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Universal Music Group said Wednesday it has reached licensing agreements with artificial intelligence music startup Udio, settling a lawsuit that had accused Udio of using copyrighted music to train its AI.

Users create music using Udio’s AI, which can compose original songs — including voices and instruments — from text prompts.

Udio has agreed with UMG to launch a new platform next year that is only trained on “authorized and licensed music,” and will let users customize, stream and share music.

“These new agreements with Udio demonstrate our commitment to do what’s right by our artists and songwriters, whether that means embracing new technologies, developing new business models, diversifying revenue streams or beyond,” Lucian Grainge, UMG’s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

Udio declined to disclose the financial terms of the settlement and licensing agreements. UMG did not immediately return a request for comment on the terms.

Artificial intelligence has brought new opportunities as well as challenges to the entertainment industry, as AI startups have been training their models on information on the internet, which entertainment companies say infringes on their copyrighted work.

In the music industry, music businesses have accused New York City-based Udio and other AI music startups of training on copyrighted music to generate new songs that are based on popular hits without compensation or permission.

UMG, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and other music businesses sued Udio last year. In the lawsuit, Udio was accused of using hits like The Temptations’ “My Girl,” to create a similar melody called “Sunshine Melody.” UMG owns the copyright to “My Girl.”

“A comparison of one section of the Udio-generated file and ‘My Girl’ reflects a number of similarities, including a very similar melody, the same chords, and very similar backing vocals,” according to the lawsuit. “These similarities are further reflected in the side-by-side transcriptions of the musical scores for the Udio file and the original recording.”

Udio said on its website at the time that it stands by its technology and that its AI model learns from examples, similar to how students listen to music and study scores.

“The goal of model training is to develop an understanding of musical ideas — the basic building blocks of musical expression that are owned by no one,” Udio had said in a statement. “We are completely uninterested in reproducing content in our training set.”

On Wednesday, Udio’s CEO and co-founder, Andrew Sanchez, said he was thrilled at the opportunity to work with UMG “to redefine how AI empowers artists and fans.”

The collaboration is the first music licensing agreement that Udio has reached with a major music label.

“This moment brings to life everything we’ve been building toward — uniting AI and the music industry in a way that truly champions artists,” Sanchez said in a statement. “Together, we’re building the technological and business landscape that will fundamentally expand what’s possible in music creation and engagement.”

Udio said that artists can opt in to the new platform and will be compensated, but declined to go into the specifics or the artists involved.

Udio, launched in 2024, was co-founded by former Google DeepMind employees. Udio’s backers include music artist will.i.am, Instagram co-founder and Anthropic’s chief product officer Mike Krieger and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Udio said millions of people have used Udio since it launched in 2024. Users can access the platform through its app or website. The company did not break out specifically how many downloads or website users it has.

Udio has had 128,000 app downloads in Apple’s App Store since its app was released in May, according to estimates from New York-based mobile analytics firm Appfigures.

On Thursday, UMG also announced a partnership with London-based Stability AI to develop music creation tools powered by AI for artists, producers and songwriters.

Carson High, an 11-time City Section champion, has been seeded No. 1 for the City Section Open Division playoffs under first-year coach William Lowe.

Birmingham, which has a 54-game winning streak against City Section opponents, was seeded No. 2. San Pedro is No. 3 and unbeaten Palisades is No. 4.

Carson will host No. 8-seeded King/Drew on Nov. 14. Palisades is the home team against No. 5 Garfield, while San Pedro hosts No. 6 Crenshaw and Birmingham hosts No. 7 Kennedy.

There was no City Open Division champion last season after Narbonne had to vacate the title for rule violations.

Venice is seeded No. 1 in Division I. Cleveland is No. 1 in Division II and Santee is top seeded in Division III.

In girls’ flag football, San Pedro was given the No. 1 seed for the Open Division. Games begin on Friday, with San Pedro hosting No. 8 Verdugo Hills; No. 4 Marshall is at No. 5 Banning; No. 6 Wilson visits No. 3 Panorama; and No. 7 Narbonne travels to No. 2 Eagle Rock.

For the first time in seven years, Lily Allen is back with a new album. It’s intimate, raw and autofictional.

Last week, the “Smile” singer shared a 14-track breakup record, “West End Girl.” Amid her split with “Stranger Things” actor David Harbour, Allen provides an in-depth look into a broken relationship where the line between being open and being unfaithful is thin, where dating apps are on the table and where heartbreak seems inevitable.

The album, which was written in 10 days last December, begins with Allen’s move to New York. The singer relocated to the East Coast in 2020 with her two daughters and then-husband, following the couple’s whirlwind wedding in Las Vegas. When Allen started dating Harbour in 2019, she had just finalized her divorce from Sam Cooper, with whom she shares her children.

On “West End Girl’s” opening track, she sings about receiving an offer to be in a West End production in London. In 2021, Allen made her debut in the supernatural play “2:22 — A Ghost Story.” From that moment on, tensions and distance only continued to build between the pair. Toward the end of the title track, Allen includes her end of a call where her partner is seemingly asking to open up the marriage.

As the pop melodies continue to ebb and flow, Allen reveals accusations of infidelity, the complications of being in an open marriage and mentions a pseudonym for a mistress on a track named “Madeline.” She doesn’t stray away from details, especially when it comes to finding boxes of sex toys, love letters from other women and calling her partner a “sex addict” on “P— Palace.”

By the end of the record, she makes it clear that the relationship is irreparable. The pair announced their separation last February after four years of marriage. Since the project’s release last Friday, critics have been quick to fawn over Allen’s return to music and Allen has been sure to let the press know the album is not fully based in fact.

In an interview with The Times, the U.K.’s oldest national daily newspaper, she says, “I don’t think I could say it’s all true — I have artistic license. … But yes, there are definitely things I experienced within my relationship that have ended up on this album.”

She similarly told Perfect Magazine that the work can be considered “autofiction” and that an “alter ego” is singing. When sitting down with British Vogue, she clarified that the album is inspired by what went on in the relationship between, but “that’s not to say that it’s all gospel,”

Harbour has yet to directly speak out about their relationship and has strayed away from the public eye, disabling comments on his Instagram page.

In an interview with GQ in April, he said, “There’s no use in that form of engaging [with tabloid news] because it’s all based on hysterical hyperbole.”

The highly anticipated final season of Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” where Harbour plays the role of police chief Jim Hopper, will be released Nov. 27.

Eating dirt is usually not a good thing, but in the new Amazon Prime series “Cometierra,” it’s a superpower.

The supernatural crime thriller, which premieres on Halloween, is based on the 2019 Dolores Reyes novel of the same name. The book follows the story of a young woman who has the ability to communicate through visions with the dead and missing people of Argentina by eating the physical land they trod.

“Cometierra” stars Lilith Curiel with supporting roles from Oscar nominee Yalitza Aparicio and Gerardo Taracena. It follows the same outline of the book but is set in contemporary Mexico to address the themes of state violence, femicide and the missing persons epidemic.

The source material and its new twist were what drew Mexican singer-songwriter Natalia Lafourcade to perform the series’s title song, “La Cometierra.”

“We have this reality in Mexico, there’s violence against many women and there’s the disappeared. It’s a very sad situation that we have, but it’s a fact,” the singer said. “It’s inspiring the way the series develops and how this girl, alongside her neighbors, creates a [positive] tribal strength out of her situation.”

Lafourcade especially liked that the series provides an organic avenue for debate and serves as a call to action to recognize that these are all problems in Mexico, while also showing that there is a deep well of beauty within the country.

“We all have a talent that we can always put forward as a service for our family, our country, just for other people,” she said.

The 41-year-old artist’s recently released single channels the energy of the series and its themes by conjuring a spoken word cadence that culminates in a nursery rhyme chant about the powers of the Cometierra.

“I wanted to make a sound that would be very strong and that would present a reality and that the lyrics wouldn’t be smooth,” Lafourcade said. “But at the same time, it would have hope and light and this feeling of joy for the next generations. So I wanted to have this mix of girls singing in a very naive tone, but also mix in a straight voice telling hard truths.”

The song, while geared toward a Mexican experience, now has a striking relevance in the United States as Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids — largely targeting Latinos — continue to take place across the country and as hundreds of detained people have been unaccounted for.

“I hope that music has this capacity to make us wake up and be conscious of situations,” Lafourcade said. “I have realized there are many themes that you can take through music, but sometimes music can become something that you hear truths that probably are not so pretty.”

Regarding some of the ugly truths of the U.S. at the moment, the “Nunca Es Suficiente” artist said that it’s not right that people should feel shame of where they come from and that communities need to show up for themselves at this point in time.

“Nobody should take our pride for our roots, our culture, our people,” she said. “The young lady [in the show] reaches a point where she’s confused about if she should use her power and give it to her people or not. She feels very afraid and insecure and she’s going through all that. But I love how she becomes a hero of her own power and I think that’s the fate of many of us, the way we can make a twist in the story we’re living every day.”

KATIE Price’s ex-husband Kieran Hayler has been charged with three counts of rape and one sexual assault against a girl of 13.

The allegations date to June-October 2016, the midway point of his marriage to Katie, 47.

They were wed for six years and share kids, Jett, 12, and Bunny, 11.

The alleged victim is not a member of his or Katie’s extended family.

Sussex Police said last night: “We can confirm Kieran Hayler, 38, of Northchapel in West Sussex, has been charged with three counts of rape and one count of sexual assault against a 13-year-old girl.

“The offences are alleged to have occurred at an address in West Sussex between June 1 and October 13, 2016.

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“Hayler remains released under investigation and is due to appear before Crawley magistrates’ court on November 19.

“The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has received ­support from specially trained officers as our enquiries continue.”

Hayler, who has also worked as a stripper and actor, and appeared on reality shows with Katie, posted a video on Sunday evening of him flexing his muscles in a car park, with the message “Fit check”.

He was last photographed out in public on Friday, October 3 when he visited Tulleys Farm Shocktober event near Crawley.

His selfie from the celebrity bash was captioned: “My favourite event of the year.”

A legal representative for Hayler said last night: “Kieran Hayler strongly denies the allegations made against him in its entirety.

“Mr Hayler is fully engaged and has been co-operating with the police throughout the investigation and will continue to do so. He looks forward to his name being cleared believing in the judicial system to do so.”

Hayler first met Katie in 2012 and proposed on Christmas Day.

They married at a luxury resort in the Bahamas in 2013.

He was her third husband following her marriages to singer Peter Andre and cage fighter Alex Reid.

In May 2014, while pregnant with Bunny, Katie discovered Hayler had been cheating on her with her best friend Jane Pountney, when she caught them kissing on a beach in Cape Verde.

He later confessed to a long, intimate relationship with Jane.

In 2017 he told The Sun on Sunday: “I would get into the passenger seat of Jane’s car, she would jump on top of me.”

Katie later discovered he had an affair with another of her friends, Chrissy Thomas.

Katie forgave Kieran and later said: “He’s proved himself. I have actually said to him, ‘I now forgive you, I do forget’ because I got to a point where I don’t have to worry about him. I trust him.”

But in 2017, Katie discovered he had cheated again — this time with their nanny Nikki Brown.

She said: “When I confronted him he denied it at first, even when I said she’d admitted it.

“I was crying, asking, ‘How could you do this to me again?’ When I begged him to tell the truth he finally said, ‘Yeah, we have’.”

The marriage broke down in 2018, with the divorce finalised in 2021 after pandemic delays.

At the time her representative said it was amicable.

Hayler said in 2021: “As of July 12 we are now divorced. It took just over three years.

“We didn’t rush it; it was in the process for a long time and Covid-19 hit, which held up the courts.

“It wasn’t in our hands. There was no legal battle.

“I said to her, I will be the only person that doesn’t take any money from you because that’s not who I am, I don’t want her money.”

The couple had married at the Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort and Spa in January 2013.

They held a second service at the Rookery Manor hotel in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, joined by 13 bridesmaids and pals including TV star Rylan Clark, model Danielle Lloyd and singer Michelle Heaton.

Katie and Hayler then honeymooned in the Maldives.

Following their marriage split, Hayler started a relationship with Michelle Penticost, who gave birth to their son Apollo.

The couple got engaged in 2020 but this February called off the wedding and said they had split.

His representative told The Sun: “They separated on good terms and remain close, with their focus on Apollo.”

Besides her children with Hayler, Loose Women star Katie has son Harvey, 23, from a relationship with ex-footballer Dwight Yorke, plus son Junior, 20, and daughter Princess, 18, from her marriage to Peter Andre.

She has not married since Hayler but briefly found love with another personal trainer, Kris Boyson.

She dated Carl Woods for two years and they got engaged. But that relationship ended in 2022.

Her most recent partner is Married At First Sight star JJ Slater.

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Katie is currently on tour with reality star pal and ex-Atomic Kitten singer Kerry Katona, 45.

Last night they appeared on stage in Swansea, and tonight are due at The Old Savoy in Northampton.

Trigger warning for any daughter who has ever had a fraught relationship with their mother: Gish Jen’s remarkable and heartbreaking latest book, “Bad Bad Girl,” may prompt a flood of feelings not felt since adolescence. This marvel of a mash-up — part novel, part memoir, part effort to reconnect with a dead parent who never uttered an “I love you” — has as many pain points as life lessons. Quite a few of the latter — mostly delivered in the form of Chinese proverbs — are dropped by the author’s parents, Chinese immigrants who met in New York as graduate students. Among the pearls of wisdom that stick with Jen, their eldest girl and a keen observer of her parents: “When you drink the water, remember the spring.”

In this, Jen’s 10th book, she wistfully, unsparingly commemorates that “spring” — a punishing mother she nevertheless credits for “biting my heel.” A master of the art of withholding when it came to praise or affection, her mother had no compunctions about delivering ego-shattering put-downs and physical punishments to Jen for being “too smart for her own good.” And yet, Jen writes: “I have thrived.”

Gish Jen has brilliantly structured “Bad Bad Girl” so that invented exchanges with her mother keep returning us not only to the relationship between mother and daughter, but to the present.

(Basso Cannarsa)

Still, she is not at peace. Even after her mother’s death in 2020 at 96, that censorious voice remained “embedded in my most primitive responses, in my very limbic system.” “You were a mystery Ma,” Jen writes. “Why, why, why were you the way you were?” The writer’s instinct kicks in: “If I write about you, if I write to you, will I understand you better?”

“Bad Bad Girl” constitutes a heroic effort to do just that. But soon after Jen embarks on that quest, she realizes that while many mothers want their daughters to show interest in them and listen to their stories, “they were not my mother.” Without much to go on in the way of shared memories or documentary evidence, Jen decides to recalibrate. Instead of writing a straight memoir, she’ll chronicle what she can and construct a fictional narrative around the rest. The result is a heart-piercingly personal work that also imparts universal truths about the immigrant experience — and what it is to be a daughter, a mother and a woman in a world where men are the more valued of the sexes. If there is such a thing as an intimate epic, this is it.

Jen’s mother Agnes — Loo Shu-hsin, as she was originally named — was born in 1925 Shanghai to a wealthy and prominent banker and his much younger wife. In Part I, we are introduced to the lush beauty and extraordinary privilege Agnes was born into, sequestered in a mansion situated in the “international” section of Shanghai, staffed by maids, cooks, nursemaids, chauffeurs and bodyguards. “Proper though she may have been,” Agnes’ mother “did smoke opium.” Apparently, it was good for cramps.

Agnes was the firstborn child, a disappointment in her gender. As tradition dictated, her placenta was hurled into the Huangpu River; when it floated away, it was deemed that she too “would be raised and fed, only to drift away.” Agnes’ mother never bonded with her daughter and showed her little attention except to object to her daughter’s clear intelligence and closeness with her nursemaid. (By age 6 and beginning to read, Agnes still hadn’t been weaned.) By contrast, her father delighted in his daughter’s zeal for learning. The prevailing view was that “to educate a girl was like washing coal; it made no sense.” Still, her father enrolled her in an elite Catholic school where she was nurtured by Mother Greenough, a nun with a doctorate. She praised Agnes for her intellect and encouraged her to be ambitious. After completing her undergraduate studies amid the Japanese invasion and World War II, in the fall of 1947, after peace had finally descended, Agnes declared her intention to leave for the United States to pursue a PhD. Her father embraced that decision, in part because the communist takeover loomed and he hoped at least his eldest child could escape what was to come. “My favorite daughter, so smart and brave,” he pronounces, as the ship she boards sets sail for San Francisco.

Jen has brilliantly structured “Bad Bad Girl” so that invented exchanges with her mother — post-death, printed in bold type and interspersed throughout — keep returning us not only to the relationship between mother and daughter, but to the present. That dialogue is conversational and often funny, in contrast to the unfolding chronicle of Agnes’ journey as a stranger in a strange land. She finds her new countrymen puzzling in nearly every way. For example, “That was how lonely Americans were,” she observes, “that they should not only feed their dogs but walk them every day, rain or shine.”

Initially, Agnes’ spirits are bolstered by her privilege and her parents’ checks. Soon after arriving in New York City to begin graduate school, though, the money stops coming. The communist takeover is complete and, as she gradually discovers through their letters, now they seek financial support from her. Agnes, who’s never boiled an egg, sets to work typing and translating for her still-rich Chinese classmates. She meets and marries fellow student Jen Chao-Pe, and together they move into a dilapidated walk-up in Washington Heights, where Agnes learns to scrimp and save and paint her own walls. Her husband teaches her to cook. When she gets pregnant with her son, Reuben, she is laid low and takes a temporary leave of absence from school. Soon she is pregnant with Lillian, later nicknamed “Gish” for the silent film actor, and motherhood overwhelms her. Three more children come. Of the five, Gish is her least favorite, a girl every bit as clever as she was — a reminder of what she’s permanently put on the back burner. Whatever maternal feelings she has for her other children are missing when it comes to Gish, who becomes her mother’s scapegoat and punching bag.

Miraculously, Gish appears to have been mostly a happy child who excels socially and academically. After being accepted to every university she applies to, she chooses Harvard. She attends graduate school at Stanford and begins to pursue a writing career. She meets her husband, David, to whom she’s been married ever since — for 42 years. They have a son, Luke, and a daughter, Paloma. Jen’s children know how difficult their grandmother has been, and Paloma offers this to her mother by way of consolation: “The effects of trauma can’t be washed away in a generation,” something she’s read in a book. “You can’t get rid of it all, but you did a good job,” she adds.

How rich this book is, and how humane. Unlike, for example, Molly Jong-Fast’s merciless “How to Lose Your Mother,” “Bad Bad Girl” doesn’t read like a hit job. It’s suffused with love and a desire to finally understand. “You shut me out the way you shut your mother out. … What was my crime?” Jen challenges her mother in one of their imagined exchanges. “You were a pain in the neck,” Agnes observes, in another.

“She does not say ‘I love you’ back; she never has,” Jen writes. She doesn’t put those words in Agnes’ mouth here, even when she has the chance. But Jen does venture this about her mother: “I like to think (she) would finally agree both that this book is a novel and that there might be some truth to it.” And then in their final imagined exchange: “Bad, bad girl! Who says you can write a book like that?” Jen laughs. “That’s more like it.”

Haber is a writer, editor and publishing strategist. She was director of Oprah’s Book Club and books editor for O, the Oprah Magazine.

Rugby star Ilona Maher is a two-time Olympian, a “Dancing With the Stars” alum, a social media favorite and now a Barbie doll.

Mattel announced Monday that it had assembled a team of four international rugby athletes to help encourage girls to embrace their confidence and stay in sports. The new “Team Barbie” campaign is to celebrate International Day of the Girl, which is Oct. 11.

“We all doubt ourselves at times, myself included,” Maher said in a statement. “If sharing my story can inspire other young girls to believe in themselves the way I have, then I’ll have truly made an impact. Being part of Team Barbie is about showing girls that confidence isn’t something to shy away from, but something to own.”

Also part of Team Barbie are Ellie Kildunne from the U.K., New Zealand’s Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and Nassira Konde from France.

A breakout star at the 2024 Paris Olympics even before the rugby sevens team’s historic bronze medal, Maher became known for her social media videos that offered a humorous glimpse into the day-to-day life of an Olympic athlete. She has also used her platform to empower women, champion body positivity and help raise the profile of rugby in the U.S.

The Barbie doll versions of international rugby stars Ellie Kildunne, left, Ilona Maher, Nassira Konde and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe.

(Mattel)

“As women, a lot of times our body has been this object to be looked at and to be objectified, and I hate that there’s girls out there that feel like they don’t have a purpose for their body, and so they want to change it constantly,” Maher told The Times last year. “To get into sports and a sport like rugby, a sport like canoe, and track and field gives your body a purpose, shows what it can do and what it’s capable of. It’s not just something that is for others to judge.”

As part of its campaign, Mattel conducted a study to try to better understand why girls tend to stop participating in sports. The research found that only 53% of girls ages 6 to 14 feel confident while playing sports and that 1 in 3 girls stops playing sports by age 14 “primarily due to body confidence concerns, self-doubt, and a lack of visible female role models.”

“At Barbie … [w]e’re committed to breaking down the barriers — from gender stereotypes to self-doubt — that hold girls back from realizing their limitless potential,” Krista Berger, the senior vice president of Barbie, said in a news release for the new campaign. “By showcasing the stories of incredible role models whose confidence has fueled groundbreaking success, we’re showing girls that the future of sports — or wherever their passion takes them — is theirs to claim, with Team Barbie cheering them on.”

The Team Barbie campaign is not the first time the company has put the spotlight on athletes. Last year, Barbie teamed up with WNBA icon Sue Bird as part of its 65th anniversary celebration. Barbie has also teamed with the Chicago Sky for Barbie-themed game days in the last two WNBA seasons.

Other female athletes Barbie highlighted last year included tennis player Venus Williams, soccer stars Christine Sinclair and Mary Fowler, boxer Estelle Mossely, gymnasts Alexa Moreno and Rebeca Andrade, paratriathlete Susana Rodriguez, swimmer Federica Pellegrini and track and field sprinter Ewa Swoboda.

A TEENAGE girl, 17, was reportedly raped by a stranger in broad daylight as cops launch a manhunt.

The alleged attack unfolded in the village of Hassocks, in West Sussex, between 6pm and 7.30pm on Thursday.

The victim claimed to be approached in Keymer Road, near the junctions with Parklands Road and Grand Avenue.

Detective Inspector Debbie Birch, leading the investigation, said: “We are supporting the victim as we actively carry out detailed enquiries, which include CCTV and house to house enquiries.”

DI Birch added: “We have increased our police presence in the village while we investigate, and we are carrying out additional high visibility patrols for reassurance.

“Anyone who has any concerns is urged to stop and talk to officers.

“If you were in the area and noticed anything suspicious or have information that may assist us, we ask you to contact police or on 101, and quote Operation Insight.

“We will provide updates about the investigation when possible.”

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GIRLS are aloud and making us proud!

OK, no more nostalgia about 1990s ‘Girl Power,’ but the times they are a-changing and then some.

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The Red Roses blossomed last weekend as the England women’s rugby team won the World Cup in front of a record 82,000 Twickenham full-house.

That came hot on the heels of our Lionesses’ back-to-back European Championships successes and proves that women’s sport is here to stay.

Rewind two or three decades and women, when mentioned in the same breath as football, was something approaching a dirty word. Just look at the history books.

In 1921 there were over 150 women’s football clubs playing games in front of 40,000-plus gates.

So what did the FA do? They banned it, saying it was “unsuitable for females.”

It only took nearly five decades for the FA to change their minds and growth in the women’s game in the 70s and 80s was slow.

In fact, the national team had to wait until 1998 to have its first full time coach, Hope Powell.

The 2012 London Olympics handed the women’s game a massive boost. TeamGB were watched by over 70,000 at Wembley against Brazil and footie for females was finally freed.

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Last year, an FA study revealed a 56 percent rise in the number of women and girls playing football in the previous four years.

The number of registered female football clubs has more than doubled in the last seven years and just look at crowds in the WSL.

Seven seasons ago the highest gate at any game was 2,648 for Chelsea against Manchester City. Last season it was nearly 57,000 for the North London derby.

A new sponsorship deal with Barclays is worth £15million a year and WSL clubs’ revenues soared 34 percent in 2023-24 alone. So from the grassroots all the way up, women’s football is on the up.

Thankfully, that kind of progress is being repeated in other sports and not just rugby, where there has been significant growth in recent years to the tune of a 60 percent rise in registered players since 2017.

What about cricket? Our girls took a pasting against the Aussies, but the World Cup is upon us with England aiming for a fifth title.

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In other sports, women do us proud. From netball’s Jade Clarke to tennis star Emma Raducanu, to athlete Keely Hodgkinson and world champion boxer Lauren Price… the list is long and shows just how women are flourishing.

Having said that, I was stunned to read that middle-distance runner Georgia Hunter Bell still worked full-time in tech sales just a few months before winning a bronze at last year’s Paris Olympics.

I cannot imagine a male elite athlete doing the same.

Georgia won silver at the World Championships last month and hopefully being a 24-7 athlete will help her go one better next time.

I’m obviously aware of the lack of female representation in the corridors of power within football and other sports, but I hope that is slowly changing.

Both the FA and PL chairs are women — Debbie Hewitt and Alison Brittain — and are doing a fine job.

Right now, though, I’d rather concentrate on the progress that has been made in a relatively short time.

The WSL is in rude health and will get bigger and better, underlining the fact that we, as a nation, are leading the way in the men’s and women’s game.

We should celebrate that because ‘girls just wanna have fun’.

West Yorkshire Police

‘Institutional scandal’

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Big Brother has officially returned for another season with 12 housemates ready to wreak havoc on ITV’s most famous house, but this year, the line-up appears more fresh-faced than ever.

Big Brother returned to ITV this evening as 12 new housemates entered into through the iconic abode for the first time, ready to live in close quarters for the next seven weeks. While the social experiment usually sees a variety of people from different age ranges, backgrounds, ethnicities and genders, this year’s cohort are a noticably young bunch.

In fact, only two of the housemates are not in their twenties, with the rest of the group ranging from 18 to 27; Pizza Shop Manager Gani, 39, and PR company owner Caroline, 56, are the exception. The latter decided to go on the show after struggling to know which direction to take her career in, and says she’d like a pair of new patio doors if she won the show’s prize pot, which is often £100,000.

While Gani is hoping for both fame and fortune, as he says: “I’d like to be known by millions. I see this as an opportunity not only for my personal growth, but also to help build the future of my personal brand.” He might get some tips from his fellow housemates, as one is already known online as an influencer and content creator.

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21-year-old Elsa Rae is known for being an influencer and has already amassed over 120,000 followers on TikTok and is known for her relationship with social media personality Ed Matthews.

From Jojo Siwa and Chris Hughes to Jordan Sangha and Henry Southan, Big Brother has produced plenty of in-house romances over the years.

And with hosts AJ Odudu and Will Best recently admitting they get invested in the show’s relationships, this series could be one to rival Love Island with it’s young and beautiful cast.

Alongside Essex girl Elsa, 18-year-old Teja was another one to enter the Big Brother house during the live launch show, and is this year’s youngest contestant this year. With a goal of winning the show and buying her own house, Teja says she might have some crossed words in the house.

“I think I’m alright to live with, but I can be a bit loud. I do also say what’s on my mind. If I have a problem I will say. Sopeople might take that the wrong way and see it as me being rude. But I do like to just get things off my chest; people might not like the directness of it,” says Teja, who describes herself as “loud”.

Farmer Cameron and Mechanical Engineer Marcus are both 22, but couldn’t be more different. The former is hoping his genuine charm will win the house over and says he’s looking forward to “a new experience”, while Marcus has been advised to “play the game”.

27-year-old Zumba Instructor Sam is hoping to bring energy to the house with plenty of early morning workout classes, and says: “I’m looking forward to making new friends, hopefully learning some new life skills and seeing what things come out of this experience.”

Political Events Manager Emily, 25, is hoping her unassuming exterior will help her play the game in the house, and perhaps fool her counterparts. “I haven’t really thought about a strategy, although I do think people look at me and think I’m very ditzy because I’ve got blonde hair and fake nails.

“So,I think that could definitely play to my advantage, because they better watch out! I’m actually a lot cleverer,” she says. Emily shot to fame when she was falsely accused of flinging a milkshake at Nigel Farage.

Jenny, 20, from Derry says she wants to provide the house with “plenty of craic”, something she’ll no doubt bond with 22-year-old Glasweigen Nancy over. Tate, 27, is this year’s second Scottish housemate, and says his experience as a “buff butler” means he will be entertaining, with plenty of other skills up his sleeve.

Personal Trainer Tate, 27, is just looking to make “one good friend” in the house, and says he doesn’t mind about anything else. “I can be quite opinionated but I’d like to think that wouldn’t necessarily be a reason to nominate me.

“My strategy for those situations is to talk it out. I think also maybe food (or lack of) might beanother reason for me being nominated. I can get very hangry. That might get to people,” said the South London native.

Big Brother continues nightly on ITV2 and ITVX at 9pm.

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Drug gang suspected in torture and murder of two young women, and a 15-year-old girl, in crime that shocks Argentina.

Clashes have erupted between demonstrators and police as thousands protested in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, to demand justice over the torture and killing of two young women and a teenager, which was livestreamed on social media by a purported drug gang.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets on Saturday to denounce the killings that shocked Argentinians after it was revealed that the murders were perpetrated live on the Instagram platform and watched by 45 members of a private account, officials said.

The bodies of Morena Verdi and Brenda del Castillo, cousins aged 20, and 15-year-old Lara Gutierrez were found buried on Wednesday in the yard of a house in a southern suburb of Buenos Aires, five days after they went missing.

Investigators said the victims, thinking they were going to a party, were lured into a van on September 19, allegedly as part of a plan to “punish” them for violating gang code and to serve as a warning to others.

Police discovered a video of the triple murder after a suspect in the disappearance of the three revealed it under questioning, according to Javier Alonso, the security minister for the Buenos Aires province.

In the footage, a gang leader is heard saying: “This is what happens to those who steal drugs from me.”

Argentinian media reported that the torturers cut off fingers, pulled out nails, and beat and suffocated the victims.

While most of the protesters who took part in the demonstration on Saturday marched peacefully, some confronted police who responded by aggressively pushing them away using their batons and shields, according to video clips and images posted by the La Izquierda Diario online news site.

As they marched towards the Argentinian parliament with thousands of supporters, family members of the victims held a banner with their names, “Lara, Brenda, Morena”, and placards with the images of the three.

“Women must be protected more than ever,” Brenda’s father, Leonel del Castillo, was quoted by the AFP news agency as telling reporters at the protest. He had earlier said he had not been able to identify his daughter’s body due to the torture she had endured.

“It was a narco-femicide!” read a sign at the protest. Another declared, “Our lives are not disposable!”

The protesters also banged on drums as they marched and denounced the “inaction” of the administration of President Javier Milei against what they called the growing “narco” influence in the country.

An image posted on social media showed protesters burning an image of Milei and other political allies of his administration.

Antonio del Castillo, the grandfather of the slain 20-year-old cousins, was in tears, calling his granddaughters’ killers “bloodthirsty”.

“You wouldn’t do what they did to them to an animal,” he said.

On Friday, Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich announced the arrest of a fifth suspect in the case, bringing the total to three men and two women. The fifth suspect, accused of offering logistical support in the killing by providing a vehicle involved in the crime, was arrested in the Bolivian border city of Villazon .

Authorities have also released a photograph of the alleged mastermind, a 20-year-old Peruvian, who remains at large.

Meta, the parent company of Instagram, has disputed that the livestream occurred on its platform, according to the AFP, citing a company spokesperson.

AN URGENT hunt for a 15-year-old girl is underway after she went missing last week.

The girl was last seen in Flintshire but is now believed to be 120 miles away in South Wales, police said.

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Shyla has been missing for a week with and was last spotted in the village of Drury, Flintshire, last Saturday, September 13.

She is described as around 5ft tall with an average build and her hair dyed red.

When she was last seen she was wearing grey jogging bottoms, a brown woolen hoodie and white trainers.

It’s also believed that she has connections to Barry, Penarth and Cardiff Bay.

South Wales Police are now urging anyone with information on her whereabouts to come forwards.

They also want to talk to anyone who may have seen her in recent days.

COPS are desperately hunting a woman and an eight-year-old girl who vanished more than three weeks ago.

Sally-Jean, 37, was last seen with eight-year-old Ava in Tilehurst, Reading on August 25.

The pair were reported missing on Monday with a frantic search for them launched immediately.

Police said they are “extremely concerned” for the safety of the woman and the youngster and are appealing for the public’s help finding them.

Ava is described as black with an afro hairstyle while Sally-Jean is white, about 5ft 4in tall, with long brown hair, green eyes and tattoos.

Sally-Jean has links to Reading, Caversham and Tilehurst and has one large and distinctive tattoo on her right lower arm, cops said.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of either Sally-Jean or Ava is asked to contact Thames Valley Police as a matter of urgency.

Inspector Iain Watkinson said: “We are extremely concerned for the welfare of Sally-Jean and Ava and we have been working hard to find them since they were reported missing on Monday.

“We are now appealing for the public’s help.

“Anyone with information on their whereabouts should call 101 or make a report on our website.”

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COPS have released CCTV footage as part of an urgent hunt to help find a missing 18-year-old girl.

Concerns are growing for Lily Higgins, who was last seen leaving her home in Leicester, Leicestershire, yesterday afternoon.

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Video taken from her doorbell camera shows the teenager leaving her address in Torridon Close at around 2.30pm.

She was reported missing by her concerned family just before 8pm.

Drones have been deployed in the area as officers urgently search for the missing teen.

The youngster is described as being 5ft 2in, of a slim build with long blonde hair.

She was last seen wearing a black puffer coat, black jogging bottoms, a checked scarf and black trainers.

Leicestershire Police confirmed specialist teams were hunting for Lily.

The force said: “Police have released an image take from the home doorbell camera that shows Lily leaving the home address.

“A specialist search team are currently out looking for Lily.

“The police drone has also been used to assist with searching.

“Anyone who has seen her or has information that could assist in the police search, call 101, quoting incident number 621 of 17 September.”

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Having earned three national championship rings playing volleyball for UCLA, 6-foot-8 Tom Stillwell knows a little bit about competition and commitment to sports excellence.

Nothing, though, compares to his joy being a Girl Dad.

“That’s a full-time job, and being a volleyball dad is the best,” said Stillwell, an All-American at UCLA.

It was never planned that his two daughters, Maya, a 6-4 senior, and Lucy, a 6-0 sophomore, would become volleyball players at Harvard-Westlake. Stillwell and his wife, Julie, met at UCLA. She’s 5-6 and neither was thinking how tall their kids might be. But it happened. They were raising giants.

“We felt they needed to be involved in something and as they started to get really tall, I started to talk to friends who had tall females and their recommendation was get them involved in sports because it’s going to turn their tall from being awkward to cool,” Stillwell said. “For them, whether it was tennis, swimming, basketball or volleyball, it didn’t really matter to us. It was whatever they became connected with. They both had journeys.”

Maya had little interest in sports growing up.

“I was not athletic,” Maya said. “It was originally a way to get my body moving. I was into art and music. I started in club when I was 12 and hated it. It wasn’t for me. When COVID happened, we were forced to move to another club and I loved my teammates and coaches and started to like it.”

She became a top middle blocker, playing on a national championship club team and receiving a scholarship to Northwestern. She’s taken advantage of a mini-grass court in the family backyard and her father’s experience having switched from basketball to volleyball during his high school days at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame.

Lucy followed her sister into volleyball after trying other sports. She’s a backup at Harvard-Westlake, which started the season 7-0 until running into Marymount. The team is 10-2. Both have grade-point averages above 4.0.

Except for their mom, the Stillwells share a common experience — receiving stares because of their height.

Said Maya: “People at school are used to it, but walking outside, it’s like, ‘Oh you’re so tall. Do you play basketball?’ I never get, ‘Do you play volleyball?‘”

“It’s very funny,” Tom said. “I think all tall people have a similar experience with people coming up to you and asking, ‘Do you play basketball?’ When you play sports it helps to have that community because of a lot of their club people are similar height.”

But who gets the extra leg room when flying?

“I’m older and taller,” Maya said.

“She does,” Lucy said.

“Let me tell you who gets the worst seat. Julie, my wife,” Tom said. “She’s like, ‘I’m the mom. I birthed you. I get the worst seat?’”

The daughters never got to meet their legendary grandmother, Liz Shapiro, who was always at Tom’s games at Notre Dame and UCLA. Her generosity to both schools in terms of support will never be forgotten. She died of cancer after Tom’s volleyball career had ended.

“She was a rabid fan,” Tom said. “She would have been at every game, every tournament, club, high school, probably trying to watch practice.”

Tom, 51, has been helpful offering tips whenever his daughters ask, but he has tried to let them listen and learn from their coaches and not impose his own athletic beliefs on them.

“Volleyball just connected with them. It was fun to watch,” he said. “I told them they’re not doing it for me or my wife. They have to enjoy it and if they don’t, they shouldn’t do it. This is their journey, not mine.”

As a Girl Dad, Tom has adopted a specific philosophy no matter what he sees or hears.

“All I’m trying to be is their dad,” he said. “That’s my No. 1 focus. Not their volleyball coach, not their mentor in volleyball. It’s hard enough for these teenage girls. They don’t need to hear their dad yelling.”

“The Wizard of Oz” is certainly the right movie to face the great and powerful ambitions of Sphere, the most expensive entertainment venue in Las Vegas history. Since 1939, the treasured classic has hailed the awe of gazing into a glowing globe, whether it’s glinting atop a fortune teller’s table, transporting the meddlesome Glinda the Good Witch or spying on a teenage girl and her companions like a sinister security camera.

Special effects are central both to “Oz’s” appeal and its plot: The big reveal is that technicians, not wizards, pull the levers that make an audience gasp. For Sphere — officially, there’s no “the” — those tools include three football fields of bright 16K LED screens that curve around its domed interior, with another 10 on the outside that light up Vegas day and night with rotating animations. (I saw blue gingham, scarlet sequins and thatches of burlap and straw.) Sphere cost an estimated $2.3 billion to build and must have an electricity bill scarier than the Wicked Witch. You can make out Dorothy’s slippers from an airplane.

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With no heel clicks needed, I was whisked to “The Wizard of Oz’s” Sphere premiere in a red sedan by a Lyft driver named — no fooling — Ruby, who said she was grateful that the Backstreet Boys’ recent stint at the arena “made Vegas busy for a minute.” There’s a lot of financial pressure on “Oz’s” girl from Kansas. Adapting the film to Sphere’s stunning dimensions took about $100 million. Although the arena seats 17,600 when full, “Oz” showings only offer a slice of the middle section, roughly a third of its capacity. A trimmed 70-minute edit of the movie is playing two to three times a day, nearly every day, through the end of March 2026, with a ticket price that currently starts at $114.

Eighty-six years ago, when a kiddie fare cost 15 cents, my then-6-year-old grandmother watched the theater blink from sepia to vivid color splendor. That innovation gets credited to Hollywood, but the idea of contrasting lush and luminous Oz against soul-drainingly monochrome Kansas is actually right there on Page 1 of L. Frank Baum’s book, published in May 1900, a self-proclaimed effort to write a “modernized” fairy tale that swaps Old World elves for American scarecrows. “When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side,” Baum wrote, adding that her house and her weary aunt and uncle and everything else were gray too, “to the edge of the sky in all directions.”

That’s exactly what Sphere was designed to do: stretch to the edge in all dimensions. It exists neither to save film nor supplant it, but to augment a rectangular screen with new digital and (controversially) generative-AI-supplied imagery, timed props and seats that vibrate whenever the Wicked Witch cackles.

Despite my queasiness about cutting “Oz” by half an hour, the experiment is a romp. I was immersed in — or, more accurately, surrounded by — scenes from one of my favorite movies, a pivotal blockbuster whose artistic influence extends from David Lynch to Elton John to Salman Rushdie. Even more giggle-inducing, I was pelted with scented foam apples and dive-bombed by half a dozen drone-piloted flying monkeys.

“The Wizard of Oz” has always braved new technology. An early adopter of Technicolor, it boasted a lighting budget nearly double that of its rival, “Gone With the Wind,” yet the latter gobbled nearly every Academy Award and poached “Oz’s” director, Victor Fleming, who swapped projects halfway through and won an Oscar for his vision of Sherman’s March instead of the Yellow Brick Road. In the 1950s, when the rest of Hollywood was terrified of television, “Oz” agreed to be the first theatrical movie to screen in full on a prime-time network. TV transformed the prestige money-loser into a hit. Sphere has turned “Oz” into a flash point in the industry’s fundamental fight over the use of AI. Artists and audiences alike fear a future in which, behind the curtain, there might not be a man at all.

I like my art made by human beings. But I’m no nostalgist. “Oz” was a book, a musical, a silent short and a cartoon before MGM made the variant we adore. It should be a playground for invention.

Entering Sphere, the escalators are tinted sepia and the soundscape hums with birdsong and lowing cattle. The implication is that we’ve not yet been whirled over the rainbow. Preshow, the view from one’s seat is of being in a massive old opera house with dusky green drapes flanked by rows of orchestra seats. None of the proscenium is actually there, nor are the musicians heard running scales and rehearsing “Follow the Yellow Brick Road.”

The simulation of human handicraft — of stagehands and horn players hiding in the wings — is unnerving. But it gets you thinking about the actual, contemporary people who are behind that curtain. Visual artists who labored on the Sphere project have justly grumbled that their sweat has gotten publicly dismissed as AI. An actual symphony orchestra rerecorded “Oz’s” mono score on the very same MGM stage used in 1939, allegedly with some of the same instruments. It sounds fantastic, and it’s so loyal to every jaunty warble that audiences might not notice.

A few scenes have been lopped off entirely. The Cowardly Lion no longer trills about becoming king of the forest. The majority of the shots have been micro-trimmed to be snappier, a pace that wouldn’t suit stoners’ penchant for synchronizing the movie to Pink Floyd’s dreamy, woozy “The Dark Side of the Moon.” Occasionally, the camera’s placement appears to have been adjusted to allow the visuals to expand to fill the space. Inside Dorothy’s Kansan house, a once-shadowed frying pan on the wall now dangles front and center, as does a digitally added “Home Sweet Home” needlepoint nailed to the threshold. (The plotting has become so brisk that we might otherwise miss the message that there’s no place like it.)

The tweaks can be subtle and lovely. Dorothy belts “Over the Rainbow” underneath newly actualized bluebirds and an impressively ominous sky. When the tornado happens, the tech changes hit us like a cyclone. We’re pulled through the window and into the eye of the storm, where a cow spirals around like it wants to outdo the scene-stealing bovine from “Twister.” A great, giddy blast of air from the 750-horsepower fans blew my bangs straight off my forehead. I kept one eye on the screen while trying to catch a flurry of tissue-paper leaves. The wow factor is so staggering that you might not spot that Sphere’s founder and chief executive, James Dolan, and Warner Bros. president and CEO David Zaslav have superimposed their faces on the two sailors twirling past in a rowboat — an apropos in-joke for people concerned the moguls have been swept away by their own bluster.

“Anyone can blow wind into your face,” Dolan said to the premiere audience before the film began. “Not everyone can make you feel like you’re in a tornado.” Wearing the Wizard’s green top hat and suit and with his microphone dropping out inauspiciously, Dolan never introduced himself, but he did compliment the other creators of the event, who also wore costumes. (I overheard that some of them thought Dolan was kidding about dressing in character until they found themselves spending four hours getting groomed to look lionesque.)

Just a week earlier, in trial runs, perfumes were piped into the air so people could get a whiff of the Emerald City. (Gauging by the souvenir candles in Sphere’s gift shop, it is chocolate mint.) They’ve currently been scaled back out of concerns that it all might get too overwhelming. Having figured out how to do sight, sound, feel and smell, Dolan conceded that only one sense remains: “We still haven’t figured out taste.”

Taste is definitely still a concern. Oddly, Sphere’s “Oz” loses a dram of its spellcraft once audiences touch down in Munchkinland. Seeing the newly added tops of Oz’s trees makes the fantastical place look smaller.

The margins of “The Wizard of Oz” have been expanded by generative AI to fit the enormous venue.

(Rich Fury / Sphere Entertainment)

You feel for the design teams. They’ve been challenged to magnify a 4-foot matte painting of the arched hallway into the Wizard’s throne room — initially done in pastels on black cardboard — into a 240-foot-tall tableau. One of the 1939 film’s production designers, Jack Martin Smith, said that his instructions were to make Oz “ethereal” and “subdued.” Descriptions of the cornfield’s hand-painted muslin background make it sound like a proto-Rothko. Now, you can see every kernel. The razor-sharp mountains on the horizon don’t inspire your imagination — they make you think of Machu Picchu.

More troublesome are the Munchkins and the citizens of Emerald City. Tidied into high definition, they often appear restless. As Dorothy pleads for the Wizard not to fly away without her, we’re distracted by hundreds of waving extras who visibly don’t give a hoot what happens to the girl. Worse, they occasionally seem to glitch. If that’s the best AI can do in 2025, then Sphere isn’t a resounding endorsement.

By contrast, Judy Garland’s performance, delivered at just age 16, feels monumental. Her big brown eyes dominate the screen. When the heartbroken girl sobs that the Wicked Witch has chased away her beloved Toto, I found myself annoyed by a flying monkey on the left side of the frame who simply looked bored.

The field of poppies is dazzling; the additional deer, ants and rodents skittering across the golden sidewalk are simply strange. Overall, you’re so caught up observing the experience itself that the emotions of the story don’t register as anything more than theme-ride hydraulics. Still, it’s nice to have a sweeping view of the first film’s prosthetic makeup: the Cowardly Lion’s upturned nostrils, the Scarecrow’s baggy jowls, the real horses painted purple and red with Jell-O. (Due to pace tightening, we only see two ponies, not all six).

I recoiled when the Wizard’s disembodied head loomed above. Who decided to make him look like a cheesy martian? Flipping through sketches from 1939 afterward, I realized that he always looked that bad. His gaunt cheekbones just weren’t as obvious before. Nevertheless, be sure to look to the right when Toto reveals Oz’s control booth. In a clever touch, Sphere lets us continue to see the monstrous green face, now neutered and ridiculous, mouth along as the panicked geek apologizes for being a humbug.

Can Sphere win big on its risky gamble that there’s no place like dome? It’s not the first Las Vegas attraction to bet on our love for the MGM extravaganza. “The Wizard of Oz” has been tangled up with Las Vegas’ fortunes for more than half a century, ever since real estate investor Kirk Kerkorian purchased MGM Studios in 1969 and, one year later, auctioned Dorothy’s slippers to help fund the construction of the first MGM Grand Hotel and Casino. The second MGM Grand, the one that opened in 1993, was branded for “The Wizard of Oz” — that’s why it’s green like Emerald City — and during the first year, visitors could walk through an animatronic forest of lions, tigers and gamblers.

The Strip was once a magical place where innocents like Dorothy flocked to get into trouble, often in encounters with sleight-of-hand hucksters like Professor Marvel. Hopes are high that tourists will come back to be transported to Oz, even at a ticket price that costs a chunk of the family farm. The hurdle is that although audiences have become begrudgingly accustomed to spending more than $100 to see their favorite bands, they’re still seeing an actual band and not a shortened version of a movie that’s popular in part because everyone grew up watching it on TV for free.

But on opening night at least, the crowd was treating the cinema like a concert. Many folks were in some sort of costume, including me. (I couldn’t resist wearing a pair of red shoes.) When I complimented a man’s blue gingham suit, he handed me a handmade beaded, Taylor Swift-style bracelet that read: Toto Too.

If fans like him turn this techno-incarnation of “Oz” into a hit, Sphere has said it would consider following it up with a similar presentation of “Gone With the Wind.” Imagine the smell of the burning of Atlanta. Much better than the air of burning money.

A GRIEVING mum has paid a heartbreaking tribute to her seven year-old-daughter who tragically died just days after she was seen “running and dancing.”

Tasmine Nichols, 28, has been left devastated following the death of her “beautiful and funny little girl.”

Bonnie Haydon’s family, from Plymouth, had to face the unimaginable and turn off their seven-year-old daughter’s life machine in August.

Tasmine explained that Bonnie had been in and out of Derriford Hospital since July.

Bonnie was diagnosed with asthma at a very young age but “had been doing fine over the years” until this year, according to her mum.

She was medicated for the asthma and had an inhaler, but was described as a happy child that was always full of energy.

The young girl was on her second admission on August 10 and was sent home, however, tragedy struck just 12 days later.

The concerned mother took her daughter straight back to hospital.

Tasmine explained that on August 25, Bonnie seemed full of life and was behaving like a normal, energetic seven-year-old.

She said: “She was running around the hospital playing, dancing and singing everything a child would do.

“But the next day she was placed into an induced coma in the early hours.”

Tasmine went on to tell PlymouthLive that at first she was told they were just going to sedate Bonnie, but soon after, she was informed that her daughter was going to be placed into a coma.

This was a coma that Bonnie would tragically never come out of.

She was later rushed to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children where Tasmine explained she was doing well, until 9am on August 27.

After being rushed in for a CT scan, Tasmine was delivered the devastating news that her daughter’s brain had no activity.

The following day, Bonnie was taken for an MRI where it was confirmed that the little girl had no brain activity at all.

In the early hours of August 29, the family had to face the unimaginable, and let Bonnie go.

In the wake of her death, family friend Charlie Wilkinson has set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to help support the family during this terrible time.

Charlie explained that Tasmine is facing every parent’s worst nightmare, planning a funeral for her child.

Writing on the fundraising page, Charlie said:  “Bonnie deserves the most beautiful and special send off and we want to help take that stress away so her family can focus on saying goodbye.

“Every single penny will go towards giving Bonnie the most stunning and special day, one that shows just how loved she was and always will be.

“She will forever be seven, forever loved, and forever missed.”

A WOMAN has been charged after two children were killed in a horrific hit-and-run.

Roman Casselden, 16, and nine-year-old Darcie Casselden tragically died after a privately owned e-scooter they were riding on collided with a car in Pitsea, Essex, on February 1.

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Deimante Ziobryte, 21, appeared at Basildon Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, August 28, charged with failing to stop at the scene of a collision.

Essex Police said Ms Ziobryte remains on bail in connection with other driving offences, with an investigation ongoing into these.

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EXCLUSIVE: Jean, 85, can still vividly remember the moment her newborn baby girl was taken from her when she was 16. A Long Lost Family special tracks down Jean’s daughter and highlights a UK-wide scandal

Nearly 70 years after she held her baby in her arms for the last time, elderly Jean’s eyes fill with tears as she remembers her newborn’s blue eyes and blonde hair. Her baby girl, who she named Maria, was snatched away for adoption without even time for a kiss goodbye – and Jean never saw her again, until now.

In heartbreaking scenes to be screened in a Long Lost Family: Mother and Baby Home Scandal special on ITV, the 85-year-old finally gets to meet the child who was taken away from her so brutally, leaving her traumatised for decades. Jean was just 16 in the summer of 1956 when she discovered she was pregnant by Tony, her first ever boyfriend. They wanted to marry, but having brought shame to her family, Jean was sent to the Home of the Good Shepherd Mother and Baby Home in Haslemere, Surrey, a home established by a moral welfare association connected to the Church of England, and a baptism and adoption were arranged.

Jean, from Chertsey, Surrey, recalls: “It was a big house and we had to scrub all that clean. We had to go to chapel every morning and evening to ask forgiveness for what we’d done. I didn’t know I was pregnant at first because I wasn’t sure how you had a baby. I was terrified, I didn’t know what to do. My dad was a bully. I remember him saying to my mother, ‘I told you she’d be no good didn’t I?’ He called me the biggest whore under the sun when he found out I was pregnant. I couldn’t stay there because ‘What about my father’s job?’. You’d think he was the Prime Minister, instead of the caretaker of a school.” Jean adds: “I’ve always felt inferior, I’m not good enough for people.”

With no option, Jean and Tony reluctantly took their 10-week-old baby to the London offices of the Southwark Catholic Rescue society. Jean says: “I gave her to this woman who’d said we’d go and show her off, so I thought she was bringing her back to let us kiss her goodbye, but she didn’t. When she was 18, I wrote to the society to ask if they had any news of her. He wrote back and said ‘No’ and maybe we’ll be reunited in heaven one day. I thought that was a horrible thing to say to me.”

Jean’s story is just one of many distressing accounts from a period between the 1940s and the 1970s, when an estimated 200,000 unmarried women, many just teenagers, were placed in homes, run often by religious organisations – and thousands of their babies were taken for adoption. Lyn, who was in a Cornish mother and baby home, says: “No matter how far pregnant you were, you had to wait on the staff and scrub the floors. It was all draconian and very cruel. You’d walk down the middle of the church, and you’d hear, ‘Sl*g, prostitute, whore, slapper. ’ I mean what had we done wrong? Nothing. It was hell.”

The two-part ITV special, hosted by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, delves into this scandal, following three emotive searches. Davina says: “You’ve probably walked past a mother and baby home on a quiet suburban street and have no idea of its secret history or what happened to young unmarried mothers.”

Fortunately for Jean, there is a huge breakthrough as the Long Lost Family team tracks down her daughter, now named Cathy, with the middle name Maria. Mother-of-two Cathy, 68, who lives with Gary, her husband of 51 years, in Ilford, London, had a wonderful adoption and is thrilled to hear from her birth mother. She says: “I feel very sorry for what she had to go through – I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. My own daughter is unmarried and has a daughter who lives with us and she’s a delight. I think it was an absolute disgrace the way women were treated in those days.”

Tearful as she reads a letter from Jean asking for her forgiveness, she adds: “I never ever blamed her. I’m sad that she’s been looking for so long.” When Jean hears the news that Cathy has been found and wants to meet her, she is completely overwhelmed. Jean, who went on to have four other children and split from her husband, says: “I just hope she likes me and I don’t let her down.” There is a clear narrative that many of the women affected blamed themselves, with adoptions often forced on vulnerable young women.

Campaigners are now lobbying the UK government to join the Welsh, Scottish and Irish governments in apologising to those affected. But time is running out for these women to find any adopted children. Jean and Cathy are among the luckier ones. Both are nervous and emotional as they prepare to reunite, but immediately they hug and are clutching each other’s hands. “I didn’t think this day would ever come,” says Cathy. “We’ve been waiting nearly 69 years since she was last able to hug me.” Jean tells her: “We had nobody to help us and I had no choice. I had nowhere to go. I knew I couldn’t keep you so I tried not to love you too much.” Cathy replies: “I had a hole in my life, you had a hole in your life. We’ve now managed to fill the hole.”

Jean says afterwards: “I kept looking at my arms because last time she was in my arms. It will probably sink in a lot more as time goes by. But I’ve also got to try to forgive myself.” As the mother and daughter introduce each other to their extended families, Jean says: “Now I know why I’ve lived so long. This is the reason.” She adds: “I’m feeling quite happy inside. I still can’t believe it. I won’t need to worry about her anymore because she’s got a family and they seem very kind.” Cathy says: “This is going to change my life. That void has been filled.”

Also in the show, sisters Viv and Julie are looking for their lost older sibling on behalf of their mum Margaret, who gave birth in a Baptist Union-run mother and baby home called The Haven, in Yateley, Hampshire, in the late 1950s. Margaret was in the Royal Navy in Cornwall when she fell pregnant aged 20. The father hadn’t revealed he was married with a family and abandoned her. In a poignant moment, Margaret, now 89 and suffering from moderate dementia, recalls singing ‘You Are My Sunshine’ to her baby Helen, and sings the chorus, which ends ‘Please don’t take my sunshine away’.

Margaret adds: “I’d love to see her and know she’s had a good life. I want her to know I loved her and haven’t forgotten her.” Julie says: “I don’t think mum was given any choice. We had an older brother who died in a motorbike accident just before he was 30. So mum feels that she’s lost two children.”

Ann also wants to solve the mystery of what happened to her brother Martin, after their mother Cora gave birth in the Catholic mother and baby home, St Pelagia’s in Highgate, North London in 1962. Ann, from London, says: “I had no idea that there was an elder brother. And then one day, one of my younger sisters came across a death certificate which said, ‘Martin, son of Cora’. My mum promptly whipped it from her hands, tore it up, and said, ‘Give me that. Don’t worry about that. Just forget you ever saw it’.”

After her mother Cora’s death in 2008, Ann discovered that Martin’s father was a Sri Lankan man who Cora had fallen in love with at work. Ann says: “My mum had not only had a child out of wedlock, but to have had a mixed-race child then, she would have been doubly frowned upon.” Ann has since discovered racist descriptions of her brother in his file and proof he was rejected for adoption and taken in at a children’s home run by nuns. After handing Martin over fit and well at eight-weeks-old, Cora was told within 48 hours that he had died – but Ann wants to know the truth.

For Ann, closure appears to be hard reach, as the team investigates an alleged scandal in Ireland of babies being illegally adopted, with parents told the babies had died. Could this have happened in England too? With varying testimony, it’s tough to know for sure, but it is believed most likely that Martin would have died.

There is better news for Margaret as her 68-year-old daughter, now called Sian, is finally found after months of scouring the records. Sian has cerebral palsy, which was diagnosed after the adoption, which means she is non-verbal and has been a wheelchair user since childhood. She’s delighted that her birth mum has been looking for. Sian says: “I know that my mother had difficulties while I was being delivered, because the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck, so oxygen didn’t get to me.”

Davina reveals to Viv and Julie that Sian has been found, and that when her condition was discovered, the adoptive family were asked if they wanted to give Sian back. Davina says: “They were offered the opportunity to swap her for another child without a disability. But they’d completely fallen in love with her.” Having shared the news with their mum, Viv says: “Mum said to us that now we’ve found Sian, she can die happy.”

A government spokesperson says: “This abhorrent practice should never have taken place and our deepest sympathies are with all those affected.” A spokesperson for the Church of England said: “It is horrifying to hear first-hand accounts of pain and distress experienced by women and their children connected to mother and baby homes, including any which were affiliated with the Church of England. There is no doubt that attitudes towards unmarried mothers in society at the time, including by many within the Church, often put immense pressure on young women to give up their babies for adoption. We all now recognise the profound and lasting impact some of these decisions have clearly had on so many lives and we express our heartfelt sorrow and regret for those who have been hurt.”

A spokesperson for the Diocese of Guildford said: “We feel immense sadness and regret for the emotional pain experienced by Jean and other women who were separated from their children. We are grateful to this programme for reuniting Jean with her daughter Cathy, but we are also aware that many like her would have sadly died without being reunited or having a sense of closure. While attitudes within the church and society have significantly changed since that time, it does not erase the lasting damage that these adoptions had on the women.” The Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary reflected and declined to comment and said that the allegation related to the “actions and decisions of sisters who are no longer with us”.

*Long Lost Family: The Mother And Baby Home Scandal airs across two nights on ITV1: September 3rd and 4th at 9pm

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