By JOE ROSSITER, REPORTER

Published: 16:36 BST, 26 July 2026 | Updated: 16:48 BST, 26 July 2026

A man was allegedly stabbed in a Soho street after a row broke out in the queue for a pop-up event by American singer Latto.

The victim, a man in his 30s, was treated for stab wounds to the leg after the incident in Greek Street, Soho, at around 4.30pm on Thursday.

Angela Dean, a witness in her 50s, said ‘chaos erupted’ as she queued with her 14-year-old son.

She said people attempted to jump the queue and she captured footage of the incident.

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A video appeared to show two men involved in a confrontation, with one holding what looks like a knife.

Angela, a full-time carer from Essex, said: ‘Everyone was running and pushing – there was no crowd control.

‘I had to run out of the queue to alert the bouncer at the club to what was happening.

‘My child has been left deeply traumatised by what he witnessed.’

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A video from the Soho street showed an altercation taking place behind a car

One man appeared to make aggressive movements after approaching another man behind the car

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘Police are investigating the stabbing of a man in the centre of Soho.

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‘At 4.28pm on Thursday, 23 July, Met officers were called by the London Ambulance Service to Greek Street, Soho, following reports of a stabbing.

‘At the scene, a man in his 30s was treated by paramedics and taken to hospital with a stab wound to the leg.

‘His condition has since been confirmed as non-life-threatening and non-life-changing.

‘There were no other reported injuries.

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‘At this early stage of the investigation, no arrests have been made.

‘Urgent enquiries are ongoing.’

Latto is a Grammy-nominated rapper from Atlanta known for her hit Big Energy.

‘Scotland may be the most important country on the planet. Who knew the Scots were this impressive?’

Two American podcasters have been left stunned after discovering how many things the Scots have invented, declaring that Scotland “may be the most important country on the planet”.

It’s well known that Scotland boasts it’s fair share of notable inventors, with Alexander Graham Bell inventing the first working telephone and Alexander Fleming changing modern day medicine after discovering penicillin.

However, the Scots invented a whole series of other groundbreaking inventions too, much to the Americans’ surprise as they questioned: “Who knew the Scots were this impressive?”

Podcast hosts Brian Conz and Zach Misischia run their show ‘The Makeshift Project’ which is popular in the US. The pair recently posted a video on Tiktok of their conversation about Scottish inventions which has now gone viral online.

Captioning the video ‘Scotland: Why This Small Country Matters To The World’, Conz begins by listing 16 groundbreaking inventions we couldn’t live without today which all originated from Scotland.

In a bid to convince co-host Misischia, he says: “Scotland may be the most important country on the planet. I’m going to list 16 things that that country invented and you’re going to tell me, are they the most important country or not?”

He begins: “They invented penicillin. That’s the most important medicine ever created. They invented the telephone”, as his friend butts in and asks: “I thought Alexander Graham Bell did that.” Conz replies: “He’s from Scotland!”

He continues: “They invented the television. This is insane, did you know this about Scotland? They invented the lightbulb.”

Misischia contests this by asking: “I thought it was Edison?” However, it was actually Scottish inventor James Bowman Lindsay who built an early constant electric incandescent light prototype in 1835 decades before Thomas Edison created the modern day lightbulb.

Conz returns to his list: “They also invented the raincoat and it’s a good invention. This one way is way more important, they invented the MRI scanner. They also invented the refrigerator.

“They invented the colour photograph. They invented contact lenses and they’ve invented the flushing toilet.”

In amazement, he adds: “They invented the steam engine. They invented the fingerprint classification. They did all this. Who knew that Scots were this impressive?

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“They invented the ATM. Thank god for that or we would be in trouble in the casino. They invented the encyclopedia and this one might be the most important, they invented the kaleidoscope.”

He finishes off by listing one of Scotland’s most proud inventions: “And this one I think is gonna sell you, they invented the game of golf.”

The podcasters were left visibly stunned by how many great things have come from Scotland as they included a lengthy caption explaining Scottish history, inventions, culture, science and modern global roles.

Proud Scots rushed to the comments and in true Scottish fashion, pointed out all the great inventions they’d missed including venoms and square sausages.

One replied: “Thank you Scotland. You deserve to be an independent country.” Another joked: “And just imagine what we could have done if we’d been sober!”

A third offered another Scottish invention: “Football was also invented in Scotland. A Scottish man introduced football to Argentina and Brazil.”

The listed Scottish inventions and their inventors

• Discovery of penicillin – Alexander Fleming
• The telephone – Alexander Graham Bell
• The television – John Logie Baird
• The lightbulb – James Bowman Lindsay
• The raincoat – Charles Macintosh
• The refrigerator – William Cullen
• Colour photographs – James Clerk Maxwell and photographer Thomas Sutton
• First disposable contact lenses – Ron Hamilton
• Flushing toilet – Alexander Cumming
• Steam engine – James Watt
• Fingerprint classification – Henry Faulds
• ATM – James Goodfellow and John Shepherd-Barron
• Encyclopædia Britannica – Colin Macfarquhar, Andrew Bell, and William Smellie
• Kaleidoscope – Sir David Brewster
• Golf – evolved in Scotland during the Middle Ages

For Ali Darwich, the deadly attack on the Berlin Pride Festival was an attack on the city of Berlin and everything it stands for: its diversity, its tolerance and its belief in freedom.

On a personal level, it also was an attack on everything the Berliner embodies.

“Born a Muslim, living as a gay man, working as a police officer,” Darwich said, as he tried holding back the tears, “this terror attack touches so many aspects of who I am.”

Saturday night’s van ramming and stabbing near Berlin’s Pride festival that left one person dead and many others wounded is believed to have been an Islamic extremist terror attack, authorities say.

The suspect in the attack remains at large. Authorities issued a wanted notice and warned people against approaching Abdul Ballout, a 21-year-old German citizen with Lebanese roots, saying that he may be armed and dangerous.

On Sunday, Darwich, 34, watched sadly as more and more members of the LGBTQ+ community came to Tiergarten park, where the attack took place. They put down flowers, hugged each other and looked in disbelief at the crashed van, which still stood cordoned off behind dozens of police officers.

Like Darwich, many of them had been celebrating life and love just hours earlier, protesting for equality and warning of an increase of hate crimes against their community.

“I was wearing my rainbow-colored shirt, carried a banner at the parade saying ‘why are some people afraid of love but not of hate?,’ and was about to go to an afterparty last night, when friends started calling me to check if I was OK,” he said.

When he understood that there had been an attack, he canceled the party and went home filled with sorrow. But it was only after he woke up on Sunday morning that he truly grasped the significance of the attack.

“I asked myself, why as a police officer I did not run to the scene of the crash to help my colleagues. I asked myself as a gay if we will have to live with more fear now even though we are already experiencing bullying and hatred. I asked myself as a Muslim if our community will be exposed to even more racism now.”

Darwich, who was born in Berlin and has Lebanese and Palestinian roots, expressed worry that the attack would polarize German society even more.

“I’m actually feeling desperate this morning,” said Darwich, who also works as a gay Muslim influencer and posts many videos on social media that usually try to strike a positive note. “We can’t get rid of the hatred some people feel, and it’s just getting worse and worse.”

But at the same time, he said he did not want to let hate win and that deep inside he still hoped that “the people of Berlin will make the best of it, that they will work together, and that, hopefully, all of this will lead to an even better Berlin.”

Others, who had come to the impromptu vigil at Tiergarten, also expressed anger and shock, but also resilience.

“We are simply stunned by what happened yesterday,” said Andre Lehmann, a top official with the main national LGBTQ+ association, LSVD+. “This suspected attack hits the heart of the queer community.”

The attack “affects people who took to the street in Berlin this weekend to fight for their rights, their diversity and their rights, and of course with that it is a political act and does not just affect people celebrating,” he said.

Lehmann said that there has been “a tenfold increase of anti-queer hate crime in Germany within a few years.” He added that “for years, to be honest, nothing has happened and also, to be honest, for years there has been no outcry from society.”

Ashley Jump, a 26-year-old U.K. resident, had traveled to Berlin for Saturday’s Pride parade but had left the celebrations before the attack. Jump, still in shock, returned Sunday to leave flowers at a memorial near the crime scene.

“They’ll never erase us, we’ll never be gone,” they said, their voice shivering from pain. “As long as humanity has existed, we’ve existed. And as long as humanity exists, we will exist. We will not be removed.”

Welcome to our live coverage for the 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix from the Hungaroring. This is the 40th anniversary of the race at this track and the 41st edition. I think over the years this track has had a bit of an unfair reputation but we have certainly had some interesting and exciting races over the years. Even over the last few years. 

The nature of the track means it is a bit of an outlier. And that means you often get results that go away from the norm of the season. Mercedes took a couple of poles here in the ground-effect era whilst Charles Leclerc did so last year. We have had a handful of first-time winners at this track, too: Damon Hill, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, Jenson Button and… errr Heikki Kovalainen. 

So far that has been true this weekend. Although McLaren and Ferrari have been closing in on Mercedes, the SIlver Arrows have usually had the edge or found it when it comes to qualifying. That was not the case yesterday: Lando Norris took the first non-Mercedes grand prix pole of the season, pipping the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton by just 0.012sec. 

Hamilton, though, takes a three-place grid penalty for impeding Oscar Piastri in Q3. Kimi Antonelli, who had qualified fourth, takes the same penalty for not slowing sufficiently under yellow flags. It was Ferrari who had been expected to be the team to beat but they were the team that dropped the ball. In fairness Norris, in the upgraded McLaren had looked competitive throughout qualifying and was simply able to deliver when Ferrari could not. 

The grid is slightly mixed up because of the penalties. George Russell’s season did not get any easier after qualifying seventh but he at least moves up because of those grid drops. The Mercedes’ race pace is expected to be strong but will it be enough to put them into contention with the McLarens and the Ferraris? And let’s not forget Max Verstappen in fourth, either…

We find out at 2pm BST, when the race gets under way. 

There’s fine bars and restaurants too, making this pleasant and prosperous village just off the A1 Motorway near Wetherby, well worth the visit.

I grew up in Wetherby in the 1980s and 1990s and as a kid, I recall Boston Spa as a pleasant place, if nothing too special.

But helped by its proximity to Leeds, Boston Spa has prospered and is chic, fashionable and trendy even, with a good range of independent shops.

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Enjoying a fine evening outside the Boston Tap in Boston Spa. (Image: Darren Greenwood)

Well located in the heart of Yorkshire’s ‘Golden Triangle’ surrounded by beautiful countryside, pretty villages with characterful pubs, Boston Spa is upmarket and thriving, perhaps even more so than nearby Wetherby.

Boston Spa’s High Street (Image: Darren)

So park up in the High Street car park, where you don’t have to pay. The free parking also includes the High Street as well.

There, you will see Tom Foolery and the Boston Tap.

Tom Foolery at 179 High Street has been a popular watering hole for ten years.

Tom Foolery has been a popular venue for ten years. (Image: Darren Greenwood)

The independent bar offers brunch, burgers, pizzas, sandwiches, as well as a range of small plates.

I don’t recall eating there but I have enjoyed its craft ales many times. There’s a pleasant vibe to Tom Foolery and its modern interior features some interesting displays. The TV ‘Log fire’ being one of them and the pictures of humanoid pets wearing clothes being another.

But closer to the car park is the Boston Tap. Previously, known as  Salt Bar, it serves an extensive range of Ossett ales.

Chok Dee offer top class, authentic, tasty Thai cooking. (Image: Darren Greenwood)

The food offering is limited, restricted to pies, pastries, sandwiches, sharing boards and salad bowls. As it’s Ossett, famed for its White Rat ale, the beer is always good.

The steak pie and mash is also enjoyable and delicious, served with a delicious jus, and was excellent value.

This large Costcutter was once the Royal Hotel. (Image: Darren Greenwood)

But it will come in a cardboard box with wooden cutlery, so don’t expect plates and metal cutlery here!

Either way, The Boston Tap has a fine, contemporary interior, and extensive seating outside, ideal for the warmer summer days and nights.

Further down the road, past the former Royal Hotel, which is now a large Costcutter grocery store, you will see Boston Hall, a Grade II-listed mansion built in 1807, where cricketer Geoffrey Boycott used to live. A blue plaque highlights this amid its other history.

Nearby is Thai Chok Dee, a highly rated restaurant, which has great reviews online.

I have been many times and can vouch for its excellent Tom Kha Gai, the curries and the Weeping Tiger. My vegetarian friends are also happy with the extensive vegetarian offering.

Top class dining from a top chef at Amor (Image: Darren Greenwood)

It’s a popular place, often busy, so it pays to book and you will be rewarded with excellent service, superb and authentic food and great value.

Further away from the village centre, heading towards Tadcaster, are two Sam Smith’s Brewery-owned pubs. The Fox and Hounds is a well-regarded traditional drinkers pub I have yet to try, whilst the Admiral Hawke is sadly closed.

So let’s get back to the other side of Boston Spa.

At 174 High Street is the fine dining Inlamentation which has just been added to the Michelin Guide. It has 16 seats and chef Michael O’Hare is noted for his ever-evolving tasting menus. Another I have yet to try.

Aquila is a well-regarded Italian restaurant. (Image: Darren Greenwood)

Restaurant Amor a few doors away is another fine dining establishment. Owned and run by Michelin-started chef Nikki Pybus, it gains good reviews, and is another I have yet to try.

But I have tried Aquila at 152 High Street, which is the first of two top Italian restaurants in Boston Spa. I recall delicious garlic mushrooms, followed by a tasty chicken dish.

Da Carlo is the best Italian in town, but you might be lucky to get a table. (Image: Darren Greenwood)

But the best Italian has to be Da Carlo’s Trattoria at 134 High Street, which has a traditional, characterful interior and very pleasant outdoor area.

De Carlo’s is an exceptionally popular southern Italian restaurant and it can be hard to get a table unless you book a week or so in advance. I recall often ringing many times the same day or the night before to no avail. Then, one evening me and my vegetarian friends were just walking past, I went inside to see if they had a vacancy and they had outside.

The Crown Inn could have become a Co-op. Thankfully, it didn’t. (Image: Darren Greenwood)

I recall a most excellent Strancetti Di Manzo starter, which consisted of pieces of tender beef fillet sauteed in garlic, chilli, parsley and rosemary, topped with rocket and parmesan. It was tender, full of flavour and absolutely gorgeous!

My lasagne Napoletana was excellent too and my vegetarian friends were more than happy with their choices. We vow to return, if we can get in.

From inside the restaurant of The Crown Inn (Image: Darren Greenwood)

You then pass a popular patisserie called the Pudding Lab, which I have yet to try, before you eventually arrive at The Crown Inn.

This large pub had been closed for years, with plans to turn it into a Co-op. Fortunately, plans were refused and investors transformed it with a £1.2million revamp, with the venue re-opening around five years ago.

Inside, you are greeted with an extensive bar area, a restaurant area and a large beer garden, ideal for the summer we are having.

There’s always great choice of drinks, be it beers, wines, cocktails, you name it.

The food menus are extensive too, with specials adding to the variety.

Pizza and and chargrilled pork chop at The Crown Inn, where the food never disappoints. (Image: Darren Greenwood)

Its standard gastropub fayre, but it never lets you down. It is always reliable and consistently good. The service is also fine and value also good, another to return to.

So that is essentially Boston Spa on a plate, a prosperous, pleasant village not too far from York with plenty of treats on the menu. Go hungry if you can, but you might want to book ahead.

Have you been to Boston Spa? What did you do there? What did you think of the place? And did you eat or dine there? where did you go? Please share with us your experiences of Boston Spa in the comments below.

Justice Secretary Neil Gray said the Scottish Government is not expecting ‘to be able to get additional support from the UK military’.

Justice Secretary Neil Gray has said the Scottish Government is “not expecting to be able to get additional support from the UK military” to help fight the large wildfire in the Cairngorms National Park.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Sunday Show, Mr Gray said it is his understanding that the UK military “does not have the capability” that is required for the fire.

More than 500 firefighters have been tackling the blaze, which has raged through Cairngorms National Park for the past 11 days and forced homes to be evacuated in the remote region.

The First Minister asked the UK Government for military aid after residents in the Highland village of Nethy Bridge, about 30 miles south-east of Inverness, were given evacuation orders on Friday night due to the nearby wildfire.

On Saturday night, Police Scotland said the fire is no longer being considered a major incident after work to contain it reduced the risk to nearby communities. However, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), along with other partners, is still on the ground fighting the large wildfire.

And on Sunday, it was revealed that the Abernethy Highland Games would not go ahead next month because the local community centre in Nethy Bridge is still being used by the emergency services and many of the event’s volunteers have been involved in efforts to stop the fire.

Organisers of the games said with “no end point in sight” for the wildfire, the decision had been made to cancel the August 8 event. In a post on social media, they said: “It is with great sadness and deep regret that given the ongoing wildfire and its response, the Abernethy Highland Games 2026 have today been cancelled.

“The community centre is still in full use by the emergency services, with no end point in sight. Many of our volunteers for the games have been actively involved in fighting the fire over many hours and days.”

Speaking about the Scottish Government’s request for military aid, Mr Gray said he had not seen a response yet. “It’s not something that we are expecting to be able to get – additional support from the UK military,” he said.

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“Our understanding that I received from SFRS, and indeed from others during the week, is that the UK military does not have the capability that we are requiring in this case, which is that tactical aerial helicopter support.

“That’s why the Scottish Government, via Nature Scot, has the lease that we do with commercial aircraft here in Scotland in order to ensure that, for example, yesterday we had two helicopters on scene.”

The Justice Secretary insisted the Scottish Government has enough ground support and resources for fighting the fire and for building firebreaks. “The military request was limited to aerial support,” he said.

“That is what we were asking for, because the national resource that we are able to deploy from SFRS has been significant and will continue to be so.”

Mr Gray, who holds responsibility for national resilience and civil contingencies within his ministerial portfolio, said the Scottish Government made the support request to explore “every possible avenue” to bolster resources.

“We wanted to establish formally with the UK Government and the UK military as to whether there was any further support available,” he said.

When asked about the criticism locally that more resources should have been deployed at an earlier stage, Mr Gray said: “I very much understand the anger and frustration, the upset and worry that there has been, and for those living and working with business in the immediate vicinity, this has been a significant incident.

“It has been incredibly challenging. People have been asked to evacuate their homes. We cannot underestimate the impact that that has had.

“So, of course, I understand the sentiment that there is there locally, I have been in touch with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service throughout this incident. I’ve been very clear in wanting to ensure that every possible resource was being deployed.”

The event at the iconic market coincided with the launch of the Commonwealth Games this week.

Hundreds of people have taken part in the Irn-Bru games at the Barras Market in Glasgow this weekend. Punters of all ages took part in three alternative sporting challenges set up in the east end of the city on Saturday and Sunday.

Locals showcased their incredible strength, speed and accuracy as part of a celebration of the sporting prowess that’s taken over the city since the Commonwealth Games started last week.

A bright orange running track was set up just along from the famous Barrowlands Ballroom, where competitors dashed on a 10-metre Bus Sprint, challenging them to beat the number 61 service.

At the heart of the market, sporty visitors tried their hand at ‘Bin Ball’ where they threw cans of Irn-Bru into a bin, shooting through a 3m high hoop. Competitors were challenged to prove that they “had the girders”.

And at the very start of the bustling thoroughfare, there was a stunning display of strength from people young and old, who managed to lift a 20kg bar full of bags of Irn-Bru.

Each competitor was given a can of Irn-Bru and some even got their hands on an iconic ‘Made in Scotland From Girders’ T-shirt.

Chris Butler, Marketing Manager for Glasgow Barrowland Market, said: “There’s been such a great buzz around the Barras and the city today and IRN- BRU has been a big part of it.

“The challenges and the punters have been fantastic and they’ve definitely showed they’ve got Glaswegian spirit. I mean where else in the world would ‘bag-lifting’ work as a sport – carrying your messages up the road is just a right of passage.

“Everyone has really enjoyed themselves and shown their girders. The Barras and IRN-BRU are two Glasgow icons so it’s been great having them both together to help show the city’s true athletic heroes.”

Kenny Nicholson, Director of Brand at IRN-BRU, said: “Glasgow is welcoming some of the best sporting talent in the world this summer, but we wanted to champion athletes closer to home too; those people who show up with feats of endurance, strength and a whole lot of girders in the everyday”.

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Passengers have been left without running water at Gatwick Airport as a severe water outage has hit the busy transport hub.

Flyers were unable to flush toilets, wash their hands or refill water bottles for hours, and disruption remains as service slowly returns.

Travellers also reported restaurants and bars are closed and that they are unable to get coffees from kiosks as taps run dry. 

As bars and restaurants sit empty and hot food is taken off the menu, only premade meals like sandwiches are on offer as all cooking grinds to a halt in the airport. 

Flights from the UK’s second busiest airport have not been affected by the outage.

One passenger Jen Brook has been at the airport since 9.30am and has to remain there until 5.30pm because of flight cancellations.

She told the Daily Mail: ‘There are now no working toilets in the airport and the staff are being extremely unhelpful and rude.

‘Pregnant people and elderly are being turned away, and all the toilets have been locked due to being blocked.

‘People are saying that they can just go in the blocked toilets but the cleaners are not allowing this to happen.

‘One member of staff said “Go and complain about it then, I don’t care”.

‘It’s utterly disgraceful here.’

Bins are stacking up as the only food available are premade meals from shops

Travellers report that bars and restaurants are closed and are not allowing customers to even sit at tables and have stopped providing all hot food

One angry flyer said: ‘The fact that all restaurants won’t even let anyone sit down is a joke’

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Daily Mail reporter at the scene Caitlin Leng reported that the toilets were now functioning once again but that the bag drop at the airport is ‘total chaos’.

She added: ‘EasyJet staff manning the bag drop said delays expected because of the water outage. Not sure how that adds up, but flights seem to be going at the moment.’

An automated message has been blaring over the tannoy, issuing an apology to disgruntled passengers, she said.

Staff have had to hand out bottled water across the North and South Terminals to keep passengers hydrated and have said that service is slowly returning after more than four hours of problems. 

A Gatwick Airport spokesperson said: ‘A local water supply issue is continuing to cause disruption.

‘There is currently no water supply in either terminal.

‘Our staff are on hand to support passengers and provide assistance where needed, some restaurant partners have opened to provide additional seating.

‘We apologise for the inconvenience caused and are working closely with SES Water to restore the supply as quickly as possible. We will provide further updates as they become available.’

SES Water, which serves the airport, said they were having problems with the Bough Beech Water Treatment Works which had caused low water pressure or a complete loss of supply for customers.

After apologising, they have said that the water treatment works are now ‘back up and running’ but work still needs to be done before service returns to normal.

A spokesperson said: ‘We now need to treat the water before returning services to normal as quickly as we possibly can.

‘We would like to thank customers and our partners at Gatwick Airport for their continued patience, and we are sorry for the inconvenience this is causing.’

Beyond the airport, nearby residents in Horley have also reported water supply failures, local media reported.

SES Water said their most vulnerable customers are receiving bottled water.

TalkTV presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer has been caught up in the chaos and took to X earlier to say: ‘If you’re on your way to Gatwick Airport, it might be helpful to know that there is no running water across the entire airport.

‘That means no coffees, no water fountains, no flushing toilets and no hand washing.

‘Gatwick hasn’t bothered to make a public announcement about this to passengers. How helpful…’

Another passenger said: ‘Gatwick Airport currently has no running water so no restaurants, no bars, no coffees, no flushing toilets, no washing of hands and no free drinking water.

‘I can’t even have an airport pint because they have………(checks notes) no running water. Gatwick is the worst!’

Another commenter said: ‘No water at London Gatwick Airport. No flushing toilets, running taps or drinking fountains. Britain’s becoming a 3rd world banana republic.’

One angry passenger said: ‘I’ve been at Gatwick since 11am and only now at 12.39pm has the airport announced that there is a problem with the water.’

While another chimed in: ‘The fact that all restaurants won’t even let anyone sit down is a joke.’

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Laura Loomer became infamous for spreading conspiracy theories online. Now, as she travels across Ukraine to see the damage inflicted by Russia in its yearslong war, she wants to admit that she fell for some falsehoods of her own.

A close ally of President Donald Trump, Loomer has completely reversed her longtime criticism of Ukraine and is urging fellow conservatives to be wary of Moscow’s propaganda, which she blames for duping large swaths of the American right.

“You don’t need to listen to a podcaster and let them influence your opinion about a country. You can look at those facts yourself,” she told The Associated Press in Kyiv shortly after returning from a trip close to the front line in Ukraine’s east. The interview was supposed to take place in Loomer’s hotel, but it had to be moved to the building’s underground bomb shelter as the city faced another ballistic missile attack.

Loomer has remained influential with Trump despite not having an official role, and she said they spoke over the phone after she sat down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. She also said that she expects to meet with Trump after returning from her trip.

Loomer’s turnaround on Ukraine has been welcomed by the country’s leaders, whose relationships with Trump have been strained at times. But it has also stirred confusion, surprise and suspicion in the United States. She continues to insist that Ukraine is not paying for her travels.

As Trump and Zelenskyy prepare to meet on Tuesday in Washington, Loomer said it’s clear that her trip has already made a difference, refocusing attention on the war as Congress debates new sanctions intended to punish Russia.

“It’s looking good for Ukraine, right?” she said. “Going into this meeting next week at the Oval Office is looking pretty good.”

Loomer says she was ‘bamboozled’ to oppose Ukraine

Loomer had spent years minimizing the war and amplifying Russian propaganda until she made a dramatic reversal this week.

“I’ve come to realize I was bamboozled by Russian propaganda and I came to believe a lot of untrue things about Ukraine. I used to think that this was a country full of Nazis,” Loomer told Zelenskyy as she interviewed him for her show on Rumble, an online video platform.

Loomer blamed her indoctrination on getting banned by American social media platforms, leading her to try Telegram, where Russian media is widely shared.

“The Russians,” she added, “are very good at capitalizing on people’s rage. And I was very angry,” she said, recounting her feelings about the 2020 election, which she falsely maintains was stolen from Trump despite all evidence to the contrary.

She said her change in perspective had been gradual as she started to see podcasters like Tucker Carlson “turn on President Trump” while having their rhetoric amplified by Russian sources.

Loomer, who casts herself as an independent journalist, told the AP she believed her reversal was already changing minds within Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.

“Oh, 100%,” she said. “I’ve received messages all day from different people and media and politics and people just who follow me online who said, ’Wow, I didn’t realize how much we’ve been lied to.’ ‘Wow you really opened my eyes.’”

Loomer was welcomed with open arms

Ukrainian officials seemed to recognize the opportunity of winning over an ardent Trump ally with a large online following. In addition to her interview with Zelenskyy, Loomer had audiences with top Ukrainian officials and the country’s chief rabbi.

“It takes courage to come to Ukraine and not be deterred by Russian propaganda or air raid sirens,” Zelenskyy’s office wrote on social media.

Loomer also got a tour of Dormition Cathedral of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a monastic complex that came under Russian attack last month.

“Laura is very powerful and she’s a very authoritative in the U.S., so I hope that everything she has seen by her own eyes will help her to spread the truth when she is back at the U.S.,” Tetyana Berezhna, the deputy prime minister and Ukrainian minister of culture told the AP. “I do really hope and I believe that her visit will have a huge impact on relations with the U.S. administration.”

While some have tried to downplay Loomer’s influence with the president, he has often followed her advice. She occasionally traveled with him during the 2024 campaign, and last year he purged his National Security Council staff after she raised concerns about their loyalty in an Oval Office meeting.

Trump appears to be tracking Loomer’s trip, sharing video of her conversation with Zelenskyy on social media.

“Very good!!!” he wrote on Thursday evening.

The conspiracist denounces conspiracy theories

Loomer has a long history of spreading conspiracy theories. She once shared a video that called 9/11 an “inside job” and amplified a lie about Haitian immigrants eating dogs and cats in Ohio, which Trump went on to repeat during a presidential debate with Kamala Harris.

Although Loomer may have changed her mind about Russia’s invasion, her bigoted views have not budged.

“One thing I really love about Ukraine is I haven’t seen a single Muslim here,” she posted on Saturday. “It’s so refreshing.”

But in the interview, she bemoaned how influential podcasters can spread misinformation.

“They have been able to warp people’s minds to the point where people aren’t even capable of analyzing a subject with common sense anymore because they want to depend on these personalities to give them the opinion that they think they should have,” she said, calling the situation “a major national security threat.”

She said she thinks that “information war” has “the potential to be more destructive than any kinetic war that our country may ever face” and called on the Trump administration to take the threat of Russian propaganda, foreign interference and influence operations more seriously.

“I think that some of our leaders are being influenced by propaganda,” she said.

The White House has routinely downplayed the role of Moscow’s influence, especially because Trump has long chaffed at investigations showing that Russia worked to boost his 2016 candidacy.

Loomer has said repeatedly that Ukraine did not finance her trip and insisted she had traveled in her own capacity.

“I can guarantee you I wasn’t paid by anybody. I certainly wasn’t paid by the government of Ukraine to come here,” she said.

“If it’s fake, why did I risk my life? I’m in a bomb shelter right now. I barely slept this week,” she said.

___

Colvin reported from New York. Associated Press reporter Susie Blann contributed from London.

Ryan Reynolds seems like a man who likes a laugh; after all, how else can you explain him signing up to make Green Lantern?

Still, in recent years, the sexiest man alive (according to whoever worked at People magazine back in 2010) has poured most of his irreverent charm into the Marvel character, Deadpool.

A regenerating degenerate Deadpool is known for his quick and filthy wit, and Ryan clearly adores the character.

So much so that he made a cheeky appearance as Deadpool at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con while his Marvel colleagues were plugging the upcoming superhero blockbuster, Avengers: Doomsday.

During his brief appearance, Deadpool (or Ryan, the lines are blurry) questioned Robert Downey Jr about the film and seemed to hint he’d like a part in taking down Doctor Doom.

It was all very funny, but a lot of fans seemed to miss a rather obvious joke that Ryan was making.

You see, Ryan wasn’t wearing Deadpool’s usual red underoos; instead, he appeared to be wearing a grey costume.

Comic aficionados immediately leapt to the conclusion that this was a hint that Marvel was working on an X-Force movie, as when on that team Deadpool wears a more muted costume.

However, it wasn’t a grey suit. It was, in fact, made of denim.

And I’m not saying this because I’m a member of the FBI (Fabric Investigation Bureau); I’m saying this because I follow Ryan on Instagram.

Yes, on the third best social media platform (my preference is Facebook, LinkedIn, then Insta), Ryan shared a photo of the costume with the caption ‘#jeanpool’ and called it a ‘Canadian Tuxedo’.

That’s right, Ryan was making a gag about his beloved home country and wearing a denim jacket or shirt paired with matching jeans.

So why was the joke obvious?