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The Rise of AI in Dating: A Divided Perspective Dating app giant Match Group has released a study revealing that almost half of US singles feel negatively about AI in dating. The survey of 1,000 people aged 18 to 39 found that 47% of singles have a negative view of AI's use in romantic contexts. AI Experimentation in Dating Apps Across the industry, dating apps are experimenting with AI features. Bumble introduced a dating assistant named Bee, while Tinder is investing heavily in AI tools, which has slowed its hiring process. Meanwhile, Hinge's CEO stepped down last year to launch a more AI-focused dating app. The Data Analysis: Negative Views on AI in Dating The survey revealed that: 40% of singles say they would refuse to date someone who uses an AI companion app. This figure rises to 51% among women ages 18 to 24. Only 12% of 18- to 24-year-olds said they had used a companion app over the last three months. The Impact Analysis: Balancing AI and Human Connection While people harbor a "near-universal" disapproval of actually dating an AI, 64% of respondents said they could see how AI might help them in their dating journey. The key takeaway is that people are not entirely closed off to AI; they just don't want to be in a relationship with a robot or feel like their dating experiences are overly inundated with technology that feels inauthentic. The Prediction: The Future of AI in Dating As Match Group noted in a blog post, "Ask singles what they want from AI in dating, and the answer is pretty consistent: help with the hard parts, but hands off for the human parts." This suggests that dating app developers should focus on using AI to facilitate connections, rather than replacing human interaction.

The Lionesses' Favorable Route vs. Scotland's Uphill BattleThe European playoff draw for the 2027 Women's World Cup presents a stark contrast in difficulty between the top seeds and the rest of the field. England has been handed a path that appears designed to maximize their chances of reaching the finals in Brazil, while Scotland faces a monumental task to secure their second-ever World Cup appearance.Playoff Draw Breakdown: Paths to BrazilEngland: Will face Greece in the first round (7-13 October) and a potential matchup against either Slovakia or Ukraine in the second round (26 November-5 December). England is heavy favorite and will host the second leg of both ties.Scotland: Must first defeat Czechia before facing Sweden in the second round. This path requires beating one of women's football's most successful nations, who have been semi-finalists in three of the last four World Cups.Wales: Will play Albania in the first round, with the winners facing either Romania or Norway. This sets up a reunion between Wales and former manager Gemma Grainger, now in charge of Norway.Republic of Ireland: The seeded Irish side faces Kazakhstan first, with a potential clash against Belgium or Poland in the second round.Performance Context: England's Missed OpportunityDespite finishing second in their qualifying group behind defending champions Spain, England's path to the playoffs was arguably smoother than their group stage performance suggested. Sarina Wiegman's side took 15 points from a possible 18, narrowly missing out on automatic qualification due to a head-to-head tiebreaker against Spain.The 2027 Qualification Format ShiftThe draw highlights the significant changes in the 2027 qualification process. Europe previously had nine automatic qualifiers for the 2023 tournament, but the format was revamped to include a large expansion of the playoff process, resulting in only four European sides qualifying automatically.Outlook: England Likely to Advance, Scotland Faces HurdleEngland is the overwhelming favorite to progress, having recently defeated Ukraine 3-0 in June. Their draw avoided higher-ranked teams like Belgium, Switzerland, and Scotland, who were top seeds. Conversely, Scotland's path is fraught with danger; beating Sweden would be one of the greatest results in the nation's footballing history.

The Allure of Champions League Glory Caroline Weir, the Scotland captain, has made a significant move in her career by joining OL Lyonnes from Real Madrid. Weir, 30, expressed her excitement about the transfer, highlighting the lure of competing for the Champions League with one of Europe's most decorated women's clubs. Weir's Achievements at Real Madrid Weir leaves Real Madrid as the club's all-time record scorer with 63 goals in 125 appearances. She also holds the club's assists record with 40 assists. Despite her success, including finishing as a league runner-up to Barcelona each season, Weir felt it was time to move on and challenge herself at a new club. Tactical Plans and Conversations with Giráldez Weir's decision to join OL Lyonnes was influenced by conversations with the club's head coach, Jonatan Giráldez. The Spanish former Barcelona coach outlined how he envisaged Weir thriving in his tactical plans, particularly in her role as a No 10. Weir signed a three-year contract, indicating her long-term commitment to the club. Adapting to Life in Lyon Before pre-season training begins in July, Weir has several tasks on her to-do list, including finding a good nail salon, a place to get her eyelashes done, and familiarizing herself with local parks to walk her dog. She likens Lyon's beauty to that of Edinburgh, Scotland's capital, and is looking forward to experiencing the city's renowned food scene. Reflecting on Her Time at Real Madrid Weir reflected fondly on her time at Real Madrid, where she and her husband had a great lifestyle and enjoyed the city. Her only regret is not winning a major trophy during her four-year tenure. Weir received a heartfelt farewell from the club and a personalized message on a signed shirt from Jude Bellingham. Looking Ahead to the Women's World Cup Weir's recent performances for Scotland have been impressive, scoring seven goals in two matches to help the team top their League B group in European qualifying and reach the playoffs. The upcoming Women's World Cup in Brazil has Weir excited, and she sees it as an opportunity to fulfill her dreams.

Beth Mead's Move to Manchester City Beth Mead believes Manchester City’s playing style suits her own and has described her move to the Women’s Super League champions on a three-year contract as a “no-brainer”. The Signing Details The 31-year-old forward, who has scored 40 times in 81 appearances for England, has become City’s first signing of the summer, having completed a free transfer from Arsenal, whom she left at the end of the season after nine years. Mead's Thoughts on the Move “I’m very proud to be here. City had an amazing season last year and I am excited to start a new chapter here,” said Mead, who leads the WSL’s all-time assist charts with 54 contributions. “The way City plays suits me really well, and I feel like it can get something extra out of my game. Speaking to the manager [Andrée Jeglertz], I [thought] it was a place where I can really fit in, help and bring a different dynamic to the team, so it was a no-brainer for me.” Club Reaction City’s director of football, Therese Sjögran, said: “Beth’s achievements in the game speak for themselves, so we’re delighted to bring her to the club. She’s shown what it takes to consistently perform on the kind of big stages we want to regularly be competing at, so she’ll be a brilliant addition to our already impressive squad of players.” Further Signings Mead will not be the only England international to sign for Manchester City this summer, with the club having agreed a £500,000 deal to acquire Niamh Charles from Chelsea. The move is scheduled to also be completed this month. Outgoing Players Charles’s pending arrival in Manchester comes as the Spain left-back Leila Ouahabi prepares to leave the club at the end of the month upon the expiry of her contract.

The LeadTaiwan has introduced its inaugural civil‑defence drone training programme, a direct response to the tactical role of drones in the Ukraine war and the escalating China threat. Run by the NGO Kuma Academy, the course equips ordinary citizens with basic UAV skills for emergency and security scenarios.Launching Taiwan’s First Civil‑Defence Drone CourseStarted in May 2026, the programme offers a hands‑on, eight‑hour curriculum that covers drone safety, basic flight controls, and battlefield‑style reconnaissance. Sessions are limited to about 75 participants per month and have been sold out through August.Classes are held in a small, crowded room in Taipei, with trainees ranging from teenagers to retirees.Instructor Tang Tsung‑yi emphasizes understanding drone capabilities rather than weaponisation.Participants practice navigating a rectangular course marked by traffic cones without crashing.Drone Registration Surge and Demographic ReachAccording to Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration, the number of registered drones topped 39,000 in December 2025. The agency lowered the minimum registration age to 14 in 2024, spurring interest among schools.Several Taipei high schools now run summer camps where students assemble drones from scratch and conduct mock search‑and‑rescue missions.Women make up more than half of the current cohort, highlighting broad community appeal.Strategic Rationale: From Ukraine’s Sky to Taiwan’s MountainsIn Ukraine, drones account for an estimated 60 % of Russian casualties, demonstrating their impact on modern warfare. Taiwanese defence planners see similar potential for UAVs to provide rapid, low‑cost surveillance across the island’s rugged terrain in a Chinese invasion scenario.Unmanned systems can complement traditional “passive defence” measures such as shelters.Citizen‑run drone networks could relay real‑time imagery to civil‑defence groups, improving situational awareness.Future Outlook: Expanding Drone Literacy Across the IslandExperts predict that drone training will become a staple of Taiwan’s civil‑defence curriculum, with more NGOs and local governments offering courses.Projected increase in monthly trainees to 150 by 2027 as demand grows.Potential integration with official emergency services for coordinated disaster response.

The Lead The Taliban has ordered a sweeping ban on the use of smartphones by government officials in Afghanistan, with violators facing having their devices destroyed and receiving legal and sharia punishment. The directive, issued by the Taliban's military courts, prohibits all government personnel regardless of rank from using mobile phones, with exemptions requiring written decrees from the Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. The Event Details In a video published online, a Taliban official appears to be reading the banning order from his phone while another person is shown breaking devices. The order explicitly states: "If anyone uses one, their mobile phone will be smashed and legal and sharia punishment will be imposed on the violator." This comes as reports from inside Afghanistan indicate the bans are being implemented in an "ad-hoc" manner across different regions. The Implementation Strategy The smartphone restrictions are being applied unevenly across Afghanistan. In some areas, the ban targets only government officials, while in other cities and provinces, it has been extended to include women, civilians, medical workers, schoolteachers, and students. According to analysts, this inconsistent implementation suggests the Taliban may be testing the waters for a broader, population-level restriction on smartphone use. The Historical Context This latest ban follows escalating efforts by the Taliban to cut Afghanistan off from the global internet. In September 2025, authorities ordered a two-day internet blackout vaguely justified by concerns over pornography, with the stated purpose to "prevent immorality." The cutoff, implemented hastily without proper consideration, froze commerce across the country and severely affected emergency services and aviation, forcing the Taliban to reverse the decision after facing significant backlash from the private sector, banking sector, and even their own security apparatus. The Motivations Behind the Ban Several factors appear to be driving the smartphone restrictions. Recent street demonstrations in the western city of Herat, where Taliban forces killed at least two people during protests over women's rights, may have provided impetus for the crackdown as the regime seeks to control information. Additionally, the Taliban reportedly fears internal leaks from officials using smartphones to photograph documents and record meetings before official approval. There are also concerns about productivity, with officials spending excessive time on personal devices rather than work-related tasks. The Future Outlook As the Taliban continues to tighten its grip on information flow within Afghanistan, analysts warn that the current official ban could be a precursor to a blanket restriction on smartphone use for the general population. The inconsistent implementation across different regions suggests a strategy of testing public reaction before implementing more comprehensive controls. This approach represents a significant escalation in the Taliban's efforts to control information and communication within the country, potentially further isolating Afghanistan from the global community and limiting access to information for its citizens.

The Lead Britons are facing some of the "most severe" shortages of NHS medicines on record including common painkillers, epilepsy drugs and HRT, health leaders have warned, even forcing some patients with impaired digestive systems to skip meals. Record-Breaking Shortages of Critical Medications The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has warned that medicine shortages pose a "serious risk to patient safety." The Royal College of GPs has also raised concerns about the impact medicine shortages have on patients, GPs and pharmacists. Both have highlighted long-lasting supply issues affecting Estradot, a hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopausal women, and Creon, a drug taken by people with pancreatic cancer and cystic fibrosis to help them digest food. Both medications have had serious shortage protocols (SSPs) in place for between one-and-a-half (Estradot) and two years (Creon) – a new NHS record – and SSPs were recently extended by the NHS until 10 July. Impact on Patient Health and Wellbeing Pharmacies say this is forcing some patients to ration medication and, in some instances, even skip meals because they have been unable to obtain supplies. Bryony Thomas, 48, from Stroud, Gloucestershire, describes herself as a pancreatic cancer survivor. Along with other survivors, she expects to rely on Creon for the rest of her life because her pancreas does not produce the enzymes to digest food. She said she had been affected by the shortages for the past two years and has had to ration the drug, most recently nine months ago. "There was a three-month window where I couldn't get hold of my enzymes [Creon], so I had to reduce what I was eating. You'd have a much smaller meal, you eat less protein, you eat less fat," Thomas said. "If I get anything down to under a month [of supply] I start to panic." Systemic Causes of Medicine Shortages The Middle East conflict has made supply chains more volatile although it is not the only factor driving shortages, the NPA said. Lack of ingredients, manufacturing disruption, the UK's smaller medicines budget compared with other EU countries, and in the case of HRT, changing prescribing habits all play a part. Prices of some drugs, such as paracetamol and cetirizine for hay fever, have increased as a result. Pharmacies have also been struggling to source a number of commonly dispensed medicines, including Ramipril, used to manage high blood pressure, along with painkillers such as low-dose aspirin and co-codamol. Call for Government Action The NPA, which represents 6,000 independent community pharmacies in the UK, wants the government to convene an urgent taskforce including medicine manufacturers, wholesalers and clinicians to tackle the issues. More than 1,000 GPs and pharmacists will meet in Birmingham at a new conference organised by the NPA this weekend to discuss, among other things, improved information sharing about medicines. Olivier Picard, a pharmacist who chairs the NPA, said: "Medicine shortages are becoming more frequent, lasting longer and causing increasing disruption for patients." He called on the government to amend legislation that prevents pharmacies from making substitutions to a prescription, where a safe alternative is in stock. Official Response A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "The overwhelming majority of medicines licensed in the UK are in good supply and patients should know that when visiting the pharmacy, their prescriptions will be available. "Ensuring there is robust supply of medicines is vital and this government is making significant investments in the UK medicine manufacturing industry to strengthen it."

The Rise of a New Breed of OnlyFans ManagersThe adult‑content platform OnlyFans, which generated $7.2bn in 2024, is now host to a rapidly expanding industry of “managers” who take large commissions from creators. One of the most visible figures, Markuss Hussle (real name Markuss Kohs), promotes himself as an OnlyFans manager while critics label him an e‑pimp.Markuss Hussle’s $8,000 Coaching Model and 50% CutHussle runs a digital‑marketing agency that claims a 50% cut of the earnings of women who sell explicit videos on OnlyFans. He sells an $8,000 coaching programme that teaches young men how to recruit and manage creators, promising luxuries such as a $350,000 super‑car or a $150,000 Cape Town holiday if they “push women to perform better on camera.”Coaching fee: $8,000Commission taken from creators: 50%Target audience: men aged 18‑25, often recent school leaversRevenue Landscape: OnlyFans’s $7.2bn Turnover and Manager EarningsOnlyFans reports 377 million account holders and a 20% platform fee, leaving roughly $25bn paid out to creators since its 2016 launch. Managers like Hussle add another layer of profit‑sharing, effectively siphoning a portion of that creator payout.2024 platform revenue: $7.2bnTotal creator payouts since 2016: $25bnTypical manager cut: 50% of creator earningsIndustry Impact: Exploitation Risks and Calls for RegulationA BBC documentary, OnlyFans: Inside the Machine, documented violence and intimidation by some managers, including assaults on creators. In response, Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi and independent anti‑slavery commissioner Eleanor Lyons have jointly called for a parliamentary inquiry to examine trafficking, coercive control and the platform’s safeguarding mechanisms.Future Outlook: Potential Regulatory Scrutiny and Market ShiftsIf lawmakers act on the inquiry, OnlyFans could face stricter oversight, mandatory reporting of manager‑creator contracts, and enhanced verification to curb exploitation. Such measures may reshape the business model, potentially reducing the profitability of third‑party managers while prompting the platform to develop direct support tools for creators.

Theatre Review: A Misguided Gender Swap David Mamet's classic drama, Glengarry Glen Ross, has been reimagined with an all-female cast at the Old Vic theatre in London. While the idea of a gender-swapped production is intriguing, the execution falls short. Exploring Mamet's Masterpiece Mamet is renowned for capturing American masculinity in the 1980s, and Glengarry Glen Ross remains one of his most masterful works. The play's portrayal of fast-talking Chicago real estate salesmen is a scathing critique of capitalist excess. However, the all-female cast, directed by Patrick Marber, struggles to recapture the essence of the original. The Performance of Masculinity The cast, including Indira Varma, Rosa Salazar, and Niky Wardley, deliver high-energy performances, but the production's focus on the performance of masculinity detracts from the play's core themes. The set design and wardrobe choices reinforce this approach, with the women playing at being men. A Lack of Depth The production's greatest weakness is its failure to convey the darkness and tragedy of the original. The play's characters, driven by desperation and greed, are reduced to caricatures. The meek and weary Aaronow, played by Nancy Crane, and the chippy Moss, played by Niky Wardley, are underdeveloped and lack depth. A Missed Opportunity The production's decision not to contemporize its corporate world is puzzling, especially given the current cultural landscape. The play's themes of capitalism and patriarchy remain relevant, but the all-female cast's performance feels like a gimmick rather than a thoughtful exploration of these issues. Conclusion Despite its promise, the gender-swapped production of Glengarry Glen Ross at the Old Vic theatre fails to effectively translate the classic drama. The show runs until July 18, but audiences may find themselves disappointed by the lack of depth and nuance in this reimagined version.