'What a goal!' Great Britton volley helps fire Weston-super-Mare through

Watch as Louis Britton scores a thunderous volley for Weston-super-Mare in a 2-0 victory at Chelmsford City that sends them through to the third round of the FA Cup.

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Creative hobbies keep the brain young, study finds — here are the best ones to pursue

A large-scale international study found that creative activities such as music, dance, painting and even certain video games may help keep the brain biologically "younger."

Researchers from 13 countries — including teams at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland and SWPS University in Poland — analyzed brain data from more than 1,400 adults of all ages worldwide and found that those who regularly pursue creative hobbies show brain patterns that appear younger than their actual age.

Even short bursts of creative activity, such as a few weeks of strategy-based video gaming, had noticeable benefits, according to the study, which was published in the journal Nature Communications in October.

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Scientists collected brain data from people with advanced experience in tango, music, visual art and strategy gaming, but they also recruited non-experts for comparison. In addition, a third group of beginners underwent short-term training in StarCraft II, a strategy video game, so researchers could see how learning a new creative skill affects the brain over just a few weeks.

All participants underwent EEG and MEG brain scans that were fed into machine-learning "brain age" models, or brain clocks, which estimate how old the brain appears biologically versus chronologically. Researchers then used advanced computer models to explore why creativity might protect the brain and found that the hobbies help strengthen the networks responsible for coordination, attention, movement and problem-solving, which can weaken with age.

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People with years of creative practice showed the strongest reductions in brain age, but even beginners saw improvements, with strategy games boosting brain-age markers after roughly 30 hours of training.

"One of our key takeaways is that you do not need to be an expert to benefit from creativity," Dr. Carlos Coronel, first author and postdoctoral fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin and Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, said in a statement. "Indeed, we found that learners gained from brief video game training sessions."

According to the researchers, this was the first large-scale evidence directly linking multiple creative fields to slower brain aging, though previous research has linked creativity to improved mood and well-being.

BRAIN AGING MAY SLOW WITH GREEN TEA, WALNUTS AND TINY SWAMP PLANT, STUDY FINDS

"Creativity emerges as a powerful determinant of brain health, comparable to exercise or diet," senior author Dr. Agustin Ibanez of Trinity College Dublin said in a statement. "Our results open new avenues for creativity-based interventions to protect the brain against aging and disease."

Dr. Aneta Brzezicka of SWPS University added that the findings suggest that creative pastimes should be incorporated into educational and healthcare programs as tools to support brain health.

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The study also showed that brain clocks, a relatively new tool gaining steam in neuroscience, can be used to monitor interventions aimed at improving brain health, Ibanez said.

The researchers cautioned, however, that the results are early and come with caveats, including that most participants were healthy adults, many subgroups were small, and the study didn't track people long-term to see whether younger-looking brains actually lead to lower dementia risk or better daily functioning.

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"The brain clock, in preliminary studies, shows promise and accounts for the diversity of the factors that can contribute to that wide disparity between our brain age and chronological age," Dr. Jon Stewart Hao Dy, a board-certified adult neurologist from the Philippines, told Fox News Digital. 

"However, it's important for the public to know that brain health is influenced by a multitude of factors that cause a wide brain age gap," added Dy, who was not involved in the study. 

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Creative people often have other advantages, the researchers noted, such as higher education, robust social lives and better access to arts and activities, and the study couldn't fully separate those factors from the effects of creativity itself.

"Evidence shows that dancing, painting, pottery, embroidery and even museum visits confer the greatest neuroprotection in preserving cognition and improving cognitive function in older adults," Dy said, and he agreed that the science is strong enough to justify action. "It's a matter of translating it into public policy that will fund and support these programs."

The work, which was funded by academic and public research bodies, will now be followed by more comprehensive studies that add other creative fields and link brain-age measures to real-world outcomes such as memory, thinking skills and disease risk.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the study authors for comment.

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Bondi blasts discrimination lawsuit from immigration judge: 'Last time I checked, I'm a woman too'

Attorney General Pam Bondi pushed back Tuesday after being sued by a former immigration judge who claims she was wrongfully fired — the first legal challenge to the Trump administration’s sweeping removal of more than 100 immigration judges this year.

The lawsuit, filed Monday by former Ohio immigration Judge Tania Nemer, accuses the Justice Department of discrimination based on sex, nationality and political affiliation. Its filing comes as the administration accelerates its effort to reshape the immigration courts amid record legal clashes over its border crackdown.  

Speaking at a White House Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump, Bondi dismissed the discrimination allegations and highlighted the department’s recent push against violent crime and drug trafficking in the face of numerous lawsuits. 

"Most recently, yesterday, I was sued by an immigration judge who we fired," Bondi said. "One of the reasons she said she was a woman."

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"Last I checked, I was a woman as well," she quipped.

Nemer's lawsuit accuses the Justice Department of illegally violating her protections under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as well as her First Amendment rights to engage in political activity. 

She is not the only immigration judge to be removed from her position under the Trump administration. Since January, at least 100 immigration judges have been fired or "pushed out" from their roles, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, a union that represents many of the judges. 

Eight immigration judges were fired in New York City on Monday, The New York Times reported this week, prompting fresh concerns about the reduction in staff and ability to handle the caseload. 

"I think what's happening in the immigration court system is very troubling," Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute and director of the office at NYU's law school, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

"People have always had doubts about the independence of the [immigration] court system," Chishti said. 

But the events of the last few months "have eroded trust completely in the Executive Office for Immigration Review," he added, saying the mass removals could have a chilling effect on judges who might apply to fill the vacant spots, and who might feel pressured to rule in a certain way. 

100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND 'TEFLON DON': TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on the lawsuit filed by the former judge, or on the other removals reported by the Times and the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Bondi framed the lawsuit as one of hundreds that have been filed against the Trump administration, in what she and other administration officials have described as an effort to oppose the president's agenda and policies in court.

"We have been sued 575 times," Bondi told Trump and members of his Cabinet. "More than every administration going back to Reagan combined."

She also highlighted the Trump administration's success with many of the cases that it has appealed to the Supreme Court for emergency intervention. 

"Twenty-four Supreme Court wins, President Trump," Bondi told the president on Tuesday. "A 92% success rate." 

The Trump administration has indeed seen a record number of Supreme Court victories this year by way of the so-called emergency or "shadow docket," which allows the administration to appeal the case to the high court for immediate intervention. 

Often, the appeals are resolved via unsigned orders published by the Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority. 

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Though they are not intended to be permanent, the Supreme Court "shadow docket" rulings have allowed the Trump administration to proceed with a wide range of its policies, including its ban on transgender service members in the military, its termination of millions of dollars in Education Department grants and DEI funding and to proceed with the firing of certain federal board members, among many other things.

"We're winning nationwide injunctions, ending DEI funding, [and] working to secure that our federal workforce is aligned with your America First agenda, representing pretty much everyone in this room," Bondi said Tuesday. 

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Cop describes recognizing Luigi Mangione when he pulled down mask at McDonald's

One of the Pennsylvania police officers who arrested accused assassin Luigi Mangione at a McDonald's in Altoona last year took the witness stand in his evidence suppression hearing Tuesday morning, testifying about the moment he realized the suspicious person eating breakfast in a corner might be a suspected killer.

Altoona Police Officer Joseph Detwiler testified that while on his way to responding to the call, he didn't expect to actually find the suspected assassin. But when he arrived, he said that as soon as Mangione pulled down his face mask he believed he was looking at a wanted man.

Detwiler said he never asked Mangione if he had murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. He testified that he asked for Mangione's name, for his ID, if he had been to New York recently, where he was from and if he was from Altoona. 

LUIGI MANGIONE’S JOURNAL NOT ‘MANIFESTO’ ABOUT HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY GRIEVANCES, ATTORNEY ARGUES

He said he never said Mangione was under arrest, never prevented Mangione from leaving and never mentioned the shooting in New York City.

He said he grew suspicious and moved Mangione's bag away from him, fearing there might be a weapon inside.

Later, police alleged they found the suspected murder weapon in the bag.

Mangione is accused of shooting Thompson from behind outside a Manhattan hotel last year.

LUIGI MANGIONE ASSASSINATION CASE SIGNALS DOJ SHIFT ON DEATH PENALTY IN BLUE STATES, EXPERT SAYS

Police grabbed journals and other writing from Mangione's backpack. They also took his fake New Jersey ID, under the name "Mark Rosario," and recovered the alleged murder weapon and a 3D-printed silencer.

Mangione's defense has argued that the search of his belongings without a warrant was unlawful, and therefore the evidence should be suppressed. Prosecutors countered that police were doing their job within the bounds of the law and that the search was justified without requiring a warrant.

The defense also wants some of Mangione's statements suppressed.

First he allegedly gave police a fake name — the one that appears on his alleged fake ID from New Jersey, which police say he used to check into the Manhattan hostel days before Thompson’s assassination.

He also, while in custody, allegedly blurted out something about having a 3D-printed gun. The Pennsylvania jail guard who heard that statement testified that the accused assassin brought it up on his own.

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Real Apple support emails used in new phishing scam

A new phishing scam is getting a lot of attention because it uses real Apple Support tickets to trick people into giving up their accounts. Broadcom's Eric Moret shared how he nearly lost his entire Apple account after trusting what looked like official communication. He described the full experience in a detailed post on Medium, where he walked through the scam step by step.

This scheme stands out because the scammers relied on Apple's own support system to make their messages look legitimate. They created an experience that felt polished and professional from the first alert to the final phone call. Here's how the scam unfolded.

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THE #1 GOOGLE SEARCH SCAM EVERYONE FALLS FOR

Moret first received a flood of alerts. These included two-factor authentication notifications that claimed someone was trying to access his iCloud account. Within minutes, he got phone calls from calm, helpful callers who claimed to be Apple agents ready to fix the issue.

The twist is how convincing the entire setup felt. The scammers were able to exploit a flaw in Apple's Support system that lets anyone create a genuine support ticket without verification. They opened a real Apple Support case in his name, which triggered official emails from an Apple domain. This built instant trust and lowered Moret's guard.

That link took him to a fake site called appeal apple dot com. The page looked official and claimed his account was being secured. It then told him to enter a six-digit code sent by text to finish the process.

When Moret entered that code, the scammers got exactly what they needed to sign into his account.

He then got an alert that his Apple ID had been used to sign into a Mac mini he did not own. That confirmed the takeover attempt. Even though the scammer on the phone said this was normal, he trusted his instinct. He reset his password again, which kicked them out and stopped the attack.

BEWARE FAKE CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT RESTRICTION SCAMS

This type of scam works because it feels real. The messages look official, and the callers sound trained. Still, you can stay safer by watching out for signs that something is off.

Scammers created a real-looking ticket to make the entire experience seem legitimate. You can confirm what's real by checking directly with Apple. Sign in at appleid.apple.com or open the Apple Support app to view your recent cases. If the case number isn't listed there, the message is fake, even if the email comes from an Apple domain.

Never stay on a call that you did not initiate. Scammers rely on long conversations to build trust and pressure you into quick decisions. Hang up right away and call Apple Support directly at 1-800-275-2273 or through the Support app. A real agent will quickly confirm whether anything is wrong.

If something feels off, look at the devices signed into your account. Go to Settings, tap your name and scroll to see all devices linked to your Apple ID. Remove anything you don't recognize. This step can stop attackers fast if they've managed to get in.

No real support agent will ever ask for your two-factor authentication codes. Treat any request for these codes as a major warning.

Look closely at URLs. Fake sites often add extra words or change formatting to appear real. Apple will never send you to a site like appeal apple dot com.

SCAMMERS ARE ABUSING ICLOUD CALENDAR TO SEND PHISHING EMAILS

Strong antivirus software can spot dangerous links, unsafe sites, and fake support messages before you tap them. Anti-phishing tools are especially important with scams like this one since the attackers used a fake site and real ticket emails to trick victims.

The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have strong antivirus software installed on all your devices. This protection can also alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, keeping your personal information and digital assets safe.

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Data brokers collect your phone number, home address, email, and other details that scammers use to personalize attacks. A data removal service can wipe much of that information from broker sites, which makes you a harder target for social engineering attempts like the one described in this article.

While no service can guarantee the complete removal of your data from the internet, a data removal service is really a smart choice. They aren't cheap, and neither is your privacy. These services do all the work for you by actively monitoring and systematically erasing your personal information from hundreds of websites. It's what gives me peace of mind and has proven to be the most effective way to erase your personal data from the internet. By limiting the information available, you reduce the risk of scammers cross-referencing data from breaches with information they might find on the dark web, making it harder for them to target you.

Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com

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Keep two-factor authentication (2FA) on for every major account.  This creates a barrier that quickly stops attackers.

Scammers want you to panic. Pause before you act. Trust your instinct when something feels rushed or strange. A short delay could save your entire account.

This scam shows how convincing criminals can be when they exploit real systems. Even careful users can fall for messages that look official and calls that sound professional. The best defense is to stay alert and take a moment before responding to anything unexpected. When you slow down, double-check support tickets, and never share verification codes, you make yourself far harder to fool. Adding layers like antivirus protection and data removal services also gives you more control over what attackers can access. These simple habits can stop even the most polished scams before they get to your accounts.

What would you do if you got a support call that felt real but didn't seem right? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com

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Oxford debate society leader who celebrated Charlie Kirk's shooting now apologizing to his family

The former president-elect of the Oxford Union, the debating society at the University of Oxford, is apologizing to Charlie Kirk’s family after previously celebrating Kirk’s death. 

After Kirk’s assassination on Sept. 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University, George Abaraonye, the past president-elect of the Oxford Union, reportedly wrote in a WhatsApp group of Union members: "Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s f---ing go." He allegedly posted a similar message on Instagram.

Abaraonye lost a no-confidence vote in October, meeting the two-thirds requirement to remove him from his position.

SHOCK AND RESOLVE: STUDENTS REFLECT ON CHARLIE KIRK’S DEATH, FUTURE OF CONSERVATIVE MOVEMENT 

"I had very little context for what I was reacting to, but I wanted to start a conversation… I missed the mark… and that’s why I deleted and retracted my comments," he said, adding that his comments were made before the video of the shooting circulated online.

"As soon as I saw how serious it was, I went on Instagram to apologize," he said. 

Abaraonye, a 20-year-old student studying philosophy, politics and economics at University College, Oxford, told The Times in an article published Friday that he wanted to apologize to Kirk’s family. 

"I want to offer my apologies and my condolences," Abaraonye said. "No one deserves to lose a husband, no child deserves to grow up without a father. I hope that they are able, in some capacity, to move on from what was a tragic event and to that end, I am very sorry."

Abaraonye was on the committee that brought Kirk to the Oxford Union in May. Abaraonye went head to head with Kirk, and he said that there was "extensive debate" about whether Kirk should be allowed to appear in the first place.

PASTOR RECALLS LAST MOMENTS WITH CHARLIE KIRK: 'AMERICAN MARTYR'

Abaraonye said Kirk "didn’t exist in a vacuum," telling The Times that, "He had national influence, he influenced policy decisions in America, he was someone who had almost a direct line to the president. He wasn’t someone who could be ignored."

He said that his initial comments reacting to Kirk’s assassination were "without nuance and without having done research. I saw a headline and I reacted. I didn’t take into account the nuance or consider that at all when I made the comments." 

He added he received abusive messages online for his comments.

Fox News Digital reached out to Abaraonye for additional comment. 

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Sir Tom Stoppard: Witty and playful writer who took ideas seriously

He was an award-winning playwright whose witty works delighted generations.

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