News Desk

Several Hollyoaks actor have fallen in love with their Channel 4 soap co-stars from Rory Douglas-Speed and Nadine Mulkerrin to Ruby O’Donnell and Nathaniel Dass

Love is in the air in Hollyoaks village.

Numerous romances and real-life weddings have blossomed on the set of the Channel 4 drama since its debut in 1995.

The continuing series is renowned for its passionate plotlines which have featured countless love triangles and explosive affairs across the last 30 years.

It’s hardly shocking that many stars from the acclaimed continuing drama have carried their romance beyond the cameras throughout the years.

Whilst certain relationships amongst cast members fizzled out, others clearly remain rock solid.

As the soap marks its 30th anniversary, let’s take a look at some of the couples still together.

Ruby O’Donnell and Nathaniel Dass

The latest romance to blossom from the fictional village is Ruby O’Donnell and Nathaniel Dass.

Ruby, best known for her role as Peri Lomax, and her beau Nathaniel, who debuted as Dillon Ray in 2023, 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.

Gregory Finnegan and Ariana Fraval

Hollyoaks heartthrob Gregory Finnegan previously shared scenes with his real-life wife Ariana Fraval.

The actress portrayed DS Cohen in the programme with her husband Greg playing scheming solicitor James Nightingale.

The duo exchanged vows in 2011 and Ariana has posted some personal photographs from their wedding day on Instagram.

DS Cohen was brought in to examine the demise of Gregory’s on-screen love interest, Harry Thompson.

The duo shot multiple scenes together during that period, and viewers were thrilled to discover that the two performers are actually wed in real life.

Anna Passey and Kyle Pryor

Kyle and Anna, famous for portraying Hollyoaks adversaries Laurie Shelby and Sienna Blake, disclosed their romantic involvement in 2019, the identical year his character Laurie met his end.

Following their decision to cohabit and unveil their secret behind-the-scenes romance, Anna revealed to New magazine: “We just don’t feel the need to put it out there.

“It’s nice to keep something for yourselves. But we’re not trying to keep it private to build the mystery. We became really good friends first and it went from there.”

Sienna remains a Hollyoaks mainstay and Kyle made his way back to the Hollyoaks studios in 2021 to kiss Anna on-screen due to coronavirus filming restrictions.

Nadine Mulkerrin and Rory-Douglas Speed

Rory and Nadine met on the set of the Channel 4 soap and got engaged in December 2018 after dating for just over a year.

The actor proposed just weeks after they filmed their characters’ Cleo McQueen and Joel Dexter’s wedding.

Nadine previously told OK! that they aren’t in a rush to tie the knot after welcoming two sons.

“We’ve been too busy to make plans,” the actress said at the time.

“We got pregnant, we moved out, then the world went crazy with COVID, then we got pregnant again. I’d love to have a wedding when the boys are older, so they’ll remember it.”

Danny Mac and Carley Stenson

Danny and Carley both appeared in Hollyoaks but the pair didn’t meet on the set of the Channel 4 soap.

The talented duo never appeared on the programme at the same time and actually met in a pub back in 2011.

Speaking on Loose Women previously, Danny explained: “We met in a pub in London when she was doing Legally Blonde on the West End. I went to see a mate who was in it at the time and we met in the pub after and that was it.”

Former Strictly Come Dancing runner-up Danny portrayed Dodger Savage in Hollyoaks from 2011 until 2015 and recently reprised his role.

Carley took on the role of Steph Cunningham in the programme from 2000 until 2011. The pair revealed their engagement in March 2016 and subsequently tied the knot in September 2017.

Danny and Carley are parents to two children.

Daisy Wood-Davis and Luke Jerdy

Former Hollyoaks stars Luke and Daisy revealed their engagement whilst on holiday in Greece in August 2019.

The actor dropped to one knee and proposed on the beach in front of Daisy’s family.

Daisy was eager to share the delightful news on Instagram, with photographs displaying her “dream” engagement ring that Luke had crafted.

“She said yes,” Luke captioned the same photo in Greek on his profile, before translating the phrase into English and adding: “Daisy is going to be my wife. I’ll take that.”

Luke portrayed Jesse Donovan on Hollyoaks from 2016 until 2020, whilst Daisy departed her role as Kim Butterfield in late 2018.

The couple first met back in 2011 through a mutual friend and are now married and parents to two children.

Emmett Scanlan and Claire Cooper

Claire, who played Jacqui McQueen in Hollyoaks from 2006 to 2013, met her now-husband Emmett in 2010 and they got hitched in New York on New Year’s Eve in 2015.

Emmett previously reminisced about their wedding day with The Sun, saying: “It’s something I’ll never forget. Everyone got behind the wedding with such love that it was overwhelming at times.”

Emmett and Claire have two chidlren and the actor also has a daughter from a previous relationship.

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

Oct. 17 (UPI) — The University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California have rejected the Trump administration’s offer of priority access to federal funds in exchange for adopting government-mandated reforms.

With the rejections of Penn and USC on Thursday, four of the nine universities the Department of Education asked to sign on to its 10-part “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” have so far declined.

In a letter addressed to the Penn community on Thursday, the school’s president, Larry Jameson, informed the Department of Education that Penn “respectfully” declined to sign the compact.

“At Penn, we are committed to merit-based achievement and accountability. The long-standing partnerships between American higher education and the federal government has greatly benefited society and our nation. Shared goals and investment in talent and ideas will turn possibility into progress,” Jameson said.

Beong-Soo Kim, interim president at USC, also told his community Thursday that they had informed the Department of Education that they wouldn’t be signing the compact.

Included in the statement was the letter he sent to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, which said that while they will not sign on to the compact, it raises issues “worthy of a broader national conversation to which USC would be eager to contribute its insights and expertise.”

“We are concerned that even though the compact would be voluntary, tying research benefits to it would, over time, undermine the same values of free inquiry and academic excellence that the compact seeks to promote.”

Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has targeted dozens of universities, particularly so-called elite institutions, with executive orders, lawsuits, reallocations of resources and threats over a range of allegations, from anti-Semitism to the adoption of diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Critics have accused Trump of trying to coerce schools under threat of stringent punishments — from losing their accreditation to paying hefty fines sometimes in excess of $1 billion — to adopt his far-right policies.

The compact announced Oct. 1 demands reforms to hiring practices and student grading and includes a pledge to prohibit transgender women from using women’s changing rooms.

It also requires the creation of a “vibrant marketplace of ideas,” a tuition freeze for five years and a cap on international enrollment, among other reforms.

After Penn announced its decision, the state’s governor, Josh Shapiro, commended the school for maintaining its independence “in the face of the Trump administration’s attempts to dictate what private colleges and universities teach and use the long arm of the federal government to censor ideas with which they disagree.”

“The Trump administration’s dangerous demands would limit freedom of speech, the freedom to learn and the freedom to engage in constructive debate and dialogue on campuses across the country,” he said in a statement.

“I am in full support of the university’s decision and appreciate the leadership and courage demonstrated by President Jameson and Board Chair [Ramanan] Raghavendran.”

Brown University refused to sign the compact on Wednesday and MIT late last week.

Suicide car bomber strikes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa amid unconfirmed reports that Qatar has offered to host peace talks.

Tensions are mounting between Pakistan and Afghanistan amid reports of a brutal border attack on the former’s troops as a fragile truce between the neighbours, and once allies, nears its expiry.

A 48-hour ceasefire between the two sides, which came into effect this week after days of bloody cross-border attacks, is set to expire at 13:00 GMT on Friday.

As the end of the truce approached, Pakistani police official Irfan Ali said a suicide car bomber backed by Pakistan Taliban, known by the acronym TTP, attacked a military compound in Mir Ali, a city in North Waziristan district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Accounts of losses suffered during the attack varied.

The official, quoted by news agency The Associated Press, said three fighters were killed in an intense shootout and did not report any troop casualties.

News agency Reuters quoted Pakistani security officials as saying seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in an attack by a fighter who rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the wall of a Pakistani military camp in North Waziristan.

The anonymous officials said two other fighters were shot dead as they tried to get into the facility. At least 13 were left injured.

Pakistan’s Geo News reported that four assailants from TTP were killed in a suicide attack on a military camp in North Waziristan, with security sources saying security forces had suffered no losses.

Pakistan’s army did not immediately comment.

Deadly clashes

The truce, imposed on Wednesday, brought a temporary halt to the deadliest clashes between the neighbours since 2021, when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of United States and NATO forces.

The conflict, which threatens to destabilise a region where groups like ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda are trying to resurface, was triggered after Islamabad demanded that Kabul rein in fighters who had stepped up attacks in Pakistan, saying they operated from havens in Afghanistan.

The Taliban denies the charge and accuses the Pakistani military of spreading misinformation about Afghanistan, provoking border tensions, and sheltering fighters to undermine its stability and sovereignty.

Media reported that Qatar has offered to host peace talks between the two countries in Doha, though neither government has confirmed the offer.

Reporting from Peshawar, Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder said there had been “some talk of a meeting in Doha … Friendly countries are trying to make efforts in order to ensure that the ceasefire is extended,” he said.

He described the situation on the border as “tense”, adding that Pakistan had stated that unless the Afghan side addressed its concerns, the situation would be “precarious and can escalate at any moment”.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government said on Thursday that Pakistan had carried out two drone attacks on Kabul the previous day, just before the ceasefire came into effect. Doctors told AP that five people were killed and dozens were injured.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said on Thursday that 37 civilians were killed and 425 were wounded in Afghanistan as a result of cross-border clashes with Pakistan this week.

Pakistan has not provided figures for civilian casualties suffered on its side of the border.

On Thursday, Dawn cited Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the military, as saying 34 “India-backed terrorists” from “Fitna-al-Khawarij” – the government’s term for TTP – had been killed during multiple operations across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the week.

LIAM Payne’s devastated sister has taken a swipe at people seemingly using his death for fame.

Just hours after his girlfriend at the time of his passing Kate Cassidy shared a video of her “last dance” with the late star on the anniversary of his death, Liam’s sister Ruth took to social media.

Taking a swipe about people “using his death for fame” in her moving tribute for Liam on the one year anniversary of his death, Ruth didn’t hold back.

“Everyone only seems interested in the public side of this.

“Some sadly seem more interested in the fame they can gain off this, but on the human side people need to remember when they speak, there is a son without his Dad, parents without their child and I am lost without my brother,” she said.

This comes after a video was shared of Liam lifting his girlfriend Kate Cassidy in a final dance before his tragic death.

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Liam Payne lifts girlfriend Kate Cassidy in final dance before tragic death

Heartbroken Kate, 26, posted a clip on social media on Thursday night of the ex-1D singer attempting to hoist her up.

On the one-year anniversary of Liam’s death in Argentina, Kate wrote: “This video was taken during the last hour and last day Liam and I shared in this lifetime.

“I am forever grateful for the beautiful moments we shared. I will miss you for the rest of my life Liam.”

Elsewhere in Ruth’s tribute for her late brother, she said: “1year, 12months, 52weeks, 365days… whichever way I say it, it still means the most heartbreaking truth that you’re not here any more.

“When you used to go away on tour, and l’d cry that you’d be gone for a while, I always knew you’d come back, but now I can’t get you home, I can’t meet up with you somewhere in the world, I can’t facetime or text to see how you’re doing, it’s an eternal homesick feeling because we can’t go back.”

She continued: “I underestimated grief, woah did I underestimate it.

“I am paralysed by it daily. I thought I had felt it before but I know the losses before you were just intense sadness, you are the loss of my life, the one person who l will miss at every single occasion in my life.

“I’d taken for granted that my little brother would be there through life, what a cruel lesson to learn in our 30s, that a sibling is not guaranteed to be a lifer, that I have to face this without you.”

Ruth went on: “Your death will never make sense, no matter how much I study it, whatever angle I look at it, it never makes sense. You shouldn’t have died. 

“I have a reoccurring nightmare where I am in your hotel room just before it happened and you can’t hear me screaming for you, my brain is locked on your last minutes on this earth, the unaccounted minutes, the minutes I will never have the answers to, the minutes that changed everything.

“So much has happened in a year, so much to tell you, our kids have changed massively, you would continue to be in awe of your son!

“I’ve definitely got funnier (I know you’re thinking how is that possible right?!) – some of the jokes I make really make me smile because I know they would have earned me a ‘ruuu’ off you, l’ve visited some beautiful places but each place has confirmed, no matter the view, I will still feel your void from all corners of the earth.”

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She later added: “I think of my grief as a clock, I explained to you years ago when I was nagging you to be better at answering your phone, that my head was like the ‘Weasley’s clock’ out of Harry Potter, where it would check everyone in our family in before I could switch off and with you travelling the world, it’d really need your confirmation of being safe and sound before I’d settle. 

“Only now, there is a number missing off the clock, which means nothing in my days makes sense and it feels like noone is safe and sound.”

Thousands of mourners gathered at a stadium in Kenya for a state funeral for opposition leader and former prime minister, Raila Odinga. His flag-draped coffin was carried by uniformed officers ahead of the service, which was attended by President William Ruto.

Palestinians in Gaza continue to suffer a harsh daily struggle to access food, water, and essential medical supplies one week into the ceasefire agreement as Israel heavily restricts the flow of aid into the war-devastated enclave, contravening the deal.

UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram told Al Jazeera that Palestinians in northern Gaza are in “desperate need” of food and water as thousands have returned to total destruction.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from the al-Mawasi area in the south of the Gaza Strip, Ingram said that in order to scale up humanitarian aid deliveries, multiple crossings into the enclave must be opened.

“The stakes are really high,” she said. “There are 28,000 children who were diagnosed with malnutrition in July and August alone, and thousands more since then. So, we need to make sure it’s not just food coming in, but malnutrition treatments, as well.”

While maintaining that humanitarian aid should never become political leverage, Ingram highlighted that assistance to Gaza has been severely constrained for two years, with United Nations agencies sidelined.

“This [ceasefire] is our opportunity to overcome all of that, to turn it right. That is why Israel has to open all of the border crossings now, and they have to let all of the aid into the Gaza Strip at scale alongside commercial goods,” she said.

Israel’s military aid agency COGAT on Thursday announced plans to coordinate with Egypt for reopening the Rafah crossing for civilian movement once preparations conclude. However, COGAT specified that Rafah would remain closed for aid deliveries, saying this wasn’t stipulated in the truce agreement. All humanitarian supplies must instead pass through Israeli security inspections at the Karem Abu Salem crossing, known to Israelis as Kerem Shalom.

With famine conditions already present in parts of Gaza, UN Under-Secretary-General Tom Fletcher indicated thousands of aid vehicles weekly are required to address the humanitarian crisis.

Despite some aid trucks entering Gaza on Wednesday, medical services remain severely limited and the majority of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents are now homeless. Ismail al-Thawabta, head of the Hamas-run Gaza media office, characterized recent aid deliveries as merely a “drop in the ocean”.

Israeli military operations have devastated much of the densely populated territory, with Gaza health authorities reporting nearly 68,000 Palestinian deaths.

Samer Abdeljaber, the World Food Programme’s regional director, stated the UN agency is utilising “every minute” of the ceasefire to intensify relief operations.

“We are scaling up to serve the needs of over 1.6 million people,” Abdeljaber said in a social media video, noting WFP’s plans to activate nearly 30 bakeries and 145 food distribution points.

“This is the moment to keep access open and make sure the aid keeps flowing,” he said.

Britney Spears will not stand for ex-husband Kevin Federline’s scathing claims about how she raised their two sons, writing on social media that the allegations in his upcoming book are part of his “constant gaslighting.”

The “Stronger” and “Oops!… I Did It Again” pop star hit back at her ex-husband Wednesday evening in a statement shared to X and Instagram, writing that confronting his latest revelations has been “extremely hurtful and exhausting.” The 43-year-old singer, whose conservatorship ended four years ago, said she has “always pleaded and screamed to have a life with [her] boys.”

“Relationships with teenage boys is complex,” her statement continued. “I have felt demoralized by this situation and have always asked and almost begged for them to be a part of my life.”

Spears and Federline, 47, married in 2004 and divorced three years later after welcoming boys Sean Preston and Jayden James. Federline, a dancer, was awarded sole custody in 2008 when Spears was placed under a conservatorship. In excerpts from his incoming book “You Thought You Knew,” Federline accuses Spears of consuming cocaine while she was still breastfeeding their second son. He also accuses her of holding a knife while she watched her sons sleeping and raises claims about the singer’s alleged cheating and a physical incident.

Federline wrote that the alleged cocaine incident occurred in 2006 during the release party for his album, according to an excerpt shared with Us Weekly. “The first thing I saw was Britney and her young starlet friend snorting a fat line of coke off the table,” he said in his book. He said he urged the pop star not to “feed the kids like this” and that she responded by allegedly throwing a cocktail in his face.

“That’s what ended us,” he wrote, according to Us Weekly.

In a memoir excerpt published by the New York Times, Federline alleged that their sons would awake “sometimes to find her standing silently in the doorway, watching them sleep” with a knife in her hand. “Then she’d turn around and pad off without explanation,” he wrote.

In her social media retort, Spears said their sons “have always witnessed the lack of respect show by [their] own father for me” and added “they need to take responsibility for themselves.” She claimed that she had seen one son for only “45 min in the past 5 years” and that the other has visited only four times since 2021. A judge terminated Spears’ controversial conservatorship in November 2021.

“I have pride too,” the Grammy-winning vocalist said, adding she intends to make herself more available to her sons.

Federline’s book isn’t the first time he dropped bold claims about Spears. He claimed in a 2022 interview with the Daily Mail that their sons had “decided they are not seeing her right now” and opted not to attend her marriage to Sam Asghari, whom she has since divorced. At the time, Federline also claimed the boys had taken issue with her scantily-clad Instagram posts.

“I try to explain to them, ‘Look, maybe that’s just another way she tries to express herself.’ But that doesn’t take away from the fact of what it does to them,” he said. “It’s tough … I can’t imagine how it feels to be a teenager having to go to high school” with those posts existing.

In response to those comments, Spears said she gave her sons “everything” and found Federline’s claims “HURTFUL.”

Federline’s “You Thought You Knew” comes out Tuesday, two years after Spears published her memoir “The Woman in Me.” Her book dished on topics including her struggles with drugs, her relationship with ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake and her conservatorship.

Spears said on Wednesday that her ex-husband’s “white lies in that book, they are going straight to the bank.” She also urged followers to take tabloid reports about her mental health and drinking with a grain of salt.

“I am actually a pretty intelligent woman who has been trying to live a sacred and private life the past 5 years,” she concluded her statement. “I speak on this because I have had enough and any real woman would do the same.”

Oct. 17 (UPI) — More than 20 states are suing the Trump administration for rescinding $7 billion in Congress-approved funds to equip nearly 1 million homes in low-income and disadvantaged communities with solar power.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, accuses the Environmental Protection Agency of breaching grant agreements by unilaterally terminated grants that had already been awarded.

“The administration is again targeting people struggling to get by in America, this time by gutting programs that help low-income households afford electricity, Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown said in a statement.

“Congress passed a solar energy program to help make electricity costs more affordable, but the administration is ignoring the law and focused on the conspiracy theory that climate change is a hoax.

The Solar for All program was established with the passage of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which included a $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund for the EPA to administer.

Using that Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, Congress appropriated $7 billion for the EPA to make grants, loans and financial assistance available for low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from zero-emission technologies, including solar power.

In April 2024, the EPA announced it had selected 60 applicants to receive the grants. By August of that year, the EPA had awarded program funds to states and other grant recipients.

But in August, the EPA, under the Trump administration, ended the program and reclaimed about 90% of the funds already awarded.

The 22 states, along with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, are accusing the Trump administration of violating the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how administrative agencies operate, and the Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine by canceling the program.

The plaintiffs allege that the EPA is using an “erroneous interpretation” of H.R. 1, which the Trump administration calls the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by Congress in July, to justify the termination of the grants.

The states on Wednesday also filed a complaint in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to recover damages caused by the alleged breach of the grant agreements.

Earlier this month, a coalition of solar energy companies, labor unions and homeowners sued the EPA over the termination of the grants.

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‘This represents hope’

BBC Breakfast presenters Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty paid tribute to a late rock star on the show following news of his death

BBC Breakfast launched Friday’s programme (17 October) with heartbreaking news about a beloved rock legend’s passing, as the show delivered a touching tribute.

Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty returned to screens with another jam-packed edition of BBC Breakfast, packed with various interviews, news bulletins, and weather forecasts.

Just moments into Friday’s broadcast, Charlie and Naga revealed the tragic news of KISS guitarist Ace Frehley’s death, who died aged 74 on 16 October.

The musician, whose real name was Paul Daniel Frehley, was famous for his Spaceman character and served as a founding member of the American group, along with singer and guitarist Paul Stanley, bassist Gene Simmons, and drummer Peter Criss.

“Tributes have been paid to one of the founding members of the band KISS. Paul ‘Ace’ Frehley, who has died at the age of 74,” Charlie revealed on BBC Breakfast.

A compilation featuring multiple clips of Ace was subsequently shown, whilst Charlie added: “He was known for guitar solos and he wore the Spaceman outfit from the band’s formation in 1973 until he left the band in 1982.

“He later rejoined in the late 1990s. His bandmates Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley called him ‘an essential and irreplaceable rock soldier’.”

Ace’s passing was confirmed on Thursday evening through a statement issued by his family. He leaves behind his wife, Jeanette, and his daughter, Monique, reports the Express.

“We are completely devastated and heartbroken. In his last moments, we were fortunate enough to have been able to surround him with loving, caring, peaceful words, thoughts, prayers, and intentions as he left this earth,” the statement read.

The family continued: “We cherish all of his finest memories, his laughter, and celebrate his strengths and kindness that he bestowed upon others. The magnitude of his passing is of epic proportions and beyond comprehension.

“Reflecting on all of his incredible life achievements, Ace’s memory will continue to live on forever!”

Meanwhile, Ace’s bandmates Paul and Gene issued a joint statement, which read: “We are devastated by the passing of Ace Frehley.

“He was an essential and irreplaceable rock soldier during some of the most formative foundational chapters of the band and its history. He is and will always be a part of KISS’s legacy.”

BBC Breakfast airs at 6am daily on BBC One.

Past visits by top leaders to Yasukuni, which honours convicted war criminals, have angered Japan’s neighbours.

The new leader of Japan’s governing party, Sanae Takaichi, has decided not to visit a controversial World War II shrine in Tokyo, as uncertainty remains over whether she will be appointed prime minister ahead of a visit by United States President Donald Trump before the end of the month.

Takaichi, 64, seen as an arch-conservative from the right of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), has previously visited the Yasukuni Shrine, including as a government minister.

However, Takaichi opted on Friday to send an offering, and reports said she was likely to refrain from visiting in order not to antagonise the country’s neighbours whom Imperial Japan had occupied and committed atrocities against in the first half of the 20th century.

Past visits by top leaders to Yasukuni, which honours convicted war criminals, have angered China and South Korea. The last visit by a Japanese premier was in 2013 by the late Shinzo Abe, Takaichi’s mentor.

Takaichi’s decision not to visit the shrine came as Japan’s former Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, best known for making a statement apologising for atrocities Japan committed in Asia over the course of World War II, died aged 101.

Murayama, in office from 1994 to 1996, issued the 1995 “Murayama statement” on the 50th anniversary of Japan’s unconditional surrender.

Murayama died on Friday at a hospital in his hometown, Oita, in southwestern Japan, according to a statement from Mizuho Fukushima, head of Japan’s Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Hiroyuki Takano, secretary-general of the SDP in Oita, told the AFP news agency he had been informed that Murayama died of old age.

Political wrangling

Takaichi became LDP leader on October 4, but her aim to become Japan’s first female prime minister was derailed after the LDP’s coalition partner of 26 years, the Komeito party, pulled the plug on their alliance last week.

The LDP is now in talks about forming a different alliance, boosting Takaichi’s chances of becoming premier in a parliamentary vote that local media reports said will likely happen on Tuesday.

The clock is ticking for Takaichi to become Japan’s fifth prime minister in as many years with Trump’s impending visit.

Details of Washington and Tokyo’s trade deal remain unresolved and Trump – who had warm relations with Abe in his first term – wants Japan to stop Russian energy imports and boost defence spending.

Komeito said that the LDP has failed to tighten rules on party funding following a damaging slush fund scandal involving dodgy payments of millions of dollars.

The LDP this week began talks on forming a new coalition with the Japan Innovation Party instead.

The two parties would be two seats short of a majority but the alliance would still likely ensure that Takaichi succeeds in becoming premier.

A spanner in the works could be if opposition parties agreed on a rival candidate but talks earlier this week appeared to make little headway.

More talks were due to take place on Friday.

State of emergency to be declared in capital as protests that led to last week’s ouster of former president intensify.

Peru’s new president, Jose Jeri, is refusing to resign amid Gen Z antigovernment protests, inflamed by the death of a popular rapper, as crime grips the nation.

The government said late on Thursday that a state of emergency would be declared in the capital, Lima, as the prosecutor’s office announced it was investigating the previous day’s killing of 32-year-old protester and hip-hop singer Eduardo Ruiz in a mass demonstration.

Peru’s police chief, General Oscar Arriola, said that Luis Magallanes, a member of the force, was believed to have fired the bullet and had subsequently been detained and dismissed from his job. Arriola added that Magallanes was being treated in hospital after being physically assaulted.

Ruiz was the first person to die in the protests, which began a month ago with calls for better pensions and wages for young people and later became a lightning rod for broader frustrations with crime and corruption, culminating in the ouster of former President Dina Boluarte last week.

On Wednesday, thousands massed around the country, with hundreds clashing with police outside Congress in Lima, as they called on recently appointed Jeri, the seventh president in less than a decade, to resign.

“My responsibility is to maintain the stability of the country; that is my responsibility and my commitment,” Jeri told the local media after visiting Peru’s parliament, where he said he would request powers to combat crime.

Jeri expressed regret over Ruiz’s death in a post on X, saying the death would be “objectively” investigated. He blamed violence on “delinquents who infiltrated a peaceful demonstration to sow chaos”.

“The full force of the law will be on them,” he wrote.

Reporting from Lima, Al Jazeera’s Mariana Sanchez said that Ruiz’s death had “added another layer to the ongoing political crisis” in the country and had “angered even more Peruvians who are frustrated with the corruption, with the insecurity in the country”.

“He was peacefully hanging out with his friends. Unfortunately, the bullet hit his chest. We want justice for him,” activist Milagros Samillan told Al Jazeera.

The prosecutor’s office wrote on X that it had ordered the removal of Ruíz’s body from a Lima hospital and the “collection of audiovisual and ballistic evidence in the area where the incident occurred, in the context of serious human rights violations”.

Newly appointed interior minister, Vicente Tiburcio, said that 89 police and 22 civilians had been injured during Wednesday’s protest and 11 people were detained.

ACTOR Kevin Spacey sexually assaulted a man despite being told, “No, this is not right”, court documents allege.

The star is being sued at the High Court by the man known only as LNP, who says he suffered pain, anxiety and distress.

Elizabeth-Anne Gumbel, for LNP, says in papers filed at the court that the alleged assaults happened on about 12 occasions from 2000 to 2005.

She says: “Mr Spacey would place his own hand on the claimant’s leg without consent.

“The claimant would attempt to remove the hand and say, ‘No, this is not right’.”

She called it a “breach of trust and exploitation by a powerful man in a position of responsibility on a much younger man”.

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Ms Gumbel said that LNP had suffered “pain and suffering at the time of the abuse itself, which was exacerbated by feelings of embarrassment, shame, dirtiness and confusion”.

He also suffered “anxiety and distress and mild post-traumatic symptoms from the abuse”.

She said: “The assaults were committed in circumstances of breach of trust and exploitation by a powerful man in a position of responsibility on a much younger man.

“The claimant seeks to claim aggravated damages.”

Oscar-winner Spacey, 66, has previously denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour and wrongdoing.

He has yet to file a defence to the claim.

Oct. 16 (UPI) — A federal judge in Chicago ruled Thursday that immigration agents must begin wearing body cameras to record their actions during enforcement operations.

U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued the order in federal court in Chicago after reports of immigration agents clashing with residents of the city’s Southeast Side, incidents that ended with officers spraying people with tear gas and other chemical agents.

Ellis’ decision comes following a temporary restraining order that she issued on Oct. 9 restricting immigration agents’ use of non-lethal weapons on civilians.

“I am profoundly disappointed about what has been happening over the last week since I entered this order,” Ellis said, the Chicago Sun Times reported. “I live in Chicago, if folks haven’t noticed, and I’m not blind, right? So, I don’t live in a cave. I have a phone. I have a TV. I have a computer and I tend to get news.”

Ellis said she believes the Trump administration is not following her orders to stand down on the clashes, which is causing her “serious concerns,” she said.

Ellis said Thursday that she will expand her restraining order to require all federal agents who are part of Operation Midway Blitz, and who wear body cameras, to have them on when encountering protesters.

She initially required all immigration agents to wear body cameras, but moderated after a Trump administration attorney said equipping all officers to wear cameras was logistically impossible and would be cost prohibitive.

The Justice Department continued in opposition, saying it would be challenging to review body camera footage of every officer in response to every allegation.

Ellis issued the restraining order after a group of local journalists and protesters sued the Trump administration, alleging that agents targeted people engaging in peaceful protests, including multiple reporters who claimed they were shot with pepper balls despite being identified as members of the media.

Ellis ordered a Homeland Security official to appear in court on Monday to discuss the matter.

According to local reports, Ellis ordered a top Homeland Security official to appear in court on Monday to address the issue.

Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt remains closed as Trump threatens Hamas over gang clashes.

Kelly Reichardt’s watchful cinema is one of the indie world’s most exquisite bounties, a space for pioneers (“Meek’s Cutoff,” “First Cow”), artists (“Showing Up”) and wanderers (“Old Joy,” “Wendy and Lucy”) who command your attention the way an ER waiting room does, lingering tensely.

One might not consider a heist film in such anthropological terms. And yet “The Mastermind,” Reichardt’s latest and one of her best, while set in motion by a daylight art grab orchestrated by Josh O’Connor’s middle-class Massachusetts suburbanite, is another precisely turned Reichardt movie: honest, sad, funny and inherently philosophical about our engagement with the world. As you might expect, it’s really about the crime’s aftermath, our cut from this robbery being a deft, fascinating character study rooted in an apathy that’s starkly juxtaposed with the restive year it’s set in: 1970.

By the look of things, preppy, soft-spoken James Mooney (O’Connor), an unemployed carpenter, isn’t obvious criminal material, no matter what composer Ray Mazurek’s propulsive, horn-forward jazz score might imply. James cases his local art museum, often with his unwitting wife, Teri (Alana Haim), and two young boys in tow. Otherwise, James is just a distracted dad, checked-out husband and disappointing son living off the status and largesse of his parents, an esteemed judge (Bill Camp) and a society mother (Hope Davis).

Still, based solely on the error-prone heist — it’s been ages since pantyhose masks seemed so ridiculous — thievery isn’t this spoiled man’s strong suit either. (You didn’t think that title was respectful, did you?) When he’s stashing the stolen paintings later in a farmhouse’s hayloft and accidentally knocks the ladder out from under him, the moment is amusing and appropriately metaphorical.

Reichardt is laying bare a privileged man’s half-assed delinquency, especially with O’Connor so hypnotic at conveying self-absorbed cluelessness with his woeful eyes, posture and movement. As the movie then hits the road for his escape, the early fall colors of Christopher Blauvelt’s cinematography shift to gray tones and darker interiors, and James’ vibe is less rebel eluding capture — even if a pal he visits (John Magaro) expresses admiration — than alienated loser leaving behind a mess, an assessment radiating from Gaby Hoffmann as Magaro’s wife. The bebop groove abandons James, too, slowing into jagged drum solos.

The last contextual indignity are the details of the period itself: Nixon posters, anti-war signs, Vietnam footage on televisions, a protest march. Unforced but ever-present in Reichardt’s mise-en-scène, they remind us that this bored aesthete’s misadventure is an especially empty way to buck conformity. When good trouble beckons, why pick the bad kind?

One can even detect, in this brilliant, captivating Reichardt gem about fortune and fate, a what-if attached to her disaffected male protagonist: Would today’s version of James, just as adrift and arrogant, steal art to assuage his emptiness? Or, thanks to the internet, succeed at something much worse? “The Mastermind” may be an ironic title as heists go. But it also hints at the male-pattern badness still to come.

Oct. 16 (UPI) — With less than three weeks before New Yorkers head to the polls to select the city’s 111th mayor, candidates Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and independent Andrew Cuomo squared off for a heated debate Thursday night in Manhattan.

Though a trio of candidates stood before lecterns at WNBC’s 30 Rockefeller Center studios, the debate was mainly a fight between Mamdani, the New York City assemblyman leading in the polls, and Cuomo, the former governor of New York State, leaving Sliwa, founder of the nonprofit crime prevention Guardian Angels organization, trying to enter the fray.

Leadership

Cuomo, who left the New York governor’s mansion in August 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations, was quick to attack Mamdani, saying the New York assemblyman’s inexperience makes him unfit to oversee a 300,000-employee city workforce and a multi-billion-dollar budget.

“This is no job for on-the-job training,” he said. “And if you look at the failed mayors they’re ones that have no management experience. Don’t do it again.”

Mamdani, in rebuttal, attempted to frame Cuomo as an out-of-touch politician backed by wealthy donors, while pointing to his successes in the state’s assembly as proof of his own experience.

The former governor said Mamdani’s answer was proof of his lack of experience — and a lack of experience in leading New York could have deadly consequences.

“This is not a job for a first timer,” Cuomo said. “Any day you could have a hurricane, God forbid, a 9/11, a health pandemic. If you don’t know what you’re doing people will die.”

“If we have a health pandemic, then why would New Yorkers turn back to the governor who sent seniors to their deaths in nursing homes?” Mamdani replied, referring to a public scandal over how Cuomo’s administration handled COVID-19 in nursing homes and other elder-care facilities.

Sliwa, who has taken a tough-on-crime stance, attempted to interject into the conversation, at one point telling the moderators that he was being “marginalized.”

He then attempted to set himself apart from the two men who have held political seats, by emphasizing that he is not a politican, and referring to Cuomo as the “architect” and Mamdani the “apprentice.”

“Thank God I’m not a professional politician because they have helped create this crime crisis in the city that we face and I will resolve [it],” he said.

President Donald Trump

President Donald Trump’s presence and ongoing immigration crackdown have loomed large over the race and ahve put a greater spotlight on Mamdani, who was recently little known outside of the city, as the American leader has called him and his left-leaning policies out on social media.

Asked what he would say to Trump in their first phone call, Mamdani said he would tell the American leader that he is willing to work with him to help raise the living standards of New Yorkers, but if that he seeks to cut funds to the city “he’s going to have to get through me as the next mayor.”

Cuomo similarly offered that he’d like to work with Trump “but Number One, I will fight you every step of the way if you try to hurt New York.”

Sliwa criticized both candidates for trying to act “tough” when doing so would only end up hurting New Yorkers.

“They want to take on Donald Trump. Look, you can be tough, but you can’t be tough if its going to cost people desperately needed federal funds,” he said, stating he would sit down with the president and negotiate.

“But if you try to get tough with Trump, the only people who are going to suffer from that are the people of New York City.”

Israel-Hamas

With the first phase of the Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal underway, moderators called on Mamdani to clarify previous statements he has made about the Palestinian militant group specifically about whether it should disarm.

In response, Mamdani said he was “proud” to be among the first New York elected officials to call for a cease-fire, which he defined as meaning “all parties have to cease fire and put down their weapons.”

Sliwa then jumped in to chastise Cuomo and Mamdani for neither applauding Trump for securing the cease-fire deal.

Cuomo then rebutted that he did applaud Trump and his administration, using the topic to accuse Mamdani and his stance against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank as coded language meaning “Israel does not have a right to exist as a Jewish state.”

Mamdani then clapped back that “occupation” is an international legal term that “Mr. Cuomo has no regard for” as he has joined the legal defense team of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their fight against arrest warrants at the International Criminal Court.

He was then pressed on his previous reluctance to condemn the use of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which to some is a pro-Palestinian slogan of resistance against oppression and to others as encouragement of violence against Jews.

Sliwa also lashed out at Mamdani, stating “Jews don’t trust you’re going to be there for them when they are victims of anti-Semitic attacks.”

The second mayoral debate is scheduled for Oct. 22.

Early voting opens Oct. 25. The election is to be held Nov. 4.

Here are the key events from day 1,331 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is how things stand on Friday, October 17, 2025:

Fighting

• Russian war correspondent Ivan Zuyev has been killed by a Ukrainian drone strike while on assignment on the front line of the war in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, his publication, state news agency RIA said. Zuyev’s colleague, Yuri Voitkevich, was seriously wounded in the attack.

• Russia launched a large armoured assault with more than 20 armoured vehicles near the eastern Ukrainian town of Dobropillia, Ukraine’s Azov brigade said, adding that its forces repelled the attack.
• Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces carried out a massive overnight strike on Ukrainian gas infrastructure which supports Kyiv’s military, in retaliation for what it said were Ukrainian attacks on civilian infrastructure.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched a barrage of more than 300 drones and 37 missiles in that attack. Ukraine’s state grid operator, Ukrenergo, has also introduced emergency power cuts in every region of the country.
• Ukraine struck Russia’s Saratov oil refinery overnight, the Ukrainian military general staff said in a statement on Telegram.
• Some 84,000 people are still without power in the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s Kherson region after Ukrainian strikes this week on energy infrastructure, according to Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-appointed governor of the region.
• Alexei Likhachev, the head of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, said a decision could be taken as early as Friday on a pause in fighting to enable repairs to power lines at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine.
• North Korean troops based in Russia are operating drones across the border into Ukraine on reconnaissance missions, the Ukrainian military said, the first time Kyiv has reported a battlefield role for North Koreans in months.

Ceasefire talks

• In a surprise move, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to another summit on the war in Ukraine after the leaders held a more than two-hour phone conversation. Trump and Putin may meet within the next two weeks in Budapest, Hungary, Trump said after the conversation, which he called productive.
• The Kremlin confirmed plans for the meeting, adding that Putin told Trump on the call that supplying US Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine would harm the peace process and damage ties.
• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will speak in the coming days to prepare the summit, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said, adding that the timing would depend on how preparatory work progressed.
• The development came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was headed to the White House on Friday to push for more military support. Zelenskyy said on the eve of those talks that momentum in the Middle East peace process would help end his country’s more than three-year-old war with Russia.

Europe

• The European Commission has proposed four flagship European defence projects, including a counter-drone system and a plan to fortify the eastern border, as part of a drive to get the continent ready to defend itself by 2030.
• The proposals, in a defence policy “roadmap”, reflect fears fuelled by the war in Ukraine that Russia may attack an EU member in the coming years, and calls by President Trump for Europe to do more for its own security.

Sanctions

• Britain has targeted Russia’s two largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, and 44 shadow fleet tankers in what it described as a new bid to tighten energy sanctions and choke off Kremlin revenues. Lukoil and Rosneft were designated under Britain’s Russia sanctions laws for their role in supporting the Russian government. They are subject to an asset freeze, director disqualification, transport restrictions, and a ban on British trust services.
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he would call for the European Union to use Russian assets frozen in the West to provide a large loan to Ukraine to finance its war effort at the upcoming EU summit on October 23.
• Canada and Britain have expressed interest in working on the EU idea of a reparations loan for Ukraine based on immobilised Russian assets, European Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told the Reuters news agency on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington.
• Dombrovskis said he presented the idea of the EU loan, which could be up to 185bn euros ($216.5bn) over two years, to G7 finance ministers.

Zack Polanski, the Green Party Leader, had called Zia Yusuf, of Reform UK, “a fascist” on Question Time on the BBC last week, and he was asked about this on The Jeremy Vine Show

Green Party leader Zack Polanski made a thinly veiled goad at Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf.

The 42-year-old politician, who became leader of the party last month, said he feels the Greens’ popularity has surged recently because, in part, of his honesty and desire to challenge issues. He had clashed with Mr Yusuf, who is Nigel Farage’s top aide, during last week’s Question Time, during which Mr Polanski called the politician “a fascist”.

And Mr Polanski, from Salford, Greater Manchester, was interrogated about this on by Jeremy Vine on his Channel 5 show this week. The Green Party leader said: “The reason why we are surging in the polls and the reason why we are getting so many members is because if something walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I’ll call it a duck, and actually Nigel Farage, when he worked in the European Parliament, used to join forces with the Swedish Democrats.”

He later used the term “far right” in his response to Mr Vine, which led to a furious reaction from fellow panelist Carole Malone on Wednesday. The journalist and columnist said: “How dare you throw words like ‘Nazi’ around? Do you even know what that means? You are just going to let Reform get more votes by talking like that.”

READ MORE: Sarah Ferguson’s aide speaks out on ‘menacing’ Jeffrey Epstein threat to ‘destroy’ familyREAD MORE: Gasps as BBC Question Time guest challenges Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf on immigration

But Mr Polanski hit back at Ms Malone, describing her response as “faux outrage” and bringing the discussion onto immigration. He made the point he feels there are no “safe and legal routes” for anyone to reach the UK.

The topic came up on The Jeremy Vine Show after Mr Polanski was praised for his work on Question Time last week. He sat alongside the likes of Mr Yusuf, Tory MP Nigel Huddleston and journalist Annabel Denham in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

Audience members applauded Mr Polanski when he accused the Reform politician of “spreading misinformation and fear” during a discussion, sparked by a guest challenging Mr Yusuf not to use the word “immigration” for the whole of the programme.

But Mr Yusuf swiftly declined the challenge, and instead insisted immigration is “the number one issue” in the UK at the moment. The 39-year-old businessman argued there has been “far too much mass immigration in this country” for some time.

Yet, Mr Polanski remained defiant – and continued his approach on The Jeremy Vine Show this week. Mr Vine, who has presented the programme since 2018, said Mr Polanski was “very tough” on Question Time, a stance for which the Green Party politician expressed no regrets. Later on the Channel 5 show, Mr Polanski stressed it is this approach which has led to the continued rise in the polls of the Green Party.

Safety advisers in Birmingham City and UK police said Israeli team fans should not attend match due to ‘risks to public safety’.

Fans of the Israeli football team Maccabi Tel Aviv have been barred from attending a Europa League game against Aston Villa in the United Kingdom next month because of security concerns, the English club said.

Birmingham City’s Safety Advisory Group (SAG) – the body responsible for issuing safety certificates for matches at Villa Park, where the game is to be played – informed Aston Villa that Maccabi Tel Aviv away fans will not be permitted to attend.

Aston Villa confirmed in a statement on Thursday that the “club has been informed that no away fans may attend the UEFA Europa League match with Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday, November 6, following an instruction from the Safety Advisory Group”.

“Police have advised the SAG that they have public safety concerns outside the stadium bowl and the ability to deal with any potential protests on the night,” the club said.

Aston Villa can confirm the club has been informed that no away fans may attend the UEFA Europa League match with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) October 16, 2025

West Midlands Police said they had classified the match as high risk based on “current intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offences that occurred during the 2024 UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv in Amsterdam”.

“Based on our professional judgement, we believe this measure will help mitigate risks to public safety,” the police force said.

Last year’s clashes in Amsterdam between pro-Palestinian supporters and Israeli fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv led to dozens of arrests and five people imprisoned.

WMP supports Safety Advisory Group decision regarding Aston Villa vs Maccabi Tel-Aviv football match.

Click for our statement 👉 https://t.co/NMLkntX08n pic.twitter.com/GgxeYvc7Xm

— West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) October 16, 2025

While accusations of anti-Semitic attacks quickly circulated following the clashes in Amsterdam on November 6 and 7, reports soon emerged of Israeli fans provoking the violence and of rampaging through the Dutch capital, assaulting residents, destroying symbols of Palestinian solidarity and chanting racist and genocidal slogans against Palestinians and Arabs.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, and the London-based Jewish Leadership Council have all criticised the ban.

Starmer said in a post on social media that the ban was “the wrong decision”.

“The role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation,” he said.

This is the wrong decision.

We will not tolerate antisemitism on our streets.

The role of the police is to ensure all football fans can enjoy the game, without fear of violence or intimidation.https://t.co/8aBeqE4qbA

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) October 16, 2025

Israel’s Foreign Minister Saar described the ban as a “shameful decision” and called on authorities in the UK to “reverse this coward decision”.

Shameful decision!
I call on the UK authorities to reverse this coward decision! https://t.co/K5h32VpYa6

— Gideon Sa’ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) October 16, 2025

The Jewish Leadership Council said it was “perverse that away fans should be banned from a football match because West Midlands Police can’t guarantee their safety”.

“Aston Villa should face the consequences of this decision and the match should be played behind closed doors,” the organisation added in a statement.

The move to ban away fans from the fixture in Birmingham comes amid growing calls to ban Israeli football teams from international competition over Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

“We collected and verified extensive evidence of this systematic instrumentalisation of football culture in genocide,” Ashish Prashar, a campaign director at Game Over Israel, which has been pushing to ban Israel from FIFA and UEFA, told Al Jazeera. “This report integrates findings – from stadium racism, to assaults in Europe, to soldiers turning genocide into football propaganda – and demonstrates why Israel’s place in global sport is indefensible.”

More than 30 legal experts wrote earlier this month to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, saying that banning Israel from competitions was “imperative”, citing a report by United Nations investigators that confirmed Israel is carrying out a genocide against Palestinians.

The signatories highlighted the damage that Israel is inflicting on the sport and athletes in Gaza.

“These acts have decimated an entire generation of athletes, eroding the fabric of Palestinian sport,” the experts said.

“The failure of the Israel Football Association (IFA) to challenge these violations implicates it in this system of oppression, rendering its participation in UEFA competitions untenable,” they said.

“UEFA must not be complicit in sports-washing such flagrant breaches of international law, including but not limited to the act of genocide,” they added.