Eurovision’s director has said the event’s organisers are keeping a close eye on this year’s voting, after questions were raised about the 2025 Israeli delegation.

At last year’s Eurovision final, Israeli performer Yuval Raphael finished in second place overall, having come first among televoters.

Once the competition was over, several competing broadcasters voiced concerns about whether the voting system that was then in place, allowing viewers to vote for the same country as many as 20 times, “encouraged manipulation”.

Many competing countries also took issue with the fact that Israel’s government had paid for cross-platform advertising, encouraging international viewers to vote for its representative during last year’s final.

Ahead of this year’s event, major changes were made to the voting system, reducing the number of permitted votes from 20 to just 10, as well as introducing “enhanced technical safeguards” that would “detect and block coordinated or fraudulent voting activity”.

“Stronger limits on promotion” were also implemented to “curb disproportionate third-party influence, including government-backed campaigns”.

Over the weekend, it was revealed that Israel’s broadcaster had already been issued with a formal warning over a promotional video urging viewers to vote 10 times for the 2026 Israeli representative, Noam Bettan.

During a new interview with BBC News, Eurovision’s director Martin Green conceded that “some of the promotion by some of the broadcasters was a little disproportionate” last year, claiming that those who flout the newly-implemented rules would be subject to “further scrutiny”.

He also insisted we’re a “long way from” Israel’s representative being disqualified over any further breaches and that his team was overseeing this year’s voting “very, very carefully”.

“If there is a problem, we start a conversation and we try and resolve it amicably, without reaching for sanctions,” Green added.

“We hope, in a way, that you teach the world that you can solve [conflict] by being collegiate right now.”

Last week, a Eurovision spokesperson said: “On Friday 8 May it was brought to our attention that videos with an on-screen instruction to ‘vote 10 times for Israel’ had been published and released by the artist representing [Israel’s national broadcaster Kan].

“Within 20 minutes we had contacted the Kan delegation to ask them to immediately stop any distribution of the videos and remove them from any platforms where they had been published. They immediately acted to do this.”

A spokesperson for Kan subsequently told The Times Of Israel that they were “following all of the rules of the competition”.

“The voting instructions of the Eurovision Song Contest that cover promotion are predominantly directed at discouraging large scale funded third-party campaigns, and we are satisfied that this video did not form part of such a campaign,” Eurovision’s spokesperson continued.

“However, employing a direct call to action to vote 10 times for one artist or song is also not in line with our rules nor the spirit of the competition. The scale of our vote means that such activity cannot affect the overall result and 50% of all votes this year are supplied through professional juries.”

On Tuesday evening, Israel’s representative made it through the semi-final stage of the contest, and is due to perform again at the Eurovision final on Saturday night.

Two Doors Down is set to return for an eighth full-length season, three years on from the death of its co-creator Simon Carlyle.

Centring around a group of neighbours in the suburbs of Glasgow, Two Doors Down began airing in 2016, and was created by writing duo Simon Carlyle and Gregor Sharp.

Following Simon’s death in 2023, the show was rested, before returning to our screens for a Christmas special last year.

On Wednesday evening, the BBC announced that the sitcom will be back for a new run of episodes, which will reunite the entire cast.

In a statement, Gregor Sharp said: “It was a lot of fun putting the band back together for the Christmas episode last year, so I’m really excited to be coming back with some new tunes, which we hope will turn out just as special.

“The cast are the most talented group of performers you could wish for, and I can’t wait to get started.”

Fans can look forward to appearances from all of Two Doors Down’s main cast in the new episodes, including Arabella Weir, Doon Mackichan, Elaine C Smith, Jonathan Watson and Alex Norton.

A synopsis for the new season teases: “Series eight picks up exactly where the 2025 Christmas special left us. Beth and Eric are still clinging to the hope of a quiet life, but their best efforts are no match for the relentless chaos supplied by neighbours Colin, Cathy and Christine.

“Meanwhile, Michelle is preparing for the new arrival, while Gordon throws himself into further education. Alan and Ian return too, doing their level best to support their partners – with mixed results.”

Before that, though, the cast will also be performing a string of live shows at Glasgow’s Hydro Arena over the course of September and October.

The first seven seasons of Two Doors Down are now streaming on BBC iPlayer.

Even the biggest football-sceptics among us now have a reason to get excited about the upcoming World Cup.

The global tournament is due to take place across the United States, Canada and Mexico this summer, and will culminate in a final featuring a Super Bowl-esque Halftime Show, the first in Fifa’s history.

And just wait until you check out the line-up.

K-pop sensations BTS, chart-topping superstar Shakira and the Queen of Pop herself, Madonna, were all unveiled as co-headliners of the World Cup Halftime Show on Thursday morning.

The show is curated by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, and was announced in a social media post featuring characters from both The Muppets and Sesame Street (the first time the two former Jim Henson Company characters have shared the screen in decades, since the latter was bought by Disney in the early 2000s).

Watch the extremely cute video for yourself below:

In the lead-up to the announcement, Shakira teased last week that she had a new song to coincide with the World Cup, following the huge success of 2010’s Waka Waka (This Time For Africa).

The new track, Dai Dai, will serve as the official anthem of the World Cup, and will seemingly feature the singer Burna Boy.

Shakira previously co-headlined the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2020, where she shared the stage with Jennifer Lopez.

Fellow headliner Madonna is also a former Super Bowl performer, setting a new record for viewing figures with her halftime set in 2012 (though this record has since been bested by several other Super Bowl headliners).

The 2026 World Cup final is due to take place on Sunday 19 July.

Kemi Badenoch has just won over the support of none other than the controversial American rapper Nicki Minaj for her performance in the House of Commons.

The Conservative leader has been widely praised by Keir Starmer’s critics for demolishing the prime minister over ongoing speculation he could be ousted from office on Wednesday.

Speaking shortly after the King’s Speech – where the monarch lays out the government’s legislative plans for the upcoming parliamentary session – the leader of the opposition also took aim at health secretary Wes Streeting’s ambitions for office.

One particular clip of her attacks exceeded 1.8 million views.

In the viral video, Badenoch said: “Scrapping NHS England, something the prime minister announced 14 months ago – but I suppose the health secretary has been a it distracted lately hasn’t he?”

Looking straight at Streeting on the front bench, she said: “He’s chuntering now, why don’t you just do your job? Do your job!”

Badenoch added: “There’s no point him giving me dirty looks, we all know what he has been up to. We all know.”

Evidently that video made it across the pond as Minaj shared it on X, commenting: “The UK is truly one of a kind. They will portray her [Badenoch] in film & TV one day…just like they did with Margaret Thatcher.”

The rapper has drifted into right-wing politics over the last year and even met up with Donald Trump at the White House in February, describing herself as the US president’s “no.1 fan”.

Badenoch has also attracted the support of another divisive American rapper, Azealia Banks, since becoming Conservative leader.

In April, Banks wrote on social media: “Kemi Badenoch is fucking iconic. World leaders will respect her Professionalism alot more than goofball Nigel.

“Plus she’s not a Punk. Shes not running her mouthy and talking shit because she will really go to war with Putin and win.”

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I often think about how tough it must be to be a teenager right now. Between the pressures of school life and the inability to get away from it all thanks to the 24/7 nature of social media, it sounds pretty exhausting.

But what is it actually like? And what’s keeping the nation’s teenagers up at night? A 2025 survey by BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Bitesize shed some light.

The online poll of 2,000 kids aged 13-18 explored the issues shaping teenagers’ lives – from mental health and safety to the rise of AI.

Getting kids to open up about what’s worrying them can be like drawing blood from a stone for plenty of parents. But the survey offered some insights into what teens worry about most.

Over two-thirds (69%) of all participants reported feeling anxious at least some of the time, with pressure around exams and grades being the biggest worry.

Its survey of 1,000 15- to 18-year-olds taking GCSE or A-Levels found 63% said it was hard to cope in the lead-up to, and during, these exams. Of these, 13% had suicidal thoughts and 13% self-harmed. More than half (56%) had trouble sleeping.

Among those struggling, 61% experienced anxiety and 40% worsening mental health, while 30% skipped meals and one in four (26%) had panic attacks.

The research also found exams were more than twice as likely to have a significant negative impact on mental health than social media.

May – which is when school exam season starts for most – is the peak season for children to call Childline about exam stress. Between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026; the free, confidential service for kids delivered 1,679 counselling sessions where exam or revision stress was mentioned.

The majority of concerns about exam stress were from children aged 12-18 years old, however younger students are also impacted, with 11% of contacts coming from children aged 11 and under.

One young person, aged 16, said: “If I’m not revising for exams, I feel this panic in my chest, but the panic also stops me focusing on the revision when I try and do it.”

Another 16-year-old girl said they have plans for their future, but have completely lost motivation to revise. “I have no idea why, my friends are trying to help get me back on track but I’m so overwhelmed,” they said.

It found 65% of teens feel overwhelmed at least some of the time and almost three-quarters (74%) of girls feel anxious at least some of the time.

Another eye-opening finding was just how much time teens are spending on their phones: more than a third (38%) spend five hours or more a day, while one in 20 spend eight hours or more.

When they are online, more than half reported having seen sexist and racist content. Two in five (44%) said they have seen extremely violent content.

In real life, 44% worry about knife crime in their local area and almost one third (30%) of teenage girls have experienced sexual harassment in school.

Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly popular among the younger generation, with almost half (47%) using it to help with homework or coursework.

This is rising year-on-year – the figure was 36% in 2024 and 29% in 2023.

Despite the challenges teens face today, nearly eight in 10 (79%) are feeling positive about their future.

Passengers hoping to bring their “smart bags”, which have chargers in them, might be disappointed: those “with non-removable batteries above 2.7Wh are not permitted onboard,” sites like Ryanair advise.

That’s because they contain lithium batteries, which power banks also have.

These can sometimes short-circuit and are generally not permitted in the hold as they can catch fire.

And on their site, Jet2 said that they ban “lithium-ion batteries, lithium metal batteries and power banks that don’t clearly state” an important rating.

Those that don’t include the “watt-hour rating or lithium metal content, or where the watt-hour rating cannot easily be otherwise ascertained, are forbidden”.

A watt-hour rating is usually shortened to Wh. Power banks should have a rating “not exceeding 160Wh, providing they are individually protected against short circuit”, Jet2 said.

This doesn’t need to be on the power bank explicitly, as you can work it out from the milliampere-hour (mAh), ampere-hour (Ah), and/or nominal voltage (V).

Once you find these, the UK Civil Aviation Authority said: “You can arrive at the number of watt-hours your battery provides if you know the battery’s nominal voltage (V) and capacity in ampere-hours (Ah) using this calculation ― Ah x V = Wh.

“If only the milliampere hours (mAh) are marked on the battery, then divide that number by 1000 to get ampere-hours (Ah). For example, 4400 mAh / 1000 = 4.4 Ah.”

If none of these is available, though, your power bank might not pass muster.

Those are only some of the rules the airline enforces.

• No more than two power banks per passenger,
• Power banks should not exceed 160Wh,
• Power banks can’t be charged whilst onboard the aircraft,
• Power banks can’t be used on-flight,
• Power banks have to be carried on-board in hand luggage and placed under your seat,
• Power banks must not be used to charge or power any portable electronic devices during taxi, take off, and landing.

Jet2 is not the only airline to have some or all of these rules, so check with your airline before flying.

We’re all about biodiverse gardens here at HuffPost UK, and no-mow May is a great time to rewild your backyard.

But sometimes, as is the case with invasive Japanese knotweed (which can cause structural damage to your home if not treated ASAP), certain plants are better off out of your yard.

So, we thought we’d ask the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)’s chief horticulturalist, Guy Barter, about which ones you should banish on sight (and others you should keep a careful eye on, as well as the ones you should bear with).

“Some alliums, such as:

• three-cornered garlic, and
• crow garlic

are extraordinarily tricky to winkle out as they leave little bulbils behind when uprooted,” the gardening expert told us.

“Never let them gain a lodgement in the first place, ideally.”

Three-cornered garlic (AKA three-cornered leek) is an invasive species that can smother native wildflowers. It’s an offence to cause it to grow in the wild, and it can be removed by hand-weeding the bulbs.

Crow garlic, meanwhile, spreads very easily and can take over your garden if you’re not careful. Fork out seedlings or smother plants with e.g. cardboard and bark.

“In general, gardeners would be unwise to leave invasive weeds such as:

• bindweed,
• ground elder, and
• couch grass

to their own devices,” Barter told us.

“Not only are they very invasive, but [they] are [also] hard to dislodge.”

Bindweed, while sometimes beneficial for wildlife, can be very hard to remove from your garden due to its enormous and rapidly spreading roots. It can be controlled by placing physical barriers at least 45cm into the ground, deadheading flowers, smothering young plants, mowing often, and forking out seedlings.

Ground elder can lead to a “carpet of leaves”. Fork out plants, smother them, place a barrier 45cm or more deep around them, mow more, and pull off new growth.

And couch grass, which can spread like wildfire, can be forked out or smothered.

“Many garden plants are very ‘willing’ and although valuable in places where other plants won’t grow, can run amok in fertile, sunny, moist soil,” Barter said.

• Solidago,
• certain bamboos,
• montbretia,
• mind-your-own-business [Soleirolia soleirolii],
• borage,
• horseradish, and
• mint

“Come to mind,” he added.

That’s not to say they need to be removed, though.

“Constant vigilance and an occasional going round with a spade ensure these plants stay in [their] lane. Repeat transgressors must go, however.”

Slightly annoying plants can still be worth it, considering how useful they are to your garden’s ecosystem.

“Some unwanted plants like:

• nettles,
• green alkanet,
• thistles,
• sow thistles, and
• hedge mustard,

although apt to spread, can be given a little slack in view of their value to insects.”

Cabinet members are preparing to tell Keir Starmer later today that he must announce a timetable for his departure from Downing Street, HuffPost UK has been told.

Senior ministers will personally confront the prime minister within hours to say that he has got to go.

One Labour source said two-thirds of the cabinet are now opposed to him continuing as PM.

Some MPs who signed a so-called “loyalty letter” backing Starmer earlier this week are also now telling colleagues he has to stand down, it is claimed.

It comes amid confusion over whether or not health secretary Wes Streeting – who held showdown talks with Starmer yesterday – will announce his own leadership campaign.

Two members of his team told HuffPost UK that he does not currently have the support of the 81 MPs he needs to formally mount a challenge.

One ally said he did have more than the number required at one point, but that some of them have now peeled off.

A supporter said: “Wes has got the numbers, but things are shifting.”

An MP who is backing Streeting said: “I’m confident that Wes has got the numbers.

“Two-thirds of the cabinet have expressed privately that Keir can’t continue and were expecting them to go in to see him later today and tell him that he’s got to set out a timetable to go.

“There is increasing hope that he will realise that his time is up.”

But an ally of the prime minister, who has insisted he will fight any attempt to unseat him, insisted nothing had changed.

“The Labour Party rules are clear – if anyone has the numbers they can go to the party and say they want to challenge the leader,” the ally said. “That hasn’t happened.”

Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.