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Pakistani authorities launch operation to clear Imran Khan supporters from the capitalSunday morning during an hour-long sermon, Bishop T.D. Jakes had "a slight health incident" while on stage during the church service, according to The Potter's House of Dallas. Bishop Jakes, who founded The Potter's House in 1996, has more than 30,000 members with several campuses in North Texas. While he was on the pulpit at the main campus on Sunday in Southern Dallas, after his "powerful hour-long message" he began to pray when he experienced a medical emergency on the stage. Part of the service was recorded from the live stream and posted to social media. In the video, Bishop Jakes is heard praying, "Oh Lord, my strength, my Redeemer, let him go in Peace." Immediately after he becomes quiet, lowers the microphone and begins to exhibit shaking. People, appearing to be church elders and staff, rushed the stage to support him before the video cuts off. "I had a chance to sit and watch it online and [I am] heartbroken and devastated to see that," said DeSoto Mayor Rachel Proctor. Proctor's been a member of the church for more than a decade and said she personally knows Bishop Jakes. She was watching the Sunday service online before attending an event. Proctor said right after the medical situation happened, someone came into the event to inform her. "I absolutely love Bishop he has again left such an indelible mark on my life, he's changed countless lives, so we're all standing in faith for his full recovery," said Proctor. According to a post made on X, Bishop T.D. Jakes experienced a health incident following an hour-long message he gave on stage. He received immediate medical attention and is in stable condition, according to the post. The specifics of the health incident have not been released. The statement went on to thank the community for its outpouring of love, prayers and support. "He's invested so much into each of us and into our spiritual growth and our development and leaders. So now it's our time to do the same for him and to keep him lifted up in prayer," said Proctor. Jakes, who is also a motivational speaker and author of several books, is also known for his contributions outside of the church walls. The 67-year-old has created many programs in the community including the T.D. Jakes Foundation STEAM Academy in partnership with the Dallas Mavericks to expose students to careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. He was honored in 2022 for the Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame. According to The Potter's House website , Jakes has advised presidents and was a featured speaker at the inauguration of former President Barack Obama in 2009. Jakes has millions of followers on social media. Those who follow his teachers are now leaning on their faith to wish him well after the senior pastor's health scare on Sunday. "We know there's nothing too hard for God, so the outpouring of love and prayers from DeSoto and beyond again just shows us how much he really has impacted the entire world," said Proctor.

Dejounte Murray is rejoining the Pelicans vs. Toronto and drawing inspiration from his motherRIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — Barrington Hargress scored 24 points and Nate Pickens made two free throws with less than a second remaining to help UC Riverside slip past St. Thomas-Minnesota 81-79 in overtime on Sunday. Pickens' foul shots came after Nolan Minessale made a free throw on both sides of a timeout to tie the game with 13 seconds to go. Isaiah Moses made two free throws for UC Riverside with 17 seconds left to force OT tied at 73. Hargress shot 10 for 20, including 4 for 10 from beyond the arc for the Highlanders (9-5, 2-0 Big West Conference). Kaleb Smith added 18 points and 10 rebounds. Pickens scored 10. The Tommies (10-5), who had a six-game win streak snapped, were led by Minessale with 27 points. Drake Dobbs added 19 points and Miles Barnstable scored 10. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .

Jet crash disaster in South Korea marks another setback for BoeingThe Eagle Valley girls volleyball team had four players named to the Western Slope all-league team for the 2024 season. Aspen Misch and Taylor Hooper earned first-team recognition and Zakia Shreeve and Riley Weatherred were named to the second team. Misch was also invited to play in the Colorado Coaches of Girls Sports All-State game on Nov. 24. The Devils placed second in the league with an 8-4 record, finishing behind only Battle Mountain (12-0) in the Western Slope standings. They were ousted in the regional tournament on Nov. 11 after falling to Palmer Ridge 3-1 and Green Mountain 3-0. The Huskies later faced Palmer Ridge in the state tournament, but were swept by the defending state champions. “We challenged ourselves to be our best at regionals and I believe we did that,” head coach Mike Garvey stated. “We came out ready to play and stole the first set 25-14. “We competed all night, but just were not the better team.” Coming off an undefeated league record in 2022 and a 2023 season which saw a senior-heavy squad take the Devils to their first state tournament since 2016 , Garvey said before this year began that his current team would need to believe in themselves and embrace the opportunities at hand. In addition to the competitiveness displayed at regionals, the coach said he witnessed growth throughout the season. “We learned many things,” he stated. “The team always responded well when we made mistakes and had to go to the next level in both practice and matches.” Misch had the most blocks on the team (66) and finished tops in hitting percentage (0.264). Hooper — who also was an all-league honorable mention athlete as a sophomore in 2022 — was second in kills (151). Shreeve led the team in kills (163) and aces (61) while Weatherred was tops in assists (289) and second in digs (184) and aces (37). The Devils graduate seven seniors — including all of the above mentioned players except Weatherred, who will be a junior next year — but Garvey is optimistically looking ahead to next fall. “We return four players and our rising senior class is a positive and energetic group,” he said.

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Social media allowed Sina Aghamofid to take control of his life. Growing up with ADHD, the 23-year-old says social media enabled him to connect with other young people with the same condition and to learn coping strategies. “It has been quite helpful to see others go through a similar journey and also to understand the tips and solutions they use that work for them,” Sina said. The law student regularly watches videos on TikTok and Instagram, made by creators who talk candidly about their experience with ADHD. “Some of them have worked for me, some of them haven’t but it has given me access to so many peers and to access their insights,” he said. Sina is an advocate for ReachOut, a youth mental health organisation which provides self-help and peer-based support for people aged 14 to 25. The Sydney resident recently travelled to Parliament House in Canberra to meet with politicians and voice his concern about the Albanese Government’s proposed social media ban for those aged 13 to 16. He sees banning access to social media platforms as a “Band-Aid solution”. “All these harms that we are trying to address with this legislation exist all over the internet, it is not really solely on social media,” he said. Sina wants the Federal Government to instead force tech companies to make online environments safer, and to provide better digital literacy to young people and their parents. ReachOut Director of Service Jackie Hallan is also concerned the proposed ban will restrict young people from accessing mental health support, describing social media as a “front door” for accessing professional services. “ReachOut has done research and found that 73 per cent of young people access mental health supports through social media and so we are really concerned if this ban comes into effect that young people under 16 will have that source cut off to them,” Hallan said. Mental health organisations including ReachOut, RockIt, Beyond Blue, Headspace, Orygen and Prevention United are all signatories to joint statement opposing the proposed age-based ban. Many of the organisations have worked with major social media platforms to educate them about youth mental health. Hallan believes better evidence-based solutions are needed. “Mandating safety by design, limiting sticky features like the infinite scroll that keeps people trapped and doom-scrolling and creating more transparency of the algorithms that drive the content engines on these platforms,” she said. Youth anti-bullying organisation Project RockIt Executive Director and Co-Founder Rosie Thomas OAM believes this is a “knee-jerk”, fear-driven policy. “We are calling on the government to consult with young people, with the youth mental health sector to make sure when we shape this beast, so it can be as fit for purpose and inclusive as possible,” she said. Professor Jo Robinson AM, Head of Suicide Research at Orygen, believes more long-term, causal evidence is needed. “A lot of the evidence we hear spoken about recently and a lot of the kind of conversations that have informed this new legislation has really been correlational evidence – so it has really identified that there has been an increase in youth mental health problems and an increase in social media use and put two and two together,” Robinson said. Robinson said the legislation poses “a real risk of unintended harmful consequences”. “A lot of the young people that we speak to aren’t necessarily in safe home environments so they don’t have the support from their parents and those young people are going to be left behind with this kind of regulation,” Robinson said. “Taking away access to that support through social media is going to leave a big gap for young people and we really need the government to be filling that with other forms of supports that are going to be available.” Some platforms, such as YouTube and WhatsApp, would be exempt from the ban. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, X and TikTok would not. The platforms could be fined up to $50 million if they breach the legislation. Speaking about the bill in parliament, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said: “While users can still be exposed to harmful content by other users, they do not face the same algorithmic curation of content and psychological manipulation to encourage near endless engagement.” The government has not indicated how a user’s age would be verified by the platforms. The laws would not take effect for at least 12 months, but the government hopes they will pass Parliament by the end of the week. If this story has raised any issues for you, you can contact: Lifeline on 13 11 14Uruguay's voters choose their next president in a close runoff with low stakes but much suspense

Hezbollah fires about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel in heaviest barrage in weeks BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah has fired about 250 rockets and other projectiles into Israel, wounding seven people in one of the militant group’s heaviest barrages in months. Sunday's attacks in northern and central Israel came in response to deadly Israeli strikes in central Beirut on Saturday. Israel struck southern Beirut on Sunday. Meanwhile, negotiators press on with cease-fire efforts to halt the all-out war. And Lebanon's military says an Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center in the southwest killed one soldier and wounded 18 others. Israel's military has expressed regret and said its operations are directed solely against the militants. Israel cracks down on Palestinian citizens who speak out against the war in Gaza UMM AL-FAHM, Israel (AP) — In the year since the war in Gaza broke out, Israel's government has been cracking down on dissent among its Palestinian citizens. Authorities have charged Palestinians with “supporting terrorism” because of posts online or for demonstrating against the war. Activists and rights watchdogs say Palestinians have also lost jobs, been suspended from schools and faced police interrogations. Palestinians make up about 20% of Israel's population. Many feel forced to self-censor out of fear of being jailed and further marginalized in society. Others still find ways to dissent, but carefully. Israel's National Security Ministry counters that, “Freedom of speech is not the freedom to incite.” Somalia says 24 people have died after 2 boats capsized in the Indian Ocean MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia's government says 24 people died after two boats capsized off the Madagascar coast in the Indian Ocean. Somalia’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Moalim Fiqi said 46 people were rescued. Most of the passengers were young Somalis, and their intended destination remains unclear. Many young Somalis embark every year on dangerous journeys in search of better opportunities abroad. A delegation led by the Somali ambassador to Ethiopia is scheduled to travel to Madagascar on Monday to investigate the incident and coordinate efforts to help survivors. Forecasts warn of possible winter storms across US during Thanksgiving week WINDSOR, Calif. (AP) — Forecasters in the U.S. have warned of another round of winter weather that could complicate travel leading up to Thanksgiving. California is bracing for more snow and rain while still grappling with some flooding and small landslides from a previous storm. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for California's Sierra Nevada through Tuesday, with heavy snow expected at high elevations. Thousands remained without power in the Seattle area on Sunday after a “bomb cyclone” storm system hit the West Coast last week, killing two people. Republicans lash out at Democrats' claims that Trump intelligence pick Gabbard is 'compromised' FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Republican lawmakers are pushing back against criticism from some Democrats that President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead U.S. intelligence services is “compromised” by her comments supportive of Russia and a meeting with an ally of that country. The accusation came from Sen. Tammy Duckworth. The Illinois Democrat says she has concerns about the pro-Russian views expressed by Tulsi Gabbard, who was tapped for the post of director of national intelligence. Duckworth’s comments on Sunday drew immediate backlash from Republicans. The rising price of paying the national debt is a risk for Trump's promises on growth and inflation WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has big plans for the economy. He also has big debt problem that'll be a hurdle to delivering on those plan. Trump has bold ambitions on tax cuts, tariffs and other programs. But high interest rates and the price of repaying the federal government’s existing debt could limit what he’s able to do. The federal debt stands at roughly $36 trillion, and the spike in inflation after the pandemic has pushed up the government’s borrowing costs such that debt service next year will easily exceed spending on national security. Moscow offers debt forgiveness to new recruits and AP sees wreckage of a new Russian missile KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law granting debt forgiveness to new army recruits who enlist to fight in Ukraine. The measure, whose final version appeared on a government website Saturday, underscores Russia’s needs for military personnel in the nearly 3-year-old war, even as it fired last week a new intermediate-range ballistic missile. Russia has ramped up military recruitment by offering increasing financial incentives to those willing to fight in Ukraine. Ukraine’s Security Service on Sunday showed The Associated Press wreckage of the new intermediate-range ballistic missile that struck a factory in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday. After Trump's win, Black women are rethinking their role as America's reliable political organizers ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump's victory has dismayed many politically engaged Black women, and they're reassessing their enthusiasm for politics and organizing. Black women often carry much of the work of getting out the vote, and they had vigorously supported the historic candidacy of Kamala Harris. AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters, found that 6 in 10 Black women said the future of democracy was the single most important factor for their vote this year, a higher share than for other demographic groups. But now, some Black women are renewing calls to emphasize rest, focus on mental health and become more selective about what fight they lend their organizing power to. Heavy rains in Bolivia send mud crashing into the capital, leaving 1 missing and destroying homes LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Authorities say that a landslide caused by heavy rains has flooded dozens of homes in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. It swept away a young girl, spurred evacuations and left parts of the city without electricity. Torrential rain on Saturday caused a river to spill its banks Sunday, dislodging mud from a southwestern La Paz neighborhood where low-slung, shoddily built dwellings dot the hillside. The torrent of debris and soil surged down a narrow ravine early Sunday, wrecking some two dozen homes and flooding another 40. Hours after the rain subsided, rescuers were still searching for the missing 5-year-old girl. Emergency workers saved six residents suffering from hypothermia. 'Wicked' and 'Gladiator' make gravity-defying theater debuts NEW YORK (AP) — “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” have debuted in theaters with a combined $270 million in ticket sales. Their worldwide performance breathed fresh life into global box office results that have struggled lately. Together the films turned the moviegoing weekend into one of the busiest of the year. Jon M. Chu’s lavish big-budget musical “Wicked,” starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, debuted with $114 million domestically and $164.2 million globally. Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator II” is a sequel to his 2000 best picture-winning original and launched with $55.5 million in ticket sales. “Moana 2” is being released Wednesday, so it looks like Hollywood might be looking at historic sales over the Thanksgiving holiday.TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The FBI announced in a press release that a man from Tucson was arrested for producing child sexual abuse material and cyberstalking offenses in connection with online violent terror networks. Baron Martin, 20, of Tucson, Arizona, was arrested on December 11. Martin was connected to terror networks known as 764 and CVLT. The FBI alleges that 764 is a network of violent extremists who engage in criminal conduct within the United States and abroad. "Those involved with the 764 network, individually and as a network, methodically target vulnerable, underage populations across the United States and the globe by using known online social media communications platforms," the FBI said. Martin used the social media platform Discord to communicate with two female victims, a 16-year-old and a 13-year-old. He would threaten each of them until they physically hurt, cut, or mutilate themselves while recording. Martin received videos from the victims and sent them to other users. Martin also cyberstalked another 13-year-old on Discord, threatening to kill her grandmother. The FBI says that if Martin is convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison for producing child abuse material and up to 10 years in prison for cyberstalking when the victim is a minor and no bodily injury resulted from the conduct. “The details in this case are simply horrific as the defendant allegedly coerced children to harm themselves multiple times,” said Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells of the FBI’s National Security Branch.South Korean authorities seek warrant to detain impeached president

The business tycoon has interests ranging from ports and airports to renewable energy in India and around the world. Gautam Adani, who India’s opposition calls a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been accused of conspiring to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to bribe Indian government officials to win solar energy contracts. The case alleges Mr Adani’s company, Adani Green Energy Ltd and another firm secured a lucrative deal to sell 12 gigawatts of solar power to the Indian government – enough to power millions of homes and businesses. Prosecutors say Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and six other associates, presented the project as promising to Wall Street investors, who invested billions into the project over five years. Meanwhile, back in India, they were accused of arranging or paying $265 million in bribes to Indian officials to secure billions of dollars worth of contracts and financing. The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said the tycoon and his co-defendants sought to “obtain and finance massive state energy supply contracts through corruption and fraud at the expense of US investors, US Attorney Breon Peace added the defendants “orchestrated an elaborate scheme” and wanted to “enrich themselves at the expense of the integrity of our financial markets.” It further alleges that “on several occasions, Gautam S. Adani personally met with an Indian government official to advance the bribery scheme” and claims to have electronic and mobile phone evidence of this. The criminal charges, filed on Wednesday in New York, are the latest blow to the 62-year-old Mr Adani, whose stock prices crashed after the news was released. Immediately following the indictment, Adani Green Energy announced it would not proceed with a $600 million bond offering. The group called the allegations baseless and stated that “possible legal recourse will be sought.” Previously, US short-seller Hindenburg Research published a report accusing the Adani Group of brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud, but this indictment represents the biggest setback for the group so far. Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi has demanded the immediate arrest of Gautam Adani. Get all the latest news from around the country Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country

Donald Trump won the 2024 election with one of the smallest popular-vote margins in U.S. history, but in news deserts — counties lacking a professional source of local news — it was an avalanche. Trump won 91% of these counties over his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris, according to an analysis of voting data by Medill Journalism School’s State of Local News project. While Trump’s national popular-vote margin was just under 1.5%, his margin in news deserts was massive. He won these counties by an average of 54 percentage points. In the few won by Harris, her margin was a comparatively slim 18 points, the analysis shows. The findings are based on results from 193 of the 206 counties Medill has identified as news deserts, in states where county-level election results are currently available. The third annual State of Local News report , released by Medill’s Local News Initiative in October, documented the continuing decline of local news across the country, as measured by the number of newspapers, circulation, frequency of publication, employment and readership. The report found that the highest concentration of counties with limited access to local news were in solidly “red” states, such as Texas, Kentucky, Arkansas, Idaho, Montana and Mississippi. In news deserts, Trump’s biggest margin of victory, in percentage terms, was in tiny King County in north Texas, which he won by 91 points (123 votes). His biggest margin of victory by votes was in Boone, Ky., a suburb of Cincinnati, which he won by 25,000 votes (37 points). Harris’ biggest margin by percentage points was in Allendale, S.C., which she won by 45 points (1,352 votes). Allendale is 85% Black with a 27% poverty rate. Her biggest margin of victory by votes was in Chesterfield, Va., a suburb of Richmond, which she won by 19,000 votes (9 points). Trump’s dominance of news deserts doesn’t imply a cause and effect. That is, people didn’t necessarily vote for Trump because they lack local news. Instead, a simpler and more obvious correlation may be at work: News deserts are concentrated in counties that tend to be rural and have populations that are less educated and poorer than the national average — exactly the kind of places that went strongly for Trump in 2024 and in 2020. (The nonprofit public-policy organization Rebuild Local News found that 87% of news-desert counties went for Trump over Joe Biden four years ago.) Granted, people who live in places without local news don’t lack access to information about a presidential election. Even if there’s no local paper or TV station, they can easily turn to national news sources such as CNN, Fox News, The New York Times; to social media; or to party and candidate campaign material to get information about the race. But news deserts do have the potential to affect voting behavior in important ways. When voters lose access to local news, they tend to gravitate toward national news sources, according to research by Joshua P. Darr, a professor of public communications at Syracuse University. This kind of news, by definition, focuses on broad national issues — abortion, immigration, the economy, etc. — without regard to local conditions. The result is increased polarization and partisanship, said Danny Hayes, a political-science professor at George Washington University and the co-author of “News Hole: The Demise of Local Journalism and Political Engagement.” People base their choices on the candidates’ statements and on potentially partisan media coverage (say, Fox News or MSNBC), without regard to, or knowledge of, news about local conditions. Local news might tell a voter something that national news can’t, such as how a candidate’s policies might affect local industries or employment. “The general argument is that local news encourages people to consider other dimensions of a candidate’s appeal besides whether they share the same partisanship,” Hayes said. If you’re regularly exposed to local news about a candidate who has brought funding to your state for roads or other projects, for example, you might be inclined to cast a vote for him or her even if you don’t share the same party affiliation. But if you’re exposed only to national news, you’re unlikely to know about actions they’re taking, or planning to take, for your state. In that case, “the only thing that’s going to be relevant to you is which candidate shares your views on national issues,” reinforcing basic partisan identity, he said. In fact, access to local news appears to increase split-ticket voting, moderating the partisan drift. The logic here is simple: Voters who have access to local TV news coverage of their governor and U.S. senators tend to know more about these officials, leading some of them to split their votes among Republican and Democratic candidates, according to research by Daniel J. Moskowitz, a public policy assistant professor at the University of Chicago. A related but untested question is whether voters in news deserts are more likely to engage in ballot “roll off” — that is, vote for president but leave local and statewide races blank. Darr, the Syracuse scholar, said roll-off voting explains “much if not all” of the margin in some Senate races this year. In news deserts, said Darr, the assumption is that voters lack information about low-level races and thus decide not to vote in these contests, a potentially harmful trend for democratic participation. “These dynamics seem particularly potent this year, and it could be worth another look,” Darr said. News deserts have social consequences for everyone who lives in them, but the 2024 voting results indicate that conservative voters may be paying a disproportionate price, said Steven Waldman, Rebuild Local News’ president and founder. “The wrong way to interpret this is ‘Oh, the rubes voted for Trump because they’re uninformed,’” said Waldman, Report for America’s former president. He pointed out that Trump also increased his support in places with relatively robust local news. Instead, Waldman said, the election results show “that some of the most common victims of the collapse of local news” are the same people who support Trump. They’re victims, he elaborated, because of all the documented consequences of life in a news desert: more political corruption, higher taxes, lower bond ratings, greater social alienation and rising misinformation, as well as the loss of social cohesion when subjects such as high school sports, local obits and community projects aren’t covered. The upshot, Waldman said, is that conservative voters — the very ones Trump has targeted with his attacks on the press — “should be helping to lead the drive” to save local news. This was originally published by The State of Local News Project at Northwestern University's Medill School.James Hunt used to spend his days commuting to London, where he ran a successful marketing firm. But his children Jude and Tommy were diagnosed as autistic when they were toddlers, and he later decided to care for them and his parents full-time. James, from Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex, started blogging about their lives nine years ago and now has more than a million followers on social media. Here, in his own words, James speaks about his hopes for the future for his teenage sons. When my eldest son Jude was a baby, he was slow to crawl and didn't respond to his name. He used to stare out of the window, he was quite distant and almost in a different world. His mum Charlotte, my ex-wife, first raised concerns when he was eight months old but I just thought he was a bit behind because he was premature. We went back to the doctor quite a few times before we got an autism diagnosis in 2009 when he was 18 months old. At the time, the information out there was very clinical, most things we were reading were from the NHS website and medical journals. I felt like I couldn't take it in and I had so many unanswered questions. Three years later we went through the same diagnosis with Tommy at a similar age. I knew a lot more about autism than when we had Jude, but the boys have always been so different. I didn't enjoy the first year of Tommy's life as much as I could have done because I spent so much time watching him and looking for signs. He hit certain milestones much quicker than Jude but he wouldn't make eye contact and would get easily frustrated and enjoyed playing alone. Around the same time, when Jude was four, he started having huge meltdowns and was physically hurting himself. Jude is non-speaking, so it's very difficult for him to explain what's wrong. That was the hardest period of my life. He used to wake up in the night screaming and hitting himself. Thankfully as Jude has gotten older, and we've learnt more about how to meet his needs, this has got much better. Unfortunately at the time Tommy was a huge trigger for him because he was loud and unpredictable. His self-harming would scare Tommy so we used to have to keep them apart a lot. In 2016, my wife Charlotte and I sadly decided to separate. We took the incredibly difficult decision to split Jude and Tommy up and we felt guilty, like we were failing. But Jude was immediately like a different child, you could sense his anxiety going, so we knew it was the right decision. I live in an annexe at my parents' house and help care for my dad who has Parkinson's and my mum, who has dementia, though she is now in a home. It's opposite my ex-wife's home and I have one of the boys for several nights a week and then we swap over, and I have the other one. They both need one-to-one care and it's impossible for them to live together. You never imagine life like that. I don't know if they will ever be able to live together but they will always be part of each other's lives. I wish I could be with both of them at the same time, and I don't get much free time, but this is the best thing for them right now. It has probably made being a single parent easier for me because I'm never alone. Their school is helping them to do more fun things together like trampolining and eating lunch together. Jude is now 16 and loves music so we go on long car drives listening to the radio. It's one of the few places where he feels safe and can relax. There have been times he's been too anxious to do that and we were housebound but at the moment he's doing OK. Tommy is 13, and he is cheeky, mischievous, funny, and curious about everything around him. He loves looking at books and puzzles. He isn't fully verbal but he uses a communication device. I recently had one of the best days I've ever had with Jude and Tommy. In the past, when we have tried to do anything to celebrate Christmas, it has never gone well, it was too overwhelming for them. But we went to see Father Christmas and made such special memories. Nine years ago I began sharing stories from our lives online, on a weekly blog. Then I started , , and accounts. It was initially a way to show friends and family what our life was really like. Jude and Tommy struggled with social occasions, so we stopped going. I could never find the words to explain, and I wanted to show how proud I was of them, so I started writing instead. I didn't realise how much our stories would resonate with others, or how much it would help me. I learned so much more about autism, connected with people all over the world and discovered a passion for helping other families. I've been lucky that I've been able to make a living through social media. I had to give up my previous job to be there for the boys. I started a clothing line last year, with positive messaging around autism, disabilities and neurodivergence. I love getting messages from people saying they have bumped into someone wearing one of the hoodies, and it started a conversation. I opened a shop in Burnham-on-Crouch where we stock the clothes and wrap and pack and send out the orders. It's somewhere for people in the community to visit, we have a sensory room in the shop and we get lots of parents coming in who want to have a chat. Everyone working in the shop is a parent, carer or is autistic, so they can share their experiences with customers. I always try to focus on the positives and not think too far ahead but there are days when my mind runs away with me. It will be a huge challenge when the boys leave school when they are 19. That's massively scary because suddenly you have to trust a whole new bunch of people. There is a part-time college I hope they can go to but it's a huge unknown and there will be big decisions to make. You feel like you have to live forever to look after them, and that is the biggest fear for many parents. Jude and Tommy will need life-long support, and I've started to realise I might not always be able to provide that for them. I don't know what the future will look like, but I know I need to think about how to help them live as independently as they can, and prepare for the days when I'm not here. Autism has meant we've had some of the highest highs, and experienced some lows far lower than I ever knew were imaginable. It has taught me to cherish and enjoy the simple things and I just want the boys to be happy. Looking back at how I felt when they were diagnosed, I would like to tell myself it's all going to be OK. Those first few years can be a really scary and emotional time. You feel like you have no idea what you're doing. Don't bottle everything up, find people to open up to. Your friends and family want to help, they just don't know how to yet. You will go through the most challenging and difficult days of your life but you will learn so much from your boys and your love for them will get you through.