The Education Minister says there are no plans to change Australia Day and called the January 26 debate a “fake fight”.

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Two years after the WTA boycotted playing events in China fearing for the safety of a star player, a major event has been moved there.

Anti-abortion protesters are the latest to receive pardons from President Donald Trump who says they should not have been prosecuted in the first place.

‘The ZIIP Halo has significantly lifted my entire face.’

‘Why she dressed like Darth Vader though?’

DOUBLE-crossing demon Charlotte Berman is one of five hopefuls scheming to win a prize pot of around £75,000 in tonight’s final of reality TV hit The Traitors.

But the marketing manager, 33, is after more than just riches as series three draws to a close in the Scottish ­Highlands’ Ardross Castle — she wants to become an all-time show great.

Eroteme

Eroteme

If Charlotte triumphs, she would be the first recruited Traitor ever to go on to win.

Series one’s last baddie standing, content creator Wilfred Webster, and series two winner Harry Clark, were both original Traitors, while Charlotte was seduced across to the dark side three episodes ago.

But she faces a tough task after Faithful Francesca Rowan-Plowden last night used her power as The Seer to learn Charlotte was a Traitor.

Here, I rate the final five’s chances of winning tonight’s final, and I now put Charlotte’s chance of success at just 25 per cent.

CHARLOTTE BERMAN, 33

She said of the game of deception and trust, pitting Traitors against Faithfuls: “Winning would be amazing. It would be cool to have a recruited Traitor winning because that hasn’t been done.

“I don’t think you can go into The Traitors thinking that you’re going to win. There are so many forces at play. It’s part luck, part skill, part randomness, and part ruthlessness.”

Her ruthlessness this week certainly shocked. She threw fellow original Traitor Minah Shannon under the bus — then last night did the same to gentle recruited Traitor Freddie Foster.

Show host Claudia Winkleman presides over the show’s prize, now £73,600 but with potentially more to come — and Charlotte added of the contest: “It is all-consuming, your life in the castle.

“It’s hard to understand on the outside, that you live and breathe the game and that explains why the emotions are so real.”

The Sun revealed at the start of the current series, which has drawn TEN MILLION viewers per episode, that Charlotte works for a TV marketing firm.

But she has since become a TV star in her own right, after taking the ­murder mystery show by storm.

She was a fairly forgettable Faithful, seemingly following the herd.

But that all changed last week after call centre manager Minah recruited her as a Traitor. Charlotte said: “I’ve been quite treacherous.

“I was trying to think about self-preservation, and about myself and my husband. I need to do whatever I can to win.”

Viewers were agog last night when she deceived politics student Freddie by fibbing about ex-soldier Leanne Quigley winning a “shield”, granting her immunity from murder.

Freddie, the show baby at age 20, revealed last night: “The moment I walked into the turret, Charlotte lied to me — so that’s snakey.

“She’s playing the game ruthlessly. I can’t believe this little innocent Welsh girl . . . no, she’s not.”

He is right, Charlotte is not Welsh.

In a highly mocked move, the Londoner who now lives in Hampshire has faked a Welsh accent because she reckons it makes her seem more trustworthy.

Laughing, she said: “I have learnt that if I ever do another TV show, I probably — most definitely — won’t do it with a fake Welsh accent. It has been exhausting, I may have permanently rewired my brain. But perhaps it has paid off.”

Tonight’s final will first see the fallout from ­Francesca learning Charlotte is a baddie.

Viewers will be on tenterhooks to see if Charlotte can pull off a TV miracle and convince ­Francesca to keep her secret.

The gang will then head towards a final Round Table where their number will be whittled away.

While series one in 2022 ended with three Faithfuls rooting out one Traitor, Wilfred, the second run climaxed in a Faithful v Traitor clash last January between ex-hospital healthcare assistant Mollie Pearce and Army ­engineer Harry, who prevailed.

Charlotte would now love to enter the Traitors hall of fame as a winner, adding: “I love being a Traitor — it’s like I have found my calling.”

TRAITOR, 25% WIN CHANCE

LEANNE QUIGLEY, 28

FORMER squaddie Leanne has dominated the game with her strong opinions, physical fitness and feisty character.

But she has won backing by also revealing a softer side and sharing the trauma of her childbirth and baby hopes for the future – as well as by fostering a canny lie that she is a nail technician, rather than an ex-soldier.

The group are all convinced of her Faithful status, so she goes into tonight’s final on full attack. If she keeps a cool head, she could take the prize.

Leanne said: “I’m overwhelmed and it was so unexpected to reach the final.

“I’m proud of myself that I haven’t slipped up on my job situation just yet.

“Alexander explained his job and I panicked. I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, it’s military-related. Is he lying about his job? Is he a military officer? Is he going to catch me out?’ So my head was spinning.

“Every day for me was just surviving. I just wanted to make it to breakfast. I wanted to complete another mission and that’s all I had in my head.

“Before I knew it, we were at the final.

“I need to have a bit more confidence in myself – that I can do more than I think I can.

“That first day, I was just wondering, ‘How did I even get here? How was I picked?’

“It’s something for my little boys to look back at in a couple of years and think, ‘Wow, my mum did that’.”

FAITHFUL, 50% WIN CHANCE

JAKE BROWN, 28

PROJECT manager Jake has remained a solid voice throughout the game but often felt over-shadowed by a dominant group of lads in Joe, Tyler and Dan.

Eventually, though, the group listened to his sharp reasoning about Traitor Linda and it led to her demise.

It meant this week his fellow Faithfuls voted him as the show’s most influential player.

But he appears to have lost the thread of who could be a Traitor, being blindsided by Minah’s identity as a baddie while the others all saw the light.

Jake said: “I don’t think you can beat the feeling of getting a Traitor out. Getting Linda out was a highlight of mine because I had been hunting her from day one.

“That feeling of joy when we got her out was magical.

“I thought I’d be lucky to get past the first week but it helps when you spot a Traitor early on.

“I knew I needed luck, but a lot of it is building friendships and relationships and there is skill involved, finding Traitors and being good at Missions. I’d be over the moon to win, though.”

Jake, who was born with cerebral palsy, added: “One of the big reasons I came on the show was to represent the cerebral palsy and disability communities, showing anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

“I’ve realised how resilient I am – that you need to understand people and their different personalities, and how that affects their decision-making.”

FAITHFUL, 50% WIN CHANCE

ALEXANDER DRAGONETTI, 38

FORMER British diplomat Alexander’s intelligence, quirky humour and rugged good looks have seen him become a favourite with viewers.

He was never better than in his brilliant gameplay last night, as he won Francesca’s trust by aiding her crusade to win the power of The Seer by donating his own coins.

But he has had a rotten run of luck throughout the game, including being dumped from the train during episode one and gathering heat through his involvement in the Death Match.

It means he could be in line for banishment tonight, but his ingenuity and winning over powerful Francesca may save him from the chop.

Alexander said: “I’ve been lucky to find a crew of people at each stage of the game who have given me enough support – both emotional and votes at the table. It has been really fun, but also incredibly intense. It feels like threading a needle to get to this point.

“I’ve been tripped up enough in life, working in conflict zones in the Middle East or Africa.

“I know that to remain open-minded is important, as is being able to adapt.

“I feel like I’ve taken a lot of self-learning out of this.

“A day inside the game is worth a month of learning about yourself on the outside.

“Winning the show would be the cherry on top of the cake.”

FAITHFUL, 75% WIN CHANCE

FRANCESCA ROWAN-PLOWDEN, 44

INTERIOR designer Francesca has been the group’s least successful Traitor-hunter – and identified her first only last night when the group cornered Freddie.

But all that changed when she used a major weapon in her arsenal, having won the power of The Seer.

It meant she was able to confirm the identity of a player of her choosing – and she picked Traitor Charlotte.

We will see how Francesca uses that information tonight, but as a trusted and much-liked Faithful, it looks like the game is now hers to lose.

She said: “I honestly didn’t think I’d make it past the first day.

“Every time, I thought, ‘Right, tonight is the night I’m going to get murdered or banished – and the next day I was still there.’ I did think it would probably be quite intense, which it was.

“I also underestimated just how emotional it can be and how immersive the experience is.

“But I’ve learnt so much about myself.

“I’ve learnt that in some cases I can sometimes underestimate myself, but I can also push myself.

“I’ve also learnt that my way of playing the game was to be myself and to be kind and caring, and that goes a long way.

“It would be so lovely for my sons to see me win and to see me doing something different – to prove to them that anything is possible. On a personal level as well, it’s probably one of the greatest challenges I’ve ever taken on.

“So to win would mean a lot to me, for my sense of self.”

FAITHFUL, 75% WIN CHANCE

TWISTED Axel Rudakubana downloaded an al-Qaeda manual on how to kill with a knife after slowly turning “uncontrollably evil”.

As well as knives and arrows, police found images of conflicts and details of genocides he had stored on his laptops after withdrawing from life into his bedroom.

PA

Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana downloaded an al-Qaeda manual on how to kill with a knife[/caption]

Merseyside Police

Police found arrows in Axel’s bedroom[/caption]

One tablet device contained details of ethnic cleansing in Somalia, a history of Nazism and violence in Chechnya.

Shortly before the murders, he also searched on X for videos of an April 2024 stabbing of a bishop and five others in a church in Sydney.

Yet Rudakubana, in his early school years, had been a model pupil who loved to sing and dance.

His behaviour slowly turned and in 2019 he was expelled from school in Formby, Merseyside, after taking in a knife.

Mental health experts and social workers tried to help, resulting in an autism diagnosis, but the teenager refused to engage and waded into the cesspit of inhumanity available online.

He became increasingly unwilling to leave his house or speak to his parents or older brother.

A source said: “He became obsessed with wars, conflicts and the most appalling atrocities.

“Just as some children are fixated on football, he was the same about genocidal killers.

“He read up on things obsessively. The nastier it was, the more interesting he found it. It’s chilling how he went from being an apparently normal Year 9 kid to becoming just uncontrollably evil”.

Det Supt Matt Smith, of Merseyside Police, said: “His actions were premeditated. He wasn’t ‘fighting for the cause’.

“His only purpose was to kill and he targeted the youngest, most vulnerable, no doubt to spread the greatest level of fear and outrage.”