At IBC 2025, DoPchoice reveals the Snapbag “Barndoor Fit” for the QuikPunch. Designed expressly to pair with Astera’s latest LED Fresnel, it delivers even greater lighting options for the already versatile wireless spot fixture.
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Transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs), often called “mini-strokes”, are brief episodes of neurological symptoms that can signal serious underlying health risks. Many people ignore fleeting signs such as blurred vision, sudden weakness, slurred speech, or temporary numbness, assuming they are minor or temporary. However, these short-lived events can serve as urgent warnings for an impending stroke. Recognising the symptoms early and seeking prompt medical attention can prevent permanent brain damage and even save lives. Understanding TIAs, their causes, and the appropriate interventions equips individuals to take control of their health and reduce long-term risks.
Understanding transient ischaemic attacks: When minor symptoms signal danger
A transient ischaemic attack (TIA) is a brief episode of stroke-like symptoms caused by a temporary blockage of blood flow to the brain. TIAs usually last only a few minutes and do not cause permanent damage, but they are serious warning signs—about one in three people who experience a TIA may have a stroke within a year.Common symptoms of a TIA include:
Weakness, numbness, or paralysis in the face, arm, or leg, usually on one side of the body
Slurred speech or difficulty understanding others
Vision problems, such as blindness in one or both eyes or double vision
Dizziness, loss of balance, or poor coordination
Recognising these signs and seeking prompt medical care can help prevent a major stroke.
Real-life examples of transient ischaemic attacks
Dr Sudhir Kumar, a senior neurologist and CMC Vellore graduate, highlighted a case demonstrating the importance of early detection. Mr Ramesh (name changed), a 60-year-old man with a history of smoking and poorly controlled diabetes, experienced sudden episodes of blurred vision while reading. Each episode lasted only a minute or two, but they recurred several times daily. Assuming it was related to blood sugar fluctuations, he did not seek immediate medical help.An eye examination revealed no ocular problems, prompting referral to a neurologist. A carotid Doppler scan showed an 80% blockage in his left carotid artery, a major vessel supplying blood to the brain. Dr Kumar explained that these vision blackouts were transient ischaemic attacks, urgent warning signs indicating a high risk of stroke. This case illustrates how minor symptoms can mask serious underlying issues.
Early intervention is critical for patients experiencing TIAs. Ramesh’s treatment plan included dual antiplatelet therapy to prevent blood clots, high-dose statins to stabilise arterial plaques, and lifestyle changes such as quitting smoking and controlling diabetes. In addition, early carotid stenting was performed to restore blood flow and protect the brain.Dr Kumar emphasises, “Short-lived neurological symptoms like blurred vision or temporary weakness should never be dismissed. They are the body’s SOS signals. Prompt action can prevent permanent disability and save lives.” Recognising TIAs and acting immediately allows healthcare professionals to intervene before a minor symptom develops into a full-blown stroke.
Prevention and long-term health strategies for transient ischaemic attacks
Ramesh’s experience highlights the importance of prevention and ongoing management. Transient ischaemic attacks are not just isolated events—they indicate the need for lifestyle and medical interventions. Controlling diabetes, quitting smoking, managing cholesterol, and monitoring blood pressure are essential preventive measures. Simple diagnostic tests, combined with timely medical care, can significantly reduce stroke risk.For healthcare providers, treating TIAs seriously and initiating preventive therapies, including early revascularisation when needed, can protect high-risk patients. For individuals, recognising early symptoms, seeking medical attention, and following preventive guidelines can be lifesaving. Minor episodes, like brief vision loss or temporary weakness, should be viewed as urgent health alerts rather than inconveniences. Being informed and equipped to act promptly ensures long-term brain health and overall wellbeing.Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the guidance of a qualified healthcare provider regarding any medical condition or lifestyle change.Also Read: Recovering from food poisoning: Indian diet tips for a gentle recovery
EXCLUSIVE: There’s no getting away from it: Colin Farrell is hot. To be sure, we are seated before a mammoth fire pit, the centrepiece of a swish enclave where well-heeled attendees at the Telluride Film Festival like to stay.
But the heat I’m referring to comes from Farrell’s scorching performance in director Edward Berger’s new film The Ballad of a Small Player, which had its world premiere up here in the mountains in Colorado over the Labor Day weekend.
Farrell is the movie.
When I ask Berger why he chose Farrell, who starred in HBO Max series The Penguin and will reprise this role in Matt Reeves’ next TheBatman movie, his response is simple: “Because he’s f***ing great.”
Upon hearing that, I laugh because Berger’s comment is a variation of the words that tumbled out of my potty mouth after seeing the picture. My take, if you must know, was: “Oh my Jeezus f***ing Christ, that’s an unbeatable f***ing performance”.
Yeah, I know. Shameful. Wash my mouth out with carbolic soap.
Farrell received a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for The Banshees of Inisherin but his work in Berger’s film is absolutely in a league of its own.
The filmmaker thought it would be “really interesting” to “have an Irishman pretend to be a British aristocrat, but was also attracted to his “deep humanity, the vulnerability in his eyes and his willingness to go to the edge.”
Colin Farrell In ‘Ballad Of A Small Player.’ Image: Netflix
The camera adores Farrell’s hazel brown eyes.
The Ballad of a Small Player is a sizzling cinematic reinvention, thanks to Farrell’s blazingly moving performance, Rowan Joffé’s script, and Berger’s interpretation of Lawrence Osborne’s 2014 novel about a British lawyer, who styles himself as Lord Doyle, on the lam in the gambling jungle of Macau, having relieved clients back in the UK of their supposedly secure funds.
The film is released into select U.S. cinemas October 15, UK and Ireland cinemas October 17, and on Netflix October 29.
I must say here that every department is on a winning streak in this movie, from James Friend’s cinematography to Jonathan Houlding’s garish almost Trumpian production design, Volker Bertelmann’s score, and everything in between.
One feels something close to heartbreak as we observe the desperate tactics the fake nobleman employs to stay one step ahead of utter ruination. He erects a psychological scaffold of rituals to stave off having to confront the fact that he’s reached a dead end. Yet still he refuses to give up his taste for the finer things in life – swanky hotel suites, impeccably tailored suits, lobster and caviar banquets washed down with premium bubbly.
On top of that, he wagers bets at the gambling table where he plays baccarat, which he says someone once called that “slutty, dirty queen of casino card games.” It’s as if Doyle is waging combat against himself.
Berger and Nina Gold cast Tilda Swinton as Cynthia Blithe, the private investigator who tracks him, laser like, to China, with Fala Chen playing Dao Ming, the savvy hostess who sees something behind Doyle’s desperate tactics, and Alex Jennings as an expat of the most venal variety.
“If it doesn’t touch you as a reader you might as well just walk away”
I ask Farrell what hooked him.
“Well, the script I found was extraordinarily beautiful moving, all those things that you kind of dream of being involved in, things that touch you as a reader,” he says. “If it doesn’t touch you as a reader, you might as well just walk away unless you have to go to work. I speak from someone like everyone who’s here at the festival, every actor, we’re in such a rare privileged position that sometimes we get choice.”
He then removes his cardigan, revealing a black sleeveless T-shirt showcasing biceps the likes of which Jeremy Allen White and Paul Mescal can go whistle for.
Colin Farrell in Telluride. Baz Bamigboye/Deadline
The majority of actors, if you get the audition, ”you go to work,” he notes.
“But for me, having the choice that I have sometimes in regard to material I align myself with, what does that mean? It means that I need to feel something. I need to feel it when I read it. That’s all. And I need to feel what, I don’t know? Anger could be enough, sorrow could be enough. Joy: if it’s a comedy. You just need to feel something,” he says passionately.
“So this film was, as you saw, is awash in feeling, like saturated,” he goes on. “Even on the page, even before Edward took his cinematic and altruistic kind of strokes toward the canvas of this film. Even before that, just reading it on the page, Rowan did such a gorgeous job, and Lawrence Osborne wrote a very singular novel. And I knew it was going to be exacting. It was very exacting to read.
“I was sweating as I was reading the f***ing thing,” he declares.
That sensibility was brought about, he suggests, because, “I possibly had never read anything that was both as internally and externally chaotic…There was such a lack of fear in it.”
This guy, Lord Doyle, has internal chaos “that was mirrored and represented … by this external world of noise and light and greed and affluence and power and garishness at every turn. There was no escape from the chaos and the madness …and of the deep, deep pain and the kind of deep pain that ultimately results in some form of self-destructive behavior, oftentimes addiction, whether it’s shopping, f***ing, eating, snorting, drinking, whatever it may be.
“And actually, Baz, like a lot of actors, I’m a whore for a backstory. I love seeing where things came from and going into how and why. There was none of that in this,” Farrell insists.
Lord Doyle is right on the abyss, “and his heels are barely on the cliff’s edge and he’s about to launch,” mulls Farrell.
Colin Farrell In ‘Ballad Of A Small Player.’ Courtesy of Netflix
Farrell saw such a complex character as an appealing opportunity for a thespian. It reminded me of how Sandra Oh’s Dr Cristina Lang, during her reign on Grey’s Anatomy, was only fully sated when she performed a complicated heart surgery.
“Toes are dangling over the open void and he’s about to launch. And so it was lovely,” Farrell says, licking his lips.
There were versions of Joffé’s script that dug deeper into Doyle’s backstory but the filmmakers decided not to go with it, “and I thought, lovely,” Farrell says.
I nod agreement because Farrell, without saying a word, tells us everything we need to know, even from those everyday rituals I noted earlier. How he goes about getting dressed is like a poem in itself. Something takes hold as if we’re getting transfusions of vital information direct into our bloodstream from him.
“Oh, Jesus,” he laughs. “Our blood is clean. It’s been checked recently. But I was just thinking about what we’re saying about the internal chaos and the external chaos and you talking about him getting ready. That is the only place of order. And I never thought of this before. The only place of order that he has when we meet him is the artifice of presentation. That’s the only order in his life. And I say artifice obviously, because that is not his truth. It is about conning people. It’s about pulling the wool over people’s eyes as we so often do in life… And then there’s this thin veil of order that is his presentation of this Lord Doyle character.”
But even that facade gradually drops away and what he’s left with, Farrell figures, is “the truth of his sickness and the emptiness that comes when you have taken it to the limit. And the limit is just before death.
“And we don’t always get to choose it.”
Actors don’t enjoy giving too much away about their process, but I push and prod him because a performance of this stature doesn’t just happen. How is this magic achieved? Shaking his head, he says that it does in fact go back to the writing and the structure of the story.
(L/R) Colin Farrell and Fala Chen in a scene from ‘Ballad Of A Small Player.’ Image: Netflix
Another point, he allows, “is that I honestly do believe that old thing about, ‘There’s no such thing as small parts, just small actors.’ You know that thing. It’s a very quaint saying, but there’s a truth to it. In my experience, I’ve never applied myself more to a lead role than I have to a supporting role than I have to a cameo. And so you’re always a spoke in this multi-spoked wheel that is the story. And so you lean into that. You lean into the tonality of the piece, which Ed was very clear in establishing both in our conversations together and in the color palettes that I knew he was leaning into, because I went to the production designer’s office and looked at the stills he’d done and some of the designs of some of the scenes. And it was just beautiful. It gave me so much information and so much permission to kind of push the envelope in certain directions as far as Doyle’s behavior went. It was almost like there was a psychological syncopation between the water fountain. The lights coming on, the sound of ding ding, ding ding. The money machine’s counting money. Doyle screams …”
Dual identities
During our conversation Farrell refers to Doyle as Riley, which is his real name. The man’s identities are so screwed up that he’s almost schizophrenic .
“Absolutely,” Farrell agrees. “And all addicts are, and when I was… not to get into that because I’m not giving sound bites… But when I was not living a sober life as I am now, there is a schizophrenic aspect to being an addict of any sort, because you have to hide your behaviors so that they can exist.
“You lie to everyone. And that’s what Riley’s stuck in the middle of. And Doyle is just another lie. And then everything else about the money is just another lie. But lying becomes second nature. It actually, ironically, and sadly becomes this kind of incarcerated truth that you live in. Untruth becomes your reality. And so you don’t know where to turn anymore.”
As we’re on the topic of addiction – and Farrell struggled once upon a time with an addiction to certain narcotics and alcohol but successfully kicked those habits and achieved sobriety in 2008 – I wondered whether he found taking on the role of a man in a crisis of addiction problematic. Was it a role too dangerous to take on, or was he comfortable with it?
“Neither of those,” he answers promptly. “I didn’t think of it as dangerous, which is maybe an arrogance, maybe I should have a greater respect, for I certainly have gratitude for my sobriety, but who knows what’s going to befall any of us at any moment and how we’ll respond to it in life. But I didn’t feel any danger. I didn’t feel any danger at all.
“What I did feel was terrified. And not because of my own past history with any kind of addictive stuff at all. Really, I can’t say a hundred percent, not that…” he says.
“But for whatever reason, when I read this, it was an opera. It was loud. It is operatic, it felt very honest.
Director Edward Berger and Colin Farrell on the set of ‘Ballad of a Small Player’
Netflix
And there were definitely moments of tenderness amidst the madness, but mostly it was a pretty exacting experience reading the script. So yeah, I knew it was going to be a head f**k to do it.“
His gaze fixes on me as he argues: ”You tell me, people who work on the floor of Wall Street don’t get their heads f***ed. You don’t get your head f***ed with deadlines? I’m not saying it was hardship, or anything like that. It’s a blessing to be able to get your head f***ed by work that means something to you.”
We almost create traps for ourselves in order to get things done, I suggest.
“Somewhere psychologically, you’re doing a dance with yourself,” he says.
Actually, he was never into gambling. “No, no. It was never a suit that I wore, man. Never a suit that I wore, pants didn’t fit, I don’t know. Never got me,” he assures.
How did he get on with baccarat, the slutty queen of card games?
He smiles when he hears the game described in that way.
“Slutty queen? Slutty queen of the gambling world. She gets around. Yeah, yeah. And always maintains her seat in the throne. Yeah, I would see it. I mean, there would be differences of course if you approached alcoholism or drug addiction, of course.”
Considering the point, he says: “But I think, and this may be way too simplistic, and I hope I don’t insult anyone, but I think that at the root core of all addictions is a similar body of water that contains sorrow, pain, loss, discord, a certain moment in one’s life where the self was too hard to live with. And so you turned away from it in ways that you could cope. So I didn’t really, it wasn’t like, ‘Why is it gambling …?’ And it was kind of nice for me that even though gambling is the main thing, because there was no competing with it, and it was so dramatically resonant. And obviously we were following Lawrence’s book, but he does drink more than is healthy for sure.”
Indeed, the actor consulted with Berger over one particular scene to make the point that Boyle isn’t just addicted to gambling: “It’s everything.”
Perhaps his taste for fine things is an addiction, especially when he’s got no money, and the guy loves to eat.
“The most expensive binge in the history of man,“ Farrell says of Doyle’s gluttony. “I like to binge on Cheetos and Snickers,“ he chuckles. “Lord Doyle likes to binge on lobster tail…”
Did he feel sick after shooting scenes of gorging on piles of food?
Colin Farrell In ‘Ballad Of A Small Player.’ Courtesy of Netflix
“I didn’t feel great after that day. I’m not going to lie. I needed a plunger. I won’t tell you which orifice I f***ing used it on, but no, I didn’t feel great. But it’s all part of the fun and the adventure of it and the challenge of it. And you just throw yourself into it, of course.”
His eyes lit up as he recalled the extraordinary chef at the hotel they took over for the shoot. “She made the most elaborate spread of food outside of a wedding banquet that I’ve ever seen. And it was all for me.
“They had shrimps, they had lobster tails, they had wagyu steak, they had chocolate gateaux, they had macaroons, they had bread rolls, there was champagne, everything. I mean, it was one of those things, honestly, I look and I go, ‘Oh God, this is going to be such a waste.’ I am not going to be able to make it through three percent of this. And I just did quick math and I just said, ‘Okay, I’m going to probably go for this, that and the other, and we’ll see how we go’. “
He praised the veteran camera operator Daniel Bishop for helping to map out how to tackle the mountain of food.
“I really felt like it was a lovely dance with Danny the whole time. But Danny knew that he had the camera on his shoulder and we just went for it. And we didn’t do too many takes, but it was aggressive.”
Playing the slutty game of baccarat was less painful. It was fun to play and he was aware, as all fans of the James Bond film Casino Royal are, that it was Ian Fleming’s game of choice – handed on by the author to his literary creation.
Farrell calls it a very simple game, adding “that there’s no mental acuity involved or no behavioral tells that can win or lose a game for you like there are in poker or anything like that, where there is theater that’s happening between the players, it’s none of that really. It’s pretty pure chance. But those who play it, particularly the Chinese who invest themselves in the game, they really do believe in the spirit world’s involvement In the game.”
Farrell treasures the time he spent on the film with Swinton. He remembers the first time meeting Swinton in 1998 on the set of The War Zone, Tim Roth’s directorial debut, with Ray Winstone, Lara Belmont, Kate Ashfield and Annabelle Apsion. I covered that film extensively and I very well remember Penny Dyer, the dialogue coach, and unit publicist Annabel Hutton, marking my card regarding a young newcomer by the name of Colin Farrell.
Tilda Swinton in a scene from ‘Ballad Of A Small Player.’ Courtesy of Netflix
“I think I was 19 or 20 and I had a tiny little role. I played Lara Belmont’s boyfriend in it, in the scene where they go to the beach,” recalls.
He remembers that initial meeting very well. “And she had both her babies with her and she had one on one breast and one on the other. And that was the first time I ever saw Tilda Swinton. And it made perfect sense because the woman is just extraordinary. She’s just, what a spirit. I hadn’t worked with her since. And we’ve crossed paths over the years and it’s really been a dream of mine to work with her,” he says.
“But she was just a joy. Tilda is so incredibly playful. And I just felt like she’s just going off every single word, every twitch, every breath. She’s looking at you, looking at your lips, looking at your eyes. I don’t know that I’ve ever been taken in so much by an actor.
“Every take is different. Certainly the way I work. Every take is different. It should all be within the same psychology and behavior of the character… And she’s the same and I’d be going off her. Every take of hers was different. And I tried to listen pretty well as an actor. So the two of us were just, everything was changing and it was fun. It was really playful, really, really playful. It was wonderful working with her,” he says with warmth in his eyes.
“Tilda just loves being a part of the crew as well. I love working with actors that love being a part of the crew. Not everyone has to. I’m fine with everything. It’s not expected, but she gets in there and gets her hands dirty,” he says admiringly.
Farrell was admiring too, of working with Chen and how she captured “the depth and sorrow” of her character.
He’ll be on the road promoting Ballad of a Small Player through the fall film festival season and on into awards season, but he has no immediate work lined up “for the first time in ages,” although he will also be out and about in London next week helping to launch A Big Bold Beautiful Journey with Margot Robbie and director Kogonada.
As mentioned earlier, he will play Oz Cobb, stroke the Penguin, in Batman 2 in April of 2026, although he notes that “I haven’t got much to do on it, just a little bit. I read the script and it’s extraordinary.”
Colin Farrell in ‘The Penguin’.
Macall Polay/Max
The actor is ambivalent about doing further episodes of The Penguin. “I have no idea if it’s happening. I know that I heard rumblings that they were thinking they’d like to do a second season, but I don’t know if it’s a good idea. I don’t know the way you go back to the trough… And part of me wants to go, ‘Just let it go people. We got away with it. Leave it as it is.’
“But, look, if they came up with a fantastic idea or something like that, of course I’d be open to it.”
There is something ever so slightly Martin Parr-like about this documentary, filmed inside a shabby rundown health resort near Odesa, in Ukraine. It’s not the colour palette, which is Soviet-era pale beige, but the images of holidaymakers: elderly men strutting about in thongs and playing ping pong in their vests; retirees of both sexes glad-ragged at the disco. Like Parr’s photos, the images are funny but not unkind; everyone retains their dignity. The director is Irish film-maker Gar O’Rourke, who planned Sanatorium before the war, but filmed it after Russia invaded Ukraine, which adds a layer of melancholy to the guests’ search for health and happiness.
The huge Kuyalnik sanatorium is a time warp with its brutalist architecture and institutional interiors. Back in its glory days, people must have come here in their thousands. Now, the place is a little tired: paint peeling off the walls, the ceilings stained by leaks. The health treatments too have a retro feel: mud wraps and electro massage machines. One guest is Natalia, who has brought her single 40-ish son Andriy, hoping to find him a wife. That doesn’t look promising since most of the other guests look old enough to have visited the sanatorium back in the day. Mother and son give the film a lovely moment slow dancing together to George Michael’s Careless Whisper at the disco. Other stories emerge: one woman’s husband was killed on the frontline; a younger guest is a soldier recovering from injuries sustained on the frontline. Another woman is here for help with fertility.
The place is run by the Tony Soprano of hospitality, Dmitriy, a great wardrobe of man who walks around shouting at staff. He is under pressure: the Russians are shelling Odesa and the air raid sirens are going off, visitor numbers are down, guests are glued to their phones, checking the news and apps monitoring drones and missiles. Their resilience is heroic, and there is a very moving scene near the end during a recital of the national anthem; so many faces with tears, each registering a loss or struggle.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin has already produced several surprises, and one of the most notable concerns the China–India dynamic. Observers note that Washington’s attempt to pressure New Delhi over its purchases of Russian oil has backfired. Instead of driving a wedge between the “Asian Dragon” and the “Asian Elephant,” U.S. actions have nudged these long-standing rivals toward rapprochement.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s current visit to China — his first in seven years — is itself a powerful signal of shifting geopolitical currents in Asia. According to Xinhua, on the eve of the summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Modi met and agreed that China and India should regard one another as partners, not adversaries.
Xi stressed that the two countries represent opportunities for each other’s development rather than threats. Both are central players in the Global South and bear a heavy responsibility: to improve the well-being of their peoples, to consolidate the strength of developing nations, and to contribute to the progress of human civilization as a whole. “China and India are the world’s two oldest civilizations and the two most populous nations. The world is entering a period of profound transformation, and it is vital that we remain good neighbors and allies. The Dragon and the Elephant must unite. Together, we must defend multilateralism, a multipolar world, and greater democracy in international institutions, and work for peace and prosperity in Asia and across the globe,” Xi was quoted as saying by MIR24.
Modi not only agreed with these sentiments but also announced that direct air travel between the two countries would soon resume — a symbolic and practical step toward normalizing relations.
Photo: Reuters
The backdrop to this thaw is Washington’s increasingly heavy-handed approach. U.S. President Donald Trump recently imposed a 50 percent tariff on Indian goods to punish the country for buying Russian oil. These new duties — the steepest in Asia — took effect on August 27, doubling existing tariffs and covering more than 55 percent of Indian exports to the U.S. The blow will be felt most acutely in sectors like textiles and jewelry, though Bloomberg notes that critical exports such as electronics and pharmaceuticals have been spared — a concession that preserves Apple’s massive new investments in Indian manufacturing.
China, too, has been locked in an escalating tariff confrontation with Washington. In April, Trump announced a 34 percent hike on Chinese goods on top of an existing 20 percent levy. After Beijing retaliated, Trump doubled tariffs to 104 percent. China responded with an 84 percent duty. The U.S. then raised its rate to 145 percent, while Beijing countered with 125 percent. Both sides eventually declared a fragile “truce,” with Trump delaying further escalation until November 10.
Against this backdrop of economic confrontation, New Delhi and Beijing appear to be finding common ground. Modi’s remarks in Tianjin suggest that differences between the two powers may not be as irreconcilable as often portrayed. He stated that India is prepared to work with China to find fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable solutions to their long-standing border disputes.
Recent developments support this new trajectory. In August, India hosted the 24th round of talks between the two countries’ special representatives on border issues. According to Xinhua, the two sides reached a ten-point consensus, agreeing to maintain diplomatic and military mechanisms for managing tensions along the disputed frontier. They also pledged to resume issuing tourist visas and restore direct flights.
This follows years of tension, particularly the deadly clashes of June 2020 in the Himalayas, where both sides suffered casualties in their most serious confrontation in decades. Those events inflicted heavy damage on bilateral relations. Yet since Trump’s return to the White House and the resumption of trade wars, Beijing and New Delhi have shown a greater willingness to set aside differences.
China has once again assumed the role of peacemaker. Bloomberg reported in August that as early as March, Xi Jinping sent a confidential message to Indian President Droupadi Murmu, probing the possibility of improved relations. The message, conveyed to Modi, was followed by a public statement in which Xi praised bilateral ties, famously describing them as a “dragon-and-elephant tango.”
Photo: China Daily
The Tianjin summit also highlights another key dimension: a planned trilateral meeting between Russia, India, and China to discuss Russian energy supplies to partner states. In essence, the gathering is expected to focus on countering Trump’s policies.
For Western analysts, the implications are significant. Beijing’s flexible diplomatic style often enables it to resolve even the most intractable disputes, and many expect China to find a way to safeguard the interests of both the Dragon and the Elephant — without provoking a direct clash with Washington.
The symbolism of this rapprochement should not be underestimated. At a moment when the U.S. is using tariffs and economic leverage as blunt instruments of foreign policy, Beijing and New Delhi are rediscovering the value of partnership. For Asia — and indeed for the wider world — this could mark the beginning of a new chapter in which two ancient civilizations and modern powerhouses choose cooperation over conflict.
For a 10-year-old, the loss is proving hard to grasp. “It has been four days since I last saw my home,” says Ahsan. He has not yet understood that the floods completely swept away his house in Dogoro Basha village in Shigar, Pakistan.
His confusion is part of the devastating aftermath of long months of rain and floods that have devastated thousands of families in the country’s northern provinces and left more than 860 people dead so far.
For Muhammad Shareef, 19, a university student living away from home in Islamabad, the distance does not help. His home in Dogoro Basha was also destroyed, and his family is now displaced. “My house and land are gone. My mother is now living in a tent. The only thing I have left standing is my father’s grave [marker],” he says.
Since the end of June, and throughout July and August, torrential rains and flash floods have battered Pakistan, mostly the regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan. According to the country’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), more than 800 people have died and more than 1,100 have been injured.
More than half of the deaths happened when people were caught by flash floods, with others crushed by collapsing houses.
“This is not only a physical disaster but a mental health crisis,” says Shan-e-Zainab, a Karachi-based clinical psychologist and mental health trainer. “After a flood, people frequently suffer acute stress reactions, helplessness, shock and terror.
“Many develop survivor’s guilt, sleep problems, intrusive memories or overwhelming sadness after losing homes, jobs or loved ones,” she says. “Without proper support, these reactions often deepen into depression, prolonged grief or post-traumatic stress disorder.”
Nasir Khan, 81, sits in the remains of his village after flooding in Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Photograph: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters
The destruction has been immense. The NDMA reports that across the country more than 9,000 houses have been damaged and more than 2,000 completely destroyed. Displacement is widespread: at least 25,927 people are living in 308 relief camps across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 3,140 people are sheltering in 11 camps in Gilgit-Baltistan.
“Many people died because of the thunderstorm,” says Sher Nawab, 38, a farmer from Buner in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “Those who were outside tried to save their lives, but the people inside their houses could not survive.”
For him, survival is now shadowed by a sense of dread. “We lost our corn crops and livestock,” he says. “But what haunts us is the fear, God forbid, if it rains again.
“Our high school is two hours away; one of the students was swept away by the flood on his way there. The schools are closed now; children are sitting idle at home, and some have lost their books in the water,” Nawab says.
Sajjad Ali Khan, a village elder in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Kunduz valley, describes a similar reality. “In my village, there were about 150 houses. More than half have been affected by the floods,” he says. “People are not able to live in the village. They have left and gone to tents.”
Life in displacement, he adds, is marked by uncertainty. “The children’s school has also been destroyed. The only dispensary in our area was swept away. Our children’s future is at stake.”
In videos shown to the Guardian by a villager from Gilgit-Baltistan, boys explain how the floods have disrupted their lives. “Our schools are closed; we can’t go to class any more,” says one. Another says: “We don’t have clean drinking water.” A third adds simply: “We are living in tents now.”
Emergency officials witness this misery first-hand. “Fear and panic are always the first reaction,” says Muhammad Sohail, a media coordinator for Rescue 1122, a government disaster emergency service in Buner.
“Many victims are in shock, unable to comprehend what has happened. Those who have lost family members go through intense grief; others show helplessness, especially when they have lost their homes or means of livelihood,” he says.
Rescue workers in Buner prepare antibiotics and other medications for people displaced by the floods. Photograph: Arshad Arbab/EPA
He adds that rescue workers also carry invisible scars. “Rescuers are human. We see death, destruction and grieving families constantly. The emotional burden of not being able to save everyone is very heavy.”
For climate experts, the floods are not anomalies but warnings. “This is not just climate change, it is a climate emergency,” says Yasir Darya, founder of the Climate Action Centre in Karachi.
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“Because of global warming, the weather patterns have shifted. The Earth’s systems are permanently damaged,” Darya says.
He points to the catastrophic floods in 2022, which killed at least 1,700 people,as a turning point. According to the World Bank’s post-disaster assessment, they displaced more than 8 million people and led to economic losses of $30bn (£26bn), making it the most devastating disaster in Pakistan’s recorded history.
“Families lost their homes, land, livestock and everything they had worked for,” says Darya. “In many valleys, people were cut off for weeks, like islands in a vast lake, with no food or medicine reaching them. That is collective psychological torture.”
People look at the damage after flash floods in Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Photograph: Bilawal Arbab/EPA
Zainab says trauma manifests itself differently in different age groups. “Adults often show increased anxiety, anger, insomnia and withdrawal, while children may struggle in school, have recurring nightmares, or revert to earlier behaviours such as bed-wetting or clinginess.”
Where mental health support is lacking, she says, trauma becomes chronic. “It can lead to substance abuse, long-term anxiety or depression in adults, and serious emotional regulation problems in children. Trauma can even be passed from generation to generation.”
Repeated exposure to disasters magnifies the impact. “The disturbance of safety and healing brings an ongoing sense of powerlessness and hypervigilance,” Zainab says. “The risk of developing PTSD, depression and learned helplessness, where people feel unable to cope with ongoing crises, rises with every new flood.
A man stands in his damaged home in Pishoreen village, Buner. Photograph: M Sajjad/AP
“The most important is psychological first aid, ensuring safety, meeting basic needs, offering emotional support without pressuring survivors to relive details, providing clear information, and helping people reconnect with family and community,” she says. “Early interventions like these significantly reduce the likelihood of chronic psychiatric problems.”
Fewer than 500 psychiatrists serve 240 million people in Pakistan, however, and most of them are based in the major cities.
“Our mental health system lacks the tools to address climate-linked trauma,” says Zainab. “There are too few professionals, not enough community-based services, and stigma remains strong.
“What we need are disaster-response policies that integrate mental health, training for volunteers and health workers in psychological support, mobile mental health services in vulnerable areas, and nationwide awareness campaigns to fight stigma.”
In the northern provinces, survivors are all too aware that the floods will return and things may never go back to normal. “We can rebuild homes,” says Nawab, “but fear stays in the heart.”
For Shareef, in Islamabad, worry is now a constant companion when he travels to his village. “We might survive the day,” he says, “During the day, I might feel safe. But at night, I am worried. I’m not sure what to do.”
This week, the bakers take on Cake Week and are tasked with making fiddly fondant fancies, which didn’t go down too well for Aaron.
Reflecting on a special moment in episode 1, Aaron recalled: “Prue saying my fondant fancy looked awful. Fair commentary to be fair.”
Aside from his fondant fancy skills, what else is there to know about Aaron? Read on to learn more about The Great British Bake Off 2025 contestant.
Who is Aaron?
Aaron. Channel 4 / Laura Palmer
Age: 38
Location: London
Job: Senior systems architect
Aaron is a 38-year-old senior systems architect living in London with his boyfriend Anthony. He made the move from Manchester two years ago.
A passionate baker, Aaron fuses French patisserie with Caribbean flair, and is currently using Asian flavours like miso and yuzu in his mono-portion bakes.
After Aaron applied for the show, he began to feel as though he wouldn’t be accepted, and when he found out he’d be on season 16, he didn’t get “too excited” as “a lot can change between that call and filming”.
“I was at home working when I got the call,” he said. “Anthony was eavesdropping and crying before I even got the chance to tell him.”
When Aaron isn’t baking, he is usually cycling around the city, teaching himself French, lifting weights at the gum or studying for a Master’s in Computer Science and Data Analytics.
What are Aaron’s strengths and weaknesses as a baker?
According to Aaron, he feels he has “a good knowledge of baking and good flavours” but finds that his weakness is “second guessing, especially when I don’t have the time to do it over”.
The Great British Bake Off returns to Channel 4 on Tuesday 2nd September at 8pm.
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EXCLUSIVE: Japanese model Hikari Mori will present the launch episode of Seasons, a multi-platform CNN series dropping this week.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s news network has developed the series to work across platforms, going live digitally today.
A 30-minute TV show that looks to understand the people, craftsmanship, innovation and strategy driving highly sought after items and the most in-demand things to do will debut on Saturday (September 6) on CNN International.
Stories include looks at an invitation-only restaurant to the ancient sensory ritual of matcha. The first episode will see Mori go inside the mind of Takashi Murakami, the Japanese creative artist, as he prepares for an exhibition in Seoul, Korea. Mori will also explore how Japan’s pop culture keeps continues to set trends in art, fashion and design.
“I am deeply inspired by the awareness and appreciation of the seasons, and by how profoundly they shape culture and tradition,” said Mori. “In Japan, the seasons hold a central place in daily life – whether in the art of haiku, in food culture, in colors and fabrics, or in the choice of materials. Many of the country’s rituals and traditions remain closely tied to the rhythm of the natural world.
“I believe that in today’s fast-paced world, we can learn to live more meaningfully by observing how Japanese artisans create in harmony with seasonal cycles. It is an honor for me to serve as the storyteller for CNN’s first episode of Seasons, sharing this timeless connection between nature, culture, and creativity.”
Following the launch episode and the initial digital and social content that comes with it, episode two will shift focus to Europe and have a new host.
Ellana Lee, Group Senior Vice President, GM APAC, and Global Head of Productions at CNN says: “From exclusive collaborations and underground movements to immersive experiences and viral editions, Seasons captures what’s resonating right now. This isn’t just about luxury – it’s about the evolving tastes of a generation that values rarity, relevance, and story above all.
“Encapsulating the trends sweeping the world, audiences can stay up to date through short video explainers of what’s capturing the moment or enjoy a beautiful, in-depth TV show. Hikari Mori is the ideal host for the first episode of Seasons as she brings passion and authority to her narration and is immersed in both Japanese culture and the luxury sector through her affiliation with global brands.”
EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Discovery is boarding the Booba train.
The U.S. studio has struck a deal with Kedoo Entertainment for rights to Season 5 of the digital preschool property. This gives HBO Max worldwide rights (excluding the U.S.), with a Latin America launch coming first, followed by Asia Pacific in November and EMEA markets where the streamer has already debuted in December.
Furthermore, Booba Season 5 has launched on Cartoonito across Latin America, with 13 episodes airing daily during the first week and weekly Monday premieres following. The series will also debut on Discovery Kids and POGO in India later this year, and clips have already begun rolling out on YouTube.
Booba comes from Duabi-based Kedoo’s 3D Sparrow label. Beginning life as a YouTube series, it has amassed over 22 billion views and 20 million subscribers, and has been a top 10 animated title on Netflix. On local TV stations, it has launched in more than 45 territories.
The non-dialog animation targets 2-8s and their families and seeks to deliver soft education values through humorous adventures, which involve the titular Booba. Season 5 sees the universe expand with new worlds and characters such as alternative Boobas, dinosaurs and a robot from the future.
Last year, we reported that the likes of ITVX in the UK, Nine Network in Australia, Star Channel in Greece, RTL in Croatia, VOYO in CEE and CDA Premium in Poland had bought Season 5 for 2025 debuts. The brand has also expanded with four-part education live action series The Booba Show, which helps children with social skills.
Olivier Bernard, COO and Co-Founder of Kedoo Entertainment, said: “Booba continues to grow a huge global community fan base, the series is evolving, and its worldwide footprint keeps expanding, which is fantastic! We are very pleased and humbled to partner with one of the biggest entertainment outlets on the planet, Warner Bros. Discovery.”
Photo: Reuters
Photo: China Daily
