kate in recent years, but also appears to share a warm relationship with the princess’s family – including her mother Carole Middleton.
They have been spotted together many times this summer – including watching the races at Cheltenham, when Carole, 71, threw her arms around Princess Anne while chatting with Camilla in the Royal Box.
Commenting on Camilla’s fondness for Kate amid a drawing of lines over Harry’s homecoming, Mr Lownie said: ‘On Team Wales is the Queen, who is very close to Kate, and has been stiffening the resolve of the King to establish clear boundaries for the Sussexes.
‘There remains a great deal of family dissension about the way the King has handled the Sussex problem, on top of the “too little, too late” strategy on the former Prince Andrew and his family.’
The historian, whose most recent book examined the ‘rise and fall of the House of York’ in the wake of the Epstein scandal, added that The Firm is currently employing a ‘wait and watch’ strategy when it comes to the Sussexes.
Kate leaned on Camilla when she made her return to Royal Ascot after cancer treatment this year
They will be trying to gauge ‘public reaction, to see if the Sussexes can be trusted not to betray confidences’ like they did with Spare, their incendiary Netflix docuseries, and their interview with Oprah Winfrey.
It might explain why the Waleses have not commented on the latest twist to the Megxit saga, after Harry and Meghan landed at Birmingham airport before being whisked away to their new home – widely speculated to be in the Cotswolds – earlier this week
‘The Waleses feel no need to respond for the moment, but they are concerned that the strategy has given Harry what he originally wanted of “half in, half out” and that there is a danger of two competing courts and scope for embarrassment and upstaging,’ Mr Lownie said.
‘It’s a rerun of the behaviour of the Duke of Windsor when he saw an opportunity to return to Britain after the war with the poor health of George Vl.’
The Season 2 finale of Adults nearly played out without one more major romantic beat for Paul Baker and Anton. But Owen Thiele made sure the episode delivered a tender, game-changing kiss between the longtime friends, roommates, and accidental husbands.
“I pushed for the kiss, ultimately. I did push for the kiss. And Jack’s a great kisser. Not just because he’s a great kisser, but I really felt in that moment that you needed to see some physical connection between Anton and Paul Baker,” Thiele, who stars as Anton, shared when the Adults cast stopped by DECIDER’s Midtown Manhattan studio before the Season 2 premiere.
Jack Innanen, who plays Paul Baker, said the romantic finale moment was almost handled very differently. “They were just going to hide it behind the balloons. There was a lot of debate live,” he remembered of the Season 2 closing sequence, which happened to be the last scene filmed and was shot around 4:00 a.m.
Although the balloon-filled, rom-com-style moment wrapped production, it wasn’t the true final scene viewers saw in Season 2. The episode ultimately ended with the unexpected hookup between Billie, played by Lucy Freyer, and Samir, played by Malik Elassal — a twist that could seriously shake up the house dynamic. “We’ve got to figure it out, being like lifelong friends. It’s kind of like we’ve gotta get married; otherwise it’s gonna be weird,” Elassal joked.
During the conversation, the Adults cast also looked ahead to possible Season 3 guest stars, revisited Issa, Paul Baker, and Anton’s wildly chaotic possum foursome, and dug into the biggest Season 2 ending moments — from the election night kiss to Billie and Samir’s complicated future, Issa’s hookup, and everything still hanging in the balance.
Fans have been rooting for Paul Baker and Anton so hard since Season 1. Owen and Jack, why do you think they complement each other so well?
THIELE: I think Anton listens to a lot of people. That’s kind of his thing. He’s constantly making friends with new people and knows the neighbor’s cat’s name and when her birthday is, but I feel like Paul Baker actually listens to Anton in a way no one else does. So I think that’s special.
INNANEN: I think it’s just a really beautiful love story, and they both get to complete their arcs through it. Like for Paul Baker, I think he’s so passive in a way. And this is the first time where he has to make a decision and be much more active in his life. And it’s so beautiful that it’s love that encourages that. I love that this whole season’s all about relationships and who you are to each other beyond the labels that you’ve set up. My favorite part was Anton and Issa liberating each other. And I think in a weird way, Anton and Paul Baker liberate each other just [by saying] “Hey, can we do this? Can we cut the bullshit a little bit?” I think that’s really beautiful and a pretty relatable thing.
Photo: FX/Hulu
How did it feel for them to be so warmly embraced by fans after Season 1’s finale?
THIELE: It was so amazing. I think very rarely is there a black queer man in a show who gets to have an emotional arc and find a love interest. So just that for me is emotional. And Ben and Rebecca did such a wonderful job with that, and threaded the needle so carefully. I’m really happy and thankful for that.
We have to talk about the rom-com worthy finale kiss. Did you two feel the weight of the moment when you were filming with the balloons, and can you share what Anton said to Paul Baker, or is it a secret?
THIELE: Oh, that has to be a secret. But the weight of that moment —
RAO: The weight of the moment!
INNANEN: The balloons, we had only so many times with the balloons. Because it was a whole rig. We had only two takes. And the first one we didn’t even kiss. We were debating.
THIELE: I pushed for the kiss, ultimately. I did push for the kiss. And Jack’s a great kisser. Not just because he’s a great kisser, but I really felt in that moment that you needed to see some physical connection between Anton and Paul Baker.
INNANEN: They were just going to hide it behind the balloons. There was a lot of debate live. We were kissing, and people were yelling at other people to do stuff.
Photo: FX/Hulu
RAO: And it was like 4 a.m. It was our last day of shooting. That was the last shot of the whole thing. Someone started popping the balloons, and they were like, “STOP IT!” [Laughs]
ELASSAL: No one’s ever been that intense about balloons.
THIELE: Yeah. It was a really, really high-stakes moment. I forgot to breathe at one point. I was mid-kiss. I was gonna faint.
In a last-second twist, we learn that Billie and Samir are hooking up, which is something fans have been rooting for since Day 1. Did you know they were heading in this direction? And considering that Samir is fresh off of a breakup and Billy spent the season dating around, what do we think the future holds for them?
FREYER: Well, I don’t think they’re setting it up to be another Anton-Paul Baker dynamic. I think if anything, it’ll be like a “Oops, what do we do?” Like, “We probably shouldn’t have done that.”
ELASSAL: Yeah, it’s definitely an “Oops, what do we do? We’re so close. We live in the same house. We probably shouldn’t have done that.”
FREYER: It’s like Samir fist bumps Billie right after. And I’m like, “OK, well…”
ELASSAL: Yeah. “Cool, cool, cool. Well, I’ll be seeing you!” Yeah, I’m worried for them.
FREYER: But they did pitch it to us when they did the full season pitch out at the beginning. They told us it was going to happen. And we were never really sure whether it would be there.
ELASSAL: We thought it might, and then they weren’t telling us, I think, because they didn’t want us to breadcrumb it at all.
THIELE: You know what’s so crazy is Jack and I weren’t there. So when I watched it, I was like, “WHAT?!” I literally forgot that you guys looked up. How was it? Was it good? [Laughs]
Photo: FX/Hulu
Fans have looked at Billie and Samir and said, “Close enough, welcome back Nick and Jess.” So I’m sure they’ll still be rooting for them even if they play it off.
FREYER: Well, we don’t know what’s gonna happen. The deed has been done. It’s in the air. Who knows whether [the roommates] will find out about it and how we proceed with it. But it’s happened, so…
ELASSAL: Yeah, now we’ve got to figure it out, being like lifelong friends. It’s kind of like we’ve gotta get married, otherwise it’s gonna be weird. [Laughs]
In the finale, Issa also meets a fellow weird little guy, Margot. Fans really wanted Issa to get a girlfriend, so after the breakup with Paul Baker, what do you hope this new connection leads to for her?
RAO: She’s the star of her show, and I feel like she finds it really easy to do that with men. So I think maybe in queer relationships she’ll think of her partner more — or maybe she’ll be the star in those relationships as well, and they’ll cater to her. [Laughs] But I just think it’ll be new ground for her, and now she won’t just be a bi girl who says she’s bi; she might actually use that title, which is exciting.
Photo: FX/Hulu
Assuming we get a Season 3, what’s something you’d each like to see for your characters?
RAO: I want to see Issa get canceled on a national scale. I just think it’d be really funny to see Issa get canceled for actually doing the right thing for the first time, like something selfless where the intention and the execution are actually good, but it’s received horribly.
THIELE: I want one of us to suddenly get famous overnight. Just hear me out: One of us gets so famous in the show. We get four million followers. And then what do you do? It should be Issa. Actually, maybe it should be Samir. He makes a random video, gets famous, and goes viral, and Issa is pissed. I also think there are a lot of love things that need to be figured out in this.
FREYER: Yeah, I am curious to see how [Billie and Samir] plays out. How [Paul Baker and Anton] plays out.
THIELE: Will Paul Baker and Anton date? Who knows?
Or they might encounter some hiccups! Hiccups, hiccups, hiccups!
INNANEN: Body goes crazy!
Want more behind-the-scenes insight on Adults Season 2? Be sure to catch up on Part 1 (dream guest stars and more Season 2 questions) and Part 2 (“Racoon” foursome) of Decider’s interview with Lucy Freyer, Malik Elassal, Amita Rao, Owen Thiele, and Jack Inannen.
Milo Yiannopoulos could be blocked from reentering the United States permanently following his expected deportation, according to a Department of Homeland Security post addressing his arrest.
In the post, DHS said that illegal aliens who choose to depart voluntarily using the CBP Home App may be able to protect their eligibility to return to the country legally in the future.
“Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App. The United States is offering illegal aliens $3,000 and a free flight to self-deport now,” DHS said.
“We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.”
DHS did not directly state that Yiannopoulos would be permanently barred, but its warning suggested he may no longer have the option of returning to the United States legally.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Yiannopoulos, a British national, at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Louisiana on August 27, according to DHS.
Yiannopoulos legally entered the United States through New York City on May 14, 2019, but remained in the country beyond the period he was allowed to stay.
“He chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” DHS said.
An immigration judge issued a final order for his removal on July 22 after he failed to appear for an immigration hearing. DHS said he will remain in ICE custody until he is removed from the country.
Yiannopoulos, a former – employee, left – News in February 2017.
