Updates

The Rugby Football Union has issued referees with guidance on dealing with threats such as “I'm going to punch your lights out” and “I'm going to smash your car up” as part of a crackdown on the abuse of match officials for the new season.Amid a significant rise in incidents of abuse at all levels and fears of a shortage of referees in the lower leagues and grassroots game, the RFU has contacted all referee societies and disciplinary panels, emphasizing the need for a “zero tolerance” approach.The guidance highlights five different categories – disrespecting the official's authority, verbal abuse, using threatening words or actions, making physical contact and physical abuse – and provides examples of what would classify as each one. “Are you fucking joking, ref,” would be considered d...

The head of Hong Kong's journalist union has been arrested, weeks before he was due to leave for an overseas fellowship at Oxford University.Ronson Chan, the chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), was arrested for allegedly obstructing a police officer and disorderly conduct in a public place.Channel C, the online news outlet Chan works for, said the veteran reporter was taken away by officers who asked to check his identity while he was reporting on a meeting of public housing flat-owners on Wednesday.Police said a 41-year-old man surnamed Chan was arrested after he refused to show officers his ID card and behaved in an “uncooperative” way despite multiple warnings.Chan planned to leave Hong Kong at the end of September for the six-month Reuters Institute fellowship pro...

Who doesn't want to be a VIP? That ageless acronym for "very important person" suggests exclusivity and accessall of which are promised when you shell out hundreds if not thousands of dollars to buy a VIP package to your favorite concert. But not all VIP packages are created equal. Some offer fans a few trinkets coupled with better seats. Others dole out food, drinks and autographed gifts. And despite the pandemicmany still provide prized backstage meet-and-greets with the stars.Here are a few things to know before you buy, because experiences can vary and promises made aren't always promises kept.Want to party like – no, with – a rock star? VIP concert packages promise access, but buyer bewareWant face time with a rock star? Be prepared to pay top dollarUSA TODAY looked at more th...

A temperature sign at an El Dorado Savings Bank during a heatwave in Sacramento, California, on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022.David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesCalifornia has avoided ordering rolling blackouts after electricity demand reached a record-high Tuesday night from excessive heat across the state. The California Independent System Operator, which oversees the state's electrical grid, imposed its highest level energy emergency on Tuesday, a step that comes before ordering rolling blackouts and allows the state to access emergency power sources.The Office of Emergency Services also sent a text alert to residents requesting them to conserve power. The operator downgraded the Stage 3 alert around 8:00 pm PT on Tuesday and said that "consumer conservation played a big part i...

Spanish wildlife rangers have recovered the bodies of two brown bear cubs and their mother, who is thought to have been the same animal filmed three months ago sending a male bear tumbling to his death down a precipice after he attacked.Rangers and bear experts found the bodies of the female and her cubs at the bottom of a 33-meter crevice inside a cave in the northern Castile and León region on Friday.Teams had been searching for the animals since 5 June, when the bear and one of her offspring were attacked by a male bear that appeared to want to kill the cub in order to mate with the mother.Spanish wildlife rangers recover the body of the male bear. Photograph: Natural Heritage Foundation of the Junta de Castilla y LeónA video of the struggleshot by two hikers, showed the mother takin...

As the dust settled on an extraordinary press conference by Keith Pelley, the European Tour Group's chief executive, at Wentworth, Rory McIlroy admitted friendships had been ruined by defections to LIV Golf. An emboldened McIlroy took withering swipes at Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and any LIV rebel who may contend at this weekend's PGA Championship. Pelley had earlier castigated “the LIV propaganda machine.” Golf's civil war shows no sign of abduction.McIlroy has been staunch in his defense of the PGA and DP World Tours against the Saudi-backed series, which now includes three of his Ryder Cup team-mates. When asked whether his relationship with Garcia, Poulter and Westwood can survive, McIlroy replied: “I do n't know. I have no idea. I wouldn't say I've got much of ...

The kidnapping and murder of the granddaughter of an important tycoon from Tennessee, United States, has shocked the country. The Police confirmed that the human remains found in the area where she disappeared belonged to Eliza Fletcher and all the clues lead to suspicion of a man fresh out of jail for a similar crime. Eliza was a 34-year-old nursery school teacher belonging to orOne of the richest families in Tennessee: She was the granddaughter of Joseph Orgill III, a Memphis philanthropist and tycoon who founded a company valued at $3.2 billion. the young He disappeared last Friday when he went out for a run near the University of Memphis at dawn. Her body was found this Monday, approximately 11 kilometers from where a security camera captured the young mother of two children befo...

The new British Prime Minister Liz Truss, will announce this Thursday the package of measures to help British households pay electricity and gas bills in the coming months. Truss confirmed the presentation of the plan at the start of the weekly monitoring session at the House of Commons in which she was released as prime minister. "I'm going to act immediately to help people with their energy bills. I'll make an announcement tomorrow in this House so that people can be sure and be sure that they will get through this winter," she said. ...

Leather, tulle, blazers… oh my!New York Fashion Week is right around the corner, welcoming the biggest designers, models, celebrities and performers to the Big Apple.Designers for brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Rebecca Minkoff, Syrian Christian, Telfar, The Blondes and more will showcase their Spring/Summer 2023 collections and set the tone for style trends for next year.The seasonal event, which happens each year in February and September, draws in models of celebrity status from sisters Gigi and Bella Hadid to icon beverly johnsonwho made a triumphant return to the runway during the Fall/Winter shows in February.Off the runway, the front row of NYFW is equally to be paid attention to with guests ranging from Vogue's stalwart editor-in-chief Anna Wintour to Lil'Kim, Kid Cudi, Lil Nas...

This is from a series of suburbia pictures I did for American Vogue. Anna Wintour, Vogue's editor-in-chief, calls them “stoppers” – one or two images in the magazine that illustrate an idea. This one was for a story about the fear of aging. At that time, in 2012, everyone was getting injections: Botox, fillers, things like that. It was the beginning of this idea of ​​enhancing the body, but before the boom in butt implants. People were starting to look artificial.I had to convince Phyllis Posnick, the fashion editor, of my idea. We didn't tell Anna. I didn't want to use mannequins and the closest thing I could find were these realistic sex dolls, which I'd used once before for a shoot for Tom Ford. There's a company in Los Angeles that makes them. They weigh about 70 kilos, so ...