reaching

On Friday night, Channel 4 viewers tuned in to watch another episode of Gogglebox as the stars caught up with the latest shows on TV.

During the latest episode of Gogglebox, Channel 4 viewers saw one beloved member of the cast make a confession to his sister.

On Friday night, the armchair critics watched the series finale of The Celebrity Traitors, which saw Alan Carr win the huge cash prize for his charity, along with the latest series of Netflix’s Squid Game: The Challenge.

However, inbetween their reactions to what’s been happening in the world of TV this week, Simon Minty told his sister Jane that he’s reached a somewhat unusual milestone.

He commented, “I reached a milestone this week, Jane and I don’t know if I’m proud or embarrassed. I have completed every episode of NCIS.

“There are 22 series available, of which each series has about 20 episodes. I’ve found there are 490 episodes. I have watched them all from start to finish, in order.”

She replied: “Is that what you call binge watching?” He added: “I didn’t do it in one go!”

The two siblings have been part of the Channel 4 show since 2021 and quickly became fan-favourites. Usually, the pair share their antics outside of the programme with their followers on social media.

Earlier this year, Jane detailed a ‘boo boo’ she had whilst at work in her commercial kitchen as a chef. She told Simon in a clip: “Mistook twenty egg whites, instead of twenty grams of egg whites. I was preparing a demonstration tray.”

Confused, Simon asked whether or not that meant she had too many or too few, as she confessed it was ‘far too many’.

She added: “But, they will be used. Not wasted.” He jokingly replied: “See it’s a bit over my head, it’s all a bit in the biz, the chefing business. It’s obviously a yoke for chefs that one.”

However, it wasn’t Simon’s revelation that had viewers talking on Friday night as people were sent into a frenzy after spotting the infamous Coca-Cola Christmas advert during the first break.

It wasn’t long before people took to social media to comment on the festive clip, with many noticing one thing in particular.

One person said: “I’m watching #Gogglebox and at the advert break was the Coca Cola #HolidaysAreComing advert!!!! It is officially Christmas!!”

Someone else wrote: “Is the Christmas Coke Cola advert now AI generated?” Another person added: “Good news: The Coca-Cola Christmas Advert has appeared during the Gogglebox ad break. Bad news: It’s AI.”

Another shared: “Holidays are coming and it’s only November.” One person said: “Feels like Christmas now! Coca-Cola ad!!!!!!”

Gogglebox is available to watch on Channel 4.

A Russian fiber-optic-controlled first-person view (FPV) drone made a precision strike within the city of Kramatorsk for the first time on Sunday, the city council said. Though no one was injured in the attack, a fiber-optic FPV drone strike on one of the largest cities in the east raised alarms in Ukraine.

Unlike radio-controlled drones, FPV drones that link to their controllers via very long spools of fiber-optic wire are immune to jamming and terrain features that can impede line-of-sight radio signals. While they also have disadvantages, such as having a range defined by the length of the wires they trail and degraded freedom to maneuver, they are hugely threatening due to their resiliency. And the range at which they can reach out is only increasing.

Kramatorsk was home to about 200,000 people before Russia’s all-out invasion, but that has dwindled to about half that population. Located 12 miles from the front lines in Ukraine’s war-torn east, Kramatorsk has come under increasing attack from Russian radio-controlled FPV drones. 

Boosting the range of Russia’s fiber-optic-controlled FPV drones extends the depth of the front lines and increasingly puts civilians at risk.

“One strike and one damaged car will not change the security situation on the front line or directly in Kramatorsk, but it demonstrates a trend,” the Ukrainian Radio Liberty media outlet reported. “However, firstly, the Russian troops have demonstrated the reach and vulnerability of the administrative center of Donetsk Oblast to fiber optic. Secondly, if strikes with different types of FPV are scaled up, we can talk about a threat to civilian and military logistics in order to create the prerequisites for a future offensive…”

The video feed from the drone itself is incredibly clear, which is a major feature of this class of FPV drone. On the other hand, a radio-controlled one would have an intermittent video feed dominated by static due to the great distance from its controllers and especially amongst tall buildings and general urban terrain. The video shows the drone flying over a relatively pristine street in Kramatorsk, before making a sharp turn to the left and striking a pickup truck — much like the ones many Ukrainian troops use — parked near an apartment building.

Both sides have developed fiber-optic-controlled FPV drones that can now reach as far as 25 miles, but generally, those in operation fly a fraction of that distance carrying much smaller spools of wire. Still, efforts to extend the range to more than 30 miles are underway now, which could be highly problematic for forces operating deep behind enemy lines and civilians, as well.

It’s worth noting that the Russians started the use of fiber optic wires on the FPV drone in the spring of 2024, and Ukraine quickly followed suit. You can read more about that in our original story here. The use of fiber optic cables to transmit the guidance data between the controllers and the FPV drones has become so prevalent on both sides that fields once used for farming are now covered in the strands.

The increasing range of Russia’s fiber-optic-controlled FPVs is worrisome to one of Ukraine’s major players in drone development and production efforts.

“The enemy’s FPV drones can fly even greater distances,” Serhii Sternenko warned on X. “There is no such thing as a rear area up to 30 kilometers (about 18.5 miles) from the front. This needs to be realized now, especially by local officials.”

Sternenko is urging Ukrainian city leaders to adopt new defensive measures to protect civilians.

“All settlements in this zone should already be closing roads with anti-drone nets,” he suggested. You can see a driver’s view of traveling through one such system in the following video.

A Ukrainian logistic route that has covered with the anti drone nets and fence. pic.twitter.com/8O1QQHFPMe

— 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝕯𝔢𝔞𝔡 𝕯𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔠𝔱△ 🇬🇪🇺🇦🇺🇲🇬🇷 (@TheDeadDistrict) April 5, 2025

These nets are a measure first introduced by Russia and later adopted by Ukraine to create miles-long ‘tunnels’ designed to protect military transport vehicles from drone attacks. Russia has even designed a system to protect buildings with nets.

In addition, Sternenko wants civilian movement on the streets to be limited and ultimately have non-combatants evacuated.

“It will only get worse, because technology doesn’t stand still,” he posited. 

Though fiber optic cables increase the range of FPV drones, there are also limitations, as we have previously discussed and touched on at the opening of this article.

The extra weight of the large spools needed to operate over long distances slows them down and makes them less maneuverable. In addition, environmental factors come into play, the head of Ukraine’s defense tech incubator recently told us. Just because such a drone can reach 25 miles doesn’t mean it will.

“It depends on what we are measuring, the length of the fiber optics, or the distance between the ground station and the target,” Andriy Hyrtseniuk, the new head of Ukraine’s Brave1, told us. “It’s two different stories because, because of the wind, the fiber optics is moving,” reducing the range of these drones.

Still, given the advantages offered by longer fiber optic cables, both sides are in a race to increase their distance, Hyrtseniuk explained.

“This is very similar to the game of cat and mouse, and the innovations are enhancing [the range] very, very quickly,” he stated.

Ukraine was slower to develop the fiber-optic-controlled FPV drones, but it is catching up.

“This is actually one of the very few areas where Russia was faster than we were, but we are very quickly reducing the [gap],” he posited. “And right now, more than 35 Ukrainian companies are building the fiber optic drones and have scaled their production. So right now we are comparable with Russia.”

“Of course,” he added, “we and the Russians are working on the increasing distance and increasing lengths of the fiber optics…I don’t want to give more detailed information about fiber optics, but the level of 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) was completely reached, and it works.”

There has been very little movement on the front lines, providing Ukraine a degree of security within a dozen or so miles from them due to Russia’s lack of air superiority. But AI-infused drone technology, using Ukraine’s own telecom network to control long-range drones far beyond the front, and long-range fiber optic drones could disrupt this delicate balance. We discussed how AI-enabled Shaheds could have a massive impact on the war in a story we wrote last year. Even putting nearby towns at risk of highly resilient fiber-optic FPVs could have major impacts, especially on both sides’ ability to supply troops at the front.

So far, Kramatorsk is battered, but 100,000 people still call it home. Right now, cable-guided FPV drones are an emerging threat to this city. However, as we have seen across the battlefield, the ability to extend the range of these weapons makes defending against them even harder.

Contact the author: [email protected]

Fernando Urquiza screamed himself hoarse, slapping palms with strangers on the field level of Dodger Stadium. He’d waited six innings — each on the very edge of his seat. He refreshed flight options to Milwaukee in case Clayton Kershaw made him wait until his next start for strikeout No. 3,000.

Roderick Abram, a die-hard New York Yankees fan celebrating his 40th birthday, rejoiced when Kershaw reached the strikeout milestone. In enemy pinstripes, his team allegiance wavered long enough to clap for a man he often hopes gets shelled — particularly in the Bronx — but not on Wednesday night.

Kershaw’s historic game wasn’t necessarily a vintage outing, but to his dearest fans, that only deepened the meaning.

The Chicago White Sox didn’t make it easy for Kershaw. He labored. He gave up runs. It seemed he might fall one short of the three strikeouts he needed. And still, he managed to finally become the 20th pitcher in MLB history to reach 3,000 strikeouts.

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“Building the emotion and building it up to what it came to be,” said Urquiza, who has attended Dodger games for 38 years. “But Clayton Kershaw pitching, it wouldn’t have happened any other way than to be an emotional outcome.”

As Kershaw wrapped the fifth with just two strikeouts, the mood at Dodger Stadium tightened. Phones rose with each windup, fans stood between pitches and that rare postseason stillness crept in, nearly three months early.

And though some considered leaving early to beat traffic and others weighed booking Milwaukee flights, it didn’t seem as though hope fled Dodger Stadium.

“I know it took a little bit longer for him to get it, but I knew he was going to get it, and that’s why they kept him in. And he wanted it bad, and he got it,” said 34-year-old barber Steven Moreno, who said he “wouldn’t have missed the game for the world.”

Back in 2008, Daniel Palomera brought his kids to watch Greg Maddux pitch. Instead, a baby-faced 20-year-old with a towering leg kick took the mound.

A young fan holds a sign with the number “3,000” on the night Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw recorded his 3,000th career strikeout.

(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)

Palomera saw the early days of Kershaw’s career 17 years ago and returned Wednesday for what could be one of his last major milestones.

“Two years ago, I didn’t think he was gonna make it,” Palomera said. “And last year, I thought he might have thought of retiring with all the injuries, but him coming back just makes it that much more special. He’s getting to do it here — that’s really special.”

Jeremy Wasser stood a few rows behind home plate in a sky blue Kershaw Foundation T-shirt. He tilted his head back and paused for a moment when asked about Kershaw’s legacy.

“To see him be as successful as he’s been, as consistently great as he’s been, he’s represented the city and represented the team with class and with character,” Wasser said. “And the combination of that character and his performance on the field is an extraordinary achievement.”

Kershaw’s accompliment will forever be known as a major milestone in Dodgers history, but it meant more than a statistic to the fans who gave the loyal veteran pitcher a six-minute standing ovation.

“The way he cares and treats his own teammates like family,” Moreno said. “He’s made this organization like a family.”

Jordan is celebrating the qualification of its football team for a FIFA World Cup for the first time following a decisive 3-0 victory against Oman.

Huge celebrations erupted as fans drove their cars through Jordan’s capital Amman late on Thursday and into Friday, honking their horns and chanting victory while others waved the national flag in triumph.

“We are all with you!” and “It’s getting closer, heroes” read messages written into the night sky in a spectacular drone light show.

Jordan sealed their place on the penultimate day of Asian qualifying for the 2026 tournament, which will be played in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Ali Olwin netted a hat-trick as the 2023 Asian Cup runners-up to Qatar etched their name in the history books.

They secured their spot in the World Cup when South Korea defeated Iraq, also on Thursday, 2-0.

The royal court published pictures of King Abdullah II wearing a national team jersey as he watched the game from the embassy in London, where he was on a visit.

I wholeheartedly congratulate the sons and daughters of our dear people on our national football team’s qualification for the World Cup finals,” he wrote on social media platform X.

“This historic qualification is well-deserved by our team, which includes stars and cadres of whom we are proud.

“Special thanks go to our loyal fans who have been our support and encouragement.”

His Majesty King Abdullah watches the national football team’s World Cup qualifier match against Oman, at the Jordanian embassy in London, during a working visit to Europe
( Photos courtesy of Royal Court ) pic.twitter.com/CI4JMurjQu

— The Jordan Times (@jordantimes) June 5, 2025

Jordan World Cup qualification ‘about time’

Sohad Idrissi, a 48-year-old housewife who watched the game with her siblings, beamed with pride as she told AFP that her side had played “a beautiful game and deserved to qualify for the World Cup”.

“Today the joy is two-fold: there is the joy of Eid al-Adha, and the joy of Nashama qualifying,” she said, using a nickname for the Jordanian team.

Fadi Qalanzi, a 21-year-old university student, called the win “a dream that is finally coming true”.

“Our team put on a beautiful performance, and they truly deserved to qualify,” he added.

Osama al-Shreeda, a 60-year-old retired civil servant, also called it a dream come true.

“I’ve been following Jordanian football since 1978, and a relative of mine used to play with the national team,” he said.

“It’s a great opportunity for our team and its players to be recognised globally,” he added, calling it an achievement not just for Jordan but for the wider Arab region.

“It was about time, this is a joy we’d been waiting for, for a long time,” said 55-year-old teacher Nashat Badr.

Uzbekistan also reach first FIFA World Cup

For Uzbekistan, a 0-0 draw against the United Arab Emirates was enough to take the second automatic qualification spot in Group A behind Iran.

With Asia now having eight guaranteed qualifiers – after just four for the 2022 edition in Qatar – Uzbekistan was a likely contender to step up.

While most of its team plays in the domestic league, it includes a few Europe-based stars like Roma forward Eldor Shomurodov and Manchester City defender Abdukodir Khusanov.

Jordan’s highest-profile player is winger Mousa Tamari at French club Rennes.

Palestine and Indonesia set sights on playoffs

Palestine’s 2-0 win in Kuwait kept alive their hopes of reaching their first World Cup finals.

The victory, thanks to goals from Tamer Seyam and Wessam Abou Ali, means Palestine in fifth spot in Group B are one point outside the playoff qualification positions with one game to play.

A win in their final match in Amman, Jordan, against Oman, who hold fourth spot and are one point ahead of Palestine, on Tuesday will see them finish above their opponents.

Third and fourth positions in the three groups, in the third round of AFC qualifiers for the World Cup, progress to a fourth qualifying stage of playoffs.

The top two teams from each of the three six-team groups qualify automatically for next summer’s tournament, while the teams in fifth and sixth position are eliminated.

Indonesia, meantime, remain on course for a playoff finish, and only a second appearance at a World Cup finals, following their 1-0 win against China to hold fourth spot in Group C.

Half a million people in the Gaza Strip, or one in five Palestinians, are facing starvation.

The entire rest of the population is suffering from high levels of acute food insecurity, according to a recent report by the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

“The risk of famine in the Gaza Strip is not just possible – it is increasingly likely,” the IPC says.

For more than 73 days, Israel has blocked all food, water, and medicine from entering Gaza, creating a man-made crisis, with the IPC warning that famine could be declared any time between now and September.

What is famine and when is it reached?

Famine is the worst level of hunger, where people face severe food shortages, widespread malnutrition, and high levels of death due to starvation.

According to the UN’s criteria, famine is declared when:

• At least 20 percent (one-fifth) of households face extreme food shortages
• More than 30 percent of children suffer from acute malnutrition
• At least two out of every 10,000 people or four out of every 10,000 children die each day from starvation or hunger-related causes.

Famine is not just about hunger; it is the worst humanitarian emergency, indicating a complete collapse of access to food, water and the systems necessary for survival.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), since Israel’s complete blockade began on March 2, at least 57 children have died from the effects of malnutrition.

What does starvation do to the body?

Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war. A report released by Doctors of the World (Medecins du Monde) this week states that in just 18 months, acute malnutrition in Gaza has risen to levels similar to those found in countries enduring protracted humanitarian crises spanning several decades.

Starvation is when the human body is deprived of food for so long that it suffers and often dies.

Estimates say the body can last up to three weeks without food, but the length of time varies between individuals.

Starvation occurs over three stages. The first begins as early as when a meal is skipped, the second occurs with a prolonged period of fasting where the body uses stored fat for energy.

The third, and often fatal, stage is when all stored fats have been depleted and the body turns to bone and muscle as sources of energy.

The effect on children

Children are most vulnerable to Israel’s continued blockade of essential food items.

More than 9,000 children have been admitted to hospital for treatment for acute malnutrition since the start of the year, according to the United Nations.

The IPC projects that between now and March 2026, nearly 71,000 children under the age of five will suffer from acute malnutrition, including 14,100 children facing severe cases of malnutrition.

The effect of malnutrition on children varies, but the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, which includes the pregnancy up to two years, are critical for a child’s healthy development.

Malnutrition leads to an out-of-proportion height-to-weight ratio, stunted growth and eventually, death.

Earlier this month, at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza, Dr Ahmed Abu Nasir said the situation has become worse than ever due to the blockade.

“Children are in their growing stage and badly need certain nutrients, including proteins and fats,” the paediatrician told Al Jazeera. “These are not available in the Gaza Strip, particularly in the north.”

Pregnant and breastfeeding women will also need to be treated for malnutrition, with 17,000 women facing this risk.

‘Finding a single meal has become an impossible quest’

The entire population of Gaza, about 2.1 million people that remain, are facing levels of food shortages that threaten their existence.

Earlier this month, Ahmad al-Najjar, a displaced Palestinian in Gaza City, told Al Jazeera, “Finding a single meal has become an impossible quest.”

Despite large numbers of trucks carrying vital supplies piling up on the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Palestinians in Gaza have resorted to selling rubbish to afford the eye-wateringly inflated food prices.

Some 93 percent of Gaza’s population is at risk of levels of food insecurity above the crisis levels indicated by the IPC. If the situation does not change, the IPC has indicated that of those 2.1 million people:

• 470,000 people (22 percent of the population) will face catastrophic levels of food insecurity – the most severe phase, which indicates famine, leading to starvation and death.
• More than one million (54 percent) will face emergency levels of food insecurity, the second most severe phase where there is a high risk of critical malnutrition.
• 500,000 people (24 percent) will face crisis levels of food insecurity, the third most severe IPC phase where households are dealing with inconsistent food consumption to the point of resorting to extreme measures to secure food.

In essence, in as little as a month, Gaza’s entire population could be starving.

The features of malnutrition and starvation are unmistakable in Gaza, with severely underweight children and babies. In children, severe protein deficiency causes fluid retention and a swollen abdomen.

Where in Gaza is most at risk?

Food insecurity across the Gaza Strip is severely affecting all areas of the blockaded enclave.

All 25 bakeries supported by the World Food Programme (WFP) closed at the beginning of April due to the lack of supplies, and food stocks for most of the 177 hot meal kitchens are reportedly exhausted.

Certain governorates are experiencing more severe levels of hunger. According to the IPC:

• 30 percent of North Gaza is facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, 60 percent are facing emergency levels, while 10 percent are facing crisis levels.
• 25 percent of Rafah is facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity, 60 percent are facing emergency levels and 15 percent are facing crisis levels.

The IPC says Israel’s continued blockade “would likely result in further mass displacement within and across governorates”, as items essential for people’s survival will be depleted.