The increase in reports of pests in processed food has raised significant worries about food safety and hygiene. Contributing factors include inadequate storage and the pressure for rapid delivery. These incidents pose a significant threat to consumers, leading to several foodborne diseases. However, this issue isn’t limited to fast food or online orders; even packaged snacks and namkeen from local grocery stores are not immune. In a shocking case, a one-year-old girl from Gujarat suffered from diarrhoea after consuming namkeen from a sealed packet of the well-known brand Gopal Namkeen. The reason? A dead rat was found inside the packet. Also Read: Tara Sutara’s Traditional Christmas Pudding Was A “Messy But Fun Affair” As reported by NDTV, the harrowing incident took place in Prempur village of Gujarat’s Sabarkantha. Sharing the story, the girl’s father said, “We bought a packet of Gopal Namkeen, and my wife was feeding our daughter when she started vomiting after eating. We found a dead rat in the packet. My daughter fell ill, suffered from diarrhea, and was admitted to Davad Hospital.” The father has demanded strict and immediate action from the Food and Drugs Department regarding the negligence of the namkeen brand. This is not the first time such incidents have surfaced online. Rajeev Shukla from Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, shared a distressing experience after ordering food from a restaurant in Mumbai. He ordered a vegetarian meal box from the Worli branch of Barbeque Nation and found a dead mouse inside, which led to his hospitalisation. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote, “I, Rajeev Shukla (pure vegetarian) from Prayagraj, visited Mumbai on 8th Jan’24 and ordered a veg meal box from Barbeque Nation, Worli outlet, which contained a dead mouse. I was hospitalized for 75+ hours. The complaint has not been lodged at Nagpada police station yet. Please help.” Also Read: “Whatever Is Served To Me In Any Country, I Eat Happily”: PM Modi Talks About His Connection With Food
I Rajeev shukla (pure vegetarian) from prayagraj visited Mumbai, on 8th Jan’24 night ordered veg meal box from BARBEQUE NATION, worli outlet that a contained dead mouse, hospitalised for 75 plus hours. complaint has not been lodged at nagpada police station yet. Please help pic.twitter.com/Kup5fTy1Ln— rajeev shukla (@shukraj) January 14, 2024
What are your thoughts on this incident? Have you experienced something similar? Share with us in the comments below!
Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek’s network of contributors
Josh Allen’s ex-girlfriend Brittany Williams is claiming her Instagram account has been hacked in the wake of the quarterback’s engagement to Hailee Steinfeld.
“My accounts have been hacked several times tonight,” Williams, 28, wrote in her Instagram Stories on Friday, November 29. “Trying to get it resolved. If anyone has any tips please Imk 🙏🏻🥹.”
The Instagram Stories — which were posted the same day as Allen’s engagement announcement — came after a since-deleted comment from Williams’ account calling Allen a “brain dead CTE athlete” began making the rounds on social media.
Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills looks on as he walks the field before a game against the San Francisco 49ers at Highmark Stadium on December 01, 2024 in Orchard Park, New York. In… Josh Allen #17 of the Buffalo Bills looks on as he walks the field before a game against the San Francisco 49ers at Highmark Stadium on December 01, 2024 in Orchard Park, New York. In November 2024, Allen’s ex Brittany Williams claimed her Instagram account was hacked after fans pointed out a nasty comment she seemingly made about her him.
Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images
In a screenshot, Williams is asked by one commenter, “Haven’t found the next pro athlete yet?? 😮.” The since-deleted reply from her account read, “luckily my boyfriend owns a team and doesn’t play for one. 🙏🏻 don’t have to be with another brain dead CTE athlete.” CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — is a brain disorder believed to be caused by repeated head injuries, like concussions, per the Mayo Clinic.
Though the comment was deleted, fans captured it and shared it on social media, wondering if Allen’s recent engagement news had inspired the negativity. “So Brittany Williams is clearly not taking the Josh and Hailee news well..? #BillsMafia,” one fan posted on X (formerly Twitter) with a screenshot of Williams’ deleted comment.
Eagle-eyed fans noted that the brusque response from Williams’ account was posted three days after the initial comment — which made them question the timeline of when her account could have been hacked.
One commenter on the Reddit post called it a “poorly attempted cover up,” while another wondered, “How did she sign back in to post about the hackers, if her account was hacked? Does she think the public is genuinely that dumb?”
The same day that Williams said she had been hacked, her ex Allen, 28, announced his engagement to Steinfeld, 27. He and the Pitch Perfect 3 actress shared a joint post featuring an image from the proposal with the simple caption, “♾️ 11•22•24 ♾️.” The celebrity couple have kept pretty private about their relationship, but were first linked in May 2023.
Williams and the Buffalo Bills star broke up in early 2023 after dating “on and off for like 10 years,” the former shared on the Martinis and Bikinis podcast in February.
A 16-year-old Missouri high school hockey player died Wednesday days after a stray bullet struck him on a busy highway while he was driving home from his game with his father.
Colin Brown, a sophomore at Christian Brothers College High School (CBCHS), was sitting in the passenger seat of his father Calvin’s car when he was shot around 10:30 p.m. on Interstate 55 in South St. Louis Saturday night, according to First Alert 4.
Brown was rushed to the hospital in critical condition before he succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday afternoon.
“Colin — a beloved and talented hockey player — passed away but not before giving the ultimate gift of life,” St. Louis Metro Police Department Director of Public Affairs Mitch McCoy said. “Colin’s organs were donated to other patients who were in desperate need. This donation is an example of the type of young man Colin was and the kind of family he grew up in.”
Colin Brown succumbed to his injuries Wednesday after he was struck by a stray bullet over the weekend. Facebook
Brown joined CBCHS, one of Missouri’s most elite hockey high school programs, after transferring from Illinois in the fall. He was seven games into the season with his new school.
“He was a talented and dedicated student who was enrolled in Honors courses, and he was a valuable member of our CBC Varsity Hockey team,” CBCHS said in a statement.
McCoy said police received numerous reports from motorists and nearby residents over the gunfire.
Police believe there was a rolling gunfight as the Browns traveled in the opposite direction, according to Fox 2.
Colin Brown was in his first year with the Christian Brothers College High School hockey team. XColin Brown was 16 years old. DAWG Nation Hockey Foundation – St. Louis Chapter/Facebook
Detectives are reviewing newly acquired footage from the area as they hunt for the suspected shooter.
“This type of violence is not going to be tolerated by us,” McCoy said. “We want people to feel safe driving on the interstate and the city of St. Louis.
“To have a 16-year-old boy who just left a hockey game get shot is incredibly rare. You don’t hear about cases of innocent bystanders being hit by stray bullets here. When those acts of violence occur, we will put the entire weight of this police department into finding who did it to make sure they are held accountable.”
The NHL’s St. Louis Blues coaching staff wore “72 Strong” pins honoring Brown’s uniform number and left a hockey stick outside their locker room before their game Wednesday night.
Brown was remembered as a “talented and dedicated student who was enrolled in Honors courses.” First Alert 4
Calvin Brown expressed his gratitude to the St. Louis Police and Illinois State Police for “their continued efforts in apprehending the perpetrator(s) of this senseless crime against our beloved son, Colin” but said that St. Louis officials should make “greater efforts” to support police.
“As a family and as a former law enforcement official with over 28 years of experience, we believe that greater efforts are needed in the City of St. Louis and the surrounding region to support the police and equip them with the necessary tools to combat such senseless, violent gun crimes,” Brown said on Sunday.
The city of St. Louis saw 106 homicides through August 2024, a slight decrease from the previous year (109), according to officials.
Officials boasted about the nearly 40 percent decrease in homicides since St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones took office in April 2021.
“The death of Colin Brown is devastating news for our whole community,” Jones said. “We were all praying for a miracle and are now overwhelmed with grief, sadness, and anger that this innocent teenager’s life has been taken. As the mother of a teenage son, I grieve with all who knew and loved this man.”
U.S. wrestler Alan Vera died earlier this week after he suffered cardiac arrest over the summer while playing soccer with friends, USA Wrestling announced.
He was 33.
“Our hearts have been broken,” USA Wrestling executive director Rich Bender said in a statement. “Our sincere thoughts and prayers go out to Elena, Alina and all of Alan’s family, as well as those who have known Alan. The wrestling community mourns the loss of a great champion, whose incredible life impacted so many within USA Wrestling and around the world.”
The wrestler went into cardiac arrest on July 29 while playing soccer with a group of friends in Jersey City, New Jersey, according to a post by Vera’s club soccer team, New Jersey Wolves FC.
In a tribute on Instagram, New Jersey Wolves FC said Vera’s “spirit on and off the field inspired us all” and that his “kindness will forever echo in our hearts.”
Josef Rau and Alan Vera (top) wrestle in the Greco-Roman 97-KG final during the US Olympic Wrestling Trials held at the Bryce Jordan Center on April 20, 2024 in State College, Pennsylvania. Getty Images
“While his passing brings a sense of peace knowing he is no longer suffering, the void left behind is immeasurable,” part of the page read.
Vera was an accomplished wrestler and a member of the Greco-Roman national team, just missing out on qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Alan Vera (r,), who died at the age 33 on earlier this week, wrestles in the Greco Roman 97kg Championship Finals of the Olympic Wrestling Team Trials on April, 20, 2024 at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
He is survived by his wife Elena Pirozhkova, who is a two-time Olympic wrestler, and their infant daughter Alina.
Vera was born in Cuba and competed for their national team, winning bronze at the 2015 Pan American Games and gold the following year at the 2016 Pan American Championships.
He later immigrated to the United States in 2016 and pursued U.S. citizenship while continuing to compete before eventually becoming eligible to compete for the American team.
Alan Vera (l.) reacts after defeating Timothy Young (R) in the Menâs Greco-Roman 87kg match during the 12th Annual Beat the Streets Wrestling Benefit at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden on June 08, 2022 Getty Images
Vera continued his distinguished career under the red, white and blue, competing for the U.S. in the 2021 and 2022 world championships.
He also won silver during the 2024 Pan American Championships after taking bronze the year prior.
He finished second at the Olympic team trials earlier this year in State College, Pennsylvania.
A vlogger recently took to Instagram to share a clip showing a dead insect she found in a burger from a popular food chain. In the now-viral video, she said, “I found a dead insect in my Burger King order today. And it just made me feel like vomiting right now but I wanted to report this issue. Burger King, this is not acceptable”. The camera moves to show the other burgers ordered from the food chain. The vlogger held up the burger to the camera to show the insect inside. She added, “Even brands like Burger King are going to do this, then I don’t know where to eat anymore.”
Also Read : Watch: Man Slaps Waiter In Vande Bharat For Mistakenly Serving Him Non-Veg
In the caption, she revealed, “This store was located in Mumbai and my double patty veggie burger had a dead insect inside it. This raises safety issues for all of us and also our reliability on huge brands which cannot take care of their franchises, I demand an apology for the risk to my health and safety, I had consumed half the burger.”
Also Read:
Blogger Complains About A Troubling Food Order Delivery; Swiggy Responds A few days after the video was posted, the official handle of Burger King India responded in the comment section, saying, ” Hi, we have forwarded your issue to the concerned team and they shall reach out to you soon. Request your patience in the meantime.” Later, the vlogger followed up on their comment, asking if action had been taken.
In the same thread, an Instagram user claimed that she had to be hospitalised after having food from Burger King. Tagging the official handle of the brand, she wrote, “I got food poisoning after eating your burger 3 days before at Kirti Nagar Metro station outlet. Please have a look at your outlets. I am at the hospital after this. I suggest everybody boycott Burger King.” Burger King India responded to this comment, stating, “Hi Bhawna, this doesn’t seem right. Please share your contact number, store location and Order ID via DM/ Inbox so we can get this checked.”
In recent news, a Burger King outlet in New York was temporarily closed after a woman discovered blood on her daughter’s meal order. Click here to read the full story. Also Read: Zomato Faces Backlash Over Non-Veg Food Delivered To Vegetarian Customer During Saawan
About Toshita SahniToshita is fuelled by wordplay, wanderlust, wonderment and Alliteration. When she is not blissfully contemplating her next meal, she enjoys reading novels and roaming around the city.
BOSTON — BOSTON (AP) — A study that explores the feasibility of using pigeons to guide missiles and one that looks at the swimming abilities of dead fish were among the winners Thursday of this year’s Ig Nobels, the prize for comical scientific achievement.
Held less than a month before the actual Nobel Prizes are announced, the 34th annual Ig Nobel prize ceremony at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was organized by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine’s website to make people laugh and think. Winners received a transparent box containing historic items related to Murphy’s Law — the theme of the night — and a nearly worthless Zimbabwean $10 trillion bill. Actual Nobel laureates handed the winners their prizes.
“While some politicians were trying to make sensible things sound crazy, scientists discovered some crazy-sounding things that make a lot of sense,” Marc Abrahams, master of ceremonies and editor of the magazine, said in an e-mail interview.
The ceremony started with Kees Moliker, winner of 2003 Ig Noble for biology, giving out safety instructions. His prize was for a study that documented the existence of homosexual necrophilia in mallard ducks.
“This is the duck,” he said, holding up a duck. “This is the dead one.”
After that, someone came on stage wearing a yellow target on their chest and a plastic face mask. Soon, they were inundated with people in the audience throwing paper airplanes at them.
Then, the awards began — several dry presentations which were interrupted by a girl coming on stage and repeatedly yelling “Please stop. I’m bored.” The awards ceremony was also was broken up by an international song competition inspired by Murphy’s Law, including one about coleslaw and another about the legal system.
The winners were honored in 10 categories, including for peace and anatomy. Among them were scientists who showed a vine from Chile imitates the shapes of artificial plants nearby and another study that examined whether the hair on people’s heads in the Northern Hemisphere swirled in the same direction as someone’s hair in the Southern Hemisphere.
Other winners include a group of scientists who showed that fake medicine that causes side effects can be more effective than fake medicine that doesn’t cause side effects and one showing that some mammals are cable of breathing through their anus — winners who came on stage wearing a fish-inspired hats.
Julie Skinner Vargas accepted the peace prize on behalf of her late father B.F. Skinner, who wrote the pigeon-missile study. Skinner Vargas is also the head of the B.F. Skinner Foundation.
“I want to thank you for finally acknowledging his most important contribution,” she said. “Thank you for putting the record straight.”
James Liao, a biology professor at the University of Florida, accepted the physics prize for his study demonstrating and explaining the swimming abilities of a dead trout.
“I discovered that a live fish moved more than a dead fish but not by much,” Liao said, holding up a fake fish. “A dead trout towed behind a stick also flaps its tail to the beat of the current like a live fish surfing on swirling eddies, recapturing the energy in its environment. A dead fish does live fish things.”
The death rattle was last week’s confirmation of an alliance between the South African and New Zealand national unions for reciprocal tours from 2026 onwards. It signalled the sad demise of a coalition designed to foster all of Southern Hemisphere rugby.
In that goal, Sanzar (an acronym for South Africa New Zealand Australia Rugby, later altered to Sanzaar to add Argentina) has failed miserably.
And now the two biggest boys are taking their ball and playing elsewhere, ending the Rugby Championship as a true rival to Europe’s Six Nations tournament and condemning Australia and Argentina (and Japan) to bleak commercial futures.
All Blacks lock Tupou Vaa’i following the defeat to the Springboks. Photo / Photosport
The annual Southern Hemisphere tournament is already truncated every four years due to the World Cup. Now it will be reduced further every second year to accommodate South Africa and New Zealand’s self-interest and greed.
There’s a certain irony in New Zealand and South Africa’s joint turning-of-the-back on Rugby Australia, given it was the prize of domination of the Australian pay-TV market that forced rugby to turn professional in 1995 following a monumental scrap between Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Packer.
“Sanzar”, then comprising the three founding unions, emerged from the chaos as the shiny new hope for international professional rugby, creating the annual Tri Nations test tournament and Super Rugby franchise competition as its prized jewels.
And, for a while there, it worked incredibly well. The Tri-Nations regularly produced more spectacular rugby than the Six Nations. And the thought that any European club team could hold a candle to the winning Super Rugby champions was considered laughable.
How the wheel has turned.
After bringing in Argentina, Sanzaar flirted for decades with Japan and exploited rather than assisted the Pacific Island nations (with New Zealand and Australia the main beneficiaries).
But in the end, the opportunity to build a southern version of the Six Nations alliance was squandered. And for that, New Zealand Rugby (NZR) has to shoulder most of the blame.
NZR’s hubris before and during the Covid pandemic when it attempted to become the sole owner of the Super Rugby competition to entice a bigger fee from private-equity suitors Silver Lake has bitten it back harder than anybody could have predicted.
It resulted in the South Africans taking their Super Rugby teams to Europe, kicking off an unforeseen but predictable decline in New Zealand rugby standards through the loss of regular contact with the Republic. And it alienated the Australians and Argentines.
Little wonder what we’ve ended up with: a limp Super Rugby Pacific competition still dominated by Kiwi franchises, a Wallabies team that are a mere shadow of the John Eales-led era when they (temporarily) became the All Blacks’ greatest foes and Argentina stalled as a growing superpower by being handed fewer games against the Boks and All Blacks.
Murdoch paid US$555 million ($903m) for the first 10 years of Sanzar’s broadcasting rights, which at roughly a third each per national union represented around US$18m ($29m) to Rugby Australia annually.
Three decades on, the same Australian rights are only worth an extra two million dollars at A$29m ($31m) – a massive failure by Sanzaar given the explosive growth of sports rights globally.
Sanzar’s inability to work collectively to develop the most lucrative broadcasting market available to it is a glaring example of its negligence as a meaningful rugby body.
‘Desperate’ NZR hitches a ride on the Springboks express
In the wake of Sanzaar’s implosion, NZR has thrown its arms up in despair and headed for the exit door on the arm of South Africa, who suddenly is our new beau.
That, of course, has everything to do with short-term opportunism.
With the Richie McCaw-Dan Carter era consigned to fading memories, the Springboks have suddenly stepped forward as the game’s new giants.
Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, an era “consigned to fading memories”, Sports Insider writes. Photo / Photosport
That’s inconvenient for us, given the narrative NZR sold to gain private equity investment (you know, “you’re buying into the best team in the history of world sport”). But it also presented the only real commercial growth opportunity identified since jumping in bed with Silver Lake.
That’s what last week’s announcement of a “strategic alliance” with the South Africans was really about.
There’s money to be made out of the historical battle between both nations. Indeed, should we be surprised that the marketing theme for the new pact is “The Greatest Rugby Rivalry”?
It makes sense because fans in both nations have a hankering for the nostalgic return of “old-style tours” and All Blacks-Springboks clashes are consistently a cut above all other tests (when not ruined by match officials).
What doesn’t make sense is how the commercials worked back in the tour days.
Under International Rugby Board (the IRB, before it became World Rugby) rules, host nations retain all commercial rights including broadcasting from tours while paying the visiting team’s travel and accommodation expenses.
It is also why an extra test – beyond the three to be played in the Republic in 2026 and three here when the Boks tour in 2030 – has been scheduled. It will be played offshore, probably in the US or Europe, to further raise the revenue haul for the two unions.
It is also why an extra test – beyond the three to be played in the Republic in 2026 and three here when the Boks tour in 2030 – has been scheduled. It will be played offshore, probably in the US or Europe, to further raise the revenue haul for the two unions.
Sports Insider moles say the deal is already paying off. South African broadcaster SuperSport has written out a massive cheque for rights to the reciprocal tours and offshore tests.
A desperate NZR is also likely to use the alliance to beef up the content supplied to Sky NZ in the next tranche of broadcasting rights, hopefully minimising an anticipated fall in value during negotiations currently under way.
New Zealand is fortunate we are flavour of the month with South Africa right now. We saw the passion of the fanbase at Ellis Park and Newlands over the past fortnight over a clash with the rugby nation they respect the most.
That’s lucky for us, even if it adds substantial pressure to stop the rot against the Boks. After all, a rivalry is only a rivalry when neither side is regularly dominating the other.
But where does all of this leave Australia?
Australian rugby has every right to be ‘seriously pissed off’
Sports Insider’s spies across the ditch tell me that Rugby Australia is “seriously pissed off” with their New Zealand colleagues over the diminishing of the Rugby Championship as an annual product.
But the size of the South African SuperSport cheque has allowed NZR to throw the Australians a token gesture.
The Wallabies will miss out as New Zealand and South Africa make their own rugby deal. Photo / Photosport
To compensate the Australians while the Boks and All Blacks wander off to play their own games and the Wallabies and Argentina’s Pumas twiddle their thumbs, we’ve come up with the genius idea of an Anzac Day test.
The All Blacks will play the Wallabies in Perth on Anzac weekend in 2026, giving the Aussies a sap the same year the full tour of South Africa occurs.
Rugby Australia will get much-needed income, including the Western Australian state government hosting Super Rugby Pacific’s “Super Round”, involving all teams, the same weekend as the test.
It means taking All Blacks and Wallabies contenders out of Super Rugby for two rounds and effectively ruining the competition even further, but what the heck… the Aussies needed to be pacified somehow.
If it all sounds crazy and cynical, it might be because it is.
Sanzaar has failed to understand scarcity can be a winner in elite sport. The Six Nations works because each country only plays each other once a year. It’s an occasion and every test counts.
Instead we try to jam in as many as three Bledisloe Cup tests most years and wonder why they have lost their lustre.
The US podcaster taking shots at Auckland
Sometimes you need an outsider to point out the bleeding obvious.
Cue American podcaster Ryen Russillo from the huge American sports and popular culture site, The Ringer.
His popular Russillo On The Road podcasts regularly draw massive audiences among sports fans interested in travelling the world to experience new sport and cultural experiences.
Russillo was a guest of the New Zealand Breakers. His almost two-hour long podcast on his Kiwi experiences is at times funny, sometimes insightful and occasionally piercing.
In short, he loved New Zealand, especially Queenstown, but Auckland… meh!
The City of Sails simply didn’t do it for him. In fact, he likened it to being similar to the “outskirts of a small Canadian city”.
His ultimate advice to his huge audience – “spend a day in Auckland and then get out and go to the South Island”.
Russillo wasn’t being uncharitable. He admitted to long harbouring a desire to visit New Zealand and had anticipated Auckland being the highlight of his trip.
Instead, after a 13-hour flight and checking into a CBD hotel, he went walking and was delighted to find a beautiful harbour at the bottom of the street. The only trouble was “it was all industrial”.
“So got to the hotel, did the excited energy walk… the city of Auckland? Not blown away,” he said. “It reminded me of some of the outskirts of small cities in Canada.”
“It’s got all this incredible water at the north part of the city… but there’s no park. The problem is the waterfront is all very industrial. It’s all just ports… the port is almost the entire line of walking this main northernmost part of the street closest to the water.
“It doesn’t have the layout it should for the waterline that it has… I’m just being honest.”
Russillo was disappointed with how Auckland’s waterfront presented itself. He had expected better. Where’s the sporting precinct? Why aren’t there more public facilities for people to enjoy along the harbour?
At the same time, those of us who tuned into the live rugby in Cape Town last Sunday morning were greeted with spectacular images surrounding Newlands Stadium with fans enjoying food and drinks in brilliant sunshine by the water before a leisurely stroll to a magnificent venue basking in a stunning sunset.
Cape Town’s waterfront venue looked great last weekend – a stark contrast with Auckland. Photo / 123rf
Call South Africa a third world country all you like… Cape Town didn’t present like that to the world last weekend. The stadium and its surrounding areas were vibrant and pulsing.
And so we continue to miss a trick: Eden Park advocates denigrate a waterfront stadium option while expecting the likes of Russillo to check into a motel in Kingsland if he wants to have a sports experience in our biggest city.
So instead of talking up Auckland as a sports destination, Russillo laments the lack of vision while driving past Eden Park as a taxi passenger on his way to the airport to cut short his visit so he can head elsewhere in Aotearoa.
Aucklanders, are you listening?
Team of the Week
Anna Grimaldi: Spared New Zealand blushes at the Paralympics by ensuring the team returned with a gold medal and showed off her bountiful personality along the way.
St Thomas of Canterbury College: The little Christchurch school that can successfully defended their national rugby league championship, beating Auckland’s De La Salle in the final and showing the Warriors where the best young talent currently lies.
Aaron Gate: The reigning New Zealand Sportsman of the Year is taking his spectacular mullet and stepping away from the cycling track to concentrate on road racing, signing for a leading European team competing on the UCI World Tour.
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. — A former top official in U.S. nuclear weapons research at Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos national laboratories has died from injuries after an automobile crash in New Mexico, authorities said. He was 69.
Charles McMillan, an experimental physicist, spent nearly 23 years in various positions at Livermore in California and about 18 years at Los Alamos, where he was director for six years before retiring in 2017.
He died at a hospital after a two-vehicle crash early Friday on a stretch of road known as Main Hill, not far from the laboratory, police and the current lab director said.
“On behalf of the entire Laboratory, I would like to express deepest sympathies to the McMillan family and to the many current and former employees who worked closely with Charlie and knew him well,” lab Director Thom Mason said in a statement reported by the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Michael Drake, president of the University of California system, issued a statement calling McMillan “an extraordinary leader, scientist and human being who made far-reaching contributions to science and technology in service to national security and the greater good.”
The Livermore laboratory, east of San Francisco, was established as a university offshoot in 1952 and is now operated by the federal government. It maintains a close relationship with campuses and Drake’s office.
McMillan joined Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2006 after his friend and mentor, Michael Anastasio, became director. McMillan served as the principal associate director for weapons programs before becoming director in 2011, the New Mexican reported.
He oversaw the lab during expansion and safety incidents, including a 2014 radiation leak at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southern New Mexico attributed to a waste drum that was improperly packaged at the lab. The National Nuclear Security Administration found in 2015 that the lab violated health and safety rules and docked it more than $10 million in performance awards.
Mason pointed to McMillan’s work to develop a vaccine for HIV and new modeling to better understand climate change.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico credited McMillan with “invaluable contributions to our state, to science, and to our national security” and cited his work on supercomputing and artificial intelligence.
Nella Domenici, Heinrich’s Republican challenger for U.S. Senate, called McMillan’s death “a great loss to the scientific community and his family.”
Los Alamos police and fire officials said three people were treated for injuries and McMillan and a 22-year-old woman were hospitalized after the crash, which occurred about 5 a.m. The cause was being investigated.
At least 17 pupils have been confirmed dead and 14 others seriously injured following a tragic dormitory fire tragedy Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County, at night.
National Police Service Spokesperson Dr Resila Onyango confirmed the tragic incident, and said teams had been dispatched to the school in Kieni Constituency, Nyeri.
At least 16 of them were confirmed dead on the spot, and one more died on arrival at the hospital, Dr Onyango said.
“The 16 children are burnt beyond recognition, while one died on the way to the hospital,” the police spokesperson told Nation FM.
Shocked parents at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Kieni, Nyeri County, where 17 pupils died in an overnight fire. At least 13 others are in hospital.
Photo credit: Gitonga Marete | Nation Media Group
Leading the team of investigators that have already rushed to the scene, Dr Onyango said, was deputy head of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), John Onyango, a team from the office of the Inspector General of Police and that from the Homicide team.
“This was a dormitory fire. It happened at night, and what might have led to it, we are yet to establish,” said Dr Onyango.
Parents wait for updates at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County where 17 children died in a night fire on September 6, 2024.
Photo credit: Joseph Kanyi | Nation Media Group
As at the time of the interview at 9am, Dr Onyango said, there was no confirmation yet whether the fire had been contained fully.
A worried parent at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County on September 6, 2024.
Photo credit: Joseph Kanyi | Nation Media Group
Anxious parents at Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County on September 6, 2024.
Photo credit: Joseph Kanyi | Nation Media Group
There were initial fears that more bodies of the young pupils were still trapped, but there was no concrete confirmation yet.
Destroyed property at a dorm inside Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri County where 17 children died in a night fire on September 6, 2024.
Photo credit: Joseph Kanyi | Nation Media Group
The 14 have been rushed to hospital, with the police service promising fresh updates throughout the day.
State officials start arriving at the site
Photo credit: Nation Media Group
Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang arrived at Hillside Endarasha Academy around 11am. He said the school has a total enrolment of 824 students.
Of these, 402 are boys while 422 are girls. Of the total enrolment, 156 boys and 160 girls are boarders while the rest are day scholars.
All the 156 boys boarders were accommodated in the ill-fated dormitory.
The Nation has established that the structure of the dormitory was semi-permanent, with the walls built partly with stones and most of the structure made from wood.
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua is also set to visit the site.
The Los Angeles Dodgers pulled out all the stops for their Shohei Ohtani pitch. That included bringing back Kobe Bryant from the dead.
Is Shohei Ohtani the frontrunner for MLB MVP in 2023? | Agree to Disagree
According to a report from ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the late Lakers Hall of Famer made a key video appearance during the Dodgers’ presentation to Ohtani, telling the Angels dual-threat star that “there’s no better place in the world to win than Los Angeles, and there’s no better team in baseball to win with than the Dodgers.”
Bryant recorded the video as a favor to the team back in 2017, when the Dodgers were preparing a recruitment plan for the then-Nippon Professional Baseball transfer.
“That was one of the highlights of the whole meeting,” Ohtani told ESPN through his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara. “I was really surprised to see it. It was a strong and touching message.”
This isn’t, I don’t know, macabre to anyone else? Kobe Bryant has left a complicated legacy behind since his death in a January 2020 helicopter crash. It seems the five-time NBA Champion is only remembered in flowery memories and rose-tinted anecdotes: Loving father, wise mentor, the ultimate competitor; those are the only ways you can describe Bryant. But we knowthat’s notthe case.
This pitch just took things to another level. Whatever humanity and identity Bryant had left posthumously has been stripped from him. He has just become this simulacrum for Los Angeles sports culture and marketing. If the Dodgers hadn’t already recorded this six years ago, it feels like the kind of video that would have been made with AI.
Hell, it was weird when Bryant recorded it in 2017. It’s always odd when athletes from other sports get involved in the star recruitment. The year before the Dodgers had Bryant record that video, Tom Brady got involved in the Boston Celtics’ recruitment of Kevin Durant. Brady’s involvement in the pitch is actually what swayed Durant to eventually join the Golden State Warriors. A shared city does not dictate culture. Involving other players is just an advertising tactic distracting from the team-specific details that really matter.
Bryant’s video obviously wasn’t the only factor in Ohtani’s decision to sign with the Dodgers. No other team in baseball could offer him the record-setting $700 million contract. Los Angeles’ roster does offer Ohtani the best chance to win a ring by virtue of pure talent. Just let Bryant rest.
