IT was a double dose of summer celebration for these York twins who won a special prize ahead of their prom

Twin sisters Ellie and Maygen Mchale from Vale of York academy won a pre-prom photoshoot at their leavers’ assembly for good attendance and hard work throughout their GCSEs.

They had a photoshoot at Clifford’s Tower in York before heading into their prom at the Hilton York Hotel on Thursday, June 25.

Twin sisters Ellie and Maygen Mchale from Vale of York Academy ahead of their school prom

Ellie and Maygen are just two of the hundreds of teenagers across the York area who have been dressing up for their end-of-school-year celebrations.

Recommended reading:

We have been asking readers to share photos of school proms this season and have witnessed lots of pupils having fun – thanks to everyone who has contributed.

Proud aunt Tracy Galloway also sent us photos of her niece Ellie Durkin, pictured with friends ahead of her prom.

Ellie Durkin and her friend Shelby Buck of York High School at their school prom

Ellie Durkin, 16, a pupil at York High school, is pictured with her friend Shelby Buck and also Brooke Webster.

Send us your photos

We would love to see more school prom photos – and share them with Press readers.

Please send them – along with your prom story – by email to maxine.gordon@thepress.co.uk

You can also send your photos and all the information for the story straight to our newsdesk via an easy-to-use online form – just hit the ‘send now’ button below…

Five teenagers have been arrested

Five teenagers have been arrested following an alleged stabbing in a town near Cambridgeshire. Norfolk Police were called at 8.36pm on Tuesday, July 7 following reports of an ongoing incident involving weapons on Sage Avenue in Downham Market.

The force said 15 calls came into the police control room in total with reports a teenager had been stabbed. Officers attended and established the suspects and the victim had all left the scene.

The victim was located at an address elsewhere in the town. He was taken to hospital by ambulance where he was treated for stab wounds. The force has confirmed the victim’s stab wounds are not life-threatening or life-changing.

Further enquiries led officers to stop a car on the A10 at Southery at 9.20pm. Four teenage boys in the vehicle were arrested on suspicion of assault and a teenage girl was arrested in Sage Avenue on suspicion of affray.

They were all taken to King’s Lynn Police Investigation Centre for questioning, where they remain. A cordon was put in place on Sage Avenue to allow for forensic investigations to be carried out which has now been lifted.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Norfolk Police quoting reference 36/49701/26 via their website or by calling 101.

Police are investigating a donation given to Robert Jenrick’s Conservative leadership campaign in 2024, BBC News understands.

The Electoral Commission had reportedly been looking at claims £37,500 donated to Jenrick’s campaign originated overseas. That information was passed from the commission to the Metropolitan Police in January this year.

The force confirmed it had now launched a formal investigation “concerning donations connected to a political party’s leadership campaign”. Foreign donations to UK politicians are banned under electoral law.

The Metropolitan Police has not said who might be caught up in the investigation’s inquiries.

Jenrick said the “allegations are entirely false”.

“I have had no contact with the Met Police whatsoever in connection with this matter,” he added.

Jenrick is now a Reform MP, having defected from the Conservatives to Nigel Farage’s party earlier this year.

He ran to replace Rishi Sunak as Conservative leader in summer 2024, when he came second to Kemi Badenoch.

As first reported by the Guardian in April, the Electoral Commission began examining allegations related to £100,000 in donations from the company Spott Fitness, given to Jenrick’s campaign.

In September 2024 the British businessman Phillip Ullmann revealed that he was the man behind those donations.

However the Electoral Commission has been examining claims that £37,5000 of that money actually came from the US company Innovyz.

Innovyz was founded by Gary Klopfenstein, a US businessman who in 2024 pleaded guilty to committing wire fraud.

A spokesman for Jenrick said: “The suggestion that Robert knowingly accepted impermissible donations is an untrue, politically motivated smear, put about years later by the Conservatives, despite the fact that Mr Ullman was introduced to Robert by a Tory MP, and had his donations’ permissibility checked by the party.

“Robert and his campaign team complied with all electoral laws when receiving the donation received from Spott Fitness Ltd in 2024.

“Mr Jenrick has never met, spoken to, or had any contact with Mr Klopfenstein, nor was he aware of any connection between him and Mr Ullman’s donation until he was contacted by the Electoral Commission.

“He fully cooperated with the Electoral Commission inquiry, providing detailed records that categorically disproved these smears in 2025.”

The Conservative Party says that all candidates in the 2024 leadership race were reminded of the law surrounding what counts as a permissible donation.

A spokesperson for Ullmann declined to comment.

A Met Police spokesperson said: “We have launched an investigation following a referral from the Electoral Commission on Tuesday, 6 January concerning donations connected to a political party’s leadership campaign. The investigation remains ongoing.”

Nigel Farage last night insisted he is fighting a ‘real election’.

He spoke out after his by-election gamble left him facing off against a man dressed as a bin.

Voters in Clacton face the prospect of a ‘farcical’ ballot, featuring none of the main rival parties, after they all refused to fight the contest sparked by Mr Farage’s sudden resignation amid sleaze accusations.

Mr Farage, accusing his mainstream opponents of cowardice, now has joke candidate Count Binface as his chief rival.

Speaking to the Daily Mail from one of his favourite pubs in the Essex constituency, he batted away accusations that he himself faces the prospect of becoming a laughing stock over the Commons contest, set to take place next month.

Asked if he is bracing for hustings against Count Binface over the coming weeks, the Reform chief branded the notion ‘silly’, adding: ‘I’m asking for an endorsement of me as a person, and our agenda for change.’

It came as bookies trimmed Binface’s odds from 50-1 to 5-1 overnight and Labour and the Tories weighed in behind the comedian, real name Jon Harvey.

The candidate – who describes himself as a 5,900-year-old space warrior and has policy pledges including ‘building one affordable house’ and ‘nationalising Adele’ – branded the showdown ‘Binface vs Binfire’, adding: ‘Bring it on.’

Mr Farage, accusing his mainstream opponents of cowardice, now has joke candidate Count Binface as his chief rival

Talking trash: Bookies have trimmed Binface’s odds from 50-1 to 5-1 overnight, as Labour and the Tories weighed in behind the comedian, real name Jon Harvey

Advertisement

He also stood in the Makerfield ballot that saw Andy Burnham return to Westminster last month, losing his deposit after gaining 95 of the 45,000 votes cast.

Mr Farage’s interview with the Daily Mail took place minutes after he officially ceased to be an MP.

MPs can only resign from Parliament via an archaic mechanism that involves being given a ceremonial job by the Chancellor of the Exchequer – in Mr Farage’s case, the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead.

Rachel Reeves confirmed his appointment around 2pm yesterday, adding: ‘If he wants to spend the summer arguing with a bin, I won’t stop him.’

The Reform leader confessed to being wrong-footed by the Tories, Labour, Liberal Democrats and Restore Britain as they all refused to participate in the run-off.

Asked if he’d considered the possibility of fighting as the only proper candidate, Mr Farage confessed: ‘No, of course not.

‘Why would they [not contest]? It’s a real election.’

Mr Farage accused all the other parties of ‘working together’ to undermine his by-election framing of a battle between him and the ‘establishment’.

‘The fact Labour and the Conservatives don’t want to stand, they’re both showing contempt for the electorate. They can use whatever terms they want – it’s a real election with real people.’

But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch mocked her Right-wing rival yesterday, joking: ‘If it’s the people versus the establishment, I think Nigel Farage might be looking like the establishment, and Count Binface may be the people. This whole thing is a farce.’ 

Also potentially threatening Mr Farage’s vote share, actor Laurence Fox, leader of the Right-wing Reclaim party, has said he will stand in Clacton. 

Last month, the hard-Right Restore Britain party took voters away from Reform in Makerfield. 

In another worrying sign for Mr Farage, a YouGov poll yesterday suggested the public are strongly opposed to the by-election and backed the boycott by opposition parties. 

They also do not believe the former Ukip leader has been honest about his finances.

Mr Farage is being investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over £5million he received from cryptocurrency tycoon Christopher Harborne. 

He initially suggested it was to fund his personal security but has since said it was both a ‘reward’ for his Brexit campaigning and an ‘unconditional gift’.

This weekend he faced further questions about undeclared donations from a convicted fraudster, Reform supporter George Cottrell, also known as ‘Posh George’.

Mr Farage argued that calling the by-election was the only way of breaking the ‘paralysis’ Reform UK was facing this summer amid swirling questions about his personal finances and interests.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the by-election proposed by Mr Farage was ‘a farce’

He told the Daily Mail: ‘If there’s a daily media pile-on saying that I’m dishonest on this, that or the other, it leaves me in a position of paralysis. So I’ve done this to try and break that.

‘The extent of the co-ordination of the pile-on had left us slightly in a state of paralysis – that could have gone on for months. What if [the commissioner for] standards doesn’t answer until October?’

Mr Farage also launched a broadside against the House of Commons Standards Committee, accusing some of its members of bias. ‘It is going to be a completely subjective judgement.’

Mr Farage was fulsome in his defence of Mr Cottrell. Long-term ally Mr Cottrell, 32, reportedly recruited and paid three staff to work on Mr Farage’s social media before the General Election, and has continued to allow him to use a Georgian property he rents for tens of thousands of pounds a month near Buckingham Palace.

Keir Starmer said Mr Farage had ‘run himself into a cul-de-sac’ with his decision to quit as an MP and trigger a by-election. 

The PM said at the Nato summit in Turkey: ‘Nigel Farage has been utterly exposed in this complete stunt that he was trying to set up. He’s up to his neck in sleaze and he doesn’t want to answer questions about it.’

The clock reads 2:13am. You are exhausted. Your eyes ache, your body feels heavy and the alarm is already beginning to loom over the night, yet your brain refuses to let go. Instead, thoughts arrive in waves. Did you send that email? What if you forgot something important? Perhaps now is also the perfect time for your mind to replay a conversation from 2017 with forensic precision.

Many people recognise this frustrating state of being “wired but tired” – the paradoxical feeling of being physically exhausted but mentally unable to switch off. Surely tiredness should produce sleep automatically, but the brain does not simply fall asleep because the body is fatigued. In fact, under stress, exhaustion and sleeplessness often occur together. Part of the reason lies in the biology of survival.

The human stress response evolved to deal with immediate physical threats. For most of human history, danger tended to be extreme and short-lived – a predator nearby, an environmental hazard or conflict with another human group. In those moments, the brain’s priority was not rest but survival.

When the brain detects threat, a region called the amygdala initiates the body’s classic fight-or-flight response. Stress hormones including adrenaline and cortisol are released. Heart rate increases, breathing quickens and attention sharpens. Energy is diverted away from long-term maintenance tasks towards immediate action.

This response is extraordinarily useful – if you are trying to escape a sabre-toothed tiger. It is much less useful when the “threat” is an overflowing inbox or mounting financial pressure.

Modern stressors are psychologically powerful but biologically peculiar. Unlike predators, they rarely resolve quickly. Emails continue arriving. Work follows us home through smartphones and laptops. Social media creates a constant stream of social comparison and low-level vigilance. Even leisure time has become strangely porous, interrupted by notifications, messages and often the expectation of permanent availability.

The result is that the parts of the brain responsible for keeping us alert can remain partially activated for long periods. This matters because sleep is not simply the absence of wakefulness. Falling asleep requires the brain to actively reduce alertness. A network of arousal centres in the brainstem, hypothalamus and forebrain normally keeps us awake and attentive during the day. To transition into sleep, these systems must quieten down.

Under long-term stress, however, the brain can become stuck in a state of hyperarousal. Even when the body is exhausted, the brain continues scanning, anticipating and rehearsing. From an evolutionary perspective, this makes a certain kind of sense. If the environment feels threatening or uncertain, being fully offline may not seem safe.

One reason this state feels so unpleasant is that physical exhaustion and mental arousal are controlled by overlapping but partly separate systems. Your muscles may desperately need rest while your brain continues producing stress-driven alertness. The result is the strange mismatch many people know well, a tired body and racing thoughts.

Cortisol also plays an important role. Under normal circumstances, cortisol follows a daily rhythm. Levels rise in the morning to promote wakefulness and gradually decline towards night. Chronic stress can disrupt this pattern, leaving the body activated later into the evening.

Some studies suggest that people with insomnia show elevated metabolic and neurological activity even while trying to sleep – almost as though the brain is idling too high. Modern life may amplify this problem in ways our nervous systems did not evolve to handle.

Why the modern world makes it worse

Artificial light suppresses melatonin, the hormone that helps regulate sleep timing. Smartphones provide endless cognitive stimulation at exactly the point the brain should be winding down. Doomscrolling combines emotional arousal, uncertainty and novelty – three things human attention systems find almost impossible to ignore.

Then there is rumination: the repetitive mental replaying of worries and problems. Humans possess a remarkable ability to mentally simulate the future and revisit the past. This capacity helps us plan, learn and avoid danger. But it also means the brain can continue generating stress responses long after any immediate threat has disappeared.

The cruel irony is that the more exhausted we become, the harder emotional regulation often gets. Sleep deprivation itself increases amygdala reactivity while reducing the moderating influence of the prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain involved in rational control and perspective.

A tired brain becomes more emotionally reactive, which can make worries feel even louder at night. In other words, being overtired can make the brain less capable of calming itself down.

This helps explain why “just relax” is usually terrible advice for insomniacs. Hyperarousal is not simply a failure of willpower. It is a deeply biological state shaped by stress systems, hormones, attention networks and learned patterns of vigilance. That does not mean the situation is hopeless.

Sleep researchers often emphasise that rest and safety are closely linked in the brain. Consistent routines, reduced evening stimulation, exercise, daylight exposure and limiting late-night screen use can all help reinforce the signals that night is a time for recovery rather than alertness. Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia has also proved remarkably effective, partly because it targets the cycle of anxiety and sleeplessness itself.

Perhaps the most important point is broader. Feeling “wired but tired” is not evidence that your body has failed to rest properly. Often it is evidence that the brain has become too good at staying alert in a digital world that never really stops.

The scene is a Manhattan street. It’s still close to 100F but record producer Jack Antonoff is dressed in an almost comically oversized tuxedo. His graying hair is missing – shaved clean off – and so is his actress wife.

Antonoff was, of course, headed to Madison Square Garden, to watch one of his closest friends and longtime musical collaborators, Taylor Swift, marry her NFL sweetheart, Travis Kelce.

He wasn’t alone. The 42-year-old Grammy-winning producer – the architect behind some of Swift’s biggest albums – took his sister Rachel as a plus-one to Friday’s glitzy wedding, host to some 1,000 guests.

But where was his wife of three years, Margaret Qualley?

Online sleuths rushed to explain the 31-year-old actress’s absence. She’s tied up filming, they proffered. Unwell, perhaps. Or, horror of horrors, she’s had a falling out with the bride. 

Now, it seems, we know the truth, after news broke Wednesday that Qualley and Antonoff have reportedly split – and, sources say, things have been tricky for some time.

After news broke Wednesday that Qualley and Antonoff have reportedly split, insiders tell the Daily Mail the warning signs had been quietly piling up for some time

Antonoff and Qualley tied the knot in a small ceremony in New Jersey in 2023 

One guest at Swift’s nuptials tells the Daily Mail that Antonoff ‘didn’t look happy during most of the wedding, unless he was with Taylor.’ He was also overheard telling friends that he and Qualley ‘had a tiff’ before the ceremony.

Antonoff was still wearing his wedding ring at Swift’s wedding, as he was Wednesday when he was photographed outside their home in Brooklyn. 

But then, not long after, news broke via People magazine that the couple have reportedly called it quits after just three years of marriage.

The split appears to have come as such a shock that even Antonoff’s own family seem blindsided. 

Less than two hours before the news became public, the Daily Mail had spoken on the phone with Antonoff’s mother and asked her about rumors of marital strife. 

‘I don’t know anything about this, sorry,’ she said. ‘I’m so sorry, I really don’t have anything to say.’ 

Her apparent surprise is understandable. Antonoff and Qualley had looked like a successful Hollywood pairing.

They married in a small ceremony in August 2023. Swift was present, of course – and Qualley wore flats and a casual halter-neck dress.

As recently as February this year, the actress told Vanity Fair that she saw children in their future. ‘Yeah, for sure,’ she said. ‘I love my husband, my family. I love dancing and horses.’ 

One guest at Swift’s nuptials tells the Daily Mail that Antonoff ‘didn’t look happy during most of the wedding, unless he was with Taylor.’

Advertisement

He was also overheard telling friends that he and Qualley, 31, ‘had a tiff’ before Swift’s ceremony 

Antonoff was still wearing his wedding ring at Swift’s wedding, as he was Wednesday when he was photographed (above) outside their home in Brooklyn 

But according to a second source close to the couple, the cracks had been forming for some time.

‘Jack didn’t want to put up a facade at Taylor’s wedding when they’re having trouble,’ the insider told the Daily Mail.

‘It’s been weird with her [Qualley] working and him doing his own thing the last several months. They definitely have lost the spark they once had and it doesn’t look like they’ll fix it.

‘Which is crazy, because they were bonkers for each other at one point and people thought they had something unique.’

It is also claimed that the couple’s increasingly separate lives drove them apart. 

Antonoff, who is also the frontman of the rock band Bleachers, has spent much of this year away on tour, while Qualley has thrown herself into filming. Her new movie Possession (a remake of the 1981 cult horror which will also feature Callum Turner) is anticipated for cinema release next year.

‘Margaret feels he has a tendency to prioritize his music career over their relationship,’ the insider said.

‘The disconnect between them has created significant tension, and despite the growing strain, Jack hasn’t shown much interest in repairing what’s been broken. The two are no longer on the same page.’

The source added that Qualley had finally reached ‘her breaking point’.

She has recently also been filming the supernatural thriller King Snake alongside Drew Starkey, the chiseled 32-year-old actor who made a name for himself starring opposite Daniel Craig in the 2024 gay romance movie, Queer.

Eagle-eyed fan have claimed that photographs making the rounds online show Starkey and Qualley at a minor league baseball game on May 30 in Arkansas during time off from filming in the area. Starkey’s brother was said to be present and the game was advertised online as ‘Faith & Family Night’.

One attendee told the Daily Mail the the trio kept a low profile and claimed Starkey in particular seemed to want people to ‘leave him alone.’

‘I think once he realized he was spotted on one side of the baseball field, he put a cap on and the three of them moved to the section next to where I was sitting,’ the attendee said. ‘You could tell he didn’t want to be bothered.’

Qualley has recently been filming the supernatural thriller King Snake alongside actor Drew Starkey (pictured)

Advertisement

Other photos shared by fans allegedly capturing Qualley and Starkey spending time together at a public swimming pool during another break from filming have only added fuel to the fire.

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Antonoff, Qualley and Starkey for comment. 

Qualley and Antonoff’s reported breakup has promoted something of a deep dive into the famed producer’s dating history, namely his relationship with Girls creator Lena Dunham, 40.

In her recently released memoir, Dunham reflected candidly on their five-year relationship, which ended in January 2018.

She recalled returning home one day to find an unnamed teenage pop star crying in Antonoff’s lap while he comforted her.

‘One day I returned home from a bone density test to find her sprawled across our sectional couch, weeping into Jack’s lap as he told her that “your teens are for experimenting” in a tone so comforting, it almost brought tears to my eyes,’ Dunham wrote.

In her recently released memoir, Girls creator Lena Dunham reflected candidly on her five-year relationship with Antonoff

‘It had been so long since he’d spoken to me with that kind of expansive generosity.’

Elsewhere, Dunham reflected on a period when the couple briefly separated and claimed that while she had carefully respected the boundaries they established, ‘if I wanted to look, perhaps I may have seen that Jack was not observing them as closely as I was.’

In April, Qualley changed her Instagram username from ‘isimostar’ – widely believed to be a nod to the Bleachers song, Isimo – to simply ‘sarahmargaretqualley23.’

Come Wednesday morning, Qualley seemed to briefly scrub her wedding photos from her Instagram. The missing photos have now reappeared – and the pair still follow each other on the social media platform.

The cases follow investigations by the Police Ombudsman’s Office

A police officer has been convicted of careless driving following an investigation by the Police Ombudsman’s Office.

The investigation was prompted by a public complaint alleging that the officer had, while on duty, driven through a zebra crossing, narrowly missing a child on a scooter.

The incident happened at Carlisle Circus in north Belfast on 2 April 2025.

The officer pleaded not guilty but was convicted following a contest at Belfast’s Laganside Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and received a fine of £250 and five penalty points.

In a separate case at Dungannon Magistrates’ Court last Friday, July 3, another police officer was acquitted of charges of using a mobile phone while driving, and driving while not in proper control of a vehicle.

The case was investigated by the Police Ombudsman’s Office after receiving a referral from the Public Prosecution Service based on video evidence submitted by police in relation to an alleged speeding offence by a member of the public.

The Police Ombudsman will now consider potential misconduct issues arising from both cases before submitting reports for consideration by the PSNI ’s Professional Standards Department.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

By MARK NICOL, DEFENCE EDITOR

Published: 23:59 BST, 8 July 2026 | Updated: 01:19 BST, 9 July 2026

Donald Trump said the ceasefire with Iran ‘is over’ and launched new bombing raids on Wednesday night after calling the country’s leaders ‘cuckoo’ and ‘scum’.

At the Nato summit in Turkey, the US President said the truce was finished and threatened to target Iran’s bridges, electricity grid and water-cleansing plants.

Later, addressing the second night of attacks, Mr Trump wrote on social media: ‘This is in retribution for Wednesday’s bombing of ships by Iran. If it happens again, it will get much worse!’

He also posted videos and photos of the raids, with images of smoke billowing into the sky after an apparent bombing.

Advertisement

The US had renewed its onslaught on Iran on Tuesday night as ‘punishment’ after tankers came under fire in the Strait of Hormuz.

More than 80 US air strikes targeted military facilities, including craft used to harass tankers in the strait and air defence systems. Iranian state media said eight people died in the attacks.

US Central Command said they were launched to ‘impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway’.

The US also revoked a licence for Iran to sell oil on global markets as part of the Memorandum of Understanding between the countries agreed last month.

Advertisement

At the Nato summit in Turkey, the US President said the truce was finished and threatened to target Iran’s bridges, electricity grid and water-cleansing plants. He is pictured here at the event with Keir Starmer

Emmanuel Macron is seen going for a morning jog in Ankara, Turkiye, where he arrived for the summit

In response, Iran targeted US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait and declared the agreement ‘dead’. It claimed to have shot down a US MQ9 drone and to have damaged 85 US facilities. Earlier, Mr Trump told the summit: ‘These are evil, sick people – they’re cancer. And you’ve got to cut out cancer early.’

Advertisement

After the President’s threats, Tehran vowed to turn the Middle East into ‘a sea of fire’ and close the Strait of Hormuz.

Officials also threatened to ‘rain missiles’ on Israel and claimed Iran’s regional proxies, such as Yemeni-based Houthi rebels, had their ‘fingers on the triggers’. The speaker of Iran’s parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said: ‘We don’t fold.’

After hostilities resumed crude oil prices rose by 5 per cent, while Gulf states such as Qatar condemned Iran’s ‘explicit violation’ of international law.

The US action was backed by Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte, who confirmed the alliance’s position that Iran should never acquire a nuclear weapon.

Advertisement

Away from the serious talks, French president Emmanuel Macron was spotted out for a morning jog in shorts and shades.

The degree of Honorary Doctorate of Sport was presented during the university’s summer graduation ceremonies in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the city, both on and off the pitch.

Mr O’Nien said: “I don’t think I can find the words to express what it means.

“I came here to play football and get the club back to the Premier League, and every time people thank me, I’m like – no, thank YOU.

“You guys took me on and gave me the opportunity.

“You gave me time and space to learn and grow as a player and as a dad.

“You guys have given me the life that I’ve always wanted, on and off the pitch.

“I’ve turned up and given my everything but without the community here, I wouldn’t have this opportunity.

“I am unbelievably grateful and I will make sure that I will do my best to keep contributing to the Sunderland community the best I can.”

Luke O’Nien with Sir David Bell, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Sunderland (right) and Pro-Chancellor Jeff Brown (Image: University Of Sunderland)

Mr O’Nien joined Sunderland in 2018 and has become a fan favourite, earning the nickname “Mr Sunderland” and surpassing 300 appearances for the club.

His influence extends beyond football, as he regularly speaks about leadership, positivity and mental resilience.

He said: “One of the most important things in life is human connection and hearing people’s stories of where they’ve come from and where they’re going.

“I think everybody is carrying something that nobody else can see.

“We all have challenges, we all have setbacks and we all have moments when life feels heavy.

“Sometimes the best thing you can do is take the time to listen – not to judge, not to solve the problem, just to understand.

“When people feel seen, heard and supported, incredible things can happen.”

The university’s summer graduations are taking place throughout the week, running from Monday, July 6 to Friday, July 10.

This is the first time they have been held during the summer at The Fire Station in the city centre.

The ceremonies celebrate the achievements of the Class of 2026 and are expected to provide a significant economic boost to hotels, bars, restaurants and hospitality venues across Sunderland.

The US has started “additional strikes” after Iran’s “recent unjustified aggression” on civilian crews in the Strait of Hormuz

Advertisement

Donald Trump has directed the US military to launch fresh assaults on Iranian targets, according to the US Central Command (CENTCOM).

The United States has commenced “additional strikes” in response to Iran’s “recent unjustified aggression” towards civilian crews, according to the Express.

A statement from Central Command read: “At the direction of the Commander in Chief, U.S. Central Command forces have started conducting additional strikes against Iran to further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

“The United States is holding Iran accountable for recent unjustified aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews freely navigating a vital international waterway.”

On 7 July, the US Command confirmed that numerous targets had been struck following “a series of powerful strikes”, triggered by alleged Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The Command subsequently confirmed that “over 80 targets” had been hit.

According to UN International Maritime Organisation figures, three civilian vessels were struck in the strait earlier on Tuesday. Iran, however, did not claim any of the attacks.

President Trump appeared to issue a stark ultimatum to Iran earlier this week, declaring “we’re either going to have a deal or we’re going to have a war”. Speaking at the NATO summit in Turkey yesterday and today (7 July and 8 July), the president stated: “If we make a deal with Iran, I’m not sure that will stick because I found them to be very dishonourable. We hit them very hard last night, very, very hard,” before adding that the US will “probably hit them hard again tonight”.

Want to see more of the stories you love from Belfast Live? Making us your preferred source on Google means you’ll get more of our exclusives… To add Belfast Live as a preferred source, simply click here.

His remarks regarding the precarious ceasefire triggered a further surge in oil prices. Brent crude climbed approximately 6.5% to $79 a barrel on Wednesday morning following Mr Trump’s declaration that the ceasefire had collapsed.

Sitting alongside the alliance’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, Trump said he was “very upset” with NATO, threatening to cut off all trade with Spain in a row over defence spending. Since, the U.S. has fired strikes at more than 80 Iranian targets around the strait of Hormuz.