TIKTOK star Becki Jones has admitted she “fell out of love with food” after losing a considerable amount of weight.
Becki, 33, has been subjected to countless rumours about how she slimmed down with many of her followers assuming she used fat jabs or opted for weight loss surgery.
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TikTok star Becki Jones has confessed she ‘fell out of love with food’Credit: YouTube/@notmybaggThe star has had a considerable weight loss over the past yearCredit: Instagram
Whilst Becki has stopped short of saying exactly how she managed to lose the pounds, she has previously alluded to withholding some information regarding her weight journey from public view.
Speaking on Not My Bagg, Becki admitted she would not be divulging any further information but revealed she was still going through something in regards to her weight.
Becki Jones shares her transformation after a year of changeCredit: InstagramBecki’s weight loss has been the talk of the internetCredit: Instagram
Becki said: “I’ve been through, this is quite upsetting but I’ve been through quite a bad time with food, and I’ve fell out of love with food.
Former Lakers assistant coach Damon Jones became the first among 34 defendants to plead guilty Tuesday in an expansive gambling indictment that also ensnared Hall of Fame player Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat star Terry Rozier and organized crime figures.
Jones was a Lakers coach in 2022 and 2023, long after he retired from an 11-year NBA playing career with 11 teams. Before a Feb. 9, 2023, game between the Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks in which LeBron James was a late scratch because of a foot injury, evidence showed that Jones urged a co-conspirator to “get a big bet on Milwaukee before the information is out!”
Jones urged his co-conspirator in a text: “Bet enough so Djones can eat to [sic] now!!!”
Jones and James were considered good friends for years. A person close to James told The Times in October that the Lakers star didn’t know that Jones was selling injury information to gamblers placing bets.
Jones had entered not guilty pleas in November to the two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in sports betting and rigged poker game schemes. However, during back-to-back hearings in Brooklyn federal court Tuesday, he entered guilty pleas to those charges.
Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 6 before separate judges in the two cases. Guidelines call for 21 to 27 months in prison for the sports gambling charge and 63 to 78 months for the charge on rigged poker games. Prosecutors said they agreed to shave 15 months from the sentence in exchange for Jones pleading guilty by April 30.
He pleaded guilty in the sports betting case first. In a prepared statement, he acknowledged that he conspired with others to defraud sports betting companies by using “insider information that I obtained as a result of my relationships as a former player.”
Jones, 49, said the goal of the sports betting conspiracy was to use his insider knowledge of injuries to players to make money gambling.
“I would like to sincerely apologize to the court, my family, my peers and also the National Basketball Association,” said Jones, who was paid $21 million as a player.
Next came pleading guilty to participating in rigged poker games. Jones admitted that he was paid to use his NBA celebrity to lure deep-pocketed gamblers to poker games in Miami and New York.
Again reading from a statement, Jones said that, based on conversations with his co-conspirators at poker games, “I knew these games were rigged and that players were being cheated.”
And again he concluded with an apology, addressing the court, his family and friends.
“I’m really sorry to everyone involved for my actions,” he said.
Prosecutors said Monday they would seek additional charges against Rozier in the sports betting case because they had developed evidence that the 10-year NBA veteran solicited a bribe during an alleged gambling scheme.
According to the original indictment, when Rozier played for the Charlotte Hornets in 2023, he told friends he was planning to leave a game early with a “supposed injury,” allowing others to place wagers. Rozier has made $135 million as a player.
Billups, who played with the Clippers for two seasons and later was a member of Clippers coach Ty Lue’s staff before being named head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers in 2021, is charged with rigging underground poker games that authorities said were backed by three of New York’s Mafia families. Billups, who was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2024, made $107 million as a player.
Ireland’s Nations Championship fixture against Japan will take place at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle, Australia on 11 July (11:00 BST).
Andy Farrell’s side open the inaugural tournament against Australia in Sydney on 4 July and will face the Brave Blossoms before travelling to New Zealand to take on the All Blacks at Auckland’s Eden Park on 18 July.
Ireland have won 10 out of 11 Tests with Japan, the sole defeat coming at the 2019 Rugby World Cup at Shizuoka Stadium. Ireland won the last meeting 41-10 in Dublin last November.
After July’s fixtures, Ireland will host Argentina, Fiji and South Africa in November at Aviva Stadium.
The biennial 12-team Nations Championship comprises six rounds of matches across the summer and autumn Test windows before a ‘finals weekend’ on 27-29 November at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.
After each team has played the other six from the opposing hemisphere once, they are ranked within their own hemisphere.
The finals weekend in London will start with the sixth-placed northern hemisphere side taking on their southern hemisphere equivalent, and culminate in the two group winners taking each other on for the title.
The results on the finals weekend will also contribute to a north v south overall score and title.
On the soccer pitch, Cobi Jones was defined by blinding speed, a tireless work rate and an exceptional soccer IQ. But that’s not what stood out most when you watched him play.
It was the shoulder-length dreadlocks that made him instantly recognizable whether he was playing for the Galaxy or the national team.
So those became the most important — and more difficult — things to replicate in the nine-foot-tall bronze sculpture of Jones that the Galaxy will unveil Sunday before the team’s MLS matinee with Real Salt Lake.
“Essentially you build it out of clay and then you take it to a foundry and you pour bronze over the clay. That turns it into a statue,” said Galaxy president Tom Braun, who oversaw the process. “But you can’t do that with the hair. You have to build them individually and then solder them in.”
That meant artists Oscar Leon and Omri Amrany had to painstakingly join approximately 100 separate dreadlocks into the sculpture. The result, said Braun, one of two people other than the artists to have seen the finished statue, is remarkable.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime piece that is going to show him, and everything about him, in a really iconic way,” Braun said. “But I think when it comes to the hair specifically, they did a really nice job.”
The statue will join liked-sized tributes to David Beckham and Landon Donovan in Legends Plaza, which fronts the main entrance at Dignity Health Sports Park. Those sculptures, also done in Amrany’s studio, were unveiled in 2019 and 2021 respectively.
For Jones, the tribute is humbling.
“Just to be in the plaza itself and have a statue, that’s the incredible part for me,” he said. “When I’m long gone that statue will be there. My grandkids, hopefully, will still be able to see it.”
Yet having himself rendered in bronze was the furthest thing from Jones’ mind when he started playing soccer as a 5-year-old in Westlake Village.
“I don’t think that crossed anyone’s mind,” said Jones, 55. “It was all about just playing and having fun and trying to be the best player that I could possibly be. I was more focused on how do I beat the opponent in front of me than thinking about 20 years, 30 years down the road.”
”It makes me truly think about the past a bit more,” he continued. “All the various things that had to happen — that did happen — that came to this moment. It makes you kind of reminisce [on] the various histories and all the people that helped you.”
The statue is as much a monument to Jones’ self-confidence and refusal to quit as it is to his stellar playing career. Unable to land a scholarship coming out of high school, Jones used his academic success to enroll at UCLA, where he played as a walk-on for a strong Bruin team coached by Sigi Schmid. He wound up leading UCLA to its second NCAA championship while earning All-American honors — as well as a scholarship and a place in the school’s Hall of Fame.
Galaxy star Cobi Jones heads the ball above the Chicago Fire’s Carlos Bocanegra on Oct. 17, 2001.
(Fred Jewell / Associated Press)
He played the first of a U.S.-record 164 games with the national team in 1992 and played in the first of three World Cups in 1994 before starting a professional career that would take him to teams in three countries. He spent the majority of that time with the Galaxy, appearing in a franchise-record 306 games while making five All-Star teams and winning two MLS Cups, two Supporters’ Shields, two U.S. Open Cups and a CONCACAF title. He also served the team as an assistant coach and interim manager.
“It’s unequivocal that Cobi should have gotten a statue,” Braun said. “No one is doubting the contribution that Cobi Jones has had on the Galaxy and U.S. Soccer. So I think was an easy one for us to decide on and it’s probably long overdue.”
The plaza is nowhere near full, nor has the list of Galaxy players and coaches who deserve statues been exhausted, so Braun said there likely will be more sculptures added in the near future.
Jones had substantial input into the design of his statue, choosing the pose and offering other guidance. But it was important the statue show motion, as the Beckham and Donovan sculptures do. And the most obvious way to do that was to have Jones’ ample dreadlocks flowing behind him.
It might have been the most obvious way, but it certainly wasn’t the easiest one.
“We asked [Amrany] if he ever sculpted hair like this and he said no,” Braun said.
And he probably won’t do it again either — at least not for the Galaxy.
“They got to a point where they started to do it and we wanted some adjustments,” Braun recalled. “We wanted the hair to flow a different way and we thought maybe the hair was too long so we had them shorten it and move the hair a certain way that makes it look like it’s in motion.”
Although Jones said he wasn’t allowed to see the finished product so he has little idea how he has been rendered for history. He’ll find out Sunday.
“They took me out of the statue process as they started getting to the face and the head and hair and all that so that I could still have some element of surprise when it’s unveiled,” he said.
It figures to be a hair-raising moment.
⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.
By early 1963, the Station Hotel in London had become an epicenter of the burgeoning British blues scene. On a blustery, snowy night that February, the Rolling Stones’ classic early lineup took the stage for one of the first times, dazzling the audience with ferocious renditions of blues standards like Muddy Waters’ “I Want to Be Loved” and Jimmy Reed’s “Bright Lights, Big City.”
Multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, the band’s founder and leader, synchronized guitars with Keith Richards, who favored a distinctive slashing and stinging style. Drummer Charlie Watts, the group’s newest member, a jazz aficionado and an accomplished percussionist, propelled the music forward with a rock-solid beat.
Anchoring the rhythm section with him was bassist Bill Wyman, who was recruited more for his spare VOX AC30 amp that the guitarists could plug into than for his musical skills. The stoic bassist proved a strong and innovative player. Together, he and Watts would go on to form one of rock’s most decorated rhythm sections.
Ian Stewart’s energetic boogie-woogie piano style rounded out the sound. Months later, manager Andrew Loog Oldham kicked him out of the band for being “ugly,” although Stewart continued to record, tour and serve as the band’s road manager until his death in 1985.
This April 8, 1964, file photo shows the Rolling Stones during a rehearsal. The members, from left, are Brian Jones, guitar; Bill Wyman, bass; Charlie Watts, drums; Mick Jagger, vocals; and Keith Richards, guitar.
(Associated Press)
Fronting the group was Mick Jagger. Channeling the music like a crazed shaman, Jagger shimmied and sashayed, owning the stage like few lead singers have before or since. By the end of the night, the Stones had the crowd in a frenzy. Although only 30 people had made it to the gig because of the treacherous weather conditions, the hotel’s booker had seen enough: He offered the Stones a regular gig.
“The Rolling Stones had caught fire. The music they were playing and the way they played it struck a chord with a young crowd starved for something different, something their own… It was soul-stirring, loud and uncompromising,” writes Bob Spitz in “The Rolling Stones: The Biography,” his magisterial work that charts the 60-year journey of “the greatest rock and roll band in the world.”
Spitz, the author of strong biographies on the Beatles and Led Zeppelin, as well as Ronald Reagan and Julia Child, captures the drama, trauma and betrayals that have kept the Stones in the public’s consciousness for more than six decades. It’s all here: The Stones’ evolution from a blues cover band to artistic rival of the Beatles; the musical peaks — “Aftermath,” “Let It Bleed” and “Exile on Main Street” as well as misfires like “Dirty Work”; Keith’s descent into a debilitating heroin addiction that nearly destroyed him and the band; the death of the ‘60s at the ill-fated Altamont free concert; Marianne Faithfull, Anita Pallenberg, Bianca Jagger, Jerry Hall and other lovers, partners and muses; the breakups, makeups and crackups; and perhaps most important, the unbreakable bond between Jagger and Richards at the center of it all.
Although Spitz unearths little new information, he excels at presenting the Stones in glorious Technicolor. Spitz homes in on the telling details and anecdotes that give the band’s story a deep richness and poignancy.
Take “Satisfaction,” the Stones’ 1965 classic and first U.S. chart topper. The oft-told story is that Richards woke up in the middle of the night, grabbed the guitar that was next to his bed, and recorded the iconic riff and the phrase “I can’t get no … satisfaction” on a cassette recorder in his Clearwater, Fla., hotel room before falling back asleep. But as Spitz notes, the song initially went nowhere in the studio. That is until Stewart purchased a fuzz box for Richards a few days later, which gave the tune a raunchier sound that perfectly matched Jagger’s lyrics of frustration and alienation. A classic was born.
Piercing the Stones mythology
Spitz’s deep reporting often pierces the mythology surrounding the band. Contrary to the popular belief of many fans, for instance, Jones bears much of the responsibility for the rift with his bandmates and his tragic demise.
The most musically adventurous member of the group — he plays sitar on “Paint It Black” and dulcimer on “Lady Jane” — Jones wasn’t a songwriter. That stoked his jealousies and insecurities, along with frontman Jagger stealing the spotlight from him. A monster of a man, Jones impregnated multiple teenage girls and physically and emotionally abused several women, including Pallenberg. Perhaps that’s why she left him for Richards. Over time, Jones made fewer contributions in the studio and onstage, becoming a catatonic drug casualty. The Stones fired Jones in June 1969 but would have been justified doing so a couple years earlier. He drowned in his pool less than a month later.
Author Bob Spitz
(Elena Seibert)
Similarly, Stones lore has long romanticized the making of “Exile on Main Street” in the stifling, dingy basement of Richards’ rented Villa Nellcôte in the South of France, where the Stones had decamped to avoid British taxes. In this telling, Richards, deep in the throes of heroin addiction, somehow managed to come up with one indelible riff after another built around his signature open G tuning — taught to him by Ry Cooder — leading the band to create one of the best albums in rock history. That’s not entirely accurate, according to Spitz.
Yes, Richards came up with the licks for “Rocks Off,” “Happy” and “Tumbling Dice.” But it’s equally true that a strung-out Richards missed myriad recording sessions, invited dealers, hangers-on and other distractions to Nellcôte, and repeatedly failed to turn up to write with Jagger. Far from completing the album in the druggy haze of a French basement, the band spent six months on overdubs at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, where Jagger contributed many of his vocals.
Beatles vs. Stones
One of the more interesting themes Spitz develops is the symbiotic relationship between the Beatles and Stones, with the Fab Four mostly overshadowing them — until they didn’t.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote “I Wanna Be Your Man” and gave it to the Stones, whose 1963 rendition, with Jones on slide guitar, became the group’s first UK Top 20 hit. The Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership inspired Jagger and Richards to begin penning their own songs. In early 1964, the Beatles came to the U.S. for the first time, making television history with their appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and playing Carnegie Hall. A few months later, the Stones kicked off their inaugural American tour at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino. In 1967, the Beatles released “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” a psychedelic masterpiece. The Stones responded with “Their Satanic Majesties Request,” a psychedelic mess.
The Rolling Stones: The Biography cover
As the Beatles began to splinter, Spitz writes, the Stones sharpened their focus. The band released “Beggars Banquet” in late 1968 and “Let It Bleed” the following year, albums every bit as innovative and visionary as “The White Album” and “Abbey Road.” For the first time, the two groups stood as equals.
When the Beatles broke up in 1970, the Stones kept rolling. With Jones replaced by virtuoso guitarist Mick Taylor — whose fluid, melodic style served as a tasty foil to Richards — they produced what many consider their finest works, “Sticky Fingers” and “Exile on Main Street.” More impressively, the band, with Taylor’s successor, Ronnie Wood, has continued to dazzle audiences with incendiary live shows, touring as recently as 2024 behind the late-career triumph “Hackney Diamonds.” The Beatles, by contrast, retired from the road in 1966 and devoted their energies to the studio.
Hundreds of books have been written about the Rolling Stones, but few sparkle quite like Spitz’s. For anyone who loves or even likes the Stones, it’s indispensable.
Like most of the band’s biographers, Spitz gives short shrift to the post-“Exile” period after 1972. He curtly dismisses 2005’s strong “A Bigger Bang” and 2016’s “Blue & Lonesome,” a back-to-basics album of blues covers, as “adequate endeavors that signaled a band living on borrowed time.” That critique is both off target and under-developed. Spitz ignores the band’s legendary live album, “Brussels Affair,” recorded in 1973, or why the band waited decades before officially releasing it.
These are small quibbles. Spitz has written a book worthy of its 704-page length; another 50 or so pages covering the later years would have made it even stronger. To quote the Rolling Stones: “I know it’s only rock ‘n roll, but I like it, like it, yes, I do.”
Marc Ballon, a former Times, Forbes and Inc. Magazine reporter, teaches an advanced writing class at USC. He lives in Fullerton.
For the first time, BBC will air the first ever full-length series of the show – six episodes filmed across six weeks – as the celebrities will face a range of weekly business challenges set by the business mogul
Zara Zubeidi Deputy Showbiz Editor
09:37, 19 Apr 2026Updated 09:38, 19 Apr 2026
The Celebrity Apprentice line-up has been confirmed(Image: RAY BURMISTON/BBC)
For the first time ever, BBC will air the first ever full-length series of the show – six episodes filmed across six weeks – as the celebrities face a range of weekly business challenges set by the business mogul.
Competing for the chance to win a £100,000 donation to a charity of their choice, they will each be hoping to prove their business acumen and ultimately be crowned The Celebrity Apprentice winner.
There will be another change to this star-studded series – the boardroom will relocate to a London City skyscraper, providing a distinctive new setting for Lord Sugar’s final deliberations.
The full line up includes Alexandra Burke, actor Danny Miller, presenter Gethin Jones, dancer and presenter Jordan Banjo, journalist Kay Burley, actress and online personality Maddie Grace Jepson, presenter, podcaster and content creator Max Balegde, Gladiator Sheli McCoy, UK garage legend DJ Spoony, TV and BBC Radio 2 presenter Richie Anderson, comedian and writer Laura Smyth and television personality Toni Laites.
Lord Sugar said: “We’ve not done anything like this before, and it’ll be entertaining to see these 12 celebrities being put through six weeks of some brilliant business challenges. But just because they’re celebrities, it doesn’t mean they’re going to get an easy ride, especially when there’s £100,000 at stake for their chosen charity.”
Kalpna Patel-Knight, Head of Entertainment Commissioning at the BBC says: “This brand-new full-length series of The Celebrity Apprentice takes everything audiences love about the format and turns the pressure right up. This year’s celebrities arrive with strong reputations – but in the boardroom, status counts for nothing.
“They’ll be tested on leadership, teamwork and commercial instinct, and only those who can truly deliver will make it through. It’s bold, unpredictable and hugely entertaining – and viewers are in for a brilliant ride.”
Broadcast details for The Celebrity Apprentice will be confirmed in due course. The announcement comes after Karishma Vijay was crowned the winner of the BBC business show last week after an all-female final, which saw her battle it out for Lord Sugar’s coveted investment against Pascha Myhill.
Karishma, from Surrey, recounted the moment Lord Sugar told her she had won and would be receiving his £250,000 investment, and said: “I was so blown away, so shocked – but I kept it very cool. Then, I got in my car and I was screaming. It was just insane – I can’t believe I’ve gone and done it after not having watched the show, I feel like that’s so cheeky.”
Explaining his decision on the hit BBC show, Lord Sugar said: “As always, it was close competition in the final after two outstanding pitches by two brilliant young businesswomen. But Karishma really impressed me throughout the process and has proven why she deserves my investment. She’s a proper grafter and she’s got that entrepreneurial spirit that I always look for. The cosmetics industry is one I know a lot about, and I know our partnership will pave the way for a bright future.”
Bayern Munich are keen on Aston Villa‘s Morgan Rogers, Curtis Jones is preparing to leave Liverpool this summer, and Real Madrid are considering appointing former manager Jose Mourinho.
Real Madrid will make a decision on manager Alvaro Arbeloa’s future at the end of the season. (Marca – in Spanish), external
Real Madrid are planning a major overhaul of their squad in the summer, with France midfielder Eduardo Camavinga, 23, possibly leaving. (Sport – in Spanish), external
Coventry City’s promotion to the Premier League means the loan move of Nigeria midfielder Frank Onyeka, 28, from Brentfordwill become permanent. (Talksport), external
Lorient are considering former Lens and Southampton boss Will Still as a candidate to become manager. (L’Equipe – in French), external
Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis has brought forward a meeting with manager Antonio Conte to discuss his future amid reports linking him with the Italy team. (Corriere dello Sport – in Italian), external
Secretary of State Bill Jones, lagging in the polls for the Republican gubernatorial primary, on Monday asked the U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento to investigate possible conflicts of interest between energy companies and the administration of Gov. Gray Davis.
For months, Jones has criticized Davis for hiring consultants during last year’s energy crisis who owned stock in companies that the governor alleged were gouging the state. Davis’ spokesman held $12,000 of stock in Calpine, a firm that won state contracts.
On Monday, Jones said the state Fair Political Practices Commission and the attorney general’s office, both controlled by Democrats, were not investigating aggressively enough.
Seizing upon recent reports that Davis met with then-Enron Chairman Kenneth L. Lay during the crisis, Jones called for a federal investigation.
“It is now time that the U.S. attorney’s office actively engage in this scandal and open an investigation into the conflicts of interest and insider dealings of Gov. Gray Davis and his administration,” Jones said at a Sacramento news conference. “Because we cannot get to the truth and we cannot get the entities entrusted by the people to do their jobs, we must now go to a higher authority.”
A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined comment.
Roger Salazar, a spokesman for the Davis campaign, said the governor had taken appropriate action against consultants who had conflicts, dismissing four last summer.
The chairwoman of the FPPC responded coolly to Jones’ allegations. “We do not comment on complaints or any investigative actions taken in response to those complaints,” Karen Getman said. “Nor do we allow the timing of our activities to be influenced by upcoming elections.”
Though Jones called for more disclosure into Davis’ contacts with the energy industry, he has different standards for the Bush administration.
Spokeswoman Beth Pendexter said Jones believes Vice President Dick Cheney does not have to disclose whom he met with while forming the national energy policy last year.
Shipping costs have increased by more than 10 percent in the past month due to the US-Israel war on Iran.
Published On 13 Apr 202613 Apr 2026
Shipping and oil costs have continued to surge a month after United States President Donald Trump issued a waiver for the Jones Act, a maritime law that bars foreign-flagged vessels from transporting goods between US ports.
The 60-day waiver came into effect on March 18, as the movement of energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway that carries roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supply, was choked off on account of the US-Israel war on Iran.
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Under the Jones Act, goods shipped between US ports must be carried on vessels that are US-built, US-flagged and mostly US-owned, limiting the number of tankers available for domestic shipments.
The Trump administration argued that the temporary waiver of the law would lower energy costs. As the waiver approaches the 30-day mark, it has had little impact on oil prices.
“It is estimated that it’s going to be about 3 cents on the East Coast and it might go up on the Gulf Coast, but these changes are so small that they’re overshadowed by the spikes in oil prices, and the oil prices keep going up,” Usha Haley, a professor of management at the Wichita State University, told Al Jazeera.
“It is minuscule, a drop in the bucket compared to the rise in oil prices.”
Oil prices have continued to rise amid the ongoing conflict, which is disrupting transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude futures rose 4 percent on the day amid a US blockade of Iranian ports, reaching $98.91 after hitting $101.03 earlier in the day. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $2.53, or 2.6 percent, to $99.10.
The US Navy imposed a blockade of Iranian ports on Monday to prevent the movement of oil to and from Iran after talks between US and Iranian negotiators failed to reach an agreement.
The strain is also hitting consumers at the petrol pump in the US. The American Automobile Association reports that the average price of gas is $4.125 per gallon (3.78 litres), compared with $3.63 at this time last month.
Meanwhile, shippers have adapted their routes, with more than 34,000 ships diverting from the strait over the past month.
The Containerized Freight Index, the benchmark for shipping container costs, jumped more than 10 percent over the last month, and is up more than 35 percent from this time last year, amid pressure on the market to find alternative shipping strategies.
In March, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd suspended vessel routes through the strait, a waterway connecting the Gulf of Oman and the Gulf.
Also in March, within days of the start of the US-Israel war on Iran, several major vessel insurers cancelled war risk coverage for ships travelling through the waterway, including Norwegian insurers Gard and Skuld, as well as the United Kingdom’s NorthStandard, dissuading ship owners from going through the Gulf.
Since then, even though maritime insurance has become available – at 10 times the price as before the war on Iran – fuel prices are expected to normalise only once traffic through the strait goes back to pre-war levels, experts have said.
Mark Jones has been an on-air staple on ESPN since the first Bush administration — as in George H.W. Bush, who served from 1989 to 1992.
So, yeah, it’s been a long time.
And now, Jones says, “it’s time to move on.”
Jones’ final ESPN broadcast will be Sunday, when he will serve as the play-by-play announcer for the Orlando Magic at Boston Celtics game on the final day of the NBA’s regular season. It could very well be the last time the phrase “hotter than fish grease” is uttered on the network.
“It’s been a memorable journey these decades with the ABC/ESPN family, but I have decided that it’s time to move on,” Jones wrote in a statement posted Friday on Instagram. “From the day Dennis Swanson hired me in 1990 and working with the best producer in the business, Kim Belton, until today I will forever be grateful for the many friends and colleagues along the way.”
Jones, 64, started at ESPN in 1990. As a play-by-play announcer, he is best known for calling NBA games but he has also covered college football, men’s and women’s college basketball, the WNBA and UFL. On June 2, 2022, Jones, Mark Jackson and Lisa Salters were the first all-Black crew to call an NBA Finals game on TV.
In addition, Jones has hosted the “NBA Today” studio show and been an anchor and reporter on “SportsCenter.”
“Mark has made an enduring impact at ESPN since 1990, serving as a signature voice primarily within our NBA and college football coverage and across nearly all of our platforms,” ESPN said in a statement. “We’re grateful for Mark’s countless contributions and we wish him continued success.”
Separate from his work at ESPN, Jones has also been the primary TV play-by-play announcer for the Sacramento Kings since 2020.
Jones hasn’t indicated what he’ll be doing next, but he ended his announcement with a big prediction for the future — and threw in his signature phrase for good measure.
“As I move on to my next chapter I believe my best work is yet to come,” he wrote. “I’ll be out there cookin’ hotter than fish grease!”
After defeat to Klein in July 2022, Jones and UFC mutually agreed to not sign a new deal.
Reflecting on what alternative path he could have chosen, Jones gave an honest appraisal.
“I remember sitting down in my coach’s office after the whole thing in London because I was in a mess,” he recalled.
“My one coach said to me, ‘Look I think you need to go somewhere else and work with someone else because I don’t think I can give you what you need’.
“I said to him in tears at the time, ‘Please just stick with me, as long as you boys are in my corner I’ll go through anything’.
“They’ve stuck by me since then, and I can’t thank the boys enough.
“As long as those boys are there for me I’ll give them as much as they give me and I couldn’t ask for anyone else to stand by me and help me reach the top.”
For Jones there really was no other possibility than to stick to chasing his UFC dreams.
“I had an acknowledgment on this camp when I was running through the mountains, and I chose this life.
“I know it’s a weird thing to say, but every day I wake up I choose this life.”
Jones admitted the easy thing would have been to go and get a job.
“I could literally at any time just think, no, I’m done, and get a different job that pays on a weekly basis,” he added.
“After I left London I didn’t get paid for two years, I racked up credit card debt, and family members and friends told me to quit.
“I had a family business I could have gone into, done more with school.
“But for me fighting is what’s in my blood and fighting is what I want to do.”
TikTok star Becki Jones stood up for herself on the platformCredit: TikTok/@beckijonesxxBecki spoke about how trolling about her weight affected herCredit: You Tube/@ Not Always A PrincessAnd said she shouldn’t have to explain her weight loss to anyoneCredit: TikTok/@beckijonesxx
Becki told her 1.3 million followers during a TikTok Live last year that she “wasn’t ready” to share how she’d transformed her image but in her latest video, said she’d been through some of the hardest times in her life while losing weight.
In the video she posted a montage of moments from recent months that showed her swimming in a pool, going to concerts, showing off cute outfits and working out in her room.
In a voiceover she started by saying that she doesn’t understand why she has to explain every detail of her life to strangers.
“Yes, I do put myself on a public platform. Yes, I post my life. But why should I have to defend myself against people’s thoughts on my weight loss?” she began.
“I’ve said I have not had surgery in any form or any medication to help aid weight loss.
“In 2023, I even considered gastric sleeve surgery myself but I changed my mind.”
Becki continued: “As you can imagine it is exhaust trying to prove something to people who don’t want to change their mind about you.
“I feel like I am an easy target for people to bully because that’s what broke me last year.”
The influencer said that while she did understand that some of her followers wanted to learn about her weight loss, others thought she owed them an explanation.
“I simply and politely don’t want to talk about it.
Becki said she would one day talk about her weight loss experienceCredit: Instagram/@beckijonesxxBecki took a six month break from TikTok last yearCredit: TikTok/@beckijonesxx
“I’ve been through some of the worst times of my life whilst losing weight and still some days are hard now and now I’m being a little closed off and only letting a few things out, but can we just stop and think about how things affect me?” Becki asked.
“Yes, I feel good in myself most days, but I have hard days just like every human does.
“I have my own fears and problems that I’m trying to overcome each day, which makes talking about weight loss Extremely difficult.”
She explained how a lot of her followers “speculated on things” happening in her life, “and one day I may talk more deeply about it all but it’s hard as a content creator to tell your story without being judged.”
Becki went on to thank her “loyal supporters” for their support and who “compliment my weight without wanting an explanation”.
She became famed on TikTok for her ‘what I eat in a day’ videos, which showed her enjoying foods such asMcDonalds for breakfast, takeaways and treats.
Last year, a source told The Sun why Becki really left social media, and why she returned.
They explained: “Everyone knows Becki took six months offline because she felt the trolling had become too much.
“It was a real chance to reflect on her life and the main cause of issues – her weight. She’s also a secret smoker, so really did start to feel like her lifestyle wasn’t doing her any favours.
“Once she started losing some weight, she felt a new wave of confidence and when she returned online and saw the reaction to the way she looked, it really spurred her on.”
They added: “It’s the same when she was larger and the more she ate, the more people watched her videos. At the end of the day, it’s all about engagement and making money. It’s addictive.”
She promised she had not used fat jabs or surgery to lose weightCredit: TikTok/@beckijonesxx
Muchova broke 29-year-old Boulter’s serve twice in the first set and only needed one more in the second set to go 6-5 ahead before she wrapped up the victory.
Elsewhere, British number four Fran Jones also exited the tournament, retiring in the second set of her match with American Jessica Pegula through illness.
Jones, 25, had knocked out Venus Williams in the first round despite feeling under the weather but struggled against Pegula.
Pegula had won the first set 6-1 and despite a medical timeout Jones, who was seen coughing several times during the match, decided at 3-0 down in the second set she was not well enough to continue.
“I didn’t want to lose the opportunity to play Venus, but it’s a whole different ball game playing Jess,” Jones said.
“You need to be 10 out of 10 to compete against her and I’m probably a four out of 10 today. If I’m not able to give my everything out there, I don’t see the point when I’m already battling my general fitness as it is.”
Becki Jones has made a cryptic comment about ‘not being honest’ with fans amid swirling rumours about fat jabs and weight loss surgeryCredit: Tiktok/@tvyoutubeclips2Becki rose to fame on TikTok and was known for her showing fans what she ate each day – which often included sweet treats and takeawaysCredit: Instagram/@beckijonesxxLast year, she took a break from the platform and returned significantly smaller – denying she had used jabs or undergone surgery
Becki replied: “I have been honest about everything that needs to be said.
“The only thing I haven’t told you about is what I’ve been through and what I’m currently battling with as well. It’s nothing that will benefit anybody knowing, so, yeah.”
Later on in the stream, she said: “I did not come back to TikTok in September to be like, ‘Guys! I’ve lost weight’.
“That was not my intention, it was not my goal. Like I’ve said, my page was never gonna be ‘Becki Jones for fitness’ or ‘Becki Jones for how to lose weight’.
“That’s never been my goal for my journey on TikTok or as a content creator.”
Becki added: “I’ve come back and to be fair, most of my weight I’ve lost has been since September.”
Fans in the comment section still weren’t convinced by her comments, as one wrote: “People just want honesty… period!”
“Just give people a straight answer, especially your loyal followers,” echoed another.
However, others defended that it was “nobody’s business” what Becki has done.
Last year, a source told The Sun why Becki really left social media, and why she returned.
They explained: “Everyone knows Becki took six months offline because she felt the trolling had become too much.
“It was a real chance to reflect on her life and the main cause of issues – her weight. She’s also a secret smoker, so really did start to feel like her lifestyle wasn’t doing her any favours.
“Once she started losing some weight, she felt a new wave of confidence and when she returned online and saw the reaction to the way she looked, it really spurred her on.”
They added: “It’s the same when she was larger and the more she ate, the more people watched her videos. At the end of the day, it’s all about engagement and making money. It’s addictive.”
Becki first rose to fame in 2020 and boasts 1.3 million followers on TikTokThe star has insisted that she has ‘been honest’ about everything that ‘needs to be said’ in a cryptic remarkCredit: Tiktok/@tvyoutubeclips2
