waited

ONE of Olivia Attwood’s class of Bad Boyfriends has admitted to cheating on his partner for a sordid romp with a stranger as she waited for him in the car.

The group on the ITV2 programme were left absolutely gobsmacked when Dan revealed that one of the many times he had been unfaithful to Ellie came as she waited to pick him up from a festival alongside her mum.

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Ellie had been sitting in her car unable to track her partner for four hours as he got down and dirty with a stranger – unbeknownst to Ellie.

Dan was forced to own up to his cheating when he was questioned by Olivia Attwood on if he was still holding some secrets back from his partner.

Ellie was aware that Dan had been unfaithful to her with two women but in The Sun’s exclusive first-look clip, he is forced to confess to another even more shocking cheating scandal.

Olivia can be seen saying to the bad lad: “Have you slept with more girls than the two that Ellie knows about?”

Replying sheepishly, he says: “Yes, I have.”

Ellie can be seen stopping in her tracks whilst host Olivia’s eyes widen at the unexpected cheating admission.

In total shock, she asks him: “Where? When? Who is it?”

He nervously confirms that it was when he went to Boardmasters festival.

Ellie can be seen turning to not face him as she shockingly reveals: “I was at the car park waiting for FOUR hours to pick him up.

“With my mum!”

A horrified Olivia then questioned if this was when Dan was sleeping with someone to which he nodded his head.

When pressed by the host on who it was, Dan can be heard mumbling: “Some girl, some random girl.”

Ellie then says: “I doubt he even knows, he was that f***ed when he came out.”

Olivia then turns her attention to Ellie as she gives her a pep talk over the fact she appears unsurprised at her boyfriend’s cruel ways.

The TV star says: “I think the lack of surprise to some pretty serious allegations is a problem.

“This shouldn’t be normal, unshocking stuff.

“You should not be settling for so little, so soon.”

But will Ellie and Dan be able to work it out and has the bad lad changed for good?

Olivia Attwood’s Bad Boyfriends continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX.

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In 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued a company called Ripple, alleging it was in breach of financial securities laws for the way it was issuing its cryptocurrency token, XRP (XRP 1.08%). The lawsuit threatened to derail Ripple’s business model, and it suppressed the price of XRP for years.

But everything changed when President Donald Trump was reelected last November. He promised to make America “the crypto capital of the world,” which involved taking a friendlier approach to regulation. He appointed crypto-advocate Paul Atkins to run the SEC, and the agency has since withdrawn from several active cases against industry giants like Binance and Coinbase.

The SEC also dropped its case against Ripple in August, bringing the brutal five-year legal battle to an official end. Here’s what might be in store for XRP from here.

Image source: Getty Images.

Why the SEC sued Ripple

Ripple created a unique payments network called Ripple Payments. It facilitates instant cross-border transactions by enabling global banks to deal with one another directly, no matter what existing infrastructure they use. Without Ripple Payments, banks using the SWIFT (Society of Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) network would have to use an intermediary to send money to banks that don’t use the system, delaying payments by several days.

Ripple created XRP as a bridge currency to standardize each transaction within Ripple Payments. For example, an American bank might send XRP to a European bank rather than sending U.S. dollars, cutting out costly foreign exchange fees. The cost of a single transaction using XRP is typically 0.00001 of a token, which is a fraction of one U.S. cent.

XRP has a total supply of 100 billion tokens. There are 59.6 billion in circulation, and the rest are controlled by Ripple, which gradually releases them to meet demand. As a result, XRP is a centralized cryptocurrency. Decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC 0.08%) aren’t controlled by any person or company, and they are typically earned through a process called “mining.”

That’s why the SEC sued Ripple in 2020. The regulator argued that XRP should be classified as a financial security, just like stocks and bonds, which are also issued by companies. This would have forced Ripple to operate under a very strict regulatory framework, potentially derailing its business model.

In August 2024, a judge issued a ruling that mostly favored Ripple. The SEC lodged an appeal which could have dragged the legal battle on for several more years, but the Trump administration’s pro-crypto agenda changed things. The Atkins-led SEC officially dropped the appeal last month, formally closing the case.

Here’s what might happen next

XRP hit a new record high in July for the first time in seven years, in anticipation of Ripple’s settlement with the SEC. Bullish sentiment was also fueled by the approval of a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) called the ProShares Ultra XRP ETF on July 18. It invests in futures contracts, so it doesn’t own any XRP directly. But investors are speculating that regulatory approval for spot ETFs could follow, and those funds would start buying up XRP tokens.

There is some precedent, because futures-based Bitcoin ETFs came before spot ETFs, so investors are hoping XRP follows the same path. This proved to be very bullish for Bitcoin because many investors already viewed it as a legitimate store of value, so ETFs gave financial advisors and institutions a safe, regulated way to own it.

I’m not convinced that spot ETFs would have the same effect on XRP, because it doesn’t have a proven reputation as a store of value. It’s a bridge currency in the Ripple Payments network, and ETFs wouldn’t improve that use case at all.

That brings me to a crucial point. Ripple Payments supports the use of fiat currency, so banks don’t have to use XRP. This means that the success of the network won’t necessarily lead to a higher value per token over the long term.

Therefore, if Ripple Payments isn’t a reliable value creator for XRP, and ETFs fail to become a tailwind like they are for Bitcoin, then volatility is likely to be the overriding theme from here. When XRP hit its previous record high in 2018, it plunged by more than 90% over the following year.

The token is in a better position today, but I don’t see a clear fundamental case for sustainable long-term upside from here, which leaves investors exposed to potential price corrections in the future.

Fans don’t have long before it’s released on the platform

Netflix has given fans their first glimpse at a new series penned by the creator of John Wick – and fans don’t have long to wait.

Following on from the success of the Keanu Reeves-fronted franchise, Derek Kolstad has now turned his pen to the first-ever adaptation of the award-winning video game series, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell.

The action movie architect served as the head writer on Netflix’s upcoming animated series, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch which stars Liev Schreiber (The Perfect Couple) as the voice of black ops agent Sam Fisher. Meanwhile Kirby Howell-Baptiste (The Sandman) takes on the role of Zinnia McKenna.

The first Splinter Cell game released in 2002 with the latest dropping in 2013. Eager fans have speculated that the upcoming adaptation is set after the events of 2005’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.

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Netflix shared the first official trailer for the series yesterday (August 22). The 70-second clip teases plenty of action to come, and gave fans a proper look at Schreiber’s take on the legendary character as he takes on a mission that’s “personal”.

According to the brief synopsis for the upcoming series: “Legendary agent Sam Fisher is drawn back into the field when a wounded young operative seeks out his help.” It is slated for release on October 14, meaning fans have a few more weeks to wait.

One excited fan penned: “So it’s actually real. Feels like I’ve been waiting for this forever. Now all we need are some remaster/remake/sequel games. Would love to see remakes of the first two or three games.”

“The last Splinter Cell game was Blacklist released in 2013. How time flies… But I’m glad Sam Fisher is back, at least in animation,” said a second franchise fan. Meanwhile a third added: “It’s the adaptation we didn’t know we needed but now we need it.”

One John Wick fan quipped: “From the writer of the John Wick Franchise. Say less,” as another shared their surprise at Schreiber’s Sam.

“Didn’t expect Liev Schreiber to play a decent Sam Fisher!” they started. “Def not Michael Ironside but imo it’s better than what we got in Blacklist. Here’s to hoping this show succeeds so Ubisoft will give us another damn game already!”

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch releases on Netflix on October 14

Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death in their home in Moscow, Idaho, in 2022, with roommates Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke surviving

Friends of the two University of Idaho students who survived the brutal stabbing of four roommates in 2022 have revealed why the pair didn’t call 911 for several hours after the massacre.

The revelations come in One Night in Idaho, a new Prime Video docuseries that premiered on July 11. The show includes interviews with relatives and friends of the victims – Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin – as well as insight into the surviving roommates’ state of mind in the hours following the killings.

Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, who lived in the Moscow, Idaho, off-campus house where the four students were murdered, were home at the time but were unharmed. They placed the 911 call at 11:58am on November 13, 2022 – roughly eight hours after the attack, which investigators believe happened between 4am and 4.20am.

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Dylan later told police she had opened her bedroom door around 4am after hearing noises and saw a masked man with bushy eyebrows walking toward a sliding glass door before locking herself in her room, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Speaking in the docuseries, friends Hunter Johnson, Emily Alandt and Josie Lauteren shared how Dylan and Bethany contacted them that morning asking for help. “She was like, ‘Something weird happened last night. I don’t really know if I was dreaming or not, but I’m really scared. Can you come check out the house?’” Emily recalled.

Dylan told her she had been in the basement with Bethany and had tried calling Xana several times but received no response. Emily said she didn’t initially think the request was serious. “I was like, ‘Ha, ha, sure. Should I bring my pepper spray?’ Not thinking anything of it,” she said.

Josie explained that Dylan had previously called friends for support after hearing strange noises in the house. “She’s called us before and been like, ‘Oh, I’m scared. Can you bring your boyfriends over?’ But it was never anything serious… because it’s Moscow.”

When Emily, Josie and Hunter arrived at the house, they quickly realised something was terribly wrong. “Dylan and Bethany had exited the house. They looked frightened, just kind of like, hands on their mouth, like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on,’” Emily said.

“As soon as I stepped in the house, I was like, ‘Oh, something is so not right.’ Like, you could feel it almost,” Josie added. Hunter, who entered the home first, urged them to call police without revealing what he actually saw when entering Xana and Ethan’s bedroom.

“Hunter had enough courage to tell them to call the police for not a real reason,” Alandt said. “He worded it very nicely. He said, ‘Tell them there’s an unconscious person.’ Hunter saved all of us extreme trauma by not letting us know anything.”

Dylan made the 911 call, but was too distraught to speak. “I had to take the phone from her because she was so completely hysterical,” Josie said. “They’re like, ‘What’s the address, what’s the address?’ and I was like, ‘1122 King Road.’”

Even then, Josie said she believed paramedics might revive the victims. “I mean, even when [Hunter] said they had no pulse, I still was like, ‘Oh, the paramedics are gonna come and revive them.’”

In the series, the friends say Dylan and Bethany’s delay in calling 911, and hazy memory, was likely caused by shock and confusion. “It wasn’t until the morning that [Dylan] realised, holy s***, that couldn’t have been a dream,” Emily said.

“She just called and said, ‘Something weird happened, I thought it was a dream, I’m not quite sure anymore. I tried to call everybody to wake them up and no one’s answering.’”

Bryan Kohberger was arrested nearly six weeks after the murders and charged with four counts of murder and one count of felony burglary. On July 2, Kohberger pleaded guilty to all charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 23 and faces life in prison.

Dylan and Bethany did not take part in the documentary and have not commented publicly about the new revelations. A psychologist in the docuseries said it’s likely Dylan – who came face to face with the killer – acted in a “trauma response”.

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Johannesburg, South Africa – On the night of June 27, 1985 in South Africa, four Black men were travelling together in a car from the southeastern city of Port Elizabeth, now Gqeberha, to Cradock.

They had just finished doing community organising work on the outskirts of the city when apartheid police officials stopped them at a roadblock.

The four – teachers Fort Calata, 29, and Matthew Goniwe, 38; school principal Sicelo Mhlauli, 36; and railway worker Sparrow Mkonto, 34 – were abducted and tortured.

Later, their bodies were found dumped in different parts of the city – they had been badly beaten, stabbed and burned.

The police and apartheid government initially denied any involvement in the killings. However, it was known that the men were being surveilled for their activism against the gruelling conditions facing Black South Africans at the time.

Soon after, evidence of a death warrant that had been issued for some members of the group was anonymously leaked, and later, it emerged that their killings had long been planned.

Though there were two inquests into the murders – both under the apartheid regime in 1987 and 1993 – neither resulted in any perpetrator being named or charged.

“The first inquest was conducted entirely in Afrikaans,” Lukhanyo Calata, Ford Calata’s son, told Al Jazeera earlier this month. “My mother and the other mothers were never offered any opportunity in any way whatsoever to make statements in that,” the 43-year-old lamented.

“These were courts in apartheid South Africa. It was a completely different time where it was clear that four people were murdered, but the courts said no one could be blamed for that.”

Soon after apartheid ended in 1994, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was set up. There, hearings confirmed the “Cradock Four” were indeed targeted for their political activism. Although a few former apartheid officers confessed to being involved, they would not disclose the details and were denied amnesty.

Now, four decades after the killings, a new inquest has begun. Although justice has never seemed closer, for families of the deceased, it has been a long wait.

“For 40 years, we’ve waited for justice,” Lukhanyo told local media this week. “We hope this process will finally expose who gave the orders, who carried them out, and why,” he said outside the court in Gqeberha, where the hearings are taking place.

As a South African journalist, it’s almost impossible to cover the inquiry without thinking about the extent of crimes committed during apartheid – crimes by a regime so committed to propping up its criminal, racist agenda that it took it to its most violent and deadly end.

There are many more stories like Calata’s, many more victims like the Cradock Four, and many more families still waiting to hear the truth of what happened to their loved ones.

Known victims

Attending the court proceedings in Gqeberha and watching the families reminded me of Nokhutula Simelane.

More than 10 years ago, I travelled to Bethal in the Mpumalanga province to speak with her family about her disappearance in 1983. Simelane joined Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), which was the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC) – the liberation movement turned majority ruling party in South Africa.

As an MK operative, she worked as a courier taking messages and parcels between South Africa and what was then Swaziland.

Simelane was lured to a meeting in Johannesburg and it was from there that she was kidnapped and held in police custody, tortured and disappeared.

Her family says they still feel the pain of not being able to bury her.

At the TRC, five white men from what was the special branch of the apartheid police, applied for amnesty related to Simelane’s abduction and presumed murder.

Former police commander Willem Coetzee, who headed the security police unit, denied ordering her killing. But that was countered by testimony from his colleague that she was brutally murdered and buried somewhere in what is now the North West province. Coetzee previously said Simelane was turned into an informant and was sent back to Swaziland.

Until now, no one has taken responsibility for her disappearance – not the apartheid security forces nor the ANC.

The case of the Cradock Four also made me think of anti-apartheid activist and South African Communist Party member, Ahmed Timol, who was tortured and killed in 1971 but whose murder was also covered up.

Apartheid police said the 29-year-old teacher fell out of a 10th-floor window at the notorious John Vorster Square police headquarters in Johannesburg, where he was being held. An inquest the following year concluded he had died by suicide, at a time when the apartheid government was known for its lies and cover-ups.

Decades later, a second inquest under the democratic government in 2018 found that Timol had been so badly tortured in custody that he would never have been able to jump out of a window.

It was only then that former security branch officer Joao Rodrigues was formally charged with Timol’s murder. The elderly Rodrigues rejected the charges and applied for a permanent stay of prosecution, saying he would not receive a fair trial because he was unable to properly recall events at the time of Timol’s death, given the number of years that have passed. Rodrigues died in 2021.

‘A crime against his humanity’

Apartheid was brutal. And for the people left behind, unresolved trauma and unanswered questions are the salt in the deep wounds that remain.

Which is why families like those of the Cradock Four are still at the courts, seeking answers.

In her testimony before the court this month, 73-year-old Nombuyiselo Mhlauli, wife of Sicelo Mhlauli, described the state of her husband’s body when she received his remains for burial. He had more than 25 stab wounds in the chest, seven in the back, a gash across his throat and a missing right hand, she said.

I spoke to Lukhanyo a day before he returned to court to continue his testimony in the hearing for his father’s killing.

He talked about how emotionally draining the process had been – yet vital. He also spoke about his work as a journalist, growing up without a father, and the impact it’s had on his life and outlook.

“There were crimes committed against our humanity. If you look at the state in which my father’s body was found, that was a clear crime against his humanity, completely,” Lukhanyo testified on the sixth day of the inquest.

But his frustration and anger do not end with the apartheid government. He holds the ANC, which has been in power since the end of apartheid, partly responsible for taking too long to adequately address these crimes.

Lukhanyo believes the ANC betrayed the Cradock Four, and this betrayal “cut the deepest”.

“Today we are sitting with a society that is completely lawless,” he said in court. “[This is] because at the start of this democracy, we did not put in the proper processes to tell the rest of society that you will be held accountable for things that you have done wrong.”

Fort Calata’s grandfather, the Reverend Canon James Arthur Calata, was the secretary-general of the ANC from 1939 to 1949. The Calata family has a long history with the liberation movement, which makes it all the more difficult for someone like Lukhanyo to understand why it’s taken the party so long to deliver justice.

Seeking accountability and peace

The office of South Africa’s Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, says the department has intensified its efforts to deliver long-awaited justice and closure for families affected by apartheid-era atrocities.

“These efforts signal a renewed commitment to restorative justice and national healing,” the department said in a statement.

The murders of the Cradock Four, Simelane and Timol are among the horrors and stories we know about.

But I often wonder about all the names, victims and testimonies that remain hidden or buried.

The murders of countless mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters by the apartheid regime matter not only to those who cared for them but for the consciousness of South African society as a whole, no matter how normalised the tally of the dead has become.

It’s not clear how long this new inquest will take. It is expected to last several weeks, with former security police, political figures and forensic experts testifying.

Initially, six police officers were implicated in the killings. They have all since died, but family members of the Cradock Four say senior officials who gave the orders should be held responsible.

The state, however, is reluctant to pay the legal costs of apartheid police officers implicated in the murders, and that may slow down the process.

Meanwhile, as the families wait for answers about what happened to their loved ones and accountability for those responsible, they are trying to make peace with the past.

“I’ve been on my own, trying to bring up children – fatherless children,” Nombuyiselo told Al Jazeera outside the court about the years since her husband Sicelo’s death. “The last 40 years have been very difficult for me – emotionally, and also spiritually.”