It comes as free bus travel over the summer holiday for children comes to an end.

The move to offer the free travel is designed to ensure children placed in temporary accommodation can stay at their school, maintaining their routine and minimising disruption to their education.

The Mayor Bev Craig announced when she was elected that the free bus travel offer for children in temporary accommodation would be in place for the new school year.

She has now confirmed that the policy will come into effect from today (1 September).

Families living in temporary accommodation who are eligible – which includes those living more than two miles from their school or where their route is considered unsafe to walk – will be assessed for eligibility by their local council who will then issue the pass.

Bev Craig, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “I believe everyone deserves a safe home they can afford. Across our region, too many people face the risk of homelessness.

“As Mayor, I’m committed to reducing the number of families stuck in temporary housing, including by building 50,000 council and genuinely affordable homes.

“We know that some children end up a long way from their school when placed into temporary accommodation. That’s why I’ve also promised to reduce the prevalence of out-of-borough placements to keep families in their communities.

“But we need to help families facing homelessness now, when they need it most. That’s why I backed the campaign to give children living in temporary accommodation free travel to and from school on Bee Network buses and I’m pleased that, as Mayor, we are making it a reality – to make life that little bit easier in difficult times.”

The Greater Manchester Strategy – the plan for the city region’s next decade – commits to reducing the number of families and children in temporary accommodation.

Measures are also being taken to make sure residents have the support they need to access, improve and retain a decent, affordable home.

As part of that free Bee Network bus travel to and from school will be provided to children placed in temporary housing by a local authority in Greater Manchester from today (1 September).

Sam Pratt, Policy and Communications Lead at Shared Health Foundation, a charity which supports homeless families in Greater Manchester, said: “We are really pleased to finally see bus passes will be provided for homeless children living in temporary accommodation. Even more significant is that their parent or carer will be offered support while accompanying them to school too.

“For children already facing the uncertainty and disruption that comes with living in temporary accommodation, ensuring they have the cost covered to travel to school will ease the burden of being homeless.”

The free school pass will be available to primary and secondary school aged children living in temporary accommodation that is located more than two miles from their school or if they live within two miles, but the route is not considered safe to walk.

Parents or carers of eligible children under 12 will also be provided with a linked pass, allowing them to take their children to school and collect them at the end of the day.

The programme, codenamed C430L, reportedly involves the ‘transfer of a highly strategically sensitive military technology from Russia that the Iranians have wanted to acquire for decades’

Russia has been covertly helping Iran develop advanced supersonic cruise missiles, according to reports.

According to an investigation by the Financial Times, the assistance by Russia started in 2023 and has continued into the US war on Iran.

The US and Iran have been at war since February 28 when joint US-Israeli forces carried out strikes on several key Iranian sites. Iran retaliated by striking sites across the Middle East and closing the Strait of Hormuz waterway.

The programme, codenamed C430L, has used some of Russia’s most experienced missile specialists to help the Middle Eastern nation develop a new class of weapon. It is being carried out via Russian correspondence, travel records and analysis of military patents.

Fabian Hinz, an expert on Iranian missiles and senior analyst with Conflict Armament Research, a UK-based weapons-tracing organisation, said: “This is the transfer of a highly strategically sensitive military technology from Russia that the Iranians have wanted to acquire for decades.

“A programme like this would require political clearance from the very top in Russia.”

Weapons such as these would pose a threat to US warships in the region and could add a new element to the months-long conflict.

The main purpose of the programme is to assist Iran to develop a ramjet propulsion system, an engine that allows a cruise missile to sustain flight at several times the speed of sound.

Supersonic cruise missiles shorten the time available for air and missile defences to detect and engage them and would help Iran in the Gulf where the US operates advanced defensive systems.

“For the Iranians, this would give them a qualitatively new strategic weapon system that could threaten US Navy vessels,” said Jim Lamson, a former Iran-focused military analyst with the CIA now at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

Iran has built and flight-tested the ramjet propulsion system. There is no evidence that a Russian-assisted supersonic cruise missile have been deployed yet.

By ADAM S. LEVY, US SENIOR SHOWBUSINESS REPORTER

Published: 00:38 BST, 2 September 2026 | Updated: 03:14 BST, 2 September 2026

Jared Leto made more than $7 million as he sold a Los Angeles mansion he owned for $12 million earlier this year.

The 54-year-old actor in May finalized the real estate deal on the property, which had once been a base for the U.S. Air Force, TMZ reported on Tuesday.

The 14,649 sq. foot home has six bedrooms and five bathrooms, as it’s situated on a lot of land spanning 1.4 acres.

The Academy Award-winning star had initially purchased the Laurel Canyon property in 2015 for $5 million, the outlet reported.

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Among the unique amenities of the home include a trio of 35-millimeter screening rooms, film vaults with temperature-control and a sound stage.

The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Leto for further comment on the story. 

Jared Leto, 54, made more than $7 million as he sold a Los Angeles mansion he owned for $12 million this past May. Pictured October in LA 

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The property had been the location for training films for the Army, and newsreels for the Air Force that featured late Hollywood icons such as Bob Hope, Jimmy Stewart and Gregory Peck, according to the outlet.

Other notable features of the unique property include concrete blast walls that are four feet thick, a shelter and a tower intended for air-traffic, according to a 2017 WSJ Magazine profile.

The Suicide Squad actor spoke about the unusual history associated with the property in the piece, saying, ‘There are so many crazy rumors about this place: Everything from “Part of the moon landing was filmed here” to “They used to keep prisoners downstairs.”

‘They had laboratories. They were doing all kinds of God-knows-what.’

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Leto noted he had converted the soundstage on the premises to a studio for his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, according to the report.

Leto was in the headlines earlier this summer following the July release of a BBC documentary titled Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Darkest Secret.

The documentary included allegations from four women who accused the entertainer of sexual misconduct, stating the incidents had occurred when they were aged 16-19.

The claims, which Leto denied, were situated between the years 2002 and 2016, a timeframe in which Leto had primarily been in his 30s and 40s.

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The 14,649 sq. foot home has six bedrooms and five bathrooms, as it’s situated on a lot of land spanning 1.4 acres

The Academy Award-winning star had initially purchased the Laurel Canyon property in 2015 for $5 million

The actor in May finalized the real estate deal on the property, which had once been a base for the U.S. Air Force

One woman said in the BBC doc that Leto had assaulted her when she had been 17-years-old while in the bathroom of a motel.

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Another woman said that Leto had threatened her with sex assault when she was 19, in a hotel room.

A woman in the doc said she had been 17 during a sexual encounter with Leto in California, where the age of consent is 18.

Another accused claimed Leto had made sexually graphic statements to her while on the phone when she was 16.

Leto, through a statement, denied all of the allegations, saying, ‘I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life.’

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He added, ‘These claims are absolutely and categorically false.’

Germany has said Russia was responsible for last month’s drone attack at Leipzig’s airport.

A drone carrying an explosive device was discovered at Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany, close to Ukrainian cargo planes, on 4 August.

It failed to explode as the detonator was apparently faulty, and investigators suspect a second drone collided with a cargo aircraft nearby. A third drone was reportedly found near the airport 10 days later.

Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the Leipzig airport attack followed the “well-established pattern of Russian hybrid operations in Europe” and the assumption was that Germany would be targeted again.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday accused Germany of planting evidence to blame Moscow for the attempted drone attack at Leipzig airport.

Putin did not provide evidence for the accusation.

Meanwhile, the Russian embassy in Berlin said the allegation that Russia was responsible was “absurd”.

Dobrindt said examination of the equipment used along with intelligence findings proved Russian involvement in the attack.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who was standing beside Dobrindt at a press conference in Berlin, said he would order the closure of the Russian consulate in Bonn, and the contract for the Russian House in Berlin will also be terminated – which many observers have said has been used for espionage and to spread Russian propaganda.

He also announced tighter entry controls for Russian nationals and vowed to increase pressure on Moscow’s shadow fleet – old tankers used by Russia to circumvent Western sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Wadephul said he had summoned Russia’s ambassador to Germany, Sergei Nechayev. He was seen arriving at the foreign ministry shortly after the announcement.

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry, said Moscow would respond in a “mirror-image” fashion to Germany’s measures while the Russian embassy described the measures as an “unprecedented escalation in Russian-German relations”.

“Berlin is sponsoring terrorism”, Zakharova told the German Press Agency in reference to its military and economic support provided to Ukraine.

There have been previous suggestions that the Goethe-Institut in Moscow would have to cease operations if the Germans went through with closing Russian House.

Security experts had speculated that Russia may have been responsible, however Russia has always rejected claims of involvement.

Leipzig/Halle Airport in the east of the country is used by Germany’s military and Nato allies for the transport of military goods and also serves as a base for Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines – which carries most of the country’s aerial cargo.

The head of Nato, Mark Rutte, said the organisation “stands in full solidarity with Germany”.

“The evidence is clear. And I welcome the measures announced by Germany in response,” he wrote on X.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X: “We are united in our resolve to stand against Russian aggression. We will deter anyone who seeks to undermine our freedom and security.”

She added that the EU was preparing additional sanctions against Russia.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Russia was “escalating tension across the whole region”. Polish prosecutors are investigating whether foreign intelligence services were involved in a fire at a factory making drone components on Monday.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said: “Russian attempts to undermine our united resolve and our willingness to support Ukraine are futile and doomed to fail.”

Germany is one of several Nato member states to have reported drone sightings at airports, military and industrial sites over the last year.

Berlin has until now been tight-lipped about who may have been behind the Leipzig attack, except to say “foreign powers” may have been involved.

US media had already reported that American officials had linked the incident to Russia.

Berlin has warned that the country is the “daily target” of hybrid warfare, and Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned last week that those who carried out hostile acts against Germany would “pay a price”.

The government is looking to boost the powers of its intelligence services, which have long been criticised as relatively toothless, to counter such threats.

Germany is a key backer of Ukraine with Merz forthright in his support for Kyiv.

However an MP in Merz’s Christian Democrats (CDU) party said the measures so far taken against Russia “fall far short of what is required” and Moscow “just laughs” when its ambassador is summoned.

“From a self-proclaimed leading nation, I expect courage and resolve, not self-deterrence and appeasement,” said Roderich Kiesewetter.

It is not hard to imagine why Ukrainian cargo planes at a key German logistics hub might be in Moscow’s sights.

But this announcement comes at a delicate moment for Merz’s government.

A key state election in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt could propel the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) into power at a state-level for the first time.

The AfD, which is Germany’s biggest opposition party, wants to stop sending support to Ukraine and reopen ties with Russia.

In a separate development, German police said they were investigating the discovery of improvised explosive and incendiary devices at a power substation in the eastern state of Brandenburg on Tuesday.

A power line was damaged, which caused a temporary outage. It is not known who planted the devices.

The disturbing full details of Below Deck star Nathan Gallagher’s sustained and brutal attack on his co-star and girlfriend expose just how close he came to killing her.

The Daily Mail yesterday revealed the 28-year-old Irish reality TV personality has fled the country to avoid facing justice before the Australian courts.

When his assault was finally revealed only last week – after being kept secret for nine months since his arrest – Gallagher insisted he’d been unfairly shamed.

In a self-pitying statement to Rolling Stone magazine, he told the world no-one should judge him because they hadn’t ‘heard the full story surrounding what happened’.

Well, here it is.

Police facts reveal the real grim truth about how he tried to strangle and suffocate her, aggressively asphyxiating her while he straddled and blocked her from breaking free.

And he did it to the mother of his son – as the child lay on the bed alongside her.

Gallagher, 27, and Gael Cameron, 29, were in her apartment in Melrose Park, 12km north-west of Sydney CBD, on Boxing Day night last year.

The facts say that Gael Cameron (pictured)  ‘tried to pull away and [Gallagher] persisted continuing to cover her mouth so that the victim was unable to breathe’

Gael Cameron (centre) arrived at Sydney’s Burwood Local Court on Tuesday to give evidence against her former partner and Below Deck co-star Nathan Gallagher

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The couple had drunk about a bottle of wine and were in a relationship described by NSW Police as being ‘on-again, off-again’.

The Australian met Gallagher, a lad from an Irish fishing village who loved boats, in mid-2024 when they were hired as deckhands on season nine of the reality TV show, Below Deck Mediterranean.

They would feature in the following two seasons which charted ‘their reconciliation, transition into parenthood and Nathan’s yachting career’ versus his relationship with his partner and child, the Bravo show notes say.

As midnight rolled over that Boxing Day, the couple ‘engaged in a verbal argument’, police alleged.

Ms Cameron went into the bedroom and asked Gallagher to sleep in the other room, but he ignored her, ‘entered the bedroom, the argument renewed and he became violent,’ according to police.

Court documents reveal how the sustained assault unfolded between 3am and 7am, mostly in the bedroom of Ms Cameron’s unit. 

Referring to Ms Cameron as the ‘victim’, the police facts state what happened next is that Gallagher ‘used one hand to cover the mouth and nose of the victim’.

‘The victim tried to pull away and [Gallagher] persisted, continuing to cover her mouth so that the victim was unable to breathe at certain points,’ the court documents state.

Police facts describe how Nathan Gallagher strangled and tried to asphyxiate Gael Cameron (pictured together) in her Sydney apartment as their six-month-old son lay next to her

Gael Cameron (pictured at court on Tuesday with two supporters) was held down and choked by her former partner and Below Deck co-star Nathan Gallagher

During the sustained assault, Gael Cameron (pictured) tried to scream and tell Gallagher that she could not breathe but he became ‘increasingly aggressive’

Ms Cameron then tried to scream and tell Gallagher that she could not breathe but he became ‘increasingly aggressive’. 

‘During the struggle, the victim has fallen to the floor of the bedroom between the bed and the wardrobe trying to break free from [Gallagher]… while trying to hold on to the edge of the bed where their six-month-old son was lying,’ the facts add.

‘[Gallagher] continued to restrict the victim’s breathing by holding both hands over the victim’s mouth. 

‘Ms Cameron began screaming and she believes Gallagher did not want her to be heard by the neighbours. 

‘While preventing the victim from breathing and making noise, [he] held the victim down on the bedroom floor, wrapping his legs around the victim to better control her.’

During the struggle, she used her left elbow to strike Gallagher in the mouth in an attempt to get him off her, ‘however this only angered him further’.

‘[He] placed both of his hands around the victim’s neck applying enough pressure which made her unable to breathe,’ the court documents add. 

‘The victim used her legs to try and kick him off her and scream for help. Gallagher used an open right palm and struck her on the left side of the jaw. 

Nathan Gallagher was a no show at court, but police facts reveal that he ‘placed both of his hands around the victim’s neck applying enough pressure which made her unable to breathe’

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Ms Cameron and Gallagher had an on-again, off-again relationship which finally ended after he brutally assaulted, choked and restricted her breathing during an attack in her home

‘This caused pain and swelling.’ 

Ms Cameron tried to break free and grabbed her son to run out of the room, but Gallagher blocked her trying to leave. 

She then ran to the bathroom where Gallagher cornered her and ‘used both hands to grip the neck of the victim and whilst applying force lifted her up. 

‘(Ms Cameron) was unable to breathe during this time,’ police told the court.

‘After some time, he has held the victim from behind, holding her wrists and wrapping his arms and legs around the victim, holding her down on the bed.’

When Ms Cameron woke up the following morning, Gallagher continued the argument, and blamed her for causing it. She then picked up her son and fled the apartment to go to her brother’s home. 

Police were called and found her ‘highly distressed and emotional’. They saw ‘bruising along her legs, arm, left side of her face, swelling to the face and a laceration inside of her lip consistent with a blow to the face’. 

Gallagher was arrested and police told the court he admitted holding Ms Cameron down, wrapping his arms around her, and that during a struggle, she fell to the floor.

Gael Cameron, 30, suffered bruising and lacerations in the assault by her now ex-partner and former Below Deck co-star Nathan Gallagher

Nathan Gallagher, 27, and Gael Cameron, 29, were in her apartment in Melrose Park (pictured), 12km north-west of Sydney CBD, on Boxing Day night last year

He ‘categorically denied choking the victim or covering her mouth in any way, or punching her’. 

‘He admitted holding her down and wrapping her up, but claimed it was to calm her down,’ the court documents stated.

Ms Cameron turned up to give evidence at court on Tuesday, looking sombre and supported by two companions, believed to be family members, but there was no sign of Gallagher.

His no-show for the scheduled hearing came despite telling Rolling Stone he had ‘contemporaneous video footage from the night in question’.

He also claimed he had ‘messages and other records, which I believe provide important context and show events that have not been publicly reported,’ he told the magazine.

He also said there were ‘other matters surrounding the relationship that I have never discussed publicly, including circumstances surrounding the breakdown of our relationship’.

Gallagher claimed it involved ‘financial matters relating to the purchase of an apartment in Sydney’.

‘I don’t believe it is fair for one version of events to be presented publicly as though it is the complete story,’ he added.

Nathan Gallagher has previous form for not showing up at court on violence charges. There are now two police warrants for his arrest, in NSW and in Ireland

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By failing to appear as legally required, the judge convicted him in his absence without ‘his side of the story’ being aired, and a warrant for his arrest was issued.

The now-convicted woman-basher has now lost his opportunity to present whatever  mitigating factors he might have claimed existed for his violent outburst.

It was also revealed there is another warrant for his arrest in Ireland, issued in April last year.

Just like in Sydney, he had failed to appear in court there to face a charge of assaulting a man and causing him harm. 

When India’s power demand surged at the height of summer, the country struggled to meet evening needs as air conditioners ran longer amid hotter nights. Despite this demand, some renewable energy providers were told to limit their output because the country had more clean electricity available than its grid could safely handle.

In the last 15 months, India curtailed nearly 11 terawatt-hours of solar generation — enough electricity to power about 10 million homes, according to government data and research by energy think tank Ember. That solar power went unused even as extreme heat and poor monsoon rains drove up demand for power in India for cooling and pumping groundwater for agriculture.

India, the world’s most populous country and one of the largest emitters of climate-polluting gases, is rapidly adding clean energy, especially solar, to its power mix. However, it can’t use all the clean power it could generate because of insufficient transmission and storage capacity and the technical difficulty of shifting between fossil power and renewables.

Energy experts say that contradiction points to the next big challenge for India’s energy transition. Building solar and wind farms is no longer enough. India also needs more transmission lines to move electricity across the country, batteries to store renewable power until it is needed and a more flexible power system that can quickly adjust as wind and solar output rises or falls.

“We’re in a stage where some of the biggest hurdles in renewables are starting to hit us,” said Neshwin Rodrigues, an energy analyst at Ember.

Clean power gets switched off despite record demand

India has more than 300 gigawatts of clean power capacity, more than half its total installed electricity capacity. But coal still produces most of the country’s electricity.

Experts said the main reason for this is curtailment — when a wind or solar plant could produce electricity but is ordered to reduce or stop generation as the grid cannot take the power.

Rodrigues said that when solar generation surges in the afternoon, it’s difficult for coal units to reduce their output because they are relatively inflexible and cannot ramp down quickly without compromising efficiency, increasing costs or risking operational problems.

Trying to make thermal power plants flexible and adapt to increasing supply from clean energy sources “is like asking an elephant to dance,” said Vinay Pabba, CEO of Hyderabad-based renewable energy company Vibrant Energy.

Pabba said curtailment results in losses for clean power developers. “We get paid only for what we put on the grid,” he said.

The high concentration of renewable generation in western India has also meant that transmission lines in that part of the country get congested quickly. The western states of Gujarat and Rajasthan account for nearly 50% of India’s solar power capacity.

“When solar peaks, usually in the afternoon, there is a limited pipe to evacuate it,” said Pabba.

Another risk of not building storage quickly is that dirty fuels get used more. “Without enough storage, India risks keeping coal plants running even when cheap renewable power is available,” said Vibhuti Garg, South Asia director at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

While a solar or wind farm can sometimes be completed within two years, building new power lines can take a minimum of three years, according to energy experts.

India has achieved only about 80% of its annual transmission construction targets over the past five years, research by Ember has found.

Spreading more renewable development across other parts of the country, while adding more wind and smaller local solar projects, could reduce pressure on crowded transmission corridors and make the electricity supply more balanced throughout the day, said Disha Agarwal, an energy analyst at the New Delhi-based Council on Energy, Environment and Water.

Agarwal said the challenge is likely to become more difficult as renewable capacity keeps rising.

India is aiming for 500 gigawatts of clean electricity capacity by 2030. Also, Indian policymakers expect nearly 70% of India’s installed power capacity to come from nonfossil sources by 2036.

Batteries could help save power for when it is needed

A study released earlier this month by the India Energy and Climate Center at the University of California, Berkeley, found that renewable power backed by batteries can provide electricity with reliability approaching that of conventional power plants at a price researchers said is lower than the price of power from new coal-fired plants.

Batteries make it possible to store solar electricity when it is abundant in the afternoon and discharge it after sunset, when demand remains high.

But India’s storage sector remains far smaller than what planners said will eventually be required.

“If we try to increase the solar installations without solving for energy storage, it is only going to lead to curtailment,” said Ankit Mittal, CEO of battery storage company Ingro Energy.

Mittal said India is trying to transform several parts of its electricity system simultaneously as power demand rises. “Things that were supposed to happen over decades” are now happening at once, he said.

The government said in July that it had about 3 gigawatts of battery storage and 7.4 gigawatts of operational pumped-storage capacity. It expects India’s storage needs to reach about 74 gigawatts by 2032.

“If high quality energy storage projects are not built, we could be adding an additional layer of risk to grid operations while also decelerating our nation’s ability to achieve our energy transition targets,” said Avinash Rao, CEO of Mahindra Susten, a leading renewable energy company in India.

Rodrigues, the energy analyst, said batteries can be built much more quickly than major transmission infrastructure, making them one of the fastest options for easing some immediate constraints.

Industry stakeholders said that few, if any, foresaw the incredible increase in demand happening as the country’s transportation and other major sectors electrify and data centers are built.

“None of us saw it coming. If we had seen it coming, we would have probably planned our way around it,” said Pabba of Vibrant Energy.

___

Sibi Arasu can be followed on X at @sibi123. Reach him at sarasu@ap.org.

___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Apple has become the latest tech giant to cave to President Donald Trump’s demand to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America.

Trump signed an executive order in late August to rename the body of water bounded by the Canadian province of Ontario and New York as the trade war between the U.S. and its northern neighbor escalated.

Google quickly agreed to change Lake Ontario to Lake America for U.S. users, and Apple did the same Tuesday, after Trump spoke directly with the company.

“I know that the president reached out to Apple directly, so I’m sure that we may be seeing that change coming up soon to Lake America,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told host Cheryl Casone, standing in for Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria Monday.

Google and Apple also changed the Gulf of Mexico on their Maps apps to the Gulf of America following an executive order Trump signed earlier in his second term. The Independent has reached out to Apple for comment on the Lake Ontario name change.

Democratic social media influencer Harry Sisson bashed Apple for the move, writing on X, “Apple Maps has changed Lake Ontario to Lake America after Trump pressured them to do so. It’s just so pathetic. Why go along with this stupidity??”

Google was also criticized for changing Lake Ontario to Lake America, with progressive media company MeidasTouch writing on X Sunday, “Google Maps has now capitulated to Donald Trump.”

MapQuest has refused to relabel Lake Ontario, writing on X, “We’re not changing it,” when Trump signed the executive order Thursday.

After defying Trump, MapQuest surged in App Store rankings, becoming the No. 1 navigation app and No. 8 overall free app on Sunday night — the highest chart position since the brand launched in 1996.

“We took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation, and give people an app that keeps the names they’re familiar with,” Doug Berger, general manager of MapQuest, said in a Monday press release.

“Hundreds of thousands of people signaled to us this weekend that we got it right, by downloading our app.”

The Bank of America executive who was fatally stabbed by a knife-wielding woman in Times Square was a new mother who had just returned from maternity leave.

Erin Piacenti, 32, of Chester, New Jersey, was heading home from work on Monday when she stopped briefly in front of a vendor selling sunglasses and baseball hats on the street, according to The New York Times.

It was during that brief stop that she was fatally slashed in the stomach by Pamela Cisneros Lopez, 49, who also left a 68-year-old man seriously injured in the moments before she was gunned down by police.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Piacenti worked as Bank of America’s vice president of business selection and conflicts. 

But she had just started her first week back on the job after returning from maternity leave when she was killed, the Times reports.

She had just given birth five months ago, according to a woman who identified herself to the Times as Piacenti’s grandmother-in-law and described the young executive as a ‘beautiful, beautiful girl.’

Piacenti posted a photo of herself on social media holding her newborn daughter and standing next to her husband, Frank, just four days before her death.

She had also written about how grateful she was to have spent the past five months on maternity leave, and shared that her daughter was baptized as she and Frank celebrated their second wedding anniversary.

Piancenti had recently celebrated her second wedding anniversary with her husband, Frank

The two had graduated from Fordham Law School in 2021, and were married in August 2024.

The Chester community is now grappling with the young mother’s sudden loss.

‘This definitely shakes us up,’ said resident Megan O’Hara. 

‘It’s gotten scarier to go into the city because of things happening like this,’ she continued, noting that many of the borough’s residents commute to New York City for work.

‘This feels close to home,’ O’Hara said. ‘It’s like a family member passed away.’ 

Terrifying footage from the scene showed officers firing a Taser at Lopez, from Queens, as she waved two kitchen knives at them.

Police then shot the woman, and she immediately fell to the ground where she was handcuffed and given first aid. 

Pamela Cisneros Lopez, 49, was fatally gunned down after running at officers with the two kitchen knives

Footage showed officers hitting Lopez with a Taser as she waved the blades at them, but it was not enough to stop her running at them

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In the moments prior to the video, Lopez pulled two knives from a shopping bag and stabbed Kam, who was waiting to cross the street with his wife, police said. 

Lopez is then said to have stabbed Piacenti in the abdomen, who died from her injuries.

At a press conference alongside Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Lopez had told officers during a brief standoff: ‘I’m not dropping anything, I would rather kill both of you.’

Tisch told reporters: ‘This was an extraordinarily dangerous situation unfolding in the heart of Times Square, the crossroads of the world.

‘At any given moment, there are thousands of New Yorkers, commuters, tourists, families, workers moving through these streets.’ 

She added that Lopez has a ‘documented mental health history’ with the department which included two incidents in 2018 and 2019 but she was never arrested. 

Both Tisch and Mayor Mamdani praised the officers, saying more people could have been hurt or killed if not for their actions. 

Piancenti was stabbed in the abdomen and was pronounced dead at a local hospital

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Officers are seen here investigating the scene on Monday night in the middle of Times Square

The incident had initially been reported as a knifepoint robbery, but officers believe the emotionally disturbed woman had no clear motive for the attack, ABC 7 reports.

A witness recorded the moment with his smart glasses and described Lopez as being armed with two knives. They told PIX11: ‘She ran down, the cops went by, they surrounded her, talked to her for like five minutes.’

Witness Linda Ruiz also shared what she saw in the moments before police arrived on scene.

‘I saw a guy bleeding profusely from his right leg,’ she told the Daily News. ‘He was gushing blood, saying “I need help. Help me.”‘ 

‘I went to get a cop on the corner and there was another lady on the floor,’ Ruiz continued. ‘She was stabbed in the back or in the chest, I couldn’t tell.’

‘There was a lot of blood,’ Ruiz noted. ‘She wasn’t conscious. The police were trying to resuscitate her, but she wasn’t moving. It was horrible.’ 

Hassan Abdallah, who works at a fruit cart stand on 41st Street and Seventh Avenue, two blocks away, said he watched as a woman tended to the male stabbing victim, who appeared to be her husband. 

‘I heard a lady screaming and then people were running like crazy,’ he recounted. ‘I went outside [the cart]. I saw an old guy, like 60, Asian. He was standing, holding his back. He got stabbed.

‘His wife was trying to stop the bleeding. She was using a book or some paper, then someone gave her a scarf. I gave him a paper towel. His wife told him to lay on the floor.’

Police are investigating. Tisch said there was no evidence suggesting it was a terrorist attack.

Two men, aged 19 and 24, were arrested in Middlesbrough on August 31, on suspicion of possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, after a vehicle rammed another on Derwentwater Road, shortly after 11pm on Sunday (August 30).

The 24-year-old was arrested shortly before 11.30pm in Burns Road, while the 19-year-old was arrested at a property on the same road at around 12.20am as armed officers carried out checks in the area.

Both remained in custody on Bank Holiday Monday while enquiries continued and have since been released on conditional bail today (September 1).

It takes the number of arrests to 27 since officers began investigating a series of incidents in the early hours of Saturday, August 22.

ACC Wayne Fox previously stated: “We have said previously Cleveland Police will not stop pursuing those involved in serious and organised crime, and I hope these arrests further demonstrate that.

“Our commitment to tackling criminal gangs whose intent is to harm people in our communities is, and will continue to be, a persistent focus for us.

“These latest developments now take the total number of arrests since we started investigating the incidents in the early hours of Saturday, August 22, to 27 and I can assure the public that they will not be the last.  

“We are investigating around the clock and we thank the public, not only for their support and patience while we conduct numerous enquiries, but also for the information we are receiving.

“We will always act on this information in our unwavering commitment to dismantle serious and organised crime in our area”.

The large-scale operation began after the head-on crash on the A66 at South Bank in the early hours of Saturday, August 22.

Pc Matthew Blades, 37, and Pc Tom Clough, 38, were killed alongside five people travelling in a Volkswagen Passat, Cole Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, Michael Cahill, 23, and Jakub Matusiak, 23.

Pc Matthew Blades, 37, and Pc Tom Clough, 38 (Image: CLEVELAND POLICE)

Police later said they were investigating criminal activity which took place before the collision, including reports of vehicles being driven dangerously in Middlesbrough.

A separate murder investigation was launched after a devastating house fire on Birchington Avenue, Grangetown, which killed Natalie McDonald, 34, and seven-year-old Valentina Foster.

Police have stressed that the fatal fire is not being linked to the A66 crash.

Two men were arrested on suspicion of murder as part of that investigation, with one since released and one charged.

From left to right: Makai Saddington, 18, Theo Rae, 17, Cole Robert Worthy, 17, Jakub Matusiak, 23, Michael Robert Cahill, 23 (Image: SOCIAL MEDIA)

There was also disorder at a memorial gathering in Haswell, County Durham, for A66 crash victim Michael Cahill, where five vehicles were set on fire as a crowd gathered to release balloons, flares and fireworks.

Durham Constabulary described the behaviour as “completely unacceptable”.

Hundreds of additional officers have been drafted in to support Cleveland Police during the wider operation.

A 30-year-long study of 17,000 people, including some from Norfolk, found major cardiovascular event risk was up to 57 percent higher, researchers announced this week

Eating or drinking a popular artificial sweetener could put you at a greater risk of heart attacks or strokes, a new study among Brits suggests.

Researchers found people who consumed xylitol – an artificial sweetener found in diet foods, drinks, chewing gum, pet food and toothpaste – were up to 57 percent more likely to suffer ‘cardiovascular events’. The 30-year study featured more than 17,000 participants in Canada and the UK.

Scientists presented their findings this week, which said ‘the risk of a major adverse cardiovascular event was 57 percent higher in those with the highest levels vs. the lowest levels’ of xylitol in the Canadian study group. In the UK, the ‘risk of major adverse cardiovascular events was 18 percent higher in those with the highest levels vs. the lowest levels’.

It’s led experts to conclude the higher the xylitol blood levels, the higher the cardiovascular event rate.

“Artificial sweeteners are consumed by people who think they are healthier than sugar and they are generally regarded as safe by regulatory agencies,” said Dr Marco Witkowski, from the Charité University Hospital in Berlin.

Xylitol was first discovered in 1891, and entered mass production in the 1960s. It has remained popular ever since because it is a sugar alcohol — which means it tastes sweet, but doesn’t have the same calories as normal sugar, making it a popular choice for diet foods.

Despite its widespread use, its long-term effects on cardiovascular health had not been studied.

Dr Witkowski added: “Our long-term findings in the general population highlight how little we know about the cardiovascular safety of xylitol and indicate that further studies are warranted, especially as the amount of xylitol in products continues to increase.”

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Prof Dan Atar agreed more work needs to be done to understand the impacts of the sweeteners. He said: “Artificial sweeteners are widely embraced by modern society, and the safety ratings had been good and granted by regulatory authorities.

“In this observational work, however, it appears that xylitol has a negative long-term effect on cardiovascular events in the general population. As with all observational studies, causalities are difficult to infer, but this work shows that further studies are mandated into this societally important topic.”