The Reform UK leader says he is “disappointed” with his party’s performance in the key by-election.
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Farage blames Makerfield defeat on anti-Starmer votes
Tories pick themselves up off the floor with unexpected Scottish by-election win
The Conservatives secured a comfortable victory over the SNP in Aberdeen South after throwing everything at the seat.
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London City Lionesses sign ex-England goalkeeper Mary Earps
Former England goalkeeper Mary Earps has joined London City Lionesses on a two-year deal after leaving Paris St-Germain.
The 33-year-old left France after two seasons upon the expiry of her contract, having made 22 appearances in the Premiere Ligue this season.
She kept 12 clean sheets as PSG finished third in the table, 13 points behind champions Lyon.
“I feel the club aligns with what I stand for. I can’t wait to get started and to get down to business,” said Earps
“The club’s values represent what I want to represent and they are passionate about what I want to achieve. All the conversations have been really positive and every time I spoke with the club I wanted to hear more.
“The vision and ambition, including the new training facility, is incredible and I’m looking forward to seeing that develop. It shows what our owner Michele [Kang] and everyone at the club want to do in terms of really going for it.
“It’s about putting a marker down and saying we want to be competitive in a short space of time.”
Two-time Fifa Best Goalkeeper of the Year award-winner Earps played a crucial role in England’s victory at Euro 2022 and their route to the 2023 World Cup final.
She spent five years at Manchester United, making more than 100 appearances, and helped them win their first major trophy in 2024 as they lifted the Women’s FA Cup.
The goalkeeper earned many individual accolades during her successful international career before she announced her retirement in 2025.
She became one of the country’s most recognised and influential players, though her book – released in November – caused controversy and dominated headlines in the media for several weeks.
However, on her return to Old Trafford earlier this season in the Women’s Champions League, Earps was given a warm applause at full-time by home fans.
There is a mural of Earps painted outside Old Trafford celebrating her spell at the club.
London City Lionesses are demonstrating their summer ambition in the Women’s Super League transfer window as they pursue several high-profile players.
As well as Earps’ return to England, they are set to sign Spain defender Mapi Leon and are in ongoing talks with two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas following her exit from Barcelona.
London City Lionesses, who are backed by wealthy American businesswoman Michele Kang, finished sixth in their first season in the WSL in 2025-26.
“I feel I still have so much left to give to the game and that’s exactly why I chose London City,” said Earps.
“It won’t be easy – the WSL is extremely competitive. The team had a brilliant 2025-26 season finishing mid-table in their first season, now it’s about climbing the table and working towards finishing as high as possible.”
Hunter Biden challenges Donald Trump Jr to a cage fight
Hunter Biden has challenged Donald Trump Jr. to a cage fight in an unhinged social media rant attacking the UFC Freedom 250 event on the White House South Lawn.
Styled as a letter to Joe Rogan – who told anyone offended by the combat-sport spectacle to “shut the f–k up” — the former first son claimed it denigrated the “sacred” public space of the White House.
“The White House does not belong to Donald Trump. It does not belong to any president. It belongs to the people,” he wrote in the lengthy diatribe.
“To treat it as Caesar treated the Colosseum is antithetical to everything our founding fathers fought for.
This is not Rome. Presidents are not emperors doling out bread and circuses for the peasants,” he said, cloaking his critique in a Roman Empire motif.
“By holding the event on the South Lawn, what he was saying to the rest of us is: ‘This is my house. I own it. I will do with it what I please. I’ll build a colosseum and have the gladiators fight under my gaze.”
Though he praised Rogan and UFC founder Dana White’s establishing of the fight brand as a “bona fide American success story,” he lambasted Sunday’s event at the White House as “an exhibition of imperial domination, not a celebration of our 250th anniversary as a democracy.”
He closed the missive with the reminder, “the president is our servant. Not our Caesar,” before proposing the cage match.
“P.S. Cage match between me and Don. Jr? Your call on the venue. Anywhere but the South Lawn.”
Curiously, Biden didn’t mention the times his father was accused of diminishing the White House and American flag, like when a Pride banner was placed at the center of a display that adorned the Truman Balcony in 2023 in violation of US flag code.
He also didn’t mention a controversial event that year in which transgender TikTokkers were invited to pose topless – on the South Lawn no less – to show off their mastectomy scars.
Switzerland just set a great example for America on immigration — we need to have a national conversation
Swiss voters went to the polls Sunday and resoundingly rejected capping the country’s rapidly growing population at 10 million by limiting immigration.
Congratulations to the Swiss for staging a national conversation over immigration — something the United States urgently needs to do.
The Swiss have seen their population soar by more than 25% since 2000. The newcomers are for the most part workers from neighboring European countries, not migrants from the Middle East or Africa.
Even so, the right-leaning Swiss People’s Party pushed for immigration restrictions, arguing that such rapid population growth strains housing, social programs and Swiss identity.
Opponents of the measure, who dubbed it a “Swiss Brexit,” warned stopping the free flow of Europeans into Switzerland would threaten its special relationship with the EU, which buys over half of all Swiss exports.
They also argued Switzerland has grown wealthy over many decades, despite a lack of natural resources, by attracting foreign innovators — including the immigrants who launched giant Swiss companies like Nestle, Swatch and Novartis.
It’s time for Americans to have a national conversation on immigration, as the Swiss just did.
We don’t have to come to the same conclusion: The Swiss wanted to make sure their laws served the best interests of Switzerland; our laws should serve the United States.
But the discussion needs to get to the heart of the matter.
Sadly, our politics has been fixated on one polarizing, fringe issue — ICE and deportations — rather than on the real question: Who should we invite into the United States?
The current law, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, must be replaced with immigration standards that boost our economy and avoid dependence on public handouts.
A staggering 47% of US households headed by a noncitizen collect welfare benefits such as food assistance or Medicaid, per the Center for Immigration Studies. Ouch.
That’s almost double the dependence rate (28%) for households headed by someone born in America.
Americans are fed up with taking in newcomers who need to mooch. It’s not sustainable.
Part of the blame goes to our crazy immigration laws, which give preference to newcomers with family ties — a child or other relative already here — instead of job skills, education, English-speaking ability or interest in American civic life.
Congress needs to scrap those laws, enacted in 1965, and give the nation a merit immigration system that will boost the economy and spare taxpayers.
That’s what smart countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and Singapore are doing.
Another part of the blame for the scandalous dependence of immigrants on welfare is the Biden open-border policy.
The 2021-’24 border surge brought in migrants significantly less educated and capable of supporting themselves than those who came before.
The number of newcomers with no education beyond high school more than doubled from 2019 to 2023, CIS reports.
The immigrants using welfare are not lazy; most are working. In fact, they’re more likely to be employed that US-born adults, but their minimal schooling dooms them to earn little and become a permanent dependent class.
Adult male immigrants now earn 52% of what US-born male workers earn, down from 62% in 2019, because of the Biden surge of unskilled, minimally educated migrants.
Ultimately that will force down wages for low-skilled Americans, too.
The Biden administration’s surge was nothing short of treasonous. Like napalming our towns and cities, leaving them with a growing dependent class and public debt.
The border is now closed. President Donald Trump showed it could be done, without any major immigration legislation, despite the Democrats’ pleas that “comprehensive immigration reform” was needed first.
A new Harvard/Harris poll indicates this is the opportune time to fix our immigration mess.
The public regards it as the most pressing issue after affordability (No. 1) and the economy (No. 2).
It far outstrips concerns for health care, the US-Iran conflict, the environment or education.
So let’s get to it. Political polarization seems to be softening.
A slim majority of Democrats (52%) now say their party is “against open borders.”
Republicans, who risk losing control of Congress after the midterm elections, should seize the moment to divert the national conversation from the fringe controversy over ICE to merit-immigration reform.
Who we let in will determine how we prosper.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York.
Angelina Jolie’s son Pax maintains ties to dad Brad Pitt despite siblings’ estrangement
Pax Jolie-Pitt remains close with dad Brad Pitt’s side of the family.
“Pax still has a relationship with his dad’s side of the family and continues to spend time with them,” a source exclusively told Page Six. “He recently joined his family as they went out to dinner and celebrated his cousin Sydney’s engagement to Archimede Jerome.”
According to the insider, Brad’s sister Julie Pitt Neal also attended the gathering, along with his niece Reagan Pitt and numerous other close family members.
Sydney shared the exciting news in March on Instagram, captioning the post, “I said yes (duh).”
Despite Pax’s close relationship with his father’s side of the family, he “doesn’t have much of a relationship with Brad,” a second source exclusively told Page Six.
Reps for Jolie and Pitt did not respond to Page Six’s requests for comment.
While Pax continues to spend time with his paternal relatives, several of his siblings have taken steps in recent years to distance themselves from the Pitt surname.
On June 9, Pax’s 21-year-old sister, Zahara, filed paperwork to request her name be Zahara Jolie instead of Zahara Jolie-Pitt.
Last month, Pax’s older brother Maddox also filed legal paperwork seeking to drop “Pitt” from his last name, citing personal reasons in court documents.
Prior to the filing, he had already begun using “Maddox Jolie” professionally, including in credits for the film, “Couture,” that he worked as an assistant director on and starred Angelina.
In May 2024, sister Shiloh successfully petitioned a Los Angeles court to legally remove “Pitt” from her last name after turning 18.
As previously reported, Knox dropped “Pitt” from his last name on his high school diploma.
The teenager, who turns 18 on July 12, used the name “Knox Jolie” on his certificate after graduating from Fusion Academy in Los Angeles earlier this month, a source exclusively told Page Six at the time.
Knox celebrated the milestone ceremony alongside the “Maleficent” star, 51; his older brother Pax, 22; older sister Zahara, 21; and his twin sister Vivienne.
Meanwhile, Pax recently put on his game face during a charity event with the “Girl, Interrupted” actress and his sister, Shiloh, 20.
The family stepped out for an outing on Saturday at the Supper+Feed Pickleball Invitational and Game Night in Los Angeles.
The mother and son duo were photographed rushing around the court as they soaked up the sun and competed against another team.
The “Fight Club” star, 62, finalized his long-running divorce from Angelina in December 2024, bringing an end to more than eight years of legal proceedings. Angelina filed to dissolve their marriage in September 2016.
Pfizer CEO left Europe in pursuit of the American dream
Through July 4, The Post, in conjunction with the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, is featuring US citizens explaining what the American dream means to them in 2026 — including Albert Bourla, Chairman and CEO of Pfizer. Bourla first joined Pfizer in 1993 in their animal health department and worked his way up to become an area president, COO and, in 2019, CEO.
When I was growing up, I didn’t even want to leave my country. I was in love with the way of living, and my friends. I was very happy …
I went to the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, one of the largest universities in Europe. And it was in Greece that I was recruited to the Animal Health group of Pfizer. I lived in nine different cities around five different countries.
The best gift I gave my children was that, during their youth, they traveled with me and were exposed to so many different cultures that made them able to appreciate diversity — and to appreciate that “difference” doesn’t mean inferior or superior. Difference means it’s just different.
I took the challenge when [Pfizer] offered me the opportunity to relocate. I never regretted it because that opened to me very new horizons.
The American dream, to me, I see it as people can grow without having the barrier of who their parents were. It’s not perfect, the American society, by no means. But in comparison to other societies, it’s like an oasis in a desert.
If you see the 10 richest people in America, almost none of their parents were rich. If you look at the 10 richest people in Europe, probably all of them will be people [whose] parents were very rich!
Not everyone [in the US] has the same opportunities, and there are some discriminations. But compared to other countries — I think we need to understand and appreciate what we have here.
[Compared to Europe,] the US is way more open as a society to immigrants, despite all the discussions that we’re having now …
I say very proudly that I’m Greek by birth and American by choice. Because I’ve chosen to become a citizen of this country. Here, the opportunities are enormous.
The American Dream Video Project showcases real stories that illuminate pathways to opportunity. Featured at the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream (MCAAD), this series is part of the Center’s celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. MCAAD is Washington, DC’s newest cultural institution, offering interactive exhibits and stories about achieving the American Dream. For more information, visit mcaad.org.
Friday start will be ‘good test’ for Dodgers’ Roki Sasaki
He was down.
Then up.
Now, Roki Sasaki is down again.
Seven days ago, the 24-year-old Sasaki had his worst start of a season that has included several stinkers.
In the first 4 ⅓ innings of an 8-2 loss to the White Sox, Sasaki was charged with seven runs.
Which is why manager Dave Roberts is curious to see how Sasaki will respond in his scheduled start Friday night against the Orioles.
“It is a good test for a young player that after he has one like this, how he responds,” Roberts said.
On the surface, it might seem as if Sasaki has relapsed into his early-season form that had me calling for him to be sent to the minor leagues to rebuild his delivery from scratch.
But he hasn’t.
He’s an entirely different pitcher now.
Back then, he was searching — searching for his fastball, searching for his identity as a pitcher.
He has since rediscovered what he was looking for.
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“In that sense, to some degree, I fixed what I had to fix in the spring,” he said in Japanese.
As Sasaki has evolved, so have the questions he has to answer.
The question now isn’t whether he can still touch 100 mph with his heater or throw it for strikes.
He’s proven he can.
What he has to show now is that he can win a game in which his off-speed pitches aren’t working.
Or that he can shut down a team that’s not the Angels.
Or that he can mentally recover from the kind of beating to which he was subjected last week in Chicago.
“What I have to fix,” Sasaki said, “has changed.”
But as Sasaki reflected on his loss to the White Sox, he sounded considerably more upbeat than he was when he was getting knocked around early in the season.
He was no longer a pitcher who was in the midst of an existential crisis.
He was a pitcher who just got beat.
He threw pitches that were clocked at more than 100 mph for the third consecutive game. His average fastball velocity of 98.8 mph and his maximum velocity of 100.7 mph were both season bests.
Before rediscovering his fastball during a May 30 start against the Phillies, Sasaki was forced to rely on get-me-over breaking balls to get through his starts. He was relieved to not have to do that anymore.
“I don’t think I’ll have much of a future if I just try to get through the game in front of me by tricking the opponent,” Sasaki said. “If I can’t deliver what they saw in me [in Japan], I won’t be able to compete here.”
In Chicago, he still had his trademark fastball, and that allowed him to limit the damage to a run over the first four innings.
But his problem with his other pitches — most notably his splitter — led to him completely unraveling in the fifth inning.
He walked the leadoff batter, gave up three consecutive hits, struck out a batter and walked two more. He was replaced at that point by Blake Treinen.
Because Sasaki was going through the White Sox’s order for the third time, he wanted to give them different looks and mixed in more breaking balls. But the pitches didn’t just miss. They also messed up his control of his fastball.
“I think I had one of my better days in terms of velocity,” Sasaki said. “That was good. But overall, including my ability to incorporate my breaking balls, I’m not there yet. When I’m facing a lineup that’s in good form, I think the results will be like that if I can’t pitch well. I think I have to practice to be able to hold them even when I’m like that.”
Now that he’s right, now that he’s pitching like himself again, Sasaki will start the process that most Japanese pitchers undergo when they move to the major leagues.
He will start to figure out what he can get away with and what he can’t. He will learn how to compete at this level.
“I think that I still need in-game trial and error,” he said.
The start in Chicago wasn’t a step back. Rather, it was the start of the next phase of his development.
Moment Knicks fans climb structure to save reveler from apparent overdose during championship parade
Knicks fans risked their own safety to save a reveler suffering from a suspected drug overdose as millions packed into lower Manhattan for the estimated largest ticker tape parade in Big Apple history, dramatic video showed.
Simone Kelly, an off-duty EMT from New Jersey, and Peter Shrieve-Don are among a small group being hailed as heroes for their quick thinking and administering Narcan to rescue the distressed man who was perched above the World Trade Center Subway station on Thursday.
Shrieve-Don had been filming the Knicks’ historic championship parade when he spotted the unidentified man lose consciousness and raced to alert a nearby NYPD officer, according to video posted to Instagram.
“I went up because the guy went out hard, no one was doing anything, and there wasn’t time,” Shrieve-Don wrote in the post.
Shrieve-Don told officers that the man was “passed out in his vomit,” but the first responders didn’t budge, forcing the camera operator to scale the structure to get to the man in distress.
“They’re gonna tell you to get off,” one woman told Shrieve-Don.
“Well then, he’s going to die,” he responded. “Damn, we’re really following the rules out here.”
Shrieve-Don defied the officer’s order to stop climbing the structure and found the individual passed out with his head slumped backwards, nearly completely upside down.
The heroic Knicks fan began shaking the man, telling him to “get up, bro,” as thousands of people below watched intensely.
“Once I did get to him, it was clear that it was serious enough to require someone who knew more than me – Simmy Kelly, you are a hero and you forever have my gratitude,” Shrieve-Don wrote.
Kelly and a small group of fans managed to climb up the glass structure to render aid to the man.
Kelly, who is stationed with the South Orange Rescue Squad, had made it through the crowd and on to the platform, where she said she was “medical” and took control of the intense scene.
Kelly administered a dose of Narcan spray into the man’s nose before giving him sternum rubs, according to the footage captured by Shrieve-Don.
The man gained consciousness after the hit of the life-saving spray and attempted to embrace and kiss Kelly multiple times as she asked him what he had taken.
Several more people had climbed up the structure and helped carry the man down to the awaiting FDNY paramedics.
The man was strapped to a stretcher and rolled away from the scene. His condition was not immediately known.
The Post has reached out to the FDNY.
Shrieve-Don praised Kelly as a “hero” following the terrifying ordeal.
“Sometimes, if you see something, DO something,” Shrieve-Don said. “I’m glad there were people who knew what they were doing (not me). I do love this city. Knicks in 5.”
Kelly reposted multiple angles of her daring rescue to her Instagram profile and is hoping her viral fame helps her get into medical school.
“Instagram engagement is great but who can get my name to medical school admission committees,” Kelly wrote in a post after her rescue went viral.
Dragon Boat Festival links modern China to traditions more than 2,000 years old
BEIJING — The Dragon Boat Festival was celebrated Friday across mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan with colorful boat races, lion dances and other festivities.
The more than 2,000-year-old holiday is best known for its sporting events, but its origins are rooted in Chinese history and ancient beliefs about health, protection and harmony with nature.
“The Dragon Boat Festival is probably the richest and most diverse of all traditional Chinese festivals,” said Tsinghua University’s history professor Liu Xiaofeng. “Across different regions, people developed a wide variety of traditions based on ideas connected to the summer solstice and the balance of yin and yang.”
The festival is widely associated with the ancient poet Qu Yuan, who according to legend drowned himself more than 2,000 years ago. The tradition of dragon boat races was born from the story that people raced out in boats to search for the poet and threw rice into the river so fish would not eat his body.
A three-day race in Beijing features men’s, women’s and mixed dragon boat races over distances of 100, 200 and 500 meters. Teams from Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Guangdong will compete throughout the holiday weekend.
Guided by the thunderous beat of their drummers, crews pulled their paddles through the water in unison, each boat surging toward the finish line as spectators cheered them on.
Others watched the races at home as they enjoyed a traditional sticky rice treat known as “zongzi” with their families.
Beijing’s 2026 celebrations will continue through June 21 at the capital’s Grand Canal.
“The competition helped strengthen our team spirit,” said Li Maoshan, a participant in Friday’s races. “It also gave us an opportunity to demonstrate the spirit of perseverance and hard work.”
Participants in Hong Kong’s dragon boat races on Friday wore costumes including a cartoon version of Chinese Taoist deity Ne Zha.
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AP video producer Liu Zheng in Beijing and reporter Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.