risk

The Foreign Office is urging UK travellers to ‘avoid’

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has issued a stark warning to British holidaymakers, urging travellers to stay safe while abroad.

In a recent update on X, formerly Twitter, the FCDO said: “Free drinks aren’t worth the risk. To help reduce the risk of methanol poisoning abroad, avoid free cocktails or shots, unlabelled bottles, and unusually cheap or discounted drinks claiming to be brand-name alcohol.”

The FCDO is raising awareness following the deaths of several British travellers who consumed alcohol contaminated with methanol while overseas.

Simone White, 28, was among six fatalities following the consumption of free shots at the Nana Backpacker Hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, in November 2024. Cheznye Emmons, 23, lost her life to methanol poisoning in April 2013 after unknowingly drinking tainted counterfeit gin in Bukit Lawang, northern Sumatra, Indonesia.

Kirsty McKie, 38, died in 2022 after inadvertently ingesting the substance while at home with a friend in Bali, where she had lived for eight years. As little as 10ml of methanol can result in blindness, while 30ml can prove fatal.

TravelAware warns: “In some parts of the world methanol products are sometimes illegally mixed with ‘real’ alcohol such as spirit-based drinks and cocktails.”

Holidaymakers are advised only to buy alcoholic drinks from licensed venues, bars and hotels, to avoid homemade alcoholic beverages, check bottle seals haven’t been tampered with, and look out for poor quality labels or spelling errors.

You should also get urgent medical help if you or anyone in your travel group falls ill after drinking alcohol. Early symptoms of methanol poisoning include impaired judgement, loss of balance, and drowsiness.

Between 12 and 48 hours after consumption, you may suffer abdominal pain, dizziness, hyperventilation, breathlessness, blurred vision and/or blindness, coma, and seizures. If you or anyone travelling with you experiences these symptoms, seek urgent medical attention.

Visual problems are a particularly significant warning sign, especially blurred vision, sensitivity to bright lights, and in some cases complete blindness. “Snowfield vision” (seeing snowy static resembling an old television) or tunnel vision may also occur.

If you experience any of these symptoms, seek urgent medical help.

In California’s Sacramento Valley, a grower was cited for multiple pesticide safety violations in a stone fruit orchard.

In the sweeping farmlands near the Central Coast, a seed supplier that cultivates peppers, vegetables and fruit was hit with more than two dozen pesticide safety violations, some of them serious offenses that caused health or environmental hazards.

And in the San Joaquin Valley, an agricultural retailer with a history of pesticide safety violations was cited for failing to provide protective equipment for workers and post emergency medical information in the fields.

In all, nearly 18,000 regulatory actions were taken by county pesticide safety inspectors across California from the start of 2020 through June 2025. Fewer than 30% resulted in fines, though, according to state enforcement records.

When regulators did levy penalties, they were often as low as $50 to $250, and they varied widely from county to county for the same violations, according to an analysis of more than 40,000 state enforcement records obtained through public records requests.

The regulatory system designed to protect farmworkers from pesticides is enforced haphazardly across California. Even in cases where regulators found that companies endangered workers or committed multiple violations, few were penalized for all their citations. Instead, they received warnings or notices to correct problems for cases in which they were not penalized, an investigation by Capital & Main has found.

In interviews, dozens of farmworkers reported suffering from nausea, burning eyes or irritated throats due to chemical-laced fields. Most said they didn’t report the problems because they feared retaliation or lacked confidence in the regulatory system.

“Yes, there are laws,” said Jesus, his face wrinkled from years of harvesting garlic, pruning grape vines and picking blackberries in the sun-baked San Joaquin Valley.

“But unfortunately, at times the law favors the powerful — it sides with the wealthy,” he added, asking that his last name not be used for fear of reprisal from his bosses.

Autonomous tractors, which are used to apply pesticides, line a field in Fresno County. The machines are operated remotely and spray crops including pistachio and almond trees. A scarecrow overlooks a field of corn at La Huerta de Cantua Creek.

Labor and community activists who track pesticide safety issues contend that lenient penalties, as well as warning letters and written notices, fail to deter violators, especially repeat offenders and larger businesses that can absorb the costs of fines.

State records show that warning letters and written notices were issued more than twice as often as penalties, “[raising] serious questions about accountability and deterrence,” said Bianca Lopez, co-founder and project director at Valley Improvement Projects, which monitors pesticide safety in the northern San Joaquin Valley.

The findings come as state officials are proposing to overhaul decades-old pesticide regulations to toughen enforcement and standardize penalties. Those proposals are strongly opposed by groups representing growers, retailers and providers of agricultural services.

Current regulations are enforced by county agricultural commissioners, who police pesticides in their jurisdictions and also promote California’s $61-billion agricultural industry.

In a statement, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation acknowledged the need to improve regulation and ensure it is applied consistently in every county.

Department spokesperson Amy MacPherson said officials are also proposing new regulations that would increase fines for violations that affect people’s health. This can include cases in which toxic chemicals drift into neighboring fields or communities and sicken people.

MacPherson said county agricultural commissioners have discretion in deciding which enforcement tools — warning letters, written notices, fines — to use in a given situation, depending on the “nature and severity of the violation.”

Paola Lopez, who has harvested raisins in the central San Joaquin Valley, supports stronger regulations.

On a Saturday in late September 2025, the 40-year-old mother of four was loading crates of grapes onto a forklift in a Fresno County field. A tractor pulling a pesticide sprayer passed by on a street just a few yards away. She remembers a loud blast — then a toxic spray covered her face and arms.

“It was a little hard for me to breathe, and my eyes started burning a lot,” she said in Spanish, recounting the incident to a reporter. “I could hardly see.”

Disoriented, she called local activist Nayamin Martinez, executive director of the Central California Environmental Justice Network. Lopez had received pesticide safety training from the organization.

Martinez told Lopez to go to a hospital and said she would file a complaint with the Fresno County agricultural commissioner’s office.

“She started vomiting and became dizzy,” the local activist wrote of Lopez in the complaint.

Paola Lopez, 40, harvests raisins in the San Joaquin Valley and cares for her four children when she is not working in the fields. In September 2025, she was exposed to toxic pesticides and required emergency medical treatment. The county agricultural commissioner investigated the incident and found multiple state pesticide safety violations. Above, Lopez at home with two of her children on April 4.

A reporter reviewed copies of safety notices required by federal law that detail the hazardous chemicals that were mixed into the pesticide load that sprayed Lopez.

“Harmful if inhaled,” one notice says. “Causes skin irritation.”

“Danger … Causes serious eye irritation,” a second document adds.

“May cause cancer,” it warns.

California, unlike other states, has a split system of pesticide oversight. The Department of Pesticide Regulation is charged with statewide enforcement and provides guidance and training for 55 county agricultural commissioners, who police their jurisdictions.

State officials do not supervise the agricultural commissioners, who are appointed by and report to their elected boards of supervisors.

In interviews, commissioners lauded California’s enforcement system, saying they think it’s important to have discretion when applying regulations because crops, growing seasons and pesticide use vary from county to county. They said their work has improved safety in the fields.

The flexibility “gives us the ability to closely work with growers and … keep our communities safe,” said Juan Hidalgo, agricultural commissioner for Monterey County, one of the top farming counties in the nation with a gross agricultural production value of $4.8 billion in 2025.

Last year, a Capital & Main investigation found that companies with violations in multiple counties across California were not fined for hundreds of those offenses — many involving worker safety.

In 2023, a federal audit flagged serious pesticide incidents in half a dozen counties and uncovered patchwork oversight by agricultural commissioners. The county regulators interpret pesticide safety laws differently, are not required to justify fines and are not mandated to check a company’s statewide compliance history, the audit found.

The Department of Pesticide Regulation in late 2025 unveiled searchable county and statewide data breakdowns for regulatory actions taken by agricultural commissioners from the start of 2020 through the end of June 2025.

During that period, commissioners took 17,742 regulatory actions for pesticide violations of all types, but only 4,885 resulted in fines or referrals to district attorneys for possible prosecution, according to the data.

The treatment of violators, including repeat offenders and companies cited for serious infractions, varied depending on the county, according to the analysis by Capital & Main, which examined 40,150 state enforcement records detailing investigations, violations and civil penalties from 2018 through early 2024.

In one county, for instance, an agricultural commissioner fined a farmer $2,000 for failing to provide safety training for workers who applied pesticides in fields. In another county, a grower was fined $200 for the same violation.

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1. A farmworker, 43, who is not identified for her safety, picks grapes that will be sold as raisins in southwest Fresno County on Sept. 3. She works from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is paid 36 cents for each paper sheet she fills. 2. A grape farm in Fresno County.

Failure to provide pesticide safety training for workers who handle pesticides is one of the most common violations in California, according to state regulators. Such training is crucial for all field workers because pesticides have different safety requirements and can pose serious health risks.

Many farmworkers who were interviewed, including Lopez, who was sprayed in the raisin field, said employers did not provide pesticide safety training.

According to the analysis, more than 240 businesses were cited for at least 1,268 violations in multiple counties across California, but they paid no fines for nearly half of these citations — many involving worker safety.

Labor advocates who have studied pesticide regulation say the oversight gaps and failures to impose stiffer fines underscore the need for more vigilant enforcement. They note that rural and predominantly Latino communities are disproportionately affected.

“We need much stronger and more consistent enforcement to protect workers and communities,” said Anne Katten, director of the Pesticide & Work Health & Safety Project for the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation.

In June, the Department of Pesticide Regulation unveiled proposed changes to state pesticide regulations. The approval process will take months and has involved public comment; revised rules are expected to be adopted next year, officials said.

To address uneven enforcement, the new rules would require agricultural commissioners to check whether companies were cited for violations in other counties, officials said. Commissioners would also have increased reporting requirements when they don’t impose fines. Minimum levels for penalties would be raised and stiffer fines would be imposed for repeat offenders.

But individual farmers as well as more than a dozen associations that represent growers, agricultural retailers and firms that spray pesticides have voiced opposition to the changes. They argue that current regulations are effective, that agricultural commissioners need flexibility to investigate violations and that more training is needed to help growers understand the rules, according to written comments obtained through California Public Records Act requests.

“A one-size-fits-all enforcement approach fails to account for California’s agricultural diversity,” said a letter sent to state officials in December that was signed by groups such as the California Strawberry Commission and California Agricultural Aircraft Assn.

“Maintaining county-level discretion,” the letter says, “ensures that enforcement decisions reflect on-the-ground realities and local expertise.”

Some supporting the overhaul say it doesn’t go far enough to protect workers and communities.

Violations of reporting requirements, including those involving pesticide spraying near schools, would trigger only minor, optional fines, said Yanely Martinez, an organizer with Safe Ag Safe Schools, which monitors pesticide safety in the Salinas and Pajaro valleys.

In early June, the investigation into the pesticide exposure case involving Paola Lopez was closed.

Officials found five violations, including failure to have an emergency medical plan for workers, failure to protect people and wildlife from pesticide drift and failure to have pesticide safety records on file, according to a copy of the investigative report obtained through a public records request.

The agricultural commissioner’s office referred the case in June to the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office for possible criminal prosecution. As of mid-September, the case was still under review and there was no timeline for a decision regarding potential criminal charges, said Taylor P. Long, spokesperson for the district attorney.

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1. Crates stacked at a grape farm in Fresno County. 2. Crates of raisins dry in the sun in Caruthers in Fresno County. 3. Sweet Harvest Church is surrounded by agricultural fields in an area of Fresno where many low-income families live and work.

If prosecutors reject the case, it would go back to the agricultural commissioner’s office, which would determine the severity of the violations and how much the fines would be, said Mario Reeves, Fresno County’s assistant agricultural commissioner.

Lopez was at her apartment in the prosperous farmland known as the “Raisin Capital of the World” when a reporter told her about the investigation’s findings and the timeframe for penalties.

She expressed frustration that months would pass before anyone is held accountable.

“How many more people will be exposed? … How many more people will get injured?” she said.

Lopez’s medical bills are covered by workers’ compensation insurance, but her health has worsened and her doctor has referred her to specialists who deal with respiratory and nervous system disorders, she said.

She had gone back to the raisin fields days after she was exposed, even though her throat was sore and she was coughing, because she needed the money. “We cannot afford the luxury of just walking away from a job,” she said.

She lasted less than two days before becoming too sick to work. She has not returned.

Lopez is an independent journalist and fellow at the McGraw Center for Business Journalism. Data journalist Cherry Salazar analyzed state pesticide records for this report.

Mark Walter may be selling the Lakers, but the new owners plan to take a money-making page out of the Dodgers’ playbook nonetheless: Dump the ticket brokers and leverage control over the resale market to drive up the cost of a ticket.

As a result, the average price for a Lakers ticket could rise from $217 to $361 within the next two years, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing documents prepared for potential investors.

Thrive Eternal, the sports properties company run by incoming Lakers owner Joshua Kushner, declined to comment because the NBA has not yet approved the sale.

However, the $361 figure was intended to illustrate to potential investors how much incremental ticket revenue the Lakers could gain by booting the brokers, not to signal another immediate and steep price hike, according to a person familiar with the deal but not authorized to comment publicly about it.

In February, under Walter’s ownership, the Lakers announced significant increases in ticket prices for the 2026-27 season. No announcement has been made for seasons beyond then, but the investor presentation provides information on how prices have increased for NBA tickets across the league.

Sports teams often enjoyed long and beneficial relationships with brokers, who bought out blocks of season tickets. That guaranteed the teams with revenue, with brokers benefiting from a markup for popular games but taking the risk that tickets to less popular games would sell at a loss, or not at all.

Over the past decade, the Dodgers and other teams have kicked out the brokers and taken that risk themselves, with the aid of dynamic pricing: the constant raising or lowering of ticket prices based on real-time supply and demand. For the Dodgers, the worst tickets seldom fall to market rate, because the team would rather live with a few empty seats rather than condition fans to hold out for a lower price.

The Dodgers lead the major leagues in attendance, on pace to sell 4 million tickets for the second consecutive season. The Lakers played to 99.8% of capacity last season, according to ESPN. So the calculus is simple for both teams: Sell a $100 ticket to a broker, who would then sell it for $200; or cut out the broker, sell the ticket for $200, and pocket the $100 difference.

Kushner and former Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger agreed last month to buy controlling interest in the Lakers, at a $12.5-billion valuation. The world’s most valuable sports team, according to Sportico: the Dallas Cowboys, at $15.5 billion.

According to the Journal, the Thrive Eternal investor pitch projected that the Lakers could leverage increases in ticket prices, media rights, sponsorships and international growth to generate close to $600 million in annual profit by 2037, when the value of the franchise could reach $30 billion.

Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong holds a 4% stake in the Lakers. He is not selling his stake in the Lakers, his attorney told The Times last month, in part because “we believe they are still undervalued.”

Kim Kardashian grapples with a health scare that hits close to home in a new trailer for “The Kardashians.”

The reality star and fashion mogul reveals in the reality series’ Season 8 trailer released Thursday that she has been diagnosed with esophagitis.

“I have something called esophagitism,” Kim tells a stylist in the trailer. The Skims founder is then shown in a hospital bed in a series of clips, one in which it appears she’s being wheeled into a procedure. While it’s unclear who is speaking to Kim, someone off-screen says, “Didn’t your father … isn’t it what he died of?”

If esophagitis is left untreated, there’s a risk of developing Barrett‘s esophagus condition, in which the cells lining the esophagus are damaged from acid reflux, according to Mayo Clinic. The condition raises the risk of cancer that starts in the esophagus, which is called esophageal cancer.

Kim’s dad, famed attorney Robert Kardashian, died in September 2003 at the age of 59. He had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer just months before his death.

“I can’t, it makes me want to cry,” Kim’s mom Kris Jenner says in the trailer, alluding to the frightening diagnosis.

Esophagitis is inflammation of the tissues that line the esophagus, per the Mayo Clinic. The condition can be painful and make swallowing difficult, and it can cause chest pain. While there are a variety of causes for the condition, the trailer does not reveal which has contributed to Kim’s case.

Kim Kardashian in “The Kardashians” in 2022.

(Photo from Hulu)

Treatment for the health issue can vary and depends upon the severity of tissue damage and the cause. Without proper treatment, the lining of the esophagus, which is the tube that carries food and water to your stomach, can be badly damaged. This can lead to more serious health issues including scarring and narrowing of the esophagus, or even tearing in the esophagus.

When detected early, however, the condition is considered treatable.

The work by Oxford University, which is published in the International Journal of Cancer, defines any drink at 65 degrees Celsuis or above as “very hot” and posing a potential risk.

Consuming six or more hot drinks per day also raises the risk, according to data from 977,282 middle-aged men and women.

Although adding milk can cool drinks down slightly, a milky tea or coffee may still be far too hot, researchers say.

Tea made immediately after a kettle is fully boiled is touching boiling point, which is 100 degrees C (212 degrees F). Once poured into a cup, that lowers to around 90 or 95 degrees C.

The advice is to wait a few minutes before drinking so the beverage cools to a safer temperature.

Cancer Research UK says it’s difficult to put an exact time on how long a hot drink should be left to cool.

“But if you’re worried, we’d suggest just waiting until it’s comfortable to drink rather than drinking it while it’s still very hot,” the charity said.

Lead researcher Dr Keren Papier said research in South America – where many people drink a very hot herbal beverage called mate – had already shown a similar link between hot drinks and oesophageal cancer.

But she said: “More research is now needed to identify the exact drink temperatures linked to this increased risk.”

A separate study, external of 118 young adults who did multiple tastings of different black coffees found most only deemed the drinks to be too hot if the temperature was 70 degrees C or above.

According to one takeaway coffee cup manufacturer, the ideal temperature for hot coffee on the go is between 49 and 60 degrees C.

Should a barista want the coffee to stay hotter for longer – if a customer requests extra hot – it can be served at over 82 degrees C, says MTPak Coffee.

The Amass case is a strange one. A natural left-back in United’s academy, who did well in a loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday last season, then got injured straight after switching to Norwich in the winter window, Amass, 19, impressed many observers with his performances during pre-season, when he shadowed Shaw.

Yet, for some reason, United were willing to let him leave.

In the summer of 2024, then manager Erik ten Hag opted not to pick the teenager in his squad for the Community Shield, even though Amass had given a creditable account of himself up against Mo Salah in a pre-season game in the United States just a week earlier.

Ten Hag felt, physically, Amass was not at the level required. In theory, the two years that have elapsed since then should have made the defender bigger and stronger.

There have been multiple expressions of interest in Amass. Even heading into deadline day, his omission from United’s Premier League 2 game against Leicester on Monday reinforced a widespread belief he would leave, probably on loan.

But that has not happened and it is not clear what his role will be within the senior squad.

The willingness to view Mazraoui as a left-back option was helped by the performances of Leny Yoro in pre-season.

Signed from Lille for £52m in 2024 as a central defender, Carrick used Yoro mainly as a right-back this summer.

Against Ipswich on Sunday, that was the slot Yoro was introduced into as a replacement for Dalot, at the same time as Mazraoui was coming on for Shaw.

At just 20, Yoro has plenty to learn about the right-back role. However, he has pace, is strong and is good on the ball. United supporters only have to look at how Josko Gvardiol has adapted to the full-back role at Manchester City after signing as a central defender to realise switching positions can have a positive outcome.

That is the calculated risk United have taken.

What they absolutely did not want to do, having taken a hardline stance all summer on the fees they were willing to pay, and a refusal to spend more than they thought a player was worth, was end up making a signing like Alex Telles, or Matteo Darmian, or Sergio Reguilon, who all arrived in recent years but were evidently short of the standard required.

It makes sense. It is probably the right call.

But that is a view taken away from the emotion of matches and the rollercoaster of results. And the reality is they will be the deciding factor in whether it was a good decision or not.

New headlines this week are raising concerns for parents of high school football players.

According to a study published from researchers at Mass General Brigham, Boston University and the Concussion & CTE Foundation, one in four former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 might have had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). There were 338 brains donated to study, and 315 of them had evidence of CTE, a brain disorder that can happen because of repeated injuries to the head.

Allan Walsh, a sports agent and lawyer, said in a tweet: “This is a crisis.”

Parents have previously debated among themselves the risks and rewards in letting a son or daughter play a contact sport, but this new study regarding football head injuries is once again going to rattle, if not cause a retreat, from some allowing family members to participate in football.

“It causes concern,” said Mike Hamilton, a former high school football and basketball coach who has a son playing football at Chatsworth High. “Sometimes I’m like, ‘Do I want him to play?’ I’m apprehensive. He has a passion for the game. He’s conscience about his health. What gives me relief is knowing that practices are going well. There are protocols parents should abide by. We didn’t let our son play football until he got to high school because of the hits.”

Tim Moscicki, an athletic trainer at Loyola High for 38 years, said much has changed for the better in protecting football players from concussions and other head injuries. He said new policies, improved equipment, a focus on tackling fundamentals and new protocols are all having an impact.

Loyola athletic trainer Tim Moscicki doing baselining of students in 2014 to help diagnose concussions.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

He remembers the days when coaches would say, “He got his bell rung.” The player would sit out a few plays, then get put back in. Now that term is barred from everyone’s vocabulary. New rules requiring players to sit out a minimum of seven days following a concussion while needing clearance from a doctor to return and tackling restrictions put in during weekly practices show the CIF is taking CTE concerns in a serious matter for high school sports.

“To me. football has gotten a lot safer,” Moscicki said. “Right now, given what’s in place, it’s safe to play football. Kids are being held out now when they develop any kind of symptom. Back in 1990, if a kid had a concussion and they were free of symptoms for 24 hours, we’d give them their helmet back, ‘You can play.’

“My thing it’s still up to parents if they want their sons to play football. My youngest played football, oldest played lacrosse. There’s always a risk. There’s a risk riding a bike. There’s risk playing baseball. It’s a just a little higher in the full-contact sports. The standards have changed so much. There really wasn’t a return to play protocol in the ‘70s ‘80s and ‘90s.”

Moscicki was one of the first high school athletic trainers to do baselining of all students, giving them tests of their balance and brain functions so it can be used and compared with a similar exam if the student is suspected of having a concussion. Loyola also started a return-to-school program because students with concussions have headaches that also affects their school work.

Parents must understand “you cannot prevent a concussion,” Moscicki said.

“If you get hit hard enough, there’s nothing out there that would 100% prevent a concussion,” he said. “A concussion happens as a result of your brain hitting the inside of your skull.”

The good news is everyone seems to be endorsing funding research into head injuries, including the NFL. It’s still too early to conclude where the research is headed.

That’s where parental choice comes into play.

“Football is a sport,” Moscicki said. “You don’t have to play it. You don’t have to watch it.”

And yet, the Super Bowl is the most watched annual television broadcast in the United States, with lots of monetary rewards for those who participate.

There are many challenges ahead. Pierce College and Orange Coast College paused their junior college football programs this year for lack of players. Junior varsity programs at lots of high schools have been discontinued for lack of players. A CIF participation survey for 2025-26 found 11-man football is the most popular boys sport with 87,718 participants, a drop of 4% from last school year.

“Anything that’s a contact sport runs a risk,” Hamilton said. “You want to protect your son.”