This race for an open seat pits a former U.S. assistant attorney who represented President Obama, the FBI and NASA against a seasoned Los Angeles County public defender who has taken more than 100 trials, some with three-strikes implications, to verdict.
David DeJute, who defended Obama against the so-called birther claims, spent a decade as vice president of litigation at Sony Pictures Entertainment. He now works in litigation at a private firm.
Anthony “A.J.” Bayne’s background includes nearly two decades serving in the Compton Courthouse, where he for a time served as deputy in charge. He’s now handling serious felony cases at the Torrance branch.
DeJute is rated “qualified” to serve by the Los Angeles County Bar Assn. Bayne is rated a notch higher, “well qualified.”
Here’s what you need to know about the candidates.
Anthony “A.J.” Bayne, L.A. County deputy public defender
Bar rating: Well qualified
Bayne’s 31-year legal career includes more than a quarter-century as an L.A. County deputy public defender. He has taken more than 100 jury trials to verdict, including murder, special circumstances and three-strikes cases, some of which carried sentences of death or life in prison.
“Even during the [election] primary period, I continued taking cases to trial rather than continuing them, because my clients should not be prejudiced by unnecessary delay,” he said.
He spent 19 years at the Compton Courthouse, where for a time he served as deputy in charge, supervising misdemeanor trial deputies. He now is stationed in the Torrance branch, where he handles serious felonies.
Bayne is an inventor, with patent-pending applications for artificial intelligence tools that automate legal workflows. One helps with closing arguments; another uses court reporter transcripts to generate cross-examination questions.
Using AI to address the county’s heavy caseload is a priority. He argues the technology could modernize court infrastructure, aiding in case management, scheduling and document processing.
Bayne, who trains in jiujitsu and Krav Maga self-defense, said extensive jury trial experience has prepared him to be an effective judge.
“Wherever I go, people want the same things: a judge who is prepared and fair, who will listen to their side of the case, and who treats them with respect,” he said.
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David DeJute, law professor/attorney
Bar rating: Qualified
The son of a late judge, DeJute has had a 35-year legal career. After graduating from law school, he clerked for a U.S. district judge and then worked at a boutique litigation firm. He spent nearly a decade as vice president of litigation at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
In 2005, he was appointed as an assistant U.S. attorney. Over more than a decade, he worked on 10 trials, including successfully defending President Obama against “birther” lawsuits that challenged his eligibility to hold office. DeJute represented the FBI and NASA in other cases.
He joined Michelman & Robinson in 2017 and is part of the complex litigation group.
An adjunct professor at Pepperdine’s Caruso School of Law, he’s taught ethics, antitrust, copyright and patent law. After last year’s wildfires, he returned as director of the disaster relief clinic, where he instructed students who provided pro bono legal services to victims of the Palisades and Eaton fires.
“I continue to provide free legal help to wildfire survivors who have asked me to stay involved,” he said, though he no longer runs the clinic.
DeJute said he has experienced discrimination as an openly gay man, which drives his desire to ensure that everyone in the justice system is treated with dignity and respect.
“Justice requires more than achieving certain results,” he said. “It requires a fair process untainted by bias.”
The match statistics alone showed what a threat Ngumoha can be.
He had 12 touches in the opposition box, completed seven out of eight dribbles, and registered two crucial assists.
But watching Ngumoha is more than just a numbers experience. There’s a fearless nature to his play that can get the crowd going, and he was the one bright spark in a first half where Liverpool lacked any sort of rhythm.
In a game increasingly focused on structures, Ngumoha’s raw ability to take a man on is what helps to set him apart.
“He was magnificent tonight,” said former Liverpool forward Daniel Sturridge on Amazon Prime.
“On the ball, this kid has so much potential – and I say ‘kid’, but he’s a young man. He has so much quality and it’s stuff that you can’t teach to be honest.
“What he does with the ball at his feet – that is God-given ability – and his hard work on the training pitch, doing things day in and day out, and being ruthless, is what he said in his interview, and I like that. He wants to be decisive, and I love that.”
Ngumoha, who has grown up playing down the left, has struggled to get minutes on his preferred side this season, especially with Cody Gakpo and Barcola often playing down that flank.
But head coach Andoni Iraola wants his wingers to be able to play on both sides and Ngumoha’s improvement on the right flank has been impressive in such a short space of time.
Ngumoha also spoke about his rapid development on the right on Saturday, after Liverpool beat Brentford.
“I feel like I’ve got a lot better playing there from the Newcastle game [at the start of this season] until now,” Ngumoha said.
“I’m understanding it more. And going away with England helped a lot as well. I like playing on both sides. It gives me another tool in the toolbox.”
Published On 21 Oct 202621 Oct 2026
Italy has approved the deployment of troops and tougher legal penalties in a bid to quell cost-of-living protests in the north of the country that occasionally turned violent over the weekend.
The Italian cabinet on Tuesday approved sending 500 troops to Milan, a new legal offence covering violent participation in a demonstration, tougher penalties for rioters and financial liability for parents whose children take part in vandalism and looting.
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Italy’s Ministry of Defence said the military will help reinforce security at key sites, step up surveillance of sensitive locations and enhance monitoring.
Unrest swept northern Italian cities at the weekend, including the financial capital Milan, where groups of mainly young people looted shops, smashed windows and clashed with the police. The demonstrations were driven by anger over soaring fuel and energy prices, high rents, low wages and the state of public services.
As part of the new legal measures, which take effect immediately, anyone who takes part in a group of at least five people and endangers public safety during protests faces up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of €20,000 ($22,460).
Penalties increase if faces are concealed or people are injured.
Authorities can order prompt compensation for any damage inflicted and, in the case of minors, hold their parents liable.
Police will be allowed to detain youths aged between 14 and 17, even if they have not committed a crime, provided there is evidence they pose a danger, extending powers that previously applied only to adults.
But the cabinet did not approve giving soldiers policing powers, as expected, after opposition from President Sergio Mattarella, Italian media reported.
“Destroying and stealing is not protest, it is crime, and the state’s response must be firm,” Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a social media post after the cabinet meeting.
The disturbances in northern Italy echoed riots in neighbouring France, where hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets on Saturday in some of the country’s most violent turmoil in years.
Meloni’s government is also facing mounting pressure from a separate wave of protests in southern Italy, where truck drivers angered by soaring diesel prices and the rising cost of living have staged roadblocks that are disrupting supply chains.
Protesters in both the north and the south say rising prices are pushing families into poverty, a concern for Meloni ahead of the 2027 national elections.
The Guardian says Andy Burnham will face a “climate revolt” by approving drilling at the Jackdaw gas field., external The paper says that, while it will be a “major boost” for Britain’s oil and gas industry, critics will argue it undermines Labour’s green credentials. According to the Financial Times, ministers are expected to say that the project will help increase energy supplies this winte, externalr. The i Paper reports that it will be able to power around a million UK homes., external
The Times reports that the home secretary is facing pressure from her cabinet colleagues to water down plans, external which would make it harder for foreign workers to claim permanent residence in the UK. But an ally of Shabana Mahmood tells the paper that Burnham is “on her side” and is “holding the line”. “Mahmood’s fight to save her migrant crackdown” is the headline.
The Daily Telegraph says a review of anti-Semitism in schools in England is expected to prompt some to ban teachers from wearing pro-Palestinian badges. , externalAccording to the Guardian, the report by Sir David Bell finds that three in five Jewish students have been affected, external by anti-Semitism.
The decision to deploy RAF jets to defend Saudi Arabia is described by the Times as an “expansion of the UK’s role in the conflict in Yemen”, external. A defence source tells the paper that “if Houthi drones or missiles come over the border” then British jets will “take them out”. The Telegraph’s verdict is: “Better late than never”.
The Daily Mirror leads with the Covid inquiry’s findings that government failures during the pandemic allowed the virus to “spread like wildfire” in care homes., external In its leader column, the paper says care home residents were “shamefully abandoned by those entrusted with protecting them”.
Prince Harry’s call for reconciliation with his father and brother is the focus of the Sun’s front page, external. It says the Duke of Sussex is hoping to “fix his bitter family feud”. But the Daily Mail accuses him of “reopening old wounds” in what it describes as a “new Sussex psychodrama”, external. Its headline reads: “Oh, do put a sock in it, Harry!”.
VIEWERS of Big Brother have been left raging at the results of this week’s nominations as Omar was spared from the public vote.
Fans flocked to X as it was revealed he was safe from Friday’s eviction, after slamming his “controlling” and “coercive” behaviour towards co-star Rhianna.
The episode saw him snapping at Rhianna in front of the rest of the house ahead of nominations, telling them “she’s f**ked me off today!”
He said: “I haven’t made her cry, so don’t walk around saying I’ve made you cry, then I have housemates come up to me saying I’m horrible.
“She’s miserable anyway, she’s immature. Stop being a weirdo, I did not make you cry!”
Rhianna said: “You did make me cry!”
To which Omar replied: “Was I abusive? Did I scream at you? Did I hit you? So don’t lie!
“Even when you’re wrong you convince yourself you’re right!
“Zero accountability – maximum immaturity!”
Catrin, Harry, Sam and Twinks will be the next Housemates on the chopping block, with Omar through to next week.
The public slammed the Housemates for not voting for Omar, with one claiming the show’s final will be “a finale of bullies”.
Another fumed: “Big Brother is actually f**king rage baiting me it’s that serious!”
Someone else raged at Rhianna’s decision to vote for Catrin and Twinks, who have had her back amid the Omar drama.
“Rhianna – both of those women supported you when your ‘man’ was treating you like doodoo on public television and you were BAWLIN’ – like… what dimension have these people actually spawned from?!?!”
Another penned: “I have NEVER been so p**sed off with nominations! Rhianna is a SNAKE – oh and get Omar, Phillip and Frankie out! VILE… and yes there is a hierarchy!”
“Another eviction to not put Omar up ugh BB needs to tell Rhianna and Omar that sooner or later they are both going have to vote for each other!” another posted.
This comes after viewers witnessed Omar continuing to argue with Rhianna earlier in the episode, claiming she was crying to make him look bad, insisting he had done nothing wrong.
His behaviour has even been branded “coercive and abusive” by Women’s Aid.
The charity has spoken out following complaints over “worrying” scenes, with spokesman Veronica Oakeshott warning that Big Brother bosses are risking “presenting abuse as a form of entertainment”.
The 21-year-old scolded Rhianna for speaking about their argument to her co-stars before using “red-flag” language including “don’t talk about me”, “don’t cry”, “don’t look away from me”, “sort yourself out” and “fix up”.
Tearful Rhianna had earlier cried to Housemates, telling them: “I can’t have him telling me to f*** off, shut up, you’re sh*t.”
However, later in the show, Rhianna told Omar: “I don’t want to argue with you” and he replied “Well, then, don’t say mad things that you don’t mean. It’s not fair. You need to sort it out, get it together.”
Rhianna then whispered “I’m sorry” and he accepted her apology saying “it’s OK” before they spent the night together in bed.
Veronica told The Sun: “The nature of abuse means that it often begins with ‘red flag’ coercive and controlling behaviours like isolating you from friends or repeatedly putting you down, before escalating into other forms of abuse.
“Coercive control creates invisible chains and a sense of fear that impacts every element of a survivor‘s life.
“It’s worrying to see behaviours like this being given a platform in popular media like Big Brother.”
Women’s Aid has been contacted by “many viewers who have expressed concern”, added Veronica.
We also told how fans, ex-Housemates and celebrities have all demanded Omar is axed over his behaviour – with viewers in their droves contacting TV regulator, Ofcom.
Speaking about ITV‘s decision to allow Omar to remain on the programme, Veronica said: “Not only does Big Brother risk minimising survivors’ experiences, it also risks presenting abuse as a form of entertainment.
“We must do better to call out and reject abuse as soon as we see it, so women and children can learn the signs and themselves feel confident in speaking up and seeking safety.
“Producers should understand their responsibility to keep contestants emotionally and physically safe. The women in these programmes are real people and need real support.
“We continue to urge television companies such as ITV to engage with experts like Women’s Aid to understand the nature of abuse and how they can do better to protect contestants. We would welcome a discussion with the Big Brother team.”
In one sinister moment from last night’s hard-to-watch episode, Omar interrupted Rhianna’s conversation with Rochelle and Phillip to whisper in her ear.
Bending down to Rhianna in bed to conceal his warning, Omar said: “Do me a favour, I know you’re upset, but don’t talk about me. Thank you.”
One viewer commented: “The fact Omar’s comfortable doing this on national TV scares me for he does behind closed doors.”
Another added: “This has become dangerous now. Omar needs removing from the house.
“He has been gaslighting and emotionally abusing Rhianna for weeks. You don’t have to be a genius to know what would be happening if the cameras and other housemates weren’t there.”
After being approached by The Sun, a Big Brother spokesman said: “All Housemates receive Respect and Inclusion training and an extensive briefing from the Big Brother Senior team to prepare them for living in the House and to set out Big Brother’s expectations for appropriate behaviour and language.
“Housemates are monitored 24 hours a day and any instances of inappropriate behaviour are responded to appropriately.
“Welfare and safeguarding are prioritised throughout the production, with a dedicated welfare team available to support Housemates before, during and after their time in the House.”
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The Mortgage Bankers’ Association compiles various mortgage loan indexes. The purchase applications index measures applications at mortgage lenders
The Atlanta Fed’s Business Inflation Expectations survey provides a monthly
This runoff for a vacant seat on the bench features a longtime public defender running against a veteran alternate public defender. Both boast extensive trial experience.
Donna Tryfman, a deputy public defender, serves in the major cases unit, where she handles homicide and other high-profile defendants. She also has extensive experience in juvenile cases.
David Ross is an alternate in the Torrance branch of the public defenders office and also works in Bellflower and Long Beach. He claims to have represented more than 10,000 clients at hearings and in trials.
The Los Angeles County Bar Assn. rates both attorneys as “qualified” for office. Here’s more of what you need to know about the candidates.
Donna Tryfman, L.A. County deputy public defender
Bar rating: Qualified
Tryfman began with the public defender’s office in 1998, logging more than 100 jury trials. Her experience includes supervising Eastlake Juvenile Court, where she ran a branch with 15 lawyers and represented clients in the collaborative drug court. She is stationed in the major cases unit, focusing on capital homicide litigation.
Tryfman has served as a Superior Court judge pro tem, handling traffic and small claims cases. She has proctored teen courts at Dorsey and Hamilton high schools and last year received the peer-bestowed Gideon felony attorney of the year award.
Conversations on the campaign trail have helped her understand what works and what doesn’t in the justice system.
“It has reinforced for me that experience and knowledge of the law matter enormously, but so does how people are treated when they walk into a courtroom,” she said.
Tryfman said the heavy caseload of a public defender has prepared her for the bench’s rigors. She also cited her life experience as the daughter of immigrants, a single mother and a widow who was faced with the decision of whether to discontinue life support for her husband.
“Experiences like that teach you something about responsibility, compassion and judgment that cannot be learned from a law book,” she said.
Outside the office, Tryfman spent five years as president of the California Public Defenders Assn. and chaired the Rent Stabilization Commission for the city of Beverly Hills. She has served as vice chair of the L.A. County Bar Assn.’s Conference of California Bar Assns., where she helps develop state legislative proposals.
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David Ross, L.A. County deputy alternate public defender
Bar rating: Qualified
Ross has more than three decades in the legal field, but it was not his original calling. The Los Angeles native served as a legislative aide to the late U.S. Rep. Floyd Fithian (D-Ind.) on Capitol Hill, then worked as a television journalist and documentary producer in Washington, D.C., Tennessee and Kansas.
“I grew up wanting to be Peter Jennings, not Clarence Darrow,” he told The Times.
Ross passed the bar in 1994, joined the Riverside County public defender’s office the following year and began as a Los Angeles County deputy alternate public defender in 2000. He has litigated 113 jury trials, conducted more than 2,000 preliminary hearings and represented some 10,000 indigent clients. Assigned to the Torrance office since 2018, he also has worked in the Bellflower, Long Beach and Pomona branches, among others.
Ross, who lives in Long Beach, said he has spoken with more than 60 Democratic clubs, unions and other organizations on the campaign trail and frequently has heard a desire for qualified and independent judges who will listen to all sides.
A priority would be ensuring that even if a party loses, they walk out of the courthouse knowing the judge paid attention.
Ross said his mix of legal and life experience and his time as a journalist, in which he “listened to real people, gathered the facts and told objective stories,” provide a unique perspective.
Ever since Uefa announced its plans to alter the format of the Champions League in 2021, the impact on matches has been a hot topic. Scrutiny has only increased since the changes were implemented in time for the 2024-25 season.
After beginning life as a six-team invitational tournament in 1955-56 before growing to a 32-team knockout tournament in 1967, the Champions League as we know it began in 1992.
A group stage was added, with the last 16 entering a knockout phase. There was a brief spell with two group stages, but this was reverted back to the single group-stage format for the 2003-04 tournament.
The group stage previously featured 32 teams in eight groups of four, with the top two sides from each of those groups qualifying for the last 16.
For the start of the 2024-25 season, the group stage was replaced with a 36-team league phase, with each side playing eight one-off fixtures instead of six games against three teams.
The top eight finishers qualify directly for the knockout stages, with those placed ninth to 24th entering a two-legged play-off stage.
The bottom eight are eliminated, meaning that after eight matches, 24 sides are still in the competition. Some argue that that creates a lack of jeopardy, which encourages teams to play more expansively.
But do more goals equal better quality?
“I think the entertainment has gone up, although I’m not sure the quality has gone up,” The Times football writer Tom Arnott told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“If I’m looking at the games it’s brilliant to watch and thrilling because the football itself is fantastic – but what do they mean?
“The lack of jeopardy, why would PSG and Barcelona play for a draw, why not go for it? If you need five wins from the eight games you know you’ve got some margin there. If you lose it’s OK. I think the format allows all the teams to loosen up.
“The entertainment value is there but I think you come away from these matches sometimes and still think ‘what does it all mean?’. The lack of jeopardy early on does deliver entertainment.”
A drone strike near a market in Abyei has killed at least 150 people. Fighting between Sudan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has intensified in recent days, as Khartoum accuses the RSF of hiding in the disputed region near South Sudan.
Published On 21 Oct 202621 Oct 2026
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Faecal bacteria are contaminating water in wells and sinkholes in Mexico’s Yucatan state, which are a vital source of drinking water, according to a report by Greenpeace, a global environmental organisation.
The report, published on Tuesday, said nearby pig farms and municipal wastewater were likely sources of the pollution in the southeastern coastal state.
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“A range of chemical and microbiological indicators reveal a complex mosaic of severe, localised organic pollution,” it said.
Greenpeace called for an immediate moratorium on new industrial livestock operations and farm expansions in the peninsular state, which was once home to the ancient Maya civilisation.
With no above-ground rivers, groundwater is the Yucatan’s only freshwater source, and the area’s porous limestone bedrock lets pollutants quickly seep into the aquifer.
The global environmental watchdog group commissioned an independent laboratory to test water at 17 sites near the state capital, Merida, in August.
The sites included household and farm wells, community water points and cenotes, the natural sinkholes that dot the Yucatan Peninsula, which is one of Mexico’s most popular tourist destinations.
According to the report, every sample showed some degree of contamination likely linked to faecal waste, and several sites appeared heavily polluted. Total coliform bacteria reached the test’s upper limit in 16 of 17 samples, and faecal coliforms did so in 13.
However, the tests cannot show whether the waste came from people or animals, and leaking septic tanks and municipal sewage may also contribute to contamination.
Greenpeace said, however, that separate testing using Pig2Bac, a pig-specific DNA marker method, detected pig faecal matter in samples analysed at laboratories at Johns Hopkins University in the US and Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM).
Greenpeace said the results raise “critical accountability questions” about nearby pig farms.
Maya communities joined Greenpeace in demanding action from environmental authorities over the contamination.
A UN report published in July found that there are more than 500 industrial pig farms across Yucatan state with more than 50,000 animals, many located near the lands and territories of Indigenous Peoples.
Marcos Orellana, a former UN special rapporteur who authored the report, said waste and chemicals from industrial farms “find their way very quickly” into the water communities use for bathing, cooking and drinking. He said most farms lack required permits and that regional government initiatives “remain insufficient”.
“The contamination of the waters that have sustained Mayan culture for millennia is predominantly coming from the industrial operations of the growth of animals,” Orellana said.
But Antonio Zumarraga, vice president of the Yucatan Citizen Scientific Water Observatory, defended the local pork industry, saying the sector has invested in water treatment and supports conservation programmes. He blamed local authorities for their inaction.
“It’s an issue that, as long as it doesn’t carry political weight for the government, they won’t do anything about it,” Zumarraga said.
The Yucatan state government was not available for comment, while Mexico’s national water commission, CONAGUA, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Merida’s Association of Pig Farmers also did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
THE Feeling star Dan Gillespie Sells has married his partner John McCrea in an intimate London ceremony, surrounded by family and friends.
The couple tied the knot at Hackney Town Hall as documented by their The Feeling bandmate Richard Jones.
Unsurprisingly, Richard’s wife Sophie Ellis Bextor was also in attendance.
The Murder On The Dancefloor songstress even took to the mic at the reception, belting her fan favourite hit out to the guests.
Richard shared a slew of photos of the event to Instagram, including a video of his wife at the mic.
He captioned the post: “Congratulations to @dangsells and @officialjohnmccrea!
Read more Sophie Ellis Bextor
“A day of pure Joy!”
Dan – who also composed the book for the mega-successful musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – looked blissful in the snaps from his big day.
He was seen holding hands with actor/singer John, saying their vows, before exiting the town hall steps together.
They were met with cheers and confetti as they walked together as newlyweds.
The reception then appeared to move onto a local bar, with not just Sophie seen serenading the happy couple.
In another snap, Sophie can be seen posing with a large bridal dress, hitting the dancefloor for the evening reception.
The nuptials come ahead of The Feelings latest tour, called 20 Years And Home – a nod to their debut album Twelve Stops And Home, released two decades ago.
The group will be touring the UK in November.
The World Series is upon us, and this one should be a delight: The team with the best record in the National League, the Milwaukee Brewers, against the team with the best record in the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays.
The players are about to take baseball’s grandest stage. Yet this has somehow become a strange national obsession: not how Jacob Misiorowski or Junior Caminero might shine in the series, but how many people might watch it.
Should you care? Not really. Have you ever thought about watching a World Series game and thought, “Hmmm, let me consider what the ratings might be before I decide to tune in?”
Major League Baseball cares, of course, because its owners count on billions of dollars from the sale of television rights, and those rights are worth more money when more people watch the games. And, since the fog of a collective bargaining war has enveloped the sport, the ratings make for an intriguing subplot in the World Series.
This World Series is what owners say they want: less of, say, the Dodgers and the New York Yankees, more of teams from smaller markets that seldom advance through the playoffs, if they even get there. Neither the Brewers nor the Rays have won a World Series.
Yet the ratings for the Dodgers-Yankees World Series in 2024 almost doubled those for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Texas Rangers in 2023, and this year’s ratings should be much closer to 2023 than 2024.
So, in a sport that already generates the majority of its broadcast revenue in national rather than local packages, amid the collapse of regional sports networks, are the owners taking a risk of making less money on the World Series?
Fox currently airs the World Series as the jewel of a seven-year, $5.1-billion deal that expires in 2028.
Ed Desser, a Santa Monica-based consultant who launched NBA TV and helped negotiate the Dodgers’ record SportsNet LA deal, said the value of a World Series featuring teams such as the Dodgers and Yankees goes beyond the large audiences they command because they play in large markets.
“It’s commonplace for people to hate the Dodgers, hate the Yankees — and, to some extent, that’s good for business, because it’s another rooting interest. Anything that gets people to focus their attention is good,” Desser said. “It’s easy to hate a team that’s in a glamorous place and spends more than almost anybody.
“I’m not sure that anybody has an ax to grind against the Rays or the Brewers. Sports is about passion.”
That said, neither Desser nor Bob Thompson, the former president of Fox Sports Networks, believes MLB is setting itself up for a big fall in revenue from the Fall Classic.
For Fox — and whatever other bidders might emerge come 2028 — ratings would be important, but not as much as you might think.
“Does expected audience matter? Of course,” Desser said. “They’re in the media business, and the way you monetize is by selling subscriptions to your channel and selling advertising.
“But, typically, you’re taking a much longer viewpoint. You’re making a deal that might be five, eight, 12 years. When you do that, you have an expectation that some teams get better, some teams get worse, sometimes you get a large market, sometimes you get a small market. It kind of evens out.”
This is the fifth season of the current Fox contract. The 10 World Series berths have been spread among nine teams, with the Dodgers appearing twice.
To a broadcast outlet, Thompson said, financial success in the World Series is not just about ratings.
“It’s about how good the matchup is and how long the matchup goes. The bulk of the advertising is sold up front (before we know the teams),” Thompson said. “Ratings for the series aren’t going to be a huge deal, unless you’re selling time in, say, Game 6 and Game 7, where you can really be jacking your rates.”
Last year’s Dodgers-Blue Jays World Series extended to seven games, attracting viewers amid a dramatic finish and ultimately getting a higher rating than the 2024 Dodgers-Yankees series, even though Canadian viewers weren’t included in that Nielsen count. The Dodgers-Yankees series lasted five games, and the Dodgers beat up on the Yankees when the Yankees weren’t beating themselves.
Even if the World Series itself might be worth less with more lower-profile teams competing, Thompson said MLB could include it as part of a larger package, or dangle it as an incentive for streaming outlets or other new bidders.
He also noted that the latest MLB collective bargaining proposal calls for fewer regular-season games and more postseason games.
“Playoffs are going to get you a premium over regular-season games,” Thompson said.
And, to the extent that postseason ratings might be in decline, ratings for everything — sporting events, awards shows, news shows, dramas, comedies, you name it — are in decline. Only the NFL is immune to lower ratings.
“Big events matter more than they used to, even with smaller audiences,” Desser said. “The World Series is still a big event, and there is a premium for that.”
The three most-watched shows on broadcast television in the week of Oct. 5-11, according to Nielsen: Sunday Night Football (Atlanta Falcons vs. Baltimore Ravens) with 17 million viewers; SEC Football (Alabama vs. Georgia) with 12 million viewers; NLCS Game 1 (Dodgers vs. Brewers) with 11 million viewers.
The top entertainment show that week: Tracker (CBS), with 7.4 million viewers.
The owners will make their money on the World Series, one way or another.
“Even at a lower expectation for audience, there is still going to be that value,” Desser said. “It’s one of the biggest things happening in October.”
Police have arrested 55 people after protesters camp in Lisbon and Porto.
Published On 21 Oct 202621 Oct 2026
Thousands of protesters have returned to two central squares in Portugal for demonstrations against an intensifying housing crisis, hours after police cleared their camps in the capital, Lisbon, and the city of Porto, arresting 55 people.
Activists have demanded the centre-right government withdraw a bill that makes evictions easier and ends rent caps on new leases, which passed a first parliamentary reading.
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The demonstrators in Lisbon sought to rebuild their sit-in camp at Rossio Square on Tuesday, while those in Porto were returning to the northern city’s Dom Joao I Square.
Organisers said more than 1,000 people had gathered at each square. Activists have occupied Lisbon’s Rossio Square since Saturday, pitching around 200 tents, and Porto’s Dom Joao I Square for around 10 days.
Debora Miranda, 41, a communications consultant, told Reuters she joined the Rossio Square protest to represent generations struggling with soaring costs. “If people don’t feel at home, in every sense of the word, they can’t move forward with their lives…enough is enough.”
The camps mirrored housing protests in neighbouring Spain, and coincided with unrest over rising living costs in countries such as France, Belgium and Italy.
Shortly before 6am, after warning protesters that the camps were illegal, police launched coordinated operations in both cities. Demonstrators in Porto followed orders and dismantled their own tents. Officers cleared Lisbon’s Rossio Square in what Carla Valadao, a spokesperson for the camp, described as “very aggressive”.
Public Security Police superintendent Sergio Soares told reporters that the eviction had been “calm, proportionate and appropriate, with no police charge”.
The 55 detainees were later released pending a court appearance in Lisbon on Wednesday.
Portugal is grappling with one of Europe’s worst housing affordability crises as purchase prices have more than doubled since 2017 and rents for new leases have nearly doubled.
Jorge Paixao, 19, a history student, called it “a societal crisis”, saying his generation needed “the ability to live with dignity, start families and rejuvenate Portugal”.
The squeeze is most acute in the major cities, where there has also been opposition to excessive tourism and an influx of so-called digital nomads, people who travel while working remotely.
Published On 21 Oct 202621 Oct 2026
UN experts have called on the Indian government to stop the use of “excessive force” in the wake of the crackdown on opposition and student protests in India.
In a statement on Tuesday, the two dozen independent experts pressed for an impartial investigation into Indian authorities’ conduct, saying that demonstrators had sustained injuries and some reported being subjected to ill-treatment.
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“Protesters have sustained injuries, with some reporting being subjected to ill-treatment. The experts expressed particular concern about reports of sexual violence and other forms of gender-based abuse in the protests and related detentions,” according to the statement.
UN experts are appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor and document specific human rights crises but are independent of the organisation itself.
India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), along with other opposition parties and student organisations, has led protests this month demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, after 130 million names were removed from voter lists.
The protesting groups said the removal disproportionately affected poor and homeless people as well as ethnic minorities including Muslims, who are unlikely to vote for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The BJP and India’s Election Commission deny the accusations. The Election Commission said it was removing duplicate, deceased, shifted and otherwise ineligible voters and that anyone excluded in error can pursue appeals.
“Despite the non-violent nature of the assemblies, law enforcement agencies have reportedly deployed force against unarmed students including by means of police so-called lathi charges, and have prevented thousands from joining the protests,” the UN experts said.
Lathi charges are coordinated movements by a policing force using sticks to disperse crowds.
“We call on the authorities to immediately cease the use of excessive force, rescind blanket assembly bans, and refrain from the misuse of digital surveillance, including through biometrics, and internet disruptions,” they added.
India has repeatedly dismissed such criticism and cast it as interference in the country’s internal affairs, including when the UN human rights office earlier this month expressed concerns over mass detentions in relation to the latest protests.
This week saw another nominations twist (Image: ITV)
ITV Big Brother has revealed who will face the public vote this week.
Emotions have been running high in the iconic house in recent weeks, with personalities continuing to clash. Viewers have witnessed plenty of explosive rows and heated moments as the housemates live in the House of Time this week.
As part of the new theme though, another nominations twist has been introduced. Tonight’s (October 20) explosive episode saw the housemates take part in nominations in Big Brother’s Time Zone.
They each drew a number from a bag in secret to determine the order they could enter the Time Zone. The first housemate to enter was Philip and the final housemate was Rhianna, with the timing being important.
As the first housemate to enter, Philip had to choose four name disks to place on the nomination podiums and chose Catrin, Harry, Sam and Twinks. The remaining housemates took turns to enter the Time Zone and had the opportunity to swap up to two names on the nomination podiums but could not swap themselves.
Big Brother later revealed that Catrin, Harry, Sam and Twinks will be the next housemates to face the public vote ahead of Friday night’s live eviction, airing on ITV2 and ITVX. However, viewers were unimpressed with the line up as one person wrote on X: “I don’t know if I can watch this show any longer.” Another said: “This is an absolute joke.”
A third fumed: “Truly truly truly could not have gone worse, I feel sick to my STOMACH”, as a fourth added: “Four chances for a good nom selection and its still horrid.”
A fifth stated: “It just isn’t making a fun viewing experience.” A sixth viewer commented: “Boycott the vote! We refuse to vote!!!! We are done!!!” Another raged: “This line up is such a fix omg. I’ve had enough.”
Viewers were also quick to share who they would be voting for, and it’s not looking good for one housemate. One person wrote: “Harry is gonna go, but I still don’t think it’s fair.”
Another said: “So we’re all getting rid of Harry yeah?” A third added: “Voting for Harry to go”, as a fourth penned: “Well all my votes will be going to Harry.”
Voting for Friday’s eviction opens at 10:15pm tonight (Oct 20) with viewers being asked to vote for the housemate they wish to evict from the House.
Friday night (October 23) will see the next eviction from the Big Brother House and the evictee’s first live interview with hosts AJ Odudu and Will Best, with fears already rising over a potential double eviction – though this is yet to be confirmed by ITV.
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Big Brother continues tomorrow at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX
Two months ago, legendary NASCAR driver and longtime Fox Sports broadcaster Darrell Waltrip stepped away from public life at age 79 because of a progressive brain disease. His family said in a statement that his frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) diagnosis was complicated by possible chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — “likely from injuries incurred during his racing career.”
Now Fred Lorenzen — another Hall of Fame NASCAR driver — has been diagnosed posthumously with CTE, according to a statement Tuesday from his children, Chris Lorenzen and Amanda Lorenzen Gardstrom.
His is the first known case of CTE in a NASCAR driver, according to the Concussion & CTE Foundation. CTE can only be diagnosed after death through a microscopic examination of brain tissue during an autopsy.
Lorenzen, who went by the nicknames “The Golden Boy” and “Fast Freddie” when he dominated NASCAR in the 1960s, died Dec. 18, 2024, at age 89. He lived with dementia for 20 years, yet had the foresight in 2016 to pledge to donate his brain for research. Lorenzen had been inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame a year earlier — one of the first 25 drivers to be enshrined — but was already living in a nursing home, unable to walk. His son, Chris, delivered his Hall of Fame speech for him.
Researchers at the Boston University CTE Center — a renowned research facility that conducts high-impact research on repetitive brain trauma in athletes, military personnel, and first responders — diagnosed Lorenzen with Stage 3 CTE, the second-most severe of four stages.
Although safety precautions for drivers have vastly improved since the heyday of Lorenzen and Waltrip, concussions and the prospect of CTE remain a constant fear within the sport.
Former NASCAR Cup Series champion Kurt Busch was forced to end his full-time racing career after sustaining a severe concussion during a qualifying crash at Pocono Raceway in 2022. Dale Earnhardt Jr. estimates that he suffered as many as 50 concussions over his 20-year racing career and 10 years ago tweeted that he intends to have his brain donated for concussion research after his death.
CTE is most closely associated with football players. A study published in the British Medical Journal in August reported that 315 of the 338 brains studied from players who died between 2008 and 2021 were diagnosed with CTE. It is becoming clear that NASCAR drivers may also sustain the kind of brain trauma that can cause the condition.
Lorenzen’s children made a $1 million donation to the Concussion and CTE Foundation, creating the Fred Lorenzen Memorial HelpLine to help drivers and their families find care when necessary.
Outgoing and friendly during his career, Lorenzen was the first driver in series history to earn $100,000 in prize money in a single season. He was voted NASCAR’s most popular driver in 1963 and 1965.
He won 26 races from 1961 to 1967, more than “The King” Richard Petty, and won the Daytona 500 in 1965 and the World 600 (now the Coca-Cola 600) in 1963 and 1965. He also won six times at Martinsville Speedway, famously launching the tradition of giving the winner a Ridgeway grandfather clock.
Musanze, Rwanda – Jean Claude Hategekimana feared that returning to Rwanda could cost him his life. After years with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), he decided to leave the armed group and return home. At Rwanda’s Mutobo Demobilisation and Reintegration Centre, he began preparing for civilian life.
Born in 1996 in Rutsiro District, in western Rwanda, Hategekimana moved to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with his parents and grew up in an area controlled by the FDLR. He joined the group in 2018, underwent military training and eventually reached the rank of captain.
“I arrived at the Mutobo Centre after fighting to defend Goma. Following our defeat, I fled to Masisi. After realising that I was fighting for nothing, I decided to return to Rwanda. I came back on February 24,” he told Al Jazeera.
Hategekimana said FDLR members had been taught that anyone who returned to Rwanda would be killed.
“Upon arriving in Rwanda, I realised that the FDLR had been lying to us. For me, returning home felt like embarking on a suicide mission,” he said.
His experience illustrates the challenge of reintegrating former fighters whose beliefs and fears have been shaped by years in an armed group.
Francis Musoni, secretary-general of the Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission, said the Mutobo centre, located in Musanze in Rwanda’s Northern Province, was established in 2001 to receive members of the FDLR and other Rwandan armed groups returning from the DRC.
The FDLR emerged in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis. After the genocide, members of the former Rwandan armed forces and militia groups fled to what was then Zaire, now the DRC. The Rwandan government accuses the FDLR of carrying out attacks against Rwanda and contributing to cross-border insecurity.
At Mutobo, the rehabilitation programme includes medical care, psychosocial support, civic education and assistance with reconnecting with families. Returnees can also contact relatives and friends through a telephone service, Musoni said.
“We help them to build confidence among themselves, build trust, and empower them to go back into the community and contribute to the development of the country together with their families,” he said.
The centre also allows visitors and media representatives to meet returnees. Musoni said those undergoing rehabilitation can visit their communities for short periods to help rebuild their confidence in returning home.
“They can travel to their communities [during rehabilitation]. They are given written permission for a week or two, and we even facilitate transport,” he said.
For the former commanders interviewed by Al Jazeera at Mutobo, the decision to leave the FDLR was shaped by family ties, disillusionment and concerns about personal safety.
Major-General Anastase Munyaneza served in the former Rwandan armed forces in Kigali’s Kicukiro District during the 1994 genocide. He said he left Rwanda after the genocide and later joined the FDLR, eventually commanding its South Kivu sector.
Although he had come to accept the group’s beliefs, Munyaneza remained in contact with his family in Rwanda. News of their lives made him question his own circumstances.
“I was the only one who had fled to the DRC. I regularly received news about them. I knew they were still alive, attending school, working for the government and improving their lives. I began asking myself what I was doing in the forest,” he said.
He added that seeing other members return safely encouraged him to consider going home.
Munyaneza said he contacted personnel from the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), who transported him from South Kivu to Bukavu and then to the Congolese-Rwandan border. He subsequently proceeded to Mutobo.
Lieutenant-Colonel Idrissa Bizimana, who was responsible for ideology, propaganda and recruitment within the FDLR, said his decision to return followed a change in his convictions.
“I no longer believed in the ideology I had been promoting. After receiving verified information about what was happening in Rwanda, I decided to return home,” he said.
Bizimana said he had been in contact with a MONUSCO general who had offered to help him return. Using a satellite phone equipped with GPS, he sent his location and the date. A helicopter was then dispatched to retrieve him, he said.
Lieutenant-Colonel Emilien Mpakaniye, who joined the FDLR in 1998 and was responsible for economic affairs at its headquarters, said he began questioning the organisation after becoming disillusioned with what he described as its lies.
Colonel Augustin Nshimiyimana, a former FDLR intelligence commander, returned to Rwanda in 2022 and underwent rehabilitation at Mutobo. He said he decided to leave after another commander accused him of working with Rwanda following a disagreement over a mission in Bujumbura.
Nshimiyimana said the accusation made him fear for his life.
“When they accuse you of working with Rwanda, it means they consider you a Tutsi, and the next step is to kill you,” he said.
At Mutobo, former fighters receive education and practical support to prepare for life after discharge.
Febronie Mukankiko, a teacher at the centre, said teaching people who grew up in the forest required a different approach.
“Our students are different from ordinary students. They are adults who grew up in the forest, so teaching them requires special skills. We undergo additional training to ensure that we can teach them effectively,” she said.
She added that completing their studies could be a significant achievement for those with limited access to formal education.
“When they graduate and receive their certificates, they are very happy,” she said.
Musoni said the average stay at the centre was five months, after which returnees completed a formal discharge process. He said assistance could include financial support, vocational training, formal education and help establishing income-generating activities. The commission also follows up with former residents to assess how they are adjusting to life in their communities.
For those who have spent years away from Rwanda, leaving Mutobo marks the start of another transition: finding work, reconnecting with family and adjusting to civilian society.
For Mpakaniye, disillusionment came partly from the contrast between the lives of senior commanders’ families and those of ordinary fighters.
“First, their family members live in Rwanda and in Europe, while ours are in the forest,” he said.
The U.S. military has successfully demonstrated a new lower-cost receiver that could form part of a future over-the-horizon (OTH) radar. The testing also raises the question of whether the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) research site in Alaska, which the U.S. Air Force transferred away more than a decade ago, could be repurposed for operational use in this role. A new radar of this kind would help the United States plug critical gaps in surveillance coverage over the ever-more strategic Arctic region. Canada is notably already pursuing a multi-billion-dollar OTH radar project in cooperation with Australia for this exact purpose.
The U.S. military put out a press release yesterday regarding the testing of the newly developed receiver array, which occurred between September 7 and September 11. This was the culmination of a series of “Arctic air domain awareness” experiments conducted cooperatively by U.S. and Canadian authorities over the past three years.
The final round of experimentation last month “examined whether an existing high-frequency transmitter [HAARP], paired with a newly developed, low-cost [16-element high-frequency] receiver array, could detect aircraft beyond the coverage of current long-range radar sites,” according to the release. “The effort focused on improving awareness across a region where vast distances, harsh weather and limited infrastructure present challenges for air surveillance.”
“Researchers used the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program [HAARP] facility and a receiver array in Cold Bay developed by MITRE to collect data on participating aircraft over the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea,” the release added. “MITRE also supported the effort throughout the three-year experiment series and designed and executed the field experiment in partnership with government, scientific, and operational participants.”
The remote HAARP site was built in the 1990s as part of a joint U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy effort. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was also involved. The central component of the 33-acre facility is an array of 180 crossed-dipole antennas, which can transmit up to 3.6 megawatts of radio frequency energy, according to the Air Force.
The primary purpose of HAARP was to provide U.S. government and independent researchers with a state-of-the-art facility to explore ionospheric phenomena. On the U.S. military side, work was focused on improving long-range surveillance and communications capabilities, including ways to communicate with submerged submarines. Over the years, HAARP has also been the subject of several entirely unsubstantiated conspiracy theories.
In 2014, the U.S. Air Force announced that it would shutter the HAARP site and dismantle it. However, the following year, the decision was instead made to transfer it to the University of Alaska Fairbanks, which has continued to operate it as a civilian research facility.
“During an experimental air domain awareness initiative, HAARP served as a high-power illuminator, transmitting signals toward the ionosphere to support the detection of airborne targets over Alaska’s maritime approaches,” according to the captions of several pictures that accompanied the release yesterday. “The experiment evaluated bistatic over-the-horizon detection methods to explore potential improvements in long-range surveillance and air domain awareness across Alaska’s maritime approaches.”
The most common types of OTH radars are so-called ‘skywave’ or ‘backscatter’ designs. They usually consist of two large and geographically separated arrays of antennas. The ‘illuminator’ array pumps out signals that are bounced off the ionosphere, the ionized layer of Earth’s upper atmosphere, at a specific angle so that they return to the ‘receiver’ array. Objects of interest (in the air and/or on the surface depending on the specific configuration) are detected in the process. As TWZ has previously written:
“Commonly, radars are limited by line of sight due to the curvature of the Earth in relation to the altitude they are operating at. OTHRs overcome this critical limitation, but with some major drawbacks.”
…
“While they offer much lower fidelity than many of their line-of-sight counterparts in most cases, they make up for it in huge range, hundreds of miles to thousands of miles (1,500 miles is common, for instance, for powerful military sky wave/backscatter OTHR systems) and a large coverage area. The sky wave type of OTHRs achieve this by bouncing their radio waves off the ionosphere to a coverage area where they hit targets and return the same way to the receiving station. The angle at which the radio waves hit the ionosphere dictates the range, and that angle is limited to a specific envelope or the waves won’t properly bounce back toward Earth. As such, placing the radar in the right place in relation to the targeted surveillance area or areas, to begin with, is key.”
In the testing last month, Air Force E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) radar planes, HC-130J Combat King II rescue aircraft, and KC-135 aerial refueling tankers “served as cooperative targets, providing known positions against which researchers could compare the experimental data,” according to the official release. “The team successfully completed testing, meeting or exceeding its test execution objectives. Initial results show the system was successfully able to achieve full skywave (beyond line of sight) detections of aircraft and correlation to truth flights. Thorough data analysis is ongoing.”
The release also says that the tests “explored how existing infrastructure and emerging technology could complement current surveillance capabilities.” This raises the possibility that the HAARP site, specifically, might be utilized as part of a new OTH radar. Whether or not this is actually under consideration is still unclear, and TWZ has reached out for more information.
Regardless, OTH radars have been experiencing something of a renaissance in recent years in the United States and elsewhere globally. Separate reports just in the past day or so have highlighted what appears to be significant progress on at least one part of a long-planned OTH radar in Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave.
Outside of Alaska, the U.S. military has been working to establish a Tactical Mobile Over-the-Horizon Radar (TACMOR) site in the South Pacific archipelago nation of Palau. The originally stated goal had been to finish work on this facility in 2026, but the project has faced legal challenges.
As already mentioned, OTH radars have also been part of U.S. plans to improve surveillance coverage in the Arctic. Like the recent testing in Alaska, there has been significant cooperation with Canada in this regard over the years, including through the U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
Today, NORAD relies heavily on a network of ground-based radars called the North Warning System (NWS) to provide aerial surveillance coverage in the High North. The radars that make up the NWS are also all pointed northward, and none of them provide the kind of wide-area long-range coverage that an OTH design would offer.
The NWS reflects a long-standing focus on monitoring for aerial threats heading across the North Pole toward North America, especially possible nuclear strikes from Russia (and the Soviet Union before it). However, new avenues for geostrategic competition in the Arctic with Russia, as well as China, over natural resources, from oil and natural gas to fish and other sealife, as well as trade routes have emerged in recent years amid receding ice and other impacts of global climate change. This, in turn, has only prompted growing demand for surveillance coverage.
“We need a layered sensing grid, from [the] seafloor to the space layer. And we have no choice. It has to be layered and deep, a defense in depth, from a sensing point of view,” Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Maj. Gen. Chris McKenna, head of 1 Canadian Air Division and the Canadian NORAD Region, also said during a panel discussion at the Air & Space Forces Association’s (AFA) annual Warfare Symposium in 2025, at which TWZ was in attendance. “And I will say I suffer from an insufficiency of ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] in the Arctic on a daily basis. And I am fighting for information.”
McKenna was responding at the time to a direct question about gaps in so-called “domain awareness” in and around the Arctic and how to address them.
“I think there’s an importance here of not just air domain, but also space domain, and having a sufficiency of ISR in the Arctic to actually build you the [domain awareness] picture,” he added. “I haven’t really touched on over-the-horizon radar, but I certainly can get into it. I think that’s a really important capability given the austerity of the Arctic and the need for it to cue other things.”
For its part, Canada is now building its own new Arctic Over The Horizon Radar (A-OTHR), at an estimated cost of more than $4 billion. In an announcement last year that caught many off guard, the Canadian government announced that it would be leveraging technology originally developed for Australia’s Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) to support this development. It is also important to note here that relations between Canadian authorities and the Trump administration have been and continue to be heavily strained over a variety of issues, which has prompted broad concerns about future defense and security cooperation.
Back in the United States, OTH radar plans are also now tied in with the broader Golden Dome air and missile defense initiative. Golden Dome is seeking to establish new layers of defense around the U.S. homeland against a wide array of threat types, and puts major emphasis on new space-based sensor and interceptor capabilities. Expanded defensive architectures within the Earth’s atmosphere are also part of this plan.
“Adversaries are developing and building advanced nuclear and conventional delivery capabilities,” U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Jarrard, Vice Commander of the U.S. element of NORAD and Deputy Commander of U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), warned at the annual Space & Missile Defense (SMD) Symposium in August. This includes “cruise, hypersonic, and ballistic missiles, as well as fractional orbital bombardment systems, or FOBS, to threaten not only Alaska and Hawaii, but the entire continent of the United States.”
Chinese hypersonic and other developments, in particular, enable new modes of attack that “can approach North America from the south, rather than the traditional northerly vector for which our legacy early warning radars were designed,” Jarrard continued. “The Chinese have also been building a conventionally-armed ICBM [intercontinental ballistic missile] equipped with hypersonic glide vehicles that can range [sic] targets throughout Alaska, providing Chinese leaders strike options against our homeland below the nuclear threshold.”
“Russia’s advanced missiles, like the nuclear-armed Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, are designed to circumvent the ground-based radars used by NORAD and NORTHCOM to detect and characterize an inbound threat, and challenge the ability to provide threat warning and attack assessment,” he added.
New OTH radars positioned in Alaska and elsewhere in the Pacific will not be able to address all of these threat developments alone. At the same time, the recent testing leveraging the HAARP site is another step toward meeting demands for sorely needed expanded long-range radar coverage in the Arctic.
Contact the author: joe@twz.com
GARY Barlow was spotted enjoying some down time with a posh lunch, as he relaxed after Take That’s gruelling concerts recently came to an end.
The singer, 55, was seen in deep conversation with a TikTok star, after recently admitting he could “never physically do” his band’s famous Circus tour again.
But yesterday, the Take That legend was spotted making the most of his free time and was seen in deep conversation with social media wine expert, Tom Gilbey, 54.
The pair were spotted having a catch-up over lunch in an up- market restaurant in London’s Notting Hill.
For his afternoon out, Gary kept things casual in a black jumper, tracksuit bottoms and baseball cap.
As the two men settled down for lunch, they were seen chatting happily together.
The pair had previously starred in one of Tom’s TikTok videos together, as Gary has his own wine label.
Gary is using his downtime to relax, after Take That’s recent tour wrapped in the summer.
The singer and his band mates Mark Owen, 54, and Howard Donald, 58, travelled the UK with their Circus show this year that they first performed to audiences back in 2009.
But when the concerts ended, Gary, who shot to fame when he was just 19, revealed that it was unlikely he would put the famous tour on again, as he opened up on the physical toll.
“Best tour ever – to say that 35 years into our career is saying something #circuslive. And another tour comes to a close,” he said in an emotional statement.
“Somehow, this one feels a little different. With the other tours, it’s always comforting to know there will almost definitely be a next time. But I’m pretty sure this tour won’t return.
“I was 38 when we originally did this show, and I have to say it’s been a whole other challenge doing it as a 55-year-old,
“I just can’t see a way I could physically do this show again.”
Gary ended the statement with: “So, it’s with an extremely heavy heart that I leave The Circus in my past.
“I got to run away with The Circus twice. Now I’m running towards our next exciting, brand new show.”
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A WOMAN has hilariously given her boyfriend the illusion of choice while deciding which restaurant to eat at.
Jessica’s partner, Anthoy, not their real names, was excited to be brought into the discussion, foolishly believing his answer would in any way affect the decision that had already been made hours previously.
Jess said: “It was so funny watching Ant carefully consider the options as if it meant something. I hate to compare him to a dog being trained to press the right button for a treat, but that’s what he is.
“I allowed him to consider the local Chinese restaurant, a steak house he liked the sound of, and a salad place I favoured that was the correct choice. As I gently closed down the options with bullshit reasons like us having steak a month ago he really thought he was choosing. It was adorable.
“It’s not manipulative, we’re just one of those lucky couples with incredibly similar tastes. It’s just that Josh doesn’t always know that at first.”
Ant said: “It’s strange because initially I wanted a steak but then I completely changed my mind. Which was the right decision because the trendy new salad place was lovely, and honestly a lot more filling than I thought.
“Jess and I always make decisions together, but sometimes I have to put my foot down, like last night when I really wanted salad, not a juicy 12-ounce steak with chips.”
