WORLD NEWS
French actress and activist Brigitte Bardot dies aged 91 – DW – 12/28/2025
French movie star and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has died at age 91, her foundation said Sunday.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation,” it said in a statement sent to French news agency AFP.
The foundation’s Bruno Jacquelin told The Associated Press Bardot died at her home in southern France. He did not give a cause of death and said no immediate arrangements have been made for funeral or memorial services.
French President Emmanuel Macron praised Bardot for her excellence on and off the screen, writing on social media platform X: “Her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom.”
“French existence, universal brilliance,” he added. “She touched us. We mourn a legend of the century.”
Celebrated sex symbol
When her career began in the 1950s, she was widely regarded as a sex symbol, thanks to her figure and libertine lifestyle.
One of her most well-known films was “And God Created Woman,” in 1956, where she starred as an 18-year-old caught up in a love triangle, which was directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim.
Vadim once promised that Bardot would become “the unattainable fantasy of all married men.” A few years later, in 1963, she played a sullen, frustrated wife of a screenwriter in Jean-Luc Godard’s “Contempt,” which featured scenes that became part of cinema folklore.
However, by 1973 Bardot announced she had become “sick of being beautiful every day,” as she turned her back on acting to look after abandoned animals.
Foundation set up dedicated to animal protection
In the early 1980s, Bardot travelled to Canada and experienced a “life-changing” visit when she witnessed its annual seal cub culls.
The Brigitte Bardot Foundation was set up in 1986 and was dedicated to animal protection. Bardot crusaded for baby seals and elephants, called for the abolition of ritual animal sacrifice and the closure of horse abattoirs.
Bardot’s later years were marked by animal rights campaigns and far-right political sympathiesImage: Valery Hache/AFP
In a 2011 letter to conservation group WWF, she retold her viewing of the cull of seal cubs, saying: “I will never forget these pictures, the screams of pain, they still torture me but they have given me the strength to sacrifice my whole life to defend the animal’s one.”
Controversial comments marred later life
While Bardot’s advocacy stepped, criticism of her comments and political statements saw her face a backlash.
She was repeatedly fined by French courts between 1997 and 2008 for remarks judged to constitute incitement to racial or religious hatred, including statements directed at France’s Muslim community.
According to court rulings she was convicted at least five times during that period with her most severe penalty coming in 2008, when a Paris court fined her €15,000 over a letter criticizing Muslim ritual slaughter.
Bardot married Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to the far-right National Front in 1992 and later went on to publicly endorse the party’s successive leaders, Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter Marine Le Pen.
In 2018, she denounced the #MeToo movement in an interview with the magazine Paris Match, claiming actresses who spoke out against sexual harassment were: “Hypocritical and ridiculous. Lots of actresses try to play the tease with producers to get a role.”
WORLD NEWS
ANDREW NEIL: We’re on the brink of a historical turning point… and it should terrify us. The old world order has ended. We’re on our own
This was the year the old world order ended. The order that had defeated Nazi Germany, the greatest evil the modern world has known, then went on to see off Soviet communism – the other great evil of the age.
The order that rebuilt – from the carnage, ruins and dictatorships of the Second World War – prosperous Western European democracies. Then embraced the new democracies of Eastern Europe as they threw off their communist yoke.
The order that, for all its many lapses in living up to its principles, placed liberal democracy, human rights and the prosperity of the people at the core of its purpose, leading to the greatest rise in global living standards these past eight decades the world has ever known.
The order in which Britain played a pivotal and honourable role, which we’ve now forgotten as we wallow behind our veil of woes. But in which America was always the essential ally for all involved.
I dwell on such matters to emphasise not just the significance of the historical watershed we’re now living through but the scale of our loss.
The old order was no doubt in need of a reboot, a recalibration, a refocusing for the 21st century. Instead, it is being swept away, for no good reason, by an American president with no knowledge of history, little grasp of geopolitics and scant regard for the principles of democracy and freedom which made the world a safer place the more they were adopted across the globe.
A president who thinks it is no part of US foreign policy to make the world a better place, whose only concern is furthering the narrow, short-term interest of an isolationist America and what he regards as its surrounding satrapies.
If that means supping with tyrants and dictators with the shortest of spoons, while turning on loyal, democratic allies of long standing, then so be it. If it also facilitates lining the pockets of Washington’s ruling family, then so much the better.
Andrew Neil describes Donald Trump as ‘a president who thinks it is no part of US foreign policy to make the world a better place’
Donald Trump has assembled a massive armada off the coast of Venezuela. The naval blockade is designed to cut off the export of Venezuelan oil to Cuba, with the President’s real goal to to topple Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and hasten the collapse of the Cuban regime, writes Andrew Neil
It is the ruthless, unprincipled application to foreign policy of the ways of the amoral New York property developer in which everything is reduced to a ‘deal’ and nothing matters but power, money, success and self-interest – attitudes that mark the death knell of an old world order which has served us well.
To be replaced by what? We do not yet know for sure. No doubt the coming year will improve our comprehension of what is in store. Those contours that we can already discern are not encouraging.
Next year will hasten America’s retreat from Europe, which will increasingly be left to its own devices, as President Trump focuses his attention and American power on the Western Hemisphere – where he has imperial ambitions.
That is why, as 2025 draws to an end, he has assembled a massive armada off the coast of Venezuela. The pretext is a crackdown on drug-smugglers speeding towards America in high-powered boats. The real goal, of course, is to topple Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, whose regime has impoverished the country, even though it sits on the biggest oil reserves in the world.
The US Navy is now seizing tankers carrying Venezuelan crude oil exports, which account for 90 per cent of Maduro’s revenues. The loss of these funds would be catastrophic for the man in Caracas. Trump reckons a few more turns of the screw will bring down early next year his corrupt, cruel, repressive regime hated by the Venezuelan people.
But there is a further, so far unspoken, purpose to Trump’s Caribbean military adventure: his aim is also to bring down the flailing communist regime in Cuba, which is just as much an economic basket case as Venezuela.
Almost 3 million Cubans – mainly young, educated, ambitious and accounting for a quarter of the country’s population – have fled Cuba in this century alone. What was, until only recently, regularly lauded by the British Left as something of a communist paradise is, in fact, a hellhole in which 90 per cent of the people struggle to survive in extreme poverty.
About 70 per cent go for days without a proper meal; water shortages mean there isn’t even enough to flush the loo or wash the dishes; daily power blackouts force people to sleep outside in sub-tropical heat while schools and hospitals are closed; and basic medicines are now a luxury few can afford. No wonder eight out of ten Cubans want to leave.
The country is in the grip of its worst crisis since Fidel Castro seized power in 1959, worse even than its troubles after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, which had been its biggest benefactor.
Since then, Cuba has been kept on life support by cheap Venezuelan oil – at one stage as much as 100,000 barrels a day. That’s already fallen to 30,000 as Venezuela’s inefficient nationalised oil industry struggles to keep up production.
The US naval blockade is designed to cut off even that to hasten the collapse of the Cuban regime. The Cuban gerontocracy and Maduro are joined at the hip. Venezuelan oil is essential to the survival of the government in Havana. Brutal Cuban intelligence teams help Maduro identify and crack down on any dissent that threatens his government.
If Trump could bring down both regimes early in 2026 he would regard it as vindication of his new emphasis on increasing US power in its own backyard. His aim is to surround America with governments that will do its bidding. He’s already achieved that in Panama.
There is no plan to deploy US boots on the ground in Cuba or Venezuela. The American people – including his own isolationist MAGA movement – have no appetite for that.
He thinks his blockade will do the job. And who could object to seeing the back of Maduro and his henchmen or the Cuban communist plutocrats who’ve ruined a beautiful country?
The problem is that the US record when it comes to regime change does not engender confidence. From South Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan to Libya and countless countries in between over the years, the US record on regime change is one of failure, on an often catastrophic scale.
What reason is there to think Venezuela or Cuba will be any different, especially since some of America’s largest previous regime-change failures have been in Latin America?
Even so, it is at the top of Trump’s to-do list in 2026, and if there is even just a scintilla of success it will embolden him to exert further US sway over more of the Western Hemisphere. Trump has indicated Colombia could be next if Venezuela falls.
Join the debate
How should Europe respond if America abandons its traditional role as global protector?
Units of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine extinguish a blaze after a Russian airstrike in Zaporizhzhia earlier this month… next year will hasten America’s retreat from Europe, which will increasingly be left to its own devices
The coming year will see the effective end of US financial and military aid to Ukraine, writes Andrew Neil. It already started to dry up in 2025
Argentina is already in hock to Washington, with $20 billion of US support for its currency. Canada will remain under pressure to fall in line with whatever is Trump’s latest whim. Even Greenland is still in his sights. He’s just appointed a new envoy who has described his job as ‘a volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the US’. The Danes, under whose control Greenland falls, are increasingly nervous.
The more Trump concentrates on his own backyard, the more the US retreat from Europe will gather pace. I find it astonishing that European leaders have still to grasp the immensity of the geopolitical shift that is now under way.
It isn’t just that the European leg of Nato can no longer count on US military when the chips are down – the fact is that Trump’s America is no longer even on our side, a harsh reality that will become apparent as next year unfolds.
Yet European Nato still bases its defence planning on massive US assistance, even as Trump pushes a version of a peace plan for Ukraine originally drafted by the Kremlin.
The coming year will see the effective end of US financial and military aid to Ukraine. It already started to dry up this year.
If Europe means what it says about standing by Ukraine then, in 2026, it will have to become Europe’s war, without American back-up. Despite all the supportive rhetoric it is by no means clear Europe’s leaders are up for this.
Germany is at last taking rearmament seriously. Chancellor Merz has freed up Berlin’s tight fiscal rules to pump an extra €150 billion into defence, taking military spending by the start of the next decade to at least 3 per cent of GDP.
It’s still too little, too late – and it’s not being spent on the armaments needed for 21st-century war.
Germany’s combined air, sea and land forces, the Bundeswehr, has a mere 600 drones at its disposal. It’s planning to increase that to 10,000 in 2026. In 2025, Ukraine made 5 million drones, because they are the essential weapon in the 21st-century battlefield. It will make 10 million next year.
British defence spending is a bit more forward-looking but still wholly inadequate to the task at hand. Despite frankly embarrassing talk from Chancellor Rachel Reeves about making Britain a ‘defence industrial superpower’, military spending is scheduled (according to the latest Commons Library briefing) to rise from £60 billion in 2024-25 to a mere £62 billion in 2025-26 – a pathetic increase which, after inflation, equals almost no increase at all.
Despite bold statements about spending 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence by early in the next decade, there’s not even the outline of an official road map to get us there, to the shame of Starmer’s Government.
I have little hope of peace breaking out in Ukraine. No Ukrainian leader could accept what President Putin wants: to consolidate his grip on the east; place severe limits on the size of free Ukraine’s military; replace President Zelensky with a leader more disposed to the Kremlin – then wait for the rest of Ukraine to fall into his lap. Patience has always been a key ingredient of Russian strategy.
The President has ‘no knowledge of history, little grasp of geopolitics and scant regard for the principles of democracy and freedom which made the world a safer place’, writes Andrew Neil
Trump’s MAGA movement is now gripped by ‘low-intensity civil war’, Andrew Neil adds
Although Putin is the real roadblock to peace, the Russian dictator knows Trump will blame Ukraine (and its European backers) for the lack of progress. He expects Trump to throw his toys out of the pram in frustration some time in the first half of 2026 and depart the scene, saying it’s now on Europe to handle the conflict while he doubles down on the Western Hemisphere.
This will hand the advantage to Putin, which is why 2026 is so dangerous. It is not that, bereft of US protection, Russian tanks will start rolling west. But a Ukraine under the cosh would be grim news for the Baltic states (where mass evacuations are already being rehearsed in case of Russian incursions), Poland and Finland.
Russian cyber attacks and sabotage in Europe, which increased this year, will become endemic next year.
Russian drones have recently flown over Poland, Germany and Denmark, causing civilian airports to shut.
These ‘grey-zone’ provocations will intensify next year, designed to intimidate Europe into loosening its commitment to Ukraine. In the next 12 months we will discover if Europe has the backbone to resist them.
Yet there is an opportunity – if only Europe had the leadership to grasp it. Energy prices – especially oil and gas – are likely to tumble in 2026 because of global gluts of both.
This could act as a trillion-dollar economic stimulus for Europe’s energy-hungry economies, including Britain. Add in European rearmament at the required scale and further interest rate cuts as inflation falls below 2 per cent – helped by a surge in cheap imports from China (everything from solar panels to electric vehicles) – and you have the makings of a return to European growth which could bring the continent renewed confidence when it comes to defence and security.
We shall see. Europe’s recent default position has been to miss every opportunity presented to it. The one thing it can be sure of is not counting on President Trump.
Of course, we could be past peak Trump. His presidency is now being rocked by a cost-of-living crisis. His MAGA movement is now gripped by low-intensity civil war.
The bookies reckon there’s an 80 per cent chance the Republicans will lose the House come the November mid-term elections. That would limit his scope for mischief. But the modern US imperial presidency has plenty of room for manoeuvre, especially in foreign policy.
I expect Trump to be as active as ever on that front in 2026. There is talk in the White House of bringing the Kremlin in from the economic cold with a spate of US-Russian energy deals, perhaps even a joint carve-up of Ukrainian resources. No doubt there will be rich pickings for the Trump family, too.
I’ve even heard top aides muse about a new world order in Trump’s image. America dominant and unchallenged in the Western Hemisphere. But calling the shots in the rest of the world through a new alliance of America, Russia, China, India and perhaps even Japan (now with a Trump-style leader).
Europe, of course, is nowhere in any of these plans. If, in 2026, it doesn’t at last dawn on Europe (including Britain) that we’re on our own then I doubt it ever will – at least not before it’s too late.
A plastic bottle was allegedly thrown towards the Aston Villa bench after they beat Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League – and Chelsea have now launched an investigation
12:02, 28 Dec 2025
Unai Emery’s side came from behind to win at Stamford Bridge(Image: Vince Mignott/MB Media)
Chelsea have launched an investigation after a plastic bottle was reportedly thrown towards the Aston Villa bench following their 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.
Aston Villa once again staged a comeback to clinch a league victory, having done so in their previous four Premier League away matches prior to facing Chelsea. Substitute Ollie Watkins netted twice in the second half, securing Villa’s 11th consecutive win across all competitions.
The match, which saw eight yellow cards handed out, was marred by moments of ill temper, with Villa’s set-piece coach Austin MacPhee also receiving a booking late in the game – something captain John McGinn made light of by posting three crying laughing emojis and a GIF of the yellow card on X.
Tensions seemed to reach boiling point at the final whistle when a plastic bottle was allegedly hurled towards the Villa bench, dousing some staff members with water.
READ MORE: Transfer news LIVE: Liverpool losing Semenyo battle, new Man Utd target, Chelsea busyREAD MORE: Diogo Jota’s widow in emotional statement after Liverpool’s classy gesture
Some Villa staff reacted with visible disgust, and according to The Telegraph, one member appeared to suggest that the object had been thrown from the Chelsea dugout area, although this has yet to be confirmed, reports Birmingham Live.
Chelsea have reportedly pledged full cooperation with Villa and any relevant authorities, if necessary, to ascertain exactly where the bottle originated from. CCTV footage is expected to be scrutinised as part of the investigation.
Mirror Football understands that the Football Association, who would bare responsibility for any disciplinary action should it be necessary, are aware of the allegations. Chelsea and Aston Villa have both been contacted for comment.
Ollie Watkins’ brace off the bench sent Aston Villa home happy(Image: David Watts/Getty Images)
The scenes at full-time did little to diminish the delight of the away side, who have now racked up a joint club record of 11 straight wins in all competitions. Villa sit third in the Premier League, one point behind Manchester City in second and three adrift of leaders Arsenal, who they face on Tuesday.
“I’m very happy and thankful for the supporters because we need them and they are with us, transmitting their energy and we’re here trying to play for them,” Emery said post-match. “How the players responded on the field was really fantastic. In the first half, we struggled.
“We weren’t getting the rhythm to keep ball possession and to try to get to their box frequently, but we needed to defend and we were being brilliant defensively.
Enzo Maresca was left to reflect on another disappointing result(Image: Getty Images)
“We conceded one goal from the corner, and we needed to change something in the second half but with the same structure we had in the first half. We started getting better and we needed fresh legs, but how we got our momentum, with the players showing their mentality to exploit their qualities, was fantastic.
“To beat Chelsea here is very difficult. We wanted it and we are happy but still keeping balance and trying to get each match with our objective.”
By contrast, Enzo Maresca was left to reflect on another disappointing result. Chelsea’s form has dipped dramatically and they are now 10 points behind Villa.
“I think the goal we conceded was the turning point,” Maresca said. “Until the goal we conceded, that is around one hour, we were completely in control of the game.
“Again, it’s something that is not the first time that happened. And when we concede a goal, even if we are winning and we concede a goal, we struggle a little bit with the management of the game. And it’s something that for sure we need to improve.”
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WORLD NEWS
Brigitte Bardot: The bombshell and style icon who walked away from fame and glamour | Ents & Arts News
Brigitte Bardot was the sultry film siren who helped ignite a sexual revolution, a woman whose cultural significance extended beyond her acting career.
The French star, who has died aged 91, came to embody a new kind of female sexuality on screen that was bold and unapologetic.
Brigitte Bardot at a London Hotel during a photocall. Pic: PA
She was so famous that she became known simply by her initials.
Emmanuel Macron said Bardot “embodied a life of freedom”.
In the film Le Mepris (Contempt) directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Pic: Nana Productions/Shutterstock
Pic: Sipa/Shutterstock
Paying tribute, the French president said: “Her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne” – referring to the national symbol of France.
“French existence, universal brilliance. She touched us. We mourn a legend of the century.”
Brigitte Bardot dies: Latest reaction
An 18-year-old Bardot pictured in 1952 in Cannes. Pic: Bob Hawkins/Kobal/Shutterstock
Pic: Everett/Shutterstock
As a singer, she also released several records during her time in the spotlight, and was famously the muse for Serge Gainsbourg’s erotic single Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus.
Despite her success, she retired from acting before she had even turned 40, instead choosing to dedicate her time to helping animals.
Born in Paris in 1934, Bardot rebelled against a strict upbringing to break into film.
Bardot in the 1960s. Pic: Everett/Shutterstock
Pic: Everett/Shutterstock
She started as a model in the early 1950s, and, after some minor parts, the role that made her a household name came in 1956 – … And God Created Woman.
Directed by her then husband Roger Vadim, the film was considered scandalous at the time for its frank depiction of sensuality, daring to challenge conservative post-war norms about women’s behaviour and desire.
Pic: Everett/Shutterstock
In the 1967 film A Coeur Joie (Two Weeks in September). Pic: Nana Productions/Shutterstock
Bardot instantly became a symbol of youthful rebellion, a sex symbol and a style icon – an influence that would be felt for decades, seen in the soft, eye-skimming fringes and cat eyeliner many women still turn to today.
Often compared to Marilyn Monroe but with a distinctively European cool, her femininity redefined post-war cinema, captivating audiences.
But while she starred in more than 40 films – and proved she could play much more than the seductive ingenue – by 1973, aged only 39, she walked away from the big screen.
A 1954 portrait of French actress Brigitte Bardot. (AP Photo)
Pic: Dalmas/Shutterstock
“I gave my youth and my beauty to men,” she said of her retirement. “I am going to give my wisdom and experience to animals.”
In 1986, Bardot founded the Brigitte Bardot Foundation dedicated to combatting animal cruelty, funding sanctuaries and numerous wildlife rescue operations.
Pic: Sam Levin/Regie Du Film/Del Duca/Kobal/Shutterstock
Pic: Everett/Shutterstock
In later years, she spoke of feeling “used” by the film industry and the media, saying she’d felt increasingly uncomfortable with the constant public scrutiny and the intense objectification she was subjected to.
But Bardot was also a controversial figure herself, with her image tarnished in more recent years following a book she published in 2003 entitled A Cry In Silence, for which she was prosecuted for incitement to racial hatred against Muslims.
Marking the 20th anniversary of her foundation for animal rights, The Brigitte Bardot Foundation, in 2006. Pic: AP
She went on to receive several fines over the years for alleged racism in various statements she made, often in the context of her animal campaigning, and most recently in 2021.
But she remained a popular figure to many. While activism and animal welfare were her real passions, she will be best remembered for her lasting influence on international cinema.
Published On 28 Dec 2025
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From displaced Palestinian families struggling in the cold winter in makeshift tents in Gaza, Christmas celebrations in Ukraine amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, to the historic gathering of more than one million people in Dhaka welcoming home Bangladesh’s opposition leader Tarique Rahman after his 17-year self-imposed exile, here is a look at the week in photos.
Brigitte Bardot, the French model and actress, has died at the age of 91.
After enchanting Paris as a teenage model she took French cinema by storm in the 1950s.
She then became a global icon who directors competed to work with. But she struggled in the spotlight and upon retiring turned her attention to supporting animal charities.
Later in life, she damaged her reputation with a series of convictions for race-hate crimes in France and was also criticised for homophobic comments.
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A Russian submarine was deployed alongside a spy ship to map critical undersea infrastructure around Britain, it has emerged.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has declassified a photo of the incident, which saw a submarine shadowing the Yantar, officially described as a Russian research ship, as it reportedly surveyed the gas pipeline linking Britain and Ireland. It was not clear whether the escort was one of Russia’s own purpose-built sabotage submarines.
An anti-submarine Merlin Mk2 helicopter could be seen from the photo tracking the Yantar in the Irish Sea from November last year; a British submarine also emerged from the surface nearby.
It is believed to be one of several operations where Russian submarines have accompanied the Yantar into waters close to the British Isles, according to The Sunday Times.
First sea lord general Sir Gwyn Jenkins said earlier this month that there had been a “30 per cent increase in Russian incursion in our waters” just over the last two years.
An anti-submarine Merlin Mk2 helicopter could be seen tracking the ship (MOD)
The activity is most visibly seen in the presence of spy ships like the Yantar operating near UK waters, he said, but warned: “It’s what’s going on under the waves that most concerns me.”
Just last week Sir Gwyn warned that Russia was renewing its investment in its elite deep-sea submarine division, known as GUGI. The UK sanctioned the Russian military agency, which is leading the development of Russia’s underwater intelligence gathering operations, in June this year.
An MoD Spokesperson said: “As the Defence Secretary has said, our message to President Putin is clear: We see you, we know what you are doing, and we will not shy away from robust action to protect this country.
“We are acutely aware of the threat posed by Russia, which includes attempts to map undersea cables, networks, and pipelines belonging to both the UK and our allies, and we are tackling these threats head on.
“That is why the Prime Minister set out the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, including a commitment to increase spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP from April 2027, and an ambition to spend 3 per cent of GDP in the next parliament, as economic and fiscal conditions allow.
“In addition, we have introduced 900 new sanctions against individuals, entities and ships under the Russia regime, and accelerated the development and deployment of advanced anti-submarine technology.”
The government believes its Atlantic Bastion programme, which is integrating autonomous vessels, AI-enabled sensors, warships, and aircraft to safeguard critical undersea infrastructure against evolving challenges, will help to secure the North Atlantic for the UK and NATO to counter the threat of Russia’s evolving submarine force.
NEED TO KNOW
- One woman was told she was going to be a bridesmaid in her cousin’s wedding
- Her cousin then told he she didn’t fit the “aesthetic” of her wedding, making her the “something blue” instead
- So, she turned to Reddit for advice
Navigating family expectations during weddings can be hard.
A 29-year-old woman shared on Reddit that she’s debating whether or not to attend her cousin’s wedding after being snubbed as a bridesmaid.
“I am a ‘something blue’ to my cousin for her upcoming May wedding,” she wrote, explaining that “being someone’s ‘something blue’ is a modern wedding tradition where a person is asked to wear blue as a symbolic role, often in place of or in addition to a traditional bridal party.”
“This person, or ‘something blue crew,’ is honored with a special role in the wedding, such as getting ready with the couple or participating in photos, but typically without the official duties or obligations of a bridesmaid or groomsman,” she added.
Despite being given the role, she is “considering not attending for a few reasons,” but knows her absence would “end up becoming an issue” between her and the bride, so she turned to Reddit for advice.
Stock photo of a wedding ceremony.
ozgurcankaya/Getty
She explained that her cousin had always insisted she would be in her wedding party, but then, after getting engaged, all of a sudden decided that the poster “was not part of the ‘aesthetic’ to be a bridesmaid.”
However, now that she has lost 100 lbs., the bride feels she is “more pleasing on the eyes to be part of the day,” the user wrote.
The woman noted that the wedding is also quite far away, and would either require a 10-hour drive or a shorter flight plus a two-hour drive to get there. The hotel is also 45 minutes from the reception space, and she would need accommodations back at home for her dog.
Additionally, the poster also took a pay cut after getting a new job, so she is “financially more strapped than usual.”
Lastly, she is newly single “and didn’t receive a plus one but other family did.”
“I love love. And I’m really glad she’s marrying this guy, he’s way better suited than her previous partners. And I do want to celebrate them,” she wrote. “But at the same time, I still feel slighted.”
“Was told you’ll be a bridesmaid bc I was the only one who supported this relationship at the start. I’m still overweight but way healthier so I still don’t feel I’m good enough essentially for her,” she continued.
Plus, she doesn’t “enjoy traveling with people” and would prefer to spend her money on something like “solo camping,” noting that this trip would “be a lot of money, time and effort” for something she doesn’t even know “will be enjoyable.”
People in the comments section urged the woman not to attend the wedding.
“You’re not skipping a wedding, you’re dodging a financial and emotional hostage situation. If attending requires a 10-hour drive, a dog sitter, emotional gymnastics and pretending you weren’t excluded for years, it’s not a ‘wedding,’ it’s a bill with vows. Go camping and let everyone else romanticize the chaos without you,” one person wrote.
“If you’re not at the wedding party, you definitely don’t have to be there. Tell your cousin that the new job has you strapped financially (which is true) and send a nice gift,” another person wrote.
WORLD NEWS
Brigitte Bardot dies aged 91: France’s original ‘Sex Kitten’ who found global fame with And God Created Woman before ditching acting and modelling for animal rights activism and far-right politics passes away
Brigitte Bardot has passed away aged 91.
The French former actress and singer had been ill in hospital in Toulon, according to local media.
Known as the original ‘Sex Kitten’, Bardot shot to international notoriety with her role in 1956 film And God Created Woman, which was directed by her first husband Roger Vadim.
That turn as a voluptuous, hedonistic orphan made her an object of edgy fascination for millions, even though the film itself got a mixed reaction from critics.
Described by Time magazine as France’s ‘most ogled export’, Bardot’s sex appeal was further fuelled by her outings as a model.
The star, who married and divorced three times before settling with her fourth husband Bernard d’Ormale in 1992, retired from acting in 1973 to focus on her passionate animal rights activism.
But she drew controversy with her engagement in far-right politics, which saw her endorse National Rally leader Marine Le Pen and be fined six times for inciting racial hatred.
The star was reclusive in her final years, instead preferring to remain out of the spotlight at her secluded and very private property in Saint Tropez.
Brigitte Bardot has passed away aged 91. Above: The star in 2023, one of the last times she was pictured out and about
Brigitte Bardot has passed away aged 91. Above: The star in 2023, one of the last times she was pictured out and about
Born on September 28, 1934, in Paris, Bardot initially trained as a ballet dancer at the National Superior Conservatory of Paris for Music and Dance.
At 15, she had already appeared on the front cover of France’s Elle magazine and began to establish herself as a model.
Her acting career began in 1952 when she starred in a series of small roles, but she soon began to turn heads at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953 when she frolicked on the beach in a skimpy bikini.
Brardot said: ‘Yes, I knew I was ugly as a child. I said to myself: “Well, I am ugly, so I must at least be bright and funny and have other things to compensate.”
‘I knew I had to be the best at something, otherwise I would be nothing. I knew I wanted the world to know about Brigitte Bardot.’
And the world certainly did.
Over the course of her career she starred in 47 films and recorded more than 70 songs.
Bardot’s willingness to be part of steamy on-screen scenes made her controversial. And her personal life was no different.
Brigitte Bardot leaves the Elysee Palace on crutches after meeting Brigitte Macron, July 2018
In 1992 Bardot married her husband Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to Jean-Marie Le Pen of the Front National
Pictured: Playboy Roger Vadim with Bardot on set. After meeting the model, the French film producer helped her become a star
Bardot’s parents did not initially approve of her union with Vadim but agreed to her marriage after she attempted suicide. Above: Being walked down the aisle by her father, December 19, 1952
Brigitte with her second husband, Jacques Charrier, with whom she had a son, Nicolas
Bardot had little to do with her son Nicolas during his childhood after she gave Charrier custody of him when they divorced
Bardot’s third husband was German industrialist Gunter Sachs. The couple were married between 1966 and 1969
Despite her parents’ fierce opposition, she married Vadim in 1952. The couple’s relationship lasted just five years.
After their divorce in 1957, Bardot became ensconced with actor Jacques Charrier.
By the time they married in 1959, she was already heavily pregnant with her first and only child.
Nicolas-Jacques Charrier was born on January 11, 1960. Bardot would later say: ‘I’m not made to be a mother.
‘I don’t know why I think this because I adore animals and I adore children, but I’m not adult enough – I know it’s horrible to have to admit that, but I’m not adult enough to take care of a child.
‘I need somebody to take care of me. I’m sad to have had that baby. What will be his life? People who are making babies and families now are mad. It is such a bad world.’
In 1962, Bardot’s union with Charrier ended in divorce.
She went on to marry German millionaire playboy Gunter Sachs in 1966. But that relationship was similarly short-lived. By 1969, they had divorced.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
Mathieu Vigier Latour was just 24 when he took his own life after undergoing a beard transplant which reportedly saw him fall into post-traumatic shock and suffer severe body dysmorphic disorder
Mathieu Vigier Latour, 24, took his own life just three months after the procedure – pictured before(Image: Enterprise News and Pictures)
A 24-year-old man tragically took his own life after a botched beard transplant in Turkey performed by an estate agent posing as a surgeon. Mathieu Vigier Latour opted to travel to a clinic in Istanbul for the €1,300 (£1,082) procedure – a fifth of what he would have paid in his native France.
According to his father, the business student felt assured after seeing that the clinic carried the stamp of approval from the Turkish health ministry. But the procedure was a disaster.
During the operation, 4,000 grafts were removed from the back of Mathieu’s head and transferred to his face – but the clinician lost 1,000 of the grafts. “When it started to grow out, it looked like a hedgehog. It was unmanageable,” his father Jacques Vigier Latour said in an interview with BFM TV, via The Telegraph.
READ MORE: Lawyer, 32, who helped botched plastic surgery victims dies during hair transplantREAD MORE: Brit who died after Turkey teeth and hair transplant was ‘the smile that warmed’ family
A photo of Mathieu taken after the botched procedure(Image: Enterprise News and Pictures)
He said the beard was irregular, poorly mapped out, and that hairs were growing at an unnatural angle from his son’s face. Furthermore, he said Mathieu suffered burns after the procedure and was having trouble sleeping due to the discomfort.
It was then that Mathieu carried out some more research into the surgery. He was shocked to discover that the person who performed his procedure was not a surgeon – but an estate agent.
To try to help fix the problem, his family managed to find a specialist in Belgium who was in the process of correcting the procedure. But the doctor concluded that the part of Mathieu’s scalp, where grafts had been taken, would not recover.
The student is said to have then fallen into post-traumatic shock and suffered from severe body dysmorphic disorder, a mental health condition which sees sufferers fixate obsessively over perceived defects or flaws in their appearance. “He entered a vicious circle and couldn’t get out,” his father said.
READ MORE: Inside Turkey’s ‘black market clinics’ where deadly surgeries carried out on UK tourists
His father said the beard was irregular, poorly mapped out, and that hairs were growing at an unnatural angle from his son’s face.(Image: Enterprise News and Pictures)
Tragically, three months after the initial operation, Mathieu took his own life in his student accommodation in Paris. His father said that he hoped speaking out about his son’s suicide would help further expose the dangers of low-cost medical tourism. “If this testimony could prevent this from happening again and alert everyone, I think that would be a tribute to Mathieu,” he said.
It comes after a man claimed he had been forced to quit his job after a hair transplant that allegedly left him with massive purple scars on his head. Mark Sweeney, 57, said he was promised professional treatment at the Merchant City Medical centre in Glasgow city centre, and explained taht he chose the clinic over others abroad after hearing horror stories of surgeries gone wrong.
But his dream of a full head of hair turned into an apparent nightmare when the hair transplant procedure allegedly left him with a large scar across his forehead. He says that the alleged failed operation left him unable to continue his job as a waiter because he cannot bear to face the public, and said he has to style his hair forward to hide the unsightly marks.
Mark Sweeney says his life has been destroyed because of his botched hair transplant(Image: DAILY RECORD)
Mr Sweeney, who quit his job at Glasgow’s Buttery restaurant, told the Daily Record: “They’ve ruined my life. Absolutely ruined and destroyed my life and I can’t do anything about it.” Since the transplant, he says he has been battling anxiety and depression due to his self-image. He is now on medication prescribed by his GP.
Mark, who paid £3,500 for the procedure, says he has been left with a scar on his forehead and a bald patch on the side of his head where grafts were taken. He explained: “I’m bald where they took the hair and I’m scarred at the front. I’ve got a hairline that’s low on one side. What I do now is I grow my hair long at the front and I shave the hairline to try to disguise it and cover it up.”
Merchant City Medical’s CEO Paul Mulholland confirmed that Mark had been a patient at their facility. Speaking to the Record, he added: “Mark turned up at our office yesterday and was told to leave.”
NewsFeed
Voting is under way in Myanmar’s heavily restricted election, the first since the military toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically-elected government in a coup in 2021. Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng explains the process from a polling station in Yangon.
Published On 28 Dec 2025
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Ukraine war live: Zelenskyy to meet Trump in Florida for peace talks after Russia intensifies strikes | Ukraine
Zelenskyy to meet Trump in Florida for talks on plan to end the war as new attacks reported in Ukraine
We are restarting our live coverage of the war in Ukraine as Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to meet Donald Trump for the latest round of diplomatic talks in Florida at about 1:00pm (18:00 GMT).
Their meeting at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago home will be the pair’s first in-person encounter since October, when Trump refused to grant Zelenskyy’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
The pair will discuss an updated version of a US-brokered plan to end the nearly-four year war, which Russia is yet to support.
Two private houses that caught fire as a result of a Russian attack in the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv, Ukraine, on 27 December 2025. Photograph: Oleksandr Klymenko/Ukrinform/Shutterstock
In the days before the meeting, Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s capital, using missiles and drones to attack Kyiv and try to increase the pressure on Zelenskyy.
This morning, Ukrainians again woke up to reports of strikes in parts of the country, including in Kherson, where the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said one woman was injured after Russia launched “massive shelling”.
Zelenskyy has said the priority is securing US security guarantees in order to protect Ukraine against future Russian aggression. The meeting will also likely focus heavily on management of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which has been a major sticking point so far in the negotiations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) looks on during a meeting with Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet at the White House on 17 October 2025. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Moscow controls about 75% of the Donetsk region, and about 99% of the neighbouring Luhansk (known collectively as Donbas).
At a closed-door meeting with Russia’s business elite last week, the Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly reiterated his demand that Ukraine hand over the entire eastern Donbas region as part of any peace deal.
On the key question of the future of the region, Zelenskyy, who has so far rejected any territorial concessions, has suggested a “free economic zone” was a potential option.
Moscow has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine must withdraw from all of the eastern Donbas region, even areas still under Kyiv’s control.
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Updated at 10.16 CET
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Ukraine’s leading private energy provider said on Sunday it had restored power to nearly 750,000 households in Kyiv after a Russian drone and missile barrage killed at least one person and left hundreds of thousands of people facing freezing temperatures.
DTEK said consumers on Kyiv’s right bank were back to planned power cuts but that the situation remained “more difficult” on the left bank, where emergency outages were still in force.
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Three civilians injured in Russian strikes in Kharkiv region, police say
Ukraine’s National Police has accused Russian forces of launching attacks (guided aircraft and drones) on settlements in Kharkiv, Bogodukhov, Chuguiv and Kupiansk districts over the past day. The police said three civilians in the Kharkiv region were injured and said they are documenting the “consequences of war crimes” by Russia.
The police said:
On December 27, the Russian army struck the city of Chuguiv. The strike hit a residential high-rise building. A 66-year-old woman with an acute stress reaction sought medical help.
The Russians used drones to strike the territory of the Zolochiv community. The strikes occurred in the village of Baranivka. Private houses, outbuildings, and power grids were damaged.
A UAV hit a civilian car parked near a household in the village of Petrivka. There were no injuries.
As a result of UAV strikes in the village of Velykyi Burluk, private houses were destroyed. A local resident was injured. A warehouse and a mill were also damaged.
In the middle of the day, an enemy drone hit a civilian man walking from the village of Nova Kozacha. The 50-year-old wounded man was taken to a medical facility.
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Updated at 10.18 CET
Zelenskyy to meet Trump in Florida for talks on plan to end the war as new attacks reported in Ukraine
We are restarting our live coverage of the war in Ukraine as Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to meet Donald Trump for the latest round of diplomatic talks in Florida at about 1:00pm (18:00 GMT).
Their meeting at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago home will be the pair’s first in-person encounter since October, when Trump refused to grant Zelenskyy’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
The pair will discuss an updated version of a US-brokered plan to end the nearly-four year war, which Russia is yet to support.
Two private houses that caught fire as a result of a Russian attack in the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv, Ukraine, on 27 December 2025. Photograph: Oleksandr Klymenko/Ukrinform/Shutterstock
In the days before the meeting, Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s capital, using missiles and drones to attack Kyiv and try to increase the pressure on Zelenskyy.
This morning, Ukrainians again woke up to reports of strikes in parts of the country, including in Kherson, where the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said one woman was injured after Russia launched “massive shelling”.
Zelenskyy has said the priority is securing US security guarantees in order to protect Ukraine against future Russian aggression. The meeting will also likely focus heavily on management of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which has been a major sticking point so far in the negotiations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) looks on during a meeting with Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet at the White House on 17 October 2025. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Moscow controls about 75% of the Donetsk region, and about 99% of the neighbouring Luhansk (known collectively as Donbas).
At a closed-door meeting with Russia’s business elite last week, the Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly reiterated his demand that Ukraine hand over the entire eastern Donbas region as part of any peace deal.
On the key question of the future of the region, Zelenskyy, who has so far rejected any territorial concessions, has suggested a “free economic zone” was a potential option.
Moscow has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine must withdraw from all of the eastern Donbas region, even areas still under Kyiv’s control.
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Updated at 10.16 CET
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The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute issued alerts for strong winds across large parts of northern Sweden as Storm Johannes hit
Two people have died in Sweden after a powerful winter storm swept across Nordic countries, causing travel disruption and power outages.
The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute issued alerts for strong winds for large parts of the northern half of the country as Storm Johannes hit.
One man in his 50s died after being struck by a tree in the Kungsberget ski resort in the country’s south, local media and police reported; while regional utility company, Hemab, said that one of its employees died in an accident “in the field”.
Tens of thousands of homes in Sweden, Norway and Finland have been left without power.
In Sweden, more than 40,000 homes were affected by power outages and numerous rail services were cancelled, Swedish news agency TT reported.
Several flights, rail and ferry services across parts of the Nordic nations have been cancelled.
Roads and rail services have also been disrupted due to the storm conditions.
In Norway’s Nordland region, one of the most northerly counties in the country, the fire department responded to more than 200 weather‑related incidents, broadcaster NRK reported.
Storm Johannes cut power to around 23,000 homes in Nordland and a further 9,000 were without electricity in the Inland region, NRK said.
In Finland, the storm, known there as Hannes, subsided on Sunday morning but had left more than 33,000 homes without power, according to public broadcaster Yle.
Flights at Kittila airport in northern Finland were grounded after heavy winds pushed a passenger jet and a smaller plane off the runway and into a bank of snow, the Helsinki Times reported.
The Swiss Air jet, carrying about 150 passengers, had just landed from Geneva and was taxiing when it veered off, the paper said. The smaller jet, a 400XT model, was on the ground at the same time and was also pushed off course by the wind, it added.
There have been no reported injuries.
The Swedish Transport Administration announced that many train services have been suspended until noon on Sunday.
Skip next section IAEA-brokered ceasefire holds for Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant repairs
12/28/2025December 28, 2025
IAEA-brokered ceasefire holds for Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant repairs
The International Atomic Energy Agency said that crucial repairs were underway at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, thanking both sides for a temporary pause in fighting to allow the crucial work to be carried out.
The site has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting in the conflict, prompting sporadic fears of a major nuclear disaster. Once a major supplier of Ukraine’s energy needs, the plant has been under Russian control since 2022 and is mostly shut down.
Zaporizhzhia’s equipment is powered by electricity supplied from Ukraine.
Over the past four years these supplies have been interrupted at least eleven times due to breaks in power lines, forcing the plant to switch to emergency diesel generators.
Emergency generators on site can supply electricity to keep the reactors cool if external power lines are cut.
https://p.dw.com/p/562Cb
Skip next section Lavrov: European soliders in Ukraine would be ‘legitimate’ target
12/28/2025December 28, 2025
Lavrov: European soliders in Ukraine would be ‘legitimate’ target
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovsaid that any European troops sent to Ukraine as peacekeeping forces would be a “legimate” target for his country’s military.
In comments carried by official news agency TASS, Lavrov accused European leaders of having “ambitions” for Ukraine that disregarded the will of its people. He did not specify what he meant or provide evidence for these claims.
https://p.dw.com/p/562BD
Skip next section Trump-Zelenskyy meeting: What you need to know
12/28/2025December 28, 2025
Trump-Zelenskyy meeting: What you need to know
What have the leaders of the US, Ukraine, Russia, and Europe said ahead of the talks? What are the sticking points of the peace plan? Read more here: Trump-Zelenkskyy meeting: What you need to know
https://p.dw.com/p/5623C
Skip next section Russia continues assault on eastern Ukraine, says Kyiv doesn’t want peace
12/28/2025December 28, 2025
Russia continues assault on eastern Ukraine, says Kyiv doesn’t want peace
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that it was Kyiv who wasn’t seeking a peaceful resolution to the conflict, despite continuing Russian attacks on the towns of Myrnohrad, Rodynske and Artemivka in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk,
as well as Huliaipole and Stepnohirsk in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Ukraine rejected this claim, as well as assertions from Moscow that the towns of Myrnohrad and Huliaipole had been completely captured by Russian forces.
The Ukrainian military said that the situation in these regions is “difficult” but “defensive operations” are still ongoing.
“A substantial part of Huliaipole continues to be held by the Defense Forces of Ukraine,” the Southern Command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said on Telegram, reporting “fierce fighting” in the town.
‘One third of Ukrainians do not expect war to end in 2026’
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https://p.dw.com/p/5625j
Skip next section Welcome to our coverage12/28/2025December 28, 2025
Welcome to our coverage
Good morning from the DW newsroom in Bonn.
Today, everyone is looking towards Florida where US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyywill be meeting to discuss a major diplomatic push to end the war nearly four years after Russia’s invasion began.
At the same time, fierce fighting continued in eastern Ukraine. Kyiv has denied Russian claims that it has fully captured the towns of Huliaipole and Myrnohrad.
https://p.dw.com/p/5622K
From historic firsts to shocking tragedies and viral pop-culture moments, 2025 captured the world’s attention.
Across politics, culture and global events, stories unfolded that sparked debate, grief, celebration and shock.
From the death of Charlie Kirk to the Air India crash and Blue Origin’s all-female space flight, we revisit the key stories that shook the world over the last year.
‘Tis the season for hopeful New Year’s resolutions — and keeping my apartment tidy in 2026 is at the top of my list.
I’ve found that having a dedicated space for everything makes it so much easier to stay organized, but no matter how much storage space you have, it never feels like enough. Maximizing every square inch of space with clever organizers is the key to banishing clutter — and this Amazon find is the ideal fit for transforming cluttered cabinets and shelves.
Take advantage of that newfound motivation heading into the new year — and the 40 percent discount on the Pougny Pull-Out Organizer — and add it to your cart now.
Pougny Pull-Out Under Sink Organizer, Pack of 2
Amazon
What makes this set of Pougny Pull-Out Organizers so game-changing? They help utilize otherwise unused vertical space in your cabinets, making it easy to access and take a visual inventory of all your products, which makes “eliminating clutter easy,” according to one shopper. The shelves measure 12.8 inches tall, so they can slide into most under-sink cabinets and can even be useful for organizing the pantry, too.
The bottom shelf slides out for easy access to your things without reaching around the stationary top shelf. The four hanging hooks on the side of each organizer add additional storage for scrub brushes, coffee cups, and other hanging items.
This pull-out organizer would be great for storing food or cleaning supplies in the kitchen, but it can also help you tidy up personal care items in the bathroom or detergents and stain sprays in the laundry room, and more.
“I have a small home with very minimal storage. This really helped me organize what looked like clutter,” one shopper shared, adding that it “fits well under [their] sink for all [their] cleaning products.”
“The drawers slide out smoothly, which makes it so much easier to grab what you need without pulling everything else out first. Installation was super simple, and I love that they maximize vertical space without being bulky or getting in the way of pipes,” a second shopper wrote, dubbing them a “small upgrade” that makes a “big difference.”
Grab this Pougny Under Sink Organizer while it’s on sale for just $15 at Amazon. Then keep scrolling to shop more organizational must-haves on sale at Amazon for a clutter-free new year.
More Organizers on Sale at Amazon
Criusia Acrylic Drawer Organizers, Set of 6, $20 with Prime
Amazon
Lamu 2-Tier Lazy Susan Organizer
Amazon
Mudeela Pot and Pan Organizer Rack
Amazon