Kimberly Guilfoyle has another “ex” to add to her long list.
The Maga stalwart – former ambitious San Francisco attorney, former first wife to then San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, bitter rival of Kamala Harris, Fox News star, influential Republican Party fundraiser and ex-fiancée to Donald Trump Jr – is closing another chapter on her resume. She is now also no longer Donald Trump’s ambassador to Greece.
The 57 year-old has never spent long out of the headlines: from her “scream speech” at the 2020 Republican convention in a trademark red dress, to glamorous parties and deal-making in Athens, to a “honey” text message that may have been the last straw that triggered her dismissal.
A man’s body has been recovered, with two others still unaccounted for, after a fishing vessel went missing off the Outer Hebrides.
Everything we know so far
HM Coastguard have said they were made aware of the missing ship, which was sailing off Port Ness on the Isle of Lewis, at around 9.20pm on Tuesday.
- Police Scotland were notified at about 11.35pm. The force said three men were aboard.
- The body of one man has been recovered. The men’s family have been made aware and are being supported by officers.
Search ongoing
A coastguard aeroplane, two coastguard helicopters, six coastguard rescue teams, two RNLI lifeboats, a local vessel and Police Scotland are involved in the search, which is being carried out amid a yellow weather warning for high winds in the region.
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Pope Leo diagnosed with lung cancer after surgery
Pope Leo XIV has been diagnosed with cancer following a “successful” operation to remove the lower lobe of his right lung, the Vatican has announced.
A common type of lung cancer
Doctors confirmed the diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, a common type of lung cancer, after pre-planned surgery at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital. Dr Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora said cancer had been suspected by pre-operative tests.
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What else do we know?
- The surgery lasted around 90 minutes and had no complications.
- Pope Leo had a “peaceful night” in hospital, where he is expected to remain for about a week.
- The 71-year-old pontiff cancelled all public events until 20 October to give him time to recover.
Hope for quick recovery
- The Vatican did not give more details of the operation, but Margaritora is an expert in robotic surgical techniques and Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery (Vats).
- Using small incisions by endoscopic instruments equipped with a high-definition camera, Vats reduces surgical trauma and can result in faster recovery.
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Reactions from religious leaders and supporters
Archbishop Richard Moth, leader of the Catholics in England and Wales, said: “I have sent a message on behalf of all in the Catholic Church in England and Wales, assuring him [the Pope] of our prayers.”
- Large crowds gathered outside the hospital to wait for the Pope before his surgery. One well-wisher, Carla, told the BBC she was “taken aback” by the news, adding: “It turns out he’s vulnerable too.”
New dinosaur species discovered from ‘overlooked’ fossil
A new species of dinosaur has been identified from an “overlooked” fossil which was found on the Isle of Wight more than 100 years ago, researchers have said.
The history of the fossil
The fossil, which was a piece of the back of a skull, was originally found at the foot of a cliff on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight by amateur palaeontologist Reginald Walter Tooley. It was procured by the Natural History Museum in 1924.
Dr Cassius Morrison of University College London said it was a “real mystery” why the fossil had been overlooked.
A megaraptoran
The new dinosaur, named Invictibellatrix amberina (with the former meaning “unconquered female warrior”), has and is about the size of a large tiger.
It is part of a group of agile, two-legged carnivores called . These were closely related to tyrannosaurus but had more slender heads and used their claws to attack prey rather than their jaws.
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A mysterious species
- Megaraptors are seen as the most mysterious of the large carnivorous dinosaurs, with few fossils found.
- Until this discovery, no megaraptorans had been found in Europe.
- Researchers suggest invictibellatrix would have been three to four meters long and just over a metre and a half tall.
- They also speculate it would likely have had feathers and 10-20cm long claws.
- Its diet is thought to have consisted of small dinosaurs, lizards and mammals.
Rules, London’s oldest restaurant, given to National Trust
The home of Rules, London’s oldest restaurant which has been there since 1798, has been donated to the National Trust.
The charity said the donation of the £11m site by J-P Mayhew, its owner of 40 years, would secure the future of a building where “kings dined and writers and politicians plotted”.
The freehold acquisition included visitor books, menus, caricatures, photographs, stained glass and signs. Annual rent from the restaurant business will also go into conservation work.
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Famous diners
Rules is no stranger to celebrity, having welcomed figures from and – who would rendezvous with his mistresses there – to and over the past two centuries.
The restaurant, located at 34-35 Maiden Lane in Covent Garden, central London, has outlasted empires and overcome challenges including the Blitz during the Second World War as well as plans for a dual carriageway.
A long future ahead
This place is an outstanding piece of living history… it has defied the odds to be standing here today, doors still open and treacle sponge still on the menu. Mr Mayhew’s extraordinary generosity, and the care he has poured into Rules over many decades, mean this beloved place has a future measured not in years but generations.
Hilary McGrady, director-general of the National Trust
‘Heartbreaking’ shot wins Wildlife Photographer of the Year
The winner has been crowned for the Natural History Museum’s annual Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, ahead of an exhibition of the photos opening to the public later in the week.
The title went to Federico Veronesi, from Italy, for his image, “The Aftermath”, showing an elephant lifting the body of her dead calf. The chair of the judging panel described it as an emotional “gut punch” and “heartbreakingly poignant”.
An elephant-themed image also triumphed in the ‘Animals in their Environment’ category with James Lewin’s shot, one of five British photographers to win a category.
Telling animals’ stories
The winning entry from Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year featured a dung beetle pushing its cargo, which judges praised for revealing “an entire story”.
Loren Elliott from the USA won the Photojournalist Story award with a shot of a coyote walking above the Bay of San Francisco.
Families forced to spend thousands on travel for sick kids
Children’s health specialists have recommended extra funding to help families get to hospitals for treatment, after one family spent £12,000 travelling to Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Travel costs burden families
Experts from the hospital, which sees around 81,500 children and young people a year, are calling for funding to cover travel costs for all children with serious illnesses.
Laura Grimwade, whose 12-year-old son Woody has a rare autoimmune disease, estimates her family will have spent £15,000 travelling to and from Plymouth to hospitals in London by the time he is 18.
She said a fund would make “such a difference”.
Scheme should be extended, say doctors
- The Government has already committed £10m of travel funding to families of children with cancer.
- Doctors say this is a good start but other families should not miss out.
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The shocking human cost of UK’s killer kitchens revealed
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors found hundreds of breaches of health and safety law at more than 160 firms, with workers exposed to “billowing” silica dust, and issued an immediate ban to 50 firms.
What is silicosis?
The threat posed by the man-made stone comes from so-called “dry cutting” whereby particles are emitted in a fine dust as slabs are cut.
Engineered stone often contains as much as 95 per cent silica quartz – far higher than natural stone such as granite (about 30 per cent).
When engineered quartz dust is inhaled, it lodges in the lungs, triggering an aggressive immune response from the body.
Over time, scar tissue forms and spreads, slowly killing the lung. Many sufferers of silicosis remain asymptomatic until it is too late.
Hundreds of breaches
Unannounced visits by the HSE to workshops producing kitchen counters made from in-demand quartz have revealed hundreds of breaches of regulations designed to protect workers from inhaling toxic dust responsible for silicosis, an incurable and often fatal lung condition.
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Cases of deadly lung disease could reach 1,000
Almost 60 stonemasons in the UK have so far been diagnosed with silicosis, with many falling ill or dying in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
Doctors believe the true number of silicosis cases is much higher and could reach as many as 1,000 people in a workforce of 7,000.
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The verdict from the HSE
Safety bosses said the inspection regime had revealed a “very mixed picture” of safety standards in the kitchen worktop industry.
Harvey Wild, HSE’s head of operations, said: “Where we’re finding things that are wrong, there isn’t just one thing wrong – there’s multiple things wrong. We’re taking a very strong enforcement line and people are getting multiple notices.”
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An embattled Trump has finally cast her adrift, confirming on Tuesday the earlier announcement by his new press secretary that Guilfoyle had been asked to resign, and dismissing her as someone who “I guess, dated my son a long time ago” (Guilfoyle and Don Jr broke off their engagement just two years ago).
Guilfoyle is defiant. In a long social media post she said the ambassador job had been the “honour of my life” and addressed “the recent allegations against me”, without identifying which she was referring to.
“I will not allow false accusations to define my decades of public service,” she said. “These allegations are false, and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity.”
Trump was brief when asked why Guilfoyle was gone. “I didn’t like what I read,” he said.
Guilfoyle is possibly best-known for her address to the 2020 Republican convention, which became known as the “scream speech” as it was delivered at top volume to a room that the Covid pandemic had left as an empty void.
Dressed in clinging Nancy Reagan-red, the then-chairwoman of the Trump Victory Finance Committee proclaimed: “My mother, Mercedes, was a special education teacher from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. My father, also an immigrant, came to this nation in pursuit of the American dream. Now, I consider it my duty to fight to protect that dream.”
In a twist of fate, another star-in-a-red-dress from that 2020 convention, Natalie Harp, who herself has recently weathered controversy, would likely have handed Trump the printouts that just ended Guildfoyle’s career.
Guilfoyle’s story is one of hard-won success, punctuated by big setbacks. She was just 11 when her mother died of leukemia. She paid her tuition at law school by modelling, and rose to prominence as a young lawyer in San Francisco – a contemporary of Kamala Harris – winning international attention when she prosecuted the bizarre case of a woman mauled to death by a dog.
In 2001 she married rising Democrat star Newsom, and they were briefly the political power couple of the state (their honeymoon was, ironically, to Greece). But her jump to television – Court TV, CNN, ABC, then Fox News – reoriented her career to New York. They divorced in 2006.
Her 12 years as co-host of Fox afternoon panel show came to an abrupt end in 2018, amid serious allegations of inappropriate workplace behaviour, which she publicly denied.
‘You feel like you have a calling’
Guilfoyle seamlessly segued to become one of Maga’s shining stars, making speeches and running fund-raising for Trump Victory, his main campaign organisation.
Her shift into politics had been under way for a while. While at Fox she began dating Don Jr and was briefly in the mix to become White House press secretary, telling one newspaper: “I’ve never been someone who’s motivated by financial interests… if you’re passionate about it and you feel like you have a calling for anything in life.”
Don Jr proposed on New Year’s Eve 2020 and they bought a home together in Florida. They exchanged loving messages on social media: “Falling in love with my fiancé more and more every day,” Guilfoyle posted on Instagram on Valentine’s Day 2022. “Thanks for always being there no matter what the haters are throwing our way,” he said in 2024.
However, in December 2024 the published photos confirming rumours that Don Jr had broken off the engagement and was dating socialite Bettina Anderson, whom he married in May this year.
Mere hours after the photos hit the headlines, the President made an announcement on Truth Social: “Today, I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Kimberly Guilfoyle as the United States Ambassador to Greece,” the then President-elect said.
“For many years, Kimberly has been a close friend and ally. Her extensive experience and leadership in law, media, and politics along with her sharp intellect make her supremely qualified.”
A spokesman for Trump told that suggestions that Guilfoyle’s nomination was related to her relationship with Don Jr were “very sexist”.
Parties and power
After a long wait for a Senate confirmation, that eventually arrived in September last year, Guilfoyle hit Athens with a bang.
She reportedly arrived on the private jet of a multimillionaire Greek American businessman.
Wielding her impeccable access to the heart of the White House, she was suddenly everywhere. Everyone wanted to meet her, and she successfully pushed – as she promised in her confirmation hearing – deals aimed at weaning Europe off reliance on Russian oil (and opening doors for American interests).
Thanks to her millions of Instagram followers, glamorous selfies and trips to fashion shows, nightclubs and art galas, she was also catnip to the local media, trailed by the paparazzi, beloved by the gossip shows – she even featured on the cover of .
The opposition’s complaints about “transactional diplomacy” made little impact.
Rumours swirled about her, and eventually surfaced in the media.
was on her tail over her close association with Greek energy tycoons, asking questions about whether her approach was one appropriate to the post of ambassador, including claims she was accepting gifts of trips on their private jets. The embassy said she had “faithfully followed [government] ethics and gift reporting guidelines”.
The gleefully tracked her lavish lifestyle, parties and expenses, at one point alleging an incident where she demoted a security officer for not supplying fresh ice cubes late at night.
The final blow came late last week, when the reported the claims of US businessman Eric Deters. Deters alleged that Guilfoyle had offered access to Trump administration officials for money, and just days before her Senate confirmation hearing had asked him to pay a $100,000 (£75,390) American Express bill.
In a blitz of media interviews Deters repeated the allegations, offering what appeared to be text messages from Guilfoyle to substantiate them.
“Honey please, I need you to get this done for me today,” she had allegedly written, adding a prayer emoji, according to multiple US media organisations to whom Deters showed the messages.
Deters claimed that Guilfoyle promised him access to Trump administration officials as a “quid pro quo”.
He said he refused to pay her credit card bill, as he “didn’t have that money at the time”.
Guilfoyle’s lawyers denied that she had done anything wrong, disputed the authenticity of the messages, and said the money she was seeking from Deters was proper payment for public appearances and speaking engagements that predated her ambassadorial nomination.
“I have dedicated my professional life to fighting for justice, standing up for what is right, and defending the values that make America exceptional,” Guilfoyle said, in her resignation tweet.