News Desk

Video footage posted online showed several men, some of them armed, beating Nathaniel and Andrey X.

Russian activist Adele Shoko has said that Israeli settlers attacked her alongside two of her colleagues in the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair, in the Masafer Yatta area of the occupied West Bank, according to social media posts.

Shoko said on social media platform X that she, US journalist Jasper Nathaniel, and Israeli-Russian activist Andrey X were beaten and threatened by armed settlers who stole equipment and personal items.

“Jasper and I were also beaten. Jasper was then pepper-sprayed and arrested,” Shoko wrote, adding that Nathaniel was taken away by Israeli forces.

Shoko said Andrey X suffered a concussion and lost consciousness multiple times during the incident before being detained by authorities.

“Andrey was severely beaten and lost consciousness several times in front of police. Despite this, he was denied hospital treatment. He was put in an ambulance – but instead of being taken to hospital, he was taken to a police station. He is still there, arrested and being denied medical care,” she wrote.

Video footage Shoko posted online showed several men, some of them armed, beating Nathaniel and Andrey X. Further video showed Israeli authorities leading away Nathaniel while he shouted that he had just been beaten up.

The assault follows an October 16 incident in Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah, where masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers harvesting olives, setting trees on fire and throwing stones using slingshots.

Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine, who was covering the attack, was beaten, robbed, and hospitalised, while a Palestinian man was shot in the leg by Israeli soldiers who arrived on the scene and fired live ammunition and tear gas.

Levine, who was wearing a protective vest marked “PRESS”, said settlers repeatedly kicked and beat her on the ground before stealing her passport, phone, and camera equipment. Washington Post Executive Editor Matt Murray condemned the “unwarranted attack on a journalist doing her job”, while several US lawmakers called for an investigation and an end to settler violence in the region.

Summer Strallen, who is best known for her career in the West End and is currently starring in Beetlejuice, has addressed her stint in Hollyoaks that acted as a publicity stunt almost 20 years ago

West End star Summer Strallen has admitted she is “embarrassed” by her role in Hollyoaks – almost two decades after she left the Channel 4 soap.

The actress, 40, has had a hugely successful stage career and in the late 2000s, she was cast in the leading role of Maria von Trapp in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production of The Sound of Music, acting as a replacement for Connie Fisher, who had won the part on the BBC reality show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?

In an attempt to drum up more publicity for the musical, Summer was cast as aspiring actress Summer Shaw in Hollyoaks, and the storyline was designed around her fictional counterpart also landing the role made famous by Dame Julie Andrews. The publicity stunt also served as the exit for long-running character Sam “O.B.” O’Brien (Darren Jeffries) who left the fictional village to be with Summer when she moved to London.

Speaking about the odd plotline almost 20 years on, she said: “I did The Sound of Music for Andrew Lloyd Weber and did that whole Hollyoaks thing where I don’t know if I should [mention it]… It was like a publicity stunt where I went into Hollyoaks for five months and then I got the part of Maria on Hollyoaks.

“So it was around the programmes. Connie Fisher had done the first one, How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? and they were basically…they needed another bump of publicity for the new person coming in so they had this idea that I’d go into Hollyoaks for five months. I had a proper role, they called me Summer Shaw.

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“They called me Summer in it. And it was mad. I moved up to Liverpool and everything to do it and then went into The Sound of Music. It was hilarious. And Andrew was in it, we did scenes where be offered me the part of Maria and me and OB, who was my boyfriend, moved to London. I took OB with me, he was a massive part in Hollyoaks, and he left with me.”

Summer, who is the niece of West End legend Bonnie Langford, was chatting to fellow West End actress and former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Amber Davies on her Call to Stage podcast when she addressed her soap stint. When the ex-Love Island winner said she was going to dig out some clips on YouTube, Summer said: “It’s embarrassing!”

But the star, who also had a small role in Wicked: For Good opposite Ariana Grande and also appeared in BBC soap Doctors, is also thankful for the experience that working in television gave her at the time.

She added: “But it was good because I It meant that I did that. It was like in baptism of fire. for TV. So then when I did other TV jobs was great because I knew how to hit my mark. I knew not to drink, stuff like that. It’s totally different and so it really set me up.”

The late 2000s marked a time of using television to heavily publicise theatre and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria was the first in a series of four BBC casting shows. It was followed by Any Dream Will Do, in which Lee Mead won the part of Joseph before going on to star in other West End shows and enjoy a stint in Casualty.

I’d Do Anything launched the acting career of Jodie Prenger, who won the part of Nancy in Oliver! and now plays Glenda Shuttleworth in Coronation Street whilst Jessie Buckley finished in second place in the years before she became an Academy Award winner.

In 2010, Over the Rainbow found Danielle Hope to play Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and also launched the career of Stephanie Davis, who is best known for her own Hollyoaks role and for appearing on Celebrity Big Brother. The talent searches were all headed up by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, and hosted by Graham Norton.

Various celebrities like stage actress Denise Van Outen, Loose Women panellist Zoe Tyler as well as Doctor Who actor John Barrowman, singer Charlotte Church and EastEnders star John Partridge all served as judges over the years.

Since her Hollyoaks stint, Summer, whose sisters are Zizi and Scarlett are also West End actresses and are known for the respective performances in Wicked and Mary Poppins, has mostly focused on theatre as well and is currently starring in the musical adaptation of Beetlejuice.

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Protecting this region from climate change is a theme of the King’s trip and was the focus of his visit to the Bonefish Pond National Park. The site was once a rubbish dump but has been redeveloped and now protects 1,235 acres of mangroves.

The King walked along a new boardwalk through the wetlands to see the conservation work being done to protect this vulnerable, low lying island from climate change.

He met students carrying out field work in the wetland waters asking them about their exams and ambitions to be marine biologists.

“We’ve so been looking forward to this,” said Joanne Smith, president of the Bahamas National Trust Council.

“We want more Bahamians to get involved in our national parks so they can use it to better themselves… we are so pleased to have the King here, this is really significant for us.”

Then it was on to the Junkanoo, where the King could be seen dancing alongside attendees dressed in feathered headdresses and bright costumes.

The history of the Junkanoo is not clear but it’s believed it emerged out of the slave trade when enslaved men and women were given time off to mark Christmas.

A small protest near the parade, which had activists holding placards with the words “Pay us what you owe us”, was moved on by the police.

The small group of protesters were from the Bahamas National Reparations Committee.

The King acknowledged the “great suffering of the past” when he first arrived in the Bahamas, as he faced calls for slavery reparations.

Noelle Nicholls, chair of the reparations committee, said :”We are demanding an apology for those crimes, and reparations for the harm that was done.”

Nicholls said the protesters’ presence “amidst the pomp and pageantry of the celebrations… are for us also a sombre occasion, because this is the King returning in a way that has still not atoned for the sins of the past.”

The King has confirmed that Commonwealth leaders will discuss the legacy of slavery at a major summit in Antigua next week.

MADONNA shows a burning desire to flog a new range of candles.

The Queen of Pop, 68, posed on a chair with one of her scents, called Confessions, which is likened to “a rose with a pulse”.

Another, Like A Prayer, is named after her classic 1989 hit and is said to smell of “wood, smoke and sheer magnetism”.

Madonna designed the glass vessels, which include a previously unseen 1989 photograph of her by snapper Herb Ritts.

Madonna recently celebrated winning seven awards at the recent MTV VMAs held in Los Angeles, from 13 nominations.

Taking home the coveted Artist of the Year award, the 68-year-old treated fans to a performance alongside Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX.

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Reflecting on her legacy, Madonna told the crowd: “Most of you were probably not born when I performed at the very first VMAs 43 years ago.”

Her duet with Sabrina Carpenter, Bring Your Love, won Best Collaboration, while her project Confessions II – The Film won Best Dance, Best Cinematography, and Best Choreography.

The Queen of Pop went all out for her extravagant 68th birthday celebrations on the Greek island of Corfu.

She rented a remote, ancient villa on the north of the island which has its own harbour, where Madge later organised a yacht so they could celebrate with a day at sea.

Details of more than 41,000 personnel working for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including thousands involved in immigration enforcement, have been leaked to the public.

The leak includes names, work addresses and phone numbers of DHS staff, including agents working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection, along with descriptions of the work they do for each agency.

Wednesday’s leak marks the third time in recent weeks that a government agency has been targeted by leaks or hacks.

A DHS spokesperson said the agency is “aware of a potential breach and is actively working to address the situation swiftly and effectively.”

“We take all security threats against our employees and officers seriously and will work to ensure all are properly protected,” the spokesperson added.

“We will update the public when more information is available.”

The seemingly unprecedented breach of employee information was made public online. A group called the Department of Peace accessed the information from DHS, while journalist and cybersecurity researcher maia crimew alongside the website Distributed Denial of Secrets put it online.

The information was put in a database named Icepick.

Most of the agents included, more than 21,000 of them, work for CBP, according to the data. Nearly 6,600 work for ICE.

Other records show agents with Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Protective Service and even people working for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The leaked information also included dozens of previously unknown operation names, the agents that led and worked on those operations, and some of the technology they used in their work, including tech provided by Cellbrite and Palantir.

The groups wrote in an online statement that the the leak was not meant to be a directory of every DHS agent. Rather the aim was to replace “anonymity with accountability”, according to Emma Best, a co founder of DDoSecrets.

“The leak is extraordinary but deceptive in it’s simplicity as it identifies the officials responsible for overseeing covert and undercover operations, the government’s hunt for leakers and the failed BlueLeaks investigation – along with key personnel in DHS’s ever-escalating rendition and deportation programs,” Best added.

BlueLeaks refers to a massive leak of US police data in 2020, data from which DDoSecrets also hosted.

A spokesperson for the Department of Peace pointed directly at actions by ICE agents for the groups work to hack DHS records.

“On July 17th, Markwayne Mullin said he was ‘turning up the heat’. This is what happens to ICE when you do that,” the spokesperson wrote on Wednesday.

Mullin in March became Secretary of Homeland Security.

The Department of Peace said it accessed the DHS agent profiles through a single sign-on service called Okta.

Okta is a popular online security tool that organisations use to ensure that only people with access to internal platforms are logging on to them.

A spokeswoman for Okta said the company is aware of the claims being made, but said: “Okta is secure, and we have no evidence our data or systems were compromised.”

Last month, the FBI was hacked by a group called ShinyHunters, which took personal information about thousands of agents.

In recent days, the Federal Election Commission, which makes public political campaign donation data, was taken offline because of a suspected hacking attempt.

Public backlash to US immigration enforcement has been building as the Trump Administration has pushed a huge increase in arrests and deportations of people suspected of being in the country illegally.

Immigration operations this year have repeatedly turned violent, external, with ICE agents shooting at more than two dozen people and killing at least nine people.

Those killings include the high profile deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, both of whom were shot and killed by ICE agents this year in Minnesota, despite not being the targets of arrests.

Often, ICE agents carry out enforcement actions while their faces are covered by masks and sunglasses. Immigration agents rarely identify themselves, despite being required by law to do so, and US politicians have publicly demanded, external DHS enforces the requirement.

Since President Donald Trump returned to office in 2025, the US has enacted nearly 1 million deportations, external, according to data from the Migration Policy Institute. More than 70% of the deportations have been of people with no criminal record.

Officials in South Carolina announced Wednesday that an investigation found Hayden Panettiere’s Aug. 16 death to be accidental and the case is now closed.

“Based on the Medical Examiner’s determination and the findings of the investigation, Hayden Panettiere’s death has been ruled accidental,” officials in Greenville, S.C., said.

Paramedics and police found Panettiere in cardiac arrest, according to the coroner’s office. Dispatch audio recordings from Broadcastify.com reference a possible overdose and CPR in progress. Narcan was reportedly administered, and paramedics tried to resuscitate her. She was declared dead at 2:31 p.m.

Federal authorities probing the death of Panettiere are focusing their investigation in Los Angeles and looking into whether the actor procured nonprescription pills from an area dealer.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents and local investigators have questioned several people about the circumstances of her death.

Such counterfeit pills have repeatedly been found laced with fentanyl, which can be deadly when taken in small amounts.

Panettiere starred on “Nashville” (2012-18) and, before that, “Heroes” (2006-10). Her early work as a child actor included roles in the 1990s on the soap operas “One Life to Live” and “Guiding Light.” She was a model and a singer, having released several singles.

Panettiere also starred in the “Scream” horror movie franchise as well as in hits “I Love You, Beth Cooper” and “Remember the Titans.”

She gained widespread attention with “Heroes,” in which she played a cheerleader with superpowers.

On “Nashville,” she played a troubled country music star, doing her own singing. She received two Golden Globe nominations for best supporting actress for the role.

No clear winner has emerged from Israel’s election, with nearly 90 percent of ballots counted and both major political blocs falling short of the 61 seats needed to form a government.

The Israeli Central Elections Committee said on Wednesday that it had counted more than five million votes as of 9pm local time (19:00 GMT). 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.

Projections from Tuesday’s voting also showed that the Arab parties – the Joint List and Ra’am – could hold a record combined 19 seats.

Final election results could come as early as Thursday evening, though no clear winner is expected to emerge.

More than 500,000 special double-envelope ballots remain to be counted, potentially changing the seat distribution. These include votes cast by soldiers, diplomats and others voting away from their registered polling stations.

The vote – the first since the October 7, 2023, attacks and the Gaza genocide – was widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu’s premiership. The 77-year-old appears far from defeated, despite lacking a clear majority.

Netanyahu will remain caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed. President Isaac Herzog will begin consulting party leaders about forming a new administration next week, once the official election results are released.

Herzog has urged all parties to avoid another vote that would stall the formation of a government. But coalition building is the norm in Israel, and no party has ever won an outright majority in the country’s history.

Ahead of the vote, Eisenkot ruled out forming a minority government with Arab-led parties. Netanyahu has also rejected such a prospect.

As Netanyahu’s bloc is set to be the largest, analysts predict that he will form a unity government that could include Eisenkot. However, such an outcome is far from certain.

Eisenkot said in a post on X on Wednesday that his opposition alliance was now focused on the “heavy task entrusted to us – bringing change to Israel and establishing a Zionist mobilisation government”.

“This is the will of the people who expressed no confidence in the government of October 7th and the shirking, and in the bloc of shirkers in general. A bloc that is at the low point of two decades.”

Amid record turnout among Arab voters, Netanyahu’s Likud party accused Arab parties of stealing the election.

“The elections in the State of Israel were stolen by Arab parties that support terrorism and the elimination of the Jewish state through serious criminal offences of bribery, threats, violence, forgeries, and the use of prohibited software to mobilise voters,” the party said in a statement.

“The Likud party is transferring to the police, the Shin Bet, and the Central Elections Committee hundreds of testimonies and pieces of evidence regarding election theft in many Arab polling stations,” it said.

Israel’s predominantly Arab Joint List political alliance said in a statement published late on Wednesday by Turkish news agency Anadolu that preliminary figures showed Arab voter turnout played a decisive role in keeping Netanyahu and his coalition short of a parliamentary majority, while cautioning that the final results were yet to be announced.

Voters answered incitement and intimidation at the ballot box, it said, rejecting a “government of butchers” and its policies of home demolitions, racism and war crimes.

The Joint List said its electoral support reflected demands for political unity and a force capable of defending Arab citizens’ rights without concessions.

It pledged to work to remove Netanyahu’s government and prevent its return, saying it was ready to cooperate towards an alternative government.

Joint List leader Yousef Jabareen said the alliance could back an anti-Netanyahu government from outside, but would not join it.

The boom in injectable weight-loss drugs, such as Mounjaro and Wegovy, is leading to more used needles turning up at recycling centres, putting workers at risk of serious injury and infection, bosses say.

At a recycling plant in Coventry, I watched staff sorting rubbish on a fast-moving conveyor belt when a crushed yellow sharps container suddenly appeared among the waste.

“A resident has put this in a wheelie bin,” explained supervisor Paul Pagett.

“It then gets crushed by the recycling vehicle and then it comes to us open and obviously we’ve got needles then falling out onto the line putting my guys at risk.”

The sharps box should never have been there.

Used needles should be disposed of separately through dedicated clinical waste services. Instead, recycling bosses say they are increasingly finding them mixed in with household waste.

“There are safe disposal routes for needles but the worst place to put them is in your recycling,” said Richard Dobbs, managing director of Sherborne Recycling.

“It ends up in facilities like ours where it will be touched by people and that’s inherently unsafe.”

Tony Berlant, a seminal influence in the West Coast Pop Art movement of the 1960s, died Tuesday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 85.

L.A. Louver, his longtime gallery, confirmed his death to The Times.

Berlant, a “painterly collage artist” who called Santa Monica his home for many decades, developed a signature style making collages using shards of printed tin instead of paper and thousands of shiny nails instead of glue. He often worked with vintage metal street signs and ads. In recent years, he printed personal photographs onto the metal, giving the colorful works story structure and an autobiographical bent.

One of his most recent shows, in fall 2018 at Hollywood’s Kohn Gallery, featured cut metal collages that blended elements of assemblage, Pop Art and abstraction. He was also known for his metal cube sculptures, which have been called quilt-like.

Berlant was a collector of both ancient Southwest pottery and Paleolithic stone objects. In fact, he co-curated two museum exhibitions: “First Sculpture: Handaxe to Figure Stone” at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas and “Decoding Mimbres Painting: Ancient Ceramics of the American Southwest” at LACMA. He was also a founding member of the Mimbres Foundation, an archaeological conservancy that studies and preserves ancient Native American pottery.

Berlant was part of L.A.’s famous Ferus Gallery art scene in the 1960s, a group of “Cool School” artists that also included the late Ed Moses and Robert Irwin as well as Ed Ruscha, Larry Bell and others. The Ferus Gallery was a revolving door of experimentation at the time and helped fuse the city’s otherwise sprawling and disparate art scene.

Berlant was part of one of the earliest museum exhibitions of Pop Art in 1963, “Pop Art USA,” at the Oakland Art Museum. He showed his work alongside Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg.

The L.A. visual art scene may be more established today, but it’s also more commercial and safer in some ways. However Berlant firmly believed that L.A. still retains its defining creative spirit.

“My New York friends tend to think of the ’60s as a kind of golden moment that’s now been erased by commercial focus,” Berlant told The Times in 2018. “But I think L.A. is [still that]. It never left. I just assume that there’s all kinds of fantastic artists working that I’ve never heard of because they pop up here and there, and I see them, and I’m just really excited by that. It’s what makes you feel good about a place.”

Tony Berlant stands in front of his collaged-metal self portrait for his show “Fast Forward” at the Kohn Gallery in Hollywood in 2018.

(Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times)

Berlant’s work is included in the permanent collection of LACMA as well as the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington and the Art Institute of Chicago.

He is survived by his wife, Helen Berlant; daughter, comedian Kate Berlant; and brother, Jeff Berlant.

UN experts have condemned police crackdowns, warning they deter demonstrators from exercising their rights.

United Nations experts have expressed alarm at the “excessive use of force” by French authorities in dispersing the recent nationwide student protests.

“The scale of the arrests and detention, affecting several thousand people, mainly minors, appears disproportionate and deters demonstrators from exercising their freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly,” the four experts, mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, said in a statement on Wednesday.

They included Gina Romero, special rapporteur on the freedom of peaceful assembly, and Farida Shaheed, the UN expert on cultural rights.

“Although authorities launched several initiatives to facilitate dialogue and respond to students’ demands in October, the priority given to a primarily security-focused response to the protests has led to the root causes of the mobilisation being sidelined,” the statement said.

France has seen ongoing student protests since mid-September, sparked initially over conditions in high schools, where young people complained about the deteriorating buildings, overcrowded classrooms and teacher absences. Students have also joined nationwide demonstrations to express anger over the rising cost of living, which led to riots and looting on the sidelines.

The French government deployed 70,000 security forces and arrested 1,000 people during demonstrations on Saturday, which drew 410,000 protesters nationwide, France’s Interior Ministry said. A week earlier, public buildings were vandalised, hundreds of businesses were looted and 2,700 people were arrested, with Interior Minister Laurent Nunez vowing to be “extremely vigilant, extremely firm” to quell future unrest.

“What we are seeing right now is a general outburst of resentment against [French President Emmanuel] Macron and his policies that have destroyed our rights, destroyed our living conditions,” Alice Cohen-Morzadec, a spokesperson for the Union Etudiante, told Al Jazeera.

Analysts say the French government has struggled to address students’ demands due to a severe fiscal crisis and planned budget cuts, which have led to a drop in the country’s education budget.

Police response to protests

French authorities have been criticised for their approach to security during some of the protests, and in one case a teenager in the northern city of Lille lost a hand when a grenade exploded as school protesters clashed with police.

“The serious and, in some cases, irreversible injuries sustained by underage demonstrators during law enforcement operations are unacceptable and unjustifiable,” the UN rapporteurs said.

The statement added: “The experts recalled past discussions urging French authorities to undertake a comprehensive review of their policing strategies and practices in order to enable demonstrators to express their concerns and to facilitate a peaceful resolution of social conflicts.”

“The experts are in contact with French authorities on the issue,” the statement concluded.

New images appear to show a full-sized demonstrator of China’s CE-25A, an unorthodox 19-seat all-electric aircraft being developed by the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC). The photographs offer a fresh look at a program the company publicly outlined in 2023, although the aircraft’s current testing status remains unclear.

The images appear to have first been shared by Chinese automotive blogger Han Lu (韩路) on October 28 and show a red and black colored aircraft with a silver cheatline bearing COMAC and CE-25A markings. Its Chinese civilian registration is B-0EFH.

At this point, it should be noted that we cannot establish with certainty that the imagery is legitimate, but our own examination using multiple AI image-analysis models has found no major indications that they were artificially generated.

Regardless, the program overall reflects COMAC’s interest in distributed electric propulsion, an approach that could help inform future aircraft development even if the CE-25A itself never enters commercial service.

The appearance of what seems to be a full-sized demonstrator certainly raises questions about how far the program has progressed. At this stage, there is no clear public confirmation that this particular aircraft has flown, and its precise role in the development effort remains uncertain.

COMAC first presented the CE-25A concept at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai in November 2023. The company described it as a 19-seat, all-electric commuter aircraft intended for short- and medium-distance passenger transportation, as well as business aviation.

Published design specifications called for a cruising speed of approximately 400 kilometers per hour (248 miles per hour) and a range of around 400 to 500 kilometers (250 to 310 miles).

The 19-seat capacity and its general configuration are somewhat similar to the Beechcraft 1900 twin-turboprop regional airliner. With a 19-passenger payload, the Beechcraft 1900 has a range of around 700 kilometers (440 miles) and a cruising speed of approximately 520 kilometers per hour (320 miles per hour).

The Chinese aircraft’s most distinctive feature is its distributed electric propulsion system. Instead of relying on a small number of conventional turboprop engines, the design uses 10 electrically driven ducted fans integrated into its wing structure.

Distributed propulsion can give designers greater flexibility in how thrust is generated and integrated with the airframe. Depending on the configuration, it can offer aerodynamic benefits and potentially improve performance in particular flight regimes. Electric motors can also simplify some aspects of propulsion-system design compared with conventional turbine engines.

Those advantages come with very considerable engineering challenges. Batteries remain far less energy-dense than aviation fuel, placing constraints on range, payload, and endurance. High-power electrical systems also require careful thermal management, while integrating multiple propulsion units introduces additional questions involving reliability, maintenance, and flight control.

There is also some confusion about how the demonstrator shown in the new images fits in with previously announced plans for the program. In 2023, COMAC referred to experimental aircraft verification flight work, which was to involve a scaled demonstrator. Meanwhile, the aircraft in the new photos is full-sized. Potentially, there is an unseen ‘missing link’ subscale demonstrator that has already flown.

China is not alone in exploring distributed electric propulsion for regional aircraft. Several Western projects are also underway.

The European UNIFIER-19 research effort has examined 19-seat, zero-emission regional aircraft concepts using alternative propulsion systems, including distributed electric ducted fans. Some variants explored hydrogen fuel cells rather than relying exclusively on batteries. Compared to the CE-25A, it is strictly a research effort rather than a proposed production aircraft.

In the United States, NASA’s X-57A Maxwell experimental aircraft investigated distributed electric propulsion using 14 electric motors and propellers integrated into a specially designed wing. The X-57 was much smaller than the CE-25A and used open propellers rather than ducted fans. The project was intended to demonstrate potential aerodynamic and efficiency benefits but did not progress to its planned piloted flight configuration.

NASA Marks Milestones in Development of Electric X-57

The X-57 program was canceled in 2023 after safety issues with its propulsion system proved impossible to resolve within the available budget and schedule. It had been launched on the assumption that existing electric propulsion technology was sufficiently mature for safe flight, but this ultimately proved premature. The experience underscores the very significant engineering and safety challenges that remain in developing viable electric aircraft.

Meanwhile, France’s AURA AERO is developing ERA, a 16- to 19-seat regional aircraft planned around eight electric motors and two turbogenerators. The hybrid-electric design is intended to offer substantially greater range than the CE-25A’s published target, with the company advertising a range of approximately 1,500 kilometers (930 miles). ERA is a more direct comparison in terms of intended passenger capacity and commercial role, but it uses a different propulsion architecture and is not an all-electric aircraft.

Swedish company Heart Aerospace also pursued a 19-seat battery-powered commuter aircraft, the ES-19, with a proposed range of approximately 400 kilometers (250 miles). Its original design was more conventional, with a high wing and T-tail, and the company subsequently moved away from the ES-19 concept toward larger hybrid-electric aircraft.

First subscale test flight for Heart ES-19

The CE-25A has been presented as a civilian aircraft, and there is no public evidence that COMAC intends to develop it for military service. Nevertheless, the technologies being explored could have relevance to future military aviation.

This would be in line with China’s pursuit of other unconventional aircraft programs with more direct potential military applications.

A mature electric aircraft in this general class could potentially support short-range utility missions, liaison duties, or personnel transport where payload and endurance requirements are modest and suitable charging infrastructure is available. At this stage, there is no indication that the CE-25A has been designed for autonomous operations, austere-field use, or military payloads.

At the same time, its utility in military environments would depend heavily on battery performance, ground support, operating conditions, and the ability to maintain the aircraft away from established infrastructure.

Perhaps more likely is that research into distributed electric propulsion, including the CE-25A, could inform other Chinese aircraft designs. Advances in electric motors, power distribution, flight controls, thermal management, and the integration of multiple propulsion units could eventually benefit crewed and uncrewed aircraft or specialized platforms with different operational requirements.

The CE-25A sits within China’s broader effort to expand its domestic aerospace capabilities and explore new aircraft technologies. COMAC is best known internationally for its C919 narrowbody airliner and ARJ21 regional jet, but its research interests extend beyond conventional commercial aircraft.

China’s substantial battery-manufacturing industry provides a potential advantage in electric aviation, although adapting batteries developed for road vehicles to the demands of flight remains a significant engineering challenge.

In 2023, COMAC announced cooperation with battery manufacturer CATL and Shanghai Jiao Tong University on research related to battery-powered aircraft concepts. The precise relationship between that work and the CE-25A, including whether they share specific battery technologies or propulsion systems, is not immediately clear.

For now, the newly surfaced photographs provide a compelling look at a COMAC project that has been publicly acknowledged but remains opaque in several important respects.

Whether the CE-25A ultimately becomes a viable civilian aircraft or contributes to other aerospace developments, including in the military realm, its emergence offers more evidence of China’s continued push into unconventional aircraft design.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

“The Daily Show” writer Kevin Bleyer died in a car crash on Sunday. He was 54.

The death was confirmed via his wife, Nella Vera, who shared the tragic news on her Instagram account on Tuesday. Multiple news outlets report that the Oct. 25 crash occurred in Millrift, Pa., a rural town near Bleyer’s country home.

“The last eleven years have had their ups and downs, as life does, but above all, they have been filled with immense love, laughter, dogs, and travel,” Vera wrote in her Instagram caption. “I was in awe of his intellect, dazzled by his wit, amazed by his fearlessness and spirit of adventure, besotted by his loving heart, and smitten by his beautiful blue eyes.”

The two met in 2010 at a production of “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” at the NYC Public Theater and shared a love for political comedy. Bleyer was an esteemed staff writer on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” for nine years, during which he won four Emmys for writing for a variety, music or comedy program.

The couple began dating in 2015 and married in June 2025.

“I feel incredibly lucky to have shared the past decade with such a brilliant, complicated, funny, stubborn, and wonderful man,” Vera added in her caption. “He had many public accomplishments and awards throughout his long and successful career, but to me, he was my soulmate, my partner in crime, and the one who made life so much more fun.”

Prior to “The Daily Show,” Bleyer also wrote on the satire show “Politically Incorrect” led by comic commentator Bill Maher, the improv comedy show “Significant Others” and late-night talk show “Dennis Miller.”

In 2010, Bleyer co-wrote the book “Earth (The Book): A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race,” a comedic travel guide for aliens that details the history of humanity, alongside Stewart and dozens of other comics. He was also the solo author of 2012‘s “Me the People: One Man’s Selfless Quest to Rewrite the Constitution of the United States of America,” which poked fun at the way in which Americans choose to interpret the historic document.

In 2013, he moved to Kyrgyzstan, where he was the executive producer of “Studio 7,” the first political satire news show in Central Asia, according to his website. When he returned to the States, he co-founded Pilot Media Initiatives, which launched civics-minded media programs in democratically-challenged countries, including North Macedonia, Nigeria, Moldova, Kenya, Jordan and Estonia.

Bleyer also served as a writer and producer for NBC News’ “Today” show, as a supervising producer for MSNBC’s “Ronan Farrow Daily” and as a writer and producer for a CNN talk show pilot starring Kal Penn.

The humorist was also a gifted speechwriter for various NASA astronauts, political diplomats — once serving as deputy chief speechwriter for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio — and Colombian pop star Shakira.

Bleyer also contributed to the funnier speeches made by President Obama, including all of his White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner addresses. In a 2017 TED Talk, Bleyer pointed out Obama’s famous 2011 monologue, which aimed multiple shots at Donald Trump and his ability to lead the country; various political analysts believe the humiliating moment set the groundwork for Trump’s 2016 presidential run.

“Before I go any further, I feel like I should offer an apology. The rumors are true, Donald Trump is president of the United States of America, and there’s a good chance it’s my fault,” joked Bleyer in his 2017 TED Talk. “I’m told he ran for president, in part because he couldn’t take a joke, a few jokes actually.”

In her Instagram tribute, Vera described him as a “private person,” although some of his own political commentary aired as a guest on National Public Radio, “CBS Sunday Morning,” CNN and MSNBC.

Bleyer was born in Maryland but grew up in Washington state. He later attended Stanford University, where he switched his engineering major for communications.

He began his career as a dramaturge and assistant to actor-playwright Anna Deavere Smith at the New York Public Theater and Broadway’s Cort Theater. He later moved to London, where he worked for journalist David Brancaccio at the London bureau of the public radio business affairs program “Marketplace.”

There will be a private gathering in a few months to honor Bleyer’s life, Vera said. Individuals are welcome to donate funds to the Alzheimer’s Assn. New York City Chapter, where he volunteered, or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Bleyer is survived by Vera, his father, brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew.

Sao Paulo, Brazil – Far-right Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, along with his wife and two daughters, landed in Miami, Florida, in the United States on Wednesday, days after he was defeated in Brazil’s presidential run-off election.

Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes issued an order late on Sunday night for Bolsonaro to turn in his regular and diplomatic passports, believing him to be a flight risk in connection with a money laundering and currency evasion investigation involving the senator and his friend Willer Tomaz — who the local press says already left Brazil for Miami two weeks ago.

Argentine immigration authorities said on Wednesday that Flavio and his family used a land crossing to enter Argentina late Tuesday night, and less than an hour later boarded a private plane operated by Baires Fly destined for Guayaquil, Ecuador. That plane arrived in Ecuador, and later took off for Miami, Florida, with Flavio and his family on board. The Bolsonaro family landed at Opa-Locka Executive Airport near Miami on Wednesday morning.

The US State Department confirmed on Tuesday that it will issue visas to Bolsonaro and his family, allowing them to enter the country.

US President Donald Trump and Argentina’s President Javier Milei are the only two prominent world leaders who have not yet acknowledged Brazil’s Sunday election result, in which centre-left incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pulled off a jaw-dropping comeback to win re-election, scoring 51.8 percent of votes over Bolsonaro’s 48.2 percent. It was a difference of millions. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump said, without citing evidence, that Brazil’s election appeared to have been “rigged”, though he also expressed his admiration for President Lula.

News of Flavio’s abrupt departure drew swift indignation from some voters on the ground.

“He’s acting like a coward who’s unwilling to face the consequences of his actions,” said Cristiana Cunha, 36, speaking to Al Jazeera in Sao Paulo. She said she was unsurprised by news of his leaving the country.

Priscila Cardoso, a 45-year-old psychoanalyst also living in Sao Paulo, was even more scathing: “It’s a joke, it’s like a parasite fleeing through the sewer,” she said.

Political analyst Paulo Roberto de Souza of the Democracy in Check Institute told Al Jazeera that Flavio’s flight may kick off a new dispute for power among Brazil’s conservatives, in which the Bolsonaro family may be pushed to one side.

“By leaving the country, he’s made it easier for the right wing to start a fight over the Bolsonaro’s spoils,” he said, noting that, despite the relatively fine margins, Flavio’s defeat on Sunday was “humiliating” for the family.

“In 2022, [Flavio’s father] Jair Bolsonaro became the first incumbent Brazilian president to lose a re-election battle. And now, in 2026, Flavio became the first presidential candidate to lead after the first round and lose a run-off. It imposes a ceiling on the Bolsonaros’ power,” de Souza said.

In the aftermath of Sunday’s result, Flavio called a press conference in which he said it would be “impossible” for him to acknowledge the outcome of the vote, announcing he would pursue a petition to have the election annulled.

His claims were based on a last-minute Brazilian Supreme Court decision on Sunday that delayed the closing of polls by two hours, after both candidates had requested extensions due to insufficient availability of public transportation and adverse weather conditions. But official records show that fewer than 35,000 votes were recorded during the two-hour polling extension, and Lula’s winning margin was more than 4.4 million votes.

For some voters, Flavio’s call for an annulment came across as bad sportsmanship. Cardoso, who is a single parent, likened his behaviour to that of a “spoiled child who loses a game and takes the ball home with them”.

While Flavio has yet to concede defeat, his Liberal Party has recognised Sunday’s result, and prominent allies have sought to put the election behind them.

Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas, who campaigned alongside Bolsonaro and won re-election in a first-round landslide, published a two-minute video on social media on Tuesday outlining his own project for the country and mentioning Flavio only once.

“Without a doubt, Tarcisio is the main figure in this reorganisation process on the Brazilian right,” said de Souza. “For this election, he was the name floated and insisted upon by some key figures in Bolsonarism, as well as neo-Pentecostal leaders.”

His main obstacle, however, will be walking the tightrope between political pragmatism and continuing to convince hardline Bolsonaristas that he is a “loyal ally”.

It is unlikely, in de Souza’s view, that there will be a member of the Bolsonaro family on the presidential ticket come the next election in 2030. “They are much more likely to be figures that provide endorsement, rather than actual players themselves,” he said.

Among voters, however, Bolsonarism stepping into the background appears like a distant thought. “The Bolsonaro family is always trying to perpetuate its power in Brazil,” noted voter Cunha, pointing to the election of Flavio’s brother Carlos and mother-in-law Michelle to Senate seats.

“I definitely think there could be a Bolsonaro on the ballot in 2030; I just don’t know which one.”

President Laura Fernandez inaugurated the $35m mega-prison built to house up to 5,100 inmates near San Jose.

A newly opened maximum-security mega-prison in Costa Rica has received its first batch of inmates. The prison was built with the help of the Salvadoran government on the outskirts of the capital, San Jose, the country’s Justice Ministry announced.

The Costa Rican Justice Ministry shared images on Tuesday of 123 inmates dressed in orange, seated with their heads shaved and bowed and their hands behind their necks.

“Costa Rica is writing a new chapter in its penitentiary history,” Justice Minister Gabriel Aguilar said in a statement.

The new prison is called the High-Containment Center Against Organized Crime (CACCO) and constitutes a symbol of a new “tough on crime” approach championed by President Laura Fernandez’s administration. It has a capacity for 5,100 inmates.

The CACCO was built with the help of the Salvadoran government on the outskirts of Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose, at a cost of $35m. Fernandez inaugurated it on October 15.

“CACCO is a monument to national security, a forceful response to organized crime, and a guarantee that the state will exercise its authority without hesitation,” the statement added.

The new facility has a capacity equivalent to 20 percent of the country’s prison population and “will also help reduce overcrowding in the prison system”, according to Aguilar.

Costa Rica, long regarded as one of the safest countries in Latin America, has in recent years experienced a sharp rise in violence linked to drug trafficking and organised crime. It witnessed a record-setting 905 homicides in 2023, followed by 876 in 2024 and 873 in 2025.

Authorities attribute most killings to disputes between criminal groups over drug trafficking routes and markets.

Right-wing leaders in other Latin American countries have also sought to replicate the mega-prison model.

JUNIOR Andre has revealed he was forced to get a job on the London Underground after blowing all the money he made from his music career at just 17.

The singer, now 21, made the surprising confession during tonight’s opening episode of Celebrity Race Across the World, admitting he had learned the hard way about managing his finances.

Junior, the son of Peter Andre and Katie Price, opened up about his past while working alongside younger sister Princess, 19, picking coconuts in exchange for free food and accommodation during the first leg of their race.

He said: “Growing up in the public eye, I’m used to people prejudging me and stereotyping how I’m going to be.”

The star continued: “People just assume that I’m just living off Mummy and Daddy’s money, but I’m not going to take money from my parents. That’s just not me.”

Revealing how he ended up taking on a demanding night job, Junior explained: “I released my first single at 17, and I got a big chunk of money come in for my music, and I blew it all, so I had to go get a job.”

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He added: “I worked on the London Underground, on the Piccadilly line, 10pm to 6am, and that was intense. I was doing wiring. I was carrying heavy materials, basically doing just loads of manual labour stuff.”

Despite having no previous experience of the job, he insisted he had thrown himself into it. “I may not have known as many things as everyone else on the Underground, but I worked hard. I like to think that I did the best that I could, and it taught me a lot about money.”

Reflecting on what he learned, Junior added: “You know, it taught me about having a budget that you need for your weekly shop.”

Junior and Princess are among four celebrity pairs taking part in the fourth series of the BBC travel competition, which sees contestants race thousands of miles without the usual luxuries of modern travel.

This year’s line-up also features Eurovision star Sam Ryder and his friend and tour manager Kaz, singer Ella Eyre and childhood friend Nana Pepera, and former Soccer Saturday host Jeff Stelling alongside his son Matt.

The teams are racing from Kuching in Malaysian Borneo to Melbourne, Australia, navigating unfamiliar destinations and completing challenges while sticking to a limited budget.

By the end of the decade, China could threaten satellites with space-based directed energy weapons, according to a new report from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). This would add a dangerous new anti-satellite (ASAT) capability to Beijing’s arsenal, which already includes ground-based directed energy weapons that can disrupt, degrade, or damage satellites. The report, released Monday, offered another glimpse into what is to come as the potential for conflict in space only continues to grow.

The unclassified DIA report is based largely on open-source information, with a cutoff date of July. It was published to detail growing threats from China, Russia and emerging powers Iran and North Korea to global interests in the space domain. The report’s release also took place as the U.S. is becoming increasingly open about its own ASAT capabilities. Last month, for instance, U.S. military officials acknowledged for the first time that America has weapons in orbit.

“The PLA probably considers DEWs [directed energy weapons] ideal counterspace systems because they can cause both reversible and nonreversible effects against satellites,” the report, titled Challenges to Security in Space, explains. “By the late 2020s, China may field space-based directed energy systems and higher-powered ground-based directed energy systems capable of threatening satellites in higher orbits.”

The report did not provide specifics about whether China is developing lasers, high-powered microwaves, particle beams or a combination of these capabilities.

We have reached out to the agency for more information but did not immediately receive a response.

Reversible attacks include efforts to jam satellite signals or temporarily blind their optics. The latter can be done with devices like laser dazzlers.

DIA reported that in 2021 the People’s Liberation Army media “asserted that laser weapons were entering a golden age; they cited dazzling (i.e., temporarily blinding a sensor) as one of the many operational uses of laser weapons.”

Non-reversible attacks cause permanent damage. It could also involve a range of fully destructive options from directed energy attacks that burn a hole in a satellite using a laser or frying its delicate systems using a high-power microwave emissions to spraying its solar panels with aerosol pigment to direct-ascent intercepts and even nuclear weapon detonations in space. Physically tampering with the satellite using another satellite is another option.

China’s presence in orbit has been dramatically expanding in recent years. The report pointed out that as of July 2026, Beijing’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) satellite fleet “contained more than 510 systems, having more than tripled since 2018. While many of these ISR satellites are ostensibly affiliated with commercial and civil missions, the dual-use nature of their capabilities and possibly the Chinese military-civil fusion policies means the data or imagery they collect can be used by the PLA.”

China is also expanding its capabilities to new concepts like spaceplane developments, which we highlighted in a story about their capabilities yesterday based on details from the DIA report.

In addition to possibly being placed on satellites, DEWs could also potentially be added to spaceplanes, which can operate in a less predictable fashion than satellites, even if just for experimental roles or limited capability sets.

Though thin on details, the report reiterated the reality that China’s academia has been working toward space-based weapons for years.

“Since at least 2006, government-affiliated academics have investigated aerospace engineering technologies associated with space-based kinetic weapons—a class of weapon used to attack ground, sea, or air targets from orbit,” the DIA explained. “China’s space-based kinetic weapons research included methods of reentry, separation of payload, delivery vehicles, and transfer orbits for targeting purposes.”

Much of the PLA’s ASAT doctrine “characterizes the systems as useful deterrents against external involvement in a regional conflict or as a method to manage conflict escalation,” the DIA proffered. However, should China opt to strike first, one of the first and main targets would be satellites the U.S. and allies rely on for space-based sensing and communications. As we have often explained, even reversible attacks against any of this space-based infrastructure could have major impacts on the U.S. military’s ability to effectively conduct combat operations.

The DIA report noted that to date, China’s publicly known space-based ASAT capabilities center on satellites that can approach and grab others, which we have written about in the past. In one such instance, a Chinese satellite was observed in 2022 grabbing another satellite and pulling it out of its normal geosynchronous orbit and into a “super-graveyard drift orbit.” The maneuver raised questions about the potential applications of these types of satellites designed to maneuver close to other satellites for inspection or manipulation and added to growing concerns about China’s space program overall.

The threat satellites can already pose to others was highlighted earlier this month, when a Russian satellite, Kosmos 2612, may have passed within approximately 85 feet (26 meters) of ICEYE-X36. That is a U.S.-registered satellite belonging to commercial imagery provider ICEYE that was providing imagery to Ukraine. While no contact or damage was detected, the incident raised concerns that the Russian satellite could have harmed the ICEYE one purposely or even inadvertently.

You can see a time-lapse video of part of that encounter below.

When it comes to discussing weapons in space capable of attacking other on-orbit objects and the effects they could impose, it should be noted that this domain inherently creates complications when it comes to attributing any form of attack, should one occur. Satellites do malfunction, sometimes with catastrophic results, but it is not always possible to determine the cause. As a result, the challenge in attributing an event could delay a response, if needed, or spark one inadvertently.

As we previously reported, in January, “a Russian inspector satellite launched in 2014 appeared to break up unexpectedly. Sometime around the end of July, the Chinese reconnaissance satellite Yaogan 50-02, which had only been launched some four months earlier, also broke up in orbit. On Sept. 13, a similar fate befell the U.S. Cold War-era Farrah III spy satellite, also known as USA 32. At the time of writing, no firm evidence has emerged to indicate any of these incidents were the result of hostile action rather than accidents of some kind.”

Directed energy attacks, in particular, from one satellite against another, may be very hard to attribute as they can happen over longer distances in the vacuum of space. They would also presumably allow the attacking satellite to engage multiple targets, even in a relatively short period of time, making it one of the most attractive potential anti-satellite capabilities on orbit.

In addition to talking about Chinese space-based ASAT capabilities, the DIA report raised concerns about a wide array of threats from the PLA as well as Russia, North Korea and Iran.

The report did not address Russian space-based directed energy weapons plans. However, it did note that, like China, Russia does have ground-based laser systems already capable of affecting U.S. and allied satellites. The threat from these systems is not theoretical. They are part of an array of ASAT measures that China and Russia have used against the U.S. for years.

For instance, back in 2021, a top U.S. Space Force general warned that Russia and China were launching “reversible attacks,” such as electronic warfare jamming, temporarily blinding optics with lasers, and cyberattacks, on U.S. satellites “every single day.”

“China and Russia will continue to pursue new and improved counterspace capabilities to exploit a perceived U.S. and allied reliance on space-based assets,” DIA’s report concluded.

“China has developed and probably will continue to develop weapons for use against satellites in orbit to disrupt, damage and destroy adversary space capabilities,” the DIA suggested. “Russia is currently capable of targeting satellites in LEO with both terrestrial and orbital systems and is interested in developing systems for targeting more distant orbits.”

China and Russia aren’t the only adversaries the U.S. should be concerned about when it comes to space warfare, the DIA warned.

“In 2026, with the onset of Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. and Iran took offensive actions against each other’s space capabilities to degrade and disrupt military actions on both sides,” the agency stated. “Iran and North Korea will continue to build their civil and military and space capabilities and maintain their respective jamming capabilities.”

Meanwhile, the extent of current U.S. plans for space-based directed energy weapons is not publicly known. However, in a story we wrote last year about President Donald Trump’s plans for the Golden Dome missile shield system, we noted the role that directed energy weapons could play in that effort.

For years, U.S. space-based weapons plans have been shrouded in secrecy, but as we mentioned earlier in this story, that changed last month.

During his keynote speech at the Air & Space Forces Association’s (AFA) 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference, at which TWZ was in attendance, Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink made a bombshell admission, disclosing that there are on-orbit weapons now deployed to protect America’s interests in space. 

Meink declined to offer any details about what kinds of weapons they were. However, whatever they are, these weapons support a Space Control mission set, and the U.S. Space Force shared additional details about that directly with TWZ. 

“Space control encapsulates the mission areas required to contest and control the space domain – employing kinetic and non-kinetic means to affect adversary capabilities through disruption, degradation and even destruction, if necessary,” a Space Force spokesperson told us. “These capabilities can be employed for offensive and defensive purposes at the direction of combatant commands. U.S. military operations are conducted in compliance with international law, including the Outer Space Treaty and LOAC [the Law of Armed Conflict].”

While the DIA report does not make any new revelations about China’s space-based directed energy program, it serves as a stark reminder that this is a capability that could present a widening threat in the next few years.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

Netflix has shared the first glimpse of their adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, which stars Jack Lowden in the role of Mr Darcy and The Crown star Emma Corrin as Elizabeth

Netflix has shared the first glimpse of their adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. The streaming giant is behind a $60 million adaptation of the Jane Austen classic, and it is due for release in December.

The original novel was published in 1813 and has been adapted for the screen around 15 times, perhaps most notably in as a six-episode series in 1995, in which Colin Firth starred as Mr Darcy and Jenifer Ehle as his love interest Elizabeth Bennet.

Now, over 30 years later, Jack Lowden is to star as Mr Darcy whilst The Crown’s Emma Corrin will take on the role of Elizabeth. In the first look of the Netflix series, Lizzy (Emma Corrin) and Jane (Freya Mavor) open the trailer on the roof of Longbourn.

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Corrin is heard saying: “One day, Jane, I shall be either a governess and a spinster, or a wife and a mother.. And then, finally, we may talk about something else.”

Jane simply replies: “Such as what?” Mrs Bennet, played by Olivia Colman, utters the famed line “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

The series has been adapted by Dolly Alderton, who enjoyed success with her bestselling memoir Everything I Know About Love before it was turned into a BBC series.

She said “Pride and Prejudice is such a timeless story because of the emotions in the book; they are as pertinent now as they were in 1812.

“Embarrassment of your family, fear that you’re going to get left behind, fear that the world is not going to be a safe place for your children as it was for you, mortification that you judged someone incorrectly or that you had been misjudged. We go to that book to see our hearts reflected in it.”

“I always knew that I wanted it to be the opening line of the trailer, not only because I think it’s so relatable to women now who are looking to find the right partner and looking to find love, who are resentful of how much time it takes over their schedule and their brain, but also because it captures how much Lizzy is a character who’s working things out as she goes along.”

The official Netflix synopsis reads: “When wealthy bachelors arrive in their neighbourhood, the five Bennet sisters must navigate love, family, and society’s expectations to secure their futures.

“Jane falls for the charming Mr Bingley, while Elizabeth clashes with his proud friend Mr Darcy – but unexpected encounters and family scandals force Elizabeth to reconsider her feelings and discover the true nature of love.”

Pride and Prejudice arrives on Netflix on 3 December.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s alliance, made up of right and far-right parties, is short of a majority after the most consequential elections in decades.

Tuesday’s poll saw a record turnout. And the main opposition bloc, led by former military chief Gadi Eisenkot, also does not have the numbers to form a government on its own.

Meanwhile, parties representing the Palestinian citizens of Israel have made unprecedented electoral gains.

While Netanyahu has refused to work with Arab-led lists, could the opposition alliance reach a deal with them?

Or is cooperation a bridge too far while the Israeli military’s assaults on Gaza and the occupied West Bank continue?

Presenter: Sami Zeidan

Guests:

Mairav Zonszein – senior Israel analyst, International Crisis Group

Mustafa Barghouti – secretary-general, Palestinian National Initiative

Phyllis Bennis – fellow, Institute for Policy Studies, and author of Understanding Palestine and Israel