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We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
We have a curated list of the most noteworthy news from all across the globe. With any subscription plan, you get access to exclusive articles that let you stay ahead of the curve.
A grim tale from Virginia has surfaced, capturing widespread attention after revelations of a fatal incident during what has been described as consensual yet perilous foreplay. A young woman of 19 has found herself embroiled in legal proceedings, facing charges of involuntary manslaughter following a tragic game of what authorities likened to “Russian roulette” with a firearm.
The details of the case became clearer over the weekend, as WAVY-TV reported that Ember McSpadden allegedly squeezed the trigger of a handgun three times. With each pull, she counted the ominous clicks until the gun discharged a bullet which struck 26-year-old Shane Brooks in the neck, an event adding layers of complexity to their relationship now under scrutiny.
Investigations have revealed that Brooks himself handed over the weapon—a partially loaded gun with only one cartridge—to McSpadden. The pair reportedly indulged in foreplay that strangely involved both guns and knives, raising serious questions about the nature and risks of their interactions.
In a court setting, a lead detective from Virginia Beach characterized their connection as a “friends with benefits” situation, 13News Now disclosed. This portrayal has sparked significant debate and further inquiry into their dynamics.
On a different note, Brooks’ family has asserted an emotional disconnect from these happenings, stating they were unaware of McSpadden and insisting that Shane and McSpadden were not romantically involved. The family’s statement adds a layer of poignancy and mystery as the investigation continues.
McSpadden allegedly told investigators that the cylinder would be spun and then checked to make sure it was not positioned on the live round.
But on the final pass, the lead detective testified, McSpadden clicked the trigger multiple times before a bullet fired into Brooks’ neck, according to 13News Now.
The fatal shooting unfolded in the early morning hours of March 5.
Virginia Beach emergency dispatchers received a report of a shooting around 1:09 a.m. in the 2600 block of Virginia Beach Boulevard, according to police.
Officers arrived to find Brooks suffering from a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators found a total of seven guns in the room where Brooks died, including two revolvers on the bed, according to testimony reported by 13News Now.
One of the pistols was identified as the weapon used to shoot Brooks and had one cartridge case in the chamber, according to the station.
Virginia Beach police initially described Brooks’ death as the result of an “unintended firearm discharge.”
McSpadden, a Virginia Beach resident, was subsequently arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The startling circumstances surrounding the shooting later emerged in court, where prosecutors presented testimony from a lead Virginia Beach detective and a forensic specialist.
McSpadden, who was out on bond, appeared at a preliminary hearing Friday, where a judge found sufficient evidence for the involuntary manslaughter charge to move forward to a grand jury.
Her attorney, Artisha Gregg, maintained that Brooks’ death was a tragic accident that McSpadden neither intended nor foresaw.
“This incident is a tragedy that my client deeply regrets, as evidenced by her emotional reaction during our hearing today,” Gregg said in a statement.
“As the evidence presented in court demonstrated, this was a tragic accident that my client had no intention or foresight would occur,” she added.
McSpadden faces a maximum prison term of 10 years if convicted.
Brooks’ family said hearing the details of his death laid out in court was difficult.
“There’s nothing we wouldn’t give to have him back,” his brother, Hunter Brooks, said. “We wouldn’t even care about going through this, if we could just have him back, even for a little bit longer.”
“And as that won’t happen, we obviously want to go through the court process and see a conviction at trial,” he added.
Brooks’ mother, Penny Brooks, was similarly unequivocal.
“We just want justice for Shane,” she said.
“We’d do anything to have him back, but, yeah, it’s just a lot to process being in there.”
Brooks was a lifelong Virginia Beach resident who graduated from Old Dominion University and served as a staff sergeant in the Virginia National Guard, according to his obituary.
He had roughly a decade of military service and completed a nine-month tour in Iraq, the obituary said.
Brooks was also remembered as a marathon runner, licensed pilot and outdoorsman. His family described him as “the glue that held our family together.”
Members of his running community organized a memorial run in his honor.
McSpadden’s next court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 21.
The Brooks family has raised $31,628 toward a $35,000 GoFundMe goal to help cover Shane’s funeral and memorial expenses following his sudden death.
Rumors are swirling that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are on the brink of moving in together. Delving into their astrological profiles may shed light on how they’ve navigated their long-distance relationship.
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After approximately three years as a couple, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are contemplating the next big step: cohabitation. Despite being married, the couple’s demanding professional lives have necessitated living apart. While this arrangement might seem unconventional, their astrological signs might offer some clues into their unique decision.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are looking to move in together
The pair exchanged vows on July 3 and currently, Kelce is focused on his training camp with the Kansas City Chiefs, which sees them residing in Missouri at his home. However, sources indicate the couple envisions a future together in Montecito, California.
“They don’t want it to feel like it’s Travis’s house that Taylor moved into,” a source told The Daily Mail. “They want a place that’s theirs from day one. This is their fresh start.”
They hope to have a fresh start as a couple in their new home.
“They’re not building Taylor’s life or Travis’s life anymore,” the source said. “They’re building one life – together. They’ve done the long-distance thing, and it was hard. Now they’re married, Taylor’s going to be where Travis is. That’s home.”
A number of celebrities live in Montecito, which is located north of Los Angeles. Swift’s career doesn’t tie her to one specific city, and Kelce will likely retire soon.
“They want to wake up together, have dinner together and build a real home – not just squeeze in visits between schedules,” the source said. “I think Montecito might be a nice place to settle down. They love how private it is and secluded.”
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s astrology shows how long distance worked for them
Swift, who was born on Dec. 13, is a Sagittarius. Kelce, who was born on Oct. 5, is a Libra. This is an effortless and high-compatibility match. These signs share a strong connection and have many things in common. Both are social and intellectually curious, so they will enjoy getting to know each other.
Still, they have some differences. While Sagittarius tends to rush into things, Libra may take more time to dedicate themselves to a relationship. Once they do, though, they may struggle with co-dependency, which Saggitarius doesn’t like. As a result, these signs need to avoid rushing into things. Swift and Kelce have taken their time before moving in together, which may have helped their relationship.
Both signs are also indecisive, so it may have been difficult for the couple to land on a place to live.
In the ancient narratives handed down through generations, a legendary double-hulled canoe called Kaunitoni made a monumental journey from the west, ushering in the first leading chiefs of the iTaukei, the indigenous people of Fiji. Among them, as some versions recount, was the esteemed leader Lutunasobasoba.
The intrepid explorers undertook an extraordinary voyage, beginning in Thebes, ancient Egypt. Some accounts suggest their origins lay further west, moving through Israel, navigating down the Nile to the expansive Lake Tanganyika, and ultimately crossing the Indian Ocean to arrive at Vuda on the western coast of Viti Levu, Fiji’s largest island.
During this epic crossing, a significant event unfolded—a sacred box was lost overboard.
Legend holds that this mysterious box contained invaluable records of laws and genealogies of the people, vanishing along with the rest of the canoe’s precious cargo into the turbulent waters.
Over the past century, this captivating narrative has emerged as one of the most prominent versions of Fiji’s origins. It became a staple in mission and primary schools, resonating widely through radio broadcasts, and embedding itself into the ancestral understanding of countless generations of Fijians.
Only, much of it was invented in the 1890s — set down for the first time in a newspaper.
The colonial government’s Fijian-language paper, Na Mata, ran a competition at the time, inviting readers across the archipelago to send in the definitive account of where the Fijian people had come from, with the best to be printed.
The winning entry ran over 17 instalments, centring on a forgotten tribe. Within a few decades it had acquired the weight of history.
The shape of the belief
The story of the Kaunitoni is only one part of the overall narrative.
Behind the claimed migration sits a larger conviction, still widely held in some iTaukei communities and church groups: that Fijians descend from a Lost Tribe of Israel — one of 10 the Hebrew Bible describes as carried into exile and never heard from again.
The belief has no support in mainstream science or archaeology. Yet it has helped foster a distinctive affinity with Israel.
The particulars shift from place to place. On Mana Island, in the Yasawa group off western Viti Levu, the Ark of the Covenant — the gold-covered chest that, in the Book of Exodus, held the Ten Commandments — is said to lie buried.
In a village in Ba, in Viti Levu’s north-west, an elder once pointed to a rock and told Reverend Marika Baleidelabaci, a Fijian historian and Methodist minister, that Jesus had been born exactly there.
In the Navosa highlands, markings cut into a cave wall are read by some as ancient Hebrew — an interpretation, Baleidelabaci says, that came back with Fijian soldiers who had served in the Middle East and recognised the shapes.
“Nobody knows the origin of that writing,” he tells SBS News of the unverified petroglyphs.
They assumed that it must be Jewish.
Believers offer corroborations: circumcision is said to predate the missionaries; Fiji is read as an acronym for Father of Israel, Jewish Island; the tanoa, the carved bowl in which the yaqona (kava) drink is served, is claimed to take its name from a phrase meaning “built by Noah”.
Anthropologist Lynda Newland, writing in 2015, described the idea that certain iTaukei clans descend from a Lost Tribe as “very strong among some contemporary clans and church groups”. Her research traces the belief through the intersection of Christianity, Fijian traditions and ideas about ancestry.
Edwin Jones, who spent a year in the highland district of Nabobuco, found it had “gained currency” among Methodists of the interior — held there alongside their own belief that the ancestors emerged from the Nakauvadra hills.
Christians make up around two-thirds of Fiji’s population, and more than half of them are Methodist — a church whose preaching draws heavily on the Hebrew Bible. One former president of the Methodist Church in Fiji estimated 95 per cent of sermons were taken from the Old Testament.
Beyond Fiji, iterations of the same idea have taken root across Melanesia.
In western Papua New Guinea, the Gogodala have been reported to perform Hebrew prayers and incorporate biblical-Israelite ideas into religious practice.
On Malaita, the most populous island of Solomon Islands, the late Anglican visionary George Umai taught that his ancestors had fled Jerusalem in the first century and buried the Ark in the bush at Kwara’ae. There, Israeli flags still hang in village churches, a visible expression of the close ties some Pacific communities have developed with their perceived motherland.
Why the Pacific votes with Israel
In the past three years, that connection has become visible in foreign policy.
When the United Nations General Assembly voted in October 2023 on a ceasefire in Gaza, 14 countries opposed it. Six were Pacific Island states: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Tonga, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia — among the smallest nations on Earth and together accounting for nearly half of the votes against the resolution.
The resolution called for an immediate humanitarian truce but did not explicitly mention Hamas’ October 7 attacks, an omission several countries, including Fiji, cited in explaining their objections.
Fiji’s position is also shaped by domestic politics.
The country’s Jerusalem embassy, opened in September 2025, has its roots in a 2022 election that left parliament deadlocked and gave the nationalist Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) the balance of power in coalition talks. SODELPA leader Viliame Gavoka had campaigned on a promise to establish an embassy in Jerusalem. Sitiveni Rabuka, who became prime minister after forming a coalition with SODELPA, agreed to the proposal, with Gavoka becoming his deputy.
Meanwhile, Papua New Guinea opened an embassy in Jerusalem in 2023, with Israel underwriting the running costs. Samoa announced its own in early 2026, and in July, Nauru became the latest Pacific country to announce plans to do so.
Jerusalem’s status remains sensitive and complex, as it is contested between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The Israelis claim it as their capital, and Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, is based there.
For Palestinians, it is their historical, religious and cultural capital, home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, considered the third holiest site in Islam, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the most sacred site in Christianity.
Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since 1967, annexing the area in 1980.
Israel has been expanding in the other direction too, opening an embassy in Fiji’s capital Suva in June — a regional hub intended to deepen ties with Fiji and across the wider Pacific.
But the political relationship has another layer. Behind the growth in political ties is decades of work by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), an evangelical Christian Zionist group founded in 1980 that has campaigned in Pacific churches for years, and whose Fiji branch its leadership has praised as a model for pro-Israel Christians worldwide. SBS News contacted the ICEJ for comment but received no response.
The attachment to the holy land is expressed in other ways too. Relative to its population, Fiji has sent more soldiers to UN peacekeeping missions than any other country in the world — many of which have been carried out in the Middle East. Believers of the Kaunitoni origin story also make regular pilgrimages to Israel.
In early October 2023, Fijian pilgrims stood in the Negev desert near the Gaza border, planting oak seedlings in the dry yellow dirt and watering them from a bottle of Fiji Water. They had travelled for Sukkot, the Jewish harvest festival, believing themselves to be returning to ancestral land.
Two days later, Hamas militants led the coordinated October 7 attack into southern Israel, leading to Israel’s invasion of the now-devastated enclave.
Brian Dunn is a church historian who emigrated to Fiji from Canada in mid-2023 and is now the head of history at Pasifika Communities University. He says many of those who have returned from peacekeeping tours describe them in unexpectedly personal terms.
“Some even looked at their tour of duty as a pilgrimage,” Dunn tells SBS News.
“I hadn’t really noticed until October 7 just how fully and completely it seems like the vast majority of Fijians were putting their support behind the nation state of Israel.”
How Fiji’s Kaunitoni origin story came to be
To understand how a newspaper entry came to shape Fiji’s origin story, we have to go back 40 years before it ran — to two Wesleyan missionaries, William Cross and David Cargill, who landed in 1835 on the island of Lakeba, in Fiji’s far east, carrying the Old Testament.
Fijians heard of a people chosen by God and organised into 12 tribes, each descended from a common ancestor — and Fijian society was built the same way, in clans tracing descent from a founding ancestor, each with its own plant or animal totem.
“They tried to assimilate themselves with the Jews,” Baleidelabaci says.
The idea took written form in the mission schools. In a 2003 doctoral thesis, the Fijian Methodist minister Tevita Baleiwaqa traces it to the seminary that trained Fiji’s first indigenous ministers, where students schooled in the Old Testament began reading their own past through biblical narratives.
Anthropologist Lynda Newland finds no trace of the Lost Tribes idea in Fiji before Cession in 1874 — when sovereignty was handed to Britain — and argues it surfaces a decade or two later — once Christianity and Victorian science had supplied “a grammar for it”.
That science was diffusionism: the belief that complex cultural practices could not have developed independently in different places, and must instead have spread from a common ancient source, often located somewhere in the biblical world.
Its method was wordplay. The missionary Jesse Carey, working under the amateur anthropologist Lorimer Fison, gathered resemblances between Fijian and African place names — among them a Vunda near Lake Tanganyika as well as the Vunda in Fiji — and concluded Fijians had come from Africa, and before that from Egypt.
“He homologised these names, though they have no relation whatsoever,” Dunn says.
The colonial administration had its own reason to want a single origin story. Fiji had never been one country, but a patchwork of chiefdoms with no paramount ruler — and Britain preferred to govern indirectly, through an existing hierarchy.
A shared ancestry was easier for colonial administrators to govern than a society of hundreds of clans.
Which brings the story back to the newspaper. In 1892 the editor of Na Mata announced a competition to select a definitive version of the people’s legendary history. No criteria for judging were ever published.
The winning entry ran in seventeen monthly instalments, and its author signed himself Denicagilaba — or Hurricane Clouds.
Three years later Basil Thomson, a colonial official who would go on to chair the Native Lands Commission — the body that decided which clan owned what — translated the story and published it in London.
The identity behind the pseudonym went unrecorded for 70 years. When the historian Peter France established it, on Thomson’s authority, Hurricane Clouds turned out to be Ilai Motonococoka — Thomson’s own clerk.
“It was like fan fiction,” Dunn says.
The ultimate agenda was to bring the land resources under control.
That interpretation is contested, but the story was produced at a time when the colonial government was formalising systems of land ownership and political authority.
Then the empire added a layer. Fiji was expected to pay for itself, and sugar was the crop to do it — but iTaukei land could not be sold, and iTaukei labour could not be easily commandeered for the plantations. So, Britain shipped in workers instead: more than 60,000 Indian indentured labourers arrived between 1879 and 1916, under contracts known as girmit.
To explain two peoples in one colony, missionaries turned to the story of twin brothers Jacob and Esau from the book of Genesis, casting Indo-Fijians as the younger brother Jacob and the iTaukei as Esau the hunter. In the story, the brothers share a lifelong rivalry that culminates in Jacob deceiving his father to gain a blessing intended for his older brother. Missionaries leant on the tale to share a hidden message: the older shall serve the younger.
The 1987 Fiji coups and the politics of identity
In April 1987, an election ended 17 years of rule by the iTaukei-led Alliance Party.
The winning coalition drew its support largely from Indo-Fijians, who by then made up roughly half the population; its prime minister, Timoci Bavadra, was an iTaukei commoner, but most of his cabinet was not.
Within a month, Lieutenant Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka — a Methodist lay preacher — walked into parliament with 10 masked soldiers and removed the government at gunpoint. When a negotiated settlement threatened to restore it in September, he seized power a second time and declared Fiji a republic.
Inside the Methodist Church, the country’s largest denomination, a parallel struggle over the church’s direction was under way.
For two decades its presidents had been moderates who preached ecumenism (unity among Christian denominations) and multiracialism; the church had elected an Indo-Fijian president as recently as 1977. Manasa Lasaro, its general secretary, moved against that tradition.
Baleidelabaci, who was in Fiji during those years, remembers the language exactly.
“He said the coup was the will of God to free the Fijians, the chosen people, from bondage and from heathen races,” he recalls.
“That refers to the Indians.”
Lasaro declared Fiji a holy land and its people a holy people, who demanded holy government for all. From the pulpit, Rabuka’s soldiers became Joshua, the general who seized Canaan, and the ministers Moses, who brought the people out of bondage.
“The Fijians at that time were only fighting for the rights of the iTaukei,” Baleidelabaci says.
“The dominance of iTaukei in Fiji.”
Underneath the scripture was a narrative the empire had helped build: one assembled to make Fiji legible to its administrators that had, a century later, been taken up by a nationalist movement — and turned against a population the same empire had brought to the colony.
The Fijian histories left out of the archive
When Dunn repeated the Kaunitoni story to elders in the highland village of Rewasau, deep in the interior and far from the coastal centres where the mission first took hold, they brushed it aside.
“That’s not our story,” they told him.
We didn’t come from anywhere. We’ve always been here.
Archaeological evidence points to human settlement around 3,000 years ago, associated with the Lapita people, whose distinctive pottery has been found across the Pacific — a very different account from the Kaunitoni story of migration from ancient Egypt.
Baleidelabaci, a Methodist minister himself, is collecting what the archive left out — accounts that survived in the far-flung villages, and nowhere else.
“When they arrived, they said that our stories of our origin were regarded as myths and legends,” he says.
“There’s a lot of things in my church that need to be reinvestigated. What we are doing now is still new to us.”
For Dunn, the correction has to come from the same place the stories do.
“The voice of the communities has really unsettled the text. Most of what actually happened never got written,” he says.
Just a tiny sliver made it into the archive — and the very act of writing it into an archive is a power move.
As teenage sensations, Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez captured the spotlight while strolling through New York City, hand in hand, as photographers eagerly snapped away. The scene unfolded during a memorable double date with brothers Joe and Nick Jonas, marking the early days of their blossoming friendship.
This iconic moment transpired in the summer of 2008. Although their romantic entanglements with the Jonas brothers came to an end, Gomez fondly reflected that their friendship was ‘the best thing we got out of those relationships.’
Through the ensuing years, navigating the challenges of public life only served to strengthen their connection, evolving to the point where Swift and Gomez now describe their relationship as akin to being ‘sisters.’
A confidante of Swift, aged 36, shared with the Daily Mail, ‘Taylor and Selena are incredibly close, like sisters. For nearly two decades, they’ve supported each other in personal and professional ventures. Taylor knows she can rely on Selena with complete trust, a bond that remains unshaken.’
Their connection runs so deep that it’s no surprise they aspire to experience parenthood together. They’ve even pledged to act as godparents for each other’s future children, further testament to their enduring friendship.
‘Taylor and Selena have agreed they want to have their babies as close time wise to each other as possible so they can bring them up together,’ our insider said. ‘They’ve essentially made a pact that they will be godmother to each other’s children.’
Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift have decided to be godparents to their respective future children, insiders have told the Daily Mail (pictured together in 2024)
The move is ‘a huge slap in the face to Blake Lively’ (pictured) whose children James, 11, Inez, nine, and Betty, six, were Swift’s goddaughters until she recently rescinded the title, insiders told us
Such a pact, the insider said, is ‘a huge slap in the face to Blake Lively’ whose kids James, 11, Inez, nine, Betty, six, and Olin, three, were Swift’s godchildren until she recently rescinded the title.
Last month, the Daily Mail was told that Swift felt she had ‘no choice’ but to ‘remove herself’ from the position after her decade-long friendship with Lively was severed, seemingly beyond repair, after the actress dragged Swift into her legal battle with her It Ends with us co-star Justin Baldoni.
Swift first confirmed her godparent title back in July 2024 in an Instagram post hyping up Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds, 49, and the release of his movie, Deadpool & Wolverine. But her role in their lives long pre-dated the public acknowledgement, with the singer namechecking the girls in her music, hosting them at her $17 million Rhode Island mansion, taking them trick-or-treating and even using James’ baby voice at the beginning of her song Gorgeous.
But even if Lively and Swift’s friendship was still solid, it is unlikely Lively and her children would have spent time with Swift, Gomez and their respective children, given that Lively and Gomez have seemingly never been seen together with the Cruel Summer singer.
By the time 38-year-old Lively entered Swift’s orbit in 2015, Gomez had already been the singer’s friend for years. But Swift’s birthday bashes, Fourth of July parties, NFL game appearances and New Years Eve celebrations, to name but a few, have only ever been attended by Lively or Gomez – never both. In fact, there do not seem to be any photographs of the trio.
Most recently, Gomez attended Swift’s New York City wedding to Travis Kelce – Lively did not.
Lively and Swift were friends for a decade before the Gossip Girl actress’ legal battle with Baldoni
Swift, 36, and Gomez, 34, first struck up a friendship around 2008 when Swift was dating Joe Jonas and Gomez his brother Nick (pictured together in 2012)
‘For almost 20 years they’ve been there for each other on a personal and professional level,’ said one insider. ‘Selena’s always been someone Taylor can trust 100 percent. They have a bond that’s never been broken’ (pictured together in 2013)
Over the past decade, Gomez, who is a godmother to her cousin Priscilla’s two children, has seemingly only ever made one reference to Lively, and there is no evidence of Lively ever mentioning Gomez.
In a 2016 interview with Elle magazine, Gomez was asked who of her friends she would ‘trade her with’ if she had the chance. She named Lively.
‘I wish she was my friend, but she’s not my friend,’ she said. ‘Blake Lively. I’ve never met her, but I just love her hair. I think she’s got beautiful, effortless hair. I think she’s super beachy.’
It would seem that those feelings, however, have waned, with the Daily Mail exposing their apparent bad blood in April 2024. At the time, insiders claimed that the two were not friends, didn’t ‘mix’ and were ‘constantly avoiding run-ins with each other.’
But for all the tension between Gomez and Lively – and the breakdown of Swift’s friendship with the It Ends With Us star – a second insider insisted that Swift choosing to make Gomez the godmother of her children ‘wouldn’t be done to shade Blake.’
‘Taylor is very confident in her friendship with Selena and doesn’t worry about having any falling out,’ the source said.
‘If Selena has kids, Taylor knows for a fact that she would be close to them all forever.’
After all, Swift once said herself that ‘longevity is something you really can find very precious and rare in friendships’ when asked about her bond with Gomez.
So fierce is her love for the Rare Beauty founder, she said: ‘There has always been this quality of sisterhood, and I don’t say that in a basic way. I knew from when I met her, I would always have her back. In my life, I have the ability to forgive people who have hurt me. But I don’t know if I can forgive someone who hurts her.’
Clearly longevity and an ability to forgive are traits reserved for Gomez and apparently not extended to Lively.
And for her part, Gomez has never shied away from expressing her love and appreciation for Swift, once joking that she was risking the wrath of her best friend when she paid her an impromptu tribute after joining her on her Eras Tour.
‘This person has never ever judged a single decision I’ve made,’ Gomez said to thousands of screaming Swifties. ‘She’s always met me where I’ve been. She’s encouraged me when I’ve had nothing to be encouraged about, and I don’t know if I would be as strong as I am if I didn’t have you and your family because you’ve changed my life. And – she’s going to kill me after – but honestly, thank you for the bottom of my heart for supporting someone who I know is the most beautiful, strong, independent woman I’ve ever met. So thank you as a best friend.’
Perhaps one such occasion was helping Gomez with fertility struggles.
Gomez and her husband Benny Blanco (pictured) will use a surrogate, after the singer opened up about how she cannot carry her own child, during an interview with Vanity Fair in 2024
Gomez and Swift (pictured with Kelce) – who is godmother to actress and model Jaime King’s ten-year-old son Leo Newman – are said to be ‘looking forward to sharing the experience of having their first child around the same time’
The actress, who married Benny Blanco in September last year, told Vanity Fair in 2024 that she had to ‘grieve’ not being able to carry a child.
‘I thought it would happen the way it happens for everyone,’ she said at the time. ‘[But] I’m in a much better place with that. I find it a blessing that there are wonderful people willing to do surrogacy or adoption, which are both huge possibilities for me.’
She added: ‘I’m excited for what that journey will look like, but it’ll look a little different. At the end of the day, I don’t care. It’ll be mine. It’ll be my baby.’
Gomez, who was diagnosed with lupus in 2013, and 38-year-old Blanco are said to be looking for a surrogate, which prompts the question: Are Swift and Kelce planning to start a family soon, too?
‘Taylor and Selena are looking forward to sharing the experience of having their first child around the same time,’ said our first insider.
And with no tour planned for Swift and 36-year-old Kelce eyeing retirement after this season, they said the coming months could be the perfect time for the best pals to think about starting families.
‘The timing works perfectly all around,’ they said.
The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Swift and Gomez for comment.
ROBBINS, Ill. (WLS) — Over the weekend, a security guard shot and killed a suspect who began firing inside a restaurant in a south suburb, according to officials on Sunday.
The mayor of the town, who was present at the scene, suffered minor injuries while trying to get to safety.
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The incident took place on the 13000 block of South Claire Boulevard in Robbins, Illinois, as reported by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The medical examiner stated that a 29-year-old man was declared dead at about 1 a.m. on Saturday. The death was ruled as a homicide, resulting from multiple gunshot wounds at the scene.
Later updates from Robbins officials to ABC7 revealed that the incident began when a masked gunman entered the restaurant, targeting someone inside. A contracted security officer quickly responded and shot the offender, who was later confirmed dead.
Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant was at the restaurant and was hospitalized with a minor injury, officials said. He was not the intended target of the gunman.
Cook County Sheriff’s Police Detectives said they were requested by Robbins police on Saturday to help investigate the shooting. The sheriff’s police confirmed a 29-year-old man and a 34-year-old man were hospitalized with minor injuries after the shooting incident.
The deceased suspect was identified by the Cook County Sheriff’s Department as 29-year-old Marquelle Rose of Chicago.
A spokesperson for the village of Robbins provided the following full statement Sunday: “A shooting occurred last evening at Harold’s Chicken Restaurant in Robbins. A masked gunman entered the restaurant and opened fire toward an intended target. A contracted security officer with the restaurant intervened shooting the offender who was later pronounced dead.
“Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant was inside the restaurant but was not the intended target. Mayor Bryant sustained a minor injury while seeking safety with other patrons, he was treated at a local hospital, and released within an hour.
“This incident is not indicative of the Robbins community, as the individuals involved were not residents of Robbins. This isolated act of violence does not reflect the people, families, or spirit of our community.
“The Cook County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the incident.”
A fatal shooting involving NYPD officers unfolded Sunday afternoon when a 54-year-old man allegedly charged at them with a butcher knife in a Lower East Side apartment building.
Police responded to several 911 calls about an ongoing assault, arriving at 126 Ludlow Street shortly after 4 p.m.
Upon entering, officers discovered a blood trail leading up the stairs, Assistant Chief Melissa Eger explained in a press briefing later that Sunday.
As they ascended, they encountered Wei Chan, aged 54, coming down wielding a substantial butcher knife, according to police reports.
An investigation ensues after police shot a man they claim was armed with a butcher knife at 126 Ludlow Street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side on Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026.(Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Officers repeated multiple commands for the male to show his hands in an effort for him to drop the weapon,” Eger said. “As officers issued repeated commands, the male continued to advance towards the officers armed with the large butcher knife.”
The officers then opened fire, striking Chan. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“He has no known criminal history with our department. However, he does have a documented mental health history with the department,” Eger said.
When officers entered the building, they spotted a trail of blood leading up a staircase, NYPD Assistant Chief Melissa Eger said during a Sunday evening news conference.(Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Officers also found Wei Chan’s 75-year-old father, Cheung Chan, suffering from a laceration to the head. Investigators said Wei Chan had injured his father before police arrived.
He was also taken to the hospital and is expected to survive.
The responding officers were also taken to a hospital for evaluation, police said.
“Their actions are a reminder of how officers run towards danger and not away from it,” Eger said.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Sunday that he had been briefed on the incident and confirmed that body-camera footage would be released as part of the investigation.(Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Sunday that he had been briefed on the shooting and that the incident would undergo an internal investigation.
“As with every incident in which NYPD officers discharge their weapons, there will be an internal investigation, and body-worn camera footage of the incident will be released,” Mamdani wrote on X.
The circumstances surrounding the shooting remain under investigation.
During a live broadcast, a Detroit news anchor found himself in fits of laughter when his colleague posed an ostensibly simple question about survival tactics.
On Thursday’s episode of Fox 2’s “Good Day Detroit,” co-anchor Ryan Ermanni lost his composure while Deena Centofanti discussed the History Channel’s survival series “Alone,” where participants rely on hunting and capturing wildlife for sustenance.
As the segment turned to discuss the animals featured on the show, Centofanti commented, “And, um, you’re looking for fat in the beaver.”
Meteorologist Derek Kevra responded affirmatively with a simple, “Yeah.”
Centofanti continued, explaining, “The beaver is the — the beaver is the most sought-after.”
“It is,” Kevra responded.
Centofanti then directed a question at Ermanni.
“Ryan, would you — do you think you could eat beaver? ’Cause it’s fat and then it’s meat.”
Ermanni cracked up at the apparent double entendre, putting his head in his hands as the conversation continued.
“It made them all sick, though. They all got sick after it,” he managed.
“Well, you have to — you can’t eat diseased animals,” Centofanti replied.
“Oh. Oh, God. What about a moose?” Ermanni said.
Centofanti answered, “Yeah.”
Ermanni, still recovering, conceded that the discussion had largely escaped him.
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything about this show, Deena, but you’re really funny,” he said.
“Okay,” Centofanti replied.
“You are a really funny gal,” Ermanni added.
Ermanni later shared the clip on social media, while Centofanti wrote on Facebook that “you learn stuff” while watching “Alone.”
Seeking to enhance your lower body strength post-60? Try these four trainer-recommended exercises that promise effective results.
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Rebuilding strong legs after age 60 doesn’t demand expensive gym subscriptions or intense workout routines. In fact, some of the best exercises only require the chair from your kitchen. These chair-based activities mimic everyday movements like standing, sitting, and maintaining balance while walking, making them highly effective for leg strength.
Research indicates that engaging in a chair-based exercise routine can significantly enhance both upper and lower body functions in older adults. These activities also show positive outcomes on chair-stand tests, a common measure of functional strength. Far from being a mere alternative to conventional workouts, this method provides a substantial and accessible means of developing leg strength, especially for those over 60 without a gym membership.
With an array of chair exercises available, finding a starting point can seem daunting. Fortunately, personal trainer James Brady from OriGym has identified four specific exercises designed to restore leg strength more effectively than regular gym workouts for those over 60.
“Chair exercises offer an excellent foundation for rebuilding leg strength post-60, as they provide the stability needed while targeting the muscles crucial for daily activities,” notes Brady.
Chair Sit-to-Stand
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This is the closest thing to a foundational leg exercise you’ll find in a chair-based workout program, since it mimics the act of standing up from a seated position. “Chair sit-to-stands strengthen your quads, glutes, and hamstrings while improving independence in everyday life,” says Brady.
How to do it:
Sit toward the front of a sturdy chair with your feet hip-width apart.
Lean slightly forward.
Drive through your heels and stand up without using your hands if possible.
Lower yourself back down slowly with control.
Complete two to three sets of 10 to 15 reps, resting for 60 to 90 seconds between sets.
Seated Knee Extension
Next up are seated knee extensions, which are an excellent chair exercise for isolating your quads in a way that’s easy to control. “Strong quads play a key role in walking, climbing stairs, and reducing the risk of falls,” explains Brady.
How to do it:
Sit tall in a chair with your feet flat on the floor.
Slowly straighten one leg until it’s parallel with the floor.
Pause for one to two seconds while squeezing your thigh.
Lower it back down with control, then switch sides.
Complete two to three sets of 10 to 15 reps per leg. Rest for 45 to 60 seconds between sets.
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Seated March
According to Brady, the seated march strengthens your hip flexors, core, balance, and coordination all at once, making it an ultra-effective move for rebuilding leg strength.
How to do it:
Sit upright near the front of the chair.
Lift one knee toward your chest without leaning backward.
Lower it back down slowly with control.
Repeat on the opposite side.
Continue in a controlled marching motion for two to three sets of 10 to 15 marches per side. Rest for 45 to 60 seconds between sets.
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Chair Calf Raise
Calves are an often overlooked muscle group, but Brady tells us, “Strong calf muscles improve ankle stability and make activities such as walking, climbing steps, and standing for longer periods feel much easier.”
How to do it:
Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the floor.
Press through the balls of your feet to lift your heels as high as possible.
Pause for one to two seconds at the top of the movement.
Lower them back down under control.
Perform two to three sets of 10 to 15 reps, resting for 45 to 60 seconds between sets.
The entertainment world is mourning the loss of actress Hayden Panettiere, who has passed away at the age of 36.
Famed for her standout performances in NBC’s acclaimed series “Heroes” and the musical drama “Nashville,” Panettiere is fondly remembered as both an “incredible light” and a “force of nature.” The actress leaves behind a daughter, just 11 years old, who now carries forward her mother’s legacy.
On a somber Sunday, representatives of the former child star released a heartfelt statement: “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden.”
They went on to pay tribute, stating, “She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her—and to the millions who watched her onscreen.”
At present, the cause of Panettiere’s death remains undisclosed, leaving many questions unanswered.
But law enforcement sources have confirmed to TMZ that police responded to an incident involving the actress and an investigation is ongoing.
Sources also told the outlet that Panettiere had been recently complaining of back pain and that her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, flew from Los Angeles to see her just one day before her tragic passing.
The Hollywood star earned multiple award nominations across her career, most notably while playing cheerleader Claire Bennet on Heroes and Juliette Barnes on Nashville.
She also appeared in the Scream franchise as Kirby Reed, and lent her voice to the video game Until Dawn.
Hayden Panettiere has tragically died at the age of 36. She is pictured here at a gala in Hollywood in 2022
The tragic news comes just months after her memoir, This is Me, became a New York Times bestseller
Panettiere is remembered for her roles as Claire Bennet on the hit NBC series Heroes
Panettiere is predeceased by her brother, Jensen, who passed away in February 2023 from ‘an enlarged heart’ aged 28.
She has said that she felt like she ‘lost half of her soul’ following his death, and revealed that the stress of his loss resulted in her body ‘ballooning out’, which left her in a ‘really bad’ and ‘destructive’ place.
Actor Randall Slavin reacted to the news of the actress’s death by sharing a photo of him and her together, writing: ‘Peace be with you.’
Actress Selma Blair also wrote on Instagram: ‘I love you. Don’t be gone. Don’t be gone. Please.’
The tragic news comes just months after her memoir, This is Me, became a New York Times bestseller.
In the book, Panettiere described how she contended with fame and handled the difficulties in her life.
She had relinquished custody of her daughter to her ex, former heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko, while struggling with postpartum depression in 2018. Her daughter now lives in Europe.
The Nashville star has since revealed she ‘desperately’ needed help at the time and insisted that Kaya does not feel ‘abandoned’ while appearing in an episode of the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast.
‘The idea that anybody would think that I would just give away my child and be okay with it is heartbreaking. Couldn’t be further from the truth,’ Panettiere said.
‘I was struggling with mental health and anxiety and postpartum and having to act my way through it, and just feeling like I completely lost myself,’ she added.
Panettiere started out as a child star, with her first acting gig at just 11 months old
The actress’s younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, passed away in February 2023 from ‘an enlarged heart’. They’re seen together in 2011
Panettiere leaves behind an 11-year-old daughter with ex Wladimir Klitschko
Panettiere first started acting at just 11 months old when she appeared on screen in a commercial.
Her full-time acting career then began in 1994 when she played Sarah Roberts in the ABC soap opera One Life to Live until 1997. She then played Lizzie Spaulding in the CBS soap opera Guiding Light from 1996 to 2000.
For her role on Pixar’s A Bug’s Life, she was nominated for a Young Artist Award and Grammy Award, making her the fifth-youngest nominee for a Grammy.
Her other credits include Remember the Titans, Ally McBeal, Racing Stripes, Ice Princess and I Love You, Beth Cooper.
Panettiere also recorded a number of songs for the films and television programs she was in, including My Hero is You for the Disney Channel film Tiger Cruise and I Fly for the Disney film Ice Princess, which she co-starred in with the late Michelle Trachtenberg.
She played Juliette Barnes on the ABC show Nashville, releasing a number of her own songs
Her first single not associated with an acting role, the reggae-infused Wake Up Call, was digitally released on August 5, 2008.
Clothing brand Candie’s announced it was premiering an ad campaign for the single in late July of that year, and provided additional promotion for the song with a television ad and a music video starring Sebastian Stan, who played Panettiere’s brother in The Architect.
More recently, Panettiere has come out as bisexual.
‘It’s sad that I had to wait till I was 36 years old to share that part of me, but better late than never, right?’ the Nashville alum told Us Weekly in May.
‘I’ve chosen to share it with the world, I’m comfortable saying I’m bisexual. I’m comfortable to confidently say that, yes, I am bisexual. I said it!’
Despite having little privacy due to ‘paparazzi always outside waiting for me,’ Panettiere still managed to secretly date women, whom she preferred to men from ‘a very, very young age.’
‘[I was] much more into women,’ the two-time Golden Globe nominee said.
‘But, yeah, I have explored it, but I don’t think I ever had the courage, because I hadn’t shared this with anybody.
‘I didn’t really have the courage to throw myself fully, emotionally into it, because then if I did fall in love, that wasn’t something that I wanted to ever have to hide. I didn’t feel confident enough, and I was too afraid to really let that part of me explore that part of me.’
CLERMONT, Fla. – A proposed downtown parking facility is sparking a wave of concern among Clermont’s business proprietors and locals alike, who worry the development could disrupt local commerce, increase traffic, and alter the cherished ambiance of the downtown area.
Leading the charge is Tim Adams, proprietor of Clermont Orthodontics, who is set to circulate a detailed four-page document to downtown businesses this week. His message is clear: rally against the establishment of a parking structure on the city-owned lot adjacent to 7th Street and West Minneola Avenue.
“I plan to deliver this letter to all enterprises within the downtown Clermont vicinity to ensure everyone understands the implications at play,” Adams stated.
The scale of the proposed structure remains Adams’ primary worry, as he fears it might obscure nearby businesses from view and impact their visibility significantly.
“This proposed parking garage is enormous,” Adams expressed. “It would overshadow all the neighboring businesses, rendering them invisible behind this colossal construction.”
Adams said businesses including Mullets, Family Table and other nearby businesses could be affected if a large parking structure is built at the site.
He contacted us after watching a News 6 report about the city’s efforts to evaluate potential locations for a downtown parking garage.
The city is currently considering two potential locations: one behind City Hall and another near Minneola Avenue and 7th Street. The city has formed a special committee to evaluate the potential project and its possible locations.
Mike Wacht with the City of Clermont said the Minneola Avenue and 7th Street location already has parking, which could make it easier to develop.
“There’s already parking, existing parking there,” Wacht said. “So it doesn’t require redevelopment. It doesn’t require knocking down buildings or having an impact on the commercial district.”
But some residents are concerned about how a parking garage could affect traffic in the surrounding neighborhood.
Jared Batchelor, a Clermont resident, said additional traffic could create safety concerns for pedestrians and people using scooters and bicycles.
“You’re going to increase accidents,” Batchelor said. “You have a lot of kids going around on motorized scooters. Motorized bikes, got a lot of pedestrians with their foot traffic, with their pets. Pushing traffic through the residential side is never a good thing.”
The area near 7th Street and Minneola Avenue is already used for public parking. City information lists multiple downtown parking areas, including lots along 7th Street between Montrose Street and Minneola Avenue and between Minneola Avenue and Osceola Street.
Another potential location is just up the street, behind City Hall.
Some residents say they would prefer a location farther from the waterfront while still keeping the garage within walking distance of downtown.
“Let’s not try to start the waterfront,” Clermont resident Adam Atherton said. “Maybe something that’s back a couple of blocks so you can still get there.”
Amanda Walsh, owner of Cheeser’s Palace Cafe, said putting a garage near the waterfront could affect the real estate surrounding downtown.
“If you put it down by the water, you really take away from the real estate that impacts the downtown area,” Walsh said.
For now, no final location, design or size for the parking garage has been approved.
The special committee will continue evaluating the potential locations and other details of the project before making a recommendation to city leaders. News 6 reported that the committee is considering the City Hall and Minneola Avenue/7th Street sites.
The debate comes as Clermont continues to consider how to provide additional downtown parking while balancing the needs of businesses, residents and the city’s existing downtown environment.
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