Russians head to the polls for the first time since the Russia-Ukraine war began in 2022. United Russia has been the governing party for over two decades, backed by President Vladimir Putin. Do other parties pose a challenge? Al Jazeera’s Dmitry Medvedenko reports from Moscow.
Published On 17 Sep 202617 Sep 2026
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KILLER drug fentanyl has long had a vice-like grip on the US, devastating everyone from high profile celebrities to everyday families across the country.
Just today it was revealed that actress Hayden Panettiere, who died last month age 36, had allegedly taken a pill laced with fentanyl before she passed away.
The mum-of-one was found dead of a suspected overdose of oxycodone at a luxury AirBnB in South Carolina on August 17 just days before her 37th birthday.
Cops are said to be “zeroing in” on her alleged long-term dealer from whom she is suspected to have purchased several black-market prescription drugs from.
Toxicology reports are still pending but, according to the US news outlet, the working theory within law enforcement is that it was the suspected fentanyl-laced oxycodone pill killed Hayden.
But she is far from the first celebrity to have succumbed to the drug.
Others include music icon Prince, who died age 57 from an accidental fentanyl overdose in 2016, long before many had even heard of the drug.
Rappers Mac Miller and Coolio, rock star Tom Petty and actors Michael K Williams and Angus Cloud all lost their lives to the drug, while singer Demi Lovato survived but was left with life-changing side effects.
And the fentanyl crisis is showing no signs of going away as dealers use it to lace other drugs to maximise their profits.
A former NYPD chief of detectives James Essig explained: “Fentanyl is relatively cheap while heroin is expensive.
“You take a kilo of heroin and then add in a tiny bit of fentanyl and stretch it out for more profitability.”
Fentanyl is an opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.
Opioid addiction became rife in America during the 90s when pharmaceutical companies flooded the market with super-strong painkillers.
But when the government began to crackdown in the 2000s, the Mexican drug cartels spotted a gap in the market and moved in with heroin, and before long they started adding fentanyl to juice up its potency.
Raymond Donovan, former Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) chief of operations, says: “That really started the wave of the opioid crisis that we are in now.
“Very quickly it went from increasing the strength of heroin to pure fentanyl. You had kilos coming across the south west border.
“The Mexican cartels started buying fentanyl directly from China, pressing it into pills and then selling it as if it was a known opioid, like something that was made by a scientist in a laboratory, but it is not, it is a fake pill.”
It was two years after Prince’s death when investigators finally released their findings.
They had found counterfeit Vicodin pills in his house, laced with fentanyl – but police were unable to establish who had provided the drugs.
Prince’s death put fentanyl in the headlines, but it wasn’t long before another famous name was tragically linked to the drug.
The following year rock n roll legend Tom Petty was found dead – and two forms of illicit fentanyl were found in his system.
He was also using a medically supplied fentanyl patch for pain caused by a fractured hip.
His family released a statement saying they wanted his death to act as a wake-up call in a bid to save others from suffering their heartbreak.
But the opioid crisis was only just starting. In 2018 more than 30,000 people died of fentanyl overdoses – up by 10 per cent – and in July that year singer Demi Lovato almost lost her life.
The star had been open about her struggles with drug addiction and had been in and out of rehab.
Entertainment journalist Chris Witherspoon explains: “Despite years of sobriety Demi Lovato went out with some friends in Hollywood, ran into a dealer she knew and she got some heroin that was laced with fentanyl.”
Speaking about her ordeal Demi said: “I had three strokes, I had a heart attack. I suffered brain damage from the strokes. I can’t drive any more.
Her survival was down to being given the drug Narcan in hospital which helps to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
It was a huge wake-up call with celebrities including Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake and Ariana Grande sending her public messages of support.
But another celeb was not going to be as lucky as Demi. Just two months later rapper Mac Miller was found dead at the age of just 26.
Like Demi he had been open about his own struggles with addiction, writing about it in his music.
Investigators discovered he had been looking to buy oxycodone, but ended up with something laced with fentanyl.
Miller’s drug dealer and the men who supplied him with the drugs were later jailed.
But it isn’t just celebrities that have fallen victim to the fentanyl crisis sweeping America.
Thousands of ordinary families have been left grieving the deaths of their loved ones, too.
Matt Capelouto lost his college student daughter Alex to the drug in December 2019.
“We didn’t know anything about fentanyl at the time,” he says. “Lots of things were going through my head and this was a period of shock.”
Alex, 20, had contacted a drug dealer on Snapchat looking to buy the prescription painkiller Perocet.
But what he, in fact, delivered to her was counterfeit pills made with lethal doses of fentanyl.
“My daughter took half of one of these pills before going to bed and my wife found her dead in her bed the next morning,” says heartbroken Matt.
“I wanted to find out who this drug dealer was. Who sold my daughter death?”
They eventually got into Alex’s phone and discovered the identity of the drug dealer.
But the family were told that the dealer was unlikely to face any charges as California does not have a death by dealer statute that holds dealers responsible for users’ deaths.
But the case was taken over for federal prosecution, which has a different burden of proof, and the dealer, Brandon McDowell, was charged with one count of distributing fentanyl resulting in death and jailed for nine years.
Matt says: “Locking up a drug dealer won’t bring my daughter back, but it will save someone else’s child.”
Michael K Williams, star of TV series The Wire and Boardwalk Empire, was the next celeb to lose their life after taking fentanyl-laced heroin in 2021.
He had been open about his battle with addiction, and just five days before his death spoke on a podcast about how acting offered him a road to recovery.
Two weeks after he passed away the New York City Medical Examiner said he died from an unintentional overdose from a deadly mix of drugs including fentanyl.
In April 2023, drug dealer Irvin Cartagena pleaded guilty to selling the mix of heroin and fentanyl to Williams that resulted in his death. He was jailed for 10 years.
In September 2021 comedian and presenter Kate Quigley went to a party in Venice, California, where she and her friends thought they were using cocaine, but it contained fentanyl.
Kate passed out, fell over and was unconscious for 17 hours. She woke up disorientated, unable to move her legs, and then made a harrowing discovery.
Three of her friends were lying dead; comedian Fuquan Johnson, Natalie Williamson and Enrico Colangeli had suffered fatal overdoses.
The dealer was never identified.
Washington Post reporter Nick Miroff says: “One of the many tragedies of the fentanyl epidemic in the United States is this repeat of mass overdose events.
“A group of friends partying together and they think they are buying cocaine or some other drug, and they don’t know that what they are buying is laced with fentanyl and because they don’t have any opioid tolerance, they drop dead.
“So that’s why we have seen horrible crime scenes with three, four, five adults on the floor at a party where they have literally died in a couple of minutes.”
In July 2022, cops discerned a shocking new twist in the fentanyl story.
The drug was now being used as a weapon by robbery gangs, and a famous fashion designer was one of their victims.
Katie Gallagher, who had designed for Rita Ora and Lady Gaga, was found dead in her bed.
Police told her parents that Katie had died from an overdose – but she had been murdered.
Detectives had uncovered a robbery crew that was using drugs laced with fentanyl to incapacitate victims before using facial recognition technology to open their phones and empty their bank accounts.
Police believed Katie had been given what she thought was cocaine, but it was laced with fentanyl.
Police arrested and charged Kenwood Allen, 33, in relation to five deaths and a drugging and robbery spree targeting a total of 21 victims.
He pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
In September 2022, rapper Coolio became the next victim of fentanyl.
At first it was thought he had died of an asthma attack, but the medical examiner’s report revealed he had died from an accidental overdose of heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl.
The authorities are struggling to stop the flow of fentanyl from Mexico into the US.
The drug is so compact and so potent that it is easy for the cartels to smuggle it across the border.
In 2023, Homeland Security launched Operation Blue Lotus to try to stop the flood.
And the US targeted the Chinese suppliers that were selling fentanyl to the cartels.
But despite the Government efforts the fentanyl crisis continued to spread across America and claimed the life of yet another of Hollywood’s brightest stars.
Actor Angus Cloud was just 25 when he died at his family home in California.
He shot to fame playing a drug dealer in the hit series Euphoria. But his own struggle with addiction after suffering an ankle injury and losing his dad to cancer made him vulnerable.
He was found to have died of an accidental overdose of a cocktail of drugs, including fentanyl.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is “very, very close” to taking power, its deputy parliamentary leader has told the BBC, after a historic victory in elections for the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.
Sunday’s preliminary results show it fell three seats short of an outright majority, with 43.8% of the vote. It is now seeking support from other parties or individuals in order to govern.
While most German political parties refuse to work with the AfD, Beatrix von Storch called for its opponents to enter talks and said: “You cannot say I do not accept the vote of the people”.
Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was “deeply shocked” by the result, describing it as “seismic… not just in the country but also in my own political party and I take that very seriously”.
His party, the conservative CDU, saw its share of the vote almost halved to 17.2% in the state’s preliminary results.
Merz said it was not possible to return to “business as usual”, adding that the country needed “profound reforms” and the CDU needed to “reach people at an emotional level.
“This election result is a seismic result not just in the country but also in my own political party and I take that very seriously,” he said.
No far-right party has controlled a German state since World War Two, and governing at state level would mean powers over policing and local education.
Von Storch said the state’s results “were on the table and now democrats have to talk to [one] another. This is what democracy demands”.
She added that if parties refused to work with the AfD, “then we might end up in severe chaos and maybe we have a new election”.
Her comments were echoed by AfD’s leader in Saxony-Anhalt, Ulrich Siegmund, who told a news conference on Monday that the party had won a “clear mandate to govern”.
The state’s defeated premier, the CDU’s Sven Schulze, also said the mandate to govern Saxony-Anhalt “now lies with the AfD”.
Saxony-Anhalt has a small population of 2.1 million and the AfD in the state is assessed by domestic intelligence as “right-wing extremist”, a classification rejected by Siegmund, 35.
The party’s plans for Saxony-Anhalt, which include segregating child refugees into special classes and setting up a task-force to help detain and deport migrants who no longer have the right to be in the state, are highly controversial within Germany.
Siegmund said discussions with other parties were initiated on Sunday night and could potentially take days or weeks to conclude.
“We reach out to everybody first, we will have consultations and then we’ll see whether [there are] individual parliamentary groups or MPs who would be willing to help us,” he added.
The AfD is currently heading for 39 seats in the 83-seat state parliament instead of the 42 needed for an outright majority, although the result has not yet been finalised.
Von Storch told the BBC the AfD was talking to individuals within the CDU group – the largest party in both the state’s outgoing coalition and Germany’s government – because they were “very, very unhappy with their own party”.
The association uses its website, email lists, newsletters and neighbourhood flyers, and it enlists volunteers who walk around to make sure residents know about upcoming events. The association also has a welcome wagon to greet new neighbours and tell them what’s happening.
Kathi Eckert, a retired teacher who has lived in Hiltonia for more than 10 years, said personal contact still matters. Wearing a grey 250th-anniversary T-shirt and baseball hat, she chatted with people around the lawn before settling in with the group gathered along the street.
“We are so inundated with media, emails, ‘noise’ that it is hard to focus on what’s going on in our little world. A personal ‘reaching out’ to someone is so much more meaningful than just sticking a flyer in their screen door,” said Eckert, who informally lets neighbours know about upcoming events. “It’s not always possible, but we try.”
Even with those efforts, reaching people who are not already involved can be a challenge. Eckert said some neighbours may hesitate to attend because they assume the group is already well-established.
“We do tend to see a lot of the same people here, because I think we all have that same intent to keep community,” Eckert said. “But I have also heard that some people won’t come because they think we’re a clique. We’re not a clique unless we exclude people, and we don’t do that. We open this to everybody.”
The challenge is not only getting people through the door but creating the conditions for them to feel they belong once they arrive. For Reese, inclusivity means thinking beyond who is invited to how you’ve curated the space for the people who are there.
“If you are trying to host a gathering with the intent of getting a wide variety of people, some folks are going to have a question of, am I going to be safe there? And have you done your due diligence to make sure that I am?” she said. “These things don’t just happen, and I do think that we are in a moment where intentionality feels even more important.”
To create a space where people feel welcome and able to participate, Community Plate works to remove economic and other barriers. Guests can share a story or listen, bring a dish, buy something simple, or just come and eat. Organisers also encourage people to take leftovers home for themselves or neighbours who could use a meal. Their toolkit outlines ways to make community meals more accessible.
“We do our best to meet people where they are,” said Schatz.
But even the most intentional gatherings won’t work for everyone. Carter Florence, vice president of programmes at Meals on Wheels America, said there’s “no one silver bullet” when it comes to creating social ties. Through community dining and home-delivered meals, her organisation uses food as an entry point for social support, helping to build relationships and reduce isolation.
“For some people, the idea of eating with a group of people they may not know is actually really uncomfortable, and that wouldn’t be a very positive situation,” she said. “But the idea of someone that I’ve maybe seen periodically coming by and delivering a meal may be more beneficial.”
The individual nature of connection is what makes scaling these programmes complex. “You really want to be able to offer the type of connection that’s going to be most beneficial” for each person, Florence explained.
The idea has also made its way into policy. A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published in July, highlighted how food-based activities are appearing in national and local strategies to strengthen social ties.
The report shows, for example, how Japan’s national loneliness plan includes community cafes and meal-delivery programmes. Seoul has introduced convenience stores where residents can prepare and share meals alongside accessing other forms of support. Several European countries have also backed communal-eating initiatives. The programmes differ, but they reflect a recognition that food can function not only as nutrition but also as a way to create social connections.
Back in Hiltonia, by early evening, people were folding up their chairs and packing the remains of their dishes to take home. The community’s next gathering was already planned for August: a National Night Out, where neighbours would block off the street and share another potluck.
Green and Kroon stayed until the end, helping clean up before leaving about 7pm. While at the event, their next-door neighbours introduced them to a couple who recently moved into the area. The two couples chatted about life in Hiltonia and the house the newcomers were moving into. Green and Kroon hope to get to know their new neighbours better and plan to visit them once they have finished unpacking.
It was a small example of what organisers hoped the potluck would accomplish: turning neighbours who might otherwise remain strangers into people with a reason to meet again.
While they are still building relationships in the area, Kroon said they have made some close friends here.
“It’s hard to start forming these things,” she said. “But if there’s already something established that you can show up to, it’s a lot easier.”
ALL-inclusive package holidays aren’t just for families squabbling over sunloungers – they also make great places for big group birthdays or stag and hen parties.
But as anyone who’s ever tried to organise one knows, finding a decent resort property that actually accepts group bookings without slapping you with ridiculous restrictions is an absolute nightmare.
That’s where being a Holiday Expert – like me – comes in handy.
Because I’ve studied the destinations, heard the inside track on the best deals and personally stayed in over 200 hotels across the world as a couple, solo, family and – most importantly – as part of a big group of rowdy Brits (my personal fave).
So using all that experience, I’ve found eight of the best group-friendly all-inclusive properties that give you massive value inside the hotel gates, with all of meals and drinks included to remove any arguments or maths over who is paying for dinner.
Not only that, but they put you within staggering distance of cheap local bars – and are complete with poolside sunbeds on standby, for when last night’s decisions catch up with you.
Read on for some inspiration for where to next book your mates’ holiday.
Prices correct at time of publication.
You don’t take a group of mates to Benidorm for a quiet retreat.
The Dynastic Hotel sits right in the heart of the lively Levante district, putting you a stone’s throw from the beach and surrounded by cabaret bars, sports pubs, and the legendary English Square.
Pints in the surrounding back-street bars are regularly advertised for as little as €1 (86p), making it an absolute goldmine for budget nights out.
And groups LOVE the Dynastic’s indoor spa and heated pool complex.
If someone in the group is suffering from a catastrophic hangover, you can retreat into the quiet, subterranean hydrotherapy circuit for a few hours to reboot before the evening session begins. Thank me later.
You can grab a three-night all inclusive stay here from £305pp, flying direct from London Luton on May 17, 2027.
If your group’s single requirement is “put us where the action is,” this is arguably the best-placed hotel on the entire list.
It sits right on the edge of Praia da Oura beach and is literally two minutes’ walk from Albufeira’s famous Strip – a neon mile of karaoke joints, sports bars and open-air clubs.
When I stayed, I’d jump into places like Wild & Co, Matt’s Bar and Liberto’s, where happy-hour cocktails can cost between €5 (£4.28) – €6 (£5.13), although head to sports bars for local beers from €3 (£2.57).
The standout feature here is that the property features a massive, elevated oceanfront sun terrace that steps directly down onto the sand.
It means you and your mates can load up on free all inclusive drinks from the pool bar and take them straight out to look over the Atlantic without spending a single euro on seafront bar prices.
And I found a three-night all inclusive break from £290pp, flying direct from London Stansted on May 2, 2027.
Lloret de Mar has been hosting big group trips for decades, and it remains one of the cheapest party enclaves in Europe – with shots in local spots frequently advertised for less than a quid.
The BLUESEA Montevista Hawai gives you a great pool set-up, buffet dining and multiple bars roughly a ten-minute stroll from the beach and main strip.
This is where where legendary late-night haunts like Disco Tropics and Moef Gaga keep things moving until sunrise.
The key perk at this hotel is its position slightly set back from the main strip noise.
You get all the rowdy benefits of Lloret’s legendary club scene by night, but the hotel courtyard itself stays remarkably calm during the day, giving your group an actual chance to sleep off the night before in peace.
And this is the cheapest deal on my entire list, because you can lock in three nights all inclusive here for just – wait for it – £175pp.
If your crew wants guaranteed sunshine paired with a proper night out, this is the move.
Las Piramides sits right in central Las Americas, surrounded by Supermercados, sports bars and walking-distance access to both the Veronicas Strip and the Starco Centre.
The intense competition between local bars means 2-for-1 drink deals and free shot tokens are everywhere.
And an underrated perk for groups staying here is the fact that you’re getting an apartment to yourselves.
Having separate living rooms and private balconies means your group has a proper central base to congregate and pre-drink before heading out, rather than trying to cram six people onto a couple of single beds in a standard hotel room.
I tracked down a three-night all inclusive group holiday from £365pp, flying direct from Manchester on May 10, 2027.
Malta is a brilliant option for groups who want a buzzing nightlife scene without the wall-to-wall mega-club vibes in places like Ibiza.
The Qawra Palace sits right on the seafront with the waterfront pubs of Qawra and Bugibba Square stretching out right along the coastal path.
Local watering holes like Fat Harry’s Pub and the Royale Barrel Bistro run aggressive 2-for-1 happy hours and cheap pint-and-burger deals straight through the afternoon.
And I can guarantee that your group will love this hotel’s rooftop pool deck.
It gives you and your mates panoramic sea views over St Paul’s Bay while you make the most of the all inclusive bar, giving your trip a high-end, luxury-resort feel for a basic budget price.
You can book a three-night all inclusive stay here from £338pp, flying direct from Liverpool on May 11. 2027.
Palma Nova in Majorca gives you the ultimate group compromise: a stunning beach by day, and walking-distance access to the famous party zone in neighbouring Magaluf by night.
And the Sol Palmanova hotel features outdoor pools, high-energy daytime sports activities and a massive buffet footprint to fuel up before a night out.
The killer feature for groups here is the hotel’s special late-breakfast service.
Unlike standard rigid hotels that shut their morning buffets at 9.30am sharp, the schedule here caters brilliantly to late risers.
So nobody in your group has to miss out on hot food just because they stayed out past 3am…
While searching for deals, I clocked a four-night all inclusive stay here from £340pp, flying direct from London Stansted on May 3, 2027.
While Salou is famous for theme parks by day, the resort flips into a massive party hub after dark.
With over 250 bars and 11 nightclubs packed into the resort, pint prices sit comfortably under £3.
The Ponient Dorada Palace sits a short walk from the main nightlife drag along Avinguda de Carles Buïgas, where spots like Danny Boy Irish Bar, Chaplins and Tropical Salou keep the energy high.
And this is another hotel with a rooftop pool section – only this time it’s adults-only.
It’s also equipped with loungers and a private bar, allowing your group to escape the family noise at the main pool deck and enjoy a sunbathing session overlooking the town.
You can grab a three-night all inclusive package from £250pp, flying direct from Birmingham on May 3, 2027.
Puerto del Carmen is perfect for groups who want a buzzing atmosphere centred around live-music pubs, sports bars, and tavernas rather than multi-storey nightclubs.
BLUESEA Los Fiscos sits elevated just above the historic Old Town, putting you within an easy downhill stroll of both the harbour bars and the lively Avenida de las Playas strip.
Because the poolside bar terrace is all inclusive, sure, but also gives the group sweeping views straight out across the Atlantic Ocean.
It’s an unbeatable spot to grab your free all inclusive afternoon drinks while watching the boats come into the marina below.
Perhaps a hotel for the more sophisticated groups among us… If they’re out there?
I found a three-night all inclusive stay from £260pp, flying direct from London Stansted on May 2, 2027.
