OVER a family dinner at home, I had a proposal for my teenage son. 

If I organised a road trip round north-west Norway, would he leave that ruddy mobile phone behind? 

A few months later and I’m driving our family of five on the Atlantic Ocean Road, ticking off Storseisundet Bridge from my bucket list. 

The name might not be familiar but you’ve probably seen the bizarre, twisty structure in photos — or perhaps in James Bond film No Time To Die. 

It is the longest of eight bridges on the five-mile highway, which connects a chain of tiny islands. 

Search for it on Google Maps and it looks like the road simply runs over water. 

SPLASH OUT

Costa del Sol’s biggest waterpark hotel with eight pools is 23C in half term

TURKISH DELIGHT

The perfect place for families – with waterslides, fairground rides and fun

To soak it in, almost literally, we stopped to hike along a coastal path and then over a pedestrian bridge, with the fierce ocean lapping just a short distance below. 

“Ooh, this is a bit Top Gear!” said my wife as we then continued our drive, through a succession of dramatic bends. She wasn’t wrong. 

Norway’s north-west coast is a seriously fun place to drive. 

We’d borrowed an electric Polestar 4 car, which was very much at home in a country where electric vehicles now outnumber petrol motors. 

It’s much sportier and roomier than our own family car, and packed with 007-style features. 

At one point the display flashed “Front radar blocked”, prompting my ten-year-old to speculate that the weapons system had been disabled.

Less excitingly, it was just dirt on an external camera. Audible speeding alerts were welcome, given most roads had a modest 50mph limit. 

The drive from Alesund to mountaineering capital Andalsnes includes a long coastal stretch, some epic bridges, sweeping bends and extra-long tunnels.

But with late-afternoon darkness and driving rain, it was a relief to arrive at our accommodation — a snug and cosy wooden cabin at Andalsnes Hytteutleie. 

Deer stew 

Next morning, my wife and kids enthusiastically tackled indoor climbing walls at the Norwegian Mountaineering Centre. 

We’d borrowed an electric Polestar 4 car, which was very much at home in a country where electric vehicles now outnumber petrol motors

Just next door was the entrance for the Romsdalen Gondola, a cable car which took us up through the clouds to the Nesaksla Mountain, some 2322ft above sea level. 

Relaxing in the Eggen Restaurant at the top, we were treated to views of the valleys way, way below. 

We feasted on local produce including fish soup, deer stew, Angus meat burgers and delicious apple juice. 

From Andalsnes runs the Golden Train on the Rauma Line, described as “Europe’s most scenic train journey”.

Instead, we used our glossy white Polestar to follow the route. 

Parking at the base of Trollveggen (Troll Wall) we marvelled at the tallest vertical rock face in Europe, a mighty 3,600ft. 

Soon after, we passed by the Kylling Bridge — the majestic railway crossing featured in Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince. 

As we approached the village of Bjorli, we explored the banks of a fir tree-lined river, with a mountain backdrop and the ground beneath us covered by a sprinkling of snow. 

It was a scene so magical, I half expected an appearance from Father Christmas himself. Our onward journey to the city Molde, on the banks of a fjord, included a hassle-free ferry trip. 

When there, we based ourselves for a few days at the Kviltorp Camping site, staying in four-bedroom “sea house” overhanging the water’s edge. 

Over breakfast, fog peeled away to reveal spectacular mountains across the fjord. Just beautiful. 

At the Molde Salmon Centre we learned about the science behind large-scale fish-farming and then cooked a salmon dish in the large kitchen. For our MasterChef-loving kids, this was an unexpected highlight of our week.

Over breakfast, fog peeled away to reveal spectacular mountains across the fjord. Just beautiful

A trip to the Aker Stadium to watch local football side Molde FK — former home to Man City star Erling Haaland and once managed by Man United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, didn’t disappoint either. 

SHOP TO IT

Shoppers race to grab kitchen set scanning for just £6 with huge £50 off

MURDER PROBE

‘Murdered’ businessman found dead inside his own home just weeks after wife

We rounded off our trip back in Alesund, where an exhausting walk up 416 steps to Viewpoint Aksla is almost mandatory — and great for photos. 

I never did convince my son to leave his phone at home — but at least it’s now filled with hundreds of pictures of beautiful Norway. 

LAS VEGAS — Aaron Mahan is a lifelong Republican who twice voted for Donald Trump.

He had high hopes putting a businessman in the White House and, although he found the president’s monster ego grating, Mahan voted for his reelection. Mostly, he said, out of party loyalty.

By 2024, however, he’d had enough.

“I just saw more of the bad qualities, more of the ego,” said Mahan, who’s worked for decades as a food server on and off the Las Vegas Strip. “And I felt like he was at least partially running to stay out of jail.”

Mahan couldn’t bring himself to support Kamala Harris. He’s never backed a Democrat for president. So when illness overtook him on election day, it was a good excuse to stay in bed and not vote.

He’s no Trump hater, Mahan said. “I don’t think he’s evil.” Rather, the 52-year-old calls himself “a Trump realist,” seeing the good and the bad.

Here’s Mahan’s reality: A big drop in pay. Depletion of his emergency savings. Stress every time he pulls into a gas station or visits the supermarket.

Mahan used to blithely toss things in his grocery cart. “Now,” he said, “you have to look at prices, because everything is more expensive.”

In short, he’s living through the worst combination of inflation and economic malaise he’s experienced since he began waiting tables after finishing high school.

Views of the 47th president, from the ground up

Las Vegas lives on tourism, the industry irrigated by rivers of disposable income. The decline of both has resulted in a painful downturn that hurts all the more after the pent-up demand and go-go years following the crippling COVID-19 shutdown.

Over the last 12 months, the number of visitors has dropped significantly and those who do come to Las Vegas are spending less. Passenger arrivals at Harry Reid International Airport, a short hop from the Strip, have declined and room nights, a measure of hotel occupancy, have also fallen.

Mahan, who works at the Virgin resort casino just off the Strip, blames the slowdown in large part on Trump’s failure to tame inflation, his tariffs and pugnacious immigration and foreign policies that have antagonized people — and prospective visitors — around the world.

“His general attitude is, ‘I’m going to do what I’m going to do, and you’re going to like it or leave it.’ And they’re leaving it,” Mahan said. “The Canadians aren’t coming. The Mexicans aren’t coming. The Europeans aren’t coming in the way they did. But also the people from Southern California aren’t coming the way they did either.”

Mahan has a way of describing the buckling blow to Las Vegas’ economy. He calls it “the Trump slump.”

::

Mahan was an Air Force brat who lived throughout the United States and, for a time, in England before his father retired from the military and started looking for a place to settle.

Mahan’s mother grew up in Sacramento and liked the mountains that ring Las Vegas. They reminded her of the Sierra Nevada. Mahan’s father had worked intermittently as a bartender. It was a skill of great utility in Nevada’s expansive hospitality industry.

So the desert metropolis it was.

Mahan was 15 when his family landed. After high school, he attended college for a time and started working in the coffee shop at the Barbary Coast hotel and casino. He then moved on to the upscale Gourmet Room. The money was good; Mahan had found his career.

From there he moved to Circus Circus and then, in 2005, the Hard Rock hotel and casino, where he’s been ever since. (In 2018, Virgin Hotels purchased the Hard Rock.)

Mahan, who’s single with no kids, learned to roll with the vicissitudes of the hospitality business. “As a food server, there’s always going to be slowdowns and takeoffs,” he said over lunch at a dim sum restaurant in a Las Vegas strip mall.

Mahan socked money away during the summer months and hunkered down in the slow times, before things started picking up around the New Year. He weathered the Great Recession, from 2007 to 2009, when Nevada led the nation in foreclosures, bankruptcies soared and tumbleweeds blew through Las Vegas’ many overbuilt, financially underwater subdivisions.

This economy feels worse.

Over the last 12 months, Las Vegas has drawn fewer visitors and those who have come are spending less.

(David Becker / For The Times)

With tourism off, the hotel where Mahan works changed from a full-service coffee shop to a limited-hour buffet. So he’s no longer waiting tables. Instead, he mans a to-go window, making drinks and handing food to guests, which brings him a lot less in tips. He estimates his income has fallen $2,000 a month.

But it’s not just that his paychecks have grown considerably skinnier. They don’t go nearly as far.

Gasoline. Eggs. Meat. “Everything,” Mahan said, “is costing more.”

An admitted soda addict, he used to guzzle Dr Pepper. “You’d get three bottles for four bucks,” Mahan said. “Now they’re $3 each.”

He’s cut back as a result.

Worse, his air conditioner broke last month and the $14,000 that Mahan spent replacing it — along with a costly filter he needs for allergies — pretty much wiped out his emergency fund.

It feels as though Mahan is just barely getting by and he’s not at all optimistic things will improve anytime soon.

“I’m looking forward,” he said, to the day Trump leaves office.

::

Mahan considers himself fairly apolitical. He’d rather knock a tennis ball around than debate the latest goings-on in Washington.

He likes some of the things Trump has accomplished, such as securing the border with Mexico — though Mahan is not a fan of the zealous immigration raids scooping up landscapers and tamale vendors.

He’s glad about the no-tax-on-tips provision in the massive legislative package passed last spring, though, “I’m still being taxed at the same rate and there’s no extra money coming in right now.” He’s waiting to see what happens when he files his tax return next year.

He’s not counting on much. “I’m never convinced of anything,” Mahan said. “Until I see it.”

Something else is poking around the back of his mind.

Mahan is a shop steward with the Culinary Union, the powerhouse labor organization that’s helped make Las Vegas one of the few places in the country where a waiter, such as Mahan, can earn enough to buy a home in an upscale suburb like nearby Henderson. (He points out that he made the purchase in 2012 and probably couldn’t afford it in today’s economy.)

Mahan worries that once Trump is done targeting immigrants, federal workers and Democratic-run cities, he’ll come after organized labor, undermining one of the foundational building blocks that helped him climb into the middle class.

“He is a businessman and most businesspeople don’t like dealing with unions,” Mahan said.

There are a few bright spots in Las Vegas’ economic picture. Convention bookings are up slightly for the year, and look to be strengthening. Gaming revenues have increased year-over-year. The workforce is still growing.

“This community’s streets are not littered with people that have been laid off,” said Jeremy Aguero, a principal analyst with Applied Analysis, a firm that provides economic and fiscal policy counsel in Las Vegas.

“The layoff trends, unemployment insurance, they’ve edged up,” Aguero said. “But they’re certainly not wildly elevated in comparison to other periods of instability.”

That, however, offers small solace for Mahan as he makes drinks, hands over takeout food and carefully watches his wallet.

If he knew then what he knows now, what would the Aaron of 2016 — the one so full of hope for a Trump presidency — say to the Aaron of today?

Mahan paused, his chopsticks hovering over a custard dumpling.

“Prepare,” he said, “for a bumpy ride.”

Australia completed a comfortable seven-wicket win in a rain-shortened first ODI against India in Perth, with Virat Kohli dismissed for a duck on his international return.

Damp conditions saw the match reduced to 26 overs-a-side, with India eventually posting 136-9 after their innings was halted for rain six times.

The visitors were plagued by regular wickets, with Rohit Sharma and Kohli, both playing their first international match since March, departing inside the powerplay, the latter for an eight-ball duck.

The dismissals of Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer saw India slip to 45-4 in the 14th over before KL Rahul, top-scoring with 38, rebuilt his side’s innings alongside Axar Patel (31) and Washington Sundar.

However, the latter’s exit in the 24th over sparked another flurry of wickets, with India losing 4-21.

Josh Hazlewood led the way with the ball, taking 2-20 from seven overs, with Mitchell Owen and Matthew Kuhnemann also taking two wickets.

Australia also lost two powerplay wickets – Travis Head and Matthew Short both dismissed for eight – but made light work of chasing their revised target of 131.

Mitchell Marsh anchored his side’s innings with an unbeaten 46 (52), sharing a 55-run third-wicket partnership with Josh Philippe (37 off 29) before seeing Australia over the line alongside ODI debutant Matt Renshaw (21* off 24) with 29 balls to spare.

The second ODI will take place in Adelaide on Thursday, 23 October.

Follow the build-up, analysis, and live text commentary of the game as Liverpool and Man United face-off at Anfield.

The United Kingdom’s Prince Andrew on Friday announced that he would give up the title of the Duke of York days before the publication of a posthumous memoir by Virginia Giuffre, who had accused him of raping her after being trafficked by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Effective immediately, Prince Andrew will no longer sign off as the “Duke of York” or append “KG” – denoting Knight of the Garter – after his name. And the other titles will become inactive as well, like the His Royal Highness (HRH) honorific.

Giuffre, who died by suicide in April at the age of 41, had accused Andrew of forcing her to have sex on three occasions, including when she was underage. Though the disgraced UK prince denied Giuffre’s claims, he paid millions of dollars to settle a civil sexual assault case with her in 2022.

The 65-year-old was stripped of most of his titles and removed from royal duties in 2022 due to his connections to Epstein, who died by suicide in a United States prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His title decision came as he hit the headlines again in the wake of new revelations about his links to Epstein.

So, why has he “given up” his titles? What does it mean for the UK’s Royal Family? And what are his ties with US child sex offender Epstein?

What has the disgraced prince said?

“I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life,” Andrew added in the statement.

“With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me,” he said, adding that the continued accusations against him “distracted” the royal family.

He also used the statement, released via the Royal Family’s channels, to “vigorously deny the accusations” against him, as he has maintained.

What difference does it make to him?

Andrew had moved back to a largely private life in recent years, even though he remains part of the family, even if ceremonially, as brother of King Charles and uncle to Prince William and Prince Harry.

He has been shunned from using other titles given to him on his wedding day – the Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh. Theoretically, Andrew will retain the dukedom – that can only be removed by an act of parliament – but he will not use it.

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York and Andrew’s ex-wife, would also not use her title. The titles of their two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, will remain unaffected.

The couple will continue to live in the 30-room Royal Lodge mansion in Windsor, a Grade II-listed property.

However, the property has been leased from the Crown Estate, meaning he cannot sell it – as he did with Sunninghill Park home in 2007 for 15 million pounds ($20m) to Timor Kulibayev, the son-in-law of the then-president of Kazakhstan.

The 12-bedroom house near Windsor Castle was given to the disgraced prince as a wedding present from Queen Elizabeth.

What to know about Andrew?

Prince Andrew, earlier the Duke of York, is the second son and third child of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip – making him the younger brother of King Charles III.

Born in 1960, he was once one of the more popular members of the British royal family, known for his military service as a Royal Navy helicopter pilot during the Falklands War in 1982.

But in recent years, Andrew has largely withdrawn from public life following intense scrutiny over frequent scandals. His ties to the convicted sex offender Epstein – which pushed him to step down from his royal duties in 2019 – has resurfaced after the release of new Epstein files in September.

Andrew was stripped of his military titles and royal patronages in 2022 after a US judge allowed a civil sexual abuse case against him to move to trial. He was also stripped of his role as the Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, one of the oldest regiments in the British army, by the queen.

Widely believed to be the late queen’s “favourite” child, other titles held by the disgraced royal will be rendered dormant – leaving “prince” as his only remaining title, one that cannot be stripped since he was born the son of a queen.

What are the accusations against Andrew?

In 2021, Giuffre, one of the most prominent accusers of Epstein, filed a civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew in a US court, alleging that he had sexually abused her on multiple occasions, including when she was 17 years old – a minor under US law.

She claimed she was trafficked by Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite, and forced to have sex with the prince in London, New York, and the US Virgin Islands.

Prince Andrew has denied all allegations – even insisting that a now-infamous photograph that appeared to show them together was doctored.

The case was settled out of court in early 2022, with Andrew reportedly paying about 12 million pounds ($16m) – then causing widespread backlash over whether UK taxpayers’ money was used for the payout.

In April this year, Giuffre was found dead at her home near Perth, Australia. Her family confirmed the death as a suicide, attributing it to the emotional toll of her past abuse and ongoing personal struggles.

Last Friday, the US House Oversight Committee also released documents from Epstein’s estate showing “Prince Andrew” listed as a passenger on the convicted sex offender’s private jet, the Lolita Express, from Luton to Edinburgh in 2006.

What does Giuffre’s posthumous memoir say?

On Tuesday, Giuffre’s posthumous memoir goes on sale, where she details her time with the prince and Epstein. In the excerpts published by several media organisations, Giuffre wrote that Andrew believed sex with her was his “birthright”.

In the book, Nobody’s Girl, Giuffre describes her meetings with the prince – and also recounts what unfolded in London during their meet-up.

“Back at the house, [Ghislaine] Maxwell and Epstein said goodnight and headed upstairs, signalling it was time that I take care of the prince. In the years since, I’ve thought a lot about how he behaved. He was friendly enough, but still entitled – as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright.

“He seemed in a rush to have intercourse. Afterward, he said thank you in his clipped British accent. In my memory, the whole thing lasted less than half an hour,” she writes in her memoir.

“The next morning, Maxwell told me: ‘You did well. The prince had fun.’ Epstein would give me $15,000 for servicing the man the tabloids called ‘Randy Andy’.”

Giuffre’s family has lauded the decision of Andrew being forced to relinquish his titles as “vindication for Virginia”.

“We, the family of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, believe that Prince Andrew’s decision to give up his titles is vindication for our sister and survivors everywhere,” they said in a statement.

“Further, we believe it is appropriate for King Charles to remove the title of Prince.”

What were Andrew’s ties with US sex offender Epstein?

Prince Andrew is reported to have had a longstanding association with Epstein, a convicted child sex offender and financier from the US.

The relationship reportedly began in the 1990s, with Andrew socialising with Epstein in elite social circles in both the UK and the US. He is reported to have stayed at Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse, his private Caribbean island, and flown on Epstein’s private jet on multiple occasions. Andrew was also listed on another flight to West Palm Beach, Florida, in 2000.

Epstein’s close associate, British socialite Maxwell, facilitated introductions between Andrew and other prominent figures, drawing him further into Epstein’s network. Maxwell is serving 20 years in prison for sex trafficking.

The association came to public scrutiny after Giuffre in 2021 accused Andrew of sexual abuse.

In an infamous 2019 interview with BBC Newsnight, Andrew said he broke off his friendship with Epstein in December 2010.

But the release of new documents last month shows Andrew reportedly sent a mail three months after the interview. In the email, Andrew appeared to tell Epstein “we are in this together” after the two men were photographed together strolling in New York.

In 2008, Epstein had pleaded guilty to charges of solicitation of prostitution and of solicitation of prostitution with a minor, for which he served 13 months in jail.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019, awaiting a trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

Has the prince been part of other scandals?

Andrew has been mired in a number of other scandals, including an instance of his “close confidant” being banned from the UK over allegations he was a Chinese spy.

Andrew reportedly held meetings in 2018 and 2019 with Cai Qi, a member of China’s ruling political bureau.

Cai was suspected by the UK government of being the recipient of sensitive information allegedly passed to China by two British nationals accused of spying for Beijing.

Medical TV show 24 hours in A&E is returning to London hospital St George’s four years after producers announced that it was relocating to Nottingham

Medical reality TV show 24 Hours in A&E which highlights the hectic day to day life of emergency nurses and doctors, is set to return to London after four years. The Channel 4 show will now be filmed in the south west hospital St George’s, four years after relocating to Nottingham.

More than 130 cameras will track and provide viewers with fly on the wall footage of nurses, doctors and patients who walk through the doors of the accident and emergency room. The series has been running since 2014 and Kate Slemeck, who is the Managing Director for St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said that she’s “incredibly proud” to bring it back to St George’s.

“[I’m proud] to showcase the unwavering work of our Emergency Department colleagues and the teams who work with them – from minor injuries to major traumas and everything in-between. A lot has changed since the last time the series was filmed here, including increased demand for our services – but the main thing viewers will take away is the expert care, compassion and kindness our patients receive every day.”

And Gabe Jones, Clinical Director and Consultant for Emergency Medicine and Major Trauma at St George’s, said: “I’m excited to show viewers our brilliant Emergency Department, which continues to deliver excellent care in the most challenging circumstances.”

He continued: “I’m proud of my exceptional colleagues for the life-saving work they will continue to do long after the cameras have stopped rolling, and am grateful to our patients for allowing us to document their most vulnerable moments. “

He went on to say: “We thank the staff at Queen Medical Centre in Nottingham for showing the NHS at its best, and are very pleased to welcome the series back to St George’s.”

In addition to the comments about the show returning to London, Manjeet Shemar, Medical Director at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), said: “We are so proud to have been the home to 24 Hours in A&E for so long, bringing the show into the heart of our Nottingham community and sharing the incredible stories of our staff and patients. “

Manjeet explained: “The series gives the public the chance to see what it is like working in a busy emergency department like QMC, the complexities of it and the kind of things that staff see and work on day in and day out. It really is quite remarkable. I am so thankful that the series came to QMC, and even more so to those colleagues who were involved.”

Manjeet went on to say: “We’re excited for our colleagues over at St George’s to have the series return to them, and hope that the series will make a return to QMC one day in the future too.”

The show was first broadcast in 2011 and filmed from King’s College Hospital before moving to St George’s in 2014. The decision to relocate the TV show to Nottingham came after the broadcaster announced it was moving its headquarters to the city.

Produced by The Garden, the Director of Factual, Spencer Kelly added: “The privilege of being invited to film the brilliant work of our NHS staff and the brave patients it cares for, never wears thin. We are extremely grateful to everyone at Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham for allowing us to tell their story over the past few years and delighted to be welcomed back to St George’s for this exciting new chapter.”

A broadcast date remains to be confirmed but Rita Daniels, who is the Commissioning Editor for the channel said: “We’re grateful to Nottingham University Hospitals for the powerful and moving stories we’ve been privileged to film during our time there and the compassion and resilience shown by staff and patients alike has made a lasting impact on the series.

“As 24 Hours in A&E returns to St George’s Hospital in London – at the heart of the UK’s most populated city – we look forward to continuing to tell the extraordinary stories that unfold every day in our NHS.”

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As many stock market observers know, Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway has been a net seller of stocks. The most notable sale has been Apple. That position made up over 40% of the portfolio at one time, but the share has since fallen to around 22%.

What investors need to understand is that the selling does not mean Buffett’s team isn’t buying stocks at all. One notable recent purchase has been Domino’s Pizza (DPZ -0.03%). The stock’s past gains and its value proposition have likely inspired this investment, and such optimism warrants a closer look at the business and the stock to see if it is a suitable choice for average investors.

Image source: Getty Images.

Berkshire Hathaway and Domino’s

Domino’s has returned more than 6,500% in stock gains and dividend payments since it went public in 2004. Most investors, including Berkshire Hathaway, have missed out on most of those gains, but Berkshire’s bets could indicate that significant upside remains.

DPZ Total Return Level data by YCharts

Buffett’s company began buying Domino’s shares in the third quarter of 2024 and has increased its position size in every quarter since that time. Today, it holds just over 2.6 million shares, or about 7.75% of the outstanding shares.

Another possible factor in Berkshire’s investment in Domino’s is that it is the world’s largest pizza chain, boasting 21,750 locations globally as of the end of fiscal Q3. Despite that success, investors may question why an investor would want to get into a business like pizza, which at least in theory, has low barriers to entry.

However, no other pizza business has grown to the same size, and one can find the kinds of competitive advantages that attract investors like Buffett when looking at Domino’s more closely.

One key part of Domino’s is its franchise model. This enables the chain to open a large number of locations with a relatively small amount of capital, leveraging high brand recognition to drive business.

Moreover, it offers a digital-first approach, which makes ordering easier and capitalizes on route planning for faster deliveries. Additionally, an efficient supply chain helps standardize food quality and costs, increasing consistency across locations.

Furthermore, despite a global footprint, Domino’s adapts its menu to suit local tastes, and new offerings such as parmesan-stuffed crust or added customization options keep its customers coming back to Domino’s.

The financial case for Domino’s

Buffett’s team was likely also drawn by its financial metrics. Indeed, with its global footprint, the maturity of the business appears to make it more of a value stock.

In the first nine months of fiscal 2025 (ended Sept. 8), revenue of $3.4 billion rose by 4%. Nonetheless, during that time, its free cash flow of $496 million surged 32% higher over the same timeframe. Gains on assets and lower capital expenditures bolstered that cash position.

Additionally, that free cash flow easily covered the company’s $119 million in dividend costs in the first nine months of the fiscal year. At $6.96 per share, its 1.6% dividend yield is well above the 1.2% average for the S&P 500. Buffett’s team also probably liked its 13-year history of payout hikes, a trend that makes further annual payout hikes likely to continue.

Investors should also take note of the pizza chain’s valuation. Its P/E ratio of 25 is below the company’s five-year average earnings multiple of 30. Also, since its P/E ratio has not fallen significantly below 25 since the early 2010s, one can assume that Domino’s stock sells at a reasonable price.

Should you follow Berkshire Hathaway into Domino’s stock?

Given the state of the company, investors can likely make a prudent move by following Berkshire Hathaway into Domino’s stock.

Indeed, a 6,500% total return over the stock’s history may cause some prospective buyers to shy away, particularly because of the competitive nature of the pizza industry.

However, Domino’s brand recognition and its focus on franchising, operational efficiency, and a robust supply chain give the company a competitive advantage. Moreover, investors can buy the stock at a relatively reasonable price and collect an above-average dividend yield.

In the end, even if Domino’s does not generate excitement, the stock is likely to cook up rising dividends and market-beating returns over time.

Maria worked cleaning schools in Florida for $13 an hour. Every two weeks, she’d get a $900 paycheck from her employer, a contractor. Not much — but enough to cover rent in the house that she and her 11-year-old son share with five families, plus electricity, a cellphone and groceries.

In August, it all ended.

When she showed up at the job one morning, her boss told her that she couldn’t work there anymore. The Trump administration had terminated the Biden administration’s humanitarian parole program, which provided legal work permits for Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans like Maria.

“I feel desperate,’’ said Maria, 48, who requested anonymity to talk about her ordeal because she fears being detained and deported. “I don’t have any money to buy anything. I have $5 in my account. I’m left with nothing.’’

President Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration is throwing foreigners like Maria out of work and shaking the American economy and job market. And it’s happening at a time when hiring is already deteriorating amid uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs and other trade policies.

Immigrants do jobs — cleaning houses, picking tomatoes, painting fences — that most native-born Americans won’t, and for less money. But they also bring the technical skills and entrepreneurial energy that have helped make the United States the world’s economic superpower.

Trump is attacking immigration at both ends of the spectrum, deporting low-wage laborers and discouraging skilled foreigners from bringing their talents to the United States.

And he is targeting an influx of foreign workers that eased labor shortages and upward pressure on wages and prices at a time when most economists thought that taming inflation would require sky-high interest rates and a recession — a fate the United States escaped in 2023 and 2024.

“Immigrants are good for the economy,’’ said Lee Branstetter, an economist at Carnegie-Mellon University. “Because we had a lot of immigration over the past five years, an inflationary surge was not as bad as many people expected.”

More workers filling more jobs and spending more money has also helped drive economic growth and create still more job openings. Economists worry that Trump’s deportations and limits on even legal immigration will do the reverse.

In a July report, researchers Wendy Edelberg and Tara Watson of the centrist Brookings Institution and Stan Veuger of the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute calculated that the loss of foreign workers will mean that monthly U.S. job growth “could be near zero or negative in the next few years.’’

Hiring has already slowed significantly, averaging a meager 29,000 a month from June through August. (The September jobs report has been delayed by the ongoing shutdown of the federal government.) During the post-pandemic hiring boom of 2021-23, by contrast, employers added a stunning 400,000 jobs a month.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, citing fallout from Trump’s immigration and trade policies, downgraded its forecast for U.S. economic growth this year to 1.4% from the 1.9% it had previously expected and from 2.5% in 2024.

‘We need these people’

Goodwin Living, an Alexandria, Va., nonprofit that provides senior housing, healthcare and hospice services, had to lay off four employees from Haiti after the Trump administration terminated their work permits. The Haitians had been allowed to work under a humanitarian parole program and had earned promotions at Goodwin.

“That was a very, very difficult day for us,” Chief Executive Rob Liebreich said. “It was really unfortunate to have to say goodbye to them, and we’re still struggling to fill those roles.’’

Liebreich is worried that 60 additional immigrant workers could lose their temporary legal right to live and work in the United States. “We need all those hands,’’ he said. “We need all these people.”

Goodwin Living has 1,500 employees, 60% of them from foreign countries. It has struggled to find enough nurses, therapists and maintenance staff. Trump’s immigration crackdown, Liebreich said, is “making it harder.’’

The ICE crackdown

Trump’s immigration ambitions, intended to turn back what he calls an “invasion’’ at America’s southern border and secure jobs for U.S.-born workers, were once viewed with skepticism because of the money and economic disruption required to reach his goal of deporting 1 million people a year. But legislation that Trump signed into law July 4 — and which Republicans named the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — suddenly made his plans plausible.

The law pours $150 billion into immigration enforcement, setting aside $46.5 billion to hire 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and $45 billion to increase the capacity of immigrant detention centers.

And his empowered ICE agents have shown a willingness to move fast and break things — even when their aggression conflicts with other administration goals.

Last month, immigration authorities raided a Hyundai battery plant in Georgia, detained 300 South Korean workers and showed video of some of them shackled in chains. They’d been working to get the plant up and running, bringing expertise in battery technology and Hyundai procedures that local American workers didn’t have.

The incident enraged the South Koreans and ran counter to Trump’s push to lure foreign manufacturers to invest in America. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned that the country’s other companies might be reluctant about betting on America if their workers couldn’t get visas promptly and risked getting detained.

Sending Medicaid recipients to the fields

America’s farmers are among the president’s most dependable supporters.

But John Boyd Jr., who farms 1,300 acres of soybeans, wheat and corn in southern Virginia, said that the immigration raids — and the threat of them — are hurting farmers already contending with low crop prices, high costs and fallout from Trump’s trade war with China, which has stopped buying U.S. soybeans and sorghum.

“You’ve got ICE out here, herding these people up,’’ said Boyd, founder of the National Black Farmers Assn. “[Trump] says they’re murderers and thieves and drug dealers, all this stuff. But these are people who are in this country doing hard work that many Americans don’t want to do.’’

Boyd scoffed at Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ suggestion in July that U.S.-born Medicaid recipients could head to the fields to meet work requirements imposed as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. “People in the city aren’t coming back to the farm to do this kind of work,’’ he said. “It takes a certain type of person to bend over in 100-degree heat.’’

The Trump administration admits that the immigration crackdown is causing labor shortages on the farm that could translate into higher prices at the supermarket.

“The near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens combined with the lack of an available legal workforce results in significant disruptions to production costs and [threatens] the stability of domestic food production and prices for U.S. consumers,’’ the Labor Department said in an Oct. 2 filing to the Federal Register.

‘You’re not welcome here’

Jed Kolko of the Peterson Institute for International Economics said that job growth is slowing in businesses that rely on immigrants. Construction companies, for instance, have shed 10,000 jobs since May.

“Those are the short-term effects,’’ said Kolko, a Commerce Department official in the Biden administration. “The longer-term effects are more serious because immigrants traditionally have contributed more than their share of patents, innovation, productivity.’’

Especially worrisome to many economists was Trump’s sudden announcement last month that he was raising the fee on H-1B visas, meant to lure hard-to-find skilled foreign workers to the United States, from as little as $215 to $100,000.

“A $100,000 visa fee is not just a bureaucratic cost — it’s a signal,” said Dany Bahar, senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. “It tells global talent: You are not welcome here.”

Some are already packing up.

In Washington, D.C., one H-1B visa holder, a Harvard graduate from India who works for a nonprofit helping Africa’s poor, said Trump’s signal to employers is clear: Think twice about hiring H-1B visa holders.

The man, who requested anonymity, is already preparing paperwork to move to the United Kingdom.

“The damage is already done, unfortunately,’’ he said.

Associated Press writers Wiseman and Salomon reported from Washington and Miami, respectively. AP writers Fu Ting and Christopher Rugaber in Washington contributed to this report.

When Steve Cherundolo announced last spring that he would be leaving LAFC at the end of the season to rejoin his wife’s family in her native Germany, he seemed excited about the reunion.

Six months later, with LAFC preparing to enter the MLS playoffs, that reunion is just a loss away. So now Cherundolo, who took LAFC to the MLS Cup final twice in his first three seasons as coach, is hoping to put off that departure for another couple of months.

“I’d love to stay until early December,” he said. “That would be ideal. That is what we’re all trying to achieve at LAFC.”

And that appears well within reach for LAFC (17-8-9), which has six wins and 19 points in its last eight games, the last a 2-2 draw Saturday in Colorado. As a result LAFC, the No. 3 seed in the conference, will enter the playoffs as the hottest team in the West and arguably the best team in MLS since the mid-summer acquisition of forward Son Heung-min.

LAFC has lost just one of the 10 games the former Tottenham captain has played in, with Son scoring nine goals and assisting on three others. He has also provided a big boost to winger Denis Bouanga, who scored 11 times in his last 10 games, giving LAFC the most dynamic scoring tandem in the league.

LAFC will open the best-of-three conference quarterfinals next weekend against Austin (13-13-8) at BMO Stadium. The second leg will be played in Texas with a third game, if necessary, in Los Angeles.

Austin is one of just two teams that beat LAFC twice this season, though it enters the postseason having lost three of its last four. Cherundolo said none of those numbers matter now. Not only do regular-season records get thrown out for the playoffs, but even the rules change. In the first round of the MLS postseason, for example, games that are tied at the end of regulation go straight to penalty kicks.

“It’s a new scenario. So it does change the way you play a little bit,” Cherundolo said. “I don’t think current form has a ton to do with it. Last season there were some surprises in the first round of playoffs.

“We’ll do our very best to make sure that doesn’t happen to us.”

Should LAFC, which has never lost in the first round of the playoffs under Cherundolo, make it past Austin it will face the winner of the Vancouver-Dallas series in the conference semifinals. That could be a matchup between Son and Vancouver’s Thomas Muller, who has seven goals and three assists since joining the Whitecaps from German power Bayern Munich two months ago.

The Western Conference playoffs will open with Wednesday’s wild-card match between Portland and Real Salt Lake. The winner of that game will meet conference champion San Diego in the first round. The other final first-round series will see No. 4 seed Minnesota face fifth-seeded Seattle.

Regardless of who reaches the MLS Cup, for the 13th consecutive season the league will not have a repeat winner. The Galaxy (7-18-9), which won the title last season, were eliminated from playoff contention a month ago and finished the season with franchise-worst totals for wins (seven) and points (30) in a full season while matching the record for most losses with 18.

They did end on a high note, however, beating Minnesota 2-1 in their season finale for their third win in their final four games. That allowed them to escape the conference cellar and finish two points ahead of last-place Sporting Kansas City (7-20-7).

Messi wins Golden Boot

Inter Miami star Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring against Atlanta on Oct. 11.

(Lynne Sladky / Associated Press)

Still think Lionel Messi doesn’t care about MLS?

Locked in a tight battle for the league scoring title entering the final month of the season, Messi took his game to another level — if that’s possible — and scored five times in Inter Miami’s final two matches to claim the Golden Boot by a wide margin over Bouanga.

Messi had a hat trick against Nashville on Saturday, putting the game away with a third goal in the 81st minute to finish with 29 goals in 28 games. That’s the fourth-best single-season total in MLS history. Bouanga finished with a career-best 24 goals, tying him for second place with Nashville’s Sam Surridge.

Messi also had five assists in three October games to finish with a league-high 19, tying him for fourth place on the all-time list there as well. Messi’s 48 goals contributions (29 goals, 19 assists) is second all-time to Carlos Vela, who scored 34 times and had 15 assists for LAFC in 2019.

Eastern Conference playoff field

MLS bills the final day of the regular season “Decision Day” because it’s the day the postseason field is determined. But in the Eastern Conference, the nine playoff qualifiers had already been decided by the final weekend. So had the conference champion, with the Philadelphia Union (20-8-6) having secured the league’s best overall record and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs two weeks ago.

Still, some playoff pairings were determined on Decision Day.

With its win over Montreal, Cincinnati (20-9-5) grabbed the second seed in the postseason tournament on a tiebreaker over Inter Miami (19-7-8). Both teams finished with 65 points, but Cincinnati had one more regular-season victory.

As a result Cincinnati will open the playoffs against seventh-seeded Columbus (14-8-12) while Inter Miami will face No. 6 Nashville (16-12-6).

With its win over Philadelphia, Charlotte (19-13-2) clinched a fourth-place finish and home field for its playoff opener with New York City (17-12-5) next weekend. The two wild-card teams, Chicago (15-11-8) and Orlando (14-9-11), will meet Wednesday in Chicago with the winner facing the Union in the conference quarterfinals.

Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban government have agreed to an immediate ceasefire, mediated by Qatar and Turkiye. The agreement was reached after a week of deadly clashes and strikes along their disputed border.

Mouin Rabbani from the Center For Conflict & Humanitarian Studies talks about the violence in Gaza since the ceasefire began and how he believes it’s being fuelled by Israel.

LIMP Bizkit bassist Sam Rivers shared a final glimpse of his life just weeks before his sudden death aged 48.

The late star posted a picture of himself relaxing in the back of a limo during a trip to London.

The August 22 Instagram post, now flooded with tributes, showed the rocker leaning back in the plush seat, looking calm and content as he soaked up the moment in the UK capital.

“I hope everyone is having a great day. In London with my fav and and the LB Fam #limpbizkit #limpbizkitstyle #limpbizkitfamily #nothingbutlove,” Rivers captioned the photo.

The laid-back, joyful snapshot has now taken on heartbreaking new meaning after his death.

The founding member of the rap-rock giants passed away on Saturday, though a cause of death has not yet been revealed.

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His bandmates confirmed the news in an emotional statement to fans.

They wrote: “In Loving Memory of Our Brother, Sam Rivers. Today we lost our brother. Our bandmate. Our heartbeat.

“Sam Rivers wasn’t just our bass player — he was pure magic. The pulse beneath every song, the calm in the chaos, the soul in the sound.”

They added: “From the first note we ever played together, Sam brought a light and a rhythm that could never be replaced. His talent was effortless, his presence unforgettable, his heart enormous.

“We shared so many moments — wild ones, quiet ones, beautiful ones — and every one of them meant more because Sam was there.

“He was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of human. A true legend of legends. And his spirit will live forever in every groove, every stage, every memory. We love you, Sam.

“We’ll carry you with us, always. Rest easy, brother. Your music never ends. — Fred, Wes, John & DJ Lethal.”

DJ Lethal shared his own heartfelt message, writing: “We love you Sam rivers. Please respect the family’s privacy at this moment. Give Sam his flowers and play Sam rivers basslines all day! We are in shock.

“Rest in power my brother! You will live on through your music and the lives you helped save with your music, charity work and friendships. We are heartbroken enjoy every millisecond of life. It’s not guaranteed.”

Rivers, born in Jacksonville, Florida, co-founded Limp Bizkit in 1994 alongside frontman Fred Durst and drummer John Otto, later joined by guitarist Wes Borland and DJ Lethal.

Together they reshaped late-’90s rock with hits like Break Stuff, My Way, Behind Blue Eyes and Take a Look Around, and their albums — including Significant Other and Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water — became era-defining records, with four going platinum or multi-platinum.

The band earned three Grammy nominations and a Billboard Music Award, cementing their status as one of the most influential rock acts of their generation.

Rivers’ journey wasn’t without battles.

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He left Limp Bizkit in 2015 after being diagnosed with liver disease caused by excessive drinking, later revealing he underwent a life-saving liver transplant in 2017.

He rejoined the band in 2018 after recovering, continuing to perform with them until his death.

The S&P 500 index (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) is trading near all-time highs. Since the Vanguard S&P 500 Index ETF (VOO 0.60%) tracks the S&P 500, it is also trading near all-time highs. And it could still be a smart move to buy the index via an investment in the exchange-traded fund.

But there might be a smarter choice, if you take valuations into consideration. Which is where another Vanguard exchange-traded fund (ETF) comes into play. Here’s what you need to know.

Just get started

One of the biggest things any investor can do is get started. So if you have $1,000 to invest and you’ve never done so before, it could be a very good idea to just buy the market. By default, that would be the S&P 500 index for most investors. And then you should just keep buying the market every single month to benefit from dollar-cost averaging.

Image source: Getty Images.

Since all of the products that track the same index basically do the same thing, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF is going to be a top choice. With an expense ratio of just 0.03%, it is one of the cheapest ways to gain exposure to the S&P. Why pay more for the same basic service? As the chart below shows, the market has recovered from even the worst bear markets and then moved on to reach even higher highs.

^SPX data by YCharts.

If you have $1,000 or $10,000 (or even more) to invest, just getting started is going to be the smartest move. Then, keep going and never look back.

Sure, in the near term, you might suffer through some paper losses. But over the long term, history suggests you’ll still make out just fine. If buying when things are expensive is just too much for you, however, you might find that the Vanguard Value ETF (VTV 0.51%) is an even smarter choice.

Why go the value route?

A $1,000 investment in the Vanguard Value ETF will buy you around five shares of the exchange-traded fund. What you will end up owning is a portfolio of large U.S. companies that have valuations that are low relative to the broader market. With the S&P 500 near all-time highs, that’s not an insignificant issue.

Putting some numbers on this might help. The Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG 0.56%), the opposite extreme from the value ETF, has an average price-to-earnings ratio of around 40. That’s pretty expensive, but you would expect that, given its focus on growth.

The Vanguard S&P 500 Index ETF has an average P/E of about 29. Still pretty high, thanks to the fact that some very large technology stocks (which tend to be growth-focused) are driving its performance. The Vanguard Value ETF’s average P/E is a little under 21. It wouldn’t be fair to call 21 cheap, but it is most certainly cheaper than both the S&P 500 and Vanguard Growth ETF.

The same trend exists with the price-to-book-value ratio (P/B). The Vanguard Growth ETF comes in with a P/B ratio of 12.5, the Vanguard S&P 500 Index ETF sits at 5.2, and the Vanguard Value ETF is the lowest on the valuation metric at just 2.8. While it won’t necessarily save you from a bear market, focusing on value stocks when growth is in favor could soften the pain of a deep downturn.

Get started first, but consider a value component when you do

To reiterate the theme here, the most important investment decision you can make is to start investing in the first place. The second one is to keep it up even when times get tough on Wall Street. But if you have already made those choices, then maybe it makes sense to consider taking a more nuanced approach with what you choose to buy.

If all you have is $1,000 to start, perhaps consider splitting it between the S&P 500 Index ETF and the Value ETF, to lean you toward cheaper stocks. If you already have a portfolio, then the smartest move could be to put a grand into just the Value ETF to help diversify you away from the growth stocks that are leading the market into the nosebleed seats.

FORGET forking out hundreds for a European city break – you could hop on a cruise for a fraction of the price.

P&O has mini cruises for as little as £65pp, which includes two nights onboard and travel over to Amsterdam or Rotterdam.

Setting sail from Hull, the ship sails overnight to arrive in one of the cities.

You can hop off in the morning and catch the coach into the city centre for a full day exploring.

If you fancy Amsterdam, Assistant Travel Editor Sophie Swietochowski has shared her top tips.

She said: “Head to the ‘brown bars’, so named because of their dark, wooden interiors, for a local beer and some bitterballen.

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“The artsy, bohemian neighbourhood of De Pijp is much loved by locals and not very well known among tourists but has quirky cafes and artisan shops.

“And the best views are found at the 100-metre-tall A’DAM Lookout with a 360-degree sky deck and giant rooftop swing.”

Prefer Rotterdam? The Sun’s Adam Sonin explains: “Head to the nearby, futuristic-looking Markthal, a giant food hall packed with vendors selling grub from around the world.

“Or there is The Depot, calling itself the ‘world’s first publicly accessible art storage facility,’ which is a collection of hundreds or artworks.”

Once back onboard, all the live entertainment is included on the ship before another overnight sailing, before arriving back in the UK the next morning.

Each of the P&O mini breaks include the return ferry travel as well as a private cabin.

You can pay extra for meal packages onboard or for coach transfers to and from the UK port.

But when you factor in the price of return flights and a hotel, you could easily spend hundreds more.

According to Skyscanner, the cheapest return flights to Amsterdam can be found for £64 – just £1 less than the cruise.

This doesn’t factor in the cost of a hotel, which are on average around £118 a night, according to Kayak.

You can also book P&O’s Mini Cruise Live for £129pp, which also has live performances onboard.

This includes Kimberly Wyatt, Tinchy Stryder, T’Pau and The Overtones.

Running from October 11 to December 12, there is even a unique Halloween sailing for £99pp.

Louisa Bell, Managing Director of Passenger, P&O Ferries said: “Mini Cruise Live is our way of making the travel experiences unforgettable and not just about great destinations – no airports, no hassle, just music, mates and a mini adventure at sea.”

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Here are the Sun’s Head of Travel Lisa Minot’s top cruise tips.

And we’ve rounded up the best cruise deals you can still book for Christmas.

SACRAMENTO — Thousands of rebels gathered outside the state Capitol on Saturday, mindlessly trampling the lawn in their Hokas, even as the autumnal sun in Sacramento forced them to strip off their protective puffer vests.

With chants of “No Kings,” many of these chaotic protesters spilled off sidewalks into the street, as if curbs held no power of containment, no meaning in their anarchist hearts.

Clearly, the social order has broken. Where would it end, this reporter wondered. Would they next be demanding passersby honk? Could they dare offer fiery speeches?

The answer came all too soon, when within minutes, I spotted clear evidence of the organized anti-fascist underground that U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi has been warning us about.

The “Raging Grannies of Sacramento” had set up a stage, and were testing microphones in advance of bombarding the crowd with song. These women wore coordinating aprons! They had printed signs — signs with QR codes. If grandmothers who know how to use a QR code aren’t dangerous, I don’t know who it is.

Ellen Schwartz, 82, told me this Canadian-founded group operates without recognized leaders — an “international free-form group of gaggles of grannies,” is how she put it, and I wrote it all down for Kash Patel.

Within moments, they had robbed Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews of their most famous duet: “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” mutilating it into “super callous fragile racist narcissistic POTUS.”

Ellen Schwartz, 82, is a member of the “Raging Grannies,” a group that protested at the “No Kings” rally in Sacramento on Saturday.

(Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times)

Not to be outdone by the Silent Generation, 2-year-old Rhea also showed up, first clinging to her mom, then toddling around on her own as if she owned the place. This is a kid to keep an eye on.

Since Rhea cannot yet speak about her political beliefs, her parents gave me some insight into why she was there.

“I’m not sure if we’ll still have a civilization that allows protest very long, so I want her to at least have a memory of it,” said her dad, Neonn, who asked that their last names not be used. Like many Americans, he’s a bit hesitant to draw the eye of authority.

Kara, Rhea’s mom, had a more hopeful outlook.

“America is the people, so for me I want to keep bringing her here so that she knows she is part of something bigger: peace and justice,” she said, before walking off to see the dinosaurs.

Kara holds her 2-year-old daughter, Rhea, at the rally in Sacramento.

(Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times)

Dinosaurs, that’s right. And tigers. And roosters. And unicorns. Even a cow hugging a chipmunk, which I believe is now illegal in most of the South.

Yes, folks, the Portland frog has started something. The place was full of un-human participants acting like animals — dancing with abandon, stomping around, saying really mean things about President Trump.

Meanwhile, the smell of roasting meat was undeniable. People, they were eating the hot dogs! They were eating the grilled onions! There were immigrants everywhere selling the stuff (and it was delicious).

I spoke to a Tyrannosaurus Rex and asked him why he went Late Cretaceous.

“If you don’t do something soon, you will have democracy be extinct,” Jim Short told me from inside the suit.

Jim Short, left, and his wife, Patty Short, donned dinosaur costumes at the “No Kings” rally in Sacramento.

(Anita Chabria / Los Angeles Times)

His wife, Patty, was ensconced in a coordinating suit, hers brown, his green. Didn’t they worry about being labeled anti-American for being here, as House Speaker Mike Johnson and others have claimed?

“I’m not afraid,” Patty said. “I’m antifa or a hardened criminal or what’s the other one?”

“Hamas?” Jim queried. “Or an illegal immigrant?”

“I think people need more history,” Patty said.

I agree.

And the day millions of very average Americans turned out to peacefully protect democracy — again — may be part of it.

Lisa Tertsch claimed the world triathlon title for the first time as Great Britain’s Beth Potter had to settle for third place in the overall standings.

Tertsch won gold in the World Triathlon Championship finals in Wollongong, Australia, with a time of one hour 56 minutes 50 seconds.

The 26-year-old German finished 14 seconds clear of Italy’s Bianca Seregni, with France’s Emma Lombardi a further 12 seconds back.

Tertsch collected 1,250 points for winning the event, which took her overall tally to 3886.26 as she leapfrogged defending champion Cassandre Beaugrand (3577.04) of France and Potter (3313.18) into top spot.

Olympic bronze medal winner Potter was bidding to win the title for a second time, following victory in 2023, but could only finish 16th in the final event.

The 33-year-old Scot was joint leader with Beaugrand before the event began but Tertsch, who had been fourth, produced a superb performance to seal victory.

Beaugrand lost ground early in the 10km run, in hot and blustery conditions, while Potter failed to keep pace with the leading pack – which allowed Tertsch to cash in as she excelled on a steep course.

In the men’s event, Australian Matt Hauser capped a dominant season as he won gold in a time of 1:42:42 to clinch his first world title success.

Hauser finished with 4,250 points, comfortably clear of Brazil’s Miguel Hidalgo and Portugal’s Vasco Vilaca.

The technology is expected to boost capacity in environmental monitoring, urban planning and disaster management.

Pakistan has sent its first-ever hyperspectral satellite into orbit, a “major milestone” it says will help advance national objectives from agriculture to urban planning.

The country’s space agency, SUPARCO, announced the “successful launch” of the H1 satellite from northwestern China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on Sunday.

Hyperspectral satellites can detect subtle chemical or material changes on the ground that traditional satellites cannot, making them especially useful for things like tracking crop quality, water resources or damage from natural disasters.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the technology is expected to “significantly enhance national capacities” in fields like precision agriculture, environmental monitoring, urban planning and disaster management.

It said its ability to pinpoint geohazard risks will also contribute to development initiatives such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which seeks to build infrastructure linking China’s northwestern Xinjiang province with Pakistan’s Gwadar Port.

🔊PR No.3️⃣1️⃣0️⃣/2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣

SUPARCO Successfully Launches Pakistan’s First Hyperspectral Satellite https://t.co/N6dil4vaMe
🔗⬇️ pic.twitter.com/rFDSSIcstv

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) October 19, 2025

“The data from the Hyperspectral Satellite is poised to revolutionise agricultural productivity, bolster climate resilience, and enable optimised management of the country’s vital natural resources,” SUPARCO chairman Muhammad Yousuf Khan was quoted as saying in Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper.

‘Pivotal step’

Pakistan also hailed H1’s deployment as a “pivotal step forward” in its space programme, as well as a reflection of its longstanding partnership with China in the “peaceful exploration of space”.

“The mission reflects the ever-growing strategic partnership and deep-rooted friendship between the two nations, who continue to cooperate in advancing peaceful space exploration and harnessing its benefits for socioeconomic development,” said the Foreign Ministry.

The mission is part of a recent push in Pakistan to grow its space programme, which has sent three satellites into orbit this year, according to SUPARCO.

The two other satellites – EO-1 and KS-1 – are “fully operational in orbit”, reported Pakistan’s The News International newspaper.

It may take about two months to calibrate the H1 satellite’s systems before it is fully operational this year, according to a SUPARCO spokesperson quoted in Pakistani media.

The Indian city’s Maratha Mandir has been holding daily screenings of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge since it released in 1995.

A theatre in Mumbai is celebrating 30 years of screening a much-loved Bollywood romance that has become India’s longest-running film.

On Monday, Maratha Mandir theatre in Mumbai, the financial capital of India, will mark three decades of daily screenings of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (The Bravehearted Will Take the Bride), which shot actors Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol to superstardom.

The film, widely known to fans as DDLJ, redefined modern Hindi romance and continues to draw hundreds of cinemagoers to its morning screenings with its tale of young lovers bucking tradition since its release on October 20, 1995.

“I have seen it about 30 times … and I will continue watching it,” Mohammad Shakir, 60, told the AFP news agency as he bought a ticket for 40 rupees ($0.45).

Manoj Desai, the head of the cinema located near Bombay Central Station, told AFP that weekday crowds tend to be made up of university students and young couples.

“On Sundays, you will find around 500 people, even after 30 years,” said Desai.

Clash of values

The film, which far outstrips the five-year run of the 1975 action-thriller Sholay (Embers) at another Mumbai theatre, revolves around the contrast between the more liberal values of second-generation Indians overseas and the conservative values of their parents.

Desai said it was common for audiences to break into cheers and applause during the film’s climax, when the heroine runs alongside a moving train into her lover’s arms.

“This is the goosebump moment,” Desai said. “The father letting his daughter go, saying she won’t find a better partner to spend her life with.”

It is a message that continues to resonate with younger viewers, even those who were not born when it was released.

“In our generation today, we often see transactional relationships,” Omkar Saraf, 23, told AFP. “But in this film, the hero crosses all boundaries to win his love with no expectations.

“We have watched it on television, on our mobiles, but the big screen gives us goosebumps.”

‘Cultural monument’

Desai said one die-hard fan of the movie had been coming to screenings for 20 years, while for others, the film had played a part in their own love stories.

One couple watched it while dating, before inviting Desai to their wedding. “They went abroad for their honeymoon – and came back to watch the movie,” Desai said.

The film’s daily screenings were almost discontinued in 2015, but backlash from fans meant the decision was reversed, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported.

Film critic Baradwaj Rangan said the film had enduring appeal in a country still navigating the tensions between traditional and modern values.

“It represents a certain point in Indian culture, and that is why it is still loved,” Rangan said, adding that it “perfectly captured” the friction between two generations.

“The film has become a kind of cultural monument,” he said. “I think it is going to be playing forever.”