Month: March 2025

Brits were among those who went back into Kim Jong-un’s secretive country last month as tour groups resumed operations for the first time since the pandemic. Following their visit, they spoke about the ‘bleak’ sights and old-fashioned accommodation.

Rason is a city near North Korea’s border with China, and a number of Western travel agencies had been sharing updates on tours there after finally getting permission from their North Korean partners.

But today (March 5), the companies have announced that their tours to the city are now suspended.

Young Pioneer Tours, which was one of the first tour groups to cross into North Korea when it reopened recently, shared the travel update on Facebook.

“We have been advised by our partners in the DPRK that tours to Rason are currently paused. We are in the process of clarifying how this will impact your upcoming trips,” it wrote.

“We recommend that those planning tours in April and May refrain from booking flights until we have more information.

“Rest assured, once we have further details, we will reach out to everyone individually. Please know that if your tour is cancelled, you’ll have the option for a full credit or refund.”

Spanish-based travel agency KTG Travels also shared: “Oh no! Just received news from our Korean partners that Rason is closed to everyone. We will keep you posted.”

While tours coordinator for KTG, Rayco Vega, confirmed the travel suspension to AFP news agency, adding: “We do not know the reason nor how long this will last.”

YouTuber Mike O’Kennedy was one of the Brits who managed to visit North Korea last month.

During their trip, they paid a visit to a school where students performed songs and routines, including eight-year-olds dancing with a video of ballistic missiles hitting targets behind them.

With much of the show praising the leader, O’Kennedy said in his video that one of the clearest things he saw on the trip was ‘the utter devotion people had towards Kim Jong-un’.

Joe Smith was also on the trip, marking his third visit to North Korea.

He said: “I feel like the more times you visit the less you know,” he told the BBC. “Each time you get a little peek behind the curtain, which just leaves you with more questions.”

Smith described the roads as ‘awful’ and buildings ‘weirdly constructed’, as he added: “They’ve had five years to fix things. North Koreans are so sensitive about what they show tourists.

“If this is the best they can show, I dread to think what else is out there.”

This comes as Russia seemingly had a public change of heart on the prospect of a ceasefire in Ukraine.

It initially appeared the Russians weren’t onboard with the idea after Putin aide Yuri Ushakov dismissed the idea of a 30-day ceasefire ahead of talks to permanently end the war. Despite US leader Donald Trump’s previous warnings that things would get ‘very bad for Russia’ if they didn’t agree to a deal.

But just as we were all busy stockpiling tinned food and building fallout shelters, Putin announced that Russia ‘absolutely supports’ a ceasefire deal after all… with conditions.

What are Russia’s conditions for a ceasefire in Ukraine?

Putin has now made it clear that a ceasefire in Ukraine would only be on the table if his demands are met, telling reporters during a broadcast on Russian state television that he was in favour of a 30-day ceasefire, but there are ‘nuances’.

“First of all, what are we going to do about this incursion in Kursk?” he began, referring to the small areas of Russian territory which Ukraine currently holds.

The 72-year-old has previously stated that Russian forces are allegedly back in control of the Kursk region and that Ukrainian troops ‘have been isolated’.

He added: “If we ceased hostilities for 30 days, would it mean that everybody there would leave? Should we release them after they committed serious crimes against civilians there?”

Putin then further questioned the technicalities of a ceasefire, questioning if the Ukrainians would use the time to regroup and rearm their forces. “How will those 30 days be used? For Ukraine to mobilise? Rearm? Train people? Or none of that? Then a question – how will that be controlled,” he questioned.

“How will other aspects be dealt with along with 2,000-kilometre contact line? As you know, the Russian troops are advancing practically in every sector of the contact line, and all the conditions are there for us to besiege fairly large [Ukrainian] units.”

Russia is thought to occupy around 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, which includes parts of the parts of Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts, as well as Crimea.

The questions laid out in Putin’s TV address follow previous conditions set by the Russian leader, which includes no NATO membership for Kyiv, along with an agreement not to deploy foreign troops in Ukraine and international recognition of Russian sovereignty over occupied Ukrainian territory (via The Times).

“The idea is good and we absolutely support it, but there are issues we need to discuss, and I think we need to negotiate with our American colleagues,” he added.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy has since responded to Putin’s update with a statement of his own, accusing the Russians of ‘preparing to reject’ the deal.

Tanya Santiago was making impressive progress on her journey but was halted by a cancer scare. Determined not to back down though, the 31-year-old didn’t give up and has continued to follow the healthy changes she made to her life.

The retail store manager from California weighed 42st 12lbs at her heaviest, wearing clothes in a size 7XL.

She says she’d gotten so big at that time that she struggled to get out of bed and ‘everyday tasks were difficult’.

“I ate anything I could get my hands on,” she explained. “Chinese was my go-to and Mexican. I’d eat enormous portions – for a family of six.”

But in 2020, tragedy struck as Tanya, who hadn’t known she was pregnant, suffered a miscarriage.

She explained she’d had ‘irregular periods’ that were ‘really heavy and lasted a year’.

And during a procedure to remove tissue from inside her uterus, it was found she had miscarried.

“I was three months along, and my body was rejecting the pregnancy,” Tanya said.

“I had to get an abortion pill as I was too big to go on the table.”

This scare put things into perspective, with the realisation she couldn’t carry a baby without being in serious danger. After grieving this, she also realised she wasn’t happy in her marriage and filed for divorce in December 2021.

So, Tanya started to make simple changes and exercising however she could – starting with short walks and pool exercises.

Chinese takeaways were swapped for low-carb homemade meals, and she’d lost 17st 12lbs by January 2023.

However, her health was deteriorating as Tanya said: “I went to the doctor and he said it’s great you’ve lost all this weight but you have fatty liver disease and it’s going to turn into cancer.”

A gastric bypass was advised to help her lose the additional weight and reverse the disease.

Since that four-hour operation, the woman kept up her exercise and now works out a mega six days a week for two hours a day.

Thanks to her determination before and after the bypass, Tanya now weighs 12st 2lbs and her family hardly even recognise her.

“When I went home they said ‘who is this lady at my door?'” she explained.

“They said ‘you shape shift’.”

The woman says her old life feels like an ‘old TV show that used to air’ as she’s amazed every day that she ‘can run’.

She’s still got her old 7XL clothes as a ‘reminder’ of how far she has come and is now becoming an online coach and bodybuilder.

“I just want to help other people,” Tanya added. “If I can do it you guys can too.”

Shocking footage shows how the pair stood on top of the table and let loose – despite the place being fully equipped with bathroom facilities – last month.

The bizarre incident took place in a private room at a Shanghai branch of Haidilao, which is China’s biggest hot pot chain, on 24 February.

But bosses only became aware of the vile act four days later after the footage started to go viral on social media, the BBC reports.

Police said that the boys, who were aged 17, were drunk at the time and both were detained shortly after the incident.

Haidilao admitted that staff in the restaurant had failed to stop the teens, while it took another week for the company to identify which branch it had happened at out of the dozens in Shanghai.

For those who don’t know, hot pot restaurants offer a communal dining experience which allows people to cook their own food.

You fling a variety of ingredients into a tasty pot of simmering broth that’s right in front of you and tuck in – but that might not sound as enticing after this incident.

The company said in a statement (as per CBS): “In the early hours of February 24, two men urinated into a hotpot after dining in a private room at a Haidilao branch on the Bund in Shanghai.

“As management had never made contingency plans or given training for dealing with this type of incident, staff at our branch were unable to detect any abnormalities at the scene or uphold the safety of the dining environment.”

Although there is no suggestion that anyone consumed the contaminated broth, Haidilao has offered to compensate the more than 4,000 diners who visited the Shanghai branch.

Customers who ate at the outlet in question between 24 February and 8 March will receive a full refund and cash compensation which is ten times the amount of their bill.

Haidilao said in a statement: “We fully understand that the distress caused to our customers by this incident cannot be fully compensated for by any means, but we will do our utmost to take responsibility.”

Broths and dining equipment are not re-used by multiple customers, however, it remains unclear whether the area was thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before the next customers sat down.

Haidilao said that all hotpot equipment and dining utensils have been replaced, while crockery and other utensils have all been disinfected.

The hot pot chain – which has two branches in London and one in Birmingham – operates more than 1,000 restaurants across the world.

Its website explains that it offers a ‘signature dining experience’ for guest, with a ‘focus on service, food and atmosphere’.

Haidilao is known for its customer service and unique offerings, as people can get a manicure or watch ‘noodle dancing performances’ as they wait for a table, while kids are given candy floss.

It’s not to do with his recent warnings to Russia’s Putin or heated exchange with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy. Instead, it’s the swathe of major tariff increases that’s led to his latest brutal message.

Having threatened to raise the metals tariff to 50 percent for Canadian imports before backing off due to its retaliation, he’s still put a 25 percent tariff on all goods from Canada and Mexico.

Trump also raised a tariff on all Chinese goods as well as the initial tariff of 25 percent on steel and aluminium from all countries.

Now, in quite the threat, the US president is looking at EU alcohol.

Yesterday (13 March), Trump threatened he would put a 200 percent tariff on ‘wines, champagnes, and alcoholic products’ from the European Union.

This came as a response to a retaliatory 50 percent import duty on US whiskey. So, with tension escalating between the longtime trading partners, he hit out at his close ally.

“The European Union, one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States, has just put a nasty 50% Tariff on Whisky,” Trump wrote on his platform, Truth Social.

“If this Tariff is not removed immediately, the U.S. will shortly place a 200% Tariff on all WINES, CHAMPAGNES, & ALCOHOLIC PRODUCTS COMING OUT OF FRANCE AND OTHER E.U. REPRESENTED COUNTRIES. This will be great for the Wine and Champagne businesses in the U.S.”

And then, later yesterday morning, he seemed to send a message to the rest of the world as he posted: “The US doesn’t have Free Trade. We have ‘Stupid Trade’. The Entire World is RIPPING US OFF!!!”

A whopping 200 percent tariff on alcohol from EU would be quite the hit, but potentially also an interesting one considering the state’s preferences.

Alcohol is quite a hefty part of the US’ agricultural imports and United Nations trade data found that from the EU in particularly, French wines and spirits and Italian wines took the lead in US imports in 2023.

A spokesperson told the BBC: “The European Union regrets and is very disappointed by this latest statement by the US president, we believe that these types of tariffs are unjustified, unfair and counterproductive.”

They added that they will be speaking to US officials today.

Plenty of Brits use mobile banking these days, and with a few taps of their phone screen can access their worldly fortunes, which worryingly means that anyone who nabs your phone and taps the screen in just the right way also does.

On an episode of The Martin Lewis Money Show Live, the man himself sounded a warning that phone theft was on the rise and there were some things people ought to be doing to keep their bank accounts safe.

“Thefts are up 40 percent in London but they’re going up right across the country too,” the Money Saving Expert warned.

“Now the crucial thing is they’re not just trying to nick your phone, some of them are trying to access your financial data from your phone. You have to protect yourselves on this folks.”

As for how to protect yourself, Lewis ran through the ways you could stop thieves from getting access to your money.

He said: “Use remote tracking to locate your device if it’s been nicked and suspend payments, there’s ‘FindMy’ from Apple, ‘SmartThingsFind’ from Samsung, ‘FindMyDevice’ from Google, do those things.

“Next, enable the biometrics, you know, face ID and fingerprint ID, on your phone both for the phone itself and for your banking apps.

“If you’re not going to and you’re a PIN code type person, please different PIN codes for the phone and the banking apps.

“It’s called ‘shoulder surfing’ these days, people look over your shoulder to see your PIN code and then if they’re doing the same for both they can access your money.”

He then explained something else you might want to know about, saying you could dial *#06# to get something called an IMEI image, then suggested you should get a screengrab of that and save it.

“That is what you’re going to need to give to the police if your phone is stolen,” Martin Lewis said.

“Screengrab it, and assuming you can access your email not just on your phone I would just email it to yourself so you’ve got a copy somewhere.”

Other advice the Money Saving Expert had for Brits included switching off ‘preview notifications’ for the sake of your lock screen and looking into the other security features you could get for your device to stop ne’er-do-wells from getting their hands on it and by extension your bank account.

He said: “There are thieves who want to access your finances by your phone. It is growing. It is dangerous. Protect yourself please people.”

Jeff Zinne had been snowboarding at Red Lodge Mountain ski resort in Montana on Monday (10 March) was riding alone in a three-person chair around midday when the chairlift machine suffered a mechanical fault, causing him to plummet to the ground from an unspecified height.

Zinne airlifted to the nearby city of Billings where he would pass away from his injuries two days later.

Zinne’s death has since been confirmed by County Sheriff Josh McQuillan and Red Lodge Mountain spokesperson Troy Hawks.

Hawks went on to confirm that a mechanical fault had occurred around the time of the 37-year-old’s fall but declined to comment further on the subject. He added that the resort is currently holding an investigation into the circumstances around his death, including weather conditions and the victim’s actions in the moment leading up to the fall.

More than 100 other visitors riding on different chairs at the time of the accident were evacuated from the lift by ski patrollers.

Local outlets added that several other chairlifts had been temporarily closed on the day of Zinne’s fall due to severe weather conditions, with winds of up to 50 mph (80.4 kph) being recorded in the area.

The chair, which had been built in 1983, will remain out of action until an engineer is able to fully assess it.

Meanwhile Zinne’s family have since set up GoFundMe to raise money for his wife Meghan and their two-year-old son to help with the ‘financial burdens that come with such an unexpected tragedy’.

Referring to the freight hauling company owner as a ‘devoted husband’ and ‘caring father’, the fundraiser added: “All funds raised will go directly to his wife and son to help with funeral costs and medical expenses.”

Meghan has also thanked people for their support in an update on the page, writing: “The outpouring love and support that we’ve received is astonishing. Jeff was so loved. Please know I am seeing your comments and texts. I cannot respond to everyone but it is so appreciated.

“Thank you to all who have joined our meal train, donated to the GoFund me and have sent flowers.”

Deaths on ski lifts are considered to be relatively rare, with Skimag reporting there were 14 fatalities caused by mechanical faults between 1973 and 2020 in America.

Meanwhile Europe’s most recent ski lift accident occurred in Spain back in January, with a chair lift collapse earlier this year leaving two women in intensive care.

If you grew up in a British primary school, then you’ve probably sung the Noah’s Ark nursery rhyme, but if somehow you’re not familiar with one of the oldest tales on Earth, then to sum it up, God instructed Noah to build an ark big enough to save his family, as well as two of every species of animal, as he planned to flood the Earth.

For some time now, scientists have been trying to prove that the Durupinar formation, a 538-foot geological structure in eastern Turkey, is proof that the religious tale actually happened. The site is close to the Turkey-Iran border and supposedly fits the dimensions of the ark from the Bible.

Late last year, researchers were finally able to decipher an ancient Babylonian artifact kept at the British Museum, which they believe serves as a map. The clay tablet lays out how Christians believe the world was created, and features an ancient Mesopotamian poem which says a man (potentially Noah) and his family landed an ark intended to preserve life.

This latest discovery only serves as further proof, as after collecting rock and soil samples from the site and sending them off for examination in Istanbul, it was revealed that they contained traces of clay-like materials, marine deposits, and seafood remnants, including molluscs.

And if Noah truly did manage to round up two of every single animal, then the tiny molluscs would also have had a ticket for the boat. Although they were probably so small that they could have just snuck on without paying.

Experts were also able to put a rough date on this latest discovery, and suggest that the findings could be between 3500 and 5000 years old, which coincidentally is in what is known as the Chalcolithic period. Genesis says that the flood happened around 3300 BC, so the dates line up.

Lead researcher Dr. Faruk Kaya said: “According to the initial results, it’s believed there were human activities in this region since the Chalcolithic period.

“An essential outcome of the symposium is the decision to conduct more research in Cudi and Ararat, known as the Mesopotamian region.”

The researchers added: “Our studies show that this region harboured life in that period and that, at some point, it was covered by water, which reinforces the possibility that a catastrophic event of great magnitude occurred.

“The evidence suggests that the story might have a basis in reality.”

But let’s be honest, there’s no shame in whatever it is you’re picking up from the big Tesco or from bossman at the corner shop in your PJs.

Although, when you’re a celebrity, it might be a little harder to get away with making unique purchases.

And Millie Bobby Brown had to address rumours she was pregnant after being spotted buying nappies.

The 21-year-old can’t seem to catch a break, with her appearance and fashion under much scrutiny and even her shopping habits being picked apart.

While publicly having a pretty glamorous persona, having sported a nineties style while promoting her new film, The Electric State, life at home is far more rural and relaxed for Brown.

The Stranger Things star often opens up about living on a farm with husband Jake Bongiovi, where they have quite the set of animals.

Part of the reason she actually moved out while in her teens was because her parents weren’t so keen on the idea of her having any more animals under their roof.

“At that point I had two dogs and a rabbit living in my room, so I ended up buying a house right next to them so I have a house next to them in London and a house next to them in Georgia right across the street,” she explained on the Call Her Daddy podcast.

But nowadays, she’s got 25 farm animals including goats, cows, donkeys and a whopping 33 dogs – 23 of which live in a rescue sanctuary she built.

Brown particularly enjoys rescuing goats, having shared BTS footage of taking one of the little baby ones on the Netflix set during filming.

But it’s with this looking after of the animals that led to the false pregnancy rumours.

“Jake had to kind of draw the line at some point, because we were bringing in these goats that sleep in our bed and they were in diapers,” she said on the Smartless podcast.

“People started thinking I was pregnant because I was buying bottles and nappies and all the things.”

Brown explained they were ‘basically babies’ as she added: “And so I would sleep with them and Jake. They would be in the middle and they are so cute. Then they reach around, like, eight weeks old, and they’re full grown and have horns, and they’re wanting to go outside.”

As for having human babies of their own, starting a family is ‘so important’ to the star.

“For me personally, it’s a huge thing. Jake was like, ‘We cannot do that until we get married.’ So that was his thing. And my thing was, ‘I really want a family.’ I really want a big family. I’m one of four; he’s one of four. So it is definitely in our future,” she said.

It seems there’s still plenty of life left in the 95-year-old, as we saw back in 2023 when he got married for the fourth time to Dr Anca Faur.

Despite an estimated 600 million people tuning into the first Moon landing back in 1969, and various scientists and experts proving that it happened, there are still conspiracy theorists out there who believe it was all fake. We can even see the Earth reflected in Aldrin’s helmet, for goodness sake!

At 8.17pm on 20 July, 1969, the Apollo 11 crew – consisting of Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins – successfully landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on Earth’s only natural satellite, and they took pictures including a footprint on the Moon and Aldrin saluting the US flag.

Nearly 56 years on, and some still argue about the very real landing’s legitimacy on the internet.

We’ve already managed to shut Flat Earthers up using basic science but Aldrin opted for a more physical approach when a stranger on the street accused him of being a ‘liar’ and a ‘coward’ back in 2002.

Even at the age of 72, the former astronaut wasn’t afraid to stand up for himself.

Given the intense training Aldrin would have gone through to prepare himself for one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs in history, it must be pretty insulting to be told that it never happened.

So, when Aldrin, who was the inspiration behind the name of the beloved Buzz Lightyear character in the Toy Story series, encountered ‘Moon truther’ Bart Sibrel in Los Angeles, he didn’t hold anything back.

Sibrel approached Aldrin while he was outside a restaurant with his stepdaughter and repeatedly asked him to ‘swear on the Bible’ that he had been to the Moon.

Responding to the hostility, the former astronaut raised his voice and asked him to ‘get away from me’. To which Sibrel replied: “You’re a coward and a liar and a thief…”

Aldrin then punched Sibrel square in the jaw, which quickly shut him up.

While Sibrel attempted to press charges against Aldrin, the case was thrown out as the court found the conspiracy theorist to be the instigator.

At the time, deputy district attorney Elizabeth Ratinoff said: “Ultimately, Sibrel called Aldrin a thief, liar and coward. Video depicts Aldrin striking Sibrel once in the face with a fist. Sibrel immediately turns to the camera crew present and appears to twice state, ‘Did you get that?’

“Based on the totality of the circumstances it is unlikely a jury would find Aldrin guilty of a misdemeanor battery charge.”

Speaking about conspiracy theorists following the incident, Aldrin told Fox News: “I don’t pay any attention to them, really. They’re out for themselves to make a name.”