A proposal to tax California’s billionaires has fractured Democratic politics, repelled some of the state’s richest residents and exploded into a costly battle that’s overshadowing even the gubernatorial election.

Known as Proposition 40, the ballot measure is also dividing the very industry it’s supposed to help. The healthcare workers union behind the initiative, which would authorize a wealth tax on billionaires, says the levy would raise sorely needed funds to shore up health coverage.

By contrast, leading California hospital and doctor groups are opposing the measure ahead of the November vote. They say the one-time 5% levy on the state’s wealthiest is a risky gambit with an uncertain path to victory — as well as a distraction from other proposals to shore up healthcare.

“This is an experiment on a taxation scheme that’s not been done before, and it puts healthcare in a more vulnerable position as a result,” California Medical Assn. Chief Executive Dustin Corcoran said at a recent briefing in Sacramento. “It’s not a healthcare ballot measure.”

Less than six weeks before election day, polls show a divided electorate. But whatever the outcome, the fight is exposing a broader problem confronting California: how to preserve one of the nation’s largest expansions of publicly funded healthcare as a big chunk of the money that helped pay for it disappears.

Over the last decade, California increased access to publicly funded healthcare by broadening eligibility for Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, and other types of insurance, allowing millions more residents to gain coverage. The number of people without insurance fell to 2.4 million in 2024 from about 6.5 million in 2011.

Now, that trend is expected to reverse. According to the Congressional Budget Office, President Trump’s budget bill last year will lead to $1 trillion in healthcare-related cuts over a decade. Earlier this week, the Trump administration said it recently removed 760,000 people from Obamacare plans across the nation, alleging that some were enrolled improperly and others don’t exist.

Combined with strict work requirements, more frequent eligibility checks and a pullback in state spending pushed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, the changes are projected to push California’s uninsured population under the age of 65 to 4.6 million by 2030, according to the UC Berkeley Labor Center.

“Without trying to be melodramatic, when millions of people lose coverage, it is entirely predictable that thousands will die unnecessarily because of foregone treatment,” said Dave Regan, president of SEIU-UHW, the healthcare-workers union pushing the billionaire tax.

“There is an absolute consensus on what the problem is, and there’s a consensus that there’s no other solution on the table,” he said in an interview at Bloomberg’s San Francisco offices.

Even before the budget cuts start to bite, financial strains are mounting at institutions such as Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in South Los Angeles.

MLKCH’s waiting room is now mostly used for treating patients, with 16 wooden cubicles functioning as care rooms. Sick or injured people are also cared for in the hospital’s front hallways and in what used to be the meditation chapel and the gift shop.

The hospital opened in 2015 with an emergency department built for 25,000 visits annually. In 2024, it handled 130,000. Dr. Elaine Batchlor, its CEO, said further funding reductions “would threaten the sustainability of the hospital.”

Batchlor isn’t taking a position on Proposition 40 and has been looking for other sources of revenue. SEIU-UHW’s Regan argues there’s no other way to raise the money needed to fill the massive gap.

The California Budget & Policy Center estimates the state stands to lose roughly $30 billion in federal Medi-Cal funding each year. Asking California lawmakers for that amount is a “fool’s errand,” Regan said. “And on top of that, the only people the legislature will tax are ordinary people.”

The union estimates the levy would raise $100 billion over five years, with 90% earmarked to shore up health coverage amid impending budget cuts.

Critics dispute the projection. The state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office says the tax would probably raise tens of billions of dollars, but potentially reduce income-tax revenue in the long run, as some ultrawealthy residents depart the state.

Recent polls show an increasingly contested path for Proposition 40. A recent UC Berkeley-Politico poll found 45% of likely voters in favor, but opposition has increased since early this year and now stands at 43%. A separate Public Policy Institute of California survey put support at 52% and opposition at 46%.

Led by Sergey Brin, wealthy opponents have poured almost $230 million into funding Building a Better California, according to a filing late Thursday. That’s helping them flood the airwaves with anti tax advertising. There are also two competing ballot measures designed to torpedo Proposition 40 if they pass.

Billionaires aren’t the only detractors. Critics have also assailed Proposition 40 for carving out an exception to California’s constitutional funding rules to steer most proceeds to healthcare. While the state generally earmarks at least 40% of General Fund revenue to public schools and community colleges, the billionaire-tax proposal excludes the new levy from that calculation.

Corcoran, the medical association chief, argues that even if Proposition 40 passes in November, legal challenges would potentially delay its implementation for years.

“There’s a lot that we can do looking ahead to 2028 when these cuts start taking greater effect that frankly would provide more immediate relief than Proposition 40 would,” he said. His group and others are pushing instead for large corporations to help cover the cost of public insurance for their workers.

Regan called that proposal “the worst public policy on planet Earth,” saying costs will be passed on to consumers and that it essentially acts as a payroll tax on low-wage workers.

He also disputed the notion the billionaire tax would lead the ultrawealthy to leave the state, pointing to Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang, who earlier this year said he would be “perfectly fine” with the levy. As for legal challenges to the billionaire tax, Regan said he believes they can be resolved in 12 months.

The uncertain funding picture has many hospitals bracing for cuts.

James Suver, CEO of Ridgecrest Regional Hospital, about 150 miles north of Los Angeles, said he’s not betting on proceeds from the billionaire tax. He’s weighing options that include pausing maternity care again, cutting physician recruitment and reducing emergency-room service.

“Our future under the most likely scenario is not looking very good,” Suver said. “We’re beyond doing minor nips and tucks to be able to offset some of the changes that I suspect may be happening in the future.”

Clanton writes for Bloomberg. Kara Wetzel of Bloomberg contributed.

Porto defender Alberto Costa is on the radar of Arsenal and Manchester United, Manchester City will not let Erling Haaland leave on the cheap if they are relegated, Liverpool retain an interest in Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni.

Manchester United and Arsenal are both keeping a close eye on Porto’s 22-year-old Portuguese right-back Alberto Costa but face competition from Paris St-Germain. (Caughtoffside), external

Manchester City will put a hefty price tag on Norway striker Erling Haaland, 26, if they end up being relegated from the Premier League over financial rule breaches. (Football Insider), external

Chelsea, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona are among the teams interested in Haaland and closely monitoring Manchester City‘s situation amid the possibility of sanctions. (Fichajes – in Spanish), external

Former Chelsea and Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling has been offered to two clubs in France’s Ligue 1, but neither were interested in the 31-year-old Englishman, who is currently a free agent. (Foot Mercato – in French), external

Besiktas president Serdal Adali has vowed to sign Joe Willock, 27, from Newcastle, in January, claiming the English midfielder has already chosen a new home in Turkey. (Talksport), external

Former Newcastle boss Eddie Howe will not return to Premier League management with a lower or mid-ranked club such as Crystal Palace or Fulham and would want to take over at an underachieving big club. (Telegraph – subscription required), external

Liverpool remain interested in Real Madrid’s France midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni – even though the 26-year-old signed a new long-term contract with the La Liga club in the summer. (Teamtalk), external

Hungary’s Parliament lifts immunity of incumbent leader and two ex-Orban ministers, clearing the way for criminal probes.

Hungary’s Parliament has stripped Prime Minister Peter Magyar and two ministers in former leader Viktor Orban’s nationalist government of their immunity, clearing the way for prosecutors to pursue separate criminal investigations into each of them.

The vote on Monday came after Magyar, who is being investigated for theft, specifically asked for his immunity to be lifted so he could clear himself of “character assassination”. The probes against the Orban-era ministers – who are suspected of embezzlement and bribery – are the first corruption investigations against top government figures from Orban’s 16 years in power.

Legislators voted overwhelmingly in favour of lifting their immunity.

Orban’s Fidesz party and its ally KDNP boycotted the session.

The vote was in response to a request last week from prosecutors seeking to investigate Magyar, as well as former Minister of Culture Balazs Hanko and former Minister of National Development Miklos Sesztak.

Magyar is being investigated over an incident at a Budapest nightclub in June 2024, when prosecutors allege he took a mobile phone from a man filming him and threw it into the Danube River.

Magyar has called the case a “sham” and last week accused prosecutors of trying “to conflate” the ex-ministers’ cases “with the attempt at political character assassination… which has already failed several times”.

Corruption cases

Hanko, a legislator from Orban’s Fidesz party, is accused of embezzling more than 40 million euros ($46m) in public funds. Prosecutors allege the money was used to help finance the 2026 parliamentary election campaign and for the personal benefit of others.

Sesztak, a lawmaker from KDNP, is under investigation over allegedly accepting more than $37.2m in bribes and kickbacks connected to vehicle procurements under Hungary’s state bus company, as well as to state construction projects.

Both ministers deny any wrongdoing.

The cases come less than six months after Magyar’s Tisza party ended Orban’s 16 years in power with a landslide election victory. Magyar campaigned on pledges to tackle corruption, restore rule-of-law safeguards, and rebuild Hungary’s strained relationship with the European Union.

His government has since made fighting alleged corruption and overpriced public procurement a central part of its programme, including plans for a new asset-recovery office focused on wrongdoing linked to the Orban era.

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,

OpenAI has cancelled the release of its latest AI model over safety concerns, according to media reports.

The move to scrap the release of GPT-6.1 Astra, reported by the Wall Street Journal and CNN on Monday, comes amid heightened concerns about AI’s potential to do catastrophic harm following a slew of incidents involving AI agents going rogue.

More to follow…

CHLOE Ferry has opened up about going under the knife to remove her ‘loose skin’ after getting her BBL taken out.

The Geordie Shore star, 31, got her BBL (Brazilian bum lift) reversed in January 2025.

And now she’s gone under the knife again to deal with the aftermath of the BBL reversal and the loose skin she was left with in its place.

Taking to Instagram to share a selfie from her hospital bed, Chloe penned: “This is something I’ve found really difficult to open up about because it’s incredibly personal and private to me.

“I’ve gone back and forth about whether to share it, but I feel like if my experience can help even one person, then it’s worth being honest about.”

She then got candid, writing: “A year ago, I had my BBL removed, and honestly, I thought that would be the end of my journey with it. I thought I could finally move on and put it all behind me.

ferr-al

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VILE ABUSE

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“Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case. I’m now left with quite a lot of loose skin after getting my BBL removed around that area, and after a lot of thought, I’ve made the difficult decision to have it surgically removed.”

Chloe added: “What I’ve learned through all of this is that surgery is never as simple as it can look from the outside. Especially when it comes to cosmetic surgery, corrective procedures or removals, there can be consequences you never imagine when you’re making that initial decision.

“And I really wish I could go back and speak to the 19-year-old version of myself.

“I wish I could tell her that she was already enough. That her body didn’t need fixing. That she didn’t need to change herself to feel beautiful, accepted or worthy.

“At 19, you don’t always understand how permanent some decisions can be. You don’t always think about what happens years later, when your body changes and you’re left dealing with consequences you never expected.”

Concluding her post, she added: “I’m not sharing this to judge anyone who has had, or is considering, cosmetic surgery. Everyone has their own reasons, experiences and journeys. I’m simply sharing mine because I wish someone had shared something like this with me when I was younger.

“If this reaches even one young girl who is thinking about changing her body and makes her pause for a moment and ask herself, “Do I really need to do this?” then sharing something this personal will be worth it.”

Chloe had previously spoken out about being “unhappy” with her bum for a long time.

The Sun revealed she was going under the knife for a BBL reversal last Januaury.

“Chloe’s first priority is sorting out her bum,” a source spilled to The Sun at the time.

“She has been unhappy with it for a long time and she is in surgery today. 

“She’s not sure yet if it will be fully removed or just reduced, but she just wants her old bum back,” they added.

Chloe previously shared how she had spent over £50,000 on cosmetic procedures.

Over the years, Chloe has gone under the knife several times, with some of the operations being for two nose jobs, liposuction and breast augmentation.

World champion Luke Littler’s hopes of defending his World Grand Prix title were dashed as he fell to a shock first-round defeat by Luke Woodhouse in Leicester.

Littler, 19, had been looking to bounce back from his quarter-final exit to Jonny Clayton at the World Series of Darts Finals just over a week ago.

But despite taking the first set, he was distinctly below par throughout the best-of-three encounter, averaging just 82.41.

That allowed Woodhouse to level the match and deliver a checkout of 75 to win the deciding set 3-1 in legs.

Woodhouse will face 2022 runner-up Nathan Aspinall in the last 16, who edged past Dutch debutant Kevin Doets 2-1.

Earlier on Monday, six-time winner Michael van Gerwen lost five legs out of the last six as 2024 semi-finalist Ryan Joyce fought back to win 2-1.

England’s Joyce will play Dutchman Danny Noppert, who advanced past Germany’s Niko Springer by the same scoreline.

Elsewhere, Wales’ Gerwyn Price only lost a single leg as he comfortably beat Poland’s Sebastian Bialecki 2-0 to set up a meeting with England’s Ross Smith, who came from behind to triumph 2-1 against Scotland’s Cameron Menzies.

Welshman Clayton edged past Krzysztof Ratajski 2-1, and he will take on the Netherlands’ Wessel Nijman, who overcame 2018 world champion Rob Cross in straight sets.

CRUZ Beckham has achieved what the Spice Girls failed to do — get mum Victoria back into a recording studio.

Posh Spice, 52, recorded a track with her musician son.

And sharing this selfie online, Cruz, 21, wrote: “Yeah we got posh back in the studio.”

Posh lives up to her name even on a step machine, posting a clip of herself — in skirt and heels.

We revealed earlier this month how Cruz and girlfriend Jackie Apostel appear to be firmly in the honeymoon phase of their relationship, judging by a cheeky selfie shared online.

The 21-year-old couldn’t keep his hands to himself as the couple posed for a bathroom mirror selfie, with Jackie smiling for the camera.

READ MORE ON CRUZ BECKHAM

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Cruz Beckham cops a feel of girlfriend Jackie’s boob in cheeky mirror selfie

CRUZ IN CONTROL

Why Cruz Beckham’s success is bitter pill to swallow for brother Brooklyn

Cruz shared the snap to his Instagram as the pair got ready for a glam night out at London Fashion Week.

The son of David and Victoria Beckham has been dating German-Brazilian singer-songwriter and producer Jackie, 30, since 2024.

Jackie previously revealed they met when their managers put them in a studio to write songs together.

The model said their work turned into a friendship before it became anything romantic and that she was Cruz’s “biggest fan forever”.

The loved-up snap comes after Cruz released his debut EP, Wear & Tear, last month.

He also performed with his band The Breakers at Reading Festival, with parents David and Victoria watching from the side of the stage.

Chances were at a premium at Windsor Park as both defences came out on top.

Patrick Kelly hit the crossbar in the first half for Northern Ireland, and Isaac Price had an effort beaten away by Balazs Toth.

After Dan Ballard controversially conceded a penalty in Georgia, Shea Charles also had a penalty appeal waved away in the lead-up to the Kelly chance for a similar incident.

While O’Neill said he had yet to see it back, he did quip that “the referee never seems to make the walk for us to the side of the pitch. It never seems to happen for us.”

The threat of Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai was largely nullified throughout the game as Hungary, like Northern Ireland, struggled to create any clear-cut chances.

The only save that Pierce Charles had to make in goal was when a lethargic clearance led to Alex Toth shooting towards goal in the closing stages, but the QPR stopper was otherwise untroubled.

After a 5,000-mile trip from Georgia in their opening game, Northern Ireland had to quickly reset and O’Neill admitted he saw “two tired teams” at the end of the game.

“I think our preparation, our first game in terms of being away from home and everything, was more difficult.

“I felt like Hungary got a little bit stronger towards the end.”

Gold hits seven-week low; silver follows suit and records a nearly 5 percent loss.

Gold prices are falling as concerns of rising fuel prices stoke inflation worries on the back of the war between the United States and Iran.

Spot gold prices fell by 3.3 percent to reach a more than seven-week low at $4,146.51 per ounce on Monday.

Rising oil prices, a higher US dollar and Treasury yields stoked inflation concerns, creating further headwinds for the metal.

This is the lowest level for gold values since August 5. US gold futures also fell by 3.3 percent to $4,178.40.

Although gold is traditionally considered an inflation hedge, higher interest rates dent ⁠its appeal as investors prefer yield-bearing assets.

“There might be no notable direct impact on regular people due to that. However, investors who had turned to gold will see a hit, especially under the current high inflation rates,” Sherif Othman, CEO of the Maryland-based Poise Investment Advisors, told Al Jazeera.

“Gold does not yield interest, so when Treasury yields go up, investors turn away from gold, impacting its value”, he added.

The Fed lifted benchmark rates by a quarter ⁠percentage point earlier this month and flagged that at least one more hike is likely in the coming months.

The US dollar was steady near a two-month high, and oil prices spiked about 3 percent as US President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian offer ⁠to resolve the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Such factors triggered several policymakers to warn that inflation risks remain elevated and that interest rates may need to rise, with Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack among the latest officials to reiterate that view.

Higher Treasury yields and the US dollar are “creating a perfect storm to push the metals prices sharply lower,” according to Jim Wyckoff, a market analyst at American Gold Exchange.

Spot silver also fell by 4.7 percent to $61.27 per ounce, platinum declined 2.9 percent to $1,726.30 and palladium lost 4.4 percent to $1,211.45.

DRAMATIC Alaskan landscapes, a medieval city on Spain’s north coast and surf beaches in Morocco are among THE places to visit in 2027, according to Lonely Planet.

The experts’ latest book – Best In Travel 2027 – recommends exploring a treasure trove of places off the beaten track.

And that includes unforgettable experiences tipped for 2027, from “flightseeing” in the skies above icy Alaska, to hiking the historic St Cuthbert’s Way from the Scottish borders to Northumberland.

Lisa Minot picks her favourite destinations and experiences from the list.

BEST EXPERIENCES

GO FLIGHTSEEING ALASKA: With just 20 per cent of Alaska accessible by road, taking to the skies in a small plane is one of the best ways to experience its vast wilderness.

WAIL OF A TIME

I drove Irish Route 66 with deserted golden beaches and pirate-like islands

TEMPTED?

Tiny ‘Bali of Europe’ town with stunning beaches, €3 cocktails and £20 flights

May and June are the best months for the driest, most stable weather, while July and August mean up to 20 hours of daylight and lush landscapes.

WALK ST CUTHBERT’S WAY: Follow this 62-mile pilgrimage from Melrose to Lindisfarne through the wild uplands of the Scottish borders to Northumberland.

You’ll pass through moorlands, by ghostly hill forts and stop at cosy village pubs before visiting Holy Island.

See stcuthbertsway.info.

DIVE THE AEGEAN: Once heavily restricted to protect underwater antiquities from pillaging, you can now discover Poseidon’s underwater world as new legislation and the opening of underwater archaeological sites allows you to explore marine treasures.

Examples include the Peristera shipwreck off the island of Alonissos.

It sank in the 5th century, carrying more than 4,000 wine amphorae (clay jars).

Or visit the Fourni Archipelago, known as the ancient shipwreck capital of the world.

SAIL THE AEOLIAN ISLANDS, ITALY: Island hopping isn’t the reserve of the Greeks.

Sail between these lesser-known islands to discover rugged coastlines, clear waters and Italian traditions.

Set sail from Sicily on the fast ferries that visit all seven islands, but book ahead in summer.

Or join a skippered sailing holiday through UK operators such as Sunsail or Dream Yacht Charter.

EXPLORE KILLARY FJORD, IRELAND: Tucked along Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, the Killary Fjord in Co Galway cuts its way ten miles inland towards the village of Leenaun, past steep peaks that change dramatically with the seasons. It’s some of the most dramatic scenery in the country.

BEST PLACES

SWEDISH RIVIERA: After this year’s heatwaves, travellers may be looking for cooler destinations.

The twin towns of Skanor and Falsterbo are connected by a bridge and home to colourful cottages, gardens and an endless coastline.

SIBENIK, CROATIA: This small but lively Adriatic city has colourful festivals and gastronomic delights from fresh Adriatic seafood to truffle pastas.

Explore a labyrinth of steep stone alleyways, hidden plazas and Venetian-era architecture.

The city sits between the coastal towns of Split and Zadar and there are plenty of low-cost flights into both from the UK.

LEON, SPAIN: Northern Spain is having its moment in 2027.

Known for its many bars offering free tapas, Leon combines centuries of history with a lively contemporary spirit.

When you order a wine, cider or beer, expect a substantial plate of local cured beef, cheese and spicy blood sausage.

Best explored by hire car, flying into Santander or Bilbao.

RABAT, MOROCCO: Think all the exotic excitement of Marrakech but without the crowds.

Rabat on Morocco’s coast boasts royal palaces, coastal breezes and clean, palm-lined avenues.

The country’s imperial city still has a great Medina — for haggling over leather goods, spices and rugs — as well as miles of wide, sandy beaches.

There are direct flights from Gatwick and Stansted.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, CANADA: Known as Canada’s food island, the country’s smallest province is known for mussels, oysters and roadside lobster rolls served straight off the fishing boats.

Expect lush hills, white sand beaches and red sandstone cliffs dotted with lighthouses.

Author LM Montgomery set her novel Anne Of Green Gables here, and Netflix’s adaptation, Anne With An E, filmed in the province.

The UK is in talks with US authorities over a potential stoppage of diesel exports and has started preparing for a ban, Chancellor John Healey has told BBC News.

Diesel prices in the UK reached a new high on Monday due to supply pressures springing from the US-Israel conflict with Iran and Russia’s war with Ukraine.

Fuel prices are rising globally and US President Donald Trump has threatened to ban diesel exports, stating at the weekend: “We’re thinking about it very seriously.”

Healey, who admitted that UK diesel prices are “extreme”, said the government was in discussions with the US, adding: “We’re also making the provision that we may need to and we have our own stocks in the UK.”

Speaking on the sidelines of the annual Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, Healey said: “We work very closely with the Americans.

“In the end, we’re also working with the Americans where we can try and put in place what will solve this, or at least significantly ease it, which would be a diplomatic settlement [and] an end to the fighting with Iran.”

The UK depends on the US for around a third of its diesel imports and a ban would send prices even higher.

US sources suggest that Trump is considering a ban to attempt to bring down prices for domestic consumers ahead of the critical midterm elections.

The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.

In the UK, the average price for a litre of diesel reached 199.33p on Monday, according to the RAC motoring organisation, surpassing a previous high of 199.09p in June 2022 after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Petrol prices are also still rising, with a litre currently costing 174.23p.

Over the past seven months, the Iran war has severely disrupted the production and transportation of wholesale oil across the region, causing the price of fuels made from oil to surge.

The RAC said diesel prices had entered “uncharted territory” and served as a reminder of “just how exposed the UK is to events occurring far away”.

Healey said he was “very aware” of these cost of living pressures as he prepared what he called a “breathing space” Budget on 28 October.

A freeze on fuel duty, first implemented by the Conservative government in 2022, is due to expire at the end of the year. Duty is scheduled to increase by 3p in January and a further 2p in March.

Healey said: “Fundamentally, what we need is a settlement in the Middle East. We need an easing of the pressure of costs on business, the costs on households and on ordinary families that we see at the pumps in the most extreme level today for diesel.”

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu and Pop artist Ed Ruscha have a long history of admiring each other’s work. Twenty-four years ago, a nervous Iñárritu visited Ruscha’s Venice studio to offer him the role of the gynecologist in “21 Grams.” They needed a doctor with noble features and blue, believable eyes. That plan didn’t pan out, schedule-wise, but the filmmaker and the artist finally found a way to collaborate.

The result — a Ruscha-designed poster for Iñárritu’s new film “Digger,” starring Tom Cruise — was unveiled Sunday at an intimate brunch at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, attended by Iñárritu, Ruscha and Cruise, as well as “Digger” actors John Goodman, Jesse Plemons, Michael Stuhlbarg and Ross Hatt.

Iñárritu and Cruise laughed as they made a clumsy attempt at a countdown before whipping aside a black velvet curtain to reveal the poster for the first time: a very Ruscha, text-heavy work on a slate gray background with a beige border. A looming ice shelf in the background is surrounded by phrases including, “A Man. A Plan. A Meltdown,” and “Comedy equals tragedy plus time.”

Filmmaker Alejandro Iñárritu and “Digger” star Tom Cruise unveil Ed Ruscha’s new poster for the film. (They just pulled off the black velvet curtain on the floor below.)

(Kevin Garrison)

“Well, the movie blew my hair back,” Ruscha said at the unveiling brunch inside LACMA’s new (still unopened) restaurant, with LACMA Director and Chief Executive Michael Govan by his side. “And not only that, it parted it down the middle. It has since grown back.”

The crowd laughed knowingly. “Digger,” which opens Friday, is a satirical black comedy that follows oil tycoon Digger Rockwell as one of his drilling rigs in Greenland explodes, dislodging an ice shelf that floats away to cause a global disaster. As a dark parable for the dangers of climate change, the film has already proved polarizing, with early reviews coming in mixed.

Ruscha noted that he first saw “Digger” at a screening about six months ago, alongside Govan. “I knew I had seen an epic production, an epic product from an epic producer,” Ruscha said. “So I jumped at the idea of doing the poster. And I thought about it, and I think about this movie, and it reminded me of a kaleidoscope. It’s got so many running-around ideas. It was kaleidoscopic in its message, and its content and its humor.”

Ruscha turned his attention to Iñárritu, “It’s got something to offer to the world, and I thank you for that.”

The filmmaker loved the poster, and the fact that the ice shelf sat front and center.

From left to right — “Digger” actors John Goodman and Jesse Plemons, filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu, artist Ed Ruscha, actor Tom Cruise, LACMA director Michael Govan and actors Ross Hatt and Michael Stuhlbarg — pose with Ruscha’s new poster for the film.

(David Jon)

“The billing is nature: We are human beings, we are in a war against nature,” Iñárritu said — describing what he feels the poster relays — in a phone interview from Mexico City a day before the event. “We think that we are different from nature. So nature, in a way, becomes our enemy. We are fighting a fight against nature, and the enemy is an ice shelf going to Europe. And he just put [that] in the center of it, [like] a disaster movie, which is very clever, as he always is.”

“Those decisions that he made with a very prominent element in a simple way, with one or two words, it just says so much with so little,” Iñárritu continued. “And then he [put] some lines around [it], very Ruscha, that in a way convey the spine or the character itself.”

The director had the same feelings two years ago, at LACMA’s Ruscha retrospective. He said so much with so little, Iñárritu thought, and that “less is more” thinking could hold so much power in a film poster.

Iñárritu, too, has been exhibited at LACMA: earlier this year, with the film installation “Sueño Perro,” a resurrection of lost footage from “Amores Perros;” and in 2017-2018, with the virtual reality installation “CARNE y ARENA,” which explored the human condition of immigrants and refugees.

The director’s collaboration with Ruscha is proof of concept for LACMA’s annual Art + Film gala, entering its 15th year, which seeks to highlight and strengthen the connections between film and visual art by bringing the two communities together at a splashy party — often creating lasting connections between the two groups.

Both Ruscha and Iñárritu have been honored at the gala, the former in 2012 (with Stanley Kubrick) and the latter in 2015 (with James Turrell). “This is a beautiful encounter of art and film,” Govan said at the unveiling.

“Digger” has evolved over nine years, Iñárritu said. It’s been a long journey of taking note of current events, including where the world is going, as well as people’s obsessions and fears.

“The film is a love letter for the young generation,” Iñárritu said. “I think it’s kind of a warning, or a wake-up call. But you can have fun about it, because it’s the only way to — humor allows us to have space and recognize ourselves in that absurdity. So I feel that it’s a human, urgent, now film.”

The California attorney general will help oversee healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente’s medical arbitration system to ensure it operates fairly under legislation Gov. Gavin Newsom signed late Sunday.

Patients, their families and lawyers have complained that Kaiser’s private and confidential system of handling medical malpractice complaints is designed to favor the health plan over those bringing the claims.

Under legislation known as Assembly Bill 1770, the attorney general will decide what actions justice officials should take to ensure private arbitrations required by any health plan are handled fairly and in line with state law.

To do that work, the state plans to add as many as four deputy attorneys general, a legal analyst and three legal secretaries, according to a legislative analyst’s report.

“We look forward to continuing to resolve claims through an independently administered system that provides a fair and efficient process for members and patients,” Kaiser Permanente said in a statement Monday.

Roughly 1 of every 4 Californians get healthcare from Kaiser. To join the plan, each one had to check a box, agreeing to use arbitration to settle any dispute.

Many companies and other organizations, including some hospitals and physician groups, require customers or patients to take their complaints to private arbitration rather than to court.

But unlike most other companies, which send claims to large arbitration firms, Kaiser created its own system.

Under Kaiser’s system, once a neutral arbitrator is selected, either party can opt to disqualify that person without cause. There is no limit on the number of disqualifications.

While the health plan designed the system to be fair, patients and their lawyers have alleged that Kaiser’s greater knowledge of arbitrators’ past rulings and its ability to veto arbitrators gives it an advantage to pick favorable judges.

Critics also say the hourly fees paid to arbitrators provide them with a financial incentive to rule in Kaiser’s favor so they will be selected for future cases. Most of the arbitrators are retired judges.

Kaiser has previously defended its arbitration system, saying it was fair for both patients and for the nonprofit.

The bill was authored by Assemblyman Robert Garcia (D-Rancho Cucamonga), a longtime Kaiser member.

Support for it was led by Stephen Martinez, a retired aerospace engineer from Bellflower, who with his wife, Lindalee Iverson, spent $350,000 to bring two arbitration cases against Kaiser. The arbitrator ruled against the couple in both cases.

Iverson died of cancer in 2023.

Martinez told legislators at a hearing this year how his wife had found a lump in her breast and asked for an appointment with her longtime caregiver at Kaiser to examine it. Instead she was sent to a physician assistant, who dismissed it, he said. Later, it was found to be cancer that had spread.

A chief breast surgeon at Kaiser and another surgeon who had retired from that job both testified that the Kaiser physician assistant failed to follow the health system’s guidelines.

Kaiser’s expert argued that the physician assistant did an appropriate exam and that his low suspicion of breast cancer was reasonable. The neutral arbitrator sided with the health plan’s expert.

Martinez has spent years trying to get legislation to make the system more fair.

“I’m elated,” Martinez said of Newsom’s signing of the bill, which was named Lindalee’s Law. “It’s been a long road.”

According to the annual report prepared by the independent administrator of Kaiser’s system, the “most common” complaint the office heard last year was about the neutral arbitrator.

“Most complained that the arbitrator was biased, partisan, unjust, and in Kaiser’s favor,” the report said.

Gianni Infantino has indicated a greater amount of money could be distributed to Fifa members from its estimated £4.4bn cash reserves.

In a letter seen by BBC Sport, and sent to the governing body’s six continental confederations on Monday, Fifa president Infantino said he would support “the greatest level of additional funding that can responsibly be delivered”.

Infantino has come under increasing pressure over his aborted Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan, which proposed selling stakes in the World Cup and other competitions to private investors, sparking a major backlash.

His letter comes after Uefa and Concacaf – the confederations for Europe and North America, Central America and the Caribbean – demanded Fifa pays $10m (£7.5m) to all 211 members from its reserves.

The proposal will be considered by the Fifa Council when they meet on 15 October.

“I will not prejudge the amount,” Infantino said in the letter.

“A single figure can begin the discussion, but it cannot complete a global policy.”

Infantino issued his latest defence of the failed proposal to sell a slice of the World Cup commercial rights that brought calls for his resignation, again claiming it had been intended to generate additional money for the game.

“The recent commercial proposal, now withdrawn, was intended to enable Fifa to invest more in football,” wrote the Swiss-Italian.

Earlier this month, Football Association chair Debbie Hewitt, a Fifa vice-president, told Infantino to release all documents relating to his controversial plan, and called for an independent review of FFE.

Infantino will stand for election for a fourth time in March 2027, with his opponents having until 18 November to find an alternative candidate.

Hate speech against Indians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis in the United States has risen sharply online, according to a report that traces the surge to US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and rhetoric, economic anxiety, and the South Asian community’s growing visibility in US life.

The report, titled “The Rising Tide of Anti-South Asian Hate in the United States”, by the Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), published on Sunday, found that the monthly volume of hate towards South Asians in the US on the social media platform X rose 240 percent between January 2024 and June 2026, from 12,904 posts to 43,843.

Researchers identified more than 542,000 hateful posts on the platform between January 2025 and June 2026 alone towards people from South Asia living in the US, with five of the six highest-volume months falling at the end of that period.

The researchers used the United Nations definition of hate speech. They tracked recurring anti-South Asian slurs and narratives online, reviewing posts to exclude criticism that did not meet the UN threshold.

They found that nearly half of the hate posts on X accused South Asians of invading the US, stealing jobs or threatening the country demographically, while the derogatory slur “pajeet” and its variants showed up in 30 percent of hateful posts on X and 45 percent on fringe platforms.

Posts depicting South Asians as dirty or unhygienic grew by 171 percent on X, “the fastest of all narratives”.

The hate frequently collapsed South Asian ethnic and religious groups into one, with Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis conflated with one another, and Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians also treated as a monolith.

So why now?

Racism against Indians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis has a long history in the US, but researchers argue the current surge reflects a confluence of longstanding prejudices and new political and economic pressures.

The report points to the H-1B visa programme, which allows US employers to hire skilled foreign workers, as a major flashpoint. Indians account for more than 70 percent of H-1B visa holders, and researchers linked several spikes in anti-South Asian hate to political fights over the programme, such as when Trump imposed a $100,000 payment requirement on certain new H-1B petitions in September 2025.

“Such actions serve a powerful symbolic function, in the bargain reinforcing the hostility of Trump’s base toward South Asians,” said the report.

The report makes the same argument about the administration’s rhetoric, highlighting Trump’s speech at an AI summit in July 2025, in which he criticised US technology companies for outsourcing jobs to India, after which researchers saw a sharp spike in anti-South Asian rhetoric online.

As more recent examples, the report points to a since-deleted September 2026 Department of Homeland Security post titled “Transformers: Age of Deportations”, featuring a Sikh man identified as “Mr Singh” and telling him to “get off our roads”.

Days later, the Department of Education posted “Make College Football Great Again”, after Texas Republican Bo French had complained about the presence of South Asians at a University of Texas football game.

The report argues that such rhetoric reinforces the idea of South Asians as outsiders who “can never truly belong in the country”.

From ‘model minority’ to job thieves

Economic resentment is another factor, researchers wrote, with the success of some South Asians increasingly being weaponised against them.

Indian Americans once stereotyped as a “model minority” are now portrayed as “opportunists and cheats”, and South Asians are used more broadly as a scapegoat for anger over jobs and the economy.

This comes as South Asians have become increasingly visible in US politics, from former Vice President Kamala Harris and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani to Vice President JD Vance’s wife, Usha Vance, and politician Vivek Ramaswamy. The report documents racist attacks against figures across party lines and highlights how, for example, Mamdani’s primary and mayoral victories triggered spikes in anti-South Asian and Islamophobic abuse.

Researchers say both trends are now also tied up with “anxieties on the part of the majority about loss of status”, and feed the “Great Replacement Theory”, a conspiracy about the white population in Western countries being replaced by an orchestrated takeover.

Social media has also turned those narratives into targeted harassment.

Researchers found X accounts doxxing South Asians accused of taking jobs or committing visa fraud, while influencers have confronted people at their homes and workplaces and posted the encounters online. Doxxing refers to exposing a person’s private details, such as their home address, online.

In one example, right-wing influencer Sara Gonzalez posted a video to more than half a million followers in which the report says she harassed a South Asian person she accused of exploiting the H-1B programme.

Meanwhile, generative AI has made that content even easier to produce, researchers say, depicting South Asians as  “filthy and unclean, sexually predatory, culturally backward, or a demographic threat”.

While the report tracks hate largely through what is happening online, researchers write that online hate “does not exist in isolation from offline forms of hostility”. It cites a July incident in which an Indian Muslim mall employee in Utah was repeatedly stabbed in an attack that federal prosecutors charged as a hate crime. In September, a Sikh truck driver was stabbed 17 times at a Wyoming truck stop.

“Online and offline hate can reinforce one another”, the researchers wrote, “as narratives, stereotypes, and forms of demonization move between digital platforms, political discourse, media, and everyday life”.

The Blame was back for another instalment on Monday, with viewers quickly issuing a complaint

ITV’s thrilling crime drama The Blame returned to screens on Monday.

The six-part series stars Michelle Keegan and Douglas Booth as DI Emma Crane and DI Tom Radley, who attempt to expose corruption and deep-rooted misogyny within the police force after the death of a teenage girl. But unexpected twists and secrets soon leave Emma questioning who she can really trust.

The official synopsis teases: “The drama dives into secrets, suspicion and systemic corruption – all under the surface of this seemingly quiet town. The series begins when the body of teenage figure skater Sophie Madsen is discovered, sending shockwaves through the town of Wakestead.

“As DI Crane and DI Radley dig deeper, what starts as a tragic death, spirals into a tangled web of lies, institutional cover-ups, and moral compromise. As the clock ticks and trust fractures, Crane must navigate both a murder investigation and the treacherous politics inside her own team,” reports Wales Online.

During the latest instalment on Monday (September 28), Emma and her colleague DC Lewis Brimah (Nathan Mensah) visited Tom, after he was put under investigation. As the police officers discussed the case, many viewers were left distracted by the ex-cop who was hidden in the bushes outside.

One person felt that the detail was “really odd”, while several others shared their frustration. That’s not all, as the drama soon continued when Tom’s house was later raided by a swarm of officers.

Viewers quickly questioned why so many detectives had been instructed to attend the scene. One person asked on X: “Omg what are they doing at Tom’s house.”

Another added: “200 police to search Tom’s house,” while a third said: “So they need 20 coppers to arrest one man???” Someone else commented: “All raiding Tom’s house! OMG!”

Despite the confusion, The Blame has garnered largely positive reviews from critics and viewers since its debut last week. One IMDb user wrote: “We found this an amazing series. Keeps you guessing all the way through. This is no slow burner.”

Another added: “I binge watched this series in one day and loved it. Highly recommend this series. The acting was superb especially by Michelle Keegan, Douglas Booth, Nathan Mensah and Ian Hart. The script was really well thought out and it was a massive shock to read the team group message chats – taken from actual UK police officers, that have since been dismissed from the force.”

Someone else commented: “Loved this show. The acting was really good. The twists kept twisting and the turns kept turning right till the end. I usually have these things figured out but I was genuinely surprised by this show.”

The series has been adapted by Megan Gallagher with co-writers Ashley Sanders and Namsi Khan from the 2023 novel of the same name by Charlotte Langley.

The Blame is available to stream on ITVX