Fans were in disbelief as Travis Kelce had previously expressed his desire to meet Taylor Swift during the Eras Tour

Explore HBCU culture with Tones of Melanin, the brainchild of Ashley Jones, as seen on 'Shark Tank'—where fashion meets education, starting at just $20

By Michael Martina and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON The U.S. says it has accepted an invitation to attend China's

Throughout history, there have been occasional little mysteries that have centered around supposed “time travellers” claiming to be from parallel dimensions. One occurred in Ukraine back in 2006, which saw a man claiming to be from years in the past turn up in Kyiv without much in the way of explanation. Another centres around the man who tried to pass himself off as being from the non-existent country of Taured and hailing ‘from a parallel universe’. There are various stories that centre on the man from Taured, with many claiming the urban legend to be fact. The story goes that back in July 1954 a Caucasian man with a beard arrived at Haneda Airport, also known as Tokyo International Airport. After security staff grew suspicious of his identity, the passport check showed that a country called “Taured” was listed as his nationality. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “Taured”, of course, doesn’t exist. However, the man stated it had been a nation for more than 1,000 years and pointed at Andorra on the map, claiming it was located there. The Man From Taured www.youtube.com Amid the confusion, the man was taken to a hotel and put in a room. Two guards were placed outside the room until security staff were able to further investigate. Only, when the room was later opened, the man was missing. What was especially baffling was that the police established that he could not have escaped via his window as the room was too high up and there was no balcony. While many online believe the story to be gospel truth, the fact of the matter is that the truth behind the story is something much more mundane. As Snopes reports, the tale is a “greatly embellished and fantastical version of a far less sensational real story”. In reality, the site states that the story was likely inspired by the real figure of John Allen Kuchar Zegrus who presented a fake passport from the state of “Tuarid” and was swiftly arrested in Japan in 1959. While little detail is known about him, it’s thought that the man used the fake passport to travel through the Middle East before he was arrested and sentenced to a year in prison after cashing forged cheques in Japan. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

There are plenty of actors and actresses who end up making films and TV shows that they don’t like – but few actually admit as much. One person who has is Jacob Elordi. The Australian actor revealed that he thinks his 2018 film The Kissing Booth is “ridiculous” and said that he never wanted to make the movie or its sequels. The 26-year-old is known for his roles in Euphoria, as well as the three films in the Kissing Booth series. He also stars as Elvis Presley in the new Sophia Coppola film Priscilla. However, the actor was asked about his experiences making the romcoms earlier on in his career, where he played the protagonist Noah Flynn. The film has a rating of just 15 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes - and Elordi is a little sheepish about starring in them. Speaking to GQ, Elordi said he “didn't [actually] want to make those movies before [he] made those movies” Branding the films “ridiculous”, he said: "They're not universal. They're an escape." He went on to discuss the balance actors and actresses in Hollywood often choose to take, balancing making ‘one for them’ and then one film for themselves as a performer. "It can become 15 for them, none for you. You have no original ideas and you’re dead inside. So it’s a fine dance,” he said. Elordi admitted that he “felt very corny” after making The Kissing Booth. "I felt like I had to prove to everyone that I was a serious actor. I felt terribly misunderstood." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

Ridder just wanted a high-five.

Russian is evacuating thousands of people and a major highway has been shut down in the Crimean peninsula after a fire broke out at a military training base in the Kirovske district. “It is planned to temporarily evacuate residents of four settlements – this is more than 2,000 people,” said Russian-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov. An ammunition depot was on fire at the base after an overnight Ukrainian air raid, reported Russian Telegram channels linked to Moscow’s security services. Neither Ukraine nor Russia has confirmed the reports of an attack. Big flames and plumes of smoke were seen in videos shared online showing an uninhabited area, broken by a series of detonations. Some Telegram channels indicated that the fire was still not contained as of Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s port city of Odesa witnessed “hellish” scenes overnight as it sustained more Russian airstrikes, officials said, a day after Vladimir Putin pulled out of a deal to allow safe grain exports from the region. Authorities were still assessing the scale of damage and casualties from the “very powerful, truly massive” attack, said Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa military administration. Read More Aftermath of Russian missile attack on Odesa captured in bodycam footage South African leader says that arresting Putin if he comes to Johannesburg next month would be 'war' In Ukraine, a family's ordeal to identify and honor a veteran killed in Bucha ends after 16 months Chris Christie mocks Trump’s ‘top secret’ plan for ending Ukraine war: ‘Move over Churchill’

The Kremlin said Wednesday that investigators were probing all possible scenarios surrounding the death last week of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in a...

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Federal prosecutors in Donald Trump’s latest indictment are seeking a protective order after he posted a perceived threat on Truth Social. A day after being arrested and pleading not guilty to four federal charges for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Mr Trump wrote on his social media site: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” The Department of Justice cited that post in asking District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan for a protective order that would limit what discovery evidence Mr Trump and his legal team can share publicly. Special counsel Jack Smith’s team said such an order could help prevent a “harmful chilling effect on witnesses”. The Trump campaign then issued a statement insisting his post was not a threat of revenge but rather “political speech”. “The Truth post cited is the definition of political speech, and was in response to the RINO, China-loving, dishonest special interest groups and Super PACs, like the ones funded by the Koch brothers and the Club for No Growth,” the campaign said. Judge Chutkan is giving Mr Trump and his attorneys until Monday to respond to the protective order request. Read More Trump appears to stumble over his name and age at arraignment Will Donald Trump go to prison? Trump was told not to talk to witnesses in 2020 election conspiracy case. That could be a challenge. What is an arraignment? Here’s what to expect following Trump’s indictment

Max Verstappen goaded his forlorn rivals by challenging Red Bull to pointless “pit-stop training” during his exhibition win in Belgium on Sunday. Verstappen started sixth by virtue of a grid penalty for a gearbox change, but he assumed the lead on lap 17 of 44 before taking the chequered flag 22.3 seconds clear of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez. Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton started third and crossed the line in fourth. Verstappen’s triumph was his eighth in a row – leaving him just one short of Sebastian Vettel’s record. It also marked his 10th victory from 12 rounds so far this season, his 19th from his last 23 outings and Red Bull’s 22nd in that period. The team from Milton Keynes head into Formula One’s summer break unbeaten this season. Verstappen is riding on a wave of invincibility – a staggering 125 points clear in the championship – and with nine laps remaining here, his supreme confidence was expressed in a message to his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. “I could also push on and we do another stop?” he said. “A little bit of pit-stop training?” “Not this time,” replied Lambiase. “He has reason to be cheeky because he is just driving circles round everybody else on merit,” was the verdict of Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff following another so-so afternoon for the Silver Arrows. “The stopwatch never lies and there is one guy in one car above everyone else.” From sixth to fourth at the end of the first lap, Verstappen dispatched of Hamilton at 210mph on the Kemmel Straight on lap six, and then Leclerc three laps later following a fine move round the outside of the Ferrari pole-sitter at Les Combes. Then came the first of a series of sharp-edged radio exchanges with Lambiase which would provide some entertainment on a one-sided afternoon in the Ardennes. Trailing Perez, Verstappen wanted Red Bull to perform a double-stack tyre-stop in order not to lose any time to his team-mate on fresh rubber. But his request was rebuffed by the Red Bull pit wall. “So don’t forget Max, use your head please,” said Lambiase. “Are we both doing it (stopping) or what?” replied Verstappen. “You just follow my instruction,” came Lambiase’s response. “No, I want to know both cars do it,” fired back Verstappen. “Max, please follow my instruction and trust it, thank you,” said Lambiase. Lambiase was promptly back on the radio to ask Verstappen if he could make his dry rubber last for the next nine minutes with fine drizzle anticipated. “I can’t see the weather radar,” was Verstappen’s spiky response. A lap after Perez stopped for tyres, Verstappen came in. He left the pit-lane 2.8 sec adrift of the Mexican but he required only two laps before he was crawling all over the back of his team-mate’s identical machine. Verstappen tracked Perez through the fearsome Eau Rouge-Raidillon section before he applied DRS and roared round Perez along the Kemmel Straight. By the end of that 17th lap, Verstappen had already established a 1.6 sec gap over his team-mate. It then began to drizzle, and Verstappen endued a hairy moment through Eau Rouge as the back end of his Red Bull stepped out at 180mph. “F***, I nearly lost it,” said the championship leader after he regained control. On lap 29, Perez now trailing Verstappen by nine seconds, stopped for a second time, with Verstappen following in on the same lap and then building on his lead. Lambiase returned to the airwaves. “You used a lot of the tyre on the out-lap, Max,” he said. “I am not sure if that was sensible.” Verstappen responded by producing the fastest lap of the race. Verstappen’s back-and-forth with Lambiase, known as GP, came 48 hours after they squabbled over the radio in qualifying. But Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “GP and Max have been together since the first race that Max stepped into the car. Max is a demanding customer. And you’ve got to be a strong character to deal with that. “GP is our Jason Statham equivalent, certainly a lookalike, and he deals with him firmly but fairly. “There’s a great respect between the two of them and that comes out of a mutual trust, which you must have between an engineer and a driver. There’s no counselling required.” The sport will now head for a four-week shutdown before Verstappen’s home race in the Netherlands on August 27.