The Watchers of York has launched today, Monday, June 29, drawing inspiration from the historic carved grotesques carved high above York Minster.

The trail has been produced by Make It York in partnership with York Minster.

York’s new trail features 12 sculptures called The Watchers of York, inspired by the carved grotesques high above York Minster. The trail has been produced by Make It York in partnership with York Minster,. (Image: Alex Dyett)

The sculptures, known as “Watchers”, are designed as protective characters linked to different aspects of York’s heritage. Each has its own personality and purpose, reflected in its location, from watching over rivers and green spaces to guarding gateways and historic streets.

Watchers of York sculpture trail launches with 12 artworks including this one – have you found it yet? (Image: Alex Dyett)

Every piece has been individually designed and painted by a mix of established artists, charities and art students.

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Organisers say each sculpture reflects a different facet of York’s identity, celebrating the city’s history, creativity and community spirit.

The trail has been produced by Make It York in partnership with York Minster. (Image: Alex Dyett)

The free trail will run until August 31, with maps available from the Visit York Visitor Information Centre. Visitors can also find details about each sculpture, its artist and location online via the Visit York website.

The Watchers Trail will be in York until August 31, with maps available from the Visit York Visitor Information Centre. (Image: Alex Dyett)

People are being encouraged to share their experiences on social media using @VisitYork.

York’s new trail is the latest cultural attraction to entice families into the city. (Image: Alex Dyett)

The launch follows a series of successful sculpture trails previously held in the city, including colourful city-wide art installations that have drawn thousands of visitors into the city centre and supported local businesses.

The new trail continues that tradition, offering another way to explore York’s streets while engaging with its stories and heritage.

Make It York’s purpose is to develop and promote the city and its surroundings, nationally and internationally, as a vibrant and attractive place to live, visit, study, work and do business.

In a change to scheduled programming, a classic episode from the third series of the comedy will be shown in memory of the actress.

Jon Petrie, Director of BBC Comedy, says: “All of us at BBC Comedy are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Dame Penelope Keith.

“She was one of the defining figures of British television comedy.

“Her iconic performance as Margo in The Good Life remains one of the nation’s most beloved sitcom roles and continues to delight audiences today.

“We send our heartfelt condolences to her family, friends, and all of those who had the privilege of working with her.”

The actress and TV presenter Dame Penelope died at the age of 86.

A statement on behalf of Dame Penelope’s family said: “We are deeply saddened to announce that Dame Penelope Keith died peacefully whilst living with cancer at her home in Surrey where she had lived for more than 50 years.

“The family is grateful for the care and support she received throughout her treatments, and ask that their privacy be respected at this time.”

The episode will be shown at 7 pm this evening on BBC Two, as war breaks out between the Goods and the Leadbetters – proving there is nothing like a good fight over the fence to cement relationships.

All episodes of the BBC comedies that Penelope was best known for, The Good Life and To The Manor Born, are available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.

More than 100 individuals recently deported from the United States found themselves caught in the devastating aftermath of powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela, according to survivor accounts. The group was housed in a hotel when the tremors hit, triggering a desperate search for those buried beneath the rubble.

A deportation flight carrying 146 Venezuelans, including 19 women and seven children, had arrived in Caracas from Miami just hours before Wednesday’s 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes, as reported by ICE Flight Monitor, an initiative of Human Rights First.

Lisbeth Portillo, 58, recounted escaping the collapsed hotel in La Guaira, one of the hardest-hit regions. She joined approximately 20 other deportees, navigating the streets in search of aid amidst scenes of chaos.

“We walked about five kilometers, and I cried and cried … there was no communication,” Portillo stated in a phone interview from her home in Maracaibo, Venezuela, describing how they witnessed people, some unclothed or barefoot, emerging from the debris.

They reached a National Guard building, where they had a chance to call relatives.

“I was born again; God gave me a second chance,” said Portillo. “I am traumatized,” she said after a pause, weeping.

The Venezuelan government says more than 1,700 people were killed.

They survived the earthquake the same day that were deported from the U.S.

Portillo was caught up in the Trump administration’s drive for mass deportations. In May, ICE Flight Monitor tracked 288 deportation flights to 38 countries, including Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chile and the Ivory Coast.

The U.S. ran 12 deportation flights to Venezuela in May, operating three days a week, according to ICE Flight Monitor. Deportation flights to Venezuela resumed in February 2025 after a 13-month pause.

Portillo said the government took them to the Hotel Santuario La Llanada, where they underwent medical exams and got identification documents. They were told they would go home the next day.

Portillo was staying in a second floor room with 16 other women. She stepped onto a balcony to look at the sea and saw that the sky was black; it was very hot. She returned to the room, laid on a bed, and began to feel herself being shaken.

“I started hearing ‘papa, papa papapa,’, and I saw the women next to me start to fall,” she said, describing the sounds from the earthquake. “They were all screaming for help.”

And almost immediately, the second earthquake.

“I fall and end up buried and covered by a beam, but the shaking shifted everything where I was buried and I was able to get out,” said Portillo, who has bruises all over her body.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for information from the AP.

A video from the Venezuelan government posted on social media showed images of the deportees being received by Venezuelan authorities upon their arrival at the Caracas airport on Wednesday.

Jenny Rodriguez, 24, told the Telemundo network that she was on the flight and taken to the hotel.

“I was trapped under the rubble. A colleague who had been on the same flight came by; I managed to free my hand from the debris, grabbed him by the trousers, and begged for help”, she said. “Thanks to God — and to him — I was able to get out of there.”

Liliana Rojas told Telemundo that she has been trying to locate her 33-year-old partner. The detention center where he was held in El Paso, Texas, says only told that he was deported.

“No one is giving an answer about anything,” Rojas said.

Woman says she feels ‘born again’ after surviving

Portillo, who crossed the U.S. border with Mexico in November 2021 and said had an pending asylum claim, couldn’t remember her children’s phone number. She called her husband in the United States.

“I said to him, ‘Cesar, I’m alive. Help me.’ And my husband kept saying, ‘It can’t be,’” she said. “‘I’m alive, I made it out of the rubble, I’m alive,’ I told him.”

Her husband called their children, who picked her up and were able to reunite with their mother the following night.

“I was born that day; on the 24th, I was born again,” said Portillo, who lived in South Florida for more than four years.

Veganism and vegetarianism are both diets that exclude meat, but there are some key differences between the two

Vegetarian diets have been around since at least 700 BC, yet in recent years an alternative way of eating has been steadily growing in popularity. Veganism has existed for nearly as long, but began gaining traction in the 19th century before entering the mainstream during the mid to late 2010s.

So what exactly sets the two apart?

There are certain similarities between the two diets — most notably that neither involves eating meat. This encompasses fish, chicken and red meat.

According to Healthline, there are several distinct types of vegetarian diet.

These are:

• Lacto-ovo vegetarians: vegetarians who avoid all animal flesh, but do consume dairy and egg products
• Lacto vegetarians: vegetarians who avoid animal flesh and eggs, but do consume dairy products
• Ovo vegetarians: vegetarians who avoid all animal products except eggs

Those who follow a largely vegetarian diet but still consume fish are referred to as pescatarians, while those who adopt a part-time approach to vegetarianism are known as flexitarians.

The principal distinction between vegetarians and vegans is that vegans not only abstain from meat, but also avoid all animal-derived products entirely.

This means no eggs, dairy products, gelatine or whey. Some vegans also choose not to consume honey or wear any animal-based materials in their clothing, such as wool, leather or silk.

According to Healthline, vegetarians are broadly opposed to slaughtering animals for food, yet generally regard it as acceptable to consume animal by-products such as milk and eggs, provided the animals are kept in suitable conditions.

Vegans, however, are opposed to the use of any animal product whatsoever, regardless of the conditions in which the animals were reared.

Both vegetarian and vegan diets are considered safe at every stage of life when properly planned. Each is low in saturated fats and cholesterol, and rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre.

Both incorporate more nutrient-rich foods, such as fruit, vegetables and whole grains.

Nevertheless, both dietary approaches can result in insufficient intake of certain nutrients, including iron, calcium, zinc and Vitamin B2 — if the diet isn’t appropriately balanced.

Some observational studies suggest that vegans face a reduced risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers — though these studies have their limitations.

The great shell of the nave rises 100 feet from the valley floor, the arcade of the choir stands almost intact, and the whole complex fills the narrow valley of the River Rye in a way that makes the scale of what was once here almost impossible to process.

This was not just a monastery.

For a period in the 12th century, Rievaulx was the most powerful Cistercian house in Britain and one of the most influential religious institutions in Europe.

How it began

On March 5, 1132, twelve monks arrived in the valley of the Rye from Clairvaux Abbey in Burgundy, sent by Bernard of Clairvaux on a mission to plant Cistercian monasticism in the north of England.

The land was given to them by Walter Espec, the Norman lord of nearby Helmsley Castle, and the monks chose the valley precisely because it was remote, enclosed and cut off from the world – exactly what the Cistercian rule demanded.

What followed was one of the most rapid expansions in medieval monastic history. Within 25 years, the original 12 monks had grown to a community of 140 choir monks and more than 500 lay brothers, making Rievaulx one of the largest monastic communities anywhere in Britain.

The monks diverted the River Rye to create flat ground, raised 72 buildings across a 92-acre precinct, cleared forest, drained marshes, built roads and bridges, and established farms, fisheries and ironworks across a vast surrounding estate.

The man who built its golden age

The central figure in Rievaulx’s story is Aelred, who became abbot in 1147 and ran the community until his death in 1167.

Born in Hexham in 1110, the son of a hereditary priest, Aelred was raised at the court of King David I of Scotland and arrived at Rievaulx as a young man, rising through the community with extraordinary speed.

Under his leadership Rievaulx founded 19 daughter abbeys across Britain and Ireland, making it the mother house of a network that stretched from Yorkshire to Scotland.

The abbey grew wealthy on wool, with fleeces exported to merchants in Florence and Bruges.

Aelred himself became one of the most important writers and theologians of his age, producing works on spiritual friendship, the saints of Northumbria and the life of Edward the Confessor that are still read and studied today. He was canonised in 1191.

The building you see today

The church that stands today is largely the result of two ambitious rebuilding programmes.

The first stone buildings went up in the 1130s in the austere Cistercian Romanesque style, with rounded arches and minimal decoration.

Then, in the 1220s, a spectacular expansion of the choir and presbytery transformed the east end of the church into one of the finest examples of Early English Gothic architecture in the country.

The west range of the monastery, dating from 1135 to 1142, is the earliest surviving Cistercian building in Europe.

The great cloister, at 42 metres square, is one of the largest ever built by the Cistercians in Britain.

At its peak, Rievaulx contained 72 separate buildings across its precinct, and the scale of what survives makes it possible to trace the footprint of almost all of them.

Decline and dissolution

Rievaulx’s decline was slow and painful.

A Scottish raid in the early 14th century, the Black Death, agrarian crisis and the collapse of the wool trade all reduced the community over two centuries.

By December 1538, when Henry VIII’s commissioners arrived to dissolve the abbey, only 23 monks remained in a complex built for 650.

The lead was stripped from the roofs within weeks. The stone followed, quarried for building projects across the region, and the buildings slowly became the spectacular ruins you see today.

Then, in the decades after the Dissolution, ironmasters moved in. A blast furnace and forge were built in the ruins of the monastery, and the abbey precinct became an industrial ironworking site for nearly a century.

The irony of a great wool and iron-producing monastery being used for iron production after its destruction was not lost on later historians.

What to see

The scale of the surviving ruins means there is more to see at Rievaulx than at almost any other abbey in England.

The roofless nave, with its blind arcading and surviving column bases, gives a sense of the original Romanesque church.

The choir and presbytery, rebuilt in the 1220s in gleaming Gothic, show the abbey at its most ambitious and beautiful.

English Heritage provides a free audio tour that guides visitors through the buildings and brings the monastic day to life, from the 2am night office through the working hours of the scriptorium and the refectory to the evening compline.

The on-site museum, housed in the surviving west range, displays carved stonework, floor tiles, and medieval artefacts recovered from excavations, including a bronze reliquary figure and fragments of medieval window glass.

The view from above

From the ridgeline directly above the abbey, the National Trust’s Rievaulx Terrace offers a completely different perspective: a serpentine grass terrace laid out in the 1750s specifically to frame 12 views of the ruins below, with a Palladian temple at each end.

The terrace is currently closed; check the National Trust website before visiting.

Where to eat

The on-site cafe serves hot meals, sandwiches, homemade soup, cakes and scones, and is accessible without paying abbey admission.

It closes 30 minutes before the site.

For a wider choice, Helmsley is three kilometres south and has a full range of cafes, pubs and restaurants, including Mannion and Co on the market square and the Michelin-starred Star Inn four miles away in Harome.

Getting there

Rievaulx Abbey is three kilometres north of Helmsley in the North York Moors National Park, off the B1257.

The postcode is YO62 5LB.

There is a free car park on site. English Heritage members enter free; non-members should book online in advance to save 15 per cent on admission.

The abbey is open daily from 10am to 5pm, with last entry at 4.30pm.

Practical information

Address: Rievaulx, near Helmsley, North Yorkshire, YO62 5LB
Opening times: Daily 10am to 5pm, last entry 4.30pm
Admission: Standard adult admission applies; English Heritage members free; book online to save 15 per cent

Since opening last week, President Donald Trump’s Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C. has struggled with almost everything — middling crowd sizes, empty booths, rain delays, musicians dropping out, states boycotting, feuding event planners.

But Fox News insists the event is going swimmingly.

“It’s really something,” correspondent Peter Doocy said Sunday during an interview with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins overlooking the rain-soaked grounds, where only a handful of attendees could be seen across the vast event pavilion. “The weather, not the best today, but people are still coming out.”

The network has gone so far as to suggest viewers’ eyes are deceiving them when video of the event has showed mostly empty fields between booths on the National Mall.

“Sometimes the pictures really don’t tell the full story because if you look behind us, you see, OK, there are a couple hundred people back there,” reporter Kevin Corke said in one segment. “But the truth is, when you make your way over here … you’re in a wash of people.”

The network has been following the event closely. Programs are filmed on site from a towering broadcast booth above the fair, where correspondents frequently report from the scene throughout each day. Panelists have covered the fair’s daily entertainment, heaping praise on a rodeo event and chainsaw demonstrations, while questioning whether carnival food like hot dogs and mini pizzas fit with the president’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement.

Host Sandra Smith insisted during a Monday afternoon broadcast that there was a “lotta energy” on the fairgrounds, as a live shot again showed a mostly empty scene, including one in front of a replica of the president’s planned victory arch monument in Washington.

Later Monday, as the desolate scene appeared to continue, reporter Lucas Tomlinson suggested that the afternoon close of financial markets would mean some more attendees heading the fair’s way.

The Independent has requested comment from Fox News.

On social media, a similarly jarring side-by-side played out. A clip of the day’s festivities went viral, but not for positive reasons.

Onstage, as actor Dean Cain and Dr. Mehmet Oz, Trump’s Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, spoke of the “tons” of people in attendance, a TMZ camera swiveled to show a crowd of about 20 people watching the talk, as a smattering of fairgoers could be seen in the far distance near a Ferris wheel.

“Shoddy displays and tiny crowds,” Trump critic and former CNN anchor Jim Acosta wrote on X of his visit to the event. “But lots of Trump worship. Sad.”

The Independent has sought comment from the White House and Freedom 250, the White House-backed, public-private group organizing the fair in conjunction with other events celebrating the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The president and his allies have continued to insist the event is a smash hit while brushing off questions about crowd size.

In an early Monday post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that the fair was “packed with happy people,” echoing his similarly unsupported claims that his Wednesday kickoff speech drew a crowd of “at least 45,000 people.”

Cain, the actor, wrote in a Sunday post on X that “haters” reacting negatively to his picture showing a mostly empty view of the National Mall from the Ferris wheel were “anti-American” people who should “seek help.”

The seemingly low turnout could be due to a number of factors, ranging from Washington’s alternatively hot and humid summer weather to the president’s dismal approval rating.

During his first term, the president and his officials famously continued to insist they had a historically large inauguration crowd, despite photos clearly showing other presidents drew far larger audiences.

A food delivery driver fatally shot an Amazon worker in the parking lot of the online retailer’s distribution center outside of Chicago, according to police.

Officials in Matteson, Illinois, announced Monday that police officers found an Amazon employee who was shot multiple times in the torso near the front entrance of an Amazon distribution center in the village Sunday night.

The worker was identified as a 27-year-old man from nearby Glenwood, according to a Facebook post from the village of Matteson. Local outlets named the victim as Dylan Perkins, citing the local medical examiner’s office.

Investigators found that Perkins and the food delivery driver got into an argument that turned physical, Matteson officials said.

During the fight, the suspect shot Perkins “several times,” according to officials.

“I don’t think that anyone should have a few words with each other and then you end up dead,” the Amazon worker’s mother, Pamela Perkins, told CBS News Chicago.

The responding officers provided medical assistance to Perkins until paramedics arrived. The employee was then taken to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries.

“This is an isolated incident and there is no threat to the public,” Matteson officials wrote in the Facebook post.

As of Monday, authorities were still working to identify and charge the suspect.

The Independent has requested comment from Matteson police, the medical examiner’s office and Amazon.

“I think people need to learn how to walk away,” Pamela Perkins said. “It doesn’t make sense just to go back and forth with somebody over little, trivial things.”

“We’re saddened by this senseless act of violence and are focused on supporting our employees and the victim’s family during this difficult time,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement shared by ABC7 Chicago.

“We’re working with the Matteson Police Department in their active investigation,” the person said.

Amazon noted that the employee was a third-party vendor. All shifts were canceled, and everyone who was working was sent home with full pay after the shooting, the company told CBS News Chicago.

This is not the first time a shooting has taken place at the Amazon distribution center in Matteson.

In 2024, a 33-year-old woman’s head was grazed by a bullet in a shooting that occurred likely in retaliation for an earlier fight that had happened in the parking lot between employees, according to local reports.

Another shooting took place at the distribution center during a parking lot argument in 2022, but no one was injured, reports said.

“I think we need to do a better job with securing parking lots of these big businesses,” Perkins’ sister, Kimberly Perkins, told CBS News Chicago. “I just wish that it doesn’t happen to anybody else.”

Officials ask anyone with information related to the shooting to call the Matteson police’s non-emergency line at 708-503-3130 or submit an anonymous tip through the village’s website.

In The Mixer’s World Cup special

Everything you need to know about the World Cup – England updates, the games to watch and stories you missed – in five minutes, at 1pm, every day.

​Homemore Ltd has applied to turn The Redcliffe Hotel and The Lodge in Scarborough into mixed-use sites as hotels and emergency accommodation.

​The company delivers emergency temporary accommodation for adults in partnership with local authorities and statutory services before they move on to more permanent housing.

​The three-storey Lodge and its rear annex provide 36 bedrooms. All rooms have en-suite bathrooms at the property, which sits on the north side of Valley Road, opposite the junction with Royal Avenue.

​A similar application has also been submitted for The Redcliffe Hotel at 18, Prince of Wales Terrace.

​Neighbours have already lodged objections against the second application, which follows several years of complaints about antisocial behaviour from residents of the temporary accommodation.

​In March, MP Alison Hume held a meeting with Homemore at the Wharncliffe Hotel to “try and make life easier for everyone on Blenheim Terrace”.

​She said: “Homemore has put measures in place to try and limit any disturbance caused to their neighbours. They work closely with the police too, who regularly patrol the vicinity and constantly review their Problem-Solving Plan for the surrounding area.”

​The MP for Scarborough and Whitby also encouraged residents to “report all disturbances or concerns to police as, without these, their community team can’t build up a true picture of what is happening.

​The application for The Lodge seeks to regularise the use of the property, which is currently being used as emergency accommodation.

​The applicant said that the mixed use of hotel and emergency accommodation would provide flexibility as “both uses can operate using the existing accommodation in the property, which until relatively recently was in hotel use for more than 30 years”.

​A mixed use is sought so that the property could be occupied by guests requiring holiday accommodation or emergency accommodation,

​Submitted plans stated: “There is strong demand for the accommodation offered by Homemore in Scarborough, which reflects the situation across England where demand for emergency accommodation remains very high, with the number of households in temporary accommodation being at record levels”.

​Homemore describes itself as a “specialist housing provider delivering temporary accommodation for adults, young people and families”.

​“Homemore’s systems, staffing model, and property portfolio are designed to support those in urgent need of temporary accommodation without compromising safety, oversight, or quality of provision,” the plans state.

​Both applications are set to be discussed at an upcoming meeting of Scarborough Town Council’s planning committee on Thursday, July 2.