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wild wild casino NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans police arrested on Friday a man accused of killing two people during a large parade where two separate shootings within an hour left two dead and at least 10 wounded. Curtis Gray, 19, faces two counts of second-degree murder tied to the Nov. 17 shootings along a crowded parade route, according to a news release from the New Orleans Police Department. Gray allegedly fatally shot Rasean Carter, 21, and Malachi Jackson, 19, at the Almonaster Avenue Bridge, authorities say. Carter, an aspiring photographer who lived in Marrero just across the Mississippi River from New Orleans, had planned to document the Nine Times Social Aid & Pleasure Club's annual outing and was accompanied by Jackson, his friend and uncle, Nola.com reported. The parade was part of New Orleans' long-running tradition of “second-lines” where revelers follow brass bands marching through the streets and has deep ties to the city's Black culture. The deaths of Carter and Jackson were among a series of recent lethal shootings in New Orleans. While most violence has been on the decline in the city since mid-2023 , there were three people killed and eight wounded in six shootings over the past weekend according to Nola.com . On Thursday, New Orleans police arrested two men, Darrell Fairley Jr., 18, and Cornelius G. Tillman, 19, in connection with a Nov. 30 double homicide in New Orleans East.

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NoneFORMER Vice-President, Cde Phelekezela Mphoko, died in India yesterday afternoon at the age of 84 while receiving medical treatment. Acknowledging his dedicated contributions to Zimbabwe’s liberation and growth, the Zanu-PF Politburo promptly honoured him by declaring him a national hero. He is survived by wife, Laurinda, three children, Sikhumbuzo, Siduduzo and Siqokoqela, as well as several grandchildren. Family member Velile Mphoko said the former Vice-President’s wife and children were in Dubai and preparing to fly back home. “Senior family members have instructed us not to allow anyone into the house,” he told Saturday Chronicle at the Mphoko family home in Douglasdale suburb, Bulawayo, yesterday evening. President Mnangagwa expressed deep grief and sadness at the passing of the former Vice-President. “A veteran of our Liberation Struggle, Cde Mphoko’s political and military history coincides with the early days of militant nationalism against white settler colonialism, which later morphed into the armed Liberation Struggle. He was among its early architects, brave fighters, and formative commanders,” said President Mnangagwa. The President stressed that the national hero’s contribution to the liberation struggle can hardly be overstated. “Trained in many countries, including in the then Soviet Union, Cde Mphoko specialised in logistics, an onerous and sensitive responsibility which ensured huge consignments of assortments of arms of war were moved to different bases in the rear, and the war front inside the country in order to maintain the momentum of the Armed Liberation Struggle and to exert ever-mounting pressure on the settler regime until final victory. “A versatile cadre, Cde Mphoko would later join Zapu’s liaison department, a role which took him to Maputo, Mozambique, where the then Zanu was headquartered. We worked very closely with him, laying the groundwork and anticipating the eventual convergence of the two liberation movements into the Patriotic Front,” said President Mnangagwa. He noted that Cde Mphoko’s latter career as an ambassador was moulded by his early exposure to diplomacy during the liberation struggle. “It was an illustrious career which peaked with his appointment as Zimbabwe’s ambassador to various key countries, including the Russian Federation. On behalf of the Party Zanu-PF, Government, my family, and on my behalf, I wish to express my deepest, heartfelt condolences to the Mphoko family, especially to Mrs Mphoko and the children, on this their saddest loss,” said the President. In recognition of Cde Mphoko’s meritorious role of service to his country, the former Vice -President has been declared a national hero. “The Zanu-PF Politburo has unanimously decided and agreed to celebrate and immortalise his life of sacrifice by according him the status of National Hero. May his dear soul rest in eternal peace.” Cde Mphoko was appointed Vice-President in 2014, replacing Cde John Landa Nkomo, who died in 2013. Cde Mphoko was born on June 11, 1940, at Gwizane in Bubi District, Matabeleland North. The former Vice-President was arrested in 1963 for political violence after lashing out at a Rhodesian police officer who had set his dog on him and fellow youths. He was sentenced to three years in jail and sent to Khami Prison. He was a delegate at the Cold Comfort Farm People’s Caretaker Council Congress in the same year. The Congress created a Special Affairs Department and decided on an external wing of Zapu that would plan and direct the armed struggle. Under the Special Affairs programme, Cde Mphoko, along with Albert Nxele, Walter Mbambo, and Sam Dumaza Mpofu, was selected by Zapu leader Cde Joshua Nkomo to go for military training. On April 4, 1964, while awaiting a retrial, Cde Mphoko left Zimbabwe as part of a group of six and received military training in the Soviet Union between May 1964 and February 1965. In March 1965, he created the first military command structure, the Military Planning Committee, to plan and direct the armed struggle. He was one of the first seven commanders commissioned by the revolution and the political leadership to recruit, train, and command Zimbabweans into a revolution for the liberation of Zimbabwe. In 1967, he became a member of the Joint Military Command in charge of Logistics and Supply in the ANC/Zapu Alliance. He commanded the Joint Military rehearsals for the Wankie operations at Dan Nang base, Luthuli Camp, which included South African freedom fighters Joe Modise and Chris Hani, who was the commander of the Detachment, among others. In 1967 and 1968, he operated in Sipolilo (now Guruve) together with Modise, Abraham Nkiwane, Dumiso Dabengwa and others. In 1976, he was a delegate at the formation of the Patriotic Front in Maputo, Mozambique, with Jason Ziyaphapha Moyo, George Silundika, and Joseph Msika. In 1977, Cde Mphoko attended the OAU Adhoc Committee of Foreign Ministers in Luanda, Angola, with Cdes Msika and Silundika. In 1979, he attended the Lancaster House Peace Talks as a military delegate. In 1980, Cde Mphoko was appointed as a Special Envoy for Dr Joshua Nkomo to President Samora Machel of Mozambique, King Sobhuza II of Swaziland, Chief Leabuwa Jonathan of Lesotho, President Fidel Castro of Cuba, and Eric Honneker of the German Democratic Republic. He served in the sub-committee that designed the national flag of the new Republic of Zimbabwe. In 1981, Cde Mphoko worked in the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare as Deputy Director for Demobilisation. In 1987, he was transferred to the diplomatic service, with junior stints in Mozambique as Liaison Officer, and in 1996, he was appointed Liaison Officer to Austria, also covering the United Nations Drug Control Programme and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation. In 2002, he was appointed Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Botswana, before becoming Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation. Zvamaida Murwira and Remember Deketeke PRESIDENT Mnangagwa, who is also Chancellor of all State universities, yesterday capped 3 320 graduates from the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU), with the institution saying it will start producing bio-methane gas as part of its contribution to address the energy gap that has affected the country owing to the El [...] Patrick Chitumba, AFTER successfully hosting the inaugural SADC Regional Construction Summit, Zimbabwe Building Contractors Association (ZBCA) president, Dr Tinashe Manzungu, has revealed ambitious plans for the sector to establish itself as a major player in the region. This vision aligns with the industry’s broader objective of bolstering Zimbabwe’s economic growth and development. Zimbabwe’s construction [...] Ashley Phiri, DEPUTY Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology, and Bubi Member of Parliament, Simelisizwe Sibanda, has stressed the urgent need for collective action to address the ongoing HIV/Aids crisis. Speaking at the Matabeleland North World Aids Day commemorations, themed “Take the Rights Path — my health, my rights, our [...]

Ottawa police officer acquitted in death of Abdirahman Abdi testifies at inquest

Just six days after a masked gunman fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a brazen, targeted attacked, police have nabbed a person of interest in the case thanks to a tip from a McDonald's employee ‒ the latest example of the public helping police track down a suspect in a high-profile killing. Investigators uncovered "an enormous amount" of forensic and video evidence linked to the suspect, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters Monday, including bullet casings inscribed with words, a backpack possibly worn by the suspect, and a water bottle which reportedly contained DNA. But Kenny said the lynchpin in the case was likely the release of photos of the person of interest that were widely published and went viral on social media. Hundreds of tips poured in after investigators released the photos and offered $60,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest. He was identified as Luigi Mangione , 26, and was detained in the central Pennsylvania town of Altoona on firearms charges Monday, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said . She said this was the third recent case in which the public has helped the police track down a person of interest. "We should never underestimate the power of the public to be our eyes and ears in these investigations," Tisch said. Thousands of hours of video leads to hundreds of tips In a city of nearly nine million people, it's very easy to disappear in plain sight, said law enforcement experts including David Carter , a professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University and director of the university's Intelligence program. Investigators tracked the person of interest's movements around the city primarily through surveillance cameras. Cameras captured him at a Starbucks before he apparently approached Thompson from behind and shot him at close range. The man then fled on foot and rode an electric bike into Central Park. He caught a cab around 7 a.m. on the Upper West Side and was seen on video at an uptown bus station about 45 minutes later, Kenny previously said. After an "extensive video canvas" of thousands of hours of footage, police released the first image of the person of interest on Thursday, Kenny said. That was followed by more photos, some of which had a clearer view of his face, now believed to be Mangione's. "It's extraordinarily difficult to find someone who doesn't want to be found," Carter said. "It takes a long time to do these types of analysis." New York City has the one of the most advanced surveillance systems of any major U.S. city, largely built after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Felipe Rodriguez, a former NYPD detective sergeant who is now an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, told Reuters. There are thousands of cameras in New York and all feeds can be monitored in real time as well as reviewed for previous footage, aided by facial recognition software. Though investigators were able to find multiple images of the suspect , Kenny previously said police weren't able to identify the man using facial recognition, potentially due to the angle of the photos or other limitations on how the police can use the technology, the Associated Press reported. "It's not as magical as it may seem," said Carter. "It does take labor to do it." But the release of the photos prompted hundreds of people to call in with tips, which "led to the recovery of crucial evidence," Tisch said. She said tips from the public have also played crucial roles in apprehending suspects in a recent triple stabbing in Manhattan and a gunpoint robbery in Queens, during which an NYPD officer was shot. It's incredibly common for the public to help police identify suspects in all kinds of crimes, which is why the relationship between the police and the community is so important, said Joe Giacalone , a retired NYPD sergeant and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Though the UnitedHealthcare executive's killing unleashed a wave of vitriol toward the health insurance industry, the FBI joined the search as it stretched into its fourth day and the reward money was increased by $50,000, which likely added to the public's incentive to stay vigilant, Giacalone said. "The whole country was looking for this guy," Giacalone said. "He had no friends." Search involved 'a combination of old school detective work and new age technology' Despite speculation the shooter may have been a professional , the killer left behind several key clues and investigators worked quickly to process forensic evidence including DNA, fingerprints and IP addresses, Tisch said. Police reportedly were able to recover DNA from a water bottle they believe the shooter bought at a Starbucks close to the hotel, the New York Post and The New York Times reported Friday. But to identify the gunman with DNA, investigators would need to find a match in a law enforcement database , like CODIS . Police could also have tried to use commercial databases to identify the suspect through genetic genealogy, but that process would have taken even longer, Giacalone said. Investigators also found a cellphone outside the hotel and began to analyze it forensically, multiple news outlets reported last week, a process that can be difficult depending on the brand of the phone and whether or not it is locked, Carter said. Police can collect a great deal of information from an individual’s cellphone without physically unlocking it, particularly if the user backs up their phone’s data to the internet. But in some cases, text messages, photos and communication on encrypted apps are accessible only directly from the phone. Outside firms have had to help authorities unlock phones in the past after Apple and Google rebuffed law enforcement’s attempts to force them to unlock phones connected to criminal investigations. Officers also interviewed potential witnesses and the department deployed drones, canine units, scuba divers and planes to canvas the area, Tisch said. "This combination of old school detective work and new age technology is what led to this result today," Tisch said. Learning his name Kenny said law enforcement did not know the person of interest's name prior to Mangione's arrest, but police may have had more information about him than they shared with the public during the search, according to according to Lenny DePaul, the former chief inspector and commander of the U.S. Marshals' New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force. Days before the arrest, New York City Mayor Eric Adams Adams declined to tell reporters whether investigators had the man's name, according to the New York Post. “We don’t want to release that now,” Adams said Saturday. “If you do, you are basically giving a tip to the person we are seeking and we do not want to give him an upper hand at all. Let him continue to believe he can hide behind the mask." What's next in the investigation? Kenny said the case is "still active and ongoing" and investigators are working to track Mangione's path from New York to Altoona. He said NYPD detectives are en route to Pennsylvania to interview him. At this point, Giacalone said the main focus will be determining a motive as investigators pour through cell phone records and online activity. Charges could come in the next few days as police work with prosecutors to "collect enough evidence that they can prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt," said Carter. Contributing: John Bacon, USA TODAY; Reuters ; Andrew J. Goudsward , Asbury Park PressRajasthan Cabinet Approves Anti-Conversion Bill: How Violators Will Be Punished?

Video of the suspected shooter leaving the scene of the shooting Wednesday showed him riding a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi cab to a bus depot, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN. Here's the latest: Police believe gunman who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO has left New York City The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer may have fled the city on a bus, New York City police officials told CNN on Friday. Video of the suspected shooter leaving the scene of the shooting Wednesday showed him riding a bicycle to Central Park and later taking a taxi cab to a bus depot, Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told CNN. “We have reason to believe that the person in question has left New York City,” Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. Gunman’s steps after killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO give police new clues The gunman who killed the CEO of the largest U.S. health insurer made sure to wear a mask during the shooting yet left a trail of evidence in view of the nation’s biggest city and its network of security cameras that have aided authorities piecing together his movements and his identity. A law enforcement official said Friday that new surveillance footage shows the suspect riding the subway and visiting establishments in Manhattan and provided more clues about his actions in the days before he ambushed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson . The gunman’s whereabouts and identity remain unknown Friday, as did the reason for Wednesday’s killing. New York City police say evidence firmly points to it being a targeted attack . ▶ Read more about the search for the gunman For many companies, investor meetings are seen as a risk In many companies, investor meetings like the one UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was walking to when he was fatally shot are viewed as very risky because details on the location and who will be speaking are highly publicized. “It gives people an opportunity to arrive well in advance and take a look at the room, take a look at how people would probably come and go out of a location,” said Dave Komendat, president of DSKomendat Risk Management Services, which is based in the greater Seattle area. Some firms respond by beefing up security. For example, tech companies routinely require everyone attending a major event, such as Apple’s annual unveiling of the next iPhone or a shareholder meeting, to go through airport-style security checkpoints before entering. Others forgo in-person meetings with shareholders. ▶ Read more about how companies protect their leaders Police have obtained other surveillance images of the person wanted for questioning Those images include New York’s subway system, a law enforcement official said. In establishments where the person was captured on camera, he always appeared to pay with cash, the official said. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss details of the ongoing investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. — Mike Balsamo Another health insurer taking precautions after the shooting Medica, a Minnesota-based nonprofit health care firm that serves 1.5 million customers in 12 states, said it’s temporarily closing all six locations. The firm has offices in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and North Dakota, and employs about 3,000 people. Employees will work from home, Medica spokesman Greg Bury said in an email Friday. “The safety of Medica employees is our top priority and we have increased security both for all of our employees,” a statement from Medica said. “Although we have received no specific threats related to our campuses, our office buildings will be temporarily closed out of an abundance of caution.” Bury also said biographical information on the company’s executives was taken down from its website as a precaution. Government health insurance provider Centene Corp. says its Investor Day will now be virtual The insurer cited the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in its announcement about the Dec. 12 event. “All of us at Centene are deeply saddened by Brian Thompson’s death and want to express our support for all of those affected. Health insurance is a big industry and a small community; many members of the CenTeam crossed paths with Brian during their careers,” Centene CEO Sarah M. London said in a news release. “He was a person with a deep sense of empathy and clear passion for improving access to care. Our hearts are with his family and his colleagues during this difficult time.” Centene Corp. has grown in recent years to become the largest insurer in Medicaid, the state- and federally funded program that covers care for people with low incomes. Insurers manage Medicaid coverage for states, and Centene has more than 13 million people enrolled in that coverage. UnitedHealth Group says it’s focused on supporting Brian Thompson’s family The insurance company also said it’s focused on ensuring the safety of employees and assisting investigators. “While our hearts are broken, we have been touched by the huge outpouring of kindness and support in the hours since this horrific crime took place,” the company said. NY Mayor Eric Adams provided no new information on investigation’s progress during interviews But he said Friday that he’s confident police will arrest the shooter. “We are on the right road to apprehend him and bring him to justice,” Adams said on TV station WPIX. Hours after the shooting, UnitedHealthcare removed photographs of its executives from its website Later, it removed their names and biographies entirely. Investigators believe the suspect may have traveled to NY last month on a bus that originated in Atlanta Police and federal agents have been collecting information from Greyhound in an attempt to identify the suspect and are working to determine whether he purchased the ticket to New York in late November, a law enforcement official said. Investigators were also trying to obtain additional information from a cellphone recovered from a pedestrian plaza through which the shooter fled. Killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO spotlights complex challenge companies face in protecting top brass The fatal shooting of Brian Thompson while walking alone on a New York City sidewalk has put a spotlight on the widely varied approaches companies take to protect their leaders against threats. Experts say today’s political, economic and technological climate is only going to make the job of evaluating threats against executives and taking action to protect them even more difficult, experts say. Some organizations have a protective intelligence group that uses digital tools such as machine learning or artificial intelligence to comb through online comments to detect threats not only on social media platforms such as X but also on the dark web, says Komendat. They look for what’s being said about the company, its employees and its leadership to uncover risks. ▶ Read more about the steps companies take to protect their leadership Police test DNA and fingerprints on discarded bottle as they hunt for UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killer Police said Thursday they found a water bottle and protein bar wrapper from a trash can near the scene of the ambush and think the suspect bought them from a Starbucks minutes before the shooting. The items were being tested by the city’s medical examiner.President Joe Biden is considering preemptive pardons for several prominent names facing possible retribution from the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, US media has reported. Among those being considered for the historic pardons are Anthony Fauci, the former White House special advisor on Covid-19, and former Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney, a fierce critic of Trump. The president-elect has made no secret of his desire to exact vengeance against critics and those he falsely claims stole the 2020 election from him. Biden has discussed with advisors the possibility of using his constitutional power to protectively issue preemptive pardons -- even to people yet to be charged with any crime -- before he leaves the White House on January 20. The discussions were reported by Politico and later by the New York Times, CBS News and the Washington Post, all citing anonymous sources close to the talks. On Friday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did not confirm the reports, but said President Biden was "reviewing other pardons and commutations." Biden sparked controversy on Sunday when, in a reversal, he pardoned his son Hunter, who was due to be sentenced this month in cases involving a gun purchase and tax fraud. Democratic Representative Adam Schiff of California, who served as lead manager during the first Senate impeachment of Trump, and retired general Mark Milley might also be in line for preemptive pardon s to shield them from Trump. Milley, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Trump's first term, later told journalist Bob Woodward that Trump was "a total fascist" and "the most dangerous person to this country." Schiff responded to the reports by saying he would be against such a move. "I don't think the idea of a blanket pardon of some kind is a good idea, and I would recommend against it," he told US media, adding that he had communicated this position to the White House. - Threats to prosecute - Overseeing any such prosecutions would be the man who the president-elect has nominated to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Kash Patel. Patel, who held a senior position in the Pentagon during the first Trump term, has said that as FBI chief he would "come after" those "who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections." "WHEN I WIN," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform in September, "those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law." Presidential pardons, issued at the end of a term, have a long history in the United States. On his last day in the White House in January 2021, Trump pardoned 74 people accused of various crimes and misdemeanours, including his former chief strategist Steve Bannon and Elliot Broidy, a former major Republican fundraiser. In September 1974, a month after Richard Nixon resigned as president during the Watergate scandal, his successor Gerald Ford announced "a full, free and absolute pardon" for any crimes against the United States that Nixon might have committed while in office. But the multiple preemptive pardons reportedly being considered by Biden -- to insulate several people from future prosecutions that might not ever happen -- could constitute a first.

IN a historic moment, Parliament has passed a bill allowing the terminally ill to choose to end their own lives. Assisted dying is still years away from becoming law . But as we all live longer lives, the ­national debate around assisted dying is just beginning. Your views on the subject will be totally shaped by your memories of watching your loved ones die. My dad died of lung cancer in a ­hospital on a spring night in 1987. My mum died at home of the same disease exactly 12 years and one day later. I was not there for their moment of death. READ MORE TONY PARSONS But I watched them both dying and the memories are engraved on my soul. “This is not me,” my mum said more than once in those traumatic final days. My dad said nothing at all, as we watched him endure the unendurable in that cancer ward. I learned that there is a point where terminal illness narrows down to nothing but suffering. Most read in The Sun No matter how brave you are, or how hard you fight, or how much you pray. Dying can rob those you love most dearly of their ­dignity — when all they ask is that they be permitted to leave this life without more pain and humiliation. I spent the last week of my mum Emma’s life staying with her in the house in Billericay where I grew up. That house where she had been a young wife and mother, where she had raised a family, where we had been so happy for so long. Mum’s dying wish was to die at home. But the GP was coming to see her in the morning, and it seemed certain she would be moved to a hospital. The night before she died, I drove back to London to find her a hospice and left her with her great friend Nelly , a retired NHS nurse. Mercifully, my mum slipped away in the night. My mum had a wonderful life — she had a husband, a son, a grandson and six brothers, and countless friends who all adored her. But right at the end, she wanted it to be all over and it broke my heart to see her suffer. And here’s the funny thing — I don’t think my mum would ever have chosen assisted dying. But she should have had THE CHOICE. We should all have the choice. Yes, any assisted dying law needs to have every protection in place for the vulnerable, the disabled and those who are in danger of being coerced into ending their life. But we all have to die. I don’t want to end my life in nappies. I don’t want to end it in Switzerland . I don’t want to spend my last days in agony while my family blow a fortune on my care. I would rather say — enough. I would much rather rest in peace. And with all my heart, I believe we should all have that freedom of choice. BOBBY MOORE is England’s greatest sporting hero. He was a greater hero than anyone ever knew, having secretly fought — and beaten — testicular cancer shortly before winning the 1966 World Cup. Bobby, who died aged just 51 in 1993, is in the news because of reported sightings of the missing shirt he wore when England beat West Germany . His ex-wife Tina says she last saw the shirt in her attic in Essex 30 years ago. It was never sold, auctioned or given away. I hope whoever has Bobby’s red shirt has a big enough heart to give it back to his family. This country never gave Bobby Moore the love and respect he deserved during his tragically short lifetime. It is depressing to think that, in death, someone would take the World Cup- winning shirt from his back. Bye to my old haunt IF you can remember The Groucho Club , then you were probably not there. As the legendary Soho private members’ club closes its doors at the request of the police , old media faces are coming forward to reminisce about the high times we had at The Grouch. Broadcaster Robert Elms recalls a marathon drinking session with Adam Faith and me that climaxed in a mass brawl. It must have been a bloody good night because I have no memory of it. But that was the Groucho Club for you. I was a founding member in the Eighties and had my stag night there in 1992 – a much livelier venue than Prague or Ibiza or Bangkok. George Michael and I had our launch party for the book we did together at The Grouch. I launched my novel Man And Boy there. My social life revolved around that pretentiously exclusive den of sin for years. I used to meet my acting mate from Muswell Hill, Christoph Waltz, there for dinner in the days before Quentin Tarantino started casting him in movies. Christoph went on to win two Oscars . And the thing about the poseurs who inhabited the Groucho Club – they all THOUGHT they were going to win two Oscars. The Groucho Club was founded as an alternative to the old-school gentleman’s private clubs. Looking back, it feels to me like we were all playing at being grown-ups. You would make a reservation for two for dinner and your dining companion would turn up with 20 more friends. It was fun while it lasted, although my membership lapsed long ago and I have not set foot in The Grouch for years. But I still have good friends who are members. One of them took so much Colombian marching powder back in the day that the rumours persist that he is still in there, haunting the deserted Grouch, waiting for the tiramisu he ordered back in the Eighties. Michelle was not a Bond girl? No wai! Michelle Yeoh was the first modern Bond girl. Her character in 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies, Chinese secret agent Wai Lin, was – like Yeoh herself – a trained martial artist. Unlike all those Sixties dolly birds who fell into Sean Connery’s hairy arms without being asked twice, Wai Lin was capable of resisting the seduction techniques of Pierce Brosnan’s 007. Wai Lin was a state-sponsored assassin – just like 007. This was as close as James Bond ever got to equal opportunities. So it is absurd for Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour to be embroiled in a sexism controversy because it introduced Michelle Yeoh as “a Bond girl”. Yes, Yeoh is much more than that – she has a Best Actress Oscar for Everything Everywhere All At Once. But are we really going to call Michelle a former “Bond person” or pretend she never shared a motorbike with 007? Yeoh’s performance in Tomorrow Never Dies should be a source of celebration. Wai Lin even has her own Wikipedia entry. Mind you, so does Pussy Galore. Magic will be missed SMITHFIELD meat market is the beating heart of London. The romance. The history . The fact that while the rest of the city sleeps, Smithfield is roaring with life. The market is scheduled to close forever in 2028 . London will never be the same. It has existed for so long that when Charles Dickens wrote about Bill Sikes dragging Oliver Twist through the market, Smithfield was already 600 years old. The voices of the porters. Their blood-splattered white coats. The pubs with their unique opening hours served exhausted men their hard-earned beer at dawn, rubbing shoulders with the kids who had been dancing all night at Fabric, as Wren’s dome at St Paul’s Cathedral shone in the moonlight. Smithfield was – is – magical. If it closes as planned in 2028, then a part of the capital’s soul will die with it. THE best film I have seen all year is Small Things Like These, starring Cillian Murphy in his first role since winning the Best Actor Oscar for Oppenheimer. The story is based on the scandal of Ireland’s Magdalene laundries, the church-run homes for unmarried mothers and their babies – “fallen women” who were often little more than children themselves. Small Things Like These is a Christmas movie. Children write to Santa, fairy lights twinkle, snow falls. But it is a Christmas movie the way that Fairytale Of New York is a Christmas song. And like that old Pogues classic, it is a work of heartbreaking genius. “HEARTBROKEN” was the word used most frequently to describe the Queen’s reaction to the death of Beth, the Jack Russell who Camilla rescued from Battersea. Losing a dog cuts so deep because, while we grow away from our parents and our children grow away from us, our dogs are as close to us on the day they die as they are on the day they came home as puppies. There is a unique bond between humans and their dogs that is made of unconditional love. It can never be broken. Not even by death. READ MORE SUN STORIES BIKINI-clad Netflix star Olga Bednarska – you must have seen her in series three of dating show Too Hot To Handle – has avoided jail after smuggling £158,000 of drugs into the country from Thailand . Where on earth did she hide it?You could watch baseball for 100 years, and some of the readers here come pretty close, and you would never see a right-handed hitter have the season Aaron Judge did. The Yankees ’ captain was rightfully announced as the 2024 American League Most Valuable Player today, his second time capturing the honor and becoming the first Yankee since Mickey Mantle in his Triple Crown 1956 to do so unanimously. Hitting .322/.458/.701 with 58 bombs will do that, as Judge put up a season better than anything Albert Pujols, Mike Trout, Alex Rodriguez, Mike Schmidt, Joe DiMaggio, or any righty since the Roaring ‘20s had done. The MVP Award shouldn’t just be the WAR Award, but by fWAR, Judge (11.2) was almost a full win better than runner up Bobby Witt Jr. (10.4), who himself had an all-time, historically remarkable season — one better than many past MVP campaigns by others. Witt just had the best season by a Royal in franchise history and there are some names on that list, and Bobby wasn’t even close* in the MVP race this year. That’s how good Judge was. *Though somewhat amusingly, Witt was the unanimous second-place winner, taking all 30 of those votes. MLB’s capstone award this year follows Judge’s win in 2022, bookending a three-year stretch of play that but for one dumb block of concrete could sit among the most dominant runs in this sport. Since the beginning of that contract year, Judge has two MVPs, a 202 wRC+, 27.0 fWAR (!!), and missed those 56 games last year — and who knows if he was truly 100 percent when he did come back. Judge’s teammate Juan Soto heads into free agency with a feather in his cap in his own right, finishing third in the voting for his third top-five finish in his first seven seasons. His defensive game might keep him from ever reaching the very top of the vote, but a 26-year-old with multiple top-five MVP runs is exactly why he’s going to make the money he’ll get. Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson and Cleveland’s José Ramírez finished fourth and fifth, respectively. There was also a unanimous decision in the Senior Circuit, as Shohei Ohtani took home the NL MVP over the Mets’ Francisco Lindor. It was Ohtani’s third time winning the award—the first in MLB history by an exclusive DH—and put him in a very exclusive club. Ohtani is just the 12th player in history to take home MVP honors three times, and the second after Hall of Famer Frank Robinson to win both the AL and NL versions of the award. It may be sour grapes after seven seasons, but had Judge won the 2017 AL MVP, which I believe he should have, he would join the three-time-winner club with Ohtani tonight. Alas. The end-of-season hardware has been handed out, and all the individual accolades Judge could be given he has. The trophy case is a little more full, but we all know the one piece missing from his collection. He’ll get the chance to chase it again in a few months.A favorite activity to celebrate the holidays in the Eel River Valley is the Fortuna Garden Club’s annual home tour and tea, this year, taking place on Dec. 11. The theme for the 52nd annual event is Old Fashioned Southern Christmas and this year the self-guided tour features two houses in Fortuna and two locations in Scotia. Tour hours are from 12 p.m. until 7 p.m. and the tea portion of the event takes place at the Monday Club in Fortuna. Tickets are $20 and children under five are free. Pre-sale tickets can be purchased at Greens Pharmacy, and on the day of the tour, at the Monday Club or any of the featured homes on the tour. The Monday Club will be decorated like an old-fashioned southern Christmas and holiday cookies, candy, scones, tea, hot apple cider and coffee will be served. Local businesses, community members, and Garden Club members have donated items on display and an opportunity drawing is planned to be held between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Garden Club member Bev Ward and her family home is one of the two Fortuna locations on the tour. This is the third time her home has been included in the tour. “I love Christmas,” Ward said. “I love everything about the season,” She added. “It is a time of joy, reflection, being together with family and friends, and reminiscing about Christmases past,” Ward said. Ward said as the years have passed, she is more drawn to the decor of her childhood. “Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, we were surrounded by shiny bright ornaments, fat jolly Santas, snowmen, and putz houses, and that is what you will find when you tour my home,” Ward said. The Anderson home, the second Fortuna location on the tour, is a tale of travels, told in ornaments. “We love Christmas,” Mary Anderson, also a Garden Club member said. “Some of our traditions include decorating as soon as trees are available, attending local festivities, and collecting ornaments throughout the year from places traveled,” she added. A few new ornaments gathered this year include one from a trip to Palm Springs and the nearby desert, a birthday trip to Beverly Hills, and a business trip to Nevada. The collection on display also includes a handmade glass decoration from Paris, France. Venturing to Scotia, the tour includes visits to the historic Scotia Lodge (formerly Scotia Inn) and the historic craftsman house, formerly the Pacific Lumber Company’s Director’s Cottage, and now a privately owned Airbnb. The Scotia Lodge is decorated with a large holiday wreath above the front desk check-in area and poinsettias in the lobby. There is also a lighted tree in the dining room and white lights on the outside entrance welcome visitors. Scotia Lodge Private Event Reservationist Kristin Fine said, “We love decorating for the holidays and making this space feel very homey. It’s a wonderful historic building,” she added, “and we are excited about being included in the Fortuna Christmas Home Tour this year.” The historic building was built in 1923 and was known at that time as the Mowatoc Hotel. It became known as the Scotia Inn in the 1950s and over the years was not only available for visiting guests, but also as lodging for loggers and millworkers employed with Pacific Lumber Company. After closing in 2017 and being shuttered for four years, the building was purchased and re-opened in 2021, and the name was changed to Scotia Lodge. The former Pacific Lumber Company’s Directror’s Cottage is located at 130 Main Street in Scotia. This six-bedroom, six-bath, almost 4,400 square foot building has been decorated in the holiday spirit, with vintage-style Santas and snowmen throughout the house. “I am using mostly old-fashioned décor to match the style of the house,” owner Michele Brannan said. She and her husband Chris purchased the house in November of 2020 and operate it as an Airbnb. Brannan is using many of her grandmother’s and mother’s Christmas decorations. Each bedroom will have electric fireplaces and stockings. “It will be cozy and comfortable just like the house,” Brannan said, “and family ready for the holidays.” It was built in 1919 as lodging for when upper management from The Pacific Lumber Company’s San Francisco office and company lumber sales representatives from its Chicago office were in town to check on the sawmill operations and other business. It was used for this purpose and other private events until The Pacific Lumber Company went out of business in 2008. From that time on until it was sold in private ownership, it was a tenant-occupied rental property owned by the Town of Scotia Company, LLC. Prior to the construction of the house, the triangle-shaped property was known as Dorr Park, named after one of PALCO’s upper management team. The Annual Christmas Home Tour and Tea is a fundraiser that supports the Fortuna Garden Club activities including civic beautification projects, a scholarship program, Main Street flower beds and a youth gardening program.