Michael Kovrig, one of two Canadian men detained in China for more than 1,000 days on alleged spying charges, has described being put in solitary confinement for six months and relentlessly interrogated in what he said was psychological torture. Dubbed the “Michaels,” Kovrig and fellow Canadian national Michael Spavor were at the heart of a bitter tussle between Beijing and Ottawa that continues to sour diplomatic relations to this day. “It was psychologically, absolutely, the most grueling, painful thing I’ve ever been through,” Kovrig told CBC News in his first extensive public remarks since being released from Chinese prison three years ago. Kovrig said he was walking home with his partner, who was six months pregnant at the time, from dinner in Beijing on December 10, 2018 when he was seized by Chinese authorities. “We came up a spiral staircase right in front of the plaza in front of my apartment building, and boom,” Kovrig recalled. “There’s a dozen men in black with cameras on them surrounding us, shouting in Chinese, ‘That’s him.’” Kovrig, a former diplomat who was working as a senior advisor for the International Crisis Group think tank, was detained at the same time as Spavor, a Canadian consultant who worked extensively in North Korea, on alleged spying charges. The pair became embroiled in a three-year diplomatic row that began earlier that month when Canadian authorities arrested Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei, in Vancouver on US fraud charges. Kovrig and Spavor were only freed after US prosecutors dropped the extradition request and agreed to release Meng, nearly two years later. Beijing consistently denied any connection between the arrests of Meng and the Michaels and said Kovrig and Spavor were released on bail for health reasons. Chinese officials did not publicly disclose any evidence against Spavor or Kovrig, or detailed information relating to their trials, which were held behind closed doors. Michael Kovrig embraces his separated wife Vina Nadjibulla after arriving at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, on September 25, 2021. Frank Gunn/AP ‘Chill down my spine’ After he was detained, Kovrig told CBC News he was handcuffed, blindfolded and thrown into a black SUV, then taken to a padded cell that would be his home for the next six months. “At that point they said, ‘You are under suspicion of endangering China’s state security. You are going to be interrogated,’” Kovrig said. “A chill went down my spine.” Kovrig said he was held in complete isolation in a cell under fluorescent lights for six months, in contravention of UN standards. He said he was interrogated for 6 to 9 hours daily, locked in a chair for hours on end, and at times was forced to survive on three bowls of rice per day. “They are trying to bully and torment and terrorize and coerce you into accepting their false version of reality,” Kovrig said. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday that “China upholds the rule of law, and China’s judicial authorities handle cases in strict accordance to the law.” “Lies and smearing won’t change the fact that (Kovrig) conducted illegal and criminal activities,” ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a daily briefing. “We urge relevant parties to respect facts and reflect upon their own mistakes.” Kovrig told CBC that six months into his detention he was moved to a larger cell with plexiglass windows, which he shared with a dozen cellmates. “That was kind of like moving from hell to limbo,” Kovrig said. Kovrig and Spavor were released in September 2021. Kovrig stepped off the plane in Toronto and hugged his separated wife Vina Nadjibulla, who had campaigned tirelessly for his release, in a touching moment that reverberated across the country. He also met his daughter, who his partner gave birth to while Kovrig was in prison, for the first time. He described the meeting as “the most fantastic, heartwarming feeling you can imagine.” “I’ll never forget that sense of wonder, of everything being new and wonderful again, of pushing my daughter on a swing and her saying to her mother, ‘Mummy, I’m so happy.’”

China’s economic slowdown isn’t an abstract concept for Zheng Jiewen, 23, who works full time at an ad agency in the southern megacity of Guangzhou. Mainly a print model, Zheng used to rake in 30,000 yuan ($4,230) a month when she began working two years ago. But, starting last year, when new business at the company she worked for started to decline, her salary was reduced incrementally, culminating in a major cut in February that slashed her earnings to just half of her previous pay. “I was extremely shocked,” she told CNN. She said she immediately brought down her spending to match her new salary. That meant no more Louis Vuitton, Chanel or Prada, formerly her go-to brands. The “obvious” economic slowdown has resulted in social media searches for dupes tripling from 2022 to 2024, said Laurel Gu, a Shanghai-based director of Mintel, a market research firm. These days, she and her friends are spending their more limited funds on so-called “pingti” products, high-quality replicas of branded goods known in English as dupes. Some are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing, while others are inspired by the original design and offer more colors or textures. The popularity of this product category is soaring as consumer confidence in China nears a historic low, according to analysts. Gu said that unlike 10 years ago when Chinese shoppers, the world’s top luxury spenders, were clamoring for Western goods from famous brands, consumers are now increasingly turning to more affordable alternatives, a trend that is becoming “the new mainstream.” Dupes can be considerably cheaper than their branded rivals. A pair of Lululemon’s (LULU) Align yoga pants costs 750 yuan ($106) on its official Chinese website. By contrast, a search of popular e-commerce sites including Tmall yields dozens of other options, often using Lulu in their store names, touting similar leggings for as little as $5 and claiming to be of comparable quality. Lululemon has plenty of imitators in China. The left image shows a pair of its $106 Align leggings and the right is from a competitor charging about $12. Lululemon/Tmall China’s growing love for dupes isn’t just a problem for established brands such as Louis Vuitton. Sales at its luxury powerhouse owner, LVMH, dropped 10% in the first six months of this year in its Asia region, which excludes Japan, compared to 2023. That market is dominated by China. The pingti trend is contributing to overall lackluster consumption and retail sales, which missed what were already-low expectations last month. A slew of economic data over the summer has been so weak that economists are concerned China may miss its 5% target growth rate announced in March. On Tuesday, China’s central bank unveiled a fresh package of measures to revive growth by cutting its main interest rate and reducing the amount of cash that banks need to hold in reserve, which would free up money for lending. Stock markets in Hong Kong and mainland China have rallied strongly in response, with the Hang Seng index and the Shanghai Composite each closing 4% higher. Cautious consumers A year and a half after China reopened its borders following the Covid-19 pandemic, consumer confidence is still struggling to recover, economists at investment bank Nomura wrote in a research note earlier this month. Its consumer confidence index dipped to 86.0 in July from 86.2 in June, they said, only slightly above the historical low of 85.5 hit in November 2022, when the country was still mired in pandemic woes. (The index measures consumer confidence on a scale of zero to 200, with 100 indicating a neutral stance.) Shoppers are sitting on the sidelines due to a combination of falling stock prices, capital flight and “tepid” wage growth, the economists said. According to CNN’s interviews with consumers in different parts of China, though, holding on to your existing salary is already considered a win. An elementary math teacher from Chongqing, southwestern China, who gave her name as Xinxin told CNN that she was previously a loyal fan of Estée Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair serum. But after a “brutal” pay cut of over 20% this year, which she attributed to “fiscal issues” in her school district caused by economic challenges, she turned to budget-friendly alternatives. She found one with the same key ingredients priced at a massive discount of about 100 yuan (about $14) for 20 milliliters (just over half an ounce), compared to Estée Lauder’s 720 yuan ($100) for 30 milliliters (one ounce). “Why dupe? Pay cut, of course!” she quipped. Xinxin and Zheng, the model, consider themselves lucky to have jobs. On Friday, China revealed that the unemployment rate for people aged 18 to 24, excluding students, rose to 18.8% in August. It was the highest level since the figure was reintroduced in January. China stopped releasing the metric for several months after it hit consecutive record highs last summer. A precipitous fall On Tuesday, central bank governor Pan Gongsheng sought to address widespread concern about stalling growth by announcing cuts to one of its key lending rates, the seven-day reverse repo rate, from 1.7% to 1.5%. It also cut the reserve requirement ratio for banks by half a percentage point, which would free up about one trillion yuan ($142 billion) for new lending. He additionally revealed cuts to existing mortgages and lowered the minimum mortgage downpayment from 25% to 15% for second-time homebuyers to support the ailing property sector, which many economists believe is the root cause of China’s numerous economic woes. The real estate sector once accounted for as much as 30% of economic activity. It began to cool in 2019 and fell into a deep trough about two years later, after a government-led clampdown on developers’ borrowing. The resulting crisis has resulted in a precipitous fall in real estate prices and loss of confidence among consumers. Individuals and companies have been trying to preserve their wealth by selling assets and cutting consumption, as well as investment. Prices of existing homes are down nearly 30% from 2021, Nomura said, citing research from Beike, a platform that tracks housing transactions, based

The tens of thousands of bees removed from a Maine farmhouse this week had caused quite a buzz there for decades, according to the family who’s lived on the farm since the 18th century. An estimated 40,000 bees were taken from the walls of a farmhouse at Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook, Maine, according to CNN affiliate WMTW. The Knight family has managed the farmland since 1720, according to the farm’s website. “Marsha Knight … claims that those honey bees or other honey bees have been in that wall void ever since she was a young girl,” said Andrew MacDonald, owner of Bee Huggah, the company that removed the bees from the farmhouse, in a video posted to Facebook. Maine is home to more than 270 bee species, according to the University of Maine. The bees were removed from a Maine farmhouse this week. WMTW “For 60-plus years, there’s been bees in this house and it might be longer than that. It might be 70 or 80,” said Marsha’s brother, Michael Knight, according to WMTW. MacDonald’s September 13 video clip showed a large cluster of busy bees moving inside an exposed yellow wall at the farmhouse before their removal last week. From another view, the bees can be seen buzzing into and out of the farmhouse from the outside, the clip shows. Instead of killing the bees, the Knight family wanted to save the colony living in the farmhouse, which needs renovation, so they requested MacDonald’s services, WMTW reported. “I believe that these bees are worth saving for a number of different reasons,” MacDonald told WMTW. “They have medicinal value and they pollinate our crops.” MacDonald relocated the bees to a beehive box outside the farmhouse, where they’re getting adjusted to their new home, he shared in a Facebook clip Friday. The Knight family said they plan to maintain the outdoor hive and the bees will be later relocated elsewhere on the farm, according to WMTW.

A zoo in China has admitted its star attraction, two so-called pandas, are just painted dogs. The fluffy Chow Chow dogs painted to resemble the country’s beloved national animal were seen in a video shot by a visitor to the zoo in southern Guangdong province. The video, posted Monday on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, has gone viral, being shared more than 1.4 million times and liked by over 725,000 users. In a photo shared by another user on social media, the black and white canines can be seen in an enclosure next to a sign that says “painted dogs.” “We are called Panda Dogs, a pet dog that looks like a panda, dyed and dressed up by Chow Chow. We are gentle, smart, friendly, cute and adorable!” the sign says. The zoo’s manager, surnamed Huang, said the dogs are one of its top attractions. “You can see by our name, we are ‘Strange Animals and Cute Pets Paradise,’” she told state-affiliated outlet Sichuan Observation. “These are Chow Chow dogs being painted (as pandas), as this is part of our specialties.” This is not the first time dogs have been painted to look like pandas or other wild animals in China. In May, a zoo in eastern Jiangsu province sparked outrage after visitors discovered it painted two dogs black and white to resemble pandas. Following widespread criticism, the zoo admitted the ruse. A café in the southwestern city of Chengdu also came under fire in 2019 for offering a dyeing service for people to make their pets look like pandas. And in 2016, pet shops in Guangdong were caught selling dogs dyed to look like miniature tigers.

A major upset saw Anthony Joshua miss out on the chance to become three-time world heavyweight champion on Saturday night, as he was knocked out by British rival Daniel Dubois in the fifth round. Having dominated in the opening four rounds, Dubois completed the defense of his IBF heavyweight belt with a devastating overhand right to Joshua’s chin 59 seconds into the fifth in front of a record crowd of 96,000 at Wembley Stadium in London. The result comes as a huge shock, with Joshua entering the fight in good form having won his last four fights, including taking out Francis Ngannou with a spectacular second-round knockout in March. Having likely expected to finish Saturday as world heavyweight champion – which would have put him in the perfect position to fight the winner of December’s Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk rematch and potentially become the undisputed champion of the division – Joshua is now suddenly scrambling to bounce back. The 34-year-old – who has now been defeated four times in 32 fights – has a rematch clause, which his promoter Eddie Hearn expects him to exercise. There is also the chance he will fight the loser of Fury and Usyk. “Credit to him and his team. We rolled the dice of success, but we came up short,” said Joshua after the bout. “We keep rolling the dice. I had a sharp opponent, a fast opponent and a lot of mistakes from my end, but that’s the game.” Joshua began the fight immediately on the back foot, dropped by a right hand to the chin in the first round. Dubois kept up the onslaught in the second and third rounds, the latter seeing him catch his opponent with a huge left hook which left Joshua on the ropes, then begin another series of shots to send Joshua down for a second time. The favorite was saved by the bell, but went down again in the fourth round following another left hook from Dubois. The fifth saw Joshua begin what would have been an unlikely comeback as Dubois started to tire. But it was short lived, Dubois knocking down his opponent one last time. Despite Joshua’s attempts to right himself, the fight was over. Dubois celebrates after winning his fight against Joshua to retain his IBF heavyweight title. Andrew Couldridge/Action Images/Reuters It is undoubtedly the greatest moment of Dubois’ career so far, and it is the 27-year-old who now has a shot at fighting for the undisputed world heavyweight title following Fury and Usyk’s rematch in December. “I’ve only got a few words to say: ‘Are you not entertained?’” he said afterwards. “I’m a gladiator, I’m a warrior to the bitter end. I want to get to the top level of this game and reach my full potential. “I’ve been on a rollercoaster ride. This is my time, this is my redemption story, and I’m not going to stop until I reach my full potential.”

  German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) looked set to fend off the far right in a state election in Brandenburg on Sunday after trailing behind the Alternative for Germany (AfD) throughout the campaign, exit polls indicated. The SPD, which has governed the state surrounding the capital Berlin since reunification in 1990, scored 31.8% of the vote, ahead of the far-right Alternative for Germany on 29.2%, in a last-minute comeback, according to the exit poll by broadcaster ZDF. The success for the SPD could give Scholz a slight reprieve from party discussions about his suitability to be once more be its chancellor candidate for the federal election scheduled for next September given his unpopularity with voters. It is unlikely, however, to give him or his party a major boost given the popular, incumbent SPD premier Dietmar Woidke had distanced himself from Scholz during the campaign and criticized the federal government’s policies. “Dietmar Woidke and his Brandenburg SPD have made a furious comeback in recent weeks,” said SPD party general secretary Kevin Kuehnert. “For us in the federal SPD, this evening, if things go well, the problems that lie ahead of us will not have gotten any bigger. But they have not gotten any smaller either,” he said. Three-quarters of those who voted for the SPD did not do so out of conviction but rather to fend off the AfD, according to the exit poll published by broadcaster ARD. Turnout rose to 73% from 61% five years ago, according to ZDF. The SPD is polling just 15% at national level, down from the 25.7% it scored in the 2021 federal election. That is behind the AfD on around 20% and opposition conservatives on 32%. All three parties in Scholz’s ideologically heterogeneous coalition combined are currently polling at around 30%, less than the conservatives alone. The coalition has come under fire for its constant bickering and for its handling of immigration. In the formerly Communist-run East, many voters are also critical of its delivery of weapons to Ukraine to help it fend off Russia’s full-scale invasion. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a cabinet meeting on September 4, 2024, in Berlin, Germany. Maryam Majd/Getty Images/File No time for complacency The vote in Brandenburg comes three weeks after the Russia-friendly AfD became the first far-right party to top a state election in Germany since World War Two, in Thuringia. It also performed strongly in neighboring Saxony, coming hot on the heels of the conservatives in second place. Woidke warned against complacency, noting the AfD was still gaining momentum. The ZDF poll suggested it had gained 5.7 percentage points since the last Brandenburg election in 2019. AfD co-leader Tino Chrupalla noted the AfD had made strong gains among young voters – a trend that was reflected for far-right parties across Europe in the EU elections in June. The new leftist Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht was on track to come in third place, on 12% according to the poll, ahead of the conservatives on 11.6%, underscoring the ongoing upheavals in Germany’s political landscape making predictions tricky. The Greens, one of the junior partners in Scholz’s coalition at a federal level, came in on 4.7%, just below the 5% threshold to automatically make it into state parliament. The result achieved by the other junior coalition partner, the Free Democrats (FDP), was too insignificant to be reflected in the poll.

He’s a “walking feathery poop machine.” And he’s also a celebrity. Meet Pesto the king penguin. At just nine months old and 22.5 kilograms (50 pounds), he’s already bigger than his parents at the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium in Australia. Photos of Pesto – who is 90 centimeters (about three feet) tall – towering over his parents have gone viral online. He has also provided opportunities for people to learn more about penguins. Although most people recognize the adult black-and-white birds, king penguins are born covered in brown feathers. Once they learn how to swim, they will begin shedding those feathers – a process known as fledging. Penguins are also sexually dimorphic, which means you can’t tell their sex by looking at them. In order to discover the genders of their penguins, keepers take a small drop of blood from the penguin’s toe and send it to a lab in order to get an official answer. Michaela Smale, a penguin keeper who has been at Sea Life since 2018, says that usually for a chick’s gender reveal the Sea Life team just makes cupcakes and informally circulates them among the staff. But Pesto, already used to breaking records, had his own reveal broadcast on social media. In the viral clip, a keeper slices into a white cake to reveal blue inside. Sea Life’s Instagram page has 25,000 followers. “I think he’s always going to be a big boy,” says Smale. Once he fledges, “he will shrink and slim down a little but he’s already significantly taller than his dad.” Pesto socializing with the other penguins in his colony. SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium Pesto’s biological father, Blake, is one of the aquarium’s oldest and largest penguins. But he’s being raised by Tango and Hudson, younger penguins whom Sea Life keepers wanted to try out as parents. Many of the 60 penguins have food-themed names, including Pudding, Whopper, and Lamingtons. Pesto gets fed about eight fish, four times a day – more than 30 fish a day – twice as many as the average adult penguin. As he’s still a chick, he also gets some supplemental feed from his parents. With that food comes a lot of waste. Smale explains that penguins poop about every 15 minutes, meaning the keepers are very busy making sure the penguin exhibit is clean when visitors come. “Sometimes they become quite independent teenagers, so maybe he’s ready for his bad boy phase,” says Smale. “I hope he retains some of his quirky personality and hopefully we can follow his adventures as he becomes part of the colony.”

  “His birth was unknown, his death hidden.” So reads the headstone (translated from Latin) marking the grave of the enigmatic man known as Kaspar Hauser, who died in 1833. Nearly 200 years later, scientists have finally solved a longstanding mystery about Hauser’s suspected ties to German royalty. Hauser appeared seemingly out of nowhere in what is now Nuremberg, Germany, on May 26, 1828, when he was about 16 years old. He was found wandering the town square with no identification and with an unsigned letter clutched in his hand. The letter and Hauser’s fragmented recollections told a harrowing tale: that he grew up in a cramped dungeon that he never left and was fed and kept clean by a benefactor whom he never saw. When the teenage Hauser turned up in the town center, he could barely write his own name and was scarcely able to communicate with officials who questioned him. Related articleLong-hidden family scandal in Jamestown colony revealed 400 years later by ancient DNA A fantastic story took root, suggesting that Hauser was a kidnapped prince of local lore, taken from the royal family of Baden, then a sovereign state in what’s now southwest Germany. There was no evidence to support this theory, but the rumors persisted, endearing Hauser to fashionable members of European society and establishing him as a local celebrity. Long after Hauser’s death, scholars searched in vain for any proof of regal parentage. In the mid-1990s, genetic data from samples of Hauser’s preserved blood suggested that he was not part of the Baden lineage. But these results were soon contradicted by tests a few years later that sampled Hauser’s hair. Ad Feedback A study of plums, rosebuds and cherries by Hauser (from 1833), a watercolor with largely spotted stenciling, appeared in the temporary exhibition “Kaspar Hauser — Pictorial World. Known and Unknown Drawings” at the Markgrafen Museum in Ansbach, Germany, in 2016. Daniel Karmann/dpa/picture alliance/AP Recently, scientists found definitive answers through new analysis of hair samples from Hauser, according to research published in the journal iScience. Their approach, developed for ancient fragments of DNA from Neanderthals, was more sensitive than earlier methods. When they analyzed Hauser’s mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA — genetic code passed down on the maternal side — they confirmed that it didn’t match mtDNA from Baden family members. Nearly two centuries after Hauser’s mysterious appearance, this finding ruled out the possibility that he was a kidnapped prince. The new analysis “exemplifies how molecular genetics can unravel historical mysteries,” said Dr. Dmitry Temiakov, a professor in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. “This is a very comprehensive study,” said Temiakov, who was not involved in the research. “(It) accounted for all previous data, examined and explained the discrepancies in DNA sequencing analyses that took place at different times and were performed by different methods, presented new data, and carefully estimated the probability of an individual matching a particular lineage.” Unraveling DNA The lab that conducted the new analysis has worked for nearly two decades to improve techniques for studying highly degraded DNA, said lead study author and forensic molecular biologist Dr. Walther Parson, a researcher at the National DNA Database Laboratory of the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior in Innsbruck, Austria. For their study, the scientists first reviewed earlier findings about Hauser. In 1996, a lab in Munich, Germany, analyzed blood from Hauser’s underwear. (He died of a knife wound, and his bloodstained clothes are preserved in a museum in Ansbach, Germany.) According to the Munich lab, mtDNA in Hauser’s blood didn’t match Baden mtDNA. However, some researchers who supported the “lost prince” hypothesis claimed that the blood may not have belonged to Hauser, Parson told CNN. “It has been said that the curators of the museum where the trousers of Kaspar Hauser were put on display, that they would renew the bloodstain in order to make it look better,” adding fresh blood from a different source, he said. “If that was the case, the new blood would mask the old blood and would very likely have different mitochondrial DNA.” In the early 2000s, another lab in Münster, Germany, tested hair samples from Hauser. Those results showed that Hauser’s mtDNA was a close match to that of the Badens, contradicting the findings from Munich. “They were in a stalemate,” Parson said. A royal hoax debunked Parson’s lab conducted new analysis of Hauser’s hair, using strands collected before and after his death. The hairs were documented extensively and could be authenticated with more certainty than the blood samples, Parson said. What’s more, the lab’s highly sensitive technique enabled researchers to be sure that they were sampling the hair shafts, where the useful mtDNA was located, and that the samples weren’t contaminated. “With the improved sequencing method, we were able to get sequences of the highly degraded component,” delivering results with a much stronger signal than in the previous hair analysis, Parson said. The new results matched those of the blood analysis from 1996, finding that Hauser’s mitotype — a set of mitochondrial alleles for different genes — was type W. The mitotype of the Badens was type H. Related articleGeorge Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves “That changes the picture, because now the hair samples give the same result as the blood sample,” Parson said. To confirm their results, the researchers sent hair strands to a third lab — in Potsdam, Germany — that specialized in ancient DNA but did not tell scientists there that the sample was Hauser’s hair. The Potsdam blind analysis also returned the type W mitotype for the Hauser sample. “The consistency of data across three independent laboratories further reinforces the study’s conclusions,” Temiakov added. ‘The riddle of his time’ According to the “prince theory,” Hauser’s parents were the Grand Duke Carl and Grand Duchess Stéphanie de Beauharnais. The grand duchess gave birth to a son on September 29, 1812, and the unnamed child died when he was 18 days old. However, some

A cat who got lost in Yellowstone National Park somehow traveled more than 900 miles to return home after two months, with help from the pet’s microchip, an animal welfare organization said. Rayne Beau is a 2-and-a-half-year-old seal point mitted siamese. His owners, Susanne and Benny Anguiano from Salinas, California, were visiting the park in Wyoming when he wandered off, Susanne told CNN. The recently relocated cat, whose name is pronounced as “rainbow,” went missing on the first day of their trip to Fishing Bridge RV Park on June 4, Anguiano said. “My husband is my hero because he went every day into the forest for hours looking for him,” Anguiano told CNN affiliate KSBW this week. Rayne Beau ran off into the forest after getting startled, and the couple’s attempts to lure him back with his favorite treats and toys were unsuccessful, KSBW reported. “We had to leave without him,” Anguiano told KSBW. “That was the hardest day because I felt like I was abandoning him.” Rayne Beau is pictured reunited with his sibling. Courtesy Susanne Anguiano The heartbroken pet owner said she never lost hope of finding her missing pet, according to KSBW. However, they adopted another cat a month after Rayne Beau went missing to keep his sister company, Anguiano told CNN. The couple had rescued Rayne Beau and his twin sister Starr when they were 11 weeks old, according to Anguiano. Then, 61 days after Rayne Beau went missing, the couple received a notification about a cat with Rayne Beau’s identification number being located, KSBW reported. Rayne Beau was found in Roseville, California, around 190 miles away from his home in Salinas. He was then taken to the Placer Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Roseville, the society’s CEO, Leilani Fratis, confirmed in an email to CNN. “We hope everyone will see the benefits to microchipping their pets,” Fratis said. The cat was found in poor health by the woman who turned him in, KSBW reported. “We have been in contact with the woman who found him in Roseville and took him in for a couple of nights before she could get him to the SPCA,” Anguiano told CNN. In total, the cat somehow traveled more than 1,000 miles from Wyoming, to Roseville and onward home to Salinas, California. The couple said they’re not sure how Rayne Beau made it all the way back to California, but they are thankful he’s back home. “We are ecstatic to have him back,” Anguiano said. “I look at him every day and am so grateful and tell him, ‘Do you know how many weeks I had been praying to see that face again?’”

A rare painting from René Magritte’s famous “L’empire des lumières” series is estimated to sell for more than $95 million at Christie’s New York this fall, a sum that would break the Surrealist artist’s record at auction and represent a major win for the auction house after softened sales across the industry. “L’empire des lumières,” from 1954, is one of the 27 paintings in which Magritte explored light by painting a sunlit sky above a darkened street scene. In 2022, another one of the works from the series nearly tripled the Belgian artist’s previous record when it sold for £59.4 million (then $79.7 million) at Sotheby’s in London. René Magritte’s L’empire des lumières Courtesy of Chrstie’s The present painting comes from the estate of the late Mica Ertegun, an interior designer who was married to Ahmet Ertegun, a co-founder of Atlantic Records and a prolific art collector. Other works to be included in the sales of her collection include pieces by household names like Joan Miró, David Hockney and even a Polaroid photo of Ertegun herself taken by Andy Warhol. “But of all the works she lived with, Magritte’s ‘L’empire des lumières’ most nearly captures her aesthetic philosophy in its balance and restraint,” Max Carter, Christie’s vice chairman of 20th and 21st century art, said in a statement. “An icon of Surrealism, the Ertegun Magritte is arguably the finest, most deftly rendered and hauntingly beautiful of the series. Like Mica’s eye, it is perfect.” A dedicated evening sale of Ertegun’s collection will be held on November 19 in New York, along with subsequent daytime auctions and two online sales. A “significant portion” of the proceeds will go toward philanthropic initiatives, an auction house spokesperson said. During her life, Ertegun supported causes like the Graduate Scholarship Programme in the Humanities at Oxford University, Jazz at Lincoln Center and the World Monuments Fund. Related articleA portrait found in a Maine attic unexpectedly sold for $1.4M. Could it be a long-lost Rembrandt? Christie’s reported in July that its total revenue from live and online auction sales during the first half of 2024 had reached $2.1 billion worldwide, representing a 22% year-on-year drop and roughly $600 million less than the opening six months of 2023. However, other metrics like sell-through rates, the percentage of lots that lead to completed sales, remained healthy. Last week, the auction house revealed it is acquiring Gooding & Company, a collector car auctioneer, 17 years after exiting the car market.

More than a year after the Titan submersible imploded, killing all five voyagers on board, the story of the ill-fated expedition to the Titanic has taken the form of a modern-day Greek tragedy overflowing with mortal pride and heedlessness. Testimony during the first week of a hearing by a US Coast Guard panel probing the disaster has painted a damning portrait of the Washington-based company that developed and operated the 23,000-pound submersible as well as its founder – who charged deep-pocketed passengers about $250,000 per dive. “What this really comes down to is hubris and greed,” Peter Girguis, a Harvard University professor and oceanographer who has been monitoring the hearing, told CNN. “It’s both tragic and ironic that this example of hubris occurred within a few 100 meters or yards of another example of hubris, which is the Titanic,” he added, referring to another infamous maritime disaster involving what was the largest passenger ship in service and considered “unsinkable” when it struck an iceberg in 1912. Since Monday, people who once worked with exploration promoter OceanGate and others described a terse final message sent seconds before contact was lost, what one witness called a “smoke and mirrors” company culture centered on profits rather than science, a malfunction of the Titan just days before it imploded and repeated dire warnings that were ignored before disaster struck 15 months ago. Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of the vessel’s operator; businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood; businessman Hamish Harding; and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet were all killed. Those remains were matched to the five men on board through DNA testing and analysis, according to the Marine Board of Investigation. “One thing that needs to be very clear is that there has been up to this point a perfect track record in deep submersions,” Chris Roman, a professor at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, told CNN. “The second is, it’s not a cavalier, high risk, every dive is like a daredevil event if done properly … There’re no shortcuts here, especially in this business. And if you cut corners, it will bite you.” Here are some takeaways from the hearing’s first week: ‘All good here’ and then one final message One of the final haunting messages from the Titan submersible was delivered at 10:14 a.m. local time in Newfoundland, Canada, according to an animation from the Coast Guard hearing: “All good here.” Half an hour later, about 10:47 a.m. local time, the Titan sent another message to its mother ship, the Polar Prince, saying it had “dropped two wts” – referring to weights the submersible could shed to either return to the surface or to ease its descent into the dark, hostile deep. In six seconds, contact was lost. A lawsuit by the family of one victim has claimed the message – about 90 minutes into the drive – was an indication the crew might have known something was wrong and were trying to abort the mission. Seconds after that brief communication, the Titan was “pinged” for the last time, according to the opening presentation of the two-week hearing. Days later, authorities found its wreckage on the floor of the North Atlantic Ocean, several hundred yards from the remains of the Titanic, according to the Marine Board of Investigation, which is the highest level of inquiry by the Coast Guard. The submersible lost contact with its mother ship the morning of June 18, 2023. When it failed to resurface, a dramatic international search and rescue mission unfolded in the remote waters several hundred miles southeast of Newfoundland. Authorities concluded the vessel had suffered a “catastrophic implosion,” a sudden inward collapse caused by immense pressure. Near the debris on the sea floor, “presumed human remains” believed to belong to the victims were recovered. Until that morning, a manned deep-ocean submersible had never imploded, according to industry experts. ‘Smoke and mirrors’ and cutting corners on safety A key witness during the hearing’s first week was David Lochridge, a former director of marine operations for OceanGate, who had expressed concerns about the safety of the Titan submersible. OceanGate’s company culture was centered on “making money” and offered “very little in the way of science,” Lochridge testified. Lochridge described a 2018 report in which he expressed safety concerns over OceanGate operations and said, “There was no way I was signing off on this.” He had “no confidence whatsoever” in the submersible’s construction, he testified. Lochridge said his responsibility was to ensure the safety of all crew, clients and training pilots but he felt more “like a show pony” because no one else was qualified as a pilot. “It was all smoke and mirrors,” he said of the way the company operated. “All the social media that you see about all these past expeditions. They always had issues with their expeditions.” The manufacturer of the Titan’s viewport – an acrylic window on the submersible – had built and certified it for a depth of 1,000 meters, or about 3,280 feet. But Lochridge said OceanGate intended to take the vessel “to 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) with passengers who are unaware of this.” Lochridge said OceanGate and Rush ignored the manufacturer’s concerns and its offer to construct a viewport certified to a depth of more than 13,000 feet. Instead, Rush had the viewport designed in-house by OceanGate and manufactured by a third party. Rush’s vision “was, give somebody this PlayStation controller and within an hour they’re going to be a pilot,” Lochridge testified. “That’s not the way it works.” Lochridge, who said he was eventually fired in 2018 after raising the alarm over safety issues, added: “They wanted to be able to qualify a pilot in a day, someone who had never sat in a submersible. They wanted people to basically come in, get checked out as pilots and be able to take passengers down in the sub.” A transcript of Lochridge’s exit interview with Stockton Rush and other OceanGate staff showed the tension between the two company leaders. The redacted transcript was released during

Democrats have bet the destiny of the White House on the premise that once voters remember the chaos and divisiveness of Donald Trump’s presidency, he’d suffer an election-defining slump. Wild weeks of outlandish rhetoric by the ex-president have revived memories of the cacophony of his four White House years and shattered perceptions that he’s running a more disciplined campaign than in 2020 or 2016. But the nature of the race — a toss-up contest in swing states — has not budged. Trump has peddled baseless rumors that immigrants in Ohio are eating pets. He’s warned that Jewish voters will be to blame if he loses in November. He’s refused to openly condemn a protege in the North Carolina gubernatorial contest who described himself as “black Nazi” on a porn site, as CNN’s KFile reported last week. Trump also reacted to a second apparent assassination attempt by implying that Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrats are inviting such attacks when they highlight his refusal to accept his 2020 election loss and say he’s a danger to democracy. Despite everything, the ex-president remains locked in what CNN senior political data reporter Harry Enten described Sunday as the closest presidential race since Democrat John F. Kennedy’s narrow win over Vice President Richard Nixon. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, whose political network will be critical to Harris’ hopes in the must-win state for Democrats, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, “I can just tell you this: This election is going to be close. We have always known that.” She added: “In a state like Michigan or Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, we know that this is going to be a close race.” The tight nature of the contest was highlighted by the candidates’ remarks and strategies over a weekend of tense campaign exchanges. Harris suggested that the ex-president was “looking for an excuse” to avoid debating her after she accepted CNN’s invitation to a second contest on October 23. The former president, meanwhile, tried to reduce the wide gender gap with women that threatens his election with a frantic Truth Social post in all caps. Trump vowed: “I will protect women at a level never seen before. They will finally be healthy, hopeful, safe and secure. Their lives will be happy, beautiful and great again!” On Sunday, in a rare moment of introspection, Trump told Sharyl Attkisson on “Full Measure” that he doesn’t seem himself running again in 2028 if he loses in November. “I think … that will be it. I don’t see that at all,” he said. No clear leader But despite the rising heat on the campaign trail, the race remains where it has been for weeks: deadlocked. National polls have ticked up slightly for Harris since her debate with Trump earlier this month, although there is still no clear leader. The vice president is at 50% compared with Trump’s 47% in the latest CNN Poll of Polls average. The survey incorporates five polls conducted entirely after the debate on September 10. One poll added to the average on Sunday, from NBC News, showed Harris at 49% support to Trump’s 44% — the ex-president’s lowest level of support in a poll that meets CNN’s standards since Harris replaced President Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate in July. While Harris’ improving trajectory is a reason for optimism for her supporters, the presidency will be decided in the Electoral College. That puts great importance on results in a handful of states, including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina, where polling averages put the contest within a few points either way. As few as several hundred thousand voters could have the power to choose between the hugely contrasting paths that a Trump or Harris victory would mean for the United States and the rest of the world. Trump’s comeback attempt is, after all, a stunning story considering he left office in disgrace after inciting an attack by his supporters on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and after refusing to accept he lost the election. Trump, who was twice impeached, is a convicted felon who is facing more grave criminal charges. It’s inconceivable that any other politician could have survived such a torrent of scandal and still be within reach of the Oval Office again. A core principle of the Biden campaign before the president’s departure from the race was that once voters saw the unfiltered bombast of Trump, their memories of his tumultuous term would return and he’d lose. But Biden’s failure at the CNN debate in June, when his advanced age was painfully obvious, obliterated the comparison. Harris, who turned the race on its head when she replaced Biden, has tried to highlight the contrast between her pragmatism and Trump’s extremism. At last month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, she set up a narrative that Trump was an “unserious man” who poses an “extremely serious” threat. But the best spin on the Harris campaign with just over six weeks to go is that the vice president has returned a race that Democrats looked very likely to lose back into the neck-and-neck fight that it always seemed likely to be. Trump is an extraordinarily resilient politician — but can he get over the line? Any understanding of what is ahead must start with an acknowledgment of the extraordinary resilience of Trump as a political figure. He’s transformed the Republican Party in his image and built an unassailable grip on the GOP’s base as the nominee in a third straight election. And for all of the recriminations of his first term, polls show many voters think their economic security — reflected in lower prices for rent, cars and groceries — was better with Trump in office, at least until the Covid-19 pandemic hit. But such sentiments may still not get Trump over the line. His support in the CNN Poll of Polls (47%) underscores a liability that has dogged him his entire time in presidential politics — his inability to get a majority of Americans to support him. Former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at

Huge crowds of devotees gathered across India this month to celebrate the Hindu festival Ganesh Chaturthi, marking the birth of the deity Ganesha, the elephant-headed, round-bellied god of prosperity and wisdom. The 10-day festivities saw worshipers hoist elaborately painted clay idols of Ganesha towards the sky and submerge them in water as part of the traditions associated with one of India’s most vibrant and beloved festivals, celebrated by Hindus worldwide. In India’s western Maharashtra state, which includes Mumbai, the home of Bollywood, the streets came alive as devotees danced to blaring drums and under clouds of colored powder filling the air. Ganesha, whose name translates to “Lord of the People,” is known for his ability to remove obstacles and is generally worshipped before new beginnings. He is typically depicted holding Indian sweets as a sign of the abundance and prosperity that he bestows on devotees. His vehicle, known as a ‘vahana,’ is the large Indian bandicoot rat, another symbol of Ganesha’s ability to overcome anything. Ganesh Chaturthi falls each year in late summer, during the Bhadra month in the Hindu calendar, and marks a celebratory time of year when families gather. It began this year on September 7 and concluded on Tuesday. It began with worshippers placing idols of Ganesha, anointed with red sandalwood paste and yellow and red flowers, on raised platforms in their homes and in outdoor public spaces. Devotees then perform special prayers and chant hymns as part of the rituals seeking his blessings. Ganesha’s favorite foods – coconut, jaggery (a type of sugar), and modak (sweet dumplings) – are offered to him as gifts. As the festival ends, the Ganesha idols are carried to local bodies of water in a parade where they are then immersed in water. It is believed to allow Ganesha to return to his celestial home after spending time in the earthly realm during Ganesh Chaturthi, a symbol of the impermanence of life. Devotees parade with a large idol of elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesh in Mumbai, India, on September 17, 2024. Saurabh Sirohiya/NurPhoto/Getty Images Crowds gather for rituals and celebrations during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India on September 17, 2024. Ritesh Shukla/Getty Images Devotees use a crane to immerse an idol of the Hindu deity Ganesha in the Bay of Bengal during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Chennai on September 15, 2024. R.Satish Babu/AFP/Getty Images An idol of Lord Ganesha is immersed in a water pond created by the Delhi Government on the last day of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, at Geeta Colony in New Delhi, India on September 17, 2024. Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times/Getty Images An idol of the elephant-headed Hindu deity Ganesha is paraded before its immersion in the Arabian sea in Mumbai on September 17, 2024. Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images Hindu devotees chant as they carry a statue of the Hindu God Ganesha on the last day of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, in New Delhi, India on September 17, 2024. Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times/Getty Images Devotees immerse an idol of Lord Ganesh in the water pond created by the Delhi Government on the last day of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, at Geeta Colony in New Delhi, India on September 17, 2024. Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times/Getty Images Devotees transport idols of the Hindu deity Ganesha for immersion in the Bay of Bengal during Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Chennai on September 15, 2024. R.Satish Babu/AFP/Getty Images

Aah, the ‘80s! Power ballads, big hair, spandex, and MTV. That’s when a teenaged Paul Kastick got into rock music and he has been hooked ever since. The drummer/singer revisits that era on My Reggae Rockin’ Journey Volume 1, putting a reggae spin on some of the decade’s biggest anthems. Released last week, it contains songs such as Hear I Go Again, originally done by Whitesnake; Every Rose Has its Thorn, first recorded by Poison; and One, a U2 original. Another track from the album, Night by Night, was released last year. It is a Steely Dan original. “Exhilerating! It feels like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders getting this out, because most of these songs I listened to from I was in high school,” Kastick told the Jamaica Observer. He said My Reggae Rockin’ Journey Volume 1 has been in the works since 2017. Tarrus Riley to sing some of the songs, but when that fell through Taddy P advised him to take on the role of lead singer. While he enjoyed doing vocals, Kastick said his drummer’s instinct was critical to the finished product. “I’m a drummer, so I wanted it to sound special, and there were weeks and months and years of trying to get a vibe,” he explained. The Montego Bay-born musician produced most of the 15 songs on My Reggae Rockin’ Journey Volume 1. Night by Night, One, and I Could Have Lied (a Red Hot Chili Peppers original) are produced by American guitarist Rudy Valentino. Kastick started his career in the 1980s with the 809 Band. He has recorded and toured for many years with Maxi Priest and Big Mountain. In the past 15 years, Kastick has established a solid professional relationship with Valentino. They co-produced Hideaway, a big hit for Tessanne Chin in 2010.

A 10-year-old boy attending a Japanese school in southern China has died after being stabbed on his way to class on Wednesday, according to Tokyo’s foreign minister, in the second knife attack near a Japanese school in the country in recent months. The boy was attacked by a man about 200 meters (650 feet) from the gates of the Japanese school in Shenzhen, a tech-hub metropolis home to many Japanese businesses, according to China’s foreign ministry. A 44-year-old suspect was apprehended at the scene and taken into custody, police in the city said in a statement. Japanese and Chinese authorities did not specify the nationality of the victim. But Japanese nationality is required for enrollment at the Shenzhen Japanese School, according to its website. “The fact that such a despicable act was committed against a child on his way to school is truly regrettable,” Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told reporters Thursday. “We take this incident extremely seriously, and we have once again requested that the Chinese side ensure the safety of Japanese nationals.” The attack took place on a sensitive date, the anniversary of the “918” incident in 1931, when Japanese soldiers blew up a Japanese-owned railway in northeast China in a pretext to capture the region. The emotionally charged day is commemorated in China as the start of Japan’s invasion, with state media and officials urging the public to never forget the national humiliation. Chinese authorities did not mention the motive for Wednesday’s attack. But nationalism, xenophobia and anti-Japanese sentiment are on the rise in the country, often fanned by state media. In June, a Chinese man wounded a Japanese woman and her child in a stabbing attack in front of a school bus in Suzhou, eastern China. A Chinese bus attendant who tried to intervene later died of her injuries. Following that attack, Japan’s foreign ministry told Japanese schools to review their safety measures, Kamikawa said. Ahead of the 918 anniversary, “we had just made a request to the Chinese foreign ministry to take thorough measures to ensure the safety of Japanese schools, so we are extremely disappointed that this incident occurred in this situation,” she added. At a regular news conference Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said the case was being investigated. “China will continue to take effective measures to protect the safety of all foreigners in China,” he added. Public attacks against foreigners had been rare in China, but a series of high-profile stabbings have raised concerns in recent months. Two weeks before the Japanese mother and child were attacked in Suzhou, four American college instructors were stabbed by a Chinese man at a public park in Jilin in the northeast, after he bumped into one of them, according to Chinese police. China’s foreign ministry has described both attacks as isolated incidents and did not release further information on the motives.

Following the death of the Danish butter magnate Lars Emil Bruun in 1923, his will had a curious order: His vast accumulation of coins, notes and medals, amassed over more than six decades, should be held as an emergency reserve for Denmark’s national collection in case it were ever destroyed. After a century, if all was well, his own cache could finally be sold to benefit his descendants. On Tuesday, just under a year since the 100-year-old order expired, the first set of coins from Bruun’s personal 20,000-piece collection went up for auction in Copenhagen. After nearly eight hours of bidding, the opening 286 lots sold for a combined 14.82 million euros ($16.5 million). It will take several more sales to empty Bruun’s coffers, but once completed, it will be the most expensive international coin collection ever sold, according to Stack’s Bowers, the rare coin dealer and auction house hosting the sales. The L.E. Bruun Collection was insured for 500 million Danish kroner, or around $72.5 million. An exceptionally rare gold coin from 1496 smashed estimates to fetch a record 1.2 million euros ($1.34 million) at auction on Tuesday. Stack’s Bowers Galleries The auction house described it as the most valuable collection of world coins to ever come to market. In a press release following Tuesday’s auction, Stack’s Bowers Galleries’ president, Brian Kendrella, described the first sale as “truly a landmark event for the world coin market.” Where the numismatist’s collection has resided over the past century had been something of a mystery, its location known to few.But Bruun believed that hiding his treasure was for a noble cause; following the destructionhe saw of World War I, he feared the Royal Danish Coin and Medal Collection could one day face bombing or looting, according to the auction house. Bruun began collecting currency as a child in 1859, when his uncle died and named him among the recipients of some of his coins, according to the sales catalog. The son of innkeepers and landowners, he learned in his 20sthat his family inheritance had been squandered and he was saddled in debt. He began his own business in butter with a loan, eventually earning a fortune from sales and exports. With his wealth, he became a prolific coin collector, and was a founding member of the Danish Numismatic Society in 1885. A 17th-century Norwegian coin, commemorating King Frederik, sold for 432,000 euros ($481,000). On its reverse is a rendering of Akershus Castle in Oslo overlooking the sea. Stack’s Bowers Galleries “The good thing about collecting coins is that when you are upset about something or you feel unsettled, then you go and look at your coins, and then you calm down by studying them again and again pondering the many unsolved problems they present,” he once told a Danish magazine, per the catalog. “People who are exclusively devoted to their business make a great mistake. I, for one, could never imagine thinking about nothing but butter until my dying days.” Tuesday’s sale included gold and silver coins from Denmark, Norway and Sweden, dated from the late 15th century to the latter years of Bruun’s life. The star lot was one of Scandinavia’s oldest gold coins, according to the catalog a noble of King Hans dated from 1496. The coin smashed auction house estimates to fetch 1.2 million euros ($1.34 million), setting a new world record for a Scandinavian coin at auction, Stack’s Bowers Galleries said. “Hands-down my favorite piece in the sale is the 1496 gold noble of King Hans, who was king of Denmark and Norway under the Kalmar Union, as well as Sweden for a brief time,” said Matt Orsini, director of world and ancient numismatics at Stack’s Bowers Galleries, in a press statement prior to the first auction. “It is important on so many levels — it’s the very first gold coin struck by Denmark, it’s the very first dated coin struck by the Danish kingdom, and it’s unique in private hands.” Over the past few months, the coins toured different fairs and exhibited at Stack’s Bowers’ galleries. They were also put on display in Copenhagen just before the sale.

Against the backdrop of a challenging economic outlook for many brands — big and small — the 40th anniversary of London Fashion Week last week was certainly a time for reflection. Jonathan Anderson, who has been showing his eponymous label JW Anderson on the schedule for 15 years believes all fashion weeks are going through what he called a “transitory” period, noting during a post-show interview with press that challenging times can also present opportunities: “In a weird way, I think the economic climate is going to help a bit to focus on actually why we have fashion weeks,” he said. “What they’re about and what people are trying to say.” While Anderson confirmed he has no plans to leave London, the rest of the schedule has been in a state of flux. Over the last few seasons, a number of designers — from established names like Victoria Beckham to cult labels such as Dilara Findikoglu — have chosen to show elsewhere. Some, including former British mainstay Christopher Kane and American designer Halpern, have shuttered altogether. Molly Goddard, a favorite of London’s style set, opted out this season. As did Rejina Pyo, who hasn’t been on the schedule since February 2022. David Koma pulled out weeks ahead of the event, choosing to invest in campaigns instead. There were, however, some notable comebacks to the UK capital. S.S. Daley, the youngest designer on the schedule and newly minted winner of the Queen Elizabeth II prize, returned to London for the first time since February 2023. Daley didn’t just bring with him industry accolades, but a celebrity-filled front row – with appearances from Harry Styles, Anna Wintour and The Crown actor Emma Corrin. Nensi Dojaka, winner of the LVMH Prize in 2021, similarly reinstated herself as a key schedule fixture after 18 months away. Even Carly Marks, founder of avant-garde New York label Puppets and Puppets, chose London this season. But all eyes were on Burberry, undoubtedly the biggest brand on the London Fashion Week schedule, yet one that has been battling against sharply declining profits. The show, staged within the lobby of the National Theatre was seen by many as creative director Daniel Lee’s chance to change the narrative and give consumers a reason to get excited about the brand again. Did he succeed? It’s too early to know, but the dialed back showcase did nod to a shift away from verbose designs in favor of something more sophisticated and, perhaps, shoppable. This season, some of the city’s most iconic buildings became the backdrop to many shows. Editors were invited into the Old Bailey courthouse, the Royal Academy, the British Museum’s courtyard and Arsenal’s Emirates soccer stadium. Meanwhile, smaller brands utilized intimate presentations as an alternative to big budget runways. Talia Byre, Sinead O’Dwyer, Ancuta Sarca as well as Puppets and Puppets demonstrated that, sometimes, less is more, a mantra that Welsh-Italian designer Paolo Carzana took literally by showing his theatrical collection in the garden of his East London home. Overall, the five-day event yielded several strong collections for the Spring-Summer 2025 season from, most notably, Simone Rocha, Aaron Esh and Richard Quinn proving that, at 40, London continues to be one of the world’s leading creative capitals, with plenty to say. A spectrum of sexy Styling was at the bare minimum for Puppets and Puppets first London event, as creative director Carly Marks wanted her accessory offering to sing. Ik Aldama What is sexy these days? Designers this season seemed to be asking the question, and we received a range of answers. There were overt displays of nudity at Puppets and Puppets, where model styling was stripped back — literally — to let the accessories talk; and Adonis-like six packs at Di Petsa, where three runway looks centered on a pair of metallic nipple pasties. At 16 Arlington, fabrics were sheer or constructed from thousands of beads sewn together and models donned bikini tops and glittering or animal printed hotpants. Simone Rocha mused on the mini skirt, which came in the form of giant tutus and a slinky satin slip, while Nensi Dojaka continued her mission of making everything – even an evening gown — look like lingerie. But sensuality wasn’t all about skin — designers like Aaron Esh offered a new kind of sex appeal, found in slim-cut leather trousers, heeled ankle boots and sheer vests or blouses. Models were kept aloof and alluring in Olsen-twin-sized sunglasses and baseball caps, making the sexiest statement of all: effortlessness. Redefining ‘Girly’ The pioneer women of frontier America were a source of inspiration for Chopova Lowena — leaning into western wear with denim, studs, western-style shirts and boots with spurs. Chopova Lowena In leather, tutus were given a tougher edge at JW Anderson. JW Anderson Girliness has been all the rage this summer as it has taken on a new, more nuanced definition. Reframed as an attitude with many layers and contradictions, girl power has permeated widely throughout culture — from displays of female solidarity at the Olympics (the image of Simone Biles and Jordan Biles bowing down to gold medal winner Rebecca Andrade during their podium presentation, a prime example), to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign to become America’s first woman commander in chief. As is often the case, the trend has seemingly influenced designers too. At the JW Anderson show, where tutus were made of leather, Anderson referenced his sister who, he said, “can get quite girly sometimes, but there’s a toughness, a kind of ownership … I can’t relate but I like the attitude.” Femininity was both celebrated and challenged at Erdem where the brand’s founder and creative director Erdem Moralıoğlu’s new collection was inspired by queer novel “The Well of Loneliness,” which, for its telling of a love story between two women, was promptly banned after it was first published in 1928. The book’s author, Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe Hall, a lesbian, preferred to go by the name John and often wore men’s clothing. Moralıoğlu’s new designs blended hyper-feminine dress codes, such as lace

Voters want more from Kamala Harris. But while the Democratic nominee has been clear about what she is not — Donald Trump — she is either unwilling or unable to spell out a comprehensive blueprint for exactly what she would do as the 47th president. In an interview on Tuesday, the vice president mostly stuck to broad themes and headlines about her economic plan that were largely familiar from a previous big-picture policy speech and her convention address. But a candidate who has been criticized by opponents for running on “vibes” and surfing a wave of joy refused to be pinned down on specifics and details, instead citing her values and background to attest to her sincerity. For instance, when asked at Tuesday’s National Association of Black Journalists event how she’d alleviate the “squeeze” many Americans feel over child and elder care, she said her plan was for no family to pay more than 7% of their income on such costs. But she offered no roadmap for how she’d drive major social policy reform through what is likely to be a polarized Congress next year and didn’t say how she’d pay for it. On another intractable issue, the Israel-Hamas war, Harris was strong on aspiration, vague on specifics and seemed to fall on both sides of the issue. “I absolutely believe that this war has to end. And it has to end as soon as possible,” she said. “And the way that will be achieved is by getting a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done. And we are working around the clock to achieve that end.” She added: “Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.” Few would quarrel with her diagnosis of the situation, but the US has been pursuing the mirage of a deal for months. There’s no sign Israel and Hamas want an agreement. And after months of failed diplomacy, the White House seems to be taking a breather. It may be unrealistic to expect Harris, a member of an incumbent administration, to break with Biden over the war. And she’s got no power to stop it herself. But her hedging and repetitive soundbites in recent weeks show little evidence of new ideas. While her debate performance last week projected strength, Harris is not usually a gifted political athlete in spontaneous, high-pressure media sitdowns like ex-President Bill Clinton, for instance. And it doesn’t come naturally to her to drill down deep into policy questions like Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. This makes her vulnerable to attacks by the Trump campaign and conservative media that her “word salads” mean she’s not up to being president – even if Trump often communicates in a scattershot stream of consciousness and is spreading dangerous falsehoods. The question that could define the election This all raises two key questions. Does it matter that Harris is hardly a policy wonk? And is it really likely that this most unusual of elections will turn on something as conventional as a policy platform? Harris is, after all, offering herself as a fleeting chance for Americans to escape the bitterness and division of the Trump years. Her success in triggering the former president in their debate was in service of her primary goal – exposing his wild behavior and showing that he’s unfit for the Oval Office. The days when presidential elections were decided by chunky policy speeches – if they ever existed – have been swept away in the social media era and by the sound and fury epitomized by the Republican nominee. And since Harris is a last-minute replacement for President Joe Biden, it’s not surprising she lacks a long-established policy shop pumping out programs. Issues matter, but elections also involve less defined, more emotive choices. While Trump’s voters might buy into his hardline rhetoric on immigration, their bond with their candidate is often anchored in an instinctive sense that he understands them and will protect them. The vice president’s success may not be confined to her policy stances on issues like abortion – though these are critical – but a sense that a different, more optimistic future is within reach with her at the top of the Democratic ticket. And the presidency, more than any other high office, tests temperament as much as policy gravitas. Even so, voters looking for a more granular approach may be disappointed with the Democratic nominee. The list of policies recently added to the Harris campaign website is rudimentary. And good luck working out whether she’d break with Biden in handling the world’s most pressing crises — from the war in Ukraine, to China’s superpower challenge and Iran’s nuclear program. The vice president is yet to give a major foreign policy address since becoming the Democratic nominee — a concern for voters who wonder how she’d lead the free world. Harris’ reluctance to plunge into a round of major media interviews or town hall events – and her preference for friendly social media influencers and local media – is only adding to the opacity about her views. But she’s not running in a vacuum – her undisciplined opponent is hardly a policy wonk. Trump would often switch his administration’s priorities on the fly and often seems to care more about himself than ideology. And Harris might be smart to avoid taking positions that could scare off disaffected Republicans and moderate suburban voters she’s seeking to win over. Already, arch conservatives like former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who see Trump as an existential threat to the republic, have found a way to endorse the Democratic nominee. Voters want to know more about Harris Still, recent polls show that the vice president has a window of opportunity to court voters who want to learn more about her. And many want details about how she’d ease their economic worries, including from high prices. A New York Times/Siena College poll before last week’s presidential debate showed that 28% of likely voters wanted to know more about Harris and just 9%

  Catherine, Princess of Wales has held her first engagement since revealing that she has completed her chemotherapy treatment. Kate, 42 – who is married to the heir to the British throne, Prince William – resumed work by hosting a meeting at Windsor Castle on Tuesday. “The Princess of Wales, Joint Patron, the Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales, this afternoon held an Early Years Meeting at Windsor Castle,” according to a post in the Court Circular, which officially documents events carried out by the royal family either in public or behind palace walls. Kate provided the health update last week confirming she was “doing what I can to stay cancer free” and starting a “new phase of recovery with a renewed sense of hope and appreciation of life.” In a deeply personal video message, which showing the family enjoying the English summer together, the princess said the past nine months had been challenging but that “I am, however, looking forward to being back at work and undertaking a few more public engagements in the coming months when I can.” No further details of the meeting were recorded in the Court Circular but Kate has for years been focused on early childhood development, which aides have previously described as her “life’s work.” GET OUR FREE ROYAL NEWSLETTER • Sign up to CNN’s Royal News, a weekly dispatch bringing you the inside track on the royal family, what they are up to in public and what’s happening behind palace walls. In 2021, she launched the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood and one her flagship initiatives is her “Shaping Us” public awareness campaign, which seeks to improve our collective understanding of how critical the first five years of life are in shaping the adults we grow up to be. Kate had been receiving a course of chemotherapy for an unspecified form of cancer since February and has only made a few public appearances in the months since. She joined the family for the King’s birthday parade, known as Trooping the Colour, in June and received a standing ovation a month later when she attended the Wimbledon men’s singles final with her daughter, Princess Charlotte. During her treatment, Kate is known to have been working from home, taking meetings with her team and representatives from her early-years center. While she will continue to focus on her recovery in the months ahead, she is understood to be resuming a light schedule of public engagements for the remainder of the year. She is also expected to attend the annual Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph in London in November, honoring those who have served in war.

A Ukrainian drone attack launched overnight destroyed an ammunition depot in the western Russian region of Tver, a source from Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) told CNN on Wednesday, causing a massive blast. The Ukrainian drones targeted the Russian defense ministry-operated warehouse in the city of Toropets, which was storing Iskander tactical missile systems, Tochka-U tactical missile systems, guided aerial bombs and artillery ammunition, the source said. Large fires broke out from the debris of drones repelled by local air defenses, the regional government said, prompting the governor, Igor Rudenya, to order a partial evacuation of the area during the early hours of Wednesday. Earthquake monitors now believe explosions from the drone attack may have generated seismic activity. Ben Dando, a seismologist at the Norwegian seismology research foundation NORSAR, told CNN that its sensors “detected seismic signals, of magnitude 2.5 to 2.8, in northwest Russia which look to be associated with the drone attack launched by Ukraine.” NORSAR, which has been using seismic monitors since 2022 to evaluate the impact of the war in Ukraine, is currently analyzing the preliminary data to capture the full extent of the blast, Dando added. NASA satellites picked up intense heat sources emanating from an area of roughly 5 square miles at the site during the early hours of Wednesday, Reuters reported. Russian state news agency TASS reported that a drone attack had been launched on the city of Toropets overnight causing a fire “due to the fall of debris,” without specifically mentioning any targeting of a weapons facility. Videos circulating on social media, verified by CNN, showed loud detonations and multiple buildings in the depot complex on fire. Affected residents, including 11 children, have already been evacuated to the settlements of Kunya and Velikiye Luki in the neighbouring Pskov region, TASS said. No civilians are thought to have been injured in the drone attack, the news agency reported, citing Rudenya. “Now we are engaged in evacuating the population, residents, maintaining public order,” Rudenya said in a later video statement, stressing that multiple emergency service units were involved in the response. Rudenya made the call to evacuate so emergency services at the scene could work fully to bring the blazes under control, the local government said in a post on its official Telegram channel. The Ukrainian security source told CNN that attacks of this nature are being used “methodically” to reduce Russia’s missile potential, adding that plans for further attacks on “similar” Russian military facilities are “proceeding.” Toropets is located around 300 miles from the Ukrainian border and about 250 miles west of Moscow. Ukraine has been pushing its key allies, including the United States, to give the go-ahead to carry out missile strikes on targets deeper into Russian territory. Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned NATO members that lifting restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range missile systems would mean entering into war with Russia itself.

Instagram on Tuesday announced its most dramatic effort yet to protect young users from dangers on its platform, implementing new “teen account” settings that will automatically make millions of teen accounts private and restrict what kinds of content those users can view on the app. The change to how Instagram lets teens use its platform comes nearly three years after the explosive “Facebook Papers” first drew mass attention to the risks the platform poses for young users. The new restrictions are also designed to pushteens to adopt parental supervision through the app. Instagram will automatically apply the new “teen accounts” settings to all users under the age of 18. After the update, 16- and 17-year-old users will be able to manually change the app back to their preferred settings, but 13- to 15-year-old users will be required to obtain parental approval for any such changes. The new “teen accounts” settings build on more than 30 well-being and parental oversight tools parent company Meta had rolled out in recent years, such as “take a break” nudges and restrictions on “age inappropriate” content like posts about eating disorders. Despite those earlier updates, the company has continued to face criticism for placing too much responsibility for safety in the hands of parents and, in some cases, teens themselves. The parental supervision tools, for example, relied on teens letting parents know that they are on the app. Pressure on Meta to do more to protect teens ramped up again after a new Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower, Arturo Bejar, said in a November Senate subcommittee hearing that Meta’s top executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, ignored warnings for years about harms to teens on its platforms. Court documents from recent lawsuits against the company have also alleged that Zuckerberg repeatedly thwarted teen well-being initiatives, that Meta knowingly refused to shut down accounts belonging to children under the age of 13 and that the company has enabled child predators. At a Senate hearing in January, Zuckerberg apologized to families who said their children had been harmed by social media. Meta says the most recent changes aim to “address parents’ biggest concerns: who their teens are talking to online, the content they’re seeing and whether their time is being well spent.” The “teen accounts” update means that accounts for users under 18, both new and existing, will automatically be set to private and placed in the strictest messaging settings. The revision will allow teen users to receive messages only from people they are already connected to. Instagram will also limit who can tag teens in photos or mention them in comments to only people they follow. Caption for the notification image: Instagram will begin alerting teens that it will automatically place them in more private, restrictive settings starting next week.  Courtesy Meta Additionally, teens will be placed into Instagram’s most restrictive content control settings. The shift limits the types of “sensitive” content teens can see on their Explore page and in Reels, such as posts promoting cosmetic procedures. Instagram had already begun implementing that strategy in a more limited fashion earlier this year. Teen users will also receive time limit reminders nudging them to leave after spending 1 hour on the app each day. And the app will default to “sleep mode,” muting notifications and sending auto-replies to direct messages between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Instagram plans to apply the changes for all teen accounts in select countries, including the United States, starting next week. The app will also add new features to its parental supervision tool, allowing parents to see what accounts their teen has recently messaged, to set total daily time limits for teens’ Instagram use, to block teens from using Instagram at night or during other, specific time periods and to see the topics their teen has chosen to see content from on the app. The changes are expected to be made to all teen accounts in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia within the next 60 days, before rolling out to other countries later this year and next. Instagram will give parents new oversight tools, including the ability to block teens’ access to the app overnight and to see who their child has been chatting with.  Courtesy Meta But the effectiveness of some of the changes may be hampered by a simple truth: Meta has no way to know for sure if it’s a parent actually monitoring teen accounts rather than, say, an older friend. Meta does not conduct formal parent verification but says it relies on signals, such as the birthdate of the adult user and how many other accounts they supervise to determine if it should be allowed to oversee a teen’s account, a spokesperson said. Meta has also long faced criticism for failing to do more to prevent teens from lying about their age when they create a new account to bypass safety restrictions. The company says it is implementing artificial intelligence technology that will aim to identify teen accounts that may have wrongly listed an adult birthdate. Meta says the new features were developed in consultation with its Safety Advisory Council, comprised of independent online safety experts and organizations, and a group of youth advisors, as well as feedback from other teens, parents and government officials.

A few years ago, a fixture between Wrexham and Birmingham would pass a lot of people by. Nowadays, the game is a Hollywood affair. Almost 30,000 fans gathered at the St. Andrew’s Stadium on Monday for the League One soccer match, along with some of the biggest stars from sport, film and television in attendance. That’s because both clubs have received huge investment by well-known American owners in recent years – NFL legend Tom Brady now owns a minority stake in the Blues, while actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have transformed the fortunes of Wrexham since taking over the club in 2021. Brady and McElhenney both traveled to the Birmingham to watch the game, which the host eventually won 3-1. The pair, who had poked fun at each other on social media in the buildup, were joined by stars such as David Beckham and his son Romeo in the stands. At one point, McElhenney even video called co-owner Reynolds, turning his phone around so fans could see who he was talking to. The injection of superstardom certainly gave the fixture a new dimension and created a feverish atmosphere with the match shown live on the UK’s Sky Sports. It’s unusual for a third division game to be given such a prime-time slot, but fans of Birmingham and Wrexham have become used to the extraordinary in recent years. “This is exactly what we hoped it would be when we bought the club, that we could bring this kind of energy and excitement to our matches and really create an environment where people want to be a part of it,” Birmingham chairman Tom Wagner told Sky Sports before the match kicked off. “Where folks at home can enjoy it and feel that energy. It speaks volumes about the attractiveness of English football to have this much excitement on a Monday night between two League One teams.” Wrexham co-owner Rob McElhenney holding a custom Birmingham shirt before kick-off. Alex Pantling/Getty Images The game itself certainly lived up to the hype, with Birmingham completing a comeback after going behind early in the game. There was also a red card for the host’s Krystian Bielik which only added to the drama. The result was a bit of a rude awakening for Wrexham, who had been unbeaten in the league this season before Monday. The Welsh side still sits top of League One but looked to struggle against the power of Birmingham, which was only relegated into the third division last season and boasts superior spending power due to the size of the club. The Blues now sit second in the table, behind Wrexham only on goal difference having played one less game. If the start of this season is anything to go by, the two teams could be competing for promotion the next time they meet on January 25. Birmingham players celebrate after scoring against Wrexham on Monday. Matthew Childs/Action Images/Reuters US appeal Due to the heightened American interest, there had been some suggestion that this fixture could be played in the US this year, but the notion was quickly rejected by the league. Birmingham City CEO Garry Cook had told BBC Sport that he thought it would be a “great idea” to one day move the match to the US, but admitted the history and tradition of English soccer would make it very unlikely. On Monday, NFL legend JJ Watt – who has also invested in English soccer club Burnley last year – said he didn’t want the new wave of US owners to change too much about the game. “The beauty of the English game is the history, the tradition, the passion,” Watt wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “These clubs have been around long before any of us arrived and they’ll be around long after any of us are gone. Modernize some aspects that need it, sure. But let’s not mess with what makes it great.”

One of the best pollsters in America recently came out with its latest survey, and it’s good news for Kamala Harris. The Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa poll, conducted by Selzer & Co., found Donald Trump at 47% to the vice president’s 43% – within the margin of error – in a state the former president has twice won comfortably. (The poll was conducted last week, before Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt against Trump.) While the Hawkeye State is unlikely to be pivotal in November, the fact that Selzer found a close race in a state Trump has dominated could signal good things for Harris, both in terms of the accuracy of polling and for her chances in next-door Wisconsin. What makes the Selzer survey so important is that it’s been accurate in an era when other pollsters have struggled. Four years ago, it had Trump up in Iowa by 7 points days before the election, when other polls had Democrat Joe Biden in a much better position. I noted at the time that “this one poll is giving Trump backers hope and Democrats anxiety.” Democrats had good reason to worry. Not only did Trump end up winning Iowa by 8 points, he also vastly outperformed his polling in Wisconsin – nearly winning a state where he had trailed by high single-digits in preelection polling. Trump would do significantly better in many other battleground states as well. A similar scenario played out in 2016. Selzer’s final poll had Trump ahead by 7 points in Iowa. He went on to win the state (by 9 points) and the election over Hillary Clinton, doing better than most swing-state surveys said he would. This year, a lot of people, myself included, have wondered whether there could be another polling misfire. Even as many pollsters have tried to change how they conduct and/or weight their polls to prevent what happened in 2016 and 2020, they could still get it wrong. Selzer’s latest Iowa poll, however, suggests that other pollsters who show a race that is way too close to call are not underestimating Trump at this point. The result also makes sense when you look at the numbers coming out of neighboring Wisconsin, which has comparable demographics. Wisconsin is one of the seven battleground states where the polling remains tight. Harris, though, has received some of her best polling from the Badger State. The most recent poll from the reputed Marquette University Law School put Harris at 52% to Trump’s 48% among likely voters. An average of recent polls from Marquette, CBS News/YouGov and CNN/SSRS has Harris up by 4 points. A 4-point advantage is not wide and can easily be overcome by Trump, but it stands out among the other key swing states. Harris and Trump tend to be closer in the other six battleground states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania). Moreover, the 4-point Harris edge is better than Biden’s winning margin in Wisconsin in 2020 – 0.6 points. That result fell well short of the lead he had in preelection state polling. The Badger State polls also overestimated Clinton four years earlier to such an extent that she became the first Democrat to lose Wisconsin since 1984. The fact that the Selzer poll is indicating a similar shift in Harris’ favor in Iowa makes me think the Wisconsin polls may be on to something. Now, a win by Harris in Wisconsin would not guarantee her victory by any stretch. Even if you give her the state’s 10 electoral votes (along with the states already leaning her way), she’d need to carry at least two of the other six battleground states. Carrying Wisconsin, however, would improve Harris’ chances of winning. Instead of the race being roughly 50/50, most modelers would give her closer to a 75% chance of winning if she won Wisconsin. That’s a big shift in Harris’ direction. Still, a 75% chance of victory is not a guarantee of anything. Trump’s chance of winning would basically be the equivalent chance of a coin landing on heads in two consecutive tosses. This Selzer poll could also be an outlier, and much could change between now and Election Day. Selzer’s September 2020 poll was a lot more favorable to Biden (showing a tie) than its final survey that year. But the current poll is a far better result than the previous Selzer survey from June – when Biden was still in the race. It had Trump up by 18 points. The bottom line: You’d much rather have the Selzer poll in your corner than not. And right now, the survey shows a better result for Harris than it did in the end for either Clinton or Biden. CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that polling overestimated Hillary Clinton’s margin in Wisconsin during the 2016 election.

Whether measured by campaign advertising, candidate visits, organizational effort or nervous obsessing over poll results, Michigan, Wisconsin and above all Pennsylvania have moved to the top of the priority list for both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump – just as they have in seemingly every recent presidential election. Trump won the presidency in 2016 by stunning Democrat Hillary Clinton to win all three states by a combined margin of about 80,000 votes. President Joe Biden won back the White House in 2020 by recapturing all three states by a combined margin of around 260,000 votes. Since Harris took over at the top of Democratic candidate in July, the candidates have spent more money in advertising in Pennsylvania than anywhere else, with Michigan ranking second and Wisconsin fourth, according to data provided to CNN by AdImpact, an advertising tracking service. Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin rank first, second and fourth as well in the amount of advertising the campaigns have reserved through November (with only Georgia intruding as number three on both lists.) Bob Shrum, the long-time Democratic strategist who now serves as the director of the Center for the Political Future at the University of Southern California, said the three Rust Belt battlegrounds have remained pivotal in presidential elections for so long because they encapsulate so many of the entrenched divisions that now define American politics – between, for instance, urban and rural areas and white-collar and blue-collar voters. “They reflect the polarization,” Shrum said. In a clear statement of their priorities, the campaigns have spent nearly $120 million more on ads in the three big Rust Belt battlegrounds than they have in the four Sunbelt states they are contesting (Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada). After camping out in Pennsylvania for her debate preparation, Harris is appearing in all three of the big Rust Belt battlegrounds again this week. Trump is holding a town hall in Flint, Michigan, on Tuesday. Other political operatives point out that the historic tendency of these three states to vote the same way in presidential elections functionally makes them the nation’s largest swing state at a time when the other biggest states lean reliably toward one party or the other (California, New York and Illinois toward Democrats; Texas, Florida and Ohio toward Republicans). Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are not carbon copies. But they do share enough common characteristics that the long-time Democratic strategist Tad Devine argues they should be thought of effectively a single state – what he calls “Mi-Pa-Wi.” Each of them is less racially diverse than the nation overall, according to data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Whites account for about three-fourths of the population in Michigan and Pennsylvania and roughly four-fifths in Wisconsin. Although their Latino communities are growing, Blacks remain the largest minority group in each of them. The three states are also slightly older than the nation overall, with seniors accounting for about one-fifth of the population in each. None have many immigrants, with residents born abroad accounting for only about 7% of the population in Michigan and Pennsylvania and just 5% in Wisconsin. All three have seen minimal population growth in recent years. At a time when education has become an increasingly powerful predictor of political allegiance, the three converge, with about one-third of their adults holding at least a four-year college degree – just slightly below the share in the nation overall, the Census found. The median income just slightly lags the national average in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and trails by a larger margin (about 10%) in Michigan. All three are big manufacturing states that have seen substantial job loss in that sector since 2000, but have also seen employment in it increase by about 20,000-30,000 jobs since Biden took office, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. In their religious orientation, they are very similar too: White Christians, who generally lean Republican, comprise about 55% of adults in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and just over half in Michigan, according to newly released findings from the Public Religion Research Institute. Meanwhile, voters with no religious affiliation, who have become a staunchly Democratic group, represent about one-fourth of the population in all three, PRRI found. While the big three Rust Belt states look similar on all these measures, in some other respects Wisconsin, on paper, should be the most difficult state of the three for Harris this year. Not only is the minority share of the population smaller in Wisconsin than the other two, but Whites without a college degree (the core of the modern GOP coalition, especially in the Trump era) cast about three-fifths of the votes there compared to about half in Michigan and Pennsylvania, according to calculations from Census data by William Frey, a demographer at the non-partisan Brookings Metro think tank. Heavily White and blue-collar small town and rural areas, which have moved toward the GOP almost everywhere, also constitute a much bigger share of the vote in Wisconsin than in the other two. In a six-category geographic measuring system, devised by the non-partisan Center for Rural Strategies, small metros and non-metros cast nearly 50% of Wisconsin’s votes in both 2016 and 2020, compared to about 30% in Michigan and 20% in Pennsylvania each time, according to results provided to CNN by Tim Marema, the center’s vice president and editor of its Daily Yonder website. Conversely, Democrats don’t have as strong an asset in Wisconsin’s largest metro area as in the other two states. The county centered on Milwaukee is only about half as big as the counties that encompass Philadelphia and Detroit, and doesn’t provide Democrats nearly as large a vote advantage, particularly with turnout there lagging in recent years; simultaneously, while Democrats have steadily gained ground in the suburban so-called WOW counties outside Milwaukee, Republicans still win those three big counties (Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington), by bigger margins than almost any other major suburbs north of the Mason-Dixon line. One last factor makes Wisconsin on paper less attractive to Democrats: unions only represent about half as

Just over 35 years after the release of Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice,” Michael Keaton and his unforgettable striped suit has risen again, along with original castmates Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara and newcomer Jenna Ortega. So influential were the outfits worn in the 1988 movie, imitations of Aggie Guerard Rodgers’ designs have become pillars of the Halloween costume industrial complex. Lydia Deetz’s red tulle wedding dress, donned on-screen by a then-16-year-old Ryder, has become the de facto cool girl get-up for October 31st celebrations. Just take Bella Hadid’s word for it — in 2018, the model wore a meticulous recreation of the scarlet gown alongside singer The Weeknd, who dressed as Keaton in his famous burgundy tux. Beetlejuice’s renowned burgundy wedding tux makes an appearance in the film’s remake. Warner Brothers Discovery Costume designer Colleen Atwood, who worked on the 2024 movie remake released earlier this month, handled the expectations of Beetlejuice fans with extreme care — making sure to pay homage to the iconic looks in the original. But even with a film that boasts such an established fashion legacy, there was room for improvement, refinement and even experimentation. CNN spoke with Atwood in a Zoom call from Dublin. The conversation has been edited and condensed. (Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of CNN.) CNN: What were some of your influences when designing the costumes for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”? Atwood: For the (scenes set in the) underworld (a bureaucratic waiting room of sorts, for ghosts like Beetlejuice) I really was looking at the 1970s. We’ve got people painted all different colors. So sort of taking colors that look good with a blue face that aren’t too bright or that overwhelm them. And it ended up being sort of a ‘70s palette. Within the underworld, there’s people that have been in there longer than others. So I have stuff from the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s, and I have stuff from the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. All different periods combined down there, but the palette is controlled within a certain parameter. There’s also “the Bob’s”, who are the shrinkers (or zombies) in the underworld. My inspiration for them was old Century 21 Real Estate guys that used to wear matching gold-colored blazers, a brown tie and a white shirt. I had very specific ideas for that part of the world. Beetlejuice and Bob the shrinker, whose gold suit was inspired by Century 21 Real Estate employees of the 1980s. Warner Brothers Discovery How was it designing costumes for a film with so many historic fashion moments? When you take an iconic person, you nod into the iconic. (The character of) Beetlejuice stayed in the same style of striped suit, but it wasn’t the same suit. He is an older, more worn Beetlejuice with a little bit more of a paunch, so I aged the suit in a way that was refined, and wasn’t just like dirt rubbed on it. The idea was that he’d had it on for 35 more years, that he’d been hanging out for a while in it. We used a more organic material than the original, which meant it had a little more softness to it because it had been aged to look that way. Same thing with his wedding tuxedo. It had the feeling of a cheap rented tux, but with more fit. We had fun and it was a challenge, but we wanted to honor the work done before by Aggie Rodgers, yet in today’s world. What is involved in that aging process? The fabric is dipped in a color that makes the white a little dirty. Then after (the piece) is made, liquid dye paints are used to paint green, mildewy edges on the black and the white to soften it. The bottoms of pants can be painted and frayed, the edges of cuffs… You can discolor the area around the neck with rings to make it look grubby. It takes two or three days to do a jacket because like painting, you have to let it dry and then go in with another layer. Beetlejuice’s striped suit went through a pain-staking ageing process, to signal another 35 years spent in the underworld. Warner Brothers Discovery Warner Brothers. pulled out the original wedding tux from the archives for you and Michael Keaton. What was that like and did you get to see any more of Rodger’s costumes in the flesh? The tux was a really crappy, off the rack tux. So it didn’t blow my mind. It was just like, ‘Okay, this is a tux. Moving on.’ No, I didn’t see the wedding dress at all, nor did I really need to. I didn’t care about what it was. I just wanted to make my own. So I really didn’t go back in a way you would if something was 200 years-old. What was the starting point for your version of Lydia’s wedding dress? The starting point for me was its Victorian silhouette. I took that and got some amazing lace from France and used different combinations of it to get it to be lighter and have a little more air to it than the original. Because it was made out of a much more refined material, it’s a slightly different take. A lot of the costumes in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” are custom. Do you prefer creating from scratch? I love creating costumes, but I also love vintage clothes and the fashion today. So it was fun on “Beetlejuice” because you can put all these different time periods together and create a special world that sometimes you see things in one period and suddenly it works in another period of time, aesthetically. To me that’s what made this movie special and fun as a designer.

Jordan Chiles filed an appeal of the decision that led to the US gymnast being stripped of an Olympic bronze medal, her attorneys announced Monday. Chiles was stripped of her first individual Olympic medal after the Romanian gymnastics team challenged the decision to revise her final score in the floor exercise to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). CAS eventually upheld the challenge, meaning the US star’s bronze went to Romania’s Ana Bǎrbosu. Chiles has now opted to appeal CAS’ decision to the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland – where CAS is based. “From start to finish, the procedures leading to the CAS panel’s decision were fundamentally unfair, and it is no surprise that they resulted in an unjust decision,” Chiles’s attorneys said in a press release. Her attorneys argue CAS violated Chiles’s “right to be heard” by “refusing to consider the video evidence that showed her inquiry was submitted on time,” and that Chiles was not properly informed that the President of the CAS panel had a potential conflict of interest. “Jordan Chiles’ appeals present the international community with an easy legal question—will everyone stand by while an Olympic athlete who has done only the right thing is stripped of her medal because of fundamental unfairness in an ad-hoc arbitration process? The answer to that question should be no,” Maurice M. Suh, counsel for Chiles, said. “Every part of the Olympics, including the arbitration process, should stand for fair play,” Suh added. CAS told CNN that it cannot comment as it has not yet been notified of the appeal by the Swiss Federal Tribunal. The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) said they are determined to see Chiles receive the recognition she deserves. “Due to the egregious errors and oversight by CAS in handling the case and overlooking clear evidence of Jordan’s rightful Bronze win, we are determined to ensure she receives the recognition she deserves. Our commitment to truth in this matter remains steadfast,” the USOPC told CNN Monday. USA Gymnastics (USAG) told CNN it is not involved directly in the appeal at this stage but is supporting Chiles and her team. “USAG is closely coordinating with Jordan and her legal team and will make supportive filings with the court in the continued pursuit of justice for Jordan,” the body said. “Chiles believes in competing fairly and with integrity and holding these organizations to the standards and rules that were established to ensure fairness,” the gymnast’s attorneys added Monday.

Stained glass windows, a sweeping staircase and embellished interiors make Mohatta Palace a gem in Karachi, a Pakistani megacity of 20 million people. Peacocks roam the lawn and the sounds of construction and traffic melt away as visitors enter the grounds. The pink stone balustrades, domes and parapets look like they’ve been plucked from the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, a relic of a time when Muslims and Hindus lived side by side in the port city. But magnificence is no guarantee of survival in a city where land is scarce and development is rampant. Demolition, encroachment, neglect, piecemeal conservation laws and vandalism are eroding signs of Karachi’s past. The building’s trustees have fended off an attempt to turn it into a dental college, but there’s still a decadeslong lawsuit in which heirs of a former owner are trying to take control of the land. It sat empty for almost two decades before formally opening as a museum in 1999. The palace sits on prime real estate in the desirable neighborhood of Old Clifton, among mansions, businesses and upmarket restaurants. The land under buildings like the Mohatta Palace is widely coveted, said palace lawyer Faisal Siddiqi. “It shows that greed is more important than heritage.” Karachi’s population grows by around 2% every year and with dozens of communities and cultures competing for space there’s little effort to protect the city’s historic sites. For most Pakistanis, the palace is the closest they’ll get to the architectural splendor of India’s Rajasthan, because travel restrictions and hostile bureaucracies largely keep people in either country from crossing the border for leisure, study or work. Karachi’s multicultural past makes it harder to find champions for preservation than in a city like Lahore, with its strong connection to the Muslim-dominated Mughal Empire, said Heba Hashmi, a heritage manager and maritime archaeologist. “The scale of organic local community support needed to prioritize government investment in the preservation effort is nearly impossible to garner in a city as socially fragmented as Karachi,” she said. Mohatta Palace is a symbol of that diversity. Hindu entrepreneur Shivratan Mohatta had it built in the 1920s because he wanted a coastal residence for his ailing wife to benefit from the Arabian Sea breeze. Hundreds of donkey carts carried the distinctively colored pink stone from Jodhpur, now across the border in India. He left after partition in 1947, when India and Pakistan were carved from the former British Empire as independent nations, and for a time the palace was occupied by the Foreign Ministry. Next, it passed into the hands of Pakistani political royalty as the home of Fatima Jinnah, the younger sister of Pakistan’s first leader and a powerful politician in her own right. After her death, the authorities gave the building to her sister Shirin, but Shirin’s passing in 1980 sparked a court fight between people saying they were her relatives, and a court ordered the building sealed. The darkened and empty palace, with its overgrown gardens and padlocked gates, caught people’s imagination. Rumors spread of spirits and supernatural happenings. Someone who heard the stories as a young girl was Nasreen Askari, now the museum’s director. “As a child I used to rush past,” she said. “I was told it was a bhoot (ghost) bungalow and warned, don’t go there.” Visitor Ahmed Tariq had heard a lot about the palace’s architecture and history. “I’m from Bahawalpur (in Punjab, India) where we have the Noor Mahal palace, so I wanted to look at this one. It’s well-maintained, there’s a lot of detail and effort in the presentations. It’s been a good experience.” But the money to maintain the palace isn’t coming from admission fees. General admission is 30 rupees, or 10 U.S. cents, and it’s free for students, children and seniors. On a sweltering afternoon, the palace drew just a trickle of visitors. It’s open Tuesday to Sunday but closes on public holidays; even the 11 a.m.-6 p.m. hours are not conducive for a late-night city like Karachi. The palace is rented out for corporate and charitable events. Local media report that residents grumble about traffic and noise levels. But the palace doesn’t welcome all attention, even if it could help carve out a space for the building in modern Pakistan. Rumors about ghosts still spread by TikTok, pulling in influencers looking for spooky stories. But the palace bans filming inside, and briefly banned TikTokers. “It is not the attention the trustees wanted,” said Askari. “That’s what happens when you have anything of consequence or unusual. It catches the eye.” A sign on the gates also prohibits fashion shoots, weddings and filming for commercials. “We could make so much money, but the floodgates would open,” said Askari. “There would be non-stop weddings and no space for visitors or events, so much cleaning up as well.” Hashmi, the archaeologist, said there is often a strong sense of territorialism around the sites that have been preserved. “It counterproductively converts a site of public heritage into an exclusive and often expensive artifact for selective consumption.”

Elon Musk’s sprawling empire — spanning everything from electric vehicles and social media to space rockets and miniature brain implants — may soon make him the world’s first trillionaire. Musk’s business success has made him one of the most influential — and controversial — people in the world. The Tesla boss is already the richest person on the planet, with a fortune estimated at nearly $250 billion. Now, Musk could become the world’s first trillionaire, a milestone that Informa Connect Academy says he’s on track to hit by 2027. Informa notes that Musk’s net worth has been growing rapidly at an average rate of 110% per year, making him the “clear favorite” to hit the $1 trillion first. Musk does face competition though. The meteoric rise of Nvidia, the company whose computer chips are powering the artificial intelligence boom, could make Jensen Huang a trillionaire in 2028, according to Informa. Huang, Nvidia’s CEO and co-founder, has a net worth of $104 billion, according to Bloomberg. Indian billionaire Gautam Adani is also on track to become a trillionaire by 2028. Whether Musk gets to the trillion-dollar mark first — or at all for that matter — will depend in large part on the future of his biggest success: Tesla. The EV maker founded by Musk has become the world’s most valuable auto company, with a price tag of about $710billion. That makes it worth more than Coca-Cola, Bank of America and Boeing combined. Tesla is easily Musk’s biggest asset. He owns nearly 13% of the company, a stake worth about $93 billion at current prices. Musk owns another 303 million stock options linked to his epic and controversial compensation package, which was struck down by a judge but then revived and approved by shareholders. If Tesla continues to thrive, it could push Musk’s fortune beyond $1 trillion. “We believe Musk has positioned himself to achieve new heights over the coming years as Tesla capitalizes on full self-driving, Robotaxis and the future of EVs,” Dan Ives, senior equity analyst at Wedbush Securities, told CNN in an email. Of course, that is no guarantee. Tesla faces fierce competition, especially from cheaper rivals in China. The company has struggled at times, with softer sales crashing the stock by two-thirds in 2022. The automaker also issued multiple recalls for its vehicles, including a software recall of nearly all of its cars on US roads because of a glitchy Autopilot feature. Musk had once revealed that Tesla was just days away from filing for bankruptcy in 2008 before it secured a last-minute loan to keep it afloat. In 2018, Musk also landed in hot water with regulators and shareholders for saying he had “funding secured” on a deal to take Tesla private for $420 a share. Musk was forced to pay millions of dollars in fines and legal fees and step down as executive chairman. “Musk has had his back against the wall many times with Tesla and despite the haters and skeptics he turned Tesla around,” Ives said. “He is the Teflon kid.” The Tesla brand also faces risks linked to the swirl of controversy that has followed Musk around for years. Just this week, Musk deleted a post that questioned why former President Donald Trump has faced two apparent assassination attempts while President Joe Biden and Vice President have not encountered any. “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala 🤔,” Musk wrote in the post. He claimed the post was a joke and later deleted it. Although Tesla is Musk’s biggest asset, it’s hardly his only one. He also owns stakes in tunnel construction company The Boring Company and artificial intelligence startup xAI. And then there’s SpaceX, the spacecraft maker that made history on Thursday by pulling off the first non-government spacewalk ever. As Bloomberg notes, Musk owns about 42% of SpaceX, a private company valued in June at a whopping $210 billion. Musk also owns Neuralink, a brain chip implant startup that hopes to help people who are paralyzed regain movement. A slice of Musk’s wealth also comes from perhaps his most controversial business: social media platform X. Musk acquired X (formerly known as Twitter) in 2022 — after at first trying to get out of the $44 billion deal. And X has rapidly lost value under Musk’s ownership while coming under fire for its stance on content moderation and the spread of misinformation, not to mention Musk’s own antisemitic tweets. At one point last year, Musk apologized for what he called his “dumbest” ever social media post while simultaneously telling advertisers: “Go f**k yourself.”

The first image of the Titan submersible sitting at the bottom of the ocean following its catastrophic implosion last year was shared by the US Coast Guard on Monday as investigators opened a hearing into the tragedy. All five people on board the vessel were killed last June in its final ill-fated dive to the Titanic shipwreck, after a desperate search mission that gripped the world. In the photo released Monday, the submersible’s broken tail cone is seen on the hazy blue floor of the North Atlantic Ocean. The tail cone was severed from the rest of the vessel, its edges ragged, while a ripped fragment of the vessel is seen nearby. The wreckage was found several hundred yards from the location of the Titanic after days of searching, according to investigators at the hearing in North Charleston, South Carolina, which is expected to run until September 27. In its opening presentation, the Marine Board of Investigation said the tail cone and other debris were located by a remotely operated vehicle on June 22 last year, providing “conclusive evidence” the submersible experienced a catastrophic implosion – a sudden inward collapse caused by immense pressure. It claimed the lives of Stockton Rush, the founder and CEO of the vessel’s operator; businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman Dawood; adventurer Hamish Harding; and French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet. Remains found were matched to the five men on board through DNA testing and analysis, the Marine Board of Investigation confirmed Monday. The board on Monday called its first witnesses, including former employees of OceanGate, the firm that developed and operated the submersible. The presentation also revealed the submersible’s final message – just six seconds before it lost contact with the surface. “Dropped two wts,” the Titan’s text to its mother ship read, referring to weights the submersible could shed in hopes of returning to the surface. Seconds later, the Titan was “pinged” for the last time, and the mother ship lost track of the vessel. An international search and rescue mission unfolded in the following days, in remote waters several hundred miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada. The hearing will include “pre-accident historical events, regulatory compliance, crew member duties and qualifications, mechanical and structural systems, emergency response and the submersible industry,” the Coast Guard has previously said. While the hearing’s main aim is to “uncover the facts surrounding the incident,” board chair Jason Neubauer acknowledged Monday that the group is also tasked with identifying “misconduct or negligence by credential mariners.” “And if there’s any detection of a criminal act, we would make a recommendation to the Department of Justice,” he said.

Dominique Pelicot, admitted to drugging his wife and recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her over nearly a decade, begging his family’s forgiveness, as he told a French court on Tuesday: “I am a rapist.” Pelicot’s hearing, the centerpiece of one of France’s most spectacular criminal trials in recent history, had to be pushed back last week due to his bad health. He faces multiple charges including rape, gang rape and privacy breaches by recording and disseminating sexual images. Pelicot appeared in court with a cane on Tuesday morningand spoke to the judge through a microphone. His lawyer said he took heavy medication and was allowed to take breaks to lie down throughout the day. “I am a rapist just like all the others in this room,” he said, adding, “I ask my wife, my children, my grandchildren to accept my apologies. I regret what I did. I ask for your forgiveness, even if it is not forgivable.” The case has shocked the country and triggered nationwide protests in support of his wife Gisele and against male sexual violence. Dominique Pelicot told the courtroom he had a difficult upbringing and had himself been a victim of rape. At times he cried, according to French media. Gisele Pelicot was in the courtroom during his appearance on the stand and was greeted with applause by spectators when she left during breaks. Dominique Pelicot is seen in a courtroom sketch. Reuters She had insisted on a public trial to expose her husband and the other men accused of raping her, making her a symbol of the struggle against sexual violence in France. “For 50 years, I lived with a man who I would never have imagined was capable of these acts of rape,” she said. Gisele Pelicot began divorce proceedings after meeting with investigators over the case. When asked by one of the lawyers if he thinks he could win back his former partner, Pelicot said: “It is important to have hope. Otherwise, it’s over … I was traumatized. It’s in part thanks to her that I forgot these bad moments in my life.” Prosecutors have said Dominique Pelicot, who was initially arrested after filming up a woman’s skirt in a supermarket, offered sex with his wife on a website called Coco and filmed the abuse. In addition to Dominique Pelicot, 50 other men, currently aged 26 to 73, are also on trial on rape charges in the southern city of Avignon. Dominique Pelicot has said a total of 72 men participated in the abuse of his then-wife. While some of the defendants admitted guilt to the investigators, others have said they believed they were enacting a couple’s fantasy and that Gisele Pelicot had in fact consented to sex. “When they came, they already knew everything. They all knew how this went about before the meetings,” said Pelicot. “I want to prove that my wife was a victim and not an accomplice, to prove that this was completely without her knowledge.” Investigators found 300 photographs and a video of the acts and filed them in folders including one titled “Abuse,” according to a court document. Gisele Pelicot told investigators that she had suffered from memory lapses and had consulted a gynecologist for unexplained pains. The trial is set to last through December. If found guilty, the defendants face up to 20 years in jail.

Air Canada said early on Sunday it had reached a tentative agreement with its pilots union over a new four-year collective agreement, in a last-minute deal that will avert a near-term strike or lockout. Before the tentative agreement was reached, Canada’s largest airline had been preparing to progressively cancel flights over three days and to completely shut down its operations as early as 12:01 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, Sept. 18. Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge, which operate nearly 670 flights per day carrying about 110,000 daily passengers as well as freight, will now continue flying as normal, the airline said. Air Canada said in a statement the terms of its new agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) representing more than 5,200 pilots will remain confidential, pending a ratification vote by its members expected to be completed over the next month. The ALPA said deal would mean an additional C$1.9 billion ($1.40 billion) in value for members over its four-year term, representing a 46% increase over the old contract that expired in September 2023. “After several consecutive weeks of intense round-the-clock negotiations, progress was made on several key issues including compensation, retirement, and work rules,” said First Officer Charlene Hudy, chair of the Air Canada ALPA master executive council. The two sides have been negotiating a new contract for the past 15 months, with the pilots demanding wage rates that would narrow the pay gap with their counterparts at major U.S. carriers such as United Airlines. Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon said in a post on X that travel disruptions for Canadians were prevented thanks to the hard work of the parties and federal mediators. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday the Canadian government would not intervene to end the dispute like it did last month within 24 hours to end a strike at the two largest rail companies, Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Canadian National Railway Air Canada had earlier offered a wage increase of more than 30%, as well as improved pension and health benefits. But the union said the proposal was not good enough for their members who have been working under pay rates and quality-of-life provisions negotiated in 2014. Pilots at U.S. airlines have negotiated hefty pay raises in new contracts in the past two years amid a travel boom and staffing shortages. United’s new pilot contract, for example, included pay increases of about 42%. As a result, some United pilots now earn 92% more than their counterparts at Air Canada, the pilots’ association’s data shows. In 2013, the pay gap was just 3%. Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh in Chicago; Editing by Jamie Freed

A newly unveiled sculpture of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and two corgis in Northern Ireland, intended to pay tribute to the late monarch, has received somewhat mixed reviews from the public. While the local council told CNN that the bronze statue of the Queen “has been warmly received by most who have seen it in person,” some on social media have ridiculed it for not looking like her. The sculpture was unveiled in Antrim Castle Gardens on September 6. Antrim Castle Gardens “Could be anyone,” wrote one commenter on a Facebook post from the council announcing the work’s unveiling. Another wrote that the sculpture was “beautiful” but didn’t “look like our late queen or represent how she always dressed.” Although the council limited comments on its original post, the debate spread to X, formerly known as Twitter, where pictures of the sculpture gathered hundreds of thousands of views and several users compared it to the infamous bust of Cristiano Ronaldo. “Even the corgi is confused,” another user wrote. The sculpture, among the first work commemorating the late Queen in the United Kingdom, was created by artist Anto Brennan as a commission from Antrim and Newtonabbey Borough Council. It was installed in Antrim Castle Gardens, about 19 miles (30 kilometers) north of Belfast, and unveiled on Friday. The sculpture was created by artist Anto Brennan.  Antrim Castle Gardens It depicts Elizabeth, gazing into the distance, dressed in a tweed skirt, rubber boots, checked vest and headscarf, with a handbag hanging from her left arm, and two of her famous corgis at her feet. Behind her stands a likeness of her husband, Philip, his hands behind his back. The council acknowledged that “art can sometimes spark diverse opinions” but said that it “was particularly pleased with how the (Elizabeth) sculpture complements its surroundings, standing adjacent to the statue of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and accompanied by two lovingly crafted corgis.” CNN has reached out to Brennan for comment. Elizabeth, who died in 2022, was one of the most photographed people in the world, and was the subject of thousands of paintings and sculptures. As such, there have been several controversial depictions of her and other members of the British royal family over the years. A portrait of Catherine, Princess of Wales that featured on the cover of Tatler magazine earlier this year similarly split opinion in the media and online, with one critic describing it as “intolerably bad,” and others calling it “beautiful.” Meanwhile, the first official portrait of King Charles III since his coronation also proved divisive, with its depiction of the monarch against a fiery red background that appears to almost swallow him whole. And famously, in 2000, Lucian Freud painted a portrait of the Queen that seemed the antithesis of earlier, romanticized depictions of her, and divided both critics and the public.

Playing safe is not an option for wildlife photographer Greg du Toit. The South African has spent the past two decades photographing lions, rhinos and elephants, embracing more adventure and danger than most people will experience in a lifetime. Unlike many in his field, du Toit says he doesn’t use bait, camera traps, digital manipulation, captive bred animals or drones. All he needs is his Nikon camera, a chance to get close to his subject, the right natural light, and a lot of patience. It’s a combination that has won him international accolades, including Wildlife Photographer of the Year in 2013, and in April, the wildlife category at the Fine Art Photography Awards, for “The Enchanted Forest,” a series showing elephants in a forest on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Speaking with CNN by phone, on the way to Tanzania for his next project, he shared his approach to fine art photography, what the past two decades have taught him and why taking pictures in Africa feels different to anywhere else in the world. The conversation has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. CNN: What are the most important aspects to you when you’re taking a picture in the wild? Greg du Toit: I learned to photograph on film, so I like my work to resemble a moment that I experienced from behind my camera, sort of a moment in nature. So I never do multiple exposures. The fundamental thing remains the same as it always was since the very first time I picked up a camera, and that is light. I really like to work with beautiful quality light, golden or blue even sometimes. And then beyond that, sort of adding a touch of mood or a touch of mystery. CNN: How do you achieve mood in your pictures? Du Toit: I spend a lot of time in nature. I get up super early, for the good light, I stay up late and then, like for this Enchanted Forest series, I just found places in the forest that work right, where there was a beautiful window or there was a beautiful light coming through, and I just wait for an elephant to show up. So that portfolio, it’s literally five photographs and it took me five years. From a business point of view, that makes absolutely no financial sense whatsoever, but I’m just an artist. For me, it’s all about just creating the art even if it comes at a great expense in terms of investing time. I do just love being out there as well, so it’s not like a major sacrifice. Du Toit says that his photographs may look beautiful, “but the reality of getting those photographs is very different.” Simon YM Pang CNN: In the age of social media, I’d expect photographers to be constantly posting series after series instead of really taking their time… Du Toit: I had always focused on only quality. I used to get, like, six photos a year and I’d be happy with that. Then social media came along and especially Instagram, and it was like, ‘no, you need at least an image a day,’ or more than that even, and I just couldn’t do that. I kind of gave up on social media, which sort of felt like I was committing career suicide when I did that. But I’m just sticking to my guns. I can’t sort of adapt and just produce quantity because the way I work just does not allow for that. CNN: What are you hoping to convey with your wildlife photography Du Toit: I just want to tell people that it’s not too late, especially here in Africa. We still have such incredible wildernesses, full of these amazing animals, and that’s why when I photograph, I really try and focus on not just the animal itself, but on the environment in which that animal lives. That winning series of elephants is exactly that.  There are still these incredibly wild places that are still full of incredible animals and it’s not too late for us to enjoy them, to preserve and conserve them. CNN: You mainly focus on taking photographs in Africa. What would you say that makes wildlife photography in Africa different from other parts of the world? Du Toit: I’ve been on trips and the other parts of the world are wonderful. For example, I’ve been up to the Arctic to photograph polar bears, and I’ve been to India for tigers and things like that. But every time I’ve done that, I’ve just felt that those places lacked this energy that Africa has. It’s like a wild energy … there’s that feeling of mystery and intrigue, the feeling that this place is so big and so vast and a little bit dangerous, and I love that. Du Toit famously once spent 16 months photographing lions at a waterhole in Kenya’s South Rift Valley. For the first 13 months he sat in a hole in the ground next to the water hole, followed by three months laying in the water, in an effort to get the perfect shot. CNN: When you took your iconic pictures of the lions, you were there sitting in the water for months, you caught malaria. Is there a kind of contradiction between the beauty of the end product, and the reality of the work that goes into getting the image? Du Toit: Yeah, the photographs you see are just polished and they just look beautiful, but the reality of getting those photographs is very different. Very often in these really wild places in Africa, you get gypsy flies and so you end up being bit by these flies and it’s really painful, so between shots you’re kind of swatting flies. It’s hot and sweaty, so it’s not glamorous work. Also, your cameras get dirty and [Africa] it’s a very sort of dusty place. But I really just love the end product. Getting a good photograph is the sort of best

Years afterward, Iga Olszak often thought about the moment she first spotted Vlad Dimovski, on the sandy shores of Skotina, in Greece. Iga was 16, Vlad was 18. He was laughing with friends. Then pushed his long hair out of his eyes, met Iga’s eye, and smiled. “I remember feeling very excited about him,” Iga tells CNN Travel today. Iga first saw Vlad in the summer of 2005. She was on vacation from Poland, at a summer camp in Greece. Vlad visited Skotina every summer from his home in what is now North Macedonia. The beach, in the foothills of Mount Olympus, was a home away from home for Vlad and he was always surrounded by a gang of friends. While Iga was intrigued by Vlad, she was “also kind of reserved.” For the first few days, they circled each other, but didn’t talk. Then, one evening Iga was sitting on the beach in a circle with her camp friends, while Vlad was sitting close by, in a separate circle, with his group. “At some point we all started sitting together,” recalls Iga. “Then Vlad came up to me so he could talk to me, and we sat next to each other on the beach, chatting, having a conversation. And it went from there.” Vlad noticed Iga right away, too. He had “so many good memories” of summers relaxing at Skotina beach. He knew all the regulars, and Iga stood out. He remembers the way she walked down the beach, recalls noticing her immediately, wanting to talk to her. Once they did speak, Iga and Vlad quickly became inseparable. “Every day we spent time together,” Iga recalls. “On the beach, or going hiking, chatting…” The two communicated in English – a little tricky as Iga wasn’t as confident in the language as Vlad. “But Vlad was helping me with certain words so we could communicate better,” says Iga. Iga and Vlad spent the next two weeks in each other’s company. Looking back, Iga’s overwhelming memory of their time together was “feeling very safe.” She found Vlad to be kind, respectful, funny. She wasn’t exactly in love – they were technically just friends – but she had a pretty heady crush. Vlad felt the same way. He describes their connection as “a friendship, but also a willingness to be together.” He felt like they were drawn to each other. But both Vlad and Iga were realistic that this connection might not last. “We had a really great time,” says Iga. “But I was still in high school. We lived very different lives in terms of being in different countries. There was no way for us to have a future. So that’s also what I remember feeling – feeling like it was exciting, but also knowing there was an end to it.” This end rolled around all too quickly. Iga and Vlad said their goodbyes when the camp came to an end. Social media was still in its early days in 2005, but the two exchanged email addresses. Back home in Poland, Iga classified Vlad in her head as “just a friend.” “But even my mom remembers how excited I was when I got his first email,” says Iga. “We kept that conversation going for the next two years.” Over that period, Iga and Vlad wrote back and forth about their thoughts on family, friends, travel, their studies, their hopes and dreams. “Both of us were having our own lives, but we just felt connected,” says Iga. “We exchanged probably over 100 emails.” “I couldn’t wait to receive an email from her,” says Vlad. “They meant a lot to me.” The two found other ways to stay connected, including chatting via instant messenger. “We’d download songs and listen to the album at the same time,” recalls Vlad. “Then we’d sit all night, talking about the songs for hours.” In time, Vlad realized he was talking more to Iga than any of his other summer friends – really more than anyone in his day-to-day life. Iga had a similar realization. “We spent a lot of time chatting and writing emails. We sent each other pictures of what’s going on in our lives,” recalls Iga, who found herself often looking back at photos they’d taken together that summer, posing together. Occasionally, Iga and Vlad would float the idea of meeting up again, but no concrete plans ever materialized. And in time both Iga and Vlad entered relationships with other people. “After that, I felt like, ‘I cannot really meet up with you, because I have a boyfriend,’” recalls Iga. “It felt like a great friendship, and I really wanted to meet him again – but I felt stuck in that I couldn’t do it, really.” As their respective romances got more serious, the emails gradually died off. “At some point, we just stopped having contact,” says Iga. But Vlad never deleted his emails from Iga. He often thought of her fondly. Meanwhile, Iga always felt grateful for her friendship with Vlad, and sad that it had dwindled. When Facebook became omnipresent, the two connected there. They communicated sporadically – one time when they realized they just missed each other in Germany, another time Vlad posted a throwback photo to the summer in Greece – but it was intermittent and surface level. “Losing touch was natural,” Vlad reflects today. “It comes with the distance.” 10 years later Time moved on. Iga went to college, graduated and relocated from Poland to Germany. She got married, and then divorced within a year. It was a tough period. Meanwhile Vlad’s work took him to the US, and he moved there permanently in 2015. Vlad saw the move as a new start following a recent break-up. “I promised myself, when I go to the US, I won’t get into a relationship for at least a year,” he recalls. Vlad had only been living and working in Chicago for a month or so, when, out of the blue, a message popped

With her pinkish cheeks and natural charisma, two-month-old pygmy hippo Moo Deng is making millions of fans online and drawing bumper crowds to the Thai zoo where she lives. The pint-sized new arrival at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo, east of the capital Bangkok, has been a social media hit since her keepers started uploading snippets of her life online. When she’s not gobbling up grapes, she’s rolling on the floor or taking a dip under Thailand’s scorching sun. She also loves a good chew of her handlers’ knees when they’re giving her a shower, according to social media clips that have drawn millions of views. “It is her natural cuteness, her behavior that attract tourists,” Narongwit Chodchoy, director of the zoo, told CNN. The zoo’s visitor numbers are up by at least 30%, Narongwit said, but Moo Deng’s fame has also brought unwanted disruption to her life, prompting the director to issue a warning. “Some tourists behaved inappropriately. One person poured water [on her] while another threw a shell onto Moo Deng when she lay on the floor,” he said. He urged tourists to be considerate and vowed to take legal action against anyone harming the mammalian child star. While she continues to draw admirers in person, Moo Deng has found her biggest stardom online. One particularly popular video posted on Facebook – showing her yawning and seemingly enjoying a pat on the chin from her keeper – has garnered 5.8 million views and counting. “She is a star,” wrote one smitten fan, Aom Worawan, on Facebook. Another, Napatsawan Balee, said that “a superstar was reincarnated as a hippo.” “She became famous the instant she was born,” they wrote. “Haha, so cute!!” Moo Deng’s name means “bouncy pig” in Thai, and is a common pork dish known for its chewiness. The name was decided by 20,000 Facebook users in an August poll, according to the zoo. She was born on July 10 to mother Jona and father Tony who, before her, had Moo Toon and Moo Warn, both also named after items on a Thai food menu. Native to West Africa, pygmy hippos are smaller cousins of the full-sized hippopotamus. Only about 2,000 pygmy hippos remain in the wild, mainly in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Ivory Coast, according to the UK-based Pygmy Hippo Foundation. Narongwit recommended the best time to catch Moo Deng in action at the zoo is in the morning between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., when keepers clean her enclosure. “This will be the time Moo Deng will be energetic as the keeper will splash the water around,” he said. Another good time would be in the afternoon when the keeper feeds her mother, as Moo Deng follows her around. The baby hippo is very clingy to Jona, Narongwit said.

Rock band Jane’s Addiction has issued an apology and announced the cancellation of their next concert after band members Dave Navarro and Perry Farrell were seen in an on-stage altercation at a recent show. “We want to extend a heartfelt apology to our fans for the events that unfolded last night,” the statement posted to the band’s Instagram Story on Saturday read. The band’s show in Bridgeport, Connecticut that was previously scheduled for Sunday night was canceled “as a result” of the altercation, the statement continued. Refunds will be issued at the ticket holder’s point of purchase. Video footage posted on social media showed Farrell, Jane’s Addiction’s lead singer, confronting guitarist Navarro in the middle of a song during Friday’s concert in Boston. The two appear to exchange words while Farrell approaches the guitarist, who is seen trying to hold Farrell back. Farrell then attempts to jab Navarro until other band members and crew members intervene, holding Farrell back to separate him from Navarro. CNN has reached out to representatives for Jane’s Addiction, Navarro and Farrell for comment. Jane’s Addiction is currently on tour and is set to perform in Toronto on Wednesday. The tour is scheduled to conclude in Los Angeles in October.

It’s time to hang a lantern, share a mooncake and peel a pomelo – Mid-Autumn Festival is here. Falling on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, it’s celebrated primarily in East and Southeast Asia and is a time for families to gather to sample autumn harvests, light lanterns and admire what’s believed to be the fullest moon of the year. In 2024, the Mid-Autumn Festival, or the Moon Festival, falls on September 17. Here’s a bit of background and a few tips on how to join this massive full moon party. What is the Mid-Autumn Festival? Lanterns are an important part of all Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations. Bertha Wang/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Mid-Autumn Festival became an official celebration in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE) but there isn’t one single answer to the question of when and how the annual event began. Many believe the fete was first mentioned in the “Book of Rites,” a Confucius classic on bureaucracy and rituals written more than 2,400 years ago. It was described as a day for emperors to celebrate the year’s harvest by giving offerings to the moon and hosting a great feast. Today, the Mid-Autumn Festival is an incredibly important family gathering – it’s when “people and the moon reunite to form a full circle,” as an old saying goes. Chang’e: The moon festival goddess The Mid-Authum Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month.  Sipa USA Like many cultural celebrations, the Mid-Autumn Festival is shrouded in myth. One of the most beloved – and tragic – pieces of folklore tells the story of how a woman named Chang’e became the moon goddess. According to the legend, after mythological Chinese archer Hou Yi courageously shot down nine surplus suns – leaving only one, in effect protecting the world from being scorched completely – he was given an elixir from heaven as a reward. Hou Yi’s wife Chang’e drank the elixir while protecting it from a greedy apprentice, but became so light that she floated to the moon. Missing his wife, Hou Yi prepared a feast every year on the day when the moon was at its fullest, hoping to get a glimpse of his wife’s shadow. Just how well known is this story? China’s Chang’e lunar modules, part of the country’s ambitious space program, were named in honor of the moon goddess. Meanwhile, Yutu (Jade Rabbit) – China’s moon rover – was named after the legendary rabbit that was sent to accompany Chang’e to the moon. Mid-Autumn Festival customs and traditions People take a ride on boats at dusk to release paper lanterns for good luck during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hoi An, Vietnam.  Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images When it comes to celebrating the festival, customs vary throughout Asia. The Mid-Autumn Festival is considered “children’s day” in Vietnam and celebrations include paper lantern fairs and lion dance parades. Meanwhile, in southern China, most people will light a lantern and eat autumn fruits such as pomelo and starfruit. Some villages in Hong Kong still preserve the tradition of fire dragon dancing through a narrow alley. In South Korea, the mid-Autumn Festival (or Chuseok) is one of the nation’s most important holidays. Celebrated over three days, South Koreans will sweep ancestors’ tombs, wear traditional attire and eat songpyeon, crescent-shaped steamed rice cakes with sweet fillings. Japanese people, meanwhile, will eat grilled sticky rice balls called tsukimi dango (“moon viewing”) while admiring the astronomical body. Celebrations can also be found in Asian communities all over the world, from New York City to Vancouver. All about mooncakes Mooncakes are the most famous Mid-Autumn Festival treat.  Zhang Peng/LightRocket/Getty Images One of the biggest stars of the Mid-Autumn Festival is the mooncake – it’s as important to festivities as turkey is to Thanksgiving and latkes are to Hanukkah. In most places in China, the calorie-packed pastry is sliced up and shared like a cake between families and friends. The most well-known kind of mooncake is made of lotus seed paste, salted egg yolk and lard – Cantonese style – which explains why a palm-sized cake can contain about 1,000 calories. Nuts, red beans and custards are some other popular ingredients. In recent years, big brands and even public institutions have taken to creating specially designed mooncakes. China’s Shanghai Mental Health Center, for example, shared photos of their mooncakes in 2023 and went viral on social media in China. Bakery brands have also come up with modern variations – ice cream coated in chocolate, for example – that offer an alternative to those who aren’t fond of traditional mooncakes.

The three women sit huddled together, hands and arms intertwined, heads on each other’s shoulders. For too long, each felt utterly alone and it’s as if their physical closeness gives them a boost of strength. Each tells CNN they were sexually abused by their family doctor. An investigation following similar accounts by other women led to his medical license being revoked. Dozens of women have come forward saying they were molested, often repeatedly. Unfathomably to the survivors, a grand jury said it was not given enough evidence to indict so there were no criminal charges. Pleas to the state attorney general to intervene have not led to new charges. But the women have vowed to keep fighting. “Seeing these women’s faces (of other survivors) and hearing a little bit about their stories, it’s more fire to keep going,” says Katie Medley. The family doctor In the Oregon community where Nicole Snow grew up, Dr. David Farley was always there. His house was around the corner in Wilsonville, a city on the banks of the Willamette River, about a 30-minute drive south of Portland. His kids went to her high school, he ran in the same social circles as her parents, and their families had even vacationed together. Every Sunday, she saw him at their Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the center of town where he was a long-standing and respected member of the congregation. “I remember very specifically as a teenager, he would chase me down at church, me and other friends my age, and really pin us in a corner and massage our arms and shoulders and say, ‘Hey, you need to come see me,’” Snow says. “I would often try to leave early just to go hide in the car.” Nicole Snow knew David Farley from when she was a child.  CNN For years, Snow didn’t articulate the anxiety she felt around Farley, a Harvard-educated doctor. So, when she started experiencing stomach pain at the age of 15, it was only natural for her mother to take her to his office. Farley was a one-stop shop for generations of patients at the West Linn Family Health Center in the neighboring community. He did wellness checks and sports physicals for the children in the affluent suburbs, as well as prenatal care and delivering babies. His standing in the LDS Church attracted many fellow Mormons to his practice, but he was a fixture for the wider community too. Snow, who is now 32,  said, “From the very first visit, he was able to manipulate and place my mom in a specific place in the room where she had no idea what he was doing with his hands.” National Sexual Assault Hotline 1-800-656-4673 Available 24/7 and through online chat tool Provided by RAINN, (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) Over the next three years, during more than 40 visits, Snow says he subjected her to repeated sexual abuse, using scare tactics to conduct what she describes as uncomfortably long breast exams and repeated penetrative pelvic and rectal exams. “He told me and my mother that he had a young patient die of cervical cancer, and so he as a doctor wanted to check all his patients starting at a young age and frequently. That’s how he was able to start abusing me.” Snow says her upbringing in the LDS Church made her particularly vulnerable to an older male, as the church put men in an unquestioned position of authority with grounds to delve deeply into even the most personal aspects of one’s life. “At one point he asked my mom to leave the room so he could ask me about my sexual history, and that was something I was very familiar with, going into the room with a bishop alone, being asked sexual purity questions,” Snow says. In 2009, Snow turned 18 and went in for her first appointment without her mother. Despite knowing she was not yet sexually active, Farley suggested a procedure to “make sex more pleasurable” — what she would later learn was called a hymenotomy. “He just said he would want to ‘stretch me out’ a little bit,” she says. When she declined, he tried to convince her by listing the names of her friends he’d performed the procedure on. Then, he became aggressive. “It actually made me quite fearful,” she says. When she finally agreed, he broke her hymen with his bare hands, washing the blood off in the sink while she lay “terrified” in excruciating pain, she told CNN. Afterwards, it hurt to walk for days. At the time, she didn’t process these experiences as abuse. “I had no idea. I thought this was normal,” she says. She dropped out of high school over health problems she attributes in part to the abuse from Farley. It wasn’t until years later, after Snow moved away and saw another OB-GYN, that everything clicked. “She said, ‘We’re going to do a pap smear and this should be your first pap smear,’” Snow recalls. “When I replied, ‘Oh no, I’ve had over 10, maybe close to a dozen,’ the expression on her face let me know that that wasn’t normal and shouldn’t have happened.” When Snow told her family, they warned against going public. “They said it’s going to be me against the community, because he is such a prominent member. They were nervous for me to come forward and do this fight alone.” CNN has reached out repeatedly to Farley, who has not responded to any request for comment. His lawyer declined to comment to CNN. A sudden retirement Then, in the summer of 2020, her brother called with news: Farley was retiring, and Snow was not alone. The Oregon Medical Board (OMB) had suspended his license after receiving reports about his behavior and were investigating. “For so long, I felt like I was being silenced or I was the only one,” says Snow, who is now a stay-at-home mom of a preschooler in Utah. But the news of

Exercise doesn’t just help you lose fat. It could also promote healthier fat, according to a new study. “Living a physically active lifestyle, exercising regularly over time, makes our fat tissue a more accommodating place for extra energy under conditions when we do gain weight,” said senior study author Dr. Jeffrey Horowitz, professor of movement studies in the school of kinesiology at the University of Michigan. To see how exercise impacts fat tissue, researchers compared fat tissue just under the skin from two groups of 16 people with obesity: those who reported exercising at least four times a week for at least 2 years, and those who did not exercise regularly, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Metabolism. Those who had a history of regular exercise had fat cells that showed characteristics that increase how much fat they can store — the amount of blood vessels, protein composition and fewer inflammatory cells, Horowitz said. It is important that the fat tissue under the skin has a greater capacity so that if a person does gain weight, it can go there instead of more dangerous places, such as the heart or liver, he added. “Unfortunately, most of us, even regular exercisers, gain weight as we get older,” Horowitz said.  “If we have a greater capacity to store that in our fat tissue, less of it’ll go to our liver, less of it will go to our heart, less will go to all these other places that in excess can be really problematic.” This study shows that researchers need to learn more about fat tissue and how it is connected to metabolic health and lifestyle changes, said Dr. Andrew Freeman, director of cardiovascular prevention and wellness at National Jewish Health in Denver. Freeman was not involved in this study. “Just being overweight may not be the whole story,” he said. Exercise is important for many facets of health, and it may even impact how fat is stored, a new study showed.  Image Source/Digital Vision/Getty Images Better fat tissue Many people have an immediate negative reaction to the word “fat.” But that isn’t always helpful, Horowitz said. “Fat tissue itself is very, very important for health,” he said. “It’s actuallyan important reservoir of our extra energy.” The tissue used to be understood as only functioning to store energy, but researchers are just starting to learn it has many functions, Freeman said. “It makes sense to have some degree of fat so you have some reserve, but not to the point that the typical American has,” he said. The goal isn’t more fat tissue, but better capacity to store it, Horowitz said. Fat tissue is supposed to be stored under the skin, and if it can’t go there it’s going to go other places such as your liver, heart or pancreas, he added. More fat in those organs impede how well they function, Horowitz said. Exercise recommendations They key takeaway of the study is that healthier fat storage is just another good reason to live a physically active life, Horowitz said. “We’re not changing therecommendation, but we’re expanding the understanding of why it is helpful to exercise,” he said. If you want to start, Freeman recommends trying out exercise first thing in the morning. “It works as a natural stimulant, just as well as coffee in many cases,” he said. And you don’t need to worry about getting to or paying for a gym. “There are so many ways to exercise, and figuring out a way to make it part of the daily routine so it becomes a habit, is the most critical of all,” Freeman added. Getting 30 minutes daily of breathless activity where you are working really hard is the goal, but you can start even by walking around your block, he said. “Of course, you should check with your doctor first to make sure it’s safe,” Freeman said.

When actor Blake Lively wore a pair of $19,000 designer jeans to a screening of her latest movie, “It Ends with Us,” earlier this summer, the look — covered by several media outlets — attracted plenty of attention. And the price did not go unnoticed. Of course, there were the aghast social media comments, those are to be expected, but the moment also inspired a reasonable question: How much is too much to spend on jeans? Featuring thigh-to-heel cut-outs and hibiscus-shaped embroidery, the denim pants by Italian fashion house Valentino, were styled with a simple white tank, Christian Louboutin heels, hoop earrings and Lively’s signature long tousled hair. These jeans are something of an outlier, having been designed — undoubtedly — with celebrities and the 1% in mind. They are a conversation starter; they are about fantasy, they are not for the school drop-off. On fashion retail websites including Net-a-Porter and Ssense, the most expensive jeans listed are nowhere near as pricey, with top figures mostly in the $2,500 to $3,500 range for brands like Jean Paul Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana and Ralph Lauren. On Valentino’s own site at the time, the next most expensive pair was priced at $2,700 (reduced from $4,500). Still, granted, a lot of money for most people. Cheaper options are plentiful across the market — from classic $100 Levi’s to newer denim brands, such as MUD Jeans or ELV Denim, emphasizing their sustainable or circular credentials (jeans in this category tend to be priced around $200 to $500.) So, perhaps the real question is: With such a range in prices, and so many options, how should you decide which jeans are right for you? And what are you really getting for your money? A brief buyer’s guide New York-based stylist and newsletter author Becky Malinsky wearing Auralee jeans. Courtesy Becky Malinsky Shopping for a new pair of jeans can be an overwhelming process and — from the style of cut to the wash of the denim — there are many considerations beyond price. For stylist Becky Malinsky, it’s important to know what you are using your jeans for: “are they for work, or for hanging out with your kids, or are they for going out to dinner,” she said during a phone interview. A simple Google search generates an overwhelming number of brands and styles to choose from. Malinsky, who also writes the popular “5 Things You Should Buy” newsletter, looks to a few “standout” denim brands to see what they are doing with shape, silhouette and color. From there, “think about where your body type fits within some of these trends,” she said. “I always look to brands like Citizens of Humanity — I think they do a really good job of fashion and fit. I’m a classic Levi’s wearer and I recommend it to clients all the time. I think the price is right. I also look at what the designers are doing…The Row is really prolific in denim now,” she said. When shopping, don’t just try the jeans on — stand, walk and sit in them. Comfort is essential if you plan to wear your new purchase in heavy rotation. Malinsky also emphasized understanding how to strike a balance between style and comfort. Typically, more stretch equates to higher levels of comfort, but too much stretch will compromise shape. “For someone who still wants a little bit of stretch in their jean I always say look for a straight leg jean or something that’s even a little bit wider. So you can get that comfort factor in your waist…but it’s not going to stretch out like a jegging.” You may also want to consider sizing up and getting the jeans altered to your specific body shape. Whether you are tall and slim, or short and curvy, finding a good tailor can be transformative when it comes to ensuring any item of clothing is the perfect fit for you. If you’re wondering how to judge the quality of a denim item, Malinsky said “hand feel” is very important. “Anything that’s too soft, that makes you feel like you’re practically touching a T-shirt is not going to hold up. You want to look for something that has a little resistance to your hand.” If you’re shopping for men’s jeans, Malinsky advised against the “fake worn” look, instead suggesting a clean, and classic cut in a darker wash. She pointed to Sid Marshall as a great option in the menswear category. Generally speaking, if you’re looking for a pair that will stand the test of time (as we should all be if we want to be more thoughtful, sustainably-minded consumers), avoid exaggerated stylings such as super-skinny or ultra-wide legs, rips and embellishments. A straight- or sightly tapered-leg, mid-to-high-rise jean in a mid- or slightly darker-toned wash will never go out of style. The case for spending (a little) more Featuring thigh-to-heel cut-outs and hibiscus-shaped embroidery, the denim pants by Italian fashion house Valentino, were styled with a simple white tank, Christian Louboutin heels, hoop earrings and Lively’s signature long tousled hair.  Eric Charbonneau/Getty Images While there’s no suggestion you should forgo a down payment on your first apartment for a pair of jeans, there is an argument for spending a little more. “It takes a lot of resources, and many hands, to produce a pair of jeans,” said Sandra Capponi, co-founder of the sustainable fashion site Good on You. “So if we’re buying denim at dirt-cheap prices, then someone or something is paying the price. “And when you take into account the cost per wear, spending money upfront on high-quality items you’ll wear again and again is often the best choice for your wallet, and for the planet,” she added. The Good on You website includes a directory of brands, categorized by price and ethical credentials. The site currently features 21 “Great” denim brands (the highest rank, which goes from “Great” down to “We avoid.”) “It’s incredible, the range for denim,” said Ani Wells, a spokesperson for denim industry

Two telescopes have spotted the closest pair of supermassive black holes to date. The duo, only about 300 light-years apart, were observed in different wavelengths of light using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. While black holes are invisible against the dark void of space, these two blaze brightly as the gas and dust they feed on is accelerated and heated to high temperatures. Both celestial objects, which circle around one another, are known as active galactic nuclei. Active galactic nuclei are supermassive black holes that release bright jets of material and high winds that can shape the very galaxies where they are found. The black hole duo is the closest pair found through visible and X-ray light. While other black hole pairs have been observed before, they are usually much farther apart. Astronomers discovered these black holes dancing around one another at the center of a pair of colliding galaxies called MCG-03-34-64, which is 800 million light-years away. Astronomers serendipitously found the black holes when Hubble’s observations revealed three spikes of bright light within the glowing gas of a galaxy. They published their discovery Monday in The Astrophysical Journal. “We were not expecting to see something like this,” said lead study author Anna Trindade Falcão, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a statement. “This view is not a common occurrence in the nearby universe, and told us there’s something else going on inside the galaxy.” Zooming in on bright cosmic lights The team was intrigued when Hubble picked up on three optical diffraction spikes in a concentrated region of the MCG-03-34-64 galaxy. Diffraction spikes appear when light from a small cosmic region bends around the mirror inside telescopes. Hubble’s observations were made in optical light, which is visible to the human eye, but the astronomers weren’t sure what they were seeing. Falcão’s team took another look at the galactic region with Chandra in X-ray light. When the scientists observed the galaxy using Chandra, they were able to pinpoint two powerful sources of X-ray light that matched the optical light sources spotted by Hubble, Falcão said. “We put these pieces together and concluded that we were likely looking at two closely spaced supermassive black holes.” The team also consulted archival observation radio wave data collected by the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array of radio telescopes near Socorro, New Mexico. The black hole duo was also found to release energetic radio waves. “When you see bright light in optical, X-rays, and radio wavelengths, a lot of things can be ruled out, leaving the conclusion these can only be explained as close black holes. When you put all the pieces together it gives you the picture of the (active galactic nuclei) duo,” Falcão said. A Hubble Space Telescope image of the galaxy MCG-03-34-064 revealed three distinct bright spots embedded in a white ellipse at the galaxy’s center (expanded in an inset image). NASA/ESA/Anna Trindade Falcão (STScI) Meanwhile, the third diffraction spike observed by Hubble has an unknown origin, and the team requires more data to understand what it could be. The source of light might be from gas that was shocked by an energetic release of material from one of the black holes. “We wouldn’t be able to see all of these intricacies without Hubble’s amazing resolution,” Falcão said. Astronomers have observed pairs of black holes that are closer together than these two through radio telescopes, but those duos haven’t been observed in other wavelengths of light. Both supermassive black holes once served as the centers of their respective galaxies, but a galactic merger brought the two objects much closer together. Eventually, their close spiral will result in a merger in about 100 million years, according to NASA, causing an energetic release of gravitational waves, or ripples in the fabric of space and time. Such gravitational waves created by the collisions of supermassive black holes could be detected in the future by LISA, the European Space Agency-led Laser Interferometer Space Antenna mission that’s expected to launch in the mid-2030s.

No sooner have airports introduced new scanning machines so you don’t need to unpack your carry-on bags, than a trend emerges where you photograph all your loose items in your airport security tray. The “airport tray aesthetic” has taken off on TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest as people share artfully arranged shots of their sunglasses, shoes, toiletries and reading material inside the regulation polypropylene dishes. Don’t expect crumpled plastic bags stuffed with toothpaste and Pepto-Bismol. This is aspirational travel, where your 35mm film camera nestles between your vintage loafers and your first-edition copy of “On the Road.” It’s the latest in a line of trends where people curate their possessions for a public showcase, from bookshelves to bedside tables to even the insides of our refrigerators. (Yes, “fridgescaping,” which involves storing flowers and picture frames alongside your butter and eggs, is now a thing). However, the trend is ruffling more than a few feathers, due to the airport security line being one of the top places in the world where it’s imperative to avoid dilly-dallying. Think-pieces have naturally been spilling forth. The New York Post slammed the “time-consuming trend” as an influencer-led blight upon the nation’s TSA lines. The UK’s Metro newspaper said that “‘the anxiety-inducing trend’ risks you becoming the most hated person in the airport.” Comments on Shop Pursue’s TikTok video showing young women preparing for a “girls’ trip” by organizing their Adidas Gazelles and Louis Vuitton bags on a bench range from “ik the people behind yall were annoyed waiting” to “you would get tased in JFK for this.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Stackers Official (@mystackers) However, like many things happening online, all is not quite what it seems. In a TikTok video with 82,000 likes so far, New York-based influencer Chelsea as of Late gives a step-by-step tutorial on following the trend and not being a nuisance. The key, she says, is to do it after going through security: Find a quiet spot and “if you have time set up a few different trays, cause why not?” That, however, is still an area intended for travelers who need it for necessary repacking of items or for a more urgent rest stop. Let’s also not forget that with all those shoes passing through security trays, you may as well be laying your items straight out on the floor. In 2018, a European study found that airport trays are the least hygienic part of the airport, carrying more germs than toilets. So while hand sanitizer doesn’t typically feature in these airport tray photos and videos, it should probably play a key part in the aftercare. The trend has unsurprisingly been a huge hit with marketing teams around the world, with brands including clothing and homeware retailers Anthropologie and book publishers Faber all posting their stylized boxes. Storage solutions brand Stackers told CNN, “This trend specifically aligned perfectly for us, curating an aesthetic selection whilst focusing on our travel-friendly products.” A lot of the most delightfully organized boxes don’t involve a trip to the airport at all. In one of the most popular TikTok videos on the “airportaesthetic” hashtag, with 1.8 million views, Chicago-based content creator Piper Taich gives a tutorial explaining that her airport security tub was purchased on Amazon and her boarding pass was edited on Photoshop. She then curates her travel-themed selections to her heart’s content. “If you’re asking what the point of this is, the point is that it’s fun and that it’s art,” she says. “It’s a really fun way to express my love of fashion and thrifting and artistic direction. “As long as the staged glamor photos are not causing delays or issues with other passengers in the checkpoint, there are no issues,” says the TSA.  iiStockphoto/Getty Images The rise of social media and increasingly advanced and accessible filming and editing software means that individuals are able to put together home-created masterpieces like never before, from dance videos to comedy sketches to makeup tutorials. Against these pros, there are the cons. With rose-tinted snapshots of other people’s lives flooding our feeds 24/7, the social comparison is having a big impact on mental health, especially for younger people. As for the airport tray aesthetic, while people might be getting het up at the idea of Gen Z holding up the line for some navel-gazing, the US Transport Security Administration is sanguine about the risk. “The TSA has become aware of this trend recently,” a spokesperson told CNN. “As long as the staged glamor photos are not causing delays or issues with other passengers in the checkpoint, there are no issues. Travelers should take care to secure their IDs, passports and any light items on top that could be swept out of the bins when they go into the machines.” For a screen break during their flight, some virally minded travelers might consider “rawdogging” – what we used to call staring out the window. And when you reach your destination, you can always put your phone down and go for a swim or a hike – life has to be lived before we can document it.

  No more soup for the Campbell’s company. The 155-year-old Campbell Soup Company plans to drop “soup” from its corporate name, rebranding as The Campbell’s Company. More consumers are reaching for snacks and ditching ready-to-serve soups, and the company has bought up other food lines to grab them. In addition to its lineup of soups, Campbell now owns snack brands like Goldfish, Snyder’s of Hanover, Cape Cod, Pepperidge Farm and others. Campbell also recently bought Sovos Brands, maker of popular Italian food brands like Rao’s sauces. “This subtle yet important change retains the company’s iconic name recognition, reputation and equity built over 155 years while better reflecting the full breadth of the company’s portfolio,” Campbell CEO Mark Clouse said Tuesday in a statement. The name change is subject to shareholder approval at the company’s annual meeting in November. Although soup is an important part of Campbell’s business, it’s now a smaller portion of its sales. Last year, Campbell’s snack sales grew 13%, while its soups grew 3%. Legacy food companies like Campbell are pivoting to gain a larger share of the snack market, valued at more than $200 billion by market research firm Circana. Nearly half of Americans say they eat at least three snacks a day, according to Circana. In August, Mars, the maker of M&M’s, agreed to buy Kellanova, which owns Cheez-Its and Pringles, in a deal worth almost $29 billion. “Snacking is a large, attractive, and durable category that continues to grow in importance with consumers,” Kellanova said at the time.

When Tadej Pogačar surged ahead of great rival Jonas Vingegaard at the top of the Col de la Couillole, clapping his chest and stretching out his arms as he crossed the finish line, it all but confirmed his return to the pinnacle of cycling in thrilling fashion. Pogačar hadn’t needed to win the penultimate stage of this year’s Tour de France to secure a third yellow jersey, but the fact that he did – and the manner in which he did it – underlined his complete dominance over the past three weeks. And it wasn’t just at this year’s Tour that Pogačar was at his brutal best. Weeks prior, he was victorious in the Giro d’Italia for the first time in his career, becoming the first man to win both races in the same year since Marco Pantani in 1998. The rare double has been achieved by only eight riders in history, and Pogačar, a baby-faced 25-year-old from a small town in Slovenia, is the latest addition to that select club. Such success he never foresaw. “When I was younger, I was never thinking that I can win a stage in the Tour de France,” Pogačar tells CNN Sport. “After I won the first Tour de France – because that’s an ultimate goal in cycling – everything is more or less a bonus. “I’m just racing to have fun, not to feel that it’s obligatory or anything, and go with a free mind to races.” UAE Team Emirates riders celebrate Pogačar’s Tour de France victory. UAE Team Emirates riders celebrate Pogačar’s Tour de France victory. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Pogačar became the youngest cyclist in the post-World War II era to win the Tour when he stunned Primož Roglič four years ago, surpassing his compatriot in the penultimate stage of the race. Another triumph, at times seeming more like a procession than a contest, came the following year, before Pogačar was twice beaten by Denmark’s Vingegaard, seemingly the only rider capable of challenging the Slovenian over a three-week-long race. The pair have gone on to forge a fierce rivalry, and the 2024 edition of cycling’s most prestigious race was Pogačar’s chance to enact his revenge. He was ruthless in doing so, winning six stages in total, five of them in the mountains. Vingegaard, who was hospitalized after a serious crash back in April, battled valiantly but in vain. The youngest rider to win the yellow jersey three times, Pogačar is fast closing in on the all-time record of five, jointly held by Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain. Lance Armstrong – who won seven consecutive Tours de France from 1999 to 2005 – received a lifetime ban from professional sport and was stripped of his titles in 2012 for doping offenses. “I don’t like to talk about what can be in the future, what records can be broken,” says Pogačar. “But three now, three Tours de France and maybe 10 more years of my career if I’m well. So the odds are pretty good still to have five Tours de France, but that’s not the goal I want.” Instead, Pogačar is plotting out his career one race at a time, carefully outlining which events he will target each year with his UAE Team Emirates outfit. Unusually for a cyclist, his talent is such that he can win races of almost any length and on different terrains. That includes one-day classics, which require an explosivity normally sacrificed by Tour de France contenders in favor of endurance. Pogačar wears the yellow jersey during this year’s Tour, trailing Vingegaard in the polka dot jersey. Pogačar wears the yellow jersey during this year’s Tour, trailing Vingegaard in the polka dot jersey. Jerome Delay/AP He says that he wants to win all five of cycling’s monuments – with only the Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix outstanding – and also to win all three Grand Tours by adding the Vuelta a España to his palmarès. Only one person, the legendary Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx, has ever achieved this sweep and that was long before the modern era of cycling. For Pogačar, these lofty goals seem achievable rather than laughable. Winning the red jersey of the Vuelta would see him become the eighth male cyclist to win all three of the Grand Tours, another rare accolade well within his reach. As for this year, Pogačar admits that everything “fell into perfect place.” After winning the Tour, he decided to skip the Olympics due to fatigue, though later said that the Slovenian Olympic Committee’s surprising decision not to select his partner, Urška Žigart, also influenced the move. He was back on the bike for the Plume Strong Cycling Challenge in Switzerland at the start of September, a charity ride which aims to raise around $1.1 million (1 million euros) for humanitarian causes, including the development of 15 rural secondary schools in Sierra Leone. Pogačar took part in the first leg of the ride from the Swiss city of Zürich to Venice in Italy. “It fits into my nature, cycling and raising money,” he says. “So for me, these kinds of events are really nice … just taking a small part in the challenge.” The event was also a convenient way for Pogačar to prepare for the next big race in his calendar: the world road race championships, which begin in Zürich later this month. Finishing third last year, no Slovenian has ever won the road race at the world championships, which takes the form of a mass-start event across a single day and allows the winner to wear the famous rainbow jersey throughout the following season. A victory in Zürich would be further testament to the stunning breadth of Pogačar’s talent. It’s with good reason that he is so adored back home in Slovenia, where thousands of fans celebrated his return from the Tour de France by gathering in the streets of Ljubljana, the capital, and Komenda, his hometown of around 6,540 people. “Both were kind