News Desk

SEOUL, Nov. 5 (UPI) — Non-ferrous metal giant Korea Zinc said Tuesday it nearly doubled its profit in the third quarter of 2025 overa year ago, driven by strong demand across its product lines.

Korea Zinc reported $2.87 billion in revenue during the July-September period, up 29.7% year-on-year, for an operating income of $189 million, up 82.3%. The company said that it has remained profitable for 103 consecutive quarters since 2000.

The Seoul-based corporation said the strong sales of critical raw materials, including antimony, indium and bismuth, as well as precious metals, boosted performance during the three-month period.

Through its integrated smelting process for zinc, lead and copper, Korea Zinc also recovers about 10 by-products of critical raw materials and precious metals, such as gold and silver.

Korea Zinc said that gold and silver contributed about $2.5 billion to revenue during the first nine months of this year, as metal prices remained strong.

The world’s largest zinc manufacturer has also expanded its portfolio of strategic materials. Antimony, indium and bismuth are classified as “critical minerals” by Washington and Seoul.

Early this year, it started exporting antimony, a vital component in electronic and defense production, to the United States. Its global sales of antimony reached $173 million so far this year.

In August, Korea Zinc signed a memorandum of understanding with Lockheed Martin to supply germanium, another critical mineral, to the U.S.-headquartered defense contractor.

“On the back of proactive investments and a diversified portfolio, our strategic minerals and precious metals business did well. New growth areas such as resource recycling are also on a stable trajectory,” Korea Zinc said in a statement.

Russia’s key Black Sea oil port of Tuapse has suspended all fuel exports after Ukrainian drones struck its infrastructure on November 2, igniting a fire and damaging loading facilities. The attack also forced the nearby Rosneft-operated refinery to halt crude processing, according to industry sources and LSEG ship tracking data.

Tuapse is one of Russia’s major export hubs for refined oil products, including naphtha, diesel, and fuel oil. The port plays a crucial role in supplying markets such as China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Turkey. The refinery, capable of processing around 240,000 barrels of oil per day, exports most of its production.

Why It Matters

The suspension underscores Ukraine’s ongoing campaign to weaken Russia’s wartime economy by targeting energy infrastructure deep inside Russian territory. These strikes not only disrupt export revenues but also stretch Russia’s military and logistical resources. For Moscow, losing Tuapse an export-oriented refinery on the Black Sea adds pressure to its already strained oil supply chain amid international sanctions and logistical bottlenecks.

The attack also signals Kyiv’s growing drone capabilities, with long-range operations increasingly aimed at strategic Russian energy sites. As the conflict nears its fourth year, energy infrastructure on both sides has become a critical front in the economic war underpinning the battlefield.

The regional administration in Tuapse confirmed the drone strike and subsequent fire but offered few details. State oil company Rosneft and Russia’s port agency did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

According to data reviewed by LSEG, three tankers were docked during the attack, loading naphtha, diesel, and fuel oil. All vessels were later moved offshore to anchor safely near the port. Before the incident, Tuapse had been expected to increase oil product exports in November.

Ukraine has not directly claimed responsibility for the specific attack but reiterated that its drone strikes aim to erode Russia’s capacity to finance its invasion through energy exports.

What’s Next

Repair timelines for the Tuapse refinery and port infrastructure remain unclear, but the temporary halt is expected to disrupt Russia’s short-term fuel exports and trading flows in the Black Sea region. The strike may prompt Moscow to bolster air defenses along its southern coast and diversify export routes to reduce vulnerability.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is expected to continue leveraging drone warfare to target high-value Russian infrastructure as part of its asymmetric strategy to offset Moscow’s battlefield advantages.

With information from an exclusive Reuters report.

Out of sheer darkness, the Batman logo was emblazoned across the 86-foot-wide screen and dazzled my young eyes.

From Hollywood, I was instantly whisked away to Gotham City. The iconic DC comic book came to life and the booming thuds of the Caped Crusader smashing a pair of common thieves was real.

These were my first vivid memories of watching a movie in the larger-than-life Cinerama Dome on Sunset Boulevard, and being amazed by the screen’s size and the sense of being transported into another galaxy.

But the dome is magical on the outside, as well as the inside. The concrete geodesic dome is made up of 316 individual hexagonal and pentagonal shapes in 16 sizes. Like Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, it’s a structure that has become a Hollywood landmark.

The Dome represented a special place for me, until it became just another of the dozens of businesses in L.A. that never returned after pandemic closures in 2020.

Ever since, there have been rumblings that the Dome would eventually reopen. Although nothing is definitive, my colleague Tracy Brown offered a bit of hope in a recent article.

What’s the latest

Dome Center LLC, the company that owns the property along Sunset Boulevard near Vine Street, filed an application Oct. 28 for a conditional-use permit to sell alcohol for on-site consumption at the Cinerama Dome Theater and adjoining multiplex. The application doesn’t mention an reopening date or any details about movie screenings returning to the dome but suggests that a reopening may be in the works.

Elizabeth Peterson-Gower of Place Weavers Inc., said Dome Center is seeking a new permit that would “allow for the continued sale and dispensing of a full line of alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption in conjunction with the existing Cinerama Dome Theater, 14 auditoriums within the Arclight Cinemas Theater Complex, and restaurant/cafe with two outdoor dining terraces from 7:00 am – 4:00 am, daily,” according to the application filed by the company’s representative.

This would would be a renewal of the current 10-year permit, which expires Nov. 5.

The findings document filed with the City Planning Department also mentions that “when the theater reopens, it will bring additional jobs to Hollywood and reactivate the adjacent streets, increasing safety and once again bringing vibrancy to the surrounding area.”

A representative for Dome Center LLC did not respond immediately Friday to a request for comment.

What happened to the Dome?

The Cinerama Dome opened in 1963 and had been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Since the closing, the news about the future of the theater has been ambiguous.

In April, 2021, the owner of Pacific Theatres and ArcLight Cinemas announced they would not reopen the beloved theater even after the pandemic ended. But then, in December, sources told The Times that plans were in the works to reopen the Cinerama Dome and the attached theater complex.

In 2022, news that the property owners obtained a liquor license for the renamed “Cinerama Hollywood” fueled hope among the L.A. film-loving community’s that the venue was still on track to return.

But the Cinerama Dome’s doors have remained closed.

Signs of life

At a public hearing regarding the adjacent Blue Note Jazz Club in June, Peterson-Gower reportedly indicated that although there were not yet any definitive plans, the property owners had reached out to her to next discuss the future of the Cinerama Dome.

Perhaps this new permit application is a sign plans are finally coming together.

After the kind of year Los Angeles has endured — with devastating fires and demoralizing immigration raids — it would certainly bolster the spirits of all Angelenos to have another local landmark reopen its doors to welcome movie-loving patrons like me.

Today’s top stories

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks as he stands with First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom during an election night news conference at a Democratic Party office in Sacramento on Nov. 4, 2025.

(Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)

Voters approve Prop. 50

After World Series celebration, ICE and Border Patrol gather at Dodger Stadium once again

• Dozens of federal immigration agents were seen staging in a Dodger Stadium parking lot Tuesday morning, a day after the team returned home to celebrate its back-to-back championships with thousands of Angelenos.
• Videos shared with The Times and on TikTok show agents in unmarked vehicles, donning green vests and equipped with white zip ties in parking lot 13.
• Five months ago, protests erupted outside the stadium gates when federal immigration used the parking lot as a processing site for people who had been arrested in a nearby immigration raid.

Sen. Alex Padilla says he won’t run for California governor

• “It is with a full heart and even more commitment than ever that I am choosing to not run for governor of California next year,” Padilla told reporters outside his Senate office in Washington.
• Padilla instead said he will focus on countering President Trump’s agenda in Congress, where Democrats are currently in the minority in both the House and Senate, but hope to regain some political clout after the 2026 midterm elections.

What else is going on

Commentary and opinions

This morning’s must-read

For your downtime

A view of landscaping at the home of Susan Gottleib and her Gottleib Native Garden in Beverly Hills.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

Staying in

A question for you: What’s the best hiking trail in SoCal?

Alexandra writes: “Sullivan Canyon, for sure.”

Rochelle writes: “Can’t ever go wrong in Griffith Park, but for overall exercise, killer views, artifacts, and entertainment without wearing yourself out, my hiking partner and I like the Solstice Canyon Loop in Malibu, 3.4 miles. The most popular hike in the canyon, for good reason!”

Email us at [email protected], and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally … your photo of the day

Joe Rinaudo hopes to host tours and educational opportunities at his home theater and museum through a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving photoplayers.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Jason Armond at the home of Joe Rinaudo, the foremost expert on photoplayers, who is preserving the soundtrack to a bygone movie era.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, Sunday writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected]. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.

Israel has conducted more than 1,000 air strikes and more than 400 ground incursions in Syria since al-Assad overthrow.

Israel’s army has renewed its incursions into Syria, setting up a checkpoint in the southern province of Quneitra, according to local media, as it continues daily attacks, destabilises its neighbours and occupies and assaults Palestine.

State news agency SANA reported that two tanks and four military vehicles entered the town of Jabata al-Khashab in the Quneitra countryside on Wednesday, setting up the military post on the road leading to the village of Ain al-Bayda.

Damascus did not immediately comment but has repeatedly condemned Israel’s repeated violations of its sovereignty, highlighting Israel’s failure to adhere to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement that followed the 1973 war.

In that war, Syria was unable to retake the occupied Golan Heights. The 1974 agreement saw the establishment of a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone, which Israel has violated since the fall of Bashar al-Assad last December

Israel has previously said the 1974 agreement is void since al-Assad fled, breaching Syrian sovereignty with air strikes, ground infiltration operations, reconnaissance overflights, the establishment of checkpoints and the arrests and disappearances of Syrians. Syria has not reciprocated attacks.

Back in September, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa stated that Israel had conducted more than 1,000 air strikes and more than 400 ground incursions in Syria since al-Assad was overthrown, describing the actions as “very dangerous”.

Numerous villages in Quneitra, southern Syria, have experienced Israeli incursions, according to Syrian outlet Enab Baladi.

De-escalation discussions

Syria and Israel are currently in talks to reach an agreement that Damascus hopes will secure a halt to Israel’s air strikes on its territory and the withdrawal of Israeli troops who have pushed into southern Syria.

In the background, the United States has been pushing diplomatic efforts to restore the 1974 deal. On Saturday, Trump’s special envoy Tom Barrack said the two countries are expected to hold a fifth set of de-escalation discussions.

Amid Israel’s continued belligerence and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s promotion of his vision for a “Greater Israel“, al-Sharaa has been forging closer ties with the US.

On Monday, he is heading to Washington for talks with President Donald Trump, marking the first visit by a Syrian president to the White House in more than 80 years.

Barrack said on Saturday that Syria is expected to join the US-led anti–ISIL (ISIS) coalition, describing it as “a big step” and “remarkable”.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani said earlier this week that al-Sharaa was also expected to discuss Syria’s reconstruction with Trump.

In 2019, a Sudanese team of jiu-jitsu athletes set out on an extraordinary quest: to travel by land from Sudan to Kenya, despite having no funding and limited resources, to compete in the LionHeart Nairobi Open.

Together members of the Muqatel Training Center for martial arts travelled across three countries, carrying not just their hopes and dreams, but the spirit of a revolution that reshaped Sudan.

Journey to Kenya is a documentary short about resilience, unity and determination — a powerful reminder that dreams can transcend borders.

A film by Ibrahim “Snoopy” Ahmed, produced by In Deep Visions.

Ofcom has received more than 100 complaints from Married At First Sight viewers over the way groom Ashley was treated during his time on the hit E4 reality series

Ofcom has received more than 100 complaints from Married At First Sight fans over the way a groom was treated. Earlier in this series of the hit E4 reality show. viewers watched as midwife Grace ‘tied the knot’ with Ashley but she was visibly not very keen from the start.

The couple made it past the initial wedding stage of the experiment, but various issues kept cropping up as they tried to embark on their new relationship and it all ended after one final argument that took place at a dinner party.

She added: “I expect you to act like a grown man capable of self-control. Sponsored by Canesten Duo.” The pair have been notably absent at various points within the series, and in the end, Ashley removed his wedding band when he decided that ‘couldn’t do anymore‘ for her without her taking issue with it as she accused him of ‘twisting’ everything.

READ MORE: Married at First Sight UK’s Ashley issues statement after sparking romance rumoursREAD MORE: Married At First Sight UK’s Grace takes brutal swipe at Ashley as fans express concern

But viewers have taken issue with the way that experts Mel Schilling, Paul C Brunson and Charlene Douglas seemingly enabled Grace’s behaviour during her time on camera. A spokesperson for Ofcom confirmed: “Complaints related to the experts allegedly enabling Grace’s treatment of Ashley.” In total, the regulator received 166 complaints from angry viewers.

It comes just one day after Grace took to social media to hit out at her ex regarding their final argument. She said: “I expect you to accept no for an answer. I expect you to prioritise my discomfort over your desire for sex. I expect you to act like a grown man capable of self-control. Sponsored by Canesten Duo.”

Things went from bad to worse for the couple during Wife Swap week, when Ashley admitted that he was ‘happier’ when his bride was not around. On the verge of tears, he explained: “I’d hate to hurt Grace’s feelings. I just feel like I can’t give any more to this. So I have to be selfish and put myself first. Grace then admitted: “I would have really liked if this had worked out I think we recognise now there was never anyway it was going to (work). But yeah, you do know that deep down.”

When viewers first met Ashley and Grace, she refused to accept a kiss on the lips when they were pronounced as husband and wife. Things got even more heated between the pair at the dinner following the wedding, when Ashley admitted that he had been raised with ‘old-fashioned’ morals and believed that a man should be the breadwinner. Grace was visibly shocked at this revelation, and in a confessional, she fumed: “God, here we go!”

Later on, Grace’s friend Georgina interrogated Ashley over his outlook on life and when he suggested he was not necessarily a feminist, she raged that someone like that was not going to be a match for Grace.

She said: “My advice was, she wants to know you respect her.” She then relayed her concerns to Grace, but insisted she had managed to warm to Ashley by explaining to him just what she thought a feminist was. This whole scene did not go down well with some viewers either, with one writing: “Grace & her friends seem like the type to bring about their own misery,” and another slamming it as the ‘most insufferable conversation’ they had ever heard.

Viewers will have to wait to see just how things pan out between Ashley and Grace on the next episode, but the trailer for next week teased that things might not be looking so good.

In a short clip, Grace raged: “Every now and then he says something, and it’s like ‘Do you know how that sounds?!'”

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

Nov. 5 (UPI) — At least 11 people were killed and 30 injured in a blaze at a high-rise retirement home in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Authorities said the fire broke out Tuesday evening at about 8.45 p.m. (2 p.m. EST) on the seventh floor of the facility in Tuzla, the country’s fourth largest city 70 miles northeast of the capital, Sarajevo.

Police said firefighters, police officers, medics, residents and staff at the home were among 20 people taken to the hospital.

Several people received treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning, with three in intensive care, said a spokesman for Tuzla University clinical center.

Images circulating online show the top floor of the building engulfed in flames.

Nermin Niksic, prime minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the country’s bipartite system of government, called the blaze “a disaster of enormous proportions.”

Tuzla is located in FBiH, one of two administrative entities portioning the country between Bosnian Muslims and Catholic Croats in the north and Bosnian-Serbs in central and southern areas born out of the 1995 U.S.-brokered Dayton accords that ended the Bosnian War.

The prime minister of the Srpska entity, Savo Minic, head of the country’s Serb region, said Tuesday night that his government stood ready to assist Tuzla in any way it could following the retirement home fire.

“The Government of the Republic of Srpska stands ready to assist the citizens of Tuzla with any kind of help following tonight’s tragedy. We feel the pain and are always ready to help. Our most sincere condolences to the families,” he said in a post on X.

Authorities said an investigation into the cause of the blaze was underway.

And so another member of the old “war on terror” team has left the world. Dick Cheney, who served as the most powerful vice president in the history of the United States during the two-term administration of George W Bush (2001-2009), died on Monday at the age of 84.

According to a memorial statement issued by his family, Cheney was “a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing”.

And yet many inhabitants of the Earth will remember the late VP for rather less warm and fuzzy things than love and fly fishing. As the chief architect of the “global war on terror” – which was launched in 2001 and enabled the US to terrorise various locations worldwide under the guise of fighting “terrorists” – Cheney died with untold quantities of blood on his hands, particularly in Iraq.

In the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Cheney swore that the “Iraqi regime” had been “very busy enhancing its capabilities in the field of chemical and biological agents” and that the country had continued “to pursue the nuclear programme they began so many years ago”. Per the vice president’s hallucinations, this pursuit of weaponry was “for the purpose of inflicting death on a massive scale”.

As Foreign Policy magazine charmingly noted in its 2012 compilation of the “Top 100 Global Thinkers”, which included Cheney as well as numerous other characters with objectively dubious credentials in terms of thinking: “If scaring us silly were a religion, Dick Cheney would be its high priest.”

But Cheney’s fearmongering – and repeated lies concerning Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction – worked like a charm in paving the way for the infliction of “death on a massive scale” in the country. It also paved the way for the lining of certain pockets, such as those associated with the US oil and engineering firm Halliburton, where Cheney himself served as CEO from 1995 until 2000 and which just happened to win $7bn in no-bid contracts in post-invasion Iraq.

Anyway, it was business as usual in the land of conflicts of interest and revolving doors.

Until his dying day, Cheney espoused a no-regrets approach to the illegal perpetration of mass slaughter and attendant suffering, telling CNN 12 years after the effective pulverisation of Iraq: “It was the right thing to do then. I believed it then, and I believe it now.” Never mind the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths, the forcible displacement of millions, and the dousing of the country in toxic and radioactive munitions that will continue to impact Iraqi health basically for eternity.

Escalating cancer rates among the population have been attributed in part to the US military’s use of depleted uranium weapons, the traces of which “represent a formidable long-term environmental hazard as they will remain radioactive for more than 4.5 billion years”, as Al Jazeera has observed.

But, hey, I hear the fly fishing is great in Baghdad.

And the Iraq war is hardly Cheney’s only nonregret. In response to the 2014 CIA torture report on the US use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” such as rectal rehydration and waterboarding to extract information, Cheney stuck by his guns: “I would do it again in a minute.”

Nor is the “war on terror” the sole defining sadistic episode in the legacy of a man who was a fixture on the American political scene for decades. In December 1989, for example, the US military unleashed hell on the impoverished neighbourhood of El Chorrillo in Panama City, Panama, killing potentially several thousand civilians and earning El Chorrillo the nickname “Little Hiroshima”.

The US defence secretary presiding over the operation was none other than Cheney, this time under the leadership of George HW Bush, whose administration was eager to cure the American public of its post-Vietnam War aversion to military combat abroad with an excessive display of high-tech firepower and an easy “victory”. After the bout of devastation, during which many of El Chorrillo’s wooden shacks went up in flames along with their inhabitants, Cheney boasted that the deadly spectacle had “been the most surgical military operation of its size ever conducted”.

The “surgical” stunt in Panama was a test run for Operation Desert Storm against Iraq in 1991, which was also overseen by Cheney in his own sort of test run for the future infliction of mass death in the country.

Now Cheney is no more, joining his former comrades in war crimes Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell in the great beyond. In the wake of his demise, US news agencies and media outlets have restricted themselves to memorialising him as a “polarising” and “controversial” figure who, as The Associated Press diplomatically put it, “was proved wrong on point after point in the Iraq War, without losing the conviction he was essentially right”.

As usual, the corporate media can never bring themselves to call a spade a spade – or a war criminal a war criminal. But against the current backdrop of Israel’s US-backed genocide in the Gaza Strip and other global calamities, the loss of another mass murderer can hardly be considered bad news.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

NICOLA Peltz has snubbed her father-in-law David Beckham’s knighthood as the family feud rumbles on.

The actress returned to social media on Tuesday to share a picture of a bunch of flowers from her sister but failed to make mention of David’s honour.

Alongside the picture, she gushed: “Omg @brittanyleahpeltz thank you so so so much these are breathtaking.”

David received his knighthood from King Charles at Windsor Castle for services to sport and charity and were joined by his family for the special occasion.

His wife Victoria Beckham and parents Ted and Sandra watched on as the King bestowed the honour on him with a gentle touch of a sword on either shoulder.

His children Romeo, Cruz and Harper were also involved in celebrating the big day with their beloved dad.

READ MORE ON THE BECKHAMS

A KNIGHT KNEES UP

Sir David celebrates knighthood as he parties with Victoria & kids

becks appeal

Victoria Beckham shares tribute to ‘humble’ husband David after his Knighthood

However, eldest son Brooklyn and his wife Nicola were noticeably absent from the big day and much like his other half, Brooklyn has failed to make any mention of it on social media.

Romeo and Cruz both took to Instagram to share sweet tributes to their dad but their big brother has stayed silent.

Romeo shared an adorable picture with his parents and siblings as he penned: “No one deserves this more than you, love you so much xxx. Congrats Sir dad @davidbeckham.”

While Cruz shared the moment David received his knighthood on his stories as well as sharing David’s post.

Brooklyn and Nicola’s snub comes after he is believed to have “quit” the famous family this year following rising tension.

The Beckham family feud is understood to have actually started four years ago, when Nicola refused to wear a wedding dress designed by Victoria.

Tensions then became public when Brooklyn did not publicly acknowledge fashion designer Victoria on Mother’s Day.

He then failed to show up at any of David’s 50th birthday celebrations earlier this year.

The couple reside in their mansion in Los Angeles and appear to be very close to Nicola’s side of the family.

They tied the knot in 2022 and renewed their wedding vows earlier this year, with the ceremony being officiated by her father Nelson.

Only her family were present for the big day, with the Beckhams not being involved.

Despite the ongoing tensions, David put his best foot forward to receive the biggest honour of his career and become Sir David Beckham.

It marks the end of an agonising wait for the charity ambassador, who was first put forward for a knighthood in 2011.

He took to Instagram to pen his feelings as he wrote: “I can’t even begin to describe what a special day it is for me today, a boy born in East London, to receive a Knighthood from His Majesty The King.

“I am truly humbled and so grateful for this honour.

FESTIVE FEELS

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TRAFFIC CARNAGE

Major motorway shut with TWO-HOUR delays after crash between lorry & van

“All I have ever wanted to do is to make my family proud.” the star gushed.

Becks then added a sweet message to his four kids as he wrote: “To my beautiful children who I am so proud of and I know this is a proud and inspiring day for them as well, they are our greatest joy in life and my inspiration every single day. I love you all so much…”

Zohran Mamdani has won the election to be the next mayor of New York City, knocking out political heavyweight Andrew Cuomo. In less than a year, Mamdani has gone from being a little-known state assemblyman to becoming one of the most high-profile politicians in the United States.

How did he do it, and what could happen now? Start Here with Sandra Gathmann explains.

This episode features:

Joseph Stepansky | US reporter, Al Jazeera Digital

Christina Greer | associate professor of political science at Fordham University and cohost of the FAQ NYC podcast

Andres Bernal | lecturer at the School of Labor and Urban Studies of the City University of New York

Kyiv, Ukraine – The collective West is scared of Moscow’s new, nuclear-powered cruise missile because it can reach anywhere on Earth, bypassing the most sophisticated air and missile defence systems, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has claimed.

“They’re afraid of what we’ll show to them next,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the RIA Novosti news agency on Sunday.

Days earlier, she said Moscow was “forced” to develop and test the cruise missile, which is named the Burevestnik, meaning storm petrel – a type of seabird, in response to NATO’s hostility towards Russia.

“The development can be characterised as forced and takes place to maintain strategic balance,” she was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying. Russia “has to respond to NATO’s increasingly destabilising actions in the field of missile defence”.

With much pomp, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday handed state awards to Burevestnik’s developers.

Also awarded were the designers of Poseidon, an underwater nuclear-powered torpedo which Putin has also claimed has been successfully tested.

Russia says Poseidon can carry nuclear weapons that cause radioactive tsunamis, wiping out huge coastal areas. The “super torpedo” can move at the speed of 200km/h (120mph) and zigzag its way to avoid interception, it says.

“In terms of flight range, the Burevestnik … has surpassed all known missile systems in the world,” Putin said in his speech at the Kremlin. “Same as any other nuclear power, Russia is developing its nuclear potential, its strategic potential … What we are talking about now is the work announced a long time ago.”

But military and nuclear experts are sceptical about the efficiency and lethality of the new weapons.

It is not unusual for Russia to flaunt its arsenal as its onslaught in Ukraine continues. Analysts say rather than scaring its critics, Moscow’s announcements are merely a scare tactic to dissuade Western powers from supporting Kyiv.

“There’s nothing revolutionary about,” the Burevestnik, said Pavel Podvig, director of the Russian Nuclear Forces Project at the the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research.

“It can fly long and far, and there’s some novelty about it, but there’s nothing to back [Putin’s claim] that it can absolutely change everything,” Podvig told Al Jazeera. “One can’t say that it is invincible and can triumph over everything.”

The Burevestnik’s test is part of Moscow’s media stratagem of intimidating the West when the real situation on the front lines in Ukraine is desperate, according to a former Russian diplomat.

The missile is “not a technical breakthrough but a product of propaganda and desperation”, Boris Bondarev, who quit his Russian Foreign Ministry job to protest against the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, wrote in an opinion piece published by the Moscow Times.

“It symbolises not strength but weakness – the Kremlin’s lack of any tools of political influence other than threats.”

Few details about ‘unique’ missile

The problem is that officials have so far unveiled very little about the Burevestnik, which NATO has dubbed the SSC-X-9 Skyfall – a missile that has a nuclear reactor allegedly capable of keeping it in the air indefinitely.

On October 26, when fatigues-clad Putin announced Burevestnik’s successful test, he was accompanied by his top general Valery Gerasimov.

“This is a unique item; no one else in the world has it,” said Putin, in televised remarks.

Gerasimov said the Burevestnik had flown 14,000km (8,700 miles) in 15 hours during a recent test. It can manoeuvre and loiter midair, and unleash its nuclear load with “guaranteed precision” and at “any distance”.

“There’s a lot of work ahead” before the missile is mass-produced, Putin concluded, adding the test’s “key objectives have been achieved”.

A Ukrainian military expert ridiculed the Kremlin’s claims.

“Much of the news report is fake, the (Burevestnik) missile is subsonic, it can be detected and destroyed by missile defence systems,” Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy head of Ukraine’s general staff of armed forces who specialised in air and missile defence, told Al Jazeera.

As for the Poseidon nuclear drone, it is too destructive – and can be used only as a second-strike, retaliatory weapon after the start of a nuclear war, experts warned. As with the Burevestnik, the lack of detailed information about Poseidon casts doubt upon the Kremlin’s claims.

Trump decries ‘inappropriate’ tests

The announcements followed Washington’s scrapping of United States President Donald Trump’s summit with Putin in Budapest, Hungary.

Trump has called the Burevestnik’s test “inappropriate” and ordered the Pentagon to resume the testing of nuclear weapons and missiles.

But ahead of next year’s midterm elections, he may seek to show how he forced the Kremlin to stop hostilities in Ukraine.

“Trump will have to play with pressure on Russia,” Romanenko said. “Hopefully, the circumstances will force Trump to act.”

What Putin has not mentioned is that only two of the Burevestnik’s dozen tests, starting in 2019, have been successful.

Its 2019 launch near the White Sea in northwestern Russia killed at least five nuclear experts after a radioactive explosion, Western experts said at the time. Russia’s state nuclear agency acknowledged the deaths, but officials and media reports do not provide video footage, detailed photos or other specifics of the Burevestnik and its testing route – making Putin’s latest claims hard to corroborate or disprove.

Western experts were able to identify the Burevestnik’s probable deployment site in September. Known as Vologda-20 or Chebsara, it is believed to be 475km (295 miles) north of Moscow and has nine launch pads under construction, the Reuters news agency reported last year.

The missile’s capabilities have divided military analysts.

“In operation, the Burevestnik would carry a nuclear warhead (or warheads), circle the globe at low altitude, avoid missile defences, and dodge terrain; and drop the warhead(s) at a difficult-to-predict location (or locations),” the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a US nonprofit security group said in a 2019 report after the missile’s first somewhat successful test.

A year later, the US Air Force’s National Air and Space Intelligence Center said, if brought into service, Burevestnik would give Moscow a “unique weapon with intercontinental-range capability”.

‘Burevestnik is a mystification’

Others doubt the missile’s functionality.

“Burevestnik is a mystification for the whole seven-and-a-half years since it was first announced,” Pavel Luzin, a visiting scholar at Tufts University in Massachusetts, told Al Jazeera.

“It’s impossible to create a reactor that is compact and powerful enough to ensure a cruise missile’s movement,” Luzin said. “This is a basic physics textbook.”

Moscow claims that Burevestnik utilises nuclear propulsion instead of turbojet or turbofan engines used in cruise or ballistic missiles.

But Luzin said the smallest nuclear reactors used to power satellites weighed 1 metric tonne, supplying several kilowatts of energy – roughly equal to what a regular household consumes – while emitting some 150kw of thermal energy.

The experimental nuclear reactors developed in the 1950s and the 60s for aircraft weighed many tonnes and were the size of a railway carriage, he said.

An average engine for a cruise missile weighs up to 80kg, generates 4kw for onboard electric and electronic devices, and about 1 megawatt of energy for propelling the missile, he said.

Other analysts think that Burevestnik’s nuclear engine can function, but do not consider the weapon groundbreaking.

For a historian who writes about war, Rick Atkinson is surprisingly optimistic. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former journalist — who recently released the second volume in a trilogy of books about the American Revolution — believes that the bedrock of American democracy is solid enough to withstand any assaults on its founding principles.

As the guest of honor at a Sunday night dinner sponsored by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles as part of its biennial Literary Feasts fundraiser, Atkinson was the most upbeat person at the event, which took place just before Election Day. Speaking to about 18 guests gathered around two circular tables carefully laid out on the back patio at the home of fellow writers and hosts Meenakshi and Liaquat Ahamed, Atkinson buoyed the flagging spirits of those certain that the country was currently dangling on the precipice of disaster at the hands of the Trump administration.

Book lovers attend a Literary Feast dinner featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Rick Atkinson at the home of writers Meenakshi and Liaquat Ahamed.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

“We’re the beneficiaries of an enlightened political heritage handed down to us from that founding generation, and it includes strictures on how to divide power and keep it from concentrating in the hands of authoritarians who think primarily of themselves,” Atkinson said with the cheery aplomb of a man who has spent the bulk of his time burrowing deep inside archives filled with harrowing stories of the darkest days the world has ever seen. “We can’t let that slip away. We can’t allow it to be taken away, and we can’t allow ourselves to forget the hundreds of thousands who’ve given their lives to affirm and sustain it over the past 250 years.”

The questions and conversation that followed Atkinson’s rousing speech about the history of the Revolution — including riveting details about key players like George Washington who Atkinson noted had “remarkably dead eyes” in order to not give away a scintilla of his inner life to curious onlookers — was what the evening’s book-loving guests had come for.

“We’re the beneficiaries of an enlightened political heritage handed down to us from that founding generation,” said Rick Atkinson.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

A total of 40 authors are hosted at salon-style events at 40 houses with more than 750 guests over the course of a single evening, raising more than $2 million for the Library Foundation, which is a separate entity from the public library. Founded in 1992 in the wake of the devastating 1986 fire at downtown’s Central Library, which destroyed more than 400,000 books, the foundation seeks to continue the community-driven mission of the library when funding runs short, including supporting adult education, early literacy programs for children, and services for immigrants and the unhoused.

“I often describe it as the dream-fueling work, the life-changing work,” said Stacy Lieberman, the Library Foundation’s president and chief executive. “Because it’s a lot of the one-on-one support that people will get.”

The Foundation typically raises about $7 million to $8 million a year, with an operating budget of nearly $11 million, so money raised through the Literary Feasts is a significant slice of the funding pie. The feasts began in 1997 and have continued apace every other year since then, featuring a who’s who of literary accomplishment across every genre. Writers past and present include Sue Grafton, Jane Fonda, Ann Patchett, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Abraham Verghese, Scott Turow and Michael Connelly.

Dinner hosts fund the events themselves — no small outlay considering the lavish offerings.

Guests were served steak with roasted carrots, turnips and potatoes.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

The Ahameds delighted guests with a tangy grapefruit and greens salad, followed by tender steak with roasted carrots, turnips and potatoes; a dessert of hot apple tart à la mode drizzled with caramel sauce; and plenty of crisp red and white wine. Both hosts are literary luminaries in their own right: Liaquat, a former investment manager, won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for history for his book “Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World” and Meenakshi recently published “Indian Genius: The Meteoric Rise of Indians in America.”

The couple travels in bookish circles and enjoys hosting salons at their home, including one earlier this year in support of New Yorker political columnist Susan Glasser and her husband, New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker. As friends of Atkinson, the Ahameds did their part to introduce him, and later tried their best to entice him to stop taking questions and eat his dinner.

The guest of honor could not be persuaded. There was too much to say. “The Fate of the Day,” which explores the bloody middle years of the Revolution from 1777 to 1780, was released in April, and Atkinson has spent the past eight months touring and speaking on panels with documentarian Ken Burns to promote Burns’ six-part documentary series “The American Revolution,” which premieres Nov. 16 on PBS.

Atkinson is a featured speaker in the series and has been involved with it for about four years.

The dinner featuring Rick Atkinson was one of 40 taking place across town that evening. The events raised $2 million for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

The week before the Literary Feast, Atkinson and Burns spoke to members of Congress in Washington, D.C., and also screened a 40-minute clip at Mount Vernon where Atkinson discussed Washington’s unique talents as a general.

“I’ve seen the whole thing several times and it’s fantastic,” Atkinson said of the 12-hour film. “It’s as you would expect: beautifully filmed, wonderfully told, great narrative.”

The country is now more than four months into its semiquincentennial, which Atkinson joked “sounds like a medical procedure,” but is actually the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. It’s well known that Trump is planning a splashy party, with festivities and commemorations intensifying over the next eight months, culminating in a grand celebration in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 2026.

Rick Atkinson’s book “The Fate of the Day,” which explores the bloody middle years of the Revolution from 1777 to 1780, was released in April.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

“My hope is that as a country, we use the opportunity to reflect on those basic questions of who we are, where we came from, what our forebears believed and what they were willing to die for,” said Atkinson. “I’m optimistic because I’m a historian, because I know our history. No matter how grim things seem in 2025, we have faced grimmer times in the past, existential threats of the first order, starting with the Revolution.”

The politically deflated might also consider World War II — the subject of Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy — the second volume of which won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for history. The writer knows his stuff. Guests — and readers — take heart.

Nov. 5 (UPI) — The U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions against eight individuals and two entities accused of laundering proceeds from North Korean cybercrime and information technology worker fraud schemes that help fund Pyongyang’s weapons programs.

The department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said Tuesday that North Korea has stolen more than $3 billion over the past three years, using sophisticated techniques such as advanced malware and social engineering to breach financial systems and cryptocurrency platforms.

“North Korean state-sponsored hackers steal and launder money to fund the regime’s nuclear weapons program,” Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley said in a statement. “By generating revenue for Pyongyang’s weapons development, these actors directly threaten U.S. and global security.”

Hurley added that the Treasury is “identifying and disrupting the facilitators and enablers behind these schemes to cut off the DPRK’s illicit revenue streams.”

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

Among those sanctioned are Jang Kuk Chol and Ho Jong Son, North Korean bankers who allegedly helped manage illicit funds, including $5.3 million in cryptocurrency — some of it linked to ransomware that has previously targeted U.S. victims.

Korea Mangyongdae Computer Technology Co. and its president U Yong Su were also added to the list. The company allegedly operates IT-worker delegations from the Chinese cities of Shenyang and Dandong.

Ryujong Credit Bank, another target, was accused of laundering foreign-currency earnings and moving funds for sanctioned North Korean entities. Six additional individuals were designated for facilitating money transfers.

Under the sanctions, all property and interests in property of the designated individuals and entities within U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally barred from engaging in transactions with them. Financial institutions dealing with the sanctioned parties may also face enforcement actions.

The move builds on earlier U.S. actions this year against North Korean cyber networks. In July, the State Department sanctioned Song Kum Hyok, a member of the Andariel hacking group, for operating remote IT-worker schemes that funneled wages back to Pyongyang.

The Justice Department also filed criminal charges in 16 states against participants in a campaign that placed North Korean IT workers in U.S. companies.

Tuesday’s OFAC statement cited an October report by the 11-country Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, which described North Korea’s cybercrime apparatus as “a full-spectrum, national program operating at a sophistication approaching the cyber programs of China and Russia.”

The report added that “nearly all the DPRK’s malicious cyber activity, cybercrime, laundering and IT work is carried out under the supervision, direction and for the benefit of entities sanctioned by the United Nations for their role in the DPRK’s unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs.”

The sanctions follow President Donald Trump‘s recent visit to South Korea, where a much-anticipated meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un failed to materialize.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service told lawmakers Tuesday that a summit could take place after joint U.S.-South Korean military drills scheduled for March, according to opposition lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun of the People Power Party.

Selling Sunset star Emma Hernan reunited with her on-and-off boyfriend Blake Davis after the latest season wrapped filming.

Selling Sunset’s Emma Hernan has revealed the real reason she reunited with her on-and-off boyfriend Blake Davis.

Emma, 33, introduced Blake to her friends Chrishell Stause and Chelsea Lazkani in season nine, and Chrishell had her doubts about the coupling.

Blake, 28, also has a real estate background and seemed completely smitten with the reality star. He even proposed to Emma, but she soon ended the relationship.

Now, the O Group agent has confirmed she is back together with Blake, despite her friends’ concerns.

Opening up to Tudum, she explained: “If I really cared about making myself look good, I would’ve stayed broken up with him or would’ve said, ‘Nope, we’re not together.’

“But ultimately, with relationships, there’s back and forth — and I think that that’s OK to show.”

Diving into why she reunited with her ex, Emma continued: “I had a realization at the reunion that I was [thinking too much] about what other people think.

“If I want to go spend time with this person, why am I so concerned about what everyone else is going to say? After the reunion, I went to go see him, and we’ve been traveling and been together ever since.”

During the reunion, Emma revealed she was back in contact with Blake.

It also came to light that Emma had “lied” to Chrishell about going to the Bahamas for Blake’s birthday, which has played a part in souring their friendship.

The duo were at a Beyoncé concert when Emma abruptly left.

Chrishell revealed: “You [Emma] told me that you were going to Boston to see your family and that’s why you had to leave early. That’s what you told me.”

She went on to add: “The next day she shows up in the Bahamas with Blake.”

The 44-year-old claimed she disliked Blake because the relationship causes Emma to “flake” on their friendship.

But Chrishell’s disappointment didn’t end there, the actress also claims Blake has problematic views.

Back in May, a fan took to Instagram and asked Chrishell: “What’s happening with you and Emma? Hot topic on Reddit.”

She responded: “Ask her about her MAGA bf who told me pronouns are dumb and that he likes to use the N word. I just can’t with that. Too old to allow that in.”

The social media comment sparked online conversation and press coverage which didn’t exactly paint Emma in a favourable light.

During the season nine reunion, Chrishell opened up about the post, claiming Blake revealed his views during a conversation in her kitchen.

“He told me proudly [that] he openly uses the N-word. He thinks that people [who] don’t sing lyrics with all the words, he thinks they are the ones that are too woke,” she explained.

Emma, who was there during the chat, fired back with: “He never said the word woke. He never said that.”

She went on to explain that Blake expressed that “he’s friends with a bunch of rappers and they try and get him to say it [the N-word] and he says no”.

Emma also argued that Chrishell’s post was not an accurate representation of what Blake said, and that he never voiced any political views.

Selling Sunset Season 9 is streaming now on Netflix

The US government shutdown has now lasted for 36 days, making it the longest on record. Some welfare payments, including those that allow low-income families to buy food, have been halted. The shutdown means more than a million government employees are not being paid.

We now have the first known commercial satellite imagery of the two Chinese sixth-generation stealth fighter designs that emerged nearly a year ago. The aircraft, which are commonly referred to now as the J-36 and the J-XDS, have been spotted in separate images not at their home airfields where they were built, but at a secretive airbase with a massive runway situated near the Lop Nur nuclear test site in northwestern China.

The J-36, readily identifiable by its large modified delta planform and ‘splinter’ camouflage paint scheme, is seen outside the main hangar at the facility’s central apron in an archived satellite image taken on August 27, which The War Zone obtained from Planet Labs. The J-XDS is seen in another Planet Labs image of the airfield taken on September 13. Previously, the J-36 and J-XDS have only been definitively spotted flying in and out of the main airfields associated with their respective manufacturers, Chengdu and Shenyang. Readers can find TWZ‘s very in-depth initial analysis on the J-36 and the J-XDS here.

This particular base near Lop Nur, which has been linked to work on reusable space planes, is also now undergoing a major expansion. It notably already has a runway over 16,400 feet long, or more than 3 miles in total length, making it one of the longest anywhere in the world.

The August 27 satellite image offers new details about the J-36’s size, showing it to have a wingspan of approximately 65 feet and an overall length of some 62 feet. It has already been clear that the three-engined J-36, two distinctly different prototypes of which have now emerged, is a very large tactical aircraft. For comparison, members of the extended Soviet-designed Flanker fighter family, like China’s J-16s, have wingspans of around 48 feet. Flankers are already well known for their large size relative to other fourth-generation fighter designs. As another point of comparison, the variable geometry F-111’s fully extended wingspan was 63 feet.

The September 13 image shows the J-XDS to have a wingspan of around 50 feet and be slightly shorter than the J-36. It’s worth noting that the shadow and image resolution make this estimate more challenging, and readers are advised to take it as such. It has been previously established that the twin-engined J-XDS, also sometimes referred to as the J-50, with its “lambda” wing planform, is smaller and slimmer than the J-36. That being said, it is still firmly in the heavy fighter class.

As mentioned, the remote base near Lop Nur is in the process of being expanded in a major way, overall. The work only started in earnest in the past six months or so, and significant progress has already been made. This includes the enlargement of the main apron, with a single new hangar also having been built at the northeastern end. Three smaller hangars, all joined together and that look to be typical of ones for fighter-sized aircraft, have been constructed at the opposite end, as well.

In addition, a host of other new buildings are seen under construction to the immediate southeast, pointing to plans to expand the scope and scale of work being done at the facility. The series of satellite images below gives a sense of the sheer magnitude of work that has been done just since May of this year.

There had already been a pronounced expansion of the infrastructure at the base in the early 2020s, including the construction of the large main hangar and associated apron. As noted, at that time, the facility seemed largely tied to Chinese military space development efforts. TWZ‘s first report on the airfield came in 2020 after a reusable space plane appeared to have landed there. Last year, we reported on it again after satellite imagery emerged showing a still-mysterious object sitting at one end of the runway.

It seems clear now that the facility has taken on a larger and still growing role in China’s broader advanced aerospace development ecosystem. Comparisons have already been drawn in the past to the U.S. military’s top-secret flight test center at Groom Lake in Nevada, better known as Area 51.

The airfield near Lop Nur is even more remote than China’s existing sprawling test airbase near Malan in Xinjiang province, which also seems to be almost exclusively focused, in terms of aerospace development tasks, on uncrewed aircraft. It also appears to host aircraft detachments for more general training and testing.

The construction of new hangars and other infrastructure at the base in question can only further help with the concealment of assets and other activity there from prying eyes, including in space. That being said, the site is regularly imaged, including by commercial satellites, which clearly did not deter the Chinese from parking the J-36 and J-XDS outside in broad daylight.

Regardless, the appearance of the J-36 and J-XDS at the remote base around the same time is also telling of the facility’s new mission to support the development of advanced air combat technologies. It is further indicative of the state of China’s rapidly evolving sixth-generation fighter programs that they have operated out of this place, possibly alongside each other.

All of this reflects a broader ramping up in China of the development and testing of next-generation tactical air combat platforms, as well as key supporting aircraft. This includes a host of advanced drones intended to perform a variety of missions. Some of these designs are very large, while others are smaller and more in the vein of ‘loyal wingman,’ or what is now often called a Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). For example, the satellite image below, from Planet Labs’ archive of shots taken of Malan, shows what is likely a fighter-sized CCA-type uncrewed aircraft.

These Chinese military aviation trends extend into the naval domain, as well. This past weekend, images emerged online that offer the first look at a navalized version of the GJ-11 Sharp Sword stealthy flying-wing uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV), intended for operations from aircraft carriers and big deck amphibious assault ships, with its arrestor hook deployed. This drone is sometimes also referred to as the GJ-21.

Even with major construction still underway, the secretive and remote base near Lop Nur is already becoming busier, and has now given us the first commercial satellite imagery showing the J-36 and J-XDS. The facility expansion is likely to see it support future advanced tactical aircraft developments, playing a bigger part in these endeavors going forward.

Contact the author: [email protected]

ORE Oduba’s ex wife Portia has taken a swipe about her “inability to co-parent” with someone who “hates you”.

The BBC One star, 39, revealed he has a porn addiction and opened up on his personal struggles in the aftermath of his divorce.

In 2024, Ore, 39, confirmed his split with wife and the mother of his kids Portia after nine years of marriage.

Appearing on Paul C. Brunson’s We Need To Talk podcast, Ore told how he was “terrified” to address his situation that had dogged him for 30 years.

He said his porn addiction started aged just nine after being introduced by the brother of his mate – and confessed the intrigue “set in immediately.”

Following Ore’s revelation, Portia shared an Instagram meme from co-parenting coach Chantal Contorines.

FAMILY WOES

Ore Oduba’s ex Portia takes cryptic swipe at star after his porn confession

MOVING ON

Ore Oduba’s ex-wife Portia finds love again as she goes public with new man

It said: “Them: How has co-parenting been lately?,” with a video of John Cleese smashing his head against a wall.

It was captioned: “You can’t co-parent with a person who wants to control you and hurt you… You can’t co-parent with a person who hates you more than they “love” (and don’t have a capacity for love) their children.”

Just yesterday, Portia took to social media to share a photo of their kids Roman, seven, and Genie, four.

Portia flashed a big smile as she posed with her two children either side of her during an autumn day out.

She seemed to take a swipe at Ore by adding Taylor Swift’s song Father Figure in the background, which heavily focuses on themes of betrayal.

The lyrics talk about a partner who is “young, wayward and lost in the cold” and includes the phrases “you pulled the wrong trigger”.

ORE’S STRUGGLE

Ore told how his struggles have spanned three decades.

He candidly said: “I was nine when I was introduced to pornography. That’s when my addiction started.”

Ore added: “While I wouldn’t say the addiction set in immediately, the intrigue started immediately and it didn’t take long for that intrigue to start running my mind over.

“It was the thing that was destroying my life from the inside out.

“But it was a thing I was running to from an early age as a response to the trauma.”

He told MAFS expert Paul he was speaking out as he wanted to “guide my own children.”

The London-based TV and radio anchor shares two children with ex wife Portia, son Roman born in 2018 and daughter Genie, born in 2021.

Ore, who admitted he had become a “master masker” during his childhood due to fears his father would send him back to Nigeria, told of the personal “shame” he had been struck by.

FAMILY FIRST

He then told how his brave confessions were for his family.

He said: “I’m sharing this to save my kids.

“Shame kept me silent for 30 years. It took me 30 years, two deaths, and a divorce to finally go: here’s what’s happening.”

He added: “The reason I felt like I needed to speak out on this, is because I wanted to guide my own children when it comes to it, when it comes to them seeing stuff that is going to be there.

“They’re going to come across it.”

Ore then confessed: “I never imagine I’d ever share this with anyone but in the last year I’ve spoken to friends and family and some amazing, supporting people in my working world who have all shown so much love and pride in me talking about something that is a problem for so many of us.”

SAD SPLIT.

The couple announced they were ending their nine-year marriage in October, with presenter Ore then confirming the news on Instagram. 

The couple’s break-up shocked longtime followers of the pair, who have watched on as they got engaged, married and welcomed two children.

They first met in 2010 when they were studying at Loughborough University. 

Portia was also a prominent support for Ore when he competed on Strictly Come Dancing in 2016, eventually lifting the glitterball alongside pro partner Joanne Clifton. 

Swerving rumours of the long-derided “Strictly curse”, Ore made sure Portia bonded with Joanne throughout their time on the show together. 

Yet he revealed their sad spit in an emotional message to fans.

The statement read: “Hi guys. Portia and I are sad to announce that we separated earlier this year [2024.]

“We’re so grateful for all the love you’ve shared with us both over the years.

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“And we want to thank you in advance for respecting our privacy as we navigated this difficult transition.

“We will be making no further comment. Be kind, always.”

Pakistan has welcomed Sikh pilgrims from India in the first major crossing since their deadly conflict in May closed the land border between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

More than 2,100 pilgrims were granted visas to attend a 10-day festival marking 556 years since the birth of Guru Nanak, founder of the Sikh faith, a decision that was in line with efforts to promote “interreligious and intercultural harmony and understanding”, Pakistan’s high commission in New Delhi said last week.

In May, Islamabad and New Delhi engaged in their worst fighting since 1999, leaving more than 70 people dead. The Wagah-Attari border, the only active land crossing between the two countries, was closed to general traffic after the violence.

On Wednesday, the pilgrims will gather at Nankana Sahib, Guru Nanak’s birthplace west of Lahore, before visiting other sacred sites in Pakistan, including Kartarpur, where the guru is buried.

The Kartarpur Corridor, a visa-free route opened in 2019 to allow Indian Sikhs to visit the temple without crossing the main border, has remained closed since the conflict.

Four days of conflict erupted in May after New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir, allegations Pakistan denied.

Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded in the 15th century in Punjab, a region spanning parts of present-day India and Pakistan. While most Sikhs migrated to India during partition, some of their most revered places of worship are in Pakistan.

‘Cycle of terror’ spikes as Higher Planning Council set to advance plans to build 1,985 new settlement units in occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces and settlers have carried out 2,350 attacks across the occupied West Bank last month in an “ongoing cycle of terror”, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CRRC).

CRRC head Mu’ayyad Sha’ban said on Wednesday that Israeli forces carried out 1,584 attacks – including direct physical attacks, the demolition of homes and the uprooting of olive trees – with most of the violence focused on the governorates of Ramallah (542), Nablus (412) and Hebron (401).

The research, compiled in a CRRC monthly report titled Occupation Violations and Colonial Expansion Measures, also noted 766 attacks by settlers. The commission said they are expanding settlements, which are illegal under international law, as part of what it called an “organised strategy that aims to displace the land’s indigenous people and enforce a fully racist colonial regime”.

The report said settler attacks reached a new peak with most targeting the Ramallah governorate (195), Nablus (179) and Hebron (126). Olive pickers received the brunt of attacks, according to the report, which said they were the victims of “state terror” that had been “orchestrated in the dark backrooms of the occupation government”.

It described instances of Israeli “vandalism and theft” carried out in cahoots with Israeli soldiers that have seen the “uprooting, destruction and poisoning” of 1,200 olive trees in Hebron, Ramallah, Tubas, Qalqilya, Nablus and Bethlehem. During the violence, settlers have tried to establish seven new outposts on Palestinian land since October in the governorates of Hebron and Nablus.

For decades, the Israeli military has uprooted olive trees, an important Palestinian cultural symbol, across the West Bank as part of efforts by successive Israeli governments to seize Palestinian land and forcibly displace residents.

The spike in Israeli violence comes amid expectations that Israel’s Higher Planning Council (HPC), part of the Israeli army’s Civil Administration overseeing the occupied West Bank, will meet to discuss the construction of 1,985 new settlement units in the West Bank on Wednesday.

The left-wing Israeli movement Peace Now said 1,288 of the units would be rolled out in two isolated settlements in the northern West Bank, namely Avnei Hefetz and Einav Plan.

It said the HPC had been holding weekly meetings since November last year to advance housing projects in the settlements, thus normalising and accelerating construction on land taken from Palestinians.

Since the beginning of 2025, the HPC has pushed forward a record 28,195 housing units, Peace Now said.

In August, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich drew international condemnation after saying plans to build thousands of homes as part of the proposed E1 settlement scheme in the West Bank “buries the idea of a Palestinian state”.

The E1 project, shelved for years amid opposition from the United States and European allies, would connect occupied East Jerusalem with the existing illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim.

The Israeli far right’s push to annex the West Bank would essentially end the possibility of implementing a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as outlined in numerous United Nations resolutions.

United States President Donald Trump’s administration has been adamant that it won’t allow Israel to annex the occupied territory.  US Vice President JD Vance, while visiting Israel recently, said Trump would oppose Israeli annexation of the West Bank and it would not happen. Vance said as he left Israel, “If it was a political stunt, it is a very stupid one, and I personally take some insult to it.”

But the US has done nothing to rein in Israel’s assaults and crackdowns on Palestinians in the West Bank as it trumpets its Gaza ceasefire efforts.