News Desk

A few months ago, my younger daughter, Darby, and I were settling into our seats at the local AMC. As the previews rolled, she gasped. “I know that voice,” she said. “That’s Aidan. Mom, that’s Aidan.”

I looked up just in time to see a familiar shock of brown curls. It was indeed Aidan Delbis, former member of the Falcon Players at Crescenta Valley High School in La Crescenta, a kid I had seen perform alongside my daughter in countless student plays.

Only now he was seated at a kitchen table with Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone as the words “Bugonia” and then “directed by Yorgos Lanthimos” flashed across the screen.

“Did you not know?” I asked my daughter. CV is a fine public school with a good theater program, but it isn’t exactly an incubator for nepo babies and aspiring stars. That one of their own had stepped off last year’s graduation stage and into a major film production should have been very big news long before a trailer hit theaters.

“No,” she said, furiously messaging various friends. “But now they will.”

Now they will indeed. When he joined the cast of “Bugonia,” Delbis didn’t just become a part of Lanthimos’ highly anticipated remake of Jang Joon-hwan’s 2003 black comedy “Save the Green Planet!” He also entered the mythology of which Hollywood dreams are made: A 17-year old sends in his first-ever open-call submission and lands a major role in a very big movie.

With a script by Will Tracy and obvious Oscar potential, “Bugonia” had its world premiere in August at this year’s Venice Film Festival before launching onto the festival circuit, including screenings in Toronto and New York, in preparation for its release this Friday. A slightly absurdist, darkly funny thriller with political undertones, it revolves around the kidnapping of a pharmaceutical company’s CEO, Michelle (Stone), by wild-eyed conspiracy theorist Teddy (Plemons) and his loyal cousin Don (Delbis).

From left, Emma Stone, Aidan Delbis and Jesse Plemons in the movie “Bugonia.”

(Atsushi Nishijima / Focus Features)

Teddy believes Michelle is an alien sent to destroy Earth. Don believes in Teddy. Though he falls in with Teddy’s plans, he often questions them, serving as a continual reminder that even within Teddy’s paranoid view of the universe, there is such a thing as going too far. Don is, in many ways, the heart of the film.

He is also, like the actor who plays him, autistic.

Delbis — who chooses to self-describe as autistic rather than neurodivergent — is not someone who has long nursed dreams of stardom. He took drama classes all through high school, but it wasn’t until his junior year, Delbis says, “that I started to get more into the process. I found the general process of acting, of understanding and investing in different personalities, to be fun and sometimes scary.”

Still, he says, “I wasn’t really sure that I wanted it to be my main career. But it so happened that this happened while I was in high school, and here we are.”

Here is the Four Seasons on a very rainy October afternoon where Delbis, now 19, has just finished his first solo photo shoot and is sitting, fortified by Goldfish crackers (his go-to-snack), for his first long one-on-one interview. He went to some of the film festivals and just returned from “Bugonia’s” London premiere, where he signed autographs on the red carpet and enjoyed flying first class. His parents, Katy and David Delbis, are seated nearby, as is his access and creative coach, Elaine Hall.

Delbis is a tall, good-natured young man who speaks with a distinctive cadence and in an unwaveringly calm tone. Aside from a habit of repeating himself as he searches for what he wants to say next, he seems more comfortable discussing his experience with filmmaking than many of the dozens of more experienced actors I have interviewed in this very hotel over the years.

“We should try to be more empathetic to people with different worldviews because you never really know what those people are going through,” Delbis says. “The movie feels very relevant to that theme.”

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

“It all started,” he says, “when my mom was friends with this agent, April, and one day she sent Mom an audition that seemed pretty promising, so I submitted for that. And they really liked it and called me back.”

It actually started a bit further back than that. With Plemons and Stone already cast, Lanthimos had decided that he wanted a nonprofessional actor to play Don.

“We went really wide in trying to find someone really special,” the Greek-born director of “The Favourite” and “Poor Things” says in a phone interview. “With these two experienced actors, I wanted to bring in a different dynamic. As we looked at people, I felt that the character would be more interesting if he was neurodivergent.”

Casting director Jennifer Venditti put out an open call, which April Smallwood of Spotlight Development saw and sent to Delbis’ mother, Katy.

“A happy-go-lucky young man, neurodivergent — it practically described Aidan,” Katy says in a later interview. La Crescenta may not be an industry hub, but, like many in L.A., the Delbis family has a Hollywood connection. Aidan’s older brother, Tristan (who is also neurodivergent), works at a movie theater; father David is about to retire after years at the Writers Guild Health Fund; and Katy, a self-described “creative,” has done some acting herself. But no one saw film-acting as a potential career for Aidan, who was set to take a gap year after high school. And, Katy says, she had no idea what sort of movie it was for. “It said for a ‘big film,’ but they always say that.”

She thought of it a bit like the time Delbis, a member of the high school track team, decided he also wanted to try out for basketball. “As I drove him to the school,” Katy said, “I told him that he might not get on since there were a lot of kids who had been playing basketball for years, which he had not. He said, ‘Mom, I just want to see what it’s like.’”

Now Delbis wanted to see what it would be like to audition for a “big film.”

Aidan Delbis in the movie “Bugonia.”

(Atsushi Nishijima / Focus Features)

He had recently performed the Vincent Price monologue from “Thriller” for the school talent show, which Katy filmed on her phone, so Smallwood submitted that. Venditti called Smallwood the next day and met with Delbis over Zoom. Thus began a monthslong process of meetings, rehearsals and auditions.

“We focused on him right away,” Venditti says. “He seemed to have it all. And he was very committed.”

“I was really unaware of how big a project it was,” Delbis said. “I had never seen a film by Yorgos.”

In March, Lanthimos, Stone and Plemons were in L.A. for the Oscars, so they all met with Delbis and came away impressed.

Lanthimos thought of casting a neurodivergent actor in a part because it would bring a natural clarity and unfiltered unpredictability to the role. He didn’t consider it any more challenging than working with any other actor. And when he met Delbis, Lanthimos says, “I just thought: That’s him.”

“Just from watching that first tape, you could see there was something so magnetic about him,” said Stone during a recent phone interview. (She is also a producer on the film.) “Don is the audience’s window, the one who can see through the charade.”

Still, there were many more steps to take.

“It’s a big leap for any nonprofessional,” Stone says. “It’s a big part in what is essentially a three-hander.”

From left, director Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Aidan Delbis and Jesse Plemons at the Venice Film Festival, where “Bugonia” had its world premiere in August.

(Alessandra Tarantino / Invision / AP)

For an autistic actor, it’s an even bigger leap. As talented as Delbis might be, he also had to be able to handle the pressures, boredom and chaos of a film set. Venditti reached out to Hall. The founder of the Miracle Project and mother to a now-adult neurodivergent son, Hall is an acting coach who has worked for more than 20 years to increase the presence and understanding of neurodivergent and disabled people. She is often asked to gauge the ability of actors to take on a certain role — their ease with the material, their physical stamina, their level of independence and their emotional accessibility.

Delbis, she says, ticked all the boxes. He loves horror films, he was on the track team and he was, at the time, about to travel without his parents on a school trip to Sweden.

He is, as he says himself, “a low-key guy,” so Hall gave him some exercises to help him portray more extreme emotions and prepare him for when other cast members might do the same. (One subsequent rehearsal involved a scene in which one of the actors screamed repeatedly.)

Often, Hall says, perfecting these exercises can take weeks; Delbis, working with his mother, did it in a weekend. She also helped him prepare for his meeting with and then chemistry read with Plemons.

Delbis says he was “a bit nervous, though I don’t know why.” He did not recognize Plemons’ name or his face. “I had watched ‘Breaking Bad,’ but I didn’t realize Jesse played Todd. Halfway through [the read], I told him he looked like Todd and he said, ‘That’s because I played him.’ I’ve seen him in other things since then,” Delbis adds. “He’s a very solid actor.”

More important, he says, “Jesse seemed to me to be a very cool guy.”

That feeling is mutual. “When we brought Aidan in, I was excited and a little nervous,” Plemons says during a phone call from London. They started with one of the more extreme scenes from the film. “I was finding my feet too. When it became apparent that he was going to be fine with the darker scenes, I said, ‘This is him; this is Don.’”

While all this was happening, Delbis was finishing his senior year, which included a starring role in a production of “Almost Maine.” “It was not overly hard,” he says, but sometimes it was a lot. “I did one read and then I had to go to rehearsal for the play.”

Venditti remembers that day very well. “Here we were being so careful, treating him like he was fragile and not wanting to overload him,” she says laughing, “and he’s just calmly multitasking.”

When Delbis got the role in May, he and his family signed a nondisclosure agreement, which is why none of his friends knew his news after graduation, and Delbis and his family flew to the U.K. to begin filming. It was a tough secret for his parents to keep. But “any time it looked like I might slip,” Katy says, “Aidan shut me down.” He celebrated his 18th birthday near the set outside of Windsor, where production ran for three months before moving for two weeks in Atlanta.

Hall was hired to be Delbis’ on-set access and creative coach, a job she believes she has invented, meant to make the experience for neurodivergent and disabled actors easier. She suggested that Lanthimos and Tracy simplify Delbis’ script pages, stripping down the description of action “so he wouldn’t get stuck thinking he had to do exactly what was on the page,” she says, which they were happy to do.

“We didn’t want to put any limits on him,” Lanthimos says.

Delbis chose most of his costumes (except a beekeeping suit, motivated by the plot, which he says “was very hot”), which mirrored his own wardrobe preferences down to the horror film t-shirts and mismatched socks. Even the food Teddy and Don eat during the film reflects Delbis’ taste: mac ’n’ cheese, taquitos, spaghetti.

Hall ensured Delbis had extra time before filming, during which she could help him prepare with rehearsal and centering exercises. She visited the set before he arrived so she could tell him exactly what to expect and worked with the production team to ensure that he had his own space between takes. “They built us a little house, with horror posters on the wall and stuffed animals that looked like his cats,” she says. As there were no Goldfish available in the U.K., the production had them flown in.

“Having Elaine there was amazing,” Venditti says. “The idea of having someone to act as eyes and ears of what people are actually experiencing on set, I think it’s groundbreaking. I don’t know why we haven’t done it before.”

Delbis spent a fair amount of time with Plemons, who Hall said occasionally stepped in to help if she had to be away from set.

“We did a decent amount of goofing around,” Delbis says. “The bond that developed between us occurred quite naturally. I consider Jesse a friend.”

For his part, Plemons enjoyed being around someone who spoke his mind.

“I so appreciated Aidan’s inability to tell a lie,” Plemons says. “On a set, you spend so much time waiting around, and he would say, ‘What are we doing? What is taking so long?’ Which was exactly what I was thinking. He’s a very smart, sensitive, self-assured guy, and if you’re unclear in what you’re saying, he will let you know.”

“Aidan is just so funny,” says his “Bugonia” co-star Emma Stone. “We spent a lot of time together in a basement and Aidan had so many jokes about that.”

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Stone says that while she and Delbis had a friendly rapport, she hung back a little when they weren’t shooting. “I didn’t want to form the same kind of bond Aidan had with Jesse because [in the film] it’s them against me and I didn’t want to do too much to mess with that.”

But, the two-time Oscar winner says, “Aidan is just so funny. He was on a jag during the kidnapping scene. We spent a lot of time together in a basement and Aidan had so many jokes about that.”

“I went through all of ‘Bugonia’ thinking I had never seen Emma in anything,” Delbis says. “Then I realized my parents had shown me a clip of a woman getting very involved in a birthday card — ‘Pocketful of Sunshine’ — and that was from ‘Easy A.’”

When he was filming, Delbis was all business. Several of the takes which he ad-libbed made it into the film and Delbis is proud of that.

“Despite being in more extreme situations than I’ve been in, there’s something of Don’s emotion and struggles that did feel very familiar to me,” he says. “Feelings of great distress and helplessness and conflictedness and confusion. I have felt that in classes in high school.”

“Aidan has great instincts,” Lanthimos says. “In a scene toward the end [of the film], he was so moving, it was the first time I have ever teared up on set.

There were difficult days — one moment with Plemons, Delbis says, took many takes. “It was hot AF and involved me getting more worked up that I am used to getting,” he remembers. But he appreciated Lanthimos’ willingness to let him try things. “In one scene, Jesse throws a chair and I thought that seemed pretty cool. So at the end of the day, they let me throw a chair. I hope that makes it into the outtakes reel.”

He was also very pleased when the crew threw him a s’mores party at the end of filming. “There was a fire pit on set that looked perfect for s’mores,” he says. “And I told them that, so it was my idea to have a s’mores party.”

Delbis is happy with how the film turned out, including his performance. “I think I looked pretty baller in that suit,” he says of one scene. Though he doesn’t have an opinion on the authenticity debate — whether autistic actors should always be the ones to play autistic characters — he thinks it’s “cool that writers and directors are starting to be more conscientious and give more realistic and respectful depictions of neurodivergent people and characters.”

He is more concerned that audiences understand what he thinks is the most important message of the movie.

“We should try to be more empathetic to people with different worldviews because you never really know what those people are going through,” he says. “The movie feels very relevant to that theme. God knows, people aren’t always willing to be tolerant.”

Hundreds of anti-immigrant protesters clashed with Irish police outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Dublin on Tuesday, setting a police vehicle on fire and launching fireworks at officers.

The Australian LGBTQIA+ nightclub that faced backlash for aiming for “90% plus” male customers despite its Chappell Roan-inspired namesake has announced a rebrand. 

Last week, Kevin Du-Val, the owner of Sydney’s Palms On Oxford, and its manager, Michael Lewis, announced they would be opening a new bar in early December called PINK PONY, which they describe as “unashamedly inspired by its namesake song that resonates so profoundly within our community.”

However, they said the club was created “specifically for 18-35 (state of mind) gay men who love to dance and get sweaty to high-powered dance music in a safe space.”

In an interview with Gay Sydney News, Lewis reiterated the demographic they are targeting, adding: “Of course, the girls will be welcome. But it would certainly be our desire that it is predominantly gay boys, and when I say predominantly, I’m sort of talking 90 percent plus.”

“Obviously, we’ve got legal hurdles,” he continued, “in terms of how much we can vet the crowd while still complying with the law.”

Shortly after the news was announced, Lewis and Du-Val faced massive backlash on social media, with many slamming the pair for being dismissive of queer women – especially since its namesake is inspired by a song written and performed by one of the biggest lesbian pop artists.

Following widespread condemnation, the owners issued a lengthy apology, with Lewis also telling The Guardian Australia that the venue’s name would be changed.

On 21 October, the club’s Instagram account announced that the venue’s new name would be TRIBE @ 231 Nightclub. 

“A bold new chapter in Sydney’s nightlife is about to begin. TRIBE @ 231 a nightclub created by members of the LGBTQI+ community for the LGBTQI+ community, is officially opening its doors in the heart of Darlinghurst — and it’s ready to electrify,” the statement revealed.

“Oxford Street has always been a cultural beacon for the LGBTQI+ community. TRIBE @ 231 is our love letter to that legacy — a place to dance, connect, and celebrate queer joy in all its forms… TRIBE @ 231 aims to energise the soul of Sydney’s queer nightlife and be loud, proud and without limits. Find Your TRIBE @ 231.” 

Shortly after announcing the news, one Instagram user inquired if it will be “welcoming to all members of the LGBTQIA+ community? Or just Gs between the ages of 18-35?”

In response, the venue affirmed that TRIBE @ 231 will welcome all members of the LGBTQIA+ community, adding that “at the end of the day, vibe of venue, the music and those it resonates with will dictate the crowd.”

As of this writing, the venue has yet to share the official date for its grand opening. However, they confirmed that it will be open for business sometime in December.

Oct. 22 (UPI) — House Democrats are launching a probe of allegations that President Donald Trump is seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from the Justice Department in compensation for investigations conducted against him before he won a second term .

House Judiciary Committee Democrats announced in a statement Tuesday that ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., was launching an investigation into the president’s “shakedown of taxpayers.”

The announcement of the investigation was announced in response to a New York Times report that said Trump is demanding the Justice Department pay him some $230 million in compensation.

Trump submitted at least two administrative complaints, the first in 2023 and the second in 2024, seeking compensation, ABC News also reported.

The first administrative claim seeks damages for purported violations of his rights in connection with the investigation into alleged ties between his 2016 election campaign and Russia.

The second seeks claims over allegations is in connection with the August 2022 FBI raid of his Mar-a-Lago residence and subsequent investigation and prosecution on charges that he mishandled classified documents after he left office following the completion of his first term.

Asked about the reports during a press conference at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said he wasn’t aware of the amount being sought but stated he should be compensated.

“I was damaged very greatly and any money I would get, I would give to charity,” he said.

Trump also acknowledged the unprecedented nature and potential ethical issues, stating “I’m the one who makes the decision.”

“And that decision would have to go cross my desk and it’s awfully strange to make a decision where I’m paying myself,” he said.

House Judiciary Committee Democrats chastised Trump, accusing him of “robbing America blind.”

“This is exactly why the Constitution forbids the president from taking any more from the government outside of his official salary,” they said in a statement. “This is Donald Trump First, America Last — the Gangster State at work, billionaires shaking down the people.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., described it as Trump “extorting his own Justice Department” and as “unprecedented, unfathomable corruption.”

“Eye watering conflicts of interests,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a statement. “More corrupt self enrichment.”

Before his arrest 12 years ago, Ahmadu Gujja was a strong man in his mid-20s and his family’s breadwinner. Life in Gallari, his village, was simple and fulfilling. He farmed, reared animals, and has supported his widowed mother and seven younger siblings since his father’s death. 

Gallari is a community of the Shuwa Arab tribe in Konduga Local Government Area (LGA) of Borno State, northeastern Nigeria. The remote village lies along Damboa road, 28 km away from Maiduguri, the state’s capital, 12 km from the nearest military base, and 98 km away from Chibok LGA. 

In 2014, a tragedy struck. For Gallari, it meant near extinction. For Ahmadu, it meant losing everything overnight. He had just married his second wife and was eagerly expecting the birth of a child from his first wife when the tragedy unfolded.

When HumAngle met Ahmadu, the weight of the memories of that day was almost unbearable. Blind now from injuries and neglect suffered in detention, he struggled through tears to recall what happened.

“I can never forget the day,” Ahmadu started.

On Thursday in April 2014, one week after the 276 school girls in Chibok were abducted by the infamous Boko Haram group, soldiers in a convoy with the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) drove past Gallari without incident. Villagers, including Ahmadu and his neighbour Abubakar, remember seeing them. 

But the following morning, everything changed. Around 9 a.m., soldiers and CJTF members surrounded the village, herding men, women,  and children into a square. 

Ahmadu had barely woken. He was waiting for his wife to finish cooking and to heat water for his bath, a daily routine for Ahmadu before taking his herd to graze. Instead, he was stripped alongside 41 other men. Among them were two strangers, one from a neighbouring village who had come to the market, and another who cut trees for a living. 

“They gathered everyone in the village. They asked if we were Boko Haram. We told them no, but they wanted us to say yes,” Ahmadu recalled.

The soldiers picked all 42 men, tortured them in front of their families, and hauled them away in military trucks to Dalwa, a nearby village. “Some had their ears cut off, others were stabbed. I myself was tied with ropes and beaten by soldiers and members of the CJTF,” Ahmadu recounted the horrors of that morning. 

Before transporting them further, soldiers interrogated the men about the abducted Chibok girls, whether they had seen Boko Haram passing through or witnessed the girls being taken. “We told them we saw nothing, that we don’t know Boko Haram,” Ahmadu told HumAngle.

That same day, the men were moved to Giwa Barracks in Maiduguri. The conditions there were appalling, he recounted.

“The cell was very tight, with no good toilet. We could only defecate in a bucket. There was not enough water, and the food was not enough,” Ahmadu said, adding that their hands were tied tight from behind for as long as he could remember.

They were given pap in the morning, maize for lunch, and semovita at night. Soldiers continued to interrogate them, demanding that they confess to being Boko Haram members.

“We suffered to the extent that if we were hiding something, we would have confessed,” he said.

For one week, they endured torture, including being tied up and left under the scorching sun from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., given just a bottle of water and a biscuit. Within days, three of the men had died due to hardship, untreated injuries, and the unbearable living conditions.

Years of darkness 

After a week at Giwa, 39 survivors from Gallari were flown with hundreds of other detainees to a military detention centre in Niger State, North Central Nigeria. The conditions there were even worse. Their clothes were stripped, and their trousers cut short. They were forced to sleep on bare floors. Water was scarce. It was simply depressing, Ahmadu recounted. 

“They gave us water in a teacup, and it was not daily. Sometimes we spend a whole day without water. They gave us tea with bread, but without water, we couldn’t eat. Sometimes, we drank our urine,” he recounted.

The first year was especially deadly. Ahmadu said many detainees died from hunger and suffering. “We have witnessed several cases of dead bodies disposed of in the cell. I did not have the count, but many Gallari men died within that period,” Ahmadu told HumAngle.

It was in Niger that Ahmadu began to lose his sight, first from a head injury during interrogation, then from months in darkness. “They kept us in a cell for one year without seeing the sun. When they later brought us out, they told us to look at the sun. That was when my eyes began to hurt,” he recalled. “I first lost vision from the right eye, then one year later, I lost the vision of the left eye. Turning me completely blind in a protracted year.”

For years, he suffered without treatment. Doctors in the prison said they had no specialist, and he was denied access to outside care. 

After six years in detention, a court declared Ahmadu and others innocent. But instead of being released immediately, they spent more years in detention. 

“The court said we were not guilty, but we still stayed,” he said.

For more than 11 years, Ahmadu did not hear from his family. “I gave up because I had lost everything. I had stopped thinking about home because it only reminded me of memories I had missed and would never get back. I missed my two wives and the unborn child I left,” he said. 

The isolation drove him to despair. At one point, he contemplated suicide. Ahmadu started shedding tears from the eyes he could no longer see with when he recalled the memories.

A shattered homecoming

In 2024, the detainees declared innocent were moved to Mallam Sidi, a rehabilitation centre in Gombe State in the country’s North East, where they underwent social reintegration activities. That same year, HumAngle compiled a list of the 42 men from Gallari who had been arrested and remained untraceable to their families. We submitted the list to the Nigerian army, asking for their whereabouts. HumAngle never heard back. 

But in April 2025, Ahmadu and two brothers from Gallari — Mohammed and Hashim Garba — were freed and reunited with their families in Maiduguri. “Out of the 42 men from Gallari, only five survived. And out of the five, only three of us were released,” Ahmadu told HumAngle. “The other two, Maina Musa and Isa Usman, remain in custody, waiting for court hearings.”

The military transported them to the Maryam Abacha Hospital in Maiduguri. They were received by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which offered them food and asked about their problems. But no medical care was provided. The military then told them to call their families or find their own way home.

For Ahmadu, returning home after 12 years was devastating. His first wife, pregnant at the time of his arrest, had died with her unborn child from grief and trauma. “She was not eating; she vomited up any meal we made her to eat,” Ahmadu’s mother recalled.

His second wife had been abducted by Boko Haram, bore four children for a fighter before fleeing, and when she heard the news of Ahmadu, she tried to reunite with him. But he refused.

Since his release, Ahmadu has continued to suffer excruciating pain in his eyes and head. With no access to proper medical care, he relies only on the little drugs his mother can afford from local vendors, mostly painkillers that provide temporary relief but do not address his actual ailments.

Two months after his return, Ahmadu continues to live with deep trauma that affects his daily life. His mother, who had long lived with little hope of ever seeing her son again, was overjoyed at his release. In her happiness and out of concern for his condition, she quickly arranged a small wedding so that Ahmadu could have a companion to support him through the hardship of his blindness. 

In June, three months after he was freed, Ahmadu married his new wife. Today, the couple depend largely on his ageing mother, who struggles to provide for them from the little income she makes selling dairy milk. “My biggest fear is for my younger ones. My mother is still the one caring for me,” Ahmadu lamented.

He lives in an unfinished building under thatch that barely gives them shelter. It’s the rainy season, and everywhere is leaking in the room when HumAngle visits his home. Now blind and dependent with no livelihood, Ahmadu lives in humiliation. “Whenever it rains, we cannot sleep because the roof leaks. Before, even our goats had better shelter than this,” he said quietly.

Ahmadu lives with trauma and the weight of a lost life. He longs for justice but fears causing unrest. “If I can get my rights without causing any riot in Nigeria, I will be glad. But I don’t want anything that will cause a problem. We need a lot of help;  I need support to start a business so that I can take care of my new family,” he said.

The brothers’ ordeal

Like Ahmadu, Mohammed, 35, and Hashim, 32, were ordinary herders and farmers before the raid. Soldiers seized them alongside the other men of Gallari. Mohammed remembers the day clearly. He was sitting with his wife, about to eat, before taking his animals out to graze. Then soldiers in nearly 40 vehicles surrounded the village. 

From Gallari to Dalwa, then Giwa Barracks, and finally Niger State, the Garba brothers lived through the same cycle of torture and despair as Ahmadu.

“My friend Dahiru died in my presence because of thirst,” Mohammed said. “We could go four days without water. Some of us even drank urine to survive. By the time the Red Cross came to bring carpets and water, 37 of our people had died.”

Hashim recalled how three men died from torture before his distraught eyes within a week at Giwa Barracks. He also watched his elder brother faint under the beatings. Mohammed’s left ear was cut off, his wrists and back etched with scars from where he had been tied. Hashim, too, bore the marks of restraint and filth, his skin discoloured from months without bathing.

When the International Committee of the Red Cross intervened, conditions improved slightly, but the damage was irreversible.

Although eventually declared innocent by the courts, Mohammed and Hashim remained imprisoned. “We were told to calm down, that someday we would be released. It took 11 years,” Mohammed recounted.

At the rehabilitation centre in Gombe, where they were finally transferred, the brothers heard devastating news from home. “I heard that my wife and unborn child had died. My father, too, had died,” Mohammad said quietly. “When we were captured, my wife was pregnant. She gave birth to a dead child because of the way they took us. Later, she also died.”

Hashim’s grief was different but just as heavy. “We came back with nothing,” he said. 

“Even this phone I use was given to me by my mother. I feel shy when I see people I used to know as children, now grown up. Everything has changed while we were gone,” he said.

The brothers returned to find their family scattered and their property gone. Before his arrest, Mohammed owned about 30 cows and goats. His herd and even his house are now gone. “We only depend on our elder brother, who is taking care of our mother. We want to be self-reliant again,” Hashim said. 

Both men carry lasting scars. Mohammed struggles with heart pain and breathing difficulties. Hashim still bears deep marks on his wrists and head.

“When we first came back, I couldn’t even walk to the toilet without help. I had to reduce how much water I drank just to avoid disturbing people every time,” he said.

But beyond the physical pain is the humiliation of starting life from nothing. 

“We don’t want to be beggars. If I can have a wife, I can have someone to help me every day. But now, even marriage is far from us. Before, I married my wife with ₦100,000. Today, you need nearly a million. And I have nothing,”  Mohammed said.

Upon release, Ahmadu, Mohammed, and Hashim told HumAngle that the authorities gave them ₦50,000 cash. “They wasted 12 years of our lives. How can we recover with ₦50,000? I exhausted the money two days after my release,” Mohammed told HumAngle.

‘When we saw them, we cried’

The release of Ahmadu and the Garba brothers broke years of silence but also reopened deep wounds, especially for families who have lost loved ones forever. “When we saw them, we cried. They were unrecognisable,” a relative told HumAngle.

Other locals, like Kellu Janga, spent everything they had chasing hopes of reunion. She turned to people who claimed they could help to secure the men’s release, but those efforts proved futile. Her grief eventually cost her her eyesight, and she now depends on her grandson Abubakar for survival.

“We need the government to tell us where the rest are. We need justice,” Modu, the village’s deputy head and the only man spared during the mass arrest, told HumAngle.

Gallari’s tragedy has remained invisible, overshadowed by global attention to other incidents like the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls that led to the raid. While the world mourned those girls, Gallari’s men vanished in silence. No official explanation has ever been given. The Nigerian Army has not responded to HumAngle’s letters seeking answers.

Children who were toddlers when their fathers were seized are now teenagers, growing up without fatherly support. Some dropped out of school to fend for themselves. 

Abubakar, only ten when his father and uncles were taken, has carried the burden of raising his siblings ever since. “I just want to see my father again. If he is alive, let them bring him back. If not, we deserve to know,” he said.

‘A gross violation of the constitution’

In the North East, transitional justice has often focused on the reintegration of former Boko Haram members through initiatives such as the Disarmament, Demobilisation, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration Borno Model (DDRR) programme, a counter-terrorism project aimed at rehabilitating and reintegrating surrendered Boko Haram members back into society, and Sulhu, a local peace and deradicalisation initiative. 

While these efforts aim to end violence and rebuild communities, they leave behind unresolved wounds for families whose loved ones were arrested arbitrarily and held without trial for years. For these families, justice is not about reintegration alone but also about truth, accountability, and the right to know the fate of those taken away.

Relatives of detainees interviewed by HumAngle argue that any conversation about reconciliation feels incomplete and one-sided when innocent civilians remain behind bars without trial. Their demand is simple: justice must include the release or fair trial of those held in military detention centres, alongside information about those who have died in custody. 

For them, healing cannot come from dialogue with insurgents while their own sons, brothers, and fathers languish in silence and neglect.

Aisha, one of several individuals and groups in Borno State advocating for justice and the release of their loved ones, expressed the frustration shared by many. “How can we have Sulhu with Boko Haram members who were the cause of the mass arrests, detentions, and killings? Our children, sons, relatives, and parents have been detained without trial for many years, and you want us to accept Sulhu? Release our children if you want justice for all. Our children were innocent when the military arrested them,” she said.

Aisha’s activism began with seeking the release of her own son, arrested along with other youths in a mosque in 2012. Since then, she has become a prominent voice for families whose loved ones remain in military custody.

Sheriff Ibrahim, a lawyer and human rights activist in Maiduguri, described the detention of the Gallari men as “a gross violation of the Nigerian Constitution and international human rights law.” He explained that under Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended in 2011), no person should be detained for more than 24 hours or at most 48 hours without being charged in court. 

“The law is clear. Anyone arrested should either be charged within that time frame or released on bail. To hold people for over 10 years without trial is unlawful and unconstitutional,” he said.

According to Ibrahim, the fundamental rights of the Gallari men and their families were completely violated. Chapter Four of the Constitution guarantees the right to life, the right to human dignity, and freedom of movement. “These men were presumed innocent but were treated as though they were guilty without evidence. Their families too suffered years of separation, uncertainty, and economic hardship,” he added.

He further noted that survivors and families of those who died in detention have the right to seek justice and compensation from the Nigerian state. “The victims, survivors, and their families can sue the government for unlawful and unjustified detention. There were no prior charges against them, no fair hearing, and no due process. These are the most basic rights guaranteed by law,” Ibrahim told HumAngle.

In contrast to the treatment of Boko Haram fighters and innocent civilians, Ibrahim criticised what he described as double standards in the Nigerian justice system. “Former Boko Haram members who committed crimes against humanity are reintegrated into society through government programmes. Yet innocent civilians like the Gallari men were locked away for years without trial. That is clearly a misplaced priority and a failure of justice,” Ibrahim said.

To prevent such cases in the future, Ibrahim called for an independent committee of inquiry involving civil society groups, non-governmental organisations, and other stakeholders. 

“There must be transparency and accountability. If anyone is found guilty of aiding or abetting, they should face charges. But if there is insufficient evidence, then the person should be released immediately and compensated. That is the only way to restore public trust in the justice system,” Ibrahim noted. 

This story was produced by HumAngle and co-published with other media.

Celia Imrie is one of several famous faces appearing on the BBC’s Celebrity Traitors, and in the past, the beloved actress, who’s appeared in Bridget Jones, has shared glimpses of her life

Celia Imrie had no wishes to marry – or date, but after wanting a child took a slightly unconventional route to motherhood. The actress is one of the famous faces starring in BBC hit Celebrity Traitors.

She’s joined in the castle by the likes of Alan Carr, Charlotte Church, Kate Garraway, Lucy Beaumont, Jonathan Ross, Clare Balding, Cat Burns and Stephen Fry. Celia believes being an actor gives her “quite an advantage” to the game, but has shared a number of personal revelations in the series so far.

Celia has spoken of her special arrangement with the late actor, Benjamin Whitrow. Celia has made it no secret that she had no intentions of getting married, but had always wanted to be a mum. She and Benjamin welcomed son Angus, also an actor, who has appeared in Station Jim, The Crown and Flea Bag.

Now, 73, when she was in her 40s, Celia asked Whitrow for a child but revealed she didn’t expect him to contribute towards their son’s life. Instead, she made the decision that she would raise their child completley alone. Speaking about her deal with Whitrow, she told the Telegraph: “Angus was devoted to his father and, though I’ve never really said it properly, Ben and I did have a romance.

“I wanted to have his baby before it was too late, and he [Whitrow] was very, very honest with him [Angus], and he accepted that and was a wonderful father.” Whitrow, known for playing Mr Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, died in September 2017, aged 80.

She said it was “very tough” and that she had lost “a very darling friend”. Prior to his death, Celia had insisted that they were just friends. She and Whitrow, who was divorced with two adult children, met in the 1990s, and it was during a walk on the beach when she asked him to father her son.

Reflecting on this, she said in her memoir, Happy Hoofer: “We gradually got to know each other and grew very fond. He thought perhaps in time…but because Ben had a grown-up family I was very anxious not to upset them.

“Ben and I walked on the beach one day as I laid out my terms. As long as he understood I would not ask for anything, I wouldn’t want to live with him, or marry him, would never ask for money for the child and I would be responsible for choosing and paying for the child’s education, accommodation, clothing – everything.

“I was trying to be clear and true. Some people might say calculated, but I would say I was being honest. If Ben could take all that on board, I said, then his offer to fulfil my wish for a child would be wonderful. He has proved to be a marvellous father to Angus. And his whole family has been very welcoming.”

Celia has been very clear that she prefers friendship to sex and has no desire to marry. Speaking to the Telegraph in 2013, she said: “I have a horror of boring someone or, worse still, of someone boring me. I said to my mother when I was seven, ‘But, Mums, if it was only my husband and me in the house together, what would we talk about?’ I’ve never wanted to answer my own question, and doubt I’ll bother now.”

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Narcotics worth more than $972m seized in two separate operations carried out within 48 hours.

The Pakistani navy, operating as part of the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), has seized nearly $1bn worth of narcotics from two vessels sailing through the Arabian Sea.

The CMF, the naval network overseeing the operation, said in a statement on Wednesday that last week, the Pakistani navy intercepted the dhows in two separate operations over 48 hours and seized narcotics worth more than $972m.

The crew boarded the first dhow and seized more than 2 tonnes of “crystal methamphetamine (ICE) with an estimated street value of $822,400,000” on October 18, the CMF said in a statement.

“Less than 48 hours later, the crew boarded a second dhow and seized 350 kg of ICE worth $140,000,000, and 50 kg of cocaine worth $10,000,000.”

The CMF did not provide further details on where the vessels originated, but added that they were identified “as having no nationality”.

U.S. Central Command congratulates the Saudi-led Combined Task Force 150 of Combined Maritime Forces for successfully seizing more than $972 million worth of narcotics. Over a 48-hour period, Pakistan Navy Ship Yarmook conducted boarding operations of two dhows in the Arabian…

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) October 21, 2025

The operations were conducted in direct support of a Saudi-led Combined Task Force 150, which said “the success of this focused operation highlights the importance of the multi-national collaboration”.

It was “one of the most successful narcotics seizures for CMF”, said Saudi Arabian navy’s Commodore Fahad Aljoiad, commander of the CMF task force carrying out the operation.

The CMF is a 47-nation naval partnership tasked with inspecting more than 3.2 million square miles (about 829 million hectares) of waters, including some of the world’s most important shipping lanes, to prevent smuggling, the statement added.

In a separate statement, the Pakistani navy said the achievement highlighted its “unwavering commitment to regional maritime security, global peace, and the collective fight against illicit trafficking at sea”.

MYLEENE Klass stunned in a daring low cut top as she stepped out for a star-studded event.

The TV personality, 47, cut a glamorous figure in the all-black ensemble as she attended Global’s Audio & Entertainment Upfronts party on Tuesday evening in London.

The Calm Classics radio host was joined by a flurry of her Global colleagues, including Sian Welby, Jordan North, Emily Maitlis and Chris Stark for the starry event.

Myleene showed a hint of cleavage in the braless number, which she simply paired with black heels and a gold-detailed watch.

Her honey blonde wavy locks were styled with a simple middle parting as she beamed a smile for cameras.

It comes as the star put her stalker hell behind her after a crazed fan sent her an “accumulation” of concerning items.

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Peter Windsor, 61, was convicted of stalking Myleene and her Classic FM colleague Katie Breathwick after bombarding them with creepy letters and gifts.

The 61-year-old allegedly sent Myleene items with “sexual overtones” – including a Catwoman outfit and set of handcuffs.

He also called her a “naughty vixen” and sent a police uniform to the Classic FM studio, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

Giving evidence, Myleene said she was informed in an email in August last year that an “accumulation” of items had been sent to her.

She became upset when she was asked about being told how Royal Mail had “intercepted” an air pistol addressed to her.

She said “it just felt extreme on every front” after she was shown a list of items and photographs of letters Windsor allegedly sent.

The ITV star added: “It was very clear very quickly that it was a highly volatile selection of items.

“It was a huge shock, especially the extent to which it had escalated.

“It was pretty overwhelming when you have the accumulation of a bundle of this information. It’s pretty terrifying.”

It also emerged that Windsor was arrested but not prosecuted after sending a letter in October 2020 to Ms Sturgeon when she was Scottish First Minister.

Following his conviction earlier this month, Myleene said: “After a horrific year, my family and I finally have peace.”

Posting to her 500,000 fans on social media, she added: “Thank you for your love and support.”

SEOUL, Oct. 22 (UPI) — North Korea fired a flurry of short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday, Seoul’s military said, a week ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump‘s scheduled visit to South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

“Our military detected several projectiles presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles fired from the Junghwa area of North Hwanghae Province in a northeasterly direction around 8:10 a.m. today,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters.

The missiles flew approximately 217 miles, the JCS said, and may have landed inland rather than in the East Sea.

“Under a robust South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture, the military is closely monitoring North Korea’s various movements and maintaining the capability and readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocation,” the JCS said.

Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said at a press conference that the missiles did not reach Japan’s territorial waters or exclusive economic zone. She added that Tokyo was coordinating closely with Washington and Seoul, including sharing real-time missile warning information.

The launch was North Korea’s fifth of the year, and the first since South Korean President Lee Jae Myung took office in June. Lee has made efforts to rehabilitate relations between the two Koreas, with conciliatory gestures such as removing propaganda loudspeakers from border areas.

The missile test comes ahead of South Korea’s hosting of the APEC summit in Gyeongju on Oct. 30-Nov. 1. Trump is expected to visit Gyeongju before the official summit for bilateral meetings with leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korea’s Lee.

Analysts had speculated that the North may conduct a provocation ahead of the event as Pyongyang continues its push to be recognized as a nuclear-armed state.

The regime unveiled its latest intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-20, at a massive military parade earlier this month. The ICBM, which North Korean state media called the regime’s “most powerful nuclear strategic weapon,” is a solid-fuel missile believed capable of reaching the continental United States.

North Korea last fired a flurry of short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on May 8, in what South Korean officials characterized as a potential weapons test before export to Russia. Pyongyang has supplied missiles, artillery and soldiers to Russia for its war against Ukraine and is believed to be receiving much-needed financial support and advanced military technology in return.

Two buses travelling in opposite directions on the Kampala-Gulu Highway collided head-on while overtaking.

At least 63 people have been killed in a major road accident involving multiple vehicles on the highway between Uganda’s capital Kampala and the northern city of Gulu, police have said.

The collision took place just after midnight [21:00 GMT on Tuesday] and was caused by two buses coming from opposite directions trying to overtake a truck and a car.

“In the process, both buses met head-on during the overtaking manoeuvres,” the Uganda Police Force said in a statement on X. “Sixty-three people lost lives, all occupants from involved vehicles.”

The police added that “as investigations continue, we strongly urge all motorists to exercise maximum caution on the roads, especially avoiding dangerous and careless overtaking, which remains one of the leading causes of crashes in the country”.

Those travelling in the truck and the car were injured and taken to Kiryandongo Hospital and other nearby medical facilities, the statement said. It did not give further details on the number injured or the extent of their wounds.

The Kampala-Gulu Highway is one of Uganda’s busiest as it connects the capital with the biggest town in northern Uganda.

This article contains spoilers for the Season 9 finale of “Love Is Blind.”

Netflix’s hit dating series “Love is Blind” is actually an experiment, its creator, Chris Coelen, says. The show tests whether couples can build a lasting relationship based on a core emotional bond that is not tethered to physical attraction or appearances.

In Season 9, for the first time in the show’s history, the experiment failed to create lasting bonds. No couples from this season said “I do” at the altar in the finale, which began streaming Wednesday.

Six couples left the pods engaged, but the decoupling began almost immediately, with Kacie McIntosh breaking things off with Patrick Suzuki. They were followed by Annie Lancaster and Nick Amato, and finally Madison Maidenberg and Joe Ferrucci, whose breakups were documented in Episodes 10 and 11. The remaining couples going into the final episode, where the weddings would take place, were Ali Lima and Anton Yarosh; Kalybriah Haskin and Edmond Harvey; and Megan Walerius and Jordan Keltner.

Megan and Jordan didn’t make it to the altar — Megan broke things off just before the wedding because she felt their lifestyles would not mesh well long term. That partly had to do with their jobs. Jordan works long hours in transportation and logistics, while Megan is a wealthy entrepreneur with a flexible working schedule. Jordan is also a single father to a young son, who has Type 1 diabetes. Over the course of the season, the pair often discussed the demands of parenting.

Anton said “I do,” but Ali said “I can’t be your wife” at the altar. She said she felt like the man she had fallen in love with in the pods was not the person she’d been experiencing in real life before she ran off in tears. Anton said in an interview later that he had “done nothing but care for her,” and that the rejection “f— sucks.”

Kalybriah also said no at the altar after her fiancé said yes. Kalybriah said Edmond “deserve[s] someone that is 100% at the altar” and that she wasn’t there. Edmond had a tempered reaction to the rejection, and Kalybriah thanked him for being graceful before the two walked off hand in hand. Kalybriah left the door open for a possible reconciliation down the road.

Season 9 was full of messy breakups and controversial comments from the participants. Patrick went into the experiment with insecurities about his Asian American identity, and his short-lived fiancée, Kacie, broke up with him on the heels of their first meeting. Annie and Nick, who split before the wedding preparations were in full swing, received backlash over a conversation they had about raising LGBTQ+ children, and they have both since walked back those comments in recent interviews. And an argument between Kalybriah and Edmond about her decision to wait until the wedding to have sex with him was the subject of intense scrutiny on social media.

Before Season 9, each season ended with at least one couple getting married. While some later split, many still remain married and several have started families. Days before Season 9’s finale was released, Cameron Hamilton and Lauren Speed-Hamilton from Season 1 announced Monday that they welcomed their first child together.

The Season 9 reunion, which will address unanswered questions about the many breakups, will be available to stream on Netflix on Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. PT/ 9 p.m. ET.

The state of emergency lifts constitutional rights, including the right to protest, amid popular unrest over the rise in extortion and killings.

Peru’s Interim President Jose Jeri has declared a state of emergency in the capital, Lima, to stem a wave of protests that contributed to the recent downfall of his predecessor.

In a televised message on Tuesday, Jeri said the emergency in the city would last 30 days.

“Wars are won with actions, not words,” the president said, adding that he is planning a new approach to fighting crime that he described as going “from defence to offence”.

Under the state of emergency, the government can send the army to patrol the streets and restrict freedom of assembly and other rights.

Al Jazeera’s Mariana Sanchez, reporting from Lima, said the announcement comes after six days of uncertainty over whether the interim government would push ahead.

In the decree formally declaring the emergency, the government did not mention how it intended to gather critically needed intelligence to curb extortion cases, which are estimated at 18,000 this year, up 30 percent from last year, Sanchez said.

The rise in extortions has also led to an increase in killings in recent years. Between January and September, police authorities reported 1,690 homicides, compared with 1,502 during the same period of 2024.

“The state of emergency will lift constitutional rights and people will not be able to protest,” Sanchez said.

Dina Boluarte was removed as president by Peru’s Congress on October 10 after an impeachment during which lawmakers said she had been unable to tackle the crime wave. Jeri, the parliament speaker, replaced her immediately and will serve as interim president until July next year.

Peru has been roiled by weeks of antigovernment protests over corruption and organised crime led by Gen-Z activists.

On Thursday, protests to demand Jeri’s resignation turned violent. One person was killed and about 100 were injured, including police officers and some journalists.

Jeri has said he will not resign.

Earlier, Boluarte had declared a 30-day state of emergency in March following the murder of a famous musician, but the move did little to reduce crime.

Paul Flores, a well-known cumbia singer, was killed when assailants attacked the bus he was travelling on in an apparent attempt to extort the operator.

Peru’s interim president Jose Jeri has declared a 30-day state of emergency in the capital Lima and nearby Callao, saying the decision was to tackle surging crime. Anti-government protests last week left one person dead and over 100 injured.

Hollyoaks actress Ruby O’Donnell has been at the centre of some of the Channel 4 soap’s most dramatic storylines as fan favourite Peri Lomax over the past 12 years

Hollyoaks actress Ruby O’Donnell has tackled some of the Channel 4 soap’s most intense plotlines over the past 12 years.

Her character Peri Lomax has found herself at the centre of the drama but her time in the village has come to an end.

During Tuesday’s (October 21) episode, Peri got crushed by ship chimney which fell on her after an explosion went off and she attempted to save Tom Cunningham (Ellis Hollins).

Pushing fiancé Tom out of the way, Peri was struck by the chimney and fell to the ground.

The nurse was conscious for a while chatting with Tom about their daughter Steph Cunningham-Lomax (Isabella Hibbert) and but she sadly passed away wen her mum Leela Lomax (Kirsty Leigh-Porter) finally arrived in extremely emotional scenes.

Ruby previously revealed that certain scenes she’s filmed over the years were “hard to tackle” given she was “still quite young” when she first joined the show in 2013.

The actress confessed she “wanted to find out how teenagers actually react in these situations” and her commitment was worthwhile as she secured Best Young Actor at the 2016 British Soap Awards and has subsequently received numerous award nominations.

Ruby loves to share her escapades on Instagram and regularly posts pictures from her social events with friends.

She can be seen having a boogie with her mates, sometimes in fancy dress, while basking in the sun in a back garden or on holiday.

The soap star is also a regular festival attendee and keeps her fans updated with her on-set and behind-the-scenes action.

Ruby is currently dating Hollyoaks co-star Nathaniel Dass, who made his debut as Dillon Ray in 2023,

Their characters might not cross paths on screen often but off-screen their romance is blossoming since going Instagram official in 2024.

The actress marked their first anniversary on Instagram by sharing a series of loved-up snaps.

She delighted fans by posting a quartet of adorable pictures, alongside the caption: “1 year with u” capped off with a pink heart pierced by a blue arrow.

Hollyoaks airs Monday to Wednesday on E4 at 7pm and first look episodes can be streamed Channel 4 from 7am

Oct. 22 (UPI) — Authorities in Washington, D.C., have arrested a driver accused of ramming a barricade protecting the White House.

Little information about the incident has been made public.

The U.S. Secret Service said in a brief statement that incident occurred at 10:37 p.m. EDT.

The suspect is accused of ramming the Secret Service vehicle gate located at 17th St. and E Streets NW.

“The individual was arrested & the vehicle was assessed and deemed safe,” the Secret Service said on X. “Our investigation into the cause of this collision is ongoing.”

This is not the first time a vehicle has been driven into a White House barrier.

On the night of May 4, 2024, a driver died after his vehicle, traveling at a high rate of speed, collided with an outer barricade of the White House complex. The driver was identified as 57-year-old James Chester Lewis Jr.

In May 2023, then 19-year-old Sai Varshith Kandula drove a U-Haul truck into the White House as part of what prosecutors said was an attempt to overthrow the U.S. government and replace it with a Nazi dictatorship.

In January, Kandula was sentenced to eight years in prison.

This is a developing story.

US President Donald Trump has explained a decision to postpone plans for a meeting in Hungary with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to discuss the Ukraine war, telling reporters he doesn’t want a ‘wasted meeting’.

RAPPER Nelly was accused of taking writer credit on song he didn’t write on his hit albums Country Grammar and Nellyville in a massive $10 million lawsuit. 

The U.S. Sun can exclusively reveal that the Hot In Herre artist was sued in federal court in May after a lawsuit was initially lobbed at him in a local Missouri court in 2024. 

Production company D2 filed an amended complaint against Nelly, 50, in August. 

The suit read “D2 is a production company started in a local community skating rink by twin brothers Darren Stith and David Stith.

“D2 was known for developing producers and talents and giving them an opportunity to further their art and careers.”

The brothers claimed: “They were directly responsible for finding, nurturing, and bringing to the public the music of Nelly and the group known as the ‘St. Lunatics.’”

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St. Lunatics was made up of Nelly, Ali Jones, Torri Harper, Robert Kyjuan Cleveland  and Lavell Webb, aka City Spud.

In the suit, D2 alleged that they had a contract with both Nelly and the St. Lunatics, separately, but that they released the Ride Wit Me rapper from his contract with them in June of 2000, with a $75,000 payment.

D2 claimed that Nelly, in a secret agreement, claimed a writer credit on songs that weren’t written by him, and were actually written with the St. Lunatics, which made it so the artists were able to avoid paying D2 royalties on those songs.

“The Songs, which were included on the Country Grammar and Nellyville albums, sold over twenty million copies.

“D2 was never paid its portion of the revenues that were legally due to D2 under Lunatic Agreements with Harper, Cleveland, and Jones (and then the Publishing Agreement), but went to Nelly instead under the Secret Arrangement,” the suit went on to allege. 

Nelly and the St. Lunatics are being sued by D2 for more than $10,000,000 for breach of contract, fraud, conspiracy and breach of good faith and fair dealing. 

D2 is also suing Nelly specifically for tortious interference, which essentially means the rapper putrposely interfered with D2’s business. 

The suit said the Air Force One’s rapper “intentionally induced, and caused an interruption of D2’s contractual relationship with, and its business expectancy with, Harper, Cleveland, and Jones, by proposing, negotiating, entering into, and implementing the Secret Arrangement.

“Nelly knew or should have known that his actions would interfere with the Lunatic Agreements and cause D2 to lose revenue it was entitled to receive from the Songs pursuant to the Lunatic Agreements, and later, through the Publishing Agreement,” the suit claimed. 

In September, Nelly, along with Cleveland and Harper, attempted to get the suit dismissed. 

The case is ongoing. 

Earlier this week, Nelly’s wife, Ashanti, was seen sporting a bathing suit on a trip to Barbados just after her 45th birthday on October 13.

Nelly was not seen during the outing, though their child, Kareem Kenkaide ‘KK’ Haynes, was with her for the trip.

She and Nelly welcomed their son in July of last year. 

ON SCREEN

Recently, Nelly and Ashanti landed their own reality series after splitting up and later reuniting.

The pair dated on and off for 10 years after first getting together in 2003, but thought their 2013 breakup was final.

However, they surprised fans by getting back together a decade later. 

Wasting no time, Nelly and Ashanti tied the knot just three months after making their reunion public. 

The trailer for Nelly & Ashanti: We Belong Together was released ahead of the show’s premiere in June.

Fans quickly took to the comments on the first-look, with one saying, “This is the show I never knew I needed.”

Another wrote: “We’re all rooting for you, Nelly and Ashanti!”

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A third added: “So here for these two being happy and in love.”

The show’s debut came just hours after The Sun exclusively revealed the truth behind rumors that Nelly had cheated on Ashanti.

Islamabad, Pakistan – Allah Meer’s parents were among the millions of Afghans who fled their country after the then-Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979.

His family settled in a refugee village in Kohat in northwestern Pakistan. That’s where Meer, now 45, was born. Meer says that more than 200 members of his extended family made the journey from Afghanistan to Pakistan, which has been their home ever since.

Over the past two years, as Pakistan has moved to send back hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees, the family has feared for its future, but managed to evade Islamabad’s dragnet.

Last week, the threat of expulsion hit home: Pakistan announced it would close all 54 Afghan refugee villages across the country as part of the campaign it began in 2023 to push out what it calls “illegal foreigners”. These include the villages in Kohat, where Meer and his family live.

“In my life, I visited Afghanistan only once, for two weeks in 2013. Apart from that, none of my family have ever gone back,” Meer told Al Jazeera. “How can I uproot everything when we were born here, lived here, married here, and buried our loved ones here?”

Amid heightened tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban, which returned to governing Afghanistan in 2021, families like Meer’s are caught in a vortex of uncertainty.

Fighting erupted between Afghan and Pakistani forces along the border earlier in October, pushing already strained relations into open hostility. On Sunday, officials from both sides met in Qatar’s capital, Doha, and signed a ceasefire agreement, with the next round of talks scheduled in Istanbul on October 25.

Yet, tensions remain high. And families like Meer’s fear that they could become diplomatic pawns in a border war between the neighbours.

From welcome to expulsion

Pakistan has hosted millions of Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. As civil war gripped Afghanistan and the Taliban first rose to power in 1996, successive waves of Afghans fled across the border.

After the United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 following the September 11 attacks on the US, the Taliban’s fall prompted thousands of Afghans to return home. But their return was short-lived.

The Taliban’s stunning comeback in August 2021 triggered yet another exodus, when another 600,000 to 800,000 Afghans sought refuge in Pakistan.

However, as relations between Kabul and Islamabad soured during the past four years, Pakistan – which was once the Taliban’s principal patron  – accused Afghanistan of harbouring armed groups responsible for the cross-border attacks. The government’s stance hardened towards Afghan refugees, even those who have lived in the country for decades – like Meer.

A father of 10, Meer earned a degree in education from a university in Peshawar, and now runs a vocational training project for Afghan refugee children backed by the United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR.

Since 2006, the UNHCR has issued what are known as Proof of Registration (PoR) cards to document Afghan citizens living in Pakistan. These cards have allowed them to stay in Pakistan legally, giving them some freedom of movement, although this is restricted, as well as access to some public services, including bank accounts.

But from June 30 this year, the Pakistani government has stopped renewing PoR cards and has invalidated existing ones.

“We all possess the UNHCR-issued Proof of Residence cards, but now, with this current drive, I don’t know what will happen,” Meer said.

In 2017, Pakistan also started issuing Afghan Citizenship Cards (ACC) to undocumented Afghan nationals living in the country, giving them identification credentials to provide them with a temporary legal status.

But the ACC is not a protection against deportation any more.

According to the UNHCR, more than 1.5 million Afghans left Pakistan – voluntarily or forcibly – between the start of the campaign in 2023 and mid-October, 2025.

‘Illegal in our home’

About 1.2 million PoR cardholders, 737,000 ACC holders and 115,000 asylum seekers  remain in Pakistan, Qaiser Khan Afridi, the UNHCR’s spokesperson in Pakistan, told Al Jazeera.

Pakistan’s tensions with the Taliban have added new precarity to their status.

“For over 45 years, Pakistan has shown extraordinary generosity by hosting millions of Afghan refugees,” Afridi said. “But we are deeply concerned by the government’s decision to de-notify refugee villages all over Pakistan and to push for returns [to Afghanistan].”

“Many of those affected have lived here for years, and now fear for their future. We urge that any return should be voluntary, gradual, and carried out with dignity and safety.”

Meer, who has volunteered for the UNHCR over the years, said that seven refugee villages in Kohat alone house more than 100,000 people. He accused both Pakistan and Afghanistan of using the refugee issue as political leverage.

“With the latest situation, our family elders have sat together to discuss options. We thought about sending some of our young men to Afghanistan to look for houses and means to do business, but the problem is, we have no connections there at all,” he said.

With his PoR card now invalidated by the Pakistani government, he has no recognised identity card, making it hard for him to access even medical facilities when his children need treatment for any illness.

“We are, for all practical purposes, considered illegal in a country that I and my children call home,” he said.

Caught between borders

Pakistan’s plan to expel Afghan residents began in late 2023, amid a rise in rebe attacks. Since then, violence has surged, with 2025 shaping up to be the most violent year in a decade.

Pakistani authorities argue Afghan refugees pose a security risk, accusing the Taliban government of sheltering armed groups, a charge Kabul denies.

Two years ago, Pakistan’s then interior minister, Sarfraz Bugti, alleged that 14 out of 24 suicide bombings in the country in 2023 were carried out by Afghan nationals. He did not provide any evidence to back his claim, and he did not clarify if the individuals were refugees living in Pakistan, or Afghan nationals who had crossed the porous border between the two countries.

But Meer fears that Afghan refugees in Pakistan will be distrusted back in Afghanistan, too, given the climate of animosity between the neighbours.

“We will be seen as Pakistanis, as enemies there, too,” he said.

Afridi, the UNHCR spokesperson, urged Pakistan to reconsider its repatriation drive.

“UNHCR calls on the government to apply measures to exempt Afghans with international protection needs from involuntary return,” he said.

“Pakistan has a proud history of hospitality, and it’s important to continue that tradition at this critical time,” he said.