Entertainment – Brandon Sun

Grades 5 and 6 students from Valleyview Centennial School play a game while being taught about powwow traditions by Jason Taylor (centre) during Brandon’s Truth and Reconciliation Week 2025 at the Brandon Riverbank Discovery Centre on Wednesday.

Indigenous Peoples grapple with claims downplaying the history of residential schools

Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press 6 minute read Updated: 1:44 PM CDT

OTTAWA - As Indigenous Peoples marked the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation this week, they also had to confront a persistent problem: public figures claiming the history of residential schools has been exaggerated or falsified.

It's a problem community leaders say poses a real challenge to reconciliation efforts across the country.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, mandated out of a legal settlement between the federal government and survivors of residential schools, concluded the goal of the schools was to erase Indigenous cultures.

Between 1857 and 1996, 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend church-run, government-funded schools. They were barred from speaking their languages in institutions often rife with abuse and located far away from their families and communities.

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Pop star turned militant Fadel Shaker surrenders to Lebanese military

Bassem Mroue, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Pop star turned militant Fadel Shaker surrenders to Lebanese military

Bassem Mroue, The Associated Press 3 minute read 3:51 PM CDT

BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese pop star turned wanted Islamic militant handed himself over to the country’s military intelligence service Saturday 12 years after going on the run, judicial and security officials said.

Fadel Shaker, had been on the run since the bloody street clashes between Sunni Muslim militants and the Lebanese army in June 2013 in the coastal city of Sidon. He was tried in absentia and sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2020 for providing support to a “terrorist group.”

On Saturday night, a Lebanese military intelligence force reached one of the entrances of the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh near Sidon and took Shaker, who had been hiding inside the camp for more than 12 years, into custody, two security and two judicial officials said.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said the handover came after coordination between mediators and officials at the Lebanese Defense Ministry.

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3:51 PM CDT

This is a locator map for Lebanon with its capital, Beirut. (AP Photo)

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ lawyers plan to appeal as convicted hip-hop star faces more years behind bars

Bruce Schreiner, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ lawyers plan to appeal as convicted hip-hop star faces more years behind bars

Bruce Schreiner, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: 2:26 PM CDT

Attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs are planning to appeal after the Grammy-winning artist and music executive was sentenced Friday to more than four years in prison for transporting people across state lines for sexual encounters. The case shattered his carefully cultivated reputation as an affable celebrity entrepreneur, A-list party host and reality TV star.

It culminated a public reckoning for the 55-year-old hip-hop star, who made a plea for leniency and wept as his lawyers played a video portraying his family life, career and philanthropy.

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian also fined Combs $500,000, the maximum allowed.

Combs was convicted in July of flying his girlfriends and male sex workers around the country to engage in drug-fueled sexual encounters over many years and in multiple places.

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Updated: 2:26 PM CDT

Vivienne Westwood brings beauty from chaos and dying sunflowers in Paris

Thomas Adamson, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Vivienne Westwood brings beauty from chaos and dying sunflowers in Paris

Thomas Adamson, The Associated Press 3 minute read 10:39 AM CDT

PARIS (AP) — Light streamed through the stained glass of the Institut de France onto a surreal stage: a lone cellist playing a melancholy air, next to an upside-down umbrella and a rotating tableau of dying sunflowers. It was a theatrical overture for Saturday's Paris Fashion Week. This was spring — Vivienne Westwood style.

Andreas Kronthaler, who has helmed the house since Westwood’s death in 2022 and whose name joined the label in 2016, leaned hard into the madhat energy that made the brand a legend. Leopard-print men’s underwear sat alongside sheer, ribbed tunics with a medieval air. Punk flashed in a jeweled veil and glittered lapels. Models strode in floppy, swashbuckling ’70s boots that turned the grand academic setting into a carnival.

The lineup spoke fluent Westwood: draped and deconstructed silhouettes, gathered dresses with double skirts, tailoring cut just off balance. Colors clashed on purpose, with sour greens near reds — until the eye adjusted and chaos clicked into order. One jeweled necklace made it literal: “CHAOS.”

Westwood made her name on King’s Road in the 1970s, wiring tartan, corsetry and ripped tees into the grammar of punk. That outsider spirit still drives the house, even as its reach has gone mainstream. Since Sarah Jessica Parker’s iconic Westwood bridal gown in “ Sex and the City,” the label’s wedding business has boomed — a point underscored by the hundreds of noisy fans thronging the Institut de France on Saturday, jostling for a glimpse.

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10:39 AM CDT

A model wears a creation as part of the Vivienne Westwood Spring/Summer 2026 collection presented in Paris, Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

Czech author and anti-communist dissident Ivan Klíma dies at 94

Karel Janicek, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Czech author and anti-communist dissident Ivan Klíma dies at 94

Karel Janicek, The Associated Press 4 minute read 3:46 AM CDT

PRAGUE (AP) — Ivan Klíma, a Czech author and anti-communist dissident whose work and life were shaped by Europe’s 20th-century totalitarian regimes, has died.

His son Michal told the Czech ČTK news agency that Klíma died on Saturday morning at home after battling a long illness. He was 94.

A prolific author, Klima published novels, plays, short story collections and essays as well as children’s books, becoming an internationally known writer whose works were translated into more than 30 languages.

Born Ivan Kauders on Sept 14, 1931, in Prague, Klima faced his first repressive regime during World War II when his Jewish family was transported to the Nazis' Theresienstadt concentration camp. Against the odds, they all survived.

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3:46 AM CDT

Czech author Ivan Klima is pictured after receiving the Ferdinand Peroutka Journalism Prize in Prague, Czech Republic, on Feb. 6, 2014. (Michal Dolezal/CTK via AP)

Bad Bunny to kick off ‘SNL’ 51st season with a group of new cast members

The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Bad Bunny to kick off ‘SNL’ 51st season with a group of new cast members

The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: 2:45 PM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Live from New York! It's a new “SNL” season, with faces both fresh and familiar.

After a fanfare-filled 50th season celebrating the past, “Saturday Night Live” looks to the future with a cast that includes five new featured players. As for the high-wattage early hosts, none other than Bad Bunny kicks things off on Saturday.

The music superstar is having what can only be described as an enormous week: he's coming off a historic residency in Puerto Rico, and in another kickoff moment, he's been announced as headliner for the Super Bowl halftime show.

His moment in the spotlight hasn't come without some political discourse. The Puerto Rican artist has said one of the reasons his residency bypassed the continental U.S. was a concern that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials could target immigrants for deportation outside his shows. Some conservatives supportive of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown have criticized the halftime show pick as a result.

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Updated: 2:45 PM CDT

This image released by NBC shows host Bad Bunny, center, with musical guest Doja Cat, left, and cast member Chloe Fineman during the taping of promotional spots for the upcoming

Judge remains undecided on treatment plan for man charged with stalking Jennifer Aniston

Itzel Luna, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Judge remains undecided on treatment plan for man charged with stalking Jennifer Aniston

Itzel Luna, The Associated Press 5 minute read Yesterday at 7:49 PM CDT

A judge remained undecided Friday on the treatment and placement plan for a man charged with stalking Jennifer Aniston and ramming his car into the front gate of her home.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jimmy Wayne Carwyle, a 48-year-old from Mississippi, has pleaded not guilty to felony stalking and vandalism. But in May, Judge Maria Cavalluzzi found him not competent to stand trial after evaluations from two experts. At Friday’s hearing in a Los Angeles court dedicated to mental health cases, she heard arguments on Carwyle's treatment and placement.

Aniston’s lawyer, Blair Berk, spoke on her behalf for the first time, detailing two years of Carwyle’s harassment and stalking, including various failed attempts to make physical contact with the actor.

Cavalluzzi said she leaned toward sending Carwyle to a mental health treatment alternative to imprisonment. She requested another hearing, scheduled for later this month, to hear from a mental health professional before making a final decision.

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Yesterday at 7:49 PM CDT

FILE - Jimmy Wayne Carwyle appears during an arraignment in Los Angeles, Thursday, May 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, Pool, File)

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Yohji Yamamoto pares back to essentials in Paris show

The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Yohji Yamamoto pares back to essentials in Paris show

The Associated Press 2 minute read Yesterday at 5:02 PM CDT

PARIS (AP) — Yohji Yamamoto presented a Paris Fashion Week collection Friday that distilled his language to its core: monochrome, urban, fluid silhouettes, touched with flashes of rebellion.

The show opened with pared-down black looks, some bearing graffiti motifs, before soft fringed ensembles in sandals lent the severity a gentler sway.

Tartan arrived in shredded, deconstructed form, interrupting the meditations on black with a jolt of pattern, followed by white gowns that trailed in strips, ethereal yet raw. Foliage-like bands traced torsos like abstract vines. Finally, red emerged in sculptural coats — a flourish of drama that underlined his instinct for subtle spectacle.

At 81, Yamamoto has long resisted fashion’s cycles. He is still the master of deconstruction: puzzle-piece coats, layered bustles, and Cubist geometries have defined his decades of work. Here, though, he leaned into simplicity, echoing his recent shows where fragility and empowerment are in balance, and where black becomes a multidimensional canvas.

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Yesterday at 5:02 PM CDT

Designer Yohji Yamamoto speaks to models prior to the Yamamoto Spring/Summer 2026 collection presented in Paris, Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Alberta doctors say first measles death a ‘stark’ reminder outbreak was preventable

Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

Alberta doctors say first measles death a ‘stark’ reminder outbreak was preventable

Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Yesterday at 4:59 PM CDT

EDMONTON - Alberta doctors say the death of a baby born prematurely due to measles is a "stark" reminder that the ongoing measles outbreak in Alberta was preventable.

Dr. Brian Wirzba, the new president of the Alberta Medical Association, which represents doctors, says they are deeply saddened to learn of the death, and they know "the family is heartbroken."

The province's first recorded measles death this year came after the mother of the baby contracted the disease while pregnant.

It's the second in Canada this year.

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Yesterday at 4:59 PM CDT

The emergency department of the Rockyview General Hospital is pictured in Calgary, Thursday, March 20, 2025.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Universal to reopen Stardust Racers ride two weeks after man’s death

The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Universal to reopen Stardust Racers ride two weeks after man’s death

The Associated Press 2 minute read Yesterday at 3:55 PM CDT

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Universal Orlando Resort plans to reopen its Stardust Racers ride at Epic Universe more than two weeks after a 32-year-old man died of blunt force injuries after going on the high-speed roller coaster.

Signs will be updated to reinforce existing warnings and eligibility requirements to help visitors decide if they should go on the dual-launch coaster, which reaches speeds up to 62 mph (100 kph), Karen Irwin, president and chief operating officer at Universal Orlando Resort, said Friday in a memo to workers. The ride will reopen on Saturday.

The family of Kevin Rodriguez Zavala publicly had urged Universal not to reopen the ride until all investigations were finished and they had a better understanding of how he died. The medical examiner for the Orlando area ruled the cause of death as multiple blunt impact injuries and said the manner of death was an accident. The full autopsy report hasn't been made public.

Zavala had a spinal disability from birth and used a wheelchair, but his family's attorneys said his disability didn’t cause his death on Sept. 17.

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Yesterday at 3:55 PM CDT

FILE - Guests ride on the Stardust Racers roller coaster at Epic Universe Theme Park at Universal Resort Orlando, April 10, 2025, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux, file)

Tyrese Gibson booked into Georgia jail and released on bond following cruelty to animal charge

Itzel Luna, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Tyrese Gibson booked into Georgia jail and released on bond following cruelty to animal charge

Itzel Luna, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 8:50 PM CDT

Tyrese Gibson was booked into a Georgia jail early Friday, a week after he failed to turn himself in following an arrest warrant for cruelty to animals, police said.

Gibson was released the same day on a $20,000 bond, Fulton County Police Captain Nicole Dwyer said. He has still not turned his four Cane Corso dogs to police, who authorities say killed a neighbor’s small dog in mid-September and had roamed the neighborhood unsupervised at various times over the past few months.

“We are glad he did the right thing and turned himself in,” Dwyer wrote to The Associated Press, noting the four dogs are still unaccounted for.

Gibson's lawyer, Gabe Banks, wrote to the AP Friday that his legal team secured a consent bond, meaning the terms of his bond were set before he voluntarily turned himself in. Banks wrote Gibson “has cooperated fully with legal authorities and will continue to do so until this matter is resolved.”

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Updated: Yesterday at 8:50 PM CDT

FILE - Tyrese Gibson arrives at a special screening of

Senate curbs spending on language training, spousal travel

The Canadian Press 1 minute read Yesterday at 2:11 PM CDT

OTTAWA - The Senate is no longer allowing senators to be reimbursed for spouses receiving language training.

The changes were passed yesterday at a Senate committee meeting on internal economy, budgets and administration.

The changes were made after Radio-Canada reported this week that Quebec Sen. Amina Gerba billed taxpayers nearly $22,000 for two English-language training courses in Vancouver for herself and her husband in 2023 and 2024.

Senators also will now be encouraged to either take the free language courses offered by the House of Commons or take classes in the National Capital Region or their home province.

Vancouver Eras Tour crowd featured on title track of Taylor Swift’s new album

Cassidy McMackon, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Vancouver Eras Tour crowd featured on title track of Taylor Swift’s new album

Cassidy McMackon, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Yesterday at 12:21 PM CDT

TORONTO - Taylor Swift fans who attended the final show of the pop singer's Eras Tour in Vancouver last year may hear a little piece of themselves in her new album.

The title track of "The Life of a Showgirl" ends with Swift's last address to the cheering crowd at the sold-out BC Place concert.

In an introduction to the track that Swift gives on Amazon Music, she says she gets emotional hearing the crowd roar back, because being on the Eras Tour stage that one last time is a core memory for her.

Swift says the song tells the story of a fictional showgirl named Kitty, portrayed by Sabrina Carpenter, who offers Swift's character the harsh truth of what it's like to work in show business as a woman.

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Yesterday at 12:21 PM CDT

Taylor Swift performs during the Eras Tour concert, in Vancouver, on Friday, December 6, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

From tequila cocktails to themed pop-ups, Taylor Swift fans celebrate ‘The Life of a Showgirl’

The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

From tequila cocktails to themed pop-ups, Taylor Swift fans celebrate ‘The Life of a Showgirl’

The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 9:28 PM CDT

From Mexico City to Manila, the United Kingdom to the United States, Taylor Swift fans hooted, sobbed happy tears and danced their way through the pop star's latest album release, “The Life of a Showgirl.”

Swift's 12th studio offering dropped Friday, and her Swifties were more than ready for it. Many were dripping in the color orange to usher in her latest era at gatherings around the world. Some closed their eyes to take in the fresh dozen tracks amid the chaotic crowds around them.

José María Bastida, a writer, rocked an orange sequin tuxedo jacket at a watch party in a Mexico City restaurant serving Swift-themed cocktails, including a tequila heavy “Ophelia's Juice” and a liquored up “Showgirl Slushy.”

“I feel like it's super experimental,” he said of the album, “because it's supposed to bring a lot of new stuff and we haven't seen that more sexy side of Taylor Swift.”

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Updated: Yesterday at 9:28 PM CDT

Fans gather to celebrate the release of Taylor Swift's new album,

‘House of David’ star Michael Iskander says season two resonates beyond the religious

Gary Gerard Hamilton, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

‘House of David’ star Michael Iskander says season two resonates beyond the religious

Gary Gerard Hamilton, The Associated Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 1:58 PM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — A Biblical series reaching No. 1 on a major streaming service may seem as unlikely as a shepherd boy killing a 9-foot giant with a single stone from his slingshot. But Michael Iskander demonstrates that believing in something can turn the seemingly impossible into reality.

“The story of David is pretty wild, and I think there’s a reason why it’s resonated for so many years,” said the former Broadway actor, who, in his first major TV role, plays the “House of David” titular character. “People have come up to me from all walks of life — not just Christians — and they talk about how much they love it.”

“House of David,” which loosely follows the life of the shepherd boy and the well-known events familiar to religious believers, like his fight with a lion, killing Goliath and ascending to become king of Israel, sling-shot its way to the top of Prime Video after debuting in February without much social media fanfare or extensive press. The streaming service says more than 44 million viewers worldwide have watched the series based on the heroic character recognized in the Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths.

The series is part of a growing number of Hollywood faith-based projects reaching beyond religious audiences thanks to stunning cinematography, high-impact action sequences and suspenseful plots. A lane for “House of David” was created thanks to the major success of “The Chosen,” a series based on the life of Jesus Christ, and more are coming: “Joseph of Egypt,” based on the popular story of the boy who was sold into slavery by jealous brothers before rising to ruler or Egypt, is in the works.

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Updated: Yesterday at 1:58 PM CDT

Michael Iskander poses for a portrait on Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Tony Shalhoub explores global cultures through bread in new CNN series ‘Breaking Bread’

Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Tony Shalhoub explores global cultures through bread in new CNN series ‘Breaking Bread’

Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press 5 minute read Yesterday at 10:46 AM CDT

NEW YORK (AP) — To make bread, you need flour, water, salt and, usually, a rising agent, like yeast. To break bread, CNN has enlisted someone special — Tony Shalhoub.

The Broadway and “Monk” star enters the crowded field of celebrity travel hosts this fall with “Breaking Bread,” which follows the actor across the globe as he explores cultures and food through the lens of bread.

“It is about bread, but bread really as a kind of a vehicle, a vessel, to illustrate and billboard history and culture and people and find out what they do and why they do what they do,” he says.

The series, which debuts on Sunday night, follows Shalhoub as he samples baguettes and bouillabaisse in Marseille, France, and scarfs down fluffy milk bread and red bean paste buns in Tokyo.

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Yesterday at 10:46 AM CDT

October 4, 2025

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