PROVIDENCE, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 11, 2023--

By Fedja Grulovic RHODES, Greece (Reuters) -Tour operators began flying home holidaymakers as wildfires raged on the Greek island of

Raven-Symoné has revealed that she underwent several cosmetic surgeries as a teenager, after her father encouraged her to do so while she was receiving criticism about her weight. The That’s So Raven star said she had two breast reductions and liposuction done before she turned 18 in 2004. Speaking on the latest episode of her and her wife Miranda Pearman-Maday’s podcast, Symoné recalled: “There was paperwork involved. My dad suggested strongly that I should get my breasts reduced. “He was like, ‘So you don’t feel bad, is there anything that you want?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, if I get lipo, will people stop calling me fat?’” She continued on The Best Podcast Ever with Raven and Miranda: “So I got a twofer. It was just a mess, just being that young and the pain of it all.” Symoné also disclosed that, after her first breast reduction surgery, she suffered a seizure. “I remember waking up and seeing everything… and then I just started to have this dry mouth and couldn’t breathe and went back under,” she said of the experience. The Cheetah Girls star said she does not remember much else because she was “disassociating” from reality, but admitted that not knowing what caused the seizure “freaks her out a bit”. She still went ahead with the second breast reduction. While she advised others who may be considering similar procedures to wait until they are fully developed before going under the knife, Symoné added that her decision to get breast reductions prevented her “t**ties reaching her ankles”. “I don’t know if I regret it because they grew back not to that big of a size,” she said. Last year, Symoné credited her wife with helping her “kick sugar”, which led to her losing 40 pounds (approximately 18kg). She told The View: “With [Pearman-Maday’s] help and guidance and love and fantastic cooking skills… she helped me kick sugar. “I say ‘kick sugar’ because it is an addictive drug and I was addicted to it in wheat form, in regular form. And it’s out of my system.” Receiving bad news about her health from her doctor also spurred Symoné to take her weight more seriously, so that she could be around longer to spend her life with her wife. “I want to be here for her as long as I can,” she said. “I found out some numbers at the doctor that were not pleasant for someone in my age bracket – or any age bracket, to be honest with you… She doesn’t want to take me to an early grave, and I want to make sure I am there for her in the best health possible.” In July, Symoné called on people not to use diabetes medication Ozempic purely for weight loss, as it is “made for certain people”. She opened up about her family’s history of pre-diabetes and diabetes, and said she is “more susceptible” to the disease if she is not careful about what she eats. “So, I think it’s very important we understand certain medications are made for certain people – and to not take that away just for glamazon purposes,” she told E! News. Read More ‘Oblivious’ woman defended after walking through beach wedding: ‘They don’t own the beach’ Men sometimes need help – and I’m determined to start asking for it King’s Guard shares sweet exchange with young boy wearing royal uniform

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If you’re anything like me, then you haven’t always found joy in shopping for swimwear. A fat-phobic society once kept us big girls from thinking we deserved to enjoy water-filled summer activities like everyone else. If a suit wasn’t made to cover or hide our bodies, it probably wasn’t available. Although anti-fat bias is still a prevalent problem in the fashion industry, there are companies helping to change things for the better — starting with the below brands that are currently putting out the best plus-size swimwear.

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What looks more stunning than the randomly swirling bands of dark chocolate in this loaf of white sweet bread? This style of braiding is known in many countries, and is used with different fillings as well,” says former contestant on The Great British Bake Off, Jurgen Krauss. “Always an eye-catcher, it used to be a special treat on our Saturday afternoon coffee table. The rich spices and citrus zest in combination with chocolate make this truly a great braid for any special occasion.” Babka chocolate braid Serves: 15 Ingredients: For the dough: 190g bread flour 140g white spelt flour or plain flour, plus extra for dusting 6g instant yeast 1 pinch salt 40g caster sugar 180ml whole milk 1 medium egg 40g unsalted butter, softened Zest of 1 lemon Zest of 1 orange ½ tsp ground cardamom For the filling: 100g dark chocolate (54% or 70% cocoa solids, to taste) 60g unsalted butter 60g soft light brown sugar 2 tsp ground cinnamon ½ tsp ground cloves 30g cocoa powder Unsalted butter, melted, or apricot jam for glazing Method: 1. For the dough, put all the ingredients in a bowl and, using your hands or a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix the ingredients until evenly distributed. Then knead the dough for several minutes until it has a smooth and silky texture. Cover with a tea towel or a plastic bag and leave to prove at room temperature for about one hour. Check with the poke test that the dough is ready. 2. Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Put the chocolate, butter and sugar into a pan and melt over low heat. Once liquid, take the pan off the heat and add the cinnamon, cloves and cocoa powder. It’s OK if the filling looks grainy. 3. Line a 950g loaf tin with baking paper. 4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a rectangle measuring about 50 x 30cm. Spread the chocolate filling over the dough rectangle, leaving 2cms of the far short edge uncovered. Roll up the dough rectangle, starting at the near short edge. Seal the seam by pinching it. 5. Place the roll on a work surface with the seam facing down and, with a sharp knife, cut the roll lengthwise into halves. Twist the halves together to form a rope. You can do this starting at one end and twist this half of the roll, and then do the same for the other half; this way you don’t have to manipulate the whole length at once. 6. Place your hands palm down on the ends and, with a scooping movement, bring the ends to meet underneath the middle of yourrope. Transfer this into the lined tin, and cover with a tea towel or a plastic bag. Leave to prove for 30 minutes to one hour until the Babka is well risen and the dough starts to feel fragile; a gentle touch with a finger will leave a dent that only slowly recovers. 7. Preheat the oven to 170C fan/gas mark 5. 8. Bake the babka for 30-40 minutes. 9. Melt the butter for glazing or heat the apricot jam with a teaspoon of water. Brush the babka with melted butter or jam as soon as it is out of the oven. Leave to cool for about 15 minutes, then carefully remove from the tin and baking paper. 10. Let the babka cool completely before eating. Stored in an airtight container it will last for three days. ‘German Baking: Cakes, Tarts, Traybakes And Breads From The Black Forest And Beyond’ by Jurgen Krauss (published by Kyle Books on 31 August, £26). Read More The dish that defines me: Evelin Eros’s rum cake ‘It started with a radish’: Chef Simon Rogan reflects on restaurant L’Enclume at 20 The true story – and murky history – of Portuguese piri piri oil ‘My depression stopped me doing what I loved most in life – cooking’ What Bake Off’s Jurgen Krauss really thinks of his shock elimination Quick, moist and flavourful: Jurgen Krauss’s marble cake

Kansas officials have agreed, for now, not to enforce a new restriction on medication abortions

Billionaire Elon Musk rebranded Twitter this week and replaced the iconic blue bird logo with a black X, in his latest effort to overhaul the social media giant. The redesign ties in with Musk’s plans to build an “everything” platform –like China’s WeChat or PayTm in India – as he encouraged users to reimagine the “whole concept” of the app formerly known as Twitter. On 24 July, the Tesla founder tweeted a picture of the new logo cast on the Twitter headquarters building in San Francisco, as workers were seen taking down the bird logo that has defined the platform since it was launched in 2006. Musk also redirected the website x.com to twitter.com, and announced that Twitter will soon only be available in dark mode. But it wasn’t an entirely smooth rollout, as it was later revealed Twitter had failed to secure the required permits to change the building signage. Trademark experts also warned Musk could face legal action over his use of X, since rivals Meta and Microsoft both own intellectual property (IP) rights for the letter. The site was reportedly blocked in Indonesia after Mr Musk unveiled the X logo because of the country’s laws on online pornography and gambling. User reactions were also mixed. “The X logo looks like it’s for one of those ridiculous fragile masculinity subscription box services that would send you like an axe, a bottle of hot sauce, small batch coffee, and some beard oil every month in 2019,” one tweet – or is it an X – read. As Twitter moves into a new era, on the heels of a controversial revamp, we look back on seven marketing fails: Royal Mail to Consignia In 2001 the Royal Mail was rebranded as Consignia, but it did not last long. “The new name describes the full scope of what the Post Office does in a way that the words ‘post’ and ‘office’ cannot,” Royal Mail’s then-chief John Roberts unveiled the results of a £2m rebrand, adding that the “modern, meaningful and entirely appropriate” name was suited to the company’s aspirations of becoming an international postal operator. The public did not agree and just 16 months later Consignia was renamed Royal Mail plc, reversing what is considered one of the most disastrous corporate rebranding efforts in recent history. The strategist who led the Consignia rebrand later defended it in an interview with the BBC, explaining why the name was chosen. Keith Wells, who was the director of Dragon Brands, said: “It’s got consign in it. It’s got a link with insignia, so there is this kind of royalty-ish thing in the back of one’s mind. And there’s this lovely dictionary definition of consign which is ‘to entrust to the care of’. That goes right back to sustaining trust, which was very important.” Coke to New Coke “New Coke” remains the benchmark for bad product launches, nearly 40 years after the Coca-Cola company infamously decided to change its secret recipe to gain a competitive advantage over then-up-and-coming Pepsi Co during the cola wars of the Eighties. The decision backfired, as passionate Coke drinkers were devastated by the new taste of the beverage – even launching grassroots campaigns across the United States to bring back the old Coke. “It was the people against the corporation – only in America,” CBS News reporter Bob Simon said in 1985. “Coke said it was committed, so were the people. In California they collected signatures, in Seattle they set up a hotline.” Delighted by their rival’s blunder, Pepsi released an advertisement featuring a girl who asked: “Somebody out there tell me why Coke did it? Why did Coke change?” Coca-Cola eventually buckled under the pressure and announced it would bring back the original taste of Coke, with the company’s then-president saying: “The simple fact is that all of the time and money and skill poured into consumer research on a new Coca-Cola could not measure or reveal the depth and abiding emotional attachment to original Coca-Cola felt by so many people.” Facebook to Meta Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook became Meta in October 2021 to signal its future as a “metaverse company”. A metaverse is defined as “a digital reality that combines aspects of social media, online gaming, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and cryptocurrencies to allow users to interact virtually.” While the tech billionaire insisted the rebrand had nothing to do with the PR crisis during what is now remembered as Meta’s worst year ever. From claims the US Capitol riots were organised on the social media platform to employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen’s allegations, Facebook’s reputation took a severe beating in 2021. And the new name didn’t help. According to a report from The Harris Poll, public trust in Zuckerberg’s company significantly dropped after the announcement that it was going to be known as Meta. PR experts also told Insider Meta would have to do “fundamental work” to win back this trust. PwC to Monday One of the Big Four accounting firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers confusingly changed the name of its consulting arm to Monday in what is widely considered a big branding blunder. “Monday is a new identity on which to build our company’s future, and it will have meaning and stand for something,” the company’s then-CEO Greg Brenneman said, announcing the new name that, apparently, conjures images of “fresh thinking, doughnuts, hot coffee”. However, the brand name was a flop as it failed to capture the essence of PwC’s work, and caused widespread confusion – and derision – from members of the public as well as the press. “The day of the week formerly known as Monday would like to announce its name change to distance itself from PWC Consulting. Forthwith it will be known as Tuesday Eve,” one person quipped. Reporting on PwC’s new name, CNN Money said a spokesperson from Wolff Olins, the agency that led the $110m rebrand, “could not immediately be reached Monday—the day, that is.” The rebrand was eventually rolled back. Hershey’s new logo The well-known chocolate company in 2014 unveiled a logo that resembled a “steaming pile of s***” as the abandoned design continues to amuse TikTok users nine years later. When Hershey’s set about trying to create a fresh and modern interpretation of its beloved Kisses icon, it replaced a photograph of their silver Hershey’s Kiss with an animated, brown version and a gray curlicue to represent its packaging. “The new branding will impact all visual aspects of how The Hershey Company presents itself,” the company said in a statement at the time, “from consumer communications to websites to the interior design of its office spaces and the look of its retail stores.” Amused customers were quick to point out the logo had ended up looking like a poop emoji instead, an unsavoury association to make with a chocolate brand. @zacharywinterton Once you see it you cant unsee it. This design is proof that not all logos are created equal ? #logodesign #designfail ♬ original sound - Zachary Winterton Sunny Delight The orange soft beverage launched in the UK in 1998 was once considered a threat to Pepsi and Coke. However, a poorly-timed advertisement amid regulatory scrutiny brought grey storms for Sunny Delight, as the drinks sales fell from a record high of £160m to a measly £6.8m by 2010. The Food Commission launched a campaign against Sunny Delight, claiming it was bad for children after it was reported that one child in Wales turned yellow from drinking 1.5 litres of the drink. “This is excessive consumption and consumption on that scale would lead to a yellowing of the skin because of the beta carotene, in the same way as drinking too much carrot juice or orange juice would,” a spokeswoman for the company said at the time. The girl’s condition, caused by betacarotene which gives the drink it’s colour, emerged at the same time as Sunny Delight was running an ad campaign featuring a pair of snowmen turning orange. Consequently, the popularity of Sunny Delight reportedly halved, as consumers lost their appetite for the bright yellow, sweet drink. Cardiff City’s football kit In 2012, the club’s then-new owner gave the kit an ill-conceived makeover. He decided to put the team, nicknamed the Bluebirds, in a red kit and changed the logo from a blue bird to a red Welsh dragon. “The change of colour is a radical and some would say revolutionary move which will be met with unease and apprehension by a number of supporters, along with being seen as controversial by many,” ex-chief executive Alan Whiteley said. “To those I would like to say that this was not a decision that has been taken lightly or without a great deal of thought and debate. Fans retaliated and the blue kit was restored, with approval from the club’s owner Vincent Tan. Read More Sinead O’Connor latest: Singer moved to London ‘to feel less lonely’ after son’s death, neighbours say England vs Denmark LIVE: Women’s World Cup result and reaction as Lionesses win but Walsh injured Man in debt after driving motorhome through London’s low emission zone First British passports issued in King’s name unveiled Royal Mail wins contract for collection and delivery of passports Mapped: Ten worst UK hotspots for dog attacks on postal workers

SAG-AFTRA has officially gone on strike. The vote to strike followed weeks of talks between