Month: March 2025

The US President, 78, didn’t mince his words when it came to discussing which leader he is more fond of in the Oval Office on Friday (7 March).

And considering he was speaking to reporters from the same location he and Zelenskyy had verbally sparred in a week prior, it’s hardly that surprising.

There’s been a lot of developments since the pair locked horns in the White House on 28 February, including the suspension of all US military aid to Ukraine.

It had been reported by the New York Times that over $1 billion (£787.3 million) in arms and ammunition will be withheld, forcing the war-torn country to turn to private contractors instead.

Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko warned that this would be ‘catastrophic’ for the nation, although a White House official told Fox News it was ‘not a permanent termination of aid’ but a ‘pause’.

Trump has now also pulled the plug on Ukraine’s access to some satellite imagery, according to the BBC.

In his latest comments regarding the prospect of achieving peace between Putin and Zelenskyy’s countries, the President seemed to flip-flop between who’s side he was on.

He explained he was ‘strongly considering large-scale sanctions’ and tariffs on Russia until a deal is brokered, because the country had been ‘pounding’ Ukraine as of late.

It came after Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was battered by a large-scale missile and drone attack on Thursday (6 March) night.

But just hours later, Trump had drastically changed his tune and said that other people would be doing the same if they were in Putin’s position.

“We’re doing very well with Russia,” Trump said. “But right now they’re bombing the hell out of Ukraine.

“I think he [Putin] wants to get it stopped and settled and I think he’s hitting them harder than he’s been hitting them. I think probably anybody in that position would be doing that right now.”

When asked why he had cut off military aid, the President responded: “I want to know [Ukraine] want to settle and I don’t know they want to settle.”

Trump went on to say that he finds it ‘easier’ to work with Putin rather than Zelenskyy, as the Russian leader ‘wants to end the war’.

“I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine,” he said. “And they don’t have the cards.

“In terms of getting a final settlement, it may be easier dealing with Russia.”

The commander-in-chief said he has ‘always had a good relationship’ with Putin, adding: “He wants to end the war. And I think he’s going to be more generous than he has to be.”

Next week, senior US and Ukrainian officials are set to sit down in Saudi Arabia in the hopes of smoothing things over following Trump’s row with Zelenskyy.

Here’s to hoping that pans out better than the one in the Oval Office did, eh?

Saturation diver Chris Lemons was left fighting for his life after fixing a pipe below the North Sea, near the Huntington oil field off Aberdeen on 18 September 2012.

Due to a positioning system failure, the Bibby Topaz support vessel drifted into rough seas, and Lemons’ lifeline to the surface – an umbilical cable which tethered him to the diving bell and the boat – was cut off.

The Scotsman was left in complete darkness, only with a limited emergency gas supply in its backup tanks, estimated to last around five minutes.

On what he was thinking in that moment, Lemons explained to The Guardian: “I was at an exciting point in my life: early thirties, getting married the following year, we were in the process of building a house…

“I had all the hopes and dreams you have at that stage – of children, travel – and it felt as if all of that was about to be ripped away in this strange, lonely, ethereal place.

“I grew up in a middle-class family on the outskirts of Cambridge, and I remember thinking: ‘How is this dark, lonely place where I end my days?’.”

With time running out, Topaz launched a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to locate his whereabouts.

The mini submarine had a camera attached to it, showing Lemons lying on top of the structure in the foetal position.

When he lost consciousness, Lemons said the ‘actual moment was peaceful’.

“I feel like a bit of a charlatan. I still get contacted all the time by people who’ve lost loved ones, but I don’t have the right to tell you what it’s like – I didn’t die,” he added.

Thankfully, the dynamic positioning system was up and running again, just in time to save Lemons.

With just minutes left of emergency gas, colleagues Duncan Allcock and Dave Yuas were able to drag him to safety.

When they got him back into the bell and took off his helmet, Lemons was bright blue.

Allcock then gave him mouth-to-mouth and incredibly, he survived.

“They’re the real heroes in this story,” Lemons added: “And everyone on the boat. I’m just a damsel in distress.”

While experts still don’t know how he made it, Lemons reckons the freezing conditions saved him.

“But I’ve learned that if my body had been so cold that I’d gone into some kind of hibernation or stasis, there is no way Duncan would have been able to resuscitate me that quickly,” he said.

Lemons’ life-changing experience was the subject of 2019 documentary Last Breath and has been dramatised in 2025 feature film of the same name, directed by Alex Parkinson.

Journalist Katie Brown, who works on Australia’s Sunrise breakfast show, was reporting on Cyclone Alfred live from Byron Bay when she spotted the ‘stupid’ motorist.

Brown was bringing viewers up to speed on the latest developments after the tropical storm battered Queensland and New South Wales (NSW) with powerful winds and heavy rainfall.

A host of residents were evacuated as forecasters warned that Cyclone Alfred was set to make landfall and cause ‘significant risks’, however the storm was later downgraded from a tropical cyclone to a tropical low.

Authorities urged people to stay indoors and said fines would be doled out to those who still visited beaches, as even though the weather event weakened, officials said it would still wreak some havoc.

Which is probably why Brown was left blown away by the amount of people who were still ‘out and about’ on Friday (7 March).

While assessing the situation on the roads, she explained that the Sunrise crew had just watched a fire truck drive past and that the floodwater had ‘come straight up beyond its tyres’.

“This is only minor flooding but we’ve really got to start to be careful, you can’t be risking it,” Brown told viewers, before going on to say she was left stunned by how many people were around.

“There’s even a bicycle rider going through the floodwaters,” the TV star said. “We’ve got a bystander running through, I’m not sure why he’s on the road.

“In terms of safety, we really need to listen to the authorities, because it is dangerous out there. There’s still a lot of people out and about and travelling to and from.

“You can see how quickly this floodwater rises. This morning when we left for Ballina, it was a small puddle on the right hand side.”

As she described the situation to people watching from home, Brown was then left visibly enraged as she watched a motorist driving a lot faster than anyone else through the floodwater.

She remarked: “Now you can see a Commodore being so stupid on the road! Sorry, that is stupid behaviour! That is so dangerous, that can cause a serious accident, we are dealing with a cyclone.

“This is what you have to be aware of, it’s not people who are trying to be safe, it’s people who are being silly. Gosh, that’s just really annoyed me, that’s just stupid.”

She apologised to Sunrise host Matt Shirvington for ‘losing her train of thought’ after spotting the ‘ridiculous’ driver, to which he replied: “It’s unbelievable.”

Although it seems those at the helm of the breakfast show are all in agreement about the driver’s actions being daft, social media users aren’t.

The footage of Brown’s segment was shared on TikTok alongside the caption: “Sunrise reporter Katie Brown had some choice words for a driver crossing flood waters after their dangerous driving manoeuvre.”

Despite a lot of people taking Brown’s side, there were also a host of comments left in support for the driver.

One person said: “‘We are dealing with a cyclone’…settle down love, it’s one inch of water.”

Another wrote: “Get away from the road and out of the rain then.”

A third added: “Just report the news and please don’t lecture us.”

And a fourth commented: “Was nothing wrong with that, he had a good speed to get through the water and the car in front of him was moving much slower. Wouldn’t have been smart for him to slow down.”

On the other hand, some people thought Brown’s remarks were completely justified.

One supporter said: “This is why 7 is the best network as the reporters keep it real and honest, say what we are all thinking. Your team is on the ground experiencing the actual events, not broadcasting from indoors.”

Another chimed in: “Well done for calling them out. Some people are being so stupid and selfish, they will be the ones who pull emergency resources from those who actually need rescuing or assistance.”

While a third said in solidarity: “Love you Katie Brown… tells it how it is.”

Brown shared an Instagram post on Saturday giving people further weather updates on what was formerly known as Cyclone Alfred, saying there had been ‘less rain, more wind, good hair day and lots of teamwork’.

You can’t just hear a pin drop in the Anechoic Chamber at London’s South Bank University – you can discern even the slightest sound your body makes.

We’re not just talking about being about to listen to your belly rumbling in hunger or your joints clicking when you move, either.

Those who are brave enough to enter one of the world’s quietest rooms can literally hear their blood travelling around their bodies, as it is so deafeningly silent.

As you can imagine, this unusual experience can have quite the effect on humans, as most of us are used to constant hustle and bustle rather than sheer silence in an Anechoic Chamber.

YouTuber Callum McGinley, better known as ‘Callux’ online, decided to take one for the team and head inside the specialist facility in the UK capital back in 2019.

And after spending a whopping one hour and 26 minutes inside, he had just one sentence to sum up what he thought of it: “That was f***ing weird.”

The 32-year-old wanted to beat the previous Guinness World Record set for the longest time spent in the Anechoic Chamber, which was 67 minutes.

To do so, he had to remain conscious and awake throughout the tough challenge, while he was also only allowed to speak for 60 seconds every five minutes.

This was to keep the sound levels inside the chamber below 25 decibels, which is a similar level to the sound made when we breathe.

Despite heading inside with serious determination, Callum quickly began to succumb to the disorientating effects of the ridiculously quiet room.

He began to feel spaced out within five minutes of being in there, and reported experiencing an intense burst of tinnitus in both of his ears.

Callum then complained of feeling ‘pressure in his head’, while he claimed to see lights dancing around him in the room at the 15-minute mark.

After half an hour, the weird effects really began to impact the content creator, as he was left pretty unnerved by the sound of his own blood moving through his veins.

“The sound I thought was the London Underground earlier, that’s my blood travelling around my ear,” he said.

“It sounds like someone’s dragging a trolley across my ear, and now it feels like the seconds are going slower while I’m talking.”

Callum then told the camera that ‘things started getting a bit weird’ – so much so, that he considered jacking the challenge in as he became disturbed by hallucinations he was having.

He explained: “I was trying to track this thing I was imagining around the room. It was freaking me out and brought tears to my eyes, but I knew I only had a few minutes left to beat the world record.

“All I had to do was hang in there for a couple more minutes.”

Which is exactly what he did, even if it proved to be the ‘hardest’ part of the challenge – and this meant that he dethroned the former world record holder and took the title for himself.

He set an impressive new benchmark of one hour and 26 minutes…even though the bloke who designed the Anechoic Chamber doesn’t recommend spending more than three quarters of an hour in there.

Steven Orfield said of the eerily quiet room: “We challenge people to sit in the chamber in the dark.

“When it’s quiet, ears will adapt. The quieter the room, the more things you hear.

“You’ll hear your heart beating, sometimes you can hear your lungs, hear your stomach gurgling loudly. In the anechoic chamber, you become the sound.”

The Anechoic Chamber was built ‘to achieve almost perfect quiet conditions’, according to South Bank University.

This is achieved as ‘external sound is not allowed to break in and sound reflections off internal room boundaries cannot occur’.

But it’s not the only mind-bendingly quiet room on the block – as there’s another one at Orfield Laboratories in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

So whichever side of the pond your on, you can have a crack at beating Callum’s incredible record…if you dare.

Lisa Smith was shot dead outside of a pub in Kent on Valentine’s Day and the suspect was said to be known to the 43-year-old.

The suspect left his car on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge following the shooting.

In a statement today (8 March), Kent Police said: “On Friday 14 February 2025, Lisa Smith, 43, was killed after she was shot outside a pub in Main Road.

“The suspect was known to Lisa and later that evening officers found his car abandoned on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. Enquiries established he had fallen into the water below.

“At around 3.45pm on Friday 7 March, a body was located near Rainham, Essex.

“Formal identification has not yet taken place; however, the man’s family have been informed.”

Lisa, from Slough, was killed near The Three Horseshoes pub just after 7pm on Valentine’s Day.

Kent Police said the suspect fell from the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge which crosses the Thames at Dartford 17 miles away.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Higham said at the time: “We have carried out a full and extensive investigation into Lisa’s tragic murder and our inquiries have concluded that the suspect is believed to have died after falling into the River Thames.

“Multiple searches of several areas of the river have since been assisted by the Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade and Coastguard, but at this stage we have not recovered a body.

“These searches are ongoing and whilst our investigation will continue, we will be preparing our findings and reports to assist the coroner.

“This murder has led to the senseless loss of a beloved daughter and mother and our thoughts remain with Lisa’s family.”

Michelle Thomas, who runs The Three Horseshoes pub, said she heard ‘screaming, shouting’ and ‘crying’ when the shooting took place.

“People were outside, on their phones. We tried to get people inside the pub to consolidate them,” she said.

“People were only just starting to sit down, it was early on in the evening.”

Thomas noted that around 30 people were at the pub for dinner, while 20 more were in the bar area.

Although the pub has reopened its doors, she said the community remains ‘absolutely shocked’ by the incident.

The suspect, who visited ‘mostly in the summer, wasn’t a regular’.

From a less than a minute-long cameo as a merman in Barbie, to an impersonator in Ricky Stanicky, the 47-year-old has had some more memorable performances.

Like the time he played Steven in 2015’s Trainwreck alongside Amy Schumer.

And the comedian revealed she had an X-rated ‘major regret’ about her sex scene with Cena where she said he was ‘inside her’.

While Cena has admitted he didn’t tell his fiancée about the comedic steamy moment in the film, and describing it as pretty ‘awkward’, Schumer was however ‘very into it’.

In Trainwreck, Schumer is a bit of a commitment-phobe who doesn’t think she can handle monogamy before she meets that guy.

But before that, one of her partners includes gym-rat Steven, who she strips down with as he promises to ‘fill you with protein’ and ‘put my green drink in you’.

During an Aussie chat show, Schumer was asked how she kept a straight face as Cena’s modesty was only just about protected.

“Because he was actually inside me. Who am I to stop him?” she joked.

And speaking during press interviews around the release, she added: “It’s a whole universe, that butt… it’s not even human.

“It felt like having a refrigerator on top of me.”

And to MTV Australia, Schumer admitted: “I think it was probably harder for him. He had to, like, do something. I just did what I usually do when I have sex. Just lay there, so yeah.”

She then went on to reveal a bit of a regret over the scene; she ‘didn’t get to feel his balls’.

“It’s a major regret of mine, major regret,” the star joked.

During an appearance on the Club Shay Shay podcast, Cena explained how awkward it is to film a sex scene.

Pointing at the podcast crew during the recording, he said: “This is the thing — right now, you guys at home think it’s just us. No, there’s a whole f**king world back here,” before adding there were even more on set of the film.

He continued: “There are so many people you need to make a movie. There is nothing intimate about it. Nothing.

“So it’s real embarrassing, and on top of that, to do a comedic sex scene when you’re making fun of yourself.”

And while he described the awkwardness, Schumer joked on Instagram: “John, how dare you?”

Sharing a broken heart in the caption, she said: “That sex scene meant a lot to me, and I was, like, very into it. And I’m in love with you.”

Donald Tusk gave a speech to the Polish parliament yesterday (7 March) as he said his government was ‘carefully examining’ France’s proposal in being included in its nuclear umbrella.

French President Emmanuel Macron recently offered to extend the nation’s nuclear protection to its European allies as it looks to have military on the ground in Ukraine.

And as neighbouring Ukraine’s war with Russia is ongoing, it seems Tusk is gearing up for Poland to be prepared for the same possibility.

During his speech, he announced that a military training plan is under way for all men in the country.

Tusk explained work is happening to ‘prepare large-scale military training for every adult male in Poland’.

“We will try to have a model ready by the end of this year so that every adult male in Poland is trained in the event of war, so that this reserve is comparable and adequate to the potential threats,” he said.

He expressed a ‘need’ for an army of half a million in the country, including the reservists.

Regarding the nuclear umbrella offer from France, Tusk said: “I would like to know first of all in detail what it means in terms of the authority over these weapons.”

The Prime Minister noted that Ukraine was invaded after getting rid of its own nuclear arsenal and added that it is desired for Warsaw to have its own.

“We must be aware that Poland must reach for the most modern capabilities also related to nuclear weapons and modern unconventional weapons … this is a race for security, not for war,” he said.

He added that he wants Poland to increase its spending on defence, which has already been increased since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

When it comes to having all men trained for the military, the leader said that women may also undergo the training, but ‘war is still to a greater extent the domain of men.’

Of increasing the army, he said: “It seems if we organise things wisely, and I’m talking constantly with the Minister of Defence, we will have to use several courses of action. That means the reservists, but also intensive training to make those who do not go into the army fully-fledged and competent soldiers during a conflict.”

Written and directed by Derek Cianfrance – who would later reunite with Gosling on The Place Beyond the Pines – Blue Valentine came out 15 years ago and chronicled the dissolution of a marriage in a non-linear style.

Future Barbie legend Gosling played Dean Pereira, while Michelle Williams was his wife Cindy, but one all-too-realistic sex scene between their characters caused the Motion Picture Association (MPA) to controversially step in.

In conversation with The Guardian, the actor described the movie as ‘anti-romance’ before detailing Cianfrance’s artistic vision.

“Director Derek Cianfrance wanted this movie to celebrate people’s faults, to demystify romance and to make something that felt real. I was excited by that,” Gosling said.

During one intimate moment on screen, Dean performs oral sex on Cindy, which turned out to be a little too authentic for some.

“The sex felt real – it wasn’t sexy or ‘a sex scene’, and that’s why we got into trouble,” added Gosling.

The scene in question proceeded to land Blue Valentine in a rating classification battle with the MPA.

“You shouldn’t be penalised for doing a good job,” said the star, who along with his co-star Williams was nominated for a Golden Globe Award that same year.

After a classification skirmish with the powers that be, Blue Valentine was ultimately downgraded to the R rating, which means any viewers under the age of 17 must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.

It also warns that the movie ‘contains some adult material’ with parents urged to ‘learn more about the film before taking their young children with them.’

From a modest budget of £788,000 ($1 million), Blue Valentine brought in just over £13m ($16.6m) at the global box office.

Williams, who went on to appear opposite Tom Hardy in the Venom franchise; Manchester by the Sea, and The Greatest Showman, also earned an Oscar nomination for her performance as Cindy.

This comes after Gosling revealed to The Wall Street Journal why he’s been side-stepping darker roles.

“I don’t really take roles that are going to put me in some kind of dark place,” he noted.

“This moment is what I feel like trying to read the room at home and feel like what is going to be best for all of us. The decisions I make, I make them with Eva [Mendes], and we make them with our family in mind first.”

I mean, the two celebrities look so similar it’s uncanny and it doesn’t exactly help that they’ve formed such a close friendship and often appear together both on and off-screen.

And maybe it doesn’t just stop at a bromance as McConaughey’s mum said one word to Harrelson that made them realise they could actually be brothers.

With plenty of conspiracy theories from fans and comments like this being made, Harrelson recently said the pair are probably going to take a DNA test to set the record straight.

The pair met for the first time back in 1999 when they starred in comedy film EDtv, but it does seem like their connection could go way back.

That all comes down to a conversation between the pair while they were on holiday in Greece with family, including McConaughey’s mum, Mary Kathleen ‘Kay’ McConaughey.

During that trip, McConaughey said she mentioned one word that made things seem deeper than they could’ve imagined.

“In Greece a few years ago, we’re sitting around talking about how close we are and our families,” the 54-year-old said on the Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa podcast.

“And my mom is there, and she says, ‘Woody, I knew your dad’. Everyone was aware of the ellipses that my mom left after ‘knew’.

“It was a loaded K-N-E-W.”

He also said: “And that’s part of our bromance, right? My kids call him Uncle Woody. His kids call me Uncle Matthew etc etc. And you see pictures of us and my family thinks a lot of pictures of him are me. His family thinks a lot of pictures of me are him.”

The Interstellar actor said the two film stars went on to ‘unpack what this ‘knew’ meant and did some math’.

They found out Harrelson’s dad had been on furlough at the same time McConaughey’s mum and dad were in their second divorce (they literally got married three times).

Harrelson said: “The year of [McConaughey’s] birth, nine months before, she was on a sabbatical from her relationship with his supposed father, Jim.”

“Then there’s possible receipts and places out in West Texas where there might have been a gathering, or a meeting, or a ‘knew’ moment,” McConaughey added.

While the pair have previously edged away from doing DNA tests due to McConaughey being uneasy at the idea of finding out his dad wasn’t his biological father, it’s starting to seem possible.

“Well, we haven’t done the DNA test, but we’re probably going to do that. I think there’s a real possibility,” Harrelson told Johnny Vaughan on Radio X.

He also spoke of the ‘troubling’ ellipses of Mary’s ‘knew’ in Greece as he added: “Yeah, it sounds like something went on. And the thing was Matthew’s mom and dad divorced. They were married three times.

“Yeah. So, they’d split for a while, and during one of those splits, Charles Harrelson just seemed to find a little favour with her.”