Deputy assistant commissioner Kevin Southworth said a team of 220 investigators had worked hard on the case but he appreciates “it has taken nine years to get to this point”.

“As we have said before, this is one of the most complex investigations ever undertaken by any UK law enforcement agency – the scale is truly enormous.

“While we know this has had a significant impact on those waiting for answers, it has necessarily taken this long to ensure our investigation is meticulous and presents the very best possible evidence to the CPS for charging decisions,” he added.

The CPS will decide whether there is a realistic prospect of conviction, as well as considering whether bringing charges is in the public interest.

In anticipation of possible criminal proceedings, the Met has said it is building a £2m replica of a section of the tower, which is being dismantled, to help future jurors understand its layout.

Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS special crime and counter terrorism division, said it marked “an important step”.

“We recognise that the journey to this point has been long and difficult.

“Charging decisions will be made independently by CPS prosecutors following a thorough and careful review of all the evidence gathered by the Metropolitan Police Service,” he added.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, external, X, external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk, external

HEARTBROKEN Pete Wicks has urged fans to stop questioning the whereabouts of his dog and opened up about a tough loss. 

The former Towie star, 37, is famously known for his love of dogs and close bond with his own canines companions. 

In December last year Pete – who is in a relationship with Love Island star and documentary-maker Olivia Attwood – told how he was spending Christmas alone after one of his French bulldogs, Peggy, died. 

Now he’s taken to social media to ask fans to stop speculating about another one of his Frenchies, Eric, who he rescued in 2016 – sharing the sad news that he has also passed away. 

He wrote: “In the past year I have lost both of my dogs Eric and Peggy. They were 10 and 13. 

“I haven’t wanted to talk about it… they got me through the past decade and a piece of me has gone with them. 

real deal

Olivia Attwood reveals when Pete ‘fell in love with her’ – and ex will be furious

RACY SCENES

Olivia Attwood ‘tongues’ boyfriend Pete Wicks as pair get raunchy in a car

“So to those who feel like they need an explanation of where Eric is, please stop. He was my soul dog. He was my best friend. I shouldn’t have to explain my pain.” 

Such is Pete’s love of dogs that he fronted documentary series Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake in 2025 which followed him as he worked behind the scenes at Dogs’ Trust rehoming centres. 

Speaking earlier this year ahead of series three of the UKTV show, he told RadioTimes: “Whatever love you give dogs, you get back tenfold. 

“People are quite cruel. I cannot abide by people who don’t treat animals with respect. 

“I don’t understand why more people who have a bit of a platform don’t give a voice to the voiceless.

“That’s what I try to do in any way I possibly can. It means a lot to me.”

Just a few months ago, amidst the avalanche of uncertainties surrounding the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro by the US military in collusion with Venezuelan forces, we identified six indicators pointing to a clear political reality: the remaining chavista leadership was successfully adapting to the new board under conditions of vassalage to the invading power.

Since then, the core underlying conditions have not changed—the government continues to prevail over the conflict—but new windows of opportunity have opened for the opposition, and new situations have arisen that put this new, Rodríguez-led neochavismo in a tight spot.

Alex Saab has a substitute

The first sign of chavismo’s remarkable capacity for subservience was the sacrifice of some of its own key figures in exchange for US validation. Handing over Alex Saab was a well-calibrated move by the interim government. The primary financial operator of late chavismo had transformed into the manager of an opaque economy, eventually elevating himself into a political actor and a banner of anti-imperialism. Yet his fall came with a successor, a new financial lobbyist bearing the same signature of corruption, but who does not answer solely to chavismo: Alejandro Betancourt is a hinge operator, a pragmatic and elastic figure whose nature allows him to serve multiple partners with conflicting interests at the same time. Thus, the ideological flexibility of chavismo’s newest protagonists aligns perfectly with its broader mutation from a political project into a commercial consortium.

Rising social demands

In our previous analysis, we identified supervised economic liberalization as the government’s biggest gamble to buy time. Accelerating economic recovery was seen as a critical opportunity to relieve political and social pressure. However, the expected results have failed to materialize on schedule. No matter how many headlines trumpet investments in the oil, energy, and mining sectors, and regardless of the photos documenting memorandums of understanding with international capital, the revival of the economy remains a fantasy—just as it has been for the past twenty years. If Venezuelans are accustomed to anything, it is chavismo’s delusions. Today, the government faces a scenario in which the domestic economy and access to basic public services deteriorate at the exact same rate that rejection of foreign tutelage grows. Simply put: the strategy of accelerating economic recovery to defuse political pressure has been a complete failure.

In the electricity sector alone—one of the main triggers of protests and street pressure in recent weeks—there is a stark divide between grand announcements and actual binding agreements. Throughout 2026, investment announcements in Venezuela’s electrical grid were measured in megawatts, nearly all framed as recovery agreements with state-owned Corpoelec. In April, talks with Siemens and General Electric were announced to address the crisis in Zulia, but to date, no public contract exists with either company, and the situation remains critical: blackouts lasting between 5 and 12 hours (or more) persist.

On one hand, we see the return of exiled politicians who were persecuted for years. On the other, isolated attempts at arrests.

To date, no agreement has disclosed financial amounts or funding sources. Furthermore, megawatt figures vary depending on the source, and it remains unclear how INSA and Impsa are dividing the work at the Tocoma hydroelectric plant. All of this is unfolding against a backdrop of undeniable social demands that cannot be pacified by press headlines and investment promises. The timeline for economic relief is slipping away, while the timeline for public demand is accelerating.

The repressive apparatus doesn’t wane, it just loosens its grip

Ten months later, we can affirm that the relaxation of the repressive system and the amnesty law were purely symbolic gestures directed at Trump, carrying no real dismantling of the persecution apparatus. That tactic of erecting façade after façade regarding human rights has been maintained. Repression cooled down and political prisoners were released—some only partially—during these months under foreign tutelage. However, based on several statements from Washington detached from reality, the interim government confirmed that human rights are simply not on the US agenda. In that sense, there have even been small trial balloons replicating the repression of past months, testing American indifference. The Trump administration is not dismantling the repressive apparatus in Venezuela because its own government is also repressive—one that, in many cases, shares victims with chavismo: Venezuelans on US soil.

Nevertheless, a novel phenomenon is taking place that sends contradictory signals. On one hand, we see the return of exiled politicians who were persecuted for years. On the other, isolated attempts at arrests. This tension within the security apparatus has yet to show a clear trend and will ultimately be defined by the political force deployed by the actors involved.

Ambiguity toward China

In the initial months of US tutelage, the most dramatic shift in the interim government’s foreign policy—and the clearest sign of its ability to mutate to survive—was severing its alliance with Cuba. That move brought an alarming deterioration to the island’s economic situation, which had depended on Venezuelan oil for more than two decades. Remaining Chavismo did not hesitate to drop its oldest ideological partner when the cost of sustaining it became Washington’s disapproval. In that sense, it was primarily an existential rupture: one that demonstrated their capacity to sacrifice even their own founding narrative to guarantee the continuity of power.

In Venezuela, China is not competing in the short term. Instead, it is waiting for its window of opportunity to open.

With the discursive framing of the divorce from Cuba settled, this new period in international affairs—beyond the relationship with the US—is marked by the positioning and balancing act required regarding China, particularly concerning its oil assets amidst U.S. penetration into the sector. Unlike Cuba, China is not an ally that can be abruptly discarded without consequences. It is the country’s primary creditor following years of loans repaid with crude oil, and it holds stakes in joint ventures across the Orinoco Petroleum Belt.

For now, the interim government operates in the realm of pure pragmatism: avoiding any signal of alignment with China that might irritate the US, while simultaneously leaving existing Chinese investments untouched. That balance can hold only as long as Washington refrains from directly targeting Chinese assets in the country. Should that happen, Rodriguez-led Neochavismo would find itself trapped between its tutor and its creditor, with no room left to manage ambiguity. China, for its part, is in no rush. Its strategy in the region has long been defined by patience and long-term calculation: it is not competing in the short term; instead, it is waiting for its window of opportunity to open. And under a government that has proven its loyalties are entirely negotiable, that window will open sooner or later.

The alliance with Trump consolidates

The other major successful mutation for chavismo coming into view this year has been the dissolution of its anti-imperialist rhetoric. For over two decades, confrontation with the United States served as the narrative anchor of the movement’s project, the story that justified shortages, explained sanctions and failures, unified the militant base, and gave chavismo a distinct place on the international map. Today, that story is entirely untenable for a government cooperating directly with those who kidnapped its president and bombed its country: chavismo can no longer posture as a fortress against empire.

This shift carries heavy political costs. Internally, it opens deep fractures: segments of the rank-and-file and mid-level cadres trained on that narrative watch as their leadership cuts deals with the very enemy they were taught to fight for years, eroding the loyalty that the narrative once guaranteed. Externally, it means losing international alliances that relied precisely on that shared identity. Chavismo can no longer offer its former partners the epic tale of resistance.

The opposition’s challenge lies in constructing a vision of its own—one capable of appealing to an exhausted society that has watched both the revolutionary narrative and promises of a swift transition collapse.

Yet the dissolution of anti-imperialism also poses a serious dilemma for the opposition. For years, the opposition built its moral standing in direct opposition to a regime that simultaneously claimed the anti-imperialist mantle, violated human rights, and destroyed the economy. Now, with chavismo falling in line with Washington, that contrast becomes blurred. The opposition can no longer define itself solely by its antagonism to chavismo, nor can it present alignment with the U.S. as its own unique banner, because the interim government occupies that exact same space.

This forces the opposition to transform, which brings its historical weakness to the surface: its limited capacity for transformation. The Venezuelan opposition has proven effective at resisting, denouncing, and mobilizing during high-tension moments, but it has struggled immensely to renew its discourse, leadership, and strategies when the political terrain shifts. On this new board, its challenge is no longer to prove that chavismo is illegitimate, but to construct a vision of its own. A vision capable of appealing to an exhausted society that has watched both the revolutionary narrative and the promises of a swift transition collapse. If it fails to do so, it risks remaining trapped in a political language aimed at a chavismo that no longer exists.

It was Disney Day at Sierra Canyon High, so standout sophomore linebacker Eli Zamorano showed up at football practice wearing Mickey Mouse ears atop his head on Monday.

Walking past, teammates either stared or smiled at the ears.

“He’s a kid who beats to his own drum,” coach Jon Ellinghouse said.

It makes perfect sense, for it was Zamorano as a freshman who was walking in rain and freezing temperatures last November on the field two hours before Sierra Canyon’s playoff game against Santa Margarita going through his pregame routine listening to music from Nirvana and not letting any elements disrupt him.

“I’m not gonna let the weather determine my pregame,” he said. “And I’m actually used to the cold experience. My dad taught me to swim in cold water. That’s who I am.”

At 6 feet 2, 205 pounds, Zamorano is showing signs of becoming one of the best linebackers in the state for a 5-0 Sierra Canyon team that opens Mission League play on Friday against Loyola. He can be the player who’s in on every tackle up the middle or the player covering running backs out of the backfield. He watched his brother, Roman, now at Air Force, play for the Trailblazers last season at middle linebacker and has been taught by his father, Antonio, a former Garfield football player, to focus on toughness and fundamentals.

“It’s the mental toughness our dad taught both of us,” he said. “He played old-school football.”

Linebacker Eli Zamorano wearing his Mickey Mouse ears on Disney Day at Sierra Canyon.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

His father became a doctor, his mother a lawyer. They’ve shown their boys a path to success but each must find their own way, though having a doctor in the family while playing football is pretty neat.

“When we were little, 7 or 8 years old, he would take us to see his patients at the hospital,” Zamorano said. “So we learned a lot there. It’s like we have free health care. He walks in our room and feels the [ankle]. He knows what the risks are.”

Zamorano can play the ukulele, listens to music created years ago and doesn’t pay attention to what others think.

“I would like to say I’m a very enthusiastic kid,” he said. “I still like to live life to its fullest. I’m not going to let any outside voices determine what makes me, me. I kind of don’t listen to the music that people do nowadays, and a lot of people call me out. It makes me Eli. And you know, it’s just who I am.”

When he was 15, he spent nearly three months living in Rapa Nui, one of the world’s most remote Polynesian islands. His grandmother was born there. It’s also known as Easter Island and is a special territory of Chile. There’s wilderness, beautiful beaches, amazing sunsets and time for a teenager to reflect on the future.

“I was down there training hard, learning more about my culture, where my family’s from,” he said. “I actually did dancing. It was a really fun experience.”

Whether walking in freezing rain without an umbrella or wearing Mickey Mouse ears around campus, Zamorano always knows what he’s doing.

“A couple girls said they were cute,” he said of his borrowed ears.

Who’s going to question Zamorano’s choices now?

As Iran and the United States work with mediators to end seven months of hostilities, the reality in the Strait of Hormuz is shifting in ways that could prove to be a game-changer in ongoing negotiations.

According to the latest data from tanker-tracker websites, traffic through the key waterway has been steadily increasing, with some estimates putting oil and petroleum flow through the Strait of Hormuz at nearly 80 percent of what it was before the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28.

This could dent Iran’s leverage in reaching a favourable deal for itself in its attempts to end the fighting, which has seriously hampered its already heavily sanctioned economy, amid the US blockade of Iranian ships and ports.

Despite that, experts believe it would be a mistake to think normality in the Strait of Hormuz is imminent, or that Iran will fold easily despite growing economic hardship.

“The fact that oil is getting through the Strait of Hormuz is encouraging, but flows are not yet regarded as completely secure or guaranteed, particularly while the wider conflict remains unresolved,” Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, told Al Jazeera.

Moreover, oil prices remain high globally, including in the US, where President Donald Trump faces a crucial midterm election that could see his party swept away in both houses of Congress.

Tanker insurance costs also remain elevated and energy flows through Hormuz are still far from secure, suggesting Iran’s leverage may be weakening rather than disappearing.

Oil flows through Hormuz recovering

The latest data from commodity analytics firm Kpler points to a significant recovery in oil exports from the Middle East.

Crude exports reached an estimated 16.328 million barrels per day (bpd) in September – their highest level since the war began in late February, the firm reported this week.

Flows through the Strait of Hormuz itself were expected to reach about 9.719 million bpd during the month. Saudi Arabia has driven much of the increase, with its exports rebounding from 2.446 million bpd in August to about 5.4 million bpd in September.

Kpler said Middle East crude exports have recovered to just under 80 percent of their pre-war level. But the figures remain about 3.2 million bpd below the 19.513 million bpd exported in February.

The data also does not include ships crossing Hormuz with their tracking systems switched off, meaning actual traffic could be higher.

Prior to the war, an estimated 120-140 vessels crossed through the waterway daily, roughly half of them oil tankers moving approximately 20 million barrels per day. At the height of the fighting, traffic through the waterway collapsed to as few as two tankers a day after Iran in effect closed the strait in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks.

Is Iran losing leverage?

The rebound in oil flow presents a challenge for Tehran. Iran has sought to use its ability to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz – one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints – as leverage against Washington’s military and economic pressure.

But if large volumes of oil can continue moving through the strait while Iran itself remains under a US naval blockade, Tehran’s bargaining power could diminish.

Iran, however, rejects any assessment that its control over the strait is slipping.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi on Tuesday said the ability of vessels to transit the waterway with US assistance did not mean Hormuz had returned to normal.

Oil prices are another indication that Iran has not lost all of its leverage.

Brent crude fell 2.6 percent to $102.59 a barrel on Tuesday as traders focused on recovering Middle East exports. But it was still heading for a roughly 13 percent gain in September.

Chris Beauchamp, an analyst at IG, said markets were beginning to incorporate evidence of recovering flows but remained wary about how durable that recovery would be.

“It takes time for evidence to filter through to markets,” Beauchamp said. “Oil prices came off yesterday as the narrative began to take hold, and should continue to fall.”

But he said concerns persisted over whether the US protection system could withstand a renewed barrage of Iranian missiles and drones.

Streeter of Wealth Club said the market still had a geopolitical risk premium built into crude prices, despite the improving flows.

“Insurance costs for tankers also remain elevated because of the perceived risks of operating in the region, adding to the cost of transporting crude even as more ships make it through the waterway,” she said.

Moreover, Streeter warned that crude figures tell only part of the story. Flows of refined fuels, particularly diesel and gasoline, remain constrained, while damage to infrastructure has placed additional pressure on energy supply chains, she added.

There is another vulnerability, the investment strategist pointed out. Countries including the US have relied heavily on strategic oil reserves to cushion the impact of the disruption and help contain prices.

“With those stockpiles now significantly depleted, there is a thinner buffer if there is another disruption, which is helping to keep a floor under crude prices,” Streeter added.

‘Economic war’ on Iran

There is little doubt that economic pressure on Iran is intensifying, potentially increasing Tehran’s incentive to reach an agreement.

Official data from the Statistical Center of Iran earlier this month showed gross domestic product (GDP) contracting 10.1 percent year on year between March 21 and June 20, while the crucial oil and gas sector shrank 26.4 percent.

Iran has also been battling high inflation and a plunging currency as the US blockade constrains oil exports and foreign currency earnings.

Twelve-month average inflation reached 69.9 percent earlier in September, while the rial had fallen beyond 2.2 million to the US dollar in early September.

In August, the US announced a fresh economic pressure campaign against Iran, promising to target Tehran’s financial interests across the world.

Mohammad Eslami, a research fellow at the University of Tehran, told Al Jazeera that Iran was facing an “economic war” alongside the military conflict.

“There is a US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which affects Iran’s revenues from oil exports and other products such as petrochemicals, which are important to Iran’s economy,” Eslami said. “As a result, Iran’s dollar revenues have been affected by the blockade.”

But he cautioned against judging Iran’s economy solely through the value of its currency.

“The exchange rate is a very important indicator, but it is not the only measure for explaining what is happening or the difficulties and challenges facing Iran’s economy,” Eslami said, adding that Iran has faced US economic pressure for “five decades”.

Can a deal be reached?

Despite the military and economic pressure, negotiations have not collapsed.

At the United Nations General Assembly last week, Tehran and Washington engaged in three hours of indirect talks, as US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

President Trump later described the encounter as “very good” and “very productive.”

Iran also proposed a seven-day roadmap under which the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened and normal maritime traffic restored if Washington meets Tehran’s conditions, a plan Trump categorically rejected.

Those conditions included ending the naval blockade on Iran, easing sanctions and releasing frozen Iranian funds.

However, on Wednesday, Reuters news agency reported that Araghchi had received US feedback on the proposal through Qatari mediators.

An official briefed on the talks said the main disagreement now centred on the sequencing of measures rather than the components of the plan.

Sept. 30, 2026 3:01 AM PT

Summer mornings in the Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh are a respite from the dissonance of honking cars and construction of the capital city of Dhaka. It was a welcome change to hear chickens and the sound of … wait, was that Julie Andrews’ voice echoing over the hills?

I was visiting my home country when I heard a group of schoolchildren playing ektaras, a traditional string instrument, and singing the “Do-Re-Mi” song for their morning assembly.

I used my phone to show them a picture of Andrews. “Do you know her?” They immediately leaped in excitement. They didn’t know the composer Richard Rodgers or lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. But they knew Andrews — even though 60 years have passed since “The Sound of Music” and these children live in a remote Bangladeshi village. The recognition is evidence of something extraordinary.

Andrews is turning 91 on Thursday, and there are calls online to bubble wrap her, just in case. She is indeed a global treasure, and she has been earning plaudits and admirers for eight decades.

Andrews trained in the Italian bel canto tradition and from a young age sang challenging coloratura arias with precision, clarity and range. The bright, happy tone, perhaps a subconscious decision rather than anatomical alone, provided her respite from the doodlebug bombs that fell during her childhood in England in World War II. British critics had dubbed her as the “youngest prima donna,” a title usually reserved for opera greats, and it wasn’t undeserved. At just 12, she routinely floated high Fs above the treble staff during live performances.

Yet before opera could claim her, Broadway stepped in. From “The Boy Friend” to “My Fair Lady” and then “Camelot,” she won the hearts of theater goers and creators alike. Lyricist Alan Lerner described her as “an amazingly quick study in music … who meets any challenge with an unabated eyelid that makes you wonder how Britain ever lost the empire.”

Her voice then was so precise that the late maestro André Previn, who led the London Symphony Orchestra, proclaimed: “No one’s diction in any field of singing can come close. … You understand every syllable from the second balcony — I don’t understand how you do that.”

It’s inaccurate to romanticize her legacy in 2026 as simply nostalgic. That would overlook the depth and progressive nature of her characters. She was essentially the first female superhero on the big screen, as Mary Poppins — who could fly and create alternate realities with the snap of her heels, but whose more stunning superpower at the height of the Cold War was to charmingly portray capitalism as dangerous.

In “Victor/Victoria,” she navigated a gender-bending performance that challenged societal norms, playing a woman who impersonates a man impersonating a woman when it was taboo to speak about any layer of that. Her most overlooked and perhaps her best dramatic role was in “Duet for One,” a 1986 film about a musician who suffers from multiple sclerosis. Tragically this became a moment of life imitating art, foreshadowing her own destiny to lose her instrument after throat surgery in 1997.

Rather than retreat, Andrews adjusted and leaned into voice acting with characters like the dominant Queen Lillian in “Shrek” films, Gru’s hilariously villainous mother in “Despicable Me” and the mysterious Lady Whistledown in “Bridgerton,” for which she won an Emmy, twice.

In real life, the flying super governess fought to adopt two babies from Vietnam just after the fall of Saigon, helping to raise awareness of the need for adoptive parents. She then co-founded the Operation USA disaster relief charity and opened the Japanese wing for the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

Whether it was to support UNICEF after the devastating Bhola cyclone hit present-day Bangladesh in 1970 or jetting to Jordan and Senegal to support women’s and children’s activities, she was a quiet champion for the underserved. In her most famous role, in “The Sound of Music,” she was a savior for children being displaced by war.

Andrews is mostly out of the public eye, but her singing is eternal and accessible. YouTube is home to a trove of Andrews performances, including “This Is My Beloved” from “Kismet,” full-voiced “When You Wish Upon a Star,” from pianissimos to fortes, high B-flats and all — her classical skill shines through. These recordings remind us that beyond just the formulaic legato phrasing that singers from the Italian tradition follow, and the clear resonance, her work it set a gold standard for musical storytelling that few have surpassed since.

Julie Andrews is no longer trilling on the Alps, nor is she reprising her role as queen of Genovia in a “Princess Diaries” film, but her voice, and what it represented for more than 80 years, endures. It lives on not just in films and recordings but also ringing in the minds of children and adults alike, from her hometown of Walton-on-Thames to the Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. In an age of doom scrolling (and alarmingly low singing standards), her vast career offers a rare resonance and a continuing masterclass.

Shams-il Arefin Islam, a Yale-Berkeley College associate fellow who works on climate mitigation and adaptation, is a classically trained tenor.

After being securely held for nearly four decades by one of the most preeminent politicians in California history, the House seat to represent bright blue San Francisco in Congress is up for grabs in November — and dividing the Democratic Party.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), 86, the powerful former House Speaker who’s held the seat since 1987, announced last year that she would not run again. In May, she passed over state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) — a prolific California legislator long considered a potential successor — to endorse San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, a local progressive with less legislative experience but strong support from labor.

Pelosi’s endorsement sent Chan, who had been languishing in polls, surging past Democratic tech millionaire Saikat Chakrabarti in the June primary. Chan finished with nearly 30% of the vote and Chakrabarti took 18%. Wiener won, with nearly 41% of the vote.

Both Wiener, a gay man and staunch advocate for the city’s large LGBTQ+ community, and Chan, who immigrated to the city from Hong Kong at age 13 and has deep ties to its large Chinese and immigrant communities, would make history by winning. Wiener would be the first out LGBTQ+ person to represent the city in Congress, and Chan the first Asian American immigrant woman.

The race has sharply divided the state’s Democratic establishment as a rare intraparty showdown between a deft legislator who has driven liberal California policy for years and a rising progressive with the powerful imprimatur of the icon they seek to replace.

Both acknowledge they would take the same or similar positions on many issues, and fiercely oppose President Trump’s agenda. But they also say San Franciscans face a real choice between them that will help define the city for years.

“There is a clear cut between the two of us,” Chan said. “He has long enjoyed establishment support and industry support, and we’ve been grassroots, on the ground, [Asian American and Pacific Islander] community, working people and labor unions — in collaboration and coalition building.”

“We need Democrats who are willing to fight — to fight in a smart way, and to fight in an aggressive way, to defeat Donald Trump and to lower the cost of living,” Wiener said. “We are past the time where we need Democrats in office who were just going along to get along, or who, like Connie Chan, are just part of the status quo.”

Wiener is a MAGA target

Wiener, 56, has lived in the Castro neighborhood since 1997 and was a deputy city attorney and local Democratic Party chair before being elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2010. He was elected in 2016 to the state Senate, where he’s had a massive influence, authoring more than 100 bills that have been signed into law. Allies and critics say he is a workhorse, and at times both effective and divisive.

Wiener has been endorsed by the state and local Democratic parties; a slew of state leaders including California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, state Senate President Pro Tempore Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister); various queer and labor groups including AFSCME; more than half the city’s supervisors; and various members of Congress.

Wiener has passed some of the state’s most progressive laws on LGBTQ+ rights, including protections for gender-affirming care, and challenged federal immigration agents in California. He has also pushed progressive laws — backing safe injection sites, extending bar hours until 4 a.m., decriminalizing psychedelic drugs — that have put some of his fellow Democrats in uncomfortable spots when forced to vote on the controversial issues.

Some in San Francisco label him a moderate, though that designation would draw laughs elsewhere in the country and even in Sacramento. Wiener is one of the most reviled state politicians on the conservative right nationally, and has received scores of death threats for his work, particularly on transgender issues. His website touts a laundry list of profane and homophobic attacks from MAGA loyalists — Elon Musk called him a “scumbag,” former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called him a “communist groomer” — that he wears as a badge of honor.

On housing, Wiener has pushed for deregulation and development near transit hubs statewide to solve the housing and affordability crises, riling some homeowners averse to increased density and some progressives who say his plan favors developers and threatens existing rent-controlled housing. On tech, Wiener has pushed for artificial intelligence regulation but also been criticized for taking a technocratic approach with buy-in from wealthy tech leaders.

Wiener has passed laws protecting net neutrality, capping prescription costs and mandating mental health parity, ending mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, and requiring corporations disclose their greenhouse gas emissions. He has received substantial financial support from tech leaders and opposes Proposition 40, the ballot measure that seeks to impose a one-time tax on the state’s billionaires.

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), also gay and a former Long Beach mayor, said he considers Wiener a friend but also a generational legislator who has “led the country” on LGBTQ+ rights and housing policy. “I don’t think there’s a better legislator in the United States on housing,” Garcia said.

Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), who worked with Wiener for years in the state Legislature, said he has been a champion for many issues important to Californians — including the environment — while holding big industry accountable and backing labor. She said while many politicians decide to either rack up easy wins with legislation that barely moves the needle or focus on “progressive value signaling” without accomplishing much of anything, Wiener “takes on some of the most difficult and controversial progressive issues and really gets them done.”

Nancy Tung, the local Democratic Party chair, said many San Francisco politicians “recede” from the city’s raucous local policy debate once they reach higher office, but Wiener is “still is in the knife fight,” especially on housing and affordability issues — showing he cares about the city and making him “such a good fit” for Congress.

Tung said she understands the appeal of sending a fellow Asian American woman to Congress in this political moment, but that Chan “just does not have the legislative record that Scott has.”

Chan for ‘working people’

Chan, 47, who lived in a rent-controlled Chinatown apartment after immigrating with her mother and younger brother, now lives with her firefighter husband and son in the Richmond neighborhood. She was a community and legislative aide for years — including for then-Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris — before being elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2020. She has served as budget chair since 2023 and has centered her campaign, largely funded by Pelosi’s network, around what she calls her “career fighting for working people.”

Chan has been endorsed by a host of Congress members, including Pelosi and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.); major labor groups including the California Federation of Labor Unions and the California Teachers Assn.; various progressive organizations and fellow and former supervisors; former mayor and S.F. power broker Willie Brown; and Chakrabarti, who since the primary has shared his campaign staff and funding with her.

Chan, who supports Proposition 40, has helped create a $400-million reserve fund in San Francisco to make up for federal cuts to Medicaid and housing subsidies. She also passed a supplemental budget to fund immigration defense services for people targeted by the Trump administration and passed various labor-friendly measures, including a minimum wage increase for in-home workers and cost-of-living adjustments for city service workers.

Pelosi said Chan “understands that budgets are statements of our values,” has “championed justice and progress for working families” and “brings an important lived experience to this moment” as an immigrant woman. Schiff said Chan has impressed him as “a very powerful voice for those who are disenfranchised” and someone with “the potential of growing into” a leader like Pelosi.

Kim Tavaglione, executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council, said she encouraged Pelosi to endorse Chan because Chan “supports San Francisco values,” listens to labor and is a great strategist.

Cleve Jones, the San Francisco activist who has fought for gay political representation since Harvey Milk’s historic 1977 election to the Board of Supervisors, said Wiener “has done some very good things, particularly around LGBTQ issues and HIV/AIDS,” but also angered some in the LGBTQ+ community by repeatedly showing up to an annual Trans March that organizers ask politicians not to attend.

Wiener, who is Jewish, was aggressively heckled at this year’s march, namely for his stance on the Israeli war in Gaza, which he was slower than other progressives to label a genocide. Conservatives mocked him for being targeted by his base, and Wiener ended up fundraising off the incident — which Jones said was “so cynical.”

He said Wiener’s “loyalty is to big developers, big tech and big real estate,” and that he “doesn’t really see the urgency of yet another white man elected to Congress” when San Francisco can send a stronger message by electing Chan, an immigrant woman of color.

Affordability and Trump

Chan said she is a “pragmatic” progressive who has balanced the city’s budget while protecting “healthcare, education, immigration resources” and other working-class priorities. She said Wiener is focused on deregulation for market-rate housing development, whereas she has prioritized tenants’ rights and protecting existing rent-controlled housing in her push for affordable units.

Chan said she will “walk and chew gum at the same time” in Washington by working for affordability while battling Trump, including by reversing his healthcare cuts, expanding Medicaid, providing affordable childcare, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and finally figuring out meaningful immigration reform.

“I’m not sugarcoating it as if it’s easy. But we gotta be able to find ways to work together to push those things forward,” she said.

Wiener said he and Chan share the goal “of getting Trump and MAGA out of office, and then making sure that people never feel tempted to flirt with authoritarianism again.”

But he said the way to do that is to advance policies that will “lower people’s cost of living and make people’s lives more sustainable” — including by passing universal healthcare, building millions of new homes, creating low-cost child care and leading a clean energy transition — and that he is the only candidate in the race with a proven ability to do that.

“This is a race to succeed the most effective and operational member of Congress in modern American history,” Wiener said. “San Francisco should send someone who actually has a track record, a proven track record, of being able to deliver.”

A game of rock, paper, scissors was used to determine when the elite female and male races will take place at next year’s unique two-day London Marathon.

Men’s world record holder Sabastian Sawe was beaten by women’s wheelchair world record holder Catherine Debrunner – both 2026 London Marathon champions in their respective races – in the contest.

As a result, the elite men and men’s wheelchair races are set for Saturday, 24 April, with the women’s events taking place the following day on the traditional Sunday.

Hugh Brasher, chief executive of London Marathon Events, said: “Sabastian and Catherine’s rock, paper, scissors battle was an entertaining way to decide which day would host each elite race.

“Splitting the elite races will allow us to shine an even brighter spotlight on the extraordinary athletes taking part.”

Earlier this year, organisers of the event confirmed the London Marathon will be held across two days in what is said to be a momentous one-off edition of the event.

The decision was made to enable more people to take part, after a record 1.33 million people entered the ballot for next year.

In 2027 a record-breaking 100,000 participants will take part and it is estimated that more than £150m will be raised for charitable causes.

The women’s championship categories will line-up behind the women’s elite field for the first time in the London race.

“Our outstanding elite women’s wheelchair field will begin the action just ahead of them, creating a true celebration of women’s marathon racing,” Brasher added.

The main events on both days will be a mixed field of male, female and non-binary participants.

A CLOSED Wetherspoons once labelled as the most beautiful in the UK is set to be turned into a huge indoor soft play attraction.

The pub closed down back in 2023 after more than two decades in business.

The Capitol Pub on London Road in Forest Hill was often regarded as the grandest or most beautiful in the range of budget pubs.

It was housed in a former 1920’s Art Deco building that used to serve as a cinema.

The picture house showed its last film in 1978 then opened as a bingo hall before JD Wetherspoons snapped it up in 1996.

But, new life is set to be breathed into the Grade II listed building as developers have revealed plans to transform it into a soft play, according to News Shopper.

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Planning permission was approved back in January, with developers now working through a series of conditions to ensure the original features in the building are protected.

A multi-level play structure, party rooms, café facilities and an on-site manager’s flat is set to feature in the building.

Meanwhile, accessible toilets, buggy parking and areas for staff are also set to be built.

However, fans of the building need not worry as its original cinema entrance and distinct features will be protected.

No opening date has been confirmed for the soft play area, but works continue to be underway.

IF you are thinking about where to go this winter, then you are in luck because Ryanair is adding 22 destinations to its flight schedule.

Routes include Europe as well as a much-loved winter sun spot in Africa.

Four of the new routes will be from London airports including from London Stansted to Glasgow in Scotland, Malmo in Sweden and Parma in Italy.

A new service to Venice, Italy will then also operate from London Luton Airport.

Five new routes will be added to both Liverpool and Birmingham airports.

From Liverpool, you’ll be able to head to Copenhagen, Gdansk, Porto, Tirana and Warsaw.

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Then from Birmingham you’ll be able to head to Copenhagen, Rome Fiumicino in Italy and Marrakech in Morocco which is perfect for winter sun – with some of these flights costing as little as £14.99 per person, per-way.

And there are other lesser-known destinations where you won’t find the crowds experienced elsewhere in Europe such as Tirana in Albania and Warsaw Modlin in Poland.

The airline has also announced that it is increasing the amount of flights departing Manchester Airport to 26 destinations including Malaga, Palma de Mallorca and Madrid in Spain.

It comes as the airline’s boss Michael O’Leary also warned of flight prices rising next year.

At a press conference last week, he said: “Fares for Ryanair passengers and every other passenger into the summer of 2027 are going to rise materially, I believe, because of significantly higher oil prices.

“I have no doubt fares are rising next year. The question is by how much.”

The airline also announced recently that it was axing even more seats that are equal to around 13,000 flights.

In 2025, France lost 25 routes and some 750,000 seats last winter and in Brussels, Ryanair axed 20 routes and cut one million seats across Brussels-Zaventem and Brussels South Charleroi airports.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has described violence against women as a “national shame” after the discovery of another woman’s body intensified public anger over the country’s persistent gender-based violence.

Eleven women’s bodies have been found in Ekurhuleni, a municipality east of Johannesburg, since July, prompting renewed fear and outrage after years of government promises to tackle violence against women.

Most of the victims were in their 20s or 30s. Some were found stripped and showing signs of sexual violence, according to authorities.

“There are women lying tonight in government mortuaries waiting to be identified, waiting for someone to claim them, waiting to be taken home and laid to rest,” Ramaphosa said in a televised address late on Tuesday.

“How can our hearts not be broken? How can we not be angry?”

He described violence against women as a source of “profound pain and national shame” and acknowledged growing anger among South African women.

Investigation Into the Killings

Ramaphosa said police had so far found no evidence that a serial killer was responsible for the 11 deaths. He stressed, however, that investigators were continuing to examine all possibilities.

Authorities have made arrests in connection with three of the killings, while investigations into the remaining deaths are continuing.

The president said none of the cases would be allowed to go cold, amid growing concerns over whether South Africa’s law enforcement agencies can adequately investigate violent crimes against women.

The latest deaths have revived criticism of the government’s efforts to tackle gender-based violence, despite repeated national campaigns and commitments aimed at reducing the problem.

South Africa’s Wider Crime Crisis

The killings are unfolding against a broader backdrop of severe violent crime in South Africa.

The country has one of the highest murder rates per capita in the world, while corruption, limited resources and weaknesses within the policing system have made it difficult to investigate and prosecute cases effectively.

Only about one in 10 murders is solved, highlighting the scale of the challenge facing investigators.

For communities in Ekurhuleni, the discovery of 11 women’s bodies has therefore become more than a series of individual criminal investigations. It has renewed questions about public safety, accountability and whether years of government commitments are translating into effective protection for women.

Ramaphosa’s remarks reflect the political pressure surrounding the issue as authorities face renewed demands to identify the victims, establish who was responsible for their deaths and prevent further violence.

With information from Reuters.

ITV This Morning star Ashley James has opened up about needing surgery for her health condition.

This Morning star Ashley James has spoken about needing surgery after suffering with incontinence.

Ashley, 39, frequently appears on the ITV programme alongside the likes of Ben Shephard, Cat Deeley and Nick Ferrari. However, instead of discussing the day’s headlines on Wednesday (September 30), Ashley spoke about issues she’s been dealing with.

Over the weekend, the former Made in Chelsea star opened up about suffering with incontinence in a post on social media. She said: “Lots of you will know that since having Alf I’ve lived with various birth complications, and one of them is incontinence.”

She went on: “Our bodies go through huge, sometimes permanent sacrifices to bring children into the world, and we deserve support, not shame.”

Ashley added: “I’m still doing my pelvic floor training, still putting off the surgery, but in the meantime I’m not letting it stop me living my life.”

She was widely supported for her post, and has now opened up on This Morning about the condition. Ashley explained how she’d been in Paris to see Celine Dion with her partner, and had left her washbag on the Euro Star which contained pads.

Without them, Ashley feared she wouldn’t be able to go out, as she said: “When you experience something like incontinence, you have to plan your days and evenings around this physical thing that nobody on the outside really sees but you know can happen. I try not to feel shame or embarrassment around it.”

Ashley explained how the incontinence began after the “traumatic” birth of her son, nearly six years ago, where she had both bladder and bowel incontinence.

“The reason we are so shamed into silence, it doesn’t help anybody, it doesn’t help women. And it is something where you feel you’re the only person going through it, or you’re embarrassed,” she went on.

Ashley explained that she had prolapse after giving birth to her son, which she didn’t realise she could have so young. After she gave birth, during check-ups, she didn’t have her stitches checked and admitted she felt like an “after thought”.

But when she returned to exercising, she received a message from a physio who had treated her from pelvic girdle pain, who diagnosed her with prolapse. It was then that Ashley was told that the faecal incontinence she was suffering from was “not normal”.

She continued: “I think because of so much secrecy and mystery around birth, I just assumed, in the ‘mother and baby doing fine’ that maybe everyone goes through this but no one talks about it because it’s really embarrassing and humiliating.”

Ashley was referred back to hospital, where she discovered she’d been not stitched up all the way, as well as the prolapse, confirming she now has to have surgery.

She added: “For anyone that experiences incontinence, it’s not something you have to put up with. And I will have to have surgery.”

This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and ITVX

For more information, visit https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bowel-incontinence/

The fraught relationship between Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris is the stuff of reality TV.

With their Hollywood looks and unbridled ambition, the two San Francisco-spawned Democrats have spent decades in tacit competition, ascending to the heights of California politics while still managing to avoid direct confrontation.

That could change in 2028, should Newsom and Harris jump their parallel tracks and face each other — and possibly dozens of other candidates — in a bid for their party’s presidential nomination.

California’s departing governor, who has spent the better part of his second and final term auditioning for the White House, recently said he wouldn’t run if Harris chooses to do so. “Mutual assured destruction,” Newsom called a he-she contest between the two Left Coast rivals, and a “waste of everyone’s time.”

Some took that disavowal not as deference but jujitsu, or a form of political psy-ops directed at the governor’s longtime frenemy.

On the one hand …

In the same interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Newsom allowed as how the case against Harris — she’s a two-time loser at the presidential level and has had her shot — is “a pretty good one, actually.”

“That’s objectively true,” Newsom added, driving the knife a little deeper.

But rather than forcing Harris’ hand, Newsom’s professed willingness to stand aside may have simply invited the former vice president to take her sweet time deciding whether or not to run, waiting until the Democratic contest is well underway.

And leaving Newsom in an odd sort of limbo.

The former vice president, lips largely sealed, has done and said just enough to keep the door open to a 2028 run, without firmly committing to the contest. There’s a good chance that Harris — always careful, ever deliberate — doesn’t know what she’ll do. Or, at least, isn’t 100% certain.

She can afford to wait.

Time is on her side

After four years in the White House and her abbreviated 2024 White House bid, Harris has universal name recognition, a nationwide fundraising base and continued support among a significant number of Black women, who just happen to form the backbone of the Democratic Party.

Harris won’t freeze the presidential campaign the way she did the race for California governor. That contest was stalled and the field incomplete until Harris announced, after months of consideration, she’d take a pass. That’s not to say, by any stretch, Harris is the favorite to win the presidential nomination. The criticism Newsom expressed — just a fella jawing away, as he and Tapper cast their fly rods — is a view that is widely held among Democrats.

But the 2028 contest, which unofficially starts the instant the final polls close Nov. 3 — won’t be firmly fixed until it’s clear whether Harris is in or out.

Newsom doesn’t have that luxury of biding time, especially when so many other Democrats are poised to enter the race.

The governor has his own formidable national fundraising base — thanks in good part to his online trolling and anti-Trump hijinks — and a not-small degree of name recognition across the country. But Newsom has yet to fully engage in the see me, feel me aspect of presidential campaigning, which typically requires a candidate’s persistent physical presence and is particularly important in the earliest-voting states.

So his only option is to campaign full bore once he leaves the governor’s office in January, as though he’s running without hesitation or qualification. Then, if Harris jumps into the contest, Newsom can sulk his way back to California, or break his pledge and run against her after saying he wouldn’t.

That, as Newsom suggested to Tapper, would be a gift to the rest of the Democratic field.

Not too long ago, Newsom and Harris were carping over whether he was sufficiently supportive of her hurried-up 2024 presidential bid.

In her account of the campaign, Harris said she reached out to the governor shortly after President Biden announced he was standing aside in favor of his vice president. When she called, Harris wrote, Newsom texted that he was out hiking and would call her back. But, she said, he never did.

Much backing and forthing ensued — Newsom pointing out he didn’t hesitate to endorse Harris once he returned to civilization — with both insisting all the while things are fine between them, really.

Now the two are once more entwined, their fates tied up in mutual ambition and a shared hunger for the White House.

Was Newsom’s CNN interview a feint? Was he just faking respect for Harris as a way to keep in the good graces of Black women voters, all the while hoping against hope she won’t run — and planning to reverse himself if she does?

Will Harris put off her decision, knowing that every day and month that passes deepens the suspense and leaves Newsom twisting?

Will the two finally collide head-on, settling once and for all their intense, if unspoken, competition?

So much drama!

Stay tuned. There’s a reality TV show in there somewhere.

What else you should be reading

Get smart: With bans and taunts, Trump escalates his assault on the media
The deep dive: No electric shock gloves, face coverings: Newsom pushes back on Trump’s ‘Orwellian’ immigration agenda
The L.A. Times Special: War games and draft lawsuits: Democrats work to Trump-proof November election
Question for you: What would you want to ask of California’s two gubernatorial candidates? Fill out our survey!

Until next time,
mzb
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Esteban Ocon is fighting to save his Formula 1 career after the Haas team announced they would split with the Frenchman at the end of the year.

Ocon, who won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix for Alpine, joined Haas in 2025. He has been in F1 since 2016 and has also driven for the Manor and Force India teams.

There are no obvious berths for Ocon on the grid in 2027 but he insisted: “This is absolutely not the end of my Formula 1 career.”

The 30-year-old added in a statement on social media: “I leave this project with my head held high and proud of my performances in what were not always the easiest of circumstances for various reasons and factors outside of my control.

“My immediate focus is the next race weekend. I will continue to work hard with the team, maximise every opportunity, and keep extracting every bit of performance from the car.

“There are still many races to go this season and, as always, I will give it my everything behind the wheel for myself and for my team.

“I am still motivated. I am still hungry.”

Ocon has been outperformed by team-mate Oliver Bearman since joining forces with Haas last year.

This year, the Briton is 13th in the championship, three places and 13 points ahead of Ocon. Bearman has out-qualified Ocon 13-6 at an average advantage of 0.144 seconds.

Last year, Bearman finished 13th and Ocon 15th, separated by just three points, and in qualifying it was 18-7 at 0.175secs

Haas team principal Ayao Kumatso said: “Esteban’s professionalism and commitment have proved valuable as we continue to grow as an organisation.

“Together this year we tackled the challenge of a major regulation change, where Esteban’s driving experience and inputs were significant as we’ve worked hard to develop the VF-26 across the season.”

South Korea calls for a formal apology from North Korea over the DMZ explosion that injured three soldiers.

South Korea’s military has demanded an apology from North Korea over landmine explosions earlier this month in the border zone between the two countries that wounded three soldiers.

Three South Korean soldiers were injured in two explosions on September 21 near the military demarcation line in the western section of the Demilitarized Zone, a heavily fortified border buffer zone between the Koreas that is commonly known as the DMZ.

Kang Hyunwoo, the South Korean joint chiefs of staff’s director of operations, said the military “strongly urges” North Korea to apologise for the blasts and take “responsible measures” to prevent a recurrence.

“This is a clear violation of the Armistice Agreement and undermines the spirit of existing inter-Korean agreements; it must be stopped immediately,” he said on Wednesday, adding “we strongly urge an apology and responsible measures”.

Defence Minister Kang Shin-chul said South Korea would consider unspecified “corresponding measures” if a complete investigation confirms the North was responsible.

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said the South Korean assessment is a “conspiratorial farce” and accused Seoul of making groundless claims to create a pretext for provocation against Pyongyang.

She also criticised the South for broadcasting warnings and firing warning shots at North Korean troops conducting front-line fortification work, adding “our soldiers have never crossed the border”.

“If the [South Korean] military gangsters fire at our soldiers carrying on the permanent project for the southern border, not warning shots, our border units will take immediate and merciless retaliatory action,” she said.

The United Nations Command said on Wednesday it had “identified an active Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea’s) anti-personnel mine on the ROK side of the Military Demarcation Line”, in a joint investigation with Seoul’s military.

“Based on the findings of the investigation, UNC determined that an Armistice Agreement violation occurred,” it added.

The UN Command is a US-led multinational military force charged with overseeing the armistice agreement that halted fighting in the Korean War and administers the southern side of the DMZ.

The provided text highlights the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada, observed on September 30. According to Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, this solemn occasion offers citizens an opportunity to understand a painful historical era and honor the survivors and their affected communities. The observance responds directly to recommendations from Indigenous leaders and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Historically, this dark chapter involved approximately 150,000 Indigenous children being forcefully separated from their families to attend religious boarding schools. Within these institutions, many youngsters faced severe neglect, malnutrition, physical abuse, and sexual violence, with more than 4,000 estimated deaths.

Octavia Hughes asked for help in the days before her death. She leaves behind an eight-year-old daughter

A beloved mum and former stylist on The Voice went to the doctor three times in the days before her death, but was told she had a migraine and to go home.

Octavia Hughes died from a bleed on the brain after being rushed to hospital with stroke symptoms caused by a torn artery in her neck. The 38-year-old, known as ‘Tav’, leaves behind her eight-year-old daughter Dolly and a community of grieving family and friends.

Hospital bosses have offered their condolences to Octavia’s family and said they will “do all we can” to give them answers. Octavia, a fashion designer and owner of a popular second-hand clothing shop in Whitstable, had started getting headaches while walking at Manchester Fashion Week in early September.

She first sought medical help on September 14, when she went to her GP and was reportedly told she was having a migraine and sent home. The mum-of-one also called 111 before attending A&E at the QEQM Hospital in Margate the next day, and was told the same thing, according to friend Paula Chappell.

When her condition did not improve, she went back to A&E on September 17, but was again reportedly sent home. Her family say that the next morning, Octavia woke up with stroke symptoms and was rushed to Kent and Canterbury Hospital, where she had emergency surgery. It is understood that her stroke was caused by a torn artery in her neck.

Octavia then suffered a bleed on the brain and was transferred to King’s College Hospital in London where – despite medics’ best efforts – her family was told there was nothing they could do. Octavia’s organs were donated while she stayed on life support, and she died on September 23.

Paula said: “I think that’s what’s so horrific is that we should have never got to the point we did on Friday. By the time we got to that point, we were just on a downward spiral. She was never a complainer. She wasn’t one of those people who moan about not being well. She’d be a trooper.

“She was walking at Manchester Fashion Week the weekend before, even when the headaches had started to come on. She would never go to the GP, never complain and was definitely not someone that would go three times for no reason.”

Her sudden death has now left friends and family to care for Dolly. “They were little mini besties,” said Paula, who runs an art gallery and met Octavia eight years ago. She would feature on her socials all the time. We all adore our children, I know we do, but their bond was something I’ve never seen.

“We’ve got Dolly to look after and that’s the focus now, to try and make sure that we can get the funds so she can still do the things that Tav would have done with her. We just need to make sure there’s a small bit of financial security in the interim, whilst everything is going on, so we don’t always have to worry about finances as well.”

Paula set up a fundraiser which has already amassed more than £26,000 in donations. “I can’t believe it,” she said. “It shows us how much she was loved by people who didn’t even know her.”

Octavia studied fashion promotion at Southampton Solent University. Her first job after uni was as a stylist’s assistant on The Voice UK, before she worked for several years as a freelance TV stylist. She also ran a pub with her brother, styled e-commerce shoots and worked as an art director for major UK brands. She moved to Whitstable 10 years ago and had her daughter.

In 2019 she set up We Sell By the Sea, followed by Prelove and Reloved. This year, she opened No.86 as a home for her second-hand business in Whitstable High Street. “She’s the friend who knew everything about me,” said Paula. “She’s the one who knows my secrets, the one I would message a hundred times a day.

“She changed my life. I’m not by any means an introvert and I’m quite outgoing, but we danced and we laughed harder and louder together than I ever have with anyone.

“She was loved by everyone. It’s left a hole in all of our hearts, and we will miss her forever.”

A spokesperson for East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust, which runs the QEQM and Kent and Canterbury Hospital, said: “We offer our sincere condolences to Octavia’s family. We will do all we can to answer their questions and will also work with the coroner to understand the circumstances of Octavia’s death.”

You can donate to the fundraiser here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-support-dolly-through-this-unbearable-loss?cp_src=d

HIGH SCHOOL FLAG FOOTBALL
TUESDAY’S RESULTS

City Section
USC Hybrid 31, South LA College Prep 0

Southern Section
Adelanto 19, Arroyo Valley 0
Agoura 42, Newbury Park 25
Burbank Burroughs 26, Temple City 7
Bonita 51, Claremont 0
California Military Institute 31, Desert Christian Academy 0
Camarillo 34, Royal 14
Castaic 38, Canyon Country Canyon 6
Cate 32, Bishop Diego 25
Channel Islands 12, Buena 6
Chino Hills 12, Rancho Cucamonga 6
Dos Pueblos 6, Ventura 0
Eastside 20, Palmdale 0
Eisenhower 31, Carter 6
Etiwanda 20, Upland 0
Grand Terrace 18, Bloomington 6
Highland 16, Lancaster 6
Hueneme 19, Fillmore 12
JSerra 34, Santa Margarita 20
Jurupa Valley 19, San Bernardino 0
Oaks Christian 24, Thousand Oaks 0
Oxnard 28, San Marcos 18
Oxford Academy 12, Norwalk 6
Mater Dei 23, Orange Lutheran 0
Mission Viejo 33, Dana Hills 0
Moorpark 24, Oak Park 6
Moreno Valley 27, Corona 7
Pacific 40, Rubidoux 0
Paloma Valley 32, Liberty 7
Quartz Hill 12, Antelope Valley 6
Ramona 7, Miller 0
Rancho Verde 19, Heritage 12
Redlands East Valley 39, Redlands 0
Redondo Uniom 46, Windward 6
Rialto 48, Fontana 0
Rim of the World 27, Colton 8
Riverside North 19, Hillcrest 13
Riverside Poly 33, Canyon Springs 6
Santa Barbara 13, Oxnard Pacifica 0
SEED: LA 25, Burbank Providence 20
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 49, Alemany 0
Simi Valley 26, Hart 12
St. Lucy’s 26, Los Osos 24
Summit 24, Jurupa Hills 18
Temecula Prep 27, Indio 0
Temescal Canyon 35, Tahquitz 7
Torrance 13, South Torrance 0
United Christian Academy 45, Calvary Baptist 0
Valencia 13, Saugus 0
Vista del Lago 19, Lakeside 6
Westlake 60, Calabasas 7
Westridge 12, Village Christian 6

MONDAY’S RESULTS

City Section
Birmingham 16, Taft 7
Brio College Prep 46, Belmont 0
Camino Nuevo 19, Animo De La Hoya 0
Carson 49, Gardena 0
Eagle Rock 26, Lincoln 13
El Camino Real 34, Chatsworth 0
Fairfax 16, Los Angeles University 0
Foshay 46, Santee 0
GALA 6, Crenshaw 0
GALA 13, Dorsey 6
Garfield 32, Bell 12
Jefferson 21, Angelou 6
Los Angeles 6, West Adams 0
LACES 13, WISH Academy 8
Los Angeles Hamilton 15, Venice 6
Los Angeles Roosevelt 26, Legacy 6
Los Angeles Wilson 34, Los Angeles Marshall 0
Hawkins 30, Port of Los Angeles 13
Huntington Park 6, South East 0
Manual Arts 26, Diego Rivera 0
Marquez 7, Maywood Academy 6
Maywood CES 24, Elizabeth 12
Narbonne 13, King/Drew 12
Orthopaedic 20, Alliance Levine 8
Palisades 7, Westchester 0
Panorama 39, San Fernando 0
Port of Los Angeles 33, Dymally 0
San Pedro 12, Wilmington Banning 7
Sotomayor 32, Torres 0
Stern 14, Collins Family 12
View Park 13, Stella 6

Southern Section
Alhambra 13, Mountain View 0
Anaheim 31, Orange 6
Anaheim Canyon 20, Esperanza 12
Aquinas 32, Woodcrest Christian 0
Arlington 18, Vista del lago 6
Baldwin Park 26, Azusa 19
Bishop Amat 42, St. Anthony 0
Bishop Montgomery 41, St. Bernard 6
Bolsa Grande 26, Western 25
Burbank Burroughs 32, Gabrielino 7
Camarillo 35, West Ranch 0
Cantwell-Sacred Heart 7, Ramona Convent 0
Canyon Springs 19, Hillcrest 0
Cerritos 25, Artesia 6
Chaffey 12, Ontario 0
Chaparral 32, Murrieta Valley 6
Chino 24, Montclair 0
Chino Hills 18, St. Lucy’s 6
Colony 18, San Dimas 12
Compton 32, Compton Early College 0
Corona 18, Norco 12
Corona Santiago 13, Compton Centennial 6
Costa Mesa 26, Buena Park 0
Covina 24, Hacienda Heights Wilson 6
Cypress 12, Crean Lutheran 6
Downey 28, Gahr 12
Edison 25, Los Alamitos 7
El Modena 27, El Dorado 12
El Monte 13, Arroyo 0
El Rancho 26, Bell Gardens 6
El Toro 28, Beckman 12
Estancia 39, Loara 13
Etiwanda 34, Rancho Cucamonga 6
Fullerton 7, Placentia Valencia 6
Garden Grove 20, Westminster 19
Garden Grove Santiago 12, Saddleback 6
Garey 26, Duarte 6
Glendora 19, Ayala 6
Glenn 21, Norwalk 19
Godinez 26, Ocean View 7
Great Oak 28, Temecula Valley 6
Harvard-Westlake 18, Brentwood 13
Heritage 13, Perris 12
Huntington Beach 40, Fountain Valley 18
Jurupa Valley 31, Entrepreneur 6
Laguna Beach 40, Irvine 6
Laguna Hills 28, Capistrano Valley Christian 19
La Habra 33, Garden Grove Pacifica 6
Lakewood 24, Mayfair 6
Lakewood St. Joseph 25, Gardena Serra 0
La Mirada 28, Santa Fe 24
La Puente 24, Pomona 18
La Serna 36, Bellflower 6
La Sierra 25, Norte Vista 0
Linfield Christian 45, Riverside Notre Dame 13
Loma Linda Academy d. CSDR, forfeit
Long Beach Cabrillo 34, Compton Centennial 0
Long Beach Poly 32, Long Beach Jordan 6
Mater Dei 33, Yorba Linda 20
Millikan 28, Long Beach Wilson 6
Monrovia 35, Temple City 7
Montebello 33, Rosemead 0
Moreno Valley 14, Valley View 0
Murrieta Mesa 12, Vista Murrieta 6
Newport Harbor 54, Marina 0
Northview 21, Rowland 9
Nuview Bridge 32, Desert Christian Academy 6
Ontario Christian 47, Arrowhead Christian 6
Oxford Academy 27, Pioneer 0
Paloma Valley 57, Rancho Christian 6
Patriot 13, Miller 8
Ramona 21, La Sierra 12
Rancho Alamitos 26, Century 6
Rancho Verde 14, Liberty 10
Redlands Adventist Academy 40, Calvary Baptist 6
Riverside King 30, Eastvale Roosevelt 24
Riverside North 12, San Jacinto Valley Academy 6
Riverside Poly 20, Hemet 6
Rosary 13, Newport Beach Pacifica Christian 12
Sage Hill 22, Portola 18
San Gabriel 25, Keppel 0
San Marino 39, South Pasadena 0
Santa Ana Foothill 49, Brea Olinda 6
Santa Ana Valley 26, Magnolia 18
Santa Paula 14, St. Bonaventure 6
Schurr 8, South El Monte 6
Segerstrom 26, La Palma Kennedy 6
Sierra Canyon 61, Immaculate Heart 0
Sierra Vista 6, Nogales 0
Sonora 39, Sunny Hills 25
South Hills 33, Alta Loma 8
St. Monica 53, Sacred Heart of Jesus 0
St. Paul 59, Mary Star of the Sea 0
Temescal Canyon 27, Rialto 6
Tesoro 40, San Juan Hills 19
Tustin 18, Katella 12
Upland 12, Los Osos 0
Vasquez 14, Golden Valley 6
Warren 25, California 8
West Covina 25, Charter Oak 14
Western Christian 73, Legacy College Prep 0
Westminster La Quinta 32, Savanna 0
West Valley 18, Banning 13
Whittier 20, Whitney 7
Woodbridge 53, Irvine University 16
Workman 12, Edgewood 6

Intersectional
Castaic 27, SOCES 0
Vistamar 12, St. Mary’s Academy 6