NEWS

Trump and the Republican party continue to connect with several segments of Christian voters, a diverse group of denominations that spans racial identities and political perspectives.

A Pew Research poll released in September found Trump commanded 82 percent of white evangelical Protestant voters, 58 percent of white non-evangelical Protestant voters, and 52 percent of Catholics. Harris, meanwhile, had 86 percent of support among Black Protestants, a group that has long skewed heavily Democratic.

Those numbers are especially significant in a swing state like Georgia, which carries 16 Electoral votes and went to US President Joe Biden in 2020 by less than 12,000 votes. It was the first time the state had gone to a Democratic presidential candidate in 18 years.

White evangelical Protestants – themselves divided into several sub-denominations – account for 38 percent of Georgia’s population. That is by far the largest segment of any religious group, followed by Black Protestants at 17 percent.

Evangelicals remain some of the staunchest supporters of Israel, according to a recent analysis of polling by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The entrenched support is rooted, in part, in some segments of the denomination that believe that Jewish people must be in control of Jerusalem for the second coming of Jesus, which will beckon in the Rapture, when living and dead Christians alike will rise to heaven.

Polls have shown that up to 82 percent of white evangelical Protestants believe that Israel was given to the Jewish people by God, according to the analysis.

The group is the most supportive of Israel out of all Christian denominations – at least 60 percent say they fully oppose putting any arms restrictions on Israel, while 64 percent believe that Israel’s actions in Gaza are justified.

But the polls also show a more complicated story: Thirty-three percent of White evangelicals say they support some form of restrictions on aid to Israel, with another 11 percent reporting that they feel Israel has gone too far in the war on Gaza.

That may be a reflection of wider trends within the Republican party, with a Data for Progress poll in October showing 52 percent of Republicans aged 18 to 29 supported an arms embargo on Israel.

Speaking to Al Jazeera after buying a black “Make America Great Again” bucket hat in Austell, 20-year-old voter Troy said he was among those who were uncomfortable with continued aid to Israel, which he broadly categorised with other forms of foreign assistance, including large transfers to Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion.

“I don’t really understand why Israel is that big of an issue in this election cycle,” said Troy, who declined to give his last name, but identified himself as an Anabaptist Protestant.

“I don’t think the United States should be so involved in anything overseas like that. We keep sending billions to Ukraine, there are still people reeling from the hurricane that came through,” he said, referring to Hurricane Helene, which ravaged Georgia in September.

For his part, Trump has framed himself as a “protector” of Israel, even as he has broadly claimed that the October 7 attack on southern Israel, which killed at least 1,139 people, and the war that has spiralled since would not have happened on his watch. Still, speaking during a debate in July, he said US President Joe Biden should allow Israel to “finish the job” in Gaza, and has also claimed to speak to Netanyahu on a near daily basis.

Happy November, Essential Arts readers! This weekend’s top picks for things to do are all about the music. I’m staff writer Ashley Lee, here with my colleague Jessica Gelt for another rundown of the arts and culture scene.

Best bets: On our radar this week

Día de los Muertos with Dudamel
From Times staff writers Karen Garcia and Andrea Flores’ Dia de los Muertos celebration guide: the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s three performances of vibrant Afro-Mexican and Brazilian music, under the direction of Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel and featuring the Tambuco Percussion Ensemble and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Compositions include Chôros No. 10, “Rasga o Coração” by Heitor Villa-Lobos, the L.A. Phil-commissioned “Yanga” by Gabriela Ortiz and Silvestre Revueltas’ film score “La noche de los Maya.” Friday through Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown. laphil.com

‘The Stone Guest’
The Independent Opera Company kicks off its 2024-25 season with a 19th century Russian piece by Alexander Dargomyzhsky, itself based on a short play by poet Alexander Pushkin that was inspired by the adventures of Don Juan. While this opera is fairly well known in Russian-speaking parts of the world, the work — which will be presented in concert, with supertitles and minimal movement — has rarely been performed in L.A. Friday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m. St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, 11555 National Blvd., Los Angeles. independentopera.eventcube.io

Composer John Williams, pictured at the 2016 AFI Life Achievement Award Gala at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

(Chris Pizzello / AP)

‘Music by John Williams’
“It is surely obvious that John Williams has written by a long shot the most widely heard orchestral music of our time,” wrote Times classical music critic Mark Swed. Laurent Bouzereau’s documentary celebrates the legendary composer through interviews with Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, George Lucas, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Alan Silvestri, David Newman and more. While the film is now available on Disney+, it also screens four times daily through Nov. 7 exclusively at the El Capitan Theatre, where you can immerse yourself in all the Dolby Atmos sound that Williams’ blockbuster compositions deserve. El Capitan Theatre, 6838 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood. elcapitantheatre.com

— Ashley Lee

The week ahead: A curated calendar

Madame Gandhi, photographed in 2020, performs Saturday at UCLA’s Nimoy Theater in Westwood.

(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)

FRIDAY
The Diva Play Vivienne Powell wrote and performs this drama about a renowned Australian opera singer reconstructing her life through a fractured mind.
Through Nov. 10. Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Ave. divatheplay.com

Giant Robot film series Celebrate the 30th anniversary of the influential Asian American pop culture zine, founded by Bruin alum Eric Nakamura, with a UCLA Film & Television Archive series that includes screenings of “Chungking Express,” the cult-classic 1970 telefilm “Voyage Into Space” and more.
Through Nov. 17. Billy Wilder Theater (inside the Hammer Museum), 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. cinema.ucla.edu

The Monophobic Response Inspired by Octavia Butler’s dystopian 1993 novel “Parable of the Sower” (set in 2024!), American Artist’s two-channel film and sculptural installation reimagines a 1936 rocket engine test that launched the U.S. toward space travel.
Through Monday. Los Angeles County Museum of Arts, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. lacma.org

Bernadette Peters The Tony-winning performer belts out Broadway show tunes and American classics.
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. pacificsymphony.org

SATURDAY
Giants Artist J Maskrey exhibits a series of paintings that connect the natural beauty of California’s sequoias with the cityscapes of her youth via rich oils and acrylics.
Through Nov. 17. Arcane Space, 324 Sunset Ave., Unit G, Venice. arcanespacela.com

Madame Gandhi The former drummer for M.I.A. and Thievery Corporation unleashes her own electronic percussive sound.
8 p.m. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd., Westwood. cap.ucla.edu

Romeo and Juliet L.A. Opera performs composer Charles Gounod’s interpretation of the Shakespeare classic, conducted by Domingo Hindoyan and Lina González-Granados.
Through Nov. 23. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laopera.org

SUNDAY
David Foster’s 75th Birthday Andrea Bocelli, Michael Bublé, Josh Groban and Jennifer Hudson are among those slated to celebrate the pop music producer and songwriter.
7 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Oskar Fischinger, “Multi wave,” 1948; oil on canvas

(Palm Springs Art Museum)

The PST Art exhibit currently on view at Palm Springs Art Museum is titled “Particles and Waves: Southern California Abstraction and Science, 1945-1990.” Times art critic Christopher Knight made the drive to check out the show, which explores the impact of the post-WWII tech boom on the region’s artists. He found the art quite interesting despite the sometimes dry subject matter. “The show is focused on how artists make art rather than pretending that art and science are on parallel tracks,” Knight writes of the exhibit, which features 66 works by 34 artists.

A world-premiere production of a play called “Joan,” based on the life of the legendary, boundary-breaking comedian Joan Rivers, opens today and runs through Nov. 24 at South Coast Repertory. Ashley Lee has all the details on the show, which “showcases Rivers’ career trajectory — her start in New York comedy clubs in Greenwich Village, her bittersweet relationship with ‘The Tonight Show’ host Johnny Carson, her own short-lived late-night series and her reinvention on Hollywood’s red carpets — with her signature acerbic wit.”

Broadway star Sutton Foster filed for divorce from her screenwriter husband, Ted Griffin, after a decade of marriage. The Tony Award-winning actress is currently starring in “Once Upon a Mattress,” a musical retelling of the princess and the pea fairy tale. Page Six reported that Foster is in a relationship with her former “The Music Man” co-star Hugh Jackman.

Artist Julian Charriere.

(Nora Heinisch / © Julian Charriere / MOCA)

There’s a new arts honor in town. The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize, presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art, pays tribute to artists whose work delves into environmental concerns and engages viewers in creative solutions. The inaugural award was initially intended to go to one artist but was instead granted to two: Julian Charrière, a French-Swiss conceptual artist based in Berlin, and Cecilia Vicuña, a Chilean poet and weaver who splits time between New York Santiago, Chile. Each artist will receive the full $100,000 stipend in addition to support from MOCA to develop a commissioned project that addresses ”the critical intersections of art, climate change, and environmental justice,” according to a news release. Charrière’s and Vicuña‘s commissioned works are scheduled to be displayed at MOCA in 2026.

This isn’t breaking news. But the date is closing in on us, so it bears repeating: The Natural History Museum will open its highly anticipated new wing to the public on Nov. 17. Called the NHM Commons, the 75,000-square-foot, $75-million renovation and expansion touts a new entrance with a landscaped plaza and garden; a 400-seat theater; the Judith Perlstein Welcome Center featuring exhibits and ticketing desks; a new cafe run by South L.A. Cafe; and a gift shop dealing in local wares.

The Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the Penn Museum is launching a three-year national study called “Museums: Missions and Acquisitions Project.” Made possible by a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the research is meant to make the process behind collections decisions more transparent. It also aims to identify new models for the future collecting practices of U.S. museums.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

Here’s a video to play while filling out your ballot at home or waiting in line to vote in person. (Feel free to skip any political ads that may play before it). Remember, “Progress is possible, not guaranteed.”

A man has been arrested following a burglary at the home of England cricket captain Ben Stokes.

Stokes, who was in Pakistan for the recent Test series, said his wife and two children were at the property in Castle Eden, County Durham, during the break-in on 17 October.

Durham Police said a 32-year-old man from North Yorkshire was arrested overnight on suspicion of burglary.

He has been released on bail while the investigation continues, the force added.

The 33-year-old said his family did not come to “any physical harm” but a number of “sentimental” items were taken, including the medal for his OBE which he received in 2020.

“By far the worst thing about this crime is that it was carried out while my wife and two young children were in the house,” he previously said.

There’s about a 99% chance you’ve heard about cuckolding: a genre of porn that typically involves a straight guy being mocked for his lack of sexual prowess while watching his female partner have sex with another guy. So far, so heteronormative – but what if we told you that there was another way?

Queerer iterations of cuckolding porn are on the rise – whether it’s the woman being topped by a masc dyke or scenarios exclusively featuring queer performers. In the latter camp is Cucked, the latest film from avant-porn project Four Chambers and the fourth instalment in their Void series, which explores the intersections of human psychology and sexuality. 

Pushing the cuckold genre into new territory, the film rewrites this traditionally hetero narrative and flips the focus: taking us into the mind of the individual being cucked, watching furtively from the corner, rather than focussing on the individuals having sex. 

Helming Cucked is the performer JV Marx – a self-described “multidisciplinary artist/webcam boner boy” who drew on his own kinks in order to embody the character within the film and draw us into the psychology of cuckolding. 

“Getting to work with JV on this was a dream because he’s exactly the kind of performer who makes porn great, says Vex Ashley, a porn performer, director and producer and the co-founder of Four Chambers. “He thinks deeply about sex and brings so much energy and thoughtful vulnerability to this film but he’s also just a very hot and talented pervert – my favourite combination.”

In find out more, we spoke to JV to chat kinks, queering cuckolding porn and where you can support his work. 

The Gu rainfall in Somalia, East Africa, has brought unprecedented downpours, resulting in mass destruction. The usually replenished agriculture, livestock sustenance, and water resources during this season have been disrupted, after heavy rains swept through communities.

The Gu rains is a Somalian term for seasonal rainfall occurring between April and June. It has, however, brought devastating downpours causing tempestuous flooding in regions with limited infrastructure. It has also displaced thousands of families, leaving them in desperate situations.

The torrential rainfall brought unprecedented flooding to communities in the Southwestern region of Somalia, affecting villages like Aytiro, Raqayle, Damaleey, Sigaale, and Baalguri in the Afgoye district. The Gu rains caused rivers to overflow, surging through these rural areas to destroy homes and farmlands.

Most of the displaced people have fled to the capital city of Somalia to join other victims impacted by armed conflict in places like Afgoye and Mogadishu.  From April to June, the heavy Gu rains resulted in flash floods across regions in Somalia, impacting over 200,000 lives. 

Among those affected, approximately 37,120 individuals have been displaced or forced to relocate, and at least nine fatalities have been reported as of May 8, according to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

As of May 2024, East Africa faced a severe humanitarian crisis driven by the impacts of climate change, affecting over 1.5 million people across the region, primarily in Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia.  

Uprooted by the floods, 35-year-old Faadima Mayow and her family fled their hometown in Afgooye, leaving behind their home in the Damaley village. Following a perilous journey, they found temporary refuge in Barwaaqo, a makeshift camp in Lafoole sheltering thousands of flood-displaced families.

Before the flooding, Faadima was a commercial farmer supporting her family of seven – four boys and three girls – through her farm produce. “The flood has changed everything for us,” Faaduma lamented. “We used to work in our farms and get our daily food. Now, the farm is swallowed by floods.”

Apart from the economic damage, the floods have caused severe environmental and health issues. Faadima noted that the flood water has contaminated their water supply, making it unfit for drinking. “We are having so many challenges. We don’t have anything to eat since our crops collapsed, and the water is unsafe,” she said.

With limited access to clean drinking water, diseases like malaria and cholera are spreading among children and the elderly, who are particularly vulnerable.  Like Faadima, many were forced to abandon their homes and farms as the floodwaters swept through their towns. The loss of their only source of income has pushed them to the brink, with no assistance in sight to aid their recovery.

For farmers in Afgoye, the flood’s impact extends beyond displacement. The region’s agricultural community has suffered tremendously, as floodwaters destroyed not only their crops but also the rich soil that once sustained their livelihoods.

Jaamac Cali, 57, a local farmer and small business owner, explained how the flood has financially devastated him. “Before the floods, I was earning money from hand to mouth. Now, I’m bankrupt,” he noted. 

Jaamac, who has ten children, four boys and six girls, lost over 100 banana trees and 150 coconut trees, which he would typically harvest and sell at the market as his main source of income. 

According to Jaamac, each coconut tree is valued at about $500 to $700 when harvested and transported to the capital city. With no access to insurance or backup resources, Jaamac and others like him are facing financial ruin.

“My farm is now a waterlogged area,” he told HumAngle, noting that he cannot even attempt to revive his business under the current conditions. For many in these communities, farming is not just a livelihood but a lifeline. Without it, they have been plunged into poverty, and the lack of support from the government or humanitarian agencies only worsens their hardships.

Jaamac, along with his wife and children, now lives in a challenging new environment. They are struggling with the uncertainty that comes with displacement, as they continue to count each day in despair.

Beyond economic devastation, affected communities are grappling with pollution, particularly from plastics and other waste washed up by the floodwaters, which now surround their temporary shelters. This pollution presents a significant health hazard to displaced families, increasing their risk of exposure to diseases.

The disruption has also affected the education sector, with schools in the region forced to shut down. For families like Faadima’s, the lack of schooling for children adds another layer of distress. “Our children are staying home, and I am afraid they will lose their education,” she told HumAngle. 

The flood has not only crippled individual livelihoods, it has also threatened the broader economy of the region. Jaamac warned that if the flooding continues unchecked, the agricultural communities that depend on crop production will collapse. 

“Most of the communities here rely on agriculture,” he explained. “If the flood isn’t controlled, there will be a heavy economic burden on these communities and a decline in the country’s GDP.” 

This disaster poses a serious challenge to food security for a nation like Somalia, which is already vulnerable to climate shocks. Three months after the devastating floods, the affected families are still struggling to survive, with little or no help. Both Faadima and Jaamac shared a sentiment of despair and frustration over the lack of adequate assistance from government and humanitarian organisations. 

“We need shelter, food, clean water, education, and medical aid,” Faadima pleaded. 

AG: Do you believe in the power of writing by hand?

DB: Most definitely. It is a surging energy almost electrical. For me, holding a pen in my hand is like an artist, where I stare at a blank page, surveying notes and references as well as themes, scanning any footnotes, which will elevate the final version after numerous edits.

AG: What kills the mastery of creativity and the flight and tenderness of the adrenaline of imagination? Particularly when the writer is in the “zone”.

DB: What a challenging question! For me, I suppose it has to do with forcing myself to remain focused and not be tempted to veer off course whilst adrenaline is pumping at full speed but then I find myself doing just that! This for me happens frequently and as much as I want to go back to the source of my inspiration, I also feed on the rush of tumbling thoughts, which I have to respond to before the magic of thought vanishes forever. I need to constantly remain ‘in the zone’ to even adapt to my own ‘thought nerve system’, which is quite a challenge sometimes. I suppose I myself am capable of killing my own mastery of creativity and imagination when doubt creeps in about my ability to ignite thought for global readers.

AG: Write or “steal” an excerpt from your diary as a writer and here talk about how you edit your work, where you write, what you treasure, do you participate in a particular sport. For Haruki Murakami it is running. What is your morning, afternoon and evening routine like?

DB: My morning routine includes having coffee from a traditional Italian coffee percolator on a gas plate. I might have toasted homemade bread with French cheese and fig. Depending on the weather, I have a daily gardening routine, tending to plants and ensuring they can breathe without choking from invasive weeds. I would then gather my notes afterwards to either write new material or finish the editing of poetry or book reviews. I might even take a walk around the nearby lake or travel to the nearest canal network to cycle along various paths, before returning home to confirm if any edits have to be done before enjoying some free time, which might include trekking to the small stream down the hill to be inspired by giant trees and ancient moss. I even collect stones depending on if I am able to recognize a face or possible character, which is how my book ‘The Girl in the Stone’ was ‘born’, when one sunset evening in Spain, a stone perched on an old tree stump, revealed a girl’s face in the dying light of the day. Astonishingly, it also became clear she was in the company of a ‘wolf’ watching over her. I also collect stones that resemble the African Continent.

AG: What television shows do you like watching?

DB: I like watching gardening and property shows, especially renovations but I also like documentaries. I am a Nordic Noir fanatatic, as well as historical dramas, politics, and travel.

AG: Where are you from?

DB: I am originally from Belhar, Cape Town South Africa with German and black African, and possibly Khoi heritage.

AG: Talk to us about who influenced you the most in your life?

DB: Apart from my mother who inspired me to play the organ from a young age, as well as the Tenor recorder; and taught me about charity and giving to others in need in society, it was my sister, Ruth who opened my mind to literature from an early stage. She used to subscribe to Reader’s Digest and I used to peek into each delivery in secret, which prompted her to give me free rein to read to my heart’s content, even though Afrikaans was my home language. I soaked up short stories and articles. That culminated years later to study English Literature at The University of the Western Cape situated in Bellville, Cape Town South Africa.

AG: Do you use emotional pain to write?

DB: Yes, I do. I’ve written about primary school and neighbourhood bullies but also family emotional bullying. I have had to learn to be brave enough to share this theme in my writing and in a way it is quite healing as well. Not many people are able to verbalise their emotional pain. I find it therapeutic and healing to not only talk about it in writing but also hoping to let anyone else know that they are not alone.

AG: How many hours do you write in a day?

DB: At most six hours, broken up into active sessions but it may also include notes during the day and sometimes adding throughout the night.

AG: Talk to me about your latest manuscript. What themes does it deal with?

DB: It is entitled ‘The Girl in the Stone’, and it was written in Spain. The title is actually based on a real stone, which I found in the garden of our summer home in Monte Arabi, a UNESCO Bronze Age Mountain Park, more than 3000 years old, surrounded by vineyards, olive and almond trees, not far from Castilla La Mancha, where the famous ‘Don Quixote’ foolishly chased windmills. The poetry in this special collection introduces readers to the sounds, wild life, typography, weather, African migrant workers and legends of the region but also themes of the environment, sustainability and the proud ancient wine industry in this particular region of Spain. In the book, I attempt to walk in the footsteps of the ancient inhabitants, as their daily living is actually immortalised in the actual mountain, complete with indentations of cooking and storage in the rock. I attempt to make the reader smell the ancient rosemary bushes, hear the fauna at night with alarming hunting echoes and imagine the psychology of crows. This truly is a place of ancient wonder but also of historic significance, referring to the time of Franco, who also wanted to build his own communist empire in Spain and indeed, he did. Places exist today where the victims of Franco even still today are being discovered and for many others, they choose to forget it ever happened. My neigbours on the mountain tell tales of horror and pain but also pride of who they are today, still honouring their traditions. I introduce readers to the areas I have been blessed to discover and the people. Nature conservation and the environment, as well as sustainable farming also feature throughout this collection. The book talks about a trip, in all its dimensions but also explores the human experience. The book deals with joy and loss, hope and despair, individuality and completeness.

AG: Do you find it easy to write, what genres do you write in and how much work does it take to write a sentence for you?

DB: I actually do but it depends on the mood I’m in and how much planning I do beforehand. Also, as an Ekphrastic Writer, I come onto my own responding to art as the ancient Greeks also did. I have established a proud and authentic reputation internationally. I also write about nature and the environment and how fragile the planet is currently, regarding renewable resources and time running out to meet achievable targets. I also write about womanhood and the role of women in society, as I grew up in a family with strong independent women. I also write about my experiences of Apartheid, having been born, raised, and educated in the last two decades of racist rule. For me, I might stare at a blank page before the first word spills onto the page and then I only stop when it feels right to do so.

AG: How many books have you written?

DB: I have written four Poetry collections and co-wrote an Anthology, with three South African authors from Gqerbeha. It is also available as an eBook. I also have an unpublished Afrikaans version of my first book, ‘The Salamander Chronicles’.

AG: How do you choose a title for a book?

DB: I tend to choose a title from the most impactful poem of any collection or the main emotional thread of any collection.

AG: Have you won any awards or grants or any other achievements and how important are they to you?

DB: I have only been nominated twice for a Pushcart poetry prize in the USA, as well as ‘Best of the Net’ but never actually received a prize for any of my books. That does not deter me from submitting my books to the Glenna Luschei Prize hosted by Nebraska University for a writer from the African Continent. I have been noted as one of two writers who currently specialise in Ekphrastic Writing.

AG: Where do your creative energies come from?

DB: Nature, historical emotional pain, politics, people, culture, the climate, indifferences, and current affairs.

AG: Recommend 20 books to aspirant writers and mention the book and the writer that transformed your life.

DB: The book that changed my life is ‘When She Was White’ by Judith Stone.

AG: This week Don Beukes’ twenty books make for fascinating reflection. Head to your nearest library or bookstore.

1. When She was White – Judith Stone

2. Long Walk to Freedom- Nelson Mandela

3. Country of my Skull- Antjie Krog

4. Disgrace- J.M. Coetzee

5. Kaffir Boy- Mark Mathabane

6. The Story of an African Farm- Olive Schreiber

7. Moffie- André Carl van der Merwe

8. Tsotsi- Athol Fugard

9. The Woman Next Door- Yewande Omotoso

10. A Dry White Season- Andre Brink

11. No Future without Forgiveness- Desmond Tutu

12. The Grass is Singing- Doris Lessing

13. Fiela’s Child- Dalene Matthee

14. Refugee Boy- Benjamin Zephaniah

15. Face- Benjamin Zephaniah

16. Twelve Years a Slave- Soliman Northup (Memoirs)

17. The Museum of Abandoned  Secrets- Oksana Zabuzhko

18. Children of the Street-An Inspector Darko Dawson Mystery by Kwei Quartet

19. Please Look after Mom- Shin Kyung-sook

20. One Hundred Years of Solitude- Gabriel García Márquez

AG: Thank you for agreeing to this interview.

THE largest covered ice rink in the UK is found in a popular seaside town – and it’s opening tonight.

While most people head to Weston-super-Mare in the summer, Icescape Tropicana offers something for festive visitors.

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Icescape Tropicana is the largest undercover ice rink in the UK.

The huge ice rink will open to Brits from tonight at 6pm and will run until January 5, 2025.

It is only the second year the attraction has opened since 2019 because of the Covid-19 pandemic and issues regarding its location.

Tonight’s opening will feature performances from professional skater Harry Mattick who took a silver medal at the British Championships.

The performances will be free to watch, with visitors also able to take to the ice at 7pm and 8pm.

More than 400 skaters can use the rink at one time, with the festive attraction welcoming over 120,000 people in 2019.

There is also food and drink on offer – this includes hot food such as pizza, as well as mulled wine, cider and hot chocolate.

Or you can head to the bar, which sells lager and local ciders.

Online tickets start from £10 for kids or £12 for adults, with these figures going up when tickets are purchased at the box office.

Free parking is included in the price of online tickets.

There are also quiet sessions which have fewer people and no music, as well as adult-only evenings with “disco tunes”.

Santa Skate sessions – where Father Christmas will be on the ice – will also be on at selected times.

Visit on a Wednesday and you get a 2-for-1 skating session.

Skates are free and you can rent skate aids for kids when you arrive.

This year, the festive attraction is cashless, so visitors will need to pay for everything with their bank cards.

If you fancy something non-festive, there are lots of other covered activities in Weston-super-Mare.

One of those is Little Town Adventures, which opened in the seaside town earlier this year.

Located on Beach Road, the indoor attraction is a miniature recreation of the town.

The miniature town features several local landmarks, including the Grand Pier and the town hall.

Other buildings include a police station, a fire station, a supermarket and a café.

Little Town Adventures has been described as a combination of escape room style activity, theatre and role play thanks to its 5m-high buildings. 

The buildings have multiple storeys, allowing the children to explore both lower and upper levels.

Children are asked to solve a series of interactive challenges in a bid to help the town’s deputy mayor.

The seaside experience will also feature live actors, music and scripts, which have been developed by a theatre company.

Five new water attractions opening in the UK

1. Therme Manchester will have 25 swimming pools, 25 water slides and an indoor beach.
2. Modern Surf Manchester will be a surfing lagoon offering lessons to both beginners and experts.
3. Chessington World of Adventures Waterpark is set to have wave, infinity and spa pools as well as waterslides and cabanas.
4. The Cove Resort, Southport is likely to have a water lagoon and a thermal spa with steam rooms and saunas.
5. The Seahive, Deal plans to be the “surfing wellness resort” in the UK.

We’ve rounded up 25 of the best ice rinks to visit in the UK this winter.

And Europe’s only rooftop skating rink is open again in the UK.

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US had condemned arrest of Robert Shonov, who worked for more than 25 years in the now-shuttered mission in Vladivostok.

A court in Russia has sentenced a former United States consulate employee to four years and 10 months in prison for “secret collaboration with a foreign state”, state media reported.

Robert Shonov, a Russian citizen and ex-employee at the now-shuttered US mission in Vladivostok, was sentenced on Friday at the Primorsky District Court in the Far Eastern city.

The court also ordered him to pay a fine of 1 million roubles ($10,200) and face additional restrictions for 16 months after finishing his prison sentence.

Shonov was arrested in May 2023. The Federal Security Service (FSB) accused him of “gathering information” about Russia’s war in Ukraine following its full-scale invasion in February 2022

The FSB said Shonov had supplied information to US embassy staff in Moscow on how Russia’s conscription for the war in Ukraine was affecting political discontent inside Russia ahead of the country’s 2024 presidential election.

Last year, the US Department of State condemned his arrest and said the allegations against Shonov “are wholly without merit“.

He was charged under a new article that criminalises “cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state, international or foreign organisation to assist their activities clearly aimed against Russia’s security”.

Human rights advocates have said the law is so broad that it can be used to punish any Russian with foreign connections. It carries a prison sentence of up to eight years.

The State Department said that Shonov worked at its consulate in Vladivostok for more than 25 years. The consulate closed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and never reopened.

He worked at a company the US contracted to support its embassy in Moscow after a Russian government order in April 2021 required the dismissal of all local employees in US diplomatic outposts in the country.

At the time of his arrest, his main job as a private contractor was “to compile media summaries of press items from publicly available Russian media sources”, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in May 2023.

“The fact that he is being prosecuted under the ‘confidential cooperation’ law highlights the Russian Federation’s blatant use of increasingly repressive laws against its own citizens,” the State Department had said, as it accused Russia of attempting to intimidate and harass Washington’s employees.

In September 2023, Russia also expelled two US diplomats it accused of acting as liaison agents for Shonov.

“Hey man, are you good?”

AJ McLean had reason to be concerned about Liam Payne. Since production wrapped on the new Netflix music competition series where they’d met earlier this year, the Backstreet Boys veteran and One Direction star had talked almost every day on WhatsApp — at least until Payne’s sudden two-week silence early last month.

Plus, McLean, 46, knew Payne, 31, had struggled with addiction. On the set of “Building the Band,” where Payne was a celebrity mentor to contestants and McLean the host — the two forged an unusually tight bond over their shared experience: starting their careers in the crucible of teen celebrity and later battling substance abuse.

“He was an absolute light, such an old soul,” McLean told The Times this week, describing the “very older brother” feeling he developed for Payne. “But you could tell you were talking to someone who had seen some s—, who had not lived a normal life.”

McLean, who had his three-year sober anniversary in September, said he did not believe Payne was using drugs during the period when the Netflix program filmed. He said they often spoke “candidly about sobriety, sharing stories and one-upping each other. We could laugh about it all, because if you’re still there to talk about it, that means you’re moving in a good direction.”

As it turned out, though, Payne was again fighting his demons. On Oct. 16, one day after McLean texted his final check-in, the singer fell to his death from a third-floor hotel balcony. Authorities found Payne’s Buenos Aires hotel room strewn with drug paraphernalia, and an autopsy showed “pink cocaine,” a mix of designer drugs, in his bloodstream.

The pop star’s shocking death placed a tragic spotlight on the ups and downs of the One Direction member who struggled most acutely to chart a post-boy-band course, and renewed age-old questions about how to support troubled young artists caught in the crucible of modern fame — as well as hold them accountable.

“I feel like there will never be a definitive answer as to why this happened. That’s the most painful thing to sit with. Why now? Why this way?” McLean said. “But there’s no rhyme or reason when you’re hurting and looking for escape.

“I can torture my brain about ‘Why didn’t he respond?’ But I get it. I just hope people remember him the way he was — a massive heart and a massive talent.”

A photo of Payne nestled among flowers and other tribute items at a memorial for the late singer in Argentina.

(Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press)

In 2008, 14-year-old schoolboy Liam Payne confidently strode onto the audition stage of the U.K. singing competition “The X Factor.” Sporting the era’s ubiquitous sideswept bangs, he told the judges: “I’m here to win.”

With a rendition of Frank Sinatra’s jaunty “Fly Me to the Moon,” Payne showed off his immaculate pitch and rich vocal tone, and a rakish presence beyond his years.

“I think there is potential with you, Liam,” said judge Simon Cowell. “I’m just missing a bit of grit, a bit of emotion.”

While fellow panelist Cheryl Cole — the Girls Aloud member and future mother of Payne’s son, Bear — seemed charmed, Cowell was less certain about Payne’s solo star power. “You’re a young guy, good-looking, people will like you,” Cowell said. “But there’s 20% missing from you.”

Payne was axed from the show but, undaunted, returned to audition again two years later. It was during that 2010 stint on “The X Factor” that Cowell anointed him a member of One Direction, which would go on to become one of the most successful pop groups of the decade.

But Cowell’s initial concern over Payne’s prospects as a solo artist presaged a challenge for the young star as he sought to fashion a musical identity separate from his One Direction mega-fame. After the band split in 2016, a handful of its members quickly found popularity on their own — most notably Harry Styles, who has since won three Grammys and had the sixth-highest-grossing concert tour of all time. Payne, a gifted lyricist and voracious listener, had a steeper climb to find his own sound.

Payne, pictured while performing in London in 2012, was chosen for One Direction after his second audition for U.K. talent show “The X Factor” in 2010.

(Joseph Okpako / FilmMagic)

In One Direction, it was often Payne, born to a working-class family in Wolverhampton, England, who held the group together. The other members even referred to him as “Daddy Direction.” “When something was going wrong, I’d get a phone call. If there was an apology needed, it was me,” he recalled in 2017. “I was the spokesperson for the band, as it were, with the press and the label.”

He was no slouch musically, either. Payne could virtuosically ad-lib live through the bridge of “Summer Love” or hit piercing high notes on a cover of Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel.” He got more lighthearted as the band settled in, tussling with Louis Tomlinson in onstage water fights and deadpanning in a banana costume on a European tour.

As a writer, he showed a distinct wit and emotional insight, and he grew into one of the band’s most prolific pens — the collaged pop-lyric conceit of “Better Than Words” was his idea.

Yet on “Story of My Life,” one of the band’s beloved cuts, he took the most wrenching lyrics for himself: “It seems to me that when I die these words will be written on my stone. … Although I am broken, my heart is untamed still.”

“I had no idea until we spoke about his music that he was such a driving force lyrically,” McLean said. “When five individuals are put together in a group, the machine generally says, ‘You’re the pretty faces, sing. We’ve got the writers and producers to make this album the biggest thing.’”

Although he may have felt at home writing music, Payne said he found it difficult to adapt to the intense attention that came with being in 1D. As a child, he’d been diagnosed with a scarred kidney — a condition that left him fearful of drinking. But when doctors said he could imbibe at 19, “The floodgates opened,” he recalled in 2017. After performing for thousands of fans, he said, the band often would be confined to their hotel rooms, lest they be mobbed on the streets. And “the minibar is always there,” Payne said.

“I wasn’t happy. I went through a real drinking stage, and sometimes you take things too far,” he elaborated. “Everyone’s been that guy at the party where you’re the only one having fun, and there were points when that was me.”

But Tom Krueger, who spent a month with the band while working as a director of photography on 2013’s “One Direction: This Is Us” documentary, said Payne kept any struggles under the surface.

“Some of them were more standoffish, but Liam always was fun-loving and approachable,” the cinematographer told The Times. “He was pretty sensitive and empathetic. I would look at him and he would look at me and I wasn’t just a face in the mob — I was a person too.”

One Direction members Harry Styles, left, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan at an event to promote their 2013 film “One Direction: This Is US.”

(Koji Sasahara / Associated Press)

Yet at the time, Styles was “the Mick Jagger of the bunch — he had this incredible confidence that whatever happened, he was gonna be on top,” Krueger said. “And some of the others, I felt like they kind of lived in the shadow of that.”

When One Direction went on indefinite hiatus in 2016, Payne looked to reframe his roles as both writer and pop star. He cut some EDM remixes as “Big Payno” and signed to Republic (and later Capitol) as a solo act. He wrote in the One Direction book “Who We Are” that he was “worried about the idea of failing outside of this band,” and said he imagined a career in songwriting because “there would be less attention on my life.”

Without his 1D brethren, though, Payne felt less sure of himself than he’d anticipated. He started going to therapy because he “couldn’t really figure out what was making [him] sad,” he said in 2019. The analyst asked him what he liked to do. “I don’t know what I like doing!” he replied.

“I remember standing in my garden at my house and just looking around thinking, ‘It’s been a lot of fun, but what do I do now that’s done?’” he recalled. “‘What actually happens at this point? Who do I call?’”

His loneliness “nearly killed him,” he said, acknowledging that he came close to acting on his suicidal ideation: “It was very touch and go at times.”

For a time, Payne found the connection he was missing in his love life. Eight years after auditioning for her as a 14-year-old on “The X Factor,” he began dating Cheryl Cole, a decade his senior, and spoke glowingly about her to the press, recounting how he watched her perform as a kid.

“Now we’re together with a kid,” he gushed in 2017, six months after the birth of the couple’s first child, a boy named Bear. “I feel like I’m ‘X Factor’s’ biggest winner.”

Payne with his partner, former Girls Aloud member and “X Factor” judge Cheryl Cole, with whom he shared a son, Bear.

(Francois Mori / AP)

Their relationship, which lasted two years, was a fixture in the U.K. tabloids. “The funniest thing was, a week before we were getting married. The next week we’re splitting up,” Payne said in 2018 of the headlines. “I just like to think we’re somewhere in the middle. You know, we have our struggles — like of course I’m not gonna sit here and say that everything’s absolutely fine and dandy, because of course you go through different things, and that’s what a relationship is.”

Payne also had recently made his first serious commitment to sobriety. In 2017, he began a two-year professional relationship with Chip Somers, a psychotherapist and sober companion who had been “put forward as somebody who could deal with people with notoriety and could be trusted to do so.”

“There was a great deal of pressure to keep it private, and quite rightly so,” Somers told The Times. “I don’t believe that anybody should put themselves into a position of pressure in the first year of their sobriety.”

Somers spent almost every day with Payne, he said, and once the performer got clean, “He loved it. Like everybody, he came alive. He had fun. He found a genuine ability to just have a laugh.” The therapist said Payne found joy in simple activities, like playing TopGolf or going 10-pin bowling. When their work together came to an end, Somers was hopeful about Payne’s sobriety.

In the following years, as he learned about Payne’s ongoing struggles, Somers said he sent the occasional text to his former client. But he didn’t want to push too hard. “When people know where help is available, they know the people they can ring or contact to get help. Really, you have to leave it up to them,” he said. “And I think it’s inappropriate to start what would almost be cashing in on their relapse.”

In 2019, Payne became the last of his 1D bandmates to release a solo single. “Strip That Down,” a bouncy Neptunes- and Justin Timberlake-style tune co-written with Ed Sheeran and featuring rapper Quavo, was a moderate hit, reaching No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. But it was striking for how overtly it separated him from the band. “You know I used to be in 1D, now I’m out free,” he sang. “People want me for one thing, that’s not me.”

Payne performing in 2017.

(Taylor Hill / FilmMagic)

“Strip That Down” would turn out to be his only top-10 solo single, and just three other tracks cracked the Hot 100. His 2019 debut, “LP1,” peaked at No. 111 and spent only one week on the album charts. Payne’s voice — so flexible and powerful within One Direction’s group dynamic — was more adrift as a solo act. “‘I had a bit of a problem formulating what was going on in my brain into the music at first,” he said then.

A music video director who worked with Payne during this period told The Times that he had in-depth discussions with the singer’s team, but realized upon meeting Payne the day prior to filming that “he had no clue what we were going to be doing. It was clear his team hadn’t involved him in any conversations,” said the director, who requested anonymity because he still works in the industry.

The director also was told to make the video sexier to align with a new ad campaign Payne had signed onto. “It felt like there was this persona being pushed on him, and I couldn’t get a sense for who he was,” the director said. “But I did feel this sadness coming from him — kind of like a helplessness.”

Former Payne managers Richard Griffiths, Simon Oliveira and Steve Finan O’Connor did not respond to The Times’ requests for comment.

Payne was still feeling the aftershocks of life under the 1D microscope as well. He developed agoraphobia, describing in 2019 how anxious he got leaving the house to order a coffee at a nearby Starbucks.

“I even used to have a really bad problem with going to petrol stations and paying for petrol,” he said. “I can feel it now — it was like this horrible anxiety where I’d be sweating buckets in the car, thinking, ‘I don’t want to do this.’”

He’d experimented with bouts of sobriety, going one year post-1D where his only “vice was cigarettes,” and attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, one time with Russell Brand.

But Payne was paranoid that anything he shared would be leaked to the tabloids, and he disliked how his “social life plummeted” when he was sober. He’d wake up early to go running and be in bed by 7 p.m., he recalled. “And in a strange way I am trying to still figure all that out and get the balance right.”

In 2019, he said, “Sometimes it doesn’t matter if you do make a mistake or the night does go a little too far. As long as I can get my job done the next day at a capable level I’m happy with, I can just write that one off as a lesson and go, ‘I won’t do that again.’ I still like to go out and enjoy myself.”

For highly scrutinized boy-band stars like Payne, “There’s a long history of being devalued except for the money you can make for someone. It’s very easy to develop an addiction to get through the day,” said Allison McCracken, a scholar at DePaul University who studies intense pop fandoms. “It’s very difficult to stop when your sense of self-worth is tied up in what made you a star. If you don’t have a strong support group to say, ‘This is a problem,’ and that other things about you are worthwhile too, it’s very difficult to stand up for yourself.”

Payne began dating Maya Henry after his split with Cheryl Cole. Here the pair attend the 2021 BFI London Film Festival.

(Joel C. Ryan / Invision / AP)

Payne was also in the throes of a tumultuous new romance. In September 2019, he began dating Maya Henry, a 19-year-old model who made headlines as a teenager because her quinceañera cost $6 million. Just a few months into their relationship, TMZ posted video of Payne fighting with the staff of a Texas bar near Henry’s home. “I swear to God, I will lay your ass out,” Payne yelled at the bouncers in the clip.

Henry and Payne would later get engaged, but by May 2022, the couple called it quits for good. Payne said their on-and-off again relationship left him feeling “disappointed in myself that I keep on hurting people. That annoys me. I’ve just not been very good at relationships. … I just need to work on myself before I put myself on to somebody else.”

As in the aftermath of his marriage to Cole, romantic problems seemed to create a new personal and professional resolve in Payne. After a few years of one-off collaborative singles, like 2020’s “Midnight” with EDM star Alesso, in 2023 he alluded to a new album in progress. That July, he posted a video on his YouTube page discussing his renewed focus, telling his fans he was six months sober after a 100-day rehab stint.

The new commitment, he said, began while attending a Hans Zimmer concert in Dubai, where he looked at the drink in his hand and thought: “You know what? This isn’t really serving me at all. I don’t really need this right now.”

A few days after his YouTube confessional, he went into more detail on Instagram about the “manic” feelings he was struggling with. Typically, he said, he’d lose his sobriety during those moments, but said he was now under the care of “some amazing people around me that kind of look after me.”

“I’ve filmed this same video about 20 times at different points this year and got too scared to put it out by talking myself out of it,” he said. “I wanna give any of you struggling the gift I was given by sharing some of the things I learned from specialists whilst I was away. … first thing I did every day was check in and it’s important you don’t bottle up how you feel.”

He’d also begun to repair relationships with his old band, appearing at the premiere of Tomlinson’s documentary and applauding Styles’ win for album of the year at the Grammys. ”I’ve suffered a bit of a dark time in my life at the moment. Honestly, I wouldn’t be here without the boys,” he said at Tomlinson’s premiere.

Payne’s final single, “Teardrops,” was released in March 2024. The song showcased his full high vocal range and featured an admission of his failures and vulnerabilities as a partner: “I don’t know how to love you when / I am broken too / Maybe your words make sense / I could be the problem, I’m so sorry.”

Yet behind the scenes, his future as a commercial solo act was uncertain, as Payne had recently split from his label, Capitol Records.

A representative for Universal Music Group and Capitol declined to comment, but sources familiar with the situation said that the label and Payne’s management had disagreements about Payne’s musical direction, and Capitol was concerned about sending Payne on tour, given his recent struggles with substance use. A month before his death, Payne and the label had parted ways.

“We are devastated by the tragic passing of Liam Payne,” Capitol said in a statement posted online. “His legacy will live on through his music and the countless fans he inspired and who adored him. We send our deepest condolences to Liam’s family and loved ones.”

An illustration from Maya Henry’s novel “Looking Forward,” which the author has said was “definitely inspired by true events.”

(Thomas Warming)

In the weeks leading up to his death, Maya Henry had been increasingly vocal online about what she described as a toxic relationship with Payne. The revelations began in May of this year, when Henry published a novel called “Looking Forward,” which she described as “definitely inspired by true events.”

The book follows a model named Mallory who falls for Oliver Smith, a former member of a boy band called 5Forward! Oliver is an addict, alternately abusing alcohol, MDMA, cocaine and prescription pills. At one point, he chases her with an ax. And in one particularly disturbing scene, Oliver gets intoxicated, begins repeatedly hitting himself in the face and rushes toward the balcony sobbing. Mallory pleads with him to come back inside.

“I’m gonna f— kill myself, okay? I want to die,” Oliver says.

In an interview prior to the book’s publication, Henry said she had “rose-colored glasses” during their relationship.

“When you’re in those situations, they kind of become normal to you. These things start happening, and it just becomes normalized in your head,” she says. “I just became so desensitized to everything going on that I was like, ‘OK, this is my relationship, and this is how it’s going to be.’ And I feel like once you get out of [it], you’re really like, ‘Oh my gosh, what was I doing, and why was I there?’”

Through a publicist, Henry declined to comment for this story.

Fans of former One Direction singer Liam Payne gather at the Obelisk to honor him one day after his death at a hotel in Buenos Aires.

(Victor R. Caivano / AP)

The future of Payne’s posthumous music and television work remains uncertain. Payne’s producer Sam Pounds decided to withdraw a planned new single, “Do No Wrong,” after intense fan pushback. “Today I’m deciding to hold ‘Do No Wrong’ and leave those liberties up to all family members. I want all proceeds [to] go to a charity of their choosing (or however they desire),” Pounds wrote. “Even though we all love the song it’s not the time yet. We are all still mourning the passing of Liam and I want the family to morn [sic] in peace and in prayer. We will all wait.”

For now, those close to Payne are trying to make sense of his death, including whether there was more they could have done to intervene — while hoping that his chaotic final days will not wholly define his legacy.

As Somers put it, remembering the “fragile, gentle young man” he’d helped get sober back in 2017: “I think to judge anybody on a night when they are very intoxicated would be a tragic mistake.”

Staff writer Jessica Gelt and researcher Scott Wilson contributed to this report.

Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi has conceded election defeat, bringing the ruling party’s 58-year hold on power to an end. Early results put the ruling BDP in fourth place, with the main opposition UDC in the lead.

Former interior minister replaces Rigathi Gachagua who was sacked after parliament impeached him in October.

Kithure Kindiki has been sworn in as Kenya’s new deputy president after a court lifted orders barring his inauguration following legal challenges by his predecessor, who was impeached by parliament.

On Friday, Kindiki took his oath before the chief registrar following weeks of legal tussles after former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua challenged his appointment in court.

President William Ruto, who nominated Kindiki as his deputy, as well as diplomats and more than 100,000 people attended the event at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in the capital, Nairobi.

Friday was declared a public holiday for Kindiki’s inauguration.

The senate removed Gachagua from office in October on charges of gross violation of the constitution and stirring ethnic hatred – accusations that he rejected and described as politically motivated.

Ruto named Kindiki, then the interior minister, as Gachagua’s successor within hours of the impeachment.

The high court had put a hold on his inauguration after Gachagua and his supporters filed more than 30 legal challenges to prevent his firing and replacement.

But the stay order was lifted on Thursday, with judges saying that, according to the constitution, the position of deputy president should not remain vacant. Kindiki’s nomination was confirmed by parliament on October 18.

Ruto appointed Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi as interior minister late on Thursday.

Gachagua’s legal battles extended months of political turbulence in East Africa’s largest economy, which began with nationwide protests against unpopular tax hikes in June.

In response to the deadly protests, Ruto added opposition members to his cabinet to create what he called a unity government in July, easing some of the tensions after demonstrators stormed parliament.

The political realignment sidelined Gachagua, who had been a valuable running mate for Ruto during his election campaign, and helped secure a large block of votes from the populous Mount Kenya region.

Gachagua’s impeachment highlighted divisions within the governing United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and friction between him and Ruto. He had been accused of insubordination when he opposed the government’s policy of forced evictions during heavy rains that caused flooding and deaths.

Kindiki was also one of the top contenders to be Ruto’s running mate during the 2022 election, but was eventually appointed to the interior ministry after the president took office in September that year.

Before becoming interior minister, the 52-year-old former law professor served as a senator from the vote-rich Mount Kenya region.

A NEW pop feud has erupted as an original Sugababes member took a brutal swipe at former members following their reunion.

Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy appeared on Will Manning’s Capital Breakfast yesterday to share a series of revelations about the band.

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Will asked: “You three are the OG Sugababes, but out of all the versions, which one do you think was the best?”

Mutya, in hysterics, immediately responded: “The first one.”

Siobhán then said: “I think the thing is we started it when we were young teenagers, and I think there’ll always be something about the Sugababes that is this for us.

“It’s where it started and it is the essence of what it is.”

Mutya added: “It’s our baby.”

The Sugababes formed in 1998. The original lineup included Siobhan, Mutya, and Keisha. In 2001, Siobhan Donaghy left the group and Heidi Range replaced her.

In 2005, Mutya Buena left, and Amelle Berrabah joined. In 2009, Keisha Buchanan left the group, and Jade Ewen became the new member. The Sugababes released music with different lineups over the years.

In 2012, the original trio reunited.

The original bandmates and the newer members have had a number of feuds over the years. One notable dispute occurred in March 2024, when all members, past and present, wanted to tour under the Sugababes name.

The original members planned a tour as the Sugababes, while former members Heidi and Amelle were also in talks to embark on their own tour – and they wanted to call themselves Sugababes too.

An industry source told The Sun: “Heidi and Amelle have been approached about doing a tour as alternative Sugababes and their first call would be fellow ex-member Jade Ewen.

“There’s a huge appetite for the Noughties and Heidi and Amelle can offer fans something very different to the original line-up.

“The original trio are furious that the others want to try and use the name as they feel it’s theirs.”

Back in February, the Sugababes were handed a gong at the Mobo Awards, but Heidi’s mum Karen hit out after her daughter was white-washed from the nomination video.

She wrote on Instagram: “I can’t believe the cheek of it. Sugababes didn’t have a hit till Heidi joined. It is so false and disrespectful the way they are carrying on.”

Mutya hit back: “When I wasn’t in the group and the girls was doing big things without me, do you think I was getting upset about not being mentioned?”

A spokesman for the original trio declined to comment.

The OG Sugababes are now set to hit the road for a UK tour in April 2025, with shows lined up in cities that include London, Manchester, and Cardiff.

Fans can expect to hear some of their top hits, including “Push the Button,” “Too Lost In You” and “Overload.”

You can buy tickets from any of the below links:

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Jodie Cunningham says that women’s rugby league is in the best shape it has ever been “by a million miles” as England prepare to take on Wales at Headingley on Saturday.

Stuart Barrow’s side play Wales at 12:00 GMT in Leeds – before England’s men face Samoa in the second Test of their series – having won 60-0 in the same fixture almost 12 months ago.

The match is viewed as invaluable preparation for the Lionesses, who are starting to build towards a unique chance to showcase the British game when they face Australia in Las Vegas next March.

And captain Cunningham, 32, believes that the opportunities and development now present in the women’s game are in stark contrast to when she made her international bow in 2009.

“If you compare what we get now, what it looks like, the product on the field from any of the time I’ve been in the squad, the progress is just phenomenal,” she told BBC Sport.

“It is [the best it’s ever been] by a million miles.

“People say: ‘You are a generation too early and think of what you are going to miss out on.’ I feel really grateful and appreciate the development year on year because I’ve seen what it was like when nobody cared, we got no funding and kits didn’t fit and there were no young girls in the crowd because nobody knew about it.”

Cunningham cites the formation of the Women’s Super League in 2017 as a major turning point.

Since then, England has hosted a World Cup, while renewed calls for top-level female players to become fully professional has resulted in several clubs – including Leeds Rhinos, York Valkyrie and St Helens – introducing payments to players during a period in which attendances are also increasing.

By the end of next term, it will also be compulsory for every Super League team to have an Academy Under-19s set-up to provide another pathway for talented youngsters to thrive.

NEW YORK —  What does it take to be a leading man in a Hallmark Christmas movie?

A few traits come in handy: A thick head of hair. A chiseled jawline. An ability to look devastatingly handsome in flannel. A level of charisma so undeniable it can turn a fictional small-town pie-making contest into a tinderbox of sexual tension.

But more than anything, an aspiring Hallmark hunk must be willing to share their emotions and occasionally shed a tear. Or so I was told recently, as I sat down with the would-be heartthrobs of “Finding Mr. Christmas,” a reality series in which 10 men compete for a leading role in one of Hallmark’s wholesome holiday movies (roughly four dozen of which will air on the cable network between October and December).

“Not only do you have to be a great actor and look amazing on camera, but everything that you do off-camera also really matters. You need to lead with kindness and heart and generosity,” says Ben Roy, who created the series with his friend, Hallmark star Jonathan Bennett.

Like a tinsel-draped cross between “The Bachelor” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the series, premiering Thursday on Hallmark+, follows the aspiring hunks as they face off in challenges designed to test both their star power and holiday cheer. They gift wrap oddly shaped presents. They chop down Christmas trees. They pose for shirtless photos with adorable puppies. They act out romantic meet-cutes and, yes, even attempt to cry on cue. Along the way, they get feedback from a variety of Hallmark stars, including Bennett, who also serves as host, and judge Melissa Peterman. For all its wholesome entertainment value, “Finding Mr. Christmas” is asking a question that looms large in 2024: What does it mean to be a man?

“This was a social experiment for us,” says Bennett, who has (so far) appeared in 10 Hallmark movies, including “The Holiday Sitter,” the first holiday romance at the network to focus on a gay couple. (He has jokingly referred to himself as “the gay king of Christmas.”) “The show isn’t just about the competition. It’s about what happens between the competitions — that brotherhood, where you’re seeing grown, beautiful-looking men being vulnerable with each other, and saying to the audience, ‘Hey, I’m a dude who’s awesome, and I have the courage to be vulnerable and share things that I’m scared about with other men.”

Melissa Peterman and Jonathan Bennett, at left, size up the contestants on “Finding Mr. Christmas.”

(Kim Nunneley / Hallmark Media)

Bennett, Roy and five of the Mr. Christmas hopefuls gathered at Rolf’s German Restaurant in Manhattan, a kitschy, Christmas-themed establishment that feels like a cave decorated by Mrs. Claus, with a whirl of twinkle lights, gleaming metallic ornaments and faux-evergreen branches dripping from the ceiling.

The earnestness is almost as overwhelming as the ambiance. During our 90-minute chat about “Finding Mr. Christmas,” the words “vulnerable” and “vulnerability” are uttered 29 times. At least three of the would-be heartthrobs tear up while discussing the show’s impact on their lives. At times, it felt like I was an interloper at a men’s support group. But they are so authentically likable, so genuinely charming, that my cynical heart melts faster than the polar ice caps in a year of record temperatures. By the end of our conversation — during which I may be the only person to touch the potato pancakes being passed around the table — I’m ready to make like a Hallmark heroine, leave the big city behind and take over a struggling Christmas tree farm somewhere in Vermont.

The idea for “Finding Mr. Christmas” originated with Roy, a producer who also happens to be a self-described Christmas nerd, Hallmark fan and reality-TV obsessive. He brought the premise to Bennett, who was on board almost instantaneously. “He goes, ‘Stop. I know exactly what this is. I’m obsessed. Here’s 1,000 ideas,’” Roy recalls.

Ben Roy, left, a self-described Christmas nerd, Hallmark fan and reality-TV obsessive, brought the premise of “Finding Mr. Christmas” to Jonathan Bennett, who was on board almost instantaneously.

(David Scott Holloway / Hallmark Media)

The show cleverly takes all the stock elements of a Hallmark holiday movie and translates them into challenges that test the contestants’ leading-man appeal. In the premiere, they are asked to customize an ugly Christmas sweater in a way that “tells of the story of you,” (One competitor decorates his sweater with a felt dog to represent the beloved pet he recently lost — not to death, but divorce.) Another challenge functions as a screen test in which the contestants play men competing for the attention of a cute instructor at a wreath-making class. (The instructor is played by Hallmark regular Erin Cahill.)

The goal was identifying the moments that viewers expect from Hallmark’s pleasingly formulaic programming — the apology, the kiss under the mistletoe — and finding a way to “gamify” them, Bennett says. It was not hard to identify the key tropes. “When you’ve been in 10 [Hallmark movies,] you’re like, ‘On page 13, I’m gonna ask her this. Let me skip to page 65. I bet you it’s an apology. Oh, look — it’s an apology!” he continues, flipping through an imaginary script. “They all follow the formula, because we found that our audience actually wants the tropes. It’s comfortable viewing for them.”

The cast is drawn from all walks of life: there are experienced actors, models-turned-actors, a fireman and an aerospace engineer. Their reasons for signing up also vary.

For Daxton Bloomquist, 36, “Finding Mr. Christmas” represented an exciting opportunity to redefine what it means to be a romantic leading man. He is gay, but he has tried not to limit himself to LGBTQ+ roles. “I can make a girl fall in love with me and make a boy fall in love with me. I mean, nine boys fell in love with me on this show,” he says, prompting laughter from the co-stars around the table. “As corny as it sounds, this is what that show did for me, was give me confidence to be myself.”

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1. Meet some of the hunks of Hallmark’s “Finding Mr. Christmas”: Parker Gregory, 39. 2. Daxton Bloomquist, 36. 3. Jonathan Wells, 27. (David Scott Holloway / Hallmark Media)

“It was a scary thing for me to put my gay self out there. I tried so hard as an actor to not [do that]. I grew up in Kansas,” and had to be able to pass as straight, says Bloomquist, who starred in “The Book of Mormon” on Broadway. But with “Finding Mr. Christmas,” “I was like, ‘I’m done hiding who I am,’” he says, his voice breaking with emotion. Parker Gregory, a dark-haired former model to his left, puts a sympathetic hand on Bloomquist’s back.

“I think one of the best things that this show is going to teach people, especially the men who are not used to watching Hallmark, is you can be rough and tough, but you need to learn when to lean on your brothers,” says Gregory who, at 39, is the elder statesman of the group.

Initial casting notices for the show said nothing about Hallmark, instead calling for people who loved Christmas movies and might want to star in one. The contestants eventually learned the show was being made by Hallmark, which was a selling point for many.

Jonathan Wells, a 27-year-old former All-American track and field athlete with mesmerizing dimples, says he has been approached about starring in other reality shows, which he declines to name, but they never aligned with his personal values: “Care, heart, bringing meaning into people’s lives,” he says.

The Hallmark imprint also provided reassurance that the manipulations typical on most reality TV would be minimal. “Hallmark wasn’t going to do a dirty and edit you a certain way,” Bloomquist says.

The cast and creators of “Finding Mr. Christmas,” clockwise from the left: Elijah Malcomb, Blake Kelley, Jonathan Wells, Parker Gregory, Ben Roy, Jonathan Bennett and Daxton Bloomquist.

(David Scott Holloway / Hallmark Media)

For Elijah Malcomb, 31, the initial appeal was practical: The actor had just come off the touring production of “Hamilton” after five years when the dual strikes shut down the industry last summer. Getting a foot in the door at Hallmark, with its steady stream of programming, can be life-changing for a working actor. Malcomb was excited to get back to film and TV, and to hone his craft with the Hallmark stars who show up in each episode. “When else do you get an opportunity to basically have a boot camp for acting on an actual TV set?” he says.

Wells found that a crucial part of the competition was figuring out the story you tell about who you are. “Everyone knew that it was a time to be open, to connect with the audience and give a part of yourself,” he says. For Wells, that meant talking about being a caregiver for his father, who died of brain cancer. “The hardest part of the show was continuously reminding myself, ‘Hey, you gotta talk about the painful experiences.’”

Malcomb nods his head in agreement. “The conversation is starting to shift, where more and more men are talking about their emotions and leaning into the uncomfortable conversations that historically have been frowned upon and looked at as weak,” he says. “There’s a realization that it’s not a weakness, it’s a superpower, and emotional intelligence is sexy.”

It was essential that the hunks-in-training let their personalities shine, says Bennett: “Hallmark viewers tune in not for the characters that they’re playing, but for the stars that they are. Tyler Hynes does his thing. Paul Campbell does his thing. They each have a thing that makes them them.”

A pair of contestants compete on “Finding Mr. Christmas.”

(Kim Nunneley / Hallmark)

For Blake Kelley, a 36-year-old stone salesman, “Finding Mr. Christmas” conveyed a message that contradicted what he was taught growing up in Texas, where “football was life,” he says. “Ever since I was 4 or 5 years old and my dad threw me in a pair of [football] shoulder pads, one thing they always preached is, in a locker room full of 100 guys, ‘Don’t show weakness.’ That’s one thing I really learned how to do [on the show]. Some of the things that I talk about with these guys I wouldn’t talk about with anybody.”

“My definition of what masculinity can be is what these guys did,” Bennett says. “They went into a house, to complete strangers they’ve never met before, and shared their lives on national television. Tell me that’s not the most manly thing you can do, because 99% of the people watching at home wouldn’t have the courage to do it, but they did.”

The show was filmed over a few weeks in April, at a festively decorated home in Utah. Whoever is ultimately crowned Mr. Christmas has, by now, already wrapped production on their Hallmark movie, which is scheduled to air a few days after the series finale.

The idea, Bennett says, is to generate a “Kelly Clarkson effect” over the course of the season. “You watch them grow and come out stronger and hopefully fall in love with them along the journey. Then the audience gets the instant gratification of watching his movie.”

Bennett hopes there will be future seasons of “Finding Mr. Christmas,” and envisions himself as Hallmark’s answer to RuPaul, helping to nurture a new, diverse generation of talent through the show. The hardest part of the series was the moment, in each episode, when a contestant was eliminated and he had to deliver the (brilliant) sendoff: “It’s time to take your stocking down. You’re going home for the holidays.”

“I would look them in the eye, and this would happen every time,” Bennett says, pointing to the tears pooling in his eyes. “Because I know them. I’ve been there. I know how badly you want it, and how much it means to get to live your dream and be in the movies, because I’m doing it right now.”

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is a cataclysmic event for Europe and the world due to its impact on the global economy and politics. For a continent such as Europe that was not in the throes of a major interstate conflict after WWII, barring an interregnum of intra-state conflict in the Balkans after the dissolution of Yugoslavia, this conflict emerged as a bolt from the blue.
The conflict had a transformational impact on the regional economy and global politics. Blocking the energy pipelines from Russia to Europe forced European economies to rely on alternative sources from North America and the Middle East.

The Russian attack on Ukraine elicited a very puissant response from the US-led NATO alliance and the Ukrainians themselves. The US-led West opened its coffers for munificent funding of the Ukrainian war effort in defense of their homeland. So far the USA has sent arms worth $61.3 Billion to Ukraine with the latest tranche of F-16 fighter jets recently approved by the Biden administration.
The Russia-Ukraine war showcases the sixth-generation war with increased reliance on robotics, drone warfare, cyber-attacks, artificial intelligence, and long-range precision weaponry. Fearful of the Russian juggernaut, the Ukrainians started angling for missile warfare employing long-range missiles. The statement by Ukrainian President Zelensky during the UN ‘Summit of the Future’ said that he had a plan for the final victory that entailed the use of long-range missiles on Russian targets outside of Russia. The statement elicited an aggressive response by Putin who announced a change in Russia’s nuclear doctrine to threaten a nuclear attack on any non-nuclear state supported by another nuclear state supported by another nuclear state that targeted Russia through its missiles.

The above nuclear saber-rattling by Russia has added a dangerous nuclear dimension to a conventional conflict in Europe, a development fraught with portents of a nuclear Armageddon on European soil.

There are important lessons for the world in the sphere of emerging sixth-generation warfare.
Russia and Ukraine’s use of ‘non-contact’ military strategies in the conflict has been an important development in warfare. Consisting of three objectives – defeating the enemy’s army, its economy, and changing its political system – sixth-generation warfare has been of great use to both armies regarding information, cyber, drones, and long-range missiles.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has showcased strength and power on both sides, mainly due to Western support of Ukraine by providing it with significant amounts of military aid along with real-time military intelligence to help locate Russian targets for its precision munitions. This has caused Ukraine to have an upper hand in some instances during the conflict.  
Although the Russian forces’ initial invasion was not successful, the employment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for target detection empowered Russia’s artillery systems immensely. Furthermore, Russia’s use of its sensor density and artillery limited Ukraine’s ability to accumulate its forces as a large concentration of them could be detected prematurely and effectively targeted by Russian forces.

 Through the use of US-provided HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System), Ukraine limited Russia’s ammunition stocks and degraded its artillery superiority. Moreover, Ukraine attacked and destroyed the Seym Bridge during its incursion into the Kursk region with the help of US-provided weapons. Additionally, as reported by Russian officials, Ukraine launched its largest ever drone attack on Russia with 23 over Bryansk, 6 over Belgorod, and 11 over Moscow. Through this, we can observe how deep-attack capabilities are maturing. All tactics and strategies have been carried out to achieve one primary objective: crippling the opponent’s supply of munitions and degrading its military bases. Although this is not something new, we can deduce that achieving superiority in the effectiveness of the strategies and tactics carried out to complete this objective has become essential for victory.

The Russia-Ukrainian war is more than a regional conflict; it is a window into the future of warfare in the 21st century. As the world continues to grapple with the implications of this protracted conflict, the lessons drawn from it will be instrumental in shaping future conflict strategies and international policies. The evolving properties of warfare and the centrality of information dominance are shaping a new paradigm for how conflicts are waged and managed. Understanding these dynamics is essential for policymakers, military strategists, and global leaders as they navigate the complex landscape of modern geopolitics.

An internal email obtained by The Associated Press news agency has revealed there was an internal disagreement at the White House over whom United States President Joe Biden referred to as “garbage” earlier this week.

On Thursday, The Associated Press reported that it had obtained an email that showed White House officials altered the official transcript of a livestreamed video call in which Biden appeared to take a swipe at supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Two administration sources also confirmed to The Associated Press that the changes to the transcript drew objections from the federal workers who document such remarks for posterity.

Earlier this week, Biden, 81, created uproar days before Election Day with his remarks on a video call with the nonprofit Voto Latino.

Fumbling with his words, Biden attempted to address the racist comments at a Trump rally made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who referred to the US island territory of Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage”.

According to the transcript prepared by official White House stenographers, Biden said: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters – his – his demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

But the version released by the White House press office changed the comment by adding an apostrophe, having it read “supporter’s” rather than “supporters”.

That, in turn, made it appear as if Biden was referring specifically to the comedian Hinchcliffe and not Trump supporters at large.

Stenographers objected

The Associated Press said it obtained an internal email from the head of the stenographers’ office that showed the changes were made after the press office “conferred with the President”.

The authenticity of the email was confirmed by the two government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the news agency said.

The stenographers’ office is charged with preparing accurate transcripts of the public and private remarks made by the president for preservation by the National Archives and distribution to the public.

In the email, the head of the stenographers’ office called the unsanctioned changes “a breach of protocol and spoliation of transcript integrity between the Stenography and Press Offices”.

​​“If there is a difference in interpretation, the Press Office may choose to withhold the transcript but cannot edit it independently,” the supervisor wrote, according to the news agency.

Biden clarifies

Biden quickly walked back his comments on Tuesday evening on social media, saying he was not calling all Trump supporters “garbage” but referring specifically to the “hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally”.

But the controversy over Biden’s remarks happened on the same night as Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris was set to make her “closing argument” at the National Mall in Washington, DC.

She has consistently campaigned on the message that it is important to treat Americans with different ideologies with respect.

The next day she distanced herself from the president’s comments.

“Let me be clear,” she told reporters. “I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for.”

Trump embraces the garbage truck

Republicans, already smarting from the negative public reaction to their New York rally, jumped on Biden’s comments as a retort to the outrage.

Many Trump surrogates said the remarks proved what Biden really thought of the millions of Americans who support Trump.

The next day, Trump donned an orange and yellow safety vest and got into the passenger seat of a garbage truck in Green Bay, Wisconsin, saying to reporters: “This is in honour of Kamala and Joe Biden.”

White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates did not comment directly on the changed transcript.

He told The Associated Press in a statement: “The President confirmed in his tweet on Tuesday evening that he was addressing the hateful rhetoric from the comedian at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally. That was reflected in the transcript.”

House Republicans are now debating whether to launch an investigation, accusing White House staff of “releasing a false transcript” of Biden’s remarks.

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Hey Harper deals: top picks

September World Earrings, £28 (was £55)

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The September World Earrings are the perfect statement choice to complete any outfit.

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These earrings have been created from a stainless steel base, and coated in 14k gold colour PVD fabric, which is what makes these earrings durable, water-resistant, sweat proof and tarnish free.

September World Earrings, £28 (was £55)

Nicole Hoop Earrings, £22 (was £43)

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I will never be without a pair of chunky hoop earrings, whether I am accessorising a daytime or evening outfit.

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Nicole Hoop Earrings, £22 (was £43)

Cindy Ring, £23 (was £46)

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Rings are another must-have staple of mine, as they can be worn on their own, or stacked alongside, or on top of other rings.

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Cindy Ring, £23 (was £46)

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Although Black Friday isn’t until the end of the month, sales season has clearly begun.

50% off waterproof jewellery

Last week, Fashion & Beauty eCommerce Writer Sophie Bates spotted a great deal on a Kate Spade tote bag, which is still reduced from £399 to £199.

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