Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip call it “watermelon salad.”

A 27-year-old internet star has died after drinking 'Chinese firewater' on a live stream. Zhong Yuan Huang Ge was allegedly seen chugging a bottle of the local spirit known as baijiu, which alcohol content ranges between 35 to 60 per cent. Huang's Douyin account – the Chinese version of TikTok – has reportedly since been deleted. His wife confirmed the devastating news, according to The Straits Times, explaining that he had been "desperately" trying to make money to pay off debt. She said he had "to repay hundreds of thousands of yuan in debt that he owed before his marriage". Huang's death marks the second in a month as a result of drinking challenges, after a fellow influencer experienced a similar fate. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The man, identified as Wang Moufeng, was found dead on 17 May after reportedly drinking four bottles of the alcohol for his fans. "When his family found him, he was already gone," a friend identified as Zhao informed Shangyou News. "He didn’t even get a chance for emergency treatment." In a bizarre turn of events, the pair were actually friends with Huang attending Moufeng's funeral weeks prior to his own death. "I don’t know how much he had consumed before I tuned in. But in the latter part of the video, I saw him finish three bottles before starting on a fourth," Zhao told The Straits Times. He added: "The PK games ended at around 1 a.m. and by 1 p.m., (when his family found him) he was gone." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

F1 returns to the Circuit of the Americas this weekend for the US Grand Prix – and the fifth sprint weekend of the season. Max Verstappen sealed the 2023 world title last time out in Qatar and also claimed his 14th grand prix victory of the season. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was driver of the weekend, however, winning the sprint race and coming second in the grand prix on Sunday. PREVIEW: Daniel Ricciardo must prove he still belongs on the F1 grid Lewis Hamilton had a weekend to forget, crashing into Mercedes team-mate George Russell, while the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were among the chasing pack. Lando Norris finished third to secure a double podium for McLaren. Verstappen won a thrilling race at COTA last year, edging out Lewis Hamilton who has still not won a race since the 2021 season. Hamilton is, however, a five-time winner at the circuit. Follow live updates from the United States Grand Prix with The Independent Read More Lewis Hamilton insists F1 must remain extreme: ‘Let’s not get too soft’ Daniel Ricciardo must prove he still belongs on the F1 grid F1 drivers react as sport governing body increases size of fines

From a portable litter box to a calming plush toy, the best pet travel accessories take the stress out of planning trips with dogs and cats.

Of all the sweet dishes in the world, you wouldn’t expect the simple flan to be so well-travelled,” says chef Jeremy Pang. “Yet when you look at the simplicity of its ingredients – essentially a sweetened and flavoured egg custard – you can see why so many cultures have adopted the flan into their own cuisines. “This coffee-flavoured version is found in most coffee shops in Vietnam, but it’s also one of the most popular desserts in the Philippines.” Coffee and coconut flan Makes: 10 Ingredients: For the caramel: 300g caster sugar 300ml water For the custard: 6 large eggs, at room temperature 400ml coconut milk 300ml condensed milk 1 shot of strong espresso (swapsies: 2 tbsp good-quality instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water) Whipped cream, fresh fruit or sugared peanuts, to decorate Method: 1. Stand 10 ramekins in an ovenproof dish or a deep-sided baking tray. Preheat the oven to 160C/350F/gas mark 4. 2. For the caramel, place the sugar and water in a saucepan on a low heat and stir for three to four minutes, until the sugar fully dissolves. Increase the heat to high and allow the sugar syrup to boil vigorously, without stirring, for about five to six minutes until it reaches a rich golden brown colour, taking care to ensure it doesn’t burn. Once ready, carefully and without hesitation, divide the caramel between the ramekins to form a layer of caramel on the base of each one. 3. For the custard, crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl, add the coconut milk and condensed milk, and beat well to form a thick, smooth mixture. Add the coffee and stir in, then strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve into a jug. Divide evenly between the ramekins. 4. Pour boiling water into the ovenproof dish until level with the top of the custard in the ramekins, being careful not to get any in the flans. Bake for 45 minutes to one hour, depending on size, until set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly, then remove the ramekins from the hot water, taking care not to burn yourself. Allow to cool completely before serving. 5. To serve, loosen the rim of each flan using a dampened finger and then turn out onto a serving plate. Decorate with whipped cream, fresh fruit or sugared peanuts. ‘Jeremy Pang’s School Of Wok: Simple Family Feasts’ (Hamlyn, £22). Read More Marina O’Loughlin is wrong – there’s joy in solo dining Budget Bites: Three recipes to keep food bills down before pay day Meal plan: Romesco chicken and other recipes to fall in love with The chef who hated food as a child Midweek comfort food: Singaporean curry sauce and rice How to make Thai favourite lemongrass chicken stir-fry

The 2023/24 La Liga season is still in its relatively early stages, but with Real

If Quordle is a little too challenging today, you've come to the right place for

A professional cuddler who makes a living giving clients hugs has said people travel from all over the globe to receive the cuddle therapy she offers which is “far less intimate than a massage” and helps people from “all walks of life”. Natasha Wicks, 44, from Coventry, West Midlands, says that despite criticism, cuddling is scientifically proven to release happy hormones like dopamine and that a lot of her clients are “the big spoon in life” and go to her for emotional support that they do not have at home. As such, many of her clients are caregivers and most of them join Natasha for two-hour hugging sessions, costing £70 an hour. The sessions vary depending on what the client wants, some having “emotional hugs”, others talking more and some wanting to “sit at opposite ends of the sofa with our legs and feet entwined”. Natasha became a cuddle therapist in 2015 and, while she has had comments online from people criticising the practice, she said that her family and friends were unsurprised when she first started giving professional cuddles. She said: “They all said to me that I give the best cuddles so it’s not surprising that I’d start doing it as a job. “It’s very much what I do, I help people and want to make people feel better. It’s a natural thing when someone is going through a tough time to want to give them a hug. “Cuddle therapy might not be as widely accepted in society but it’s far less intimate than other things like massages which are seen as normal.” Prior to becoming a cuddler, Natasha originally trained as a CBT therapist and counsellor. She said: “There’d be situations where I would be talking to someone and they’d really need a hug, but obviously, you’d have professional boundaries in place and it wouldn’t have been appropriate. “It was just a really natural thing. One client had finished her final session and we had agreed that she wasn’t my patient anymore so we hugged goodbye. She said to me that she’d wanted to do that for a long time and I thought ‘me too’.” Looking into cuddle therapy, which she said was increasing in popularity in 2014, Natasha took a training course. By 2015, she was a qualified cuddler and started taking on new patients for cuddle sessions. Natasha provides a minimum session of one hour but said most people go for at least two hours, sometimes longer if they are receiving more than one type of therapy. She said: “I always give people a hug on the doorstep when they arrive and then they’ll come in and relax, and we’ll have an initial chat about what brings them here. After that, I’ll put on some ambient music and we’ll have a cuddle on my cuddle sofa. “It can be daunting coming into a stranger’s house and I can tell the difference in them from arriving to leaving. The first hug they might be angled away from me but when we’re hugging goodbye, I can get my head in between their neck and shoulders and you can almost feel that a weight has been lifted from them.” There is not one type of person that visits Natasha for cuddles, but she says that a lot of her clients are caregivers. She said: “There’s all sorts of people who come for a cuddle, from people who have moved away from home for the first time and just want a mum hug all the way to people in their 80s. “I’m inclusive of all genders and all ages. I get a lot of clients who are the carers of their family and they are so busy looking after other people, and probably giving the hugs and support to other people, that they don’t have that for themselves. “A lot of people that come to see me are generally people are the big spoon in the life – they take care of others and don’t want to show a vulnerable side to people because they don’t want people to worry that they can’t cope. “I get a lot of carers, a lot of NHS staff, a lot of mums, a lot of people that are in a world where they have to be the strong one in the situation and they just want to be able to come here and let their guard down.” Natasha’s priority is to make people feel at ease when they arrive as she said it can be “nerve wracking” turning up at someone’s house for a hug. Setting out clear boundaries prior to meeting, the therapist has said that the patients she has welcomed into her home have all been respectful. She added: “I always say to people that when your body relaxes, your tummy might crumble and mine might too, but that people don’t need to worry about it. Sometimes people fall asleep and they might snore or fart, it’s just natural things that happen. It’s happened twice where someone has got an erection and that’s fine, I have boundaries and we’ll just change position. “I want people to feel reassured that, as soon as they get in, they feel comfortable.” Despite the unconventional therapy, when Natasha first took on cuddle clients, she said her family were completely “unsurprised” and the step from CBT therapy to cuddle therapy was a “natural evolution”. While Natasha focuses her time on a holistic approach for treating people, she noted that there is also neuroscience behind cuddles. According to the 44-year-old, physical touch activates the brain’s orbitofrontal cortex and cuddling releases oxytocin, dopamine and serotonin. Now, Natasha also does EMDR therapy and is a mental health swim host, and has clients travel from all over the globe to receive her hugs. She said: “Working from Coventry is brilliant because I’m only nine minutes on the train from Birmingham Airport and people come to visit me from all over. I get a client from Belgium, someone from Ireland and people from all over the UK who come to see me. “I wanted to find a sofa bed that just looked like a big comfy sofa for cuddle sessions. I’d started off with a big L shaped sofa but after about five years, it was sagging a bit, there’d been a lot of healing done on that sofa and it was time for a new one. “Now I have a sofa bed in my living room that I use as my cuddle sofa. It’s in the living room and it’s used for everyday life, watching TV with my partner, having people round and also for my work.” Breaking down the taboo around cuddle therapy, Natasha hopes more people will embrace the alternative treatment. She added: “As it’s become more popular, more people are becoming qualified as cuddlers and I think that’s great. “I’ve had comments online before of people thinking it’s weird or not understanding but there are other things we accept in society that are much more intimate than cuddles, like massages. “It’s not weird, it’s actually a really lovely thing to be able to make another soul feel better for a while.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live New warnings about ‘concerning’ rise in at-home cosmetic dentistry What is ‘beer tanning’ and why are experts warning against it? Christian Cowan: Designing is like dreaming

Confidence in the Supreme Court sank to its lowest point in at least 50 years in 2022, after the Dobbs decision that overturned the right to abortion and which led to state bans and other abortion restrictions

Strong jet streams across the Atlantic are seeing passenger airplanes knock more than an hour off their flight times, as they hit speeds of 761 mph -- the speed of sound. However, they're not breaking the sound barrier -- here's why.

Britain’s largest budget airline will send “rescue flights” for passengers stranded abroad by air traffic control chaos. As hundreds of flights were cancelled on Tuesday, easyJet confirmed it would operate five repatriation flights to London Gatwick over the coming days. The rescue flights will operate from Palma and Faro on 30 August, Tenerife and Enfidha on 31 August and Rhodes on 1 September. More than 1,200 flights to, from and within the UK were grounded by the failure at the national air traffic provider Nats, with around 200,000 people sleeping at airports overnight. Earlier on Tuesday, easyJet grounded more than 80 flights, including three dozen at Gatwick, including those serving popular tourist destinations such as Athens and Venice. Confirming the rescue flights, an easyJet spokesperson said: “We have been providing customers with assistance and hotel accommodation and advising anyone who has needed to make their own hotel or alternative travel arrangements that they will be reimbursed. “During this traditionally very busy week for travel, options for returning to the UK are more limited on some routes and so easyJet will be operating five repatriation flights to London Gatwick over the coming days from Palma and Faro on August 30, and Tenerife and Enfidha on Thursday August 31 and from Rhodes on Friday September 1. “We are also operating larger aircraft on key routes including Faro, Ibiza, Dalaman and Tenerife to provide some additional 700 seats this week. “Although this situation was outside of our control, we are sorry for the difficulty this has caused for our customers and remain focused on doing all possible to assist and repatriate them. Customers will be moved onto repatriation flights and notified directly.” Meanwhile, National Air Traffic Services (Nats) confirmed that the air traffic control failure was caused by flight data received by the organisation, prompting both its primary and backup systems to suspend automatic processing. His statement appeared to confirm earlier reports from sources who told The Independent that a dodgy flight plan filed by a French airline may have sparked the major systems meltdown. “Very occasionally technical issues occur that are complex and take longer to resolve. In the event of such an issue our systems are designed to isolate the problem and prioritise continued safe air traffic control”, the statement from Nats CEO Martin Rolfe read. “This is what happened yesterday. At no point was UK airspace closed but the number of flights was significantly reduced. Initial investigations into the problem show it relates to some of the flight data we received. “Our systems, both primary and the back-ups, responded by suspending automatic processing to ensure that no incorrect safety-related information could be presented to an air traffic controller or impact the rest of the air traffic system. There are no indications that this was a cyber-attack.” Read More EasyJet lays on rescue flights as ‘dodgy French flight plan’ blamed for air traffic chaos – latest More travel chaos after 300,000 hit by cancellations – and French error blamed for air traffic mayhem Ask Me Anything: Put your questions to Simon Calder as flight cancellations cause mayhem across Europe Caught in the air traffic control nightmare? Your rights when flights go wrong Everything you need to know about air traffic control failure on Tuesday Travel chaos over bank holiday weekend as BA and easyJet cancel dozens of flights Train strikes and cancelled flights spell Bank Holiday travel chaos

The first race of the 2024 season will be held on a Saturday night in Bahrain as Formula 1 released the calendar for next year. Bahrain, which has hosted the season-opener since 2021, has usually hosted its grand prix on a Sunday as is customary in the sport, but due to Ramadan next year’s race will be on a Saturday night. Sunday is considered a “feast day” during the Islamic festival, which sees the world’s almost two-billion Muslims fast between sunrise and sunset during the other six days of the week. The second race in Saudi Arabia will also be on a Saturday, meaning there will be three out of the record-breaking 24 races held a day earlier than usual, with Las Vegas set for a Saturday night lights out. The Chinese Grand Prix – not held since 2019 due to Covid-19 restrictions – is set to return in Shanghai on April 21, while there are no brand new additions to the calendar, with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps extending its contract for another season after potential plans for a race in South Africa fell through. The British Grand Prix at Silverstone will be held in its traditional slot on Sunday 7 July and the season will climax, as usual, with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina on December 8. 2024 CALENDAR IN FULL: February 29-March 2: Bahrain Grand Prix at Sakhir March 7-9: Saudi Arabia Grand Prix at Jeddah March 22-24: Australia Melbourne April 5-7: Japan Grand Prix at Suzuka April 19-21: China Grand Prix at Shanghai May 3-5: Miami Grand Prix at Miami May 17-19: Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola May 24-26: Monaco Grand Prix at Monaco June 7-9: Canada Grand Prix at Montreal June 21-23: Spain Grand Prix at Barcelona June 28-30: Austria Grand Prix at Spielberg July 5-7: British Grand Prix at Silverstone July 19-21: Hungary Grand Prix at Budapest July 26-28: Belgium Grand Prix at Spa August 23-25: Netherlands Grand Prix at Zandvoort August 30-September 1: Italy Grand Prix at Monza September 13-15: Azerbaijan Grand Prix at Baku September 20-22: Singapore Grand Prix at Singapore October 18-20: USA Grand Prix at Austin October 25-27: Mexico Grand Prix at Mexico City November 1-3: Brazil Grand Prix at Sao Paulo November 21-23: Las Vegas Grand Prix at Las Vegas November 29–December 1: Grand Prix at Qatar Lusail December 6-8: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina