Shell Island, on the coast of Gwynedd in Wales, dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086 and has been a popular campsite for more than 60 years
Stunning tidal island is ‘beach heaven’ and home to UK’s biggest campsite
Despite its name, Shell Island is not an island but a peninsula near the village of Llanbed in Wales. Its main route is cut off at high tide on certain days each month, giving it an island feel.
The land where Shell Island campsite now stands has a rich history, dating back to the Domesday Book of 1086. The site’s historical significance doesn’t end there, with tales of King Charles I reportedly hiding at the nearby Elizabethan mansion, Cors Y Gedol Hall, in the 1640s before attempting to flee to France, possibly departing from Shell Island’s shores through a secret tunnel.
Interestingly, the area wasn’t even a peninsula until the 19th Century when the Earl of Winchilsea diverted the Afon Artro in 1819 to improve access to the wharf at Pensarn, which was the shipment point for slate from Llanfair and Llanbedr.
Visitors can only reach the campsite via a causeway at low tide (Image: Sarah Foster)
Before this, the Artro entered the sea to the south of Shell Island, or Mochras as it’s known in Welsh. The English name, Shell Island, comes from the abundance and variety of seashells found on its beaches. These beaches began attracting visitors in the second half of the 19th Century.
The Cambrian Coast Line, constructed between 1855 and 1869, opened up the seaside to the new industrial workers, driving the development of the area.
In 1958, the Workman family arrived and began to shape the site into what it is today. They purchased 450 acres of land and established what is now one of Europe’s largest campsites.
The vast beach runs for miles down the coast(Image: Sarah Foster)
Over time, Shell Island’s historic structures have been carefully repurposed. The restaurant, snack bar, and tavern, developed between 1976 and 1977, were once a hay barn, stables, and a cow shed, respectively.
Even the toilet block has an interesting history, having served as a homing station for the RAF Station at Llanbedr during wartime.
For many families, a visit to this place has become an annual tradition, with each year introducing a new generation to its allure. Those who fall in love with the place can’t help but sing its praises, as evidenced by the five-star reviews on Tripadvisor.
One recent review dubbed it “beach heaven” and described the surroundings – with Eryri as a backdrop – as a true “feast for the eyes”.
The campsite has proved popular with guests(Image: Shell Island / Facebook)
They added: “A simply wonderful, divine place. “Another camper said: What an experience to set up camp in this expansive site right on the sand dunes! Spectacular views, lots of space and the beach right there!”
Another praised it as: “Wales at its beautiful best” but was hesitant about spreading the word, adding: “I would thoroughly recommend but don’t tell everyone as I want to go back!
However, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, with some visitors expressing dissatisfaction over large groups.
One disgruntled camper wrote: “Massive groups of loud, not very nice people. The site has really gone down hill since Covid, they say they don’t let groups on but people just book separately and meet up when they arrive. There are far better camp sites out there.”
Shell Island has causeway access and is cut off by tides twice a day(Image: Shell Island)
Another complained: “Considering they say there are 400+ acres it seemed very crowded, if you want a sea view you’re going to be within touching distance of your neighbour.
“Definitely not a quite relaxing holiday, more like a festival field, we were booked in for three nights but left after 1, the views are beautiful but it’s spoilt by it being overcrowded and some of the people there are maybe not to everyone’s taste shall we say.”
However these complaints are certainly in the minority – with around 750 of just over 1,000 reviews rating it good or excellent, and it’s easy to see why.
The Workman family said: “Whether you’re planning a day visit or an extended stay, Shell Island promises a personal slice of paradise for every visitor.
Rob Furber, whose new book The Gambler tell his weird, wacky and wonderful betting exploits over the last two decades, discovered he had a talent for special bets after correctly guessing the winner of Strictly Come Dancing – but had no idea what was to come.
Rob Furber discovered he could make a good living on novelty bets
Rob Furber was one of millions sitting anxiously on their edge of their sofas on December 17, 2005, to find out who had won the third series of Strictly Come Dancing.
The struggling freelance writer wasn’t particularly a fan of ballroom, weekend TV or the recent surge in reality shows. But tonight he was particularly invested – because of the £20 bet he’d placed.
Weeks earlier, Rob had become convinced that rank outsider, Darren ‘Dazzler’ Gough, would win the show – not because the former cricketer could dance, but because he would appeal to the Strictly audience demographic at the time. And when Bruce Forsyth revealed the results of the final public vote, Rob’s 25-1 punt earned him a £500 win. It comes after a woman claimed ‘I regret marrying an older man, one part of our history has given me the ick’.
Rob’s first bet was on Darren Gough and partner Lilia Kopylova to win Strictly(Image: PA)
He recalls: “I punched the air with delight. It had been the only bet I’d made in the entire series. It was a lightbulb moment. I realised I could probably make more money betting on reality TV shows than I scratching around for freelance work or doing the odd shift.”
So began a nail-biting, exhilarating and unexpectedly romantic journey through the strange world of ‘special’ betting, which Rob describes in his new book, The Gambler.
He would go on to gamble on everything from Eurovision and royal baby names to even when a panda in Edinburgh Zoo would give birth.
Perhaps his riskiest bet of all, though, wasn’t made in a bookmakers, but a gamble on love that took him all the way to a remote part of Russia, still not entirely sure that the woman he’d met online wasn’t an elaborate scam by a kidnapping gang.
When, months after his Gough win, he correctly bet that Chantelle Houghton would win Celebrity Big Brother, earning him close to £1,500 profit, then successfully plumped for Matt Willis to win I’m a Celebrity, Rob realised he had a special gift.
When Strictly came around again, he once again picked out the winner, another test cricketer, Mark Ramprakash, even before the series had even started.
This time he gambled £250 on odds of 16/1, taking home a tidy £4,000 when Ramps was handed the glitter ball.
Rob (third from right) with fellow gamblers on the ‘trading table’ in Vienna during Eurovision 2015
Rob says it was a series of happy coincidences that turned him into a successful full-time gambler.
“I’d grown up near Newmarket, so flat racing was in my blood and I wasn’t averse to having a bet,” he says. “I was in my mid-20s, working in London on business titles, but I wasn’t enjoying it. I found the 9-5 of office life soul crushing, so decided to embark on a freelance life instead. I was a lot happier.”
Being at home also meant he could watch more television. “The early Noughties saw the advent of reality TV. I was watching the competitions and thinking, ‘I can work this out’.
“My media background helped. Just reading between the lines, knowing what the shows are trying to achieve and the power of the edit, as well as the profile of the audience who were voting, I was getting good at predicting who would end up winning.”
Rob began to spend hours researching reality show contestants and how they might be received by particular audiences.
One of Rob’s biggest jackpots was betting on Tara Palmer-Tomkinson to win Celebrity Fame Academy. He says: “Shaun Williamson, who played Barry from Eastenders, was odds on favourite. But while he could let out a song, I didn’t think he could pull heartstrings like Tara. She didn’t have a great voice, but it was really emotive watching her sing Coldplay songs at the piano.
Rob won big after discovering Coldplay’s set list for the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2016(Image: Getty)
“That’s where the skill likes, knowing what the audience is going to invest in. Those special ingredients. I found that I could identify them and know who was going to make a connection.”
He also predicted well before everyone else Jedward’s success on The X Factor.
“I knew what Simon Cowell was doing. He was being disparaging of Jedward knowing more people would vote for them to spite him. He wanted them to stay on the show.
“But the bookies were slow to catch on and always priced them very short, every week thinking they were able to get booted out.”
From TV, Rob discovered the world of ‘specials’ – novelty bets that bookies offer on everything from the Nobel Peace Prize and politics to Miss Universe and Royal baby names.
One big win was when he correctly predicted the opening and closing songs Coldplay were going to perform in the 2016 Super Bowl half-time show – and this time it wasn’t guesswork
He says: “A fellow special sleuth infiltrated some of the Coldplay online fan sites, and got the setlist from someone on there. We found out they were going to open with Yellow and end with Up&Up. When you get something like this is is absolutely gold-plated information. It ended up netting me around £1,500.”
Eurovision is a huge part of Rob’s year. He says: “It’s the biggest betting event of them all. It starts around Christmas, with the first country qualifiers. It’s five months of relentless study, every day you’ve got to be all over the news and tune in to all the qualifiers.
“One of my best wins was coming across Portugal’s Salvador Sobral, even before he was picked as the country’s entry. I found his song spellbinding. It was getting odds of 110-1 on Betfair at the time, but he went on to win. Another five-figure profit secured.”
Rob’s biggest gamble was finding love with Russian Anya
But Rob’s biggest bet of all was when he realised that his new career in betting was leaving him a virtual recluse at home, and facing the possibility of never finding a lifelong partner – so decided to join a dating site for Western men interested in Eastern European women.
Some were clearly sophisticated scams, which made Rob’s decision to go and meet one woman, Anya, in a provincial part of Russia, even riskier.
Rob says: “This was something with more jeopardy than anything else I’d bet on so far, with an unpredictability I couldn’t control or outsmart.
“I applied my gambler’s mindset and thought, nothing ventured, nothing gained, let’s go for it. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Like many of his other wacky bets, this one paid off too, turning into a rollercoaster love affair that ended happily ever after.
Now happily married, Rob and Anya’s against-the-odds, long-distance romance ended up being the most enthralling story of his book, The Gambler.
“I’d like to think the book is an irreverent and laugh-out-loud funny look at risk, romance and what happens when you bet on love,” Rob says. “I hope it comes across as an authentic and honest portrayal and challenges the reader to think about what they are prepared to gamble on in life, and what matters most.”
The Gambler by Rob Furber, published by Mirror Books (£9.99), is on sale now from Amazon and all good bookshops.
AN XXL Labubu doll worth more than £100,000 was uncovered by Hong Kong police during a major raid on Tuesday morning.
The gang, suspected of laundering £4 billion, had been under surveillance for two and a half years – but police never expected to find a giant plush toy among their illicit haul.
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The assets seized by police include a giant Labubu dollCredit: Hong Kong Police / X
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Hong Kong police have been monitoring the gang for the past two and a half yearsCredit: Hong Kong Police / X
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Hong Kong police have arrested 82 people in a citywide anti-triad raidCredit: Hong Kong Police / X
According to the South Morning China Post, the seized goods belonged to the Triad syndicate – one of the oldest and most notorious criminal organisations in China.
Hong Kong police launched a large-scale raid on Tuesday, writing in a post on X: “When the time was ripe – the HKPF mounted the territory-wide anti-triad ‘Operation HIDDENARROW’ on July 29, 2025.”
The force seized €780,000 in cash, 11,000 bottles of wine, luxury watches, gold and a 5ft2 Labubu doll.
The figure is said to be rare – one of fifteen of its kind in the world.
A similar piece went under the hammer in Beijing in June for around £113,000.
As many as 82 suspects were reportedly arrested during the operation – 55 men and 27 women, ranging in age from 19 to 78.
Among them was the alleged 44-year-old ringleader.
He is suspected of running the operation and involving friends and family in the money laundering scheme.
Police added on X: “The ringleader manipulated his family & friends as well as the members of his gang into laundering the crime proceeds via calculated means.”
They listed this means as “continuously laundering the illicit funds via a trust company” and “committing #LoanFraud – using some seemingly lawful import trades as fronts.”
Dramatic moment crowds join massive queue to grab viral Labubu dolls as latest doll craze sweeps across the world
The gang’s funds came from prostitution, drug trafficking and illegal gambling, according to police.
Police said they froze assets worth around £115 million.
It’s still unclear whether Triad was banking on a rise in the Labubu doll’s value, were fans of the character or whether the toy might be a fake.
Labubus have taken the internet by storm – with Chinese toymaker Pop Mart’s valuation skyrocketing to £31.6bn.
The cult collectable dollshave been spotted dangling from the designer bags of Rihanna, Kim Kardashian and David Beckham.
What is the Labubu doll craze?
LABUBU is a brand of plushies designed by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung.
The brand made its debut in 2015, but skyrocketed in global popularity after hitting Pop Mart shelves in 2019.
Pop Mart is a Chinese toy retailer, known for its collectable designer models that are often sold in a blind box format.
The company has a stock market value of over £31.6bn.
After mammoth success overseas, the Labubu craze has made its way to the UK.
The first three months of 2025 were wildly successful for the brand, with Brits searching high and low to nab one of the quirky figurines.
In June, Labubu sales in the US went up by 5,000% compared to the year before, according to estimates from equity research firm M Science.
But Labubu’s popularity has led to a rise in counterfeits – sometimes referred to as Lafufu dolls.
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Hong Kong police have arrested 82 people in a citywide anti-triad operationCredit: Hong Kong Police / X
Love Island fans were left shocked during tonight’s episode as Blu and Megan discussed what had been going on in the outside world – something which is usually banned on the show
21:57, 30 Jul 2025Updated 22:19, 30 Jul 2025
Things got personal in last night’s Love Island as the Couple Goals challenge allowed the Islanders to air all their dirty laundry. Tonight things escalated as the Islanders discussed the outside world – which is usually strictly against the rules.
As we know, Megan and Blu re-joined the villa after being booted out weeks ago, and during tonight’s episode Blu spilled all on the outside world, despite Islanders usually having to be shut off from the outside world.
“You know how much I love Megan but I just feel like the first time Megan came in compared to this time is completely different,” Dejon told Blu and Harry, as he continued to drop some home truths.
Blu spilled all on the outside world (Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
During her first stint in the villa, Megan formed a connection with Tommy before dumping him for Conor. Blu then revealed that Megan was left “fuming” after seeing Lucy and Tommy in Tape. Conor then confronted Megan about the ongoings, as she admitted they shared a few flirty texts.
However, fans were left baffled that the Islanders had been allowed to speak about the outside world, as one penned: “are they allowed to talk about the outside world like this? Blu is working overtime to get that screentime!”
A second wrote: “Why would they allow Blu to reveal how the public feels?? It goes against the whole point of contestants not allowed contact with the outside world.”
“So the producer are just gonna allow Bly to talk about what happening on the outside??!??????!! Hmmh kinda beat the point of the concept on show having no contact with the outside world….but does kinda cause drama but still.”
Megan discussed her time on the outside with Tommy (Image: ITV)
Elsewhere, the Islanders had their biggest fallout yet. Last night, during the Couple Goals challenge, the Islanders were asked which couple they thought were the most fake, and the answers caused a stir. Meg and Dejon chose Harry and Shakira, as Meg announced: “I feel like Shakira, you’ve made some very hurtful comments to me that we’re not very nice and I’ve always been there for you.”
Tonight, the arguments continued, as the Islanders were asked: “Which couple are you most scared to give your honest opinion on?”
Shakira and Harry choose Meg and Dejon, as Meg told to Shakira, “I think if people were honest in the first place and told us to our faces instead of saying it constantly behind our back, it would be a different story.”
However, Shakira wasn’t having any of it, as she responded: “You throwing around the fake word is rich to be honest. I don’t know why you keep acting like we’re the best of mates in here. From day one, you were very standoffish with any girl that was posed as a threat.”
The argument continued to escalate as Meg told Shakira she wouldn’t be her friend on the outside. “I will never speak to you on the outside. I honestly can’t stand you sometimes,” Shakira responded.
Will the girls make up?
LOVE ISLAND CONTINUES TOMORROW NIGHT AT 9PM ON ITV2 AND ITVX
A mum of two tried out the UK’s biggest outdoor waterpark, and she was seriously impressed with what she found, calling it ‘the perfect family day out’ for her brood
Splashdown Quaywest is a “perfect family day out”(Image: Frank P Matthews Trees)
The summer holidays are stretching ahead of us, and for parents across the UK prospect of keeping the kids entertained whilst they are off school can sometimes be pretty daunting.
Many families throughout the country are working to pretty tight budgets, so parents are often on the lookout for days out that won’t break the bank.
If you’re looking for a day out to remember with the whole family, then one mum-of-two has recommended paying the UK’s biggest waterpark a visit this summer – which promises fun for every age group.
Perched right by the stunning beach, Goodrington Sands, Splashdown Quaywest is a jewel in Devon’s crown as the largest outdoor waterpark in the country.
Mum of two, Chloe Sweet, posted about her family’s day out to the waterpark on her TikTok account, which boasts 113,000 followers.
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She was seriously impressed with the range of what the waterpark offered, with something to keep children of every age entertained.
“There’s 18 waterslides in total,” Chloe explained in her video, “If you’re into that adrenaline buzz, it’s got some serious fast flumes for older children and adults, you’ve got the slides such as the devil’s drop, the screamer, Kamikaze, and much more that will test [your] nerves”.
Chloe Sweet was seriously impressed with the waterpark(Image: Frank P Matthews Trees)
However, the facilities and slides for younger children and toddlers left Chloe really impressed, with one area a major perk for young families.
“They have a dedicated section called Shipwreck Island, which is amazing for toddlers and little ones. There’s seven slides in this section, and it’s just the right height for toddlers.
“The water is all shallow, so you don’t have to stress, it’s like a big massive splash zone.”
Chloe added, “They have water sprinkling out all over and, of course, the big massive tipping bucket that soaks everyone every couple of minutes, the kids absolutely enjoyed themselves”.
The mum of two explained the different tickets you can get for the waterpark, which include two, three, and four-hour slots, as well as entire day passes.
The waterpark warns on their website that you cannot get tickets on the door for this attraction, so anyone interested in spending a day out there has to make sure they have booked their slot ahead.
From daredevil rides to a toddler area, there is fun for all the family(Image: Frank P Matthews Trees)
Chloe added that there were good food offerings available at the waterpark, including things like burgers, but that her family opted to bring packed lunches – and there was plenty of space for them to enjoy their little picnic.
There’s also an ice cream stand, which families will definitely make the most of during a hot summer’s day, and Chloe advised that if you are planning on booking a two or three-hour slot, you should make the most of the day out by spending time at the beach next door as well.
She called Splashdown Quaywest the “perfect family day out,” and people in the comments seemed keen to try it out, with many asking for further details, and one user writing: “That’s awesome, looks like it’s abroad.” and another commenting: “Went Monday…I love it’.
Analysts expect a turnaround in future quarters as the automaker bets on robotaxi expansions.
Tesla has reported its biggest decline in quarterly revenue in more than a decade as CEO Elon Musk’s political activity weighs on the electric carmaker brand’s reputation.
Revenue fell to $22.5bn for the April-June quarter from $25.5bn a year earlier, according to its earnings report, which Tesla released after the closing bell on Wall Street. Analysts on average were expecting revenue of $22.74bn, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Revenue from car sales declined by 16 percent. Tesla attributed the revenue dip to a decline in vehicle deliveries. Earlier this month, it reported a 14 percent decline in car deliveries in the second quarter.
Investors are worried about whether Musk will be able to give enough time and attention to Tesla after he locked horns with United States President Donald Trump by forming a new political party this month. Weeks earlier, he had promised that he would cut back on government work and focus on his companies.
Musk’s connections to the Trump administration and layoffs across the US government when he headed the Department of Government Efficiency weighed on its US reputation. Meanwhile, the billionaire’s endorsements of the far-right AfD party in Germany have affected the brand’s reputation in Europe.
A series of high-profile executive exits, including last month of a longtime Musk confidant who oversaw sales and manufacturing in North America and Europe, is also adding to the concerns.
The company reported a second straight quarterly revenue drop, despite rolling out a much-awaited refreshed version of its best-selling Model Y SUV that investors had hoped would rekindle demand.
Much of the company’s trillion-dollar valuation hangs on its bet on its robotaxi service – a small trial of which started in Austin, Texas, last month – and developing humanoid robots. On Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported that Tesla has been in talks with the state of Nevada about introducing robotaxi services there.
Analysts believe that this will keep the automaker on pace for growth in future quarters.
“We are at a ‘positive crossroads’ in the Tesla story: Musk is laser focused as CEO, Robotaxi/autonomous expansion has begun, demand stabilisation has begun especially in China, and Tesla is about to embark on an aggressive AI-focused strategy that, we believe, will include owning a significant piece of xAI,” Dan Ives, an analyst at the financial services company Wedbush Securities, said in a note provided to Al Jazeera.
xAI is Musk’s AI firm which also makes the chatbot Grok.
“While near-term and this quarter the numbers are nothing to write home about, we believe investors are instead focused on the AI future at Tesla, with a motivated Musk back driving Tesla’s future,” Ives said.
Tesla’s stock closed the trading day in positive territory, up by 0.1, but has tumbled in after-hours trading, down by 0.3 percent.
“I love the natural, just zest and the joy that this group has,” McVay said this week as players reported for training camp at Loyola Marymount.
After Stafford and the Rams agreed to terms on a contract adjustment last spring, general manager Les Snead provided McVay and Stafford with a bonus of sorts by signing receiver Davante Adams. The three-time All-Pro joins Nacua, receiver Tutu Atwell, running back Kyren Williams and tight ends Tyler Higbee and Terrance Ferguson to give the offense multiple weapons.
Snead also signed center Coleman Shelton — a member of the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI championship team — and defensive lineman Poona Ford. Ford will bolster a front that includes Verse, edge rusher Byron Young and tackles Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske, among others.
“We are stacked,” Williams said.
Which is not to say that McVay, Snead and the Rams do not have concerns.
Here are five issues to watch as the Rams prepare for their Sept. 7 opener against the Houston Texans:
OCEARCH, a non-profit research organisation that tracks marine animals, tagged the 30-year-old male great white shark named “Contender” in the waters east of Massachusetts
09:34, 22 Jul 2025Updated 09:35, 22 Jul 2025
Contender, the 14ft, great white shark, is on the move
The world’s biggest shark is heading straight towards Martha’s Vineyard in the US, after being pinged near an affluent tourist destination.
The 14ft predator, which weighs a whopping 1,653 pounds, was recently detected on Friday afternoon, around 50 miles off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.
OCEARCH, a non-profit research organisation that tracks marine animals, tagged the 30-year-old male named “Contender” in the waters east of Massachusetts, between Nantucket Shoals and Georges Bank.
It was seen heading towards the wealthy holiday destination of Martha’s Bay, home to celebrities and multi-millionaires. Former US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama own a £10million mansion on the island.
OCEARCH first tagged the shark in the North Atlantic, 45 miles off the Florida-Georgia coast, off Jacksonville.
It took six people, including three fishermen and scientists, to tag and release “Contender”, which is then electronically tracked through the Argos satellite system, according to Dr Harley Newton, OCEARCH Chief Scientist & Veterinarian.
The beast appears to have made a dart for the north over the last few weeks(Image: OCEARCH / SWNS)
The predator can be tracked through OCEARCH’s Global Shark Tracker app, where anyone can follow the animal as it moves. The animal has been pinged several times, including on January 26 and February 6, which means the tag attached to the fin was spotted above the surface for a brief period of time as it swam. It was last pinged on June 7.
The huge shark can be tracked (Image: OCEARCH / SWNS)
Dr Harley Newton, OCEARCH Chief Scientist & Veterinarian, previously told The Mirror there were some tourist hotspots the shark might visit.
She said: “This is the exciting question about Contender, as this is the first season we will be able to watch him migrate to a summer/fall foraging area.
The shark recently pinged
“Although there are many places in the Northeastern US and Canada where he could go, there are two primary locations where many white sharks spend the summer: Cape Cod, Massachusetts or Nova Scotia, Canada.
“Though Contender is an adult male white shark, and the largest we at OCEARCH have ever tagged and sampled in the Northwest Atlantic, but he is certainly not the largest male white shark ever caught.
Contender, the 14ft beast, was first tagged in the North Atlantic by OCEARCH in January(Image: OCEARCH / SWNS)
“Contender was 13 feet 9 inches total length and estimated to weigh 1653 lbs. But male white sharks can grow up to 18 feet.
“The adult age class animals have been more elusive than smaller, younger, age classes so we were excited to have the opportunity to tag, sample and release him. Based on our Global Shark tracker, he has travelled 1870 miles to date from the place he was first tagged and released. We won’t know until he shows us, which is all the more reason to follow him on the tracker.”
The project on a river that runs through Tibet and India downstream could dwarf the Three Gorges Dam when completed.
China has started building a mega-dam on the Yarlung Zangbo River in Tibet, which could become the world’s largest source of hydroelectric power when completed, according to Chinese officials.
The mega-project in the foothills of the Himalayas will include five hydropower stations on the river, which is also known as the Brahmaputra, further downstream in India, and the Jamuna River in Bangladesh.
China’s Xinhua state news agency reported that Premier Li Qiang attended a commencement ceremony for the dam on Saturday.
Beijing had planned the project for several years, and approval was given in December last year, linking the development to the country’s carbon neutrality targets and economic goals in the Tibet region.
“The electricity generated will be primarily transmitted to other regions for consumption, while also meeting local power needs in Tibet,” Xinhua reported after the groundbreaking ceremony in southeastern Tibet’s city of Nyingchi.
The project is expected to cost an estimated 1.2 trillion yuan ($167.1bn), Xinhua said.
India said in January that it had raised concerns with China about the project, saying it would “monitor and take necessary measures to protect our interests”.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs said at the time that China “has been urged to ensure that the interests of the downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas”.
In December, Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the project would not have any “negative impact” downstream, adding that China “will also maintain communication with countries at the lower reaches” of the river.
China annexed Tibet in 1950, and has built several dams on the region’s rivers, prompting concerns from Tibetans about the potential impacts on the unique ecosystems of the Tibetan Plateau.
Tibet’s vast glaciers and major rivers provide fresh water to 1.3 billion people in 10 countries, according to Yale’s E360 environmental magazine.
The Yarlung Tsangpo is the world’s highest river, reaching some 5,000 metres (16,404 feet) above sea level, and is considered sacred to Tibetans.
The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in Yichang, Hubei province, China [File Stringer/Reuters]
The new dam is also being built just 30km (18 miles) from China’s vast border with India, much of which is disputed, with tens of thousands of soldiers posted on either side.
Once built, the dam could provide as much as three times as much energy as the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in central China.
Tibet is much more sparsely populated, with some 2,000 people displaced for the construction of the Yagen Hydropower Station in 2015, according to local media reports.
Adolfo Macias, who was recaptured in June after escaping from a prison last year, will appear in a New York state court on Monday.
Ecuadorean gang leader Adolfo Macias Villamar, also known as “Fito”, is set to appear in a federal court in the United States, where he will plead not guilty to international charges of drug and weapons trafficking, his lawyer says.
The Ecuadorean government on Sunday extradited the notorious drug trafficker, a month after he was recaptured following a 2024 escape from a maximum-security penitentiary, the country’s prison authority said.
Macias, the leader of the Los Choneros gang, was serving a 34-year sentence at a prison in Guayaquil for a slew of crimes, including drug trafficking, organised crime, and murder.
The flight transporting Macias landed in New York state on Sunday night, the report said. His lawyer told the Reuters news agency that Macias “will plead not guilty” before the Brooklyn federal court on Monday.
Details of the handover to the US government and the extradition were not specified. The US government has yet to issue an official statement following the extradition.
The US Attorney’s Office had filed charges in April against Macias on suspicion of cocaine distribution, conspiracy and firearms violations, including weapons smuggling.
The former taxi driver turned crime boss agreed in a Quito court last week to be extradited to the US to face the charges.
He is the first Ecuadorean extradited by his country since a new measure was written into law last year, after a referendum in which President Daniel Noboa sought the approval of moves to boost his war on criminal gangs.
Ecuador, once a peaceful haven between the world’s two top cocaine exporters, Colombia and Peru, has seen violence erupt in recent years as rival gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.
Cult following
Soon after Macias escaped from prison in January 2024, Noboa declared Ecuador to be in a state of “internal armed conflict” and ordered the military and tanks into the streets to “neutralise” the gangs. The move has been criticised by human rights organisations.
As a drug lord, Macias cultivated a cult status among fellow gang members and the public.
While behind bars in 2023, he released a video addressed to “the Ecuadorian people” while flanked by armed men. He also threw parties in prison, where he had access to everything from liquor to roosters for cockfighting matches.
Macias’s Los Choneros has ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, Colombia’s Gulf Clan, which is considered the world’s largest cocaine exporter, as well as Balkan mafias, according to the Ecuadorian Organised Crime Observatory.
His escape from prison prompted widespread violence and a massive military and police recapture operation, including government “wanted” posters offering $1m for information leading to his arrest.
On June 25, Macias was found hiding in a bunker concealed under floor tiles in a luxury home in the fishing port of Manta, the centre of operations for Los Choneros. Noboa declared he would be extradited, “the sooner the better”.
“We will gladly send him and let him answer to the North American law,” Noboa told CNN at the time.
More than 70 percent of all cocaine produced in the world now passes through Ecuador’s ports, according to government data. In 2024, the country seized a record 294 tonnes of drugs, mainly cocaine.
EXCLUSIVE: Six months ago, Mark Danby left the UK behind for the warmer climes of Spain, uprooting his life and switching for Manilva, but noticed a certain “contrast” between the two nations
Mark Danby left the UK behind to seek out the sunnier climes of Spain (Image: Tapas Guy/YouTube)
A man has claimed Spain is “20 years or so behind the UK” in a specific aspect. Mark Danby from Stockport, Greater Manchester, decided to shake things up and moved to sunny Spain six months ago, making his new home in Manilva, part of Malaga on the Costa del Sol.
Enjoying his new life under the Spanish sun, Mark has encountered some hurdles, previously opening up about the challenges of the local visa system.
As an IT professional by day and the ‘Tapas Guy‘ on YouTube, he made his move via the digital nomad visa, aimed at those working remotely for companies overseas or as self-employed.
Despite the benefits, it seems that slow bureaucratic processes can be a universal headache, with Mark noting that “everything takes so long”. This may stem from a stark “contrast” between life in Spain compared to the UK.
Mark was struck by the “biggest culture shock” following his move abroad, which he shared in an online video. He pointed out how Spain appears to trail “about 20 years or so behind the UK” in terms of technology adoption.
A view of ‘Puerto de la Duquesa’ yachts and boats docked in Manilva(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
He explained: “And I describe it as being Spain being about 20 years or so behind the UK in kind of technology. Everything takes so long. They don’t go for electronic systems. They like their pieces of paper; that is the biggest shock.
“They are paper pushers; they’re pen pushers. Everything is paper, like when you go for your…your sort of your visa applications or your… as I’m now waiting for my TIE card, which is my foreign residency card, everything is paper processed.”
Mark highlighted that he is in the throes of waiting for his card and revealed they’ve “already kind of accepted it”. He described the bureaucratic process where applicants must go to a police station to hand in paperwork and have their fingerprints taken, and the individual produces the card
He added with a hint of frustration: “If they had a little printer machine by them, they could just press a button and print it out, but oh no. You know, it has to go through the paper process and it has to..”
Mark elaborated on the nature of the procedure: “You know, it can take another…you have to sort of make another appointment to go back. Everything’s booked up solid and, you know, I’ve still not got it. Everything takes a long time, a very, very long time.”
Mark works in IT but also shares Spain-related content on his YouTube channel(Image: Mark Danby/YouTube)
A TIE card refers to a Spanish Foreign Identity Card (or tarjeta de identidad de extranjero in Spanish). It allows people to prove their legal status as a foreigner in Spain and is required by people with a visa that lets them stay for longer than six months.
Spain complies with Schengen zone rules, which stipulate particular passport criteria and allow individuals to roam freely across the zone visa-free for a maximum of 90 days within any 180-day timeframe.
For more Spanish travel advice, visit the GOV website here.
Emmy nominations arrived Tuesday morning, and if you made the list, it’s a “White Lotus” Full Moon Party vibe, full of celebratory cheers, toasts with your beverage of choice (it’s still early, maybe some of that Thai Red Bull?) and techno music playing loud enough to have Interpol banging on your door.
And if you didn’t hear your name called, well, you’re feeling like poor Pornchai watching Belinda sail away into the sunset. Or maybe you’re like Saxon, compartmentalizing the whole thing, pretending it never happened. We feel you.
With Emmy submissions down this year, there aren’t as many slots available to salute all the worthy work, leading to some sad omissions — which, for the sake of alliteration and search engine optimization, we’ll call “snubs.” There were also some surprises, some worthy, some about as welcome as one of those poison piña coladas Jason Isaacs blended up in the “White Lotus” finale.
SURPRISE: The all-encompassing love for “The White Lotus”
Yes, as you could tell from my intro, the third season of Mike White’s deep dive into miserable white people and fabulous brand collaborations gave us much to discuss, even if discourse was often centered on complaining about the show’s slow pace and dearth of plot. I don’t begrudge some recognition for a series that dominated the pop culture landscape for its two-month run, but nominating seven of its regular cast members reveals a lack of imagination among voters. Pity the poor ensemble member not nominated. I’m not even going to name them and put that FOMO out into the universe.
SNUB: Any actor from “The Pitt” who wasn’t nominated
Conversely, just one nomination for the supporting crew at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center — for Katherine LaNasa as charge nurse Dana Evans — is an act of voter negligence. I get it. There were a lot of interns and residents and nurses working that 15-hour shift. And just about every one of them was a more fully realized character than anyone on “The White Lotus.” Maybe voters had a hard time focusing their attention with so many choices. I’ll console myself with the knowledge that it’ll win the Screen Actors Guild drama ensemble award next year.
SURPRISE: “Paradise” (drama series)
The dystopian drama that asked the question, “Would you want to be trapped in an underground bunker with the likes of these people?” I can’t think of anything more frightening and enough Emmy voters agreed.
SNUB: “The Four Seasons” (comedy series)
You kind of hated these wealthy, entitled boneheads, and not in ways that were intended or even fun.
SURPRISE: Colman Domingo “The Four Seasons” (comedy supporting actor)
Because even if the show is mediocre, it’s impossible to ignore Domingo in any season.
SNUB: Natasha Lyonne, “Poker Face” (comedy actress) To quote Lyonne’s human lie-detector Charlie Cale, that’s “bulls—.”
SNUB: “The Rehearsal” (comedy series)
How could a show about airline safety produce more laugh-out-loud moments than any other comedy series this year? How could a show so funny, insightful and, yes, occasionally terrifying not be nominated for comedy series? (Also, and not completely unrelated: How could it take this long for the TSA to let us keep our shoes on?)
SNUB: Selena Gomez, “Only Murders in the Building” (comedy actress)
Gomez earned her first Emmy acting nomination last year, but with the category trimmed to five nominees from six, something had to give. Detractors fault her flat, monotone delivery, though if you’re acting opposite Martin Short and Steve Martin, you need to find your own lane. Arguably, Gomez has. Look for that debate to continue next year when the show returns for a fifth season.
SNUB: Kate Hudson, “Running Point” (comedy actress)
Somebody, somewhere voted for Everett, so tender and vulnerable and utterly charming on this now-ended HBO series, one that seems destined for a long life of cult appreciation along the lines of “Enlightened,” created by (yes) Mike White.
SURPRISE: Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This” (comedy actress)
Not a surprise that’s she’s nominated — everyone watched this show in one sitting. But a surprise that this is her first nomination ever. Well-earned, even if I’m not convinced Adam Brody’s rabbi would throw everything away for her character.
SNUB: Steve Martin, “Only Murders in the Building” (comedy actor)
How do you nominate Martin Short and not Steve Martin? Big always wins over subtle. You have to wonder if voters forgot, or didn’t watch, the show’s last season — it has been awhile — which had Martin carrying the plot’s emotional weight as his character grieved the loss of longtime stunt double and friend, Sazz (played by Jane Lynch).
If her star turn in Lena Dunham’s “Too Much” had dropped during the voting window, Stalter might have secured her first Emmy nomination. Or maybe not. (Dunham is polarizing.) At any rate, Stalter might have two shots next year, provided “Hacks” premieres its next (and last) season in time.
SNUB: Meryl Streep, “Only Murders in the Building” (comedy supporting actress)
Only a “snub” because it’s Streep and she’s nominated for everything.
SNUB: “Your Friends and Neighbors” (limited series)
As the Jon Hamm series went along, it felt more like a Patek Philippe ad than any kind of comment on the empty lives of the wealthy. (Are there not any rich people out there leading fulfilling lives?) By the end of its run, we were checking our watches, and voters didn’t give it the time of day. (Sorry.)
SNUB: “Disclaimer” (limited series)
What a disappointment. Alfonso Cuarón’s highly anticipated seven-chapter psychological thriller premiered at the Venice Film Festival last August, screening four episodes over two nights. It then went to Telluride, Toronto and London. It was an event … until people saw it and were left baffled. How could the filmmaker behind “Children of Men,” “Gravity” and “Y tu mamá también” make something so dull that few people could to finish it?
SNUB: Renée Zellweger, “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” (limited series/movie actress)
When “Love Island” defines romantic-comedy for a lot of people, she didn’t stand a chance.
July 7 (UPI) — A new regional report highlights sharp disparities in student achievement across Latin America, driven by socioeconomic status and gender. Brazil and Peru top the list for inequality, while Chile and Uruguay show higher levels of equity.
Education inequality remains one of the primary challenges in Latin America, according to a report by the School of Education at Universidad Austral, a private university in Argentina. The study is based on the 2022 PISA results — the latest test administered by the OECD — across seven countries in the region: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.
The report evaluates how many 15-year-olds reach basic proficiency in math and reading, comparing outcomes by socioeconomic background and gender. Researchers assessed the performance gap between the bottom 20% and the top 20% of students in each country.
The inequality indicator shows that, in reading comprehension, the countries with the highest disparities are Peru, Colombia and Argentina. For every three students from high-income backgrounds who understand what they read, only one from a low-income background does. Chile showed the lowest disparity, while Uruguay, Brazil and Mexico fell in the middle.
Across all countries, girls outperformed boys in reading comprehension, though the socioeconomic gap remained significant.
In math, Brazil had the highest inequality in the region. For every five high-income students who met minimum standards, only one low-income student did. Peru and Argentina followed closely. Chile and Uruguay showed smaller, though still notable, gaps.
Among low-income students, boys consistently outperformed girls in math in all seven countries. However, among wealthier students, girls scored higher than boys in most countries — except Mexico and Peru.
The report also found that girls from low-income backgrounds face a “double disadvantage” in math, performing worse than both low-income boys and high-income girls.
The report’s authors, economists Eugenia Orlicki and Cecilia Adrogué, recommend targeted policies to address these disparities. Their proposals include literacy programs, stronger early childhood education, focused math interventions and integrating a gender perspective in the classroom.
Despite broader access to education, inequality in the region has deepened, the report notes. Inclusion, the authors conclude, only matters if all students are truly learning.
A JOCKEY banned from racing for his role in the ‘biggest race-fixing storm ever’ was beaten by a 40-1 outsider on his first ride back in 14 years.
Greg Fairley beat William Buick to the Champion Apprentice title in 2007 and looked all set for superstardom in the saddle.
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Greg Fairley was banned for 12 years for his role in a race-fixing storm… but returned for the first time at Ayr on MondayCredit: PA:Empics Sport
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The jockey was caught out wide, far right, on Superior Council – as 40-1 outsider South Road sprung a major surprise
He would go onto Group 1 glory and massive prize money earnings of £2.8million on the track over a few short years, banging in 381 winners in Britain alone.
He was found guilty of riding a horse to lose – ‘failing to obtain the best possible placing’ – and passing on inside information for reward.
A total of 11 people were sanctioned by the BHA for what at the time was called the ‘largest race-fixing ring ever exposed in British racing history’.
Fairley and fellow jockey Paul Doe were warned off for a dozen years, while two owners were banned for 14 for betting on their horses to lose, ‘corrupting’ jockeys in the process.
Fairley last rode 14 years ago but, having served his time and been regranted a licence by the BHA, he made his comeback at Ayr on Monday.
The ring that led to 66 years of bans – what happened?
By Sam Morgan
GREG Fairley was part of what at the time was called ‘the biggest race-fixing ring ever’ in British racing.
He and fellow rider Paul Doe were hit with 12-year bans following a BHA probe.
While Kirsty Milczarek, who was the girlfriend of six-time champion jockey Kieren Fallon, was banned for two years and Jimmy Quinn got a six-month suspension.
Five others – Nick Gold, Peter Gold, Shaun Harris, David Kendrick and Liam Vasey – were also found guilty of ‘corrupt or fraudulent practice’.
Vasey, Kendrick and Harris were banned for five, four and three years respectively, while the Golds were later banned for seven and five years respectively as part of a separate investigation.
The probe found that owners Maurice ‘Fred’ Sines and James Crickmore – who were given the biggest 14-year bans – were the leaders of the ring that netted almost £280,000 from ten races.
The case all centred around horses being backed to lose races between January and August 2009.
BHA director Paul Scotney said at the time: “The investigation uncovered a network through which Sines and Crickmore engaged in betting activity, in particular with two riders, Paul Doe and Greg Fairley, that impacted on seven of the 10 races in question.
“In the BHA’s history, the scale and complexity of this case is unprecedented.”
Fairley, who would go onto become a tree surgeon, found more controversy after the ban.
There were calls for him to repay £1,500 spent on teaching him to how to use a chainsaw as part of a jockeys’ retraining scheme.
But it was later deemed ‘impractical’ to pursue him for the money.
Scottish trainer Iain Jardine gave Fairley, who in his own words ran away’ back home to Scotland to run a tree surgery business before the BHA announced his ban, the ride on 4-1 Superior Council.
The six-year-old gelding, who had finished first and second on his two most recent starts, had been backed into as short as 3-1 before drifting slightly before the off.
But despite jumping well from the stalls he found little in the 6f race and finished eighth pf 16.
Former Amo Racing jockey Kevin Stott was on the winner – two-time Grand National champ Lucinda Russell’s 40-1 South Road.
In a statement written before his return, Fairley addressed his past ban and said it’s all now behind him as he focuses on winning again.
Fairley wrote: “Fifteen years ago I chose a path that was wrong and paid a justifiably significant price for my poor decisions.
“I’m incredibly grateful to the licencing committee of the BHA for giving me a second chance.
“I would also like to thank Sandy Thomson, Iain Jardine and Charlie and Mark Johnston who have all been very supportive.”
Commercial content notice: Taking one of the offers featured in this article may result in a payment to The Sun. You should be aware brands pay fees to appear in the highest placements on the page. 18+. T&Cs apply. gambleaware.org.
Remember to gamble responsibly
A responsible gambler is someone who:
Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
Never chases their losses
Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed
The Brad Pitt-led racing film “F1 The Movie” sped to the top of the box office this weekend, another in a string of big summer movies that Hollywood hopes will keep driving people to theaters.
The big-budget film from “Top Gun: Maverick” director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer hauled in $55.6 million in the U.S. and Canada, according to studio estimates. That’s better than analysts had expected for a non-sequel racing movie. People who read pre-release audience surveys had anticipated a debut of $40 million to $50 million.
Powered by the global appeal of Formula One racing, the film took in an additional $88 million internationally. Still, with a reported budget of more than $200 million, not including marketing costs, “F1” will still need significantly more ticket sales to break even.
Nonetheless, with “F1,” the iPhone maker has its first box office hit.
While Apple TV+ has found critical success with its shows, including “Severance,” “The Studio” and “Your Friends & Neighbors” — and notched its first best picture Oscar win in 2022 with “CODA” — its films had not yet clinched box office gold.
Its previous star-studded and filmmaker-driven movies have struggled at theaters, including the 2024 spy comedy “Argylle” and space-age romantic comedy “Fly Me to the Moon,” starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum.
“F1” benefited from a heavily promoted Imax run, which helps make it seem like a must-see on the big screen. Imax screens accounted for 23% of the domestic weekend revenue for “F1,” the cinema technology provider said Sunday. Around 55% of domestic sales came from large-screen formats including Imax, Dolby Cinema and motion seats.
As usual, Apple worked with a major studio to handle the theatrical release. “F1” is being distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, adding to the studio’s winning streak that includes “A Minecraft Movie,” “Sinners” and “Final Destination Bloodlines.” Pitt and Dede Gardner’s Plan B Entertainment produced along with Bruckheimer.
Quality also helped.
“It’s emotional, it’s exciting, it’s got romance, it’s got humor,” producer Jerry Bruckheimer told The Times earlier this month. “It’s the reason I got into this business — to make movies that thrill you on that big screen, that you walk out feeling you’ve been on a real journey and got lost for a couple of hours. That’s the goal every time.”
Strong reviews from audiences and critics bode well for the film’s future grosses and its eventual performance on streaming for Apple. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the movie a grade of “A,” while the movie holds a critics’ score of 83% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes.
Not faring as well was Universal Pictures’ murderous doll sequel “M3GAN 2.0,” which debuted with a weak $10 million and landed in fourth place at the domestic box office, behind holdovers “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Elio.”
The Blumhouse film was expected to open with around $20 million. It fell far short of the success of the original, which opened with $30 million in 2023 and eventually collected $180 million worldwide.
Overall, though, it’s been a strong last few months for the horror genre, starting with Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” which has now grossed $364 million worldwide, and followed by “Final Destination Bloodlines” and zombie franchise revival “28 Years Later.”
The staying power of movies like “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Lilo & Stitch” shows the continued draw of family-friendly films at the box office, which have been major winners since the spring. The exception has been Disney and Pixar’s original animated movie “Elio,” which notched Pixar’s worst opening weekend ever last week.
“Elio” collected about $11 million Friday through Sunday, bringing its total to a poor $42 million in the U.S. and Canada for the $150-million animated picture.
Times staff writer Josh Rottenberg contributed to this report.
ROYAL Ascot jockey Gary Carroll has been banned and fined – days after winning the biggest race of his life.
Carroll steered home 33-1 roughie Cercene in a shock finish to the Coronation Stakes last Friday.
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Cercene was a brilliant winner of the Coronation Stakes – but the ride that got her there has seen jockey Gary Carroll banned and finedCredit: The Mega Agency
Trainer Joseph Murphy said the unlikely victory – worth just shy of £500,000 – was the culmination of his life’s work and there were emotional scenes in the winner’s enclosure afterwards.
But the superstar filly will need a new jockey for her intended run in the Irish Oaks next month after Carroll was hit with a big ban.
He has been whacked with a two-week suspension and fined £5,800 for using his whip twice above the limit of six in the mile race.
Commercial content notice: Taking one of the offers featured in this article may result in a payment to The Sun. You should be aware brands pay fees to appear in the highest placements on the page. 18+. T&Cs apply. gambleaware.org.
Remember to gamble responsibly
A responsible gambler is someone who:
Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
Never chases their losses
Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed
Reporting from San Francisco — When Hillary Clinton parachuted into Los Angeles recently, some of the well-heeled donors who swarmed her brought unsolicited campaign advice, while others brought ambitions of White House appointments. Susie Tompkins Buell brought a bag of dry-roasted chickpeas.
It was fitting that Buell, a wealthy San Franciscan who ranks near the top of the sprawling national network of Clinton benefactors, was obsessing about the candidate’s nourishment. Few people in the orbit of the Clintons have done more for their care and feeding than this 73-year-old fixture of Bay Area philanthropy and salon society who wanted nothing to do with politics — she didn’t even vote — until a chance meeting with Bill Clinton well into her adult life.
Buell not only has become a fundraising powerhouse since then. She has also become Hillary Clinton’s soul mate. Theirs is among a handful of friendships that have been key to fueling the candidate’s ambitions, providing emotional and financial sustenance. It reflects the uncanny Clinton ability to build and maintain unyielding loyalty from the people positioned to help them the most – even people, like Buell, who have no business interests or political aspirations the couple might advance. In many cases, the bonds have only solidified through the stresses of scandal, electoral disappointment and Democratic Party rivalries that the Clintons have powered through.
The network has been most valuable in California, where Hillary Clinton is raising more cash than anyplace else. How Susie Tompkins Buell became a hub of that operation is a uniquely California story.
Buell never thought she would be rich. She was but a 21-year-old who had chosen work as a keno runner in Tahoe over college when she randomly stopped by the roadside to pick up Doug Tompkins, a hitchhiking beach bum who, like Buell, had an unexpected mastery of entrepreneurship and getting in front of trends. The two eventually married and together built a fortune and a cultish following around the clothing lines they created: North Face and Esprit.
But it wasn’t until they divorced and Buell found herself at a retreat at the Esalen Institute that she got curious about the Clintons. Buzz about Bill Clinton at that Big Sur haven of mindfulness intrigued Buell. It was 1991, and the fledgling presidential candidate had inspired one of the speakers at the event, New Urbanist architect and thinker Peter Calthorpe, with his ideas on building and strengthening community, a topic of interest to Buell.
Susie Tompkins Buell, poses with a poster she designed supporting Hillary Clinton for president at her penthouse apartment.
(David Butow / For the Times )
So on a whim, and with a stroke of luck in timing, she dropped in at an event for Clinton while passing through Sacramento on her way home from Tahoe.
She quickly found herself at the head table. The conversation was memorable.
“I told him I was getting divorced and how I had worked with my husband all these years,” Buell said. “He really wanted to know what it was like, and he started talking about Hillary and how she was nervous that night because she was giving a speech at Wellesley,” her alma mater. They talked about the crushing poverty Clinton had seen on the campaign trail, Buell recalled, “and how much people were relying on government. I really wanted a president who would look out for them.”
She decided at that moment it should be Clinton. The next day, she wrote him a $100,000 check.
But the Clinton campaign was confused. Such large gifts usually come with requests for face time with the candidate or, at the very least, donor perks like ticket packages to the party convention and star-studded fundraising events.
“They asked me what I wanted,” she said. “I remember saying, ‘I want him to be president.’ I had no idea about how the money part of this worked.” Indeed, the only candidate who had ever received a cent from her before then was Mark Buell, the man who is now her husband and who long ago unsuccessfully ran for county supervisor. He got $500.
The donation to Clinton might have been a one-off but for the relationship that bloomed when Hillary Clinton approached Buell to personally thank her. The women clicked immediately, and Buell grew more enamored when she saw Clinton deliver an impassioned Mother’s Day address at Glide Memorial Church, a hotbed of leftist activism in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district.
“I was attracted to Bill Clinton, but as soon as I met Hillary, it was much deeper for me,” she said.
Buell hasn’t stopped giving to the Clintons since. More than $15 million has made its way from Buell’s bank account to the campaigns and causes of the Clintons. Untold millions more have been raised by her, often at her gorgeous Pacific Heights penthouse apartment, a mandatory stop on the fundraising circuit for prominent liberals. The menu that iconic chef Alice Waters prepared when Bill Clinton dropped by in March 1996 is framed in the kitchen.
“I can’t even count the number of events I have been to at the house,” said Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who first got to know Buell years ago, when he ran a wine shop and was good friends with her daughter. “It is a perfect venue overlooking the bay. There is an austerity to it. It is an opulent building, an opulent view. But the space itself is austere.” The rooms are sparsely but carefully appointed. Pieces worth more than a small condominium share rooms with stylish items plucked from far-flung flea markets. Every window has a panoramic view.
“It is a perfect backdrop to focus less on the surroundings and more on the occasion,” Newsom said.
The occasion is almost always political activism.
“The environment, women’s rights, children’s rights, equality, all of this,” said Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, ticking off in an interview the causes she has been involved in with Buell. “Susie comes through. She doesn’t say, ‘Put my name down,’ and take a back seat.”
As Buell got entrenched in politics, her relationship with Hillary Clinton began to move beyond it. Clinton writes in one of her books about a conversation between the two while the then-first lady was under siege by Congress amid its investigation into her Whitewater real estate investment. “My free-spirited friend Susie Buell said she didn’t follow all the dramas going on back in Washington, but she did have something to say to me: ‘Bless your heart.’ That was all I needed to hear,” Clinton wrote.
Much later, Clinton showed up at Buell’s apartment to meet her dying brother, a prominent surgeon who was staying with Buell while undergoing painful cancer treatments. “Most people would say, ‘I am sorry I never met your brother,’ or send their best. She just goes right into it,” Buell said. “She wasn’t taking advantage of him. They laughed. It was just sweet. It was one of the tenderest times in my life. … Her comfort with the situation was very moving.”
Buell said she regrets how few people see that side of Clinton.
“I remember once saying to her: ‘Can’t you just be yourself, Hillary?’ ” Buell said. “When there are not cameras around, she really lets it fly. She said, ‘You know what happens? They will get a moment of me expressing something and then say, “There she goes again, the crazy.” ’ Experience has trained her to be so cautious.”
But Clinton also sees a side of Buell that many candidates never get to see: the one that doesn’t talk politics.
“I don’t want to be one more thing she has to think about,” Buell said. “She knows who I am, she knows how I feel. We don’t talk shop. … She doesn’t need one more person to say, ‘What do you think about the Benghazi report?’ ”
This is the same donor who showed up at a high-stakes fundraiser for President Obama near the end of his first term and told him to knock off the small talk when he began to genuflect. Then she launched into a scold about his failure to get a landmark climate change bill through Congress.
“We don’t talk shop,” Susie Tompkins Buell says of her friendship with Hillary Clinton.
(David Butow / For the Times )
Newsom, who says Buell “holds your feet to the fire” when candidates get her support, let out a knowing chuckle when asked about her reluctance to push Clinton. As Buell and other climate activists fought for years to kill the Keystone XL pipeline, candidates who did not stand with them were getting an earful from her. Except Clinton, who stayed neutral through most of the battle.
“They have a deep friendship, and that transcends politics in many respects,” he said. “She has a loyalty to the Clintons that is extraordinary, and it is unbreakable.”
It’s not that Buell is star-struck. She is constantly in the company of celebrity. Meryl Streep gushed in an email about Buell’s “open, welcoming mien.” Waters happened to text while Buell was talking with a displaced former California reporter, and at Buell’s behest, recommended where in Washington to dine.
Bill Clinton emailed to say, “Susie has been my friend for almost 25 years,” and express gratitude “for her constant love and support for Hillary.”
And Gloria Steinem has also been Buell’s friend for years. She recalled in an interview coming to speak about feminism to Esprit employees in the 1980s, long before it was fashionable for big companies to try to raise the consciousness of their workforce. Buell’s then-husband vetoed her plans to advertise in the fledgling Ms. magazine, so Buell sidestepped him by writing a check to subsidize subscriptions for universities.
“She is a self-educated person in the best sense,” Steinem said.
Buell stopped selling clothing long ago, but she never stopped marketing her brand. Lately, she has been working on her “Badass for President” project, a more hipster-oriented line of Clinton campaign memorabilia than the less-daring goods sold in the campaign store. A mock-up poster in her office has the logo emblazoned over a black-and-white photo of young Hillary Clinton in stylish ’60s attire and a coffeehouse conversation pose.
The fundraising events she holds are among the fastest-selling tickets in the city — especially when they are at her apartment in the penthouse of a landmark red-tile-roof building on a Pacific Heights hilltop where the views are dreamlike and the history is rich.
Buell says she was one of the lonely Democrats in the old-money-heavy building when she held her first fundraiser for Bill Clinton there. She had to quickly patch together a bunch of linens to cover the picture windows that the president’s detail warned would be a security risk. Clinton joked that it was better to be looking at the linens than shattered glass. The Secret Service once got stuck in the utility elevator there for an hour after too many of the agents piled in.
They know their way around better now. There are at least three other big Democratic donors in the building now, and sometimes they team up to hold multifloor events. Obama once joked that he had been through so many times he was starting to feel like a resident. Buell expects that she and her neighbors soon will be holding another multitiered event in the building for Hillary Clinton soon. The haul from such events is in the millions of dollars.
“It works great,” she said. “As long as the Secret Service is clear that they can’t all pile into the utility elevator at once.”
And what’s next for Buell if Clinton wins? Probably more of the same, she said.
“I am absolutely not interested in getting appointed to something,” she said. “I have the perfect life.”
Accusing Western leaders of ‘unconditional support’ to Israel, Turkish leader says his country will not allow Middle East borders to be redrawn ‘in blood’.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the “biggest obstacle to regional peace” and that Israeli attacks on Iran right before a new round of nuclear talks with the United States aimed to sabotage the negotiations.
Addressing Arab League diplomats during a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Saturday, Erdogan urged countries with influence over Israel not to listen to its “poison” and to seek a solution to the fighting via dialogue without allowing a wider conflict.
Israeli attacks on Iran show that Netanyahu “and his government … do not want any issues or any matters to be solved diplomatically,” said Erdogan.
“Netanyahu’s Zionist ambitions have no other purpose than to drag our region and … the whole world into a big disaster,” he added.
Erdogan accused the Western leaders of providing “unconditional support” to Israel. He said Turkiye would not allow borders in the Middle East to be redrawn “in blood”.
“It is vital for us to show more solidarity to end Israel’s banditry – not only in Palestine but also in Syria, in Lebanon and in Iran,” he told the OIC gathering.
The 57-member OIC, founded in 1969, says its mission is to “safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony”.
Speaking before Erdogan, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan accused Israel of leading the Middle East towards “total disaster” by attacking Iran.
“Israel is now leading the region to the brink of total disaster by attacking Iran, our neighbour,” he said. “There is no Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Yemeni or Iranian problem but there is clearly an Israeli problem.”
Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said Turkiye as the current OIC chair sees itself well-placed in helping to find a resolution to the Israel-Iran conflict.
“It is a NATO member country placed between the Western and Muslim worlds, and has strong bilateral relations with Iran, the Western world and the United States. And until a few years ago, it had strong relations with Israel,” she said.
On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country was only prepared to engage with the US if Israel stops its attacks on Iran.
“Iran is ready to consider diplomacy once again and once the aggression is stopped and the aggressor is held accountable for the crimes committed,” said Araghchi.
“We support the continuation of discussion with [Britain, France, Germany and the EU] and express our readiness to meet again in the near future.”
A woman visited Europe’s biggest spa and has offered her advice on how to make the most of your visit, as she claims this ‘bucket list experience’ has something for everyone
Therme in Bucharest is Europe’s largest thermal spa (file)(Image: DAILY MIRROR)
A woman has shared her go-to tips for anyone wanting to visit Europe’s biggest spa, which is just a £30 flight away from the UK. Therme București, located north of Bucharest in Romania, is one of Europe‘s largest wellness and relaxation centres, boasting a botanical garden, indoor and outdoor pools, water slides, saunas, mineral pools, relaxation areas, and plenty of spa treatments.
As it is only a £30 flight away from the UK, it makes for the perfect location for a weekend away. It has been inundated with five-star reviews on Trip Advisor and visitors have described the venue as a “tropical paradise”.
To see what all the hype was about, a British woman named Lorella took to TikTok to share her experience, urging everyone to put the spa on their bucket list. However, she did have some tips to help people make the most of their visit.
“Do not go to Europe’s largest spa without knowing all of these things first,” she said at the start of her video before explaining what her experience was like.
“Flights from the UK are around £30 and entry to all three areas of the spa is also around £30,” she explained. “It gets busy very, very quickly, so if you’re only able to come here on the weekend, just make sure you get here for when it opens.
“We did this and we had no issues with getting a sunbed. But within about an hour, there was none available,” she revealed, but urged people to go on a weekday if they can to avoid crowds.
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“For an extra fee, you can book in a massage, but you need to book it the second you get there,” she said, one again highlighting the importance of getting to the spa early in order to not risk the massage slots be fully booked as you can’t book this in before getting there.
Next, Lorella suggested picking up a map of the spa as well as a timetable for the extra activities the spa is offering throughout the day to make it more easy for you to explore and know where you want to go.
“There are some things you do need to pay extra for, for example this water bed,” she said, clarifying that’s its completely optional. “But everything else is more or less included in your ticket price.”
Lorella then showed off the impressive food court where guest can enjoy as much as they want, including pizza, pasta, sushi, and salad. For this, guests get a wristband where you can tap as a ‘payment’ and then you get the bill of what you owe when you leave.
She went on to show the other attractions of the spa, including a separate are for waterslides with kid-friendly activities that’s away from the rest of the spa. Lorella also explained that the spa consists of three sections, and you can pay to get in to all of them or just specific ones.
“But my biggest tip if you can is to stay for the evening, cause it kinda turns into a bit of a nightclub vibe and it’s just immaculate vibes,” she said.
“It’s also a super quick drive from the airport, so if you wanted to do this in a day trip, it’s definitely doable,” she said.
AN ICONIC carmaker has been thrown a £1billion lifeline from the UK Government.
The struggling car maker had announced plans to axe over 20,000 members of staff due to soaring production costs and disappointing sales.
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An iconic carmaker is on an urgent mission to save £5 billionCredit: Getty
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Over 20,000 jobs could be cut as part of the brand’s bid to save cashCredit: AFP
Nissan is looking to raise £5.2billion to stay afloat, with UK Export Finance underwriting a £1billion loan – which will support the beleaguered company.
The manufacturer is planning to cut its number of factories from 17 down to 10.
This has prompted fears that the brand’s Sunderland factory could be under threat.
While Nissan has not confirmed the fate of its only UK factory, its CEO Ivan Espinosa has insisted that more electric cars will be produced there.
It is hoped that the £1billion loan from Nissan’s lenders, underwritten by The Government, will protect the site.
The huge cash injection is just a fifth of the 1Trillion Yen needed by the company to survive.
It will also look to issue as much as 630billion yen in convertible securities and bonds, including high-yield and euro notes.
He said: “In the face of challenging full-year 2024 performance and rising variable costs compounded by an uncertain environment, we must prioritise self-improvement with greater urgency and speed, aiming for profitability that relies less on volume.”
He added: “As new management, we are taking a prudent approach to reassess our targets and actively seek every possible opportunity to implement and ensure a robust recovery.”
Work on all “advanced and post-FY26 product activities” has been paused, though Nissan has not confirmed which particular vehicles will face suspension.
Mr Espinosa has previously issued a full statement about Nissan’s financial woes.
He said: “This is not something that happened in the last couple of years.
“It’s more of a fundamental problem that probably started back in 2015, when management thought this company could reach [annual global vehicle sales] of around eight million.
“There were heavy investments both in terms of planned capacity as well as in human resources, but the reality today is we are running at around half that volume. And nobody did anything to fix that until now.”
