Philippe Stern, who inherited one of the world’s leading luxury watch brands, Patek Philippe, and overcame an existential threat to Swiss watchmaking from cheaper, more accurate quartz watches in the 1970s, died on June 14. He was 88.
The Geneva-based Patek Philippe, where Mr. Stern was president from 1993 to 2009, announced his death. No details were provided about the place or cause.
As the third generation of his family to run Patek Philippe, Mr. Stern introduced new models that pushed the technical boundaries of mechanical watchmaking. He also marketed $40,000 handmade watches as a status symbol — a Mercedes-Benz for the wrist — and helped stimulate a market of passionate collectors who pursued their quarry across enthusiast magazines and websites.
Mr. Stern “was the guardian of a vision that helped shape the entire contemporary watchmaking industry,” according to one of those websites, Italian Watch Spotter, after his death.
In Swiss watchmaking, the 1970s became known for “the quartz crisis,” which followed the 1969 introduction by the Japanese company Seiko of the first electronic wristwatch to use a quartz crystal oscillator to keep time.
These watches were significantly more accurate than mechanical timepieces produced by heritage Swiss firms, whose products were threatened overnight with obsolescence. As Japanese and American quartz-crystal watches dominated the market, employment in Swiss watchmaking fell disastrously from 1970 to the late ’80s.
The brands that survived moved to the luxury end of the business, promoting craftsmanship and an aura of prestige in a mechanical watch costing thousands of dollars. Mr. Stern, who became general manager of Patek Philippe in 1977, was a principal architect of this reinvention.
That year, he oversaw the introduction of the 240 Caliber, a new design for the inner mechanics of a watch. It packed 152 parts into an ultrathin package that included a self-winding feature driven by a 22-carat gold rotor.
The design “repositioned the automatic watch as an object of elegance rather than mere function, competing with quartz not on precision but on refinement,” according to the website SJX Watches. “It remains one of the most influential movement architectures in postwar horology.”
The company’s identity was embodied in an advertising slogan rolled out in 1996: “You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation.”
Mr. Stern also promoted the Nautilus, first sold in 1976 and still Patek Philippe’s most famous model. It is a thick sports watch in steel that costs as much as some gold watches. The rounded octagonal shape, resembling the porthole of an ocean liner, was said to have been inspired by Mr. Stern’s passion for sailing.
“When the Nautilus was introduced, the watch industry was confronted with the quartz crisis,” Nicholas Foulkes, author of “Patek Philippe: The Authorized Biography,” told The New York Times in 2019. “Philippe Stern had an incredible vision that mechanical watches would come back.”
Another milestone — more symbolic rather than commercial — was the nine-year development of Caliber 89 to mark the company’s 150th anniversary in 1989. The Caliber 89 is a pocket watch with 24 hands and 33 complications, or functions beyond simple timekeeping. They included a daily display of sunrise and sunset, and a star chart whose hands display the path of Altair, a star after which Mr. Stern named a series of racing yachts.
Only four examples of Caliber 89 were originally made; one sold at auction for $5 million in 2004. Its accuracy — within a second a day — “cannot compare to a quartz watch,” Mr. Stern told The New York Times in 1989. “But the value of the piece is that it is mechanical. Precision is not the most important thing. The tradition of watchmaking is.”
Philippe Stern was born in 1938 in Geneva to Henri Félix Stern and Henriette (Delessert) Stern.
Philippe Stern is the namesake of Adrien Philippe, who joined with Antoni Patek in the watchmaking business in 1845.
Mr. Stern’s grandfather, Charles Stern, and his great-uncle, Jean Stern, who had a business supplying Patek Philippe with watch dials, rescued the firm from insolvency in 1932 during the Great Depression and became the new owners. The company has been privately held ever since, one of the few remaining independent Swiss watchmakers.
In 2014, Forbes estimated the Stern family collectively had a net worth of around $3 billion.
Mr. Stern began his career working for Patek Philippe’s distributor in the United States in 1963. He returned to Geneva three years later, soon rising to general director.
In 2009, he passed the presidency to his son, Thierry, who survives him, as does a daughter, Christine Shrestha-Stern. Complete information about survivors was not immediately available.
Philippe Stern was an avid sportsman. As a young man, he was a member of the Swiss national ski team. As a sailor, he was a multiple winner of the Bol d’Or du Léman Regatta, a 100-mile race the length of Lake Geneva and back. After winning the race three times, in 1980, 1982 and 1984, he was allowed to keep the winner’s trophy permanently.
Mr. Stern also supported his wife, Gerdi, in her passion for sled dog racing, a North American sport embraced in the 1980s by the Swiss. Mr. Stern accompanied his wife and her team of “16 or 18” dogs to races, including the world championships.
Fox News anchor Shannon Bream covers the escalating conflict in the Middle East as Trey Yingst reports from Tel Aviv. The U.S. carried out strikes against Iranian missile and drone storage locations after Iran targeted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Additionally, Iran launched drones toward Kuwait and Bahrain, while Israel conducted strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon. These events coincide with a diplomatic framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon.
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A “new normal” of heightened risk and uncertain regulation is impacting the Strait of Hormuz, shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd warned Sunday, as military strikes escalated and conflicting routing directives plunged the waterway into operational chaos.
The remarks from the German shipping giant also came as Tehran “simultaneously” began moving millions of barrels of crude oil from Kharg Island for the first time in days, according to maritime intelligence firm Windward AI.
“At Kharg, the T-Jetty and Western Terminal loaded simultaneously for the first time in days; the East Waiting Area holds 28 tankers, 27 dark, signaling the Iranian crude export cycle restarting,” Windward AI said in a post on X.
The outbound cargo consists of an estimated 4.12 million barrels of wet cargo, including crude oil and other liquid hydrocarbons. Of that total, about 3.91 million barrels are crude oil, analytics firm Vortexa said.
Commercial cargo vessels and crude oil tankers are anchored in the Gulf of Oman off the coast of Muscat, Oman, as they prepare to transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global trade corridor.(Shady Alassar/Anadolu)
“We have to acknowledge that this is for some months the new normal in the Persian Gulf region,” Hapag-Lloyd AG spokesperson Hanja Maria Richter told Fox News Digital.
“The situation has been fluid for us since the beginning of the conflict,” she said before adding that constant vigilance has become essential to operating in the region.
“We have been making and still make regular risk and situation assessments with our security partners, all relevant authorities and our people on shore and, of course, on the vessels,” Richter said.
“It is a region in conflict, so we consider this with every single ship we move in the region and assess the risks for every vessel and its crew individually.”
USS George H.W. Bush transits the Arabian Sea as U.S. forces enforce a naval blockade against Iran and support Project Freedom in the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. Central Command.(CENTCOM)
Richter’s remarks came as U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) launched airstrikes against Iranian targets, including Qeshm Island on June 26 after a vessel was struck in the strait.
This prompted Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to retaliate by targeting U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain.
Adding to the strike risk is a tug-of-war over control of the transit lanes.
Lloyd’s List described the fracturing of the waterway as a “confused, two-tier system now operating in the strait, which remains split between the Iran-controlled northern route and a U.S.-protected southern ‘highway,’ with the pre-war routes rendered unusable because of the risk of mines, separating them.”
Iran is responsible for managing and fully reopening maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz under recent understandings, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday, according to Iran International.
Ships are anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off Bandar Abbas in southern Iran on May 4. A report on May 15 said a ship was seized off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and is being brought to Iranian waters.(Amirhossein Khorgooei/ISNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Iranian state television said that passage through the Strait of Hormuz demands coordination with the IRGC.
Hapag-Lloyd pushed back against any future attempts to weaponize or monetize passage through the critical global chokepoint.
“It would be fundamentally wrong to impose fees for passage through international waters,” Richter said.
“Fees for infrastructure such as the Suez Canal or the Panama Canal are a different matter, as they reflect major infrastructure investments. That is not the case with the Strait of Hormuz.”
While thousands of crew members remain caught by conflicting naval directives, Hapag-Lloyd said it had successfully navigated the initial bottleneck.
“Good news is that we were able to have all Hapag-Lloyd vessels that were affected by the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz and had been waiting in the Persian Gulf depart safely from the Gulf,” Richter noted before adding that “the safety of our crews is our highest priority.”
Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.
Fox News’ Todd Piro covers a devastating plane crash in Missouri, resulting in the deaths of 11 skydivers and their pilot. The incident occurred near Kansas City after takeoff, with families tragically witnessing the fiery scene. The FAA and NTSB are investigating, suspecting power issues were a factor, though no intentional act is indicated.
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A plane carrying participants in a skydiving activity crashed shortly after takeoff in northeastern France on Sunday, killing all 11 people aboard, authorities said.
The Meurthe-et-Moselle Prefecture said on X that the aircraft crashed after departing from Nancy-Essey Airport, prompting officials to activate the department’s operational command center.
The Associated Press reported the victims included five parachuting instructors, five novice jumpers preparing for tandem skydives and the pilot.
A skydiver exits a single-engine aircraft during a jump in an undated file photo. Authorities said 11 people were killed after a skydiving plane crashed shortly after takeoff in northeastern France on Sunday.(iStock)
Prefect Yves Séguy told reporters the aircraft suffered a malfunction and “fell almost vertically,” narrowly missing a populated area.
“Had it occurred just a few dozen meters away, the accident could have caused collateral casualties,” Séguy said.
Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the single-engine Pilatus PC-6 banked left shortly after takeoff before crashing less than a minute later near residential homes, about 300 yards from the runway.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said he traveled to the crash site with Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot, where they met with local officials and emergency responders.
Nunez wrote on X that he felt “immense emotion” while meeting with local officials and praised the coordinated response of firefighters, emergency personnel, police, gendarmerie and civil security teams.
He said a medico-psychological emergency unit was activated shortly after the crash to support victims’ loved ones and those who witnessed the tragedy. Some family members waiting at the airport witnessed the crash, according to officials.
Nunez added that the investigation, directed by the Paris prosecutor’s office and assigned to the Air Transport Gendarmerie’s investigative unit, will determine the cause of the crash.
Tabarot described the incident as a “terrible tragedy” and extended his condolences to the victims’ families before traveling to the scene alongside Nunez.
In a later post on X, Tabarot said investigators from France’s Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses had visited the crash site and opened an investigation to determine the precise circumstances of the accident. He also described the crash as France’s deadliest aviation accident involving a skydiving flight in about 30 years.
The parachutists were preparing for tandem jumps, in which novice participants are harnessed to experienced instructors for the descent.
French broadcaster BFM-TV spoke with a local resident who said he heard what sounded like the aircraft’s engine stopping before a loud impact. When he reached the crash site, he said there were no signs of life.
In that crash, the aircraft was carrying 11 skydivers and a pilot. Many of the passengers were preparing for tandem jumps and were inexperienced first-time skydivers, officials said. Some family members waiting at the airport also witnessed the crash.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Greg Wehner is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering U.S. news and crime, with a focus on breaking developments, law enforcement, public safety and major stories shaping communities across the country.
On the women’s side, Swiatek hasn’t looked to be in top form — and it feels wide open at the All England Club. Could Aryna Sabalenka win her first major title on grass? Or will an American such as Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff or Madison Keys take advantage of the opportunity?
Chris Eubanks: My pick to win the women’s draw is Sabalenka. She’s No. 1 in the world. She’s been the most consistent player on tour for the past couple of years. And she’s made some changes to her game over the last year that I think will shine brightly on the grass.
When she brought in Max Mirnyi, she wanted to improve her transition game. It’s been about a year, and I think she has become much more comfortable transitioning to the net and finishing points off. That will be hugely important on the grass, and a Wimbledon title is one of the few things in the sport that she hasn’t been able to do. You got to think that lifting the trophy here is high on her priority list and she has a great opportunity to do that here.
D’Arcy Maine: This is tough. There isn’t an obvious choice here, and none of the recent front-runners have had runaway success on grass thus far this season. Swiatek lost in the opening round of her lone tuneup event on the surface in Bad Homburg. Sabalenka had a catastrophic collapse at Roland Garros in the quarterfinals and got bageled in the deciding set of the semifinals at the Berlin Open. Elena Rybakina, arguably one of the best players on grass in recent years, went 1-2 in her two tournaments on the surface. Mirra Andreeva, the newly crowned French Open champion, lost her only match on grass. As did Gauff, who has never advanced past the fourth round at the All England Club.
So all this to say: feeling confident about a prediction here might be next to impossible. I am — reluctantly — picking Sabalenka, largely based on her proven consistency at majors and because she might have a chip on her shoulder after Paris. But truly, it’s anyone’s guess here.
Bill Connelly: Well, I can’t be any more wrong than I was with my French Open picks, so let’s take a swing and go with Pegula. Her Wimbledon history is not great — she’s just 8-6 all time there, and four of those wins came in one run (2023) — but she has such a good grass-court game, and one of these years, her success on German grass could translate to the grass at the All England Club.
Her draw is pretty good (landing in the same quarter as Gauff, who has an even worse recent Wimbledon track record) and perhaps a bit of a favor since Tennis Abstract gives her the second-best odds of reaching the semis, behind only Sabalenka (46.1%), who she just beat on grass. This feels like a solid “If not now, then when?” situation for the 32-year-old.
Simon Cambers: Pass. OK, but you’re going to need to forgive me if I get this horribly wrong. This is the most open women’s singles at Wimbledon in recent memory, a feeling replicated by the odds, which has world No.1 Sabalenka a very vulnerable 4-1 favorite. While the Belarusian has had a couple of worrying defeats of late, defending champion Swiatek has a horrible draw in Week 1, and Rybakina and Gauff have both dropped off. Any of them are capable of playing well but the two players in form on grass are Pegula and Madison Keys. Of those two, Keys has the grass-court résumé, and if she can stay healthy, she could spring a shock.
Who is your men’s pick to win the title?
Eubanks: Sinner. His early round exit in Roland Garros was a massive shock to the tennis world but I don’t think we’ll see that in back-to-back Grand Slams. Before RG, Sinner was so dominant on tour that players were struggling to take sets off him. He won every big title that led into RG. Yes, the loss was disappointing, but I think that the mental exhaustion and fatigue of his dominance leading up to RG had to have played a part. Now that he’s had a little time off, I tend to think he’s recharged and ready to go and I’ll be looking for him to continue that dominance that we saw before Paris.
Maine: Even after his implosion at Roland Garros, Sinner still feels like the clear favorite to win the title. He is without his fiercest rival in Alcaraz and will likely be wanting to do everything he can to avenge his (still shocking) early exit in Paris. He has a relatively easy path into the second week, and while Daniil Medvedev could potentially play spoiler in the quarterfinals (he beat him in the same round in 2024) and Djokovic could await in the semifinals, this feels like his title to win.
Of course, as the French Open proved, Sinner’s most formidable foe might just be the elements. While London has been experiencing its own heat wave leading into the tournament, the temperatures are expected to be cooler in the first week (mostly in the high 70s) and should likely not be a factor for Sinner. They are expected to climb again in the second week, which could make things interesting, but one would have to think he and his team are doing everything they can to proactively address the issue, and he will at least be in a better position to handle it if necessary.
Connelly: We know what can happen to him in hotter conditions, but it still feels like a massive risk to pick anyone other than Sinner to win a tournament he enters. Novak Djokovic is at his most dangerous on grass, and a number of Americans — Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul — have honed solid grass-court games through the years. But it’s still Sinner vs. the field (and his body).
Cambers: With no Alcaraz, the path would seem clear for Sinner to repeat his triumph of 12 months ago. It all depends on whether the Italian has recovered, physically and mentally, from the issues that affected him last month in Paris, when he wilted in the heat. He’ll certainly be glad of relatively cooler conditions for Week 1, and there’s no reason to think he won’t prosper.
Djokovic has a good draw, on paper, but is in the same half as Sinner. In the other half, perhaps Ben Shelton could come through. The American won Stuttgart and his great serve makes him even more dangerous on grass. If it’s not Sinner, then Shelton could go close.
Pamela Maldonado: Iga Swiatek (+750). The question is less about who has the best odds and more about whose path matches the demands of major grass-court matches. Swiatek’s draw is pretty manageable by Wimbledon standards. Her projected path doesn’t have her facing a true power server until deep in the tournament, and her movement and return game are good enough on grass. At her price, Swiatek’s draw minimizes her biggest weakness, which is finishing points quickly on this surface.
Andre Snellings: Any American woman (+240). Wimbledon tends to be wide open on the women’s side; there has been a unique champion every season since Serena Williams won two straight in 2015 and 2016. As such, I really like this prop because it lets you bet on several players who have a legitimate chance to win. Last year’s French Open champion, Coco Gauff (+1100), Jessica Pegula (+1200), last year’s Australian Open champion, Madison Keys (+1400), last year’s Wimbledon runner-up, Amanda Anisimova (+1300), and Emma Navarro (+6000) all have cases to be made. Even Williams (+3500) — in her return to singles after years away from competition — contributes to this group of American contenders and falls under this umbrella prop in her attempt to get to 24 Grand Slam singles titles.
Who is your men’s pick to win?
Maldonado: Novak Djokovic (+600). He has the most important thing at Wimbledon: a draw that allows him to be himself because he doesn’t have to play elite players immediately. He avoids a true title contender until the semifinal, and if Novak gets to a Wimbledon semi … history says you want exposure.
Snellings: Jannik Sinner (-165). Sinner is the odds-on favorite to defend his Wimbledon title with Carlos Alcaraz still sidelined. His second-round loss at the French Open last month was shocking and has been tied to his physical reaction to the extreme heat at that tournament. Sinner was checked out medically and has only played an exhibition since that loss, but he looked good in defeating Cam Norrie 6-3, 6-3 during a heat wave in that match. I look for him to return to form, and when he is in form, Sinner is a level above the current competition with Alcaraz away.
What’s another bet that stands out on the women’s side?
Maldonado: Elena Rybakina (+600). She’s a former Wimbledon champion, has arguably the best serve in women’s tennis outside Sabalenka, has flat groundstrokes that penetrate grass, is comfortable winning short points and doesn’t have to adapt her game to the surface because her game was essentially built for it. She’s a bit off-rhythm as of late, but WTA volatility says don’t put too much weight on that.
Snellings: Aryna Sabalenka to reach the semifinal (+180). Sabalenka is the favorite to win the tournament at +350, but you get more than half the juice of a win at plus money for her to make the semifinals. While Sabalenka has some big names in her quarter, her main competition has not had success reaching the Wimbledon semifinals. Mirra Andreeva (+350) is fresh off winning her first major at the French Open, but grass is a very different surface than clay, and Andreeva has never been past the quarterfinal at Wimbledon. Neither has Karolina Muchova (+650), who has not been past the first round at Wimbledon since 2021. Sabalenka has participated in three WImbledons since 2019, and she has made the semifinal every time.
What’s another bet that stands out on the men’s side?
Maldonado: Round 1: Marin Cilic +4.5 games vs. Daniil Medvedev. Cilic is an outstanding grass-court performer. Big-serving veterans on grass can create a lot of competitive losses. Medvedev might have the better current overall form, but Cilic’s serve is still good to force at least for a tiebreak or a four-set match if not even win. The veteran serve will make Medvedev sweat every game.
Snellings: Taylor Fritz to make the semifinal (+350). Fritz is the sixth seed at Wimbledon, and he is in the same quarter with No. 2 Alexander Zverev (+200 to win the quarter), Jack Draper (+550) and Francis Tiafoe (+650). Fritz has dominated his head-to-head clashes with Zverev of late, winning seven straight matchups including their most recent meeting this month on grass in the semifinals of the Halle Open. Fritz also won their only grass matchup at a major, at Wimbledon 2024 in the round of 16. Fritz’s big serve and surprising mobility given his size serve him well on grass. He made the Wimbledon final last year and has been in at least the quarterfinals in three of the past four years.
Who’s your favorite long shot bet to win the women’s title?
Maldonado:Naomi Osaka 30-1. If you want a degenerate “what if” lottery ticket, Osaka is it. Four years ago, she would be the favorite. Grass rewards her first-strike style, her current form is stellar making the Homburg Final, her serve is back and her percentage of first serve points is 80-plus, which is a magic number on grass. Osaka can fail to be the better tennis player in her matches, but if she’s the better server, that can get her far.
Snellings:Donna Vekic to win (+4000). Vekic enters Wimbledon on a high note after having won the Queen’s Club Championship on grass in the leadup to the major. Vekic has made six finals on grass in her career and made the semifinal at Wimbledon in 2024. Her game seems to be peaking at an opportune time, particularly with many of the favorites having patchy results on grass this season.
Who’s your favorite long shot bet to win the men’s title?
Maldonado: Taylor Fritz (+2000). I expect him to get past Jack Draper in the first-round popcorn match, which could be the clash of the tournament. It won’t be easy, but if Fritz does survive, he has the elite serve, comfortable winning tiebreaks, has proven ability to win ugly and has no obvious weakness that gets amplified on grass. Fritz wins matches where the margins are tiny, and for a long shot, that bodes well. Beat Draper, beat potentially Tiafoe/Cerundolo and suddenly, you’re holding a semifinal ticket on arguably the best server remaining in the bottom half.
Snellings: Francis Tiafoe (+4000). Tiafoe has a history of putting together surprising runs in majors. He made the quarterfinals of the French Open last year, and in the three years before that, he made the semifinals at the US Open twice. In fact, he has made at least the quarterfinal in every major except Wimbledon, where his best result was a fourth-round finish in 2022. But Tiafoe is playing particularly well on grass this season with a 7-1 record, including winning the championship at Halle by defeating Taylor Fritz in the final. When his game is locked in, Tiafoe can be a tough out on any surface.
Mitchel Musso regrets working in ‘Hannah Montana’ after years?
Mitchel Musso recently admitted that he lost many opportunities because of his Hannah Montana contract with Disney.
The 34-year-old American actor and singer appeared on the Wednesday, June 24 episode of The Joe Vulpis Podcast, where he opened up about passing up different offers while Hannah Montana was airing on Disney Channel from March 25, 2006, to January 16, 2011.
Musso, who played Oliver Oken, the best friend of titular character Hannah Montana (played by Miley Cyrus), said all the actors sacrificed lucrative jobs because of the show.
He said, “I don’t know if you could have done anything bigger than Hannah [Montana] when Hannah was on, right? That was bigger than life.”
“So, I’m sure there were things that were offered to my agency, but it was impossible to do it because we were so locked in with Disney. If it wasn’t a DCOM — a Disney Channel Original Movie — then…we couldn’t do it,” the Pair of Kings star shared.
Vulpis asked him to share his most treasured memory from the set of Hannah Montana, to which Musso said the bond he made with his co-stars, especially Cyrus and Emily Osment, is something he will cherish forever.
“It was the cast. Like this is our middle school, high school, college. This was our [formative years]. We graduated a class of three. It was just me, Miley, and Emily, right? So, it was everything to us,” he quipped.
Alannah Keyser breaks silence after ‘Love Island USA’ removal
Love Island USA bombshell Alannah Keyser is speaking out after her abrupt exit from the reality dating show.
In a TikTok posted on Saturday, June 27, Alannah addressed a resurfaced video of herself singing along to a Roddy Ricch song containing a racial slur, while also disputing screenshots that circulated online.
“Hi everyone, I’m coming on here to address some things that have been circulated online,” Keyser began.
“I do want to begin by addressing the video of me singing along to a Roddy Ricch song that contains a racial slur. I’m sorry to whoever has seen that video and has been offended by it. That was never my intention,” she said.
“The video is from six years ago and that word is just not in my vocabulary anymore.”
The 21-year old admitted the backlash was difficult to process.
“When I first found out everything that was going on, it really broke my heart,” she said, adding, “But this has definitely been a learning lesson for me. And it sucks that I didn’t get a chance to really show my personality and who I am.”
Peacock confirmed Alannah’s departure during the June 25 episode.
According to the network, the resurfaced video and online posts only became public after she had entered the villa and therefore were not available during the show’s pre-filming vetting process.
Keyser’s removal comes after another contestant, Vasana Montgomery, was also kicked off over a similar controversy.
The Princess of Wales has shared an inspiring new photograph of herself smiling on a mountainside after completing Britain’s gruelling National Three Peaks Challenge on Sunday.
The Princess opened up about her own cancer journey in one of her most personal messages yet.
Dressed in hiking gear and surrounded by breathtaking scenery, Kate looked happy and determined as she reflected on the physical and emotional journey that inspired her latest challenge.
The future Queen revealed she undertook the demanding trek not only to test herself, but to “explore life beyond diagnosis” and raise awareness of the lasting impact cancer has on patients and their families.
In a heartfelt Instagram caption, the Princess spoke candidly about how cancer affects every part of a person’s life-not just physically, but emotionally, psychologically and spiritually.
Sharing her own experience, she explained that recovery requires far more than medical treatment alone, saying she wanted to shine a light on the importance of holistic healthcare and the support patients need long after diagnosis.
Her challenge was completed in aid of The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, the hospital where Kate received treatment and of which she and Prince William are Joint Patrons.
Funds raised will help expand access to complementary therapies alongside clinical care and support research into integrating holistic care into cancer treatment across the UK.
The Princess successfully climbed the highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales-Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) within 24 hours.
Covering around 23 miles with more than 10,000 feet of ascent, the remarkable endurance challenge is considered one of Britain’s toughest outdoor feats.
She completed the trek with support from Mountain Rescue before being greeted at the finish by Prince William, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and members of the Middleton family.
In recent months she has visited cancer centres, met patients, and repeatedly shared the importance of supporting not only those living with cancer but also the loved ones who walk the journey beside them.
Her latest message ends with a powerful reminder that resonates with countless families: “Please know you are not alone.”
The humble sausage toll could be set for a modern makeover.
Scientists are working on a way to make one of Britain’s favourite snacks healthier without ruining its distinctive flaky pastry.
An estimated 10-15 million sausage rolls are sold in the UK each week, but a single one can contain more than 60% of an adult’s recommended daily saturated fat intake.
Now, researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh are developing a new way to make their layered pastry, stating this could “significantly” cut the amount of saturated fat.
If successful, the team has said the process could be applied to a range of popular pastries to make them healthier.
Scientists are working on a way to make one of Britain´s favourite snacks healthier (PA)
Professor Stephen Euston, from Heriot-Watt’s School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, said: “We want to lower the level of saturated fat while keeping the taste and texture that people love.
“We’re focused on sausage rolls, but this also applies to other baked goods that contain laminated pastry such as croissants, Danish pastries and sweet or savoury turnovers.
“Reducing the saturated fat content of these ubiquitous snacks could have a very positive impact on the nation’s health and waistlines.”
The puff pastry used in sausage rolls and other baked goods relies on fat for its distinctive flaky texture.
The team is hoping to find a way to replace the solid fats currently used with healthier liquid oils like sunflower or rapeseed, which are lower in saturated fat.
This involves using a process called oleogelation to turn them into a “solid-like fat”.
The team hopes this will mimic the behaviour of traditional fats, and deliver the same flaky texture.
“Making flaky pastry is surprisingly complicated,” Prof Euston explained.
“The fat is not just there for flavour; it plays a crucial structural role in the pastry.
“You need the fat sitting between the layers of dough so that when the pastry bakes, steam forces those layers apart and gives you that flaky texture people expect.
“Simply replacing the fat with a healthier oil doesn’t work, because liquid oils lack the structure needed to separate the pastry layers.”
Now researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh are developing a new way to make their layered pastry, saying this could ‘significantly’ cut the amount of saturated fat (PA)
The team said they are focusing on oils from crops that can be grown in the UK, in order to minimise the impact of the approach on the environment.
As well as potential health benefits, Professor Euston said the research could benefit bakers as well.
Traditional laminated pastry often has to be chilled repeatedly during production so that the fat layers do not melt as the dough is folded.
Prof Euston said: “We are hoping our oleogels will stay stable at higher temperatures, which means manufacturers may not have to chill the pastry as much.
“If we are lucky, they might not need to chill it at all.”
The 10-month project is seeing researchers at Heriot-Watt working with industry collaborators New Food Innovation and AB Mauri.
The team has been funded by the UK Research and Innovation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (UKRI EPSRC), with the aim of moving their modified pastry from the lab into the kitchen, and putting its taste to the test with real people.
Dr Andrew Bourne, UKRI ESPRC’s executive director for innovation and partnerships, said: “UKRI EPSRC’s Impact Acceleration Awards use public funding to turn promising research into practical solutions, and this project does exactly that.
“By taking innovative food science out of the lab into the kitchen and testing it with everyday consumers, it has the potential to make the nation’s favourite snacks healthier and make a genuine difference to our health and wellbeing.”
Alongside pastry, the researchers are also exploring whether the same technology could reduce saturated fat in vegan cheese alternatives.
President Donald Trump takes a firm stance on Iran’s economic downturn and ongoing nuclear negotiations, emphasizing that U.S. forces are ready if diplomacy fails. John Roberts and Sandra Smith report on the White House cabinet meeting, where Trump discussed Iran’s high inflation and lack of sanctions relief. Dr. Mahsa Tehrani questions the trustworthiness of the Islamic Republic.
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Tehran has deployed a new front on Western social media, including a covert influence campaign to sway Americans and undermine President Donald Trump’s push for a nuclear deal, experts warned Sunday.
Following the February U.S. strikes on Iran that decapitated much of Tehran’s leadership and the signing of an interim memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Tehran and Washington, the analysts also claim Iranian officials are relying more on digital proxies to project centralized control.
“Iran’s leadership now lives on X because it is a decapitated leadership,” counterterrorism expert Dr. Omar Mohammed told Fox News Digital.
“The regime has moved its legitimacy contest onto a platform, and once you are fighting there, you optimize for it,” Mohammed, of the George Washington Program on Extremism, added.
The administration’s memorandum of understanding with Tehran has exposed a divide among Republicans over what constitutes victory after the military campaign against Iran.(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“There are English, screenshot-ready lines, memeable contempt and civilizational pride. It is adaptation under pressure — an influence operation forced by the fact that the men running Iran can no longer stand at a podium.”
After Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed on Feb. 28, the regime’s senior leadership was largely eliminated, and the new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is in hiding. Mohammed said Iran’s digital messaging has since become more centralized.
“The coordination between the leadership is visible: You watch the same lines reposted verbatim by the judiciary chief, the vice president and the security council within minutes,” the expert explained.
“That is a central media shop pushing copy, not officials independently moved by the same spirit at the same moment. And the register gives it away.”
According to Mohammed, the regime’s X accounts serve as a manufactured proxy for the leadership vacuum while exploiting political divisions in the United States, a strategy that he says surfaced even more after Trump signed a new peace deal on June 17 in Versailles.
“Tehran is not aiming at the United States as a single entity,” Mohammed said.
New Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and President Donald Trump are shown side by side as opposing figures in the Middle East.(Vahid Salemi/AP; Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP)
“It reads Washington as two power centers and pitches to both — working to embarrass the deal the president owns while speaking the language of multipolarity back to the worldview it attributes to the vice president.”
In the wake of the signing and the first round of negotiations in Switzerland, for example, Trump said on Truth Social that unfrozen Iranian assets would be used to buy American agricultural products, including soybeans, wheat and corn.
The Treasury Department, he wrote, would release the Iranian assets “into escrow, controlled by the United States, and will be used for the purchase of food and medical supplies, exclusively from the United States, including corn, wheat and soybeans from our great American farmers. These are things that are desperately needed by Iran.”
The regime’s posts from its lead negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, mocked the claims as “trash talks.”
“America falsely claims our unfrozen assets will buy their agriculture. Interesting. The only crop we’re harvesting is what you planted: decades of mistrust. It’s organic, abundant, and homegrown. But apparently the U.S. only exports GMO soybeans, broken promises and trash talks,” Ghalibaf wrote on X.
“The agriculture jab is aimed straight at Trump, who personally sold the frozen-assets release to American farmers as a corn-and-soybean windfall, so mocking ‘GMO soybeans and broken promises’ is built to embarrass the deal he owns,” Mohammed claimed.
Vance tells Fox News Digital the U.S.-Iran deal tests whether Tehran will trade decades of isolation for sanctions relief and renewed Western ties.(Fox News Digital)
“Tehran gains if it can discredit the deal the president is selling,” he added.
“That is also not a 64-year-old Iranian speaker writing for himself; that is a young social media team writing in his name,” Mohammed said.
Mohammed also noted Trump’s posts are his own, with the “account and the man the same.”
“The Iranian accounts are the reverse. They come from an institution manufacturing a public presence for a leadership that can no longer appear in person,” he said.
As ordinary Iranian citizens continue to face strict internet restrictions at home, Tehran’s elite enjoy open access to foreign platforms to target Western audiences.
Tehran has deployed a new front on Western social media, including an influence campaign to sway Americans and undermine President Donald Trump’s push for a deal, analysts warn.(Hamed Malekpour / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)
Alp Toker, of internet monitoring firm NetBlocks, told Fox News Digital that the regime had “learned” asymmetric information warfare.
“These regimes are learning to combine social media, AI and internet censorship as tools for asymmetric information warfare, benefiting from a global audience while sidestepping accountability to their own citizens,” he said.
“There is a two-tier system in which government officials can use the platform freely to promote their agenda while denying access to their citizens, as they do in Iran.
“It’s a double-edged sword — you get more open politics at the cost of regime propagandization.
“Iranian authorities, among others, are getting better at gaming this system,” Toker added.
Mohammed said the parallel systems — a heavily censored internet at home and what he described as an “open megaphone” aimed at Western audiences — provide the strongest evidence the campaign is an external influence operation rather than organic domestic speech.
Emma Bussey is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Before joining Fox, she worked at The Telegraph with the U.S. overnight team, across desks including foreign, politics, news, sport and culture.
• Joined ESPN in 2011 • Covered two Olympics, a pair of Rugby World Cups and two British & Irish Lions tours • Previously rugby editor, and became senior writer in 2018
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The 2026 World Cup might be the final curtain call for some of the game’s greats, but it will also be remembered for a tournament where generational talents took their first steps on the world stage.
Some would have heard of Yan Diomande before they saw him play a full match. Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool have been frequently mentioned as suitors alongside nine-figure transfer fees, with news Sunday that he’s leaning towards PSG. All the while, in his own understated way, as the hype grows, Diomande, 19, just goes about his business, ruining defenders and thrilling those watching.
He has been one of the breakout stars of the past season, but he only played top-flight football for the first time 15 months ago. One of his close friends and former roommates James Eliuda at the private sports training and educational institution DME Academy in Daytona Beach has been fully aware for a while of the man they call “Dio.”
Diomande was one of several African soccer players who had been recommended to the DME Academy and opted to take spots in their program. “We got sent a video of him from the under-17 AFCON and the minute you watched it, you thought, ‘Oh well, this is going to be fun,'” Todd Eason, director of soccer at DME from 2021 to 20224, tells ESPN.
Diomande arrived at DME in mid-September in 2022 from his home in the Ivory Coast. Eliuda had already been there a week by the time Diomande arrived. He met his roommate at reception, helped him with his bags up the steps and showed him to their room.
There was a language barrier to navigate. Diomande spoke French; Eliuda spoke Arabic. “I could understand English but didn’t have the confidence to talk it. He could understand a couple of words, but that was it. So we used very basic sign language. Like miming if you wanted to eat, or ‘how are you?’ Thumbs-up and things like that. Obviously, football. When we got into the room, he mimed that he wanted me to take a photo of him. He later explained that it was to let his mum he’d arrived OK.”
After the photo, some students from Puerto Rico knocked on the door and asked if they were up for kicking a ball about. Eliuda thought Diomande would prefer just to sleep, but he was adamant they go and play.
“I thought he’d be tired after his long flight, but then he picked up the ball,” Eliuda says. “He was doing things different to anything I’d ever seen. He started juggling the ball on his shoulders, he was doing crazy stuff already.”
The two learned English from language app Duolingo, and at school alongside their football sessions. Eliuda is a central midfielder, so he had Diomande running up and down the wings next to him. Training boiled over. “He’d get mad in training sometimes, we got tired, and you’d end up kicking each other a little bit. He’d get mad, so he’d get the ball off the goalkeeper and just start dribbling around everyone. You try to be aggressive to get it back, but he’s quicker and stronger than me.”
Eason had a translator with him, but Diomande soon took over the duties, translating Eason’s advice in training into French for the two Senegalese players. “That’s when I realized how intelligent he was as language wasn’t needed for his understanding of the game,” Eason says.
“He was a nervous lad though at the start, and struggled sometimes to control his emotions. He was always concerned about his mum and home, and he took time to adapt to the culture here.” Diomande struggled with the different food, and also differences in manners and customs. “He did make a family at DME though with his friends.”
Eason remembers Diomande’s loyalty. “The Senegalese lads picked on James a little bit, so in a training session, Dio went after the two of them to shut them up. He was so protective of his friends and people he’s loyal to. He thought James was being treated unfairly, so he thought ‘I’m going to take care of this.’ He went into a tackle, took one of them out, and after that they knew that Dio was in control.”
The team from DME played against other academies and club teams. Their first match together didn’t go to plan.
“We played another academy, and he elbowed a kid. It was a set piece, and this guy was kicking his ankles, stepping on his heel, so Dio just hit him,” Eason says. “I was like, ‘What just happened?!’ Dio got a red card. Afterward, he apologized to the team, he wasn’t yet quite acclimated. In the next couple of matches, he’d go down after a slight touch. I told him that wasn’t on. So then he took the kicks, adapted and moved on. He’s so quick to learn.”
But Diomande soon found his stride. “I couldn’t challenge them. Every time I put him in the game, I thought ‘this is far too easy for him,'” Eason says. In February, MLS clubs came to Florida for preseason. Eason knew Eric Boucher at Colorado Rapids, and he trained with their second team. That was too easy. So he went up to train with their senior team in Orlando. They had to sort it with his school, but they made it work.
“I got a call from one of the coaches saying, Dio had just made our senior captain Keegan Rosenberry look foolish. We had to do something about it. Whatever level you threw him into, he rose to it. I just couldn’t find any competition that would humble him. And that’s where I put in a call to a team down in Orlando.”
Eason pointed them toward affiliate local United Premier Soccer League side Frenzi. “We have a connection with DME through our owner, so we offer some of their players semi-professional football,” Tyler Weston, then coach of Frenzi and now head soccer coach of Liverpool International Academy Maryland, tells ESPN.
“We’ve had a Puerto Rican international here, and other decent players like James and Dio. I remember the call from Todd, he said, ‘Hey we have a kid from the Ivory Coast who could be good, I think this would help develop his mindset.’ Then we saw him play and wow, I thought ‘Hey, we have, we have something really special here.’ Dio was thrown into the mix and stood out right from the beginning.”
The question was where to play him. Weston favoured a 3-5-2 at the time. “I played a sort of heavy left side, with three at the back, and I made a controversial call early on. I picked him at wingback. He’d never played there, but when I asked him he said: ‘Coach, wherever you need me to play, like, I, I can do it.’ He had such a calm demeanor.
“I know it sounds crazy now that he was at wingback, but his engine was just unbelievable. He completely bought into our team ethos that our success is defined by the opportunities we give to these players.”
MLS teams were taking notice. Eason and Diomande’s agent had received calls from “five to 10 MLS teams” wanting to know more. “Dio knew about that, but never once did he say or even hint ‘I’m too good to be here.’ When we were in hotels for away games, the dude would be up at 6 a.m., juggling in the parking lot and doing different sorts of stuff to get his body and mindset ready. It wasn’t always easy for him. The league had former MLS players in it, so they knew how to defend him, frustrate him. But he was composed: if a couple of reps weren’t successful, he’d reset himself.”
In 2023, Weston felt he had a squad capable of winning the UPSL. He namechecks Adrian Biaggi, a Puerto Rico international now at University of Central Illinois, Charles Ahl, at the Pittsburgh Riverhounds and Aidan Godinho, who was drafted to Montreal Impact at the start of the year. But the star act was Diomande.
As the season developed at Frenzi, interest grew in Diomande from MLS sides. He had a couple of trials midseason, “but nothing got in the way of Frenzi,” Weston says. “I spent the whole season wondering when we’d have to say goodbye to him. I was preparing for the conversation where you say, ‘Hey, you know, this might be the time where you have to jump into a new environment. We love you, but this is the right opportunity.’ But he was adamant he wanted to finish the season and win the championship.”
He was there with his friends, playing in the same team as Eliuda and Ghanian striker Charles Christian. “I remember this match against Legacy, a team from Gainesville. It went to extra time. Players were flagging, but not Dio. In the 118th minute, he was still sprinting up and down the wing. It was genuinely astonishing.”
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Klinsmann: Ivory Coast’s Yan Diomande a ‘very special player’
Frenzi reached the final of the UPSL and played Sporting Wichita. Diomande scored their opener, but the game went to extra time. A match report read how in the 115th minute “Diomande exhibited remarkable precision and composure, elegantly curling the ball into the bottom right corner of the net.” It secured Diomande the golden boot and Frenzi their first UPSL title.
“You knew he was way past MLS and was already one of the greatest players ever in the history of the UPSL,” Weston says. “He just made you go ‘wow.'”
Diomande was attracting interest from overseas. He trained at Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Rangers. “I was young so I didn’t really know what was going on, but it was fun seeing players like [Michael] Olise and [Eberechi] Eze,” Diomande told reporters in May. He also trained with Colorado Rapids and Charlotte FC but didn’t want to start his career in the MLS. Eventually, it was Leganes who tempted him to La Liga, signing for them in late 2024, and joining them in January 2025.
“A lot of people don’t really know this story, but the owner of Leganes runs an investment group in Houston called Blue Crow, and I think he’s just bought Cascade, a USL club. But he was also funding the African group that was partnered with me that was identifying all these players. I think he fell out with his African partner, and so he took Dio and another player to Leganes.”
Diomande made his debut for Leganes against Real Madrid on March 29, 2025, and scored his first goal against Espanyol on May 11. He’d played 542 minutes in La Liga and that was enough for RB Leipzig who that summer activated his €20 million minimum fee release clause and took him to the Bundesliga. A year on and he had played in the African Cup of Nations and been crowned the league’s Rookie of the Season after a campaign which saw him score 13 goals and register 10 assists for Leipzig. And now Liverpool — his father’s team — and PSG are knocking on the door.
“I remember watching him play Olise at Bayern, and Olise got the better of him. I thought, ‘Finally, Dio’s met his match,'” Eason says. “Then he played him again and he was outstanding. He’s got this ability to adapt and his understanding, intelligence of the game along with his physical attributes and technical ability, well, he’s just a player that I just don’t think has hit his ceiling.”
Whatever decision he makes on next season — whether to take the leap to one of Europe’s elite clubs or remain at RB Leipzig — he will put his development and his family first. Ever since he arrived in Florida for the first time back in September 2022 and immediately sent a photo back to his mum, it has been about family. “He loves his family so much,” Eliuda says. “His sister, Roxane, meant so much to him, too but she passed away. He really loves his family, and he always talks to them, always wants to be around him.
“Being around him does inspire you. You’re inspired by how he plays, and how he conducts himself. You’re just not going to doubt him, are you? You know he’s going to show up.”
On Tuesday, Ivory Coast play Norway. Diomande will be there on the left wing. The cameras will be on him and Erling Haaland. But Diomande will be locked in.
Watching his every step, flick and dart, there will be a small pocket of people dotted up and down the U.S. who will smile knowing they played alongside the man they called Dio. “He’s so disciplined, and always makes the right choice based on the best environment for him to develop. I represented my national team under-15, U17s and U20s, and I’ve never seen anything like Dio,” Eliuda says.
“He’s the best person I ever played with, and I got to watch him play with my own eyes.”
