Category: News

A father has said his only son, who died in a nightclub fire in North Macedonia, had “only [just] started to live” and that more than 150 families have been left “devastated” by the tragedy.

Dragi Stojanov’s son Tomce, 21, was among the crowd inside Pulse nightclub in the eastern town of Kocani in the early hours of Sunday when the fire broke out.

Local media reports and video from inside the venue suggest fireworks were set off while local band DNK was performing, causing the roof to catch fire.

Speaking at the scene on Sunday, interior minister Panche Toshkovski confirmed at least 59 people have died, 39 of whom have been identified, and more than 150 others injured.

Mr Stojanov told reporters at the scene: “It’s my only child and he died. What is left for me in life? I don’t need my life anymore.”

Asked for his age, he said his son had “only [just] started to live”.

Mr Stojanov stayed at the scene “all night”, he added, claiming authorities “can’t even get the bodies out” and that there “must be 200 people inside”.

He described the victims as “children… burnt, beyond recognition”.

“There are corpses, just corpses inside. They can’t pull them out. One-hundred-and-fifty families are devastated.”

Four arrest warrants have been issued in connection with the incident, which unfolded at 2.35am on Sunday.

Survivor’s sister was ‘stomped over’

An unnamed survivor also spoke to reporters at the scene.

She suffered injuries to her ear and knee – and her sister is still missing.

“The fire broke out suddenly and everyone started running for the exit,” she said. “There were charred bodies. I don’t know… everyone is stressed.”

She added that she and her family have been “unable to find” her sibling in any of the hospitals.

“She is injured. Running outside she fell and people stomped over her,” she told reporters.

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Rescuers and forensic investigators are still working at the scene, which was sealed off by police on Sunday morning.

Officials said evidence would be passed to the local prosecutor.

The country’s Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski described the deadly incident as a “difficult and very sad day for Macedonia”.

“The loss of so many young lives is irreparable, and the pain of the families, loved ones and friends is immeasurable,” he wrote in a post on X.

He promised the government would do “everything in their power to at least slightly alleviate their pain”.

Among those offering their condolences were Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“I wish those who were injured a speedy recovery. Ukraine mourns alongside our North Macedonian friends on this sad day,” Mr Zelenskyy wrote on X.

A mother-of-four has been given months to live after she first mistook her difficulty swallowing for a side effect of a weight loss diet.

Camilla Chapman was diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer almost a year after she first developed symptoms of the disease.

The 40-year-old from Chichester, West Sussex, received the devastating news in February that her cancer had spread to her lungs, liver and lymph nodes and told it was inoperable.

“I was told there was nothing they can do; they can’t operate, and it is not curable. I was only offered palliative chemotherapy,” she told The Independent.

The nursery business owner said the diagnosis has left her with “no hope”, but she is urging others not to ignore seemingly minor ailments.

In March last year Ms Chapman noticed she was struggling to swallow her food — a tell-tale sign of stomach cancer — but she assumed it was a side effect of her new diet.

“I was on a low-calorie diet and a lot of the diet was liquid based, but one of the solid foods you could make were pancakes and quite often they would get stuck in my throat. I would need to drink water with them,” Ms Chapman said.

“I ignored it, thinking it was just because I hadn’t been eating properly and maybe I had just got lazy at chewing. I thought my body was just used to swallowing liquid and not food,” she added.

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In June she noticed a small lump underneath her jaw and visited her GP, but she did not mention her difficulty swallowing.

Ms Chapman was referred for an ultrasound scan, but she said doctors told her “it’s normal to have one gland slightly larger than the other” and that “nothing was wrong”.

The scan, which Ms Chapman said showed no signs of cancer, put her mind at ease for several months, until she found it even harder to swallow food.

“I noticed it more often and it would keep me awake at night. I started to have a gut feeling that something wasn’t quite right,” she said.

By January she still struggled to swallow food and decided to go back to her doctor.

This time Ms Chapman was referred for a blood test, and three weeks later she had an endoscopy to examine her digestive tract and a biopsy was taken.

“The endoscopy was awful and as soon as he said they were going to take biopsies, I knew they had found something,” she said.

Ms Chapman was sent for another CT scan a week later in February. She was then told the devastating news that her cancer had spread to her liver, lungs, and lymph nodes on both sides of her oesophagus and that it was inoperable.

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More than 6,000 Britons are diagnosed with stomach cancer every year, according to Cancer Research UK.

Symptoms include difficulty swallowing, weight loss, stomach pain, feeling full after eating small amounts, feeling sick and tiredness due to low levels of red blood cells.

Stomach cancer can also spread to the lymph nodes — a system of tubes and glands in the body that filters body fluids and fights infection. This can cause lymph nodes to feel hard or swollen. Swollen lymph nodes in the chest can also make it difficult to swallow.

Treatment for stomach cancer usually involves surgery and chemotherapy, but Ms Chapman said she has only been offered palliative chemotherapy — a type of treatment given to help someone live longer and more comfortably even if they can’t be cured.

She claimed there are no other options on the NHS available to her and she has been left feeling desperate to find an alternative.

“I don’t want to take chemo; I have four young boys, and I want to still be able to go to the park with them. I don’t want to live whatever time I have left in sickness,” she said.

Now Ms Chapman is warning others to not ignore any unusual symptoms and to get them checked out by a doctor.

“Difficulty swallowing is a symptom of stomach cancer, but because I didn’t have any other symptoms, such as acid reflux, I dismissed it,” she said.

“It is easy to dismiss it can be just a small change, maybe how you swallow or sound, but I would tell anyone who had the same symptoms as me to just go and get it checked out,” she added.

About 65 per cent of people with stage one cancer are expected to survive for five years or more after they are diagnosed.

But for those with stage four cancer, meaning it has spread to distant parts of the body, there are no five-year survival statistics, Cancer Research UK explains.

Instead, just 20 per cent of people diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer survive for one year or more after their diagnosis.

The Belagavi Institute of Medical Sciences alone has recorded over 150 cases, with more than 100 similar instances reported from other medical institutions across the state. In response, Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil has called for the cancellation of such property transfers and wills executed in favour of the offending children.

A pregnant woman’s baby died after she was told ‘not to be dramatic’ by medics who dismissed her red flag symptoms as a stomach bug.

Katalin Szabo’s son Dexter died 27 weeks into her pregnancy in December 2020 after maternity staff failed to intervene in an emergency, despite her repeatedly raising concerns about severe pain, vomiting and high blood pressure.

Her partner James Moore, who had been made to wait in the car park due to Covid restrictions, was told everything was fine when he rang the unit, only to receive a call from Ms Szabo shortly afterwards to tell him their son had died.

She had experienced a placental abruption – where the placenta detaches from the womb too early – which had been missed.

The couple, a HR professional and IT security engineer have said the care they received at Hinchingbrooke Hospital, in Cambridgeshire, was ‘third world’.

They claimed hospital staff failed to continuously monitor the baby’s heartrate, omitted vital details from Ms Szabo’s notes and made documentation errors – including recording the wrong time of death and misspelling their son’s name on official paperwork.

‘We just felt absolutely fobbed off from start to finish. Kat was treated like her concerns didn’t matter,’ said Mr Moore. 

‘Knowing this could all have been so different if we’d just driven to a different hospital is a hard pill to swallow.

‘The lockdown restrictions made everything worse – if I had been allowed to stay and advocate for Kat, Dexter may have lived.’

Ms Szabo, who worked in HR, had attended the maternity unit twice in November 2020 after developing vomiting and high blood pressure in her second trimester. 

At the time, a midwife dismissed the first-time mother’s concerns, telling her ‘not to be dramatic’.

She then returned to the unit in the evening of December 2 after developing new severe pain in her abdomen and back. This time, a doctor who saw her dismissed the symptoms as a stomach bug.

Staff tried to discharge Ms Szabo at 1.50am on December 3 but she refused to leave, fearing something was more seriously wrong as her pain was not being relieved by painkillers. Within an hour, staff could no longer find a heartbeat.

Mr Moore, 34, said: ‘The next call I received was from Kat telling me our baby was dead.

‘She was in so much pain and she was sure it was something more than a stomach bug. 

‘High blood pressure is a risk factor for placental abruption, as is significant pain, so we just want to know why was continuous heartbeat monitoring not used? 

‘This could have given a window for an emergency Caesarean which could have saved our baby’s life.’

Ms Szabo, now 36, remains too traumatised by the experience to speak about what happened.

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which manages Hinchingbrooke Hospital, has not admitted any liability or to any failings in Ms Szabo’s care. It has agreed a settlement with the couple for £20,000.

Mr Moore described the figure as ‘a slap in the face’. ‘They valued Dexter’s life at a total of £20,000,’ he added. ‘It was never about money – I would of course take my living child over any amount of money. But we didn’t know how else to get their attention [outside of taking legal action] – we had made a complaint and they didn’t care.’

The couple have since had another son, born at a different hospital.

‘Our message to all pregnant women and partners is if you’re not 100 per cent satisfied with the care you’re receiving, ask for a second opinion,’ added Mr Moore. 

‘The NHS is on its knees and, although people want to do their best and there are some exceptional people working in the NHS, things are falling apart – so you now have to demand the care you need.’

The couple have been supported in their legal case by Nathan Bunch, an associate at law firm Slater and Gordon. He said: ‘There were very clearly failings in the care given to Katalin… The red flags were there and should have been spotted and acted upon.

‘Katalin and James are understandably absolutely devastated at the loss of Dexter. 

‘Knowing the outcome could have been so different if only they were listened to, and Katalin received the care she needed in the critical time window, is very hard for them to deal with. 

‘Lessons need to be learned urgently from what went wrong in this heart-breaking case.’

Hinchingbrooke Hospital faced criticism after babies died in 2019 and 2021 when warning signs were missed and the babies were delivered by emergency Caesarean section hours too late.

However its maternity unit was upgraded from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission in June 2023.

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust did not comment.

Father of Mine landed in April 2023. The sequel, Son of Mine, debuted in September 2024. I had no intention to write another one.

Which of course means I’m currently writing another one.

Father of Mine was inspired by my dad’s work as a bookie, and his connection to the crew that ran our fairly small town in the 1970s and most of the 1980s. On his most recent birthday, which came just two weeks after the release of Son of Mine, I opened a file and started hunting and pecking.

Fast forward nearly six months, and I’m four chapters away from landing the plane. I think I know how it’s going to end, but stories tend to reveal themselves while they’re being written.

Once the first draft is done, I’ll need to revise and edit and edit and revise. The goal is to get it finished ASAFP. The sooner I do, the sooner I’ll be sitting here one night, minding my own business, when the fourth book in the series begins revealing itself, one word at a time.

Meanwhile, for those who have been asking for an audio version of Father of Mine and Son of Mine, wheels are in motion. Offers are being evaluated. Possibilities are being considered, including whether I will or won’t be the one who narrates the books. (I absolutely want to do it, and I absolutely don’t want to do it.)

On that, stay tuned. For anyone who has read this much of this blurb, here’s where I offer a free, signed copy of Father of Mine or Son of Mine (winner’s choice). Send an email to florio@profootballtalk.com with this subject line: “3/16/25 Book Giveaway.” I’ll send the winner’s copy later this week.

Both books remain available on Amazon. At a time when everything is getting more and more expensive, I’m holding the line at 99 cents for each ebook. I don’t care about the money. (I know, when I say I don’t care about the money it means I do. I don’t. I do. I don’t.)

I really don’t. The goal is to encourage folks to work reading a not-shitty book into our shared ADHD existence. The chapters are short. The book moves quickly. And if you buy it and you read it and you conclude it sucks (and if you can persuade me that you actually read it), I’ll send you one dollar. Or maybe 99 pennies.

A local couple who are grieving for their stillborn baby are raising funds for a cold cot for St Bernard’s Hospital in the hope it will bring comfort to other families who experience such a devastating loss in future.

For nine months Jessica Acris and Jason Green were lovingly awaiting the arrival of their son, Oliver Lee, but sadly lost him on February 20, a day before his due date.

Mr Green’s sister, Emma Jones Lennon, told the Chronicle that through this painful experience, the family learned that St Bernard’s Hospital does not have a cold cot, “a crucial resource that allows bereaved parents to spend precious time with their baby.”

A cold cot is a cooling device that helps preserve a baby’s body after a stillbirth, giving grieving parents precious extra time with their child.

After their heartbreaking experience, Oliver’s grieving parents started a GoFundMe page and to date have raised nearly £9,000.

The campaign will raise funds for a cold cot and other essential items to better support families facing similar situations in Gibraltar.

On the GoFundMe page, Oliver’s parents said: “For a few short moments, we were able to hold him, love him, and cherish him. Our parents got to meet their grandson. But far too soon, Oliver was taken away.”

“The Gibraltar Health Authority (GHA) does not have a cold cot, meaning we only had a small window of time with him before he had to be moved to the mortuary.”

They spoke too of the day their “world shattered” when 39 weeks into the pregnancy, the couple went for their final check-up and the midwife was unable to find Oliver’s heartbeat.

“We were told that our precious boy was gone,” they wrote.

“There are no words to describe the pain of hearing those words, of realising that the baby we had loved and waited for would never take his first breath.”

Given medication to start the process of labour, 48 hours later they were admitted to the hospital.

“After hours of physical and emotional pain, on February 20, 2025, at 11:18pm, we met our beautiful son, Oliver Lee Green. He was perfect. He looked exacly like his hyper real scan. He looked so peaceful, as if he were just sleeping,” the couple added.

Their story has clearly touched the hearts of people on the Rock, who have rallied to support their fundraising effort.

Ms Jones Lennon told the Chronicle the parents have already placed an order for two units, along with spare kits, for the GHA.

“The cost of each unit is approximately £1,700, plus taxes and import fees,” she said.

With the remaining funds the parents hope to purchase support items for grieving families, such as memory boxes or comfort packs.

They also hope to help provide a comfortable space for partners.

“This fundraiser is not just for Oliver, it’s for every family who will ever face this heartbreaking loss,” the couple wrote.

“We want to give them the time we never got with our son.”

Together with the support of Ms Jones Lennon and other family members the couple have a meeting scheduled with the Minister of Health, Gemma Arias-Vasquez to discuss any further necessities.

To support the family in creating a legacy for their son to go https://gofund.me/1b59032f

Rating

Unmissable!

Satirical and silly, this musical embraces its own ridiculousness, delivering a hilarious and fun-filled evening.

Writer and director John Waters collaborated with Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan to adapt two of his films into stage productions: Hairspray (1988) and Cry-Baby (1990). While Hairspray is the more popular of the two, Cry-Baby is as equally comedic and entertaining. Opening on Broadway in 2008 and touring Australia and New Zealand in subsequent years, this long-awaited musical has now finally arrived in London at the Arcola Theatre. 

Set in Waters’ hometown of Baltimore, Cry-Baby the Musical remains faithful to the film’s plot, with only slight adjustments made due to the limitations of the stage. Taking place in the 1950s, it follows upper-class square Allison (Lulu-Mae Pears) falling for leather-clad rebel Wade “Cry-Baby” Walker (Adam Davidson). 

With seventeen cast members on the Arcola Theatre’s stage (a first in its history), the production delivers an upbeat, satirical spectacle. Each cast member is undeniably talented but special mention must go to Eleanor Walsh as Cry-Baby’s unhinged stalker, Lenora. Her physical comedic timing is unmatched and her vocals in ‘Screw Loose’ are outstanding. Equally impressive is Chad Saint Louis as the music bar maestro, Dupree W. Dupree, who I would have loved to have heard even more solos from. 

The musical is side-splittingly funny with hilarious moments such as when Allison insists she doesn’t know the words to ‘Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby (Baby Baby)’, despite the chorus repeating just that word. Highlighting the paranoia of McCarthyism and the Red Scare, in the country club, the Squares snobbishly tell the waiting staff that the emergency bunker is for paying members only. 

David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger’s songs propel the show forward, with standout numbers like ‘A Little Upset’, featuring an incredible, energetic Jailhouse Rock-style dance routine, choreographed by Chris Whittaker. The music reflects the 1950s era with a variety of barbershop quartets, slower blues numbers and lively rock n roll tracks. 

The comedy of the musical shines through in the songs as well. The girl gang (Laura Buhagiar, India Chadwick and Jazzy Phoenix) reminisce about past misdeeds in ‘A Whole Lot Worse’ with the line, “Never followed no rules, they kicked me out of nine nursery schools”. Their powerful voices complement each other perfectly, resulting in luscious harmonies. Additionally, the songs ‘I’m Infected’ and ‘Girl, Can I Kiss You With Tongue?’ hilariously capture the awkward yet endearing teenage angst of loving someone for the first time. 

As multiple cast members are on stage at once the set cannot be overly complicated, but Robert Innes Hopkins finds the perfect balance with a minimalist design. There’s a large American flag projected onto the back wall, reminiscent of the artist Jasper Johns. This prompts the audience to reflect on what the American flag represents to people and how its meaning may have changed from the 1950s to today. Signs and banners that lower down from the ceiling are used to indicate changes in location and a mini platform serves as a versatile stage. 

The show is exceptionally enjoyable but my only criticism is that the cast’s mics were left on when they left the stage, allowing us to overhear them chatting backstage. This was incredibly distracting, however, I’m sure this can be ironed out for the rest of the run.  

Cry-Baby embraces its own silliness, which is part of what makes it so addictive. It’s satirical, ridiculous and lots of fun. It acknowledges potential plot holes with humour and wit, so, for instance, you don’t mind how absurd it is that a guitar is given as an apology for causing a death. This musical invites the audience to share in the joke, laughing with it rather than laughing at it. 

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Book by: Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan
Songs by: David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger
Directed by: Mehmet Ergen
Set and Costume Design by: Robert Innes Hopkins
Choreographed by: Chris Whittaker
Lighting Design by: David Howe

Cry-Baby the Musical plays until Saturday 12 April at the Arcola Theatre.

Dubai’s ‘The Most Noble Number’ charity auction raised AED 83.6 million to be invested to help support the objectives of the Fathers’ Endowment campaign, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister, and the Ruler of Dubai.

Organised in the Armani Dubai Hotel, Burj Khalifa by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI), in collaboration with Emirates Auction and the support of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), e& UAE and du, the auction featured 25 special numbers including five vehicle plate numbers from RTA, 10 du mobile numbers and 10 e& UAE mobile numbers.

Proceeds of the auction will go towards supporting the Fathers’ Endowment campaign and its aims of improving healthcare across underserved communities. This includes developing hospitals, providing essential medical equipment and medications, expanding capacity, and upgrading operating rooms.

Total bids for RTA plate numbers amounted to AED 75.9 million. Bids amounted to AED 4.732 million for e& UAE mobile numbers and AED 3.045 million for du mobile numbers.

Chairman of the Binghatti Holding, Muhammad BinGhatti, participated in the Most Noble Number charity auction, with total bids of AED 44.2 million

Special plate numbers auctioned this evening sold for the following amounts: DD 5 sold for AED 35 million, DD 12 sold for AED 12.8 million, DD 15 sold for AED 9.2 million , DD 24 sold for AED 6.3 million and DD 77 sold for AED 12.6 million.

In addition to the Most Noble Number charity auction in Dubai, the Most Noble Number online charity auction continues to attract bids.

The online auction, organised by the Integrated Transport Centre (Abu Dhabi Mobility) which operates under the Department of Municipalities and Transport in Abu Dhabi, features 444 special plate numbers that are auctioned through the Emirates Auction app, and will close on March 16 and 17.

Dr. Bawumia and Chairman Wontumi (both in black attire) spotted at a funeral

Former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and other prominent figures in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) attended the funeral of Tweneboah Kodua Fokuo’s mother, the Member of Parliament for Manso Nkwanta.

The funeral, held in Kumasi on Saturday, March 15, 2025, saw the presence of numerous NPP MPs who gathered to sympathize with their colleague as he laid his mother to rest.

Other high-profile NPP personalities at the event included Ashanti Regional Chairman Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi; Dr. Nana Ayew Afriyie, Member of Parliament for Effiduase-Asokore; and Dr. Gideon Boako, MP for Tano North.

The dignitaries accompanied Dr. Bawumia as he paid his respect to the bereaved family, offering words of encouragement and support during this difficult time.

Dr. Bawumia received a warm welcome upon his arrival, with attendees cheering and singing in his praise.

Some individuals were heard saying, “No matter what you do, Dr. Bawumia will come,” implying their confidence in his presidential aspirations.

Watch videos from the funeral below:

Dr Bawumia together with the team attended the funeral of the mother of the Manso Nkwanta MP, Hon Tweneboah Kodua Fokuo pic.twitter.com/1wQBNli7JZ

— Mr Irish (@MrIrish3) March 16, 2025

Dr. Bawumia at

MP for Manso Nkwanta Constituency, Hon Fokuo’s mother’s funeral in the Ashanti region. pic.twitter.com/0Z9cKnAY0M

— Nana Otabil (@NanaOtabil12) March 16, 2025

Meanwhile, watch the moment COP Tetteh Yohuno was sworn in as new IGP

SB/MA