Month: May 2026

KATIE Price has said that she misses her husband nine days on from his disappearance after he failed to fly to the UK from Dubai.

Celebrating her 48th birthday alone, Katie took to Instagram to share her pain with fans over missing Lee Andrews.

Taking to her Instagram story and grid on Friday night, just hours after it was revealed her husband had followed a mystery woman online, Katie shared a moving video which saw photos of her and Lee flash past.

In the background, the former glamour model even crooned the hit Get Here.

“Missing my husband so much it breaks my heart knowing he is still missing so I did this song quick as words mean so much to the situation,” she penned in the caption.

“You can reach me by sailboat / Climb a tree and swing rope to rope / Take a sled and slide downslope.

WEB OF LIES

I’ve been tracking Katie Price’s hubby since they met…I know he’s plotting exit

SAME STORY

Katie Price’s husband dubbed ‘Tinder Swindler’ as fans liken Lee to Netflix doc

“You can jump on a speedy colt / Cross the border in a blaze of hope,” Katie croons in the song accompanying the post.

She continues to sing: “I don’t care how you get here / Just get here if you can.”

Reacting to Katie’s heartbreaking post, one fan penned: “This is sad as she genuinely fell in love with him.”

“Katie he doesn’t deserve you. you deserve so much better.. enjoy the rest of your birthday with people who love you,” said another.

While a third wrote: “I really feel for you.”

And a fourth said: “What a sweetheart bless you Kate. Look after yourself. So sorry this is being played out, you have lots of great people around you family is all you need.”

Katie previously revealed how Lee, 43, had “disappeared” last week, after he failed to fly back to the UK for a Good Morning Britain appearance.

Lee told Katie in a voicenote that he needed an “exit stamp” to leave Dubai when he was claiming to be coming back to the UK.

But after he failed to get on a plane, Katie sensationally claimed he had been kidnapped and that the last she’d heard from him, he was in the back of a van with cable ties on his arms.

Katie has since been left fearing for her husband and desperately trying to found out his whereabouts.

A source close to the ex glamour model told us earlier this week: “Lee is officially a missing person now.

At the weekend, Katie said: “I know there is all this speculation but something really serious has happened.”

Then, this week on her podcast, The Katie Price Show, the mum-of-five revealed she was giving up searching for her husband.

“There’s nothing I can do, nothing more that I can say.

“And the police are dealing with it. I’m just leaving it to the police.

“I’m not gonna talk about it anymore, I’m just staying quiet because it’s getting ridiculous now, people just taking the p**s out of everything”.

Katie added: “The police are now handling it, the British police, British consulate, the foreign office, Interpol they’re on the case looking for Lee.

“All I can do is just get on with my life.

“I’ve got lots of exciting things coming up, and I’m just waiting for a call.

“What am I supposed to do, sit here and cry and do nothing, stay in bed?”

She also said: “For my own sanity, I am taking a step back”.

Katie has now not heard from Lee for nine days now, with her husband failing to get in touch despite it being her 48th birthday.

MILWAUKEE — Something about American Family Field in the regular season disagrees with the Dodgers.

They began this road trip with a pair of statement series, sweeping the Angels and edging out the Padres. But their momentum came to a grinding halt when they fell 5-1 to the Brewers on Friday in Milwaukee.

The loss brought back memories of last year, when the Brewers swept the regular-season series, before the Dodgers swept them in the National League Championship Series.

“I don’t think people appreciate how well this team plays baseball,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “There’s not a lot of fanfare as far as name recognition. But the way [Brewers manager] Pat Murphy gets these guys to play, it’s a fun brand of baseball.

“They don’t strike out much. They put the ball in play. They bunt, they hit and run, they steal bases, they can pitch. It’s a good matchup. Last year, during the regular season, we couldn’t beat these guys once, so I expect us to play better baseball this year.”

That brand of baseball was a bit of a nightmare for Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski in the first inning. The Brewers batted around en route to a five-run rally. Five of their six hits were singles. The one exception was William Contreras’ three-run homer.

The next inning, they tacked on another run when Contreras singled and then scored when Andrew Vaughn’s double ricocheted off the wall in the right-field gap.

Wrobleski turned around his outing by blanking the Brewers for the next three innings, but the deficit proved to be too steep for the Dodgers to overcome.

Wrobleski has only given up more than two runs in one other start this season. That one also featured one high-scoring inning and a mid-game adjustment.

The Dodgers’ offense, in contrast to the Brewers’, didn’t record a hit off Brewers starter Logan Henderson until the fourth inning. He faced the minimum through the first three innings — a leadoff walk erased when Shohei Ohtani was caught stealing.

Finally in the fourth, Ohtani worked a 2-2 count and lined a hung change-up into right field. Then Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages drew walks to load the bases with two outs. But the Dodgers failed to capitalize.

The Dodgers again threatened after the Brewers replaced Henderson with left-handed reliever Shane Drohan, drawing a pair of walks to put runners on first and second. But the inning ended with a long flyout from Max Muncy, just a few feet shy of a base hit.

They needed some help from the Brewers’ defense to finally put a run on the board. Third baseman Luis Rengifo mishandled a ground ball to let Teoscar Hernández reach base in the seventh inning. A single from Dalton Rushing and a fly out from Miguel Rojas moved him to third. Ohtani delivered the sacrifice fly.

The Dodgers’ Max Muncy leaves the game after being hit by a pitch during the eighth inning against the Brewers at American Family Field on Friday in Milwaukee, Wisc.

(Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)

The Dodgers may have to deal with additional repercussions. Muncy exited in the top of the eighth inning after being hit in the hand/wrist by a pitch.

Muncy shouted as soon as the 95.5-mph sinker struck him, and he appeared to cradle his right arm. After consulting with an athletic trainer, he touched first base and was replaced by Santiago Espinal.

The severity of Muncy’s injury was not immediately clear.

Chris Taylor retires

The MiLB transaction log Friday showed that former Dodger Chris Taylor has retired after a 12-year major-league career. He spent a decade with the Dodgers, was named the 2017 NLCS MVP, won two World Series, and was an All-Star in 2021.

It’s only 15 minutes from a major tourist city, but it couldn’t be more different.

When a heatwave arrives in the UK, you have to go to the beach – it’s an unspoken rule. There are so many beautiful spots to choose from, and if you like a bit of shopping and some great food alongside your sunbathing, one place should be on your radar.

It’s not far from a major capital city, but it has a completely different vibe. I first visited Portobello last year, and I’m astounded I didn’t make the trip sooner.

With a main street brimming with independent shops, the best chips you will ever eat, and great transport links, it’s genuinely a perfect spot if you’re keen to stray from the beaten track.

The bus ride from Edinburgh city centre lasted just 15 minutes, dropping us right in the heart of the town, and it was immediately obvious that this place was something special.

Predictably, our first stop was making straight for the seafront for a relaxed walk along the shoreline. The weather was wonderfully bright and crisp, and it was so refreshing after the hour-long train trip from Glasgow.

Portobello’s coastline extends for two miles, featuring a Victorian-era esplanade and sweeping views over the Firth of Forth. Since it was a sunny Sunday morning, the location was fairly bustling, with plenty of families out walking and dogs charging about on the beach.

The very first thing that caught my eye about the beach was how spotless it was. It’s plain to see that the residents of Portobello, or ‘Porty’ as it’s affectionately known, take enormous pride in their surroundings.

In 2024, Portobello was crowned the second-best coastal town in the UK by JoJo Maman Bebe, and its beach has also been recognised with a Keep Scotland Beautiful award.

After a relaxed walk along the shoreline and building up a hearty appetite, we decided it was time to find somewhere to eat. The seafront at Portobello beach is packed with a vast selection of dining options, from enormous pizza slices at Civerino’s to brunch and coffee at The Beach House.

Many of these offer al fresco seating, letting you dine virtually on the beach itself, and it was wonderful to see so many visitors taking full advantage of that. We decided to try Shrimp Wreck, a seafood outlet offering a small but tempting menu. This street food vendor appeared on BBC’s My Million Pound Menu and has built its reputation on fish finger sandwiches – even reaching the finals of the Birds Eye Fish Finger Sandwich Awards in 2017.

Unsurprisingly, that’s exactly what I went for, and it’s easy to understand the hype. Battered flaky fish fillets, mushy peas and the best chips I’ve ever had, all served in a soft roll, was perhaps the messiest meal I could have chosen, but I wouldn’t change a thing.

Afterwards, we properly ventured into the high street where our bus had dropped us off. It sits directly behind the seafront, and while it wasn’t quite as heaving as the beach, there were still plenty of folk wandering around – and crucially, a decent selection of shops open.

One highlight for me was The Portobello Bookshop, a charming independent bookshop packed with novels, cookbooks and loads more. The interior was bright, welcoming and comfortable, the kind of venue where you could happily spend hours browsing without getting bored.

They also run events, including Q+A’s with authors, so it’s worth looking at their schedule if you’re thinking of visiting.

Cove is another essential stop for anyone who loves gift shops. This place was crammed with every imaginable trinket, from Jellycat toys to candles and shampoo bars, plus gorgeous cards and irresistible chocolate treats as well.

Portobello’s high street might not be the biggest, but it’s undoubtedly one of the nicest I’ve seen. There are more food and drink spots here, alongside pubs and even an Aldi, so you’re hardly going to be short of choices.

One place we didn’t get round to visiting, which I’m keen to come back for, is the swim centre. Here in Portobello, you’ll find an authentic Victorian Turkish bath, one of just 11 in the UK, plus a gym and fitness studio, so this is definitely on the agenda for our next visit.

If you’ve never ventured to Portobello, it really is the perfect spot for a weekend break – even when it’s not sunny. Its closeness to the bustling city of Edinburgh makes it ideal if you’re wanting to flee the city rush and spend some time eating, drinking and relaxing by the sea.

For years, 64-year-old Najia Abu Lehia dreamed of performing Hajj with her husband. But before they could make the pilgrimage, her husband died during Israel’s war on Gaza. Now, as millions journey to Mecca, thousands like her are stranded in Gaza.

ZENDAYA looks a little bit stumped as she poses against a fallen tree trunk.

The Dune actress, 29, wore a plunging brown dress and matching PVC boots for the cover of Elle magazine.

Zendaya, whose partner is Spider-Man actor Tom Holland, also laid in the hay in a white cut-out dress.

She told the mag: “I think I do have wisdom to offer, but I also do still feel like a f***ing kid. Like, ‘What the f***, I’m about to be 30?

“I still feel like a child inside.”

A new Euphoria feud has emerged last month as Zendaya’s “tension” with a show star was revealed – and it’s not Sydney Sweeney.

pricey’s fury

Katie Price ‘disgusted’ as Lee fails to contact her on 48th birthday

LEGEND LOST

Wish You Were Here…? star Judith Chalmers dies aged 90 after Alzheimer’s battle

This comes as insiders told the Daily Mail Zendaya has a rocky relationship with the actress, who apparently flirted with her man Tom Holland on set.

But now, it seems Zendaya has clashed with another member of the Euphoria team.

Eager fans have long questioned why the new series of the show has taken so long to air – but it seems the real reasons have finally surfaced.

The creator of the HBO series, Sam Levinson, recently told fans the delay between season two and three was a result of strikes, the in-demand cast and finding the right way to pay tribute to Eric Dane and Angus Cloud.

However, a source told Vanity Fair the delay between series sparked serious tension behind the scenes, creating a rift between Sam and Zendaya.

Vanity Fair’s source claimed the once close collaborators grew apart and Zendaya was less involved with development of the third season.

• The July/August issue of ELLE UK is on sale from 18 June.

There is also the argument that Ulster are victims of their own success.

As a reward for an upturn in form, the province were heavily represented in Ireland’s Six Nations squad.

A proud moment for those associated with the club, but it did deprive key players of the mid-season breather they normally would have had.

For the final, Ulster were missing their four longest-serving players. Captain Iain Henderson was suspended, while Stuart McCloskey – so influential for both Ulster and Ireland – was injured along with Jacob Stockdale and Rob Herring.

Of the team that started in Bilbao, Timoney was the oldest player at 30.

“There were eight players in Ireland camp and only two last year,” observed Murphy.

“The rugby we’ve played, and reaching a European final, albeit not with the result we wanted, all of those things have had an impact on us making the top eight.

“We have had to move our resources around and at this time our squad probably isn’t strong enough to compete in two competitions.”

May 22 (UPI) — SpaceX successfully launched an updated version of its Starship on Friday evening, meeting all goals the company said it was aiming for.

The launch was the first of the company’s V3 version of both the booster rocket and “Ship” upper stage, which is a key part of NASA’s Artemis series of missions to the moon and, potentially, to Mars.

SpaceX commentators said during the company’s official broadcast that the updated Starship, which delivered 22 simulator Starlink satellites into orbit and converted flight adjustments it will need when it lands instead splashing down in water, “delivered.”

The company had scrubbed the first attempted launch of the megarocket, the largest ever built, on Thursday because of an engineering issue that could not be fixed in time to make the scheduled launch window.

The mission for the 408-foot-tall Super Heavy rocket, which is powered by 33 newly redesigned Raptor engines, the same as Starship, was to successfully launch, ascend, separate from the second stage — Starship — and then perform boost back and landing burns before splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico.

After separation, Starship’s goals were to light its engines, enter a sub-orbital path and release a series of dummy Starlink satellites before performing a series of maneuvers and testing its newly designed heat shield.

When Starship splashed down in the Indian Ocean after its tests, SpaceX commentators said during the broadcast that the fireball when it hit the Indian Ocean was the goal, “as weird as that sounds.”

This version of Starship is not the final one, but rather is a prototype of one of several that are planned for NASA’s return of Americans to the moon.

NASA’s planned Artemis III mission in 2028 is expected to test connecting the Orion crew capsule — which was tested on its first crew mission earlier this year — to both Starship and Blue Origin‘s Blue Moon space vessel, which has yet to take its first flight.

With almost 750 suspected Ebola cases in the DRC, health measures intensified along the DRC–Uganda border. At the busy Mpondwe crossing near outbreak zones in Beni, authorities deployed health workers and shut weekly border markets, measures that residents say are threatening their livelihoods.

Pop crooner and “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Erika Girardi quietly put an end to a long and splashy legal battle over her ex-husband’s now-defunct law firm on Thursday, settling a $25-million bankruptcy lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court.

The suit alleged the singer should have known she was profiting off embezzled funds linked to the sprawling case against her ex-husband, former L.A. legal heavyweight Tom Girardi, and his firm Girardi Keese. The couple was accused of funneling millions from the law firm to prop up Erika’s music career.

Performing as Erika Jayne, she topped the charts in the 2010s with a series of raunchy dance club hits. But court records show she spent millions more than she made as a musician.

Larry W. Gabriel, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the case, wrote in a pretrial filing Monday that Erika and a company associated with her “received the benefit of [Tom] Girardi’s massive fraudulent scheme.”

Tom Girardi is currently serving a seven-year sentence in federal prison after he was convicted of wire fraud for bilking his personal-injury clients in 2024. The disgraced former attorney was found to have stolen tens of millions from his firm.

His wife’s pop hits mixed boasts about luxury brands and explicit sex acts with pulsing dance beats and a bratty falsetto, a tone actress Lake Bell famously dubbed “sexy baby voice.”

In depositions taken as part of the suit, Erika said she had no knowledge of her husband’s crimes. She claimed to be ignorant about where the millions she spent on recording, merchandise, tours and “fun, playful, and sparkly outfits” were drawn from.

“I did not know how much I spent per month or per year,” she said in one exchange. “Girardi Keese paid my Amex credit card bill every month.”

Monday’s filings show Girardi Keese paid at least $14 million in charges to her American Express account between 2008 and 2020.

The payouts began in the late 2000s when Erika, then a stay-at-home mom, sought to relaunch herself as a performer. In 2016, near the height of her pop fame, her husband began to complain she was charging too much on the credit card account. After repeated entreaties to tamp down her spending, Girardi tried for the first time to look at her balance.

Soon after, Girardi grew suspicious of charges being made to her card by a Hollywood costumer — worries she reported to one of Girardi Keese’s clients, an agent in the Secret Service, records show.

On the advice of the agent’s Secret Service colleagues, she said she disputed the AMEX charges and was ultimately refunded more than half a million dollars to her personal account, despite the original payments having come from the law firm.

Erika Girardi’s attorney did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.

As a radio professional who grew up aspiring to work at CBS News Radio, anchor Steve Kathan understood the weight of the words he wrote and recorded Friday on the final broadcast of “World News Roundup.”

“America’s longest running newscast signs off for the last time,” Kathan said in the small dimly lighted studio in the CBS Broadcast Center on Manhattan’s West Side. “It all began on March 13, 1938,” he said, referring to the iconic news program.

Kathan played a recording of Edward R. Morrow, the legendary CBS News journalist who delivered his first report on the debut of the program, saying “the best in radio reporting is yet to be — good night and good luck.”

“And goodbye,” Kathan added, ending the run of around 23,000 editions of the 10-minute signature broadcast, delivered from CBS’ radio network . A final news update was scheduled to run later Friday night.

CBS News Radio and its 26 employees became a victim of budget cuts across parent-company Paramount’s news division announced in March.

“A shift in radio station programming strategies, coupled with challenging economic realities, has made it impossible to continue the service,” the company said.

Privately, longtime insiders at CBS News say the division has struggled for years to find ways to financially turn around its radio business.

The unit was operating at a loss with monthly revenues recently falling as low as $67,000, according to a network executive not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The service held on because it still had value in promoting CBS News and its journalism, reaching 20 million listeners a week.

Leadership over the years have put off the messy task of winding the radio business down due to its iconic status at the company. CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss was reluctant to make the cuts as well, according to people inside the company familiar with her thinking. But with Paramount taking on substantial debt to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, considerations of the division’s legacy are likely to matter less in ongoing efforts to reduce costs.

Kathan had heard rumblings about CBS getting out of radio going all the way back to its first ownership change in the 1980s when Larry Tisch acquired the company.

“Even though I’ve been here 39 years, the thought was someone’s going to decide to do it,” he said.

As television dominated the media landscape, CBS News Radio retained its role as what Kathan called “the background track of American history.”

As a child growing up in Connecticut, Kathan recalls watching Douglas Edwards, the “World News Roundup” evening anchor for two decades, doing TV news updates in between the soap operas his mother watched on CBS. After Kathan joined the network in 1987 as a writer and producer, he would see Edwards and other famous names from the division walking through the hallways of the broadcast center before doing his afternoon newscasts.

“Just the fact that you were working with them made you think and realize you had to up your game,” Kathan said. “You wanted the audience to trust you as much as it trusted them.”

“World News Roundup” rose to prominence during World War II, when Murrow and other CBS News correspondents delivered live reports from Europe.

Once TV supplanted radio as a source for scripted entertainment, news and information became the primary mission of CBS’ radio division that began in 1927. In 1967, the company converted its owned AM radio stations — including its Los Angeles outlet KNX — to an all-news format.

While the stations focused on local news, traffic, weather and sports, they also prominently featured CBS News Radio reports at the top of the hour and other features throughout the day.

Longtime listeners became familiar with Edwards, Dallas Townsend, Reid Collins, Richard C. Hottelet, Christopher Glenn and other CBS News veterans who brought national and world stories to listeners throughout the day, introduced by a five-note sounder that simulated a telegraph. Dan Rather and Walter Cronkite were heard daily with analysis.

The radio network developed a major star in Charles Osgood, who joined WCBS in New York as anchor. He went national in 1971 with a twice-daily segment called “The Osgood File.”

Osgood wrote two-minute reports in succinct prose delivered in his mellifluous tones. He occasionally offered commentary in verse, which earned him the title of poet-in-residence at CBS News.

Osgood’s popularity was rivaled only by ABC Radio personality Paul Harvey. CBS News even allowed him to read commercial copy to satisfy eager advertisers who wanted their product messages presented in his comforting voice. When Osgood became a host on the TV side in the 1990s on “CBS News Sunday Morning,” his sign-off remained “I’ll see you on the radio.” He filed his final “Osgood File” report in 2017.

Charles Osgood in the WCBS radio studio in New York on July 25, 1967.

(CBS Photo Archive/CBS)

CBS sold off its radio stations in 2017, but continued to produce and distribute its network programs as the business faced competition from digital media.

Dustin Gervais, technical operations manager for the network, said CBS News Radio struggled as more audio advertisers prefer digital content because of its effectiveness at targeting specific demographic groups. The shift is reflected in radio ad revenue, which dipped about 2% to $14.37 billion, according to media research firm Kagan. But the digital ad revenue portion of that pie continued to grow, topping $1.75 billion.

Charles Forelle, managing editor for CBS News, said the company plans to remain in the audio journalism business through podcasting and not straight newscasts.

“We have a whole bunch of different things in development that are less news reading and more other things,” he told The Times.

Not all of radio’s problems are related to digital.

Michael Socolow, a professor of communication and journalism at the University of Maine, notes that the industry troubles began in 1996 when deregulation loosened the limit on the number of stations a single entity can own. Buying sprees of outlets led to owners who became highly leveraged and less able to invest in programming, which put the squeeze on suppliers such as CBS News Radio.

“Radio was hollowed out by the corporations, before its utility to the American citizen ended,” Socolow said. “You can trace it to the Telecom Act of 1996.”

Some of the 26 employees at CBS News Radio who were severed from the company have found work at Worldwide News Network, a service launched by John Catsimatidis, the owner of New York’s top-rated talk station WABC. The company said the service, which begins Saturday, will deliver “hard news, breaking headlines, and fact-driven reporting to affiliates across the country.”

CBS News Radio’s biggest customer — the all-news stations owned by Audacy, including KNX — have already switched their network service to ABC News Audio.

Kyle Busch, a two-time champion of the NASCAR Cup Series and the winningest driver in the association’s history, has died at age 41.

“We are saddened and heartbroken to share the news of the passing of Kyle Busch, a two-time Cup champion and one of our sport’s greatest and fiercest drivers,” NASCAR said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “We extend our deepest condolences to the Busch family, Richard Childress Racing and the entire motorsports community.”

No cause of death has been disclosed.

Earlier on Thursday, Busch’s family posted a statement on the driver’s X account saying that Busch had been hospitalized with a “severe illness” and would not be participating in this weekend’s NASCAR events at Charlotte Motor Speedway — including the Coca-Cola 600, a race Busch won in 2018.

According to the Associated Press, Busch became unresponsive on Wednesday while testing in the Chevrolet racing simulator in Concord and was transported to a Charlotte hospital.

In response to a request for information about Busch’s death, the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office emailed The Times a 911 call asking for an ambulance to come to the address of the General Motors Charlotte Technical Center at around 5:32 p.m. Wednesday.

“I have got an individual that [has] shortness of breath, [is] very hot, thinks he going to pass out and is … coughing up some blood,” said the caller, who added that the person was awake but “on the bathroom floor right now.”

Busch is not identified by name as the person experiencing the symptoms.

NASCAR officials confirmed that the Coca-Cola 600 will be held as scheduled. When Busch’s hospitalization was announced earlier Thursday, Richard Childress Racing said Austin Hill would drive the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in his place. Speedway officials indicated that Busch would be honored at the race.

During a Cup Series race on May 10 at Watkins Glen International in Dix, N.Y., Busch told his crew on the radio that he would need medical aid and a shot after the race. The TV broadcast mentioned that Busch had been dealing with a sinus cold all week. He ended up finishing in eighth place, his best Cup Series finish of the season.

Last week at Dover Motor Speedway in Delaware, Busch finished 17th in the Cup Series exhibition All-Star race but won his second Truck Series race of the year.

“Absolutely cannot comprehend this news,” Denny Hamlin, NASCAR driver and former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, posted on social media. “We just need to think of his family during this time. We love you KB.”

Busch raced in NASCAR’s top division for 22 full-time seasons, winning the Cup Series championship in 2015 and 2019 and the series regular-season championship in 2018 and 2019. He won 63 Cup Series races, 69 in the Truck Series and 102 in the XFinity Series, making him the winningest driver in NASCAR’s top three series combined.

The last time Busch missed a Cup Series race was in 2015, when he was recovering from a compound leg fracture and broken foot and was unable to take part in the first 11 events that season.

“A future Hall of Famer, Kyle was a rare talent, one who comes along once in a generation,” NASCAR said in a separate statement released Thursday, also on behalf of the Busch family and Richard Childress Racing.

“He was fierce, he was passionate, he was immensely skilled and he cared deeply about the sport and fans. Throughout a career that spanned more than two decades, Kyle set records in national series wins, won championships at NASCAR’s highest level and fostered the next generation of drivers as an owner in the Truck Series.

“His sharp wit and competitive spirit sparked a deep emotional connection with race fans of every age, creating the proud and loyal ‘Rowdy Nation.’ … NASCAR lost a giant of the sport today, far too soon.”

Born May 2, 1985, in Las Vegas, Busch was surrounded by racing. His father, Tom, was a mechanic and local racer who had relocated from Illinois with his wife, Gaye. Busch’s brother, Kurt, was seven years older and an eventual Cup Series champion (2004) and NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee.

Working his way up from go-karts in cul-de-sacs and parking lots to full-bodied Late Model competition, Busch earned the respect of his older brother early on.

“You think I’m a pretty good race car driver?” Kurt Busch said in 2001, four years before his younger sibling’s rookie season. “Wait until you see my brother. He’s the best driver in the family.”

Busch made his O’Reilly Series debut for Hendrick Motorsports on May 24, 2003, with a second-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Entering the series as a full-time driver the next year, Busch won five races and finished second overall to Martin Truex Jr.

Around that time, Busch started what would become his signature celebration, a showman’s bow after each win.

Known as “Rowdy” and “Wild Thing” for his postrace fights and feuds with other drivers, Busch first reached the Cup Series in 2004 before his full-fledged rookie campaign the following season. The 2005 rookie of the year, Busch became the series’ youngest winner in his 31st start, one of four wins during his three full seasons at Hendrick.

Busch joined the Gibbs team in 2008 and remained there until switching to Childress and taking over the No. 8 Chevrolet in 2023.

After his win at Dover this month, Busch was asked how many races he wanted to win before he stopped racing.

“You take whatever you can get, man,” Busch said. “You never know when the last one is going to be, so cherish them all — trust me.”

Busch is survived by his wife Samantha, son Brexton, 10, and daughter Lennix, 4.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 3,111 people since March 2, with 9,432 injured, according to Lebanese Health Ministry.

Welcome to Bunker Talk, Memorial Day Weekend Edition. For all our American readers/commenters, I hope you have a great Memorial Day weekend. And, of course, I want to give a huge thanks to all of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

We owe you everything.

This week’s caption reads:

4th July 1944: An American soldier takes a drink of captured German Cognac, while clearing out a German gun emplacement at Cherbourg. (Photo by Fred Ramage/Keystone/Getty Images)

Directives: 

• If you want to talk politics, do so respectfully and know that there’s always somebody that isn’t going to agree with you. 
• If you have political differences, hash it out respectfully, stick to the facts, and no childish name-calling or personal attacks of any kind. If you can’t handle yourself in that manner, then please, discuss virtually anything else.
• No drive-by garbage political memes. No conspiracy theory rants. Links to crackpot sites will be axed, too. Trolling and shitposting will not be tolerated. No obsessive behavior about other users. Just don’t interact with folks you don’t like. 
• Do not be a sucker and feed trolls! That’s as much on you as on them. Use the mute button if you don’t like what you see.  
• So unless you have something of quality to say, know how to treat people with respect, understand that everyone isn’t going to subscribe to your exact same worldview, and have come to terms with the reality that there is no perfect solution when it comes to moderation of a community like this, it’s probably best to just move on. 
• Finally, as always, report offenders, please. This doesn’t mean reporting people who don’t share your political views, but we really need your help in this regard.

Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe have made their first public appearance together as the new hosts of Strictly Come Dancing but have already left fans divided

The new Strictly Come Dancing presenters were all smiles during their first public outing as a trio at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe visited the London garden show on Friday, in their first appearance together since being announced as the new faces for the hit BBC dancing competition earlier this week.

Willis, wearing a white waistcoat and matching trousers, was seen smiling and posing for photos alongside co-hosts comedian Widdicombe and professional dancer Radebe.

Widdicombe wore a long-sleeve shirt and black trousers, despite the hot weather, while Radebe sported a see-through black top adorned with red flowers and green flared trousers.

In one image, Johannes lifts up Josh as Emma gestures beside them. The new line-up will take over from Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, who announced their departure from the programme in October 2025.

Emma has hosted shows including Big Brother, Celebrity Big Brother and Love Is Blind UK, while Josh has previously competed on the show in a festive special and currently hosts podcast Parenting Hell alongside fellow comedian Rob Beckett.

Johannes joined the programme as a professional dancer in 2018 and is currently starring in West End musical Kinky Boots. The trio were also seen expressing their excitement for their new roles at a photoshoot for the BBC dancing competition, in a behind-the-scenes video posted to Strictly Come Dancing’s Instagram on Friday.

The announcement was a long time to come, and fans have waited almost a year to find out just who will step into the roles once held by Tess and Claudia. But following the first public appearance of the trio, several fans were left divided about what is to come, with some predicting that the lineup will change again after just one series.

One fan wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “I’m so sorry but even this photo backs up my theory that it’ll just be Emma + Johannes after 1 series. This is just so odd and you can’t keeeeep dancing like this!”

Another said: “I would have put Emma with Rylan, not sure about Josh or Johannes,” and a third, writing on Reddit, said: “producers were thoroughly surprised and impressed with Johannes during the screentest.

“I wouldn’t be surprised they added the 3rd host role specifically for him. If Josh doesn’t work out for them, they can slot Johannes right in that spot upstairs, with a year of experience under his belt. If it does all work out, they have 3 amazing hosts!”

Others had an optimistic outlook, with one viewer writing: “Good luck Josh, Emma and JoJo, looking forward to the new line-up!” and another said: “Love Emma! Don’t know too much about Josh so will stay open minded before making judgements. I’m sort of gutted we won’t see Jojo with a partner, but I will love to watch him on my screen every week!!”