Jeremy Kyle has revealed he’s set to become a father for the sixth time as his wife Victoria is pregnant with their second child.

The broadcaster, 58, shared the news that he’s set to welcome a daughter in the coming months, after he and Victoria, 39, welcomed their son Oliver, in 2020.

Speaking to The Sun, Jeremy said he and Victoria, who he married in 2021, are ‘over the moon’ to be welcoming another child early next year, adding his family will be ‘complete.’

It comes as Jeremy prepares to join forces with former Coronation Street star Nicola Thorpe to front a brand new TalkTV breakfast show, starting next month.

He said: ‘Vic says I need to set up a side business by bottling it because I’m 58 and I’ve only got one testicle, but everyone knows that anyway.

‘The other kids are really happy, although my eldest Harriet thinks I need sectioning.

‘I personally think it’s my late parents having a laugh from up above, to be honest.’

Jeremy, who is also a grandfather, previously overcame a battle with testicular cancer in 2012, and has since strongly advocated for men’s health issues.

As well as son Oliver, Jeremy is father to daughters Harriet, 32, Alice, 18, Ava, 17, and son Henry, 13, who he shares with ex-wife Carla Germaine.

Back in October, Jeremy said he would miss Vicky and Oliver as he threw himself into work for his new live show on TalkTV.

The TV star made his television comeback with a brand new live show on TalkTV – three years after his daytime programme was axed following the death of guest Steve Dymond.

When asked what he would miss about returning to work, he said of his loved ones: ‘Not being there at bathtime! No, I’m kidding. I would love to be there every night. Oliver and Victoria have changed my life.

‘Oliver’s two and a half and completely rules the roost, to be perfectly honest. He’s changed me completely. He shouts, “Daddy!” when he sees me on screen now.

‘My kids, my grandkids, my family, my wife saved me. Harriet is an amazing mum with two toddlers. Alice is about to go to university; Henry is about to go to boarding school; Ava has just got eight GCSEs. It’s amazing, she’s severely dyslexic. It’s incredible what she’s done, amazing. I’m so proud.

‘But I’ve always wanted to go back to live television. It’s the best of what I’ve always loved doing.’

The presenter’s eponymous Jeremy Kyle Show was suspended indefinitely in May 2019 following the death of Steve Dymond, one week after a programme featuring him was filmed.

He returned to television screens in April for the first time in three years, as he helped launch new channel TalkTV along with Sharon Osbourne.

Dymond is suspected to have died from suicide seven days after filming for the Jeremy Kyle Show.

He had taken a lie detector test after being accused of cheating on his ex-fiancee Jane Callaghan, of Gosport, Hampshire.

The confrontational talk show, which was hugely popular and had been a regular fixture since 2005 in the daytime TV schedule, was axed for good following calls for it to be cancelled from MPs and members of the public.

After the show was pulled, MPs launched an inquiry into reality TV – and ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall said the broadcaster had been ‘looking at’ cancelling it prior to it being removed from the schedules.

He’s on the edge! Moment a fight breaks out at Brazil’s famous ‘cliff-hanging’ selfie spot after one man’s photo gets spoiled

• The unnamed pair fought at the top of Pedra do Telegrafo, in Rio De Janeiro
• One man pushed the other after he accidentally got in the way of his photoshoot

By Perkin Amalaraj

Published: 04:16 EDT, 22 September 2023 | Updated: 09:46 EDT, 22 September 2023

Menendez claims he’s being charged because he’s a ‘Latino American’

By Emily Goodin, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Published: 16:26 EDT, 22 September 2023 | Updated: 16:27 EDT, 22 September 2023

Democratic Senator Bob Menendez on Friday denied the corruption charges against him and claimed he is being ‘falsely accused’ because he is a ‘Latin American’ who rose from a humble childhood to the United States Senate.

Menendez and his wife Nadine Arslanian Menendez have been indicted by a federal grand jury over corruption allegations in an investigation that focused on a luxury car, $400,000 in gold bars and cash, plus payments toward a home mortgage allegedly received by the couple.

The four-term senator, the son of Cuban immigrants, denied the charges and refused to resign.

‘Those behind this campaign simply cannot accept that a first generation Latin American from humble beginnings could rise to be a U.S. senator,’ he said in a statement.

Menendez said prosecutors in the Southern District of New York ‘misrepresented the normal work of a Congressional office.’ 

‘I have been falsely accused before because I refused to back down to the powers that be and the people of New Jersey were able to see through the smoke and mirrors and recognize I was innocent,’ he said.

He added he would not be ‘distracted by baseless allegations’ but continue his work as senator.

The indictment claims the couple had an improper relationship with three New Jersey businessmen: Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, who allegedly paid the couple in exchange for Menendez to use his influence in Washington D.C. to their benefit.

The couple face three criminal counts each: conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right. The three businessmen face charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services fraud.

The indictment also charges the senator with providing ‘sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt.’ 

David Schertler, a lawyer for Nadine Menendez, said she ‘denies any criminal conduct and will vigorously contest these charges in court.’ 

Menendez also defended his wife of three years.

‘Not content with making false statements against me, they have attacked my wife for longstanding friendships she had before she and I ever met,’ he said in his statement.

The senator also pointed out he has faced and defeated corruption charges before.

‘They wrote these charges as they wanted; the facts are not as presented. Prosecutors did that last time and look what a trial demonstrates. People should remember that and not accept the prosecutor’s version.’ 

This is the second time Menendez faces a corruption charge. A 2015 case ended in mistrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict on all counts and a judge acquitted him on some charges. 

The first time Menendez was indicted, he had been accused of using his influence to help a Florida eye doctor who gave him gifts and campaign contributions. 

Menendez was accused of pressuring government officials to resolve a Medicare billing dispute in favor of Dr. Salomon Melgen and securing visas for the doctor’s girlfriends.

He said he was innocent. His lawyers said campaign contributions and gifts from Melgen — which included trips on his private jet to a resort in the Dominican Republic and a vacation in Paris — were tokens of their longtime friendship, not bribes.

Prosecutors dropped the charges after the mistrial.  

Menendez is running for re-election for his New Jersey Senate seat and already facing at least one Democratic challenger in the primary.

If Menendez were to step down before the end of his term, New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Philip Murphy, would appoint a successor.

Menendez has held public office continuously since 1986, when he was elected mayor of Union City, New Jersey. He was a state legislator and spent 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2006, Gov. Jon Corzine appointed Menendez to the Senate seat he vacated when he became governor. 

The new indictment outlines a series of texts, payments and actions the couple allegedly took to help the three businessmen, actions from which they financially benefited.

The probe listed several ‘bribes’ paid to them. ‘Those bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value,’ the indictment said.

A June 2022 raid on their New Jersey home found ‘over $480,000 in cash – much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe,’ the indictment notes, adding Nadine had over $70,000 in a safe deposit box. 

It also found two one-kilogram gold bars and eleven one-ounce gold bars.

Damian Williams, attorney with Southern District of New York, outlined the charges and supporting evidence during a press conference Friday morning, saying the couple used Menendez’s ‘power and influence to protect and enrich the businessmen and benefit the government of Egypt.’

He notes investigators ‘executed a search warrant and discovered over $500,000 worth of cash stuffed into envelopes and the senator’s jackets.’

‘That is not all. Agents discovered a lot of gold,’ he added.

The indictment alleges that Menendez tried to disrupt a federal criminal prosecution of Fred Daibes in exchange for the money and other items of value. Daibes is an old friend of Menendez, has fundraised for his Senate campaign, and allegedly has ties to the Genovese mob family.

The indictment charges Menendez ‘promised to and did use his influence and power’ to pressure President Joe Biden to nominate a U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey who Menendez ‘believed could be influenced by Menendez with respect to the federal criminal prosecution of Fred Daibes.’

Menendez recommended and Biden later nominated Phillip Sellinger as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, the top federal prosecutor in the state. 

Daibes has been under investigation before. New Jersey authorities have tracked high-ranking mobsters meeting with Daibes repeatedly over the last decade, the Daily Beast reported. 

Daibes provided the couple with gold bars and envelopes of cash, the indictment states. 

‘Multiple gold bars provided by Daibes were found during the court-authorized June 2022 search; of the couple’s home, the indictment states. It also says the senator performed a web search for ‘how much is one kilo of gold worth’ and that the envelopes of cash had the fingerprints of Daibes and his driver. 

The investigation also focused on 40-year-old New Jersey businessman, Wael Hana, who has known Nadine since before she started dating Menendez.

Hana, who is originally from Egypt, operated the company IS EG Halal in New Jersey and it soon became the sole entity authorized to certify that any halal food product imported into Egypt from anywhere in the world had been prepared according to Islamic law. 

According to the indictment, Menendez ‘improperly advised and pressured an official at the United States Department of Agriculture for the purpose of protecting a business monopoly granted to Hana by Egypt and used in part to fund the bribes being paid to Menendez through Nadine Menendez.’ 

The designation of IS EG Halal surprised U.S. agriculture officials. Previously, several other companies had been doing that certification, but they were dismissed by Egyptian agriculture officials in favor of IS EG Halal, which had no previous experience in the field.

The indictment charges Menendez with using the power of his position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to influence the State Department regarding policy in Egypt and with sending Nadine ‘highly sensitive’ about Egypt that he got in Senate briefings that she, in turn, gave to Hana.

As a senator, Menendez could put a ‘hold’ on State Department funding to the country. 

In a text to his wife, Menendez tells her: ‘I am going to sign off this sale to Egypt today. Egypt: 46,000 120MM Target Practice Rounds and 10,000 Rounds Tank Ammunition: $99 million.’

Nadine then forwarded it to an Egyptian official who replies with the thumbs up emoji.

Egypt has long been a top recipient of U.S. government aid – more than $1 billion a year – but relations between Washington and Cario have been strained by Eygpt’s human rights violations.

Now that he is indicted, Menendez will have to step down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Rules for the Senate Democratic caucus say that any member who is charged with a felony must step aside from a leadership position. 

Hana allegedly promised money to Nadine via a no-show job with his company. And, after months of nonpayment, she complained about not receiving the promised funds. 

The indictment includes a text from Nadine to a friend: ‘I have been so upset all morning. [Hana] left for Egypt yesterday supposedly and now thinks he’s king of the world and has both countries wrapped around his pinky. I really hope they replace him.’

Records show Arslanian was battling foreclosure on her Bergen County property in 2018. When she and Menendez got engaged, it began a period of financial turnaround for her.

Within weeks of their engagement, she incorporated a business, Strategic International Business Consultants LLC, according to state records. Her foreclosure case was dismissed soon after. The following year, her assets included gold bars valued between $100,000 to $250,000, according to a Senate disclosure form amended by Menendez in March of 2022.

Between April and June of 2022, the couple sold between $200,000 and $400,000 worth of gold bars, while keeping at least $250,000 worth of them. 

Businessman Jose Uribe allegedly bought Menendez and Nadine the luxury vehicle, a Mercedes-Benz C-300 convertible worth more than $60,000.

In exchange, Menendez ‘agreed and sought to interfere in a New Jersey state criminal prosecution of an associate of Uribe,’ the indictment states. 

Uribe provided Nadine Menendez with $15,000 in cash for the down payment for the Mrecedes and then paid the monthly payment for her.

After she had possession of the car, Uribe texted  her: ‘are you happy?’ She responded, ‘I will never forget this.’ 

She also texted her husband, after the purchase was complete: ‘Congratulations mon amour de la vie, we are the proud owners of a 2019 Mercedes,’ with a heart emoji. 

Country singer Zach Bryan is seen in new bodycam footage telling cops he’s a ‘famous musician’ after being stopped for speeding

• Zach Bryan, 27, had been pulled over for speeding in Verdigris, Oklahoma on Sept. 4,  three days before his Sept. 7 run-in with cops in Vinita, Oklahoma 
• Bryan did not want to disclose his address and later revealed to the officer that he was a ‘famous musician’ 

By Ruth Bashinsky For Dailymail.Com

Published: 14:35 EDT, 21 September 2023 | Updated: 15:03 EDT, 21 September 2023

Elon Musk has shut down claims that Tesla is in ‘early’ talks to open an EV plant in Saudi Arabia.

A report from the Wall Street Journal stated Monday that Saudi Arabia has ‘been wooing’ Tesla with promises of the right to purchase certain quantities of metals and minerals the company needs for its EVs 

A deal with the Saudis could help Musk achieve his ambitious goal of selling 20 million vehicles a year by 2030 – up from just 1.3 million sold in 2022.

However, Musk hit back at the WSJ on X, posting a screenshot of the article with the caption: ‘Yet another utterly false article from WSJ.’ 

The WSJ report claims that people familiar with the discussion said Saudi Arabia is in talks with Tesla about setting up a  manufacturing facility there.

The move, if true, would be part of an ambitious push by Saudi Arabia to diversify its economy away from oil and secure metals needed to make electric cars.

‘The talks are at a very early stage and could fall apart. Any deal could be fraught with complications, given Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk’s contentious relationship with the Saudis,’ reads the article.

The report from the Wall Street Journal comes just hours after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan asked Musk to build a vehicle factory in Turkey, according to the country’s communications directorate.

Musk will also meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in California on Monday.

Saudi Arabia is said to be sourcing quantities of metals and minerals from other countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, the report said.

Democratic Republic of Congo is said to hold the world’s largest cobalt mines, mined workers ‘laboring in slave-like conditions.’ 

These workers include tens of thousands of children as young as four. 

But, it is unknown how Saudi Arabia will source minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Saudi Arabia has been trying to shift its economy away from oil and signing billion-dollar deals with several countries to collaborate on developing, manufacturing and selling electric vehicles.

In June, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment signed a $5.6 billion deal with Chinese electric car maker Human Horizon.

The US-based Lucid Group announced in August that its first overseas plant in Saudi Arabia is set to start limited production of Lucid Air EVs this month.

However, Musk’s Tesla brand currently leads the Middle East EV market. 

One of the proposals the kingdom is considering involves extending financing to commodities trader Trafigura for a flailing Congo cobalt and copper project, which could help provide a Tesla factory with supplies, the WSJ report said.

A Trafigura spokesperson said the trader was reviewing its options for the Mutoshi project in Congo amid rising costs and persistently low cobalt prices.

Tesla did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment, while Saudi Arabia’s sovereign fund, the Public Investment Fund, declined to comment.

Musk said in May that Tesla would probably pick a location for a new factory by the end of 2023. 

The company has six factories and is building a seventh in Mexico in northern Nuevo Leon state.

The WSJ’s claims come amid a series of high-profile human rights abuses by the authoritative regime in Saudi Arabia, which has been cracking down increasingly hard on peaceful dissent.

Last month, a court sentenced a retired Saudi teacher to death over a series of critical tweets of the regime. 

Mohammad bin Nasser al-Ghamdi, 54, was accused of ‘using his accounts on Twitter and YouTube to follow and promote individuals who seek to destabilize public order.’

Chris Evans has revealed he’s been diagnosed with skin cancer – eight years after being given the all-clear.

The broadcasting giant, 57, announced on his Virgin Radio show on Monday that doctors gave him the terrifying news recently after his masseuse Dee urged him to have a freckle she had noticed checked out.

Chris told listeners that it was thankfully found in the extremely early stages, doctors have said it is at ‘stage zero’ and it is ‘as treatable as cancer can possibly be’. He will undergo treatment next month.

The star, who became a huge household name in the 90s and 00s due to his popular TV shows, TFI Friday, Big Breakfast and his hellraising lifestyle, had a skin cancer scare back in 2020.

He was tested for the disease after discovering concerning marks on his body before Christmas. Prior to that, he was given the ‘all clear’ after prostate cancer scare in 2015.

He told listeners: ‘I’ve just got to talk briefly about… you know my biopsy for the skin cancer issue. So, the best news that I got whilst I was away, was that it was a positive test. So I have tested positive for skin cancer.

‘Obviously better news would have been that it would have been negative. But the reason it’s great news is that they’ve caught it as early as possible.

‘This has only happened because Dee, this angel sent from heaven, who gives me this massage every Friday, saw this freckle on my shin and said, “do me a favour Chris, go and get that checked out”.’

‘I didn’t and then the next week, she said: “Have you been to see anyone because you just need to go. It’s probably nothing but you need to go. That doesn’t look like a normal freckle to me”.’

He continued: ‘Anyway, I went and got it tested. I ended up having an operation. So whilst we were away, the email came through and the email was “can you please call because we need to discuss your results as opposed to just all-clear”. So I was sort of ready for something.

‘But because they caught it so early, it is as treatable as cancer can possibly be, to the extent that they caught it stage zero.’

Chris also said: ‘ It is a melanoma.There’s this phrase called a malignant melanoma – you know once you get something and you find out all about it – that is a redundant phrase because if it is a melanoma it is malignant.

‘But it’s been caught so early, just so you know, that it should be completely treatable. [Treatment] will happen on the 14th of September.’

The running enthusiast jokingly added: ‘I can’t run for a month afterwards so I’m going to do nothing but run until then. Is that ok?’

There are three types of skin cancer: melanoma, basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma. While melanoma only makes up one percent of cases, it causes a vast majority of deaths.

If caught early, the cancer is relatively harmless and can quickly be removed. 

Chris previously had a skin cancer scare and was tested for the disease after discovering concerning marks on his body before Christmas. 

At the time, he said ‘I went and had a few marks on my body inspected by a skin expert before Christmas and she said, ‘You need to come and see me again, just because of your complexion’.’

He added that an expert told him he had ‘nothing to worry about’ but said she advised him to get checked once a year.

The presenter went on to say: ‘I’ve got a particularly big freckle on the back of my hand at the moment.’

In summer 2015, Chris received the all-clear over a recent health scare.

The radio host admitted earlier this year that he was having tests for prostate cancer but results revealed that the star is in good health.

A source to the Sunday Mirror: ‘Chris is fit as a fiddle and his problems are behind him’.

Chris told his Breakfast show at the time: ‘Thank you once again to Kenney Jones, of The Who who was diagnosed with prostate cancer a couple of years ago and since recovery has been a fundraiser and supporter of Prostate Cancer UK.

‘Prostate cancer, and colon cancer of course, are one of the most survivable forms of cancer there is, if caught early enough. It not, one of the least. It’s a fine line between life and death, happiness and tragedy.

‘And I’ve got to say I’m in the middle of a prostate issue right now! I couldn’t stop. I have not been able to stop since Christmas – peeing – or wanting to go. So I’ve gone to the doctor.

‘I’ve done all the internet stuff that you shouldn’t do, I’ve gone on the internet, scared myself half to death, then gone to see the doctor. And we really should do it the other way round. However I’m in the middle of the tests.’

Chris continued: ‘I’ve completely changed my tune on this over the last couple of years. So there you go. If you are worried about anything just go and sort yourself out – if not for you, for your family.’

In 2011, Chris opened up about undergoing his first colonoscopy examination because of the history of cancer in his family.

Chris’ father died of colorectal cancer and his mother was a breast cancer survivor. 

He told the Daily Mail: ‘I went for this routine check and they found some nasties up there, and they removed them.

‘They were pre-cancerous, not malignant – at least we don’t think so; they’ve been sent for a biopsy.

‘The doctor said the only thing I could have done wrong was not come to see him.’

Chris shares three sons and one daughter with the professional golfer and part-time model Natasha, 38.

The DJ also has a daughter Jade, 34, with his former fiancée Alison Ward. 

They met back in 2005 and tied the knot in 2007 after becoming golf partners at the All Star Cup celebrity tournament in Newport, Wales.

The broadcaster was previously married to pop princess turned acclaimed actress Billie Piper, 39, from May 2001 to September 2007. 

Billie famously married  after dating for six months, aged just 18, with the 16-year age gap between the pair sparking controversy. 

Billie met Top Gear host Chris when she appeared on his TV show TFI Friday in 2000, the next day, he sent a £110,000 Ferrari filled with roses to her home (she couldn’t drive at the time). 

The duo married in a secret Las Vegas ceremony at the Little Church of the West for which she wore flips flops and a sarong, with the groom in an open-necked shirt.

The wedding was attended by just six guests, with their parents not being invited to the impulsive event.

An 18-month sabbatical followed as the couple travelled the world, before settling at Chris’ country estate in Hascombe, Surrey. 

The couple split three years later in 2004 and the divorce was finalised in 2007, they remained on good terms with Billie likening the marriage ‘to being in your university years’. 

She did not request a single penny of his estimated £30million fortune, and although citing irreconcilable differences on their divorce papers, they remained close afterwards. 

Billie previously recalled how she got ‘completely hammered for three years’ with her ex-husband when she was feeling burnt out from her teen pop career.

Speaking on David Tennant Does A Podcast With… in 2020, Billie said she had an ‘amazing time’ with Chris and described the relationship as ‘very loving.’

In another interview, she described the booze-fuelled marriage as being drunk ‘for five years with an old man’.

Chris first rose to fame as the presenter of Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush, which he fronted for one year on Channel 4 from 1994.

The game show was made by his own production company Ginger Media Group.

He currently hosts the Weekday Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio after returning to the station in January 2019 following a stint at BBC Radio 2.

Zoe Ball was named as successor in the Radio 2 breakfast slot, and began her new role a week before Evans on January 14 that year. 

Chris previously hosted the breakfast show on Virgin Radio between 1997 and 2001. 

In July 2016 he quit Top Gear after one series. The show failed to take off after Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May left for Amazon. 

Viewing figures slumped to just 2.4million viewers, down from 4.3million under the previous presenters. 

Chris defended the show’s performance, calling the new Top Gear ‘a hit’, but still left saying he had given it ‘my best shot, but sometimes that’s not enough’.

He added: ‘I feel like my standing aside is the single best thing I can now do to help the cause.’

In May that year, he took a short break after the death of his beloved mother Minnie aged 92 minutes before he was due on air.

He said: ‘The reason I’m not with you today is just before we came on air my mum passed away and I needed to go straight back home to be with the family.

‘Mum needed to be at peace. She was an incredible woman. Anyone who’s ever met her will tell you that and ultimately there was no battle lost, only a life won. Every single day’.

In 1995, Evans landed one of the most sought-after jobs in the industry, the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show. 

But the broadcaster went off the rails amid heavy drinking and resigned live on air in 1997, after Radio 1 refused to meet his demands to work a four-day week. 

He returned to the airwaves as the host of Virgin Radio’s breakfast show – and his production company Ginger Media Group also snapped up the station for £85 million.

The DJ hosted the show from 1997 to 2001, when he was sacked for ‘breach of contract’.

The star, seen out drinking with teenage girlfriend and later wife Billie, had failed to turn up for a week of breakfast shows.

‘I was an idiot – there’s no point sugar coating it,’ he later said.

He continued to front TFI Friday, but by 2000 the show – once pioneering and cutting edge – had lost its way and viewers deserted it.

Evans made a comeback on Radio 2 in 2005 as presenter of the Saturday afternoon show, before moving to the drivetime slot.

Evans worked his way up from a series of odd jobs – including working as a strip-o-gram – to presenting a show on Manchester’s Piccadilly Radio, where Timmy Mallett was his boss.

Michael Oher admits he’s ‘grateful for the Tuohys’ in interview given just just HOURS before filing lawsuit against ‘adoptive’ family for ‘tricking him into signing conservatorship’ and earning nothing for 2009 hit movie The Blind Side

• The former NFL player filed a legal petition against the Tuohy family Monday 
• Prior to the filing, Oher promoted his book on Mississippi Public Broadcasting 
• DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news 

By Patrick Djordjevic

Published: 17:04 EDT, 14 August 2023 | Updated: 20:48 EDT, 14 August 2023

The Reserve Bank’s outgoing governor Philip Lowe has admitted he’s the most unpopular man in Australia – but argued inflation would be even higher without his aggressive rate hikes.

Dr Lowe told a House of Representatives economics committee in Canberra he wasn’t worried about being unpopular, in his last appearance before a parliamentary hearing before he finishes in September.

‘It’s unpopular but we’ll do what’s necessary and want the community to understand that because if people come to doubt us, that will make the eventual task more difficult,’ he said on Friday. 

Dr Lowe was seated next to his deputy and successor Michele Bullock, who next month will become the first woman to lead the Reserve Bank in its 63-year history. 

He said that unlike politicians, he didn’t have to worry about being re-elected, after Treasurer Jim Chalmers declined to extend his seven-year term.

‘The reason that monetary policy has really been assigned to an independent, central bank is it’s very difficult for the political class to do what we’re currently doing – that is putting up interest rates,’ Dr Lowe said.

‘People are hurting, it’s very uncomfortable and we’re putting up interest rates.

‘In parts of the community, we’re incredibly popular – I often read in the paper that I’m the most unpopular person in the country. That’s fine.

‘It’s much harder for the political class to be unpopular in the way that the Reserve Bank and I am unpopular.’

Australian home borrowers have copped the most aggressive pace of interest rate rises since 1989 – with 12 increases since May 2022 that have taken the cash rate to an 11-year high of 4.1 per cent. 

Variable mortgage rates have typically surged by 64 per cent in little more than a year with borrowers servicing an average $600,000 mortgage paying $17,800 a year more than they did 15 months ago.

Despite that, Sydney’s median house price has been climbing in every month since February, last month rising by another one per cent to $1.334million, CoreLogic data showed.

Dr Lowe noted that Australia’s population growth pace of 2 per cent was outpacing the 1.5 per cent increase in new homes, arguing those buying now regarded the hiking cycle as being over. 

‘There’s an understandable perception in the community that the peak of interest rates is either now or close at hand,’ he said.

‘People say, “If I can afford the current rate of repayments and I don’t lose my job, there’s going to be strong demand going forward”.’

But with rents surging in Australia’s biggest cities, Dr Lowe spoke out against the idea of a rent cap, a policy advocated by the Greens.

‘They’re short-term fixes that make the problem worse,’ he said.

‘In most cases, rent controls reduce the incentive to add to supply.’

Dr Lowe said that even if rates were to rise again, they wouldn’t be going up to the same extent with crude oil prices now lower than they were last year. 

‘Interest rates have increased a lot, who knows what’s going to happen in the future, but we won’t see the type of increases in interest rates that we’ve seen over the last year,’ he said. ‘That pressure will go away.’ 

He made the suggestion despite indicating in 2021 that interest rates would stay on hold at a record-low of 0.1 per cent until 2024 ‘at the earliest’. 

Australia’s 6 per cent inflation rate is lower than the 32-year high level of 7.8 per cent reached at the end of 2022, but it’s still much higher than the wage price index of 3.7 per cent. 

‘I know high interest rates are unpopular but it’s the way to get inflation back down and real incomes rising again,’ Dr Lowe said.

‘The biggest drain on real, household disposable income over the past year isn’t higher interest rates, it’s high inflation.’

Dr Lowe, whose seven-year term expires on September 18, promised wages growth would overtake inflation in 2024 and suggested less of the cost of living burden would fall on the young.

‘There are clear differences across households – younger households who borrowed during the pandemic are having to restrain their spending more than older households who have a lot of financial assets, don’t have any debt,’ he said.

‘I think we’ll see a more equal experience over the next 12 months than we’ve had over the past 12 months.

‘The key to that is to get inflation down and to get real incomes rising again because that will help everybody.’

Australians are typically suffering a cut in real wages, whether or not that owned their home outright, had a mortgage or were renting.

‘The first point I’d make is everybody’s hurting because high inflation is eroding people’s real income,’ Dr Lowe said. 

‘And when real income goes down, you have to cut back your spending and we see that cutback in spending right across the board.

‘High inflation is eroding people’s incomes and that’s causing everyone pain and that’s why it’s so critical to get inflation down.’

The Reserve Bank is expecting wages growth to exceed four per cent in 2024, for the first time in 15 years.

Dr Lowe warned that without productivity improvements, real wages, economic growth and profitability would suffer. 

‘If we don’t we’re going to have problems,’ he said.

The RBA is expecting inflation to return to the top of its two to three per cent target by mid-2025 but Dr Lowe noted that would have still meant four years of inflation being outside the band. 

‘If we let it drift longer, people might rightly say, ‘Was the Reserve Bank really serious about this?’,’ he said, adding this would see people demand higher wages and lead to higher prices.

‘The whole inflation psychology would shift and once that happens, we know that to get inflation eventually back down means even higher interest rates and more unemployment.’

The 30-day interbank futures market and three of Australia’s Big Four banks – Commonwealth, Westpac and ANZ – believe the rate rises are over.

But NAB is forecasting one more increase in November that would take the cash rate to a 12-year high of 4.35 per cent. 

Lindsey Graham is urging his ally Donald Trump to stop promoting conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was rigged, claiming on Sunday that the ex-president is ‘hurting his chances’ of re-election by doing so.

It comes the same day as a new poll shows Republican voters are torn on whether they even want Trump as the GOP nominee in 2024 — and even fewer Democratic voters who want President Joe Biden to run again.

But according to Graham, the Republican presidential nomination is ‘his nomination for the taking’ — unless he keeps making his 2020 loss the main focus of his platform.

‘I am not contesting the 2020 election. I’d like to reform the system. The problems we found in 2020 need to be addressed. But the 2020 election is over for me,’ the South Carolina Republican senator said on ABC News’ This Week.

‘He has a great chance of being president again in 2024, if he’ll start comparing what he did as president versus what’s going on now and how to fix the mess we’re in. If he looks backward, I think he’s hurting his chances.’

While he hasn’t formally announced a re-election bid, the former president has dropped numerous hints that another campaign was at least on his mind. 

Graham, one of Trump’s most vocal supporters in the Senate, was recently lambasted as a ‘RINO,’ or Republican In Name Only, by the ex-president for breaking with him on the Capitol riot.

Trump at a Texas rally last month pledged to pardon his supporters who were arrested for storming the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The remark earned instant bipartisan backlash. Graham, without mentioning Trump by name, released a statement declaring: ‘All Americans are entitled to have a speedy trial and their day in court, but those who actively engage in violence for whatever political cause must be held accountable and not be forgiven.’

ABC host George Stephanopoulos asked Graham about their recent public falling out and questioned how the GOP senator thinks Trump could change course now.

‘Well, here’s my statement about the president’s situation right now. He’s the most dominant figure in the Republican Party. I think Biden’s approval ratings are in the tank because his policies are not working,’ Graham said without addressing Trump’s insult.

‘For the president to win in 2024, he’s got to talk about the future. He’s got to talk about how to fix a broken border, how to repair the damage done through the Biden economic agenda and how to make the world a safer place.’

He added that continuing to push claims the 2020 election was rigged in Biden’s favor would have ramifications for the entire party.

‘I do believe, if he talked about what he’s capable of doing and remind people what he did in the past, he has a chance to come back,’ Graham said.

‘If he continues to talk about the 2020 election, I think it hurts his cause and, quite frankly, it hurts the Republican Party.’

Another prominent Republican lawmaker to break from Trump over the January 6 pardons was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who called the event a ‘violent insurrection.’

Since Trump left office, McConnell has become a favorite punching bag of his and in recent months the ex-president has reportedly worked behind-the-scenes to gin up support to topple McConnell from his position at the head of the Senate GOP.

Graham said on Sunday, ‘any Republican leader in the House or the Senate has to have a working relationship with President Trump, because most Republicans like President Trump’s policies.’

He previously suggested he may not support McConnell if he failed to reconcile with Trump.

‘A lot of us wish he would look forward, not backward. But he’s very popular because he stands up to all the things that most Republicans believe need to be stood up to,’ Graham said of the ex-president’s popularity.

But it appears not all Republicans feel the same as the ones on Capitol Hill do, according to CNN‘s new survey released on Sunday.

The January-into-February poll revealed that 50 percent of registered Republicans and Independent voters who lean to the right would vote for Trump to be the 2024 GOP presidential nominee.

However 49 percent said they’d prefer a different candidate.

Among Republicans Trump’s support is slightly higher, with 54 percent saying they hopes he runs again.

But just 38 percent of GOP-leaning Independents felt the same.

The lackluster sentiment for their party’s top figure is shared by Democrats — even more of whom are hesitant about a second Biden term.

Just 45 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning voters said they wanted Biden as their nominee in 2024. Fifty-one percent prefer a different candidate to take up the president’s mantle.

Similar to Trump, registered Democrats are slightly more receptive to another Biden ticket. However unlike Trump he fails to capture a majority of their favor — only 48 percent said they’d back another run.

The share of left-leaning Independents who would support Biden is around 33 percent.