News Desk

Crew of Austrian Airlines flight OS82 decides to land in Sofia after receiving bomb threat, Bulgarian authorities say.

An Airbus A320 flight from Tel Aviv to Vienna has made an emergency landing in Bulgaria following a reported bomb threat, according to the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport.

Austrian Airlines flight OS82 was near the border with Romania when the crew received a bomb threat and decided to land in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, the Transport Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Bulgaria’s Ministry of Defence said an air force MiG-29 fighter jet escorted the plane to Sofia airport.

Initial information showed the aircraft carried six crew members and 51 passengers, all of whom have all since disembarked, according to the Transport Ministry’s statement.

The airline told the AFP news agency that a security search of the aircraft was conducted.

“Once the search of the aircraft is complete, the passengers will be rebooked onto alternative flights as quickly as possible,” the airline said.

A crisis response team has been set up, and relevant authorities have launched an investigation into the incident, the Bulgarian Transport Ministry said.

According to aviation and flight tracking site FlightAware, Austrian Airlines 82 left the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv on Sunday at 6:46pm local time (15:46 GMT) and landed about three hours later at Vasil Levski airport in Sofia at 9:43pm (18:43 GMT).

Flightradar24 data showed it entered Romanian airspace at about 9:10pm (18:10 GMT) before turning south and heading back towards Bulgaria.

Information from the flight-tracking platform ADS-B Exchange indicates the aircraft was transmitting squawk code 7700 – a signal for a general emergency – at around the same time.

Flydubai incident

Last month, a Flydubai plane carrying 174 passengers was on its way from the United Arab Emirates to Tel Aviv when a co-pilot allegedly attacked the pilot with an axe in an attempt to crash the plane.

The aircraft plunged about 17,000 feet (5,180 metres) before it was brought back under control by other Flydubai pilots after passengers and other crew subdued the alleged attacker.

The flight was diverted and forced to make an emergency landing at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Tabuk, northwestern Saudi Arabia.

Authorities in the UAE said the co-pilot was on a “suicide” mission to crash the plane at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv.

The co-pilot, Hamam Al-Hammami, an Omani national, has since been charged with terrorism offences in the UAE.

The Israeli government responded to the incident by ordering checks on the identities of all pilots flying into the country.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks more war before elections.

In the mindbending documentary “You Can See Everything,” comedian Nathan Fielder and professed inventor Elizabeth Holmes sit in her beach house staring at each other like gunslingers. Fielder is the creator of the TV series “The Rehearsal” and “Nathan for You” who constructs discombobulating sham realities that include bogus businesses such as Dumb Starbucks. Holmes is the former billionaire CEO of Theranos who pretended she’d built a revolutionary blood testing machine to squeeze investors for a few dollars more.

Each is an expert in the con. But Fielder is deadpan and cold where Holmes is earnest and warm — and he’s been nominated for Emmys while, in May of 2023 when the film begins, she’s about to serve an 11-year sentence in federal prison. As the camera cuts between close-ups of his narrowed eyes and her big, blue ones, Fielder tries to suss whether he can trust the famous fibber to be honest with him. The showdown is riveting.

“You’re being real right now?” Fielder asks, dubious.

Holmes beams. “I’m always being real,” she swears with a smile.

Her charm hits Fielder in the gut. His face stays neutral yet you can see his own confidence bleed out across the screen.

Co-directed by Fielder and Lance Oppenheim (“Primetime”), “You Can See Everything” is the closest Fielder has come to making a traditional documentary. A thrillingly cringe-tastic interviewer, he blurts out blunt questions like a bungee jumper leaping off a bridge, including asking Holmes’ romantic and business partner Billy Evans, the heir to a San Diego boutique hotel chain, whether it’s possible a woman convicted of fraud might be with him for his money.

At nearly three hours long, “You Can See Everything” won’t bore you for a minute. The hook is right there in the title, Fielder’s challenge to the audience: Here’s how Holmes held up to his scrutiny — do we think she’s telling the truth? But be alert. Fielder remains a trickster. One shot in particular proves you can see everything while being blind to what you’re actually watching.

In the first half of the movie, Holmes and Evans, the father of her two young children, give the small crew complete access to their lives during her last weeks of freedom, including inviting Fielder to sleep in their guest bedroom. It’s an act of “radical transparency,” Evans says. As evidence, there’s a fully nude shot of Evans in the shower, testifying to the intimacy the subjects claim they’re granting the team and the confidence they have that the documentary will make them look great. (Evans also boasts that he’s “excellent” in the sack.)

Holmes maintains both her innocence and her eerie smile, a rictus of empathy. She constantly nods, subliminally snake-charming the listener into a sense of agreement. That assessment might be fair or it might be her reputation making you over-analyze her tics. Doubling down, she even insists she’s never told a lie in her life — a claim that momentarily leaves Fielder at a loss for words.

Yet at times, Holmes really does appear to be sincere. Once she surrenders herself to the Bryan Federal Prison Camp in Texas (where, in an unmentioned coincidence, Epstein collaborator Ghislane Maxwell is also incarcerated), the tone shifts into film noir as Fielder struggles to reconcile Elizabeth Holmes’ dual identities. Is she the sweet-natured scientist, the only version of her he’s ever met, or a femme fatale who may still be running a scam?

“It’s personal,” Fielder says of his fixation. How frustrating that he of all people — the dark prince of pranks — may be Holmes’ latest patsy. Composer Ari Balouzian borrows bits of Bernard Herrmann’s violin score from “Vertigo” while cinematographer David Bolen makes the audience hold its breath by framing an image of Fielder and Holmes like they might kiss.

When the movie’s style gets weird, that’s when Fielder is most in his wheelhouse. Stop reading now if you want to preserve the surprise. Micro-analyzing his encounters with Holmes, he reenacts them with an actor, Amanda Seyfried, whose emotional intensity blows into the film like a gust of fresh air. Seyfried, of course, won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for playing Holmes in the 2022 miniseries “The Dropout.” The twists to come, however, feel as much like last year’s naughty hit “The Housemaid,” the domestic thriller in which Seyfried played a shady wife with a marriage made of lies.

Evans initially seems to think they’re participating in a project closer to Netflix’s glossy portrait of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. The couple doesn’t know much about humor, pop culture or Fielder himself. Fumbling to figure out what makes him tick, Evans attempts to neg the provocateur as someone who lacks the passion to think differently. (Evans may also be the person who used Holmes’ social media account to write a flattering post calling JD Vance “Lisan al-Gaib,” revealing he’s entirely missed the point of “Dune.”)

But thinking differently is Fielder’s awkward superpower. Sooner or later, all of his projects circle around to his concern that he’s simply wired to be unpleasant. His interactions with Holmes are pure cringe comedy, like when she starts to cry perhaps a bit on cue and he stiffly sputters, “Do you want, like, a tissue?” For the record, he brings her one.

As a viewer, the biggest strike against Holmes is this documentary’s very existence. Whether or not you think she’s guilty of fraud, she is about to be separated from her infant and toddler until they’re in grade school. Who on Earth would genuinely want Fielder, the human equivalent of a skunk, to crash their last moments with their loved ones as he does his darnedest to stink up the place?

Fielder is most comfortable as the film’s villain, shooting himself lurking in the couple’s house like “Halloween’s” Michael Myers. At times, his presence does feel monstrous. In one scene, he needles Evans about whether he thinks his soulmate has ever lied to him while Holmes is on the phone in the next room, tearing up as she asks how often she’ll be able to bathe in prison.

The film doesn’t drill into the technical details of Theranos beyond one dizzying scene where Fielder tries to pin Holmes down on exactly what she meant when she said her machine can run hundreds of different tests. She means it just as I would if I bragged I can benchpress a beer keg — that is, once I strength-train beyond my piddly 5 lb dumbbells.

Instead, it tilts into becoming a caper flick as Seyfried’s commitment to understanding her character’s motivation inspires the actor to invite herself along. The drama they uncover is psychological, as befits an era where Silicon Valley CEOs are closer to cult leaders than engineers, making their cash from being televangelists for their IPOs. And both are attuned to the moments when Evans lets his aggravation slip. One scene is a doozy.

Ultimately, suspicion reigns. “You Can See Everything” is an absorbing study of public presentation and private doubts, a documentary that asks more questions than it answers. I hope Fielder will smile and nod approvingly at me if I say I left the film distrusting him, too, especially Seyfried’s re-staging of a long monologue Holmes delivered in prison where recording devices aren’t allowed. Can we believe that Holmes really did say, “I’m tired of having other people speak for me,” or was that laugh line written by the master manipulator himself? I’m now as paranoid as he is — and what a pleasure.

US President Donald Trump has said his decision to suspend several Russian sanctions is an effort to keep Moscow at the negotiating table.

“I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump said on his Truth Social messaging platform, adding that he didn’t want to “do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table”.

Trump blocked numerous sanctions on Russia on Friday night, two days before they were due to take effect, as a row with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky deepened.

Zelensky told NBC News on Sunday that siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin would be a “historic mistake”.

Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev has responded to Trump’s order by calling it “an important and truly historic moment”. He said the sanctions, which were passed by the US Congress and signed into law by the US president in September, would have inflicted “serious damage” on the US and global market.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described the suspension of the sanctions as a 60-day pause during which their potential impact on the US and global economies would be analysed.

In his Truth Social post, Trump also said Zelensky “doesn’t want to end this war, and probably never did”, adding “he could have made a better deal two years ago than he can now”.

Zelensky has pushed for an end to fighting, and has repeatedly said that Putin doesn’t want peace, since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Relations between Washington and Kyiv frayed after the US struck a controversial deal to import Russian diesel last week.

Despite the international sanctions, Russia has still been able to export oil, much of it to China and India – often at attractive discounts. According to the think-tank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), China has taken about half of Russia’s crude exports, with India accounting for about 37%.

In remarks to a European Union summit, after Trump announced the deal to buy diesel from Russia and said Zelensky was “more difficult to deal with” than Putin, Zelensky said it was nice to be among “real leaders”.

Cindy Crawford and family paid homage to her son, Presley Gerber, in their first public statements since his death at 27.

The supermodel and actor shared a smiling black-and-white portrait of Gerber along with a heartfelt message, writing, “We are beyond heartbroken to lose our beloved son and brother. We feel so blessed to have had Presley in our lives for 27 years.”

She continues, “He is a sweet, beautiful soul who loved and is loved, now and forever. We are so proud of how he showed up in the world, with kindness and vulnerability. We are grateful for the outpouring of love and support from so many who know and love our family and even strangers who feel our pain. Til we meet again our sweet boy. We love you forever, Mom, Dad and Kaia.”

Crawford concluded the post by thanking photographer Sebastián Faena for taking the image of Gerber, who appears to have angel wings.

Gerber, the brother of model Kaia Gerber and only son of Crawford and her husband, Rande Gerber, died Sept. 20 at a luxury rehab center called Resolutions Living in Santa Monica.

Kaia Gerber shared her own Instagram tribute honoring her late brother. In it, she shared a video of the two of them as children, with the caption “i love you the bluest, to the moon and back and back again, forever big brother.” The post also included a photo of the siblings as children on the beach.

In a lengthier essay included with the photo and video, she addressed the emptiness she’d felt in the weeks since her brother’s death.

“I am learning how to love you when I cannot see you. How to tell you something without picking up my phone to call you. How to be your sister in a world that I can’t reach for you in,” she wrote, adding, “I don’t know how to do that yet.”

Presley, who had been candid about his struggles with addiction and mental health during public appearances on his social media account, entered the Resolutions Living home on Sept. 19. The following morning, he was found dead of what police said was a drug overdose.

As of Sunday, the Santa Monica Police Department was still investigating the source of the drugs Gerber had taken.

An autopsy was performed, but the cause and manner of death have been deferred, “which means additional testing and/or studies were requested in order to make a determination,” according to a Sept. 21 statement from the Los Angeles County medical examiner. It could take a few months for a cause of death to be determined, the statement continued.

His death has sparked questions about how he could overdose on drugs inside the Resolutions Living home. The L.A. Times reported that the facility operates in a regulatory gray area and is not authorized to provide medical care.

The California Department of Health Services is investigating whether Resolutions Living was providing any services that would require a state license after receiving a complaint about the sober living home in September, according to department spokesperson Anthony Cava.

Cory Morgan has spent more than 25 years fighting for Canada’s oil-rich province of Alberta to become an independent country. On Monday, Albertans will head to the polls to vote on the issue for the very first time. But even if the answer is no, Morgan said he’s in it for the long haul.

“I would respect the will of the voters,” he told Al Jazeera. “If they’ve decided it’s not time to go that route yet, then so be it. But that doesn’t mean I’ll stop.”

Morgan, the founder of the advocacy organisation Pathway to Independence, is among a group of longtime separatists who have managed to push what was once a fringe idea onto the ballot.

Monday’s provincial referendum asks Alberta residents to weigh whether they would like to pursue a binding resolution in the future on the question of independence.

Polls indicate the pro-independence side has little chance of succeeding, with four of five people in the province saying they want Alberta to remain a part of Canada. But Morgan’s focus is on the one in five who don’t.

“That’s not a movement that’s leaving,” he said.

What the referendum will mean for the separatist movement and for Canada as a whole, however, is a more complicated question.

What exactly are Albertans voting on?

Monday’s ballot gives Albertans two options: to remain part of Canada or begin the legal process for holding a future referendum on separation.

A vote in favour of the second option doesn’t mean Alberta immediately becomes an independent country.

Any province that tries to secede would first have to go through complex negotiations with the federal government in Ottawa, other provinces and Indigenous peoples who live in and around Alberta.

Some separatist organisers have been using that distinction to encourage people to vote for the referendum — even if they don’t necessarily want independence.

“Strategic separatists and their leaders have been using that ambiguity, that lower-bar threshold, to entice folks to vote not to leave, but rather to send Ottawa a message that Albertans need to be heard,” said Jared Wesley, a political science professor at the University of Alberta.

He told Al Jazeera that the message may be resonating with some voters.

Data collected by Viewpoint Alberta, a University of Alberta-based research initiative, suggests that two-thirds of voters who support the referendum say they’re doing so for strategic reasons, to send a message to Ottawa.

These are people Morgan calls “reluctant separatists”, people who are “at the end of their rope” and simply want Ottawa to pay attention.

But Prime Minister Mark Carney has warned Albertans against this strategy.

“Don’t be fooled by the idea you can ‘send a message’ with your vote,” he told a pro-Canada rally in Calgary on Thursday. “This is not poker. A vote against Canada is a dangerous bluff that will lead to years of deep division and great uncertainty.”

What’s driving Alberta’s separatist movement?

Monday’s referendum has been decades in the making. Separatists have long felt that Alberta, home to the world’s fourth-largest proven oil reserves, sends too much money to Ottawa, subsidising the rest of the country while receiving little in return.

They also take issue with federal energy policies that they feel limit the potential of the province’s oil industry.

For Morgan, the resentment stretches back to the 1980s when the National Energy Program was introduced by the government of Pierre Trudeau, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s father.

The policy used price controls, taxes and ownership rules to keep Canadian energy affordable while directing more of Alberta’s revenues to Ottawa.

It has since become a central symbol of “Western alienation”, a term used to describe the sense of disenfranchisement felt among Canada’s westernmost provinces.

Those tensions resurfaced decades later under Justin Trudeau, whose term began in 2015. His climate policies, including a national carbon tax and a limit on emissions, angered Alberta’s oil sector.

“We’ve been fighting about the same things for 50 years,” said Morgan.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts say demonstrations against health restrictions mobilised a new generation of conservative activists, breathing new life into Alberta’s separatist movement.

Trudeau ultimately resigned as Liberal Party leader and prime minister in 2025, amid sinking poll numbers. Carney was elected his replacement.

Last year, under growing pressure from separatist groups, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government made it easier to start referendums, helping bring the question of Alberta’s independence onto the political agenda.

For Wesley, the moment is less about growing public support for independence and more about pressure from within Smith’s governing United Conservative Party, whose members show higher support for separation than Albertans generally.

“We’re having a referendum because Danielle Smith wants us to have a referendum,” Wesley said. “She is looking to solve internal party matters by throwing a question to the broader public.”

Though she called Monday’s referendum, Smith has said she opposes the independence effort, and on October 14, she announced she had voted against seceding.

“In my view, now is not the time to give up hope in our country, not when we have fought so long and come so far,” Smith said in a social media video, explaining her vote.

Could defeat make the movement stronger?

Smith’s political gamble has drawn comparisons with the 2016 Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom, including from Carney.

At the time, then-UK Prime Minister David Cameron called a vote over whether the country should leave the European Union, in hopes of settling a debate dividing his own Conservative Party.

Voters ultimately chose to leave the bloc, triggering years of political unrest.

But Ian Cooper, a political scientist who grew up in Alberta and now lives in Ireland, says a more useful comparison might be a different UK referendum in 1975, when British voters chose overwhelmingly to stay in what was then known as the European Economic Community.

That vote, he said, did little to deter those who wanted the country out.

“The activists who were in favour of Brexit — this is before anybody called it Brexit — they really played the long game,” he said. “It took them 25 years, but they finally achieved it.”

Cooper suspects that, even if Alberta separation is roundly defeated, separatists could take a similar approach, pursuing the issue over the long term to gain prominence and support.

“My impression is that they really are true believers, and it’s really ideologically driven,” he said.

If Monday’s separatist vote fails, Morgan said separatists would need to take a hard look at why they had fallen short and work towards making a stronger case for independence in the future.

He does not believe the underlying grievances can be resolved by working within the Canadian system or by electing a more sympathetic federal government.

Carney, who grew up in Alberta, acknowledged at Thursday’s rally that “the frustrations that many Albertans have felt are real”. He added that Ottawa had made people in the province feel “like our resources weren’t our own”.

The prime minister has tried, amid an ongoing trade war with the United States, to improve relations with Alberta, including through commitments to building a new pipeline to Canada’s west coast and major infrastructure projects.

Morgan admits that, for those whose goal is simply to get more leverage in Ottawa, “it’s pretty clear the movement has been effective”.

“We’ve seen more love from a federal prime minister in the last year than we’ve seen in the last 10,” Morgan said. “The problem though, when it comes to stubborn independence folks like me, is nothing has changed in the system.”

Prime ministers come and go, he added. “We’re just one election away from another hostile one.”

Why the other referendum questions matter

But the referendum could also offer an opportunity to challenge the premise that Alberta’s grievances cannot be addressed within Canada.

The independence question is just one of 10 on Monday’s ballot. Other proposals include restricting temporary residents’ access to healthcare and education, as well as allowing Alberta to choose its own judges.

Smith has encouraged Albertans to vote in favour of the nine other proposals, arguing that they will give her more negotiating power in Ottawa.

“Many Albertans I speak with tell me they want to send Ottawa a message, and I would suggest the best way to do that is to give us a strong mandate on the other nine questions,” she said on social media.

If Albertans back those proposals but Ottawa refuses to make concessions, Cooper, the political scientist, said the movement would have fresh ammunition to argue that meaningful change within the current system is impossible.

“Buried in the nine other questions are the seeds for a future referendum,” Cooper added.

What could keep the movement alive?

Not everyone agrees, however, on whether the separatists can emerge from the vote as a united force.

Wesley explained that people have been drawn to the separatist cause for a variety of reasons.

If there’s a sense that independence is not a realistic prospect, there may be little to keep that group of activists together, he said. They could turn their attention to other conservative issues, such as immigration.

Other experts question whether Alberta’s separatist movement, which is united more by economic grievances than by a shared cultural identity, can endure the way Quebec’s has.

Just two weeks ago, the largely French-speaking province elected the separatist Party Quebecois, which has promised a third referendum on independence after Trump leaves office.

Morgan, however, argues that Alberta does have a distinct culture, shaped by generations of people who have moved to the province in search of prosperity.

“The type of person drawn to do that is often an individualistic type of person,” he said. “They want the opportunity to go out and succeed or fail on their own.”

“And that builds a kind of a distinct culture on its own, even if it’s not a long-built one, as you would see in a distinct area like Quebec with a linguistic difference or in another country.”

Even if Albertans reject separation, he believes the movement has succeeded in forcing Ottawa to take the province’s frustrations more seriously.

“Hopefully some people understand that eventually something has to give,” he said. “So whatever the results are … I do hope, at the very least, they’ve served as a wake-up call to a lot of people.”

TAYLOR Swift gave a rare performance in front of a star-studded crowd as she kicked off a campaign to win her first Oscar.

The superstar, 36, sang a four-track set at the glitzy Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles on Saturday.

It included her single I Knew It, I Knew You, which was recorded for Toy Story 5 — and which Taylor hopes will be nominated for Best Original Song at the awards ceremony next March.

The singer made an impression in her custom Dior gown with platinum earrings featuring 32.40 carats of diamonds and a platinum bracelet.

Her look was created by Northern Irish fashion designer Jonathan Anderson, who was also behind the wedding dress she wore marrying American football player Travis Kelce three months ago.

Insiders believe Taylor was hoping the performance — which also included the live debut of her hit single The Fate of Ophelia — was her going the extra mile to woo Academy Award ­voters after several failed attempts to get an Oscar nomination in the past.

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She has released original tracks for a series of hit films over the years, including The Hunger Games, Fifty Shades Freed, and Cats, but has never qualified for the gong.

Her 15-minute All Too Well: The Short Film also failed to secure a nomination in 2023.

But I Knew It, I Knew You spent two weeks at No1 in the UK when it came out in June, making it Taylor’s most successful film track to date.

An industry insider said: “Taylor knows how Hollywood works and is keen to build goodwill and visibility among the people who vote for the Oscars.

“She’s made no secret of her ambition to win an Academy Award so is pulling out all the stops this year.”

If she does win an Oscar, it would bring her one step closer to one of the highest achievements in US showbiz: the EGOT — winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony.

Only 28 people have done so, and Taylor is halfway there, having bagged 14 Grammys and an Emmy.

She is also working on a musical which would put her in line for a Tony, the highest accolade in theatre.

A number of A-listers were at the fancy bash, considered LA’s answer to New York’s Met Gala.

Taylor chatted with several celebrity pals inside, including Sabrina Carpenter who wore a royal blue, backless dress with shoulder tassels.

Swift’s former foe Kim Kardashian, 45, was also at the event, channelling Elizabeth Taylor with a bouffant hairdo, an archival 1951 Balenciaga dress, and a 55.8-carat diamond necklace.

Meanwhile, actress Teyana Taylor, 35, wore a Schiaparelli torso bodysuit alongside Kylie Minogue, 58, who posed in a a slashed black gown.

Charlize Theron, 51, turned up to receive the Icon Award for her celebrated acting career.

President Macron promises to increase security, but stops short of announcing a state of emergency or curfew.

French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed “anger and shame” over what he described as violent protesters’ attempts “to bring down the republic”.

In a televised address to the nation on Sunday, Macron promised that rioters and looters would “pay for their crimes”, after Saturday saw some of the worst urban violence in France in years.

The country’s Interior Ministry said that nearly 2,400 people were arrested on Saturday, with about 1,000 police and gendarmes injured.

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

The president pledged to launch a “crisis unit” to provide “urgent aid … for those who are going through difficult moments”. He added that “lessons will be learned” after the destructive violence erupted this weekend.

“We need to be clear: yesterday, our law enforcement officers and officials, despite their professionalism, were subjected to unprecedented violence in several cities,” he said.

“I’ve asked the government to provide all the lessons learned and to be able to anticipate it to make sure that this does not happen again,” Macron said, adding: “We need unity, we need calm and respect.”

Reporting from Paris, Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler said Macron’s speech had “perhaps no surprises”.

“Whether it’s going to be enough to placate some people, I’m not really sure, because those who have been out protesting say they’re fed up of hearing these sorts of speeches by the French president,” Butler said.

The protests are quickly becoming a political football for parties vying for public support ahead of presidential elections next year.

Left-wing presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon said the French government is “solely responsible” for the destruction during protests, and has “failed to organise the maintenance of public order”.

Far-right presidential hopeful Jordan Bardella called Macron’s Sunday speech “lamentable” and “cowardly”, saying the government has nothing left to offer the French people and “cannot even protect them”.

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

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!.

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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.

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.