As a travel journalist, Claire Dodd checked in to a five-star hotel and set sail on a butler’s artificial cruise. But when she books her own vacation, she clearly wants something more modest. Jet2Holidays is the UK budget tour operator who she declares “the joy of flicking.”

“They’re so happy to deal with it at the airport,” she says. “You get there and look happy to actually meet you instead of the slightly more difficult services you sometimes get from budget airlines. They’re very organized.

Dodd is not alone. Since its launch in 2007, Jet2 Holidays has grown to become the UK’s largest tour operator and has offered flight and hotel “package holidays” with transfers included. Known for its vibrant red branding, bright staff and smooth operation, it quietly becomes a cult favorite among British vacationers.

Now, unexpectedly, its cult status has become global.

It all began with an ad that aired in January 2024. “A holiday with a 30-second event package discounted at £50 per person – £200 for a family of four.”

In the original video, the family (of course four) races in excitement towards the Jet2 check-in desk, happily boarding the Jet2 plane, five cabin crews descending and enjoying a vacation in the sun. Of course, it’s a discount of just $66 per person, accompanied by a hook from singer Jess Grinne’s 2015 song “Hold My Hand.”

Discount agreements have been expired for a long time, but they live in the memes. On social media, families were erased, and only audio became the virus. So far, they have soundtracked over a million tiktok videos due to the fact that they have been so incorrectly wrong vacation footage, including being arrested on a JET2 flight.

Anything negative seems to work. Dodge Italian mosquitoes and spit out the flood waters gushing out carriages on New York’s subways. This week, Jet2 Holidays landed in Hollywood. Jeff Goldbrum contributed his video to Tiktok and narrated the same script, but branded “Jeff2 Holidays.”

Free ads or negative ads? Asked by CNN that there was unlikely social media fame, Jet2 offered no response.

For the Internet, it’s a fleeting crash. But for those who were on Jet2 holidays, it’s a long-term relationship.

“You know where you are on the price, your luggage is included, it usually includes transfers and you can upgrade to a private transfer if you don’t want to sit with everyone else’s hotel for hours.”

Tanya Kirk, an art therapist in Northern Ireland, is another repeat customer. “It was a great experience from start to finish,” she tells Benidorm, southern Spain about her final JET2 holiday. “When we were having problems – Mom left her travel wallet in money and documented at the coach’s transfer – they were extremely helpful and did everything they could to trace the lost wallet and return it to us.

“Cooking for flights, hotels and organisation transfers can be stressful enough. Booking with Jet2 Holidays will help you relax on your holidays without worrying about these things.”

All I know about JET2 holidays is that at one point, if only they managed to win £200 in a family of four (including £48 bags), then 101 of the UK’s biggest tour operators.

Despite the current topic, Jet2’s origins are rather mediocre. It began as a Carpenter air service in 1971, and flew flowers from Guernsey Island to the UK mainland of Douglas DC3. In 1975, it was rebranded as Express Air Freight and four years later the name Express Air Services was renamed again. In 1983, under new ownership, it became Channel Express.

In 2001, two Boeing 737s were on the roster, branching out into charter flights for the public, rebranding as JET2, and two years later launched a scheduled flight from Leeds Bradford Airport Base in northern England. JET2 holidays continued in 2007, packaging flights, hotels and relocations between the two, and sowing seeds for the summer 2025 song.

Today, a Jet2 fleet of 120 Boeing and Airbus planes will scoop people in search of wallet-friendly vacations from 13 regional airports around the UK and drop them down to sunny European hotspots. In 2024, 19.4 million passengers flew in approximately 115,000 flights.

They’re having fun too.

Both JET2 and Jet2 holidays receive passionate reviews from the UK Consumer Association, which compiles ratings from customer feedback, from whoer. Jet2 has broken through the short-haul table in its annual “airline satisfaction” survey since the pandemic. “Jet2 is one of our top-rated travel agencies,” says Naomi Leach, Associate Editor at Which. trip. “The big draw is that the brand has friendly and friendly staff.

Of course, there are negative reviews. Scrolling through sites like TripAdvisor makes it clear that not everyone enjoys the JET2 holiday experience. But these one, two, three stars, and four stars, and four reviews, don’t get close to matching five stars. This is a show that is far better than other rival European budget carriers, such as Ryanair and EasyJet.

For those embarking on a JET2 plane, it ended up with Jess Glynn again. “Darling, hold my hand!” she sings over and over again in the PA system as a passenger committee. A few weeks after the holidays, the sunburn disappeared and the ear bugs are still playing in my head.

DJ Tina Edwards, who played at festivals around the world, believes that it was Glynne’s song that brought the audio from Jet2 commercials to viral, rather than narration for “£50 per person.”

“It’s strange whether this track sounds like a summer or not, because I feel it’s essentially a “darling hold my hand” hook.

She is the classic perfect fifth example of the musical intervals known for its harmonious quality. “It’s so complete and I’m very pleased.”

Glynn celebrated the 10th track in March. It gave her the first UK number one and stayed at the top of the charts for three weeks. It was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2015 BBC Music Awards and was a soundtrack for all 115,000 Jet2 flights each year, as well as sampled in Coca-Cola ads and was part of the “Bridget Jones ‘Baby” soundtrack.

Grinne has not publicly commented on the song that the song goes viral, but in May he posted his own spoofing in an ad, moving around in the gym with his girlfriend. “It’s about Jet2 blowing it up into everyone’s ears,” she wrote in March to commemorate the 10th anniversary. According to the music publication NME, fans were waving around the “Nothing Nothing beats a Jet2 Holiday” signs, so she started closing the set on the track.

She also criticized the White House after posting her own controversial meme meme to X and then set the audio on footage that appears to show a deportation flight from the US. “My music is about love, unity, positivity, never about spreading hatred,” she wrote in her Instagram story. “This post honestly makes me sick.”

Glynne’s music, along with predictable and bright service, is all part of Jet2’s appeal.

“I know exactly what you’re trying to get,” says Marcus Kendall Yong, director of Auria Travel, which sends European people from Jet2’s holiday from his Leicestershire base.

“The clients absolutely love it because they know it is stress-free and easy. They will fly, relocate, get accommodation and welcome staff to help with every stage.

Flying on a JET2 plane is an important part of the experience, he says.

“I know Jess Glynn’s songs get you playing over and over again. It sticks to people’s heads and they absolutely love it.

“Next, you know exactly which pre-recorded message is next. You know that it’s “women, boys and girls.” You know they’re going to make a really bad announcement about special offers on board.

He says, “It’s just perfect. I’ll go up the stairs, go up the stairs and find out I’m on a JET2 plane and put Spring on your steps,” he says.

Leeds copywriter and designer Rick Turner is an unlikely fan. A houseboat resident, he runs a YouTube channel with his husband Adam about slow-sea and rail travel around Europe. He calls Jet2 “guilty pleasure.”

“We live off the grid so we always feel a bit dirty flight, but Jet2 flights are more fun, cheaper and much better experience than other budget airlines,” he says.

For Kendall-Young, it is a thoroughly British success story. “I think the UK loves packaging holidays.”

Wellington
AP
–

A New Zealand woman was arrested on suspicion of negligence of a child on Sunday after the bus driver found a two-year-old girl alive in a suitcase stored in the vehicle’s luggage compartment, authorities said.

The bus driver noticed movement inside the bag at a planned stop at Kaiwaka Settlement in northern Auckland after passengers sought access to the luggage compartment, detective inspector Simon Harrison said in a statement.

When the driver opened the suitcase they discovered a two-year-old girl who was extremely hot but otherwise appeared physically unharmed, Harrison said. Authorities did not say how long the toddler was in the luggage compartment, or the times in the cities where the buses are traveling between.

The child was taken to the hospital, where she remained on a Sunday night local time.

The arrested woman was charged with child abuse or neglect and was scheduled to appear in court on Monday. She was not named by law enforcement.

Bus company Intercity confirmed to a New Zealand news outlet that the episode was related to one of its vehicles. The company does not charge fares for children under the age of 3 and allows free travel on the lap of adults.

Editor’s Note: This story is part of AS Equals, CNN’s ongoing series on gender inequality. Please see our FAQ for information on how to raise funds for the series.

Kabul, Afghanistan
–

“I want” – the girl stops herself – “I wanted to be a doctor in the future. But when the Taliban came to Afghanistan, all the doors in the school were closed.”

Taliban approved Naj e Bashra Madrasa – A religious school exclusively for girls in the outskirts of Kabul – a teenage girl in a full face covering speaks nervously. Her classmates grabbed her arm under the table and realize that criticism of the dominant Taliban government is unwise.

Although imperfect, these religious institutions are, they are the only options for most Afghan girls over the age of 12 who want to be educated. Afghanistan remains the only country in the world that prohibits girls and women from receiving general education at secondary and higher levels.

The ban is part of the Taliban’s wide crackdown on women’s rights as it gained power in August 2021. The government decides how women must dress, where they can and cannot go, such as having a male guardian for travel.

In July this year, the International Criminal Court sought a warrant from two of the top Taliban leaders, citing persecution as evidence of crimes against humanity among women and girls. The Taliban accused the court of showing “hospitality and hatred towards Islam’s pure religion.”

The Taliban originally said the suspension of women’s education was temporary, with some leaders saying they hope to reopen in mainstream schools once security issues are resolved. But four years later, the Taliban fundamentalist wings seem to be prevailing. Secular schools, universities and even medical training centres remain closed to half their population. A report released in March by UNESCO, a UN agency, found that nearly 1.5 million girls have been banned from attending secondary schools since 2021.

“We told girls to wear the right hijab, but they didn’t. They were wearing dresses that would go to weddings,” the representative minister of higher education Needa Mohammad Nadim explained why the school was closed in December 2022. “The girls were studying agriculture and engineering, which is not in line with Afghan culture. Girls should learn, but they are not in an area that violates Islam and the honor of Afghanistan.”

Meanwhile, the number of madrasus educating Afghan girls and boys is growing rapidly. According to data from the Ministry of Education, 22,972 state-funded madrasas have been established over the past three years.

Among the Madrasa approved by the Afghan Taliban

Among the Madrasa approved by the Afghan Taliban

2:41

At Naji-e-Bashra Madrasa, where CNN has gained rare access to films in recent weeks, registrations have skyrocketed since the Taliban began robbing girls of “mainstream” education.

The sounds of dozens of girls reciting Quran poems echoing through the hallways, as golden standard clans and religious texts stack up on the classroom floor. In the principal’s office, a large Taliban flag is supported in the corner. The certificate, engraved by the Taliban Ministry of Education, is located in the center of the principal’s desk. The Taliban directs the curriculum here, along with all the madrasas across the country.

This is a private facility funded by the parents of students who generally lead more privileged lives, so staff are given a little room to teach language and science along with Islamic research. In public madrasas funded by the Taliban government, the curriculum is almost entirely religious.

In 2022, the Taliban announced plans for the school’s curriculum, reporting by the Human Rights Centre, a human rights oversight group, “not only does it fail to meet the human development goals of international human rights instruments, but it also teaches students’ content that promotes violence, but also opposes a culture of tolerance, peace and human rights values.”

A report released last December claims that the Taliban has “aligned educational goals that are consistent with extremists and violent ideologies.” They have revised historical, geography and religious textbooks and stated that they have banned teaching on concepts such as democracy, women’s rights, and human rights.

“Students are very pleased with our environment, our curriculum and us,” says Shafiura Dilawar, principal of Naji e Bashra Madrasa, a self-declared and longtime supporter of the Taliban. “The curriculum set up in madrasas is set to be very beneficial for the role of mothers in society, so we can raise good children.”

He denied the suggestion that such institutions are being used to promote the Taliban ideological goals.

The principal argued that many families were satisfied with education for girls of this form, as Afghanistan’s population is already deeply religious, and called on the international community to support his efforts.

The Taliban rejected multiple requests for interviews.

However, many Afghan girls and women consider a madrasus, an alternative to more accessible education over the 20 years ahead of the chaotic US withdrawal in 2021.

“I wasn’t interested in attending the madrasa. They don’t tell us what we need to learn,” said Nargis, a 23-year-old woman from Kabul. CNN chose to use a pseudonym for her safety.

Nargis is a model student. She is conscientious, organized, hardworking, and has been a lifelong, hardworking student.

Nargis was studying economics at a private university when the US military had withdrawn from her city. She went to class in the morning, worked part-time in the afternoon, and taught English in the evening. She never got bored of learning.

“When I asked what I wanted to do in my life four years ago, I had a lot of goals, dreams and hopes,” she said with care. “At the time I wanted to be a very big businessman. I wanted to import from other countries. I wanted to create a big school for girls. I wanted to go to Oxford University. Maybe I have my own coffee shop.”

It changed in August 2021. She is no longer allowed to attend classes, is no longer employed, and she can no longer dream of the future she once mapped for herself.

But what broke her heart was seeing her younger sisters’ faces at the age of 11 and 12.

“They didn’t eat anything in a month. They were distraught,” Nargis said. “I realized they were so crazy like this, so I decided to help them with their research.

Nargis began collecting all the textbooks of the past and began teaching girls everything she learned. Other relatives and neighbors also began to ask for help – and she found it difficult to say no.

And then, every morning at Sharp, at 6am, about 45 female students, from the age of 12, creep across the city into the family homes of Nargis, before Taliban security guards are born. Nargis has no support or funding. Often, girls snuggle around one textbook and share a notepad and pen.

Together, they learn mathematics, science, computing and English. Nargis racks her brain for all the knowledge she has accumulated so far and passes it on to her students.

When it’s time for them to go home, she worries endlessly.

“It’s very dangerous. There’s no one day of the week that I can relax. I’m very worried when they come to me every day. It makes me mad. It’s a huge risk,” she said, fearing that the Taliban would discover her makeshift classroom and close it.

Two months ago, members of the Taliban began raiding the house she was teaching. She spent the night in prison and was primped for work. Her father and the other man’s family asked her to stop and said it was worthless. However, Nargis, horrifyingly, says she refuses to abandon her students. She changed places and carried them around.

Until the beginning of this year, USAID (US Agency for International Development) funded secret schools across the country known as “Community-based Education.” Under the Trump administration, some of these education programs are now being repealed due to the cancellation of $1.7 billion worth of aid agreements (of which $500 million had not yet been paid).

Nargis himself was a beneficiary of one such program, studying online for a bachelor’s degree in business administration in a US funded program. The program was cancelled last month, she says. It was a nail in the co for Nargis’ ambition. Not only cancelling her research, but also “Cancel My Hopes and Dreams.”

Nargis tries to keep him busy. However, on more days than she had hoped, a sense of despair creeps up, and she studies so hard to educate her sisters and friends, wondering if there is any point in being in danger. In Afghanistan, the Taliban, women cannot mix with men who are not associated with them, or work in doctors, lawyers, or most public spaces.

“My mother was never educated. She always told me if it had not gone under the previous Taliban government, so we studied hard…but what is the difference between me and my mother?” she asked. “I’m educated, but we’re both at home.

“What are we working hard? What work and future?”

As strong waves surged across the vast Pacific on Wednesday, people all over the world remained glued to their phones, tracking the rapid advances in the tsunami.

However, in China, over a million people were looking for an unusual term: “prophecy.”

This is because, to some, it seemed that natural disasters were predicted four years ago in Japanese comic books.

Published in 2021 by artist Ryotzki – fans say her previous works have also prophesied similarly – the manga claims that the next major earthquake will be a hit this July, sparking viral internet memes and debate in most of Asia in recent months.

In China, the search term associated with Tatsuki’s so-called “prophecy” won over 1.1 million views on the video app Douyin shortly after Wednesday’s Pacific Tsunami.

“Will Ryocki’s predictions for the July disaster come true?” The headline for Wednesday’s article was executed in Hong Kong newspapers.

The manga has gained enthusiastic support since its publication in 2021. However, fans were anticipating the arrival of obvious predictions from the author, which became a cultural phenomenon in most Asia earlier this year, with many canceling their summer trips to Japan.

Some tourists are ready to go home in peace after the Wednesday event caused minimal damage. But others are on the edge and are determined to be far apart for now.

“I’m getting goosebumps!” I wrote one Japanese user on X following the massive 8.8 earthquake.

Andrea Wang, a 25-year-old Chinese traveler, canceled his trip to Japan in April, and the manga called her “worried about the risks of my life.” The tsunami is currently dying, but she has no plans to travel to Japan for the rest of 2025, she told CNN on Friday.

It is impossible to project accurately beforehand if an earthquake could be attacked, and seismologists have strongly warned against believing in the increasing number of so-called predictions. In an interview with Japanese media in May, even Tatsuki herself urged people not to “overshake” her dreams.

But the valence of debate proves the cartoon’s harsh grip on the popular imagination, which amplified bullying in both Asia and social media, especially in seismic Japan, where constant threats of earthquakes and tsunamis are looming heavily on the popular imagination.

Many people were injured in the 2011 Tohoku disaster when the earthquake caused a devastating tsunami wave that caused the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. The disaster has resulted in more than 22,000 deaths or disappearances. It was then embedded in the national spirit, and Japanese infants conduct earthquake training from when they can walk, and the government regularly warns them of earthquakes in the next century.

Tatsuki’s manga depicts a cartoon version of her own Greening Vision from her Slumbers. Some fans believe she predicted the death of Princess Diana and Freddie Mercury, but skeptics are so vague that she is vague to take seriously.

The trembling of 2011 boosted Tatsuki’s supposed belief in science. Her 1999 manga, “The Future I Saw,” is on the cover of “The Large-scale Disaster in March 2011.” Many believe they predicted an earthquake of 9.0 magnitude more than a decade before they hit Tohoku.

In a follow-up in 2021, Tatsuki warned that an earthquake in the Philippine Sea on July 5th this year would cause three times the height of the tsunami waves.

Ultimately, Wednesday’s earthquake struck thousands of kilometers from the predicted epicenter, with the highest recorded wave in Japan measuring only 4.3 feet, much lower than the 30-foot wave seen in 2011.

However, many travelers like King have decided not to seize their chance in the last few months, canceling their trip to Japan, pointing to similar warnings from the psychics in Japan and Hong Kong.

CN Yuen, managing director of Hong Kong-based travel agency WWPKG, said that bookings for Japan tours fell by about 70% in June and July compared to last year.

Oscar Chu, a 36-year-old traveler from Hong Kong, has also decided not to go this summer despite visiting Japan multiple times, usually in the year. “I’m not saying I was 100% certain (about forecasts), but I won’t amortize that possibility,” he told CNN on Friday.

When July 5 passed without incident, he said some of his friends had booked a flight to Japan the following day.

He headed there a few weeks later and accidentally bought a ticket on Wednesday morning, just before receiving the news of the tsunami. But he’s still going. “You can’t avoid going for the rest of your life,” he said.

But not everyone is at ease. Several of Chu’s friends, who like him, love visiting Japan, have taken precautions such as avoiding coastal areas and skipping beaches.

They are not the only ones to be wary of “big things” on the horizon. Wednesday’s tsunami highlighted the vulnerability of millions of people living on coastlines around the Pacific Ocean, where the seismically active “Ring of Fire” has produced many of the world’s most powerful earthquakes.

Despite the science still remains contested, Japan’s fears have been rising since the government’s recent warning that a massive earthquake could hit the Valley of South Nankai within the next 30 years.

The Nanjing trough is a 700-kilometer (435 miles) long subduction zone with one tectonic plate being another. According to the Japanese government’s Earthquake Research Committee, serious earthquakes are recorded every 100 to 200 years in line with this obstacle.

The last such earthquake took place in 1944 and 1946, killing at least 2,500 people and destroying tens of thousands of homes.

The Japanese government has repeatedly warned that there is a 70-80% chance that Japan will be shaken by an earthquake in another South Ankai Trough within 30 years, and many scientists have questioned the accuracy of that probability.

Regardless of the reliability of the prediction, the nation is highly wary and kicks it into gear every time an earthquake hits it. This highly effective, sophisticated warning system was on display this week when local governments issued evacuation warnings and urged more than 2 million residents to seek high altitudes in high-risk areas along the coastline.

Skip past newsletter promotions

When a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck southern Japan last August, authorities responded as quickly as possible, slowing down trains and warning of potential tsunami warnings, but ultimately there was no major damage.

Whether Wednesday’s trembling was what Tatsuki was supposed to be in Tatsuki’s manga, public vigilance about potential disasters will remain in Japan ever since the waves recede this week.

“It’s because of (Tatsuki’s) warnings, but it encouraged more people to start paying attention to earthquake risks in advance, improving their awareness of disaster prevention, learning relevant knowledge, and preparing emergency supplies.”

“People’s vigilance is increasing and in itself is very important.”

London
AP
–

Oasis said on Sunday that after the man died at a band’s concert at Wembley Stadium in London, its members were “shocked and saddened.”

Metropolitan Police said officers and paramedics responded to reports of injured people Saturday before 10:30pm.

A man in his 40s said he was found “with an injury that coincided with a fall.” He was declared dead at the scene.

The squad urged the person who caught it via telephone video to contact police what happened.

“We are shocked and saddened to hear the tragic death of our fans on last night’s show,” Oasis said in a statement, “We would like to express our deepest condolences to the family and friends involved.”

The first tour of the Britpop icon for 16 years began on July 4th in Cardiff, Wales. Saturday’s concert was the fourth of seven planning shows at Wembley.

Stadium management said Sunday’s gig will go as planned.