Hurricane Melissa was heading for Cuba late Tuesday as a Category 4 storm. Image by NOAA
Oct. 28 (UPI) — Hurricane Melissa was regaining strength Tuesday night as it was taking aim at Cuba after battering Jamaica throughout the day, forecasters said.
The eye of Melissa was situated about 110 miles southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba, and 300 miles south of the central Bahamas, the National Hurricane Center said in its 11 p.m. EDT update. It was moving northeast at 9 mph.
Melissa had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, making it a Category 4 storm, and significantly weaker than the Category 5 storm when it hit Jamaica.
It had lost strength as it traveled over Jamaica’s western mountains, but forecasters said it appeared to be strengthening.
Melissa made landfall as a powerful major hurricane, the strongest direct hit on Jamaica since records have been kept in the Atlantic basin. It was also be the first storm to make landfall in the Caribbean this season.
Melissa is anticipated to make a second landfall along Cuba’s southeastern coast soon, while still maintaining major hurricane strength. It’s also expected to remain a hurricane when it reaches the Bahamas. Bermuda also could be threatened.
“Melissa is expected to continue to strengthen until it reaches Cuba in a few hours, and it is expected to make landfall there as a very dangerous major hurricane,” NHC forecaster John Cangialosi said in a late Tuesday discussion on the storm.
“Melissa is still expected to be a powerful hurricane when it moves through the Bahamas and near Bermuda.”
Catastrophic flash flooding and landslides in parts of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica were expected through early next week.
A hurricane warning was in effect for the Cuban provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin; and the southeastern and central Bahamas.
A hurricane watch was in effect for Bermuda.
There was a tropical storm warning for Jamaica, Haiti, Turks and Caicos Islands and the Cuban province of Las Tunas.
Hurricane-force winds extended up to 30 miles from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extended outward to 195 miles.
Rainfall of 15 to 30 inches through Wednesday was forecast for portions of Jamaica and an additional 6 to 12 inches for southern Hispaniola, which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Jamaica is to get a local maximum of 40 inches, the NHC said.
“Catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides are likely,” the NHC said.
Cuba is expected to receive rainfall of 10 to 20 inches, with local amounts up to 25 inches, into Wednesday, “resulting in life-threatening and potentially catastrophic flash flooding with numerous landslides,” the NHC said.
Over the southeastern Bahamas, rainfall is forecast to total 5 to 10 inches into Wednesday with flash flooding in some areas.
Life-threatening storm surge heights could reach 9 to 13 feet above ground level, near and to the east of where the center of Melissa makes landfall and are expected to be accompanied by large and destructive waves, NHC said.
Along the Cuban coast late Tuesday and Wednesday, there is a potential for a significant storm surge of 7 to 11 feet.
And in the southeastern Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands, there is the possibility of a storm surge of 4 to 6 feet.
Melissa is the 13th named storm of the season and fifth hurricane. The other Category 5 storms in the Atlantic have been Erin and Humberto.
In September 2019, Hurricane Dorian had maximum sustained winds of 185 mph and devastated the Bahamas islands, including Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama, as a Category 5 storm.
The all-time highest sustained wind speed was Hurricane Allen at 190 mph in August 1980 over the Yucatan Peninsula before weakening to a Category 3 when it struck South Texas.
The most destructive Category 5 storm in the United States was Hurricane Andrew in August 1992, with $27.3 billion in damage. Hurricane Michael, also a Category 5 storm, struck the less populated Florida Panhandle in October 2018.
The United States is not threatened this time.
Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica in 1988 as a Category 3 storm.
1 of 2 | Hurricane Melissa, a strong Category 5 storm, was expected to make landfall in southern Jamaica early Tuesday. Photo courtesy of NOAA
Oct. 27 (UPI) — Melissa, a strong Category 5 hurricane, neared landfall on the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica early Tuesday, where three people were already dead and amid fears of a humanitarian crisis.
The Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas were to be later threatened with powerful winds, rainfall and storm surge.
The storm was expected to move near or over Jamaica’s southern coast Tuesday — the first hurricane to make landfall in the Caribbean this season.
The island, which has 2.8 million residents, was already experiencing damaging winds and heavy rainfall, threatening catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding and landslides. The Ministry of Health and Wellness has reported three deaths and nearly 15 people injured while preparing for the storm.
The hurricane was situated about 115 miles southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 290 miles southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba, the National Hurricane Center said in its 2 a.m. EDT update. It was moving north-northeast at 5 mph.
Melissa’s maximum sustained winds of 175 mph have not changed since the 2 p.m. update on Monday. Hurricanes are designated as the highest class when they reach 157 mph.
When Melissa makes landfall as a powerful major hurricane, it will be the strongest direct hit for the island since records have been kept in the Atlantic Basin.
“Catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides are expected through Tuesday,” NHC forecaster Richard Pasch said in a late Monday discussion about Jamaica. “The eyewall’s destructive winds may cause total structural failure, particularly in higher elevations, leading to widespread infrastructural damage, prolonged power and communication outages and isolated communities.”
The storm became a hurricane Saturday morning and was upgraded to a Category 3 major hurricane by Saturday night, then a Category 4 on Sunday morning and a Category 5 on Monday morning.
On Tuesday night or Wednesday, Melissa is anticipated to make a second landfall along Cuba’s southeastern coast, while still wielding major hurricane strength. It’s also expected to remain a hurricane when it reaches the Bahamas. Bermuda also could be threatened.
“After reaching Jamaica, a combination of land interaction and increasing southwesterly shear should cause some weakening, although Melissa is still forecast to be a major hurricane when it reaches Cuba,” NHC forecaster Jack Beven said in an earlier discussion.
“Once over the Atlantic, stronger shear should cause more substantial weakening, and Melissa is expected to become extratropical by the end of the forecast period as it interacts with a large baroclinic low over the north Atlantic.”
Catastrophic flash flooding and landslides in parts of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica were expected through early next week.
A hurricane warning was in effect for all of Jamaica; the Cuban provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin; and the southeastern and central Bahamas.
Hurricane watches were in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands.
There was a tropical storm warning for Haiti and the Cuban province of Las Tunas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Hurricane-force winds extended up to 30 miles from the center, and tropical-force winds tended outward to 195 miles.
Rainfall of 15 to 30 inches through Wednesday was forecast for portions of Jamaica and an additional 6 to 12 inches for southern Hispaniola, which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica, with a local maximum of 40 inches, the NHC said.
“Catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides are likely,” NHC said.
Cuba is expected to receive rainfall of 10 to 20 inches, with local amounts up to 25 inches, into Wednesday, “resulting in life-threatening and potentially catastrophic flash flooding with numerous landslides,” NHC said.
Over the southeastern Bahamas, rainfall is forecast to total 5 to 10 inches into Wednesday with flash flooding in some areas.
Life-threatening storm surge heights could reach 9 to 13 feet above ground level, near and to the east of where the center of Melissa makes landfall and are expected to be accompanied by large and destructive waves, NHC said.
Along the Cuban coast late Tuesday and Wednesday, there is a potential for significant storm surge of 7 to 11 feet.
And in the southeastern Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands, there is the possibility of storm surge of 4 to 6 feet.
Melissa is the 13th named storm of the season and fifth hurricane. The other Category 5 storms in the Atlantic have been Erin and Humberto.
In September 2019, Hurricane Dorian had maximum sustained winds of 185 mph and destroyed the Bahamas islands, including Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama, as a Category 5 storm.
The all-time highest sustained measure was Hurricane Allen at 190 mph in August 1980 over the Yucatan Peninsula but weakened to a Category 3 when it struck south Texas.
The most destructive Category 5 storm in the United States was Hurricane Andrew in August 1992, with $27.3 billion in damage. Hurricane Michael, also a Category 5 storm, struck the less populated Florida Panhandle in October 2018.
The U.S. is not threatened this time.
Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica in 1988 as a Category 3 storm. The island could be battered for several hours as the eyewall moves slowly.
1 of 3 | Hurricane Melissa, a Category 4 storm, was expected to make landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday morning. Photo courtesy of NOAA
Oct. 27 (UPI) — Forecasters are warning residents of Jamaica to “seek shelter now,” as Melissa, a Category 4 hurricane, was making its way toward the Caribbean island nation early Monday.
The storm was expected to make landfall along Jamaica’s southern coast on Tuesday morning, but the National Hurricane Center reported that the island is already experiencing damaging winds and heavy rainfall that will cause catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding and landslides.
The hurricane, a Category 4 storm, was located about 130 miles south-southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 315 miles south-southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba, the National Hurricane Center said in its 8 p.m. EDT update.
It had maximum sustained winds of 150 mph and was crawling west at 5 mph.
Forecasters said it was to take a slow westward turn overnight, followed by a north and northeastern turn on Monday and Tuesday.
“On the forecast track, the core of Melissa is expected to move near or over Jamaica tonight and Tuesday, across southeastern Cuba [on] Tuesday night and across the southeastern Bahamas on Wednesday,” the NHC said.
The storm — which became a hurricane Saturday morning and was upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane by Saturday night — continues to gather strength.
Additional intensification of the storm is forecast over the next day or two, after which strengthening is expected to fluctuate.
However, the NHC expects it to be “a powerful major hurricane” when it makes landfall along Jamaica’s southern coast. This would be the strongest direct landfall for the island since records have been kept in the Atlantic Basin.
Either Tuesday night or Wednesday, Melissa is anticipated to make landfall along Cuba’s southeastern coast.
Catastrophic flash flooding and landslides in parts of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica are expected through early next week.
A hurricane warning is in effect for all of Jamaica and for the Cuban provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo, and Holguin.
Hurricane watches are in effect for the southwestern peninsula of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Port-Au-Prince.
“Seek shelter now,” is the key message the NHC has for Jamaica.
“Damaging winds and heavy rainfall tonight and Monday will cause catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding and numerous landslides before potentially devastating winds arrive Monday night and Tuesday morning,” NHC forecaster Philippe Papin said in a discussion on the storm.
“Extensive infrastructural damage, long-duration power and communication outages and isolation of communities are expected.”
“Melissa’s slow movement over the mountainous islands greatly increases the risk of catastrophic flash flooding and deadly mudslides,” Duffus said. “This can quickly escalate into a humanitarian crisis, where a large number of people are in need of basic supplies such as food, safe drinking water, housing and medical care.”
Rainfall of 15 to 30 inches through Wednesday is forecast for portions of southern Hispaniola, which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica, with a local maximum of 40 inches, the NHC said.
Eastern Cuba is expected to receive rainfall of 6 to 12 inches, with local amounts up to 18 inches into Wednesday.
“Life-threatening storm surge is becoming more likely along the south coast of Jamaica later in the weekend or early next week,” the NHC said.
Peak storm surge heights could reach 9 to 13 feet above ground level, near and to the east of where the center of Melissa makes landfall and are expected to be accompanied by large and destructive waves.
There also is a potential of significant storm surge along the Cuban coast next week.
Melissa is the 13th named storm of the season, and it’s the first in the Caribbean.
This season has seen few storms, resulting in unusually warm Caribbean waters, and the warm water is potential fuel for stronger and more dangerous storms.
Celebrity Traitors stars Jonathan Ross and Cat Burns could be about to come to blows in the latest episode of the hit BBC show, a body language expert has predicted
Celeb Traitors stars Jonathan Ross and Cat Burns set to come to blows(Image: BBC)
The talk show legend, 64, and viral TikTok singer Cat, 25, are both taking part in the hit reality series in which a host of famous faces live in a castle and have to work out which of them is one of the titular Traitors, all guided by Strictly Come Dancing‘s Claudia Winkleman.
Both Jonathan and Cat are in fact Traitors, as is comedian Alan Carr but the other contestants are all Faithfuls, and now body language expert Judi James has explored the ‘subtle but revealing’ signs that things were not right between them during last night’s episode.
Normally, during the part in the show where the Traitors remove their hoods, there is often fits of laughter between them. But explaining what was different this time, Judi explained: “Last night’s meet-up was different though because, for Jonathan and Cat, the masks never came off. They surveyed each other without any signals of relief.”
She added: “Their body language was subtle but revealing, proving they, both now recognise they are enemies. Last night’s meet-up was different though because, for Jonathan and Cat, the masks never came off. They surveyed each other without any signals of relief.
“We saw them ignore Alan to stare at each other, and Jonathan performed a thin ‘smile’ of recognition, which was returned by Cat. There was no pretence between them, but no open declarations of war. Jonathan let Cat know he knew what she was doing and she stared him back to let him know she intends to carry on doing it.”
Jonathan adopted a dominant, alpha pose, leaning his weight onto his hands that clutched the rail in front, leaning forward in a way that could be seen as an attempt to to silently ‘threaten’ Cat. What’s more, the singer smiled when she looked at Alan but the smile quickly faded when she clapped eyes on Jonathan.
It’s also been noted that Cat moved her ‘weight from one foot to the other,’ and this can imply a ‘fight or flight’ stance when coming face-to-face with an enemy.
But the body expert also explained how Cat held her own, adding: “Cat even showed higher status to Jonathan, raising her chin and her brows when she spoke to him and looking down her nose while he bowed his head down low.”
At the end of last night’s episode, Stephen Fry was banished from the castle despite being a Faitful. Speaking to his fellow celebrities, Stephen said he had the “best fun for years” and called the group “an extraordinary and wonderful bunch of people”.
Insisting he would hold “no hard feelings” over his banishment, he said that being involved had been a “privilege and an honour” that had filled him with “deep delight”.
On spin-off, Uncloacked, Stephen said he thought Cat, Joe and David were the Traitors, but he got the shock of his life when he found out the truth…
“Jonathan?! FFS!” he said. “Oh he played a blinder, we knew he was a superfan, but he convinced me he wanted to be Faithful!”
“Alan?! What will Paloma say? Wow does he want to end the realtionship?! Alan Carr, I don’t believe it! Two big dogs, and one small Cat!”
The Celebrity Traitors continues on 29 October at 9pm on BBC One.
The Spanish town of Terrassa in north-eastern Catalonia has temporarily banned the adoption of black cats from animal shelters to prevent potentially sinister “rituals” during Halloween.
All requests for the fostering or adoption of the felines will be denied from 6 October to 10 November to protect them from being hurt or used as props, said the local animal welfare service.
Deputy Mayor Noel Duque told broadcaster RTVE that adoption requests for black cats usually increase around Halloween.
While black cats are often associated with witchcraft and seen as bad luck in Western culture, many other cultures, including Japan and Egypt, see them as symbols of prosperity and fortune.
Terassa’s city council said there had been no record of cruelty towards black cats in the town, however there have been incidents in other areas and the decision was taken after warnings from animal welfare groups.
“We try to prevent people from adopting because it’s trendy or impulsively. And in cases like these, which we know exist, to prevent any macabre practices,” Duque said.
Terrassa is home to more than 9,800 cats, according to local authorities, and the town’s adoption centre houses around 100 felines, 12 of which are black, the Catalan News Agency reported.
The city council emphasised that the measure is “temporary and exceptional” and represents an extra precaution for animal welfare, but did not rule out repeating the ban in the future.
Exceptions during the ban period will be assessed individually by the adoption centre and normal fostering requests will resume after Halloween.
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law Thursday that will make it illegal to declaw a cat in California, a practice that lawmakers and animal advocates argued is outdated and inhumane.
Assembly Bill 867 by Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San José) bars veterinarians from performing the procedure, which involves amputating the first bone in each of a cat’s toes or severing its tendons so that it can’t extend its claws. California law previously required the procedure to be performed by veterinarians, but will now limit it to cases of medical necessity.
“Many countries have already outlawed this inhumane practice,” said Lee, who called declawing a “barbaric” mutilation to make life more convenient for pet owners.
While most owners do not declaw their cats, the practice has been used by some to prevent the animal from scratching people, furniture or other pets. Various polling has found that roughly a quarter of cats are declawed, but it has fallen out of favor among veterinarians and pet owners in recent years. The nation’s largest veterinary provider, Mars Veterinary Health, said it does not support elective declawing.
“Feline scratching and nail sharpening are normal behaviors and the removal of nails has been shown to lead to chronic pain and, in some cases, to cause long-term behavioral issues,” the company said in a statement on its website.
The California Veterinary Medical Assn., which represents veterinarians, opposed the bill, saying it sets a dangerous precedent to limit the scope of one profession.
“When our veterinarians are telling us that they’re performing the procedure, it’s usually because the elderly patient is usually on chemotherapy, on a blood thinner … and they can’t risk being scratched,” Grant Miller, director of regulatory affairs at CVMA, said during a legislative hearing.
Miller said surveys of their members found 80% of veterinarians no longer declaw cats, evidence he argued shows they’ve adequately policed themselves. He said AB 867 limits instances that should be considered legitimate reasons for declawing.
“If the owner is coming in and saying we can’t keep our cat because it keeps scratching us, can you do something, we believe that that’s qualification to consider the procedure, but only after all other alternatives have been exhausted,” he added.
The bill includes an exemption for cats that need the procedure out of medical necessity, including to address a recurring infection or a condition that jeopardizes the animal’s health. But, it does not include procedures to make a cat easier to handle, to avoid scratching people or furniture or for any other cosmetic reason.
West Hollywood became the first jurisdiction in the country in 2003 to pass a ban on declawing cats. Other cities have since passed similar restrictions, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, Burbank, Culver City, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills, according to an analysis of the bill.
New York was the first state to ban declawing in 2019, while dozens of other countries have made the practice illegal.
Lee, the bill’s author, said his hope is that the number of cats declawed in California will shrink to zero.
“You can trim the nails just like our nails,” he said. “You can do many different things.”
When Friedia Niimura moved to the U.S. from Japan in her mid-20s, she shared a dream with many Angelenos: acting, or maybe fashion. A TV and media personality in Japan, it seemed a natural fit, only she didn’t take to the competitive pace of Los Angeles.
So she dove into one of her other passions: paper.
“When I came to L.A., I noticed there weren’t a lot of specialty stationery boutiques,” Niimura says. “When you’re in Japan, they’re everywhere and you take them for granted. That’s how I would spend my days off. I would go to the stationery and browse and take my notebook and draw.”
Friedia Niimura outside her shop Paper Plant Co., which occupies two Chinatown storefronts and shares a space with Thank You Coffee. Niimura spent her teen years in Japan before changing her career.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Niimura created a place where one can do just that. Chinatown’s Paper Plant Co. is her stationery outpost, made of two small storefronts that share a space with Thank You Coffee and boast outdoor seating. A communal destination since 2020, the shop has earned a reputation for specializing in notebooks, stickers and pens from Japan. Or, as Niimura describes Paper Plant’s aesthetic: “cute.”
“When we pick something and we all go, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s so cute,’ then we know it’s going to do really well,” Niimura, 45, says. “I don’t know how in Japan they always come up with cute scenarios and cute scenes and cute gestures. It’s almost like there’s a school on how to draw dogs doing cute things, cats doing cute things.”
Paper Plant will on Oct. 11-12 play host to Bungu LA, believed to be the first proper stationery festival in the city. Niimura has handpicked Bungu’s 60 or so exhibitors, with the vast majority of them traveling here from Japan. Bungu is inspired by similar events Niimura has gone to in Tokyo or New York. Paper Plant, for instance, exhibited last year at a festival hosted by Brooklyn’s Yoseka Stationery.
“There was a line every day,” Niimura says, describing the New York fest. “It was just my store manager and I, and we were like, ‘How come L.A. doesn’t have one?’ And then who would do it? It always came back to us, since we have that relationship with Japanese creators.”
Like most everything Paper Plant-related, Niimura has been figuring it out on the fly. Paper Plant, for instance, was initially funded almost entirely by credit cards, a business plan Niimura wouldn’t recommend to others. Bungu will take over part of a concourse at downtown’s Union Station, and the hope is to make it an annual event. The goal for the first year is to simply break even, as Niimura jokes that she doesn’t yet know the final cost of staging a festival.
“We had to also rent out a front sidewalk, which was another $10,000 that I hadn’t added to the budget,” Niimura says.
The response, however, has been overwhelmingly positive. Popular Japanese firms such as Hobonichi will be in attendance, but Niimura says she made an effort to secure vendors that have never before sold in the U.S. Advance tickets of $25, for which about 1,500 were made available per day, have sold out. There will, however, be walk-up tickets sold each day of the show. Niimura is hoping to attract 2,500 people per day.
Stickers, says Paper Plant Co. owner Friedia Niimura, are hugely popular at the moment. (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Paper Plant Co. makes and sells original greeting cards. (Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
Niimura herself is still discovering new joys in the stationery world. She notes that only recently has she become smitten with fountain pens.
“In Japan, fountain pens are geared toward older gentlemen,” she says. “And they’re expensive. The really nice ones can be thousands of dollars. We have ones that are a couple hundred, but also beginner ones for about $20. I started off with those, but I recently got a couple hundred dollar ones, and it’s life changing — the way the ink comes out is so smooth. Once you have one, it’s hard to go back to a regular pen.”
As part of Bungu, Niimura is encouraging attendees to explore L.A.’s public transit and the walkability of Chinatown. Maps will be given out at Bungu for which guests can collect three stamps, one at the event, one at the Chinatown Metro Rail station and one at Paper Plant. Those who complete the mini scavenger hunt will be given a free gift at Paper Plant, which Niimura is keeping a secret.
With the rise of collage and zine-making workshops, younger generations are connecting with paper and Niimura notes that one-day planners and scrapbooking today have become especially popular.
“I feel like anything work-wise, people have on their phones,” Niimura says. “But there’s this trend of scrapbooking everything — receipts for the day, the coffee cup holder, stickers. They call it ‘junk journaling.’”
Junk journaling, says Niimura, is fueling in part the sticker trend of the moment. Paper Plant sells a wide array of stickers and also makes its own — a dog, for instance, wearing a Dodgers hat, or a man wearing a dog as a hat. “The mini stickers are for the journalers and the planners,” Niimura says. “They have really teeny-tiny ones. It’s for the calendar. You use a sandwich sticker for lunch with a friend.”
The charm of Paper Plant’s two storefronts, where one can find lamps shaped like bread, diaries with adorable cats on the cover and those fancy fountain pens, belies the fact that 2025 is a stressful time for the stationery business. Niimura sighs as she notes that she’s had to raise prices this year due to tariffs imposed by President Trump.
“Everything has kind of gone up,” Niimura says when asked how the tariffs have affected her business. “If its coming from China, it’s a lot. If it’s coming from Japan, it’s a little bit.”
And yet that doesn’t deter her optimism. Niimura notes that in a way, she’s living out one of her childhood dreams, as she once envisioned her retirement life including a gig at a stationery shop.
“I always thought I would do this later in life,” she says. “I thought I would be the old lady putting out a sign and being behind the register.”
And now, Niimura speaks of Paper Plant and Bungu as something of a mission.
Chinatown’s Paper Plant Co. occupies two Chinatown storefronts, and sells everything from stickers and stationary to lamps shaped like bread.
(Juliana Yamada / Los Angeles Times)
“This analog style of things shouldn’t die just yet,” she says. “I think it’s important. Creativity starts with a pencil and a paper. Now my son, too, doesn’t have a cursive class. That hurts. You can recognize someone by their handwriting. My son calls cursive ‘fancy writing,’ and I don’t want that to die.”
Think of Paper Plant and Bungu, then, as a way to keep a lost art alive.
This Morning’s Cat Deeley appeared to make a shock confession regarding the ITV show’s competitions during Monday’s episode
A cringe-worthy moment unfolded on This Morning when Cat Deeley seemed to confess she and co-presenter Ben Shephard “cheat” whilst hosting one of the programme’s competitions.
Cat and Ben started concluding the episode’s news section and revealed details about This Morning’s Spin To Win competition, which invites viewers to ring in for a chance to participate in a game and secure cash prizes on the ITV programme.
Ben outlined all the competition’s terms and conditions, whilst Cat disclosed that viewers could bag up to £12,000, with both wishing fans the best of luck.
“Yes, good luck!” Cat exclaimed, before turning to Ben and enquiring: “Are you saying that to me? Because of the competition?”
He responded: “Well, we know what happened when we’ve done this in the past,” prompting Cat to suddenly blurt out: “We cheat a little bit!”
Gyles appeared stunned by her admission and swiftly protested: “I don’t think we do!”.
“We know, we never have, we never will. We can’t!” Ben also interjected. Beaming, Cat declared: “We will never cheat! Sometimes, people don’t pick up the phone..”
Gyles and Ashley burst into laughter whilst Ben kept attempting to silence his co-presenter, with Cat smirking directly at the camera, reports Wales Online.
“You know Ralf [Little] and Will [Mellor] have that button that they can hit when someone’s going to say something… Someone should’ve hit that!” Ben remarked to Cat, who carried on chuckling.
The competition segments on This Morning are typically hosted by Andi Peters or Jeff Brazier, with stars like Kate Lawler occasionally stepping in to announce the competitions.
Cat and Ben helm This Morning from Monday to Thursday each week, while Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary usually present the ITV show on Friday mornings.
Gyles and Ashley are frequent guests on the programme, offering their insights on the latest news and headlines.
Other regular contributors include LBC’s Nick Ferrari, Nicola Thorpe and Tom Swarbrick. The ITV programme recently invited former GMB host Piers Morgan to discuss the day’s news.
Hurricane Humberto is expected to weaken over the next few days. Photo courtesy of the NOAA
Sept. 30 (UPI) — Humberto weakened to a Category 3 storm on Monday in the Atlantic, according to forecasters, who expected it to continue to lose strength over the next few days.
Humberto had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph, the National Hurricane Center said in its 11 p.m. AST update, a drop of 30 mph in the last 12 hours.
It was located about 265 miles southwest of Bermuda and was moving north-northwest at 14 mph, according to forecasters.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 65 miles from the center of the storm, and tropical-force winds extend outward up to 200 miles.
No watches or warnings were in effect.
“On the forecast track, the center of Humberto will pass west and then north of Bermuda on Tuesday and Wednesday,” the NHC said.
Though the storm is expected to continue on its weakening trajectory, it is forecast to become a “strong extratropical system” in the next few days.
Swells generated by Humberto are likely to cause dangerous surf and life-threatening rip current conditions, affecting beaches of the northern Caribbean, Bahamas, Bermuda and much of the U.S. East Coast for the next few days.
Humberto is the eighth named storm of the Atlantic season and became the season’s third hurricane on Friday morning.
On Sunday, it was joined in the Atlantic by Tropical Storm Imelda.
Long Beach resident Ashley Likins was pages away from finishing “Onyx Storm,” the third installment in Rebecca Yarros’ fantasy book series, when a long-haired black kitten hopped into her lap.
Given the foster name Soup Enhancements, the cat was one of the rescues boarding at Cool Cat Collective, a cat-themed boutique at the eastern end of Long Beach’s Fourth Street Corridor. The store, which offers all manner of cat-themed merchandise from kitty treats to cat-printed coasters, doubles as a shelter for cats rescued by TippedEars, a local trap-neuter-return, or TNR, nonprofit.
These resident kittens at Cool Cat Collective spend most of their time in a luxury “catio” in the back corner of the boutique, but twice a month, they are released to roam about during after-hours fundraising events. A popular silent reading party, co-hosted by reading club LB Bookworms, mimics a cat cafe, and according to the book club’s founder, Martha Esquivias, the event has sold out nearly every month since its debut last November.
Deb Escobar reads a book as foster kitten Poolboy creeps around her during a silent reading night at Cool Cat Collective.
It was during the silent reading event in early August that Likins sat, second-guessing the decision she’d made a few days prior to adopt Soup Enhancements. She adored the cat; still, she worried she’d been impulsive and wasn’t truly ready for the responsibility of pet ownership.
But as she watched the kitten nod off in her lap, she glimpsed the future in which the pair would do this routine a thousand times over with Likins devouring a book and the cat sleeping soundly below.
“I’m not just in a kitten craze,” Likins recalled thinking to herself. “This is my cat.”
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It’s that kind of moment Jena Carr, 39, had dreamed of when she and her husband, Matt, 40, opened Cool Cat Collective last year.
Former Washington, D.C., restaurateurs, the Carrs moved to Long Beach in 2022 to be closer to Jena Carr’s family. Once they settled in, Carr threw herself into kitten rescue, a longtime interest. She started as a foster owner and kitten rescue volunteer before assisting TippedEars with its work tracking and capturing cats in Compton.
“Once you start realizing the extent of the cat overpopulation problem, you quickly realize that we can’t foster or adopt our way out of it,” Carr said, calling TNR “the solution that gets to the root of the problem.”
One day during peak kitten season, Carr was out with TippedEars co-founder Renae Woith when she was struck by the number of sick and injured cats on the streets and the challenges of understaffed rescues working to home them.
“It kind of got her wheels working, like, ‘What can I do as a business?’” Woith said.
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1.Foster kittens Bisque, Poolboy and Chauffeur play together during a silent reading night.2.Foster kitten Sesame walks around a display in the store.
Almost a year later, Cool Cat Collective was born.
It was still warm outside on an early September evening as the last of the daytime visitors left the cat boutique. Once they were gone, Carr made her final touches for the night’s silent reading party: laying cushions in store corners and scattering toy mice across the floor.
In the catio, Poolboy, a domestic shorthair, licked a Churu treat from a visiting reader’s hand. When he and his siblings — all named after blue-collar jobs — arrived in late July, they were timid. But at this silent reading party, they bounded about the room, crawling on attendees’ laps between wrestling matches.
“It makes me so happy when the shy ones become social,” Carr said.
A sign hanging outside the catio tallied good news: 93 adoptions since July 2024. TippedEars co-founder Vita Manzoli said that’s about double the numbers the rescue used to see before the boutique opened.
TippedEars’ partnership with Cool Cat Collective has been a boon for the nonprofit, which receives 100% of the proceeds from the cat boutique’s “First Thursday” silent reading parties and “Third Thursday” doodle nights, which both cost $15 to attend. But it’s not only the financial support that has made a difference for TippedEars cats.
“We’ve gotten volunteers from them — donors, adopters, obviously, but the byproduct of that is really just educating people about the cat overpopulation crisis, what TNR is and how they can help,” Woith said.
Placing rescues at Cool Cat Collective, where they are comfortable and their personalities are on full display, has also allowed TippedEars to give them a better chance at being adopted.
“The cat they may not have looked twice at online, they now are the one [adopters are] taking home, because they actually got to meet them,” Woith said.
“This is a beautiful marrying of my interests,” silent reading party attendee Regan Rudman said of the event. “It also provides a great third space that we’re really missing nowadays.”
Carr has a spreadsheet of potential resident kittens always on her mind, so she’s eager to facilitate adoptions. But everyone is welcome at Cool Cat Collective, whether they’re looking to adopt or not.
“You don’t even have to be shopping,” Carr said. “That was part of our goal: to create a space with a really low barrier to access for people who are cat-curious or just need a little moment of cat joy in their day.”
Regan Rudman, a recent Long Beach transplant, can’t have a cat of her own for health reasons. Still, she visits Cool Cat Collective every month. She tried for three months to snag a ticket to the store’s silent reading night before she secured a spot for the September event.
“Getting to actually interact with cats in an environment that they feel comfortable in just makes my heart so happy,” Rudman said.
Rudman, who works at a publishing company, made an effort to focus on her book during the silent reading hour, but she also hoped her ruffled leg warmers would entice a curious kitten to come over.
“I think everyone is a little distracted by the cats,” said silent reading party attendee Mathilde Hernandez, who befriended foster cat Gumball.
Other attendees, lounging on cushions throughout the boutique, gazed down at their e-readers but peeked as cats bounced around like pinballs in their periphery.
Poolboy and sibling Chauffer, who would find their forever home together that weekend, were particularly rowdy. On the other hand, Bisque — from a litter Carr called “the Soups” — hid in a cardboard house for an hour before she finally stretched a paw out, like a jazz hand through the “front door.”
“There’s always some antic happening,” Carr said. “People are reading, but they also have one eye on the cats as they’re reading. I’d be curious asking people, like, how far into their book they actually get.”
Attendee Lien Nguyen, whose love for the kittens overrode her cat allergy, admitted she’d drop her book the second a cat came into her vicinity. But no matter how hard they tried, scarcely an attendee could successfully attract a kitten. The cats chose their company, not the other way around.
“Part of our goal was to create a space with a really low barrier to access for people who are cat-curious or, you know, just need a little moment of cat joy in their day,” said Jena Carr, co-founder of Cool Cat Collective.
“It was like rejection therapy whenever they went away,” Nguyen said.
That’s why Likins was so touched when Soup Enhancements found her at the August silent reading party. She nearly burst into tears, she said.
Later that evening, she was moved even more when her boyfriend, Max Mineer, bonded with his feline soulmate, Handyman. Happily, Handyman happened to be the only cat Soup Enhancements tolerated.
Now, the two cats live together in Likins and Mineer’s Long Beach apartment. They sleep together, clean each other and, despite being from different litters, generally behave like siblings.
The day Likins brought the cats home, staffers at Cool Cat Collective and TippedEars gave her every resource imaginable, including a 20% off coupon for Chewy products and scratch post recommendations. And there was an easy out: If anything went wrong, the couple could bring the cats back, no questions asked.
“It really made me trust them more to know that they were thinking to the future about these cats,” Likins said. “It wasn’t just a process of making sure that a cat got a home. It was making sure that a cat got a life.”
NEW YORK — President Trump on Friday dismissed Curtis Sliwa — his own party’s New York City mayoral candidate — as “not exactly prime time” and even disparaged his affinity for cats, as pressure mounts for Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani ‘s rivals to drop out of the race.
Trump has warned that Mamdani, a 33-year-old state lawmaker and democratic socialist, will likely cruise to victory over Sliwa, Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Nov. 4 unless two of those candidates dropped out. The New York-born Republican thinks Cuomo could have a chance in a one-on-one race.
On a Friday appearance on “Fox & Friends”, he threw cold water on Sliwa’s mayoral hopes, even taking a shot at the red beret-wearing candidate’s vow to fill the official residence of the New York City mayor with rescue cats if he does win.
“I’m a Republican, but Curtis is not exactly prime time,” Trump said bluntly.
“He wants cats to be in Gracie Mansion,” the president added. “We don’t need thousands of cats.”
Mamdani became the presumed favorite in the race after winning the Democratic primary over Cuomo, who is now running as an independent in the general election. Adams, a Democrat, skipped the primary due to his campaign being sidelined by a now-dismissed federal bribery case.
Two polls conducted in early September, one by the New York Times and Siena University, the other by Quinnipiac University, each showed likely voters favoring Mamdani over Cuomo, with Adams and Sliwa behind Cuomo.
The Quinnipiac poll suggested the gap between Mamdani and Cuomo could narrow if Adams dropped out. The Times/Siena poll suggested that if both Adams and Sliwa withdrew, Mamdani’s advantage over Cuomo could shrink even further.
A campaign spokesperson on Friday stressed that Adams has no intention of stepping down from office or abandoning his reelection bid — though confirmed he is commissioning a poll to gauge his support.
“He just wants to look at all factors,” said Todd Shapiro said. “There’s nothing on the table right now. He’s looking at polls just like he’s doing everything else.”
The mayor, he added, would have more to say on the polling itself next week.
“He’s still very popular,” Shapiro said. “He’s running on a record of success.”
Adams in recent weeks has sought to rebuff questions of whether he might accept an alternate job offer amid reports that he had been approached about potentially taking a role with the federal government.
In a radio interview Friday, Sliwa — the founder of New York’s Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol group — said Trump seems to be responding “to what people are telling him about me without really knowing much about me of late.”
“I would hope the president would revisit my history, not only with him but in this city,” Sliwa said on 710 WOR.
The outspoken New Yorkers both rose to prominence in the late 1970s, but Sliwa has said they haven’t spoken in years, possibly because he’d been critical of Trump at times, both on his long-running radio show and as a candidate.
In a follow up email, Sliwa also defended his love of cats, adding that “animal welfare” is among the issues “New Yorkers care about” that he hopes to focus on, if elected.
“New Yorkers care for people and for animals, and so do I,” he said. “I am proud of my wife, Nancy, who has devoted her life to fostering, caring for, and saving animals, and fighting for them when no one else would.”
Sliwa has sheltered a large collection of rescue cats in his Manhattan apartment and has noted that Gracie Mansion is far more spacious.
“We’ll be able to house unwanted cats and dogs right in the lawn, the great lawn they have,” he said recently on his radio show.
TV presenter Cat Deeley is reportedly feeling anxious about her return to This Morning as she faces backlash and blame over her split from husband Patrick Kielty
22:51, 30 Aug 2025Updated 22:51, 30 Aug 2025
Cat Deeley anxious about return to This Morning after Patrick Kielty split blame(Image: ITV)
Cat Deeley is preparing for her return to ITV’s This Morning after the summer break, but behind the scenes, she’s reportedly feeling unsettled as she quietly navigates the emotional fallout from her marriage ending.
The 48-year-old presenter announced in July that she and husband Patrick Kielty had separated after 13 years together. The former couple share two young sons, Milo, eight, and James, six, and while they have asked for privacy, speculation around the reasons for their split has continued to swirl.
According to a source close to the star, Cat has no intention of bringing up her personal life on air when she reunites with co-host Ben Shephard. “Cat feels anxious ahead of her first day back after announcing the bombshell news of her split during her break,” the source said.
“She has decided NOT to mention the breakdown of her marriage on screen and instead wants to keep the chatty dialogue between her and Ben upbeat and positive for viewers.”
While Cat and Patrick released a united statement to confirm the separation stressing that “there is no other party involved”, those close to her say she has been quietly hurt by the public reaction, particularly around a deeply personal family event.
“She has been hurt that people who don’t even know her have judged her for not going to her mother-in-law’s funeral in March,” the source told The Sun.
Cat and Patrick split after 13 years together
“Even people from within Patrick’s family and inner circle who don’t know her well have criticised her for that and made out that it was the reason for the split when that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
The suggestion that she’s to blame for the end of the marriage has reportedly been painful.
“Cat is generally a really positive person but it hurts her to have people piling the blame onto her when this is a painful situation for them both,” the insider added.
Despite the pressure, both Cat and Patrick have made it clear that their focus remains on co-parenting their children.
Cat hosts the daytime show with Ben Shephard
Their joint statement read: “We have taken the decision to end our marriage and are now separated.
“There is no other party involved. We will continue to be united as loving parents to our children and would therefore kindly ask for our family privacy to be respected. There will be no further comment.”
Cat is expected to keep things light when she returns to her presenting role on This Morning and is reportedly hoping that her personal life and marriage split will not be brought up upon her return to TV screens.
The main hosts for the show will return to our screens on September 1 while Alison and Dermot will be back hosting on Fridays from September 5. In the promo, Alison told Cat that she “hasn’t changed” while she added about Dermot’s sweet snap: “Ain’t he lovely?” Their childhood photos are lined up under their initials – A, B, C and D.
Ben and Cat have been on a summer break while Emma Willis, Andi Peters, Sian Welby and Rochelle Humes have been guest-hosting for the stars.
Cat and Ben are returning to This Morning soon(Image: Getty Images for Emirates)
Along with the return of the regular hosts, Strictly judge Shirley Ballas, West End star Jodie Prenger and TV vet Dr Scott Miller will be judging the Pup Idol segment as they’re given the difficult task of picking a pet dog to win a role on Coronation Street.
Meanwhile, Dr Zoe Williams will help viewers reduce their biological age in a new series called Hack Your Age. On Monday morning, Rylan Clark welcomed back Josie Gibson to the show after she took some time away to film her solo series.
Explaining her absence from the show, Josie replied: “I have been really busy. I have been going all around the South West; it has been brilliant.
It comes after Cat’s split from Patrick(Image: PA)
“But do you know the last time I saw you? You were picking up a little BAFTA.”
“Oh, yes, it was,” Rylan laughed as he recalled, “I think we’d both had a little beverage that night, and I just remember strolling out and I said, ‘Jose, I’ve got to go bed’.”
“You sneaked out,” Josie chimed in as Rylan continued: “I did a sly exit.”
“Is that your first BAFTA?” Josie asked before adding, “I am so proud of you.” Cat’s return to This Morning comes after her shock split from husband Patrick Kielty.
This Morning host Cat and Irish comedian, 54, and who share sons Milo, seven, and James, five, revealed last month that they had taken the decision to end their 13 year marriage, stressing that ‘no other party’ was involved.
The former couple shared a joint statement on July 29 that read: “We have taken the decision to end our marriage and are now separated. There is no other party involved. We will continue to be united as loving parents to our children and would therefore kindly ask for our family privacy to be respected. There will be no further comment.”
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1, ITVX, STV and STV Player.
Cat Deeley has taken off her wedding ring as she was seen for the first time since her split with Patrick Kielty, and trip with a male friendCredit: BackGrid
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Cat was spotted without the bling on her left hand while stepping out to run errands in a very chic outfitCredit: BackGrid
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The TV presenter has instead swapped it onto her right hand, in a nod to this new chapter of her lifeCredit: BackGrid
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Cat and Patrick Kielty announced their split earlier this monthCredit: Andres Poveda LTD
The TV presenter has instead swapped it onto her right hand, in a nod to this new chapter of her life.
Cat was spotted without the bling on her left hand while stepping out to run errands in a very chic outfit.
She had a crisp white shirt on and denim jeans, and wore her hair down in loose waves.
The mum-of-two clutched onto her purse while out and about near the former couple’s marital home.
Cat looked sunkissed following her recent trip to Spain with a hairdresser pal.
The star was seen out for dinner with a male friend in Sitges, Spain on August 2 – just days after she and Patrick, 54, split.
Onlookers told the Daily Mail how the presenter looked “crestfallen” during the “difficult time”.
The snaps obtained by the publication show Cat without her wedding ring as she and hairdresser pal Ben Skervin tucked into dinner at restaurant Chiringuito de Garraf.
Patrick Kielty ‘didn’t feel like an equal partner’ in failed marriage to Cat Deeley – admitting ‘rough patches’ they had to work through
A fellow diner said: “Cat looked a bit down and a touch crestfallen, not her usual spritely self, which is understandable given her marriage split.
“Her accent was recognisable to a number of Brits at the restaurant, which is popular with celebrities, and she had interacted with a few British kids also dining there
“She clearly needed to be around her nearest and dearest during such a difficult time.”
One said: “Whatever rockiness was going on in the marriage, something as momentous as his mother’s funeral, you would make up even temporarily and just put your ‘best face’ on as we say in Northern Ireland.
“Cat obviously knew how close Patrick was to Mary and she should have come to be by his side, a hand on his shoulder as he buried his mother.
“The fact that she stayed in London and presented This Morning on the day, it’s not been forgotten.
KATIE Price has revealed a pet tragedy after her cat gave birth to “so many” kittens.
The former glamour model, 46, is proud owner of Sphynx cat Doris, and previously made a witty social media post about how their figures were the same.
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Katie Price revealed ‘sad news’ about her pets on her social media pagesCredit: Snapchat/Backgrid
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She took to Snapchat to reveal how one of her cat Doris’ kittens had diedCredit: katie-price/Snapchat/Backgrid
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Katie, 46, has turned down a holiday to look after Doris and the new arrivalsCredit: Getty
Katie welcomed three of the bald cats into her home back in October – despite being blasted by animal charities for doing so.
On her Snapchat page on Friday, the mum of five told how Doris had given birth, and has now revealed she’s swerved a holiday to the Isle of Wight to look after the new litter.
Yet instead of kicking back and relaxing, she is keeping her house cosy with electric blankets and regular feeding patterns for the new arivals.
In a video which showed her in a cream jumper and her dark hair in a straight style, she added the caption “sad news” and four emotional Emoji icons.
In the clip, Katie told her followers there had been a death and said: “An update on the kittens, one unfortunately died.
“That’s the one wrapped in tissue, two hours after we fed it.
“Luckily I’m trying to help the kittens latch on to the mum, two are just about doing it but I’m having to put them on it, because they are so premature.
“As you can see how knackered I am, every two and a half hours through the day and through the night I’m feeding them for the mum.
“She’s a good mum, and then she keeps bringing one to the bed with her, she did that earlier, I think that was a sign to come and look in the box as one had died.”
Katie Price admits her family are panicked over star’s weight loss as mum fears eating disorder and dad calls her ‘thin’ legs ‘terrible’
Katie added: “But that’s good because she trusts us and loves us so thats good.
“So I’ve got two latching on to her now, so thats the update.”
She then panned the camera to new parent Doris, sitting on her bed, as she cooed: “Hey Doris good girl.”
CHARITY BACKLASH
Katie forked out for Doris and two other cats last year.
Katie’s troubled pet history
November 2017
One of Katie’s horses was killed on the A24 after it broke lose from its field. She announced the death on social media and said she was devastated.
February 2018
Katie’s dog Queenie was hit by a car near her home, with the former model blaming a delivery driver for leaving the gate open.
November 2018
Katie claimed the family’s pet chameleon, called Marvin, died from a broken heart after her children Junior and Princess moved in with her ex husband Peter Andre.
February 2020
Her Alsatian Sparkle lost her life after getting lose and being hit by a car. Katie posted the news on social media but was hammered by fans who called for her to be more careful.
July 2020
Fans rounded on Katie after her daughter Princess’s puppy Rolo suffocated. JRC Bullies who gifted the dog to Katie were furious and said: “We are heartbroken that this has happened as we told Katie not to leave a small puppy on its own. “We can’t believe that the puppy was left unattended as we had left strict instructions.”
November 2022
Katie came under fire after she revealed her pomeranian Sharon had been hit by a car and killed outside her Horsham home.
June 2023
Katie was slammed by PETA after her seventh pet was killed. She revealed her dog blade had been run over on the same stretch as road as her last dog Sharon.
October 2023
Katie had four Chihuahuas but in October she sold two of them for £2k each.
She showed her affections for the trio, even pushing them around in a pram.
Yet, at the time, she could not escape backlash from charityPETA(People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).
They called for the need for an injunction to be put in place, stopping Katie from owning pets completely.
PETA UK founder Ingrid Newkirk told The Sun: “If there was a way to file an injunction to stop this serial animal killer, PETA would do so, as this woman doesn’t care about the lives she wastes or listen to vital advice and is still treating live animals like stuffed toys: as disposable.
“If William Hill took totally tasteless bets, the odds would favour those betting on how little time this kitten has on Earth, given the hideous track record of animal deaths in Price’s custody. No one could call it ‘care’.”
Those close to Patrick Kielty have shared their concern following his split with This Morning presenter Cat Deeley, whom the comedian married in Rome in September 2012
04:08, 02 Aug 2025Updated 04:09, 02 Aug 2025
Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley have announced their separation after more than a decade of marriage(Image: PA)
Patrick Kielty will be “in a very dark place” if Cat Deeley returns to the US with their children, insiders say.
The couple announced this week they have separated following a 13-year marriage, a bombshell which has reportedly led to huge concern for both parties. Residents in Dundrum, County Down – Patrick’s hometown – shared their worry for the 54-year-old star, who married Cat in Rome in September 2012.
Some who know Patrick, who has two children with Cat, fear the presenter would be devastated if his ex goes back to the US, where the couple used to live. One insider said: “Everyone is worried about Paddy. The fear is that Cat will go back to America with the little ones. That will leave him in a very dark place.” This comes as it has emerged other showbiz couple Helen Skelton and Gethin Jones split after he joined a notorious dating app on a lads’ holiday.
And so concern has grown Cat, who started her career hosting SMTV Live on Saturday mornings, could quite her ITV job and pack her bags for the US once more. Television insiders told Mail Online: “Cat’s time on This Morning has not been a failure, but it has hardly been a roaring success.
“It is a job which puts her under so much scrutiny, day-in and day-out, and unlike most British presenters she has plenty more lucrative options to choose from in the States… There is concern that all of this family drama could lead her to walk away.”
Cat and Patrick, a comedian and TV host, had lived in Los Angeles for more than 14 years, where Cat presented the reality TV show, So You Think You Can Dance. They returned and Cat swiftly started on This Morning, which is understood to be one of several ITV daytime shows subject to budget cuts. The broadcaster recently announced plans for a shake-up, which includes cutting Lorraine by 30 minutes and dropping it altogether during school holidays from January. It is believed This Morning is set to move from its base in White City, west London, to a smaller, cheaper studio in the centre of the capital.
And Cat, originally from West Bromwich, West Midlands, has also been open about her struggles to adapt to the 5am starts for the four days a week she presents This Morning, and has revealed that it led her and Patrick to sleep in separate beds most nights.
Los Angeles loves dogs. The city was ranked as the most popular across the country for dog ownership, according to data gathered by U.S. News, and with get-outside weather and an abundance of green spaces to explore, it’s easy to see why.
Pet ownership skyrocketed during pandemic shutdowns, with local shelters experiencing a rare shortage of dogs and cats. But as the world reopened, dog owners were faced with the challenge of balancing return-to-office demands and expanded social lives with the responsibilities of pet ownership, making dog-friendly spaces all the more important.
Thankfully, the local restaurant scene offers countless settings to socialize with your pup, from an Eagle Rock coffee shop with an attached dog park to an Arts District pizzeria and a Lincoln Heights cider house. Here are 12 dog-friendly patios in L.A. to visit with your pup this summer.
This Morning’s Cat Deeley was left lost for words when she found out that she is in fact 15 years younger
This Morning’s Cat Deeley was left speechless as she discovered her biological age after confessing to bad sleeping habits.
During Thursday’s (July 17) episode of the ITV hit chat show, Cat, 48, and co-host Ben Shephard, 50, made a return to our screens as they presented the day’s top stories.
However it was one segment that took the pair by surprise as they took a medical test to discover what their biological age is.
Joined by longevity and biohacking expert, Dr. Alka Patel Cat asked: “Tell us, what is biohacking?” Dr Alka explained: “Biohacking is all about taking control of your health. If you split the word up, what you’re taking control of is your biology and the hacking is getting into your control centre, to really understand how you’re made.”
This Morning’s Cat Deeley was left speechless after making a discovery (Image: ITV)
Keen to find out more, Cat further asked: “So what’s the difference between your biological age and the other age.”
Dr Alka revealed: “This is super important to know is that getting older and ages are two different things and most people don’t think of it like that. Your biological age is based on the level of your cells.”
Eager to find out how old they really are, Dr Alka, 53, went first and revealed that her biological age is 20. A shocked Ben replied: “What!” as Cat jumped in: “How did you do that?”
Dr Alka admitted: “I’ve been testing for a number of years and over the years that biological age hasn’t shifted.”
Cat, 48, was left lost for words when she found out that she is in fact 15 years younger(Image: ITV)
Turning attention to Ben, he went on to say: “My chronological age, not sure I’ve told you this but I’m 50, so we’re going to find out my biological age.”
The TV star, who prides himself on living a healthy lifestyle and regularly exercises, was left unimpressed as he discovered his biological age was only 46-years old.
Turning to the camera, he shouted: “46, is that it? I’m quite surprised about that because I think I look after myself, I get a decent amount of sleep, train really hard and I feel fit and healthier than I ever have in my life. I’m really fascinated that it’s only four years younger.”
Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard presented Thursday’s show together (Image: ITV)
Moving on to Cat, she admitted that taking the test was a ‘nightmare’ as she had to take the test twice. It was clear that Cat was expecting to also have a high age as she revealed: “I’m a terrible sleeper but I am healthy.”
Cat, 48, was left lost for words when she found out that she is in fact 15 years younger, with a result of 33-years-old.
A stunned Cat replied: “I could cry” as Ben jumped in and joked: “33! I want a recount.” Cat added: “I don’t know how I’ve done it because I certainly don’t sleep, which I know is one of the most important factors.”
This Morning continues on ITV1 from 10am every weekday and is available to stream back on ITVX.
Nathan Fillion straddles the line between everyman and hunk — and he’s built a career out of it. He’s a natural in roles that require both charisma and a touch of self-awareness, whether he’s solving crimes, commanding a spaceship or enforcing the law.
In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
Fillion played the wisecracking mystery novelist Richard Castle in ABC’s crime drama “Castle” and stars in ABC’s “The Rookie” as John Nolan, a forty-something who navigates his midlife crisis by joining the LAPD. Of course, to sci-fi fans, Fillion will always be Captain Mal Reynolds from “Firefly,” the short-lived but beloved space Western that has kept him a staple at comic conventions for over two decades. Though “Firefly” lasted just one season in 2002, its cult status has endured, cementing Fillion as a fan-favorite in the genre world.
Now he’s stepping into an even bigger universe: the DC Universe. Fillion plays the role of the Guy Gardner / Green Lantern (complete with the iconic bowl cut) in James Gunn’s “Superman,” a highly anticipated reboot hitting theaters on today.
“You got to be really lucky,” he says of his 30-year career. “It’s just not up to you whether or not you stay relevant and popular and on TV and in movies.”
Living close to the hills in Hollywood, Fillion’s ideal Sunday involves relaxing at home, catching up with his favorite people and some late-night gaming. Here’s how he’d spend a perfect day in the city.
7:30 a.m.: Greet my cat and make some art
I much prefer waking up to sunlight than an alarm. I like having open curtains so the sun comes in, I wake up and feel awake, whereas if an alarm goes off in the dark, I don’t. My cat doesn’t sleep in my room, but every morning when I wake up, he’s at the foot of my bed. This is Bowie. I named him Bowie because he has heterochromia: one blue eye, one gold. He’s massive, 25 pounds, a Norwegian Forest Cat and Turkish Angora. He’s great about not waking me up, which I appreciate. Then he follows me around while I make my coffee — creamy and sweet, like my cat. I’ll sit in my kitchen — I’ve got nothing but birds chirping and the sun’s coming in — doodling for hours if I’m allowed. I say “doodle” instead of “draw” because my work is abstract, just black ink on paper, but only with the right pen, ink and paper. It’s an ASMR thing.
9 a.m.: Eggs benny at Sweet Butter
I love eggs for breakfast. I will do a classic scramble and toast with a little bacon or some sausages. But if I really want to be treating myself, it’s eggs Benedict. There’s a place called Sweet Butter down on Ventura Boulevard, and they do a real nice eggs benny.
10 a.m.: A hike with a view (and a rainy day contingency plan)
After breakfast? A hike. I live close to the hills in Hollywood. You’re up there, you’re in nature, you’re seeing animals, you’re seeing the birds. You’re just out there, looking out over the city. It’s better for your body to move a little bit after you’ve got some food. If it’s a rainy day, all bets are off. You’ll find me at the IPIC Theaters because of their luxurious seats and their incredible food, seeing a matinee.
12 p.m.: Nothing beats a backyard hang
I love having friends over. I’ve got a really beautiful backyard. I just had some friends over and their three-year-old twins. We threw them in the pool, and we made pork ribs. We had an incredible salad with some roasted tomatoes. We made corn on the cob. It was perfect weather. We found some shade, and we just sat there for hours and ate and laughed. And that’s a fantastic way to spend a Sunday, with people that you don’t get to see very often. Los Angeles is a beautiful city, but it’s rather spread out and gathering can be a little bit difficult. So when people make the time, it’s really nice.
4 p.m.: Channel my inner Marie Kondo
My house has too much clutter, so lately I’ve been trying to pick out a room or a closet or a drawer, and I’m organizing everything and getting rid of anything I don’t use or don’t like. Just trying to declutter the house — that’s something I’ve been engaging in in the last month. Do I enjoy it? I don’t enjoy the process. I do enjoy the results. And also just the inventory, knowing what you have. Oh, I’ve got these. I don’t need to buy any more of these. I got five of them in the back here.
6 p.m.: Sushi and streaming
Sunday nights are for ordering in. There’s a pho place, a ramen place and Iroha Sushi, my favorite sushi in the city. And LALA’s Argentine Grill. And [Sunday nights are also] for binging television. And right now we just finished binging “From.” [Editor’s note: Fillion is notoriously private and didn’t state who “we” is.] Super scary, and we love being judgmental of the parenting done by the one couple that have their kids there with them. They really let their kids run around unsupervised in this horror town. Also “Invincible” and “Landman.” We’re making our way through those.
9 p.m.: Answer the “Call of Duty”
In the very late evening, I have a group of about 25 guys who have been playing Xbox Live together for about 20 years. We do “Destiny 2,” “Halo” and “Call of Duty.” Some different games get sprinkled in now and again, but it’s mostly just those top three. There’s a text thread, and you’ll just say, “Hey, I’m jumping on for about an hour.” Or sometimes we’ll play late into the evenings, and we catch up, we laugh, we chat and maybe twice a year, we gather. I say, “This is my last game because I’m getting tired,” and I just roll into bed and wait for the next Sunday.
The extraordinary story of Eshete, a refugee who escaped war in Ethiopia as a young man and is now a devoted caretaker of a feral cat colony in New York City.
Eshete has become the heart of a close-knit community while living on the streets. Together with neighbours who help feed the cats and look out for him, Eshete’s story reveals a moving portrait of grassroots community care.
The Cat Man Eshete is a documentary film by Laura Checkoway.
