A TELLY gangster’s moll, a chef who promises to treat dancing like risotto and an Olympic gold medallist are among the five newest names for Dancing With The Stars. The RTE show returns to screens next month with a bit of Kin thrown in as Yasmin Seky takes to the dance floor. She’s best known for playing Nikita Murphy, the partner of gang enforcer Eric ‘Viking’ Kinsella, played by Sam Keeley. Yasmin, from Cabra in Dublin , said: “I’m a little nervous, as I’ve never really done anything like this before. But I’m really excited too. “I suppose nervousness and excitement manifests in the body the same way, so I don’t know which one I am! I think the anxiety that I have from time to time motivated me to take part. “With acting on screen, if you mess up you can go again, but with this you get one shot and you just have to make it happen!” Yasmin starred in a short film as a teen but never considered acting as a career until casting director Louise Kiely got in touch ten years later to get her to audition for Kin. She went on to win the Royal Television Society Ireland Award for Best Newcomer for her role and is currently filming a Channel 5 crime drama, The Puzzle Lady in Northern Ireland , starring Downton Abbey star Phyllis Logan. Meanwhile RTE will be hoping for an online bounce by signing up social media star Kayleigh Trappe. The former primary school teacher has amassed over 400,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram . Kayleigh, 29, posts comedy sketch videos, in which she lip syncs along to famous pop culture clips Some of her most sketches have even attracted attention from those she has imitated, including Nadine Coyle and the cast of Derry Girls. But Kayleigh expects moving off people’s phones and onto the small screen to be a “big change”. She said: “I’m so excited. It feels so surreal, especially because I’m so used to just being behind the camera in the comfort of my own home, and now I’m going full glitz and glam. “It’s a big change but I can’t wait to get the Glitterball rolling! This type of glam has never been a part of my life, but I have so much support from my family and friends at home in Monaghan. I can’t wait to be in the midst of it all now.” Telly chef Kevin Dundon is also ready to cook up some dance routines — and he’s looking forward to impressing his wife. The Dublin kitchen whizz, 58, who has cooked for Irish and US presidents and the late Queen Elizabeth, said: “The fact that I’m actually going to learn to dance means that my wife will hopefully now enjoy dancing with me at weddings, and I won’t make a complete fool of myself! I’m a little bit nervous, as it’s quite difficult to learn the moves. “It’s tricky. As a chef, I’m coordinated, but not with my feet. My first dance is an American smooth, so I’m going to treat it like a risotto, nice and slow with a little bit of excitement at the end.” Season eight of DWTS will feature two Olympians with gymnast Rhys McClenaghan joining taekwondo star Jack Woolley on the show . Named RTE’s Sportsperson of the Year in 2023, the Co Down man became the first person to win a gold medal in pommel horse for Ireland at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The 25-year-old said: “I’m thrilled to take on this new challenge and look forward to bringing some gymnastics skills to the dance floor. I am approaching my training for the 2025 competition year differently. “I took some time to travel, and as I begin my first training block for the LA Games, I will also have some fun figuring out how to dance! "Hopefully, with the guidance of my pro dance partner, I can bring some of my pommel horse flair to the dance floor, too.” Meanwhile Virgin Media star Elaine Crowley will be hoping to win fans over on rival station RTE after signing up for the show. The Cork presenter, 47, has been incredibly honest in the past about the personal struggles she has faced throughout her long career. She was praised for revealing her diagnosis with dysphoria, a mental state which means she will often feel deeply uneasy or low. But Elaine is ready to try something new. She said: “I’ve never done anything remotely like this before, never mind in front of so many people. “But my eldest sister said to me, you haven’t put yourself out of your comfort zone for decades. You can interview the politicians. You can do all the stuff on Ireland AM , but challenge yourself for once. “So bring it on. What’s the worst that can happen?” Eurovision’s Mickey Joe Harte, comedian Gearoid Farrelly, Mrs Brown’s Boys actor Danny O’Carroll and ex-Miss Universe Ireland Aishah Akorede are also taking part. The final celeb's name will be revealed this weekend.What happens next with Alex Jones' Infowars? No certainty yet after sale to The Onion is rejected
AGNC Investment Corp. Declares Monthly Common Stock Dividend of $0.12 per Common Share for December 2024Lebawit Lily Girma | (TNS) Bloomberg News When winter rolls around, travelers predictably turn their attention to beaches. And this year, it’s the destination that comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean” that’s experiencing outsize demand from Americans planning a warm island vacation. Talk about trashing stereotypes. Related Articles Travel | Would you pay $700 a night to sleep under the stars at this Colorado resort? Travel | Thailand’s starring role in ‘The White Lotus’ is about to pay off Travel | 5 under-the-radar travel destinations the UN says you should visit Travel | Gift ideas for people planning their next trip Travel | Lights and decor, réveillon meals make Christmastime special in New Orleans Puerto Rico has recovered overseas visitors (excluding those from Canada and Mexico) faster than any U.S. state or territory — a staggering 85% increase over its 2019 overseas inbound visitor levels as of 2023, according to an October study from the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office. There are now more daily flights from the U.S. West Coast, and hotel bookings are 6% higher so far in this last quarter of 2024 year-over-year. It’s a trifecta of tourism growth: more visitors, but also longer stays and a higher spend that reached a record $9.8 billion in 2023, boosting small businesses as well as major brands. “We don’t have a slow season in Puerto Rico anymore,” says Brad Dean, chief executive officer at Discover Puerto Rico. Even if they’re not booking, people are dreaming about “La Isla.” By tracking flight searches for trips between November 2024 and February 2025, a measure of “inspirational” demand, tourism intelligence company Mabrian Technologies reports Puerto Rico is up 9% compared with the same period last year and leads Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and the Bahamas in the Caribbean proper. Only Costa Rica ranked higher in the wider region. Dean attributes Puerto Rico’s ongoing tourism growth to a strategic effort to reposition the island’s brand as more than a sun-and-sea destination, starting back in 2018. That led to the Live Boricua campaign, which began in 2022 and leaned heavily on culture, history and cuisine and was, Dean says, “a pretty bold departure” in the way Puerto Rico was showcased to travelers. He adds that at least $2 billion in tourism spend is linked to this campaign. “We (also) haven’t shied away from actively embracing the LGBTQ+ community, and that has opened up Puerto Rico to audiences that may not have considered the Caribbean before,” Dean says. Hotels are preparing to meet this growing demand: A number of established boutique properties are undergoing upgrades valued between $4 million and more than $50 million, including Hotel El Convento; La Concha, which will join the Marriott Autograph Collection; Condado Vanderbilt Hotel; and the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar. That’s in addition to ultra-chic options that are coming online in 2025, including the adults-only Alma San Juan, with rooms overlooking Plaza Colón in the heart of Old San Juan, and the five-star Veranó boutique hotel in San Juan’s trendy Santurce neighborhood. The beachfront Ritz-Carlton San Juan in Isla Verde will also be reopening seven years after Hurricane Maria decimated the island. The travel industry’s success is helping boost employment on the island, to the tune of 101,000 leisure and hospitality jobs as of September 2024, a 26% increase over pre-pandemic levels, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Efforts to promote Puerto Rico’s provinces beyond the San Juan metro area — such as surfing hub Rincón on the west coast, historical Ponce on the south coast and Orocovis for nature and coffee haciendas in the central mountains —have spread the demand to small businesses previously ignored by the travel industry. Take Sheila Osorio, who leads workshops on Afro-Puerto Rican bomba music and dance at Taller Nzambi, in the town of Loíza, 15 miles east of San Juan; or Wanda Otero, founder of cheese-producing company Vaca Negra in Hatillo, an hour’s drive west of Old San Juan, where you can join a cheese-making workshop and indulge in artisanal cheese tastings. “The list of businesses involved in tourism has gone from 650 in 2018 to 6,100, many of which are artists and artisans,” Dean says. While New Yorkers and Miami residents have always been the largest visitor demographic, Dean says more mainland Americans now realize that going to Puerto Rico means passport-free travel to enjoy beaches, as well as opportunities to dine in Michelin-rated restaurants, hike the only rainforest in the U.S. and kayak in a bioluminescent bay. Visitors from Chicago and Dallas, for example, have increased by approximately 40% from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, compared with the same period in 2022-2023, and more travelers are expected from Denver now that United Airlines Holdings Inc. has kicked off its first nonstop service to San Juan, beginning on Oct. 29. Previously, beach destinations that were easy to reach on direct flights from Denver included Mexico, Belize and California, but now Puerto Rico joins that list with a 5.5-hour nonstop route that cuts more than two hours from the next-best option. Given United Airlines’ hub in San Francisco, it could mean more travelers from the Golden State in the near future, too. In December, U.S. airlines will have 3,000 more seats per day to the territory compared with the same period last year, for a total of 84,731 — surpassing even Mexico and the Dominican Republic in air capacity, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, the island’s primary gateway, is projecting a record volume of 13 million passengers by year’s end — far surpassing the 9.4 million it saw in 2019. As for Hinchcliffe’s “floating island of garbage” line, Dean says it was “a terribly insensitive attempt at humor” that transformed outrage into a marketing silver lining, with an outpouring of positive public sentiment and content on Puerto Rico all over social media. Success, as that old chestnut goes, may be the best revenge. “It was probably the most efficient influencer campaign we’ve ever had,” Dean says, “a groundswell of visitors who posted their photos and videos and said, ‘This is the Puerto Rico that I know.’” ©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
NEW YORK — Mariah Carey, still fighting off the flu, has announced the cancellation of her weekend Christmas concerts in New Jersey and New York. “Newark and Belmont — I wish I had better news but unfortunately I’m still sick and have to cancel the shows tonight and on Sunday,” she wrote on social media Friday morning, referring to her concerts at Newark’s Prudential Center and Elmont’s UBS Arena. “I’m really devastated about it and appreciate your support.” It doesn’t appear that either show will be rescheduled, though Ticketmaster assured fans they’d receive a full refund . The cancellations come two days after the Grammy winner told fans in Pittsburgh she’d come down with the flu just hours before that concert was scheduled to begin. As of Friday, the 55-year-old is still scheduled to perform at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Tuesday, wrapping up a 20-city trek of the annual Mariah Carey’s Christmas Time Tour. Fans online have largely been supportive of the ailing diva, who’s became synonymous with the holiday season thanks to her chart-topping 1994 hit “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Carey last performed on Monday in North Carolina where her 13-year-old twins, Moroccan and Monroe, delivered flowers to her onstage as it was announced the Christmas classic had returned to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the 15th time in 30 years. Netflix subscribers can see Carey on Christmas Day when a taped performance of the hitmaker airs before a pair of NFL games streaming live on the platform. Those wanting to see Carey perform live will have to wait until late January when she kicks off her “ Celebration of Mimi ” residency, which runs through Feb. 15 at the Park MGM in Las Vegas. ©2024 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com . Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Spotify Wrapped 2024 has listeners incredibly confused