disbelief

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Larson denied Denny Hamlin his first career championship when a late caution at Phoenix Raceway sent the title-deciding finale into overtime.

Hamlin was three laps from shedding the label as the greatest NASCAR driver to never win a championship when fellow title contender William Byron got a flat tire and hit the wall to bring out the caution.

Hamlin led the field down pit road and got four new tires on his Toyota; Larson only took two tires on his Chevrolet. It meant Larson was fifth for the two-lap sprint to the finish, with Hamlin back in 10th.

With so little time to run down Larson, Hamlin came up short with a sixth-place finish as Larson finished third. Ryan Blaney, who was eliminated from title contention last week, won the race.

It is the second championship for Larson, who won his first title in 2021 when he joined Hendrick Motorsports.

As Larson celebrated, Hamlin sat in his car motionless for several seconds, then wiped his face with a white towel, never showing any emotion.

“I’m just numb,” Hamlin said after consoling his crying daughters on pit road. “We were 40 seconds away from a championship. This sport can drive you absolutely crazy because sometimes speed, talent, none of that matters.”

Larson, who has been in a slump since his disastrous Memorial Day attempt to race both the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, was also in shock.

“I really can’t believe it. We didn’t lead a lap and won the championship,” Larson said. “We had an average car at best and had the right front [tire] go down, lost a lap and got the wave around, saved by the caution with the wave around. It’s just unbelievable. What a year by this motorsports team.”

When Hamlin finally got out of his car he embraced his crew members but it was a scene of disbelief among the Joe Gibbs Racing crowd. Team members were crying, some sitting in shock on the pavement, Gibbs himself stood silent, one hand on his hip and a look of disbelief on his face.

It is the sixth shot at a title to slip away from Hamlin in his 20 years driving for Gibbs. He led 208 of the 319 laps and started from the pole.

“Nothing I could do different. I mean, prepared as good as I could coming into the weekend and my team gave me a fantastic car,” Hamlin said. “Just didn’t work out. I was just praying ‘no caution’ and we had one there. What can you do? It’s just not meant to be.”

He said crew chief Chris Gayle made the correct call with four tires, but too many others only took two, which created too big of a gap for Hamlin to close on Larson in so little time.

“Just numb. Feel like there’s still some racing left. I can’t believe it’s over but there’s nothing I can do but just suck it up,” Hamlin said. “I just needed 40 more seconds of green flag.”

Larson was OK during the race, but hasn’t won since early May, a slump that has now extended to 24 consecutive races.

Hamlin teammate Chase Briscoe finished 18th in his debut in the championship finale, while Larson teammate Byron was 33rd after his late issue. He felt awful for ruining Hamlin’s chance even though his Hendrick Motorsports teammate won the championship.

“I’m just super bummed that it was a caution obviously. I hate that. Hate it for Denny. I hate it for the 11 team,” Byron said. “I mean, Denny was on his way to it. I hate that. There’s a lot of respect there. I obviously do not want to cause a caution. If I had known what tire it was, known that a tire was going down before I got to the corner, I would have done something different.”

Fryer writes for the Associated Press.

CELEBRITY Traitors fans have been left in disbelief, as Alan Carr gave away a huge clue that he’s a traitor. 

The first ever all star edition of the BBC programme kicked off last night as fans saw Claudia Winkleman chose her THREE celebrity traitors to play the game.

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Comedian Alan alongside TV presenter Jonathan Ross and singer and Brit nominee Cat Burns were chosen to be the devilish three to cause mayhem in the game.

But viewers of the show have had their doubts so far about Alan’s ability as a traitor. 

This sentiment was highlighted even more during Thursday evening’s episode, as Alan winked at Jonathan after committing the first murder. 

After wondering around in a mild panic, he eventually headed into the kitchen with his friend Paloma Faith and actress Ruth Codd.

He committed the deadly act before heading down to the fire outside with other celebrities and winking at Jonathan to let him know he had fulfilled the brief.

He also said in another very telling move: “It’s done,” while subtly trying to let Jonathan know that he’d committed the murder. 

Fans took to X to share their shock at Alan’s wink and ‘it’s done’ statement.

One person penned: “Oh wow, Alan has to be the worst traitor to have ever existed.” 

Another questioned: “Did he really just wink at Jonathan?” while a third said: “Absolutely howling. As if Alan just winked at Jonathan in front of everyone.” 

A fourth person penned: “Oh Alan, talk about making it obvious.” 

And someone else quipped: “I’m in disbelief at Alan as a traitor so far. He’s making Linda look like James Bond.” 

Later in the turret, Jonathan and Cat asked him who he had chosen, and Alan revealed he had been forced to pick his friend Paloma.

The Traitors viewers were shocked that Alan had betrayed his pal, with one writing on X: “Noooooo Alan! Not Paloma!”

Another added: “Paloma girl. You was GOT.”

A third commented: “I cannot believe Paloma Faith is going to be dead by the end of the day…”

After committing the murder, all the celebrities turned up to breakfast, before Claudia arrived and told them to get ready for a funeral.

The celebrities than joined the procession before arriving at three coffins. 

They were then given clues to work out which three celebrities the Traitors had put in the coffins.

It ended up being Lucy Beaumont, Paloma and Niko Omilana.

Claudia then walked the line and dramatically closed the lid on Paloma, leaving the remaining celebrities absolutely gobsmacked.

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Residents in UK’s Crumpsall say they are shocked after a car and knife attack near synagogue kills two people.

Manchester, England – As people gathered near a synagogue in Manchester, hours after an attack there killed two people, many struggled to make sense of the assault. Attacks don’t happen in places like this, locals say, not least on Yom Kippur.

About 9.30am (08:30 GMT) on Thursday, a man drove his car into people near the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall in the north of Manchester before emerging to attack others with a knife.

The synagogue’s security staff and members of the public prevented him from entering the building before police arrived and fatally shot the assailant, who appeared to be wearing an “explosive device”, police said. Four injured people were admitted to hospital in serious condition.

Two people have been arrested since the attack, said the Metropolitan Police’s head of counterterrorism policing, Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor. The identity and potential motives of the attacker have not been disclosed.

Standing with some of his family on the corner of a nearby road with a police helicopter hovering overhead, 23-year-old Zaki said he still can’t believe what happened.

“I heard the shots this morning,” he told Al Jazeera. “It didn’t seem believable. I thought it was fireworks.”

Zaki echoed the comments of many who gathered around the synagogue. These things don’t happen here, onlookers said. Crumpsall has long been a multicultural area. “Everyone in our community gets on well,” Zaki said. “Our neighbours are Jewish.”

Another resident, 41-year-old Sam Martin, also described struggling to understand the attack.

“There’s everyone here,” he told Al Jazeera, “Muslims, Jews, everyone. I’ve known nothing but love and kindness from our Jewish community. I’m just shocked this could happen.”

According to many people in the neighbourhood, even Israel’s war on Gaza hasn’t caused any great division within the community. However, many expressed concerns that far-right groups – their confidence fuelled after an August campaign to hang English flags across the country and a mass rally in London a month later – would seek to take advantage of the attack to further unrest.

Far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who uses the pseudonym Tommy Robinson, quickly seized upon the attack, assigning blame to groups from the Board of Deputies of British Jews to the United Kingdom’s ruling Labour Party for the assault despite the identity and potential motives of the attacker remaining unclear.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar criticised British authorities, accusing them of failing to curb anti-Semitism.

“Blatant and rampant antisemitic and anti-Israeli incitement, as well as calls of support for terror, have recently become a widespread phenomenon in the streets of London, in cities across Britain, and on its campuses,” he wrote on X.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the attacker was a “vile” person who was motivated to attack Jews “because they are Jews.”

I am appalled by the murderous attack near the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester on the morning of the holiest day for the Jewish people: Yom Kippur.
My deepest condolences go to the families who have lost their loved ones,and I wish a swift and full recovery to the injured.…

— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) October 2, 2025

One of the young men gathered near the police cordon, 23-year-old Akiva, who asked neither to be recorded or have notes taken during his interview out of respect for the holiday, was sure the English far right would seize upon the attack. He said the attack has shaken Jewish residents and would likely sow divisions in the otherwise quiet and well integrated community.

Akiva had come to the synagogue to check on his brother, who normally took a route past the synagogue on his way to worship. He said his mother collapsed when she first heard of the attack so close to their home in Manchester.

Other members of the district’s Jewish community gathered nearby spoke of feeling targeted for their identity, of having been attacked on their holiest day of the year.

In “NCIS: Tony & Ziva,” premiering Thursday on Paramount+, two popular characters from the CBS military procedural “NCIS,” have been brought back after several years and given a series of their own. Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo, as special agents Anthony “Tony” DiNozzo and Ziva David, so occupied the romantic fantasies of viewers that their names were portmanteaued into “Tiva.” (You can find thousands of instances of Tiva-themed fan fiction online.) As to the will-they, won’t-they of the relationship, they finally did, before they didn’t, and now they have a 12-year-old daughter, Tali (Isla Gie), whom they’re amicably co-parenting.

I have looked in on the franchise now and again, professionally, as new iterations have extended the length and breadth of the brand, which technically reaches back into “JAG,” from which it was spun off. But I’m not even going to attempt to pretend to have any real expertise in the adventures of a large rotating cast over 22 seasons. (It’s been renewed for a 23rd.) But I respect the institution — the original of which has been and may be now America’s most watched series — and its longevity, as I will salute your long marriage.

At the same time, once you know the basic premise of the show — it’s an elite military police procedural — it’s not hard to figure out where you are, wherever you drop in. The characters may be heroic or eccentric, but they’re heroic or eccentric within a recognized mold, with enough individual personality to make them lovable over a long run, and you can pick up on the interpersonal vibes pretty quickly.

Unlike earlier “NCIS” series, all based on broadcast television, “Tony & Ziva” is platformed on Paramount+, which means that characters utter a bad word now and again — it doesn’t get much edgier than that, and despite the sexual heat it’s hardly racy — and that there’s a budget which allows for foreign locations and big action scenes. And where the earlier shows, notwithstanding soap operatic long arcs, are fundamentally episodic, “Tony & Ziva” is a serial story, stretched over 10 episodes. Whether it’s stretched to breaking, we’ll have to wait and see; only four episodes out of 10 were offered for review.

The crime-fighting combo of a roguish guy and a no-nonsense gal is familiar from “Moonlighting” and “Castle.” Even the fact that the title joins Tony and Ziva with an ampersand and not an “and” indicates a certain lightness of tone, and when Tony, speaking of his company, says, “We try to walk that fine line between techno thriller and workplace comedy,” he is, of course, describing the very series he’s in. A strain of comedy is common to team-based procedurals, and it’s certainly part of what’s kept “NCIS” going strong all these years.

Given that the American brand hasn’t been as toxic, internationally and domestically, since the Vietnam era, possibly, and that “NCIS” series show around the world, it’s just as well that the presumed villains are (apparently) not the anti-American, freedom-hating terrorists one often finds in these things, but Bond-type stateless actors merely seeking power and money.

Additionally, the series — whose earlier iterations have been based in Washington, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Hawaii, Sydney and, in last year’s prequel, “NCIS: Origins,” exotic Oceanside, Calif. — is set in Paris, where, having gone civilian, Ziva has opened a fancy language school and Tony runs a high-end security service. (Among his clients: Interpol. You can’t get more European than that.) Along with easy access to croissants and café au lait, our heroes have the benefit of not having to wax patriotic about a country in which they no longer live. It feels very 2025.

The series’ MacGuffin is a magical thumb drive that, when plugged into a computer system, can seemingly do anything at all; possessing it, therefore, is an issue for both the good guys and the bad, into whose respective hands it goes in and out. When villains use it to frame Tony for extorting money from a hospital and threaten Tali’s life, Tony and Ziva are dragged back into a life of running, shooting, reckless driving and fisticuffs. “Two words,” says Tony, observing Ziva take apart a thug endangering her daughter. “Jewish mother.”

Most important, it puts the pair on the run together — the opening episodes find them (ostensibly and/or actually) in France, Italy, Switzerland and Hungary — and into constant close quarters, where old tender feelings simmer and the question of sharing a bed arises, as in “The 39 Steps,” the greatest of all innocent-and-on-the-run romances.

Ziva, whose pre-NCIS employment was as an assassin for the Israeli secret service — perhaps not the best job for a TV heroine to have on her resume nowadays, but it’s not an issue here — has hung on to an arsenal and plural safe houses. (“Have I ever told you how deeply I appreciate your paranoia?” Tony tells her.) And they’ve both kept their old NCIS badges, which they will flash to dazzle security guards and the like.

Along the way they pick up Boris (Maximilian Osinski), a non-aligned Russian hacker who made the MacGuffin in the first place, and his chirpy fiancee Fruzsi (Anne-Marie Waldeck), who provide both comedy and the image of a healthy, all-in romantic relationship to contrast with that of our hesitating heroes. Filling out the ranks are Tali’s capable nanny, Sophie (Lara Rossi), and Tony’s resident tech whiz, Claudette (Amita Suman), because you apparently can’t plot a thriller anymore without computers at the center of things. By virtue of being Tony’s friend and Tali’s godfather, Interpol exec Henry (James D’Arcy) is the sort of character you expect to turn out to be bad, though it’s up in the air. I’ll say no more about Martine (Nassima Benchicou), other than that Benchicou is very good at being very bad.

Created by John McNamara (“The Magicians”), not previously part of the “NCIS” world, “Tony & Ziva” can be quite absurd, depending heavily on suspensions of disbelief, or a viewer just not thinking too hard. This does not set it apart from a great many such screenplays, and the series does not shy away from genre tropes — the car chase through a marketplace, a fight with a seemingly unbeatable big bald bruiser. Indeed, it embraces them.

But what makes the show worth watching are Weatherly and De Pablo, two extremely attractive middle-aged people with genuine chemistry; he’s superheroically unflappable without ever seeming anything but a regular Joe. She’s sad and serious and not to be messed with. They’ve been around; they have worn edges, and when they intersect, it generates something authentically sweet, as real as the rest of the series is improbable. There’s a reason for all that fan fiction.

Jack James Ryan has opened up about his role in the upcoming ITV drama I Fought The Law, which sees him starring alongside Sheridan Smith in the four-part series

Coronation Street and Passenger star Jack James Ryan was left starstruck after working alongside Sheridan Smith on the ITV series, I Fought The Law. The 29-year-old actor, who has become a familiar face in British households, landed a role in the drama, which tells the real-life story of Ann Ming’s fight to change the Double Jeopardy Law and bring her daughter Julie Hogg’s murderer to justice.

Despite spending four months on set, Manchester-born Jack still found himself “geeking out” over his co-star Sheridan, 44. Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, he said: “People say ‘Oh I’ve always loved this actor’ but when I knew that I was going to be playing alongside Sheridan, I couldn’t believe it.”

He continued: “It was just amazing, I have followed her career as a young actor and been totally inspired by the work that she’s done, so getting to spend the last four months watching her work and stealing everything was the best, so much better than drama school.”

Jack also revealed that Sheridan has an incredible ability to instantly “switch on” and get into character at a moment’s notice following a break in filming.

“She is absolutely breathtaking,” he enthused. “To be surrounded by these actors, it has an absolutely great supporting cast throughout the series, so to be surrounded by them felt like I’d won the lottery – this is the type of work that I’ve always dreamed of doing.”

Discussing the show, Jack revealed: “I’ve never been in anything that was based on a true case, or any of the characters have been real, it’s always been fictional stuff. Straight away you feel the pressure to do it justice. Sheridan plays the trailblazer, Ann Ming, who has done so much for raising awareness in the work that she’s done.

“I know that we all felt the pressure, Sheridan and everyone, to do this story justice and deliver it in a sensitive way that was going to be impactful and honouring the people that we’ve lost. And also the people that are still fighting for justice, it wasn’t easy but it was also incredibly exciting to be a part of something which felt like it has the opportunity to really help and change people and have a real impact for the better.

“I’m really, really excited for this to come out, and I think it’s going to be, it’s going to be a really different side to me that people haven’t seen before,” he stated, adding there was a “quite a visual transformation.”

I Fought The Law will explore how Ann and Julie’s relatives coped with her baffling vanishing in Cleveland back in November 1989 after completing her shift at a neighbourhood pizza restaurant. Julie had maintained an extremely strong bond with her parents, Ann and Charlie. She was just 22 when she was killed.

Julie’s remains were found by her mother 80 days after they were concealed behind the panel of her bath by her killer. Nevertheless, her terraced property had been meticulously examined by forensics teams in the days following her disappearance.

The series, adapted from Ann’s memoir, For The Love of Julie, also features Daniel York Lou as Charlie Ming and Enzo Cilenti as DS Mark Brathwaite.

Additionally, Marlowe Chan-Reeves, Olivia Ng, Jake Davies, Victoria Wyant, Kent Riley and Rufus Jones all feature in the programme. Previously, Jack joined forces as a Movember ambassador – championing awareness of men’s mental health and urging blokes to open up.

Looking back on his involvement with the Movember campaign, he explained: “I was already well aware of the amazing work that Movember has done and does for raising awareness and funds for male mental health, just to be a small part of history moving forward is very exciting. It’s such an exciting project and a really meaningful project to get behind, male mental health is so under-reported and so unspoken about.”

I Fought The Law airs tonoght at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

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Fans have reacted sharply to the return of Mrs Brown’s Boys, with many on social media branding it unfunny and questioning why it was ever commissioned

BBC sitcom Mrs Brown’s Boys returned to screens tonight for the start of its fifth full-length series, despite enduring a turbulent few years marked by falling ratings and a high-profile racism controversy involving its creator and star, Brendan O’Carroll.

First aired in 2011, the comedy became a holiday fixture and enjoyed huge popularity in its early years. Its 2013 Christmas Day special drew 11.52 million viewers, making it one of the most-watched festive programmes of the decade.

However, viewership has steadily declined. The show last appeared in the top ten on Christmas Day in 2020, attracting 3.8 million viewers. It comes after Brendan, 69, finally announced the future of Mrs Brown to fans.

READ MORE: Mrs Brown’s Boys makes return to BBC tonight as controversial show divides viewersREAD MORE: Mrs Brown’s Boys’ Danny O’Carroll issues update after marriage breakdown

The series has long divided audiences and critics, and was recently labelled the “worst ever BBC show” by some viewers on social media.

Comments on X during tonight’s broadcast included: “Worst programme in human history should’ve never been commissioned” and “Just speechless… I honestly don’t know one person who thinks this show is remotely funny.”

Another insisted: “This show needs to be axed asap. It’s not one bit funny.” Someone else fumed: “I actually hate this show with a passion and I’m Irish and from Dublin and I GET that kind of sense of humour.”

In 2023, Mrs Brown’s Boys faced further scrutiny after O’Carroll made a racial slur during rehearsals for the Christmas special. Crew members were reportedly “shocked” by the remark and lodged complaints with BBC bosses.

The broadcaster suspended production and launched an investigation. O’Carroll later apologised, expressing “deep regret” over what he called a “clumsy attempt at a joke.”

Speaking publicly about the incident for the first time on Irish YouTube programme Conversations With Gerry Kelly, O’Carroll claimed his words had been “completely taken out of context.”

He also argued that the episode ultimately had a positive impact.

“The one thing that that incident did is give great awareness about racism, and great awareness about the BBC, they don’t take any messing… However, I think in the long run it was a good thing, because it got people talking about it.”

O’Carroll, who has won the National Television Award for Best Comedy six times for Mrs Brown’s Boys, has made it clear he is unfazed by negative feedback.

“The ones that love me, I love them, and the ones that don’t, f*** them,” he told Kelly, adding that those who dislike the show should simply “pick up the remote and change the station.”

Despite its dwindling audience, the series maintains a loyal fan base and continues to be a fixture in the BBC’s comedy line-up.

The new series, which began tonight, marks a fresh chapter for the show as it seeks to recapture some of its former success in the face of ongoing criticism.

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READ MORE: ‘I tried Emma Stone’s hooded eye make-up trick that has fans saying she’s had a facelift’

The fallout from last night’s heart rate challenge continued on tonight’s Love Island – but one pair seemed to be growing closer as Ben and Alima shared a shock kiss

Fans have been left stunned after Alima and Ben shared a passionate kiss on Love Island. Last night, fans watched on as the Islanders took part in the iconic heart rate challenge, although some were more racy than others.

Viewers watched on in shock as Helena whispered “I can’t wait to f***k you” in Harry’s ear – and it was clear the feelings were reciprocated.

During the challenge, Ben was left in disbelief by Alima’s racy performance, and it was no surprise that his heart rate rose the most by her. However, the feelings weren’t reciprocated on the night, as Alima’s heart rate was raised the most by Harrison.

Despite this, Alima’s heart rate seemed to be raised by Ben after the challenge, as the two got surprisingly close to each other. Speaking about the moment, Ben said: “You’ve got it. The face card’s a joke! Look at you pulling me closer.”

“I’m just very touchy, Alima responded as she held onto Ben’s hand. In a shock move, the pair gazed into each other’s eyes as they shared a passionate kiss.

Love Island fans couldn’t believe their eyes when the moment happened, as they took to X, formerly known as Twitter to share their disbelief. “BEN AND ALIMA?????” exclaimed one, as another said: “Alima and Ben was not on my 2025 bingo card.”

“I’ve just opened ITV to see Alima kissing Ben of allllllll people? BFFR,” penned a third shocked fan, while another said: “WHY ARE BEN AND ALIMA KISSING!!”

It’s unclear whether the kiss will lead to anything more, as Alima opened up to the girls in the dressing room after the shocking move. “The chat was good, but it was very flirty and just banter. I need to find out if there’s substance,” she said.

Elsewhere tonight, Shakira was made aware of what was going on behind her back as the gossip spread throughout the villa. Obviously, she was less than impressed and proceeded to call things off with Harry. She was left feeling embarrassed, explaining that she felt like the entertainment of the villa with Harry’s behaviour.

It was the second time in two days she’d been left upset by his actions. Just the day before, Harry left her in tears when he decided to snog his ex Helena in the Snog, Marry, Pie challenge.

Are Shakira and Harry really over for good? And will Harry and Helena continue with their ‘unfinished business’?

Love Island continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX.

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