Month: February 2026

Ryan Sickler is used to asking the question that people are afraid to ask: “Is there anyone here who has ever actually died and come back and would be comfortable talking about it in front of all of us?”

It’s not your typical comedy show crowd work but it has profound results. During his special “Ryan Sickler: Live & Alive” released on YouTube in October, a woman in the audience talked about a near-death experience as a child where she rode her bicycle in front of a neighbor’s station wagon. But Sickler pointed out that this remarkable level of candor in the audience is something he continues to marvel about. In fact, he said they did two shows the night they taped his special and during the second show two people in the crowd said they had near-death experiences.

“When I ask the question, I know there’s someone in the crowd that’s like, ‘There’s nobody in here that’s died and come back,’” Sickler said. “So now they’re all very excited to listen too. Like, what happened to this lady, or what happened to this guy? You know, there’s been some wild ones, some real funny ones out there too.”

Given how many comedy specials are being released on various streaming platforms, he says that “we have lost the specialness of the special.” But Sickler said since coming so close to death and being able to talk about it with candor and relatability, he is still calling his latest self-produced YouTube special, special. It now has more than 1 million views on YouTube. Sickler has been on the comedy scene for more than 30 years and released his comedy special “Lefty’s Son” in 2023. He also hosts the “HoneyDew Podcast.” His comedy career has often incorporated his lived experience with a rare blood-clotting disease called Factor V Leiden that almost killed him.

But these days, he’s grateful to be alive, to have been able to wake up when it looked like he might not, to watch his daughter continue to grow up and the laughs along the way. Sickler has long been candid about his chronic health issues with his comedy but he has found particular meaning in doing crowd work when he performs, that talks about death and what it means to live.

The Times recently spoke with Sickler about his special and how he thinks about his sense of health, humor and mortality.

Ryan Sickler in the studio where he films the “HoneyDew Podcast.”

(Al Seib / For The Times)

What did you want to say this time around in your new special?

My first special was something that was a bit of a hybrid of stuff that had been out there and around, but I didn’t own it. It was out there on people’s platforms. They’re making the money off of it. And so I did a bit of, “Let me get this stuff on my channel where I can control it.” And then the other part of that special was becoming a new single dad, all those things this time, specifically, I really just wanted to talk about what had happened and the results after that. I follow these comedy accounts and in October, there were 31 stand-up specials that hit between Netflix, Hulu, YouTube. November was 30. This month was a little slow because the holidays, but it was still at 18 the last time I checked. So I don’t think there’s anything special about stand-up specials anymore. You’re in an environment now where there’s a stand-up special a day, people are doing that with podcasts. There’s so much content going on out there, and I feel like a lot of it is the same. So I this time wanted to just take something that happened very personal to me, this incident, and then tell the story, not only behind it, but what happened after and I was really proud of being able to just focus on that and make that into this special instead of just my observations on this or my thoughts on that. I’m a storyteller and I really think that’s what art is.

When did you realize you had the courage to write about this near–death experience?

I know I had the courage to write about it a long time ago. When I’m making people laugh at my father’s funeral and things like that, I knew I was comfortable being able to take on the material. But what I didn’t know was, could I make it funny? Could I make it relatable? Could I make this one thing that happened to this one person on this rock in outer space matter to anybody and make them care? Because it’s not like we all had this happen to us. This is just one thing that happened to this one dude. So that was really what I was more worried about, is like, can I get this message across and make it relatable, funny and entertaining at the same time? Which is why I threw in those really expensive light cues.

It can be very challenging to hear about these traumatic [near–death] experiences that people have had. How do you absorb that and not absorb it too much?

I’ve been doing this show for so long that it does start to wear on you a little bit hearing a lot of the trauma. So I created a new podcast a couple years ago called the Wayback, which is just fun, funny, nostalgia. So that also for me, was like, let’s not dig into the tears and let’s just laugh about growing up. So that was one way where I could still keep it in my lane and do my job, where I alleviate that a little bit. But the other thing, and I make fun of myself a little, is I’m like the paramedic at the party now. I’m the guy that’s like “You think that’s bad, wait until you hear this.” “This one guy …” “This one lady …” You know what I mean? So I’ve almost become sort of their voice, and I have absorbed it in a way that isn’t so negative, where I carry it home with me. I always forget the quote how it’s worded, but it’s something to the tune of, if we all stood in a circle and threw our problems in the middle, we’d all take our shit right back. It’s like you know what, that’s what you’re dealing with? I’m gonna go ahead and take mine.

How is hearing all these stories and connecting with the crowd and fans in this way [about near–death experiences] changed how you think about your own sense of mortality?

Even with my close call, like, that one angered me, because you start to think about things. You never know how you’re really going to go. You might have an idea if you’re getting older and cancer runs in your family, whatever, but the fact that you could go to a hospital for a simple surgery, they don’t listen to you, everything’s there in your paperwork. You’re your own advocate. You’re doing all the right stuff by yourself, and you’re among professionals, medical professionals, not Yahoos, and you can still have someone else make a mistake and your life is gone. That started me thinking a lot like, “Oh man, for no fault of my own, I could also be gone.” So I go day by day, and I try to be happy day by day. And I’m not going to lie, I also like to know I got a little something tomorrow too.

Do you think that incorporating death and near–death in your comedy helps people work through their own feelings about death and grief?

I only say yes to that because the amount of emails I get, the amount of feedback we get, the amount of guests that still continue to show up [to support] the Patreon. I’ve definitely found, I would say, a purpose in my people. If you’re someone saying you’re a jerk for laughing at this lady talking about cancer, we’re not laughing at her cancer. We’re laughing at something, some light that she found in the darkness of this and trying to have a moment here together, all about, “Hey, there’s some positive ways to look at things at your lowest.” So I know it’s helped people. I mean, we have, over the years, probably thousands of emails now. We have people telling us how much it’s helped. And I mean just through podcasting, I found out I have this blood disease. I was 42 at the time, and already been podcasting. There’s a lady I went to high school with. She’s like “Ryan, my son is 17. He started clotting.” I said, “Go ahead and check for this.” He listens to the podcast. This kid has it. I said, “Well, bad news. It’s genetic.” Now the whole family’s got to get tested. And if you have it from one parent, it’s not great, but having it from two is bad. The whole family gets tested. The parents have it. She’s got it from both her parents. So I can’t get over the fact that a woman I knew when we were children, 35 years later is like, “Hey, that thing you’re talking about on your podcast, my kids, my family, we all have it.” And then I’ve talked about another disease I also have, called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which is CMT. And from bringing that up, people hit me up on that like “I have it, no one ever talks about that.”

What have you found to be one of the positives — besides surviving — of your near–death experience?

Gosh, so many. I have a child, so getting to see her grow and really taking care of my health and things. Not that I wasn’t before, but just I dove in even deeper. I went and got what’s called a gallery test for prescreening for cancer. I started doing all these blood works and like, “Let’s go find out everything you know, because I didn’t find out that I had this blood disease until I was 42 when I clotted.” I’m living my whole life, not even knowing I have this thing and and if I don’t clot, there are plenty of people out there that live to 100 years old and have it. It’s really made me appreciate life and trying to take things day by day. I also was living in a little single-dad pad at the time. We had no central air. We had tandem parking. We were above dumpsters. Our laundry was outside in a room with quarters. And when I got home — I’m still on a walker — and I was like, “What are we doing? We’re going to die without central air? Are we going to die with a bucket of quarters on the fridge? No more.” And so I moved my home, I moved my studio, I did all these things that are, like, the biggest thing you can do in life. We’re going to roll the dice, scared money don’t win, and we’re just going to go for it. Also, as a comedian and anybody in entertainment will tell you, a lot of times you work scared, you hold that money and you wait until the next thing comes. And also, as a single parent, you know we got to budget. And I was like, no more. We’re not going to go out and buy 10 Porsches. We’re going to be responsible. But I was on point with let’s go get a living will and trust. Let’s make sure we have that life insurance policy. Let’s make sure we have all the proper paperwork and stuff done before we do anything like go on a vacation, you know, let’s get this done now and get it done proper.

What do those conversations look like, if you have them at all, about encouraging your male friends to go to the doctor or encouraging them to take care of themselves, physically and emotionally?

I would say the conversations go something like this. My younger brother is like, “Hey, man, I just went in for a test, and they’re telling me I got to have an old school triple bypass,” and then that’s what we all get tested. “Hey guys, I found I got a blood disease.” “Oh man, we all better look into it now.” That’s usually how it goes. I don’t know many men who are proactive. There are a few of us these days. But it’s usually something horrible happens and then we’ll be proactive about everything else.

Do you have male fans who also say “I [saw] your special … I went to your show, and it made me go [to the doctor]”?

Yeah, but I’m saying, though, it still took them to come see a professional clown to get them to go to the damn doctor. I actually have been very good about going, because everyone in my family died. So I’ve been proactive in the sense that I go get two physicals a year. I’ve been doing that since my 20s. I always tell my doctor, if I can go buy expensive sushi, if I go buy weed, if I go buy all these things, I can put money into myself here and come see you a second time and pay for all that. So I do two physicals a year, and I’ve been doing that forever. But I’ve never done any sort of like gallery test. And now we’re in our 50s, so we got to go get the prostate and all that. That’s when you start hearing about that stuff. There’s a lot of ignorance that goes into it as well. I just had a guest here on the “HoneyDew” and said he didn’t go to a doctor or anything for over 20 years because he was just scared of what they were going to tell him. He was scared to get the bad news. You can kind of get the bad news and you could turn that into good news. It doesn’t need to be deadly news.

How do you know when you’ve been too open?

It usually tends to be a personal thing where someone’s like, “I don’t really appreciate you bringing that up.” So I don’t anymore. I’m always cognizant of [saying] like, “Hey, would it be cool if I talked about this or whatever?” I feel like the question you’re asking me would have been great for me just before I started, like, the “HoneyDew” and stuff because this is what I really want to talk about. Everyone wants to talk about the best and bring their best and I just really do want to hear about, you know, the trauma bond. I want to hear about the worst times in your life. I want to know because, honestly, that tells me so much more about you than you verbally talking about you. You know who you were in those moments, how you reacted, how you behaved, how you’ve adjusted. Those things really end up defining who you are, and that’s more what I want to know about. I don’t want to know your best polished version of yourself.

When D’Anton Lynn abruptly left for Penn State on the eve of USC’s bowl game, the hope within the program had been to keep what remained of his defensive staff intact. All while also attracting a top-notch defensive coordinator to take Lynn’s place.

But Lincoln Riley, after four years of regular churn with his staff at USC, was also realistic. The coach had learned by now how quickly plans could change with the coaching carousel.

“It really doesn’t matter what team you are,” Riley said in December. “It doesn’t matter what staff you are. Doesn’t matter what your postseason situation is like. … We’ve been through this now for a few years. So you can’t always predict everything that’s going to happen, but this time of year, you have to be ready to adjust. It’s just the nature of the game.”

Some adjustments, as Riley suggested then, were probably inevitable.

New USC defensive coordinator Gary Patterson takes questions from the media during a news conference.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

The worst of it came late in the carousel, when defensive line coach Eric Henderson elected to return to the NFL, departing for the same position with the Washington Commanders. Losing Henderson, from a recruiting perspective alone, is significant. He finished the last recruiting cycle as the nation’s top-ranked recruiter, according to 247 Sports.

It was Henderson who took over the defense for USC’s bowl game, which led some players to voice their belief he should get the full-time gig. His name was floated for other jobs, too, including the coordinator position at his alma mater, Georgia Tech.

USC hoped to retain him as defensive line coach. But with the program determined to go outside of its staff for a new coordinator, Henderson ultimately chose to leave.

USC also moved on from secondary coach Doug Belk, who’d also been mentioned as a potential internal candidate. He spent the previous two seasons as a leading voice on USC’s defensive staff. But his contract was not renewed.

In hiring longtime Texas Christian coach Gary Patterson, Riley found the rare coordinator happy to blend in with a staff that’s largely in place already. Last month, in his first meeting with reporters, Patterson said he viewed himself more as “that last piece” on USC’s staff. He even assured he’d adapt his 4-2-5 defensive scheme to what USC did under Lynn.

“The group that’s here, they improved the defense last year,” Patterson said. “So instead of just coming in and saying, ‘Well this is how we’re gonna do it, it’s been a little bit more work of trying to put both of them together, understanding they did a great job and recruiting really good players. So you gotta really kind of listen a little bit more before you say this how we [do it].”

Some unique aspects of Patterson’s scheme, however, are probably best left in familiar hands. That’s especially the case with his secondary, which is called separately from the front seven.

It stands to reason then that Patterson would bring Paul Gonzales, a defensive backs coach who worked with Patterson for nearly half of his tenure at TCU. He left Baylor to join USC’s staff and is expected to lead the Trojans entire secondary. He’ll be joined by Sam Carter, a former all-Big 12 safety who played under Patterson.

The rest of the staff remains largely intact from last season. Defensive ends coach Shaun Nua stuck with USC amid rumors of interest from his alma mater, Brigham Young. Trovon Reed will continue to coach cornerbacks and Rob Ryan, for the time being at least, remains as linebackers coach.

After a debut that produced mixed results with a thin linebacker room, Ryan’s status has been up in the air over the past two months. Whether he returns or not, his unit will have another voice in the linebacker room in Year 2. Mike Ekeler, who previously coached at USC under Lane Kiffin in 2013, was hired away from Nebraska to coach both special teams and linebackers.

Two defensive analysts were also promoted to full-time roles, as Skyler Jones, in his third season on staff, will coach defensive tackles and AJ Howard, entering his second, will coach outside linebackers.

That makes nine coaches on USC’s defensive staff alone, three more than it employed last season.

As of 2024, there are no longer limits on the number of coaches who can provide on-field instruction, meaning the Trojans can have as many assistants on staff as they please. But only 10 total, plus the head coach, are allowed to recruit off-campus. It’s unclear who among USC’s current staff will fill those 10 roles.

On the other side of the ball, Riley was able to keep the whole band together. Offensive line coach Zach Hanson was pursued heavily by his alma mater, Kansas State, to be offensive coordinator under new coach Collin Klein, who Hanson considers to be one of his closest friends.

Still, Hanson chose to stick with USC and Riley, whose offense will return not just every member of its staff, but also its entire offensive line, its star running back and a Heisman candidate at quarterback.

Vanessa Gordon, from New York, was not expecting to find love when she took a post-divorce trip to Tuscany – the home of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Donatello and Giotto

Vanessa Gordon was just 18 when she got married, and 37 when she got divorced.

After 13 years of marriage, the mum was understandably unsure about her next move. Fortunately, her friends were not.

“My friends had a WhatsApp group entitled Vanessa 2.0, where they would encourage me to get out there and enjoy myself. That was the kind of headspace I was in when I went out to Tuscany, a little bit delicate and fragile and in need of some encouragement to start the next phase of my life,” she told the Mirror.

The event planner and producer, from the Hamptons in New York, travelled to the Italian region, which as the home of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Sandro Botticelli, Donatello and Giotto is synonymous with beauty.

It was there that she had a chance encounter with a stranger who would change her life.

READ MORE: Event dubbed ‘best new thing to do in the world’ moves to nunnery

Vanessa was staying in a hotel when a man in his early 20s walked past her, smiled, winked and disappeared. “He was absolutely gorgeous. My hair was in a messy bun, and I was in a bathrobe, but I knew there was something between us,” she explained.

She relayed the encounter to her friends, who joked that Italian men were just like that and suggested she should not dwell on it. Maybe it was the romantic setting, or maybe there was something about this mysterious man. Vanessa was convinced there was something there. “I had a gut feeling about him. It took me back to being sweet 16,” she said.

Later that same day, Vanessa was having dinner in the hotel with her friends when she spotted the same young man. After her friends’ insistence, she approached him. She asked him about the drinks menu, and he asked her her name.

“Vanessa. Beautiful,” he said, before winking and walking away.

The response bowled the American over. “I’ll never forget it,” she said. Later that evening, after hours of dining and chatting, the mysterious staff member reappeared and asked if he could place a blanket over her shoulders to keep out the chill of the night. She said yes.

Although their interactions had been fleeting and communication across languages difficult, by the end of dinner Vanessa was sad to discover that he had finished work. She had meant to give him her number but did not get the chance before he slipped away.

Luckily, his name was printed on the meal’s bill. Vanessa found him on social media, added him and hoped. Within moments, he accepted and messaged her, asking when she was leaving. “Tomorrow,” Vanessa replied, regretfully informing the Italian waiter that she would be heading to Florence in the morning.

“He said he would come to Florence to see me, and I thought, ‘yeah right’, but that’s what he did.”

The waiter did not just make the two-and-a-half-hour train ride to Florence. He spent two days by Vanessa’s side, walking around the city, chatting constantly and taking it all in.

“What I found so fascinating was that my nerves instantly melted away when we met and started talking. I felt totally at ease with him, and I still can’t believe looking back that he was only the second man I had ever been with, even into my mid-30s. I think that’s very special and very rare,” she explained.

“I was very impressed by how mature he is and how hard he tried to speak English, while I spoke the best Italian I could. We used a translator every now and then. I didn’t mind that he smoked, which surprised me. He was very confident, but not in an arrogant way.

“We didn’t do too many touristy things. We went to dinner at a local sushi spot, visited Piazzale Michelangelo and spent a lot of time walking and talking. We ended the last evening watching one of his favourite films in Italian with English subtitles.

“I trusted him as well. We were completely alone together and I felt fine.”

At the end of the two days, Vanessa told the former stranger she had to return to New York, while he needed to go back to work. They kissed and went their separate ways.

“I can’t believe it happened. It was so special at that time in my life. My friends went from cheering me on to living vicariously through me. They said I lived a moment most people could only dream of. It set me up for everything else I’ve done since then. It was perfect,” she said.

It is not clear what lies ahead for Vanessa and the Italian waiter, who did meet again when she returned to Europe. Regardless, she looks back on the chance encounter with love and as the beginning of a new chapter.

“He helped me get my belief back in myself and build my confidence. It made me realise everyone is in this together, everyone gets nervous or uncertain. We’re all just people. My confidence has reignited now. I’m a totally new woman, and he was the start of that,” she said.

“And no matter what happens in the future, he will always hold a special place in my heart.”

Do you have a story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

Jury chair Wim Wenders said filmmakers ‘have to stay out of politics’ when asked about German support for Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

Indian author Arundhati Roy has announced that she is withdrawing from the Berlin International Film Festival after what she described as “unconscionable statements” by its jury members about Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Writing in India’s The Wire newspaper, Roy said she found recent remarks from members of the Berlinale jury, including its chair, acclaimed director Wim Wenders, that “art should not be political” to be “jaw-dropping”.

“It is a way of shutting down a conversation about a crime against humanity even as it unfolds before us in real time,” wrote Roy, the author of novels and nonfiction, including The God of Small Things.

“I am shocked and disgusted,” Roy wrote, adding that she believed “artists, writers and filmmakers should be doing everything in their power to stop” the war in Gaza.

“Let me say this clearly: what has happened in Gaza, what continues to happen, is a genocide of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel,” she wrote.

The war is “supported and funded by the governments of the United States and Germany, as well as several other countries in Europe, which makes them complicit in the crime,” she added.

During a panel to launch the festival on Thursday, a journalist asked the jury members for their views on the German government’s “support of the genocide in Gaza” and the “selective treatment of human rights” issues.

German filmmaker Wim Wenders, who is the chair of the festival’s seven-member jury, responded, saying that filmmakers “have to stay out of politics”.

“If we made movies that are dedicatedly political, we enter the field of politics. But we are the counterweight to politics. We are the opposite of politics. We have to do the work of people and not the work of politicians,” Wenders said.

Polish film producer Ewa Puszczynska, another jury member, said she thought it was “a bit unfair” to pose this question, saying that filmmakers “cannot be responsible” for whether governments support Israel or Palestine.

“There are many other wars where genocide is committed and we do not talk about that,” Puszczynska added.

Roy had been due to participate in the festival, which runs from February 12 to 22, after her 1989 film, In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, was selected to be screened in the Classics section.

Germany, which is one of the biggest exporters of weapons to Israel, after the US, has introduced harsh measures to prevent people from speaking out in solidarity with Palestinians.

In 2024, more than 500 international artists, filmmakers, writers and culture workers called on creatives to stop working with German-funded cultural institutions over what they described as “McCarthyist policies that suppress freedom of expression, specifically expressions of solidarity with Palestine”.

“Cultural institutions are surveilling social media, petitions, open letters and public statements for expressions of solidarity with Palestine in order to weed out cultural workers who do not echo Germany’s unequivocal support of Israel,” organisers of the initiative said.

Whether you’re already on the inside or new to the party, the Canadian meta-comedy “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie,” about a music duo’s epic undiscoveredness, shows little audience favoritism as it ping-pongs between timelines, formats, realities, cultural shout-outs and its two indefatigable lead characters. Make that four leads, since director and co-writer Matt Johnson and his composer-best friend Jay McCarrol each play themselves twice, thanks to archival footage presented in this zippy mockumentary as evidence of time travel.

Don’t be confused. Or rather, be confused but adventurously so! Especially if you aren’t familiar with the cult web series from which this film derives. Indie-savvy viewers might know Johnson’s work from the moon-landing conspiracy lark “Operation Avalanche” or the cheeky docu-dramedy “BlackBerry,” both of which he directed and acted in. But there’s no getting around the fact that if you haven’t encountered them before, then for a good while they’ll come across as Motormouth Clown in a Fedora (Johnson) and Understated Guy at the Piano (McCarrol).

With three Ns to their band name (no relation to a slightly better-known group), a dream of booking Toronto’s longstanding live venue and only a cluttered suburban home to show for it, the duo’s act seems primarily to be coming up with boneheaded ideas for exposure. Johnson’s latest bolt of inspiration is for them to parachute from the top of downtown Toronto’s 2,000-foot CN Tower into the open Rogers Centre stadium below, a plan which meets with amusingly alarmed concern from a very real employee at the hardware store. It’s the first of many encounters with unsuspecting citizens, à la the oeuvre of Sacha Baron Cohen.

Though their stunt fails — yet succeeds for us as a piece of guerrilla filmmaking wizardry — it spurs Johnson toward an even crazier notion: time traveling in an RV to 2008 to change their fates and secure their inevitable fame. Think “Back to the Future” and think about it a lot, since from here on out, that 1985 classic becomes this movie’s lodestar of structural, comedic and musical reference. (McCarrol’s enjoyably overwrought orchestral score shouts out to composer Alan Silvestri.)

That the filmmakers could play against themselves using video of the 2008 versions of their characters (when they had the web series) is undeniably clever, if not always the laugh riot it promises to be. But it also helps foster the jealousy-driven farce that takes over the current-day narrative and is genuinely funny: a rejiggered timeline in which McCarrol becomes a massive pop star and Johnson gets left behind.

Invariably these wacky scenarios will be more amusing to longtime fans, for whom a frantic climax akin to the lightning-meets-DeLorean ending of “Back to the Future” will play like nostalgia for nostalgia. To the uninitiated, though, even amid steady laughter and a sneaking concern for this silly friendship to right itself, it may come off as much ado about who knows what.

But Johnson is nothing if not a punchy ringmaster of deadpan humor and his grab-bag mindset generates enough goodwill to appreciate the DIY brashness of it all. I’m one of those who had no clue of this act’s history and I’m fairly certain I’d look forward to “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie the Sequel.”

MILAN — Kings left wing Kevin Fiala sustained a leg injury and was taken off the ice on a stretcher late in Switzerland’s game against Canada at the Milan-Cortina Olympics on Friday.

Fiala went down when he collided with Tom Wilson with just less than three minutes left in Canada’s 5-1 victory.

Fiala backed into a hit on Wilson near the boards, their legs got tangled and both players fell to the ice. Fiala couldn’t get up and after a stoppage in play medical personnel attended to him.

Fiala was placed face down on a stretcher and his left leg appeared to be in an air cast as he was wheeled out.

“I haven’t seen him yet. I think he went to the hospital. Obviously it doesn’t look very good,” Swiss coach Patrick Fischer said. “Tough moment for Kevin and the whole team, obviously.”

No penalty was assessed on the play.

“It was an accident,” Fischer said.

The 29-year-old Fiala is in his 12th NHL season and fourth with the Kings. He has 40 points in 56 games this season.

A fire at a key fuel refinery in the capital comes amid Cuba’s mounting fuel emergency due to US-imposed restrictions.

A fire broke out at a key fuel processing plant in the Cuban capital Havana, threatening to exacerbate an energy crisis as the country struggles under an oil blockade imposed by the United States.

A large plume of smoke was seen rising above Havana Bay from the Nico Lopez refinery on Friday, drawing the attention of the capital’s residents before fading as fire crews fought to bring the situation under control.

Cuba’s Ministry of Energy and Mines said the fire, which erupted in a warehouse at the refinery, was eventually extinguished and that “the cause is under investigation”. There were no injuries and the fire did not spread to nearby areas, the ministry said in a post on social media.

“The workday at the Nico Lopez Refinery continues with complete normalcy,” the ministry said.

The location of the fire was close to where two oil tankers were moored in Havana’s harbour.

Cuba, which has been in a severe economic crisis for years, relied heavily on oil imports from Venezuela, which have been cut off since the abduction of the country’s leader Nicolas Maduro by United States forces last month.

US President Donald Trump has also threatened Cuba’s government and passed a recent executive order allowing for trade tariffs on any country that supplies oil to the island.

The country has seen widespread power outages due to the lack of fuel. Bus and train services have been cut, some hotels have closed, schools and universities have been restricted, and public sector workers are on a four-day work week. Staffing at hospitals was also cut back.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned last week of a humanitarian “collapse” in Cuba if its energy needs go unmet.

On Thursday, two Mexican navy vessels carrying more than 800 tonnes of humanitarian aid arrived in Havana, underscoring the nation’s growing need for humanitarian assistance amid the tightening US stranglehold on fuel.

Experts in maritime transport tracking told the AFP news agency that no foreign fuel or oil tankers have arrived in Cuba in weeks.

Cuba can only produce about one-third of its total fuel requirements.

Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos de Cossio accused the US of carrying out “massive punishment” against the Cuban people in a post on social media Friday.

Cuba requires imports of fuel and “the US is applying threats [and] coercive measures against any country that provides it”, the deputy minister said.

“Lack of fuel harms transportation, medical services, schooling, energy, production of food, the standard of living,” he said.

“Massive punishment is a crime,” he added.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has said her government seeks to “open the doors for dialogue to develop” between Cuba and the US and has criticised Washington’s oil restrictions as “unfair”.

The debate comes as Jeri, who is not running for re-election, faces allegations of bribery and influence-peddling.

The head of Peru’s Congress, Fernando Rospigliosi, has announced a special plenary session to weigh the removal of the country’s right-wing president, Jose Jeri.

The session will take place on the morning of February 17, according to a statement Peru’s Congress posted on social media.

The debate comes as Jeri’s short tenure grows mired in scandal, just four months after he took office as interim president.

In October, Jeri — the leader of Congress at the time — took over as president following the unanimous impeachment of his predecessor, Dina Boluarte, on the grounds of “permanent moral incapacity”.

Boluarte herself assumed the presidency after her predecessor, Pedro Castillo, was impeached for attempting a self-coup.

Next week’s debate about Jeri’s future is the latest chapter in the ongoing instability facing Peru’s government. The country has seen eight presidents within the last decade, with several of them impeached or resigning before their term expired.

In recent months, Jeri has become increasingly embroiled in scandal, including one colloquially known as “chifagate”, named for the Peruvian-Chinese fusion cuisine known as “chifa”.

The scandal started when local media outlets obtained video of Jeri arriving late at night at a restaurant to meet with a Chinese businessman, Zhihua Yang, who previously received government approval to build a hydroelectric plant.

Their meeting was not listed in the official presidential agenda, as is required under Peruvian law. Critics have questioned whether Jeri’s outfit — which had a deep hood that rendered him nearly unrecognisable — was meant to be a disguise.

Additional footage placed Jeri at another one of Yang’s businesses days later. Jeri also allegedly met a second Chinese businessman, Jiwu Xiaodong, who was reportedly under house arrest for illegal activities.

Jeri has dismissed some of the off-the-books meetings as planning for an upcoming Chinese-Peruvian friendship event. Others, he said, were simply shopping trips for sweets and other food. He has denied wrongdoing but has acknowledged taking the meetings was a “mistake”.

“I have not lied to the country. I have not done anything illegal,” Jeri told the news outlet Canal N.

But critics have accused Jeri of using his position for influence-peddling at the unregistered interactions.

Similar accusations erupted earlier this month when Peruvian media highlighted the irregular hiring of several women in Jeri’s administration and contracts he awarded as possible evidence of bribery.

The debate over Jeri’s removal comes as Peru hurtles towards a general election on April 12, with the presidency up for grabs. Jeri will not be running to retain his seat.

MYSTERY DNA found inside Nancy Guthrie’s home does not belong to anyone “close” to her, it has been confirmed.

The unidentified DNA, which was found on the missing 84-year-old woman’s Tucson, Arizona, property is a focus of the investigation, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said.

Despite the breakthrough, the sheriff issued a devastating update on the case.

He did not explain where the DNA was found in the home.

Questioned on whether authorities believe they are close to finding Guthrie, Nanos said: “Some of these cases take months, some take years.”

Guthrie, the mom of “Today” show anchor Savannah Guthrie, has been missing since February 1.

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Authorities are currently working with their contracted forensic lab in Florida to analyse the biological evidence.

Nanos pushed back on criticism over evidence handling, saying the decision to send biological evidence to the Florida lab reflects long-standing procedures.

Local investigators have been accused of blocking the FBI from accessing key physical evidence.

Nanos also clarified that a glove believed to be potential evidence was not found at Guthrie’s home but discovered about two miles away.

Despite the ongoing investigation, Nanos stressed the search remains a rescue effort.

“They all have hope and belief that this is a rescue mission”, he said.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has allegedly already spent around $200,000 on processing evidence with the Florida lab, with which the department contracts.

It comes after federal agents released new details about the suspect from the doorbell surveillance footage.

“This updated description will concentrate the public tips we are receiving,” investigators said after over 13,000 tips were called in since Guthrie went missing.

The terrifying footage captured an armed intruder wearing thick gloves, pacing around Nancy’s front porch the night she was taken and trying to disable her doorbell camera.

It fueled theories surrounding her disappearance, including whether the individual was acting alone.

Officials now say they are looking for a man who is around five-foot-nine-inches to five-foot-ten-inches with an average build.

He was seen in the footage wearing a black, 25-liter Ozark Hiker Pack backpack.

The reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the case has been increased from $50,000 to $100,000.

Investigators have also issued a request for neighbors to send in any footage they have from the area from 9pm to midnight on January 11, and from 9:30am to 11am on January 31.

Meanwhile, the man spotted in a second doorbell video, who was also wearing a backpack and appeared to be trying a locked gate five miles from Nancy’s house, has been cleared of involvement in the case.

The clip that was obtained by TMZ, was taken around 1:50am around the time the masked intruder was filmed at Guthrie’s home.

He was filmed throwing a second backpack over a brick wall and investigators were seeking him for questioning.

However, he has since been ruled out of the investigation, two officials close to the matter told NBC News.

One of Britain’s most renowned deserted medieval villages, with a church and manor house, attracts walkers and history enthusiasts despite its challenging terrain with a steep walk

Today, it’s considered the UK’s ‘best preserved’ medieval village, attracting visitors from far and wide who want to marvel at its history. Yet it remained deserted for hundreds of years after its residents vacated the settlement.

Wharram Percy in North Yorkshire is one of Britain’s largest deserted medieval villages and certainly its most famous. Visitors can wander through the atmospheric site, exploring the ruins of ancient dwellings, a church, and a manor house that once formed a community.

Throughout an extensive 60-year period, archaeologists have steadily uncovered fascinating insights into Wharram Percy’s past. Their discoveries have revealed why the settlement was deserted initially and how people lived there centuries ago.

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Nestled on the edge of a Yorkshire valley, this remarkable village was inhabited for as long as six centuries before being abandoned sometime after the 1500s. Experts believe that even now, the footprints of former houses remain visible in the earth, complementing the more prominent ruins that draw inquisitive tourists.

The history is complex, but experts believe the earliest settlement dates back to around 50 BC. This land was later converted into farmland, fell into disuse in the 5th century, and eventually evolved into a Middle Saxon settlement.

Steeped in history, the medieval village has become a popular attraction, whether that’s dog walkers in the local area or those passing by. Perfectly positioned between the tourist hotspots of Scarborough Castle and Clifford’s Tower in York, it’s an ideal midway stop when travelling between these two landmarks.

While admission to the village itself is free, visitors pay a modest £2 parking fee. It’s worth noting that getting to the settlement involves a roughly 3/4-mile trek from the car park to the main site, often steep and muddy. The site’s rugged terrain can pose a challenge for some visitors and is generally not suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs.

One visitor described the parking on TripAdvisor as a “sharp gravelled decline” and a “daunting” journey unsuitable for those with limited mobility, as the path traverses fields. Another also warned: “Parking on the Heritage car park off the B1248 prepare for a trek to the village.”

Yet, it hasn’t put people off from making the journey, as one joyfully shared: “This lovely deserted mediaeval village is truly fascinating! The history is incredible, and it was wonderful to wander around and explore. We really lucked out and had beautiful weather, so we got to sit on the grass by the pond and soak it all in.”

Another lauded their experience and said: “Lovely walk from the car park to the site, but people with mobility issues may struggle. It’s a fascinating historical site that has been really well managed. Only a few visitors when we visited, which added to the peace and tranquillity of the place. Loved it!”

“Great walk with the dog. Parked in the free car park and walked downhill on the path to a cow field. Crossed over into the fields of Wharram Percy. Lovely walk around and interesting to imagine how it once was all those years ago. The walk back was uphill and quite a trek. We really enjoyed it. It’s a small historical site, sometimes people expect too much. We loved it. Nice walk out and then to the Stone Trough Inn for lunch,” another commented.

Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

Lanie van der Horst, from New York, and her now husband Mark spent years meeting up across the world after they met by chance on a trip thousands of miles from their homes

A woman moved across the world to be with the love of her life, after initially finding him annoying when their paths crossed on holiday.

Back in 2008, Lanie van der Horst, now 44, was on a Contiki tour that started in Riga, Latvia, before heading on to Russia and Scandinavia when her life changed. Living in New York City at the time, the teacher embarked on a 13-week European adventure with a pal.

“I arrived late because the flight was delayed, which meant I got to dinner late and got the last table. It was the table my now husband was sitting at.”

That Lanie and Mark’s paths would cross in such a way is pretty unlikely. Back then, there were around 6.5 billion people on the planet, which the couple lived on opposite ends of. Their homes were about 10,000 miles apart: almost as far away as any two people can live on the 24,901-mile circumference of Earth.

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But meet they did. Unfortunately, Mark didn’t make a great first impression.

“I thought he was an absolute idiot. He was sitting with a roommate he didn’t know. They were both very excited. They were giggly, they were young. He was 26 at the time. I’m one year older. They were talking about shooting fireworks off, drinking. Things I wasn’t interested in. Dinner was fine. I thought, ‘Of all the people, I’m not going to hang out with him’.”

Despite having made a bad first impression, Mark, now a wastewater worker, had three weeks of travelling alongside Lanie (and 12 other young holidaymakers) to make a better second one.

“You’re together a lot, and we started having different conversations. I didn’t think I was going to marry him. He said to me that I talked about real things, like my family going camping, and everyone else was talking about what they did today. It became something more during those three weeks,” Lanie continued.

“Halfway through the trip, he asked me to travel with him afterwards. I went, much to my mother’s dismay. He rearranged his trip a bit and we went to Latvia, Russia, Finland, Estonia and Denmark.”

Clearly, the extended trip was a big success.

“The first whole day we spent just together was in Tallinn. It is now my son’s middle name. That’s how much I liked it. We then added two more weeks after. In Romania and Hungary. My family is from those countries. It was fun rearranging my tour, getting to know somebody. I thought we’d part ways.”

Back at home, Mark and Lanie continued talking online, emailing and messaging one another from their respective continents. At this point, neither had much hope of being reunited.

“I told him next time I travel, I’ll go to Asia, and he said, ‘Maybe I’ll see you there’. However, by December, we were planning a trip together. It wasn’t like we had to be together. I really liked him, but I didn’t think we’d end up together.”

The pair met up in Asia the following year and booked several group tours together, in case they ended up parting. “I wanted to make sure I wasn’t by myself,” Lanie explained.

“In China, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia. We clearly really liked each other, but I told him we were on vacation, and he didn’t know me in real life. He was so nice, and we were working so well together. Partway through, I realised I didn’t want him to leave.”

In total, Mark and Lanie travelled together for nine weeks. At the end of their Asian adventure, the American was bereft. “I cried and cried and cried and told him he had to come see me. He had to get a new job and come visit. He did,” she explained.

Mark came to the US to meet Lanie’s family at her sister’s wedding, and fit in so well that he stayed for three months. This was followed by a trip around Europe and then Central America together. “We just met up around the world,” she said.

While jetting around the world to explore together was fun, the pair eventually decided to settle down after Mark proposed in the Fraser National Park in Tasmania. They married six weeks later and started life together in New York, then in Florida, after their daughter was born.

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Mark realised he wanted to move back home. “He said he wanted to go to Australia, but not forever, just until the vaccine was out. I told him I wasn’t moving, then he reminded me I’m adventurous. And so we moved. With everything going on in the US I’m not going back anytime soon. I think we’re there for good.”

Do you have a story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

USA’s Ilia Malinin, the red-hot favourite for men’s figure skating gold at Milan-Cortina 2026, falls twice as he misses out on a podium finish to give Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan the gold medal.

READ MORE: Shaidorov wins gold as ‘Quad God’ Malinin crumbles

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Mumbai, India — For Indian cricket fans travelling to Sri Lanka this weekend, the opportunity to watch their team take on archrivals Pakistan in the T20 World Cup has come at the cost of inflated airfares, soaring hotel prices and a long wait for matchday tickets.

But these are mere sacrifices that thousands are willing to make to witness the most heated rivalry in the sport as it unfolds on Sunday at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

Fuelled by a decades-long fraught political relationship, cricket encounters between India and Pakistan are among the biggest spectacles in sport — often framed as bloodthirsty contests of national pride.

For the first time in the history of the World Cup, geopolitical tensions threatened to put the marquee contest in doubt until Pakistan’s government reversed its order for a boycott of the match.

While the near-last-minute U-turn revived excitement, it came at a price for the Indian supporters making late travel plans. Pakistan’s participation was confirmed only six days before the fixture, triggering a sharp surge in airfares from several Indian cities.

Fans who booked their air tickets weeks in advance, too, paid significantly higher fares due to the significantly higher demand surrounding any India-Pakistan match, which is commonly deemed the most lucrative fixture in cricket.

“I paid a premium of approximately 50 percent compared to the usual rates,” Aditya Chheda, a finance professional from Mumbai, told Al Jazeera. “This was despite booking a month in advance and opting for a layover instead of a direct flight.”

Flight, hotel prices skyrocket

A nonstop round-trip journey from India’s western metropolis Mumbai to Colombo, which typically costs approximately $275, went upwards of $1,000 two days before the match.

Similar fares were spotted for nonstop journeys from Bengaluru in southern India, while round-trip nonstop flights from Chennai to Colombo – a route that takes only about an hour and 20 minutes – had surged to at least $550, up from its usual fare of $165.

Planning ahead helped Bengaluru resident Parth Chauhan secure deals at a good price, but his friends accompanying him to Colombo had to pay a steep premium – three times the usual cost – after booking closer to the match date.

Accommodation costs rose sharply as well. Tariffs at five-star hotels in Colombo ranged between $400 and $1,000 per night from Saturday to Monday, when most spectators were expected to fly in and out.

Chauhan, who works in a cybersecurity organisation, had to wait a whopping four hours in a virtual queue to buy match tickets, but he insists the hassle was worth the wait, as he gears up to watch India play abroad for the first time.

“It’s an opportune moment, and there is a lot of exuberance to witness this because it’s a historic fixture,” he said.

For a lucky few, the surprise came not from the difficulty of securing tickets but from their unusually low price. Piyush Nathani, an IT professional from Bengaluru, paid only $5 for the fixture, which draws millions in broadcast, sponsor and advertising revenue.

“This is the cheapest ticket I’ve ever purchased. Just $5 to watch a World Cup match, that too of the magnitude of India vs Pakistan, is a steal,” said Nathani, who has travelled with a group of six friends.

‘More than a cricket match’

Having been part of the Ahmedabad crowd in 2023 that saw India beat Pakistan in a 50-over World Cup group game, Nathani is relishing the chance to watch Sunday’s match in a neutral venue, where fans from both countries are expected to be present.

“The feeling of beating Pakistan is something money cannot buy,” added the 29-year-old.

Like Nathani, Chheda has also travelled abroad previously to watch Team India. The 32-year-old watched India lift the 2024 T20 World Cup in Barbados and now wants to “pick up where I left off”.

“When there’s a World Cup, the first thing Indian fans hope for is to beat Pakistan,” he added.

“Winning the World Cup is the biggest target, but beating Pakistan feels like a moral victory – it’s more than a cricket match.”

The Federal Constitutional Court, the highest Court in Germany, has spoken. That sentence is the centre of gravity. It signals judicial restraint. It confirms that the Federal Government retains broad discretion in determining how it complies with its constitutional duty to protect fundamental human rights, including in the sensitive area of arms exports contributing to a warfare that is deemed genocidal by the United Nations.

This assessment is embedded in the legal framework governing German arms exports, including the relevant provisions of the War Weapons Control Act and the Foreign Trade and Payments Act, which define the procedural and substantive prerequisites for export authorizations and directly inform the court’s evaluation of the complainant’s standing. Beneath the formalism in its decision lies an act with profound political weight. The Court states: “However, how the state authorities fulfil their general duty of protection and any specific duties of protection is, in principle, their own responsibility to decide.”

The case concerns German-made transmission components for Israeli Merkava and Namer tanks, widely deployed by Israeli forces in Gaza and reportedly used repeatedly in violations of international law. Germany is one of the largest arms suppliers to Israel.

The Court notes that “[t]he specialist courts have determined – in a manner that is not objectionable under constitutional law – that the legislature and the executive have not remained inactive, but have created a general protection regime to effectively counter the risks of arms exports with regard to the protection of human rights and compliance with international humanitarian law, and that they have also taken concrete measures with regard to the Israeli military offensive and the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.”

In concrete terms, this means the judiciary will not substitute its own assessment for that of the executive. It does not examine battlefield realities in Gaza – on the contrary, it states that it is unclear whether, when, and how the exported goods would be used in a way that directly affects the complainant, and therefore the complainant lacks a sufficiently concrete legal interest to claim constitutional protection. It will not determine whether particular weapons systems might contribute to violations of international humanitarian law. As long as the government can demonstrate that it has established a system to “effectively counter the risks” and has taken “concrete measures”, the constitutional threshold for intervention is not met. It remains unclear how the government counters risks. Just yesterday, Julia Klöckner, President of the German Bundestag, emphasised the friendship between Israel and Germany.

This evidently shows that the protection system referred to by the Federal Constitutional Court is ineffective in legal practice. When arms exports continue despite numerous indications of serious violations of international law, and affected parties are unable to challenge these decisions in court, the protection regime fails to provide meaningful legal safeguards.

“The Court acknowledges the duty to protect but only in the abstract and refuses to ensure its practical enforcement. For people whose lives are endangered by the consequences of German arms exports, access to justice remains effectively closed,” says Dr. Alexander Schwarz, Co-Director of the International Crimes and Accountability Program at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights.“Especially when life and death are at stake, the rule of law must allow for judicial oversight. Instead, this decision largely removes state action in this sensitive area from review. This is not persuasive.”

If courts do not intervene unless the state has entirely abdicated its duty of protection, then the decisive arena becomes merely political. This represents a discourse in Germany that constantly places Palestinian matters and rights in a political frame, even when they concern fundamental human rights.

The ECCHR is supporting the complainant together with Palestinian human rights organizations Al-Haq, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR). Shawan Jabarin, General Director of Al-Haq, commented:

“Germany remains bound by international law, including the Genocide Convention, and must not export weapons where there is a clear risk that they will be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law or contribute to genocide. Israel’s conduct throughout Palestine clearly violates international humanitarian law and the Genocide Convention. Germany’s continued adherence to a policy of ‘reason of state’ that defends Israeli crimes regardless of their scale and impact and trivializes the cost in Palestinian lives must be challenged. We will continue to pursue justice for the Palestinian people.”

Neither the legal landscape nor politics are abstract or neutral. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of crimes against humanity. The International Court of Justice, in proceedings concerning Gaza, has indicated that states have obligations to prevent genocide where there is a plausible risk and to ensure that their conduct does not contribute to such acts. In addition, proceedings have been brought before the International Court of Justice against Germany itself, alleging violations of the Genocide Convention in connection with its support and arms exports — directly linking Germany’s conduct to the duty to prevent genocide under international law.

The Constitutional Court’s ruling does not negate these developments. Nor does it declare German exports compliant with international law. It simply affirms that the assessment of risk lies “in principle” with the political branches.

If the government alone decides whether its general protection regime is sufficient in light of allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide, then accountability becomes a matter of parliamentary oversight and public scrutiny rather than constitutional adjudication.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

The Winter Olympics has seen its fair share of twists and turns this week, but none come close to Ilia Malinin’s shock downfall in the men’s single skating final, with Clare Balding left at a loss for words

Clare Balding was left flabbergasted at Ilia Malinin’s eighth-place finish in the final of the men’s single skating at the Winter Olympics. That’s given the Team USA star was slated as an overwhelming favourite for a gold medal.

Despite his most fierce challengers preceding his time on the ice, giving him what should have been a clear pathway to at least a podium place, the 21-year-old suffered a number of high profile mistakes under immense pressure. As a result of falling twice, Malinin tallied a total of 264.49 – his lowest free skate score in years.

As a result, Malinin sunk to eighth in the standings, while Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Shaidorov secured gold with a score of 291.58. Japan’s Yugi Kagiyama and Shun Sato secured silver and bronze respectively, with scores of 280.06 and 274.90.

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Reacting to Malinin’s performance, Balding was left stunned. Speaking to BBC Sport, she said: “We didn’t expect that anything could happen to Ilia Malinin but it did – and he will leave these Games without a medal.”

BBC commentator, Kat Downes, meanwhile, was also astounded at Malinin’s fumble. She added: “This is taking some computing from everybody.

“The ‘quadgod’ has fallen. Beaten for the first time in two years, the gold that was supposed to be his. That was supposed to be the most predictable gold of this games but Ilia Malinin has fallen to eighth.”

Elsewhere, Olympic gold medallist, Robin Cousins, picked problems with a sloppy performance on the skater’s part on the whole, with a number of errors outside his falls. He said: “No one has ever seen this from him Ilia Malinin.

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“When he executes, you can see how easy it is for him. There’s so many questions about those elements that are being reviewed.

“Underrotated which caused the fall. Even the landing of the backflip wasn’t the best.”

Despite being visibly upset with his own result, Malinin showed humility by quickly congratulating Shaidorov on his win, the two spotted embracing one another after the results were read. Speaking in the aftermath of the event, meanwhile, Malinin said it was a difficult night on the ice to process.

He explained: “I was not expecting that. I felt like going into this competition, I was so ready. I just felt ready getting on the ice, but I think maybe that have been the reason that maybe I was too confident that I was (going to) go well.

“It honestly just happened. I can’t process what just happened. It happens. I think it was definitely mental. Just now experiencing that Olympic atmosphere, it’s crazy. It’s not like any other competition. It’s really different.”

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Akshay Bhatia shot an eight-under-par 64 to share the second-round lead with Ryo Hisatsune at 15 under at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy birdied the final hole to sign for a 67 but sits six strokes off the pace heading into the weekend.

The Northern Irishman made five birdies and an eagle but was left to rue bogeys on the 10th and 14th, although his four on the par-five 18th proved a more than satisfactory conclusion to the five-time major winner’s day.

American Bhatia had earlier produced one of the rounds of the day at Spyglass Hill, while Hisatsune recovered from dropping shots either side of the turn to pick up four shots in his final five holes.

Rickie Fowler was equally as impressive as he moved into a tie for second alongside Sam Burns, at 14 under as he chases his first win since July 2023.

Austria Sepp Straka is currently the best placed European player at 12 under, with England’s Matt Fitzpatrick two shots further back along with the likes of Keegan Bradley, Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele.

Englishman Tommy Fleetwood followed his 67 on Thursday with a 68 to sit at nine under with McIlroy, with Ireland’s Shane Lowry one shot further back.

A charging Scottie Scheffler brought himself back into picture with three birdies and an eagle on a five-hole stretch after the turn to reach the clubhouse at six under across the first two days.

England’s Justin Rose and Harry Hall are at five under with Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, with each player in the field having played one round at Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill.

All the third and fourth-round action will take place solely at Pebble Beach, with there also being no 36-hole cut at the $20m (£14.7m) PGA Tour signature event.

Ex-Prince Andrew was the tip of the iceberg. The latest trove of Epstein files reveals new details about former UK envoy Peter Mandelson’s ‘best pal’ relationship with the convicted sex offender that have pushed Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour into a new crisis. Is this the scandal that defines Labour?

In this episode: 

• Kieran Andrieu (@kieran_andrieu) Political Economist and Novara Media contributor

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Melanie Marich, with Sarí el-Khalili, Chloe Li, Spencer Cline, Maya Hamadeh, Tuleen Barakat, Sonia Bhagat and our host, Malika Bilal. It was edited by Tamara Khandaker.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhemm. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.

Connect with us:

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GORDON Ramsay has opened up about his childhood – revealing he was so poor he ate toothpaste and didn’t have food for days.

On Wednesday his new six-part Netflix documentary Being Gordon Ramsay airs, detailing his efforts to launch his latest ambitious project.

Britain’s highest eaterie, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay High is on the 60th floor of skyscraper 22 Bishopsgate in the City of London.

Having trained under Marco Pierre White, aged 35 he set up his first eponymous restaurant, winning three coveted Michelin stars shortly after.

He now has eateries all across the globe, and is arguably the planet’s most famous chef.

His work ethic is relentless – possibly a result of his humble upbringing.

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In one episode, Gordon gets emotional recalling his own childhood struggles, growing up on a council estate in Glasgow.

Relying on food vouchers at school to eat, he speaks powerfully on the embarrassment of being desperately poor.

Today, he has teamed up with a fantastic charity, Feeding Britain, to tackle child poverty. The aim is to provide Britain’s 800,000 kids in poverty with affordable food.

Gordon has quietly and personally donated “very heavily” to the cause.
Shockingly Gordon recalls: “I was hungry all the time, there was no food in the house.

“I was sometimes too embarrassed to use my vouchers to get mt free shepherds pie in case, you know, aged 15 or 16, a girl I fancied saw me.

”I was a skinny f***ing bean. I remember eating toothpaste thinking that was delicious because there were multiple nights where we never ate.

“It is appalling that we’re in this situation now. It’s disgusting, an embarrassment. The system’s dysfunctional.”

While Gordon’s father, who died from a heart attack aged 53, was an alcoholic, his younger brother Ronnie is, tragically, a heroin addict.

Having gone for long swathes of time not speaking, he reveals the pair had  a reconciliation of sorts on the phone last week.

Becoming visibly emotional, Gordon recalls: “It was just sad because at the end of that call he said, ‘did I hear you ask for my bank details? I’ve got no electricity’.

“And so I said, ‘Come on, Ronnie, you know damn well if I knew that was going on electricity, I would. But I know full well that’s going to go on drugs.’
”’And it pains me, it kills me, mate.’ 

“We’ve been down this road so many times.”

Gordon’s new Netflix series will see the star put all his energy into his new project, 22 Bishopsgate.

Home to Britain’s tallest restaurant, its Restaurant Gordon Ramsay High, an intimate 12-seater chef’s table experience, has already earned him another Michelin star.

I’ve seen the show, and it’s brilliant, giving viewers a fly-on-the-wall look into Gordon’s frenetic and fabulous – he and Tana are parents to six kids – home life, as well as the sheer hell of getting a new business off the ground.

”I won’t watch it,” he smiles. “I never ever watch myself on telly because it’s just incredibly nerve-wracking.

“I think when you’ve done it and lived it, the last thing you want to do is sit there with lots of popcorn. There’s a level of embarrassment.”

Even without Gordon’s viewership, it is sure to be another Netflix smash.

They witnessed something inexplicable…

As a child, I relocated to a secluded hamlet near Wimborne in Dorset. This hamlet was situated less than a mile from the now-deserted and dilapidated Knowlton Church, a medieval building that’s reputedly haunted. When I was younger, I seldom visited Knowlton Church, but my fascination with its history and purported ghostly inhabitants grew after we moved away.

The church itself is reputed to be among Dorset’s most haunted locations – and with good reason. This Norman place of worship, erected in the 12th century, stands at the heart of a Neolithic ritual henge, a site of pagan worship.

According to the English Heritage website, the church symbolises the region’s shift from pagan to Christian worship.

It’s thought that parts of the church were built using some of the ancient standing stones found on the site, reports the Express.

However, it’s not just the church that gives Knowlton its distinctive character. The parish church also stands in the centre of earthworks.

According to the English Heritage website, the Neolithic earthwork “is one of the great Neolithic and Bronze Age ceremonial complexes in southern England”.

The main earthwork, known as ‘Church Henge’, encircles the church and has been protected from plough damage, while the others are only discernible in aerial photographs.

The church and village’s history fascinates me, but during my teenage years, one aspect drew me back to Knowlton: the ghosts.

One evening, my mates and I decided to venture back to the church in hopes of catching a glimpse of the alleged ghosts.

The church is reportedly haunted by several spirits, including a phantom horse and rider who are seen galloping across the grounds at night, even passing through the church itself; a ghostly face that materialises in the top window of the tower; and, some claim, a sobbing woman kneeling outside the building.

I’ve always been a believer in ghosts and the supernatural, but I’d never had a personal encounter with the paranormal.

We parked the car near the church, its headlights illuminating the building, and waited for something eerie to occur. At first, nothing happened.

We nervously chatted and giggled, our eyes glued to the medieval structure.

Then, out of nowhere, the church vanished from sight, as if shrouded by a dark veil. We all screamed and jumped in our seats as the building disappeared, only to reappear moments later as if nothing had transpired.

My initial reaction was one of fear; what on earth had I just witnessed? Was this some sort of prank? Was someone watching us, trying to frighten us off?

My gut told me to bolt. Some of my friends felt the same way and wanted to leave, but one was keen to investigate further. We quickly agreed it was safer to head home.

While my encounter was certainly out of the ordinary, I’m not alone in experiencing supernatural phenomena at Knowlton Church. Cheryl, a local from Salisbury, told Bournemouth Echo in 2022 that she’s convinced she spotted a ghost there.

Upon reviewing her photographs of the church, she noticed something peculiar: a shadowy figure lurking in an archway.

Other adventurers and self-proclaimed ghost hunters also claim they’ve had similar eerie experiences.

Today, Knowlton is a quaint hamlet nestled in a secluded location, but centuries ago, it was a thriving village teeming with life. It’s thought that the bubonic plague, infamously known as the ‘Black Death’, decimated the population in the late 15th century.

The survivors abandoned their homes and relocated, leaving the dwellings to decay. Over time, the structures were ploughed into the ground, though their foundations are still visible in certain areas today.

Despite the village being deserted, it’s believed the church continued to serve its purpose until the 18th century, when the roof caved in. However, local lore suggests the church fell into disrepair after its bell was stolen and tossed into the river.

Depending on who you ask, the bell was either taken by the Devil himself or a band of thieves attempted to snatch it but were thwarted by a witch.

As for what I witnessed that night, I can’t say for certain. It could have been mere mist or a play of light, but the feeling it evoked will forever be etched in my memory.

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