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.
After he was yesterday found guilty of rape and sex attacks on a string of women, a video of Ryan discussing an abuser thought to be Brand has blown up.
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”.
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.
“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.
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.”
Ryan also slammed Brand’s barrister Ian Winter KC who launched a foul-mouthed tirade at Sunday Times journalist Rosamund Urwin as he was leaving the courtroom.
He said to her: “I hope you are pleased with yourself”, and she was heard replying: “I’m pleased justice has been done”.
Mr Winter said during the clash: “Well, it wasn’t. You f***** it.” “Congratulations,” he added.
Ryan said: “That was so unprofessional, so inappropriate, so aggressive. Really sickening.”
The “ruthless, calculated and manipulative” predator Brand is facing years in jail after he preyed on women between 1999 and 2009.
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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.
Reports of their separation surfaced in April 2017, and by August of that year, Carmelo had welcomed a daughter with ex Mia Burks.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In response to a post on X about Republican losses in districts reworked by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Newsom replied simply: “RON CAN’T DRAW!”
Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman embraces her brother, Akash Raman, during her election night bash at the Greek Theatre plaza.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
(Joao Fazenda / For The Times)
(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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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.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
list of 3 itemsend of list
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.
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.
The move comes amid growing speculation that the former glamour model and Lee had secretly rekindled their romance following their bitter split earlier this year.
Just hours earlier, Katie was pictured deep in conversation with entrepreneur Felix Henderson, 32, at the Glamour Awards on Tuesday night.
The pair were seen chatting in the VIP area of the bash and exchanging phone numbers, with Felix, who co-founded London-based AI company OhChat, also pictured leaning to Katie.
However, Katie was quick to shut down any speculation about their meeting, insisting on Instagram that Felix was simply a work colleague.
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.
Lee’s apparent decision to unfollow Katie comes just days after he sparked reconciliation rumours by tagging her in a romantic Instagram post about soulmates, which she then shared on her own story.
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.
Their potential reunion came after months of drama, with Katie previously revealing she had dumped Lee after becoming fed up with his web of lies.
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.
Just weeks earlier, Matthew, 46, announced the end of his five-year marriage to Charley in a joint statement – and later claimed he’d been dumped by his wife while she was touring UK theatres in playwright James Graham’s Quiz.
But he appeared to be back on his feet while celebrating his third anniversary with Heather in a new social media post on Sunday.
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.
READ MORE ABOUT MATTHEW HERE
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.
“We’re always going to have a relationship.”
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.
The company also sold ocean and river cruise trips.
However, the Norwich-based company officially closed on October 30.
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.
Read more on travel inspo
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.
“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.
Published On 1 Nov 20261 Nov 2026
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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.”
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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?
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.
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.
More on unrecognisable stars
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 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.
“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.”
The proposition creates a down payment loan program, totaling up to $25 billion, for middle-income families looking to buy a new home in California. The program would be run by the California Housing Finance Agency, which already oversees several homeownership assistance programs.
The state would sell bonds to fund the program. It would pay back investors using interest and loan payments from the program — not taxpayer money. The California Housing Finance Agency would administer the program, including setting interest rates for the loans.
To qualify, prospective borrowers would need to buy a newly constructed home or a home that never has sold before, such as a commercial building that was converted into condos. Borrowers wouldn’t need to be first-time homebuyers, but they would need to earn no more than 200% of the median local income; for a family of four in Los Angeles County, that amounts to no more than $216,200 a year.
There also would be limits on the sales prices of homes bought with help from this program. While the exact price would depend on the county, generally the homes would need to sell for between $1 million and $1.5 million. Homebuyers would need to put at least 3% down, and the state finance agency could provide a loan up to 17% of the sales price.
The loans would function like fixed-rate second mortgages.
According to the California Budget and Policy Center, the earnings that would qualify a family for down payment assistance could vary greatly depending on where they planned to buy a home. Per the center’s calculations, a family of four buying a home in Madera County would have to earn no more than $166,800 a year, while a family in Santa Clara County could earn up to $375,800 a year and still qualify.
Other specifics would be worked out if voters pass the measure. That includes the interest rates charged on this second mortgage, which, according to the Budget and Policy Center, likely would be higher than the current rates for conventional mortgages, which have hovered around 7% for a 30-year mortgage.
Because revenue bonds, which would be used to fund this program, are riskier than other bonds, investors might demand a higher return, translating to a higher interest rate.
A LEGENDARY 70s rock band have cancelled all their 2027 tour dates in their first breaking form performing in 50 years.
Cheap Trick formed in Illinois in 1973, with current members being Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen and Tom Petersson.
In a statement shared to Instagram, the band addressed their decision to take some time off.
They wrote: “Many thanks to everyone who has expressed concern for us.
“To clear things up, we’ve decided to take some time off after decades of touring because we need a break.
“Not for health reasons.
“We’ll play our November shows and then take our first break in 50 years.
“Thank you for all your support!”
One fan commented: “The hardest working band in rock!”
Another said: “Take your well deserved break from touring & enjoy some free time for yourselves. You are forever MY Band.”
A third wrote: “Get some great rest. Its all good.
“Hope you have a wonderful break. Take care.”
A fourth shared: “Enjoy your well deserved break and time with your families.
“Looking forward to future shows!”
Throughout Cheap Trick’s history, they have released 21 studio albums, eight live albums and 20 compilation albums.
The rock group also have four extended plays, and 66 singles to their name.
Couple say they are ‘prisoners of conscience’ being made into an example by Pakistan’s military-backed authorities.
Published On 29 Oct 202629 Oct 2026
An antiterrorism court in Pakistan has sentenced prominent human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, to 10 years in prison on terrorism-related charges.
Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra announced the verdict on Thursday, following their trial inside Adiala prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
The couple were found guilty of putting “the security of [the England and Wales Cricket] team at risk”, the judge wrote, adding that it “clearly shows the intentions and objective of the accused to create a sense of terror”, according to a copy of the court judgement obtained by the AFP news agency.
At the same time, the ruling conceded that the security breach was “a very common nature ordinary type of incident apparently of removal of a barrier”.
The case relates to an October 2024 incident in which the couple removed road barriers in the capital, Islamabad, along a route designated for the touring England cricket team.
The couple were indicted on October 7, accused of obstructing police and inciting public interest, and pleaded not guilty.
In statements seen by the Reuters news agency, the couple denied the charges, while calling themselves “prisoners of conscience”, adding that they were being targeted for their human rights work.
In their defence document, the couple had earlier said they were “being made an example to further cement the chilling effect against those who stand (or want to stand) against tyranny, oppression and injustice”.
Shireen Mazari, who is Imaan Mazari’s mother and served as Pakistan’s human rights minister under incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan, said it was a “sham trial without any due process”.
Mazari told the Reuters news agency the couple “were not permitted to defend themselves through their own lawyer, and were not provided with key legal documents”, adding that the defence would file a petition against the verdict in the Supreme Court.
Amnesty International called the convictions “an indictment of Pakistan’s justice system.”
“It was a test of the judiciary’s ability to uphold the principles of justice and the right to fair trial. It has failed that test miserably,” said Amnesty’s Yasmine Ahmend.
“It is clear that these ‘anti-terrorism’ charges are being used to punish Imaan and Hadi for their human rights advocacy,” she added.
Mazari and Chattha have been in custody since January 23, in a separate case over their social media posts.
A lower court sentenced them each to 17 years the next day under Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, which critics have said is designed to quash antigovernment dissent online.
Although the Supreme Court later suspended those sentences, police re-arrested the couple the same day in the security breach case.
“Imaan and Hadi’s re-arrest dispels any pretence that the charges against them are anything other than a politically motivated attempt to punish them for their human rights work”, said Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for South Asia, adding that the case demonstrates once again the authorities’ willingness to weaponise the legal system against critical voices.
Pakistan’s law minister, Azam Nazeer Tarar, has repeatedly said the country’s judiciary is independent.
A FORMER Disney heartthrob looks unrecognisable 17 years after he found teen fame on the channel.
This actor is known for appearing alongside the likes of Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez and Zac Efron.
You may remember him from Sonny With A Chance, 17 Again, Hannah Montana or even his own Disney movie, Starstruck.
It’s Sterling Knight!
The actor, now 37, looks a far cry from his days on Disney Channel now.
Sterling now sports a full beard and longer mousy brunette hair – as opposed to the choppy blonde locks he was known for.
He is still acting and appeared in new movie 40 Dates and 40 Nights just this year.
Sterling is also on video platform Cameo, where fans can pay for a personalised video shoutout from him.
The star has just shy of 250,000 followers on Instagram and regularly shares updates with his fans.
He appears to not follow former co-stars such as Demi, Selena or Miley – suggesting their on-screen chemistry hasn’t lasted since their Disney days together.
Sterling’s Sonny With A Chance character famously had a relationship with Demi’s on-screen character, with the relationship becoming a focal point of the show.
The pair were known to be close friends off screen, too.
Child star Sterling, who hails from Texas, began acting aged 10 and had his breakout role in 17 Again – where he played the teenage son of Mike and Scarlet O’Donnell (played by Matthew Perry/Zac Efron and Leslie Mann).
Following a series of scandals that shook public trust in local government, Los Angeles City Council launched a massive charter reform to boost accountability across city departments. Charter PRT emerged from that reform.
McOsker, who co-sponsored the amendment, said it would offer greater public access and participation into government processes. He believes it is important that those overseeing LAX and Van Nuys understand how neighboring communities are affected by airport decisions.
“The folks that live and work and drive around and experience the impacts of the airport operations should have some say in the future of airport operations,” McOsker said. “They know the best of what the impacts are on the tens of thousands of folks that live around each of those facilities.”
McOsker stressed that the port is on public land and another space that residents should have greater insight into by offering transparency into how leaseholder agreements affect the local economy.
The two sides disagree sharply over what the changes to the law would mean in practice.
Dan Dunmoyer, president and chief executive of the California Building Industry Assn., a trade group supporting the measure, said the state is the slowest in the nation when it comes to reaching a conclusion about whether projects can be built. Per Dunmoyer, it’s one of the top two reasons housing here is so pricey.
Supporters point to accumulating interest on loans, shelling out for litigation and rising costs for materials.
Dunmoyer believes the measure would make the review process faster and easier. He estimated it will reduce the cost of building single family homes by $75,000 a pop.
“We think … it will allow us to provide more housing of all types, not just for sale, but for rent and legally defined affordable housing, even homeless shelters, more quickly than under the current environmental review process,” he said, “and we think that’s beneficial to Californians who very much want a place to call home.”
Proponents of the measure characterize the effort as procedural: It will firm up timelines, but projects still will be reviewed. But those fighting it, as well as some legal experts, say the 41-page proposal essentially guts CEQA for projects that qualify.
Aruna Prabhala, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation group opposing the measure, said it would eliminate the need to analyze a project’s specific impacts, such as how it affects people living nearby. Instead, the process would become a “checklist” to see if the project complies with existing environmental laws.
The measure also states it “should be interpreted and implemented to afford the fullest possible weight to the interest of, and the approval and realization of, essential projects.” Prabhala and others believe it flips the purpose of CEQA to approve projects, rather than protect the environment.
“So much of what’s in the initiative mirrors what we’re seeing from the federal level and the Trump administration from rolling back environmental review, from really limiting public participation,” she said. “For not only failing to enforce protections for our air and water quality, but making it that much harder for agencies to do that.”
22:53, 28 Oct 2026Updated 23:02, 28 Oct 2026
Summer Strallen was cast in Hollyoaks as a publicity stunt in the late 2000s(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
West End star Summer Strallen has admitted she is “embarrassed” by her role in Hollyoaks – almost two decades after she left the Channel 4 soap.
The actress, 40, has had a hugely successful stage career and in the late 2000s, she was cast in the leading role of Maria von Trapp in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production of The Sound of Music, acting as a replacement for Connie Fisher, who had won the part on the BBC reality show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?
In an attempt to drum up more publicity for the musical, Summer was cast as aspiring actress Summer Shaw in Hollyoaks, and the storyline was designed around her fictional counterpart also landing the role made famous by Dame Julie Andrews. The publicity stunt also served as the exit for long-running character Sam “O.B.” O’Brien (Darren Jeffries) who left the fictional village to be with Summer when she moved to London.
Speaking about the odd plotline almost 20 years on, she said: “I did The Sound of Music for Andrew Lloyd Weber and did that whole Hollyoaks thing where I don’t know if I should [mention it]… It was like a publicity stunt where I went into Hollyoaks for five months and then I got the part of Maria on Hollyoaks.
“So it was around the programmes. Connie Fisher had done the first one, How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? and they were basically…they needed another bump of publicity for the new person coming in so they had this idea that I’d go into Hollyoaks for five months. I had a proper role, they called me Summer Shaw.
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“They called me Summer in it. And it was mad. I moved up to Liverpool and everything to do it and then went into The Sound of Music. It was hilarious. And Andrew was in it, we did scenes where be offered me the part of Maria and me and OB, who was my boyfriend, moved to London. I took OB with me, he was a massive part in Hollyoaks, and he left with me.”
Summer, who is the niece of West End legend Bonnie Langford, was chatting to fellow West End actress and former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Amber Davies on her Call to Stage podcast when she addressed her soap stint. When the ex-Love Island winner said she was going to dig out some clips on YouTube, Summer said: “It’s embarrassing!”
But the star, who also had a small role in Wicked: For Good opposite Ariana Grande and also appeared in BBC soap Doctors, is also thankful for the experience that working in television gave her at the time.
She added: “But it was good because I It meant that I did that. It was like in baptism of fire. for TV. So then when I did other TV jobs was great because I knew how to hit my mark. I knew not to drink, stuff like that. It’s totally different and so it really set me up.”
The late 2000s marked a time of using television to heavily publicise theatre and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria was the first in a series of four BBC casting shows. It was followed by Any Dream Will Do, in which Lee Mead won the part of Joseph before going on to star in other West End shows and enjoy a stint in Casualty.
I’d Do Anything launched the acting career of Jodie Prenger, who won the part of Nancy in Oliver! and now plays Glenda Shuttleworth in Coronation Street whilst Jessie Buckley finished in second place in the years before she became an Academy Award winner.
In 2010, Over the Rainbow found Danielle Hope to play Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and also launched the career of Stephanie Davis, who is best known for her own Hollyoaks role and for appearing on Celebrity Big Brother. The talent searches were all headed up by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, and hosted by Graham Norton.
Various celebrities like stage actress Denise Van Outen, Loose Women panellist Zoe Tyler as well as Doctor Who actor John Barrowman, singer Charlotte Church and EastEnders star John Partridge all served as judges over the years.
Since her Hollyoaks stint, Summer, whose sisters are Zizi and Scarlett are also West End actresses and are known for the respective performances in Wicked and Mary Poppins, has mostly focused on theatre as well and is currently starring in the musical adaptation of Beetlejuice.
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Ernie Johnson, the bow-tie-wearing, peace-keeping host of “Inside the NBA,” is leaving the show after 37 years.
“It’s just time,” the 70-year-old broadcaster said in a video posted Wednesday on social media.
“So why now? Total honesty here. I’ve always prided myself on my preparation, the hours I put in every day getting ready for the next show. I’ve always loved that part of my job, but I’ve always vowed that if that ever became more of a challenge than it is a joy, then I’ll know it’s time to step away. And now, after 37 seasons, it’s time.”
“Inside the NBA” started on TNT in 1989, and Johnson became host the following season. Over the years, he was joined by analysts Kenny Smith (1998), Charles Barkley (2000) and Shaquille O’Neal (2011) in a lineup that has become beloved to generations of basketball fans — so much so that the show switched over to ESPN when TNT lost its NBA rights.
“Few people have shaped the way fans experience the NBA as profoundly as Ernie Johnson,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “His brilliance as a broadcaster is matched by his character, compassion and generosity, which have been evident throughout his 37 years as host of ‘Inside the NBA.’ We are grateful for Ernie’s extraordinary impact on our league and look forward to celebrating him during his final season.”
Johnson repeated his announcement to open the crew’s appearance on ESPN’s “NBA Tip-Off” on Wednesday, then asked a clearly emotional Barkley how he was doing.
“That was tough,” Barkley said. “We knew the day was coming — still tough. Been here for 26, 27 years, and it’s been an honor and a privilege to work with you all this time, and Kenny and Shaq and the amazing people behind the scenes. …
“It’s been an amazing journey. You’ve been our leader. Our unquestionable leader. The question I’m asked the most … is, is Ernie Johnson as good a person as he seems? And I say, man, he’s better than that. So I just want to say thank you. Thank you for being our leader for all these years. … All I can say, Ernie, is thank you.”
Smith gave Johnson a standing ovation, and O’Neal said Johnson was the reason he joined the crew.
“You are the controller of this thing people call the circus — the best circus in town, but without you, it’s going to be very, very difficult,” O’Neal said. “Chuck made a great point. All we can say is thank you, and we appreciate you. We’re gonna miss you, and we will see you around, but thanks for the great run.”
In a video posted on X, Golden State Warriors forward and frequent “Inside the NBA” guest Draymond Green perfectly summed up Johnson’s role on the show.
“He is the best point guard I’ve ever played with — that’s no disrespect to the great Steph Curry,” Green said in a video posted Wednesday on X. “Ernie Johnson on a set is as incredible as they come. He sees everything. He’s like, ‘Man, this guy hasn’t spoke for a while. Let me toss it to him. Man, this conversation is going off the rails a little bit’ — as it can on that show — ‘let me rein it back in.’ … This guy is amazing.”
Johnson also shared that he’s been dealing with “heart issues” for almost two years, including undergoing bypass surgery two months ago, and that it was a “contributing factor” in his decision.
“Still trying to get this thing to beat exactly the way it should, and we’re getting it,” Johnson said. “I mean, I feel great. So this isn’t a case where my doctor said you need to stop working. It’s nothing like that. But here’s the deal: Going through that has made me treasure even more every second with my amazing wife of 44 years, Cheryl Ann, and being Poppy to our five grandchildren. So I just want to slow down a bit, spend more time enjoying that.
“Just to be clear, I’m not retiring; just cutting back. I’ll still do March Madness and other projects for TNT and CBS, and I’ve just started a new production company called 32 Bowties, geared toward telling feel-good stories in sports. So this is by no means the end. It’s just a turning of the page.”
