The European Union’s transition to clean energy marked a milestone in May, when solar panels generated more electricity

European and US stock futures rose as investors weighed fresh inflation data while Chinese equities were broadly lower

'When you're done with the addiction, you need something to fill that hole, something that really works, right?' said Dennis Quaid

Kim Kardashian celebrates birthday on October 21 and Kourtney will welcome her baby in the same month

A journalist who was once banned from a White House event for asking awkward questions about Vladimir Putin is moderating an event featuring a man facing legal jeopardy who lied about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, in a town hall aired on the cable news network he blamed for publishing fake news. We’re talking about CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins and Donald Trump, who of course wants to be president once again, in his first time back on the news network he has spent years disparaging. On Wednesday night the pair broadcast from a New Hampshire liberal arts college, where Mr Trump faced questions from Collins and an audience of 400 Republican and centrist voters during primetime on CNN. Collins became known to most in her previous role as CNN’s White House correspondent. She delivered breaking news from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in a commanding, confident tone throughout the Trump presidency, fast becoming a familiar face onscreen and known as a political authority. Born in Alabama to a family she has previously described as “apolitical”, Collins graduated from Alabama University in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, moving into the field shortly afterwards. After spending two years working on the entertainment desk of The Daily Caller, the outlet founded by Tucker Carlson in 2010, Collins moved over to become the website’s White House correspondent, having also covered the 2016 election for the outlet. “The day [Mr Trump] was inaugurated was my first day covering the White House, and it was obviously an adventure that started that day,” she said in an interview with In Style magazine. “We had no idea what was ahead of us.” In 2017, she joined CNN’s politics team, becoming their White House correspondent – a role that saw her clash with then-president Trump and his press secretaries on multiple occasions. Indeed, one such occasion in 2018 saw her barred from a White House press event after asking supposedly “inappropriate” questions about topics including Russian president Vladimir Putin during Mr Trump’s meeting with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. “They said, ‘You are dis-invited from the press availability in the Rose Garden today,’” Collins told CNN at the time. “They said that the questions I asked were inappropriate for that venue. And they said I was shouting.” Her line of questioning often didn’t hit well with the Trump White House, who unofficially declared war on CNN during Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign and White House term, and she was once described by then-press secretary Kayleigh McEnany as an “activist”. Yet for all her “inappropriate” questions and CNN affiliation, Collins appears to have escaped the former president’s scathing online attacks that many of her colleagues have been subject to – suggesting she is far better placed than others to take point at the town hall. Indeed, she is thought to have been offered the role thanks in large part to her experience interviewing the former president. “He wants to intimidate and bully [the press] so you don’t ask him what he doesn’t want to get asked about. You have to remember to focus on the question and get an answer. Being banned by him really prepared me for that,” she told In Style regarding previous interviews with Mr Trump. More recently, in September 2022, Collins moved over to host CNN This Morning with Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow as part of a major shake-up of the network’s schedule by incoming CEO Chris Licht. The transition was far from smooth. Lemon parted ways with CNN in April amid a furore over sexist comments on air, but not before he had reportedly screamed at Collins off-air, leaving her in tears. There may be more big changes ahead for Collins as just hours before the New Hampshire town hall, Dyland Byers of Puck News reported that Licht plans to offer Collins a new contract to serve as the host of the network’s 9pm primetime hour. The move could be announced as early as next week as CNN continues its pivot towards a more centrist posture. “Kaitlan’s offer is not contingent on her performance at tonight’s town hall, but, given the Trump X-factor, those 90 minutes have the potential to modify, accelerate, or stifle the arc of her career,” Byers said. “At the very least, her performance tonight will set the tone for a new Collins era at CNN, which, barring any f***-ups, will run at least through the 2024 presidential election.” There is always pressure on town hall moderators to keep things on course as there are many moving parts to such a format. In this case, the subject answering questions — Mr Trump — has just been found liable for sexual abuse and faces a multitude of other legal woes and investigations ranging from alleged financial irregularities and election interference to his role in the events surrounding the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021. As a journalist on the rise, Collins has had to deal with controversy and challenging situations before during her time at CNN. However, Wednesday’s town hall — which generated a significant backlash over whether it’s appropriate to platform Mr Trump — was perhaps her biggest test to date and something of a potential crossroads for the network, her career, and the Oval Office prospects of Mr Trump. Regarding the pressure she was under ahead of the broadcast, one Washington insider said: “Kaitlan has big brass ones, she should do a good job.” On Wednesday night, Collins had an impossible task of trying to push back against a tsunami of falsehoods as Mr Trump steamrolled over her fact checks and objections, and refused to answer some questions directly as the audience cheered and laughed with him. In an especially combative moment regarding why he wouldn’t return classified material to the government, he called her a “nasty person”. She remained unphased and continued to press him on the matter and rounded out the town hall in a more interrogative way than she began, asking about Mr Trump’s interference in the 2020 election in Georgia, and whether he would accept the result of the 2024 election. There were earlier moments in which Twitter users howled at the lack of any pushback from Collins, including one completely false statement from Trump about abortion in the ninth month of pregnancy or even after birth. Collins had strong moments, at one point forcefully challenging Mr Trump: “The election was not rigged, Mr President. You cannot keep saying that all night long.” Much of the criticism was less about Collins’s performance and more about using a format that makes it extremely difficult to fact-check in real-time, as well as having an overly friendly audience. The overall decision to offer Mr Trump airtime to spout disinformation has been the main point of anger. It remains to be seen how or whether Wednesday’s broadcast will impact Collins professionally. Reporters who know her from her time in Washington tweeted their support and lauded her journalistic abilities, and as Byers wrote, her prospects are not contingent on her performance. Most fury is directed at CNN which has been condemned as “shameful” for allowing the “disastrous” broadcast to go ahead and give Mr Trump a platform from which to spread falsehoods. Justin Baragona of The Daily Beast reported that a CNN on-air personality told him: “It is so bad. I was cautiously optimistic despite the criticism. It is awful. It’s a Trump infomercial. We’re going to get crushed.” Podcaster and author Wajahat Ali tweeted: “Kaitlan Collins was placed in an impossible situation by CNN leadership. She did well considering the circumstances. But set up to fail. Shameful stuff by Licht and Zaslav.” Earlier, in response to the “nasty person” barb from Mr Trump, Ali wrote: “Congrats, Chris Licht and CNN leadership. Bravo. What a way to treat your employees.” Matthew Gertz of Media Matters for America wrote: “The venue for CNN's Trump town hall will be ‘filled with about 400 voters who are Republicans or Republican-leaning independents.’ I've never seen a network try this hard to get their own anchor booed live on their own airwaves.” Read More CNN Trump town hall — live: Kaitlan Collins prepares to face Trump as calls grow to boycott network over event Cheney launches anti-Trump ad ahead of ex-president’s CNN town hall Trump appearing at CNN town hall after sex assault verdict CNN sparks fury with Trump’s ‘volcano of bulls***’ town hall where he repeats Big Lie and gives Putin a pass Disastrous Trump town hall begs the question: What was CNN thinking? Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

What prompted Tristan to target Zuckerberg specifically? Is there any backstory to his claims?

By Boureima Balima and Moussa Aksar NIAMEY (Reuters) -Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum took to social media on Thursday with a

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is pressing Turkey to quickly ratify Sweden’s membership in the military organization

While the scuffles may be verbal as leading Republicans jostle to become the party’s 2024 presidential nominee, down at the state level things have actually turned physical — at least in Michigan, and not for the first time. Tensions boiled over within the Michigan Republican Party on Saturday resulting in an altercation at a hotel to which the police were called. The GOP’s state committee came together for a meeting at the Doherty Hotel in Clare as members have been feuding over the party’s direction and the leadership approach of the new chairwoman, Kristina Karamo, The Detroit News reports. Some Michigan Republicans arriving at the venue on Saturday were frustrated to find the meeting was limited only to members of the state committee and was taking place behind a locked door. In an interview with The Detroit News, James Chapman, a Republican from Wayne County, said he had travelled to Clare for the meeting but was forced to listen to it through a locked door. Mr Chapman said he and others said the Pledge of Allegiance together in the lobby outside the meeting, after which he jiggled the doorknob of the meeting room. It was then that Mark DeYoung, chairman of the Clare County Republican Party, approached the door, saw someone flip him off through a small window, and opened it. “He kicked me in my balls as soon as I opened the door,” Mr DeYoung said, adding that Mr Chapman ran at him and slammed him into a chair. Mr DeYoung gave his account to the outlet over the phone from an emergency room where he said he was being treated for a broken rib. For his part, Mr Chapman alleges that Mr DeYoung had swung at him and said: “I’ll kick your ass.” Mr DeYoung denies this happened. Continuing, Mr Chapman says he removed his glasses, took Mr DeYoung by the legs and knocked him down: “When you see me taking my glasses off, I’m ready to rock.” Multiple police officers were at the scene after the scuffle and Mr DeYoung said he intended to press charges against Mr Chapman. “We’re so divided,” Mr DeYoung said from the hospital. “I just wish we could come together.” This is also not the first time internal tensions have erupted. The Washington Post reported in June: “At least four county parties in Michigan have been at open war with themselves, with members suing one another or putting forward competing slates that claim to be in charge. The night before an April state party meeting, two GOP officials got into a physical altercation in a hotel bar over an attempt to expel members.” Other tension stems from criticism of Ms Karamo, who became the chairwoman in February, for not providing more information about fundraising and spending. The Post also reported that she has struggled to raise money and abandoned the party’s longtime headquarters. Ms Karamo had recently removed Matt Johnson, the budget committee chairman, citing “dereliction of duty and several other grievances”. Mr Johnson had said spending was “so far out of proportion with income as to put us on the path to bankruptcy”. The Michigan Republican Party was trounced in the 2022 midterms — Ms Karamo lost a run for secretary of state in November by 14 percentage points to her Democrat rival — and has found itself out of power in the state legislature for the first time in four decades. The Democratic Party also controls the state Senate and Governor Gretchen Whitmer comfortably won reelection by 11 points in November 2022. Continuing internal struggles will likely make it even harder for a Republican candidate to take the state in 2024’s presidential election. Read More Trump attorney who was key to election conspiracies retires from legal practice Forget everything else: These four states will decide the presidency Trump tells Michigan Republicans that EVs will ‘decimate’ state’s auto industry Prosecutors are prepared to hit Trump and his allies with new charges, sources say Trump mocked for bursting into bizarre moaning sounds at Michigan GOP dinner

A hearing has begun to help determine whether a Georgia railroad can legally condemn property to build a rail line

A federal judge in Delaware has ordered West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice to provide information about his finances to attorneys for a Pennsylvania coal exporter owed $1.9 million by Justice and one of his coal companies

Amid flashing strobe lights at a SoulCycle class in Notting Hill, our instructor MJ stands on a platform, his baseball cap flipped backward and his facial hair trimmed into designer stubble, looking as if he’s straight out of a boy band. “I’ve had a f***ing s*** day and I didn’t want to come to work,” he says, softly, through his head mic. “But I’m so glad I did, as the energy is bringing me to life!” Everyone around me – women between the ages of 25 and 35, all of them dressed in one-shoulder leisurewear – roars in response. “Sit up tall, don’t let anyone make you feel down,” MJ continues. “You’re all legends, don’t let anybody judge you!” I pause for breath after yet another manic burst of energy cycling on the spot. Then we have to pick up dumbbells while atop stationary bikes and do a choreographed workout to a Taylor Swift song. This special Swift-themed class is taking place at 8.30 on a Monday night and in the same venue where First Lady Jill Biden and Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty attended a spinning class together after King Charles’s coronation in May – reportedly with 10 security guards in tow. I feel slightly out of my depth. I spent two hours looking for my lycra leggings and I’m totally unfit. Apart from walking my dog, I haven’t done any real exercise since 2017, when I had a go at clean eating and did a few weeks of high-intensity training at the gym. But now I’m ready for SoulCycle’s “unique mind-body-soul experience”. This leap back into exercise is partly inspired by Apple TV+’s dark comedy Physical, which is returning for its final season next month. It’s about a housewife played by Rose Byrne who battles her demons and a vicious and self-critical inner voice while finding solace in aerobics. Could it work for me, too? Is exercise the answer to my endlessly spinning mind? Would it serve as an instant catapult into a world of empowerment and success? Everyone in this class knows the words to every Taylor Swift song that booms from the speakers. “Drop everything now/Meet me in the pouring rain”, she sings on “Sparks Fly”. “Kiss me on the sidewalk/Take away the pain.” But all I can think about is the pain I’m currently in. We’re wearing special shoes that click into the pedals of the bike, so it’s not easy to detach oneself. But soon I become grateful for it: if I’m superglued into this class, I can’t give up so easily. As MJ says: “No struggle... no progress”. It doesn’t matter if you can’t move the wheel at the front of the SoulCycle bike, or if you’re peddling down on it like a gazelle; if you’re sweating and panting, you’re part of this love-in. And wow, it feels great. I’m not alone in adoring it, and some of my fellow riders were here even earlier, for “part one” of a class modelled after Swift’s setlist on her current US tour. (Each class costs £26, while a renewable package of four is £86, or eight at £160). It’s a little pocket of joy I knew nothing about while I was sitting at home snacking in front of my laptop and gaining weight. As I leave the SoulCycle studio and wander into the night, I take a deep breath. It feels good to be back in the saddle – even though my legs are like jelly. I have to ask my friend to drive me home because I’m not sure I’ll make it on foot. There are a few reasons I haven’t been hitting the gym, or even doing the occasional relaxed yoga class. Having children on my own has been an intense journey. For years my idea of exercise has been holding a baby or running after two kids in a park with an unruly dog. But when I read a few different headlines lately (“Fit and fabulous at 54: Jennifer Aniston emerges from her new workout class”; “Nicole Kidman, 56, flashes her incredible abs in revealing black dress”), I felt a pang of guilt. These women are older than me but super fit. My daughters, aged five and seven, are both at school now, so there’s no excuse for being so inactive. I had some blood tests done and my cholesterol is creeping up. I’ve been told I need to give up sugar and take up exercise. How can I be a good role model to my kids if all they do is see me eating the chocolate rolls meant for their pack lunches? And where do I even begin with fitness? After the excitement of my Taylor Swift class, the idea of strolling along to my local Virgin Active feels mundane. I ponder whether it’d be easier to stay fit if I was super-rich. I can see myself signing up for four workout sessions rigged up to an electrical current. Because why not? I can’t possibly afford the bespoke, members-only gym Bodyism in London’s Westbourne Grove, whose clients include heiress Tamara Ecclestone. It caters for high-intensity, low-impact training, with top-tier packages costing £23,000 a year. More affordable, though, is their class membership – which costs £1,500 a year for 72 classes and promises to help elongate and tone the body. But it’s also full of the clean-eating squad – I might not fit in. Then there’s London’s BXR, a private, boutique boxing-themed gym that’s spread over two floors. From the street below I can glimpse a massive boxing ring behind enormous glass panels – a manifestation of the idea that celebrities feel they live in a goldfish bowl. It’s also packed with A-listers who get free guest passes while staying at the luxury hotel Chiltern Firehouse that’s located opposite. Membership costs from £2,500 a year and up (by a lot), and the Vogue editor Edward Enniful and fashion designer Julian Macdonald are apparently fans of BXR’s Versaclimbing – a high-intensity, low-impact workout on a Versaclimber. This cardio fitness machine has a 75-degree vertical rail with pedals and handles that mimic the natural motion of climbing. When I hear that the machine burns up to 800 calories in a 45-minute session – well, I’m on the phone to the bookings team in a flash. Unlike treadmill or spin classes, it’s exercise that is full body but low impact – meaning it “minimises unnecessary stress or trauma to your body”. At the state of the art Repose, a wellness clinic in London’s High Street Kensington with members including Made in Chelsea’s Millie Mackintosh, the speciality is “anti-gravity fitness”. It might sound unusual to exercise from a silk hammock suspended from the ceiling for £40 a class – but sessions include pilates, suspension fitness, air bar and both restorative and aerial yoga. Models and celebrities, including Poppy Delevingne, are also queuing up for personal training at London’s E-Pulsive, which costs £85 a session. The electrical muscle stimulation class (EMS) sees you strap yourself into a full-body vest that zaps you with low-frequency electric impulses to manually contract your muscle fibres while you exercise, increasing the intensity of your workout. It seems ideal for people like me who are too busy to exercise but who want superfast results – apparently, a 20-minute EMS workout burns 500 calories and can offer the same results as a 90-minute high-intensity gym class. It sounds like heaven. Then there’s roller-skating at model Liberty Ross’ glamorous Flipper’s Roller Boogie Palace in West London or New York – the original LA Flipper’s in the 1970s was run by Ross’s dad Ian Flipper-Ross, and was so associated with glam fitness that it was dubbed “Studio 54 on wheels”. A one-to-one beginner’s class at the new skate school costs £50, or £35 in a group lesson of up to 12 skaters. Or you can just book in for a general skate with your kids – which kills two birds with one stone as they have fun while you burn calories. A two-hour skate session for adults starts from £15.50 and from £11.50 for children. All of this sounds great – but if I went for a workout schedule of my choice, I can’t see it totalling less than £30,000 a year. Bearing in mind that exercise is addictive and makes you feel good, it might be far more in the long run, too. It’s also a tad out of my price range – I don’t plan on dropping into Equinox on Kensington Roof Gardens or the Bulgari Hotel gym any time soon. Instead, I can see myself signing up for four workout sessions rigged up to an electrical current. Because why not? If money wasn’t an obstacle, I would install a gym and a pilates studio in my own house, with a cryotherapy chamber and a personal trainer on tap. But until then, I plan to start running with the dog, my two kids behind me on their scooters. It’s far cheaper and – unlike the late-night Taylor Swift class – won’t require a babysitter. Read More I keep forgetting my dog’s birthday – could a luxury pet party make it up to him? ‘I’m here anyway, why not?’: My non-surgical facelift has got me thinking about more procedures I’ve never had a platonic relationship with a man – sex can’t help but get in the way Husband fired from family business after wife roleplayed with reborn dolls Montana Brown explains why she chose a home birth as a ‘non-white person’ 8 healthy habits to help you live longer – according to a new study