19 hours agoBlogsComments Off on Major alert for thousands as €160 or €285 payment to land in accounts in days – and you may not even need to apply
THOUSANDS are set for a major boost as a huge payment is set to land in accounts in just days.
The Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance (BSCFA) helps families with the cost of school uniforms and shoes.
And it is only two weeks until the payment is made on the week of July 14.
Many families get the payment automatically, so they don’t need to apply.
If you are set to receive it automatically, you should have been notified on your MyWelfare account or by post by 9 June 2025.
If you weren’t notified, you will need to apply for the payment.
Applications opened on June 9, and the closing date is September 30, so despite payments starting in July you can still apply.
Since June 17 this year, families who get the Foster Care Allowance can also apply for the BSCFA.
You can get the payment if you have a child that qualifies, and:
You are getting a qualifying social welfare payment, or are participating in an approved employment, education or training support scheme. See a list of qualifying payments and schemes on Gov.ie
Your household is within the BSCFA income limits (see ‘Income limits’ below)
You and each child you claim the BSCFA for are resident in Ireland.
If you are getting a social welfare payment, you must be getting a Child Support Payment (previously called an Increase for a Qualified Child or IQC) with it, but there are some exceptions to it.
If you get a qualifying social welfare payment but don’t get a Child Support Payment, you can claim the payment if:
Your spouse or partner’s income is over the specified limit for your payment, but your overall household income is within the BSCFA income limits (see ‘Income limits’ below).
But you must meet the other rules for getting BSCFA.
You child must be aged between 4-17 on 30 September in the year you apply, or aged between 18-22 and returning to full-time second-level education in a recognised school or college in the autumn of the year you apply
Your total household income must be less than the amounts set out in the table below.
The total household income includes:
Your weekly social welfare or Health Service Executive (HSE) payments, and
Any other income you may have, including wages
Capital (such as savings, investments, and any property you have excluding your own home)
When your income is assessed from your wages, the DSP looks at your income before it’s taxed, but they don’t include PRSI and a standard travel allowance of up to €20 a week.
However, some social welfare payments are not included in the means test.
19 hours agoBlogsComments Off on Iran scrambles to fix ‘Mount Doom’ nuke site, pics show as UN warns Ayatollah could restart crippled bomb plot in MONTHS
SATELLITE pictureshave emerged showing fresh construction work at the country’s top nuclear facility after it was bombed by the US.
Maxar via Reuters Construction activity post-bombing at Fordow as of June 27, annotations by The Sun[/caption]
Maxar via Reuters A satellite overview shows earthmoving at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Facility on June 27; annotations by The Sun[/caption]
ReutersA satellite view shows an overview of Fordow underground complex after the US bombings on June 21[/caption]
Latest satellite imagery appears to show construction work at the Fordow Nuclear Enrichment facility in Qom, near Tehran.
Heavy earthmoving equipment can be seen working near the impact craters caused by US GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs.
Excavators and cranes can also be seen working, while more construction trucks are visible on roads leading to the impact points at the site.
A new access road between the site’s northern tunnel entrance and one of the impact craters can be seen after Israel said its air force struck Fordow to “disrupt” access to the site.
David Albright, a US weapons expert, said in his assessment that Iran may be filling the craters and conducting engineering damage assessments and radiological sampling.
In an interview with Fox News, the US president said the Fordow enrichment site was “just thousands of tons of rock” and that “the whole place was just destroyed.” He said the strikes had landed at “the perfect time”.
He added: “We went in, we destroyed their nuclear capability and we stopped. It was a beautiful thing and they couldn’t have gone on much further.”
The president also slammed leaked preliminary findings from the Pentagon’s Defence Intelligence Agency that said the damage was not severe enough to destroy its nuclear programme.
Tehran has admitted since that Operation Midnight Hammer and the joint Israeli attacks did cause “excessive and serious” damage.
However, doubts remain about whether Iran quietly removed some 400 kilogrammes of enriched uranium from its most sensitive sites before the strikes – potentially hiding nuclear material elsewhere in the country.
The uranium in question is enriched to 60 percent — above levels for civilian usage but still below weapons grade.
That material, if further refined, would theoretically be sufficient to produce more than nine nuclear bombs.
Trump dismissed such speculation, saying: “Nothing was taken out… too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!”
He added that satellite images showed trucks at the site only because Iranian crews were attempting to shield the facility with concrete.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi says Iran likely will be able to begin to produce enriched uranium “in a matter of months,” despite the damage.
He said: “They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that.”
Iranian nuke sites bombed by US
By Sayan Bose, Foreign News Reporter
Fordow enrichment facility
Iran’s nuclear facility at Fordow is located some 60 miles southwest of Tehran, which hosts centrifuge cascades.
Its construction began at least in 2007, according to the IAEA, although Iran only informed the UN nuclear watchdog about the facility in 2009 after the US and allied Western intelligence agencies became aware of its existence.
Buried under a mountain and protected by anti-aircraft batteries, Fordow appears designed to withstand airstrikes.
Military experts have said it could likely only be targeted by bunker buster bombs, a term for bombs that are designed to penetrate deep below the surface before exploding, such as the latest GBU-57 A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb in the American arsenal.
The roughly 30,000-pound precision-guided bomb is designed to attack deeply buried and hardened bunkers and tunnels.
The US has only configured and programmed its B-2 Spirit stealth bomber to deliver that bomb, according to the Air Force.
The B-2 is only flown by the Air Force, and is produced by Northrop Grumman, meaning that Washington would have to be involved in such an operation.
Natanz enrichment facility
Iran’s nuclear facility at Natanz, located some 135 miles southeast of Tehran, is the country’s main enrichment site and had already been targeted by Israeli airstrikes.
Uranium had been enriched to up to 60% purity at the site a mildly radioactive level but a short step away from weapons grade before Israel destroyed the aboveground part of the facility, according to the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Another part of the facility on Iran’s Central Plateau is underground to defend against potential airstrikes.
It operates multiple cascades, or groups of centrifuges working together to more quickly enrich uranium.
The IAEA has said it believes that most, if not all, of these centrifuges were destroyed by an Israeli strike that cut off power to the site.
The IAEA said those strikes caused contamination only at the site itself, not the surrounding area.
Iran also is burrowing into the Kh-e Kolang Gaz L, or Pickax Mountain, which is just beyond Natanzs southern fencing.
Natanz has been targeted by the Stuxnet virus, believed to be an Israeli and American creation, which destroyed Iranian centrifuges.
Two separate attacks, attributed to Israel, also have struck the facility.
Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre
The facility in Isfahan, some 215 miles southeast of Tehran, employs thousands of nuclear scientists.
It is also home to three Chinese research reactors and laboratories associated with the country’s atomic program.
Israel has struck buildings at the Isfahan nuclear site, among them a uranium conversion facility.
The IAEA said there has been no sign of increased radiation at the site.
Iran has several other sites in its nuclear program that were not announced as targets in the US strikes
Bushehr nuclear power station – Iran’s only commercial nuclear power plant is in Bushehr on the Persian Gulf, some 465 miles south of Tehran.
Iran is building two other reactors like it at the site.
Bushehr is fueled by uranium produced in Russia, not Iran, and is monitored by the IAEA.
Arak plant – The Arak heavy water reactor is 155 miles southwest of Tehran.
Heavy water helps cool nuclear reactors, but it produces plutonium as a byproduct that can potentially be used in nuclear weapons.
Iran had agreed under its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers to redesign the facility to relieve proliferation concerns.
Parchin military site – south of Tehran, this site is focused on research and the production of ammo, rockets and explosives.
Concerns have been raised that it is also used as part of Iran’s nuclear weapon development.
Qom uranium enrichment plant – a heavily fortified and initially secret facility where Iran carries out uranium enrichment.
The Tehran Research Reactor is at the headquarters of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the civilian body overseeing the countrys atomic program.
It initially required highly enriched uranium but was later retrofitted to use low-enriched uranium over proliferation concerns.
He admitted Iran could still have stockpiles of enriched uranium, saying: “We don’t know where this material could be.
“So some could have been destroyed as part of the attack, but some could have been moved. So there has to be at some point a clarification,” he said in an interview with CBS
For now, Iranian lawmakers voted to suspend cooperation with the IAEA, while Tehran rejected Grossi’s request for a visit to the damaged sites, especially Fordow.
“We need to be in a position to ascertain, to confirm what is there, and where is it and what happened,” Grossi said.
In a separate interview with Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” program, Trump said he did not think the stockpile had been moved.
“It’s a very hard thing to do plus we didn’t give much notice,” he said, according to excerpts of the interview. “They didn’t move anything.”
The 12-Day War began On June 13 when Israel launched Operation Rising Lion – a sophisticated campaign of bombing which targeted Iran’s military nuclear sites.
The Israelis also brilliantly orchestrated Operation Red Wedding – 30 top Iranian military chiefs killed in near-simultaneous blitz as Israel sought to root out the country’s military strength entirely.
ReutersThe Fordow plant before and after the US bombed the site[/caption]
The moment a GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) hit the earth in the test footage
Iran retaliated by launching daily salvos of ballistic missiles across Israel, but failed to hit any strategic targets.
The US military’s flagship B-2 Spirit stealth bombers dropped more than a dozen 30,000lb GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP).
The bunker-buster bombs were used to hit Iran’s Fordow Nuclear Enrichment Plant.
Iran, which vowed to hit US military bases across the Middle East, sought its revenge by launching missiles at Al-Udeid Air Base – America’s biggest military station in the region.
But Tehran seemingly cooked up a fake attack after passing warnings to its Qatari allies, which allowed all US service personnel and aircraft to be moved out of harm’s way.
Trump dubbed the expected response “weak” before announcing that a ceasefire deal had been reached between the Israelis and Iranians.
But even with a ceasefire being agreed upon, Trump made it clear he would “absolutely” consider bombing Iran again if it was ever needed.
He told reporters in the White House he would “without question” attack the country if US intelligence pointed towards Iran enriching uranium to concerning levels.
It comes after a top Iranian cleric has issued a fatwa against President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – calling for their deaths.
In the Islamic religious decree, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi branded both leaders as “enemies of God”.
20 hours agoBlogsComments Off on My phone had ‘heatwave meltdown’ and STOPPED working – 3 tricks save you from being locked out of mobile like me today
BRITAIN is officially baking – and while I’m all for a much-needed tan, my phone is not quite so happy.
I was fortunate enough to go to the Glastonbury Festival over the weekend and basked in pretty consistent sunshine as we danced away to Alanis Morissette, Busta Rhymes and the Kaiser Chiefs among others.
AppleThere are ways to avoid one of these warning alerts[/caption]
Among it all, my iPhone was working overtime, taking loads of photos and videos, keeping in touch with friends and tracking the line-up on Vodafone’s Glastonbury Festival app.
Then suddenly it all came grinding to a halt.
A messaged popup on the screen saying my device was too hot and needed to cool down.
For anyone who hasn’t seen this before, a thermometer image appears and your iPhone temporarily stops working.
The only thing you can do is make an emergency call.
Apple says iPhones and iPads are “designed for use where the ambient temperature is between 0º and 35ºC”.
“Low- or high-temperature conditions may cause your device to change its behaviour to regulate its temperature,” their website says.
“Using an iOS or iPadOS device in very hot conditions can permanently shorten battery life.”
Among the rules on Apple’s website, it seems I broke this one: “Using certain features in hot conditions or direct sunlight for an extended period of time.”
Oops.
So what can you do to avoid a similar fate?
HOW TO AVOID A MOBILE HEATWAVE MELTDOWN
Firstly, as it rightly says above, don’t use your iPhone – or any other mobile for that matter – in direct sunlight where possible.
I found not keeping my phone in my pocket also helped. That way I’m not heating up my handset and it’s not making me even hotter too.
Keeping it in a shaded spot is the best idea – or even in your bag away from the sunlight.
The other change that can help is lowering your screen brightness down.
Avoid powerful tasks when outside in hot weather, such as gaming or watching 4K videos as that extra power will only warm things up further.
And finally, it’s best not to charge your smartphone when it’s already hot.
But even more so, don’t use a wireless charger as these generate even more heat.
UK 5 day weather forecast
Today:
Sunny and hot with light winds for England and Wales with isolated heavy showers possible in the afternoon, particularly in northern and eastern England. Cooler and fresher in the northwest with a band of locally heavy rain gradually moving east.
Tonight:
Rain clearing Scotland, but cloud extending across northern England and Wales, bringing a little drizzle at times. Drier and clearer elsewhere. Very warm and muggy in the south and southeast.
Tuesday:
Hot and muggy in the southeast with the odd heavy shower possible. Bright and fresh in the northwest. Elsewhere, rather cloudy with patchy light rain or drizzle over the hills.
Outlook for Wednesday to Friday:
Fresher for all, with cloudier skies bringing spells of rain, these sometimes heavy on Wednesday and Friday, but some drier, brighter intervals as well. Temperatures near or slightly above average.
“[On] Emmerdale I explained that you get an episode fee and you’re guaranteed so many episodes a year… so if we’re saying roughly £500 and up [per episode], and you were contracted to do 90 [episodes, that’s 45k, it’s obviously a good wage,” Kelli began.
“But it’s not like the ‘rich, rich’ you’d think famous actors would be earning.”
Kelli added: “Now, that’s that sort of middle of the road [salary]. I’m not going to lie when I was at Emmerdale to my knowledge, one of the highest paid actors was on a thousand pound episodes.”
She explained that you “never know for sure,” what your co-stars earned because everybody was paid differently.
Kelli also spoke about extra earnings actors made from soaps, but also all the hidden fees they pay that viewers might not know about.
“So, yeah, it would only be 45, but then you get a buyout, which is pretty much the same as your wage, so I’ll top that up to 90. Then, you’ve got the agent’s commission, which is usually 12 and a half percent,” she said.
“And because you’re self-employed, you have to put 40 [per cent] away for tax.”
Kelli added: “Obviously, there’s a lot of tax rebates and things you can claim for as an act of things you probably won’t normally be able to claim as a self-employed person, but there is a cap on a lot of those things.”
She told the fan that “people are under the assumption that actors get paid a s**t ton of money,” but that wasn’t always the case.
Kelli, who also starred on the TV drama, Shameless, also explained that veteran soap actors such as, Coronation Street star, William Roache were on older ITV contracts that can’t be broken and likely on higher salaries.
“When I was leaving Emmerdale, it was almost like they were putting people on pay-as-you-go contracts or three months contracts which isn’t going to work for many actors.”
The Sun has previously revealed that some soap actors were raking in the big salaries, and along with their six-figure acting earnings, some viewer favourites fromCoronation StreetandEastEnderstoEmmerdaleare worth millions thanks to lucrative deals and side hustles.
An insider said: “There is about to be a bloodbath across Corrie, Emmerdale and EastEnders — and it won’t be pretty.
“All the big three have all been told they need to cut their wage bills by up to 25 per cent. Now there is panic in the green rooms about who could be facing the chop.”
Kelli explained actors were paid on the amount of show appearances they hadRex
20 hours agoBlogsComments Off on Leandro Leviste’s first bill: Allowance for every Filipino student
On the first day of his term on June 30, 2025, Batangas 1st District Representative Leandro Legarda Leviste filed one of the first bills of the 20th Congress. House Bill No. 27 seeks to provide a monthly allowance of P1,000 to every Filipino student, from kindergarten to college, regardless of their socioeconomic status. The proposed
20 hours agoBlogsComments Off on Bizarre moment man strolls through town centre completely NAKED in front of horrified bystanders in soaring temps
THE bizarre moment a man walked through town completely naked over the weekend was captured by onlookers.
He could be seen casually strolling past shops and through the high street on what was one of the hottest days so far this year.
Footage captured a man in his birthday suit amid soaring temperaturesStokeonTrentLiveStokeonTrentLiveMembers of the public could be seen trying to avert their eyes[/caption]
The man stunned bystanders near the Guild Hall, in the centre of Newcastle-Under-Lyme, shortly after 5pm.
He was completely stripped of clothes, not even wearing any shoes as he walked around in the sun.
Another clip was also shared of what appears to be the same man running across the town centre roundabout during his naked escapade.
It occurred on Saturday, June 28, where Staffordshire recorded temperatures reaching around 24 degrees Celsius.
This incident is the latest in a episode of public nudity reported in the area.
On June 20, a man was seen dancing and flashing his backside to motorists passing on Weston Road in Meir.
A video showed him seated on the pavement that morning wearing cap, shirt and shorts.
He could then be seen standing up and pulling his shorts down to moon at passing vehicles.
Police also attended a half-naked man, who was escorted from a wooded area off Holst Drive in Birches Head last month.
20 hours agoMalaysia TvComments Off on CATHSSETA Graduate Internship Opportunities 2025
The Culture, Art, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Sector Education and Training Authority (CATHSSETA) invites unemployed South African graduates to apply for its Internship Programme for 2025–2027 Internship Application Closing Date: 08 July 2025 at 16:00Internship Duration: Until 31 March 2027Internship...
