Global Crises and Sports Highlights

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The Smart seven It' news but not news Wednesday saw Prime Minister Kir Starmer facing off against Tory leader Kemmy Badenoch for what might be one of his last PMQs The hot topic was the Defense invvestment plan, which hasn't impressed the Tory leader, who described it as a mess, and she was busy pointing out that the funding still appears to be five billion pounds short of the total requirements She was also keen to suggest that any shortfall should be taken from welfare spending PM wasn't in the mood for criticism, however. No lectures from there. They failed in the first duty of government. and they won't defend their record. will they? Never do they stand here and defend their record? because they can't. fourourteen years of failure. They don't get up and apologise, which is what they should do because they would adit what we all know how much they fail. So they just sit there pretending it didn't There are definitely some issues with the defense plan which is scheduled to roll out until twenty thirty and take defence spending to two point seven percent of GDP. Defense Minister Luke Pollard says he and new boss Andy Burnham only found out on Tuesday that the plan isn't as yet fully funded. And they've been keeping him close to the process and told yesterday when the Treasury published the statement and the breakdown of the financial costs It's fifteen billion pounds extra money, which as a deffense minister, I welcome And I want to see that money spent wisely Americans have been struggling with the price of gas and with food inflation as a consequence of Donald Trump's decision to go to war with Iran. The president definitely hasn't been struggling as his latest financial filing revealed that Trump has made at least two billion dollars since returning to the White House, with the vast majority of that from his family's push into cryptocurrency It raises huge questions about the ethics of the president and breaks all norms for residents of the White House, but Trump wasn't too worried when asked by reporters before he boarded his brand new jet, which was a gift from Qatar. Well, you know why I'm profperiting because the stock market's going up. Everybody's profiting. If you have a four hundred one k? It's about up eighty five percent Thank you, President Trump So we're all profiting. I'm profiting because I have A lot of money and a lot of cash. Meanwhile, peace talks between mediators have continued in Doha, although the US and Iran are not meeting directly, and the strait of Hormuz has been open to traffic. Vice President Vance says it's open because of America's aggression. We dropped some bombs a couple of days ago. You know why? Because the Iranians were shooting at commercial ships. So we dropped some bombs, we applied some leverage And we've had free commercial transit for the last three days Wednesday marked the launch of Ireland's six month spell as presresident of the Council of the European Union There will be hundreds of EU meetings across the period and things kicked off with an official state visit from Ukrainian President Zelensky to mark the occasion. He was welcomed by Irish T shock Mihall Martin, who said that while Ireland is militarily neutral, it is not politically neutral when it comes to Ukraine, and he pledged to back Ukraine's EU membership bid. Russian President Putin is coming under increasing pressure as his country struggles to cope with Ukrainian attacks and fuel shortages bring home the reality of war to the Russian people, but Zelensky was keen to keep the pressure on. The world's strongest leaders have already told Russia that war must end However, Putin wants to keep fighting. That is why he must face conditions that make it impossible for him to keep this war going. It has now been seven days since twin earthquakes rocked Venezuela, causing chaos, death and destruction. At least two thousand three hundred people have been killed, and as many as ten thousand injured, but it appears many thousands more are still missing. International rescue crews and aid agencies have been flooding into the country, but with many collapsed multi story buildings and a shortage of heavy lifting equipment fading for more survivors There has been mounting criticism of the government's failure to move swiftly, but Edward Vivis, who is a coordinator with the state Director of Civil Protection, says no one is giving up hope. We are working with teams verifying if we can rescue people alive. In fact, earlyer this morning, a two year old boy was rescued alive And there is a satisfaction every rescuer feels when finding someone like that. We remain optimistic about finding more people alive. Still to come on today's Sart seven, in association with Metro, Captain Canain saves the day and Mayam M D Welcome back Wednesday was all about the World Cup, as England faced the Democratic Republic of Congo in an epic battle for a spot in the last sixteen The Congolese took an early lead just seven minutes in and then set about locking down the pitch much to England's frustration. Manager Thomas Tukeel had warned that they would be difficult opponents, but Captain Harry Cane came to the rescue once again. He scored in the seventy fifth minute to put England level and again eleven minutes later to win the game. England will now face co hosts Mexico on Sunday, and the captain was being typically modest after the win. We knew was going to be a tough rock to break down they proved that they're keeping more than anyone. I mean he made some incredible saves throughout the game, especially in the first half. and we just kept going. that's the team we are. you know We're persistent, we don't give up. We knew the moments would come and thankfully there's a couple of days towardsgin The world's least secret secret wedding gets underway later today in New York City. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey got all of their guests to sign NDAs, but when you book Madison Square Gardens for the weekend, it's probably going to leak out. It appears the couple are having a rehearsal dinner on Thursday and then the main event on Friday for one thousand guests in the main Madison Square Garden arena, although details are still mostly under wraps This weekend, New York is expected to see a heatwave and mayayor Zoran Mam Dani couldn't resist a swift mention during his public safety announcement. My recommendation to all New Yorkers is to stay inside and stay cool. And if you happen to be getting married at Madison Square Garden, you will be staying inside and you will be staying cool And I think it's a good example to set for the city at large Damon is not really someone who complains much, but even he found the filming of Christopher Nolan's latest epic more like an expedition than making a film The Odyssey, which is based on the classical Greek tale of Homer trying to get home from war, is due to hit cinemas in two weeks time It's a movie on a grand scale shot to be watched in IMAax, and featuring an incredible cast including Damon, Tom Holland, Zendea, Luita Nongo, Anne Hathaway, Charlie Thoron, and many more