AMERICAN Pie star Tara Reid told police she was drugged at a Chicago hotel bar – ending in a hospital dash with the star in a concerning state.

Distressing footage shows the actress, 50, looking unwell as she sits in a wheelchair, before being stretchered out by paramedics on Saturday night.

The Rosemont Public Safety Department confirmed on Tuesday that the actress had filed a report.

Reid has vowed she is willing to prosecute anyone involved.

The 90s film pin-up said the night was a “big blur”, but insisted she had only had one drink before being taken ill.

Speaking to TMZ Live on Tuesday, she recounted leaving her drink in the hotel bar to go for a smoke, and returning to find a napkin covering it that hadn’t been there when she left it.

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She said: “And then I drank my drink, and without even finishing my drink, I just passed out. And before I knew it, I was in the hospital eight hours later.”

The person who filmed the episode told the publication that Reid was yelling: “You don’t know who I am. I am famous. I’m an actress,” before medics arrived.

Tara was allegedly told by hospital doctors that she had been drugged, though said no tests were undertaken to determine what the drug was or her blood alcohol level.

She continued: “It was all kind of vague. It was all like very blurry, do you know what I mean? I can’t even explain it because I don’t even know what happened.”

When she came around, Tara left hospital with her agent and went straight to a signing before heading home.

A representative for the star said: “Tara Reid has filed a police report after an incident in which she believes her drink was tampered with.

“She is cooperating fully with the investigation. Tara is recovering and asks for privacy during this traumatic time.

“She also urges everyone to be careful, watch your drinks and never leave them unattended, as this can happen to anyone. She will not be making further comments at this stage.”

Tara’s screen career began in the 90s with small roles in the soap opera Days of Our Lives and teen sitcom Saved by the Bell: The New Class.

In 1998 she appeared in slasher flick Urban Legend, teen drama Cruel Intentions and cult hit crime comedy The Big Lebowski.

But it was as sexy virgin Vicky in American Pie and its sequels that really made her famous.

Tara’s career stalled in the mid-2000s with a string of critical and commercial flops including Josie and the Pussycats, Van Wilder and Alone in the Dark, for which she received a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actress.

To make matters worse, she suffered two botched plastic surgery procedures in 2004, including breast implants and a body contouring procedure meant to give her a six-pack.

She later said she’d asked the surgeon for B cups, but he gave her Cs, and told US Weekly: “My stomach became the most ripply, bulgy thing. I had a hernia, this huge bump next to my belly button.

“As a result, I couldn’t wear a bikini. I lost a lot of work.”

She swapped the big screen for reality TV appearing in travel show Taradise and Celebrity Big Brother in the UK.

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In 2023 she appeared in Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test and was cruelly body-shamed over her slim figure.

She hit back in the Los Angeles Inquisitor, “So stop it. Leave me alone. Pick on me again on something else, but not on those two things. It’s not right.”

LONDON — President Trump’s efforts to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war closely mirrors the tactics he used to end two years of fighting between Israel and Hamas: bold terms that favor one side, deadlines for the combatants and vague outlines for what comes next. The details — enforcing the terms, guaranteeing security, who pays for rebuilding — matter less.

“You know what the deadline is to me? When it’s over.” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Tuesday.

The formula has worked so far in the tense Middle East, though its long-term viability remains in question. Trump got his moment to claim credit for “peace” in the region from the podium of the Israeli parliament. Even there, he made clear that next on his priority list was resolving the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II.

“Maybe we set out like a 20-point peace proposal, just like we did in Gaza,” U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff told Yuri Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy adviser in a phone call the day after Trump’s speech, on Oct. 14. A recording of that call leaked to Bloomberg News.

They did just that, issuing a 28-point plan heavily tilted toward Russia’s interests that set off alarms in Europe, which had not been consulted. Trump insisted Ukraine had until Nov. 27 — Thanksgiving in the U.S. — to accept it.

But by Tuesday, Trump had eased off the hard deadline. It seemed clear, even to Trump, that the Israel-Gaza model doesn’t fully apply in Russia and Ukraine as long as Putin refuses to be flattered, pushed or otherwise moved to take the first step of a ceasefire, as Israel and Hamas consented for different reasons on Oct. 9. Making the point, Putin launched waves of bombings on Ukraine Tuesday and Wednesday even as American negotiators renewed Trump’s push to end the war.

“I thought (a Russia-Ukraine deal) would have been an easier one, but I think we’re making progress,” Trump said during the annual White House turkey pardon to mark the Thanksgiving holiday. Hours later, he told reporters that the 28-point plan actually “was not a plan, just a concept.”

The president’s goal may not be a formal, long-lasting peace treaty, one expert said.

“Trump’s approach emphasizes the proclamation of a ceasefire, not its observance,” Mariia Zolkina, a political analyst at the Kyiv-based Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, wrote on Liga.net, a Ukrainian news outlet, adding: “Donald Trump is not interested in whether the ceasefire will be sustainable.”

Similarities to the tactics and style used in the Israel-Gaza talks

Fresh off the Gaza deal and coveting the Nobel Peace Prize, Trump named his next priority before he’d even left the Israeli Knesset.

“If you don’t mind, Steve, let’s focus on Russia first, All right?” Trump said, turning to Witkoff.

Where the Gaza ceasefire agreement had 20 points, the Russia-Ukraine proposal would start with 28 items and include more detail on who would pay for reconstruction. They envision “peace” boards headed by the president to lead and administer the aftermath. Both lack detail on incentives for complying and enforcement. And both depend on a ceasefire.

Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive of the Brussels-based European Policy Centre think tank, said the proposals for Gaza and Ukraine show a kind of “naivete by believing that by intervening at that level, by imposing your will on something like this, that you will reach some form of long-term conclusion.”

He said both proposals reflect Trump’s political and personal self-interest.

“In the end, the focus is solely on what Trump thinks he will get out of this in terms of reputation and money,” Zuleeg said.

Each Trump administration plan to end the wars heavily favor one side.

The Trump plan for Gaza leans to Israeli terms. It makes disarming Hamas a central condition for any progress in rebuilding the devastated territory. It also lays out no strict timetable for a full Israeli troop withdrawal, making it conditional on deployment of an international security force.

For Russia and Ukraine, Witkoff looked to open peace plan talks with terms skewing toward Russia. He quietly hosted Kirill Dmitriev, a close ally of Putin’s, for talks in south Florida to help launch the plan that opened talks in Geneva, according to a senior administration official and a U.S. official familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The White House insists that the plan was U.S.-authored with input from both the Ukrainians and Russians.

But that’s where the similarities end. The differences are buy-in — and Putin

The draft that was formally presented to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky decidedly favored the Russians, with no European input. In contrast, the Gaza ceasefire talks got buy-in from Egypt, Qatari, Jordanian, Saudi and other regional powers.

The 28-point Russia-Ukraine plan called for Ukraine to give up land in the industrial Donbas region that the Russians currently don’t control and dramatically shrink the size of its military. It also effectively gave Russia oversight of both NATO and EU expansion. The draft has narrowed by a few points since it was first presented, and Trump is sending his envoys on a bit of shuttle diplomacy to “sell it,” as he said. He said Witkoff will visit Moscow next week — perhaps joined by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who was also involved in the Gaza plan. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will meet with the Ukranians.

European leaders worried that Trump is leaving them out of high-level discussions and vulnerable to Russian aggression.

“He appears perfectly ready to sacrifice Ukraine’s security and Europe’s in the process,” Hannah Neumann, a German member of the European Parliament, said of Trump on Tuesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resisted Trump’s pressure to agree to a ceasefire, for a time. But Putin refuses to concede anything on Ukraine.

He’s appeared to be considering the matter, notably when Trump rolled out a red carpet for the Russian leader at a summer summit in Alaska — an old front line of the Cold War. Trump left without an agreement from Putin to end the bloodshed. The Russian leader walked off with long-sought recognition on the world stage.

To the horror of Ukraine and the vexation of Trump, Putin has stood firm.

As the envoys flew home from Geneva last week without any agreement, the White House scrambled to explain. One U.S. official argued that the 28-page plan, which calls on Ukraine to cede the Donbas region and bar Ukraine from joining NATO, represents considerable concessions from Putin because he would be agreeing to give up on his claim, once and for all, that all of Ukraine should be part of Russia.

Putin, the official noted, has long grumbled that the West doesn’t respect Russia’s position in the global world order. The official added that the Trump White House in its approach is not affirming Putin’s position but trying to reflect the Russian perspective is given its due in the emerging peace plan.

It’s not for the administration to judge Putin’s positions, the official said, but it does have “to understand them if we want to get to a deal.”

Kellman, McNeil and Madhani write for the Associated Press. McNeil reported from Brussels and Madhani from Washington. AP writer Lee Keath in Cairo contributed to this report.

Cowell has been moved from his current leadership role, as BBC Sport revealed on Saturday, following disagreements between the two over the running of the team and design of the 2026 car, according to insiders.

The statement added that Newey, who joined Aston Martin as managing technical partner in March, would be guiding the technical team, including the trackside operations of the car.

The move has come about through the realisation that Newey’s expertise and long experience – having won 12 drivers’ and 13 constructors’ championships with Williams, McLaren and Red Bull – make him the de facto authority in the team.

In that case, making him team principal is a logical step and Newey will be Aston Martin’s fourth team principal in four years, following Otmar Szafnauer, Mike Krack and Cowell.

Team owner Lawrence Stroll said in a statement: “Andy Cowell has been a great leader this year. He’s focused on building a world-class team and getting them to work well together, as well as fostering a culture that puts the race car back at the heart of what we do.

“This leadership change is a mutual decision we have reached in the interest of the team. We all look forward to continuing working with him in his new capacity.”

Stroll added that Newey’s new position would “enable him to make full use of his creative and technical expertise”.

Newey said: “Over the last nine months, I have seen great individual talent within our team.

“I’m looking forward to taking on this additional role as we put ourselves in the best possible position to compete in 2026, where we will face an entirely new position with Aston Martin now a works team, combined with the considerable challenge faced by the new regulations.

“Andy’s new role, focusing on the integration of the new power-unit with our three key partners, will be pivotal in this journey.”

Stroll had been considering a change of leadership for some time, and had approached a number of senior F1 figures, including former McLaren and Sauber boss Andreas Seidl, current head of the Audi F1 project Mattia Binotto and his former CEO Martin Whitmarsh.

Former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has also been pushing for a role at Aston Martin, and wants a shareholding.

Sources at the team say Horner, who is free to work for another team from next summer after being sacked by Red Bull in July, will not be given a role at Aston Martin.

However, Newey is said to have given his former Red Bull colleague a tour of the Aston Martin factory under cover of darkness on Tuesday night.

The statement said Cowell, a former Mercedes F1 engine boss, had “implemented the much-needed structural changes to support the transition to a full works team in readiness for the new regulations in 2026”.

Cowell said in the statement that “having set the foundations” for Newey, it was “an appropriate time for me to take a different role”.

Nov. 26 (UPI) — Brazil is preparing to end the year with a grain harvest that could make history.

According to official estimates, the country could surpass 340 million metric tons of cereals, legumes and oilseeds in 2025, providing a significant economic boost amid global food uncertainty.

The latest figures from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics place expected production at 345.6 million metric tons in 2025, marking an increase of 18.1% over the previous season.

Officials attribute the gains to expanded planted areas, productivity improvements and relatively favorable weather conditions in the country’s main agricultural regions.

At the same time, the National Supply Company has projected a volume of 354.8 million metric tons for the 2025-26 season, supported by a 3.3% increase in cultivated area to 84.4 million hectares.

The estimated yield is 4,203 kilograms per hectare, although the agency warned that weather conditions remain critical to crop development.

Soybeans and corn will remain the main drivers of Brazil’s agricultural sector.

Brazil’s grain boom is reshaping global food costs. Backed by a powerful agribusiness lobby, Brazilian farmers have responded by increasing yields and planting in new regions, while port and rail operators race to keep goods moving, Agência Brasil reported.

However, the sector’s performance is not free of challenges. International pressure for environmental traceability and the implementation of the European Union Deforestation Regulation could raise regulatory costs for soybean and beef exporters that supply the European market.

Although the impact will be gradual, analysts warn that Brazilian producers will need to adapt to avoid losing ground in one of the world’s highest-income markets.

While producers argue that export growth supports Brazil’s trade surplus, rural employment and a relatively strong currency, environmental groups counter that expanding soybean and corn production risks driving deforestation and increasing pressure on traditional communities.

Still, the consensus among government agencies and international consultancies is that Brazil will end the year with one of the strongest harvests in its history, reinforcing its image as the “breadbasket of the world” and increasing agribusiness’s share of GDP.

Experts note that for ordinary consumers abroad, these dry-tonnage figures matter more than they appear. When Brazil exports more corn, soybeans and cornmeal, livestock feed costs can fall, which in the long run helps contain the prices of meat, dairy and cooking oil.

When the flow slows, the opposite occurs, and the effects can be felt in supermarket aisles from São Paulo to Shanghai.

British Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the latest budget on Wednesday, setting out sweeping tax hikes which are projected to raise 26.1 billion pounds ($34.4bn) for the public purse by 2030.

The budget had been highly anticipated as a “make or break” moment for the UK’s governing Labour party, which has grappled with poor polling over the past year. Earlier this year, an opinion poll by YouGov found that if an election were to be held now, the far-right Reform UK Party, which takes a hard line on immigration, would come to power.

In an embarrassing turn, the country’s Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) published its economic outlook as a result of the budget on its website two hours before the announcement – something it never normally does until afterwards. Reeves called the blunder “deeply disappointing” and a “serious error”.

Reeves acknowledged that the tax rises – to be paid in large part by freezing existing income tax thresholds, meaning more people will pay higher tax as their incomes rise with inflation – would adversely affect working people. This breaks a key pledge Labour made in its manifesto before last year’s general election.

“We are asking everyone to make a contribution,” Reeves told parliament.

However, she said the tax rises would help pay for nearly 22 billion pounds ($28.9bn) in fiscal headroom within five years. Reeves also said government borrowing would fall each year. Borrowing in 2025-26 is expected to be 138.3bn pounds ($183bn), falling to 112.1 billion pounds ($148.3bn) the year after and to 67.2 billion pounds ($88.9bn) by 2031.

While the UK’s budget deficit is forecast at 28.8 billion pounds for the financial year 2026/2027, Reeves said this would move to surplus in 2028 and forecast a 24.6 billion pound ($32.55) surplus for 2030/2031.

That will pay for welfare spending and means there “will be no return to austerity measures”, Reeves said.

“I said there would be no return to austerity, and I meant it. This budget will maintain our investment in our economy and our National Health Service. I said I would cut the cost of living, and I meant it. This budget will bring down inflation and provide immediate relief for families. I said that I would cut debt and borrowing, and I meant it,” Reeves said.

Here are five key takeaways from this budget.

1. Labour broke its promise not to raise taxes for working people

Reeves raised taxes by about 40 billion pounds ($52.6bn) in last year’s budget – the biggest hike in revenue-raising measures in decades – in what she said would be a one-off needed to put the government’s finances on an even keel.

This time around, while she did not increase income tax or National Insurance Contributions for working people, she did extend a freeze on the income thresholds at which tax must be paid.

This means that more people will be dragged into higher tax brackets as their income rises with inflation. The move will pull 780,000 more people into paying basic-rate income tax for the first time by the 2029-2030 fiscal year along with 920,000 more higher-rate taxpayers and 4,000 additional-rate payers.

“This ‘fiscal drag’ means that hundreds of thousands will start paying income tax for the first time, and all existing taxpayers will face higher liabilities,” Irem Guceri, associate professor of economics and public policy at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government, said.

The previous Conservative government had already frozen these thresholds until 2028. Reeves, who was highly critical of that action at the time – saying it hurt working people – now plans to extend that to 2031.

“I know that maintaining these thresholds is a decision that will affect working people,” she said. “I said that last year, and I won’t pretend otherwise now.”

“I can confirm that I will not be increasing National Insurance, the basic, higher or additional rates of income tax or VAT [value added tax]”, the chancellor added.

Reeves said she will also target wealthier people via a “mansion tax” on those who own property worth more than 2 million pounds ($2.65m) and is reducing the amount of tax relief some higher earners can obtain on pension contributions. She also announced a 2 percentage point increase in tax rates on rental income, dividends and capital gains.

Nigel Green, chief executive of the financial advice firm DeVere, said these moves will have wider “behavioural impacts”. “People make long-term decisions about where to work, where to build wealth and where to retire,” he said.

“When rules around pensions tighten sharply, it undermines confidence in the broader system. Wealth moves where governments show stability over decades, not sudden extractions,” he added.

Following the announcement, Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition Conservative party, described Reeves decision to raise taxes, despite promising not to do so again, as “a total humiliation”.

2. Labour will spend money on welfare

One of the highly anticipated announcements of the budget was the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap from April 2026. Currently, parents can only claim special tax credits worth about 3,455 pounds ($4,571) per child for their first two children. The cap was imposed by the previous Conservative government. Reeves said this would lift thousands of children out of poverty.

“The removal of the two-child limit in child benefit is likely to provide significant support to families currently living in poverty,” Guceri said.

Experts said the move would appeal strongly to Labour Party backbenchers. “The two-child benefit cap is widely despised among rebellious Labour MPs as a major contributor to child poverty,” said Colm Murphy, senior lecturer in British politics at Queen Mary University, London. “Repeal was critical for Reeves to have any chance of political survival.”

Gregory Thwaites, research director at Resolution Foundation (RF), a British think tank that focuses on improving living standards, also said the move was a positive step towards reducing child poverty in the UK.

“That’s something that we’ve been campaigning for RF for some time, and we’re very pleased to see that. And then there are some welcome reforms to the tax system, as well. So, for example, charging the people who own very expensive properties a bit more money that will, that’s very welcome, as well,” Thwaites told Al Jazeera.

“Ultimately, budgetary responsibility should not just be seen in terms of fiscal balance but also measures of broader wellbeing,” said professor Jasper Kenter, professorial research fellow at Aberystwyth Business School. “Lifting the two-child benefit cap is important in this regard.”

GMB workers’ union General Secretary Gary Smith welcomed Reeves’s decision to tax wealth and to increase welfare spending, calling this budget the “final nail in the coffin for the Conservatives’ failed austerity project”.

“Key public services, essential national infrastructure, and communities across the UK suffered deep wounds because the Tories made the wrong economic choices – we must never go back to those dark days,” a statement from Smith read.

“The challenge for Labour is to grip the task of rebuilding our economy and country, lock in essential investment to create growth, and start bringing a bit of hope to people,” the statement added.

3. UK’s hated ‘rape clause’ will be scrapped

Reeves said she would scrap the so-called “rape clause”, which exempts women from the two-child benefit cap policy if they can prove their child was conceived non-consensually.

She described the exemption requirement as “vile, grotesque, dehumanising, cruel”.

“I’m proud to be Britain’s first female chancellor,” Reeves told parliament. “I take the responsibilities that come with that seriously. I will not tolerate the grotesque indignity to women of the rape clause any longer.”

4. Slower-than-expected economic growth forecast

In response to the budget, the OBR upgraded its forecast for economic growth for this year from 1 percent to 1.5 percent.

However, it downgraded economic growth for the following four years. GDP growth in 2026 is now expected to be 1.4 percent (down from 1.9 percent), while the OBR has downgraded its forecast for each of 2027, 2028 and 2029 to 1.5 percent (down from approximately 1.8 percent).

Much of the downgrade stems from lower expectations for productivity growth. Reeves insisted the sluggish outlook was the legacy of the previous Conservative government, however.

Reeves also announced a freeze on fuel duty and rail fares, as well as support with energy bills, causing the OBR to revise inflation down by 0.4 percentage points for next year, Guceri said. However, the OBR revised up its forecast for this year to 3.5 percent, “reflecting stronger real wage growth and persistent food price pressures”, she added.

5. The pound and financial markets responded positively

Sterling rose by 0.3 percent against the dollar to $1.3213 just in advance of the budget announcement, before settling back to roughly where it started by the end of it.

London’s blue-chip FTSE index and the FTSE 250 index rose by about 0.6 percent each in the wake of the budget.

“So far, markets showed little reaction to the Budget – something the Chancellor will view as a success,” Guceri said.

BANGKOK — A court in Thailand said Wednesday that it has issued an arrest warrant for a co-owner of the Miss Universe Organization in connection with a fraud case.

Jakkaphong “Anne” Jakrajutatip was charged with fraud then released on bail in 2023. She failed to appear as required in a Bangkok court on Tuesday. Since she did not notify the court about her absence, she was deemed to be a flight risk, according to a statement from the Bangkok South District Court.

The court rescheduled the hearing for Dec. 26.

According to the court’s statement, Jakkaphong and her company, JKN Global Group Public Co. Ltd., were sued for allegedly defrauding Raweewat Maschamadol in selling him the company’s corporate bonds in 2023. Raweewat says the investment caused him to lose $930,362.

Financially troubled JKN defaulted on payments to investors beginning in 2023 and began debt rehabilitation procedures with the Central Bankruptcy Court in 2024. The company says it has debts totaling about $93 million.

JKN acquired the rights to the Miss Universe pageant from IMG Worldwide LLC in 2022. In 2023, it sold 50% of its Miss Universe shares to Legacy Holding Group USA, which is owned by a Mexican businessman, Raúl Rocha Cantú.

Jakkaphong resigned from all of the company’s positions in June after being accused by Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission of falsifying the company’s 2023 financial statements. She remains its largest shareholder.

Her whereabouts remain unclear. She did not appear at the 74th Miss Universe competition, which was held in Bangkok earlier this month.

This year’s competition was marred by various problems, including a sharp-tongued scolding by a Thai organizer of Fátima Bosch Fernández of Mexico, who was crowned Miss Universe 2025 on Nov. 19. Two judges reportedly dropped out, with one suggesting that there was an element of rigging to the contest. Separately, Thai police investigated allegations that publicity for the event included illegal promotion of online casinos.

On Monday, JKN denied rumors that Jakkaphong had liquidated the company’s assets and fled the country, but there has been no immediate reaction regarding the arrest warrant. She could not be reached for comment.

Jakkaphong is a well-known celebrity in Thailand who has starred in reality shows and is outspoken about her identity as a transgender woman.

Saksornchai writes for the Associated Press.

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine of Van Nuys wants his constituents to know that white supremacy is not a plank in his platform, no matter what the World Wide Web suggests.

Levine and other politicians in California and across the nation have felt compelled in recent weeks to take political stands they normally would consider unnecessary — denouncing racism, bestiality and the conversion of women’s breast milk into cheese — because someone has registered Web sites in their names and directed the traffic to politically unpopular organizations.

Levine, a freshman Democrat, learned last week about the existence of a site called lloydlevine.com. Initially, the Internet address pointed to the National Assn. for the Advancement of White People, which the Southern Poverty Law Center identifies as a hate group founded by former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke. By Tuesday, lloydlevine.com had become a gateway to the Raelians, a religious organization that recently claimed to have cloned a human.

“I would hate for one of my constituents to enter my name into a search engine … and think I in any way condone any of the views espoused here,” Levine said. “My name is Lloyd Levine, and I ought to have full control of it.”

The Legislature’s lawyers are trying to determine whether lawmakers have that right.

Claiming responsibility for these cyber-shenanigans is Jeremy Stamper, who calls himself president of the Seattle-based Council on Political Accountability.

Stamper says he has registered Web domains in the names of more than 100 governors, members of Congress and state legislators from California, Florida, New York and nine other states.

Stamper’s group is selling the domains on EBay and invites political activists — not the politicians — to “use them to criticize, to sound off, to hold politicians accountable … use your imagination.” The EBay page for the sale promises that 25% of the proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society.

Stamper said his group launched the “act of protest” this month to “make a statement about racial politics in the United States.”

“Republicans and Democrats are both complicit in fostering an atmosphere of bigotry,” he wrote in an e-mail to The Times.

Besides, Stamper said, people in the public eye should know to protect their identity online.

“The fact that these politicians didn’t have the foresight to register their own domain names makes me wonder whether they’ll have the competence necessary to jump-start the economy and safeguard our future,” he said.

At $99, the asking price, Levine’s name is a steal compared with colleagues whose Web addresses are listed at $149. Domains for several U.S. representatives and senators are priced at $499. As of Tuesday afternoon, there had been no bids.

An EBay spokesman said any lawmaker feeling maligned can ask to have his name pulled off the auction block.

Speaking for the National Assn. for the Advancement of White People, Vice President Rich Faraone said the group does not condone the confusion Stamper has created.

“We would never do something like that,” he said. “We would never mislead people like that.”

While the climate isn’t very Christmassy, that doesn’t stop the island from getting in the festive mood, with its Christmas Market running from the 10th December all the way to New Years Eve.

Brits looking for winter sun getaways don’t need to jet off to exotic long-haul destinations. The Canary Islands may be at their most popular during the summer months, but come winter they still offer balmy weather – and some surprising festive fun.

Tenerife, the largest of the Canaries, is about a four-hour flight from the UK, and boasts December temperatures ranging from 20 to 24 degrees, making it an ideal location if you want to escape the dreary British weather. It won’t be warm enough to lay out on a beach, but it will be ideal if you want to explore the scenic walks or just stop off and enjoy a pint outside.

The climate may not feel very Christmassy, but that doesn’t stop the island from getting in the festive mood, with its San Cristobal de La Laguna Christmas Market running from the 10th December all the way to New Year’s Eve.

The market has everything you’d expect, including a a myriad of artisan stalls that feature local crafts made of volcanic stone, banana fibre, and traditional Canarian embroidery. It’s the perfect spot for picking up a souvenir or two, or giving your Christmas decorations back home a unique twist.

In fact, if you’re looking for the perfect Christmas trinket to take home, keep your eyes peeled for belenes, which are nativity scenes that feature elements of the island’s spectacular landscape.

The market takes place within the island’s UNESCO recognised town-centre, made up of picturesque winding streets and featuring plenty of budget-friendly eateries where you can sample local fare. For foodies, the Christmas market itself serves up a variety of classic Canarian specialties, including bienmesabe (a sweet almond dessert), papas arrugadas with mojo sauce, and festive waffle ice cream. (Or of course you can opt for a cheeky mulled wine in the sunshine).

Plenty of airlines offer direct flights to Tenerife including Ryanair, easyJet, Jet2 and British Airways, but if you’re after something a little different for the festive season, you can find a number of cruises with the likes of Marella Cruises that include a stop in the Canaries.

Chris Hackney, CEO of Marella Cruises, says that Tenerife is quietly becoming one of the most sought after destinations for those looking for a spot of sunshine during the winter.

“Tenerife is known to be the ultimate winter escape, especially near Christmas,” he explained. “As our most popular Cruise & Stay destination, Tenerife has seen a remarkable 29% year-on-year rise, with longer stays booming as 10-night holidays up by 69%, 11-night by 34%, and 14-night by 7%. Even back-to-back cruises in the Canaries are up 17%, proving that more guests than ever are choosing to celebrate the season in the Canarian sun.”

There is one warning for any travellers staying on the island in the wake of Christmas. 28th December is treated a bit like April Fools Day on the Island, with newspapers joining in with locals to prank each other and any gullible tourists, so don’t believe everything you hear and read!

Have you got a travel story to share? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com.

Lakers guard Austin Reaves drives to the hoop as Clippers center Ivica Zubac defends in the second half at Crypto.com Arena.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

The Lakers locked up their spot in the NBA Cup quarterfinals, but there are still meaningful Cup games to be played.

With a 3-0 record in West Group B, the Lakers can clinch home-court advantage in the quarterfinals with a win Friday against the Dallas Mavericks in the group stage finale. A win would be the simplest way to avoid resorting to the point differential tiebreaker that could still be in play to decide the No. 1 seed in the West. Outscoring opponents by 36 points, the Lakers’ point differential is 27 points behind West Group A leaders Oklahoma City (2-0 in group play) for the potential No. 1 seed. The top-seeded team will host the wild-card team, which earns its spot in the quarterfinal by virtue of being the best second-place team in group play. Portland and Denver are tied atop West Group C with 2-1 records.

The three-year-old NBA Cup, inspired by similar in-season tournaments in European leagues, has sparked confusion about the colorful courts and ever-changing group stage scenarios. The potential extra road trip and extra championship game could end up putting more wear on teams that have larger playoff ambitions, but the prize makes it worth the trouble: $500,000 for each player.

“Obviously I’ll accept money,” Doncic said with a sarcastic smile. “That’s easy. … I played it in Spain, something like this, so I like it. Just the courts, please.”

Doncic said the Lakers’ NBA Cup court — bright yellow with the gold and black trophy painted into the key — caused problems for a few players as they slipped on the new hardwood. An area near the free-throw line in front of the Clippers bench appeared to be especially slippery. Doncic said he could tell immediately during warm-ups that the surface could be a problem.

“I slipped a lot of times and you could see a lot of players slipped,” Doncic said. “And that’s dangerous, man.”

Redick said he noticed players slipping, but also that they were falling prior to that. He said the team will look into the court.

WHO doesn’t love a Christmas film? They’re cosy, uplifting and of course, full of festivities.

If you want to take your viewing a step further, Trainline has given us the lowdown on journeys to make this season from chocolate-box style village to spots in the capital where famous faces created some of your favourite festive movies.

Love Actually

Telling epic, and sometimes brutal, love stories is the Christmas classic, Love Actually.

Most fans will know that lots of this film starring Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant and Keira Knightley was shot largely in London.

Some iconic spots from the film include Borough Market, and finding the spot where Liam Neeson’s character Daniel has a heart-to-heart with his son Sam (played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster).

The bench is at at Queen’s Walk on Gabriel’s Wharf which looks over the Thames and has independent boutiques, galleries, street food, and restaurants.

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City Hall is where Bill Nighy’s record label was founded, and don’t forget to visit Somerset House.

If you head to Oxford Street you’ll spy Selfridges – the department store where Harry attempts to buy Mia a necklace only to be thwarted by Rowan Atkinson.

You only get a glimpse of it during the film, but it’s a fab festive visit.

At the moment, visitors can step onto the ice with Virgin Skate with tickets from £27.50.

How to get there: Take a train into Waterloo or Blackfriars station and Gabriel’s Wharf is a 10-minute walk.

For City Hall, head to London Bridge station and from there it’s a 10-minute walk. Somerset House is about 15 minutes’ walk from Waterloo station. 

Nativity!

Back in 2009 Nativity! was released and the cast and crew made a big impact in Coventry.

Most notably, the grand finale of the film takes place in the huge Coventry Cathedral.

You can visit the old Coventry Cathedral for free – although they do ask for donations for the upkeep of the historical site.

Also in the city you can visit the Blitz Museum, New Cathedral and incredible Tower Climb up 180 steps.

How to get there: Take a train direct to Coventry station where the ruins are just 15 minutes’ walk away.

The Snowman

It might be an illustrated film, but The Snowman is a classic and there’s some obvious locations throughout the film – particularly in the south.

James and The Snowman fly over the very recognisable Royal Pavilion and Palace Pier.

As most Brits know, Brighton is absolutely thriving with restaurants, cafes, independent shops and plenty to do like visiting Sea Life, LaserZone and the Upside Down House.

How to get tehre: Nearest station: Brighton which has direct trains from London Victoria, Blackfriars and London Bridge.

The Palace Pier is just over 15 minutes’ walk (or a short bus ride) and the Royal Pavilion is just 11 minutes’ walk.

The Holiday

Kate Winslet’s cosy English cottage is a Christmas dream staycation for most of us – but sadly, it doesn’t exist.

However, there are places in the film that you can actually visit if you head to Shere, a village in Surrey.

The picture perfect spot has one church, two pubs, a café – with The White Horse pub which was where Graham (played by Jude Law) and Amanda (Cameron Diaz) had their cosy date.

Guests have raved about the pub, praising both the staff and the food.

One person called it a “quaint old pub full of character” another said they had their “best meal all year”.

You’ll feel the inspiration of Iris’ cottage in the chocolate-box village too and there are plenty of cute places to stop in like the Dabbling Duck tearoom, and sweetshop called Shere Delights.

You can also stop by the town of Godalming which has pretty cobbled lanes and narrow road where Amanda attempts to drive around.

How to get there: The nearest station for Shere is Gomshall, and from there it’s a 15 minute walk to Shere village.

Strolling back to Gomshall, you can take another train onwards to Godalming, which is connected on the London Waterloo line.

Jingle, Jangle: A Christmas Journey

Called a ‘Christmas underdog’ Jingle, Jangle: A Christmas Journey only came out five years ago – but has some great spots to visit in the UK.

The musical adventure follows legendary toymaker Jeronicus Jangle and many of the key scenes were shot in Norwich.

The fictional town of Cobbleton had the backdrop of Elm Hill – a historic, cobbled street known for its medieval half-timbered buildings.

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For a double whammy, and fans of the 2007 film Stardust should known that this film was also filmed in Elm Hill.

How to get there: Take a train to Norwich station, and the picturesque street of Elm Hill is just 14 minutes’ walk away.

There are some well-known Christmas markets dotted across Europe, but there’s one fairytale location that boasts more than 200 stalls and is just two hours from the UK

It’s that time of the year when many of us are turning our attention to booking that famed Christmas market trip for the ultimate yuletide to wander around charming chalets while hugging a warming cup of mulled wine. With thousands dotted across Europe, there’s a catalogue to choose from, but there’s one that offers something rather unique for some festive merriment.

Italy might not spring to mind when you think of Christmas markets, but in fact, it has one of the most magical, nestled in Verona. While the Italian city is famed as the setting for Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, with its Roman ruins and Renaissance buildings, it welcomes just as much jollity as any other European city, if not more.

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From November 21 to December 28, the Verona Christmas market, located in Piazza dei Signori, graces and dazzles the city with festive charm. More than 200 stalls adorn the square offering traditional gift inspiration, artisan products and seasonal treats in one of Italy’s most beautiful cities.

Christmas trees and glittering lights decorate the market, while the aromas of gingerbread and mulled wine fill the air. Unlike many other European Christmas markets, in Verona, you can even ride a horse-drawn carriage in a truly magnificent experience as you pass illuminated palaces.

Expected to return this year is the incredible star installation at Piazza Bra, which has previously been one of the most iconic sights in the city, and is perfect for a festive snap! The Verona Christmas market takes inspiration from one of the oldest and most famous German markets in Nuremberg, which is said to be the “birthplace of this cherished tradition”.

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It’s the ideal spot for some Christmas shopping, with the charming cabins filled with handmade souvenirs, ceramics, jewellery, soaps, liqueurs, and wooden and wool items. There’s also plenty of flavours to taste, from steaming-hot pearà, creamy sauce served with pork sausage and rustic bread, to sausage sandwiches and German-style bretzels and bratwurst.

There is also an abundance of sweet treats from luxury chocolate, a warming cup of mulled wine, known as vin brulè in Italy, or a refreshing boccale of a craft ale. And a visit here isn’t complete without sampling Verona’s famous Christmas cake, pandoro – a fluffy sweet bread similar to panettone, known as ‘golden bread’, that was created in 1894 by patissier Domenico Melegatti.

In addition to the market, festive celebrations will be spread far and wide in the city with Christmas concerts, theatre and ballet shows, along with an International Exhibition called ‘Nativities from the World’ taking place. There will also be Verona’s Christmas run, New Year’s Eve celebrations in Piazza Bra, and a New Year’s concert, along with fun-packed activities for children, including the House of Santa Claus, the Enchanted Forest, and ice-skating rinks in Piazza Sacco e Vanzetti.

Visitors have praised the Verona Christmas market, as one wrote on TripAdvisor: “I say well hidden because all the tourist maps say it’s there but I eventually found it, and there was a Christmas market going on, and the buildings around it are beautiful – well worth a visit.”

Direct flights from London to Verona start from £20, with the flight duration just under two hours for a festive winter getaway.

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

Pope Leo XIV spoke about his upcoming first foreign trip as pontiff, a day before he is set to depart to Turkiye and Lebanon “to visit the beloved peoples of those countries rich in history and spirituality”.

It has been a whiplash-inducing month for the American rancher, one of United States President Donald Trump’s most steadfast voting blocs.

Starting with an October 19 quip from Trump that the US would increase beef imports from Argentina to the ensuing rancher backlash against the announcement of an investigation into the hyperconsolidated US meatpacking industry and the dropping of tariffs on Brazilian beef, ranchers have found themselves caught between the president’s desires to appease both them and the American consumer in the face of high beef prices.

US ranchers have enjoyed rising cattle prices, largely the result of the lowest herd numbers for beef cattle since the 1950s. Other factors constricting supply include the closure of the Mexican border to live cattle due to concerns over screwworm and steep tariffs on foreign beef.

Cattle prices paid to ranchers are separate from consumer beef prices, which, as of September, were $6.32 for a pound (453 grams) of ground beef, an 11 percent rise from September 2024 when they were $5.67 a pound. The Bureau of Labor Statistics did not release economic data, including the consumer price index for last month, because of the government shutdown.

Trump had no patience for the typically loyal ranchers objecting to his plan to import more Argentinian beef, which they saw as a threat to their recent economic gains.

“If it weren’t for me, they would be doing just as they’ve done for the past 20 years – Terrible! It would be nice if they would understand that,” Trump wrote in an October post on his Truth Social platform.

While Corbitt Wall, a commercial cattle manager and market analyst, is clear that he “totally supports Trump and everything he does”, he also saw hubris and a misunderstanding of the cattle industry by the president.

“There was not a person in the cattle business on any level that was not insulted by that post,” he told Al Jazeera.

Wall religiously follows prices across the cattle trade from ranch to slaughterhouse and has watched the futures market for cattle slide down by more than 15 percent since Trump’s October 21 announcement.

Futures prices dictate what ranchers can expect to sell cattle for down the line and sway current sale prices as well. For ranchers’ sake, Wall said he hopes Trump leaves the cattle market alone.

“He doesn’t live in this world, in this cattle world, and doesn’t realise the impact that a statement can make in our business,” Wall said.

Years of rough seasons

Oregon rancher David Packham said that while cattle prices have jumped in ranchers’ favour, many are still struggling in the face of years of rough seasons.

Years of drought across the country raised feed costs for all and pushed some ranchers to sell off cattle. Sticker prices on farm equipment from tractors to pick-up trucks have ballooned as well, especially on the back of supply chain challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, and are expected to rise further on account of Trump’s tariffs.

Packham said he has regularly sold cattle at a loss and doesn’t want consumers to think ranchers are living high off the hog.

“I’m looking at a 40-year-old tractor that I use on a daily basis just to keep putting off replacing it, making repairs, although it’s difficult to find parts for now, just to keep it limping along because I couldn’t afford $100,000 for a new tractor,” Packham said. “When I say we’re not really making a whole lot of money, it’s because we have all this loss carryover.”

Packham was a registered Republican until Trump’s first term. The president’s Argentina comments and the subsequent chaos for the cattle industry have propped open a door for ranchers critical of Trump, but they represent a minority within the community, he said.

“I’m noticing more and more of them [ranchers] that had been cautiously neutral, that are now kind of like me and just saying, ‘You know what? No. This is bulls***. He’s a train wreck,’” Packham said.

‘Perennial issue’

One action ranchers can support, however, is Trump’s November 7 announcement of a Department of Justice investigation into the big four US meatpackers – Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef – “for potential collusion, price fixing and price manipulation”.

Historically, ranchers looking to sell cattle have held little negotiating power as the four companies control more than 80 percent of the market.

However, a prior Department of Justice investigation into meatpacker price-fixing was started under the first Trump administration in 2020 due to a gulf created by falling cattle prices and rising consumer beef prices. The investigation continued under President Joe Biden’s administration but was never publicly concluded. According to Bloomberg News, the investigation was quietly closed with no findings just weeks before Trump announced the November antitrust probe.

James MacDonald, a research professor in agricultural and resource economics at the University of Maryland, views the administration’s antitrust investigation announcement as “entirely for political consumption”.

“It is a perennial issue that p***es off ranchers, and you can gain some political ground by attacking the packers,” MacDonald said.

Packham would prefer the new investigation to come at a different time and said that given the squeeze from the tight cattle market, packers are operating under slimmer margins and not from a position of absolute power.

On Friday, Tyson announced the closure of a Nebraska beef-processing plant that employed more than 3,000 people. MacDonald called the decision a “shock” indicative of the depths of the US beef shortage. The current low cattle inventory in the US came from years of drought, which wiped out grazing lands and slowed herd rebuilding. Replenishing the cattle supply chain is a years-long process.

“That’s sort of a fact and a fundamental, and it’s not going to change for a while,” MacDonald said.

MacDonald also doesn’t believe the increased Argentina imports will ease this shortage or lower prices as the country largely sends lower-grade, lean beef to the US, accounting for only 2 percent of imports. He expected that while the reintroduction of largely lean Brazilian beef will impact the import market, it holds less weight on overall beef supply.

McDonald also cited heifer retention numbers, which indicate how many female cattle that ranchers hold back to produce future herds years down the line, which are still low.

Tyson likely factored in these numbers when making the decision to shutter its Nebraska plant, and it doesn’t seem like the industry is expecting herd numbers to rebound either, McDonald told Al Jazeera.

“It’s Tyson saying we don’t think cattle supplies are going to recover anytime soon,” MacDonald said.

While the actual mechanisms of Trump’s recent policies might not budge consumers’ bottom lines or change the cattle market for the time being, Wall is more concerned about the ripple effects from the news cycle, saying ranchers “live and die” by the cattle markets. While his faith is shaken, Wall regardless believes that ranchers, conservative as ever, will show up for Trump when election time comes around.

“You look at what the other side has to offer, and there’s no way people are going to go for that,” Wall said. “So in the long run, they’ll stick with him.”

Spartacus has been missing from our screens for 12 years but now a new bloody era is on the horizon

Spartacus: House of Ashur is on the way, breathing new life into the unforgettable violent period drama.

The long-awaited series is going to be set in an unfamiliar world as not only does cunning Ashur (played by Nick Tarabay) survive his horrific series three death, he thrives.

Brought to life on MGM+ and Starz in the US, Spartacus: House of Ashur comes 12 years after the original Spartacus series came to an end.

As the wait is almost over for the iconic show to return, here’s everything there is to know about watching Spartacus: House of Ashur.

When will Spartacus: House of Ashur premiere?

There is just a matter of days left before the drama’s big debut with Spartacus: House of Ashur starting on Friday, December 5, on Starz in the US and Saturday, December 6 on MGM+ in the UK.

Those in the UK can get access to MGM+, which also features the Power franchise and Outlander, via an add-on subscription within Prime Video

The show’s confirmed release has been a long time coming with news of the spin-off first being announced back in 2023.

Spartacus: House of Ashur episode count and release schedule

Spartacus: House of Ashur is going to consist of 10 episodes with only the first two instalments dropping on December 5 and December 6. From this point on, a single episode is going to be released on the same days every week, continuing to bring this epic story to life.

And as long as there are no delays to the schedule, this means that the grand finale is going to be out on Friday, January 30, in the US and Saturday, January 31, in the UK. But fans are going to have to stay tuned in to find out how it all plays out.

Spartacus: House of Ashur cast

Actor Nick Tarabay will be reprising his devious role of Ashur from the original Spartacus series for his own spin-off House of Ashur. As this is an alternate reality, he will be joined by an abundance of new faces including Outlander icon Graham McTavis as Korris.

Other new cast members include Tenika Davis as Achillia, Jamaica Vaughn as Hilara, Ivana Baquero as Messia and Jordi Webber as Tarchon.

The only other original star to briefly join Tarabay in House of Ashur is actress Lucy Lawless as Lucretia. An early released clip has teased her appearing in the underworld where she once again comes face to face with Ashur.

Julius Caesar will be portrayed by actor Jackson Gallagher, a role which had previously been taken on by actor Todd Lascance. It was planned that Lascance would reprise the role but wasn’t able to due to scheduling conflicts with NCIS Sydney.

What is Spartacus: House of Ashur about?

As previously mentioned, Spartacus: House of Ashur is a spin-off from the original Spartacus drama which will be set in an alternate reality. It delves into what could have happened if Ashur hadn’t been decapitated on Mount Vesuvius 12 years ago.

Instead, Ashur has been gifted the gladiator school which had once been owned by Batiatus (John Hannah) as a reward for helping the Romans kill Spartacus and ending the slave rebellion. While Ashur may have been given all that he desired, will he truly be happy with his second chance?

Spartacus: House of Ashur will premiere on Friday, December 5, on Starz in the US and Saturday, December 6, on MGM+ in the UK.

When it comes to European Christmas markets, Germany is famous for their annual holiday tradition as streets are transformed into festive winter wonderlands – but there’s one that is perhaps one of the country’s most famous

Christmas markets have been a long-standing and beloved tradition in Germany, with the country famous for its spectacular festivities that festoon the streets. Berlin alone is said to have more than 60 Christmas markets, but there’s one outside the capital that has often been overlooked, and it’s less than two hours from the UK.

The Nuremberg Christmas market, also known as Christkindlesmarkt, is one of the oldest and most renowned in the world. Each year, traditional wooden chalets, known as “the little city of wood and cloth”, decorate the German city with colourful sparkling lights, and the aroma of gingerbread and Spekulatius almond cookies fills the air.

This Christmas market features around 180 wooden stalls, adorned with red and white tablecloths, offering a diverse range of traditional gifts, from Christmas decorations, handmade wooden figures, glass globes, miniature buildings, alpaca wool socks, jewellery, plant-based body care, homemade honey, and spiced candles.

Furthermore, there’s plenty to choose from for a festive treat, from the famed Nuremberg bratwurst to roast sausages, potato fritters, or a ‘Feuerzangenbowle’, along with red wine and rum punch. Not to mention, the city’s famous sweet treats, including gingerbread, blueberry mulled wine, chocolate gold coins, stollen, and cherry cobbler in a jar.

In addition to the market, numerous events are taking place in the city during the festivities, including live music, Christmas exhibitions, and church services. Next to the Christkindlesmarkt, there’s even a special ‘Christmas City’ specifically tailored for children to enjoy, boasting a two-tiered merry-go-round, a mini Ferris wheel and a steam railway.

There are also mini houses decorated for the yuletide event, where kids can participate in various activities, such as baking and decorating teddy bears or hearts from honey cake dough. The little ones can also write a letter to Santa Claus and send it at the mini post office, or try their hand at candle-making

In its yearly tradition, the opening of the Nuremberg Christmas Market takes place on the Friday before the first day of Advent, as people line the Main Market Square with the sound of trumpets and choir singers filling the air. The Christmas lights will be turned on during the opening, and then, amid the spotlight, the Nuremberg Christkind will recite a famous prologue.

The Nuremberg Christmas Market will run from November 29 to December 24. The opening ceremony will take place at 5.30pm on November 28.

Nuremberg, located in the southwestern part of Germany, is the largest city in Franconia and the second-largest city in the German state of Bavaria, so there’s plenty to explore away from the Christmas market. You can wander through the Old Town, visit the medieval Imperial Castle, and take a guided tour of the city’s underground passages, or soak up the bustling city nightlife.

Direct flights from London to Nuremberg start from £15, with a duration of just 1 hour and 45 minutes. Additionally, you can stay at the Park Plaza Nuremberg hotel, which is conveniently located near the Christmas market, starting from approximately £58 per night.

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

Christmas markets are not exactly known for being a budget day out. However, research has pinpointed the cheapest Christmas market in Europe, and it’s in a little-known city not many tourists visit

A day at a Christmas market in the UK can be a pricey undertaking. With reports coming out of traders charging £9.50 for hot chocolate and £8 for bratwurst at Manchester Christmas market, it’s no surprise that people are looking to the continent for more affordable alternatives.

Card terminal provider SumUp has put together a list of Europe’s cheapest Christmas markets, and taking the number one slot is a little-known city in Poland which doesn’t tend to be on most tourist’s radar.

Poznan, the fifth-largest city in Poland, is often overlooked by visitors who flock to Warsaw or Krakow, but its beautiful Renaissance-era old town is the perfect backdrop for a Christmas market, and in the winter it has serious cosy, festive vibes.

Best of all, flights to Poznan take just over two hours from London, and just a few minutes more from regional airports, so you can choose to fly from Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, or Edinburgh. Flights in December cost as little as £30 each way from London Stansted on Ryanair, and budget airlines such as Wizz Air also cover this route.

According to the data, a one-night stay in Poznan will set you back as little as £30.40, while enjoying a beer at the Christmas market will cost as little as £2.50.

The market, known locally as Betlejem Poznańskie, takes place in Stary Rynek – the Old Town Square, famous for its ornate Renaissance and Baroque-era buildings. It’s particularly beautiful when lit with thousands of Christmas lights, with cosy wooden stalls selling Christmas gifts dotted along the square. There’s also a twinkling Ferris wheel and ice rink to add to the festive atmosphere.

It runs from November 15 to January 6, and in addition to the market stalls and rides, there’s a program of entertainment, including carolers, Christmas shows, silent discos, and opportunities to meet Santa.

From December 12 to 14, the city hosts its annual ice festival, featuring numerous ice sculptures throughout the square. There are also ice carving events, and even workshops where kids can give it a try themselves.

While visiting the city, take a trip to the 10th-century Poznan Cathedral, one of the oldest churches in Poland. This grand cathedral has a unique underground crypt you can visit, which is the resting place of many of the country’s earliest leaders. An unusual attraction in Poznan is the Croissant Museum, which offers interactive shows and exhibitions about the history and process of making St Marin Croissants. Filled with nuts and fruit, these Polish pastries are different to the French delicacies. And don’t worry, there’s a tasting at the end.

It’s also worth visiting the Muzeum Narodowe w Poznaniu, a national museum which includes works from European and Polish artists including Monet and Delaroche.

Poznan has many unique and boutique hotels to choose from. Perhaps the most unusual is Blow Up Hall 5050, a mixture of an art project, stylish hotel, and sci-fi movie. This design hotel has an impressive array of art on display, and If you wander into the public spaces, your face may end up in one of its video installations. The rooms have no numbers or keys, you use an interactive screen to get into your room. But if you enjoy an unconventional hotel experience, it’s a place you might enjoy.

For a more traditional experience, stay at the Hotel Palazzo Rosso Old Town, which is just a few minutes’ walk from the market. This boutique hotel is situated in a historic tenement building and features an on-site cafe and bar, an Italian restaurant, and comfortable rooms with rustic, exposed brickwork that adds to the cosy feel.

Have a story you want to share? Email us at webtravel@reachplc.com

The Spanish island of La Graciosa has no roads or cars, boasts the largest marine reserve in Europe, and is perfect for hiking. Best of all, it’s basking in balmy 22C temperatures this week

If you’re looking for a holiday destination that will let you escape the winter chill, traffic noise and festive stress, then Spanish island La Graciosa, is your ideal getaway. With no cars, Europe’s largest marine reserve, and perfect hiking conditions, it’s a paradise.

Even as we brace ourselves against frosty mornings, La Graciosa enjoys a balmy 22C this week, with its coldest days rarely falling below 16C. Rain is also a rarity, making any time of year perfect for a visit.

One of the unique features of La Graciosa is its lack of traffic, owing to the absence of paved roads. In fact, it’s the only European island without a road, making it the most untouched of all the Canary Islands.

With just a few hundred permanent residents and no mass tourism, the locals travel by bicycle along sandy paths.

From atop the Risco de Famara, La Graciosa appears like a golden mirage amidst the Atlantic: a strip of golden sand, silent and luminous. Its sandy paths and tranquil atmosphere make it the most secluded and serene of the Canary Islands.

In line with its minimalistic approach to tourism, the island offers a small but well-maintained range of accommodation options. These are mainly located in Caleta de Sebo, where guesthouses, apartments and a fully-equipped camping area can be found.

With the limited availability of holiday accommodation, it’s recommended to book well ahead, particularly for summer, Easter, Christmas or during July’s Carmen festivities when the island is buzzing with an unusual festive spirit.

La Graciosa is conveniently located near Europe’s largest marine reserve. Excursions from La Graciosa take you to the islets of the Chinijo Archipelago Marine Reserve, a 70,700-hectare natural sanctuary.

Here, the crystal-clear waters offer a glimpse of the seabed and remote beaches where you can escape from reality. The Marine Reserve is a biological treasure chest, home to a variety of seabirds nesting in its cliffs.

On the nearby islets, a small population of monk seals, largely hunted to extinction elsewhere in the world, still clings on.

Roque del Este houses the Integral Reserve, an area accessible only to scientists where nature continues undisturbed by human interference.

To reach the stunning island of La Graciosa, Brits will need to fly to Lanzarote first, with flights from London as cheap as £39 in December. From there, a 45-minute taxi ride will take you to the port of Orzola, where a short 25-minute ferry ride will transport you to this secluded paradise.

WILLOWS — As hospital staff carted away medical equipment from abandoned patient rooms, Theresa McNabb, 74, roused herself and painstakingly applied make-up for the first time in weeks, finishing with a mauve lipstick that made her eyes pop.

“I feel a little anxiety,” McNabb said. She was still taking multiple intravenous antibiotics for the massive infection that had almost killed her, was unsteady on her feet and was unsure how she was going to manage shopping and cooking food for herself once she returned to her apartment after six weeks in the hospital.

But she couldn’t stay at Glenn Medical Center. It was closing.

The hospital — which for more than seven decades has treated residents of its small farm town about 75 miles north of Sacramento, along with countless victims of car crashes on nearby Interstate 5 and a surprising number of crop-duster pilots wounded in accidents — shut its doors on October 21.

McNabb was the last patient.

Registered nurse Ronald Loewen, 74, checks on one of the last few patients. Loewen, a resident of Glenn County and a former Mennonite school teacher, said the hospital closing is “a piece of our history gone.”

Nurses and other hospital workers gathered at her room to ceremonially push her wheelchair outside and into the doors of a medical transport van. Then they stood on the lawn, looking bereft.

They had all just lost their jobs. Their town had just lost one of its largest employers. And the residents — many of whom are poor— had lost their access to emergency medical care. What would happen to all of them now? Would local residents’ health grow worse? Would some of them die preventable deaths?

These are questions that elected officials and policymakers may soon be confronting in rural communities across California and the nation. Cuts to Medicaid funding and the Affordable Care Act are likely rolling down from Washington D.C. and hitting small hospitals already teetering at the brink of financial collapse. Even before these cuts hit, a 2022 study found that half of the hospitals in California were operating in the red. Already this fall: Palo Verde Hospital in Blythe filed for bankruptcy and Southern Inyo Hospital in Lone Pine sought emergency funds.

But things could get far worse: A June analysis released by four Democrats in the U.S. Senate found that many more hospitals in California could be at risk of closure in the face of federal healthcare cuts.

“It’s like the beginning of a tidal wave,” said Peggy Wheeler, vice president of policy of the California Hospital Association. “I’m concerned we will lose a number of rural hospitals, and then the whole system may be at risk.”

1

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1. Medical assistant Kylee Lutz, 26, right, hugs activities coordinator Rita Robledo on closing day. Lutz, who will continue to work in the clinic that remains open, said through tears, “It’s not going to be the same without you ladies.” 2. Rose Mary Wampler, 88, sees physician assistant Chris Pilaczynski at the clinic. Wampler, who lives alone across the street from Glenn Medical Center, said, “Old people can’t drive far away. I’m all by myself, I would just dial 9-1-1.”

Glenn Medical’s financing did not collapse because of the new federal cuts. Rather, the hospital was done in by a federal decision this year to strip the hospital’s “Critical Access” designation, which enabled it to receive increased federal reimbursement. The hospital, though it is the only one in Glenn County, is just 32 miles from the nearest neighboring hospital under a route mapped by federal officials — less than the 35 miles required under the law. Though that distance hasn’t changed, the federal government has now decided to enforce its rules.

Local elected officials and hospital administrators fought for months to convince the federal government to grant them an exception. Now, with the doors closed, policy experts and residents of Willows said they are terrified by the potential consequences.

“People are going to die,” predicted Glenn County Supervisor Monica Rossman. She said she feared that older people in her community without access to transportation will put off seeking care until it is too late, while people of all ages facing emergency situations won’t be able to get help in time.

Kellie Amaru, a licensed vocational nurse who has worked at Glenn Medical Center for four years, reacts after watching a co-worker leave after working their final shift at the hospital.

But even for people who don’t face a life or death consequence, the hospital’s closure is still a body blow, said Willows Vice Mayor Rick Thomas. He and others predicted many people will put off routine medical care, worsening their health. And then there’s the economic health of the town.

Willows, which sits just east of I-5 in the center of the Sacramento Valley, has a proud history stretching back nearly 150 years in a farm region that now grows rice, almonds and walnuts. About 6,000 people live in the town, which has an economic development webpage featuring images of a tractor, a duck and a pair of hunters standing in the tall grass.

“We’ve lost 150 jobs already from the hospital [closing],” Thomas said. “I’m very worried about what it means. A hospital is good for new business. And it’s been hard enough to attract new business to the town.”

Dismantling ‘a legacy of rural healthcare’

From the day it started taking patients on Nov. 21,1950, Glenn General Hospital (as it was then called) was celebrated not just for its role in bringing medical care to the little farm town, but also for its role in helping Willows grow and prosper.

“It was quite state-of-the-art back in 1950,” said Lauren Still, the hospital’s chief administrative officer.

When the hospital’s first baby was born a few days later — little Glenda May Nieheus clocked in at a robust 8 pounds, 11 ounces — the arrival was celebrated on the front page of the Willows Daily Journal.

But as a small hospital in a small town, the institution struggled almost immediately. Within a few years, according to a 1957 story in the local newspaper, the hospital was already grappling with the problem of nurses leaving in droves for higher-paying positions elsewhere. A story the following year revealed that hospital administrators were forcing a maintenance worker to step in as an ambulance driver on weekends — without the requisite chauffeur’s license — to save money.

In a sign of how small the town is, that driver was Still’s boyfriend’s grandfather.

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1. A customer walks into Willows Hardware store. 2. Cheerleaders perform during Willows High School’s Homecoming JV football game against Durham at Willows High School. 3. The press box at Willows High School’s football field is decorated with previous Northern Section CIF Championship wins.

Still, the institution endured, its grassy campus and low-slung wings perched proudly on the east end of town. Generations of the town’s babies were born there. As they grew up, they went into the emergency room for X-rays, stitches and treatment for fevers and infections. Their parents and grandparents convalesced there and sometimes died there, cared for by nurses who were part of the community.

“They saved my brother’s life. They saved my dad’s life,” said Keith Long, 34, who works at Red 88, an Asian fusion restaurant in downtown Willows that is a popular lunch spot for hospital staff.

Glenn Medical’s finances, however, often faltered. Experts in healthcare economics say rural hospitals like Glenn Medical generally have fewer patients than suburban and urban communities, and those patients tend to be older and sicker, meaning they are more expensive to treat. What’s more, a higher share of those patients are low-income and enrolled in Medi-Cal and Medicare, which generally has lower reimbursement rates than private insurance. Smaller hospitals also cannot take advantage of economies of scale the way bigger institutions can, nor can they bring the same muscle to negotiations for higher rates with private insurance companies.

Across California, in the first decades of the 20th century, rural hospitals were running out of money and closing their doors.

T-Ann Pearce, who has worked at Glenn Medical Center for six years, sits in the medical surgical unit during one of her last shifts with only a few remaining patients left to care.

In 2000, Glenn Medical went bankrupt, but was saved when it was awarded the “Critical Access” designation by the federal government that allowed it to receive higher reimbursement rates, Still said.

But by late 2017, the hospital was in trouble again.

A private for-profit company, American Advanced Management, swooped to the rescue of Glenn Medical and a nearby hospital in Colusa County, buying them and keeping them open. The Modesto-based company specializes in buying distressed rural hospitals and now operates 14 hospitals in California, Utah and Texas.

The hospital set about building back its staff and improving its reputation for patient care in the community, which had been tarnished in part by the 2013 death of a young mother and her unborn baby.

“We’ve been on an upswing,” Still said, noting that indicators of quality of care and patient satisfaction have risen dramatically in recent years.

Then came the letter from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. On April 23, the federal agency wrote Glenn Medical’s management company with bad news: A recent review had found that Glenn Medical was “in noncompliance” with “distance requirements.” In plain English, federal officials had looked at a map and determined that Glenn Medical was not 35 miles from the nearest hospital by so-called main roads as required by law — it was just 32. Nor was it 15 miles by secondary roads. The hospital was going to lose its Critical Access designation. The hit to the hospital’s budget would be about 40% of its $28 million in net revenue. It could not survive that cut.

At first, hospital officials said they weren’t too worried.

“We thought, there’s no way they’re going to close down hospitals” over a few miles of road, Still, the hospital’s chief executive, said.

Especially, Still said, because it appeared there were numerous California hospitals in the same pickle. A 2013 federal Inspector General Report found that a majority of the 1,300 Critical Access hospitals in the country do not meet the distance requirement. That includes dozens in California.

Still and other hospital officials flew to Washington D.C. to make their case, sure that when they explained that one of the so-called main roads that connects Glenn Medical to its nearest hospital wasn’t actually one at all, and often flooded in the winter, the problem would be solved. The route everyone actually used, she said, was 35.7 miles.

“No roads have changed. No facilities have moved,” administrators wrote to federal officials. “And yet this CMS decision now threatens to dismantle a legacy of rural health care stability.”

Without it, the administrator wrote, “lives will be lost for certain.”

But, Still said, their protestations fell on deaf ears.

In August came the final blow: Glenn Medical would lose its Critical Access funding by April 2026.

The news set off a panic not just in Glenn County but at hospitals around the state.

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1. A bicyclist passes by Glenn Medical Center. First opened to patients on November 21, 1950, the center was called Glenn General Hospital then. 2. A member of the staff signs a farewell board on closing day at Glenn Medical Center on October 21, 2025.

At least three other hospitals got letters from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid saying their Critical Access status was under review, Wheeler said: Bear Valley Community Hospital in Big Bear Lake, George L. Mee Memorial in Monterey County and Santa Ynez Valley Cottage Hospital in Solvang. The hospitals in Monterey and Big Bear Lake provided data demonstrating they met the requirements for the status.

Cottage Hospital, however, did not, despite showing that access in and out of the area where the hospital is located was sometimes blocked by wildfires or rockslides.

Cottage Hospital officials did not respond to questions about what that might mean for their facility.

Asked about these situations, officials at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid said the law does not give the agency flexibility to consider factors such as weather, for example, in designating a critical assess hospital. They added the hospital must demonstrate there is no driving route that would make it ineligible based on driving distances included in the statute.

Jeff Griffiths, a county supervisor in Inyo County who is also the president of the California Assn. of Counties, said he has been following the grim hospital financing news around the state with mounting worry.

The hospital in his county, Southern Inyo, came close to running out of money earlier this year, he said, and with more federal cuts looming, “I don’t know how you can expect these hospitals to survive.”

“It’s terrifying for our area,” Griffiths said, noting that Inyo County, which sits on the eastern side of the Sierra, has no easy access to any medical care on the other side of the giant mountain peaks.

‘This is the final call’

In Willows, once word got out that the hospital would lose its funding, nurses began looking for new jobs.

By late summer, so many people had left that administrators realized they had no choice but to shutter the emergency room, which closed Sept. 30.

Helena Griffith, 62, one of the last patients, waves goodbye as patient transport Jolene Guerra pushes her wheelchair down the hallway on October 20, 2025.

Through it all, McNabb, the 74-year-old patient receiving intravenous antibiotics, remained in her bed, getting to know the nurses who buzzed around her.

She became aware that when they weren’t caring for her, many of them were trying to figure out what they would do with their lives once they lost their jobs.

On the hospital’s last day, nurse Amanda Shelton gifted McNabb a new sweater to wear home.

When McNabb gushed over the sweetness of the gesture, Shelton teared up. “It’s not every day that it will be the last patient I’ll ever have,” she told her.

As McNabb continued to gather her things, Shelton retreated to the hospital’s recreation room, where patients used to gather for games or conversation.

With all the patients save McNabb gone, Shelton and some other hospital staff took up a game of dominoes, the trash talk of the game peppered with bittersweet remembrances of their time working in the creaky old building.

Registered nurse Ronald Loewen, 74, looks out the window on closing day at Glenn Medical Center on October 21, 2025. Loewen, who grew up and attended school in Willows, had four children delivered at Glenn Medical, two of them survived, and took care of former classmates at this hospital, says the hospital closing is, “a piece of our history gone.”

Shelton said she is not sure what is next for her. She loved Glenn Medical, she said, because of its community feel. Many people came for long stays or were frequent patients, and the staff was able to get to know them — and to feel like they were healing them.

“You got to know people. You got to know their family, or if they didn’t have any family,” you knew that too, she said. She added that in many hospitals, being a nurse can feel like being an extension of a computer. But at Glenn Medical, she said, “you actually got to look in someone’s eyes.”

The building itself was in dire shape, she noted. Nothing was up to modern code. It didn’t have central air conditioning, and it was heated by an old-fashioned boiler. “I mean, I have never even heard of a boiler room” before coming to work there, she said.

And yet within the walls, she said, “It’s community.”

Bradley Ford, the emergency room manager, said he felt the same way and was determined to pay tribute to all the people who had made it so.

At 7 p.m. on the emergency room’s last night of service, Ford picked up his microphone and beamed his voice out to the hospital and to all the ambulances, fire trucks and others tuned to the signal.

He had practiced his speech enough times that he thought he could get through it without crying — although during his rehearsals he had never yet managed it.

“This is the final call,” Ford said. “‘After 76 years of dedicated service, the doors are closing. Service is ending. On behalf of all the physicians, nurses and staff who have walked these halls, it is with heavy hearts that we mark the end of this chapter.”

Nurses and other staff members recorded a video of Ford making his announcement, and passed it among themselves, tearing up every time they listened to it.

In an interview after the hospital had closed, Ford said he was one of the lucky ones: He had found a new job.

It was close enough to his home in Willows that he could commute — although Ford said he wasn’t sure how long he would remain in his beloved little town without access to emergency medical care there.

Rose Mary Wampler, 88, waits to have blood drawn at the lab beside a cordoning off, signaling the closure of the hospital side of Glenn Medical Center, on October 22, 2025. Wampler lives alone across the street from the hospital.

Rose Mary Wampler, 88, has lived in Willows since 1954 and now resides in a little house across the street from the hospital. Her three children were born at Glenn Medical, and Wampler herself was a patient there for two months last year, when she was stricken with pneumonia and internal bleeding. She said she was fearful of the idea of driving more than 30 miles for healthcare elsewhere.

She looked out her window on a recent afternoon at the now-shuttered hospital.

“It looks like somebody just shut off the whole city, there’s nowhere to go get help,” she said.

Glenn Medical Center patient Richard Putnam, 86, closes the window in his hospital room. A month shy of it’s 75th year, the hospital closed on Oct 21, 2025.

(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

Times photographer Christina House contributed to this report.

RAIL passengers travelling on a major route can expect delays as planned engineering work gets underway.

Commuters are being advised to plan ahead of the partial line closure, which will affect a busy UK airport.

Essential engineering work is due to be carried out on the Brighton Main Line south of Gatwick Airport on Sunday, November 30.

The scheduled maintenance means no trains will be running between Gatwick, Brighton, Hove, Lewes or Horsham.

Passengers are advised to plan ahead, with buses set to replace services on the closed part of the route.

Planned works

All four tracks in this section are due to be closed as major work gets underway.

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Among Network Rail’s major package of works is the replacement of sections of the track.

This will take place at Tinsley Green Junction near Crawley, at Three Bridges, and between Copyhold Junction and the Ouse Valley viaduct.

Meanwhile, drainage systems at Wivelsfield station will also be renewed and maintenance will also take place at Keymer level crossing and other locations.

According to Network Rail, these improvements are vital to keep services safe and reliable.

Lucy McAuliffe, Network Rail’s Sussex route director spoke to Sussex Express about the planned works.

“We know closing the railway is frustrating, and we are sorry for the disruption this causes,” she said.

“This work is essential for us as we try and prevent speed restrictions or emergency closures occurring in the future, which would cause even bigger delays at these locations and on the wider rail network.”

She went on to thank passengers for their understanding, and advised them to “plan ahead and check before you travel if you are travelling on Sunday, November 30, as your journey will take longer”.

Alternative routes

As well as replacement buses, a diverted Southern train service will run between Brighton and London Victoria calling at Hove, Shoreham-by-Sea, Worthing, Angmering, Littlehampton, Horsham, and Clapham Junction.

Anyone travelling between Brighton and London on the affected date is strongly advised to use this train service rather than the limited replacement bus service.

Passengers are also reminded that travelling by replacement buses on routes between Brighton, Lewes, Haywards Heath, or and Gatwick Airport, they will require a transfer.

Commuters will need to change buses at Three Bridges for a separate shuttle bus service between Three Bridges and Gatwick Airport.

This is due to insufficient space at Gatwick Airport for the required temporary queuing systems.

The Three Bridges station car park will be converted into a temporary bus hub with different queues for buses serving various destinations.

To facilitate this bus hub, the station car park at Three Bridges will be closed from the evening of Saturday, November 29 until early morning Monday, December 1.

Jenny Saunders, customer services director for Govia Thameslink Railway, advised passengers to plan ahead.

“Any of our customers travelling between the coast and Gatwick this Sunday should please take note that this essential work is going to extend their journeys considerably,” she said.

“Please plan ahead at nationalrail.co.uk and check live running information online before you leave for the station.”

Further major works will also take place on the Brighton Main Line over three weekends in January, between Gatwick Airport and Purley and East Croydon.

Branch lines between Reigate and Redhill and Redhill to Tonbridge will also be affected by this work.

And there will be a closure between Three Bridges and Brighton on Sunday, February 1.

Replacement buses will run where trains are not operating, and detailed travel advice about those closures will be shared in December.

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Meanwhile, Christmas chaos is expected as train workers announce wave of strikes on four key dates.

British Airways and Ryanair have been forced to cancel flights to two major airports.

And Ryanair is also set to axe all flights to European islands often compared to Hawaii.

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A massive UK train station is shutting for nine days as part of an £8 million “once-in-a-generation” overhaul.

Plus, the UK’s busiest train station will shut for a week over Christmas causing chaos for millions.

He added: “The Chancellor has listened to our concerns and rightly recognised that racing is a unique national asset – culturally, socially and economically – and we welcome this support.

“We recognise that the increase in general taxation on the betting industry may have trickle-down effects on racing. We will work with our partners in the betting industry to understand the implications of this.”

Details of the government’s plans were mistakenly released early by the Office for Budget Responsibility before Reeves’ statement in the House of Commons.

The measures are expected to generate £1.1bn from the gambling industry by 2031 and shares in major companies fell immediately after the announcement, although some recovered later.

Before the Budget, bookmakers warned of betting shop closures if Reeves hiked taxes on gambling firms.

Each shop provides thousands of pounds in funding to racing through the levy and media rights payments.

Racing’s bosses say if bookmakers needed to cut costs, this could impact the sport through reduced sponsorship and promotion, worse odds and reduced bonuses for customers, and potentially turn people towards the black market.

An additional £26m of funding will be provided by the government to the Gambling Commission over the next three years to tackle the illicit market.

Nov. 26 (UPI) — A former British Royal Marine pleaded guilty to injuring dozens of people, including children and babies, after driving his car into a crowd of people at a soccer victory parade.

Paul Doyle, 54, on the first day of his trial, changed his initial pleas in 31 charges linked to driving his Ford Galaxy Titanium into a crowd of people celebrating the Liverpool FC soccer club’s Premier League title in May.

More than 130 injuries were reported after Doyle accelerated into the parade crowd, sending bodies flying off his car — two of whom were babies aged six and seven months — according to The Guardian.

On Wednesday, shocking the court, Doyle reversed his not guilty pleas entered the day before, answering guilty to all 31 charges, the BBC reported.

The charges include dangerous driving, causing grievous bodily harm with intent, wounding with intent and attempting to cause grievous bodily harm, prosecutors said.

“By entering guilty pleas, Doyle has finally accepted that he intentionally drove into crowds of innocent people during Liverpool FC’s victory parade,” Sarah Hammond, chief prosecutor on the case for the Crown Prosecution Service, during the court proceedings. “Driving a vehicle into a crowd is an act of calculated violence.”

“This was not a momentary lapse by Paul Doyle — it was a choice he made that day and it turned celebration into mayhem,” she said, noting that dashcam footage from his car showed that he had become “increasingly agitated by the crowds.”

Doyle, on May 26, drove down the street where the celebration was happening, and which had been closed to non-emergency vehicles, on the way to pick up friends, but lost his patience with the crowd, accelerating rapidly into it.

Although people in the celebration tried to pull him out of the car before he actually hit people — he initially claimed he was scared for his safety and pleaded innocent to intentionally ramming parade-goers — police said 134 people were injured in the melee and more than 50 people required hospitalization.

Doyle was initially charged with seven counts related to six people, prosecutors added another 24 charges in August based on some victims he had hit that were aged between six months and 77 years old after he intentionally drove his car into the crowd of soccer fans.

With the guilty pleas, Judge Andrew Menary KC will now consider Doyle’s sentence based on harm caused, the defendant himself and the effects of the crime on the community, which prosecutors have portrayed as significant.

The maximum sentence for the charges, according to the BBC, is life in prison.

“It is inevitable there will be a custodial sentence of some length and you should prepare yourself for that inevitability,” Menary told Doyle.

Sentencing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 15 and 16.