The Israeli military has said “professional failures” led to the killing of 15 emergency workers in Gaza last month.
An inquiry into the incident by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) found a series of failings, including an “operational misunderstanding” and a “breach of orders”.
The deputy commander of the unit involved has been dismissed “for providing an incomplete and inaccurate report during the debrief”.
A spokeswoman for the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said the report was “invalid” as it “justifies and shifts the responsibility to a personal error in the field command when the truth is quite different”.
Fourteen emergency workers and a UN worker were killed on 23 March after a convoy of PRCS ambulances, a UN car and a fire truck came under fire by the Israeli military.
In a statement, the IDF said its troops opened fire believing they were facing a threat from enemy forces.
The IDF said its investigation found six of the casualties were Hamas members, and rejected that there had been summary executions.
In an on-the-record briefing, Major General Yoav Har-Even – who investigated the incident – told journalists that the Israeli military maintained that six of the emergency workers were Hamas operatives and said they would later be named.
The report said the incident took place in what it called a “hostile and dangerous combat zone”, and that the commander on the ground perceived an immediate and tangible threat after vehicles approached rapidly.
It blamed “poor night visibility”, which the IDF said meant the commander did not identify the vehicles as ambulances.
Another commanding officer “will receive a reprimand” for “his overall responsibility for the incident”, the report added.
Israel had originally claimed troops opened fire because the convoy approached “suspiciously” in darkness without headlights or flashing lights. It said movement of the vehicles had not been previously co-ordinated or agreed with the army.
But it later said that account was “mistaken” after a video found on the mobile phone of a medic who was killed showed the vehicles with their lights on and their emergency signals flashing.
The footage shows the vehicles pulling up on the road when shooting begins just before dawn.
The video continues for more than five minutes, with the paramedic saying his last prayers before the voices of Israeli soldiers are heard approaching the vehicles.
It also shows the vehicles were clearly marked and the paramedics wearing reflective hi-vis uniform.
The bodies of the 15 dead workers were buried in sand. They were not uncovered until a week after the incident because international agencies, including the UN, could not organise safe passage to the area or locate the spot.
The IDF also confirmed it was holding a PRCS medic it had detained following the incident. They did not confirm his name, but the International Committee of the Red Cross has previously named him as Assad al-Nassasra.
The Red Crescent and several other international organisations have previously called for an independent investigation into the incident.
The IDF’s decision to fire a commander and discipline another senior officer is not unheard of – the military dismissed two officers and took action against others after seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen were killed in April of last year.
Israel launched its first major operation in Rafah in May 2024, leaving large parts of it in ruins. Tens of thousands of people returned to what was left of their homes in the city during a recent two-month-long ceasefire.
Israel renewed its offensive in Gaza on 18 March after the first phase of the ceasefire deal came to an end and negotiations on a second phase of the deal stalled.
Israel launched its campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 51,201 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
By Lydia Millet W.W. Norton & Co.: 240 pages, $28 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.
At one point in Lydia Millet’s latest collection, “Atavists,” a minor character posits that people “invented time. That it was all at once and everywhere. But minds weren’t able to grasp that, so they had to divide it into sections.”
In Millet’s capable hands, those sections are 14 interconnected short stories about Southern California neighbors, colleagues and families grappling with the end of the world. Millet’s definition of the end of the world is expansive: Sometimes, the world is microcosmic and social. Other times, it’s the end of a long-held identity. Always, it’s the endangered globe.
But Millet’s deftly told tales — in “Atavists,” as in her other novels and collections — demonstrate how a narrative framework creates meaning for human life. We seek the kind of meaning that divides time into manageable fictions like eras or generations. The conceit of the short story allows Millet to show how personalities assert themselves and simultaneously explore our interconnectedness as a species.
There’s a “Waiting for Godot”–ness to these tales, each of them examining an archetype like “Tourist,” “Artist,” “Futurist” or “Optimist” in the context of the post-pandemic era. Climate change and impending catastrophe loom over every story. Millet plays with the title and with the idea of atavism, in which an ancient trait asserts itself by skipping forward a few generations to suddenly appear in the gene pool. So, too, does she reference Joseph Campbell’s work while pushing back against any simplified theology of storytelling, suggesting instead that tying ourselves to the wheel of his heroic archetype is a burden. Millet demonstrates both how the characters of our era are manifestations of older types, yet they’re also a springboard for how people will define themselves in the future. She revels in complication.
Take, for example, “Dramatist,” the second story of the series. In this story, Nick, a member of one of the two families appearing most often in the collection, is a disillusioned book-smart Stanford grad fixated on the idea that he should be writing, yet unable to put words to paper. The central tension in Millet’s work comes from the sense that we’re all doomed: She writes that “stories seemed more and more useless,” and references the old line about fiddling while Rome burns. Unsure of his creative and professional roles, Nick is living back home with his parents while he LARPs, bartends and tries unsuccessfully to write a screenplay.
Millet’s characters reflect the real trend of Gen Z students returning to the nest to save money or find their passions, providing the author with the opportunity to explore generational friction in these households. Yet here the juxtaposition of age doesn’t provide any argument that one generation is best; each age just presents a different lens for viewing.
Rather than presenting a simple binary of misunderstanding between young and old, Millet’s “Tourist,” the tale of single mom Trudy and her son, and “Artist” and “Gerontologist,” which detail Mia’s role as a volunteer in a senior living center, demonstrate how youth isn’t ignorance, just as age isn’t an assurance of safety or wisdom. The characters in these households are often parents caught on the back foot. Their children seem rudderless, but they approach the world with more dexterity. Like Nick, perhaps one of the most world-aware characters, they are constantly seeking a peaceful reckoning between their creative impulses and the darkness of the world they’ve inherited. Nick is aware of the world’s ridiculousness, and he’s tortured about it.
Mia is one of several young adults in “Atavists” who demonstrates creativity in doing: Her art is to serve as an ambassador from the new world to the old. She starts by helping seniors with their phones and expands her role into many, many examples of helping them survive by retaining dignity. Millet wants us to consider whether we’re consumers or creators at heart.
“Atavists” focuses on social acuity and awareness, but also how our baser natures exert themselves today: Trudy obsesses over an old friend’s posts on social media. A scorned woman sneaks into a past lover’s house to mess with his mind. Tech-bro jargon invades stories that focus on trust, and Buzz, a father in another of the two families at the heart of these stories, peeks into the browser history of his daughter’s husband while he contemplates major changes to his own life. “Atavists” bounces from one home to the next. Sometimes these characters aren’t sympathetic, but that’s hardly the point. They’re inventions of character, against type, and of how our lives rebound off one another.
There are perks: Nick and his sister grow closer through technology: “So now she felt closer. Though farther away,” as the characters find connection over FaceTime. Trudy’s son Sam is at ease with his friends in a virtual realm. While older characters lament a loss of connection, efforts to bridge technological divides demonstrate how cross-generational bonds are possible. All of these people feel the “sadness of wanting. The sadness of hope,” yet there are solutions. If the world outside is doomed, there’s great affection in these stories and in finding each other, along with great awareness of what it means to be a neighbor or a regular customer — or even a viewer of someone else’s life on social media.
Maybe we’re “all waiting for something that never comes,” thinks Helen, Mia’s mother, in “Optimists.” “A sign, maybe. Written across the sky by a thousand jet planes. In synchronicity. And once we see it, well, then we may do something.”
Stories are the sign. “Atavists” begs us to keep reading.
Partington is a teacher in Elk Grove and a board member of the National Book Critics Circle.
Ekin-Su enjoys wine on her own during trip to Istanbul as fans ask where Curtis is?
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Curtis appears to be spending Easter working out in a gym while Ekin-Su is in TurkeyCredit: Instagram
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Ekin Su and Curtis fans have been questioning how real their relationship is admist cheating rumoursCredit: Instagram
And now it appears that Ekin-Su is spending Easter alone in Turkey without Curtis which has furthered fuelled speculation that the couple have split.
In a post on TikTok, the reality sensation posted a video of herself enjoying a glass of red wine on her own and captioned it “Cheers to confidence.”
Fans were quick to ask about Curtis’s whereabouts to which Ekin-Su quipped: “He’s in Pluto.”
But from a post on Curtis’s Instagram it looks like he’s much closer to home as he appeared to be working out in a gym.
Meanwhile, Married at First Sight star Georges Berthonneau claimed Ekin-Su ‘cheated’ on him and said they were previously dating before she returned to Love Island.
And a representative of Ekin-Su said: “Ekin-Su was never in an exclusive relationship with Georges.
Curtis Pritchard sparks concern as he sports a black eye as he joins girlfriend Ekin-Su at the Grand National
“He knew before she went on Love Island: All Stars that she was entering the show as a single person and therefore their relationship would not continue under those circumstances.
“Ekin was upfront with Georges about her intention to pursue a new relationship on Love Island.”
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MAFS star Georges explained that he was heartbroken when Ekin-Su cheated on him
But it’s not only Ekin-Su who has faced cheating allegations before, because Curtis has too.
Flooding hit parts of the US South and Midwest during the Easter holiday weekend.
At least two people, including a child, have died in the US state of Oklahoma after their vehicle was stranded in floodwaters, police said, as severe weather and flooding hit parts of the United States’ South and Midwest during the Easter holiday weekend.
Flood warnings, which suggest that a flood is occurring or is imminent, were in place across Oklahoma.
The National Weather Service said on Sunday that severe thunderstorms were expected from east Texas into far southeast Iowa and Illinois, while the potential for strong tornadoes and damaging winds would exist from central Arkansas into central Missouri.
“This was a historical weather event that impacted roads and caused dozens of high-water incidents,” police in Moore, Oklahoma, about 18km (11 miles) south of Oklahoma City, said in a statement on Sunday.
“One of [the vehicles] left the roadway and was swept under the bridge. At the time of the incident, all but two occupants were rescued. It is with great sadness that we report that two individuals, an adult female and a 12-year-old male, were later located deceased,” the police said.
Authorities in Moore urged people to stay at home and said late on Saturday that they responded to more than a dozen calls from residents whose vehicles were trapped in high water.
A tornado watch was issued for parts of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma, the National Weather Service added.
Earlier this month, a deadly spring storm spawned tornadoes and drenching thunderstorms in a swath of the US stretching from Texas to Ohio, with over a dozen people killed in states in the US South and Midwest.
Last week, a prominent Saudi Sheikh, Mohammed Al-Issa, visited the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland to commemorate the 75th anniversary of its liberation, which signalled the end of the Nazi Holocaust. Although dozens of Muslim scholars have visited the site, where about one million Jews were killed during World War Two, according to the Auschwitz Memorial Centre’s press office, Al-Issa is the most senior Muslim religious leader to do so.
Visiting Auschwitz is not a problem for a Muslim; Islam orders Muslims to reject unjustified killing of any human being, no matter what their faith is. Al-Issa is a senior ally of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), who apparently cares little for the sanctity of human life, though, and the visit to Auschwitz has very definite political connotations beyond any Islamic context.
By sending Al-Issa to the camp, Bin Salman wanted to show his support for Israel, which exploits the Holocaust for geopolitical colonial purposes. “The Israeli government decided that it alone was permitted to mark the 75th anniversary of the Allied liberation of Auschwitz [in modern day Poland] in 1945,” wrote journalist Richard Silverstein recently when he commented on the gathering of world leaders in Jerusalem for Benjamin Netanyahu’s Holocaust event.
Bin Salman uses Al Issa for such purposes, as if to demonstrate his own Zionist credentials. For example, the head of the Makkah-based Muslim World League is leading rapprochement efforts with Evangelical Christians who are, in the US at least, firm Zionists in their backing for the state of Israel. Al-Issa has called for a Muslim-Christian-Jewish interfaith delegation to travel to Jerusalem in what would, in effect, be a Zionist troika.
Zionism is not a religion, and there are many non-Jewish Zionists who desire or support the establishment of a Jewish state in occupied Palestine. The definition of Zionism does not mention the religion of its supporters, and Israeli writer Sheri Oz, is just one author who insists that non-Jews can be Zionists.
Mohammad Bin Salman and Netanyahu – Cartoon [Tasnimnews.com/Wikipedia]
We should not be shocked, therefore, to see a Zionist Muslim leader in these trying times. It is reasonable to say that Bin Salman’s grandfather and father were Zionists, as close friends of Zionist leaders. Logic suggests that Bin Salman comes from a Zionist dynasty.
This has been evident from his close relationship with Zionists and positive approaches to the Israeli occupation and establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, calling it “[the Jews’] ancestral homeland”. This means that he has no issue with the ethnic cleansing of almost 800,000 Palestinians in 1948, during which thousands were killed and their homes demolished in order to establish the Zionist state of Israel.
“The ‘Jewish state’ claim is how Zionism has tried to mask its intrinsic Apartheid, under the veil of a supposed ‘self-determination of the Jewish people’,” wrote Israeli blogger Jonathan Ofir in Mondoweiss in 2018, “and for the Palestinians it has meant their dispossession.”
As the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Bin Salman has imprisoned dozens of Palestinians, including representatives of Hamas. In doing so he is serving Israel’s interests. Moreover, he has blamed the Palestinians for not making peace with the occupation state. Bin Salman “excoriated the Palestinians for missing key opportunities,” wrote Danial Benjamin in Moment magazine. He pointed out that the prince’s father, King Salman, has played the role of counterweight by saying that Saudi Arabia “permanently stands by Palestine and its people’s right to an independent state with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital.”
Israeli journalist Barak Ravid of Israel’s Channel 13News reported Bin Salman as saying: “In the last several decades the Palestinian leadership has missed one opportunity after the other and rejected all the peace proposals it was given. It is about time the Palestinians take the proposals and agree to come to the negotiations table or shut up and stop complaining.” This is reminiscent of the words of the late Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban, one of the Zionist founders of Israel, that the Palestinians “never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.”
Bin Salman’s Zionism is also very clear in his bold support for US President Donald Trump’s deal of the century, which achieves Zionist goals in Palestine at the expense of Palestinian rights. He participated in the Bahrain conference, the forum where the economic side of the US deal was announced, where he gave “cover to several other Arab countries to attend the event and infuriated the Palestinians.”
US President Donald Trump looks over at Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud as they line up for the family photo during the opening day of Argentina G20 Leaders’ Summit 2018 at Costa Salguero on 30 November 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina [Daniel Jayo/Getty Images]
While discussing the issue of the current Saudi support for Israeli policies and practices in Palestine with a credible Palestinian official last week, he told me that the Palestinians had contacted the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to ask him not to relocate his country’s embassy to Jerusalem. “The Saudis have been putting pressure on us in order to relocate our embassy to Jerusalem,” replied the Brazilian leader. What more evidence of Mohammad Bin Salman’s Zionism do we need?
The founder of Friends of Zion Museum is American Evangelical Christian Mike Evans. He said, after visiting a number of the Gulf States, that, “The leaders [there] are more pro-Israel than a lot of Jews.” This was a specific reference to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, and his counterpart in the UAE, Mohammed Bin Zayed.
“All versions of Zionism lead to the same reactionary end of unbridled expansionism and continued settler colonial genocide of [the] Palestinian people,” Israeli-American writer and photographer Yoav Litvin wrote for Al Jazeera. We may well see an Israeli Embassy opened in Riyadh in the near future, and a Saudi Embassy in Tel Aviv or, more likely, Jerusalem. Is Mohammad Bin Salman a Zionist? There’s no doubt about it.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
Celebrity Big Brother’s JoJo Siwa and Chris Hughes have moved their friendship to the next level as the reality television stars got cosy as they shared a hot tub together
19:48, 20 Apr 2025Updated 19:48, 20 Apr 2025
JoJo and Chris shared the hot tub
Fans of Celebrity Big Brother have questioned the connection between Chris Hughes and JoJo Siwa following their growing bond despite their age gap. The former Love Island contestant, 32, and the reality TV star, 21, have became close friends in the ITV house.
However, despite JoJo having a partner on the outside, some have questioned their friendship. And now, in a hot tub scene shown on Saturday’s livestream of the show, fans saw the duo take a soak in the garden together.
They looked cosy in the tub as JoJo appeared to touch horse racing pundit Chris’ thigh before he gave her a foot rub. And it didn’t take fans long to share their thoughts of the interaction online.
JoJo appeared to rub Chris’ leg(Image: ITV)
Taking to Twitter/X, one user wrote: “Chris and JoJo’s chemistry in the hot tub is on fire.”
Another added: “‘Everyone’s cleared out of the hot tub, and now Chris is giving JoJo a foot massage’.; ‘It’s just Chris and JoJo in the hot tub now, he’s giving her a leg massage…’; ‘Ouhhh they went there omggg.”
Their bond raised eyebrows on Friday’s edition of the show when Chris seemed to offer to be the father of JoJo’s kids in the future. He old her he has “good swimmers” in a bizarre conversation.
Chris’ offer came after a group task in the famous house which saw the remaining celebrities dress up as cats. Before Chris’ admission, JoJo had been engaged in a conversation with Donna Preston. She told her fellow housemate she would love nothing more than to take her children on holiday.
He also told her he would kiss her if he had the chance – before he was abruptly shot down by JoJo. In scenes shown on Late & Live, Chris pretended to peck his pal’s lips, but actually touched her with his finger and kissed her forehead instead.
Chris told her he “probably would actually” kiss her, to which she responded: “I know,” chuckling before adding: “Sucks to be you.”
“Nah, just saying I probably would, that’s all,” Chris reiterated. “Just a compliment, that’s all.”
Chris and JoJo have grown close in the Celebrity Big Brother house(Image: ITV)
Their friendship has caused viewers to share questions online. One user wrote: “Chris’ behaviour with Jojo is making me SO uncomfortable #CBB #CBBUK.” Another added: “i’ve grown to love jojo and her friendship with chris but some of the things that’s happened between them is not normal in a friendship imo. #cbb”
Earlier in the week Chris’ brother also appeared on the spin-off show. He hit back at criticism of the pair’s friendship and claimed they simply have the ‘same energy’. He then explained why they became inseparable since the show started earlier this month.
He said: “I believe the friendship between Chris and JoJo is based on the fact they have similar energy and have obviously bonded really well as a friendship.”
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court acted “literally in the middle of the night” and without sufficient explanation in blocking the Trump administration from deporting any Venezuelans held in northern Texas under an 18th century wartime law, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote in a sharp dissent that castigated the seven-member majority.
Joined by fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, Alito said there was “dubious factual support” for granting the request in an emergency appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union. The group contended that immigration authorities appeared to be moving to restart such removals under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
The majority did not provide a detailed explanation in the order early Saturday, as is typical, but the court previously said deportations could proceed only after those about to be removed had a chance to argue their case in court and were given “a reasonable time” to contest their pending removals.
“Both the Executive and the Judiciary have an obligation to follow the law,” Alito said in the dissent released hours after the court’s intervention against the Trump administration.
The justices’ brief order directed the administration not to remove Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, “until further order of this court.”
Alito said that “unprecedented” relief was “hastily and prematurely granted.”
He wrote that it was not clear whether the Supreme Court had jurisdiction at this stage of the case, saying that not all legal avenues had played out in lower courts and the justices did not have the chance to hear the government’s side.
“The only papers before this Court were those submitted by the applicants. The Court had not ordered or received a response by the Government regarding either the applicants’ factual allegations or any of the legal issues presented by the application. And the Court did not have the benefit of a Government response filed in any of the lower courts either,” Alito wrote.
Alito said the legal filings, “while alleging that the applicants were in imminent danger of removal, provided little concrete support for that allegation.” He noted that while the court did not hear directly from the government regarding any planned deportations under the Alien Enemies Act in this case, a government lawyer in a different matter had told a U.S. district court in a hearing Friday evening that no such deportations were then planned to occur either Friday or Saturday.
“In sum, literally in the middle of the night, the Court issued unprecedented and legally questionable relief without giving the lower courts a chance to rule, without hearing from the opposing party, within eight hours of receiving the application, with dubious factual support for its order, and without providing any explanation for its order,” Alito wrote. “I refused to join the Court’s order because we had no good reason to think that, under the circumstances, issuing an order at midnight was necessary or appropriate. Both the Executive and the Judiciary have an obligation to follow the law.”
The administration has filed paperwork urging the high court to reconsider its hold.
On Friday, two federal judges refused to step in as lawyers for the men targeted for removal launched a desperate legal campaign to prevent their deportation. Early Saturday, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also refused to issue an order protecting the detainees from being deported.
The ACLU had already sued to block deportations of two Venezuelans held in the Bluebonnet facility and sought an order barring removals of any immigrants in the region under the Alien Enemies Act.
In the emergency filing early Friday, the ACLU warned that immigration authorities were accusing other Venezuelan men held there of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which would make them subject to President Trump’s use of the law. Trump says the “invasion” of gang members constitutes a war on the U.S., and therefore the wartime law is applicable.
It has been invoked only three previous times in U.S. history, most recently during World War II to hold Japanese American civilians in incarceration camps. The administration contends that the law gives them the power to swiftly remove immigrants they identified as members of the gang, regardless of their immigration status.
Following the unanimous Supreme Court order on April 9, federal judges in Colorado, New York and southern Texas promptly issued orders barring removal of detainees under the law until the administration provides a process for them to make claims in court.
But there had been no such order issued in the area of Texas that covers Bluebonnet, which is 24 miles north of Abilene in the far northern end of the state.
Some Venezuelans subject to Trump’s use of the law have been sent to El Salvador and housed in its notorious main prison, known as CECOT.
The nearest the 22-year-old came on this occasion – a day when United managed just two shots on target – was failing by inches to connect with a low Alejandro Garnacho cross at the far post, when a touch would surely have diverted the ball in given he was less than a yard out.
Aside from that, it was the usual mixture of industry and physical will from Hojlund.
The argument is he just needs a goal to restore confidence and get him firing again. The truth is, aside from a run of five goals in four games early in Amorim’s reign and eight in eight games in the middle of last season, Hojlund has been unconvincing as someone capable of leading the line or making a big impact in a top Premier League team.
He simply doesn’t compare to Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah, Bukayo Saka or even, this season at any rate, Chris Wood at Nottingham Forest.
Amorim cannot offer an unfiltered opinion on Hojlund. All he can do is vow to keep working with him as dropping the Dane is not part of the plan.
“The only way I know is to work on him and show him the videos,” added the United boss. “He needs to score a goal and he won’t score if he is out [of the team] so I try to manage that during games.”
Amorim emphasised the point Hojlund alone should not shoulder either the responsibility or the blame for United’s goalscoring woes.
Aside from the bottom three, only Everton and West Ham have scored fewer than their 38 this season.
“If you look at the games we have several players that miss big chances, not just Rasmus,” said Amorim. “Of course, for Rasmus, the game is to score goals because he’s a striker, but it’s a team thing. Our team should score more goals, it’s not just Rasmus missing chances.”
United have now lost eight Premier League home games this season, their most defeats at Old Trafford in a league campaign since 1962-63. They still have two more chances – against West Ham and Aston Villa – to suffer a ninth and equal the return from six decades ago.
With a 15th league loss of the campaign – a club record in the Premier League era – Amorim has no option other than to try to eke out any positives from the woeful experience he is going through.
Against Wolves, that centred on the performances of 20-year-old centre-back Tyler Fredricson, who had a solid first-team debut, and Harry Amass. The 18-year-old wing-back impressed once to raise further questions over why he was omitted at the start of the campaign when United were desperate for a left-footed player in defence.
Amorim knows United’s season hinges on their Europa League campaign.
He must find a way of ensuring victory over Athletic Bilbao in the semi-final and then against either Tottenham or Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt to take some comfort from a torrid period, where it is hard even for him to tell fans everything will be OK in the end.
“We tell the fans the truth that we lack a lot of things in our team, that we miss chances, and that if we don’t score goals we are not going to win,” said Amorim, when asked about his message to supporters.
“We have a lot to do and to focus on improving the team step by step. Understanding that until the end of the league it’s going to be like this and then we need to do something.
“Of course we have a plan and we talk about that every day, but the season is not over so let’s focus on that.”
Amorim’s situation was made worse by Wolves’ league double over them – which sealed their Premier League status – and because their Portuguese manager hire, Vitor Pereira, has had a seismic impact at Molineux in the way United have not experienced.
It was quite instructive, long after Amorim had departed the scene, to listen to Pereira explaining how he had lifted the club clear of relegation trouble following his December arrival.
“The most important thing is to create a connection with the people,” he said. “That was my first target. I wanted to bring energy, confidence and trust when I look to the players to help me.
“Through spirit and in our time together, we speak about our lives and create a connection with the supporters to make them believe.
“I went through our tactical idea and principles from the first day we worked together. The players know I like good football, my team playing with the ball. Sometimes it is not possible but then we need to know how to defend. Today we had a record number of free-kicks and corners against us, but in the end they didn’t score.”
It all comes down to scoring in the end. Until Amorim finds an answer to that, United are going nowhere.
April 20 (UPI) — DHL Express announced it will suspend deliveries of more than $800 in response to cost increases and U.S. Customs regulations brought on by the Trump administration’s tariff plan.
“This change has caused a surge in formal customs clearances, which we are handling around the clock,” the company said in a release.
DHL said the deliveries will stop temporarily on Monday “until further notice,” it said, adding that business-to-business shipments will continue but may face delays.
Previously, shipments of up to $2,500 were allowed to enter the United States with little paperwork, but starting Monday, the threshold will be lowered.
The company said it is working to “scale up and manage this increase,” but that “shipments worth over $800, regardless of origin, may experience multi-day delays.”
Lowering the threshold for tariffs targets the so-called “de-minimis” rule, and will affect companies such as Temu and Shein that ship inexpensive items from China to the United States — both companies have already said tariffs will raise prices in the United States.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order to eliminate the rule, which the White House has said is “addressing the synthetic opioid supply chain,” which it has said has played “a significant role in the synthetic opioid crisis in the US.”
Beijing has said the opioid crisis is a problem of the United States’ making and countered that China has the strictest drug policies in the world.
DHL, one of several shipping companies making changes to its operations based on United States tariff policy, is based in Germany.
Liverpool have moved one win away from sealing England’s Premier League title as substitute Trent Alexander-Arnold secured a 1-0 victory at Leicester City, which condemned their hosts to relegation.
Leicester, needing to beat the leaders to stave off relegation for a few more days, were holding their own on Sunday. But Alexander-Arnold fired home in the 76th minute after the ball came to him following a goalmouth scramble.
Liverpool could be crowned champions on Wednesday should Arsenal lose at home to Crystal Palace.
If the Gunners avoid defeat, Arne Slot’s men have the chance to seal the deal when Tottenham visit Anfield next Sunday.
Leicester have not scored a single goal at home since December as nine consecutive defeats at the King Power have taken Ruud van Nistelrooy’s men down.
A Liverpool cruise seemed in store when Mohamed Salah hit both posts with a glorious chance inside the first two minutes.
But after storming clear of the chasing pack in Slot’s early months in charge to build a near-unassailable lead, Liverpool have slowed in recent weeks as the finish line approaches.
Wilfred Ndidi came close to ending Leicester’s barren run with a low strike that came back off the post.
Liverpool struggled to create from open play in what remained of the first half.
Ibrahima Konate came closest to breaking the deadlock when Ndidi hooked clear his goal-bound header from a corner.
The visitors upped the tempo at the start of the second period. Kostas Tsimikas should have done better when he fired straight at Mads Hermansen.
At the other end, Leicester did finally have the ball in the net, but Patson Daka had fouled Alisson Becker before Conor Coady headed into an unguarded net.
Leicester’s Conor Coady reacts after his goal was disallowed [Phil Noble/Reuters]
Slot introduced Alexander-Arnold for the final 20 minutes on his return from a five-week absence due to an ankle injury.
The right-back took just five minutes to score his 23rd and potentially last goal for his boyhood club.
Salah and Diogo Jota somehow contrived to hit the woodwork rather than the net from point-blank range as Leicester struggled to clear a corner.
The loose ball broke to Alexander-Arnold, whose shot went straight through the grasp of Hermansen.
Alexander-Arnold ripped off his shirt in a wild celebration in front of the Liverpool fans.
Unlike Salah and captain Virgil van Dijk, who have signed new contracts to remain at Liverpool for the next two years, the England international still seems set to depart after reportedly agreeing to the terms of a free transfer move to Real Madrid.
Alexander-Arnold refused to talk about his Liverpool future when speaking to Sky Sports after the game.
“These days are always special, scoring goals, winning games, being close to winning titles – they are special moments that will live with me forever,” he said. “And I’m glad to be part of it.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold, whose contract runs out in the summer, may have scored his last goal for Liverpool [Andrew Boyers/Action Images via Reuters]
Leicester, meanwhile, have had a season to forget. Champions of England just nine years ago, the Foxes have found life back in the top flight far too much of a step up in class after romping to the Championship title last season.
Defender Coady told Sky Sports that the players were “devastated” by the relegation.
“If we look at today, I thought we played and we nullified Liverpool quite well, they’re a world-class side,” he said.
“But if we look back at the season, it hasn’t been anywhere near good enough from a club point of view. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror.”
Leicester join Southampton, whose relegation was confirmed with a record seven games to go, in an immediate return to the second tier.
Ipswich, who are 15 points adrift with five games to go, are set to follow as for the second consecutive season all three promoted sides will fail to avoid the drop.
Earlier on Sunday, Arsenal cantered to a 4-0 victory over Ipswich Town, with Leandro Trossard scoring twice and the hosts’ Leif Davis sent off for a dangerous tackle on Bukayo Saka.
Meanwhile, Manchester United slumped to a 15th Premier League loss of the season as Wolverhampton Wanderers snatched a 1-0 win at Old Trafford thanks to Pablo Sarabia’s late free kick on Sunday.
Wolves secured their place in the Premier League with their fifth consecutive Premier League under Vitor Pereira lifting them up to 15th and level on points with United, who stay 14th on goal difference.
Chelsea moved up to fifth by rallying to beat Fulham 2-1 with two late goals.
SPRING has definitely sprung with Easter here and the promise of some sun ahead.
And it’s the perfect time to tackle your all-important lawn.
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It’s time to get to grips with the garden
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Trimming the edges can make a big difference
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Dobbies’ plant buyer Nigel Lawton
If your grass is looking tired or overgrown and neglected, it’s vital to start getting it prepped for summer as soon as possible.
Dobbies’ plant buyer Nigel Lawton said: “Spring is the perfect time to take care of your lawn and prepare it for the warmer months ahead.” Here are the expert’s top tips for a lush lawn.
GO HIGH AND DRY
IF you’ve not given your grass the first cut of the season yet, Nigel says it’s time to start tackling it.
But keen gardeners shouldn’t do too much, too quickly.
Hel says: “You want to make sure you keep the mower blades at their highest setting for the first mow to avoid cutting the grass too short.
“It’s also essential that you only mow when the lawn is dry to avoid damaging the grass or compacting the soil.”
If you are going to cut the grass, get it done now and take part in No Mow May, a national campaign to let your garden grow in May to encourage wildlife.
CUTTING EDGE
WHEN it comes to other lawncare jobs to get your grass looking its best this spring, there are some easy steps you can make. And one involves getting to grips with the edging.
I tried ‘magic’ Lidl garden hose – you need to get it, it’s perfect for summer
Nigel said: “A neat, clean edge makes a world of difference. By using an edging iron or a sharp spade, you can add definition to your garden.
“It’s a simple task but one that will immediately enhance the overall appearance.”
As well as making the garden look nice, this step helps prevent grass from creeping into unwanted areas, reducing weeding needs dows the line.
RAKE ACTION
GETTING rid of the top, dead layer of grass – or thatch – can give your grass a whole new lease of life.
The expert says: “Scarifying removes the dead moss and thatch that can prevent your lawn from thriving. It might look a bit bare afterwards, but don’t worry – the grass will bounce back.
“After scarifying, you’ll also want to aerate your lawn. Use a garden fork to poke holes in the ground, allowing for better drainage and root growth.”
On new lawns, wait at least a year before scarifying, otherwise you can damage the turf. After spring, the next chance to do the job is autumn time.
SOW YOUR OWN
IT’S not just about taking care of the grass you have already – getting some fresh greenery in there helps.
Nigel says it’s time to get planting too.
He explains: “Sowing grass seed is an important step to ensure you have a full and healthy lawn come summer. Simply rake the soil, scatter the seed, and lightly rake again to settle it into place. Be sure to water the area well and protect it with fleece or fine mesh to keep birds at bay.”
Choosing the right seeds is important. For a hard-wearing lawn, use a blend of perennial ryegrass, tall fescue, red fescues and browntop.
GROW HOW
DOBBIES Garden Centres are hosting a free Grow How event in stores across Scotland in May, in partnership with Alzheimer’s Research UK to mark Dementia Action Week.
The chain is highlighting the benefits of garden living for brain health and raising vital funds through the workshop.
Dobbies’ Green Team will give a demonstration around lawn care, taking customers back to the basics and illustrating the importance of maintenance for a healthy lawn.
The team will also share information on Alzheimer’s Research UK’s Think Brain Health campaign, which aims to educate people about the steps they can take to look after their brains and help reduce the risk of dementia.
Samantha Benham-Hermetz, Executive Director at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “As well as getting the chance to learn how to make the most of their gardens this spring, people can find out how to show their brains some love and help reduce their risk of dementia.
“Research shows that nearly half of all dementia cases could be prevented by addressing risk factors we can influence. But despite this, only a third of people in the UK realise it is possible to reduce their risk.”
The Grow How event, Love Your Lawn, will take place in every store on May 3 and 7 at 10.30am and 3.30pm, giving customers of all ages and gardening abilities the chance to learn something new or finesse their gardening skills.
Once you have prepped the lawn and sown the seeds, it’s essential you give your lawn some nutrients to ensure it stays lush and healthy.
Nigel said: “A good spring lawn feed, rich in nitrogen, will help your grass grow thick and green. I always recommend using a slow-release fertiliser that provides nutrients over time, so you don’t have to reapply as often.
“This gives your lawn a steady supply of food and helps it stay healthy throughout the growing season.”
Spring sown grass should be cut every week or so, as required, progressively lowering the height of the blades.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In her 28 years working for the federal government, Shea Giagnorio provided day care for the children of U.S. soldiers, training for employees and oversight for safety net programs.
Public service took her from Germany to Alaska to Kansas City, Mo., where she moved last year for a long-sought promotion.
But when she reported to a downtown federal building for work one day last month, her access card did not work. After a co-worker let her into the building, she checked her email: Her entire office had been let go in the latest mass firing ordered by the Trump administration.
The 46-year-old single mom has canceled her apartment lease, is selling her new furniture and may have to pull her daughter out of college. She wonders what will happen to the at-risk populations her team helped serve at the Administration for Children and Families, part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Not only me, but all these people’s lives are turned upside down,” Giagnorio said.
The impact of the cuts by the Trump administration, led by billionaire advisor Elon Musk’s team known as the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, can be found everywhere in the Kansas City metropolitan area, which has long been a major hub for federal agencies about 1,000 miles away from Washington. Money once promised to the region for public health, environmental, diversity, food aid and an array of other programs has been axed, and thousands of local jobs are in jeopardy.
With nearly 30,000 workers, the federal government is the largest employer in the region. One longtime Kansas City economic researcher said he believes the region could lose 6,000 good-paying federal jobs, which in turn would wipe out thousands of others in service industries.
An Internal Revenue Service worker said thousands of her co-workers fear they will lose their jobs, even as they put in overtime processing tax refunds in a building so crowded that they struggle to find desks. Under pressure, hundreds more agreed last week to retire early or take a buyout.
“It’s a kick in the stomach to people that are doing everything they can to meet what’s required of them,” said Shannon Ellis, a longtime IRS customer service representative and president of the union representing local workers.
By Thursday, at least 238 Kansas City workers had taken the buyout offers and were expected to leave the agency in coming weeks. Ellis noted many of those workers had been told they were essential and required to work overtime during tax season, some seven days a week.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture grant revocation disrupted a historically Black neighborhood’s plan to expand its program growing fresh produce in a “food desert.” A nearby pantry reduced its monthly grocery allotment for those in need after federal cuts left food banks short on stock.
Urban farmer Rosie Warren grew 2,500 pounds of fruits and vegetables last year in community gardens to help feed the Ivanhoe neighborhood, where many Black families were concentrated under housing segregation policies of much of the 20th century.
Warren harvested greens, potatoes and watermelons as part of an effort to address food insecurity and health concerns in a neighborhood challenged by blight, crime and poverty. She was thrilled last fall when the USDA awarded the neighborhood council a three-year, $130,000 grant to expand the gardens and farmers market serving the area.
In February, the council received a notice terminating the grant. The USDA had determined the award “no longer effectuates agency priorities regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and activities.”
“What do you do if you don’t support providing access to food to people who don’t have it? Wouldn’t this make your job easier?” she said. “I think it’s absurd. It doesn’t make any sense.”
The withdrawal of federal funding for new lab equipment and vaccines means the city may be less prepared for the next pandemic.
The Kansas City Health Department’s laboratory is badly in need of an upgrade, with equipment dating to when the building opened in the 1990s.
One basement space is water-damaged and rarely used. Another has equipment so inadequate that the city has to ship samples to a state lab 150 miles away, causing inefficiencies, agonizing waits for results and delayed response times.
But the funding for lab upgrades was abruptly eliminated last month as part of the Trump administration’s $11.4-billion cancellation of federal grants to states for public health.
A Health and Human Services spokesperson said the agency’s downsizing, including cutting jobs and consolidating divisions, would save money and make the organization more efficient. As for the $11.4 billion in grant funding cuts, the spokesperson said, “HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a nonexistent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago.”
The IRS has offered a similar rationale for its downsizing, saying it is making process improvements that will ultimately serve the public more efficiently.
Musk said last year that President Trump’s budget cuts would cause a “temporary hardship” that would soon put the economy on stronger footing.
One local economic researcher said it remained unclear just how deep that hardship will be in Kansas City, including whether it will just slow growth or cause population losses.
“It’s a big burden that’s being placed on a narrow group of people,” said Frank Lenk, director of the Office of Economic Development at the Mid-America Regional Council, a nonprofit of city and county governments in the Kansas City region. “It will definitely take some of the steam out of the local economy.”
Trump has credited DOGE with helping end “the flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars,” which he says will save billions to help improve the nation’s finances.
The White House didn’t respond to questions about Kansas City. But Trump said recently he would invite the Kansas City Chiefs to the White House to make up for a 2020 Super Bowl victory celebration that was canceled during the pandemic.
Foley writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Heather Hollingsworth contributed to this report.
Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels (3) closes in on the ball as Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) defense during a playoff game at Crypto.com Arena Saturday.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Goodbye, momentum.
Goodbye, home-court advantage.
The Lakers trailed by as many as 27 points, their performance at Crypto.com Arena so shameful that even one of the worst coaches in franchise history felt emboldened enough to criticize their current sideline leader.
“Coach JJ Redick did a great job all season but he didn’t do a good job for Game 1,” Magic Johnson posted on X. “The Lakers stood around on offense, played too much one-on-one basketball, and he didn’t make any necessary adjustments.”
Johnson knows something about the inability to make necessary adjustments, as he was just 5-11 when he received his shot on the bench.
Redick looked as if he might stiffen under the postseason spotlight, the rookie coach uncharacteristically a man of few words and no smiles in his pregame news conference. And in the critical moments of the game, there was nothing Redick could do to counter the Timberwolves. The visitors opened the second quarter with a 26-6 run to take control of the game and scored the first 11 points of the second half to move the game out of the Lakers’ reach.
“We were mentally ready,” Redick said. “I thought our spirit was right. I thought even when they made runs, our huddle was great. The communication was great. I’m not sure physically we were ready, if that makes sense. And, really, when they started playing with a lot of thrust and physicality, we just didn’t respond to meet that.”
In other words, his team wasn’t ready.
The Lakers weren’t ready even though they knew about the Timberwolves’ size and the matchup problems it could produce. They scored fewer than 100 points in only eight games in the regular season, and two of those games were against the Timberwolves, against whom they were 2-2 before Saturday.
“You know this Minnesota team, they’re gonna be physical,” forward LeBron James said. “That’s what they bring to the table.”
Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards tries to strip the ball away from Lakers forward LeBron James at Crypto.com Arena Saturday.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
The Timberwolves finished with a 25-6 edge in fast-break points and a 44-32 edge in points in the paint, with forward Jaden McDaniels scoring a team-high 25 points and center Naz Reid adding 23.
“They just played a lot better than us, a lot harder than us, and they did all the things that we wanted to do,” Lakers guard Austin Reaves said.
Forward Jarred Vanderbilt called the deflating loss “a wake-up call,” but shouldn’t the Lakers have known what was coming, especially in a competitive Western Conference in which only two victories separated the third seed from the eighth seed?
The 40-year-old James was predictably calm.
“Sometimes it takes a quarter, two quarters, a full game to get used to playoff basketball once again,” said James, who finished with 19 points after being shut out in the first quarter.
Nonetheless, James acknowledged a chance in the dynamics of the best-of-seven series.
“They took home court from us tonight, as far as the series,” he said. “But we have an opportunity to even the series on Tuesday [in Game 2]. We have to play a much better game than we did today. We have to control the controlables, and if we do that, we’re gonna give ourselves a much better chance than we did.”
The Lakers can, and should, still win this series. The Timberwolves won’t make half of their threes in every game, as they did on Saturday. Reid won’t make six of his nine shots from behind the arc in every game, as he did on Saturday.
But the road to the Western Conference finals suddenly doesn’t look as wide open as it once did, and the Lakers’ negligence in Game 1 is threatening to waste one of only a handful of remaining chances to take advantage of having James on the team.
Israeli police threatened Christians trying to celebrate Easter as they corralled worshippers at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in occupied East Jerusalem. Israel also imposed severe restrictions on Palestinian Christians hoping to attend services.
Palestinian Christians in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem have marked a second sombre Easter under punishing conditions and Israel’s war on Gaza.
In the Gaza Strip, where no food or aid has been allowed in by the Israeli military for nearly 50 days, people observed Easter on Sunday at the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius in Gaza City amid death and destruction.
Easter celebrations were limited to religious rituals as families cancelled other gatherings fearing more bombs would be dropped by Israeli warplanes, which killed dozens of people in the besieged enclave on Sunday.
Israeli forces bombed the Saint Porphyrius compound in October 2023, just days after the war began in the aftermath of Hamas-led attacks on Israel. Israel said it was targeting “terrorists”.
That attack killed at least 18 displaced Palestinians who had sought refuge in the church. More than 51,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army since the start of the war.
During a brief appearance before thousands of Catholic pilgrims gathered in St Peter’s Square for the Vatican’s open-air Easter Mass, Pope Francis renewed his call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
He also called on the Palestinian armed group Hamas and other groups to release the remaining captives held in Gaza.
Heavy restrictions in occupied West Bank
Israeli authorities prevented many Christians, including Palestinians, from accessing holy sites for Easter in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli police clashed with Christian worshippers and even a priest as they tried to access the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in occupied East Jerusalem.
The Old City of Jerusalem was in effect turned by Israeli authorities into a military outpost, said Fathi Nimer, Palestine policy fellow at the Al-Shabaka think tank.
“Some would say that there are now more soldiers, security and police officers than worshippers around the Holy Sepulchre,” he told Al Jazeera from Ramallah in the West Bank on Sunday.
“There are dozens of checkpoints within the city, and these limitations have not only impacted Palestinian Christians from the West Bank but also from Jerusalem itself and within the 1948 territories.”
Nimer said people were beaten, and Israeli officers and onlookers directed insults and slurs towards Christians.
Only about 6,000 Palestinians from the West Bank received permits to attend Easter services this year, and even the representative of the Vatican in Palestine was denied entry into the church.
Nimer said a tightening Israeli chokehold over holy places in the past few years has led to a dwindling number of worshippers of Palestinian origin.
“This is all part of the wider war on Palestinian culture and identity. Israel is basically saying they have an exclusive claim to Jerusalem and all of Palestine,” he said.
‘I don’t have a permit to go as a pastor’
Mitri Raheb, a Palestinian pastor and theologian and founder and president of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem, concurred that current Israeli restrictions are among the toughest.
“I myself as a pastor don’t have a permit to go for the Holy Week, which is the most important week for Christians throughout the year because Jesus was crucified and risen in Jerusalem,” he told Al Jazeera.
“The Palestinian-Christian community that has been there for 2,000 years cannot go there to celebrate and mark this where it all happened.”
Raheb said incitement against Palestinian Christians, especially clergy members, has also been on the rise with dozens of incidents of Israeli settler attacks reported this year.
“One of the first things you read about in church about Jesus is that he was like a lamb led to the slaughter. But when you hear this today as Palestinian Christians, you think it’s our whole people being led to slaughter, considering what is happening in Gaza.”
Clergy celebrate Easter at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City [Ronen Zvulun/Reuters]
Israeli settlers and politicians, backed by armed police and soldiers, have also been increasingly storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to perform Talmudic rituals and challenge its status quo.
Non-Muslims are not allowed to worship at the compound of Islam’s third holiest site, which is located in East Jerusalem, as part of the status quo agreement that the Israeli government claims it remains committed to.
Pope Tawadros II, head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, strongly condemned the Israeli onslaught on Gaza.
“Palestinians are subject to the most horrific forms of injustice in their daily lives amid the destruction of their homeland,” he told state television during Easter celebrations.
In celebration of Jane Austen’s 250th birthday , we take a look at the stunning properties used in film and TV adaptons that are now open to the public
18:31, 20 Apr 2025Updated 18:33, 20 Apr 2025
You can visit some gorgeous National Trust that were used to for filming Jane Austen including Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow
This year we celebrate 250 years since the birth of one of England’s most celebrated authors Jane Austen.
Born in Hampshire in 1775, Jane’s wry social commentary and witty repartee has provided us with an enduring snapshot of the life and times of gentlefolk of the time.
The glorious settings of the various upper class shenanigans are also beautifully described and central to the plots of her novels.
Bath – where she lived there for several years – is mentioned in six of her books and has long been associated with Austen, but it is not the only place where fans can pay homage to her genius.
Many of the wonderful TV and film adaptations of her novels have been formed at glorious mainly National Trust properties, which are open to the public.
Here, the Mirror takes a look at the best places for you to take a trip down Jane Austen’s memory lane.
Lyme Park, Cheshire
Colin Firth as Darcy sitting by the lake in the six-part BBC adaptation of the Jane Austen novel ‘Pride and Prejudice’, 1995.
The park played the role of Pemberley, Mr Darcy’s home, in the much loved BBC 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
Nestling on the edge of the Peak District, the 1,400 acre estate boasts a herd of red deer, fantastic walks and, of course, that lake, where Jennifer Ehle’s Elizabeth Bennet joined viewers in a collective swoon at the sight of a soaking wet Colin Firth, as Mr Darcy, emerging from the water.
Fans can visit and imagine just how flustered Lizzie must have felt!
Disley, Stockport, Cheshire, SK12 2NR
Claydon House, Buckinghamshire
Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma in the nineties Hollywood film(Image: PA)
The ballroom scene in the 1996 film of Emma was shot at this fine Georgian country house.
Gwyneth Paltrow starred as the self-elected matchmaker, Emma, who eventually gets a taste of her own medicine.
According to the National Trust, the interiors feature among the most ambitious and lavish of the 18th century – making it the perfect setting for the snobby heroine, who later realises the error of her ways.
Her transformation from snobbish girl to mature woman is wonderfully portrayed bu Hollywood actress Gwyneth.
Middle Claydon, near Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, MK18 2EY
Box Hill, Surrey
Box Hill is the backdrop for a picnic in the final episode of the 2009 BBC TV series of Emma.
Starring Romola Garai as Emma Woodhouse and Jonny Lee Miller as her loyal lifelong friend George Knightley.
Forming part of the North Downs, Box Hill has breathtaking views across the surrounding countryside and is home to a wide variety of plants and wildlife, including the Adonis blue butterfly and a bee orchid.
It’s a rather lovely setting for a romantic picnic.
The Old Fort, Box Hill Road, Tadworth, Surrey, KT20 7LB
Montacute House, Somerset
Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman in Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility was Jane Austen’s first novel, published in 1811.
Undoubtedly its most famous screen adaptation remains the Oscar-winning 1995 film starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet as Dashwood sisters Elinor and Marianne.
The siblings are struggling financially, but attempt to find personal happiness in very different ways.
Marianne is torn between the handsome John Willoughby (Greg Wise) and the older serious Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman). Meanwhile, Elinor is in love with the already engaged Edward Ferrars (Hugh Grant).
The resplendent Elizabethan house and estate Montacute was used for Cleveland House, the country house of Mr and Mrs Palmer, where Marianne gets caught in the rain after being rejected by Willoughby.
In a later scene, Marianne walks through the garden and has a touching moment with Colonel Brandon, as he pokes his head into the orangery, looking for her.
Montacute House was also used for filming the 2015 BBC adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall.
Montacute House, TA15 6XP
Stourhead, Wiltshire
The 18th-century landscaped garden at Stourhead was used as the main backdrop in the 2006 Pride And Prejudice movie, starring Matthew MacFadyen and Keira Knightley.
The estate has a world-famous landscaped garden, with a magnificent lake, enchanting temples, mystical grottoes, and rare and exotic trees.
The Temple of Apollo, set above the tranquil lake, was used as the location for Mr Darcy’s first awkward proposal to Lizzie.
Sanditon was Jane Austen’s final but uncompleted novel, as she died before she was able to finish it, aged just 41.
It tells the story of Charlotte Heywood, who travels from her rural English home to the up-and-coming seaside resort of Sanditon – a place full of intriguing characters, most notably the handsome Sidney Parker
A 2009 ITV adaptation of Sanditon, starring White Lotus actor Theo James as Mr Parker and Rose Williams as impulsive heroine Charlotte, saw Dyrham Park in Gloucestershire used as Sanditon House – the grand home of haughty upper class Lady Denham (Anne Reid).
Dyrham, , near Bath, is a 17th-century house and garden, with 270 acres of parkland, full of magnificent trees and with a stunning wildflower orchard garden. The baroque mansion house has an impressive collection of fine art and Dutch Delftware, thanks mainly to its . original owner, European diplomat William Blathwayt.
It provides the perfect backdrop for the aspirational Lady Denham.
Dyrham,SN14 8HY
And a very special mention to:
Chatsworth House, Derbyshire
Matthew MacFadyen and Keira Knightley in movie version of Pride and Prejudice in 2005
While not a National Trust property, Chatsworth House is a significant historical site, with connections to the Pride And Prejudice novel and the 2005 film.
Jane Austen visited the Bakewell area, where Chatsworth House is located, while revising the final book version and the house’s grandeur and picturesque setting are thought to have influenced her portrayal of Pemberley.
Mr Darcy bust based on Matthew MacFayden is on display in the giftshop!(Image: 2025 Chatsworth House Trust.)
In the 2005 movie, the sculpture gallery featured in the scene where Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Bennet sees the bust of Mr Darcy, and his housekeeper describes his many good qualities. Matthew’s Mr Darcy bust is on display in the gift shop.
The bust is made of resin, mixed with marble dust, and was created by Nick Dutton in 2004 as a prop for the film and it can now be found in the orangery shop, through the sculpture gallery.
If you visit the house, you may recognise the grand staircase and ceiling of the painted hall where Keira’s Lizzie and the Gardiners start their tour of Pemberley.
“Sinners,” the highly anticipated period drama delivering a mashup of horror, music and vampires, scored a solid opening, topping the holiday box office with $45.6 million. The R-rated film starring Michael B. Jordan delighted critics and audiences who rewarded it with an “A” ranking on CinemaScore.
Coming in second was “A Minecraft Movie,” which continued its strong performance in earning $41.3 million a three-week total of $344.6 million.
The one-two punch of “A Minecraft Movie” and “Sinners” contributed 64% of the overall weekend box office, which was great news for Warner Bros., the studio behind both films.
“As we continue to strive to bring an array of films to moviegoers, we are thrilled to see how [director] Ryan Coogler’s original movie ‘Sinners’ and a movie based on the fan favorite Minecraft game, have resonated with audiences in such a stellar way,” Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group’s Mike De Luca & Pam Abdy said in a statement.
“Sinners” also marks the latest triumph for the partnership of Jordan and Coogler. The two first teamed up in 2013 for “Fruitvale Station” and reunited for 2015’s “Rocky” reboot “Creed” and the blockbuster Marvel epic “Black Panther.”
The film marks Coogler’s first directorial turn since 2022’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
In “Sinners,” Jordan portrays twin brothers named Smoke and Stack, who return to their home in 1930s Mississippi to run a juke joint, encountering a variety of outrageous situations and adventures.
Days before its release, “Sinners” was already making headlines with reports of the film scoring 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (its latest score is 98%). Its success is already sparking awards buzz.
It’s also the first film to be shot with IMAX cameras since Christopher Nolan’s 2023 Oscar winner “Oppenheimer.” Coogler had heavily promoted the format, encouraging moviegoers to see “Sinners” in IMAX venues.
Michael B. Jordan as Smoke and as Stack in “Sinners.”
Watch highlights as England captain Harry Kane scores his 24th Bundesliga goal of the season as Bayern Munich close in on the German title with a convincing 4-0 win at Heidenheim.
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