brothers

Earlier, it was Phil Foden, perhaps City’s most decorated youth graduate of recent years, who once again caught the eye.

The midfielder said last season his struggles were down to off-field issues and carrying an injury, which saw him go on a run of 20 games without scoring.

But the 25-year-old looks like he is approaching the form that saw him collect the Player of the Season and Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year awards in 2024.

In five games this season, Foden has scored two goals and provided two further assists, playing a starring role in Wednesday’s win at Accu Stadium.

Guardiola said: “We have seen already Phil in the last few games against Arsenal, Napoli and [Manchester] United, he was really good.

“When the team plays better every player makes his potential but it’s not just today.

“He can play in the pockets perfectly but when he plays a little bit free, he gives you something unique.”

Though this was League One opposition, Foden looked a class above anyone else on the pitch.

The goal he scored against the Terriers had the trademarks of a player that was full of confidence, exchanging passes with another debutant in Divine Mukasa and drilling in an unerring finish.

The 25-year-old was playing his fourth games in 11 days and determined to showcase his talents, conducting the play by spraying the ball around to team-mates.

He showed excellent awareness to lay the ball off for Savinho to smash home the second and secure a passage into the fourth round of the competition, where City will travel to Championship side Swansea.

“Phil Foden was instrumental in everything Manchester City did,” former England international Sue Smith said on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“It’s great to see him back and playing at this level. Last season was difficult for him with injuries and other things but when he’s at his best he’s unstoppable.”

Teammate Rico Lewis told BBC Radio 5 Live that Foden’s happiness is contributing to his success on the pitch.

“Everyone has seen in previous years how good a player he is,” Lewis said. “The main thing is he has his confidence back and the goals come with that.

“He just needs to carry on doing what he’s doing, most importantly being happy because when he is happy he’s doing well.”

City host Burnley on Saturday followed by trips to Monaco and Brentford before the international break and Foden will be hoping to impress further to try and earn a recall into Thomas Tuchel’s England set-up.

Foden has 45 caps for the Three Lions, with the last of those coming in March against Latvia.

Meanwhile, there was also a return to the team for forgotten England midfielder Kalvin Phillips, who was appearing in a City shirt for the first time since 19 December 2023 at the Club World Cup, which Guardiola called a “good moment”.

Phillips travelled up to Huddersfield from London on Wednesday after becoming a father for the second time to son Ari.

Both Heskey brothers and Phillips will be eyeing up further minutes when City head to Swansea in the next round.

Far be it from me to tell anyone how to direct their career, but can I just say how glad I am to learn that Jason Bateman, who spent four seasons in the darkness of “Ozark,” is making a comedy again. (A “dark comedy,” but still.) That’s not the series he’s starring in at the moment for Netflix, however, but something called “DTF St. Louis,” for HBO, from “Patriot” creator Steve Conrad, which isn’t arriving until next year. Fingers crossed, we’ll all be around to see it.

In the eight-episode miniseries “Black Rabbit,” which premieres Thursday, Bateman and Jude Law play brothers Vince and Jake Friedkin, respectively, who long before the story begins were partners in a rock band, the Black Rabbits — successful enough that Vince is recognized in a bar (but not so successful that the fans can remember his name, or the name of the band). More recently, they had been partners in a far downtown Manhattan restaurant, also called Black Rabbit, though Vince’s level of current participation is muddy. (At one time, he ran the upstairs bar.) It isn’t a comedy, in spite of Vince’s Michael Bluth-like habit of dropping ironic quips into stressful situations.

The setting brings to mind “The Bear” — which is a comedy — as does its young genius chef, Roxie (Amaka Okafor); the New York Times is planning a review and New York magazine is putting her on the cover. We see that the restaurant, which has a VIP floor upstairs for horrible rich jerks, is a hit because the place is packed, and because there’s a lot of shouting in the barely pictured kitchen, but food, barely shown or talked about, is not really on the menu here. Jake is more interested in property and expansion — he has an inside track to lease the Pool Room, a real-life space in New York’s fabled Four Seasons Hotel, and he wants Roxie to run the kitchen and Estelle (Cleopatra Coleman), who is in a relationship with his old friend Wes (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù) — now a mega successful musician, a co-owner of the Black Rabbit and a jealous guy — to design it. From camera angles and cutting, it’s clear that Vince and Estelle are attracted to one another, but as Law and Coleman have no particular chemistry, it feels more stated than felt. But it’s important.

Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù as Wes, a co-owner of the Black Rabbit, and Amaka Okafor as Roxie, the head chef.

(Netflix)

Vince, meanwhile, is living out west, looking like he’s ready to audition for a late-life Dennis Wilson biopic and trying to sell some valuable old coins. When he’s set up and robbed in his car, he winds up running over one of the thieves — twice. Whether by writerly intention or inattention, this will be no more of an emotional issue for Vince than it will have anything to do with the rest of the story, apart from sending him back to NYC, where he is $140,000 in the hole over gambling debts. Whenever he’s not in actual danger (which is a lot of the time), he’s weirdly happy-go-lucky.

Jake has a well-to-do ex-wife, Val (Dagmara Dominczyk), who seems nice, and a son, Hunter (Michael Cash), taking dancing lessons. They all get along fine, though Jake battles that most common of TV paternal ailments, Busy Dad Syndrome. (He does better than most.) Vince has an adult daughter, tattoo artist Gen (Odessa Young), who is not especially glad to see him back in town. Their safety will become a chip in the series’ central business, which sets Vince, and ultimately Jake, against vaguely defined mobster Joe Mancuso (Oscar-winning deaf actor Troy Kotsur, from the film “CODA,” in one of the series’ more layered performances); his sweaty idiot caricature of a wannabe tough guy son, Junior (Forrest Weber); and Junior’s less-than-efficient minder, Babbitt (Chris Coy), who is occasionally sort of likable, albeit one feels bad for sort of liking him. In the small world these characters inhabit, Mancuso was close to the brothers’ dysfunctional family back in Coney Island. But business is business.

Like most every streaming drama nowadays, “Black Rabbit” opens with a flash forward to a more exciting part of the story — here, a robbery and shooting at a crowded party — before dialing back to a calmer chronological beginning. This lets the viewer know that, though there is going to be exposition for a while, things will get crazy eventually. And they very much do, including sexual assault, murder and bad management.

Junior (Forrest Weber), Babbitt (Chris Coy) and Vince (Jason Bateman), who owes them lots of money.

(Netflix)

Jake, chasing his Pool Room dream, has his own money troubles, and the brothers’ needs will clash as one scheme after another to set things right goes wrong and their relationship rockets between heated arguments and brotherly reminiscence. It’s too easy to stop listening to the arguments, which tend to go long and not lead anywhere, but there is some relief (and nice writing) as regards the reminiscence. Still, though later episodes will reveal an early event that might explain something about Vince, it’s not enough to make one care especially what happens to them, except to worry which innocent bystanders, including the Black Rabbit staff, will be hit by shrapnel when things go boom.

A large secondary and sometimes confusing cast comes in and out to propel and complicate matters, but it’s really all about the brothers. As Vince, Bateman — who also directed the first two episodes, efficiently, with “Ozark” co-star Laura Linney helming the second two — leavens an exasperating character with his innate likability. He’s a fine actor, but he’s also Jason Bateman, America’s sweetheart. By contrast, as the tense, excitable Jake, Law doesn’t generate much warmth, or make you believe he’s actually capable of opening a high-class midtown restaurant. (The funky but chic Black Rabbit was Vince’s vision.) That may be the idea, of course. And he does love his brother.

There are only so many ways this story can go, and it does indeed go to one of them, though it’s so likely by the time we get there that it doesn’t deliver much of an emotional charge. An epilogical montage, in a complete tonal turnaround, plays like an homage to the opening of Woody Allen’s “Manhattan,” cut to Rodgers and Hart’s “I’ll Take Manhattan”; its only purpose seems to be to make you less bad than you might have otherwise felt. (Hey, Katz’s Delicatessen!) So … thanks?

Meanwhile — “DTF St. Louis!” See you next year! Knock wood.

A third Camp Rock film has been confirmed by Disney but Demi Lovato, who shot to global fame in the leading role of Mitchie Torres, will not be a part of the cast

Demi Lovato will not return for Camp Rock 3. The pop star, 33, shot to fame when she took on the leading role of Mitchie Torres in the Disney Channel Original movie in 2008, and appeared alongside the Jonas Brothers, as well as other network stars like Alyson Stoner and Meaghan Martin.

Mitchie was an aspiring singer/songwriter desperate to attend the titular summer camp, but could only afford to do so if her mother was employed there as a chef. The film came about after the success of High School Musical, which made a star out of Zac Efron and became the network’s second-most successful franchise behind Hannah Montana. Camp Rock followed Demi’s character as she battled with camp rivalries and eventually plucked up the courage to belt out This Is Me in a grand competition.

The film spawned a sequel, titled Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, which was released in 2010, in which Demi reprised her role. Around the same time, the singer had been starring in her own sitcom titled Sonny With A Chance, but made a swift exit from the show after just one season and the format had to be hastily retooled as she dealt with a series of personal struggles.

READ MORE: Demi Lovato marries Jordan Lutes and reveals insight into stunning ceremonyREAD MORE: Disney child stars now – Tragic deaths, ‘haunting’ pasts, and MeToo revelations

Now, a third instalment of Camp Rock has been confirmed and Kevin, Nick and Joe Jonas, will return in their roles as members of the fictional boyband Connect 3. Also making a comeback is Maria Canals-Barrera, who played Demi’s mother Connie. Fans will also recognise her for starring as Theresa, the on-screen mother of Selena Gomez on Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place.

Ayo Davis, president, Disney Branded Television, said: “Camp Rock is an important part of the Disney Channel Original Movie legacy, with unforgettable music, energetic storytelling, and characters that live in the hearts of fans to this day. Bringing it back with Kevin, Joe, Nick and Demi is such a full-circle moment, and we can’t wait to reintroduce this world to a new generation.”

According to TMZ, Demi is not part of the cast but will instead serve as an executive producer alongside the Jonas Brothers.

Joy Ride actress Sherry Cola has joined the cast in the role of Lark, and will be seen alongside by Liamani Segura, Malachi Barto, Lumi Pollack, Hudson Stone, Brooklynn Pitts, Casey Trotter and Ava Jean, all of whom will play newcomers to the camp. The plot will see Connect 3 lose their support act for an upcoming reunion tour, and they return to Camp Rock in search of an up-and-coming star to act as a replacement.

In the late 2000s, Demi, who also dated Joe Jonas for a period of time, was a mainstay on Disney Channel and was part of a cohort of young stars like Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, as well as twins Dylan and Cole Sprouse.. Earlier this year, Demi treated fans to a surprise Camp Rock reunion when she and the Jonas Brothers got together to sing their most famous song from the Disney movie.

The Jonas Brothers were performing for their 20th anniversary tour in New Jersey and included the song Gotta Find You form the iconic movie.

After the performance, Demi shared a video singing with Joe witht he caption: “thanks for having me @jonasbrothers”, which sent fans wild.

One person commented: “most important moment of my life”, while another added: “THIS WILL BE STUDIED AT HISTORY BOOKS”.

A third fan commented: “First we get Freakier Friday, Princess Diaries 3 is being filmed, Miley announced she wants to do something special for Hannah Montana, and now this, life is good!”, while another added: “I can’t fully explain but this was healing”.

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

A judge has rejected Erik and Lyle Menendez’s petition for a new trial, ruling that additional evidence that they suffered sexual abuse at their father’s hands would not have changed the outcome of the trial that has put them in prison for more than 35 years for gunning down their parents.

The ruling, handed down by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan on Monday, is the latest blow to the brothers’ bid for release. Both were denied parole during lengthy hearings in late August.

A habeas corpus petition filed on behalf of the brothers in 2023 argued they should have been able to present additional evidence at trial that their father, Jose Menendez, was sexually abusive.

The new evidence included a 1988 letter that Erik Menendez sent to his cousin, Andy Cano, saying he was abused into his late teens. There were also allegations made by Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, who claimed Jose Menendez raped him.

The brothers have long argued they were in fear for their lives that their father would keep abusing them, and that their parents would kill them to cover up the nightmarish conditions in their Beverly Hills home.

Prosecutors contended the brothers killed their parents with shotguns in 1989 to get access to their massive inheritance, and have repeatedly highlighted Erik and Lyle’s wild spending spree in the months that followed their parents’ deaths. .

“Neither piece of evidence adds to the allegations of abuse the jury already considered, yet found that the brothers planned, then executed that plan to kill their abusive father and complicit mother,” Ryan wrote. “The court finds that these two pieces of evidence presented here would have not have resulted in a hung jury nor in the conviction of a lesser instructed offense.”

Ryan agreed with Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman that the petition should not grant the brothers a new trial because the abuse evidence would not have changed the fact that the brothers planned and carried out the execution-style killings in the family living room.

Ryan wrote the new evidence would not have resulted in the trial court proceeding differently because the brothers could not show they experienced a fear of “imminent peril.”

A spokesperson for the group of more than 30 Menendez relatives who have been fighting for the brothers’ release did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the district attorney’s office was not immediately available for comment.

The gruesome killings occurred after the brothers used cash to buy the shotguns and attacked their parents while they watched a movie in the family living room.

Prosecutors said Jose Menendez was struck five times with shotgun blasts, including in the back of the head, and Kitty Menendez crawled on the floor wounded before the brothers reloaded and fired a final, fatal blast.

The petition rejected this week was one of three paths the Menendez legal team has pursued in seeking freedom for the brothers. Another judge earlier this year resentenced them to 50 years to life for the murders, making them eligible for parole after they were originally sentenced to life in prison.

Both were denied release at their first parole hearing, but could end up before the state panel again in as soon as 18 months. Clemency petitions are also still pending before Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The first trial ended with hung juries for each brother. In the second, allegations of abuse and supporting testimonies were restricted, and Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of first-degree murder in March 1996.

A federal grand jury has charged two brothers in Southern California with tax evasion on more than $1.1 million in income they allegedly received in part from a years-long scheme selling tee times on local golf courses.

Se Youn “Steve” Kim, 41, and his identical twin brother, Hee Youn “Ted” Kim, 41, were arrested Thursday morning by federal authorities and pleaded not guilty.

From 2021 to 2023, the Kim brothers’ tee time brokering business scooped up thousands of reservation slots at golf courses across the U.S., including at least 17 public golf courses in Southern California, according to the indictment filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court.

The brothers used online platforms including KakaoTalk, a Korean instant messaging app, to reach their customers. Federal prosecutors say that by quickly nabbing popular early morning tee times almost immediately after they were available to the public, the brothers “created a monopoly” of Southern California golf courses.

The prevalence of tee-time brokering was reported by The Times last year, in which scores of local golfers shared frustrations over their inability to secure a tee time on public courses in L.A.

“Finally, it’s justice,” said Joseph Lee, a vocal critic of tee time brokers who helped collect evidence and met with federal prosecutors during their investigation of the Kim brothers. “For a long time, L.A. golfers have been frustrated by these illegal tee time brokers and their resale market. Authorities have finally recognized the seriousness of the issue.”

Anthony Solis, the attorney representing Ted Kim, said he did not immediately have a response on behalf of his client. The attorney representing Steve Kim did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Federal prosecutors said the brothers had customers pay reservation fees to their personal accounts via Venmo, Zelle, and other applications. The tee time brokering business netted the brothers nearly $700,000 between 2021 and 2023, according to the indictment. The brothers, who also worked as MRI technicians, are accused of willfully failing to report a combined $1.1 million in income to the Internal Revenue Service for 2022 and 2023.

The Kim brothers are also accused of failing to pay taxes that the IRS had assessed. Rather than paying off mounting tax debts, the indictment alleges that the brothers made lavish purchases at Chanel, Cartier, Prada and Louis Vuitton.

In a brief interview with The Times last year, Ted Kim said that he used up to five devices and relied on unspecified friends to secure tee times. He said he is on the same playing field as every other golfer in L.A. and does not use bots to game the system.

“It’s not like I’m taking advantage of technology. I’m booking myself,” Kim told The Times in an interview. “I’m not doing anything illegal.”

Kim told the newspaper that he profited a couple thousand dollars a month, and framed his business as a way of helping elderly Korean golfers without tech savvy to navigate the online golf reservation system.

“I’m just helping Korean seniors, because they have a right to play golf, because all the Koreans play golf, right? Without my help, they actually struggle,” he said.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

The Slye brothers at Salesian High, Jordan Jr., a sophomore defensive back/receiver, and Marty, a freshman quarterback, certainly have the genes to succeed.

Their mother, Dena, a counselor at the school, was a softball standout at Washington. Their father, Jordan, was a receiver at Washington.

Now the boys have helped Salesian to a 2-1 start. Jordan Jr. is a 6-foot-1 cornerback with big-time potential. Marty got the size in the family at 6-4 and 235 pounds. He’s been the starting quarterback in three games, asked to contribute immediately as a freshman.

Jordan Jr. said it’s fun playing together on the same team. Jordan caught a touchdown pass from Marty on Thursday night against Bishop Alemany, but it was called back because of a penalty.

“It’s amazing having them, and a third one is on the way,” coach Anthony Atkins said.

Yes, a third Slye brother, Michael, will be a freshman next fall, so prepare for the era of the Slye brothers at Salesian.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — Jim Ross has had a long and fruitful career as a Democratic campaign strategist. Among his victories was electing Gavin Newsom as San Francisco mayor.

Tom Ross has enjoyed similar success on the Republican side. He counts Kevin McCarthy’s election to the Legislature and, later, Congress, among his wins.

But perhaps his most important achievement, Tom Ross said, was working on the 2008 campaign that established California’s independent redistricting commission — “the gold standard” for fair and impartial political map-making. “It needs protecting,” he said.

No, said Jim Ross. It needs overriding.

He backs Newsom’s effort to undo the commission’s work in favor of a gerrymander that could boost Democratic chances of winning the House in 2026 — or else, he fears, “there will be ongoing Republican domination of politics … for decades to come.”

The two are brothers who, despite their differences, harbor an abiding love and respect for one another, along with an ironclad resolve that nothing — no campaign, no candidate, no political issue — can or ever will be allowed to drive a wedge between them.

“Tom’s the best person I know. The best person I know,” Jim, 57, said as his brother, 55, sat across from him at a local burrito joint, tearing up. “There’s issues we could go round and round on, which we’re not going to do.”

“Especially,” said Tom, “with someone you care about and love.”

That sort of fraternal bond, transcending partisanship and one of the most heated political fights of this charged moment, shouldn’t be unusual or particularly noteworthy — even for a pair who make their living working for parties locked in furious combat. But in these vexing and highly contentious times it surely is.

Maybe there’s something others can take away.

::

The Ross brothers grew up in Incline Village, not far from where Nevada meets California. That was decades ago, before the forested hamlet on Tahoe’s east shore became a playground for the rich and ultra-rich.

The family — Mom, Dad, four boys and a girl — settled there after John Ross retired from a career in the Air Force, which included three combat tours in Vietnam.

John and his wife, Joan, weren’t especially political, though they were active and civic-minded. Joan was involved in the Catholic church. John, who took up a career in real estate, worked on ways to improve the community.

The lessons they taught their children were grounded in duty, discipline and detail. Early on, the kids learned there’s no such thing as a free ride. Jim got his first job at the 76 station, before he could drive. Tom mowed lawns, washed cars and ran a lemonade stand. The least fortunate among the siblings wore a bear suit and waved a sign, trying to shag customers for their dad’s real estate business.

To this day, the brothers disdain anything that smacks of entitlement. “That’s our family,” Jim said. “We’re all workers.”

Like their parents, the two weren’t politically active growing up. They ended up majoring in government and political science — Jim at Saint Mary’s College in the Bay Area, Tom at Gonzaga University in Washington state — as a kind of default. Both had instructors who brought the subject to life.

Jim’s start in the profession came in his junior year when Clint Reilly, then one of California premier campaign strategists, came to speak to his college class. It was the first time Jim realized it was possible to make a living in politics — and Reilly’s snazzy suit suggested it could be a lucrative one.

Jim interned for Reilly and after graduating and knocking about for a time — teaching skiing in Tahoe, working as a sales rep for Banana Boat sunscreen — he tapped an acquaintance from Reilly’s firm to land a job with Frank Jordan’s 1991 campaign for San Francisco mayor.

From there, Jim moved on to a state Assembly race in Wine Country, just as Tom was graduating and looking for work. Using his connections, Jim helped Tom find a job as the driver for a congressional candidate in the area.

At the time, both were Republicans, like their father. Their non-ideological approach to politics also reflected the thinking of Col. Ross. Public service wasn’t about party pieties, Jim said, but rather “finding a solution to a problem.”

Jim, left, and Tom Ross have only directly competed in a campaign once, on a statewide rent control measure. They talk shop but avoid discussing politics.

(William Hale Irwin / For The Times)

Jim’s drift away from the GOP began when he worked for another Republican Assembly candidate whom he remembers, distastefully, as reflexively partisan, homophobic and anti-worker. His changed outlook solidified after several months working on a 1992 Louisiana congressional race. The grinding poverty he saw in the South was shocking, Jim said, and its remedy seemed well beyond the up-by-your-bootstraps nostrums he’d absorbed.

Jim came to see government as a necessary agent for change and improvement, and that made the Democratic Party a more natural home. “There’s not one thing that has bettered human existence that hasn’t had, at its core, our ability to work collectively,” Jim said. “And our ability to work collectively comes down to government.”

Tom looked on placidly, a Latin rhythm capering overhead.

He believes that success, and personal fulfillment, lies in individual achievement. The Republicans he admires include Jack Kemp, the rare member of his party who focused on urban poverty, and the George W. Bush of 2000, who ran for president as a “compassionate conservative” with a strong record of bipartisan accomplishment as Texas governor.

(Tom is no fan of Donald Trump, finding the president’s casual cruelty toward people particularly off-putting.)

He distinctly remembers the moment, at age 22, when he realized he was standing on his own two feet, financially supporting himself and making his way in the world through the power of his own perseverance.

“For me, that’s what Republicans should be,” Tom said. “How do you give people that experience in life? That’s what we should be trying to do.”

::

Newsom’s 2003 campaign for San Francisco mayor was a brutal one, typical of the city’s elbows-out, alley-fighting politics.

It took a physical toll on Jim Ross, Newsom’s campaign manager, who suffered chest pains and, at one point, wound up in the hospital. Was the strain worth it, he wondered. Should he quit?

“The only person I could really call and talk to was Tom,” Jim said. “He understands what it is to work that hard on a campaign. And he wasn’t going to go and leak it to the press, or tell someone who would use it in some way to hurt me.”

That kind of empathy and implicit trust, which runs both ways, far outweighs any political considerations, the two said. Why would they surrender such a deep and meaningful relationship for some short-term tactical gain, or allow a disagreement over personalities or policy to set things asunder?

Jim lives and works out of the East Bay. Tom runs his business from Sacramento. The two faced each other on the campaign battlefield just once, squaring off over a 2018 ballot measure that sought to expand rent control in California. The initiative was rejected.

Though they’ve staked opposing positions on Newsom’s redistricting measure, Proposition 50, Jim has no formal role in the Democratic campaign. Tom is working to defeat it.

The brief airing of their differences was unusual, coming solely at the behest of your friendly columnist. As a rule, the brothers talk business but avoid politics; there’s hardly a need — they already know where each other is coming from. After all, they shared a bedroom growing up.

Jim had a story to tell.

Last spring, as their mother lay dying, the two left the hospital in Reno to shower and get a bit of rest at their father’s place in Incline Village. The phone rang. It was the overnight nurse, calling to let them know their mom had passed away.

“Tom takes the call,” Jim said. “The first thing he says to the nurse is, ‘Are you OK? Is it hard for you to deal with this?’ And that’s how Tom is. Major thing, but he thinks about the other person first.”

He laughed, a loud gale. “I’m not that way.”

Tom had a story to tell.

In 2017, he bought a mountain bike, to celebrate the end of his treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He’d been worn out by six months of chemotherapy and wasn’t anywhere near full strength. Still, he was determined to tackle one of Tahoe’s most scenic rides, which involves a lung-searing, roughly five-mile climb.

Tom walked partway, then got back on his bike and powered uphill through the last 500 or so yards.

Waiting for him up top was Jim, seated alongside two strangers. “That’s my brother,” he proudly pointed out. “He beat cancer.”

Tom’s eyes welled. His chin quavered and his voice cracked. He paused to collect himself.

“Do I want to sacrifice that relationship for some stupid tweet, or some in-the-moment anger?” he asked. “That connection with someone, you want to cut it over that? That’s just stupid. That’s just silly.”

Jim glowed.

Aug. 30 (UPI) — Ewan, Jamie and Lachland Maclean of Edinburgh, Scotland, set a new record by completing a 9,000-mile row from Peru to Australia that lasted nearly 140 days.

They bested the prior record of 162 days by solo Russian rower Fyodor Konyukhov in 2014 by posting a time of 130 days, five hours and 52 minutes during their non-stop and unsupported row across the Pacific Ocean, the BBC reported.

“It’s still slightly surreal,” Ewan, 32, told the BBC. “It’s going to take a wee while for our feet to touch the ground, but what an amazing reception we’ve had in Cairns.”

They intended to arrive in Sydney, but several tropical storms forced them to end their journey in Cairns, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

One storm swept Lachland overboard, but his brothers pulled him back to their boat, as they rowed from Lima, Peru, to Cairns, Australia, where they landed on Saturday.

They battled seasickness and a defective water converter, caught fish and ate freeze-dried meals to stay fed, but they ran out of the meals on Friday.

About 100, including friends and family, watched and cheered as Ewan, Jamie, 31, and Lachlan, 26, arrived at Cairns Marlin Marina and were greeted to the sound of bagpipes playing, the Cairns Post reported.

They set foot on land for the first time since departing Peru on April 12 and rowing across the ocean.

The brothers raised the equivalent of about $920,000 in U.S.funds in contributions to provide clean water for people in Madagascar, with more possibly being donated.

“It’s foundational for everything, Lachland said. “You need clean water to live a flourishing life, to bring communities out of poverty.”

He estimated 40,000 people in Madagascar will get clean water for the rest of their lives if they reach their goal of about $1.3 million in equivalent U.S. funds.

The brothers previously rowed unassisted across the Atlantic Ocean, which took 35 days to complete in 2020.

More than 35 years after murdering their parents in a volley of shotgun blasts, brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez are the closest to freedom since they were arrested and sentenced to life in prison.

The siblings — who infamously gunned down their mother and father in 1989 at the family’s Beverly Hills home — will go before a California parole board this week.

In recent years, the brothers have become a cause celebre amid mounting evidence that the slayings followed years of sexual abuse by their father.

A Los Angeles County judge agreed to resentence them earlier this year over the objections of L.A.’s top prosecutor.

Now, if the parole board finds they have been rehabilitated, the brothers could soon be sent home to reunite with the family members who have spent years fighting for their release.

But just because the brothers were resentenced doesn’t mean the parole process will be smooth sailing.

When are the hearings? Can I watch?

The brothers will each have individual hearings. Erik, 54, will go before the board at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday. The hearing for Lyle, 57, will take place at approximately the same time on Friday. Each hearing is expected to last between two and three hours, and the board will likely make a decision immediately, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Parole board hearings take place over video conference. The brothers will appear from a room in the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office and the brothers’ parole attorney, Heidi Rummel, will also appear remotely.

While parole hearings are a matter of public record, CDCR does not live stream the events. A Times reporter will watch the hearing live in Sacramento and publish the results immediately after.

How does a parole board hearing work? Who gets to speak?

The bulk of a parole board hearing involves the commissioners questioning the person who is seeking release from prison. But other parties play a role as well.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman, or a prosecutor from his office, will be able to argue against release.

The district attorney’s office filed a 75-page “statement of view” with the parole board which details what prosecutors describe as the brothers’ “shifting stories” about the night of the murders. Such details include their attempts to arrange for an alibi and the fact that they “convincingly and repeatedly” lied to investigators and relatives that the killings must have been a mafia hit.

Hochman and his prosecutors have also attacked the idea that the brothers killed in self-defense. Despite the abuse allegations against their father, prosecutors say there is no evidence that Jose or Kitty planned to kill the brothers on the night of the murders.

Normally, the family of the victim in a case would also be able to speak against release if they so chose. However, the vast majority of Kitty and Jose Menendez’s living relatives want the brothers set free and formed a coalition to advocate for Erik and Lyle years ago. Several of them intend to speak and others have submitted letters in support of the brothers, according to Laziza Lambert, a family spokeswoman.

Milton Anderson, Kitty Menendez’s brother, was opposed to Erik and Lyle’s release but he died earlier this year. His attorney, R.J. Dreiling, said he does not have standing to take part in the hearings and it was unclear what, if any, record will be made of Anderson’s objections.

Why are the brothers eligible for parole? What factors will the parole board consider?

The brothers won their resentencing hearing in May. Former Dist. Atty. George Gascón sought to have the brothers resentenced to 50-years-to-life in prison last year, and L.A. County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic agreed because Hochman’s prosecutors could not prove that Erik and Lyle posed an unreasonable risk to the public.

Since the brothers were under the age of 26 at the time of the murders, the reduced sentence made them eligible for parole under California’s youthful offender law.

The parole board must consider a wide array of factors, according to CDCR, including an applicant’s criminal history, level of self-control at the time of crime, their behavior while in prison and personal growth over that time, their post-release plans and the facts of the crime itself.

“The parole board must give great weight to the youth of the brothers at the time of the crime, and ultimately decide if they pose an unreasonable risk to public safety,” said Dmitry Gorin, a former Los Angeles County prosecutor.

While Gorin said there is a “strong case” for the brothers to receive parole, he also noted it is rare for the board to grant freedom to convicted killers, especially in a case with the level of brutality seen in the Menendez slayings. The fact that the brothers admitted to wrongdoing in the killings in open court earlier this year might aid them, according to Gorin.

The brothers could face blistering opposition from Hochman and his prosecutors, who sought to revisit the bloody crime scene time and time again during Erik and Lyle’s resentencing hearing.

“We have consistently opposed their release because they have not demonstrated full insight into their crimes or shown that they have been fully rehabilitated, and therefore continue to pose a risk to society,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement. “We will evaluate our final position based on the evidence presented at the hearing.”

The parole board can also consider any violations of CDCR rules in the brothers’ files, and some recent alleged slip-ups by Erik and Lyle have raised the eyebrows of legal experts.

“They have serious rule violations, including fights, including not coming in from the yards when they were told to. That doesn’t sound that bad, but it can be, depends on what they were doing in the yard,” said Nancy Tetrault, who successfully represented Leslie Van Houten, a devout follower of Charles Manson, before the parole board in 2023.

Tetrault also noted that the brothers have been caught with cell phones behind bars, a violation of prison rules that could be problematic for the parole board.

“It’s a very serious rule violation,” she said. “Why? Because that is the connection to criminality outside of prison.”

Both Gorin and Terault said it is unlikely that the board would render different decisions each day. Given they are accused of the same crime, the results of Erik’s hearing on Thursday will likely forecast what happens to Lyle 24 hours later.

What happens after the decision?

If the parole board grants release for one or both brothers, Gov. Gavin Newsom will have the right to review or reject the decision within 120 days. While Newsom hasn’t publicly commented on the case — and has separately considered granting the brothers’ clemency — his track record on high-profile parole cases doesn’t bode well for the brothers.

When the parole board granted release for Sirhan Sirhan — the man convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy in downtown Los Angeles — Newsom overruled them. The governor also overruled the parole board multiple times when they sought to release Van Houten, though his decision was eventually thrown out by a California appeals court.

Newsom declined through a spokeswoman to comment before the hearing on whether he believed the brothers should be released.

If the board denies the brothers, a new hearing can be set anytime within the next three to 15 years. Applicants can petition for a new hearing earlier than that if they argue the circumstances of their case have changed.

“For example, if they completed, you know, an intense class on inside or something like that, and they think that they deserve to be heard within a year,” Tetrault said.

Newsom could also refer the decision to the entire state parole board for a second opinion, as he did in the case of convicted killer Stephanie Lazarus, a former LAPD detective.

The brothers would still have other paths to freedom even without parole. Newsom could still grant them clemency, and a motion for a new trial is still working its way through the legal system.

What is it about brothers? So competitive, so determined to outshine the other, so very male. In popular music, there are numerous examples of passionate sibling partnerships that have burned bright only to flame out, leaving recriminatory anger and the occasional lawsuit in their wake.

The Everly brothers were no exception. Foundational pillars of 20th century popular music, they formed the first great harmony vocal duo to bridge country music and pop. Over a five year period from 1957 to 1962, the brothers recorded a series of singles — “Wake Up Little Susie,” “Bye Bye Love” and “All I Have to Do Is Dream,” among them — that imprinted themselves into the pop-music canon, their soaring, wistful, close-interval harmonies gliding straight into our souls.

You don’t have to look too hard to find Phil and Don Everly’s traces. The Beatles regarded them as the harmony group they longed to emulate; you can hear them sing a snatch of “Bye Bye Love” in Peter Jackson’s “Get Back” documentary, and Paul McCartney name-checked them in his 1976 song “Let ‘Em In.” Simon & Garfunkel wanted to be the Everlys and included “Bye Bye Love” on the “Bridge Over Troubled Water” album. In 2013, Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones recorded “Foreverly,” an album of Everly Brothers songs.

And yet, biographies of them are scant. Barry Mazor’s “Blood Harmony” is long overdue, a rigorously researched narrative of the duo’s fascinatingly zig-zaggy 50-plus-year career, as well as a loving valentine to the pair’s enduring musical power.

In his book, Mazor is quick to refute many of the myths that have accreted around the pair, starting with the backstory that the brothers were reared in Kentucky, a cradle of bluegrass, and that their dad, an accomplished guitarist and singer, nurtured them up from rural poverty into spotlight stardom. In fact, Mazor’s book points out that the brothers, who were born two years apart, moved around a lot as kids — Iowa and Chicago, mostly — soaking in the musical folkways of those regions and absorbing it all into their musical bloodstream. Though they were apprenticed by their father to perform as adolescents, they were their own men, with a sophisticated grasp of various musical genres as teenagers.

“They were as much products of the Midwest as they were of Kentucky,” says Mazor from his Nashville home. “The music they learned and the culture they absorbed was in Chicago, where they lived with their parents for a time, and they picked up on the R&B there. All of this eventually adds up to what we now call Americana, which is music that has a sense of place.” The Everlys brought that country-meets-the-city vibe to pop music.

Another misconception that Mazor clears up in “Blood Harmony” is the notion that the Beatles were the first musical group to write and play its own songs. In fact, Phil and Don wrote a clutch of the Everlys’ greatest records, including Phil’s 1960 composition “When Will I Be Loved,” which became a mammoth hit when Linda Ronstadt covered it in 1975. It’s also true that Don is rock’s first great rhythm guitarist, his strident acoustic strum powering ”Wake Up Little Susie” and others. George Harrison was listening, as was Pete Townsend.

The Everlys produced hits, many of them written by one or both of the husband-and-wife team of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant: “Bird Dog,” “Love Hurts,” “Poor Jenny” and others. But the Beatles’ global success became a barricade that many of the first-generation rock stars couldn’t breach, including the Everlys. “Even though they were only a couple of years older than the Beatles, they were treated as old hat,” says Mazor.

Complicating matters further: A lawsuit brought by their publishing company Acuff-Rose in 1961 meant that the brothers could no longer tap the Bryants to write songs for them. The same year, they enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve and found, just as Elvis had discovered a few years prior, that military service did little to help sell records. By the time the lawsuit was settled in 1964, both brothers had descended into amphetamine abuse.

The Everlys had to go back to move forward. Warner Bros. Records, their label since 1960, had become the greatest label for a new era of singer-songwriters taking country-rock to a more introspective place. Future label president Lenny Waronker, an Everlys fan, wanted to make an album that would place the brothers in their proper context, as pioneers who bridged musical worlds to create something entirely new.

Author Barry Mazor is quick to refute many of the myths surrounding the Everlys.

(Courtesy of the author)

The resulting project, called “Roots,” drew from the Everlys’ musical heritage but also featured covers of songs by contemporary writers Randy Newman and Ron Elliott. Released in 1968, the same year as the Byrds’ “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” and the Band’s “Music from Big Pink,” “Roots” sold meekly, but it remains a touchstone of the Everlys’ career, a key progenitor of the Americana genre. “‘The ‘Roots’ album was one last chance to show they mattered,” says Mazor. “And there was suddenly room for them again. It wasn’t a massive seller, but it opened the door.”

If anything, it was their own fraught relationship that tended to snag the Everlys’ progress. Their identities were as intertwined as their harmonies, and it grated on them. Mazor points out that they were in fact vastly different in temperament, Phil’s pragmatic careerism running counter to Don’s more free-spirited approach. This push and pull created tensions that weighed heavily on their friendship and their musical output.

“Phil was more conservative in some ways. He was content to play the supper club circuit well into ‘70s, while Don wanted to explore and was less willing to sell out, as it were,” says Mazor. “And this created a wedge between them.” Perhaps inevitably, from 1973 to roughly 1983, they branched out as solo artists, making records that left little imprint on the public consciousness. They had families and eventually both moved from their L.A. home base to different cities.

But there was time for one final triumph. Having briefly set their differences aside, the brothers played a reunion show at London’s Royal Albert Hall in September 1983, which led to a collaboration on an album with British guitarist Dave Edmunds producing. Edmunds, in turn, asked Paul McCartney whether he would be willing to write something for the “EB 84” album, and the result was “On the Wings of a Nightingale,” their last U.S. hit, albeit a modest one.

“The harmony singing that the Everlys pioneered is still with us,” says Mazor. “If you look back, the Kinks, the Beach Boys, all of these brother acts all loved the Everlys. But there’s also a contemporary act called Larkin Poe, who called one of their albums ‘Blood Harmony.’ They set an example for how two singers can maximize their voices to create something larger than themselves. This kind of harmony still lingers.”

Ruth Gibbins has shared her pride at her late brother Liam Payne’s appearance on Netflix’s Building the Band, which was filmed before his tragic death

Liam Payne’s sister Ruth shared her “immeasurable pride” after seeing her late brother in his final TV appearance. The late One Direction star, who tragically passed away at 31 last year after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina, features as a judge in the forthcoming Netflix series called Building the Band.

His sister Ruth Gibbins said she was “heartbroken” that he won’t have the opportunity to see himself on the show. Ruth shared on her Instagram Stories: “I didn’t know whether to share this, but it felt odd when I’ve raved about Liam’s work and achievements for the past 15 years.

“I’m heartbroken he never got the chance to see how brilliant he is in this show. He knew he had done a good job, we all told him this when we were at filming, but watching it back, wow!”.

Gibbins added: “You’re a star Liam, you always were and always will be. There are a range of emotions I felt watching this, but one of the main ones is immeasurable pride, always. Miss you more every day.”

Building the Band debuts on Netflix on July 9 and presenter AJ McLean has assured that the series is “unlike anything you have ever seen before”.

The Backstreet Boys singer stated last month: “Today’s most talented singers in the world will audition for each other and choose their own bandmates before ever seeing them.

“Our judge and mentor Nicole Scherzinger, and guest judges Kelly Rowland and the late Liam Payne, are from some of the biggest bands of all time. This show is all about one word: chemistry. And believe me: in a band, you really need some good chemistry.”

Liam had finished filming for the programme – which features singers aiming to form a band despite being kept in separate booths so they can’t see each other – several months before his tragic passing last October.

A summary for the series explains: “All they [the contestants] have to go on is musical compatibility, connection, chemistry and merit … with incredible performances, compelling drama, and one big goal – to find the next great music band – the stage is set for an unforgettable experience.”

Meanwhile, Liam’s mate DJ Fat Tony recently disclosed that he attempted to “help” the star with his addiction “demons”.

The 59-year-old musician – a recovering addict who has been sober for 18 years – told The Times Magazine: “I tried to help Liam Payne with his demons. He was incredible – a really close friend.

“There were so many amazing times where he got clean and sober. Not everyone makes it. It’s a real shame what happened, falling off the balcony. I’m devastated by it.

“Addiction is a big part of our industry. People see being sober and clean as more problematic than being drunk and high. They’ll help you on that drink and drug journey, but not on the sober journey.”

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A Palestinian man in a red cap walks down the narrow alleyway in Nablus’s old city towards a group of Israeli soldiers, clearly unarmed.

He attempts to talk to the soldiers, who had flooded into the occupied West Bank city in the early hours of Tuesday as part of Israel’s latest military raid – believed to be the largest carried out in Nablus in two years.

The soldiers immediately kick and shove the man – 40-year-old Nidal Umairah – before his brother walks over, attempting to intervene. Gunfire follows, and soon the two brothers are lying dead.

Nidal and his brother 35-year-old brother Khaled were the latest victims of Israel in the West Bank, after they were killed late on Tuesday. It is unclear which brother had initially been detained, but witnesses were adamant that the behaviour of the Israeli soldiers was an unnecessary escalation that led to the deaths of yet more Palestinians.

Ghassan Hamdan, the director of the Palestinian Medical Relief Society in Nablus, was at the scene of the killings.

“There were at least 12 soldiers and they all fired their automatic machine guns at once,” said Hamdan.

After the two men fell to the ground [medics] asked the soldiers if we could treat their wounds. They answered by firing at all of us.”

“We all took cover behind the walls of the old city,” he told Al Jazeera.

Hamza Abu Hajar, a paramedic at the scene, said that the Umairah brother who had initially approached the Israeli soldiers had been trying to go to his house to move his family out and away from the Israeli raid.

“They lifted his shirt up to prove he was unarmed,” Abu Hajar said. “They then started shooting at him, and at us as well.”

The Israeli army said it acted in self-defence after one of the Umairah brothers tried to seize a weapon from a soldier. It said that four soldiers had been injured in the incident.

West Bank raids

The raid in Nablus, which lasted more than 24 hours, is the latest Israel has conducted in the West Bank.

Israel has taken advantage of the world’s focus on its own war on Gaza since October 2023 to escalate its land theft and violence in the West Bank.

During that span, Israel has killed at least 930 people in the West Bank, 24 of whom were from Nablus, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Many of these deaths are the result of violent Israeli raids ostensibly aimed at clamping down on Palestinian fighters in the West Bank, but which have resulted in mass destruction and thousands of Palestinians fleeing their homes.

According to Hamdan, Israeli troops mainly targeted Nablus’s old city by storming into hundreds of homes in the middle of the night. Dozens of people were also reportedly arrested.

Young people in the city protested by burning tyres and throwing rocks at Israeli troops, yet they were met with heavy tear gas, injuring at least 80 Palestinians in the raid.

In the past, Palestinian protesters have been imprisoned on “terrorism” charges or shot and killed for simply resisting Israel’s occupation by throwing rocks or defying Israeli soldiers.

This time around, the Israelis classified the entire old city in Nablus as a closed military zone for 24 hours. No ambulances or medics were allowed inside to aid distressed residents, said Hamdan.

“Nobody was allowed in or out. Nobody was allowed to make any movement at all. We [as medics] could not enter the area during the entire raid to try and help people in need,” he told Al Jazeera.

Assault and vandalism

During the raid, Israeli troops stormed into several apartments after blowing off door hinges with explosives.

Umm Hassan, a 58-year-old resident who did not want to give her full name, recalls feeling terrified when several Israeli soldiers broke into her home.

About five months ago, her husband passed away from cancer, an illness that also claimed two of her children years ago.

Umm Hassan is also battling cancer, yet she said Israeli soldiers showed her no mercy. They flipped her television on the ground, broke windows and tossed her paintings off the walls and onto the living room floor.

They even vandalised her books by throwing them on the ground, including the Quran.

“I told them to leave me alone. I was alone and so scared. There was nobody to protect me,” Umm Hassan told Al Jazeera.

Another woman, Rola, said that Israeli soldiers stormed into her home two times in the span of six hours during the raid.

When Israeli soldiers returned the second time, Rola said that they attacked her elderly father, hitting him on the head and chest with the butts of their guns.

Rola described her three nieces and nephews – all small children – cowering with fear as Israeli soldiers vandalised and destroyed their home.

“The second time they came to our home, they put us all in a room and we weren’t able to leave the room from 8am until 3:30pm,” said Rola.

“We [Palestinians] always talk about being resilient. But the reality is when Israeli soldiers come into your private home, then you get very scared. It’s natural. We are humans and humans get scared,” she told Al Jazeera.

Psychological warfare

More than 80 Palestinians received treatment from the Palestine Red Crescent Society during the raid, 25 of them as a result of gunshot wounds.

While Israel says its raid was “precise”, inhabitants of Nablus say that the attack on the city was the latest attempt to intimidate and frighten Palestinians.

“Honestly, what were Israeli soldiers searching for in my home? What did they think they were going to find?” asked Rola. “The reason for their raids [violence] is to uphold the [illegal] occupation.”

BROOKLYN Beckham’s wife Nicola Peltz allegedly treated Romeo’s ex-girlfriend “appallingly”, leading to the feud between the brothers, it’s claimed.

Nicola, 30, and her husband Brooklyn, 26, have suffered a rift with his famous family after the couple snubbed his dad David’s 50th birthday bash earlier this month.

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Reports have “blamed” Romeo’s current girlfriend Kim Turnbull, 24, for the feud – with her and Brooklyn having briefly dated in 2016.

But sources claim the row has actually been brewing for years and was originally first sparked in the run-up to Brooklyn and Nicola’s lavish Florida wedding in 2022.

Guests at the ceremony are reported to have found the bride’s behaviour “absolutely baffling” – with her allegedly completely ignoring 22-year-old Romeo’s then-partner model Mia Regan.

Nicola had also supposedly been blanking her in the run-up to the big day, despite Mia and Romeo having dated for three years at the time.

To make matters worse, Romeo was Brooklyn’s best man, alongside their younger brother Cruz, 20.

“Brooklyn and Romeo have been fighting for a significant amount of time,” an insider told Daily Mail.

“They do not get on. It has been so difficult for David and Victoria.”

They went on to say the two brothers were “once inseparable” and both doted on their two youngest siblings, Cruz and sister Harper, 13.

The source added: “Things have been terrible for a long time. It has upset their mum and dad so much. All they ever wanted was a big, happy family.”

Brooklyn’s wedding was a “turning point” for the family, with Romeo said to have found “the drama unnecessary”, it is claimed.

Brooklyn and Nicola have both previously denied there’s a rift with the family – despite reports suggesting they no longer speak to the Beckham side.

It was previously reported Brooklyn questioned Kim’s “motives” for starting a relationship with his younger sibling.

He is also said to have felt uncomfortable that his ex would be in attendance at his dad’s birthday bash.

But the blame was levelled at Nicola, which upset Brooklyn, according to a source.

They told The Sun: “She has never told him what to do and has been nothing but supportive — she’s a loyal wife.”

All of Brooklyn’s siblings turned out to party with their dad, mum, and A-list names like Tom Cruise and Guy Ritchie.

But Beck’s eldest child and his wife were nowhere to be seen.

And since the snub, a rift between Brooklyn and his younger brother Romeo has been uncovered.

The Sun understands Nicola and Brooklyn had intended to be at David’s birthday bash but cancelled at short notice due to Kim being in attendance.

also missed an intimate evening earlier this month at the family’s £10million Cotswolds mansion.

THERE have been some massive fall outs among famous siblings.

From Brooklyn and Romeo Beckham spat to the Gallagher brothers’ bitter feud, there are several famous faces who are at war, or have been in the past, with their family,

And British stars aren’t the only ones, because there are several high-profile Hollywood stars who have been at war with their loved ones.

From Julia Roberts to Leonardo DiCaprio – The Sun explores some of the biggest sibling feuds.

Brooklyn and Romeo Beckham

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Brooklyn Beckham and his wife Nicola Peltz were notable absentees from his dad David Beckham‘s recent birthday bash.

Brooklyn’s siblings Romeo, Cruz and Harper all turned out to party with their dad, mum, and famous names like Tom Cruise and Guy Ritchie, while the eldest Beckham child was nowhere to be seen.

And since the snub, a rift between Brooklyn and his younger brother Romeo has been uncovered.

Romeo’s girlfriend is Kim Turnbull, who previously dated Brooklyn.

Romeo and his girlfriend Kim, who Brooklyn once dated, have kept things low-key since going public in November.

The Sun understands Nicola and Brooklyn had intended to be at David’s birthday bash but cancelled at short notice due to Kim being in attendance.

Brooklyn felt uncomfortable that his ex would be in attendance.

But the blame is being levelled at Nicola, which has upset Brooklyn, according to a source.

They said: “She has never told him what to do and has been nothing but supportive — she’s a loyal wife.”

Brooklyn and Nicola also missed an intimate evening last Wednesday at the family’s £10million Cotswolds mansion.

The dinner was attended by Victoria, Romeo, Cruz, and his girlfriend Jackie.

Kim was absent, as were Brooklyn and Nicola.

Liam and Noel Gallagher

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The two Manchester-born stars became famous together when they were in the band Oasis.

Clashing personalities saw Noel briefly quit the band after Liam threw a tambourine at him during a performance.

Later, Noel hit Liam on the head with a cricket bat when Liam annoyed him while he was working.

Liam’s last-minute pull-out and heckling from the audience during their MTV Unplugged performance in 1996 added to the feud. 

The last straw was when a backstage argument in Paris in 2009, reportedly over Liam’s clothing firm, Pretty Green, led to Noel’s decision to leave the band. 

But last month, Liam and Noel performed together for the first time in 16 years as they took to the stage of a members’ club in north London.

And now, the pair are preparing for the Oasis reunion tour which will take place later this year.

Leonardo DiCaprio and his step-brother Adam Farrar

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Although Leo and his step-brother Adam were close as kids, as they grew up, they grew apart.

In the 00s and 10s, Adam accused Leo of putting fame before his family.

In 2016, Adam spoke out about his relationship with Leo.

“We were once so close. I loved him and I still do,” he told MailOnline.

He added: “But we’ve not spoken in a couple of years. The last time I saw Leo was at his birthday party a couple of years ago.

“I’d been invited by another friend. Leo was pleased to see me and gave me a hug.

“But when I try to call him, my messages go unanswered. He has a whole team around him now and it’s impossible to penetrate that wall of hangers-on.”

He also told the paper: “Leo wants to save the world but he seems more concerned about the environment and climate change than he does about his own brother. It hurts.”

While Leo got famous, Adam developed a marijuana and cocaine habit, as well as a serious heroin addiction, with this coming to a head in 2008.

“I was arrested five or six times for petty theft, shoplifting from supermarkets, trying to support an opiate addiction of half a gram to a gram a day,” Adam told the outlet.

“Leo and I never had an argument. But he started surrounding himself with people that didn’t want me around. He’s the biggest star in the world and there’s me, messed up on drugs. I was slowly shut out of his world.

“Finally I got tired of going in and out of jail. I’ve been off heroin since 2013,” he said.

Meghan Markle and her half-sister Samantha Markle

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Megan and her half sister Samantha Markle have been embroiled in a feud that has been long-running for many years.

According to Samantha, she and Meghan were close when they were growing up, although this is not backed by the Duchess.

The pair are 17 years apart and did not grow up at the same time.

In 2018, Vanity Fair reported that Doria Ragland and Thomas Markle “moved in together a couple of years before Meghan was born, along with Samantha and Thomas junior, who had relocated to L.A. after living with their mum.”

In Meghan’s chat with Oprah in 2021, she declared: “I grew up as an only child, which everyone who grew up around me knows, and I wished I had siblings.”

Samantha is estranged from Meghan, and the pair have not spoken for more than a decade, since her “early twenties”, it has been claimed.

Due to their estrangement, Samantha was not invited to Meghan’s wedding to Prince Harry in 2018. Samantha said at the time: “Out of respect and humanitarianism, the Markles should be invited if 2,000 complete strangers are. Our uncle, brother, me, best friend of 30 years, nephews. At issue is not a matter of closeness. Family is family.”

Nick and Aaron Carter

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Nick and Aaron Carter grew apart over the years.

The pair’s bond weakened due to childhood trauma, addiction, and family drama.

In 2019, Nick filed a restraining order against Aaron, saying he had made violent threats.

Aaron denied this also accusing Nick of abuse.

On November 5, 2022, Aaron died at his home in California at the age of 34.

His body was found in his bathtub by a housekeeper.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner later ruled that Carter’s death was accidental: drowning after inhaling difluoroethane and taking alprazolam (Xanax).

He was cremated, and his ashes were left in the care of his twin sister Angel.

Julia Roberts and her half-sister Nancy Motes

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Julia Roberts and her half-sister Nancy Motes had a “tortured” bond before she died by suicide.

In 2014, Nancy, who was 37, was found in a bathtub filled with water at a friend’s home in Los Angeles, where she had been dog-sitting.

LA County Coroner spokesman John Kades said prescription drugs had been found at the residence.

She wrote a suicide note blaming Julia for bullying her most of her adult life.

In the three-page note, she said: “My so-called siblings get nothing except the memory that they are the ones that drove me into the deepest depression I’ve been in.”

Louis Tomlinson and his half-sister Georgia

The One Direction star’s biological dad left shortly after he was born and became estranged from him.

His father later had a daughter called Georgia who became a huge One Direction fan when she was 14.

She and Louis’ biological dad, Troy, then saw Louis in a One Direction concert when the band were at the height of fame.

The siblings failed to reconnect.

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