In a landmark decision for child health, the chickenpox vaccine is being rolled out by the NHS as part of the routine childhood immunisation schedule in the United Kingdom. This historic move, recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), aims to dramatically reduce cases of a common childhood illness that can sometimes lead to serious complications.
Why now? A Shift in Policy
For decades, the chickenpox (varicella) vaccine has been available privately in the UK, but it was not part of the NHS’s programme. The JCVI has now concluded that introducing it universally will benefit children and reduce severe infections. The policy change comes after a successful pilot in several areas and a review of long-term data showing the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness.
This means that, for the first time, all children will be offered protection through the National Health Service, bringing the UK in line with many other countries like the United States, Germany, and Australia, which have had universal programmes for years.
Key Details of the Rollout
The chickenpox vaccine is being rolled out on the NHS with a clear, two-dose schedule to ensure strong and lasting immunity.
Who is eligible? The programme will initially target all children at two key ages:
The Schedule:
The first dose will be given at 12 months.
A second booster dose will be offered at 18 months.
Combined Vaccine: It is likely the vaccine will be given as part of a combined shot, protecting against measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (the MMRV vaccine), minimising the number of injections for toddlers.
Why Vaccinate Against Chickenpox?
While often considered a mild, itchy rite of passage, chickenpox can be unpredictable and lead to severe illness.
Complications: It can cause bacterial skin infections, pneumonia, encephalitis (brain swelling), and, in rare cases, death.
Protecting the Vulnerable: Widespread vaccination will create “herd immunity”, indirectly protecting babies too young for the vaccine, pregnant women, and those with weakened immune systems for whom chickenpox is very dangerous.
Reducing Disruption: It will significantly cut down on the thousands of school and nursery absences—and parent work absences—caused by outbreaks every year.
Addressing Common Questions
What about shingles? There is no evidence that introducing the childhood chickenpox vaccine will increase shingles rates in adults. In fact, exposure to chickenpox in adulthood boosts immunity, and the NHS will continue to offer the effective shingles vaccine to older adults.
My child already had chickenpox. If a child has already had a confirmed case, they will have natural immunity and will not need the vaccine.
Is it safe? Millions of children worldwide have safely used the varicella vaccine for over 30 years, demonstrating its excellent safety profile.
A Public Health Victory
The NHS’s decision to roll out the chickenpox vaccine signifies a significant advancement in preventive healthcare. It reflects a commitment to using modern medicine to protect children from preventable diseases, reduce hospitalisations, and ensure a healthier start to life for future generations.
Parents of young children should look out for official communication from their GP surgery regarding the new schedule. This is a positive step forward for the health of all children in the UK.
For the latest and most specific information, always refer to the official NHS website and guidance from your local healthcare provider
Larissa Hope truly believes that psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, helped in her recovery from depression.
Back when she was 17 and starting out as an actress, she was cast in the TV drama Skins, but the newfound fame brought out a previously buried trauma. Antidepressants proved ineffective for her, but a small dose of psilocybin, taken under clinical supervision, marked a turning point in her life.
“When I experienced it, I burst out crying,” she says today. “It was the first time in my life I had ever felt a sense of belonging and safety in my body. I kept saying, ‘I’m home, I’m home.'”
Now, almost 20 years on, Larissa maintains that it was this, along with therapy, that helped her confront suicidal feelings.
Not everyone feels the same. Jules Evans, a university researcher, had a completely unique experience when he first took LSD, albeit for recreational purposes, back when he was 18.
The trip sent him into what he describes as a “deluded” state.
“I believed that everyone was talking about me, criticising me, judging me. I thought I had permanently damaged myself and lost my mind for good.
A scan comparison shows the hyperactive brain of a psychedelic user next to that of someone who hasn’t taken psychedelics.
Today he is director of the Challenging Psychedelic Experiences Project, which helps people experiencing difficulties after taking psychedelics. He says he felt socially anxious and suffered from panic attacks years after his experience and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
But these two starkly different experiences are at the heart of the dilemmas currently facing doctors, regulators, and politicians.
That is, should doctors be allowed to prescribe treatments that involve the use of magic mushrooms and other potentially useful psychedelic drugs?
Magic mushrooms and depression
Recent studies have raised the question of whether psychedelic drugs could effectively treat depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, PTSD, trauma, and addictions like alcohol and gambling.
The use of psychedelic medicine is illegal at present unless it is authorised in research or clinical trials. But since 2022, more than 20 such trials have tested different psychedelic medicines for conditions such as depression, PTSD, and addiction.
The results of many of these studies suggest that the treatments can help, while several others have mixed or unclear results.
Most trials have shown some benefit.
Results from one of the largest clinical trials into the use of psilocybin, by UK biotech firm Compass Pathways, are due later this year. https://ashdigitalskill.com/
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Prof Oliver Howes, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Psychopharmacology Committee, sees psychedelics as a promising potential new treatment for psychiatric disorders, including for NHS patients
The UK’s medicines regulator is waiting for this data as it considers whether to relax the current tight restrictions and allow use of the psychedelic medicine outside research and trials.
Prof Oliver Howes, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Psychopharmacology Committee, is optimistic. He says he sees psychedelics as a promising potential new treatment for psychiatric disorders – including for patients in the NHS.
“One of the key messages is that this is something we desperately need – more treatments and better treatments for mental health disorders…
“These treatments are intriguing because they’ve shown promise in these small-scale studies… and have the potential to work quicker.”
But he is also cautious, emphasising the need to see the results from the trials. “It’s critical that we get evidence and not overhype the potential benefits.”
Others have also urged caution. A report by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, published in September 2025, warned of the potential dangers of psychedelics, and doctors also stress that taking psychedelic drugs is not just illegal but can also be harmful.
Do psychedelic drugs have faster acting effects and fewer side effects?
Drug use is as ancient as civilisation itself. Magic mushrooms, opium and cannabis have long been used for recreation and rituals.
By the 1960s and 1970s, LSD, also known as acid, was used by the counterculture movement, with Harvard psychologist and counterculture guru Timothy Leary urging young people to “turn on, tune in, drop out”. In other words, to turn on and awaken their inner potential, tune in to the state of society around them and drop out of social norms of the time.
The late American psychologist Timothy Leary urged people in the 1960s to ‘turn on, tune in, drop out’
Greater restrictions were being applied to scientific research around the substances by the time they were banned in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
But a series of groundbreaking scientific developments in the 2010s by Prof David Nutt and his team at Imperial College London began a process that may well end up changing that.
Subsequent clinical trials on depressed patients indicated that psilocybin was at least as effective as conventional antidepressants, and with fewer side effects. But there was another big advantage, according to Prof. Nutt: how fast-acting it is.
“We thought rather than wait for eight weeks for antidepressants to switch off the part of the brain associated with depression, maybe psilocybin could switch it off in the space of a few minutes.”
A series of new studies that suggest psychedelic drugs could help treat depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and PTSD
Prof Nutt is a respected scientist, but his assertions have generated controversy.
He was dismissed in 2009 as chair of the government’s drugs advisory body, the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs, by the then Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson, following certain public comments – such as claiming there was “not much difference” between the harm caused by horse-riding and ecstasy – which were seen as incompatible with his role as a government adviser.
In recent years, Prof. Nutt’s studies sparked many more investigations across the world on the potential therapeutic benefits of other psychedelic drugs.
At University College London, neuroscientist Dr Ravi Das has been trying to understand why some habits harden into addictions while others fade away. He believes psychedelics may help find the answer.
The study he leads has been recruiting heavy drinkers to test whether dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a short-acting psychedelic also used as a recreational drug, can be used to target the brain’s memory and learning systems.
It builds on evidence suggesting psilocybin can disrupt habitual behaviours linked to addiction.
“Every time someone drinks, a bit like Pavlov’s dog, you’re learning to associate things in the environment with the rewarding effect of alcohol,” he says. “We’ve been focusing on whether certain drugs, such as psychedelics, can break down those associations.”
The present effort is a very early-stage study, but if this and future trials are successful, the aim is to offer it as a treatment within the NHS (with regulatory approval).
“If psychedelic therapies are both safe and more effective than current treatments, I would hope to see them made accessible via the NHS — rather than to just the privileged few who can afford them privately,” he says.
Ketamine, which was the subject of a previous trial by Dr Das, sits in a different legal category and can be used as part of a medical treatment in the UK.
Other psychedelics, such as DMT, LSD, psilocybin and MDMA, are currently deemed to have no legitimate medical use and so can only be used for research – and even then under very strict and hard-to-obtain medical licences.
Dr Das believes positive results from trials might change views as the emerging scientific evidence mounts. “I hope if there’s sufficient evidence, the government will be open to revising the scheduling of these drugs,” he says.
Dr Ravi Das is testing whether the short-acting psychedelic could target the brain’s memory and learning systems in heavy drinkers
However, an analysis, published in the British Medical Journal in November 2024 by PhD student Cédric Lemarchand and colleagues, questioned how easy it was to determine the precise effect of psychedelic drugs.
“Since hallucinogens are usually used along with therapy, it’s hard to tell what effects come from the drug itself versus the therapy, making it tough to fully assess and label the products.”
It also suggested short-term trials might overlook “the potential for harm and serious adverse events from long-term use of hallucinogens… The potential for abuse or misuse must also be considered.”
‘People are suffering… It’s a moral failing.’
While research suggests therapeutic benefits from psychedelic medicines, doctors remain cautious. Prof. Howes believes that – except for ketamine, which has been assessed by the regulator – psychedelic treatments should not be routine medical practice in the UK outside research settings until larger, more rigorous trials provide more robust evidence for their safety and effectiveness.
“In a clinical trial setting, it’s very carefully evaluated. If people take these on their own or in a backstreet clinic, then there is no guarantee of that, and the safety issues start becoming a major issue.”
Figures from various studies, gathered by Challenging Psychedelic Experiences, support his cautions. It suggests that 52% of respondents who regularly use psychedelic drugs say they have had an intensely challenging psychedelic trip, and 39% of them considered it “one of the five most difficult experiences of their life.”
In addition, 6.7% said they considered harming themselves or others following a challenging experience, and 8.9% reported they were “impaired” for more than a day after a difficult trip.
Some people required medical or psychiatric assistance and continued to feel worse for weeks, months, or in some cases years after their experience, according to Mr Evans.
“Ideally, I would love doctors and regulators to know more about these adverse effects and how people can recover from them before they say any of these therapies are safe,” he argues.
Compass Pathways
A Compass Pathways session showing a patient receiving guided psychedelic therapy
But Prof. Nutt, Prof. Howes and Dr Das believe that progress into the clinic is being slowed by the difficulty of obtaining permission to carry out medically supervised clinical trials.
“There are so many people suffering unnecessarily,” Prof. Nutt told BBC News. “And some of them are dying because of the unreasonable barriers to research and treatment that we face in this country. It is, in my view, a moral failing.
“When these medicines are proven to be safe and effective, I think it is vital they are made available through the NHS to all who need them, not limited to the private sector, as happened with medical cannabis.”
Although he urges caution, it is a view shared by Prof. Howes.
“There are big barriers to doing this research, so we do ask for the government to review the regulations of these substances for research because it does lead to long delays, and we desperately do need new treatments.”
The analysis from Mr Lemarchand calls for greater scrutiny of trials. “To guarantee that hallucinogens are rigorously vetted before endorsing them as safe and effective treatments, medical journals must appraise the evidence more critically, fully account for limitations, avoid spin and unsubstantiated claims, and correct the record when needed.”
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is also blunt in stating that Schedule 1 “contains those of no medicinal value”, so they should sit under the tightest controls, it says. Ministers also tie the Home Office licensing regime directly to public protection.
‘If psychedelic therapies are both safe and more effective than current treatments, I would hope to see them made accessible via the NHS,’ says Dr Das
The government has backed plans to ease licensing requirements for some clinical trials approved by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and Health Research Authority, with work under way to implement exemptions for certain universities and NHS sites. A cross-government working group is co-ordinating the cautious rollout, pending the results of pilot projects.
But some doctors, including Prof. Howes, say changes are moving painfully slowly. “There’s still a lot of red tape holding things up,” he says.
Supporters of psychedelic medicines hope that so-called phase three trials by Compass Pathways will lead to further relaxations, at least on research.
Larissa Hope’s concern is for people in the position she once was in: “Under psilocybin, my nervous system began, for the first time, to recognise what peace felt like. I’ve come to believe that suicidality is not about wanting to die but about wanting to finally feel peace.”
New York’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has vowed to run the city “broadly and boldly” after his historic inauguration.
The democratic socialist became the Big Apple’s first Muslim mayor after being sworn in at midnight at the Old City Hall subway stop, which is accessible via guided tours only a few times a year.
He is also the first person of South Asian descent born in Uganda and the first person of African descent to become mayor of the city.
image: Attorney General Letitia James (left) administers the oath as Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, looks on. Photo: AP
Later at a grand opening ceremony at City Hall, he declared, “From today on, we will govern expansively and boldly. We may sometimes fail, but we will always try courageously.
He pointed to an era of “big government” for the city, saying that his administration “will not hesitate to use its power to improve the lives of New Yorkers”.
He said, “I was elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist.”
At the second event he was sworn in by Senator Bernie Sanders – Mr Mamdani’s hero who has become the Democrats’ nominee for president.
Mamdani sworn in as NYC mayor by Bernie Sanders
Mr Mamdani, a 34-year-old former state Assembly member,
came to office late last year largely on a platform of capping fares and making buses free to tackle the rising cost of living.
He inspired a record-breaking turnout of more than two million voters, taking 50% of the vote, nearly 10 points ahead of former Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was running as an independent.
As America’s most populous city, New York has approximately eight million residents.
Thousands of people braved the cold to watch the inauguration ceremony at City Hall.
image: Photos: Reuters
Mr Mamdani immediately took steps to rescind several executive orders issued by the previous administration.
He cancelled all those issued after September 26, 2024 – the date federal officials announced that then-Mayor Eric Adams was being charged with corruption, which were later dismissed after Donald Trump intervened.
Read more: Mamdani met Trump in the Oval Office
From Rapper to Mayor: Who is Zohran Mamdani?
Mamdani asked if he thinks Trump is a fascist
Mr Mamdani will move from his one-bedroom Astoria to Gracie Mansion, the official residence of New York City mayors, on the Upper East Side.
He is not the city’s first mayor to be associated with democratic socialism, although David Dinkins did not have much involvement with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) during his 1990–1993 tenure.
China’s BYD is set to overtake Elon Musk’s Tesla as the world’s biggest seller of electric vehicles (EVs), marking the first time it has outpaced its American rival for annual sales.
On Thursday, BYD said that sales of its battery-powered cars rose last year by almost 28% to more than 2.25 million.
Tesla, which is due to reveal its total sales for 2025 later on Friday, last week published analysts’ estimates suggesting that it had sold around 1.65 million vehicles for the year as a whole.
The US firm has faced a tough year, with a mixed reception to new offerings, unease over Musk’s political activities, and intensifying competition from Chinese rivals.
Chinese firms, such as Geely, MG, and BYD – now the country’s largest electric car company – have put pressure on Western rivals by pricing their vehicles below established brands.
1. The Numbers Don’t Lie: Defining the “Overtake”
First, let’s clarify the metrics. BYD sells both pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), collectively called New Energy Vehicles (NEVs). Tesla sells only BEVs.
In Q4 2023, BYD sold over 525,000 BEVs, surpassing Tesla’s 484,500 deliveries. This single-quarter victory proved BYD’s capability to outpace Tesla in their core segment. Despite Tesla holding the BEV crown for the full year 2023, BYD’s relentless growth—over 70% year-over-year—has significantly narrowed the gap. In the broader NEV category, BYD has been the undisputed global leader for two years running, selling over 3 million vehicles in 2023.
The trajectory is undeniable. China’s BYD is set to overtake Tesla in annual BEV sales, with most analysts projecting it could happen as early as 2024.
BYD overtaking Tesla
.
2. Who is BYD? The giant battery turned into an auto-behemoth.
Many outside China ask, “Who is BYD?” Founded in 1995, BYD (Build Your Dreams) started as a battery manufacturer. This origin serves as a strategic advantage for the company. Unlike traditional automakers or even Tesla, which depend on partners such as Panasonic and CATL, BYD maintains vertical integration. It produces its own advanced Blade Batteries, semiconductors, and motors. This control over the most critical and expensive parts of an EV provides massive cost advantages and shields it from supply chain disruptions.
3. The Strategy Behind the Ascent
How did BYD achieve this dizzying climb? Three strategies are key:
Dominance at Home: BYD commands over 35% of China’s EV market, the world’s largest. It offers an unparalleled lineup—from the affordable Seagull (under $11,000) to luxury Yangwang models—catering to every segment.
The Unbeatable Price Advantage: Vertical integration lets BYD produce EVs at a lower cost. This allows for aggressive pricing that pressures competitors globally, making EVs accessible to a much wider audience.
Aggressive Global Expansion: BYD is no longer just a Chinese player. It’s rapidly expanding in Europe, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Latin America, establishing manufacturing hubs and challenging local incumbents.
rapid international expansion strategy
4. Tesla’s Position: Not a Decline, But a Catch-Up
It’s crucial to frame the situation correctly. Tesla is not collapsing; it delivered a record 1.8 million vehicles in 2023. The story is that China’s BYD is set to overtake Tesla by executing on a different, highly effective model. Tesla remains the premium, high-tech innovator, focusing on profitability per vehicle and software. BYD is the volume-driven manufacturing powerhouse, flooding the market with quality options. A formidable, scaled competitor now confronts the pioneer.
5. What This Means for the Global EV Market
This shift signals a new, more competitive era.
Consumers Win: More choice, faster innovation, and potential price reductions across the board.
Legacy Automakers Are on Notice: If they thought catching Tesla was hard, BYD sets a new benchmark for speed, scale, and cost.
Battery is King: BYD’s success proves that leadership in core battery technology is paramount. The battery pack increasingly dictates the future of autos.
Conclusion
The data and trajectory are clear. China’s BYD is set to overtake Tesla as the world’s top EV seller, marking one of the most significant power shifts in the automotive industry in over a century. This does not signal the end of Tesla’s journey but rather the start of a fierce, worldwide competition for leadership in EVs. Ultimately, this fierce competition will accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable transportation—and that’s a win for everyone.
FAQ Section
Q: Has BYD officially overtaken Tesla? A: Yes, in Q4 2023, BYD outsold Tesla in pure battery-electric vehicle (BEV) deliveries. In annual BEV sales for 2023, Tesla remained ahead, but BYD’s growth rate positions it to likely take the annual crown in 2024.
Q: What is BYD’s best-selling electric model? A: In China, the BYD Song (SUV) and Qin (sedan) series are top sellers. For global markets, models like the Atto 3 (Yuan Plus), Dolphin, and Seal are gaining rapid popularity.
Q: Does BYD sell cars in the USA? A: Not yet for consumers. BYD currently sells electric buses and trucks in the U.S. and has a strong commercial presence. Passenger car sales are a possibility but face political and tariff challenges.
Q: Why are BYD cars often cheaper than Teslas? A: The primary reasons are BYD’s vertical integration (owning their battery supply chain), lower manufacturing costs in China, and a strategic focus on the mass market across multiple price points.
Distraught families are desperately searching for their children who are still missing after a deadly fire at a Swiss ski resort nightclub.
Authorities have confirmed that teenagers were among 47 dead and 115 injured after a massive fire broke out at a packed tourist bar in Crans-Montana. Wallis,
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People laid flowers and lit candles for the victims of the fire at “Le Constellation” bar Credit: APyoung people mourn their friends Credit: ReutersA fireman lights a candle Credit: AP
It is believed that more than 200 young people celebrating the New Year had gathered at Le Constellation, a luxury bar at the popular ski resort, when the “flashover” fire broke out.
Hundreds of people escaped by climbing narrow stairs, while others broke windows along with furniture to escape and suffered severe burns in the process.
The fire scorched the venue.
Terrified people were “screaming and running” for their lives on New Year’s Eve. The fire scorched the venue, burning alive many people trapped inside.
The survivors, aged as young as 15, have been airlifted to hospitals in Switzerland and abroad, including in France, Germany and Belgium.
Wallace Hospital activated its disaster plan, admitting 60 injured, many of whom had third-degree burns.
A helpline has been set up for the victims and their families to manage the flow of information.
The mother of 16-year-old Giovanni Tamburri, from Bologna, is one of many parents who are appealing for information about her son’s well-being.
“We are calling all the hospitals, but no one knows anything, especially when the patients are in terrible condition,” he told La Repubblica.
Amid the chaos of the horrific tragedy, friends and relatives have taken to social media to get answers about what happened to their loved ones.
One Facebook post read: “My 15-year-old sister is missing. We have not heard from her since the bar fire in Crans-Montana.”
Another wrote about a loved one: “If you saw him after 1.30am or know where he has been taken, please contact me. Three of his friends are also missing.”
A European official said experts were using dental and DNA records to identify the deceased, but identification was being delayed due to the severity of the burns.
Eight French citizens and six Italians are missing and foreign governments are reportedly calling around to find out if their citizens are among the dead.
The first injured teenager to be identified is FC Metz youth footballer Tahiris dos Santos.
According to the football club, the 19-year-old player sustained “severe burns” and is currently receiving treatment in Germany.
It came as around 400 people came together to offer condolences to the victims of the massive fire on Thursday evening.
A church service was held in Crans-Montana to honour the victims, and later on a snowy night hundreds of people gathered quietly near the site of the tragedy to lay flowers and light candles.
Many of those who stood motionless watching the scene of the tragedy knew people who were unaccounted for or badly injured.
People spoke in whispers, if at all. The only sound was the hum of the generator near the makeshift white tent set up outside the bar.
Center of Crans-Montana in the Swiss Alps Credit: Alamy
“I wasn’t there myself, but I had many friends and relatives,” said a young mourner, who gave his surname as Orostevik.
“Some died; others are in hospital. He informed AFP that the number of deceased individuals was approximately 10.
“They’re mostly my parents’ friends, but I know them very well.”
Orostevik said he had bought flowers to give “as a small tribute.”.
Nearby, some groups of friends were hugging and crying, distraught.
The father placed a guiding hand around the young sons. The youth hugged their friends as soon as they saw them. People cried, hugged and held hands.
“My son could have been there. It wasn’t far away,” Paulo Martins, a French citizen who has lived in the area for 24 years, told AFP.
“He was with his girlfriend; they had to go in. And in the end, they couldn’t get there,” he said.
A woman was crying outside a bar during Thursday night’s vigil Credit: ReutersBereaved people console each other outside the site of the deadly fire Credit: Reuters
“When he came home, he was really in shock.”
A friend of his 17-year-old son has been transferred to Germany for treatment, suffering burns on 30 per cent of his body.
Mourners paid tribute at a table temporarily set up at the street entrance leading to the bar, which was blocked from view by a white screen.
Two police officers were guarding the circle.
Some girls stood for a long time holding bouquets of flowers and gathered courage to move towards the table through the crowd.
“There are dead and injured, and someone close to us is still missing. We have no news about them,” said one woman, speaking on condition of anonymity.
After offering flowers, they walked away hand in hand.
Images of the inside of the bar moments before the fire, with foam soundproofing on fire Credit: BFM/TwitterThe moment flames appeared on the roof of Le Constellation bar in Switzerland Credit: X
“They were young people, and people we know,” said another woman, who declined to give her name.
Asked if she knew what happened to them, she said, “Something, no. Something we’re still waiting for.”
The emergency units of Valais hospitals were immediately filled, and many of the injured were evacuated to Switzerland and neighbouring countries.
More than 30 victims were taken to hospitals with specialised burn units in Zurich and Lausanne, and six were taken to Keystone-ATS in Geneva, Switzerland. news The agency told.
The European Union said it was in contact with Swiss authorities to provide medical assistance, while French President Emmanuel Macron said some of the injured were already being cared for in French hospitals.
Swiss authorities said they were trying to identify the victims but warned that the process could take “several days, even weeks”.
A French football club says one of its youth players is among the injured being treated in hospital Credit: FC MetzPictures taken inside the bar show how tables and chairs were thrown across the room and panicked people fledCredit: Unsplash
When Jay Cutler shares a shoulder-focused dumbbell front raise tip, it’s a masterclass in building championship-level shoulders. The four-time Mr Olympia recently highlighted this precise isolation exercise as a non-negotiable for developing powerful, defined anterior delts. In this guide, we break down his exact form, programming advice, and the key mistakes to avoid so you can apply this pro secret to your training.
Why the Anterior Delt Deserves Your Focus
While many lifters correctly prioritise overhead presses, the front delta often becomes weak or lacks separation from the chest. This is where the shoulder-focused dumbbell front raise shines. As Cutler explains, this isolation exercise is indispensable for:
Direct Anterior Delt Growth: It places constant tension precisely on the front shoulder head.
Enhancing Muscle Detail: It creates clear separation between the pectorals and deltoids.
Improving Mind-Muscle Connection: The controlled, single-joint movement teaches you to initiate and feel the contraction in the delt, not in your back or traps.
Jay Cutler’s Step-by-Step Guide to the Perfect Front Raise
Executing this move with champion form is where most people go wrong. Follow Cutler’s cues for maximum effectiveness and safety.
The Stance: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, core braced, and a slight softness in your knees. Hold a dumbbell in each hand in front of your thighs using a neutral grip (palms facing your body).
The Initiation: Keep a slight, fixed bend in your elbows. Exhale and deliberately raise the weights forward and upward, leading with your knuckles or the front of the dumbbell. Imagine you are pouring water from the front of the dumbbell.
The Top Position: Raise the dumbbells until your arms are parallel to the floor or just slightly below shoulder height. Do not swing them higher. Squeeze your front delts hard for a full second at the peak of the movement.
The Return: Inhale and slowly lower the weights back to the starting position with the same strict control, fighting gravity on the descent. This negative portion is crucial for muscle growth.
Common Mistakes to Avoid (According to Cutler)
Using Momentum: Swinging the body or using your legs to lift the weight defeats the purpose of the exercise. The shoulders must do the work.
Lifting Too High: Raising past shoulder height engages the traps and can impinge the shoulder joint. Control the range.
Going Too Heavy: “This is a shaping movement, not a power movement,” Cutler advises. A moderate weight for perfect reps is far more effective.
How to Program This Move Into Your Shoulder Workout
Jay Cutler typically places the shoulder-focused dumbbell front raise after his primary compound lifts. This ensures he’s fresh for heavy presses and can then brutally isolate the front delts.
Dumbbell Lateral Raises: 4 sets x 10-15 reps (Hit the medial delts)
Dumbbell Front Raise (Shoulder-Focused): 3-4 sets x 12-15 reps (isolate the front head).
Rear Delt Machine Flyes: 4 sets x 15-20 reps (Balance the rear delts)
Pro Tips & Variations from the Champ
Alternating Arms: Try raising one arm at a time to ensure each side works independently without cheating.
Supinated Grip: Occasionally, use a palms-up grip to slightly change the angle and stimulation.
The Mind-Muscle Link: “Don’t just move the weight. “Visualise your front delt contracting and shortening with every single rep,” Cutler emphasises.
Conclusion: Build Your Blueprint
The shoulder-focused dumbbell front raise, as championed by Jay Cutler, is more than just an accessory lift. It’s a strategic tool for crafting balanced, detailed, and powerful shoulders. By prioritising flawless form, controlled reps, and intelligent programming, you can apply this bodybuilding icon’s knowledge to develop a set of delts that stand out.
Incorporate this move into your next shoulder day, focus on the squeeze, and watch your front delts transform.
FAQ Section (For Featured Snippet Optimization)
Q: What muscles does the shoulder-focused dumbbell front raise work? A: It primarily targets the anterior deltoid (front shoulder head), with secondary involvement from the clavicular head of the pectoralis major and the serratus anterior.
Q: How heavy should I go on dumbbell front raises? A: As Jay Cutler advises, use a weight that allows you to complete 12-15 strict, controlled reps without swinging. Form is paramount.
Q: Can I do dumbbell front raises sitting down? A: Yes, performing them seated on a bench (with or without back support) can help eliminate body momentum, making the exercise even more shoulder-focused.
Q: How often should I train the front raises? A: Once per week as part of a balanced shoulder workout is sufficient for most lifters, allowing for proper recovery and growth.
Lucy Campbell, with her long grey dreadlocks, stands animated in front of the thick stone walls of the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town city centre, South Africa, her small frame accentuated by their towering height.
The 65-year-old activist-turned-historian has a message for the 10 American students who have come to hear her version of the city’s history. Dressed in a black hoodie and blue jeans, Campbell is well-spoken but shows her disdain for Cape Town’s colonial past, often erupting in harsh language for those she blames for its consequences.
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“This castle speaks to the first economic explosion in Cape Town,” she says at the beginning of her five-stop tour of the city. She describes the location as an architectural crime scene.
Campbell refuses to enter the 17th-century castle, which she sees as a symbol of the violence and dispossession that the colonial era brought to South Africa’s second-biggest city.
“That is where they used to hang people,” she says, pointing to one of the castle’s five bastions. It was built by the settlers of the Dutch East India Company, commonly known by its Dutch acronym, VOC. The VOC built the fortress as part of its efforts to establish a refreshment post between the Netherlands and other trade destinations in the East. The castle is now run by the South African military.
Campbell, an accredited tour guide, has been giving privately run tours like this for 17 years, starting at the castle and offering a scathing critique of the city’s monuments and museums for dozens of people each year.
She says most official tributes, such as the Slave Memorial erected in 2008 in Church Square, fail to do justice to the enslaved people who contributed to the construction of Cape Town and often neglect to acknowledge the Indigenous population that lived here for hundreds of years before the Dutch arrived in 1652, displacing them and introducing slavery to the Cape.
Campbell can still see clear echoes in the city of the “genocide” and dispossession of the Khoi people, the Indigenous herders who lived on this land for thousands of years. She remembers her mother’s stories about how this history personally affected her family, who are descendants of the famously wealthy Hessequa, a subset of the Khoi. The Hessequa lost their land and livestock to the Dutch.
Known as “the people of the trees”, the Hessequa lived for centuries in the farming area now known as Swellendam, about 220 km (137 miles) east of Cape Town. The arrival of European settlers transformed them from land and cattle owners to peasant workers employed by white people, conditions that in many places persist to this day.
Land ownership in Cape Town and South Africa as a whole remains overwhelmingly in the hands of the white minority. Rights groups have also accused white farmers of sometimes abusing predominantly mixed-race agricultural workers and evicting them on a whim, a practice that has carried on since the colonial era.
“Many of them have worked there for generations, and they are just being evicted,” Campbell says. “There’s no pension. There’s nothing. So the ailments of the past [continue].”
Visitors enter Cape Town’s Castle of Good Hope, one of South Africa’s oldest surviving colonial buildings [Esa Alexander/Reuters]
The coloniality of the museum
With a resume that includes posts ranging from trade union administrator and mechanic’s assistant to historian, Campbell started her tours after working at the Groot Constantia estate of the VOC colonial governor Simon van der Stel, now a museum. This is where she got her first taste for history.
When Campbell started working on the estate as an information officer in 1998, she discovered that the history of enslaved and Indigenous people had been largely erased from the property, including the “tot” system, which involved using wine as payment for workers—a practice that dates back centuries and continued on some Cape Town farms years after the fall of apartheid in 1994.
This erasure of her ancestors at the estate alarmed Campbell, prompting her to resign and pursue a degree in history. Armed with a postgraduate degree specialising in the history of slavery in the Cape,Campbell established Transcending History Tours in 2008.
Her academic research uncovered the inherently colonial nature of museums globally. She discovered that museums, universities, and private ownership, particularly in Europe, held human remains. The South African Museum, founded in 1825, housed human remains that were used in studies that sought to reinforce racist ideologies, such as seeking to prove that non-Europeans were racially inferior. Even though these studies have been halted, the remains continued to be housed by these institutions.
Campbell would prefer that the museums she tours be decentralised and relocated to the Cape Flats, a mainly non-white working-class area where she and most descendants of the Khoi and enslaved people live. She argues that this would make the museums more accessible to these communities, bringing them closer to their personal histories and demonstrating that their current difficult living conditions and marginalisation are not natural or inevitable but rather the result of a cruel past.
“At night, this place is filled with homeless people,” she says on a sunny morning in September as the tour leaves the castle.
A few steps away, past two lions perched on pillars at the castle’s entrance and a moat filled with fish and pondweed, a barefoot man is asleep on the sidewalk while a woman in a bra and camouflage pants scrounges for food in the shrubs. Like most of the homeless on the wealthy city’s streets, they are people of colour.
The tour passes the Grand Parade, the city’s public square and oldest urban open space, where the mud and wood predecessor to the existing castle stood. For many years, it served as a training ground for the colonial garrison before becoming a marketplace, surrounded by striking buildings, such as the Edwardian City Hall.
The parade’s most famous moment in modern South African history was as the setting of Nelson Mandela’s first public speech after his release from prison in 1990. Today, traders still gather here to sell everything from brightly coloured dashikis (colourful traditional garments) to kitchen electronics.
Krotoa, a Khoi woman, was the first Indigenous person in South Africa to have an official interracial marriage [File: Creative Commons]
A ‘trailblazer’
A few blocks away, the group stops to look at a plaque in St George’s Mall dedicated to one of Campbell’s heroes, Krotoa, a Khoi woman known as the progenitor of Cape Town’s mixed-race population after her marriage to a Danish surgeon.
The plaque dedicated to her in this busy modern commercial area feels misplaced and superficial to Campbell, who says it fails to celebrate the woman’s historical significance. Campbell also disapproves of the commonly used image of Krotoa on the plaque, claiming it to be a fabrication.
“The Krotoa that I know is a trailblazer.” She’s an interpreter. She’s a negotiator,” Campbell says.
The niece of the Khoi chief Autshumato, Krotoa joined the household of the first Dutch governor in the Cape, Jan van Riebeeck, at about the age of 12. As one of the first Indigenous interpreters, she became a mediator between the Dutch and the Khoi, playing a key role in the cattle trade, which was vital to the settlers’ survival at the Cape. She also negotiated in the conflict that arose between locals and the settlers.
Krotoa’s influence on Van Riebeeck’s government eventually led to her becoming the first Indigenous person to be baptised as a Christian in 1662 and adopting the name Eva. She married a Danish soldier, who was later appointed as the VOC surgeon, Pieter van Meerhof, in 1664, and the couple became the Cape’s first recorded interracial marriage.
In the end, though, Krotoa was a controversial figure: Khoi leaders criticised her for adopting colonial ways, and both they and Dutch officials accused her of being a spy for the other side.
“She went right into the kitchens of the Dutch,” Campbell says. “She used to tell them, ‘I know you. I know who you are. You can’t do anything for yourself. “Slaves are required to do everything for you.”
Campbell says Krotoa was instrumental as a mediator in the first Khoi-Dutch war, which lasted from 1659 to 1660 and was sparked by a campaign led by local Khoi leader Nommoa, or Doman, to reclaim the Cape Peninsula. The Dutch were victorious against the two Khoi groups, the Gorinhaiqua and the Gorachouqua, and expelled them from the peninsula to mountain outposts about 70 km (44 miles) away.
Asked what she would consider a fitting memorial for Krotoa, Campbell says, “Monuments are Eurocentric and hierarchic. I am not sure where her memorial should be located. I believe that her story and memory should be widely recognised and included in our education systems, both in schools and in other tertiary institutions. She and her Danish husband, van Meerhof, were sent to Robben Island. She also spent lots of time at the first castle, which is today’s Golden Acre [shopping mall], and her so-called plaque in Castle Street is a humiliation of the contributions she made in resisting the colony in favour of her people.”
A seal from the Registrar of Slaves and Deeds is seen on display at the Slave Lodge Museum in Cape Town [File: Mike Hutchings/Reuters]
Profits over people.
Around the corner from Krotoa’s memorial on Castle Street, Campbell stops at another VOC landmark—the cobbled walkway featuring the VOC’s bronze emblem, framed by an outline of the castle’s five ramparts.
“I want you to see how the VOC is embedded right in the fabric of the city,” she says, pointing to the insignia emblazoned in the street.
Then she directs her tour’s attention to nearby skyscrapers, which she views as symbols of wealth rooted in VOC exploitation.
As she speaks, workers on their lunch breaks walk by, while others sell beaded jewellery, paintings, leather handbags, and other wares in stalls dotted along the mall. Most of these workers live in overcrowded townships far outside the city, which is famed for its French Riviera-like lifestyle and has often been voted one of the world’s top tourist destinations.
“For me, it’s important to speak of that company, the first company that came here,” Campbell says, explaining the origin of capitalism in the region.
“It comes from there – profits before people. It comes from history. … The VOC continues to thrive in the city.
Restoring memory
The most haunting stop on the tour comes next: the Slave Lodge. It stands on the doorstep of the parliament precinct and the gardens that the VOC established to provide fresh produce to ships journeying between the East and the Netherlands.
From 1679 to 1811, the Slave Lodge housed thousands of enslaved people from as far away as Angola, Benin, Indonesia, India, and Madagascar. Converted into a museum, it contains artefacts, including shackles and the reconstructed hull of a slave ship, as well as a plinth recording the names of the enslaved people – names assigned to them by slave owners when they arrived at the Cape.
The Slave Lodge in Cape Town housed thousands of enslaved people from 1679 to 1811 [Creative Commons]
Campbell objects to the pristine exhibits, saying they are in stark contrast to the building’s dark history as a place of suffering and violence. One of the most horrific aspects of life there was the sexual violence inflicted by soldiers on women, including rape and coercion into sex work, often with payments made to the VOC.
This violent culture has had lasting effects, contributing to today’s high levels of sexual crimes and domestic violence on the Cape Flats, according to Campbell.
“The Slave Lodge does not get the reflection that it should get,” Campbell tells her tour. “It is very much veneered and made palatable to the visitors. It doesn’t bring the voices of the women in.”
The tour ends in the street behind the Slave Lodge, where Campbell shows the tourists a macabre landmark they might otherwise miss. On a traffic island in the middle of Spin Street is the spot where the city’s slave auctions were once held. A tree that marked the spot was chopped down in 1916. In its place, a slab of stone was installed in 1953, inscribed with a fading and barely legible message about its historical significance.
“It looks like a drain,” Campbell says, noting the sharp contrast between this neglected memorial and the bronze statue of Afrikaner leader Jan Smuts, oddly situated in front of the Slave Lodge, where the plaque bearing his name has been restored to a brilliant gleam.
In 2008, the city tried to rectify this oversight at the auction site, unveiling a commemorative art installation designed by prominent artists Gavin Younge and Wilma Cruise across the street. It consists of 11 granite blocks, roughly at knee height, inscribed with the assigned names of enslaved people and words that recall their tortured reality: “Suicide, infanticide, abscond, escape, flee.”
Activists have criticised the installation for being too cold and failing to convey the deep wounds left by nearly 200 years of slavery.
“People sit on it, but they don’t know what it is,” Campbell says. “They have the names of the slaves that were held at the Slave Lodge, but there’s no story. … It’s a monument that only serves the master, as it doesn’t bring out the people’s pain.
“I would have loved to see a high rise to bring out the memory of the people … something more visible.”
Historian Lucy Campbell, third from right, poses with American students at the end of her tour through historic sites that tell the story of slavery and colonialism in Cape Town [Gershwin Wanneburg/Al Jazeera]
‘This is twisted.’ Claudia reveals shocking new Traitors surprise
Spoiler warning: This article contains details of the first episode of the new series of The Traitors.
The Traitors has returned to TV screens with a major new twist – a secret fourth traitor whose identity has not even been revealed to viewers.
The secret traitor, who wears a red cloak instead of the usual green, has been given certain powers, such as deciding which players the other traitors are allowed to murder.
The ingenious new twist changes the dynamic of the civilian series and marks the most significant format change since the show’s launch in 2022.
It was revealed as the fourth regular series of the BBC show launched on Thursday, hot on the heels of the successful celebrity version, which attracted well over 15 million viewers.
The new crop of 22 players includes a former police detective and a crime novelist, as well as a mother and daughter keeping their connection a secret.
Two other players also recognised each other at the castle because they are mutual friends. Their link was not known to producers beforehand (but more on that in a moment).
What does the secret traitor do?
Winkleman selected the secret traitor at the round table, but viewers did not see who it was
Nobody, including the audience, knows the identity of the secret traitor – it is even kept from the other traitors
Host Claudia Winkleman selected the secret traitor by tapping them on the shoulder at the round table in the usual way, but viewers could not see who it was
The secret traitor has the power to control some aspects of the game, such as compiling a shortlist of three players the other traitors are allowed to murder
The secret traitor is the only contestant this year who knows every other player’s true status
Their identity will remain a secret until the other traitors “earn their power back”, Claudia explained, but it’s not yet clear how long that will take or how it will happen
This is the first time a fourth traitor has been assigned in the opening episode, and it’s fair to say the other traitors were not happy about somebody else holding some of the power.
“I do not require middle management,” said traitor Hugo, speaking for the nation as he delivered the best line of the episode.
Traitor Hugo said he was “so annoyed” about the twist, adding: “I do not require middle management.”
The twist will allow viewers, who often complain that the faithful are useless at rooting out traitors, to play along and see whether they can do any better.
“I’m so glad they’ve done this, because it was so infuriating when people were like, ‘How did you not know?'” former Celebrity Traitors contestant Lucy Beaumont said on Uncloaked.
During the launch of the series last month, Winkleman informed journalists that the other traitors were infuriated upon discovering their anonymous companion.
“But it’s really fantastic for the secret traitor,” she added, “having the time of their lives.”
The presenter reflected, “People who watch The Traitors endlessly ask, ‘How do the faithful not know?'” So I like the idea of, ‘OK, have a go.'”
But, some viewers might wonder, couldn’t it be quite a lonely experience for the secret traitor, without the camaraderie of working with the other three? “Oh, don’t worry,” Winkleman replied, “they have some fun.”
All 22 contestants survived the train journey this year, with no pre-castle twist
The format change came about partly because of something viewers suggested on social media during earlier seasons.
“In series one, people said, ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if the viewers didn’t know who the traitors are?'” recalled Mike Cotton, creative director of production company Studio Lambert.
“And we don’t agree with that, actually. I think we think that knowing who the traitors are and knowing their duplicity is what makes it feel great.
“But we thought it would be interesting if you didn’t know who one of them was. I think it could change the conversation slightly for this season.”
Cotton added, “What’s really interesting is the traitors are used to having all of the power, and for once they don’t.
“There’s a shortlist they can murder from, but they don’t have free rein over who to kill, so what’s going to be really interesting to see is how they navigate that.”
Winkleman told journalists the secret traitor “has some fun” as the series progresses
After three seasons, producers clearly felt it was time to experiment with tweaks to the format – something networks often do to keep an established hit fresh.
Although an intriguing idea, viewers will have to wait and see what impact the secret traitor has on the rest of the series.
Previous format changes have not always worked out, such as the highly unpopular “Seer” twist last year, which effectively made it impossible for one particular player to win and removed the tension from the finale.
However, this twist signals a promising start for the series, encouraging people to share their theories over water coolers in offices across the nation.
Here are five other things we spotted in the opening episode:
1) Ross and Netty already know each other
Ross and Netty followed each other on social media, but producers did not know the nature of their connection
Perhaps the law of averages means this was bound to happen at some point, but, this season, two players already knew each other from having a mutual friend.
Although previous series have seen couples or family members deliberately cast together, Cotton said in this case it “was not intentional at all; we cast them as individuals.”
“We do long background checks on participants, and we found that they [Netty and Ross] follow each other on social media,” he said.
“So we knew there was a tenuous link, but we didn’t know whether they would recognise each other or how they would react.”
Many more contestants are expressing a desire to be traitors.
Winkleman selected this year’s traitors, including Rachel, through her usual series of fireside chats.
We aren’t keeping count, but we’re pretty sure more players than ever requested to be traitors this year during their fireside chats with Winkleman.
“A lot of them just say, ‘I think it would be more fun,'” Winkleman explained.
“And at some point, I’d really like to lean forward and say, ‘That’s actually not how you win, statistically.'”
She added, “You had to pick someone who wanted it. In the celebrity version, lots of them asked to be faithful. In this case I think it was one.”
Eventually, Winkleman plumped for Rachel, Hugo and Stephen – plus, of course, the fourth traitor, whose identity remains a secret.
“You never know whether you’ve picked right,” Winkleman concluded, “but I’d like to think there isn’t a wrong.”
3) The scale of the missions is getting bigger
The first mission saw the players set out on boats to retrieve floating coffins, dozens of which were spread out over a nearby loch.
The three teams collected the coffins in canoes and towed them ashore, each worth £1,000 for the prize fund.
However, to complete the task, the contestants had to place the coffins in the named graves of players, automatically shortlisting them for murder.
Being British, all three teams opted to choose players from a different team to avoid any awkward conversations, and a total of 10 players were eventually selected for the murder shortlist.
4) Roxy is Judy’s daughter
Judy (right) adopted Roxy when she was four – but the other players don’t yet know about their link
Two of this year’s players – Roxy and Judy – are also mother and daughter, with Judy explaining she adopted Roxy when she was four.
While this time the link was a deliberate piece of casting, the other players don’t know about their connection yet.
“One of the great things about the regular series is the contestants can come in with secrets, whether that’s about their lives or secret relationships,” Cotton said.
Asked how producers decide when to reveal any relationship to other players and viewers, he said, “We never know when we’re going to deploy it. When we’re going into filming, we go in and wait to see how it plays out.”
5) Claudia’s car soundtrack is impeccable
The episode opened with the presenter singing along to Fleetwood Mac’s Little Lies before skipping to The Fugees’ cover of Killing Me Softly.
Both songs are obviously bangers, and they were deliberately selected to align perfectly with the themes of the show.
For the fifth season, we are keeping our fingers crossed for Trick Me by Kelis, Walkin’ After Midnight by Madeleine Peyroux, No Body, No Crime by Taylor Swift and Kill Bill by SZA (note: would require a contestant called Bill).
And if any pop stars are reading, if one of you could write a song with the word “roundtable” in the title before 2027, we’d appreciate it.
The Traitors continues on Friday, 2 January, at 20:00 GMT on BBC One and iPlayer.
About 40 people were killed and 115 injured in a blaze at a New Year’s Eve party at an upmarket Swiss ski resort, with the disaster likened to scenes from a horror film.
Most of the victims of the fire in Crans-Montana are thought to be young people, but identification of the bodies is expected to take several days at least.
The fire broke out at roughly 1.30am local time in the Constellation Bar as people celebrated the turn of the year.
What we know about deadly Swiss fire Witnesses reported seeing people walking on top of others while trying to escape the blaze.
Emergency services were on the scene minutes later, but it was already too late to save dozens of people, thought to have been trapped in the basement.
Authorities warned that naming the victims or establishing a definitive death toll would take time due to the severity of the burns. Experts have been using dental and DNA records to try to identify the dead.
Switzerland‘s president, Guy Parmelin, described the deadly incident as “one of the worst tragedies our country has ever known,” and King Charles called it a “horrific disaster.”
The cause of the blaze remains unclear, but witnesses reported seeing sparklers or candles in bottles in the basement bar.
But Beatrice Pilloud, Valais Canton attorney general, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire. Experts have not yet been able to go inside the charred wreckage of the bar.
Image: Map
‘Horror movie’ scenes of people with hair and clothes burned off
Witnesses described scenes of panic and confusion as youngsters scrambled to escape the blaze.
Samuel Rapp, who had been at a restaurant nearby, said he saw “many people at the entry trying to escape. The area was crowded, and people were walking over each other while trying to escape.
He saw many people “screaming and trying to escape,” as well as others “on the floor.”
Mr. Rapp told Sky News he saw “a lot of people” whose hair had been burned and others “without clothes.”
“We had three chances to get in,” said a teenager who experienced the Swiss fire horror.
Inside the bar shows a fire breaking out.
Video from inside the bar shows a fire breaking out and rapidly engulfing the ceiling, spreading panic through the partygoers, who rushed towards the stairs to escape.
Later footage from outside showed lines of ambulances queuing and helicopters arriving to airlift victims to nearby hospitals.
Leon Christe, who works in the resort, told Sky News he was one of the first to the scene and tried to help by administering first aid.
He said, “It was very chaotic and heartbreaking. Everywhere, there were young people who needed help; some had their clothes burnt off.
“It was very traumatic.”
Another witness speaking to BFMTV described people smashing windows to escape the blaze, some severely injured, and panicked parents rushing to the scene to find out what had happened to their children.
The young man said he saw about 20 people scrambling to get out of the smoke and flames and likened what he saw from across the street to scenes from a horror movie.
Image: Mourners gathered to lay flowers. Pic: AP
Vigil for victims, with many details unknown
On New Year’s Day people gathered to lay flowers and light candles at a memorial near the site.
Little information has yet emerged about the victims, and hospitals and emergency services are reeling from the accident.
Some are being treated in the local hospital, while others were taken further afield, including to the University Hospital of Lausanne, which treats severe burns, and to France.
France reported that the accident had injured at least three nationals and left eight missing.
Italian officials said 13 citizens had been injured, and another six are still unaccounted for, although details are still unfolding.
People in China will pay a 13% sales tax on contraceptives from 1 January, while childcare services will be exempt, as the world’s second-largest economy tries to boost birth rates.
An overhaul of the tax system announced late last year removes many exemptions that were in place since 1994, when China was still enforcing its decades-long one-child rule.
It also exempts marriage-related services and elderly care from value added tax (VAT) – part of a broader effort that includes extending parental leave and issuing cash handouts.
Faced with an ageing population and sluggish economy, Beijing has been trying hard to encourage more young Chinese people to marry and couples to have children.
China’s population has shrunk three years in a row.
Official figures indicate that China’s population has shrunk three years in a row, with just 9.54 million babies born in 2024. That is around half of the number of births recorded a decade ago, when China started to ease its rules on how many children people could have.
Still, the tax on contraceptives, including condoms, birth control pills and devices, has sparked concerns about unwanted pregnancies and HIV rates, as well as ridicule. Some say that expensive condoms won’t convince them to have kids.
As one retailer urged shoppers to stock up ahead of the price hike, a social media user joked, “I’ll buy a lifetime’s worth of condoms now.”
Another user noted that people can distinguish the cost of a condom from the cost of raising a child.
China is one of the most expensive countries in which to raise a child, according to a 2024 report by the YuWa Population Research Institute in Beijing. Costs are pushed up by school fees in a highly competitive academic environment and the challenge women have juggling work and parenting, the study said.
The economic slowdown, partly caused by a property crisis that has affected savings, has made families, especially young people, feel uncertain or less confident about their future.
“I have one child, and I don’t want any more,” says 36-year-old Daniel Luo, who lives in the eastern province of Henan.
“It’s like when subway fares increase. When they go up by a yuan or two, people who take the subway don’t change their habits. You still have to take the subway, right?”
He says he is not concerned by the price hike. A box of condoms might cost an extra five yuan, possibly 10 yuan, and at most 20 yuan. Over a year, that’s just a few hundred yuan, completely affordable.”
Getty Images
Young couples in China, like elsewhere, are having fewer or no children
But cost might be a problem for others, and that’s what worries Rosy Zhao, who lives in the city of Xi’an in central China.
She says making contraception, which is a necessity, more expensive could mean that students or those struggling financially “take a risk.”
That would be the policy’s “most dangerous potential outcome,”, she added.
Observers appear divided on the aim of the tax overhaul. The idea that a tax hike on condoms will impact birth rates is “overthinking it,”, says demographer Yi Fuxian from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
China’s VAT revenue stands at nearly $1tn (£742bn).
At nearly $1tn (£742bn), China’s VAT revenue made up close to 40% of the country’s tax collection last year.
The move to tax condoms is “symbolic” and reflects Beijing’s attempts to encourage people to lift China’s “strikingly low”fertility numbers, said Henrietta Levin from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
What is also hampering efforts, she adds, is that a lot of the policies and subsidies will have to be implemented by indebted provincial governments – and it’s unclear if they can spare sufficient resources.
China’s approach to urging people to have children also risks backfiring if people feel the government is being “too intrusive” about what is a deeply personal choice, she said.
Recently there have been media reports that women in some provinces have received calls from local officials asking about their menstrual cycles and plans to have children. The local health bureau in Yunnan province stated that they require this data to identify expectant mothers.
But the situation has not helped the government’s image, Ms Levin said. “The [Communist] party can’t help but insert itself into every decision that it cares about. Consequently, it often becomes its own greatest adversary.
Getty Images
China is one of the priciest countries to raise a child, a study in 2024 found
Observers and women themselves say the country’s male-dominated leadership fails to understand the social changes underpinning these broader shifts, which are not exclusive to China.
Western nations and regional ones like South Korea and Japan have struggled to raise birth rates as their populations age.
Part of the reason is the burden of childcare, which disproportionately falls on women, research shows. But there are also other shifts, such as a decline in marriage and even dating.
China’s measures miss the real problem:
The way young people interact today increasingly avoids genuine human connections, Mr. Luo from Henan said.
He points to the rising sales of sex toys in China, which he believes is a sign that “people are just satisfying themselves” because “interacting with another person has become more of a burden.”
Being online is easier and more comforting, he says, as “the pressure is real.”.
“Young people today deal with way more stress from society than people did 20 years ago. Sure, materially they’re better off, but the expectations placed on them are much higher. Everyone’s just exhausted.”
