Month: March 2025

During an explosive meeting in the White House with Donald Trump and JD Vance, the Ukrainian president was accused of ‘gambling with WWIII’.

The upshot of the meeting was that Zelenskyy was reportedly asked to leave the White House early, while US aid for Ukraine was suspended, along with intelligence sharing.

While more amicable talks between the two countries in Jeddah has led to aid and intelligence sharing resuming, Zelenskyy has made a sly reference to his treatment in the White House in his latest speech.

The comment stemmed from criticism of Zelenskyy’s understated wardrobe in comparison to his international counterparts during his White House meeting.

A journalist even took a jab at the Ukrainian leader, 47, about his dressed down look for the White House meeting, accusing Zelenskyy of ‘not respecting the dignity’ of the Oval Office.

Rumours even circulated suggesting that Trump was seen ‘slyly winking’ at the reporter, seemingly in a bid to encourage the journalist to rile up Zelenskyy with the put-down.

For context, Zelenskyy was wearing black trousers, boots and a black jumper which was embroidered with the Ukrainian trident – not shorts and flip flops.

He told the journalist that he will wear a ‘costume’ when the war is finished, while hilariously adding: “Maybe something like yours, maybe something better. We will see, maybe something cheaper.”

The criticism of his clothing is like water off a duck’s back for Zelenskyy…which is probably a good thing, considering he’s the man in charge of a war-torn country battling Vladimir Putin.

But people can hardly blame him for having a bit of fun with the saga surrounding his style himself, and making a joke about it when he has the chance.

The Ukrainian president couldn’t resist slipping a sarcastic comment into his speech while appearing at an awards ceremony in Kyiv on Sunday (9 March).

Sporting a similar military-style outfit as the one he did in the White House, he congratulated the winners before saying he was ‘grateful to all Ukrainian creators’.

While addressing the crowd, Zelenskyy then joked: “Apologies that I am not wearing a suit.”

Those few words managed to bring the house down, as members of the audience were seen laughing and applauding in the footage.

Zelenskyy even appeared to get something of a standing ovation, as several spectators stood up to clap the leader as he then added: “Glory to Ukraine!”

Despite a rough few weeks, it seems that Zelenskyy and Trump might have finally squashed their beef.

After their meeting in Saudi Arabia, a joint statement between the delegations said that Ukraine had accepted a US proposal for a ceasefire that would last for 30 days and could be extended, and it could be put in place if Russia accepted it as well.

The statement read: “Today in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — under the gracious hospitality of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — the United States and Ukraine took important steps toward restoring durable peace for Ukraine.

“Representatives of both nations praised the bravery of the Ukrainian people in defense of their nation and agreed that now is the time to begin a process toward lasting peace.”

The baffling friendship between the current US president and his billionaire ‘First Buddy’ Elon Musk was on display yesterday (11 March) when the 78-year-old decided to give the electronic car company a public display of confidence and purchase a new motor in front of the White House.

No, we’re not joking. This is an event which actually happened.

That’s right folks, it only took two months of Trump presidency for before a Tesla was parked outside the White House.

So why is this happening you might ask, and why is there a Tesla outside one of the most recognisable buildings in the US?

One of Musk’s most recognisable companies, electronic cars have historically been popular with people who are more liberal or left leaning as they are more environmentally friendly than your classic gas guzzler.

But since Musk has very vocally aligned himself with the Trump train his traditional customers have left more alienated – which is evident through the recent decline in Tesla sales.

It seems this hasn’t gone unnoticed by Trump and Musk, with the pair essentially staging an infomercial outside the White House to promote the motors.

Praising Musk’s company, the president told reporters that he’d been penalised by the ‘radical left’ and decided the best way to support Tesla was to very publicly buy a car himself, despite no longer being allowed to drive a car.

The widely covered exchange generated a lot of media attention on Trump, Musk and Teslas, however, skeptics couldn’t help but spot that the president was carting round a shopping list detailing the different prices and models of Teslas.

And, of course, made sure that photographers got a snapshot of the list, which reads:

“Tesla Pricing:

“Full Self Driving:

“Model X – $112,490 (silver)

“CT – $114,000 (Gray)

“Model S – $108,990 (Blue)

“Model Y – $59,990 (Red).”

Below the list was a sentence which further pushed home the aim of the Tesla buying session, which read: “Teslas can be purchased as low as $299/month of $35k. All cars have self driving, just needs to be turned on (fee).”

Viewers were obviously divided by the spectacle, with many taking to social media to share their shock and confusion over what had just happened.

“Jesus. This is one of those pictures you see in history books for all the wrong reasons,” one person wrote on Reddit, while a second added: “This administration is so unserious. Not that I’m surprised or it’s anything new, but every week they escalate to a new level.”

“This guy should be a World Limbo Champion, because there is no bar he can’t go lower than,” a third joked.

Since taking office earlier this year, US President Donald Trump has made sure his concerns about nuclear weapons are clear.

At the end of last month, he accused Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy of ‘gambling with WWIII’ during discussions about Russia’s invasion of the Eastern European country.

More recently, the 78-year-old claimed that nuclear war was a bigger threat to humanity than global warming, telling Fox News: “We spend a lot of money of nuclear weapons – the level of destruction is beyond anything you can imagine.

“It’s just bad that you have to spend all this money on something that if it’s used, it’s probably the end of the world.”

He added: “The greatest [threat] is sitting on shelves in various countries called ‘nuclear weapons’.”

Although climate change does remain a threat to humanity – whether Trump likes it or not – he’s not wrong on the nuclear war front, with countless doomsday simulations showing the catastrophic damage which just one missile could cause.

What does the UK’s nuclear weapons system look like?

The UK is one of nine countries which possess nuclear weapons – the others being the US, India, Russia, Pakistan, Israel, France, North Korea and China – through its Trident system.

Following the decision to decommission other weapons systems in 1998, Trident remains the only UK nuclear weapons system in active service.

Beyond the fact that Trident consists of four operational Vanguard submarines armed with nuclear missiles, with at least one always on patrolling the seas covertly, there isn’t that much else to know.

This isn’t a surprise, given the fact that key details of our nuclear systems are kept ‘deliberately ambiguous’ in order to assure its ‘effectiveness’ as a deterrent.

However, the Ministry of Defence did previously reveal a glimpse of one of the country’s nuclear submarines in a video back in 2021, alongside an explanation of what the system is and how it works to protect the UK and its allies.

The continued existence of a nuclear weapons system in the UK has long been a divisive one, with numerous campaigners over the years calling for Trident to be decommissioned, most notably the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), which sprung up in the late 50s.

However, both the UK government and the Ministry of Defence have voiced their strong belief in keeping the weapons as a deterrent, with the latter stating: “By providing a credible and effective response option to extreme aggression, our nuclear deterrent reduces the likelihood of such an attack taking place.”

In a bombshell interview with Fox News yesterday (9 March), President Trump stated that while the Biden administration prioritised climate change as ‘the biggest existential threat’ on Earth, it’s really nuclear weapons that we should be worried about.

The former businessman highlighted that ‘the level of destruction’ that could be caused by these weapons of mass destruction is beyond anyone’s imagination.

The 47th President of the US explained: “We spend a lot of money of nuclear weapons – the level of destruction is beyond anything you can imagine. It’s just bad that you have to spend all this money on something that if it’s used, it’s probably the end of the world.”

The US boasts 5,044 warheads, second to Russia’s 5,500, putting the nation in a favourable position if anything were to go haywire.

Amidst talk of a ‘World War 3’ in a heated exchange with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House, Trump will be relying on his nation’s defense.

What is a nuclear triad?

Like many other of the world’s most powerful nations, the US has a nuclear triad.

It is a military strategy, and as the word suggests, there are three types of nuclear weapons that are included within it.

They are: land-based missiles, submarine-launched missiles, and strategic bombers.

The main purpose of a triad is to prevent an enemy from destroying all of the country’s weapons in its first strike, allowing there to be alternatives. There is an official website detailing all the information behind America’s nuclear triad, set up by the US Department of Defense.

It is described as ‘the backbone of America’s national security’, with the website describing each section of the triad, along with short videos showcasing their capabilities in each area.

From land

The US Department of Defense say that ‘more than 10,000 people’ are ready to operate 400 combat-reasy LGM-30G Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which are kept in hardened silos across the country.

The Minuteman is a weapon system that uses ballistic missiles with worldwide range, while being connected to an underground launch control centre, ready to go at any time.

Launch crews, which include two officers, carry out around-the-clock alerts in the launch control centre.

From sea

Here, ballistic missile submarines – also known as ‘boomers’ – are used as undetectable platforms for attack.

Just one boomer is said to provide the sixth most powerful nuclear power in the world.

They state on their site: “Assure we can strike at any time, anywhere, even after a surprise attack. This survivability gives national leadership greater flexibility in the decision-making process.”

Ohio-Class Ballistic Missile Submarines are used to make what is known as ‘the most survivable leg of the triad, with their stealth making them near impossible to track, though the Ohio-class SSBNs will be replaced by the Columbia-class SSBN program in the next decade.

There are currently 14 Ohio0class SSMNs deployed, which can carry 20 submarine-launched ballistic missiles with ‘independently targeted warheads’.

From air

Described as ‘the most flexible leg of the triad’ on the website, the US Department of Defense state that the US have ’46 nuclear-capable B-52H Stratofortress and 20 B-2A Spirit aircraft’ which can provide ‘massive firepower in a short time anywhere on the globe’.

They claim that they can get through ‘the most advanced defenses’ and describe the B-52 as a long-range, heavy bomber than can carry out a number of misisons.

These can carry nuclear or precision guided conventional weapons that can be targeted at any point, worldwide.

The B-2 Spirit is known as a stealth bomber, which can deliver both ‘conventional and nuclear weapons’. However, the B-21 Raider – the next generation of stealthy bombers – is starting to replace them.

Five people were rushed to hospital after a single-engine plane crashed in the car park of a retirement community on Sunday (9 March) in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

No details have been released regarding their condition.

Last month, a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis to Toronto flipped as it landed and burst into flames, although miraculously nobody was killed. Plane passenger Peter Carlson explained what it was like to be on board the flight and then make his way out of the scene of the crash.

Meanwhile, sadly, there were no survivors when an American Airlines flight and a US Army helicopter collided in mid-air over Washington DC at the end of January.

When quizzed about the most recent incident and the role of Chris Rocheleau as head of the Federal Aviation Administration, by Fox News President Trump provided an interesting reply.

He said: “That has nothing to do with the department. That was a small plane, it would have happened if you had a big department or a small department as you understand. They have spates like this.

“They have times when things happen a little bit more often than normal and then it goes back and then you go many years without having a problem.”

Rocheleau was appointed by Trump as the new head of the FAA back in January, taking over from Mike Whittaker who resigned a day before Trump arrived in office.

The president then went on to praise the role of the pilot who narrowly avoided a collision with a private plane on the runway at Chicago Midway Airport late last month, taking off again immediately after landing to avoid the jet which suddenly appeared in its path.

He added: “I think the Southwest pilot did a fantastic job last week when he lifted that plane off the air because if he’d put the brakes on that wouldn’t have been good. I think the license for the pilot that got in his way should maybe be revoked.

“The way he immediately stepped on the gas and lifted it up as opposed to thinking for about three seconds, it would have been too late.

“The pilot or pilots did a great job.”

On 27 June, 2015 a dust fire ignited at the Formosa Fun Coast water park during a ‘colour powder party’, after staff had launched coloured corn starch powder at a crowd of people who were attending the party.

Air blowers and compressed gas canisters were used to keep the cloud of coloured powder above the heads of the revellers, but at around 8:30pm, a sudden explosion of flame ignited some of the powder and a large fireball engulfed the stage.

The flames spread among the powder, including along the ground where people were standing, and hundreds of people suffered burns as a result of the unexpected combustion.

The fireball did not last long and was soon extinguished, but 15 people ended up dying from the disaster.

When something like corn starch is packed together in one place and there’s a lot of heat, it can catch fire, and the water park event had brought three tonnes of the stuff to spray onto concert-goers from the stage.

Investigations into the disaster tried to determine exactly how the fire started and ignited the clouds of powder, with firefighters suggesting that hot stage lights may have lit the initial spark.

The water park was closed down in the aftermath of the disaster, and event organiser, Lu Chung-chi, was charged with negligence and found guilty. In 2018, he was sentenced to five years in prison.

The park has been closed down since then and is now an abandoned site, though when an explorer called Josh showed up to try and poke around the site, he found that there was some security still in place to stop people from picking around the remains.

The YouTuber found that, in the years since the water park closed, nature had started to take back the site and he said that striding through the abandoned location was an ‘eerie’ experience.

He also discovered a pile of old dining tables all stacked in one spot, which he described as a ‘table graveyard’ that needed to be clambered over.

Everywhere he looked there was peeling paint and attractions overgrown with nature as the water slides showed clear signs of decay in the years they had sat idle.

Despite the water park being abandoned, the YouTuber did get on some of the slides and walk down the giant pipes, though there were some rides he didn’t want to test his luck on.

It’s certainly not the only theme park which has been abandoned to the ravages of time and nature, there are a number of decaying sites which closed their doors one day never to reopen.

The rides and attractions are still there but the place is deserted and everything is infected with that sense of emptiness that only an abandoned location that once welcomed large amounts of people can have.

This is while the other two dogs owned by the celebrity couple were found to still be alive, despite their owners having died up to two weeks before their bodies were discovered.

Hackman, a two-time Best Actor winner at the Oscars in 1971 and 1992, and classical pianist Arakawa were found deceased at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico on 26 February. This was alongside their dog, Zinna.

Mystery initially surrounded their death, with it being treated as ‘suspicious’ for a full investigation to take place, given that both bodies were found separate in the house and partially mummified.

After investigating the home and conducting post mortem examinations, doctors ruled that Arakawa had died from a rare disease known as hantavirus pulmonary syndrome; a flu-like infection that is transmitted from the faeces of rats.

Her body was found in an upstairs bathroom of their home.

She is believed to have died on or around 11 February. Tragically, with 95-year-old Hackman living with severe Alzheimer’s, officers believe he didn’t understand what had happened.

Around a week later on 18 February, Hackman himself passed away downstairs in the home’s mudroom after his pacemaker noted an abnormal rhythm.

He had been living with severe heart disease and kidney disease, with his autopsy showing no food in his stomach at the time of his death.

Alongside the couple, one of their three dogs, a 12-year-old Australian Kelpie mix called Zinna, was found deceased in the same bathroom that Arakawa was found dead.

Zinna had been placed in a crate that was locked before Arakawa died, with the dog recovering from surgery. She had picked it up from the vet the morning of 9 February.

And while police are still waiting for autopsy results for the dog, New Mexico State Public Health Veterinarian, Erin Phipps, has revealed that dehydration and starvation are two likely causes of death.

With dogs unlikely to get ill from hantavirus, Phipps said Zinna being locked in the cage is likely to have caused her to pass away. Her stomach was empty.

The other two dogs owned by the couple, a German Shepherd named Bear, and a second dog named Nikita, were found alive and well on the couple’s 12-acre property.

The home had a dog door meaning they could come and go as they pleased, accessing food and water that will have kept them alive.

For now, the case looking in to the deaths of Hackman and Arakawa will remain open for officials to ‘close the loopholes’ in the case, such as the how Zinna died.

Santa Fe Sheriff, Adam Mendoza, said they are still waiting on phone records even though they believe it is ‘very unlikely’ anything new will be found.

He said: “I don’t know if he used cell phones or technology or emails, there’s no indication of that. So right now, there is no activity from Mr. Hackman.”

The influencer, whose real name is Sarah Joe Chamoun, became an overnight star in the world of adult movies after starring in her first film back in 2014.

A controversial entry to the world of porn, the Lebanese-American model wore a hijab in one scene while performing a sex act that saw her family disown her and the Islamic State even photoshop an image showing her being beheaded.

The 32-year-old now boasts tens of millions of followers on social media. But the here and now is a long way away from her life after entering the adult industry; something she quit after just a few months.

Spending just three months in the industry, she tried to return to normal life after starring in a handful of movies.

But she hadn’t realised just how famous she had become; something seen later on after she was the most searched adult star on Pornhub in 2016 and 2018, despite retiring in 2014.

After her Instagram got hacked in 2015, she didn’t return to the platform and social media in general until 2016.

It was during this period after quitting porn that she tried to return to normal life before rejecting it and embracing the platform she had given herself.

“I knew at that point there is no turning back, everyone knows who I am,” Khalifa told the Call Her Daddy podcast back in 2021 in a conversation with host Alexandra Cooper.

“I can’t work anywhere. That’s why I left the law firm job; it was very uncomfortable for me to work there.”

Recalling her life at the time before she became a social media influencer, Khalifa recalled one interview where she was asked a ‘weird’ question by the people potentially giving her a job.

She said: “It’s very weird to go in to a job interview thinking, ‘oh I’m just going to go back to normal life’ and have the interviewer ask you if you ever did porn.”

Responding, Cooper asked Khalifa if she thought the question was asked because they knew who she was.

“Yes, they recognised me,” the ex adult star said.

“I went to a couple interviews where some comments were made and then I finally got a job at a law firm and then I got a job working for a friend’s company at a construction, firm and then I just realised, ‘I feel uncomfortable wherever I go’.

“| can’t be sent in to the field. They have to be careful about who they let in the office because some subcontractors are creepy. I started to feel like a burden on the person who was taking a chance on me and giving me a job.”

Khalifa how boasts almost 40 million followers on TikTok, 26 million on Instagram, and six million on X (formerly Twitter).

That’s because the family there decided not to sell up in the face of the development, so instead a sea of new houses were built around their home.

The Zammits have lived in their house Down Under for almost 20 years, and their five acre plot of land contains huge lawns, a 200 metre long driveway and a pretty sizeable family home.

It seems like a nice place, and indeed was so nice that when property developers decided to build a housing estate there they were willing to offer the family AUS$50 million (£25 million) to pack up and move on.

While they could have taken the deal to sell up and move out, they instead saw ‘farmland dotted with little red brick homes and cottages’ replaced by row after row of new houses.

Up to 50 homes could be built on their land but they’re keeping it, and a man decided to visit Quakers Hill, Sydney to have a look.

YouTuber Adam Hendry showed how the various streets of similar looking houses were broken up by the Zammit house plonked right in the middle.

He ended up liking the place because of what it stood for and slammed the housing developments around it as ‘a very small amount of land in a very expensive country’.

Adam wasn’t the biggest fan of the way the house actually looked, but liked that the family had stuck to their principles and resisted attempts to sell up in the face of a big offer from the developers.

Some others who are glad that the family didn’t sell up are the Zammit’s new neighbours, who like Adam think that having an island of something completely different slap bang in the middle of the rather homogenous housing development they lived in was a good thing.

The new neighbours have said they’re ‘very happy’ to still have the Zammit house around as they reckon it’s ‘much safer for our kids’.

The massive lawn that comes with the property makes them feel like the surrounding area is more open as well.

They’ve said that since ‘the other houses are so close together’ having a wide open space in the middle of the development helps change the feel of things.

Around the world there are a number of properties where the owners have steadfastly refused to move, forcing developers to go around them which has changed the way houses, roads and roundabouts have been built.