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  • Fast-food giant Jollibee blames fraudsters for raffle row

    Fast-food giant Jollibee blames fraudsters for raffle row

    The Philippines’ beloved fast-food chain Jollibee said fraudsters rigged the results of its online raffle, following complaints from customers and a brief government investigation.

    Jollibee said “fraudulent third parties” placed multiple entries “despite existing safeguards” for a chance to win food items and concert tickets.

    The company said it complied with the government investigation and that the situation had been corrected.

    Many social media users were in disbelief when the winners’ names were posted on Jollibee’s Facebook page last week. They said names like Hobby Dynamics, Noble Beer and Alfreda Corkery could have been made up using AI.

    Jollibee said it “immediately implemented corrective measures” and disqualified the “invalid major prize winners”. It also suspended succeeding draws and said a re-draw would be held.

    “We want to assure everyone that we have fully addressed the issues raised and strictly complied with the investigation initiated by the Department of Trade and Industry,” Jollibee said in a statement late on Wednesday.

    The names on the winners’ list baffled social media users as they are uncommon in the country. Filipino first and last names are a mix of English and Spanish inherited from its former colonisers from America and Spain.

    The names also include Belle Thompson, Arielle Wintheiser and Gilda Block.

    “LIKE SERIOUSLLLLLY?!?!” one Facebook user commented. “Your AI must be too lazy to come up with these kinds of names”.

    “They probably thought people didn’t have time to read,” another wrote.

    Some drew comparisons to a corruption controversy involving Vice-President Sara Duterte, whose office allegedly paid government funds to individuals with fictitious-sounding names.

    The Department of Trade and Industry said on Wednesday that it would “continue to oversee the resumption of the Jollibee Burger Blowout Promo”, ensuring “fairness and transparency in all promotional undertakings”.

    Jollibee started as an ice cream shop in the 1970s before opening its first burger restaurant in downtown Manila in the early 1980s. It has expanded its business rapidly in the last five years, acquiring US cafe chain The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and Michelin-starred Hong Kong dimsum chain Tim Ho Wan.

    Its founder, Tony Tan Caktiong, is the son of poor immigrants from southern China. The chain’s mascot, a perpetually smiling bee with a red jacket, is a nod to Filipinos’ hardworking nature.

    Generations of Filipinos see the brand as a part of their national identity, with its signature fried chicken, burgers and spaghetti becoming a staple for family gatherings.

    In 2014, a shortage of its Chickenjoy fried chicken led to the #ChickenSad trend on social media.

    Jollibee has 1,600 stores in 17 countries, including the UK, the US, Spain and Singapore.

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  • Israel’s Netanyahu escalates attack on Australia’s Albanese as ties plunge | Israel-Palestine conflict News

    Israel’s Netanyahu escalates attack on Australia’s Albanese as ties plunge | Israel-Palestine conflict News

    Israeli leader claims Australian prime minister’s legacy ‘tarnished’ by decision to recognise a Palestinian state.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stepped up his government’s bitter diplomatic dispute with Australia, claiming that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s legacy has been irrevocably blackened by his “weakness” towards Hamas.

    In an interview with Sky News Australia scheduled to air on Thursday night, Netanyahu said Albanese’s record would “forever be tarnished” by his decision to recognise a Palestinian state.

    “When the worst terrorist organisation on earth, these savages who murdered women, raped them, beheaded men, burnt babies alive in front of their parents, took hundreds of hostages, when these people congratulate the Prime Minister of Australia, you know something is wrong,” Netanyahu said in the interview, portions of which were posted online by Sky News before the broadcast.

    Netanyahu’s accusation appeared to refer to a disputed statement that appeared last week in the Sydney Morning Herald, in which Hamas cofounder Sheikh Hassan Yousef was quoted praising Albanese for his “political courage”.

    Following the report, Hamas publicly denied that any statement had been issued by Yousef. The Palestinian armed group, which governs Gaza, said Yousef had been in Israeli custody for nearly two years without means of communicating with the outside world.

    Netanyahu’s broadside against Albanese follows an extraordinary missive earlier this week in which he claimed the Australian leader would be remembered by history as a “weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews”.

    On Wednesday, Australia’s Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke hit back at the Israeli leader, saying strength was “not measured by how many people you can blow up or how many children you can leave hungry”, though Albanese attempted to play down the spat by saying he did not take it personally.

    Relations between Australia and Israel, traditionally close allies, have sunk to their lowest ebb in decades following Canberra’s decision to recognise Palestine.

    On Monday, Australia said it had cancelled a visa for Simcha Rothman, a far-right member of Netanyahu’s governing coalition, amid concerns that a speaking tour he had scheduled in the country aimed to “spread division”.

    Hours after that decision, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar said he had revoked the visas of Australian diplomats to the Palestinian Authority.

    Expressing dismay at the tensions, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said on Wednesday that it had written to both prime ministers to urge them to address their differences “in the usual way through diplomacy rather than public posturing”.

    “The sum total of human wisdom would not have been diminished in the slightest if none of these public comments had been made,” the peak body for Jewish Australians said in its letter to Albanese.

    “The Australian Jewish community will not be left to deal with the fallout of a spat between two leaders who are playing to their respective domestic audiences.”

    Israel has come under mounting international pressure, including from some of its closest allies, over the scale of human suffering being inflicted by its war in Gaza.

    More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since it launched its war on Gaza following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

    Hamas killed about 1,200 people and took 251 people captive during its incursion into southern Israel, according to Israeli authorities.

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  • Exercise Independently Predicts CVD Outcomes in Recent T2D

    Exercise Independently Predicts CVD Outcomes in Recent T2D

    In people with a recent diagnosis of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and no prior cardiovascular disease (CVD), self-reported physical activity was independently associated with major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and mortality, new research showed.

    “A single question about physical activity could serve as an accessible tool for clinicians to identify patients at higher CVD risk, complementing, but not replacing, existing biomarker-based strategies. The protective association observed even at light physical activity levels further emphasizes that avoiding a sedentary lifestyle has substantial health benefits in this high-risk population,” study author Line Bruun Eriksen, a master’s student in medicine at the Steno Diabetes Centre at Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark, told Medscape Medical News.

    Eriksen will present the findings with slightly revised numbers on September 16, 2025, at European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Annual Meeting in Vienna, Austria.

    In the prospective cohort study, Eriksen and colleagues analyzed data for 11,355 participants in the Danish Centre for Strategic Research in T2D cohort who responded to the Saltin-Grimby Physical Activity Level Scale during 2010-2023.

    Overall, 18% reported being sedentary, 62.5% reported engaging in light physical activity, and 19.5% in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). They were followed until first occurrence of either a MACE, death, emigration, or study end on May 3, 2024. A total of 1671 were excluded due to previous CVD.

    Primary outcomes were all cause mortality and MACE including myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, coronary revascularization, heart failure, and CVD death. 

    During a median follow-up of 8.4 years, there were 1149 CVD events and 1048 deaths. Higher physical activity levels were inversely associated with both MACE and all-cause mortality. After adjustment for age, sex, year of study enrolment, T2D duration, smoking, alcohol consumption, and waist circumference, participants who engaged in light and MVPA had a 23% and 28% lower risk for MACE, respectively, and a 27% and 33% lower risk for all-cause mortality, respectively, compared with those who were sedentary.

    The primary driver of the association was CVD death. After adjustment for CVD risk factors (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, A1c, systolic blood pressure, estimated glomerular filtration rate, urine albumin-creatinine ratio) that could potentially influence the associations, the hazard ratios for both light physical activity and MVPA remained significant for MACE (0.80 for light; 0.70 for MVPA) and all-cause mortality (0.78 and 0.69, respectively) compared with sedentary individuals.

    A somewhat unexpected finding was that the association between physical activity and reduced risk was strongest in adults older than 61.7 years and in women, “which has not been consistently demonstrated before in the T2D population,” Eriksen said.

    Furthermore, “our study highlights the clinical relevance of physical activity regardless of body size; both light and MVPA were associated with lower risk of MACE and all-cause mortality, independent of waist circumference,” Eriksen added.

    Asked to comment, session moderator Naveed Sattar, MBChB, PhD, professor of cardiometabolic medicine and honorary consultant at the School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Health, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, told Medscape Medical News that the findings might be affected by unmeasured confounders, such as waist circumference by gender, or triglycerides, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

    Nonetheless, Sattar said, “good activity means better muscles, lower fat mass, lower heart rates, and better longer-term health. So even with some caveats, the overall message seems to be to try to help patients consider being more active and to do so, we have to give them realistic messages.”

    One such suggestion might be to advise patients to find ways of increasing their walking by 500-1000 steps per day from their average, which means an extra 5-10 minutes of walking per day. “This is realistic and for most achievable, whereas messages like ‘go to the gym or do 150 minutes of activity per week’ are rightly ignored as unachievable for most with diabetes,” Sattar said.

    Another tip from Sattar: “Perhaps ask what are the barriers to increasing activity levels….and can we help people overcome those barriers.”

    Eriksen had no disclosures. Sattar has consulted for and/or reported receiving speaker honoraria from Abbott Laboratories, AbbVie, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Carmot Therapeutics, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Hanmi Pharmaceuticals, Menarini-Ricerche, Metsera, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, and Roche; and reported receiving grant support paid to his University from AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, and Roche.

    Miriam E. Tucker is a freelance journalist based in the Washington, DC, area. She is a regular contributor to Medscape, with other work appearing in the Washington Post, NPR’s Shots blog, and Diatribe. She is on X @MiriamETucker and BlueSky @miriametucker.bsky.social.

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  • ICC clarifies Rohit, Kohli’s disappearance from ODI rankings – Cricket

    ICC clarifies Rohit, Kohli’s disappearance from ODI rankings – Cricket

    Virat Kohli (R) and captain Rohit Sharma gestures during the second one-day international (ODI) cricket match between India and Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa International Cricket Stadium in Colombo on August 4, 2024. – AFP

    The International Cricket Council (ICC) has clarified the sudden absence of Indian cricket stars Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from the latest ODI batting rankings. 

    Fans were left shocked on Wednesday when the two stalwarts were missing from the updated charts.

    Their disappearance sparked widespread speculation on social media, with many wondering if Rohit and Kohli were preparing to retire from the 50-over format. 

    However, the ICC promptly restored both players to the rankings, with many believing Pakistan’s star batter had reclaimed his second spot in the ODI rankings. 

    Sharma currently sits second among ODI batters, while Virat Kohli is fourth.

    In an official statement, the governing body confirmed that a technical glitch caused the temporary omission, alongside a few other irregularities in the update.

    “A number of issues in this week’s rankings are currently being investigated,” the ICC told Wisden.com.

    The duo last represented India in ODIs during the 2025 Champions Trophy in Dubai, playing crucial roles in India’s first ICC ODI title since 2013. 

    India’s current ODI captain, was named Player of the Match in the final against New Zealand after scoring 76 off 83 balls. 

    Kohli finished the tournament as the fifth-highest run-scorer, amassing 218 runs at an average of 54.50 and a strike rate of 82.88.

    Both the star Indian batters had retired from T20Is following India’s 2024 T20 World Cup triumph and announced their Test retirements in May ahead of the England tour.

    It is pertinent to mention that the men in blue’s next ODI series is a three-match contest against Australia, starting October 19, where both players are expected to feature prominently.

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  • Princess Anne takes on important task as royal family gathers in Scotland

    Princess Anne takes on important task as royal family gathers in Scotland



    Princess Anne takes on important task as royal family gathers in Scotland

    Princess Anne receives praise for conducting an key assignment on behalf of the Palace ahead of her summer break.

    Despite marking her 75th birthday earlier this month, King Charles’s sister continues to live up to her reputation of a ‘workaholic’ and the ‘hardest working member of the royal family’.

    As the royal family gathers in Scotland for their annual break in Balmoral Castle, Anne appears to be taking care of some key royal duties.

    On Wednesday, a statement was released by Central Bedfordshire Council in honour of Anne after she recognised a charity for its hard work.

    Anne had presented the 2025 Princess Royal Training Awards to the Social Work and Social Care Workforce Development team along with the City and Guilds Foundation.

    “It’s fantastic to see the team recognised for the work they’re doing to grow a committed and effective group of future social workers,” said Councillor Adam Zerny, Leader of Central Bedfordshire Council.

    “Good training doesn’t just help people get started; it helps them keep developing and allows them to make a real difference to people’s lives,” he continued.

    “The award reflects the Council’s commitment to high-quality training that empowers individuals and makes sure officers have the support they need to thrive throughout their careers.”

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  • Ahsan launches country's first digital economic census – RADIO PAKISTAN

    1. Ahsan launches country’s first digital economic census  RADIO PAKISTAN
    2. Ahsan Iqbal unveils first digital economic census  The Nation (Pakistan )
    3. Economic census: PBS set to launch report on findings  Business Recorder
    4. Minister for Planning launches country’s first “Digital Economic Census”  Associated Press of Pakistan
    5. Pakistan Unveils First Digital Economic Census Data  The Daily CPEC

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  • How to get to Creamfields 2025, postcode and traffic warning

    How to get to Creamfields 2025, postcode and traffic warning

    Creamfields The Creamfields logo at the entrance of the festival site is displayed in front of the night sky lit up with yellow, pink and green fireworksCreamfields

    The festival is the UK’s biggest dance music event

    Up to 80,000 people per day are expected to attend Creamfields Festival 2025 which takes place over four days on August bank holiday weekend.

    More than 300 artists will perform across 30 stages at the festival site in Daresbury including Sonny Fodera and Chase & Status.

    With so many people heading to the site over the next four days, traffic is expected to be heavier than usual with National Highways warning drivers to plan ahead.

    To help anyone heading to this year’s Creamfields Festival we have rounded-up everything you need to know about getting to the site.

    How to get to the festival

    By car

    Drivers are advised to follow dedicated signs to the site coming off the M56 at junction 11 and to not rely on sat-nav information which could put vehicles on unsuitable, narrow roads.

    Organisers are also advising drivers not to leave the motorway at Junction 10.

    By train

    For those traveling by train, the nearest train stations to the festival site are Runcorn Station, Warrington Central, Warrington Bank Quay and Liverpool Lime Street, all of which are connected to the main line and have shuttle buses operating to and from the site all day and night.

    Further details about travelling to Creamfields from each station can be found on the festival’s website.

    Shuttle bus service

    Shuttle buses will be running throughout the days and nights of the festival weekend, taking people directly to and from the festival site.

    There was an initial deadline of Thursday, 14 August to pre book tickets for the shuttle bus service, however festival goers are advised they can now purchase tickets on the day of travel for Liverpool and Warrington services.

    When you are leaving the festival, those who have not pre-purchased shuttle bus ticket can purchase one from the shuttle bus box office located next to the Bridge at the shuttle bus pick up point near to the North Entrance, where the shuttle buses will be departing from.

    Driver warnings

    National Highways is advising drivers of likely congestion along parts of the M56 and M6 in Cheshire over the next four days.

    Anyone thinking of driving to the annual bank holiday festival is advised to plan their journey and leave plenty of time to get to the festival site.

    Extra police and National Highways traffic officers will be deployed around junction 11 of the M56 at Daresbury to deter festival goers from walking on the motorway – an issue in previous festivals particularly at the end of the event, according to National Highways.

    Gary Farrell of National Highways said: “We will be doing all we can to manage traffic around the event and keep drivers on the move.

    “We would like to remind everyone that the motorway is no place for pedestrians – it is dangerous and illegal and having pedestrians on the network can cause delays for legitimate motorway users.”

    This year’s line up

    Thursday: Music starts 17:00 and finishes 23:00

    Cream stage

    KC Lights

    Chapter & Verse

    CamrinWatsin

    Camden Cox

    Beyond Chicago

    M.hummo

    Rong stage

    Thrillseekers (25 YEARS SET)

    Christina Novelli

    Luvstruck

    Ciaran Mcauley

    Modea

    GIA

    Cream terrace

    Laidback Luke

    Sick Individuals

    Smack

    Rave Republic

    Calvin Logue

    Kola

    Nation stage

    Schak

    Jason Cluff

    BK

    Jezza & Jod

    Yasmin Gardezi

    Toni

    On Friday, music starts at 15:00 and finishes at 23:00 and will include more stages such as Steel Yard where Eric Prydz will be performing his set.

    For Saturday, music starts at 14:00 and ends at 04:00 on Sunday.

    For Sunday the music starts at 12:00 and ends at 23:00 on Sunday.

    The festival is vast and split over several stages. For a comprehensive line-up of each day’s acts, you can visit the festival website.

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  • India squad for Women’s Asia Cup 2025 hockey

    India squad for Women’s Asia Cup 2025 hockey

    The Indian team will look to build on past successes in Asia and redeem themselves after a challenging outing in the FIH Pro League 2024-25, where they struggled to find form during the European leg and were relegated to the FIH Nations Cup.

    India’s Women’s Asia Cup 2025 hockey squad

    Goalkeepers: Bansari Solanki, Bichu Devi Kharibam

    Defenders: Manisha Chauhan, Udita, Jyoti, Suman Devi Thoudam, Nikki Pradhan, Ishika Chaudhary

    Midfielders: Neha, Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke, Salima Tete (captain), Sharmila Devi, Lalremsiami, Sunelita Toppo

    Forwards: Navneet Kaur, Rutaja Dadaso Pisal, Beauty Dungdung, Mumtaz Khan, Deepika, Sangita Kumari

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  • Factors affecting COVID-19 outcomes in Ireland: findings from a national database of 1,408,249 cases diagnosed between 2020 and 2022 | BMC Public Health

    Factors affecting COVID-19 outcomes in Ireland: findings from a national database of 1,408,249 cases diagnosed between 2020 and 2022 | BMC Public Health

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  • Afternoon Update: Netanyahu doubles down on Albanese feud; wild weather in NSW; and is it ever OK to feed wildlife? | Australia news

    Afternoon Update: Netanyahu doubles down on Albanese feud; wild weather in NSW; and is it ever OK to feed wildlife? | Australia news

    Good afternoon. Benjamin Netanyahu has ignored pleas from Australian Jewish groups to calm his feud with Anthony Albanese, further criticising the prime minister and escalating an ugly spat between the two leaders.

    In a new interview with Sky News, the Israeli prime minister, who is wanted by the international criminal court over allegations of war crimes in Gaza, again labelled Albanese “weak” over the government’s recognition of a Palestinian state.

    “I’m sure he has a reputable record as a public servant, but I think his record is forever tarnished by the weakness that he showed in the face of these Hamas terrorist monsters,” Netanyahu said in a clip broadcast by Sky News.

    Australia’s peak Jewish group, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, on Wednesday labelled Netanyahu’s attack on Albanese as “inflammatory and provocative”, and a “clumsy intervention” which had affected Australia’s Jewish community.

    Meanwhile, world leaders have condemned Israel’s announcement it was calling up an extra 60,000 reservists ahead of an offensive to conquer Gaza City, one of the last places of refuge in northern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering.

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    In video

    ‘Get out of my city’: JD Vance and Pete Hegseth heckled as they enter DC’s Union Station – video

    JD Vance was booed and heckled with chants of “Free DC!” during a photo op with national guard troops in Washington DC on Wednesday afternoon. Handing out burgers to troops deployed last week by Donald Trump alongside the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, the US vice-president told soldiers “we brought some law and order back”, as a crowd of demonstrators protested outside.

    What they said …

    The treasurer ,Jim Chalmers, during an Economic Reform Roundtable. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

    “It was like, ‘OK, guys, you can do that in question time, the rest of us here don’t really get to do that’.” – Sally McManus

    The ACTU secretary was in the room as the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and the Coalition frontbencher Ted O’Brien clashed at the government’s economic reform roundtable. During a heated debate about Labor’s spending commitments in the federal budget, Chalmers told O’Brien “this is not question time”. McManus also claimed a “breakthrough” agreement with the Tech Council of Australia to work together on a model for payment for the use of creative content in training artificial intelligence.

    Full Story

    Composite: Guardian Australia

    Can the government keep kids safe in childcare?

    After revelations about alleged abuse at childcare centres, Kate Lyons talks to Reged Ahmad about whether the government can restore faith in the sector.

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    Can the government keep kids safe in childcare?

    Listen to the episode here

    Before bed read

    A common brushtail possum on top of a tree at night in the Royal Botanic Gardens. Photograph: Manuel Romaris/Getty Images

    Feeding native wildlife is a divisive topic. While some throw mince to kookaburras with wild abandon, others insist it’s best to let them fend for themselves. So when a sick possum showed up in Phoebe Loomes’ garden, her heart overtook her head. Is it ever OK to feed urban wildlife?

    Daily word game

    Photograph: The Guardian

    Today’s starter word is: SORB. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.

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    If you would like to receive this Afternoon Update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or start your day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know with our Morning Mail newsletter. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland.

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