EXCLUSIVE Once-glamorous sports legend breaks cover with a VERY pointed message... just weeks after looking unrecognizable in a wheelchair
But earlier this year Anna Kournikova sparked major concern over her health after she was spotted in a wheelchair wearing a protective boot.
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The Sun
26 minutes ago
- The Sun
From delaying tactics to age limits and finding your tribe – ten ways to resist giving in to your kid's phone demands
MORE than half of all kids in Britain are addicted to technology – with 91 per cent owning a mobile phone by the age of 11, research reveals. A 2025 Ofcom report found a massive 78 per cent of teens check their devices at least every hour. 5 5 And even when parents try their hardest to control the situation, it is easy to get it wrong, according to clinical psychologist Dr Martha Deiros Collado, whose new book, The Smartphone Solution: When And How To Give Your Child A Phone, is packed with practical advice. In her two decades of experience, Dr Collado has helped thousands of families and appeared on Channel 4's The Great British Phone Switch. She has vowed not to let her own two daughters, aged six and two, have a smartphone until they are at least 15, but admits pester power is already making it a challenge. Dr Collado explained: 'I know the road ahead is going to be tough. 'Our children were born with digital devices all around them — I'm not saying it's easy. 'We're the first generation of parents having to navigate the choppy seas of the internet with very few safety floats to support us. 'We're all going to make mistakes along the way, and that's OK. 'Like many parents, I worry about smartphones' effect on children's development. 'Kids really do need real-life interaction, attention and play. 'And they need to learn to cope if they are bored or frustrated: pulling out a phone out of habit means they don't get this chance. 'In the meantime, we teach them safety from an early age.' Here are Dr Collado's top ten tips for parents on how to resist giving their kids a smartphone. DON'T SAY NO, SAY NOT YET Delaying smartphones can be empowering to you and your child. A ban instantly makes them more desirable, but tell children that smartphones are not out of bounds, they're simply not ready yet to have one with unimpeded access to all the apps and content they offer. 'Not yet' opens up a conversation — we're not ignoring their wishes, but there's still learning to be done. A hard 'no' can feel like rejection, but delaying offers time to develop digital skills which will protect them from engaging in harmful communications online, like learning when it's time to take a break. SMARTPHONES ARE NOT FOR CHILDREN Making kids wait to own a device emphasises that they're not toys. Smartphones shouldn't be considered an object of fun, a status symbol or rite of passage into secondary school. They're a wonderful tool and a dangerous machine. Be present if your children are using their smartphone. Say loud and clear, 'You can take a photo, but I'm trusting you to hold it very carefully. Smartphones are really expensive'. MAKE THE AGE LIMIT CLEAR EARLY ON 5 You needn't wait until your child asks to say, 'You won't be getting a phone until you're at least 13'. Children benefit from knowing that there's an age when you might start to consider it — and guess what happens? Most kids get excited. Because you haven't said no, there's a lot of hope and possibility that youngsters will grab on to. HOLD FIRM Stay strong and wait until their brains and hearts are sufficiently developed and they possess the impulse control and critical-thinking skills to stay safe when they're bombarded with inappropriate content. Your child might not like it, or agree, but it's not your job to justify your decision or convince them that you're right. It's your job to keep them safe, even when it's hard to do so. Dig deep and find the courage to teach them patience and delayed gratification — two life skills that smartphones are really good at stealing away from them. OFFER OTHER DIGITAL EXPERIENCES We can't completely protect our children from the digital world, but find ways to alleviate the downsides of not having a smartphone when their friends get one. This might be allowing them to video call friends via a tablet under your supervision, using an 'un-smart' phone for calls and texts when they're away from home and at certain agreed hours in your home, or letting them enjoy gaming online with their friends on closed digital platforms where you have oversight of what they play, who with and for how long. SET A GOOD EXAMPLE Children learn more by what you do than what you say. How you behave with your phone is crucial in shaping your child's attitudes. If you limit their screen time, but the rules don't apply to you, it sends mixed messages. And it's more likely that you'll end up fighting daily battles about why it's OK for you to have a phone at the dinner table but not them. Get into the habit of telling them what you're doing on your device — this is useful for training yourself to cut back on usage. Also, resist the chance to reach for the phone's camera when you see your kids doing something adorable — join them in their real-life adventures. TELL OTHER ADULTS YOUR RULES You have parental power to say no at the homes of friends who have older children with smartphones. Even though it might be age-appropriate, it's important to teach that they can't play on someone else's smartphone either. This can be tough with friends, and doesn't always work out, but learn to speak up about mobile usage to prevent a situation that you don't feel comfortable with. Say, 'We know your child has one, but if we could keep it out of reach for a couple of hours it would really help us', or 'It's OK if that's what you want to do, but we'd be really grateful if you don't do it in front of her'. FIND YOUR TRIBE Find a parenting circle in which others are delaying phones, too. A few years ago, it might have seemed like you would be alone in this venture. But now, lots of parents have started to wake up to the potential risks of smartphones for children. And momentum is growing. Some parents may fear being rejected by those who are strongly in favour of delaying. Try to be inclusive and compassionate to anyone who wants to consider this idea with you. START CONVERSATION EARLY For toddlers and preschoolers, be a positive role model and set a strong example by ensuring you follow well-defined rules when your child is with you. This might involve putting your phone in a different room or ensuring that if it beeps or buzzes, you don't allow it to interfere in interactions with your child. See your child as the first priority and your smartphone as the last. Use simple language and stay honest, such as, 'When you're older you'll be allowed to use one'. BE READY FOR SCHOOL 5 Set clear expectations when they start school. Say, 'You need to be at least 13 to have the skills and maturity to use them (devices) responsibly and safely'. State your position, get kids involved, listen to their views, opinions and ideas so they feel part of the rules rather than having something 'done' to them. Try offering an alternative, like a brick phone without apps, so they can make and receive calls and messages. Explain that phones distract from schoolwork and the internet has lots of risks that might make them overwhelmed. Say, 'My job as your parent is to keep you safe. Let's keep talking'.
The Guardian
29 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Wildfire smoke far more dangerous to health than thought, say scientists
Choking smoke spewed by wildfires is far more dangerous than previously thought, a new study has found, with death tolls from short-term exposure to fine particulates underestimated by 93%. Researchers found that 535 people in Europe died on average each year between 2004 and 2022 as a result of breathing in the tiny toxic particles known as PM2.5 that are released when wildfires rage. Under standard methods, which assume PM2.5 from wildfires is as deadly as from other sources, such as traffic, they would have expected just 38 deaths a year. The study comes as wildfires ravage southern Europe, and new data from EU fire monitors shows that 895,000 hectares (2.2m acres) have burned so far in 2025, breaking records for this time of year. They have pumped out more than twice the amount of PM2.5 that wildfires have generated on average by this point in the year over the last two decades. 'Previously, people assumed the same toxicity for wildfire particles and all particles,' said Prof Cathryn Tonne, an environmental epidemiologist at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) and co-author of the study. 'Our paper shows evidence that – although it happens less often – the health impact for the same amount of particles is stronger for wildfire particles,' she added. Dirty air is one of the biggest threats to human health, and research suggests wildfires are a significant contributor to the vast death toll. In December, a study attributed 1.53 million deaths around the world each year to short-term and long-term exposure to air pollution from wildfires. The ISGlobal researchers, who looked only at the smoke's short-term effects, for which the evidence base is stronger, combined daily mortality records from 32 European countries with estimates of PM2.5 pollution from 2004 to 2022. Using models that account for an expected lag in deaths, they found exposure to wildfire smoke increased the risk of death in the following week. For every extra microgram of PM2.5 fouling 1 cubic metre of air, they found that all-cause mortality rose by 0.7%, respiratory mortality went up by 1% and cardiovascular mortality rose by 0.9%. 'The results are concerning, considering that wildfires and other extreme events are increasing exponentially with climate change,' said Prof Antonio Gasparrini, an environmental epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, who was not involved in the study. Devastating blazes compounded by relentless heat have killed several people across southern Europe and the Balkans in recent weeks. But deaths from the toxic fumes released by the fires are likely to go unnoticed. 'Smoke can affect populations far away from the fires,' said Tonne. 'So many more people will be exposed to smoke than the immediate physical threat of the flames.' The researchers said the study was limited by the lack of variability in the data on exposure to fire-related particulate matter, which made it harder to estimate how people's health responded based on age and sex. They were also unable to 'completely disentangle' the health burden of fire-related PM2.5 from ozone, another pollutant released by wildfires, though they said estimates were largely consistent when they adjusted the main model for ozone from all sources. Toxic pollution from wildfires creeps into the homes of more than 1 billion people a year, a study found in May. It concluded that air purifiers were an effective but expensive solution to indoor air pollution, which can be nearly three times higher on wildfire days than normal days, even when all windows and doors are closed. The risk of fire weather has risen as greenhouse gas emissions have heated the planet and dried out vegetation in some regions. The Iberian peninsula has been hit particularly hard this year, with Spain and Portugal accounting for the bulk of Europe's burned area. Associate professor Victor Resco de Dios, a forestry engineer at the University of Lleida, said the fire belt would move north in the coming years and decades. 'What we are witnessing now will sooner or later occur also in central and northern Europe, where we have also seen an aggravation of the fire problem,' he said. 'This is not a Mediterranean problem, but a European one.'
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
NHS staff sickness rate highest for 10 years as levels rise in 18 Scottish health boards
Scotland's struggling NHS is facing even more pressure after it emerged sickness rates among staff have reached the highest level for ten years. A new report revealed the rate for 2024-25 was 6.4 per cent – up from 6.2 per cent the previous year. The NHS Education for Scotland report showed that was 'the highest rate in the past ten years'. It comes after the Scottish Tories claimed patients are 'dying needlessly' as A&E departments see waiting times worsening amid fears of a winter disaster. The latest worrying sickness rates come despite the fact that in 2009 the Scottish Government set a national target which aimed to reduce the NHS staff absence rate to 4 per cent. However, new figures for the year to the end of March showed that sickness absence rates decreased in four NHS boards and increased in 18. At the Scottish Ambulance Service, the sickness absence rate increased by 0.8 per cent to 9.7 per cent – the highest sickness absence rate of any health board. The data showed the health service employed 161,333.8 whole time equivalent (WTE) staff – up 0.1 per cent on the previous year. That included 67,714.6 WTE nursing and midwifery staff, with the number of absences amongst this group falling by 23.1 per cent to 2,601.2 WTE posts. As well as that, the figures detailed a reduction in spending on bank and agency staff. Spending on agency medical and dental staff dropped by 16.7 per cent to £108million. The bill for agency and bank nursing staff fell for the first time, to £410million, with this linked to falling spending on agency workers. The report said: 'After more than doubling in a three-year period, total nursing bank and agency expenditure decreased during the past year.' A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'Our aim is to limit all agency use as much as possible.' It comes as Public Health Scotland revealed more than a third of patients were not seen within the four-hour target last week in Scotland's A&E departments. Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the figures were 'nothing short of disgraceful'. He said: 'How many more families need to lose loved ones before John Swinney and Neil Gray finally come up with a plan to address this crisis?' The proportion of patients admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours fell from 66.9 to 64.9 per cent last week, even though attendances were fractionally down. Mr Gray said: 'I know that some people are still waiting too long for treatment, and I am determined to drive improvement.' Other figures showed a 3.2 per cent increase in cancer deaths over the past decade, with lung cancer was the most common killer.
