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‘Most unsettling’ horror film is ‘pure terror’ and perfect for Halloween on BBC

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The horror movie is undoubtedly one of the scariest movies ever made, and it will only be streamable for 16 more days on BBC iPlayer for free.

The legend of the Blair Witch is easily one of the scariest tales to do the rounds in modern memory — and it all stemmed from a harmless horror film.

The Blair Witch Project (1999), written, directed and edited by Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick, is hands down considered to be one of the scariest documentary-style horror movies of all time.

It not only introduced the ‘found footage’ genre to horror films — seen since then in blockbuster hits like the Paranormal Activity franchise — but it’s also one of the most successful independent films of all time, originally made on a budget of $35,000–$60,000, with the final cost rising to between $200,000 and $750,000 after marketing and post-production.

The Blair Witch, a local urban myth of the area, is played by Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C. Williams, who embarked on a hike into the Appalachian Mountains near Maryland’s Burkittsville to film a documentary about it.

Currently available to watch for free on BBC iPlayer for the next 16 days, the legend of the fictional Blair Witch was conceived by Sánchez and Myrick in 1993. The director-editor duo developed a 35-page screenplay in which the dialogue was to be improvised. Entering production in October of 1997, principal photography of The Blair Witch Project lasted all of eight days in total.

For the docu-film, roughly 20 hours of footage were captured, then edited and trimmed down to 82 minutes. The Sundance Film Festival held its first midnight premiere on January 23, 1999, and the film was met with enthusiastic reception after its distribution rights were purchased for $1.1 million.

It eventually received a theatrical release and a sleeper hit, grossing close to $250 million worldwide. The Blair Witch Project consistently receives accolades for being one of the scariest films ever, and it consistently receives accolades for being the best found footage film ever. The three main actors in the movie reportedly lived in poverty until they sued the studio that granted their rights, eventually winning a $300,000 settlement in 2000 despite the success of the film.

The documentary-style movie is widely praised thanks to its 86% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. The Blair Witch Project is the most potent and unsettling horror film in a very long time, according to one reviewer. Just to clarify: You won’t feel well after seeing this. Make an investment in a nightlight.

While another person claims that “The Blair Witch Project” is the scariest movie they’ve ever seen. Not the creepiest, grossest, weirdest, eeriest, sickest, creepiest, or slimiest, but just the absolute worst. “

No sequel or remake will ever match the strength of what The Blair Witch Project did a quarter of a century ago, according to a third critic.

While a fourth critic said, “The Blair Witch Project would still freeze your blood,” “I could tell you the story — give away every detail.”

One viewer wrote, “This movie is pure horror, it’s the scariest movie I have ever seen in my life, and I was terrified at the end. The film and the legend are all linked. A masterpiece of pure terror, horror, and suspense, The Blair Witch Project is a masterpiece. Daniel Myrick is brilliant!

One of the most unrefined horror movies ever, according to another reviewer.

Continue reading the article.

Kash Patel says FBI thwarted alleged ‘terrorist attack’ in Michigan

An alleged “terrorist attack” in the state of Michigan was reportedly halted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States.

Few details about the operation or the suspects were made public. FBI Director Kash Patel promised to provide more details in a social media post from Friday.

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He wrote that the FBI “thwarted a potential terrorist attack” and “arrested several people in Michigan who were allegedly planning a violent attack over the weekend of Halloween.”

“Thanks to the men and women of law enforcement and the FBI who are constantly on the lookout for our homeland’s protection.”

Patel did not specify where in Michigan the FBI operation took place. However, the Dearborn police department’s social media profile noted that FBI agents had been involved in the city’s neighborhood on Friday in a separate post.

Whether or not it involved a different operation or a similar one is unknown.

The Dearborn Police Department learned that the FBI had been conducting operations in Dearborn earlier this morning, according to the department. We want to assure our neighbors that the community is safe at this time.

Dearborn, a city in southeast Michigan close to Detroit, is known as the company’s corporate headquarters, and it is the first city in the US with an Arab American majority.

According to a report from the Michigan newspaper The Detroit Free Press, the FBI also operates in Inkster, another Detroit suburb.

The FBI has claimed previously that it has prevented a “terrorist”-related incident in the state during Patel’s tenure.

Ammar Abdulmajid-Mohamed Said, a 19-year veteran of the Michigan National Guard, was detained on May 14 when the FBI made a statement.

Said claimed in a statement from the US government that he had a plot to carry out a mass shooting at a US army base in Warren, Michigan, in support of ISIL (ISIS).

He allegedly gave the agents weapons, drone training, and operational details for the attack when they offered to help him carry out the plan.

He was detained on May 13 and accused of distributing information about a destructive device and trying to support a foreign terrorist organization.

At the election of US President Donald Trump, Patel took the oath of office on February 21.

Kelly Osbourne’s son makes sweet Halloween tribute to Ozzy’s infamous bat incident

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Sidney, the young son of Kelly Osbourne, paid tribute to his late grandfather, Ozzy as he prepared for the Halloween festivities over the upcoming weekend.

Ozzy’s son, Kelly Osbourne, has received a tribute. The late Prince of Darkness passed away earlier this year after experiencing autonomic dysfunction (joint causes), cardiac arrest, acute myocardial infarction, coronary artery disease, and Parkinson’s disease.

But as the world prepares to get dressed up and celebrate the Halloween festivities, the Osbourne family is no different. Over the years, the late Ozzy has become synonymous with Halloween, with many choosing to dress as the Black Sabbath icon.

Sidney, Kelly’s young son, channeled one of Ozzy’s most infamous moments this year, though. Kelly posted a video of her son biting off the head of a stuffed bat, which she shared with Sid Wilson from Slipknot.

The little one was laughing after ripping the head off the stuffed toy, so Kelly captioned her video, “Learned from the greatest, Papa.” Her post, which has received over 226,000 likes, had a flooded with fans for Kelly and Ozzy.

“Imagine your grandfather and father who are both Ozzy and Sid Wilson from Slipknot. One person praised him as “so cute.” The fact that you have a bat with a removable head is a nod to all other things, a second said. “Learned from his father and will continue to learn from him” A third person called themselves “Future Rockstar.”

A fourth person continued, “He looks so much like Ozzy OMG.” Another person gushed, “That smile, he’s definitely a little Ozzy.” “Oh my goodness! He resembles Ozzy exactly! His small face is exactly the same! A sixth fan remarked, “Awww.” In 1982, Ozzy is alleged to have torn the head off a bat.

He had just two months to go on a tour to promote Diary of a Madman, his second solo album. Ozzy started a custom of throwing raw meat and other animal parts into the audience while traveling. Word quickly spread to his supporters, who immediately began showing up at the shows prepared to retaliate.

Something small and black was thrown on the stage while Ozzy was watching him perform at Des Moines’ Veterans Memorial Auditorium, believing it to be a rubber toy. He claimed in his 2010 memoir, I Am Ozzy, that he knew something wasn’t right the moment he bit into the object. Something started to feel off track, Ozzy said. Very incorrect.

The head in my mouth twitched as soon as I started to drink this warm, gloopy liquid. A bat was thrown by someone. I initially believed it to be a rubber bat. And I snatched it before putting it in my mouth. I was like, “Oh no, it’s real,” I thought. A real bat was present. “Ozzy said something entirely different just four years prior to this, though.”

During a conversation with the BBC, he said: “This bat comes on. I thought it was one of them Halloween joke bats ‘cos it had some string around its neck. I bite into it, and I look to my left and Sharon [Osbourne] was going [no].

What are you talking about, I wonder? She]says], ‘ It’s a dead real bat ‘ and I’m… I am aware now”! The man who claimed to have played the concert claimed that it was actually dead in an effort to end the story once and for all. Mark Neal claimed that his younger brother had brought the bat home a fortnight prior when he was 17 years old. Unfortunately, it had passed away before Mark took it to the concert, and it had already gone dead for days.

Continue reading the article.

Trump’s 7,500 refugee cap; echoing restrictive US immigration history

For the fiscal year 2026, US President Donald Trump has announced that he will only accept 7,500 refugees.

This is a record low since the 1980 Refugee Act when a cap on refugees entering the country was set at 50, 000 per year, but could be changed. The US refugee resettlement program was launched that year. Former President Joe Biden’s set cap is currently 125, 000.

Furthermore, the Trump administration said priority will be given to white South Africans.

The US has used highly restrictive and frequently racist immigration policies throughout its history, despite the new cap, which represents a significant decrease in the number of refugees it has admitted in recent years.

Who will be able to enter the United States starting in 2026?

No more than 7, 500 people will be granted refugee status and these must undergo very tough checks before they can enter. The secretary of state and homeland security will need to approve it.

Trump also reaffirmed his signing of a proclamation in June that said foreigners can still be denied entry if letting them enter would harm the nation’s interests.

Why is Trump prioritising white South Africans?

Trump asserts that White Afrikanians face a “genocide” in South Africa. He signed Executive Order 14204, which read “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa,” in February of this year. The order was made in response to South Africa’s Expropriation Act 13 of 2024, which allows for land to be seized and redistributed.

The order criticized South Africa for seizing land held by “ethnic minority” white South Africans. If the government continues with this, the US threatened to withhold aid from South Africa. In May, 59 white South Africans arrived in the US as part of a special refugee programme Trump established for them.

During a White House visit the same month, Trump ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, only to have him ambushed by a video of people singing “Kill the Boer” in South Africa and making claims that a “white genocide” was occurring.

“People are fleeing South Africa for their own safety,” he said. Their land is being confiscated, and in many cases, they’re being killed”, Trump said during the meeting with Ramaphosa in May.

Are white Afrikaans eligible for refugee status?

Not really, according to experts.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Act to right apartheid-era wrongs. However, the law permits the government to seize privately held land from anyone for public purposes without compensation, or in some cases without compensation.

The Act replaces a 1975 law that had received mixed reviews for its lack of clarity regarding compensation.

During apartheid, white South Africans, who are mainly Afrikaans-speaking descendants of Dutch settlers and English-speaking descendants of British colonists, held control, and often violently sidelined the Black majority.

While the apartheid era ended in 1994, about 7% of the population still lives in poverty, making up more than 70% of the land.

Ramaphosa told Trump at his White House meeting that violent crime was being committed against all South Africans, not just against white people, despite the country’s current problems.

Experts have also dismissed Trump’s claims of a white genocide.

South African historian Saul Dubow, a professor of Commonwealth history at the University of Cambridge, told Al Jazeera in May that “Trump’s fantasy claims of white genocide have no basis.”

“South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world in terms of economic terms and a violent nation. The violence is criminal rather than political, though racial injustice inevitably forms part of the context”.

Dubow suggested that Trump may be more enraged by Israel’s genocide case, which was filed in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December 2023 in relation to the Gaza war.

Is this the most stringent refugee cap ever implemented by the US?

This is the lowest cap on refugees in recent history. It falls short of the original 50, 000 cap established by the 1980 Act in addition to being lower than the previous 17, 400-cape that the Act intended to replace.

The president consults with the US Congress each year to determine how many refugees are allowed into the country. For the fiscal years 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, a maximum of 125, 000 refugees were allowed into the US.

The US refugee resettlement program was established in 1980 to assist the US in identifying, settling, and settling refugees who were escaping conflict or persecution around the world.

However, the United States did not accept large numbers of refugees before 1980 and had a history of strict laws that forbid people from obtaining citizenship in particular nations.

A history of prohibitive immigration policy in the US

Here is a list of important US immigration and citizenship laws that have affected people of a particular racial or ethnic background.

Naturalization Act of 1790

The Naturalisation Act defined limits on who could become a naturalised citizen of the US.

In accordance with this act, free white people who had resided in the US for two years and had shown good moral character could only be naturalized.

Native Americans, people who were enslaved, and non-white people were excluded.

1875: The Page Act

The Page Act, the first immigration law in the US, was signed by President Ulysses S. Grant in March 1875.

The law targeted Asian women particularly. It decreed that the US government must determine that “the immigration of any subject of China, Japan, or any Oriental country, to the United States, is free and voluntary”.

Because it forbade bringing women into the US for forced labor or sex work, the Act was written as if it were protecting vulnerable immigrants. Anyone found to have ejected and fined for entering the US without giving their permission an immigrant from an Asian nation.

However, critics have pointed out that, in practice, the Act was racist and sexist. It was made possible because many Chinese people were looking for employment in the US because of poverty and famine in China. Chinese women specifically emigrated to the US in the 1850s as workers.

According to an article published by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), San Francisco officials started making efforts to deport Chinese women of “ill fame” from the 1860s. The article added that “all Chinese women were most likely stereotyped as prostitutes” at the time.

The Page Act’s stigmatization of Asian women is one of its enduring effects, according to the article. Beyond facing racial discrimination, Asian women were fetishised and sexualised culturally.

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

The Chinese Exclusion Act, which was signed in May 1882, made it illegal for all Chinese workers to work in the US for ten years.

It also prevented Chinese immigrants from becoming naturalised citizens of the US.

The Geary Act of 1892 extended the scope of the Act until 1943 when it was overturned.

The Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907

This was not a formal law – it was, rather, an agreement between the US and Japan.

The Japanese government was ordered to halt the immigration of Japanese laborers to the US by President Theodore Roosevelt’s negotiation.

Japanese students would still be able to enroll in integrated schools in exchange for this.

The agreement was drawn up in response to public anger about the rising number of Japanese labourers and agricultural workers who had migrated to fill the gap left by Chinese workers.

The Asiatic Barred Zone Act was passed in 1917.

Most of Asia’s nations were covered by this law, which established a “barred zone” between the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Nationals of these countries were restricted from entering the US.

The Johnson-Reed Act from 1924

The number of people from other nations who could immigrate to the US each year was strictly dictated by this immigration law.

It stipulated a “national origins” quota, which decreed that only 2 percent of the number of people of any nationality living in the US in 1890 could enter the country each year.

Additionally, the law made it completely illegal for Asian nationals to immigrate to the US.

Trump’s own “muslim ban” in 2017

During his first term, Trump enacted a travel ban dubbed the “Muslim ban”.

Trump signed an executive order enforcing a 90-day ban on entry to the US for citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations, including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

Additionally, the US refugee program was permanently barred for Syrian refugees under the order.

Trump’s travel ban went through subsequent rounds of revisions. Courts initially rejected the original version because it constituted discrimination.

Venezuela and North Korea were also affected by the Supreme Court’s decision in the final version, which was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.

In 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order reversing the travel ban.

Trump’s travel ban in 2025

Trump signed a proclamation in June this year that imposed a total ban on citizens of 12 nations from entering the US, despite not regaining it during his second term. Many of them are African nations.

They include Yemen, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan, Myanmar, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, and Ethiopia.

Citizens from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela are subject to some restrictions under this proclamation.

Spinning genocide: Why is Israel trying to reframe its war on Gaza?

This is the second of a two-part series. Here, you can read the first part, which details how public relations firms have aided Israel. &nbsp,

The newly launched Christian marketing firm Faith Through Works’ filings reflect Israel’s new focus on public relations.

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Faith Through Works, one of at least three PR firms contracted by Israel to “improve its image in the United States,” states in a document (PDF) that it has been hired to “Combat low American Evangelical Christian approval of the Nation of Israel.

Polls indicate that Israel is losing ground in comparison to the US evangelical base. According to surveys from the University of Maryland and others, wide-spread protests in US cities and colleges have indicated that Israel is losing support among Gen Z, its allies in mainstream US politics, and among its evangelical righties.

And, according to analysts, that poses a serious problem for Israel.

Israel has enlisted the assistance of Bridges Partners to raise awareness of Israel in the US by using Faith Through Works and obtaining funding from an undisclosed group of online influencers. In an effort to improve its online reputation, it has also contracted another newly established US company, Clock Tower, to reshape the way Israeli-Israeli military discussions are framed using artificial intelligence (AI).

The University of Maryland’s Shibley Telhami said, “The war for American public opinion is existential.” The gloves are off because this is a serious game for them, they say.

Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate outside Columbia University’s main campus in New York City, United States, on May 21, 2025. [Jeenah Moon/Reuters]

Israelis have been dependent on the US for the past two years, according to the report. That is to say, almost everyone in their country was aware of their dependence on the US prior to the war, but not in what ways. He explains how Israelis have watched their nation’s dependence on the US increase with each new front their government has launched against regional allies like Lebanon and Iran.

Before you even consider the US’s “simple diplomatic power,” he said, “which has been extremely helpful in keeping Israel safe throughout the war, and the potential loss of that is terrifying to them.”

losing support

The US public has largely suported Israel’s economic, military, and reputational costs. However, cracks are emerging in US support for Israel amid the scenes of unrelenting carnage that Israel continues to unleash on Gaza, which many Israelis fear could eventually develop.

Israel’s support in the US has not recently been bolstered. Foreign journalists are prohibited from entering Gaza to capture the full extent of the barbaric acts committed against the enclave, but there are also concerted efforts to turn the online discussion in Israel’s favor.

A coordinated effort was made in May to influence how social media users were describing Israel’s occupation of Gaza, according to a survey conducted by the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed the importance of social media in his conversation with US influencers in September.

Netanyahu referred to social media as the “weapon” of the modern era, saying that TikTok is the most significant purchase currently being made. One hundred and one. And I hope it succeeds because it has potential.”

“And the other one,” you ask? X. We need to speak with owner of X, Elon Musk. He is a friend, not an adversary. He needs to speak with us. Now, if we can get those two things, we can get a lot. We must now engage in combative action to guide both our non-Jewish friends and the Jewish people.

According to Dov Waxman, professor of Israel studies at the University of California, “there was less support for Israel and greater sympathy for Palestinians among younger Americans, including young evangelical Christians.” “These important groups have significantly lost faith in Israel because of Israel’s actions during the conflict in Gaza,” the statement reads.

This is confirmed by Telhami’s polls.

A University of Maryland survey (PDF) of the party’s support for Palestinians revealed that older Democrats now have more influence over the party’s support for Israel, and that older Republicans now have a bigger influence over their party’s support for Israel. A separate poll (PDF) conducted over the same time that revealed growing opposition to Israel’s war on Gaza among young evangelicals, one of Israel’s most trusted supporters, poses a potential greater threat to Israeli policymakers and aids in explaining the contracting of Faith Through Works.

In MAGA, there is a shift.

The mainstream politics in the US are starting to suffer as a result of this split, and especially President Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. One of the loudest voices in that movement, Marjorie Taylor Greene, fought back in July in opposition to a bill that would have awarded Israel $500 million over the course of the following year.

Marjorie Taylor Greene in aviator sunglasses, speaking into the mouthpiece of a bullhorn
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a stalwart of MAGA, has opposed US funding of what she refers to as “genocide” in Gaza.

Greene wrote on the social media platform X that “Nuclear-armed Israel’s national debt is under $400 billion in comparison to our crippling national debt of $ 37 trillion.” According to the statement, “The American taxpayers shouldn’t be required to pay the American taxpayers for another $500 million in our U.S. defense bill because Nuclear-armed Israel appears to have their defense and debt under control.”

There’s only one story going on, and it’s Israel, according to Tucker Carlson, a well-known MAGA figure who in October described Christian Zionists as “heretics” on his YouTube channel the same month. “We are spending our time, our money, and we’re taking enormous risks on behalf of a country that is not politically significant at all,” Carlson said.

There is a strong trend in MAGA’s “America First” contingent, he said, citing Carlson and right-wing influencer Candace Owens as examples. “The US Republican leadership is still solidly behind Israel, and that’s not likely to change in this Trump administration,” said HA Hellyer of the Royal United Services Institute.

He praised Israel’s prospects for future support from the US right, noting that it will not fundamentally change policy in this administration.

Telhami remarked that there is being “a significant generational shift.” The Gaza generation, which views Israel as a genocidal villain, is now the same as the Pearl Harbor generation and the Vietnam generation.

Palestinians mourn 15-year-old boy killed during Israeli raid

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Yamen Samed Hamed, 15, was killed on Thursday in an Israeli-occupied West Bank town called Silwad, and is now mourned by Palestinians. According to reports, Israeli forces initially prevented the boy who had been injured in the assault, which included live rounds, tear gas, and stun grenades, from getting to an ambulance.