Bad

EastEnders star Aaron Thiara ‘quits’ soap after four years as bad boy Ravi Gulati

Aaron Thiara, who plays Ravi Gulati on EastEnders, has reportedly quit the long-running BBC soap after four years on the show so that he can focus on new projects

Aaron Thiara has reportedly quit EastEnders. The actor, 33, has starred as Ravi Gulati on the long-running BBC soap since 2022 and has been at the centre of several dramatic storylines during that time.

Now, insiders have claimed that Aaron, who appeared in various short films and a string of Shakespeare plays before joining EastEnders, is leaving the programme for pastures new.

A source claimed: “Aaron has been at the centre of the some of the soaps biggest storylines since his arrival as bad-boy Ravi back in 2022. He’s an incredibly popular member of the cast and the fans love him.

Speaking to The Sun, the source went on to claim: “He’s decided to focus on new projects, but will stay on set until the end of the year to see out some juicy storylines his character has in store.”

Since he arrived in Walford three years ago, Ravi has discovered that his biological son of Nish Panesar and that he was the product of an affair. He then went on to kill Ranveer Gulati, the man he thought was his father, in an act of self-defence and was once in a love triangle with Denise Fox and Jack Branning.

The character is also known for his relationship with Priya Nandra-Hart (Sophie Khan Levy), with whom he has a son, Nugget and a daughter, Avani.

Just over a year ago, Ravi partnered with Nicola Mitchell to set up a drugs empire but six months later, she spiked his drink as an act of revenge and he ended up putting his son into a coma.

Much of 2026 has revolved around Ravi’s mental health and PTSD, and, ahead of the storyline, Aaron pleaded with fans to “see the person” and “not the villain”. Some fans had been struggling to be sympathetic towards the character following his actions towards Harry.

Aaron said that he hopes fans can look past Ravi’s history amid his upcoming storyline, which EastEnders worked with mental health charity Samaritans on.

He said: “In these moments, I hope the audience can simply see a human being in crisis. Some may hold his history against him, but I hope people will see, not the villain, not the history, but the person underneath it all.”

Aaron won Villain of the Year at the now-defunct British Soap Awards in 2023 and was also nominated for Serial Drama Performance at the National Television Awards around the same time. When he joined the programme a year earlier, he spoke of how thrilled he was to get the chance to be part of such a television staple.

He said: “My heart is filled with immense gratitude to be joining such an iconic show, working alongside a stellar cast and a remarkable production team. It’s a very proud moment for me and my family. This is a wondrous opportunity to approach as an actor, and I can’t wait for people to meet Ravi on screen and witness his roller-coaster of a journey!”

A spokesperson for EastEnders declined to comment

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.



Source link

I visited the Caribbean island home to Bad Bunny with waterfall hikes and some of the best coffee in the world

Collage of a man pointing at a pink building and a Bacardi mural, set against a beach scene.

PUERTO Rico is known for salsa, pina coladas and street parties.

But following Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny’s performance at the Super Bowl half-time show this year, interest in the Caribbean island — which is a US territory — has surged.

Puerto Rico is known for salsa, pina coladas and street parties Credit: Getty
Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny’s performance at the Super Bowl half-time show this year Credit: AP

And on my first visit, it didn’t take me long to realise what all the fuss was about.

Landing in capital San Juan, I made a beeline for Bad Bunny’s favourite neighbourhood, Santurce, a hip and arty spot littered with bright and enormous murals — the biggest of which stretches ten storeys high.

In the day, the streets here are peaceful, with quiet cafes spilling on to the pavement and a well-known elderly man selling flowers to passers-by.

Don’t let that fool you, though.

HOLS IN FLAMES

Is YOUR France or Spain holiday affected by wildfires? Latest travel advice


SPAIN PAIN

Is it safe to travel to Spain amid wildfires? Everything to know about holidays

The scene completely changes come Friday and Saturday nights, when locals cram into the many bars and party on the streets to live music.

It’s a great spot for a boogie and for those who love to let their hair down.

But if, like me, you’re not much of a party animal, you might prefer the region of Ciales, around 40 miles to the west, which offers sweeping, unspoilt countryside.

Instead of late nights stomping until sunrise, this area is all about early mornings and waterfall hikes.

The Santurce neighbourhood, in the capital San Juan, is a hip and arty spot littered with bright and enormous murals Credit: Supplied
The region of Ciales offers sweeping, unspoilt countryside and waterfalls

You’ll never struggle to find a decent coffee to fuel those dawn starts, either.

After all, Puerto Rico is famous for producing some of the best in the world.

You’ll be able to pick up a brew anywhere, with makeshift stalls perched on the side of the road and halfway up mountains.

I even found one suspended from a treehouse. Called FinCafe, it serves its brews with a twist.

How does a ginger and cinnamon flat white sound?

FinCafe also offers tours of its plantation across the road. Book with Sofrito Tours (sofritotourspr.com).

Heading even further west, out of the countryside and towards the coastline, I stumbled upon some of the most beautiful seaside spots, including Crash Boat Beach.

Once a military site (hence the name) this shore is now a gorgeous stretch of white sand bordering clear blue seas.

The arty Santurce district is full of cool murals Credit: Supplied
The Sun’s Alice Penwill at FinCafe Credit: Supplied

Be prepared to jump off the fishing pier if you visit. It’s a cherished tradition here.

If you are keen to have a go at surfing then make your way to Jobos Beach, a few miles along the coast from Crash Boat.

Those who are new to the sport can book a private or group lesson with local group MOKU (mokusurfshop.com).

The staff are incredibly patient.

They even pushed my board against the might of the ocean to try and help me catch a wave.

You’ll find that all the exertion will build up quite an appetite — and lunch at the surrounding coastal restaurants is the best way to refuel.

I became very partial to a Medalla Light beer or an Ocean Lab Mambo, which has a hint of passion fruit and is delightfully fresh after a day of swallowing salty seawater.

Beers can be paired with local snacks such as fried fish, crab fritters and plantain chips.

Streets with colorful houses at Old San Juan Credit: Supplied
Beach hopping tours with Marie Adventures start from $95 Credit: Getty

You can bet your bottom dollar that it will be some of the freshest grub you have tried, too.

Much of the food in Puerto Rico is sourced from the island.

Pa’l Monte, in the small town of Rincon, is the place to head for proper hearty meals.

Try traditional mofongo, which is fried and then mashed plantain, topped with prawns, meat or veggies.

If you are more of a cheese fan then Vaca Negra is where to head. You can even have a go at making your own cheese (see vacanegra.com).

After busy days of surfing, exploring and gobbling back delicious food, the comfy beds at El Oasis, a retreat in the hilltops of Aguada, offered great respite.

With nothing but the call of the coqui tree frogs to disturb the peace, this spot felt like living in pure paradise.

And I can’t help but feel a little jealous that Bad Bunny gets to call this home.

GO: PUERTO RICO

GETTING THERE: JetBlue flies from Heathrow to San Juan via New York from £390 each way. See jetblue.com.

STAYING THERE: Palacio Provincial in San Juan has rooms from $429 per night, room only (plus taxes).

See www.palacioprovincial.com.

Rooms at El Oasis cost from $135 per night, room only (plus taxes).

See eloasishotel.com.

Rooms at Marriott Isla Verde Beach Resort cost from $399 per night.

See marriott.com.

OUT & ABOUT: San Juan & Santurce tour with Patria Tours cost from $51.

See patria-tours.com.

Beach hopping tours with Marie Adventures start from $95.

See mariexadventures.com.
MORE INFO: discoverpuertorico.com.

Source link

North Korea Upping Ballistic Missile Supplies To Russia Would Be Bad News For Ukraine At The Worst Time

Ukraine’s military intelligence says North Korea is preparing to deploy a missile unit to western Russia, which would mark another major expansion of military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang. The report comes as Kyiv warns its dwindling ballistic missile defenses are costing civilian lives.

Andrii Cherniak of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) told Reuters that the deployment will involve approximately 90 North Korean personnel stationed in Russia’s Voronezh region — which borders Ukraine — alongside the Russian military’s 112th Guards Missile Brigade. Ukrainian intelligence assesses the unit could ultimately field six launchers and as many as 120 KN-23 and KN-24 short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), although the final composition is expected to be determined during senior-level talks next month.

A North Korean KN-24 short-range ballistic missile. North Korean State Media

The Ukrainian intelligence assessment has not been independently verified.

If confirmed, the deployment would represent a further deepening of North Korean support for Russia, after supplying Russia with ammunition, smaller numbers of ballistic missiles, and troops.

The Ukrainian Air Force today said Russia launched another major overnight strike combining drones with ballistic missiles. Preliminary figures showed Ukrainian air defenses shot down 98 of the 115 drones launched, but failed to intercept a single ballistic missile. As well as the inherent difficulty of intercepting these threats, this statistic also points to the exhaustion of its Patriot interceptor stockpiles.

The attack killed at least 17 people and injured dozens more after strikes hit multiple locations across Kyiv.

President Volodymyr Zelensky directly linked the casualties to continued shortages of advanced air-defense systems.

“Ballistic missile interceptors could have saved the lives of those killed today,” Zelensky wrote on social media. “It is very important that our partners understand that delays in supplying them, or an unwillingness to provide anti-ballistic systems, lead directly to such horrific casualties and destruction.”

Ukraine has spent months urging Western partners to provide additional Patriot batteries and interceptor missiles, which remain among the few systems capable of defeating ballistic missile threats such as Russia’s Iskander and North Korea’s KN-23 and KN-24. While Ukrainian forces routinely claim to intercept the majority of incoming drones and many cruise missiles, ballistic missiles continue to present one of the most difficult threats to defend against.

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested Washington might grant Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot interceptors domestically before later appearing to back away from the proposal, saying the technology was “a hard thing to give away.”

According to Ukraine’s military administration, seven sites across Kyiv were struck during the latest attack, which began shortly after midnight. Zelensky said the primary targets included civilian industrial facilities, among them a brewing company and warehouses storing construction materials.

“Partners who are not yet ready to play a more active role in supplying interceptors can help by implementing new sanctions. A significant share of Russia’s ballistic missile production is still not under sanctions,” Zelensky wrote on X. “Even now. New steps are needed — from the G7, the European Union, and everyone who supports the protection of life. Thank you to those who are willing to help in this way.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said rescue operations continued throughout the day.

“There may still be people under the rubble,” he said.

Emergency crews rescued two survivors from a destroyed warehouse near the city center. Klitschko said 24 people were injured, including an ambulance driver, while four remained in critical condition. The strikes also ignited multiple fires at warehouses and industrial sites, while Ukrainian authorities reported an ammonia leak triggered by one of the impacts.

The latest attack coincides with what Ukrainian intelligence says was Russia’s first use of North Korean ballistic missiles since August 2025.

Cherniak told Reuters that Pyongyang recently delivered another batch of 40 KN-23 and KN-24 missiles to Russia, along with additional personnel. He said Russia ultimately expects to receive 120 North Korean ballistic missiles and six launchers.

A North Korean KN-23 short-range ballistic missile. North Korean State Media

According to Ukrainian authorities, one of the newly delivered North Korean missiles struck the central Ukrainian village of Radushne last week, flattening a residential home and killing at least five members of the same family.

Clearly, any increase in Russia’s ballistic missile inventory poses a serious challenge for Ukraine’s already strained air defenses. The situation is likely to become more difficult heading into the coming winter, when Russia normally steps up its strikes against Ukraine’s electrical grid.

The KN-23, known in North Korea as the Hwasong-11A, is a traditional SRBM that can reach out to around 800 kilometers (497 miles) and has a 500-kilogram (1,102-pound) class unitary high-explosive warhead. It offers greater range than Russia’s 9M723 Iskander SRBM, which carries a similarly sized warhead but has a range of 500 kilometers (311 miles). This weapon has also been fired from adapted railcars, a concept you can read more about here.

A North Korean KN-23 test. North Korean State Media

As for the KN-24, or Hwasong-11B, this has a range of approximately 410 kilometers (255 miles), making it more of a battlefield support SRBM, but still sufficient for Russia to strike many targets within Ukraine. It is often considered a North Korean analog of the U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).

KN-24 being test-launched. North Korean State Media

However, the North Korean SRBMs are considered less accurate than their Russian-made counterparts and have been associated with strikes causing significant civilian casualties.

According to a report from Ukrainian state prosecutors, around half of the KN-23s that had been launched by Russia between late December 2023 and late February 2024 not only deviated from their trajectory but also exploded in midair.

An investigation by Conflict Armament Research (CAR) into the wreckage of a KN-23/KN-24 missile used by Russia in Ukraine found that the missile contained more than 290 foreign-made electronic components, with approximately 75 percent linked to U.S. companies, 16 percent to European firms, and the remainder to Asian manufacturers. This suggests that North Korea continues to obtain critical Western technology despite longstanding international sanctions and points to continued limitations in Pyongyang’s high-technology production capabilities.

North Korea first began supplying KN-23 and KN-24 missiles to Russia in late 2023. Cherniak said Pyongyang delivered approximately 150 ballistic missiles between late 2023 and August 2025. Ukraine also says North Korea has supplied millions of much-needed artillery projectiles and deployed around 14,000 troops to Russia’s Kursk region under the countries’ 2024 mutual defense agreement.

A graphic shown at a White House press conference in January 2024 provides details about Russian use of North Korean ballistic missiles. NSC/White House

Cherniak said roughly 9,500 North Korean troops remain in Kursk but are not currently engaged in combat operations against Ukraine. Zelensky said last month that Russia is seeking an additional 30,000 North Korean troops and is preparing facilities in the Voronezh region to receive them.

Overall, North Korean-supplied missiles make up only a very small fraction of the weapons used in Russian strikes on Ukraine, but there has long been concern about the direction the burgeoning military relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang could take. There have been particular concerns that Russian expertise in the development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons — as well as other weapons and technologies — could be provided to North Korea.

North Korea: Kim Jong-un shows unseen nuclear weapons to Russia’s defence minister thumbnail

North Korea: Kim Jong-un shows unseen nuclear weapons to Russia’s defence minister




The reported new deployment comes as Russia appears to be increasing its reliance on ballistic missiles to exploit one of Ukraine’s most significant military vulnerabilities. With few signs that Russia has been able to further ramp up production of its own Iskander missiles, an increased supply of North Korean ballistic missiles would take advantage of a gap in Ukrainian air defenses and further threaten its cities, energy infrastructure, and other targets. The bigger concern is not simply another shipment of missiles, but the prospect of Russia tapping into an expanding North Korean production base financed by Moscow, allowing it to sustain high-volume ballistic missile attacks for far longer than it otherwise could.

Ukraine’s ability to defeat ballistic missiles of any origin has become increasingly constrained by the availability of interceptor missiles. Patriot remains the primary system capable of reliably engaging Iskander, KN-23, and KN-24 ballistic missiles, but the U.S.-made interceptors are expensive, produced in relatively modest numbers, and are also needed to meet U.S. and allied needs around the world. European-supplied SAMP/T batteries also provide a limited anti-ballistic capability, but have been provided in only limited numbers so far.

Ukrainian personnel remove camouflage netting from a Patriot launcher. Ukrainian Air Force

Global demand for Patriot interceptors has surged amid conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, straining U.S. and allied inventories and production capacity. Those constraints have become significant enough that Congress has questioned whether the Pentagon can sustain higher transfer rates to Ukraine even as Kyiv presses for more interceptors. Meanwhile, although the United States continues discussing licensed Patriot production with Ukraine, any domestic manufacturing effort would take many months—if not years—to produce missiles in meaningful numbers, leaving Kyiv dependent on allied deliveries for the foreseeable future.

Whether or not the reported North Korean missile unit deployment materializes, the operational trend is becoming increasingly clear. Russia is continuing to expand the scale and complexity of its long-range strike campaigns, pairing mass drone attacks with growing numbers of ballistic missiles specifically intended to exploit one of Ukraine’s most difficult defensive challenges. As Kyiv’s leadership continues to press for additional Patriot batteries and interceptor missiles, the consequences of those shortages are becoming increasingly evident with every large-scale strike.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Thomas Newdick is a staff writer at TWZ, where he covers military aviation, defense technology, weapons systems, and international security. Based in Berlin, Germany, he reports on conflicts, military modernization efforts, and emerging aerospace technologies around the world, with a particular interest in airpower and its role in contemporary warfare. His reporting is informed by deep expertise in modern and historical airpower, particularly in Europe, with a focus on military aviation, air campaigns, and aerospace developments across the continent and beyond.




Source link

The UK flight routes most likely to be cancelled this summer and it’s bad news for a Spanish island

An image collage containing 3 images, Image 1 shows Aerial view of Gatwick Airport with multiple airplanes parked at gates, Image 2 shows Aerial image of San Antonio Bay on the island of Ibiza, with boats in the bay and buildings, hotels, and beaches lining the coast, Image 3 shows Beach view of Magaluf in Calvia Municipality, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain

THERE’S nothing worse than looking forward to your summer holiday, arriving at the airport and then being told your flight is cancelled.

And now the worst flight routes for cancellations have been announced, with some of the most popular holiday hotspots coming out on top.

The UK flights to Europe with the worst cancellations have been revealed Credit: Alamy
The London Luton and Ibiza route came out on top as the worst Credit: Alamy

According to new analysis of flight data by AirAdvisor, flights between London’s key hubs and Majorca and Ibiza are most likely to be cancelled this summer.

The study looked at routes between the UK and European airports that had more than 100 flights scheduled per month.

Coming out on top is the route between London Luton and Ibiza with a cancellation rate of 5.56 per cent between June 1 and August 31.

London Heathrow to Majorca came up second worst for cancellations, at a rate of 1.6 per cent.

Read more on travel inspo

SO FLY

Our fave beach hols under 5 hours from UK with Caribbean dupes & £2 bottles of wine


PITCH UP

Best £9.50 Holiday parks for families & how to travel on a budget – by our expert

Rounding out the top three is London Gatwick to Lisbon in Portugal, with a cancellation rate of 1.43 per cent.

In fact, out of the routes with the most cancellations 10 out of the top 12 are from London airports.

Bristol to Málaga came in seventh worst for cancellations, at 1.2 per cent.

This route was followed by Birmingham to Palma de Majorca, at 1.02 per cent.

Out of the top 12 worst routes for cancellations, 10 are from London airports Credit: ©Jeffrey Milstein

Overall, four of the top 10 routes from the UK with the highest cancellation rates are to Majorca.

More than two million Brits travel to Majorca during the peak summer season, with the airport also being one of the busiest airports in Europe.

According to AirAdvisor, so far this summer 36 of 1050 flights departing from Gatwick and Heathrow airports heading to Majorca have been cancelled – which is around 3.44 per cent.

Anton Radchenko, CEO of AirAdvisor said: “Cancellation risk on UK routes to Europe is not spread evenly, and this summer the Balearics are carrying a bigger share of the risk than anywhere else.

“That’s worth understanding before you travel, because a cancellation is not just a long wait at the gate. You lose your slot. Same-day options dry up quickly.

“And from that point on, the airline decides what happens next, not you.

“Under UK261, if you’re told your flight is cancelled less than 14 days before departure, you may be entitled to between £220 and £520 in compensation, depending on how far you were flying.”

Top 10 worst routes for cancellations

THESE are the worst airport routes from the UK for flight cancellations over the summer period:

  1. London Luton – Ibiza = 5.56 per cent
  2. London Heathrow – Palma de Mallorca = 1.60 per cent
  3. London Gatwick – Lisbon = 1.43 per cent
  4. London Heathrow – Ibiza = 1.38 per cent
  5. London Gatwick – Palma de Mallorca = 1.31 per cent
  6. London Luton – Palma de Mallorca = 1.30 per cent
  7. Bristol – Málaga = 1.20 per cent
  8. Birmingham – Palma de Mallorca = 1.02 per cent
  9. London Gatwick – Ibiza = 0.92 per cent
  10. London Gatwick – Málaga = 0.63 per cent



Source link

Justin Wrobleski has a bad night as Dodgers fall to the Mariners

Dominic Canzone’s go-ahead home run in the eighth spoiled a Tuesday night of leaderboard climbing for Max Muncy and Shohei Ohtani as the Mariners beat the Dodgers 7-6 in the first game at Dodger Stadium since before the All-Star break on July 12.

With one out, Julio Rodríguez on first and the score tied at five, Canzone got all of Alex Vesia’s 82-mph slider, sending it 414 feet to center to help lift Seattle to its first win over the Dodgers in five years and first in Los Angeles since June 28, 2009.

“I mean it’s a pitch that’s had different results,” Vesia said. “Obviously it’s not the best pitch. I would have liked to have it more outside or more down. Kind of just flush it and on to the next one. Clearly need to be better in that situation. I felt like my stuff was good after that.”

Added manager Dave Roberts: “Alex made a really bad pitch, [an] 0-1 slider that was middle-middle, and they were hitting the ball out of the ballpark. So, that’s kind of the tale of the run prevention tonight.”

The Dodgers (67-40), with some much-needed help from dubious Mariners fielding, did have Ohtani on third and Muncy on second as the tying and game-winning runs in the ninth. But Seattle reliever Andrés Muñoz survived, putting an end to the thrilling opener of this three-game series.

Seattle won the offensive slugfest with 10 hits and five home runs to the home team’s 13 hits and two homers.

Canzone led the Mariners with two homers — his first, a solo shot, went 433 feet to center in the sixth — while Rodríguez, Cal Raleigh and Rob Refsnyder all hit one apiece.

Mariners right-handed starter Luis Castillo struggled and surrendered five runs, 11 hits and a pair of homers through five innings. But Dodgers lefty Justin Wrobleski, coming off six innings of one-run ball in last Tuesday’s win in Philadelphia, wasn’t his best either. He surrendered five runs and four homers through six innings.

“They obviously had a good approach against me,” Wrobleski said. “We didn’t do the greatest job of kind of adjusting to their game plan. And yeah, they got me. That’s part of the game. … It’s definitely not a thing that I want to have happen again, but again, it’s a learning experience.”

“Going back and looking at it, I still threw the ball pretty well,” Wrobleski added. “I mean, I know that sounds crazy considering the number and the line … but at the end of the day … I didn’t do a great job of adjusting.”

Muncy and Ohtani, though, still had nights to remember.

Ohtani kick-started the scoring with his 10th leadoff homer of the season, which was also the 34th of his nine-year MLB career and 28th with the Dodgers. The 432-footer to center tied the two-way superstar with Davey Lopes for the second-most leadoff homers in franchise history. Mookie Betts is first on the list with 32.

“Tonight, he looked like himself,” Roberts said of Ohtani, who remains off the mound. “I do think that the road trip was exhausting for everyone. I do think that with the day off, he came in fresh and looked more like himself.”

Muncy, meanwhile, launched a home run 430 feet to right in the fifth to tie Eric Karros for the most homers in Dodger Stadium history with 130. Muncy, who has spent the past nine years with L.A. after spending his first two seasons in Oakland, could be standing alone by the end of the Dodgers’ current six-game homestand.

Injury updates

Kiké Hernández was activated Tuesday after being out since May 26 with a grade 3 oblique strain. Alex Freeland was optioned to triple-A Oklahoma City in a corresponding move.

“All you can do is take it one day at a time,” Hernández said. “And the best way that you can take things one day at a time is focusing on what you can do today to get better. And that’s what I did … literally going one day at a time and trying to be the best rehabber I could … the best teammate that I could. … It’s been a really long time. … So, I feel pretty good, and happy to see what I can do out on the field.”

Hernández had already made his season debut late — on May 25 — because of his recovery from offseason elbow surgery. Now, the 34-year-old utilityman is grateful to be back and eager to build on his four-for-four start over two games.

“A lot of nervousness,” Hernández said about playing again, mentioning that he had a panic attack when first learning of his worse-than-expected diagnosis. “I feel pretty good. … I feel like everything is in a pretty good spot right now. Trying to keep my 1.000 batting average going and be the best hitter in the league.

“[I’m] just happy to be back with the boys.”

Edwin Díaz will be the next to return.

The right-handed closer is scheduled to be activated Wednesday — fittingly, when 40,000 fans will receive an Díaz bobblehead — after missing three months because of right elbow surgery.

“He’s checked all his boxes,” Roberts said. “So getting him back in the mix is going to be fun for all of us as well.”

Meanwhile, Will Smith is starting baseball activities “pain-free” after sitting on the injured list since June 5 with a neck injury, Roberts added, and Tyler Glasnow will throw a live session Wednesday after being out since May with a back problem.

Ohtani’s status as a pitcher, however, remains murky. Roberts mentioned an undesirable ramp-up period being in play for Ohtani, as it has been over a month since he last pitched due to irritation in his left knee.

Ohtani himself clarified the origins of his knee problem and shared an estimate of where it’s at strength-wise.

“The discomfort was caused initially by the pitching,” Ohtani said. “So, it’s something I have to work around. In terms of running, I’m not exactly at 100% capacity. When I know it’s not, then it’s always a little harder to be aggressive on the basepath.”

Ohtani and Roberts both said that the Dodgers haven’t reached a point of considering shutting down No. 17 as a pitcher — but never say never.

“Everything that I’ve heard, that’s not the option,” Roberts said. “I guess anything’s possible, but for me, it’s highly unlikely.”

Added Ohtani: “The knee is where it is in terms of, for it to heal is the most important priority. I don’t think the team has really come to a place exactly where, do I pitch through it or not. That’s still really up in the air.”

But that’s not all. Ohtani shared that his biceps is bothering him, too.

“My biceps not 100%,” Ohtani added. “Just [a] similar issue with the knee. Do we consider pushing this? It is still July. So, I think the conversation would be a little different if we’re in August or September.”

“We are getting closer to that,” Roberts said. “You know, he’s a starting pitcher, and then, when you start missing three, four, five weeks of that build-up, then you’ve got to kind of start up again.”

Source link

Emmerdale Serena’s secret finally exposed and it’s bad news for Robert and Victoria

Emmerdale’s Serena Sugden’s secret was exposed to her cousin Robert by his ex Kev Townsend on Monday’s episode of the ITV soap, and it might not end well for some characters

Serena in Emmerdale seems to have finally been exposed, as her secret career was revealed.

Kev Townsend finally remembered where he knew Serena from, and he wasted no time in telling her cousin Robert Sugden. Kev shocked Robert as he outed Serena as a copper.

If he’s correct, this explains her shifty behaviour and her constant interrogations. But why is she asking questions about her killer cousin John Sugden and his victims?

Moira Dingle, Vanessa Woodfield and Aaron Dingle had all been suspicious of Serena as she quizzed them about John’s killer actions. While Robert wasn’t concerned, he was warned by Moira on Monday.

Moira told him how she’d been looking into Nate’s death at the hands of John, and she warned him not to tell Serena about how John died. It seems Moira could have been right to be so worried.

Kev then let himself into Robert’s house, leaving Robert stunned. But he was even more shocked when Kev dropped the bombshell that Serena “is police”, branding her a “copper”.

So is Serena a police officer, and is Kev right? He did say he never forgets a face and he’s rarely every wrong so it seems Serena has been sussed.

But what will Robert do with this information, and what is Serena up to? Of course Robert knows his sister Victoria Sugden, Serena’s other cousin, killed John in self-defence.

So Serena being a police officer could be bad news for them as they are covering up a crime. It comes as Aaron is set to make a discovery about his partner Robert’s cousin Serena, after he continues to be concerned about her presence.

When Robert is knocked unconscious by a runaway trailer on the farm, Serena helps him. But after she calls Aaron and tends to Robert’s injuries, Aaron shares his concern about Serena.

He questions the fact that Serena just happened to be at the right place at the right time. But spoilers could explain what really caused the incident with Robert, and it might have nothing to do with Serena.

A spoiler about a scene involving Mackenzie Boyd and Ross Barton, who are at the farm that same week, mentions a trailer. Is it just a coincidence, or is it linked?

So the spoiler reads: “A simmering tension from Mack towards Ross builds as they load bags from a trailer.” It’s at this point that the pair end up fighting, and Mack attacks Ross.

So what happens with the trailer? Is it the same trailer that ends up “running away’ and colliding with poor Robert on the farm?

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .



Source link

Indian cricket board to review T20 team’s ‘bad phase’ after England defeats | Cricket News

India slumped to a nine-wicket defeat in the fourth T20 against England, following a 2-0 series whitewash in Ireland.

India’s cricket board will review the T20 team’s performance after a dismal run that saw the world champions lose successive series in Ireland and England, a top official said.

India slumped to a nine-wicket defeat in the fourth T20 against England on Thursday, handing the hosts an unassailable 3-0 lead with one match remaining after the opener was washed out.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

The loss was India’s fifth straight defeat, following a 2-0 series whitewash in Ireland last month.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will meet to discuss the reasons for the team’s performance after the England tour ends on July 19, secretary Devajit Saikia said on Friday.

“The BCCI is currently observing the performance of the Indian T20 team which has not been up to the mark in the ongoing series against England,” Saikia, who is in Edinburgh for the annual conference of the International Cricket Council, told the news agency AFP in a phone interview.

“We will have a review meeting with the core members of the team to discuss what went wrong in England.”

India, who lifted the T20 World Cup in March, have endured a dramatic dip in form. On Thursday, they managed 158-7 in Bristol, a target England chased down with nine wickets and more than six overs to spare.

The defeat came days after India were dismissed for just 76 in Nottingham, suffering their heaviest T20 loss by a margin of 125 runs.

Saikia described the slump as a temporary setback.

“This is not something abnormal and can happen in international cricket. We consider it as a purely bad phase,” he said.

India, coached by Gautam Gambhir, has been without pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder Hardik Pandya because of workload and injury-management concerns.

Teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, handed his long-awaited debut aged 15, has struggled to make an impact, with scores of 14, 13 and 15 in his three innings.

The teams meet in the fifth and final T20 in Southampton on Saturday before a three-match ODI series.

Source link

Dodgers rout Padres despite bad start by Roki Sasaki

Dodgers rout the Padres

From Liana Handler: Roki Sasaki’s abysmal appearance faded away in the Dodgers’ 12-7 win over the San Diego Padres after the Dodgers roared back from a 6-0 deficit as Andy Pages skirted a tying double down the left-field line, and Mookie Betts and Max Muncy each drove in runs to give them the lead. All of which sent the sellout crowd into jubilant celebrations, some jumping, others breaking out World Cup chants.

“I don’t know,” manager Dave Roberts said of the team’s ability to turn the game around. “Thankfully, it played out the way I didn’t expect, or the way it started.”

By the time the game ended, Sasaki’s three-inning start seemed like a murky nightmare the Dodgers awoke from in a sweat. Except the Dodgers weren’t dreaming, and the team hadn’t done much to assuage the concerns with Sasaki.

The problem with Sasaki isn’t his stuff. On his best nights, when the velocity and command combine, Sasaki blows past batters with a triple-digit fastball and cutting off-speed pitches. The problem has been how to tick the radar without making the strike zone look like a Jackson Pollock painting — and recently, it has.

Continue reading here

Dodgers box score

MLB standings

Go beyond the scoreboard

Get the latest on L.A.’s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter.

World Cup: U.S. team maintains focus before Belgium match

From Kevin Baxter: Mauricio Pochettino’s team continues to do things in this summer’s World Cup that no U.S. team has ever done before.

Its three wins are the most in a single tournament. So are the 10 goals in four games. It has the best goal differential ever and its two shutouts ties a record.

Yet all that means absolutely nothing to the players.

“They’re great milestones,” captain Tim Ream said. “But I don’t think anybody’s even once mentioned the different things that we’re doing. We’re focused on what we’re doing daily on the training ground, because that puts us in the best possible position to to put these performances.

“So yeah, not aware or even worried about records that we’re breaking.”

Well, except for maybe one.

With Wednesday’s gritty 2-0 over Bosnia and Herzegovina, a game the U.S. finished with just 10 men, the Americans won a game in the World Cup knockout stage for just the second time. That sends them on to a round-of-16 meeting with Belgium on Monday in Seattle where a win would be — you guessed it — historic.

Continue reading here

Swanson: Justice for U.S. star Folarin Balogun, red card for VAR

Spain routs Austria while still working to reach World Cup champion form

Thursday’s World Cup results

Round of 32
Spain 3, Austria 0
Portugal 2, Croatia 1
Switzerland 2, Algeria 0

Today’s World Cup TV schedule

All times Pacific
Australia vs. Egypt, 11 a.m., Fox, Telemundo
Argentina vs. Cape Verde, 3 p.m., Fox, Telemundo
Colombia vs. Ghana, 6:30 p.m., Fox, Telemundo

World Cup round of 32 schedule, results

Round of 32 results
Canada 1, South Africa 0
Brazil 2, Japan 1
Paraguay 1, Germany 1 (Paraguay wins on PK’s, 4-3)
Morocco 1, Netherlands 1 (Morocco wins on PK’s, 3-2)
Norway 2, Ivory Coast 1
France 3, Sweden 0
Mexico 2, Ecuador 0
England 2, DR Congo 1
Belgium 3, Senegal 2
U.S. 2, Bosnia-Herzegovina 0
Spain 3, Austria 0
Portugal 2, Croatia 1
Switzerland 2, Algeria 0

All times Pacific
Friday
Australia vs. Egypt, 11 a.m., Fox, Telemundo
Argentina vs. Cape Verde, 3 p.m., Fox, Telemundo
Colombia vs. Ghana, 6:30 p.m., Fox, Telemundo

Round of 16 schedule

All times Pacific
All games on Fox and Telemundo

Saturday
Canada vs. Morocco, 10 a.m.
Paraguay vs. France, 2 p.m.

Sunday
Brazil vs. Norway, 1 p.m.,
Mexico vs. England, 5 p.m.

Monday
Portugal vs. Spain, noon
U.S. vs. Belgium, 5 p.m.

Tuesday, July 7
Argentina or Cape Verde vs. Australia or Egypt, 9 a.m.
Switzerland vs. Colombia or Ghana, 1 p.m.

Angels swept by Mariners

Bryce Miller took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and the Seattle Mariners edged the Angels 1-0 on Thursday night to finish a three-game sweep.

Cal Raleigh coaxed a bases-loaded walk from rookie starter Walbert Ureña with two outs in the sixth to force home the only run. Seattle stayed tied with the Texas Rangers for first place in the American League West at 45-43.

Andrés Muñoz pitched a shaky ninth for his 16th save. Muñoz gave up a leadoff walk and two singles but retired Wade Meckler on a grounder with two runners aboard to end it.

Continue reading here

Angels box score

MLB standings

Rams great LeRoy Irvin dies

From Chuck Schilken: LeRoy Irvin, a cornerback and special teams player who made two Pro Bowls with the Rams in the 1980s, has died, the team said Thursday. He was 68.

Irvin holds the Rams record for most non-offensive touchdowns (11, including five interception returns, four punt returns, one fumble recovery return and one blocked field goal return). He also is tied with Janoris Jenkins and Ed Meador for most pick-sixes in team history.

“We mourn the loss of Rams Legend LeRoy Irvin,” the team wrote on social media. “We extend our condolences to his family and friends during this difficult time.”

Continue reading here

This day in sports history

1920 — Suzanne Lenglen beats Dorothea Chambers a second straight year (6-3, 6-0) to win the women’s singles title at Wimbledon.

1925 — Suzanne Lenglen wins her sixth and final women’s singles title at Wimbledon, easily beating Joan Fry, 6-2, 6-0.

1931 — Max Schmeling knocks out Young Stribling at 2:46 of the 15th round to retain the world heavyweight title in Cleveland.

1951 — Sam Snead wins his third PGA Championship with a 7 and 6 victory over Walter Burkemo at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club.

1976 — Bjorn Borg beats Ilie Nastase 6-4, 6-2, 9-7, to win his first men’s singles title at Wimbledon.

1981 — Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: Chris Evert beats Hana Mandlíková 6-2, 6-2 for her third and final Wimbledon singles title.

1982 — Martina Navratilova begins her streak of six straight singles titles at Wimbledon with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Chris Evert Lloyd. It’s the third Wimbledon singles title for Navratilova, all against Evert Lloyd.

1983 — Calvin Smith sets the 100-meter world record at Colorado Springs, with a run of 9.93 seconds. He breaks the previous record of 9.95 set by Jim Hines in 1968.

1983 — Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: American John McEnroe wins 5th career Grand Slam title; outclasses Chris Lewis of New Zealand 6-2, 6-2, 6-2.

1994 — FIFA World Cup: In a huge upset Romania eliminates Argentina 3-2 from the round of 16 at the Rose Bowl.

2004 — Maria Sharapova, 17, wins her first Grand Slam title and instant celebrity by beating Serena Williams 6-1, 6-4. For the first time since 1999, none of the four major titles is held by a Williams.

2005 — Roger Federer wins his third consecutive Wimbledon title by beating Andy Roddick 6-2, 7-6 (2), 6-4. Federer is the third man since 1936 to win three straight Wimbledon crowns, joining seven-time champion Pete Sampras and five-time winner Bjorn Borg.

2006 — Annika Sorenstam wins the U.S. Women’s Open after 10 years of frustration and wins her 10th major championship. Sorenstam, who shot a 1-under 70 in the 18-hole playoff, beats Pat Hurst by four strokes for the largest margin of victory in a playoff at the major since Kathy Cornelius won by seven shots 50 years ago.

2006 — Detroit Red Wings legend Steve Yzerman officially retires from the NHL, finishing with 692 goals and 1,755 points.

2007 — The Alinghi team from Switzerland — a country more often associated with Alpine skiing and winter snowscapes — successfully defends sailing’s coveted America’s Cup, beating Emirates Team New Zealand 5-2.

2010 — Serena Williams wins her fourth Wimbledon title and 13th Grand Slam championship by sweeping Vera Zvonareva in straight sets in the women’s final. Williams, who finishes the tournament without dropping a set, takes 67 minutes to win 6-3, 6-2.

2011 — Novak Djokovic wins his first Wimbledon, beating defending champion Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. Djokovic, already guaranteed to take over the No. 1 ranking from the Spaniard on July 4, extends his mastery over Nadal this season with a fifth straight head-to-head victory.

2016 — Serena Williams overwhelms Annika Beck 6-3, 6-0 in just 51 minutes on Centre Court at Wimbledon, advancing to the fourth round with her 300th career Grand Slam match win.

2018 — Feliciano Lopez makes history just by taking to the court at Wimbledon. The 36-year-old Spaniard breaks Roger Federer’s record by appearing in a 66th consecutive Grand Slam singles tournament, continuing a run that started at the 2002 French Open. Lopez beats Federico Delbonis of Argentina 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

Compiled by the Associated Press

This day in baseball history

1912 — Rube Marquard of the New York Giants raised his season record to 19-0 with a 2-1 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers. His winning streak ended five days later against the Chicago Cubs.

1939 — Cleveland’s Ben Chapman ties the modern major-league record with three triples in a 4-2 win over the Detroit Tigers.

1939 — Johnny Mize of St. Louis hit two home runs, a triple and a double, leading the Cardinals to a 5-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Mize drove in three runs and scored three times.

1947 — The Cleveland Indians purchased the contract of Larry Doby from the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League, making him the first Black player in the American League.

1966 — Atlanta pitcher Tony Cloninger became the first National League player to hit two grand slams in one game. He added a single for nine RBIs in a 17-3 triumph over San Francisco.

1968 — Cleveland’s Luis Tiant struck out 19, walked none in a six-hit 1-0, 10-inning triumph over Minnesota.

1970 — The Angels’ Clyde Wright used only 98 pitches to no-hit the Oakland A’s 4-0 at Anaheim Stadium.

1973 — Jim Perry of the Detroit Tigers and brother Gaylord of the Cleveland Indians faced each other for the only time as opposing pitchers. Neither finished the game. Gaylord took the loss, 5-4.

2006 — Manager Felipe Alou picked up his 1,000th victory in San Francisco’s 9-6 win over Colorado.

2013 — Max Scherzer worked into the seventh inning to become the first pitcher in 27 years to get off to a 13-0 start, leading the Detroit Tigers to a 6-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

2016 — Stephen Strasburg was removed from a no-hit bid after 6 2/3 innings, and Ramon Cabrera singled against Matt Belisle leading off the eighth for Cincinnati’s first hit in the Washington Nationals’ 12-1 rout of the Reds. Strasburg (11-0) threw 109 pitches, five shy of his season high. Strasburg won a franchise-record 14 straight decisions and is the first NL starter to begin a season 11-0 since San Diego’s Andy Hawkins in 1985.

2016 — Wilmer Flores went 6 for 6 with two of New York’s five home runs, and the Mets romped to a 14-3 win and a four-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs. Jon Lester gave up eight runs and nine hits in 1 1/3 innings, the shortest of his 301 career starts over 11 major league seasons.

2016 — New York’s Mark Teixeira hit his 400th and 401st home runs and Chad Green got his first big league victory as the Yankees avoided a three-game sweep with a 6-3 win over San Diego.

2020 — Major League Baseball announces the cancellation of the 2020 All Star game in Dodger Stadium due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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.

Source link

Two earthquakes have hit Venezuela – how bad is the damage?

Jorge Rodríguez, the president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, said 250 buildings had been damaged or lost, mostly in La Guaira.

Photos and videos showed debris strewn on the streets. In some footage, people can be heard calling for help.

The BBC has verified footage of a 10-storey hotel reduced to rubble in La Guaira, and another video that recorded people screaming and fleeing as a multi-storey collapses in El Junquito, west of Caracas.

Other verified footage shows destruction further from the capital. One video shows a multi-storey building, reportedly a hotel, totally collapsed in Tucacas, on Venezuela’s coast, about 250km (155 miles) northwest of Caracas.

Mayor Gustavo Duque of Chacao, which forms part of the greater metropolitan area of Caracas, said on Thursday outside the rubble of one collapsed building that 11 people had died there and 23 had been rescued.

In an Instagram video, he said the team was trying to clear the rubble so that specialists could go in “to reach people who are hopefully still alive”.

“We’re trying to rescue as many people alive as possible,” he said.

Fuel supplies into the city have been cut off and internet blackouts have also been reported.

Source link

Michelle Tea interviews queer historian Hugh Ryan on his new memoir “My Bad”

Hugh Ryan is an absolute superstar of queer history. His first two books, “When Brooklyn Was Queer” and “The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison,” were magnets for awards and accolades. After spending recent years immersed in cultural stories, he’s turned his investigative eye on his own coming of age with the rollicking, raw, funny and sharp memoir “My Bad: A Personal History of the Queer Nineties and Beyond.” Pivoting from scholar of history to student of life, Ryan shares lessons learned from beloved but homophobic middle school teachers (“The nicest mother— I knew could accidentally curb-stomp my heart at any moment”) to ones acquired on the dance floor (“Dancing is sex on a communal level: an embodied ecstatic ritual of union”).

Ryan swung through L.A. on his book tour, and what better place to host a paean to the ’90s than the ASU FIDM Museum, where the exhibit “Obsessed: Fashion and Nostalgia in the ’90s” is serving Westwood plaids, Calvin Klein’s minimalist silk parachute sheath and Donatella’s zipper-slashed, leather mourning dress. A fellow survivor of the era, I interviewed Ryan and the evening was introduced by the exhibition’s sparkling curator, Christina Frank, who cheekily shared period photos of the author alongside images from the museum’s ’90s archives, asking: Who wore it best? Whether it was Ryan channeling designer inspo or fashion-snatching looks from the streets, the display — like the book that inspired it — was colorful and daring, inspired and eccentric and wholly unique. At a time when nostalgia for the ’90s is seemingly everywhere, “My Bad” places the decade into context, including its paradoxical freedoms and oppressions, with the intimate, funny rough language of your freakiest, funnest bestie.

Michelle Tea: Your previous books are this amazing, accessible scholarship. In “My Bad,” your language is so different — you’re cussing! The academic gloves are off — which isn’t to say that it’s not brainy. Was this just the voice that the book wanted? It’s like, “Oh, so we’re just like sitting on the curb having a cigarette together.”

Hugh Ryan: I actually wanted to buy a box of clove cigarettes while I was doing the research, but apparently they’re illegal now because they’re deadly and full of fiberglass.

So much of it is about writing it for people today who are younger, who look up to my books and are like, “I’m going to get my PhD and be just like you!,” and I was like, I didn’t do that, I’ve misrepresented myself somehow, and I want to be really real. Also, I had this job for four or five years where I ghost wrote a kids’ books series, and I was eventually fired, because I took a beloved character — who I am not allowed to name — and made her curse, which she had apparently never done in her 100-year history. When I made her say ‘hell’ and ‘damn’ while solving a mystery, the internet went wild, and you can find the Amazon page where I am ruined. So, the ability to curse in my work and have a real voice was something that, from very early on in my career, I was like, “Oh no, I got to be real careful about being too much myself on the page.”

writer Hugh Ryan
Ryan in '90s Calvin Klein; Dave Navarro walks the Anna Sui Spring/Summer 1997 runway.

Ryan in ‘90s Calvin Klein; Dave Navarro walks the Anna Sui Spring/Summer 1997 runway. (Hugh Ryan; Michel Arnaud; Gift of Arnaud Associates, 2000; From ASU FIDM Museum Collection)

MT: You needed to break that pattern of self-censoring. What was it like to shift the focus of your intellectual investigation onto yourself?

HR: Excruciating. At first I really enjoyed it, when it was just this idea. I’ve never really told these stories. In the early versions of it, everything I wrote was jokey, silly, overly stylized, not honest. I wasn’t ready to really dig in. I think that I had a lot of layers of defensiveness that I didn’t even understand I had until I had to write things down. My agent kept being, “No, no, this isn’t real, stop with these jokes, it is funny, but you have to get into the serious issues.” There was a large resistance inside me. Asking, “OK, how did my experiences relate to the ’90s as a whole?” actually let me talk about myself and the time period I emerged from. I needed that scaffolding to feel comfortable.

MT: How do you feel about Gen X’s legacy as basically the coolest generation?

HR: I mean, I kind of love it.

MT: We’re having the most sex, even though we’re so old now. And we’re tough, because we’ve survived so much queer trauma. You write in “My Bad” about having Snapple bottles thrown out windows at you.

HR: If you looked queer and you were out in the world, it was just accepted that at some point during the day someone was going to be violent towards you. Verbally, maybe physically. It just was what it was. Though I will say, having now, later in my life, thrown some Snapple bottles really hard just to feel it, it does feel very good. They’re heavy, they’re glass, they explode. If you can get your hands on some classic ’90s Snapple, just throw them, just try it.

MT: We have to have a queer, Gen X ritual of throwing Snapple bottles, like a rage room.

Various photos of writer Hugh Ryan in 1994-1999.

Ryan in the ‘90s. In his new memoir “My Bad,” Ryan looks back on this time with the intimate, funny rough language of your freakiest, funnest bestie.

(Hugh Ryan)

HR: I do think that it’s easy to forget all of that, because I think we all wanted to forget it to a certain degree. We wanted to let go of our pain. Both the people who were hurt and the people who caused those hurts had some amount of evolution. This is something I think about a lot with my family. If you read the book, in the early chapters it’s rough with my folks. They were loving, but also had no idea what to do with me. I was not just gay, I was weird and trans and confused, and always making noise and acting out and being inappropriate. There’s all this tough stuff, and then we try to forgive each other and let it go, but without saying it. Writing the book was this moment of, “Oh no, am I making us talk about all the bad times again?” It took me sitting with that and realizing — that’s the only way to get to the other side. I’ve seen this change in my family, and it felt important to document how shitty it was, so we could see the change.

MT: What sign are you?

HR: Cancer.

MT: You’re Cancer?!

HR: Yeah, tell me about it. I know so little about astrology. It’s the straightest thing about me, how little I know about astrology.

MT: I don’t even know what to say, because I’m getting such Aquarius-Virgo-Gemini from you that Cancer is just blowing my mind.

HR: I do have a shell, I know that about myself. And that was my first two books. Now I’m trying to invite people in.

MT: Will you talk about the club kid scene in New York City in the ’90s?

HR: I just touched up on the edges of it. The club kid movement really stopped after effective retrovirals come in, in 1996. Suddenly club kids saw a future for themselves, and did not all imagine that they were going to die of AIDS imminently. The ones who I’ve interviewed have said, “That’s the moment at which suddenly, dressing for Friday night no longer felt like what you spend two weeks doing.” But when it was happening, it was amazing. There were these free magazines in New York City, HX and Next, little queer rags full of party promotions and photos of half-naked people in clubs, and ads for those awful viatical companies that would buy up your life insurance if you had AIDS. They were very weird, but they’re like style bibles for me. And then you would go to the clubs.

When you went to Limelight, there would be two entrances, one for straight people and one for gay people. The bouncer at the line for the straight entrance was a giant gay guy, who — this was abusive, and probably wrong, but it was very funny — he’d be like, “You two make out if you’re gonna tell me you’re gay, make out or you don’t come in.” You only got access to half the club if you went in the straight entrance — the other half was only for queer people, and so you would have these straight folks trying to get in. It was amazing, and it was a place where I came to really love my body, because up until then the only things I had been told my body were for were sports, and that was never going to be me. There, I could dance all night.

Limelight was the coolest, but I loved Tunnel. Tunnel was 80,000 square feet of nightclub in a former railway terminal. There was a room entirely designed by the artist Kenny Scharf, and it was covered in fake fur — in a club when smoking was still allowed! It was the worst smelling place I’ve ever been in my whole life. I would sneak down there wearing giant Jnco raver pants, and watch everyone. These giant pants had these huge pockets in them, and I would put a big, gallon Ziploc bag with a clean T-shirt and clean socks inside the pant pocket. When the night was done I would go out, get food, change my clothes, and put the dirty clothes inside the Ziploc bag. I still had to have the pants on. I carried like the smell of 1,000 humid homosexuals with me everywhere I went.

Various photos of writer Hugh Ryan in 1994-1999.

The club, Ryan says, “was a place where I came to really love my body, because up until then the only things I had been told my body were for were sports, and that was never going to be me.”

(Hugh Ryan)

MT: Speaking of being grimy — you were also really affected by Burning Man.

HR: I had met this guy, we totally fell in love. He was a high school dropout computer hacker who was the epitome of the bisexual ’90s — longhaired, androgynous, everything I wanted to be. You know, that very queer thing of: Do I want you, do I want to be you, should we go on a road trip or a killing spree? We were in love and I did not want to go back to school. I had had a terrible junior year, and I was looking to make new mistakes. He was like, “I’m gonna go to this thing called Burning Man, do you want to go? It’s out in the desert, there’s all this art, and it’s super cool,” and I was like, “When is it?” And it was the very first week of classes my senior year, and I was like, “Yeah, absolutely.”

It was amazing. We got adopted by these people who called themselves the Church of Mez, or Mezbians. They were extremely rich Microsoft engineers. We were completely unprepared, because we’d f—ing come in on the Greyhound bus. You’re supposed to bring a gallon of water per person per day, just to start with, and we had nothing. We had a tent and a sleeping bag, and these people thought we were somewhere between pets and aphrodisiacs.

It felt like such an amazing thing to get to touch. And I know that all of those people ended up being like fascist tech bros of today, I’m sure, and I worry about the environmental degradation that I did not know anything about. And it was so white, so many white people with dreadlocks and those terrible tribal tattoos. Like many things in the book, I have to write about it tenderly, even though I know there are so many problems. I don’t think I would be who I was if I didn’t show some tenderness towards those spaces that made me, or at least allowed me to see myself.

Michelle Tea is the author of more than 20 books for grown-ups, teenagers and children.



Source link

Spain airports update may be bad news for UK holidaymakers

Millions of Brits are planning to go to Spain this summer

As the summer peak draws near, Brits travelling to Spain are facing a frustrating double blow.

Not only are there long border queues caused by the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES), but data has uncovered a huge a dramatic surge in flight delays. New research from AirAdvisor shows that Spanish routes are currently the worst affected for UK travellers, with two popular holiday destinations experiencing a sharp decline in reliability compared to last year. Overall delay rates have more than doubled at Palma in Mallorca, leaping from 3.66% to 7.60%.

Meanwhile, at Alicante Elche airport, delays have nearly tripled, rocketing from 4.39% to 11.73%. This means approximately one in nine departures is running at least an hour late, according to the Majorca Daily Bulletin.

For passengers stuck in the Alicante backlog, the average wait for an already-delayed flight stands at a punishing 124 minutes. This frequently pushes arrival times beyond the crucial three-hour threshold, automatically entitling passengers to claim UK261 compensation.

The travel disruption comes amid a sharp rise in short-haul cancellations across 18 European airports, predominantly affecting budget routes under pressure from climbing oil prices. However, airlines attempting to use market volatility as an excuse to avoid compensation payouts have just been firmly shut down.

The European Commission has made clear that fluctuations in fuel prices are a standard commercial risk, rather than an “extraordinary circumstance.” Should an airline cancel or delay a flight purely because operating costs have become too high, they remain fully liable for passenger compensation.

Source link

‘No-one knew how bad it was’ says Katie Price as she opens up on breakdown & unseen ‘dark moments’ in explosive TV doc’

KATIE Price has said that nobody knew just how bad things were for her when she experienced some very ‘dark moments’ in her life.

The TV star, 48, is gearing up for the release of her upcoming tell-all docuseries, Katie Price: Nothing to Hide – in which she will recount her 2018 and 2021 breakdowns.

NINTCHDBPICT000971219330
Katie Price is gearing up for her new tell-all docuseries to drop next month Credit: Dan Charity
Katie Price speaking during an interview.
Katie has opened up about her 2018 breakdown ahead of her new docuseries Credit: YouTube/@WeNeedToTalk-Podcast

Her candid and unfiltered account of three decades in the spotlight is coming to Sky and NOW on July 8.

This week, Katie attended the Sheffield DocFest where she revealed that during her darkest moments and confessed ‘no-one knew how bad it was’, with this set to play out in her new series.

Katie suffered a major mental breakdown in around 2018 following a build-up of traumatic events in her life, she then suffered another in 2021.

She experienced severe depression, suicidal thoughts, and even checked into The Priory amid her breakdown.

WED AGAIN?

Katie Price hints she’ll get married AGAIN after Lee Andrews Dubai jail drama


LEE RIDDLE

First pic of Lee Andrews since jail release REVEALED… as Katie issues threat

Speaking about this at the DocFest event ahead of her Sky show dropping next month, Katie got candid and confessed: “When I had my breakdown, I don’t think people really knew how bad it was, and how it affected people in my life.

“To hear that my loved ones cried and how much they loved me is like a wake-up call for me.

“There are some really dark moments [in the series] but at the same time, uplifting.

“People have to remember that it’s actually my life, so if you’re exhausted just watching it, imagine how exhausting it is for my little pea brain.

“But I really enjoyed doing it.

“I said they should do 10 parts and they wanted to, but we were lucky to push it to four [episodes].

“There’s still so much you could put in it. Even from what you’re reading today.”

Elsewhere at the event, Katie said: “I’m an open book.

“When [the team] came to me about the documentary, I got excited because something about me and my life is perfect.

“The media narrative is so different to what I’m really like but as you say, every day, even now, there’s always something.

“My life could actually be a soap story – it just doesn’t stop. I’m normal but it’s a weird world I live in. I can’t explain it.”

She also touched on being authentic.

“I have nothing to hide, and when they asked me, ‘are there any areas you don’t want us to go?’, I said, no! You can talk to absolutely anyone you want and you can talk to me about anything you want,” she confessed.

“Luckily the duty of care was amazing. Sometimes after two hours [of interviews], I couldn’t do any more.

“There are moments where I’ve had therapy to get over some of the things in my life, and I had to relive them.

“But I think this is what makes a good show, and I love watching documentaries.

“So many people are so manufactured and they’re in on the edits, so they look like a polished turd, basically. I am not that!

“Even I’m cringing at some of the stuff in the first episode! I haven’t had time to reflect on anything in my life because there’s always the next thing, and the next thing.”

Source link

Crime drama fans give ‘100 stars’ to BBC series ‘on par with Breaking Bad’

A crime drama on BBC iPlayer has been branded a “masterpiece” and a “must-watch” by fans

Fans of crime dramas have been devouring a “masterpiece” series that’s currently available on BBC iPlayer.

Television viewers are being encouraged to tune into a gripping drama centred on a respectable businessman, who attempts to outrun his family’s sinister past.

McMafia is a series created by Hossein Amini and James Watkins, who also took on directorial duties. It draws inspiration from the non-fiction book McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld by journalist Misha Glenny – which has been hailed as “riveting” and “chilling”.

The drama features James Norton as Alex Godman, the British-raised son of a Russian mafia boss residing in London, whose father is desperately attempting to break free from the world of organised crime.

The official synopsis reads: “Alex Godman, the English-raised son of Russian mafia exiles, has spent his life trying to escape the shadow of their past, building his own legitimate business and forging a life with his girlfriend, Rebecca,” reports Wales Online.

“But when a murder unearths his family’s past, Alex is drawn into the criminal underworld where he must confront his values to protect those he loves.”

Alongside James Norton, the ensemble cast also includes David Strathairn, Juliet Rylance, Merab Ninidze, Aleksey Serebryakov, Maria Shukshina, David Dencik, Oshri Cohen, Sofia Lebedeva, Caio Blat, Kirill Pirogov, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and Karel Roden.

McMafia was shot across numerous international locations, with key scenes unfolding in London, Zagreb, Split, Opatija, Mumbai, Prague, Cairo, Belgrade, Istanbul, Moscow, and Tel Aviv.

The drama debuted on BBC One in 2018, running for a single series. Crime drama enthusiasts can now delve into Alex’s perilous world, as all eight compelling episodes are available to stream free on BBC iPlayer.

McMafia currently maintains a 71% critic score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 38 reviews. Audiences have likewise expressed widespread acclaim for the programme on social media, with numerous viewers declaring it superior to James Norton’s other popular crime series Happy Valley.

One IMDb user penned: “One of the best series I have ever seen. Binged in one night. 100 stars.”

Another contributed: “Best show since The Night Manager. A 10+ for intrigue and suspense,” while a third stated: “Thriller of the year! An outstanding and engrossing series that grabs your attention from the start and ramps up the suspense as each episode progresses.”

Someone else remarked: “I loved McMafia. The best TV series yet. Great acting. On par with Breaking Bad,” with another individual posting: “Chilling, thrilling and re-watchable.”

A sixth audience member reinforced the sentiment, declaring: “This series is a masterpiece, and a must-watch for thriller lovers. The plot is obviously complex, but absolutely intriguing and well developed, with a large number of themes connected to the most topical reality. For me, McMafia is one of the most interesting shows I have seen in the last few years.”

McMafia is available to stream on BBC iPlayer

Source link

Venezuela Fury looks amazing as she poses in gym gear and brands herself an ‘bad b***h’

VENEZUELA Fury looked incredible as she posed in gym and branded herself a “bad b***h” after moving into a lavish static home with her new husband.

The 16-year-old has skyrocketed to new heights of fame after fans were captivated by her lavish wedding in the Isle of Man last month.

Venezuela Fury looks amazing as she posed in her gym gear Credit: @parisvenezuela / TikTok
The 16-year-old recently moved in to her first home with her husband Noah Credit: @parisvenezuela / TikTok

Venezuela married her man Noah Price, 19, in a stunning handmade gown with imported Italian lace and a 50ft train.

The Netflix star has been keeping fans updated on her life over on her TikTok account.

Venezuela looked amazing in a new video, where she posed for fans in an Alo gym set.

The gym set, which costs a whopping £218, was a gorgeous bright red colour complete with white detailing.

Read more on Venezuela Fury

HOUSE THIS?

Venezuela Fury gives fans a look at Mrs Hinch-style static caravan living room


HOUSE THAT?

Venezuela Fury gives fans a peek inside her static caravan bedroom

She danced around in the clip as she mimed the lyrics to Cardi B‘s ‘Pretty and Petty’.

They said: “I’m a bad b***h are you mad. You built like your dad.

Venezuela branded herself an ‘bad b***h’ in a video she posted to TikTok Credit: @parisvenezuela / TikTok
Venezuela and Noah tied the knot in a lavish Isle of Man ceremony last month Credit: Splash

“You damn near unemployed. They only book you when they can’t afford Coi, look.

“I got one album and I’m up still. Daughter cost more than your pub’ deal.”

Venezuela pouted her lips and threw up a peace sign as she ended the video.

Fans in the comments gushed over Venezuela.

The young couple moved into their luxe static home just weeks ago Credit: TIKTOK
The caravan is very spacious, complete with plush grey carpets, a beautiful white kitchen, a free standing bath and a huge TV Credit: TIKTOK

One fan penned: “Diva Period!”

Another fan wrote: “This outfit is everything.”

A third person added: “OMG beautiful.”

The reality TV personality has over 1.3 million followers on the app with fans desperate to keep up with her whirlwind last few months.

Venezuela and Noah‘s wedding was one of the biggest events in May – the bash had 120 guests, a 12-tiered wedding cake, a surprise performance from Peter Andre and an all-night buffet.

Soon after their big day the loved-up pair moved into their posh new home.

The luxury caravan home boasts a stunning marble bathroom with a free-standing bath, a cream kitchen overlooking trees and greenery, and plenty of space throughout.

The living room has a huge built-in TV cabinet with a fireplace beneath.

And the bedroom has large wardrobes and plush grey carpet throughout.

Source link