ITV viewers have issued the same complaint following the latest episode of Big Brother

Big Brother viewers have been left ‘devastated’ by recent scenes in the ITV show.

The reality competition returned to screens on Sunday night (October 18), thrusting viewers into the aftermath of Friday’s eviction. Radio presenter Rob was forced to leave the house after losing the public vote to his co-stars Yasmin and Twinks.

Following Rob’s sad exit, Big Brother has introduced this week’s big theme: The House of Time. In the coming days, each housemate will be taking part in tasks to win time with their loved ones.

But the exciting twist has been overshadowed by a huge row that broke out between housemates just minutes into the latest episode. It came after Catrin was left in tears over the divide among her co-stars, admitting she felt uncomfortable because housemates have secretly been “nasty about each other”.

“I feel so frustrated. I feel like there is such a clique. I just hate it,” she confided in Lynx. Her complaint soon made its rounds in the house, and sparked a heated row between Twinks and Philip.

After spotting Catrin’s low mood, Yasmin asked her co-stars: “Is she ok? She looked like she’d been crying.” Twinks then explained that the 23-year-old was struggling to adjust to the hierarchy in the house, implying that the so-called “King Philip and Queen Rochelle” are key players in the housemates’ divide.

She said: “Yeah she is. She’s struggling with the dynamics of the house. Big time. It’s getting to her a lot. She’s a sensitive, stunning, little soul and the whole us and them, the whole hierarchy of this spot. Let’s not pretend this isn’t a thing.”

Tensions reached boiling point when Rhianna reported the conversation to Philip, who wasted no time before confronting Twinks. Storming into the lounge, he fumed: “Twinks. Who is the highest person in here?”

Twinks defended herself and replied: “You are.” After some back-and-forth, Philip then hit back with: “Keep your f***** mouth shut.” In another scene, the 53-year-old vented his frustrations with Twinks to his close friends and brutally referred to her as a “c***”.

The row proved too much for Twinks as she was left contemplating quitting the show altogether. Confiding in Big Brother, Twinks revealed that she felt “hideous” after her spat with Philip. “I am so unwelcome in this place,” she said as she tried to fight back tears.

She added: “Why would I put myself through this? It doesn’t feel nice. ‘Grow thick skin, it’s the big Brother house.’ Maybe I don’t want a thick skin, maybe I had to have a thick skin growing up and I’ve spent the last 15 years trying to feel soft and feel things.

“It’s not nice, they’re not nice people. I really genuinely feel like Cat would have such a better chance if I wasn’t here. She’s such a sweet, kind, and empathetic person.”

Viewers at home were left ‘devastated’ as they watched Twinks and Catrin crying over the divide among the contestants, with many calling for Big Brother to take some form of action to resolve tensions in the house.

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An X user posted: “Big Brother has to do something. This feels so icky. #bbuk,” while someone else agreed: “BB please do something I’m begging.”

A third viewer made the same request, writing: “This is actually uncomfortable to watch now. @bbuk you need to do something […].” Others were moved by Twinks’ breakdown, as one posted: “Twinks has me sobbing this house is literally horrific vibes, she’s not had a break since day 1 #bbuk.”

Yet another supporter said: “They have completely broken Twinks, this is so devastating #BBUK,” with a final fan exclaiming: “NOOOOO Twinks can’t leave omgggg big brother do something #Bigbrother#Bigbrotheruk #BBUK.”

Catrin and Twinks have been struggling to settle in since they joined the show just over two weeks ago.

Big Brother continues Monday at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX

When Joe Cascione walked into the athletic director’s office at Los Angeles Mission College with the idea of starting a women’s tennis team, he knew how it would sound. He had spent his entire life in baseball—27 years as a coach—and had never coached women or a racquet sport.

“I told him, ‘I have an idea. I’d love to start a women’s tennis team. I don’t have any background in tennis, but I think I can surround myself with people who know the technical side of the sport, and I love it so much that I think we can do well,’” recalled Cascione, a successful former baseball player at Pierce College and Cal Lutheran.

It was understandable that few understood the decision.

“Everyone thought I was going through a midlife crisis,” Cascione said with a laugh. “They’d say to me, ‘What are you doing? You’re having a breakdown.’”

College administrators also wondered if it wouldn’t be better to have a women’s soccer team, given the demographics of the San Fernando Valley. But Cascione presented them with a list of potential players who could attend Mission College.

“At first I was against it,” recalled Steve Ruys, director of athletics at Mission College. “I told him that women’s soccer was better for this area. But he was persistent.”

In the front row, from left to right, bottom, are the Mission College sophomores: Jaelyn Rivera, Priscilla Grinner, CiCi Díaz, Kirsten Bonzon, Amy Nghiem and Natalia Ponce. In the second row, from left to right, top, are the four new team members: Dsyray Chan, Daisylynne Castaneda, Julieta Sierra and Lena Onejeme.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Four years later, the gamble paid off in a big way. Last April, the Mission College Eagles won the first California Community College Athletic Assn. (CCCAA) state team championship in the school’s history, and they did so with a perfect 25-0 record.

Not only did they win the community college’s first championship, but they did so with local players and against powerhouse schools—some of which even fielded international players. Unlike other schools, Mission College does not have its own tennis courts and rents courts at a nearby park to practice and play its home matches.

In CCCAA tennis, colleges face off against each other in team matches. Each match consists of a set number of singles and doubles matches, and the winner is determined by the team’s cumulative score.

In the final of a four-day tournament in Ojai, Mission College faced Sierra College — the top seed from Northern California and also undefeated — and won a dramatic match. The Eagles dominated the doubles, but Sierra fought back in the singles and took a 4-3 lead.

Then, Genesis Nochez (West Ranch) tied the series at 4-4, and everything came down to Josilyn Rivera (Birmingham) in a head-to-head match against Autumn Holmes of Sierra. To add to the drama of the day, Rivera lost the first set, bounced back with a 6-1 victory in the second and clinched the championship in a tiebreak she won without giving up a single point, for a final score of 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-0).

In addition, the duo of Jaelyn Rivera (Birmingham) and Priscilla Grinner (Granada Hills) were crowned state doubles champions after defeating a Chabot College pair.

Amy Nghiem takes a shot during Mission College practice at El Cariso Regional Community Park in Sylmar.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

“I had always thought about winning the Ojai tournament, but I never thought it would actually happen,” said Grinner, 19, a two-time CIF champion with Granada Hills.

“Winning that tournament meant everything to me and my family; it was like giving back to the community where I grew up, and that meant so much to me,” said Jaelyn, 20, Josilyn’s older sister.

Amy Nghiem was one of Mission College’s key players. The Granada Hills Charter alumna joined the Eagles alongside her teammates Grinner and América Fragoso, both from Granada Hills.

Cascione was also named Western State Conference coach of the year.

For the players, the sense of teamwork that the coach instilled was vital to building a competitive program.

“The coaches encourage us to be our best. Without our teammates, without that connection, without that camaraderie, and without all the time we spent together, it wouldn’t have been possible,” Grinner said of the championship.

Jaelyn Rivera serves during her team’s practice at El Cariso Regional Community Park in Sylmar.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Cascione stepped down as head baseball coach at Mission College in 2019 after 19 years at the helm of the program. Then came the pandemic — and with it, a year and a half to reflect on what the next step in his athletic and professional life would be. The answer lay in the other sport he had loved since childhood, as he had always played tennis in his free time.

“If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably choose to play tennis instead of baseball,” confessed Cascione, who was twice named State West Conference coach of the year in baseball. “Baseball was my life, and I owe it everything. But there’s something about tennis. When I was seven, I’d watch it on TV and enjoy every minute of it.”

But convincing the first female players to join a new tennis program — in the midst of a pandemic and without its own courts — was no easy task. In the community college system, recruitment is crucial, and competing against schools such as Glendale, College of the Canyons, and Pierce—which have their own facilities—is always an uphill battle for Mission College.

“I couldn’t tell them, ‘We’re going to be a good team,’’ Cascione said. “I really didn’t know. ”

Nor was it easy to convince a tennis player to join a program led by a baseball coach. That’s where another of Cascione’s strengths came into play: his candor.

“The only thing I kept telling them was, ‘You’re going to work hard, and you’re going to have a coach who’s going to push you to your limits and who’s going to be there for you every time we’re on the court,’” Cascione said. “There has to be a belief that, even when things go wrong, you’ll hear your teammates cheering you on. And that’s not something you mention just once or twice; it’s something we talk about almost every day in this program.”

Seven young women accepted the challenge in the first year and nine in 2023. Faced with a lack of dedicated facilities, Cascione applied the same philosophy he used when his baseball team had to rent a field: adapt and overcome the obstacle.

In its first season, in 2022, the team surprised everyone by finishing second in its division in the State Western Conference. Since that first season, Cascione has worked to bring the team-oriented mindset he preached in baseball over to tennis.

“I think he’s very articulate,” said Grinner, who hopes to transfer to Cal Lutheran after this year to play alongside her teammate Jaelyn. “He’s able to explain things to you and encourage you even when you’re feeling really, really down, and I think that’s one of his best qualities.”

Said assistant coach Yulia Zhytelna, “First and foremost, he’s a baseball coach, and on the court he shows exactly who he is — in the way he talks, how he cheers, and how he addresses the girls. He doesn’t try to hide anything; that’s just who he is, and I’ve loved that about him.”

Recruiting the talented Nghiem was one of the championship team’s greatest successes. Cascione himself gave her a tour of the school.

“It’s not a very big school, but they’ll go above and beyond for you. They’ll stand by you,” said Nghiem, who also highlighted the team’s culture of camaraderie. “We all went to practice every day. Even if you were sick, you were there. You didn’t have to practice, but you were there. You always supported each other.”

Mission College, located in an area with a strong Latino presence in the northern San Fernando Valley, competed against programs with a long history, their own facilities and international players —such as Glendale, College of the Canyons, Santa Barbara, Ventura, and Santa Monica — so the coaching staff was key to instilling a positive mindset in the players, without letting them get pigeonholed.

“Not many people see us as a community capable of achieving something this big,” said Jaelyn. “So being able to bring the title home to this community really shows the people around us—our peers, our community, and our ethnic group — that it’s possible to achieve something when you put in all your effort.”

Cascione, originally from New York, has lived in the San Fernando Valley since childhood and attended St. Genevieve High in Panorama City. He emphasizes that his coaching staff, which is also deeply rooted in the community, understands the realities of their players’ lives.

“Many of these young women face challenges in various ways. Many hold down two jobs; some come from broken homes and need our support,” said Cascione, who was mentored by Bob Lofrano at Pierce College and Rich Hill at Cal Lutheran.

His assistants, Porfirio Cervantes and Zhytelna — a former Cal State Northridge player who is now a professional — also maintain strong ties to the Valley community.

“I’ve seen the girls’ motivation, especially among the freshmen,” said Zhytelna, the female voice on the coaching staff and a mentor to the players. “I’ve seen in their eyes that they want to give their best.

“At the end of the day, tennis is just a game, and you have to enjoy it — because that’s how the best experiences come about, when you’re enjoying yourself.”

At a community college, where the players change every one or two years, continuity depends on the culture being passed down from one generation to the next.

“The most effective way is through the players themselves,” explained Cascione. “The sophomores pass it on to the newcomers. We talk almost every day about being a great person, a great sister, a great daughter and they have to believe that all of that contributes to making a great tennis player and a great team.”

For Cascione, the success of the tennis program at Mission College — a school with fewer than 10,000 students — boils down to one word: belief.

“The moment you let someone tell you that you can’t, you’re letting negativity in,” said the coach. “Here, we dream big. Sometimes we’ll fall short, but we’re always going to give it our all.”

The results are already beginning to show across the entire athletics department. Mission College recently launched its men’s tennis program — also featuring local players — using the same formula that led to the women’s team’s success.

Mission College is currently in the first phase of construction on its own facilities, which will include soccer and softball fields. Phase two will include tennis courts.

A wave of youth-led protests has returned to the streets of India’s capital, Delhi, after media reports revealed that the Electoral Commission removed about 130 million names from voter lists.

These protests differ from the unrest that exploded in July, though, by the attacks on the media.

Dozens of journalists and content creators have been detained, assaulted or blocked from doing their jobs. But tightening the screws on critical reporting doesn’t appear to be working, as a new generation rises to challenge the government.

Contributors:
Saba Naqvi – Author and journalist
Smita Sharma – Multimedia journalist
Shyam Meera Singh – Founder, Strike Originals
Sushant Singh – Lecturer, Yale University

On our radar

Pakistan has declared a state of emergency in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, following protests calling for the release of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The state’s response has followed a familiar pattern: A media blackout and internet shutdown, while casting protesters as rebels.

Reporter: Tariq Nafi

The rise of digital micro-Bolsonaros

It’s been more than three years since Jair Bolsonaro fell from power, yet the right-wing movement he started is still without a clear leader. Into that gap has stepped a new crop of young evangelical political influencers, who are tapping into a decades-old religious media machine to build their audience.

Their viral content ricochets across social feeds, mobilising followers and voters in ways old-school politicians just can’t match.

The Listening Post’s Nicholas Muirhead reports on Brazil’s evangelical influencers and the political space they are looking to take over.

Featuring: 
Anna Virginia Balloussier – Journalist, Folha De Sao Paulo
Caro Evangelista – Executive director, Iser
Magali Cunha – Editor-in-chief, Berreia Project

French President Emmanuel Macron has called for “calm and order” after a major day of protests turned into rioting and looting on Saturday, and as some disorder continued in Paris on Sunday.

In a national address from the Élysée Palace, he warned those who had taken part not to “escalate”, adding: “We all feel anger and shame.”

Some 550,000 demonstrators took to the streets for largely peaceful protests against rising fuel prices, the cost of living and deteriorating public services, including schools.

Macron said a distinction must be drawn between the “legitimate demands” of protesters and “those who destroyed, smashed and looted”.

Police have arrested about 2,400 people, according to France’s interior ministry.

The French president said “nothing justifies” the “unbridled” violence seen and said those involved would face justice.

Groups of rioters, some dressed in black and wearing masks and balaclavas, also came out in Paris, Marseille and other towns and cities, with some setting fire to cars and buildings.

On Sunday, looting and clashes with police continued on a smaller scale in parts of the capital and Lyon.

Tear gas and stun grenades were fired at hundreds of people in Paris, according to the AFP news agency, and bottles and rocks were again hurled at police.

BETTY McGuire – best known for her role as grandma Kate Malone in the sitcom Growing Pains – has died aged 100.

The TV star passed away while staying at a retirement home in California on October 8.

She starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio on the 80s sitcom Growing Pains where she played the mother of Joanna kerns’ Maggie.

Appearing in seasons 1 – 2 and again in seasons 4-7, Betty acted on the show for a total of seven years.

Besides Growing Pains, Betty appeared in scores of TV shows including Falcon Crest, The Doris Day Show, Columbo, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Hill Street Blues, ER, CSI: Miami, MacGyver, Moonlighting and Charlie’s Angels.

Away from the screen performed across a host of Broadway shows and musicals.

Playing alongside the likes of big name stars like Ethel Merman, Barbara Cook, Bea Arthur and Tony Randall she wowed audiences in original productions of Plain and Fancy, Happy Hunting and Oh Captain!.

More to follow… For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online

Thesun.co.uk is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.

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Gulf ministers urge action against Houthis as fighting displaces more than 233,000 people across Yemen.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has condemned repeated attacks by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi fighters on Saudi Arabia and pledged support for the kingdom.

The political and economic bloc that includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates issued a statement on Sunday, shortly after their foreign ministers’ meeting in Manama, Bahrain.

The statement said an attack on any member affected all six, invoking a joint defence agreement and backing Saudi Arabia’s right to protect itself.

The condemnation came as the Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthis reported shooting down two drones near Riyadh and in Saudi Arabia‘s Eastern Province early on Sunday.

The coalition said another drone had been intercepted near the capital hours earlier, but did not identify who launched it.

Gulf ministers accused the Houthis of carrying out deadly strikes on civilian airports and vital facilities.

They also pressed for tighter enforcement of a United Nations arms embargo against the group and urged countries to formally designate it “a terrorist organisation”.

The ministers welcomed an October 15 statement from the UN Security Council (UNSC), the body responsible for maintaining international peace, which condemned Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia and threats to Red Sea shipping.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government separately appealed to the UNSC to act against Houthi attacks on homes and state facilities.

In letters addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UNSC’s president for October, Aglaia Balta, the Yemeni government cited an attack on the presidential palace in Aden, where the government is temporarily based.

Separately on Sunday, UAE Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan met Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud in Abu Dhabi to discuss regional security, the UAE’s state news agency WAM reported.

Meanwhile, Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces press offensives on several fronts.

The Yemeni military said the Houthis fired missiles towards the central city of Marib on Sunday, while government troops reported gains in Taiz, further south.

Government-aligned commanders said eight soldiers died in fighting in Lahij province on Saturday.

Government forces also claimed to have killed 12 Houthi fighters in southern Taiz, figures that could not be independently confirmed.

This latest phase of the war followed Houthi gains along Yemen’s Red Sea coast last month.

Government forces launched a counteroffensive intended to recapture territory from the Houthis, who seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.

Civilians face deepening shortages

The fighting has uprooted more than 233,000 people, according to the International Organization for Migration, the UN’s migration agency.

About 121,000 are in Taiz province, where supply routes have been disrupted by the fighting.

Al Jazeera’s Hadeel al-Yamani, reporting from Taiz, said cooking gas was unavailable and food stocks were dwindling as Houthi forces blocked supplies through the city’s western entrance.

A local office tracking the siege said food prices had risen fivefold.

The World Health Organization, the UN health agency, warned that Taiz’s 12 hospitals had fuel for just four more days and had run out of surgical supplies.

Oxygen and medicines were also critically scarce as the city struggled with a cholera outbreak.

Netflix publicly reported box office results for the first time in its history this weekend as it released its queer drama “La Bola Negra” in U.S. theaters.

The Spanish-language film opened in limited release — just four theaters in Los Angeles and New York — and brought in $277,500 on a reported production budget of $15 million to $17 million. That averaged out to about $69,375 per screen, the second-highest per-screen average for a non-English language film.

Netflix acquired the U.S. rights to the film at Cannes, reportedly for about $5 million.

The Los Gatos-based streaming giant plans to expand the number of locations in the coming weeks to as many as 300 theaters across the country. The film already opened in Spain in late September.

“La Bola Negra” will be available on Netflix on Dec. 2.

Netflix has high hopes for the film, which won six audience awards on the festival circuit and will be Spain’s entry for the Academy Awards.

But the U.S. debut comes at a rocky time for Netflix, which cut 6% of its workforce, or about 1,000 jobs, last week. The layoffs, which are believed to be the largest in company history, included Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria, who was replaced by former Disney executive Peter Rice.

The move arrives as Netflix’s stock price has tumbled, and the company is under pressure from shareholders to churn out more hit films and TV shows, while increasing engagement on the platform.

Elsewhere at the box office, Paramount Pictures’ video game adaptation “Street Fighter” took the top spot, with a domestic haul of $31 million. It is the first major release from Skydance, the company formed when Paramount completed its $111-billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this month.

A24’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary, “You Can See Everything,” which opened on only 855 screens, made about $15 million, while Universal Pictures’ “Other Mommy” ($8.3 million), Disney-owned 20th Century Studios’ “Whalefall” ($8 million) and Universal-owned Focus Features’ “Sense and Sensibility” ($7.2 million) rounded out the top five.

Anthropic (ANTHRO) plans to allocate 5% of its equity to a new fund designed to address the societal consequences of artificial intelligence, including potential job losses as businesses increasingly deploy AI-powered automation. The initiative, announced Sunday, comes as the developer of the Claude AI

Northampton: Pater; Sleightholme, Hutchinson, Thame, Hendy; Belleau, Mitchell; Fischetti, Smith, Kundiona, Lockett, van der Mescht, Kemeny, Taylor, Chick.

Replacements: Langdon, Els, Neculai, Prowse, Ulcoq, McParland, Smith, Dingwall.

Yellow card: Belleau 60.

Cardiff: Young; Grady, Millard, Emanuel, Bowen; Evans, Mulder; Southworth, D Hughes (capt), Wainwright, Manz, Thornton, Paea, D Thomas, Faletau.

Replacements: E Lloyd, Barratt, Cowell, McNally, De La Rua, S Davies, Sheedy, Adams.

Referee: Jeremy Rozier (France)

Assistant referees: Thomas Charabas (France) & Cyrille Boulay (France)

TMO: Julien Castaignede (France)

Four service members are confirmed to have died, Carney said on Sunday.

He also said “dozens” had been “seriously wounded”, without providing further information on their conditions.

Prior to Carney addressing the nation, Canadian media reported the death toll as seven citing unnamed military sources.

The prime minister did not indicate whether or not the government expects the death toll to rise.

The names of those who lost their lives have not been identified but their families have been informed.

On Saturday evening, Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton declared a code orange – a disaster response protocol for a high-casualty incident.

A stream of ambulances were seen arriving at the hospital and one doctor told Canadian public broadcaster CBC that the facility had been “completely overwhelmed” by the number of patients.

IT’S never convenient if the wifi goes down.

But spare a thought for Harry Styles who had that happen to him — after being hypnotised on a video call.

The As It Was singer has revealed he was left “disorientated” and slept for hours after the incident, as he was so out of it he was unable to get the hypnotherapist back on the call.

He made the hilarious admission on stage at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday night, when he spotted the therapist in the crowd at his concert.

He told the crowd: “I got some hypnotherapy — and I spotted my therapist in the crowd, there he is. I’ll just share a quick story with you about my experience . . . 

“We were doing it remotely. I was in London, he was in New York — and I was under, I was hypnotised.

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“Then my wifi went out. The call hung up. He was trying to call me back — and I was hypnotised.

“I woke hours later, disorientated, with a lot of missed calls. Hypnotherapy — would recommend, it was the greatest nap of my entire life.”

I could always do with a kip but am not sure I’ll be following Harry’s lead with this suggestion.

He is currently deep into his 30-date New York residency as part of his Together, Together tour — and you’ll soon be able to see footage.

It’s been announced indie filmmaker John Wilson has been filming Harry in the Big Apple since August, for a documentary being made by Universal Pictures.

The project will feature a mix of live performances as well as glimpses into Harry’s life, as well as stories from his army of fans.

Instead of it going straight to streaming services, like similar documentaries for other artists, demand is so high that it may be released in cinemas.

I gave his tour five stars when I went to the opening night, in Amsterdam in May.

So I would not need much persuading to get along to the pictures and see it all over again.

JAY’S SAY ON AI

BUCKS FIZZ star Jay Aston believes it’s “cheating” if countries submit songs produced by AI for the Eurovision Song Contest, amid a brewing controversy about its usage.

No rules have yet been introduced to ban its use and Swedish broadcasters have admitted they have no way of testing whether songs submitted for the contest have used AI.

However, Norway has banned fully AI-generated tracks from its submissions.

In an exclusive chat at best magazine’s Heroes Awards, Jay, whose band won in 1981 with Making Your Mind Up, said: “I can see why people do it – it’s very lazy. It’s cheating.

“Obviously for Eurovision I do think it should be a really homegrown song.

“I imagine that it will happen. I don’t think it should, but if everyone’s doing it, then you’ve got to compete.

“But I think that we are influenced by so many things, even when we’re writing with pen and paper, we’re still influenced.

“The world is full of influencers – where do you draw the line?I guess we’re going to have to get used to it because we’re not going to stop it.”

The UK is yet to announce who will represent us in Bulgaria next May, but given we came dead last this year with Look Mum No Computer’s song Eins, Zwei, Drei, the only way is up.

Tate’s late summer vibe

IT’S still summer for Tate McRae as she poses in tiny shorts on the set of her new music video.

She looked sensational as she promoted her single Housewife, after the video racked up more than five million views following its release on Friday.

According to the Official Charts, it is on course to debut at No3 this Friday, while Olivia Rodrigo and Chappell Roan’s collaboration Expectations is set to top the charts.

In fact, it looks like there could be lots of change in the Top Ten, with Taylor Swift’s Patient Zero down to No6, while Zach Bryan and Lana Del Rey’s new collaboration Lies is on track to go to No10.

And it’s good news for Fontaines D.C., because following the release of their album Dopamine Chamber on Friday, their track Marianne is at No8 followed by Six Shot Morning at No9.

SKYE’S THE LIMIT FOR FREYA

BRITISH rising star Freya Skye is about to set history aged just 17, becoming the youngest solo headliner at the O2 Academy Brixton in South London.

Freya, who has garnered millions of fans through the Disney film Zombies 4 and a stint on Junior Eurovision in 2022, has sold out her entire 74-date world tour across Australia, New Zealand, North America, Asia, Europe and Latin America.

She will play two nights at the 5,000-capacity venue in Brixton next month and across her tour, she’s sold 222,000 tickets.

It’s a groundbreaking start to her career, particularly as she is yet to even release her debut album.

But I’ve been told fans should expect that in 2027, with massive opportunities in the pipeline to turn her into the next British superstar.

WILL YOUNG has revealed Adele told him she was suspended from school for punching a girl who was voting for Gareth Gates, and not him, on Pop Idol in 2002.

The singer, who will tour the UK next year to mark 25 years since he won the show, said: “Adele got suspended for standing up for me . . . She punched a girl.”

SAM PLAN FOR TOUR NEXT YEAR

SAM FENDER is gearing up to return in 2027 and will announce a string of shows in the coming weeks.

The Seventeen Going Under singer has updated his website with a logo for “SF27” which teases “live shows, music, more.”

It comes days after a rumour that he could headline Glastonbury next summer, which would be amazing.

It’s been a quiet year for Sam following his busy 2025 which saw him go to No1 with his third album, People Watching, and play an extensive tour.

Although he hasn’t been out and about in 2026, his music has still been omnipresent, with his Olivia Dean collaboration Rein Me In becoming the longest-reigning No1 single of all time in the UK, with 23 weeks at the top.

Miley on Dolly good form

MILEY CYRUS has returned to the stage for her first full-length concert in four years, fuelling hope she may finally tour again.

She performed at the Hollywood Bowl in LA on Friday ahead of a second gig performance there last night, in a tentative return to live shows.

Miley has been open about how anxious she gets performing to big crowds, but looked in her element during her 18-song set.

This included a cover of Jolene, to honour her late godmother Dolly Parton.

Thanking fans, she said: “It’s been 20 years of us on this journey, this evolution, this meta-morphosis. You have not skipped a beat.

“I am so, so appreciative of your support. It’s been steadfast, and it’s been deeply felt. The appreciation I have for you is never forgotten on show days.”

DAYTIME TV ARE A RATINGS WINNER

INDIE rockers Daytime TV are riding high with new single Meditate and forthcoming album Rodeo, so there’s no stopping them, unless frontman Will Irvine’s rock ’n’ roll antics land him in handcuffs again.

The singer was arrested in America after being caught buying booze underage, but reckons his Scottish roots came to the rescue.

I’m told one cop said: “This guy’s from Scotland, He knows William Wallace.”

Incredibly, the officer handed back the band’s contraband, leaving them feeling invincible.

Will added: “They’ve given us back the beer and we realised we were unstoppable, because the police had given us booze.”

Will, John Caddick, Naomi Boschetti and Gareth Thompson hit the road last week, kicking off their UK tour in Hull.

If they make it through the tour without another run-in with the law, Daytime TV will be ones to watch.

Whenever a teammate needs a pep talk McKennah Iamaleava is quick to give it — a skill one learns growing up in a family full of accomplished athletes.

“Growing up my parents [Nic and Marlienna] would tell us family is No. 1 and whenever you’re in a hole or whatever the situation you can always come back to them,” Iamaleava said. “So, whether it be about sports or school we always have someone to go to.”

A 5-foot-9 senior outside hitter on the Long Beach Poly High girls’ volleyball team, McKennah is continuing the legacy of success of her four older siblings while simultaneously passing it on to her three younger ones.

“I’m one of eight so volleyball runs in the family,” the reigning Moore League player of the year said. “I started playing when I was 6 or 7.”

However, volleyball is not the only sport McKennah played as a child.

“I dabbled in basketball some too,” she confessed. “My aunt Janitah played at Carson High and the University of Oregon.”

Sisters McKennah, left, and Ellie Iamaleava are two of eight siblings who have played volleyball.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

McKennah is committed to UC Irvine and, not surprisingly, its proximity was a major factor in her choosing to join the Anteaters’ program.

“First of all, it’s close to home and secondly I love the coaching staff,” she said. “All of the girls are super nice, the campus is beautiful and competing in the Big West is going to be exciting.”

Her oldest brother Matt played volleyball at Long Beach State, her older sister Nicaylah played at Cypress College and her two closest brothers, Nico and Madden, also grew up playing the sport while excelling in football and both are now quarterbacks at nationally ranked UCLA.

“We see them [Nico and Madden] a few times a week,” McKennah said. “We have dinners together. Of course we go to all of their home games.

“We don’t talk for long right after, we’ll keep it short and then next day is usually the recap.”

Nico suffered a knee injury in the second quarter of UCLA’s 17-15 win at Oregon on Oct. 10 and is out indefinitely. McKennah was among the first people to offer him encouragement.

Long Beach Poly High senior McKennah Iamaleava celebrates after winning a point against Redondo Union.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“I wasn’t there but I was watching,” she said. “It was a hard shot to take but Nico’s tough and he’ll come back strong. I was texting him right after the game and also in our group texts. I hope Madden gets some playing time. It would be good for him as well.”

Having such a strong support system makes McKennah well-equipped to handle the ups and downs of volleyball and life.

“I probably talk to Matt the most,” McKennah said. “He’s already gone to college and graduated and I went to a few of his matches, which was so fun. Nicaylah is the libero of our family. … I watched her passing and she would teach me a lot. I’m glad I have her.”

McKennah’s two youngest sisters, Mallory (15) and Nori (12), also play volleyball but her tightest bond is with her closest sibling Ellie, a junior opposite hitter at Poly.

Long Beach Poly High junior Ellie Iamaleava celebrates winning a point during a recent match.

(Steve Galluzzo / For The Times)

“Ellie and I are close,” McKennah added. “Our rooms are right next to each other so every time I want to annoy her I just go to her room. My sister is encouraging to me because she’s very hard on herself. She’ll get a great kill but won’t be satisfied, which motivates me even more to be better as a person and a player.”

“McKennah and I are always with each other,” Ellie agreed. “Her being an older sister kind of plays into that. She really pushes me. She helps me through all my hardships as a new player and I look up to her a lot.

“She’s always on top of everything and the game’s real natural to her. I want to play in college too — anywhere close to home.”

Poly (25-7) wrapped up its fourth straight league title last week under head coach Gerald Aquiningoc, who guided the Jackrabbits to theSouthern Section Division 3 championship in 2024 and the Division 2 semifinals last season.

Along with Madden (then a senior), McKennah (a sophomore) and Ellie (a freshman) transferred to Poly from Warren High in September 2024.

“Amazing family,” Aquiningoc said of the Iamaleavas. “McKennah and Ellie are super coachable and huge pieces of our program. When they transferred in even though they couldn’t play that whole first year they were still super involved. They helped us practice and to prepare for our matches. They were our best scout team.”

Aquiningoc cited McKennah’s leadership as a big reason the program has been on the rise.

“I think I lead more by example — I’m just always thinking,” McKennah said. “If I don’t say it I’m usually thinking it, no matter how it comes out and I have a close relationship with our setter [Mina Orbiso]. I’m super confident that I can put the ball away and I tell her.”

Iamaleava, who plays club for SC Rockstar, appreciates the trust that Aquiningoc has in her.

“Coach G gives me the space to grow as a person and a player,” she said. “I’m thankful because I know that on the court I can pick what I want and how I’m feeling and it means a lot to me. The confidence he has in his players is amazing.”

The Jackrabbits are seeded second in the Division 2 playoffs and host Gold Coast League champion Campbell Hall in the first round Tuesday night.

“I’d say this our best team, yes,” McKennah said. “We have so much talent at every position. It’s kind of fun because you can throw anyone out there and they’ll perform.”

What Iamaleava lacks in height she makes up for with her intelligence, placement and angles that keep opponents guessing whether she will hit it down the line or crosscourt. She is adept at receiving serve and what she does in the back row is as valuable as what she does in the front row.

“Being a short hitter you have to use the hand, hit off the block and find different kinds of shots,” she said. ”There’s a lot to think about.”

McKennah’s stats from Poly’s regular-season finale at Redondo Union on Wednesday reflect how complete a player she is. She had 22 kills, 14 digs, six blocks and did not miss a single serve in the Jackrabbits’ five-set victory.

Iamaleava is planning to major in business and is happy to the see the sport grow so much since she started playing.

“Women’s volleyball is getting so much attention and I love it because it encourages all of the younger players to keep doing it,” she said. “What do I want to do long-term? Something with a sport but I’m still deciding if I want to keep playing volleyball or just stay around it.”

In the short term, Iamaleava wants to conclude her high school career with a medal around her neck and make her family proud.

“That pressure turns into a motivation to keep pushing ourselves,” she said. “For Ellie and I there’s a really high ceiling with our older siblings and we try to live up to that.”

In a social media post ahead of Israel’s October 27 election, Trump calls Netanyahu a ‘Strong, Brave, and Brilliant’ leader.

United States President Donald Trump has issued an endorsement of Israel’s incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing a close race in parliamentary elections scheduled for October 27.

In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump praised the Israeli leader for being an ally of the US in its war on Iran. He added that he was giving his “Complete and Total Endorsement” to Netanyahu.

“BIBI NETANYAHU WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!” Trump wrote.

The US president’s backing comes nine days before the Israeli election — and after speculation that it might not come at all.

Trump had refused to endorse Netanyahu earlier this month, when asked repeatedly about the Israeli leader’s job performance in an interview with Time magazine.

Instead, when pressed by his interviewer, Trump avoided the subject, shifting the focus instead to his own popularity or security in the Middle East.

The two leaders have met more than a half dozen times since January 2025, but there have been reports of disagreements, including over the war against Iran and other conflicts.

In June, Trump acknowledged calling Netanyahu “f***ing crazy” in a phone conversation where he expressed frustration about Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.

Trump had reportedly asked Netanyahu not to take further action in Lebanon, in an apparent attempt to preserve a short-lived April ceasefire with Iran.

The two leaders had jointly launched a war against Iran on February 28, but the conflict has cost Trump domestic support.

The war has upended the global oil and gas supply, with no clear end in sight.

A Pew Research Center poll found this month that roughly two-thirds of US voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the war, which has driven up consumer fuel prices and raised concerns about draining military stockpiles.

Trump’s Republican Party is facing a critical midterm election on November 3 that will decide whether it maintains control of the US Congress, as well as other key state and local offices.

Experts have speculated that Trump’s prior reticence to endorse Netanyahu may have come from public perception that Israel may have coaxed the US into the war.

Netanyahu’s Likud Party and its far-right coalition are also facing the prospect of losing the October contest to an opposition bloc led by Yashar party head Gadi Eisenkot.

In his endorsement on Sunday, Trump said it was only a matter of time before Iran would have attacked both the US and Israel.

The war, Trump argued, had already left Iran “systematically destroyed, both Militarily and Financially, and unless they change their ways, rapidly, we will soon finish the job”.

“If Israel has the wrong Leader, which would be anyone other than Bibi, America will have to do this work ourselves, and I am not inclined to do so,” Trump wrote.

“Bibi Netanyahu has been Strong, Brave, and Brilliant in the face of tremendous opposition, including that coming from even Israel, itself.”

Airbus recently put the demonstrator for its MQ-72C drone helicopter through the paces for the U.S. Army. The MQ-72C has been in development for several years now for a U.S. Marine Corps competition seeking a new uncrewed cargo-carrying Aerial Logistics Connector (ALC). The Marines see uncrewed logistics ‘connectors’ as key to future expeditionary and distributed operations, and a similar Army requirement could be on the horizon, especially to support long-range air assaults.

Jaysen Yochim, Senior Director for the ALC program at Airbus, talked about the demonstration for the Army with our Howard Altman at the Association of the U.S. Army’s (AUSA) main annual convention on Monday. Airbus is currently teamed with L3Harris Technologies, Shield AI, and Parry Labs on development of this drone helicopter for the Marines, as you can learn more about here.

The current iteration of the MQ-72C is based on the crewed UH-72B Lakota, which is in turn a variant of Airbus’ H145 twin-engine light helicopter. The Army operates crewed UH-72s today, but only in non-combat roles, including counter-drug and border patrol missions, and almost exclusively within the borders of the United States.

The MQ-72C demonstration for the Army, which Airbus self-funded, took place last week at Huntsville Executive Airport just outside of Huntsville, Alabama. The service has a major presence in the Huntsville area, which is focused heavily on supporting aviation and missile developments. As of April of this year, Airbus and its partners had already conducted four rounds of autonomous flight testing of the initial demonstrator version of this design, which is not in a fully uncrewed configuration.

“We did a demonstration for the Army down in Huntsville, really to show all the capabilities that we’ve been able to develop so far on the Marine Corps-funded program,” Yochim said. “We had a total of five demonstration flights that we did down there, showing everything from the autonomous capability of the aircraft in a hover.”

This included “complex hovering patterns, both step turns and fly-through turns, similar to what you’d see on an airfield, to just show how it can be integrated onto an airfield inside of the existing routing structure and everything that exists on an airfield,” he continued. “We did multiple traffic patterns to demonstrate just a normal traffic pattern, like a normal day would be, but also traffic patterns or a flight with a no-fly zone popping up in the middle of the flight.”

The video below shows previous flight testing of the MQ-72C demonstrator.

First Autonomous ALC Flight

In that latter instance, the MQ-72C had to “autonomously make decisions” about how it was “going to route itself around the no-fly zones” once they popped up, he added. The human operator did provide the initial flight plan. There was also a pilot on board during the autonomous flight demonstrations, but only as an added safety margin, and they “never had to take control of the aircraft once,” according to Yochim.

Though the demonstrator now has provisions for a pilot, the intention is for the MQ-72C to eventually operate in a completely uncrewed mode. The current version of the design has two LIDAR sensors, facing front and back, as well as an electro-optical camera at the nose end, to help with navigation and otherwise provide situational awareness while operating in the uncrewed mode.

Those sensors feed “imagery into the flight computer with HiveMind that’s interpreting that through its perception systems to make decisions on the go,” Yochim explained. HiveMind is an autonomy software package from Shield AI, which is in use on a growing number of other uncrewed platforms, as you can read more about here.

AI Piloted Helicopters | Lakota Connector Powered by Hivemind

Yochim also talked about work that has already been done to start laying the groundwork for controlling the MQ-72C in the fully uncrewed mode. Parry Labs has been leading ground control station work.

“Over the summer is really where now the aircraft, rather than having a pilot inside the aircraft, or sorry, an autonomous operator inside the aircraft, using a gaming computer to tell the aircraft what to do, now the aircraft is receiving commands from a ground control station,” he told us. “That is that human in the loop, sending commands to the aircraft over Starlink, so that it has beyond line-of-sight. We’ve had flights that have been autonomously commanded from up to 70 miles away. All of that is stuff that’s happened in the last year. We also have where the aircraft can be commanded from both a ground control station like this and also with the Samsung tablet.”

SpaceX’s Starlink space-based network and its more secure, government-focused cousin, Starshield, are in increasingly widespread use across the U.S. military for communications and other purposes. At present, Starlink also dominates the commercial market for these services globally. Starlink and Starshield offer highly persistent and robust connectivity that is ideal for uncrewed aircraft command and control operations.

The current MQ-72C demonstrator also lacks certain features that are expected to be found on the final configuration. Plans for a set of clamshell doors at the nose notably still have yet to be realized. The UH-72 design already features clamshell doors at the rear of the fuselage, as seen below. The end goal is for the uncrewed version to have an open pass-through main cabin, offering major advantages for loading and unloading cargo, and doing so rapidly.

The nose door arrangement has been “designed. It’s been 3D rendered. It’s gone through some testing on that end, but not flight testing,” Airbus’ Yochim told us. “The flight testing, wind tunnel testing, things like that, take time, and it’s just not been the priority to get there with getting the aircraft ready.”

Yochim said that Airbus is now looking toward the 2029-2030 timeframe for integrating the nose doors. This is tied, in part, to the Marine Corps’ ALC program, where delayed funding has shifted the schedule to the right. On that front, the Marine Corps is aiming for demonstration of this capability in an operationally relevant context next year. The Airbus-led team is also not the only one under contract for that program, with Near Earth Autonomy and Honeywell also working on a design based on the Leonardo AW139 helicopter. The expectation is that the Marines will eventually pick a single ALC design to actually acquire.

In the meantime, Airbus is clearly eyeing other opportunities, including with the U.S. Army. The company’s main arm in Europe is also now pitching a functionally identical U145 drone helicopter based on the current generation H145 design.

Airbus did the “demonstration to just show the Army the capabilities that we’ve been developing with the Marine Corps,” Yochim told us. “So the Marine Corps has been funding the program up to now, and so the message we are giving the Army is this is how far your sister unit [sic; service] has been able to get us with the funding that we’ve had. It’s already product that’s out there. It’s already product that’s working.”

As mentioned, the Marines see ALC as part of a larger family of uncrewed logistics ‘connectors,’ in the air and on the surface, which will be critical to supporting expeditionary and distributed operations involving units spread across far-flung forward locations. The service sees this as particularly central to an island-hopping campaign scenario in the context of a larger potential high-end fight with China in the Pacific, where traditional logistics chains will be top targets. The conflict with Iran has only underscored how disruptive those threats can be.

The Army is facing many of the same kinds of future operational scenarios, especially when it comes to supporting future airmobile operations. The service is already expecting air assaults to take place over far greater distances in the future thanks to the introduction of the MV-75A tiltrotor. Those units will need to be supported once they arrive at their objectives, which could be heavily contested.

“We did several [air assaults] over the last few years directly from Fort Campbell to the Joint Readiness Training Center, which is 500 miles, give or take. The [Marine Corps’ MV-22] Osprey can do that very fast and in one leap,” Army Maj. Gen. David Gardner, head of the 101st Airborne Division, told our sister site Task & Purpose at AUSA. “Our current helicopters, you’ve got to make some fuel and re-arming stops along the way, and the distance isn’t there. But now that helped us think through as a division how we were going to command and control something that moved, expanded our battlefield, so to speak, twice as far, three times, four times as far, and twice as fast.”

The 101st is the Army’s premier air assault formation and is set to be the first to fly MV-75As operationally.

“We can put some things inside the helicopter, and we can put some things under a helicopter with a sling load. We’re not going to sling load something moving 250-ish knots for 500 miles. We’re not going to hang Humvees under that,” Gardner also told Task & Purpose. “We learned some things about how we need to get our equipment to the battlefield, how we need to get our sustainment to the battlefield at those distances, how we might need to rely on autonomous logistics delivery systems.”

It should be stressed that the market for semi-autonomous aerial logistics support is heating up, and that the MQ-72C is not the only option to meet such a requirement. As noted, there is another competitor in the running just for the Marines’ ALC effort, the AW139-based offering from Near Earth Autonomy and Honeywell.

Last year, Sikorsky, now a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, revealed that it was working on a fully uncrewed version of the Black Hawk helicopter that also features a clamshell nose. Sikorsky has also been working with Robinson Unmanned on a pilotless version of the smaller R66 helicopter that again features clamshell doors at the front of the fuselage. Bell, together with Near Earth Autonomy, is developing an uncrewed cargo-carrying version of its Model 505 Jet Ranger X, as well. The drone versions of the R66 and Jet Ranger X are aimed primarily at another Marine Corps ‘connector’ program called the Medium Aerial Resupply Vehicle-Expeditionary Logistics (MARV-EL).

Introducing the S-70UAS™ U-Hawk™

Robinson Unmanned | The Future of Autonomous Rotorcraft is Here

As mentioned, the Army does already operate crewed UH-72s, but it also flies Black Hawks. The service is also expanding its use of contractor-operated R66s for pilot training.

The Army does not appear to have formalized any requirement for a cargo-carrying drone helicopter yet. At the same time, the comments from Maj. Gen. Gardner certainly suggest one may be emerging now.

There was at least enough interest within the Army already to accept Airbus’ offer of a demonstration of its MQ-72C last week.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Death in Paradise will see the return of a beloved detective on Monday night as the BBC airs a repeat from series 12

Ralf Little will be back on screens as DI Neville Parker on Monday night.

The repeat from series 12 of Death in Paradise gives fans another chance to watch the show’s longest-serving detective tackle a puzzling case on Saint Marie.

The episode synopsis reads: “The team investigates a survivalist commune when one of its members is poisoned inside a locked bunker. However, with CCTV footage showing that no one went in or came out while he was in there, it seems likely that he has taken his own life – or has he? Meanwhile, Neville has a series of adventurous dates with Sophie.”

Joining Ralf in the episode are Tahj Miles as Officer Marlon Pryce, Ginny Holder as Officer Darlene Curtis, and Shantol Jackson as Naomi Thomas, giving viewers a chance to catch up with more familiar faces.

Neville first joined the Saint Marie police team back in 2020, stepping into the shoes of DI Jack Mooney (Ardal O’Hanlon).

During his four-year stint as Detective Inspector, he weathered countless challenges, conquering his allergies and aversion to the sun, and even surviving a plot to frame him for murder, cementing his status as the island’s longest-serving investigator.

Ralf ultimately departed Death in Paradise in 2024, with his character sailing off into the sunset alongside his love interest, Florence Cassell. Both he and the show’s producers agreed that Neville’s story had reached a fitting and natural conclusion, reports the Express.

Ralf was subsequently succeeded by another outstanding actor, Don Gilet, who portrays DI Mervin Wilson. Tim Key, Executive Producer for Red Planet Pictures, commented at the time: “Joining a successful show like Death in Paradise as the lead is a daunting and risky prospect, but Ralf’s confidence and talent shone through from day one, and the audience response to Neville and his journey has been amazing.”

He added, “I can’t thank Ralf enough for everything he has brought to the show, on and off screen, and wish him all the very best for the future.”

This marks not the first occasion the BBC has broadcast a repeat of Death in Paradise. Last month saw Kris Marshall and Ardal O’Hanlon return to screens as DI Humphrey Goodman and DI Jack Mooney, respectively.

Back in September, the show’s Instagram page revealed a watch-along of series six, episodes five and six, starring Kris Marshall opposite Josephine Jobert as DS Florence Cassell.

Fans can also catch Kris in the Death in Paradise spin-off, Beyond Paradise, which unfolds in the fictional town of Shipton Abbott.

Death in Paradise is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.