A HUGE rooftop with disco bowling, mini-golf and bottomless brunch has reopened for another summer.

Adults can embrace their inner child at a quirky “playground for grown-ups” in London.

One of the capital’s most whimsical venues, overlooking the city skyline, is back for the summer season.

Roof East has transformed the top of a Stratford car park into a full-blown rooftop playground for adults with a line-up of games, food, drinks and entertainment.

The venue has built a reputation as an “urban playground”, with visitors able to take part in everything from crazy golf and batting cages to archery, ping pong and lawn bowls.

This year’s relaunch sees the return of fan-favourites including mini-golf, competitive group games and interactive outdoor challenges, alongside themed nights and live entertainment.

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Foodies are also catered for with a rotating line-up of street food traders, while the bar serves cocktails, beers and frozen drinks perfect for sunny evenings.

Bottomless brunches are also back on the menu, giving groups the chance to pair food, drinks and games in one all-day experience.

The site also features an open-air cinema, where guests can settle into deckchairs and watch cult films and new releases under the stars.

Prices for the games vary with crazy golf starting at £10 while the batting cages cost upwards of £25.

Visitors are advised to book activities in advance to guarantee a spot, although there are still plenty of free games and attractions to enjoy without a reservation.

Roof East will stay open for the entire summer season until September 27, 2026.

May 22 (UPI) — A new American consulate opened in Nuuk, Greenland, Friday, and hundreds of Greenlanders showed up to protest it.

There has been a small consulate in the country since 2020, but the new one is 30,000 square feet and is on one of Nuuk’s busiest roads.

The consulate hosted an opening event with visitors and red, white and blue decorations inside. Ambassador to Denmark Kenneth Howery unveiled a new plaque and said he looked forward to a closer partnership with the semi-autonomous country, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

“The Arctic is clearly a region of global importance,” the BBC reported Howery said. “We will always be neighbors and be with you into whatever future you choose as allies and partners.”

But outside, the locals made their voices heard, chanting, “We don’t want your money” and “Greenlanders know a MAGA Trojan horse when we see one,” The New York Times reported.

The locals have dubbed the new consulate, “Trump Towers.”

Protest organizer Aqqalukkuluk Fontain, 37, said, “The waves they are trying to create, and the propaganda they are pushing — people are not falling for it.”

“Our government already told Donald Trump and his administration that Greenland is not for sale,” the BBC reported he said. “Our message is for the American people and to the rest of the world — that in a democratic world, no means no.”

The United States had thousands of troops stationed in Greenland during World War II and the Cold War, but the bases have all closed except one. American officials have begun visiting the old bases as they consider reopening some, The Times reported.

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Greenland Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry visited Nuuk on a “goodwill mission” and found he wasn’t very welcome. He handed out chocolate chip cookies and MAGA hats to few takers.

Inge Bisgaard told the BBC that Landry’s visit was disrespectful. “It’s so important to show this is not OK.”

“We get this fear from the United States. People were just recovering from last time, when it all began again in January,” she said about Trump’s previous comments about buying or invading Greenland.

Protesters stood for two minutes of silence with their backs facing the consulate, then resumed chanting for Americans to go away.

“Look at how little signage there is showing that it’s a consulate,” The Times reported protester Nivi Christensen, a museum director in Nuuk, said. “The other consulates fly large flags outside and are proud of it. This feels different. It feels as though they are doing it in a sketchy way.”

Special operations MH-47 Chinooks offloading fuel to other aircraft in the air is one possible future scenario that U.S. Army Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is eyeing as it begins to work out what the future Block III iteration of the twin-rotor helicopter might look like. While hypothetical at this stage, a Chinook capable of operating as an aerial refueling tanker could help address the command’s lack of organic tanker capacity and support its future air assault strategies.

Speaking at the annual SOF Week conference, senior SOCOM officers provided updates on the current status of the highly modified MH-47Gs that provide the heavy-lift muscle for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, or 160th SOAR, the famous Night Stalkers. As we have reported in the past on multiple occasions, these highly capable aircraft are frequently noted with different modifications cropping up around their airframes.

At this stage, however, SOCOM is beginning to draft possible requirements for the next iteration of special operations MH-47G — the Block III — expected to come online starting around 2032.

“Currently, we’re in Block II,” explained Sean Godfrey, product manager for the MH-47 at Army Special Operations Aviation Command. “We do not currently have what the Block III looks like, but that aircraft’s not going anywhere. It’s going to have to get upgraded over time.”

“Those next big things that we have to figure out would be how to get more out of the system,” Godfrey continued. “That would have to be enabling the aircraft to go further into more environments.” Another area of interest is increasing options for putting modular equipment on and off the aircraft, he added.

“That increased modularity to be able to rapidly take things on and off the aircraft to reconfigure it very quickly, to meet our mission requirements, is something that we’re always looking at,” added Dr. Steve Smith, SOCOM’s program executive officer for Rotary Wing.

“Anything that we do going forward, we’re going to try to make it as modular as possible. We want to go plug things in when we need them, unplug them, and take them off the aircraft when we don’t need them.”

Even with an aircraft offering the performance and capacity of the MH-47, preserving the allowable combat load is always at a premium. Increased modularity might include removing certain protection systems for operations in more-permissive environments, to give operators additional load. The same could be said for navigational systems, as well.

Smith continued: “There might be cases where I want to fill that aircraft with as much fuel as possible, and maybe that MH-47 becomes a flying FARP, and I put it somewhere, and we refuel other aircraft off of them.”

A FARP, or Forward Arming and Refueling Point, is essential for operating from austere forward bases along (or beyond) the battle lines.

This is already a key mission for the MH-47, with the 160th using these aircraft in “Fat Cow” configuration. Filled with extra tanks, the Chinook then serves as a gas station on the ground for other rotary-wing aircraft. This was a tactic famously used in the Bin Laden raid.

At a FARP, aircraft can quickly receive fuel and weapons, even without shutting down their engines. As a result, they can accelerate the fight by dramatically increasing sortie rates, or FARPs can extend the combat range of an aircraft. When it comes to just adding fuel, refueling in mid-air is an even more efficient way of doing this.

“Maybe, maybe we can do in-air refueling off of an MH-47,” Smith mused.

While he admitted that he was “just throwing stuff up against a wall,” at this point, Smith also acknowledged that having more modular systems could make that possible.

“Aerial refueling is an amazing capability,” Smith continued. “It allows us to do a lot of things, but that affects your allowable combat load, right? So, is there a way to do something modular for aerial refueling, so that the system could come on and off quickly, so that would allow us to get maybe something in country, rapidly reconfigured, and then do something else.”

For the Army, the demands for greater range and ability that cover those distances faster are seen as critical capabilities, particularly in the context of any future fight against China across the sprawling expanses of the Pacific.

According to Smith, SOCOM is already looking at the possibility of porting mission equipment from its forthcoming MV-75A Cheyenne II tiltrotors onto the MH-47 Block III, and potentially even the Block II or Block III MH-60 fleets. However, he admitted that, at this stage, there is no funding appropriated for this, or even a formal requirement.

When it comes to making Block III a reality for the MH-47, this would likely follow the same procedure that is currently used to produce special operations Chinooks.

For the MH-47G Block II, specifically, Godfrey explained that the procedure starts with selecting a legacy aircraft, some of which are now more than 60 years old. SOCOM then removes all the mission equipment and software equipment, Godfrey continued, and flies the aircraft to Delaware. Here, the aircraft is essentially torn apart, and the parts to be used are recapitalized and returned to the Boeing production line. After a multi-year process, the Chinook re-emerges as a black-painted MH-47 and then goes to have all its mission equipment fitted. Then it is delivered to the unit.

Once in SOCOM service, Smith explains that “We’re constantly trying to figure out the best ways to increase range, increase payload, increase speed, reduce weight, all while somehow holding flight-hour costs low. And all these things aren’t rolling in the same direction.”

The MH-47’s need for range is an enduring one and is reflected in its regular use of in-flight refueling itself, using the probe-and-drogue method, as also employed by SOCOM MH-60s. Already, the MH-47 features massive sponson fuel tanks compared to the standard Chinook, making them the longest-range assets of the 160th.

But whether or not some kind of palletized or modular aerial refueling capacity comes to the Chinook remains to be seen.

Expanding the “Fat Cow” role and taking the MH-47 tanker to the air would be very enticing for SOCOM. It would give them their own air-to-air refueling assets, rather than relying totally on the Air Force MC-130/HC-130 fleets. As it is, providing fuel at FARPs can be a very high-risk mission for SOCOM, considering they are often working in contested territory. If the same aircraft could be adapted to refuel MH-60s and MH-47s in the air, they would not have to land in some scenarios, and the Army wouldn’t need to call upon external refueling assets, which might not be available or cannot be risked.

It is also worth noting that questions have also emerged about how the Army will ensure there is adequate tanker capacity to support its aerial-refueling-capable MV-75s. As delivered, all Cheyenne IIs will have the capacity to have a probe fitted, the Army has confirmed, even those in non-SOCOM units, although the exact mix of how many ‘big Army’ MV-75s will get the probe and how many won’t is yet to be determined. Bell, the MV-75’s prime contractor, and the Army have both suggested that tanker drones like the U.S. Navy’s forthcoming MQ-25 Stingray could help extend the Cheyenne II’s reach. An adapted MH-47 could provide another answer, although one with drastically different performance.

Recent operations in South America and in the Middle East have underscored the need for long-range missions by Special Operations Aviation Command. The prospect of a potential conflict with China across the vast expanses of the Pacific means that longer-range platforms, of all kinds, are an increasing area of interest, and the 160th’s heavy-lifting, far-flying Chinooks are no exception.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Audiences are intrigued by the star portraying the brand-new character in the Disney+ series

Rivals season two is heating up with new additions arriving in Rutshire.

The beloved Disney+ show recently returned to screens with a super-sized season two and a total of 12 episodes for audiences to get their teeth stuck into.

The new series of Rivals picked up straight off the back of the last outing as Tony Baddingham (played by David Tennant) planned to exact revenge on his Venturer TV rivals Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) and Declan O’ Hara (Aidan Turner).

Season two also brought into the fold some new faces in the form of Maxim Ays from The Larkins and Sanditon as Sebbie Carlisle and Wolfblood actor Bobby Lockwood portraying Dommie Carlisle.

Meanwhile, Marvel’s Agent Carter and Heartstopper star Hayley Atwell took on the part of the MP’s ex-wife and mother to his two children, Helen Gordon.

But what about her husband Malise Gordon, who was also Campbell-Black’s former show-jumping coach and mentor?

Here’s the lowdown on the star playing Malise in Rivals season two.

Who plays Malise in Rivals?

Malise is played by Hollywood star Rupert Everett, who is perhaps best known for 90s romcom My Best Friend’s Wedding alongside Julia Roberts and period drama An Ideal Husband.

With a career dating back to the 80s, Everett has had roles across film and TV and various genres.

Some of his previous projects include BBC ’s The Musketeers in which he starred opposite Rivals star Luke Pasqualino, The Happy Prince, Parade’s End, My Policeman, Everybody Loves Diamond, and The Serpent Queen.

Some of his more recent roles have included appearing in Nicola Coughlan ’s Channel 4 series Big Mood, Netflix ’s Emily in Paris and Madfabulous.

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According to IMDb, Everett will be appeared in The Liar, The Resurrection of the Christ parts 2 and two and Out Late.

Speaking to the Radio Times about the dynamic between Campbell-Black and the Gordons, star Hassell teased that the couple had “really strong, fairly negative feelings” about the amorous politician and former Olympian.

Despite this, the pair were also “protective” towards Campbell-Black even though he had “really really hurt” them endlessly and they were “at the end of their tether”.

Rivals season 2 airs on Disney+ on Fridays

Kyle Busch dies

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

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

No cause of death has been disclosed.

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

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

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Matthew Stafford agrees to extension with Rams

From Gary Klein: Quarterback Matthew Stafford, the reigning NFL most valuable player, is now under contract with the Rams through the 2027 season.

Stafford signed a contract extension Thursday, the team announced. Terms of the deal were not released but it is a one-year extension worth $55 million, a person with knowledge of the situation said. The person requested anonymity because the contract has not been posted.

Stafford, 38, is scheduled to carry a salary-cap number of $48.3 million this season, according to Overthecap.com.

With Stafford, receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams and a defense featuring edge rusher Jared Verse and recently acquired All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie, the Rams are regarded as a favorite to play in Super Bowl LXI at SoFi Stadium.

Whether Stafford, a 17-year veteran, plays in 2027 remains to be seen.

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Angels lose to the Athletics

From Joaquin Ruiz: The Angels led for five innings before crumbling late en route to a 10-inning, 3-2 loss to the Athletics on Thursday night at Angel Stadium, all in front of a sparse crowd featuring fiery “sell-the-team” chants from shirtless fans in the upper deck.

With the bases loaded and one out in the top of the 10th, the A’s Zack Gelof hit into a fielder’s choice groundout off reliever Ryan Zeferjahn.

Angels second baseman Adam Frazier had trouble getting the ball out of his glove after catching shortstop Zach Neto’s throw. That allowed Nick Kurtz to reach home as the go-ahead run.

Gelof was initially called out, but the A’s won the challenge — and ultimately the game 3-2.

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Angels box score

MLB standings

Dearica Hamby leads Sparks over Phoenix

Dearica Hamby scored 27 points and grabbed 15 rebounds and the Sparks rode a big second quarter to a 97-88 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday night.

The Sparks outscored the Mercury 35-19 in the second to take a 60-43 at the half, a franchise record for points at halftime. The Sparks were 11 of 16 in the second quarter, including five of seven on three-pointers, and didn’t miss from the foul line.

Kelsey Plum had 16 points and seven assists for the Sparks (2-3), who were playing their first road game. Nneka Ogwumike, and reserves Cameron Brink and Rae Burrell all scored 12 points and Ariel Atkins had 11.

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Sparks box score

WNBA standings

Ducks’ Troy Terry to have hip surgery

Anaheim Ducks forward Troy Terry needs hip surgery that could endanger his availability at the start of next season.

Terry has a chronic hip impingement, the Ducks revealed Thursday in their postseason injury report. Anaheim’s first postseason since 2018 ended last week in the second round with a six-game loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Ducks haven’t finalized a date for Terry’s hip surgery or a definite time frame for his recovery.

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This day in sports history

1877 — Baden-Baden, ridden by C. Holloway, catches Leonard just before turning into the stretch and wins the Kentucky Derby by two lengths.

1885 — Tecumseh, ridden by Jimmy McLaughlin, wins the Preakness Stakes by two lengths over Wickham.

1902 — Mastermam, ridden by John Bullman, wins the Belmont Stakes by two lengths over Renald.

1906 — Whimsical, the favorite ridden by Walter Miller, wins the Preakness Stakes by four lengths over Content.

1954 — Hasty Road, ridden by Johnny Adams, edges favored Correlation by a neck to win the Preakness Stakes.

1963 — European Cup Final, Wembley Stadium, London: José Altafini scores twice as AC Milan edge Benfica, 2-1 for first title to an Italian club.

1975 — Artis Gilmore scores 28 points and grabs 31 rebounds to lead the Kentucky Colonels to a 110-105 victory over the Indiana Pacers for the ABA championship.

1988 — Atlanta’s Dominique Wilkins trades bucket for bucket with Boston’s Larry Bird in the fourth quarter of Game 7 of the 1988 Eastern Conference semifinals until the Celtics escape with a 118-116 victory. Wilkins finishes with 47 points and Bird has 34 — with 20 of his points scored in the fourth quarter. The teams shoot a combined 58.8% from the field, the second-highest mark in playoff history.

1988 — LPGA Championship Women’s Golf, Jack Nicklaus GC: Sherri Turner birdies final 2 holes to win her only major title, 1 stroke ahead of runner-up Amy Alcott.

1991 — NFL Owners agree to add 2 teams in 1994.

1993 — Riddick Bowe successfully defends his IBF and WBA heavyweight titles with a second-round knockout of Jesse Ferguson at RFK Stadium in Washington.

1994 — Toronto NBA franchise unveils name “Raptors” and logo.

1996 — 4th UEFA Champions League Final: Juventus beats Ajax (1-1, 4-2 on penalties) at Rome.

1997 — The Chicago Bulls win the lowest-scoring playoff game in NBA history, a 75-68 victory over the Miami Heat. The 143 combined points were two fewer than the previous postseason low set by Syracuse and Fort Wayne in 1955.

2003 — Annika Sorenstam becomes the first woman to play in a PGA Tour event in 58 years when she shoots a 71 in the first round of the Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas. Sorenstam misses the cut the next day by four shots.

2004 — English FA Cup Final, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (71,350): Manchester United beats Millwall, 3-0; Ruud van Nistelrooy scores 2 and Cristiano Ronaldo 1 in Red Devils’ 11th title win.

2005 — Paula Creamer, 18, makes a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole to win the Sybase Classic by one stroke and become the second-youngest first-time winner on the LPGA Tour.

2006 — Pat Summitt becomes the newest millionaire coach — and the first in women’s basketball. Tennessee raises Summitt’s salary to $1.125 million for next season and extends her contract six years.

2009 — Dara Torres sets an American record in the 50-meter butterfly at the Texas Senior Circuit No. 2 meet at Texas A&M. The 42-year-old, breezes to victory in the 50 fly, touching the wall in 25.72 seconds to beat her record time of 25.84 seconds from the morning preliminaries. Both her times beat Jenny Thompson’s American record of 26.00 seconds, set in Barcelona in 2003.

2010 — UEFA Champions League Final, Madrid: Internazionale beats Bayern Munich, 2-0; Inter’s 3rd title and first treble (Italian Serie A & Cup).

2016 — The Tradition Senior Men’s Golf, Greystone G&CC: Germany’s Berhard Langer wins sixth of 13 Champions Tour majors by 6 strokes from Olin Browne.

2021 — 30-year-old Scottish light-welterweight boxer Josh Taylor becomes Britain’s first undisputed world champion in the four-belt era by beating Jose Ramirez by unanimous decision in Las Vegas.

2022 — PGA Championship Men’s Golf, Southern Hills CC: 2017 champion Justin Thomas beats Will Zalatoris by 1 stroke in a 3-hole playoff after 54-hole leader Mito Pereira double bogeys the 72nd hole.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1933 — Joe Sewell of the New York Yankees struck out for the first time this season, during a 3-0 win over Cleveland. Sewell would strike out only three more times in 524 at-bats.

1942 — Ted Williams is sworn into the U.S. Navy, but will remain with the Red Sox until he is called for active duty.

1957 — The Boston Red Sox hit four home runs in the sixth inning of an 11-0 win over Cleveland. Gene Mauch, Ted Williams, Dick Gernert and Frank Malzone connected. All the homers came on the first 16 pitches from Cal McLish.

1958 — Ted Williams hits his 16th career grand slam to provide the Red Sox with the margin in an 8-5 win over the A’s. Ted’s 4th-inning blast, off Jack Urban, ties him with Babe Ruth for second place on the career slam list.

1959 — Baltimore’s Hoyt Wilhelm pitched a one-hitter against the New York Yankees for a 5-0 win. Jerry Lumpe’s single in the eighth spoiled the no-hit bid.

1963 — Mickey Mantle hit a pitch from Kansas City’s Bill Fischer off the right-field facade at Yankee Stadium in an 8-7 victory over the A’s.

1968 — Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit three home runs, a double and a single in a 13-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Stargell’s double just missed going out, as it bounced off the railing of the left-field bleachers.

1976 — St. Louis’ Reggie Smith hit three home runs — two right-handed and one left-handed — and drove in five runs in a 7-6 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Smith’s third homer came with two out in the ninth and broke a 6-6 tie.

1977 — Boston and Milwaukee hit a combined 11 home runs in a 14-10 Red Sox victory at Fenway Park, tying a major league record. The Red Sox connected for six and the Brewers hit five in the first game of a doubleheader.

1983 — Cliff Johnson of the Toronto Blue Jays hit his 18th career pinch homer. The homer, off Baltimore’s Tippy Martinez, tied Johnson with Jerry Lynch on the career pinch home run list.

1990 — Andre Dawson sets a major-league record when he is intentionally walked five times during a 16-inning, 2-1 Cubs win over the Reds.

1998 — The Mets acquire catcher Mike Piazza from the Marlins in exchange for OF Preston Wilson, P Ed Yarnall and a player to be named. Piazza has barely spent a week with Florida after a trade from the Dodgers.

1998 — Brian Cox went 6-for-6, including a grand slam in a 10-run third inning, as Florida State rolled past Delaware 27-6 in the NCAA Atlantic II Regional. Freshman Matt Diaz hit three home runs for the Seminoles.

2000 — Milwaukee beat Houston in the first game of a doubleheader, 10-9, coming back from a 9-2 deficit to tie the score with seven runs in the bottom half of the ninth inning. The Brewers won the game in the 10th on a home run by Jose Hernandez.

2001 — The Twins score 8 runs in the 3rd inning to give Brad Radke an 8-0 lead, then hold on to edge the Mariners, 12-11. The M’s will use the momentum to win their next 15 and set a franchise record.

2008 — Ken Griffey Jr. hits his 200th home run as a member of the Cincinnati Reds. He becomes the fourth player in major league history to hit 300 for one team and 200 with another. Preceding him are Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Jimmie Foxx.

2008 — Boston’s J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell hit grand slams to help Daisuke Matsuzaka remain unbeaten as the Red Sox posted an 11-8 win over the Kansas City Royals.

2009 — Michael Cuddyer hit for the cycle and matched his career high with five RBIs as Minnesota defeated Milwaukee 11-3. Cuddyer hit a three-run homer in the first inning, doubled in the third and singled in the fourth before completing the cycle by tripling on a broken-bat liner into the left-field corner in the sixth.

2012 — C.J. Wilson and Ernesto Frieri combined on a one-hitter to give the Angels a 4-0 win over Oakland. Cliff Pennington had the only hit — a one-out single in the fifth — for Oakland.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Kate Cassidy said that she was told her passport photo didn’t match her current appearance

People across the UK may need to update their passports before their holiday. The reminder comes after one woman was stopped and questioned at the airport.

According to GOV.UK officials: “You must get a new photo when you get a new passport, even if your appearance has not changed.” However, it also states that you will “need to get a new passport to travel abroad or prove your identity if you change your name” and “your gender.”

GOV.UK adds you will also need to get a new passport if “your appearance” has changed and “you cannot be recognised from your passport photo any more (for example, you’ve had plastic surgery).”

The reminder for UK passengers to update their travel document, if needed, comes as 27-year-old Kate Cassidy, who had been dating One Direction’s Liam Payne for two years at the time of his death in 2024, shared her experience getting flagged by TSA staff after she was told her passport photo didn’t match her current appearance.

While she said she understood the rules, she pointed out that “there are way better ways to handle things and word things.” In her TikTok video, viewed almost 1 million times, she said: “I just got genuinely ridiculed at the Fort Lauderdale airport. I’m at the security line, and I gave the guy my passport, and they obviously do a photo view.

“If it matches your passport, you get the green light, and if it doesn’t match your passport, you get the red light. I got the red light because my photo, I guess, didn’t match my appearance.”

After showing her passport photo to the camera, she explained that airport security said she looked unrecognisable in comparison to the other picture. She said: “He calls over a woman, and she literally looks at my passport, she looks at me, she’s doing a double take, up and down, and this woman keeps going on and on and on about how, ‘this isn’t you, you’re giving me somebody else’s passport”.

Kate explained that the staff questioned, “new nose? New lips? Something to your eyes? New hair?”. Kate then pulled out her ID to confirm her identity, but she said that her ID was not hers either. Looking at Kate’s passport, ID and then her, Kate said: “She goes ‘one, two, three. Those are three different people’.”

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The American social media influencer admitted: “I’m literally so embarrassed. She then goes and calls three different men over. One guy was like, ‘do you not have a work ID?’ and I was like, ‘I can pull up my Instagram, I don’t know what to do.’

“Keep in mind that everybody in line behind me is listening to this. I understand they’re doing their job. At the same time, I think there are way better ways to handle things and word things.”

In another video, after the airport incident, she listed exactly what procedures altered her appearance. She mentioned that she has cheek filler, chin filler, Botox, a boob job, nose job and lip filler.

She also noted she’s a natural blonde but dyes her hair brown. She further said she has “a whole head of extensions, fake nails, and I am also naturally super pale, so I do spray tans once a week.”

It’s not just travellers that need to think about this. Motoring experts on GOV.UK confirm: “You must change the photo on your driving licence if you cannot be recognised from your photo, for example, if you’ve had plastic surgery.” This includes learner drivers who will need to take their provisional licence to the test centre.

On May 14, the high court in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh ruled that the centuries-old Kamal Maula mosque in the city of Dhar was actually a temple dedicated to a Hindu goddess. Two days later, saffron flags associated with Hindu far-right groups were all over the site, with supporters celebrating and filming rituals that were carried out.

The Kamal Maula mosque, also known as the Bhojshala complex, has been disputed for decades. And such claims are not unique to this mosque. Far-right Hindutva activists have made similar claims – that a given mosque was built atop a temple – across the country, emboldened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rise to power in 2014.

Modi is a leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which follows an ideology known as Hindutva.

But what is the Hindutva movement, and how did it emerge?

What does Hindutva mean?

Hindutva is a right-wing political and nationalist ideology that defines the cultural and national identity of India based on a particular interpretation of Hindu values. India is a constitutionally secular state, but advocates of Hindutva want the country to adopt Hinduism as its state religion.

The term Hindutva consists of two linguistic parts: The first is the word “Hindu”, whose origin likely traces back to the Sanskrit word “Sindhu”, the ancient name for the Indus River. With the evolution of linguistic usage, the ancient Persians and others replaced the letter “S” with “H”, and the term “Hindus” came to be used for the inhabitants living beyond the river.

The second part is the Sanskrit suffix “-tva”, which indicates essence or being, meaning that the term literally denotes “Hindu essence” or “Hindu identity or being”.

How did Hindutva originate?

Hindu nationalism emerged in protest against British colonial notions of the religion, but quickly grew into a majoritarian ideology that viewed the Indian identity through the lens of a specific interpretation of Hinduism.

Its early years coincided with sectarian Hindi-Muslim tensions in the early 20th century under British rule, culminating in the partition of the subcontinent at independence in 1947 and the formation of Pakistan on religious grounds.

Indian freedom fighter and ideologue Vinayak Savarkar coined the term “Hindutva” in his 1923 pamphlet Essentials of Hindutva, presenting a vision of Hindu identity based on the unity of territory, culture, and historical belonging, while considering India as the fatherland and the holy land of Hindus.

Based on this notion, some Hindutva theorists argued that Muslims and Christians do not fully belong to the Indian nation, as their holy places are located outside India – even though India is home to one of the world’s largest Muslim populations, and has more Christians than many European nations such as the United Kingdom.

Savarkar was, and remains, a controversial figure: He infamously wrote letters to the British pleading for his release from a notorious prison in the Andaman Islands.

From idea to movement

By 1925, the early Hindutva ideologue Keshav Baliram Hedgewar had founded the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) – which loosely translates to National Volunteer Organisation – the mothership of the Hindu majoritarian political movement.

The RSS focused on organising and strengthening the Hindu community through local social and cultural activities. Over time, it expanded to include a network of affiliated institutions and organisations spanning religious activities, education, health, publishing, student politics and even the trade union sector.

Some of its early leaders publicly, in their writings, admired the European fascists and the manner in which they dealt with religious and ethnic minorities.

After India’s independence, the movement faced significant pressure following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948: Gandhi’s assassin was a former RSS member. Savarkar, the founder of the Hindutva ideology, was also arrested in connection with the assassination but was eventually acquitted because the prosecution could not present corroborating evidence against him.

Later, the movement shifted towards political action by establishing a party in 1951, which subsequently evolved into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980.

The party witnessed a remarkable surge in its political influence during the 1980s and 1990s by championing the construction of the Ram Temple in the city of Ayodhya on the site of the Babri Mosque.

In 1992, the demolition of the mosque by activists associated with the RSS and the BJP prompted a widespread wave of sectarian violence. In the wake of that violence, the BJP first came to national power in 1996 as India’s single largest party, but its government collapsed in 13 days after allies it depended on withdrew support. In 1998, it returned to power, but this time lost after 13 months. New elections followed in 1999, and the BJP emerged as the single biggest party again. It led a coalition government for a full five years until 2004, when the Congress party – now India’s largest opposition force – defeated it.

The Congress ruled for a decade until 2014, when Modi stormed to power with the largest mandate any party had received since 1984.

Thought and Ideology

Hindutva ideology posits that Indian identity is fundamentally rooted in Hindu culture and civilisation.

The ideology relies on historical narratives portraying the periods of Islamic and Mughal rule as an era that weakened Hindu heritage, calling for the restoration of Hindu identity and the strengthening of its presence in the public sphere.

Its most prominent ideas include: Rereading history from a Hindu nationalist perspective, viewing India as a sacred civilisational entity, calling for the return of those believed to have Hindu origins to their ancestral religion, and granting national status to symbols such as cows and the Sanskrit language.

Critics differentiate between Hindutva as a nationalist political project and Hinduism as a religion and spiritual philosophy, arguing that the former politicises religion and can contradict values such as tolerance and nonviolence that have long been central tenets of Hinduism, the faith.

Hindutva in political practice

Hindutva has gradually transitioned into the political and legislative spheres with the rise of the BJP to power. Its principles have begun to reflect in laws, public policies, and the nature of social debate within the country. Supporters argue that these policies preserve national identity, while critics contend that they undermine religious and cultural pluralism.

The most notable of these measures was the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in 2019, which had granted the Muslim-majority region of Jammu and Kashmir a special autonomous status.

Additionally, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was passed that year, granting expedited citizenship to certain immigrants from neighbouring countries, excluding Muslims. It officially went into effect in March 2024, accompanied by the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which threatens to strip millions of Muslims of their citizenship and label them as infiltrators.

The impact of this vision has extended to local legislation in certain states, such as tightening restrictions on cow slaughter and enacting laws to regulate religious conversion and interfaith marriages, alongside calls for the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code to replace certain personal status laws for minorities.

Hindutva has also been linked to the emergence of Hindu nationalist groups, such as the Bajrang Dal, which have been implicated in acts of violence and intimidation against Muslims, Christians and marginalised social groups, particularly over issues related to cows or religious conversion.

In January 1999, when the BJP was in power nationally, Bajrang Dal activists burned alive Graham Staines, an Australian Christian missionary, and his two sons, while they were sleeping in their car. And in 2002, while Modi was chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, independent India witnessed one of its worst massacres of Muslims, after a group of Hindu pilgrims on a train were burned alive under circumstances that are still contested.

Indian far-right groups ideologically aligned with the RSS have also been accused of lynching dozens of Muslims since 2014, often on accusations that they were carrying cows for slaughter. In almost all cases, none of the murderers have been punished, and in several instances, families of the victims have faced charges.

Pep Guardiola won 17 trophies in his 10-year stay at Man City, but how does his record stand up in English football?

Pep Guardiola is leaving Manchester City after changing the face of English football over the last 10 years.

But how do his achievements at City compare with those of other great managers to have worked in England down the years, such as Alex Ferguson, Bob Paisley and Brian Clough?

The numbers and records nearly speak for themselves.

Pep and the Premier League

Guardiola always valued the domestic league higher than any other competition and he established an era of record-breaking dominance, leading City to six titles in his 10 seasons (60 percent) — including the unprecedented feat of four in a row (2021-24). Those six titles came in a seven-year span. He finished outside the top two on just two occasions.

As an overall percentage, only Paisley (66.67 percent) has a better title-winning record of modern-day managers. In his nine years at Liverpool (1974-83), he won the English league six times and was only outside the top two once.

Ferguson won the league title 13 times in 26 full seasons at United (1986-2013) but started out at a lower base, with the club being near the bottom of the standings and without a championship in 19 years when he took over. From the year of Ferguson’s first league crown (1993) to when he retired, United’s title-winning percentage was 61.9 percent – slightly higher than Guardiola’s but lower than Paisley’s.

Pep and the Champions League

For a club of City’s Abu Dhabi-fuelled resources, its record in the Champions League under Guardiola has been underwhelming — and he acknowledges that.

One title (2023), one more final (losing to Chelsea in 2021) and just one other semifinal appearance (2022) is a disappointing return for a team widely regarded as one of the best in Europe for most of his reign. Guardiola can, of course, point to two more Champions League titles in his four-year stint at Barcelona.

Ferguson won the Champions League twice with United, though even that was also regarded as a below-par return considering the team’s domestic dominance.

Of British managers, Clough and Paisley hold the most enviable records. Clough won the European Cup with Nottingham Forest in back-to-back years (1979 and 1980) — a remarkable feat at a provincial club — while Paisley won the competition three times (1977, 1978 and 1981) in five years.

Pep’s total trophy trail

Guardiola has won 17 major trophies in his decade at City, putting him only behind Ferguson in English football’s all-time list.

Ferguson captured 28 trophies, but had 16 years longer in the job than Guardiola.

Next comes Paisley, with 14 major trophies, followed by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (10, of which a record seven were FA Cups), Clough (nine, across his spells at Derby and Forest) and former Man United manager Matt Busby (eight).

Pep’s points totals

Under Guardiola, City racked up two of the top three points totals in English top-flight history — 100 in the 2017-18 season (Guardiola’s second in charge) and 98 in the 2018-19 season. In that seven-season span from 2018-2024, City set new standards in consistent excellence by collecting more than 90 points in four league campaigns — helped by having a top-class rival in Liverpool pushing it all the way.

That Liverpool team under Jurgen Klopp picked up 99 points in 2019-20, when breaking up City’s run of titles, and 97 points in 2018-19 when taking City to the final game of the season.

In the era when it was two points for a win (before 1981), Liverpool held the record for most points in a season with 68 in 1978-79. That equates to 98 points if there had been three points for a win, but Liverpool played 42 games instead of the current 38-game campaign.

Also notable was Chelsea’s haul of 95 points in 2004-05, the first season of Jose Mourinho’s first spell there. That was a record at the time.

Pep’s records – and a first

Guardiola has never been shy to highlight the records he has set at City – and there have been many.

The only team in the nearly 140-year history of English football to win four top-flight league titles in a row. The first team to win 100 points in a top-flight season (2017-18). The most goals – 106 – scored in a single Premier League campaign (also 2017-18). The first team to win the domestic treble of the league, FA Cup and League Cup in the same season (2018-19).

Guardiola also emulated Ferguson in both winning the Premier League-FA Cup-Champions League treble (United in 1999, City in 2023) and wrapping up a Premier League title with five games still to play (United in 2001, City in 2018) — a record until it was broken by Liverpool in 2020 (seven games to play).

Something Guardiola never managed, however, was Wenger’s greatest feat of going an entire league season unbeaten (with Arsenal in 2004).

A Loose Women panellist spoke about her health problems after rushing for help before the live show.

Loose Women panellist Jane Moore has revealed she rushed to medics for help before a live show.

The panellist joined Christine Lampard, Judi Love and GK Barry on Friday’s programme, where the presenters were discussing dentist appointments.

At one point after a break, Christine teased: “Do you fear losing your teeth as dentists warn they’re overwhelmed?” before jokingly adding: “Jane is here to tell us all about nearly having to rush a dentist onto the studio floor, that was only a couple of weeks ago… it was touch and go, wasn’t it?”

Laughing it off, Jane explained that she had turned up to the studio one morning, and as she was eating, a tooth “fell” into her mouth.

“I thought, ‘What the hell’s that?'” she went on, saying the others had been laughing at her during their morning meeting.

Jane continued: “So I then had to get on a bike and go to the dentist in the middle of the meeting, he was on holiday!

“Anyway, it was a whole thing, so I came back with the tooth, got some gummy stuff and literally put it in.

“People might have noticed – I’m normally quite gobby – [but] I barely said a word. I thought, if I say anything slightly emphatic, my tooth is going to go!”

She added that her loose tooth resulted from receding gums, and she’s now waiting to get it properly fixed after a temporary solution.

This comes after fellow ITV star Kate Garraway made an emergency dash to a dentist after her teeth fell out moments before Good Morning Britain.

She later took to Instagram to explain she’d had an “unfortunate collision” resulting in two front teeth getting cracked.

She said: “Letting you in on the horror behind the scenes on Monday’s show…

“After an unfortunate collision with a taxi window at the weekend I cracked my two front teeth caps.. of course. They then fell out just before going on air.

“All I can say is it’s hard to appear young and cool in front of a whole new team of trendy producers when you are reduced to gluing your teeth on with denture fixative at three in the morning!!!”

Kate continued: “An emergency trip to the dentist means now I have a temporary set of fake teeth … but they are soooo massive.

“Just hoping they hold for @gmb tmrw from 6am with @richardmadeleyofficial – glue at the ready!”

Loose Women airs weekdays from 12.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

Read his lips: Sichuan Beef Proper, baked stuffed lobster, whiskey steak, chicken fajitas. There’s nothing like a good meal to chase those S&L; blues away.

George Bush, who never met a menu he didn’t like, eats out in restaurants about once a month–more than any President in recent history. Whenever he finds himself with a free evening and a craving for Chinese food, he slips out of the White House and into a corner table for a little Yan Chow fried rice. Just like your average all-American guy.

Well, not exactly. Where the President is concerned, there’s no such thing as a casual dinner on the town.

Your average guy doesn’t have someone who brings special bottled water for him to drink. Or salt, pepper and sugar for his table. Or an entourage of White House staff, Secret Service and reporters in tow.

Not to mention the food taster.

Yes, Virginia, the President does have a food taster. And no, the White House will not comment on food tasters–or anything else, for that matter–when it comes to protecting the Presidential palate.

But whenever the chief executive goes out to eat, there’s a man in the kitchen standing over the food. Sometimes he just watches; sometimes he digs right in.

The night the First Couple went to I Ricchi, an Italian restaurant in downtown Washington, the food taster washed their plates, glasses and utensils before the meal and kept them in sight at all times; tasted every dish to be served to the President; watched as the food was put on the plates and served; and uncorked and tasted the bottle of wine reserved exclusively for the President and Mrs. Bush.

In April, right after traces of benzene were found in Perrier water, Bush joked with an audience in Indianapolis: “I’m sorry I couldn’t get over here to have lunch with you today; I wasn’t allowed to. On the way over I was notified that the Secret Service had found my food taster face down in the salad. Somebody had washed my lettuce with Perrier.”

Traditionally, Presidents give up public dining when they move into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Nixon occasionally strolled across Lafayette Square, Secret Service alongside, for dinner at Trader Vic’s at the Capital Hilton. Ford and Carter rarely dined out. The Reagans, especially after the assassination attempt in 1981, kept close to the White House for meals. When Nancy Reagan did venture out, she favored the cloistered atmosphere of the Jockey Club.

But George Bush, determined to maintain as normal a lifestyle as possible, roars out of the Oval Office and into one of his favorite restaurants at the drop of a Daily Special.

The restaurants love it, of course. It inevitably boosts business. And it’s a big thrill for other customers.

But any spontaneous jaunt is a complicated logistical maneuver for the Secret Service. His security staff gets nervous when the President goes out in public and even more nervous when he does it unexpectedly. But these excursions are safer than his announced appearances in two respects: There’s the element of surprise–what the public doesn’t know can’t hurt him. And he goes out to restaurants so often, they’ve got the drill down pat.

When George and Robert Tsui get a call from the Secret Service reserving Table N-17, they know exactly what to expect.

By now, the two brothers who run the Peking Gourmet Inn in Falls Church are old hands at handling the hullabaloo that accompanies a visit from the First Customer–it’s the President’s favorite spot for a family dinner. Bush has been a VIP customer of the restaurant for the past five years and still stops by every couple of months: He came right before his inauguration, on the eve of the trips to Poland and Colombia, and to celebrate his son Marvin’s birthday, to name a few occasions.

“They treat this, just like any other American family, as their little favorite Chinese restaurant,” says Robert Tsui. “We try to be as low-key as we can.”

Low-key, all things considered. The President is brought in one of the restaurant’s seven doors; it varies each time and is always a last-minute decision by the security detail. There are Secret Service agents and police both inside and surrounding the restaurant. Customers are waved with a portable metal detector when they arrive for dinner. And then there’s the taster . . . er, make that “nutrition expert.”

“When President Bush was vice president, he didn’t have a nutrition expert in the kitchen,” says George Tsui. “After he became President, the nutrition expert stays in the kitchen to understand what he’s eating.”

The President sits at a big round table in a partitioned area that has a bulletproof window installed by the Tsuis. The Secret Service waits right on the other side of the partition, and only the Tsuis and waiter Tak Chung Pang–all wearing official pins–are allowed past. Bush reportedly wields a mean chopstick and is partial to the Sichuan Beef Proper, a spicy shredded-beef dish with roasted sesame seeds; Peking duck; and the giant spring onions the Tsuis grow on their Virginia farm.

After dinner the President comes into the dining room to greet customers. “There’s no better attraction than the No. 1 man–wherever you go,” says Robert Tsui. “Whether they are Democrat or Republican, whether they politically agree with the man or not, they always love the fact that they’re dining with him.”

An “above average” tipper (20%), Bush pays most of the time by check, which the Tsuis cash. “The thing is, it would be abusing the privilege not to cash the check, because the check may be more valuable uncashed,” Robert explained. “We cash them out of respect to the President.”

But elsewhere in the country, there’s at least one Bush check on display: “George Bush, Business Account, The White House”–now hanging on the wall of Patsy Clark’s restaurant in Spokane, Wash.

House Speaker Tom Foley invited Bush, who was visiting Washington state for its centennial celebration, to join him, his wife, Heather, and Environmental Protection Agency Director Bill Reilly for dinner there last fall. Foley had intended to pick up the tab, but the President pulled rank and paid the $121 bill with a check for $140.

The next morning, a newspaper article said owner Tony Anderson planned to keep and frame the check as a souvenir. “About 2 p.m. that day, a Secret Service guy showed up at the restaurant with an envelope,” says Anderson. “It was a thank-you note from Bush with $140 in cash enclosed. He wanted to pay for dinner. He was insistent on it.”

Anderson only had 20 minutes’ notice of the Presidential supper, which had been reserved under the name of an assistant to the President. There were Secret Service agents “everywhere–35 or 40 guys” including, says Anderson, the one who brought salt, pepper, sugar and bottled water for the table in a shopping bag. The food taster watched, but did not sample, the President’s medium-rare Jack Daniel’s whiskey steak. Anderson found out later that the Secret Service had been visiting his restaurant for two weeks, posing as regular customers, and had the place thoroughly staked out.

“He was a wonderful person to have as a customer,” says Anderson. But having both Bush and Foley under his roof was nonetheless nerve-racking. “I was thinking, ‘These guys are two of the most powerful people in the world. What if something happens?’ I was actually sort of relieved when they left.”

Until it happens, no restaurant can imagine what goes into a visit from the President.

The operative word is secret .

Palm owner Wally Ganzi, who is also a personal friend of the President, knew several weeks in advance that the Bushes would join him and his wife, Reva, along with actress Cheryl Ladd and her husband, Brian Russell, for sirloin steak, onion rings and cheesecake last November. But his staff was told only the day before, when the Secret Service arrived to inspect the premises.

“Someone should pay the Secret Service a compliment,” says Ganzi. “They really try their best in every possible way. They’re not rude, very courteous. They really try not to disturb your business. They don’t strong-arm you.” The one thing they really concentrate on is egress–the quickest way to get the President out if there’s a problem.

Christianne and Francesco Ricchi, on the other hand, got the shock of their lives when I Ricchi’s owners found out they’d be cooking for a very VIP guest–only one month after the restaurant opened last year.

“My husband approached me and said, ‘You will never guess who’s coming to dinner,’ ” says Christianne Ricchi. “The Secret Service flashed their badges and says, ‘Are you the owner?’ He thought it was immigration.”

The couple only had two hours’ notice to prepare for the presidential appearance at the dinner, hosted by former Bush speech writer Vic Gold. “Our concern was making sure that everything was absolutely perfect,” says Christianne Ricchi.

Meanwhile, the Secret Service searched the restaurant, brought in bomb-sniffing dogs, stationed men outside all the entrances and on the roof across the street, and brought in the food taster, who played an unusually active role–sampling all the food and wine.

Time and security were equally tight in May when the Bushes joined former Republican National Committee chairman Dean Burch and his wife, Pat, for dinner at La Chaumiere in Georgetown. Antoine de Ponfilly, who served the Presidential party, found out at 5 p.m. that “someone important” was coming that night, but the Secret Service would not say who it was.

The Secret Service chose the private room upstairs for the President and then positioned two men on the roof, two in the back, three on the stairs and “a lot” in front of the tiny French restaurant, de Ponfilly says.

When the Bushes went up to eat, customers were inspected with portable metal detectors but didn’t find out who was in the restaurant until Bush came downstairs after dinner.

It was more down-home last July at Rio Grande Cafe, the Tex-Mex restaurant in Bethesda, when Bush and fellow Texan Robert Mosbacher, the secretary of commerce, came in for quesadillas, cheese enchiladas, beef and chicken fajitas and the specialty of the house: mesquite-broiled quail.

Manager Jerry Green noticed two police cars in front of the restaurant when he arrived at 3 p.m. Three hours later, the Secret Service toured the restaurant and picked a table for Bush in a back corner.

The food taster asked Green to point out what food would be served to the Presidential party. Green pointed to the 40 pounds of beef already cooking on the grill.

“He got the same old stuff that everybody gets here,” says Green. “Honestly, I’m not going to change my food just for the President. But I did give him an extra quail. I figured I could do that much for him.”

The party lasted two hours and everyone else in the restaurant lingered to watch Bush tackle his fajitas; since he sat facing the front, the customers could get a good look.

“Nobody would leave,” says Green. “The Secret Service finally closed the door when we were filled to capacity with a two-hour wait.”

After Mosbacher paid the bill with his American Express card, Green grabbed the chair Bush had been sitting in “right after he finished with it.” Within two days it was back on the floor–painted red, white and blue.

When Mabel Hanson of Mabel’s Lobster Claw Restaurant in Kennebunkport, Me., curls her hair, you know something’s up.

“The President said, ‘Hiya, Mabel. How are you? What are you all dressed up for?’ ” says Hanson, who just happened to be spiffed up when Bush dropped by last year. “I cried when he came–just a few sniffles. I can’t help it. It’s the President coming through your door.”

Mabel’s has been a Bush family favorite for almost 20 years. There’s a whole wall devoted to the Bushes: lots of pictures of George and Barbara, a few of George and Mabel, a portrait of the President with “He’s Our George” above it and a banner from the President’s inauguration–Mabel’s first trip ever to Washington.

You can usually pick out the Secret Service: They’re the only guys in Kennebunkport wearing suits.

Bush sits at his favorite corner table, where he usually has lobster stuffed with sea scallops. He’s “not too much for desserts” but occasionally treats himself to butter-crunch ice cream or Mabel’s famous peanut butter ice cream pie.

“These people couldn’t change if they tried,” she says. “They’re as natural as grass growing.”

Earlier this month, the Bushes and daughter Dorothy Bush LeBlond went to the Breakwater Inn in Kennebunkport with Bush golfing buddy Spike Heminway, his wife, Betsy, and daughter Alex. Unlike most dinner visits, owner Carolyn Lambert got advance word when Heminway made the reservation the night before and said the Bushes would be joining them.

“It was very important to me that this didn’t get out of hand,” Lambert says. “I told my employees when they came in the next night, ‘If you told any of your friends to come down here and hang around, call them back and tell them not to come.’ ”

In the morning, the Secret Service and a White House staffer showed up and told Lambert, “There need to be people in the dining room. If Mr. Bush felt you were going to lose business because of him, he would be unhappy.”

The restaurant, not surprisingly, was full of the inn’s regular customers and a few enterprising reporters who had wheedled reservations that afternoon for the remaining tables. Except for the food taster in the kitchen, it was a typical Sunday-night dinner in Maine. The President had the pan-fried chicken breast special and mud pie.

When Bush goes to his other hometown, he usually makes a beeline for Otto’s Barbecue in Houston, where he chows down on pork ribs or link sausage with beans.

On his first visit there as President, the Secret Service checked out the bathrooms and sneaked Bush through the back door into the back dining room. “But the customers knew something was up,” says manager June Sofka. “Then the President came in the main dining room and shook hands with everybody. It was just exhilarating.”

“I was busy running around so I didn’t get my picture taken with the President. But I picked up his plate and the silverware and took it home. I still have it.”

On the eve of the City Section championship baseball game at Dodger Stadium, let’s explore a sometimes forgotten character trait: Patience.

When JJ Saffie walks onto hallowed ground Saturday as a starting left fielder for 10-time City champion El Camino Real High in the Open Division championship game against Birmingham, he will be finishing a journey few want to travel these days.

He spent three years on the junior varsity team waiting and grinding before getting his chance to start on varsity this season.

“Very patient,” he said. “Freshman year, played frosh-soph, called up for a few JV games. Sophomore year, on and off starter on JVs. Junior year is when it started clicking for me. I found my bat, I found the style I like to play, I started hitting real good.”

He was part of an outstanding JV team his junior year, called up as a pinch runner for the playoffs. He developed power and a knack for hitting balls over El Camino Real’s left-field fence during batting practice.

“I’ve hit two windows and six cars,” said the 18-year-old, who likes to cause mayhem for insurance companies.

El Camino Real celebrates a 4-3 win over Granada Hills to earn a trip to Dodger Stadium on Saturday.

(Craig Weston)

He’s hit two home runs this season and become a key player for the Royals.

Now he gets to start at Dodger Stadium, a moment every high school baseball player in the City Section dreams of reaching.

“I’m a big believer in good things will come to those who are patient,” he said. “I knew I needed to be patient, work on my game and eventually success would come my way and I’d have my opportunities and here’s my opportunity. I’m trying to prove that Saturday.”

El Camino Real needed a two-run single by RJ De La Rosa in the bottom of the sixth inning on Wednesday to defeat Granada Hills 4-3 in the semifinals at Cal State Northridge.

“I saw my pitch,” De La Rosa said. “I wanted to take advantage. It was the bottom of the sixth. The team needed me most and I pulled through. It was an amazing moment. These boys are my brothers. I will fight for them. I will do everything for them. I can’t wait to make some memories at Dodger Stadium.”

For Saffie, staying and fighting to get better rather than running away from a challenge is a great lesson for others.

“I had a few people tell me to transfer,” he said. “But my sister came here, my dad. I want to prove myself at this school.”

Top-seeded Birmingham will have junior Nathan Soto starting on the mound in the 1 p.m. game. It’s a big assignment and he’ll be working on his mental part of the game.

“It’s just another game,” he said after the Patriots’ 4-1 semifinal win over Carson. “I think it’s everyone’s dream to pitch there, but you have to keep it as a normal game.”

Pitcher Carlos Acuna grinded out a complete game in Birmingham’s 4-1 win over Carson to send the Patriots to Dodger Stadium.

(Craig Weston)

Birmingham can thank Carlos Acuna for putting together a sophomore season to remember. His pitching season is done. He finished with an 11-0 record after a complete-game win against Carson.

“It’s an amazing season he’s having,” coach Matt Mowry said.

In six of the seven innings on Wednesday, Carson got the leadoff batter aboard, forcing Acuna to work extra hard while throwing 102 pitches.

“He was on the edge of coming out,” Mowry said.

Acuna wouldn’t let him.

“I love this team,” Acuna said. “I want to play one last game.”

He’ll start on Saturday at second or third base in a game matching two of the most successful programs in City baseball history. El Camino Real is seeking a record 11th title. Birmingham wants its ninth title.

The 10 a.m. game at Dodger Stadium has Verdugo Hills taking on Taft in the Division I final.

Fans will come for the sun, the hot dogs, the fun of cheering on someone they know or enjoying a moment of distraction at Los Angeles’ most sacred stadium.

Just remember those are teenagers out there who’ve sacrificed and spent years working toward this moment. There’s no losers when you get to play at Dodger Stadium as a high school kid.

For Saffie, it validates his belief in trusting the process and trusting himself. He didn’t run when the going got tough. He persevered and learned a valuable lesson: patience still pays off.

They simulated flight conditions at Mach 5, which is roughly five times the speed of sound and far faster than the iconic Concorde ever reached during its time in the air

A Japanese organisation is working on a hypersonic jet that could travel two and a half times as fast as Concorde.

In a test carried out by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), researchers installed an experimental aircraft inside a ramjet engine testing facility at JAXA’s Kakuda Space Center in Miyagi Prefecture, Interesting Engineering reports.

They simulated flight conditions at Mach 5, which is roughly five times the speed of sound.

The trial was a big success, validating the aircraft’s thermal protection system, control surfaces, and ramjet combustion performance under extreme hypersonic conditions.

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Such tests are crucial for the legitimacy of such an aircraft, as temperatures surrounding the aircraft can soar close to 1,000 °C at that speed.

The next phase of the program might involve mounting the experimental aircraft onto a sounding rocket or similar launch vehicle for a real-world Mach 5 flight demonstration, it has been reported.

Japan’s hypersonic research efforts are part of a bigger global race to develop ultra-high-speed transportation systems. If the JAXA plane makes it into the air, it could cut the flight time from Tokyo to the US down to two hours. Currently, it takes around half a day to make the journey on a typical commercial aircraft.

The aircraft would do this, in part, by rising to very high altitudes of around 17 miles, more than double that of a conventional aircraft.

A Mach 5 hypersonic passenger plane would fly at about 3,300 mph, roughly six times faster than a normal plane.

The supersonic Concorde passenger jet operated until 2003, but its speed topped out at about Mach 2. It’s maximum recorded speed was 1,400mph.

As exciting as the aircraft is, it’ll be a long time before it’s up in the air, and even longer before anyone is flying in it.

Hideyuki Taguchi, a professor at the Tokyo University of Science, told Mainichi: “Developing a conventional aircraft typically takes about 10 years. Since the development of hypersonic passenger aircraft requires two stages of demonstration — an experimental aircraft followed by a passenger aircraft — we hope development can be completed in about 20 years.”

Tetsuya Sato, a professor at Waseda University, added: “This result is still only a first step. Our dream is to connect it to a flight demonstration.”

JAXA is far from the only organisation attempting to launch a commercial super or hypersonic aircraft.

Recently, key milestones include NASA’s X-59 experimental aircraft and Boom Supersonic’s XB-1, both of which successfully completed test flights to overcome noise and efficiency hurdles.

South Korea on Friday finalized a plan to acquire U.S. Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) shipborne missile interceptors and field them by 2034, in a bid to boost its missile defense capabilities, the state arms procurement agency said.

The Defense Project Promotion Committee, a decision-making body for arms procurement under the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), approved the 530 billion-won (US$351.5 million) project to acquire the SM-6 long-range ship-to-air missile interceptors and related equipment, the agency said.

An SM-6 interceptor is an advanced defense missile interceptor for warships that can track and destroy a wide range of incoming threats.

It has a maximum range of 460 kilometers, with an altitude of up to 36 km, and is built to directly track targets with its own radar, allowing ships to deal with multiple threats at the same time.

The military plans to equip the 8,200-ton Aegis destroyer ROKS Dasan Jeong Yakyong, which is scheduled to enter service later this year, as well as the ROKS Daeho Kim Jong Seo, another vessel of the same class, with the SM-6 interceptors.

The SM-6 interceptors will also be installed on the already-deployed ROKS Jeongjo the Great through future capability upgrades.

“The project is expected to enhance ship-to-air defense capabilities of Aegis destroyers against enemy anti-ship ballistic missiles, aircraft and cruise missiles, as well as improve their anti-ballistic missile defense,” the DAPA said.

In November 2023, the United States approved a $650 million sale of up to 38 SM-6 missiles and related equipment to South Korea through the government-to-government Foreign Military Sales program.

Friday’s announcement by DAPA suggests that the acquisition may have been scaled back from the earlier plan. The timeline for the acquisition has also been revised to 2023-34, from the original 2023-31 schedule.

“The negotiation process took time even though we have been pushing ahead with the project since 2023,” a DAPA official said. “The system will be rolled out in stages in accordance with the schedule agreed upon with the U.S. side.”

The committee also approved a research and development (R&D) plan for a new military communications satellite system to replace older satellite and ground equipment.

The plan calls for developing and acquiring a dedicated geostationary military communications satellite and related ground infrastructure through an R&D program led by the Agency for Defense Development.

The project will run from this year through 2032, with an estimated cost of about 1.27 trillion won. DAPA plans to sign a contract agreement with a prototype developer by March next year.

Copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency prohibits its content from being redistributed or reprinted without consent, and forbids the content from being learned and used by artificial intelligence systems.

Eight years after going off the air, “Sofia the First” is getting another opportunity to find out what being royal is all about.

Disney’s first preschool princess returns for a new set of adventures in “Sofia the First: Royal Magic” premiering Monday on Disney Jr. The following day, eight episodes will stream on Disney+.

The sequel series finds Sofia — once again voiced by Ariel Winter — leaving home to attend the Charmswell School for Royal Magic. Rapunzel makes a guest appearance in the premiere episode and Moana, Jasmine, Cinderella, Aurora and Elena of Avalor will all stop by over the course of the first season.

According to Disney, “Sofia the First” still holds the record for the top three cable TV telecasts for girls ages 2 to 5 with more than 3 billion hours watched since the series premiered. The trailer for “Sofia the First: Royal Magic” was viewed 7.54 million times on social media in the first 24 hours after it was released. The show’s theme song, which has been updated for the new series, remains popular on TikTok among teens who first watched the show as preschoolers.

Series creator and executive producer Craig Gerber says the show’s tone is one of the reasons for its enduring popularity. “The charm, the humor and the storytelling was simple enough for [children] to understand, but sophisticated enough to stick with them as they were growing out of the key demographic,” he says. “They remember [the show] very fondly and it becomes a source of comfort for them.”

Rapunzel makes an appearance in the premiere episode of “Sofia the First: Royal Magic.”

(Disney)

Originally there were discussions to have a spin-off series with a whole new set of characters going to Royal Prep, the school Sofia graduated from in the first series. But soon Gerber realized that a sequel series was the way to go because of the love for the character. “It became clear that the real exciting part of coming back to this world would be to follow the further adventures of Sofia and bring her to a new audience,” he says.

Sending Sofia to a new school was the obvious choice. “We thought it would be very exciting and fresh for her to go to a school where she could focus on learning magic and mastering the powers inside her,” Gerber says. “In the first series, she learned what being royal is all about. In this series, she’s going to learn what being the most magical princess is all about.”

Winter was 12 years old when she auditioned for the role 15 years ago. At the time, she said Sofia’s voice was close to her own — what she thought she would sound like if she were a princess. But even all these years later, it was easy for her to find the voice again because she never really stopped doing it.

“If people told me that they had a child who loved Sofia, I would be like, ‘Oh, do you want me to make a voice recording for them?’ I’d make at least one of these a week, maybe more,” she says. “The show meant so much to me and I know it meant so much to so many people. To know that I am going to get to help influence another generation of kids in a positive way is just so exciting.”

In addition to Winter, all of the original cast is returning, including Sara Ramirez as Sofia’s mother Queen Miranda, Darcy Rose Byrnes as Sofia’s stepsister Amber, Wayne Brady as her beloved rabbit Clover, Eric Stonestreet as her flying horse Minimus and Tim Gunn as the castle steward Baileywick.

But a whole new series and location also means new characters. Here’s a look at three of the new characters who will be entering Sofia’s world.

Eden Espinosa as Zandrya

Eden Espinosa voices Zandrya, the new villain in “Royal Magic.”

(Disney)

Broadway star Eden Espinosa, perhaps best known for playing Elphaba in “Wicked,” will be voicing the new villain Zandrya. “She is loud, bratty, confident and powerful,” Espinosa says.

“We wanted Zandrya to have that entitled air,” Gerber says. “As if all of the magic should just be given to her and she shouldn’t even really have to work for it. She is a sorceress that is after magical items to give her more power. And because Sofia is becoming more and more confident in her magical abilities, Zandrya has a hard time getting what she wants.”

As master of disguise, Zandrya takes a different form each time she appears in an episode — the better to fool Sofia and get her hands on the magic amulet. That means Espinosa, who also voiced the Queen of Hearts in Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland Bakery” and Cassandra on “Tangled,” gets to take on a new voice with each new episode.

“She’s the most fun character to play,” she says. “Voiceover has always been a dream of mine ever since I saw ‘Little Mermaid’ when I was I think 10.”

Espinosa says Zandrya is “the most fun character to play.” The actor has to take on a new voice whenever her villain takes on a different form.

(Disney)

As in the original series, music will play a big part in “Sofia the First: Royal Magic.” In fact, there will be twice as many songs, with each 11-minute episode getting its own number. “What I love about the songs I’ve gotten the privilege to sing is that they feel current,” Espinosa says. “They feel like it’s on the pulse of what’s happening now. They are bops. The challenge is I have to sing the songs in the voice that I’m in for that episode.”

“We’re very lucky to work with folks like Eden, who can take any personality, any voice and still manage to hit all the notes and convey the acting and and really give a fun, rollicking performance,” Gerber says.

And, like Elphaba, Zandrya might be a little misunderstood. “I think as humans we have all sorts of things going on underneath the surface,” Espinosa says. “While she has a very clear mission and intention, I do know that she has moments in interacting with Sofia that she has reflections that make her think.”

Yvette Nicole Brown as Lady Saddlespur

Yvette Nicole Brown voices Lady Saddlespur, Sofia’s new teacher.

(Disney)

Yvette Nicole Brown is one of Gerber’s go-to performers. She’s been the voice of Chief Faye Fireson on “Firebuds” and Luna on “Elena of Avalor.” So it was an easy yes for Brown when Gerber asked her to be the voice of Sofia’s new magical creature teacher and flying derby coach Lady Saddlespur.

“If I’m doing a show, I’m gonna find room for her,” Gerber says of Brown. “Lady Saddlespur is a fun foil for the kids as she pushes them to be better students.”

“She is a Southern belle,” Brown says of her onscreen alter-ego.“She’s very proper. She believes that everything at Charmswell should be done just so.”

Brown says her favorite part of animation is that it encourages her to tap into her child-like side. “When we were kids, we lived in this place of wonder,” she says. “I remember the first shows I watched. I remember ‘Captain Kangaroo,’ ‘Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood’ and ‘Sesame Street.’ Those performers have stayed with me my entire life. The honor of getting to be one of the first voices that these babies hear is everything.”

Brown is also delighted by the life lessons the show imparts. “Lessons about accountability, sharing, kindness, regulating your emotions and following directions. The importance of school and learning and being careful and gentle with animals and other people and their feelings. I think it’s a great stepping stone for the babies to learn how to be productive, caring members of society, which is what we’re all supposed to be trying to be.”

Nate Torrence as Pepper

Nate Torrence voices Pepper, Sofia’s puppy-unicorn.

(Disney)

Pepper is Sofia’s pet puppy-unicorn. Nate Torrence, who is also the voice of Clawhauser in the “Zootopia” movies, says nothing sounds more adorable than “the collab of a puppy and unicorn.”

Gerber has wanted to create such a character since the original series. “He’s there for comic relief to a large degree,” Gerber says. “And also to give us that little bit of daily magic because Sofia can talk to animals.”

“He’s a pretty lovable guy,” Torrence says. “Even though he plays a little air-headed, he actually is really witty. It’s that old-school Abbott and Costello kind of timing or Charlie Chaplin because there’s so much physical comedy going on with Pepper.”

Because he’s getting to voice a character for so many episodes, Torrence says he’s felt more growth with Pepper than many of the other characters he’s played. “I do think they’ve allowed my voice to be a new kind of voice in the world,” he says. “I get to have a bit more attitude and sass. To be a part of a franchise like this is a nice little dream come true for me.”

Smart, cynical about politicians but not apathetic. That’s how MTV political reporter Tabitha Soren describes her audience . It’s also a good description of Soren herself.

A former reporter and anchor covering state politics for an ABC – TV station in Burlington , Vt . , the 25-year-old Soren has won praise from TV critics for her informed questioning of the presidential candidates about young people’s issues on MTV’ s “Choose or Lose” coverage of the 1992 campaign.

MTV’s coverage has been aimed at getting the MTV generation registered to vote and motivated to go to the polls. In the last presidential election, less than 34% of eligible 18-to-24-year-olds turned out to cast ballots.

Soren, who is under contract to MTV through November, 1993, traveled the country covering the campaigns and in the process became something of a celebrity. Last weekend she interviewed President Bush aboard his campaign train .

Question: Why do you think that President Bush decided to talk to you?

Answer: One reason may be that, independent of MTV, a young voter in Florida recently asked him, “Why won’t you go on MTV?” His answer was that he was not a “mod MTV kind of guy”–which is the last thing young people want to hear. Using a ‘60s word like mod –that’s sort of saying he’s out of touch with young people. Young people have voted Republican in the last three elections. They grew up during a Republican dynasty, and that is how they formed their values. With the presidential race getting so close and seeing the numbers of young people getting registered, maybe (Bush’s strategists) thought this could be an easy constituency to win over.

Q: Do you think President Bush is out of touch with young people?

A: He hasn’t talked about young people’s issues enough for young people to even be able to tell. His big things are the line-item veto, capital-gains taxes, public- or private-school vouchers–all of these are things within issues that young people care about, like the economy and education. But there aren’t a lot of 20-year-olds that have capital gains.

Q: What are the issues that your audience is interested in?

A: They’re interested in the economy, the economy and the economy. When I go to colleges to talk, to encourage them to register to vote and to vote, students will ask their “I’ll ask this in front of an audience” serious, political questions. Then, afterward, they all come up to me and want to know how I got my job. They’re getting ready to graduate, and they don’t have job prospects. It makes me feel a little guilty about having a job.

The economy is No. 1 on their minds. But they’re also concerned about the environment. They want the homeless problem solved, they want to find a cure for AIDS, they want the deficit eliminated. Young people are the ones who are going to be stuck with that deficit. . . . Ross Perot wants to eliminate the deficit, and he says he is running on behalf of young people. Before he withdrew from the race in July, it was hard to find young people who weren’t for him.

Q: How were you regarded when you first started out in the New Hampshire primary?

A: Nobody had ever heard of MTV News; they didn’t know we had a news department. We’d walk up to the candidates, camera rolling, and say, ‘We’re trying to get more young people to vote.’ When you say that, most candidates–hopefully, even without a camera rolling but certainly with one rolling–would look pretty bad if they didn’t talk to you. I think they found it novel.

Each one of the Democratic candidates had their little thing they did to make them look hip for MTV. Jerry Brown had on a suit when we asked to talk to him, but he changed into a turtleneck and flannel shirt for the interview. Gov. Bob Kerry walked up to me and said, ‘I want my MTV.’ ” And Pat Buchanan said, ‘I hope you aren’t going to ask me about any of that hard-rock music because I can tell you right now I don’t like it.’ Buchanan seemed surprised when I kept asking him questions about his ‘America First’ agenda–questions about music were not on my mind.

Q: Why do you think you and MTV News have received so much attention from other news organizations during the election?

A: I think we’ve energized a lot of young people with our coverage, and perhaps we’re forcing the politicians to talk about young issues in ways they weren’t before. Our coverage is fair and unbiased. But the whole point behind ‘Choose or Lose’ is advocacy journalism–getting young people to vote, regardless of which candidate they vote for. There are a lot of voter-registration groups–Rock the Vote, Project Vote and others–that are using celebrities and others to make voting trendy, make it cool. As silly as those words sound, getting young people excited about voting–something so basic to this country–is very important. If we don’t vote, how do we expect politicians to listen to our concerns?

Q: If young voters don’t turn out to vote in greater numbers, will you consider that a referendum on your coverage?

A: I don’t think it will be a referendum on our coverage, but I will be very disappointed. This is what my life has been consumed with for the past 10 months.

Q: How has it been for you to become a celebrity yourself, being interviewed by other TV reporters at the Democratic convention, appearing on “The Tonight Show’ and being parodied on “The Ben Stiller Show”?

A: We were helped a lot in gaining credibility because other news organizations did stories on us early on. But being interviewed at the Democratic convention–I took that as a sign of slow news at the convention! Being on “The Tonight Show”–that made me petrified. I was already sick with the flu and a 102-degree temperature, and I was so nervous before the show I got sick to my stomach. It’s not something you say, “Oh, no big deal.” But I’m not going to get used to it–because after the election, it’s going to be over.

As far as being parodied, I don’t mind that because the people doing it don’t seem to have seen our coverage, so how can I be offended?

Q: Why do you think alternative media–from MTV News to Larry King–have gained prominence during this campaign?

A: I think what we do is supplemental. I tell people all the time to read books and newspapers because you just can’t get all the information you need from television. But I do think that political information has expanded. Movies like “JFK” are forcing the government to reopen files on the Kennedy assassination; rap groups like Public Enemy are addressing the issue of race much more directly than the evening news.

Q: Are young voters today cynical?

A: They’re cynical, but they’re not apathetic. That’s the difference. They haven’t voted, perhaps, because they grew up in an era first of government deregulation and, later, an era when many people feel alienated from Washington. But college freshmen today demonstrate and protest at the grass-roots level about issues like civil rights and abortion. They’re worried about jobs, but they’re also the ones who want to cure homelessness and feed the people in Somalia. They just want to know that someone in Washington is listening to their concerns.

This season, Toney finished second in the domestic scoring charts with 32 goals in 32 games – he evens boasts more assists and a better shot conversion rate than Bayern Munich forward Kane.

Just what those goals are worth outside Europe’s top five leagues is yet to be seen, but on numbers alone his record stands up to scrutiny against any English striker around.

Given he is also one of only three centre-forwards selected by Tuchel, with Ollie Watkins also in the squad, it does not feel like a position that is overmanned given that 26 squad places were up for grabs.

Previous Three Lions squads at major tournaments have at times included four or five personnel for the exact same position.

The argument against his inclusion would ask why England need another forward aside from Kane and Watkins, given modern-day formational switches and a dearth of top-quality options for that position?

Detractors would also argue Toney’s place should be used to accomodate another of those multi-talented number 10s who have been left behind.

However, former Chelsea and Paris St-Germain boss Tuchel could make a viable case for leaving behind Palmer and Foden, who have not hit previous heights in 2025-26.

Instead he has gone for a player brimming with confidence and one that is accustomed to dealing with the intense temperatures that England will encounter this summer at the tournament in the US, Mexico and Canada.

“We could see that he still collects the numbers. I think he has very special skills that could help us, the situations, scenarios when we are chasing a result,” added Tuchel.

“I think he can be a very valuable addition to Harry Kane, he can be present in the box when we are pushing for a goal.

“He can take attention off other strikers, he has a natural presence within the box, he is a natural finisher, he can help us with set-pieces – he is very strong in there. Very good in using his body and not to forget, he is a world class penalty taker. He ticks some boxes that we wanted to be ticked.”

The Three Lions, who reached the semi-finals in Russia in 2018 and the quarter-finals in Qatar four years ago, face Croatia in their opening Group L fixture on Wednesday, 17 June (21:00 BST).

This remote island was once a thriving town – but now all that remains are ruins.

Hidden away in a far-flung Scottish archipelago lie the remains of a once-bustling settlement, deserted by all who called it home. The island of Hirta in the Outer Hebrides was occupied for 2,000 years, but during the 1930s, its final inhabitants evacuated due to health concerns.

It’s so isolated that it’s often omitted from maps altogether and can only be reached by boat – weather permitting.

It’s one of 40 islands in the St Kilda archipelago and now hosts the world’s largest gannet colony alongside some of the biggest puffin populations. During its inhabited years, islanders depended heavily on these seabirds – not merely for sustenance but for commerce.

They traded every component of the birds from feather to flesh.

Today, the population has vanished but a handful of military structures remain scattered across the island, overshadowing the crumbling stone cottages that once housed the community.

The structures line what was formerly Hirta’s main thoroughfare – now occupied solely by sheep, reports the Express.

Existence there was extraordinarily harsh, with severe weather conditions and scarce resources available.

To stay warm throughout the lengthy winters, inhabitants would bring livestock inside their basic stone dwellings and allow the waste from cattle and sheep to serve as insulation.

At its height in 1851, Hirta was inhabited by 112 people but this number rapidly dwindled over subsequent years.

Medical provision on the island had always been severely restricted, and as visitors began arriving on the isolated outpost as tourists, they introduced unfamiliar illnesses that the islanders were poorly prepared to combat.

During the 1930s, following the death of a young woman from appendicitis and pneumonia — conditions that might have been treatable on the mainland — the inhabitants of Hirta took the difficult decision to abandon the island.

The residents were evacuated by vessel in August that year and transported to mainland Scotland.

Following their local custom, islanders left a plate of oats and an open bible in every dwelling before stepping aboard the ship.

The final surviving former inhabitant of St Kilda, who was eight years old when the island was evacuated, passed away in 2016.

EASYJET will launch a loyalty program in 2027, to reward repeat bookers of both its flights and holidays.

Customers will be able to accrue points based on how much they’ve spent, which they’ll then be able to use for discounts on future bookings.

Follow The Sun’s award-winning travel team on Instagram and Tiktok for top holiday tips and inspiration @thesuntravel.

The airline said that it benefits from a “local customer base” with lots of “returning” flyers and essentially wants to reward them for it.

Not many details about the scheme have been announced, but talking to the Financial Times, easyJet CEO Kenton Jarvis said that it would have “broad appeal”.

He added: “Not only do we have commuters… but also people who book holidays accumulate value that they can redeem either on a flight or on holiday.”

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Reading between the lines, it doesn’t seem that easyJet will be replacing its easyJet Plus scheme, which is already in place and designed for frequent flyers.

easyJet Plus is available for an annual fee of £249, where passengers benefit from ‘Plus’ bag drop, speedy boarding, inclusive allocated seating and fast track security – and other ‘exclusive benefits’.

Many other airlines operate loyalty schemes, and recently British Airways made a change to the way its tier points count towards silver or gold membership.

As of April 2026, members of the British Airways Club started earning points based on the money they spend with the airline, rather than based on distance they have flown.

For every £1 they spend, they will earn one tier point, which makes it tougher for flyers to earn the top status.

According to the Financial Times, Virgin Atlantic said more than 10,000 BA members had switched to its programme after offering to match the status of any customers booking a flight. 

Earlier this year, easyJet announced it would be launching new routes from the UK – some of which are from Newcastle International Airport, its newest base which it opened in March.

In October, the airline will begin flights from Newcastle to Fuerteventura providing a winter sun escape to the Canary Island.

Anyone wanting to visit Reykjavik, Iceland, can travel from Newcastle from October 27 twice a week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Arbeloa says he will not be coaching the team next season, amid reports that Jose Mourinho is returning to the club.

Alvaro Arbeloa has confirmed he will leave his role as Real Madrid coach at the end of a trophy-less season.

“Yes,” Arbeloa said at a news conference on Friday when asked to confirm that he would not be coaching the team next season, amid widespread reports that veteran manager Jose Mourinho is returning to the club.

Los Blancos host Athletic Bilbao on Saturday at the Santiago Bernabeu in their final La Liga match of a turbulent campaign.

Real Madrid President Florentino Perez appointed Arbeloa to replace Xabi Alonso in January.

The Spaniard, Arbeloa, said he would not work as a member of Mourinho’s staff if the Portuguese coach is appointed as his successor.

“Mou has a fantastic technical team, he’s got good people around him, if he comes to Madrid he will come with his team,” said Arbeloa.

“There’s no chance that I would be with him. Then, my future … from Monday I’ll think about that.”

Arbeloa, who played at Madrid from 2009-2016 and later coached there at the youth level, said he hoped this match was a “see you later” rather than a goodbye.

“I hope it’s a see you later… I’ve always considered this my home, I’ve belonged to Madrid for 20 years in various roles,” said Arbeloa.

“It will be my last game this season as coach of Real Madrid; I don’t know if it will be the last game of my life as coach of Real Madrid.

“We never know. I’ll try and enjoy it and try to get the win.”

When it comes to machine guns and rifles, U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) wants its operators to have deadlier weapons that shoot further with greater accuracy, are lighter to carry. The command also wants some to be able to chamber hypervelocity ammunition that is under development. To get more insights about what firearms commandos will be packing in the future, we spoke with Lt. Col. Alan Wood, SOCOM’s Program Manager for Special Operations Forces (SOF) Lethality. In an exclusive interview during the annual SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida, Wood told us what’s working, what isn’t and what gets him, in his words, “pretty excited.”

Some of the questions and answers have been edited for clarity.

Q: SOCOM just put out an Area of Interest (AOI) request for what is being called the Hypervelocity Improved Carbine (HICAR) program, designed to “develop an improved carbine capable of operating with currently issued 5.56 NATO ammunition, while also incorporating design features to ensure reliability, durability, and longevity with the use of future hypervelocity 5.56x45mm ammunition.” What can you tell me about that?

A: So, HICAR’s got me excited. Back in the late teens, the Army went down this higher velocity [route], and I’m intentionally using the word velocity and not pressure in what they’ve done with the M7 and M8 rifles. They’ve been able to increase the velocity and therefore create a flatter shooting rifle as well as a rifle that has greater energy on target, and that does incredible things for barrier defeat in a lot of situations. Now we’ve had 10 years, almost, for that technology to mature, people have learned things, and the question then becomes, what could we do for special operators in calibers that are not new?

The advantage for SOF operators is I’ve got, say, the Green Berets who do a lot of partnering with foreign SOF operators, but there’s no [6.8mm] ammo running around central Africa, or you know, pick your favorite spot where we like to do partnering operations around the world. But there’s a lot of 5.56mm and other common cartridges of that nature, and so what we want to…achieve is maybe not the same effect as what the Army’s done with the M7 and the M8 and that high-velocity ammunition that they have, but where could we get close to that in 5.56 and potentially other calibers in the future.

It really goes back to the evolution in steel case ammo that Federal started several years ago, and there’s been more iterations of that coming out – new alloys for cases that far exceed performance of the standard brass that we’ve been using for the last 100 years. And the really amazing part is they can actually be cheaper than brass as well, so we get more performance at a lower cost. It’s a win-win.

Q: Can you provide any information about the hypervelocity rounds themselves?

A: At this point, it’s still a significant science project, and so there are no specific high velocity rounds that are fielded at this point. It’s an R&D project, and we’re trying to see where we can take that technology.

Q: Can you give me a sense of what you’re looking for in those rounds, and any timelines?

A:  You can see the round and what we’re going to do based on the HICAR document on Sam.gov, so that’s as much information as there is out there. What we’re really looking for is what does it [do] for the rifle? Because as you start getting into rifle development – there are a lot of things to consider, other than how much pressure can you put in the chamber. You’ve got to worry about the failure modes, and you know what happens if you get a projectile stuck in the chamber, things along those lines. There are a lot of other things that you have to worry about, because you want to make sure not only is the gun effective, but it’s got to be safe, and it’s also got to be suitable for the particular mission, and so that’s that broad spectrum that we’re trying to balance and trade off with everything that’s out there in between both the ammunition and the rifle that’s firing it.

Q: Can you provide an update on fielding of the Mid-Range Gas Gun, both assault and sniper configurations?

A: There is some sensitivity to that… We have been fielding the Mid-Range Gas Gun-Sniper variant since 2023, and we just recently started procurement of the assault variant, so we are pretty excited about getting kicked off of the assault variant from [Lewis Machine & Tool] LMT.

Q: When was the assault variant fielded?

A: We’re currently under a production contract with that. We have not begun to field it.

Q: Any timeline on that?

A: Actually, we are still having those discussions with the vendors. I don’t have an answer for that one.

Q: Why are you excited about the new Mid-Range Gas Gun-Assault (MRGG-A) variant?

A: That one kind of solves the extended range for those mid-range calibers, both 7.62 NATO and the 6.5mm Creedmoor round. That weapon exceeds a 1,200-meter point target in 6.5mm Creedmoor. It’s just a phenomenal, accurate weapon system for our SOF operators. All the components are super excited about this one.

Piston driven AR15 VS gas impingement

Q: Can you provide an update on the Light Machine Gun-Medium (LMG-M) that is supposed to be chambered in .338 Norma Magnum?

A: SOCOM has paused that program at this time as far as a significant fielding. However, we are fielding a small portion to one unit, not to be mentioned, and we’re going to see how that works out in that unit. We’re doing a small fielding combat evaluation with a unit to see how it’s functioning.

Q: What about SOCOM’s other lightweight machine gun programs?

A: We just got into an OTA [Other Transaction Authority contract] for the Lightweight Machine Gun- Assault (LMG-A), the 7.62 variant, and have a couple competitors there working designs there and expect to have that out to replace the MK 48 in the Fiscal Year 2028-2029 timeframe.

Q: Is the LMG-M being provided by Sig Sauer?

A: Yes.

SIG SAUER MG 338 Machine Gun

Q: Walk me through the advantages of a Norma .338 round.

A: So .338 has some significant range. The .338 has greater range than traditional .50 cal, and the particular round that we have is more effective on target than the .50 caliber at those greater ranges. However, if you compare it to 7.62 or some other lighter cartridges, it is still a heavier round. There are tradeoffs in the .338 machine gun world.

Q: What does the .338 bring to the table for operators?

A: You can replace a .50 caliber’s weighted system with a lighter system that is also dismountable. So, for instance, if you had a light vehicle that had trouble carrying a .50 cal plus a significant amount of ammunition, if you switch over to .338 you can save hundreds of pounds and keep that vehicle under its [gross vehicle weight rating] GVWR. Or especially if you’re doing things like jumping a vehicle that has to be able to hit the ground pretty hard – things along those lines. It allows you to reduce some of that weight, but be able to maintain the range and effectiveness.

GDOTS – LightWeight Medium Machine Gun (LWMMG) [1080p]

Q: One last question, what can you tell me about any counter drone rounds that you are either fielding or looking to field across all platforms?

A: We have definitely been looking at counter-drone rounds specifically in the current calibers and so what can I do to augment operators with the rifle that they’re currently carrying. We’ve also been experimenting with various other things, from shotguns to 40 millimeters [40mm grenade], and we’re still trying to sort through there. There’s a lot of things you have to think about when you’re looking at the effectiveness of a round like that. Unfortunately, I can’t go any deeper than that, because I’m really getting into more of an [operational security] OPSEC type of thing, I don’t want to go there.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

A Netflix series has been deemed so good that it has viewers glued to their TVs for six hours straight. They admit the show is amazing, and had them totally hooked

Occasionally we all seek fresh content to watch, and a certain programme that’s recently arrived on Netflix has been considered absolutely exceptional. The crime drama has captivated audiences, with some confessing they’ve devoured it entirely in a single six-hour session as it’s simply so compelling.

If you’re searching for a television programme to genuinely keep you engrossed, it appears this one merits consideration, and it’s recently been spotlighted by Yazmien Yuen on TikTok, who confessed she thoroughly adored it. She stated the Netflix drama is so impressive that she remained seated for six hours continuously watching every single episode.

It’s not the sole offering to have mesmerised viewers lately either. Just weeks ago, audiences acknowledged they were also binge-watching another programme within a single session.

In the clip, Yazmien stated: “Netflix dropped a British crime series called Legends that not enough people are talking about. So, of course, I’m going to bring it to your attention.

“It dropped on May 7. Six episodes that you’re going to [watch] like I did in one sitting and, imagine this, it is based on a true story that most people have never heard of.

“When I saw that at the end I was like ‘you what?’ I was gobsmacked.” Accompanying the clip, she also penned: “I started Legends on Netflix at 9pm and finished at 3am.

“This show is THAT serious – British true crime, undercover agents, Steve Coogan. Six episodes. One weekend. You’re welcome.”

The footage rapidly sparked conversation, racking up hundreds of views. Numerous viewers confessed the programme is utterly addictive.

One viewer commented: “Halfway through it and I deliberately stopped so that it will last a bit longer. It’s so good!”

Another enthused: “I binged it, amazing show.” A third responded: “Very good drama, a must-watch. Steve (Coogan) is great at playing serious parts.”

Meanwhile, a fourth wrote: “I just finished it, it was so good! I literally never switch my TV on, but this had me hooked!”

Someone else remarked: “We have two episodes left and I’m bummed. I don’t want to finish it.”

What’s the plot?

For those unfamiliar with Legends, it’s a British crime drama television series penned and conceived by Neil Forsyth. Production was handled by his company, Tannadice Pictures.

Drawing from real events, it follows British undercover Customs investigators who penetrate the drug underworld during the early 1990s. The ensemble features Steve Coogan, Tom Burke and Hayley Squires.

The narrative explores how Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise was struggling against illegal drug trafficking at Britain’s borders. Through a classified operation, a select group of Customs officers were assigned fresh identities and deployed undercover to penetrate Britain’s most dangerous criminal networks.

Following its Netflix debut in May, the series has garnered favourable critical reception. Audiences appear equally impressed with the offering.

One viewer heaped praise on it, commenting: “Absolutely superb it was.” Another remarked: “This is a quality watch.”