News Desk

A Netflix documentary has been described as ‘disturbing’ and ‘jaw-dropping’ by viewers, who say it’s ‘impossible to turn off’. Give it a go if you’re struggling to find something to watch

Everyone with a Netflix subscription knows how overwhelming it can be to find something good to watch. And sometimes, they give up altogether, heading to bed without ever making it past the title screen.

But one user claims there’s no need to waste precious time searching on this occasion, as he’s got the ideal documentary recommendation – and believes everyone will soon be discussing it. EccyReviews, who watches and critiques films and television programmes across his social media channels, is encouraging Netflix subscribers to give Tell Me Who I Am a watch.

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What’s the plot?

The 2019 documentary chronicles the story of Alex Lewis, who suffered memory loss after an accident.

Its IMDb description reads: “Alex Lewis trusts his twin brother, Marcus, to tell him about his past only to discover that he’s hiding a dark secret about their childhood.”

Speaking about the documentary, EccyReviews said: “You’re going to be running to Netflix to go and watch this documentary because it is one of the most insane stories you will ever hear.

“Everyone I know who’s seen this documentary cannot stop talking about it. The documentary I’m talking about is called Tell Me Who I Am.

“It follows a young man who after a motorcycle accident, wakes up to find he has lost his complete memory.

“He doesn’t know who his brother is, who his father is or even his own mother. And when he returns home he knows that there is something strange going on in his house.

“After years and years of never really speaking about his past, he meets up with his brother across this table to find out his entire backstory.

“Now it is genuinely disturbing, emotional and jaw dropping once you hear what happened to him. And honestly, if you haven’t seen this documentary you are massively missing out. So get it on your watch list right now.”

Where to watch Tell Me Who I Am?

The documentary is available to stream on Netflix in a single viewing, with a runtime of one hour and 26 minutes.

If you’re more in to reading, the book is also available to purchase, having become a Sunday Times bestseller.

What do people say?

Commenting on the recommendation, one TikTok user said: “I don’t have the patience to watch full documentaries, but this actually had me glued to the tele, it’s so disturbing because it’s true, I’ll ask the question for everyone, would you have told him?”

Another added: “What an incredible story. Heartbreaking. An incredible watch.”

A third user said: “Watched this before and highly recommend… it’s so upsetting in parts but will keep you hooked.”

Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville believes root of team’s problems is Glazer family, urges them to sell-up.

Gary Neville says managers sometimes need to be dismissed “for their own good” as Manchester United persist with under-pressure boss Michael Carrick.

Carrick’s future at Old Trafford has been the subject of intense speculation after a miserable run of eight games without a win.

Sunday’s 3-0 humbling at home to Bournemouth left the English giants one point above the Premier League relegation zone.

United have won just two of 12 matches in all competitions this season, with a return of seven points from eight league games representing their worst start to a league season in 40 years.

But Carrick, 45, and a former United and England midfielder, remains in charge and is expected to give a pre-match news conference later on Thursday ahead of the team’s league match away to Chelsea on Saturday.

“I reckon what’s happened in the 24 hours after Bournemouth is that [the United hierarchy] literally debated  [Carrick’s future] back and forth,” former Manchester United captain Neville said on the Stick to Football podcast.

“I don’t know this, but they’ve debated it to the point where they’ve got themselves into a muddle, and thought, ‘we’ll just stay with him’.”

“I think staying with him is a result of the lack of planning, the lack of probably available options, the lack of decision-making around the two people that probably are available. That’s when you’re really struggling.”

Neville, a former United teammate of Carrick, added: “Sometimes a manager needs sacking for their own good. I needed sacking at Valencia. I was happy that they put me out of my misery.”

‘Enough is enough’

Both Eddie Howe, previously in charge of Newcastle, and former Germany boss Julian Nagelsmann have been touted as possible replacements for Carrick at Old Trafford.

Carrick, however, appears to have the backing of the United faithful, being warmly applauded by fans as he made his way down the tunnel following the defeat by Bournemouth.

Moments later a chorus of boos erupted as the players left the pitch, as supporters made clear where they think the blame lies for United’s current malaise.

Carrick was handed a two-year deal in May after inspiring an impressive revival following the team’s struggles under Ruben Amorim — United secured third place in the Premier League and a return to the Champions League.

The drastic decline this season is an all-too-familiar story for United supporters, who last witnessed a Premier League title triumph 13 years ago under Alex Ferguson.

Neville believes the root of United’s woes is majority owners the Glazer family, saying “enough is enough” as he urged them to sell up.

The Glazers took control of the club in a controversial takeover in 2005. They remain majority owners after selling a minority stake to British billionaire businessman Jim Ratcliffe in 2024.

Neville, a longstanding critic, reiterated his call for the United States-based family to sell.

“There’s 1.2 billion pounds [$1.6 billion] of debt in that football club, they’re hamstrung in some ways,” said Neville, adding: “You’ve got a failure of 13, 14 years on the football side, you’ve subbed it out to somebody else [Ratcliffe] which is ridiculous, and not took responsibility … Enough is enough, they have to sell the whole club.”

“The fans have had enough. They have to go now.”

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman rejects ‘disinformation campaign’ amid allegations by some Israeli politicians of voting interference.

As Israel awaits the final results of its highly contested elections, some political figures have sought to drag Qatar into the fray with claims of voting interference – an accusation Doha rejects.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and media outlets associated with it have, without evidence, accused Qatar of sending money to Arab parties in Israel for get-out-the-vote drives.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman on Thursday categorically denied the allegations of interference or funding of any activities aimed at influencing the election results.

“We reject the accusations made by certain Israeli politicians and their contacts in the media, who have launched yet another disinformation campaign aiming to drag Qatar into Israeli political disputes following this week’s elections,” Majed al-Ansari said in a post on X.

The unsubstantiated Israeli claims, which the spokesperson described as “ridiculous and dangerous in equal measure”, are the latest in a long-running campaign against Qatar.

Netanyahu has previously boasted about attacking Qatar in September 2025 during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza while Israeli influence experts and political advisers also worked on a secret campaign targeting Qatar in the weeks after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel.

“[Some Israeli politicians] accuse Qatar of buying off Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli political left and now, in this latest campaign, the Arab vote. If these claims were to be believed, Qatar would apparently own all of Israel,” al-Ansari said.

Partial results indicated that Netanyahu’s bloc would not secure a majority in the Knesset in Tuesday’s parliamentary elections. Those results showed the two Arab lists securing a record number of seats in the new parliament, but the main parties have rejected the idea of partnering with them.

Despite the latest claims, Dean Livine, the acting director for Israel’s Central Elections Committee, has rejected allegations of foreign interference in the elections. “The Knesset elections were conducted lawfully. The integrity of the elections at polling stations was rigorously safeguarded,” he wrote in a letter to an MP and fellow committee member.

“The repeated invocation of Qatar in Israeli electoral rhetoric reveals an excessive obsession with our country among certain Israeli political and media figures,” al-Ansari said, adding that Qatar should “not be used as a scapegoat for the political failures of certain Israeli politicians”.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman said some Israeli politicians, instead of shifting attention onto Qatar, “would be better off focusing on their own voters, improving people’s everyday lives, and undoing the damage they’ve created in the region”.

He reiterated that Qatar has “no involvement” in Israel’s political or electoral competition.

“These are internal Israeli matters in which we do not interfere, and we will not accept any attempt to draw Qatar into its domestic political disputes.”

Qatar is a key mediator in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and played a central role in talks to halt Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

Doha is also leading mediation efforts between Washington and Tehran to end the United States-Israel war on Iran.

Al-Ansari said the latest accusations would not distract Doha from its “important role as a mediator, our diplomatic and humanitarian efforts, our support for the Palestinian people, or our commitment to a just and comprehensive peace and regional stability.”

The latest series of Celebrity Traitors has been nothing short of chaos with fiery roundtables and a traitor who simply couldn’t resist revealing his fate in the opening episode

Celebrity Traitors is back on tonight as BBC viewers learn who is set to be banished, will it be Joanne McNally or Sharon Rooney? But with both faithfuls in the firing line, we can only imagine it’ll be sheer disappoint in Thursday’s show.

Of course the three Traitors also appear to be stronger than ever – with Maya Jama, King Kenny and James Acaster all voted the most trustworthy in their latest mission. As a result, Celebrity Traitors host Claudia Winkleman handed Kenny the all-important double vote to use at the roundtable. But while the faithfuls are yet to suspect either of them as a traitor, some fans believe a decision Claudia made at the beginning instantly killed off the game.

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In a post on Reddit, one person labelled this season as “great TV” while someone else claimed choosing Maya as a traitor wasn’t a good choice.

They added: “This series was doomed when they cast Maya Jama as a traitor.” Claiming to be a “huge Traitors fan”, they also said they’re not fussed about this year’s winner.

Someone else claimed the presenter has made “terrible traitor choices”, with the exception of Kenny. They continued: “I get that she’s a traitor and thus obviously wants to sabotage and weaken the faithfuls, and she should!

“But at the same time, from a viewership perspective, if there’s not a single competent faithful and it seems too easy for the traitors, it’s not an interesting watch.

“She couldn’t have predicted just how bad this series’ faithfuls are, but still, I mourn for the alternate season we could’ve had if potentially competent faithfuls like Hannah and James A weren’t recruited.”

But in the main post, the viewer wondered why this season is “getting so much stick”. They added: “It’s great TV. People getting upset because it’s not turning out the way they wanted it… it’s reality TV. It could have 100s of different outcomes. That’s life.”

Another agreed: “Yeah I’ve loved it so far, it’s been really fun.” A third commented: “The show is fine. The viewers are the problem,” while a fourth chimed in: “I’ve enjoyed it. It’s not as funny as last year’s but I’m into it and I care about the result. I really want a 3-traitor win!”

Later tonight we’ll see who will be banished from the castle – will it be Joanne or Sharon?

Celebrity Traitors will be back on at 8pm tonight on BBC One and again tomorrow at the same time.

American Jake Paul to headline Christmas Eve boxing event in Dubai, with his opponent yet to be announced.

YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul will return to the ring on December 24 in Dubai just over a year after suffering a broken jaw in his knockout loss to Anthony Joshua, he said.

American Paul, 29, will headline the Christmas Eve card, with his opponent yet to be announced.

The bout will be Paul’s first since his sixth-round knockout loss to former heavyweight champion Joshua in Miami on December 19 last year, when his jaw was fractured in two places, injuries that required multiple surgeries in December and February.

“I have spent years proving people wrong, taking risks and pushing myself against opponents nobody thought I would face,” Paul said in a statement.

“Nothing that’s happened has changed my belief in myself or what I’m working toward. I am hungrier than ever and on December 24 I’m returning to the ring in Dubai to start the next chapter of my journey.

“We’ve got plenty of names on the list; let’s see who signs the contract,” he added.

Paul has a 12-2 professional record, with his only defeats coming against Britain’s Tommy Fury and Joshua.

He also fought Mike Tyson in an exhibition fight in which he beat the former heavyweight champion in a unanimous points decision, although the bout drew criticism as a sham event.

When Paul McKinney, a farmer in northeast Arkansas, thinks of his son’s childhood, he remembers a small boy playing in vast fields.

To a child, a flooded rice field is “like a giant, 40-acre swimming pool”, he said.

Rice has been a staple on McKinney’s farm for four generations. Next year, however, the family plans to plant much less. Instead, they will focus on soya, a crop that is cheaper to produce.

Like farmers across the United States, McKinney is making tough decisions this year in response to higher fuel and fertiliser costs, which have skyrocketed since the start of the war on Iran.

This week, farmers also face tough choices at the polls. Democrats are expected to make gains in the midterm elections, as voters react to high prices economy-wide by switching parties or staying home.

Observers are watching farm country closely. Texas and Kansas could send Democrats to the Senate for the first time in decades. In the House of Representatives, two majority-rural districts, Wisconsin’s Third and North Carolina First, could become tipping points for Democratic control.

Still, many of the country’s most rural areas, like Arkansas, are also its most safely Republican.

That leaves an uphill battle for Democrat Hallie Shoffner, who quit farming last year to challenge Republican Senator Tom Cotton in a campaign squarely focused on rising costs.

How high costs hurt farmers

Even before the US-Israel war on Iran, high input costs were straining farmers, said Ryan Loy, an extension economist for the University of Arkansas’ Division of Agriculture.

Loy pointed to a trade war with China that began in 2018, the ongoing war in Ukraine and disruptions related to the 2025 tariffs as factors driving up input costs and disrupting markets. A drought across the US heartland, made worse by climate change, has added to the strain.

Farmers across the country are working to adapt. In Arkansas, many farmers skipped rice in favour of soya. Soya is “the least input-intensive crop, and perhaps can break even or have the shallowest loss”, Loy said.

Now Arkansas, usually the country’s top rice producer, has its lowest rice acreage since the 1970s. Many farmers hoped 2026 would bring economic recovery so they could return to rice.

Then, the war on Iran hit. With the Strait of Hormuz blocked, fertiliser costs jumped just as farmers were fertilising during the spring planting season.

Loy tracked the increase in a sample budget that he maintains for Arkansas row crop farmers. “Urea fertiliser specifically peaked about 39 percent over our budgeted amount,” Loy said. Diesel costs came in about 72 percent more than budget averaged across the planting, growing and harvesting seasons, Loy found.

Those changes represent a significant economic hit. “For our state alone, it’s an additional cost of about $343m,” Loy said.

Last week, US President Donald Trump announced an $8bn fuel relief programme for farmers, following $12bn in tariff-related aid in 2025. If the fuel relief payment were divided equally between the 50 states, it would cover less than half of the extra costs that Loy estimates Arkansas’ farmers paid this year.

McKinney, a member of the Arkansas Farm Bureau, said the announcement was welcome. Still, he hoped for longer-term solutions that would prevent “this constant battle for survival”.

For many farms, survival is indeed getting harder. Farm bankruptcies for the first three quarters of 2026 were up 19 percent compared to this time last year, according to a recent analysis by the University of Arkansas’ National Agricultural Law Center. They were up 73 percent compared to 2024.

‘We can’t keep doing this’

McKinney’s son, who grew up playing in muddy rice fields, now helps his dad farm their 24,000 acres. So does McKinney’s nephew, who this year is driving a combine.

“As has been done for us, we would love to be able to hand that down to the next generation,” said McKinney. “But you also have to think about what is going to be best for them.”

McKinney questions how long farming will provide a sustainable living. “It’s some heavy things to think about,” McKinney said.

For Shoffner, a sixth-generation Arkansas farmer, that reckoning came last year.

Higher costs, lower crop prices and the uncertainty of trade wars and tariffs “made the numbers stop working” for their 2,000-acre farm operation, Shoffner told Al Jazeera.

“I know what it feels like to work hard, make every adjustment you can, and still have to sit down with your family and say, ‘We can’t keep doing this,’” Shoffner said.

To protect her parents’ land and retirement, Shoffner closed the family’s farm. That “heartbreaking” decision helped spur her Senate run.

“I decided that if I can’t farm, I will fight,” Shoffner said.

If elected, Shoffner wants to end the war on Iran, build trade policies farmers “can actually plan around”, invest in local processing and distribution, and pass a robust Farm Bill — strategies she hopes will help farmers and rural economies more broadly.

“If we want rural communities to have a future, the people producing our food have to be able to make a living doing it.”

Cotton did not respond to a request for comment.

How will farmers vote?

Economic pain may not change farmers’ votes, however, in Arkansas or nationwide. Michael Shepherd, a political scientist at the University of Michigan, said many farmers, like many rural voters, are committed Republicans.

Committed voters tend to view the economy through a partisan lens, according to Shepherd. “Their political behaviours, their voting choices, things like that, are not particularly responsive to changes in the agricultural economy,” he said.

Some polling this year, however, did suggest the potential for movement. A poll by the Farm Journal in April found that 35 percent of farmers who “usually” vote Republican and 15 percent who “always” vote Republican were still considering how they would vote.

And September polling from Purdue showed that, for the first time this term, a majority of farmers surveyed think the country is “on the wrong track”.

Even if farmers are swayable, of course, Shoffner still may not be the one to sway them: her campaign has been far outspent by Cotton’s, an established lawmaker who has received funding from interest groups like AIPAC and leaders at companies like Anthropic and Palantir.

“If one side has a massive war chest, and the other side has very limited resources, then that game of tug of war can be won much easier than it should be,” Shepherd said.

And even if farmers do change their votes, they may not decide elections.

McKinney, who is now farming one of the Shoffner family’s former fields, said farmers represent a shrinking percentage of rural voters — their strength now is in organising, not numbers.

Still, even where candidates like Shoffner don’t win, their campaigns might signal to funders that similar races may be competitive in the future or help Democrats win down-ballot seats.

In Arkansas’ second congressional district, for example, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is betting on Democrat Chris Jones. It’s a long-shot campaign, but across the country, at least some long-shot candidates are expected to win.

“All indications are that this is gonna be one of the biggest shifts away from the president’s party that we’ve observed,” Shepherd said.

EXCLUSIVE: The Celebrity Traitors is heating up with the semi-final airing tonight, but a former star believes that one of the Traitors will have to turn on another, in a huge twist

A former star of The Traitors has predicted a major twist. Tonight’s episode will see at least one Faithful banished from the castle, in yet another devastating blow for the Faithful.

So far, only two Traitors have been banished from Ardross Castle, leaving the team of Faithful shrinking by the day. In yet another twist, the Faithful unknowingly branded the three Traitors – Maya Jama, James Acaster and King Kenny the most trustworthy stars.

But what they didn’t know was that Kenny was later given a chilling double vote for the roundtable, after he and his fellow Traitors worked out who their next victims would be. This series has seen Maya come out on top, with many of her banished and murdered co-stars believing that she could potentially win the programme.

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Former contestant Andrew Jenkins, who appeared on series two of the BBC show, also believes that Maya could go all the way. “Maya Jama has 100 per cent got what it takes, and all of them, to be honest,” he said. He went on to add: “The three traitors have all got a good case because they’ve all been voted the most trustworthy, so they’re all doing really well.”

However, Andrew believes the Traitors will turn on one another before tomorrow night’s final. He commented: “I think the biggest obstacle is going to be that they turn against each other. I think one of them will have to turn against the other one. But they’ve got no heat on them from any of the faithful. So I think Maya Jama is playing a really good game.”

But after James A refused to take part in a task which would benefit the Traitors last week, Andrew says he empathises with the comedian. Both James and Andrew started off on the show as Faithful, before being recruited by The Traitors. “You’re trying to play so many games,” he said.

Speaking in connection with Buzz Bingo, Andrew went on to add: “You’re trying to take the heat off you, you’re trying to be part of a team, and it’s hard trying to juggle it all. So I do understand. I can see it from both sides of the fence. And yeah, he probably has put a bit of a target on his back now. Do Maya and King Kenny trust him now? So he could be hung out to dry now.”

This year has also seen increased paranoia in the castle, with EastEnders hardman Ross Kemp initially fearing he’d been murdered after a co-star merely touched him. However, he was later murdered in plain sight by James A and Maya, who bored him so much he yawned.

“It’s hard,” Andrew said of the paranoia inside the castle, adding: “It is really hard. You get paranoid because you’ve seen previous series. You know how other people have been murdered, so you’re going to suspect things. Nobody wants to drink from any cups; nobody wants to do anything. You get really paranoid.”

Tonight will disclose whether the brutal roundtable voted in favour of Joanne McNally or Sharon Rooney being banished from the castle, as the Faithful and Traitors once again go head to head ahead of tomorrow’s final.

The Traitors airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 8pm.

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Public anger in Syria has threatened to boil over following disagreements between Amman and Damascus over Jordanian attacks on the southern Syrian regions of Deraa and Suwayda on Monday evening.

Jordan said its air force had killed more than 20 ISIL (ISIS) fighters in retaliatory strikes on what it called “dens of terrorist organisations in southern Syria”, linked to suspects accused of being behind last week’s attack on a Greek Orthodox church in the kingdom, which was claimed by the group.

But the next day, anger mounted in Syria as images spread of a slain grandmother and her three grandchildren.

While Jordan has launched attacks on Syria in the past, including assaults that led to civilian casualties, this latest episode seems to have captured public anger.

“The anger also reflects an expectation that the authorities in Damascus should now be able to protect Syrians and demand answers when they are killed or harmed,” Navvar Saban, a researcher in security and military affairs at the Arab Center for Contemporary Syrian Studies, told Al Jazeera.

“If people feel Damascus is more concerned with protecting the relationship with the Jordanians than accountability, some of the anger could turn inward.”

Contradicting accounts

Monday’s attack reportedly came in response to the assault on a Greek Orthodox church that killed nine people and wounded at least 34 others in the village of Hamoud in the Karak governorate, about 120km (75 miles) southwest of the capital, Amman.

Jordanian authorities said the attack was carried out by “extremist terrorists”.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II promised to respond with an “iron fist”.

“Jordan has absorbed many terrorist attacks before, but this one was especially brazen given the Christian church and the nature of the event being targeted,” Sean Yom, an expert on Jordan at Temple University in the United States, told Al Jazeera.

“Because of its unprecedented nature, explicitly targeting a protected Christian minority in the tribal heartland of Karak, the government instantly felt popular demands to show results from the investigation and arrest of the perpetrators. This pressure to be responsive is especially acute right now, because security and policing remain core strengths of the Jordanian state.”

Jordanian authorities arrested three men connected to the attack on the church on Monday. That evening, Jordan also launched the attack on southern Syria, which it said was carried out in coordination with authorities in Damascus.

But Damascus has contradicted that account.

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it had informed Jordan of its “complete reservation” over the attacks, and said they took place “without prior coordination or notification with the Syrian side”. An official described the strikes as “treacherous”.

“Both governments have something to defend politically,” Saban said. “Amman wants to show that it acted against a serious threat through legitimate security channels. On the other hand, Damascus cannot afford to appear to have approved an operation that killed Syrian families. The investigation needs to establish who communicated with whom, when, and about which target. Until then, I would avoid either assuming Syria secretly approved everything or treating the coordination as a simple misunderstanding.”

The family’s bodies were recovered after they were killed by the Jordanian strike on a tent in the village of al-Taff, in the Lajat area of northeastern Deraa province. Syria’s civil defence said three other family members were wounded in the attack.

Meanwhile, in the al-Shayah farms near Nassib, in the Deraa countryside, an 80-year-old man named Riyad Karrad was also killed by a strike. Another man named Mutlaq Abu al-Khalil, 60, was killed in Shuhayb, in Suwayda’s northern countryside.

Syrian customs authorities closed the Nassib border crossing with Jordan on Tuesday, before reopening it to passenger and commercial traffic on Wednesday.

Syrian-Jordanian relations

Jordan has launched several air strikes on Syria since 2023. It says those strikes generally target arms or drug smugglers.

Under the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad, southern Syria became the site of cross-border drug smuggling, including the stimulant captagon. Some of those operations are believed to have continued after the fall of the Assad regime. At times, the Jordanian strikes have killed civilians, such as a January 2024 attack that Human Rights Watch said killed women and children.

Since the fall of the regime in December 2024, relations between Amman and Damascus have been lukewarm, though slowly improving. Analysts say this is down to shared interests.

“Syria needs healthy trading and commercial partners like Jordan, and Jordan wants Syria to become more secure and coherent for three reasons,” Yom said.

“A strong and friendly Syria can accept more repatriated refugees from Jordan, where there are still hundreds of thousands. It can also help seal the porous border and prevent arms and drug smuggling activities along their shared frontier. And lastly, a stronger allied Syria helps Jordan resist Israel’s creeping annexation, including the West Bank as well as more parts of Syria and Lebanon. So both have mutual interests tied to their sovereignty in maintaining good relations.”

Amman was also the site of a July 2025 trilateral agreement signing between Syria, the US and Jordan aimed at resolving internal disputes over violence in Suwayda.

“Only days before the strike, the two foreign ministers were discussing a strategic partnership and preparing another meeting of their High Coordination Council that is a significant investment in the relationship,” Saban said. “My expectation is that this is a serious strain rather than a rupture. Both governments have strong reasons to keep cooperation over the border, armed groups smuggling, etc. But this incident raises an uncomfortable question for Damascus.”

For its part, Syria’s Foreign Ministry condemned the strikes as a violation of the country’s sovereignty but seemed to indicate relations with Amman would continue to be strengthened. It said Damascus is coordinating with ⁠Amman to establish a joint security committee to strengthen border security and prevent similar incidents.

In the meantime, Saban said that regardless of coordination with Damascus, accountability is needed to subside public anger.

“Even if an investigation established that Damascus approved some part of the operation, that would not explain why those people were killed or remove the need for accountability,” he said. “Ultimately, the families deserve a specific answer about the strike that killed their relatives, their friends, their family. Syrians need to understand why their families got killed.”

The touring production of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man” that opened Tuesday at the Ahmanson Theatre isn’t an Actors’ Equity Assn. production. When I listed the revival, directed by Matt Lenz, among my fall preview highlights, I assumed it would be of the caliber we have come to expect from Center Theatre Group.

I attended Tuesday’s opening and was disappointed to find a community-theater-level production beneath the superficial sheen of a commercial national tour. The costumes (by Santo Loquasto from the 2022 Broadway revival starring Hugh Jackman) are stunning. The painterly, storybook scenic design by Ann Beyersdorfer, engineered for maximum efficiency, is also lovely and blends beautifully with the Loquasto’s color palette.

The singing is robust, full-throated and spirited. Elizabeth D’Aiuto, who plays Marian, the librarian of this small Iowa town who captures the roving eye of traveling salesman and con man Harold Hill (Elliott Andrews), has a piercing soprano that many an opera singer would envy.

The barbershop harmonies spin an alluring web. The ensemble fills the Ahmanson with blazing, amplified sound. But the strong singing seems disconnected from the actual story. The music has little character. We might as well be watching a concert version of the show.

The problem is the acting, which is broad, detached and, frankly, often amateurish. I felt as if I were watching a polished troupe of semi-amateurs. The less said about the supporting cast, the better. The characterizations are unsubtle across the board. And how could it be otherwise when the actors seem more intent on impressing the audience than relating to one another?

Andrews seems particularly guilty of this sin. But then his character is meant to be smugly self-congratulatory. Harold Hill has come to River City to pull off another swindle. He’s selling musical instruments and costumes to a town that doesn’t yet even have a children’s marching band.

A wiry presence with a capering physical comedy spryness reminiscent of Dick Van Dyke (who starred in the 1980 Broadway revival of “The Music Man” that had a pre-Broadway run at the Pantages Theatre), Andrews makes a rather dashing and daring Harold Hill. He’s no Hugh Jackman, who had the Broadway audience in the palm of his hand when he essayed the role. But Andrews handsomely fills out the part and can sing appealingly when not too much emotion is required. But his theatrical self-absorption makes it hard to care about Harold and even harder to understand why Marian would fall for this transparent fake.

The magic of Marian’s love turning Harold into an upstanding man fizzles. Neither performer seems able to connect. Both are acting in their separate bubbles. It’s like we’re watching a pantomime of “The Music Man” with some glorious, blaring music.

For those who want to scratch an itch for golden age musical nostalgia, this sparkling yet empty production might suffice. But we should expect more from CTG, which is touting that this is the first major production of “The Music Man” to be done in Los Angeles in 46 years.

When I learned that this was a non-Equity production, I was disappointed that CTG was damaging its stature as a nonprofit theater leader by offering such an important showcase to this second-tier touring production. But now having seen the production, I’m more disappointed that audiences are being bamboozled as badly as the good people of River City.

Theatrical gimcrack is being palmed off as a precious stone. Yes, the score still shimmers, but not everything that glitters is gold.

Ethiopia has received 12 Russian Su-35 fighter jets and will acquire four S-400 air defence batteries, in a deal experts say strengthens Moscow’s foothold in the Horn of Africa while bolstering Addis Ababa’s military amid conflict at home and tensions with neighbouring Eritrea.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the deal in Moscow during the two-day Russia-Africa Summit.

“I value the friendly relations between Russia and Ethiopia,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a statement. “Russia and Ethiopia stand together in international affairs.”

Experts say the agreement builds on decades of military cooperation, offering Moscow arms revenue and diplomatic influence while allowing Ethiopia to strengthen its armed forces amid its ongoing conflict in Tigray.

Here is what we know:

What weapons is Ethiopia acquiring?

Abiy said Ethiopia had taken delivery of its first 12 Su-35s under an earlier agreement with Russia, with four S-400 batteries to follow, but did not say when the air defence systems would arrive.

The aircraft would expand an air force already equipped with Russian fighter jets. The S-400 systems would complement this existing fleet by helping the military defend itself against aerial threats, experts say.

“They would be best used against conventional air threats,” Benedict Manzin, a lead analyst on the Middle East and Africa at risk consultancy Sibylline, told Al Jazeera. “In a war with Eritrea, they could be used against Eritrea’s limited air force and drones.”

However, air defences do not provide protection against every kind of attack.

“As we have seen in Ukraine, conventional air defence systems can be overwhelmed by small, cheap drones,” he said.

Why does Russia want closer ties with Ethiopia?

The relationship predates the current competition for influence in Africa.

“Russia has been engaged in Ethiopia for decades, part of the legacy of the Cold War,” Manzin said.

The Soviet Union backed Ethiopia’s former communist government. Today’s cooperation builds on those foundations, with the two countries having signed military agreements intended to improve the Ethiopian armed forces’ capabilities through technology, knowledge and training, according to the Ethiopian News Agency.

Commercial interests also matter.

“Russia is also in the business of making money through arms sales,” Manzin said. “This is one of Russia’s primary exports to Africa.”

Weapons sales provide revenue while sustaining relationships with governments that require training, maintenance and replacement equipment. But the partnership extends beyond defence.

Abiy said his talks with Putin covered nuclear energy, health and trade, alongside bilateral and multilateral cooperation, while in a statement, Putin said bilateral trade exceeded $1.3bn in January-September, more than twice the figure for all of 2025.

He identified energy, agriculture, industry and education among potential areas for further cooperation.

Ethiopia’s size also makes it attractive to competing powers, with experts saying that because it is Africa’s second-most populous country, it offers a substantial market.

“Everyone engages a bit, and Ethiopia tries to maximise its gains,” Manzin said.

Does this mean Ethiopia is turning away from the West?

Manzin suggested Ethiopia is widening its options rather than committing exclusively to Moscow.

“African states are aware that they are a focus of geopolitical competition,” he said.

That competition gives governments room to seek weapons, investment and diplomatic backing from different partners. Ethiopia’s relationship with Russia coexists with a significant Chinese presence and continuing Western investment in the country.

“China has a huge presence in Ethiopia, and Russian arms have always been a huge factor,” Manzin said. Moscow is seeking to turn those established connections into broader influence as Western sanctions over its war in Ukraine constrain its international relationships.

Russia supplied 15 percent of African imports of major weapons in 2021–2025, behind the United States at 19 percent and China at 17 percent, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Could the weapons be used in Tigray?

In his statement, Abiy thanked Putin for ensuring the aircraft were delivered a year ahead of schedule and said the equipment would strengthen Ethiopia’s ability to “preemptively deter aggression”.

The delivery comes amid renewed fighting in Tigray, a separate rebellion in Amhara and concerns about a possible conflict with Eritrea.

“Ethiopia is buying a lot of aircraft,” Manzin said. “The timing comes as Ethiopia is going through conflict in Tigray, with speculation about war with Eritrea.”

He cautioned against assuming the latest battlefield developments directly prompted purchases negotiated earlier.

“Aircraft are helpful regardless, as they are using aircraft and the air force heavily during any suppression,” he said.

What’s the conflict about?

Fighting between Ethiopia’s federal army and Tigrayan forces intensified in late September, in effect unravelling the November 2022 Pretoria peace agreement that ended a devastating two-year war.

Each side has blamed the other for renewed violence. Tensions grew following the formation of a seven-group alliance seeking to overthrow Abiy’s government and establish a transitional administration.

Government troops and allied forces entered Mekelle, Tigray’s capital, earlier in October after Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) fighters withdrew.

Addis Ababa subsequently installed a six-month caretaker administration, but rebel commanders have promised to continue fighting.

Former president faces renewed death penalty demand as he appeals life sentence for insurrection.

South Korean prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for former President Yoon Suk-yeol over his failed attempt to impose military rule.

The team led by special prosecutor Cho Eun-suk renewed the demand at an appeal hearing in Seoul on Thursday, arguing that Yoon’s actions threatened South Korea‘s democracy.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment in February after being convicted of leading an insurrection.

Prosecutors had previously sought the death penalty at Yoon’s original trial in January, but the court sentenced him to life imprisonment the following month.

At Thursday’s hearing at the Seoul High Court, a prosecutor said there was “no reason to hesitate” over imposing the death penalty, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

South Korea retains the death penalty but has not carried out an execution since 1997.

Prosecutors argued that this long pause should not prevent judges from sentencing Yoon to death.

Yoon declared martial law on December 3, 2024, deploying soldiers and police to the National Assembly, South Korea’s parliament.

Lawmakers overcame a security blockade to vote down the measure, forcing the government to withdraw it about six hours after it was announced.

The lower court found that Yoon had tried to stop parliament from functioning, detain political opponents and remain in control of the country for an extended period.

Yoon’s lawyers told reporters on Thursday that he had intended to warn an opposition-controlled parliament against what he considered attempts to obstruct his government, not to establish authoritarian rule.

Speaking at the Seoul High Court on October 27, Yoon also denied seeking to establish a long-term dictatorship, according to the Hankyoreh newspaper.

The crisis led parliament to impeach Yoon in December 2024. South Korea’s Constitutional Court, which decides whether to uphold impeachments, removed him from office in April 2025.

The appeals court plans two more hearings, including Yoon’s final statement on November 5.

A FORMER Disney heartthrob looks unrecognisable 17 years after he found teen fame on the channel.

This actor is known for appearing alongside the likes of Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez and Zac Efron.

You may remember him from Sonny With A Chance, 17 Again, Hannah Montana or even his own Disney movie, Starstruck.

It’s Sterling Knight!

The actor, now 37, looks a far cry from his days on Disney Channel now.

Sterling now sports a full beard and longer mousy brunette hair – as opposed to the choppy blonde locks he was known for.

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He is still acting and appeared in new movie 40 Dates and 40 Nights just this year.

Sterling is also on video platform Cameo, where fans can pay for a personalised video shoutout from him.

The star has just shy of 250,000 followers on Instagram and regularly shares updates with his fans.

He appears to not follow former co-stars such as Demi, Selena or Miley – suggesting their on-screen chemistry hasn’t lasted since their Disney days together.

Sterling’s Sonny With A Chance character famously had a relationship with Demi’s on-screen character, with the relationship becoming a focal point of the show.

The pair were known to be close friends off screen, too.

Child star Sterling, who hails from Texas, began acting aged 10 and had his breakout role in 17 Again – where he played the teenage son of Mike and Scarlet O’Donnell (played by Matthew Perry/Zac Efron and Leslie Mann).

Faraba Banta, The Gambia – For Muhammed Lamin Jallow, a student at the University of The Gambia’s School of Arts and Sciences, getting to class has become a daily struggle.

He travels about 40 km (25 miles) from home to the Faraba Banta campus, depending on university buses, to attend lectures.

But securing a seat on the bus can be challenging.

“Sometimes, it feels like survival of the fittest,” he told Al Jazeera. “We compete as to who gets in first, who gets to sit, who gets to stand and who goes to school and who does not.”

Jallow was among hundreds of students who protested at the University of The Gambia (UTG) on Monday, taking their grievances over transportation, campus facilities and student welfare to the vice chancellor’s office.

Lectures have since resumed after the government promised improvements to campus services.

But the students have more demands. They want Vice Chancellor Herbert Robinson and the director of student affairs to resign, accusing both officials of failing to perform their duties.

While the government has announced measures to address some of the concerns, the leadership dispute remains unresolved.

Transport and basic services remain concerns

The Students’ Union says its concerns affect more than 12,000 students, many of whom depend on university buses to reach campus.

Following the protest, Higher Education Minister Professor Pierre Gomez visited the campus with university representatives and officials from the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.

In a statement, the Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology said the Gambia Transport Service Company had deployed 20 buses to support student transportation.

Students have also complained of limited access to safe drinking water and affordable food, as well as unreliable internet connectivity.

In response, the ministry promised that cafeterias across the university were ready to serve students and staff, but acknowledged that additional filtration was needed to make campus water safe for drinking. Water jars and dispensers have been installed at designated points, and the National Water and Electricity Company (NAWEC) had been consulted, it said.

On internet access, the ministry said work was under way to extend connectivity to the newly constructed Schools of Agriculture and Law, with completion expected within a week.

The proposals are intended to support student access to research materials and other educational resources. However, the statement did not confirm whether the work had been completed.

The ministry said it would continue working with the university, the students’ union and other relevant stakeholders to monitor implementation.

Cafeterias and practical training facilities

The reopening of cafeterias was another demand raised by students, who had complained that their closure made it difficult to find affordable meals on campus.

Ismaila Fadera, the students’ union president, said he raised the issue with Robinson on October 20 .

Fadera quoted the vice chancellor as saying: “Mister president, I have the student interest at heart, but we must balance this against administrative processes and compliance. You know I was a student too and many of us went through that. I used to carry my own water and food in my bag to university. The students should be told the reality. Having a cafeteria is a great addition to enhance the student experience but it is not right.”

The ministry said the cafeterias were ready to serve students and staff, although it provided no details on meal prices or availability at individual facilities.

Beyond food and water, students say inadequate learning facilities are affecting their education, particularly in programmes that require practical training.

At the School of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences in Banjul, students face overcrowded classrooms, inadequate ventilation, malfunctioning electrical sockets and shortages of projectors and smartboards, according to Abubacarr Manneh, president of the University of The Gambia Medical Students Association. Manneh said medical, nursing and postgraduate nursing students share the available facilities, putting pressure on classroom space.

He also worries about shortages of practical training equipment, including a promised simulation laboratory where students could develop clinical skills.

“Practical sessions are crucial in our professional training and development for better care of our patients,” he told Al Jazeera.

The university’s journalism students have similar concerns

Sukai Fatajo, a journalism student who participated in the protest, said the school needed radio and television studios to help students develop practical skills.

“We deserve better, and our demands must be met,” she told Al Jazeera.

The students’ union has also called for functional science laboratories, improvements to facilities at the medical school and adequate staffing.

The risks of getting to class

For Kumba Leigh, a journalism student, the struggle to reach the university has also become a question of personal safety.

One morning in April, Leigh was attacked by a knife-wielding assailant in her hometown of Bakau as she walked to a bus stop. She was trying to leave home early enough to secure a seat.

The attacker threatened to kill her if she did not hand over her bag. When she resisted, he struck her on the head and shoulder, cut her bag and dislocated her right arm. A nearby shopkeeper intervened, forcing the assailant to flee.

Months later, Leigh still has pain in her arm and suffers from trauma.

“No one should have to risk their life simply to travel to school,” she told Al Jazeera, calling for stronger security and increased police patrols.

Israel’s parliamentary election on Tuesday produced no clear winner, with nearly 90 percent of ballots counted and both major political blocs falling short of the 61 seats needed to form a government.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc is on course to win 53 seats in the 120-member Knesset, while the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot is expected to secure 48 seats.

The Arab-majority parties won 19 seats, a historic high, driven by record turnout among Palestinian citizens of Israel of about 80 percent. That has placed the Arab parties at the centre of coalition arithmetic, even as several party leaders ruled out governing with them.

So what did the main contenders say in the run-up to and during the vote, and how did they fare? Here is a look:

Benjamin Netanyahu, Likud: Elections ‘stolen by Arab parties’

Pre-election: In the build-up to the election, Netanyahu expressed confidence, telling The Jerusalem Post on October 22, “I’m gonna have five more terms.”

On Sunday, he targeted the opposition, with Haaretz citing a broadcast on Israel’s Channel 14 that Netanyahu warned if they win, they will “give citizenship to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians”, a move that would signal the “end of the Jewish state”.

Election day: On Tuesday, he said forming a government with Arab-led parties would be “a shame and a disgrace”.

“It is forbidden – simply forbidden – to endanger Israel and to establish a government that relies on anti-Zionist Arab parties,” he told supporters.

Post-election day: After the elections, Netanyahu’s Likud party took aim at Palestinian citizens of Israel who voted.

In a party statement shared by Netanyahu, it claimed the elections “were stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state through serious criminal offences”. According to The Times of Israel, police and the Central Elections Committee have already dismissed these claims.

What the results show: Likud is on course for 26 seats, the largest party, with 20.65 percent of the vote. But his bloc has 53 seats, eight short of a majority.

Gadi Eisenkot, Yashar Party: ‘I do not see an Arab party that accepts my principles’

Pre-election: In a September interview with The Jerusalem Post, he dismissed the idea he would need to form a coalition with Arab parties: “I believe the majority we receive will be much larger than what the polls currently show,” adding “I do not see an Arab party that accepts my principles.”

He also said his “inner feeling is that I now have the ability to defeat Netanyahu”.

Election day: Eisenkot rallied Israelis to get rid of “the worst government Israel has known”.

However, he acknowledged how tight the race was, saying, “We are on perhaps the most critical day since the founding of the state.”

Post-election day: On Wednesday, Eisenkot told his supporters the Israeli public “voted against” Netanyahu and promised, “to ensure that the people’s decision is translated into a Zionist government”.

What the results show: Yashar is on course for 21 seats, with 16.16 percent. His bloc has 48, 13 short of a majority, and he cannot reach 61 without the Arab-led parties.

Naftali Bennett, Together Party: ‘The October 7 government is going home’

Pre-election: In February, months before the vote, Bennett told a closed conference of party activists that he stood by his 2021 decision to govern with Ra’am, but said he would not repeat it.

He said, “We will establish a unity government under my leadership … We are going to win, and we are going to form it,” Israel National News reported.

Election day: “Netanyahu has lost, and the October 7 government is going home,” Bennett told supporters in Tel Aviv.

Post-election: In a post on X, Bennett told Israelis to “lift your heads” and said he will do everything “to establish a Zionist Alliance of Servants government”.

What the results show: Together is on course for 12 seats with 9.07 percent, narrowly behind the Joint List.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Otzma Yehudit: Palestinians in Gaza ‘shouldn’t live’

Pre-election: In his election campaign, Ben-Gvir expressed his most genocidal views yet, saying in August that there are Palestinians in Gaza “who are not worthy of life. They shouldn’t live. They’re not even people.” He called for Israel to kill “30 to 40” people in Gaza every night.

Election day: “If you want this country to stay Jewish and Zionist, if you don’t want it to be in the hands of (Israeli Knesset members) Mansour Abbas and Ahmad Tibi, go out and vote,” he told supporters at the entrance to the Arab city of Kafr Qasim.

What the results show: Otzma Yehudit is on course for seven seats, with 5.58 percent, less than half of the 15 he wanted.

Bezalel Smotrich, Religious Zionism-Zehut: ‘Jewish settlements will be established in Gaza’

Pre-election: In a statement he issued in August, he promised an expansion of his settlement “revolution” with a programme for the “Judaization of the Negev and the Galilee” at the expense of Palestinians, as part of his campaign.

Election day: He warned on Facebook of high turnout in communities of Palestinian citizens of Israel, claiming that failing to mobilise right-wing voters could let “terror supporters” into government.

That night, he told supporters “Jewish settlements will be established in Gaza.”

What the results show: Religious Zionism is on course for six seats, with 4.78 percent.

Yousef Jabareen, Joint List: ‘Change comes through Jewish-Arab partnership, a true and equal partnership’

Pre-election: In August, he stated that only “a large and strong Joint List will work with all its might to send the Netanyahu/Ben-Gvir/Smotrich government home”, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Election day, night: In a video statement, he said Netanyahu knew “we can put an end to his bloody reign.”

Post-election: He wrote on X  that his party was ready for the “ousting of the Netanyahu government”, which he called one of “bloodshed”.

“Against a politics of supremacy, racism, and exclusion, we offer a completely different alternative. The change comes through Jewish-Arab partnership, a true and equal partnership,” he wrote.

What the results show: The Joint List is on course for 12 seats with 9.14 percent, making it the third-largest party by vote share.

Mansour Abbas, Ra’am: Netanyahu uses ‘scare tactic to mobilise right-wing voters’

Election day, night: In July, Abbas set Ra’am a goal of at least seven seats, enough, he argued, to make it the balance of power in a “government of change”.

Election day: He hit back at Netanyahu’s posts about Palestinian citizens of Israel, stating in a video that he was “lying and inciting against Ra’am, using it as a scare tactic to mobilise right-wing voters and drive them to the polls”.

What the results show: Ra’am is on course for eight seats, with 6.09 percent, beating his target of seven.

Avigdor Lieberman, Yisrael Beiteinu: ‘We will reach 61 seats’

Pre-election: On October 15, he claimed: “We will reach 61 seats or more for the change bloc.”

Election day: He urged patience, saying on Friday, “we’ll be able to talk about a much better and more optimistic picture.”

What the results show: Yisrael Beiteinu is on course for seven seats, with 5.93 percent.

Yair Lapid, Together: Netanyahu is ‘busy fear-mongering’

Pre-election: In September, he posted a statement which said, “Netanyahu ignored every warning before October 7, and now, 28 days before the election, he’s suddenly busy fear-mongering.”

Election day: He declared victory, stating, “The Netanyahu bloc has suffered a crushing defeat.”

What the results show: Together, which he co-leads with Bennett, is on course for 12 seats, with 9.07 percent.

Tiffany Pollard has entered the Big Brother house as a special guest

TV star Tiffany Pollard has re-entered the Big Brother house and things have already become explosive.

Just last night (October 28), the Big Brother house welcomed a familiar face and it wasn’t long before things erupted into chaos. During a Halloween party, Tiffany arrived as a special guest, with her welcome coming as a huge surprise to the housemates.

Her arrival comes after celebrity guests Jedward caused drama and Gemma Collins also had her say. But last night, tensions reached boiling point when an exclusive row broke out.

Despite a warm reception, Tiffany said: “This f***** house is absurd. I’m literally honoured to be seated at this table.” However, things turn sour when Tiffany offended Philip who confronted the special guest.

He said: “I’m very upset with what you said Tiffany, to be honest with you.” But with Tiffany’s presence causing rising tensions in tonight’s episode (October 29), here’s everything you need to know about Tiffany Pollard.

How old is Tiffany Pollard and where is she from?

Tiffany Pollard is 44 years old and is an American TV personality from New York.

Tiffany Pollard net worth

According to Celebrity Net Worth, it is estimated that Tiffany’s net worth could sit at around $500 thousand , which equates to around £375,587.

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Tiffany Pollard’s rise to fame and Big Brother stint

Tiffany Pollard is known to UK residents from her stint on Celebrity Big Brother. But she rose to fame before that. In 2006 the star appeared on Flavor of Love, a reality dating show where she became known as ‘New York’.

She made her mark as her unforgettable one liners and bold personality caught the attention of viewers, making it to the final in seasons one and two.

Tiffany also secured her own solo dating show I Love New York. She then expanded her television footprint with New York Goes to Hollywood in 2008 and New York Goes to Work the following year in 2009.

In 2016, Tiffany entered the Celebrity Big Brother house, not shying away from sharing her opinions as she became considered one of the most iconic runs in reality television history.

One iconic moment is the “David’s dead” misunderstanding when housemate Angie Bowie was informed off camera that her ex husband and music legend David Bowie had died.

Confiding in Tiffany, she instantly panicked thinking Angie had meant fellow housemate David Gest as she burst into tears and ran to tell the rest of the housemates. She was eventually told it was the “wrong David”.

Her explosive love-hate relationship with Gemma Collins has also provided endless entertainment. Known as the Queen of reality TV, Tiffany also competed on House of Villains which brings together the most iconic and infamous ‘TV villains’ who aim to out smart one another to be titled America’s Ultimate Supervillain.

Big Brother continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX

A New York Times investigation links Democratic operatives to a namesake candidate in Alaska’s Senate race.

US President Donald Trump has called for the removal and prosecution of two candidates in Alaska’s Senate race, accusing Democrats of orchestrating a scheme to mislead voters.

Trump’s demand on Wednesday followed a New York Times investigation into efforts by people linked to Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign to recruit candidates who could draw support from Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, including a retired teacher with the same name.

The November 3 vote could help determine control of the US Senate, Congress’s upper chamber.

In Truth Social posts on Wednesday, Trump accused Peltola and Daniel J Sullivan Jr of election fraud and called for both to be removed from the ballot and prosecuted.

He described the alleged operation as “Voter Fraud at the Highest Level” and accused Democrats of lying under oath.

The Times noted that recruiting candidates to split an opponent’s vote – a practice known as ballot stacking – is generally legal and has been used by both parties in Alaska.

The two Sullivans are among four candidates in Alaska’s ranked-choice election.

Voters rank candidates by preference, with votes transferred if a first choice is eliminated. The ballot identifies the sitting senator as an incumbent Republican.

His namesake says he entered the race independently.

The Times reported that the effort began in 2025, when a Peltola aide was asked to identify Alaskans named Dan Sullivan.

Citing interviews and messages, it said Peltola advisers and officials from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which supports Democratic Senate candidates, discussed ways to reshape the ballot.

The newspaper identified Democratic operative Jerid Kurtz as a recruiter who approached potential candidates, sometimes under an assumed name.

It also reported that another Democrat withdrew after an approach from Kurtz, opening a place for Republican Gerald Heikes, who said he too had been encouraged to run.

Peltola’s former campaign manager, Elisa Rios, told the Times that Peltola knew about the operation but did not participate directly.

Rios later sought to withdraw her statements and the newspaper said other evidence supported its reporting.

Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic campaign committee denied recruiting candidates. Her campaign said political threats from Washington would not stop her candidacy.

Senator Sullivan accused Peltola of deceiving voters on Fox News on Wednesday.

Recruiting candidates to divide an opponent’s support is generally legal, the Times noted, and both major parties have used such tactics in Alaska.

The state’s Supreme Court upheld the retired teacher’s right to stand in June.

Trump’s Justice Department, the federal government’s legal arm, sued Alaska last week, seeking to delay certification if Senator Sullivan loses and votes for his namesake could have affected the outcome.

Alaska has asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing that it lacks legal grounds.

Kylian Mbappe, Real Madrid and La Liga have apologised for the French striker’s comments about Mao Zedong, but the damage to their reputation in China will not be easily or quickly repaired, experts say.

The France captain, one of the best footballers on the planet, is at the centre of a controversy after a video emerged this week of him appearing to make fun of former leader Mao.

Mbappe talked about being amused by an internet meme of his face digitally altered onto “some guy, think he’s a Chinese dictator”.

Mao remains officially revered as the hero of the communist revolution and founder of the People’s Republic of China.

He is blamed by historians for millions of deaths, but publicly mocking him is taboo, and Mbappe’s remarks saw him become the latest foreign sports figure or entity to infuriate Beijing.

Leading Chinese brands cut ties with the 27-year-old, and Spanish top-flight matches will be pulled from state television broadcaster CCTV’s schedule.

Chinese state media and social media users lined up to lambast Mbappe, although they were left in the dark about what exactly he said.

China is the world’s second-biggest economy and most lucrative market. Within two days, as the video, purportedly filmed in April, circulated online, the striker, his club Real Madrid and La Liga apologised.

A spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government took Mbappe’s apology “seriously”.

‘Very damaging incident’

So is that the end of the matter?

“Viewed from a calm, objective and emotion-free standpoint, this is clearly a very damaging incident,” Yan Qiang, a veteran sports commentator, told the AFP news agency.

“It causes serious damage to the image of La Liga and Real Madrid in China.

“In the age of the mobile internet, things blow up on social media quickly and emotions run high.

“An apology does not necessarily mean the end of the story.

“It’s better to have an apology than no apology at all, but it’s definitely not the end of the story.”

The furore and the fallout are not an unfamiliar tale.

Various overseas sports leagues or players have found themselves in hot water for comments on topics that are politically sensitive to China.

China effectively cut ties with the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the United States in 2019 after then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted his support for Hong Kong protesters.

NBA executives said Morey had the right to freedom of expression. In contrast, La Liga immediately distanced itself from what Mbappe said.

Basketball is among the most popular sports in China along with football. However, Morey’s remark saw the NBA wiped from CCTV for more than a year.

NBA preseason matches returned to China only last year.

Australian National University lecturer Debby Chan called the NBA case – and now Mbappe’s – an illustration of China’s consumer nationalism, where online sentiment and state media converge into “a spiral of outrage”.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league lost “hundreds of millions of dollars” over the split.

No way back for Mbappe, Real Madrid and La Liga?

Spanish football also has a lot to lose.

A source within La Liga told AFP that China and the US alone finance the “majority” of international broadcasting rights, which were valued at 748 million euros ($834m) for the 2024-25 season.

According to the Real Madrid-affiliated newspaper Marca, the Madrid club generates 10 to 15 percent of its jersey and other merchandise sales in China.

Real Madrid also counts Chinese companies among its main sponsors, with Hisense, sports betting firm Kaiyun Sports and Linglong Tire all featuring prominently.

Adam Zhang, founder of the Beijing-based Key-Solution Sports Consulting, said showing fast and heartfelt remorse was the first step.

“This will influence the decision on whether to continue the broadcast ban and, if so, for how long,” he told AFP.

Sports commentator Yan cast doubt on whether the reputation of Mbappe, whose face has adorned drink bottles and advertising campaigns in China, can ever fully recover.

“Judging by commercial sponsorships and big ad campaigns he appeared in during the World Cup, he has a huge influence in China,” he said.

“If that influence can’t be sustained, there can be no talk of commercial interests, and La Liga and Real Madrid will definitely be badly affected.”

Yan said it was “genuinely hard to predict” what happens next.

“In the short term, I’m certainly not optimistic,” he added.

“If they want to repair their image and the relationship, their future actions and behaviour will be key.”

San Francisco artist Barry McGee, 60, walked through Jeffrey Deitch’s Santa Monica Boulevard gallery on a recent Wednesday, while a small army of friends went about their business — some moving objects, others equipped with power tools. A few stood near a closet-size replica of a 99 Cents Only store, an homage to the weeklong art takeover McGee staged at the shuttered Wilshire Boulevard retailer in February.

Gallery visitors were careful not to step on the sprawling assemblage of photographs, drawings and artifacts scattered across the floor. Many were destined for the large installation McGee’s friends helped to assemble for “Another Round,” his recently opened exhibition, which runs through Jan. 30.

Like “99 CENT,” McGee’s aim is for the Deitch show to serve as a gathering place. A makeshift storefront houses an “anarchist bookstore” with activities organized by Matthew James-Wilson, who operates the Heavy Manners lending library and gallery in Echo Park. Events planned during the show’s three-month run include French beading and papier-mâché workshops, clothed figure drawing, and “music shows.”

Adjacent to the bookstore, the untitled work bends and bulges on a plywood structure. It serves as a portal into McGee’s artistic life: Framed messages, photographs of friends, colorful, textile-inspired imagery and his father’s sketches of cars on napkins are grouped together in a bold display.

An untitled installation piece by Barry McGee at Jeffrey Deitch gallery. McGee is showing at the gallery for the first time in 20 years.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

A related installation is in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and has also been shown at the Oakland Museum of California. “It feels like something entirely new this time and definitely unplanned,” McGee said of the work taking shape at the Deitch show.

The exhibition is billed as McGee’s first gallery exhibit with Deitch in more than 20 years, although the artist and dealer have collaborated on projects since the 1990s. McGee came up in San Francisco’s graffiti scene in the 1980s, developing a visual language under the moniker Twist that included faces, liquor bottles and stylized screws. Deitch traces McGee’s primary influences to the city’s punk, skate, surf and graffiti cultures, as well as its hand-painted signs. McGee has exhibited at the Hammer Museum, Fondazione Prada and the 2001 Venice Biennale.

When asked whether he was bringing street art inside for the Deitch show, McGee pushed back. “That’s not my goal at all,” he said.

McGee long ago achieved cult status and comes from a tradition of graffiti that he sees as separate from work made for a gallery. When he began tagging in the 1980s, he said, it wasn’t to create something for the market: “There’s no product at the end.” McGee’s connections across the graffiti scene and the gallery world attract artists and audiences alike for exuberant gatherings, sometimes with complications, as when he transformed the vacant 99 Cents Only Store into a pop-up resembling an indoor flea market during L.A.’s Art Week.

The tagger-turned-blue-chip artist Barry McGee reopened a former 99 Cents Only on Wilshire Boulevard for a one-week art fair event.

(Mariella Rudi)

McGee and Bay Area artist Tom Franco worked with Deitch and the Hole, a gallery that has since closed its Los Angeles location, to stage the exhibition. McGee’s devoted following came out in force: Deitch estimated that about 25,000 people visited. “L.A. really showed up for that,” McGee said.

The event also drew complaints. Several neighboring businesses and apartment buildings were tagged, though McGee said the graffiti was cleaned up. In July, L.A. Taco found that several participating artists had not been paid for work sold during the exhibition. Kathy Grayson, who runs the Hole in New York, wrote in an email that all artists and vendors have since been paid. “It was a gigantic undertaking,” she wrote of staging the exhibit, adding that she had stepped in to help McGee realize his “dream-come-true project.”

Barry McGee is a celebrated street artist who is equally comfortable in a blue-chip world. He brings both sensibilities to bear in his new show, “Another Round,” at Jeffrey Deitch.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

While McGee has no plans to revive the concept, he has created a miniature replica of the 99 Cents Only Store at the gallery, complete with the store’s iconic blue-and-white floor. “The element of surprise is always the best thing,” he said.

Throughout the gallery, McGee’s paintings, drawings and found objects are displayed alongside work by what he estimates will be “around 200” like-minded artists, including C.R. Stecyk III, Chito K.K. and Chris Lux, who mounted two stained-glass works beneath the gallery’s skylights.

“When we do a show with Barry, we get the whole community,” Deitch said. “That’s one of the great things about it.”

Although the exhibition bears his name, McGee is wary of being the center of attention. “In this day and age, a solo anything seems ridiculous,” he said. “The ego of the artist is a tricky thing.” He prefers to bring together different generations and sensibilities: “Some young people, some older people, things that you wouldn’t imagine being next to each other.”

A surfboard installation by Barry McGee is part of his show, “Another Round,” at Jeffrey Deitch gallery on Santa Monica Blvd.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

McGee’s own work is also in dialogue with itself: Geometric patterns, inspired in part by Islamic tile designs, share the canvas with his trademark male faces with drooping, melancholic eyes.

Deitch describes McGee as possessing “a unique kind of charisma.” Though shy, “he’s very accessible and reaches people.”

Franco agrees. He had wanted to meet McGee long before they encountered each other in a San Francisco thrift store last year, and he admires his support for less established artists.

“He nurtures young people,” Franco said. “It’s amazing to see. Somebody at his level, you can easily forget how famous he is, or how accomplished he is, because he’ll hug every single person who comes through the door.”

McGee sees the relationship as reciprocal. “They’re mentoring me also. It’s really mutual,” he said. “Their visual language is so rich.”

Working into the evenings after mornings spent surfing with his crew, McGee is allowing the exhibition to take shape as it goes. His connection to surfing is visible in the gallery, where surfboards are stacked like a wooden fan.

He contrasts his freedom to improvise at Deitch with museums’ lengthy planning schedules: “Their shows are seven years out, sometimes. So there’s no room for spontaneity.”

A week before the Deitch show opened, he was still anticipating what it might become. “I still don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.

AFC orders judicial reviews for allegation FIFA President Gianni Infantino used AFC Congress for political purposes.

Jordan Football Association chief Prince Ali bin Hussein said he will cooperate with any Asian Football Confederation (AFC) judicial review after he accused FIFA President Gianni Infantino of taking over last week’s AFC Congress for political purposes.

AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa had endorsed Infantino for re-election at the continental body’s extraordinary congress in Tokyo.

Following the meeting, Prince Ali alleged delegates had not been allowed to speak, question or debate matters and described the final day of the congress as “pure politics at the behest of Gianni Infantino”.

The AFC said on Tuesday that neither Prince Ali nor any other member association’s representatives had requested to speak and that allegations involving coercion, threats or bribery should be supported by credible evidence.

It added that it would refer Prince Ali’s statements to its judicial bodies.

“I respect the AFC and its judicial bodies and will cooperate fully with any process,” Prince Ali said in a post on X late on Wednesday.

“As the FIFA Statutes provide, the Jordan Football Association will cast its vote in the FIFA presidential election independently.”

He said his earlier post about the congress was intended to explain the FIFA presidential voting process and highlight the importance of transparency in football governance.

“Its final sentence states a principle the whole football family shares: no election should be open to coercion, threats or bribery. I stand by that principle. It was a statement of principle, not an allegation against any person,” he said.

“Where concerns arise, the proper place for them is the competent bodies.”

Prince Ali, who has been a vocal critic of FIFA’s leadership, said he would make no further comment while the matter remained under consideration.

Infantino, who has led FIFA since 2016, is seeking re-election in March after apologising for his abandoned proposal to sell a stake in FIFA competitions.

The AFC’s endorsement marked a sharp shift from its position three months earlier, when it accused FIFA of a “fundamental breach of trust” over the abandoned proposal.

It tells the remarkable true story of a resistance hero and his courage in the face of terror during World War Two

There is no shortage of films about the Second World War, but this “masterpiece”, now streaming on Netflix, tells the long-forgotten tale of one man’s extraordinary bravery in the face of unimaginable terror.

The Norwegian film draws on the real-life experiences of resistance fighter Gunnar Sønsteby during the conflict. Starring Sjur Vatne Brean in the lead role and helmed by director John Andreas Andersen, Number 24 charts Sønsteby’s journey from 1940 through to the end of the Second World War.

Taking its title from Sønsteby’s most frequently used code name, Number 24 delves into how the Oslo Group carried out sabotage operations and assassinations throughout the war. The film is narrated by an elderly Sønsteby as he recounts his remarkable experiences to a group of students.

Both film fans and critics alike are utterly captivated by this raw and gritty war film, which currently holds a perfect score on the film review site Rotten Tomatoes.

One critic wrote: “Based on the real-life story of Norwegian hero Gunnar Sønsteby, director John Andreas Andersen delivers a gripping, often violent thriller that highlights the best and worst of humankind.”, reports Wales Online.

Another said: “This biopic about Gunnar Sønsteby, the most highly decorated citizen in Norway, explores the moral grey areas during war under brutal invading forces. Switching between the past and the present, the film sensitively contrasts justice and necessity.”

Meanwhile a third added: “The director crafts a mostly patriotic picture of a man solely dedicated to duty. It’s an uncompromising approach that often makes for a stirring watch even through a narrow lens.”

Fans were equally effusive in their praise. One wrote: “The lead actor is phenomenal. As a man of laser focus and few words, Gunnar commands the screen through the smallest, most restrained expressions and every one of them lands. It’s a masterclass in subtlety, and he delivers a gripping, believable performance.”

Another said: “Well worth watching! Makes me want to go and learn more about this incredible person. You will need a tissue at the ending. You will also need to use your pause button to read the subtitles at the end – they do contain useful information.”

While a third contributed: “Important WWII story of resistance in Norway. Thought provoking and moving. Different points of view from being in different positions when war comes into your life, your family and your country.”

And another wrote: “WOW! WOW! ! . Fantastic in every way My wife and I loved this. So realistic and well acted, directed,etc. Watch,enjoy and respect the Norwegian patriots.”

Number 24 is streaming now on Netflix.