It might still be too early for some, but with Halloween over, Christmas is well and truly on the way, and a wave of misinformation about the festive season is also on its way.

A picture going around online and shared on social media in multiple European languages, allegedly shows a small German Christmas market surrounded by police, vehicles and fences.

The captions shared with the photo lament that Christmas markets in Europe now have to be so heavily protected from terrorist attacks, with some baselessly blaming immigration or “diversity”.

However, the image has clearly been AI-generated: zooming into people’s faces, and text like the vehicles’ registration plates, shows that they are blurred and distorted.

Additionally, in the bottom right-hand corner of the picture, we can just about see the logo of Gemini, Google’s AI assistant, proving that it was artificially created.

Those sharing the photo appear to want to whip up fear off the back of real attacks that have targeted German Christmas markets in the past, such as the attack in Berlin in 2016 and the attack in Magdeburg last year.

The former saw a terrorist drive a lorry into the market, killing 12 and leaving more than 50 injured, while in the latter, a man drove an SUV into the crowd, killing six and injuring more than 300.

The incidents have also sparked other misleading narratives related to the markets, most notably false claims that Germany is cancelling all its Christmas markets due to fears over immigration and terrorism.

We can easily check this by visiting the tourism office websites belonging to the cities where Germany hosts some of its most iconic markets.

The city of Cologne, for example, whose Christmas markets welcome around 4 million people a year, is still clearly preparing to celebrate the festivities from mid-November.

The same is true of Frankfurt, which clearly indicates the dates its market will be open.

To be sure, both cities confirmed when contacted by The Cube that they will be hosting their Christmas markets as well.

Unfortunately, some German Christmas markets will indeed be closed this year, but not due to concerns over potential terrorist attacks.

Visitors to the popular market in Dortmund’s Bodelschwingh Castle will have to wait until 2027 to celebrate as, according to its website, the castle is undergoing repairs.

Elsewhere, market operators in Rahlstedt have cited diminishing returns as a reason for cancelling their market, as stallholders failed to make enough money to justify holding the market again.

Despite the news of some smaller markets being shut down for various reasons, the vast majority in Germany will still go ahead, complete with comprehensive, reasonable, and often increased security measures. These include things such as erecting concrete barriers, hiring extra security staff and conducting bag checks.

Funny thing about success: It never quite looks the way it’s supposed to. From childhood, we’re taught to seek it, work toward it, and achieve it at all costs. We expect it to arrive wrapped in corner offices, tailored suits, and Champagne towers tumbling in slow motion. But what became clear as we put together our third annual Success Issue is that, for those featured in these pages, it’s less a destination than a kind of sovereignty—the freedom to ignore convention, to take the detour, or to even celebrate the ordinary with gusto. In their telling, success lives in joy, in transformation, in the courage to step outside prescribed lanes, and sometimes simply in the work itself. It’s far more interesting—and, it should be said, intangible—than the clichés ever allow.

Which brings us, fittingly, to Lenny Kravitz. In her profile, Jazmine Hughes finds the rocker in Topanga Canyon, fresh from his Las Vegas residency. He recalls the SoHo loft he once lined with scavenged mirrors, a sanctuary built on instinct rather than on means. The same impulse to make has carried him through the years—to Grammy-winning songs, into his own design studio, and to the fruit trees he tends
on his Bahamian property. Success, he tells Hughes, isn’t about possessions or trophies but about the act of creating—whether it’s a song, a space, or (judging by a six-pack that would knock Father Time on his back) a body kept in fighting form. One thing is certain: At 61, slowing down is nowhere on the set list. 

Mastery, in some cases, can come with a knowing wink, as staff writer Tori Latham discovers. Aldo Sohm spends his days curating rare vintages for Eric Ripert at New York City’s acclaimed Le Bernardin, yet on a Caribbean beach he happily stumbled upon the charms of Whispering Angel, a $20 rosé. The admission might unsettle a more self-serious sommelier, but Sohm’s gift is that he never confuses expertise with pretense. Robb Report’s lifestyle director, Justin Fenner, meanwhile, catches up with Dr. Barbara Sturm, who reigns over a multimillion-dollar skincare empire built on regenerative medicine from her chalet in Gstaad. Despite the alpine trappings and celebrity devotees, she waves it off with a shrug: Life, she says, is “a journey that can be adjusted.”

Success can also look a lot like reinvention. Digital editor Nicole Hoey captures Yankees legend Bernie Williams in a second act every bit as ambitious as his first. After four World Series rings, he returned to school at age 45 to pursue his other love, jazz guitar—trading the roar of the Bronx for the quiet rigor of the conservatory and performances on world-class stages. Ben Oliver, for his part, follows Lynn Calder, who stepped out of petrochemicals and into the driver’s seat at Ineos Automotive, charged with turning billionaire Jim Ratcliffe’s pub-born notion into a marque positioned to spar with Land Rover.

And then there’s Stephen Carter. Staff writer Abigail Montanez spotlights the production designer who gave Succession its now-canonical look of stealth wealth: penthouses hushed to the point of menace, boardrooms gleaming with the chill of power, even dinner tables set with illicit songbirds sculpted from marzipan. Yet off set, he’s more likely to be found at a punk show in Brooklyn than at a gallery opening in Chelsea.

The stories here remind us that success laughs in the face of easy definition. It can be playful or exacting, public or private, rooted in discipline or sparked by a sketch on a napkin over a pint at the corner bar. What it rarely is, however, is predictable—and maybe that’s what makes it worth chasing in the first place.

Enjoy the issue.

Top: Artist Peter Uka’s portrait Lenny, Familiar Corner (2025) in his studio in Cologne, Germany.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced Sunday Israel has received the remains of three Israeli hostages from Hamas through the Red Cross and confirmed they were recovered by IDF and Shin Bet forces inside the Gaza Strip, according to a statement.

The announcement said the bodies would be transferred to Israel, where they will be honored in a military ceremony led by the Chief Military Rabbi.

Afterward, the bodies will be taken to the National Center of Forensic Medicine of the Ministry of Health for identification. Once the process is completed, official notifications will be delivered to the families, the statement said.

All families of the deceased hostages have been informed, and the government expressed deep condolences with the statement saying its “hearts are with them at this difficult time.”

The official statement also reaffirmed Israel’s ongoing commitment to bringing all hostages home and declared that efforts will continue “relentlessly and will not cease until the last hostage is brought home.”

The Israeli public was also urged to respect the families’ privacy and avoid spreading unverified information, with updates provided only from official sources.

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