Taylor Swift‘s The Eras Tour concert film will premiere across the UK and Europe next month following its success in America.

Following record-breaking demand for screenings of the fly on the wall film, ODEON Cinemas group revealed that the movie will also be screened in Europe.

Tickets are now live in the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Spain, Italy, Germany and Portugal and the release is slated for October 13.

In a nod to Taylor Swift’s 1989 album and her favourite number, 13, tickets in the UK and Ireland will be priced at £19.89 for adults and £13.13 for children.

The first incredible screening kicks off at 6pm on 13 October the concert film will play multiple showtimes at cinemas on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays to meet the anticipated demand.

The history-making concert was a phenomenon during the first leg of its US run, and the UK and European leg of the tour is due to kick off on 9 May 2024 in Paris and wrap up on 17 August 2024 in London. 

Fans across the UK and Europe will now be able to see the incredible tour experience on the big screen at the same time as fans in the US, Canada and Mexico, before the tour itself reaches the continent.

The ticket release in the U.S, Canada and Mexico set a new record at ODEON’s parent company AMC as it made $26 million in ticket-sales revenue.

ODEON are expecting similarly high demand for this cinematic experience.

The tour, in which Taylor runs through hits from her 17-year career, is on track to make a projected gross of $2.2 billion in North American ticket sales alone,’ TIME previously reported.

According to TIME, industry analysts said that the performer’s lucrative tour should surpass $1 billion in revenue by March of 2024, when she is slated to be overseas.

The numbers would make it the most-profitable tour ever, surpassing the $939m Elton John made on his The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, according to the outlet.

Taylor’s career continues to soar, but in her private life she is reportedly been hanging out with Kansas City tight end, Travis Kelce.

They have apparently  been spending time together under the radar for months before they were spotted together in public for the first time on Sunday.

The pop superstar supported the sports start as his team beat the Chicago Bears, and afterward the enjoyed an ‘affectionate’ dinner together, but that was reportedly just their most high-profile get-together so far.

Sources with direct knowledge of the couple claimed to TMZ on Monday that the two have hung out together ‘several times’ over the past few months.

It’s not clear exactly when the two began seeing each other in person, but Travis had revealed on his New Heights podcast in July that he had hoped to introduce himself to Taylor when he attended one of her Eras Tour stops.

‘I wanted to give Taylor Swift [a bracelet] with my number on it,’ the tight end shared, but he learned that the singer’s devotion to putting on the best performance possible made it impossible to chat with her.

‘I was disappointed that she doesn’t talk before or after her shows because she has to save her voice for the 44 songs that she sings, so I was a little butt-hurt I didn’t get to hand her one of the bracelets I made for her,’ he said.

Taylor amped up the budding courtship at Sunday’s game when she arrived alone — aside from her usual bodyguards — to cheer on Travis from a box.

However, the sources explained to the outlet that the Lavender Haze singer’s earlier meetings with the NFL star were in a ‘very private setting’ so as to not attract attention.

It appears that she’s moving toward a more open relationship with Travis now, though the sources also stressed that the two are not ‘officially’ dating, even though things are clearly heating up between them.

Another sign that Taylor the Kansas City Chiefs star are growing closer was that she met his parents at Sunday’s game.

The hitmaker could be seen cheering on Travis while standing next to his mother Donna, and Travis’ father Ed was also in attendance.

Meeting parents for the first time is often stressful, but the sources shared that the first meeting went ‘very well,’ and Taylor seems to have particularly won over Donna, who called her a ‘lovely person.’

Although she has now met Travis’ parents, Taylor has yet to meet his brother Jason Kelce, who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles and co-hosts the New Heights podcast with his sibling.

Although Taylor and Travis appeared to keep the PDA to a minimum while heading to the Prime Social Rooftop in Kansas City after the game on Sunday, eyewitnesses spotted them holding hands once they were inside the restaurant.

The PDA escalated when Taylor reportedly sat on the football players lap at one point.

The dinner was only somewhat private, as Travis’ family, including his mother Donna, also showed up, and some of his teammates dropped by as well.

An eyewitness previously told Entertainment Tonight that it was Travis who had bought out the restaurant for the afterparty.

‘Taylor arrived, wearing a denim dress, and was seen snacking, having some cocktails and dancing alongside Travis,’ they said.

Another diner told ET that restaurant staff told them there would be a ‘hard close’ at 8 p.m., and the wait staff handed out to-go boxes ahead of the deadline while letting them know that they would need to leave the premises before that time.

However, they were offered free drinks at the restaurant’s sister venue to cut down on the inconvenience.

Although some of the patrons apparently asked if the closure was related to Travis and Taylor, the staff reportedly were stiff-lipped.

Deaths were nine times higher than normal in parts of Europe during the darkest days of Covid, official figures show. 

Bergamo, a city in northern Italy, recorded 156.1 deaths per 100,000 people in the week to March 20 in 2020 — 800.5 per cent higher than the average for that time of year.

This means it logged Europe’s deadliest spell during the Covid crisis, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). 

For comparison, Birmingham, where deaths spiked most in the UK, saw a 239.5 per cent rise during mid-April.

Nationally, Italy, the first European nation to be engulfed by the virus, saw deaths skyrocket the most.

The ONS looked at relative age-standardised mortality rate across Europe for every week between December 28, 2019 and July 1, 2022.

The figures show the difference between the death rate logged for each of these weeks compared to the average logged between 2015 and 2019.

Nationally, statisticians found that the peak in death rates was logged by Italy in the week to March 27, 2020, when 74.1 per cent more people died than expected.

Italy was the first country in Europe to be swept by Covid. It spotted its first case in February 2020, in the northern region of Lombardy, and its first wave of deaths peaked in March.

The nation’s high death toll has been put down to its ageing population and overstretched healthcare system.  

Spain (138.5 per cent) and France (50.2 per cent) logged their peak one week later, with deaths concentrated around Madrid and Paris.

The UK saw the most deaths in the week ending April 17, 2020, when there was 38 deaths per 100,000 people — 97.9 per cent higher than expected.

Deaths in England (38.7 per 100,000, 107.6 per cent) and Wales (34.8 per 100,000, 68.7 per cent) spiked that same week.

The fatality rate in Scotland skyrocketed in the week to April 10 (37.4 per 100,000, 71.7 per cent), while deaths reached their highest point in Northern Ireland in the week ending April 24 (28.7 per 100,000, 48.2 per cent).

The ONS broke down rates by areas — called Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics — of which there are 179 in the UK and 1,166 in Europe.

After Bergamo, El Hierro, one of the Canary Islands, logged the highest spike in death rates in 2020 (621 per cent), followed by Segovia, northern Spain, (620.4 per cent) and Cremona, northern Italy (554.6 per cent).

In 2021, El Hierro (595.7 per cent), Lungau, south west Austria (389.1 per cent), and Mayotte, a French overseas territory (379.1 per cent) saw the biggest increases.

The largest spike in deaths in 2022 were reported in Lungau (376 per cent), Außerfern in Austria (228.9 per cent) and Eilean Siar in Scotland (184.1 per cent).

The ONS also examined which areas saw high excess deaths for the longest period.

Bucharest, in Romania, recorded a death rate at least 50 per cent higher than expected for a quarter of all weeks over the 30-month period. 

It was followed by Sofia, in Bulgaria (17 per cent), and Birmingham (9.4 per cent). 

In the UK, Birmingham logged the highest death rate compared to the pre-pandemic average, with a spike 239.5 per cent in the week to April 17, 2020.

London (220.8 per cent), Manchester (206.8 per cent) and Cardiff (146.6 per cent) logged their peaks in deaths that same week. 

Since the pandemic began, nearly 7million virus deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization. The UK has logged around 230,000 fatalities whose death certificate has mentioned Covid as one of the causes.

Q My sister and I have had a week in a time-share in Spain for many years. We have children of similar ages and our two families have always gone there together every October half-term. 

However, this year, our eldest daughter, who is 14, says she doesn’t want to go. 

The problem is my sister’s son – her cousin – who is a year older. They just don’t get on any more. Our daughter is still quite young emotionally and hasn’t really discovered boys, parties or alcohol. 

She is still happy to do things with us and gets on well with her sister and her younger female cousin. 

My nephew is the opposite. Occasionally, he can be quite good (amusing) company but often he’s a typical monosyllabic teenager – moody, scruffy, swearing, rude to my sister and trying to be cool. 

I know she has problems with him drinking and smoking. When we went to stay with them a few months ago, my eldest daughter was very upset because they went to a party that got out of control and at which her cousin pressured her to try vodka. I had to collect her in tears. 

I think we should back out of the holiday this year, but my sister is upset and says her daughter will be very disappointed if her cousins don’t come. She believes the two eldest children can just ignore each other. I think she also wants my moral support.

What should we do?

A This is so difficult as you are torn in different directions. You are clearly close to your sister so it must feel sad for you both that your eldest children have, at the moment, turned out to be chalk and cheese. 

I understand your daughter not wanting to go. She is at a fragile and sensitive age and the prospect of being on holiday with her elder cousin is daunting. 

You could decide to miss it this time and see if things have changed next year. However, there is also a danger that if she doesn’t go, she might feel less capable of dealing with such problems in future. 

So, with your husband, ask if she feels she could manage to spend time with her sister and other cousin – if all the adults ensure her elder cousin cannot bully her. Make sure you really listen to her needs, though. 

I am not sure it will be an easy holiday for anyone as your nephew sounds difficult. I’m sure your sister finds him a struggle and I wonder if her husband feels the same and whether he is supportive. 

Sadly, there is a perception that smoking and drinking are ‘just what kids do’ at 15. However, both activities are illegal until 18 as they present serious health risks. 

Public health charity Ash warns that the younger someone smokes the greater the risk of dependency and mortality. 

You and your sister could contact youngminds.org.uk or family-action.org.uk for tips on how to help each child and each other.

Is my work success driving my husband away? 

Q I have been married for 12 years to a man I consider my soulmate. We’re both in our mid-40s and have never had children. Our relationship has always been loving and strong and our sex life fantastic. 

Recently, however, things have tailed off, with my husband saying he’s too tired to make love. I know couples go through less ‘physical’ phases, but this is not who we are. 

The last time we tried he was unable to go through with it. I am devastated. It all changed shortly after I was promoted to a senior position at work – with me now earning more than my husband. 

I did ask him if this was what was getting in the way of sex and he sniped back that not everything was about my wonderful career. 

I know we should have counselling, but I am shocked to think that is where we’ve got to.

A As old-fashioned as it may seem, unfortunately some men do still feel very threatened, even emasculated, by their wife earning more than them. 

It’s so unnecessary – and it’s sad for you that he cannot be supportive and celebrate your success. But yes, you do need to bite the bullet and suggest counselling because there is clearly more to this. 

Perhaps he is miserable at work and desperately wants to leave but fears this would reduce him further. He might feel that you will stop loving him if he is not as successful as you. He may have other worries. Either way, he is unhappy. 

Gently explain how much you love him (always start with this) and how happy you have always been with him. Say you are concerned that he is unhappy and you are anxious, wondering if he still loves you.

Try relate.org.uk or cosrt.org.uk.

• If you have a problem, write to Caroline West-Meads at YOU, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY, or email c.west-meads@mailonsunday.co.uk. You can follow Caroline on Twitter @Ask_Caroline_ 

They are snapshots of a bygone age when foreign holidays were adventurous, exotic and simply had to be recorded with a postcard to home.

Millions of beach, street, hotel, matador and flamenco dancer postcards washed through the British postal system every summer as tourists discovered the Spanish Costas and revelled in sun, sangria and souvenirs in the 1970s.

A treasure trove of postcards sent from Spain has just emerged and with it a fascinating glimpse of a culture in which observations of distant lands would only navigate the chicanes of European postal systems long after you got home.

The worn and faded postcards are coming to light in house clearances as a generation, who kept them in albums, folders and shoe boxes for decades, de-clutter to discover what are now regarded as important societal insights.

Measuring less than six by four inches, they lay bare the need travellers had to share their experiences as they took their first steps into unchartered territories.

They existed in a different age when ‘abroad’ was largely unknown and the dense beachside developments of modern resorts a distant dream. 

There was no internet, no Facebook, no Instagram, no mobile phones and no phone calls unless you had deep pockets and were prepared to endure the time delay, echoes and crackles that frustrated early international telephone exchanges.

Postcard messages, with breathless detail often crammed onto every available square inch of space, were the only way to relay the exciting, amazing – sometimes ‘awful’ – experience of ‘going abroad’ in the pioneering days of package holidays.

Pat tells her friend in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, that there is ‘so much to do’ in Majorca: ‘Dancing every evening somewhere. Went shopping on bicycles. Today bought shoes.’ 

She also marked her hotel with an X in pen on the cover image of Mallorca resort scene.

Many British tourists lapped up the entertainment that was staged by the fast growing hotel sector in Spain and Jean and Bill wrote home in praise of the hotel buffet and revealed: ‘Last night there was a leather fashion show and tonight there is folk dancing.’

Many of the cards date to the early 1970s and feature views of emerging resorts such as Benidorm, Fuengirola and Magaluf before their hotels, bars, restaurants and apartments colonised the coastal strips.

Postcards were also a way to get creative and spread the fun with Steve, writing back to Chislehurst, Kent, channelling the Shipping Forecast for his resume: ‘Spaniards very good, friendly, tolerable. 

‘Women very very good, plentiful, abundant. Drinking very good, very varied, usually successful.’

Rod treated Mary and John back in Yeovil to sketches of a wine bottle, cocktails, a filled champagne bucket and a filleted fish on a plate to illustrate his fun-fuelled holiday and added a cheery ‘Someone said something about a drink so must be off’ to his artistic effort.

The freedom to drink round the clock – British pubs were still subject to restrictive licensing hours – and on a budget was a popular theme running through the postcards that are being sold on the internet. 

Kev tells his parents in Northampton that the weather is not good but ‘you can drink all night’. 

He finishes ‘I’m off down the pub’.

Rose and Bob marvel to their friends in Gillingham: ‘I am drinking your health with a double rum and Coca Cola 2s 6d (12p)’ while Mike and John can scarcely contain their thrill at a night around the clubs where ‘wine, brandy, cognac etc is about 5s 6d (26p) a bottle.’

Leah and Bert tell friends in Northampton that the hotel is A1 and there is ‘plenty of cheap wallop so we can’t grumble’ while Greg informs the typing pool slaving away at Halton Borough Council in Cheshire that he is ‘keeping the bars busy’ in Salou.

The cards poured through letter boxes radiating sunshine across Britain with many spreading their joy, and jealousy, to work family, friends, colleagues and even schoolteachers.

Exposure to the scorching sun is a recurring topic with Pauline and Alan telling their aunty and uncle stuck in Bristol that they were being careful as they were ‘a little burnt already’ and Annie and Billy tell friends in Newcastle: ‘we are as brown as berries’.

A reminder of home is always welcome with Vicky, revelling in the decadence of ‘writing this on the balcony while my hair dries’, telling family in Wimborne Minster, Dorset: ‘Thanks to our courier we’ve found a very good disco that plays 90% English records.’

Ann writes back from Mallorca to her mum in Harrow: ‘The food is really awful though, they need to get an M&S up here.’ 

Missing luggage was a constant concern of the early package tours and Jean laments that a suitcase turned up in Lisbon while she and husband Eric were in Ibiza. ‘Poor Eric,’ she wrote to the Walkers in Blackpool. ‘Imagine having nothing to wear?’. 

But the lack of clothing didn’t dim their enjoyment as she continued about the fantastic weather revealing: ‘Eric is like a bronzed God – me like a boiled lobster, covered with blisters, insect bites and freckles.

‘Food is very good. I will be in the Roly Poly league by the time we come back.’ She too had little faith in the postal system, signing off: ‘I expect we will see you before this card arrives.’

Holidaymakers ‘B & S’ wrote back to Blackpool about the entertainment on offer informing the Robertsons: ‘We had a game of bingo in the hotel last night. Mum won a large giraffe.’

The sense of adventure is peppered through many of the cards with a group from a Somerset building firm taunting stay-at-home colleagues about their time in the ‘playgrounds of Europe’. 

They add: ‘Weather is glorious and England seems 10,000 miles away.’

They were indeed trailblazers as around only four million Brits a year ventured to Spain in the early 1970s compared to the budget airlines boom of the 1990s when numbers soared and reached the record of 17 million in 2019.

‘In the 1970s, Spain was for many of us the first experience of an overseas holiday and the Spanish offered up a version of the country based around Flamenco dancers, paella and sangria but also some traditional home comforts from the UK, like English breakfasts and Sunday roasts,’ says Sean Tipton, of the Association of British Travel Agents. 

‘Most tourists were thrilled to let people know how good it was via a postcard.’

Cultural historian and author Dr Alwyn Turner reveals that foreign travel was still a novelty with around 7 million holidaying abroad in 1975 – around 12% of the population – compared to the 40% that headed abroad this year.

‘It was a minority in the 1970s so it was an adventure,’ says Dr Turner, a senior lecturer in history at the University of Chichester. 

‘The real shift doesn’t come until the cheap air travel of the 1990s and by 2000 we took more than 36 million foreign holidays a year.

‘Those early tourists were keen to tell family and friends about the weird and wonderful things they encountered and what they were doing and, of course, there was an element of the brag about some of the postcards.

‘They have sociological relevance because it is people communicating about how they experience foreign culture and this was at a time when the UK was looking to join the European Union. There is a cultural importance because these were the first stirrings of a European interaction.’

The physical signs of exposure to different cultures came in the giant sombreros, stuffed toy donkeys, maracas and wine bottles that were crammed into luggage for the return trip but a deeper impact is revealed in the lexicon of the cards.

The postcards are being viewed as an important window on British culture and Steve Kentfield, Honorary Secretary of the Postcard Traders’ Association, comments: ‘Some of the cards will have a value because of the rare photographs but they are mainly important because of their social history.

‘Millions were sent every year but, although many people kept them for a while, most were thrown away so they are not as common as you’d imagine. 

Travelling abroad by plane was still very new in those days and there was no other way of telling people about it other than a postcard.’

The age of wide-eyed wonder has gone but it remains time-locked in batches of dog-eared postcards that once delivered joy.

British woman, 76, is stabbed to death in Spain: Victim’s Norwegian partner is arrested

• An 82-year-old Norwegian man has been arrested in connection to the death 

By Natalia Penza and James Reynolds

Published: 04:58 EDT, 15 September 2023 | Updated: 07:22 EDT, 15 September 2023

A British holidaymaker told how she was lucky not to lose her left foot after it was ‘sliced wide open’ in a horror accident at a water park in Spain.

Mum-of-four Stephanie Somerville, 32, said she was left in agony and covered in blood after she was catapulted into a wall by a ‘dangerous’ water slide at Rio Safari Elche water park in Alicante.

Stephanie has been signed off work for eight weeks and has been told she may require surgery after the accident last Thursday (September 7).

She hit out at staff who told her they believed she had ripped her foot open on a loose nail but they could not find the object and carried on ‘as if nothing had happened’.

She said: ‘They just don’t care. They kept the pool open with kids inside. It’s so dangerous.

‘My foot was torn open to the bone in one clean slice.

‘I’m worried that the next accident that happens there will be even worse.’

Stephanie – a hospitality worker at Celtic Football Club – told how she jetted out to the Spanish resort on the Costa Blanca for a week long break with partner Charlie, 28, along with her three daughters aged 12, six and four and baby son Tyrien who is just eight-months-old.

But she said the holiday turned into a nightmare after the trip to the water park on the second day of their break.

Describing the accident Stephanie, from Anniesland, Glasgow, said: ‘There was a big slide which you had to go down on a rubber doughnut.

‘I went down for the first time. It’s a very fast slide but instead of being a wide or long pool at the end, it was very small.

‘I went flying off the slide into the pool and smashed into the wall.

‘Unless you were able to turn, which was possible, there was no way of avoiding it.

‘The wall was made of rubber but I hit it very hard.

‘I tried to stop myself but when I put my foot down in the pool there was a tremendous pain.

‘I thought that I had broken my foot. I was in agony.

‘I didn’t realise what had happened until I came out of the pool and a Spanish man came over and was asking if I was OK.

‘He was pointing at my foot. I looked down and there was blood everywhere.

‘It was then I realised the bottom of my foot had been sliced wide open.’

Stephanie said no members of staff were able to offer medical assistance and she was advised to drive to a private hospital 15 minutes away.

She said: ‘‘I was crying and I couldn’t walk.

‘They didn’t care or bother at all. It was just a random guy who helped me out. There wasn’t anyone there who had any medical training to help.

‘My foot had been cut open and there was blood in the pool but they didn’t do anything.

‘Luckily my kids had stayed in the little pool and hadn’t been on the slide but there were children as young as five or six who were using it.

’We were left to our own devices and had to drive ourselves to hospital.’

Stephanie said that when she arrived at the IMED Hospital in Elche, doctors were not surprised to see her.

She said: ‘At the hospital they said it was very bad. They said I would need surgery but that I was lucky because I could have lost my foot.

‘Whatever was in the pool has ripped through the back of my toe and slashed through the whole front half of my foot.

‘The cut is more than five centimetres long. It’s one clean slash. I had to have stitches.

Stephanie – who has been in contact with a lawyer and insurers – said the water park paid for her basic treatment but refused to pay compensation and insisted they could do nothing more for her.

She said: ‘There’s obviously something not right there. That slide needs to be closed down. It’s dangerous. People don’t realise what they’re letting themselves in for.

‘It’s really fast. There’s nothing holding you in and you come down into this area that’s just too small.

‘We went back to the water park two days later as they had stopped taking our calls.

‘They had done nothing about it at all.

‘They thought it was a tiny loose nail or a screw that caused it but they said they couldn’t find anything and kept it open as normal.

‘There was no proper investigation. They don’t know whether the nail was on the ground or in the wall.’

Stephanie told how she spent the next five days of her holiday ‘staying indoors’ at the villa the family had rented as part of their £2,100 holiday.

‘She said: ‘I couldn’t go out as I couldn’t walk. I had to buy crutches and antibiotics but it was too painful to get around.

‘We had only been there two days when it happened and the whole holiday was ruined. It turned into a nightmare.’

Stephanie said she was only given permission to fly home at the last minute after airport staff spoke to doctors at the hospital that treated her.

She was taken to the plane in a wheelchair and her foot swelled up so badly on the flight home that she needed another wheelchair after landing – before going straight to A&E from the airport.

She said: ‘I’ve got a baby and I’ve been signed off work for eight weeks and my partner who is self-employed can’t work right now as he is looking after me and helping with the kids.

‘I’m still in a lot of pain. I’ve got to go back to have my stitches out.

‘They don’t know anything yet. I won’t know if I will need surgery or additional treatment until after that and the wound could get infected – anything could still happen.’

MailOnline contacted the water park for comment.

US health officials are looking into reports that the iPhone 12 emits harmful levels of radiation — after sales were temporarily halted in Europe due to safety fears.

A spokesperson for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — which is partly responsible for making sure cellphones are safe — told DailyMail.com the agency was ‘reviewing the available information’.

It comes after a regulator in France this week asked Apple to stop selling the 2020 iPhone 12, claiming tests found the handset emits radiation levels that exceed EU restrictions. 

Germany, Belgium and Spain have all signaled they could follow suit. Apple has disputed the findings, but the news has reignited deep-rooted fears about health and cellphone usage.

More than 81million iPhones were sold in the United States in 2021, the year after the model’s release. It is unclear how many Americans still own a device that is now three years old.

In a statement to DailyMail.com, a spokesman said: ‘In general, the FDA does not comment on specific studies or test results, but evaluates them as part of the body of evidence to further our understanding about a particular issue and assist in our mission to protect public health.

‘The FDA is reviewing the available information.’

The agency is responsible for regulating the safety of phones along with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The FCC declined to comment when contacted by DailyMail.com.

The Agence Nationale des Fréquences (ANFR) initially raised the alarm on Tuesday, claiming that the iPhone 12 had failed its latest round of routine testing – with radiation levels 40 percent above what the regulator says is acceptable.

But most experts say even if the higher radiation levels are true, they are ‘not sufficient’ enough to harm people.

There are old fears about the effects of phones on health, having previously been linked to brain cancer and fertility issues, but these have never been proven conclusively. 

Dr Devra Davis, an epidemiologist who has been studying the dangers of radiofrequency released from phones since the early 2000s, told DailyMail.com the FDA should ‘absolutely’ investigate the iPhone 12.

‘Why should French people be more protected than Americans?,’ she added.

Dr Joel Moskowitz, who researches the adverse effects of cellphone radiation at the University of California, Berkeley, said he hoped the reports from France prompted an investigation.

He told DailyMail.com: ‘I hope the French Apple 12 emissions debacle triggers an independent investigation in the US regarding SAR testing procedures for authorization for all wireless devices. 

‘In 2012, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report at the request of the Congress which raised major concerns about the SAR testing protocol, but it was ignored by the FCC.’

In routine testing, French regulators found the iPhone 12 emitted radiation levels that were 40 percent above permissible levels when it was next to a human.

Radiation from cellphones is measured in Europe using the specific absorption rate (SAR), or the amount of power absorbed by the body from a particular source per kilogram of body-weight.

More than 100million iPhone 12’s have been sold worldwide, while in the US an estimated 135million people own an iPhone.

In 2021, a year after the iPhone 12’s release, the number of iPhone owners sat at around 116million users. 

French digital minister Jean-Noel Barrot stressed the iPhone 12’s radiation levels were much lower than those that scientific studies say could cause harm.

He added that a software update would be able to solve the issue.

Dr Rodney Croft, a neurophysiologist in Australia and chair of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection, said: ‘From a health and safety point of view, it is not as if this is putting anyone at risk.’

The safety levels — based on the risks of burns or heatstroke from the phone’s radiation — are already set ten times below the level where scientists found evidence of harm.

Dr Croft added that France’s findings may differ from those of other regulators because measurement methods vary between different regulators.

France has previously stopped the sales of 42 smartphones in the country over radiation concerns. This is the first time Apple has been hit.

Apple currently has two weeks in which to respond but has already said it will issue a software update to fix the issue.

French regulators say they will need to test the software before they can put the phone back on the market.

The software update will only affect phones in France, and not those in other countries, they added. 

Previous research has suggested exposure to radiation from phones can cause everything from cancer to fertility issues.

But many researchers seek to pour cold water on these results, saying the tests were done in animals and exposure levels were very high in order to cause the issue.

‘Currently there is no strong evidence that exposure to electromagnetic fields during mobile phone use is associated with adverse health effects,’ Maria Feychting, a professor of epidemiology at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, said.

‘However, there are still some uncertainties and further research is needed, especially regarding the higher frequencies that will be used by 5G.’

It is worth pointing out that the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is an offshoot of the WHO, has previously claimed that certain radio frequencies at extreme levels are ‘possibly carcinogenic to humans’.

However, this is thought to be unlikely.

Apple said in a statement that its phone complied with standards worldwide but that it would ‘issue a software update for users in France to accommodate the protocol used by French regulators’.

They added: ‘This is related to a specific testing protocol used by French regulators and not a safety concern.’ 

The iPhone 12 was first released in September 2020 and is still sold worldwide, although Apple is now seeking to phase it out following the release of the iPhone 15.

Apple tech support staff are being told not to volunteer any information about the phones.

DailyMail.com contacted Apple for comment. 

A summer resurgence in Covid cases has prompted some GP surgeries to bring back face mask rules for patients — weeks after a new variant was spotted.

One practice in Leicester last week reinstated the guidance, urging people to mask-up, as a ‘precautionary measure’ to protect vulnerable patients.

Another in Essex cautioned that an ‘increasing number of patients and staff with Covid’ had prompted the move. 

A spike in infections across the country has seen Covid hospitalisations in England hit a five-month high. 

Health officials yesterday confirmed that a total of 42 cases of the super-mutated Pirola Covid variant have now been detected in the UK, up from 36 last week. 

Mukta Modi, manager of Canon Street Medical Centre in Leicester told GP magazine Pulse: ‘We are preparing for the autumn vaccination programmes and this is a precautionary measure to protect staff and our vulnerable patients.

‘This has been discussed with our patient participation group who have been very supportive.’

Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Local Medical Committee (LMC) chair Dr Grant Ingrams told MailOnline today: ‘Every practice is different with significant variation in the number of staff and patients who are at higher risk of catching Covid or having complications. 

‘In addition, many practices are very short of space meaning that patients have to sit or stand close together in reception and waiting areas.’

He added: ‘Practices are private companies and have a legal duty to protect their staff and patients under Health and Safety Legislation and this includes against infection. 

‘Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland LMC supports all practices to carry out a risk assessment and implement what protection they conclude is needed which may include wearing masks.’

While the true prevalence of the virus is unclear, data from the ZOE Covid study, which tracks self-reported infections, suggests there were 97,904 new daily cases of symptomatic infection on September 13 — almost double the 50,000 it reported at the start of August.

The study, which is based on data from millions of users of the ZOE app, estimates around 1.29million in the UK are currently infected, roughly one in 52 people. 

The figure is the highest for five months, but it is still far lower than the estimated toll during earlier peaks, with it reporting that 3.8million people were infected in April 2022.

Patients had been required to wear face masks in GP surgeries up until June last year.

Updated NHS guidance at the time told practices that patients, apart from those with respiratory symptoms, are ‘not required’ to wear a face mask unless they wish to as a ‘personal preference’.

However, health and care staff were advised to continue to wear face masks as part of PPE when working with suspected or confirmed Covid patients, including those working with untriaged patients in primary care.

It comes as a caller, known only as Caroline, spoke to TalkTV on Wednesday claiming the unnamed GP surgery she works at in Essex had asked staff ‘to mask up again’.

In a message sent out to staff earlier in the week, it said: ‘Due to an increasing number of patients and staff with Covid, I’m afraid we need to ask you to mask up again at work from tomorrow. 

‘Hopefully by wearing them again during the surge we can protect and look after each other and provide an example to patients.’

The message also confirmed the practice would review ‘mask wearing on a regular basis’, she claimed.

She told TalkTV: ‘I did message back and said I wouldn’t be wearing them and I would try and keep my distance if they were worried.

‘They also wanted us to start testing again if we feel unwell.’ 

In recent weeks scientists have recommended a return of pandemic mitigation measures, including mask wearing, and increased ventilation because of the virus’ resurgence. 

Some virologists have also urged Ministers to re-consider vaccine eligibility criteria, after the Government ditched plans last month to offer Covid vaccines to under 65s under the autumn jab rollout which began on Monday.

Despite some experts questioning whether they were ever necessary, studies have repeatedly shown mask wearing can reduce the transmission of the virus.  

Last month, a report by the Royal Society also found ‘mask wearing and mask mandates were an effective approach to reduce infection’.

Researchers said studies consistently reported the measures were an effective approach to reduce infection, despite officials issuing mixed messages about their effectiveness at the beginning of the pandemic. 

Other evidence from studies in healthcare settings also showed that higher-quality ‘respirator’ masks — such as N95 masks — were ‘more effective than surgical-type masks’, they added. 

However researchers noted that as the pandemic progressed and the virus became more transmissible, non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) became less effective in controlling the spread of the virus. 

It comes after UKHSA data yesterday showed that Covid hospitalisations are at their highest level since April.

Admissions among patients who tested positive for the virus stood at 4.6 per 100,000 people in the week to September 10, official figures show.

This is up from 3.7 per 100,000 the previous week and the highest since the week ending April 30.

This is still a fraction of the level reached last winter, when the rate stood at 11.8 per 100,000. It is also well below the figures seen during the first year of the pandemic. 

The rate has been on a clear upwards trend for the past two months, however. 

Rates remain highest among people aged 85 and over, at 51.1 per 100,000, and 75 to 84-year-olds, at 21.2 per 100,000.

Experts predict Covid cases will continue to rise as the UK heads into the autumn, and people mix more indoors.

Brits are also no longer testing en masse like they were earlier in the pandemic — with community testing ending in May 2022. 

Therefore, confirmed cases are an underestimate of how many Britons are infected with Covid and how many of those have the new variant Pirola. 

Yesterday UKHSA confirmed a total of 42 cases of the super-mutated strain, known scientifically as BA.2.86, have now been detected in the UK, up from 36 last week. 

Of England’s 37 cases, spotted as of September 11, seven had been hospitalised, while two were detected among A&E patients. No deaths have been recorded among those infected. 

Some 5 BA.2.86 cases have been reported by Public Health Scotland. No Pirola cases have been detected in Wales and Northern Ireland. 

Pirola, like other recently emerged Covid variants, is a spin-off of the Omicron strain.

However, its host of mutations, 35 in total, sparked alarm with some experts fearing it would be different enough to effectively dodge the protection offered by Covid vaccines and infection from previous waves. 

The UKHSA said it is currently analysing blood samples taken from NHS workers to test how effective the immune response generated by Covid jabs is against Pirola.

Experiments to determine how effective lateral flow tests are at spotting Pirola are also still underway. 

This is the shocking moment a Spanish television journalist was accosted and sexually assaulted by a man today while she was reporting live from Madrid.

Isa Balado was delivering a report involving a local convenience store when the man approached her from the rear and grabbed her backside, footage shows.

Despite the interruption, Balado kept her composure and told the man to let her ‘do my job’. Despite her pleas, the stranger persisted and even brazenly touched her hair as he walked away, before coming back again to continue talking to her.

The man was later arrested by police, with Spain‘s national force posting a video to social media that showed officers walking him into a police station.

Balado was reporting from Calle del Duque de Alba, a street that runs through the centre of Madrid, when the assault occurred.

She was reporting about an incident which happened on Sunday in a shop that’s shown behind her in the clip. The news report was showing CCTV footage from inside the shop, with Balado describing the events over the top.

As she is talking to the camera for news station En Boca De Todos (On everyone’s lips), the man – wearing white shorts, a blue jacket and dark sunglasses – is seen coming up the street behind the reporter.

Without saying a word, he reaches behind Balado and touches her backside.

Visibly flustered, Balado tries to continue with her report, saying: ‘Sorry, one minute’ before telling the man: ‘We are live on TV.’

But presenter Nacho Abad, the anchor back in the studio, asks Balado: ‘Isa, sorry to interrupt you. The sound is really bad. Did he just touch your a**?’

The uncomfortable young reporter tells the presenter that the man did indeed touch her, and the camera adjusts to show both Balado and the man.

It appears that the man is asking her what television station she works for, prompting Balado to tell him: ‘As much as you want to know which TV station we are, do you really have to grope me? I’m working on a live report.’

Responding to the accusation, the man tells her: ‘I haven’t touched your a**.’

‘Yes you did,’ Balado replies, as someone on the street suggests calling the police.

Balado again asks the man to leave her alone so she can continue her work, as Abad is heard calling the man ‘a complete imbecile’ in the studio.

‘I didn’t want to touch your a**. I respect you, you know, I wouldn’t touch your a**,’ the stranger says, again prompting the reporter to tell him to ‘let me work’.

As he begins to walk away, the man reaches in again, this time to touch Balado on her head. ‘Is this guy stupid or what?’ Abad is heard saying.

In a second clip, the presenter is heard speaking to his colleague over the broadcast, telling her: ‘Isa, I understand that for you this is an extremely uncomfortable moment, and [an] absolutely disgusting situation.’

Balado is seen back on the same street speaking to a woman about the incident, slightly further up from the store she had been standing in front of.

The woman next to her suggests his actions were ‘normal’ for that area of the city.

‘It’s not something about me, it’s happening to all the girls he is encountering. It’s very disgusting as I am trying to work,’ Balado says as the camera moves again and films the man bothering another person on the street.

‘As you can see, there he is. He is accompanied with another man wearing a hat. He probably doesn’t have anything to do all day,’ the reporter says, as the man again approaches her from behind.

Abad warns his colleague that he’s coming back, saying: ‘Isa, turn around, turn around, he is approaching you again. He is behind you, quick, turn around!’

The man again starts talking to Balado, and – perhaps realising he’s been caught red-handed on television – appears to be protesting his innocence and calling her baby.

‘I heard what you said earlier… Tell them the truth!’ he says. ‘What do you mean to tell the truth?’ Balado shoots back, before the presenter ends the broadcast.

While the identity of the man is unknown, Spain’s national police released a short clip later on Tuesday afternoon showing the same man – in a blue jacket and white shorts – being led into a police station having been arrested.

‘Arrested for sexually assaulting a reporter while she was doing a live television show,’ the police force said in the Tweet. 

Abad later revealed on air that it was the program that had taken action and called the police. ‘We have called them because they have to act. We hope to have the images of the arrest of this unpresentable person,’ he said.

Another reporter for the channel, Diego Losada, said: ‘Our colleague was doing her job and an individual, with a smile, touched her buttocks without her consent. The important thing is that this disgusting individual is now arrested.’

He also called for justice over the incident, and said: ‘We condemn all types of aggression and in this case it has hit us very closely, because attacking Isa is like attacking any of us. In a society that we want to be better this cannot happen and This feeling of impunity cannot exist. 

‘This is a lack of respect and I hope that the full weight of the law falls on him.’

The shocking incident comes in the wake of a scandal surrounding the head of the Spanish football association, Luis Rubiales, that rocked Spain.

Rubiales announced on Sunday that he was stepping down from the position after he kissed player Jenni Hermoso in the aftermath of her country winning the Women’s World Cup in August, sparking outrage at home and abroad.

Today, Rubiales was ordered to give testimony to a Spanish judge investigating the kiss. Rubiales says she had consented to the kiss, but Hermoso has denied that.

Judge Francisco de Jorge ordered Rubiales to answer his questions on Friday at Spain’s National Court in Madrid, according to court documents seen by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Spanish state prosecutors formally accused Rubiales last week of alleged sexual assault and an act of coercion when, according to Hermoso, he pressured her to speak out in his defense immediately after the scandal erupted. 

Rubiales announced on Sunday that he was resigning from his post, from which he had already been provisionally suspended by FIFA.

De Jorge is carrying out the preliminary investigation into the accusations against Rubiales, and will then decide whether the case should go to trial.

According to a sexual consent law passed in Spain last year, Rubiales could face a fine or a prison sentence of one to four years if found guilty of sexual assault. 

The new law eliminated the difference between ‘sexual harassment’ and ‘sexual assault,’ sanctioning any non-consensual sexual act.

The incident has proven to be somewhat of a ‘Me Too’ movement in Spain, empowering many women to come forward with their own experiences, and has shone a spotlight on the issue of sexual assault. 

Suspended Spanish FA chief Luis Rubiales has reportedly been ordered to increase his child support payments after being taken to court by his ex-wife.

The 46-year-old dad-of-three, now facing backlash after his unsolicited kiss of World Cup-winning player Jenni Hermoso, is said to have been forced to pay double the amount he previously handed over due to a ‘tenfold’ increase in his income.

Spanish TV station La Sexta reported a court in the east coast city of Valencia had ordered Rubiales to up his payments for each of his daughters from 400 to 800 euros a month.

His ex, who has been described as a lawyer and named in Spain as Maria Manuela Delicado Vega, is said to have asked for a revision of Rubiales’ child support payments after the football chief’s annual net income jumped from 97,000 euros in 2011 to a massive 955,000 euros nine years later.

In 2020, when Rubiales was on a near six-figure salary, she is said to have earned just 26,600 euros after tax.

The suspended FA chief, now a step closer to being prosecuted over the ‘unconsented’ kiss he gave World Cup winner Jenni Hermoso after she made a formal complaint, spoke about his daughters Lucia, Ana and Elena in a Spanish TV interview earlier this year.

He told interviewer Risto Mejide:’ They are very strong, stronger than me.’

He went on to describe his eldest daughter as a History of Art student, saying: ‘She’s a very sensitive person and has a strong compromise with herself and society.

‘The middle one is the one who is most like me, perhaps the most activist of the three. She’s also someone with an amazing intelligence.’

He also revealed in the interview how one of his daughters had once been ‘close to death’ after a fall which left medics needing to ‘drill her brain’ because of her head injuries.

His three daughters, believed to be aged 20, 17 and around 15, were present at a Spanish FA meeting last month when he insisted repeatedly he was not going to resign after the so-called ‘Kissgate’ scandal unfolded before his ex-hairdresser mum Angeles Bejar went on a brief hunger strike in support of her son.

Rubiales appeared to suggest he had a good relationship with his ex-wife in the interview, saying: ‘I think we have always done the best for the girls.

‘I don’t think the marriage was a failure, we were very happy, but when you move on to another phase in your life, well you move on.’

The reports about the increased child support payments, first published by respected media outlet El Periodico de España before La Sexta outlined more details from leaked court documents, state the decision was made by Valencia’s Provincial Court on June 19.

The decision pre-dated his suspension as Spanish FA president, which has led to him being deprived of his massive salary and other perks, and it is not yet clear what effect that may have on the amount he is expected to hand over in child support payments.

Rubiales’ ex is known to live in a modest house in a small town near Valencia with at least one of her daughters.

She declined to comment last month – to both Spanish and UK media – after the ‘Kissgate’ scandal broke.

Rubiales has not yet made any official comment.

On Wednesday it emerged Jenni Hermoso had paved the way for the prosecution of Rubiales by filing a formal complaint against him over his infamous World Cup kiss.

Prosecutors had given her 15 days to accuse Rubiales of sexually assaulting her by kissing her on the lips without her consent after Spain’s Women’s World Cup victory over England last month.

The action, which Rubiales says was consensual and has described as a ‘peck’, sparked the Kissgate scandal which led to the dad-of-three being suspended by Fifa for 90 days, a church hunger strike by his pensioner mum and the sacking of team manager Jorge Vilda.

Without it state prosecutors, now expected to ask a Spanish court to place the football chief under criminal investigation in the next few days, would have been unable to prosecute Rubiales.

A judge at Spain’s Audiencia Nacional court in Madrid would be tasked with conducting the probe and decide whether Rubiales should face charges before inviting prosecutors to indict the suspended Spanish FA president.

That is because the kiss which has caused turmoil in Spanish football happened in Australia and other courts in Spain do not have the authority to act.

Prosecutors agreed late last month to invite Jenni Hermoso to file a formal complaint against Rubiales.

The footballer has said the kiss left her feeling vulnerable and a victim of aggression. She has described it as ‘an impulsive, sexist act, out of place and without any type of consent on my part.’

Rubiales, who has apologised for grabbing his crotch during post-match celebrations in front of Spain’s Queen Letizia and her 16-year-old daughter, said in a lengthy statement last week: ‘The spontaneity and happiness of the historic moment led us to carry out a mutual and consensual act, a product of great enthusiasm.

‘At no time was there any aggression, indeed, there was not even the slightest discomfort, but an overflowing joy in both of us.’

Rubiales’ 72-year-old mum broke off her hunger strike at a church in her son’s hometown of Motril near Granada on Wednesday of last week after being rushed to hospital 48 hours into her protest.

She said she had launched it to get Jenni, who has now returned to the Mexican city of Pachuca where she plays her club football, to ‘tell the truth’ about the kiss.

Speaking from the inside of the church before falling ill, she said: ‘I just want the truth to be told.

‘She knows my son is very honest. If she tells the truth everything will be fixed.’

Referring to the World Cup kiss that has led to the so-called ‘Kissgate’ scandal, she added: ‘It was an anecdote, as she herself said, and look how far it’s gone.

‘She should have a conscience and act according to it.

‘My son is very worried and has asked me not to continue, to stop, but I will be here until I drop and my body can continue.’