News Desk

Lebanon’s military is urgently working to meet a year-end deadline to disarm Hezbollah in southern Lebanon under a ceasefire deal with Israel. The operation marks a dramatic shift in Lebanon’s internal power dynamics, as the army takes on a role that would have been unthinkable during Hezbollah’s peak influence.

Two sources told Reuters that the army has blown up so many Hezbollah weapons caches that it has run out of explosives, forcing troops to seal off sites instead of destroying them until new U.S. supplies arrive.

Why It Matters

This campaign could redefine Lebanon’s sovereignty and reshape the balance between state and militia power. Hezbollah’s disarmament is a key demand from Washington and Israel, and its success could bring stability or trigger fresh unrest.
However, moving beyond the south risks sectarian tensions and could fracture the army, reviving memories of Lebanon’s civil war.

Lebanese Army: Leading disarmament under U.S. and international pressure, but facing shortages of explosives and political risks.

Hezbollah: Weakened by Israel’s war last year but still influential, especially in the north and Bekaa Valley, where disarmament remains uncertain.

United States: Providing millions in aid and demolition equipment to “degrade Hezbollah.”

Israel: Supplying intelligence through the truce mechanism but complicating operations with cross-border fire incidents.

UNIFIL: Supporting inspection and clearance operations in southern Lebanon.

Current Progress

Nine arms caches and dozens of tunnels have been uncovered in the south.

The army expects to complete southern operations by December.

Explosives depleted by June, with six soldiers killed during dismantling efforts.

$14 million in new U.S. demolition aid is expected, though delivery may take months.

Challenges Ahead

Hezbollah has agreed to ceasefire terms in the south but refuses to disarm elsewhere without a political deal.

Lebanese officials fear civil strife if the army expands disarmament north without consensus.

Israeli air strikes and occupation of five border hilltops threaten to delay progress.

What’s Next

The U.S. and allies are pressing Beirut to meet the year-end target and expand efforts beyond the south in 2026. But Hezbollah’s warning against confronting the Shi’ite community, and ongoing Israeli pressure, mean Lebanon’s army must walk a political and military tightrope.

As one Lebanese official put it: “The army if betting on time.”

With information from Reuters.

Last year the prolific and gifted Zadie Smith stumbled into controversy with the publication of “Shibboleth” in the New Yorker. She purportedly approached the white-hot Gaza demonstrations with the nuance and complexity they deserved and yet derided pro-Palestinian students at Columbia University as “cynical and unworthy,” stirring up a hornets’ nest among her young fans, who expressed their anger on various internet platforms. The controversy gained traction because of Smith’s record of championing the marginalized, citing theorists like Frantz Fanon while targeting empires and the omnipresent patriarchy. That she singled out one group of activists, many Jewish, at the very moment Arab toddlers were being blown apart by U.S.-funded bombs raised doubts about her touted values. Her conclusion was startling, her tone defiant: “Put me wherever you want: misguided socialist, toothless humanist, naïve novelist, useful idiot, apologist, denier, ally, contrarian, collaborator, traitor, inexcusable coward.” The lady doth protest too much?

“Shibboleth” appears in “Dead and Alive,” Smith’s collection of previously published essays, in which she assumes most if not all those roles she attributes to herself. Fanon is here as well, amid an array of artists and authors such as Joan Didion, Toni Morrison, and Philip Roth. Smith is arguing for the necessity of vigorous criticism and often makes her case. The book’s finest pieces wrangle, in elegant prose, with humanity’s contradictions; the weaker ones indulge in name-dropping, footnotes and op-ed invective.

Zadie Smith

(Ben Bailey-Smith)

“The Muse at Her Easel,” in the opening section, probes the relationship between English painter Lucian Freud and his model, Celia Paul, also a painter, via a review of her memoir. (Paul is the mother of one of 12 children he fathered outside of marriage.) Smith’s sly trick here is a bit of Freud-play: Lucian seen through the prism of his grandfather Sigmund, the family romance on steroids. Celia revolves around the artist here much as she did when he was alive, vulnerable and reflective, a moon to his sun. It’s both a restrained and overwrought essay, a cryptic tale of sexual politics, like her fellow Brit Rachel Cusk’s novel, “Second Place,” but one that urges us to think hard about abuses in the service of “museography.”

Smith brings an empathic eye to other artists, from the allegorical Toyin Ojih Odutola to the subversive Kara Walker. And she shines a bright light on numerous writers who have inspired her, particularly in remembrances of Didion (whose influence we sense throughout “Dead and Alive”) and the great Hilary Mantel. Her pieces on two books, “Black England” and “Black Manhattan,” excavate hidden histories of Black resistance and the painful compromises brokered to move forward. Her tone in “Fascinated to Presume: In Defense of Fiction” is elegiac, as though smartphones have killed off the craft; yet it’s also a manifesto of sorts, and a declaration of her own aesthetics. “Belief in a novel is, for me, a by-product of a certain kind of sentence,” Smith observes. “Familiarity, kinship, and compassion will play their part, but if the sentences don’t speak to me, nothing else will.” Amen, sister.

Her forays into social commentary are more problematic. She’s strong on the weird population kink known as Gen X, squeezed between the larger boomers and millennials, and the switchback road we traveled to marriage and parenthood: “We all still dressed like teenagers, though, and in the minds of the popular culture were ‘slackers,’ suffering from some form of delayed development, possibly the sad consequences of missing such key adulting experiences as a good war or a stock market crash,” Smith asserts. “We felt history belonged to other people: that we lived in the time of no time.” She’s persuasive when she remains within her comfort zone, opining on race, gender and, occasionally, class. Not so much when she ventures into technology. In “Some Notes on Mediated Time,” she broods at length on the destabilizing effects of the internet, social media and the algorithm silos that shape our present. It’s tough to parse irony from self-congratulation. “I have to say how immensely grateful I am that the work I have been so fortunate to do these last twenty years — writing books — has also gifted me the opportunity, the privilege, of devoting the time of my one human life to an algorithm. To keep almost all of it, selfishly, outrageously, for myself, my friends, my colleagues, my family,” Smith writes. “There are memes I will never know. Whole Twitter meltdowns I never witnessed. Hashtags I will forever remain ignorant about.” Which raises the question: Why lament a social paradigm shift if you haven’t bothered with it in the first place? Something isn’t right. Elsewhere in the essay she claims that social media is “excellent for building brands and businesses and attracting customers.” Could the same be said of a disingenuous essayist?

She comes across as preaching to her peers rather than seeking converts, a whiff of Oxbridge elitism. Hence references to Derrida, Dickinson, Knausgaard, Borges, shout-outs to Booker laureates “Salman” (Rushdie) and “Ian” (McEwan). This level of self-regard in a writer and thinker as justifiably exalted as Smith may explain why our nation is turning on reading: aristocracies breed resentment among the proles. Then Smith steps into the muck of global conflicts. The moral bothsidesism found in “Shibboleth” splits the baby; she does herself no favors with Solomonic pronouncements and Pontius Pilate-like self-exoneration. (Elsewhere she indicts Trump and Netanyahu while neglecting the money and media that empower them.)

“Dead and Alive” does what it was designed to do: It gathers the author’s criticism, literary obituaries, a university address and an interview with a Spanish journal between two covers. The execution falters. Smith’s provocations are often stunning; her prose is thrillingly strident; but her fiction better captures the messiness of public and private selves at war with each other.

Cain is a book critic and the author of a memoir, “This Boy’s Faith: Notes From a Southern Baptist Upbringing.” He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Oct. 28 (UPI) — Two people were killed and at least one was injured Tuesday in an underground blast at a silver mine in New South Wales, Australian authorities said.

NSW Police, in a news update, said the body of a man had been recovered from the mine near Cobar, 450 miles northwest of Sydney, and an injured woman who was rescued subsequently died. A second injured woman who was brought to the surface was airlifted to a hospital.

The police department said it had launched an investigation.

Superintendent Gerard Lawson said the three victims were working the night shift at the mine, which is owned by Polymetals Resources.

“It is tragic for the families and our employees and the Cobar community and the wider Polymetals family,” said executive chairman Dave Sproule, who added that about 30 people were working when the blast occurred in the early hours, local time.

The incident was the first fatal mine blast in the country in 10 years.

NSW Resources, the watchdog for the state’s mining sector, said operations had been suspended at the facility, which also mines zinc and lead, pending its own full investigation.

The state’s natural resources minister, Courtney Houssos, said the regulator had dispatched inspectors and investigators to the scene, calling it a “heartbreaking day” for Cobar and the mining industry.

“While safety protocols and procedures have greatly improved in mining, these deaths are a sobering reminder of why we need to always remain vigilant to protect workers,” she said.

Cobar Mayor Jarrod Marsden said the tragedy would impact the entire community.

“The most valuable thing to come out of a mine are the miners, and two families don’t get to see their loved ones anymore. Cobar is a small mining community. It’s very tight-knit and I’m sure everyone’s going to be thinking of their families today,” said Marsden.

Reports in Australian media said the accident was caused by explosives that had been set at the rockface detonating before they were supposed to.

Bob Timbs, president of the local branch of the Mining and Energy Union, said it was a “catastrophic failure” in the explosion system.

“In this day and age, that type of accident just should not have happened. We will do everything in our power — once we’ve dealt with and supported the families and mine workers in the community — to find out what happened and make sure that it never happens again.”

At the request of Polymetals, trading in the firm’s shares on the Australian Securities Exchange in Sydney was paused and then halted through the start of Thursday’s trading session, or pending an announcement from the company, ASX said in a notice.

Iyer suffers injury while attempting a catch in third and final ODI of India’s tour of Australia.

India batsman Shreyas Iyer is in stable condition and recovering well from spleen injury, Twenty20 captain Suryakumar Yadav says.

Iyer suffered a lacerated spleen on Saturday during India’s victory over Australia in their third one-day international (ODI) when he fell awkwardly while making a catch.

The 30-year-old was admitted to hospital, and Indian media reported that his condition was life-threatening.

“We spoke to him,” Suryakumar told reporters on Tuesday before India’s five-match Twenty20 series against Australia beginning in Canberra on Wednesday.

“When we got to know about his injury, I called him. Then I realised Shreyas doesn’t have his phone on him, and I called our physio, Kamlesh Jain, who told us he’s stable.

“He’s looking good 1761653559. We’ve been in touch for two days, he’s replying. If he’s able to reply on the phone, then he’s stable.”

How did Iyer sustain freak injury?

The 30-year-old sustained an impact injury in his left lower rib cage region as he pulled off a sensational backpedalling catch to remove Alex Carey, a key moment in the third ODI of the series, which India won by nine wickets.

Iyer, who is also the vice captain of the ODI team, was forced off the field after the injury and did not return for the rest of Australia’s innings.

“He was taken to the hospital for further evaluation,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in a statement.

“Scans revealed a laceration injury to the spleen. He is under treatment, medically stable, and recovering well.”

He remained hospitalised in Sydney, where the BCCI medical team closely monitored him in consultation with specialists from Australia and India.

It was not clear when Iyer could return to action.

Despite the victory on Saturday, India lost the series 1-2 after suffering defeats in the first two games in Perth and Adelaide.

India’s next one-day outing is a home series against South Africa, starting on November 30.

Iyer has scored 2,917 runs from 73 ODIs at an average of 47.81.

A five-match T20 series between the two cricketing powerhouses begins on Wednesday, but Iyer is not a part of that squad.

Timothy West died last November and now his wife Prunella Scales has tragically passed away. The pair spoke fondly of one another in their final ever interview

Prunella Scales and Timothy West spoke of their deep love for another in their final interview together. The EastEnders actor revealed that he had spotted a potential sign of his wife Prunella’s dementia years before her diagnosis was confirmed.

In November, it was confirmed that Timothy – known for his roles in shows like EastEnders – had died at the age of 90. Prunella’s death was announced today, just months after her husband’s sad passing.

In what is believed to be one of his last interviews, conducted in 2023, Timothy opened up about his wife Prunella’s battle with dementia. The couple appeared on BBC Breakfast for an interview together, in what would be their last appearance on TV.

Prunella, who is most recognised for her role as Sybil Fawlty in the classic sitcom Fawlty Towers, received her dementia diagnosis in 2014. However, Timothy suggested that he first noticed signs of the condition as early as 2001.

Reflecting on the moment he first observed his wife’s decline, he shared: “I came to see a play that Pru was doing in Greenwich. I went to see the first night and it was good, much enjoyed by the audience, and then I went to see it again a bit later on and I thought ‘Pru’s not … it’s strange. She’s not totally with it.'”

Despite these early signs, her official dementia diagnosis didn’t come until over a decade later. Timothy recalled: “We went to see a specialist who just said ‘I’m sorry this is just something that happens to you when you get older’. It’s not going to get any easier but you can cope with it. We manage.”

Despite the tough landscape they found themselves in, Prunella said: “I have got to know him better and better and better.”

Timothy added: “I know that things are going to change a little bit, but it has been a long time and we have managed pretty well really. I don’t think we ever think ‘oh no.'”

Prunella then shared: “I have been asked to live the rest of my life with somebody I respect very much and agree with a lot of things and argue with about a lot of things quite happily.”

During a chat with the BBC, which was conducted prior to the launch of Timothy’s book, he was questioned about his wife Prunella’s vascular dementia diagnosis. He said that “somehow” they have “coped” over the years.

“Pru doesn’t really think about it,” he added. Timothy and Pru have been husband and wife since 1963. The couple have two sons together, actors Samuel West and Joseph West. Their family also includes Timothy’s daughter Juliet West from a previous marriage.

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Radio journalist Robian Williams says Jamaica is bracing for the worst, as Hurricane Mellissa nears the island. She says many refuse to leave their homes in fear of looting.

A US Air Force plane flew inside Hurricane Melissa on Monday over the Caribbean, revealing a rare weather phenomenon known as the ‘stadium effect’. Forecasters say the Category 5 storm is set to be Jamaica’s most destructive on record and is expected to make landfall early on Tuesday.

DISCREET and “not blatant”, with a stranger and with mandatory payment – those were the strict rules set by Lily Allen that allegedly allowed her husband of four years to cheat.

Now the scorned songstress, 40, has ferociously lifted the lid on the ‘arrangement’ with Stranger Things actor David Harbour in a song titled ‘Madeline’.

It’s the moniker she gave to costume designer and single mum Natalie Tippett, 34, who allegedly cheated with the American, 50, despite suggesting she had given him a ‘hall pass’ to sleep with sex workers.

Fuming in lyrics, which she says are a “mixture of fact and fiction”, Lily says: “We had an arrangement; Be discreet and don’t be blatant; And there had to be payment; It had to be with strangers; But you’re not a stranger, Madeline, Madeline, Madeline, Madeline.”

The track on her comeback album West End Girl, which documents the unravelling of her relationship and his supposed infidelity, has earned critical acclaim and has three songs in the Top 40. 

Unsurprisingly, it’s Lily’s anti-monogamy stance that has raised the eyebrows of listeners but these types of ‘arrangements’ are far from unusual in the world of celebrity.  

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Behavioural psychologist Jo Hemmings tells The Sun some are tempted due to working away for long periods of time and feeling unable to satisfy each other sexually or emotionally.

However, she cautions: “No matter how many boundaries or rules you put in place, what happens when it becomes more than just sex and your partner falls in love?” 

“There are so, so many obstacles with these types of relationships,” Jo tells us. “And it’s interesting that Lily had this very specific boundary.

“She set it because there would be very little danger of her husband falling in love with one of these girls or having an emotional relationship when it’s purely sexual and transactional.

“It sort of sounds modern, grown-up and pre-emptive, deciding you’re in an open relationship and acknowledging what’s going on rather than being ‘cheated on’ but it rarely works.

“There is nearly always one person who is secretly less comfortable with the idea than they say they are and there’s a big difference between ‘theoretical acceptance’ and actual acceptance.

“When the gossip starts and the press finds out, when it happens on repeat and the public starts to judge their relationship it can get really, really tough. 

“And some ‘open relationships’ are less genuine than one might think, some say they are in one to protect themselves. It can be deflective in a lot of cases.

“I think a lot of celebrities are pre-empting scrutiny and that way if their partner is seen snogging the face off someone at a bar, they are one step ahead of the game.”

As Jo highlights, Lily is far from the only celebrity to be stung after opening the sexual floodgates in her relationship – with many ending in divorce, as we reveal. 

Will & Jada Pinkett Smith

The aftermath of this ill-fated ‘arrangement’ resulted in the most explosive moment ever seen at the Oscars, which led to Will Smith being banned for 10 years and scrutinised across the globe. 

In 2022, the Fresh Prince star slapped Chris Rock after he made a joke about his wife of 28 years Jada Pinkett-Smith’s alopecia, comparing her to a buzz-cut character from the film GI Jane.

Yet the origin of Will’s anger is said to have stemmed from the public ridicule and humiliation he suffered after Jada admitted to an affair two years previously. 

Describing it as an “entanglement”, she spoke of a fling with August Alsina, a rapper 21 years her junior, who was a friend of their son Jaden, during a separation from Will. 

Later Will apologised for his Oscars attack, stating: “I was gone. That was a rage that had been bottled [up] for a really long time… What I would say is that you just never know what somebody’s going through.” 

Rumours of the Smiths having an open marriage had circulated for more than a decade and even when Jada denied it in a 2013 Huffington Post interview, her cryptic response prompted more questions. 

She said: “I’ve always told Will, ‘You can do whatever you want as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and be okay.’”

Later Jada posted a lengthy rant on Facebook questioning if loving someone meant “owning them” and if it should “operate as enslavement”.

She concluded: “Will and I BOTH can do WHATEVER we want, because we TRUST each other to do so. This does NOT mean we have an open relationship…this means we have a GROWN one.”

Jo says for some celebrities being part of a ‘power couple’ can lead to more sexually flexible relationships, as it appeared to be with the Smiths, but it rarely works. 

She tells us for some it can be a “way of protecting themselves” ahead of an affair being discovered or a way to have “a feeling of control, by agreeing on the terms” of what can and can’t be done.

“It can be hard to fulfil your partner’s emotional and physical needs when you’re half way across the world and flings may seem like a ‘harmless release’,” Jo says.

“And it’s easy for celebrities to go into these agreements with good intentions but you cannot predict how you or your partner will feel when it happens. 

“There are so many opportunities in the chaos of celebrity life for boundaries to be overstepped and so almost inevitably it will go wrong at some point.

“Even if both partners feel they are on the same page and in 100 per cent agreement, most couples aren’t. One partner always wants it more than the other and the other may not be able to accept what happened.”

Michelle Visage & David Case

Former Strictly star Michelle Visage set sparks flying away from the stage when she claimed cheating makes her marriage “stronger” – but she’s not exactly thrilled by his flings.

She told the Origins With Cush Jumbo podcast that her actor hubby David Case experiences ‘compersion’, which is considered to be ‘the opposite of jealousy’.

It’s a term often used in the polyamorous community to describe a partner feeling joy that their romantic partner had an exciting experience with another person. 

“We live openly, so he would get off knowing that I was so happy and no matter what it is that I do, and I’m not just talking sexually,” Michelle said last year.

“Whatever it is, I don’t know if I have compersion in me to be really excited if he’s doing something with another woman but I know that it exists and he is 100% that.”

While Michelle claimed it was something that “works for us” and “what makes us stronger”, Jo says it can still be problematic.

She warns it’s risky when meddling with “the intimacy of a relationship” despite the couple claiming to be “fully transparent and trusting one another”. 

Demi Moore & Ashton Kutcher

When Ghost actress Demi Moore shacked up with Ashton Kutcher, 21 years her junior, she wanted to “show him how great and fun I could be” – especially when it came to sex.

“I put him first, so when he expressed his fantasy of bringing a third person into our bed, I didn’t say no,” she admitted in her 2019 memoir Inside Out.

But her two ménages à trois, left Demi feeling “flooded with shame” and realising it was a “mistake”. Worse still, Ashton later told her it encouraged him to have affairs.

She claimed the That 70s Show actor told her the threesomes “blurred the lines” of their romance and “to some extent, justified what he’d done”.

It referred to at least three flings, including one on a San Diego stag do and another with a pal of her eldest daughter, that doomed their six-year marriage by November 2011. 

Jo says she sees issues like what happened with Demi and Ashton “a lot” in counselling – where one partner is “willing to please” because their partner “wants it so badly” and fears losing them.

“But it can have devastating consequences for the relationship,” she says. “Maybe not immediately but some struggle because they can’t unseen what they have seen or what their partner has done.

“Some aren’t even able to recall seeing their husband having sex with another woman, because it’s so brutal for them. Many prefer to turn blind eye, not see or not join in. 

“Even if they think they want it at the time, sometimes threesomes can be the last straw for a couple or for any agreed infidelity.”

Ethan Hawke & Ryan Shawhughes

Ethan Hawke’s marriage to Uma Thurman was marked by rumours of cheating, which he strenuously denied, yet after their 2003 split he made it clear he strongly believes in polyamory. 

After getting together with their former nanny Ryan Shawhughes, he argued that most people have “a childish view of monogamy and fidelity”, suggesting it as an outdated concept.

“To act all indignant, that your world has been rocked because your lover wasn’t faithful to you, is a little bit like acting rocked that your hair went grey,” Ethan told HuffPost in 2013.

It’s unclear how open the relationship with Ryan is but he encouraged speculation by stating “neither she nor I know what shape the future will come in” and justified extramarital flings. 

“Sexual fidelity can’t be the whole thing you hang your relationship on,” he added. “If you really love somebody you want them to grow, but you don’t get to define how that happens. They do.”

Shirley MacLaine & Steve Parker

Hollywood legend Shirley MacLaine, who starred in Steel Magnolias and Terms of Endearment, had an open marriage for 28 years. 

It started back in 1954 due to her producer husband, Steve Parker, predominantly working in Japan while she was in America and she admitted “no one understood it” apart from them. 

She added: “I would say better to stay friends and we don’t have enough time to talk about the sexuality of all. I was very open about all of that and so was he.”

Despite declaring extra-marital flings “the basis for a long-lasting marriage”, the couple divorced in 1982 but remained friends.  

Jo says these types of arrangements can be more common among celebrities due to them maintaining long-distance relationships because of work projects, however it’s very risky. 

“While it may feel like a safety net, it can erode trust and intimacy and instead of enjoying the ‘freedom and liberation’ they anticipate, they can feel like they are being replaced.

“You can put in a world of boundaries and rules to but what happens when your partner falls in love with someone else? When it becomes more than just sex, you’re in trouble. Your relationship is effectively over.” 

Bella Thorne & Tana Mongeau

For just over a year, Dirty Sexy Money actress Bella Thorne celebrated her open relationship with musician Mod Sun and YouTuber Tana Mongeau in loving posts online .

In 2019, she told the Gay Times: “We joke around about poly[amorous], but we aren’t in the sense that we don’t put a word, a box or label too many things. It is what it is.”

Bella even claimed that she didn’t think anybody could “really understand the bonds” she shared with Mod and Tana, only for their three-way romance to end just months later.

It all came tumbling down after what Mod – real name Derek Smith – described as a “very, very public incident” that led him to end their “toxic” relationship.

Bella later slammed Tana on X – formerly Twitter – for breaking “girl code” after she was seen on a date with Mod. 

Tana later got engaged to boxer Jake Paul and had a legally non-binding wedding to the influencer-turned-fighter in late 2019.

They too had an open relationship but she revealed it heavily contributed to them splitting up because she felt compelled to “green-light everything” to make him happy, even though it was “killing” her.

Mo’Nique & Sidney Hicks

Precious actress Mo’Nique put an end to her open relationship with her husband and manager Sidney Hicks after fearing it would lead to them breaking up. 

She first spoke about them having hall passes to cheat back in 2010, claiming “I don’t want to be owned anymore… [or] have ownership over anyone”.

Declaring her “beautiful” open relationship “my idea”, Mo’Nique said: “If sex happens with another person, that’s not a deal breaker for us.

“That’s not something where we’ll have to say, ‘Oh God, we’ve got to go to divorce court because you cheated on me,’ because we don’t cheat.” 

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However by 2023, Mo’Nique, who had been with Sidney since she was 16, changed her tune saying she wanted monogamy. She said it was down to recognising the strength of their relationship and his love for her “at my worst”.

She added: “I didn’t want to sacrifice that just for a lay. So I grew out of that.”

Oct. 27 (UPI) — Melissa, a strong Category 5 hurricane, neared landfall on the Caribbean island nation of Jamaica early Tuesday, where three people were already dead and amid fears of a humanitarian crisis.

The Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas were to be later threatened with powerful winds, rainfall and storm surge.

The storm was expected to move near or over Jamaica’s southern coast Tuesday — the first hurricane to make landfall in the Caribbean this season.

The island, which has 2.8 million residents, was already experiencing damaging winds and heavy rainfall, threatening catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding and landslides. The Ministry of Health and Wellness has reported three deaths and nearly 15 people injured while preparing for the storm.

The hurricane was situated about 115 miles southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 290 miles southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba, the National Hurricane Center said in its 2 a.m. EDT update. It was moving north-northeast at 5 mph.

Melissa’s maximum sustained winds of 175 mph have not changed since the 2 p.m. update on Monday. Hurricanes are designated as the highest class when they reach 157 mph.

When Melissa makes landfall as a powerful major hurricane, it will be the strongest direct hit for the island since records have been kept in the Atlantic Basin.

“Catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides are expected through Tuesday,” NHC forecaster Richard Pasch said in a late Monday discussion about Jamaica. “The eyewall’s destructive winds may cause total structural failure, particularly in higher elevations, leading to widespread infrastructural damage, prolonged power and communication outages and isolated communities.”

The storm became a hurricane Saturday morning and was upgraded to a Category 3 major hurricane by Saturday night, then a Category 4 on Sunday morning and a Category 5 on Monday morning.

On Tuesday night or Wednesday, Melissa is anticipated to make a second landfall along Cuba’s southeastern coast, while still wielding major hurricane strength. It’s also expected to remain a hurricane when it reaches the Bahamas. Bermuda also could be threatened.

“After reaching Jamaica, a combination of land interaction and increasing southwesterly shear should cause some weakening, although Melissa is still forecast to be a major hurricane when it reaches Cuba,” NHC forecaster Jack Beven said in an earlier discussion.

“Once over the Atlantic, stronger shear should cause more substantial weakening, and Melissa is expected to become extratropical by the end of the forecast period as it interacts with a large baroclinic low over the north Atlantic.”

Catastrophic flash flooding and landslides in parts of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica were expected through early next week.

A hurricane warning was in effect for all of Jamaica; the Cuban provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantanamo and Holguin; and the southeastern and central Bahamas.

Hurricane watches were in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

There was a tropical storm warning for Haiti and the Cuban province of Las Tunas and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Hurricane-force winds extended up to 30 miles from the center, and tropical-force winds tended outward to 195 miles.

Rainfall of 15 to 30 inches through Wednesday was forecast for portions of Jamaica and an additional 6 to 12 inches for southern Hispaniola, which includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica, with a local maximum of 40 inches, the NHC said.

“Catastrophic flash flooding and numerous landslides are likely,” NHC said.

Cuba is expected to receive rainfall of 10 to 20 inches, with local amounts up to 25 inches, into Wednesday, “resulting in life-threatening and potentially catastrophic flash flooding with numerous landslides,” NHC said.

Over the southeastern Bahamas, rainfall is forecast to total 5 to 10 inches into Wednesday with flash flooding in some areas.

Life-threatening storm surge heights could reach 9 to 13 feet above ground level, near and to the east of where the center of Melissa makes landfall and are expected to be accompanied by large and destructive waves, NHC said.

Along the Cuban coast late Tuesday and Wednesday, there is a potential for significant storm surge of 7 to 11 feet.

And in the southeastern Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands, there is the possibility of storm surge of 4 to 6 feet.

Melissa is the 13th named storm of the season and fifth hurricane. The other Category 5 storms in the Atlantic have been Erin and Humberto.

In September 2019, Hurricane Dorian had maximum sustained winds of 185 mph and destroyed the Bahamas islands, including Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama, as a Category 5 storm.

The all-time highest sustained measure was Hurricane Allen at 190 mph in August 1980 over the Yucatan Peninsula but weakened to a Category 3 when it struck south Texas.

The most destructive Category 5 storm in the United States was Hurricane Andrew in August 1992, with $27.3 billion in damage. Hurricane Michael, also a Category 5 storm, struck the less populated Florida Panhandle in October 2018.

The U.S. is not threatened this time.

Hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica in 1988 as a Category 3 storm. The island could be battered for several hours as the eyewall moves slowly.

As trial opens, Tetsuya Yamagami admits murdering Japan’s longest serving leader three years ago.

The man accused of killing former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022 has pleaded guilty to murder.

Forty-five-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami admitted all charges read out by prosecutors as his trial opened on Tuesday, according to the Japanese broadcaster NHK.

Yamagami was charged with murder and violations of arms control laws for allegedly using a handmade weapon to shoot Japan’s longest serving leader.

“Everything is true,” the suspect told the court, according to the AFP news agency.

Abe was shot as he gave a speech during an election campaign in the western city of Nara on July 8, 2022. Yamagami was arrested at the scene.

The assassination was reportedly triggered by the suspect’s anger over links between Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to the Unification Church.

Yamagami held a grudge against the South Korean religious group due to his mother’s donation of 100 million yen ($663,218). The gift ruined his family’s financial health, Japanese media reported.

Long the subject of controversy and criticism, the Unification Church, whose followers are referred to disparagingly as “Moonies”, has since faced increased pressure from authorities over accusations of bribery.

The church’s Japanese followers are viewed as a key source of income.

The shooting was followed by revelations that more than 100 LDP lawmakers had ties to the Unification Church, driving down public support for the ruling party.

After Tuesday’s initial court session, 17 more hearings are scheduled this year before a verdict is scheduled for January 21.

The trial opened the same day as two of Abe’s former allies, LDP leader and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and visiting United States President Donald Trump, held a summit in Tokyo.

Abe, who served as Japan’s prime minister for almost nine years, is regularly mentioned by both during public events.

On Tuesday, Takaichi gave Trump a golf putter owned by Abe and other golf memorabilia during their meeting at the Akasaka Palace.

Exactly a year after the Eaton fire broke out, musicians are banding together once more for an upcoming benefit show, called A Concert for Altadena.

As a way to both raise funds and bring the community together, the night is set to include performances from musicians like Jackson Browne, Dawes & Friends, Aloe Blacc, Jenny Lewis, Everclear, Stephen Stills, Mandy Moore, Judith Hill, Brad Paisley, Ozomatli, Brandon Flowers of the Killers and more.

Many of the featured acts have ties to Los Angeles and Altadena specifically, like Dawes, an indie band from Altadena who notably sang a lively rendition of “I Love L.A.” at this year’s Grammys ceremony. Moore, who is also performing, similarly lost their homes in the fire.

“I’ve seen firsthand how music can mobilize people for good. This concert brings together artists, fans, and neighbors for something bigger than all of us — recovery, hope, and rebuilding lives,” said Grammy winner Eric Krasno. The guitarist, who also lived in Altadena, helped organize the event and is set to perform.

Even behind the scenes, people like Kevin Lyman, who founded the Vans Warped Tour and is a longtime Altadena resident, is working as the event’s lead producer.

“Music has always been a force for community. With this event, we’re not just putting on a show — we’re helping Altadena rebuild homes, restore businesses, and heal hearts. This night is about unity and purpose,” said Lyman.

All of the proceeds from the show will go to the Pasadena Community Foundation’s Eaton Fire Relief & Recovery Fund, which helps provide resources to families impacted, and the Altadena Builds Back Foundation, which focuses on the long-term recovery of housing in the neighborhood.

The Eaton fire is the second most destructive wildfire in California’s history, destroying more than 9,000 structures in an area of nearly 22 square miles. It is also one of the state’s deadliest fires, with 19 people killed. Since the January fire, rebuilding efforts have proved to be slow-moving in the face of bureaucracy and high overhead costs.

The benefit show will take place Jan. 7 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. Tickets go sale Nov. 7.

The sentence handed to the far-right politician last month has become a major issue in Brazil-US relations.

Lawyers for Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro have filed an appeal against his 27-year prison sentence handed down last month for a botched military coup after his 2022 election loss.

The 85-page motion filed with the Supreme Court on Monday sought a review of parts of Bolsonaro’s conviction, including his sentence.

United States President Donald Trump has branded the prosecution of his far-right ally a “witch-hunt” and made it a major issue in his country’s relations with Brazil.

Bolsonaro was convicted in September over his bid to prevent President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from taking power following the 2022 vote.

The effort saw crowds storm government buildings a week after Lula’s inauguration, drawing comparisons with the January 6 riot at the US Capitol after Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.

The motion filed by Bolsonaro’s lawyers asserted there were “deep injustices” in his conviction and sentence. It did not stipulate how much of a reduction in the sentence was being sought.

Failed coup

Last month, four of five judges on a Supreme Court panel found Bolsonaro guilty of five crimes, including taking part in an armed criminal organisation, trying to violently abolish democracy and organising a coup.

Prosecutors said the plot entailed the assassination of Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and failed only due to a lack of support from military leaders.

Trump cited his displeasure with the prosecution in July as he announced punitive tariffs against Brazil and imposed sanctions against Brazilian officials.

Bolsonaro, who has been under house arrest since August, has denied wrongdoing. Under Brazilian law, he will not be sent to prison until all legal avenues are exhausted.

Judicial revisions possible

Thiago Bottino, a law professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, told the AFP news agency that while it is unusual for the Supreme Court to reverse its rulings, it had made revisions in the past, including to the length of sentences.

Defendants sentenced by the Supreme Court usually need two judges to diverge on a ruling to request an appeal that could significantly change the decision, Reuters reported.

After only one justice dissented, Bolsonaro’s lawyers filed a lesser motion seeking clarification or review of specific parts of the conviction.

If his appeal fails, Bolsonaro, 70, could request to serve his sentence under house arrest, claiming poor health.

He was recently diagnosed with skin cancer and was briefly admitted to hospital last month with other health issues.

Hundreds of asylum seekers could be housed in two military sites in Inverness and East Sussex as the government aims to end the use of hotels.

Discussions are under way over the use of the sites to accommodate 900 men, as first reported in the Times.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has instructed Home Office and Ministry of Defence officials to accelerate work to locate appropriate military sites, the BBC understands.

The government has pledged to end the use of asylum hotels, which have cost billions of pounds and become a focal point for anti-migrant protests, by the next election.

Migrants are due to be housed in the Cameron Barracks in Inverness and Crowborough army training camp in East Sussex by the end of next month, under plans being drawn up by ministers.

Defence Minister Luke Pollard told BBC Breakfast that the sites were not “luxury accommodation by any means,” but “adequate for what is required”.

“That will enable us to take the pressure off the asylum hotel estate and enable those to be closed at a faster rate,” he said.

Pressed on whether military sites would be cheaper for the government than hotels, Pollard said the cost was currently being assessed and that “it depends on the base”.

He said: “But I think there’s something that is of greater significance that we’ve seen over the past few months, and that is the absolute public appetite to see every asylum hotel closed.”

Pollard would not be drawn on how many asylum seekers were to be moved or when that would happen.

He said there would have to be sufficient engagement with local authorities and adequate security arrangements in place. “Those conversations have been going on for some time now,” he added.

Inverness’s Liberal Democrat MP Angus MacDonald told the BBC he supported the use of military sites to house asylum seekers, but that the chosen base seemed “a bit odd” given it is in the town centre.

“It’s effectively the same,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding that to his knowledge it was an open barracks without security.

“I very much thought the idea of putting them in army camps was to have them out of town, and make them less of an issue for the local population.”

He said he had first been given a “tip-off” about the use of Cameron Barracks about a month ago by someone in the army, when its occupants had been given notice to leave, and recently learned the plan was to house 300 asylum seekers there.

MacDonald added that Scotland did not have a “great track record” of migrants staying put there – and that the Home Office would need to consider whether they would “just up sticks and leave”.

Ministers are also considering industrial sites, temporary accommodation and otherwise disused accommodation to house asylum seekers.

Government sources told the BBC that all sites would comply with health and safety standards.

A Home Office spokesperson said: ”We are furious at the level of illegal migrants and asylum hotels.

“This government will close every asylum hotel. Work is well under way, with more suitable sites being brought forward to ease pressure on communities and cut asylum costs.”

Around 32,000 asylum seekers are currently being accommodated in hotels, a drop from a peak of more than 56,000 in 2023 but 2,500 more than last year.

A report on Monday found billions of taxpayers’ money had been “squandered” on asylum accommodation.

The Home Affairs Committee said “flawed contracts” and “incompetent delivery” had resulted in the Home Office relying on hotels as “go-to solutions” rather than temporary stop-gaps, with expected costs tripling to more than £15bn.

Commenting on the report’s findings, Sir Keir said he was “determined” to close all asylum hotels, adding: “I can’t tell you how frustrated and angry I am that we’ve been left with a mess as big as this by the last government.”

Two former military sites – MDP Wethersfield, a former RAF base in Essex, and Napier Barracks, a former military base in Kent – are already being used to house asylum seekers after being opened under the previous Tory government.

‘Fully loaded’ devices are being used to stream paid for content including football – full list of UK areas targets most recently

The Federation Against Copyright Theft has issued warnings that it is cracking down on people using ‘dodgy’ or ‘fully loaded’ Firesticks to illegally stream sport and paid for content. It carries out raids and also monitors digital sellers of the devices in order to target suppliers.

The practice is increasingly widespread – and the most recent raids carried out in the country by FACT have been across the UK. Working with police the clampdown spanned locations across the UK, including London, Cheshire, Kent, Sussex, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, the East and West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Northumbria, and North Yorkshire.

FACT, in collaboration with police services are intensifying efforts to disrupt and dismantle piracy operations across the country by targeting suppliers who are selling unauthorised access to premium content, including film, television and live sports.

The most recent reported two-week enforcement operation saw FACT and police targeting 30 suppliers of illegal IPTV services. These individuals were visited in person and issued cease-and-desist warnings by post, instructing them to cease illegal activities immediately or face potential criminal prosecution.

As part of the enforcement action, South Wales Police arrested a 42-year-old man from Newport who was suspected of involvement in illegal IPTV operations, including the sale of illicit Firesticks. FACT and South Wales Police seized several digital devices, including Firesticks, which are now undergoing forensic examination. Additionally, FACT issued a number of takedown requests to social media platforms and online marketplaces, further disrupting illegal IPTV activity.

FACT warned that courts are increasingly imposing severe penalties for illegal streaming operations, ‘particularly those who do not heed warnings’. It said private prosecution undertaken by the Premier League resulted a 29-year-old from Liverpool, receiving a three-year and four-month prison sentence for selling and using illicit Firesticks.

The body often targets the month of November because a lot of the Firesticks are sold at this time of year. Kieron Sharp, CEO FACT said: “Our cease-and-desist measures are not just warnings—they are the first step toward holding offenders accountable. Many who ignored these notices in the past are now facing arrest and criminal charges. We strongly advise anyone involved in these activities to stop immediately.

“If you’re supplying or using illicit streaming devices or illegal IPTV subscriptions, take this as a clear warning: you are breaking the law and risk facing serious consequences.

“We will continue working with police to track down and shut down these illegal operations. The police across the UK have been unstinting in their efforts to tackle this criminality and we are grateful for their assistance.

“To those using illegal streaming services, the message is that you’re not just committing a crime; you are putting yourself at risk. These services often expose users to malware, scams, and data theft, with no recourse when things go wrong. The safest, smartest and only choice is to stick to legitimate providers for your entertainment.”

FACT gets intelligence from Crimestoppers from anonymous reports from the public and works with sports rights holders and broadcast partners, including The Premier League, Sky, TNT Sports and Virgin Media, to investigate and prosecute those involved in intellectual property crimes. Digital piracy undermines the rights of broadcasters and content creators by providing users unauthorised access to premium content without proper compensation.

Illegal streaming exposes your home to criminals, granting them access to data stored on your network, including banking details and sensitive personal information. Additionally, it can introduce malware, which can further compromise your security. Learn more about the dangers of illegal streaming at BeStreamWise.

Oct. 28 (UPI) — A statue of a Confederate general toppled amid the civil rights protests that swept across the country during the summer of 2020 has been reinstalled in Washington, D.C.’s Judiciary Square.

The 27-foot bronze and marble statue of Confederate Gen. Albert Pike was reportedly returned to the square on Saturday.

It had been removed after protesters toppled the statue, the only one honoring a Confederate general in the nation’s capital, in June 2020 amid Black Lives Matter protests demanding an end to police brutality and racial injustice after the murder of George Floyd by a White police officer.

In August, the National Park Service announced that it would be restored in alignment “with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation’s capital and reinstate pre-existing statues.”

While the NPS says the statue honors Pike’s “leadership in Freemasonry,” critics deride its return as the man fought against the United States in the Civil War.

“The morally objectionable move is an affront to the mostly Black and Brown residents of the District of Columbia and offensive to members of the military who serve honorably,” Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., said in a statement.

“Pike represents the worst of the Confederacy and has no claim to be memorialized in the nation’s capital.”

On a hot October morning, fuel pumps at a dozen service stations in Bamako, the capital of Mali, sputtered to a stop. Drivers who had spent hours waiting in line left empty-handed. Motorbikes, taxis, and vans idled where they stood. Market stalls that depended on refrigeration closed early. Hospitals began counting fuel reserves. 

What appeared to Mali residents as an everyday shortage was, in fact, the result of a deliberate, sustained campaign by Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, known as JNIM, an Al-Qaeda affiliate operating in the Sahel, to choke the flow of fuel into the country. The group has moved beyond hit-and-run attacks to economic warfare, burning tankers, ambushing convoys, and enforcing a de facto embargo on fuel imports.

Videos shared online after the Oct. 21 attack showed dozens of burning tankers in Zégoua, near the border with Côte d’Ivoire. JNIM later released a propaganda message claiming responsibility for ambushing 37 vehicles that day.

The first publicly reported attacks began in early September, when the group blocked routes to Kayes and Nioro du Sahel in western Mali, bordering Mauritania and Senegal. That same day, Sept. 3, JNIM reportedly abducted six fuel tanker drivers from Senegal.

Despite an increased military presence, the jihadists struck again on Sept. 13 and 14, torching over 40 tankers under military escort while transporting from Senegal to Mali along the Diédiéni–Kolokani corridor. 

The consequences have rippled far beyond queues at fuel stations. There is currently a sharp inflation that has affected commercial activities. Mines operations have also slowed, and there is a steady erosion of the state’s control over basic life. Across the country, schools have also been closed, further disrupting daily life and cutting several young people off from education.

The residents of Mali expressed their grievances, urging the military junta led by Assimi Goita to step up the fight and counter the group’s atrocities.

JNIM has also sought to control the narrative. In a video released in early September, a spokesperson justified the blockade as retaliation against what he called “the bandit government’s persecution of the population” and “the closure of gas stations”.

This rhetoric points to a deeper cause. Mali’s government recently banned the sale of fuel outside official stations, a measure meant to disrupt the jihadists’ supply chains. 

Blockades and ambushes 

Mali is a landlocked country in West Africa, and it imports most of its fuel by road from Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire. Convoys, sometimes more than 100 tankers, travel through routes to Bamako, and that includes passing through jihadist-controlled areas. 

JNIM have staged checkpoints on key routes where they conduct their attacks by igniting the lead vehicles to create conflagrations. They have destroyed dozens of tankers, with a single ambush in mid-September affecting at least 40 tankers. Videos circulated online showed burning wrecks and stranded drivers. 

The attacks are designed to make transport by road both physically dangerous and economically untenable. As a result, many private companies have stopped sending fuel tankers; others now insist on military escorts, which often become targets in themselves, and neighbouring countries hesitate to transit fuel through overtly dangerous routes. 

Analysts note that by choking off fuel transport, JNIM aims to undermine public confidence in the junta’s competence, stir unrest, and increase its leverage in negotiating local control, taxation, or governance arrangements in contested areas. The approach aligns with Al-Qaeda’s long-standing strategy of exploiting social grievances and state fragility to entrench influence.

The group’s broader objective is to pressure Mali’s military government, which seized power in a coup five years ago, while expanding its own authority through informal taxation and control of smuggling routes. JNIM now holds sway over vast areas of Mali, particularly across the tri-border zone with Burkina Faso and Niger.

The economic shock 

Since the start of the attacks, Bamako and other urban centres have seen fuel queues stretch for hours and a surge in black-market operations, the very activity the government intended to stamp out in its recent ban.

One video posted on X on Oct. 23 captured the desperation: a long procession of cars trailing a fuel tanker to a station, hoping to secure a few litres.

The shortages have cascaded through every layer of the economy. Power supply has been hit as electricity utilities begin implementing emergency plans amid dwindling diesel reserves. For households dependent on private generators, costs have spiked overnight.

The price of goods transported by road has risen sharply in markets across Mali. Small traders who buy fresh produce daily for resale in Bamako say profits have evaporated. For ordinary families, higher transport costs translate directly into more expensive food.

Reports from the weeks following the convoy attacks documented widespread closures of petrol stations and soaring costs of travel and delivery. The military halted certain deliveries to mines over security concerns, and some tankers destined for large gold operations were stopped to avoid creating easy targets. 

For a country already weakened by years of conflict, coups, and economic instability, the fuel blockade has become a multiplier of hardship, a crisis that compounds every existing vulnerability.

Losing the grip 

At first glance, the scarcity hurts everyone, and JNIM gains leverage. 

By controlling or denying access to commodities, the group converts scarcity into political capital. In areas under its influence, it already collects taxes, fines, and “security levies” from traders. Smugglers who can move fuel through alternative routes find new profit, often paying bribes or cutting deals with armed groups to secure passage. 

Meanwhile, formal businesses tied to regulated supply chains and formal employment lose trust and capacity. Local elites who depend on state contracts feel the pinch. The junta, unable to guarantee basic services, faces a mounting legitimacy crisis. Analysts warn that such conditions hollow out institutions and entrench shadow economies, allowing parallel systems of governance to take root.

The government’s response has been uneven; part denial, part damage control. Initially, officials blamed the shortages on heavy rains delaying tanker arrivals. But when JNIM released its propaganda videos claiming responsibility, public outrage forced an acknowledgement of the crisis.

“The sellers should make things easy for the population; the hydrocarbon sellers should not raise the prices at this time of crisis,” said one resident in Bamako, interviewed by DW Africa, voicing his frustration over the difficulties of getting the fuel. 

The armed forces have since launched airstrikes, escorted convoys, and convened emergency committees to protect fuel shipments. Yet these measures have proven costly and largely ineffective.

Transitional Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maïga, who convened an interministerial crisis management committee, announced further steps, including price controls, new regional depots, and increased convoy protection, but they have done little to stem the attacks. Some local reports suggest negotiations or attempts at local truces in areas where the terrorists have influence, but negotiations are politically sensitive for a government that prizes a posture of strength.  

Complicating the situation further is the evolving role of foreign paramilitaries. The Wagner Group’s replacement by the so-called Africa Corps has yet to yield stability, and persistent accusations of human rights abuses risk undermining their counterterrorism efforts.

The longer the blockade continues, the sharper the choices before Mali’s leaders: concede territory and influence to armed groups, or escalate military operations that risk civilian casualties and further infrastructure damage. Either way, the cost of control grows heavier with each passing week.

COMEDIAN Steve Coogan will pay substantial damages to a university boss for portraying him as a film’s sexist bully. 

The actor, 60, co-wrote and starred in 2022’s The Lost King, about the quest to uncover the remains of Richard III. 

Richard Taylor was part of the Leicester University team which located the grave of the king — often portrayed as having a hunched back — beneath a car park in the city. 

But Mr Taylor sued for libel after being characterised as “smug, unduly dismissive and patronising”. 

Alan Partridge star Coogan is a vocal campaigner for media fairness. 

Last year, a judge found Coogan and two production companies “knowingly misrepresented facts” in the film, starring Sally Hawkins and Harry Lloyd. 

FULL FRONTAL

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Yesterday, lawyers for Mr Taylor told London’s High Court the parties had settled out of court and that he was being paid “substantial damages”. 

Producers will also make changes to the film. 

Mr Taylor called it vindication after “a long and gruelling battle”. 

Mrs Justice Collins Rice said: “These were momentous historical events and finding yourself represented in a feature film about them must be an unsettling experience, even in the best of circumstances.  

“I hope that this very clear statement and the settlement… will help Mr Taylor put this particular experience behind him. ” 

Coogan, his production company Baby Cow, and Pathe Productions were not represented in court and did not attend. 

However, the star said he was consulting lawyers over remarks made by Mr Taylor — and insisted of his film: “It is the story I wanted to tell, and I am happy I did.” 

U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested that contaminated fuel may have been a factor in the U.S. Navy’s loss of an MH-60R Seahawk helicopter and an F/A-18F Super Hornet in the South China Sea on Sunday. In a very strange chain of events, the two aircraft, both assigned to the supercarrier USS Nimitz, went down within 30 minutes of each other while on separate missions. The crews of the Seahawk and the Super Hornet were both safely retrieved.

“They’re gonna let me know pretty soon,” Trump told reporters while flying aboard Air Force One on Monday. “I think they should be able to find out. It could be bad fuel. I mean, it’s possible it’s bad fuel. Very unusual that that would happen.”

Asked whether he thought “foul play” led to the crashes, Trump said “I don’t think so,” and reiterated his contaminated fuel theory. 

“We don’t believe it was anything nefarious,” a U.S. Navy official told The War Zone.

U.S. Pacific Fleet (PACFLEET), which oversees naval operations in the South China Sea region, declined to comment on Trump’s statements about the crashes and referred us to the White House. We have yet to receive a response and will update this story with any pertinent information provided.

The first of the two mishaps occurred about 2:45 PM local time, according to PACFLEET.

That’s when the Seahawk, assigned to the “Battle Cats” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 73 (HSM-73), “went down in the waters of the South China Sea while conducting routine operations from” the Nimitz, a PACFLEET release stated. “Search and rescue assets assigned to Carrier Strike Group 11 safely recovered all three crew members.”

A half hour later, an F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter assigned to the “Fighting Redcocks” of Strike Fighter Squadron 22 (VFA-22) “also went down in the waters of the South China Sea while conducting routine operations from Nimitz,” PACFLEET announced. “Both crew members successfully ejected and were also safely recovered by search and rescue assets assigned to Carrier Strike Group 11. All personnel involved are safe and in stable condition. The cause of both incidents is currently under investigation.”

While the particular circumstances of the recent mishaps in the South China Sea remain under investigation, fuel contaminated with water and/or other foreign substances, or that otherwise falls below specifications, can present serious problems for aircraft, including causing engines to fail in flight. Checking fuel quality is a common part of an investigation following any aviation mishap, military or civilian.

In addition, carrier-based aviation operations present unique conditions when it comes to the transfer of fuel, both into storage tanks on the ship to begin with, which can occur while the carrier is underway at sea, as well as in port, and then into aircraft. Personnel aboard all Navy carriers perform regular fuel quality checks at multiple steps in the fuel distribution process.

Trump’s comments about the mishaps came as the President is traveling throughout Asia. He is scheduled to have a meeting on Thursday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to discuss trade issues.

Nimitz, the Navy’s oldest carrier, is on its final cruise before its planned decommissioning next year. The flattop is currently in the process of returning to its home port in Naval Base Kitsap in Washington State after having been deployed to the Middle East for most of the summer, primarily as part of the U.S. response to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on commercial shipping.

Also known by its hull number CVN-68, the Nimitz, which was first commissioned into service in 1975, is the lead ship in its class. The vessel’s design built on the Navy’s prior experience with its pioneering nuclear-powered supercarrier, the one-of-a-kind USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which served from 1961 to 2012.

The Navy began preparing for the Nimitz’s demise in 2023, which you can read more about here. The Newport News Shipbuilding division of Huntington Ingalls Industries has received multiple contracts already to begin laying the groundwork for removing the nuclear fuel from the carrier’s reactors and other aspects of the disposal process.

Whether contaminated fuel turns out to be a factor in, or even the root cause of the Seahawk and Super Hornet going down in the South China Sea, remains to be seen. U.S. military aviation accidents typically take weeks if not months to complete.

Contact the author: [email protected]

Pop star and recreational astronaut Katy Perry has found a new flame in former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in an unexpected romance that feels like a “Mad Libs” page come to life.

The “California Gurls” hitmaker and the longtime politician publicly debuted their relationship over the weekend, shutting down months of speculation. Perry, 41, and Trudeau, 53, were photographed holding hands during a date night in Paris on Saturday.

The singer, in a red body-hugging dress, and Trudeau in a black suit were seen exiting cabaret club Crazy Horse Paris, where they celebrated Perry’s birthday. Video shared by Backgrid shows Perry accepting a rose from a bystander and Trudeau placing his hand on her back as they walk to their SUV.

Perry and Trudeau first sparked relationship rumors in late July, when they were seen sharing a meal and some good conversation at an upscale restaurant in Montreal. They met up for their rendezvous, captured by TMZ, a month after Perry and “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Lord of the Rings” star Orlando Bloom ended their engagement. The former couple welcomed a daughter in 2020 and continue to co-parent.

At the time, the split with Bloom was the latest blow to Perry’s public image. Prior to their separation, the Grammy-nominated singer’s album “143” faced backlash and scathing reviews, her participation in Blue Origin‘s flashy all-female crew flight was subject to scrutiny and her Lifetimes world tour proved divisive. Trudeau seemed to be all smiles at the latter in late July.

Fans spotted the former Canadian leader, who resigned in January after nearly a decade in power, dancing and singing at Perry’s tour stop in Montreal. Earlier this month paparazzi snapped pictures of the then-rumored couple packing on the PDA on the singer’s yacht off the coast of Santa Barbara, Perry’s hometown.

Trudeau began his romance with Perry after he and ex-wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau announced their separation in 2023. The Trudeaus were married for 18 years and share three children. Though they are legally separated, their divorce is not yet final.

Neither Trudeau nor Perry has publicly addressed their relationship, save for one cheeky comment the singer made during a concert in London this month. When a fan tried shooting his shot and proposed to the singer, she responded, “You know you really should have asked me about 48 hours ago,” seemingly referring to her yacht outing with her new beau.

Perry continues the European leg of her Lifetimes tour Monday, performing at the MVM Dome in Budapest. Information about her remaining tour stops and future gigs can be found on her website.