Jaw-dropping pictures show precision flying skills of U.S. Air Force demo team
By Dean Murray
The precision flying skills of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration flying team are shown in these jaw-dropping pictures.
The team conducted a so-called "photo chase" over Navy Air Facility El Centro, California, on 26 February - a chance for their skills to be caught on camera.
Pilots can be seen carrying out show-stopping manoeuvres in their F-16C Fighting Falcon supersonic fighter jets, including Top Gun-like inversions.
The Thunderbirds perform precision aerial displays to demonstrate the capabilities of the Air Force's high performance aircraft.
The team say they perform all around the world to “display the pride, precision and professionalism the U.S. Air Force represents.”
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"I'm biohacking my dogs - I spent £1,800-a-year on vegan food"
By Josie Adnitt
Meet the woman who is 'biohacking' her dogs - by feeding them a £1,800-a-year vegan diet.
Stella Paris, 37, says her pets - Tuco, a Chinese crested powder puff, and Bear, a French bulldog - are in perfect health.
She even claims the diet has reversed some of Bear’s health problems – helping her breathe easy and clearing up skin conditions.
The singer-songwriter is a vegan herself and describes herself as “anti-speciesist” - meaning she believes every animal should be treated the same.
Biohacking involves someone making incremental changes to their - or their pet's -body, diet, and lifestyle to improve their health and well-being
Stella, from south London, said: “People are very aware my dogs are vegan – people say it should be illegal or I’m abusing my dogs.
“But I am anti-speciesist, I believe every animal should be treated the same with no preference or superiority - why would I love one and kill another.
“If you love your dog, why are you sacrificing a cow, pig, chicken or turkey – don't they also deserve to live? If you love animals, you would love all animals.
“The vets are shocked by my seven-year-old Frenchie, Bear – they're shocked she has no skin conditions, and her breathing is good.
“They can see a difference between her and other Frenchies they regularly see before I even tell them she’s vegan.
“Vets know dogs can thrive and live well on a plant-based diet. I wouldn’t just give them broccoli and carrots, I give them nutritionally complete meals containing omegas, carbs and proteins.”
Stella, who studied biology and chemistry, switched to a vegan lifestyle six years ago and makes content online promoting veganism and campaigning against animal cruelty.
She first made the switch to vegan dog food for rescue pup Bear four years ago and adopted Tuco shortly after.
And Stella claims the diets have not only cured Bear’s physical health ailments but helped with emotional problems suffered by the rescue dog too.
The two pooches are treated to nutritionally complete dog food costing £150 per month and get regular sweet potato and mango-based treats.
Other treats include Brazil nuts, walnuts, apples and raw fruits like sugar snaps.
“As vegans we don’t call them pets, we call them animal companions, I would consider being called an owner an insult,” said Stella.
“Domesticated dogs should be fed a vegan diet for their health – when dogs eat meat they can get worms, they’re not obligate carnivores.
“A few friends have also changed their dogs to plant based diets when they found out it was possible, and they've gone vegan too."
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Widow visited by police after accompanying husband to assisted dying clinic in Switzerland
By Ben Barry
A widow was visited by police after she accompanied her husband to an assisted dying clinic in Switzerland.
Dan Tuckley, 46, went to the hospital with a muscle strain after a heavy weights session at the gym - but tests revealed he had kidney cancer.
It grew five-fold in just a month and doctors told him it was terminal and there was nothing they could do for him.
Just four days later he booked a spot at an assisted dying clinic near Basel, Switzerland - a quest which cost him £20,000
His family said that Dan wanted to kill the cancer before it had the chance to kill him.
And after a family meal where he ordered food and wine, he was no longer well enough to drink, he was given a syringe filled with drugs.
He died listening to My Way by Frank Sinatra, surrounded by his wife, Sarah, 46, and siblings Kate, 29, Phillip, 48 and Matthew, 36.
In December 2022, Sarah was visited by the police who told her that would not be pursuing what they called an 'assisted suicide investigation'.
Sarah, a business analyst, from Derby, Derbyshire, said: "I opened the door and they said it was Derbyshire police, I knew there was a risk but when they said police it didn't even register in my head.
"They said they would not be pursuing an investigation and kept calling it assisted suicide.
"I kept telling them that it was not assisted suicide and it was assisted dying.
"Dan fought for his country and we were made to feel like criminals for bringing something forward that was going to happen in a matter of days.
"It seems alien to me that we don't have the choice - it is like trying to deprive a woman from having an abortion.
"Dan did not want to pass in a hospital or with people just watching.
"He wanted to pass on his terms with those who loved him the most and most importantly while he was still him."
In July 2022, Dan had pain in his stomach and thought he had pulled a muscle at the gym.
He went to Derby Royal Hospital that evening "just to be cautious"
A scan the next day, on August 17, showed a mass behind the stomach.
"The vibe was that it would be highly treatable," said Sarah.
But a second scan showed cancerous cells.
Then had a PET scan and a biopsy diagnosed renal medullary carcinoma - a rare cancer of the kidney - and he was told he had one year to live.
Within days his symptoms got worse and he was unable to digest food.
Then a month later in September 2022, a scan showed Dan's cancer had grown five-fold and he was told there was nothing doctors could do and he was sent home.
Dan's sister, Kate, a teacher, from Gosport, Hampshire, said: "This news was unbelievable.
"No one had even had the time to come to terms with the initial
diagnosis, let alone that we would now be losing him.
"This was so sudden and we knew we needed to be together.
"We'd always had a strong sibling bond.
"We could see how thin and ill he was- unable to eat anything now for over a week and struggling to talk. His condition had progressed so fast - far too fast."
Since his diagnosis, Dan started researching assisted dying and found a clinic near Basel, Switzerland where he would go to die.
And on September 20 Dan, Sarah and his siblings went on what they dubbed 'Operation F*ck Cancer' on a private jet.
Kate said: "We collected the hire car and drove through Switzerland, the backdrop of breath-taking vistas only adding to the utterly unreal situation we were all suffocating inside.
"Tuesday night we stayed in a beautiful hotel in the mountains. Dan came to dinner with us that evening.
"He chose the wine we all drank, because he could not drink it, and he chose a meal, but he could not eat it.
"That is another cruel aspect of this condition.
"Even criminals on death row are granted a last meal, but that was yet another thing stolen from Dan."
The next day - his last full one alive - they needed to get £10,000 out to pay for the rest of Dan's deposit for the clinic.
Sarah said: "It was like we were performing an international heist. All we wanted to do was bring a dying man some peace.
"We were driving around Switzerland trying to get money out and we wasn't sure if we were going to get arrested or not trying to get all this money out."
On September 22, 2022, Dan and his family went to the clinic near Basel, Switzerland where Dan died.
Kate said: "Dan wanted music on so we had music on.
"We were all there around the bed, trying to laugh and joke.
"We did our final selfie - the doctor came in and said when he is ready he can go.
"We were talking to him and he said it was time and he was dead within 10 seconds - it was so peaceful and quiet."
In December 2022, Sarah was getting ready to leave the house when she got a knock on the door.
Sarah and Kate said that the family were made to feel like criminals and that nobody should have to experience it.
Kate said: "They said they had investigated it but there were no charges.
"I am annoyed that she had the police knock on her door and she was on her own.
"That makes me cross, I would have liked to be with her when that happened.
"It makes me furious that our family had to go through this whole process.
"It makes me cross that Dan was in a state where he was going to die."
Nathan Stilwell, assisted dying campaigner for Humanists UK, said: "This is yet another indication of the overwhelming appetite for our outdated law on assisted dying to be changed.
"There is no issue in public life that the public backs more strongly than assisted dying."
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Woman suffers burns when her pressure cooker exploded while cooking soup
By Leo Black
A woman's face swelled up like balloon after she suffered second and third degree burns when her pressure cooker exploded - while cooking soup.
Becky Fargo, 43, was cooking potato soup for her daughter Jadyn Young, 13, when the pressure cooker pressurized unexpectedly and exploded.
Becky, of South Webster, Ohio, USA, had set the machine to cook without pressure, something she had done several times before.
But when she tried to get the soup out, the cooker exploded leaving 2nd and 3rd degree burns on her face, chest and neck.
Becky, a restaurant manager, said: "I had used it about five-to-ten times in a two-year period and I had mostly used it for chili and other slow-cooker foods.
"There was no issue at all but something was different this time."
Becky was blown back by the blast and the boiling hot soup coated her chest, face and neck, sticking to her skin.
After running to wash the soup off, she woke her daughter up, who called for help.
She said: "I ripped my shirt off and splashed water on myself because the soup was stuck to me and it was burning.
"The explosion knocked me back four feet. It was huge, the lid broke."
When the ambulance arrived an air-lift was called as the nearest hospital with a burn unit was two hours away.
She was treated for a couple of hours and sent home with an ointment for her wounds.
Becky said: "The burns got progressively worse over the next 36 hours. My face swelled up like a balloon.
"Days four to nine were excruciating. They were open, oozing, crusty and they just burned. My chest was on fire."
The burns persisted for months, first swelling and then peeling and she was forced to take three weeks off from work to treat her injuries.
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“I have a pet pigeon – it lives in my apartment and kisses and cuddles me”
By Amy Reast
A woman has a pet pigeon who lives in her apartment and loves to kiss and cuddle her.
Aleksandra Bezrukova, 25, discovered a pair of eggs which hatched baby pigeons - known as squabs - on her balcony and she fell in love.
After they grew up and flew away, Aleksandra became determined to raise a pigeon of her own.
After finding a pet pigeon that needed re-homing she took the bird in and named her Coco.
Coco has been living in Aleksandra's apartment with her husband, Alexandre Pastemps, 29, a crypto trader, since October.
Both of them adore Coco and she grows more friendly by the day - even giving Aleksandra kisses and cuddles.
Aleksandra calls her a "little sweetheart" and reckons pigeons have a worse reputation than they deserve.
She claims even once-skeptical family members are smitten with Coco now too.
Aleksandra, a clothing shop owner, living in Chloet, France, said: "When those eggs first hatched on my balcony, something inside me woke up.
"They were so cute, I spent hours each day looking at them.
"When they grew up and flew away, I was heartbroken - so I researched online about having a pet pigeon of my own.
"As soon as I saw Coco I loved her and our relationship grows each day.
"Pet pigeons are so lovely - they're super smart and clever, and cute.
"I think people who feel negatively just don't understand them."
Aleksandra found herself captivated by pigeons after seeing two little eggs in a nest on her balcony in August 2023.
She left them where they were and saw the parents tending to the nest for over a month - then eventually two little chicks were born.
Over time the chicks grew and learnt to walk, then flap their wings - before Aleksandra had to say goodbye for good when they flew the nest.
She said: "I looked at them every day, I would just open the window and sit and watch them.
"I was heartbroken when they flew away.
"Something inside me woke up - I started to be curious about pigeons and watched videos about pigeons as pets.
"I decided I wanted a pet pigeon too."
After finding a local man looking to re-home a seven-month-old pigeon, Aleksandra "fell in love" and the rest was history.
She said: "When I saw her I loved her, and I wanted to give her the best life.
"She was super cute, and let me take her from the guy’s hands straight away."
When Aleksandra first brought Coco home in October 2023, she said the bird was timid - but over time became more trusting.
The first milestone was landing on Aleksandra's head, before nipping her cheeks softly - the equivalent to a pigeon kissing affectionately.
In December, Coco let Aleksandra cuddle her for the first time and sat on her shoulder.
Now they share a special bond, and pigeon cuddles are a regular occurrence.
Coco lives in their apartment, and sleeps in a cage but is free to fly around indoors all day long.
While it can be dangerous for house-trained birds to fly outdoors on their own, Aleksandra is looking to get Coco a leash so she can fly outside safely.
She is also looking to start teaching Coco tricks - such as responding to her name, and recognising different colours.
Aleksandra says most people are supportive - but she had a few negative comments online.
She said: "People when they see Coco, they say how beautiful she is.
"She is super white with beautiful brown eyes and a fancy tail - they ask if she is even a pigeon.
"Most people think she is a sweetheart but some people say pigeons are dirty and spread disease.
"But humans spread dirty things in the world too."
She added: "Pet pigeons are like little puppies, sometimes when I get home Coco welcomes me back through the door.
"Sometimes when she coos, I coo back and we speak in a pigeon language together.
"Pigeons can be super smart and affectionate. They're such interesting pets."
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Pooch has temper tantrums when he doesn’t get his way!
By Samuel Wightwick
These funny videos show a young pup throwing temper tantrums at his owner when he can't get his own way.
Charlie, a nine-month-old golden retriever, stomps his feet and twists his head in protest.
Owner Lauren Lieberman, 32, says that Charlie does this all the time and this is the way he communicates.
Lauren, who owns a marketing agency in Montreal, Canada, said: "He's very good at communicating. He's a very emotive dog.
"He does these little tantrums every now and then to let me know he's not happy or to let me know that he wants me for something."
"I call him my Velcro dog, he hates being away from me for any amount of time."
Lauren added: "In of the videos he was annoyed that I was taking too long to pick up the mail so he was trying to hurry me up.
"I was dying of laughter when he did it. I couldn't believe how he was stomping and everything!
"He usually gets his own way but he is a really well behaved dog most of the time."
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"I moved from the US to Spain - now I only work 14 hours a week but I'm $200-a-month better off"
By Freddie Noble
A woman who moved to Spain from the US says she only has to work 14 hours a week - and is $205-a-month better off.
Katie Boggs, 23, graduated from Otterbein University, in Westerville, Ohio, US, after studying biochemistry in 2023.
After her graduation, Katie jetted to Malaga, Spain, for her spring break, and fell in love with the country and culture - deciding to relocate to the country.
Katie currently lives in Granada, Spain, in a three-bedroom flat where she works 14 hours a week as an English teacher - earning €800 to €1000-a-month.
Since moving, Katie said she is $205-a-month better off when it comes to her outgoings - managing to spend just €500-a-month on essentials such as rent, shopping and Wi-Fi.
Katie, an English teacher, originally from Louisville, Kentucky, US, said: "This place is unreal and it's so nice.
"I honestly thought it was going to be a one year thing but the lifestyle here is so nice and the difference between here and the US is telling.
"I would say that things are a lot slower here and things are very laid back over here.
"I don't feel very stressed, I feel like a human being rather than a corporate decoy."
Since moving to Spain, Katie has loved every moment of her time there.
She said: "I have a ton of friends which are mainly teachers and we all get along really well as were from different countries and we are all outgoing.
"Making friends has not been at a problem at all.
"Everything is really great."
One thing Katie had to find out was how cheap Grenada is compared to the States.
"The price difference is insane. When I went back home for Christmas, I was shocked by the prices back home," she said.
"I live in a three-bedroom flat with one other person and only spend €325-a-month, if we had another flatmate we would only pay €210 on rent.
"One bus ride is €0.40 and I get breakfast every morning which is a sandwich and a drink for €3.30 and that is totally affordable.
"A glass of wine at a restaurant in Spain is €2 to €3 and I went to the grocery store and got things like vegetables and other things for €13.
"Everything is very cheap but the salaries are cheaper so it goes hand in hand."
Katie said the biggest difference between America and Spain is that the pace of life is slower.
She said: "The pace of the city is so much slower. In the US, they were not good on giving you time to learn or be sick.
"I'm not used to things being closed on Sundays but I think it is actually a good thing as you get a sense of a work-life balance."
"I don't make that much but I also don't spend that much which I think is nice as it is very affordable."
What she spends each month in Spain -
Rent - €325
Utilities - €30
Food - €150
Phone and WiFi - €27
Gym - €30
Total - €562
What she spent each month in the US -
Rent - $450
Utilities - $70
Food - $400
Phone and WiFi - $114
Gym - $120
Total - $754
Saving $205-a-month in total on outgoings
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Couple quit 9-5 jobs to live in a van and drive 3,000 miles - to the Arctic Circle
By Lauren Beavis
A travelling couple who quit their 9-5 jobs to live in a van have made it to the Arctic Circle - in a 3,000 mile trip.
Chris, 31, and Sam Hoar, 30, left Plymouth in February to venture up through Sweden and Finland - and they have just arrived in Alta, Norway.
They are now heading to North Cape - the furthest northern point of the country they are able to drive to - before arriving home in April to round off the epic 7,500 mile trip.
Despite the temperature dropping to -23 degrees Celsius, the pair, who are now travel bloggers, say their trip has been “incredible” and they have never looked back since buying a van in 2018.
Sam said: “I don’t think we realised what we were actually in for - but this journey has been absolutely breathtaking and blown our minds.
“Time doesn't wait for anybody and taking a risk to move into our van was the best thing we’ve ever done.
“We knew we had nothing to lose because in the worst case scenario we would go back to doing our nine to five jobs that we did anyway - but life is too short!”
Chris and Sam were determined their adventure to the Arctic Circle would be possible after watching videos of others living the van life and exploring the world during lockdown.
The couple, who have been together for 16 years after meeting at school when they were 14, were particularly inspired by one of these videos showing a couple travelling through Norway.
Sam admitted the scenery blew them away so much that they knew they had to go.
So far in their Arctic circle trip, the pair say they have been left astounded by the beautiful scenery and vast expense of wildlife.
Chris said: “For us, we have never seen snow like this in all our lives.
“I’m talking seven foot of show outside right, with temperatures dropping to -23 degrees.
“The weather has definitely tested the van properly being up here, but we still haven’t broken down and the vastness of the wilderness all around us is breathtaking and unreal.
“We have seen wild moose - that look like horses on steroids over here - reindeer, wolves.
“We've definitely got the bug now and feel like we even want to return next year even earlier in the year during the more extreme winter.”
Before leaving their nine to five jobs for the tiny-home life in living from a van, Sam worked as a beauty therapist and Chris was working as a mechanical engineer aswell as being a retained firefighter.
After always enjoying exploring nature together, the pair decided to hire their first van for three weeks to travel New Zealand and explore the South Island in 2018.
Two weeks after arriving back to the UK after this trip, the new-found explorers bought their first van “and have never looked back”.
Sam explained: “I must admit when Chris first said that we're gonna be hiring a camper van to see New Zealand I like ‘are we not going to do any hotels?'
“But he said you can’t really do New Zealand in hotels as the best way to travel is via a campervan so you can see all the sites.
“So I trusted him - and fell in love with it.
“I actually adored the fact that you had your home and you could just rock up and move and go wherever you wanted to go.
“So when we came back, Chris bumped my arm into getting our first little Volkswagen T4 and that's what we started off with - just an adventure van, really, but it felt so right.
“We were going away at the weekends when we had time off together and we never ever wanted it to end, and we just kept having conversations about how nice it would be to do it permanently”.
The pair continued talking about the potentials until the pandemic hit - which is when they decided to rent out their home in Plymouth, conduct a ten hour journey to purchase minibus up in Scotland and do it up to meet the entirety of their living needs.
Many youtube videos later, Chris and Sam were able to implement running water pipes, electricity, gas pipes, insulation and plumbing into their new home.
The van is now kitted out with a shower, toilet, 100 litres of freshwater, a wastewater tank and 350 watt solar panels on the roof.
Chris said: “I googled it and thought I'm just gonna use YouTube, and then you'll just watch a couple of videos like, OK, I'll see what I need to do.
“And I thought wow, I’ve literally never done this before but you can just watch a video and do it.
“We did get it signed off though, just to make sure the really important things were safe!”
Since then, the pair have travelled to Switzerland, Austria and 12 other European countries.
Though they are limited on how long they can spend in Europe - as Brexit rules mean they are only allowed 90 days in the continent before they must return to the UK for a further 90 days - before they are able to go off again.
The adventurists already have their next trip planned to Scotland, and hoping to drive to Spain in the summertime - but are “one hundred percent certain” they will be venturing to the Arctic Circle again next year.
You can view their adventures on their Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_travel_duo__ / and Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thetravelduo_
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Painter has successful double arm transplant after motorbike accident
By George Mathias
A painter who lost both of his arms in a motorbike accident has undergone a successful double arm transplant.
Raj Kumar underwent the 12-hour surgery on January 19 at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, India, and doctors have only now revealed the results.
During the operation doctors reattached his nerves, veins, muscles, and skin to the donor limbs and he is set to be discharged soon.
He is reported to have had both limbs severed after "a train accident when he was riding on a cycle and had lost control".
The arms were donated by deceased woman Meena Mehta, a former administrative head of a school in south Delhi, after she was declared brain dead.
A painter by trade, Kumar had been living with prosthetics arms before the surgery.
The procedure was performed by a team led by Dr Mahesh Mangal, who heads the department of plastic and cosmetic surgery at the hospital.
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Married dad competing in world sex championships says "I'm living every man's dream"
By George Mathias
It involves a A married man with three kids is competing in the world sex championships - and says he is “living every man’s dream”.
Jax Sweller, 37, is competing in the month-long festival run by the Swedish Sex Federation in Malaga, Spain.
variety of rounds, including seduction, appearance of sexual organs and proficiency in sex acts and will be live streamed over the internet.
Each ‘round’ will last between 45 minutes to an hour and fans will vote on who wins.
Competitors are paired up with random strangers of the opposite sex - but Jax insists his wife doesn't mind and supports his hobby.
Former cameraman Jax, 37, from Tampa, Florida, said: “I got and call and got offered to enter and I couldn’t really turn it down - I’m getting paid to get laid!
“For a guy especially, it can be quite difficult, getting an erection in front of so many people is kind of daunting so that will be a challenge.
“Every day you’re teamed up with a person to do certain sexual tasks, then people who are watching it will vote for who they think are the best performers.
"But I still love this line of work and am living every man's dream."
Jax was formerly involved in filming adult films now makes his money being in front of the camera.
He is getting paid $4,000 for entering - on top of the all-expenses paid trip.
Jax, who describes himself as a “budding pornstar” says he has always been open that working in the adult industry was something he wanted to do.
“I’m open with my wife and how I feel and the desires and things I want," he said.
“I'm a very honest person and I check with my wife every time I go and do a scene, I make sure to have her support every time.
“I just see it as a different type of business.”
Jax is coy on his chances of victory in the competition.
“I'm going to have a good time," he said.
"I would love to win, but in a way doing what I do for a living it feels like I have already won."
Contestants submit STI tests ahead of the championship, which runs from March 5 until April 5 and have to repeat the test every week.
Last years ‘sporting’ competition was held in Gothenburg, Sweden with Dragan Bratic who owns a number of strip clubs in the Jönköping area of Sweden.
The organisers believe sex is a "gender neutral sport".
They said: “In order for people to achieve the most desired results, they must train both their mental and physical abilities.”
At the end of all the events, the competitor with the most votes will be crowned the champion.
The Swedish Sex Federation said: “Sex is the satisfaction of psychological and physical needs.
“Through sex, people achieve mental and physical well-being both in the soul and in the body.”
Categories are -
1. Seduction of a competitor/athlete
2. Massaging
3. Massaging of “erotic zones” on a contestant's body
4. Foreplay
5. Oral sex
6. Penetration
7. Trigger: How long a competitor/athlete can show his endurance against another competitor
8. Appearance
9. Artistic execution of pose/stance:
10. Creativity in changing pose/stance:
11. Endurance and number of orgasms over specified time.
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