Bronx-born musician and producer Judy Torres remembers the first time she heard Nayobe’s 1985 song “Please Don’t Go”: the upbeat dance track with an infectious bass line and love-struck lyrics that pleaded with a lover to stay close.

“ I was floored at how beautiful of a vocalist she was,” said Torres of the Afro-Cuban artist, who hailed from Brooklyn but found a musical home in the genre known as freestyle. Though sometimes dubbed as “Latin freestyle” or “Latin hip-hop,” thanks to the many Latino vocalists who came to shape its sound, some fanatics trace the origins of the electro-funk genre to “Let the Music Play,” the 1983 smash hit by D.C. singer Shannon.

As Torres puts it, this distinctly 1980s sound — crafted with synthetic instrumentation and syncopated percussions sourced from Roland TR-808 drum machines, as popularized by Afrika Bambaataa’s 1982 single “Planet Rock” — didn’t have a label then. “It was just music,” she says.

But by 1993, as prominent radio stations transitioned from dance-pop to hip-hop and R&B, the freestyle movement fizzled out.

“Like a record scratch, there were no shows,” added Torres.

The genre’s vibrant, knotty history of set the scene for the musical-dance production of “Freestyle: A Love Story,” of which Torres is a co-producer. Created and directed by George Valencia — alongside his wife, “Scrubs” actor Judy Reyes as executive producer, plus “Ugly Betty” actor Ana Ortiz as co-producer — “Freestyle: A Love Story” will make its Los Angeles debut on Nov. 6 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

The musical tells the fictional story of two middle-aged Caribbean Latinos, who reunite during a nostalgic night at a Freestyle Extravaganza at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. As 808 kicks echo through the atmosphere, the pair is transported back to 1987: the night they fell in love at a bass-thumping freestyle show.

Proceeds from the night will benefit the Sound of GOL Foundation, an organization founded by George Valencia and Judy Reyes that supports Latina soccer players.

(From George Valencia)

“The idea of telling a love story and having that love story run parallel with the actual musical movement of freestyle, which lasted nine years, is basically the whole framework of the play,” said Valencia to De Los.

Proceeds from the night will benefit the Sound of GOL Foundation: an organization founded by Valencia and Reyes, which supports Latina soccer players.

“Right now, in a time that is looking very dark for Latinos in the United States, I want people to take away that our history has proven time and time again that no matter what they do to us, they can’t take away our revolutionary joy,” added Valencia, making mention of the Trump administration’s mass immigration sweeps.

The production will star “One Day at a Time” actors Justina Machado and James Martinez as the former lovers — as well as Torres and K7, a.k.a. Louis Sharpe, frontman of the Latin freestyle group TKA, who will further bring the artists’ perspectives into the narrative.

“It’s the music that was a part of our everyday life,” Machado told De Los. “Wherever there was a huge Latino population, I think it was kind of a rite of passage.”

Machado was particularly obsessed with Lisa Velez, the lead vocalist of Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, who took freestyle to new heights. The group’s breakout 1985 single “I Wonder if I Take You Home” echoed in the dance clubs before crossing over into mainstream radio and landing the No. 34 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.

Their flamboyant track “Head to Toe,” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1987, making it the first time a Latina vocalist (as part of a group) topped the chart.

“When I was on ‘One Day at a Time,’ they knew I loved Lisa Lisa so much they hired her to perform at the wrap party for Season 1,” recalled Machado. “I have a video from 10 years ago, where I am just freaking out — ‘Is that Lisa Lisa?’ I swear I saw nobody else. It was just me and Lisa Lisa … She was my hero.”

Torres said she lost her mind when someone told her Lisa Lisa was Puerto Rican, just like herself. She recalled thinking: “If she can do it, maybe I can do it,”

By 1996, Torres would release her first single, “No Reason to Cry,” a punchy, melodramatic dance track ghostly vocals that reassure someone of her love.

That song reached No. 30 on the Billboard Hot Dance chart the following year. The track was the lead single from her 1989 debut album, “Love Story,” an electrifying project that sonically transports listeners into dramatic telenovela scenarios.

“Freestyle was the original Latin explosion, because it was created in New York, by the people of New York,” said Torres. “It was street kids, Hispanic kids. All of a sudden, the fans were realizing, ‘Wait a minute — this music represents us, the artists look like us.’ It took off so quickly that many of us were signed by major record labels. We were performing all over the country. We had several shows a weekend.”

Still, prominent Latino artists with Spanish surnames, including Torres, were often told they had to change their last name in order to appeal to pop radio stations. She included these experiences into monologues during “Freestyle: A Love Story.”

“Freestyle music was never given flowers,” said Judy Torres.

(From George Valencia)

The artist known as Soavé, who sang the hypnotic 1989 hit “Crying Over You,” revealed to music magazine Wax Poetics in 2010 that his birth name, which is Jeffrey Martinez, “wouldn’t have sold a record.”

Meanwhile, Puerto Rican singer George Lamond, whose 1990 single “Bad of the Heart” peaked at No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, professed that he dropped his surname, Garcia, at the behest of his label, Colombia Records. In an interview with Youtuber Honey German, the artist said the label argued that he needed to be more marketable to audiences — but in reality, they didn’t know how to market an artist who was neither Black nor white.

“Now, did I get airplay on the pop stations? No. Is it because I decided to keep [the name] Torres? I’ll never know that,” said Torres. “In a way, we opened the doors [for future Latin stars], because now it’s common for us to hear the last names. Jennifer Lopez, Selena Gomez, Christina Aguilera.”

Torres acknowledged that “freestyle music was never given [its] flowers.” But with “Freestyle: A Love Story,” fans and artists alike can take “a  trip back into time” and revel in its glory for an evening.

“I can’t change it,” said Torres of freestyle’s eventual sunset. “So I have to choose how I’m gonna move forward.”

Nov. 3, 2026 10:52 AM PT

We’re tracking races across California, including elections for U.S. congressional districts that were recently redistricted. Results for governor, statewide ballot measures and officers such as the attorney general and insurance commissioner, as well as state Senate and Assembly contests are available on this page.

Initial results are expected shortly after the polls close at 8 p.m.

Races are called by the Associated Press, which surveys the numbers posted by local election officials and projects the winner using vote returns and other data. Landslide victories may be called within minutes of the polls closing. Or it can take several days for a winner to be known.

Every registered voter in the state receives a ballot by mail. Ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 have seven days to be delivered and counted. Results from provisional and conditional ballots also take longer and will be added to the tally once they are cleared.

The secretary of state will certify results in early December.

Governor

The election to determine California’s next governor has narrowed to two candidates: Xavier Becerra, a Democrat and veteran of California politics, and Steve Hilton, a Republican immigrant and ally of President Trump.

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Statewide races

Statewide races include lieutenant governor, insurance commissioner, state schools superintendent and controller. Incumbents including Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber are running for new terms.

In California, not all legislation is decided by lawmakers and the governor. This election, voters are tasked with evaluating a laundry list of 14 propositions as part of the state’s direct democracy process.

Some ballot measures have garnered national attention. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent in opposition to Proposition 40’s billionaire tax (and in support of the two counter measures, Propositions 41 and 42). Proposition 39 draws Californians into the national conversation about election integrity by asking voters to consider a strict voter ID requirement.

Propositions

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Board of Equalization

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U.S. House

We’re tracking election results for all of the state’s 52 U.S. House districts.

California’s congressional map was redrawn last year after the passage of Proposition 50. Several seats are expected to flip from red to blue because of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting effort. In some cases, districts were moved slightly and incumbents remain unchallenged. However, in one area, lines have been redrawn with no overlap at all with their current boundaries: Rep. Ken Calvert’s 41st District in the Inland Empire was eliminated and completely redrawn in Los Angeles County. Calvert is now challenging Republican incumbent Young Kim in the 40th District. Both are marked as incumbents on the table below.

Several races are competitive, according to the Cook Political Report’s House Ratings.

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State Senate

Half of the 40 seats in the California Senate are up for election. Republicans and independents who caucus with them would need to gain three seats to block a Democratic supermajority.

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State Assembly

All 80 seats in the California Assembly are up for election. Republicans and allied independents would need to gain seven seats to prevent Democrats from retaining a supermajority for a sixth consecutive term.

WITH top deals spanning now across three days – Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Travel Tuesday – it can be hard to cut through it all to find the best offers.

And while you might be tempted to fork out hundreds on the latest gadget, the reality is you could get a holiday for the same price.

Fortunately, Jet2Holidays has revealed the bargain holidays that cost the same as some of the trendiest gadgets around at the moment.

So instead of getting a high-tech face mask to relax, why not book one of these six relaxing holidays instead?

Swap a Ninja CREAMi Scoop & Swirl £273.99 for seven-nights in Portugal

While it might be tempting to get creating your own ice cream and acai bowls with a Ninja CREAMi Scoop and Swirl, this high-tech kitchen accessory will set you back around £273.99 this Black Friday.

Instead, book a trip to the Algarve in Portugal for a few quid more.

Read more on travel inspo

GO ON

All the little-known websites for cheap or FREE tickets to gigs, theatre & festivals

CHEAP BREAKS

UK’s best 100 cheap stays – our pick of the top hotels, holiday parks and pubs

For £279 per person, you could stay at the three-star Parque Mourabel Oasis Village for a week.

The village has around 180 apartments and there are three pools, including a dedicated children’s pool.

You’d depart from Manchester Airport on November 28 and 22kg luggage would also be included.

And instead of making your own ice cream, you can have it made for you… by the sea.

Swap a Shark CryoGlow LED face mask £248.95 for seven-nights in Malta

If you fancy pampering yourself, you might be tempted to buy Shark’s LED face mask for £248.95 this Black Friday – but why don’t you opt for a holiday as a form of self-care?

For £299 per person, you could head to Malta, instead for seven-nights staying at the four-star Maritim Antonine Hotel.

The 280-room hotel sits on the slopes of Mellieha and has panoramic views of the Mediterranean Sea.

It has three pools and an exclusive adults-only pool as well.

In Malta itself you can explore honey-coloured Baroque architecture as well as the fortified capital city.

You’d depart from London Stansted Airport on December 7 and 22kg luggage would also be included.

Swap a Sonos Beam soundbar (Gen 2) £335 for seven-nights in Turkey

Instead of listening to the sea through a Sonos Beam Soundbar for £335 you could listen to the real sea in Turkey.

For £319 per person, you could stay at the three-star Twenty Hotel for seven nights in the Antalya Area.

The hotel sits in the heart of the Old Town in Antalya and has an open air roof terrace which looks out to the Taurus Mountains.

Near the hotel you can head to the marina as well as explore Kaleiçi Old Town which is home to several ancient Roman ruins.

Then stop by Mermerli Plajı for a dip in the sea and some local food at one of the waterside restaurants.

You’d depart from Edinburgh Airport on December 11 and 22kg luggage would also be included.

Swap a Dyson Airwrap i.d. multi-styler and dryer £329.99 for seven-nights in Majorca

Instead of waving your hair with a Dyson Airwrap multi-styler for £329.99, opt for the natural beach waves you’d get in Majorca.

For £319 per person, you could spend seven-nights in Majorca, Spain, at the three-star Bellevue Bonita And Club Resort for seven-nights.

The resort is Europe’s largest family hotel complex, spanning 250,000 square metres.

The entire resort acts as a mini town with shops, restaurants and even a theatre.

The apartments all feature a modern interior and have different layouts ideal for families.

You’d depart from Bristol Airport on April 7, 2027 and 22kg luggage would also be included.

Swap a Sony PlayStation 5 console £389.99 for seven-nights in Greece

Instead of playing in a pretend world on a Sony PlayStation 5 console for £389.99 you could play in the real world but in Corfu, Greece.

For £399 per person, you could stay at the three-star Royal Garden Kavos for seven-nights.

The resort features different apartments and studios, as well as an outdoor pool with a deck area.

Nearby you can explore the town of Kavos, where there are a load of restaurants selling local cuisine.

And of course, you won’t be short of beaches.

You’d depart from Glasgow Airport on May 24, 2027 and 22kg luggage would also be included.

Swap a Ninja Luxe Café Pro Series ES701UK £549.99 for seven-nights in Gran Canaria

If you’re a big coffee drinker, a Ninja Luxe Cafe Pro for £549.99 could be tempting but why not drink coffee in the Canary Islands instead?

For £539 per person, you could stay at the three-star Cala Dor Gran Canaria for seven-nights in Gran Canaria.

The hotel features self-catering apartments with private balconies and many have sea or valley views.

In the complex, there is also a sun terrace, pool and children’s pool.

Nearby, head on a 15 minute walk to Puerto Rico Beach and the marina.

You’d depart from Glasgow Airport on May 29, 2027 and 22kg luggage would also be included.

Jesus de Miguel’s family said “the mark he has left on so many people” is something they will always remember as the footballer’s funeral took place on Thursday.

The Tenerife forward, who was 30, died after suffering a serious injury during a Spanish second division match on Monday.

After colliding with the FC Andorra goalkeeper, De Miguel lay motionless on the pitch while being treated by medical staff and was taken to hospital, where the father-of-one died at 07:00 GMT on Tuesday.

Goalkeeper Jesus Owono was sent off for the challenge and the game was abandoned.

In the hours after the death was announced, mourners laid flowers and lit candles beneath a black and white image of De Miguel at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodriguez Lopez – the stadium on the island of Tenerife, where Monday’s game took place.

Tributes have been paid to De Miguel, who joined Tenerife in the summer of 2025, with a minute’s silence being held at all games in European competitions this week.

His agent, Manuel Hernandez, issued a statement on behalf of the family, which read: “Thank you for loving him, for remembering him and for being with us.

“We cannot find enough words to thank you for every message, every phone call and every gesture of affection we are receiving.

“Feeling such affection for Jesus and seeing the mark he has left on so many people is something we will always carry with us.

“Jesus leaves a void that is impossible to fill, but also cherished memories for all of us who were fortunate enough to share our lives with him.”

Kozo Tashima second person to declare he will challenge Infantino, after former Spurs defender Ramon Vega.

Kozo Tashima, honorary president of the Japan Football Association, said on Thursday he will stand against Gianni Infantino in FIFA’s presidential election in March.

Tashima is the second person to declare he will challenge Infantino, following former Tottenham defender Ramon Vega.

The 68-year-old Tashima, who has served on the FIFA Council, said in a statement: “With the full support of the JFA I have decided to declare my candidacy in the FIFA presidential election.

“I believe it is important that the sincerity, integrity and high ethical standards that Japanese football has long valued and built up are clearly communicated to the global football community.

“In order to share these principles with the world and contribute to a better future for football, I have decided to run in the FIFA presidential election.”

Tashima, who was JFA president from 2016 to 2024, added, “Drawing on the experience I have gained over the years, I will take on this challenge with firm resolve so that I can contribute to the further development of world football.”

The deadline for candidates to declare for the election is November 18.

Incumbent Infantino, who is seeking to be re-elected to a fourth and final term as FIFA president, had faced stinging criticism and calls to quit after his aborted World Cup selloff plan.

But Infantino is now in a strong position to secure re-election after the Asian Football Confederation endorsed the 56-year-old last month.

Infantino earlier said he had the backing of the “vast, vast majority” of member associations, and dismissed calls for him to go.

Caracas, November 4, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Donald Trump administration is negotiating a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Venezuela that would lay the groundwork for a potential long-term US military presence in the country, according to US officials cited by the New York Times.

According to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, negotiations over the military pact are being led by the State Department under Secretary of State Marco Rubio. However, details regarding the number of troops and ground missions would be left for future discussions.

According to US officials, SOFA accords “provide a clear and predictable legal framework for US forces to work on mutually agreed activities with our security partners, such as ship visits, training, exercises, and humanitarian assistance.” 

The US currently has SOFA agreements in place with several Latin American countries, including Paraguay, Ecuador, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago, to “address shared threats such as drug trafficking and transnational organized crime.” Washington likewise operates multiple bases in the hemisphere and recently launched the “Shield of the Americas” initiative alongside regional allies with the declared purpose of tackling transnational crime and illegal immigration.

The New York Times sources did not clarify whether Washington intends to establish military bases in Venezuela or deploy US troops at existing Venezuelan bases. One official said only that the issue remains “far in the future” in the discussions, citing Venezuela’s “poor infrastructure” and the lack of interaction between the Venezuelan and US militaries in recent decades.

The newspaper warned that the military cooperation talks could be both “significant” and “risky.” Article 13 of Venezuela’s Constitution prohibits the establishment of foreign military bases or facilities serving the military purposes of other countries.

The story comes on the heels of a reported attack involving drones and helicopters against a camp belonging to Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) on Friday in Apure State, close to the two countries’ shared border. 

According to the New York Times, the operation counted on US intelligence assistance, with military personnel helping identify the camp, which was claimed to be a “hub” for drug trafficking. 

The death toll, initially reported at 19 by local NGO Fundaredes, has risen to 23. Fundaredes’ Apure coordinator Juan García said that interviews conducted with survivors and victims’ relatives indicated that the strike also killed civilians not associated with the guerrilla group.

The Times stated that it was “not clear who piloted the drones” which are typically operated by US forces. The Wall Street Journal claimed US military drones executed the attack with “cooperation” from the Venezuelan government. For its part, the acting Delcy Rodríguez government and the Venezuelan armed forces have yet to issue any public comment on the mission targeting the ELN.

The ELN is the longest active guerrilla group in Colombia, having sustained a decades-long insurgency against the Colombian state. The organization maintained an arms-length relationship with the Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro governments, operating across the vast and porous southwestern border uncontrolled by both nations and at times cooperating with Venezuelan authorities against Colombian paramilitaries and dissident FARC elements.

Since the January 3 bombing and kidnapping of Maduro, senior US military brass have visited the Caribbean country.

In June 2026, US forces carried out an airstrike on Venezuelan territory that neutralized Héctor “Niño” Guerrero, an alleged leader of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua. The operation involved CIA intelligence work, with US authorities thanking Venezuelan counterparts for cooperation. Likewise, following the June 24 double earthquake, the US Southern Command deployed around 2,000 troops in Venezuelan territory, temporarily taking control of the country’s main airport.

In May, the US military held “rapid response” military drills, flying Osprey MV-22B aircraft over Caracas and landing at the US Embassy. The exercise drew fierce protests from Venezuelan social movements.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.

Black Doves season 2 saw Helen forced to face a huge ultimatum.

Black Doves dropped some major bombshells about Reed’s past in season 2.

Netflix’s hit spy thriller Black Doves is back with a second outing and the series opened with some shocking revelations as Helen Webb’s (played by Keira Knightley) handler Reed (Sarah Lancashire) disappeared at the end of the first episode. The season continued to follow Helen and her best friend Sam (Ben Whishaw) as they attempted to find out who took Reed and what she was hiding.

WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS SPOILERS

One of the biggest revelations was Reed’s involvement in a historic mission in Berlin, which went disastrously wrong due to Reed’s rash actions. Wildflower had been Reed’s codename during the operation, and viewers witnessed the seasoned undercover agent’s past secrets unravel through various flashbacks.

Fans also discovered that whilst in Berlin, Reed had a daughter called Vita, who went missing after the botched mission. Here is all you need to know about what happened at the end of Black Doves season two.

Helen told Wallace the truth

Away from Reed’s storyline, newly appointed Prime Minister Wallace (Andrew Buchan) was growing suspicious of his wife after officer Jim Perryman (Adam Best) warned him that Helen was not who she said she was. Perryman had received tip-offs about Helen’s true identity, which he passed on to Wallace.

One of the biggest pieces of evidence that exposed Helen was a photo of her best friend Sam, who had been present at the killing of Russian oligarch Alexi Chernov (Goran Kostić). Alexi had been poisoned by Sam and fellow agent Eleanor (Gabrielle Creevy) during a dinner with Wallace and Helen. Wallace immediately recognised Sam and therefore confronted Helen about her real identity.

Later, when Reed’s daughter Vita (Sylvia Hoeks) threatened Helen with the deaths of her children, she admitted she had hidden a lot from him and he was right to have been suspicious of her, but in that moment, he needed to trust her.

Wallace lied for Helen when Perryman asked him what had happened between them both, so he chose to protect her rather than give her up. As the season ended, Wallace and Helen were seen sitting down to talk about Helen’s identity when the screen cut to black.

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Reed’s daughter Vita was unveiled

In the final episode, it appeared Sam, who had been tasked with killing Reed under rogue organisation Kestrel’s orders, had completed his mission. He was offered a place at Kestrel, which he rejected, as it transpired he had actually handed Reed over to Kestrel alive.

During an attack at the peace summit, Alexi Chernov’s wife Katia (Hoeks) was captured and taken to where Reed was being held. In a major twist, it was revealed Katia was in fact Reed’s estranged daughter, Vita, who had come back to get revenge on her mother for abandoning her as a child.

Vita explained how she had been forced to grow up in a Soviet orphanage and she wanted to make the Black Doves pay. In another vengeful act, she told Helen to kill her husband, the Prime Minister, and own up to who she really was, otherwise her children would die.

Her son and daughter’s childminder, Marie (Molly Chesworth), was a rat Reed had planted to get inside information about the family, and Katia used this as a threat against Helen, who she knew would never put her children at risk. Helen pretended to shoot Wallace before she and Sam let him escape and went to save her children from Marie.

Meanwhile, agents Williams (Ella Lily Hyland), Eleanor and Laila (Ambika Mod) took on Kestrel to save Reed, and she managed to get away unscathed. She found her injured daughter, who asked why she never looked for her.

Reed admitted she’d hoped her daughter had just become a normal person and she wanted her to have peace, which she would never have with Reed in her life. After being caught in the crossfire, Vita died from her injuries.

With the immediate threats out of the picture, Sam proposed that he, Helen and her children run away, but Helen knew she wasn’t out of the woods yet. Sadly, Sam was not of the same mindset, and he told Helen he was leaving as he had no reason to stay.

While Sam was seen returning to Italy, Reed asked Helen to take down Kestrel leader Patrick (Sam Riley). Viewers will have to wait and see whether Helen completes her mission, confesses all to Wallace, and Sam returns to offer assistance once more.

Black Doves season 2 is on Netflix

For Democrats, one of the most delicious ironies of their historic victory in Tuesday’s midterms is that they won many of the congressional districts President Trump and his allies had recently redrawn to favor Republicans.

As the results rolled in on Tuesday evening, one after another of those gerrymandered Republican “safe” districts in Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Alabama got swamped by the overwhelming blue wave.

Last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom led the charge to push back against Trump’s initiative and redraw as many districts as possible in favor of Democrats. On Wednesday, he bragged on X, “We fought fire with fire. And won.”

While it’s all laughter and high-fives for Democrats now, it’s worth remembering that in the summer of 2025 they were in utter despair.

The GOP’s redrawn maps spelled doom for Democrats

It seemed they had no hope of winning the Senate in 2026. Their razor-thin chances of retaking the House appeared to be dissolving as Republicans simply broke out their Sharpies and started doodling on maps.

Congressional districts are typically adjusted once a decade, after each census. The idea is to reflect where people actually live and distribute representation accordingly.

Redrawing the maps mid-decade was a norm-busting move by Trump and his allies who made little effort to hide that it was a naked bid to tighten the president’s grip on power. He seemed to revel in Democrats’ shock and dismay.

While others were wringing their hands and writing think pieces about the fate of democracy — as Democrats tend to do — Newsom made what felt to many like an indecent proposal.

Newsom’s ‘retaliatory’ proposal

What if California, the country’s most populous state with the most congressional districts, just as cynically redrew its maps to favor Democrats?

But there was a catch: Californians had voted for a ballot proposition in 2008 to take such gamesmanship out of politicians’ hands and entrust the drawing of the maps to a (hopefully) independent, nonpartisan citizens commission. Newsom would need to get voters to approve a new proposition to change the rules.

Local conservatives were outraged.

“Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political ambitions have reached a new low. In his efforts to look like a ‘fighter’ ahead of a potential run for the presidency in 2028, he’s willing to ignore democratic rules in pursuit of political aims,” wrote Lanhee J. Chen, a former Republican candidate for state controller, in the Los Angeles Times.

Even fellow Democrats had serious misgivings, calling Newsom’s plan obviously “retaliatory,” “misguided” and a “moral conflict.”

They were right, of course — it was all of those things. But voters approved the new maps, and it worked.

Tuesday’s blue wave

Californians elected Democrats in all five of the state’s redrawn districts, after Democrat Marni von Wilpert won in what had been the lone holdout, Republican Darrell Issa’s old haunt in San Diego and Riverside counties.

From the start, Newsom understood the moral murkiness of his maneuver and included a provision returning map-drawing to the independent commission after the 2030 census.

Will that actually happen? Time will tell.

But as his party’s victory became obvious on Tuesday night, he didn’t exactly take the high road and start talking about mending fences.

In response to a post on X about Republican losses in districts reworked by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Newsom replied simply: “RON CAN’T DRAW!”

Top stories

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman embraces her brother, Akash Raman, during her election night bash at the Greek Theatre plaza.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Raman’s lead against Bass

California’s billionaire tax

• California’s much-debated billionaire tax didn’t get the support many expected in one of the country’s most liberal states.
• Nearly 56% of California voters rejected the proposal while 44% voted for Proposition 40.
• However, with roughly 6 million votes still needed to be counted, the results are still too close to call.

A new era for Democrats

More news

Commentary and opinion

Editor’s pick

More picks

Things to do

(Joao Fazenda / For The Times)

Today’s recipe

(Mariah Tauger/Los Angeles Times)

With Thanksgiving only weeks away, now is a good time to perfect your favorite recipes that feature sweet potatoes. This sweet potato bread recipe is a good place to start. You can use any leftover sweet potato you have on hand, whether roasted or steamed, or you can microwave until tender a whole one that’s been pricked with a fork, about five minutes on high. Canned sweet potato works, though the bread will be a touch less flavorful.

Question for you

Are you feeling hopeful or anxious now that the elections are over?
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

Photo of the day

Los Angeles resident Aline Argueta, 18, celebrates after casting her vote for the first time at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CIHRLA) Flex Voting Center in Los Angeles.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Games

Here’s today’s mini crossword, plus our other free, daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and jigsaw games.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Jack Dolan, investigative reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.

Adrian Kempe had a hat trick and an assist, Quinton Byfield scored two goals, and the Kings routed the San José Sharks 7-2 on Wednesday night.

Erik Haula and Joel Armia also scored for the Kings and Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves. Artemi Panarin had four assists.

It was the 37th multigoal game Kempe has had with the Kings, moving him past Dustin Brown for sole possession of ninth place in the history of the franchise. Kempe returned to the lineup after missing a 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday because of an undisclosed injury.

Macklin Celebrini and Ivar Stenberg scored power-play goals and Yaroslav Askarov made 20 saves for the Sharks, who have now lost three games in a row. Erik Gustafsson assisted on both goals.

Kempe scored his first goal just 1:23 into the game and added a second later in the first period as the Kings jumped to a 3-0 lead after one. Kempe completed the hat trick with a power-play goal with 4:09 left in the second period. The Kings were three for five on the power play.

The game marked the NHL debut for San Jose defenseman Eric Pohlkamp, called up from the AHL before the game.

Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is exercising power without appearing in public or allowing his voice to be heard. Since succeeding his father in March, he has governed through written statements and decrees, while reports of his meetings with senior officials offer a glimpse into how he exercises power.

The meetings announced in May and August appeared intended primarily to reassure Iranians that their new leader was alive and exercising authority. But a series of four meetings announced within 11 days in October, involving the heads of Iran’s parliament, judiciary and national security establishment, as well as senior military commanders, suggests something more: a new system of decision-making taking shape.

The meetings come as Tehran weighs its options between negotiations and renewed confrontation with the United States and Israel. They also invite comparisons with the consultations that preceded the 2015 nuclear agreement. The question is whether Iran’s new leadership is preparing for a similarly consequential decision, and whether this system is capable of making one.

The new Khameneism

For nearly 37 years, Ali Khamenei’s rule rested on his direct personal presence: speeches setting red lines, public meetings with commanders, political elites and ordinary Iranians. His son came to power in different circumstances. Injured in the February 28 strike that killed his father, he was advised, according to sources close to him quoted by Reuters, not to appear or release audio recordings for fear of being tracked.

His rule has taken shape through decrees rebuilding institutions, decisions channelled through a narrow circle of trusted officials, and the testimony of others in place of personal appearances.

The October meetings followed appointments to replace military and security commanders killed in the war. In August, Khamenei appointed his military adviser, Mohsen Rezaei, as his representative on the Supreme National Security Council; Rezaei later became its secretary. Six military appointments followed, including Ali Abdollahi as chief of the Armed Forces General Staff, Ahmad Vahidi as commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ali Azmaei as IRGC Navy commander. Abdollahi was also instructed to complete the merger of the General Staff with Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.

The sequence of Khamenei’s reported meetings is revealing. Those announced in May with President Masoud Pezeshkian and Abdollahi, then head of Khatam al-Anbiya, and another with Pezeshkian announced in August, served chiefly to reassure Iranians that the new leader was alive and exercising his duties. October’s meetings appear to have constituted a systematic round of consultations reaching from constitutional institutions to the armed forces.

At his first reported meeting with the military leadership he had reconstituted, announced on October 31, Abdollahi, army commander Amir Hatami and Vahidi reportedly briefed Khamenei on military readiness in the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman.

Iran thus appears to be moving from reconstruction to operation: activating a decision-making system rather than merely establishing the leader’s presence.

These consultations unfolded alongside intensive mediation, with each stage of internal consultation following an external diplomatic development.

On October 20, Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, carried a Qatari-Pakistani compromise proposal to Tehran. According to Arab media reports, it envisaged unannounced inspections of nuclear facilities in exchange for Iran receiving the interest on its frozen funds in Qatar. Khamenei’s meeting with Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s chief negotiator, was announced the following day.

On October 26, Munir returned with Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin. Their discussions produced an understanding that regional security was the responsibility of the region’s own states. Rezaei also announced that Tehran had sent Washington a proposal concerning the Strait of Hormuz with a seven-day deadline. Khamenei’s meeting with Rezaei, who had received a letter from US Vice President JD Vance, was announced the next day.

On October 30, Qatari mediators held 12 hours of talks in Tehran, coordinated with the White House, after US envoy Tom Barrack suggested an initial understanding was close. Khamenei’s meeting with military commanders was announced the following day.

This timing suggests that internal consultation has become the other side of external mediation.

The statements from these meetings carry two parallel, not contradictory, messages. In the meeting with Rezaei, Khamenei insisted on Iran’s conditions for ending the war, escaping the debilitating state of “neither war nor peace” and managing the Strait of Hormuz. In his instructions to the commanders, he demanded immediate retaliation against any threat without geographical limits, an expanded list of US and Israeli targets, and emphasised that Iran would decide when any renewed confrontation ended.

Repeated appeals for unity suggest an awareness of competing views within the political elite over war and negotiations.

Yet the meetings appear to have defined the upper and lower limits of Iran’s choices, rather than settled on a particular course: at one end, rejecting an intolerable continuation of “neither war nor peace”; at the other, preparing to widen the war if attacks resume. Between these limits lie a settlement on Iranian terms, pursued through Ghalibaf, Rezaei and the mediators, or continued mutual pressure while strengthening the domestic front.

The gap remains wide. Washington wants nuclear concessions before negotiations resume; Tehran first wants the naval blockade lifted, frozen assets released and oil exports restored.

Significantly, Khamenei spoke of conditions “set by the country’s officials”, not by himself. The wording distributes responsibility among institutions and preserves room for him to embrace or disown an eventual outcome.

The comparison with 2015

There are echoes here of the lengthy consultations before the nuclear agreement of July 14, 2015.

A secret channel in Muscat opened with Ali Khamenei’s approval. On September 17, 2013, he spoke to IRGC commanders of “heroic flexibility”, reassuring the military before negotiations. In June 2015, he set out his red lines, and in October he issued a letter of conditional approval. Responsibility for the nuclear file passed from the Supreme National Security Council to the Foreign Ministry under Mohammad Javad Zarif, a sign that the political decision had been made.

The resemblance is clear: a supreme leader establishes red lines, delegates negotiations to trusted figures and brings the military into the process before a major shift.

The differences are deeper. The earlier process lasted around two years under sanctions, not war. Today’s consultations were compressed into 11 days amid armed confrontation, a naval blockade and the approaching November 3 US midterm elections.

Ali Khamenei spoke in his own voice; his son speaks through written statements. Diplomats led the earlier negotiations; now two figures with IRGC backgrounds, Ghalibaf and Rezaei, play central roles. Where the earlier backchannel ran through Oman, today mediation involves Qatar and the countries of the Mecca Agreement, signed on August 7.

Above all, “heroic flexibility” was presented to commanders as preparation for an agreement. Today, conditions for a settlement sit alongside an expanded list of military targets.

The deficit of trust has also deepened. If the legacy of 1979 shaped Washington’s view of Tehran, and the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement in 2018 shaped Tehran’s view of Washington, the wars of June 2025 and February 2026 have added a layer of mistrust that no technical agreement can easily overcome.

The consultations thus resemble those of 2013 in form but not function. Then, they prepared the ground for negotiations; now, they prepare for a choice between negotiation and escalation.

The seven reported meetings suggest that the new Khameneism may be more than an attempt to fill a leadership vacuum. Its decision-making machinery appears to be in place and functioning, even though the supreme leader’s presence can be established only through others.

Yet every announcement intended to dispel doubts produces more of them, without photographs or details of exactly when and where the meetings took place. The legitimacy of decisions remains partly dependent on the legitimacy of the leader’s presence.

Can this system, with its new commanders and parallel messages of compromise and deterrence, make a decision as consequential as the one taken in 2015, when war has raised the political cost of flexibility beyond what a leader who has yet to appear publicly may be able to bear?

The father saw and was seen; the son makes his presence felt through endorsements and influence from behind protective barriers.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Allegations about Brand’s behaviour first emerged in the media in September 2023.

The Times, Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches programme jointly reported that four women had accused him of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse – claims he strongly denied.

The investigation into other reports against Brand began soon after the story broke.

“We kind of assumed that people might want to come forward,” Furphy said, “and people came forward.”

Victim reports were made to forces across the country and the Met set up a dedicated team of officers to lead the investigation, which it called Operation Actinolite. Officers said they have since taken more than 340 witness statements – including from Brand’s former employers, his ex-colleagues and associates.

One officer was assigned to read Brand’s books, watch his stand-up routines and DVDs and listen to his podcasts to help build the case.

His high profile and the intense media scrutiny around him proved a challenge to officers, said Furphy.

Another complexity for the team was the allegations were all “non-recent”. The earliest dated back 27 years. It meant there was no CCTV and no forensic evidence to work with.

Furphy said police had to look for other ways to build their case.

“Can we look at where the victims were at the time? Who did they speak to in the aftermath of it? Did they tell anybody else? What other available material is there for us to review that might lend some weight to it? Just because it’s non-recent doesn’t mean that we can’t solve it at all.”

Brand’s former friend was called to court to give evidence for the prosecution, while a statement from the parents of one of the women was heard.

The entertainer’s former personal assistant, who worked closely with Brand, told the jury about his “insane sexual appetite”.

RUSSELL Brand has been found guilty of sex attacks on a string of victims as part of a depraved campaign to sleep with 5,000 women.

The 51-year-old became a “ruthless, calculated and manipulative” predator as he sought to satisfy his “voracious” sexual appetite.

Brand preyed on women between 1999 and 2009 and used his growing fame – from presenting Big Brother’s Big Mouth and Hollywood movies – to target the victims in a range of locations.

The three counts he was found guilty of today include a sexual assault at a Soho bar, where Brand was accused of touching a woman’s breasts while they were talking about Big Brother in 2004.

Brand has also been found guilty of sexual assault at a radio station in a “violent, sloppy and frenzied” attack in 2005.

He raped a woman at his Hampstead townhouse in 2009, telling her to “clean up after herself” afterwards, it was found.

The jury also found him guilty of sexually assaulting a Channel 4 worker in 2009, who was forced to give him a massage.

He was found not guilty on three other counts – attempted indecent assault and two counts of rape.

The trial at Southwark Crown Court was told the offences took place when Brand’s “public profile was taking off”.

Instantly recognisable by his trademark skinny jeans, back-combed hair and heavy eye make up, Brand became known for falling out of nightclubs with female admirers draped from his arm.

Some of his victims were lulled into a false sense of security by Brand and believed the comedian was gay as part of his “strategy” to dupe women.

Once they were behind closed doors, the fiend’s mask would drop and he’d become a “monster” hell-bent on fulfilling his rapacious quest to bed 5,000 women.

Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC said the star was “childlike in his expectation that his every desire should be met” and only cared about his “birth right to orgasm”.

She told jurors all the women were “wholly unconnected” but each “described a pattern that resonates with who Brand was in the period 1999 to 2009”.

Ms Karmy-Jones added: “Six women who have nothing to gain, who have not sought the limelight, who have not looked out for some form of publicity, who have not taken part in a documentary, not made claims for compensation.

“There is no benefit to them, apart from perhaps some closure by coming before you and telling you their accounts of what happened to them so long ago.”

One woman who Brand raped at his home told how the comedian made her feel like a “piece of meat”.

She told she had met the celeb after seeing his show at the Hammersmith Apollo in London with a friend in 2009.

He told her his age range was from “16 to death” before she was invited to a backstage bar where they kissed and had a threesome, it was said.

The woman said she went to his home the next day where Brand told her: “Your hair smells funny”.

He then made her take a shower and wash her hair while he watched through a glass shower cubicle.

Once in the bedroom, the woman said they had consensual sex after he told her: “This is the best decision you’ve ever made, well done”.

She told the court Brand raped her and looked “absolutely f***ing horrified” – making her think he would apologise.

But the woman added: “But actually what he said was ‘you need to clear up the mess that you’ve made’.”

Another woman was in her 20s working at a radio station in the mid-2000s when Brand sexually assaulted her.

She told the court Brand was a “perfect stranger” to her at the time and said his assault was “violent”, “sloppy” and “frenzied”.

The woman also said she had locked eyes” with one of his entourage and was “pleading with her” to stop what was happening.

One victim said Brand “lunged” at her and grabbed her breasts when they were talking about Big Brother in a Soho bar in July 2004.

At the time, he had a “big, weird grin” on his face and “quite strongly” pulled her into the toilet where he orally raped her, she told cops.

When she protested, Brand told her: “Oh come on don’t be a spoil sport, you want to.”

The sixth woman worked for Channel 4 when she met Brand while he was filming a project.

She said she was informed Brand was “unhappy” and the situation would not improve unless she gave him a massage.

The woman said he walked up to a chair she was sitting on and placed his head directly into her groin area.

During his evidence, Brand wore a crucifix and wrung his hands together as he claimed his “promiscuous” past had been twisted into the allegations made against him.

He had admitted having an “obsession” with sex when he was younger but claimed consent is “non-negotiable” and “more important than sex itself”.

Brand added: “I do recognise I have been a very determined and focused man and with regard to the latter, with women, of course, which is the subject of my trial.

“I’ve been persuasive, seductive, begging and flirting, and dedicated a lot of my life to what seems now beyond-reckless philandering and idiocy.”

He admitted it had been “wrong” of him to use his fame for sex but denied he had ever forced himself on a woman.

Brand also tried to paint himself as someone who had reformed but whose life had been “consumed” by the allegations.

He moaned about how he had lost friends and said he was unable to persuade anyone to give evidence on his behalf.

But Brand had one supporter in the public gallery – his wife Laura Gallacher – sister of sports presenter Kirsty – who took to the stand herself after weeks of walking into the court hand-in-hand with Brand each day.

The mum gushed over the star – calling him an “amazingly attentive husband” and a “kind and a wonderful father”.

She told jurors “I love him very much” and claimed they always have sex “at my pace”.

Discussing when they began dating in 2007, Laura added: “I was not experienced, I had only had one partner before Russell.

“I felt entirely cared for and looked after by Russell.”

She told jurors Brand “respected my view” if she said she did not want to do something.

Laura said she was 19 when she met Brand, who was 31 at the time, at Edinburgh Festival.

The mum, who shares three children with the comic, revealed they broke up in summer 2007 when she became “very aware” of Brand’s promiscuity.

She added: “When I met him I was aware that he liked women, and I was aware towards the latter half of that year that he was engaging with other women.

“I wasn’t interested in having a relationship with him if he was sleeping with other people.

“I was invested, we both had told each other we loved each other but it was clear it was difficult for him to be monogamous.”

She said they got back together again as a couple in 2015 and married in 2017.

Brand, who displayed little emotion during the trial, was seen in the dock beaming as his wife spoke on his behalf.

He even laughed when she told the court: “We do have many friends and there are colleagues, and we are grateful for those people.”

In recent years, Brand had re-invented himself into a born-again Christian influencer – an image he bolstered in court by clutching a bible each day.

But his new life in the US came crumbling down when the allegations came to light in a Channel 4 Dispatches and he was thrust back into the public eye.

Brand is now facing a lengthy prison term when he is sentenced.

WASHINGTON — Corruption topped the list of concerns for voters who ousted Republicans and handed Democrats control of Congress in the midterm elections. Now, the newly empowered Democratic Party is putting the issue front and center as its leaders chart their course for investigations and policymaking.

Senior Democrats in both chambers of Congress have vowed to marshal the subpoena powers and larger investigative staffs that come with their soon-to-be majorities to probe what they say is the self-enrichment that President Donald Trump and people in his orbit have done at the public’s expense. The Republican president and his White House have long denied any wrongdoing.

House Democrats are preparing a vast oversight agenda to look at how Trump and his family have become wealthier since he returned to office — and Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who’s in line to become House speaker, has not ruled out trying to impeach Trump for a third time.

Months ago, Jeffries tasked the ranking Democrats on the Oversight and Judiciary committees, Rep. Robert Garcia of California and Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, with leading the effort, as Democrats work to link the costs of public corruption to the affordability concerns hitting Americans’ pocketbooks.

“Lawyer up,” Garcia posted on X as election results favoring Democrats began coming in on Tuesday night.

The Senate is expected to conduct similar investigations.

“Americans want us to clean up corruption in government,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is poised to return as Senate majority leader next year. “No American should have to make tradeoffs at the supermarket while Trump is making inside trades on the stock market.”

Investigation targets could include ICE raids, Epstein and DOGE

Garcia, the top Democrat on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has outlined five priorities, including Trump family business dealings, the administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the ranking Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee, said he wants to dig into Trump’s White House ballroom and other construction projects, as well as the Trump family’s role in mineral deals.

With the House majority comes an infusion of congressional committee staff and resources, and the effort is expected to be sprawling, involving House committees with authority to conduct oversight on Cabinet officials and the agencies they lead.

In the Senate, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who is expected to become the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said his panel will want to look into Trump’s real estate projects around the nation’s capital and his crypto dealings with special envoy Steve Witkoff. Witkoff is a longtime ally who partnered with Trump on the president’s family cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial.

“The tentacles of corruption reach deep in this administration, and they have added costs to everyday Americans,” Blumenthal said in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday. The senator added that he also wants hearings on ICE raids, the actions of the Department of Government Efficiency and Medicare plans he says are too restrictive and have cost some patients care.

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, who is in line to become Senate Finance Committee chairman, ticked off several investigative targets that he describes as part of an “accountability” agenda, including banks that he contends ignored red flags about the financial dealings of Epstein and pharmaceutical companies that have profited from their ties to the Trump administration.

“When I am chair, they will be forced to answer to the Senate Finance Committee for their role in hurting the American people and enabling Trump’s corruption,” Wyden said in a statement Wednesday.

The issue of corruption resonated for voters, The AP Voter Poll shows

Many U.S. voters in Tuesday’s elections expressed deep concerns about government corruption and the state of democracy, according to The AP Voter Poll, which surveyed more than 100,000 voters nationwide.

While roughly 4 in 10 voters said the economy was the top issue facing the country, about 3 in 10 said that “the state of democracy” was the top issue. About half of U.S. voters said government corruption was “crucial” to their vote for Congress, and most of those voters supported the Democratic candidate in their local U.S. House race, while about one-third said they voted for the Republican.

About 8 in 10 voters who said “the state of democracy” was the top issue facing the country supported the Democrat, while about 2 in 10 supported the Republican.

Older voters, those age 65 or older, were more likely than voters under 65 to say “the state of democracy” was the most important issue facing the country. About 4 in 10 older voters pointed to this as the nation’s top problem, compared with about 3 in 10 who said the economy. That view was reversed with younger voters, who were more likely to call the economy the top issue.

That explains why anti-corruption played such a central role in Democratic campaigns this cycle, with candidates accusing their Republican opponents of looking out for themselves or their donors rather than a broader constituency. They embraced stock trading bans and bans on former members of Congress becoming lobbyists and promised to be part of an effort to root out corruption.

Democrats’ challenge: Focusing on corruption without ignoring cost-of-living issues

In his public comments since his party lost the elections, Trump has taken a conciliatory tone toward Democrats, conceding that they “did a good job” in their campaigns as he’s tried to skirt personal blame for the GOP’s midterm thrashing. That could change as investigations ramp up.

“As the president has said, he’s willing to work with anyone to continue delivering victories for hardworking Americans,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said Wednesday. “If Democrats choose to pursue sham investigations and radical left policies, they are choosing to work against the American people.”

Schumer insisted that congressional Democrats will be able to balance legislating on key issues, such as affordability, while launching investigations to target “rampant corruption.”

In a letter to Democratic lawmakers announcing his candidacy for House speaker, Jeffries said the “days of the House functioning like a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump administration are over.”

“The massive corruption the country has experienced from the Trump Cartel explains why very little is getting done to help everyday Americans,” Jeffries wrote as he promised to target price gouging and push for a stock trading ban for lawmakers. “That changes immediately.”

The challenge for Democrats will be to continue to tie corruption to the affordability issues that topped the list of concerns for voters.

The Congressional Integrity Project, an advocacy group initially created to combat Republican investigations into President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, is now shifting its focus to help Democratic lawmakers make that connection. In a memo, the group urged congressional Democrats to trace the Trump administration’s actions to people in and outside government, as well as corporations, who may be profiting from those moves.

“Corruption is not just corruption,” said the group’s senior adviser, Jack Miller. “It is costing taxpayers and costing Americans in their everyday lives.”

Some Democratic lawmakers are already stressing that congressional investigations have to be directly tied to affordability issues, while urging restraint.

Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said that Democrats need to earn voters’ trust, and while investigations are an important part of the Democratic agenda, “we can’t turn this into just a vengeance tour.”

“We have to be careful, cautious and judicious about that,” Welch said.

Kim and Jalonick write for the Associated Press. Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro and polling writer Linley Sanders contributed to this report.

BALPA has explained what happens on a plane during a bomb threat after suspected hoax alerts diverted Ryanair, Aer Lingus and Finnair flights across Europe on Thursday

The British Airlines Pilots’ Association has set out precisely what takes place on board an aircraft when a bomb threat is received. It follows further threats made against planes on Thursday. Thursday’s incidents marked the second wave this week, after several aircraft, including some departing from the UK and Ireland, were subjected to hoax security alerts earlier this week.

Thursday’s events led to numerous flights being diverted across Europe, including an Aer Lingus service from Dublin to Rome being forced to land in northern France and a Ryanair flight from London being diverted.

Joji Waites, BALPA director of flight safety, policy and regulation, said: “Aviation has historically been a target for bomb threats, but the industry has well-proven mechanisms for dealing with such threats.

“When a threat to an aircraft has been notified to the airline, the threat is passed to a team of assessors. These assessors use standard processes to grade the threat and decide whether the threat is Red (credible), Amber (partially credible) or Green (not credible). Amber is not considered an appropriate assessment if the plane is airborne.

“If the threat is assessed as not credible staff on the plane will not be informed of it. However, when a threat is assessed as credible (red or amber) the flight crew will be informed immediately and they will carry out company procedures for a credible bomb threat.

“From the moment the flight crew is notified of a credible bomb threat, commander of the aircraft – the captain – is in command and will make all the decisions, guided by the appropriate checklist, for the safety of their aircraft. Usually, if a plane is still on the tarmac that will mean an evacuation and if it is in the air, the priority will be to land the plane as soon and as safely as possible.

“Pilots are highly trained and skilled professionals. Their expertise is invaluable in ensuring passenger safety and keeping aviation one of the safest forms of transport there is.”

No fewer than eight flights were confirmed to have received bomb threats on Thursday, with services affected from Copenhagen, Helsinki, Madrid, Milan and Warsaw. Among those targeted was a Ryanair flight departing from London Stansted Airport bound for the Bulgarian capital Sofia, which was diverted and touched down safely in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, according to the Associated Press. The majority of affected aircraft were redirected to alternative airports for emergency landings, while others reached their intended destinations without incident.

With regard to the Dublin to Rome Aer Lingus flight, a statement from the French prime minister’s office confirmed that the A320 aircraft was diverted to the Evreux air base, where it landed safely.

“The 151 passengers and six crew members were brought to safety and the bomb disposal teams intervened,” the statement added. Aer Lingus said: “Aer Lingus flight EI402 from Dublin to Rome diverted to Normandy this morning as a security precaution. The flight landed safely and Aer Lingus will work to reaccommodate customers to their final destination as soon as possible.”

Finnish carrier Finnair confirmed that two of its flights — one departing Helsinki bound for Rome and another heading from Helsinki to Vienna — had also received “unfounded or hoax” bomb threats on Thursday. Both aircraft touched down at their intended destinations and passengers disembarked without incident, the airline stated.

In Rome, the Finnair aircraft was thoroughly inspected with nothing suspicious discovered, while checks on the plane in Vienna were still ongoing. The flight to Rome had 144 passengers and seven crew members on board, while the Vienna-bound service carried 177 passengers and six crew, the airline confirmed.

WizzAir revealed that two of its flights had also been subjected to bomb threats on Thursday — one travelling from Milan to Bucharest, which landed safely at its destination, and another due to fly from Milan to Warsaw, which was diverted and touched down safely in Vienna.

The airline said it was “co-operating fully with the relevant authorities” and taking “all necessary steps to ensure the safety of everyone onboard”.

It added: “The safety and security of our passengers and crew remain our highest priority.”

To win in girls’ flag football, you need your school’s best athletes to come out. And unbeaten JSerra certainly pulled off the feat by getting three-sport standout Kai Beary to devote time to flag football.

She’s a goalie for the girls’ soccer team and headed to Georgetown in Janaury to prepare for the college season. She won’t be around for the track and field season but won the Southern Section Division 3 title in the shotput last season.

In flag football, she catches passes and helps JSerra’s formidable defense. JSerra is 27-0 and plays Newport Harbor at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Huntington Beach in the Open Division championship game.

Beary was in Long Beach on Wednesday for the Southern Section girls’ flag football championship luncheon. Her athleticism has been helpful to three JSerra sports teams and won’t be forgotten.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

TRAIN travel in the UK is some of the most expensive in Europe – but there is a little known way you could save hundreds of pounds.

Some lucky Brits are able to buy cheaper tickets, thanks to railcards for students, seniors or even those aged 26-30.

But fall outside of those brackets and you’ll find yourself paying full whack to hop on a train, be it to get to the office or to see your friends and family.

Yet Trip.com has recently launched its own railcard, which anyone can buy to use on UK trains.

Called Traincard, it costs £25 and can only be bought on the app.

Yet it saves you 10 per cent on any trains, be it peak or off peak (even lucky railcard holders can buy it – you can stack it if with other railcards).

There is a caveat, which only allows you to use it on 30 trips in a 90 day period.

Yet after testing it out, I realised I would be saving £750 on my commute alone.

So lets break it down.

My daily commute costs around £70, and I travel from Kent to London three times a week.

A saving of £7 a day, which, with 12 journeys a month, means I can save around £84 a month.

The same can be saved for the second month I used it – so another £84 a month saving.

This then halved for the third month, as I maxed out the 30 day limit in 90 days, so a saving of £42 a month.

So overall, I saved £210 in three months on my commute.

Turn that into a year (buying a new railcard every 90 days) that’s a huge £840 saving.

Even taking off the £25-a-time railcard, that’s £740 a year.

You can easily save more too – I often travel to see my friends in Manchester, where one return trip costs £208.

With the Traincard, that is more than £20 saved.

Or say you are travelling as a family one weekend – the saving is per booking, not per person, so you could be saving even more.

You need the Trip.com app as you can’t use it on the website and there is a limit as you can only save up £25 per booking.

But in theory – if you maxed out the savings and the 30-day in a 90-day period bookings?

You could save up to £3,000 a year. Not bad money at all!

LEE Andrews has admitted he’s “deleting all memories” and removing his tattoo tributes to Katie Price after he unfollowed her on Instagram.

The self-confessed businessman previously followed just one person – his estranged wife Katie, 48.

But now, he follows nobody, pouring cold water over the growing speculation that the pair had secretly rekindled their romance following their bitter split earlier this year.

Taking to Instagram, Lee, 43, appeared to take a swipe at Katie as he shared a clip of someone clicking the yes and deleting all their memories.

Lee often reposts videos on his story that emulate the way he’s feeling – and it seems he believes things with Katie are over.

It appears Lee wants to forget his whirlwind romance with former glamour model Katie, who he married in January.

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Lee’s social media profile has been made private despite it previously being publicly available.

The conman told fans today that he has plans to remove all his tattoos – including the three tributes he has to Katie and one for her son Harvey.

Lee currently has “Owned by Katie” inked across his back, “Katie” scrawled in cursive on his hand and at the top of his stomach.

He’s also shown off his portrait of Harvey and a frog.

Lee’s string of social media swipes follow the news that Katie was pictured deep in conversation and swapping numbers with entrepreneur Felix Henderson, 32, at the Glamour Awards on Tuesday night.

However, Katie was quick to shut down any speculation about their meeting, insisting on Instagram that Felix was simply a work colleague.

Katie appeared poised to reunite with Lee after being spotted wearing the huge diamond engagement ring he gave her.

This comes after months of drama, with Katie revealing she had dumped Lee after becoming fed up with his web of lies.

Katie ended their marriage via WhatsApp after discovering he had just £2.22 in his bank account – despite claiming to be a millionaire – while Lee was recently released from Dubai’s notorious Al Awir prison following a four-month stint.

Lawmakers from California are poised to lead two of Congress’ most consequential energy and environment committees, putting the Golden State at the forefront of efforts to scrutinize the Trump administration’s sweeping changes to federal climate policy.

Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-San José) and Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) have served as the top Democrats on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology and the House Natural Resources Committee, respectively, since Republicans took control of the chamber in January 2023. With Democrats now set to control the next Congress, both are the likely choice for chair.

The committees oversee major areas of federal science and energy research, public lands, water, wildlife and natural resources policy. While neither directly controls federal agencies, their leaders hold significant authority over oversight and legislation.

Both committees have advanced bipartisan legislation under Republican leadership, such as the Fix Our Forests Act from Natural Resources chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) and Calif. Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego). But they have also pursued efforts to reverse Biden-era environmental priorities — such as narrowing the Endangered Species Act — and advance President Trump’s domestic energy agenda, which favors oil and gas production.

Lofgren said the change represents a real opportunity to restore faith in science after two years of policies that have undermined it. The committee under Republican leadership launched a probe into the National Academies of Sciences over a report reaffirming the evidence for climate change.

“We’re not confused that climate change is going on. Neither are most Americans,” Lofgren said. “Ask any farmer in my district, and they’ll tell you climate change is going on.”

It’s also a chance to put California’s embattled environmental ambitions back in the congressional spotlight. The White House has challenged the state’s climate goals, slashing $1.2 billion in funding for its nascent hydrogen hub, moving to restart oil drilling off the coast and striking deals with offshore wind developers to abandon their projects and invest instead in fossil fuels.

“Much of what the administration has done the past two years has moved forward simply because there was no congressional check and balance,” Huffman said, pointing to a long list of executive orders, no-bid contracts and spontaneous announcements from the president. “I think you’re going to see a dramatic shift when we begin to have a check in the form of Congress that does its job.”

Though committees cannot prevent the president from issuing executive orders, they can hold hearings, subpoena documents, investigate whether agencies are complying with existing laws, and draft legislation to protect specific programs or funding.

This might not have prevented some of the administration’s most consequential actions — such as the payouts to offshore wind developers, which effectively killed three of the five projects off the coast of California — but would have brought greater public scrutiny and accountability to the process.

The same is true of the administration’s use of the Defense Production Act to restart oil pumping operations at the Sable Platform off the coast of Santa Barbara, which the White House said is a matter of national security.

“We are awash in oil and gas production,” Huffman said, adding that the president has “relied on fake emergency declarations that no one has questioned or challenged.”

Lofgren said she would look into the administration’s dismantling of scientific agencies and cancellation of research grants. The U.S. Department of Energy — whose research and development programs fall under the Science Committee’s purview — recently acknowledged in court documents that the termination of $7.6 billion in funding for clean energy projects was targeted at blue states.

On the legislative side, Huffman said he would pursue a Democratic permitting reform proposal aimed at addressing soaring energy costs. Lofgren said she would push to reauthorize the Energy Act of 2020 and renew federal programs established by the CHIPS and Science Act, which together boosted spending for emerging technologies, clean energy and supply chains.

She would also advance laws supporting fusion research, quantum computing, next-generation nuclear and geothermal technologies, along with greater guardrails around artificial intelligence. The Science Committee’s current chair, Republican Rep. Brian Babin of Texas, has also supported some of these emerging technologies, including fusion and quantum research.

In fact, Lofgren was optimistic that cross-party cooperation would prevail. Nearly all of the committee’s bills adopted this year passed unanimously, or close to it, although many never made it to the House floor, she said.

“I’m not going to compromise on oversight, and I know that the Republicans may not agree with us on some of the oversight issues,” she said. “But when it comes to legislation, we have a long history of bipartisan collaboration, which I anticipate would continue.”

In other election news

Energy affordability was top of mind for voters on Tuesday, with soaring electricity bills at the center of many high-profile national races. Residential electric rates in the U.S. are averaging 18.2 cents per kilowatt-hour, up from 15.9 cents when Trump resumed office in January 2025, according to the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Many Californians pay much more than that.

This turned out to be a formidable weapon for Democrats, many of whom made energy costs central to their campaigns. An analysis from the nonprofit advocacy group Climate Power found that more than $475 million was spent on political ads about utility and energy bills in the first 10 months of this year. In the most competitive races, 32% of all recent Democratic ad spending went to ads mentioning energy affordability issues, compared with 12% from Republicans.

Data centers were perhaps the biggest bogeyman of all. In Michigan’s high-stakes Senate race, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed called for a pause on new data centers until stronger federal guidelines are adopted, and argued that they must pay to cover their own energy demand and not pass down costs to ratepayers.

His opponent, Republican Mike Rogers, was criticized for investments into tech companies that could benefit from the data center boom, and subsequently backed a one-year moratorium on new data centers in Michigan and said guardrails should be put in place to protect against utility price hikes.

The candidates did not agree on the reasons for high prices, however. El-Sayed touted 100% renewable energy as the best path forward, while Rogers said renewables are driving up Michigan’s energy and utility costs. El-Sayed won the state race Tuesday night.

In other climate news

Record hot ocean temperatures, higher-than-normal tides and powerful storms could converge amid a potentially historic El Niño. That’s a recipe for more coastal flooding, erosion and large waves in California this winter. My colleagues Rong-Gong Lin II and Sean Greene took a look at how this “worst-case scenario” for El Niño could play out.

But the news isn’t all bad. After a couple with a plot of land above Santa Clarita marketed it as a potential “glamping” site, they decided instead to sell it back to the local tribe that originally lived there. Read Noah Haggerty’s joyful story about how this 51-acre piece of land along the Pacific Crest Trail will go back to the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians.

And finally, the annual United National Climate Change Conference, COP31, will kick off next week in Turkey. It comes only weeks after U.N. officials reported that the world will not be able to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels — a goal established during the 2015 conference in Paris. This year’s conference is expected to focus on implementing existing climate commitments, reducing emissions and accelerating the clean energy transition, among other topics.

This is the latest edition of Boiling Point, a newsletter about climate change and the environment in the American West. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

On the Boiling Point Podcast this week, hear how Hollywood’s approach to climate themes is changing.

Lakers get past the Kings

From Broderick Turner: On a night when Lakers coach JJ Redick said his team was “a little flat,” Luka Doncic flattened yet another opponent.

Even Doncic started slow compared to his usual first-quarter exploits, but he picked up his pace as the game progressed, dropping 40 points on the woeful Sacramento Kings to lead the Lakers to a 116-103 win Wednesday night at Golden1 Center.

Doncic has scored 40-plus points in three straight games and in five of his last six.

So, after he went 11-for-23 from the field and six-for-13 from three-point range and after he also notched nine rebounds and seven assists, Doncic was asked if he’s ever had a better offensive stretch over his eight-year NBA career.

“Maybe. I don’t know,” he said. “I had some good stretches in my career. But obviously this could be one of the highest ones. But there’s still some work to do.”

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Lakers box score

NBA standings

Clippers lose at last second

Klay Thompson made the winning three-pointer with a second left in overtime and the Miami Heat rallied past the reeling Clippers 117-116 on Wednesday night.

Bam Adebayo set season highs with 35 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who have won three of four after losing their first four games. Thompson scored 30, going eight of 17 from three-point range, and Giannis Antetokounmpo had 27 points, 14 boards and six assists.

Miami trailed by 20 in the second quarter and was still down 10 with 4 1/2 minutes left in the fourth before a 9-0 spurt set up the tight finish.

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Clippers box score

NBA standings

Myles Garrett returns to Rams practice

From Gary Klein: Rams star edge rusher Myles Garrett, who has been sidelined for seven games following knee surgery, returned to practice Wednesday.

Garrett, the reigning NFL defensive player of the year, has been on injured reserve since undergoing left knee surgery after the Rams’ season-opening loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Australia.

Coach Sean McVay said the Rams have attempted to be “as diligent, as thorough” as possible before allowing Garrett to practice and opening the 21-day window for him to return to the roster.

McVay said Garrett would take half the amount of full reps on Wednesday and would be evaluated each day before determining when he would be activated to the roster for a game. Garrett went through individual drills with edge rushers during the portion of practice open to reporters.

The Rams play the Washington Commanders on Sunday in Landover, Md.

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Rams’ Jaylen Watson to miss rest of season

From Gary Klein: Rams cornerback Jaylen Watson will have shoulder surgery and is out for the season, coach Sean McVay said Wednesday.

Watson, who signed with the Rams as a free agent after winning two Super Bowl titles in four seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, reinjured his shoulder during last Sunday’s victory over the Chargers at SoFi Stadium.

“That’s a big blow,” McVay said. “Bummer for him. He’s been such a stud for us. He wanted to be able to play through it but just kind of understanding the totality of it all, just some of the different things, recommended to get that surgery.

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Kempe’s hat trick leads Kings

Adrian Kempe had a hat trick and an assist, Quinton Byfield scored two goals, and the Kings routed the San José Sharks 7-2 on Wednesday night.

Erik Haula and Joel Armia also scored for the Kings and Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves. Artemi Panarin had four assists.

It was the 37th multigoal game Kempe has had with the Kings, moving him past Dustin Brown for sole possession of ninth place in the history of the franchise. Kempe returned to the lineup after missing a 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday because of an undisclosed injury.

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Kings summary

NHL standings

This day in sports history

1927 — Walter Hagen beats Joe Turnesa 1-up to capture the PGA Championship for the fourth consecutive year and fifth overall.

1955 — Montreal’s Jean Beliveau scores the second fastest hat trick in NHL history in a 4-2 win over Boston. Beliveau, who scores all four Canadien goals, gets three in 44 seconds against Bruins goaltender Terry Sawchuk on the same power play.

1961 — Bill Stacy of the St. Louis Cardinals returns two interceptions for touchdowns in a 31-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

1966 — Virgil Carter of Brigham Young passes for 513 yards and rushes for 86 to set an NCAA record for total yards with 599 in a 53-33 victory over Texas Western.

1977 — BYU sophomore Marc Wilson sets an NCAA record with 571 passing yards in a 38-8 rout of Utah.

1978 — Oakland coach John Madden becomes the 13th head coach to win 100 games in the NFL as the Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs 20-10.

1988 — Alysheba becomes the richest racehorse when he beats Seeking the Gold by a half-length in the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.

1994 — George Foreman regains part of the heavyweight title he lost to Muhammad Ali in 1974, stopping Michael Moorer with a two-punch combination at 2:03 of the 10th round. Foreman, 45, captures the IBF and WBA championships to become the oldest champion in any weight class.

1999 — Carolina’s Ron Francis becomes the sixth NHL player to reach 1,500 points when he assisted on Sami Kapanen’s first-period goal for the Hurricanes in 3-2 loss at Detroit.

2008 — Tony Parker scores a career-high 55 points, including a 20-footer at the buzzer to force a second overtime in San Antonio’s 129-125 victory over Minnesota.

2010 — Calvin Borel and Javier Castellano tussle at Churchill Downs just moments after tangling during the $500,000 Breeders’ Cup Marathon in an ugly, chaotic scene. Castellano’s horse Prince Will I Am runs into the path of Romp and Martin Garcia. Garcia is able to stay on top of his horse but also impedes Borel and A.U. Miner. After the race, an enraged Borel is restrained by security personnel and his older brother Cecil.

2010 — Mexico beats the United States in one of the biggest upsets in the history of women’s soccer. The Mexicans, on goals by Maribel Dominguez and Veronica Perez, post 2-1 victory and qualify for the 2011 World Cup.

2011 — Drew Alleman kicks a 25-yard field goal in overtime to give top-ranked LSU a 9-6 win over No. 2 Alabama.

2016 — Arrogate catches 4-5 favorite California Chrome in the final 100 yards to win the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

2017 — Shalane Flanagan dethrones three-time winner Mary Keitany to become the first American woman to win the New York City Marathon since 1977.

2017 — Eli Manning of the Giants became the seventh NFL quarterback to reach the 50,000-mark with his completion to Sterling Shepard in the fourth quarter against the Rams.

2022 — Alex Ovechkin scores 787th goal for the Washington Capitals surpassing Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings, for all-time NHL record for most goals scored for a single team, in 3-2 loss to Arizona Coyotes.

2022 — World Series: Houston Astros win second title in franchise history; beat Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1 iat Minute Maid Park, Houston for 4-2 series victory; MVP: Astros SS Jeremy Peña, Dusty Baker (73) becomes oldest manager to win championship, Phillies set ignominious record striking out 71 times.

2025 — Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin becomes first NHL player to score 900 goals in a 6-1 win over the St. Louis Blues

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.