Vet Dr James Greenwood shared an easy distraction that can also help stop your dogs from digging up the garden

Dog owners who spot their four-legged friend digging in the garden or casually munching on garden waste might not consider it concerning, but while addressing viewer queries on BBC Morning Live, one veterinary surgeon explained when this behaviour could prove potentially fatal for your animals.

One caller, Steve, mentioned that his dog frequently eats soil during walks and from his planted containers in the garden. Dr James Greenwood explained this could be a condition called Pica, which can also affect humans, and it may be hazardous depending on the varieties of plants in your garden.

He stated: “The main thing here really is to just be worried about what he might find in that soil. So, one of the things that I’d be quite sort of nervous about is bulbs.

“Lots of the plant bulbs that we have in our gardens can actually be quite toxic to dogs. So just be a little bit aware of that.”

This includes some common springtime plants according to the RSPCA:

• Daffodils
• Tulips
• Bluebells
• Foxglove
• Azaleas and rhododendrons

These can trigger various symptoms in animals, from digestive problems to tremors, drooling, vomiting and diarrhoea. RSPCA guidance cautions: “In some cases, just licking pollen off their paws or fur can cause a reaction. The bulbs of many plants are particularly toxic.”

Dr James explained that pica happens when animals consume something non-edible, from concrete to plastic and soil. He observed this can be connected to medical conditions and if it’s accompanied by symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea or weight loss and lethargy then it’s advisable to arrange a veterinary examination.

However, if your dog isn’t displaying these symptoms or digging up toxic plants, the vet confirmed there’s “no real harm” in dogs playing or consuming some soil, apart from it ruining your garden. But Dr James had a solution for that as well.

“If you actually lean into that and give him something to dig, a sand pit, for example,” he said. “You could bury some of his toys or treats and let him go and dig in that that is less likely hopefully to to go for the tubs.”

The vet pointed out that occasionally dogs may seem to be ‘eating’ soil but are in fact just using their muzzle as an additional ‘paw’ in their digging efforts.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican senators are considering whether to drop a proposal for $1 billion in security money for the White House complex and President Donald Trump’s ballroom after it has failed to win enough party support on Capitol Hill.

Pressured by the White House, Republicans have tried to add the money to a roughly $70 billion bill to restore funding to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol. But the security proposal has met with backlash from some GOP lawmakers who are questioning the cost and the lack of detail from the White House and U.S. Secret Service about how the taxpayer dollars would be used.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Wednesday that the bill was “back to square one” without the security money because “the votes are not there.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the effort to add the security package to the bill was a “bad idea” and he does not think there is enough backing to pass it, even if it were reduced.

The text of the bill has not yet been released. But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., acknowledged “ongoing vote issues” as leaders try to measure Republican support, as well as “ongoing parliamentarian issues” as they try to figure out what will be allowed in the bill under the chamber’s rules.

The wrangling comes as Democrats have criticized Republicans for trying to fund Trump’s ballroom when voters are concerned about basic affordability issues — and as some GOP lawmakers have grown increasingly frustrated with Trump. Several GOP senators have spoken out against the administration’s $1.776 billion settlement fund designed to compensate Trump’s allies who believe they have been persecuted, and many were upset by the president’s endorsement Tuesday of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the party primary runoff next week against Sen. John Cornyn.

“There’s always a consequence with taking on United States senators,” Thune said Wednesday. The president “obviously has his favorites and people he wants to endorse and that’s his prerogative. But what we have to deal with up here is moving the agenda, and obviously that can become slightly more complicated.”

The “anti-weaponization” fund, part of a settlement that resolves Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns, has unexpectedly become one of the main complications in the bill. Democrats said they would force votes to block it or place restrictions on it.

Democrats have an opening because Republicans are trying to pass the immigration enforcement bill through a complicated budget process that requires a long series of amendment votes. Democrats are considering multiple amendments potentially to block that new fund outright or to ban any payments to Trump supporters who harmed law enforcement officers in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Those amendments, along with others, could pass as a growing number of Republicans have voiced reservations about the fund. So Republicans are now discussing their own last-minute add to head that off, potentially placing some parameters on the settlement and who could receive compensation, according to two people with knowledge of the private discussions who requested anonymity to discuss them.

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He urged Republicans to fire the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, who said over the weekend that parts of the $1 billion security proposal cannot remain in the ICE and Border Patrol bill. Trump also renewed his long-standing calls for the Senate to pass the SAVE Act, a Republican bill that would require all voters to prove U.S. citizenship, and to end the Senate filibuster.

Republicans need to “get smart and tough,” Trump said, or “you’ll all be looking for a job much sooner than you thought possible!”

While they have been loyal to Trump on most issues, Senate Republicans have resisted his repeated calls — even in his first term — to kill the filibuster, which triggers a 60-vote threshold in the Senate.

Hanging over the growing GOP rift is Trump’s surprise endorsement of Paxton. That intervention has Republican senators privately fuming that it could cost them their majority in November as they view the incumbent, Cornyn, as the better candidate in the November general election.

Under the Secret Service request, about $220 million would pay for security improvements related to the ballroom. The rest would go for a new screening center for visitors, training and other security measures.

Tillis said the bill should not have included the other security improvements “because it’s just giving everybody the ‘billion-dollar ballroom.’”

Several other Republicans in the House and Senate have questioned the request, and senators left a briefing with the director of the Secret Service last week saying they needed a lot more information.

People “can’t afford groceries and gasoline and healthcare, and we’re going to do a billion dollars for a ballroom?” asked Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who lost reelection in his GOP primary on Saturday after Trump endorsed one of his opponents.

Left in the bill is the money for ICE and Border Patrol, which Democrats have blocked for months in protest of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown.

Democrats demanded reforms for the agencies, but negotiations with the White House yielded little progress. So Republicans are using the complicated budget maneuver called reconciliation — the same process that allowed them to pass Trump’s tax and spending cuts bill last year — to fund the agencies through the end of Trump’s term with a simple majority and no Democratic votes.

Still, passage requires signoff from the parliamentarian, and unity from Republicans.

“We’re working on it,” Thune said as he left the Capitol on Wednesday evening.

__

AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

As more people look for ways to stay younger for longer, the supplement industry has moved beyond creams and cosmetic fixes to something more ambitious: products that claim to slow ageing by acting on cellular processes.

Among the most heavily marketed compounds are NAD+, NMN and resveratrol, often described as supporting cellular repair, energy production and healthy ageing. But what do they actually do, where are they being used, and how strong is the evidence?

To make sense of the claims, it helps to separate three things: the molecule NAD+, the compounds sold to raise it, and the products, such as supplements, creams and serums, that contain them.

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NAD+, is a coenzyme found in all living cells. A coenzyme is a helper molecule that allows enzymes to carry out chemical reactions in the body. NAD+ plays an essential role in energy metabolism, DNA repair, inflammation and the activity of a family of proteins involved in cellular stress responses.

NAD+ levels tend to decline with age, although this decline is complex and may vary between tissues. Lower NAD+ availability has been linked to reduced mitochondrial function, meaning reduced activity in the cell structures that help produce energy. This is one of the biological changes associated with ageing.

NAD+ in creams and serums

NAD+ has begun appearing in skincare creams and serums, but the evidence is even less developed here than it is for supplements.

While NAD+ is important for skin-cell energy and repair, it remains unclear whether topical NAD+ in ordinary creams can penetrate the skin in sufficient amounts to produce meaningful anti-ageing effects.

Better-established ingredients, such as sunscreen, retinoids and niacinamide, currently have much stronger evidence for improving visible signs of skin ageing.

NAD+ precursors as supplements

Because NAD+ itself is not thought to be absorbed efficiently when swallowed, much research has focused on NAD+ precursors. Precursors are compounds the body can convert into another substance. In this case, they are compounds the body can convert into NAD+. Two of the best known are nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) and nicotinamide riboside (NR).

In animal studies, NAD+ precursors have produced promising results. Older mice given these compounds have shown improvements in energy metabolism, insulin sensitivity and aspects of physical function. Some studies have also reported improvements in healthspan and lifespan-related measures in animal models, although these findings vary by model and do not translate neatly into humans. These results have helped drive enormous commercial interest, but turning promising mouse studies into meaningful benefits for people has proved far harder.

Human clinical trials suggest that NMN and NR can raise NAD+ levels, or related markers of NAD+ activity, in blood and tissues. However, the strongest evidence is for changes in blood, while evidence for meaningful effects in specific tissues is still limited.

Some small studies have reported possible benefits for metabolic health, including insulin sensitivity in specific groups. Others have explored potential effects on muscle mass, but recent reviews have not found convincing evidence that NMN or NR preserve muscle mass or function in older adults.

When researchers look at outcomes that matter more directly to everyday ageing, such as strength, cognition, frailty or biological age, the picture is much less clear. Biological age is a contested estimate of how old the body appears at a cellular or molecular level. One major problem is that ageing unfolds over a long period, while most supplement trials last only weeks or months.

Resveratrol

Resveratrol is another compound often promoted for anti-ageing, but it is different from NMN and NR. It is not an NAD+ precursor. It belongs to a group of natural plant chemicals called polyphenols and is found in red grapes, berries and peanuts.

In laboratory and animal studies, resveratrol has been associated with lower levels of inflammation and improved mitochondrial function, meaning better activity in the parts of cells that help produce energy.

The difficulty is that resveratrol has poor oral bioavailability. This means much of what is swallowed is broken down or modified before it can reach tissues in the form and concentration used in laboratory experiments. This creates a large gap between what resveratrol can do in cells in a dish and what a supplement is likely to do in the human body. So far, human trials have not shown convincing evidence that resveratrol slows ageing, and findings on cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory benefits remain mixed.

Resveratrol may interact with some medications, especially anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs, often described as blood-thinning medicines. High doses can also cause side effects such as gastrointestinal symptoms. Anyone taking regular medication, managing a chronic condition, pregnant or breastfeeding should seek medical advice before taking high-dose supplements.

So, are NAD+, NMN and resveratrol the elixir of youth? No. The key distinction is between biological plausibility and proven benefit. These compounds are not biologically implausible: they act on real pathways involved in energy production, stress responses and cellular maintenance. But affecting a pathway is not the same as slowing ageing in a person.

In humans, the evidence so far suggests possible benefits in limited contexts, but major questions remain about long-term safety, optimum doses and who is most likely to benefit. The science is plausible, but the marketing often turns “this affects a process associated with ageing” into “this supplement will keep you young”.

For now, the best-supported ways to support healthy ageing remain far less glamorous: regular exercise, good sleep, a balanced diet, avoiding smoking, limiting alcohol and managing long-term health conditions. Supplements may eventually prove useful, but at present, the evidence for staying younger for longer is much stronger for everyday habits than for anti-ageing products.

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She has taken to social media to share a series of cryptic, late-night posts that have raised questions if they have anything to do with her husband Lee Andrews and claims he is ‘missing’

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Katie Price has taken to social media to share a flurry of late-night posts, raising questions whether her cryptic shares have anything to do with her ‘missing’ husband Lee Andrews.

The Dubai-based businessman vanished last week, leaving former glamour model Katie, 47, and her husband’s family, frantically searching for him.

Katie has taken to Instagram in the early hours of Thursday (May 21) morning to share three seemingly pointed posts.

The text in the first image reads: “I’M NOT OVERWHELMED BECAUSE I CAN’T HANDLE IT. I’M OVERWHELMED BECAUSE I DO HANDLE IT. ALL. OF. IT.”

It adds: “ALL. THE. F**KING. TIME.”

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Her second post, however, starts to raise eyebrows. It featured a quote that read: “Sometimes you just have to accept the situation and say, it’s okay, it happens, it’s life”.

And Katie’s third shared quote reads: “Focus on yourself, because nothing is more powerful than a woman who knows her worth, chases her goals, and dares to dream big.”

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Her late-night triple post was shared via her Instagram stores, leaving people unable to comment publicly. However, using previous social media posts from Katie about her husband’s shock disappearance, it seems the public continues to question what is happening.

Katie last heard from the 43-year-old Dubai-based businessman last Wednesday evening. She raised the alarm last Thursday.

“Lee was trying to get through the boarder at Hatta, this is so discombobulating, his location went off at 10.03pm on Wednesday night, that’s the last contact anyone has had – his family and myself. This is the third day now,” she said at the time.

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In the wake of Lee’s kidnapping claims, a number of experts and insiders have raised doubts about his story. But despite the radio silence amid claims of a kidnapping, it’s reported Lee has been using his phone – just not to contact Katie.

Lee’s story has even left one seasoned investigator with questions, with some details in the Lee Andrews kidnapping saga just not adding up for investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas. Mark is known for his expert analysis on some of Britain’s most prominent missing persons cases, including the heartbreaking deaths of Jay Slater and Nicola Bulley.

He has now weighed in on the unfolding situation, and the expert investigator seems unconvinced by a number of elements of Lee’s account. He said: ” Katie Price says she spoke to him on Wednesday, and shortly after 10 o’clock he was in the back of a van. He says they’re coming back.

“He had a hood over his head, his hands were tied, not by handcuffs, but he had managed to make a FaceTime call to her and didn’t tell her to phone the police. And he himself didn’t phone the police and didn’t give any more information.

“And since then, apparently his phone has gone dead, although he has, or someone has, managed to go onto his social media and delete some informational posts that are on there. So that’s slightly strange, isn’t it?”

Mark questioned whether the alleged abduction had been reported to authorities and what action was being taken. “Has this matter been reported to Dubai police? And in which case, given the information that Katie Price is saying, they’d be treating it as really serious, wouldn’t they? If it’s a potential kidnap,” he added.

Mark also accused Lee of “playing some ridiculous game” and believes the situation is far more straightforward than an abduction. Speaking on TikTok, the investigative journalist said: “Well, has he been abducted? What’s the story behind it?

“The newspaper says that he’s not being kidnapped, he’s in hiding, he’s ghosting Katie Price and has been doing so for the past six days. It’s got to a situation now whereby, you know, I don’t think anyone believes Lee Andrews has been abducted or kidnapped in any way at all.

“He’s obviously playing some ridiculous game, but it’s attracted the media, and it will no doubt unfold more over the forthcoming days. Clearly this is a man who’s got some serious issues.”

Lee is, however, still nowhere to be found. He is also formally considered missing by the UK Government, with the Foreign Office confirming it is providing assistance to his family after a missing persons report was filed.

Fifteen-year-old Lucie was last seen on Hope Street North, Horwich, at around 8.20am on Monday May 18.

Lucie has been described as around five feet tall, with blonde hair that goes down to her shoulders.

She was wearing a her school uniform with a black shoulder bag and black dolly shoes when she was last sighted.

Greater Manchester Police put out a statement on social media: “Can you help us find missing Lucie?

“She was last seen on Monday 18 May at around 8:20am on Hope Street North in #Horwich

“Anyone with information about her whereabouts should contact GMP on 101, quoting log MSP/06KK/0001038/26. Always call 999 in an emergency.

“Officers are becoming increasingly concerned about her and want to make sure she is safe and well.”

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Discoloured water in a village bridleway is being investigated by specialist officers

People have been urged to keep away from a Cambridgeshire village bridlepath due to a “potential environment incident”. Blue water was spotted at the Rivey Bridlepath in Linton on Monday, May 18.

An Environment Agency spokesperson has confirmed that specialist officers. The government officials are working with Anglian Water to find out what happened and why.

A spokesperson for Linton Parish Council said: “Please be aware a potential environment incident at the Rivey Bridlepath. The blue water has been reported to the Environment Agency who are investigating. Please keep yourselves, children and animals away from it until we can provide an update.”

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: “Specialist officers are investigating discolouration of the water alongside Rivey Bridlepath in Linton. We are working with Anglian Water to find out what happened and why. We are also talking to Linton Parish Council, which has warned the public to keep themselves and their pets out of the water until further notice.”

Anyone who has information on this incident, or suspects pollution in rivers elsewhere, has been asked to contact the Environment Agency’s 24-hour incident hotline: 0800 807060.

Anglian Water have been approached for comment.