Clubs in Europe breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday night when the Saudi Pro League (SPL) transfer window finally closed.

It will be hard to remember 2023 as anything other than the Saudi summer as a new footballing machine powered onto the scene and signed a whole host of world class and Premier League stars.

The next few years promise to be intriguing as we find out whether this summer was just a one-off or, as is more likely, the Middle East becomes a rival destination for top flight teams across Europe when courting players.

European chiefs continue to insist that the SPL recruitment drive doesn’t pose a danger to the continent’s footballing landscape, but the league was second only to the Premier League in spending this summer with an outlay of more than £750million.

In some ways, this has provided a rest bite for English clubs when battling FFP considerations, with the SPL almost acting as a ‘cash-cow’ – as demonstrated by Chelsea selling unwanted stars such as Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy to Saudi clubs for a combined £36m.

Much of the incessant spending was mainly restricted to four teams – Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli.

That is because they were all taken over by the country’s Public Investment Fund in June – the same backer that also owns Newcastle – and all four have strengthened significantly.

Former Liverpool favourite Sadio Mane joined Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr, while they have also added other stars including Croatian midfielder Marcelo Brozovic, former Man United left back Alex Telles, Aymeric Laporte, Otavio and Seko Fofana.

Last year’s champions Al-Ittihad – who are coached by ex-Tottenham and Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo – look like the early favourites for the title again having brought in Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema along with N’Golo Kante and Fabinho.

Newly-promoted Al-Ahli signed Roberto Firmino, Riyad Mahrez, Mendy, Franck Kessie and Allan Saint-Maximin and have already shown their mouthwatering attacking credentials with 10 goals in five games.

Meanwhile, the most decorated Saudi club is Al-Hilal and they made an early splash in the market by securing deals for Koulibaly, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Ruben Neves.

However, they also secured what could be the biggest move in the window by adding Neymar from PSG for £78m before handing the Brazilian an eye-watering £260m two-year deal, while Aleksandar Mitrovic also arrived from Fulham.

Of the £750m-plus outlay, more than £680m was splashed by the four PIF-owned clubs which is not surprising given they are backed by a fund worth an estimated £538bn.

Deals were still taking place right up until the transfer deadline, with Luiz Felipe’s £21.5m move from Real Betis to Al-Ittihad and Demarai Gray’s £8m switch from Everton to Al-Ettifaq the major deals on the final day.

For Al-Ettifaq, while they aren’t owned by the PIF, they have still managed to lure some big names this summer due to their backing from Saudi Arabia’s Basic Industries Corporation, which is the kingdom’s second-biggest petrochemicals company.

They added Jordan Henderson, Moussa Dembele and Jack Hendry on mega wages, with Henderson reportedly earning £700,000 per-week.

They also managed to entice Steven Gerrard to the Middle East, before adding Gray and Georginio Wijnaldum in the final throes of the window as they look to improve upon last season’s seventh-place finish.

In what is looking like an increasingly positive outlook for the league and it’s appeal, there has also been a move over the summer towards a younger profile of recruits.

An early criticism of the transfer drive was that Ronaldo is 38, Henderson is 33, while Kante, Mahrez and Koulibaly are all 32, with a limited number of stars arguably in their peak.

However, the arrival of Saint-Maximin, Malcom, Neves and Felipe – with the quartet all 26 – shows the league’s strength, while the signing of 21-year-old Spanish starlet Gabri Veiga despite interest from some top European clubs was a statement of intent.

It is hard to look past the four PIF-owned clubs when examining who came out of the window best, particularly when viewing the top 10 net spenders across the world.

Al-Hilal were ranked first, just ahead of PSG, with Al-Ahli third, Chelsea fourth, Arsenal fifth and Al-Nassr sixth. 

In truth, the summer transfer window is the latest evidence of Saudi’s global footballing profile being transformed over the past 12 months.

While it has always had a long and rich tradition as a football nation, with the kingdom having reached six of the past eight World Cups, the addition of Ronaldo and their victory over Argentina in Qatar last year, along with the plethora of star names plying their trade in the SPL has taken their reputation to new levels.

The only blot on the success of their window is perhaps that they failed to lure three main targets – Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah – with the trio either remaining at their clubs or in the case of Messi, choosing to move elsewhere to a rival league in the MLS.

However, with Salah, is does feel as if he will inevitably end up in the Middle East, with Mail Sport reporting how Al-Ittihad believe their pursuit to sign the Egyptian is merely on hold after the Reds rejected a £150m offer for their talisman last week.

We’ll have to wait and see how the SPL develops in the coming years and whether it follows in the footsteps of the Chinese Super League or, as league executive desire, truly becomes one of the best leagues in the world and ends the dominance of European football.

But, whatever their ambitions, European chiefs will seemingly continue to ignore the perceived threat the SPL poses.

‘I don’t think there is a danger,’ European Club Association chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi said this week.

‘We believe in ourselves. We have the best and biggest competitions and the best players. It is not for me to judge what is happening outside of Europe. But listen, most of the clubs sold players to them. If we are not happy, why do we sell our players to them? That’s the truth.

‘Is it dangerous? I told you my opinion. If there is a danger, the European clubs will not be quiet. So far, I don’t see any danger.’

There was a freshness and energy in the Chelsea camp coming into the new season following their summer influx of youthful arrivals.

At the same time, though, there was also a caution behind the scenes, an intrigued apprehension about exactly what is possible this season.

That’s the thing about young players, who this version of Chelsea are boldly putting their faith in.

They come with a carefree exuberance that can change the mood and lift the sort of gloom that hung over the Stamford Bridge club after their last season to forget.

That sense of new energy, has been further fuelled by the arrival of Mauricio Pochettino, the personable and charismatic head coach whose coaching and staff have been described as ‘top’ by certain members of his squad.

Their welcoming and engaging approach has been appreciated and contributed to an improved vibe around the camp.

The amount of individual time Pochettino and his coaches have given has also been noted and received as a welcome bonus, especially by some younger players.

But there is also an unpredictability and inexperience that comes with youth hence the uncertainty about whether they can meet the demands, as Pochettino has reiterated, that Chelsea have to win and now.

During another summer of Chelsea churn, they said farewell to 10 players from last season’s squad aged 26 and over plus the younger quartet of Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic and Joao Felix who are not exactly short of know-how.

But they have not bought in a single player from the same category with 25 year-old trio Robert Sanchez, Christopher Nkunku, Axel Disasi their most senior arrivals.

Striker Deivid Washington, whose signing was confirmed yesterday, and goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, who is expected to follow, continue the theme.

Their squad at West Ham last Sunday contained just three players over-26 – Thiago Silva, Ben Chilwell and Raheem Sterling.

Chelsea had the second youngest starting XI on match day two of the new season behind Arsenal and overall have had the fourth youngest average age so far.

Their two displays so far have highlighted the upside of Chelsea’s plan but also areas of concern.

There has certainly been a new look and feel to Chelsea – much-needed after last season – who dominated against both Liverpool and West Ham.

But there has also been a lack of cold ruthlessness at both ends that has led to costly mistakes and left them with just one point.

‘There are many positive things [about Chelsea’s approach],’ Pochettino insisted. ‘But another thing is we need to give time for them to perform.

‘Today we have a good balance because even the younger ones have experience like Enzo Fernandez, a World Cup champion, but of course the Premier League is different.’

Pochettino highlighting the Premier League factor was notable with Arsenal, title challengers against the odds, last season a natural comparison.

Arsenal’s players for their second game of last season had over 400 more Premier League appearances between them compared to Pochettino’s squad at West Ham last week.

Whether it is in England’s top flight or just generally Pochettino accepts there are times when more nous will be needed.

He said: ‘The first step is to play well or to buy the idea of the philosophy but the second step is the most difficult thing, playing well and competing at the same time.

‘This is another football. Set pieces or things like this. In that football you need some experienced players but I think we have a good balance and it’s only about improving this and for sure we are going to improve in this way.

‘I think we can [win now]. I really believe in the squad and the quality of the squad and now it is only the process and we need to wait [for] the process.

‘We are in a good way, only of course, if today we had four or six points [it would] help to be positive but we need to be positive because it’s the beginning.

‘We are going to win games and, yes, no doubt the quality is there, it’s only a matter of time.’

After highlighting summer signings such as Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Disasi and Sanchez, Pochettino added: ‘If we see the projection of these players, we expect the best from them, we should win every single game.

‘The way we are playing and the platform of the team gives us the opinion we are in a good way. It is only a matter of time until we put it altogether.’

Friday against Luton the pressure will be on and victory now is Chelsea’s only option.

It is a meeting between giants and minnows that brought back memories for Pochettino of his first ever managerial victory at the Nou Camp in February 2009.

He said: ‘I was taking with Roberto De Zerbi in pre-season – he’s a good friend – and I said to him: ‘I was at Southampton, at Espanyol and sometimes we face Real Madrid and it happened the same.

‘It’s the beauty of football. With Espanyol, we beat the dream team of Barcelona with Guardiola, with Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol and Co. Maybe it is similar: Luton and Chelsea compared to Espanyol and Barcelona. It was the first time a bottom team beat a top team. It was a little bit lucky! A little bit!

‘I was telling the players today in our team meeting that we need to match the desire of the Luton players.

‘If we match all this, their will and everything, afterwards for sure we presume we have better quality and we have to win. But if not and we don’t match them, the game can be crazy.’

Recalling what it took to stun Barca, Pochettino joked: ‘I can’t give the secrets to the Luton coach!’

But he added: ‘We were Espanyol, we said all we are going to do is try to win, don’t care about making mistakes, we need to be brave and everything.

‘Football is about belief, being together, fighting, no matter the quality you have. If you match this, all the qualities, then you win. If you don’t then the game is going to be over.’

•  Costs of prescribing medication has jumped by 50 per cent in the last five years
•  Obesity rates have soared with two-thirds of adults now considered fat

By Chloe Louise

Published: 10:48 EDT, 10 August 2023 | Updated: 02:17 EDT, 11 August 2023

Google ‘driving in Greece‘ and the search results are alarming for holidaymakers in waiting.

Road rage is in the DNA of Greek drivers, says the Internet. No one in Greece has passed their test – they all bribed the examiner, we’re warned.

And red lights? They’re not really red, more ‘dark green‘ for the Greek road user.

And as for driving on the islands, it’s practically anarchy – apparently – with few road signs and perilously narrow and twisty cliffside routes featuring heartstopping drops to the sea – with no safety barriers.

It’s enough to put anyone off hiring a car in Greece.

But I’m here to tell you – don’t be.

In July, I spent a week driving around two Greek islands – Kefalonia and Ithaca – and not only did I survive, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Even when the roads lived up to their perilously narrow and twisty billing.

Said roads on these two islands are among some of the most spectacular in the world and well worth the occasional heartstopping moment.

I travelled to Kefalonia on a Jet2holidays package with my partner and young daughter, diverting across to neighbouring Ithaca via a car ferry for a few days before returning to Kefalonia for a final night and the flight home.

We made our forays around the thoroughfares on these Ionian gems in a Thrifty hire car booked through Jet2 that we picked up at the airport, the keys handed over at the desk by a wonderfully cheerful lady.

And it was a scam-free process, incidentally.

Car-hire firms are notorious for pushing their insurance policies. I had my own insurance though, and braced for a hard sell on buying Thrifty’s – but it never came. My disclosure about already being covered was met with an exclamation of ‘oh, perfect!’

Our car was a Toyota Aygo, which had a piddly sewing-machine engine. And I quickly discovered that it offered no pull at all in second gear up any sort of incline.

And on Kefalonia – there are a lot of inclines.

It’s an extremely mountainous island, dominated by the imperious Mount Ainos to the south of the island, which has a summit 1,628m (5,341ft) above sea level.

We were staying on the west coast at the Electra Kefalonia Hotel & Spa, with vehicular incursions that included journeying over to the town of Sami on the east coast and to the pretty village of Assos on the north-west coast.

How would I sum up the drives? Breathtaking. And full of surprises.

The roads on Kefalonia can go at the drop of a hat from being dual-carriageway-wide to so narrow you have to squeeze past oncoming traffic at walking pace.

And inclines of 20 to 25 per cent on Kefalonia can rear up with no warning whatsoever.

The Greeks seem to view road signage as a luxury optional extra, along with road markings.

There was one irregular four-way junction near our hotel that had no road markings at all – and negotiating it involved saying a little prayer each time.

The first time we drove to Sami we took a detour along a scenic back road that appeared on the map as a seemingly random squiggle.

The views were amazing. For the passengers. My eyes were glued to the road, which was… challenging. Full of switchbacks and manic ups and downs.

At one point, we met a car coming the other way on a very steep single-track section.

The driver of the other car surely had seen me coming when he was some distance away and could easily have pulled over on a reasonably wide section of road.

But no, this was Greece, where the sensible option is often swapped for the silly one.

The driver came barrelling down the road until we met on a single-track section so steep that when he came to a halt inches from my bonnet and I yanked the handbrake on – we still rolled backwards.

Once I’d halted our descent, and with my daughter belting out songs from Matilda the Musical in the back, I took stock.

At first, the driver in front of me indicated that I should reverse… before changing his mind and realising he could inch past on the verge.

Praise be. But that still left me with a brutal hill start.

We eventually hit the main road to Sami, which was glorious – wide and enjoyably sinuous (with plenty of crash barriers on the steep bits).

What’s more, for much of the time we had the road to ourselves, slowing only occasionally for wandering goats.

The drive to Assos was similarly eye-catching, with a dramatic descent from the lofty mountainside main road to the coastal village involving multiple hairpin turns.

All good practice for neighbouring Ithaca, where even the main roads feel like the back of beyond.

My family and I, and the Aygos, arrived on the island via an Ionion Pelagos ferry from Sami, a sailing that lasted just 30 minutes or so.

Then the fun began.

Ithaca is a rugged little number and our explorations involved inching the Aygo through impossibly dinky villages, around full-lock hairpin turns and along cinematic hillside roads from our base of operations – the boutique-y Perantzada Hotel 1811 in the main town, Vathy.

With superyachts anchored in the bays and cicadas in full song landside, we ventured to the impossibly cute coastal villages of Frikes and Kioni and to stunning Filiatro beach, reached from Vathy along a road festooned with mirrors to allow drivers to see what’s coming around the corners.

Want a sneak preview of what’s in store via Google Street View? Not an option. The Google car has yet to board the ferry to Ithaca.

At first, I’d cursed the Aygo and its lack of torque, and came close to taking it back to Mrs Cheerful at Thrifty for an upgrade, but after a few days of sneaking into crowded beach car parks and past oncoming traffic on those slender, serpentined village roads, I had a change of heart. The bigger the better? When it comes to cars on a Greek island, definitely not.

And what about that famous Greek road rage?

I didn’t witness any, but did see lots of impatient drivers.

For instance, I was beeped from behind by a car that couldn’t get past me on one occasion – because I was driving slowly in the middle of the road through a small village, simply being mindful of groups of pedestrians walking along both roadsides.

Oh, and Greek drivers tend to approach in the middle of the road and course correct at the last second. Which is slightly unnerving.

But drive carefully, keep your eyes on the road and not the views to the side, and your ego in check – and you’ll be just fine.

In fact, it’s likely you’ll have the drive of your life.

A Japanese man who dresses in his bespoke collie costume has said that online trolls are making fun of his desire to be a dog.

Known only as Toco, the man spent two million Yen – which equates to £12,480 – on a lifelike costume to fulfil his lifelong fantasy of ‘becoming an animal’. 

Toco waited for 40 days before the special suits and makeup company Zeppet finished his dog costume and he finally realised his dream.

In some of his most recent updates to his almost 30,000 YouTube subscribers, Toco was seen playing in his backyard – on all fours – and attempting to perform tricks in exchange for fake dog food.

But he also recently ventured into the outside world to meet other people and animals for the first time.

In a pair of surreal videos posted to his YouTube channel ‘I want to be an animal’, Toco is first seen being taken out for a walk on a leash, and is later seen sniffing at other dogs in a park before rolling around on the floor.

Toco has now claimed that he is being bullied online. 

One Twitter user said: ‘A Japanese man spent over $20K for this border collie costume. You cannot convince me this isn’t some weird sex thing.

‘Men will literally spend $20,000 to transform into a border collie instead of going to therapy.’

Responding to the comments, Toco said: ‘I’m just sad that people can think that. I love animals and enjoy play-acting like a collie. This is my hobby, so I will carry on. It makes me happy and other people happy, too.’

Toco’s antics were seemingly well-received in the video by passers-by and other dogs, who seemed inquisitive above all else.

But despite having built a cult following, Toco is not yet ready to take off his mask.

Toco told MailOnline in May last year: ‘Ever since I was a small child, I wanted to be an animal. I think it is a desire to transform.

‘I’ve thought about it since I can remember.’

The dog-lover said he has hidden his identity and his human face from the world because he doesn’t want to be judged by people he knows. 

‘I don’t want my hobbies to be known,’ he said, ‘especially by the people I work with.’

‘They think it’s weird that I want to be a dog. For the same reason why I can’t show my real face.’

Then late last year, Toco told the Mirror he’s still not yet built up enough confidence to tell some of his closest friends about his hobby.

‘I rarely tell my friends because I am afraid they will think I am weird,’ he said. ‘My friends and family seemed very surprised to learn I became an animal.’ 

Toco said he enjoys ‘doing things that only dogs do’.

In September, Toco first attempted an outdoor walk. He said in a YouTube video documenting the experience he felt ‘nervous and a little scared’.

‘I’m wearing a leash because people are surprised when they see me. I’m very nervous,’ he said in the video.

‘Do you remember your dreams from when you are little? You want to be a hero or a wizard.

‘I remember writing in my grade school graduation book that I wanted to be a dog and walk outside.’ 

He noted how nice the wind felt in his fur, and rolled in the grass in his backyard.

Toco said he wears sandals to protect his feet and the bottom of the costume from getting dirty, after spending almost £13,000 getting it custom-made.  

His now viral videos have attracted like-minded fans, with one saying: ‘You inspire us to fulfil our dreams too.’

Another wrote: ‘I hope I become the animal I want to be as well. You’re an inspiration to us.’

Japanese company Zeppet, which creates costumes for TV commercials and films, spent 40 days making the outfit.

A spokesman said: ‘Modelled after a collie dog, it reproduces the appearance of a real dog walking on four legs.’ 

At least 24 Brits have died as a result of medical tourism trips to Turkey since January 2019, according to the Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

Here, MailOnline highlights some of the victims.

Leah Cambridge

Leah Cambridge, 29, suffered a blood clot during a £6,500 Brazilian butt lift surgery in Turkey. 

The mother-of-three, from Leeds, died just one day after travelling to an Elite Aftercare clinic in Turkey in August 2018. 

The trainee beautician, described as being ‘paranoid about her body’, paid in cash for the procedure after being inspired by pictures on Instagram. 

The procedure involved having fat extracted from the waist and injected into the buttocks.

But she suffered a fatal complication when fat was accidentally injected into a vein, causing her to have three heart attacks on the operating table.

Ms Cambridge’s partner Scott Franks told Wakefield Coroner’s Court that the surgeon who carried out the procedure told him he had ‘injected the fat too far into the muscle and it entered her veins’. 

Mr Franks said when he flew out to Turkey after his partner died, Dr Ali Uckan, the surgeon who treated Leah, had told him: ‘It’s a guessing game, you can’t see where you are going into.’ 

Ms Cambridge’s father, Craig, took his own life in 2021 with an inquest held in July last year hearing how he was never able to get past the loss of his daughter. 

Diarra Akua Eunice Brown

Diarra Akua Eunice Brown died aged 28, two days after getting liposuction at a clinic in the suburb of Bahcelievler in Istanbul, in October 2021. 

She reportedly underwent the operation to have fat removed from her hips. 

While the procedure initially appeared to be a success, Ms Brown ‘suddenly’ fell ill while having her dressings changed.

She died just hours later. 

Social media posts from family and friends described her as a ‘beautiful soul’ and a ‘close friend’.

‘This must be a dream,’ one post said. ‘Still can’t come to terms with this yet.’

‘I miss you angel. I’m devastated you were taken away way before your time,’ said another.

Shannon Bowe

Shannon Bowe, from Denny, near Falkirk, died while undergoing gastric band surgery in Turkey in April 2023. 

The 28-year-old passed away during the procedure which involves placing a band around the stomach.

Where exactly Ms Bowe had the procedure in Turkey and the complication that led to her death have not been revealed.

In the aftermath of her death, Ms Bowe’s boyfriend Ross Stirling wrote on social media: ‘Sleep tight my angel, love you forever and always.’

Gastric band surgery involves a doctor placing a gastric band around the top of the stomach, creating a small pouch.

When the patient eats, this small pouch fills up more quickly than their stomach normally would, making them feel fuller with less food.

By encouraging them to eat less, the procedure can help patients lose weight.  

Melissa Kerr

Melissa Kerr, 31, died while undergoing a Brazilian butt lift in Turkey in 2019, just before her wedding.

Ms Kerr traveled to Istanbul’s Medicana Haznedar Hospital in November that year for gluteal augmentation, which can cost up to £3,150. 

The psychological wellbeing practitioner, from Gorleston, Norfolk, died from a blocked artery in her lung as a result of undergoing the surgery.  

Her twin sister Natasha who set up a Justgiving.com page after her death described her a ‘a pure and beautiful soul inside and out’.

She said: ‘Words cannot describe the pain and heartbreak we are going through, life without her will never be the same again.

‘We miss her deeply and nothing will fill the emptiness we are left with.’

Melissa’s partner Skye Birch said: ‘I will continue to love you with all my heart until my last breath.’ 

Ms Kerr also worked as a volunteer helping domestic violence victims and supporting people through bereavement.

Abimbola Ajoke Bamgbose 

Abimbola Ajoke Bamgbose, a 38-year-old social worker, from Dartford, Kent, died in August 2020 after undergoing liposuction surgery in Turkey. 

The mother-of-three bought an overseas package deal with Mono Cosmetic Surgery after becoming fed up with people asking her if she was pregnant, according to her husband. 

A post-mortem examination found that Mrs Bamgbose suffered perforations to her bowel during the surgery, with the cause of death given as peritonitis with multiple organ failure. 

Peritonitis is an infection of the peritoneum, the inner lining of the tummy which covers vital internal organs like the kidneys, liver and bowel.

Her husband Moyosore Olowo told an inquest he was unaware his wife had travelled abroad for cosmetic surgery, instead believing she had simply gone on a holiday with her friends. 

It was not until Mrs Bamgbose called her husband to say she was suffering from stomach pains following the procedure that he found out what had happened. 

Mr Olowo said his wife had visited a private medical practice in the UK for surgery but added that the cost had been too high for her to have the treatment in Britain.

Carol Keenan

Carol Keenan, 54, died six days after undergoing a combined Brazilian butt lift and tummy tuck in Turkey.  

The grandmother, of Glenrothes, Fife, paid £7,000 for the procedures at  a private hospital in Istanbul in 2022 after becoming anxious about the way her body looked.

Ms Keenan also accepted the offer of free abdominal muscle repair surgery shortly before she was taken into the operating theatre.

But she died before she was due to have a final check-up and fly home.

Speaking to MailOnline in April, her family said they are still waiting for the results of her autopsy 11 months on from her death.

Her daughter Leonie Keenan, 32, said: ‘My mother was a fit and healthy individual. She was a very petite size ten and she kept in shape by walking everywhere and going swimming.

‘She was a very active grandmother who loved bouncing on the trampoline with the kids –  but she was not happy with her body even though everyone told her she looked great.

‘She set her heart on having surgery after seeing stories about other people and celebrities having procedures. I don’t know if it was like a mid-life crisis.’

Republicans are claiming that President Joe Biden was involved in his son Hunter’s controversial foreign business deals, which allegedly spans 50 different countries, lawmakers said in a press conference on Thursday.

It comes one day after the GOP clinched 218 seats in the House of Representatives, cementing their majority – and investigative powers – in the next Congress.

The president has long denied involvement in and knowledge of his son’s foreign dealings – some of which are being investigated by federal authorities.

But Rep. James Comer accused Biden of being ‘chairman of the board’ of his family’s business dealings and even claimed the White House spent more than $250,000 to deflect negative stories about Hunter.

‘This is an investigation of Joe Biden,’ he said. ‘I think we’ve laid out the evidence as to why we feel it’s important, and we’re going to move forward with that.’

He said later, ‘We’re trying to stay focused on – was Joe Biden directly involved with Hunter Biden’s business deals, and is he compromised?’

Comer said he’d even like members of the Biden family to testify before the House when asked, but said the main focus of their probe right now was to access bank records.

‘As part of our investigation, we have evidence that the finances, credit cards, and bank accounts of Hunter and Joe Biden were commingled, if not shared,’ the Republican lawmaker said.

‘One of Hunter’s closest associates, Eric Schwerin, was accessing Joe Biden’s money and writing checks to reimburse Hunter.’ 

He said some accounts linked to the Biden family raised ‘red flags’ about ‘suspicious or illegal activity.’ 

At least one of those red flags, known as ‘SARs,’ allegedly ‘connects Hunter Biden and his business associates to international human trafficking, among other illegal activities,’ Comer said.

‘We have repeatedly called on the Biden Treasury Department to release additional financial documents to committee Republicans, but thus far Treasury has refused,’ the lawmaker said. ‘We want to know what the Biden administration has tried to hide from the American people and why they are not being transparent.’

Hunter ally Schwerin was reportedly head of the president’s son’s company and handed the majority of his finances – and appointed to a position within the Obama administration, when Joe Biden was vice president.

‘After an apparent falling out with Schwerin, Hunter began coordinating business himself – and increasingly the deals brought in Joe Biden as a direct equity holder,’ Comer said.

He claimed Hunter went a step further and tried to get these bank alerts quashed – allegedly with the help of a Clinton administration official.

Comer also took a swipe at more holistic coverage of the president’s son that puts Hunter’s questionable ethics into context with his battle against drug addiction.

‘Hunter Biden isn’t this guy who just got a bad rap because he’s got a drug problem,’ Comer said.

The lawmakers said a report detailing their investigation and evidence thus far – which appears to largely be made up of whistleblower testimony – would be forthcoming. 

The troubling scope of Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine and China came to light when the New York Post, and subsequently DailyMail.com, authenticated the contents of a laptop hard drive purportedly belonging to the president’s only surviving son.

He received a lucrative salary while on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma, despite having no experience in the industry, while his father was vice president and leading a coalition to crack down on corruption there.

Emails recovered from the laptop also show Hunter discussing with associates the beginnings of a business deal in China – where one message discussing equity stakes carves out 10 percent ‘for the big guy.’

Republicans on Thursday alleged that ‘the big guy’ is the US president. 

‘At a time when Americans are suffering from high energy prices, because of this administration’s terrible energy policy, we find evidence that Hunter Biden and Joe Biden were involved in a scheme to try to get China to buy liquefied natural gas, and from a whistleblower, to try to get their foot in the door with China starting to purchase an interest in natural gas drillers,’ Comer said.

He presented as evidence a print-out of what he claimed was a slide show regarding the business deal that was found on Hunter’s laptop.

When pressed, however, Comer said the slide was likely from around 2017.

The Kentucky Republican would not say concretely how that is linked to today’s energy crisis when asked, but said: ‘I mean, Joe Biden says he’s gonna stand up to China.’

‘Joe Biden says he’s going to rewrite our whole energy policy…And he was a 10 percent equity owner in a company whose sole mission was to to purchase liquefied natural gas from the United States and try to take over the energy the natural gas industry in America through natural gas wholesalers and natural gas drillers,’ Comer said.

‘I mean, I don’t think Joe Biden has been honest American people about that.’

It’s worth noting that it’s not clear that the deal was ever finalized. 

A friend of the mother-of-three killed after being shot 14 times by her husband who years earlier joked about his regrets over their marriage during an appearance on Family Feud has revealed the victim spent her final days fearing for her life.  

‘They seemed to be like the perfect family,’ Christie Krause told Fox News. ‘When we knew Tim and Becky, that was when they had gotten engaged and we’re getting married. And it was a very happy time in their life. I would have never thought that Tim could do something like this.

On Wednesday, a jury found Timothy Bliefnick, 40, guilty in the February 23 shooting death of 41-year-old Becky Bliefnick. 

Her body was found by her father after her family became concerned that she had not picked up her sons from school. She was shot 14 times.

Timothy Bliefnick was arrested March 13, twelve days after his Quincy, Illinois, home was searched. 

The couple was separated and going through a divorce but a friend of the family said nobody thought the relationship would end with a murder.

Krause said that she knew Becky had reached out to close friends and family in the days leading up to her killing as she vocalized fears her husband might harm her before their divorce was finalized. 

‘She had reached out so too many people that she was close to, saying that if anything happened to her that Tim would be the one that they should look at first,’ Krause explained. 

‘That’s really sad to hear, especially during the trial. It was very heartbreaking to know that she was in so much fear in the last few days of her life.’

Becky had sent a chilling message to her sister Sarah Reilly before she died, warning that if anything happened to her, ‘the No.1 person of interest is Tim’. 

‘I am putting this in writing that I’m fearful he will somehow harm me, come after me, or will try to [do] something to me that takes me away from the kids or the kids away from me,’ she said.

Krause told how she has prayed for the family and the three young sons their mother left behind hoping that they might remember her as an ‘all-around great person.’

‘My thoughts and prayers go out to them. These three boys have lost both of their parents. It’s heartbreaking to know what they have to go through for the rest of their life, that their father killed their mother.’ 

‘All I can continue to do is pray for them and hopefully offer happy memories from the past of their wonderful mother, who was just brilliant and beautiful and caring and just an all-around great person,’ Krause said.

In a statement following this week’s verdict  Becky’s family said: ‘We should not be living in a world where a crime like this is possible. We should not have to suffer a life without Becky who was robbed of her life in the most hateful, cowardly and cruel way.

‘Her boys were robbed of a loving, devoted mother. I was robbed of my sister and best friend.

‘My parents were robbed of their daughter, and as a parent myself, I cannot imagine a greater torture.

‘Becky was a niece, an aunt and a cousin; a friend, a colleague and a caregiver. All those who love her carry heavy heartache in the wake of this tragedy.

‘The judicial process cannot bring her back nor can it heal our wounds, but we are relieved that the verdict delivers justice, and we are thankful for all who made it a reality.

‘As a family of faith, we are deeply thankful for our family, friends and the complete strangers who have rallied around us and prayed for us during these incredibly dark days.’

A GoFundMe set up by Becky’s sister has raised $110,000 which will fund her funeral and care for her three children

Becky’s family said their priority was now raising her three young children.

‘We live with the hope that the worst moment of our lives cannot define who we are, as we pick up the pieces to raise Becky’s boys in the way we know she would want,’ they said.

‘While life cannot be normal in the ways it once was, such love and support does help restore the belief that the world does, in fact, have more good than evil.

‘As they go forward with the certain truth that their father murdered their mother, we ask that you keep Becky’s three, incredible boys in your prayers.

‘We will move forward by leaning on each other—and our faith—for healing. We will speak of Becky warmly and often, remembering the way she lived and loved, not the way she died. She will be missed forever and loved always.’

The court heard Bliefnick researched ways to commit the crime on Google, before riding to her home on a bicycle.

Investigators retrieved dozens of shell casings in the basement that the state police lab found was fired from the same gun as eight recovered from the crime scene.

Before the shooting, Bliefnick had taken his wife’s gun and refused to give it back, her attorney revealed. 

Officers didn’t find the murder weapon and although Becky’s handgun remains missing and forensic experts say it was among several models which could have matched the casings.

In the weeks after her death, Bliefnick attended her wake, but not her funeral as he didn’t want to be a ‘distraction’.

Police described him as being ‘cooperative’, after swooping on his property shortly before arresting him. 

The couple had three sons together, but were living separately at the time of Becky’s death, with court records showing their split was filed in February 2021.

Court records show that the couple, who married in 2009, had both filed restraining orders against each other.

Quincy Police said the murder was an unusual act of domestic violence in an otherwise safe town.

In 2020, Timothy Bliefnick and some of his family members appeared on ABC’s Family Feud. 

One of the questions asked by host Steve Harvey was, ‘What was the biggest mistake you made at your wedding?’ 

‘Honey, I love you,’ said Bliefnick, addressing his wife, before adding cautiously, ‘Said, ‘I do’? 

His response evoked laughter and gasps from the crowd and a blank stare from Harvey. 

He immediately told Harvey ‘Not mine to say. I love my wife.’ He also added, ‘I’m going to get in trouble for that, aren’t I?’ 

Harvey responded, ‘It’s going to be a lot of hell to pay at your house.’ 

The episode was recorded in the fall of 2019 but aired in the spring of 2020, according to ABC.

A scientist claims he has increased his lifespan by 20 percent after living 93 days underwater. 

Joseph Dituri, 55, a retired Naval officer, has been living inside a 100-square-foot pod at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean for 93 days, researching how a pressurized environment impacts the human body.

The mission was also designed to beat the world record for living underwater – the previous stay was 73 days. 

Dituri told DailyMail.com that doctors conducted tests on his body to see how it changed from March to June, including tests that measure telomeres, compounds at the end of chromosomes that shorten with age.

He claims they are now 20 percent longer, and he has up to 10 times more stem cells than when he first moved into the underwater pod in March.

Dituri experiences 60 to 66 percent deep REM sleep every night, his inflammatory markers have been cut by half and his cholesterol has dropped by 72 points, he claims.

The scientist did not provide details of how his telomeres were measured, but there are testing services that measure their length from blood samples.

And most services take about two weeks to provide results. 

The health changes are due to the pressure, which is similar to the process in hyperbaric chambers, which are found to improve cerebral blood flow, brain metabolism, and brain microstructure, leading to improved cognitive functions, physical functions, sleep, and gait.

A study conducted by Tel Aviv University in 2020 found hyperbaric oxygen treatments (HBOT) in healthy aging adults can stop the aging of blood cells and reverse the aging process.

The researchers exposed 35 healthy individuals aged 64 or over to a series of 60 hyperbaric sessions over 90 days. 

Each participant provided blood samples before, during and at the end of the treatments and sometime after the treatments concluded. The researchers then analyzed various immune cells in the blood and compared the results. 

Focusing on immune cells containing DNA obtained from the participants’ blood, the study discovered a lengthening of up to 38 percent of the telomeres, according to Tel Aviv University’s press release.

Dituri is using the pressurized environment to study how the human body responds to long-term exposure to extreme pressure in a small space for 100 days – a similar environment spacefaring heroes will endure while traveling to the Red Planet. 

‘You need one of these places that is cut off from outside activity,’ Dituri told DailyMail.com, referring to the tiny pod.

‘Send people down here for a two-week vacation, where they get their feet scrubbed, relax and can experience the benefit of hyperbaric medicine.’

Dituri began this epic mission on March 1 with not just a goal of breaking the record of living the longest underwater – it was previously 73 days – but also to learn how the pressure can benefit the human body.

He works out for one hour four to five days a week but only has access to exercise bands.

‘I am still maintaining the mass that I have, which is insane,’ said Dituri.

‘My metabolism has increased, so my body has become leaner, and even though my muscle mass has not changed [since I was on the surface], I am still leaner than I was.’

The change in the number of stem cells has also been a part of his research.

Stem cells are a promising potential solution for reversing the visible signs of aging, and Stanford found that old human cells can be rejuvenated with stem cells.

When DailyMail.com first spoke with Dituri, he was just 24 days into the mission and said he suspected his telomeres would grow to be much longer – and he was correct.

Previous research has shown that telomeres, which protect chromosomes from becoming frayed, lengthen when the body is under extreme pressure.

‘We suspect, or we know in hyperbaric medicine, that after about 60 treatments one hour per day at a higher pressure than I’m at right now, one hour per day you will grow them between 25 and 33 percent, the jury is still out on that it is not full of science,’ said Dituri in March.

And speaking with the scientist recently, he said the compounds had grown 20 percent. 

‘We knew this was going to happen. Whether these sticks is the question. That’s what we want to see when we come out of this,’ Dituri said.

While the underwater lodge is small, the pod has a work area, kitchen, bathroom, two bedrooms, and a small ‘swimming pool’ that acts as the exit and entrance and a window with a view of the ocean. 

Dituri told DailyMail.com from the bunker on day 24: ‘I’m loving it. I’ve got a coffee maker because God knows science does not happen without coffee.’

He has also been testing technology that could be used to help astronauts who make the epic journey to Mars.

One of the devices is a pre-NASA tool, meaning it must be tested before the agency takes it on.

It is similar to Star Trek’s tricorder, which scans the body to monitor a person’s health and determine if they need medical assistance.

Dituri is also investigating how to prevent muscle mass loss while in space, which plagues astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS).

‘We’re going to Mars, but it is going to take 200 days to get there on the best home and transfer window,’ Dituri told DailyMail.com.

‘[When you get there] you are going to have decreased muscle mass, and you’re not going to be able to see very far, and you’re not going to be in really good shape, and you’re going to have decreased bone density, and we’re going to land you hard on a re-endurable market as it lands and slams down to the ground.

‘I think maybe that’s a bad idea, and we need to figure some stuff out first, but that is just me.’

Dituri’s home away from home is located at Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo.

‘There is a TV, although I really do not know how to turn it on. I have a small freezer like in a hotel room,’ he said, while also noting he keeps a stash of chocolate in the pod.

A small microwave is on a shelf, the only thing that can be used for cooking.

‘Every good hotel has to have a pool, and my hotel has a teeny little pool outside,’ said Dituri.

‘This is how we enter and exit from the habitat. So when I go for a scuba dive with all my scuba diving gear, I get it on. I go out of the hole, and then I dive around. So that’s how people come in and come out.’

Dituri sleeps on a twin-size bed with a small bunk on top, which is the same setup in an adjacent room for scientists who visit him.

Dituri found his passion for science while serving as a saturation diving officer in the US Navy for 28 years.

After retiring in 2012 as a commander, Dituri enrolled at the University of South Florida to earn his doctoral degree to learn more about traumatic brain injuries.

And he is also a published author.

‘I was bored during COVID because they would not let me treat patients for the first couple of months, so I wrote a book,’ Dituri said while noting it is available on Amazon.

‘It’s called ‘Secrets in Depth. It’s about a nice Italian boy from New York who joins the Navy and gets to a whole bunch of trouble with the CIA.’

While the scientist is working to find a cure for astronaut ailments, he is also missing his three daughters, who he raves about at any chance he gets.

His 21-year-old daughter, Gabrielle, graduated from the California Institute of Technology in May, an event he could not attend.

Sophie, 19, happily works at a restaurant in South Tampa, Florida and Josephine, 27, has a Masters in psychology and works in New York City.

 

  

Jamie Lee Komoroksi ‘slurred and staggered her way’ through a deadly bar-hopping spree that culminated in the fatal crash that killed new bride, Samantha Hutchinson.

Now, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal the path Komoroski’s took that night, as we retrace her steps and each stage that she chose to keep going and keep drinking.

And we can reveal the haunting moment that newlyweds Aric, 36, and Samantha, 34, may have unwittingly crossed paths with the girl who would soon be their ending, as they headed home.

Twenty-five-year-old Komoroski had recently started working at Taco Boy, a Mexican restaurant with several locations including one on Folly Island.

She started her drinking spree at ‘El Gallo Bar & Grill’ a small roadside establishment near Daniel’s Island some 25 miles and a 40-minute drive away.

From El Gallo she headed to Folly Beach’s Center Street. The heart of the quaint South Carolina beach front town, it is peppered with stores selling flip flops, T-shirts, souvenirs and surf gear as well as bars and restaurants, many casually opened onto the street.

Places like the Drop Inn, a hole in the wall surfing bar, The Crab Shack just a few steps across the street and Snapper Jacks, a yard or two further on.

The bars are just feet from each other – a ‘staggering’ walk along Folly Beach’s main drag for Komoroski, who visited then all that night according to Hutchinson’s lawyers.

The grieving groom filed a wrongful death lawsuit filed last week against Komoroski and a host of establishments in which she drank on April 28. According to the suit she was drinking with colleagues and a supervisor from her new job.

Part of the culture of the restaurant, as alleged by the suit, was that ‘getting the most and/or best work shifts and/ or hours, getting the best tables for the best tips, etc’ was ‘at least implicitly conditioned upon’ getting on well with management who organized nights which included ‘the consumption of alcohol.’

Taco Boy, which is named as a defendant has issued a statement categorically denying that Komoroski drank in their establishment or was served alcohol by any of their members of staff that day.

The statement noted that there was nothing in Komoroski’s background check that raised ‘red flags’ and said, ‘On the day of the accident we can confirm with absolute certainty that Jamie Komoroski did not set foot in Taco Boy, nor did anyone on our team serve her alcohol at the restaurant.’

After drinking at the Drop Inn, Komoroski made her way to the Crab Shack across the road.

The ramshackle clapboard bar sits on the corner of Center Street and East Erie Avenue – just a couple of hundred yards from East Ashley Avenue, along which Komoroski would later drive.

At Crab Shack she could have knocked back seven-dollar cocktails and frozen rum-based concoctions like the ‘Crazy Colada’ or a banana, strawberry, peach or lime, ‘Shackaiquiri.’ Instead, she allegedly stuck to beer and tequila shots before heading on into the evening.

She didn’t get far. A handful of steps along the street she stopped into Snapper Jacks a sprawling, colorful establishment, painted in primary colors, with patio doors thrown open onto the street and a huge plastic shark thrashing mid-air over the bar.

Here, time doesn’t matter much as patrons eat tacos and drink potent rum and tequila-based cocktails served up in vast ‘Fishbowls.’

According to Hutchinson’s lawsuit, Komoroski kept going and kept drinking. She ‘slurred and staggered her way through each of these bars,’ drinking beer, tequila shots, and ‘shift shots’ of liquors on the house until, by the end of the night, she was ‘grossly and dangerously intoxicated

Around the same time that Komoroski was ‘wrapping up her drunken escapade,’ at Snapper Jack’s, Hutchinson and Samantha were preparing to leave their reception on the back of their wedding-themed golf cart.

Only a few hours earlier the newlyweds had posed for pictures with family and friends, three miles away, on the idyllic South Carolina sands then danced and laughed at the reception in Folly County Park pavilion.

Samantha told friends she wished the day ‘would never end.’

In fact, as it came to a close, their journey may have taken them unwittingly within touching distance of the woman who would kill them.

Snapper Jacks is the last place that Komoroski drank that night. The newlyweds would have driven right past its door, as they crossed west to east over Center Street and on along East Ashley Avenue.

They would have driven by, their cart trailing ‘just married’ decorations, while revelers spilled out on the street, music played, and drinks flowed. Was one of them Komoroski?

Or was she propping up the bar, having just one last shot before getting behind the wheel of her car and heading, the wrong way as it turned out, home?

Police noted she gave her address as a home on James Island which is in the opposite direction from the way she drove from Center Street that night.

Yesterday, never-before-seen footage obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com showed the couple’s golf cart in the final stretch of the night now infamous for the devastating crash that claimed Samantha’s life just minutes later.

Surveillance footage from the road on which the crash took place shows the golf cart carrying the bride and groom and two other family members.

They pass by a house on Folly Island’s East Ashley Avenue as they return from their wedding reception, at approximately 10.11pm.

Two minutes later a car driven by Komoroski speeds by that same camera.

Traveling at roughly four times the cart’s pace it is out of sight in six seconds – set on its terrible collision course and just seven hundred yards from where it ploughed into the golf cart.

Drunk at the wheel, Komoroski covered the distance in seconds. With more than three times the legal alcohol limit in her system, police have said, she drove at speeds of up to 65mph in the 25mph zone.

Aric’s brother-in-law Benjamin Garrett was driving the golf cart with his young son, Brogan, sitting beside him in the passenger seat. Aric and his bride rode behind.

The whole awful affair was over within five minutes of the golf cart first entering into view in this footage.

A terrible cavalcade of police cars and ambulances, their lights flashing, follows minutes after Komoroski’s speeding Toyota Camry tears by.

According to the probable cause affidavit provided by Officer D C Burke, and seen by DailyMail.com, he was the first officer on the scene and arrived at 10.16pm.

He stated, ‘As I triaged all patients, I located Samantha Hutchinson who was not breathing and [had] no pulse.

‘I also located Garrett and Aric. All patients were in and out of consciousness. So, I focused life saving measures on Samantha, but she was pronounced deceased on scene.’

Her husband and brother-in-law Garrett sustained, ‘open fractures and massive trauma.’

Hutchinson was released from hospital after ten days having suffered a brain bleed and undergoing multiple reconstructive surgeries to repair fractured bones in his legs and face and broken vertebrae.

Komoroski has been charged on three counts of Felony DUI with death and or great bodily injury. She is currently being held without bond in Sheriff Al Canon Detention Center in North Charleston.

Officer Burke noted that as soon as he had rendered what medical aid, he could to the victims he, ‘switched hats and started the DUI investigation with the driver Jamie Komoroski.’

He could, he recalled, smell ‘an odor of alcohol coming from her breath and person.’ When asked, she stated that she had, ‘one beer and a drink with tequila about an hour ago.’

And she refused to give a breath sample that night, insisting that, on a scale of 1 to 10 – 10 being utterly sober – she was ‘an 8.’

Vials of blood taken and tested told a very different story placing her blood alcohol at 0.261 per cent. The legal limit in South Carolina is 0.08 per cent.

Once cleared medically Komoroski, who was uninjured, was taken to Charleston County Jail where she was put on suicide watch having told the arresting officer and hospital staff that she ‘wanted to kill herself.’

According to a motion for bond filed on Komoroski’s behalf and seen by DailyMail.com, the 25-year-old has been painted ‘an unrepentant villain’ and ‘party girl.’

In snippets of recorded jail visits from family members obtained and published by the Post and Courier, Komoroski is shown weeping and wailing ‘why me?’ filled with apparent self-pity and saying that her life is over.

But in their motion which asked for bond to be set at $100,000 her lawyers assert, that this image of Komoroski is unfair.

They present the picture of a troubled girl, wracked with anguish and willing to undergo the necessary rehabilitation and work to address the underlying problems of dependency, depression and anxiety that took such a tragic turn.

They state that she has ‘struggled’ with these since her days at the Coastal Carolina University in which she enrolled in 2020.

She used alcohol to ‘cope with loneliness, stress and often crippling levels of anxiety which was then untreated,’ they state.

They go on to explain that ‘In recent months, Jamie’s anxiety has increased exponentially, and in the last year [she] has sought treatment…for severe anxiety and depression.’

According to the bond motion, she now suffers from facial tics ‘brought on by mounting and unabated anxiety.’

If released on bond she would, her lawyers suggest, stay with her mother, Traci, in her home state of New Jersey.

In a strange twist it last week emerged that Traci too was once involved in a fatal car crash.

In 2013, Komoroski’s 62-year-old mother killed Forest Fire Service Warden Jeffery Scheuerer when she could not see him due to heavy smoke as he battled a blaze in Clinton Township, New Jersey.

It was deemed a ‘tragic accident’ as a sudden wind shift obscured his firetruck which was partially blocking a lane of traffic and its flashing lights. No charges were filed.

Komoroski’s new motion for bond will be heard at her next court appearance, June 16.