Bethany Clarke and her best friend Simone White were backpacking together around Southeast Asia when they drank bootleg shots laced with methanol – and it proved tragically fatal for Simone
Bethany and Simone were on a backpacking adventure when tragedy struck(Image: Bethany Clarke / SWNS)
A woman has died after unknowingly drinking shots laced with methanol.
Bethany Clarke, 28, from Orpington, southeast London, went backpacking around Southeast Asia with her best friend, Simone White, 28, last year.
Both the women drank the bootleg alcohol, and tragically it proved fatal for Simone.
Bethany and Simone started their backpacking in Cambodia and went from there to Laos. They had spent the day tubing down the river – a popular tourist activity – before returning to their hostel for a night of drinking.
Bethany said: “We had methanol-laced shots. We had five or six each, just mixing them with Sprite.
“The next morning, we didn’t feel right, but we just assumed it was a hangover. It was strange though – unlike any hangover I’d had before.
“It felt like being drunk but in a way where you couldn’t enjoy it. Something was just off.”
Despite their condition, they continued on with their plans, heading to the Blue Lagoon and kayaking down the river again.
Bethany added: “We were just lying on the backs of the kayaks, too weak to paddle. Simone was being sick off one of them. Neither of us wanted to swim or eat – which, we later learned, are early signs of methanol poisoning.”
It wasn’t until hours later, after they’d boarded a bus to their next destination, that things worsened, with Bethany fainting and Simone continuing to vomit.
Eventually, they were taken to a local hospital – one that Bethany described as “very poor”.
She said: “They had no idea what was wrong, they talked about food poisoning, but we hadn’t eaten the same things. It didn’t make sense.”
Still confused and deteriorating, the women made it to a private hospital. But by then it was too late.
Bethany said: “They told me they’d do all they could to save her. She was having seizures during dialysis.”
When Simone’s condition worsened, her mother, Sue White, flew out to Laos, arriving just as her daughter was being wheeled into emergency brain surgery.
Bethany said: “Her brain had started to swell, and they had to shave her head. The surgery relieved the pressure but caused bleeding and the other side started swelling.”
The results confirming methanol poisoning wouldn’t arrive until two weeks later. By then, Simone had died.
Bethany said: “On an emotional level, it’s been a lot to process. Sometimes I still think, ‘Why don’t you reach out to Simone for that?’ and then I remember I can’t.”
Bethany has channeled her grief into campaigning for change and awareness. She said: “People still aren’t aware and don’t know the signs to look for.
“The government aren’t doing enough to educate British citizens about the signs of methanol poisoning.
“In Australia, where I live now, they have a big TikTok campaign and signs in all the airports.
“There’s a lot more work to be done in the UK – we’re behind. Anywhere there is organised crime, the opportunity exists – even in the UK.
Bethany also reckons there will be more deaths until people become more aware.”It’s highly likely we’ll see more deaths unless the UK government acts in a more radical way,” she said.
“It has to be in people’s heads – stick to canned drinks. But bottles can be more risky because the cap could have been replaced.
“Any spirits can be a risk. I say ‘steer clear, drink beer’ which rolls off the tongue.”
Just recently, the Foreign Office added eight further countries to the risk list for methanol poisoning due to risks associated with counterfeit or tainted alcoholic drinks.
The list already covered Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Turkey, Costa Rica and Fiji.
Ecuador, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Russia and Uganda were now included in the list following incidents.
Methanol poisoning results from methanol being added to drinks such as cocktails and spirits to up the volume and cut costs.
Signs of the poisoning include nausea, vomiting, dizziness and confusion – and more distinctive symptoms, such as vision issues, can develop between 12 and 48 hours after consumption.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents also have shown up at community clinics. Health providers say officers tried to enter a parking lot hosting a mobile clinic, waved a machine gun in the faces of clinicians serving the homeless, and hauled a passerby into an unmarked car outside a community health center.
In response to such immigration enforcement activity in and around clinics and hospitals, Gov. Gavin Newsom last month signed SB 81, which prohibits medical establishments from allowing federal agents without a valid search warrant or court order into private areas, including places where patients receive treatment or discuss health matters.
But while the bill received broad support from medical groups, health care workers and immigrant rights advocates, legal experts say California can’t stop federal authorities from carrying out duties in public places like hospital lobbies and general waiting areas, parking lots and surrounding neighborhoods — places where recent ICE activities sparked outrage and fear. Previous federal restrictions on immigration enforcement in or near sensitive areas, including health care establishments, were rescinded by the Trump administration in January.
“The issue that states encounter is the supremacy clause,” said Sophia Genovese, a supervising attorney and clinical teaching fellow at Georgetown Law. She said the federal government has the right to conduct enforcement activities, and there are limits to what the state can do to stop them.
California’s law designates a patient’s immigration status and birthplace as protected information, which like medical records cannot be disclosed to law enforcement without a warrant or court order. And it requires health care facilities to have clear procedures for handling requests from immigration authorities, including training staff to immediately notify a designated administrator or legal counsel if agents ask to enter a private area or review patient records.
Several other Democratic-led states also have taken up legislation to protect patients at hospitals and health centers. In May, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed the Protect Civil Rights Immigration Status bill, which penalizes hospitals for unauthorized sharing of information about people in the country illegally and bars ICE agents from entering private areas of health care facilities without a judicial warrant. In Maryland, a law requiring the attorney general to create guidance on keeping ICE out of health care facilities went into effect in June. New Mexico instituted new patient data protections, and Rhode Island prohibited health care facilities from asking patients about their immigration status.
Republican-led states have aligned with federal efforts to prevent health care spending on immigrants without legal authorization. Such immigrants are not eligible for comprehensive Medicaid coverage, but states do bill the federal government for emergency care in certain cases. Under a law that took effect in 2023, Florida requires hospitals that accept Medicaid to ask about a patient’s legal status. In Texas, hospitals now have to report how much they spend on care for immigrants without legal authorization.
“Texans should not have to shoulder the burden of financially supporting medical care for illegal immigrants,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in issuing his executive order last year.
California’s efforts to rein in federal enforcement come as the state, where more than a quarter of residents are foreign-born, has become a target of President Trump’s immigration crackdown. Newsom signed SB 81 as part of a bill package prohibiting immigration agents from entering schools without a warrant, requiring law enforcement officers to identify themselves, and banning officers from wearing masks. SB 81 was passed on a party-line vote with no formal opposition.
“We’re not North Korea,” Newsom said during a September bill-signing ceremony. “We’re pushing back against these authoritarian tendencies and actions of this administration.”
Some supporters of the bill and legal experts said California’s law can prevent ICE from violating existing patient privacy rights. Those include the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits searches without a warrant in places where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Valid warrants must be issued by a court and signed by a judge. But ICE agents frequently use administrative warrants to try to gain access to private areas they don’t have the authority to enter, Genovese said.
“People don’t always understand the difference between an administrative warrant, which is a meaningless piece of paper, versus a judicial warrant that is enforceable,” Genovese said. Judicial warrants are rarely issued in immigration cases, she added.
The Department of Homeland Security said it won’t abide by California’s mask ban or identification requirements for law enforcement officers, slamming them as unconstitutional. The department did not respond to a request for comment on the state’s new rules for health care facilities, which went into immediate effect.
Tanya Broder, a senior counsel with the National Immigration Law Center, said immigration arrests at health care facilities appear to be relatively rare. But the federal decision to rescind protections around sensitive areas, she said, “has generated fear and uncertainty across the country.” Many of the most high-profile news reports of immigration agents at health care facilities have been in California, largely involving detained patients brought in for care.
The California Nurses Assn., the state’s largest nurses union, was a co-sponsor of the bill and raised concerns about the treatment of Milagro Solis-Portillo, a 36-year-old Salvadoran woman who was under round-the-clock ICE surveillance at Glendale Memorial Hospital over the summer.
Nurses say immigration agents brought a patient to California Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles and stayed in the patient’s room for almost a week.
(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
Union leaders also condemned the presence of agents at California Hospital Medical Center south of downtown Los Angeles. According to Anne Caputo-Pearl, a labor and delivery nurse and the chief union representative at the hospital, agents brought in a patient on Oct. 21 and remained in the patient’s room for almost a week. The Los Angeles Times reported that a TikTok streamer, Carlitos Ricardo Parias, was taken to the hospital that day after he was wounded during an immigration enforcement operation in South Los Angeles.
The presence of ICE was intimidating for nurses and patients, Caputo-Pearl said, and prompted visitor restrictions at the hospital. “We want better clarification,” she said. “Why is it that these agents are allowed to be in the room?”
Hospital and clinic representatives, however, said they already are following the law’s requirements, which largely reinforce extensive guidance put out by state Attorney General Rob Bonta in December.
Community clinics throughout Los Angeles County, which serve more than 2 million patients a year, including a large portion of immigrants, have been implementing the attorney general’s guidelines for months, said Louise McCarthy, president and chief executive of the Community Clinic Assn. of Los Angeles County. She said the law should help ensure uniform standards across health facilities that clinics refer out to and reassure patients that procedures are in place to protect them.
Still, it can’t prevent immigration raids from happening in the broader community, which have made some patients and even health workers afraid to venture outside, McCarthy said. Some incidents have occurred near clinics, including an arrest of a passerby outside a clinic in East Los Angeles, which a security guard caught on video, she said.
“We’ve had clinic staff say, ‘Is it safe for me to go out?’” she said.
At St. John’s Community Health, a network of 24 community health centers and five mobile clinics in South Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, chief executive Jim Mangia agreed the new law can’t prevent all immigration enforcement activity, but said it gives clinics a tool to push back with if agents show up, something his staff has had to do.
Mangia said St. John’s staff had two encounters with immigration agents over the summer. In one, he said, staff stopped armed officers from entering a gated parking lot at a drug and alcohol recovery center where doctors and nurses were seeing patients at a mobile health clinic.
Another occurred in July, when immigration agents descended upon MacArthur Park on horses and in armored vehicles, in a show of force by the Trump administration. Mangia said masked officers in full tactical gear surrounded a street medicine tent where St. John’s providers were tending to homeless patients, screamed at staff to get out and pointed a gun at them. The providers were so shaken by the episode, Mangia said, that he had to bring in mental health professionals to help them feel safe going back out on the street.
A DHS spokesperson told CalMatters that in the rare instance when agents enter certain sensitive locations, officers would need “secondary supervisor approval.”
Since then, St. John’s doubled down on providing support and training to staff and offered patients afraid to go out the option of home medical visits and grocery deliveries. Patient fears and ICE activity have decreased since the summer, Mangia said, but with DHS planning to hire an additional 10,000 ICE agents, he doubts that will last.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.
The winners moved celebrities, politicians and stars to tears with their stories of courage, bravery and brilliance at the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards
21:50, 20 Oct 2025Updated 21:51, 20 Oct 2025
It has been celebrating the very best of everything British for more than quarter of a century. And once again it was the children of courage and incredible stories of bravery in adversity which moved a host of celebrities, actors and sport stars to tears at the 26th Daily Mirror Pride of Britain awards, with P&O Cruises.
The Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was there with his wife Victoria to pay tribute to the long line of unsung heroes as they received the recognition they so richly deserve. At just 12 years old, Luke Mortimer typified what the night is all about when he received his Child of Courage trophy.
Luke had all his limbs amputated after contracting meningococcal meningitis septicaemia in 2019. Yet still he thought of others. The audience at the Grosvenor House Hotel gave him a huge round of applause as they heard how he had donated thousands for children with disabilities, through his extraordinary fundraising activities.
In 2024, he climbed Pen-y-ghent with his mum Christine and brother Harry, 15, meeting his dad Adam and a team of 19 who were climbing the National Three Peaks and Yorkshire Three Peaks. They raised almost £20,000 to help fund prosthetics for Luke and help other child amputees. He told his loved ones that we should all “concentrate on the future” as he set about helping others.
His favourite TV stars Ant and Dec sent a special message to Luke, who told host Carol Vorderman of his motto when life was tough: “Hope for a good time and try and make it happen.”
His dad Adam added: “We are massively proud of him, he takes everything in his slightly smaller stride.”
Marcus Skeet, 17, became the first person in the UK to run from Land’s End to John O’Groats as he fought back from a suicide attempt at the age of 15. He had obsessive compulsive disorder, and became a carer for his dad, who was diagnosed with early onset dementia.
Marcus admitted: “It shattered my heart.” After his suicide attempt, it was a ‘miracle’ that he had survived. Known as ‘the Hull Man’, with 350,000 followers on social media, he watched cars go by as he got caught in a rainstorm, with 790 miles to go in his epic run.
Marooned in a layby, soaked through, he still became a record breaker, raising £164,560 for mental health charity Mind, with his dad there to see him at the end. “I will remember that for the rest of my life,” said Marcus.
His incredible feat took a combination of supreme dedication and endurance and he joked: “I hate running.” Dr. Sarah Hughes, CEO at Mind paid tribute, saying: “His story reads like a film script, courage, loss, hope, and relentless determination.
“But Marcus isn’t a character; he’s a real-life hero.” Pub landlord comedian Al Murray revealed he had been inspired by Marcus to raise money for Mind. Looking for donors in the audience, he said: “Whether you are an actor or a rock star, you cannot fail to be moved by this night.”
Personal trainer Javeno McLean, 40, met his heroes as his work for the disabled, ill and elderly was recognised with the P&O Cruises Inspiration award.
Former world champion heavyweight David Haye joined legends of the ring Frank Bruno and Barry McGuigan to hand over the coveted trophy. They heard how Javeno has been offering free fitness sessions to the needy at his J7 Gym in Manchester.
At 16, he offered to train a boy in a wheelchair who was struggling in the gym. Since then, Javeno has been devoted to creating a friendly and inclusive gym space for all. He told the judges: “When you include people you empower them.”
Haye said it was an ‘honour’ to be chosen to give him the award. On a night of awe-inspiring stories, PCs Yasmin Whitfield, Cameron King and Inspector Moloy Campbell were recognised for their extraordinary bravery.
They answered an emergency call on an ‘ordinary’ working day which almost turned out to be their last. By the time they confronted sword attacker Marcus Arduini Monzo in Hainault, East London on April 20,2024, he had already killed Daniel Anjorin, 14.
Despite having no Taser or pepper spray, Pc King drew his baton and stood between the killer and Yasmin, who suffered horrific slash injuries.
Insp Campbell also suffered a slash wound to his hand after he confronted Monzo in a car park and ran at him, baton drawn. Other officers were able to deploy their Tasers and subdue the killer. PC King ‘stood between Yas and Monzo’, who ran off, before being cornered by cops. He said: “I remember just thinking, I can’t let him finish her off’. I put myself between Yas and him. I thought ‘we’re going to die in this alleyway.'” Insp Campbell admitted: “When I challenged Mr Monzo, I knew it may be the last decision I would ever make.” Monzo was later jailed for life with a minimum term of 40 years. In 2016, footy coach Asha Ali Rage 46, set up her community club, determined to use sport to protect youngsters from gangs. The aptly named Dream Chasers FC in Small Heath, Birmingham has since become a vital hub for her local community.
Asha received her award from England’s ‘Golden Gloves’ World Cup keeper Mary Earps who has done so much to raise the profile of sport for women; Asha’s Special Recognition Award was for “changing the lives” of the young stars of the future. Leanne Pero MBE, 30, won another recognition award for The Movement Factory community dance company which she founded when she was just 15. Londoner Leanne, who survived breast cancer, also started Black Women Rising, a cancer support group that has raised more than £1m to fund support and advice. She said of surviving cancer: “The worst part was finishing treatment.” Teenager of Courage winner Eagling Zach, 14, who has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, also donated to the Epilepsy Society by walking laps of his garden in the 2020 lockdown. After trolls bombarded him with flashing images to try to trigger a seizure, he campaigned for legislation to protect people with epilepsy online. Zach’s Law was introduced across England, Wales and Northern Ireland in Sept., 2023, making it a criminal offence, with a maximum five-year jail term, to troll anyone with epilepsy to deliberately cause a seizure. Zach has now launched a petition to ‘make a difference’ and try to ensure public transport is more accessible for disabled people. For Sally Becker, 63, helping those most in need in society has been her life’s work.
She first went to Bosnia in 1993 to help the victims of war. Tasked with taking aid to a hospital, she found herself evacuating sick and injured children in an old Bedford van.
She has now spent more than three decades helping children in besieged areas, such as Gaza, Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine.
In 2016, she founded Save a Child, providing medical treatment for kids in conflict areas. And she launched a mobile tele-medicine programme connecting local doctors with paediatric specialists. She said: “We have saved thousands of children.”
Georgie Hyslop, 15, was thrilled to be made the Good Morning Britain Fundraiser of the year. In 2023, when Georgie, then 15, was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer in the bones, she donated her tissue to Cancer Research. She raised more than £55,000 for hospitals and charities.
Through 14 rounds of chemo and 33 of radiation, Georgie gave cards with encouraging messages, known as “pocket hugs”, to fellow patients, and dressed up as Spider-Man to cheer up a four-year-old patient having radiotherapy.
Georgie, 17, from Ardrossan, Ayrshire, went into remission in July 2024, but the cancer returned earlier this year. She said: “I have lots of fundraising planned and lots to look forward to.”
Set up by three music teachers at an additional needs school in 1995, the Ups & Downs theatre group in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, is for young people with Down’s syndrome as well as their families.
Now led by Lorna Leggatt, whose son Ellis, 26, has been a member since he was five, Ups & Downs offers inclusive activities, including music, dance and drama, to around 70 members, who have Down’s syndrome or a sibling with the condition. Audiences leave their shows ‘deeply moved’.
Fellow PoB winner Harry Byrne lost his mother on Christmas Day; her death caused Harry, then 11, to descend into mental health problems, addiction and homelessness. Harry, 24, was helped by local homelessness charity St Basil’s and discovered The King’s Trust Get Started in Outdoor Leadership programme, landing a job in Coventry.
Now supporting young people facing difficulties, through outdoor activities, he hopes to run his own therapy-based coaching service. Harry said: “I didn’t have many role models or access to the support I needed when I was younger. I’m passionate about getting up every morning and providing just that for the next generation.”
RAF hero John Nichol, 61, the navigator from North Shields, North Tyneside who was shot down and captured in Iraq during the first gulf war of 1990, has attended every single one of the Pride of Britain’s 26 award nights. A good friend of the late awards founder Peter Willis, he said: “I was next to Gary Barlow on that first night and had to give him my hankie. I think there is only me and Carol Vorderman who have been to every one.
“Nobody knew what to expect, but it has become the best of the lot.”
Pictures: Rowan Griffiths, Adam Gerrard, Andy Stenning.
* Watch the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards with P&O Cruises on Thursday October 23 at 8pm on ITV1.
Medical TV show 24 hours in A&E is returning to London hospital St George’s four years after producers announced that it was relocating to Nottingham
24 Hours in A&E is to return to London hospital St George’s after relocating to Nottingham four years ago(Image: C4)
Medical reality TV show 24 Hours in A&E which highlights the hectic day to day life of emergency nurses and doctors, is set to return to London after four years. The Channel 4 show will now be filmed in the south west hospital St George’s, four years after relocating to Nottingham.
More than 130 cameras will track and provide viewers with fly on the wall footage of nurses, doctors and patients who walk through the doors of the accident and emergency room. The series has been running since 2014 and Kate Slemeck, who is the Managing Director for St George’s University HospitalsNHS Foundation Trust, said that she’s “incredibly proud” to bring it back to St George’s.
“[I’m proud] to showcase the unwavering work of our Emergency Department colleagues and the teams who work with them – from minor injuries to major traumas and everything in-between. A lot has changed since the last time the series was filmed here, including increased demand for our services – but the main thing viewers will take away is the expert care, compassion and kindness our patients receive every day.”
And Gabe Jones, Clinical Director and Consultant for Emergency Medicine and Major Trauma at St George’s, said: “I’m excited to show viewers our brilliant Emergency Department, which continues to deliver excellent care in the most challenging circumstances.”
He continued: “I’m proud of my exceptional colleagues for the life-saving work they will continue to do long after the cameras have stopped rolling, and am grateful to our patients for allowing us to document their most vulnerable moments. “
He went on to say: “We thank the staff at Queen Medical Centre in Nottingham for showing the NHS at its best, and are very pleased to welcome the series back to St George’s.”
In addition to the comments about the show returning to London, Manjeet Shemar, Medical Director at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH), said: “We are so proud to have been the home to 24 Hours in A&E for so long, bringing the show into the heart of our Nottingham community and sharing the incredible stories of our staff and patients. “
Manjeet explained: “The series gives the public the chance to see what it is like working in a busy emergency department like QMC, the complexities of it and the kind of things that staff see and work on day in and day out. It really is quite remarkable. I am so thankful that the series came to QMC, and even more so to those colleagues who were involved.”
Manjeet went on to say: “We’re excited for our colleagues over at St George’s to have the series return to them, and hope that the series will make a return to QMC one day in the future too.”
The show was first broadcast in 2011 and filmed from King’s College Hospital before moving to St George’s in 2014. The decision to relocate the TV show to Nottingham came after the broadcaster announced it was moving its headquarters to the city.
Produced by The Garden, the Director of Factual, Spencer Kelly added: “The privilege of being invited to film the brilliant work of our NHS staff and the brave patients it cares for, never wears thin. We are extremely grateful to everyone at Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham for allowing us to tell their story over the past few years and delighted to be welcomed back to St George’s for this exciting new chapter.”
A broadcast date remains to be confirmed but Rita Daniels, who is the Commissioning Editor for the channel said: “We’re grateful to Nottingham University Hospitals for the powerful and moving stories we’ve been privileged to film during our time there and the compassion and resilience shown by staff and patients alike has made a lasting impact on the series.
“As 24 Hours in A&E returns to St George’s Hospital in London – at the heart of the UK’s most populated city – we look forward to continuing to tell the extraordinary stories that unfold every day in our NHS.”
Kaylum and his sister Chantele Jones (Cover Images)
A man is facing a huge medical bill after severing an artery in his leg when a shower door shattered while he was on holiday. Kaylum Jones had to have surgery after cutting his leg while on holiday in Egypt, and now has a bill of £35,000.
Kaylum, 28, had travelled to Egypt with his partner and on the second day of his trip, a shower door shattered, severing an artery in his leg. Sister Chantele said: “It was so bad he thought he was going to die.”
When Kaylum got to hospital for major surgery, he was told that the travel insurance he had taken out would not cover the costs of the healthcare he needed. Kaylum had forgotten to take out insurance while in the UK, and did so upon arriving at the airport in Egypt.
“He had lost a lot of blood. His partner was in the other room sorting out all the insurance details while he was rushed into emergency surgery,” Chantele said. “He was actually awake while the surgery was happening. We were relying on his partner to communicate back to us with what was happening. It was a very long day waiting for the news.”
Chantele and her family have now set up a GoFundMe page in the hopes of raising funds towards the bill they have been left to pay in order for her brother to come home. “We have taken out a few loans, but they obviously have their repercussions,” Chantele said.
A total of £4,000 has been raised online so far. Now recovering from the major surgery to repair the artery, Kaylum is preparing to travel back to his home in Milton Keynes. Chantele is warning others to make sure they take out travel insurance before leaving the UK to go abroad.
“It does say in the small print that it needs to be taken out in the UK, but nobody ever reads that bit,” she said. Chantele said it is expected that her brother will need additional skin graft surgery once he is back in the UK.
She added that despite the language barriers, Kaylum has been treated “really well” while recovering from his accident in Egypt.
Strictly Come Dancing professional Amy Dowden has opened up about her cancer journey, admitting that it can be ‘very difficult’ and ‘worrying’ at times
Amy Dowden has opened up about a ‘difficult’ cancer moment(Image: BBC)
The Welsh dancer revealed she was initially scheduled for a lumpectomy after doctors discovered the tumour. This surgical procedure involves removing just the cancerous lumps and some surrounding tissue.
This led to doctors deciding she would need to undergo a full mastectomy. Speaking on the Breast Cancer Uncovered podcast, Amy confessed that making such quick decisions about your health can be “very difficult”.
She shared: “For me everything happened so quickly, at first I was having a lumpectomy and then after my MRI, there were more tumours so I needed a mastectomy, and all of a sudden you’re trying to make these decisions so quickly and you’re not really thinking rationally because you’re so emotional, it’s very difficult within the time.
“I do think it’s so important to be given all your options and to understand fully. I also didn’t know what I was going to wake up with, that’s quite worrying and scary as well.
“I didn’t know if it was going to wake up with it open or closed, I didn’t know if I was going to have an expander in, or an implant. Even going down to surgery, and I wanted the honesty, you don’t know what you are going to wake up with or what it’s going to look like.”
Amy’s cancer diagnosis forced her to sit out the 2023 series of Strictly following chemotherapy treatment.
In February last year, Amy revealed medics told her they discovered “no evidence of the disease” in her body, paving the way for her Strictly comeback.
She made her return to the programme a year ago, paired with JLS singer JB Gill. However, she was rushed to hospital in October, pulling out of the competition on November 4.
At the time, a Strictly spokesperson said: “Sadly, Amy Dowden MBE will not be partaking in the rest of the competition this year. While Amy focuses on her recovery following a foot injury, fellow professional dancer Lauren Oakley will step in as JB’s dance partner.
“The health and wellbeing of everyone involved in Strictly are always the utmost priority. The whole Strictly family sends Amy love and well wishes.”
Caerphilly-born Amy has made her comeback to the current series of Strictly, teamed up with former Apprentice hopeful Tom Skinner.
The reality TV personality said: “I’m beyond excited to be joining Strictly Come Dancing. I’ve tackled the boardroom and some big breakfasts in my time but stepping onto the dance floor under that glitter ball is next level stuff!
“I’ve never danced in my life (other than at weddings) but I’m ready to graft and of course have a laugh. Bring on the sequins, sambas and most importantly, the BOSH to the ballroom!”.
Gogglebox star Stephen Webb has opened up after feeling “really conscious”
A Gogglebox star has opened up about his health procedure (Image: Channel 4)
Stephen Webb has avoided cataracts after having vision correction surgery, revealing it has made him feel like a “new person”.
In August, the former Gogglebox star underwent Laser Lens Replacement/Refractive Lens Exchange – a common procedure that involves replacing the natural lens inside the eye with a synthetic implant, starting at £3,497 per eye.
Stephen, 54, felt “conscious” by how “bulgy” his eyes looked in glasses – of which the lenses kept “getting thicker” due to how bad his sight was getting.
The TV personality had a “15-minute per eye” treatment with Sheraz Daya at Centre for Sight’s hospital facility in Oxshott, Surrey, and the result of sharper vision has had a huge impact on Stephen.
“And every year, I’d go and get my eyes checked, and my prescription was just – the last sort of like 10 years, they’re just getting worse and worse and worse. So my prescription was going up, so that meant my glasses were getting thicker.
“So in the end, the last pair of glasses I bought just made my eyes look like the bottom of two bear glasses – really magnified.
“And I was really conscious about it – especially when people would look at you from side on, it would kind of make your eyes look really bulgy.
“So that was one of the reasons, pure vanity. I’m just sick of wearing [glasses]. They’re so expensive – every year I’d have to pay at least £6/700 for a pair of glasses.
“I’ve got really nice frames, they were always between 2 and 300 quid, the lenses are [£]400, and I was just finding that they just weren’t lasting, they were scratching a lot quickly.
“And I just thought, ‘I’m 54, I’m never going to get cataracts now.’ So I guess it was just preventative as well from stopping [my eyes] from getting even worse.”
Asked if he feels like a new person since his Laser Lens Replacement/Refractive Lens Exchange, Stephen continued: “Yeah, I do. Just because I’m really active, I do a lot of running, I horse ride, and wearing glasses is just a hindrance.
“When you’re running, they steam up; you can’t see through them. And it’s the same horse riding, I have to wear my helmet, and [glasses] just always got in the way.
“But glasses are always an issue. So, it’s just nice to be free of them.”
Now that he no longer wears glasses, Stephen revealed that people are not recognising him as much.
Speaking about his recent trip to Benidorm, Spain, the Celebs Go Dating star said: “People who tend to go to Benidorm are definitely my demographic – that’s my core fan base!
“And, yeah, it was just so lovely to go away for – I was only there four days to get some sun and not get recognised … it was just nice to have a break from that.”
However, Stephen’s distinctive voice is his “second” giveaway, as he quipped: “My big giveaway was my glasses. But my second giveaway is my voice.
“So if I speak too loudly, I’d see a few people look, they recognise – and people that approach me go, ‘I heard the voice.’ So I still had to [talk] quiet.”
Stephen was treated by Mr. Sheraz Daya at the Centre for Sight, the UK’s leading, trusted centre of excellence for advanced eye care, innovation and life-changing results. For more information, visit centreforsight.com.
At least 69 people were killed in a powerful earthquake that struck the central Philippine province of Cebu.
The magnitude 6.9 earthquake, which occurred at about 10pm (14:00 GMT) on Tuesday, trapped an unspecified number of residents in collapsed houses, nightclubs, and other businesses in Bogo City and outlying rural towns within Cebu, officials said.
Rescuers scrambled to find survivors on Wednesday. Army troops, police, and civilian volunteers, supported by backhoe diggers and sniffer dogs, were deployed to conduct house-to-house searches for survivors.
The epicentre of the earthquake — triggered by movement along an undersea fault line at a dangerously shallow depth of 5km (3 miles) — was about 19km (12 miles) northeast of Bogo, a coastal city of about 90,000 people in Cebu province, where about half of the deaths were reported, officials said.
The death toll in Bogo was likely to rise, according to officials, who noted that intermittent rain and damaged bridges and roads were hampering efforts to save lives.
“We’re still in the golden hour of our search and rescue,” Office of Civil Defence deputy administrator Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV said during a news briefing. “There are still many reports of people who were pinned or hit by debris.”
Deaths were also reported in the outlying towns of Medellin and San Remigio, where three coastguard personnel, a firefighter, and a child were killed separately by collapsing walls and falling debris while attempting to flee to safety from a basketball game in a sports complex that was disrupted by the quake, town officials said.
The earthquake was one of the most powerful to hit the central region in more than a decade.
Cebu and other provinces were still recovering from Typhoon Bualoi, which battered the central region on Friday, killing at least 27 people — mostly due to drownings and falling trees — knocking out power in entire cities and towns, and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands.
Schools and government offices were closed in the affected cities and towns while the safety of buildings was assessed. More than 600 aftershocks have been detected since Tuesday night’s earthquake, said Teresito Bacolcol, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Rain-soaked mountainsides were more susceptible to landslides and mudslides following a major earthquake, he warned.
“This was really traumatic to people. They have been lashed by a storm and then jolted by an earthquake,” Bacolcol said. “I don’t want to experience what they’ve gone through.”
The Philippines, one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, is frequently affected by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of seismic faults around the ocean. The archipelago is also battered by about 20 typhoons and storms each year.
Jamie Marie, 24, has explored a number of spooky places – but her creepy experience at one abandoned asylum, the Mansfield Training School, chilled her to the core
Jamie Marie sitting in a bath at Fairfield Hills State Hospital – another spooky location(Image: Jam Press/Jamie Marie)
An urban explorer has spoken about the ‘scariest night’ of her life after she paid a visit to a creepy abandoned hospital.
Jamie Marie is no stranger to spooky situations; she has braved more than 100 eerie sites. But there is one place she has vowed never to return to after a truly terrifying experience.
The Mansfield Training School in Connecticut, US, is a vast asylum that opened in 1860 but was finally shut in 1993 after years of scandal and neglect. It has been left to rot and has earned a reputation among ghost hunters who swear its dark corridors and tunnels are still haunted.
Jamie Marie pictured inside the Mansfield Training School(Image: Jam Press/Jamie Marie)
Now Jamie has shared details of her own spine-chilling ordeal in a clip racking up 925,000 views and 152,000 likes. “An energy I felt there steered me away from the property for over a year,” the photographer and social media manager told What’s The Jam.
“I made my way down to the basement, which included storage, a former electroshock room and a crematorium. The air turned very cold, and I was overwhelmed with a strange feeling. I can’t even put it into words.
“I felt that I needed to get out immediately and proceeded to do so.”
Jamie says the basement, with its electroshock room and crematorium, was so horrifying she bolted upstairs in panic. And the 24-year-old has vowed never to step foot in an asylum again.
She said: “I have not visited the basement floor since, but I have returned to the other portions of the campus. The experience didn’t make me stop urban exploring, but it kept me away from hospitals and asylums.
Jamie has said the experience has kept her away from abandoned asylums and hospitals (Image: Jam Press/Jamie Marie)
“Even as a sceptic, and someone who has been doing this for over a decade, I still become overwhelmed with the energy in these places.”
Jamie, who lives in New England, US, has seen her passion for the paranormal take her across the states.
She said: “I have always had a passion for abnormal and unsettling things. I have always loved stop-motion movies, puppets, the paranormal and everything Halloween.
“As I grew older, I needed to incorporate this interest into something more physical, like a hobby. I started exploring abandoned places with my best friend and found a way to mesh the non-physical interests of my childhood with an abnormal hobby.”
The creepy figure in the hallway of the abandoned school(Image: Jam Press/@places_forgotten)
“I was definitely alone in the building, it’s a very rural area and I called out and checked rooms before I started taking pictures,” he revealed to What’s the Jam.
The school was abandoned following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan in 2011, which claimed over 18,000 lives, including several thousands victims who were never recovered.
Ben continued: “The place is quite creepy because it is completely untouched. There are still the school bags on desks, homework on the walls, awards on the walls, even the plants which are dead in biology. It sits on its own on the outskirts of town with everything frozen in time.
“But it was only after looking back at my photos that I noticed a figure in the hallway. It was like a black and white figure and looked like a spirit. I just felt really weirdafter seeing it.
“I haven’t experienced much with the supernatural or spirits. But I know the Japanese believe spirits stay where they belong.”
One civil service whistleblower told ITV filmmakers he was “disgusted” by amount of profits some companies made
19:30, 19 Sep 2025Updated 19:32, 19 Sep 2025
Matt Hancock was Health Secretary during the covid crisis when a VIP priority lane was set up for PPE(Image: PA)
Details of how the Tories presided over one of the biggest government spending scandals of all time are to be revealed in a shocking new documentary.
Eye-watering waste running into many billions of pounds resulted from huge Covid contracts for mountains of personal protective equipment and medical tests.
One civil service whistleblower told ITV filmmakers: “I was disgusted at the amount of money that these companies were making. It was just ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching for them.”
Some companies with little or no track record in supplying PPE landed massive contracts, including many introduced by ministers and key government figures via the high-priority VIP lane.
Baroness Michelle Mone is being sued by the Department for Health for more than £120 million(Image: Getty Images)
The procurement unit saw staff from Gove’s Cabinet Office join the team(Image: Getty Images)
One firm, linked to Baroness Michelle Mone, is being sued by the Department for Health for more than £120 million for allegedly supplying unusable gowns. But the documentary names other previously unknown corporate winners.
Instead of buying four months of PPE stock as planned, within months of lockdown the government stockpiled years’ worth – including enough goggles to last 15 years.
One million pallets of unwanted PPE ended up being incinerated in what Gavin Hayman, of the Open Contracting partnership, says represents “probably the biggest government misspending scandal in the UK of all time”.
As the UK’s expensive Covid-19 inquiry rumbles on largely unnoticed by the public, new ITV documentary Exposures asks how we went from having almost no PPE to having more than we could possibly use.
The Mirror has previously revealed how thousands of ventilators bought for £50,000 each during the pandemic were sold off for as little as £100 via online auctions last year.
We also exposed how the NHS flogged 6,000 unused Nightingale hospital beds it had bought for £13million for just £410,000 as they were not suitable for hospitals. When the country went into lockdown in March 2020, the UK’s hospitals were woefully lacking in supplies of PPE.
Boris Johnson set up a new procurement unit run by Matt Hancock ’s Department of Health, with many of its staff coming from Michael Gove ’s Cabinet Office. The government put out public appeals to help source PPE from new suppliers, and the normal tender and competition rules were suspended.
Under pressure to respond quickly, a secret VIP lane was also set up by civil servants to deal with credible offers coming via ministers, MPs or senior officials.
Charles Huang’s firm, Innova, secured a contract after reaching out to Cummings
According to the documentary, this is when things started to go wrong. A whistleblower who was working in the department at the time was exasperated that companies with a background in supplying PPE were being sidelined in favour of VIPs.
The source tells the programme: “It was very frustrating because you’ve done a lot of the background work, taking the time to find out about the companies, see who their manufacturer was, so that we could check the manufacturer had the capability of producing as many items as they said, and then to find out none of your deals have gone through.
“The VIP lane was obviously the Premiership, and all the rest of the suppliers were in the second division.” Mr Gove and Mr Hancock say the VIP lane was created by officials to effectively prioritise significant offers, that ministers were not involved in decisions to award contracts and just forwarded promising leads to civil servants. They say their priority at the time was to “save lives and protect the NHS”.
The ITV film shows how two previously unnamed Covid-testing companies, Tanner Pharma and Nationwide Pathology, both made huge profits thanks to their contracts.
Nationwide made £40million over the pandemic, while Tanner was given testing contracts totalling £1.4bn after it contacted a Department of Health official.
Tanner went from a pre-pandemic loss off £678,000 to a cumulative profit over the pandemic of £193m. Its American owner, Banks Bourne, paid himself a £148m dividend, courtesy of the British taxpayer.
Another company called Innova appeared from nowhere in March 2020. It was set up by Charles Huang, who rain a private equity firm in California.
Innova got its contract after it reached out to Dominic Cummings, who was Boris Johnson’s advisor at the time. By the end of the pandemic, Innova had been paid over £5bn by the UK government despite having no track record in supplying medical goods.
By contrast, Arco is a leading UK supplier of PPE with over 50 years’ experience. It sent 750,000 PPE kits to Sierra Leone during the ebola epidemic. But when Covid arrived, nobody was returning their calls.
Arco chairman Thomas Martin tells Exposure: “We used the government portals, we used all of our existing contacts. There would be 50 or 60 attempts every day to break through, and we were coming up against the closed door. I couldn’t understand why anyone in charge would choose to ignore the expertise on tap.
“The safety industry was not mobilised.” In all, the UK spent around £15bn on PPE. The whistleblower adds: “We had so much, but we were still buying when we didn’t need any more. We weren’t able to warehouse it, and it was getting left at docks.”
By March 2022, the UK had 300 pieces of unused PPE for every person in the country. Companies that were hired to supply PPE were now being rewarded again to store it. Much of it ended up incinerated. The whistleblower concludes: “We were wasting so much money.”
Tanner Pharma said: “Tanner Pharma was selected to provide lateral flow tests because they were determined by UKHSA to have high specificity and sensitivity. We were not referred to the high-priority lane and delivered over 480m reliable, accurate testing kits.”
Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, Michelle Mone and Nationwide Pathology all declined to comment.
* The Covid Contracts: Follow the Money is on Sunday night on ITV at 10.15pm.
Airport has eased the 100ml liquids restriction for hand luggage that has been enforced globally since 2006
14:21, 19 Sep 2025Updated 14:24, 19 Sep 2025
Passengers at Dublin Airport will no longer need to remove liquids, gels, or electronics from their hand luggage at security(Image: Getty)
As of today (19 September), Dublin Airport, the most frequented airport by UK passengers, has relaxed a key rule. The airport has announced that it is easing the 100ml liquids restriction for hand luggage, a rule that has been globally enforced since 2006.
The previous rule limiting liquids to 100ml or less is also being relaxed. Departing passengers are now allowed to carry up to 2 litres in their hand luggage, and liquids and gels no longer need to be packed into clear plastic bags.
This change is due to a multi-million-euro upgrade in scanning technology used to screen departing passengers and their hand luggage before they fly, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Around 30 new state-of-the-art “C3” scanners and body scanners have been installed in Dublin Airport’s two terminals. These new C3 scanners use technology similar to CT scanners in hospitals, generating 3D images of bags, which make it easier to detect what is inside.
Dublin Airport is one of the first airports in Europe to fully switch over to C3, providing the best threat detection technology available within the aviation industry.
Gary McLean, Managing Director of Dublin Airport said: “This is a very positive and welcome development for passengers and staff. The new C3 scanners are best in class in terms of security detection standards and they significantly enhance the passenger experience, permitting passengers to leave all liquids and laptops inside their cabin bags with the systems working like CT scanners in hospitals to generate 3D images of bags.
“Nevertheless, security times over the recent peak summer months, when we handled a record 11 million passengers, were both smooth and efficient, with 96% of passengers proceeding through security screening in under 20 minutes. This investment puts Dublin Airport on a par with the best airports in the world when it comes to having the best and most efficient scanning technology available.”
Last summer travellers preparing to depart from UK airports were advised to assume the 100ml liquids rule remained in force unless they had been informed otherwise by their airport, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander cautioned.
What’s changed?
Liquids, gels and electronics can stay in your hand luggage when going through security.
There is no limit on the number of liquids and gels that can be carried in your hand luggage.
The previous 100ml maximum limit on liquids and gels no longer applies and items of up to 2 litres can be carried.
Liquids and gels no longer need to be packed inside clear plastic bags.
What’s staying the same?
Items such as belts, footwear which extends over the ankle, jackets, hoodies and oversized jumpers and cardigans must be removed and placed in the security tray.
Passengers must continue to remove all items from their pockets, including keys, wallets and phones.
Edinburgh and Birmingham airports were amongst the first to permit travellers to retain liquids in their bags whilst passing through security, with each liquid container permitted up to two litres.
Large electrical items, such as tablets and laptops, can also stay in bags. The introduction of CT scanners, which generate more detailed images of what’s inside luggage, is the reason behind this.
The current airport security rules regarding liquids were put in place in 2006 after a thwarted terror plot to blow up planes flying from London to the US with homemade liquid bombs.
This led to the rule that liquids must be no more than 100ml and placed in clear plastic bags. One of the main causes of delays at airport security is travellers failing to comply with this rule.
In August 2019, then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson set a deadline for most major airports to install new scanners by December 2022.
However, after the aviation industry was hit hard by coronavirus travel restrictions, then-Transport Secretary Mark Harper pushed back the deadline to June 1, 2024, in December 2022.
Several airports struggling to meet the deadline, largely due to supply chain delays, were granted extensions in April last year.
Two months later, the 100ml limit was reinstated at compliant airports due to concerns about how the machines were functioning.
Several airports, including Gatwick, London City, Luton, and Teesside, allow passengers to keep liquids in their bags, but only in containers of up to 100ml each.
Birmingham installed its new scanners last summer, but kept the 100ml liquids rule until regulatory approval was given. Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport, said the vast majority of its passengers are using the new security lanes, and it is working with the Government to complete the rollout.
Passengers are advised to brace themselves for the 100ml rule to be in effect for their flight.
There are around eight flights a day between Liverpool John Lennon Airport and Dublin, where there are new rules(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
Videos show the aftermath of Israeli strikes near two of Gaza’s last functioning hospitals. At least 15 Palestinians were killed outside al-Shifa, while several more died in a separate attack near al-Ahli.
She was one of the most successful comics of her time in Britain and was once dubbed the “funniest woman in the world”
Hylda Baker died penniless(Image: ITV)
Hylda Baker, a beloved BBC actress and comedian, sadly passed away penniless despite her decades of fame and a successful stint on the hit ITV sitcom Nearest and Dearest.
The talented Hylda first graced the stage at the tender age of 10 and was already producing her own shows by the time she turned 14.
She became a household name after appearing on the BBC show Good Old Days in 1955, which paved the way for her own television series, Be Soon, in 1957. This was followed by her own sitcom, The Best of Friends, in 1963.
Hylda stood out as one of the most successful female comics in Britain during an era dominated by male comedians. However, she is perhaps best remembered for her portrayal of Nellie Pledge in Nearest and Dearest from 1968 until 1973.
Despite her incredible fame, which included roles in films like Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and the musical Oliver!, Hylda tragically didn’t have a penny to her name when she passed away. Known for bringing joy to others through her performances, her personal life was unfortunately filled with hardship, reports the Daily Record.
One BBC star died without a penny to her name(Image: ITV)
Hylda married Ben Pearson in 1929, but their marriage fell apart after Hylda suffered two ectopic pregnancies. The couple legally separated four years later in 1933, according to the Express.
Tragedy struck again for the actress when she was hit by a passing car in 1961, leaving her injured. After suing the driver for damages, she was awarded just over £4,000 in 1965.
In 1971, six years later, her chauffeur nicked £2,500 of her money and legged it, only to be nabbed three months later with a mere £45 left of the stolen cash.
At the age of 67, Hylda began showing signs of cognitive decline.
She had to rely on cue cards to remember her lines for the later series of Nearest and Dearest, and her acting career came to a halt when she broke her leg after a fall on set and decided to take legal action against production company LWT following the injury.
Hylda was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and moved into Brinsworth House retirement home in 1981 when she was 76.
She died in 1986 at Horton Psychiatric Hospital in Surrey from bronchial pneumonia.
Despite all her fame and success, she tragically spent her final years penniless and “lonely and forgotten”, according to Pride of Manchester, with fewer than 10 people reported to have attended her funeral.
SACRAMENTO — Responding to the Trump administration’s aggressive and unceasing immigration raids in Southern California, state lawmakers this week began strengthening protections for immigrants in schools, hospitals and other areas targeted by federal agents.
The Democratic-led California Legislature is considering nearly a dozen bills aimed at shielding immigrants who are in the country illegally, including helping children of families being ripped apart in the enforcement actions.
“Californians want smart, sensible solutions and we want safe communities,” said Assemblymember Christopher Ward (D-San Diego). “They do not want peaceful neighbors ripped out of schools, ripped out of hospitals, ripped out of their workplaces.”
Earlier this week, lawmakers passed two bills focused on protecting schoolchildren.
Senate Bill 98, authored by Sen. Sasha Renée Peréz (D-Alhambra), would require school administrators to notify families and students if federal agents conduct immigration operations on a K-12 or college campus.
Legislation introduced by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Rolling Hills Estates), AB 49, would bar immigration agents from nonpublic areas of a school unless they had a judicial warrant or court order. It also would bar school districts from providing information about pupils, their families, teachers and school employees to immigration authorities without a warrant.
A separate bill by Sen. Jesse Arreguín (D-Berkeley), SB 81, would bar healthcare officials from disclosing a patient’s immigration status or birthplace, or giving access to nonpublic spaces in hospitals and clinics, to immigration authorities without a search warrant or court order.
All three bills now head to Gov. Gavin Newsom for his consideration. If signed into law, the legislation would take effect immediately.
The school-related bills, said L.A. school board member Rocio Rivas, provide “critical protections for students, parents and families, helping ensure schools remain safe spaces where every student can learn and thrive without fear.”
Federal immigration agents have recently detained several 18-year-old high school students, including Benjamin Marcelo Guerrero-Cruz, who was picked up last month while walking his dog a few days before he started his senior year at Reseda Charter High School.
Most Republican legislators voted against the bills, but Peréz’s measure received support from two Republican lawmakers, Assemblymember Juan Alanis (R-Modesto) and state Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa). Muratsuchi’s had support from six Republicans.
“No person should be able to go into a school and take possession of another person’s child without properly identifying themselves,” Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) said before voting to support the bill.
The healthcare bill follows a surge in cancellations for health appointments as immigrants stay home, fearing that if they go to a doctor or to a clinic, they could be swept up in an immigration raid.
California Nurses Assn. President Sandy Reding said that federal agents’ recent raids have disregarded “traditional safe havens” such as clinics and hospitals, and that Newsom’s approval would ensure that people who need medical treatment can “safely receive care without fear or intimidation.”
Some Republicans pushed back against the package of bills, including outspoken conservative Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego), who said that the raids that Democrats are “making such hay over” were triggered by the state’s “sanctuary” law passed in 2018.
The state law DeMaio attacked, SB 54, bars local law enforcement from helping enforce federal immigration laws, including arresting someone solely for having a deportation order, and from holding someone in jail for extra time so immigration agents can pick them up.
The law, criticized by President Trump and Republicans nationwide, does not prevent police from informing federal agents that someone who is in the country illegally is about to be released from custody.
“If you wanted a more orderly process for the enforcement of federal immigration rules, you’d back down from your utter failure of SB54,” DeMaio said.
Chino Valley Unified School Board President Sonja Shaw, a Trump supporter who is running for state superintendent of public instruction, said that the bills about school safety were “political theater that create fear where none is needed.”
“Schools already require proper judicial orders before allowing immigration enforcement on campus, so these bills don’t change anything,” Shaw said. “They are gaslighting families into believing that schools are unsafe, when in reality the system already protects students.”
But Muratsuchi, who is also running for superintendent, said the goal of the legislation is to ensure that districts everywhere, “including in more conservative areas,” protect their students against immigration enforcement.
A half-dozen other immigration bills are still pending in the Legislature. Lawmakers have until next Friday to send bills to Newsom’s desk before the 2025 session is adjourned.
Those include AB 495 by Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez (D-San Fernando), which would make it easier for parents to designate caregivers who are not blood relatives — including godparents and teachers — as short-term guardians for their children. An increasing number of immigrant parents have made emergency arrangements in the event they are deported.
The bill would allow nonrelatives to make decisions such as enrolling a child in school and consenting to some medical care.
Conservatives have criticized the bill as an attack on parental rights and have said that the law could be misused by estranged family members or even sexual predators — and that current guidelines for establishing family emergency plans are adequate.
Also still pending is AB 1261, by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Alameda), which would establish a right to legal representation for unaccompanied children in federal immigration court proceedings; and SB 841 by Sen. Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), which would restrict access for immigration authorities at shelters for homeless people and survivors of rape, domestic violence and human trafficking.
Michelle Ryan’s Zoe Slater is at the centre of many iconic moments on Albert Square
Zoe Slater has an iconic past on EastEnders(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Jack Barns/Kieron McCarron)
Zoe Slater is officially back in Walford. Michelle Ryan and her iconic character returned to EastEnders permanently this week and her storyline is already of to a dramatic start, complete with dark secrets, arguments outside the Vic and a shocking shooting.
The character’s return was hotly anticipated by fans ever since she briefly appeared in three episodes earlier this year. Her reunion with mum Kat Slater aired on Tuesday night (2 September) and fans have flocked to the internet to share their theories around where her storyline might go.
Zoe is fan favourite on EastEnders thanks to her involvement in many of the show’s iconic moments and characters. Here we take a look at her past, from her reason for leaving Walford to one of the show’s most quoted arguments…
Zoe first arrived in Walford in 2000(Image: BBC)
Arriving in Walford
Twenty five years ago, The Slater family first burst onto the BBC soap. A teenage Zoe moved to Albert Square with her sisters, Kat, Lynne and Little Mo, father Charlie and grandmother Mo Harris.
Later, her cousin Stacey would arrive and become one the core members of the family, but at the start, Zoe was the youngest Slater and described by the BBC as “bolshy and defiant”. Though her family had just moved to Walford, she was intent on getting away and joining her Uncle Harry in Spain – something Kat was not willing to let happen.
Zoe and Kat’s argument is one of EastEnders’ most iconic fights(Image: Press Association Images)
Finding out who her mother is
Less than a year after she arrived, Zoe wanted to leave Walford to join Harry Slater, her uncle, in Spain. Her sister Kat is not willing to let that happen and orders Zoe not to go.
In a fight outside the Vic, Zoe yells the first half of one EastEnders’ most iconic quotes: “You can’t tell me what to do, you ain’t my mother!”
“Yes, I am!” Kat responds.
She explains that she was 13 when she had Zoe and that she got pregnant after being raped by Harry. The argument leads Kat to attempt suicide, and Zoe, unable to process what she’s learned, runs away.
The twist has affected Kat for the rest of her time on the show and even led to a spin-off called Kat & Alfie: Redwater, in which she goes looking for Luke, her long-lost son and Zoe’s twin brother.
During her first time away from Walford, Zoe is found on the streets by Roxy Drake, a pimp who forces her into sex work. Thankfully, Kat tracks her daughter down and is able to take her home after head-butting Roxy.
Zoe and Kat were once in a love triangle(Image: BBC)
Love triangle with Kat
Eagle-eyed fans may have noticed a weird look Zoe gave to Anthony Trueman when she entered the Vic on Tuesday’s episode. This is because the two used to be in a relationship.
But Zoe is not the only Slater that Anthony has been involved with. In fact, before he dated her, Anthony was dating Kat. Zoe disowned Kat for disapproving of the relationship but when Anthony reveals that he’s still in love with Kat, the relationship ends and Zoe runs away again.
Den persuaded Zoe to sleep with him and get pregnant(Image: BBC)
Sleeping with Den Watts
When Zoe returns again, she starts to date Dennis Rickman, the son of iconic EastEnders villain Den Watts. The relationship with Dennis was doomed from the start, as unbeknownst to Zoe, he was in love with his adoptive sister, Sharon Watts.
On Christmas Day 2005, Zoe learns of Dennis and Sharon’s affair and plan to run away together. Den convinces Zoe that the only way to keep Dennis is to say she is pregnant, as Sharon is believed to be infertile.
The plan works but Dennis refuses to sleep with Zoe again and she becomes desperate to get pregnant for real. At his suggestion, Zoe resorts to sleeping with Den.
After Dennis catches his girlfriend and his father in bed together, and realises Zoe wasn’t pregnant, he leaves to be with Sharon. But not before informing Den’s wife Chrissie of his affair with Zoe.
Zoe does get pregnant by Den and a vengeful Chrissie convinces her to terminate the pregnancy and team up to exact revenge on Den. Joined by Sam Mitchell, the three hatch a plan to reveal everything he has done to his beloved daughter Sharon.
Upon learning of the way Den used her infertility against her, Sharon disowns him. When Den realised this was Chrissie’s plan, he attacks her and a distressed Zoe panics and hits him with a metal doorstop. Den collapses and Zoe believes she has killed him.
But, after she leaves, Den wakes up and grabs Chrissie who hits him with the same doorstop. Zoe is led to believe she is the murderer, but is eventually told the truth by Sam. When she learns what really happened, Zoe punches Chrissie and decides to leave Walford.
Zoe left Walford for good in 2005
Leaving Walford
Before this year, the last time Zoe was seen on EastEnders was when she was leaving for Ibiza after finding out she wasn’t responsible for Den Watts’ murder. At the tube station, Zoe tearfully called Kat to say goodbye.
Kat races to meet Zoe at the station and gives her the hospital bracelet she had as a baby. Zoe replied: “I love you, Mum.”
The two parted on good terms, and Zoe wasn’t seen again on screen until this year, when she was revealed to be staying with Stacey Slater. However, as proven by her frosty reunion with Kat, something must have changed.
In 2015, Kat tells Mo and Stacey that she was planning to save some money to visit Zoe in Spain, but Mo tells Stacey that Zoe does not want to see Kat. Mo tries to contact Zoe to change her mind, but she refuses and tells Kat that she wants to move on from her and Walford. Kat then visits the convent where she gave birth to Zoe and finds out about her son, Luke.
Zoe first returned in June(Image: BBC)
Return to Walford
Zoe’s return to EastEnders got fully underway in the most recent episodes of the soap and fans have many theories about what she has been up to in the two decades since she left. Some have suggested she may be the real mother of Joel Marshall, one of the show’s current villains.
Others have guessed she is secretly be married to another returning favourite, Max Branning. If so, she would be the second Slater to be involved with him, as Stacey has been romantically linked to Max several times, including when she was still dating his son, Bradley.
EastEnders airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7:30pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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All hell will break loose in bombshell scenes as Robert Sugden goes above and beyond to save his ex-husband Aaron Dingle from John Sugden’s grasp – but things will go awry.
John Sugden continues to wreak havoc in Emmerdale next week – and he could claim another victim
Two lives are left hanging in the balance next week and it may mean trouble for Robert Sugden as he’s left to grapple alone with the aftermath.
Ryan Hawley’s Robert Sugden goes all out to protect his ex-husband Aaron Dingle from John Sugden’s clutches in Emmerdale – even if it means putting himself back on the firing line.
“His suspicions are renewed when he hears Tracy talking to Charity,” says Ryan. “She says there’s something more going on. He then finds out that Aaron and John are away at this cottage. He’s worried about Aaron, who’s in danger. That’s his primary focus.”
Aaron (Danny Miller) has been torn between love and loyalty in recent months. John (Oliver Farnworth) offered him security but Robert’s return to the village reopened old wounds – and old passions.
But from the moment he met his half-brother John, Robert sensed trouble. “He thinks there are too many things that don’t add up,” Ryan says, “He’s always had the suspicion there’s something wrong about John.”
John, who has blood on his hands from Nate’s death and Mackenzie’s disappearance, knows Robert is circling. To keep his crimes under wraps, he isolates Aaron and tightens his grip.
But when Robert tracks them down with help from Eric Pollard, the façade breaks wide open. Robert accuses John of murder, triggering an explosive confrontation.
John Sugden has been determined to cover his tracks and, next week, his plan could lead to heartbreak in the Dales
“He suspects that John is to blame for Nate’s murder,” Ryan says. “Robert gets banged out in one go. He’s not very good at fighting.” The drama escalates in the woods, as Robert regains consciousness and gives chase. Paranoia then collides with betrayal. “John instantly thinks that Aaron’s been lying to him,” Ryan says.
“He knows that Aaron and Robert have had an affair so he instantly suspects there’s more betrayal. Then John comes up with his own survival instinct plan.”
That plan turns deadly. As truths about Nate and Mackenzie emerge, John drags Aaron into his spiral – literally. In a shock move, John pulls Aaron with him down a gorge, leaving Robert horrified.
“There’s so much going on,” Ryan says, “They’re on the edge of a cliff, there’s a revelation about Mack and another about Nate. It’s a very perplexing situation. He approaches the gorge and looks over. And he sees two lifeless-looking bodies at the bottom.”
But the nightmare doesn’t stop there. For Robert, who only walked free on parole in May after serving time for Lee Posner’s murder, the fallout could be catastrophic.
Robert witnesses a tragedy next week and has to grapple alone with the fallout
“I don’t think he realises at that moment,” Ryan says. “It’s only later in the hospital that people start accusing him.” Could the accusations send Robert straight back to prison?
Behind the scenes, the intense stunt work tested everyone involved. Filming the gorge scenes took a gruelling three days. But Ryan reveled in the challenge. “It’s fun to see people do cool things and make the scenes look great,” he says.
For Ryan, who returned to Emmerdale after six years of absence, this storyline has been worth the wait. “I’m very much enjoying it,” he says, “I get to work with everyone.”
And while Robert’s future hangs by a fragile thread, John’s fate seems much darker. “It’s a great climax, a great ending to the story of this serial killer,” he says, “I read every single scene in it all the way through. I loved it.” Are the walls finally closing in on John?
The Foreign Office has issued updated travel advice for Indonesia after violent riots erupted across the country, leaving seven people dead and hundreds injured in the worst unrest the nation has seen for years
Bali itself carries significant risks that many British tourists remain unaware of until it’s too la(Image: Getty)
Brits planning a holiday to Bali have been issued an urgent safety warning as violent riots break out across Indonesia, resulting in seven fatalities and hundreds of injuries in the worst unrest the country has experienced in years.
The Foreign Office has updated its travel advice due to the increasing risk of civil disorder and terror attacks, following intense street fights between police and protesters throughout the vast archipelago.
Rampaging crowds have set regional parliament buildings ablaze, embarked on extensive looting sprees and engaged in fierce clashes with security forces as the political crisis intensifies.
The death toll continues to rise, with three individuals losing their lives in Makassar after irate protesters torched a parliament building, resulting in scenes of complete devastation, reports the Express.
The violence took a dramatic turn when 21 year old ride-hailing driver Affan Kurniawan was tragically killed by a police vehicle in Jakarta, sparking national outrage and igniting further waves of anti-government anger.
A student tragically lost his life during violent clashes in Yogyakarta, while a pensioner pedicab driver passed away after inhaling tear gas during confrontations in Solo, adding to the growing human toll of the political chaos.
Jakarta’s health office has confirmed a shocking 469 people have been injured since the violence erupted, with nearly 100 needing hospital treatment for their injuries.
Protesters rides a motorcycle in front of a police headquarters that was burned and looted during de(Image: AFP)
President orders crackdown as terror threat looms
President Prabowo Subianto expressed his shock and disappointment over the killing of Kurniawan but has commanded police and military forces to take the “firmest possible action” against rioters as the situation spirals out of control.
“There are signs of unlawful acts, even leading to treason and terrorism,” he cautioned in a chilling statement that highlights the severity of the crisis engulfing the nation.
Rehayu Saraswati, a member of the ruling party, admitted the scale of the protests had taken the government by surprise.
She confessed to the BBC: “I don’t think any of us saw this coming. It happened very, very quickly within a matter of days.”
But she dismissed accusations that the government had been deaf to public concerns, adding: “We understand that the situation is difficult, and that the economy has been quite, I would say, challenging for some people.
“The recently announced cuts to the parliamentary budget and allowances are a way to show that we are listening.”
Molotov cocktails and snipers as military deployed
The violence has escalated to worrying levels, with protestors lobbing Molotov cocktails and firecrackers at police lines in Bandung, while thousands more have taken to the streets across Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Sulawesi.
Troops have been dispatched across Jakarta in scenes eerily similar to military rule, with snipers stationed in key strategic areas, checkpoints set up throughout the city, and schools forced to shut due to safety concerns.
The United Nations has called on Indonesia to probe allegations of “disproportionate force” used by police against demonstrators, underlining global concern over the spiralling crisis.
A protester walk in front of Police Office building of Tegalsari Surabaya Sector
Protestors dismiss government concessions
Despite government efforts to defuse the situation, protest leaders have rejected the concessions – including scrapping the controversial allowance and banning overseas trips for MPs – as pitifully insufficient.
Muzammil Ihsan, leader of the country’s largest student group, delivered a resolute message: “The government must resolve deep-rooted problems.
“The anger on the streets is not without cause.”
Political pundits have cautioned that the unrest presents the first significant challenge for Subianto’s presidency and could seriously rattle investor confidence, with Indonesia’s stock index already plunging more than three percent on Monday as markets responded to the turmoil.
Foreign Office issues urgent travel warning
The UK Foreign Office is now urging British holidaymakers to avoid protests and large gatherings, emphasising that peaceful demonstrations can quickly turn violent.
In its updated travel advice, the FCDO warned: “Terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in Indonesia. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreign nationals.
“Potential targets can include beach resorts, hotels, bars and restaurants, markets and shopping malls, tourist attractions, places of worship, foreign embassies, polling stations, ferry terminals and airports.”
Travellers are being advised to remain extra alert during national holidays, religious festivals and elections, when the terror threat becomes particularly acute.
People look around in a burned Indonesian Police Office building
Bali’s hidden perils revealed
Apart from the ongoing political turmoil, Bali presents considerable dangers that many British tourists don’t realise until it’s far too late.
Authorities have spotlighted worrying accounts of sexual attacks, drink tampering cases, methanol poisoning from fake alcohol, and violent bag-snatching in bustling tourist areas.
Holiday-makers are being urged to monitor drinks being made at all times, steer clear of potentially fatal homemade alcohol, and only buy drinks from properly authorised establishments to prevent poisoning.
The FCDO has also raised concerns about the ongoing risk of opportunistic theft and elaborate cons designed to exploit unwary tourists. British holidaymakers should pack only vital belongings, safeguard passports and bank cards constantly, and stick to licensed taxi firms like Bluebird, Silverbird or Express – whilst thoroughly verifying drivers correspond with app reservations.
Authorities issued a blunt warning that no overseas journey is entirely without danger, stating: “Read all advice carefully and ensure you have comprehensive travel insurance.”
The country tops the list for travellers looking for top-quality healthcare abroad, with an overall healthcare score of 78.72. The UK didn’t make the top 10 and ranked 27th out of 110.
One country scored an impressive 78.72 for their healthcare(Image: Twenty47studio via Getty Images)
Almost half of Brits are planning a winter getaway, with one in six jetting off to Asia, the Middle East, Central and South America, according to Scott Dunn Travel. However, health concerns while abroad are a worry for some holidaymakers.
New research from 1st Move International Removals has delved into healthcare options overseas. The study evaluated factors such as medicine availability and cost, government readiness, and medical infrastructure and professionals.
Shockingly, the UK didn’t even make it into the top 10, coming in at 27th out of 110 countries. The UK scored 47.15 out of 100 on the Healthcare Index, but did best in the Medical Infrastructure and Professionals category with 78.03, reports the Express.
Taiwan beat the likes of Australia and Canada to the top spot(Image: Twenty47studio via Getty Images)
So, which country offers the best healthcare for travellers?
Taiwan takes the top spot for those seeking high-quality healthcare abroad, boasting an overall score of 78.72.
With an impressive infrastructure rating of 87.16, Taiwan’s efficient medical system ensures easy access to top professionals and facilities. Its highly praised National Health Insurance (NHI) system caters to both nationals and expats, making Taiwan an ideal destination for health-conscious travellers.
South Korea takes the second spot, providing peace of mind for tourists with a robust healthcare score of 77.7. Renowned for its state-of-the-art hospitals and skilled staff, South Korea’s infrastructure scores 79.05, ensuring dependable care for visitors.
The nation’s healthcare system, which operates on a national health insurance model, also benefits expats who are eligible to enrol after six months.
Australia ranks third, offering reliable healthcare to tourists with an overall score of 74.11. With an infrastructure rating of 90.75, the country boasts some of the world’s top hospitals and professionals.
Australia offers comprehensive medical coverage for its residents through Medicare, including GP appointments and hospital visits. For expats, a two percent Medicare Levy is applicable.
The UK came a disappointing 27th (Image: Getty)
Here are the top 10 countries offering the best healthcare for travellers:
As gang violence grips Haiti, Kareen Ulysse searches for supplies critical to the survival of babies at her family-run hospital.
While many people are forced to flee the violence devastating Haiti, Kareen Ulysse decides to stay and keep her family-run hospital open in the gang-controlled area of Cite Soleil. The chaos that has caused thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than a million people has also led to many babies being abandoned at Hospital Fontaine’s neonatal clinic.
As the airport is closed and hospitals come under increasing attack, the strain on obtaining urgent medical supplies intensifies. Amid this escalating crisis, Kareen finds herself in a race against time to obtain oxygen crucial to the newborn babies in her care.
Healing Haiti’s Children is a documentary film by Rosie Collyer.
