TYSON FURY has paid tribute to the late Ricky Hatton and said: “I wanted to be just like him”.

Hatton – Britain’s beloved fighter – sadly passed away aged just 46 in September – leaving behind an iconic legacy.

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Fury pictured in Hatton’s gym before his heroic boxing comeback[/caption]

Renowned as the working-class people’s champion – the heroic Mancunian inspired an era of up and coming fighters – like Fury.

And the Gypsy King remembers cheering on Hatton in 2005 – in what was the two-weight champ’s crowning night against Kostya Tszyu.

During a run, Fury told his Instagram followers: “Today’s the day of Ricky Hatton’s funeral and I’m not going to be alone when I say this that Ricky inspired me as a young boy to go on and do great things in boxing.

Follow all the latest from Ricky Hatton’s funeral

“I wanted to be just like him, the ringwalks, the flashy shorts, the fans, the chanting.

“When I was a little kid, he was fighting for his world title in Manchester against Kostya Tszyu and I was there along with other young kids who were also inspired by Ricky.

“So without Ricky Hatton, Manchester wouldn’t have had, the North West wouldn’t have had, the UK wouldn’t have had, so many boxing world champions inspired by the great Richard The Hitman Hatton.

“Rest in peace, Rick. See you soon buddy.”

Fury won the heavyweight world title in a 2015 upset against Wladimir Klitschko.

But by 2017, he was forced to vacate the three belts after falling into depression and substance abuse.

Hatton – who also suffered mentally throughout his career and retirement – helped Fury through the tough times.

Fury trained in Hatton’s Manchester gym for his 2018 comeback and even had the former two-weight champ in his corner.

The Gypsy King later regained the world title with victory over Deontay Wilder in 2020 – holding the belt for four years.

Hatton’s death meanwhile shocked the British public, leaving behind son Campbell, daughters Fearne, Millie and granddaughter Lyla.

His funeral – held at Manchester cathedral – saw stars like Fury, Frank Bruno, Amir Khan, Wayne Rooney and Freddie Flintoff turn out.

Thousands of fans also lined the streets to say goodbye to the sporting legend.

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Tyson Fury arrives at the funeral[/caption]

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Wayne Rooney and wife Coleen arrive at the funeral[/caption]

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Claire Sweeney, former partner of Hatton, pictured[/caption]

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Cricket legend Freddie Flintoff[/caption]

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Amir Khan in attendance[/caption]

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Hatton’s parents Ray and Carol[/caption]

Líder opositora venezuelana que bate de frente com Nicolás Maduro foi reconhecida por sua luta pela democracia e os direitos humanos

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One Manchester university was very high in the rankings

A TRANSGENDER woman has been jailed for sexual assault after concealing she had male genitalia from a man she was on a date with.

Ciara Watkin, 21, spent the night with her victim after they had exchanged messages on Snapchat.

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She has been jailed for sexual assault[/caption]

She performed sex acts on the man but refused to let him touch her, claiming she was on her period.

The victim only discovered the truth when Watkin later told him she had a “massive secret”.

She has now been found jailed for 21 months after being found guilty of two charges of sexual assault and one charge of assault by penetration.

Teesside Crown Court heard Watkin had no gender reassignment surgery and stuffed clothing inside her bra.

Her Snapchat profile used a female cartoon avatar and there had been no discussion about sexuality or gender.

In a police interview played in court, the victim said: “All the way throughout she made out she was fully a girl.”

He told officers how the pair had been sat for a while drinking and chatting before heading to the bedroom.

The man added: “Throughout the full time, she was telling me she was on her period.

“It was like as far as I was concerned she was a female.”

Watkin later messaged him to admit she had a “massive secret” to which he replied to ask if she was pregnant.

Instead, she revealed: “I’m trans. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

The man messaged: “WTF. So you have a d***?”.

He added: “OMFG. I feel ill,” before reporting her to the police.

Asked how he felt about discovering the truth, the victim told officers he felt like “it’s taken away my manhood”.

He also said he was “shocked” and claimed he would not have got with her if he knew Watkin had a penis as he “didn’t swing that way”.

The man continued: “I see it as something that upsets me. I’m just trying to hide my emotions. At first I did just have an emotional breakdown.”

Ahead of today’s case, Watkin told The Sun: “He must have known I’m not female. He knew all along I was trans and at first chose to ignore it.

“His mum knew and all his mates who met me knew, so how could he claim to be the only one who didn’t?

“I am not finished with this – I have a strong case that I have been unfairly prosecuted and I’m prepared to make a legal case for that.”

IN the last five years 15 public swimming pools have shut their doors in Scotland.

And drowning prevention experts fear that more people will have accidents in the water, as they are not equipped with the opportunity to learn life-saving skills.

Recently, the GMB union said the closures are leaving young people at risk.
Meanwhile, Scottish Swimming has launched the Save Our Pools campaign and recently spoke in parliament to plead with ministers to reverse the trend.

Joining the organisation was Kirsty Doig, from charity The Darcey Sunshine Foundation, which she founded after losing her three-year-old daughter in a tragic pool accident.

Today she speaks out about why it’s vital that pools not only remain open but that every child in the country has the chance to learn to swim.

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THE Darcey Sunshine Foundation was set up in 2021 following the heartbreaking loss of our little girl, Darcey, to drowning in a swimming pool accident whilst living out in South Africa.

We’d moved there for a change in lifestyle, to give our kids a more outdoor, active life. Knowing that pools and open bodies of water were everywhere there, we made swimming lessons a top priority.

But we learned the hardest way possible that drowning can happen to anyone, often when someone isn’t necessarily expected to be in the water, and when attention slips for just a moment.

After losing Darcey, we made it our mission to prevent this from happening to other families, by raising awareness of the simple ways in which drowning can be prevented and teaching children facing financial hardship survival swim skills.

In Scotland we would love, as a charity, to one day work ourselves out of existence.

A key part of what we do is to promote access to basic swim skills and provide a good understanding of how children can keep themselves and others safe around water.

We believe the most effective and equitable way to achieve that is by integrating water safety and swimming lessons into the school curriculum. Every child, regardless of background or income, should be taught these essential skills, just as they learn maths or reading.

We’re an island nation surrounded by huge bodies of water, both from our stunning coastline and inland waterways, to our famous lochs, yet according to Scottish Swimming, as many as 40 per cent of children are leaving primary school unable to swim. It is vital that our young people understand how to keep safe in the environment that surrounds them.

Recently, we spoke in Parliament alongside Scottish Swimming for its Save Our Pools campaign.

The ministers with whom we spoke were shocked at the extent to which pools are closing, and the lack of basic swim skills within our primary school children. We had gone with three main asks from government, which were to:

Protect our pools as Community Assets by introducing a Statutory Consultation Process for every threatened public pool closure, similar to what is already in place for the closure of sports pitches

Roll out school swimming to every local authority in Scotland to give fair and equal opportunities to learn to swim for every child

To set up a Task Force with the Scottish Government, Sport Scotland, Scottish Swimming, and Cosla to assess what is required in terms of support and investment to avoid pool closures

We understand that a lot of our pools in Scotland have ageing infrastructure that is expensive to maintain, but there needs to be statutory consultation with all relevant bodies before pools are closed.

Swimming pools are more than just places to learn to swim. They are community hubs. They support drowning prevention, yes – but also mental health, physical fitness, and social connection across all generations.

And if we close down these incredible community hubs and lose our pools, then the danger is clear, we risk the health, wellbeing, and safety of future generations.

For so long we’ve taken for granted that most communities have a swimming pool. Growing up, swimming was always your rainy day activity.

You’d be in the swimming pool and you’d be learning vital skills without even realising it. Now there’s many communities that don’t have local access to a swimming pool. For those that do, the cost has now become a barrier for many families.

As a drowning prevention charity, it’s a great cause of concern for us. Without accessible, safe spaces to learn these skills, we are losing our ability to protect children (and adults) from entirely preventable tragedies.

We had a great response in parliament when we discussed the #saveourpools petition but it has been worryingly quiet since, with more pools continuing to close.

It may seem like a cost-saving decision now, but closing a pool sets us up for long-term damage: a generation of non-swimmers, rising inequality in access to life-saving skills, and increasing costs for the NHS and mental health services.

Learning to swim and be safe around water is not a luxury, it’s a basic life skill. In the same way we teach every child to read a write, we should be teaching every child how to safely engage with the world around them, and a large part of that world is water.

Without our community pools, this ask is impossible.

TRAVELLING by train can sometimes be incredibly expensive, but one company in Europe has released super cheap tickets.

Some of its journeys cost as little as €9 (£7.84) – and with that you can travel between the popular beaches and the inland cities.

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Train company Ouigo has launched cheap tickets for passengers to use across Spain[/caption]

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You can travel to the popular cities like Madrid and Barcelona[/caption]

The cheap tickets have been launched by train company Ouigo and are valid for travel between December 14, 2025, and August 2, 2026.

With these tickets, passengers can go to destinations across Spain including Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Zaragoza, Alicante, Albacete, Cuenca, Valladolid, Segovia and Tarragona.

It’s a great way for holidaymakers to travel across Spain and explore multiple locations from the beaches of Barcelona and Alicante, to the bustling cities of Murcia and Madrid.

There are four new services from Ouigo this year which are the Madrid-Barcelona, Madrid-Seville, Madrid-Málaga and Madrid-Murcia routes.

One route offering the €9 (£7.84) ticket is from Alicante to Murcia on journeys throughout December to summer next year.

Some of the most popular routes include Barcelona-Madrid – on the Ouigo website these tickets can be picked up for €15 (£13.06).

With a low cost ticket, travellers get one hand luggage bag and one carry-on bag included.

For an extra fee, travellers can choose their seat in advance, get Wi-Fi, and entertainment.

These extras come included for passengers who upgrade to Ouigo Plus, which is an extra €9 (£7.84).

There are options to bring pets onboard for an additional fee of €10 (£8.71).

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In Murcia, explore the beautiful beaches and city ruins[/caption]

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Tickets on these journeys start at just €9 (£7.84)[/caption]

Alongside the €9 (£7.84) fares, Ouigo offers special prices for kids aged four to 13, at just €7 (£6.10) per ticket.

Children under three years old travel for free, as long as they’re seated on an adult’s lap throughout the journey.

There are thousands of tickets on offer which you can buy on its website and the Ouigo app.

Another train service is set to launch as an alternative to taking short-haul flights across Europe.

The company called Nox has revealed plans to begin a sleeper train service with private cabins with unbeatable views for passengers while connecting them across countries – and at an affordable price.

Berlin start-up Nox wants to “build a real alternative to short-haul flights” with entirely private rooms on its sleeper trains from 2027.

Nox wants to connect cities across Europe starting with the likes of Stockholm, Vienna, Amsterdam, Toulouse, Barcelona all the way to Reggio di Calabria in Italy.

Tickets aren’t yet on sale, Nox hopes to be as “affordable as a flight.”

It estimates single rooms will be as low as €79 (£68.77), with double rooms from €149 (£129.70).

Here in the UK, these new ‘secret fare’ train tickets will connect UK cities but will have mystery departure times.

Check out this new UK train service to connect two major cities and tickets are a bargain.

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Travellers can go between major cities for just £7 with Ouigo[/caption]

More than eight in 10 Gen Z workers view business trips to as an opportunity to ‘upgrade’ their lifestyle.

A poll of 2,000 business travellers found 26 per cent often seek cool entertainment and content creation opportunities while away for work.

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97 per cent of the younger generation have hacks they use to make their work travel much more fun[/caption]

While a third of Gen Z love expensing nice dinners out on work trips, almost three quarters would pay out of pocket to upgrade their meals or hotel rooms compared to just 27 per cent of their older, boomer aged colleagues.

As a result, 36 per cent will post on social media more often than usual to share these work perks, sharing three photos a day per trip with their online pals.

The research was commissioned by Hotels.com to mark the launch of ‘Save Your Way’ which allows members to choose whether to save up front with their member discount, or bank it as rewards to use later.

Melanie Fish, a spokesperson for the brand, said “Travelling for business doesn’t have to be all work and it shows the younger generation are fully embracing this.

“Not only are Gen Z and Millennials the most likely to extend their trip for leisure, they’re also the most resourceful, with 39 per cent saying they maximise their rewards from business travel on personal trips.

“We also found that 97 per cent of the younger generation have hacks they use to make their work travel much more fun.”

The research found additional tips for enhancing business travel included extending trips by a few ‘personal days’ to make the most of them (35 per cent) or saving up their daily food allowance for one fancy dinner (27 per cent).

And 43 per cent would like to take a friend or family member along with them, to share new experiences.

More than a third (36 per cent) of the young workers polled are also likely to expense a taxi or private car ahead of taking public transport.

One element all generations had in common was New York topping the list of dream work trip destinations, according to the OnePoll.com figures.

Melanie Fish for Hotels.com added: “For Gen Z, business trips are a chance to advance their careers – while also meeting new people and exploring new places.

“While this new research shows differences in what workers of different ages want, we want to enable every generation’s priorities by offering flexibility in how they use their member discounts”.

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More than a third (36 per cent) of the young workers polled are also likely to expense a taxi or private car ahead of taking public transport[/caption]

"It is precisely the civilian and energy infrastructure that is the main target of Russia's strikes ahead of the heating season," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X.

IT looks like Paloma Faith’s feud with Alan Carr has spilled over into real life after he brutally murdered her in plain sight on The Celebrity Traitors.

BBC One viewers were left in shock after traitor Alan decided to kill off Paloma, despite the two being friends outside of the show.

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Paloma Faith took a savage swipe at Alan Carr and tagged him in it on Instagram[/caption]

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She dropped huge clues that the show feud has spilled onto real life[/caption]

Now the singer has dropped three clues that the pair’s friendship might be over in real life.

As the show aired on Thursday evening, Paloma shared an Instagram story of her simply swearing “f**k” as she tagged Alan in it.

As well as this, during her exit interview, she took the time to praise many of her castmates but notably left Alan out.

When asked what her highlights on the show were, she explained: “I liked feeling how physically competent I was with the Trojan horse. That was such a thrilling group achievement and hard work.

“Also, meeting people I’d never crossed paths with before. Celia is just an absolute dream. And I love, love Niko. He’s amazing.

“It was so nice to meet Cat as well. Ruth Codd was one of the funniest, most brilliant people I’ve met in a long time!”

The final nail in the coffin is on a post the performer uploaded to her Instagram feed.

In the picture, a devastated Paloma is seen sitting by the grave she was buried in as she captioned it: “Honestly. GUTTED. No words @bbc @bbciplayer #traitors.”

One fan of the show commented: “I thought @chattyman was your friend,” as she responded: “So did I,” proving the brutal murder on the show has spilled over into their real-life friendship.

Traitors Jonathan Ross, Cat Burns and Alan Carr were tasked with killing one of the faithfuls in plain sight, with Alan ultimately delivering the final blow by touching his hand on the face of the person he wanted to kill.

Ultimately, host Claudia Winkleman revealed it was Paloma Faith who had been murdered as she slammed shut the coffin door on her.

Alan’s brutal murder of Paloma sent viewers into shock as they couldn’t believe he would murder his friend.

One unhappy viewer wrote on X: “Noooooo Alan! Not Paloma!”

Another said: “Paloma girl. You was GOT,” and someone else commented: “I cannot believe Paloma Faith is going to be dead by the end of the day…”

Ahead of the show airing this week, Paloma revealed she was surprised by the “psychological impact” the show had on her.

She told The Sun on Sunday: “It is not on camera – I went to see them [welfare] all the time. Yeah it was a therapist.

“I definitely learned some things about myself that I thought I had moved on from, from my childhood and everything.

“I guess it is a game of trust isn’t it so it is quite unsettling when you feel like everyone you know might not be as trustworthy as they seem – everyone is playing a game and it is hard to rationalise.”

She added: “Everyone who I have spoken to who is on it says they are worried about the edit because everybody could be painted as absolutely awful or absolutely gorgeous and it is up to whoever is editing to decide.

“I was surprised at the psychological impact on me – I thought that I would be able to keep thinking it was a game but when you get in it you are quite isolated for a long time from the outside world as you are not allowed contact.

“It is quite quick that your mind turns towards that tunnel vision and you get quite caught up in it in a way that I wasn’t expecting – I thought I would laugh everything off.”

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Paloma was murdered on the show and closed into a coffin[/caption]