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The marriage between Arcade Fire’s indie-rocker spouses Win Butler and Régine Chassagne has flamed out.

The longtime collaborators and romantic partners split “after a long and loving marriage,” the Canadian “Reflektor” group announced Thursday in a statement shared on social media. Butler, 45, and Chassagne, 49, married in 2003 and will “continue to love, admire and support each other as they co-parent their son,” the band said.

The Grammy-winning rock group, founded in 2001 and known for songs “The Suburbs” and “Wake Up,” announced the singers’ separation years after several people accused frontman Butler of sexual misconduct in 2022.

Four people came forward about their alleged experiences with Butler in a report published by Pitchfork in August 2022. Three women alleged they were subjected to sexual misconduct between 2016 and 2022 when they were between the ages of 18 and 23. The fourth, gender-fluid accuser alleged Butler sexually assaulted them in 2015 when they were 21 and he was 34.

Amid Pitchfork’s report, Butler denied the misconduct allegations in a statement and said he “had consensual relationships outside my marriage.” Chassagne, who gave birth to her son with Butler in 2013, remained firm in her support for her now-estranged husband in 2022. The “Sprawl II” singer said, “I know what is in his heart, and I know he has never, and would never, touch a woman without her consent and I am certain he never did.”

She added at the time: “He has lost his way and he has found his way back. I love him and love the life we have created together.”

Arcade Fire rose to prominence in the 2000s for its anthemic rock, cementing its place in the Montreal indie scene with its Grammy-winning 2010 album “The Suburbs.” The group has been nominated for 10 Grammy Awards and has played some of music’s biggest stages including the Coachella and Lollapalooza music festivals. The group released its seventh album, “Pink Elephant,” in May.

Thursday’s statement clarified that Butler and Chassagne’s “bond as creative soulmates will endure, as will Arcade Fire.” The estranged spouses will also continue their charity work in addition to caring for their child.

“The band send their love and look forward to seeing you all on tour soon,” the statement said.

Times staff writer Stacy Perman contributed to this report.

Scottish schools are now required to enforce toilet polices on the “basis of biological sex.”

Back in April, the UK Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to trans rights when it ruled that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.

The decision stemmed from a dispute centring on whether a trans woman with a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) should be treated the same as a cisgender woman under the UK’s Equality Act 2010.

A week later, a Scottish judge ordered that schools must provide single sex toilets after a case against the Scottish Borders Council (SBC) was brought to the court, per the BBC.

In light of the aforementioned rulings, the Scottish government issued “revised guidance for schools on supporting transgender pupils” on 29 September, which includes new recommendations for campus toilets and changing rooms.

The updated guidance says that under the law, schools must provide separate toilet facilities for boys and girls “on the basis of biological sex” – which the document refers to “sex recorded at birth – and accessible facilities for young people with a disability.

It also says that “educational authorities and schools should consider toilet provisions necessary for transgender pupils,” such as “gender neutral provisions.”

“The design of gender neutral facilities should ensure privacy for all young people. In practice, this should include features such as full height walls and doors and should take account of the particular needs of female pupils,” the guidance adds.

“Where any change is being introduced to the arrangements that a pupil has been familiar with, there should be additional planning and consideration of their needs, including relating to their safety and wellbeing.

“It is necessary to recognise and mitigate as far as possible, the risk of ‘outing’ a young person. This may mean that it is necessary that practical arrangements such as enabling young people to use facilities outwith usual breaktimes, or for particular facilities to be available aligned to the young person’s activities within school, to reduce visibility of them moving across and within the school building to access toilet or changing room facilities.”

Previously, schools were told that trans students could use any toilet they felt most comfortable in.

In an interview with BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth gave further insight into the adjusted guidance.

“The Scottish Government has made it absolutely clear that we accept the Supreme Court ruling, and since April we’ve been taking forward the detailed work that is necessary as a consequence of the ruling,” she said.

“Now we know in Scotland all schools are required to provide separate toilets for girls and boys, and in addition, the guidance makes clear that councils should give careful consideration to the individual needs of transgender pupils in light of the school context.”

Gilruth went on to say that the guidance was not mandatory, just suggestions from the Scottish government.

“That’s because of the statutory legal requirements that mean under the 1980 Education Act that our councils run our schools, not the government directly,” she continued.

“There are not penalties, but of course it is incumbent on the government to update our guidance in line with legal changes.”

While Gilruth confirmed that the guidance isn’t mandatory, she confirmed that schools are “required by law to have separate toilet facilities for boys and girls and also to have accessible toilet provisions.”

“And of course the guidance has been updated to recognise the clarification of the definition of sex under the Equality Act 2010 following the Supreme Court judgement,” she added.

In a separate interview with Good Morning Scotland, the general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) discussed the challenges that arise with the new guidance, stating that it doesn’t fully address the needs of trans youth. 

“Considering the nature of the Supreme Court judgement, it would be difficult for the Scottish Government to advise anything other than something which is considered to be compliant with the law,” she explained.

“The difficulty with it is that it perhaps does not fully address the needs of transgender young people in that many of them will not feel comfortable whatsoever using the toilets that the guidance suggests that they should.

“There’s suggestion in the guidance that perhaps those young people could use disabled toilet facilities or even staff toilet facilities, and neither of those are perfect.”

EDDIE Hearn and his wife are allegedly living separate lives with the boxing promoter moving “abroad” and recently being spotted without his wedding ring.

Viewers were also quick to point out the boxing promoter’s wife’s absence from his recent tell-all Netflix documentary.

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Although the couple remain married, their relationship has grown increasingly distant, reports Mail Online.

Eddie, 46, now spends most of his time in his luxurious Monaco home, while former beautician, Chloe, resides at the Hearn family’s estate in Ingatestone, Essex.

While Eddie resides in sunny Monaco for six months of the year, reportedly due to tax reasons, his wife occupies a smaller property away from the main house on the grand estate.

It is believed that the pair’s two teenage children travel between the two residences, regularly paying visits to their father.

However, beyond living in separate countries, the chairman of Matchroom sport also appears to not be wearing his ring in his new Netflix tell-all documentary.

The new show has captivated audience as it follows the famous father-son duo in their bid to take their heavyweight sports promotion company to the next level.

Yet, viewers were quick to spot both the absence of his wife of 13 years and a wedding band on his finger.

Eddie, who represents stars including Anthony Joshua and Canelo Alvarez, doesn’t appear to wear the band in the show or in the publicity photos taken ahead of its release.

Due to not being seen in public for months, whether or not Chloe is wearing her ring remains unknown.

The sports promoter’s wife has only been spotted once this year on March 31 when she resigned as a director from Matchroom’s charity foundation.

The following day, Eddie filed papers with Companies House confirming his relocation to Monaco.

However, despite this, friends of the pair reportedly remain adamant that the marriage remains robust and they are still very much together.

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A spokesperson for the couple said: “Rumours around the status of Eddie and Chloe’s marriage are untrue. They are still very much together.”

A source close to the family confirmed this, adding: “Eddie and Chloe may spend a lot of time apart but that’s down to the differing demands on them for business and family reasons – and they remain very much together.”

Another friend echoed these statements, explaining that the couple do lead increasingly separate lives, however, they remain strong as a couple and have no plans to change that.

The friend said that they are very different people with very different demands, as he fronts a huge business, while she is the primary carer to their girls.

Another source close to the Hearn’s also said that Eddie and Chloe are made for each other, adding that they have a modern relationship.

Prior to choosing to live in separate homes, the couple has always remained confident about their differences.

In a 2015 joint interview at Chloe’s Brentwood beauty salon, she described being married to Eddie as meaning in practice, learning to do everything on your own.

Eddie then chimed in, describing her as a boxing widow.

Eddie also recently shared a post to Instagram of him being welcomed to Kamani Living, a luxury real estate company based in Dubai.

This could suggest that the promoter is looking to make more investments in the Middle East.

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Rescue teams searched for the missing after deadly incidents in Equateur province this week.

Two separate boat accidents this week in northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have killed at least 193 people and left dozens missing, authorities and state media said.

The accidents happened on Wednesday and Thursday, about 150km (93 miles) apart in the Equateur province.

One boat with nearly 500 passengers caught fire and capsized on Thursday evening along the Congo River in the province’s Lukolela territory, killing 107 people, DRC’s Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report.

The report said 209 survivors were rescued following the accident, involving a whaleboat near the village of Malange in Lukolela territory.

A memo from the Ministry of Social Affairs, seen by the Reuters news agency, said 146 people were missing.

A day earlier, in a separate accident, a motorised boat capsized in the Basankusu territory of the province, killing at least 86 people, most of them students, state media reported.

Several people were missing, but the reports did not give a figure for how many.

It was not immediately clear what caused either accident or whether rescue operations were continuing on Friday evening.

State media attributed Wednesday’s accident to “improper loading and night navigation”, citing reports from the scene. Images that appeared to be from the scene showed villagers gathered around bodies as they mourned.

A local civil society group blamed Wednesday’s accident on the government and claimed the toll was higher.

Search operations took place after the accidents, with naval personnel and community volunteers combing the banks while authorities pledged medical care for the injured, assistance to bereaved families and the repatriation of survivors to their places of origin and destination.

River transport is a lifeline in DRC’s vast rainforest regions, where old, wooden vessels are the main form of transport between villages. It is also often cheaper than travelling on the few available roads.

However, the vessels are poorly maintained and crumbling under the weight of passengers and their goods, and accidents are frequent.

On such trips, life jackets are rare, and the vessels are usually overloaded.

Many of the boats also travel at night, complicating rescue efforts during accidents and leaving many bodies often unaccounted for.

Rescue operations are also often hampered by limited resources and the remote locations of accidents.

Aug. 17 (UPI) — Two American cruise passengers in their 70s drowned in separate incidents on Carnival Cruise Lines’ private destination in the eastern Bahamas.

At Celebration Key on the south side of Grand Bahama, one person died in a lagoon and another at the beach on Friday, the cruise line told ABC News. The 65-acre private location, which initially cost $600 million to build, opened in July.

Grand Bahama, with 47,000 residents, is not on a private island, like Carnival’s other locations for guests.

The island, which serves two Carnival ships at one time, also includes a water park, restaurants, swim-up bar, the world’s tallest sandcastle and swing, and 1.5 miles of beach.

“One guest was sailing with family on Mardi Gras and one guest was sailing with family on Carnival Elation,” the cruise line said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the guests and their families and our Care Team is providing assistance.”

Both cruise ships left ports in Florida last week.

Before noon, Royal Bahamas Police Force officers found a 79-year-old man unresponsive aboard a commercial vessel.

“According to the initial report, the male became unresponsive while snorkeling at a beach,” police said in a statement to NBC News. “A lifeguard assisted him from the water, and CPR was administered, but to no avail.”

Shortly before 2:30 p.m., offers found an unresponsive 74-year-old woman who had been swimming in the pool. A lifeguard assisted her out of the water and CPR was administered “to no avail,” police said.

Carnival said more than 2 million guests a year will visit the destination. An extension is being built to serve two additional ships at one time.

In the debut on July 19, more than 7,000 passengers from Carnival Glory and Carnival Conquest went to Carnival’s site.

Grand Bahama, which is near Freeport, is 65 miles east of Palm Beach County in Florida. Southeast Bahamas, 145 miles from Grand Bahama, is under a tropical storm warning from Hurricane Erin.

The Elation, which launched in 1998, is a 71,909-ton, 855-foot-long ship, that can accommodate up to 2,900 guests and a crew of 900. It sails out of Jacksonville on five-day cruises.

The Mardi Gras, which began service in 2016, is a 181,808-ton, 1,113-foot ship can host up to 6,000 passengers and 2,000 crew members. The Mardi Gras sails out of Port Canaveral on seven-night trips. Another Mardi Gras was Carnival’s first ship launched in 1972 and sold in 1993.

All all, the cruise line operates 29 ships worldwide.