Fault Lines investigates the killings of Palestinians seeking aid at GHF sites in Gaza.
After months of blockade and starvation in Gaza, Israel allowed a new United States venture – the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – to distribute food. Branded as a lifeline, its sites quickly became known by Palestinians and dozens of human rights groups as “death traps”.
Fault Lines investigates how civilians seeking aid were funnelled through militarised zones, where thousands were killed or injured under fire.
Through the testimonies of grieving families, a former contractor, and human rights experts, the film exposes how GHF’s operations replaced UNRWA’s proven aid system with a scheme critics say was designed for displacement, not relief. At the heart of this investigation is a haunting question: was GHF delivering humanitarian aid – or helping turn breadlines into killing fields?
This article contains some spoilers for the Netflix miniseries “Death by Lightning.”
If politics today make your head spin, wait until you see Netflix’s “Death by Lightning.” The four-part miniseries, premiering Thursday, chronicles one of the more jaw-dropping stretches of post-Civil War American history, when corruption ran rampant, a presidential nominee was drafted at the 11th hour, only to be assassinated early in his term by one of his biggest fans — becoming perhaps the greatest head of state we never really got to have.
And the show answers the burning expletive-laced question posed by its first line: Who is Charles Guiteau?
“I’ve been in a James Garfield rabbit hole for seven years of my life at this point,” says showrunner Mike Makowsky, who adapted Candice Millard’s 2011 chronicle of Garfield and Guiteau, “Destiny of the Republic.” Those who paid attention in history class probably remember that Garfield served briefly as our 20th president in 1881 before being shot and killed. Those who remember more than that are few and far between.
“My own agent half the time refers to him as Andrew Garfield,” says Makowsky. “And I have to confess, I knew very little about Garfield, like most Americans, until I picked up Candice Millard’s remarkable book.”
Realizing he knew little about one of the four American presidents to be assassinated, Makowsky thought, “Since I would desperately like to be on ‘Jeopardy!’ someday, I was like, ‘Let me educate myself.’ I wound up reading the entire book in one sitting.”
“Death by Lightning,” directed by “Captain Fantastic” auteur Matt Ross, boasts a remarkable cast: Betty Gilpin as First Lady Lucretia Garfield; Nick Offerman as Garfield’s successor, a hard-drinking, hard-partying Chester A. Arthur; Michael Shannon as James Garfield, the polymath president, crusader against corruption and noble to a fault; and Matthew Macfadyen as Charles Guiteau, the frustrated office-seeker who shot him.
“I wanted to cast people who were somewhat counterintuitive,” says Ross. “If you read the cast list for this, you might assume Michael Shannon was playing Guiteau because he has played a lot of complicated, for lack of a better word, villains — tough guys, bad guys. And Matthew Macfadyen has played more heroic characters.”
Guiteau is definitely no Darcy from “Pride and Prejudice,” or Tom Wambsgans from “Succession,” for that matter. In the series’ conception of him, he shares more DNA with Martin Scorsese’s unhinged protagonists than he does with Darcy — or, certainly, with Garfield.
The proto-incel with a gun
As portrayed in “Death by Lightning,” Guiteau is a rotten-toothed, scheming, big-dreaming, delusional charlatan and possible sociopath. He’s the proto-incel, and the diametrical opposite to Garfield, whom Makowsky defines as “lawful good,” to borrow the Dungeons & Dragons classification.
“I think the most reductive view of Guiteau is ‘chaotic evil,’ right? But that’s the least interesting rendering of this person,” he says. “What are the societal factors that alienate a man like Guiteau from his fellow human beings? The show is meant to probe into his psyche.”
He was a member of the Oneida community, a religious sect based in New York that practiced communalism, free love and mutual criticism, which is depicted in the series (and yes, they founded the flatware company). But Guiteau couldn’t partake in what Makowsky delicately called the “benefits” of such a society, largely because his delusions of grandeur alienated him from others there. The women reportedly nicknamed him “Charles Gitout.”
“Everyone who encountered him described him as being disagreeable, odd, rude, selfish,” Ross says, explaining the need for an actor who had the opposite qualities. “He’s an extreme example of someone who had no work to be seen for, but was so desperately looking for affirmation and love.”
Charles Guiteau (Matthew Macfadyen) was part of the Oneida community, which practiced communalism and free love, but he wasn’t accepted by its members.
(Larry Horricks/Netflix)
Ross describes Macfadyen as someone who’s empathetic, warm and funny. “I wanted that humanity because the real Guiteau was a deeply disturbed man who was psychologically brutalized by his father to the point he was a non-functioning person.”
Makowsky says as he was reading Millard’s book, he thought of Rupert Pupkin, Robert De Niro’s deranged-fan protagonist in Scorsese’s “King of Comedy.” “This guy showing up, day in and day out, hoping for an audience with his hero [Garfield], being continually rebuffed to the point where something in his brain breaks,” he says of Guiteau. “He felt like a direct historical antecedent to the Rupert Pupkins and Travis Bickles of the world. He fell through the cracks and we lost potentially one of our greatest presidents because of it.”
Makowsky recalls shooting the only dialogue scene between Garfield and Guiteau, when the “greatest fan” finally gets to meet his idol. To Makowsky’s surprise, Macfadyen’s Guiteau “just burst into tears. That wasn’t scripted. It was so overwhelming to him. I think in that moment, more than any other in the series, you feel something for this man.”
Party (hearty) over country
Garfield was succeeded in office by Chester A. Arthur, whom Makowsky calls one of the least likely persons to ever become president. “The man had never held elected office,” he says. “His one political appointment prior to his nomination for vice president was as chief crony of the spoils system of [New York Sen.] Roscoe Conkling’s political machine. The level of corruption was so audacious and insane.”
He’s played with oft-drunken brio by Nick Offerman, whose voice Makowsky says he heard in his head as soon as he started writing the role: “I was like, it has to be Nick Offerman.” He took some liberties with the character and events, including a memorable sequence where Arthur and Guiteau go on a bender. Makowsky says they “probably never had a wild night out in New York, but it was an indelible proposition and I couldn’t resist.”
Nick Offerman plays eventual President Chester A. Arthur, who was closely aligned with New York Sen. Roscoe Conkling (Shea Whigham).
Betty Gilpin portrays First Lady Lucretia Garfield as her husband’s intellectual equal. (Larry Horricks / Netflix)
As to the first lady, “Lucretia Garfield was every bit her husband’s intellectual equal. But she couldn’t vote. There was a ceiling to what a woman in her day could accomplish,” Makowsky says, wistfully musing on what she might have achieved, given the chance. “And Betty [Gilpin] radiates that strength and that acute intelligence.”
Having recently given birth, Gilpin took her family along to Budapest for filming, voraciously researching Lucretia and reading her entire correspondence with her husband. The role gets meatier as the series progresses until she initiates an unforgettable, blistering encounter with Guiteau to button the story.
“Betty jokingly said to me, ‘If you cut that scene, I will kill you.’ I was like, ‘There’s no way that scene is being cut. It’s one of my favorite scenes in the entire show,’” Ross recalls. “Everyone who read it was like, ‘Oh my God, this scene.’ And Betty just knocked it out of the park, take after take after take.”
The forgotten president
Ross says when he first read Makowsky’s scripts, he thought they were “fantastically relevant” and offered a fresh look at American history. “As an American, I’m always trying to figure out what it means to be American,” he says. “The story of Garfield, you couldn’t make it up. He was a hero of working people and the promise of American democracy — having a representational democracy where those in power and the wealthy are not controlling the laws of the land, which could not be more relevant today.”
Makowsky calls Garfield “a poster boy for the American dream,” rising from poverty to the nation’s top office.
“He was a war hero and a Renaissance man that did math theorems while he was in Congress and who could recite Homer from memory,” he says. “This remarkable individual, fiercely intelligent and a brilliant, powerful orator, was far ahead of his time on certain political questions of the day. He was an outspoken proponent for civil rights and universal education and civil service reform.”
In real life, and as depicted in the series, Garfield worked with notable Black leaders like Frederick Douglass and Blanche Bruce, the first Black register of the Treasury, whom he appointed.
“The great tragedy is we were robbed of a potentially generational leader in Garfield,” Makowsky says.
“Death by Lightning” showrunner Mike Makowsky says Americans were robbed of a “potentially generational leader” in James Garfield.
(Larry Horricks / Netflix)
Garfield wasn’t even seeking the nomination when he spoke on behalf of another candidate at the Republican National Convention of 1880, but his speech so moved the delegates that they eventually persuaded him to accept the nomination after more than 30 votes failed to produce another winner. It reminded Makowsky of then-Sen. Barack Obama’s 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention, where he presented “a strong and confident, optimistic vision for the future of our country.”
Nowadays, such a rise seems less likely. “I don’t know if that would happen today, obviously because of money in politics; no one can run if they don’t have phenomenal backing,” Ross says.
Ross emphasizes the show is “not a history lesson,” drawing a distinction between drama and documentary. At times, “Death by Lightning” plays like a black comedy. Makowsky’s dialogue, while usually honoring what we think of as the formality and vocabulary of the 1880s’ idiom, occasionally veers into hilariously cathartic invective that bracingly reminds us these were living, breathing people with fire in their bellies.
“Ken Burns could make a 10-hour documentary to encapsulate all the nuances of this incredible story,” says Ross. What Makowsky did, Ross says, was contextualize the history through the prism of two very different people, Garfield and Guiteau.
“One is this incredibly admirable American figure I think everyone should know about, the greatest president we never really had. And then the other is a charlatan, a deeply broken, deeply mentally ill man who just kind of wanted to be Instagram-famous, just wanted to be known. You see this moment in history through their eyes, and I thought that was delicious.”
Tigray was the centre of a devastating two-year war that pitted the TPLF against Ethiopia’s federal army.
Published On 6 Nov 20256 Nov 2025
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Ethiopia’s Afar region has accused forces from neighbouring Tigray of crossing into its territory, seizing several villages and attacking civilians, in what it called a breach of the 2022 peace deal that ended the war in northern Ethiopia.
Between 2020 and 2022, Tigray was the centre of a devastating two-year war that pitted the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) against Ethiopia’s federal army and left at least 600,000 people dead, according to the African Union.
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In a statement released late on Wednesday, Afar authorities said TPLF fighters “entered Afar territory by force today”.
The group, which governs the Tigray region, was accused of “controlling six villages and bombing civilians with mortars”. Officials did not provide details on casualties.
“The TPLF learns nothing from its mistakes,” the Afar administration said, condemning what it described as “acts of terror”.
The conflict earlier this decade also spread into neighbouring Ethiopian regions, including Afar, whose forces fought alongside federal troops.
According to Afar’s latest statement, Tigrayan forces attacked the Megale district in the northwest of the region “with heavy weapons fire on civilian herders”.
The authorities warned that if the TPLF “does not immediately cease its actions, the Afar Regional Administration will assume its defensive duty to protect itself against any external attack”.
The renewed fighting, they said, “openly destroys the Pretoria peace agreement”, referring to the deal signed in November 2022 between Ethiopia’s federal government and Tigrayan leaders, which ended two years of bloodshed.
While the fragile peace had largely held, tensions between Addis Ababa and the TPLF have deepened in recent months. The party, which dominated Ethiopian politics from 1991 to 2018, was officially removed from the country’s list of political parties in May amid internal divisions and growing mistrust from the federal government.
Federal officials have also accused the TPLF of re-establishing ties with neighbouring Eritrea, a country with a long and uneasy history with Ethiopia. Eritrea, once an Italian colony and later an Ethiopian province, fought a bloody independence war before gaining statehood in 1993.
A subsequent border war between the two nations from 1998 to 2000 killed tens of thousands. When Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018, he signed a landmark peace deal with Eritrea, but relations have soured again since the end of the Tigray conflict.
England squad: AJ Brimson, Joe Burgess, Daryl Clark, Herbie Farnworth, Tom Johnstone, Mikey Lewis, Harry Newman, Mikolaj Oledzi, George Williams (capt), Harry Smith, Mike McMeeken, Jez Litten, Matty Lees, Kai Pearce-Paul, Kallum Watkins, Morgan Knowles, Owen Trout, Alex Walmsley, Morgan Smithies.
Australia XIII: Reece Walsh, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Kotoni Staggs, Gehamat Shibasaki, Josh Addo-Carr, Cameron Munster, Nathan Cleary, Patrick Carrigan, Harry Grant, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Angus Crichton, Hudson Young, Isaah Yeo (captain).
Interchanges: Tom Dearden, Lindsay Collins, Reuben Cotter, Keaon Koloamatangi.
The Celebrity Traitors finale is almost upon us – however, the BBC hit show left some viewers confused when it didn’t air in its usual Wednesday slot last night
The Celebrity Traitors continues tonight(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC/Studio Lambert/Paul Chappells)
Fans of the Celebrity Traitors are on tenterhooks as they wait for the show’s highly-anticipated final, with the five remaining contestants competing for up to £100,000 for their chosen charities. However, many were left frustrated last night when they tuned into BBC One at 9pm to be greeted by Shetland’s Ashley Jensen and not the giggly Alan Carr.
Viewers took to social media to voice their disappointment, with one writing: “WHAT DO YOU MEAN TRAITORS ISNT ON TONIGHT??? #CelebrityTraitors.” Another said: “Gaslit myself into thinking celebrity traitors was on tonight. It’s not.
“I don’t even know why I thought that. I guess it’s time for big brother then. #BBUK.”
Thankfully, fans won’t have to wait much longer for their Celebrity Traitors fix – with the final set to air tonight. The show is airing its big finale on BBC One at 9pm tonight with a 70-minute episode.
“As the ultimate game of deception and trust draws to a close, the stakes have never been higher as the celebrity players face their final, explosive mission,” the BBC teases. “With the prize fund complete, will the pressure of winning cloud anyone’s vision?
“Will the Faithful banish all the Traitors to secure victory, or will the Traitors manage to deceive until the bitter end?”
The castle content doesn’t stop there, with Ed Gamble hosting the final episode of The Celebrity Traitors: Uncloaked immediately after the final at 10:10pm on BBC Two. All the finalists will be joining him for their exclusive first interviews alongside Claudia Winkleman as they reflect on the record-breaking series.
“If they go, then I would love Joe to win for the Faithfuls. This year’s series has been absolutely spectacular and off the chart. My mother and I are engrossed in the whole thing.”
While Coronation Street’s Sally Lindsay said: “Alan, you have always been a legend since I met you 25 years ago and you have been the legend in this. You are the champion!”
Unfortunately, the winner has been spoiled for some fans, with the episode leaking early on Canadian streamer Crave a day early. “PSA: The finale of the Celebrity Traitors was accidentally leaked in Canada yesterday,” one concerned fan wrote on social media.
“Stay away from Traitors news and communities if you don’t want to get spoiled.”
The Celebrity Traitors airs tonight at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
In 1860, Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected 16th president of the United States.
In 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate States of America.
In 1869, in the first formal intercollegiate football game, Rutgers beat Princeton, 6-4.
In 1928, Republican Herbert Hoover was elected 31st president of the United States, defeating Democrat Al Smith.
In 1956, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower was re-elected by a wide margin.
In 1965, a formal agreement between the United States and Cuba allowed Cubans who wanted to leave the island nation for America to do so. More than 250,000 Cubans had taken advantage of this opportunity by 1971.
In 1985, members of the 19th of April Movement took over the Palace of Justice in Bogota, Colombia. The leftist guerrillas would kill more than 100 people (11 of whom where Supreme Court Justices) by the time the siege ended.
In 1991, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued a decree banning the Communist Party, nationalizing its property and condemning its activities.
File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
In 2012, U.S. President Barack Obama defeated Republican challenger Mitt Romney to win a second term. Federal finance reports showed campaign expenditures broke the $2 billion mark, making the election the most expensive in U.S. history at the time.
In 2013, Avigdor Lieberman, who had resigned as Israel’s foreign minister because of an investigation of alleged corruption, was acquitted and said: “This chapter is behind me. I am now focusing on the challenges ahead.” Lieberman became foreign minister again five days later.
In 2019, the U.S. midterm elections saw a number of milestones and firsts — Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., were the first Muslim women elected to the House; Sharice Davids, D-Kan., and Debra Haaland, D-N.M., were the first Native American women elected to the House; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was the youngest person elected to the House in nearly three decades; and Jared Polis became the country’s first openly gay male governor, in Colorado. Democrats also took back control of the House, while Republicans held onto the Senate.
In 2024, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed Finance Minister Christian Lindner, resulting in the collapse of his three-party coalition government. A month later, Scholz lost a confidence vote in parliament, triggering an election in February that saw conservative Friedrich Merz put into power.
Obidah Habila Albert, an alumnus of the third cohort of HumAngle’s Accountability Fellowship, is among the 15 Nigerian journalists selected for the Digital Public Infrastructure Journalism (DPIJ) Fellowship, which will run from October 2025 to April 2026.
After receiving over 200 applications, 45 candidates were shortlisted, and 15 finalists emerged from 14 media organisations, including The Guardian Newspaper, Premium Times, Foundation for Investigative Journalism, and TheCable.
Organised by the Ghana-based Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) in partnership with Co-Develop, the fellowship is a flagship initiative that aims to strengthen public awareness and participation through journalism, promoting the adoption of Digital Public Infrastructures (DPIs) and Digital Public Goods and Services (DPGS).
Obidah, who is excited about his selection, said he applied for the opportunity because it aligns with his curiosity about technology’s impact on everyday life and how their stories could be more effectively documented.
“By the end of the programme, I want to understand DPI and DPGs better and tell stories about them. I hope my stories will drive conversations and help more people and policymakers in Nigeria and beyond to pay attention and take action,” he said.
During his fellowship with HumAngle, Obidah reported extensively on conflict and peacebuilding efforts in Nigeria’s North East, as well as the rising cost-of-living crisis affecting vulnerable communities. His experience, he said, deepened his commitment to reporting stories that highlight the human dimensions of development and policy issues.
According to Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director of MFWA, the DPIJ Fellowship is a strategic investment in shaping informed media narratives around inclusive design, implementation, and the uptake of DPI development in areas such as policy, governance, and utility.
The selected fellows and their newsrooms will receive grants to support reporting projects, as well as editorial mentorship, training, and access to resources on DPIs and DPGS. Each fellow is expected to produce at least six original stories before the end of the fellowship on issues relating to inclusive digital identification, digital payments, data exchange, and other digital safety issues. Fellows will also join a growing network of alumni across West Africa.
Last year, HumAngle’s Investigations Editor, Ibrahim Adeyemi, was selected for the West Africa cohort of the same fellowship, where he produced several stories exploring the intersection of DPIs and national security.
Obidah Habila Albert, a journalist and alumnus of HumAngle’s Accountability Fellowship, has been selected as one of 15 Nigerian journalists for the Digital Public Infrastructure Journalism (DPIJ) Fellowship from October 2025 to April 2026. The fellowship, organized by the Media Foundation for West Africa in partnership with Co-Develop, aims to enhance public awareness and engagement through journalism, focusing on Digital Public Infrastructures and Digital Public Goods and Services.
Obidah expressed enthusiasm for learning and documenting technology’s impact on everyday life. Throughout the fellowship, fellows will receive grants, mentorship, and resources to produce at least six original stories on digital issues, joining a network of West African alumni. The initiative also supports inclusive approaches in policy and governance, as highlighted by previous fellow Ibrahim Adeyemi, who explored DPIs and national security.
SUPERSTAR DJ David Guetta has been announced as the first headliner for the 2026 Formula 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
The Titanium hitmaker, 57, will join star-studded music line-up at the event, that features a variety of artists across multiple stages.
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David Guetta has been announced as the first headliner for 2026 Formula 1 British Grand PrixCredit: Getty – ContributorThe Titanium hitmaker will join star-studded music line-upCredit: AFPThe announcement sees Guetta join a stellar list of past British Grand PrixCredit: PA
The performance will mark Guetta’s only UK appearance of his global MONOLITH tour nextsummer.
Having attracted record crowds of 500,000 last summer, the home of British motorsport is set to go bigger and better, with a line-up of international musicians.
The announcement sees Guetta join a stellar list of past British Grand Prix headliners that includes Stormzy, RAYE, Sam Fender, Fatboy Slim and Becky Hill.
Ahead of the big performance, David Guetta said: “I’ve played some incredible shows around the world, but performing at Silverstone during the British Grand Prix is going to be something truly special.
“I’ve always been drawn to Formula 1 – the atmosphere, the adrenaline, the passion – it’s everything I love.
“I even made a music video inspired by F1 years ago.
“I can’t wait to bring my energy to the main stage and make it an unforgettable night.”
The BRIT and Grammy-winning icon will open the four-day celebration on Thursday 2 July, delivering his world-famous high-energy set packed with global hits.
Guetta’s Silverstone debut promises to kickstart the Grand Prix weekend with an unforgettable party and marks a fitting full-circle moment for the French DJ, whose 2014 Dangerous music video paid tribute to Formula 1, featuring F1 legend Romain Grosjean.
More headliners and entertainment acts will be announced in the coming months, alongside on-track programming and fan experiences.
Tickets for the 2026 British Grand Prix are now available online.
The BRIT and Grammy-winning icon will open the four-day celebrationCredit: Getty
Rescuers are working to save at least seven workers trapped after a boiler tower collapsed at a thermal power plant operated by Korea East-West Power Co. in the southeastern city of Ulsan on Thursday. Photo by Yonhap News
SEOUL, Nov. 6 (UPI) — South Korean rescue crews are searching for workers believed to be trapped after a large structure collapsed at a power plant in the southeastern city of Ulsan on Thursday, according to reports from authorities and local media.
At least seven people were trapped when a 200-foot-tall boiler tower gave way at the Ulsan branch of the state-run utility Korea East-West Power, news agency Yonhap reported, citing the National Fire Agency. The collapse occurred shortly after 2 p.m. local time.
Two people were pulled from the debris earlier, while emergency responders continue to search for others feared buried beneath twisted metal and concrete.
Prime Minister Kim Min-seok ordered the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, National Fire Agency, Korean National Police Agency and local authorities to “mobilize all available equipment and personnel to prioritize saving lives.”
“In particular, we will make every effort to ensure the safety of firefighters working on-site and thoroughly implement safety measures such as on-site control and evacuation guidance for residents,” Kim said in a statement.
Interior Minister Yun Ho-jung also issued an emergency directive calling for mass mobilization of personnel and equipment to the accident site, adding that a situation-management officer had been dispatched to coordinate on-site operations.
Photos shared by local media showed a massive steel structure toppled on its side with a heap of crumpled beams and scaffolding at its base.
The disaster has renewed scrutiny of South Korea’s industrial safety regime, which has faced criticism following a series of fatal workplace accidents.
President Lee Jae Myung has repeatedly called for tougher safety enforcement to curb such tragedies.
“When fatal accidents occur in the same way, it ultimately amounts to condoning these deaths,” Lee said at a July cabinet meeting.
In August, he ordered that every workplace fatality be reported directly to his office and proposed sanctions such as revoking business licenses and restricting bids from companies with repeated deaths.
Lee, who suffered a factory accident as a teenager, has pledged to reduce South Korea’s industrial accident mortality rate — the highest among the 38 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development member countries — to the OECD average within five years.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
We appear to have gotten our first look at a curious Chinese ship, which some have dubbed a ‘drone carrier,’ actually in use, supporting at-sea testing of the AR-500CJ uncrewed helicopter. The vessel is one of a number of unusual designs with open flight decks that have emerged in China in recent years as China’s drone ambitions have increasingly extended into the naval domain.
China’s state-run television station CCTV-7, which focuses on news related to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), broadcast clips of the AR-500CJ being tested at sea back on October 30. The AR-500CJ, a version of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China’s (AVIC) larger AR-500 family optimized for shipboard operations, first flew in 2022.
A screen capture from the CCTV-7 segment showing the AR-500CJ drone helicopter being moved around the deck of the ship during at-sea testing. CCTV-7 capture
The CCTV-7 segment does not appear to name the ship the AR-500CJ is seen operating from, nor does it offer a full view of the vessel. However, the size and configuration of the flight deck, especially a trapezoidal section on the starboard side toward the stern, as well as its markings, match up directly with the design of a ship that was launched at the Jiangsu Dayang Marine shipyard back in 2022. Naval Newswas first to report in detail on that vessel, which is approximately 328 feet (100 meters) long and some 82 feet (25 meters) across, and has a small island on the starboard side toward the bow, last year.
A screen grab from the CCTV-7 segment offering a wide view of the ship’s deck, including the trapezoidal section on the starboard (right) side. CCTV-7The ‘mini drone carrier’ as seen from above in this satellite image of the Jiangsu Dayang Marine shipyard taken in August 2024. Google Earth
It had been suggested that the ship seen in the CCTV-7 footage might be a mysterious Chinese vessel with a large open flight deck and three superstructures that TWZ was first to report on last year. That ship bears the logo of the state-run China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) and may be named the Zhong Chuan Zi Hao, and could also be a first-of-its-kind ostensibly civilian research ship, as you can read more about here. However, the CSSC ‘carrier’ has a much larger and differently shaped flight deck that also has very distinct markings on it.
A side-by-side comparison of the deck of the ship as seen in the CCTV-7 segment, at left, and the stern end of the still-mysterious big-deck ship with the CSSC logo seen in an image that emerged on social media in August, at right. Note the distinct differences in the color and position of the markings, as well as the general configuration of the decks. CCTV-7 capture/Chinese internet
The CSSC aviation platform remains tied up at the cruise ship terminal in Guangzhou, where the vessel was docked in early June. Via “by78″/SDF. pic.twitter.com/z8eSd4lZT9
As mentioned, a number of unusual open-decked vessels have emerged in China in recent years. Jiangsu Dayang Marine, also known as the New Dayang shipyard, has become particularly notable in this regard. The yard has also produced at least two catamaran drone ‘motherships,’ which TWZ was also first to report on in detail, as well as various specialized barges. These all largely appear to be intended for use in training and/or testing, and to be particularly focused on replicating drone and/or electronic warfare threats. The first known imagery of one of the catamaran motherships in use also notably came from a CCTV-7 segment in 2022.
A broader look at the Jiangsu Dayang Marine yard in August 2024, showing the two catamaran ‘drone motherships,’ as well as barges, together with the ‘mini drone carrier.’ Google Earth
As TWZhas noted in the past, the maritime platforms that Jiangsu Dayang Marine has produced could potentially have roles in an actual operational context, including when paired with larger crewed warships. At the same time, the relatively small size and general configuration of the ‘mini drone carrier’ would limit its suitability for any kind of sustained employment in support of real-world operations.
An image from the ground of the reported Chinese experimental drone platform. If accurate, it illustrates the relatively modest proportions of the design. Via “斯文的土匪—”/Wb (H/t Temstar/SDF). pic.twitter.com/LAFHRqaGfK
Even without a secondary operational role, dedicated naval drone test and training platforms still offer value to the PLA, which has been steadily working to expand the scale and scope of its shipboard uncrewed aviation capabilities. AR-500CJ, which AVIC has said could be used as a surveillance asset or an aerial signal relay node, among other roles, is part of this evolving ecosystem. Another drone helicopter intended for shipboard operations, based on the larger AR-2000 design from China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC), was among a host of new uncrewed aircraft designs showcased at a huge military parade in Beijing in September.
Navalized drone helicopters based on the AR-2000 design on parade in Beijing in September. Chinese internet
Chinese naval drone developments extend well beyond vertical takeoff and landing capable designs. Work on a navalized version of the stealthy flying-wing GJ-11 Sharp Sword uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV) has become a particular centerpiece of these efforts. Imagery just recently emerged that offered the first clear look at one of those drones with its arrestor hook deployed. The naval GJ-11, also sometimes referred to as the GJ-21, is expected to fly from at least some of China’s growing fleet of aircraft carriers and big-deck amphibious assault ships.
As it seems, for the first time clear images of a GJ-21 in flight are posted and this one – based on the still installed pitots – has its tail hook down. pic.twitter.com/5h1nVZHzIe
With all this in mind, China’s use of bespoke ships with open flight decks to support drone testing and training, as well as other purposes, only looks likely to grow.
“Death By Lightning,” premiering Thursday on Netflix, introduces itself as “a story about two men the world forgot,” and while it is undoubtedly true that few in 2025 will recognize the name Charles Guiteau, many will know James A. Garfield, given that he was one of only four assassinated American presidents. There are less well remembered presidents, for sure — does the name John Tyler ring a bell? — and assassins better known than Guiteau, but if you’re going to make a docudrama, it does help to choose a story that might be more surprising to viewers and comes with a murder built in. It is also, I would guess intentionally, a tale made for our times, with its themes of civil rights, income inequality, cronyism and corruption.
Indeed, most everything about the Garfield story is dramatic — a tragedy, not merely for the family, but for the nation. For the sense one gets from “Death by Lightning” and from the historical record it fairly represents, is that Garfield, killed after only 200 days in office, might have made a very good chief executive. (The stated source for the series is Candice Millard’s 2011 book “Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President”; Millard is also a voice in the more briefly titled, illuminating “American Experience” documentary “Murder of a President.”)
That the longtime Ohio congressman did not seek but was drafted for the job — a compromise chosen, against his protests, on the 36th ballot at the 1880 Republican National Convention, where he’d given a stirring speech to nominate a fellow Ohioan, Treasury Secretary John Sherman — made him, one might say, especially qualified for the job; unlike some politicians one might name, he was self-effacing and humble and not out for personal gain. But he saw, finally, that he had a chance to “fix all the things that terrify me about this republic,” most especially the ongoing oppression of Black citizens, a major theme of his inauguration speech (with remarks transferred here to a campaign address delivered to a crowd of 50,000 from a balcony overlooking New York’s Madison Square Park). “I would rather be with you and defeated than against you and victorious,” he tells a group of Black veterans gathered on his front porch, from which he conducted his campaign. (Some 20,000 people were said to have visited there during its course.)
Political machinations and complications aside, the narrative, which stretches two years across four episodes, is really fairly simple, even schematic, cutting back and forth between Garfield (Michael Shannon, between tours covering early R.E.M. albums) and Guiteau (Matthew Macfadyen), a drifter with delusions of grandeur, as they approach their historically sealed date with destiny. Garfield is goodness personified; we meet him on his farm, cooking breakfast for the family, planing wood to make a picnic table. (A table we will meet again.) Guiteau goes from one failed project to another, living it up on money stolen from his sister, running out on restaurant checks and rooming house bills, telling lies about himself he might well have thought were true, until he decides that politics is the place to make his mark. Under the impression that he was responsible for Garfield’s election, he believed the new president owed him a job — ambassador to France would be nice — and when none was coming, turned sour. A message from God, and the belief that he would save the republic, set him on a path to murder.
Matthew Macfadyen plays Garfield’s assassin, Charles Guiteau, in the miniseries.
(Larry Horricks / Netflix)
The series largely belongs to them — both actors are terrific, Shannon imbuing Garfield with a gravity leavened with kindness and humor, Macfadyen’s Guiteau, optimistically dedicated to his delusions yet always about to pop. But it’s a loaded cast. The ever-invaluable Betty Gilpin, in her fourth big series this year after “American Primeval,” “The Terminal List: Dark Wolf” and “Hal & Harper,” plays Garfield’s wife, Crete, fully up on the political scene and free with her opinions. Shea Whigham is New York senator and power broker Roscoe Conkling, Garfield’s moral opposite, and the series’ villain, if you excuse Guiteau as mentally ill. (The jury didn’t.). As wise Maine Sen. James Blaine, Bradley Whitford exudes a convincing, quiet authority, honed over those years working in the pretend White House on “The West Wing.” All the men have been whiskered to resemble their historical models.
Where most of them, even Guiteau, remain consistent from beginning to end, it’s Nick Offerman’s Chester A. Arthur who goes on a journey. Conkling’s right hand, in charge of the New York Customs House — which generated a third of the country’s revenues through import fees — he’s offered the position of vice president to appease Conkling, New York being key to winning the election. Arthur begins as a thuggish, cigar-smoking, sausage-eating, drunken clown, until he’s forced, by events, and the possibility of inheriting the presidency, to reckon with himself.
When First Lady Crete Garfield wonders whether there should be a little extra security (or, really, any security at all) around her husband, he responds, “Assassination can no more be guarded against than death by lightning — it’s best not to worry too much about either one,” giving the series its title and clearing up any confusion you may have had about its meaning. Indeed, Guiteau moves in and out of what today would be well guarded rooms with surprising ease, managing encounters (some certainly invented) with Crete, Blaine, a drunken Arthur and Garfield, whom he implores, “Tell me how I can be great, too.”
Created by Mike Makowsky, it isn’t free from theatrical effects, dramatic overreach or obvious statements, but as period pieces go, it’s unusually persuasive, in big and little ways. Only occasionally does one feel taken out of a 19th century reality into a 21st century television series. The effects budget has been spent where it matters, with some detailed evocations of late 19th century Chicago and Washington that don’t scream CGI. The first episode, which recreates the 1880 convention, held at the Interstate Exposition Building in Chicago, aligns perfectly with engravings of the scene and brings it to life, supporting the wheeling and dealing and speechifying in a way that one imagines is close to being there.
Because we know what’s coming, the series can be emotionally taxing, especially as a wounded Garfield lingers through much of the final episode, while being mistreated by his doctor, Willard Bliss (Zeljko Ivanek), who ignores the advice of the younger, better informed Dr. Charles Purvis (Shaun Parkes), the first Black physician to attend to a sitting president; many, including Millard, believe it was the doctor who killed him through a lack of sanitary precautions, and that Garfield might have recovered if he’d just been left alone, an idea the series supports.
But you can’t change history, as much as “Death By Lightning” makes you wish you could.
Russian forces have spread rapidly through Pokrovsk, the city in Ukraine’s east where the warring sides have concentrated their manpower and tactical ingenuity during the past week, in what may be a final culmination of a 21-month battle.
Geolocated footage placed Russian troops in central, northern and northeastern Pokrovsk, said the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank.
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Russia sees control of Pokrovsk and neighbouring Myrnohrad as essential to capturing the remaining unoccupied parts of the Donetsk region.
It set its sights on the city almost two years ago, after capturing Avdiivka, 39km (24 miles) to the east.
Ukraine sees the defence of the city as a means of eroding Russian manpower and buying time for the “fortress belt” of Kostiantynivka, Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk, and Sloviansk, the largest remaining and most heavily defended cities of Donetsk.
Members of the White Angel unit of Ukrainian police officers, who evacuate people from front-line towns and villages, check an area for residents, in Pokrovsk [File: Anatolii Stepanov/Reuters]
Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded their surrender as part of a land swap and ceasefire he discussed with United States President Donald Trump last August. Ukraine has refused.
A recent US intelligence assessment said Putin was more determined than ever to prevail on the battlefield in Ukraine, NBC reported.
Russia seems to have outmanoeuvred Ukraine by striking its drone operators before they had time to deploy, and cutting off resupply routes at critical points.
“Operational and tactical aircraft, backed by drones, significantly disrupted the Ukrainian army’s logistics in Pokrovsk,” said Russia’s Ministry of Defence on Friday. It said it had destroyed two out of three bridges across the Vovcha River, used by Ukrainian logistics to reach the city.
“Unfortunately, everything is sad in the Pokrovsk direction,” wrote a Ukrainian drone unit calling itself Peaky Blinders on the messaging app Telegram. “The intensity of movements is so great that drone operators simply do not have time to lift the [drone] overboard.”
Ukrainian servicemen walk along a road covered with anti-drone nets in the front-line town of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on November 3, 2025 [Anatolii Stepanov/Reuters]
On October 29, Ukrainian commanders reported only 200 Russian soldiers in Pokrovsk.
Peaky Blinders said Russia was sending as many as 300 into the city a day, “in groups of three people with the expectation that two will be destroyed”.
By neutralising Ukraine’s drone operators and using fibre optic drones immune to jamming, Russia reportedly acquired a numerical drone advantage in the city’s vicinity.
Ukrainian commanders said Russia also took advantage of wet weather, which disadvantaged the use of light, first-person-view drones.
Ukrainian military observer Konstantyn Mashovets said the Russian command had developed these new infiltration tactics to exploit Ukrainian vulnerabilities – a lack of manpower and gaps among their units.
“The Russian command ‘tried different options’ for some time,” said Mashovets.
“Russian technical innovations, such as first-person-view drones with increased ranges, thermobaric warheads, and ‘sleeper’ or ‘waiter’ drones along [ground lines of communication], allowed Russian forces to … restrict Ukrainian troop movements, evacuations, and logistics,” the ISW said.
Residents sit in an armoured vehicle as members of the White Angel unit of Ukrainian police officers evacuate them, in the front-line town of Kostiantynivka in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on November 3, 2025 [Anatolii Stepanov/Reuters]
As recently as Saturday, Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii framed the battle as one of counterattack rather than defence.
“A comprehensive operation to destroy and push out enemy forces from Pokrovsk is ongoing,” he wrote on his Telegram channel. “There is no encirclement or blockade of the cities.”
Yet there was clearly alarm. Ukraine sent its intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, to the Pokrovsk area with military intelligence (GUR) forces to keep supply lines open.
Two Ukrainian military sources told the Reuters news agency that the GUR had successfully landed at least 10 operators in a Blackhawk helicopter near Pokrovsk on Friday.
On Saturday, Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed “an operation to deploy a GUR special operations group by a helicopter in 1km (0.6 miles) northwest of [Pokrovsk] was thwarted. All 11 militants who disembarked from the helicopter have been neutralised.”
It was unclear whether the two reports referred to the same group.
Deep air strikes
Russia kept up a separate campaign to destroy Ukraine’s electricity and gas infrastructure, launching 1,448 drones and 74 missiles into the rear of the country from October 30 to November 5.
Ukraine said it intercepted 86 percent of the drones but just less than half the missiles, such that 208 drones and 41 missiles found their targets.
With US help, Ukraine has responded with strikes on Russian refineries and oil export terminals.
Ukraine appeared on Sunday to strike both a Russian oil terminal and, for the first time, two foreign civilian tankers taking on oil there.
Video appeared to show the tankers at Tuapse terminal on the Black Sea on fire, and the governor of Russia’s Krasnodar region confirmed the hit.
“As a result of the drone attack on the port of Tuapse on the night of November 2, two foreign civilian ships were damaged,” he said.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it intercepted another 238 Ukrainian long-range drones overnight.
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said it struck the Lukoil refinery in Kstovo in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, east of Moscow.
Russian regional authorities also said Ukraine attempted to damage a petrochemical plant in Bashkortostan, 1,500km (930 miles) east of Ukraine.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it shot down 204 Ukrainian long-range drones overnight.
According to the head of Ukraine’s State Security Service, SBU, Kyiv’s forces have struck 160 oil and energy facilities in Russia this year.
Vasyl Maliuk said a special SBU operation had destroyed a hypersonic ballistic Oreshnik missile on Russian soil.
“One of the three Oreshniks was successfully destroyed on their (Russian) territory at Kapustin Yar,” Maliuk briefed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday.
Russia unveiled the Oreshnik with a strike on the city of Dnipro a year ago. It says it will deploy the missile in Belarus by December.
Ukraine has been lobbying the US government for Tomahawk cruise missiles, which have a range of 2,500km (1,550 miles). So far, Trump has refused, on the basis that “we need them too.”
The Pentagon cleared Ukraine to receive Tomahawk missiles, after determining this would not deprive the US military of the stockpile it needs, CNN reported last week, quoting unnamed US and European officials.
The political decision now rests with Trump on whether to send those missiles or not. The report did not specify how many Ukraine could have.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s skeptical questioning of former President Donald Trump’s global tariffs has fueled speculation that his trade measures may be struck down, potentially upending the already fragile trade landscape.
The case centers on Trump’s use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose sweeping tariffs on imports. The law grants presidents broad authority to regulate trade during national emergencies but makes no mention of tariffs, raising constitutional questions about the limits of executive power.
During oral arguments on Wednesday, justices across the ideological spectrum except Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas appeared doubtful that Trump had legal authority to levy such blanket global tariffs.
Trade experts now warn that if the court invalidates Trump’s tariff policy, it could trigger a new wave of economic uncertainty, as the administration is expected to pivot quickly to other trade laws to reimpose duties.
Why It Matters
The outcome of this case could reshape U.S. trade policy for years. Businesses have paid over $100 billion in IEEPA-related tariffs since 2025, and a ruling against Trump could open a complex refund battle or force the White House to seek alternative legal pathways for its protectionist agenda.
Corporate leaders, already weary of erratic trade shifts, say a ruling either way offers little stability. “Even if it goes against IEEPA, the uncertainty still continues,” said David Young of the Conference Board, who briefed dozens of CEOs after the hearing.
Trump Administration: Faces potential legal defeat but can pivot to Section 232 (Trade Expansion Act of 1962) or Section 122 (Trade Act of 1974), both of which allow temporary or national security-based tariffs.
U.S. Supreme Court: Balancing presidential powers with statutory limits on trade actions.
Businesses & Importers: Risk being caught in regulatory limbo over refunds and future duties.
Federal Reserve: Monitoring potential economic fallout from prolonged trade instability.
Refunds Could Get “Messy”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett raised concerns about how refund claims would be handled if the tariffs are ruled illegal, calling it “a mess” for courts to manage. Lawyer Neal Katyal, representing five small businesses challenging the tariffs, said only those firms would automatically receive refunds, while others must file administrative protests a process that could take up to a year.
Customs lawyer Joseph Spraragen added that if the court orders refunds, the Customs and Border Protection’s automated system could process them, but he warned, “The administration is not going to be eager to just roll over and give refunds.”
Economic and Policy Repercussions
Analysts expect the administration to rely on alternative statutes if IEEPA tariffs are overturned. However, implementing new duties under those laws could be slow and bureaucratic, potentially delaying trade certainty until 2026.
Natixis economist Christopher Hodge said such a ruling would be only a “temporary setback” for Trump’s trade agenda, predicting renewed tariff rounds or trade negotiations in the coming year.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran warned the uncertainty could act as a drag on economic growth, though it might also prompt looser monetary policy if trade instability dampens business confidence.
What’s Next
A Supreme Court ruling is expected in early 2026, leaving companies in limbo over the future of U.S. tariff policy. If Trump’s powers under IEEPA are curtailed, analysts expect a new wave of trade maneuvers potentially invoking national security provisions to maintain his “America First” economic approach, prolonging the climate of global trade unpredictability.
A new report has revealed the large sum of money owed to the unpaid Manchester Pride artists and venues.
Back in October, the charity behind the long-running LGBTQIA+ festival made headlines after various performers revealed that they hadn’t been paid for this year’s event, including Drag Race UK star Saki Yew.
“It’s gone too far. As performers, we’re used to waiting for money, but there’s no communication and no answer. A lot of performers are starting to give up hope of being paid,” Saki told BBC Newsbeat in October.
Drag Race UK star Zahirah Zapanta and Adam Ali echoed similar sentiments, with the latter publishing a letter on behalf of other acts who were awaiting payment.
Following immense backlash, Manchester Pride’s Board of Trustees released a statement on 16 October, revealing that they were in “the process of determining the best way forward” with their legal and financial advisers.
A week later, the event’s board of trustees confirmed that Manchester Pride had started the “legal process of voluntary liquidation.”
“A combination of rising costs, which are affecting the entire events and hospitality industries, declining ticket sales and an ambitious refresh of the format aimed to challenge these issues, along with an unsuccessful bid to host Euro Pride, has led to the organisation no longer being financially viable,” they wrote in a statement released on 22 October.
“The Manchester Pride team have now handed over the details of suppliers and artists who are owed money to the liquidators who will be handling the affairs of the Charity and contacting everyone,” the board concluded.
Now, a new financial report from KR8 Advisory has revealed the staggering debt Manchester Pride had accumlated before they went into voluntary liquidation.
According to the Manchester Evening News, the charity owes £1.3m to performers, venues and suppliers.
Included in the extensive list are 182 companies and individuals who are reportedly owed between £30 and £330,329.
Manchester Pride was also unable to pay the £47,330.40 bill for first aid charity St John Ambulance, the £330,329 fee for Mayfield Depot, nor the £167,892 price tag for security firm Practical Event Solutions.
The event’s headliners, Nelly Furtado and Olly Alexander, were also left unpaid, with the former owed £145,775.75 and the latter £48,000.
In addition to their debt, the report gave further insight into the events leading up to the charity going bust.
Following lower-than-expected ticket sales, Manchester Pride directors allegedly sought out legal advice at the start of September.
They also attempted to dig themselves out of their financial hole by exploring “rescue proposals” such as the Mardi Gras event at Mayfield Depot.
“But as delivery of the festival drew closer, the pace of ticket sales did not accelerate as expected,” the document revealed.
The charity, which reportedly entered 2025 with “challenging circumstances,” also sought help from Manchester City Council, but after weeks of deliberation, the authority declared that they were unable to assist.
Amid their attempts to save the charity, organisers were also waiting to see if they had been selected to host EuroPride 2028, which would have garnered “significant grant funding and sponsorship support.”
When Ireland was selected over Manchester, the board called an emergency meeting to discuss additional solutions before agreeing to put the organisation into liquidation.
While Manchester Pride has been embroiled in financial issues, it’s not the end of the long-running festival.
In a statement, the Manchester City Council confirmed that “a new chapter” for the festival will take place in August 2026.
“The council will play a full and active role in bringing together the LGBTQ community to help shape how the city moves forward to ensure a bright and thriving future for Manchester Pride,” the council added.
US President Donald Trump labelled New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani ‘a communist’ and claimed New Yorkers would flee the city when he becomes mayor. In his election victory speech, Mamdani called Trump ‘a despot’ and said he had ‘betrayed the country’.
A months-long siege on the Malian capital, Bamako, by the armed al-Qaeda affiliate group, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), has brought the city to breaking point, causing desperation among residents and, according to analysts, placing increasing pressure on the military government to negotiate with the group – something it has refused to do before now.
JNIM’s members have created an effective economic and fuel blockade by sealing off major highways used by tankers to transport fuel from neighbouring Senegal and the Ivory Coast to the landlocked Sahel country since September.
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While JNIM has long laid siege to towns in other parts of the country, this is the first time it has used the tactic on the capital city.
The scale of the blockade, and the immense effect it has had on the city, is a sign of JNIM’s growing hold over Mali and a step towards the group’s stated aim of government change in Mali, Beverly Ochieng, Sahel analyst with intelligence firm Control Risks, told Al Jazeera.
For weeks, most of Bamako’s residents have been unable to buy any fuel for cars or motorcycles as supplies have dried up, bringing the normally bustling capital to a standstill. Many have had to wait in long fuel queues. Last week, the United States and the United Kingdom both advised their citizens to leave Mali and evacuated non-essential diplomatic staff.
Other Western nations have also advised their citizens to leave the country. Schools across Mali have closed and will remain shut until November 9 as staff struggle to commute. Power cuts have intensified.
Here’s what we know about the armed group responsible and why it appears to have Mali in a chokehold:
People ride on top of a minibus, a form of public transport, amid ongoing fuel shortages caused by a blockade imposed by al Qaeda-linked fighters in early September, in Bamako, Mali, on October 31, 2025 [Reuters]
What is JNIM?
JNIM is the Sahel affiliate of al-Qaeda and the most active armed group in the region, according to conflict monitor ACLED. The group was formed in 2017 as a merger between groups that were formerly active against French and Malian forces that were first deployed during an armed rebellion in northern Mali in 2012. They include Algeria-based al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM) and three Malian armed groups – Ansar Dine, Al-Murabitun and Katiba Macina.
JNIM’s main aim is to capture and control territory and to expel Western influences in its region of control. Some analysts suggest that JNIM may be seeking to control major capitals and, ultimately, to govern the country as a whole.
It is unclear how many fighters the group has. The Washington Post has reported estimates of about 6,000, citing regional and western officials.
However, Ulf Laessing, Sahel analyst at the German think tank, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), said JNIM most likely does not yet have the military capacity to capture large, urban territories that are well protected by soldiers. He also said the group would struggle to appeal to urban populations who may not hold the same grievances against the government as some rural communities.
While JNIM’s primary base is Mali, KAS revealed in a report that the group has Algerian roots via its members of the Algeria-based al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM).
The group is led by Iyad Ag-Ghali, a Malian and ethnic Tuareg from Mali’s northern Kidal region who founded Ansar Dine in 2012. That group’s stated aim was to impose its interpretation of Islamic law across Mali.
Ghali had previously led Tuareg uprisings against the Malian government, which is traditionally dominated by the majority Bambara ethnic group, in the early 1990s, demanding the creation of a sovereign country called Azawad.
However, he reformed his image by acting as a negotiator between the government and the rebels. In 2008, he was posted as a Malian diplomat to Saudi Arabia under the government of Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure. When another rebellion began in 2012, however, Ghali sought a leadership role with the rebels but was rebuffed, leading him to create Ansar Dine.
According to the US Department of National Intelligence (DNI), Ghali has stated that JNIM’s strategy is to expand its presence across West Africa and to put down government forces and rival armed groups, such as the Mali-based Islamic State Sahel, through guerrilla-style attacks and the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Simultaneously, it attempts to engage with local communities by providing them with material resources. Strict dress codes and bans on music are common in JNIM-controlled areas.
JNIM also destroys infrastructure, such as schools, communication towers and bridges, to weaken the government off the battlefield.
An overall death toll is unclear, but the group has killed thousands of people since 2017. Human rights groups accuse it of attacking civilians, especially people perceived to be assisting government forces. JNIM activity in Mali caused 207 deaths between January and April this year, according to ACLED data.
How has JNIM laid siege to Bamako?
JNIM began blocking oil tankers carrying fuel to Bamako in September.
That came after the military government in Bamako banned small-scale fuel sales in all rural areas – except at official service stations – from July 1. Usually, in these areas, traders can buy fuel in jerry cans, which they often resell later.
The move to ban this was aimed at crippling JNIM’s operations in its areas of control by limiting its supply lines and, thus, its ability to move around.
At the few places where fuel is still available in Bamako, prices soared last week by more than 400 percent, from $25 to $130 per litre ($6.25-$32.50 per gallon). Prices of transportation, food and other commodities have risen due to the crisis, and power cuts have been frequent.
Some car owners have simply abandoned their vehicles in front of petrol stations, with the military government threatening on Wednesday to impound them to ease traffic and reduce security risks.
A convoy of 300 fuel tankers reached Bamako on October 7, and another one with “dozens” of vehicles arrived on October 30, according to a government statement. Other attempts to truck in more fuel have met obstacles, however, as JNIM members ambush military-escorted convoys on highways and shoot at or kidnap soldiers and civilians.
Even as supplies in Bamako dry up, there are reports of JNIM setting fire to about 200 fuel tankers in southern and western Mali. Videos circulating on Malian social media channels show rows of oil tankers burning on a highway.
What is JNIM trying to achieve with this blockade?
Laessing of KAS said the group is probably hoping to leverage discontent with the government in the already troubled West African nation to put pressure on the military government to negotiate a power-sharing deal of sorts.
“They want to basically make people as angry as possible,” he said. “They could [be trying] to provoke protests which could bring down the current government and bring in a new one that’s more favourable towards them.”
Ochieng of Control Risks noted that, in its recent statements, JNIM has explicitly called for government change. While the previous civilian government of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita (2013-2020) had negotiated with JNIM, the present government of Colonel Assimi Goita will likely keep up its military response, Ochieng said.
Frustration at the situation is growing in Bamako, with residents calling for the government to act.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, driver Omar Sidibe said the military leaders ought to find out the reasons for the shortage and act on them. “It’s up to the government to play a full role and take action [and] uncover the real reason for this shortage.”
Which parts of Mali is the JNIM active in?
In Mali, the group operates in rural areas of northern, central and western Mali, where there is a reduced government presence and high discontent with the authorities among local communities.
In the areas it controls, JNIM presents itself as an alternative to the government, which it calls “puppets of the West”, in order to recruit fighters from several ethnic minorities which have long held grievances over their perceived marginalisation by the government, including the Tuareg, Arab, Fulani, and Songhai groups. Researchers note the group also has some members from the majority Bambara group.
In central Mali, the group seized Lere town last November and captured the town of Farabougou in August this year. Both are small towns, but Farabougou is close to Wagadou Forest, a known hiding place of JNIM.
JNIM’s hold on major towns is weaker because of the stronger government presence in larger areas. It therefore more commonly blockades major towns or cities by destroying roads and bridges leading to them. Currently, the western cities of Nioro and gold-rich Kayes are cut off. The group is also besieging the major cities of Timbuktu and Gao, as well as Menaka and Boni towns, located in the north and northeast.
How is JNIM funded?
For revenue, the group oversees artisanal gold mines, forcefully taxes community members, smuggles weapons and kidnaps foreigners for ransom, according to the US DNI. Kayes region, whose capital, Kayes, is under siege, is a major gold hub, accounting for 80 percent of Mali’s gold production, according to conflict monitoring group Critical Threats.
The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (Gi-Toc) also reports cattle rustling schemes, estimating that JNIM made 91,400 euros ($104,000) in livestock sales of cattle between 2017 and 2019. Cattle looted in Mali are sold cheaply in communities on the border with Ghana and the Ivory Coast, through a complex chain of intermediaries.
Heads of state of Mali’s Assimi Goita, Niger’s General Abdourahamane Tchiani and Burkina Faso’s Captain Ibrahim Traore pose for photographs during the first ordinary summit of heads of state and governments of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in Niamey, Niger, July 6, 2024 [Mahamadou Hamidou/Reuters]
In which other countries is JNIM active?
JNIM expanded into Burkina Faso in 2017 by linking up with Burkina-Faso-based armed group Ansarul-Islam, which pledged allegiance to the Malian group. Ansarul-Islam was formed in 2016 by Ibrahim Dicko, who had close ties with Amadou Koufa, JNIM’s deputy head since 2017.
In Burkina Faso, JNIM uses similar tactics of recruiting from marginalised ethnic groups. The country has rapidly become a JNIM hotspot, with the group operating – or holding territory – in 11 of 13 Burkina Faso regions outside of capital Ouagadougou. There were 512 reported casualties as a result of JNIM violence in the country between January and April this year. It is not known how many have died as a result of violence by the armed group in total.
Since 2022, JNIM has laid siege to the major northern Burkinabe city of Djibo, with authorities forced to airlift in supplies. In a notable attack in May 2025, JNIM fighters overran a military base in the town, killing approximately 200 soldiers. It killed a further 60 in Solle, about 48km (30 miles) west of Djibo.
In October 2025, the group temporarily took control of Sabce town, also located in the north of Burkina Faso, killing 11 police officers in the process, according to the International Crisis Group.
In a September report, Human Rights Watch said JNIM and a second armed group – Islamic State Sahel, which is linked to ISIL (ISIS) – massacred civilians in Burkina Faso between May and September, including a civilian convoy trying to transport humanitarian aid into the besieged northern town of Gorom Gorom.
Meanwhile, JNIM is also moving southwards, towards other West African nations with access to the sea. It launched an offensive on Kafolo town, in northern Ivory Coast, in 2020.
JNIM members embedded in national parks on the border regions with Burkina Faso have been launching sporadic attacks in northern Togo and the Benin Republic since 2022.
In October this year, it recorded its first attack on the Benin-Nigeria border, where one Nigerian policeman was killed. The area is not well-policed because the two countries have no established military cooperation, analyst Ochieng said.
“This area is also quite a commercially viable region; there are mining and other developments taking place there … it is likely to be one that [JNIM] will try to establish a foothold,” she added.
Why are countries struggling to fend off JNIM?
When Mali leader General Assimi Goita led soldiers to seize power in a 2020 coup, military leaders promised to defeat the armed group, as well as a host of others that had been on the rise in the country. Military leaders subsequently seizing power from civilian governments in Burkina Faso (2022) and in Niger (2023) have made the same promises.
However, Mali and its neighbours have struggled to hold JNIM at bay, with ACLED data noting the number of JNIM attacks increasing notably since 2020.
In 2022, Mali’s military government ended cooperation with 4,000-strong French forces deployed in 2013 to battle armed groups which had emerged at the time, as well as separatist Tuaregs in the north. The last group of French forces exited the country in August 2022.
Mali also terminated contracts with a 10,000-man UN peacekeeping force stationed in the country in 2023.
Bamako is now working with Russian fighters – initially 1,500 from the Wagner Mercenary Group, but since June, from the Kremlin-controlled Africa Corps – estimated to be about 1,000 in number.
Russian officials are, to a lesser extent, also present in Burkina Faso and Niger, which have formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) with Mali.
Results in Mali have been mixed. Wagner supported the Malian military in seizing swaths of land in the northern Kidal region from Tuareg rebels.
But the Russians also suffered ambushes. In July 2024, a contingent of Wagner and Malian troops was ambushed by rebels in Tinzaouaten, close to the Algerian border. Between 20 and 80 Russians and 25 to 40 Malians were killed, according to varying reports. Researchers noted it was Wagner’s worst defeat since it had deployed to West Africa.
In all, Wagner did not record much success in targeting armed groups like JNIM, analyst Laessing told Al Jazeera.
Alongside Malian forces, the Russians have also been accused by rights groups of committing gross human rights violations against rural communities in northern Mali perceived to be supportive of armed groups.
A person walks past cars parked on the roadside, amid ongoing fuel shortages caused by a blockade imposed by al-Qaeda-linked fighters in early September, in Bamako, Mali, October 31, 2025 [Reuters]
Could the Russian Africa Corps fighters end the siege on Bamako?
Laessing said the fuel crisis is pressuring Mali to divert military resources and personnel to protect fuel tankers, keeping them from consolidating territory won back from armed groups and further endangering the country.
He added that the crisis will be a test for Russian Africa Corp fighters, who have not proven as ready as Wagner fighters to take battle risks. A video circulating on Russian social media purports to show Africa Corps members providing air support to fuel tanker convoys. It has not been verified by Al Jazeera.
“If they can come in and allow the fuel to flow into Bamako, then the Russians will be seen as heroes,” Laessing said – at least by locals.
Laessing added that the governments of Mali and Burkina Faso, in the medium to long term, might eventually have to negotiate with JNIM to find a way to end the crisis.
While Goita’s government has not attempted to hold talks with the group in the past, in early October, it greenlit talks led by local leaders, according to conflict monitoring group Critical Threats – although it is unclear exactly how the government gave its approval.
Agreements between the group and local leaders have reportedly already been signed in several towns across Segou, Mopti and Timbuktu regions, in which the group agrees to end its siege in return for the communities agreeing to JNIM rules, taxes, and noncooperation with the military.
Coronation Street fans are desperate for Carl Webster to face his downfall for his recent villainous ways, including a sickening twist with his sister Debbie Webster
Coronation Street fans are desperate for Carl Webster to face his downfall for his recent villainous ways(Image: ITV)
Fans of Coronation Street think a downfall is set for villain Carl Webster, as he sunk to new lows this week.
The brother of Kevin and Debbie Webster has been up to all sorts, from dodgy car stealing schemes and fake MOTs, as well as his affair with sister-in-law Abi Franklin. With Carl also having a secret romance with James Bailey behind Abi’s back, and him also being behind the hit-and-run that injured Tyrone Dobbs, fans are eager to see him punished.
But his latest dark behaviour could be his cruelest decision yet, and it’s left sickened fans wanting him gone. Carl has been getting closer to his sister Debbie, and clearly wants access to her business accounts at the hotel.
Amid Debbie’s dementia diagnosis and her becoming forgetful, vile scenes have shown Carl tricking her and trying to get her out of the way. Wanting access to the accounts no doubt for the money, fans fear he will end up fleecing his own sister.
This and the fact he’s cruelly using her diagnosis against her at a time where she’s vulnerable, has left fans horrified. Many have called it the final straw and are hoping he gets found out soon.
The ongoing storyline has sparked speculation that it will lead to a big comeuppance for Carl, perhaps at Christmas or beyond. Fans are now trying to figure out who will expose Carl and who will bring him down.
As Kevin and Abi were named as potential suspects behind his downfall, other fans wondered if Debbie or her partner Ronnie Bailey, or even fling James, will stop him for once and for all. Taking to social media, one fan said: “Cant stand him. Someone has to catch him.”
Another viewer said: “Is he going to get caught out for EVERYTHING at Christmas? Tyrone, Debbie, Abi, James, they’ll all want a piece of him!”
A third fan wrote: “Debbie must have accountants checking the hotel books. Surely there will be investigations if things don’t add up. What about the other hotel staff too? They would notice dodgy goings on.”
Another fan said: “I think Debbie has her suspicions about him wanting access to the hotel’s finances. She should give him limited access and give the same access to Ronnie so he can keep an eye out for anything dodgy. Then when she confronts Carl, with Ronnie backing her, he can’t claim she’s confused because of her dementia.”
Nov. 6 (UPI) — The Trump administration has moved to end deportation protections for those from South Sudan as the United Nations warns the country is on the brink of war.
Amid President Donald Trump‘s crackdown on immigration, the Department of Homeland Security has targeted countries that have been given Temporary Protected Status, which is granted to countries facing ongoing armed conflict, environmental disasters or other extraordinary conditions.
TPS enables eligible nationals from the designated countries to live and work in the United States legally, without fear of deportation.
DHS announced it was ending TPS for South Sudan on Wednesday with the filing of a Federal Register notice.
The termination will be in effect Jan. 5.
“After conferring with interagency partners, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem determined that conditions in South Sudan no longer meet the TPS statutory requirements,” DHS said in a statement, which explained the decision was based on a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services review of the conditions in South Sudan and in consultation with the Department of State.
South Sudan was first designated for TPS in November 2011 amid violent post-independence instability in the country, and the designation has been repeatedly renewed since.
The Trump administration has sought to end TPS designations for a total seven countries: Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Nepal, Venezuela and now South Sudan. Court challenges have followed, with decisions staying, at least for now, the terminations for all of the countries except for Afghanistan and Cameroon, which ended July 12 and Aug. 4, respectively.
The move to terminate TPS for South Sudan is also expected to be challenged in court.
The announcement comes a little more than a week after the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan warned the General Assembly that the African nation is experiencing escalating armed conflict and political crisis, and that international intervention is needed to halt mounting human rights violations.
A civil war erupted in South Sudan in December 2013, just two years after the country gained independence — a conflict that came to an end with a cease-fire in 2018.
Barney Afako, a member of the human rights commission in South Sudan, said Oct. 29 that the political transition spearheaded by the cease-fire agreement was “falling apart.”
“The cease-fire is not holding, political detentions have become a tool of repression, the peace agreement’s key provisions are being systematically violated and the government forces are using aerial bombardments in civilian areas,” he said.
“All indicators point to a slide back toward another deadly war.”
The DHS is urging South Sudanese in the United States under TPS to voluntarily leave the country using the U.S. Customs and Border Protection smartphone application. If they do, they can secure a complimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 “exit bonus” and potential future opportunities for legal immigration.
US Treasury accuses Pyongyang of stealing $3bn in digital assets to finance its nuclear weapons programme over three years.
Published On 6 Nov 20256 Nov 2025
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North Korea has denounced the latest United States sanctions targeting cybercrimes that the US says help finance its nuclear weapons programme, accusing Washington of harbouring “wicked” hostility towards Pyongyang and promising unspecified countermeasures.
The statement on Thursday by a North Korean vice foreign minister came two days after the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on eight people and two firms, including North Korean bankers, for allegedly laundering money from cybercrime schemes.
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The US Treasury accused North Korea of operating state-sponsored hacking schemes that have stolen more than $3bn in mostly digital assets over the past three years, an amount unmatched by any other foreign actor. The Treasury Department said the illicit funds helped finance the country’s nuclear weapons programme.
The department said North Korea relies on a network of banking representatives, financial institutions and shell companies in North Korea, China, Russia and elsewhere to launder funds obtained through IT worker fraud, cryptocurrency heists and sanctions evasion.
The sanctions were rolled out even as US President Donald Trump continues to express interest in reviving talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Their nuclear discussions during Trump’s first term collapsed in 2019 amid disagreements over trading relief from US-led sanctions on North Korea for steps to dismantle its nuclear programme.
“Now that the present US administration has clarified its stand to be hostile towards the DPRK to the last, we will also take proper measures to counter it with patience for any length of time,” the North Korean vice minister, Kim Un Chol, said in a statement.
He said US sanctions and pressure tactics will never change the “present strategic situation” between the countries or alter North Korea’s “thinking and viewpoint”.
Kim Jong Un has shunned any form of talks with Washington and Seoul since his fallout with Trump in 2019. He has since made Russia the focus of his foreign policy, sending thousands of soldiers, many of whom have died on the battlefield, and large amounts of military equipment for President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine while pursuing an increasingly assertive strategy aimed at securing a larger role for North Korea in a united front against the US-led West.
In a recent speech, Kim Jong Un urged Washington to drop its demand for the North to surrender its nuclear weapons as a condition for resuming diplomacy. He ignored Trump’s proposal to meet while the US president was in South Korea last week for meetings with world leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Love Actually star Thomas Brodie-Sangster has signed up for Google Pixel’s new festive adCredit: AlamyMartine McCutcheon will star alongside Thomas 22 years after they appeared together in Love ActuallyCredit: Alamy
They filmed the top-secret project in London yesterday afternoon — 22 years after appearing opposite each other in the 2003 hit film.
A source said: “Nothing says Christmas like Love Actually, and so Google Pixel are bringing a sprinkling of it back to insert some nostalgia into the festive period.
“It’s still such a firm favourite with millions of people, so they tapped up Martine and Thomas for the sweet reunion.
“The ad is going to be packed full of throwbacks — especially because Thomas was only 13 when he was in Love Actually.
“A whole street in London was transformed into a winter wonderland and Martine and Thomas were in great spirits.
“They’re really happy with how the ad worked out. It’s going to be one people are talking about for a while.”
If you’ve lived under a rock and have never seen Love Actually, it’s one of Richard Curtis’s best films.
Martine plays hapless PA Natalie, swept off her feet by the Prime Minister, played by Hugh Grant.
And Thomas took on the role of sweet, love-stricken Sam, who went all out to impress his teen crush.
Google Pixel isn’t the only brand getting in on the Love Actually nostalgia for their Christmas ad.
Aldi revealed their famous Kevin the Carrot will propose to his sweetheart Katie in their festive offering this year using cue cards — inspired by the scene in the film where Andrew Lincoln’s character Mark professed his love for Juliet, played by Keira Knightley.
Without wanting to be too sentimental, it proves love really is still all around us.
And I’m definitely going to be renting it on Prime Video tonight.
KYLIE MINOGUE used a stocking from the filming of her CBeebies bedtime story last Christmas in the music video for her new festive single Xmas.
The Aussie pop star is celebrating the tenth anniversary of her Christmas album with a new version of the record, Kylie Christmas (Fully Wrapped), which features four new songs.
Kylie is celebrating the tenth anniversary of her Christmas album with a new version of the recordCredit: Alamy
Speaking to Scott Mills on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show about the video, Kylie said: “Because I was on the road we didn’t get to go so Christmassy.
“I think it was from a CBeebies Christmas story | did and they gave me a Christmas stocking.
“I thought, I have got to take something Christmassy and I think that’s it. That’s the one thing that you may see.
“We didn’t get to do fairy lights. We didn’t get to do paper chains. But in spirit we were very Christmassy.”
JOSH’S TOP DAY WITH SPINAL TAP
JOSH GROBAN was one of a few artists asked to perform with Spinal Tap for their next film, Stonehenge: The Final Finale.
I exclusively revealed the parody band had shot a concert alongside Eric Clapton and Shania Twain at the landmark in August, and now US star Josh has told me all about taking part.
Josh Groban was one of a few artists asked to perform with Spinal Tap for their next film, Stonehenge: The Final FinaleCredit: Getty
He said: “Singing with Spinal Tap at Stonehenge – I don’t care how much you’ve done, that’s an experience for anybody. Eric Clapton felt it, Shania Twain felt it.
“Everybody was going, ‘I can’t believe we’re doing this’. I can’t tell you the song but it was ridiculous and amazing.”
Josh is returning to the UK on April 1 next year for a date at London’s O2 Arena, with tickets on sale tomorrow.
And on November 14 he will drop his next record, Hidden Gems.
The album is a collection of fans’ favourite tracks not available on streaming platforms.
Speaking after an intimate show in London at Union Chapel, Josh says: “These are all songs from my past.
“They’re B-sides and special-editions. I’ve also been working on new music.”
MUMMY’S THE WORD, BRENDAN
BRENDAN FRASER and Rachel Weiz are teaming up again for The Mummy 4, 17 years after the last film in the franchise.
They both starred in 1999’s The Mummy and 2001’s The Mummy Returns, below, but Rachel skipped 2008’s The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor.
Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weiz are teaming up again for The Mummy 4,Credit: Getty
Plans for a fourth film were ditched in 2012 before Tom Cruise tried to reboot the series in 2017 with another movie called The Mummy, but it lost millions at the box office.
The original followed treasure hunter Rick (Brendan), who wakes up an ancient Egyptian priest with special powers.
The latest news comes three years after Brendan’s career comeback in The Whale, which landed him a much-deserved Oscar for Best Actor.
YUNG HIT IN TRANS PIC SHOW
YUNGBLUD has provided the soundtrack for a new photography exhibition that tells the stories of 13 trans people from across the UK.
His song Hello Heaven, Hello will be used on screens at Outernet, right outside Tottenham Court Road Tube Station in central London, for the free exhibition called Trans Is Human from November 17.
Yungblud has provided the soundtrack for a trans photography exhibitionCredit: Getty
Yungblud said: “I’m honoured that Hello Heaven, Hello will be a part of this exhibition.
“Trans Is Human is all about celebrating truth, identity and the beauty of being yourself.
“That’s something I’ve always tried to celebrate in everything I do.”
BABYSHAMBLES have returned with their first song in 12 years, Dandy Hooligan.
The band, fronted by Pete Doherty, dropped the track yesterday ahead of the launch of their comeback tour.
Pete Doherty’s Babyshambles have dropped their first song in 12 yearsCredit: Getty
Pete said: “It’s a well turned-out, elegantly crafted reggae-ska-pop song . . . with a sweet melody to bowl along to with your sharpened walking cane.”
They were back on stage in Hastings last night for a warm-up gig ahead of their tour later this month.
ED’S PERFECT PITCH MEANS ALL KIDS CAN LEARN MUSIC
ED SHEERAN has once again proved he is a voice for good after a successful campaign to give all kids access to creative subjects at school.
Back in March, the Shape Of You singer wrote to No10 urging the government to look at the critical state of music education – and, incredibly, they’ve listened.
Ed Sheeran wrote to Keir Starmer about the critical state of music educationCredit: Splash
Keir Starmer yesterday heralded Ed’s letter, which was backed by stars including Harry Styles, Stormzy and Annie Lennox, as “powerful”, and told him: “I wanted you to know that your voice has been heard.”
In a letter to Ed which has been shared with me, the PM said: “The review places creative subjects firmly at the centre.
“We are revitalising arts education, strengthening music and drama, and launching a new National Centre for Arts And Music Education to support teachers and raise standards.
“We will make sure every child has access to those experiences – from arts and culture to nature and civic engagement – so that creativity isn’t a privilege, but a right.”
It is a huge victory for Ed and the Ed Sheeran Foundation, which has campaigned for accessible, meaningful education for all young people.
In a statement, Ed said: “I set up the Ed Sheeran Foundation because every child deserves to have access to a meaningful music education, and the chance to experience the joy and confidence that musical expression can bring.
“Shortly after setting up my foundation, I wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister about the critical state of music education in the UK and the fact it was slipping through the cracks.
“With the help of the letter and everyone who signed it, I’m happy to say that some of the key points we raised have been recognised by the government, marking the first change to the music curriculum in over ten years.”
All power to you, Ed. This is brilliant news.
COAT AND TAYLS
TAYLOR SWIFT has gone quiet since dropping her album The Life Of A Showgirl last month, but she re-emerged in New York for a night out with Gigi Hadid on Monday.
The singer wrapped up in a coat and knee-high boots alongside the model who is a long-time friend.
Taylor Swift had a night out with Gigi Hadid in New York on MondayCredit: GettyGigi and Taylor Swift are long-time friendsCredit: Getty
I’m sure they had plenty to catch up on, with a wedding to plan for Taylor, while Gigi’s romance with Bradley Cooper seems to be going from strength to strength after two years together.
Perhaps wedding bells will be ringing for her, too, before long.
JENNIFER LAWRENCE has let slip that she’s co-producing a movie with Emma Stone based on Miss Piggy, being written by US comedian Cole Escola.
Asked on the Las Culturistas podcast whether the actresses will also star in the film, she said: “I think so, we have to.”
On working with Emma for the first time, she added: “It’s f***ed up. It’s dark that we haven’t done a movie together.”
CYNTHIA’S IN GOOD MOOD FOR PREMIERE
CYNTHIA ERIVO was grinning from ear to ear at the premiere of Wicked: For Good, despite the fact her co-star Ariana Grande missed the big launch.
The British actress, who returns as Elphaba in the second flick, wore this quirky, tummy-baring outfit and was joined at the event in Sao Paulo by co-star Jonathan Bailey ahead of the London premiere on Monday.
Cynthia Erivo was all smiles at the Wicked: For Good premiere in Sao Paulo, BrazilCredit: GettyCynthia posed with co-star Jonathan BaileyCredit: Getty
Hopefully, Ariana will make it over here after a fault with a plane meant she couldn’t get to Brazil in time for Tuesday’s event.
She apologised on Instagram, but was then subjected to vile abuse.
