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Smallville star Allison Mack to speak publicly for the first time about NXIVM s*x cult in new CBC podcast series (Image via Getty) Allison Mack, the former Smallville actress who played Chloe Sullivan from 2001 to 2011, is finally ready to talk about her life inside the NXIVM sex cult. The 42-year-old was one of the top leaders under cult founder Keith Raniere, who is serving a 120-year prison sentence. Mack was arrested in 2018, pleaded guilty in 2019 to racketeering charges for helping recruit women, and was released from prison in July 2023 after serving 21 months. She will now tell her story in her own voice for the first time in a new podcast.Why did Allison Mack join Keith Raniere’s NXIVM s*x cult?Allison Mack first joined NXIVM in 2006 after attending a women’s program called Jness. She slowly became close to Keith Raniere and rose to second-in-command of a secret group inside NXIVM known as DOS. That group was presented to women as a female empowerment club, but in reality it i..

AdvertisementArtificial intelligenceTechTech TrendsChinese start-up MiniMax launches record-breaking AI model, challenges Google DeepMindMiniMax M2 has achieved an unprecedented score for an open model on Artificial Analysis’s overall intelligence index
Reading Time:2 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPVincent ChowPublished: 7:00am, 28 Oct 2025MiniMax, a leading Chinese artificial intelligence start-up, released on Monday the M2, which ranks as the world’s leading open model on a prominent leaderboard.AdvertisementMiniMax M2 achieved an unprecedented score for an open model on Artificial Analysis’s overall intelligence index, placing it among the top five models globally. It surpassed Google DeepMind’s Gemini 2.5 Pro, released in June, and sat below leading models from US companies OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI.
With 200 billion parameters, MiniMax M2 adopts the Mixture-of-Experts architecture, which has significantly enhanced the efficiency of Chinese AI models over the past year.
The model act..

AdvertisementUnited StatesWorldUnited States & CanadaFlight delays soar past 4,300 as US government shutdown continuesMounting delays and cancellations are fuelling public frustration, raising pressure on lawmakers to resolve the government’s budget impasse
Reading Time:2 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPReutersPublished: 6:18am, 28 Oct 2025Air travel turmoil deepened with more than 4,300 flights delayed nationwide on Monday following more than 8,800 delays on Sunday, with air traffic controller absences surging as the federal government shutdown reached its 27th day.
AdvertisementThe Federal Aviation Administration cited staffing shortages affecting flights across the Southeast and at Newark Airport in New Jersey, while the agency imposed a ground stop at Austin Airport in Texas and a ground delay programme at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport that delayed flights by an average of 18 minutes.
Southwest Airlines had 47 per cent, or 2,089, of its flights delayed on Sunday, while Ameri..

The recent romantic connection between former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and pop star Katy Perry is taking the internet by storm. Beyond their personal lives, this relationship raises intriguing questions about the intersection of celebrity culture and political branding.Trudeau is often dubbed the “first prime minister of the Instagram age,” and has adeptly utilized social media to craft a relatable and progressive image, according to the Guardian. His strategic use of platforms like Instagram has allowed him to connect with younger audiences. Values such as inclusivity and environmental consciousness are no strangers to him. This approach has been instrumental in shaping his political persona and public perception.Perry is known for her outspoken political stances and activism, and has similarly leveraged her celebrity status to influence public discourse, according to the Varierty. Her support for various social causes and political figures has demonstrated the power of ..

Simon van Teutem is a 27-year-old Dutch author, journalist, and Oxford graduate who has become a prominent voice in the global debate over how and why Gen Z talent ends up in elite corporate jobs that often feel unfulfilling. Instead of accepting lucrative offers from McKinsey and Morgan Stanley after graduation, he chose a different path: investigating the psychological, social and economic forces that steer the smartest students into a narrow set of careers.The turning point: leaving the corporate fast trackVan Teutem studied politics and economics at Oxford University, where he saw his peers funnelled into consulting, investment banking and corporate law. What troubled him most was not the prestige of these paths but how inevitable they felt. In interviews, he has said that most students believed they had limitless choices but still selected from the same small handful of firms. After internships at BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley and McKinsey, he realised that he too had become part of..

AdvertisementAmericas and the CaribbeanWorldAmericasUS warship docks in Trinidad and Tobago, putting more pressure on VenezuelaThe visit comes a week after the US embassy in Trinidad and Tobago warned Americans to stay away from US government facilities there
Reading Time:2 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPAssociated PressPublished: 7:02am, 27 Oct 2025A US warship docked in Trinidad and Tobago’s capital on Sunday as the Trump administration boosts military pressure on neighbouring Venezuela and its President Nicolas Maduro.
AdvertisementThe arrival of the USS Gravely, a guided missile destroyer, in the capital of the Caribbean nation is in addition to the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford, which is moving closer to Venezuela.Maduro criticised the movement of the carrier as an attempt by the US government to fabricate “a new eternal war” against his country.
US President Donald Trump has accused Maduro, without providing evidence, of being the leader of the organised crime gang Tren de Ara..

AdvertisementHong Kong politicsHong KongPoliticsBeijing’s liaison office vows to help Hong Kong efforts on national developmentLiaison office also stresses importance of studying and applying ‘spirit’ of the country’s recent political leadership meeting
Reading Time:1 minuteWhy you can trust SCMPJiang ChuqinPublished: 7:00am, 27 Oct 2025Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong has pledged to support the city’s integration into national development plans while stressing the importance of studying and applying the “spirit” of the country’s recent political leadership meeting, which will shape policymaking over the next five years.
AdvertisementThe head of the central government’s liaison office, Zhou Ji, conveyed on Saturday the guiding ideology of the fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and laid out the work requirements for the city. The plenary session concluded on Thursday.
The meeting, which was attended by the heads of various departmen..

Hurricane Melissa Jamaica Hurricane Melissa has rapidly intensified into a Category 1 hurricane as it approaches Jamaica, marking a significant escalation in the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. With sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h) and a slow-moving trajectory of just 1 mph (2 km/h), Melissa poses a serious threat to the island nation. Jamaican officials have issued urgent warnings, urging residents to prepare for potential catastrophic flooding, landslides, and extended power outages. The National Hurricane Center forecasts that Melissa could strengthen into a major hurricane by early next week, making it one of the most powerful storms to impact Jamaica in recent history.Hurricane Melissa overview and forecastAs of October 25, 2025, at 2:00 PM EDT, Hurricane Melissa was located approximately 145 miles southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. The storm is moving very slowly to the west-northwest at 1 mph (2 km/h), which increases the duration of its impact on the region. The National Hurri..

Image Via Instagram After a long hiatus, former OTK co-founder and popular Twitch streamer Rich Campbell has returned to the platform, igniting excitement across the streaming community. During a recent test stream, Campbell revealed that he now has a job and is in the process of determining his streaming schedule. His reappearance marks the first time he’s publicly streamed since stepping away in late 2022, following a period of legal challenges and controversy that kept him off the platform.Rich Campbell comeback stream marks new beginning and streaming plansCampbell’s brief test stream offered a glimpse into what could be a full return to content creation. While keeping the stream low-key, he addressed viewers directly, sharing that he has secured a job and will need to balance work responsibilities with streaming. The announcement shows a measured approach to his return, indicating that he is cautiously stepping back into the spotlight rather than resuming a full streaming schedule..

AdvertisementUS-China relationsWorldUnited States & CanadaTrump targets ‘complete deal’ with China when he meets XiThe US president said he may also discuss a decline in Chinese purchases of Russian oil, as he seeks to pressure Moscow on Ukraine
Reading Time:2 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPBloombergPublished: 6:06am, 26 Oct 2025US President Donald Trump said he may discuss a decline in Chinese purchases of Russian oil with Xi Jinping following US sanctions on two major oil companies and expressed disappointment with Vladimir Putin over his conduct of the war in Ukraine.
AdvertisementTrump, speaking to reporters en route to Asia to meet world leaders, including Xi, said he hopes his talks on Thursday with the Chinese president would yield “a complete deal”.
An increasingly acrimonious stand-off between the US and China over trade, tech and raw material restrictions has raised the stakes for Trump’s trip to Asia. Trump and Xi plan to meet during an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit..