NEW YORK (AP) — It was four decades ago next year that Whitney Houston released “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me),” a timeless hit in a career made up of them. And it is just one of her 11 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles, all of which have been compiled into a new album, “WH1TNEY,” released Friday.

The record is part of ongoing birthday celebrations for Houston, who would’ve turned 63 on Sunday.

There’s also the fifth annual Whitney Houston Legacy of Love gala, taking place Saturday night, and a Whitney Houston Barbie — her first, ever, courtesy of parent company Mattel — releasing Sunday.

“It’s a dream come true,” says Pat Houston, the executor of Whitney Houston’s estate and her sister-in-law.

In this interview, Pat Houston discusses the No. 1 hits collection, the new Barbie, if a “Michael”-style biopic is on the table and more. It has been edited for clarity and brevity.

AP: Why a collection of her No. 1 hits and why now?

HOUSTON: Whitney always believed that the ultimate collection represented the very best of her career. And you know, it brought together songs that defined generations. It broke records. It touched hearts around the world. And those kinds of hits were not just chart toppers, they were the soundtrack to millions of lives and a testament to a voice that will never be duplicated. So, you know, celebrating her No. 1s is really a no-brainer.

AP: There’s also the first Whitney Houston Barbie arriving Sunday. She’s wearing her 1987 “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” music video look.

HOUSTON: It is her first ever Barbie. And let me tell you something, what made this journey special is because Whitney and I had conversations about Barbie more than 20 years ago. And to see this vision finally come to life decades later is both emotional and very much inspiring. You know, it served as a beautiful reminder that some dreams take time. And when they’re rooted in love and purpose, you can transcend generations and that’s what this Barbie is doing.

Visiting the showroom and working hand-in-hand with Mattel’s talented team, it was an honor to witness how much they care about the creativity and the commitment they had behind celebrating Whitney’s legacy to make this such a meaningful experience.

AP: Music industry giant Clive Davis died in June. His legacy is inextricable from Whitney Houston’s legacy. How do you view him?

HOUSTON: You can’t mention Whitney Houston and not mention Clive Davis and you can’t mention Clive without mentioning Whitney Houston. Every conversation that Clive Davis has in music, he ultimately speaks about Whitney Houston. He played a very, very important role in her life. And it went beyond the music. They truly loved one another. He was a part of her and still is a part of her legacy.

Whitney would tell you herself, “I had the talent and the craft, but this is someone that revered my career.” And he did until the day that he died. And I so appreciate that from Clive.

AP: Next year is the 35th anniversary of “The Bodyguard.” Any big plans?

HOUSTON: There are some things that we’re working on. Until the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed, I never like to say.

AP: The Michael Jackson biopic was a smash this year. Would you want to do something similar with Whitney? Maybe a two-part film?

HOUSTON: Whitney’s catalog is incredible and that voice is matchless. Of course there’s plenty of things that can be done, but you don’t want to do an overkill. You don’t wanna oversaturate the industry without having purpose. It has to have purpose in order for us to put something out there or deliver something to you.

But yes, different things come to the table all the time, but we’re cautious and careful.

AP: And 2027 marks 15 years since Whitney Houston’s death. How do you hope people view her legacy?

HOUSTON: Never forgetting that voice and what she represented to the music industry. Forget about everything else, it’s what she brought to the industry. Whitney’s voice showcased passion. Her artistry is incredible.

And there are live shows that some people have never seen before. I would love to come up with or produce some of the shows and present some of those shows that have never been seen before, because it would blow you away to see that gifted talent. That’s probably one of my ultimate goals, I guess. It’s not just movies. But just releasing music and shows that people in other parts of the world have seen, but North America hasn’t seen, if you can understand what I’m saying.

The sun will disappear for a period next week, as a rare astronomical phenomenon takes place

A solar eclipse will see millions of eyes fixed upwards as it sweeps across Europe next week.

The Sun will disappear for a short period in the daytime, as the Moon passes by it, casting Earth into shadow.

And for those unable to see the spectacular event for themselves, there is another way to experience it as it happens.

On Wednesday, August 12, the Moon will pass directly between the Earth and the Sun, blocking some or all of its light and casting its shadow across parts of Europe.

The eclipse’s narrow path of totality, where the Sun will be completely obscured by the Moon, will cross Greenland, Iceland and parts of Portugal and Spain.

Other parts of Europe will experience a partial eclipse, with the Moon appearing to take a bite out of the Sun and temporarily dimming daylight.

To mark the rare event, the European Space Agency (ESA) will be hosting a live broadcast, meaning space fans won’t need to gamble on the weather to see the spectacle as it happens.

The ESA livestream will run from the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre in Teruel, Spain, starting at 5.30pm BST (7.30pm CEST).

It will be hosted by British space scientist and science communicator Dame Dr Maggie Aderin, and will be broadcast in English.

Featuring live interviews, explainers and spectacular imagery, viewers can learn about the mysteries of the Sun and its corona, how one famous eclipse changed our understanding of gravity, and how the ESA is now creating artificial solar eclipses in space.

At 6.31pm BST (8.31pm CEST), the Moon will plunge Javalambre into complete darkness for one minute and 21 seconds.

Anyone with questions about the eclipse can ask them using #AskESA on Bluesky or X, with a selection answered live during the broadcast

The Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre is a world-class astronomical observatory located within the path of totality. It mainly consists of two professional telescopes designed to carry out large-sky astronomical surveys that help astronomers study galaxies, dark energy and the structure of the cosmos.

Advertisement

Importantly, viewing conditions at the observatory are excellent, with cloud cover rare and light pollution low. The location offers a very clear view to the western horizon, where the Sun will be beginning to set as it is eclipsed by the Moon.

Additional small telescopes will be taken up to the observatory to observe the eclipse. A live feed from these telescopes at the observatory will provide continuous views as the Moon passes in front of the Sun, offering close-up observations of the different phases of the eclipse.

READ MORE: Christian convert accused of Scot’s suitcase murder ‘turned his back on religion’ before her death

READ MORE: Police remain at Scots beauty spot where 11-year-old girl found dead for third day

When is the solar eclipse?

The solar eclipse will take place on Wednesday, August 12, 2026.

Those in Ireland will see a partial eclipse, while locations within the path of totality will experience a far more dramatic event as the Moon completely covers the Sun.

Anyone watching the eclipse must use properly certified solar viewing glasses and should never look directly at the Sun, even when it appears dimmed by the Moon.

Several videos about the eclipse have been posted on ESA’s YouTube, Instagram and TikTok channels.

See here for more information, or click here to watch the stream live.

Ensure our latest stories always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as your Preferred Source in your Google search settings.

US government officials launched an investigation into bizarre claims that a ‘dead spaceman’ was found inside a metal sphere that fell to Earth in Brazil, the latest UFO files reveal

An investigation was launched into bizarre claims that a UFO crashed to Earth with the body of a dead spaceman inside, newly declassified US government files reveal.

The UFO hunt was launched after officials picked up on a local radio broadcast in Conde, Brazil, on November 8, 1963, which reported that a large metal sphere had fallen to the ground, leaving a large crater in the centre of the town. It was said to contain a human body wearing a uniform, and had inscriptions that ‘could not be deciphered’.

Details of the alleged incident were quickly circulated across Brazilian media, catching the attention of the US State Department, the Department of Defence, and NASA.

On November 14, 1963 – six days after the initial radio broadcast – the US Embassy in Rio de Janeiro sent a telegram to the State Department and the American Consulate in Salvador asking for clarification. But five minutes later, the embassy clarified that no craft had actually been recovered from the ground.

A final diplomatic cable dated November 20 revealed the entire episode appeared to have been fabricated in Rio de Janeiro. Journalists and investigators had travelled to Conde, but failed to find a single person who had witnessed an unusual object falling from the sky.

It read: “Story of strange object descending in region of Conde Bahia apparently fabricated in Rio no such objects seen by anyone in the area according to newspaper reporters and others who rushed there before investigation reports were received. Secretary Public Security speculated object might be weather balloon – but no such sighting verified.”

The 1960s telegram is included in the latest batch of ‘UFO files’ released by the Pentagon. It follows the launch of the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE) earlier this year, which seek to declassify government files related to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) and UFOs.

Among the 41 documents featured in the latest release is a US Navy Photographic Interpretation Centre review of alleged UFO footage captured in Montana and Utah, which was found to be “inconsistent with those of natural phenomena or commonly known aerospace technologies.”

Another file details a September 2021 encounter by Special Operations forces aboard an AC-130J gunship, where the crew observed 25 “cold orbs” flying at speeds between 250 and 1,300mph. The orbs were said to have performed aggressive manoeuvres, and appeared to react to the aircraft’s cannon fire.

An FBI interview record meanwhile details a recent eyewitness account in which “multiple red lights” and orb-like objects were seen moving above a mountain ridge in the western US.

CHICAGO (AP) — DiJonai Carrington of the Chicago Sky was ejected Saturday after being called for a Flagrant 2 foul on Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Fever. Minutes later, Carrington posted on social media the words “WHITE PRIVILEGE” and tagged the Fever.

Cunningham, who is white, was shooting a fast-break layup in the first quarter when Carrington, who is Black, came from behind and hit her in the head and neck, knocking her to the court as the shot went in.

Cunningham got up immediately, charged toward Carrington and pushed her as she was held back by a teammate.

The play was reviewed and upgraded to a Flagrant 2 after the referee said there was windup, impact and follow-through on the foul.

In the third quarter, Fever star Caitlin Clark was assessed a technical foul after she made contact with a referee when she was forced out of bounds. The technical was Clark’s eighth of the season, triggering a one-game suspension for Indiana’s next game.

Cunningham has frequently come to Clark’s defense after physical play by opponents and has become one of the higher-profile players in the league this season. In an ESPN article published last month, she voiced support for barring transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s sports, which led to small protests and rallies outside Fever games in Seattle and Portland.

In a memo to teams on Friday, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the league would have ongoing discussions about the issue of transgender participation in women’s basketball.

___

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

Danny Regan was found dead inside the high-security home he ran to in 2002

Advertisement

A drug dealer who fled his hometown in a desperate bid to escape the dark hole he had fallen into was killed inside his high-security home.

Danny Regan told his mum that he did not think he would live to see his 30th birthday – an ominous premonition which proved correct, as he was shot dead aged 26.

Nearly 24 years later, his murder remains unsolved. Danny, 26, had moved to Haydock from Leeds just 12 months before he was killed on December 12, 2002. The dad-of-two lay dead for days before his body was finally discovered, three days after it is believed two men broke into his house and shot him in the chest with either a pump action or semi-automatic shotgun, reports the Liverpool Echo.

The hitmen escaped in a silver or grey Rover, which was later found burned out on Cooper Lane.

Two men aged 22 and 25, from Leeds, were arrested in connection with the incident. An e-fit of the suspect was also later released by police. But nobody was ever charged with Danny’s murder, and his killers have so far evaded justice.

Advertisement

On the second anniversary of her son’s death in December 2004, Danny’s mum Pat Regan told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “I miss Danny so much more this year than last year, because last year it felt like he would still come home.

“Every day I thought I would walk in, and find the trail of cornflakes he used to leave on the kitchen table, which would mean he’d been here. It’s still so hard to face the idea that my son is never coming home.

“My son was no angel and became involved in drugs and with dealers. I would not want anyone to go through it.

“Danny knew the dangers he was facing and I was always waiting for a knock at the door. He came home in a coffin and his designer gear came home in big brown envelopes.

“He wanted to escape the world he lived in and knew the dangers he was facing. I was always waiting for a knock at the door and eventually it came.”

Danny, who had ties to Leeds’ criminal underworld, had been living in a fortified property on Station Road, surrounded by security cameras and a 6ft-high spiked fence.

It was later discovered the house was owned by an on-the-run drugs baron, Mark Lilley. The 6ft tall, 20-stone bodybuilder was sentenced in his absence to 23 years in prison in April 2000 – but had disappeared mid-trial after skipping bail, and was believed to be hiding in Spain or Holland.

He was one of the UK’s most wanted criminals before he was finally apprehended in the Costa Del Sol and extradited in August 2013.

In the wake of her son’s death, Pat became a fierce voice in the fight against gun crime. She set up a Mothers Against Violence group in her hometown of Leeds, and also campaigned for Mothers Against Guns (MAG) and Mothers Against Murder and Aggression (Mama).

The mum-of-six said in 2004: “When I first met other mothers who had felt what I did, | was speechless, and felt numb at finding others who could understand what my family has been through.

“It made me determined to try to stop this violence, which is why I set up the Leeds branch of Mothers Against Violence. l know it’s too late to save Danny and persuade him to give up the lifestyle which led to his death. But it’s not too late to save others, and if the work I do can make another young man think twice, then perhaps Danny’s life won’t have been lost in vain.”

Her tireless fight for justice ended in tragedy four years later, when she was stabbed to death by her grandson, Danny’s nephew, Rakeim Regan, 21.

READ MORE: Christian convert accused of Scot’s suitcase murder ‘turned his back on religion’ before her death

READ MORE: Police remain at Scots beauty spot where 11-year-old girl found dead for third day

Rakeim, who had paranoid schizophrenia, had experienced a severe decline in his mental health before the attack, and believed his grandmother was “conspiring with police to get him”. He admitted manslaughter and was detained indefinitely in a secure psychiatric hospital in 2008.

In a final appeal for Danny’s killer to be exposed, made one year before her own death, Pat said: “I know that Danny’s lifestyle may have led to his death and some of the things he did were wrong. But he wasn’t an evil person and didn’t deserve to die like this.”

Ensure our latest stories always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as your Preferred Source in your Google search settings.

The UK’s prime minister, Andy Burnham, is facing his first major test with the public over the upcoming early release of thousands of prisoners. These plans are part of the Sentencing Act 2026, passed by Keir Starmer’s government in response to an independent review of sentencing.

The review recommended a model whereby eligible prisoners could be released at the one-third point of their custodial term, if they engaged constructively with the prison regime. (If not, they could stay in custody until the halfway point or longer.)

But the proposals as enacted under the Sentencing Act simply mean many prisoners will automatically be released earlier. The new law also reduces the use of short sentences, which have contributed to recent increases in the UK prison population.

This was a response born of crisis, designed to stop the operational collapse of a prison estate running close to absolute capacity. Nonetheless, it can be defended on public protection grounds.

Reoffending rates are highest among people serving short sentences. Diverting them into community supervision rather than inflicting a short, disruptive spell inside is likely to help bring these rates down.

Reoffending rates are markedly lower among those serving longer sentences, so releasing them earlier – particularly when those releases are planned and supervised – is unlikely to make much difference to public safety.

The rollout of this law change has placed Burnham in an unenviable position. Unless the prison population is reduced, police cells will back up and courts won’t be able to remand dangerous defendants, because there is nowhere to hold them. But this clashes with the emotional force of what criminologists call “penal populism” – the pursuit of penal policy for its electoral appeal, rather than its effectiveness.

Burnham is understandably reluctant to risk an early-released prisoner committing a serious offence in the opening months of his premiership. Faced with that bind, he has largely deferred to populist pressure.

Penal populism explains a political context in which the need to appear tough on crime overrides expert consensus and operational reality.

À lire aussi :
Will ending short prison sentences fix prison overcrowding? What an expert thinks

When survivors of serious crimes began receiving letters from the probation service informing them that “their” offenders were being considered for release, public anger built quickly.

This anger has coalesced around emblematic cases such as the killers of PC Andrew Harper (two of whom will now become eligible for release at the halfway point of their manslaughter sentences). Political opponents led by the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, have weaponised the outcry effectively.

Placed in this invidious position, Burnham paused the scheme and announced exclusions for rape, serious child sexual offences and grooming – though, controversially, not for domestic abuse. This pause calmed the immediate storm – but at the cost of a smaller reduction in the prison population, leaving the underlying capacity crisis unresolved.

The problem with ‘tough on crime’

All of this gives rise to difficult questions about what leaders need to do if they want to win votes using crime – or avoid losing votes as a result of crime.

The evidence that punitiveness wins elections is weaker than one might think. Although concern has been increasing recently, crime is only fifth on the list of issues that decide votes. Research consistently finds that support for punitiveness softens once people are given the specifics of real cases, rather than abstract categories of “offender”.

Despite many people thinking England and Wales’s criminal justice system is getting more lenient, sentencing has in fact become harsher in recent years. Much of the growth of the prison population is down to increased sentence lengths, rather than more crime.

What actually shapes leaders’ responses to issues of crime and justice is not that toughness wins, but that leniency-gone-wrong loses. A single serious offence by an early-released prisoner is a political catastrophe, while the thousands of quiet, successful releases are invisible. Leaders are not, therefore, responding to a clear public appetite for harshness, but acting in anticipation of what might happen if things go wrong.

Ultimately, bringing release dates forward is politically dangerous because it can be reframed as “letting criminals out early”, and is easily portrayed as a policy which undermines the imposition of retribution as intended by a judge.

Four solutions

So, what should Burnham do? The political storm around the early release scheme is an opportunity to pursue reforms that are harder to politicise. Four such reforms stand out to me:

1. Reform use of prison recall

Recalls are the biggest lever: in early 2026, for the first time on record, more people were recalled to prison than released – 13,193 in a single quarter. Only 22% involved a further charge; the rest were for technical breaches such as missing probation appointments. Burnham should make recall proportionate, reserving it for genuine risk rather than administrative non-compliance.

2. Address Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences

The legacy of the indeterminate sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection still holds, despite being abolished in 2012. Around 946 people have never been released, 99.6% of them past their tariff, with a further 1,476 inside on recall. Legislative change could lead to the safe release of this cohort.

3. Reduce use of remand

The remand population – those held in prison while awaiting trial or sentencing – makes up close to a fifth of all prisoners (and is up to 16,000 in 2026, from 9,000 in 2019). These numbers could be safely reduced through tagging, enforced time limits and bail accommodation.

4. Community sentences for women

Most women in custody – less than 5% of the prison population – are serving short sentences for non-violent offences. Replacing these with community provision would cut prison numbers and avoid the wider harm of imprisoning primary carers.

À lire aussi :
How to stop released prisoners reoffending: what the evidence says

Meaningful reform in these four areas would help ease capacity issues. Importantly, these alternatives share a feature that the early release scheme lacks. All rest on a claim of procedural legitimacy (technical breach, expired tariff, unconvicted status, non-violent offending) that is far more defensible in public argument, and therefore more durable against a populist attack.

We know that the more time people spend in prison, the more harm they suffer. Even Conservative governments have accepted that prison can be “an expensive way of making bad people worse”.

However, the early release policy has been caught by the familiar tough-on-crime script. In the process, it appears to have damaged the very confidence in the justice system it was supposed to sustain.

The lesson is not that reform is impossible. But when it is introduced under crisis conditions and applied retrospectively to people the public can already name, it is uniquely exposed to political attack.

Changing the point of release may yet have a future. But doing it in the glare of a moral panic, as a response to an operational crisis, almost certainly does not.

The Prime Minister is in ‘listening mode’, according to Downing Street

Downing Street has announced a big update on Andy Burnham. The PM will kick off a national tour this week to ask the public how the Government can improve their lives. Officials said the Prime Minister would be in “listening mode” as he spends much of the rest of August travelling the country to discuss the cost of living.

Having promised to give the public “breathing space”, he is expected to unveil a series of measures intended to help with bills, following on from cuts to energy costs and a £2 cap on bus fares announced in his first week in Downing Street.

Mr Burnham will also focus on improving high streets and officials said he would use the summer tour to inform his 10-year plan for the country. A spokesperson for the Prime Minister said he would be “getting out of Westminster and meeting people where they are”.

They added: “He thinks Westminster has got used to telling people that everyday hassles – like hidden pricing and consumers being ripped off – must be accepted as part of life. He doesn’t think that’s right. That’s why he’s going to start rolling out a series of pro-consumer cost-of-living measures to give people some room to breathe.”

With the fallout of the Iran war keeping inflation higher than expected, the cost of living remains a major concern among the public. A poll published by Ipsos at the end of July found 30% of people listed the economy as a major concern while 22% listed inflation or prices specifically.

But opposition figures have accused Mr Burnham of “tinkering” with his announcements. Reform UK’s economic spokesman Robert Jenrick said the Prime Minister should “scrap green levies and taxes on energy bills”, and rule out tax rises in October’s budget.

He added: “It’s high time the Labour Party cut the ballooning benefits bill so we can relieve pressure on the hardworking majority that hold our country together.”

The man was found injured after being attacked in an apparent murder bid on Thursday night.

A man has been rushed to hospital following an alleged attempted murder in Glasgow. The alarm was raised around 10.40pm on Tollcross Road, near to its junction with Crail Street, in the east end of the city on Thursday, August 6.

Emergency services, including Police Scotland and Scottish Ambulance Service, raced to the scene after receiving reports of a man being seriously assaulted.

He was taken by ambulance to Glasgow Royal Infirmary where he is being treated for stab injuries. His condition is described as serious but stable.

Footage taken from the scene shows at least three blue-lit police vans and an ambulance parked on the busy road.

An attempted murder investigation has been launched. Police Scotland are asking anyone with any information on the attack – including potential witnesses – or those with dash-cam footage to get in touch. Detective Inspector Graham Clarke said: “Enquiries are ongoing into this attempted murder and we are appealing to the public for any information.

“This is a busy area and we are urging anyone who witnessed this attack, or anyone with information which could assist our enquiries to contact us. “We would also appeal to anyone with dash-cam or personal footage to get in touch in case it holds anything relevant.”

Information can be passed to Police Scotland through 101, quoting incident number 3565 of 6 August. Alternatively, Crimestoppers can be contacted on 0800 555 111, where anonymity can be maintained.

Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources. Click HERE.

The Royal Navy has warned of a significant increase in Russian naval activity near UK waters, having spent 21 days in July monitoring Moscow’s vessels.

Naval operations to track Russian ships surged by 25 per cent in July compared to last year, with warships repeatedly traversing the Dover Strait and North Sea.

Offshore patrol vessels HMS Tyne, HMS Mersey and HMS Severn were deployed throughout the month to monitor Russian frigates Neustrashimy and Admiral Grigorovich, which are tasked with escorting so-called “shadow fleet” tankers.

Russia uses its ageing shadow fleet to evade international sanctions on its oil exports and help fund its war in Ukraine.

HMS Tyne was also tasked with monitoring the Neustrashimy as it carried out a live firing exercise outside British and French waters on July 20.

Another ship, the frigate HMS Somerset, has been involved in monitoring Russian activity in the North Atlantic as part of a four-month Nato deployment searching for submarines, alongside helicopters from the Navy’s Fleet Air Arm.

Somerset’s commanding officer, Commander Matt Millyard, said: “This deployment demonstrates exactly what the Royal Navy exists to do, protect the UK and our allies from wherever our interests are threatened.

“I am immensely proud of every single member of the ship’s company for what we have achieved over the past four months.

It is fantastic to bring the ship home after a highly successful deployment and reunite with our families.”

The increase in Russian naval activity follows the seizure of the tanker Smyrtos by Royal Marines in June, the first time British troops have directly boarded a shadow fleet vessel.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the diversion of Russian ships to escort shadow fleet vessels meant Russia was “using up valuable operational capacity to constantly guard cargo”.

Last month, the MoD said in its annual report that Royal Navy vessels had been “activated” 116 times in the year to March 2026, shadowing 61 Russian warships and 28 merchant vessels around the UK’s waters.

This reflected a 30 per cent increase in Russian naval activity over the previous two years, and included operations to deter the spy ship Yantar that was spotted near undersea cables off Scotland in November 2025.