The initial step taken on August 14, 2001 cannot be viewed merely as the submission of a political party’s founding petition within the annals of international political history; rather, it is the reincarnation of a millennium-old, deep-rooted civilisational vision on the modern world stage. Today, having left a quarter of a century behind, the AK Party is not merely a tale of national development within its borders, but an unparalleled 25-year epic of democracy on a global scale. Coming to power with immense public favour just 16 months after its founding, and steering the country with uninterrupted stability for a quarter of a century, this political movement has secured a highly exceptional place in world political history.

The greatest power behind this stability lies in the fact that this movement is not a rootless structure blown about by the wind. It carries on its shoulders, as a historical trust, the democratic struggle of the late Prime Minister Adnan Menderes and his companions, who sacrificed their lives for the nation’s beliefs during the arduous days of the single-party era. The mighty plane tree founded by our President and Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan – under whose shade our nation and oppressed geographies have drawn a breath of relief for 25 years – is the very embodiment of this tremendous historical legacy.

While the lifespans of political parties are generally measured by election results or their terms in government, the AK Party’s ability to overcome successive global and national crises with the continuous support of vastly diverse social segments over 25 years can be explained by a much more structural concept: Its “capacity for political translation”.

This capacity is the process of accurately hearing the expectations, needs, and objections within society, transforming them into viable party programmes, budgets, and public policies, and submitting the resulting outcomes back for societal evaluation. Social needs do not always arrive in politics as ready-made texts; it is here that the AK Party has established a colossal “translation” mechanism that turns seemingly disparate experiences into common problems and solutions. Indeed, for someone of a generation like mine – who grew up in a Turkiye shaped by the AK Party, took on responsibilities in its youth branches since childhood, and today serves as a member of parliament and the party’s secretary-general – this political ground is the very essence of that transformation.

To grasp the magnitude of this transformation, one must look back at the Turkiye of the 1990s. It is essential to read those years not just as an “era of a unipolar world and severe economic crises”, but as a colossal “age of political collapse and instability” that paralysed the state and deepened societal fault lines.

The 90s were a lost decade in which fragile coalitions lasting only months, political bargaining and recurring crises shook state authority. While unsolved murders and an escalating spiral of terror threatened citizens’ lives on the one hand, the heavy fist of tutelage brought down upon civilian politics via the February 28 post-modern coup explicitly usurped the nation’s will on the other. Even though voter turnout reached 87 percent in parliamentary elections during that era, this high public interest in politics could not translate into a stable and effective governing capacity, with no single party able to form a majority government.

The closure of the Refah Party in 1998 and the Fazilet Party in 2001 through judicial tutelage created a profound crisis regarding the continuity of legitimate channels of representation for the masses. Therefore, the year 2001 was a historical threshold – not merely a year of economic bankruptcy marked by cash registers being thrown in protest, but the absolute peak of political fragmentation, tutelary regimes, governance vulnerabilities, and constitutional rights remaining strictly on paper. Inheriting this multidimensional political and economic wreckage, the AK Party built the world’s most experienced cadres in every field, from security to economics, from foreign policy to social policies, establishing a “game-changing” political style.

At the core of this game-changing politics lies the dismantling of the “state commands its citizens” mentality, replacing it with the principle that “the state is the servant of the nation”. Believing that true change lies in execution rather than packaging, the AK Party tore down the cold walls built between the state and the nation, making the nation’s red lines the same as the state’s.

The silent majority, who for decades had been left disheartened like “tenants” in their own homeland, rose with self-confidence to become the true “landlords” of their country. Today, as the world’s largest and most dynamic school of politics with more than 12 million members, the AK Party conducts politics not by pontificating from television screens, but by directly sharing the burdens of the people and keeping a finger on the pulse of the streets. The secret behind these victories is hidden in these devoted organisations that hold the nation’s consent above all else, and in the vision of the leader of this great march, our President and Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The party’s quarter-century has gone down in history not through noisy destructions and polarising conflicts, but through institutional “silent revolutions” woven stitch by stitch. The Health Transformation Program and national fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) produced in the defence industry are the building blocks of this revolution.

Moreover, Turkiye does not view technological transformation merely as instrumental progress; it presents a brand new vision. By openly opposing the algorithmic exploitation of global digital giants, it advocates for a value-oriented and ethical technological order that places human dignity, privacy, and the family at its centre. TEKNOFEST is not just a technology fair; it is a ceremony of institutional self-confidence where a generation – once intended to be manipulated in the streets during past coup eras – becomes the builder of this very moral and fully independent technological future.

The greatest outcome of this will for full independence is the historic struggle waged against the scourge of terrorism – which has made the nation weep blood – under the ideal of a “Terror-Free Turkiye”. Recipes dictated from the outside have been crumpled up and thrown away; terrorism has been dried up at its source, and the dirty corridors intended to be established at our borders have been shattered by the “Turkiye Model”. A Turkiye completely cleansed of terrorism has thwarted Israel’s expansionist ambitions built on dividing, weakening, and destabilising the region; it has become the greatest hope for the Palestinian cause, for Jerusalem, and for the oppressed in Gaza.

Viewing democracy not as a tool but as an unshakable value, this political mindset forever closed the dark parenthesis of tutelage opened on May 27, 1960, on the night of July 15, when the nation lay down in front of tanks and braved gun barrels. This democratic resilience achieved at home has today made Turkiye the vanguard of a global conscience movement abroad.

The objection raised by our President and Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan that “The World is Bigger Than Five!” has transformed into an “Erdogan Doctrine” that maps the conscience of humanity against those who fancy themselves masters of the globe. This quest for justice – embodied in the human tragedy in Gaza, in baby Aylan whose washed-up body shook the world, and in a little boy who recited the Quran with his last breath under the rubble – is the clearest indicator of Turkiye’s determination to defend the rights of the innocent in international diplomacy.

Today, moving far beyond being a passive ally in global politics, Turkiye has risen to the position of a subject that rewrites the rules of the international system, produces solutions to geopolitical crises, and personally steers diplomatic change.

Having long transcended artificial agendas and polemics in domestic politics, the AK Party’s true power in this multipolar world lies not only in the country’s economic and strategic capacity. It lies in the unshakeable democratic legitimacy behind our President and Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan – one of the most senior and experienced heads of state in world politics – and in the profound trust that all oppressed peoples across the earth place in Turkiye.

Our tremendous state experience over the past quarter-century is our most solid reference; yet, this political movement, with its face always turned towards the future, is determined to build the “Century of Turkiye” vision on the axis of justice, compassion, and sustainable global peace by blending it with the nation’s internal dynamics. In this new age marked by great trials that deeply affect humanity, under the leadership of our President and Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdogan – who shapes global politics with his unparalleled state experience and vision in the international arena – Turkiye marches forward with strong steps, shoulder to shoulder with our nation, as a playmaker towards new targets and a bright new quarter-century.

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

Netflix’s latest true crime docuseries pays tribute to a special ‘powerhouse’ figure

Netflix’s latest true crime documentary includes a special tribute one of the high profile figures taking part.

The platform has released the latest instalment in the Conversations with a Killer series.

Previous entries have included closer looks at high profile criminals including Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy and Ted Bundy. Now, the most recent edition focuses on Charles Manson.

According to its synopsis, the three-part title draws on previously unreleased prison recordings, firsthand accounts, and archival footage, to trace Charles Manson’s rise as a cult leader, the 1969 murders that followed, and the media spectacle of his trial.

It features interviews with former Manson Family members and law enforcement alongside recorded phone calls with Manson himself. Also featuring is one of the extinguished journalists who covered the story at the time.

In the final moments of the last episode of the series, a special tribute is made for this person. A title card appears that reads: “In loving memory of Linda Deutsch.”

It appears after the production reveals what happened to other individuals who spent time behind bars for the ‘Manson murders’. But who was Linda Deutsch? Here’s all you need to know.

Who was Linda Deutsch?

Linda Deutsch was a journalist from New Jersey, who worked for Associated Press as a court reporter in Los Angeles. She was a well known figure in the industry and enjoyed an illustrious career.

While studying for a degree in English in 1965, she worked on the student newspaper The Outlook. There she held prominent roles as Features Editor, while also running the letters section.

Her very first professional front page byline, while working as an intern for her local paper was her coverage of the civil rights march where Martin Luther King Jr made the “I have a dream” speech.

When she joined the Associated Press in 1967, she was the only woman working out of the Los Angeles office. She would go on to report on high profile cases including Charles Manson, O.J. Simpson, Erik and Lyle Menendez, Phil Spector and Michael Jackson to name a few.

She also wrote a book concentrating on the Simpson case, called Verdict: The Chronicle of the O. J. Simpson Trial. While as demonstrated by the new Netflix series, was a regular talking head discussing Charles Manson’s trial.

In a tribute to her from her old college paper, The Outlook said she was “a powerhouse in the journalism industry and a positive figure for female journalists everywhere”. Deutsch successfully campaigned for equal pay and the right for female journalists to be referred to as ‘newswomen’ and not ‘newsmen.’

She was named a special correspondent in 1992 and retired in 2014 at the age of 71. Never forgetting her roots, she endowed journalism scholarships at her former school and they named their newsroom after her.

Deutsch did not get married or have children and said of her personal life: “I have a godson who means the world to me. And I have a very full life, but it never included marriage. I think my relationships mostly broke up because of my work.”

She died in 2024 at the age of 80, two years after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Conversations with a killer: The Charles Manson Tapes is streaming on Netflix

Originally published in Spanish on Asdrúbal’s personal Substack

In the weeks following the June 24 earthquake, numerous figures regarding the tragedy’s cost have circulated. The World Bank estimated direct physical damages at $19.6 billion, equivalent to nearly 17% of Venezuela’s GDP. These figures help gauge the magnitude of the disaster, but from an economic perspective, they fall short. Confusing damages with economic costs leads to flawed diagnoses and, often, to poor public policy decisions. Furthermore, it is also worth reviewing the methodology behind these measurements, as in many cases the magnitude of the tragedy is being overstated.

The economy doesn’t just lose when a building is destroyed. It loses when that building stops producing, when a company stops selling, when a port stops moving goods, or when thousands of workers halt their activities. The economic cost of a disaster is not measured by the value of what disappeared, but by the income that ceases to be generated while that productive capacity remains out of service. This is what we economists call distinguishing between the stock and the flow.

That is precisely the exercise we are attempting to carry out for La Guaira.

La Guaira accounts for approximately 6.2% of national transactions (based on past studies we have conducted on transactions in Venezuela), which translates to an economic activity of around $6.9 billion annually out of an estimated GDP of $111.3 billion. However, reducing the state’s importance to that percentage would be a mistake. Its true weight lies in the fact that it concentrates over 40% of the national logistics and transportation sector, thanks to the Port of La Guaira and the Maiquetía International Airport. Both constitute the country’s main entry and exit points for goods and passengers. When that hub stops operating, the impact is quickly transmitted to the rest of the economy.

The first commercial census reveals that barely 1,752 establishments remain operational out of the nearly 7,000 businesses existing before the earthquake.

Physical damages in the state likely range between $4 billion and $6 billion. That is, between 60% and 90% of La Guaira’s annual output. That proportion illustrates the magnitude of the asset shock, but it still doesn’t answer the central question: how much did the state stop producing as a result of the earthquake?

To approach that answer, we must observe how the economy functioned in the weeks following the quake. The port remained completely paralyzed for 28 days and only reopened gradually for cargo operations. The Maiquetía airport will recover its normal operations by the end of this year at best, with a partial opening in August. For nearly eight weeks, the two assets that sustain much of the state’s economic activity operated at a minimal fraction of their capacity.

Added to this disruption was the collapse of the business fabric. The first commercial census reveals that barely 1,752 establishments remain operational out of the nearly 7,000 businesses existing before the earthquake. In other words, three out of four companies ceased to function. In parishes like Caraballeda, Macuto, and Catia La Mar, around 40% of commerce suffered significant damage, and tourism (one of the state’s main economic activities) practically vanished for the entire season.

With these elements, it is possible to build a reasonable estimate of the lost flow of economic activity. Our central scenario points to a contraction of nearly 35% of La Guaira’s GDP during 2026, with a year-on-year drop of between 55% and 70% during the third quarter, which represents the peak of activity disruption. The spending associated with reconstruction, the gradual recovery of the port and airport, and emergency credit lines will prevent an even deeper contraction, but they will hardly change the overall diagnosis.

Translated into numbers, La Guaira is expected to lose out on generating around $2.4 billion in economic activity during 2026 compared to the pre-earthquake scenario. That is, perhaps, the best approximation of the disaster’s direct economic cost for the state during its first year. It is a loss equivalent to more than a third of its annual economy, and quite distinct from the cost of rebuilding the destroyed assets.

The earthquake could cost Venezuela between three and four points of growth during 2026 compared to the pre-disaster baseline.

However, even that estimate remains conservative because the state does not operate in isolation. The temporary closure of the country’s main logistics hub drove up transportation costs, forced operations to be diverted to Valencia, Barcelona, and Maracaibo, increased delivery times, caused congestion in alternative ports, and disrupted supply chains in the central region of the country. These indirect effects explain why the national impact ends up being considerably larger than the mere loss of La Guaira’s output.

Our estimate is that the drop in the state’s activity subtracts approximately 2.2 percentage points from Venezuela’s GDP growth due to direct effects. When factoring in the deterioration of the logistics sector and the spillover effects on commerce, manufacturing, and consumption, the earthquake could cost Venezuela between three and four points of growth during 2026 compared to the pre-disaster baseline.

This difference between physical damage and economic cost is not just a methodological detail. It is a fundamental distinction for designing the reconstruction. If the objective is limited to replacing buildings and infrastructure, the country may recover part of the lost assets. But if the priority is to restore La Guaira’s productive capacity as soon as possible, then investment decisions must change. Reconstruction must focus first on the port, the airport, road connectivity, and financing the thousands of small businesses that make up the state’s economic fabric. Every week these activities remain partially paralyzed, the economic cost of the disaster will continue to rise.

During 2027, we will likely see very high growth rates in La Guaira as a result of the reconstruction process and the low baseline left by 2026. It would be a mistake to interpret these figures as a full recovery. Recovering a capital stock equivalent to between 60% and 90% of the state’s annual output will require several years of sustained investment, institutional stability, and access to financing. Yet, every crisis also opens an opportunity to do things better. La Guaira can be rebuilt by replicating the vulnerabilities of the past, or it can become the starting point for a more modern and efficient logistics infrastructure.

If investments are properly targeted, if financing reaches the businesses that sustain the productive fabric, and if reconstruction manages to become a shared project among the public sector, the private sector, and international cooperation, the state will not only recover what was lost: it can emerge stronger. In the end, true success won’t be returning to where we were before the earthquake, but leveraging this tragedy to build a logistics platform capable of driving Venezuela’s growth for decades to come.

The true indicator of success will not be next year’s growth rate, but the speed at which La Guaira regains its role as Venezuela’s premier logistics platform.

WASHINGTON — Public health experts have been quick to condemn an executive order from President Trump aimed at upending childhood vaccinations in the U.S., but the biggest obstacles may be the unprecedented financial and logistical challenges it would impose on parents, health providers and drugmakers.

Monday’s announcement by the Republican president calls for separating combination shots — including the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine — into separate injections. Appointments for that and other vaccinations should be spaced out whenever possible, the order states.

To accomplish that, drugmakers would need to revive a slate of individual vaccines that have not been marketed separately in the U.S. for decades. They would also have to build new manufacturing plants capable of producing millions more vaccine doses than the nation currently uses.

For parents, unbundling the MMR vaccine and spacing out the shots would mean returning to the doctor’s office many more times than is currently needed. Those appointments could also strain pediatricians who typically administer the shots, while driving up costs tied to syringes and other medical supplies.

Studies in the U.S. and other countries have shown that combination vaccines increase the likelihood that children will be fully protected from infectious diseases before starting school.

Health experts say there is no scientific basis for changing course.

“We do things that are less convenient and more expensive if there’s a good reason to do it,” said Dr. Anna Durbin, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “There is no good justification for this. I think it’s very bad public health policy.”

Trump’s plan would require vaccine manufacturing overhaul

Under Trump’s executive order, federal officials are instructed to develop within 90 days plans for breaking up the MMR shot and spacing out other vaccines.

But pharmaceutical scientists and former regulators say those changes would likely take years and require drugmakers to spend tens of millions of dollars on new studies and manufacturing facilities.

Currently, there are no individual vaccines in the U.S. for measles, mumps or rubella. All the vaccines approved for those viruses by the Food and Drug Administration are combination shots. That three-in-one approach has been the standard in the U.S. since the early 1970s.

Dr. Jesse Goodman, a former FDA vaccine chief, said companies would have to conduct large studies showing new individual shots produced immune system-boosting reactions in children similar to the current versions.

Companies might also have to demonstrate the safety of new manufacturing facilities and procedures, given that individual measles shots haven’t been widely produced in the U.S. for roughly a half-century.

“The question is how much has changed since then and how comfortable will the FDA and the companies be relying on those comparisons?” said Goodman, who is now a professor at Georgetown University.

Designing, constructing and getting federal sign-off for new vaccine plants typically takes about five years, according to industry experts.

Additionally, Goodman said the FDA would have to review and license each unbundled vaccine separately, a process with no precedent.

“I don’t think there’s any comparable example of removing hugely effective public health measures that protect babies for no documented scientific reason,” he said.

Individual shots for measles and related diseases tend to be used by lower-income countries that can’t afford the MMR shot. Merck, GSK and the handful of other companies that supply U.S. childhood vaccines make only the combination shot.

In separate statements, Merck and GSK said they stand by the safety and effectiveness of their products. Neither discussed plans to unbundle their shots.

“To date, there has been no published scientific evidence that shows any benefit in separating the combination MMR vaccine into three individual shots,” Merck said in an emailed statement.

Parents would need to make many more trips to the doctor

The MMR shot is currently delivered in two doses — the first at the age of 1 and the second dose after age 4. Splitting up the shot into its three separate components would mean six office visits. Spacing out other shots for pertussis and other infectious diseases could multiply the number of visits many more times.

As the number of visits goes up, parents are more likely to miss appointments or stop making them, according to Durbin.

“It’s going to be less convenient, more expensive and you’re going to have fewer people getting vaccinated,” she said.

Since last year, Trump has repeatedly expressed concern about the number of vaccinations U.S. children are receiving and called on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reduce the number. Kennedy and other officials have pointed to smaller countries, such as Denmark, that recommended slightly fewer vaccines than the U.S.

But breaking up combination shots will result in kids receiving many more individual shots than other comparable nations, Durbin notes.

White House spokesman Kush Desai said the Trump administration’s efforts on the MMR vaccine “will give parents more options on timing and frequency for their children, which ultimately will increase vaccination rates for all three diseases.”

Vaccine order is not legally binding

Despite the precedent-breaking nature of Trump’s order, some experts are skeptical it will result in meaningful changes.

Neither the White House nor the FDA can compel drugmakers to develop and seek approval for new vaccines. And from a business perspective, companies have little incentive to develop individual versions of vaccines they already sell in combination shots.

“They’d be competing against themselves, and there’s no reason to do that,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia vaccine researcher and former government adviser.

While Trump’s order calls for more federal research and recommendations, only state governments have the legal authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren. The order simply advises states to consider updating their laws to reflect the Trump administration’s approach.

“I think states will ignore this,” Offit said. “I think that bottom line is that we don’t need to look to Donald Trump for our medical advice.”

Perrone writes for the Associated Press. AP videojournalist Mary Conlon in New York contributed to this report.

YOU don’t need a celebrity budget to jet off to Europe’s most stunning beach destinations.

We’ve scoured Wowcher‘s holiday deals to find the best beach breaks with return flights included, slashing prices by up to 56%.

Whether you fancy living the high life at a five-star resort in Mykonos, floating in a rooftop infinity pool in Malta, or soaking up the sun on Turkey‘s Turquoise Coast, we’ve got you.

Here are the top sunny stays you can book right now from £99pp – before they sell out.

Malta – £99

With this gem of a deal, you can soak up the Malta sunshine from this four-star hotel’s rooftop infinity pool for under £100pp – saving up to 46% off full-price.

This stylish spot has sweeping views over the Mediterranean, plus a spa to unwind in and multiple bars and restaurants to pick from.

Read more on beach holidays

SCHOOL’S OUT

Cheap August beach holidays under £290pp with 30C heat and short flights

HOL YES

Cheapest summer for holidays in YEARS – with August breaks still on sale for £188pp

The hotel sits in the charming hilltop village of Mellieha, which is home to Malta’s longest sandy beach and historical landmarks like the 17th-century St. Agatha’s Red Tower.

The deal also comes with return flights from your pick of London Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, Southend, London City & Manchester airports, plus you can pick the number of nights you stay.

Book a 4* holiday to Malta with return flights included from £99pp

5* Algarve holiday – £99

Bag a beachfront break to Portugal with this £99 stay at a luxurious 5* hotel in The Algarve, saving up to 56% off full-price breaks.

The glamorous resort, named Wine & Books by the Sea, boasts a huge, glimmering outdoor pool surrounded by palm trees and bright white parasols.

Indoors, the Library Spa has a heated indoor pool and offers treatments like aromatherapy massages and soothing facials.

When you fancy exploring the local area, this resort sits in Portugal‘s Reserva Natural dos Salgados, where wildlife like flamingos wander the wetlands.

Book a 5* holiday to The Algarve with return flights included from £99pp

Antalya – £159

Antalya’s Citrus Park Hotel has everything you’d want in a Turkey holiday – comfy sea view rooms, a huge hotel breakfast spread, and the golden sands of Konyaalti Beach a short walk away.

This hotel comes with some pretty amazing views, sitting on the beachfront and framed by dramatic mountains.

Just a short walk away you’ll find a promenade lined with bars, cafes, souvenir shops and water sports stations.

You can save 30% on the holiday with this Wowcher offer, which also includes breakfast during your stay and return flights from London, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh or Manchester.

Book a holiday to Antalya with return flights included from £159pp

Fuerteventura – £179

This 4* Fuerteventura hotel places you right in the heart of the action.

There’s white sands just steps away and a plethora of beachfront bars and restaurants.

There’s a huge swimming pool here with a dedicated kids section, plenty of loungers, plus a poolside bar serving up fruity cocktails.

The hotel is a short stroll from Corralejo Harbour, where you can hop on a ferry to the island of Lobos, or even take a day-trip to Lanzarote.

Book a 4* holiday to Fuerteventura with return flights included from £179pp

Mykonos 5* – £299

A 5* holiday to Mykonos sounds like something only celebs can afford. But this Wowcher offer means you can book one for under £300.

The offer includes a stay at Saint John Hotel Villas & Spa, home to its own private beach, gourmet restaurants and infinity pool facing the sea.

Here you’re also perfectly positioned to explore the best of Mykonos – with its white windmills, Mykonos Town and Little Venice all nearby.

This offer can save you up to 22% off full price, giving you some extra cash in your pocket to hit the island’s stylish bars and clubs.

Book a 5* holiday to Mykonos with return flights included from £299pp

Menorca – £179

Majorca’s quieter sister island Menorca offers all the same stunning beaches and scenery – but in a more relaxed, peaceful setting,

This Wowcher bargain includes flights plus a stay in the beachfront Aparthotel Sol Parc, surrounded by scenic pine woodlands.

Here you’ll get a spacious apartment plus access to multiple swimming pools and sports facilities like beach volleyball, mini golf, basketball and a tennis court.

Even better, you can walk directly out of the building onto the beach where there’s clear waters to paddle in and a restaurant overlooking the sea.

Book a holiday to Menorca with return flights included from £179pp

Prices correct at the time of publication.

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell. Mark Walter sold the Lakers for $12.5 biillion after owning the franchise for 10 months. If every reader of Dodgers Dugout can chip in $50 million, we might be able to buy the Dodgers.

Series with Brewers is important

The Dodgers begin a four-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers tonight at Dodger Stadium. Remember, the three division winners automatically qualify for the postseason, but the division winner with the worst record will have to play in the first round, while the other two skip the first round. And, if teams are tied, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head record. Let’s look at those three teams as of Wednesday night:

1. Milwaukee, 74-47
2. Atlanta, 73-48
3. Dodgers, 73-48

The Dodgers are 2-1 against Milwaukee and 1-2 against Atlanta. So, the Dodgers will need to at least split the four games to maintain tiebreaker advantage over the Brewers. Of course, winning three of four or sweeping would be even better. If the Brewers win three of four, or sweep the Dodgers, then they will be in the driver’s seat for best record and home-field advantage throughout the postseason.

The Dodgers have three games remaining against the Braves, Aug. 25-27 at Atlanta.

Let’s take a look at how the Dodgers and Brewers compare this season, through Tuesday.

Runs per game
Dodgers, 5.02 (third in the majors)
Milwaukee, 4.91 (fifth)

Batting average
Dodgers, .261 (first)
Milwaukee, .252 (sixth)

On-base percentage
Dodgers, .338 (second)
Milwaukee, .336 (third)

Slugging percentage
Dodgers, .428 (second)
Milwaukee, .396 (19th)

Doubles
Milwaukee, 214 (third)
Dodgers, 198 (ninth)

Triples
Milwaukee, 20 (seventh)
Dodgers, 12 (18th)

Home runs
Dodgers, 152 (seventh)
Milwaukee, 110 (30th)

As you can see, the Dodgers have more power than the Brewers, but Milwaukee makes up for it some in the next two categories.

Stolen bases
Milwaukee, 118 (fifth)
Dodgers, 46 (28th)

Sacrifice bunts
Milwaukee, 29 (second)
Dodgers, 12 (22nd)

ERA
Milwaukee, 3.54 (fourth)
Dodgers, 3.72 (seventh)

Rotation ERA
Dodgers, 3.54 (fourth)
Milwaukee, 3.56 (fifth)

Bullpen ERA
Milwaukee, 3.51 (fourth)
Dodgers, 4.02 (16th)

Pitcher strikeouts
Milwaukee, 1,169 (second)
Dodgers, 1,073 (eighth)

Pitcher walks
Dodgers, 373 (10th fewest)
Milwaukee, 376 (11th)

Home runs allowed
Milwaukee, 123 (seventh fewest)
Dodgers, 143 (20th)

Saves
Milwaukee, 38 (third)
Dodgers, 32 (14th)

Blown saves
Dodgers, 16 (T15th)
Milwaukee, 15 (T19th)

Inherited runners who scored%
Dodgers, 35.5%, 49 of 138 (23rd)
Milwaukee, 41.9%, 54 of 129 (28th)

The two teams are pretty evenly matched.

The big difference between the two is the Brewers just can’t seem to breakthrough in the postseason. They have made it in seven of the last eight seasons, but reached the NLCS only twice, losing both times to a very familiar team. Let’s look:

2018: Lost in NLCS to Dodgers, 4-3
2019: Lost NL wild-card game to Washington
2020: Lost in NL wild-card series to Dodgers, 2-0
2021: Lost in NLDS to Atlanta, 3-1
2022: Did not make postseason, finished with 86-76 record
2023: Lost in NL wild-card series to Arizona, 2-0
2024: Lost in NL wild-card series to New York, 2-1
2025: Lost in NLCS to Dodgers, 4-0

This is why it was such a surprise they didn’t do more to acquire Tarik Skubal. That would have given them a devastating 1-2 punch in Skubal and NL Cy Young favorite Jacob Misiorowski. Instead, they acquired former Dodger Dustin May.

Keep in mind, it is not imperative to finish in the top two. The Dodgers had to play in the first round last season and that worked out OK. In fact, this season is looking amazingly like last season, with the shaky bullpen and strong starting pitching.

L.A. radio/TV icon Steve Edwards discusses the team

Steve Edwards, who had done just about everything in the local TV and radio landscape and is probably best remembered as longtime host of “Good Day L.A.,” is a longtime Dodgers fan and newsletter subscriber. He agreed to answer a few questions recently, and we thank him for his time. This was conducted via email.

Q. How long have you been a Dodgers fan, and do you have a favorite Dodgers memory and player?

Edwards: To a certain extent it started before the Stone Age. I was a kid in New York in a glorious time for baseball. We had three teams. We had the famous Willie, Mickey and the Duke playing center field for the three teams. The teams were always going to the World Series every year in some combination and it was an incredible time when baseball was the king of all sports and to be a kid in the middle of all of was nirvana (a word that didn’t exist in the a nine year old’s vocabulary-but sounds good now). As a Bronx Kid I was geographically predisposed to the Yankees.

But I loved the Dodgers, who couldn’t? Jackie Robinson was a heroic figure in my part of the world and you had Pee Wee and Campy and Hodges, Oisk, Skoonj and of course The Duke. Over the years I gradually flipped allegiance — falling more in love with the Dodgers — and falling out of love with The Steinbrenner Yankees, mainly because of Steinbrenner. Moving to L.A. sealed it. When I came to L.A. the teams were playing in The World Series and I realized I was clearly rooting for the Dodgers, a thing that would’ve made my mother, who was from Brooklyn, very happy.

Q. How do you assess this season’s team?

Edwards: Really good and yet disappointing. We are like spoiled children — we get more of everything — and of course want even more. Of course it will come together in time for the playoffs where Kiké will hit .900, Glasnow and Snell will pitch no-hitters and Freddie will hit a couple of walkoffs. Now if Tucker and Díaz can really come around……

Q. A genie grants your wish and says you are the owner of the Dodgers and can make three immediate changes. What changes do you make? It can be to the team, the stadium, whatever you want.

1. Keep Yordan Alvarez.

2. Have Frank McCourt never buy The Dodgers (or at least not hold on to a share of the land and parking lots).

3. I am a BIG BIG fan of Joe Davis and Stephen Nelson. We are so fortunate to have them, but I still wish we could hear Vin’s voice — a voice that was the soundtrack of so many of our lives — not only the best ever, but connected us as a community and help define Los Angeles.

Q. Recently, a website listed their 10 greatest Dodgers. A lot of fans were unhappy that Shohei Ohtani wasn’t among the top 10. Seems way too soon to consider him one of the 10 greatest Dodgers. What do you think?

Edwards: Shohei didn’t become the Face of Baseball until he became a Dodger. All those years, even with everything that he personally accomplished on a team with Mike Trout,didn’t really move the needle that much (that’s a whole other Q&A).

When he arrived with the Dodgers, it wasn’t just the needle moving, it was a seismic shift. He is already one of the most memorable Dodgers (or all of baseball) in history — so to ask if you should be considered top 10 is crazy, maybe some think he needs a few more years but he’s definitely should be considered and — come on —he’s in.

Q. Way back in the ancient times of 1991, I won WrestleMania tickets from you while you were hosting a show on KABC 790 (which may have been the greatest talk station in history). You have been a TV host and have done virtually everything. What was your favorite?

Edwards: That’s like choosing among your children or grandchildren. I’ve been incredibly lucky and grateful for all of it. But I really did love doing Sportstalk…

Q. My two favorite shows of yours were “Two on the Town” with Melody Rogers and “Good Day L.A.” with you, Jillian Barberie and Dorothy Lucey. We recently did a story on the three of you hosting a podcast. What was the genesis of that podcast, and how can readers listen to it?

Edwards: It came around organically, we’ve remained really good friends through the years with all the ups and downs of life. We were approached to do this, and it seemed like a natural thing to do. There were a lot of people who loved that show — there also a lot of people who were annoyed by it. For me it brings back a familiar feeling of trying to finish a sentence. Funny you mention Two on the Town — I’m about to have a FaceTime with Melody Rogers right after this. You can find the podcast on YouTube — “So Unanchored” with Jillian Barberie, Dorothy Lucey and Steve Edwards. It’s a good deal at the price — it’s free. You can find it by clicking here.

Up next

Thursday: Milwaukee (*Shane Drohan, 6-4, 3.87 ERA) at Dodgers (Roki Sasaki, 5-5, 4.54 ERA), 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Friday: Milwaukee (*Robert Gasser, 3-4, 4.57 ERA) at Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto, 11-7, 2.65 ERA), 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Saturday: Milwaukee (Jacob Misiorowski, 11-5, 2.76 ERA) at Dodgers (*Justin Wrobleski, 11-4, 3.44 ERA), 4:15 p.m., Fox, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

Sunday: Milwaukee (Logan Henderson, 6-2, 2.88 ERA) at Dodgers (*Tarik Skubal, 6-2, 2.93 ERA [0-1, 4.09 ERA with Dodgers]), 1:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, AM 570, KTNQ 1020

All times Pacific

*-left-handed

In case you missed it

Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman appears to avoid serious injury in fall down dugout steps

Dodgers’ Dalton Rushing provides promising update on his elbow injury

Shaikin: The Shohei Ohtani Economy: A two-mile ride to Dodger Stadium, for $85

And finally

Highlights from the final game of Vin Scully‘s career. Watch and listen here.

Until next time …

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Aug. 12 (UPI) — MyPillow founder Mike Lindell is refusing to concede defeat in the Minnesota governor’s Republican primary election, saying there were irregularities in the vote tallies.

Lindell lost by 11 points to Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth.

A reporter on his own network, LindellTV, asked him if he would concede if The Associated Press called it for Demuth, he answered: “Why would I listen to the AP?”

“There’s 265,000 votes left to count. I’m down by 18,000 now,” he said. “I’m not going to give up this race until the votes are counted. That’s nonsense.”

His own site shows Demuth as the winner by 11% with 99% of the votes counted as of 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Lindell, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump in his run for governor and has previously supported Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen.

Lindell was sued by Dominion Voting Systems for defamation against a former employee of the company, which makes voting machines. Lindell claimed that the employee, Eric Coomer, had helped rig the 2020 election. In 2025, Lindell was ordered to pay Coomer $2.3 million.

Lindell stepped down from MyPillow leadership on Aug. 5 to focus on his campaign for governor.

“Minnesota deserves my full attention, and that’s exactly what I’m giving it,” He said in a statement on X at the time. “I’m all in, and I can’t wait to earn your vote.”

Demuth said her win is a “major milestone,” but said there was still the November election to win.

“Tonight, Minnesotans made it clear they are ready for real change — at the top. It’s time to end the fraud, restore common sense to our state government and return Minnesota to a place that works for families, seniors, businesses and our next generation,” the post said.

“Let’s go win in November!”

Demuth will face Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., in November’s election.

A series of Houthi attacks in recent weeks, which are among the deadliest in years, is raising fears that Yemen could be sliding back towards all-out war as conflict spreads across the Middle East.

A 2022 truce led to the end of heavy fighting between the pro-Iranian Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, which had been ongoing since September 2014.

But a series of clashes over the last month between the two sides – intensifying in the last two weeks – has led to civilian and military casualties and threatened to reignite the war.

Here is what we know.

What are the latest attacks?

The Houthis have killed a number of civilians in a series of attacks on the government-controlled west coast port of al-Makha, also known as Mocha.

There was also an attack on a commercial vessel in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait on Tuesday, which Yemen’s coastguard said killed six people and injured 10 others. The Houthis said the vessel was carrying weapons.

It followed the Houthis targeting Yemeni government military sites in eastern Yemen with drones and rockets, killing at least 30 government soldiers and causing further clashes. The Houthis have also attacked Saudi Aramco’s Jazan oil refinery.

In response, Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), said the internationally -recognised government would not accept “a new truce that reproduces previous experiences”.

“No action by the Houthi militias will go unanswered or unchecked,” al-Alimi said, according to Yemen’s Saba news agency.

But he also appeared to leave space for a political way back, saying the Houthis could still “lay down their arms, engage in political life and compete through the ballot box on an equal footing with all other Yemenis”.

What is behind the latest tensions?

The Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014 and have since fought a war with the government for control of the country.

Although the intensity of the war declined significantly after the 2022 truce, no comprehensive peace settlement followed.

The fragile status quo came under increasing pressure after the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran on February 28 .

On July 13 , Yemeni government forces – which are backed by Saudi Arabia – attacked Sanaa airport, reportedly to prevent an Iranian aircraft carrying a Houthi delegation from landing. The government accuses Iran of arming the Houthis.

The rebel movement responded by launching missiles towards Saudi Arabia. Then, on July 20 , the Houthis announced a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia, threatening oil shipments diverted towards the Red Sea and attacking Saudi Aramco facilities in Jizan and Yanbu.

Is Saudi Arabia changing its approach?

As the attacks have intensified, Saudi Arabia has begun to take a more proactive approach to its security – both in Yemen and across the region, according to experts.

Some analysts believe the prospect of the Houthis ultimately blocking Bab al-Mandeb – the narrow strait connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean – may have helped push the Saudis to change their strategy.

Saudi Arabia was somewhat insulated from Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz because it could use its East-West Pipeline to transport oil from fields in the east to the Red Sea, bypassing the strait.

If the Houthis were to severely restrict shipping through Bab al-Mandeb, that would threaten the Red Sea route for one of the world’s largest oil exporters.

Last month, Riyadh announced a new international alliance intended to protect shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks. Dozens of countries were invited, with the kingdom saying 13 had agreed to participate.

It is also deepening its security relationships with Pakistan and Turkiye through a new joint defence agreement, while Saudi coordination with Washington also appears to be strengthening.

The Saudi Defence Minister, Khalid bin Salman, recently met US Vice President JD Vance amid reports that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had secured US support for potential military action against the Houthis.

But in Yemen, the shift in the Saudi position may have been more visible when the Saudis intervened against the United Arab Emirates-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) at the end of last year. That allowed Yemen’s fractious anti-Houthi coalition to coalesce around the Yemeni government and present a more united front against the rebels.

Simon Mabon, professor of international relations at Lancaster University in the UK, said Saudi policy on the issue has changed significantly.

“After years of attempting to de-escalate and work towards an accommodation with the Houthis, Riyadh appears to have concluded that approach is no longer viable,” Mabon told Al Jazeera.

“Saudi Arabia’s concern has become particularly acute because conflict around the Strait of Hormuz has increased the importance of alternative oil and shipping routes through the Red Sea.”

But rather than trying to totally defeat the Houthis and retake the capital Sanaa, Mabon said Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government now appear to be focused on pushing Houthi forces away from the coast.

“That’s a marked shift from what we had been seeing previously,” he said.

Could Pakistan and Turkiye be drawn into the war?

The Saudi-Pakistan-Turkiye agreement potentially raises the stakes of any further Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.

Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry, reporting from Sanaa, said the latest attacks were being interpreted by some experts as a direct defiance of the new defence pact.

Pakistan has been directly affected by the recent escalation. Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said three Pakistanis were killed and another person injured in a Houthi attack on a vessel in the Red Sea.

“Pakistan strongly condemns the Houthi attack on a non-combatant commercial vessel,” Dar said, adding that the government was in contact with Saudi and Yemeni authorities.

But experts say the defence pact does not mean that Pakistani or Turkish troops will join the war in Yemen on behalf of their ally.

Wolfgang Pusztai, a security policy and defence analyst, told Al Jazeera that the agreement so -far is “just ink on paper”.

What role is Iran playing?

Iran has long cultivated a so-called “axis of resistance” of governments and groups opposed to Israel and the United States, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, armed groups in Iraq and Syria and the Houthis in Yemen.

The Houthis supported Iran towards the end of March by launching attacks towards northern Israel and have since threatened to expand their operations in the Red Sea.

Last month, Iran reportedly asked the Houthis to prepare to close the Red Sea oil route if the US attacked Iranian power infrastructure.

A source close to the Houthis told Reuters that missiles and drones had been positioned near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in Yemen’s highlands overlooking Hodeidah and the Gulf of Aden.

Mohammed Albasha, a Yemeni American analyst and former spokesperson for Yemen’s embassy in Washington, said the Houthis’ attacks on Saudi Arabia should therefore also be understood within the broader US-Iran confrontation.

“By threatening Saudi shipping there, the Houthis can increase pressure on both Riyadh and Washington, while supporting Iran in its wider confrontation with the United States,” Albasha said.

Is another all-out war imminent?

Analysts say the crucial question is whether the latest attacks are intended to pressure the Saudi and Yemeni governments, or whether the Houthis believe they are simply taking the initiative in a new potential ground war.

The Houthis also say Saudi Arabia is using the port of al-Makah to reinforce and resupply government forces and believe Riyadh and its Yemeni allies are preparing an offensive against Houthi-held territory.

Nadwa Al-Dawsari, Associate Fellow at the Middle East Institute, said those fears may be fuelling the current escalation.

“Since January, there has been significant progress towards bringing Yemen’s different government forces under a more unified command,” Al-Dawsari told Al Jazeera.

“Government forces have also demonstrated growing air capabilities, carrying out air and drone strikes against Houthi missile and drone launchers and other military sites.”

“The Houthis’ objective in this recent escalation is to disrupt these preparations before government forces are ready, degrade their capabilities and force them onto the defensive.”

Ultimately, she said, the Houthis are trying to shape the rules of any coming confrontation so that “if escalation takes place, it happens on their own terms”.

While a Saudi-led ground offensive is not inevitable, the Houthis have also shown over the past decade that they cannot be defeated by air power alone, Mabon said.

“Yemen’s mountainous terrain makes a ground campaign exceptionally difficult, while Riyadh has little appetite to become trapped again in a prolonged war,” he said.

A Saudi-backed offensive led by Yemeni government forces is still more plausible than a large Saudi ground deployment, he added.

The consequences of major fighting on the ground between the two sides will inevitably mean that civilians will suffer most.

“Amidst all of this, the tragedy is that people in Yemen are paying the price,” Mabon said.

“It wasn’t long ago that Yemen was facing one of the worst humanitarian crises since the Second World War. People are struggling, and continued fighting will make it far worse.”

The importance of parental support goes meta in Julia Hart’s “Don’t Say Good Luck.” The YA musical drama, which premieres Friday, pays homage to musical theater, unconditional maternal love and the family-hour TV, er, Netflix movie. In a landscape littered with teenage dysfunction, “Don’t Say Good Luck” is a moving argument for aspirational television.

And with a star whose famous father serves as producer, it‘s an admonition to the term “nepo baby.”

We meet normal kid Sophie Birenbaum (Sunny Sandler) as she anxiously prepares for a day that will include auditioning for her high school’s production of “Waitress.” While her father, Ted (Max Greenfield, marvelously transformed by a beard), wrangles her rambunctious younger twin brothers, her mother, Elizabeth (Melanie Lynskey), assures her that she is talented and beautiful and will do just great. These sentiments are echoed by Sophie’s best friend, Carolyn (Scarlett Estevez), who joins her at the audition where the director is the super-cool Ms. Parker (“Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s” Stephanie Beatriz) and even theater department queen bee Mallory (Elyse Bell), who everyone knows is going to get the lead, is pretty nice.

It’s a high school experience that’s about as far from “Euphoria” or even “Glee” as one can get while still being situated on Earth. Still, all is not perfect in Sophie’s world. When Elizabeth learns that her cancer has returned, Sophie overhears her parents’ subsequent conversation via a butt-dial from her father’s phone. Her first impulse is to flee the audition; instead her emotional turmoil fuels a powerful performance that (spoiler alert?) lands her the lead role.

Determined to downplay the seriousness of her illness, Elizabeth insists that life continue on as normal — she and Ted own a local deli, which offers some nice bagel versus wrap shade and a Jon Lovitz cameo. Though Sophie is worried, she believes her mother who says she will beat cancer again. So she throws herself into the stomach-churning rigor of being the star of the show, which includes a painful separation from her bestie, a crush on her co-star and a struggle to find the confidence to let her obvious talent shine.

“Don’t Say Good Luck” is, obviously, a showcase for Sandler, whose parents, Adam and Jackie Sandler, serve as producers (which may have had something to do with the extraordinary supporting cast, which also includes Bebe Neuwirth and Steve Buscemi as Elizabeth’s parents). Adam Sandler and his Happy Madison Productions have a long and lucrative partnership with Netflix, which recently debuted “Happy Gilmore 2” and announced “Grown Ups 3” as part of their deal. One could see this as yet another case of nepo-baby triumph — streaming is currently littered with the progeny of famous parents — or simply a living example of the film’s theme. Like the Birenbaum parents, the Sandlers want to help their daughter shine in her chosen career and that she certainly does.

Adam Sandler serves as a producer, which may have had something to do with the extraordinary supporting cast, which also includes Steve Buscemi as Sophie’s grandfather.

(Netflix)

Though Sophie is the only older daughter ever to escape the task of caring for her younger brothers (or doing any chores at all), Sandler makes her completely believable as a nice, self-conscious kid who just needs a push to trust her talent. If the tone of the film is 1970s-family-comedy aspirational (particularly in the mother-daughter scenes), that shouldn’t be construed as a low level of difficulty.

Indeed, it is almost revolutionary to see emotionally resonant teenage characters who aren’t mired in abuse, addiction or some kind of horror; leveraging dysfunction has become shorthand for “drama.” “Don’t Say Good Luck” is based on the real-life experience of co-writer Laura Hankin (collaborating here with Hart and Jordan Horowitz), and though the stakes are emotionally high, portraying a loving family doing their best to get through a devastating situation with minimal meltdowns is its own act of bravery.

It certainly helps that this family is firmly anchored by Lynskey, who proves, yet again, that she can do anything. Her Elizabeth is neither martyr nor saint, just a woman who wants to live as she’s always lived for as long as she can. Lynskey lifts what could have been a sappy (or even worse, guilt-inducing) cancer-mom tale into a quietly transcendent contemplation of motherhood. (A scene in which she flips through the calendar trying to figure out when to let the kids know what’s really going on drove the breath from this mother’s body.)

Does “Don’t Say Good Luck” skirt around the grim realities of cancer as cavalierly as it paints a Pinterest mood-board vision of high school? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean the message and the feelings (yes, you absolutely will cry) are not just as authentic. Love is the root of much pain, but it’s also what conquers it in the end.

Melanie Lynskey as Elizabeth, Max Greenfield as Ted and Jon Lovitz as Lenny in “Don’t Say Good Luck.”

(Netflix)

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s botched repairs at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool have landed the National Park Service in a political predicament.

The beloved federal agency, its iconic park rangers and other employees have been serving the public while managing controversial demands by the Republican president — from revising exhibits at parks and other sites to the demolition of important structures under its stewardship, such as the White House’s East Wing, to arresting visitors for alleged vandalism at the pool.

Critics say the monthslong Reflecting Pool saga and other demands by Trump risk undermining the integrity of a federal agency that has long been held in high esteem by the American public.

“Never — not once in decades — have I witnessed such systematic degradation, disrespect and dismantling of the National Park Service as I see today under the thumb of President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum,” said Bill Wade, a former park ranger and superintendent.

Wade, who now serves as executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers, wrote an op-ed for The Denver Post lamenting what he called the Trump administration’s “assault on the people, the mission and the values that have made the National Park Service one of America’s most valued institutions.”

The park service has been at the center of some of Trump’s most contentious actions during his second term. An executive order targeted funding and demanded reviews at national parks and other sites that Trump said advanced “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology,” resulting in changes to some exhibits on slavery or climate change.

The president has also ordered sweeping changes to historical monuments and buildings in Washington that fall under NPS’ purview, including the creation of a White House ballroom and a 250-foot-tall memorial arch. The agency meanwhile has lost at least one-quarter of its permanent workforce since Trump began his second term, through layoffs, forced retirements and resignations.

Park service employees “are being politicized and drawn into the absurdities and corruption of this administration” on a regular basis, said California Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee. He cited the pool project, the proposed arch and the executive order on exhibit materials.

The ongoing political assault on the agency “is unlike anything we’ve seen in this country, and it makes life miserable at agencies like the National Park Service,” Huffman said.

Reflecting Pool saga continues

Trump launched repairs at the Reflecting Pool earlier this year, hoping to address longstanding problems at the iconic site ahead of the America 250 celebrations. But the $16 million project faced immediate problems, including peeling blue sealant and a fierce return of green algae.

Trump blamed the sealant issues on vandalism without providing evidence, and felony charges were brought against a former Olympic canoeist, David Hearn, after he was accused of vandalizing the pool.

The U.S. Park Police, a unit of the National Park Service, arrested Hearn, who denied wrongdoing and said he briefly touched a chunk of the coating.

Charges against Hearn were dropped on July 31 after prosecutors acknowledged that damage was caused by a bungled installation rather than vandalism.

The advice and counsel of career officials and rangers — instantly recognizable by their signature flat hats and green-and-gray uniforms — has been ignored or pushed aside as Trump and Burgum make decisions regarding the failed pool repair, according to an Interior Department employee who was not authorized to discuss internal discussions and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“It’s tragic,” said Ed Stierli, vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, another advocacy group. “The whole thing is a master class in how not to go about a public rehabilitation project.”

In the days since the dismissal of the charges, Trump has continued to lean on NPS in his repeated claims that vandals damaged the pool’s lining.

“A National Park Service career employee, a highly credible witness, saw David Hearn … in broad daylight vandalize the Reflecting Pool by ‘violently’ ripping and tugging at the Pool’s somewhat delicate coating,” Trump posted Aug. 9 on his Truth Social site. Hearn’s legal team said Trump “is continuing to attack an innocent man.”

Stierli, of the parks conservation group, called Trump’s reference to the unnamed park employee an example of the awkward position agency workers now face under Trump and Burgum, who has publicly backed Trump’s claims about vandalism at the pool.

“I think the public understands that unfortunately, you have the president of the United States directly driving decisions, both here in Washington and around the country,” Stierli said. The park service — and especially its career staff — “has very little control over this,” he added.

The White House and the Interior Department did not directly respond to requests for comment on the park service. The White House defended the pool project, saying Trump “promised to make D.C. safe and beautiful, and he’s delivering.”

“For years, the Reflecting Pool sat neglected, plagued with algae and leaking millions of gallons of water,” the White House said in a statement. “Fixing it was common sense.”

Park service morale is at its lowest point, a former official says

Wade, the former park superintendent, called the pool repair “a comedy of errors” and “a continuation of the incompetence” shown by the Trump administration.

“Most people realize the NPS is under the gun and can’t do much about it, even though they’d like to,″ he said, adding that morale at the agency is at the lowest point he can remember.

Edicts from Washington have made clear that speaking honestly about what is going on could cost staffers their jobs, Wade said. “There’s a very strong fear among employees at NPS,″ he said in an interview. “It’s very frustrating for them, as you can imagine.”

Trump’s proposed memorial arch has faced some pushback. A recent report by park service staff warned that the proposed gilded arch could disrupt the historical significance of dozens of sites around its planned location near the Lincoln Memorial.

The arch, which last month received initial approval from a key federal commission, would impact the “integrity” of dozens of historical properties because it would change “character-defining visual and spatial relationships” between them, the report said.

Americans view the National Park Service favorably

The park service is popular with Americans. About three-quarters of U.S. adults — including similar shares of Democrats and Republicans — have a favorable opinion of the agency, according to Pew Research Center polling from 2025. Only about 1 in 10 have a negative impression, and about 15% are unsure.

A Washington Post/Ipsos poll from July found that about two-thirds of Americans say they are “dissatisfied” or “upset” about Trump’s Washington area projects, including construction of a new ballroom at the White House, painting the Reflecting Pool and building his triumphal arch. Republicans are more likely to be “enthusiastic” or “satisfied” with the projects.

About one-quarter of U.S. adults say Trump’s goal is to “make Washington more beautiful,” while about half say he has a “different goal.” In an open-ended question, many respondents speculated that Trump wants to glorify himself or leave his mark.

The pool and other recent controversies including the exhibit reviews jeopardize the agency’s credibility, Wade said.

“Whether interpreting the Civil War, discussing climate science or describing the complex stories of Indigenous people, rangers have sought to present evidence, not political ideology,’’ he said. ”That is now being lost.”

Daly writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Linley Sanders contributed to this report.

JUST like their sunlounger-hogging cousins, the beach blaggers start early in their bid to grab as much precious sand as possible.

With multiple guy ropes and pulleys stretched across the sands, they construct complicated cabanas and tents that occupy nearly EIGHT times more space than a standard umbrella while providing no extra shade.

It’s been an increasing problem on busy Mediterranean beaches but now the selfish beach-dwellers with their sand-stealing contraptions are beginning to invade UK shores.

As millions of us escape to the UK’s gorgeous beaches to cool off in the heatwaves, we’re increasingly having to fight for every square inch of sand stolen by these modern monstrosities.

A traditional beach umbrella takes up around 0.5sq metres of sand -whereas the new modern beach cabanas can take anything from four to nine square metres of prime shoreline.

That’s the equivalent of a small studio apartment!

HOL NO

Brits must BOOK to visit Euro beaches under new rules & some already full for summer

EU NEED TO KNOW

All of the European rules you need to be aware of this summer

Once set up, the hoggers then begin emptying multiple beach buggies of chairs, tables and more to furnish their tented encampments.

And what’s even more irritating, once set up they promptly disappear – for HOURS – leaving everyone else on the beach scrabbling for a little bit of space or helplessly trying to navigate their way through the ropes and chains.

Just last month I watched a family set up not one but THREE different huge marquees on the sands of Fuengirola complete with a huge barbecue and full dining table and chairs.

But as they start to lay claim to British beaches, authorities across the Mediterranean and beyond are beginning to fight back against the sand grabbers with confiscations, strict bans and heavy fines.

On Spain’s Costa Blanca, municipal wardens and local police are doing early morning sweeps. Anyone who plants a tent, cabana or even an umbrella before 9.30am to reserve a spot – or leaves their gear unattended for more than three hours – has their kit confiscated by council trucks.

Those wanting to reclaim their possessions must go to a warehouse – after paying a €250 (£210) fine!

And with wildfires raging across Europe, these tented constructions caught the attention of concerned authorities in Sardinia. 

When the forest of pop-up structures and guy ropes physically blocked beachgoers from evacuating safely from a wildfire, authorities moved swiftly to ban them.

 And Greece has now expanded its ‘untouched beaches’ protection law, designating more than 250 beaches where pop up structures and commercial sunbeds are banned to give the public back their sand.

And even Australia’s Prime Minister has weighed in on the subject after social media was flooded with videos of popular Gold Coast and Sydney beaches completely swallowed by rows of interlocking 2metre x 2metre ‘Cool Cabanas’.

Anthony Albanese declared that using cabanas to reserve spots was ‘not on’ adding: “One of the great things about Australia is that everyone owns the beach. It’s a place where every Australian is equal. It’s a breach of that principle, really, to think that you can reserve a little spot as just yours.” 

Of course, as temperatures soar and with heatwaves getting ever more common, we all still do need to make sure we have ample shade on the beach.

And no doubt, for young children and babies it is essential their delicate skin is protected. No one is arguing against small tents for children to escape the worst of the sun’s rays.

They can be picked up online and in shops from as little as £6. 

Absolutely fine by me. Babies, of course, take up very little space.

But as our beaches become ever more crowded in the peak summer months, those of us who don’t fancy paying a fortune to rent a lounger for £50plus a day need other options.

What’s wrong with a towel and beach umbrella with a good, hardy base that either is filled with sand or screws into the ground to avoid being blown away in the wind. 

With a basic umbrella and a low-rise beach chair plus a towel for stretching out, there’s no need to take up so much space.

It’s time UK councils took a leaf out of Europe’s book and kicked the sand-grabbers off our shores for good! 

Handball’s loss was football’s gain as Baur chose a different sport to father Markus, who made 228 appearances for his country as he helped Germany to Olympic silver in 2004 and world championship gold in 2007.

So far, Baur Jr has played for Germany at every level up to under-21s and will hope moving to Celtic helps him make the step up to the senior side.

Moving to Scotland may seem an unusual choice given he had the opportunity of playing in his country’s top flight for the first time had he stayed with Paderborn, or moved to another Bundesliga club.

Baur did make match-day squads as a youth after coming through the youth ranks with Freiburg without making the breakthrough.

Indeed, he credits his experience on loan to Dynamo Dresden last year for his breakthrough season with Paderborn – that together with advice from a mindset coach and the arrival of Ralf Kettemann as head coach.

Having started as a winger then attacking midfielder, the diminutive, two-footed Baur was used more as a deep-lying playmaker with a style similar to Rangers’ Nicolas Raskin.

It helped steer Paderborn to their greatest success since the turn of the millennium.

The Ebola outbreak currently ravaging the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was caused by a new transmission from animals to humans rather than by variants linked to earlier outbreaks, according to a new study published in the medical journal Nature Medicine.

The virus in eastern DRC has killed more than 2,000 people of 4,449 recorded cases, making it the fastest-moving Ebola outbreak on record. It was formally declared on May 15 , though genetic sequencing later revealed the virus had actually begun circulating in February.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the current Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus is spreading faster than health authorities can contain it and is on track to become the deadliest outbreak on record.

So what have scientists discovered about how it was transmitted to humans? And can it be contained?

Here’s what we know:

What does the new study say about this Ebola outbreak?

In a report published this week in the medical journal Nature Medicine, researchers from the DRC, Uganda, Belgium and other countries analysed the genetic make-up of virus samples from 22 patients in the DRC and Uganda. They found that the outbreak strain was genetically distinct from previous Bundibugyo Ebola viruses seen in outbreaks in 2007 and 2012.

The report suggested that the virus began with a new animal-to-human transmission incident, which then spread to other people.

The animal source has not been specified but the researchers said the outbreak in Uganda was linked to the outbreak in the DRC.

Earlier, health officials in the region said the outbreak is being driven by the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which no vaccine has yet been developed.

Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious diseases doctor with experience in Ebola and outbreak response, explained that the study citing a “new animal transmission” as the reason for the outbreak, does not mean that a new form of Ebola has suddenly emerged or that animals are now transmitting the virus differently.

“What the genomic data suggest is that the current outbreak began with a new ‘zoonotic spillover’ event – meaning the virus likely crossed independently from an animal reservoir into a person – rather than resulting from continued circulation or re-emergence of virus from a previous human outbreak,” she said.

“After that initial spillover, the outbreak has been driven predominantly by human-to-human transmission,” she added.

How dangerous is this strain of Ebola?

On Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that at its current pace, the current Ebola outbreak is on track to eclipse the West African outbreak of 2014 to 2016. That crisis killed at least 11,300 people of a reported 28,600 cases and accelerated the push to develop a vaccine.

That was a different strain of the Ebola virus known as Zaire and the vaccine developed then does not work for the current strain, which is spreading.

Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, WHO’s director for health emergency alert and response operations, said the agency’s moderate projection has the outbreak peaking within six months. Under a more severe scenario, it could stretch on for nine to 12 months.

“Beyond the zoonotic spillover event from animals to humans, it is the human-to-human transmission dynamics of the Bundibugyo virus that make it dangerous,” Kaja Abbas, associate professor of infectious disease epidemiology and dynamics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Nagasaki University, told Al Jazeera.

Dr Kuppalli also emphasised that the way this strain of the virus was initially transmitted to humans does not make it intrinsically more dangerous.

How is it treated?

Kuppalli said the animal origin of the virus does not change required treatment.

“Once someone develops Ebola disease, management is based on the virus causing the illness and the patient’s clinical condition, not whether their infection ultimately originated from an animal or from another person. What matters here is that Bundibugyo virus (BDBV) currently does not have the same licensed, proven virus-specific therapeutics that we have for Zaire ebolavirus,” she said.

“Supportive care, which includes aggressive fluid and electrolyte management, treatment of shock and organ dysfunction, and management of co-infections, remains critical, while investigational therapeutics are being evaluated,” she added.

“Ebola outbreaks have historically begun through zoonotic spillover. The bigger concern is what it tells us about our preparedness: we still do not fully understand where and when these spillover events will occur, making prevention and early detection extremely difficult.”

“In this outbreak, there also appears to have been substantial transmission before the outbreak was recognised, which gave the virus an opportunity to establish multiple chains of transmission,” she added.

What can be done to contain this outbreak?

Researchers who worked on the new study said increasing “decentralised laboratory diagnostics capacity, including genomic sequencing capacity and timely detection ” could help pre-empt future outbreaks.

Clinicians are also working to develop treatments.

“While no licensed treatments or vaccines exist today, experimental therapeutics and vaccines are in the clinical development pipeline that are specifically targeted towards the strains of the Bundibugyo virus currently circulating in the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda during 2026,” Abbas said.

While a vaccine against the latest strain is being developed, a WHO official said in May that medical supplies, including personal protective equipment (PPE) ⁠⁠to prevent Ebola, were being sent to ⁠⁠the DRC.

“We have sent 12 tonnes of supply. An additional six are arriving. These include personal protective equipment for ⁠⁠front-line health workers [and] samples,” Anne Ancia, WHO representative in the DRC’s Ituri province, told media in May.

At the forefront of the fight to break the spread in the DRC are health workers who have been treating patients while also dealing with the risk of becoming infected themselves.

More than 100 health workers have been infected and about 35 have died.

The response to the outbreak has been further complicated by several factors, including strikes by unpaid health workers, misinformation and cultural traditions. These have included open-casket family burials of some of those killed by the virus, potentially increasing the risk of further transmission.

Kuppalli said better Ebola preparedness is required, not just focusing on stopping transmission once an outbreak has been recognised.

“We also need much stronger health surveillance at the human-animal interface, broader diagnostics capable of detecting different Ebola viruses and medical countermeasures that work across Ebola species,” she said.

“This outbreak is showing us the consequences when the virus gets a several-month head start.”

How have other countries responded?

Many countries have raised concerns about the latest Ebola virus outbreak and some, such as Bahrain, have suspended entry for 30 days for foreign travellers arriving from South Sudan, the DRC and Uganda.

Neighbouring countries, including Rwanda and Uganda, have introduced measures to prevent the virus from crossing their borders.

Rwanda imposed health restrictions, including barring entry to foreign travellers who had been in the DRC in the previous 30 days.

The US warned that travellers, including US citizens, who have been in the DRC within 21 days before departure will not be allowed to board commercial flights to US destinations.

Governments across Asia have also begun introducing border screening and bolstering quarantine preparedness.

A vast oil spill from a leaking tanker reached Oman’s coastline on Wednesday, its environment agency said.

This oil spill threatens to become one of the world’s worst in years after spreading largely unchecked for several weeks, experts say.

On Monday, Oman said it was working to contain the spill, which had by then affected roughly 390 square kilometres (150sq miles), according to analysis by the country’s environment agency.

The slick now covers an area of more than 2,000sq km (770sq miles), said John Amos, an oil spill specialist who reviewed satellite imagery obtained by Reuters. It could affect about 40km (25 miles) of coast near Ras Madraka, as well as Masirah Island, Oman’s Environment Authority said.

Here’s what we know.

What happened?

Oil has been leaking from the tanker Caroline Bezengi since it ran aground about 22 nautical miles (41km) from the Omani coastal town of Sharbithat some time after the crew reported a suspected explosion on June 8. It had been en route from Russia to India.

Reuters reported that the tanker was carrying an estimated 800,000 barrels of sanctioned oil and that it ran aground on June 30.

An investigation by the news agency AFP found that the ship had been stranded for several weeks near Oman’s al-Qibliyyah Island.

In the meantime, the oil has been spreading towards Oman’s coastline.

The Oman News Agency (ONA) quoted the country’s environment authority saying that “today’s monitoring results showed that some beaches in the Ras Madrakah area were affected by oil pollution”.

The Indian Ocean town sits about 200km (125 miles) from al-Qibliyyah.

The slick is now concentrated around the Hallaniyat Archipelago off the southern coast, where a marine reserve was established last year to protect sensitive ecosystems home to diverse marine life, including rare sea turtles.

On Wednesday, the ONA reported that “a coastal stretch of up to 40 km in the [Ras Madrakah] area is expected to be affected”.

The southern beaches of Masirah Island, which lies 15km (nine miles) off the coast of Oman, could be contaminated “in the coming hours”, affecting a 10-20km (six-to-12-mile) stretch of coastline, it said.

An unnamed spokesperson for the United Nations International Maritime Organization said it was “closely monitoring” the leakage.

How did this happen?

British maritime security company Vanguard told AFP that the tanker had suffered “explosions” in early June as it sailed off the coast of Yemen, causing water to enter several sections of the vessel. It ran aground off the coast of Oman some time after this.

There has been no official explanation for the explosions and no party has claimed an attack. However, the vessel was navigating two separate wars on its journey from Russia to India. Tankers have been frequently targeted in the Gulf region in recent months as the US war on Iran has continued.

In April, the Caroline Bezengi sailed from the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, a flashpoint in the Russia-Ukraine war.

It is believed to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” used to circumvent Western sanctions on its oil exports. It last sailed under a Cameroonian flag.

Rentoor Shipmanagement and Villar Shipmanagement, both based in China, are registered as the ship’s owner and operator, respectively, according to the open-source database OpenSanctions.

Russia’s shadow fleet includes ageing vessels that have often been criticised for poor maintenance, lack of insurance and lacklustre safety standards.

Ukraine has previously carried out assaults on shadow fleet vessels believed to be carrying Russian oil.

The Caroline Bezengi then passed through the Suez Canal at the end of May, ship-tracking data shows, before sailing through the Red Sea and past Yemen, where the Iran-aligned Houthi fighters have entered a wider regional war between the United States, Israel and Iran and are targeting Saudi Arabia-flagged ships.

What damage could the oil spill cause?

Last week, advocacy group Greenpeace warned that the spill was on the verge of causing an “environmental disaster”.

Christopher D’Elia, a specialist in oil spills and a professor emeritus at Louisiana State University in the United States, told Al Jazeera the estimated 800,000 barrels of crude on board the Caroline Bezengi would amount to a “fairly large spill”.

“This spill raises a lot of issues,” D’Elia told Al Jazeera.

“These illegal tankers don’t comply with the ‘polluter pays’ principle that is the basis for how the US and other developed nations regulate spills,” D’Elia said.

“The ‘responsible party’ must finance the cleanup in the US. In this case, there is no responsible party.”

Meanwhile, Iranian media reported on Wednesday that a separate oil spill in the Strait of Hormuz had reached the island of Qeshm, affecting beaches and an environmentally sensitive mangrove forest.

State-run news agency IRNA said the slick had affected areas on Qeshm’s southern coast, as well as parts of the smaller neighbouring island of Hengam.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said pollution had been observed at three locations and on the sea surface, adding that its source seemed to be a “foreign bulk carrier”, without specifying the name of the ship.

The risk of oil spills in the Gulf has risen sharply because of strikes on tankers during the five-month US-Iran war. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has reported 65 incidents in the Strait of Hormuz and across the Middle East since the beginning of March.

“Any party that benefits from commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is legally and morally obligated to take action to compensate for and remedy the environmental damage caused to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman,” he said.

The ITV crime series is returning with a familiar face leading the expos command

Trigger Point will soon return to television screens with a much-loved actress joining the bomb disposal experts.

The fourth season of the ITV crime drama sees Vicky McClure’s Lana Washington and her bomb defusal unit take on an explosive new case as they seek to keep the people of London safe from explosive devices and terrorist threats.

McClure has shared her excitement about the new episodes ahead of the release: “I love working with the team, we have a great time making the show, and I cannot wait to continue Lana’s journey on Trigger Point.”

The first look trailer confirms the team’s new challenge is “unprecedented”, with Lana noting that they seem to know how her team works. The scale of the attacks is made even clearer when Lana confirms, “The threats feel bigger, the bombs are closer.”

Returning on-screen alongside Lana is Eric Shango as Danny, Nabil Elouahabi as Hassan “Hass” Rahim, Natalie Simpson as DS Helen Morgan, and Maanuv Thiara as DCI Amar Batra.

Shetland star Julie Graham has also joined the star-studded cast as Commander Nia Quentin.

In the trailer, viewers see Nia confirm that this could be “the biggest terror attack this country has seen,” as the expo team battles to save the capital.

Away from Trigger Point, fans of crime dramas will know Julie as Rhona Kelly in the BBC series Shetland between 2014 and 2022.

The show is based on the bestselling crime novels by award-winning author Ann Cleeves and follows a dedicated police team as they investigate grisly murders and long-buried secrets within the tight-knit, remote island community of Scotland’s Isles.

Scottish actress Julie, 61, has been a seemingly near-permanent fixture on our screens since a Taggart appearance in the mid-1980s.

Her other long-running series commitments include portraying Megan Hartnoll in At Home With The Braithwaites, Abby Grant in Survivors, and playing Sheron Dawson in the adored sitcom, Benidorm.

Most recently, period drama fans saw Julie transform into Ma Hardacre in the Channel 5 show The Hardacres, which follows the sweeping rags-to-riches journey of a working-class family in 1890s Yorkshire.

She also played Annie Marling in Ridley and Elain Phelan in This City is Ours.

Trigger Point series 1-3 is available to stream on ITVX

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is moving to equip officers with body cameras in the next two months, but the agency’s policy gives it broad control over what footage will be made public by specifying any releases must be in its “best interests.”

After years of delays, ICE said its field officers nationwide will have body-worn cameras by the end of September. The rollout comes after recent fatal shootings by officers enforcing President Trump’s immigration crackdown have intensified pressure for accountability that the cameras could provide.

But the agency’s policy could mean taxpayers who are pitching in tens of millions of dollars to pay for the cameras may be kept in the dark about some high-profile confrontations — at least in their immediate aftermath.

The policy says ICE will promptly release video of shootings and other encounters in which its agents cause death or serious injury only after determining “it is in the best interests of the agency” to do so. That gives its director discretion to release recordings that reflect well on the agency’s image while working to keep others secret, experts on body camera policies said.

Such selective releases are routine in some law enforcement agencies but usually not stated so clearly in policy, according to Christopher Schneider, a professor at Brandon University in Canada and a co-author of the book “Police Body-Worn Cameras: Media and the New Discourse of Police Reform.”

“In some ways, ICE is saying the quiet part out loud,” he said. “Body-worn cameras are being used as contemporary image-work tools to present the police to the public in the most favorable way possible.”

The policy requires officers to activate cameras during routine enforcement activities, including while making arrests, executing search warrants and responding to emergencies.

After shootings or other serious confrontations, a committee that includes top ICE officials and lawyers will review footage and recommend whether to release it promptly, according to the body camera policy issued in February 2025.

If the answer is yes, the recording could be released within 72 hours. But if the ICE director finds that “specific and compelling circumstances” justify withholding the video, they have the authority to block or indefinitely delay the release, the policy says.

The policy does not elaborate on such circumstances, and ICE did not respond to a question about how it would make such decisions.

Practices vary widely in the U.S. In Chicago, a police watchdog agency routinely releases body camera video of shootings and other serious use-of-force incidents within 60 days. In Philadelphia, the police department very rarely uses its discretion to release video of specific incidents and has no policy for when to do so.

Even when footage is released, ICE’s policy will require the redaction of all officers’ identifying features such as their faces, names and badge numbers to preserve their privacy.

Schneider, who has studied body cameras since their use began spreading a decade ago, said he does not expect ICE to release footage of fatal shootings like those last month in Houston and Maine.

He noted ICE’s sister agency, Customs and Border Protection, has not released footage of the January shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis even though it was captured on agents’ cameras. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott told lawmakers in February that the video and other materials were under investigation and would be made public “when it’s appropriate.”

ICE spent $30.9 million in July to purchase body camera equipment from Axon, the Arizona-based company that also manufactures Tasers, according to federal spending records.

The spending began one day after the fatal shooting of a 25-year-old motorist in Maine by an ICE officer with a history of violent behavior. Days earlier, another ICE officer shot and killed a home-builder in Houston who was driving to work.

Neither shooting was recorded with body cameras. That news angered members of Congress, who had given ICE $20 million to purchase body cameras in a bill passed to end a partial government shutdown April 30.

ICE said body cameras have been sent to more than half its field officers and the rest will receive them by the end of September. That timeline pushes back estimates from earlier public statements. Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who backed funding for cameras, said last month that the agency informed her they would be deployed by the end of August. ICE had said earlier that they would be issued by mid-September.

ICE officers working in the Houston area, where the agency sent more than 800 cameras, are among those who have started training, according to Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat and member of the House Appropriations Committee.

At least one member of every arrest team will be required to have a camera, the agency said.

“I think the American people need to see what that officer sees and hears,” said White House border czar Tom Homan on July 19 on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “And if you look at the data, body cameras actually exonerate agents more than they, you know, provide evidence of wrongdoing.”

ICE began testing body cameras in 2021 during the Biden administration and distributed 1,400 devices three years later, saying use would expand as funding became available.

After returning to office in 2025, President Trump rescinded a Biden order that required federal law enforcement agencies to use body cameras.

ICE did not buy body cameras even after it received a historic $75-billion infusion in Trump’s signature policy bill in 2025 and began hiring thousands of new officers. The two July purchases from Axon were made through an existing government contract that began in 2023, records show.

“This is not hard to deploy, but they’ve slow-rolled it,” said Jason Houser, who was ICE chief of staff under President Biden and helped implement the agency’s pilot program.

Houser said the Trump administration should have equipped officers with body cameras when it expanded mass arrests and traffic stops. Doing so only after several shootings and pressure from Congress “is clearly a political response” that will not make officers or the public safer, he said.

“This doesn’t fix the problem of putting officers in a place where they’re not trained or equipped to carry out the style of operations that the administration is asking them to do,” he said.

Foley writes for the Associated Press. AP reporter Valerie Gonzalez contributed to this report.

Super League have confirmed that they have received an investment offer from the Australian Rugby League Commission.

Discussions have been ongoing between the two parties since last year.

In a brief statement, Rugby League commercial said Super League’s 14 clubs had been informed of the offer on Thursday and that details “remain confidential”.

Chairman of National Rugby League (NRL) Peter V’landys told BBC Sport last October that Super League was in danger of “a crash” if it did not find new ways to grow revenue.

In April, NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo said concerns that a deal between the sport’s two leading competitions would lead to a talent drain from Super League were “completely unfounded”.

“What we’re trying to achieve is to make rugby league in the UK and Europe as strong as possible,” he told BBC Sport.

“That’s the exact opposite of it becoming a feeder pathway program.”

Abdo also said that the NRL were looking for a partnership with Super League rather than a takeover of it.

At the time head of RL Commercial Rodri Jones called the negotiations between Super League and the NRL “encouraging”.

“The sport is open minded to investment,” Jones told BBC Sport.

“The NRL is a natural fit. They are probably the front leaders in the negotiations that we are currently having with various parties.”

The Super League began in 1996 when rugby league’s premier European competition moved to being a summer competition.

Hull KR won the Grand Final last year to join St Helens, Wigan Warriors, Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls as the only teams to have claimed the title.

Three nations to group ministers, hold ⁠joint exercises and deepen defence industry cooperation under the pact signed last week.

Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will group senior ministers, hold ⁠joint exercises and deepen defence industry cooperation under a military pact signed between the regional powers last week, Turkiye’s defence ministry says.

The three countries on August 7 signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement on August 7, which stipulates that an armed attack against any member would be regarded as ‌an attack on all, similar to NATO’s Article 5 collective defence clause.

At a weekly briefing in Ankara on Thursday, the Turkish defence ministry said the pact’s fundamental goal was to ensure defence and military ties were put on a “more institutional and sustainable” footing.

“Under the accord, strategic political and military mechanisms plan to be established involving the Defence Ministers, Foreign Ministers, and Chiefs of General ⁠Staff/Armed Forces Commanders, and that coordination among the three countries will ⁠be conducted at the highest level,” it said.

The ministry added that joint military exercises involving land, naval and air forces, as well as air defence and unmanned systems were planned, in ⁠addition to deeper defence industry cooperation.

“The aim is to provide not only product and system supply, but also joint ⁠development and production, technology cooperation, and sustainable maintenance and ⁠logistics support,” it said, adding that unmanned and autonomous systems, electronic warfare and artificial intelligence capabilities would be prioritised.

Turkiye, which has NATO’s second-largest army, has said the pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan and top oil ‌exporter Saudi Arabia was open to expansion — with Egypt as a potential candidate — and did not seek to replace any existing alliances.

The ministry also said Turkiye ‌was ‌participating in meetings in Jeddah aimed at establishing an international coalition to protect Red Sea shipping.

On developments in the Middle East, ministry spokesperson Rear Admiral Zeki Akturk said lasting peace and stability in the region would be possible if Israel ends its occupation and attacks in Gaza and Lebanon.

He said Israel continues attacks that have deepened the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as also reflected in United Nations reports.

“Israel’s rejection of the 15-point Gaza Plan has been another indication that it is pursuing a policy of regional expansionism. On the other hand, despite the framework agreement that was signed, Israel similarly continues its attacks and military activities in southern Lebanon,” Akturk said, referring to the plan proposed by the United States.

“We once again emphasise that it is essential for the international community to take a more determined and stronger stance against Israel’s actions by upholding international law and humanitarian values in order to establish peace and stability in the region,” he said.

The tournament from February 2 to 7 will feature Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad.

The 2027 Spanish Super Cup will be held in Turkiye at Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium, the Spanish Football Federation has announced.

The Final Four tournament will take place from February 2 to 7 and feature Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad, the federation said in a statement on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia has hosted the competition since 2020 but was ruled out as the dates coincide with the Asian Cup, the continent’s premier men’s international football tournament.

Barcelona, the reigning Super Cup champions after beating Real Madrid in the 2026 final, said in a statement that the Superr Cup will return to Saudi Arabia in 2028.

The Spanish Super Cup features the winners and runners-up of La Liga and the Copa del Rey.

It will take someone better versed in finance, corporate law, family psychology and, perhaps, the impact of great wealth on brain chemistry than I to analyze the recent actions of Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison.

To a cultural journalist, however, it seems like he continues to make himself the best argument yet for opposing his company’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Mere days after taking to the media to insist that he is a misunderstood film buff who just wants to save Hollywood, he threatened to help destroy it.

If California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and state attorneys general from 11 other states, including New York, New Jersey, Washington and Colorado, refuse to negotiate a settlement of their antitrust lawsuit, Ellison said he will yank Paramount Studios, and potentially Warner Bros., out of California.

Um, OK, Ultron.

So that’s how Ellison wants to prove that he will be a steward of the flailing entertainment industry — by threatening to rip out a big part of its still-beating heart and implant it in Texas or Tennessee?

Will he be taking the Hollywood sign as well, to stick atop the Grand Ole Opry or, better yet, the Alamo?

Not only does this grant Bonta VIP access to the moral highground, it all but negates Ellison’s recent New York Times guest essay. Especially the part in which he wrote: “The states claim this deal will give one company too much influence over theatrical releases and cable operators, while the W.G.A. argues that our combined market power will hurt writers.”

If one man can decide, in a fit of pique, to scoop up a huge portion of the entertainment industry and float it thousands of miles away, I’d say that’s a decent argument for “too much influence.”

Also, good luck with the landing. Texas and Tennessee are both fine states with vibrant cities, undeniable corporate incentives and lower costs of living, but their draconian abortion laws and restrictive LGBTQ+ legislation may give many in the entertainment industry pause.

Still, according to Ellison, it’s Bonta and his gang who are trying to make things political, not him; in his essay, Ellison claimed that the suit is mostly about preventing his ownership of CNN, despite his insistence that (the hiring of Bari Weiss to oversee CBS News to the contrary) the news network would remain autonomous.

As a journalist, I would love to believe that Bonta and the other attorneys general are simply going to bat for the Fourth Estate; with President Trump openly longing for the day when Ellison controls CNN, it is no doubt a concern. But as Ellison seems intent on personally underscoring, the bigger issue is how to prevent a dwindling number of individuals from controlling enormous portions of an industry that not only employs millions, but also plays a vital role in shaping the nature of art and culture in this country and the world.

(Never mind the queasy fact that Ellison is being bankrolled by his billionaire father Larry, who is putting many, if not all, of his eggs in the AI basket, to the detriment of his employees.)

Shaping art and culture is, of course, precisely why Ellison wants to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, almost literally at all costs. When he first lost the bid for Warner Bros. to Netflix, he (and his dad) responded by offering enough money (including a $7-billion payout should the deal not clear antitrust regulation) to make Ted Sarandos blink. Money has always been a ladder to power and influence in this country, and the widening wealth gap, not to mention the current administration, has turned the ladder into a rocket ship. (See please Elon Musk.)

Ellison has continually stressed his love of cinematic storytelling. Under the proposed Paramount Warner, he promises to produce 30 theatrical films and 170 television series a year and create more work for everyone.

That would be lovely (if fiscally difficult) to believe. If only he hadn’t just tried to hold the state that gave birth to cinematic storytelling hostage by threatening to kidnap one of its kids.

As negotiating tactics go, it certainly undermines whatever public approval he hoped to gain with his “I’m just a guy, standing in front of the movie biz asking it to love me” bit.

Change is coming for Paramount Studios — the lot on Melrose Avenue — either way. If Paramount Skydance acquires Warner Bros., production will likely shift to the Warner Bros. lot, with Paramount leased or sold.

Now, it seems, Ellison is willing to have a fire sale — he’ll certainly need to raise a bunch of cash if he’s going to quickly flee to redder pastures. As for the thousands of local workers who depend on Paramount production to make a living, well, Ellison and his executives may be able to afford to relocate or (more probably) commute out of state, but most of the people who actually make movies and television cannot.

Business, of course, is business and it has become financially and politically fashionable to desert California to avoid whatever local law, regulation or tax you now find unfair. Tech mavens, including Musk, have ditched California for the Lone Star State. Ellison’s father recently took Oracle out of Redwood City, first to Austin, Texas, then to Nashville, workers be damned.

But Ellison taking Paramount and potentially Warner Bros. out of Los Angeles isn’t about business. It’s pure politics, of the savage, oligarchical variety.

Given the stakes, it’s difficult to imagine that some sort of deal won’t be struck that allows the sale to go through. But Ellison isn’t saving the entertainment industry, he’s leveraging it.

And if he has to spit in Hollywood’s face to save his own, well, apparently that’s fine too.

WASHINGTON — Democrats seeking to retake control of Congress are planning broad investigations into President Trump and his family’s business dealings as part of an agenda focused on alleged corruption and economic harm, while keeping impeachment an option rather than an immediate priority.

The strategy would use subpoenas, committee hearings, possible criminal referrals and the budget as leverage to examine whether Trump, his family and close associates have used the federal government and public contracts for personal or financial gain.

House Democrats in key leadership posts told The Times the groundwork is already being laid out for probes into the president’s reported $2.2 billion in gains last year, the business ventures of his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his sons Eric and Don Jr., and the family’s crypto projects. There is also interest in scrutinizing Trump’s pardons and commutations to allies and the Department of Justice’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.

With less than three months before the midterm elections, the prospect of sweeping investigations has hung over Trump as his approval ratings hit new lows and Democrats gain momentum. But the White House has dismissed Democrats’ plans as partisan and unfounded.

“President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public — which is why they overwhelmingly re‑elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. “There are no conflicts of interest.”

Asked about the possibility of being impeached for a third time and being investigated, Trump told Punchbowl News last week that it would be “very unfair,” in part because “a lot of people are saying I am one of the greatest presidents ever.”

For Democrats, impeachment remains an option, but they are reluctant to make it a centerpiece of their agenda this time around. They argued the process could distract from oversight that would address alleged corruption and the ways it is hurting Americans economically.

“We shouldn’t take off the table that he can be impeached again,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach), the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in an interview. “But I think right now we’ve got to stop the Trump harm and investigate those who are helping him.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, which plays a key role in the impeachment process, has also paused at making impeachment a priority. The Maryland lawmaker argued that Trump is “very eager” for Democrats to impeach him so he can mobilize his political base.

“We’re not going to play into the game,” Raskin told MS NOW’s “The Weekend” on Sunday.

In a statement to The Times, Raskin said the priority would be in expanding ongoing investigations into Trump’s pardons, what he called the “weaponization of the Department of Justice against chosen enemies in the nonprofit world,” “rampant violations of the foreign emoluments clause,” and the “theft and waste of public resources by Trump and his Cabinet of corruption.”

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who led the investigation that resulted in Trump’s first impeachment, said he is keeping his “mind open” on whether another impeachment would make sense for Democrats a third time. He argued the “power of the purse” — or using the budget to take aim at Trump’s agenda — would be a more effective tool.

“We’re going to need to do a lot of oversight of this administration, and I think it will be important in doing that oversight to always bring it back to why people should care about it and how the corruption of this regime is really raising their costs,” Schiff said.

Other Democrats are equally wary about using their renewed power to launch a third impeachment trial against Trump.

“We all know that this man has already been impeached twice. … I don’t know that we have to go to that well a third time,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) said.

Probes trickle down

Beyond the president’s business dealings, rank-and-file Democrats are coordinating other efforts to target Trump administration officials and senior aides over policy decisions they argue should force them out of their jobs.

Last week, Kamlager-Dove introduced articles of impeachment against Russell Vought, the White House budget director, arguing that he broke the law when the administration canceled federal funding to Democratic states including California for political reasons.

While she is cautious about impeaching Trump for a third time, she believes it would be effective to “remove Trump’s reapers who are willfully breaking the law.”

“I’m coordinating with leadership so that we have the best path forward for this,” she said. “It’s about being unified. It’s about working in a coordinated fashion, and it’s about understanding the end goal.”

Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), a member of the House Oversight Committee, said there needs to be more scrutiny over the White House’s budget-cutting team, the Department of Government Efficiency. Democrats should inquire more, he said, into allegations that a former DOGE official copied the Social Security numbers, names and personal information of millions of Americans to a private cloud that lacked adequate security.

He said the public still does not know enough about the situation or whether the data is secure or if it was breached, and said lawmakers should examine whether any laws or policies were violated.

“If there was political motivation to access and put at risk the Social Security numbers and the personal information of every single American, that sounds pretty criminal to me,” Walkinshaw said.

In May, three Democrats — Reps. Mike Levin of California, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Jason Crow of Colorado — launched the End Corruption Caucus, creating another vehicle for oversight ideas should Democrats take control of the House.

The push and pull

As Democrats prepare for investigations, there are already questions about the type of resistance that could come from Trump and administration officials, all of whom have shown a willingness to buck Congress.

In a sign of what could be a potential hurdle, the Department of Justice issued a memo Monday evening that says communications between Trump and advisors who do not work for his administration can be protected under executive privilege.

“Restricting executive privilege to purely intragovernmental communications would foreclose the President from relying on an array of important sources that he may find necessary to the effective discharge of his responsibilities of office,” the memo from the department’s Office of Legal Counsel said.

The White House described the memo as a “narrow legal analysis, not an extension of executive privilege.”

But some Democrats see it as an example of how the Trump administration may be gearing up for Democratic-led investigations.

“This dubious expansion of executive privilege to cover Trump’s outside advisors is a clear attack on Congress’ oversight powers, and creates an environment ripe for corruption that protects only the president and his friends. We are ready to fight to uphold our power and authority,” Garcia said.

Walkinshaw added that he predicts the Trump administration is going to “flat-out refuse to engage with or respond to Democrats” if they take control.

If that happens, Democrats already expect to fight back.

“We have contempt tools, we have inherent contempt, we have criminal contempt,” he said. “We just have to be prepared to exercise the full extent of our constitutional tools, and I predict that will happen very early.”