Cheering broke out among in Tel Aviv it was announced that Hamas had released seven Israeli captives into the custody of the Red Cross, the first to be released as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

Fans of the creator’s hit Netflix series have their new favourite show of 2025

A new series being hailed as ‘one of the best shows of the year’ and a ‘ridiculously addictive’ thriller’ which has earned a perfect score is now streaming.

The Chair Company makes its debut via Sky Comedy as well as through the NOW platform for those with an entertainment pass.

It comes from former Saturday Night Live writers Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin, who are also the comedic minds behind Netflix cult favourite sketch show I Think You Should Leave. This time, they are bringing to the screen what is being described as a labyrinthine mystery-comedy.

According to the show’s secretive synopsis, after an embarrassing incident at work, William Ronald “Ron” Trosper (Robinson) finds himself investigating a far-reaching conspiracy. The makers have remain tight lipped around the show’s plot, wanting fans to discover all the unexpected twists and turns for themselves.

Joining Robinson in the cast, who recently starred in Paul Rudd movie Friendship are The Practice star Lake Bell, IT Part One’s Sophia Lillis, Will Price and Lou Diamond Phillips.

Ahead of it making its debut in the US and UK, it has already managed to secure a perfect 100% rating on website Rotten Tomatoes. One critic simply claimed: “One of the best shows of the year, The Chair Company will have you sinking in your recliner.”

Another added: “The Chair Company is one of the most offbeat and outlandish shows you’ll see this year.” Meanwhile a different verdict suggested: “There is nothing quite like The Chair Company: a show that is emotionally potent while still delivering the perfect marriage between sketch comedy and conspiracy theory.”

The only issue fans may find is that the series is expected to release episodes on a weekly basis with the premiere made available from October 13. Based on information found on IMDB, new instalments will be added each Sunday in the US and Monday in the UK.

This will lead to the finale airing on November 30. It means fans will need to make a decision to watch as soon as episodes drop or wait to catch up as the show is a much more compelling binge watch. That is coming from a reporter who has watched screeners for the first seven episodes and found them ridiculously addictive.

It is a perfect replacement for any viewer who enjoyed any high paced thriller or offbeat comedy released in the last year. That includes Severance, Paradise, Slow Horses, Dept. Q, The Studio and The Rehearsal. The Chair Company dials up the stakes to absolute ridiculous levels and pokes fun at how even the best in the genre make the most unexpected of connections and leaps in their stories.

In doing this it also simultaneously continues the method of Tim Robinson’s expertly crafted sketch show premise of taking simple misunderstandings or social faux pas and blows them way out of proportion.

Imagine the conspiracy thrills of Severance paired with the awkward humour of Nathan Fielder or Larry David.

Everything becomes so bizarre and compelling you can’t help but remain tight in its grip, needing to know just where the eight-part series will end up. The show proves that Robinson et al can indeed stretch a sketch idea into a lengthy series, while somehow maintaining interest and filling it with memorable character moments they are known for.

The Chair Company is streaming on Sky Comedy and NOW

The question caused Lakers coach JJ Redick to say he was “not being combative” with his answer.

Asked if the Lakers are missing opportunities to practice more and build on-court chemistry because of their busy six-game preseason slate, Redick was quick to wonder why reporters were so concerned about the situation.

“You guys are really harping on this,” Redick responded.

So, Redick was asked, is it a thing or is it not a thing?

“I’m not being combative right now,” Redick said. “I just want to acknowledge that you guys, like the last four days, like it’s becoming a little bit obsessive with all these questions about opportunities lost. So, I will answer it again. These are the cards that we were dealt. I sure would like everybody to be healthy.”

Making the most out of the situation, the Lakers held off the Golden State Warriors 126-116 Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena despite not playing with LeBron James (sciatica), Luka Doncic and Marcus Smart (Achilles tendinopathy).

Redick said the plan is for Smart to “get two games [in] this week.”

The Lakers have three remaining preseason games: Tuesday at Phoenix, Wednesday at Las Vegas against the Dallas Mavericks and Friday against the visiting Sacramento Kings — four games over a six-day span.

Redick was reminded that the Lakers as an organization have chosen to play six preseason games — the maximum allowed by the NBA.

“It’s something to be discussed I think going forward,” Redick said. “I think it’s awesome. I really do because we got to play in Palm Springs and I think it’s awesome that we get to play in Vegas and I recognize that there’s Lakers fans all over the world that maybe don’t get the chance to see us play.

“You hope that we can find some sort of balance in the future to get more practice time, less travel time. I’m sure at some point we’ll be one of the teams going overseas, so then that adds another scenario.”

Lakers guard Bronny James, front, and Golden State forward Trayce Jackson-Davis battle for a rebound in the first half Sunday of the Lakers’ 126-116 preseason win at Crypto.com Arena.

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

Redick did say for training camp purposes, practice tends to be more helpful in team building than preseason games.

“I think more practices would be beneficial,” Redick said. “I do think the exposure to a game situation and playing against an opponent is very beneficial. You don’t have a lot of days anymore and to try to cram six games in there [and] four games in six nights, it’s significantly difficult.”

Against the Warriors on Sunday, Austin Reaves (21 points), Dalton Knecht (16), Rui Hachimura (16) and Deandre Ayton (14 points, eight rebounds, five assists) were on top of their games.

For Ayton, who was six for eight from the field and had a blocked shot, his joy came from the fans cheering him on. Sure, it was only a preseason game, but Ayton loved the vibe and the positive energy he felt.

It was Ayton’s first time playing at Crypto.com Arena since he signed a two-year, $16.6-million deal with the Lakers.

“It hit me in the whole arena today just hearing the fans and everybody cheering,” Ayton said. “It was kind of an unusual sound other than boos. … It was everybody showing love and welcoming me to L.A. I played so freely and I had a lot of fun.”

Skardu, Pakistan – When Wasiyat Khan was woken up by a loud explosion in the middle of the night, he thought “the mountains had burst” and a landslide was on its way.

Accompanied by his family, Wasiyat, a shepherd from Roshan valley of Ghizer, in northern Pakistan’s mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan region, had taken his livestock to elevated land for grazing on a sojourn during the warmer months.

Soon enough, as the family sought immediate safety, he realised the explosion was the sound of a glacier bursting. As their temporary accommodation was being swept away by the floodwaters, Wasiyat thought of the villages which lay in the water’s path.

At more than 3,000 metres in the darkness of the night, outside help was impossible to get. He immediately jumped across boulders and reached a designated spot where he could get mobile phone signals and alerted the villagers, who numbered about 300.

“Within 30 minutes, we got a call back saying the villagers had evacuated safely and no lives were lost,” Wasiyat told local media. “While they were safe, we were left with nothing, not even a matchstick to keep us warm near the glaciers. It was very cold and we were suffering.

“When we were rescued hours later and taken back to the village, we found out that all our houses and land were covered by mud, but no lives were lost.”

The glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is a common occurrence in northern Pakistan, home to an estimated 13,000 glaciers. As global warming worsens, the effect of more glaciers melting is “likely to be significant” this year, Pakistan’s disaster management authority, NDMA, had said in March.

In its latest assessment, the NDMA says snowfall across Pakistan in the coming months is projected to be less than average, particularly in areas like Gilgit-Baltistan, reducing overall snow accumulation. A reduced snow cover, it fears, would accelerate glacier retreat by exposing ice earlier in the season, making high-altitude regions more vulnerable to GLOFs.

To prevent such occurrences, the government mainly relies on its early warning systems (EWS), which help in reducing loss of life and injury, economic losses, protecting critical infrastructure, and enhancing climate resilience. 

An EWS functions through an interconnected process made up of sensors and gauges that collect real-time data monitored by meteorologists and experts to not only warn of a current hazard, but also predict a disaster. Dozens of EWS sites across the most climate-vulnerable valleys in Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are currently transmitting real-time data to the Pakistan Meteorological Department.

‘Human EWS’

But residents in northern Pakistan say they are more reliant on Indigenous human knowledge instead of the EWS technology.

Mohammad Hussain, a shepherd in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Skardu Valley, told Al Jazeera about an incident when he was inside his stone hut during the summer. After nearly an hour of rainfall, he witnessed strong lightning followed by an unusual roaring sound.

As he stepped out of the hut to gather his cattle, he saw a powerful flash flood, carrying enormous boulders and uprooting large trees. Acting quickly, he alerted the villagers, which ensured safe evacuation before the floodwaters reached.

He recounted stories shared by his grandfather, who said people relied on large signal fires, gunfire or specific sound patterns to alert others. Natural signs such as sudden heavy rainfall, cloud formations, unusual animal behaviour, and distinct roaring sounds are still being used to predict flash floods in the absence of the EWS.

In one incident, he attempted to light a fire to alert villagers below, but, due to daylight and heavy rain, it was ineffective. He then fired his gun three times, a pre-agreed signal indicating danger. Villagers who heard the gunfire raised alarms through the mosque’s loudspeaker, initiating a rapid evacuation.

Although there were significant economic losses, there were no casualties, demonstrating the effectiveness of this “human EWS”.

Pakistan ranks among the top 10 most climate-vulnerable nations, even though it contributes less than 1 percent of global emissions. The World Bank said in 2023 that the mean temperature in Pakistan since the 1950s has risen by 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.34 degrees Fahrenheit), which is twice as fast as the global mean change.

The country’s climate change minister, Musadiq Malik, recently told Al Jazeera that “when these [glacial] floods hit, they cause immense mortality, morbidity and widespread displacement,” adding that “it’s a harsh reality we face.” Pakistan faced nearly 90 such floods between 2019 and 2022.

‘Technology alone won’t save lives’

Despite spending millions on EWS and its implementation, there has been widespread lack of trust placed in it by a number of communities, due to frequent reports of malfunctioning of equipment and lack of follow-ups by the concerned agencies.

A report in Pakistan’s Friday Times in June this year said “despite launching the $37m GLOF-II project in 2017, with new gauges, sirens, and local training, no real-time link connects human sensors in villages to official rescue teams.”

The report warned that “technology alone won’t save lives if SOPs sit buried, rescue checklists gather dust, and trust is missing on the ground.”

Some villagers Al Jazeera spoke to in Gilgit-Baltistan echoed that sentiment, speaking of their lack of trust in the equipment, questioning its effectiveness, and sharing concerns that these systems have not worked. They also slammed officials for falsely taking credit for the system’s effectiveness in saving lives.

“Residents say the EWS in Gilgit-Baltistan have been installed without taking the local authorities and communities into confidence, which was the reason they could not play an effective role,” Zaki Abbas, an Islamabad-based journalist who writes on climate change, told Al Jazeera.

“Last year, I was told by a local activist that up to 20 systems had been installed at various spots, but they had not been operational for different reasons. This controversy surrounding this issue had also echoed in the GB legislative assembly, with the opposition leaders in the region most recently demanding an investigation into the failure of these systems. However, no such probe was ordered.

“Their ineffectiveness can be gauged by the fact that warnings about GLOFs have come from people, most recently a shepherd whose timely call saved an entire village, instead of these systems on which billions of rupees have been spent.”

Addressing the challenges remains a task for the government and partners involved in the implementation of EWS. The UNDP said in February this year that “limited financial resources, technical capacity, data gaps and uncertainties, communication barriers, weak institutional capacities, and complex and evolving climate risks” are just some of the issues facing EWS globally.

When Wasiyat and two other shepherds from Ghizer were given $28,000 each in August by Pakistan’s prime minister as rewards for saving hundreds of lives, they were told that “this act of courage and responsibility will be written in golden words.”

As unpredictable rains, snow patterns and melting glaciers continue to affect Pakistan, especially the northern areas, it seems residents are more likely to rely on these “heroes” in the absence of widespread EWS and the community’s trust in them.

This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.

Three days into my walk along the Rhins of Galloway coast path and I was on love-hate terms with this new long-distance trail. Unruly and at times cruel, it forced me to hurdle fences, wade through bracken up to my midriff and teased me with disappearing paths and wayward waymarks.

But then, after I’d yelled profanities into the wind (there were no other hikers around to hear me), this raffishly handsome route would come over all sweetness and light. Look, it would simper: a dazzling and deserted white-sand bay! A ravishing spray of orchids! A crinkle of rocky foreshore be-flumped with seals! Once, moments after I’d cursed my way through a patch of Scottish jungle, a hare leapt from the sward just as a ruddy fox barred my way, a deer herd pronked down the cliffside and a buzzard mewed overhead; I felt like a sweaty Snow White summoning all the creatures at once, only by swearing rather than singing.

“We toyed with whether to call it a ‘path’ or a ‘trail’,” said Bryan Scott, Dumfries and Galloway council’s countryside development officer and route creator. After my solo jaunt on the path/trail’s north and western stages, we were hiking a gentler south-east section together.

Is there an official difference, I asked? “Well, no, but people think ‘path’ means there’s going to be some kind of a yellow brick road.”

I can confirm there is no such thing around the Rhins of Galloway, the striking hammerhead peninsula at the edge of the edge of south-west Scotland. But there is an admirable almost-realised vision and a lot of potential.

Southern Scotland sees a fraction of the tourists that head to the country’s lionised north: in 2024, there were 1.8m overnight visits to the Highlands and just 520,000 to Dumfries and Galloway – and I’d wager most of those don’t make it out to the Rhins. “No doubt about it,” one taxi driver told me, “this is the land that time forgot.” It was clear the area could do with a boost; creating an 83-mile, six-stage coast path around the Rhins is part of the plan.

“One of the aims was to give people a reason to stay longer,” Scott told me as we advanced along the high clifftops to the Mull of Galloway, Scotland’s southernmost point, where a Stevenson lighthouse stands sentry over the waves. The path is designed to improve access to this untamed, overlooked stretch of coast, which, as well as more lighthouses, features ancient promontory forts, RSPB reserves, ruined castles, spectacular beaches and exotic gardens (the Gulf Stream makes this one of Scotland’s warmest spots). The problem is, Dumfries and Galloway has more than 1,100 miles of core paths that need looking after, with a team of only five to do it.

I’ve been following the progress of the Rhins coast path for a while, drawn to the idea of circumnavigating what is essentially an island that no one seems to visit. This year – its “soft launch”, I was told – seemed the right time.

I started on Stranraer harbour, under the smart arch of corten steel marking the circular path’s beginning and end, using a GPX file of the route on my OS Maps app. From there I walked north, along the exposed shores of Loch Ryan, picking between oystercatchers and whimbrels, the alien blobs of barrel jellyfish, shaggy piles of bladderwrack and a crunchy scatter of shells. Somewhere under the loch’s blue lay Scotland’s last native oyster beds; during the second world war they were joined by surrendered U-boats, stowed here before being scuttled at sea. This area was strategically vital at that time, with parts of the D-day Mulberry harbour tested here, while flying boats, used to protect Allied shipping, were based on the headland known as the Wig.

The going from Stranraer around the north of the Rhins was generally good. Highlights of the 13½ miles included military history, intriguing strandline, flower-flecked tussock and the remains of iron age settlements with views to Ailsa Craig and the isle of Arran beyond. Still, I was excited to finally see day’s end in the distance: lonely Corsewall lighthouse. Erected in 1815, the tower still protects ships in these frothy waters, but the old keepers’ quarters are now a hotel.

John and Helen Harris welcomed me in. As well as running the place – “quite the challenge, in a good way, 99% of the time …” – they’re also among the volunteers helping to look after the coast path, cutting back overgrowth and reporting problems. They’re starting to get a few more walkers staying, they told me, and have compiled a folder of local rambles for guests not tramping the whole trail.

I could see the attraction of basing myself here for nice day walks: I’ve stayed in few more atmospheric spots, and the five-course dinner concocted by Helen’s son Richard in the teeny kitchen was ridiculously good. Before leaving the next morning, we had a quick chat about what lay ahead. Helen reckoned I’d already done the coast path’s toughest stage; John’s expression told me I had not.

John was right. The following two days – Corsewall to the pretty harbour village of Portpatrick, then Portpatrick to Port Logan’s wide, sandy sweep, around 15 miles each – were mettle-testing stuff. But also a proper adventure. I walked amid the sheep-grazed ruins of a wartime radar station to reach moaning seals. I accidentally annoyed a peregrine falcon, which spent a good 10 minutes shrieking above my head. I bounded across hills, high above the serrated rocky shore; at one point, I mistakenly dropped down to the sea, then followed in the hoof-prints of a flock of feral goats to get back up again.

I also picnicked on beaches I couldn’t believe I had all to myself – shingly Salt Pans Bay, where salt was harvested from the 1640s, and awesome Ardwell Bay, a curve of turquoise-lapped gold. In the late 19th century a former clown called William Purves lived in one of the caves here. I could see why.

On the first of these two tough days, for the final miles from Killantringan lighthouse to Portpatrick, the coast path falls in step with a section of the Southern Upland Way, which ultimately makes for Cockburnspath, on the east coast. This is one of Scotland’s official Great Trails, and the difference was stark: regular waymarks; an obvious track; I even met a volunteer hacking back the overgrowth. But, then, this trail was launched 40 years ago – evidence of what can be achieved.

Some of this will probably have been achieved by the time you read this. At the end of my trip, at the Mull of Galloway’s Gallie Craig cafe, Irish Sea swirling outside, Scott took on all my feedback. He’s since rewalked the trail, and a slew of new work is afoot to negotiate fences, increase signage, build a bridge and trim unruly plants. Improvement works should be completed by spring 2026. Yes, the Rhins of Galloway coast path is a little raw, but stick with it: I have high hopes it’ll mature very well.

The trip was supported by the South of Scotland Destination Alliance. Corsewall Lighthouse Hotel has doubles from £175 B&B; five-course dinner £49.50pp excluding drinks. For trail info, see dgtrails.org

Hebden Bridge has always buzzed with female energy. As a child I remember the feisty women behind the bar at the pubs where my dad used to drink, the punk-haired cafe owner and the redoubtable librarian always up for a noisy chat when we checked out our books. That was before it became known as the lesbian capital of the UK (my gay cousin from Australia once told me she was coming to Europe: “Hebden Bridge?” I asked. “How did you know?” she gasped).

Now the lass spirit of the West Yorkshire town is on display again, this time in Sally “Happy Valley” Wainwright’s new BBC One drama Riot Women, which tells the story of a group of women in their late 50s who set up a rock band.

Like me, Wainwright grew up in Calderdale; like me, she’s 62. So she too must remember the days when Hebden Bridge was more famous for its flat-capped eccentricity than its edgy coolness. At university (and spookily, Wainwright and I were both at York, though we didn’t know one another), I would regularly boast that I lived close to where poet Ted Hughes grew up (he was born in Mytholmroyd, just along the valley) and near to where his erstwhile wife and fellow poet Sylvia Plath was buried (Heptonstall, on the hill above Hebden Bridge). But I certainly didn’t dwell on the smoky, cramped pubs or the greasy spoon cafes or the unremarkable warehouse-like unbranded store where my mum bought the groceries. The town felt deeply frumpy back then.

Things are different today. I name-drop the Nisa Local on Crown Street, where my mum buys her Guardian, because it’s where Catherine Cawood’s partner Neil worked in Happy Valley. More thrillingly, my mother’s flat is at the top of the street where Cawood (played magnificently by Sarah Lancashire) lived: the climactic final car park scene after James Norton’s character, Tommy Lee Royce, sets himself alight must have been visible from her balcony. And now the souped-up Albert, on Albert Street – one of my dad’s haunts in the 70s and 80s – has been transformed into the Duke of Wellington for Riot Women, with Lorraine Ashbourne, playing alongside Tamsin Greig and Joanna Scanlan, as the landlady.

Right now I’m having breakfast opposite the Albert, at a table in the sunshine outside Leila’s Kitchen, whose Iranian owner tells me it was the original vegetarian cafe of Hebden Bridge, set up in the 1980s. She’s run it since 2019, and her Persian breakfast – eggs, walnuts, feta cheese, salad and flatbread – is a renowned speciality, as is her noodle soup and saffron and pistachio ice-cream.

In a town with a penchant for revolving doors and pop-up shops, one of the joys of visiting Hebden Bridge regularly is that it’s never the same twice. In fact, there’s currently another top-class breakfast venue, with queues heading down Valley Road while they’ve still got buns to sell: Mother, home of just-baked croissants including the almond one I tried. “It’s a bit hefty,” the assistant said as I pointed to it; in the event, I didn’t need another meal for the rest of the day.

It’s quicker to say what has been constant rather than what’s changed since I was a child. The Town Hall, with its big green doors, is the same (though they certainly didn’t have art exhibitions and a cafe there when I was a kid). The rush of the river, fast-flowing through the town and whizzing under the packhorse bridge that gave the town its name, is a welcome constant. And the Picture House is still there: where once I watched Grease, Jaws and An Officer and a Gentleman, the BBC premiered Riot Women here last week, as a thank you to the locals who put up with weeks of filming last summer.

The shop I remember best from my childhood is Innovation – and it’s still here, the institution that relaunched this unfashionable Yorkshire market town into one of the quirkiest, and coolest, spots in the north of England. It was back in 1972 that a local legend called David Fletcher bought a disused mill in the centre of the town and turned it into the quintessential gift shop-cum-cafe, the business all the other shops that came after wanted to emulate (in terms of its longevity and success, anyway). The Trades Club was always there, and always a trades union club – but now, still owned by the Labour party, it’s one of the funkiest live music and comedy venues in Britain. Sadly, Riot Women are a fictional band, but the October lineup included Grace Petrie (“the British folk scene’s funniest lesbian”), DJ Red Helen and Josie Long.

The police station I knew on Hope Street is now an antique shop; the newsagent’s on the square (now pedestrianised) has become The Remedy, where you sit at high-up tables and taste a flight of wines, also available to buy. My sister’s old bank is Coin brasserie, where she and I recently reminisced, while sipping a delicious and reasonably priced bottle of fizz, about the ancient art of cashing cheques in the very room where she’d done just that. The cashier’s counter from my own former bank, round the corner on Market Street, has been moved to the shop next door which is full of rhubarb and ginger cake and strawberries and cream cupcakes: but they’re not baked goods, they’re bath time treats – it’s the Yorkshire Soap Company. They make scented candles too, and for Happy Valley they created a special edition – watch this space for a flaming Riot Women.

A few doors along is Heart Gallery, in what was a rambling antiques centre when I was a kid: today, its Scandi-style interior showcases locally produced artworks. Across Market Street is Earth Spirit: it’s the essence of Hebden Bridge, a place to buy spices and jams, colourful knitted berets and weave-your-own brooch kits. For the inner sanctum, head up the small staircase at the back for the incense-infused den of crystals and tarot cards, pictures of hares and goddesses, witches’ guides to hats and flowers, books of spells and handbooks on angels and sacred animals. And when you’ve chosen your tome, head to the Hermit on Hope Street, settle into the coven-like basement, dimly lit by strings of fairy lights, and enjoy a proper Yorkshire brew.

Riot Women is on Sundays, BBC One, 9pm.

Burrell told BBC Sport he also faced prejudice within the England set-up, during a Test career that saw him win 15 caps after his debut in February 2014.

“I’ve had several traumatic experiences within England camp,” he said.

“Some discrimination and some just old-school mentality that’s really unacceptable.”

Racism had become normalised in dressing rooms, in Burrell’s experience.

“It’s something that has been dressed up as banter and that’s been the problem that I’ve personally suffered and seen,” said Burrell, who is of Jamaican descent.

“Over a period of time you just learn to believe that it’s the norm and that is fine and that it’s not malicious, but that’s nonsense.”

Burrell says he was eventually spurred to speak out after a team-mate at Newcastle referred to him as a “slave” and told him to put sun cream on his wrists and ankles “where your shackles were”.

The RFU said Burrell’s revelations had led to “a deeper look at the culture within the elite game and to the implementation of an action plan for the professional game”.

“The RFU has placed significant focus on inclusion and diversity in rugby union and a great deal of work undertaken both before and since Luther Burrell came forward and shared his experiences of racism and classism,” it added.

“We are continuing work with clubs and stakeholders in the professional game to strive for a culture of inclusivity but acknowledge this takes time and is an ongoing process.”

Every Prem and PWR club now has face-to-face education on building inclusive cultures, with its success monitored via individual reports and surveys.

All England players, including age-grade squads, are trained in being “active bystanders” to intervene and protect others from harmful behaviour.

“You should be so proud of what you have done,” Burrell’s mother Joyce told him as part of the BBC iPlayer documentary Luther Burrell – Rugby, Racism and Redemption.

“I know it has had this effect on you and finished your career, but in our eyes, you have done so well. We are so proud of you and to have you as a son.”

Burrell’s father Geoff died shortly after the filming of the documentary, and his sister died earlier this year.

A MAJOR motorway has closed after a serious crash between two lorries.

Motorists heading southbound on the M6 have been warned of hours-long delays after the horror smash in the early hours.

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Emergency crews were scrambled to the collision near Walsall, West Midlands at around 12.45am.

Cops confirmed one of the lorry drivers had been rushed to hospital with potentially serious injuries.

National Highways said the crash had caused an oil spill on the carriageway between junctions 10 and 11.

In a statement on X, it said: “M6 south from J10A (M54) to J10 (Walsall).

“3 lanes (of 4) remain closed due to a collision/oil spill. The M54 eastbound from J1 to the M6 is also open.

“Delays are now 60 minutes above normal – 4 miles congestion, back to J11A (M6 Toll junction).”

Drivers have been urged to avoid the area, with three lanes still closed along the busy route.

West Midlands Police said: “We were called shortly before midnight to reports of a collision between two lorries.

“The motorway was closed going south between Junction 11 and Junction 10.

“One lane reopened earlier, but three remain closed as colleagues continue to work at the scene.

“We are expecting delays which may affect people using the motorway network into this morning.

“We are asking drivers to plan ahead and avoid the area where possible.”

More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online

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Vanguard has built a business with the long-term investor in mind. Investors in its funds aren’t just clients, but part owners of the company. That’s why it has some of the lowest fees in the industry, as it passes profits on to its investors through lower fees on its funds.

You can buy and hold most Vanguard funds forever. A great pairing is the Vanguard Total Market Index (VTI -2.69%) and the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND 0.40%), as together they cover both major asset classes: stocks and bonds. With these two ETFs, you can build a simple 60/40 portfolio — $60 into VTI and $40 into BND for every $100 invested. Here’s why this is an ideal combination for long-term investors.

Image source: Getty Images.

The 60/40 portfolio

Investing in stocks is a great way to grow your wealth over the long term. However, stocks can be volatile. That’s why most financial advisors recommend that investors further diversify their portfolio by adding some bonds into the mix.

We can see how increasing a portfolio’s allocation to bonds can steadily lower the risk of having a terrible year:

Data source: Vanguard. NOTE: Return calculations from 1926 through 2024.

The sweet spot has historically been the 60/40 mix. It offers an attractive return (8.8% annually) while significantly reducing volatility and risk.

Broad exposure to the U.S. stock market

The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF is one of the simplest ways to invest in the stock market. It tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index, which measures the performance of all stocks on the major U.S. exchanges. The fund currently holds over 3,500 stocks, providing investors with broad exposure to the entire U.S. market.

It doesn’t buy the same amount of every single stock. It holds more of the largest companies by market cap. Its top five holdings currently are:

1. Nvidia (6.5% allocation)
2. Microsoft (6.1%)
3. Apple (5.6%)
4. Amazon (3.5%)
5. Meta Platforms (2.6%)

That allocation provides greater exposure to the largest and most dominant companies in the country.

This ETF has produced solid returns throughout its history:

Data source: Vanguard.

As the chart shows, the fund’s returns have closely tracked those of the benchmark index it follows. That’s due to its ultra-low ETF expense ratio of 0.03%. At that rate, it would only cost you about $0.02 in management fees each year for every $60 you invest in the fund.

Broad exposure to the U.S. bond market

The Vanguard Total Bond Market Fund provides investors with broad exposure to the taxable investment-grade, U.S. dollar-denominated bond market. The fund holds high-quality bonds issued by the U.S. government, corporations, and foreign entities. It excludes tax-exempt bonds (e.g., municipal bonds), inflation-protected bonds (e.g., I-Bonds and TIPS), and non-investment-grade bonds (e.g., junk bonds).

This fund currently holds nearly 11,400 bonds with varying maturities (averaging over eight years) from numerous issuers, including U.S. Treasury securities, government-backed mortgages, corporations, and foreign entities.

Bonds provide investors with several benefits. They generate fixed income from bond interest payments (BND currently has a yield of more than 4%). They also help diversify a portfolio, thereby lowering its risk profile.

However, bonds do have much lower returns compared to stocks, especially in more recent decades due to lower interest rates:

Data source: Vanguard.

This ETF also does an excellent job of mirroring the returns of its benchmark, thanks to its ultra-low fees (0.03% ETF expense ratio). At that rate, you’d only pay $0.01 per year in fees for every $40 invested in the fund. The low fees enable investors to keep more of the interest income generated by the bonds held by the fund.

A great pairing

These two Vanguard ETFs complement each other well, offering a balanced approach between risk and reward. The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF provides broad exposure to the U.S. stock market, while the Vanguard Total Bond ETF offers access to high-quality U.S. dollar bonds. This combination enables investors to participate in the growth of stocks while receiving income and stability from bonds. Investing $100 in these two Vanguard ETFs is a truly set-and-forget investment strategy.

When Davies was asked about that block before Wales met Slovakia again three years later, he simply remarked: “It’s a good memory, but hopefully I won’t have to do it again this time around.”

Those moments are all well and good, Davies thought, but he would prefer a straightforward victory, a clean sheet and, frankly, less of a fuss.

By this time, however, he had already joined Tottenham, with whom he would play in one of the most extraordinary ties in Champions League history.

Just 24 hours after Liverpool had overturned a 3-0 first-leg deficit to stun Barcelona at Anfield, Spurs mounted another comeback for the ages against Ajax.

Trailing 3-0 on aggregate with 35 minutes left to play in Amsterdam, two Lucas Moura goals had dragged Spurs back into contention.

Then in the sixth minute of added time, Davies intercepted an Ajax clearance to launch the counter-attack which culminated in Moura’s hat-trick and sealed the most dumbfounding of triumphs on away goals.

At the final whistle, it was telling that then-Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, overcome with emotion, ran on to the pitch and leapt into Davies’ arms.

The Welshman had been Pochettino’s first signing following his appointment in 2014 and, five years later, Davies was the first person with whom the Argentine shared his greatest moment as Spurs boss.

“He is still young, but his mentality, his maturity – he is so professional – he is helping the team every season,” said Pochettino.

“He’s fantastic, not only today but from the day he arrived. He’s a great professional, a great player and a great man.”

Davies is now Tottenham’s longest-serving current player, with more than 300 appearances to his name.

Son Heung-min, who left Spurs during the summer of 2025, was one Davies’ best friends at the north London club.

“Ben is one of my closest friends,” Son said in 2023. “He helped me settle in London very well.”

Davies and Son caught a train from London to Cardiff together before Wales played South Korea in a friendly in September 2023.

True to form and even with one of the world’s most globally renowned footballers for company, Davies managed to navigate the journey without much attention, gave Son a hug goodbye on the platform at Cardiff Central and set off to rejoin the Wales squad.

Oct. 12 (UPI) — Search-and-rescue operations were underway Sunday night in Alaska as several people remain unaccounted for while typhoon remnants continue to batter the Last Frontier state.

Alaska State Troopers said in a statement that at least three people were unaccounted for in Kwigillingok, along the west coast of the state. There were also reports of people unaccounted for in nearby Kipnuk, where homes were pushed from their foundations by heaving winds and flooding.

The operation rescued 18 people in Kwigillingok and at least 16 from Kipnuk, the state police force said, adding that both communities were hit with strong winds and heavy flooding Saturday night.

“This is an active and ongoing search-and-rescue mission,” it said adding that the Alaska Air National Guard, Alaska Army National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard were aiding in the effort.

Western Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and Nunivak Island were hit hard by remnants of Typhoon Halong over the weekend, with the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management stating they experienced hurricane-force winds, some areas in gusts in excess of 100 mph. “Significant” storm surges leading to widespread flooding were also recorded, it said.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster declaration on Thursday as the state was already being negatively impacted by the storm. On Sunday, he expanded that order, making available state public and other assistance programs to those affected in the named in the region.

He said Kipnuk and Kwigillingok had been “hard hit” and that rescue aircraft were on their way.

“Every effort will be made to help those hit by this storm,” he said in a Sunday evening release.

In Kipnuk, where water levels reached 6.6 feet above high tide overnight, 172 people had sought shelter, according to the state.

In Kwigillingok, water levels reached a height of 6.3 feet above high tide and more than 100 people required shelter. At least four homes were “inundated,” it said.

The National Weather Service said Sunday afternoon that the storm was continuing to move across Alaska’s west coast, with high wind warnings to remain in effect through Monday Morning for Norton Sound and Kotzebue Sound and through Tuesday morning for the northwest Alaska coast.

For some areas, coastal flooding warnings will remain in effect through Tuesday morning.

HE is among the world’s highest-paid male models, with smouldering good looks and a six-pack you could grate cheese on.

But David Gandy has swapped his jet-setting lifestyle for school runs, sleeping alone and discussions about HRT after becoming a father.

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The Essex-born hunk — who has daughters Matilda, six, and Tabitha, three, with partner Steph Mendoros — may be desired by women across the globe.

But he spent three months kipping by himself on the floor after Tabitha’s birth in 2021, because she was taking up his side of the bed.

In his most candid interview yet, David — who shot to fame wearing tiny white briefs in Dolce & Gabbana ads — tells the latest episode of Fabulous’ No Parental Guidance podcast: “Steph, in the first few months, was sleeping with the baby and was breastfeeding.

“And just so she got a good night’s sleep, she would have the baby there falling asleep.

“That is a situation where you are just going to be a hindrance. You are taking up room. You can’t help.”

He adds: “So when we were building our house, Steph had just given birth to Tabs.

I failed at labour. I kind of turned into George Clooney from ER and thought, “I’m delivering this baby. I was at the business end and the midwifehad to ask me to get out of the way

David

“We were staying in Steph’s old flat while the house was being built, and Matilda had this little room.

“I had nowhere to sleep. I slept on the floor for three months. I had to spin like a dog, trying to find somewhere to sleep.

‘Christmas alone’

“But as long as your partner can get sleep, that’s the main thing. I am fine with no sleep. Steph is awful.”

Since settling down with Steph, a barrister, heartthrob David is now more likely to be found hanging out with the other dads at the school gates than strutting his stuff on the catwalk.

And it seems the menopause is a hot topic for men as well as women.

“The dads have had the [HRT] discussion at the school gates,” David, 45, tells comedian Hannah East and model and influencer Louise Boyce, who host the podcast.

“They say, ‘Get the patch’. Then one dad will go, ‘They’re very horny on the patch!’.”

David and Steph got together in 2016 and daughter Matilda was born two years later.

The model admits that when his girlfriend went into labour, he turned into George Clooney’s character Dr Doug Ross from US hospital drama, ER.

“I failed at labour,” he says. “We still argue about it. I kind of turned into George Clooney from ER and thought, ‘I’m delivering this baby’.

Of course I tried the gas and air. They told me to go and have a sleep and then Steph needed me and the midwife had to go back to Steph and say, ‘I can’t wake him up

David

“I was down at the business end. The midwife had to ask me if she could have her stool back and if I could get out of the way.”

Like most men, David could not resist having a sneaky puff of the gas and air intended to relieve labour pains — only for it to knock him out completely.

He reveals: “Of course I tried the gas and air. They told me to go and have a sleep and then Steph needed me and the midwife had to go back to Steph and say, ‘I can’t wake him up’,” he recalls.

It is all a world away from David’s globe-trotting days as a top-earning male model with an estimated £12million fortune.

After growing up in Billericay, he went on to study marketing at the University of Gloucestershire, where his flatmate entered him into a modelling competition on ITV’s This Morning without his knowledge.

He went on to win a contract with Select Model Management — and a star was born.

His now- infamous campaign for Dolce and Gabanna’s Light Blue fragrance in 2007 — which saw him squeeze into tiny white trunks to cavort on a boat with a brunette — set women’s pulses racing and launched him to stardom.

He now has more than one million followers on Instagram as well as 25million likes on TikTok, not to mention high-profile campaigns for Burberry and Hugo Boss.

After meeting Steph and becoming a dad, he cut back on the commitments that involved him take around 100 flights a year, and has recently launched his own line of underwear for his David Gandy Wellwear brand.

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But it could have ended very differently for David — who has also had high-profile romances with singer Mollie King, musical theatre actress Samantha Barks and TV host Laura Whitmore — because he thought Steph had stood him up on their first date nine years ago.

“We met through one of my good friends,” he recalls.

“We kind of knew each other before — we only lived a mile and a half away from each other. We arranged to go for a date, but Steph has a terrible sense of direction and ended up in the wrong pub.”

He adds: “When me and Steph got together, there was a discussion, like ‘When are we having children?’.

“I said I’ve been working solidly. I didn’t take holidays. I didn’t take time off.

“I spent Christmas alone because I was so exhausted sometimes. I just want two years of us two to enjoy being together’.”

Now, having had two kids with Steph, David thinks there should be more education for men about the hormone changes women go through when they embrace parenthood.

“When babies are born, no one ever tells the husband about the hormones,” he says. “Your wife’s hormones are all over the place, before and after giving birth.

I think we are so scared to let our children even out the front door

David

“No one explains that you are probably going to be wrong about everything for the next year and to just put up with it. Just go, ‘OK darling’.”

‘Give kids freedom’

While, nowadays, parents are often super-protective and more overbearing than previous generations, David is making a conscious effort to relax when it comes to raising his daughters.

He explains: “I’m trying to tell myself not to be too protective.

“I think we are so scared to let our children even out the front door.

At nine years old, I was on a bike going through Billericay, travelling five miles out, and my parents were like, ‘It’s cool’.

“My kids are outside for 20 seconds at a supermarket and I’m panicking. I just think we need to allow our kids a bit more freedom.

“That’s advice for all of us — ‘Don’t worry, no one knows what they’re doing’. Generally, everyone turns out OK.”

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But while he tries to be laid back, David, who is also an ambassador for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, admits he is not a fan of the trend for “gentle parenting”.

He says: “I teach them, ‘You’re not having iPads. First of all, you have a conversation around the dinner table’.

“I take colouring stuff and I always make sure they’re entertained so they are not bored.

“But they are very polite. I’ve always said, ‘You don’t talk to someone like that. You don’t ask someone like that. Go and get it yourself. Go and do it yourself’.

“I got to a point with my mum and dad where they just needed to give me a look. It seems to work.

“My mum’s best threat that used to shut me up really quickly was, ‘I’m going to come and take your pants down in front of everyone and smack your bum’.

“My mum and dad never smacked me, but it was the threat of my bum being pulled out in front of everyone.”

And while his children might have excellent table manners, David jokes they treat him like a live-in chef at their home in London’s Richmond Park.

He says: “We have a pretty good rhythm going now. I do mornings — the kids are up with me.

“I do the breakfast, which they order from me.

“I am the waiter. I say, ‘What would you like? Do you want porridge today?’.

“And they say, ‘Daddy, I don’t want porridge, I want waffles. Can I have waffles with honey?’. Matilda musy think she’s at a Michelin-star restaurant.

“It’s actually not that chaotic. I put everything out in the evening as I am not a morning person.

“I’m OK once I get to my espresso machine.”

US President Donald Trump is considering sending Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, saying it would provide “a new step of aggression” in its war with Russia.

When asked on Air Force One if he would send Tomahawks to Ukraine, Trump replied “we’ll see… I may”.

It follows a second phone call at the weekend between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who pushed for stronger military capabilities to launch counter-attacks against Russia.

Moscow has previously warned Washington against providing long-range missiles to Kyiv, saying it would cause a major escalation in the conflict and strain US-Russian relations.

Tomahawk missiles have a range of 2,500 km (1,500 miles), which would put Moscow within reach for Ukraine.

Trump spoke to reporters as he flew to Israel. He said he would possibly speak to Russia about the Tomahawks requested by Ukraine.

“I might tell them [Russia] that if the war is not settled, that we may very well, we may not, but we may do it.”

“Do they [Russia] want Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so,” the president said.

Kyiv has made multiple requests for long-range missiles, as it weighs up striking Russian cities far from the front lines of the grinding conflict.

In their phone calls Zelensky and Trump discussed Ukraine’s bid to strengthen its military capabilities, including boosting its air defences and long-range arms.

Ukrainian cities including Kyiv have come under repeated heavy Russian bombardment with drones and missiles. Russia has particularly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, causing power cuts.

Last month, Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg suggested the US president had authorised strikes deep into Russian territory, telling Fox News “there are no such things as sanctuaries” from attacks in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Russia, which launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, downplayed the chances of Tomahawks changing the course of the war.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said last month: “Whether it’s Tomahawks or other missiles, they won’t be able to change the dynamic.”

Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who spent the week Googling Ed Gein.

“Monster,” the gruesome and graphic anthology series from longtime collaborators Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, has dramatized the chilling story of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and the highly publicized and complex case of Lyle and Erik Menendez, brothers who were convicted for the 1989 murder of their parents. The third installment of the Netflix series, which was released last week, puts its twist on the legend of Gein, a killer who inspired fictional villains like Norman Bates and Leatherface. Brennan, who wrote the season, stopped by Guest Spot to discuss the fantastical approach to the season and that “Mindhunter” hat tip.

Also in this week’s Screen Gab, our streaming recommendations include a “Frontline” documentary that continues its chronicle on the lingering impact of poverty and a spinoff of “The Boys” set at America’s only college for superheroes.

ICYMI

Must-read stories you might have missed

Illustration of John Candy with his hands on his cheeks.

(Brian Lutz / For The Times)

‘You never stop thinking about John Candy’: How a pair of projects keep his legacy alive: The beloved actor, who would have turned 75 this month, is the focus of an eponymous biography and “John Candy: I Like Me,” a documentary directed by Colin Hanks.

With the help of advisors, ‘Boots’ co-stars challenged themselves to portray military life authentically: Actors Miles Heizer and Max Parker trained like Marines and utilized the experiences of the show’s military advisors to ground their characters.

She’s used to finding laughs in catastrophe. But Rose Byrne is only now going to the edge: After stealing focus in everything from “Bridesmaids” to “Insidious,” Rose Byrne unravels beautifully in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.”

Victoria Beckham sheds Posh persona, gets candid about eating disorder in Netflix doc: The three-part docuseries chronicles the Spice Girls alum’s pivot from pop stardom to high fashion.

Turn on

Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

A still from “Frontline: Born Poor,” which filmed over 14 years with kids from three families, from adolescents to adults, to explore how poverty has affected them.

(Frontline PBS)

“Frontline: Born Poor” (PBS.org)

Television is glutted with “reality,” but there are still filmmakers who prefer to look at how people live when they’re not contestants in a dating game or bunked up with competitive strangers. Jezza Neumann’s “Born Poor” is the third installment in a moving documentary series that began 14 years ago with “Poor Kids,” and, like Michael Apted’s “7 Up” films, has visited its subjects in intervals over the years since. Set in the Quad Cities area, where Illinois meets Iowa along the Mississippi River, it follows Brittany, Johnny and Kayli from bright-eyed childhood into chastened, though still optimistic adulthood, as they deal with life on the margins — power lost, houses lost, school impossible, food unpredictable. Now, with kids of their own, all are concerned to provide them a better life than the ones they had. With Washington waging a war on the poor to protect the rich, it’s a valuable watch. — Robert Lloyd

Derek Luh (Jordan Li), from left, Jaz Sinclair (Marie Moreau), Keeya King (Annabeth Moreau), Lizze Broadway (Emma Meyer) in “Gen V.”

(Jasper Savage / Prime)

“Gen V” (Prime Video)

Just two weeks out from its Season 2 finale and the satirical superhero series continues to deliver merciless dark humor and sharp topical commentary on America’s great crumble — inside of a tale about misfits enduring the rigors of college life.

Spun off from the brilliant “The Boys” franchise, this series from Eric Kripke, Craig Rosenberg and Evan Goldberg follows a group of students at Godolkin University, an institution designed to identify and train the next generation of superheroes. But the co-eds soon discover that their supposed higher education is in fact a clandestine operation to create “Supe” soldiers for an impending war between the super-powered and non-powered humans. Returning to the fold is Marie Moreau (Jaz Sinclair), who emerges as the rebel group’s most powerful weapon against the school’s nefarious plot. Working alongside her are Emma (Lizze Broadway), Cate (Maddie Phillips), Jordan (London Thor and Derek Luh) and Sam (Asa Germann). The wonderfully unnerving Hamish Linklater (“Midnight Mass”) joins the cast as the school’s new dean.

Is “Gen V” just as gory as “The Boys”? Absolutely. Watch with caution. But nothing else is quite as fearless in calling out the contradictions and absurdities of our times, be it corrupt politics, corporate domination or false religiosity. — Lorraine Ali

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

Charlie Hunnam as Ed Gein in an episode of “Monster: The Ed Gein Story.”

(Netflix)

“Monster: The Ed Gein Story” stars Charlie Hunnam as the so-called “Butcher of Plainfield,” whose gruesome crimes in 1950s small-town Wisconsin went on to inspire pop culture classics like “Psycho” and “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” The season leans into Gein’s diagnosed schizophrenia and his legacy in Hollywood to present a deeply fictionalized version of his horrifying activities. All eight episodes of the season are now streaming. Ian Brennan, who co-created the anthology series with Ryan Murphy and helmed the latest installment, stopped by Guest Spot to discuss the season’s approach to fact vs. fiction, that “Mindhunter” nod and the documentary that earns his rewatch time. — Yvonne Villarreal

We often hear from actors about the roles that stay with them long after they’re done filming. Are there elements of “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” that you still can’t shake?

Ed Gein was schizophrenic, and I find the internal life he would have suffered through for decades — alone and hearing voices, primarily that of his dead mother — completely harrowing. He wasn’t medicated until late in his life, and until he was, his mind was a hall of mirrors of images he saw and couldn’t unsee — most shockingly photos of Nazi atrocities during the Holocaust. I believe the only way he could cope was to try to normalize these things — digging up bodies, skinning them, making things from them — and the nagging voice of his mother ultimately drove him to murder at least two women, Mary Hogan and Bernice Worden, maybe more. Ed Gein wasn’t the local boogeyman — his neighbors didn’t find him scary — he was the guy you’d have watch your kids if the babysitter canceled last-minute. And yet, in those four inches between his ears there existed a bizarre, terrifying hellscape of profound loneliness and total confusion. Every day in this country we see what happens when the lethal combination of male loneliness and mental illness goes ignored. The thought of an Ed Gein living just down the street from me is chilling.

“Based on a true story” depictions typically have a loose relationship with the truth due to storytelling needs. This season of “Monster” bakes that idea into the narrative — whether because of Ed’s understanding of events or the way in which he, or his crimes, inspired deeply fictionalized villains like Norman Bates (“Psycho”), Leatherface (“The Texas Chain Saw Massacre”) and Buffalo Bill (“The Silence of the Lambs”) — in trying to unpack the “Who is the monster?” question. What questions were swirling in your head as you tried to weave this story together? And how did that inform where and how you took your liberties?

Ed’s story is, in many ways, fragmented — he didn’t remember many details of the acts he committed, and he passed polygraph tests when interrogated about cold cases police suspected he may have perpetrated. So we knew from the very beginning that there would be gaps to fill in when telling his story — and it seemed the obvious way to do it was to let the true story interplay with the fictionalized versions of Ed Gein that he inspired. There’s a subtle thematic bleed between the versions of Ed we see in the series and the monsters in the movies he inspired — in the first three episodes, we see a “Psycho”-inflected Ed Gein obsessed with his mother; next a much more sexualized, violent Ed Gein that would become “Leatherface”; then an Ed Gein who so fetishized the female body and who was made so ill by the repression of that urge that he became obsessed with building a suit made from women’s bodies. These versions of Ed, to me, are like the blind men feeling different parts of the elephant in the parable — each true in their own way, but each also just a fragment of a shattered whole that will probably never be fully understood.

The season finale features a “Mindhunter” nod. Happy Anderson, who played serial killer Jerry Brudos on that show, reprises his role as the Shoe Fetish Slayer, talking to characters meant to be Holden Ford and Bill Tench, though they’re named John Douglas and Robert Ressler, the real FBI agents who inspired the fictional ones. When and why did you realize you wanted to have that hat tip? Was there an attempt to try to get Jonathan Groff or Holt McCallany?

Having written three seasons of this anthology so far, we’ve realized each time that the emotional climax always comes in the penultimate episode and the finales are always particularly difficult to figure out. We knew we needed to top the episodes that had preceded it by shifting the show’s look and tone — and we had in our hands the nugget that John Douglas and Robert Ressler had, indeed, interviewed Ed Gein in person. Ryan and I both find David Fincher’s oeuvre almost uniquely inspiring, so once we pictured an episode that played as an homage to Fincher’s tone and style and narrative approach, it was something I, at least, just couldn’t unsee. If we were going to go down the rabbit hole of what this chapter of Ed’s story might have looked like, I could only really picture it in Fincher’s terms — so your guess is as good as mine as to why casting the “Mindhunter” pair of Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany in the roles didn’t feel right (we both love both of those actors), but it just didn’t.

There are so many dark moments for the actors. What scene struck you as especially difficult to write and shoot?

I was at once excited and terrified by the challenge of depicting necrophilia on our show. I’m fairly certain it’s never been done before on TV, and I knew it ran the risk of seeming arbitrarily shocking or exploitative (though I think choosing to tell Ed’s story in an easier manner by avoiding this chapter and not showing it would be the actually exploitative choice). Needless to say, even after I’d written the scene, it preoccupied me, as I had to also direct it. I felt greatly helped by the new industry standard of intimacy coordinators on set — and ours, Katie Groves, was spectacular — but still I worried about the scene just playing as cringey or unwatchable. But Charlie Hunnam, as with every scene he acted in on the show, came at the sequence with honesty and deep concern to capture all of the strangeness of the bizarre, disturbing act we were depicting — and what it said about what was going on inside Ed to lead him to commit such an act.

What have you watched recently that you are recommending to everyone you know?

I just saw PT Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” — which was shot by one of our two directors of photography, Michael Bauman — and was just completely floored and delighted. I’m sure it’s rife with homage to films that have gone before, but I could detect no inheritance at all; it felt like a genre to itself — completely original and new. And I still find the time I watched Jonathan Glazer’s “Zone of Interest” to be among the most profound experiences of my life. He took what is maybe cinema’s most settled, well-trodden genres and turned it on its head in a way I found shocking and revelatory. If there is a better portrait of the proximity and ubiquity and the banality of human evil, I haven’t seen it. I think it is as brilliant a slice of human ingenuity as has ever been crafted. I have thought about that movie every day since I first saw it.

What’s your go-to “comfort watch,” the movie or TV show you go back to again and again?

It’s annoying to say it, but I don’t watch a lot of television. It’s like spending all day at the sausage factory then coming home to watch sausage footage. But the big exception is Peter Jackson’s Beatles documentary “Get Back” [Disney+] chronicling the making of the film and album “Let it Be.” I basically just watch it over and over again. I came late to the Beatles (I loved the Who and resented that they always sat squarely in the Beatles’ shadow), but when they hit me, they hit me hard, and watching them in this documentary at the height of their powers is a master class in the craft of collaboration and the hard work of genius. Also, everything I thought I knew about the Beatles at the end of their stretch as a band is wrong — fighting all the time? A bit but not really. Paul hated Yoko? He actually seems to really like her. I don’t know how many hours the documentary clocks in at, but I wish it were 10 times as long.

Everyone wants to own quantum computing stocks. Companies like IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) are up hundreds of percent in the last year, with the aforementioned stock now at a market cap of $25 billion while generating less than $100 million in revenue. Quantum computing could drive huge gains in productivity if the technology is ever commercialized, but today, IonQ is a highly speculative company with little to no business model. This makes it an incredibly risky stock to own.

Here are two stocks not betting on a speculative science fiction future, but creating value in the present. Both Remitly Global (RELY -3.13%) and Portillo’s (PTLO -2.76%) will be larger than IonQ in five years’ time. Here’s why you should add them to your portfolio over any quantum computing stock.

Remitly’s disruptive opportunity

Remitly Global has moved in the opposite direction from IonQ in 2025. Shares of the remittance provider are off 42% from highs set earlier in 2025, while IonQ is up 78% year to date (YTD) and just reached a new all-time high.

Investors are nervous about Remitly because of the immigration crackdown in the United States, which may reduce cross-border payments from the United States to Mexico and other Latin American countries. This is Remitly’s core business as a mobile disruptor to the legacy players, such as Western Union. Fears are also rising due to a new tax on remittance payments, although it is just a 1% tax and likely not to greatly impact payment flows.

Despite these worries, Remitly has posted strong growth throughout 2025. Revenue was up 34% year over year last quarter, with 40% growth in send volume. Not only is Remitly completely disregarding immigration fears for remittance demand, but it is also taking a ton of market share from legacy players due to its low fees and easy-to-use mobile application.

What’s more, Remitly is starting to get profitable. On $1.46 billion in trailing revenue, the business generated an earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of $27 million, with plenty of room to increase its operating leverage over time. Compare that to IonQ with minimal revenue and huge operating losses, and Remitly looks like a company that should have a larger market cap than any quantum computing stock.

Image source: Getty Images.

Portillo’s expansion plans

Portillo’s is a restaurant chain that sells Chicago-style street food, such as hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches. It has begun to expand to other markets such as Texas and Florida with average success, as some of its restaurant volumes have been hit by a broad slowdown in consumer spending at restaurants in 2024 and 2025.

Despite this, Portillo’s is poised to grow substantially in the years ahead. It is planning to slowly grow its presence in new states around the country, bringing this beloved Chicago brand to a national stage. Last quarter, Portillo’s posted just 3.6% annual revenue growth, but that is due to the fact that its new store openings are going to be weighted to the back half of 2025. With the company planning to have just around 100 restaurant locations at the end of this year, there is still a huge runway for the concept to expand to new metropolitan areas in the United States.

Portillo’s has a market cap of just $464 million today. Investors may look at this market capitalization compared to IonQ and think it is impossible for the restaurant operator to surpass the $25 billion stock within five years. But let’s truly compare the underlying financials to show why IonQ is grossly overvalued at its current price.

Over the last 12 months, Portillo’s generated $65 million in EBIT on $728 million in revenue. IonQ generated just $53 million in revenue and lost $351 million (it has never been profitable). Portillo’s may not surpass a $25 billion market cap in five years, but it will be larger than IonQ because IonQ does not deserve anything close to a $25 billion valuation.

Buy Remitly and Portillo’s. Avoid IonQ and other quantum computing stocks. Your portfolio will thank you five years from now.

Kennedy Fuller and Maiara Niehues scored and Angel City staved off elimination from postseason contention with a 2-0 victory over the Houston Dash on Sunday at BMO Stadium.

Angel City (7-11-6), which would have been eliminated with a loss or a draw, ended a five-game winless streak with the victory.

Dash goalkeeper Abby Smith pushed away a cross from Hina Sugita, but Fuller scored her fourth goal of the season off a rebound in the 53rd minute to break a scoreless stalemate.

Niehues scored an insurance goal in the 86th minute, charging forward and taking advantage with Smith well out of her goal.

It appeared the Dash might be awarded a penalty after a handball was called on the field in stoppage time, but the decision was overturned after video review.

Houston (7-10-6), which finished last in the league last season, had lost just two of the previous 10 matches. The Dash were not yet eliminated.

Because of Sunday’s result, the Orlando Pride clinched a playoff berth.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (UPI) — The Smithsonian museums and research centers, along with the National Zoo, closed to the public Sunday for the first time during the federal government shutdown and are likely to remain closed until Congress reaches an agreement over national funding.

Though the shutdown officially began Oct. 1, outside funds from donations and endowments allowed a brief extension. Now, its administrators said, the Smithsonian complex must cease public operations until a budget deal.

The closures affect what had been one of the most accessible forms of public education and sightseeing in the United States With 21 museums, 14 research centers and the National Zoo, the Smithsonian is the largest museum and research network in the world.

The absence of open museums cast a palpable gloom over the capital. Though the weekend brought rainy weather that may have suppressed tourism anyway, the lack of activity around the National Mall left the area unusually quiet.

Washington’s reputation as a destination for cultural visitors has long been tied to its museums, and their closure underscores how dependent the city is on federal operations and how vulnerable that model becomes in shutdowns.

Moreover, many district residents work at various Smithsonian complexes, and the shutdown means a majority of Smithsonian staff members have been furloughed. Some essential operations, like at the National Zoo, must continue for animal care, using existing reserves.

The 163-acre public zoo is home to more than 2,200 animals. The private Conservation Biology Institute is in Front Royal Va., 73 miles away. The two employ in total more than 300 staff members and scientists.

For residents and tourists, the museums and zoo had been a “free of cost” option for learning and cultural engagement.

Most of its museums cluster along or near the National Mall, with several other in the D.C. metro area and two facilities in New York City — also closed because of the shutdown.

The portfolio includes institutions devoted to natural history, air and space, African American history and culture, American art and many specialized fields.

In addition to public galleries and exhibitions, the Smithsonian operates research and education centers. These focus on areas like the cnservation Institute, tropical research Institute and conservation biology.

Big Brother fans believe they have worked out that Elsa is heavily encouraging a narrative of love between her and Marcus in a desperate bid to land brand deals on exit from the show

Big Brother fans are convinced that Elsa is desperate to force a love narrative between her and fellow housemate Marcus in order to secure couple brand deals. The blonde housemate revealed following this week’s eviction, that she was prepared to drop a love bombshell on Marcus if she was evicted from the show.

She told her housemates that she was prepared to tell him that she loved him, leaving her housemates in utter shock. And this has caused a stir among fans on X, who now believe that she entered the house with an agenda.

One person wrote: “Elsa was going to tell a dude she’s known for two weeks she loves him. She wants those couples brand deals BAD #BBUK.” Another person said: “I’ve had ‘relationships’ in primary school more realistic than Marcus and Elsa #bbuk.”

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Meanwhile a third person added: “if i was gonna go i was gonna tell marcus i loved him” ..elsa girl please chill you bunny boiler you’ve known him less than 3 weeks #bbuk.”

And a fourth person chimed in saying: “marcus please your not going to get with elsa your just saying that to make good tv but we don’t care this is big brother not love island.”

A fifth said: “Marcus has no intentions of seeing Elsa after this. You can see it on his face #bbuk.”

In a private conversation her fellow housemate Zelah, Elsa confessed that she was in love with him, leaving the wannabe star in utter shock. A coy looking Elsa simply smiled.

However, further into the evening shown in tonight’s show Zelah and Marcus found themselves in a conversation in the garden where the pair were talking about his feelings for Elsa. And it seems he does not share the same feelings for the reality TV star.

When asked if the location between the two would be an obstacle that they would have to overcome, Marcus made it clear that his doubts were more focused on the dynamics within the house.

Marcus appeared concerned that the feelings the pair have for one another in the house may change in the outside world when the reality of their situation is put to the test.

The couple have been heavily flirting with one another since entering the iconic Big Brother house. At one point, Caroline is seen telling Marcus: “I think she’s in love.”

Marcus then quipped: “I know, I don’t blame her.” Beckoning for her to come over to him he shouted out “come here Elsa.” And Caroline then joked: “The romance is coming.”

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