Harare, Zimbabwe – At around 5am on Friday, August 14, Methro Masunga, 28, was jolted awake by the sound of bulldozers and shouting municipal police officers. Outside, earth-moving vehicles were preparing to demolish homes in St Martins Extension, a suburb of Harare.
At first, Masunga thought the machinery had arrived for roadworks. Then she realised her home was among those marked for destruction.
“I thought they were here for some other business, probably land development or road grading; alas, they had been sent to destroy our homes. We tried to understand, but no one would hear us,” Masunga told Al Jazeera.
A single mother of three, Masunga had spent years saving to own a home. She worked part-time cleaning other people’s houses, putting aside what she could to buy a residential stand.
“I worked part-time jobs doing laundry and washing dishes in people’s houses for five years, saving where possible. So, when I came here, I paid the deposit and started monthly contributions,” she said, standing among the remains of her house.
Years of sacrifice reduced to rubble
Masunga began paying for her stand in 2015 and received an allocation in 2019. She says the arrangement was formalised through the city council in 2020, when residents began receiving official documents.
Her experience reflects a wider dispute over land allocations in Harare. Residents say they bought stands through council-linked processes and invested their savings in building homes. The municipality says it is enforcing planning regulations against structures built without the necessary approvals or on land not designated for housing.
The full number of people displaced by demolitions across Harare in 2026 has not been independently established. However, city council records seen by Al Jazeera list more than 5,000 houses facing demolition under 37 outstanding High Court orders. These figures concern properties targeted under the wider programme, not homes already demolished. A council task force has separately inspected 22,255 sites to identify structures on prohibited or unauthorised land.
Memory Chengeta’s makeshift cabin, built after his house was demolished [Calvin Manika/Al Jazeera]
Authorities say the demolitions are intended to address illegal construction, disputed land sales and development on sites reserved for public infrastructure. Residents argue that enforcement has also affected people who say they obtained allocation letters and agreements of sale through municipal processes.
Memory Chengeta, whose house in St Martins was also demolished, said residents were bewildered by the operation because of an earlier court order.
“There was a court order for them to stop demolitions. The municipal authorities came with no court order that overturned the previous judgement, but went ahead to destroy the properties,” she said.
A former street food vendor, Chengeta had saved to build a more stable life. She is now homeless. Some affected residents have returned to renting, while others, including Chengeta and Masunga, have remained in St Martins, putting up makeshift shelters rather than leaving the area.
Joachim Nhete also lost his home after using his retirement package to buy land and build a house. He estimates his investment at more than $10,000.
The legal question behind the demolitions
The dispute has raised questions about how residents acquired their stands and whether the council complied with existing court orders.
On October 29, 2025, Justice Happias Zhou issued a consent order in case HCH5444/25, setting aside demolition notices issued to named applicants in St Martins Extension. It barred the City of Harare from evicting those applicants or demolishing their homes without a valid court order. It also prohibited further development without written council approval.
The order did not automatically protect every property in St Martins. The available information does not establish whether Masunga, Chengeta or their specific properties were among those covered.
The council has maintained that it did not demolish properties protected by the order. Its spokesperson, Stanley Gama, told local media that the municipality was targeting structures whose owners had repeatedly been warned against building illegally.
“We are only demolishing structures built illegally whose owners were told and warned many times not to proceed with construction,” Gama said.
Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume told NewsDay on August 15 that residents with approved building plans should produce them during council inspections. He said the municipality had repeatedly warned residents to obtain the necessary documents but declined to comment on the legality of the specific demolitions in St Martins.
Harare’s principal housing director, Edgar Dzehonye, later said residents had been warned against building in the area because it had not been adequately serviced.
These explanations raise a separate question: whether residents who received council allocation letters and agreements of sale also had valid planning and building approvals. An allocation to occupy a stand does not necessarily establish that a house was authorised for construction. The status of the residents’ documents, the approved layout, and individual building permits are therefore central to determining whether the demolitions were justified.
Methro Masunga sits at the site of her demolished home [Calvin Manika/Al Jazeera]
Precious Shumba, director of the Harare Residents’ Trust, said the demolitions were particularly troubling because of the court order protecting residents allocated stands by the municipality.
“Despite that, the town planning department and legal officers in the Chamber Secretary’s Department issued directives to the Municipal Police to demolish the houses of St Martins Extension residents,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s Constitution, under Section 74, prohibits the eviction of people from their homes or the demolition of their homes without a court order made after considering all relevant circumstances. The National Human Settlements Policy also calls for alternative accommodation to be prepared before relocations and demolitions. Residents say they were not offered alternative housing.
Residents demand accountability
The controversy reflects long-standing problems in Harare’s land administration. A 2019 commission of inquiry chaired by Justice Tendai Uchena identified unauthorised land sales, weak administration and poor record-keeping by local authorities. It found that land barons had sold state land without authority, sometimes allegedly working alongside council officials.
Shumba said the Harare Residents’ Trust wrote to the president on July 22, 2026, calling for the publication of the report of the commission of inquiry into the financial affairs of the city of Harare. The organisation also wants the findings of the Justice Maphios Cheda commission of inquiry into the city’s governance crisis implemented.
David Jenje, chairman of the St Martins Residents Association and the St Martins Housing Happiness Pay Scheme, said residents had paid for their stands years before receiving allocation letters.
He said the council’s Education, Housing and Community Services Committee resolved in 2019 to expedite the allocation and servicing of the land.
“Most of the members had paid deposits of $5,000 as far back as 2018 … Allocations were made in July 2019 after completion of payment of intrinsic land value. All the allocation letters and agreements of sale were signed in February 2020. These demolitions were illegal,” Jenje said.
ZimRights, a human rights organisation, said the demolitions raised questions about the rule of law and accountability.
Harare South MP Trymore Kanopula called for a halt to further demolitions until the land allocations had been audited and investigated. He also urged the government to present the findings of the commission of inquiry into state land sales to Parliament.
Parliament’s speaker referred the matter to the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works for action.
Minister Daniel Garwe said the government did not carry out demolitions and could not interfere with court processes. He acknowledged that the Harare City Council had approximately 5,000 demolition orders and said the government had sometimes tried to delay demolitions while seeking solutions.
For Nhete, however, official interventions offer little comfort. His house is gone, and he says he has no insurance to recover his investment.
“Unlike some who had home insurance, I didn’t have one,” he said. “I cannot recover the loss and pain. My hope is in the courts of law that Harare City Council must be held accountable and pay us back.”
A London judge on Monday sentenced British actor-turned-religious influencer Russell Brand to 10 and a half years in prison after he was convicted on rape and sexual assault charges in the U.K. last week.
Brand, the 51-year-old former bad boy star of comedies including “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to The Greek,” was convicted by a jury last week of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault involving four different women.
He was also acquitted of two rape counts and one count of attempted indecent assault. The criminal charges originated from his interactions with six different women in the U.K. spanning from the late 1990s to the late aughts. He pleaded not guilty to all charges leading up to the trial, which began Oct. 12 and lasted three weeks.
Brand was first publicly accused of sexual assault in 2023 when the Times of London and Britain’s Channel 4 published a joint investigation into allegations involving several women between 2006 and 2013. More women came forward with their accusations against Brand in wake of the investigation, including a woman who alleged in a civil suit in New York that Brand sexually assaulted her on the set of his 2011 film “Arthur.”
British police first pressed charges against Brand in April 2025, accusing him of single counts of rape, indecent assault, oral rape and two counts of sexual assault involving incidents from 1999 to 2005. Prosecutors accused Brand of raping a woman in the English seaside area of Bournemouth in 1999. Officials also accused Brand of indecently assaulting a second woman in 2001, orally raping and sexually assaulting a third woman in 2004, and sexually assaulting a fourth woman between 2004 to 2005, incidents that allegedly occurred in Westminster, according to U.K. officials. Prosecutors tacked on two additional charges — one count of rape and another count of sexual assault — against Brand in December 2025 for incidents involving two more women in 2009.
He was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman during a birthday party at a London bar in 2004, but acquitted of orally raping her in a restroom, the Associated Press reported. Jurors also found the actor guilty of kissing and groping another woman at a London radio station in 2004 or 2005 and of anally raping a fan at his home after meeting her backstage at one of his comedy shows in 2009. His final conviction was for sexually assaulting another woman who alleged the comedian demanded a massage and pressed his face into her groin while filming an advertisement in 2009.
Shortly after the jury handed down its verdict, police confirmed it provided prosecutors with investigations into two additional rape allegations against the actor.
Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones described the comedian as ruthless, “calculating,” “manipulative” and as a “sexual predator” during the trial while Brand, ex-husband of pop star Katy Perry, denied forcing any of his accusers into sexual encounters. “Consent is fundamental, essential, necessary, and indeed in may ways more important than sex itself,” he told jurors.
Brand also told jurors of the personal toll of the high-profile rape and sexual assault allegations, claiming friends and collaborators cut ties and that no one with relevant evidence wanted to testify on his behalf. Laura Gallacher, Brand’s wife since 2017 and mother of their three children, testified on the actor’s behalf, describing him as a devoted father.
Jurors also heard testimony from Brand’s ex-personal assistant and the actor’s former roommate, who spoke to Brand’s “insane sexual appetite” and ambitious sexual goals, respectively. The actor also acknowledged during cross-examination by Karmy-Jones, he spent part of his earlier life pursuing “beyond reckless philandering” and that he grew “comfortable” using his fame to “facilitate sexual access.” He said that “was wrong.”
“My entire life has been consumed by these events, these allegations, these accusations,” he said.
A British court has sentenced comedian and actor Russell Brand to 10 years and six months in prison for rape and sexual assault.
London’s Southwark Crown Court handed down the sentence on Monday. Brand was convicted last week of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three more between 2004 and 2009.
The British media personality, known for outrageous stand-up routines and battles with drugs and alcohol, asserted that he was innocent and all his encounters were consensual.
However, a jury of eight men and four women on Thursday convicted him attacking four of six accusers. He was cleared of two counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault.
His victims delivered powerful statements during the sentencing hearing, describing the trauma his attacks had caused.
A THEME park which has welcomed millions of thrill-seekers has announced it will be closing its doors for good next year.
Six Flags confirmed the closure of its Great America park in California, due to issues with its lease and that this season will be its last.
California’s Great America amusement park will close next yearSource: TripAdvisorIt opened 50 years ago and one its most famous rollercoasters is Gold StrikerSource: TripAdvisor
The theme park which celebrated its 50th anniversary earlier this year first opened in Santa Clara in 1976, but will close next September.
The reason for its closure is due to the expiration of its lease in June 2028.
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It’s currently closed for winter, but will reopen for what it has called its ‘Farewell Season’ in March 2027.
Six Flags has said it’s the last chance for fans to ride its rollercoasters and attractions before it permanently closes on September 6, 2027.
Some of the most popular rides include Gold Striker – a wooden rollercoaster which has top speeds of 54mph.
Another is called Flight Deck which travels at 50mph with loops and twists, and the Drop Tower which plunges at 220 feet.
The Grizzly is considered one of the most nostalgic rides, the wooden rollercoaster opened in 1986.
The waterpark opened in 2004 as Crocodile Dundee’s Boomerang Bay but is now known as South Bay Shores.
It has a large wave pool, lazy river, raft ride, splash park for smaller children and Pacific Surge is where visitors will find the extreme water slides.
After the closure announcement, previous visitors took to social media, one wrote: “I remember the first day it opened. Great memories.”
The theme park will close because the lease on the land is expiringSource: TripAdvisor
Another added: “I went there on my honeymoon back in 1979. We had so much fun. This really makes me sad.”
It’s not just members of the public that has visited the park, the occasional celebrity has been spotted there too.
Jin (Kim Seok-jin) from K-pop band BTS visited California’s Great America in Santa Clara earlier this year.
According to reports he was spotted munching on churros and waiting in-line to ride the Gold Striker.
The Great America theme park first opened in the 1970sSource: SpVVKIts waterpark called South Shores has water slides and a lazy riverSource: TripAdvisor
Park Manager Dave Vosejpka said: “For more than five decades, this Santa Clara theme park has brought people together, created family traditions and served as the backdrop for unforgettable memories.
“The Farewell Season is an opportunity for generations of Bay Area guests to return, spend time with family and friends, and revisit the attractions and traditions that have made the park in Santa Clara, California such a meaningful part of the community.”
After its closure, the closest Six Flags will be Discovery Kingdom in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Maya Jama has announced she’s quit Love Island after three years and a former contestant is a hot favourite to replace her
Olivia Attwood is heavily tipped to replace Maya Jama as Love Island host
A former Love Island contestant is heavily tipped to become the next host of the ITV2 dating show as Maya Jama steps down as host after three years.
Olivia Attwood, who shot to fame in the third series back in 2017 and reached the final with ex Chris Hughes, is the 2-1 favourite with bookmaker Coral to replace Maya. Series five finalist Maura Higgins is 5-2 to replace, while Radio 1 DJ Vick Hope is priced at 3-1.
“Maura Higgins and Vick Hope are likely to be in contention too, while if the show turns to a male presenter, Sam Thompson is the most likely to land the job, according to our odds.”
Maya, who recently appeared on Celebrity Traitors, shared her shock news on her Instagram page on Sunday (November 8) evening in a statement to her fans.
The Bristol-born beauty wrote: “What an incredible era and what an unforgettable time I’ve had, it’s been far too much fun to put into words or a video… but as all good things must come to an end, it’s my time to step down as the host of my beloved Love Island.
“Firstly, I want to thank all of the people who rooted so hard for me to host the show in the first place. I wouldn’t change a thing. To the fans of the show, thank you for every supportive message and every single time you’ve tuned in during my time as host, I’m forever grateful to you all. The show really does belong to the people who watch it and embrace it year after year.
“Biggest thanks to the incredible production team, I’ve seen firsthand how you work your asses off for months every year to bring this iconic show to life.”
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She continued: “I started hosting the show aged 28 and during the nine incredible series met the most wonderful humans along the way. I’ve loved every slow-mo walk, fire pit and live show.
“I’ll forever be grateful for the experience. But I’ve always believed that to truly grow, you have to take a leap every now and then, and now is my time to throw myself into something new.
“While my own Love Island journey has come to an end, I wish the show and the team all the success in the world, I’ll be cheering you lot on from the sidelines forever.”
An ITV spokesperson said: “Maya has been a fantastic and much loved host on Love Island – we thank her for everything she has brought to the show over the last three years and wish her every continued success.”
Egypt has reopened its embassy in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, after a 12-year closure. The step signals a shift in Cairo’s stance, following years of strongly backing eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar.
When I recall the great restaurants, culture and art found in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo, one story that comes to mind is the tranquility and resilience of Higashi Honganji Buddhist Temple.
The roughly 1½-acre parcel at the corner of 3rd Street and Central Avenue offers peace amid the noise and bustle of downtown. It’s an oasis I first learned about five years ago when an unknown vandal broke into the sanctuary and stole some lanterns while burning others and vandalizing the facility.
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Hallock jumps into the history of one of L.A.’s most vibrant neighborhoods and picks a few of the many places and experiences that make Little Tokyo unique. Let’s jump into a few of them.
(Laurie Ochoa / Los Angeles Times)
Japanese breakfast at Azay
Azay, a restaurant founded by the late chef Akira Hirose and run by his son Philip and wife, JoAnn, is one of the few places in Los Angeles serving traditional Japanese breakfast, and this one is stellar.
Composed of several small dishes, it feels like a celebration and draws a weekend crowd (reservations recommended). A wooden tray arrives at the table laden with jewel-like dishes such as grilled black cod and rolled omelet. Or order the daily bento or à la carte items, including custardy, savory chawanmushi or curry potato croquettes with shiso aioli.
Visit the family’s legacy shop next door, Anzen Hardware, for Japanese kitchen goods, knives and housewares. Philip Hirose also regularly programs community workshops and pop-ups.
Pro tip: Park all day in the Aiso Parking Garage across the street at 101 N. Judge John Aiso St., named after the first Japanese American to hold a judicial position in the continental U.S.
(Gary Coronado/For The Times)
Mexican American muralist Robert Vargas, who was born near Little Tokyo in Boyle Heights, painted a 150-foot image of baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani on the side of the 11-story Miyako Hotel, unveiled in the spring of 2024.
The painting, titled “L.A. Rising,” is meant to promote a cultural bridge between communities celebrating Dodgers pride. Vargas painted two versions of Ohtani, the best two-way player in Major League Baseball history (he’s the first to hit at least 50 home runs and steal at least 50 bases in a single season).
The mural shows Ohtani both pitching and hitting, and you can see him come to life by using an augmented reality feature. Scan a QR code located beneath the mural and point your phone camera at the image to see Ohtani swing the bat and pitch.
(Jeni Afuso/For The Times)
Shop for souvenirs at Bunkado, where Little Tokyo began
Gift shop Bunkado stands at the location of Little Tokyo’s beginning, where Hamanosuke Sugita opened a restaurant called Kame (which means “turtle,” a symbol of longevity) in 1884, the first Japanese-owned business in Los Angeles.
In 2022, the L.A. City Council commemorated the site and “the birth of Little Tokyo” with a plaque and street sign. Bunkado was founded in the same location in the mid-1940s by renowned Japanese American oil painter Tokio Ueyama and his wife, Suye, after they returned from incarceration in the World World II internment camps.
The name means “house of culture,” and the Ueyamas built an artists’ hub and eventually became important sellers and importers of recorded Japanese music. The store is now owned by their niece, Irene Tsukada Simonian, and sells Japanese ceramics, art tools, incense, toys, T-shirts and postcards.
(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Monica Schipper / Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Today’s recipe
(Katrina Frederick / For The Times)
Los Angeles food writer Carolynn Carreño believes the shift in the season marks an opportunity to embrace pumpkins this fall. Carreño’s twist, however, is telling her readers, who love fresh and organic ingredients, that it’s OK to use canned pumpkins. In fact, the canned product beats fresh when baking loaves, cookies and pancakes. She included several recipes here. Take a deep breath and try it out.
Photo of the day
Construction platforms are visible beneath and on the sides of the Vincent Thomas Bridge as vehicles travel across the span above the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro. Caltrans is preparing for a 16-month closure of the bridge.
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“Our transformation strategy has one clear objective, and that is to solidify TELUS’ position as the leading communications and AI infrastructure player in Canada” (CEO, President & Director Victor Dodig). Dodig described “an intentional and a strategic pivot to
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A CLIP of Katherine Ryan discussing outing an industry “predator” on a show has resurfaced after Russell Brand’s conviction.
Ryan shared the screen with disgraced Brand on the Comedy Central series Roast Battle in 2018, before he was axed.
A clip of Katherine Ryan discussing outing an industry ‘predator’ has resurfacedSource: BBCRussell Brand was found guilty of rape and sex attacks on a string of womenSource: Alamy
In a 2018 podcast with Louis Theroux, she claimed to have confronted the unnamed man “again and again” while they worked together and referred to him as a “predator”.
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When Theroux asked her what she meant by that term, the 43-year-old said: “I mean perpetrator of sexual assault.”
Ryan added: “But it is very dangerous for us to have this conversation. I’m happy to have it, but it is a litigious minefield.
Ryan shared the screen with disgraced Brand on the Comedy Central series Roast Battle in 2018Source: Amazon PrimeRyan added word of the notorious abuser was an ‘open secret’ in the industrySource: BBC
“Lots of people have tried to nail this person down for their alleged crimes and this person has very good lawyers.”
Ryan added word of the notorious abuser was an “open secret” in the industry as she told the shameful star to his face he was a “predator”.
When she was pressed for more details, she said simply that it was “not her story to tell” but that she had heard the allegations from “very credible” sources.
It is widely speculated the Canadian comic was referring to Brand, but she has not confirmed said predator or named the show she was working on.
Russell Brand and wife Laura Brand arriving at Southwark Crown Court on November 5Source: GettyFollowing Brand’s conviction Ryan publicly said she feels ‘grief and relief’Source: PA
However, following Brand’s conviction she has publicly said she feels “grief and relief”.
The stand-up star added there are “a lot of women speaking privately and quietly” following the verdict, who feel “a very nuanced mix of emotions”.
On her podcast Telling Everybody Everything, Ryan said: “It really made me feel just quite dysregulated again, caught off-guard, emotional, in awe of the survivors who also had nothing to gain.
“They came forward despite Russell Brand having fame, power, money, and a legion of fans ready to attack them.”
She added: “I will never be someone who like, dances on graves. There has been some justice done today. There’s a level of relief, but there’s grief alongside relief.
“Everything’s nuanced, and it was proved in court that a terrible thing happened, and that means that a terrible thing happened.
“I just think again and again about people who have been hurt, and who have to carry that, who’ve carried that around long enough, and will continue to carry that in some way, regardless of what justice is done.
“This verdict came because women were hurt, and I worry as well about what happens next.
“Because he’s obviously spent a long time cultivating this idea that the establishment have invented these claims against him, and he’s martyred himself to a growing audience who really still think that it is the courageous survivors who are the villains in this story.
“I just… I don’t know if you can podcast from jail. I hope not.”
“Before discussing our results, I want to welcome Casey Moss, who joined Arhaus in September as our new Chief Digital Officer.” (Founder, Chairman, President & CEO John Reed)
“We saw another
Seeking Alpha’s Disclaimer:This article was automatically generated by an AI tool based on content available on the Seeking Alpha website, and has not been curated or reviewed by humans. Due to inherent limitations in using AI-based tools, the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of such articles cannot be guaranteed. This article is intended for informational purposes only. Seeking Alpha does not take account of your objectives or your financial situation and does not offer any personalized investment advice. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank.
Carmelo Anthony and La La Anthony (née Vázquez) reportedly have reached a settlement agreement after almost a decade-long split.
Although terms of the separation are confidential, there was a pending judgment of divorce that needed approval from the New York County Supreme Court as of Wednesday, according to People.
Once the former MTV VJ and the NBA star receive the official imprint from a judge, they’ll be newly minted singles.
La La filed for divorce from the NBA star back in 2021, citing irreconcilable differences, according to TMZ, which first reported on the settlement Wednesday.
The couple began dating in 2003 after being introduced through a mutual friend, DJ Clue. They became engaged on Christmas Day 2004 and three years later welcomed their son, Kiyan Anthony, now a 19-year-old sophomore at Syracuse University, where he is playing college basketball.
The two tied the knot in July 2010 in a New York ceremony with hundreds of guests, among them sports and entertainment stars including LeBron James, Spike Lee, Serena Williams, Ciara, Kim Kardashian and Ludacris, The Times reported.
Although the Anthonys reconciled in late 2018, they ultimately called it quits in July 2019, according to People.
La La was already using a divorce label despite it not yet being official.
In a 2022 episode of Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast, La La opened up about her split from Carmelo, saying that there were still difficult moments, especially regarding the co-parenting of Kiyan.
“I learned how strong I am,” she said when asked about what she’d learned from the divorce. “You just find yourself getting stronger and stronger. What do they say? Like you don’t know how strong you are until being strong is your only option.”
La La also shared that the demise of their marriage began around the time that Carmelo was traded from the Denver Nuggets to the New York Knicks in 2011.
At the time of the 2022 interview, she shared that her perspective on love had changed. “I just don’t know if it’s in the cards for me,” she said on the podcast.
However, in a more recent October interview on “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” she revealed she was “open” to dating and that this was her “season of being open” for someone who is confident and adventurous.
As for the NBA Hall of Famer, he was rumored to be dating Racquel Smith, the widow of former NFL defensive end Will Smith. The two were seen together in June.
For Democrats, one of the most delicious ironies of their historic victory in Tuesday’s midterms is that they won many of the congressional districts President Trump and his allies had recently redrawn to favor Republicans.
As the results rolled in on Tuesday evening, one after another of those gerrymandered Republican “safe” districts in Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Alabama got swamped by the overwhelming blue wave.
Last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom led the charge to push back against Trump’s initiative and redraw as many districts as possible in favor of Democrats. On Wednesday, he bragged on X, “We fought fire with fire. And won.”
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While it’s all laughter and high-fives for Democrats now, it’s worth remembering that in the summer of 2025 they were in utter despair.
The GOP’s redrawn maps spelled doom for Democrats
It seemed they had no hope of winning the Senate in 2026. Their razor-thin chances of retaking the House appeared to be dissolving as Republicans simply broke out their Sharpies and started doodling on maps.
Congressional districts are typically adjusted once a decade, after each census. The idea is to reflect where people actually live and distribute representation accordingly.
Redrawing the maps mid-decade was a norm-busting move by Trump and his allies who made little effort to hide that it was a naked bid to tighten the president’s grip on power. He seemed to revel in Democrats’ shock and dismay.
While others were wringing their hands and writing think pieces about the fate of democracy — as Democrats tend to do — Newsom made what felt to many like an indecent proposal.
Newsom’s ‘retaliatory’ proposal
What if California, the country’s most populous state with the most congressional districts, just as cynically redrew its maps to favor Democrats?
But there was a catch: Californians had voted for a ballot proposition in 2008 to take such gamesmanship out of politicians’ hands and entrust the drawing of the maps to a (hopefully) independent, nonpartisan citizens commission. Newsom would need to get voters to approve a new proposition to change the rules.
Local conservatives were outraged.
“Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political ambitions have reached a new low. In his efforts to look like a ‘fighter’ ahead of a potential run for the presidency in 2028, he’s willing to ignore democratic rules in pursuit of political aims,” wrote Lanhee J. Chen, a former Republican candidate for state controller, in the Los Angeles Times.
Even fellow Democrats had serious misgivings, calling Newsom’s plan obviously “retaliatory,” “misguided” and a “moral conflict.”
They were right, of course — it was all of those things. But voters approved the new maps, and it worked.
Tuesday’s blue wave
Californians elected Democrats in all five of the state’s redrawn districts, after Democrat Marni von Wilpert won in what had been the lone holdout, Republican Darrell Issa’s old haunt in San Diego and Riverside counties.
From the start, Newsom understood the moral murkiness of his maneuver and included a provision returning map-drawing to the independent commission after the 2030 census.
Will that actually happen? Time will tell.
But as his party’s victory became obvious on Tuesday night, he didn’t exactly take the high road and start talking about mending fences.
Nearly 56% of California voters rejected the proposal while 44% voted for Proposition 40.
However, with roughly 6 million votes still needed to be counted, the results are still too close to call.
A new era for Democrats
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(Joao Fazenda / For The Times)
Today’s recipe
(Mariah Tauger/Los Angeles Times)
With Thanksgiving only weeks away, now is a good time to perfect your favorite recipes that feature sweet potatoes. This sweet potato bread recipe is a good place to start. You can use any leftover sweet potato you have on hand, whether roasted or steamed, or you can microwave until tender a whole one that’s been pricked with a fork, about five minutes on high. Canned sweet potato works, though the bread will be a touch less flavorful.
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Are you feeling hopeful or anxious now that the elections are over? Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
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Los Angeles resident Aline Argueta, 18, celebrates after casting her vote for the first time at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CIHRLA) Flex Voting Center in Los Angeles.
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Ten years ago, the Paris Agreement entered into force, binding nearly every country to a shared goal: to hold global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5C (2.7F).
A decade on, the deal has helped drive stronger climate policies and a rapid expansion of clean energy. But emissions remain near record highs, temperatures keep climbing and countries are still far from the cuts needed to keep a 1.5C limit within reach.
In this visual explainer, Al Jazeera looks at what the Paris Agreement set out to do, how far global temperatures have risen since and which countries are driving emissions.
What is the Paris Agreement?
The Paris Agreement is a legally binding climate treaty adopted by 196 parties at the United Nations climate summit in Paris, also known as COP21, on December 12, 2015. It entered into force on November 4, 2016.
The United States, the world’s second-largest greenhouse gas emitter after China, has joined and left the agreement twice. President Donald Trump ordered both withdrawals. The first took effect in November 2020, and President Joe Biden rejoined in February 2021. The US left again in January this year, 12 months after Trump ordered its exit for a second time.
Today, 194 parties, 193 countries and the European Union, belong to the agreement.
(Al Jazeera)
Rather than imposing the same cuts on everyone, the agreement asks each government to set its own targets through nationally determined contributions, or NDCs, outlining how it will cut emissions and adapt to climate change.
Countries submit a new, more ambitious NDC every five years, and a Global Stocktake assesses collective progress on the same cycle. The agreement also covers reporting, climate finance and support for developing countries.
The agreement does not force countries to meet their targets. It relies on transparency and international pressure to raise ambition.
How close is the world to breaking the 1.5C limit?
Temperatures have kept rising since the deal was adopted.
In 2024, the planet was more than 1.5C warmer than preindustrial levels across a full calendar year for the first time.
The past three years, 2023 to 2025, were the hottest on record and the first three-year period to average more than 1.5C of warming.
The long-term warming average now stands at about 1.4C, and scientists expect it to surpass 1.5C around the end of this decade.
In October, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said the chance of keeping warming to 1.5C without overshooting it has been lost.
“Every additional fraction of a degree and additional year of warming above 1.5C increases climate impacts and risks, such as the deadly floods, heatwaves and wildfires that have plagued many nations this year,” UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said.
Still, the outlook is less bleak than it was in 2015.
When the Paris Agreement was signed, existing policies put the world on course for about 3.6C of warming by 2100. According to the Climate Action Tracker, that projection has since fallen to about 2.6C as countries adopted climate policies and clean energy expanded.
Progress has stalled since 2021, however, and current policies still point to far more warming than the agreement promised.
(Al Jazeera)
Which countries emit the most?
Carbon dioxide, the main driver of warming, comes mostly from burning coal, oil and natural gas while deforestation removes trees that once absorbed it.
China, the US and India now produce more than half of the world’s annual emissions. China alone emits more than the US, India, Russia and Japan combined although the US has released the most carbon emissions historically.
(Al Jazeera)
Investments in clean energy are now almost double those in fossil fuels, but emission cuts have been too slow to keep 1.5C within reach.
The graphic below ranks the biggest emitters in 2024 and shows how their emissions have changed since the agreement took effect in 2016.
(Al Jazeera)
China remains by far the largest polluter, and its emissions have kept rising alongside those of India and Indonesia as these fast-growing economies burn more coal to meet soaring power demand. Indonesia has climbed into the top 10, replacing Canada.
Germany, Japan and the US have cut their emissions, largely by replacing coal with renewables and gas. But growth elsewhere has outweighed those cuts, and global emissions are 9 percent higher than in 2016.
Wong, in prison since 2020, was found guilty of colluding with foreign entities in violation of the city’s national security law.
Published On 5 Nov 20265 Nov 2026
Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, who has been in prison since 2020, has been jailed for an additional 10 years.
Hong Kong’s High Court found Wong guilty of colluding with foreign entities in violation of the city’s national security law on Thursday.
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The sentence comes just two months before he was expected to be released in January 2027.
“The punishment must fit the gravity of the crime,” High Court Judge William Tam told a packed courtroom while delivering the sentence.
“It is also necessary for the court to express the community’s abhorrence of the defendant’s scheme and acts with others to collude with foreign forces or external elements to endanger national security.”
Wong, now 30, was accused of conspiring with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and others to ask foreign countries, bodies or individuals outside China to impose sanctions or blockades, or engage in other hostile activities against the government.
He pleaded guilty to the charge in September. Tam said he considered a 13-year prison sentence as a starting point but reduced it to 10 because of Wong’s guilty plea and mitigation.
Wong was once the face of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and has been in jail since 2020. He was imprisoned over his role in protests held a year earlier.
The demonstrations were prompted by plans to allow extradition to mainland China but soon evolved into a wider pro-democracy movement. Wong became a prominent representative of the movement, regularly appearing on news channels. He later pleaded guilty to inciting and organising an unauthorised antigovernment assembly.
‘Endless political persecution’
Governments and rights groups criticised the court’s decision on Thursday.
The United States consulate in Hong Kong said that it “strongly condemns” the additional sentence handed to Wong, and called for his “immediate release”.
“Wong has been unjustly imprisoned since December 2020, demonstrating that Beijing will go to extraordinary lengths to silence those who advocate for fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong,” a consulate spokesperson said in a statement to the AFP news agency.
After his sentencing, Taiwan also criticised the “endless political persecution” of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists.
Beijing and the Hong Kong government use “authoritarian tools” to “fabricate charges … engage in endless political persecution, and suppress the people’s legitimate rights to pursue freedom, democracy, and human rights,” Taiwan’s top China policy body said.
Human Rights Watch denounced the latest charge against Wong. “The harsh sentence on baseless charges against Joshua Wong is cruel and unjust. Young people promoting social change are an asset for any vibrant society, but the Hong Kong government puts them behind bars,” said Elaine Pearson, the group’s Asia director.
Amnesty International also criticised Wong’s additional sentence, saying it was “another grim reminder of how Hong Kong’s National Security Law has become a tool to punish dissent”.
LEE Andrews has unfollowed Katie Price on Instagram just hours after she was pictured chatting and swapping numbers with a CEO 16 years her junior.
The 43-year-old ‘businessman’ had only been following just one person on the social media platform — his estranged wife Katie, 48 — but his account now shows that he follows nobody.
LEE Andrews has unfollowed Katie Price on Instagram just hours after she was pictured chatting and swapping numbers with a CEO 16 years her juniorThe move comes amid growing speculation that the former glamour model and Lee had secretly rekindled their romance following their bitter split earlier this year
Katie was quick to shut down any speculation about their meeting, insisting on Instagram that Felix was simply a work colleagueKatie was previously the only person Lee followedSource: Instagram
She explained on Instagram: “Just to clarify, Felix is a work colleague who was representing Oh Chat at the Glamour Awards.” Katie added that they had finally met in person following their professional partnership to create the UK’s first digital twin.
“Our meeting was entirely work-related and there is absolutely nothing more to it than that.”
Felix is also understood to be married with a child.
However, Lee certainly didn’t appear best pleased as he made the social media move just hours later. However, Katie could have also removed him as a follower.
His Instagram account is now private, despite previously being publicly available.
The mum-of-five had also fueled speculation by wearing the huge diamond engagement ring Lee gave her, while the pair had recently started following each other again on Instagram.
The Sun revealed that Katie had ended their marriage via WhatsApp after discovering he had just £2.22 in his bank account – despite claiming to be a millionaire – while Lee was recently released from Dubai’s notorious Al Awir prison following a four-month stint.
To understand the coming collision between President Donald Trump and a Democratic Congress, one must first discard the textbook formulas of US governance. The United States is about to witness a political experiment for which there is no modern precedent: a purely transactional populist, entirely unmoored from traditional ideological orthodoxy, forced to share power with a legislative branch unified in partisan hostility.
The conventional wisdom predicts immediate, paralysing gridlock. That is a misreading of the terrain. Trump does not view politics through the lens of conservative dogma or constitutional restraint; he views it through the lens of the deal. Consequently, his governance will not be characterised by passive stagnation, but by an aggressive, volatile mix of transactional bipartisanship and raw executive unilateralism.
Domestically, the ideological lines will blur. For decades, the Republican Party was defined by its commitment to limited government and free markets. Trump has spent a decade dismantling that consensus. Confronted with a Democratic House of Representatives and a Democratic Senate, he will feel no tribal loyalty to standard conservative policy. Instead, expect him to seek out areas of populist overlap.
When it comes to massive infrastructure spending, protectionist trade policy and aggressive state intervention to protect domestic manufacturing, Trump is often closer to the Democratic centre-left than to the ghost of former President Ronald Reagan. He will dare the opposition majorities to vote against legislation that pours millions of dollars into their districts or levies tariffs that protect their blue-collar constituents. It will be an unholy, ad hoc alliance — issue-by-issue, fleeting, and transactional — designed to deliver the optics of victory for both a populist president and a vulnerable congressional majority.
Where such transactions fail, however, the venue will shift from the legislative chamber to the administrative state controlled by the executive. Trump will not accept the traditional boundaries of a divided government. If necessary, he will govern by decree. Executive orders, emergency declarations and expansive interpretations of federal statutes will be deployed to bypass a stubborn Capitol Hill. The administration will dare the Democratic leadership to tie up the government in the federal courts, turning the slow wheels of the judiciary into a political weapon.
Yet, the true test of this fragile constitutional architecture will not occur on the domestic stage. It will happen abroad, specifically in the volatile expanses of the Middle East, where the executive branch enjoys its greatest constitutional latitude.
The immediate flashpoint is Iran. The Trump doctrine rests on a foundation of maximum economic pressure backed by highly unpredictable, asymmetric tactical deterrence. It is a posture designed to keep adversaries off balance. But a Democratic Congress, historically wedded to the framework of multilateral diplomacy and deeply wary of congressionally unauthorised foreign entanglements, will view this unpredictability not as a strategic asset but as an existential danger.
The US is likely headed for a historic constitutional showdown over the War Powers Resolution of 1973. Democratic majorities will also aggressively use the power of the purse to place statutory fences around the commander-in-chief, attempting to defund military manoeuvres or explicitly prohibit unilateral escalations against Tehran. Trump will treat these attempts at legislative constraints with open contempt. Asserting an absolute, almost unrestrained reading of the Constitution’s Article II executive authority, the president will argue that modern geopolitical threats require executive agility, not governance by congressional committee. When the rockets fly, the president will act unilaterally, leaving Congress to meaningless academic debates.
Hanging over this entire drama is the ultimate constitutional weapon: the threat of impeachment by Congress. In a Washington where both the House and the Senate are controlled by the president’s opponents, oversight will cease to be an instrument of governance and become an engine of partisan political destruction.
Democratic congressional committee chairs will launch a relentless, multifront campaign of subpoenas and investigations. Every member of Trump’s cabinet will live in a permanent state of interrogation; every foreign policy decision will be audited for high crimes and misdemeanours. The House will almost certainly draft articles of impeachment, not as an extraordinary remedy for rare misconduct, but as a routine penalty for political nonconformity.
Yet, this strategy carries severe risks for the opposition. Trump does not fear institutional warfare; he thrives on it. He will transform the spectacle of congressional investigations into the theatre of public grievance. To his base, a hostile Congress will be framed not as a coequal branch of government performing its constitutional duty, but as an illegitimate, obstructionist cabal subverting the will of the forgotten American voter.
Because the structural math of the Senate requires a two-thirds majority for removal of the president, actual eviction from the Oval Office remains a statistical fantasy. Impeachment will therefore achieve not displacement, but a permanent state of institutional friction.
What the US is about to enter is not two years of legislative inactivity, but a phase of perpetual brinkmanship. It will be an era in which governance occurs only in the narrow, volatile intervals between constitutional crises. The US system was built to withstand institutional tension, but it also requires a basic reverence for institutional boundaries to function. With a transactional populist president in the White House and an adversarial army on Capitol Hill, those boundaries will be tested as never before. The architecture will hold, but the foundation will shake.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
EMMERDALE star Matthew Wolfenden has marked his third anniversary with rarely-seen girlfriend Heather Scott-Martin as he moves from the collapse of his marriage to former co-star Charley Webb.
The actor confirmed his relationship with Heather after meeting the trained choreographer and dance teacher while starring in a West End production of Elf: The Musical in December 2023.
Emmerdale star Matthew Wolfenden celebrated his third anniversary with girlfriend Heather Scott-Martin on SundaySource: Instagram/matthewwolfenden55The actor’s five year marriage to former Emmerdale co-star Charley Webb (pictured) came to an end in November 2023Source: Getty
But he appeared to be back on his feet while celebrating his third anniversary with Heather in a new social media post on Sunday.
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Sharing a handful of photos – among them a backstage shot of the pair at London’s Dominion Theatre as they prepared for Elf – he wrote: “Three years of you.”
Speaking exclusively to The Sun shortly after announcing their relationship, Matthew said they bonded over their respective splits.
Matthew met his current girlfriend while sharing the stage togetherSource: Instagram/matthewwolfenden55The former soap star shared a handful of photos with Instagram followers on Sunday as the couple celebrated their third anniversary togetherSource: Instagram/matthewwolfenden55
He said: “I met Heather doing Elf. Me and Charley had been separated for a few months and then Heather was the dance captain on Elf, she’s a choreographer and a dancer.
“She’d also recently separated from her long-term partner roughly the same time me and Charley had separated so we kind of had this common bond.
“All the cast used to go out for drinks and stuff and we’d end up sitting together and chatting about relationships and things that had happened, and that’s how we started chatting.
“We’d be the last ones in the pub still chatting, it was almost like it was meant to be, that we found each other.”
The actor – best known for his former role as David Metcalfe in Emmerdale – shares sons Buster, 14, Bowie, nine and five-year-old Ace, five, with ex-wife Charley.
Addressing their painful split during an appearance on the Lewis Nicholls Podcast in May 2025, Matthew claimed his former wife left him as he prepared for a new role on the West End stage.
He said: “It was Charley’s decision. Charley decided she wanted to separate.
“It was hard, it was a hard time for me. By this point I’d decided to leave Emmerdale. Charley was on tour with a play called Quiz so I was leaving a job I’d been in for 18 years, I’d just been offered a job in the West End, so it was a big change for me.
“I had the kids full time at that time because Charley was out on tour and then out of the blue I got this news that she wanted to separate.
“It was a tough time for me, it was a time of big changes and then this on top of things wasn’t the best news in the world. But things happen for a reason.
“It was the fact that the kids were quite young and it wasn’t only a couple of years ago. That was a concern to me. We had to move onwards.”
He added: “I didn’t expect it at all, it was a big shock. Separation is very difficult when you’ve spent 15 years together, your lives together and everything you own is together – just sorting out.
“Especially when the separation happened when Charley was on tour and I was moving to London after leaving Emmerdale.”
Despite the abrupt split, Matthew claimed the former couple put their differences aside and found a way forward.
He added: “Everything was a bit up in the air for the first few months but we’re very very amicable, we’re still friends and we’ve got kids together so you have to be.
A UK travel company that sells holidays to Turkey, Greece and Portugal has entered administration after nearly four decades.
Wroxham Travel first opened in 1987 as an independent travel agency selling holidays to numerous destinations including UK staycations, short-haul trips and long-haul holidays.
Wroxham Travel has entered administration after 39 yearsCredit: Alamy
The company also sold ocean and river cruise trips.
However, the Norwich-based company officially closed on October 30.
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The company had two high street stores – one in Hoveton and one in Aylsham.
While the impact of the company’s closure isn’t clear, it is expected to primarily affect holidaymakers in the Norfolk and Greater Norwich areas.
The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said in a statement: “We are sorry to inform you that Wroxham Travel has ceased trading with effect from 30 October 2026.
“We are now treating this as a financial failure.
The company used to sell holidays to the likes of Turkey and GreeceCredit: Alamy
“If you booked a holiday through Wroxham Travel, the tour operator or principal business with whom Wroxham Travel booked your holiday will be named on your paperwork (or ATOL certificate if it was a flight inclusive holiday; this would be stated on your ATOL certificate under “Who is protecting your trip”).
“To ensure your holiday can continue as planned, you will need to contact the credit control department of your tour operator or other principal travel business with whom you have a contract.
“Your booking should continue as normal, and they will be your direct point of contact.
“Please ensure that you have all your documentation with you, as they may require information from it to assist you.”
Spearheading the campaign in opposition of Proposition 38 is Robert Kaplan, senior scholar at the Clinical Excellence Research Center at Stanford School of Medicine, and David Panush, who served as a senior health policy and budget advisor to five state Senate presidents.
Kaplan stated, “As written, Proposition 38 is deceptive,” because the proposed criteria for awarding the grant funding would appear to create an extremely minuscule pool of qualified recipients.
To qualify, a recipient institution must be established since Jan. 1, 2025, and have at least 200,000 square feet of research space it controls. From that start date, the recipients also must have an affiliation agreement with a UC campus and be affiliated with a UC Health system that records more than 35,000 inpatient admissions and 3.5 million outpatient visits annually. The qualification requirements also include having identified at least $250 million in philanthropic support and securing two $50-million commitments for designated research programs.
Kaplan argues medical research grants should be awarded through a competitive process that gives all applicants equal opportunity. Instead, his campaign states, only the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy, co-founded by billionaire Gary K. Michelson, would qualify under the proposed criteria. In a Cal Matters report, a UCLA spokesperson confirmed that among all nonprofit entities affiliated with the school, “only the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy could satisfy the stipulations of Prop. 38.”
Robin Swanson, spokesperson for the Yes on 38 campaign, said that “lots of institutions would qualify for funds under this measure.”
“But it is very likely that [the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy], which is a research institute affiliated with UCLA, will qualify for half of the funds under the current criteria,” she added during a virtual news conference in mid-September.
Swanson said it was likely that other research institutions from Stanford, Scripps Research, USC and Cedars Sinai would qualify for the other 50% of funds, “and that really is what we wanted to ensure that we had research institutes that were ready to hit the ground running.”
Ultimately, she said, the decision lies with the California Department of Public Health.
Michelson’s institute first became a nonprofit in 2022, and the co-founder has donated at least $120 million to the research organization. The billionaire is the board chair of the institute, which is housed at a research center owned by UCLA, according to the opposition campaign.
The Vote No on Prop. 38 campaign also argues against the financial model of the measure, saying a bond would saddle taxpayers with decades of debt and that any potential future revenue from the research is uncertain.
Al Jazeera has marked 30 years since its first broadcast in 1996, with a ceremony in Doha attended by Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Director General Sheikh Nasser bin Faisal Al Thani called for renewal, to protect the network’s independence and values.
Exclusive: The 29-year-old civil servant has been saving for a home of his own for as long as he can remember
Moment man wins £1 million
The £1million winner of Win Win with Postcode Lottery has slept on a sofa at his gran’s house for the past 15 years – since being orphaned aged 13.
Kieran McLaughliin, 29, from Glasgow said he will spend his prize money on buying his first home after moving in with his grandmother, May, nearly 16 years ago. He and his twin brother, Kane, were orphaned after the death of their father, which came five years after they lost their mother at the age of eight.
Keiran told The Mirror: “I’ve lived with my Gran since I was about 13. She took me in, and my brother and I each sleep on one of the two couches. It’s insane to think that I’ve slept on a couch for 15 years. It’s just mad. With the money, I can obviously just go and buy a house. I’ve been saving for a house, believe me, I’ve been saving. But it’s just so hard.”
Kieran currently works six days a week, and now hopes to focus more on his side-hustle. “I’m a civil servant Monday to Friday, and then I work as a bridal and event make-up artist on Saturdays as well. It’s crazy because I can just have whatever time off I want now, I don’t need to work six days out of seven. I’ll probably go part-time in the civil service.
“I don’t really do the make-up for the income. I actually do it just for fun because I love being a part of somebody’s wedding and making them feel special. I think I’ll try to focus more on that.”
After his win aired on ITV last night, he was asked who he’d tell first. Kieran said: “I’m scared to tell my Gran because I feel like I’m going to give her a heart attack. She’s 83, so I need to kind of ease it into conversation. I can’t just disrupt her peace and kill off my Gran when I win £1,000,000 pounds.”
He plans to properly celebrate by going on the luxury cruise he won with boyfriend Reece, a final year nursing student, in January. “He’s coming on the Caribbean cruise, and then he starts his eight-week placement two days afterwards – it’s such good timing.”
He also intends to share the money with his brother. “Every single week before I went to play on the show, he would ask me, ‘What are you going to give me when you win?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know. I’m going to think about it.’ So, I will give him a good chunk of money. He’s my twin, I’ve spent my whole life with him, and I just want to give him what I’ve got as well. I know he needs a new work van because his work van has just broken down, so I’ll probably buy him one.”
Kieran also plans to take Kane on another of his prizes, a trip to Florida, because they have family there. The new millionaire also plans to start house-hunting soon. “I’ll buy a house straight away,” he declared. “I’m usually so scared of spending money, so the second thing I’ll do will definitely be to get a financial adviser.”
In the programme, hosted by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, viewers have watched Kieran succeed over six weeks, eventually beating fellow player Sabrina to the top prize. He said he never doubted that he could go all the way. “From my audition, I said, ‘I know I have what it takes to win the £1million. I can see myself in the final.’ I’m either delusional or overly confident, or maybe I’m both because I’ve done it.”
He correctly answered that most people who won a life-changing amount of money would choose to give some to friends rather than take them all on holiday or buy all the drinks in the pub.
Kieran described being on the show as the “best six weeks of my life” but that he’d found it very hard at the end. “I felt so nervous, clearly, because I was crying like every five minutes. I could barely stand up.
“Every single contestant that has walked through the door has been one of the nicest people ever. Nobody has ever been ungrateful. Everybody’s so loving and caring. They’re so kind. I would have been so happy if it had been anybody else that won, from the bottom of my heart.”
Now, Kieran says he’s still pinching himself over the win. “Hearing the word millionaire is crazy. That money is insane. People don’t see that amount of money where I’m from. It’s actually mind-blowing. I genuinely feel like I’m dreaming, but I also feel like I deserve it. It’s crazy to try to put it into words.”
BACK in 1988, this actor found fame as a child in one of the most terrifying horror films of the decade.
Fast forward 38 years, the movie star, who is now 45, looks completely unrecognisable – but can you guess who it is?
Can you guess who this 80s child star from a huge horror film is?Credit: instagram/@alex_vincentThe actor looked unrecognisable as he plugged a fan event on InstagramCredit: instagram/@alex_vincent
The star in question is Alex Vincent, who played Andy from Child’s Play, which was the first ever Chucky film.
Now all grown up, he looks a far cry from his horror movie days as a kid, as he promoted a recent fan event on Instagram.
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The actor was just six years old when he starred in the terrifying movie about a doll that comes to life and goes on a killing spree.
Alex went on to star in all three of the Child’s Play films which ran until 1991.
The film star then appeared in the 2013 film, Curse of Chucky, and six years later he starred in the TV show reboot.
These days Alex can often be found doing horror movie conventions, where he gets to meet fans of the famous franchise.
The star in question is Alex Vincent who played Andy in the 1988 film, Child’s PlayCredit: GettyAlex was just six-years-old when he took the lead in the first ever Chucky filmCredit: Getty
The original Child’s Play movie was released in 1988 and it went on to become a series with six sequels.
The plot centres around Chucky, a serial killer called the Lakeshore Strangler, who performs a voodoo ritual to transfer his soul into a toy doll.
Alex’s character Andy is relentlessly terrorised by Chucky throughout the Child’s Play franchise, with the doll framing him for his murders.
Speaking about being the main star in such a terrifying film at a very young age, the actor told Indiemacuser.com: “The content didn’t matter much to me, in terms of scaring me.
Now 45, Alex continues to be part of the Chucky franchiseCredit: GettyEvil Chucky terrorised poor Andy and framed him for his murdersCredit: Alamy
“I was a bright kid… And nothing about being on that set was scary.”
The former child star added: “It was an incredibly fun and exciting experience for me at six-years-old.
“I got to leave school for a couple months and go work with a super cool electrical puppet in Chicago and LA.”
However, despite being known for one of the most famous scary films ever made, Alex made a surprising revelation.
“I’m not the biggest horror fan!” the star admitted.
However, Alex added: “But I know a lot of horror icons personally, so I am familiar with their films.”
