BBC’s Stranded on Honeymoon Island tests whether love can flourish ‘in toughest of conditions’, says Davina McCall

The new BBC series Stranded on Honeymoon Island is a “social experiment” about the reality of marriage that will teach audiences about “moving forward with your life”, its host, Davina McCall, has said.

Made by the producers of Married at First Sight UK, the show features 12 singles looking for lifelong love who are matched with someone on a speed date and “married”. They are then stranded on a tropical island dressed only in their wedding outfit for a three-week honeymoon without phones, luxuries, family or friends.

François Bayrou to seek parliamentary backing for his unpopular plans to shore up France’s public finances

France’s embattled prime minister looks likely to be ousted and his government toppled next month in a high-stakes confidence vote that could plunge the EU’s second-biggest economy into even deeper political crisis.

François Bayrou said on Monday that he would seek parliamentary backing for his unpopular plans to shore up France’s ailing public finances on 8 September, asking deputies to “confirm the scale” of spending cuts he says are needed to save €44bn (£38bn) a year.

Police say musician charged at them when they confronted him for walking naked down an LA street last week

Lil Nas X was charged on Monday with four felonies after police say he charged at them when they confronted him for walking naked down a Los Angeles street last week.

Prosecutors charged the musician, whose legal name is Montero Lamar Hill, with three counts of battery with injury on a police officer and one felony count of resisting an executive officer, the district attorney’s office said. He was initially booked on suspicion of misdemeanor obstructing an officer on Friday.

Angela Eagle accuses other parties of offering ‘fag packet plans’ as ministers face mounting pressure on immigration

The Home Office has promised a “big surge” in asylum hotel closures in the new year, with five more to shut in the coming months, as ministers face mounting pressure over the government’s record on immigration.

Speaking after a weekend of protests and counter-protests over the use of hotels to house asylum seekers, Home Office minister Angela Eagle said the government had inherited a “border security system in tatters” and accused opposition parties of offering “the fag packet plans without the substance on delivery”.

Lawsuit accuses companies of ‘conspiracy to monopolize markets for smartphones and generative AI chatbots’

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI is suing OpenAI and Apple over allegations that they are engaging in anticompetitive conduct. The lawsuit, filed in a Texas court on Monday, accuses the companies of “a conspiracy to monopolize the markets for smartphones and generative AI chatbots”.

Musk had earlier this month threatened to sue Apple and OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, after claiming that Apple was “making it impossible” for any other AI companies to reach the top spot on its app store. Musk’s xAI makes the Grok chatbot, which has struggled to become as prominent as ChatGPT.

Ismael Zambada was co-founder of Sinaloa cartel led by Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, now imprisoned in US

The Mexican drug lord Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges as well as running a criminal enterprise on Monday, more than a year since he was arrested in Texas after what has been described as a kidnapping.

“I recognize the great harm illegal drugs have done to the people in the United States and Mexico,” the 77-year-old Zambada said in court through a Spanish-language interpreter. “I apologize for all of it, and I take responsibility for my actions.”