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Audi is testing a prototype for a high-riding off-road vehicle that looks to be based on the Q6 e-tron Sportback. The vehicle rides on Toyo Open Country M/T tires and has a vastly wider track than the normal Q6 e-tron Sportback. The bumpers have been restyled with large lights and a pair of tow hooks up front. In January, Audi conquered the grueling Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia with its RS Q e-tron race car, piloted by rally legend Carlos Sainz. Now Audi appears to be preparing a limited-edition celebration of its Dakar triumph, with our spy photographers catching Audi testing an off-road-oriented SUV. The all-terrain vehicle appears to be based on the recently revealed Audi Q6 e-tron Sportback, and if it reaches production we expect it to be offered in extremely limited numbers. The Q6 e-tron Sportback 4x4 Dakar—as we'll call it until Audi reveals an official name—has a comically tall ride height and a wide track. Audi has fashioned bulbous wheel arches that extend outward from the body and create a purposeful stance. The front bumper appears to have been redesigned with huge lights and a rectangular cutout that houses a pair of tow hooks. The restyled front and rear bumpers, along with the ample ground clearance, seem to give the SUV excellent approach and departure angles. The Q6 e-tron Dakar tribute rides on chunky Toyo Open Country M/T tires and is fitted with a sleek roof rack. The roof-mounted storage piece looks to be identical to the unit found atop the Audi Q8 e-tron edition Dakar, a special-edition model launched in January on the eve of the Dakar Rally. Audi has recently shown an increased interest in off-roaders. Along with its entry into the Dakar Rally, Audi showed the Activesphere concept in 2023, a lifted coupe-style SUV that could transform into a pickup truck thanks to a split tailgate and a sliding rear glass panel. While the off-road Q6 e-tron Sportback doesn't appear to have the concept's fancy transforming rear end, the stance echos the all-terrain look of the Activesphere. Very little is known about the Q6 e-tron Sportback 4x4 Dakar, but Audi may unveil the vehicle during the buildup to the 2025 Dakar Rally, which kicks off on January 3. The standard Q6 e-tron comes with a dual-motor all-wheel-drive powertrain producing 456 horsepower, and Audi will also offer an SQ6 e-tron that can churn out up to 510 horsepower with its boost feature activated. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a62279905/audi-q6-e-tron-sportback-dakar-spied/

Bernardo Silva is tackled by William Saliba during last season’s draw at the Etihad in March. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian Dance while the world burns. You have to hand it to English football. It is above all endlessly adaptable. Everything is content. Never stop selling. Even if the thing you’re selling may just turn out to be the ground beneath your own feet. The days leading up to any big soaraway Super Sunday showdown tend to bring an avalanche of messages from gambling companies describing their latest match-day lures. With Arsenal due at the Etihad on Sunday afternoon the gambling emails have once again flowed like wine, albeit with a topical twist this time. As of Wednesday (also known as Tribunal Day Three) you can access a range of bets tailored breathlessly to City’s financial charges, as though this is all actually just another football match, including HOT MARKETS on deductions, fines and even relegation (a miserly 6-1: these people really do know their wishful-thinking demographic). There is at least a bracing degree of honesty in all this. For the broadcasters it is a trickier subject. How to deal with this thing, in the week when it finally became a thing, one that undermines so many other things, not least your own relentlessly upbeat entertainment product? Come Sunday afternoon the chat around the lighted plinth will be about bottling or not bottling, about whether Arsenal were too pleased with the robotically cautious 0-0 in this fixture last season. It will be about how the league’s best defence deals with Erling Haaland, who has scored 8.5% of all Premier League goals this season, and who also has 82% of City’s tally, which may just, as the Inter game in midweek suggested, be a possible weak spot. This is clearly a good thing for everyone concerned, not least the unsuspecting teatime TV audience. The profitability and sustainability rules (PSR) procedure is opaque, tedious and unresolved. Nobody comes to sport for this. Can’t we all just enjoy the frowning men in puffy gilets analysing the second‑phase mid-block counterpress? The difference now is that as of Monday morning this thing is finally in the building, walking the halls, rattling the door handles, whispering through the keyholes. A Sunday afternoon meeting with the team City beat to the league title by the finest of margins four months ago, while also being accused of overreaching the finest of margins, provides its own unavoidable note of irony. Above all it is a reminder that this remains a hugely perilous point in the history of a league formed out of legal squabbles, chicanery and greed a third of a century ago. Zoom out a little and City’s charges are arguably the greatest existential threat to the Premier League since its inception. At which point it is probably a good moment to take a look at where we are with this thing. Perhaps the most notable aspect right now is the sense of two entirely opposing views on how it may play out. Pep Guardiola has been manager of Manchester City since the summer of 2016. Photograph: Martin Rickett/AP City have understandably drawn down the shutters on this topic. But the club is by all accounts hugely confident of being vindicated. There is talk of “irrefutable” evidence proving City’s innocence, a phrase used so often you wonder whether someone in the comms team doesn’t know what “irrefutable” actually means, which is unarguable, open-and-shut, beyond question, and not simply slick, aggressive and produced by an £8,000-an-hour king’s counsel. One suggestion is City are supremely confident in their own resources, the bewigged legal super-group at their disposal and a track record in making these things go away. Another theory is the club have been advised certain key notes of evidence in the public domain – and disputed by City – will turn out to be inadmissible. This would certainly explain that confidence. Because the leaked evidence, taken at face value, is undeniably compelling. The charges themselves fall into five basic categories. Inflated sponsorship income offered by organisations linked to the club’s state ownership. Issues, including image rights, that relate to player and manager remuneration. Failure to meet Uefa’s financial fair play regulations. Breaches of PSR. And what are essentially allegations of bad faith, a failure to supply accurate information on time or to help progress the investigation. The evidence out there – which City dispute – is most compelling on the key front of sponsor income. Der Spiegel’s 2018 investigation, supported by leaked documents from the Portuguese hacker Rui Pinto – and again disputed by City – suggested club officials solicited top-ups from state-owned entities in Abu Dhabi to avoid openly breaking the rules. Uefa’s financial rules have always been the enemy of ambition for City’s owners. “We will need to fight this,” Ferran Soriano, City’s chief executive, allegedly writes of FFP in one leaked memo, “and do it in a way that is not visible.” There is alleged talk of “creative solutions” to get around the rules and the launch of “Project Longbow”, a nod, apparently, to Agincourt and Uefa’s Gallic bogeyman, Michel Platini. The alleged narrative behind all this detail is that City’s sponsors were not in fact real commercial parties but compliant bodies covertly routing money from the ownership. An internal email sent by the club executive Simon Pearce in April 2010 – which City dispute the validity of – talks of making up a shortfall in income via “alternative sources provided by His Highness”. One document section carries the heading: “Supplement to Abu Dhabi partnership deals.” Asked about changing the date of payment for some Abu Dhabi‑centred sponsorship deals, Pearce replies: “Of course, we can do what we want.” City dispute the truth and relevance of all this. There will, of course, be those who say this is all beside the point, that the rules should not exist in the first place, that they run contrary to the idea of a free market. This is an argument that works only if you have little understanding of what a market actually is. State subsidies, inflated value, Neymar being sold for €220m to the state of Qatar, a politically motivated ownership pumping in excess funds to serve its propaganda purposes. None of these things suggest a functioning free market. This is the opposite of that: state intervention, a market distortion, the command economy. The real point is that while this may seem obscure, historical and procedural – accounting irregularities: spare me – it is utterly key to what happens on the pitch, and central to everything City have built. This is a success that can be plotted almost exactly against the flow of money out. Over the period the main charges relate to, 2009-18, City’s net spend on transfers – according to Transfermarkt – was about £900m, almost £400m more than Manchester United in second place, and five times as much as Liverpool and Arsenal. From 2016-18 they massively outspent every other team, the key period in building the current Pep supremacy, laying the foundations for five league titles in the past six seasons, for the team that will face Arsenal on Sunday. Nothing wrong with that, of course. This is all energy, all ambition. But the rules are also there for a reason, and even the tiniest of margins either way, a few spare millions, can make a massive difference to success on the pitch. By the time City’s seminal, dynasty-building title arrived in May 2012, leaked internal calculations – which City dispute – suggest that £127.5m had been pumped in as “supplements” to their Abu Dhabi partnership deals. Which would certainly go a long way towards buying Sergio Agüero, Mario Balotelli and Yaya Touré, architects of that defining moment. More recently, Guardiola’s team have won the league on the final day or by a point three times while, it is alleged and denied, enjoying the benefits of breaking rules their immediate opponents obeyed. European leagues have been depleted, talent and expertise lured away. Signing Kevin De Bruyne involved digging out an extra £25m, forcing Wolfsburg to sell, stretching the margins in your direction. This is exactly what Newcastle, for example, are not being allowed to do right now. If rules have been broken it not only depletes the spectacle, it undermines the basic notion of what sport is. On this basis it isn’t hard to see the argument for stripping City of titles if they are found guilty. Otherwise, why do the rules even exist? The fact remains City have yet to suffer significant punishment on any front. In the more recent Uefa case, key elements of evidence were found to be time-barred. Deals have been made with no less a figure of unquestioned rectitude than Gianni Infantino, Uefa’s general secretary at the time. The problem facing City, and indeed the Premier League, is that their current accusers are not Uefa but a collective of other clubs with their own competing desires for success, glory and profit. With that in mind it is still hard to see any outcome that genuinely benefits the Premier League. Three things can happen from this point. First, City are found guilty and punished to a significant degree. This would represent a potential disaster for the Premier League, which would find its entire recent history discredited, its broadcast rights undermined and integrity open to question. It would also leave a champion club, the richest in the world, in a state of open, vengeful warfare with their own co-members. Hello? Is that the Super League? Yeah. Are we still on? The second outcome is City are found to be innocent. No matter how legitimate or how transparent, this would also be disastrous for the Premier League, hobbled with ruinous legal fees, sucked into internal unhappiness, menaced by conspiracy theories on all sides. How does the league survive either of these verdicts intact? There are already splits and schisms. For the first time there are suggestions out there of other ways to organise elite club football. How strong does that union really feel, in a league where the generational champions are at war with their own governing body? Manchester City's Yaya Touré (right) and Mario Balotelli celebrate Touré’s goal against Stoke in the 2011 FA Cup final. They joined City in 2010. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Reuters The third, and by far most likely, outcome is a qualified compromise, acceptance of some things, dismissal of others, and punishment that allows everyone involved to live with the outcome. The panel is, of course, entirely independent and concerned only with the truth. On the other hand, football, for all its self-importance, remains a very small player. Manchester City are an arm of an influential nation state with whom the UK did £25bn of trade in the previous financial year. What would be the most normal outcome here? Justice in a vacuum? Another defeat for commerce and money in the face of pure sporting principles? Which world, exactly, are we living in? In the current one the fudge looks a very decent bet. So, back to the game then. With hindsight Arsenal probably did miss a chance to seize the initiative at the Etihad last season, were perhaps a little fearful when they might have seen it as their main chance. It still seems likely Mikel Arteta will look for something similar this weekend. Keep it tight. Mummify Haaland in between those two highly impressive centre-halves. Look to counterpunch a set-piece goal along the way. This is likely to be the template on Tribunal Day Seven in Manchester, with the low-scoring draw, the exhaustingly complex 1-0 still the most likely outcomes. At the very least, they might just have a little backstory now. And a sense also of a world that may just be in danger of eating itself. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/sep/20/win-or-lose-manchester-city-case-poses-perilous-threat-to-the-premier-league

‘A special time’: Emma Melay and her partner Darren McFadden on the Great Blasket. Photograph: Przemyslaw Dral/The Guardian My partner Darren and I had been teaching in Celbridge, in County Kildare, for three years before we took a career break. We enjoyed travelling by campervan around Ireland and working in a guesthouse on the Aran Islands. We’d seen an advertisement for a six-month posting for caretakers on Blascaod Mór – the Great Blasket – and decided we’d give it a go. The Great Blasket is the largest of the six Blasket islands off the west coast of County Kerry, and famous in Ireland because islander and storyteller Peig Sayers’s 1936 autobiography, Peig, was taught in schools. The job would involve helping run the island’s three holiday cottages and small cafe, owned by a couple, Alice and Billy, who live in the town of Dingle on the mainland. We didn’t expect to hear anything after sending in our form, knowing that tens of thousands apply, but a week later we had a Zoom interview. That was basically Billy telling us we’d be mad to do it, going to an island with no electricity or hot water. But we’re used to simple living, and the more Billy described it the more we wanted this once-in-a-lifetime experience. About two weeks later, we were offered the job. We were shocked, then elated. On 1 April this year we arrived on the uninhabited windswept island, 2km from the mainland. It’s about 5.2km by 1km of unspoilt, hilly land. Guests rent the traditional cottages between April and the end of September, after which the seas are too rough to get here. The last islanders left in 1953 because of a lack of access to emergency services. After just a few days here, we understood what it must have been like for them: Storm Kathleen arrived and marooned us alone for 12 days, as no boats were able to dock. We weren’t too worried, though, and it was a special time. Most days were dry, and hundreds of undisturbed seals lay on the sandy beach. There’s a colony of 2,000 seals with sharks, whales and dolphins nearby. Seabirds screeched eerily at night and rested on the back hill during the day. Sheep wandered along our cliff walks. Rabbits and hares passed by. Our cottage is cosy, with a stove and photos of previous islanders dotted around. There’s a small wind turbine with enough power to charge a phone, but no fridge or freezer. After the storm, we settled into a rhythm of seeing visitors, helping with the cottages and meeting Alice and Billy on their boat at the pier to collect fresh groceries. We have breakfast looking over the kitchen half-door, watching the seals move with the tide. Most evenings we watch spectacular sunsets. In May, we saw the northern lights. They were magical – there’s no light pollution here. It was 1am when we saw the sky light up purple, with shades of bright pink and green. Every day in June, as a challenge, we swam in the very cold Atlantic Ocean. In August, shepherds came from the mainland to shear the island’s 300 or so sheep. Some evenings, we invite the cottage guests to join us round a fire pit. Indoors, when it’s dark, we use tealights, head torches, firelight and candles, with the stove for heat. We’re reading books by islanders, including Peig. We speak a decent amount of Irish, and sometimes speak it with locals and international visitors wanting to practise theirs, even if it’s just asking for cupán tae in the caifé. Darren and I have been together for two years now. This time here has been brilliant for our relationship – we’ve grown closer and rely on each other a lot. Friends visit us, so mostly we miss our families, though my parents came over for my birthday. Receiving visitors, chatting to guests, and engaging in activities such as hiking, swimming, reading and photography keeps us busy. We haven’t really felt isolated during our time here. The time is flying by, and we leave on 1 October. We’ll be sad to go, but look forward to having another adventure before returning to teaching. We’ll try to make it back here every year for the rest of our lives. Applications to replace us will now be capped at 300. Our advice to anyone thinking of applying? Go for it. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/sep/20/experience-were-the-caretakers-of-an-uninhabited-irish-island

Rayne Beau was missing for 60 days before being reunited with his family. Photograph: Courtesy of Susanne Anguiano For two months, a California couple was heartbroken, worrying about the whereabouts of their beloved cat after losing him in Yellowstone national park, a wilderness larger than some US states. But as summer came to a close, so did their tragic story. Benny and Susanne Anguiano reunited with their lost feline Rayne Beau last month after an animal welfare group called to let them know their cat had been found in Roseville, California, about 800 miles (1,287km) from Yellowstone. In June, the couple went camping in the national park, where their cat was startled by something in the wilderness. Rayne Beau ran into the trees, and they didn’t see him again for 60 days. During the trip, they searched every day, laying out treats and toys in hopes he’d return, but without success. “We had to leave without him,” Susanne Anguiano told KSBW. “That was the hardest day because I felt like I was abandoning him.” In early August, Rayne Beau’s microchip came in handy. The couple received a message from Pet Watch, a pet-tracking service, indicating that their cat had been found in Roseville at the local branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. A woman had discovered Rayne Beau alone in the street and brought him to the shelter. “He was really depleted,” said Susanne. “He probably didn’t have much energy left to go any farther.” Susanne first shared their rollercoaster story on Facebook, explaining that she hadn’t told it earlier because “it was too traumatic.” Exactly how Rayne Beau travelled the 800 miles from Yellowstone to Roseville remains a mystery, but the couple said they hope sharing their story might prompt someone to come forward with any details. In their KSBW interview, the couple also urged other pet owners to install trackers to avoid losing their pets for good. An estimated 10m dogs and cats are lost or stolen in the US every year, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. Only one in 50 cats in shelters return to their owners, but with a microchip, nearly two out of five are reunited with their families. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/20/yellowstone-lost-cat-rayne-beau-found

Television legend Oprah Winfrey and United States Vice President Kamala Harris shared the stage on Thursday in a event called “Unite for America” to drum up support for Harris’s presidential campaign. Harris is the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate for the November election. This is not the first time the television personality has voiced support for Harris during this election. She made a surprise speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) last month. Since emerging as her party’s frontrunner for the presidential nomination, and especially since winning that nomination, Harris has secured the endorsements of hundreds of prominent Americans — from Hollywood stars and music icons to her party’s stalwarts and Republicans who say they cannot vote for their party’s nominee, ex-President Donald Trump. However, few public figures in the US enjoy an aura like Oprah’s. Here’s more about her history of election endorsements and how much those have influenced outcomes. What was Oprah’s ‘United for America’? A copper blazer-clad, bespectacled Oprah hosted the more-than-one-hour talk-show-style event. The event took place in Michigan, a key battleground state in this election. It was livestreamed on the Harris campaign YouTube channel and, as of Friday morning in the US, had already been viewed more than one million times. Harris walked onto the stage, meeting enthusiastic applause from a studio audience. The two women discussed topics, including reproductive health and Harris’s plans to reduce the cost of housing and to lower taxation. Big names in the entertainment industry — from Jennifer Lopez and Julia Roberts to Chris Rock and Meryl Streep — joined over video-link. These celebrities add to the star power around the Harris campaign built by celebrities including Taylor Swift and Charli XCX, when they endorsed the Democrat earlier. However, the most potent endorsement possibly comes from Oprah herself. Why is Oprah’s endorsement significant? A 2013 study conducted by economists Craig Garthwaite of Northwestern University and Timothy J Moore from the University of Maryland found that Oprah’s endorsement resulted in about one million additional votes for Democrat Barack Obama, who has also endorsed Harris, in 2008. The research found that in addition to votes, her support also helped Obama secure additional funding. In the election, Obama won with nearly 53 percent of the po[CENSORED]r vote. What is Oprah’s track record with endorsements? After her first major endorsement of Obama in 2008, Oprah has sporadically endorsed politicians in presidential or senate races. In 2016, Oprah expressed her support for Democrat Hilary Clinton against Republican Donald Trump in a media interview. While Trump trailed Clinton in the 2016 polls, Trump won the election. He won the Electoral College, but lost the overall po[CENSORED]r vote. In October 2020, Democrat Joe Biden received a boost from Oprah a month before the election, when she hosted a virtual get-out-the-vote event. In 2022, the talk show host endorsed Democrat John Fetterman in the Pennsylvania Senate race against his Republican opponent Mehmet Oz, who rose to prominence as a celebrity doctor by appearing on her talk show. Her endorsement took the form of a virtual event, conducted on Zoom. Fetterman won the race. But the TV diva’s endorsement is no golden ticket. During the same virtual event in which she endorsed Fetterman, she briefly expressed support for other Democratic candidates for Senate and governor races. These included: Cheri Beasley for North Carolina, Val Demings for Florida, Mandela Barnes for Wisconsin, Catherine Cortez Masto for Nevada, Beto O’Rourke for Texas and Raphael Warnock and Stacey Abrams for Georgia. Out of these, only Cortez Masto won — the rest were defeated. Has Oprah supported Trump? After Oprah endorsed Harris in her DNC surprise speech, she received backlash from Trump supporters and a letter she wrote to Trump in 2000 resurfaced. Addressing the Republican nominee, she had written back then, “Too bad we’re not running for office,” Axios reported. “What a TEAM!” In a 2023 CBS interview, Oprah clarified, “I might have thought it back then. I might have thought it 23 years ago. I’m not thinking it today.” In 2015, Trump had also joked about Oprah running as her vice president in an interview with ABC, only to clarify that he was joking. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/20/oprahs-kamala-harris-fundraiser-does-her-support-swing-elections

A man who was injured by the explosion of a handheld device triggered by Israel sits outside the Eye Specialist hospital in Beirut, Lebanon [Hussein Malla/AP] A senior United Nations official has told the Security Council that further violence between Israel and Iran-aligned groups Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon risked igniting a far more damaging conflict. “We risk seeing a conflagration that could dwarf even the devastation and suffering witnessed so far,” UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the 15-member council on Friday, which met about attacks this week on Hezbollah. “It is not too late to avoid such folly. There is still room for diplomacy,” she said. “I also strongly urge member states with influence over the parties to leverage it now.” As its war in Gaza nears one year old, Israel killed at least 14 people and wounded 66 in an air raid on the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday. The Israeli military claimed that a top Hezbollah commander and other senior figures in the Lebanese movement were among the dead, and pledged to conduct a new military campaign until it secures the area around the Lebanese border. Hezbollah has not confirmed the deaths of any commanders on Friday. Israel’s air raid followed two days of attacks in which Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies exploded, killing 37 people and wounding thousands. Those attacks were widely believed to have been carried out by Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement. On Friday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk told the Security Council that the attack on Hezbollah communications devices violated international law and could constitute a war crime. Turk said it was “difficult to conceive” how the attacks on Hezbollah’s communications devices “could possibly conform with the key principles of distinction, proportionality, and precautions in attack, under international humanitarian law”. He added that he was “appalled” by the attacks using communication devices. “This has unleashed widespread fear, panic and horror among people in Lebanon, already suffering in an increasingly volatile situation since October 2023 and crumbling under a severe and longstanding economic crisis. This cannot be the new normal,” he said. Turk called for an independent, thorough and transparent investigation and for those who ordered and carried out the attacks to be held to account. Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood told the council that the US expects all parties to comply with international humanitarian law and take all reasonable steps to minimise harm to civilians, especially in densely po[CENSORED]ted areas. “It is imperative that even as facts emerge about the latest incidents – in which I reiterate, the United States played no role – all parties refrain from any actions which could plunge the region into a devastating war.” Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from homes on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border since Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel in October in support of Gaza, where Israel is waging a devastating war that has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians. Israel, which last fought an all-out war against Hezbollah 18 years ago, has said it will use force if necessary to ensure its citizens can return to their homes in northern Israel. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/20/un-warns-escalating-israel-hezbollah-violence-risks-devastating-conflict

Music title: Teddy Swims - The Door (Official Music Video) Signer: Teddy Swims Release date: 2024/04/16 Official YouTube link:

Nick movie: ABSOLUTION Time: Movie Trailers Source Netflix / Amazon / HBO: N/A Duration of the movie: 2min Trailer:

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The 2025 Jeep Gladiator lineup gets more streamlined, with Jeep scrapping the previously standard six-speed manual transmission. As with the Jeep Wrangler, every Gladiator now comes standard with power windows and locks. Despite the automatic transmission previously costing $2500, pricing for the Gladiator starts at $39,995, just $205 more than last year's base price. The world of manual pickup trucks just got a little smaller with Jeep yanking the third pedal from the 2025 Gladiator lineup. Previously equipped as the standard transmission on the Gladiator, the six-speed manual is gone for 2025, leaving behind the previously optional eight-speed automatic. Before this year, Jeep charged $2500 for the automatic transmission. Despite the auto becoming standard, the entry price for the Gladiator has only risen by $205. The base Sport can now be had for $39,995, the Nighthawk for $42,790, and the Sport S for $43,495. Upgrading to the Willys runs $47,095, while both the Mojave and Rubicon cost $52,995. In addition to the powertrain change, Jeep brought the Gladiator into the modern era by finally making power windows and locks standard across the range. There are also two new paint options, including a blue color and a new olive-drab green. The changes are rounded out with a newly available software option that lets owners pre-condition the cabin through the Jeep Connect mobile app. All 2025 Gladiators continue to be powered by the Pentastar 3.6-liter V-6, which pumps out 285 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. The towing capacity is unchanged at 7700 pounds, and payload figures carry on at 1105 and 1725 pounds, depending on the trim. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a62259508/2025-jeep-gladiator-manual-dead-pricing/

‘I wondered how I would ever do life without him’ … a young Melissa Blake with her father. Photograph: Courtesy of Melissa Blake On a cloudy Monday morning in March 2003, my father came into my room to check on me. I felt him pull the blankets up around my neck – something he used to do when I was a child. He lingered for a moment, then quietly left the room. That was the last glimpse I ever had of him. On that day he took his own life. He had been suffering from sinus cancer for the last four months. A marble-sized tumour was found wedged inside his nasal passage after he began having unexplained nosebleeds in late 2002. He had surgery to remove the tumour and even though it was a success, I could see the huge physical, mental and emotional toll treatment was taking on him. His death was a huge shock. We desperately searched for answers. The only explanation the doctors could give us was that my dad’s frontal lobe was significantly damaged from the radiation treatment he was receiving, which could have led to changes in his personality and behaviour. I was devastated. For more than two decades, my father had sat by my bedside through every single one of my hospital stays. I was born with Freeman-Sheldon syndrome, a rare genetic bone and muscular disorder. I had my first surgery, to turn my legs and feet around, when I was just ten weeks old, and had various procedures throughout the years. My disability shaped my childhood, but my father’s suicide and its aftermath is what has informed so much of my identity as an adult. I was 21 when he died, that in-between age where you’re too old to be a kid, but too young to feel like an adult. In my grief, I found myself straddling the line the same way I did during my days in hospital as a kid. While in the hospital, I had these very adult, sometimes life-or-death experiences, yet I wasn’t an adult. I was a child. Only, I didn’t feel like a carefree kid, either. Child or adult, I didn’t feel as if I fit in either category. ‘His death was a huge shock’ … Melissa Blake, pictured with her father, mother and sister. When my father died, I walked that same tightrope. This time, I may have been an adult but I felt like a little girl. A little girl who had just lost her father and felt confused and scared. I’m forever trying to find the right words to accurately describe what it feels like to lose a parent when you’re disabled. It’s a unique kind of grief because the relationship between a parent and their disabled child is a special one – during childhood, of course, but well into adulthood too, which is something that non-disabled people might not fully understand. I relied on my dad in ways that my non-disabled peers didn’t on theirs. He helped me with everything, from showering and getting dressed in the morning, to cooking dinner in the evening. I’ve often said that he was “my legs”, and he helped me experience the world around me when it often felt inaccessible. When he died, this only added a more complicated piece to my grief puzzle. I wondered how I would ever do life without him. I knew deep down that this went well beyond literal, tangible assistance such as food prep; to be disabled means to feel a certain level of vulnerability because so much is out of your control. I have felt vulnerable for most of my life and my father was the one who always made me feel safe and protected. His suicide ripped away my sense of safety and replaced it with a fear of abandonment that I’d never experienced before. Will I lose everyone I love? Will everyone leave me? Will I end up alone? These were the sorts of questions that circled around in my head. My fear of losing those I love plagued me and I became hypervigilant about my mum and sister, worrying about them constantly. More than two decades after my dad’s death, I started seeing an amazing therapist. I initially went to talk through my grief, but opening up about losing him led to me opening up about my disability, too. I began processing what it meant to be disabled: how it had affected my life, how I never really felt like other people my age. And I gave voice to my worries about navigating life as a disabled adult – a fear I had been wrestling with since the day my dad died. When you are disabled the bond you have with your parents can be heightened, but thankfully, as I’ve learned, that bond can also never be broken. Because even in death, my dad continues to shape my life and push me onward. I know that whatever happens he’ll always be with me. Beautiful People: My Thirteen Truths About Disability by Melissa Blake is published by Hachette Go (£25). To support the Guardian and the Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Blake can be found on Instagram at @melissablake81 In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/sep/18/a-moment-that-changed-me-dad-helped-me-suddenly-he-was-gone

Lucy Bronze joining Chelsea is an indication of the calibre of the new coaching staff. Photograph: Dave Shopland/Shutterstock There is no simple formula to winning a league, but there are critical ingredients every team in the new WSL season will be seeking to inject. Chief among those are team spirit and unity. The bonding process, the trust-building between players and staff, and developing those connections quickly, is so important. The aspect that often gets overlooked as part of that, though, is enjoyment. What keeps players motivated every day to show up, even when they are tired or frustrated, even when things are not going their way or they have got a niggle? It is enjoyment. It means players keep pushing for their personal and the team’s goals. Establishing collective values ensures they show up every day, give their all and support each other. Having an awareness that performing does not always get you the outcomes you want, even when you are at your best, and being able to dig deep, are also vital. That edginess, grittiness, is a core component of the most dominant and consistent teams. Teams that can win pretty and ugly, that find a way, are the ones that end up with silverware. It is about adaptability, as a group and individuals. Being able to have players ready to show up and add value, staying in a constant ready state, is a big test of management. Players are not happy all the time. Being transparent with the selection process and making clear the expectations and standards is an important part of keeping on board those most unhappy at not starting. You do that in part by facilitating an environment where people can be authentic in their feelings, be authentic on the pitch and express themselves, but also by creating a high-performance environment where players know they are being stretched and can grow regardless of whether they are making the starting XI. That creates belief and that belief is infectious. That is when you start to bring the fans with you. They really back their teams when they see them fighting for the collective cause. It was no accident Chelsea pipped Manchester City to the title, because not only have they had almost all the right ingredients year-on-year, they have also faced down the final third of the season, and the challenges it presents, over and over again. Vivianne Miedema’s signing is a major boost for Manchester City. Photograph: Richard Sellers/PA Chelsea are mentality monsters, there is a relentlessness in what they do, and once City dropped points against Arsenal, conceding in the 89th and 90th minutes to cancel out their one-goal lead, nothing was going to stop them. The eight goals Chelsea put past Bristol City and the six they scored at Manchester United, either side of a 1-0 defeat of Tottenham, were mental muscle memory kicking in. It was not a shock they could overturn a goal difference gap of seven in a single game at the business end of the season because they have been there so many times before. Whether they can maintain that under Sonia Bompastor will be really interesting and in pre-season it looks as if they have maintained that ruthless edge. The addition of Lucy Bronze is fascinating. She comes in with so much experience, having won multiple trophies in different countries, but that she wanted to follow Bompastor and her assistant, Camille Abily, to the club, having known them from Lyon, is a signal to everyone of the calibre of the new coaching staff. They obviously have a really good relationship and she clearly believes they can deliver. Every WSL season gets more exciting but Chelsea and City stand out and the title race will be close again. City, with a very settled squad, have the most continuity among the top three. They were so close last season and that will have hurt them. Vivianne Miedema is also going to feel extra motivated to produce her best after leaving Arsenal at the end of her contract. There is pressure on Jonas Eidevall and Gareth Taylor, at Arsenal and City respectively, to deliver. They fell short last season despite some strong performances and runs. With Chelsea in a period of transition, there is an opportunity to unseat them. Taylor and Eidevall are at clubs with big trophy aspirations and they cannot go another season with the quality in their squads and the money they have spent without winning more silverware. Predictions are almost impossible in the WSL because the margins are so fine. So many teams have done good business in the summer. Plenty of them will be just underneath the top three, pushing for those fourth and fifth spots and they could have a big say in the destination of the title. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/sep/18/wsl-race-chelsea-arsenal-manchester-city-moving-the-goalposts

‘We are increasingly wary of cattle and these days will avoid their fields.’ Photograph: Andrew Boyers/Reuters I would like to add my voice to those urging greater caution when walking in fields with cattle (The hell and horror of cow attacks: ‘I told my husband to leave me to die’, 12 September). I had to be airlifted to Southampton hospital from the Isle of Wight earlier this year and spent 10 days in intensive care and the acute trauma ward being treated for chest injuries. As a retired vet, I thought I knew how to behave around cows and calves and followed good practice when walking through a local field with my dogs on leads. In the event, the speed of the attack and the determination of the cows to knock me down and trample me was astonishing. We need to work with farmers to reduce risks and work with walkers to raise awareness. My final recommendation is to support your local air ambulance, which is run as a private charity, as without the Hampshire and Isle of Wight service I would not be here to write this letter today. David Mackay Niton, Isle of Wight I read your article on the dangers of cows with great interest. My husband and I are keen walkers and not easily discouraged. However, we are increasingly wary of cattle and these days will avoid their fields. As modern farming practices are becoming more automated, the animals are less accustomed to human contact. This means that cows should be viewed as essentially wild animals and treated with the appropriate respect. You wouldn’t try to walk through a herd of buffalo, for example. There is a need to make everyone aware of the Countryside Code so that we can safely walk the footpaths through farmland without causing distress or harm to livestock. Equally, landowners need to make sure paths are not blocked by water troughs where cattle gather. Clearly marking footpaths would also avoid walkers straying off allowed routes. Sara Davis Tonbridge, Kent I am French, living in England, and I have done many walks in both countries. In Britain, with your strange rights-of-way paths across the middle of fields, you are bound to find yourself in the middle of a field with cows: in France that does not exist – we have miles of lovely paths throughout the country on the sides of fenced fields. Why not reroute paths in the UK along the periphery of fenced fields? The enclosed field for the cows, where they belong, and the safe path for the walkers: it would not cost a fortune to do and everyone would be happy. Danielle Stevenson Richmond, London In this article it takes 10 paragraphs to get to “Adding dogs to the equation…”. Attacks by cattle occur regularly when walkers cross a meadow with a dog, which is a predator in the cows’ eyes, and which they are programmed to attack. The other mistake is coming too close to calves in the herd. In Austria, it is mostly inexperienced holiday walkers (from Germany) who cross a meadow with dogs and get chased away or end up in hospital, or walkers who attempt to “acquaint” their child with calves. Both behaviours are a no-no. Try to take the cows’ perspective; they are not pets. Leave dogs at home or stay out of cattle enclosures with them. In general, always give standing or lying cattle a wide berth when crossing their turf – and don’t stop to watch. Never shout or try to scare them. I never had a problem with cattle in my long life of hiking in the mountains. Wolfgang Wagner Linz, Austria https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/sep/18/as-a-vet-i-thought-i-knew-cows-then-they-attacked

US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and the rest of the members of the central bank's rate-setting committee held their last policy meeting this week before voters go to the polls in what is expected to be a close US presidential election on November 5 [File: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo] The United States Federal Reserve has cut interest rates by half of a percentage point, kicking off what is expected to be a steady easing of monetary policy with a larger-than-usual reduction in borrowing costs that follows growing unease about the health of the job market. “The committee has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent, and judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance,” policymakers on the US central bank’s rate-setting committee said in their latest statement on Wednesday, which drew a dissent from Governor Michelle Bowman, who favoured a quarter-percentage-point cut. Policymakers see the Fed’s benchmark rate falling by another half of a percentage point by the end of this year, another full percentage point in 2025 and a final half of a percentage point in 2026 to end in a range of 2.75 percent to 3 percent. The endpoint reflects a slight upgrade, from 2.8 percent to 2.9 percent, in the longer-run federal funds rate, considered a “neutral” stance that neither encourages nor discourages economic activity. Even though inflation “remains somewhat elevated”, the Fed statement said policymakers chose to cut the overnight rate to the 4.75 percent to 5 percent range “in light of the progress on inflation and the balance of risks”. The Fed “would be prepared to adjust the stance of monetary policy as appropriate if risks emerge that could impede the attainment of the Committee’s goals,” with attention to “both sides of its dual mandate” for stable prices and maximum employment, the statement said. “The Fed cut of 50bps [basis points] shows they are serious about easing and trying to catch up,” Rachel Ziemba, economist and adjunct fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Al Jazeera. “It’s a bit more than the consensus expected … I don’t think it’s a sign they expect a recession, but is a sign that the recent softening labour market and easing inflation has given them space.” Fed’s strategy Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in a news conference came closer than the committee has before to declaring victory over inflation. “We know that it is time to recalibrate our [interest rate] policy to something that’s more appropriate given the progress on inflation,” Powell said. “We’re not saying, ‘mission accomplished’ … but I have to say, though, we’re encouraged by the progress that we have made.” “The US economy is in a good place,” he added, “and our decision today is designed to keep it there.” The Fed’s policy meeting this week was its last before voters go to the polls in what is expected to be a close US presidential election on November 5. Powell was pressed at his news conference about whether the Fed’s decision to cut its key rate by an unusually large half-point is an acknowledgement that it waited too long to begin cutting rates. “We don’t think we’re behind,” he replied. “We think this is timely. But I think you can take this as a sign of our commitment not to get behind. We’re not seeing rising claims, not seeing rising layoffs, not hearing from companies that’s something that’s going to happen.” He added: “There is thinking that the time to support the labour market is when it’s strong and not when you begin to see the layoffs. We don’t think we need to see further loosening in labour market conditions to get inflation down to two percent.” Inflation is currently about half a percentage point above that, and the new economic projections now show the annual rate of increase in the personal consumption expenditures price index falling to 2.3 percent by the end of this year and to 2.1 percent by the end of 2025. The unemployment rate is seen ending this year at 4.4 percent, higher than the current 4.2 percent, and remaining there through 2025. Economic growth is projected at 2.1 percent through 2024 and 2 percent next year, the same as in the last round of projections issued in June. The Fed had held its policy rate in the 5.25 percent to 5.5 percent range since July of 2023 as inflation fell from a 40-year high to a level that is now approaching the central bank’s target. https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/9/18/us-fed-cuts-rates-by-larger-than-usual-half-percentage-point

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is concerned about 'a serious risk of a dramatic escalation in Lebanon' [File: Pamela Smith/AP] United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says civilian objects should not be weaponised after a deadly wave of explosions across Lebanon targeted communication devices used by Hezbollah. “I think it’s very important that there is an effective control of civilian objects, not to weaponise civilian objects. That should be a rule that … governments should be able to implement,” Guterres said on Wednesday at a briefing at UN headquarters in New York. Hundreds of wireless paging devices belonging to members of the Iran-backed group exploded simultaneously on Tuesday, hours after Israel said it was broadening the aims of the Gaza war to include its fight against Hamas’s Lebanese ally. The explosions on Tuesday killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded up to 2,800. Guterres warned that “there is a serious risk of a dramatic escalation in Lebanon, and everything must be done to avoid the escalation”. “What has happened is particularly serious not only because of the number of victims that it caused but because of the indications that exist that this was triggered, I would say, in advance of a normal way to trigger these things because there was a risk of this being discovered.” Later on Wednesday, more device blasts across Lebanon killed at least nine people and wounded about 300, according to the country’s Ministry of Public Health. Lebanon’s state media reported that walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members blew up in Beirut on Wednesday with reports of similar blasts in southern and eastern Lebanon. Hezbollah, which has traded near daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces in support of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, said it will retaliate for the pager blasts, which it blamed on Israel. Israel has not yet commented on the explosions. Meanwhile, Volker Turk, the UN’s human rights chief, said in a statement on Wednesday that those responsible for the deadly wave of explosions across Lebanon “must be held to account”. “Simultaneous targeting of thousands of individuals, whether civilians or members of armed groups, without knowledge as to who was in possession of the targeted devices, their location and their surroundings at the time of the attack, violates international human rights law and, to the extent applicable, international humanitarian law,” he said. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/18/civilian-objects-should-not-be-weaponised-un-chief-guterres-lebanon-explosions

Music title: Top 20 Songs: September 2024 (09/14/2024) I Best Billboard Music Chart Hits Signer: A lot of singers Release date: 2024/13/09 Official YouTube link:

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