In a rejection of early moves by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who took office in January, Brazil’s Congress has stripped powers from the new Ministry of Indigenous Peoples and Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, both led by women environmentalists

South Africa’s protracted search for Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s new chief executive officer will end by December, according

FOX Sports play-by-play commentator Gus Johnson tried making his "Maserati Marv" nickname for Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. a thing, and fans hated it.

Mitch McConnell appeared briefly unable to continue speaking and was escorted away from a Senate Republican press conference on Wednesday, before returning moments later. The scene occurred as Republicans held their last weekly press briefing before the August recess, and discussed remaining business including the chamber’s effort to pass a defense spending bill before the holiday begins. Mr McConnell was seen freezing at the podium for several seconds before a number of senators including Joni Ernst of Iowa approached him and encouraged him to step away. He did so, only to come back a few minutes later, and refused to elaborate on what had just occurred. “Can you address what happened here at the start of the press conference? Was it related to your injury from earlier this year when you suffered a concussion?” asked CNN’s Manu Raju. “I’m fine,” responded the senator. “You’re fine? You’re fully able to do your job?” Raju asked in response, to which the minority leader replied: “Yeah.” The Independent has reached out to Mr McConnell’s office for further information about the episode. The 81-year-old McConnell returned to the Senate in March after suffering a fall that caused a concussion. He also continues to walk with a limp, a residual issue caused by his battle with polio at a young age. Mr McConnell’s freezing at the press conference is likely to be looked at with scrutiny given the renewed interest in the issues presented by the increasingly advanced ages of many of the members of the upper chamber of Congress. Sen Dianne Feinstein of California, in particular, has been the subject of intense criticism on the manner as many have argued that the senator, who often appears confused in interactions with reporters and staff, is no longer up to serving. Read More Who is Jack Smith? The ex-war crimes prosecutor who is coming for Trump Billionaire Leon Black accused of raping autistic teenager at Epstein townhouse Who is running for president in 2024? All of the candidates

Tommy Lee and his ex-wife Heather Locklear left the tabloids chasing them after what seemed like an odd couple

Elizabeth Hurley has issued a reminder to women about getting mammograms, in honour of her partnership with Estée Lauder’s Breast Cancer Awareness campaign. The model, 58, spoke candidly about mammograms – which are X-rays performed on women’s breasts to screen for cancer – during a recent interview withUs Weekly. While discussing her last 28 years as the ambassador of Estée Lauder’s campaign, she told women that if they feel something “abnormal” when examining their bodies, they shouldn’t hesitate to get it checked by a doctor. “I think the most important thing you can do is familiarise yourself with your breasts because they’re yours and only you know how they feel,” she said. “You should recognise something when it’s abnormal, and you should go to the doctor right away.” Hurley emphasised that annual screenings for breast cancer are not only “vital,” but they should be considered a part of “looking after your health in every way”. She also went on to urge women to be “breast cancer bullies” by continuing to encourage their loved ones to get checked for the disease. “Make sure your friends, your family, your mother, your grandmother, that they’re going for their screenings regularly and urge them to self-check,” she said. “It doesn’t discriminate. It can hit anybody. Some groups are more vulnerable than others.” She also made a reference to one breast cancer that can be difficult to treat, triple-negative breast cancer, which “differs from other types of invasive breast cancer” because “it tends to grow and spread faster, has fewer treatment options, and tends to have a worse prognosis”, as noted by the American Cancer Society. The type of cancer can also be “more common in women younger than age 40, who are Black, or who have a BRCA1 mutation”. “It disproportionately affects Black women,” the Bedazzled star added. “It’s a diverse disease and it needs to be attacked in a diverse way.” According to the American Cancer Society, women between the ages of 45 and 54 “should get mammograms every year”. Meanwhile, women who are 55 and older can either “switch to a mammogram every other year, or they can choose to continue yearly mammograms”. In addition, women between the ages of 40 and 44 “have the option to start screening with a mammogram every year”. The organisation also noted that breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, with estimates of “about 297,790 new cases of invasive breast cancer” being diagnosed in women in the US in 2023. Over the years, Hurley has continued to speak about the importance of getting a mammogram. Last year, she joined Loose Women hosts Kaye Adams, Brenda Edwards, Nadia Sawalha, and Carol McGiffin for a self-examination on live TV. During the segment, she also opened up about losing her own grandmother to the disease, and how her attitudes towards breast cancer have shifted over time. “At that time nobody talked about it. There was no pink ribbon, no Breast Cancer Awareness month,” the Serving Sara star said, adding that when her grandmother first found a lump in her breast, she didn’t go to the doctor because she was “scared and embarrassed”. “When she finally went it was quite progressed. But she still never talked about it,” the model continued. “It’s still a life-threatening disease for many women, but times have changed. We talk about it now.” During her interview with Us Weekly, she went on to celebrate her 28th year with Estée Lauder’s Breast Cancer Awareness campaign, noting that Estée Lauder’s daughter-in-law, Evelyn Lauder, is the one who first asked her “to get involved” with the mission. “That’s how it started, and I’m still here. We’ve raised $118m, 93 million of which went straight to research,” she said. “The rest went to education, medical services, support groups [and more]. It’s a phenomenal achievement.” Read More Big Brother narrator Marcus Bentley: Meet the man behind TV’s most recognisable voice ‘Not guilty’: Elizabeth Hurley reacts to rumours she took Prince Harry’s virginity Elizabeth Hurley slams British Airways’ ‘dodgy service’ after getting stuck in Antigua Like Sophie Anderton, I have felt the shame of struggling to have a child of my own How to spot if your child is struggling with their mental health – and what to do next How to get rid of bedbugs: Signs and symptoms amid threat of UK invasion

The holidays are here again and for some that means its time to search out

Ron Johnson also detailed the potential implications of President Joe Biden's family's alleged participation in corrupt foreign business activities

Alicia Keys has responded to backlash over a recent social media post that some deemed insensitive in light of the war between Israel and Hamas.

TikTok is “proactively and aggressively” removing posts seemingly glorifying Osama bin Laden, it has said. A series of videos that shared a letter from bin Laden justifying the 9/11 attacks were published across the platform, and TikTok said it was “investigating” how it had happened. But it also said that reports about the spread of the posts had been exaggerated, and that the number of videos was actually small. The controversy began in recent days after a host of videos were highlighted by journalist Yashar Ali, in a tweet. He said there were “thousands of TikToks (at least)” that shared the letter from bin Laden. “The TikToks are from people of all ages, races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Many of them say that reading the letter has opened their eyes, and they’ll never see geopolitical matters the same way again,” he said. “Many of them — and I have watched a lot — say it has made them reevaluate their perspective on how what is often labeled as terrorism can be a legitimate form of resistance to a hostile power.” The tweet led to criticism of TikTok as well as its users, including from the White House. “There is never a justification for spreading the repugnant, evil and antisemitic lies that the leader of Al Qaeda issued just after committing the worst terrorist attack in American history,” a spokesperson said. TikTok said however that the spread of the posts had been relatively limited and that it was not true that the videos were trending. “Content promoting this letter clearly violates our rules on supporting any form of terrorism,” the company wrote on its TikTok account. “We are proactively and aggressively removing this content and investigating how it got onto our platform. “The number of videos on TikTok is small and reports of it trending on our platform are inaccurate. This is not unique to TikTok and has appeared across multiple platforms and the media.” TikTok does not provide readily accessible information about the spread of posts on its platform. Some of the videos had tens of thousands of likes and views. Many of the TikToks pointed to a copy of the letter that had been posted on The Guardian’s website. As it began to spread, the newspaper removed the page, replacing it with a note that it was lacking “the full context” and instead directed readers to a news article about the original letter. Read More TikTok launches feature to save songs to music apps like Spotify Elon Musk weighs in on the scooped bagel debate ICO seeks permission to appeal against Clearview AI tribunal ruling

Seth Jarvis scored two power-play goals, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the San Jose Sharks 6-3

More than half of broadband customers have experienced problems with their connection over the past year, despite providers inflicting inflation-busting price hikes, a survey suggests. The latest “broadband satisfaction survey” by Which? found that 53% of the nearly 4,000 broadband customers polled had experienced connection issues in the year to January, most commonly frequent connection dropouts, “very” slow speeds and slow uploads and downloads. The issues were “persistent” across all the providers, with narrow margins between the best and worst offenders for poor customer experiences. It's completely unacceptable that customers who have faced these eye-watering increases are also experiencing so many problems with their connection Which? The watchdog noted that the scale of problems added “insult to injury” as many customers saw their bills jump by more than 14% after many providers chose to impose inflation-based price increases earlier this year. Providers often link their annual price rises to January’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) or the Retail Price Index (RPI), which were 10.5% and 13.4% respectively – an amount which would have been unforeseeable for customers signing up to their contract 18 or 24 months previously. The current system forces millions of customers to choose between paying more each month or exorbitant exit fees, which can exceed £200. Industry watchdog Ofcom is currently investigating whether inflation-linked, mid-contract price rises give customers sufficient certainty and clarity when signing up to new contracts. Of the UK’s biggest providers, Sky, Virgin Media, and EE had the lowest proportion of customers who had not experienced any issues, with just 32%, 35% and 37% of their customers not reporting any problems. Of the major providers, BT fared best with 49% of its customers not experiencing a performance issue in the past year. Hyperoptic, Shell Energy Broadband and Utility Warehouse performed better, with half or more of their customers not experiencing any performance issue over the 12 months. However, even with these providers, at least four in 10 customers said they had experienced at least one problem. Frequent connection drop outs were the most common broadband issue, experienced by 19% of those who had suffered a problem. Some 17% suffered slow speeds, while 15% experienced slow uploads and downloads. One in seven (14%) said they had been left without a connection for at least an hour. One in 10 (12%) experienced slow or disrupted streaming when listening to music or watching videos and 8% said they were left without connection for more than a day. Overall, around four in 10 (44%) said they had experienced some kind of customer service issue and 11% said they had either found it difficult to get in touch with their provider or struggled to get their issue resolved. It’s absolutely critical that Ofcom’s review of inflation linked mid-contract hikes results in changes that ensure customers are never trapped in this situation again Rocio Concha, Which? Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy, said: “A reliable connection is essential to modern life. Earlier this year, many broadband consumers were hit with mid-contract price hikes of more than 14% – meaning that it’s more important than ever that their provider offers a reliable connection and good customer service. “It’s completely unacceptable that customers who have faced these eye-watering increases are also experiencing so many problems with their connection. Broadband firms need to work harder to resolve these issues and offer a better service. “While some customers are able to switch away to better service and prices, many are trapped in contracts where they either have to accept above inflation price hikes in the spring or pay exorbitant exit fees to leave the contract early. “It’s absolutely critical that Ofcom’s review of inflation linked mid-contract hikes results in changes that ensure customers are never trapped in this situation again.” A Sky spokeswoman said: “We are committed to providing the best service to our customers. “We do not believe this is a representative survey – Ofcom’s quarterly complaints data shows we are consistently one of the least complained about broadband providers and, in Ofcom’s latest report, we received the fewest complaints out of all broadband providers.” A Virgin Media spokesman said: “While these findings are only taken from a small sample of customers, the latest, fuller data from Ofcom shows that our customers benefit from the fastest download speeds, and customer complaints on our broadband services fell by 22% in the first quarter of this year.” EE said: “Ofcom’s latest complaints report shows that we remain one of the least complained about broadband providers, with complaints remaining well below the industry average throughout recent years. “We have proudly led the way with social tariffs since 2008, with around 80% of the total market being supported on BT social tariffs. “Customers who are struggling financially and are eligible for our social tariffs can move penalty-free at any point in their contract, this also includes EE and Plusnet customers. “ Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Will.i.am hails AI technology as ‘new renaissance’ in music Heart transplant woman’s daughter twice saved her life using Alexa Dolly Parton on AI and not wanting to leave her soul ‘here on earth’