In a lengthy statement, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten confirmed that his office would present the case against seven alleged perpetrators to a grand jury for a possible indictment.

He also sought to explain why prosecutors did not pursue criminal charges two years ago, saying that the lawsuit’s allegations differed from the alleged victim’s original account in 2024. The woman, who prosecutors have not named, gave a statement to campus police at the time, according to Van Houten, that “described her drug use and sexual conduct as voluntary, conscious and consensual”.

The alleged victim’s lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for a comment. He told CNN in a statement that the police report was “not materially different” from the civil lawsuit’s claims and criticised the district attorney’s office for not pursuing a more thorough investigation sooner, the network reported.

The lawsuit, filed against the seven Chi Phi fraternity members, Cornell University and several other defendants, asserted that the woman, then a 20-year-old student at Cornell, was “plied with alcohol and drugs to the point of intoxication” by fraternity members, leaving her unable to consent before she was sexually assaulted.

Members of the fraternity used a Snapchat group chat to encourage others to join in, according to the lawsuit, which included a photo of some messages as well as details about the alleged assault itself.

In a statement, a Cornell spokesperson said the school supports Van Houten’s decision and noted that the chapter of Chi Phi involved in the case has remained barred from campus since 2024. Cornell previously conducted an investigation into the allegations that resulted in “a range of sanctions, which included expulsions and suspensions from Cornell”.

“Any suggestion that the university did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” said the spokesperson, Kyle Kimball.

It was not immediately clear if all of the fraternity members named in the lawsuit have legal representation. Jeremy Saland, a defence lawyer who represents one of the members, said in a statement that his client had done nothing more than respond to the chat with an immature comment and that his client “welcomes any further investigation by the district attorney”.

In the US, fraternities are college-based clubs for male students, often sharing a house together. The national Chi Phi fraternity, which was founded more than two centuries ago, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The case has received national attention following the alleged victim’s lawsuit and the announcement the case would be reopened. Several celebrities, including actor Florence Pugh, and US lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have spoken out about it.

On campus there is a mix of shock and outrage along with “a humongous wave of solidarity” from people across the US, Sophia Dasser, editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, told the BBC.

Her newspaper published the names of the men named in the lawsuit and called for an independent, third-party review of the reporting and resolution processes.

“Much of the frustration, in my opinion, does stem from how little students really were told over the last two years regarding this case and how opaque the Title IX process — which bars sex discrimination in schools that receive funding from the federal government, including most universities — is,” Dasser said.

She said that other universities publicise anonymous outcome, sanction and process results of sexual assaults on campus, but Cornell University does not.

In a letter posted to its website on Thursday, the IDA condemned the Israeli government’s “public campaign of intimidation” against Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, both Israeli, who have been accused of treason.

The move comes almost a week after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that his government would seek legislation to revoke the citizenship of anyone who ‘slanders’ or ‘defames’ Israeli soldiers or the state.

“Since NAZA won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, senior Israeli officials have moved against its directors. The culture minister has accused them of treason and sought to revoke their citizenship. The prime minister has announced bills to revoke the citizenship of anyone who ‘slanders IDF soldiers’ and to raise defamation damages twentyfold,” the letter read.

It noted that this rhetoric has led to wider public backlash against the filmmakers. They have been labelled ‘traitors’ in graffiti, while people have protested outside the home of Szor’s parents.

The IDA stressed that holding a different view of a film should never put its creators at risk.

The letter continues: “The Israeli military disputes the film’s account, and it is entitled to do so. But as a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Israel is bound by Article 19, under which restrictions on expression must be provided by law and be necessary and proportionate to a legitimate aim. Revoking citizenship, imposing punitive damages, or opening security investigations in response to a documentary does not meet that test.”

The IDA called on the Israeli goverment to withdraw the threats to revoke Abraham’s and Szor’s citizenship, to respect the filmmakers’ journalistic right to refuse to disclose the identities of confidential sources and to reject changes to public film funding that penalise filmmakers for critical work.

At the time of writing this article, the IDA’s letter has been signed by nearly 300 people, including Hollywood actors Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem, who are known for their vocal activism against the ongoing genocide of Palestinians by the Israeli military. Several Oscar-winning filmmakers such as Alex Gibney (who recently made headlines for his new documentary Musk) and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy also signed the letter.

NAZA takes its name from a euphemism used by Israeli intelligence to indicate how many civilians are expected to be killed in an airstrike. The documentary received a 25-minute ovation at its Venice premiere.

After its run in cinemas, the film will stream on The Guardian’s website for free in November, as part of the news organisation’s commitment to the dissemination of independent journalism.

The music that used to flow constantly out of restaurants, cafes and shops in the capital Kabul has been muted for five years, replaced only by religious or patriotic songs supported by the Taliban authorities in power since 2021.

But taxi drivers such as Roeen have started playing Afghan and regional folk or pop music, which they quickly turn off when security forces may be around.

“At every checkpoint we pass, we lower the volume of the music or even turn it off completely… so I don’t get into trouble with them,” said Roeen, who gave only his first name for security reasons.

The ban on music in public places is imposed by the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV) Ministry, whose morality police roam the city wearing long white coats.

PVPV regulations state that “since music is forbidden and causes annoyance to passengers, drivers must refrain from playing or listening to it”.

The ministry did not respond when asked to comment on punishments Afghans face for playing music, but those breaching their various other rules risk being jailed.

Roeen said PVPV officials have “a lot of authority”.

“We’re definitely too afraid of them to be able to listen to music at a higher volume,” he told AFP in his sky blue-and-white taxi.

Driving through the heavy traffic and noisy roads of Kabul, Roeen said he has “become 10 times more interested in music” since the ban.

“I have to make sure that even if I can’t listen in the early morning, by eight o’clock my music is on,” he said.

In a country where various forms of entertainment including cinema are outlawed, listening to music constantly is a “form of protest” for the 28-year-old driver.

‘Stress’ and no headphones

Another taxi driver, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told AFP he only listens to music when he is alone in his car and surrounded by the noise of other vehicles.

“Before, whenever a person wanted, they could listen without any worry or stress. But now… personally I listen — but with some stress,” he said in his car that had a radio player with a USB slot.

The 32-year-old has been stopped twice at checkpoints for having a USB stick and a memory card.

“I didn’t lie — I said it has music, and they broke it,” he said.

“Afghan culture should not vanish, and music is one of the cultures of our people. Personally, I don’t want this culture to disappear.”

As part of their crackdown on banned music, the PVPV’s provincial departments occasionally report burning instruments. No figures are available on how many they have seized, according to ministry spokesman Saiful Islam Khyber.

Across the capital, residents use shared taxis as an affordable way to get around a city which lacks a proper public transport system.

Often, two passengers sit alongside the driver in the front, three are in the back, and sometimes someone rides in the open boot.

Shamsullah Ahmad, a master’s student, spoke to AFP while waiting for a taxi near his university.

“I prefer to listen to music every day; whenever I go to any destination, I try to check if the taxi has a music player,” said the 29-year-old.

“I prefer music in the car, because wearing headphones would be noticed, but in the car, even with lower volume is better than nothing,” Ahmad said.

The morality police have been known to take headphones out of Afghans’ ears to check if they are listening to music.

Roeen, the driver, misses the days when “we could listen to songs, dance, and celebrate, and no one would stop us”.

But now the city is “shrouded in darkness — a darkness devoid of any light”, he said, above the din of growling engines.

The chilling new documentary by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor highlights Israel’s AI-powered mass killing of civilians in Gaza. In the film, Abraham and Szor used conversations with 24 different Israeli military or intelligence whistleblowers who spoke on condition that their identities be protected. “We are letting the soldiers and the officers speak about what they did,” Abraham said.

“After its run in cinemas, the film will stream on The Guardian’s website, for free, as part of the news organisation’s commitment to the dissemination of independent journalism,” the British publication reported on Thursday.

“NAZA is grounded in rigorous journalism published over the past three years,” said Harry Davies, an investigations correspondent at The Guardian and one of the producers of NAZA. “But it is also a powerful piece of cinema that will soon be available on screens, large and small, around the world,” he added.

NAZA made headlines earlier this month after its filmmakers received a 25-minute ovation at its Venice Film Festival premiere.

The documentary prompted backlash in Israel, including from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who even went as far announcing that his government will seek legislation to revoke the citizenship of anybody seeking to slander or defame Israeli soldiers or the state.

“The first, to revoke ​the citizenship of anyone who defames [Israeli] soldiers, and the second to hit them in their pockets and ​increase the statutory damages for defamation they can be sued for by 20 times,” Netanyahu said in a video posted on the internet.

“We ⁠will hit them both in their pockets and in their citizenship, as their place is not with us,” he added.

NAZA draws its name from a euphemism used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians that are expected to be killed in an airstrike. It was described as an “urgent, gut-punch” by film magazine Screen, while The Hollywood Reporter said it inspired “outrage…indignity as well. Most certainly disgust, on a profound level, for the current Israeli regime”.

Weinstein, 74, was convicted in June 2025 of first-degree criminal sexual act for assaulting Miriam Haley at his Manhattan apartment, the culmination of a six-year legal saga that saw his 2020 conviction overturned by New York’s highest court. Weinstein has denied assaulting anyone or having non-consensual sex.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Wednesday praised Haley for her testimony and said he was moved by her courage.

A Weinstein spokesperson said in a statement that Weinstein maintains his innocence and strongly disagrees with the sentence imposed by Judge Curtis Farber.

Weinstein was first convicted in New York in 2020 of assaulting Haley and raping aspiring actor Jessica Mann and was sentenced to 23 years in prison. New York’s highest court overturned that conviction in 2024, finding that he had not received a fair trial. At his 2025 retrial, jurors convicted him of a charge related to Haley, acquitted him of assaulting former model Kaja Sokola and deadlocked on a rape charge involving Mann.

A third trial on Mann’s allegation ended in another mistrial in May. Prosecutors dropped the charge the following month after Mann said she did not want to testify in a fourth trial.

Weinstein, who co-founded the Miramax studio, was separately convicted in California in 2022 of rape and sexual assault and sentenced to 16 years. A California appeals court in June upheld those convictions but ordered him resentenced because the trial judge had considered his since-overturned New York convictions as an aggravating factor.

Weinstein’s original conviction was a milestone for the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct by powerful men.

More than 100 women, including famous actresses, have accused Weinstein of misconduct. He has denied the allegations.

Braden Peters, 20, was charged with rape, drugging a person for sexual intercourse, and procuring alcohol for someone under 21, according to a criminal complaint issued on September 8. He is slated to be arraigned in a state court in Orleans, Massachusetts on October 14.

His spokesperson Mitchell Jackson said the accuser had previously filed a lawsuit against Peters. He said the accuser and her attorney went to the police after Peters moved to dismiss the case and “refused to pay money”.

“Looksmaxxing” is an online subculture focused on maximising people’s physical attractiveness. Peters has become a face of the trend, garnering a large following on social media platforms like TikTok and becoming known for endorsing a practice of breaking facial bones with a hammer to have them grow back stronger, which medical experts advise against.

According to court documents, Peters’ accuser went to the police in Chatham to report him on June 4.

She told police the two had initially messaged each other on Instagram and he later paid her to be in “looksmaxxing” videos he produced.

The accuser, whose name was redacted from the charging documents, said that after about a week of talking, Peters ordered her an Uber to his family’s residence in Chatham on May 23, 2025.

According to the police report, the accuser said Peters was aware she was 17 but told her to lie on a live stream he was recording on the platform Twitch and say she was 18 and that vodka he gave her was water.

The girl told police she became increasingly intoxicated. In a clip from Peters’ livestream that police reviewed, the girl at one point said, “wait I’m so drunk” before the two kissed, according to the police report.

She said she later fell asleep in Peters’ bed and the next morning woke up to him “having sex with me” without consent.

The settlement marks a major win for Paramount CEO David Ellison, who battled the states for months to finalise a deal that would dramatically concentrate power across Hollywood’s film, TV, streaming and news businesses.

Paramount agreed to abide by temporary film quotas and a news oversight committee, avoiding a forced sale of cable assets such as CNN or any of its lucrative film franchises.

The settlement delighted Warner Bros shareholders, but drew criticism from opponents of the merger who say it will hurt Hollywood jobs. Shares of Paramount pared back earlier gains on Monday, while Warner Bros Discovery surged more than 10 per cent.

The Writers Guild of America settled its parallel case against Paramount, while saying it still believes the deal will damage the industry. The states’ settlement forced the union to “contend with the reality of forging ahead alone, with no backing from government enforcers” in a complex case that would have cost millions of dollars.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the settlement “a strong antitrust outcome”.

“More production, more choice, and guardrails that keep this industry competitive. I don’t think these two companies should merge, but that’s not something that we are focused on with our resolution here,” he said at a press conference in Los Angeles.

Paramount promised in the state settlement to bring more film production to the US — spending at least $300 million more each year in domestic production — and adhere to US theatrical release quotas for five years.

The company will produce 30 movies in each of the first two years of the deal, and 32 movies in each of the following three years, Bonta said. Each year, at least four of those films must be independent films and at least 20 per cent must be blockbusters. If it falls below that threshold, it will pay $30 million per film, most of it into funds to support workers.

Paramount also promised not to raise rates on theater operators for three years.

Under the settlement terms, Paramount will establish a news editorial independence board to ensure independence at the CBS and CNN networks.

Reuters first reported on Friday that Paramount and the states could settle as soon as the weekend.

Ellison thanked the states and California Governor Gavin Newsom for his support throughout the process.

“Our goal has always been to build a stronger Hollywood — one with more stories told, greater choice for consumers and stronger competition,” he said in a statement.

While Trump administration regulators cleared the deal, a coalition of 12 state attorneys general, led by California’s Bonta, sued in July to block the merger, arguing it would reduce competition and create a media behemoth with the power to raise prices in movies and television.

The Writers Guild also sued to stop the deal, arguing it would decrease pay and worsen working conditions for film and TV writers.

The companies said earlier this year the merger will mean $6 billion in savings, through moves including cost cuts that would likely affect jobs across Hollywood as well as in the CNN and CBS newsrooms. The combined company is expected to hold $80 billion in debt.

The settlement helps Paramount avoid a $7 million-a-day ticking fee it would have owed Warner shareholders for each day the deal does not close past September 30.

Antitrust regulators in other jurisdictions globally, including the European Union and Britain, have already cleared the deal.

“After 20 years leading the CFDA, I have made the difficult decision to step down as CEO and President,” Kolb said in a post on his Substack.

The CFDA, the leading US fashion-industry trade group and organiser of New York Fashion Week, said on Tuesday that Kolb was on leave pending a full review by the council’s board, after he said he was taking a voluntary leave.

On Sunday, Kolb grabbed at least two activists protesting H&M-owned COS’s use of wool during a runway show. He pinned one protester to the ground and covered her mouth with his hand, according to videos viewed by Reuters that circulated widely online.

Kolb apologised on Monday, saying he planned to meet with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), which had organised the protest.

“There is no justification for physically restraining another person,” he said at the time. “Security should have handled the situation, and I should have stepped back.”

Kolb’s physical confrontation with the activists led to widespread backlash, with Peta on Sunday saying his actions “show how top people in fashion use violence to silence people” advocating for animal rights.

The CFDA board, led by Thom Browne and including designers such as Vera Wang, Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors, said in an Instagram post that it respected Kolb’s decision to step down and thanked him for his years of service.

The CFDA did not name a successor.

We know the dictionary is usually considered a serious, formal document but language evolves and sometimes that means social media phenomenon like a “Rickroll” needs to be formally defined too — to warn people, if nothing else.

Also straight out of the internet are, “looksmaxxing”, “vibe coding” and “uncanny valley”.

Food is also a source of new words — and also of nutrients if it’s a “superfood”. But if you’re not one of the people who avoid carbs and sugars like the plague, you might want to have have “bao” buns as an appetiser, add some “chilli crisps” to your meal as a side and finish off with some “cake pops” for dessert.

A “neckbeard” can now be defined as both the actual beard but also as a member of three subcultures associated with the facial hair — but don’t use it that way, it’s not very nice and might invite a “crashout”.

“Cuffing season”, which is coming up soon, has been defined and so have “Sunday scaries”, which are even closer. Also being recognised are “trash pandas” — and we’re wondering if Jimothy the viral raccoon had a part to play in that.

Now, if you think this whole article is a “whack-a-mole”, with every other word being one you need to look up, we recommend opening the dictionary yourself — or you might end up taking a healthy serving of “copium”.

In an Instagram post, the YouTube star said she was matching a $1m donation announced by rapper Macklemore a few hours before her pledge. The money is set to go to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, for which Accurso is an ambassador.

She said over 20,000 had been killed during the genocide in Gaza and more continue to be killed every day. Inviting “every wealthy white celebrity” to match her donation, Accurso said, “We have an obligation to use our privilege and platforms to protect children and human rights.”

This follows a week of controversy surrounding Macklemore’s removal from singer Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour over the rapper’s outspoken stance on Palestine — including speeches delivered to the crowd during the tour calling for a “free Palestine”.

The speeches resulted in venue owners — with pro-Israel businessman Robert Kraft, who owns the Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, at the forefront — telling Sheeran his shows would not go ahead unless Macklemore was dropped.

On Monday, the tour’s promoters announced the rapper would not be performing at upcoming stops. Macklemore responded to the announcement saying he was disappointed, but would consider himself successful if he shifted the conversation towards the suffering of the people of Palestine. He later announced he would donate all of his tour earnings to organisations working in Palestine.

Sheeran defended the decision on Tuesday, saying it wasn’t his to make, but he kept his political views away from his professional platform because the people “who come to my shows do not expect a political forum”.

The response was not received well by the other musicians appearing on the tour as supporting acts and all four of them — including the tour’s live band — withdrew in solidarity with Macklemore.

While the rapper did not ask Accurso to match his pledge, he did call on Kraft to donate to Palestine. The businessman announced he would be donating $2m “to the region” and Sheeran would be doing the same — something he said the two had decided to do before Macklemore had announced his donation.

Directed by Israeli journalists Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, NAZA alleges that mass civilian deaths were routinely built into Israeli targeting decisions in Gaza, something Netanyahu and the military reject.

The film, which won a major prize at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, takes its title from an Israeli military term for ​expected “collateral casualties” and is built around anonymous interviews with intelligence officers and soldiers.

It has drawn a ​backlash in Israel, with the military examining potential legal action against those involved in ⁠it. But it has also played into the charged political atmosphere ahead of Israel’s October 27 ​election, which public opinion polls show Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition could lose.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu accused some of his election rivals ​of failing to take a tough stand against the documentary, saying this made them unfit for office. And on Wednesday, he pledged to advance two bills that he said aimed at addressing the “immense damage” done to Israeli soldiers.

“The first, to revoke ​the citizenship of anyone who defames [Israeli] soldiers, and the second to hit them in their pockets and ​increase the statutory damages for defamation they can be sued for by 20 times,” Netanyahu said in a social media video.

“We ⁠will hit them both in their pockets and in their citizenship, as their place is not with us.”

Netanyahu cited three incidents in proposing the bills: “the recent film NAZA which portrayed [Israeli] officers and soldiers as war criminals”; 2025 remarks by left-wing ex-general turned politician Yair Golan that “a sane country does not kill children as ​a hobby”; and a military ​legal officer’s 2024 leak ⁠of a video showing soldiers abusing a Gaza detainee.

Reuters could not immediately reach the NAZA filmmakers for comment.

In 2022, Israel’s Supreme Court upheld a law that permits stripping ​citizenship from Israelis who carry out actions that constitute a breach of trust ​against the ⁠state. Any new legislation would likely face similar court challenges.

The NAZA filmmakers say they believe it is important that Israelis watch the documentary and grapple with the narrative it presents.

Gaza health authorities say more than 73,000 Palestinians, ⁠most of ​them civilians, have been killed in Israel’s military campaign that ​has left much of Gaza in ruins.

Macklemore was dropped from Sheeran’s Loop tour on Monday after he delivered a speech calling for a free Palestine earlier this month. The decision sparked all of Sheeran’s other supporting acts to withdraw in solidarity with the rapper on Tuesday.

In an Instagram post on Thursday, Macklemore said he wanted to shift the conversation back to where it was supposed to be, “to the Palestinian people who are still being killed, still living under military occupation and still fighting for their freedom”.

He invited billionaire Robert Kraft to match his donation, saying, “Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting.”

Kraft has close philanthropic ties to Israel — to the point that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Israel does not have a friend more loyal than Robert Kraft,” when presenting him an award in 2019.

He owns the Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts and had told Sheeran that the tour’s shows at his venue would not go ahead unless Macklemore was dropped.

The rapper said his speech and his stance were never about headlines and controversy, they were always about the rights of Palestinians to “freedom, dignity and safety in their own homeland”.

He said he wanted to bring attention to “the parents carrying their children into hospitals without the basic resources to treat them and physicians, paramedics, journalists and aid workers who keep going back in”.

Macklemore said writing a cheque was one of the least costly ways for him to support the people of Palestine and there were activists and organisers out there “who have paid real costs for standing with Palestine”.

He said aid wasn’t enough to address the crisis fully, calling the situation in Palestine a “manmade injustice”. He said the true need was for “political change” and that Palestinians “should not have to wait another day” for basic rights.

In his caption, Macklemore listed the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, Heal Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Medical Aid Palestine, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees — commonly known as UNRWA — and American Near East Refugee Aid as the six organisations he would donate his earnings to.

Kraft pledges $2m “to the region”

Kraft responded to Macklemore’s post with a statement carried by Gillette Stadium’s social media accounts where he said he had already agreed to make a donation — and so had Sheeran.

In the statement, Kraft said he had “dedicated much of my life to building bridges between all people” and that he “believed deeply that all lives are worth protecting”.

The businessman said Sheeran had approached him earlier to match a donation of $2m “to aid in the region”. He said he was happy to do so and the singer was now approaching other venue owners with the same proposal.

Kraft said he wanted people speaking out in favour of Palestine to know he had “supported efforts that create opportunity for Palestinians [and] brought young Palestinians and Israelis together to build businesses, create jobs and forge relationships” for decades.

These pledges come after the decision to drop Macklemore from the Loop tour caused an outcry among both fans and the entertainment industry.

Sheeran responded to the controversy on Tuesday saying he did not use his professional platform for politics and the decision to drop Macklemore wasn’t his to make — he said these matters were dealt by the tour’s promoters.

All of the singer’s supporting acts, including singer Finneas and the tour’s band Boega, decided to withdraw from future shows in solidarity with Macklemore.

Sheeran posted a statement on Instagram, saying he was “appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine” and that there were “too many wars across the world”.

“The suffering and pain caused on both sides is human tragedy,” Sheeran said.

The singer said Macklemore had approached him a year ago to join the tour and like all of Sheeran’s other supporting acts, he was allowed to choose his own setlist.

Sheeran confirmed that the rapper was dropped from the tour following threats from venue owners — including Robert Kraft, an American billionaire with ties to Israel — saying they would not allow shows to proceed if Macklemore was performing.

The singer said he spent a week talking to venues and to “promoters, along with activists on both sides” to try and come to a resolution, “but the venues’ and promoters’ decision was final”.

Sheeran said he would never let down his fans, nor would he abandon the people attached to his tour, but the decision to boot Macklemore from the tour came from the promoter.

The ‘Shape of You’ singer said his shows were “a place for everyone to feel welcome” and he had his “personal views on the devastating conflict” that he chooses to keep away from his professional platform.

“There is a reason I do not use my professional platform for politics — my audience includes young people, often children, of all backgrounds. Those who come to my shows do not expect a political forum,” he wrote.

While Macklemore said the singer was a friend he happened to disagree with, Sheeran just said he respects the rapper’s “strength of purpose to stand up and shout for what he believes”. He said there was, however, “room for multiple approaches to the same end: peace”.

“If we only focus on shouting the loudest, nothing will ever change,” Sheeran said.

Supporting acts withdraw from tour

The backlash to Sheeran’s statement was severe, with all the musical artists set to perform with him bowing out from the tour in support of Macklemore.

Singer Finneas, who was set to support Sheeran in six shows in November, withdrew from the tour on Tuesday saying, “Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed. I have decided to withdraw from my upcoming tour dates with Ed Sheeran. I stand with Palestine and its people.”

Irish singer Aaron Rowe, who had 10 upcoming shows on Sheeran’s tour, called the singer a friend, but said he couldn’t continue to be part of the tour. In a post on Instagram on Tuesday night, he said the people of Ireland “know all too well about genocide, forced famine and violent occupation”.

Rowe said, “I cannot stand by and allow billionaires to use their position of power to silence the rightful voices of those who speak up against Israeli genocide and who highlight the savage murder of children. I would lose all respect for myself to carry on as normal.”

Irish pop group Beoga, who also play as the tour’s live band, said they had been friends of Sheeran’s and will continue to be. “As musicians, playing to [crowds as big as Sheeran’s] is the stuff of dreams, but to play in venues that silence anyone advocating for a Free Palestine is simply not an option for us.”

Danish pop band Lukas Graham also dropped out of the tour on Tuesday. “We should be able to speak about war, about civilians being killed, about children who deserve to grow up. Wherever they live. Whatever flag flies over them,” wrote lead singer Lukas Forchhammer on the band’s social media accounts.

“Money doesn’t give you the right to own the conversation. Nobody’s bank balance should decide who gets to speak or which suffering we’re allowed to acknowledge.”

Macklemore has been outspoken about his support for Palestine, but this recent controversy comes after the rapper addressed one of Sheeran’s concerts in New York on September 4. His calls for a “Free Palestine” on stage sparked a petition from the American Israeli Council wishing to see him booted from the tour.

He responded to the backlash by releasing a speech from the venue on Instagram, where he reiterated his stance and said he wanted the words to be loud and clear, “so the people from Gaza all the way to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten them”.

The rapper made these remarks before performing ‘Hind’s Hall’, his 2024 protest song paying tribute to students at New York’s Columbia rallying against Israel’s war on Gaza and renaming one of their campus halls of residence after Hind Rajab — a six-year-old girl killed by Israel in 2024.

One of the most prominent faces in the recent campaign against Macklemore, Kraft, is an alumnus of Columbia University. He suspended his family’s financial support of the institution in the wake of pro-Palestine student protests, saying he was “not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken”.

Meanwhile, violence continues in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed 73,786 people since the war started in 2023 despite a ceasefire being in place since October 2025.

Lebanon is also facing military aggression, with Israel occupying parts of the country and killing nearly 9,000 people since 2023.

The action was launched on the directives of PUCAR Executive Director Mahboob Alam, following monitoring reports regarding violations during stage performances at various commercial theatres in both cities.

Stage actor Sonia Lal, performing at Shabistan Theatre, was served a show-cause notice, dated Sept 12, for her alleged vulgar dance routines and involvement of the audience during the performance on Sept 11.

Similarly, Nida Chaudhry of Mehfil Theatre was issued a notice on Sept 13 regarding an alleged vulgar dance performance. Her hearing has been fixed for Sept 16.

Khushboo Khan performing at Mehfil Theatre was also served a notice on Sept 13 over alleged obscene actions and exposure during a performance on Sept 12. Her hearing is also scheduled for Sept 16.

Actor Fiza Anand was issued notice on Sept 12 for allegedly continuing her dance performance when an audience member threw money at her at Capri Theatre, Gujranwala, on Sept 11. The theatre management and licence holder have also been served notices for alleged violations.

A notice to them mentions exceeding the prescribed performance timing, while another notice is related to failure to stop the practice of throwing money on the stage and alleged collection of cash. The management has been called for a hearing on Sept 16.

The Punjabi Theatre management as well as the licence holder, Lahore, have been issued a notice for allegedly switching off monitoring cameras during the Sept 11 show.

The Sitara Theatre management and licence holder in Lahore have been served notice for turning off monitoring cameras during the Sept 13 performance. Their hearing has also been fixed for Sept 16.

The arts council has reiterated that strict compliance with the Punjab Drama Act, government policies and prescribed SOP is mandatory for all commercial theatres.

Originally published in Dawn, September 15th, 2026

Arizona Attorney General Kristin Mayes, a Democrat, filed the lawsuit late on Thursday in state court, making Arizona the first state to sue over alleged cancer risks linked to hair relaxers.

The lawsuit accuses L’Oreal of violating state consumer protection laws by marketing the products, which are used predominantly by African American women, without warning consumers about the alleged risks of ovarian and uterine cancers.

The state is seeking penalties and damages, as well as a court order forcing L’Oreal to stop selling the products unless it warns of the cancer risk.

In marketing the products to women and children over decades, L’Oreal and associated companies exploited centuries of social pressures and discriminatory beauty standards affecting people of African descent, all while prioritising profit over consumer safety, Arizona’s lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit comes as the company faces more than 12,000 similar lawsuits filed by women or their families that have been consolidated in a Chicago federal court as part of a multidistrict litigation proceeding, a procedure designed to more efficiently manage lawsuits filed in multiple jurisdictions.

A spokesperson for L’Oreal USA said the company is confident in the safety of its products and believes the claims are without legal or scientific merit.

The products, which have been marketed under the names Dark and Lovely, Optimum and other brands, promise to permanently straighten textured hair.

The first lawsuits hit the docket after the 2022 release of a study done by the National Institutes of Health that found women who used the products several times a year were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer.

L’Oreal’s spokesperson said Friday the study made no finding of a causal connection between the use of those products and any conditions alleged by the plaintiffs.

The lawsuits seek damages to compensate the women for their pain and suffering and economic damages for medical bills and the cost of the products, among other things.

The lawsuits name L’Oreal, as well as Revlon and other makers of the products. Revlon has also denied a connection between cancer and the products.

Originally published in Dawn, September 12th, 2026

Songs of Forgotten Trees from Roy, just 28, picked up the best director prize in the secondary Horizons section of the festival in 2025 and she is back in the Italian city this week with a follow-up. But her joy at returning to one of the world’s most prestigious film events has been tempered by a decision from India’s powerful film board to block distribution of her first feature.

“A few days back, they called us and they said that it’s a ‘threat to society’. Can you believe that Songs of Forgotten Trees is a threat to society?” Roy said. “I am terribly upset about the censorship,” she said, adding: “I represented the country here, I won for the country.” Songs of Forgotten Trees is a tender story about friendship, featuring two migrant women who share an apartment in Mumbai, one a part-time sex worker, the other a call centre employee.

The film’s difficulties mirror those of the more overtly political Santosh, by British-Indian director Sandhya Suri, which won critical acclaim after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in France in 2024, only to fall foul of censors.

That movie shone a light on sexism, religious discrimination and corruption in the Indian police, as well as the treatment of lower-caste people.

Roy is back in Venice with her second film Lovers of the Blue Night, which also strays into sensitive territory, depicting Bangladeshi migrants struggling with poverty, grief and their sexuality in Mumbai, previously known as Bombay.

“My aim was to showcase a different Bombay because all the beautiful pictures (films) in Bombay have already been made,” Roy said ahead of the premiere on Friday.

It is competing for prizes in the Horizons section, which offers a platform for up-and-coming filmmakers. Winners will be announced on Saturday. Roy sees the space in India for independent filmmakers as being limited, partly due to the dominance of mass-market Bollywood fare in cinemas, as well as political pressure.

“It’s good for those who can praise the government and make a propaganda film. I am not somebody who can do that,” she said. She also worries that her statements in support of Palestinian rights might explain her problems with the film board.

Although censorship has a long history in the world’s biggest democracy, the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi is seen by rights groups and other critics as clamping down further since coming to power in 2014.

Roy is part of a new generation of female Indian directors that includes Payal Kapadia whose All We Imagine As Light in 2024 was another Cannes festival and international success story. Roy is largely self-taught, having learned the art of filmmaking from friends and mentors.

Originally published in Dawn, September 12th, 2026

The company’s name echoes a ‌phrase Trudeau used regularly in speeches after becoming leader of the Liberal Party in 2013 and during his nine-year tenure as prime minister ​from 2015 to 2025.

Its goal is to bring people ​together through “stories that help us see, understand and ⁠connect with one another — across film, television, audio and live ​experiences,” according to a statement on a new website.

Trudeau founded ​the company with his longtime Chief of Staff Katie Telford. Its launch coincides with the Toronto International Film Festival, which began on Thursday and ​continues until September 20.

Trudeau, 54, announced his decision to ​step down in January last year, bowing to pressure from lawmakers alarmed ‌by ⁠his party’s low poll numbers ahead of a coming election. He was succeeded by fellow Liberal Mark Carney.

Since leaving office, Trudeau has kept a relatively low public profile, though he has ​given speeches ​including one at ⁠the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and has drawn attention for his relationship with ​US pop singer Katy Perry.

Trudeau’s foray into the ​entertainment ⁠business follows a similar path taken by former US president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, who founded Higher ⁠Ground ​Productions in 2018 with a multi-year ​deal to produce films and series for Netflix.

According to the source, Mahnoor’s marriage has been arranged with a member of a prominent business family. The ceremony is expected to remain a private family affair, with close relatives and extended family attending.

Mahnoor has largely remained out of the public eye. The Sharif family have not announced any details of a formal reception or any other wedding festivities.

The wedding comes shortly after CM Maryam travelled to London to attend Mahnoor’s graduation ceremony. She returned to Lahore on Wednesday after attending the event.

Mahnoor’s brother, Junaid Safdar, wed Shanzeh Ali Rohale — the granddaughter of former legislator Shaikh Rohale Asghar — in January, with much pomp and circumstance.

The days-long festivities for Junaid’s second marriage included a green-themed mehndi, a sunlit baraat and an outdoor valima at the Sharif family’s Jati Umrah estate.

Cover photo: Irfan Ahson/Instagram

In denying bail for the Tate brothers, Miami-based US Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis said the brothers’ wealth and frequent international travel made them “quintessential flight risks”.

“While [the brothers] may not in fact possess what extravagant holdings they portray themselves as possessing online, the record reflects that they possess an exceptional capacity to flee the jurisdiction,” Louis wrote.

In a statement, the Tates’ lawyers said they would “continue to defend themselves against the allegations they face and engage with the appropriate legal processes in each jurisdiction.”

In court filings, their lawyers had previously argued their “extraordinary public visibility” would make it impractical for them to flee, and described social media posts in which the brothers touted their wealth as “theatrical” and “grandiose”.

Andrew Tate, 39, and Tristan Tate, 38, were arrested in Miami on July 18 after Britain requested their extradition to face charges of rape, assault and facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation. The Tate brothers, who have ​dual US and British citizenship, have denied any wrongdoing.

The arrests marked a new phase in the legal troubles for ⁠the former kickboxers, who have built a large online following promoting their views on masculinity and wealth. Andrew Tate has previously described himself as a misogynist.

Tates say they play characters online

Prosecutors with the Miami US Attorney’s office argued there was a strong presumption in favour of detention in international extradition cases. They said the brothers could pose a danger to the public if released, citing British allegations that they strangled victims during forcible rapes.

The Tates recruited dozens of women to work for a webcam pornography business starting in 2014, and later ran online courses called “Hustler’s University,” prosecutors said in an August 10 court filing.

At an August 27 hearing in Miami federal court, prosecutors showed the court a video of Andrew Tate using derogatory language related to women.

At the hearing, both Tate brothers testified they were playing characters online when they made crude remarks.

Louis wrote on Wednesday that the nature of the allegations against the Tates indicated they posed dangers to the community.

The brothers have also been under investigation on charges including human trafficking since 2022 in Romania, where they were mainly based since 2017.

Romanian prosecutors officially indicted Andrew Tate on Friday on charges of trafficking minors, money laundering, sex with a minor and witness tampering. Tristan Tate was indicted for complicity. A Romanian lawyer for the Tates said they rejected the allegations.

British charges span seven years

The legal process ​for determining whether the Tate brothers may be extradited to Britain could take months. ​Britain has until ⁠September 16 to submit its full extradition request to the State Department, US court records show.

The impetus for the brothers’ arrests in Miami was new charges brought by Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service relating to alleged offences ​involving four alleged victims between July 2010 and August 2017.

They had previously faced rape and human trafficking charges in Britain related to three alleged victims, the ⁠CPS said. A ​British judge issued a warrant for their arrests in ​2024. They have not appeared in British court to enter a plea to those charges.

Britain is seeking to extradite the brothers to ​face both sets of charges.

“This obsession we have with keeping family together… this, invariably — whether we like it or not — keeps falling on the women, and it thrives on women’s integrity, self-respect and esteem,” Saeed said. “Don’t put the burden of upholding the institution of family on a woman — because she pays its price.”

In Aap Ki Izzat, that price is paid by Urwa Hocane’s Beena, the wife of Ahsan Khan’s Tabish. Saeed plays his mother — a woman who enables his neglect and mistreatment of Beena rather than intervening.

Saeed made the comments during an appearance on the podcast Heart to Haute with Hassan Choudary, where she told the host she had initially turned down the drama because it looked like “too much work.”

She said she was reluctant to take on the role but agreed at the insistence of director Saife Hasan, who she said was the right person to “handle a narrative like this one.”

The actor said characters like these were why people talked about actors throwing tantrums on set — because they were so exhausting to inhabit.

“Most of the time, we’re struggling so much internally, there’s so much internal dialogue, sometimes I would even say, ‘What is it?’ Everyone would then stop for two minutes, then [things would go back to normal]. I did get exhausted in between.”

Saeed said her character was helpless, which is why she resorted to being cruel and manipulative — being this way gave her some semblance of power within the patriarchal family structure. That is not to say her daughter-in-law wasn’t equally, if not more, helpless; her helplessness is what drove her to eventually run away from home.

“Beena has paid a price for building a happy and flourishing home,” Saeed said — the price of becoming “a lost and broken woman.”

“You [Tabish and her in-laws] mentally made her reach a point where she runs away from home with another man.”

The actor said Beena would have left Tabish a long time ago had she been educated, saying her helplessness was the chain keeping her in an abusive relationship.

“I would not judge Beena after what happened to her. That would be the worst thing,” Saeed said, when asked how she personally viewed the character’s decision to abandon her husband.

“What weapons have we given her to fight for herself? What weapons does she have? She has neither an education, nor any skills, nor time [for herself].”

Saeed said parents need to equip their daughters with education, skills, confidence. “Let them speak [up], and listen to what they have to say.”

This is crucial so women don’t have to make degrading choices when faced with a situation like Beena’s, she said.

She also had little patience for Tabish’s side of it, noting simply that “ungrateful people should not be indulged repeatedly.”

Asked whether she thinks Beena should go back to Tabish, the actor answered loud and clear: “No.”

She placed the question within a culture enabling gender-based violence, in which women who leave home and eventually return do so knowing they may be harmed.

“Girls leave their homes, they speak up and say that they are unhappy, that they have no respect or dignity,” she said. “Unless you (society) see a woman — it’s not just about beating her — until it becomes about someone sprinkling fuel on her and burning her, you won’t recognise the pain… You won’t recognise it as almost paralysing pain until someone shoots her.”

Of Beena specifically, Saeed asked: “The state of mind we see Beena in — how long do you think it will take her to come back to just recognising herself as who she is? Who is she? Even if she returns home, who is she?” She added: “Do you think Beena can come back to that? Ever?”

She said that while it was very difficult for any of the characters in Aap Ki Izzat to mend ways that had hardened over time, the only way forward for Tabish and Beena as a couple was to “work very hard and build a new relationship on new grounds.”

Whether that’s realistic is another question. Tabish, she suggested, “might have to stand upside down” to bring her home. Will he be able to invest the time it requires? she wondered.

The couple left Britain and quit royal duties in 2020 amid a royal family feud. But in a surprise move last month Harry, 41, and Meghan, 45, returned to live in the UK with their two young children Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five.

In the letter Charles makes clear that the couple’s position is “akin to private citizens” and that they should not be addressed as his and her royal highness. So-called “working royals” are members of the royal family who carry out official duties on behalf of the monarch. They receive administrative and other support from the Royal Household to do so.

A letter issued by the Lord Chamberlain, the most senior official in the Royal Household, said that following the couple’s relocation there had been “a number of requests for guidance”. The letter was issued “to help avoid doubt or confusion”.

“It is well known that in January 2020 the Duke and Duchess stepped down from undertaking representative duties on behalf of the sovereign, and are no longer working members of the royal family,” it said.

“This position, distinct from the state and royal duties undertaken by the working royal family, and with the personal latitude it brings the couple in respect of financial independence and protection of their privacy as they would wish, will continue to be fully respected.”

Current senior working royals are: Charles, his wife Queen Cam­illa, son and heir Prince William and his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales, as well as Charles’s sister Princess Anne and brother Edward and his wife Sophie, known as the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. Others include several of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s cousins.

Harry and Meghan, formally known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are reportedly living in central England’s Cotswolds region and are said to have enrolled their children at private schools there for the coming academic year. Harry’s grandmother Queen Elizabeth stripped them of their “Royal Highness” titles, police protection and public funding when they quit royal duties in 2020. “Their styles as His and Her Royal Highness… are not used,” the letter added.

“The charitable work of the duke and duchess is a personal matter for them both and undertaken in their private capacity. In short, their position is akin to private citizens with commercial and charitable interests.” The clarification comes amid uncertainty over what, if any, security the Sussexes will have paid for by the state.

Originally published in Dawn, September 8th, 2026

In the video, shot during a concert at New York’s MetLife Stadium, Macklemore tells a cheering audience that one of the reasons he wanted to go on his latest tour was “because I wanted to stand up here on stages and stadiums across America and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart. Free Palestine.”

He said he wanted the words to be loud and clear, “so the people from Gaza all the way to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten them”. The rapper made these remarks before performing ‘Hind’s Hall’, his 2024 protest song paying tribute to US students rallying against Israel’s war on Gaza.

Macklemore thanked the students, particularly those at Columbia University whose renaming of one of the institute’s halls of residence in honour of six-year-old Hind Rajab — who was killed by Israeli forces — served as the song’s namesake.

“So thank you to those students that risked their diplomas, that risked their tuition, that risked their scholarships, that stood up and said no,” the rapper said.

He also had a message for Jewish people around the world, “To all of my Jewish brothers and sisters, criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide, in no way is a criticism of you. My message is for peace, love, for all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality.”

“So I say free Palestine. I say free Lebanon. I say free Cuba. I say free Congo, free Sudan, free all people in America living in fear over the terrorist organisation ICE. None of us will be free until we are all free.”

In the caption of his reel on Instagram, Macklemore said wanting people to be treated equally “should not be controversial”.

Earlier, the Israeli American Council launched a petition in response to the rapper’s remarks, calling for him to be booted off of Ed Sheeran’s US tour — Friday’s show was also part of Sheeran’s tour.

Meanwhile, killings continue in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed almost 73,500 people since the war started in 2023 despite a ceasefire having been in place since Oct last year.

Lebanon is also facing military aggression, with Israel occupying parts of the country and killing nearly 9,000 people since 2023.

Speaking at the Venice Film Festival, where she is promoting her latest movie The Echo Chamber, Sarandon said some parts of the film industry continued to shun her over her activism.

“I think that the narrative has completely ​changed in terms of the historical relevance of Palestine and the ties of Zionists with America and ​our politics,” she said. “That has been a major revelation for people, how much money the ⁠United States gives to Israel, nobody really understood that.”

Recent US opinion polls have shown support for Israel softening ​and sympathy for Palestinians rising since the start of the Gaza war in 2023.

However, the 79-year-old actor said her support ​for the Palestinian cause continued to carry professional consequences.

“I’ve still had movies taken away recently because there are agencies that are telling people not to hire me still,” she told reporters. “But that’s the power structure. I think [among] people, certainly internationally, I feel welcome.”

Flag row at Venice

An Academy Award winner for Dead Man Walking, Sarandon rose to prominence in films including The Rocky Horror ​Picture Show, Bull Durham and Thelma & Louise.

She was dropped by her longstanding talent agency UTA in 2023 after remarks she made while attending ‌pro-Palestinian rallies ⁠shortly after the start of the war on Gaza.

The conflict has spilled into this year’s Venice Film Festival, with activists calling on organisers to raise the Palestinian flag in recognition of Palestinian directors screening at the event.

Artistic Director Alberto Barbera has said this is impossible because Italy does not formally recognise the ​state of Palestine, but ​he has pointed to several ⁠films being shown on the Lido that show the struggle of ordinary Palestinians.

Sarandon said resistance to hiring outspoken critics of Israel remained particularly strong among major studios.

“If it ​is a major studio, I think it’s not just with me but with ​other people who ⁠have been told that that is impossible,” she said, thanking Andrea Pallaoro, the director of The Echo Chamber, for casting her.

“I found my family, I found my people and I’m OK,” she said, sparking prolonged applause at the news conference.

In ⁠her latest ​film, adapted from the final screenplay by Italian filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci, ​Sarandon plays an ageing singer who hires a music producer recovering from drug addiction to work on a comeback album.

The Echo Chamber is one ​of 21 films competing for Venice’s Golden Lion award, which will be presented on September 12.

If that sentence has you scratching your head, you’re not alone. On Thursday, the White House launched an arcade section on its website with six browser games not-so-subtly promoting the agenda of the current US administration.

One of these games, Build The Wall, is a near replica of Tetris, except the blocks you’re setting down are supposed to “protect the border from the coming horde”. What that means is that players pile the blocks in a Tetris-like fashion to block zombie-like figures made to represent people coming to the US illegally from Mexico.

Naturally, the game-makers are having exactly none of it, with a statement from the Tetris Company on Friday saying it believed in “the power of connection and bringing people together, not dividing them”.

The company also clarified that they had no involvement in making Build The Wall and that they “take copyright infringement very seriously”.

A representative of the company said it was “currently reviewing the matter” when asked whether it would take any legal action regarding Build The Wall.

“The Tetris Company was not involved in the creation of Build The Wall and did not authorise or licence the Tetris brand or intellectual property for the game,” the spokesperson said.

“For more than 40 years, Tetris has brought people together across generations and cultures through play and joy. The objective of the game has always been to stack with purpose to clear as many lines as possible.”

While this may be a first in gaming, the White House has received a steady influx of demands from musicians not to use their work in videos posted on the administration’s social media.

Some of pop music’s biggest names, including Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande, have told the White House to remove their songs from videos.

This isn’t a recent development either, with many such incidents reported throughout President Trump’s second term, especially involving videos of the infamous Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency — referred to as ICE — arresting immigrants.

The unauthorised use of music goes back even further though, with The White Stripes bashing Trump for using their song ‘Seven Nation Army’ during his first presidential election campaign in 2016.

Spanish prosecutors shelved a first complaint in January over the same allegations against Iglesias, a Grammy winner with more than 300 million records sold in a career spanning decades.

The women, a domestic worker and a physiotherapist, allege they suffered sexual and other forms of abuse while working at Iglesias’s properties in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas in 2021.

Iglesias, 82, called the accusations “absolutely false”, saying he had never “abused, coerced, or disrespected any woman”.

Prosecutors shelved the original complaint, saying Spanish courts had no jurisdiction over events that allegedly happened in the Caribbean countries, which were “fully competent” to investigate.

Women’s Link Worldwide said the women, referred to as Rebeca and Laura, had filed the new complaint on Thursday for alleged acts including “sexual harassment and assault”, as well as “forced and degrading work conditions”.

Originally published in Dawn, September 5th, 2026

Cover photo: AFP

The Tate brothers, former kickboxers with dual US and British citizenship, were arrested in Miami in late July after Britain requested their extradition.

Mainly based ​in Romania since 2017, they have been under criminal investigation in the country on charges including human trafficking ​since December 2022.

Romanian prosecutors said the Tates recruited their victims by seducing them and falsely claiming ⁠to want a relationship or marriage, before forcing them to produce pornographic content for a webcam business.

They have denied all wrongdoing. “We ​will examine every aspect of (the indictment) with the same level of scrutiny and we will challenge any evidential, procedural or legal ​deficiencies through the appropriate judicial process,” a Romanian lawyer for the Tates, Eugen Vidineac, said in a statement.

“Our clients continue to reject the allegations against them.”

Prosecutors describe case involving 15-year-old

The Tate brothers remain in jail in the US while a judge decides on the request for their extradition ​to Britain, where they are wanted on rape charges.

The spokesperson for the Romanian anti-organised crime prosecuting unit DIICOT — which is ​investigating the Tates — said it was not immediately clear whether the unit will seek their extradition from the United States.

The Tates can be ‌tried ⁠in absentia in Romania, but the trial will not start immediately. Under Romanian law, the indictment gets sent to a preliminary court chamber, where a judge will inspect the case files to ensure legality.

While the law states that the preliminary chamber judge has 60 days to finalise the report, indictments routinely take significantly longer.

DIICOT said one of Andrew Tate’s victims was 15 when ​he seduced her in Britain ​in 2012, before moving her ⁠to the Romanian capital Bucharest and using physical violence and mental intimidation to sexually exploit her by forcing her to produce pornographic content for social media sites.

His brother Tristan was an ​accessory, the unit said, using physical aggression to coerce the victim.

Prosecutors said the brothers kept $1.25 ​million from the ⁠videochat income generated by the victim, roughly 80 per cent of all her gains. The brothers tried to launder the funds by buying four luxury cars, they added.

The brothers were previously indicted in Romania on charges of human trafficking, but in late 2024 the Bucharest ⁠court of ​appeals sent the case back to prosecutors after deeming some evidence inadmissible.

Andrew ​Tate, a self-described misogynist, previously said he moved to Romania because law enforcement there was more lax.

Both brothers have grown their following of mainly young men ​by building a lavish, hyper-macho image of driving fast cars and dating beautiful women.

The move by the nation’s largest school district is the most ​restrictive to date across the US, though other districts, ​including Los Angeles, have said they are reviewing ⁠AI policies.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani told reporters on Wednesday that ​schools would halt the current use of about 40 ​educational tools in New York City classrooms.

“Children need teachers and human connection in order to learn and grow. They need to develop ​skills alongside their peers, build relationships with educators and ​wrestle with tough problems on their own,” Mamdani said at a press ‌conference.

Major ⁠AI developers Google, Anthropic and Microsoft did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

The policy will affect about 600,000 public school students through eighth grade, while high school ​students will be ​allowed to ⁠use AI in some cases. Teachers will be permitted to use AI for lesson ​planning and tasks such as scheduling, the ​city said ⁠in a statement.

New York City public schools previously imposed a temporary ban on ChatGPT soon after its rollout ⁠in ​2022. The restriction was later lifted ​and replaced by a custom AI-powered teaching assistant, according to Microsoft, part-owner ​of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

Clutching a bouquet of white blooms and clad in an off-shoulder white gown, Le­­ian Lieza Galang gingerly waded into the murky brown floodwaters inside the Sa­­i­nt John the Baptist church in Hagonoy town, north of Manila, to wed Gilbert Chico.

“We were in complete uniform. We did not mind that our gown and coat got soaked,” the groom said.

The parish priest declared the couple, both in their 30s, husband and wife at an abbreviated late-morning ceremony, said wedding photographer Mikko Rey Alfonso.

“The parish had advised them to postpone the wedding due to the rising floodwaters from upstream. It was their decision to proceed,” Alfonso said, adding the church had been partially underwater for nearly a month.

“Since they wanted to see it through, we the servants of the parish did the best we could to make this a special day for them.” Heavier-than-usual seasonal monsoon rains pounded the northern third of the mainly Catholic archipelago in August, with resulting landslides and flash floods killing 34 people, according to the latest official tally. “They love each other. Nothing could stop their union,” Alfonso said.

A video clip of the wedding posted on the parish’s Facebook page showed the bride being hugged by her parents in front of empty pews adorned with plastic flower bouquets.

One photo showed a boy holding the wedding rings walking down the aisle — with floodwater up to his waist. The bride and groom arrived together aboard a rickshaw with an elevated chassis, keeping their clothes pristine before they got off at the church courtyard, Chico said.

To allow the bride to safely navigate the floodwaters, she had to “have her wedding gown altered to shorten the train”, Alfonso said. Fewer than 15 people were in attendance, he added.

Chico, who works as a rigger in the Middle East, said the wedding was originally planned for December.

Originally published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2026

Galliano, who was found guilty of anti-Asian and anti-semitic abuse by a French court in 2011, said he was thankful to the institution for honouring him with the dedication, but that he wouldn’t want the controversy surrounding him to “place the Met in a difficult position”.

“I remain fully accountable for the pain caused by my words in the past, particularly the hurt I caused to the Jewish and Asian communities and I remain deeply sorry.”

The designer said he understood he couldn’t atone for his actions meaningfully “through an exhibition, institutional recognition or a single public gesture”. He said it was a “continuing responsibility demonstrated through listening, learning and one’s conduct over time”.

Galliano thanked the Met’s CEO Max Hollein, the exhibition’s curator in-charge Andrew Bolton and Met trustee Anna Wintour for “their generosity, humanity and belief in the importance of fashion as art, culture and history”.

Hollein said Galliano and the team at the Met “have together decided not to proceed with the exhibition”.

Bolton said he believed “deeply in the responsibility of museums to examine difficult histories with rigour, candour and care”, but he also recognised “the pain and concern this exhibition has caused”. The curator said he supported the decision to call the exhibition off.

Wintour expressed her support for Galliano, saying, “John’s decision that the exhibition devoted to his work should not take place at this time is very courageous and a measure of the man he is.”

The exhibition, titled John Galliano: Horizons, was set to run at the Met’s campus on New York’s Fifth Avenue from May 9, 2027.

It chronicled the designer’s four-decade career in fashion from his 1984 graduation collection in London through his work with Givenchy and Christian Dior, to his later tenure at Maison Margiela and his critically acclaimed spring/summer 2024 collection.

It also explored Galliano’s struggles with addiction and his racist and anti-semitic outbursts in 2010 and 2011.

Cover photo: AFP

Thirty years after the rap legend’s death, the jury found Davis, 63, guilty of murder after just a few hours of deliberation.

“Count one, murder with use of a deadly weapon, guilty of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon,” the foreperson of the jury announced to the court.

Davis, who faces possible life in prison without parole, addressed Judge Carli Kierny after the verdict was announced and stated his intention to appeal.

The one-time leader of the South Side Compton Crips was accused of ordering the September 7, 1996 killing of the hip-hop artist after his own nephew had been beaten by members of Shakur’s entourage at a Las Vegas casino.

“Duane Davis, in the culture of gangs, could not let that stand,” prosecutor Binu Palal said during closing arguments. “So what did he do? He acquired a firearm, got his group together, and went hunting for Mr Shakur.” Shakur, who was in Las Vegas for a Mike Tyson heavyweight fight, was shot about two hours after the casino confrontation by a gunman in a white Cadillac that pulled up at a red light alongside the BMW in which the rapper was riding in the front passenger seat.

According to prosecutors, Davis handed the gun to someone sitting in the back seat of the Cadillac and ordered that person to shoot Shakur, who died six days later.

Davis is the only person who was in the Cadillac that evening who is still alive.

The driver of the BMW, Death Row Records co-founder Marion ‘Suge’ Knight, was wounded.

The killing of Shakur, also known as 2Pac, has been one of America’s most celebrated cold cases, prompting endless debate among music fans over who did it and why.

Davis, whose Crips were one of a patchwork of rival gangs that ran parts of Los Angeles in the 1990s, is the only person to have been charged in connection with the shooting of Shakur.

Sentencing is scheduled for October 13.

Confession

The investigation into Shakur’s murder sputtered for decades because of a lack of evidence, but the case was revived when Davis’s memoirs were published in 2019.

Davis has repeatedly boasted over the years of involvement in Shakur’s murder — in interviews with law enforcement and media and ultimately in his autobiography, Compton Street Legend. He has since backtracked and pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.

Palal, the prosecutor, played clips from Davis’s various alleged confessions as part of his closing arguments.

Michael Sanft, Davis’s defence attorney, characterised his client’s confessions as fiction and lies partly designed to promote his book.

“You’re reading a book that is fiction and not fact,” Sanft told the jury.

“But the state wants you to believe that this is somehow a confession, that he was there and present at the time of the shooting.” Sanft said there was no evidence implicating Davis in Shakur’s murder other than his own statements.

In the run-up to the trial, Davis’s lawyers tried in vain to keep the book from being introduced as evidence, along with remarks he made in an interview with police in 2008.

Shakur, who was 25 when he died, was a key figure in a hip-hop rivalry pitting the US East Coast against the West Coast.

Known for hits like ‘California Love’ and ‘All Eyez on Me,’ Shakur — the son of a Black Panther — was raised in Harlem and Baltimore, but quickly became the epitome of California hip hop when he signed with Los Angeles-based Death Row Records.

Cover photo: Reuters