KIM Vaccarella was fed up with countless beach bags she had tried while on family beach trips to the Jersey Shore when she realized there was only one solution: she had to make the bag herself.

It was 2008 and Vaccarella was looking for something specific that would work perfectly for all her needs as a busy mom of two boys.

Courtesy of Kim Vaccarella

Bogg Bag founder Kim Vaccarella created the accessory after she realized the perfect beach bag didn’t exist[/caption]

Bogg Bag

The viral Bogg Bag is now available in multiple sizes and over 40 different colors[/caption]

It had to be durable, water resistant, washable, sandproof, and big enough to carry everything she needed.

While sitting on the beach one day with her husband, she was inspired by Crocs.

“I liked the material, how it got warm and pliable in the heat but it didn’t get hot and if you got sand in it you could just hose it off or wash it in the shower,” Vaccarella told The U.S. Sun.

“It was the perfect idea for my dream beach bag.”

And so the idea of the Bogg Bag was born.

There was only one problem. Vaccarella didn’t have any manufacturing or production experience, and she was a busy mom with a full-time job as a commercial real estate lender. 

But Vaccarella was determined. 

It was the perfect idea for my dream beach bag

Kim Vaccarella Founder and CEO of Bogg Bag

“I went ahead and drew out the exact Bogg Bag and started the patent process and thought I would sell it for a bazillion dollars,” she said.

With her design ready to go, she reached out to a number of different handbag companies, and quickly got a resounding ‘No’ from all of them.

Frustrated that the potential buyers “didn’t get the vision,” she plowed on and decided to make the bag herself.

After finding a manufacturer in China, Vaccarella decided to order 300 bags, then 600, which all flew off the shelves.

The early success gave her the courage to go all in, putting all of her cash including $60,000 of her children’s college savings into ordering an entire container full of bags.

“We used the $60,000 to fund the dream knowing one way or another we would make it back,” she said.

“I grew up waiting tables and bartending so I thought if worse comes to worse I can get that money back.”

But her worst nightmare occurred, after the massive shipment of bags arrived all defective bearing ugly black steaks.

CALM BEFORE THE STORM

Downtrodden and frustrated, Vaccarella had nothing to do with hundreds of defective bags.

The East Coast was hit by Hurricane Sandy, and Vaccarella decided to donate all her defective Bogg Bags to help people carry home supplies.

Six months later, she had people knocking down her door asking where they could get their hands on another Bogg Bag.

“I knew right there we were onto something. People wanted another bag, saying they didn’t collapse and the sides were sturdy. It was one of those ‘ah ha’ moments, people are getting it now!” she said.

Vaccarella and her husband flew to China to find another manufacturer and the business snowballed from there.

BUSINESS IS BOOMING

It’s now been almost ten years and the business has exploded.

She is on track to hit $100 million in revenue this year and the brand has sold three million bags to date.

It has become a cult favorite, available in over 40 colors and even has a strategic partnership with Target.

Vaccarella said Covid helped the business go gangbusters, with a lot of nurses and teachers purchasing the bags due to their durability.

“We also got creative with wholesalers and always wanted to foster those relationships so they took a page out of our playbook from Hurricane Sandy using Bogg Bags for gift packages,” she said.

LOYAL FANS

The company is still focused on cultivating strong relationships with their customers, often reposting them and their Bogg Bags at the beach.

She said they did not spend any money on advertising up until 2023, and relied on user generated content which was “very real” and the customers loved it.

“People would tag us on the beach, and we would repost them expressing our thank you,” she said.

“We could get 20 pictures a day in the heat of summer and it was very real, our customers loved it.”

The U.S Sun covers all things side hustle, and recently revealed how Mark Cuban thinks business owners are doing them wrong.

The U.S. Sun also recently reported how a couple turned their $50 side hustle into a $25 million company.

WHEN maverick Ukrainian entrepreneur Vadym Minziuk’s life was destroyed in the 2014 Russian invasion he had no choice but to flee.

He moved his family to the only place he could afford to start again – a one-horse town in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.

Sky UK Limited ©

Vadym Minziuk and his family moved to Dytyatky, in the Donbas region of Ukraine[/caption]

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A Ferris wheel stands still in the abandoned city of Pripyat[/caption]

Despite the fact that the town of Dytyatky was ravaged by the fallout from the 1986 nuclear disaster and still has high levels of radiation, Vadym had big dreams of transforming its fortunes and turning it into one of Ukraine’s top tourist destinations.

Unfortunately for Vadym his big-city ways and newfangled ideas set him at odds with the townsfolk, led by the formidable Mayor Svitlana.

But with a full-scale Russian invasion threatening the nation, a new film tells how Vadym and his neighbours had to unite to survive.

Back in Donbas, in the East of the country, Vadym and his family had a large home, two apartments, a second house and a factory but it was all destroyed in one rocket strike. They had to start from scratch with nothing.

“Leaving home is never easy, especially when you have to run,” he says. “But my friend suggested a place where after an accident land was very cheap.

“We found land to settle. Now the land near Chernobyl is our home.”

He adds: “My friends and family often ask ‘’What’s with the radiation?’ I tell them not to worry.”

Vadym is so at home here, he even walks his dog along the high wire fence that marks out the beginning of the exclusion zone, every day.

It’s his favourite place to enjoy the birdsong and the quiet of the forest.

“It’s like living in the north of Finland or Alaska,” says Vadym. “This area has the lowest population density of anywhere in Ukraine – only two people per square kilometre.”

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The Chernobyl nuclear power plant a few weeks after the disaster in 1986[/caption]

AP:Associated Press

Children suffering intestinal problems due to exposure to radiation from the Chernobyl disaster[/caption]

In 1986 the world watched in horror as the worst nuclear disaster of the 20th century unfolded. 

Since then, the radioactive site has remained frozen in time, and off limits to the public, after a reactor at the plant exploded.

The resulting fallout created a crisis for those living for miles around.

The residents of Dytyatky were evacuated, but as it was just outside the Chernobyl exclusion zone they were allowed to return and rebuild their lives.

Angry neighbours

Many chose to stay away, and newcomers like Vadym were a rarity and viewed with suspicion.

Undeterred, Vadym built a new factory to take waste from dumpsters, melt it down and extract metal from it.

But the smoke and waste from his new operation didn’t make him popular with locals.

Village elder Olga lived through the 1986 disaster and says: “Firstly the Chernobyl accident and now Vadym stinks the place out.”

Vadym knows no-one likes him here. If he came to our village fair we wouldn’t be able to save him from people. They would beat him.

SerhiiVadym's neighbour

But Vadym was determined to win them over.

He said: “The fact is the village has always been very closed off, they are very wary of strangers. Every fourth house in the village is abandoned. People usually move out of the village and we are probably the first ones to move in.

“Next door to our factory is a sawmill. The boss looks at us, we’re all dirty and he says ‘Only people from Donbas could work like this.’”

Sawmill owner Serhii says: “Go look at the people who work there. They are black from the soot. Sometimes I send my worker to check they are still alive over there.

“Vadym knows no one likes him here. If he came to our village fair we wouldn’t be able to save him from people. They would beat him.”

Revenge plan

Serhii, who is married to the town’s Mayor, Svitlana, says: “I love and respect everyone here, they’re like family to me. But sometimes we have disagreements.”

But Vadym adds: “They run the place like feudal lords. As soon as I arrived I became a bone in their throat.

“The mayor of the village was causing problems, ordering raids on my factory. They’re trying to get rid of me but they are not succeeding.”

So after being accused of not paying taxes and temporarily forced to close his factory, Vadym decided to take revenge and run for mayor himself.

Do you think tourists will come here? With our radiation? He’s just a fantasist.

Chernobyl local

“Some people here have a Soviet mentality and I think we should change that,” he says. “I dream that in 10 years this area will become a super-duper touristic area run entirely on alternative green energy sources.

“We could have an airport here for all those tourists coming from Kyiv.”

But some of the locals weren’t so sure about his plans to turn the town into a tourist hotspot.

“Do you think tourists will come here,” laughed one woman. “With our radiation? He’s just a fantasist. He’s never lived in a village like this. People here are not used to ideas like this. They don’t understand.”

Russia-Ukraine war

But in 2021 tensions started to grow between Russia and Ukraine, with Russian troops massing on the border including near Chernobyl.

When war broke out in 2022, Vadym decided to go to Kyiv to fight for his country.

Getty Images - Getty

But after four months of fighting on the frontline, he was injured and forced to return home.

When the Russians invaded their village, Vadym and his wife Elena were out of town, meaning their daughter Dasha was on her own.

Dasha recalls: “It was scary at night. People kept telling me the Russians would come and shoot us. They will rape you.”

And unlikely people came to her rescue – the family’s arch-enemies Serhii and Svitlana.

Vadym says: “Serhii came to our Dasha and said, ‘Dasha no more nights alone.’

“Dasha lived with Svitlana and Serhii throughout the occupation. When I came here I had a tense relationship with Serhii and Svitlana. But the war changed everything.

“They kept my daughter safe when we were separated. It’s time to forget all the stuff from the past.

“When I first came here it was strange. People treated me like a foreigner who had come to earn money.

“But now they’ve experienced war like I did, now they say ‘he’s one of us.’”

Serhii adds: “He went to war. He wasn’t afraid. So now if his factory smokes once or twice a month, let it smoke.”  

Chernobyl now

While residents in Dytyatky are building new lives and new allegiances, life in Chernobyl is very different.

Experts warn that the surrounding land is so toxic that the radiation will not decay for thousands of years.

But despite the obvious danger to life, Chernobyl and the towns around it aren’t empty.

After the disaster about 1,200 people returned to their homes, disregarding the authorities and the potential risks to their health. 

Sky UK Limited ©

Vadym and his family moved to Dytyatky, a radiation-affected city in the Donbas[/caption]

Around 130 to 150 residents remain in the exclusion zone, mostly men and women over 50, who had lived through the harrowing years of Soviet rule and Nazi invasion. They clung to their ancestry and roots and did not want to be displaced.

Yet the area is a virtual ghost town, with hundreds of abandoned buildings.

The houses may be crumbling but they are like a 1980s time capsule providing a glimpse into people’s lives before they were changed forever.

A Ferris wheel stands still in the abandoned city of Pripyat as a reminder of days gone by when families would have fun there.

Rusting cribs still sit in the derelict hospital’s maternity ward decades after the disaster, and schoolbooks still line the shelves of hastily evacuated schools.

And much like Vadym predicted, tourists are starting to return on organised tours, curious to see Chernobyl now. It is estimated that over 40,000 have made the pilgrimage there in the last decade.

But while the landscape is recovering, forests are growing again and animals such as moose, wild boar, wolves and horses are thriving, it is unlikely that human life will ever return to normal in the zone.

Chernobyl, My Promised Land is on Sky Documentaries.

HUMANS have already reached the Moon – and Mars seems like the obvious next step.

But how will we get there? There are several mega-rockets already being developed that could take us to the red planet in our lifetimes.

Nasa

This Star Wars-style mock-up shows what Nasa’s nuclear-powered ‘space habitat’ might look like[/caption]

Nasa

Nasa has teamed up with Darpa to create a nuclear-powered rocket of the future[/caption]

Nasa nuclear rocket

Mars is far away – around 140 millions from Earth on average.

That means getting there is not only time-consuming, but very expensive in terms of fuel.

Nasa hopes that one way of bringing the time and cost down is using nuclear propulsion.

“Nasa’s goal is to minimize the time the crew travels between Earth and Mars to as close to two years as is practical,” Nasa said in 2021.

“Space nuclear propulsion systems could enable shorter total mission times and provide enhanced flexibility and efficiency for mission designers.”

In 2023, Nasa revealed that it had teamed up with Darpa (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) on building such a rocket.

And it said that this would allow for speedy trips to Mars and back.

“Nasa will work with our long-term partner, Darpa, to develop and demonstrate advanced nuclear thermal propulsion technology as soon as 2027,” said Nasa boss Bill Nelson.

“With the help of this new technology, astronauts could journey to and from deep space faster than ever – a major capability to prepare for crewed missions to Mars.”

One early concept of a a Nasa rocket looked a bit like a Star Wars X-wing.

And Nasa says that nuclear thermal rockets could be three times more efficient than regular chemical propulsion.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship

Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk hasn’t exactly been quiet about his dreams of shipping humans to Mars.

It’s no secret that Musk wants to set up a colony on the red planet, turning humans into an interplanetary species.

And his company SpaceX has built a rocket called Starship that aims to do just that.

SpaceX

SpaceX

“SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket – collectively referred to as Starship – represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond,” SpaceX explains.

The company says that Starship will enter the Martian atmosphere at 7.5km a second.

And its heat shield will allow it to safely land on Mars without being destroyed in the process.

Starship is currently going through testing phases, with its seventh flight-test set to take place in early 2025.

SpaceX

Musk hopes that the Starship spacecraft can be re-filled with fuel while in low-Earth orbit.

That means it can launch into space, and then fuel up once again before a trip to Mars.

Nasa SLS

Nasa has nuclear dreams – but in the meantime, the space agency needs a more conventional rocket for daring crewed missions.

Enter the SLS, or Space Launch System, which is the main launch vehicle for Nasa’s Artemis programme.

NASA/Joel Kowsky

Nasa’s SLS carried the Orion spacecraft on the Artemis I flight test in November 2022[/caption]

Artemis is a series of missions that will ultimately return humans to the surface of the Moon.

The only SLS launch to take place so far was an uncrewed test in November 2022.

Nasa is due to use the SLS again in April 2026 as part the crewed Artemis II flight.

But the eventual plan is for SLS to carry humans to Mars too.

“The SLS rocket is designed to be evolvable, which makes it possible to increase its capability to fly more types of missions,” Nasa explained.

“Including human missions to the Moon and Mars and robotic scientific missions to the Moon, Mars, and the outer planets.”

Nasa added: “The final SLS configuration, Block 2, will provide 9.4 million lbs. of launch thrust, compared to the Block 1’s8.8 million lbs. and will be the workhorse vehicle for sending cargo to the Moon, Mars, and other deep space destinations.

“SLS Block 2 will be designed to lift up to 46 t (101,000 lbs.) to deep space.”

NASA/Joel Kowsky

The SLS can be seen here with the Orion spacecraft on top of the launcher in 2022[/caption]

NIGEL FARAGE yesterday said he’s “happy” to help Britain’s incoming ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, win over Donald Trump.

Mr Farage offered to act as a “bridge” between the pair.

AP

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Nigel Farage has offered to be a bridge between the pair[/caption]

He said: “Our relationship with the USA is by far our most important. If it helped the national interest I would be happy to act as a bridge.”

Labour grandee Lord Mandelson has been made Britain’s new ambassador to the US.

And he is on a mission to prevent Britain being clobbered by crippling tariffs.

But it risks being derailed by X owner Musk — who loathes Sir Keir Starmer and his government.

Lord Mandelson has called on No 10 to “swallow its pride” and use Mr Farage as “a bridge to Mr Musk” and Mr Trump.

Reform Party boss Mr Farage is friends with both men and travelled to the US for talks with Mr Musk last week.

Speaking on his Times podcast last month, Mandy said: “If I were the Government here, I’d be asking the embassy in Washington DC to find out who his [Musk’s] other British friends are.

“Who are they all? They have got to be used as a bridge to Musk. And so that’s what I would do.

“Swallow your pride, find out who his friends are and try to get into those networks. You cannot just continue this feud indefinitely. You’ve got to get over it.”

He added: “I would include Nigel Farage. You can’t ignore him. He’s an elected MP.”

Mandy made the comments in November — when he was hot favourite to be US ambassador.

But he could face a hostile reception after he called Mr Trump a “white supremacist” in 2019.

The resurfaced comments sparked fury in the US — with Mr Trump’s campaign chief Chris LaCivita branding Mandy a “moron”.

THE “bones of Jesus’ brother” have been found inside a 2,200-year-old box in a breakthrough discovery.

The limestone box is etched with the name of the son of God, and has been hailed the “most significant item from the time of Christ”.

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An artefact believed to have once contained the bones of Jesus’ brother James sits on display in 2002[/caption]

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The James Ossuary was unveiled[/caption]

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This image from the Biblical Archaeology Society shows a first century A.D. burial box with an Aramaic inscription that reads ‘James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus’[/caption]

The inscription, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus,” is written on the box in ancient Aramaic.

As the names correspond to those of Jesus’ brother and father, many believe the box once held the remains of James the Just – the first leader of Christians in Jerusalem after the crucifixion.

The unbelievable box is currently on display at Pullman Yards in Atlanta as part of an exhibition featuring hundreds of historical items from the time of Jesus.

But, just like other archaeological finds discovered from the Bible period, the Ossuary led to uproar after its unveiling in 2002.

The following year its owner Oded Golan was accused of forging the inscription.

Experts alleged that he had added the phrase “brother of Jesus” to the limestone.

Golan tried to salvage his reputation and, after battling it out in court for a ten-year trial, the Israeli antiquities collector was acquitted.

But mystery still surrounds the “Jesus box”.

Despite Golan being cleared of all charges, the judge still said that the verdict “does not mean that the inscription on the Ossuary is authentic or that it was written 2,000 years ago.”

Golan told Crosswalk Headlines: “We conducted several chemical tests, particularly on the inscription itself, which is the most critical element of the Ossuary.

“We proved that the entire inscription is authentic – it was engraved several thousand years ago.”

If it were authentic, the Ossuary would incredibly be the oldest physical evidence of Jesus Christ.

In the first century, Jewish people laid their dead relatives in caves before later collecting the bones to put in ossuaries.

The box’s authenticity is still facing criticism by some theologians who believe Mary had remained a virgin her entire life, suggesting the Ossuary may not be authentic.

But the box is empty, with the bones lost years ago.

On top of this, various biblical passages indicate that James and his brothers didn’t believe Jesus was the son of God initially.

James is said to have died as a martyr – but there are two different dates and causes of death.

One is that in 62AD he was stoned to death on the order of a high priest.

The other is that in 69AD he was thrown off the pinnacle of the Temple by scribes and Pharisees before being clubbed to death.

Golen said he bought the James Ossuary when he was a student in Israel, studying engineering.

He said he “didnt recognize its importance at all”.

A 2015 study was set out to really see whether the James Ossuary may have come from a tomb believed to belong to Jesus’ family.

The Talpiot tomb was unearthed in the south of the Old City in East Jerusalem in 1980, containing six burial boxes.

The boxes had the names of Jesus’ brother, father and mother on.

Experts conducted a chemical analysis of the Ossuary and found it contained signatures from the boxes found in the tomb.

AFP

People view the James Ossuary[/caption]

Tropical depression Romina is moving its way toward southern Kalayaan Islands, according to the state weather bureau.

Veloso, over whose custody Indonesia had transferred to the Philippine government, had been escorted from Jakarta and brought to the Correctional Institute of Women in Mandaluyong City.

The number of passengers heading to the Araneta City Bus Station in Quezon City every holiday season have dwindled in recent years since most of the long-distance bus routes were transferred to the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange.

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli strikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 28 Palestinians, including at one family's home and at a school building the military said was used by Hamas.

A young hairdresser who was convinced she was going to be smoking meth until she was 60 has revealed the moment she kicked her addiction.