LONDON — Todd Boehly and fellow co-owner Mark Walter have sold their stakes in Chelsea, handing full control to Clearlake Capital, the English Premier League club said on Wednesday.

“Chelsea Football Club today announced affiliates of Clearlake Capital Group will acquire the ownership interest of Todd Boehly,” it said in a statement.

“As part of the transition, Clearlake will also acquire Mark Walter’s ownership interest and therefore acquire full control of the club.”

Boehly, Walter and Swiss investor Hansjorg Wyss all purchased a 12.8% share alongside the private equity company Clearlake, which had owned 61.5% ahead of Wednesday’s announcement. The Financial Times reported that Walter and Boehly will receive £950 million ($1.3 billion) for their combined stake in a deal that values the club at £5 billion ($6.7 billion) including debt.

Walter’s companies are the subject of multiple investigations that center on how much life insurance companies he owns were invested in the Dodgers and Lakers and why the investments weren’t accurately disclosed. Walter sold his majority share of the Lakers last month for a record $12.5 billion valuation, but Walter’s TWG Global said the decision to sell was not forced by the investigation. People with knowledge of company operations but not authorized to speak publicly told The Times Walter was open to selling his Chelsea share for the right price, but he has no intention of selling the Dodgers and other sports investments.

Boehly has worked with Walter at Guggenheim Partners since 2001 and played a significant role in the purchase of the Dodgers and Lakers, among other Walter owned properties.

In 2022, Clearlake and Boehly combined to take over the club from Roman Abramovich when the Russian billionaire was forced to sell the club after being sanctioned by the U.K. for his connection to Russian President Vladimir Putin following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Boehly now stands down in his role as Chelsea chairman. Fans protested Boehly’s tenure as the club struggled to keep pace in the Premier League title chase amid erratic leadership, unusual player acquisitions and chaotic relationships with managers.

“It has been an honor to serve as chairman of Chelsea Football Club,” Boehly said. “I would like to thank the many who helped secure a bright future for the club, including the English Premier League, the coaches and players, the talented leadership and staff at Chelsea, and the legions of dedicated fans.

“I have valued my partnership with Clearlake and the wider ownership group, and the collective decisions and investment we have made to support the immediate and long-term success of the club. I am confident that Chelsea is well positioned for continued success under Clearlake’s leadership.”

Behdad Eghbali and José E. Feliciano, co-founders of Clearlake Capital, lauded Boehly in the Chelsea statement. Feliciano also recently acquired Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres.

“Todd has been an important partner throughout our ownership of Chelsea, and we thank him for his time and contribution as chairman,” Eghbali and Feliciano said. “He will always be a part of the Chelsea story and family.

“Clearlake has served as Chelsea’s majority owner since 2022, and as we move to full control our focus is to continue investing in the club’s infrastructure, sporting performance, player development and delivering long-term success for Chelsea and the club’s supporters.”

The statement also said Wyss would “remain an important stakeholder and partner in the ownership group”, and that there would be “no changes to the day-to-day operations, leadership or strategy at the club.”

Chelsea, which is sixth in the Premier League standings, next faces London rival Brentford on Friday.

Jimenez writes for the Associated Press.

Islamabad, Pakistan — More than 16 months after India and Pakistan fought a four-day air war, firing missiles and drones at each other, the South Asian neighbours came the closest since then to a military face-off — this time in the Arabian Sea.

Indian and Pakistani naval vessels collided on Tuesday, setting off tit-for-tat accusations. Pakistan’s government summoned India’s top diplomat in Islamabad on Wednesday, mirroring action New Delhi had taken hours earlier when it summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires and lodged a protest of its own over the incident.

The collision is the first direct military encounter between the nuclear-armed neighbours since their four-day conflict in May 2025, when Indian air strikes and Pakistani retaliation brought both countries closer to full-scale war than at any point in decades.

So far, details of what happened remain disputed. Neither government has released video, track data or an independent account – and each statement places the blame on the other’s vessel.

But analysts say it underscored the risks of unintended incidents in the seas that could potentially escalate into broader crises, when India and Pakistan have few military and diplomatic mechanisms left in place to defuse tensions.

Two accounts

According to Pakistan’s Foreign Office statement issued on Wednesday evening, the navy has been conducting its biennial SEASPARK-26 exercise inside its exclusive economic zone since September 1 .

A country’s EEZ extends 200 nautical miles (370km) from its coast. Its territorial waters are only 12 nautical miles (22km) from the coast, with the rest of the EEZ in international waters. While vessels from other countries can pass through a nation’s EEZ in international waters unencumbered, they cannot exploit the waters economically: that right belongs only to the country whose EEZ it is.

Pakistan said that an Indian vessel, identified as the guided-missile destroyer INS Kolkata, had “repeatedly” tried to enter the exercise area since September 7 .

On September 15 , it said, Kolkata made a “dangerous” change of course that brought it into contact with a Pakistani vessel identified in local media as PNS Hunain, an offshore patrol vessel.

“Pakistan strongly rejects this belligerent Indian action,” the Pakistani Foreign Office said, calling it a violation of a 1991 bilateral agreement requiring warships to stay at least three nautical miles (5.5km, 3.4 miles) apart in international waters.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs said the warship was on “routine surveillance” in international waters when a Pakistani vessel approached at high speed and manoeuvred unsafely.

Neither government has named the vessels in its own on-record statement, and India has not confirmed or denied the Kolkata identification.

The two navies last collided in June 2011, when Pakistani frigate PNS Babur brushed against Indian frigate INS Godavari in the Gulf of Aden, while escorting a merchant vessel freed from Somali pirates.

Each side blamed the other then too. That row faded within weeks.

The risks

Retired Vice Admiral Ahmad Saeed of the Pakistan Navy said the pattern — two ships pressing close without a clear intent to collide — was familiar from Cold War-era “bumping” incidents between Soviet and US ships in the Black Sea.

But he argued that India and Pakistan are worse placed to manage similar encounters.

“There’s no bilateral Incidents at Sea agreement, the kind the US and USSR signed in 1972, and no navy-to-navy hotline,” Saeed told Al Jazeera. “Article 10 sets a distance, but it gives no manoeuvring rules and no procedure for investigating an incident afterwards. That gap is exactly why each side can just accuse the other.”

Article 10 of the 1991 confidence-building agreement between the two nations requires warships to stay at least three nautical miles (5.6km, 3.5 miles) apart in international waters.

Saeed said the greater risk was what might follow the collision: sharper tactics such as fire-control radar lock-ons or helicopter overflights and eventually “a contact with actual casualties.”

Muhammad Shareh Qazi, a Lahore-based security and maritime analyst, however, pointed to the same 1991 agreement, which he said requires 30 days’ written notice before a military exercise, as well as international collision regulations that apply to both countries as signatories to the UN maritime convention.

“If this collision really had the potential to escalate militarily, you’d have noticed by now,” Qazi said. “There’s a tool for that, called chaff, fired just above the bow or stern purely to signal you could escalate if needed. Nothing like that happened here.”

Both navies also have their own internal accountability channels, he added, with a captain found to have acted without authorisation facing a court martial process separate from any diplomatic protest.

On fishermen routinely detained for straying across the Sir Creek boundary, which is not demarcated between India and Pakistan further south, Qazi said the link to incidents further out at sea was indirect but real.

“Clear demarcation could help close those ambiguities over time, by reducing the ambiguity around where and how these interactions are expected to occur,” he added.

Saeed was more cautious about how contained an incident like this would remain.

“This hasn’t stayed quiet. Both governments went public with protests within a day of each other,” he said, adding that what made the moment riskier than 2011 was that “both publics are primed after last year’s conflict, which was not the case in 2011.”

Similar close-quarters confrontations have become more frequent between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea.

In the most recent flare-up, on July 24 , Philippine officials said a Chinese vessel came within about seven metres (23 feet) of a Philippine fisheries boat near Scarborough Shoal, the Philippine-claimed reef that China has controlled since 2012, and that Chinese coast guard ships fired water cannon at Philippine vessels.

Whether this week’s collision follows that pattern or fades like the 2011 incident depends less on the ships than on what comes next diplomatically, Qazi said.

“If, in the next 24 to 48 hours, an official statement suggests there was a genuine cause to manufacture an incident for the purpose of escalation, then yes, there may be a real possibility of this happening again,” he added.

A new drone collaboration by Cessna owner Textron and autonomy provider Merlin Labs aims to offer the U.S. military a hot production line and a familiar platform for uncrewed aerial logistics, including in contested environments.

The product is SkyCourier UX, a drone version of the Cessna 408 SkyCourier that has flown for FedEx, foreign special operations forces and small remote commercial airlines during its six years of active service. TWZ previously covered how the SkyCourier would likely end up taking on military applications when it was first announced, which you can read here.

Introducing SkyCourier UX

A partial full-size model on the show floor at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference in Washington, D.C., this week showed a nose that opened with hydraulics to a cargo bay in lieu of a cockpit. We have seen this same front door conversion concept for uncrewed cargo-carrying helicopters as of late. This allows for easy loading of outsized cargoes without specialized equipment, according to the company, though it does not increase the payload. Like the original SkyCourier, it’s good for about 6,000 pounds, or three standard containers.

The form factor of the uncrewed SkyCourier variant is otherwise identical to its crewed counterpart, with twin turboprops, a high-wing configuration and an aluminum body. 

As with the base SkyCourier, a major advantage of the aircraft is its optimization for loading and carrying standard pallets. This means that cargoes don’t necessarily have to be downloaded, broken up and repackaged for movement to forward positions. This is a big logistical advantage and can speed the flow of critical supplies to where they are needed most. 

The aircraft’s range is about 900 nautical miles, which the makers say suits it well for Pacific island-hopping, allowing for refueling stops on austere runways. It can take off on runways as short as 3,300 feet and land in just 2,500 feet, according to a spec sheet.

The Textron/Merlin collaboration aims to differentiate itself with proven capability in the missions it intends to fulfill, along with the ability to roll out a new drone variant fast and one it can sustain consistently. Bob Gibbs, Textron’s vice president of special missions sales, told reporters in a Monday briefing that the conventional SkyCourier was now fulfilling new orders, not previously announced, to deliver modified aircraft to foreign nations for medical evacuation, casualty evacuation and environmental protection.

“The aircraft’s being operated literally from the Arctic to the Amazon,” Gibbs said. “There are three different island nations in the Pacific that have airline fleets of them. We support our aircraft in 170 countries around the world. So, just like a Cessna Caravan or a Beechcraft King Air, they’re ubiquitous. You find them anywhere, and we support them anywhere in the world.”

The $7 Million Flying Box: Inside the Cessna SkyCourier

While the 900-mile range can’t take the loaded-up aircraft the nearly 2,000-mile stretch between the first and second island chains, Merlin and Textron executives said they don’t need to accomplish that to make it effective.

“This is the ability to disperse the forces among the second island chain … to do the island-hopping to be able to get to, whether it’s Palau, Tinian, Saipan, pick your various islands there,” Kyle Kremer, a retired Air Force major general who now advises Merlin, said. “With the range that it has, it has the ability to agilely move through there” and connect logistics pipelines.

The autonomy package, Merlin Pilot, is already in use under a $105 million U.S. Special Operations Command contract to develop autonomy for the C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft. It’s been flown aboard four different single and multi-engine airframes, the company says. A promotional web page for Merlin Pilot shows tanker-class and commercial cargo applications with developing and future capabilities.

Merlin has also teamed with the Air Force to develop an AI copilot for KC-135 tankers that can decrease crew workload and even possibly fly the aircraft on its own in the future. TWZ reported on planned tests for these autonomy-enabled tankers in 2024, with the flights set to begin the following year.

However, the Air Force has not confirmed the completion of any flight tests for the effort since. And on Wednesday, Lt. Gen. Daniel Tulley, commander of Air Force Mobility Command, appeared to confirm that the tests had never taken place.

“There’s some companies out there who have offered to develop things where they can bring a carry-on kit onto old KC-135s and other aircraft, but we haven’t seen them test those successfully,” he said. 

He added that autonomy technology may lack the maturity needed for tanker missions.

“An optionally manned or an unmanned tanker at range, [at] the ranges we needed to operate at. It’s a very large aircraft, and we’re not yet to where we’re employing fully autonomous large aircraft. But the technology, I would say, is there and rapidly getting there,” he said.

Tulley did stress that the Air Force saw a need for unmanned aircraft in the last-tactical-leg delivery.

“I’m wrestling with that as we develop an AMC strategy,” he said. “There is absolutely room for some sort of autonomous or other small light lift capability, and that’s just one domain in the air, right? This could be by sea, could be by land, but there is absolutely some requirement for distribution from those major points of debarkation.”

In addition to autonomous takeoff, landing and navigation, and protection of the flight envelope, Merlin Pilot, the company says, has digital copilot human-machine teaming characteristics that include pilot health monitoring, gaze tracking and fatigue detection; pilot incapacitation and contingency response; and flight monitoring and assistance.

Some of Textron’s new features are making light steps toward autonomy already. Gibbs pointed out that the company’s Cessna Citation Gen3 business jets now include standard Garmin auto-land technology.

“Obviously, it’s a different scale than what Merlin’s doing as far as automation,” he said. “But … as we develop new products, we try to future-proof them, and so that’s where you get this nice transition between us.”

The SkyCourier can cost up to $8.5 million, depending on modifications, and while the SkyCourier UX sports GPS-denied navigation and the ability to seek different flight paths to avoid danger, it doesn’t have other built-in defenses. For contested logistics missions, it’s not clear how much risk the services are willing to tolerate for a relatively small logistics payload capability. Kremer maintained, though, that a drone of this size could be a mission-saving capability when dispatched to austere locations. And, in a Pacific conflict, it may reduce demand on already-stretched C-130 transports, now the smallest platform capable of carrying standard containers and long overtasked.

“If you can’t get the spare tire, if you can’t get the component, that small thing where you need it in these dispersed operations, they don’t keep the big logistic supply chain built up in these locations,” Kremer said. “You have to be able to get it where you need it, when you need it, and that’s what this provides.”

Nonetheless, the Air Force has a clear appetite for a capability like this. Last year, it signed a $17.5 million contract to put a Reliable Robotics autonomy package on a Cessna 208B Caravan. 

On Monday, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach reiterated the Air Force’s interest in unmanned aerial logistics platforms.

“We’re doing testing on them,” he said in response to an audience question. “We believe that there’s some value in that as well. It certainly could be valuable in the Pacific with the ranges that we’re talking about, and so we’re looking at several different options and evaluating them. But I would say nothing, no program of records just yet, but [we’re] certainly taking a look at some demonstrators and the like to see what’s available to us.”

Notably, China has made significant advancements in developing logistic drone capabilities, with reported successful flight tests of massive heavy-lift uncrewed aircraft, including a 7-ton cargo plane that’s currently the world’s largest uncrewed freighter to take flight. Among them is China’s CH-YH1000, a medium-altitude cargo drone developed by the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics that boasts, like SkyCourier UX, a hatch in lieu of a cockpit for ease of flat-pallet loading up to a weight of 1.2 tons. These are just some of an increasing number of similar systems being developed in China that aim to take the crew out of lower-end logistical missions over short, medium and long distances.

Though Textron and Merlin have yet to build a SkyCourier UX prototype, Merlin CEO Matt George emphasized that the company had chosen to partner with Textron because they could start delivering aircraft fast.

“You’ll see over the course of the show a lot of concept aircraft. You’ll see a lot of renders. You’ll see a lot of people who have big empty factories all around the country,” he said. “But I also want to be very clear about the fact that none of this matters without production … There’s 14,000 Americans working in Wichita, Kansas, on a production line where these aircraft, at least in the crewed configuration, are coming off the production line. So when we talk about capability, we’re talking about that capability and bringing that capability to bear soon, rather than in the future.”

Next in the development process, executives say, will be an optionally piloted version of SkyCourier that will allow users to develop comfort with the platform and open the door to further iteration. 

The Textron/Merlin team is also leaving its options open in terms of which U.S. military customer might find its platform most useful.

“I hope [the Army and Air Force] fight over it,” Gibbs said.

Contact the editor: Tyler@twz.com

Among novelist Mona Awad’s prized possessions is a handmade rabbit brooch with delicate hanging daggers. It’s a gift from a reader. The present was inspired by Awad’s goth-tinged comic novel “Bunny,” which has garnered a cult following on social platforms like BookTok over the last several years with readers who call themselves “bunnies.” Driven largely by these devoted fans, the book’s sequel “We Love You, Bunny” hits shelves this month in paperback, while Awad hops across the U.S. on her latest book tour.

The bunnies are so enamored with Awad’s horror-adjacent satires centered on academia and female friendships (and often compared to “Heathers” and “Mean Girls”), they have created their own online — and offline — aesthetic universe.

Their videos and artwork, spanning Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, bring the novels’ surreal, “creepy-cute” aesthetic to life. The fan art features moody Ivy League backdrops with bunny ears, heavy tomes, blood-red candles and saccharine doll-like fashion. It’s a style ripped straight from the book’s antagonists — one of whom wears a pink dress patterned with beheaded girls. Some bunnies cosplay lace-adorned, ax-wielding characters and post the images on social media, or illustrate them.

Sara Ah Sing, a 30-year-old multidisciplinary artist in San Diego who considers herself a bunny, is one such illustrator. She discovered Awad’s fiction when she went down a BookTube dark academia genre-themed rabbit hole. “I was taken aback by how intense and vivid the descriptions were, and not only detailed, but very viscerally described … Mona Awad is not a generic prose writer,” Ah Sing says.

Author Mona Awad writes and dreams up her fiction in La Jolla, where she has a second home.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

She recalls a protagonist called Cupcake. “She’s described as a person who looks like a cupcake … something like ‘The Children of the Corn’ going to prom. And, it’s like, OK, what does that mean? For an artist it begs for interpretation — and I just have to illustrate it.”

Her imagination has been reignited with the sequel, “We Love You, Bunny.” Ah Sing illustrated its tortured central character, Aerius, as a muscled romance book cover star — with a twist. “Instantly when we meet him in the new book, he’s described with all these delicious descriptions. He’s got all these very specific tattoos that are in very specific places on his body,” Ah Sing says. “He’s wearing pearls and has auburn hair that covers one eye — it’s like a playground for your brain reading that kind of stuff.”

Awad’s vivid descriptions have led to all kinds of fan-led creations. Los Angeles-area Bookstagrammer Michelle Grondine, 40, is inked with five “Bunny”-inspired tattoos. “I have one on my inner ankle, one on my forearm, one on my collarbone, one on my lower back of a cat reading ‘Bunny’ and one on my thigh,” Grondine says. Each of the tattoos varies in style, not unlike the distinct personalities in the book’s fictional MFA cohort.

Grondine plans to attend Awad’s upcoming event at Skylight Books in Los Angeles on Sept. 21 with her best friend, Valentina Feldstedt, who lives in Northridge. The two met online after Grondine spotted Feldstedt’s “Bunny” social posts, and they quickly bonded over their shared obsession. They have collected various editions of the series (including the Barnes & Noble-released “We Love You, Bunny,” which features a bonus chapter), gone to see Awad live several times and crafted Taylor Swift Eras tour-style friendship bracelets for fellow fans and Awad (whom they call “our alpha bunny.”)

“Bunny” author Mona Awad’s spread of her fan art and gifts in her home in La Jolla. (Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

Feldstedt, 30, has her own “Bunny” tattoo, which she says doubles as an excuse to pitch the novel to strangers. “It’s weird, but if you get it, you get it,” Feldstedt says. “And if you don’t, you’re not a bunny — and that’s fine.”

Awad says her sequel, in part, owes to bunnies like Ah Sing, Grondine and Feldstedt. “When readers started finding it online and creating and expanding the universe of it, it gave me permission to go back to it,” Awad reflects.

She walks around her Boston home and plucks up a fan-made crocheted rabbit toting an ax. Another fan, a nail artist, crafted spooky bespoke black and purple press-ons decorated with intricate white hares. Awad says there’s a song written about the book by an indie band from western Massachusetts called the Greys, and you can buy fan-crafted “Bunny” merch on Etsy.

A poster signed by fans at Mona Awad’s book signing for “We Love You, Bunny” at the Center for Yoga in Los Angeles.

(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)

But “Bunny” didn’t always have such a rabid fan group. In fact, when the first book was published in 2019, it received critical acclaim, but Awad was disappointed it wasn’t selling as well as her previous novel, “13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl.”

“I was like, well, maybe it’s just a weird book,” she recalls on a Zoom call in her literature-lined home. A few years later, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Awad got a call from her publisher. The book was selling, and they couldn’t figure out why. “It was beginning to sell more than 1,000 copies a week, which is crazy two years after publication,” she says. Around that time, BookTok and BookTube had discovered her novel. Next came the bunny ears.

“More and more readers were tagging me on Instagram, and they were dressed in bunny ears, or they had a bunny tattoo, or they were sharing visual art that they had made, envisioning the characters — paintings, ink drawings, cartoons, comics, so many different iterations of this — and then all of these reels and collages that were just so incredible to see,” she says, pausing to emphasize her amazement. “I was really startled by it. It just kind of came in this wave, and then it just grew from there.”

Jane Friedman, a books industry veteran who tracks publishing news, trends and the intersection with technology in her newsletter “The Bottom Line,” says that intense literary fandoms aren’t entirely new. “Apart from BookTok, there have always been these really obsessive fan communities,” Friedman says. “The internet and social media just made it easier for them to come together, making them far more powerful.”

Friedman emphasizes that some critics are concerned that a so-called BookTok phenomenon pushes literature toward consumerism and waters down literary quality. “You can sometimes see authors chasing a trend rather than writing what they would ordinarily write, hoping their book will go viral,” Friedman says. “But I don’t think that’s the case here. It’s probably a mix of timing, serendipity, literary quality and, you know, the stars aligning.”

Awad was born in Montreal to a French Canadian mother and an Egyptian father. She grew up in a French-speaking family, and when her mother enrolled her in an English-speaking school, she recalls feeling like a complete outsider. It was an experience that would happen again and again — like later when her family moved to a Toronto suburb (where, of course, she had a few goth years), and again in her 30s during grad school when she earned her MFA at Brown University.

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1. Superfan Valentina Bunny lives in Northridge. (Valentina Feldstedt) 2. Madelyn Bunny hails from Kentucky. (Madelyn Chimento) 3. L.A.’s Michelle Bunny has five rabbit tattoos with plans for more. (Michelle Grondine) 4. Valentina Bunny, left, and Michelle Bunny with author Mona Awad. (Michelle Grondine) 5. Chloe Bunny lives in Australia. (Chloe Bunnie)

“It was kind of my first taste of New England, which was very, very mythical to anybody who doesn’t come from there … It was disorienting in ways that I suppose were productive in retrospect, but it was hard. It was my first taste of being critiqued. It was my first experience of sharing work with others and having them talk about it with me, and it wasn’t easy,” she says. “I mean, the whole world of the MFA felt like fodder for horror.”

Being an outsider looking in remains a central theme across her novels, including her other critically acclaimed works, and it resonates deeply with readers. The wildly imaginative “Bunny,” often described on TikTok as a “fever dream,” has been translated into 17 different languages. Awad notes that she has an especially huge readership in war-plagued Ukraine, where the book is a breakout bestseller. “It’s so moving to me,” she says. “What they say is that it’s a very anti-fascist book, and it’s a very anti-establishment kind of book. It is about resisting the pull of the clique, finding your own ground, standing on your own ground, and being authentically yourself and embracing that.”

It’s a theme she will continue in the third Bunny book. “The minute I turned in ‘We Love You, Bunny,’ I missed the characters and the world,” Awad reflects. She knew there would be another one. Although Awad has deep roots on the East Coast where she’s taught university-level creative writing courses — her students perhaps not so unlike some of the MFA characters in her “Bunny”-verse — nearly all of her books were written in Southern California, where she has a second home and plans to write her next novel. She notes that a short story she wrote in 2025 for the New Yorker was set in the San Diego area, as was her novel “Rogue.” “It’s been such a generative place for me,” she says. “I’ve become sort of superstitious about it.”

Her next book is taking shape as she works and dreams near the ocean. Meanwhile, her existing work is set to make waves in Hollywood. “Bunny” is slated to be adapted into a film by J.J. Abrams’ production company, Bad Robot, and was recently acquired by a major streaming service — although Awad can’t disclose which one yet. She says she’s been deeply involved. “I feel like my vision of the book is being honored, which is really meaningful. Part of the reason that’s so important to me is because I want to honor my readers’ connection to it.”

That deep bond is something Awad witnesses firsthand nearly every night on the road, where her digital fandom materializes into physical rooms filled with devoted readers (often donning rabbit ears). “The thing that moved me the most about going on tour for the hardback — and it’s happening as I’m on tour for the paperback too — is seeing just how many people bond over the book,” Awad reflects. “Not only the art that has been generated by ‘Bunny,’ but so much community and friendship has been formed. You see this kindred spirit through reading, and it’s the most beautiful thing.”

Mona Awad presents “We Love You, Bunny” at Skylight Books on Sept. 21. 1818 N. Vermont Ave., L.A.

A Bay Area Republican Party leader who earlier this year claimed dead people cast votes in Marin County in the Proposition 50 special election has backtracked on that comment.

But don’t expect him to stop digging. In an interview with The Times, John Turnacliff, chairman of the Marin County Republicans, said he still thinks more should to be done to ensure voter rolls are accurate, and indicated that he and his group would continue their probe.

At a Marin County Board of Supervisors meeting last week, Turnacliff apologized for his dead-voter claims. SFGATE was first to report on his apology.

“I’m here today to retract that statement I made a few months ago as far as those voters being on the roll,” he said at the meeting. “I did not find them. I apologize to the Board of Supervisors and to the registrar’s office and to the registrar for any angst and consternation that could have put on you since then.”

When the county supervisors met on Feb. 10, he claimed that Marin Republicans found that 73 dead people voted in the Nov. 4 Proposition 50 special election following a ballot analysis. The proposition, which passed by a wide margin, takes effect in January and redraws California’s congressional districts to favor Democrats.

Turnacliff then called on Natalie Adona, the county’s registrar of voters, to investigate.

“In summary, dead people are voting in Marin County, and we would like to know why,” he said at the meeting.

The county voluntarily reviewed the list of names provided to them by the Marin Republicans, according to reporting by SFGATE; the registrar found that there were up to five deceased people in the list, but there was no record of votes in their names following their deaths.

Following the county’s investigation, Turnacliff checked his work. He bought subscriptions to Ancestry.com and another personal information database. As he looked up the names on his group’s list, he realized that many were in fact alive.

“I jumped the gun,” he told The Times on Wednesday, referring to his “dead people” list. “I just thought, if I was wrong, I should admit it.”

He publicly apologized because he wanted to take the “aggressive high road,” and because he does not want to have an adversarial relationship with the registrar and her office, since he intends to work with them in the future and plans to observe future vote counts, he said.

He’s been praised for his admitting he was wrong, but some people have incorrectly interpreted the apology as an admission that voter fraud doesn’t exist, he said.

Turnacliff, who works in equipment leasing, began digging into Marin County voter rolls after the 2020 election, which he described as “not right,” echoing claims touted by Trump and beliefs held by many Republicans. “It comes from the heart. … There’s no political agenda,” Turnacliff said of his intentions.

He later added, in an email, that his group planned to keep investigating “other irregularities.”

“The next time I speak about election irregularities, I will have bulletproof evidence,” he said in the email.

At an extraordinary general meeting in July, delegates backed an FAI motion to proceed with the games amid concerns that boycotting would cause “significant and lasting harm” for the association.

However, the decision has come under increasing pressure, with a ‘Stop The Game’ campaign launched by Irish Sport for Palestine calling for a boycott.

The campaign has received support from former manager Brian Kerr and ex-player James McClean, and May’s friendly against Qatar in Dublin was disrupted when tennis balls thrown onto the pitch.

The armed Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. In response, Israel launched a massive military offensive in Gaza. The United Nations believes the retaliation has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians.

Israel has regularly denied committing genocide or war crimes and has said its actions in Gaza have been justified as a means of self-defence.

Earlier this week, FAI director of football John Martin said the games had created a “very uncomfortable situation for everyone” and insisted players “shouldn’t be in a position where they get criticised”.

“We want to represent Ireland with the best games and performances that we can. That’s the agreement with all of us,” added Hallgrimsson.

“Obviously we don’t all share the same opinion. That’s just human nature.”

The Nations League games mark the Republic of Ireland’s first competitive action since their World Cup play-off semi-final defeat by the Czech Republic in March.

Since the penalty shootout loss in Prague, they have played four friendlies, beating Grenada and Qatar and drawing with North Macedonia and Canada.

In address to European parliament, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney listed areas where he wants to boost cooperation.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has welcomed the prospect of his country becoming the European Union’s first associate member, saying such an alliance is aimed to be a “beacon for democracies” and not to “dominate others”.

Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Carney said Canada “welcomes” von der Leyen’s ambition to make the country an associate member.

“We are not fair-weather allies. We do not pursue zero-sum deals. We hold common values for which we have always fought, and in whose defence we must always remain vigilant,” Carney said to applause from European lawmakers.

“Canada and Europe are each strong. Europe and Canada are stronger together.”

“I am not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great-power rival – only with better manners,” he continued. “We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so that no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.”

Carney listed a slew of areas where he wanted to ramp up cooperation.

“Canada and Europe should secure our strategic autonomy through deep cooperation in the full range of strategic capabilities, including critical minerals, defence industrial capacity, AI and compute, energy security, space and payments.”

He also said the EU and Canada should move towards “seamless digital trade” and allow young people from both sides to work and study on either side of the Atlantic.

The EU and Canada have been facing stiff rivalry and pressure from Trump’s administration on trade, among other matters, and from an increasingly assertive China.

Trump threatened late on Wednesday to take action against the EU if it moves forward with von der Leyen’s proposal of associate membership for Canada.

“If they do that, if I think it’s at all a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things,” Trump told reporters, calling the proposal “laughable”.

“If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe,” he added.

The European Commission (EC) said von der Leyen’s proposal – which is yet to be fleshed out and will need to be approved by EU member states to go forward – was not a hostile act.

“As our President (von der Leyen) made clear yesterday, the proposed strengthening of our partnership with Canada is not against anyone else, but for our common strength,” said Olof Gill, an EC spokesperson.

The family of Nicholas Brandram have insisted he was not the so-called “Putney pusher” and have blamed the Metropolitan Police for his death.

The 44-year-old was under suspicion of being the jogger who pushed a woman into the path of a bus during a run on Putney Bridge in west London in 2017.

Brandram’s family said he “took his own life after months of immense pressure caused by a Metropolitan Police investigation” and there was no forensic evidence linking the banker to the incident.

The Met has been asked for comment.

In a statement, the family said there was “no evidence placing him on Putney Bridge at that time, and no credible evidence that he was the man shown in the footage”.

“In fact, the evidence proved the opposite.”

Brandram was arrested in June this year on suspicion of attempted grievous bodily harm. Last week, the Met confirmed he had been released under investigation.

The banker was found dead in his home on Tuesday evening. The force said his death was being treated as “unexpected, but is not believed to be suspicious”.

THERE was an on-stage mystery last night as Nicole Scherzinger ‘went missing’ from a Pussycat Dolls song on their tour.

Her bandmates even failed to cover her lyrics when Nicole was nowhere to be seen on the stage in Poland on September 16.

The Pussycat Dolls’ reunion tour was thrown into chaos after lead singer Nicole didn’t appear on stage for their hit Buttons.

The reunion gig fast became rather awkward when the group’s leading lady failed to appear for the first half of the pop hit.

Bandmates Ashley Roberts and Kimberly Wyatt were left dancing alone, and failed to provide gig goers with the full song or lyrics in Nicole’s absence.

Instead they offered only backing vocals and ad-libs, as well as elite dance moves with their back up dancers.

TALLY OF THE DOLLS

Huge sum Pussycat Dolls fans must pay to meet Nicole Scherzinger on tour

no buttons

Pussycat Dolls kick off struggling tour after band feud and ticket nightmare

Nicole, who carries pretty much the entire vocal on the 2006 hit, was missing for nearly two minutes before joining the second half of the song.

Fans were quick to react to the rather awkward moment during the concert.

One person said on TikTok: “Could the other girls not just fill in a sing her part.”

“This feel proper awks,” penned a second.

“Why didn’t they just sing her part?” asked a third.

“That was so awkward,” added a fourth.

While a fifth said: “I would ask for a refund haha.”

And a sixth added: “She was missing for half of the song and was visibly p***ed as hell after she came out.”

The PCD Forever Tour marks 20 years since the group’s debut album was released.

The string of gigs feature just three of the group’s original members after most US dates were cancelled due to poor ticket sales.

British fans will see the group take to the stage in Birmingham later this month.

There are also further UK dates including London’s O2 weeks later in October.

Published on
17/09/2026 – 13:17 GMT+2

The ‘Old Lady of Threadneedle Street’ has chosen to wait, though not unanimously.

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The Monetary Policy Committee voted by a majority of six to three on Thursday to leave borrowing costs unchanged, with the dissenting trio pushing for a quarter-point increase to 4%.

The decision puts the Bank of England at odds with the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank, both of which have tightened within the past week.

Despite holding, the central bank expects the situation to worsen before it improves.

Inflation “is likely to rise further over coming quarters,” the committee said, pointing to crude and refined energy prices that have climbed again since its last meeting and remain “more volatile and higher than pre-conflict.”

Watching for second-round effects

The case for holding rests on what has not yet happened.

“There has been little evidence so far of material second-round effects in price and wage-setting,” the statement read, meaning expensive energy is not yet feeding into broader wages and prices.

However, that reprieve may be temporary.

The risk of such effects “is greater the longer higher energy prices persist or are more volatile,” the committee warned, adding that risks to the inflation outlook are “tilted to the upside, and more so than at the time of the July Monetary Policy Report.”

Brent crude and UK wholesale gas prices have risen 36% and 78% respectively since July, with Brent at $106 a barrel and gas at 207 pence per therm on 14 September.

Refinery pressures have kept crack spreads, the gap between refined fuel prices and crude, well above pre-conflict levels.

Economic activity has held up slightly better than expected, while a soft labour market and the higher borrowing costs households and businesses have faced since the conflict began should bring inflation down over time.

A crowded week for central banks

The Fed raised its benchmark on Wednesday to a range of 3.75% to 4%, its first increase since 2023 and a unanimous decision, while signalling more to come.

The ECB lifted its deposit rate to 2.5% last week.

The sequence concludes on Friday with the Bank of Japan, where markets expect a hike.

That would leave the Bank of England as the only major central bank to have stood still this week, though on Thursday’s evidence not by much.

Additional sources • AP

MEXICO CITY — Nicaraguan journalist Luis Galeano fled his country in 2018 after police raided the television station where he broadcasted his popular talk show, arresting two of his colleagues.

Galeano applied for political asylum when he arrived in Florida on a tourism visa, saying he faced grave risks back home for his fierce criticism of Nicaragua’s left-wing Sandinista government, which the U.S. labels a dictatorship. Soon after, Nicaragua declared Galeano a “traitor to the homeland” and confiscated his home and assets in the capital of Managua.

This week, U.S. immigration agents arrested Galeano in Orlando. Despite his ongoing asylum case, he now faces deportation to the country he fled and whose abuses he has spent years documenting.

Journalists, human rights advocates and political dissidents who were persecuted in Nicaragua and sought safety in the United States are increasingly being detained as the Trump administration widens its deportation dragnet and narrows access to asylum and other forms of protection.

Recent targets include activists who fled Nicaragua after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 2018 and opposition leaders critical of the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, a married couple who lead Nicaragua as co-presidents.

Some of the exiles arrested by U.S. agents in recent months had been welcomed with open arms by the U.S. government just three years ago under a novel deal negotiated by the State Department.

As part of the 2023 agreement, Nicaragua freed 222 political prisoners and the U.S. hired a charter plane to fly them to Washington, where each person was granted temporary humanitarian parole and the chance to apply for asylum.

One of those former prisoners, Marlon Gerardo Sáenz Cruz, a former Sandinista who said he was tortured in Nicaragua after denouncing government corruption, was arrested during a regular check-in with immigration authorities in Los Angeles on Aug. 17.

Another, Denis Javier Palacios Hernández, who languished for three years in a Nicaraguan jail after participating in pro-democracy marches, was detained by immigration agents Wednesday morning in Virginia.

Human rights advocates say the effort to deport dissidents with no criminal record and a history of persecution puts their lives in danger and is at odds with U.S. foreign policy, which condemns human rights abuses and corruption under Murillo and Ortega, a former Marxist revolutionary who at 80 is now the longest-serving leader in the Americas.

After Ortega said in July that Nicaragua would scrap all future elections, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had recently announced sweeping sanctions on dozens of Nicaraguan leaders, vowed consequences. This week, while celebrating the anniversary of Central America’s independence from Spain, Rubio praised Nicaraguans for pushing for democracy “despite the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship’s brutal efforts to annihilate it.”

“Whether at home or in exile, Nicaraguans’ aspirations for a future free from tyranny cannot be canceled or erased,” Rubio said.

He spoke one day after Border Patrol agents arrested Galeano, who, since moving to Florida, has driven for ride-hailing apps in the mornings to provide for his two children and has spent his afternoons recording episodes of “Café con Voz,” his daily YouTube show.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said Galeano was detained because he overstayed his tourist visa, which gave him permission to remain in the U.S. only through 2019, and encouraged Galeano to self-deport. “Being in detention is a choice,” the spokesperson said. “The United States is offering illegal aliens $3,000 and a free flight to self-deport now.”

In the past, people who had filed asylum applications in the U.S. were generally allowed to stay and work while they waited for a ruling in their case, a process that often stretches years because of backlogs in immigration court.

That’s changed under President Trump, who has vowed to deport 1 million people annually, and who complains that the asylum system is abused and used as a back door for economic migrants falsely claiming persecution.

As immigration arrests in the U.S. have soared in recent months, surpassing 51,000 in August, asylum seekers and others who have shared their information with the U.S. in hopes of achieving legal status make up a growing share of detainees, according to the Deportation Data Project.

Removals of Nicaraguans have also surged, with deportation flights to Managua increasing more than fourfold under Trump compared to under President Biden, according to data tracked by Human Rights First.

Nicaraguans are also being shipped to Mexico, Costa Rica and as far away as the Central African Republic. They face unique risks in those countries, said Savi Arvey, director of policy for refugee and immigrant rights at Human Rights First.

In Costa Rica, Sandinista operatives are suspected in a series of shootings, abductions and killings of Nicaraguan exiles in recent years.

“This government is so single-minded in carrying out this vast mass deportation campaign that it blatantly ignores realities on the ground,” Arvey said.

Gerald Chávez, president of the Independent Journalists and Communicators of Nicaragua, said that at least one journalist who had sought protection in the U.S. had been sent to Costa Rica, avoiding deportation to Nicaragua thanks to a lengthy legal battle and help from Reporters Without Borders.

Restriction of press freedoms has been a cornerstone of Ortega and Murillo’s efforts to concentrate power in recent years.

Hundreds of journalists fled as government officials jailed colleagues, shuttered dozens of news outlets and passed laws barring reporters from publishing information not authorized by the government. At one point, Ortega even banned newspapers from importing paper and ink.

Galeano — who previously worked as a correspondent for the Associated Press in Nicaragua — believed he had a responsibility to call out what he saw as injustices perpetrated by the government.

“If there is one thing that has distinguished the Sandinista thugs … it is that up until now, they have enjoyed total impunity,” he said on a recent episode of his YouTube show.

Galeano’s arrest has drawn sharp criticism from human rights and press freedom groups and even Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar, a Trump ally who is seeking reelection in Florida.

Salazar described Galeano as a journalist who had “paid a very high price for telling the world the truth.”

“The United States must always know how to distinguish between a criminal and a political exile,” she wrote on X. “Luis cannot end up in the hands of the very dictatorship that persecuted him.”

Linthicum reported from Mexico City. López, a special correspondent, reported from Orlando.

BBC Radio 5 Live brings you more Premier League commentaries than anywhere else this season, with 209 live matches.

You can listen to selected commentaries, plus updates from around the grounds, on BBC Sounds, the BBC Sport app and website and via your smart speaker.

Saturday, 19 September

Arsenal vs Brighton (15:00) – BBC Radio 5 Live

Newcastle v Hull City (15:00) – BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra 2

Nottingham Forest v Coventry (17:30) – BBC Radio 5 Live

Sunday, 20 September

Bournemouth vs Liverpool (14:00) – BBC Radio 5 Live

Man City vs Sunderland (14:00) – BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra

Leeds v Crystal Palace (14:00) – BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra 2

Fulham v Man United (16:30) – BBC Radio 5 Live

BBC Sounds is the place to find every 5 Live Premier League commentary this season, with more ways to listen via the app than ever before.

Sports Extra 2 and Sports Extra 3 are new radio streams available only on BBC Sounds, offering you the chance to discover more coverage from the Premier League and listen to your team live.

The Football Fix collection now brings you every 5 Live Premier League commentary in one place, plus build-up, reaction, and all the BBC’s football podcasts. Find it here and on the BBC Sounds homepage throughout the season.

Here are ways to download the BBC Sounds app:

Apple, external

Android, external

50 boats rushed across the sea to evacuate people from the beach as the fire spread

A couple have described their terrifying escape after a wildfire surrounded their holiday resort, forcing hundreds of guests to flee towards the sea. Stephen and Anna Saunders had been staying at the Gava Waterman resort on Brač in Croatia for a week-long holiday.

Guests at the all-inclusive four-star waterfront hotel were initially reassured there was “nothing to worry about” despite ash falling from the sky and a huge orange glow visible over the hills. The couple, from Rainham, Kent, had arrived on the island last Monday and were aware there had been wildfires in the area for several days.

Stephen said a guide warned them on Friday that lightning strikes had caused the blaze. Despite the fires being close by, he said guests were repeatedly told the situation was under control. But on Saturday evening, September 12, the pair went out to dinner with friends and said they could see an “orange glow” in the sky.

“There was ash falling into our drinks,” Anna said. Just after 9.30pm, the power went out at the hotel. Shortly afterwards, Stephen says ash was “visibly falling from the sky”. At that point, the couple returned to their room and decided to pack a small bag “just in case”. Within minutes, a friend told them that trees were on fire right next to the hotel.

Anna said: “The embers were blowing across. I quickly changed my shoes and we went down by the sea, but there were no lights, and no one from the hotel was present. The fire was just shooting across, and it just came down so quickly, so we thought the best thing to do was get in the water.”

The 52-year-old said hundreds of people eventually gathered on wooden platforms and in the sea as smoke and flames surrounded the bay. “Everyone was absolutely terrified”, she added. “There were hundreds and hundreds of people all on these platforms or in the sea. We were basically trapped.”

Stephen said the only staff members he saw were entertainment and restaurant workers. He says there was no emergency lighting, no clear evacuation route, and reception was empty. A spokesperson for Waterman Hotels and Resorts denied that guests “were abandoned by the resort team”.

Stephen said he had to rescue an elderly couple who became stuck in automatic glass doors. “There were families, elderly people and disabled guests trying to get down a steep, dark resort towards a rocky beach while the fire closed in behind us,” he added.

“Within minutes, the trees around the beach were burning. The flames were above us. It was getting really hot and burning embers were raining down from the sky. At this point, people were jumping into the sea and trying to get away from the smoke.”

Firefighters eventually arrived and helped to organise a sea evacuation, and local boat owners came to help rescue those trapped. Stephen said around 50 boats came to help and praised the firefighters and local people who came to their aid.

The 57-year-old electrician said: “If it weren’t for them, I don’t know what would have happened.” The couple, who booked the holiday through TUI, were moved to accommodation in Split in the early hours of Sunday morning – on Anna’s birthday.

They returned home on Monday evening, but Anna said the experience has had a lasting impact. She explained: “We’re not sleeping properly. You just close your eyes, and you’re going through it all the time.”

Stephen said their luggage is expected to be recovered, although other guests lost their possessions. He is planning to lodge a formal complaint to the hotel along with other people impacted last week.

A spokesperson for Waterman Hotels and Resorts said it recognises how “frightening and traumatic” the ordeal was for guests and does “not seek to diminish or challenge anyone’s individual experience” of the evacuation. They explained that the resort’s layout, the loss of electricity, heavy smoke and poor visibility, and the speed at which the fire advanced meant guests experienced different circumstances and had access to different information at different times.

“We would, however, like to correct one important claim that has appeared in some accounts: our guests were not abandoned by the resort team,” they said. They said staff at the resort, which also hosts easyJet and Jet2 trips, initially acted on “the official information and instructions provided by the authorities and emergency services coordinating the response to the wildfire”, and the resort had been instructed not to evacuate guests.

They added: “Conditions then changed with extraordinary speed. An extreme change in wind drove the fire towards the resort, power was lost, and heavy smoke severely reduced visibility.

“When our team on the ground saw that the situation had changed dramatically and that the fire presented an immediate danger to the resort, our reception manager made the decision to activate the alarm and begin the evacuation. Our employees then assisted guests throughout the evacuation.

“The final group of our employees involved left on the last boat used in the evacuation, after establishing that the guests had gone. Other employees travelled during the fire to assist guests and colleagues at the resort.”

Courage and extraordinary efforts

The spokesperson said reception, kitchen, technical and other resort staff stepped forward to help. They added that the company has received many messages from guests thanking them for their assistance, but accepts that “this does not mean that every guest had the same experience”.

“With more than 360 guests spread across a large resort, no electricity, heavy smoke, extremely poor visibility and a fire advancing at exceptional speed, it was extraordinarily difficult for information and assistance to reach everyone simultaneously,” they explained.

“We understand that some guests therefore felt they did not have the information or guidance they needed at critical moments. We take those experiences seriously.

“However, just as we would never question the fear or distress experienced by any of our guests, we believe it is important that the actions of the many employees who remained and helped others in extremely dangerous circumstances are also accurately represented.”

The team is currently working through inquiries from guests regarding luggage, documentation and other belongings. The spokesperson described the situation as an “extraordinary emergency”, with conditions changing “minute from minute”.

They said: “The courage and extraordinary efforts of the firefighters and emergency services, the solidarity of local people who came by boat and helped evacuate guests, and the commitment of our own employees are not things we believe should be called into question.

Deeply traumatic

“They are a source of profound gratitude and pride, and they are a major reason why far more serious and tragic consequences were avoided.

“We will examine our own actions with the same seriousness. We will conduct a detailed review of the events of that night, including our procedures and communications, and identify any lessons that need to be learned.

“Saturday night was deeply traumatic for our guests, our employees and the local community. Alongside that trauma, however, we will remember the extraordinary courage, solidarity and willingness of people to help one another in exceptionally dangerous circumstances.”

A TUI UK spokesperson said: “We know this will have been a frightening and distressing experience for those affected by the wildfire on the island of Brac. The safety of our customers is our highest priority, and our local teams have been supporting those impacted and working closely with the hotel and local authorities.

“We would like to thank the emergency services for their response to this rapidly developing situation.”

The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games get under way this weekend under the shadow of a housing crisis that has organisers scrambling to placate athletes and officials from participating nations.

The tournament has been mired in complaints over housing options for athletes travelling to Japan, after the host nation decided not to build a dedicated Games village for the 17,000 competitors and officials.

To cut costs this year, organisers are relying on a cruise ship, temporary wooden cabins and hotels, but this temporary accommodation has met with criticism in the days leading up to the continental competition.

On Monday, South Korean officials slammed beds in shipping container-style huts as the “worst-ever”, as the South Korean basketball chief said the beds were too short to stretch out in.

Here’s everything we know:

Why are the Asian Games facing an accommodation crisis?

The official housing committee said the issue arose because they expected 15,000 athletes and officials, but numbers increased as new sports were added.

This year’s Games will feature several newcomers, including mixed martial arts, padel and surfing, as well as virtual taekwondo and teqball, which ‌‌combines aspects of football and table tennis.

Ahead of the Games’ opening, chief organiser Hideaki Omura said efforts are being made to ensure athletes are comfortable.

“If there are different opinions, then we will respond to them appropriately,” Omura, who also serves as governor of Aichi prefecture, told the AFP news agency.

“At this point, while we are responding to individual opinions, we have been improving everything as issues arise, and we will continue to respond that way.”

He added that a committee of former athletes, including Olympians, gave a favourable assessment of the plans for the huts built this year.

“We explained everything to them and had them take a look around, and they said it looked functional and good,” he said.

Where will the Asian Games athletes stay?

Alternative housing options range from a cruise liner and wooden containers to hotel rooms.

On Tuesday, the Italian cruise ship, Costa Serena, which will host 4,000 athletes and officials, arrived in Nagoya.

The shipping container-style huts in the dock area of Japan’s biggest port will host 2,000 other athletes and officials.

On Thursday, Japan’s deputy Chef de Mission Hisashi Mizutori told a news conference that athletes have been going through entry procedures since the cruise ship village opened a day earlier.

“There have been cases where coaches, team officials and athletes have been assigned to the same room. There are also situations where room assignments were made purely based on the numbers, such as assigning five twin rooms for a group of five men and five women,” Mizutori said.

“While the numbers match on paper, practically it creates challenging situations such as men and women being assigned together, coaches being assigned with athletes, or trainers who need to accommodate a lot of medical equipment being assigned together.”

He added that the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC) had also anticipated accommodation “challenges” and secured hotels in the city as a backup.

“We are currently working to coordinate and negotiate adjustments wherever possible. For cases where that proves too difficult, we are considering using the backup accommodations that Team Japan prepared in advance as alternatives.”

Why are participating nations and athletes complaining about the accommodation?

Jung Jae-yong, vice president of the Korea Basketball Association (KBA), slammed the cabins hosting the men’s basketball team.

“Athletes who are over two metres tall cannot even stretch their legs out on the beds. It’s unreasonable.”

Jung also accused the organisers of failing to respond to South Korea’s concerns about the housing options.

“The organisers have still not said anything,” he said, adding: “We are very concerned and discussing extensively with the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee what to do about this.”

Player Byeon Jun-hyeong, from the basketball team, posted a video on social media showing a leaking sink and a soaked floor in his hut.

“Please help us,” he posted.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino also said that while all his athletes had been given a room, “some officials, like coaches, were moved to different hotels and Airbnb”.

Why will cricketers get the best accommodation at the Asian Games?

Head of Japan’s cricket association, Naoki Alex Miyaji, said in early September that cricket would get better accommodation than other sports.

According to Miyaji, the cricket tournament is being run by the Asian Games organising committee in collaboration with the Asian Cricket Council.

He said that the two bodies had been discussing accommodation options “for a long time”.

“The participating teams in cricket are being offered hotel accommodation,” Miyaji said.

“Many other sports are being accommodated in much more limited facilities, such as a cruise ship or container hotels.”

What other issues have hit the Asian Games?

While the opening ceremony has yet to take place, several events such as basketball, football, cricket, hockey and modern pentathlon have already begun.

On Thursday, Tropical Storm Dujuan was located off Japan’s Pacific coast as of 03:00 GMT and heading northwest towards central Japan, where Nagoya is located.

Last week, torrential rains hit Nagoya and the surrounding areas, forcing schools to close and suspending train services. Several hundred athletes were also forced to leave their accommodation.

Kosei Inoue, Japan’s chef de mission for the Games and a senior executive board member of the JOC, said at a news conference on Thursday that some competitions have already experienced “delays or postponements, and there is also a possibility that a typhoon could approach on September 21”.

“Under these circumstances, we are holding thorough meetings within the JOC to ensure that we are fully prepared and capable of responding appropriately to these situations.”

For the last few weeks, Indonesia has been struggling to contain the land and forest fires on its territory. The disaster leads to a cross-border haze crisis affecting neighboring countries, including Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam, and the Philippines. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s approaches to the environmental issue arouse uncertainties about his commitment toward ASEAN cooperation and good relations with surrounding states. Prabowo’s inaction on Malaysia’s and Brunei’s plan to take the matter to the ASEAN meeting is also questionable, considering his image as a “foreign policy president.”

Recurring regional environmental crisis

The transboundary smoke caused by peatland fires mostly originates from Indonesia, specifically the islands of Sumatra and Borneo. The slash-and-burn method used to clear land is a main factor contributing to the widespread fires, with El Niño season worsening the situation. To mitigate seasonal disasters, the Indonesian government has attempted to strengthen domestic regulations, yet the problem persists. The haze is not simply an environmental issue, as it has a cross-boundary impact in various aspects of Southeast Asia. Wildlife is at risk, schools are forced to move online, people are experiencing respiratory issues, and other public activities are severely disturbed.

ASEAN member states have understood that this problem should be solved regionally for quite a long time. They have maintained coordination under the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP), which was fully ratified by all members in 2015, with Indonesia ironically being the last to ratify. However, the agreement lacks strong implementation, as the willingness of the party to act is a significant part of the treaty. This may reflect the ASEAN Way’s value of highly respecting the sovereignty of other member states.

Indonesia’s officials stated that they are committed to the AATHP. They emphasize their own actions of reporting daily updates to the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Transboundary Haze Pollution Control (ACC THPC). They also openly accept assistance from foreign countries to put out the fires. Nevertheless, President Prabowo’s reaction to seeing this issue as a regional problem is nowhere to be found. He indeed made some meaningful gestures in response to the forest fires, yet he mostly saw it from a purely domestic lens. For instance, Prabowo visited several hotspots in Riau, Sumatera, and provinces in Borneo. At a recent high-level government meeting, he also instructed the chief of the Indonesian police to enforce the laws against perpetrators of forest fires, including several corporations, and to conduct further investigations.

Is Prabowo really committed to ASEAN?

As the impact of the smoke has reached neighboring countries, an official statement or public apology from Prabowo is urgently needed. This political gesture will reassure ASEAN citizens that Indonesia is responsible for this matter and willing to cooperate with other member states. For instance, during the 2015 and 2019 Southeast Asian haze disasters, President Joko Widodo showed that he publicly regretted that the fires affected Malaysia and Singapore, and he even felt embarrassed as Indonesia was the primary source of the smoke.

Furthermore, making a formal apology is not always a sign of weakness, as it demonstrates a deep respect for the other party. Prabowo himself apologized to Vladimir Putin for not being present at the ASEAN-Russia Commemorative Summit, which he openly stated during a visit a few days ago. He may also do the same to ASEAN leaders to calm relations amid the crisis.

Despite reports that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Indonesia and relevant institutions are actively communicating with other ASEAN states, a clear statement from Prabowo is still required.

A lack of response on regional coordination may leave observers wondering, as Prabowo is known as a foreign policy president and a “de facto foreign minister.” Since the first day of his administration, he actively engaged with global leaders through overseas trips. As of June 2026, Prabowo has visited 29 countries and engaged in over 50 international engagements. This number reflects his strong interest in connecting with foreign counterparts. He also reached out to various powers and blocs, including participation at the Board of Peace (BoP) and a recent official trip to Russia.

However, Prabowo seems to ignore the reality of the current regional crisis caused by fires originating in his country. He remained silent on Brunei and Malaysia’s intention to discuss the issue at the ASEAN level. Even when the foreign public went into uproar through demonstrations at the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and heavy criticism on social media. His choice to focus more on the domestic side of the environmental crisis raises questions about his priority to work with ASEAN.

In the long run, Prabowo’s lack of enthusiasm for ASEAN collaboration will damage Indonesia’s long-standing image in the region and challenge the basis of the country’s foreign policy. Since 1967, Indonesia has always been taking a dominant role in the organization. No wonder the country is associated with the terms “ASEAN de facto leader” and “natural leader.” Indonesia, along with other member states, helps ASEAN to grow as one of the leading regional organizations, and conversely, the bloc strengthens Jakarta’s bebas aktif foreign policy principle. ASEAN has become a platform for Southeast Asian small and middle powers to articulate their foreign policies when engaging with external actors in the middle of great-power competition.

Despite many criticisms of ASEAN’s consensus mechanism, Prabowo still needs to maintain the commitment toward the regional bloc. To date, ASEAN continues to be relevant for Indonesia, especially during the ongoing haze crisis, as stated in Law 38 of 2008 that ASEAN is a cornerstone of Jakarta’s foreign policy.

ITV’s Long Lost Family is back for another emotional episode on Thursday night

A Long Lost Family guest breaks down in tears as he receives news about his sister.

The emotional ITV series, hosted by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, sees the hosts strive to reunite family members who have never met, including twins separated at birth and young mothers who had to give up their babies.

On Thursday’s episode, the show hears from Jake, 36, who lives in Australia but was born and grew up in the UK in a single parent family. Jake always knew that he was the result of an extra marital affair. His mother had been a nurse and had met his married father when he was a doctor at the same hospital.

Jake recalled that when he was a newborn, his father occasionally visited, bringing his two children Katie and Tom, who were aged five and three at the time. One of Jake’s most precious keepsakes are two photographs of his brother and sister holding him as a baby.

However, sadly, his mother’s relationship with their father did not last, and Jake never saw his siblings again. When he was 14, Jake and his mum emigrated to Australia.

Despite not seeing his siblings since he was a child, Jake has been desperate to find them and contacted Long Lost Family for help, emotionally saying: “I feel like I always missed out. I missed out on something, that, you know, was really a connection that I craved really. I’ve always somewhat felt a little bit alone. And I just need that connection.”

Sadly, Jake was unable to successfully meet his father after attempting to track him down and therefore unable to learn any more about his siblings. Jake had also tried multiple other avenues to find his siblings, but Katie and Tom appeared to have vanished off the face of the earth.

Even Long Lost Family struggled locating the siblings through their conventional searches. However, the team soon discovered in the series’ files something surprising after receiving thousands of applications.

Months before Jake had applied to the show, Long Lost Family received an application from a woman in Canada called Katie, who was looking for a birth father – with the same surname as Jake’s father. Following a DNA test, it confirmed that Katie was Jake’s half-sister, in an incredible discovery.

Katie is a lawyer who now lives in Toronto and she had no idea that she even had a younger brother. The duo’s brother, Tom, supports Katie’s decision but has chosen not to be involved in any filming at this time.

In an exclusive clip obtained by the Mirror of Thursday’s episode, it sees host Davina share the news with Jake, who breaks down in tears over the discovery.

Asking where his siblings live, Davina explains: “So… Katie, her mum met her stepdad. They moved to… Australia!” Jake is left floored by this discovery as he too moved from the UK to Australia. The guest exclaims: “No way, you’re kidding! No way!” before wiping away tears.

Jake adds: “So they weren’t even that far away. I can’t believe it!” Davina then adds that Katie is a lawyer and she has since moved to Toronto.

The guest then asks: “Did they enjoy Australia? Were they happy?” with Davina responding: “They’ve had good lives, I think the family situation, it’s been difficult for all of you, I think, in different ways.

“I think it’ll be really nice for you to be able to speak together about it. Weirdly, we found her because… she applied to Long Lost Family to find your dad.” This piece of information leaves Jake in tears as he exclaims: “Wow!”

Viewers will have to tune into Thursday’s episode to see the two siblings have an emotional reunion.

Long Lost Family continues on Thursday 17th September at 9pm on ITV and ITVX

Donald Trump Jr. has a lot more in common with his dad than just a name, sharing the president’s penchant for shady dealings and for kleptocratic Russians. Sometimes the two proclivities go together. That was the case in May, we learned this week from ProPublica, when Don Jr. married his second wife during a three-day Bahamian bacchanal bankrolled partly with hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Putin-allied oligarch the Trump scion met only recently.

I had to wonder — recalling Don Jr.’s response in 2016 on learning Russia helpfully wanted to dump dirt on Hillary Clinton — whether he replied in kind when his new Russian friend, Umar Kremlev, offered the wedding grift, er, gift: “If it’s what you say I love it.”

My second thought was that Don Jr. is just like his dad in wanting to spend other people’s money, even as the Trump family has accrued billions since President Trump has been back in office. (Cue the continued silence from the sleuths of Hunter Biden’s laptop.)

Just days before ProPublica’s exposé, at last week’s midterm Republican convention in Dallas, the elder Trump proffered a gift of $5,000 to every one of the roughly 270 million adult Americans. But the eponymous “Trump dividend” would come only if Republicans keep their House and Senate majorities after the November midterm elections.

The tab? More than $1 trillion, roughly $1.3 trillion. How generous Trump is with the U.S. Treasury, despite the news just last month that rattled bond markets and raised interest rates: The United States’ gross debt has exceeded $40 trillion. As Trump told CNBC in 2016: “I love debt. I love playing with it.” We can’t say he didn’t warn us. Even before his proposed 5K giveaway, Trump was on track to break his first-term record for adding to the unsustainable U.S. debt ($8.4 trillion).

Trump’s unprecedented offer of a post-election payout provoked predictable cries of “bribery” from Democrats and other critics. But legality aside, even the appearance of a bribe isn’t what bothers me most about the proposal.

For one thing, it won’t happen. No one will be receiving a $5,000 Trump dividend, just like no one received the DOGE dividend or $2,000 tariff refund he previously promised. Even if Republicans pull off a miracle and retain control of Congress, those in power show no zeal for his budget-buster, not after their complicity in adding trillions to the debt since last year with tax cuts, war costs and this, that and the other Trump pet project. And Congress indeed would have to act, under the Constitution, despite suggestions from the obsequious Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, that Trump could act alone. (But “I’m not ready to discuss it at present,” Bessent told a House committee on Tuesday.)

No, what bothers me most about Trump’s idea — what outrages me — is the damnable fiscal irresponsibility of it.

Trump has turned much of historical Republican orthodoxy on its head, including on immigration, trade and policy toward Russia. But his utter disregard for annual deficits — a record $2 trillion for this fiscal year that ends Sept. 30 — and his shameful profligacy with taxpayers’ money is something Americans haven’t seen in their lifetimes, in either party. Worse, Trump implies otherwise, that he is fiscally responsible, and he does it with lies that are so easily refuted, so often contradicted by his own words, that it’s a marvel that even such a chronic prevaricator as himself can utter them.

This week Trump is still claiming that the $5,000 dividend will be paid for because “we’re taking in trillions and trillions of dollars” in revenue from his inflationary tariffs on more than half of the goods imported into the country. The actual number isn’t even close to that, and he should know it: The data that nonpartisan analysts are crunching are from the government he supposedly runs.

In 2026, tariff revenue through August was just under $200 billion, but more than half of that already has been spent on refunds to big corporations including Amazon, Walmart and Home Depot, in keeping with a Supreme Court ruling against some of Trump’s tariffs. And as if Trump’s dividend proposal weren’t mendacious enough, in making it he seems to have forgotten his claim in his State of the Union address in February that he would use the tsunami of tariff revenue to abolish the federal income tax.

And one last thing: Even if each adult American got $5,000, subtract from that the nearly $2,000 that each household has paid, on average, because of higher tariffs since Trump took office, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.

In this one dumb idea, in sum, the giveaway manifests just about all that is wrong with Trump as president: The lying, of course. Fiscal recklessness. The trashing of commendable Republican doctrines. The Trump bubble of sycophantic yay-sayers. And, in turn, the seat-of-his-pants policy idiocy, from war-making to White House demolishing.

The lack of any actual policy deliberation behind Trump’s $5,000 shocker was clear in his lackeys’ flailing and contradictory reactions — not just Bessent’s specious claim of presidential authority, but also Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s inane insistence the administration could somehow “earn the money that Donald Trump wants to pay out” and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett’s comment, contrary to Bessent’s, that the White House is indeed looking to Congress for funds.

The good news? Americans get it. Recent polls have the percentage approving of Trump’s handling of the economy as low as 28%. Significant majorities say they are worse off since he became president again.

Such numbers portend an election result that isn’t likely to be changed by a promise of $5,000. Especially from a serial promise-breaker.

Bluesky: @jackiecalmes
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A river that is home to about 500 saltwater crocodiles has been given the OK to host Olympic and Paralympic rowing and canoeing events at the 2032 Brisbane Games.

The course on the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton, Queensland, has passed an independent technical assessment into its suitability.

The assessment did not consider the crocodiles but instead looked at “how the course would perform under a range of conditions, weather patterns, water levels and flood risk at both Games time and throughout the period leading into the Games”.

The report was commissioned by the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority (GIICA), which noted, external that the Fitzroy River Flatwater Facility “is already a training and competition venue for flatwater sports, supporting school state championships, local regattas, and national team training camps”.

As a recognised rowing facility, contingency plans are in place at events for when crocodiles are spotted and Olympic officials have previously been assured of rower safety.

World Rowing and Paddle Worldwide, formerly International Canoe Federation, both endorsed the course.

“Based on the extensive analysis undertaken, we now know that the Fitzroy River is capable of providing fair competition conditions during the period of the Games, consistent with the requirements of Olympic and Paralympic Rowing,” World Rowing President Jean-Christophe Rolland said., external

Paddle Worldwide President Thomas Konietzko said: “The quality and depth of the technical work undertaken has significantly improved our understanding of the field of play and provides confidence to us and our athletes that the course can deliver fair competition for Canoe Sprint athletes.”

Brisbane 2032 President Andrew Liveris played down the issue of crocodiles last year.

“There are sharks in the ocean and we’re still surfing… it’s a can do, not a can’t do – please change the mindset here,” he said at the time.

Speaking on Thursday about the venue having now been given the go-ahead, he said: “The endorsement provides additional certainty as we move into the next phase of venue planning and Games delivery, ensuring all future design and operational work continues to focus solely on Rockhampton.”

Saltwater crocodiles – known locally as Salties – live in both freshwater and saltwater and can grow to be in excess of six metres long.

President Donald Trump says the United States is “hopefully toward the end” of its war with Iran, claiming that he has directly spoken to officials in Tehran, raising the prospect of renewed diplomacy even as fighting has erupted in Yemen.

However, there is still no confirmation from Tehran that direct negotiations with Washington have resumed. Just a day earlier, a senior Iranian official publicly rejected talks unless Iran’s conditions were met. Tehran, which has, in effect, closed the Strait of Hormuz, has been demanding that the US honour the terms of the deal signed in June.

Trump’s comments come as the conflict has expanded into Yemen, putting increasing pressure on global energy supplies amid an Iran-imposed blockade of the strait through which a fifth of global oil and gas passes. Oil prices crossed $100 per barrel last week and continue to rise as Iran-linked Houthis have damaged Saudi oil installations amid renewed fighting.

So, what is the latest on the diplomatic front, and will the war end soon?

What is Trump saying?

“Well, hopefully we are toward the end of the war,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “They want to make a deal. We’ll see how that works out.”

When asked by a reporter whether he had recently heard from the Iranian side, Trump said he had spoken with them “directly”.

The comments come after Trump on Monday said he was open to talks, and added that Iran “wants to make a deal, quickly and badly” and that he would decide whether Washington would engage with Tehran.

However, Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, accused Trump of sending “mixed signals” and said “no talks until Iran’s conditions are met”.

Trump’s claim that he has heard from Iran “directly” is significant because negotiations between Washington and Tehran have repeatedly depended on intermediaries, including Qatar, Pakistan and Oman. This is not the first time that Trump has claimed direct communication with Iran.

Former Iranian diplomat Abbas Khameyar dismissed Trump’s claims. “I don’t think there has been any additional effort beyond what was already under way in recent weeks,” he told Al Jazeera.

There is a US narrative, he stated, “with tweets and statements by President Trump claiming that the Iranians are calling, pleading and asking for a meeting. But nobody believes this, and matters have not unfolded in that way.”

He added that Iran’s diplomatic activity has not moved beyond the framework already in place in recent weeks, centred on securing enforcement of the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) rather than opening new negotiations.

What is the latest on the US-Iran diplomacy front?

On Thursday, Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported that Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held a telephone call with Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, who has been leading the high-stakes diplomatic and mediation efforts between Washington and Tehran.

Araghchi held the phone call while still in Beijing, during which they discussed and consulted on the latest regional developments and issues of mutual interest, according to Tasnim.

A day earlier, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on the US and Iran to exercise restraint and “reopen the Strait of Hormuz at an early date”, following his meeting with Araghchi in Beijing.

Araghchi, in a statement after the meeting, said that Tehran seeks “the restoration of calm to the region and friendly and peaceful relations with our neighbours”.

“In this regard we have begun dialogue with the countries of the region,” he added.

In a post on X, Araghchi described consultations with Chinese officials as “successful”, saying Tehran values the strategic partnership it has built with Beijing.

“Today’s decisions will decide the future strategic balance in the region, with immeasurable knock-on effects,” Araghchi said on Thursday.

China has avoided direct involvement in the war, but President Xi Jinping, at the BRICS summit in New Delhi over the weekend, offered Beijing’s willingness to play a role in peace efforts. He called on BRICS nations to advance peace in the Middle East.

Huiyao Wang, president of the Center For China and Globalization think tank in Beijing, says China’s role in international affairs is increasing in importance during the current geopolitical turmoil.

“China has an enormous role to exercise if needed. So the mere fact that the two fighting parties have no end in sight shows the need for a big guarantor to come in … I think the US wants to end this war and they also need China’s help,” Wang told Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, US media outlet Axios is reporting that Trump is expected to meet Gulf leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly next week to discuss the conflict, which has hugely affected oil exports from the Middle Eastern countries.

Diplomatic efforts have repeatedly stalled since a Pakistan-brokered MoU signed by Washington and Tehran collapsed last month, as the two sides accused each other of violating their commitments.

The MoU was supposed to kick-start a 60-day period for peace talks between the warring sides and included provisions for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which has become a major flashpoint in the war.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said earlier this month that Tehran would return to the agreement if Washington did the same.

What do we know about the Houthi meeting with US officials?

US officials met representatives of Yemen’s Houthi movement at the US embassy in Muscat over the weekend, five sources told Reuters news agency. Oman helped organise the meeting.

The Houthis told US officials they did not intend to attack American vessels and remained committed to their 2025 ceasefire with Washington, according to two sources.

One source said they also pledged not to target Israeli or other commercial vessels, with the exception of Saudi ships.

The conflict had largely subsided in recent years after a 2022 ceasefire between the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-aligned Houthis, but reignited in July.

In recent weeks, the Houthis have seized Yemen’s entire Red Sea coastline to cement their grip on the key Bab al-Mandeb strait – a vital maritime route connecting Asia with Europe – while declaring a blockade on Saudi shipping.

The strategic waterway is a critical maritime corridor linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and has become an alternative shipping route as the US war against Iran choked the Strait of Hormuz.

We all want to experience those additional delightful perks when staying at a hotel, and there’s one sure way to bag a late check-out for free, and it’s all about timing

Checking into a hotel is a little slice of luxury, whether it’s for a quick city break or a rural escape in the countryside. So it’s no wonder that we want to make the most of every moment in our boutique abode or lavish room and take advantage of a late check-out, something you can often get for free. That’s if you know what to do, and believe it or not, timing is everything.

For several years, I worked as a hotel receptionist, managing room upgrades, check-ins, dinner reservations, special occasions, check-outs, and all the other guest perks that we could provide for free. One of which was a late check-out, and it became a frequent request. Even more so when guests have enjoyed cocktails in the hotel bar and need to vacate their rooms by 10am the following morning. But we wouldn’t and couldn’t hand out a free room update to everyone.

The housekeeping staff needs to access the rooms promptly so they can clean them all thoroughly before the next batch of guests arrives at 3pm, with time of the essence, particularly for Friday arrivals. This meant that we’d only allow a handful of late room check-outs each day, and there was a specific time to ask for the best chances of scooping one of these coveted perks.

Most guests would assume that asking for a late check-out on the morning of their departure was the best option. I can recall countless times when I’d receive a call from a guest at 9.55am asking for a late check-out, and most of the time my answer would be no. For one, it’s too last-minute, and there could be a guest checking into that specific room later that day. Secondly, by this time, I could have already dished out a few late check-outs to other guests, with no more wiggle room for any more, considering housekeeping time constraints.

So you need to plan ahead, and I don’t mean asking before you’ve even arrived. Instead, swing past reception on your way to dinner or afterwards on the way back to your room, the night before you check out. If you’re staying for a few days, wait until your last evening to ask for the request. This would always be the best time to hand out late check-outs, and I’ll explain why.

Typically, the reception desk is quieter in the evening, so staff have more time to handle requests and check the system to see how a late check-out can work in favour of the next day’s arrivals. They can check whether the room the guest has asked for a late check-out in has an arrival the next day; if not, a late check-out is super easy to offer. They can also check for any late arrivals into that room for the following day, move rooms around for the next arrivals, or simply check how many they’ve already dished out.

As mentioned, we would only offer a handful at a time, and the earliest we’d agree to a late check-out would be the night before their departure. Plus, room keys were not programmed until the morning of arrivals, so there’s a lot more flexibility in the evenings to move things around. It’s also worth noting that many hotels will prioritise requests from those celebrating a special occasion, so tick that box!

The worst time to ask for a late check-out is before you’ve even arrived at the hotel or checked into the room. There can be countless changes at hotels: reservations can be cancelled, people can switch rooms, and issues can arise, so it’s hard to predict what pressures the hotel might face to turn rooms around in time for the next arrivals. So always ask the night before you check out.

If you want to try your luck, you could politely request a late check-out on your booking notes. This way, the hotel will read it and deal with it appropriately and in their own time, most probably the night before. We would always do our best to meet requests, but sometimes our hands were tied. Just don’t ask when you check in, it’s the last thing on our mind to sort.

Do you have a travel story to share? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

Basketball superstar Kyrie Irving has offered to pay a fine for American football player Azeez Al-Shaair, who was penalised for wearing the name of Hind Rajab, a Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

Al-Shaair was handed a fine of $11,941 by the National Football League (NFL) on Wednesday as he was found to be in breach of the NFL’s rules on players’ equipment and clothing during his team Houston Texans’ game against the Buffalo Bills last weekend.

Shortly after the fine was announced by an NFL reporter on X, the pro-Palestine basketball player responded to the tweet by saying he would “take care” of it.

Al-Shaair, 29, is a linebacker for the Houston-based NFL team and a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights.

During his team’s last NFL game, Al-Shaair wrote Rajab’s name on his eye black, a sticker or paint frequently used by NFL players to reduce glare.

Five-year-old Rajab was killed in Gaza after Israeli soldiers opened fire on her family’s stranded car. A phone call by the Palestinian Red Crescent documented her final moments and was the subject of an Oscar-nominated docudrama.

Al-Shaair, a Black American Muslim player, has frequently spoken about the plight of Palestinians and has paid the price for it.

He was also fined in January, during the NFL’s last season, when he displayed the message “Stop The Genocide” on his nose tape. While it did not specifically refer to a particular conflict, it was widely understood to be about Gaza and Sudan.

NFL criticised for ‘inhumane’ fine on Al-Shaair

The NFL’s fine on Al-Shaair comes at a time when Robert Kraft, the owner of the Boston-based team New England Patriots, confirmed that he pressured pop star Ed Sheeran to drop rapper Macklemore from his tour of the United States.

The billionaire is the owner of Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, one of the venues where Macklemore was due to appear on stage as the opening act for Sheeran’s US tour in late September.

Letting Macklemore perform in Gillette Stadium would, Kraft said, cross a line, as he described the rapper’s recent performances as including a “broader history of anti-Semitic rhetoric and imagery”.

Kraft is known for launching a so-called “anti-Semitic campaign” during Israel’s genocide in Gaza in 2023, when players, coaches and executives from his Patriots team wore blue pins.

On October 15, 2023, the NFL observed a moment of silence for Israel during a game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Tennessee Titans in London, United Kingdom, while the league has sanctioned its player for raising awareness for Palestinians.

The NFL was criticised on social media for slapping a fine on Al-Shaair, with one user calling the move “inhumane”.

“He is advocating for the murder of this innocent child Hind Rajab in Palestine and they fine him?! Nah, that is so inhumane. You should be ashamed of yourself,” the user wrote.

Prominent American Muslim scholar Omar Suleiman questioned whether Al-Shaair would have faced a similar punishment if his tape carried the name of Holocaust victim Anne Frank instead.

“Why is honoring murdered Palestinian children ‘an unauthorized message’?” he asked in a post on X.

Meanwhile, the Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations backed Al-Shaair over his continued advocacy for Palestinians.

“We commend Al-Shaair for using his platform to highlight the memory of Hind Rajab, one of the many children murdered by the Israeli government during its genocide in Gaza,” the rights group said in a statement on its website.

“The NFL has no problem with coaches wearing pins developed for genocide supporter Robert Kraft’s “Stand Up to Jewish Hate” campaign, and it should have no problem with an NFL player mentioning the name of a girl killed in that genocide,” the statement went on to add.

“Al-Shaair’s message was rooted in basic human decency and concern for innocent lives. That should not be controversial, much less subject to a fine.”

Irving’s pro-Palestine stance

Meanwhile, nine-time National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Irving has previously made his pro-Palestine stance on Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza clear.

In February, Irving wore a shirt reading “PRESS” at the NBA All-Star Game to honour journalists who had been killed in Gaza while covering the war.

According to reports, the tag on his shirt read: “Dedicated to our beloved journalists in Gaza showing the world the truth.”

In April, Irving changed his display picture on Instagram to an image of a Palestinian child blocked from attending school by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank.

During a pre-game interview in 2024, he was seen wearing a chain with the Palestine flag in the shape of Israel’s landmass.

In 2023, the basketball player wore a keffiyeh, a cotton headdress with a distinctive checkered pattern worn in many parts of the Arab world that represents Palestinian identity, during a post-match news conference.

José Rivera’s “Marisol” came out around the same time as Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America,” and both plays, vibrating with millennial anxieties, carry the earthly battle for human survival up to the heavens.

There’s a dramatically prominent Angel (Taylor Scott) as well in Rivera’s drama, now in an Open Fist Theater Company revival at Atwater Village Theatre. This celestial warrior has been protecting Marisol (Jade Santana) without her knowing it throughout her life. Marisol, referred to by a publishing colleague as “Miss Puerto Rican Yuppy Princess of the Universe,” still lives in the Bronx and is assailed by dangers just getting to and from work every day.

After an incident on the subway with a deranged man threatening her with a golf club, Marisol returns to her cramped, noisy apartment to learn that her guardian angel is abandoning her to enlist in the battle to replace a senile God, who (to judge by the ailing state of the universe) has grown too old for the job.

Jack Sharpe and Jade Santana in ‘Marisol’ at Open Fist.

(John Dlugolecki)

Marisol will have to fend for herself in New York, a dystopian landscape where crime is rampant, poverty is pervasive and the unhoused are threatened by roving gangs of Nazi skinheads who set them on fire for kicks.

What follows is a modern picaresque journey, in which a clever underdog has to rely on her wit and wiles to survive a corrupt and perilous world. Rivera’s play, which won an Obie Award, caught fire in its 1993 New York premiere at the Public Theater with its theatrical street sense, savage imagery and Puerto Rican-inflected magical realism.

The apocalyptic fears boiling up in the play are perhaps even more acutely felt today, with the ravages of climate change compounding each year and the threat of AI hanging an existential cloud over our heads.

But what’s most satisfying about this reencounter with “Marisol” is seeing a new generation embrace the play’s kinetic freedom. Rivera, who received an Oscar nomination for his adapted screenplay for the 2004 film “The Motorcycle Diaries,” solidified his reputation with this play after his breakthrough work “The House of Ramón Iglesia.”

Director Amanda Weier and her company approach “Marisol” as though it were a new play. The quicksilver changes of scene in this urban hellscape are handled with crisp dispatch. Subway cars and burned-out streets don’t require much in the way of elaborate illustration for the overhang of menace to be felt.

Occasionally, particularly in the early going, the blocking and Christopher Moscatiello’s sound design seemed to be working at cross-purposes. The production’s adventurousness, traversing every corner of Brad Bentz’s scenic design, can have a diffuse effect.

But the clever props design (Bruce Dickinson and Anna Krause) fills in any shoestring gaps. And Mylette Nora’s costumes artfully conjure both the underworld and the spiritual realm.

Jade Santana and Hutchins Foster in ‘Marisol’ at Open Fist.

(John Dlugolecki)

Santana’s Marisol, likable yet spiky, anchors the revival. Her interactions with the golf club maniac (Matthew Goodrich) and the scarred homeless man (Hutchins Foster) are fearfully intense, as they should be.

Grace Soens, who plays June, Marisol’s confederate at work, and Jack Sharpe, who takes on the role of Lenny, June’s mentally disturbed brother, expand this unstable world, where it’s hard to know who to trust.

“Marisol” is rife with ambiguity. One of the biggest questions is whether Marisol is dead or alive. But the surreal reality extends to the map of New York. Marisol can no longer tell if she is heading north or south. And the number of characters wielding golf clubs as deadly weapons raises the concern that the villains are interchangeable — and that the good guys have all fled.

One thing that’s certain is that Marisol will have to take up the fight for her own future. With no one left to protect her, she’s learning to look after herself and those she cares about. To become, in other words, the hero that’s needed to turn this momentous struggle around.