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Les grands favoris de Man City affronteront l’Inter Milan lors de la confrontation finale de la Ligue des champions

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Manchester City et l’Inter Milan s’affrontent lors de la finale de la Ligue des champions samedi à Istanbul avec l’équipe anglaise, dirigée par Pep Guardiola, qui rêvait de remporter pour la première fois le plus grand prix du football interclubs européen.

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Le match au stade olympique Atatürk de 75 000 places, débute à 22h00 (19h00 GMT) dans la métropole turque et met fin à une saison qui s’est prolongée presque jusqu’à la mi-juin après la longue interruption pour la Coupe du monde.

City a passé la dernière décennie à courir après ce trophée après avoir été transformé à la suite d’une prise de contrôle soutenue par Abu Dhabi en 2008.

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Également actifs avant l’arrivée de Sheikh Mansour, ils sont désormais la force dominante de l’Angleterre, après avoir remporté un cinquième titre de Premier League en six saisons.

Guardiola, à la poursuite de la troisième couronne de la Ligue des champions de sa carrière d’entraîneur, a construit une équipe qui joue sans doute le meilleur football de toutes les équipes depuis son grand Barcelone d’il y a dix ans.

Ils en sont maintenant à leur deuxième finale de Ligue des champions en trois saisons, deux ans après avoir perdu contre Chelsea à Porto, et espèrent réaliser un triplé après avoir remporté la Premier League et la FA Cup.

La dernière équipe anglaise à remporter ce triplé était Manchester United d’Alex Ferguson, en 1999.

“Nous avons été bons dans cette compétition, mais nous devons juste trouver un moyen de gagner la première”, a déclaré vendredi Kevin De Bruyne.

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“Si nous le faisions, ce serait évidemment immense pour les joueurs, pour le club et pour les fans, ce serait quelque chose d’incroyable.”

L’essor de City a été rendu possible par l’investissement du Abu Dhabi United Group, qui leur a permis de générer les plus gros revenus du football mondial en 2022, soit 731 millions d’euros (787 millions de dollars).

Des points d’interrogation entourent leur succès, étant donné que City a été accusé en février par la Premier League de 115 violations présumées de ses règles financières entre 2009 et 2018.

En Europe, pendant ce temps, City a été banni pendant deux ans des compétitions de l’UEFA en février 2020 pour “graves manquements au fair-play financier”, bien que cette sanction ait ensuite été annulée.

Force irrésistible

La ville est devenue une force presque irrésistible. Ils ont écarté le RB Leipzig, le Bayern Munich et le Real Madrid lors des huitièmes de finale et n’ont perdu qu’une seule fois en 27 matches.

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Les buts d’Erling Haaland – 52 dans toutes les compétitions – les ont élevés à un autre niveau, ainsi que la décision de Guardiola de transformer l’arrière central John Stones en milieu de terrain.

L’Inter, bien que l’un des grands noms européens, ne devrait pas être en mesure de rivaliser avec City en ce qui concerne ses finances.

Les Nerazzurri ont d’énormes dettes et leurs revenus de l’année dernière étaient inférieurs à la moitié de ceux de City.

Cependant, ils sont sortis de leur groupe devant Barcelone avant de battre Porto, leur première victoire dans un match à élimination directe en Ligue des champions depuis 2011.

Ils ont ensuite battu Benfica et l’AC Milan pour atteindre la finale. Ils ont remporté 11 de leurs 12 derniers matchs et ont récemment conservé la Coppa Italia.

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“Nous comprenons ce qu’ils sont en tant qu’équipe”, a déclaré De Bruyne.

“Ils défendent incroyablement bien. Nous ne nous attendons pas à ce que ce soit un match ouvert. Cela n’arrive pas souvent dans une finale de toute façon.”

Ayant atteint sa première finale de Ligue des champions depuis qu’il a soulevé le trophée pour la troisième fois de son histoire en 2010, l’Inter est prêt à le remporter.

“Nous savons que nous avons une belle opportunité d’écrire une nouvelle page de l’histoire de notre club”, a déclaré l’entraîneur Simone Inzaghi.

Plus de drame d’Ataturk ?

Inzaghi a une équipe stable, avec une défense grisonnante à trois, un milieu de terrain élégant, des ailiers volants à Denzel Dumfries et Federico Dimarco, et Lautaro Martinez aux côtés de l’ancien attaquant vétéran de City Edin Dzeko à l’avant.

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Les deux équipes devraient être au complet, avec Kyle Walker prêt à commencer pour City après avoir manqué l’entraînement plus tôt cette semaine.

C’est la sixième finale de Coupe d’Europe pour l’Inter, mais seulement sa deuxième en 51 ans.

Le seul trophée européen de City à ce jour remonte à 1970, lorsqu’ils ont remporté la Coupe des vainqueurs de coupe, battant le Polonais Gornik Zabrze 2-1 en finale.

Ce match n’a pas été diffusé à la télévision britannique en raison d’un affrontement avec la rediffusion de la finale de la FA Cup le même soir.

Un large public mondial assistera à la confrontation de samedi, pour laquelle les deux clubs ont officiellement reçu environ 20 000 billets.

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Il s’agit de la deuxième finale de la Ligue des champions qui se déroule au stade olympique Atatürk, situé du côté européen du Bosphore, à 25 kilomètres du centre d’Istanbul.

Liverpool a triomphé ici en 2005, se remettant d’un déficit de trois buts contre Milan pour faire match nul 3-3 avant de s’imposer aux tirs au but.

(AFP)

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Three transfer windows. 43 players signed. £300million blown. How Nottingham Forest lost the plot

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Even when Brian Clough walked the City Ground’s narrow corridors like a colossus, Nottingham Forest were capable of blowing a hell of a lot money in the transfer market to relatively little effect.

There was the £1million for Justin Fashanu, perhaps the worst judgement call of Clough’s partnership with Peter Taylor. Ian Wallace cost the same sum and made no more difference. But there are no prizes for guessing what Clough would have made of unmitigated madness in the court of Evangelos Marinakis, Forest’s Greek shipping magnate owner, these past three years.

Marinakis’s delegation of Forest’s transfer business to his son Marinakis Jnr — aka ‘Miltos’ — has taken Forest into a never-never land of lunatic judgement and wild outlay.

No fewer than 43 players have arrived for close to £300m across three transfer windows and Monday there were consequences — a four-point deduction for a breach of financial sustainability rules, which drops Forest into the relegation zone.

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Some in Nottingham have recently cautioned the club about ‘not getting distracted by a sense of injustice’. There was nothing unjust about this decision.

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis had delegated transfer business to his son

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis had delegated transfer business to his son

Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis had delegated transfer business to his son 

No fewer than 43 players have been signed by Nottingham Forest's since securing promotion

No fewer than 43 players have been signed by Nottingham Forest's since securing promotion

No fewer than 43 players have been signed by Nottingham Forest’s since securing promotion

The four-point deduction has seen Nuno Espirito Santo's side drop into the bottom three

The four-point deduction has seen Nuno Espirito Santo's side drop into the bottom three

The four-point deduction has seen Nuno Espirito Santo’s side drop into the bottom three

Forest were certainly forced to buy a lot of players in a hurry when they unexpectedly reached the Premier League with a team composed of many loanees, nearly two years ago. They needed ‘ammunition’, Marinakis said at the time.

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But that didn’t account for what followed. There was the player signed with a broken leg who hasn’t made an appearance. There were the four goalkeepers hired in the same season, with an additional two signing the following summer. There were the two players signed and then immediately loaned to Olympiacos.

Though some of the new players were a success — Morgan Gibbs-White, Taiwo Awoniyi and Danilo — many were poor and unnecessary, including Jesse Lingard, Emmanuel Dennis and Jonjo Shelvey, whose contract Forest terminated when they realised that they had too many players out on loan.

When it dropped yesterday, the 52-page independent commission report of the Forest hearing painted an unflattering picture of the club’s chaotic and opaque attempt to show it was trying to comply with the profitability and sustainability rules (PSR). Forest had submitted no board meeting minutes and only a few emails or messages to the commission, relating to PSR. ‘Most communications were apparently oral,’ the commission reported.

The same report revealed how Forest had painted themselves as the unfortunates in all of this when they appeared to answer for a £34.5m overspend over three years, two of them in the Championship.

They had been promoted without the benefit of the parachute payments that Fulham and Bournemouth were still receiving. They had only managed to recoup the full £47.5m value of their golden home-grown talent, Brennan Johnson, when it was too late to set the transfer fee Tottenham paid against their losses.

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The commission report also revealed that Forest’s strategy in front of the commission had been to take aim at Everton. They had pointed out that the Goodison club had been overspending for longer them and exceeded a higher threshold in the Premier League than Forest had in the Championship.

Morgan Gibbs-White has been a major success but several transfers have proved unnecessary

Morgan Gibbs-White has been a major success but several transfers have proved unnecessary

Morgan Gibbs-White has been a major success but several transfers have proved unnecessary 

Lingard was released by Nottingham Forest after a disappointing season at the club

Lingard was released by Nottingham Forest after a disappointing season at the club
Jonjo Shelvey was released after Forest realised they had too many players out on loan

Jonjo Shelvey was released after Forest realised they had too many players out on loan

Jesse Lingard (left) and Jonjo Shelvey (right) both failed to make an impact at Forest

Forest had hoped to use the sale of Brennan Johnson to Tottenham as a mitigating factor

Forest had hoped to use the sale of Brennan Johnson to Tottenham as a mitigating factor

Forest had hoped to use the sale of Brennan Johnson to Tottenham as a mitigating factor

In a submission which will do little to bring harmony between the clubs, Forest also accused Everton of playing the PSR system to avoid relegation last season. Forest ‘respectfully’ told the commission panel that Everton had attempted to delay judgment on their own case until November last year, by initially denying charges and then prolonging the process.

The commission did not see things Forest’s way. Its members, like many people in football, considered the club’s transfer outlay in that promotion summer to be extraordinary. The net transfer spending in 2022-23, the panel pointed out, was £78.7m — or 123 per cent — higher than the average net transfer spending of all Premier League clubs (excluding Chelsea). ‘The club’s incoming number of players was not only the highest in the Premier League but nearly double the next-highest club,’ the report found.

Forest portrait of Everton’s greater profligacy rather went up in smoke, too. While the Goodison club’s overspend was a little less than £20million, Forest’s had gone £34.5million beyond, the report concluded.

Everton were still digesting the Forest PSR report last night and making no response, but some at that club will feel bemusement that Forest have been hit with a four-point penalty, two points less than their own and perhaps less still on appeal, when their overspend was far greater.

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Everton entertain Forest on Saturday April 20. Boardroom conversations that day may be very interesting.

Forest, who have seven days to appeal the deduction, gave no indication of their intent to do so in their trenchantly critical attack on the Premier League last night, which revealed no sense of awareness that they knew the sustainability rules, signed up to them – and yet still breached them. They got themselves into this mess.

Other clubs may take a dim view of that, because as Forest splashed the cash, many were reining in their spending to avoid breaching those rules and having to face up to consequences such as this.

Forest took aim at Everton during the defence but ultimately had higher losses the the Toffees

Forest took aim at Everton during the defence but ultimately had higher losses the the Toffees

Forest took aim at Everton during the defence but ultimately had higher losses the the Toffees

Wolves concerns over PSR led to the club selling stars including Ruben Neves last summer

Wolves concerns over PSR led to the club selling stars including Ruben Neves last summer

Wolves concerns over PSR led to the club selling stars including Ruben Neves last summer

Nottingham Forest have paid a price for their spending but survival still remains within reach

Nottingham Forest have paid a price for their spending but survival still remains within reach

Nottingham Forest have paid a price for their spending but survival still remains within reach

PSR has become a mantra at Aston Villa and Newcastle United. Leicester City were arguably relegated in a desperate attempt to comply with it — and yet are still expected to be found in breach.

Forest’s four-point penalty 

By Matt Hughes 

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Forest have received a lesser sanction than Everton in part due to the fact that they admitted their guilt from the outset and adopted a collaborative approach to the Premier League. In contrast Everton denied breaches spending rules for a long period after they were charged.

Forest likely to appeal, which the Premier League have committed to hearing by 15 April. The verdict would follow later month. The Premier League have set themselves a ‘back-stop’ date of 24 May to get all PSR cases and any appeals concluded. This is five days after the final day of the season, but the Premier League expect to get matters resolved before then.

The Premier League have made clear throughout this process that they do not have fixed sanctioning policy or recommend set points deductions. Each individual case is treated on its merits and heard by a separate independent commission, and they have no plans to change this at present. The independent commission which heard Everton’s appeal last month ruled that a six-point deduction was ‘necessary and sufficient’ to uphold PSR rules, but did not recommend its introduction as a minimum tariff.

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Wolves were so worried about breaking the rules for the year ending June 30, 2024 that they sold Ruben Neves, Nathan Collins and Matheus Nunes, allowed Raul Jimenez, Adama Traore and Joao Moutinho to leave and packed cheap signings in to fill the gaps.

Forest’s own executive chaos, meanwhile, has reflected the way the transfer business has been run. The club appointed a chief football officer, Ross Wilson, last April and put together an impressive recruitment and analysis team, headed by Tom Stockwell, who had held a senior scouting role at Southampton.

Yet while Wilson was putting that structure together, Marinakis was turning back to a former head of recruitment he had already sacked, George Syrianos, a data specialist who is now ‘adviser to the board’. Sacking an executive only to bring him back 10 months later with another title does not say a great deal about Forest’s overall strategy — if indeed there is one.

The real victims of yesterday were those clubs whose prospects of Premier League hopes are yo-yoing in tandem with the points deductions and appeals: Luton Town, Brentford and Crystal Palace.

The elephant in the room, of course, is Manchester City, who sail serenely on. The club accused of deliberately lying and manipulating, through the creation of shell companies and payment of people off the books — offences they deny — are currently on their way to a fifth title in six years, having not even been brought to court on 115 alleged breaches of the sustainability rules.

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But there would be a crumb of comfort if Forest could look inside themselves, search their souls, put indignation aside and accept this decision.

The deduction is not catastrophic. Survival is very much on for them. They have spent wildly, unsustainably and paid a price. Let it go now and begin again. Let the madness stop.

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Oprah Winfrey holds back tears as she opens up about food obsession during obesity battle – but is slammed online for glorified ‘hour- long commercial for Ozempic’ that was cushioned with Weight Watchers adverts

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Oprah Winfrey opened up about her battle with obesity and how food took over her life during her weight loss special – but viewers flocked online to slam her for ‘promoting’ the drugs. 

Speaking in An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution, on Monday, the 70-year-old fought back tears as she revealed how the drugs had meant she was no longer ‘constantly thinking about what the next meal is going to be’. 

She said ‘for 25 years, making fun of my weight was national sport’ and that over the years she had ‘lost some weight’ and ‘put back on some weight’ but since starting to take medication she had stopped ‘obsessing’ about food. 

Along with messages of support online, some viewers slammed Oprah, accusing her of ‘promoting big pharma and pushing Ozempic’ and criticizing her for taking the drugs after spending nine years promoting Weight Watchers. 

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The show was released days after Oprah quit her Weight Watchers board role, citing a potential ‘conflict of interest’ with the show, which heavily featured weight loss drug brands. 

Oprah fought back tears on Monday night during her weight loss special

Oprah fought back tears on Monday night during her weight loss special

Oprah fought back tears on Monday night during her weight loss special

She brought on guests and discussed her own experience with weight loss drugs

She brought on guests and discussed her own experience with weight loss drugs

She brought on guests and discussed her own experience with weight loss drugs

Her exit caused Weight Watchers shares to crash 20 percent.

But shares rebounded slightly after Oprah brought the CEO of Weight Watchers Simi Sistani on stage for the special, telling her that she had left the board ‘so that I could have a conversation with you’ on the show.

She also brought on leaders from two global pharmaceutical companies, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, that produce the medication. 

One viewer accused her of having ‘all her bases covered’ by bringing on both the CEO of Weight Watchers and the pharmaceutical leaders. 

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Other fans accused her of ‘promoting’ the drugs. 

One wrote on X: ‘Oprah is on TV right now doing a special that is essentially an hourlong commercial for Ozempic, including advocating for giving Ozempic to children. Grim’ 

Another said: ‘Who else won’t be watching the Oprah special tonight promoting BigPharna & pushing Ozempic?’

A third said: ‘Right now on ABC there is literally a 1-hour Oprah Winfrey special pushing Ozempic on behalf of NovoNordisk. 

‘Big Pharma runs this country. They took the baton from big tobacco.’

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During the show, Oprah pushed back at people she said wanted to ‘shame’ her for her weight and for taking the drugs. 

She said: ‘I come to this conversation in the hope that we can start releasing the stigma and the shame and the judgment… to stop shaming other people for being overweight or how they chose to lose and not lose weight.’

She added: ‘All these years, I thought all of the people who never had to diet were just using their willpower and they were for some reason stronger than me.

‘But now I realize y’all weren’t even thinking about the food. It’s not that you had the willpower. You weren’t even thinking about it. You weren’t obsessing about it.’

Now, she said: ‘I use it as a tool, combined with hiking three or five miles a day or running. It’s not just one thing, it’s multiple things for me.’ 

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Oprah has visibly lost weight in recent months, having shed more than 40lbs with the help of the weight loss drug.

Rumors that she was taking Ozempic started to circulate last year, until she admitted she had started taking an unnamed weight loss drug in December. 

Oprah has defended her Ozempic use in a new documentary - just days after she stepped down from her role as a Weight Watchers ambassador after she admitted she took the drug

Oprah has defended her Ozempic use in a new documentary - just days after she stepped down from her role as a Weight Watchers ambassador after she admitted she took the drug

Oprah has defended her Ozempic use in a new documentary – just days after she stepped down from her role as a Weight Watchers ambassador after she admitted she took the drug

The 70-year-old (seen December 2023) is set to plug the weight loss drug in an upcoming special, An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution, which airs tonight

The 70-year-old (seen December 2023) is set to plug the weight loss drug in an upcoming special, An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution, which airs tonight

The 70-year-old (seen December 2023) is set to plug the weight loss drug in an upcoming special, An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution, which airs tonight

Just days after she revealed she left Weight Watchers due to a conflict of interest after being on the board since 2015, Oprah ( seen in 2014) has again defended Ozempic in a teaser clip

Just days after she revealed she left Weight Watchers due to a conflict of interest after being on the board since 2015, Oprah ( seen in 2014) has again defended Ozempic in a teaser clip

Just days after she revealed she left Weight Watchers due to a conflict of interest after being on the board since 2015, Oprah ( seen in 2014) has again defended Ozempic in a teaser clip

She said in the special: ‘The number one thing I hope people come away with is knowing that [obesity] is a disease, and it’s in the brain.’ 

The special also features obesity medicine physician Dr. Jen Ashton, who was shown having a discussion with Oprah during the teaser. 

Dr. Jen explained: ‘It is conclusively known that the conditions of overweight and obesity are complex, chronic disease states, not character flaws… so they should be managed accordingly. ‘ 

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Oprah replied: ‘Oh, I love that so much, Dr. Jen. It’s a disease, not a character flaw.’ 

Just three days ago, the TV mogul shared why she was stepping down from Weight Watchers, opening up about her reasons for quitting during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. 

She explained: ‘I decided that because this special was really important to me and I wanted to be able to talk about whatever I wanted to talk about, and Weight Watchers is now in the business of being a weight health company that also administers drug medications for weight. 

‘I did not want to have the appearance of any conflict of interest,’ said Oprah, who announced last month that she was not going to stand for re-election at the next Weight Watchers shareholder meeting in May.

‘So I resigned from the board and donated all of my shares to the National Museum of African American History and Culture,’ Oprah added.

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‘So nobody can say, ”Oh, she’s doing that special, she’s making money, promoting”. No, you cannot say that,’ she said.

Oprah - who has credited her dramatic transformation to the drug - said: 'The number one thing I hope people come away with is knowing that [obesity] is a disease, and it's in the brain'

Oprah - who has credited her dramatic transformation to the drug - said: 'The number one thing I hope people come away with is knowing that [obesity] is a disease, and it's in the brain'

Oprah – who has credited her dramatic transformation to the drug – said: ‘The number one thing I hope people come away with is knowing that [obesity] is a disease, and it’s in the brain’

Just three days ago, the TV mogul shared why she was stepping down from Weight Watchers. During an appearance of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Oprah (seen in 2024) revealed why she left

Just three days ago, the TV mogul shared why she was stepping down from Weight Watchers. During an appearance of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Oprah (seen in 2024) revealed why she left

Just three days ago, the TV mogul shared why she was stepping down from Weight Watchers. During an appearance of Jimmy Kimmel Live, Oprah (seen in 2024) revealed why she left

In December, the TV mogul confessed to using the drug as a 'tool' to stop her yo-yoing weight issues (seen in 2023)

In December, the TV mogul confessed to using the drug as a 'tool' to stop her yo-yoing weight issues (seen in 2023)

In December, the TV mogul confessed to using the drug as a ‘tool’ to stop her yo-yoing weight issues (seen in 2023)

‘Did people at Weight Watchers cry when you left?,’ Jimmy asked. ‘They almost did,’ Oprah replied.

‘Yeah, I would imagine they wouldn’t be that happy about it,’ Jimmy said. ‘They almost did,’ Oprah said.

Oprah was on the talk show to promote the upcoming ABC program An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution, which is set to air at 8 p.m. EDT/7 p.m. CDT.

In December, the TV mogul confessed to using the drug as a ‘tool’ to stop her yo-yoing weight issues. 

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At the time, she told People: ‘I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing’ – but did not name the drug that she uses.

‘The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for.

‘I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself’ and added she had actively recommended the weight loss aid to other people before deciding to take it herself.’

Throughout her decades-long weight-loss journey, Oprah has never shied away from discussing her problems in public. Pictured: In 1988

Throughout her decades-long weight-loss journey, Oprah has never shied away from discussing her problems in public. Pictured: In 1988
Throughout her decades-long weight-loss journey, Oprah has never shied away from discussing her problems in public. Pictured: In 1992

Throughout her decades-long weight-loss journey, Oprah has never shied away from discussing her problems in public. Pictured: In 1992

Throughout her decades-long weight-loss journey, Oprah has never shied away from discussing her problems in public. Pictured in 1988 (left) and 1992 (right) 

Last year she was dogged by rumors she was on Ozempic, the diabetes medicine that has become a Hollywood fad among those attempting to slim down

Last year she was dogged by rumors she was on Ozempic, the diabetes medicine that has become a Hollywood fad among those attempting to slim down

Last year she was dogged by rumors she was on Ozempic, the diabetes medicine that has become a Hollywood fad among those attempting to slim down

As the speculation mounted, Oprah finally confessed that she had relented and started taking weight loss medication - after previously feeling that she had to rely on her own 'willpower' to achieve the figure she wanted (seen in 1990)

As the speculation mounted, Oprah finally confessed that she had relented and started taking weight loss medication - after previously feeling that she had to rely on her own 'willpower' to achieve the figure she wanted (seen in 1990)

As the speculation mounted, Oprah finally confessed that she had relented and started taking weight loss medication – after previously feeling that she had to rely on her own ‘willpower’ to achieve the figure she wanted (seen in 1990)

Over the decades of her superstardom, Oprah has been candid with her fans about the various steps she has taken to lose weight.

Last year she was dogged by rumors she was on Ozempic, the diabetes medicine that has become a Hollywood fad among those attempting to slim down.

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As the speculation mounted, Oprah finally confessed that she had relented and started taking weight loss medication – after previously feeling that she had to rely on her own ‘willpower’ to achieve the figure she wanted.

‘It is a very personal topic for me,’ said Oprah in a press statement quoted by BET:  ‘and for the hundreds of millions of people impacted around the globe who have for years struggled with weight and obesity.’

When she underwent knee surgery in 2021, her physical rehabilitation helped her develop a number of healthy habits that helped her burn fat.

When she underwent knee surgery in 2021, her physical rehabilitation helped her develop a number of healthy habits that helped her burn fat (seen in 2018)

When she underwent knee surgery in 2021, her physical rehabilitation helped her develop a number of healthy habits that helped her burn fat (seen in 2018)

When she underwent knee surgery in 2021, her physical rehabilitation helped her develop a number of healthy habits that helped her burn fat (seen in 2018)

In the documentary, Oprah (seen in 2024) will also interview people who have used popular weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, as well as professionals with experience in the field

In the documentary, Oprah (seen in 2024) will also interview people who have used popular weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, as well as professionals with experience in the field

In the documentary, Oprah (seen in 2024) will also interview people who have used popular weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, as well as professionals with experience in the field

Oprah weighed 237lbs (107.5kg) at her heaviest, she has previously revealed. 

She said undergoing knee surgery in 2021 kickstarted a journey for her to improve her health and live a ‘more vital and vibrant life.’ 

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The broadcast icon said she now eats her last meal at 4pm, drinks a gallon of water a day and uses Weight Watchers principles of counting points, along with regular hikes.

She added that her fitness and health routine are integral to maintaining her weight loss saying: ‘It’s everything. I know everybody thought I was on it, but I worked so damn hard. I know that if I’m not also working out and vigilant about all the other things, it doesn’t work for me.’

She said: ‘I had an awareness of [weight-loss] medications, but felt I had to prove I had the willpower to do it. I now no longer feel that way.’

In the documentary, Oprah will also interview people who have used popular weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, as well as professionals with experience in the field. 

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New NIH study sheds light on mysterious ‘Havana Syndrome’: Victims’ symptoms are ‘real’ and ‘quite profound’ – but injuries don’t show up on MRI much like a ‘mini stroke,’ one Pentagon medical consultant tells DailyMail.com

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A new government study tracking over 80 self-reported victims of ‘Havana Syndrome’ found no signs of brain injury — despite also identifying ‘real symptoms’ of the mystery ailment that researchers called ‘quite profound’ and ‘disabling.’

Persistent dizziness and balance issues were among those real symptoms for 28 percent of the embassy officials and other patients studied, according to the report.

But one Georgetown neurologist, who conducted early research into the syndrome for the Pentagon’s Special Operations Command, tells DailyMail.com their findings risk creating ‘a false conclusion that nothing happened to these people’s brains.’

His critiques add alarming corroboration to past anonymous accounts from a former US intelligence community PhD who told DailyMail.com last year, ‘We know that the Soviets had sonic weapons.’ 

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‘Anyone in the intelligence community will tell you the US has had these kinds of energy weapons for a while,’ that anonymous intel agency PhD said last March.

After US officials and embassy staff reported hundreds of cases in nearly 70 countries, new reports of Havana syndrome declined sharply starting in early 2022. But the mystery of what caused the ailments and the alarm remains. (Above a timeline map of key incidents)

After US officials and embassy staff reported hundreds of cases in nearly 70 countries, new reports of Havana syndrome declined sharply starting in early 2022. But the mystery of what caused the ailments and the alarm remains. (Above a timeline map of key incidents)

After US officials and embassy staff reported hundreds of cases in nearly 70 countries, new reports of Havana syndrome declined sharply starting in early 2022. But the mystery of what caused the ailments and the alarm remains. (Above a timeline map of key incidents)

Above, an August 5, 2021 motorcade passes the US embassy in Havana as part of a protest demanding an end to the six-decade US economic embargo of Cuba

Above, an August 5, 2021 motorcade passes the US embassy in Havana as part of a protest demanding an end to the six-decade US economic embargo of Cuba

Above, an August 5, 2021 motorcade passes the US embassy in Havana as part of a protest demanding an end to the six-decade US economic embargo of Cuba

Dr. James Giordano, who teaches neurology at the Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington DC, was more cautious about the syndrome’s exact cause.  

‘Let’s not call it a weapon,’ Dr. Giordano told DailyMail.com.

‘One of the considerations, here, was that if, in fact, these individuals were exposed to some form of electromagnetic and/or acoustic stimulus,’ Dr. Giordano explained, ‘the nature of the damage would be functional, rather than structural.’  

He described the new study as consistent with his own 2017 and 2018 analysis of Havana Syndrome patients for US Special Operations Command, which found lasting problems in patients’ brain function but not to their brain structure — consequences similar to so-called ‘mini-strokes’ or transient ischemic attack cases.

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In a statement one year ago this March, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines  said the 'symptoms reported by US personnel were probably the result of factors that did not involve a foreign adversary, such as preexisting conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors'

In a statement one year ago this March, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines  said the 'symptoms reported by US personnel were probably the result of factors that did not involve a foreign adversary, such as preexisting conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors'

In a statement one year ago this March, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines  said the ‘symptoms reported by US personnel were probably the result of factors that did not involve a foreign adversary, such as preexisting conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors’

‘Let me be very definitive, we’re not talking about a functional neurological disorder, which is a psychosomatic disorder,’ Dr. Giordano told DailyMail.com.

‘We’re talking about a disruption of neurological function, that then created a host of effects, including downstream physiological effects that manifested themselves cognitively, motorically, and behaviorally.’

Unlike the ‘mass hysteria’ explanation that has plagued the State Department’s self-reported victims of Havana Syndrome, the neurologist likened the findings to a variety of other long-term brain conditions where physical evidence of the damage quickly dissipates.   

‘Sometimes when there’s a mini stroke,’ Dr. Giordano said, ‘it very often does not produce what is a structurally evident artifact [in the brain] that is durable.’ 

‘You may see some initial changes during the TIA [transient ischemic attack] in evolution,’ he added, ‘but with time those are resolved.’

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Cases of ‘decompression sickness,’ or the bends, he noted, have also manifested like mini-strokes or Havana syndrome, delivering long-lasting impairments to brain function that were not paired with visible forms of lasting brain damage. 

The new study, published today by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), performed MRI scans on 81 out of 86 State Dept employees and their adult family members who reported ‘anomalous health incidents (AHIs).’

The research team, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Maryland, weighed the results of these MRIs against the MRIs of 48 control participants.

Above, a now public directed-energy weapon, an Active Denial System from the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate in April 2017. The device was on display before a 'counter-personnel' demo during Weapons and Tactics Instructor course (WTI) 2-17 at Site 50 in Arizona

Above, a now public directed-energy weapon, an Active Denial System from the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate in April 2017. The device was on display before a 'counter-personnel' demo during Weapons and Tactics Instructor course (WTI) 2-17 at Site 50 in Arizona

Above, a now public directed-energy weapon, an Active Denial System from the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate. The device was on display in 2017 before a ‘counter-personnel’ demo during Weapons and Tactics Instructor course 2-17 at Site 50, Wellton, Arizona

Above, a now-deleted page on the Navy's website discloses a project with the codename Medusa, a prototype of a microwave weapon made for the Marine Corps in 2004 which had a 'temporarily incapacitating effect' and was small enough to fit in a car

Above, a now-deleted page on the Navy's website discloses a project with the codename Medusa, a prototype of a microwave weapon made for the Marine Corps in 2004 which had a 'temporarily incapacitating effect' and was small enough to fit in a car

Above, a now-deleted page on the Navy’s website discloses a project with the codename Medusa, a prototype of a microwave weapon made for the Marine Corps in 2004 which had a ‘temporarily incapacitating effect’ and was small enough to fit in a car

While the NIH team could not rule out a temporary injury, of the kind Dr. Giordano described, they nevertheless came up with ‘a lack of evidence for an MRI-detectable difference between individuals with AHIs and controls,’ NIH’s Dr. Leighton Chan said.

But 24 of those ‘Havana syndrome’ patients (28 percent) did show testable signs of a condition called ‘persistent postural-perceptual dizziness’ (PPPD).

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PPPD, which can be brought on by inner-ear problems or stress, occurs when brain networks fail to communicate properly, a functional problem that occurs without permanent signs of brain injury.

Neuropsychologist Dr. Louis French, a co-author on the new NIH study who treats Havana syndrome patients at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, described the phenomena as a form of ‘maladaptive response.’ 

He compared it to patients who have developed a slouch to alleviate their back pain, who then persist in having problems with their posture after that pain is corrected.

Dr. French said he hoped their findings offer ‘some reassurance for patients.’

‘It allows us to focus on the here and now,’ he explained, ‘getting people back to where they should be.’

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In June 2023, the State Department became sufficiently convinced of the reality of Havana syndrome (whatever the cause), that six-figure payments to victims, roughly between $100,000 and $200,000, were being prepared for embassy personnel. 

The specific amounts, according to the Associated Press, were scaled to the extent and severity of the victims’ injuries, ‘which have included brain damage not limited to vertigo, cognitive damage, eyesight and hearing problems.’

Despite the lack of visible scarring seen in their MRI tests, the NIH doctors behind the new study voiced sympathy for the afflicted diplomats and the legitimacy of their health complaints. 

‘These individuals have real symptoms and are going through a very tough time,’ Dr. Chan, NIH’s chief of rehabilitation medicine and the study’s lead author, noted. 

‘They can be quite profound, disabling and difficult to treat.’

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In a critical op-ed that was published by JAMA alongside the new study, Stanford microbiologist Dr. David Relman, expressed fears that NIH’s methods were ‘diluting important ‘signals” by lumping alleged victims and real victims into the same pool.

Dr. Relman, who aided in two past government investigations into the Havana Syndrome mysteries, wrote that those signals might have been found if more ‘discrete clusters’ or subsets of the patients had been studied separately. 

But the Stanford medical researcher also felt there were other issues, including forensic evidence lost to the passage of time.   

‘As a general problem, clinicians lack generic, noninvasive, and sensitive methods for measuring brain function at the level of molecules, cells, and pathways,’ he noted. 

The new NIH study, he wrote, depended on a few key pieces of evidence in blood samples which have been used in the past to detect signs of traumatic brain injury, but will disappear over time: glial fibrillary acidic protein and neurofilament light.

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‘Even if one assumes the relevance of traumatic brain injury to AHIs,’ Dr. Relman wrote in his op-ed, ‘it is known that blood levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein and neurofilament light increase within hours of mild traumatic brain injury, peak after about 24 hours, and return to baseline 3 to 7 days later.’

'There's no environmental cause that causes the body damage that I saw,' an anonymous PhD source told DailyMail.com last year. 'I don't know how you create damage inside of a body, like what was seen, that comes on all of a sudden, and could be called

'There's no environmental cause that causes the body damage that I saw,' an anonymous PhD source told DailyMail.com last year. 'I don't know how you create damage inside of a body, like what was seen, that comes on all of a sudden, and could be called

‘There’s no environmental cause that causes the body damage that I saw,’ an anonymous PhD source told DailyMail.com last year. ‘I don’t know how you create damage inside of a body, like what was seen, that comes on all of a sudden, and could be called “pre-existing conditions”‘

Georgetown’s Dr. James Giordano, who also serves as the executive director of the Institute for Biodefense Research, told DailyMail.com: ‘I agree with that editorial.’

‘Something I’ve said all along is you don’t want to conflate those key cases in Havana with those subsequent cases,’ Dr. Giordano said, ‘because they may not necessarily be the same thing. And in some cases, they’re quite different.’

‘Our paper that came out from the Strategic Multilayer Assessment [SAM] group at the Pentagon,’ the neurologist said, ‘was explicit that one thing you should not do is conflate the actual group in Havana with those other reports.’

Dr. Giordano said that these SAM conclusions, from reports filed in February and May 2021, would naturally also apply to any later AHI cases that went into the ‘verification pipeline’ more recently. 

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What is ‘Havana Syndrome’? The mysterious illness that started in the US embassy in Cuba and causes memory and hearing loss  

The problem has been labeled the ‘Havana Syndrome,’ because the first cases affected personnel in 2016 at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba. 

At least 200 cases across the government are now under investigation. 

People who are believed to have been affected have reported headaches, dizziness and symptoms consistent with concussions, with some requiring months of medical treatment. Some have reported hearing a loud noise before the sudden onset of symptoms. 

Countries its been reported in: Cuba, United States, China, Russia, Vietnam, Austria, Germany, Serbia, United Kingdom, Georgia, Poland, Taiwan, Australia, Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan 

Symptoms include:

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-hearing loss

-severe headaches

-memory issues 

-dizziness 

-brain injury  

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Bank of Japan ends negative interest rates, opting for first hike in 17 years

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The Bank of Japan ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy on Tuesday, making a historic shift away from a focus of reflating growth with decades of massive monetary stimulus.

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While the move will be Japan’s first interest rate hike in 17 years, it still keeps rates stuck around zero as a fragile economic recovery forces the central bank to go slow in any further rise in borrowing costs, analysts say.

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The shift makes Japan the last central bank to exit negative rates and ends an era in which policymakers around the world sought to prop up growth through cheap money and unconventional monetary tools.

In a widely expected decision, the BOJ ditched a policy put in place since 2016 that applied a 0.1% charge on some excess reserves financial institutions parked with the central bank.

The BOJ set the overnight call rate as its new policy rate and decided to guide it in a range of 0-0.1% partly by paying 0.1% interest to deposits at the central bank.

“This would be the first rate hike in 17 years, so it has a lot of symbolic significance,” Izumi Devalier, head of Japan economics at BofA Securities, said prior to the BOJ’s policy decision.

“But the actual impact on the economy is very small,” she said, noting the BOJ will likely maintain its resolve to keep monetary conditions loose. “We would not expect a substantial rise in funding costs or households mortgage rates.”

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The central bank also abandoned yield curve control (YCC), a policy that had been in place since 2016 that capped long-term interest rates around zero.

But in a statement announcing the decision, the BOJ said it will keep buying “broadly the same amount” of government bonds as before and ramp up purchases in case yields rise rapidly.

The BOJ additionally decided to discontinue purchases of risky assets like exchange-traded funds (ETF) and Japanese real estate investment trusts.

With inflation having exceeded the BOJ’s 2% target for well over a year, many market players had projected an end to negative interest rates either in March or April.

Markets are now focusing on Governor Kazuo Ueda’s post-meeting news conference for clues on the pace of further rate hikes.

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The stakes are high. A spike in bond yields would boost the cost of funding Japan’s huge public debt which, at twice the size of its economy, is the largest among advanced economies.

An end to the world’s last remaining provider of cheap funds could also jolt global financial markets as Japanese investors, who amassed overseas investments in search of yields, shift money back to their home country.

Under previous Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, the BOJ deployed a huge asset-buying programme in 2013, originally aimed at firing up inflation to a 2% target within roughly two years.

The central bank introduced negative rates and YCC in 2016 as tepid inflation forced it to tweak its stimulus programme to a more sustainable one.

As the yen’s sharp falls pushed up the cost of imports and heightened public criticism over the demerits of Japan’s ultra-low interest rates, however, the BOJ last year tweaked YCC to relax its grip on long-term rates.

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(REUTERS)

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‘We’re not caped crusaders’: Meet the scambaiters beating fraudsters at their own game

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In a car park somewhere on the rugged Cornish coast, a Ghanian scammer stands shivering and confused. He has been sent here to collect the payment for 10kg of non-existent gold promised to the victim of one of his scams. 

The fraudster is expecting to get £234,000 in cash. It’s a massive sum, by far outweighing the costs of the 6,000 mile round trip from the Ghanian capital, Accra.

The problem is that he has been waiting for longer than he’d like, and there is still no sign of the money. In fact, his victim hasn’t even shown up.

Hidden in a car nearby, a man congratulates himself on a job well done: another scammer taken on a so-called ‘safari’, and with photos to prove it.

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In the shadows: Hidden in his car, one scambaiter captures the evidence of his 'safari'

In the shadows: Hidden in his car, one scambaiter captures the evidence of his 'safari'

In the shadows: Hidden in his car, one scambaiter captures the evidence of his ‘safari’

‘That was great fun…that cost them a few thousand dollars to organise,’ the mastermind told This is Money.

The man in question is a scambaiter, someone who manipulates fraudsters into wasting their time or money.

The scambaiting community is understandably secretive, and one of its most famous members will only speak to This is Money using the alias of Mr Pricky. 

Mr Pricky runs a YouTube channel, ScamBait Central, on which he shares videos of his attempts to take scammers for a ride.

‘We’re not really caped crusaders,’ Mr Pricky insists, ‘We dislike scammers, we loathe them and we loathe what they do to ordinary people in society.

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‘I can’t say that we do it purely to do good. We do it because we have a lot of fun. It can be very satisfying.’

Wild goose chase: Mr Pricky led this scammer 3,000 miles from his home in Ghana

Wild goose chase: Mr Pricky led this scammer 3,000 miles from his home in Ghana

Wild goose chase: Mr Pricky led this scammer 3,000 miles from his home in Ghana

According to the scambaiter, they do their best to occupy as much of a scammer’s time as possible: ‘It could be days. It could be weeks, months, even years. Some scambaiters have had scammers on the hook for five, even as much as 10 years,’ he said.

‘It can be quite cathartic, but also it helps to keep them away from real prospective victims,’ he added.

However, the business of scambaiting is not just about having a laugh, and the consequences of being careless could be serious.

‘The criminals we bait can be very dangerous and violent, and some of them are murderous, he said. ‘I get death threats often, and some of them I take seriously.’

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Because of this, he doesn’t talk about his scambaiting, even to friends or family.

‘Very few people actually know about it, but I’m a very private person, because I was with the with the Ministry of Defence for over 20 years, and I’ve been a Samaritan for 34 years,’ he said. ‘So confidentiality and keeping my mouth shut has been the cornerstone of most of my adult life.’

The only one who does know? ‘My accountant’, came the reply.

On top of being careful, Mr Pricky says that his scambaiter community follows a strict set of guidelines.

His community rules include that scambaiters should not ‘burn’ the scammers by giving away that they are being duped. They should also never involve innocent third parties.

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The scambaiter added: ‘We discovered very early on in our community, which was formed in 2003, that [burning them] educated scammers, and they learned from the mistakes that we were gleefully pointing out.’

‘They became better scammers and more likely to rob your grandparents blind the next time round.’

His group also avoid taking scammers’ money, never send any them copies of IDs and never report their email addresses.

‘The scammer will open a new email account within three minutes and start scamming again,’ he said, ‘but because they’re using a new address, the address that they were using before that we’ve posted on a scam warning site is now redundant.’

In harm’s way: Mr Pricky lured a scammer from London to Cornwall on his latest of more than eighty ‘safaris’

Another scambaiter, SkeletonSyskey, is clear on what drives him.

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‘My motivation was to find who these people are and see what I can do to stop them,’ he told This is Money.

‘I want to do this, I’ve got to do this as much as I can,’ he said, ‘I have more drive for this than I do for my actual work.

‘I do put in many hours each week, in a way it is more than a job. In the past when I have had jobs, I’ve been the kind of person to do 9 to 5, get paid and then I just separate myself from my work when I get home. I don’t tend to talk shop.

‘With this it is different.’

 There are people in scambaiting I’ve known for over a decade, and I don’t even know their first name

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When he first started, SkeletonSyskey was acting as a carer for his father, who has Alzheimer’s, so he found that he had free time to focus on scambaiting.

‘Since then, the channel has become quite a bit bigger, and I’ve found that I now have to dedicate a lot of time to this,’ he said.

‘My father is now in a care home and being looked after, freeing up more time to do this, but I also have to do my normal job.’

The scambaiter has more than 15,000 subscribers on YouTube.

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SkeletonSyskey began by reporting the scammers he uncovered to Action Fraud, finding the name of the company that was trying to scam him.

‘My plan at the start was to find out who these companies were and report them,’ he said. ‘In the beginning I would report them straight away to Action Fraud.’

Dogged pursuit: SkeletonSyskey protects his identity in his online videos, instead appearing  as an animated Shiba Inu dog

Dogged pursuit: SkeletonSyskey protects his identity in his online videos, instead appearing  as an animated Shiba Inu dog

Dogged pursuit: SkeletonSyskey protects his identity in his online videos, instead appearing  as an animated Shiba Inu dog 

‘I provided the phone call as evidence, but I heard nothing back from Action Fraud. A few years later another scambaiter ended up doing a video on the exact same company, and I realised that company was still active.’

The lack of action by the authorities was frustrating, he said. ‘I found that it is better to speak to other scambaiters to get more information on them and then try to get them shut down,’ he added.

They may not consider themselves caped crusaders, but there is something superhero-esque about scambaiters’ double lives – perhaps their hidden identities and their altruistic desire to help others by distracting scammers.

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But being a scambaiter also comes at a price, as it requires individuals to hide their real details at all costs.

cost of living

Unsurprisingly, SkeletonSyskey’s exploits go unnoticed by those around him, hidden behind his digital likeness in the form of a Shiba Inu dog.

‘It’s a fine balance,’ he said, ‘I have learned to separate what I do here on YouTube to what I am up to in real life.

‘Only my brother knows, to be honest. The only reason he knows is that he walked in once while I was speaking to scammers on the phone.

‘It doesn’t feel like I’m hiding it, but I don’t talk about it with friends and family, there are always other things to talk about. I’m always busy living a normal life.’

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‘There are people in scambaiting I’ve known for over a decade, and I don’t even know their first name,’ Mr Pricky told me. ‘I don’t know what they do for a living. I don’t know about their familial backgrounds.

‘We are very secretive.’

How to avoid losing out to scammers 

What do scammers look for in a victim?

When looking for a potential victim, scammers tick off a mental checklist. If you fall under one these categories then they might class you as having a vulnerability they can exploit.

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Scammers tend to target the isolated, such as people who don’t have close family that will talk them out of going along with something.

On top of this, the ideal target may be retired and in possession of considerable savings, and likely single, a widow or a widower, meaning that they could be a potential victim of a romance scam.

Unscrupulous as they are, scammers will also target the desperate and needy, SkeletonSyskey said.

Scammers impersonating a legitimate company often become angry if you try to hang up

Scammers impersonating a legitimate company often become angry if you try to hang up

Scammers impersonating a legitimate company often become angry if you try to hang up

‘As soon as they call someone, if they can hear that it is an elderly person, or someone who doesn’t seem like they know a lot about computers, that is the first point they think that they might be able to make some money,’ he said.

Mr Pricky added: ‘The scammers will then offer them all sorts of schemes, with a small amount of money to be sent, and then it’s a bit like gambling. You put some money in a fruit machine and you don’t win, you think “Well, I’ve lost some money now, but if I put a few more coins in, I might get that back”.

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‘They’ll often start very low. They might ask for just £40 or £50, but they know once you’ve sent that, and they come up with a good excuse for why you haven’t got your fortune yet, you’ll send a bit more.’

What are the red flags you should look out for?

‘If somebody promises you millions online, it’s a scam. It is as black and white as that. Just forget it,’ Mr Pricky said.

With the 419 scams that he engages with, the instant giveaway is that a scammer will promise you a fortune, and then tell you that you need to send them money in advance in order to secure it.

 If the scammers are hysterical, then it isn’t legitimate – you can tell if a company is legitimate by the way they deal with you on the phone

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Often, these scams come in the form of an elaborate backstory designed to throw you off guard, such as that you have a relative who has died abroad and you are a beneficiary, or you have won the lottery.

‘The types of scam are limited only by the ingenuity of the scammers themselves,’ he said.

The most obvious sign of a scam, SkeletonSyskey said, is simple spelling mistakes in an email, or strangely constructed sentences.

What options are open to you if you think you are being scammed?

Despite all your caution, you might find yourself in the midst of what you think is a scam, having brushed off any early warning signs.

But it isn’t too late to stop the scammer before they get a hold of your hard-earned cash.

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According to SkeletonSyskey, if you have given a scammer access to your PC, then your first course of action should be to turn off any internet connection, before uninstalling any remote access software that they have asked you to download.

If you are on the phone to a scammer, however, the key is to stay calm. If you aren’t sure if the call is legitimate, tell them you are going to hang up and will call them back.

Trying to keep you on the hook, a scammer will likely become frantic.

‘If it is a scammer on the line, they’ll say: “no no no, we have to do this now, we have to stop the hackers”,’ SkeletonSyskey says, ‘A legitimate company will say: “that’s fine, take your time and call us back when you are ready”.

‘If the scammers are hysterical, then it isn’t legitimate – you can tell if a company is legitimate by the way they deal with you on the phone.’

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Once you have hung up, it is best to find an official number from the website of the company that the scammer says they are from and call back using that.

Mr Pricky added that there are ways you can protect others from facing the same fate.

He said: ‘If they’re in your social media accounts, block them and tell your friends about them, because they will also have befriended some of your friends. They’re always looking for new marks. Get them out of your life.’

The details of the scam can also be added to scam warning sites such as the fraudfighters.online forum. This can prevent others from falling for the scam in future if they search for a scammer’s email address or phone number online.

Unfortunately, Mr Pricky said that ‘if you sent money, then you’ve almost invariably lost it.’

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Scammers use money transfer services like Western Union to transfer funds across the world, meaning that there is little that can be done if your money has made it to Africa or Asia.

Still, he suggests reporting it to your bank, through which you might be able to recover your funds.

How can you avoid falling for a scam?

‘The most common mistake is to reply to their email or their social media message,’ Mr Pricky said.

SkeletonSyskey agrees. He said: The most common mistake is not taking the time to read most of the information you have. With emails, they will see an image for an invoice from a company like Amazon and just click it. Then it all begins.’

The best advice, in fact, is to reduce your attractiveness as a target.

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Mobile phones are often overlooked as a window to fraud, SkeletonSyskey said, with the devices now offering scammers access to banking apps, social media and two-factor authentication.

‘There are so many people that don’t even think about what can happen through your phone,’ he said. ‘They don’t realise how easy it will be to work out where they live, who their relatives are. It is rare you see someone install anti-virus software on a phone.’

‘As a general principle, one should be very careful about how one leaves one’s footprint online,’ Mr Pricky echoed.

‘Your social media account, particularly Facebook should be locked down so that only friends can see what you’ve got in there… [scammers] can go right through Facebook accounts. I get victims contacting me through my Facebook page, I look at their Facebook accounts and I can see everything.’

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Biden summons Israeli team to DC to discuss how to avoid Rafah assault

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Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.

The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. 

Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.

In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN’s counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies. 

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For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.

(FRANCE 24 with AP) 

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Glitz ahoy! Posh hotels are muscling in on the cruise market with super-yachts offering exclusive 5-star luxury – perfect if you’re willing to pay £88,000 for a week on the high seas

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Cruising is the fastest growing sector of the travel industry, so perhaps it’s no wonder that some of the world’s most exclusive hotel groups are gunning for a piece of the action. For decades they have had to watch their high-net-worth clientele occasionally disappear over the horizon aboard five-star boutique ships.

But with big money behind them, Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Orient Express and Aman are sailing fast into the ultra-luxury cruise market, launching a fleet of super-yachts laden with champers, caviar and the promise of adventures to some of the most remote regions of the world.

Until recently, luxury boutique cruise lines such as Crystal, Silversea, Seabourn, Ponant and Regent Seven Seas have had this lucrative market almost to themselves, with wealthy guests sailing in an all-inclusive cocoon of opulence, enjoying butler service, fine dining and private access excursions – all at about £500-£1,000 per person per night.

But the swanky hotel groups are already demanding far higher fares, with offerings such as sophisticated suites that echo their brands’ signature styling and invitation-only exclusive sailings. 

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Edwina Lonsdale, managing director of luxury cruise agency Mundy Cruising, says: ‘This will bring greater competition to attract high-spending customers and introduce a huge number of new guests into the market. But will the hotel super-yachts create the same ambience and club atmosphere?’

RITZ-CARLTON 

Going out in style: Some of the world's most exclusive hotel groups have been expanding into the ultra-luxury cruise market. Above is Evrima, Ritz-Carlton's new yacht

Going out in style: Some of the world's most exclusive hotel groups have been expanding into the ultra-luxury cruise market. Above is Evrima, Ritz-Carlton's new yacht

Going out in style: Some of the world’s most exclusive hotel groups have been expanding into the ultra-luxury cruise market. Above is Evrima, Ritz-Carlton’s new yacht 

Sleek 298-guest super-yacht Evrima launched last summer and will be joined by Ilma in July and Luminara in autumn 2025.

Five restaurants, a spa, two infinity pools, a water sports marina, personal concierge, impressive art on the walls and a shop selling Cartier watches and Hermes Birkin handbags all add to the exclusivity. 

Suites are generously proportioned in sophisticated boutique hotel style.

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Evrima welcomed its first guests last summer. Pictured, the bedroom inside the vessel's 'grand suite'

Evrima welcomed its first guests last summer. Pictured, the bedroom inside the vessel's 'grand suite'

Evrima welcomed its first guests last summer. Pictured, the bedroom inside the vessel’s ‘grand suite’

Although Evrima is all-inclusive, there is one restaurant where guests have to pay, splashing out more than £300pp at three-star Michelin chef Sven Elverfeld’s speciality restaurant, S.E.A.

So far, 75 per cent of Evrima’s passengers are Ritz-Carlton loyalty-card members and about half are new to cruising. The first guests – by invitation only and mainly in their early 50s (lowering the traditional cruise market’s average age of 57) – tended to use their loyalty points but earn some back, sailing to trendy ports including Mykonos, Saint-Tropez and St Barts.

As well as the convenience of booking pre- and post-cruise stays at Ritz-Carlton hotels, guests can also spend a shore day at the group’s beachside resorts when their super-yachts sail in to ports such as St Kitts in the Caribbean.

Book it: Eight-day round-trip from San Juan, Puerto Rico, departs March 16 with calls in the Caribbean including St Barts and Jost Van Dyke, from £5,660pp (ritzcarltonyachtcollection.com).

FOUR SEASONS 

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The first yacht by Four Seasons (pictured) will make its debut voyage in autumn 2025

The first yacht by Four Seasons (pictured) will make its debut voyage in autumn 2025

The first yacht by Four Seasons (pictured) will make its debut voyage in autumn 2025 

To create Four Seasons’ first yacht, designers have been instructed to combine the style of elegant yacht Christina O – once owned by Jackie Kennedy’s second husband, the billionaire Greek ship owner Aristotle Onassis – with the technology of a James Bond movie.

The ship, which is still being built and is so far unnamed, will have 95 suites and 11 bars and restaurants, plus a full spa.

The four-level 9,601 sq ft Funnel Suite will even have a private spa and wading pool, plus a 280-degree panoramic view through the largest single pane of glass ever seen at sea.

Four Seasons’ new yacht will have 95 suites and 11 bars and restaurants, plus a full spa

Four Seasons’ new yacht will have 95 suites and 11 bars and restaurants, plus a full spa

Four Seasons’ new yacht will have 95 suites and 11 bars and restaurants, plus a full spa

The yacht will sail to a whopping 130 destinations across the Mediterranean and Caribbean. Announcing the 190-passenger vessel’s entry into the cruise market at the Monaco Yacht Show, Four Seasons offered invitation-only bookings with an £8,000pp deposit on sailings due to start in autumn 2025.

According to a Four Seasons spokesman, this sales model ‘is a way to navigate the demand when you have an exclusive product with limited supply’.

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Book it: Register your interest on the Four Seasons website and expect fares to start at about £2,000-£2,750pp per night (fourseasonsyachts.com).

ACCOR 

Above is the Orient Express Silenseas, a 722 ft vessel that's inspired by the Golden Age of travel

Above is the Orient Express Silenseas, a 722 ft vessel that's inspired by the Golden Age of travel

Above is the Orient Express Silenseas, a 722 ft vessel that’s inspired by the Golden Age of travel

Hospitality giant Accor has announced two super-yachts for its historic brand, Orient Express, which are due to debut in 2026 and 2027.

A spokesman – aggressively highlighting the competition for guests at this ultra-luxury level while proving that money is not an issue – claims that ‘the vessels will be more exclusive than Ritz-Carlton’s Evrima and command double the rates’.

The first, 722 ft Orient Express Silenseas, will be the largest sail-powered ship ever built, with three rigid sails and tilting masts, though it can use liquefied natural gas (LNG) when needed.

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Architect Maxime d’Angeac’s interior decor will echo the Golden Age of travel – an era when princesses and film stars graced the French Riviera – and feature a private recording studio with sound engineer and two pools, including a lap pool.

Book it: Reservations will open later this year (accorhotels.com).

AMAN

 

Aman Resorts offers sailings on twin-masted yacht Amandira (pictured), where 14 crew take care of a maximum of ten guests

Aman Resorts offers sailings on twin-masted yacht Amandira (pictured), where 14 crew take care of a maximum of ten guests

Aman Resorts offers sailings on twin-masted yacht Amandira (pictured), where 14 crew take care of a maximum of ten guests

With some of the most exclusive hotels on the planet – mostly intimate retreats with fewer than 30 rooms – Aman Resorts already offers sailings on twin-masted yacht Amandira, where 14 crew take care of a maximum of ten guests.

And now Aman has entered a joint venture with Cruise Saudi, owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, to add a 600 ft motor yacht to its fleet in 2027.

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This all-balcony, 47-suite vessel is yet to be named but will feature two helipads, a spa with Japanese garden and a marina platform for access to water sports.

Seven-day charters on Amandira cost from £88,000

Seven-day charters on Amandira cost from £88,000
Amandira explores the islands of Indonesia’s Flores Sea (pictured)

Amandira explores the islands of Indonesia’s Flores Sea (pictured)

Seven-day charters on Amandira cost from £88,000. The ship explores the islands of Indonesia’s Flores Sea, pictured right

Itineraries have not yet been released, although guests can expect sailings to locations away from crowds.

Amandira already explores the islands of Indonesia’s Flores Sea, including the Unesco-protected Komodo National Park, with a dive master leading expeditions to coral reefs around Raja Ampat, an archipelago comprising 1,500 small islands and crystal clear waters.

Book it: Seven-day charters on Amandira cost from £88,000, (aman.com) or register for the new yacht at aman.com/yachts.

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Why going into hospital can be VERY bad for your health

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Janet Allen is not one to let old age define her, according to her family. Until just over a year ago, the 85-year-old widow, who previously worked in admin, was living independently, walking a friend’s dog several times a week and relishing frequent visits from her four great-grandchildren.

But all that changed in January 2023 after Janet, who lives in Banstead, Surrey, fell from her bed and shattered her right hip.

It led to a chain of events that has left her frail, infirm and confined to a care home — unable to enjoy the freedom and independence she once thrived on.

Janet Allen, pictured with her grandson Jefferson, shattered her hip when she tried to climb out of her bed at Kingston Hospital

Janet Allen, pictured with her grandson Jefferson, shattered her hip when she tried to climb out of her bed at Kingston Hospital

Janet Allen, pictured with her grandson Jefferson, shattered her hip when she tried to climb out of her bed at Kingston Hospital 

It’s an unfortunate tale, certainly — but what makes Janet’s story so concerning is that the fall happened in hospital — the one place any vulnerable person should expect to feel safe and looked after.

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Janet had been admitted to Kingston Hospital, Surrey, with a chest infection triggered by a severe bout of flu. As well as suffering a fever and breathlessness, she was experiencing dizziness and confusion (a common effect of infection in older people).

Having had a fall at home a few days earlier — which had left her bruised but thankfully not seriously injured — Janet was at high risk of another tumble.

As such, on arrival in an ambulance at A&E, she should have been given a falls risk assessment, to establish how likely it was she could suffer another collapse that might leave her with a fracture.

This is standard NHS protocol for any patient who is frail or unsteady; if someone is judged to be high risk, based on this assessment, they should receive round-the-clock supervision to prevent accidents happening, because a fracture could be life-changing.

In most cases, this will involve one nurse constantly monitoring up to six at-risk patients at a time — often in bays near the nursing station.

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But, as Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust later admitted in a written apology to the family, staff failed to complete the assessment properly and had left Janet unsupervised for long periods of time.

‘Mum was always capable of caring for herself and living an independent life before this happened,’ says her daughter Jackie Batts, 58, a former hairdresser from Sutton, Surrey.

‘But she’s never been able to go back home since, and that has been absolutely crushing for her.’

Yet, sadly, Janet’s experience is far from unusual.

NHS England data reveals 250,000 patients a year in England and Wales suffer potentially dangerous falls while in hospital for treatment

NHS England data reveals 250,000 patients a year in England and Wales suffer potentially dangerous falls while in hospital for treatment

NHS England data reveals 250,000 patients a year in England and Wales suffer potentially dangerous falls while in hospital for treatment

In fact, every year 250,000 NHS patients in England and Wales alone suffer potentially dangerous falls while in hospital for treatment, according to NHS England data. Around 100,000 are left with bruises, grazes and lacerations, while 2,000 or so fracture a hip. An estimated 130 a year die from their injuries.

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The annual bill for treating in-hospital injuries from falls is a staggering £630 million.

Falls represent the greatest threat to in-patient safety, mainly because a large proportion of hospital patients are elderly and fit into the at-risk group. But they are not the only danger patients of all ages face in hospital.

Last week, a coroner’s inquest heard how two patients at Manchester Royal Infirmary died after being served chicken mayonnaise sandwiches infected with the bug listeria.

The deaths of former nurse Beverley Sowah, 57, and retired pharmacy assistant Enid Heap, 84, were caused by meat which, it later transpired, had been past its use-by date.

Some patients have died after becoming trapped in their hospital beds — last September, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued an alert over the number of such accidents.

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Between January 2018 and December 2022, the MHRA received reports of 18 deaths and 54 cases of serious injuries involving beds, rails, trolleys and grab handles, often due to worn or broken parts giving way.

Several deaths were due to unsupervised patients becoming caught up in gaps in the bed, or in the rails that had been meant to protect them.

One patient died of asphyxiation after getting his head trapped in the gap between the bed rail and the headboard.

In another tragic case, a young child died after their head got stuck between the bars of a hospital bed rail — no one had carried out a risk assessment to see if this was a hazard.

Jackie Batts, Janet's daughter, and her family are now pursuing possible legal action against Kingston Hospital

Jackie Batts, Janet's daughter, and her family are now pursuing possible legal action against Kingston Hospital

Jackie Batts, Janet’s daughter, and her family are now pursuing possible legal action against Kingston Hospital

‘The gap between the horizontal bars was too large and the child slipped between them and asphyxiated as a result of head entrapment,’ said the MHRA.

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These tragedies may seem rare — but, in fact, they could be more likely than other, more common fears, with research suggesting the chances of dying from medical error — of any kind — is 33,000 times greater than dying in a plane crash.

Latest figures from the National Reporting and Learning System, a database of patient safety incidents across the whole NHS, show that in England between April 2021 and March 2022 there were 1.65 million cases of patients being put in harm’s way as a result of NHS blunders — and the problem is getting worse, with the number of cases up by 8 per cent on the year before. More than 70,000 cases led to moderate-to-severe injury and, in nearly 6,000 cases, the patient died.

These figures cover everything from medication errors and delays in treatment to misdiagnosis and accidents in hospital, but the majority are due to falls.

‘Most of these incidents are entirely preventable,’ says Paul Whiteing, chief executive of the charity Action Against Medical Accidents. ‘It’s a major concern to us that they happen.’

The causes vary, but staff shortages, lack of time and taking short cuts — with risk assessments simply not being done — are key factors.

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Preventable falls are a major issue. ‘We come across these cases all the time,’ says Kashmir Uppal, a partner at legal firm Shoosmiths in London.

‘A lot of them involve the elderly, as they are most at risk of falls. There’s a straightforward form that should be completed every time an elderly or at-risk patient comes into A&E.

‘Yet too often they don’t bother with the assessment.’

This risk assessment is a tick-box exercise that involves recording information such as a patient’s history of falls, as well as assessing their gait, balance and mobility, and whether poor eyesight puts them at risk of tumbling.

Last year, the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman for England, Rob Behrens, issued a damning report that said the NHS was not taking patient safety seriously enough. ‘We are still seeing too many preventable tragedies,’ Mr Behrens said.

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‘The NHS seems unable to learn from its mistakes, and we see the same repeated failings time and time again.’

He called for a greater emphasis on patient safety, better support for families affected by harm, and improved staffing to reduce the risk of mishaps. He also pointed to ‘a deficit of accountability and compassion’ for patients and their families when things go wrong.

The recent litany of avoidable deaths includes a 78-year-old man who suffered a bleed on the brain after falling from his hospital bed three times. Despite being high-risk, he’d not been properly supervised by staff, and in February last year [2023], NHS Highland in Scotland was fined £180,000 over his death.

In April 2021, Croydon University Hospital was forced to apologise following the death of a vulnerable 84-year-old man who had hit his head in a fall while unsupervised.

George Malcolm Gomez, from South Norwood, London, had been admitted for abdominal pain but fell out of bed because there were not enough nurses to supervise him, an inquest heard.

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Disturbingly, more patients fall from beds fitted with bed rails than those without. These rails can be lifted into a raised position to stop patients accidentally rolling off the bed and injuring themselves.

Yet what happens in many cases is patients scramble over the rails and end up falling from an even greater height — and, tragically, doing even more damage.

As well as a lack of supervision, last year’s MHRA alert highlighted failings in something as simple as maintenance, in relation to worn or broken parts in rails or grab handles, for instance.

‘These should have been replaced during regular servicing which was either not carried out or carried out improperly,’ it said.

In the case of the child who died after their head became lodged between bed rails, the MHRA warned NHS trusts: ‘A risk assessment should always be carried out on the suitability of the bed rail for the individual child or adult, as gaps will need to be reduced. All gaps between bars should be a maximum of 60mm.’

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Janet Allen’s problems began when she fell ill over Christmas in 2022. ‘Mum had developed flu and it turned into a chest infection which gradually made her sicker,’ says Jackie.

On a GP’s advice, Janet was taken to Kingston Hospital by ambulance over the festive period, treated with antibiotics and discharged a few days later.

But her symptoms soon worsened and it became clear the infection had not completely gone; she was readmitted to hospital.

‘This time it was so busy there wasn’t a bed available — she was kept on a trolley for two days,’ says Jackie.

‘She was put in a bay where the staff could supposedly keep an eye on her as she was at a high risk of falling and injuring herself if she got out of bed.

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‘But it later emerged they didn’t do that, and she was left alone much of the time. She became increasingly confused and tried to climb out of bed to find my dad, Eddie, who she’d forgotten had died two years earlier.’

As Janet attempted to climb over the rail, she fell — shattering her right hip.

She underwent an emergency hip replacement two days later, and after three weeks in hospital, she was discharged to a local rehab centre to try to regain movement and strength.

 I know staff were under a lot of pressure and doing their best in difficult circumstances, but no one was observing Mum

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But, weakened and unsteady, Janet suffered another serious fall a few weeks later, breaking her other hip, requiring a second joint replacement.

Suddenly her life of independent living was over and she has since been in a care home.

Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust later issued an apology to Janet’s family and ‘fully acknowledged the areas where our care fell short of what is expected’, admitting staff had failed to carry out a proper falls-risk assessment on Janet or monitor her properly.

It blamed staff shortages, a heavier than normal workload and a Covid outbreak which had stretched its resources — but said it had introduced measures to reduce the danger of other patients suffering a similar fate.

These included kitting all at-risk patients out with yellow socks as a simple way for staff to identify them.

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Jackie says she cannot understand why simple technology — such as alarms that go off when a patient tries to get out of bed — are not routinely used in all hospitals, as they are in many care homes.

She says: ‘I know staff were under a lot of pressure and doing their best in difficult circumstances, but no one was observing Mum.

‘The net result is the NHS has had to spend a great deal more money treating her two hip fractures than it would have cost to staff the hospital properly.’

The NHS says efforts are being made to tackle the burden of accidents in hospitals.

In 2022, it launched an initiative, the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework, designed to place much greater emphasis on learning from mistakes rather than punishing them or ignoring them.

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The framework sets out precisely how NHS trusts should investigate safety incidents and how they should draw up response plans to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen again.

‘It’s too early to say whether it’s working or not,’ says Paul Whiteing from Action Against Medical Accidents.

‘But we have not seen a decline in calls to our helpline as a result of it.

‘We still have people coming to us who are hitting brick walls within NHS Trusts, or raising concerns about safety and being given short shrift.

‘The NHS is made up of hundreds of bodies, so change will take time. But at the moment, the volume of incidents is still significant.’

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Jackie and her family are now pursuing possible legal action against Kingston Hospital.

‘I’m not bashing the NHS,’ she says, ‘but Mum has had to sell her beloved home in order to fund her care, and all her savings have gone.

‘She used to live independently and now is in a home and needs a walking frame to get around — I can’t believe the change in her.’

A spokesman for Kingston Hospital NHS Foundation Trust told Good Health: ‘The incident was investigated fully at the time and an action plan agreed to prevent similar incidents happening in the future. The safety of all our patients continues to be our priority.’

HOW TO STAY SAFE IN HOSPITAL 

Wear rubber-soled slippers or trainers to reduce the risk of slipping or falling.

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If you use a walking aid at home, ask a family member or friend to bring it into hospital for you.

If you’re frail and need help getting around, don’t be afraid to ask staff for assistance.

Make sure you tell the nurses if you have any allergies to certain foods, medicines or materials such as latex (used in disposable gloves).

Check the identification details on your wristband and let staff know as soon as possible if they are wrong; it could stop you being mixed up with another patient and being given the wrong medicines or tests.

Always inform carers about any prescription drugs or vitamins you take and bring them with you, in case they interact with any drugs given in hospital and cause a nasty reaction.

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If you are worried, ask if any of the drugs you are treated with while in hospital are known to cause adverse side-effects.

SOURCE: NHS ENGLAND

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Sydney Swans boss wants the AFL to play THREE grand finals every year – drawing a brutal response from Eddie McGuire

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  • Swans chair says AFL needs more events 
  • Flagged three-game grand final series  
  • McGuire has savaged him in response 

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Eddie McGuire has savaged suggestions the AFL should move to a best-of-three grand final series after Sydney Swans boss Andrew Pridham flagged the idea, calling it a ‘no brainer’.

The Swans chairman claimed the AFL is falling behind the NRL in terms of creating events and said extending the grand final beyond a single game is an opportunity to bring more revenue into the sport. 

‘The big focus should be around creating events. The NRL have effectively got four events with State of Origin and their grand final plus the Vegas experiment,’ he said, referring to the code’s season-opening double header in Sin City.

‘I genuinely think we should have a three-game grand final. I know the AFL don’t like it but it’s a no-brainer. 

Sydney Swans boss Andrew Pridham wants the AFL to adopt a three-game grand final series

Sydney Swans boss Andrew Pridham wants the AFL to adopt a three-game grand final series

Sydney Swans boss Andrew Pridham wants the AFL to adopt a three-game grand final series

The AFL has run a single game grand final series since its inception and is unlikely to change anytime soon

The AFL has run a single game grand final series since its inception and is unlikely to change anytime soon

The AFL has run a single game grand final series since its inception and is unlikely to change anytime soon

Eddie McGuire said a three-game grand final series only made sense 'if you have no brain'

Eddie McGuire said a three-game grand final series only made sense 'if you have no brain'

Eddie McGuire said a three-game grand final series only made sense ‘if you have no brain’

‘There are conflicting reports but the contract is there for the deciding game. Either the grand final is there or the deciding game is there. You could potentially have the first game in Brisbane and the last one at the MCG,’ Pridham continued.

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‘That is potentially three grand finals worth $15m-$20m. That brings a huge amount of revenue into the game and it’s definitely fairer.’

McGuire, the former Collingwood Magpies boss and Footy Show host, was having none of it. 

‘My old mate Andrew Pridham [wants] three Grand Finals. He says, ‘It’s a no-brainer’,’ McGuire said on the Eddie and Jimmy podcast.

‘It is if you have no brain.

‘I went to the basketball on the weekend, which is a [five] game [grand] final series, and five minutes into the last quarter everyone was talking about when players should start being rested and asking when the game will be over rather than it being a Grand Final with a drive to the finish,’ McGuire said.

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‘They can get away with it in basketball because that’s what they do, but could you imagine three AFL grand finals?’

The Sydney Swans and previous identity South Melbourne Football Club have won five premierships, but they have also lost 12 grand finals

The Sydney Swans and previous identity South Melbourne Football Club have won five premierships, but they have also lost 12 grand finals

The Sydney Swans and previous identity South Melbourne Football Club have won five premierships, but they have also lost 12 grand finals

Nothing could split St Kilda and Collingwood in the 2010 grand final, which meant it was replayed. The rules have since been changed to add extra time to grand finals

Nothing could split St Kilda and Collingwood in the 2010 grand final, which meant it was replayed. The rules have since been changed to add extra time to grand finals

Nothing could split St Kilda and Collingwood in the 2010 grand final, which meant it was replayed. The rules have since been changed to add extra time to grand finals

McGuire pointed to the backlash of the replayed grand final in 2010 after Collingwood and St Kilda drew in the first decider.

He said that if fans were going to rally against replayed grand finals, with only three being held in the history of the sport, they were not going to embrace three grand finals every year. 

‘Suddenly, we can’t have a grand final with a replay — for the three times it has happened in 125 years — but we can have three every year?’ he asked.

Three-time premiership winner Jimmy Bartel backed McGuire, saying the quality of football would plummet in a three-game grand final series. 

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‘If you’ve got no concerns for the quality of the product, yeah, play three [Grand Finals],’ he said.

‘[The quality] would be absolutely trash.

‘It’s the most physically but also mentally draining week of your life because it is the biggest moment you’ve built towards and you’ve played the game over in your head a million times.

‘When they win, the players get this adrenaline rush, but if you ask them a couple of days after they are absolutely out on their feet. They’re exhausted, especially the losing team.’

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Trump unable to pay $464m bond in New York fraud case, his lawyers say

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Donald Trump’s lawyers told a New York appellate court Monday that it’s impossible for him to post a bond covering the full amount of a $454 million civil fraud judgment while he appeals, suggesting the former president’s legal losses have put him in a serious cash crunch.

Trump’s lawyers wrote in a court filing that “obtaining an appeal bond in the full amount” of the judgment “is not possible under the circumstances presented.” Trump claimed last year that he has “fairly substantially over $400 million in cash,” but back-to-back courtroom defeats have pushed his legal debt north of a half-billion dollars.

Citing rejections from more than 30 bond underwriters, Trump’s lawyers asked the state’s intermediate appeals court to reverse a prior ruling requiring that he post a bond covering the full amount in order to halt enforcement while he appeals the judgment in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit.

Trump’s financial constraints are being laid bare as he appeals Judge Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 16 ruling that he and his co-defendants schemed for years to deceive banks and insurers by inflating his wealth on financial statements used to secure loans and make deals.

If the appeals court does not intervene, James can seek to enforce the judgment starting March 25. James, a Democrat, has said she will seek to seize some of Trump’s assets if he is unable to pay.

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With interest, Trump owes the state $456.8 million. That amount is increasing nearly $112,000 each day. In all, he and co-defendants, including his company, sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. and other executives, owe $467.3 million. To obtain a bond, they would be required to post collateral covering 120% of the judgment, or about $557.5 million, Trump’s lawyers said.

Trump maintains that he is worth several billion dollars, but much of his wealth is tied up in his skyscrapers, golf courses and other properties. Few underwriters were willing to issue such a large bond and none would accept Trump’s real estate assets as collateral, instead requiring cash or cash equivalents, such as stocks or bonds, his lawyers said.

Trump’s lawyers said freeing up cash by offloading some of Trump’s properties in a “fire sale” would be impractical because such cut-rate deals would result in massive, irrecoverable losses.

Not mentioned in Trump’s court filings Monday was the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s potential financial windfall from a looming deal to put his social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group, on the stock market under the ticker symbol DJT.

A shareholder meeting is scheduled for Friday. If the deal is approved, Trump would own at least 58% of shares in the company, which runs his Truth Social platform. Depending on share price, that could be worth several billion dollars.

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Trump is asking a full panel of the intermediate appeals court, the Appellate Division of the state’s trial court, to stay the Engoron judgment while he appeals. His lawyers previously proposed a $100 million bond, but Appellate Division Judge Anil C. Singh rejected that after an emergency hearing on Feb. 28. A stay is a legal mechanism pausing collection of a judgment during an appeal.

In a court filing last week, Senior Assistant Solicitor General Dennis Fan urged the full appellate panel to reject what he dubbed the defense’s “trust us” argument, contending that without a bond to secure the judgment Trump may attempt to evade enforcement at a later date and force the state to “expend substantial public resources” to collect the money owed.

A full bond is necessary, Fan wrote, in part because Trump’s lawyers “have never demonstrated that Mr. Trump’s liquid assets — which may fluctuate over time — will be enough to satisfy the full amount of this judgment following appeal.”

Trump’s lawyers asked the Appellate Division panel to consider oral arguments on its request, and preemptively sought permission to appeal a losing result to the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.

Singh did grant some of Trump’s requests, including pausing a three-year ban on him seeking loans from New York banks. In their court filing Monday, Trump’s lawyers did not address whether they have sought a bank loan to cover the cost of the judgment or obtain cash for use as bond collateral.

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Trump appealed on Feb. 26, a few days after Engoron’s judgment was made official. His lawyers have asked the Appellate Division to decide whether Engoron “committed errors of law and/or fact” and whether he abused his discretion or “acted in excess” of his jurisdiction.

Trump wasn’t required to pay his penalty or post a bond in order to appeal, and filing the appeal did not automatically halt enforcement of the judgment. Trump would receive an automatic stay if he were to put up money, assets or an appeal bond covering what he owes.

Gary Giulietti, an insurance broker friend enlisted by Trump to help obtain an appeal bond, wrote in an affidavit Monday: “A bond of this size is rarely, if ever, seen. In the unusual circumstance that a bond of this size is issued, it is provided to the largest public companies in the world, not to individuals or privately held businesses.”

Giulietti, who acts as an insurance broker for Trump’s company, testified at the civil fraud trial as an expert witness called by Trump’s lawyers. In his ruling, Engoron observed that some of Giulietti’s testimony was contradicted by other witnesses, including a different defense expert. He noted that Giulietti’s company collected $1.2 million in commissions on its Trump accounts in 2022.

In all, Trump has more than $543 million in personal legal liabilities from three civil court judgments in the past year. Bonding requirements could add at least $100 million to that total.

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In January, a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million to writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her after she accused him in 2019 of sexually assaulting her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s. Earlier this month, after his lawyers made similar arguments that he be excused from posting a bond, Trump did secure a $91.6 million bond to cover 110% of the Carroll judgment while he appeals.

Last year, a jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million in a related trial. In that case, rather than post a bond, Trump put more than $5.5 million in cash in an escrow account while he appeals.

(REUTERS)

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Comme chaque année, à la fin du mois de mars, la France doit passer à l’heure d’été. Par conséquent, il...

Société2 hours ago

Realtor Group Strikes $418 Million Deal to Finish Fits Over Commissions

The Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors agreed to settle litigation over fee guidelines for US actual property brokers, clearing the best...

Divertissements2 hours ago

Dés gratuits Monopoly GO du 19 mars 2024

Retrouvez ici tous les liens Monopoly go du 19 mars 2024 pour récupérer tous les dés gratuitement et ainsi pouvoir...

Santé2 hours ago

Le RER C en panne pendant deux heures à Austerlitz, les usagers évacués par les voies

EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP Des passagers du RER C sont restés bloqués dans le train pendant deux heures alors qu’ils...

Afrique2 hours ago

La revue de presse camerounaise du mardi 19 mars 2024

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Sports2 hours ago

Republic of Ireland: Liam Scales & Troy Parrott out of Belgium & Switzerland games

Liam Scales will miss the Republic friendlies after injury ruled him out of Celtic’s weekend win over St Johnstone Defender...

International2 hours ago

New NIH study sheds light on mysterious ‘Havana Syndrome’: Victims’ symptoms are ‘real’ and ‘quite profound’ – but injuries don’t show up on MRI much like a ‘mini stroke,’ one Pentagon medical consultant tells DailyMail.com

A new government study tracking over 80 self-reported victims of ‘Havana Syndrome’ found no signs of brain injury — despite also identifying...

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