
Is Tori Kelly alive? Grammy winner rushed to hospital with severe blood clots, fans pray for 'healing and full recovery'
Grammy-winning singer Tori Kelly was admitted to the intensive care unit, where doctors discovered serious blood clots surrounding her vital organs
2023-07-25 14:51

Who is Tori Kelly's husband? Singer married retired basketball player in 2018 after dating for 2 years
Tori Kelly was rushed to the hospital after she had an emergency health scare
2023-07-25 14:29

Rare testimony reveals brutal life for Russian convicts fighting in Ukraine
One fighter was shot twice, sent from the hospital back to the front, where he drank melted snow to live. Another was sent to fight age 23 and was dead three weeks later. Rare testimony delivered directly from Russians reveals the horrors of the front line.
2023-07-25 14:28

China’s Gas Price Reform Seen Boosting Distributors, LNG Imports
China’s relaxation of natural gas price controls will benefit local utilities and may help spur demand for seaborne
2023-07-25 14:22

More Than 40,000 Near Death as Militants Block Towns in Northeast Burkina Faso
About 42,000 people are on the verge of starving to death in northeast Burkina Faso as Islamist militants
2023-07-25 14:22

Will Joe Rogan accept Donald Trump's interview request? Here's why 'JRE' host kept turning down ex-president's offer
Joe Rogan previously said he had no desire to support Donald Trump, despite his own condemnation for propagating Covid theories
2023-07-25 13:59

Leonardo DiCaprio praises Indian man for discovering new fish
In 2020, a man in Kerala found a "red thread" floating in his bucket. Now, DiCaprio is talking about it.
2023-07-25 13:57

My Taylor Swift exercise class has led me down a luxury fitness rabbit hole
Amid flashing strobe lights at a SoulCycle class in Notting Hill, our instructor MJ stands on a platform, his baseball cap flipped backward and his facial hair trimmed into designer stubble, looking as if he’s straight out of a boy band. “I’ve had a f***ing s*** day and I didn’t want to come to work,” he says, softly, through his head mic. “But I’m so glad I did, as the energy is bringing me to life!” Everyone around me – women between the ages of 25 and 35, all of them dressed in one-shoulder leisurewear – roars in response. “Sit up tall, don’t let anyone make you feel down,” MJ continues. “You’re all legends, don’t let anybody judge you!” I pause for breath after yet another manic burst of energy cycling on the spot. Then we have to pick up dumbbells while atop stationary bikes and do a choreographed workout to a Taylor Swift song. This special Swift-themed class is taking place at 8.30 on a Monday night and in the same venue where First Lady Jill Biden and Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty attended a spinning class together after King Charles’s coronation in May – reportedly with 10 security guards in tow. I feel slightly out of my depth. I spent two hours looking for my lycra leggings and I’m totally unfit. Apart from walking my dog, I haven’t done any real exercise since 2017, when I had a go at clean eating and did a few weeks of high-intensity training at the gym. But now I’m ready for SoulCycle’s “unique mind-body-soul experience”. This leap back into exercise is partly inspired by Apple TV+’s dark comedy Physical, which is returning for its final season next month. It’s about a housewife played by Rose Byrne who battles her demons and a vicious and self-critical inner voice while finding solace in aerobics. Could it work for me, too? Is exercise the answer to my endlessly spinning mind? Would it serve as an instant catapult into a world of empowerment and success? Everyone in this class knows the words to every Taylor Swift song that booms from the speakers. “Drop everything now/Meet me in the pouring rain”, she sings on “Sparks Fly”. “Kiss me on the sidewalk/Take away the pain.” But all I can think about is the pain I’m currently in. We’re wearing special shoes that click into the pedals of the bike, so it’s not easy to detach oneself. But soon I become grateful for it: if I’m superglued into this class, I can’t give up so easily. As MJ says: “No struggle... no progress”. It doesn’t matter if you can’t move the wheel at the front of the SoulCycle bike, or if you’re peddling down on it like a gazelle; if you’re sweating and panting, you’re part of this love-in. And wow, it feels great. I’m not alone in adoring it, and some of my fellow riders were here even earlier, for “part one” of a class modelled after Swift’s setlist on her current US tour. (Each class costs £26, while a renewable package of four is £86, or eight at £160). It’s a little pocket of joy I knew nothing about while I was sitting at home snacking in front of my laptop and gaining weight. As I leave the SoulCycle studio and wander into the night, I take a deep breath. It feels good to be back in the saddle – even though my legs are like jelly. I have to ask my friend to drive me home because I’m not sure I’ll make it on foot. There are a few reasons I haven’t been hitting the gym, or even doing the occasional relaxed yoga class. Having children on my own has been an intense journey. For years my idea of exercise has been holding a baby or running after two kids in a park with an unruly dog. But when I read a few different headlines lately (“Fit and fabulous at 54: Jennifer Aniston emerges from her new workout class”; “Nicole Kidman, 56, flashes her incredible abs in revealing black dress”), I felt a pang of guilt. These women are older than me but super fit. My daughters, aged five and seven, are both at school now, so there’s no excuse for being so inactive. I had some blood tests done and my cholesterol is creeping up. I’ve been told I need to give up sugar and take up exercise. How can I be a good role model to my kids if all they do is see me eating the chocolate rolls meant for their pack lunches? And where do I even begin with fitness? After the excitement of my Taylor Swift class, the idea of strolling along to my local Virgin Active feels mundane. I ponder whether it’d be easier to stay fit if I was super-rich. I can see myself signing up for four workout sessions rigged up to an electrical current. Because why not? I can’t possibly afford the bespoke, members-only gym Bodyism in London’s Westbourne Grove, whose clients include heiress Tamara Ecclestone. It caters for high-intensity, low-impact training, with top-tier packages costing £23,000 a year. More affordable, though, is their class membership – which costs £1,500 a year for 72 classes and promises to help elongate and tone the body. But it’s also full of the clean-eating squad – I might not fit in. Then there’s London’s BXR, a private, boutique boxing-themed gym that’s spread over two floors. From the street below I can glimpse a massive boxing ring behind enormous glass panels – a manifestation of the idea that celebrities feel they live in a goldfish bowl. It’s also packed with A-listers who get free guest passes while staying at the luxury hotel Chiltern Firehouse that’s located opposite. Membership costs from £2,500 a year and up (by a lot), and the Vogue editor Edward Enniful and fashion designer Julian Macdonald are apparently fans of BXR’s Versaclimbing – a high-intensity, low-impact workout on a Versaclimber. This cardio fitness machine has a 75-degree vertical rail with pedals and handles that mimic the natural motion of climbing. When I hear that the machine burns up to 800 calories in a 45-minute session – well, I’m on the phone to the bookings team in a flash. Unlike treadmill or spin classes, it’s exercise that is full body but low impact – meaning it “minimises unnecessary stress or trauma to your body”. At the state of the art Repose, a wellness clinic in London’s High Street Kensington with members including Made in Chelsea’s Millie Mackintosh, the speciality is “anti-gravity fitness”. It might sound unusual to exercise from a silk hammock suspended from the ceiling for £40 a class – but sessions include pilates, suspension fitness, air bar and both restorative and aerial yoga. Models and celebrities, including Poppy Delevingne, are also queuing up for personal training at London’s E-Pulsive, which costs £85 a session. The electrical muscle stimulation class (EMS) sees you strap yourself into a full-body vest that zaps you with low-frequency electric impulses to manually contract your muscle fibres while you exercise, increasing the intensity of your workout. It seems ideal for people like me who are too busy to exercise but who want superfast results – apparently, a 20-minute EMS workout burns 500 calories and can offer the same results as a 90-minute high-intensity gym class. It sounds like heaven. Then there’s roller-skating at model Liberty Ross’ glamorous Flipper’s Roller Boogie Palace in West London or New York – the original LA Flipper’s in the 1970s was run by Ross’s dad Ian Flipper-Ross, and was so associated with glam fitness that it was dubbed “Studio 54 on wheels”. A one-to-one beginner’s class at the new skate school costs £50, or £35 in a group lesson of up to 12 skaters. Or you can just book in for a general skate with your kids – which kills two birds with one stone as they have fun while you burn calories. A two-hour skate session for adults starts from £15.50 and from £11.50 for children. All of this sounds great – but if I went for a workout schedule of my choice, I can’t see it totalling less than £30,000 a year. Bearing in mind that exercise is addictive and makes you feel good, it might be far more in the long run, too. It’s also a tad out of my price range – I don’t plan on dropping into Equinox on Kensington Roof Gardens or the Bulgari Hotel gym any time soon. Instead, I can see myself signing up for four workout sessions rigged up to an electrical current. Because why not? If money wasn’t an obstacle, I would install a gym and a pilates studio in my own house, with a cryotherapy chamber and a personal trainer on tap. But until then, I plan to start running with the dog, my two kids behind me on their scooters. It’s far cheaper and – unlike the late-night Taylor Swift class – won’t require a babysitter. Read More I keep forgetting my dog’s birthday – could a luxury pet party make it up to him? ‘I’m here anyway, why not?’: My non-surgical facelift has got me thinking about more procedures I’ve never had a platonic relationship with a man – sex can’t help but get in the way Husband fired from family business after wife roleplayed with reborn dolls Montana Brown explains why she chose a home birth as a ‘non-white person’ 8 healthy habits to help you live longer – according to a new study
2023-07-25 13:49

China’s ‘Dovish’ Politburo Signals Rate Cuts, Property Easing
China will likely keep cutting interest rates, speed up the issuance of infrastructure bonds and loosen more property
2023-07-25 13:45

UBS to Pay $387 Million in Credit Suisse-Tied Archegos Fines
UBS Group AG will pay a total of about $387 million in fines related to misconduct by Credit
2023-07-25 13:28

Power-Crisis Anger Sets South Africa on Path for Record Protests
The number of so-called service-delivery protests in South Africa — demonstrations over the failure of municipalities to provide
2023-07-25 13:19

Human-induced climate crisis responsible for killer heatwaves sweeping planet, scientists say
Human-induced climate change is responsible for the historic heatwaves sweeping the planet from China to the United States, scientists have found. The research conducted by World Weather Attribution (WWA), which was released on Tuesday, says the record-shattering heat in Europe and the US would have been almost “impossible” in a world without global heating. The researchers, who analysed records in all three continents, said the likelihood of extreme heat in China, which recently recorded its highest-ever temperature at 52.2C, is now 50 times more likely due to the climate crisis. The researchers evaluated the role of climate crisis in these extreme heat events using peer-reviewed methods, weather station data of the hottest days in July, and computer models. It is already known that planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions have increased the global average temperature by 1.2C, which, in turn, is making heatwaves more frequent and extreme. The WWA study found that the heatwaves like the ones currently persisting now have a probability of occurring approximately once every 15 years in the US and Mexico region, once every 10 years in Southern Europe, and once every five years in China due to increased global average temperatures. However, without the human-induced climate crisis, these heat events would have been extremely rare. In China, such a heatwave would have been about a 1-in-250-year event, while the maximum heat experienced in the US and Mexico region and Southern Europe would have been “virtually impossible”. The climate crisis did not just play a role in the occurrence of the heatwave, but also made the temperatures hotter than they would have been with natural phenomenon like the El Nino. The European heatwave was 2.5C hotter, the North American heatwave was 2C hotter, and the heatwave in China was 1C hotter due to the human-induced climate crisis, the study notes. Researchers who were part of the study said the stronger impact of the climate crisis on the US and Europe is a result of a complex relationship between global and regional factors. Europe is heating faster than the global average, earlier studies have shown. Scientists said it’s because the impact of the climate crisis isn’t even worldwide. “Once again, our study shows the significant impact of the rapid rate of warming on local temperatures in Europe. It underscores the urgent necessity for Europe to continuously take adaptation and mitigation measures,” Sjoukje Philip, researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, and one of the researchers of the study, said. “The planet isn’t warming evenly,” Ms Philip adds. “Climate scientists are working to understand the complex relationships between increasing global and regional average temperatures.” Other scientists have also largely attributed the recent heat events, including the ones in July in the northern hemisphere and the marine heatwaves, to the climate crisis. Earlier, WWA researchers also analysed the April heatwave in a dozen Asian countries, including India, China and Thailand as well as the 2022 heat events in the UK which were found to be made “ten times more likely” due to the climate crisis”. Recently the Met Office also said the reason behind the UK’s hottest-ever June was also the climate crisis. The heatwaves have caused severe impacts, with deadly wildfires burning in Greece and Canada, and heat-related illnesses and fatalities reported in several countries. In the US alone, over 200 people died due to the extreme heat, and Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Algeria, and China also reported heat-related deaths and a surge in hospitalisations. Last year’s heat in Europe contributed to the deaths of over 61,000 people, a recent study found. The study warned that unless there is a rapid reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a shift away from fossil fuels, heatwaves will become even more common and severe in the future. If the global average temperature rise goes up by 2C, a limit that is expected to be breached in the next 30 years if greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase the way they are, there would be a probability of experiencing heatwaves like the one currently ongoing every two to five years. “The result of this attribution study is not surprising. The world hasn’t stopped burning fossil fuels, the climate continues to warm and heatwaves continue to become more extreme. It is that simple,” Friederike Otto, senior lecturer in climate science at Imperial College London and co-founder of WWA said. However, she added that these heatwaves are “not evidence of ‘runaway warming’ or ‘climate collapse”. “We still have time to secure a safe and healthy future, but we urgently need to stop burning fossil fuels and invest in decreasing vulnerability.” “If we do not, tens of thousands of people will keep dying from heat-related causes each year. It is absolutely critical that governments legislate fossil fuel phase out at this year’s Cop climate conference.” Read More What is driving the record-breaking global heatwaves across three continents? Why is there no UK heatwave as Europe swelters during Charon? 61,000 dead: The shocking toll from extreme heatwaves that hit Europe last summer revealed UK rescue flights for tourists fleeing ‘out of control’ wildfires on Rhodes and Corfu Weather forecast for Greece as wildfires rage and second heatwave hits ‘Weak tea’: G20 fails to agree on cutting down fossil fuels
2023-07-25 13:18