NEW YORK (AP) — There was a time when Donald Trump was just another celebrity sitting courtside at New York Knicks games. He was famous, but not yet flanked by Secret Service agents or defined by the politics that have left him deeply unpopular in his hometown.

Now, more than a decade after attending his last Knicks game at Madison Square Garden, Trump is making a rare trip back to New York City as president to cheer for them in Game 3 of the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night. Invited by Knicks owner James Dolan, he will be the first sitting president to attend an NBA Finals game.

The Knicks are seeking their first championship since 1973, when Trump was 26 and a relative newcomer to the family real estate business that vaulted him to wealth and fame. Two years after that triumph, the team’s owners at the time hired him as a consultant as they looked to sell the arena.

Trump has been to more major sporting events than any of his predecessors, including the Super Bowl and Daytona 500, golf’s Ryder Cup in the New York City suburbs, where he was cheered, and last year’s U.S. Open men’s tennis championship in Queens, where he was booed and blamed for long security lines.

On June 14, when he turns 80 while wrestling with myriad crises including the war with Iran, economic unease and court rulingsblunting his agenda, he will host a UFC fight on White House grounds. Trump also has expressed interest in attending soccer’s World Cup, which kicks off this week across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

New Yorkers love the Knicks more than they love Trump

Trump is an avid sports fan, but the affinity he professes for the Knicks is different.

It speaks to the Republican president’s identity as a New Yorker and harkens to a bygone era where a front-row seat at a Knicks game was a chance for him and other boldface names to see and be seen.

In a city whose wealthy gatekeepers largely turned their noses at Trump’s brash personality and playboy image in the 1990s and 2000s, the Garden’s Celebrity Row was one club where he felt at home.

“I’ve been a Knick fan for a long time,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office last week, a day after New York rallied to win Game 1. “I watched that end of the game and they were dominant — really amazing.”

After another win Friday in San Antonio, the Knicks head home with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. They have won a remarkable 13 straight playoff games and last lost on April 23, uniting the city in a way unseen since the Knicks went to the NBA Finals twice in the 1990s.

Enter Trump. He returns to the Knicks zeitgeist not as the tabloid curiosity who once sat shoulder to shoulder with the late John F. Kennedy Jr. at a game in 1999, but as a president who is disliked by a majority of the city’s Democratic voters.

Trump, who gave up his lifelong New York residency for Florida in 2019, is making his first trip to New York City since he spoke at the United Nations in September. In 2024, he went on trial in the city and was convicted of 34 felony counts related to hush money paid on his behalf during his 2016 campaign.

Knicks fans, though, do not seem to be concerned so much with his politics, but that his attendance — and the hoopla accompanying it — could mess up the team’s momentum. The Knicks said people going to the game should arrive at least two hours before tipoff for airport-style security screening.

“Why does Donald Trump always have to ruin a good thing?” U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, an avid Knicks fan and the House Democratic leader, told CNN. “Like, literally, the Knicks haven’t been in the NBA finals for 27 years. The city is trying to celebrate this. We’ve embraced this team, and this guy has to inject himself.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat who struck up a cordial relationship with Trump after the two met in November, was more inviting.

“We’re excited to welcome anyone and everyone who’s rooting for the Knicks in this moment,” said Mamdani, who will also be at the game — albeit, not with Trump.

Last week, as Trump began floating the idea of attending a game, New York magazine published an article, “Is Trump Really a Knicks Fan? An Investigation.” The story, filled with pictures of Trump at Knicks games from 1991 to 2014, described him as a “textbook example of a celebrity bandwagon fan.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver disagrees.

“Before he ever ran for office, he was a big Knicks fan,” Silver told reporters last week. “I’ve been with the league for a long time. I was there at many Knicks games with him in the old days.”

A courtside regular in the 1990s

Trump and the Knicks came into existence the same year, 1946.

His affiliation with the team — at least in the public record — dates to 1975 when he acted as a real estate adviser to the then-owners of the Knicks and Madison Square Garden, who were looking to sell the building known in a bit of Trump-style branding as “The World’s Most Famous Arena.”

Trump claimed to reporters at the time that two groups of “Arab oil interests” were interested in paying $50 million to $75 million. But the arena’s leadership passed on the idea, saying it was “not conceivable” to make such a deal during the Middle East oil crisis raging at the time.

Trump was not much of a known entity when the Knicks won their only championships in 1970 and 1973.

By the time they rebounded in the 1990s, Trump was front and center, taking his then-wife Marla Maples to Game 3 of the NBA Finals in 1994 and his current wife, first lady Melania Trump, to Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals in 1999. In between, he added to his Knicks fan bona fides with a cameo in the Knicks-themed Whoopi Goldberg film “Eddie” in 1996.

Back then, Trump was a more of a mythic figure than a consequential one, known as much for the women he dated and married as the buildings he built.

But just as those Knicks came up short in the NBA Finals against Hakeem Olajuwon and the Houston Rockets and David Robinson and the Spurs, Trump was running into problems of his own. His business empire was in disarray after his casinos fell into financial trouble and his airline, Trump Shuttle, went out of business.

Like the Knicks, Trump went into rebuilding mode and charted a new course: reality TV with NBC’s “The Apprentice” and “Celebrity Apprentice,” and then, politics. On a Knicks TV broadcast in 2010, he hinted at a possible presidential run.

That same year, as the Knicks struggled to recapture the magic of the 1990s, Trump recorded a video trying to persuade LeBron James to join the team.

“The real winners of the world want to be here,” Trump told him.

Russell had continued to insist everything was well – until Monaco. But now it’s out in the open, and he knows he has work to do to turn his season around in terms of pace. Getting on top of what he can control is the key for Russell. The luck, he has to hope, will return one day.

“Yesterday was a bad day for me,” he said. “And I take, I accept that. I need to get myself out of… yeah, I don’t know, how we keep ending up in the same position. Things will need to improve, for sure. But I know on clean weekends what I can do.

“I’m in a very weird state of mind because I’ve had very low moments in my career where I’ve maybe had a run of two or three bad races on my own personal performance. I’ve never had a run of bad luck as such like this.

“It didn’t happen when the car was a P7 car two years ago or a P4, P3 car last year.

“Now I’ve got the car, it feels very painful, but a long way to go. I still very much believe in myself. I still believe we’re going to be fighting for race wins for the end of this year. There’s no reason why we won’t be continuing into next year, but right now it’s tough.”

Wolff said: “Luck swings in your direction, and then sometimes it doesn’t. And it’s not a question of not knowing how to drive. It’s about having a car underneath that you feel confident with, and that you can go fast. And that’s the fact.

“Formula 1 is about physics and not mystics. You don’t unlearn how to drive, and you don’t become a miracle wonder driver. I’m not stressed at all for his performances, because we know he’s one of the best.

“In Monaco, even more than on many other circuits, you need to be one with the car and really in the zone. That’s also why on George’s side, once you lose that confidence, it’s very difficult to be fast here.

“George is really good at analysing and assessing the situation, and we forget, and I told him, when was Montreal, a week ago, two weeks ago? He was on pole, right? He won the sprint race, he was leading the main grand prix, there was no discussion about lack of speed, so that was two weeks ago.

“So, we’ve got to stay with both feet on the ground, work through the data, see why this one was a difficult one, and Miami was a difficult one, but it is not a pattern that I have seen through the season.

“I couldn’t wish for a better combination of the two in a car, and I have no doubt that George will come back very strong.”

The 34-year-old previously suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch in 2021

Danish footballer Christian Eriksen has collapsed on the pitch during Denmark’s friendly against Ukraine.

The former Tottenham and Manchester United midfielder went down on the pitch in Odense. Medical personnel immediately rushed to attend to the Dane as team-mates formed a circle around him.

The match was swiftly abandoned, though Eriksen was conscious and transported away in an ambulance.

A statement from the Danish FA said: “Christian Eriksen is conscious and feeling well according to the circumstances. The match has been called off.”

Supporters inside Nature Energy Park instantly broke into chants backing Eriksen as medics attended to him.

Eriksen previously suffered a cardiac arrest and required resuscitation on the pitch while playing against Finland in 2021.

The Wolfsburg midfielder underwent treatment for ten minutes before getting to his feet, prompting the entire stadium to give him a standing ovation.

Speaking on Danish TV, national team doctor Morten Boesen said he believes Eriksen’s pacemaker saved his life.

“I think it has done what it was put in place to do,” he said

In an encouraging update, he added: “He asked to leave the field himself. That’s a really good sign.

“Christian is doing well, and he asked me to greet all the players and say that he was okay.”

Former Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner fought back tears as he covered the distressing incident while working as a pundit for Danish TV channel TV2.

“These are horrible pictures, and it completely overshadows the rest of the evening,” said Bendtner.

“My thoughts are with the family and the children, and it’s a difficult situation to be in right now.

“This is the second time it has happened, and as Christian’s friend also… it’s really terrible.”

Denmark were ahead 2-1 at the time, courtesy of goals from Manchester United star Patrick Dorgu and defender Joakim Maehle.

Viktor Tsygankov had pulled one back for Ukraine just before the interval.

Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest and collapsed on the pitch in June 2021 when Denmark were facing Finland at that year’s European Championships.

He received CPR on the pitch before being rushed to hospital, where he was stabilised by medics.

Doctors fitted a defibrillator implant into his heart, and he made a remarkable comeback to professional football with Brentford eight months later.

A handsome market town on the River Ure at the foot of Wensleydale, with one of the largest market squares in England, two of the country’s most beloved breweries, and a high street almost entirely made up of independent businesses, Masham has been called an ‘unsung gem’ of the region.

The market square

The heart of Masham is its vast cobbled market square, ringed by Georgian townhouses and independent shops.

Markets have been held here since 1250, and it shows.

In its heyday the square was used to sell up to 70,000 sheep every year – a scale of trade that explains why the square is so disproportionately large for a town of Masham’s size.

A market still takes place every Wednesday and Saturday, while the Masham Sheep Fair returns each September to mark that heritage.

The square is surrounded by cafes, pubs and galleries, making it an easy place to spend a morning even before you have touched a drop of beer.

(Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

Two breweries, one family feud

The story of Masham’s breweries is one of the best in British brewing — and it starts with a family falling out.

Theakston’s was established in Masham in 1827, initially brewed in the basement of the Black Bull Hotel before moving to its current site.

It became one of Yorkshire’s best known brewing families, producing Old Peculier — the famously dark, strong ale named after the ancient Peculier of Masham, an ecclesiastical court with its own set of laws.

In 1992, after Theakston’s was sold to a larger brewery group, one family member — Paul Theakston — refused to go along with it.

(Image: TRIPADVISOR)

He set up his own brewery just up the road instead, naming it Black Sheep at the suggestion of his wife Sue. The two breweries have operated in the same small town ever since, a few hundred metres apart, both producing award-winning ales from the same corner of Wensleydale.

Both offer visitor tours.

Theakston’s runs guided tours of the brewery including its cooperage, one of the last working barrel-making operations in England.

Black Sheep runs hour-long tours with tastings at the end, and has a bistro and shop open throughout the week.

Beyond the breweries

Masham’s identity goes well beyond beer, though it helps.

The town has a strong arts and crafts scene, with several galleries and studios including ArtisOn, which runs courses for visitors.

A glassmaker producing hand-blown ornaments operates from the town.

The Himalayan Garden and Sculpture Park at nearby Swinton Estate is one of the most unexpected attractions in North Yorkshire — 16 acres of ornamental gardens planted with Himalayan species, a short drive from the market square.

For walkers, Masham sits on the eastern edge of Nidderdale National Landscape and is well placed for riverside walks along the Ure, as well as longer routes into the lower Dales.

Getting there

Masham is in Lower Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, approximately six miles north-west of Ripon and easily reached from the A1 via the A6108.

There is free parking in and around the market square. The town is served by bus from Ripon, Leyburn and Bedale.

Have you visited Masham?

Let us know what you think in the comments.

Bayern, though, will not let Olise go without a fight. They have been on a media charm offensive since Perez issued his promise, telling anyone who will listen that the ex-Crystal Palace winger, who racked up a remarkable 53 goal contributions in 52 appearances this season, is strictly not for sale.

Italian fashion house Prada has unveiled the inner-layer garment destined for NASA astronauts, signaling its strategic push to become the first major luxury player to establish a significant presence in the burgeoning space industry.

The body-hugging suit, developed in collaboration with Houston-based space infrastructure developer Axiom Space, incorporates advanced ventilation tubes knitted directly into the fabric.

“We have really a broad spectrum of capability and know-how,” stated Lorenzo Bertelli, Prada’s chief marketing officer, at an event in the brand’s Manhattan store, where a mannequin showcased the new Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment.

Jonathan Cirtain, CEO of Axiom Space, echoed this sentiment, noting that expertise for developing space exploration products “can come from lots of seemingly unrelated industries.”

This latest innovation follows Prada’s high-profile foray into space fashion in 2024 with the unveiling of a spacesuit slated for NASA’s Artemis 3 Earth orbit mission in 2027, and the anticipated Artemis 4 moon landing in 2028.

While luxury brands have historically drawn inspiration from space travel, Prada has moved “beyond inspiration into an actual partnership,” according to Thomai Serdari, a luxury brand strategist and marketing professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, as the space exploration and tourism sectors continue to evolve.

Serdari highlighted two key motivations behind Prada’s interest in the space industry: gaining access to affluent consumers considering space travel and aligning the brand with avant-garde thinking.

This strategy mirrors the efforts of companies like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which have increasingly focused on space tourism for the wealthy.

The renewed focus on space exploration and human missions to the moon is “bound to attract a lot of eyeballs,” observed Luca Solca, global head of luxury goods at Bernstein, emphasizing the need for luxury brands to maintain relevance and visibility.

Prada’s ambitious venture also unfolded against the backdrop of a struggling luxury goods sector, which, after two years of contraction, had shown signs of stabilization until the Iran war began in late February, disrupting travel and dampening luxury spending far beyond the Middle East.

Other apparel companies have already entered the space arena, with Under Armour partnering with Virgin Galactic for space apparel and Columbia Sportswear collaborating with Intuitive Machines on space fabric technology.

However, it remains uncertain whether other luxury players will follow Prada’s lead. “In luxury, it is important to be the first to do something, to be a trend-setter,” Serdari explained, suggesting that while brands like LVMH’s Louis Vuitton, Hermès, and Chanel are interested in space travel, they would likely seek unique avenues for their involvement.

“You will never see the upper crust of the luxury sector copying each other,” she concluded.

MONACO (AP) — Kimi Antonelli is writing his place in Formula 1 history at record speed.

“You’re catching me up,” Lewis Hamilton, who has the most wins in history with 105, told Antonelli after the 19-year-old Italian beat him in a bizarre and much-delayed Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.

Antonelli replaced Hamilton at Mercedes last year, and only won his first race in March. He now has five wins in a row and a vast lead of 66 points over Hamilton.

“He’s only 19, so just imagine what the future holds for him, but I’m going to do my best to try and chase him down for the rest of the year,” Hamilton said. “It’s a real privilege to witness it.”

Antonelli said he needed to find his focus again but stayed cool when the race was stopped and briefly seemed set to be abandoned before a restart. All that on a tight, twisty circuit threaded between metal barriers where any slip brings a crash.

An uncertain restart

Antonelli was on course for victory with 10 laps remaining when the race was red-flagged after parts of the asphalt broke away and two cars crashed in quick succession, one of them Charles Leclerc in third place.

After a long delay, officials said the race would be resumed from a standing start. When that happened, Antonelli took control again to become the youngest F1 winner in Monaco, and was never in real danger of being overtaken.

“Thank you so much guys, the car was a beast today,” he told the Mercedes team.

Hamilton was second as a raft of penalties and investigations meant other positions weren’t immediately clear. Isack Hadjar was on the podium in third for Red Bull after battling engine problems but was one of those under investigation.

Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate George Russell missed the points for the second race running, dropping out of the top 10 with a penalty. That followed an engine failure while battling Antonelli for the lead of last month’s Canadian Grand Prix.

Russell said Thursday the title was Antonelli’s “to lose.” Now it certainly seems that way.

Max Verstappen started second for Red Bull but lost power at the start and dropped to the back before retiring the car at the end of the first lap. Like many F1 drivers, the four-time champion lives in Monaco and suggested he’d watch the rest of the race from home.

Confusion continues after the finish

The track damage put a decidedly un-glamorous twist on one of F1’s most prestigious races as drivers waited in the pit lane, officials gazed at the damaged asphalt and a road-sweeping machine inched along the circuit clearing away loose stones. Antonelli admitted he’d been hoping the race wouldn’t be restarted at all.

There was more confusion as numerous drivers received time penalties or were under investigation, meaning the final standings remained uncertain.

Hadjar was facing an investigation after the race for a potential breach of red-flag rules after the FIA’s technical delegate said Red Bull had tried to replace engine parts, against the rules, but stopped when challenged.

Hadjar kept the place, his first podium finish since joining Red Bull, after a hearing decided no penalty was needed because no changes were actually made.

Russell had been second in the standings before the race — the position is Hamilton’s now. Russell ended the day in 13th after a hefty penalty for failing to serve an earlier penalty properly. He said he didn’t understand what happened.

New team Cadillac could have had its first F1 point when Sergio Perez crossed the line 10th, but lost it for a false start at the restart. That put Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso up to 10th for his team’s first point of a year which it started with severe reliability problems.

More disputes were to come Sunday evening as Alpine said it was challenging the spate of penalties issued for pit lane speeding, one of which cost Gasly third.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

The Swansea-born Game of Thrones star, who is in the new season of BBC drama Death Valley, said it’s a technique that has served him well

When it comes to watching productions set and filmed in Wales they tend to have an extensive Welsh cast and Death Valley is no different. You may be sat wondering why you recognise certain faces and then think: “Ah, it’s probably Casualty.”

One actor who features in the new season of the BBC comedy crime drama is Owen Teale. The actor is best known for appearing in Game of Thrones, Line of Duty, and Sky’s Stella which was written by and stars Ruth Jones.

The actor from Swansea features in series as the hippy estranged father of DC Janie Mallowan, played by Gwyneth Keyworth. His character Michael (or his nickname Mwcdi) is reunited with his daughter when she is investigating a case at the environmental commune where he lives.

This isn’t the first time the pair have played father and daughter on-screen as they starred alongside each other in a short film in 2022 titled Blue. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter

Teale, chatting in a small rural arts space in St Hilary while the cast and crew were in the middle of filming the fourth episode of the second series where his character appears for the first time, reflected on the realisation he was now at a stage, aged 65, where he was playing father figures.

“t’s still a surprise, you know, this ageing thing where you go: ‘Oh yeah, of course, I’m everyone’s dad now.’ Grandad’s coming.

“And of course inside you still feel – well I do anyway – very, very similar to how I felt 20 years ago.

“All I see is I have to take responsibility for these people and be the father figure. I’m very, very happy. I’m really happy to be here and not be just retired off.”

Keyworth was also looking forward to once again starring alongside Teale and speaking about reuniting she said: “He’s played my dad before in a short film. So it’s nice because we’ve sort of got a shorthand established in that I know him and I admire his work – and also he’s just a lovely human being so that’s been really nice.

“He’s great casting. He is really great and he brings such a lovely energy to the show and real comic timing but also real warmth, which is what this show’s all about.”

After taking on heavy roles such as Ser Alliser Thorne in Game of Thrones Teale is thrilled to be delving back in to comedy. He said: “Most of my work recently has been quite heavy. I can’t wait to get my teeth into it.

“It was much more – once we’d had a few chats on the phone and the thought of working with [Timothy Spall] and I knew that I’d done this short film which is a beautiful film with Gwyneth – the elements were there. And then a character that if you get it wrong he becomes a completely ridiculous character and so trying to find the truth of that.

“So that was really lovely, then, to go: ‘Oh actually this is a challenge I want to be brave and jump in’.”

He compared his role in Death Valley to his role of David ‘Dai’ Kosh in Stella, which he appeared in 20 episodes from 2012 to 2013. Teale said: “I mean, the closest I came to this is a thing I did years ago with Ruth Jones which was called Stella. That was great fun as well. It’s sort of more towards that.

“But the thing was I started doing Stella and I did the first two seasons and then I started doing Game of Thrones and it just couldn’t be more different. Then, due to the nature of Game of Thrones, they were sort of like all-consuming and I couldn’t do both. They weren’t going to allow me to dash off so I didn’t do any more of Stella because of that.

“But although it is like Stella this is breaking other ground as well. Getting to know what it is for them, for them all, the producers, and that is a wonderful, wonderful journey.

“For it to be supported by the Beeb and then for them to get success from it so that they can come back and revisit it – it’s a very exciting thing. I don’t think it’s that easy a time at the moment to get things financed.”

He explained he hadn’t watched the first season of Death Valley as he didn’t want any preconceptions of the characters or his own character, which is something he also did when working on Game of Thrones.

Teale said: “Still to this day every day of my life people will want to talk about the story and then they’ll go off onto other parts of the story and I say: ‘I never used to watch it because it wasn’t helpful,’ especially as it became such a big world thing to be playing what’s going on in King’s Landing.”

He tried to understand the character of Michael and how he enjoys living on the environmental commune, which was filmed in a rural arts centre in St Hilary in the Vale of Glamorgan. He said: “When I’m in this place that we’re in I flip where I go: ‘Do you know there’s part of this I get?’

“When things have been super-successful you earn an awful lot of money in this game and then it drops away and when I look back I don’t think I was ever any happier when I was earning this much or that much and you start to think it is true, that part of it is true. So what if you just let it all go and I can get to live a simpler life?

“It’s not my job to judge the character, that’s for you, because you know I have to be him and understand and why he’s in a damp tent.”

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The actor described how he loves returning to Wales to film as when he started his career in acting he felt like he had to leave and go to England for jobs.

The Swansea-born star said: “I left, if I’m honest, I left for my career’s sake you know. I went to England to become an actor and to join The Royal Shakespeare and things like that.

“I don’t think you would leave if you were brought up here now. There’s so much. I’ve come back and done really earthy things like Stella, or this, but I’ve also come here and I did a series for Bad Wolf called A Discovery of Witches and its locations were here, the studios are here, there’s massive studios, and then the two locations we worked were Oxford and Venice.

“When we went to Oxford they shut down. You can’t imagine how much that cost to shut down huge bits of it in the Bodleian Library. It’s massive. And you think [Death Valley] is based in Cardiff. This company, this is fantastic.

“Then they go to Venice and shooting, you know, on the Grand Canal, and they took over the island, I can’t remember the name of it now, and you just go: ‘Wow, it’s all right to be Welsh’. I don’t think that was always the way it was. We were sort of thought of as a bit of poor relation. So that’s really lovely for me.”

He praised his Stella co-star Ruth Jones for the work she has done for Welsh media through programmes like Stella and Gavin & Stacey.

Teale said: “To me what Ruth did was huge because you think of all the ones from all around the UK that always got that slot, the Heartbeats and Monarch of the Glen in Scotland, never the ones from Wales would get that sort of exposure.

“I think Gavin & Stacey, I think Ruth and James Corden, obviously, but what Ruth did for Wales was, I will always remind people that it’s wonderful because she really helped make it interesting to the whole country in popular television.

“She sends me texts and she gets quite nostalgic as we do and she says: ‘All right? Do you remember this?’ and she’s sent me a little screen. She’s obviously been re-watching some of the old episodes you know and I was very touched by that.”

Death Valley continues on BBC One at 9.15pm on Sunday, June 7.

A British adventurer has made history after flying across the Atlantic Ocean in a hydrogen-powered balloon.

Alicia Hempleman-Adams, from Bath, completed the epic journey alongside teammates Bert Padelt and Peter Cuneo, touching down in Bastendorf, Luxembourg, at 5.58am on Sunday.

She has now become the first British woman, and second woman in history, to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a gas balloon.

The gruelling 70-hour journey began in Presque Isle, Maine, on Thursday morning. Flying at an average altitude of 14,000 feet and hitting speeds of up to 62mph, the trio faced were in an open basket that left them completely exposed to the freezing elements.

The team’s goal was to complete the first successful manned transoceanic flight powered solely by hydrogen gas.

Once they cleared Newfoundland, they had no safety net – the only alternative landing spot would have been the open ocean.

To find the right flight path, the pilots had to constantly change altitudes.

Speaking after the landing, Hempleman-Adams said: ‘I’m incredibly proud that we completed the crossing and made it safely across to Luxembourg.

‘There were times when we thought we might not make it. Flying through rain caused ice to build up on the balloon, which made conditions extremely difficult and added real jeopardy to the flight.

‘It was an extraordinary team effort to keep going and bring the balloon safely across the Atlantic. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn so much from two world-class pilots.’

Hempleman-Adams, who was awarded an MBE for services to hot air ballooning in the King’s Birthday Honours in 2024, is now celebrating the record-breaking feat.

Aviation excellence runs in the family. Her father, Sir David Hempleman-Adams, previously completed the exact same Atlantic crossing solo in an open basket.

He said: ‘I am enormously proud of Alicia. I know first-hand just how tough an Atlantic crossing in an open basket can be, and to complete it in such challenging conditions is a remarkable achievement.’

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Declan Fahey took the law into his own hands after a friend’s quad was stolen

A vigilante has been jailed after using a flatbed truck to ram a stolen quad bike, leaving a 16‑year‑old rider with serious injuries.

Declan Fahey, described in court as a usually law‑abiding “good man”, took the law into his own hands after a friend’s quad was taken the previous night, Chronicle Live reports.

While out searching for it, Fahey spotted the vehicle being ridden by several people without helmets, including the teenage victim. In what prosecutors said was a moment of anger, he pursued the quad before deliberately driving into it, intending to cause serious harm, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

The teen, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, suffered multiple fractures, including to his skull, face and thigh bone in the ordeal. Fahey, who later said “it was his own fault”, denied causing GBH with intent but was convicted by a jury and has now been jailed.

“Shortly before 1pm on March 5 last year on Redworth Road, Shildon, you deliberately drove a Mazda flatbed truck into a quad bike which was probably carrying four people, intending to cause really serious harm to one or more of them,” described Recorder Richard Herrmann, sentencing Fahey.

“Having been informed by your friend his quad bike had been stolen in the early hours of that morning, you and others went out looking for it. You found yourself stationary at a junction when the quad appeared.

“Your vehicle lurched forward and as it accelerated forward you began your pursuit of the quad bike. I’ve seen the footage a number of times. In short, you pursued that quad bike, caught up with it and you then intentionally drove your large, heavy vehicle into collision with the quad bike.

“There were probably four riders on it, fully exposed as is the nature of vehicle of that type and clearly none of them wearing helmets. The collision sent the riders flying through the air – that can be seen graphically in the footage.

“You didn’t stop to give assistance to those you had caused to be violently thrown from the quad. The callous disregard you had for the riders of that quad bike is best demonstrated by the fact you drove off from the scene.”

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During police interview, Fahey didn’t take responsibility for causing the injuries and said “It’s his own fault”, the court was told. When asked during the trial if he intended to collide with the quad bike he said no, and when asked why, he replied: “I would not have wanted to have damaged my friend’s quad”.

Recorder Herrmann added: “I’ve concluded that, rightly or wrongly, you believed those on the quad were responsible for its theft, so you decided that made them fair game, or that you would take the law into your own hands. I’m satisfied it was premeditated or revenge or a vigilante-type attack.”

Fahey, 27, of Windsor Court, Croxdale, County Durham, who has no previous convictions, was found guilty after a trial of GBH with intent. He was jailed for 42 months and banned from driving for 57 months.

The court heard the teenager suffered multiple fractures to his skull, face and thigh and he had possible bruising to his lung. However he did not participate in the case so there was no update on his condition.

Chris Morrison, defending, said the attack was “based on a chance sighting” and said Fahey reported the incident to police. Mr Morrison told the court the incident was out of character and added: “He is a good man who has been convicted of doing a bad thing.”

He added that Fahey has always worked hard and references speak well of him. Mr Morrison said Fahey had “felt the clang of the gates” having been remanded in custody for the first time after he was convicted, since when he has lost three-and-a-half stone.