WASHINGTON (AP) — House lawmakers return to Washington on Monday with a short to-do list after five weeks back in their home districts. The first order of business is likely a vote on a stopgap spending bill designed to keep the federal government fully funded through early December, removing the possibility of a shutdown before the midterm elections.

With election season getting underway, votes are also expected on measures designed to amplify the GOP’s messaging strategy going into November, most notably a resolution condemning socialism. Republicans are trying to tie the Democratic Party in general to the democratic socialist candidates who have succeeded this year in running for office.

Another item that could make its way onto the agenda is a Senate-passed bill that imposes sanctions on key segments of the Russian economy and allows President Donald Trump to impose steep tariffs on goods imported from countries that buy the vast majority of Russian oil and gas. The effort led by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham aims to deprive Russian President Vladimir Putin of revenue used to finance the war against Ukraine.

The bill passed 86-11 in the Senate. House passage would send the bill to Trump’s desk for his signature. However, some key House Democrats oppose the bill. The bill grants Trump sweeping new tariff authorities that some lawmakers fear could be used to punish allies rather than foes.

A vote on the bill is not scheduled this week, but proponents are working to have it taken up before lawmakers leave Washington to focus solely on their reelection campaigns.

The return to Washington also brings a renewed focus on improper behavior by lawmakers as the House will have its first chance to act on a recommendation from the House Ethics Committee to censure Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., for engaging in persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct toward two young female aides in his congressional office.

Edwards implores colleagues to reject censure vote

Edwards has disputed the committee’s conclusion that he failed to adhere to the spirit of the rules prohibiting sexual harassment and unwanted advances to House staffers. He points to the committee’s conclusion that found no evidence he “engaged in sexual activity or explicitly propositioned any individual under his employ.”

Edwards said he was not asking lawmakers to approve of every gift, compliment or social interaction, but to distinguish between conduct that someone might find unconventional and conduct that actually establishes sexual harassment.

Lawmakers are anxious to avoid the possibility of a shutdown as voters weigh their options going into November. The funding bill passed by a 90-6 vote in the Senate, showing that lawmakers from both political parties want to avoid a repeat of the two historic shutdowns that occurred this past year.

A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum will miss the FIBA Women’s World Cup for health reasons and will be replaced by Washington teammates Kiki Iriafen and Sonia Citron, USA Basketball announced Monday.

Wilson, the four-time WNBA MVP, has shouldered quite a workload in the first part of the season for the Las Vegas Aces and needed a break to rest and get ready for the playoffs. She was voted the most outstanding player of the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2022 World Cup. She will be sorely missed by the United States.

Plum has been dealing with a calf injury for most of the WNBA season and it still hasn’t 100% healed. She was a catalyst in the Paris Games gold-medal contest against France and sparked the Americans to the one-point victory.

Iriafen and Citron were both part of U.S. camps this past winter. Iriafen played on the American team that went to Puerto Rico and won the World Cup qualifier. Citron had to miss that tournament because of an injury, so she’ll be making her national team debut in Germany.

The Americans have won every World Cup since finishing with the bronze medal in 2006. That World Cup saw American star Lisa Leslie pull out at the last minute because of a car accident that her uncle was in. Without her, the U.S. fell to Russia in the semifinals.

Without the two veteran players, the U.S. will rely even more heavily on its youth movement. Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Paige Bueckers will make their World Cup. The young stars will be joined by Olympic medalists Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young and Kahleah Copper.

Rhyne Howard and Aliyah Boston will also be making their World Cup debuts to round out the team.

The U.S. opens against China on Friday. The Chinese team has a huge front line with 7-foot-3 Zhang Ziyu, 6-10 Han Xu and 6-7 Li Yueru. The two teams played for the World Cup title in 2022 in Australia.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Commander Claire Smart, who is in charge of the policing operation, said organisers have “stepped forward” across the event, including better crowd management, after City Hall gave an extra £4.6 million to double the number of stewards and improve the use of CCTV cameras along the parade’s route.

The video gaming centre could replace a betting shop

A new video gaming centre could stay open until 11pm every day if plans are approved. Johnson Falaiye has submitted plans to Peterborough City Council to change the former Ladbrokes in Midgate, Peterborough into a new gaming centre.

If approved, the centre is proposed to be open for 13 hours a day from 10am until 11pm daily. The applicant said: “The proposed business would operate as an indoor leisure use, focused on video gaming and simulation-style gaming.

“The use would not involve betting, gambling, casino activity, prize gaming or adult gaming machines. The premises would be managed and supervised by staff during opening hours.”

The centre could be named Racecraft Sim, and the applicant plans to display the centre’s signage with a “halo illuminated appearance”.

The premises is situated in Peterborough city centre. Mr Falaiye said a new video games centre would “make productive use of an existing commercial unit and would maintain an active frontage on Midgate”.

It would also “avoid vacancy, support economic activity and provide a supervised indoor recreational use in a sustainable city centre location”. The applicant doesn’t feel the plans will cause any “unacceptable harm” to neighbours.

The 11pm closing time is a “principal amenity consideration”. However it’s considered “reasonable in a city centre location”.

The proposals are also not thought to result in harm to public safety or highway safety. The change of use for the building doesn’t require any changes to a public highway.

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If you want to improve yourself, your health or your lifestyle, you need to do it to the “maxx” – according to social media, at least.

If you want to better your appearance, you need to try “looksmaxxing”. If you want to fix your diet and look after your gut, you should be “fibremaxxing”. And if you want to improve your social skills and be more charming, you really ought to be “personality-maxxing”.

But all of this maxxing might not actually be a good way to motivate yourself into healthier habits. In fact, it may have the opposite effect – and may even cause stress.

The language of “maxxing” has roots in the gaming concept of “min-maxing”, in which players strategically maximise desirable attributes while minimising less useful ones to create the most effective in-game character. The concept then made it’s way to the mainstream, most notably through “looksmaxxing”: making focused, and sometimes extreme, efforts to maximise physical attractiveness.

The suffix has since been adapted in multiple health and wellbeing spaces. If there is an aspect of life that could be improved, it can probably be maxxed.

The “maxxing” trend encapsulates our increasingly intense optimisation culture, in which we systematically seek to improve different aspects of our thinking, feeling and functioning. This pursuit is often aided by commercial products and services that promise to produce the “best version” of ourselves.

But there’s an interesting conundrum that arises from the terminology itself. Maxxing implies there is a maximum – a point at which you have reached the peak, or perhaps even “won.”

But health, wellbeing, social relationships and lifestyle habits aren’t really something we complete. They’re continuing and fluctuating processes. Things happen outside our control, our lives and circumstances change – and we change with them.

This makes maxxing something of a double-edged sword. It can make healthy behaviour engaging, provide a sense of identity and encourage people to connect with others pursuing similar goals.

But if self-improvement turns into constant self-surveillance, self-criticism and the pursuit of an idealised “optimal” self, it may come with psychological costs.

When social media constantly reminds us there’s another metric to optimise, healthy self-improvement risks fuelling self-criticism and anxiety around our bodies, health and self-image. Examples of this have already been seen in “looksmaxing spaces” – online communities in which people can connect and exchange advice on improving appearance.

Social media use, particularly engaging with content or communities which glorify fit and idealised bodies, has also been associated with greater risk of experiencing muscle dysmorphia (a preoccupation with muscle and physique) and orthorexia (an obsessive preoccupation with healthy eating). Constantly focusing on how to maximise ourselves may inadvertently cause us to become more focused on what is wrong with us.

Moderation-maxxing

So perhaps we need to start moderation-maxxing instead?

This doesn’t mean you should stop caring about health or abandon your goals. Rather, it’s about recognising the mindset motivating your aim for improvement.

If a maxxing trend encourages awareness of healthy behaviour, that can be genuinely useful. But if pursuing one optimal health behaviour begins to compromise your psychological wellbeing or social connections, it’s worth checking in with yourself and exploring the motivations behind your efforts.

For example, positive motivations for trying to improve your personal appearance could be a desire to boost your self-esteem or feel more open to connecting with those around you. But if the reason you’re being drawn to improve your appearance comes from a place of in inedequacy and constant comparison to others, then this motivation may leave you at risk of developing restrictive or harmful behaviours.

This is where ideas such as self-compassion and mindful awareness become particularly important. Self-compassion involves having kindness of yourself, recognising common humanity, reducing self-judgement and practising mindfulness (a focus on living in the present moment).

Rather than ignoring our difficulties or giving up on improvement, self-compassion allows us to recognise imperfection and change as part of being human. It also means speaking to ourselves without excessive judgement and trying not to over-identify with the idealised version of health we see on social media.

And, importantly, accepting ourselves doesn’t mean that we have to stop growing. We can want to improve while still appreciating who we are now – and not constantly feel stressed to maximise every component of our lives.

“Maxxing” is just a new and catchy repackaging of a much older impulse towards health and self-improvement. While it can be a fun trend to engage with, just remember that optimisation is never supposed to become the purpose of life. After all, there’s little point in building a character with all the highest stats if you stop enjoying the game.

By ELEANOR HARDING, EDUCATION EDITOR

Published: 00:01 BST, 31 August 2026 | Updated: 12:49 BST, 31 August 2026

Mass circumcision ceremonies in South Africa have left more than 43 boys dead and dozens more mutilated. 

The rituals – known in the country as ‘Ulwaluko’ – are carried out twice a year at initiation schools with the intention of preparing young men for adulthood. 

When the youngsters arrive, they are taken away from their families and smothered in white clay. 

They then spend three weeks transitioning from boys to men before being returned home. 

As part of the ceremony, the initiates are meant to be circumcised by traditional surgeons who have years of experience.

But many circumcisions are instead carried out by unskilled people working at illegal initiation schools who use old spears, scissors or razor blades to perform horrific surgery.

Ulwaluko can be deadly. In 2024, the combined deaths of both winter and summer rituals was 93 boys with 11 total penis amputations – with some rogue ‘surgeons’ found to perform the operation without anaesthetic.

A report commissioned by the South African government recorded 322 deaths of young boys between 2021 and 2024, as well as thousands of hospitalisations and amputations.

It laid the blame at the door of criminal gangs who have set up unscrupulous illegal initiation schools who use untrained ‘surgeons’ and ‘nurses’ who botch the circumcisions.

Many circumcisions are carried out by unskilled people working at illegal initiation schools who use old spears, scissors or razor blades

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The main causes of death are gangrene, sepsis and severe dehydration – though some unwilling boys have been stabbed, drowned or beaten to death. 

There are hundreds of reports a year of illegal schools kidnapping boys as young as 12 to circumcise them, before forcing parents to pay to have their sons returned home. 

The Customary Initiation Act has been passed to make it illegal for unregistered initiation schools to be set up and force all traditional surgeons to be fully trained and qualified by the state.

Police now have the powers to shut down the illegal schools and arrest the principals.

South African police clamping down on unregistered initiation schools have shut down 42 of them, making 40 arrests and rescuing 180 boys. 

But the ceremonies are still hugely important to many across the country. Unless the youths undergo the rite they are not allowed to sit in on tribal meetings or take part in many social activities or consider getting married.

The rituals have been held for centuries in secret in specially built huts away from the villages where nobody except tribal elders, a ‘surgeon’, and the initiates can enter.

Every year tens of thousands of boys undergo the transition to manhood through a sacred ceremony dating back hundreds of years despite the shocking annual death rate.

South Africa’s Minister of Traditional Affairs Velenkosini Hlabisa said after the 43 teenage deaths: ‘These figures are deeply concerning to us and we send our condolences to all the families.

‘They serve as a stark reminder that much more must be done collectively to eliminate preventable deaths, injuries and criminal activities associated with customary initiation.

‘I condemn the continued operation of illegal initiation schools which are responsible for many of the deaths, injuries, kidnappings and abuses that are reported each year.

‘Individuals who establish, facilitate or participate in the illegal initiation schools must also understand they are committing criminal offences and must face the full might of the law.

‘Respect for tradition must go hand in hand with respect for the law and every initiate’s constitutional right to life, dignity and safety as we pledge to work towards zero deaths.

‘Every initiate deserves to return home safely and with their dignity intact and this requires all of us, parents, traditional leaders and communities to all play our full part,’ he said.

Although the boys have a choice as to whether they undertake the initiation there is huge peer pressure and those who refuse are called Inkwenkwe or ‘boy’ – a harsh insult.

Boys under 16 are not allowed by law to enter the initiation schools but boys as young as ten are often operated on in the illegal initiation schools.

Traditional surgeons charge parents to take the boys away for up to three weeks to teach them survival skills and tribal history and how to behave as a man then perform the dreaded ‘snip’.

Teenager Scotty Dawka, 19, went to an initiation school despite having seen a TV programme on penile amputations and told a local reporter: ‘I was of course very scared of going.

‘In my community many boys went through the initiation before me and I wanted to be the same as them. I wanted to be looked up to as a man in my village by the elders,’ he said.

‘It was very painful to go through and I fell ill but I was treated and survived.’

Anne Kumalo’s 16-year-old son was kidnapped when he went to a local store along with 22 other boys and taken to an illegal initiation school 20 miles away in Soweto.

She said: ‘I was charged 1000 Rand (£45) to get him back or warned he would be killed and when police found the school the boys had been badly treated, whipped and beaten.’

Last year Siyamthanda Siymthanda, 13, from Witbank, Mpumalanga Province, died while at initiation school and his family claim he was abducted against his and their will.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela wrote about the spiritual meaning of his own circumcision as a teenager before becoming accepted as a freedom fighter.

Those who have undergone the sacred ritual are sworn to secrecy and considered tribal outcasts and severely beaten or killed if they tell anyone what the process entails.

The worst of the injuries occur from botched circumcisions carried out by tribal ‘nurses’ who may use the same rusty spear for many boys which causes mass infection.

The wounds are tightly wrapped with bandages that cuts off the blood supply to the area and within ten hours the genitals can become gangrenous and need amputating.

Many die of severe dehydration as after surgery they are denied water to stop them urinating on the grounds it will cause further injury to their grievous wounds.

Many superstitious initiates do not seek medical treatment when clearly needed having been told if it ‘falls off’ that it will ‘grow back’ – but then die from sepsis.

The winter initiation season runs from mid-May to mid-July with the official figure of 43 deaths now having been collated and the summer season from November to January.

Lady Kitty Spencer has shared a glimpse of her summer getaway to The Hamptons with her rarely-seen billionaire husband Michael Lewis.

The 35-year-old niece of Princess Diana took to Instagram to share a carousel of enviable pictures from the ‘sweetest summertime’ in the popular holiday spot often frequented by A-listers.

Lady Kitty oozed elegance as she posed in a glamorous floral maxi dress, which she paired with pink heels, during an intimate dinner hosted by fashion designers Carolina Herrera and Wes Gordon, and Sarah Wetenhall, founder of the boutique hotel Hedges Inn.

However, eagle-eyed fans took particular note of the video Lady Kitty shared of her tycoon husband, whom she tied the knot with in 2021.

Lady Kitty – who is 32 years younger than her husband – married South African businessman Michael in the enchanting gardens of Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati, Italy.

Now, in a rare display of their family life, which is often kept private from the public eye, the socialite shared a video of Michael and their three-year-old daughter Athena playing in the sea.

Elsewhere, Lady Kitty posed in a polka dot bikini top, while also showcasing their family time in the sun – including trips to the supermarket, footprints in the sand and Athena feeding farm animals.

Combined with family snapshots, Lady Kitty also shared a photograph with dermatologist Dr Macrene Alexiades at an event for nail varnish brand Essie, alongside footage of America DJ Diplo during a performance in The Hamptons.

In a rare display of their family life, which is often kept private from the public eye, the socialite shared a video of Michael and their three-year-old daughter Athena playing in the sea 

During the family’s summer in The Hamptons, Lady Kitty shared a photo of her daughter Athena picking flowers

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Lady Kitty has kept her relationship with Michael largely out of the public eye, rarely sharing photos of him on social media and choosing to step out solo for most red-carpet events.

The pair, who first met through mutual friends in 2018, tied the knot in a glamorous ceremony at a stunning Italian country mansion three years later. They secretly welcomed Athena in 2023 and only announced her arrival on Mother’s Day the following year. 

Sharing a picture on the beach holding her baby, Lady Kitty wrote: ‘It’s the joy of my life to be your mummy, little one. I love you unconditionally. Happy Mother’s Day to those who celebrate today’.

Lady Kitty is a first cousin to Princes William and Harry, which means that Athena is a second cousin to Princes George, Louis, Archie and Princesses Charlotte and Lilibet. 

She has made a name for herself in the fashion world, as a spokesmodel for Dolce & Gabbana, who supplied five dresses for her wedding, and walking in several Fashion Weeks across the globe. 

Michael, who is the chairman of the Foschini Group, which owns British high street chains Whistles and Phase Eight, is believed to be worth £80million. 

The business tycoon owns a £19million property in London and another home in his native South Africa, where his wife and her three siblings grew up after her father, Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer and his first wife, Victoria Lockwood, divorced. 

Lady Kitty getting ready for a red-carpet event while holidaying in the A-listers paradise

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Athena feeding goats on a farm. She was born in 2023, but her parents only announced her arrival on Mother’s Day the following year

Michael comes from wealth, thanks to his grandfather’s furniture retail business, which was founded in the 1930s.

Stanley Lewis, Michael’s father, bought a stake in the clothing retailer Foschini Group in the 1980s, with Michael later taking his place on the board.

The tycoon has been the board’s chairman since 2015 and presides over a vast retail empire.

Michael, who is five years older than Lady Kitty’s father, wed his first wife in 1985, and they had three children together before divorcing.

He proposed to Lady Kitty shortly before Christmas 2019 and their engagement became public in January 2020. 

During their wedding, Lady Kitty’s father was notably absent, as were her cousins. Instead, she was walked down the aisle by her brother Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp, and half-brother Samuel Aitken, whose father is businessman Jonathan Aitken, her mother’s ex-husband.

Earl Spencer was also absent from her sister, Lady Amelia’s mountaintop wedding to lifestyle coach Greg Mallet in Stellenbosch, South Africa, in 2023.

At the time, an insider told the Daily Mail that the Earl’s health was unlikely to have accounted for his absence. Rather, it was likely to have been the result of a changing family dynamic.

The couple tied the knot in a glamorous ceremony at Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati, Italy 

‘The four children are all close to their mother Victoria and get on well with their step-siblings [the earl has three other children from two marriages], and their Spencer aunts and have forged their own relationships with one another without needing Charles to bind them together,’ said the insider.

A source had previously told the Daily Mail how Earl Spencer and his eldest daughter have drifted apart over time.

‘Kitty and Charles were very close when she was growing up, but their relationship has cooled and been more distant since his marriage to his third wife Karen in 2011,’ they said. 

‘Charles recently suffered an injury and perhaps that will be the reason for him not travelling, but it is just easier for everyone that he is not there.’

As a global ambassador for Dolce & Gabbana, Kitty’s wedding wardrobe was designed by the Italian fashion house.

At the time, fashion designer Domenico Dolce said: ‘She told us she had thought of us immediately, and we were very happy with that!’

Kitty made her grand entrance in a Victorian-inspired ivory lace gown, incorporating a high neck, bustier-style bodice and puffed shoulders.

During the three-day celebrations, Kitty showcased a total of five D&G haute couture gowns, each exuding glamour and sophistication.

Having delayed their wedding for two years due to the pandemic, the celebrations  were attended by close friends including pop star Pixie Lott and the Marchioness of Bath.

The evening before the main event, she captivated guests wearing a blue tulle dress featuring a corseted bodice, full skirt and floor-length cape embroidered with flowers.

She swept her golden locks into a chignon and accessorised with an exquisite suite of jewels.

Following the nuptials, the bride changed into a silk ballgown, hand-painted with intricate blooms, and later danced the night away in a sparkling beaded cocktail dress.

On the third and final day of festivities, Kitty chose refined elegance, wearing an emerald silk dress embellished with sequins, ribbons and floral embroideries.

The Mowgli founder said the support shown to traders at the Bolton Food and Drink Festival is making a real difference to the local economy.

Nisha, who returned to the festival for her second appearance, said she was passionate about people making a living through food and sharing it with their communities.

She said: “It brings the communities together, and this is what Bolton Food Festival does, but I think nationally, it’s one of the best food festivals that there is; it’s extraordinary.”

Speaking on the final day of the festival, she praised visitors who had continued to support stallholders despite the weather.

Nisha said the event showed how food traders could have an impact beyond the stalls themselves, particularly through the money brought into the area.

She added: “Despite the weather, whatever the weather, and this is what’s important, people have come out, and they’ve supported those stallholders.

“Those stallholders are there peddling with their hearts behind whatever they’re doing, and it is really important that people come out and they have.”

The chef said the festival’s effect on the local economy was “absolutely extraordinary”.

She said: “Isn’t it an amazing thing that the dial on the Bolton economy can be turned by people peddling cheese and bread and pickles and jams?

“This makes my heart sing; this is food changing the fortunes of a city.

“So it’s been brilliant.”

Nisha was among the celebrity guests appearing at the festival, alongside chefs including James Martin and Marco Pierre White.

She said the event’s 21st year was “extraordinary” and praised the continued support it receives from local people.

Nisha added: “The fact that you’ve got a festival like this, that grows and grows and other festivals are shrinking, it is a real testimony to how wonderful the people of Bolton are to come out and support this.

“And please may they keep doing that, it’s amazing.”

She also said she planned to spend the rest of the day visiting the stalls before feeding 20 people later that evening.

Nisha said: “I’m here all day, I literally am going to go and buy everything.

“I’m going to feed them from these stalls today.”

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Marra, who is trying to succeed Anas Sarwar as Scottish Labour leader, said he would commit a future Labour Government to the policy.

A Scots Labour leadership candidate has said delivering justice for ex-footballers with dementia will be a priority if he wins the contest.

Michael Marra said he will push the SNP Government to help former pros whose brain damage was caused by heading the ball.

A study by Glasgow Uni’s Willie Stewart found ex-footballers are about three-and-a-half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative brain disease.

Defenders are also five times more likely to have dementia than non-footballers, with experts blaming headers.

In the previous term of the Parliament, Marra led a campaign for football-related dementia to be treated as an industrial injury.

It would involve the SNP using its devolved powers to ensure the people affected can claim benefits.

The campaign was backed by Scotland legends like Sir Alex Ferguson, Willie Miller, Alex McLeish, Craig Levein and Gordon Strachan.

Marra, the North East MSP who is going head-to-head with Joe Fagan in the race to succeed Anas Sarwar, said:

“Holyrood needs to back Scotland’s football heroes and recognise the impact these conditions have on their lives and their families.

“People living with conditions they developed as a result of their working lives deserve support from their government and their parliament.

“So I will push for action on this during this Parliament at Holyrood as Scottish Labour leader. If change is blocked by other parties I will commit a future Scottish Labour government to doing it.

“We can’t let these heroes down.”

An increasing number of former footballers have died after receiving a dementia diagnosis.

Celtic legend Billy McNeill and fellow Scotland great Gordon McQueen passed away after a battle with dementia.

Manchester United and Scotland hero Denis Law blamed headers for his dementia before he died last year.

He said: “What else would it be? You were heading the ball, which was quite heavy in those days, but you didn’t think about it. We just thought it was normal.”

Dons legend McLeish backed the campaign in 2023: “The call being made by Michael Marra to recognise brain injuries in football as an industrial injury is one I fully support. This would give players and their families access to the benefits and the support they need.

“It won’t fix the problem, we can’t turn back time, but we can make their lives easier.

“There is an opportunity to do things differently here in Scotland. We can’t run the clock down.”