Builders can track the carbon footprint and integrity of construction materials along the supply chain from China under a deal struck by an Aussie startup.
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Window on carbon: tracking building supplies from China
Retiring Nadal slips to defeat at farewell Davis Cup
Tennis legend Rafael Nadal has lost 6-4 6-4 to Botic van de Zandschulp in the Davis Cup in what may have been the last match of his illustrious career.
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Brit singer eyes up American domination as she splashes out on £2m Los Angeles mega mansion
SHE’S had a year to remember after winning a record-breaking six Brit Awards and becoming a multi-millionaire.
Now Raye has treated herself to something very special — a new house in Los Angeles.
Insiders have told me the Escapism singer has splashed out just over £2million on a very quirky pad, which has enormous murals of Hollywood film characters daubed on the walls.
The six-bedroom home also has a huge pool and is the perfect bolthole for her. A source said: “Raye has invested in a new place in LA and she wants to wait to put her touch on it.
“It’s a really fun house and is whacky inside and out, which perfectly fits her personality.
“There are murals on the walls of Frankenstein and Gandalf, the wizard from Lord Of The Rings. It’s bananas but Raye loved it.
“She intends to spend a lot more time working on music in the States and having her own place while she is out there makes perfect sense.
“Buying the house tops off what has been an incredible year for her.”
Doesn’t it just. We revealed Raye earned five times more this year than last, thanks to the mega success of her debut album, My 21st Century Blues.
The Londoner lodged earnings of £3.1million, and generated a £1.7million profit, which is almost enough to buy another impressive house in the States.
If the past 12 months are anything to go by, Raye is going to be gearing up for an even bigger 2025.
BAND AID TRIBUTES
VIRGIN Radio UK is to celebrate Band Aid 40 on Monday.
Stars who have performed on the three versions of Do They Know It’s Christmas? will be on shows across the Network all day.
On Sunday, the first part of Virgin’s Band Aid documentary will air from 7pm. It has interviews with Bob Geldof, Tony Hadley, Simon Le Bon and the journalist Michael Buerk.
SHADY CHARLI A CUT ABOVE
BRAT winter is here, as Charli XCX performs a surprise pop-up gig in New York’s Times Square.
She looked quite the 360 Party Girl in a slashed-black dress and sunglasses.
Spotted in the crowd was actress Julia Fox, who introduced Charli on Saturday Night Live earlier this month.
Charli jets to the UK this month to start her debut arena tour, after finishing new fantasy-romance film 100 Nights Of Hero with Emma Corrin. No wonder Charli’s in shades, she must be knackered.
JUDI STEPS ON IT
STEPS have had the ultimate seal of approval for their new musical Here & Now – from stage great Dame Judi Dench.
The actress was one of the first people through the doors of Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre when previews opened last week – and was up on her feet dancing by the end.
Last night, all five members of Steps were there for the gala performance to officially launch the show, which is set in a shop.
And the group announced it will go on a nationwide tour from next August.
In an exclusive chat backstage, Claire Richards said of Dame Judi: “Her daughter Finty Williams plays the store manager Patricia in the show.
“ So she came to see it last week and loved it.
“She was up dancing and had a little champagne.”
The musical is set in a superstore called Better Best Bargains and sees the shop’s staff go on a journey set to 21 of the group’s hit singles.
After seeing it for the first time, Lisa Scott-Lee said: “It was very emotional and overwhelming, and it was a bit of an out-of-body experience watching people perform the songs you’ve performed for 27 years. But I loved it. We’re like proud parents.”
Claire added: “They’ve got cracking voices. It’s really shown people that the songs we sing are great, but they’re not easy.
“People have been surprised about the range.”
And as the production prepares for 260 shows across the UK and Ireland – which you can find dates for at thestepsmusical.com – it is clear that even non-Steps fans will be impressed.
Ian ‘H’ Watkins revealed: “I’ve seen some jukebox musicals from other artists and they just didn’t have the hits. This does.”
But fear not – they have insisted it’s not the end of the group, with Lee Latchford-Evans telling us: “It’s almost a new chapter.”
Faye Tozer added: “The fact we instigated this as a project and we’ve made it come to life with an amazing team, it feels like another incredibly proud moment for us. It’s not a full stop, it’s another string to our bow.”
LINDSAY’S YOUTHFUL SECRET
LINDSAY LOHAN looks like she’s ageing backwards – as if still in her twenties.
The Freaky Friday actress, 38, also pictured below 12 years ago, dazzled in black at the New York premiere of Netflix movie Our Little Secret.
The film, about exes who spend Christmas together after learning their new loves are siblings, is a glorious return for former child star Lindsay.
Ditching LA for Dubai, she has overcome booze and substance issues and is a picture of health. She had her first child, son Luai, last year after marrying businessman Bader Shammas in 2022.
Great to see her back on track.
MADGE’S FILM IN TV SWITCH?
MADONNA’s on/off biopic now looks like being a TV series instead.
She started working on the project four years ago after a studio said it was going to make a film about her life – without her involvement.
That sparked the superstar into action to beat them to it.
But after stop-start progress on the script, Madonna said it could go to the small screen, as there have been so many disputes behind the scenes.
She wrote on Instagram: “After struggling for days in LA, listening to producers and agents tell me why I couldn’t make my film (been working on it for 4 years!!!) downsize . . . think smaller they say . . . l realised that everything in my life is going to be challenged.
“No easy rides for me.”
But in a plea to fans, Madge, added: “If you want something badly enough in life, the whole universe will conspire to help you get it.
“Should I make the story of my life into a series or a feature film?”
Either one would be great for me, but nothing beats a blockbuster biopic.
MODEL Cara Delevingne has sold her LA mansion, six months after it was partially destroyed by a huge fire.
She has offloaded the four-bedroom, six-bathroom home for £3.6million, after buying it for £5.5million in 2019 and doing a refurb.
SOPHIE IS ALBUM OF THE YEAR
SOPHIE XEON has topped Rough Trade’s 2024 Album Of The Year list.
The singer, who died in 2021, took the No1 spot for her record Sophie, which was released posthumously in September.
Rough Trade’s Emily Walker told me: “There is an inherently infinite quality to Sophie’s music and this posthumous album is testament to the boundless pop possibility that she embodied as an artist.”
The top 20 is also a celebration of British acts this year. Charli XCX, Idles, Ezra Collective and The Last Dinner Party are among 13 home-grown artists included in the list.
ANDREW ENJOYS A NEW LEASE OF L.I.F.E.
ANDREW CUSHIN has been tipped for greatness by Noel Gallagher and Pete Doherty – and is coming back to show what he’s all about.
The Geordie singer to-day returns with his new single L.I.F.E. and has announced his second album Love Is For Everyone, out on May 2.
He told me the record was inspired by love and loss, but is an overwhelmingly happy one, after time on the road supporting Louis Tomlinson.
Andrew said in an exclusive chat: “We are still in touch. He was an amazing person to be around. It was very daunting at first and it massively opened my eyes. His door was always open for advice.
“He took me to a lot of after-parties. I was rather drunk on a number of oc- casions but it was brilliant.”
On writing the album, Andrew, who has also just announced a headline tour for next spring, added: “I was in a stunning place called Wigan. I’m not going to say I found it difficult but I found it different writing another record.
“I only had a few months because I was gigging, but I managed to find the time to write it and wrote some pretty important songs.”
Mystery of perfectly circular invincible ‘Goblin Forest’ surrounding a sacred volcano in the land of Hobbits
A LONELY volcano surrounded by a dark green forest dubbed the “goblin forest” has left explorers baffled by its perfectly circular appearance.
Sitting at 8,261ft tall, with a six mile radius , Mount Taranaki is the second highest peak on New Zealand’s North Island.
The iconic Mount Taranaki volcano in New Zealand’s North Island is so striking, that it once doubled as Mount Doom in the “Lord of the Rings” and Mt Fuji in “The Last Samurai”.
The lonely, almost perfect conical volcano sits in an eerily circular forest containing thousands of warped and ancient kamahi trees fighting for space.
The trees are extremely twisted and deformed as a result of having to grow over and around the fossilised remains of trees that were destroyed in past eruptions.
The trees are also covered in hanging mosses and liverworts, addin to its creepy appearance.
In 2017, the mountain attained a new level of protection when it was granted the same legal rights as a person.
The status is an acknowledgment of the Indigenous Māori people’s relationship.
Despite its perfectly circular appearance from above, the volcano has a history of dramatic change.
The mountain side has collapsed and rebuilt 16 times, with each cycle sending large debris avalanches down its flanks from past eruptions since it first formed around 135,000 years ago.
Steep slopes, loose sediments, high rainfall rates, and buried faults all contribute to its tendency to collapse.
The iconic volcano last erupted 200 years ago, but is still considered active and occasionally spits out mudflows.
Researchers believe that there’s a 30-50 per cent chance of another major eruption in the next 50 years, potentially effecting more than 100,000 people.
Recently, a hiker was rescued from the clutches of the mysterious mountain.
The hiker had called for help after he realised he was going into hypothermia.
He had been on a day trail run when he was caught out by weather in very cold temperatures, local police said.
A police spokesperson added: “Unprepared for the local conditions, the solo traveller was running out of food, water, and phone battery, and was 1400 metres up the mountain when he phoned for an ambulance.
“Taranaki Police Search and Rescue, the Taranaki Rescue Helicopter and alpine cliff rescue members were scrambled in an effort to get the man off the mountain as quickly as possible.”
Mount Taranaki isn’t the only perfectly circular mystery.
A mysterious spinning island shaped like a perfect circle has left explorers baffled for years.
Known as “The Eye” the uninhabited patch of overgrown vegetation floats around a crystal clear lake in Argentina slowly moving each day.
The bizarre natural phenomenon sits in the swampy river of Parana Delta in Buenos Aires and it has left many experts stumped over why or how it moves so freely.
Those lucky enough to have travelled to the island say it is almost a perfect circle due to the movement of the land mass.
Overtime the corners of the lake have managed to rub against the island as it moves and eroded itself into 360 degree smooth outlines.
Incredible aerial footage shows the 387ft spherical island, known locally as El Ojo, surrounded by a crescent of water.
The leading reason as to why the island floats is due to a natural process that sees water currents slowly shape and rotate the island in strong currents.
A few other shocking theories suggest it may have belonged to an ancient civilisation.
Or a more bizarre theory that claims the incomprehensible perfection and isolated location may be linked to extraterrestrial life.
Some say El Ojo could be a hidden UFO base but so far no evidence has backed this up.
Dublin GAA pen tribute to ‘remarkable’ servant Brian Fenton after shock inter-county retirement
DUBLIN GAA hailed Brian Fenton for ‘ten remarkable seasons’ with the Sky Blues.
They issued a statement confirming the inter-county retirement of the outstanding midfielder from Raheny.
The two-time Footballer of the Year, 31, has called time on a senior career that began in 2015 and seven All-Ireland SFC titles.
Fenton, who also claimed six All-Stars, played his last game for the Dubs as they relinquished the Sam Maguire with a quarter-final loss to Galway in June.
Dublin county board chairman Mick Seavers said: “Brian was an integral figure in the incredible success enjoyed by Dublin over the past decade.
“He is a hugely talented footballer and fan favourite who will forever be considered one of the greatest players to grace the field in a blue jersey.
“We thank Brian for his unwavering commitment to Dublin football.
“We wish him and his family all the best going forward.
“And we look forward to welcoming him back to Parnell Park as he continues to play with his club Raheny.”
The news of Fenton’s departure comes at a time when Dublin are still reeling from bidding farewell to fellow midfield stalwart James McCarthy, who announced his retirement earlier this month.
Creator SIU Was Doing “Physically Exhausting” Military Service While Writing Tower of God
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“Dwight didn’t even blink at the headshot”: Taylor Sheridan’s Tulsa King Season 2 Episode 10 Secretly Turned Dwight into a Criminal Mastermind
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“It all kind of came together in this episode”: 1 Better Call Saul Episode Was Created Just to Fulfill Vince Gilligan’s ‘Long Term Fantasy’ of Connecting it to Breaking Bad
The world of Breaking Bad gave fans refuge for a long time from the acres of bad television that occupied the contemporary atmosphere. When it ended, the desert druglords left behind a legacy to be carried on by Saul Goodman through Better Call Saul. Together, the two series forever revolutionized television drama. It wasn’t simply […]
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How Republican Dave McCormick’s Senate campaign ended Pennsylvania’s Casey dynasty
BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Pennsylvania Republicans took to the polls in the May 2022 primary and nominated celebrity physician Dr. Mehmet Oz their Senate candidate. Oz eked out that victory by just 940 votes over hedge-fund executive Dave McCormick and would go on to lose the general election to stroke-ridden John Fetterman — a race widely...
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‘Making Manson’ Reveals How A Manson Family “Rat” Accidentally Brought Down The Infamous Cult
Charles Manson had to learn the hard way that trust is a two way street.
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