I’m a statriotic Minnesotan, but after 12 years, the time has come: I’m going to become a dual citizen.

When I arrived at a bleak office building to take my ‘Life in the UK’ test – a necessary rite of passage before applying for citizenship – I was greeted not with a smile, but by being told to empty my pockets, stand spread-eagled, and await my ritualised once-over with a metal detector wand.

Once they had carefully checked both ears for hidden earpieces (I’m not kidding), I sat down to take the test.

Citizenship tests are a strange phenomenon, not because I object to them in principle, but because they force a country to arbitrarily decide what knowledge is necessary to be formally inducted into the nation.

But what’s most bizarre about them is that they often involve questions that native-born people couldn’t answer – a bit of a red flag.

One of the first questions I was asked: ‘What did Saint Augustine do after helping to spread Christianity to Britain?’ (The answer, which I got right: ‘Become the first Archbishop of Canterbury.’) Another question asked: ‘In Scotland, what’s the name of courts that deal with minor criminal offences?’ In England, these are known as Magistrates’ Courts, which I already knew, but it was only thanks to studying for the test that I got the answer right: ‘Justice of the Peace Courts.’

I have asked several native-born English people this question. So far, nobody has answered correctly.

Halfway through the test, I was reminded of the ongoing official role of the Church of England when I was asked to identify the day on which Jesus died. Kudos to those of you who know it’s Good Friday, though I’m not certain why that is necessary knowledge to be British. (Here’s a question that, for reasons unknown, wasn’t on the ‘Life in the UK’ test: Which two countries automatically give religious leaders seats in parliament? The answer: the UK and Iran).

Then, there was another issue: one of the practice questions for the test was factually wrong. It asked, ‘Which king first unified England?’ The answer they were looking for was Alfred the Great, but there’s a much stronger case to be made for Athelstan, Alfred’s grandson. (I decided it was unwise to bring this up at the test centre).

When I finished the test, a grouchy lady – I’d be grouchy in her shoes too, wanding people down with metal detectors and checking for earpieces in the world’s most lifeless office space – informed me that I had passed the test.

‘Did I get any wrong?’ I asked.

‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘The computer just tells me that you passed, which means you got at least 18 out of 24 right.’

This was the final ingenious flourish, to never let future citizens know the correct answers to questions about knowledge deemed essential for one’s ability to thrive in Britain.

Now, America’s immigration system is utterly broken, so I’m not in much of a place to critique Britain’s, but the British visa system is deliberately designed to be terrible.

Over 12 years, I’ll have spent roughly £13,000 ($16,500) on visas/visa appointments, which is crazy.

If you change the kind of visa you have, it resets the official clock on your path toward citizenship back to zero – ridiculous. And because of the scarcity of in-person appointments, I’ve done a bleak UK Grand Tour, taking trains to sterile offices in Croydon, Solihull, Sheffield, Maidstone, and Cardiff.

The experience of the ‘Life in the UK’ test is completely at odds with life in the UK.

After living abroad for 12 years, I see America’s strengths and weaknesses more clearly, just as I see Britain’s strengths and weaknesses more clearly as an outsider.

Life here in Britain has its problems – the cost of living crisis and the general decline post-Brexit are real and serious – but here are some tremendous strengths.   

Watch this space for Brian’s take on what’s great about Britain… 

This article was originally published on Brian’s blog site – The Garden of Forking Paths.

Dr Brian Klaas is Associate Professor in Global Politics, University College London. For more from Brian visit brianpklaas.com. His book Corruptible: Who Gets Power And How It Changes Us is out now, available from Amazon.

Air-fryers are without a doubt the must-have kitchen gadget at the moment, with  celebrities from Sir Mo Farah to Drew Barrymore confessing their love for them. 

The appliance uses hot air rather than hot oil to cook foods, offering a quick and healthy alternative to deep-fat fryers. 

While many of us use our devices to cook frozen treats such as chips or chicken nuggets, there are a range of surprising foods that work an absolute treat in the air fryer. 

‘Air fryers can be useful for quickly cooking and crisping up frozen foods,’ Which? said, but added that you can ‘get away with cooking almost anything’ in the device. 

From hard ‘boiled’ eggs to steak, here are seven foods you probably didn’t know you could cook in an air fryer.     

Hard-boiled eggs

Speaking to MailOnline, Liana Green, a blogger who has written countless air fryer guides, explained how to create the perfect hard ‘boiled’ eggs in the air fryer. 

‘Air frying boiled eggs might sound counterintuitive, but the air fryer offers a consistent temperature, making it easier to achieve perfectly cooked eggs every time,’ she said. 

‘Plus, you eliminate the need for boiling water.’

Ms Green recommends air frying at 150°C for eight minutes for a runny yolk, or for 12 minutes for a harder centre.

However, she added: ‘You might need to experiment with your air fryer a bit.’

Donuts

A food blogger has revealed how to make doughnuts in an air fryer with just two ingredients.

Known as The Suga Fix on social media, Emma, from London, posted a recipe on Instagram on how to make the delicious-looking sweet treats.

To make the stripped-back recipe you will need 200g of self raising flour and 250ml of Greek yoghurt – plus butter and caster sugar to finish them off, and Lotus Biscoff spread if you want a dip.

Emma said: ‘Mix together the yoghurt and flour until a shaggy dough forms. Knead on the counter for 3 mins, add flour if it’s sticky. Use a spoon to cut small pieces of dough, then roll into balls.

She added: ‘Spray your air fryer basket with vegetable oil, then put in 12 balls. Fry at 200c for 12-15 mins (if the inside is doughy they are not done yet).

‘Brush the dough holes with melted butter, roll in sugar & enjoy!’

Ravioli

Unsurprisingly, you can’t use an air fryer to cook dried pasta, since you need to put it in boiling water. 

However, fresh ravioli crisps up beautifully in the appliance, and can serve as a quick and easy starter for your next dinner party, or simply a delicious snack. 

Just coat your ravioli in beaten egg and breadcrumbs, before placing them in the air fryer at 175°C for 10 minutes, flipping half way through. 

Your ravioli should be crispy on the outside and soft and gooey on the inside! 

Halloumi

While frozen cheese products such as breaded cheese bites or mozzarella sticks are fine to cook in the air fryer, it’s best to avoid using any fresh cheese.

Most fresh cheese has a low melting temperature, which means it can quickly burn. 

The only exception to this rule is halloumi, which is safe to cook in the air fryer thanks to its higher melting point. 

‘The air fryer’s high heat crisps the halloumi’s outside to perfection while keeping the inside deliciously soft,’ Ms Green said. 

‘Drizzle with a little honey to get that amazing Mediterranean taste. I air fry at 200°C for 8 to 10 minutes.’

Steak

Many food puritans will recoil in horror at the thought of cooking steak in the air fryer. 

And while Ms Green agrees that the applicance probably won’t replace your grill or pan, she says it ‘does an admirable job of cooking steak.’

‘The circulating hot air seals in the juices and flavours, giving you a steak that’s both tender and full of flavour,’ she told MailOnline. 

‘Just make sure to preheat the air fryer and don’t overcrowd it to get the best results.’

How long you air fry your steak for depends on both the cut and how well done you like it. 

For a sirloin steak, Ms Green recommends pre-heating your air fryer at 200°C. 

Three to four minutes on each side is perfect if you like your steak medium-rare, while she recommends four to five minutes on each side if you prefer it medium. 

And if the idea of any pink meat gives you the ick, a well-done steak can be achieved with five to six minutes of cooking on each side.  

Garlic

Whether it’s a pasta dish or a vegetable side, if you’re following a recipe that calls for roasted garlic, forget using the oven. 

Roasting garlic in the air fryer takes half the time, and involves virtually no preparation. 

Simply slice the botom off the garlic bulb and place it on a piece of alumnium foil. 

Drizzle with olive oil before sealing the foil and placing it in your air fryer at 200°C. 

Check your garlic after 20 minutes – it should turn golden brown when it’s ready! 

Fried rice

Cooking rice from scratch requires water, so the air fryer just isn’t suitable.

‘An air fryer isn’t a go-to appliance for boiling and steaming – you’re better off sticking to a slow cooker or a pot on the hob,’ Which? said. 

However, if you have leftover cooked rice, you can make delicious fried rice with the appliance. 

For the best results, mix your leftover rice with cooked scrambled egg, frozen vegetables, soy sauce and oil before cooking it in your air fryer at 175°C for 10 to 15 minutes. 

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said there’s ‘no question’ he wants Mitch McConnell to remain Senate Minority Leader, claiming the Kentucky lawmaker was in ‘good shape’ when they spoke on Saturday despite rising concerns over his fitness for office following back-to-back incidents.

Following Leader McConnell’s concerning freeze-up during a press conference on Wednesday, Sen. Rounds insists the 81-year-old is still ‘sharp and shrewd’ and up for his role.

The 30-second freeze came just over a month after another eerily similar event where McConnell froze at the podium during a press conference at the Capitol. Both times reporters were asking McConnell about his future and whether he plans to run for reelection in 2026.

During a phone call on Saturday, McConnell told Rounds that he was expecting to have spells of lightheadedness following his concussion in March – and said it was a coincidence that the only two episodes he’s had were captured on camera. 

Meanwhile, presidential hopeful Nikki Haley is proposing that all members of Congress, both incumbent and newcomer, should be required to provide doctor notes confirming their mental acuity – just like lawmakers have to hand over financial disclosures to run for office.

Rounds relayed to CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning what McConnell told him during their Saturday call.

He said the Leader told him: ‘I had that concussion. They warned me that I would be lightheaded in the future and that I have got to be aware of it. It happened twice. It just so happens I’m doing it in front of reporters.’

Rounds added that McConnell ‘felt good yesterday.’

‘He said he’s got to watch his hydration levels. Dr. Monahan, who is also my physician there at the Senate, he’s sharp,’ the South Dakota Republican said. ‘And if he says that Mitch is ready to go, then Mitch is ready to go.’

Following the latest freeze, reports emerged that GOP senators are planning an emergency meeting as they come back into session to discuss the future of the Party’s leadership.

At least a dozen offices told DailyMail.com last week that they had not heard of any plans for such a meeting.

‘Mitch will come back in front of us, and he will discuss it with the entire team,’ Rounds told CNN. ‘He’s been busy. He’s been working around his own state. But he’s also been doing the fund-raising that is required of a leader. And I think that’s been a big job for him as well during this break.’

He added: ‘Mitch is sharp, and he is shrewd. He understands what needs to be done. I will leave it up to him as to how he wants to discuss that with American public. But there’s no doubt in my mind that he is perfectly capable of continuing on at this stage of the game.’

Nikki Haley, 51, feels it’s vital to evaluate elderly lawmakers’ mental competency, but suggested on Sunday that she’s open to making it a requirement for all members of Congress so there’s no discrimination on who gets checked.

The proposal comes just days after McConnell’s latest freeze – and months after Haley already suggested a 75-year-old age limit for those who can run for president.

‘I think there should be mental competency tests,’ Haley told NBC’s Face the Nation on Sunday morning, adding that it should be done even if it’s ‘for the entire Congress.’

‘These are basic tests. These are – tell us where you were born, name four words that start with the same letter, how many grandchildren do you have?’ she listed in assuring the exams are easy and will assure mental capacity to serve in office.

‘When a candidate files to run for office – incumbent or newcomer – they have to give their financial disclosures,’ Haley added. ‘They should also give a notice from the doctor that tells about their mental capacity. I think that we need that.’

Haley has faced criticism from Trump world for her age limit of 75, claiming that she was specifically targeting the ex-President with that limitation. But on Sunday, she said that there needs to be some standard put in place, and said that could even be at the age of 50.

Haley’s proposals come as the top ages in the top tiers of the federal government continue to rise.

President Joe Biden, 80, is the oldest person ever elected President. Donald Trump is 77, meaning that if either Biden or Trump wins in 2024, they will set yet another record for the oldest-ever president.

The Senate is run by the 81-year-old minority leader and 72-year-old Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Up until the 2022 midterms, the House was run by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is now 83.

McConnell’s age and health scares have gained new scrutiny after he froze for 30 seconds during a press conference in Kentucky on Wednesday. It came just a month after an eerily similar incident when speaking with reporters at the Capitol in late July. Colleagues helped lead him away from the podium and back to his office.

Both freeze-ups came just months after McConnell fell at the Washington D.C. Waldorf Astoria, once the Trump Hotel. He suffered a concussion and broken ribs. It took six weeks for his recovery.

Capitol Physician Dr. Brian Monahan immediately cleared McConnell for normal work the day after the latest freeze.

The doctor said it’s normal to experience lightheadedness in concussion recovery. He also said the episode could be attributed to dehydration.

When asked about McConnell continuing to serve in Senate leadership, Rounds said: ‘Oh, yes, no question.’

‘There’s a lot of folks out there that would like to see him go, but that’s because he is a very capable leader,’ he told CNN’s Dana Bash. ‘And he’s one of these kind of guys that, if you could take him out of the leadership role in advance, you might end up in a better position if you were a competitor of his.’

‘But on the Republican side, we all understand that he’s good,’ Rounds insisted. ‘He’s good for our party. He sees the long road ahead. He looks a long ways ahead. And when all the rest of us are sitting back, he’s the guy that takes the spears and the arrows, so that we don’t have to.’

McConnell’s freeze comes as 90-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) also faces immense criticism for her continued health issues and her advanced age.

Voters are also concerned about President Biden’s age, with a new poll last week showing 77 percent of Americans think he is too old to serve another four-year term.

‘We can’t stand watching Dianne Feinstein sit there and be told by an aide how she should vote,’ Haley told NBC’s Robert Costa. ‘We can’t worry about Mitch McConnell being frozen at a podium. We can’t have Joe Biden forget where he is.’

‘Our enemies are watching all of this,’ she added. ‘And every time they have an instance like that, America is less safe because our enemies think we are out of control – and that has got to stop.’

A Russian general who was keeper of secrets about Vladimir Putin‘s £1 billion Black Sea palace has died mysteriously in jail.

General Gennady Lopyrev, 69, suddenly became ill on Monday – gasping for breath – and was told by doctors he had previously undiagnosed leukaemia.

There are now suspicions he was poisoned just as he became eligible for parole.

The general was jailed for ten years in 2017 by a military court accused of bribe-taking and illegal possession of ammunition – charges he always denied.

Serving in the Federal Protection Service [FSO], he personally oversaw the construction of Putin’s gargantuan clifftop Gelendzhik Palace, a private residence allegedly built with state cash.

He was also responsible for the dictator’s official residence Bocharov Ruchei in Sochi.

Up to his jailing he had been one of Putin’s closest security aides, and was seen with the Russian president and then British premier Tony Blair in Moscow in 2002.

It comes as another Russian general, who led the invasion of Ukraine until he was purged by Putin, also met a suspiciously sudden end this week.

Having been healthy on Sunday when he spoke to his son Alexander, Gen Lopyrev suddenly became ill on Monday complaining of speaking and breathing difficulties, reported Telegram channel VChK-OGPU.

‘He could not breathe and had a hoarse voice,’ said the channel likening the symptoms to those of Putin foe Alexei Navalny who was poisoned with nerve agent Novichok.

Lopyrev was taken on Monday from penal colony number 3 in Ryazan region to two hospitals.

He told his son Alexander by phone: ‘I was taken to Skopin [hospital] first, and they found nothing conclusive.

‘Now they brought me to Ryazan regional hospital, and said I had leukaemia.’

The son said: ‘But isn’t leukaemia a cancer… Surely it couldn’t catch you in just two days?’

Speaking to media, Alexander said: ‘I also spoke to the chief of their medical unit, who said his heart check returned normal, and lungs were clear.

‘It is hard to say what exactly happened. We were getting ready to apply for his parole, because it was time [to apply]… And now this call [to say he had died].

‘It’s all very strange, and way too fast.’

His father was extremely fit and routinely practised gymnastics while in the penal colony, Alexander claimed. 

‘Everything was fine on Sunday,’ he said. ‘We had a chat via a payphone, there wasn’t a single complaint about his health.

‘His voice was energetic, he spoke about his usual sports like gymnastics and stretching. Every day he walked 15km [9 miles].

‘On Monday he called with his voice suddenly sounding hoarse. By evening on Monday… he called from [hospital in] Ryazan, saying he felt really unwell…he said he struggled to breathe.’

Viktor Boborykin, chairman of the Public Monitoring Commission for the region, said there was ‘nothing criminal’ in his death.

Navalny had earlier identified Gen Lopyrev as being responsible for Gelendzhik and knowing all the secrets of its funding.

Putin’s Black Sea palace includes a pole-dancing hookah boudoir, casino, and ‘aqua disco’.

It has a 16-storey underground complex which has been compared with the lair of a James Bond villain.

A mining engineer who worked on the construction it had indeed been built for the president and ‘there is a whole anthill in the rock under the house’ including a nuclear shelter.

The subterranean maze includes a cliff face loggia overlooking the sea and a vast wine cellar.

The death of Gen Lopyrev followed that of Col-Gen Gennady Zhidko, 58.

Zhidko briefly led the invasion of Ukraine as commander of the Southern Grouping of Forces before giving way to General Sergei ‘Armageddon’ Surovikin in October.

The 58-year-old also served as the Chief of Staff of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria in 2016, and in 2018 was appointed Commander of the Eastern Military District.

The high-ranking official – who was awarded the highest honorary title, the Hero of Russia, for his service in 2017 – later became deputy minister of defence in 2021.

Zhidko was ousted from his role in Ukraine in October 2022 – as commander of Putin’s ‘special military operation’ – after the failure to grab the city of Kharkiv.

He had been seen as in charge since April after taking over from ousted General Alexander Dvornikov, aka the ‘Butcher of Syria’.

The role led to Western sanctions against Zhidko.

Surovikin, who replaced him, was later demoted from the role by chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov.

Surovikin remained his deputy but is believed to have been detained in June amid suspicion he knew of plans to stage a coup against Putin’s regime by Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Little had been seen of Zhidko in recent months.

His death was confirmed by the loyalist governor of Khabarovsk region Mikhail Degtyarev, who expressed his condolences, but there was no official announcement.

The reports did not say where Zhidko died. He was seen as having one of the best military brains in Russia.

The deaths of Generals Lopyrev and Zhidko are just the latest in a long line of suspicious fatalities among the upper echelons of Russia’s military and business elite in recent months.

Major General Vladimir Makarov, 67, was in charge of ‘combating extremism’ in Russia and was found shot dead in February.

He reportedly led the hunting down and suppression of opponents of the Russian president, as well as journalists deemed hostile to the Kremlin.

Makarov also took action against young people who protested against Putin.

Putin issued a decree to fire him in January, though his reasons for doing so remain unclear.

Makarov’s wife Valentina was in a country house with her husband in Golikovo village near Moscow at 7am when she heard a gunshot, local reports said.

Some reports said a Berkut-2M hunting rifle was found nearby. Other accounts said a pistol was discovered.

His wife summoned a family member and called an ambulance but paramedics could not save Makarov, said reports, and he was pronounced dead.

The dead general’s family were being interrogated by the Russian Investigative Committee, reported Moskovsky Komsomolets, a Moscow-based daily newspaper.

The publication said that firearms were kept inside the house. 

Relatives said he ‘did not know what to do’ after Putin axed him.

VChK-OGPU Telegram channel cited a source saying Makarov had been in ‘deep depression’ following his ousting.

He had been deputy head of the Interior Ministry’s Main Directorate for Combating Extremism, which was also responsible for countering terrorism.

From December 24 to 26, there was a string of four particularly mysterious deaths. 

On December 26, Pavel Antonov – the richest deputy of the Russian Duma (parliament) and a Putin critic – died in India falling out of a hotel window.

His companion Vladimir Bidenov was found dead in the same hotel four days earlier.

Aleksey Maslov, 69, the former chief of Russian Ground Forces, died in hospital on 25 December while Aleksandr Buzakov – head of Russia’s ‘admiralty shipyards’ for a decade – died on December 24.

Last July, retired Major General of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Lobachev, 76, was found dead in Moscow. His death was also ruled as suicide.

Other recent deaths have included the editor of a popular Russian propaganda magazine, the vice-president of Gazprombank and a senior Gazprom official.

One man burned alive after falling asleep with a lit cigarette in Moscow, another fell from a balcony, and another fell down a flight of stairs.

Suspicious deaths of notable Russians have not been confined to Russia’s borders, either. In April, Sergey Protosenya – Former Deputy Chairman of Novatek – was found hanged from a handrail. His wife and daughter were found killed with stab wounds.

Businessman Mikhail Watford was found dead at his home in Surrey, England, while another – Vladimir Bidenov – died in France after hitting his head on a railing.

With the summer holidays in full swing, many of us are on the move. 

Whether that’s a staycation or heading to Europe and beyond, travelling isn’t always the smoothest of experiences. 

So here is our pick of the best travel products to keep your holiday on track from departure to arrival.

LOUNGING ABOUT

Travelling in pyjamas is all the rage with celebrities, from Game of Thrones actor Sophie Turner to footballer Erling Haaland sporting expensive varieties. 

A little more reasonable, though, is Desmond and Dempsey’s set. Made from breathable linen, it is designed to be worn 24 hours a day. For something a little louder go wild with Nologo’s jungle-print pyjamas (£55, nologo-chic.co.uk).

Details: Desmond and Dempsey Lounge Set from £210 at desmondanddempsey.com.

PEACE AND QUIET

Noise-cancelling headphones are a must when flying, and a great budget pair is the JBL Tune 760 NC (£59.99, currys.co.uk). However, for travelling in general, it might be worth trying the Shokz OpenFit open-ear headphones. They are comfortable, lightweight and offer the same immersive sound quality as traditional models while not shutting you off from the world outside.

Details: Shokz OpenFit from £179 at uk.shokz.com.

GLOWING SKIN

Travelling can be tough on the skin, and the liquids limit on our usual products at airports doesn’t get scrapped until summer next year. Worry not: the TheraFace Pro is a compact device which offers eight skincare treatments, including LED light therapy and a facial massage, and can be packed into a small bag for hand luggage.

Details: The TheraFace Pro is from £375 at therabody.com.

MUSICAL MAGIC

The Boomcube 15 is about as cheap as portable speakers get. The compact device is also water-resistant, has a 14-hour battery life, stereo-pairing for better sound quality and comes in two colours.

Details: The Kitsound Boomcube 15 is from £19.99 at kitsound.co.uk.

KEEPING COOL

Soaring temperatures in Europe and across the globe have been well reported this summer, so staying cool is more important than ever. One good option for this is a hanging, portable neck fan which directs a refreshingly cool breeze upwards.

Details: Jisulife Portable Neck Fan is from £31.99 at amazon.co.uk.

COMFORT ON THE GO

Vivo’s mission is ‘to help people connect with the world around them’, which might sound lofty for a shoe company. But its shoes are made to be wide, thin and flexible for comfort while also being as close to walking barefoot as possible. Some products (which range from walking boots to sandals) also roll up, making them easy to pack.

Details: Vivo’s everyday Geo Court III is from £105 at vivobarefoot.com.

STAY ENERGISED

Long-haul flights often leave us tired and jet-lagged, but Phizz’s effervescent, dissolvable tablets aim to combat this. The brand’s new caffeine boost is packed with vitamins, electrolytes, slow-release caffeine and helps the body absorb water three times faster.

Details: Three tubes of Phizz Caffeine Boost from £19.99 at phizz.co.

PACKED OUT

All good holidays start with packing, so a sturdy, secure and practical bag is a must. Antler’s Clifton medium suitcase is made to survive a plane’s hold – the wheelie bag is strong, light and easy to manoeuvre with handy compartment nets inside. Even better, the full range, which comes in a variety colours, is now 20 per cent off.

Details: The Clifton medium suitcase is from £168 at antler.co.uk.

THE SAFE BET

There’s nothing worse than being slapped with a fine for having luggage that’s too big. And extra bags are only getting more expensive. So it’s handy that Anode’s rugged 30l underseat cabin bag is guaranteed to fit below the seat in front and keep you out of trouble.

Details: Anode’s 30l Twinwheel Underseat Case is £44.95 at cabinmax.com.

WARM EMBRACE

Activity-based holidays are being embraced by travellers across the UK. But it’s not all scuba diving and waterskiing – wild swimming and cold-water therapy workshops are on the rise. To keep you warm after these activities, the Dryrobe is a great option. It is insulated and has a loose fit to make changing easier. It’s not the easiest thing to pack, but it’ll be of use in cooler climes.

Details: Dryrobe Advance Change Robe from £160 at dryrobe.com.

The mother of a vegan influencer who lived on an ‘extreme’ diet of raw fruit and vegetables before she reportedly died from starvation and exhaustion has told how she ‘knew she was about to die’.

Vera Samsonova, 63, said her daughter Zhanna Samsonova, who is known as Zhanna D’Art on social media, ‘did not listen to her’ when she begged her to come home after warning her about the effects of her ‘nightmare’ diet of restrictive eating.

Ms Samsonova, originally from Russia, had been on the raw plant-based diet for ten years that consisted of fruits, sunflower seed sprouts, fruit smoothies and juices before she died on July 21. 

The 39-year-old, who friends say was suffering from anorexia, became so weak in the final weeks of her life as a result of her extreme diet that she was practically bed-bound and it would take her ‘several minutes’ to walk up one step on a staircase. 

Ms Samsonova, who hadn’t drunk water for more than six years and instead replaced it with fruit and vegetable juices, died on July 21 while in intensive care at a hospital in Malaysia.

Her mother has spoken of her anguish over her death, which she believes was the result of a cholera-like infection that was exacerbated by her extreme diet.

Vera said: ‘Over the past month, I have been so exhausted because I understood that Zhanna was about to die, but still I could not help her in any way.’

Ms Samsonova’s mother then said she urged her daughter to return to her native Moscow where she could receive medical treatment and regain strength.

She said: ‘My daughter’s life has turned into a nightmare. Our last conversation together was this: “Zhanna, you need to go to Moscow. Now enzymes can be introduced little by little only in the hospital, under supervision, you yourself will not be able to do this, there will be rejection.” 

‘And, it was a miracle that she seemed to be beginning to hear me and she agreed with me, she said: “Yes, I was so mistaken,”’ Vera told newizv.ru.

Ms Samsonova’s official cause of death has not yet been determined as her mother fights to get her body back to Russia amid bureaucratic delays. 

Vera said she had ‘fought for years’ to encourage her daughter to seek help and to eat a more healthy diet, but Ms Samsonova, who had over 10,000 Instagram followers and had been travelling across Asia for the past 17 years, had refused. 

‘She is already dead, she is no more,’ Vera told Russian media. ‘Please stop writing bad things, it hurts be a lot. She chose this path. I fought for many years [but] she did not listen to her mother.’ 

The 39-year-old’s friends have revealed they were ‘horrified’ at her emaciated appearance and begged her to get help from doctors – but she refused and carried on with her diet of raw plant-based foods.

There were periods when Ms Samsonova would practice ‘dry fasting’ – where she would refuse to eat or drink anything for days.

She shared a selfie in a chilling final Instagram post days before her death in which she wrote: ‘Life is meaningless but worth living provided you recognise it’s meaningless.’

In the final months of her life, Ms Samsonova’s friends had desperately urged her to get help and eat more substantive foods – but they said it was ‘impossible’ to get her to speak to doctors or eat anything other than raw fruit and vegetables.

Olga Chernyaeva , one of the influencer’s friends, told the Russian newspaper Novye Izvestia: ‘I watched her journey to death for seven years. About five months ago, I met Zhanna in Sri Lanka and she had a haggard look. 

‘Her legs were swollen… It was amazing that she was still moving – I think she did it through pain.’

Ms Chernyaeva added: ‘I tried to talk to her, to convince her to seek help from doctors, to take tests. I showed her her body in the mirror and in photographs of past years. But Zhanna’s character was not simple, it was impossible to convince her on certain issues.’ 

Her devastated friend said that she watched helplessly as Ms Samsonova became ‘only bones’ and was left practically bed-bound.

Ms Chernyaeva said: ‘She was in bed for almost a month. If she got up, it was very difficult for her to walk – it took several minutes to overcome one step of the stairs.

‘I brought her fruits every morning – it was impossible to get her to eat something else. Boolean arguments didn’t work. Zhanna believed that death does not exist.’ 

Another of Ms Samsonova’s friends, who she met in Thailand, told Russian news outlet 116.ru: ‘It was scary to look at her, to be honest, her hands were like those of my 12-year-old sister, thin.’ 

Another friend said they saw Ms Samsonova a few months ago in Sri Lanka ‘looking exhausted’. 

‘They sent her home to seek treatment. However, she ran away again. When I saw her in Phuket, I was horrified,’ they said.

‘I lived one floor above her and every day I feared finding her lifeless body in the morning. I convinced her to seek treatment, but she didn’t make it,’ the friend added.

Another friend said: ‘Ms Samsonova’s idle starvation was causing her to melt before our eyes, but she believed everything was fine.

‘Only her eyes, merry eyes, and gorgeous hair compensated for the dreadful sight of a body tortured by idiocy. Forgive me if it sounds harsh.’

Ms Samsonova refused to listen to their warnings and it proved fatal after she reportedly died of an infection and exhaustion exacerbated by her raw food diet.

The food blogger’s mother Vera Samsonova told local news outlets Ms Samsonova was supposed to fly home to Kazan on the day of her death. 

Vera did not approve of her daughter’s extreme diet and tried to convince her to introduce more balanced eating habits but she refused.

Ms Samsonova moved from veganism to a purely raw food diet consisting of vegetables and fruit, with the influencer sharing what she described as ‘healthy ‘ recipes on her Instagram profile.

The influencer, who appeared increasingly emaciated in her social media videos as time went on, would post footage of her eating her lunch which consisted of a whole melon and carrot juice at times. 

In another video, Ms Samsonova told her Instagram followers how she was having cherry tomatoes, an avocado and avocado juice for lunch. 

‘Despite the fact that I cook fancy raw dishes, I eat very simply myself. My food is simple, no oil, no salt, no dehydrated food and no protein,’ Ms Samsonova wrote in a post. ‘Today for lunch I have delicious avocado kefir, sweet cherry tomatoes and ripe avocado. Bon appetit.’

One person commented on Ms Samsonova’s recent post and wrote: ‘This is just pure starvation, not a healthy raw vegan diet. I’m sorry to hear it ended badly. I wish I could have helped you out of your eating disorder.’

Ms Samsonova had been following a vegan diet for about more than 15 years starting out by allowing herself fish and dairy occasionally. 

However over the years, her restrictive eating became more and more extreme and she eventually only ate raw fruit and vegetables alongside juice. 

She had claimed that her ten years on a raw plant-based had meant she was ‘in perfect health’ and ‘never got the usual seasonal cold’.

But in 2021, Ms Samsonova travelled back to her native Russia for the first time in nine years but immediately fell ill with coronavirus. 

Ms Samsonova said she had ‘ignored’ all Covid precautions before becoming infected and bizarrely claimed she ‘cured’ herself of the virus by dry fasting – where she did not drink or eat anything for more than ten days.

She wrote on Instagram: ‘I was the category of people who wasn’t afraid to get infected with viruses and ignored all the precautions, because over the past ten years on raw plant-based diets I was in perfect health and I didn’t even get the usual seasonal cold.

‘And ironically… I still got sick [with Covid] and was in bed for ten days.’ 

Ms Samsonova then went on to bizarrely claim: ‘I began to cure myself with dry fasting, since for a long time I have been practicing this method, as I can cure all ailments.

‘The illness gradually began to recede, already the days of dry hunger and I was getting better and better every day… The most critical time is behind me I have overcome this disease despite my unconventional treatment which many condemn.’

If you need help and support, you can talk in confidence to advisors at the charity Beat Eating Disorders by calling its adult helpline on 0808 801 0677 or youth helpline on 0808 801 0711. 

You can visit their website here: https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/get-information-and-support/get-help-for-myself/i-need-support-now/helplines/

The FBI first learned of Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop, full of incriminating data, in October 2019, an IRS memo shows.

The memo, written by senior IRS Criminal Investigation official Gary Shapley in 2020, reveals how senior law enforcement officers sat on the treasure trove of evidence from the First Son’s computer and waited months before handing over mere excerpts to investigators working the case.

It also directly contradicts an open letter from 51 top former intelligence officials published weeks ahead of the 2020 presidential election which dismissed the laptop as having ‘all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation’.

Shapley and his subordinate, who both recently became whistleblowers to Congress, believe that almost three years later they still haven’t received all the data on the hard drive – which could incriminate not only Hunter but his father too.

Shapley told lawmakers that his document, dated October 22, 2020, memorialized a meeting that day with his IRS Criminal Investigation team, FBI cyber forensics experts, and a team of prosecutors leading the criminal probe into Hunter Biden.

Over three pages it lays out a timeline of when the FBI first got hold of Hunter’s laptop he abandoned at a Delaware computer repair shop, how investigators proved it belonged to the First Son and had not been doctored, and how IRS special agents were left waiting for months to get their hands on emails that could aid their investigation.

‘I prepared this document. It was to memorialize a meeting that we had with the prosecution team, plus the FBI CART team, which were the computer analysis team,’ Shapley told staffers for the House Ways and Means Committee in sworn testimony published alongside the memo last week.

‘They determined, because it was abandoned property, that it could be turned over via a document request.’

Hunter brought three damaged Mac computers to John Paul Mac Isaac’s store in Wilmington, Delaware, in April 2019, signed documents for their repair, and never returned.

Mac Isaac became worried when he found disturbing content on the devices, and got his father Steve to approach the FBI field office in Albuquerque, New Mexico, six months later on October 9, according to his book, American Injustice: My Battle to Expose the Truth.

With a slightly differing date, Shapley wrote in his memo that on October 16, a ‘Richard Steven McKissack’ reported to the Albuquerque office that ‘his son is in possession of a sportsman [Hunter Biden’s codename used by investigators] computer that had not been retrieved and was not paid for…said it contains evidence of white collar crime’.

On November 6, 2019 FBI Special Agent Joshua Wilson got the device number of the MacBook Pro and determined it was Hunter’s by matching it to his Apple ID and iCloud account.

Shapley also wrote that financial records place Hunter at a cigar shop near Mac Isaac’s store the same day he was alleged to have dropped off the computer, and phone records show the shop ‘called Sportsman [Hunter] and Sportsman called the shop around this time.’

The IRS CI Supervisory Special Agent also cited ‘other intelligence’ which ‘shows Sportsman was in the area’ at the time.

Shapley confirmed Mac Isaac’s claim that FBI agents took the laptop and an external hard drive from him on December 9 2019. Four days later the IRS got a warrant to delve into the computer to look for evidence in their tax crimes probe.

A month later on January 6, 2020, ‘forensic computer people at FBI started analysis’ on the devices, the memo says.

The memo said that the forensics team were able to unlock some encrypted messages on the laptop when they found a password Hunter saved on a business card.

On January 27 IRS investigators were handed their first pieces of evidence from the laptop from forensics experts, ‘provided on a USB drive’. But by the end of March that year the special agent running the case said he still had not seen the hard drive itself.

The delay began to raise suspicions among Shapley and his team that prosecutors including Delaware Assistant United States Attorney Lesley Wolf were withholding information.

Shapley told House committee staff that his subordinate, a fellow whistleblower and IRS Criminal Investigation special agent running the investigation, ‘was not given a Cellebrite report, which is just what they call the output of the FBI CART team analysis, and was questioning whether or not the investigators were provided everything.’

‘We don’t even think we got a full, even a redacted version. We only got piecemeal items,’ Shapley said. ‘It was an example of pertinent, relevant evidence that a prosecutor kept from an agent.

‘We don’t really know what the full contents of that laptop ever had on it.’

In authenticating the information from the laptop, the FBI forensics experts told investigators they were able to determine when each file was created, to make sure Mac Isaac had not added any items after receiving his MacBook.

Prosecutor Wolf also told investigators ‘We have no reason to believe there is anything fabricated nefariously on the computer and or hard drive’ and that ‘There are emails and other items that corroborate the items on the laptop and hard drive.’

Former New York Mayor and Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani also obtained a copy of the hard drive from Mac Isaac, and in September 2020, gave the device or material from it to the New York Post, which started publishing stories based on the explosive photos, texts and emails.

On October 19, 2020, just two weeks before the presidential election, 51 top former intelligence officials published a letter in Politico warning the story ‘has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation’.

The letter emphasized the officials’ ‘understanding of the wide range of Russian overt and covert activities that undermine US national security’ and cited a USA Today story about an alleged FBI investigation into whether Hunter’s laptop was ‘part of a smoke bomb of disinformation pushed by Russia’.

Signers included former CIA directors Leon Panetta and John Brennan, ex-Director of National Intelligence Jim Clapper, ex-Defense Intelligence Agency deputy director Doug Wise, former National Security Agency deputy director Rick Ledgett, and many other spy agency leaders.

The letter was cited by major media organizations dismissing the story.

Despite Shapley’s memo showing the IRS, FBI and Justice Department had known the laptop was authentic for almost a year, law enforcement agencies stayed silent as voters went to the polls in November 2020.

Hunter himself denied knowledge of the laptop, saying it ‘certainly’ could belong to him, but that ‘I really don’t know’ in an April 2021 CBS interview. ‘It could be that I was hacked, it could be that it was Russian intelligence. It could be that it was stolen from me,’ he said.

In March 2021 DailyMail.com hired the founder of the FBI’s cyber forensic unit, Brad Maryman, to analyze a copy of the hard drive. He and his colleague concluded it was authentic and had no evidence of tampering.

Last year the Washington Post, New York Times and CBS news conducted similar analyses and finally admitted that at least some of the material from the laptop was authentic – even as Hunter’s lawyer Kevin Morris reportedly circulated slides to journalists promoting a conspiracy that fake material had been mixed in with Hunter’s data.

In April this year, the House Judiciary Committee received testimony from former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morrell, one of the 2020 letter signers, claiming that it was orchestrated in part by Joe Biden’s campaign advisor and now-Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken.

In an interview in May Blinken said the letter ‘wasn’t my idea, didn’t ask for it, didn’t solicit it’.

Judiciary Committee Republicans said it was a ‘concerted effort to minimize and suppress public dissemination of the serious allegations about the Biden family’ and ‘was a grave disservice to all American citizens’ informed participation in our democracy.’

Your favorite pair of sunglasses are more than a fashion statement — they also protect your eyes from sunburn.

Dana Galiano, 47, from New Jersey, was struck with photokeratitis — the clinical name for a sunburn on the cornea — in both eyes during a family beach trip to Ocean City in July. She believes the burns are responsible for impairing her short-distance vision. 

The woman did not wear sunglasses on this trip, and when she got home she felt a burning sensation in her eyes as if sand had been blown into them.

She is no longer in pain and her vision has not been harmed drastically in the long-term, though she finds she needs her glasses more often than ever before. 

Doctors strongly advise that people wear sunglasses outside and avoid looking directly into the sun which emits harmful UVA and UVB radiation that over time can lead to cataracts and eyelid cancers. 

‘I don’t always wear sunglasses in the sun, and I started to feel almost like a burning in my eye, not like, from allergies or anything, like an actual burn in the eye,’ Ms Galiano told DailyMail.com.

‘And I didn’t think anything of it… I did realize that there was some mark on my eye, right? But I didn’t know what it was.’

The Jersey native spent a long beach day reading an issue of Us Weekly last summer and felt pain when she returned home.

She said: ‘After I felt like that, I closed my eyes and put a towel over the top of my face, and then when I got home from the beach just rinsed my face with water. And my eye wasn’t red or anything but it was still kind of aching.’

At first, it felt like grains of sand had blown into her eye, causing a severe burning sensation. It turned out that she had experienced a sunburn within her right eye.

One of the primary symptoms of photokeratitis is grittiness in the eyes, which can be mistaken for debris there.

‘I even said to my mom, can you look at my eyes, do I have sand in my eye, like I don’t know what it is because my eye wasn’t red or anything,’ she continued.

‘That’s what’s so crazy about this whole thing, nothing was in my eye and I’d rinsed it out with water,’ she said.

The pain finally subsided a few hours and a dose of Motrin later.

Still, though, she saw a mark on her right eye that had not been there before. But, as a self-described procrastinator when it comes to check-ups, she ignored it.

When the same thing happened in her left eye the following weekend after a day of lounging at the beach, leaving her with another mark, Dana sought medical attention.

She said: ‘Lo and behold, I go to the doctor, and they were like, you have a sunburn in your eye and it’s permanent. And they asked how often do you wear sunglasses. And I’m like, I sometimes wear them but not all the time.

‘I haven’t worn sunglasses my whole life when I’m in the sun. I just don’t do it. So they’re like, you have a burn, a permanent burn on your eye. And you cannot continue to not wear sunglasses.

‘[The doctor] said it just it would get worse. And it actually will affect your vision. So right now the spot on my eye, can see it, but over time, she said what would happen is if I don’t wear sunglasses, that it can eventually get bigger and then you know, I won’t be able to see.’

While she isn’t in pain anymore, Dana has had to get glasses to deal with farsightedness. 

Photokeratitis typically does not harm vision long-term and Dana acknowledged that her doctors could not say for sure that her increased need to wear glasses was a direct result.  

She initially thought losing her vision was a symptom of aging, but her doctor told her the permanent burn could absolutely affect her ability to see.

Dana said: ‘She didn’t say the burn on your eye is 100 percent the reason that you need stronger glasses now. Before I just used them at night for driving, but now I need to wear glasses every day, looking at my computer and to drive.

‘That [damage is] part of it. Because whenever you have any type of damage or something to your eye, like your cornea, it impairs your vision.’

Permanent vision damage due to photokeratitis is rare but not unheard of, according to Dr Jeff Dello Russo, an ophthalmologist who specializes in laser eye surgery in New York and New Jersey.

Dr Dello Russo told DailyMail.com: ‘It’s most often something that happens, you can just see it over a very long period of time, not like one instance in the sun, but it’s possible.

‘You can have photokeratitis with no visible signs other than your eyes are red and irritated, that’s most of the time. Seeing a physical mark like that is less common.’

The condition is caused by the sun’s rays reflecting off water, sand, or snow, and is especially common among winter sports athletes who spend a lot of time at high altitudes where the air is thinner and provides less protection from UV rays.

It is unknown how common or uncommon the condition is, as it can be mistaken for eyestrain, dry eyes, or debris in the eyes. 

Dr Dello Russo said: ‘I don’t think there’s any true incidence report on how common it is.’ 

Ms Galiano has spent much of her life in the sun, including her professional life. As a director at the National Mortgage Insurance Corporation, she conducts a fair bit of business outdoors on the golf course.

Other symptoms of photokeratitis include redness, pain and swelling, tearing, blurred vision, eyelid twitching, sensitivity to light, gritty feeling in the eye, and inflammation of the conjunctiva, or the mucous membrane that protects the eye.

Photokeratitis usually lasts less than a couple of days and permanent damage is rare, but over time repeated cases of photokeratitis can increase your risk of long-term eye damage. For instance, 10 percent of cataract cases can be attributed to too much exposure to UV rays.

Dana is a dedicated polarized sunglasses wearer now, she said, and presses her two daughters ages 15 and 18 to wear them whenever they encounter UV rays.

She said her eyes are ‘a main priority now. It’s my vision, because these are my only eyes.’

Bill Clinton has revealed that he knew as early as 2011 that it was ‘only a matter of time’ until Vladimir Putin would invade Ukraine, after the warmonger made a chilling warning to the former US president.

During a tense discussion between the leaders in Davos, Switzerland, three years before Russia invaded Crimea, Putin made it apparent that he did not agree with a deal to respect Ukraine’s borders.

The US-brokered agreement between Putin’s predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, and Kyiv, stated that Ukrainian territory would not be infringed upon in exchange for Kyiv relinquishing its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal.

‘Vladimir Putin told me in 2011 — three years before he took Crimea — that he did not agree with the agreement I made with Boris Yeltsin,’ the FT quoted the former US president as saying at a New York event.

‘He said… ‘I don’t agree with it. And I do not support it. And I am not bound by it.’ And I knew from that day forward it was just a matter of time.’

The revelation was made during a joint appearance at an investment firm talk with his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which the couple used to urge for greater support of Ukraine.

Former Presidential candidate Mrs Clinton also took a swipe at Putin, who she has previously blamed for helping to undermine her election bid against former president Donald Trump.

She said Putin ‘is in what he views as a righteous struggle to undermine western democracy and reinstitute, as much as he can, the Russian empire. So he’s not going to stop.’

The Democrat politicians also reiterated the importance of Western support to Ukraine, saying that continuing to supply arms could help the country win the war.

A united Western response, they said, would also work to deter China from its ambitions in Taiwan in the short term – with Mrs Clinton saying that Xi Jinping had paid attention to the stand taken by the US, UK and others.

She added that she ‘wouldn’t trust’ Putin at a negotiating table ‘under any circumstances’, saying the only way the war could end would be if Ukraine secured ‘leverage’ – either a military defeat or regaining its lost territory.

The Clintons’ stark warnings come after Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, escalated tensions by claiming that the US was behind a drone strike which Russia said was launched by Kyiv to assassinate Putin.

The Kremlin mouthpiece insisted – without providing evidence – that the US was ‘undoubtedly’ behind the strike that he said was carried out by Ukraine.

The White House has roundly dismissed the claims as ‘lies’.

‘Decisions on such attacks are not made in Kyiv, but in Washington,’ a furious Peskov said. ‘Kyiv only does what it is told to do. Attempts to disown this, both in Kyiv and in Washington, are, of course, absolutely ridiculous.’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied Russia’s claims Ukraine was behind the drone strike on the Kremlin and British security officials believe the attack was a ‘false flag’ operation by Russia to distract Kyiv from its anticipated counter-offensive and rally up support back home.

Around 40 explosive-laden drones with ‘for Moscow’ scrawled on them were fired by Putin’s forces at cities that were miles away from the front line, with explosions heard in the capital Kyiv and southern cities of Odesa and Zaporizhzhia. 

While Ukraine has demonstrated the capability to launch such attacks on the Kremlin, Kyiv is considered unlikely to risk fracturing international support by targeting the dictator directly. 

A Russian ‘false flag’ attack appeared a more likely explanation, with the explosion intended to generate support for Putin and further Russian attacks on Kyiv, UK officials said last night.