The ITV psychological thriller drama boasts a star-studded cast and concluded on Monday evening

Tensions were high as The Party concluded on Monday evening.

The ITV political thriller is adapted from Elizabeth Day’s bestselling novel and written for the screen by Sarah Solemani, who also stars. Made up of five episodes, The Party also stars Luke Evans as Martin Gilmour, a working-class boy who wins a scholarship to an elite boarding school and forges a lifelong bond with the wealthy, charismatic Ben Fitzmaurice, played by Tom Cullen.

Years on, and married, Martin attends Ben’s lavish birthday party as Ben weighs a run for the Conservative leadership, and fears the attendant publicity could expose secrets from their past, with tragic consequences.

The twisty story moves between the party itself, a police investigation and flashbacks to the pair’s earlier lives. It was revealed that the pair had been involved in a car crash when they were teenagers, which killed Ben’s twin sister.

While Ben was behind the wheel, three times over the limit, Martin took the fall after being coerced by Ben’s father, Lord George Fitzmaurice (Douglas Hodge), resulting in a huge payoff each year. Although this happened decades ago, the tragic event was the catalyst for the shooting, as a journalist revealed she knew the truth and was about to expose Ben after he had shared his plans to run as the next conservative leader.

In the final episode, Martin pulled a gun on Ben as he accused him of ruining his childhood and leaving him broken as an adult. In the end, Ben talked his friend down and took the gun off of him, although after admitting he always loved him, he shot himself in the head.

Ben’s wife, Serena (Lydia Leonard), heard the gunshot and saw Martin holding the gun, which he took from Ben when he fell to the floor. She believed Martin had shot her husband and told the police.

Ben didn’t die, and Martin was arrested before being later released by the police. However, a police detective was adamant that they wanted to investigate the historical car crash further. Martin realised that the time had come to walk away and put some distance between himself and the Fitzmaurice family. After visiting Ben at the hospital, he left and began facing the world with fresh purpose.

As he walked through the park, he saw a male couple with a newborn baby in the park, a smile played around his lips, as though he’d had a glimpse of the happiness that could be his at some point in the future.

Despite the gripping final episode being full of twists and turns, The Party viewers were left questioning the “abrupt” ending and accused the drama of leaving the plot “incomplete”.

Taking to X, one viewer fumed: “Is that it? What a waste of my time… #TheParty”, while a second agreed: “What a waste of 5 nights #theparty.”

A third asked: “#theparty is that it?”, while another chimed in: “What a **** ending. So many unanswered questions and loose ends #TheParty.”

“#TheParty the night went on for weeks and now it’s getting wrapped up quicker than Poirot says no no mon ami !”, joked another

The Party is available to stream on ITVX

WASHINGTON  — The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider outlawing school diversity policies that limit Asian American students at magnet programs and selective high schools.

Three years ago, the court ruled that Harvard and other universities may not discriminate on whom they admit based on the race of their applicants. Evidence in that case showed that Asian applicants with very high test scores were often turned down.

But the justices have been divided over admissions rules for highly selective high schools in Boston, New York and Fairfax County, Va., as well as magnet programs for gifted middle school students.

In most instances, judges have said school officials may use “race-neutral” policies to achieve racial diversity. For example, giving an automatic admission to the top 5% of the students in all of a big city’s high schools or its middle schools could achieve greater racial and ethnic diversity.

But the court’s conservatives, led by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito, have condemned such policies as thinly disguised racial discrimination.

Magnet programs exist across the country, including in California and Los Angeles, and were conceived as a form of voluntary integration — a way to get white students to attend the same schools as nonwhite students, without having to resort to forced busing.

The idea was that a special school program would be attractive enough to serve as a “magnet” for white students to enroll at a school they might not otherwise attend. A mix of white and nonwhite students was seen as a benefit to the nonwhite students, because white students would be sharing the fate of the nonwhite students.

Asian students were frequently part of that original equation on the nonwhite side of the ledger and counted with other students classified as nonwhite, such as Black or Latino students. But in terms of student achievement, Asian students have performed more like white students, frequently surpassing white students academically.

One subset of magnet schools requires a selective admissions process, and these are at the center of the current dispute.

The court agreed to hear an appeal from parents in Montgomery County, Md., who were upset by a sharp drop in Asian students at its four magnet schools for gifted students.

For a decade, the school board had been troubled that fewer than 15% of the students at its magnet schools were Black or Latino, even though they made up about half of the student population.

In contrast, Asian students were less than 15% of the county’s student population but made up about half of the enrolees at the magnet programs.

After several years of debate, school officials dropped the use of a countywide competitive test and chose top performing students at all of its middle schools using a lottery.

That prompted a lawsuit that reached the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Fairfax County in northern Virginia had adopted a somewhat similar policy for the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology. A federal judge ruled for Asian parents and said their students had been deprived of a “level playing field” in competing for admission.

But the 4th Circuit, by a 2-1 vote, disagreed and said Asian American students were still winning more seats than their percentage of the school population.

The Assn. for Education Fairness, the parents group in Montgomery County, lost for the same reason in the 4th Circuit. The number of admitted Asian students had declined, but their percentage remained well above their share of school population.

They appealed and urged the Supreme Court to rule on their case and to clarify the law.

“School districts across the country have overhauled admissions criteria for competitive public schools after concluding that existing systems produced undesirable racial enrollment patterns,” they said.

They said the court should end this type of racial discrimination against Asian students.

However, a longtime champion of admissions policies that rely on social and economic fairness said he hoped the court would side with Montgomery County.

“The Supreme Court has long disfavored racial preferences and pointed to race-neutral programs that look at factors like socioeconomic disadvantage as the right way to do affirmative action,” said Richard D. Kahlenberg, director of the American Identity Project at the Progressive Policy Institute.

He said the Maryland school board followed that rule.

“It essentially provided an admissions break to students based not on race, but on the economic disadvantage of the elementary school they attended. The question now opened is whether the court will stand by precedent or move the goal posts. Is the court opposed to racial preferences, or to racial diversity itself?”

Los Angeles Unified, the nation’s second-largest school system, has an extensive magnet system, with 66 whole-school magnets and 268 magnet centers within a larger campus.

At this point, many of the magnets provide no discernible integration benefit and are viewed instead as inducements for any student to enroll. Many magnets are nearly all students of color because few white students apply.

A few schools, however, have more applicants than spaces, and the district relies on “the Magnet Priority Point System and the need to maintain a racially balanced enrollment, and by available space.”

Parents must mark one federally recognized race or ethnicity on the application, or it won’t be processed. A family gets points, for example, if a student applied unsuccessfully for a magnet in the past.

In L.A. Unified, 53 schools are designated for students rated as “gifted,” and there are four campuses with programs for highly gifted students, typically identified by a professional evaluator.

Available recent data for the highly gifted program at North Hollywood High indicated that the largest percentage of students, about 38%, were Asian. Overall, the district’s enrollment is about 3.5% Asian.

The justices will hear arguments in the case early next year.

Savage reported from Washington and Blume from Los Angeles.

Ben Simmons’ comeback attempt with the Sacramento Kings generated more than one blip on the basketball radar during the preseason before it came to an abrupt end Sunday when he suffered a torn Achilles tendon during practice.

Injuries had restricted the former No. 1 overall draft pick to appearing in only 107 games the last five seasons, but his return on a one-year $3.5 million, non-guaranteed contract had gone well enough that he was set to start in the regular-season opener Wednesday against the Clippers.

Simmons, considered the greatest player to come out of Australia, made news in August by taking part in the national team’s player-driven minicamp in Melbourne, a precursor to the 2027 FIBA World Cup and 2028 Olympics. Simmons, 30, has never played in a major tournament for his home country.

He also became an unwitting part of an embarrassing episode three weeks ago at Kings media day when open microphones captured an off-air conversation between female reporters discussing the physical appearance and personalities of Simmons and teammates.

A woman’s voice said, “That’s what comes with being Ben Simmons. He is cringe, cringe,” and another woman added that he is “lucky he’s so fine.” The first media member agrees, saying, “He’s a good-looking dude. His skin is, like, so smooth, I was like, damn, no tattoos?” The media members have yet to be identified.

He refrained from commenting on the exchange except to back teammate Zach LaVine, whose personality also was criticized by the reporters. But Simmons will be in street clothes from now on. The Kings said he will undergo surgery to repair the tear, which normally requires a recovery period of six to 12 months.

“I’ve faced challenges before that tested me mentally, physically, and emotionally, and I’ve found a way through every single one of them,” Simmons said in a statement posted to his Instagram Stories.

Being sidelined is nothing new for Simmons. He missed his entire first NBA season with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2016-2017 with a foot injury, missed the entire 2021-2022 season with a back injury and the entire 2025-2026 season to focus on his physical recovery from back and leg issues as well as his mental well-being. He last played for the Clippers in the spring of 2025, averaging 16.4 minutes and 2.9 points over 18 games.

That production was a far cry from the promise he displayed coming out of LSU, where in his one season was a consensus All-American after averaging 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists a game. A 6-foot-10 point guard, Simmons was NBA Rookie of the Year in 2017-2018, joining Hall of Famers Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson as the only rookies to reach 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists. And Simmons was an All-Star the next three seasons before injuries began mounting.

His return this preseason was intentionally low key, sliding onto the roster of the lowly Kings (22-60 last season) without much fanfare. Simmons was quietly repairing a reputation marred by his succession of injuries and the performance anxiety and emotional burnout he has openly discussed.

He also seemed keen on representing Australia for the first time. Simmons was forced to miss the 2024 Paris Olympics with a back injury after passing on the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021 Games even when relatively healthy. Now any sort of return is again in jeopardy.

First Lady Melania Trump has championed the executive action as a ‘transformative moment’ for US women’s health.

United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that will establish a dedicated women’s health division within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as a White House task force focused on the subject.

During a signing ceremony in Washington on Monday, First Lady Melania Trump praised the initiative as setting “a new standard for women’s health in America”.

“This is a transformative moment for women in America. Beginning today, we will change the reality of women’s health,” she said.

“Previous generations fought for women’s rights. Our generation will fight to discover the cures that will ensure a woman can live her life in health and to the fullest.”

The newly minted project, spearheaded by the first lady, requires the new health division to be established within 90 days.

It aims to accelerate scientific discoveries, expand clinical access for women’s health and modernise care throughout every stage of a woman’s life.

The new division at the NIH will not replace the agency’s Office of Research on Women’s Health but will have a broader mandate beyond research, according to the White House.

Melania Trump gestured to “super intelligence, advanced biotechnology and groundbreaking therapies” as tools that offer a “unique chance to reinvent women’s healthcare”.

The first lady’s office has identified “five pillars” for innovation in the field. One involves funding targeted research to develop cures for diseases that affect women, such as endometriosis.

Another calls for a quicker timeline for “promising therapeutics” to reach female patients.

“In 2026, medical advances can do more than just prolong life,” said Melania Trump. “It should give women the freedom to live life to its fullest, to pursue our dreams, experience love, discover, create, travel and lead.”

The White House task force will be co-chaired by the newly cancer-free White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, as well as Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.

While Monday’s executive order mandates that the HHS must fund the administrative costs of the task force, the order itself does not include any specific funding targets or dollar amounts.

Experts have noted that Melania Trump has kept a relatively low profile during Trump’s second term.

Her public appearances have been fewer than during Trump’s first term, though she has stepped into the public spotlight to promote improvements to foster care and the role of technology, such as artificial intelligence in education.

During Trump’s first term, the first lady launched the “Be Best” campaign focused on child well-being, safe social media and countering opioid abuse.

But critics have questioned how effective Monday’s executive order might be, given the cuts Trump has made to the federal workforce since his second inauguration.

Thousands of employees have been laid off at the NIH alone, with Kaiser Health News reporting that its workforce is at its lowest level in decades.

The NIH was also given a deadline to slash spending by 35 percent across all of its divisions, amounting to a massive $2.6bn budget reduction.

In April 2025, the HHS drew widespread condemnation and a multi-state lawsuit after abruptly moving to terminate regional contracts for the Women’s Health Initiative, the nation’s largest longitudinal study on older women’s health at the time.

Critics warned that the move would jeopardise life-saving research on cardiovascular disease, cancer and osteoporotic fractures for senior women.

Ukrainians have died because Kyiv is still not receiving reliable US warnings of incoming Russian attacks, according to a key adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov told the BBC that lives had been lost because there had not been time to warn citizens about ballistic missile strikes, saying: “It’s dangerous… I think it’s really very bad… People [have] already died.”

The adviser also said restrictions to Ukraine’s use of the Starlink internet network were ongoing.

The White House said there had been no changes to intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

Ukraine first reported an interruption to US intelligence sharing last week, as a row with the Trump administrations over its controversial deal to import Russian oil sent relations to new lows.

Despite the denials from Washington, many in Kyiv suspect the issues are not a coincidence.

On Monday morning, Zelensky wrote on social media: “Overnight two ballistic missile attacks were reported on the capital, one without warning, the second with only minimal time to take shelter.”

Hours earlier, an interview the president did with NBC was published, in which he said intelligence sharing had been restored after a three-day pause.

“We are very thankful for this,” he said. “Only [the] United States has this unique intelligence to tell our side when Russia uses ballistic missiles.”

But Beskrestnov told the BBC that American intelligence continued to be incomplete and inconsistent, and that the US had failed to provide a clear explanation for the issue.

“This looks very strange,” he said. “Sometimes we receive this information before the attack, another time we [do] not.”

He continued: “And for example, last night we received it, but… one minute before the attack.”

However, he said other collaboration with US continues, adding: “Intelligence data keeps flowing, and the issue is solely with the air raid alert component.”

Beskrestnov also said the US had given no clarity about who was responsible for the ongoing restrictions to the Starlink internet network and its military service Starshield, which Kyiv uses to provide connectivity for drones, helicopters and military communications.

Last week, Starshield restricted the speed at which mobile units could move while staying connected to the network to 100mph (160km/h).

This has limited Ukraine’s ability to shoot down incoming drones or to launch mid-range drone attacks into Russian-occupied areas.

Starlink owner Elon Musk said last week that the US government ultimately controls access to Starshield, which was designed for the Pentagon, suggesting it may therefore be behind the restrictions. Trump has denied involvement.

Beskrestnov said he thought both issues occurring at the same time was “probably” a deliberate move to put pressure on Ukraine.

He told BBC News: “It’s probably the United States trying to say [to] us, ‘let’s have the conversation, negotiation with Russia, you should find the compromise’.”

Beskrestnov also said Ukraine had its own radar data to provide some limited warning of incoming attacks, but was urgently looking into using alternative communication systems.

He added: “Now we understand that something begins to happen with Starlink, and we’re not sure what will be the next step.

“We understand that we should be prepared for some problems in future. And now we’re thinking about an alternative for Starlink, not only for air defence, for communication between our forces, between our staff, for civilians also, because we don’t know what we should expect in future regarding Starlink.”

On Monday, when asked about intelligence sharing, Trump said: “We’ve given a lot to Ukraine. They’ve given us nothing.”

Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said there had not been a “pause” to intelligence sharing.

“I don’t know where [Zelensky is] getting these things or why he’s saying these things to the press,” he told reporters on Monday.

Rubio said he could not comment on the incident, adding: “I know a few nights ago there was a software problem involving their early warning system.”

The BBC has contacted Starlink for a response.

A White House official said there were no changes to intelligence sharing operations between the US and Ukraine.

The official spoke on background to discuss intelligence matters. Trump is focused on ending the war, the official said, and added that the US has provided more aid to Ukraine than any other country.

Russian attacks continued late on Monday, with Ukrainian officials saying at least six people were killed – including a toddler in her pram and an 11-year-old girl – in a drone strike near a park café in the north-eastern Kharkiv region.

Zelensky described the attack in which another 14 people were injured as “absolute atrocity”.

EXCLUSIVE: Strictly Come Dancing professional Kai Widdrington has shared what makes his dance partner Delta Goodrem so special as the singer prepares to return to the ballroom this weekend

Strictly Come Dancing star Kai Widdrington has revealed what makes his dance partner Delta Goodrem so special as the singer prepares to return to the ballroom.

A painful rib injury put Delta‘s Strictly Come Dancing journey on hold, forcing the singer to sit out last week’s show and leaving fans disappointed.

The 41-year-old first injured her ribs early last week, ahead of her performance on Saturday, October 10. Her condition worsened as the week went on, but she still took to the dance floor for the live BBC show despite being in excruciating pain. Speaking exclusively to the Mirror on the red carpet at the Daily Mirror Pride of Britain Awards, professional dancer Kai shared an insight into how Delta has been getting on as they prepare for Saturday’s show.

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He said: “Delta really enjoyed it too. It is nice being back in training. We’re looking forward to Saturday. She is doing good. She has a heart of gold, and her spirit is so pure and honest.

“She brings that energy to the training room and to the dance floor. She is unapologetically herself. She is such a professional with the way she carries herself around the place and the way she conducts herself on and off the dance floor, so to have that energy around me every day is very inspiring.”

With the competition continuing to heat up, the pressure will be on the pair to impress both the judges and viewers at home when they return to the ballroom.

And while Kai is keeping his expectations measured ahead of the weekend, he made it clear that he has faith in his celebrity partner and what they can achieve together.

He added: “We will see what happens Saturday, but I am confident in my partner.” Speaking of former professional dancer, Johannes Radebe, taking on the role of presenter, Kai commented: “He’s been brilliant, he’s one of my best friends, so to see him shining up there, he’s amazing. He used to be my roommate 11 years ago, way before Strictly was on the cards.

“When we were in South Africa together, he was telling me where he used to live, so to see him here, shining like the light he is, it’s the most amazing thing. I think Britain has kind of adopted him as one of our own.”

Delta had planned a dance to Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” with Kai during Icons Week, but Amy Dowden performed it instead. A spokesperson for the show had said: “Due to injury, Delta Goodrem has been advised by doctors to rest and, as a result, will not dance on this weekend’s Strictly Come Dancing.

“In line with the rules of the show, Delta and Kai will receive a bye through to next week, when it is hoped they will be able to dance again. We wish Delta the very best as she continues her recovery.”

Delta added: “I’ve been loving every second of this experience, so having to sit this one out is heartbreaking – especially after the high of Saturday night.”

“I cannot tell you how much I love being a part of this magical show. I’m going to focus on resting and recovering, and hopefully I’ll be back on that dancefloor very soon. Thank you so much to everyone for all the love and support. It’s so appreciated. I’ll be cheering everyone on from the sidelines this week!”

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The bond market (US10Y), (US30Y), (US2Y) has taken control of the current market narrative, creating ripple effects across non-investment-grade technology companies and neo-cloud providers, according to Tyler Radke, Citi’s co-head of U.S. software research.

In an interview with CNBC, Radke pointed

MIAMI — More than 100,000 people from Ukraine and Sudan can stay in the United States without immediate risk of deportation, the Department of Homeland Security said, in what amounts to a temporary reprieve after their right to stay in the country was set to expire Monday.

Temporary Protected Status was set to end Oct. 19 for about 101,000 Ukrainians and 1,800 Sudanese. But DHS said an announcement “will be made at the appropriate time.” Until then, the department said in a written statement, Ukrainians and Sudanese in the U.S. covered by those temporary measures “retain protection.” The Department did not indicate how long they could stay or when a final announcement would be made on their status.

DHS did not respond to a question about whether they can keep their work permits, but TPS generally allows people to work while their protections remain in effect.

The decision Monday marks another incident where the Trump administration, which has previously sought to end these temporary protections from deportation and send people back to their home countries, has allowed people covered by the temporary status to stay in the country but without giving any guidance as to how long.

The context of the decisions to keep the protections

The Trump administration has already terminated TPS for more than 1 million people from 13 countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Syria.

But in a change in practice roughly a month ago, the administration kept protections in place for nearly 200,000 Salvadorans whose TPS was set to expire Sept. 9. In that case they also said that they were going to make a decision at the appropriate time and that in the meantime, people from El Salvador could continue to work and live in the U.S.

Activists and a bipartisan group of lawmakers have been raising the alarm over the upcoming deadline for TPS to expire for Ukrainians, arguing that conditions remain unsafe for them to return home amid the war with Russia.

Ukraine was first designated for TPS in April 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion two months earlier. The Biden administration subsequently extended the designation, most recently in January 2025, when DHS authorized an additional 18 months of protection through October 2026.

The TPS program for Sudan was established in 1997, and since then, successive U.S. administrations have extended it due to the armed conflict and political instability that have plagued the African nation.

The decision Monday comes two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, when Trump’s hard line immigration policies will face a test at the ballot box.

The TPS program has offered protections for decades but is controversial

The U.S. Congress created TPS in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife.

It allows people already in the country to remain and work, for renewable periods if the homeland security secretary determines conditions are unsafe for their return. But it doesn’t give them a pathway to permanent residency.

Supporters say that using this tool protects people from being returned to dangerous situations and that uprooting people covered by TPS after years of living in the U.S. is cruel. Critics, especially in the Trump administration, say successive administrations have extended these protections for years regardless of what has happened in the home countries.

Federal rules say TPS is automatically extended for six months if the secretary doesn’t make a determination at least 60 days before the designation expires.

Advocates are grateful for DHS decision, warn about the war

“We’re grateful for an extension, however temporary, for TPS holders from Ukraine and Sudan,” said Myal Greene, president and CEO of World Relief, an organization that has provided humanitarian assistance in both countries. “We encourage the administration and Congress to consider longer term relief for women, men and children trying to carve out stability while their countries of origin remain in upheaval.”

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, noted Ukraine and Sudan are not safe and meet the legal conditions for TPS to be extended.

“Russia’s war on Ukraine is nearing its fifth year, and Ukrainians are bracing for another winter under drone and missile strikes, driving civilian casualties and devastating critical infrastructure. Sudan remains locked in a brutal civil war marked by famine, widespread human rights abuses and the hallmarks of genocide,” Vignarajah said. “It is not safe for these families to go home.”

Salomon writes for the Associated Press. AP reporter Rebecca Santana contributed to this report from Washington.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday questioned the Trump administration’s claims surrounding its efforts to redevelop a historic Washington golf course, challenging its contention that a recent tree-cutting spree did not indicate work was moving forward on the project, which is temporarily blocked by a court order.

“There is no universe in which all of this coincidentally happened all at the same time,” U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes said during a hearing over the fate of a project that has emerged as the latest legal flashpoint in President Trump’s campaign to leave his personal imprint on the nation’s capital.

Reyes last week ordered a halt to the golf course’s redevelopment plans until at least Oct. 26 after scolding the government for starting a large-scale tree removal at the course over a holiday weekend while providing little notice to the court or the plaintiffs trying to stop the makeover.

Then, on Sunday, Trump announced plans on social media to close the golf course for 15 months, starting on Nov. 15, and redevelop the 106-year-old park and course despite a court challenge by the D.C. Preservation League and two golfers. In a post on Monday, Trump said the work would start immediately.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys challenging the golf course renovation work have asked Reyes to extend her order that temporarily paused the work. They say the work is inflicting irreversible damage and that the redevelopment would violate the congressional act that created the park where the course is located.

The hearings on the century-old golf course have grown increasingly tense and on the eve of Monday’s hearing, Reyes rejected the administration’s request for her to recuse herself from the case. The government questioned her impartiality and accused her of engaging in “egregious” behavior from the bench during last week’s emergency hearing for the case.

Trump, a Republican, referred to Reyes as a “crazed lunatic” in his social media post on Monday.

“The United States Department of Interior wants to take a terrible and very unsafe golf course, and make it into a great, safe, and prestigious golf course. They have an absolute right to do so. It’s as simple as that!” Trump wrote.

Reyes, who was nominated by Democratic President Biden, said the government has failed “by any objective measure” to demonstrate the need for her recusal from the case.

“It is easy to weaponize selective quotations to bring a baseless recusal motion. But it is much harder to meet the demanding legal standard against a full record,” she wrote.

Trump has pledged to turn the course into a world-class golf venue — part of his grand vision for Washington, D.C., where he has torn down storied structures, remade or renamed others and deployed the National Guard for more than a year.

While it has been open to Washingtonians of all income levels, opponents of Trump’s plans for the golf course have argued it will alter the character of the space and make it less affordable to people.

Monday’s hearing started with a tense confrontation between Reyes and Justice Department official Stanley Woodward, when the judge asked if other any government attorneys in the room “as officers of the court” were willing to certify that everything within a Sunday filing was truthful and legally sound under federal rules of civil procedures.

In that filing Woodward argued that there were no final plans for the park.

“First, the plan is not final because the Park Service has not completed its review and the details of the proposal are subject to change during the review process,” the filing said.

Much of the hearing revolved around Trump’s social media posts over the weekend and his appearance last June at the golf course, accompanied by golf course architects and members of the administration and why there was such a sense of urgency for the cutting of the trees.

The witnesses at the hearing, Greg Wischer, deputy chief of staff at the Interior Department, and acting National Park Service director Jessica Bowron both acknowledged that they had only learned of the National Park Service Cultural Landscape Report in September that led to the tree cutting. That NPS report was from 2019.

Fields writes for the Associated Press.

The extension of the custody of the CJP activists comes amid a crackdown on near daily protests against the government.

An Indian ‌‌court has extended the detention of two leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).

The extension for Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das on Monday comes amid a crackdown on near-daily protests against the government.

The two activists from the youth-led movement were arrested as they demonstrated at a historic protest venue despite a ban. Their jailing provoked a new protest in New Delhi on Friday.

The CJP is a major force behind the protests, which have demanded the resignation of India’s election chief over a controversial revision of voter lists that critics say favours Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya ⁠⁠Janata Party (BJP).

Ranka and Das were ⁠⁠among 14 protesters who climbed over barricades last week to enter the Jantar Mantar observatory, the day after it was removed from a list of approved demonstration sites. A court later sent the activists to prison for five days.

Indian media reported on Monday evening that they had been detained for two more days after police requested extra time to question them. Delhi ‌‌Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“This is an absolute mockery of the judicial system,” the CJP’s legal head, Ratna Singh, told reporters outside the court, adding that the party would challenge the order in a higher court.

The CJP, alongside opposition parties and left-wing student organisations, has led near-daily protests this month demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, after 130 million names were removed from voter lists.

The Election Commission has said that the lists included 28 million people who have died, 63 million who have relocated, and 30 million who could not be traced. It denied favouring any party and said ⁠⁠wrongly deleted voters can re-enrol.

The BJP has accused rivals of trying to undermine democracy by wrongly questioning legitimate electoral processes.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, student leaders and several of their supporters were also detained on Friday as ⁠⁠hundreds poured into central Delhi for a protest in support of Das and Ranka.

However, the youth-led movement insists it will not back off. A sit-in by the CJP and its supporters earlier this year forced the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over exam paper leaks.

Coronation Street’s Sarah Platt received a verdict in her murder trial in Monday night’s episode and fans were certainly divided by the trial outcome.

Coronation Street’s Sarah Platt was found not guilty of murder in Monday night’s episode of the ITV soap.

The legendary character, who has been played by Tina O’Brien since 1999, had spent time in prison awaiting trial after hitting evil Theo Silverton (James Cartwright) over the head with a metal pole. She has claimed that it was all in self-defence.

Sarah was sent back to her cell to wait, and the jury reached a verdict remarkably quickly – something which did not fill the Platts with hope. To everyone’s great surprise, Sarah was found not guilty and her family cheered as she learned she was free to go.

Sarah rushed to hug her daughter Bethany (Lucy Fallon), and David was straight on the phone to mum Gail, who now lives in France, to tell her the good news. Soon enough, Bethany was back at home reunited with her young son Harry and ex-boyfriend DC Kit Green who had taken on caregiver duties whilst she was inside.

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She proclaimed: ” I feel like I’m the luckiest person in the world to be back with you all again,” unaware that daughter Bethany recently had a fling with the man who was almost her stepdad and is now pregnant. Later on, Bethany was seen preparing to call an abortion clinic.

Whilst on their own, Sarah decided to have a heart-to-heart with Kit, who has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer, and asked him for a chance to reunite. He said things were “different” now but insisted it wasn’t about his illness.

He told her: “Things are different now. We can’t. It’s about not being what I want. Just because you’re out, nothing’s changed. Stop it. Too much has happened,” and announced that he would be moving in with his long-lost mum Bernie Winter.

Taken aback by his sudden rejection, and unaware of what is really causing it, Sarah broke down in tears on the sofa.

During her time on the soap, Sarah was famously central to a teenage pregnancy storyline in 2000, was then kidnapped by an internet predator before her stepdad turned out to be a serial killer. She initially left the soap in 2007 but following her return in 2015, Sarah has helped cover up the death of her abusive ex-partner Callum Logan and then had to deal with her uncle Stephen Reid, who also turned out to be a serial killer.

Sarah’s not guilty verdict certainly caused divide amongst fans, with one fan writing on Reddit: “Anyone else disappointed by the verdict?

“Murder probably not but I don’t think Sarah deserves to get off scot free, end of the day Theo never actually touched her, we all know he probably would have, but it’s hard to defend a self defence claim when you haven’t been touched, especially when she tried to hide it, let someone else get charged etc. very least should be involuntary manslaughter and perverting the course of justice. Real world she’s never getting off with nothing.”

Another said: “I’m not disappointed Sarah got off. She’s one of my all time favorite characters,” and a third wrote: “Did anybody except anything else? She’s one of the main cast members. They weren’t going to find her guilty anyway. She has plot armour.”

Coronation Street airs weeknights at 8:30pm on ITV1 and ITV X.

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MIAMI — Former Cuban President Raúl Castro is facing more charges in Florida related to the 1996 downing of civilian planes flown by Miami-based exiles after the U.S. government indicted the former leader earlier this year.

Florida Atty. Gen. James Uthmeier on Monday accused Castro, 95, of directing spies to infiltrate the exile group Brothers to the Rescue and ordering the attack on their planes. The state charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder is based largely on a federal indictment announced in May that included charges of murder and destruction of an airplane.

It remains unclear whether Castro will ever step foot in a U.S. courtroom. Uthmeier said the arrest warrant will restrict Castro’s ability leave the island nation and prevent him from traveling to any place with an extradition agreement with the U.S.

“I’m not ignorant of the fact that Raúl Castro is an older man who’s probably not looking to march himself into Miami,” Uthmeier said. “I think others would get him before the court of law would, but at the end of the day, we stand ready to prosecute the case.”

According to the state complaint, Castro was the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and First Vice President of Cuba when he gave the final authorization to shoot down the planes. Cuban Directorate of Intelligence agents operating as part of the Wasp Network in the Miami area and the Florida Keys infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue and reported flight plans, investigator said.

On Feb. 24, 1996, three unarmed Cessna aircraft departed Opa-Locka Airport in Miami-Dade County. Well outside Cuba’s territorial waters, Cuban MiGs destroyed two of the civilian planes with air-to-air missiles, killing the four occupants, the complaint said. Both aircraft were traveling away from Cuba and received no warning despite contact with Havana air traffic control, U.S. officials said.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel called the federal indictment earlier this year a political stunt that sought only to “justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba.” He accused the U.S. of lying and manipulating events surrounding the shootdown.

“Our historic federal indictment laid the groundwork, and James and his team have now taken the important step of bringing charges under Florida law,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason Reding Quiñones said at a news conference.

Castro took over as president from his ailing older brother Fidel Castro in 2006 before handing power to a trusted loyalist, Díaz-Canel, in 2018.

While he retired in 2021 as head of the Cuban Communist Party, he is widely believed to wield power behind the scenes, underscored by the prominence of his grandson, Raúl Guillermo Rodríguez Castro.

Meanwhile, President Trump has been threatening military action in Cuba ever since U.S. forces captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Cuban government’s longtime patron.

After ousting the Venezuelan leader earlier this year, the White House ordered a blockade that choked off fuel shipments to Cuba, leading to severe blackouts, food shortages and an economic collapse across the island.

Fischer writes for the Associated Press.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been given a 30-day suspension by the Portuguese Football Federation after leaving his country’s international camp last month.

The 41-year-old captain walked out of Portugal’s Nations League squad in September after being an unused substitute against Norway and then finding out he would not start against Denmark.

Ronaldo said in a lengthy statement he had left because Portugal coach Jorge Jesus twice “broke his word”, accusing him of an “absolute breach of trust”.

The Al-Nassr forward was provisionally suspended on 9 October.

On Monday, the federation’s disciplinary council said it had upheld the charge against Ronaldo in full and imposed a fine of 255 euros (£189).

More to follow.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has unveiled an updated national security doctrine and displayed a map of rival regional alignments, signalling a security approach that prioritises preemptive military action, the expansion of buffer zones, and the pursuit of new regional partnerships.

The document was developed with the assistance of Israel’s National Security Council and published by the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday, just nine days before Israel’s parliamentary elections that could spell the end of Netanyahu’s time in office. It outlines a formal policy of preventing perceived threats through military action rather than containment – a policy that has already been seen in action over the past few years, as Israel pursues multiple wars and attacks on its neighbours.

Electoral survival strategy

The timing of the map’s release carries particular political significance, with Netanyahu fighting to retain power amid criticism of his conduct in power, the ongoing corruption trial he faces and his handling of the October 7, 2023, attacks, as well as the wars that followed.

As the October 27 election day draws closer, Netanyahu is attempting to bolster his credentials as Israel’s ‘Mr Security’, hoping to get the votes of Israelis who may not like some of his other policies or behaviour, but still view him as the most likely leader to defend the country.

Netanyahu, who did get the endorsement of US President Donald Trump on Sunday, said during the briefing that Israel could face the possibility of a far less supportive administration in Washington in two years, after the end of the Trump presidency.

“In two years, a president… who is extremely hostile to Israel could come to power [in the United States],” Netanyahu warned.

He therefore argued that Israel must “expand our network of alliances and develop capabilities that make us a valuable asset” to other countries as a way of protecting itself if US policy towards it changed.

The comments, according to analysts, suggest that Netanyahu is seeking to portray his leadership as essential to navigating both Israel’s regional military challenges and its diplomatic isolation, all while keeping a fearful electorate reassured.

Mohanad Hage Ali, deputy director for research at the Malcolm H Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, explained that the strategic presentation centred on competing regional blocs and buffer zones.

That framework “incubates and nurtures existential fears, which would lead Israeli voters to feel the need for a decisive leader”, Hage Ali noted.

In his assessment, Netanyahu stands to benefit from the Israeli public’s fear of regional threats by presenting himself as a familiar leader capable of managing them, making him “the devil you know”, as the analyst put it, to voters reluctant to embrace political change at a sensitive time.

Netanyahu’s political opponents have been quick to push back against that narrative.

Gadi Eisenkot, one of the prime minister’s main challengers in the upcoming election, said that the published doctrine was “two hollow pages, full of slogans that have nothing to do with a security concept”.

Another, former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, described the document as “superficial”.

Expanding security zones

The map displayed during Netanyahu’s briefing was originally published in May by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, a German political foundation. It divides the Middle East and parts of Africa into competing blocs, highlighting the region’s complex network of alliances and rivalries.

Those networks include states, unrecognised entities and non-state actors.

The map identifies an Israel-United Arab Emirates alignment, described as the “Hexagon Alliance”, alongside a separate grouping of Egypt, Turkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia – the latter three of which signed the Mecca mutual defence pact in August – labelled the “Sunni Diamond Alliance”. It also depicts Iran and its regional allies as a separate axis.

The map serves to illustrate the issues outlined in the published security doctrine, presenting a region where Israel faces multiple threats, the alliance that Israel is seeking to cultivate across the wider region, and the perceived need for “buffer zones” – the occupation of territory in other countries.

Israel’s existing illegal occupation of territory in Gaza and southern Lebanon illustrates the potential consequences of expanding the buffer zone approach.

Hage Ali warned that continuing to pursue an approach built around expanding military control could lead to “more conflict and more ethnic cleansing” under the guise of security buffers.

Embracing regional factions

A striking element of the map displayed by Netanyahu is its explicit designation of non-state actors as friendly entities.

The map highlights territories controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan and Khalifa Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army within an alignment deemed cooperative to Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

Israel views these actors as pragmatic partners or at least cooperative entities in a broader strategic grid, Hage Ali explained. However, the public association of these groups with Israel threatens to damage their domestic standing across the Arab world.

That reflects Netanyahu’s immediate priorities, where “what Israelis think matters more than the reputation of your allies and the viability of these alliances”, Hage Ali added.

The portrayal of the Middle East as a region divided into competing alliances also carries risks for Netanyahu’s broader diplomatic ambitions.

Earlier this year, Netanyahu proposed a “hexagon of alliances”, envisaging cooperation between Israel, India, Greece, Cyprus and unnamed Arab, African and Asian partners, against what he described as “radical” regional alliances.

The proposed grouping has not been established as a formal alliance, and commentators in Israel and the international press have described the project as a branding exercise rather than a binding military pact, noting that countries like India prioritise non-alignment and pragmatic trade over ideologically rigid blocs.

For Tehran and its regional partners, the map also offers potent political leverage.

Hage Ali emphasised that the visual layout “will certainly help their propaganda machine”, providing Hezbollah and other Iranian allies with evidence to reinforce the narrative that Israel seeks to expand and dominate the region.

US federal prosecutors allege the defendant was in frequent contact with unnamed member of royal family.

An ex-OpenAI engineer accused of planting a recording device in an executive conference room at the AI company appears to have received considerable support from the Saudi government, United States prosecutors have said in a court filing.

Federal prosecutors allege that the defendant, Abdulrahman Alfozan, 35, was in frequent communication with an unnamed member of the Saudi royal family and that a Saudi military official paid for a one-way plane ticket for Alfozan’s wife and young son to return to Saudi Arabia after his arrest, according to the court document, made public late on Sunday.

Prosecutors made those allegations as they asked a federal judge to keep Alfozan in US custody to await trial, arguing he is a flight risk. Alfozan, a Saudi national and lawful permanent resident in the US, is scheduled to appear in federal court in San Francisco later on Monday.

The case has highlighted security challenges around sensitive AI research as companies and governments compete fiercely for an edge in the transformational technology.

“The defendant went to significant lengths to create customized, encrypted recording devices to secretly record highly sensitive meetings involving senior OpenAI personnel and executives, high-level business counterparts, and government officials, all while communicating with individuals of significance in Saudi Arabia and pursuing opportunities in — and making plans to travel to — Saudi Arabia,” prosecutors wrote in a detention memo.

The Saudi government media office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A lawyer for Alfozan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawyer, William Pernik, previously asked for Alfozan to be released from custody, subject to conditions including location monitoring and surrendering his passport, and said Alfozan had spent the last 15 years in the US and had applied to become a citizen.

The lawyer said a planned trip by Alfozan to Saudi Arabia this month was booked before he was under investigation and was for “family and immigration reasons”, according to a court filing.

Investigation remains active

US prosecutors charged Alfozan last week with using an electronic device to intercept oral communications. Alfozan plugged a recording device into the back of a television in an executive conference room at one of OpenAI’s San Francisco buildings, according to a criminal complaint.

Meetings involving government officials took place in the conference room around the time the device was installed, according to the prosecutors’ detention memo.

Prosecutors said the investigation remains active and additional charges could be brought against Alfozan.

A member of the Saudi royal family sought to recruit Alfozan for an AI-focused role in Saudi Arabia, writing in one message, “Saudi needs you more then [sic] the US!” Alfozan replied, “100,” according to messages cited by prosecutors.

Before his arrest, Alfozan was scheduled to fly to Riyadh during a planned two-month parental leave. His wife told investigators that she and their son planned to move permanently to Saudi Arabia and that Alfozan eventually intended to join them, according to prosecutors.

In an Arabic-language interview on the Identity Capital podcast last month, Alfozan said that he visits Saudi Arabia three or four times a year, follows developments there and advises or mentors Saudi startups.

He said meeting Prince Mohammed bin Salman, then deputy crown prince, during a 2016 gathering with young Saudi tech workers in Silicon Valley persuaded him to learn at a top tech company before bringing those skills back home.

While Alfozan was working at Facebook, he and other Saudis in Silicon Valley formed a consulting initiative that linked Saudi public- and private-sector organisations with expertise in big data, the internet of things and machine learning.

OpenAI previously said it discovered the device on September 30 and referred the matter to the FBI.

Al Jazeera has reached out to the Saudi embassy for comment.

Jon Stewart has signed a new deal that will keep the comedian at his weekly perch on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” through 2028.

Skydance Television, which owns Comedy Central, announced Monday that Stewart will remain as a once-a-week host and serve as executive producer in a deal that takes him through the 2028 presidential election.

“Jon Stewart is a generational talent and The Daily Show continues to be one of the most influential franchises on television and a cornerstone of Comedy Central,” George Cheeks, Co-Chair and Chief Content Officer, Skydance TV, said in a statement. “We are excited to continue our partnership with Jon and his award winning news team.”

Tuesdays through Thursdays will continue to be handled by “Daily Show” regulars Ronny Chieng, Josh Johnson, Jordan Klepper, Michael Kosta, and Desi Lydic.

Stewart is a signature talent for Comedy Central, which also the home of the long-running animated series “South Park.” The channel needed to retain its biggest names to keep the channel valuable to cable and satellite TV providers who pay to carry it.

Stewart first became “Daily Show” host in 1999, and tuned the satirical news program into an important voice in the national discourse. He stepped away in 2015 when he was among the highest-paid performers in the TV business.

Stewart had a production deal with HBO and hosted a series for Apple TV, “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” before rejoining “The Daily Show” in 2024 to host on Monday nights. He signed a second one-year deal in November that was set to expire at the end of this year.

While President Trump has attacked network late-night hosts who are critical of him, he has never gone after Stewart in any of his social media rants during his second term. Comedy Central is a cable network not subject to Federal Communications Commission authority, unlike Stewart’s late-night cohort Jimmy Kimmel, who appears on ABC. Both Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr have threatened to pull Kimmel off the air.

Late-night TV is struggling overall as a genre due to younger viewers moving away from traditional TV to streaming, “The Daily Show” has continued to have a strong following. The program hit an eight-year high in viewing during the third quarter of 2026 according to Nielsen data. Comedy Central said the program has accrued 1.6 billion views across social media in 2026.

Skydance got out of the broadcast network late night business when it cancelled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” The company said the program was losing $40 million a year. It replaced with “Comics Unleashed,” a non-topical comedy show from media mogul Byron Allen, who leases the late night hours from the network.

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday directed the federal government to bolster federal research into women’s health, a move pushed by his wife, first lady Melania Trump.

The Republican president signed an executive order that creates a new women’s health division at the National Institutes of Health and a White House task force to focus on the issue. That panel was set to hold its first meeting Monday after the Trumps held a Rose Garden signing ceremony.

“Beginning today we will change the reality of women’s health,” Melania Trump said. “Previous generations fought for women’s rights. Our generation will fight to discover the cures that will ensure a woman can live her life in health and to the fullest.”

The president, who spoke after his wife, said the order will “promote new research and really go after the understudied diseases affecting women.” The order is also intended to promote diagnostic technology and improve treatment.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who recently completed treatment for breast cancer, and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will lead the White House task force. Donald Trump said the task force will coordinate with various federal agencies and programs. The order does not include specific funding goals.

The initiative comes after a series of meetings the first lady had with federal health officials.

The president called it a “historic action” and praised the first lady’s work.

“She’s accomplished so much,” he said before pivoting into unscripted commentary on White House renovations, including the patio stone that now covers what was once the Rose Garden lawn.

Shifting back to women’s health, the president expressed surprise that some of the order’s requirements had not already been imposed.

“Who the hell wouldn’t have a women’s health division?” he said, after recalling that he’d asked Melania Trump, “Are you sure they don’t have that?”

The executive order calls for targeting maternal health, mental health and endometriosis. It also mentions other health concerns and diseases, including Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis, heart disease and stroke.

Melania Trump helped shape the order and the task force in consultation with physicians, White House officials, Kennedy and the Republican president. The initiative adds a new dimension to her policy portfolio as first lady.

In Donald Trump’s second term, the first lady has focused on improving foster care systems and expanding technology and artificial-intelligence access in education. In Trump’s first presidency, the first lady’s signature initiative, Be Best, focused on child well-being, safe social media use and reducing drug abuse.

The White House ceremony comes weeks before Nov. 3 elections and as Donald Trump’s job approval ratings have declined, including among women.

About 4 in 10 independent women supported Trump during the 2024 election against Democrat Kamala Harris and in the pre-presidency period, according to AP-NORC polls. That dropped to around a quarter in the opening months of this midterm election year, the period marked by Trump’s hard-line immigration crackdown in U.S. cities and the opening weeks of the Iran war.

Barrow writes for the Associated Press.

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has blood clots in his lungs and will not be able to participate in football activities while he is being treated, according to a statement released Monday by the team and Hurts’ agent, Nicole Lynn.

Hurts has been diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis and a bilateral pulmonary emboli, the statement said, meaning a blood clot has traveled from his legs to his lungs. While no timeline was given for Hurts’ return to football, multiple media outlets report that the Super Bowl LIX MVP is out for the season.

“He is clinically stable and has no significant functional limitations,” the Eagles and Lynn said in their statement. “His treatment should only involve anticoagulation [i.e. “blood thinners”]. During this time, he will not be allowed to participate in any contact activities, including football.

“Jalen’s prognosis is very good, and we expect a full recovery. We anticipate that he will have the opportunity to resume contact football activities when off the blood thinners. In the meantime, he will remain active around the team and continue to condition. More importantly, we anticipate that he will have no long-term effects.”

Hurts injured his calf during an Oct. 4 loss to the Rams, according to a statement by the Eagles on Thursday, but did not inform his team of the injury until four days later. An ultrasound revealed a superficial blood clot, but Hurts was cleared to play Oct. 11 in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

A follow-up ultrasound “revealed movement in the small blood clot,” the team said Thursday, and Hurts was held from the following day’s game against the Carolina Panthers “as we determine the appropriate course of treatment.” Two days later, the Eagles announced that Hurts had been placed on injured reserve, meaning he would miss at least four games.

Tanner McKee started at quarterback for the Eagles on Sunday and completed 26 of 45 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown in the 25-14 loss.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Chuck Schumer urges FCC to reject petition allowing AI robocalls ahead of key November midterm elections.

United States Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York has urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) not to approve a petition by the conservative group Club for Growth to allow AI-generated robocalls ahead of the November midterm elections.

“Under this change, campaigns could use their opponents’ voice to send out a message that is, at best, disingenuous and, at worst, a blatant lie,” Schumer said on Monday.

The petition was originally filed on August 31, and the public comment period began on September 4 and expires on Monday.

Earlier this month, Anna Gomez, the Democratic member of the FCC, urged her colleagues not to allow consideration of the petition brought by the national conservative fiscal policy organisation.

Her concerns echoed Schumer’s. “[If] the FCC allows a dark money group to flood Americans’ phones with AI-generated robocalls they never agreed to receive, it would bring chaos so close to Election Day,” commissioner Gomez told the Reuters news agency at the time.

There is precedent for the concerns being raised. In the 2024 presidential election, ahead of the New Hampshire primary, voters received an AI-generated version in the voice of President Joe Biden, the then Democratic incumbent, telling them not to vote. The FCC said that a political consultant working with longshot primary challenger Dean Phillips was responsible.

At the state level, Louisiana, Tennessee and Vermont passed laws this year requiring disclosures for AI-generated campaign phone calls. While robocalls have been used in political campaigns for years, FCC rules prohibit such calls to cellphones without prior consent, but the restrictions do not apply to landlines.

Club for Growth’s president, David McIntosh, in a statement earlier this month, said that the group is asking for “the FCC to treat First Amendment-protected political speech the same way it already treats wireless calls about package deliveries, bank accounts, and doctor’s appointments”.

“There is no one at the FCC that has expressed any interest in moving to an order on this or any of the petitions, and there are zero plans to do so. The FCC seeks comment on petitions that come in as a matter of normal procedure,” a spokesperson for the FCC told Al Jazeera.