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Saudi Arabia has carried out its highest number of executions in over three decades after three executions announced Saturday took the 2024 figure to 198, according to an AFP tally. The Gulf monarchy executed the third highest number of prisoners in the world after China and Iran in 2023, according to Amnesty International. This surpassed …
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‘I thought this was a massive bargain!’ hails mum over Barbie toy set with £70 slashed off price ‘perfect for Christmas’
ONE mum has hailed a Barbie set she says is a “massive bargain” as £70 has been slashed off the price just in time for Christmas.
Toy company Maqio is holding a huge sale on the world-famous doll and has slashed prices.
One mum has bought a set discounted by £70 and squirrelling it away until Christmas for her daughter.
The set includes a pink car and a wardrobe so Barbie and Ken can go on amazing adventures together.
The price for the set, which is sure to excite any Barbie-loving child, has been slashed from £119.99 to £49.99 on the company’s website.
Mum Kelly said: “Ordered this for my daughter for Christmas and I can tell you she’s going to be extremely happy!
“I mean the box it’s come in is absolutely huge!
“I thought this was a massive bargain.”
Maqio describes the set saying Barbie and Ken are “always on the go, with a closet and convertible, they can move in minutes.”
They say: “Open the translucent doors of the pink closet to discover storage space and an extendable garment rack with two hangers.
“Plus, the handle on top makes it easy to take on the go!
“Barbie and Ken dolls wear trendy outfits for versatile storytelling so kids can hit the road right away.”
The wheels roll and the seat belts even keep the dolls in place in the two seater convertible.
The sale comes a couple of months after the first blind Barbie was unveiled — complete with a white and red cane, sunglasses and tactile clothing.
Makers Mattel were advised by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) to ensure the doll’s design was “authentic”.
The charity says her up-and-out facing eyes “reflect the sometimes-distinct eye gaze of a blind individual” and the cane has an identifiable marshmallow tip.
I’m a Barbie expert – the 10 most valuable dolls worth up to £8,000, exact features to look for
THE Barbie movie reignited a love for the famous doll – but are your old toys collecting dust in the attic worth a fortune?
The film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling hit theatres last year.
Old Barbies can command high prices for collectors. So how do you know if you’re sitting on a goldmine?
“Barbie dolls that are part of limited edition or special edition collections tend to have a high value,” doll and toy expert Simon Farnworth told The Sun.
He’s been collecting Barbies since the late 90s and runs Simon’s Collectibles (dollstoysngifts.co.uk), an online shop for adult toy and doll collectors.
Simon added: “These dolls often feature unique designs, are collaborations with celebrities, or commemorate significant events – for example, the 2019 Gold label Ziggy Stardust themed David Bowie Barbie, which originally sold for around £50, can command over £300 now.”
Barbie collaborations with renowned fashion designers and brands – such as Christian Dior, Versace, or Vera Wang – are also highly sought after by collectors.
“A recent example of this is the recent collaboration between Barbie and artist Mark Ryden, released exclusively on the Barbie Creations website last year,” he said.
“The Pink Pop Barbie Mark Ryden x Barbie Doll has already doubled in value.”
Vintage Barbie dolls – made between 1959 and 1972 – can fetch eye-watering prices.
Foreign lagers are the most popular in UK pubs – accounting for 28 per cent of all pints sold
FOREIGN lagers have the biggest share of the beer market in UK pubs — accounting for 28 per cent of all pints sold.
Italian and Spanish tipples such as Moretti, Peroni, Estrella and San Miguel helped them to top the pile.
Adding in classic and premium lagers (each on 20%) — including pilsners and those made in the UK — the brewing style made up 68 per cent of beer bought in pubs, bars and restaurants.
Lager’s market share rose 70 per cent year-on-year, with the value of Spanish pints up 22 per cent, Heineken’s Beer Report 2024 said.
Bitter, ale and stout — with classic and premium offerings combined — claimed 23 per cent of the market, while trendy craft beers took eight.
Heineken’s report put the current boom in world lager down to the 2020 launch of Spanish-themed Madri — despite it being brewed in Tadcaster, North Yorks.
It said: “Brands that evoke happy memories and holiday vibes were therefore set to do well.”
Meghan Markle ‘screamed down phone’ at florist who ‘vowed to never work with her again’, claim ex-royal staff
MEGHAN Markle allegedly “screamed down the phone” at a florist who vowed to never work with her again, ex-royal staff claimed.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, was said to have yelled for 30 minutes at the person who sells and arranges cut flowers.
They reportedly posted details online about a bouquet they were working on for Meghan.
However the florist apparently never actually identified that the Duchess was their client.
An unnamed source told The Sunday Times: “They vowed never to work with her again, despite the prestige of having her as a client.
“If you were working for her, you were often treated like a tradesman who could be treated like s***.”
It comes after Meghan was hit by a fresh wave of allegations from former employees and was branded a “demon” boss who had “psycho moments”.
Earlier this week a former courtier who worked for the Sussexes claimed during their time with the duchess “there definitely were bad, very bad, even psycho moments.”
The unnamed source is quoted as saying: “I witnessed people being chewed up in person and over the phone and made to feel like s**t”, as reported by The Daily Beast website.
It comes at an incredibly awkward time as Meghan is about to launch a cookery show and cook book to go alongside her new lifestyle brand, named American Riviera Orchard.
The former employee who spoke to The Daily Beast dismissed the Us Weekly article as a cynical exercise saying: “She is lovely when it is all going her way but a demon when the worm turns.”
It follows a recent story in another US publication, The Hollywood Reporter, that described Meghan’s management style as like a “dictator in high heels” who reduced “grown men to tears”.
There were also claims that she “barks” out orders and sends angry emails at 5am.
An insider told The Sun: “The Sussexes were left reeling by The Hollywood Reporter’s story.
“It appears that the Us Weekly story was sanctioned by the couple as even Archewell’s current global head of communications, Ashley Hansen, was quoted by name.”
Meghan’s team were already trying to dismiss those earlier allegations — said to be gleaned from a number of current and former staff.
Five current and former employees of Meghan went on the record to defend her, saying she is the “best boss ever”.
Us Weekly, a magazine known to be friendly to the royal couple, went in to bat for them with an article headlined “What It’s Really Like To Work For Meghan Markle: Staffers Reveal Truth Behind Rumours”.
The article was widely dismissed as a puff piece, with speculation it was potentially orchestrated by Meghan’s PR team.
Speculation was sparked in August when the Sussexes Chief of Staff Josh Kettler joined a long list of staff who left the couple.
In July, Prince Harry’s charity chief Dominic Reid quit his role as chief executive of the Invictus Games Foundation.
His departure came just days after Harry was blasted for choosing to accept the Pat Tillman Award for Service at the 2024 ESPYS.
Meanwhile Bennett Levine, their manager of Archewell Productions, left earlier this year.
And the Oscar-nominated producer Ben Browning quit as head of internal content at the company in January last year.
The Sun has approached the Sussexes for comment.
Sussex staff resignations
By Robert Jobson
AN astonishing 18 members of staff have quit working for them in just a few years — nine since they moved to Montecito, California.
In late 2018, Meghan’s personal assistant Melissa Toubati quit.
It also emerged senior communications secretary Katrina McKeever left the Press team the same month.
Not long after, private secretary Samantha Cohen resigned.
In January 2019 Meghan’s female bodyguard of six months, who has never been named for security reasons, also quit.
By March, senior communications secretary Jason Knauf jumped ship and went to work for Prince William and Kate’s Royal Foundation.
Meghan also went through three nannies in just six weeks after baby son Archie was born in May 2019.
Harry and Meghan’s PR chief Sarah Latham left the couple after they quit the UK in 2020.
Meghan parted ways with talent agent Nick Collins, of The Gersh Agency, who was with her since she was a struggling actress.
And her close friend Keleigh Thomas-Morgan, a partner at Hollywood PR firm Sunshine Sachs, split from Meghan after the couple moved to the US.
The Sussexes recruited Toya Holness, former communications chief for New York City Department of Education, but she lasted 18 months and left shortly after the Invictus Games in 2022.
Just a year after their Megxit dash, Catherine St-Laurent was ousted as chief executive of their charitable foundation Archewell.
Meanwhile, Mandana Dayani, who was made president of Archewell, stepped down after less than 18 months in her role.
Oscar-nominated film producer Ben Browning was named head of content at Archewell in March 2021.
The foundation was supposed to be producing documentaries and podcasts.
But podcast Archetypes was dropped by Spotify and he left in January 2023.
Two months earlier, Rebecca Sanares left her role as head of audio at Archewell.
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