Bhagya Lakshmi 25th February 2025 Written Episode, Written Update on TellyUpdates.com The episode starts with Rishi video calling Lakshmi during a meeting to show her he is busy. Later, he steps out and playfully asks if she was feeling jealous. Lakshmi denies it and quickly ends the call but wonders if Rishi was in the [...]
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Kumkum Bhagya 25th February 2025 Written Episode, Written Update on TellyUpdates.com The episode starts with Raunak forcing Sarita to apologize to his staff and Prarthna, leaving Sarita feeling upset as she walks away. Smita and Ketki confront Raunak, saying he was wrong to humiliate Sarita. Payal also disagrees with Raunak and reminds him that he [...]
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EASTENDERS legend Elaine Lordan made fans do a double take as she reunited with former co-star Lucy Benjamin in a rare snap.
Elaine, who played Slater sister Lynne Hobbs in the BBC soap from 2000 to 2004, smiled for a photo with Lucy, who portrayed Lisa Fowler on/off between 1998 until 2023.
The pair looked in good spirits as they enjoyed a catch-up last July.
The photo has since resurfaced as fans reminisce on past Walford favourites star as the soap celebrates its 40th anniversary.
In the photo, Elaine, 58, is seen wearing a black and white striped top and a pair of reading glasses.
While Lucy, 54, wore a leopard print t-shirt and left her curly tresses loose to frame her face.
Lucy shared the photo on her Instagram and wrote: “Oh I love this woman with all my heart! Elaine Lordan.”
EastEnders fans were over the moon to see the two iconic ladies back together.
One wrote: “Awww Elaine looks very healthy and well, she was incredible in EastEnders; We need Elaine to return!!! I’m glad Elaine looks so well.”
A second fan begged: “‘Aaaaah come back Lynne Slater! That would be amazing! She lookin so amazing hope treating her very well well done Elaine.”
“I’m so happy to see Elaine look so well and healthy. Thank you so much for posting this. Sending love to you both; You both look fabulous,” a third commented.
A fourth said: “So lovely to see Elaine looking so well; Great to see Elaine again. Love to you both; Lovely to see Elaine looking so happy and well! Brought a smile to my face!”
Another added: “This is so iconic and brings back so many memories, I would love Lynne Slater to return please tell Elaine, she looks amazing and I hope she’s well.”
It is a big turn around for Elaine, who was pictured in 2018 looking worse for wear after knocking back booze in the middle of the day.
She was convicted of drink-driving and banned for a year after downing five vodkas in 2004, and subsequently axed from the soap.
A source said at the time: “It was decided to make the changes after she had a few problems with drinking. It has been done to help her rather than to punish her.”
Life got worse for Elaine after she left the show. In 2005 her mum took her own life, aged 62.
Nine months later she tragically lost her one-year-old son James. He suffered from breathing difficulties caused by a condition called
diaphragmatic hernia — and died three days after Elaine married his dad, ex-BBC technician Peter Manuel.
She fell pregnant again in 2007, but sadly miscarried shortly after. A year later her dad passed away.
She appeared on I’m A Celebrity in 2005 — but had to be airlifted out after twice fainting on the first day.
Elaine went off the radar for a long time after, but in 2018 she was spotted appearing to be downing mini bottles of wine in the street before midday.
She was last seen in 2020 looking much healthier as she went for a jog with her husband.
Lucy first joined EastEnders in 1998, but left in 2003.
She had two brief stints in 2010 and 2017, before returning again between 2019 and 2023.
A MAJOR retailer with 89 branches is set to shut a popular store in weeks ahead of a raft of closures.
Jewellery chain Beaverbrooks is closing its branch at the Whitgift Centre in Croydon on April 6.
The store is one of seven sites shutting across March and April, as exclusively revealed by The Sun.
Anna Blackburn, managing director for Beaverbrooks, said customers’ next nearest branches are in Stratford, London and the Bluewater and Lakeside shopping centres in Kent and Essex, respectively.
She added: “I’d like to share a heartfelt thank you to our Croydon community and every colleague and customer that has been a part of our journey in Croydon over the past 30 years.”
Shoppers and locals will no doubt be gutted to hear the store is closing for good in a matter of weeks.
It has garnered a stream of positive Google reviews, including from one shopper who branded the store “one of the last best places in Croydon”.
Another said the customer service team “could not be more polite, professional and understanding”.
It comes after Beaverbrooks told The Sun it will close seven branches across March and April.
The more than 100-year-old company said it is trimming its store estate following a review.
Ms Blackburn said: “Due to a range of factors, there are seven stores that are unfortunately no longer commercially viable, and after careful and thorough consideration we have made the difficult decision to close them.”
The stores are dotted across the UK, including five in England: Whitgift (Croydon), High Wycombe, Huddersfield, Birmingham Fort and Sutton Coldfield.
One in Dundee and another in East Kilbride, both in Scotland, will also shutter from next month.
All seven branches will remain open and operating as normal until they close for good.
Ms Blackburn said Beaverbrooks would try to retain as many staff from the affected branches as possible.
She added that the multi award-winning business plans to open a new store in Harrogate in Spring while some of its branches are under renovation.
In its most recent accounts, Beaverbrooks said profitability in the 53 weeks to March 2, 2024, had “reduced considerably” despite an increased turnover.
This, it said, was in part due to increasing worker’s pay and property refurbishments and repairs.
Turnover is the total amount of money made by a business over a certain period of time.
The seven upcoming closures come after Beaverbrooks shuttered a store in Romford, London, last March.
It’s worth bearing in mind, retailers often close branches and open them in other areas based on customer demand and trends.
The retail sector has been hit hard in recent years as the trend towards online shopping intensifies.
The most recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows online retail sales increased from 5% of all retail sales in 2008 to 27% in 2022.
Shoppers have also been feeling the pinch in recent years following sky-high inflation which has dented their wallets and purses.
It has led to a number of major retailers having to close stores to shore up their finances.
Boots announced in 2023 it would shut 300 of its branches in a bid to slim down its high street presence while WHSmith is in talks to sell off 500 of its stores.
Jewellery chains have been forced into closing branches as well.
Claire’s has closed a number of stores in recent years, including in Gillingham, Nuneaton and Newton Abbott.
T H Baker also shuttered a branch in Cambridge in May last year.
EMPTY shops have become an eyesore on many British high streets and are often symbolic of a town centre’s decline.
The Sun’s business editor Ashley Armstrong explains why so many retailers are shutting their doors.
In many cases, retailers are shutting stores because they are no longer the money-makers they once were because of the rise of online shopping.
Falling store sales and rising staff costs have made it even more expensive for shops to stay open.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April 2025, will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
In some cases, retailers are shutting a store and reopening a new shop at the other end of a high street to reflect how a town has changed.
The problem is that when a big shop closes, footfall falls across the local high street, which puts more shops at risk of closing.
Retail parks are increasingly popular with shoppers, who want to be able to get easy, free parking at a time when local councils have hiked parking charges in towns.
Many retailers including Next and Marks & Spencer have been shutting stores on the high street and taking bigger stores in better-performing retail parks instead.
In some cases, stores have been shut when a retailer goes bust, as in the case of Carpetright, Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, Paperchase, Ted Baker, The Body Shop, Topshop and Wilko to name a few.
What’s increasingly common is when a chain goes bust a rival retailer or private equity firm snaps up the intellectual property rights so they can own the brand and sell it online.
They may go on to open a handful of stores if there is customer demand, but there are rarely ever as many stores or in the same places.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
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POPE Francis remains in a critical but stable condition as he battles double pneumonia, the Vatican confirmed in its latest health update.
A Tuesday evening statement from the Holy See Press Office revealed that the 88-year-old Pontiff has not suffered any acute respiratory episodes, and his vital signs remain steady.
However, his prognosis remains “guarded.”
“The Holy Father’s clinical condition remains critical but stable. No acute respiratory episodes have occurred, and hemodynamic parameters continue to be stable,” the Vatican said.
Francis underwent a scheduled CT scan in the evening to monitor his bilateral pneumonia, officials said.
Earlier in the day, he received the Eucharist and resumed work activities despite his ongoing illness.
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BBC boss Tim Davie was today read the riot act by the Culture Secretary over its Gaza documentary that used kids linked to Hamas.
Lisa Nandy expressed her “deep concern” at the widely-denounced programme and demanded an explanation into the failings.
The show Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone was narrated by a child whose father it later transpired is Hamas’ deputy agricultural minister.
A furious backlash saw the BBC forced to pull the documentary offline and launch an investigation.
Ms Nandy said: “It is essential that the BBC maintains the highest standards of reporting and governance that the public rightly expects.
“In my discussion with the BBC Director General, I expressed my deep concern about the issues around their recent documentary on Gaza and I pressed for answers on the checks and due diligence that the BBC carried out.
“It is paramount that the investigation the BBC is conducting sheds light on what happened and who knew what when. I expect to be kept informed of the outcome of their investigation.”
Following the documentary’s transmission on BBC2 last week, it emerged that the narrator, 13-year-old Abdullah Al-Yazouri, is the son of Hamas’ deputy agriculture minister.
It then transpired that a second child, 11-year-old boy Zakaria es-Sersek, has been filmed waving a gun, posing beside a Hamas fighter, and glorifying the October 7 architect.
The Sun revealed how the BBC spent £400,000 of licence payers’ cash making the programme.
Following outcry from MPs, diplomats and campaigners, the Corporation said removed the documentary from the iPlayer.
A statement said: “There have been continuing questions raised about the programme and in the light of these, we are conducting further due diligence with the production company.
“The programme will not be available on iPlayer while this is taking place.”
Critics called it a “new low” for the embattled broadcaster’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
Danny Cohen, former director of BBC Television, blasted: “This is a shocking failure by the BBC and a major crisis for its reputation.
“The BBC’s commitment to impartiality on the Israel-Hamas war lies in tatters. The BBC’s senior leadership needs to wake up now and admit the corporation has a serious problem.”
Alex Hearn from Labour Against Antisemitism said: “This is a crisis for the BBC’s leaders who have serious questions to answer about why this Hamas propaganda film was made and broadcast to the nation on primetime TV.
“It is a new low in editorial standards for the BBC in its biased reporting of the war in Gaza.”
The BBC has faced criticism in its coverage of the war, especially its initial refusal to brand Hamas a terrorist group.
A WOMAN found much more than she bargained for after appearing on Channel 4’s popular TV show, First Dates.
Despite not finding the man of her dreams, Katie Kumar ended up reuniting with a long lost sister – and the pair have since grown so close they “can’t imagine” life without each other.
Katie shared the incredible story to her TikTok account, @katiekumarr, which has since been viewed 401,000 times.
In her touching clip, she says she appeared on the teen version of First Dates in 2021, wanting to share her experience of being adopted and express her gratitude for the “family and life” she has now.
Katie said she didn’t think she’d be accepted onto the show when she applied.
Instead, she was more interested in spreading awareness by telling the story of her adoption.
Having grown up “in and out of foster care” since birth, Katie said she had some contact with her parents.
Aged three, she was separated from her biological siblings and fostered by a family who later permanently adopted her.
Despite knowing she had siblings, Katie lost contact with them and “never thought” she’d be able to find them again.
Meanwhile her sister Louise, a few years older than Katie, had also been adopted by a different family.
The pair grew up apart from each other, and despite remembering one another, “never knew where to start looking.”
That was until Katie appeared in an episode of Channel 4‘s dating show Teen First Dates.
The show aims to help 16 to 19-year-olds “take their first steps in the land of real-world dating.”
Each episode sees host Fred Sirieix play matchmaker with a pair of hungry-for-love teens, who bond over a romantic dinner.
Despite not finding the man of her dreams, Katie found someone else just as significant.
After her episode aired, she received a life-changing Facebook message from somebody claiming to be her long lost biological sister.
The message, from a woman named Louise, read: “Hello love, I know this is so random but I won’t forgive myself if I don’t find out the answer.
“Basically, I seen you [sic] on First Dates and you said you was [sic] adopted, well so am I and I know I have a sister a few years younger than me, she would be your age and her name’s Katie too and I’m from Birmingham too.”
Louise went on to say that the pair shared a white mother and Afghan father.
She wrote: “I know your [sic] probably not my sister and you probably won’t even answer this message but it’s worth asking because what are the chances.”
After confirming their mother’s name, Katie wrote back: “We are sisters?!”
She told Louise their situation was “crazy” and that she’d been left “speechless,” before they continued to verify their relations.
After meeting, the pair grew close and Katie says she is “so grateful” she has her sister back in her life.
She said they get on “effortlessly,” have the same interests and she feels “so lucky” that they have been reunited.
Viewers in the comments were gobsmacked at the emotional story.
One person wrote: “You went on the show to find love, and found love in its most powerful form, I’m so happy for you and your sister.”
While another person said: “This is a true miracle, enjoy the rest of your lives together girlies, I’m so happy you found each other.”
And somebody else commented: “This is insane! Some things are truly meant to be!”
In the UK, there is lengthy process involved with adopting a child and it can take up to six months for the paperwork to be finalised.
To even be considered, you have to meet the following criteria:
You will also have to go through an inital background check and assesment, which will consider whether you are the right fit for adoption.
Potenital parents will also have undergo training and a process to match them with the right child.