In the last two months, the Trump administration has mobilized the National Guard to all four Southern border states, implemented a “zero tolerance” policy mandating prosecutions for unauthorized crossings and begun systematically separating mothers from their children when they are caught crossing illegally.

None of that has stopped the migrants from coming.

The number of illegal crossings increased slightly in May, to nearly 52,000, according to figures released Wednesday by the Customs and Border Protection agency. That total includes 11,568 people who came through legal ports of entry, some of whom were asking for asylum or other humanitarian protections under U.S. law.

Tyler Houlton, press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, painted a bleak picture about the situation at the border in an accompanying statement.

“These numbers show that while the Trump administration is restoring the rule of law, it will take a sustained effort and continuous commitment of resources over many months to disrupt cartels, smugglers, and nefarious actors,” Houlton wrote. He highlighted that border arrests had jumped 160 percent over May of last year.

The truth is those numbers remain low by historical standards. Border Patrol arrests stand at roughly 252,000 so far for the fiscal year, which began in October. That would put them on track to exceed last year’s exceptionally low number of 304,000 arrests, but the predicted yearly total would still represent only a quarter of the 1.6 million arrests recorded in 2000. And an increase in illegal crossings during the spring months is typical ― the weather is warmer.

For the last few years, border arrests have hovered at their lowest levels since the early 1970s. Since 2014, people seeking humanitarian protections ― particularly from the violence-plagued Central American countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras ― have made up a large percentage of all unauthorized crossings. 

Nonetheless, the numbers are sure to infuriate President Donald Trump, who has made cracking down on immigration a signature issue. Most of the measures his administration implemented over the last two months aimed to deter asylum seekers, whom the White House accuses of exploiting legal “loopholes” in order to gain lawful entry to the country or avoid getting locked up indefinitely in immigrant detention. 

In April, Trump mobilized the National Guard to the border in a show of force, despite the fact that those troops are barred from making immigration arrests. His decision appeared to be driven in part by news about hundreds of Central American asylum seekers traveling in a caravan through Mexico and aiming to seek entry in San Diego.

Days later, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that border authorities would begin referring all people caught crossing illegally for criminal prosecution before putting them in deportation proceedings. While immigration is overall a matter of civil law, crossing illegally into the United States is a criminal offense, punishable by up to six months in jail. In practice, judges typically sentence offenders to only a few days in jail or to time served.

In May, Sessions announced that the “zero tolerance” policy for immigration prosecutions would apply even to mothers who travel with their children, thereby implementing the family separation policy. 

That policy, in particular, has infuriated immigrant rights groups and child care advocates, who say it is traumatizing children, many of whom crossed with parents intending to lodge asylum or other humanitarian claims that they have a right to seek under U.S. law.

For the most part, immigration authorities can’t lock up children in detention centers indefinitely. With the exception of Mexican and Canadian nationals, who can be quickly repatriated, unaccompanied children and those split from their parents by border officials are referred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which looks for a sponsor or non-secured facility to house them. 

But the agency is currently backlogged, with 11,200 children in its care, according to NBC News. Officials are considering whether to house undocumented children temporarily on military bases.   

Sex therapists are privy to people’s most erotic desires and deepest insecurities ― the kinds of things they may not feel comfortable opening up about to close friends and family. 

As you might expect, these professionals are accustomed to fielding a lot of questions from patients about their bodies, their relationships and their fantasies. 

So which questions do they get asked most often? Below, sex therapists reveal the topics they find themselves addressing time and time again. 

1. Am I normal?

People constantly want to know if what they are doing, feeling and fantasizing about inside and outside of the bedroom is “normal,” whether it’s their level of desire or the shape and size of their genitals. In fact, sex therapist Shannon Chavez told HuffPost that trying to conform to these so-called sexual norms causes her patients distress.

“Most people are so relieved to learn they are not the only one dealing with a particular sexual concern or that the concern is something that others have also reported and there is hope,” she said. “I’ve seen people jump up and down when they realize nothing is wrong with them and they will be able to enjoy sex ‘just like everyone else.’”

2. Can I learn to orgasm?

In sex therapist Vanessa Marin’s office, there’s one question she gets from women more than any other: How the heck do I have an orgasm? She even created an online course, aptly named Finishing School, which is designed to teach women how to do just that.

“If you haven’t yet had your first orgasm, it’s important to know that orgasm is a skill,” she said. “Like any other skill, it takes time, patience and practice to learn. But fortunately, orgasm is one of the most fun things to learn.”

Certain physical factors, like gynecological issues, and some psychological ones, like past traumas, depression and anxiety, may make orgasming especially challenging for some women. But for others, reaching the Big O may just be a matter of education. Therefore, learning certain techniques, playing with sex toys or exploring your fantasies could all help you climax. 

3. How can I give my partner an orgasm?

Sex isn’t just about both partners having an orgasm, though it is certainly a very welcome bonus. But many people ― especially women (hello, orgasm gap) ― can’t orgasm from penetrative sex alone. Some people require lots of dirty talk and foreplay beforehand; others need a great deal of clitoral stimulation. And then there are those who must be in the proper head space (e.g., relaxed, well-rested) in order to climax.

The point is, there isn’t one surefire way to get a person off. Each partner needs to figure out the most effective way for them personally and then communicate that to their partner. As sex therapist Stephen Snyder reminds his patients, each person is responsible for their own orgasm.

“An orgasm isn’t something you ‘get’ from someone,” said Snyder, author of Love Worth Making: How to Have Ridiculously Great Sex in a Long-Term Relationship. “It’s something you give yourself ― though your partner might provide the conditions for you to do so.”

He added: “We sex therapists have been saying this for years, to anyone who’ll listen. Unfortunately, the message still hasn’t been heard very widely.” 

4. Is my penis too small?

Size doesn’t matter as much as some men think it does. But that doesn’t stop male patients from coming into Chavez’s office looking for reassurance that the size of their member is, at the very least, average. She believes that the exceptionally large penises seen in porn have given men a distorted sense of what a real penis looks like.  

“There is a lot of concern over what is average and will a certain size be more acceptable by a partner and better suited for giving pleasure,” she said. “I believe pornography sets unrealistic norms around penis size that create concern for many men.”

5. My spouse never wants to have sex anymore. What’s wrong?

In a long-term relationship, fluctuations in sexual desire are normal. But when your sex life is nonexistent and your husband or wife starts feeling more like a roommate than a romantic partner, it’s probably time to get to the root of the problem. Snyder frequently receives this complaint from concerned, sex-starved spouses in his office. 

“There are myriad causes, from low testosterone to depression,” Snyder said. “But if there’s one commonality among men specifically, it’s that they tend to be terribly afraid of disappointing their partners. Once she’s registered disappointment, he’ll often emotionally and sexually withdraw in order to protect his pride.”

For women, stress and exhaustion can often get in the way of desire, as well as feelings of boredom in the bedroom or a lack of connection in the relationship overall.

“Sometimes, feeling emotionally connected helps women to feel turned on before they have sex. And guess what? This is true for men, too,” sex therapist Tammy Nelson previously told HuffPost. “Try sharing with each other three things you appreciate about your relationship. Repeat it back so you are sure you got it before moving on to the next one.” 

6. Can we really recover after infidelity?

Getting your relationship back on track after an affair isn’t easy. Repairing the trust and hurt feelings takes time and considerable effort from both partners. When couples show up at sex therapist Sari Cooper’s office, they’re often wondering: Can we really get past this?

“When a couple comes in for therapy, it’s usually in the crisis of a partner discovering their partner’s affair and there is a lot of rage, pain, shame, guilt and terror that their relationship is about to implode,” Cooper, director of the Center for Love and Sex NYC, said. “Our work is to help stabilize the couple enough to allow for the partner who stepped out to be honest and clear about their intentions in coming into treatment. Then, figure out how to express remorse, establish trust step by step and take the time to really listen to the pain they caused their partner.”

Cooper also works with the couple to help figure out what led to the infidelity in the first place, but in a way that does not place blame or judgment on either partner.  

“Many times a couple has stopped having sex and even discussing it, other times the emotional connection has been slowly worn away due to focus on child-rearing, intensity of work demands or a small trauma that caused one partner to shut themselves off from the other,” she said. 

7. How do we keep our sex life alive? 

Like most worthwhile things, a good, healthy sex life requires work; it doesn’t just happen by accident. Many long-term couples struggle with keeping that sexual spark alive because they think it’s supposed to happen naturally, Marin said.

“Having to put any sort of effort into your sex life is seen as a sign that something is ‘broken’ with your relationship,” she said. “That couldn’t be further from the truth. Great sex requires great effort. If you want an active and satisfying sex life, you have to work together as a team to keep it exciting.”

For instance, couples may want to consider experimenting with new positions or role-playing, scheduling sex during busy periods and continuing to communicate about their changing desires. 

8. How can I regain control of my erections? 

It’s estimated that more than 18 million men in the U.S. are affected by erectile dysfunction. When the problem persists, it can catapult a person into a downward spiral of anxiety and shame, which only worsens the issue at hand. Cooper told HuffPost that when a patient comes to her with erection trouble, she first does an assessment to make sure it isn’t caused by a physical illness, medication side effect or a mental health disorder. Then she works with a team of doctors ― urologists, primary care physicians and psychiatrists ― to help create a plan that might alleviate some of the symptoms.

“For those whose issues have a psychiatric component, we teach techniques that help to lower anxiety like mindfulness as well as cognitive behavioral techniques to battle negative thought patterns like catastrophizing, all-or-nothing thinking or sexual self-shaming,” she said.

She also educates patients about how the body typically reacts to stress and worry.

“For instance, I tell them it’s normal for the body to shut down blood flow after having a terrible day at work,” Cooper added. “Or I teach them how to become aware of their anxiety and how to express their particular needs to their partners.”

The first trailer for ‘A Star Is Born’, Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut, has been released. 

The movie - which stars Lady Gaga in her first feature role - has been a long time in the making, with filming wrapping last summer. 

‘A Star Is Born’ will debut this October and it sees Bradley play seasoned musician, Jackson Maine, while Gaga stars as struggling musician, Ally. 

Both Bradley and Gaga perform original songs in the movie and the trailer - which you can watch above - reveals some of the tracks. 

The trailer opens with a scene filmed at Glastonbury Festival in 2017, where fans waiting to see Kris Kristofferson on the Pyramid Stage were stunned by the Hollywood star’s arrival. 

‘A Star Is Born’ is a remake of the 1937 movie of the same name. 

Watch the trailer above...

We know why you don’t read stories about how to live on a budget: They just aren’t sexy!

Well, you’re wrong. Here are the multiple ways budgeting is really just like having sex. Good sex. Hot sex. All kinds of sex. Sex, sex, sex. Do we have your attention? Budgets are just like sex in these ways:

1. Sometimes, you just have to find the right partner(s).

Sure, we’ve all been there. The desire is strong, the spirit willing, but still we just can’t seem to get to that ever-so-elusive finish line. Maybe ― just maybe ― the problem isn’t you. Perhaps it’s that you are with the wrong partner, or maybe even spending too much time trying to achieve your goals alone.

Consider forming a money buddy group. 

6. Ultimately, you want to protect yourself.

Avoid investing in anything too risky or unsafe with the money you’re going to use in your retirement. The general rule of thumb is that the older you are, the less tolerance for risk you should have in your investments. The reasoning is, when you are younger and make bad choices, you still have years more of work ahead of you to make up your losses. When you are older, that time evaporates.

Protecting yourself means diversifying your holdings. Don’t invest anything you’ll need within five years, like money to pay college tuition or the down payment on a house. And remember, stocks are a long-term investment in which you ride out the storms and don’t sell things in a panic. Believe in your choices, romantic or financial.

But to start, of course, you must begin with a sound budget. Consider You Need A Budget, where you never know who you might meet in the app’s relationship forum, or PocketGuard, the app that answers the real question everyone wants to know: How much can I spend? There’s also Albert, an app that wants to be your boy-toy ― I mean, get his hands on your money ― or actually just set you on the path for budgeting success. Yeah, that.

The Trump administration has walked back its proposal to reclaim $252 million in unspent Ebola funds on Tuesday, which experts lauded as a welcome shift in the administration’s approach to global health leadership ― especially amid the new Ebola outbreak.

Amid the “steady drumbeat of new global epidemic threats,” the turnaround on Ebola funding is a “great development,” said Dr. Thomas Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. He told HuffPost that the U.S. government needs all the resources it can get to help stop such outbreaks before they take off.

The administration deserved kudos for listening to the outrage over the last few weeks, said Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), the vice ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Last month, the administration had suggested a rescission of the unspent money, which was left over from the $5.4 billion in U.S. funds designated to fight the deadly 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa that killed 11,300 people. While the remaining funds were technically allocated to preparing for the next major outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever, officials have actually been directing the money toward other public health emergencies, such as the 2016 outbreak of Zika virus.

When President Donald Trump moved to cut the money the same week the current Ebola outbreak was announced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the public outcry from global health experts and Congress was swift. They argued that Trump was undermining the U.S. leadership role in world health issues.

Their concerns were compounded by the early May departure of Rear Adm. Tim Ziemer, formerly the National Security Council’s head of global health security; the breakup of his team into other divisions; and the April departure of White House homeland security adviser Tom Bossert, another champion of global health investment.

As Ronald Klain, the former Ebola czar under President Barack Obama, told HuffPost at the time: “Proposing a rescission of Ebola contingency funds on the very day that a new Ebola outbreak is announced is badly misguided; forcing out the two top officials in charge of epidemic response at the White House ― Tom Bossert and Tim Ziemer ― is even worse. Doing it all at the same time shows a reckless disregard for the dangers we face.”

Also disquieting was the fact that the U.S. waited a full two weeks after the first announcement of U.K. funds for the latest Ebola outbreak to announce its own full contribution of $8 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

But the contribution of $8 million and the withdrawal of the rescission proposal are quelling some fears that the U.S. is ceding health security leadership on the global stage.

Despite the Trump administration’s isolationist tendencies, retracting the planned rescission of funds and unlocking $8 million would suggest it realizes that fighting disease abroad is paramount to protecting those back home, according to Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute.

Bera had been pushing the administration to reconsider what he sees as its previous missteps on global health. He had questioned Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the Ebola funding at a Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, and Pompeo said he would personally review the rescission. Along with Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Bera had also sent a letter to national security adviser John Bolton about Ziemer’s departure. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) wrote to Bolton as well.

This rescission reversal is something to be celebrated, Bera said.

“It’s a recognition by the administration that we do have a crisis and the original intent of the funds that were set aside was for that pandemic preparedness,” the congressman said. He added that the administration’s move “also sends a message to the rest of the world that the U.S. is interested in global health, is interested in pandemic preparedness and does not change that intent.”

The revisions to the rescissions proposal take out $515 million from the originally proposed $15.2 billion. An Office of Management and Budget official told HuffPost in an email that the global health funding changes were part of “several technical and policy updates based on continued Administration analysis and discussions with Members of Congress.”

It’s a precarious time for global health. In addition to the Ebola outbreak ― which has killed 25 people since April 4 ― the World Health Organization has identified cases of two other “Blueprint priority diseases,” meaning pathogens with the potential to grow into deadly pandemics for which doctors have few or no countermeasures.

A case of Middle East respiratory syndrome was reported last week in Abu Dhabi. MERS, a viral respiratory illness, has no treatment and kills about 75 percent of those it infects.

Over the past few weeks, the brain-damaging Nipah virus, which quickly plunges its victims into a coma, has killed 17 out of 18 people infected in Kerala, India. More than 2,379 people have been quarantined in their homes in that southern state.

The constellation of three deadly pathogens reported at the same time is a reminder that “the factors that lead to the emergence of infectious diseases are increasing, not decreasing,” said Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Experts warn that dangerous infections can spread easily and quickly, and they do not respect country boundaries. According to the CDC, an outbreak could travel from the most remote of villages to all major cities on all continents in 36 hours.

“You have the environmental access of our dense populations living in close proximity to animals, population changes in travel and trade, different kinds of habits around wildlife and agriculture, and just the migration that we see around the world ― these factors can lead to the emergence of so-called exotic infectious disease,” Schuchat told HuffPost last week.

She pointed to additional diseases that also need global attention ― diphtheria spreading in refugee camps in Bangladesh and outbreaks of cholera around the world.

Dr. Daniel Lucey is a Georgetown University infectious disease specialist who has worked on numerous outbreaks, including the 2014 Ebola epidemic. What keeps him up at night, he said, is the lack of preparedness and countermeasures amid the rising threat of pandemics.

He bemoaned that it took until now to get an Ebola vaccine ― one that is still unlicensed ― given the identification of Ebola as a top bioterrorism threat following Sept. 11.

“We know what needs to be done [when it comes to pandemic preparedness], but we haven’t done it,” Lucey said. “Yes, we’ve done some things, but we haven’t done enough,” he said.

For Klain, the next step in pandemic prevention should be to move the remaining money into a standing public health emergency fund that the president could use while waiting for Congress to act. He pointed to the slow release of Zika funds in 2016 and said there’s support for such a fund on both sides of the aisle.

“This should not be a partisan issue ― viruses do not infect only supporters of one party or the other,” Klain said.

Jha, the Harvard expert, and Bera, the congressman, agreed that the creation of a public health emergency fund would allow the U.S. to act quickly and decisively.

“This is the kind of thing that would save us money in the long run,” Jha said.

For the moment, there are promising signs in the Ebola outbreak, experts say, with the number of cases holding somewhat steady over the past two weeks. But Schuchat cautioned against celebrating too soon, pointing to the 2003 SARS outbreak resurgence in Canada after health authorities had sounded the all-clear.

“We really try to make sure that we have extinguished every ember in these very contagious infections,” she said, “because an ember that’s still out there can be the spark that starts the new big wave.”

Do we train dogs or do dogs train us? 

Arizona parents Chris and Nina Cardinal were puzzled to find their daughter Chloe wandering the halls in the morning since she was supposed to be asleep in her room with the door closed. At just 15 months old, she can’t reach the doorknob. 

A hidden camera solved the mystery.

Chloe likes to feed the family’s golden retrievers, Colby and Bleu, and they were busting her out in hopes that she’d deliver the goods. 

“They figured she must be good to help feed them breakfast,” the couple wrote on YouTube. 

Looks like it worked, too. 

Colby and Bleu have their own Instagram page, where they are known as the “Cheese Pups.”  

(h/t Digg)

The Bermuda Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that gay couples would be able to marry once again on the island, declaring a law rescinding same-sex couples’ marriage rights unconstitutional.

Chief Justice Ian Kawaley said sections of the Domestic Partnership Act signed into law this year, “were invalid because they were inconsistent with provisions in the Constitution” protecting the right to freedom of conscience and creed, according to The Royal Gazette.

The ruling won’t go into effect for six weeks, so the government has time to decide whether to appeal.

The decision settles a challenge to the new law brought by gay Bermudians Rod Ferguson and Maryellen Jackson, and a charity called OutBermuda. They sought “to enforce the rights of those who share their beliefs to freely manifest them in practice” and not compel those who don’t believe in same-sex marriage to endorse or celebrate it, the chief justice noted.

“Persons who passionately believe that same-sex marriages should not take place for religious or cultural reasons are entitled to have those beliefs respected and protected by law,” Kawaley said.

“But, in return for the law protecting their own beliefs, they cannot require the law to deprive persons who believe in same-sex marriage of respect and legal protection for their opposing beliefs.”

Ferguson called the ruling “wonderful” and that it was “the correct outcome in my mind and also it’s the correct legal outcome.”

“The important thing is we have spoken up for ourselves as a community. This really is for equality. It seems like just a word but it means so much,” Ferguson said, according to The Gazette. “Foremost in our minds is the message this sends to young people in Bermuda that there are proud gay and lesbian Bermudians who don’t buy the line that there is any shame in being gay.”

Same-sex marriage in Bermuda has had a tumultuous year. Gay weddings were allowed as of May 2017, when the island’s high court ruled in favor of an appeal from campaigners. In Feburary, the British territory’s governor signed the law that was struck down on Wednesday ― a compromise measure that effectively replaced same-sex marriage with domestic partnerships.

When President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama stayed at Buckingham Palace during a state visit in 2011, the couple had a glamorous experience, eating off of gold plates and admiring some of Queen Elizabeth’s “bling.”

Everything sounds as fancy as you’d expect. That is, until the president ran into a little rodent problem. 

In an excerpt from a new book by Obama deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, shared with People, Rhodes writes about the moment a butler walked into the president’s room and delivered some bad news. It happened just as Michelle was going to sleep in another room, the story says. 

“Mr. President, pardon me. There’s a mouse,” the butler told Obama, according to Rhodes’ book, The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House.

“Don’t tell the first lady,” Obama answered.

The butler added, “We’ll try to catch it, sir.” 

“Just don’t tell the first lady,” the president said once again. 

No word on if Michelle ever found out about the mouse, as she never mentioned it in her past stories about her Buckingham Palace sleepover.

“The [royals] hosted us for the state dinner. When you’re the guest country you stay at Buckingham Palace,” the former first lady said on “The Late Show” in 2016. “I do remember ordering french fries at the palace, they were good. They were some good fries.” 

In the space of six short years, ‘Sex And The City’ grew from a cult favourite to one of the most impactful and influential TV shows of the 20th century, and it definitely didn’t have to look far for celebrity guests to put in appearances.

By the time its sixth and final series aired in 2001, A-list stars were pretty much queuing up to land a role, either as one of the girls’ love interests or in a cameo appearance as themselves.

More interesting, though, is just how many of its supporting actors have gone on to make the big time much later on in their careers, after appearing for brief stints in ‘Sex And The City’.

Here are 15 of the big names whose ‘Sex And The City’ appearances might have passed you by...

The star-studded cast of ‘Ocean’s 8’ set us some serious summer style goals at the long-awaited premiere in New York. There were ruffles, abstract structure and plenty of boho looks. Variety was front and centre for this red carpet.

Rihanna wore a waterfall duo chrome dress by the house of Givenchy, Le Vian rings, and Bvlgari jewelry. If we could do prom again, this would be our look. 

Sarah Paulson is going to be an internet fashion favourite for this look, as her ruffled Prada dress was a very 2018 shade - lime green highlighter.  

The suits of all suits! Cate Blanchett came through and won all the style awards for this mismatched Missoni trouser suit. 

Mindy Kaling brought sleek and sexy back in this Prabal Gurung black shimmering gown and matching Cartier jewellery.

Anne Hathaway stood out as being the most seasonally led - her halter necked dress with an abstract print designed by Jean Paul Gaultier is a style we plan to be swanning around in all summer. 

A black wrap dress is never going to go wrong, especially when worn by Helena Bonham Carter..

The freshest face of the pack, rapper and actress Awkwafina looked ethereal in this Reem Acra dress. The hint of nude pink and glittery eyeshadow were the perfect finishing touch.

Sandra Bullock had a hint of the angelic about her in this feather-shouldered number.

Forbes has released its annual list of the 100 highest paid sportspeople in the world and for the first time since 2010, it doesn’t include a single woman.

Serena Williams was the only woman to appear on the list last year, coming in 51st place with reported earnings of $27 million (£20.1 million). However, the tennis star was missing from 2018′s roundup having taken maternity leave to have her daughter, Alexis Olympia, last September. 

Charities promoting gender equality in sport have said the list reflects how women are “undervalued” in the industry, while Kate Dale from Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign has raised concerns about what message the list sends to women and girls. 

Forbes’ list is based on known earnings such as prize money, salaries and bonuses earned between 1 June 2017 and 1 June 2018, plus endorsement estimates including sponsorship deals and appearance fees, based on “conversations with dozens of industry insiders”.

US boxer Floyd Mayweather came top of the list having reportedly earned $275m (£205m) for his boxing match against UFC star Conor McGregor last August alone. Footballer Lionel Messi took second place with earnings of $111 million (£82.7m) while Cristiano Ronaldo dropped from first place to third, with earnings of $108 million (£80.4 million). 

The annual roundup of highest paid sportspeople has included at least one woman, and as many as three, since it was extended from 50 athletes to 100 in 2010, according to Forbes. Maria Sharapova appeared alongside Williams in multiple previous lists, but lost her position (and right to compete) when she failed a drugs test at the 2016 Australian Open.

Speaking to HuffPost UK, Kate Dale, lead of Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign, said “it matters” that there are no women on the list as “sport has the power to change more than the sporting world itself”.

“Many of our most celebrated, rewarded people are athletes,” she said. “It represents what we value. What does it say to girls - and boys - if they’re all men?” 

Research from This Girl Can has shown “fear of judgment” is holding many women back from getting active and Dale said having visible female role models has the potential to change this. 

“The average man is already far more likely to play sport than women, so this [list] sends out a terrible message to women that they’re not as valuable or welcome as men. You can’t be what you can’t see, and the lack of women in this list only perpetuates the myth that sport is man’s game,” she said.  

The charity Women in Sport tweeted to say the list “illustrates all too clearly the gulf in pay and sponsorship between male and female sports stars, and how undervalued women are in sport”. Dale agreed sponsorship is an issue. 

“It’s disappointing that more brands aren’t thinking creatively and innovatively about sponsoring women’s sport at every level,” she said. “There are stories to be told, kudos to be gained and hearts and wallets to be won. In sponsorship world that is now more than viewing figures, it’s time to identify new metrics. It will be good for society and for business.” 

Here’s what other people are saying about the Forbes list: 

I’m sitting at my desk eating an ice cream sandwich that I was lucky enough to get as part of a Pride month celebration at work. It’s a snickerdoodle cookie with s’mores ice cream inside and aside from the impact it will inevitably have on my lactose-intolerant body, it is truly delightful. 

I will spend the remainder of my day justifying the decision to eat this stupid ice cream sandwich. “You went to the gym!” “It was free!” Or my favorite, “Come ON. It’s JUST an ice cream sandwich.” 

The truth is this is a conversation I, along with many women I know, have with myself daily. Recounting calories consumed like a mad scientist, lamenting how “bad” or “good” I’ve been (the worst), feeling the need to justify nourishing my body with food that it needs to survive, and trying so hard to free myself of my obsession with food, my body and how the two interact.

Through my work in therapy and overpriced fitness classes, I have grown mentally and shrunk physically over the past two years. My arms have definition for the first time ever, my clothing fits more comfortably, and I feel healthier than I ever have before. I have run two half-marathons and am signed up to run the New York City Marathon in November.

And every single day ― not all day every day, but every day ―  I feel uncomfortable with my body in some way.

I started my blog “The Real Girl Project” in 2012 because I was frustrated with the fashion industry’s gross exclusion of bodies that looked like mine. At the time, I emailed Leandra Medine, founder of the website Man Repeller, to voice those frustrations ― a cathartic practice with no agenda beyond releasing them from my brain. I am forever grateful that she wrote back and encouraged me to start my own blog since I was so dissatisfied with those that already existed. 

As a reporter for HuffPost, I’ve also written extensively on the “body positive” movement ― a movement that has grown considerably in the six years since I began covering it. I cheered when Ashley Graham appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue in 2016. I praised designers for putting diverse body types on their runways and called out brands for their perversion of the movement. When Urban Outfitters cast a plus-size model to advertise clothing in a size it doesn’t carry, I was quick to expose its hypocrisy.

Still, it felt momentous that brands were embracing a view of body positivity publicly enough that we could scrutinize them. During this time, I felt hopeful that there was a shift in the ether, that fashion was changing, and so was my relationship with it. 

But six years later, with the exception of a few brands and designers (such as Premme, Eloquii and Christian Siriano), I sometimes think it’s all pretty much bullshit. “Body positivity” claims to help women feel more comfortable in their own skin, but it’s just made me feel like if I’m going to have curves, they should mirror the perfectly proportioned ones I see so often on social media.

More than that, it makes me feel bad about feeling bad about the fact that, of course, they don’t. Ashley Graham is a “plus-size” woman. But she is also a traditionally beautiful woman with perfect proportions and features.

Women of all shapes and sizes should feel empowered and confident in their own skin ― I don’t mean to suggest otherwise ― and I would be remiss in discounting the slew of diverse bodies that show up on my Instagram feed that no doubt have been bolstered by the notion of body acceptance and self-love. 

But that’s not the message of the over-commercialized body positive movement. The message is that now if you’re not “thin,” you need to be “perfectly curvy.” In too many places, the movement has become just another thing that brands are trying to sell their customers while, at least in my case, continuing to make women feel bad about their own bodies. When the Kardashians, with their appetite-suppressing lollipops and television shows about getting a “revenge body,” are praised for their role in society’s accepting some curvier figures as beautiful, it makes me feel a little sick.

My best friends got married to each other a few weeks ago. I was surrounded by loved ones, had exercised my ass off the week before and had just gotten a spray tan. I was riding an emotional high. So when I walked into my friends’ suite the morning of the wedding and saw a ridiculously beautiful bathtub sitting there in the middle of the room, I jumped right in. 

I, a woman who for many years could not comfortably look at my own naked body in the mirror, stripped completely in front of a room full of friends, not to mention hair and makeup artists, and climbed into the tub. Of course, there were cameras. I even went so far as to post one (strategically posed) photo on social media. Someone commented that I had “Michelle Obama arms.” Reader, there are few compliments I’ve dreamed of receiving more. 

Two days later I tried to recover from an emotional and literal hangover the only way I’ve been taught: by eating enough Chinese food for four people. I felt like a completely different person from that woman in the tub. All the work I had done to be a mentally and physically healthier individual drowned in a puddle of duck sauce. 

I am exhausted from hating my body. 

I feel that tenfold when I consider my grandmother. She is my muse, my fashion icon, and simultaneously my favorite person and archnemesis. At 86 years old, she has hated her body far longer than I have mine. She is severely anorexic, oftentimes favoring thin, impossibly long cigarettes in place of meals, and she watches just as intently my fashion choices, whether my nails are manicured on a given day and, most of all, my weight. 

I want so badly to not feel thrilled when she says I look thin, and I can’t help but feel disappointed when she says nothing. It’s also impossible not to suspect that, in her eyes, what my body looks like and the fact that I’m single ― something she brings up often ― go hand in hand. 

Family dynamics aside, I am simply fed up with being bad to myself. When I catch myself in the mirror during a gym class, I look (and, more importantly, truly feel) happy, healthy and confident. But I can’t spend my whole day in the gym because (a) that sounds terrible and (b) I have a job. And I still can’t at this point in my “self-love journey” stop those negative thoughts from creeping in whenever I’m craving greasy food or offered a free ice cream sandwich.

My only hope is that in putting it out there, I ― and hopefully other people, too ― can feel a little less alone in this whole thing. 

Three editors for the Boston Review are resigning in protest over the literary magazine’s decision to retain author Junot Díaz on the staff despite allegations of sexual harassment and misogyny against him.

On Tuesday, Boston Review’s editors-in-chief, Deborah Chasman and Joshua Cohen, released a statement announcing the magazine’s decision to keep Díaz on as a fiction editor, a position he has held since 2003.

Poetry editors Timothy Donnelly, BK Fisher and Stefania Heim released their own statement on Twitter later that day to announce their resignations, saying they were “dismayed” by the top editors’ decision.

“While we respect their determination to follow their judgment in this matter, we don’t agree with it, and have decided that our future editorial work will be better served elsewhere,” the editors wrote. Their resignations will be effective on July 1, they said.

In May, several women accused Díaz, the author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, of aggressive and misogynistic behavior, including, in one case, sexual assault. 

Novelist Zinzi Clemmons said the Dominican author cornered and forcibly kissed her when she was a graduate student.

Authors Monica Byrne, Carmen Maria Machado and Alisa Valdes subsequently came forward alleging that Díaz had harassed or bullied them.

The allegations emerged in the wake of an essay Díaz published in April revealing that he had been sexually assaulted as a child.

Díaz stepped down from his role as chairman of the Pulitzer Prize Board in the wake of the allegations. The Pulitzer board, as well as MIT, where Díaz is a professor, opened investigations into the accusations.

In their statement, Chasman and Cohen said they had reviewed the reports and “thought hard about how we should respond.”

Noting that they did not “condone” Díaz’s behavior, they said: “We do not think that any of the individualactions that have been reported are of the kind that requires us to end the editorial relationship.”

“The objectionable conduct described in the public reports does not have the kind of severity that animated the #MeToo movement,” they added.

Responding to a HuffPost query about the poetry editors’ departures, Chasman wrote in an email Thursday:

Boston Review has three amazing poetry editors. Timothy, Barbara, and Stefania are morally decent, artistically creative, politically committed people who have made a great contribution to Boston Review. We are deeply grateful for all that they have done. They are resigning effective July 1 because they disagree deeply with our decision about how to handle Boston Review’s relationship with Junot Díaz. We arrived at our decision after many conversations with writers and long reflection. We believe that we have done the right thing. We know that reasonable people disagree. And we are saddened by their decision to separate.

This story has been updated with comment from Chasman.

After launching the #sideprofileselfie earlier this year in an attempt to break the big nose taboo, Radhika Sanghani has been inundated with pictures from people around the world proudly showcasing their noses.

In this vlog for HuffPost UK’s Love Your Body series, Radhika explains why she struggled to love her nose growing up, what inspired her to finally embrace it and why she is so passionate about ensuring others love their noses, too. 

Radhika Sanghani is a journalist and author of Not That Easy. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram 

Love Your Body is a series of vlogs from women and men on celebrating parts of their bodies that they have previously felt ashamed of, or not considered deserving of love. The series will be running throughout June, with a new vlog every Thursday

If Mars were a fruit in the produce aisle (and, let’s be honest, it would make a decent-looking nectarine), NASA could slap an organic sticker on it. Kind of.

Researchers at the space agency announced Thursday that the Curiosity rover has discovered strong concentrations of organic molecules in 3-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks on the red planet’s surface. Those molecules are familiar building blocks for life here on Earth, including carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.

That doesn’t mean they’ve found life, but it’s a good indication Mars could have sustained life in the past. While Curiosity encountered organic carbon on the planet’s surface back in 2012 and again in 2013, NASA said Thursday this most recent find was in concentrations 100 times greater than earlier detections.

“Curiosity has not determined the source of the organic molecules,” cautioned Jen Eigenbrode of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in a NASA release. Eigenbrode is the lead author on a paper presenting the discovery in the June 8 edition of the journal Science.

“Whether it holds a record of ancient life, was food for life, or has existed in the absence of life,” Eigenbrode continued, “organic matter in Martian materials holds chemical clues to planetary conditions and processes.”

The organic-rich sample came from the bottom of what used to be a massive lake inside Gale Crater billions of years ago. That’s particularly exciting since water ― so far as we know ― is also an essential ingredient for life.

And in a separate report in Science set to publish Friday, scientists revealed the Curiosity rover has also detected methane on the Martian surface in concentrations that vary with the seasons. The methane concentrations peak near the end of the northern hemisphere’s summer, then dwindle in the winter.

The methane could simply be the product of basic geological processes, but it’s possible the gas has origins in biological sources.