FAA to reduce flights by 10 percent as US government shutdown drags on | Aviation News
The agency made the announcement as it confronts staffing shortages caused by air traffic controllers who are working unpaid.
Published On 5 Nov 2025
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will reduce air traffic by 10 percent across 40 “high-volume” markets beginning Friday morning to maintain safety during the ongoing government shutdown, it has said.
The agency made the announcement on Wednesday as it confronts staffing shortages caused by air traffic controllers, who are working unpaid, with some calling out of work during the shutdown, resulting in delays across the country.
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FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency is not going to wait for a problem to act, saying the shutdown is causing staffing pressures and “we can’t ignore it”.
Bedford and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said they will meet later Wednesday with airline leaders to figure out how to safely implement the reduction.
Widespread delays
The shutdown, now in its 36th day, has forced 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers to work without pay. This has worsened staff shortages, caused widespread flight delays and extended lines at airport security screening.
The move is aimed at taking pressure off air traffic controllers. The FAA also warned that it could add more flight restrictions after Friday if further air traffic issues emerge.
Duffy had warned on Tuesday that if the federal government shutdown continued another week, it could lead to “mass chaos” and force him to close some of the national airspace to air traffic, a drastic move that could upend American aviation.
Airlines have repeatedly urged an end to the shutdown, citing aviation safety risks.
Shares of major airlines, including United Airlines and American Airlines, were down about 1 percent in extended trading.
An airline industry group estimated that more than 3.2 million passengers have been affected by flight delays or cancellations due to rising air traffic controller absences since the shutdown began on October 1. Airlines have been raising concerns with lawmakers about the impact on operations.
Airlines said the shutdown has not significantly affected their business, but have warned bookings could drop if it drags on. More than 2,100 flights were delayed on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, FAA’s Bedford said that 20 percent to 40 percent of controllers at the agency’s 30 largest airports were failing to show up for work.
The federal government has mostly closed as Republicans and Democrats are locked in a standoff in Congress over a funding bill. Democrats have insisted they would not approve a plan that does not extend health insurance subsidies, while Republicans have rejected that.
Widowed by Boko Haram, Swept by Floods, but She Refused to Sink
The 300 metres separating Aisha Ali’s new house from the old farmhouse may seem short, but it represents the long journey of her life. The 45-year-old widow crosses fields of various crops that she tends.
Aisha was not an active farmer; her late husband handled that. However, he was abducted in 2023 by Boko Haram terrorists while working on their farm in Malari Village, Mafa Local Government Area of Borno State, northeastern Nigeria, and was later killed after they failed to pay a ransom.
“My life changed tragically,” she recounted with a weary calm.
Aisha’s husband’s death made her the breadwinner of a 10-person household, which included her six children and three of her husband’s siblings. She had no choice but to take up the hoe.
A year later, her 10-year-old son was abducted by terrorists. He was later released when they learned that they had killed his father in the past.
It was under this constant shadow of fear, relying on subsistence farming and petty trade, that Aisha and her family found a fragile balance until the night the water came.
The midnight escape
In September 2024, a ruptured dam in nearby Alau, coupled with heavy rainfall, led to floods that submerged Maiduguri and surrounding communities, including Muna displacement camp, where Aisha lived with her family.
They had gone to bed after an exhausting day, but around midnight, screams from the neighbours woke them up. “I woke up and saw water everywhere,” she recounted.
Amid the terrifying mix of darkness and rising water, there was no time to save their belongings. She rallied her children, strapped the youngest to her back, and fled into the downpour.
Together with other displaced persons, they walked for hours until they found dry land, where they stayed until dawn. When the water subsided, Aisha returned to find her entire life washed away. “We became homeless without our belongings,” she said.
A doorless shelter and hope
Staying at the displacement camp was not an option, as the government had already planned to shut it down. “Returning to Dubula, our ancestral home, was not an option either,” she said
Aisha looked for shelter nearby and found one on credit—an uncompleted building. The structure had no doors, leaving her family vulnerable to constant theft. What few items they acquired were often stolen when they stepped out, turning their temporary shelter into a trap of insecurity. The widow, who had survived both Boko Haram and the flood, now faced the demoralising grind of daily survival in an exposed space.
Since there was no other alternative, they continued living in the building.
Aisha said it was overwhelming, but she held onto hope and did the best she could to care for her children. Weeks later, SOS Children’s Village, a global humanitarian organisation, visited the community for an assessment. “When they came around, I initially dismissed them for one of those numerous NGOs that normally come around to take our data but offer nothing much but some measures of grains,” Aisha told HumAngle. However, she registered with them as a widow and head of her household.
SOS returned with support that Aisha describes as “an investment in dignity”. She underwent training in smart farming techniques, followed by a starter kit of essential tools: a pumping machine for irrigation, a spraying machine, insecticides, fertiliser, a wheelbarrow, and processed seeds.
“This support transformed our lives and brought relative comfort to us,” she added.
The first harvest
With the implements, cash support, and farming inputs, Aisha got to work. She cultivated beans, pepper, tomato, okra, onion, and yams.
She made her first harvest this farming season. “I was able to use the money from my first farm harvest to escape the unsafe shed,” she said, adding that she paid ₦30,000 for half a year’s rent on their current house. Her family now has enough food, and the surplus is sold to cover essential needs like medication.
“I am most excited that for the first time, my children are now in school—something we could not afford before,” she told HumAngle.
Aisha explained that her income varies depending on what she takes to the market and how much she can harvest. “There is no fixed amount,” she said. “For beans, a full ‘mudu’ — that’s a standard measuring bowl — sells for between ₦1,200 and ₦1,300. Sometimes I sell up to half a bag, which is about 20 mudus. For tomatoes, a basket goes for about ₦25,000, and we usually get two or three baskets, depending on the yield.”
She hopes that the cycle of loss and disaster has finally been broken.
“I thank the SOS people for coming to our aid because only God knows the fate that would have befallen me and my family if I had not received their support. They didn’t come to give us fish, but they came to teach us fishing,” she said.
Aisha said other women also received the support: “I saw them during the training, and I believe they are doing well with their families as well.”
According to Fredson Ogbeche, the Humanitarian Action Manager at SOS Children’s Village Nigeria, “One hundred families, many headed by women transforming grief into drive just like Aisha, benefitted from the intervention.”
One of the women, Aisha Bukar, is also a widow. The 55-year-old lives in the Elmiskin 2 area of Jere LGA, Borno State. Life has been a relentless succession of personal loss as she has buried seven of her 12 children over the years due to the conflict and lost her husband to a prolonged illness. This overwhelming hardship was compounded last year when destructive floodwaters swept through her home. Having lost everything in the flood, she had to start all over again.
“What the government offered as a palliative for the flood survivors did not go around to many of us. We were almost stranded until SOS came to assist us,” she said.
SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria is one of the humanitarian organisations that provided post-flooding recovery support for survivors. Aside from the farm implements and inputs, the organisation gave ₦395,000 to each beneficiary.
Bukar did not go to the farm. She used the funding to meet domestic needs and also started a tailoring business where they mass-produce and sell children’s clothes.
She said that the steady income has given her daughter a second chance at education.
Coronation Street phone call scene ‘gives away Cassie’s secret link to Becky’
Coronation Street fans are convinced Cassie Plummer and Becky Swain are linked in some way, and now a scene on the ITV soap featuring a phone call has added fuel to the theory
Fans think there’s a secret link between two Coronation Street characters, and the latest episode may have ‘confirmed’ this.
Cassie Plummer spoke about helping someone with business in Spain, before speaking in Spanish on the phone. With fans already suspecting prior to this that Cassie could be somehow linked to villain Becky Swain, this scene left fans wondering if it was a given now.
After all, Becky returned from the dead months ago and it was revealed for the past four years, she has been hiding out in Spain. She’s now being told she has to return there to stop her cover being blown, with Becky wanting daughter Betsy to go with her, as well as her ex Lisa Swain.
All the sudden talk about Spain, and a scene last week that involved both Cassie and Becky, has sparked a theory that they secretly know each other. So when Cassie spoke in Spanish and revealed all about her link to the country, fans wondered if this was proof that she and Becky know each other, and that Cassie knows all about her dodgy dealings.
READ MORE: Coronation Street fans ‘work out’ Glenda’s new love interest – and he’s a familiar faceREAD MORE: Coronation Street’s Jodie Prenger promises more comedy after criticism over dark scenes
Taking to social media, one fan said: “Cassie speaking Spanish and knowing someone in Spain… helped him with his business… she must know Becky!! The links are starting to link.”
Another fan agreed: “If this isn’t a clue to Cassie knowing or recognising dodgy business in Spain *couch* Becky I don’t know what is. Surely this isn’t coincidence.”
A third fan added: “So Cassie can speak Spanish and helped an ex out with his ‘business’ in Spain. Oh she is so gonna be the one to reveal backhand Becky’s dodgy dealings!”
A final comment read: “So, Cassie’s talking about a Spanish boyfriend, Peter’s name being dropped recently, and Becky’s been living in Alicante. Is this all a coincidence??”
It follows another theory suggesting Cassie might know Becky, and could trigger her downfall. Fans noted her watching as Carla Connor confronted Becky for kissing Lisa Swain, and she seemed very interested.
Viewers may recall Cassie was sleeping rough while she was taking drugs. She’s now in recovery, but could Cassie and Becky have crossed paths when Cassie was on drugs?
One theory is that Becky was her dealer as others wondered if she arrested her. A fan commented: “Cassie looked like she thinks she’s seen Becky somewhere before!”
Another said: “Right it can’t just be me, it’s going to transpire Cassie knows Becky somehow isn’t it? ISN’T IT?!” A third fan wrote: “That was a look of recognition for Cassie surely. Has Becky arrested her in the past?”
A theory suggested: “Oh she’s come across her before in her past… drugs?” as another read: “I reckon she was a mate of that Tia and was in the shadows and witnessed her murder/death.” A further tweet said: “Sold her drugs is more like it.”
The theories kept on coming with one reading: “Has Becky arrested her at some point?” as someone suggested they met in Spain. A final tweet said: “I’m thinking Cassie may have had some dealings with Rebecca in the past.”
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Trump’s worldwide tariffs run into sharp skepticism at the Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s signature plan to impose import taxes on products coming from countries around the world ran into sharp skepticism at the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Most of the justices, conservative and liberal, questioned whether the president acting on his own has the power to set large tariffs as a weapon of international trade.
Instead, they voiced the traditional view that the Constitution gives Congress the power to raise taxes, duties and tariffs.
Trump and his lawyers rely on an emergency powers act adopted on a voice vote by Congress in 1977. That measure authorizes sanctions and embargoes, but does not mention “tariffs, duties” or other means of revenue-raising.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said he doubted that law could be read so broadly.
The emergency powers law “had never before been used to justify tariffs,” he told D. John Sauer, Trump’s solicitor general. “No one has argued that it does until this particular case.”
Congress has authorized tariffs in other laws, he said, but not this one. Yet, it is “being used for a power to impose tariffs on any product from any country for — in any amount on any product from any country for — in any amount for any length of time.”
Moreover, the Constitution says Congress has the lead role on taxes and tariffs. “The imposition of taxes on Americans … has always been a core power of Congress,” he said.
The tariffs case heard Wednesday is the first major challenge to Trump’s presidential power to be heard by the court. It is also a test of whether the court’s conservative majority is willing to set legal limits on Trump’s executive authority.
Trump has touted these import taxes as crucial to reviving American manufacturing.
But owners of small businesses, farmers and economists are among the critics who say the on-again, off-again import taxes are disrupting business and damaging the economy.
Two lower courts ruled for small-business owners and said Trump had exceeded his authority.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal on a fast-track basis with the aim of ruling in a few months.
In defense of the president and his “Liberation Day” tariffs, Trump’s lawyers argued these import duties involve the president’s power over foreign affairs. They are “regulatory tariffs,” not taxes that raise revenue, he said.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan disagreed.
“It’s a congressional power, not a presidential power, to tax,” Sotomayor said. “You want to say tariffs are not taxes, but that’s exactly what they are.”
Imposing a tariff “is a taxing power which is delegated by the Constitution to Congress,” Kagan said.
Justice Neil M. Gorsuch may hold the deciding vote, and he said he was wary of upholding broad claims of presidential power that rely on old and vague laws.
The court’s conservative majority, including Gorsuch, struck down several far-reaching Biden administration regulations on climate change and student forgiveness because they were not clearly authorized by Congress.
Both Roberts and Gorsuch said the same theory may apply here. Gorsuch said he was skeptical of the claim that the president had the power to impose taxes based on his belief that the nation faces a global emergency.
In the future, “could the President impose a 50% tariff on gas-powered cars and auto parts to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat from abroad of climate change?” he asked.
Yes, Sauer replied, “It’s very likely that could be done.”
Congress had the lawmaking power, Gorsuch said, and presidents should not feel free to take away the taxing power “from the people’s representatives.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett said she was struggling to understand what Congress meant in the emergency powers law when it said the president may “regulate” importation.
She agreed that the law did not mention taxes and tariffs that would raise revenue, but some judges then saw it as allowing the authority to impose duties or tariffs.
Justices Brett M. Kavanaugh and Samuel A. Alito Jr. appeared to be leaning against the challenge to the president’s tariffs.
Kavanaugh pointed to a round of tariffs imposed by President Nixon in 1971, and he said Congress later adopted its emergency powers act without clearly rejecting that authority.
A former White House lawyer, Kavanaugh said it would be unusual for the president to have the full power to bar imports from certain countries, but not the lesser power to impose tariffs.
Since Trump returned to the White House in January, the court’s six Republican appointees have voted repeatedly to set aside orders from judges who had temporarily blocked the president’s policies and initiatives.
Although they have not explained most of their temporary emergency rulings, the conservatives have said the president has broad executive authority over federal agencies and on matters of foreign affairs.
But Wednesday, the justices did not sound split along the usual ideological lines.
The court’s ruling is not likely to be the final word on tariffs, however. Several other past laws allow the president to impose temporary tariffs for reasons of national security.
Keith Browner dead: Former USC captain, NFL linebacker was 63
Former USC and NFL linebacker Keith Browner died Tuesday morning in San Leandro, the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Coroner’s Bureau confirmed Wednesday. He was 63.
Keith Browner Jr. told TMZ that he talked to his father Monday night when the elder Browning was having stomach problems, vomiting and feeling tired. Browner Jr. said his father told him he would go to the hospital the next morning.
Browner was getting ready to go to the hospital Tuesday morning, according to TMZ, “when he curled over the side of a chair and collapsed to the floor next to his girlfriend.” TMZ also reported that “it appears” Browner suffered a heart attack and that his death was “unexpected and sudden.”
Alameda County authorities provided no cause of death Wednesday.
Born in Warren, Ohio, Browner was the fifth of six brothers, all of whom played college football and four of whom went on to play in the NFL. A second-round pick (30th overall) for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1984, Browner also played for the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Raiders and San Diego Chargers during a five-year NFL career.
Oldest brother Ross Browner spent 10 years in the NFL, playing for the Cincinnati Bengals and Green Bay Packers. Jimmie Browner Jr. played two years with the Bengals. Joey Browner was a six-time Pro Bowl player who spent nine seasons with the Minnesota Vikings and one with the Buccaneers.
Browner Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps as a college and pro football player. A standout defensive end at Dorsey High, Browner Jr. played three seasons at California and one season with the Houston Texans.
A nephew, Ross Browner’s son Max Starks, played nine years for the Pittsburgh Steelers and one for the St. Louis Rams.
Browner — who was 14 when his father, Jimmie, died of cancer at age 49 — said his mother Julia was the driving force behind her sons’ passion for the sport.
“She’s the one who always urged us to play,” he told the Dayton Daily News in 2023, “and sometimes she’d be right out there with us in the yard when we were having pick-up games.”
A three-sport standout at Warren Harding High, Browner spent four seasons at USC (1980-83), overlapping with brother Joey for the first three. He was named a captain for his final season and finished his college career with six interceptions in 34 games played.
Browner made the NFL’s all-rookie team in 1984. After three years with the Buccaneers, he split the 1987 season between the 49ers and Raiders before spending his final NFL season with the Chargers.
He finished his NFL career with 10.5 sacks, four interceptions (including one returned 55 yards for the Chargers against the Seattle Seahawks in 1988) and five fumble recoveries, then played two seasons in the Canadian Football League and six in the Arena Football League.
Browner is survived by his son and four daughters.
The hidden cost of Trump’s tariffs | News
United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs are headed to the Supreme Court, as Washington and New Delhi pursue a trade deal. On the ground in India, export hubs are seeing cancelled orders, layoffs, and falling pay rates. As uncertainty deepens, what does this mean for factory workers?
Published On 5 Nov 2025
How Long It Will Take Russia To Resume Nuclear Detonation Tests: Experts Weigh In
Russian President Vladimir Putin today ordered his top officials to draft proposals on possible nuclear weapons testing. Putin was reacting to U.S. President Donald Trump’s social media posting last week, stating the U.S. would begin conducting new testing.
It remains unclear whether Trump was referring to restarting live nuclear detonations or tests on the reliability of warhead delivery systems, like the one conducted today with an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, which already occur regularly. U.S. officials have appeared to clarify, at least to some degree, that Trump’s testing will be limited to delivery systems and the nuclear deterrent apparatus, not detonations. Still, there are questions as to his true intent, which could always change. Regardless, Russian officials “assess that Washington is aiming to prepare and conduct nuclear tests,” according to the official Russian TASS news outlet.
Given Trump’s Truth Social post, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov told Putin that it was “advisable to prepare for full-scale nuclear tests” immediately. He added that Russia’s Arctic testing site at Novaya Zemlya could host such tests at short notice. The site is widely believed to have been used for the recent launch systems test of Russia’s mysterious Burevestnik (also known to NATO as SSC-X-9 Skyfall) cruise missile
Belousov offered no further details, so we asked several nuclear weapons experts for their assessments on how quickly Russia could detonate a nuclear device – something it hasn’t done since 1990 – and what it would entail to make it happen. Some responses have been lightly edited for clarity.
Hans
Kristensen — Director, Nuclear Information Project, Federation of American Scientists. Writes the bi-monthly Nuclear Notebook and the world nuclear forces overview in the SIPRI Yearbook.
“Short notice is relative. The quickest would be to drive a warhead into an existing tunnel and seal it off. But that wouldn’t give them any new data and probably risk a leak.
So, unless they already have one prepared, if they want to do a new fully instrumented test, I suspect it would involve preparing a tunnel, the device, and rigging all the cables and sensors to record that data. There has been a lot of tunnel-digging at Novaya Zemlya for quite some time for their existing experiments, so presumably a new fully instrumented test would be in addition to that.
Preparing a new one would probably take several months, possibly six-plus, but difficult to estimate because we don’t know what they already have prepared.“
Jon B. Wolfsthal, Director of Global Risk, American Federation of Scientists.
“Russia also has an active nuclear maintenance program as does the U.S. However, Russia tests near the Arctic Circle at Novaya Zemlya Island. As a result, they can really only – barring a real emergency – test in summer and late fall. So it would take them some time, and at least until next year.
However, if they want to gain a lot of technically useful data from a test, it may take them longer. Just to conduct a basic test could take less than 12 months. But as I have said, this is what an arms race looks like. Action/reaction cycles. Russia will test if we do. I suspect they will not if we do not.
I don’t know what Russia would test. It would not have to be a massive bomb to be useful. You generally only need to test the first stage of a thermonuclear device to get useful data. It could be as small as 1 to 5 kilotons or up to 15 to 20, but there is no way for people outside of the Russian scientific community to predict well.”
Daryl G. Kimball has been Executive Director of the Arms Control Association (ACA) and publisher and contributor for the organization’s monthly journal, Arms Control Today, since September 2001.
“The U.S., China, and Russia all have ‘nuclear test readiness’ plans and I would assess that Russia would be able to resume nuclear explosive testing more quickly than the United States.
I just know it would be less than the optimistic 24-36 months for a full-scale underground contained nuclear test explosions at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). Russia would not be encumbered by the same safety and environmental safeguards and domestic political obstacles that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would have to deal with in order to conduct a full-scale multi-kiloton nuclear explosion underground at the former U.S. nuclear test site in Nevada.
But, most importantly, there is no technical, military or political reason why Putin or Trump should order the resumption of nuclear explosive testing, and Defense Minister Belousov’s comments are counterproductive and irresponsible.
The United States and Russia deploy some 1,700 strategic nuclear warheads and they possess other sub-strategic nuclear weapons. Their arsenals consist of various, well-tested warhead types. The United States conducted more than 1,030 nuclear test explosions and Russia 715, the vast majority of which were to proof-test new warhead designs. Neither side needs to or wants to develop a new warhead, so any new nuclear test explosions would be purely for ‘show,’ which would be extremely irresponsible.“
Ankit
Panda — Expert on nuclear policy, Asia, missiles, & space. Stanton Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Author of ‘Kim Jong Un and the Bomb.’
“We know from both open source and official U.S. assessments that the Russians maintain a relatively high level of test readiness at Novaya Zemlya. They’ve also strongly emphasized the parity principle on the testing issue, so it makes sense that they’d take these steps given Trump’s recent comments.
They want to be positioned so that if the U.S. tests, they can follow quickly. The specific timeline of Russian readiness is difficult to nail down, but they could test probably without significant instrumentation without much difficulty. I would think weeks if there was sufficient political demand for a rapid demonstration.“
Stephen
Schwartz — Editor/Co-author ‘Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of US Nuclear Weapons Since 1940‘.
“The United States has an enormous advantage in nuclear testing over every other country in the world, partly because we conducted more tests than everyone else combined (1,030, involving 1,149 individual detonations), and because we have a very elaborate and well-funded ($345 billion to date) Stockpile Stewardship program. Since 1996, this has enabled us to ‘test’ our nuclear bombs and warheads via extremely powerful computers, eliminating the need for actual underground tests and providing us with critical insights into our weapons we could not obtain from physical nuclear testing alone.
So given that, and given Trump’s recent out-of-the-blue demand that we resume nuclear testing immediately, it is unfortunately not surprising that Russia is responding the way that it is. In Russia, as in the United States, there are political and military leaders and weapons scientists who have never given up on one day resuming nuclear testing. Russia, like the United States, has long maintained a readiness program to resume nuclear testing. It is an unfortunate escalation of at least rhetoric at this point, sliding the United States and Russia, and perhaps also China and maybe North Korea and other states further down the road toward resuming nuclear testing, which has not happened in decades.
Right now, we and the Russians conduct what are known as subcritical tests, which are tests that do not result in a nuclear yield, but nevertheless provide useful scientific information that can make our weapons more safe and reliable.
Russia could probably resume underground nuclear testing pretty quickly. Satellite imagery from 2023 and this past July indicates that they’ve been doing some work at the test site to expand the facilities there and potentially make them more ready to resume nuclear testing. I suspect Russia could probably do this faster than the United States. Our testing would take place in Nevada – at least that’s the only test site that we have available right now, and it would probably take on the order of one to three years (for the U.S.) to do a fully instrumented test.
We can’t see inside the [Russian] buildings that have gone up, so we don’t know exactly what’s going on there. But, if I have to guess, and it is only a guess, I would say a matter of several weeks to several months, perhaps [for a Russian test]. But it really depends on what their intentions are.
If they simply want to blow something up to demonstrate that they’ve returned to doing that kind of testing that can be done fairly quickly if they want to actually have a scientifically and militarily useful test where there’s all sorts of diagnostic equipment and they’re able to measure the results, and determine something about the test other than the fact that it simply went off, that could take more time.
If they’ve been planning and preparing, if they have personnel and equipment there, they could probably do something fairly quickly – on the very short end, potentially a matter of a few weeks to perhaps a few months. It could be longer; it could be a matter of six months. But again, if you only want to send a political message that we are resuming nuclear testing, you can take a nuclear bomb or warhead out of your stockpile and transport it to Novaya Zemlya, stick it in an underground tunnel, seal it off and detonate it.“
We reached out to the White House to see what concern, if any, they have about Putin’s order for proposals on how to resume nuclear testing. We are waiting for a response. The experts we spoke with, however, voiced their own worries.
“As for concerns, Russia’s testing could enable them to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons via computer simulations where now it is hard for them to do so,” explained Wolfsthal. “Russia could close the testing advantage the U.S. now possesses.”
Contact the author: [email protected]
Inside David Beckham’s knighthood party as he splashes cash on champagne and orders British classic for pudding
SIR David Beckham celebrated his knighthood with a champagne knees-up — and jam roly-poly.
Best pal Gordon Ramsay hosted the bash at his flagship restaurant in Chelsea, whipping-up a three course meal including a Michelin-star take on Becks’ favourite pud.
The former Manchester United, Real Madrid and England ace carried his medal around with him all night in its souvenir red box.
Guests including his three youngest children Romeo, Cruz and Harper joined his parents, Ted and Sandra, and sister Joanne for beef Wellington — while wife Lady Victoria, who avoids red meat, had sea bass.
They then tucked into roly-poly and custard.
A friend said: “It was a super-lovely, very chilled sit-down dinner with David’s inner circle.
read more on david beckham
“Gordon took care of the whole thing.
“Becks’ favourite Chateau Margaux — plus a lot of champagne — was flowing.
“Obviously everyone kept making a big deal of calling him ‘Sir David’ and that was the running gag of the night.”
After the Windsor Castle ceremony Sir David, 50, changed into a dapper black velvet tux while Lady Victoria, 51, opted for a slinky black floor length number from her own fashion range.
But there was still no sign of estranged eldest son Brooklyn.
Dick Cheney’s political legacy is mixed in home state of Wyoming
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Political stars often rise and fall but few have had a more dramatic trajectory than Dick Cheney in his home state of Wyoming.
Hours after Cheney died Tuesday at 84, the state lowered flags at the Republican governor’s order. Some politicians in the state offered at times measured praise of the former vice president.
But among a large majority of voters in Wyoming, Cheney has been persona non grata for more than five years now, his reputation brought down amid President Trump’s withering politics.
Trump has criticized Cheney for the drawn-out and costly Iraq war, and his daughter, former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, for saying Trump should never be allowed back in the White House after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
This resonated with many residents, including Jeanine Stebbing, of Cheyenne, whose last straw was the idea that Trump shouldn’t be reelected.
“There was no open-mindedness. Nothing about how, ‘We understand that our neighbors here are supportive of Trump.’ Just the idea that we were all stupid, is what it felt like,” Stebbing said Tuesday.
The final blow for the Cheney family in Wyoming came in 2022, when Trump supported ranching attorney Harriet Hageman to oppose Liz Cheney for a fourth term as the state’s U.S. representative.
Hageman got two-thirds of the vote in the Republican primary, a decisive win in a state with so few Democrats that the general election is considered inconsequential for major races.
Trump’s biggest gripe, ultimately, was that Liz Cheney voted to impeach him, then co-led the congressional investigation into his role in the attack. In Wyoming, a prevailing belief was Liz Cheney seemed more focused on taking down Trump than on representing the state.
“I was very disappointed that, you know, somebody who came from this state would be so adamantly blind to anything other than what she wanted to do. And he joined in as well,” Stebbing said.
Not even Dick Cheney’s endorsement of his daughter over Hageman — and of Kamala Harris over Trump last year — made a difference, as Trump’s appeal in Wyoming only grew. Trump won Wyoming by more than any other state in 2016, 2020 and 2024, the year of his biggest margin in the state.
Some expressed sadness that George W. Bush’s vice president would not be remembered well by so many in the state.
“On the 16th anniversary of my own father’s death today, I can appreciate a father who stood by his daughter, which he did loyally and truthfully,” said Republican state Sen. Tara Nethercott, who is Senate majority floor leader. “He stood by his daughter during those difficult times.”
Nethercott wouldn’t speculate if Liz Cheney might yet have a political future. Wyoming’s support of Trump “speaks volumes,” she said.
Liz Cheney has continued to live in Jackson Hole, near her parents, while traveling back and forth to Charlottesville to teach at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
For Brian Farmer — who, like Dick Cheney, grew up in Casper and went to the University of Wyoming — Cheney’s legacy will be his service to the state, no matter where people stand on issues.
“He was always somebody whose path I looked at, sought to follow. Very quiet, soft-spoken at times, Very bombastic and loud at others,” said Farmer, executive director of the Wyoming School Boards Association.
Cheney had a 30-year career in politics, from serving as President Gerald Ford’s young chief of staff to representing Wyoming in Congress in the 1980s. He rose to a top GOP leadership role in Congress — one his daughter, too, would later fill — before being named President George H.W. Bush’s defense secretary.
After his time in office, the CEO of oilfield services company Halliburton kept active in state politics, voicing support and even stumping for Republican candidates.
And yet Cheney was so low-key and unassuming, his mere presence was the whole point — not the nice things he had to say, for example, about former Gov. Jim Geringer, who handily won reelection in 1998.
“You talk about people walking into a room and commanding it. That man did it without even speaking a word,” said state Rep. Landon Brown, a Cheyenne Republican who met him several times including at University of Wyoming football games.
“He’s going to be sincerely missed in this state,” he said. “Maybe not by everybody.”
Gruver writes for the Associated Press.
Simone Magill: Northern Ireland captain announces pregnancy
Northern Ireland captain and Birmingham City striker Simone Magill has announced she is pregnant.
The 31-year-old shared the news with her Birmingham team-mates on Wednesday and announced it on social media along with her husband, Mark.
“Something tells me next year is going to be the best one yet,” Magill posted on Instagram.
Magill will not feature for Birmingham for the rest of the season or for Northern Ireland in the 2027 World Cup qualifiers, which begin in March.
WSL2 club Birmingham City say Magill will continue “light training” with the team and that the club’s medical and performance staff will support her “throughout her pregnancy and beyond”.
Amy Merricks, Magill’s head coach at Birmingham, said she would “make an amazing parent”.
“We’re looking forward to supporting her on this journey through her pregnancy and as her baby comes into the world, we’re excited to have a Bluenose baby,” Merricks said.
“We want to keep Si in and around the environment as much as possible.
“She wants to remain sharp and play a critical part in this season and we’re looking forward to supporting her with her journey.”
Magill missed Northern Ireland’s Nations League play-off defeat by Iceland at the end of October and last played for Birmingham in September because of a hip issue.
She won the first of her 95 NI caps as a teenager in 2010 and was named captain by Tanya Oxtoby in October 2024.
Magill played a key role in Northern Ireland’s qualification for Euro 2022 – her country’s first major tournament – but sustained a knee injury in the first match against Norway.
Shein opens store in Paris; French government begins sanctions
1 of 2 | Director of the Bazar de l’Hotel de Ville department store Karl-Stephane Cottendin cuts the ribbon at the opening of Chinese e-commerce giant Shein’s first physical store at the BHV department store in Paris on Wednesday. Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/EPA/Pool
Nov. 5 (UPI) — The French government said it would begin action against online retailer Shein on Wednesday, just hours after the company opened its first brick-and-mortar store in Paris.
An outcry erupted last weekend after it was discovered that Shein was selling sex dolls that look like children, but on Tuesday, the company announced it was banning all sex dolls from the site.
On Wednesday, the government issued a statement saying: “On the instructions of the Prime Minister [Sébastien Lecornu], the government is initiating the procedure to suspend Shein for the time necessary for the platform to demonstrate to the public authorities that all of its content is finally in compliance with our laws and regulations.”
The store, which is the first Shein store in the world, also opened to chaos, as shoppers lined up to get in and protesters shouted at them, “Shame!”
Andreia Chavent, a worker at BHV Marais, said many employees were upset by the opening of Shein in Paris.
“We are directly concerned by how people work, what the conditions are like and how the clothes are made, even if it’s not in France,” Chavent, a member of the CFDT, France’s largest union, told The New York Times.
Shein has seen criticism over the way workers are treated in the Chinese factories that sell on the site.
The sex dolls controversy made things worse, Chavent added.
But not everyone is against the store.
“When I saw that Shein was coming to France, I said, ‘Yay!’ Because it still takes 20 weeks” for clothing from the site to arrive, Philippe Hamard, 27, told The Times.
He said that he doesn’t buy from Shein often because of “environmental issues and all that.” But said “I still buy from time to time for fun.”
On the sex doll controversy, he said, “I think there are a lot of controversies at the moment. But people will forget about it.”
Shein has plans to open seven stores in other cities in France.
Shein and AliExpress are also facing investigation in France over the dissemination of pornographic content to children, the prosecutor’s office told the BBC.
The Paris Office des Mineurs will handle the cases. The office oversees the protection of minors.
AliExpress said the adult listings violated its policies and were removed once the company learned of them.
“Sellers found to violate or trying to circumvent these requirements will be penalized in accordance with our rules,” AliExpress said in a statement, the BBC reported.
From Conflict to Peace: Cambodia’s Dedication to UN’s Global Peacekeeping Missions
Obviously, the devasting Pol Pot regime plunged Cambodia into genocide, armed conflict, destruction and isolation during the dark period between 1970s to 1990s. This tragic history left Cambodia in social, economic and political ruins. As a war-torn country, despite these historical scars of the catastrophic decades, the government has implemented various policies and initiatives to reach national reconciliation and unity as well as to build peace and political stability, leading to economic growth and enhancement of living standards for its people. Prior to the pandemic, from 1998 to 2019, Cambodia’s economic growth remarkably flourished leading to the attainment of lower middle-income status in 2015, with the impressive average annual increase rate of 7.7 percent, making Cambodia one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
Having seen the immense importance of regional integration and cooperation as the pivotal catalysts for national security, peace and sustainable development, Cambodia has actively engaged in the regional and international organizations such as the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN), Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), the United Nations (UN) and other not mentioned international organizations and blocs. Noticeably, Cambodian foreign policy puts strong emphasis on the crucial role of ASEAN. Phnom Penh recognizes the key role of this regional bloc in safeguarding stability and peace in Southeast Asia and the broader Indo-Pacific region. Since its accession to ASEAN in 1999, Cambodia has assumed the role of ASEAN chair on three occasions—2002, 2012, and 2022, fostering regional cooperation, integration and solidarity for the sake of regional peace, stability and development.
Additionally, since its membership in 2004, Cambodia has played a vital role in ASEM through its active participation in various discussions and initiatives, promoting cooperation and understanding between Asia and Europe. Noticeably, in spite of the pandemic, Cambodia successfully hosted the virtual 13th Asia-Europe Meeting Summit in 2021, offering the platform for leaders from over 50 countries to have fruitful dialogues in order to explore ways and means to tackle regional and global issues for collective interest.
More importantly, one of the main aspirations of Cambodia’s foreign policy is to establish international peace on the basis of the principles of equality and rights for all people. In this sense, since 2006, notwithstanding the limited resources, Cambodia has emerged as an active participant in peacekeeping missions under the UN’s umbrella by transforming itself from being a host country of UNTAC (United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia) to a country that has contributed blue berets to 12 missions involving nine countries. These missions have involved 9,205 personnel, including 726 female peacekeepers. In fact, sending Cambodian peacekeeping forces to join the peace-keeping endeavors under the UN framework is also one of the priorities stipulated in Cambodia’s defence white paper 2022 for strengthening Cambodian armed forces’ capacities in the areas of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
Furthermore, to promote the gender equality and women empowerment, Cambodia has acknowledged the women’s ability of performing tasks as capable as men. This acknowledgement has been concretely evidenced by their constant accomplishments. In this regard, Cambodia has enlarged the number of its female troops dispatched to all levels of UN peacekeeping operations. Consequently, for its participation in UN peacekeeping operations, the UN rated Cambodia third in ASEAN (after Indonesia and Malaysia) and 28th out of 122 countries in the globe. In terms of deploying female peacekeepers overseas, Cambodia was placed 13th in the world and second among ASEAN nations, behind Indonesia. This gender equality promotion is also in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
More essentially, Cambodia’s essential role in the UN peace keeping mission was also highly praised by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during his discussion with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on the sidelines of the 78th UN General Assembly (UNGA). Additionally, while receiving the courtesy visit from the UN representative in Cambodia last year, Cambodian Foreign Minister Sok Chenda Sophea ensured the Cambodia’s resolute commitment to its continued support to the UN peacekeeping missions by stressing the country’s firm dedication to global peace and security. The top diplomat also revealed the Kingdom’s ambitious plan to expand its peacekeeping operations to other UN frameworks.
Noticeably, the world’s political and socio-economic landscapes is uncertain and unpredictable due to its rapid evolution. On top of this, the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war, the escalated crisis in the Middle-East, geopolitical rivalry among the superpowers just to name a few has considerably affected the regional and global cooperation, security, and stability. Bitterly experienced falling victim of the geopolitical competition during the Cold War, Cambodia intends to maintain its current course of “independent and neutral foreign policy, grounded in the rule of law, equal mutual respect and adherence to the principles of the UN Charter” in order to further foster its domestic interests, nourish current friendships, and build more harmonious relationships.
Like other small states, Cambodia places utmost significance on peace and security for its survival. Hence, Cambodia vehemently opposed an aggression against other sovereign states, meddling in their domestic affairs, and the threat or use of force in international relations. Through bilateral, regional, and international frameworks, Cambodia will proactively pursue the possibility of strengthening and broadening close cooperation with other countries in order to support global peace, security, stability, sustainable development, and prosperity that can be shared and cherished by all.
As such, Cambodia is firmly dedicated to promoting peacekeeping operations and partaking in this righteous endeavor. Undoubtedly, as one of the regional outstanding contributors to the UN peacekeeping missions, Cambodia has chosen to run for membership in the Organizational Committee of the Peacebuilding Commission for the years 2025–2026 aimed at further contributing to this noble humanitarian task, eventually benefiting the humanity as a whole.
Obviously, this membership will enable Cambodia to play more roles and responsibilities in advocating the global peace, security, and stability, all of which are the essential prerequisites for sustainable development. Most significantly, being part of this body will also provide Cambodia with a platform to share its experiences, best practices and lessons learned in the process of peacebuilding, national reconciliation, and socio-economic development to other warring nations which are eager to taste the blissful flavors of peace and development like the rest of the world.
Kieran Culkin and Jazz Charton’s Emmys baby is here, Sarah Snook says
Kieran Culkin and wife Jazz Charton made good on their Emmys pact, recently welcoming their third child, according to the former’s “Succession” co-star.
Oscar and Emmy winner Culkin’s on-screen sister Sarah Snook, also an Emmy-winning actor, announced the arrival of the couple’s newest child while speaking to Access Hollywood on Monday. “I met the little baby, it’s so cute,” she said during the premiere of Peacock’s “All Her Fault.”
“They’re very happy and so cute,” she added.
A representative for Culkin did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation. Charton, a contributor for the Financial Times, has not yet publicly addressed the arrival of their littlest one.
“A Real Pain” star Culkin, younger brother of “Home Alone” star Macaulay Culkin, tied the knot with Charton in 2013. They share two children, Kinsey Sioux and Wilder Wolf, and lovingly teased a plan to grow their family during the 75th Emmy Awards in January 2024.
Culkin, 43, famously used part of his acceptance speech for the lead actor prize to remind Charton, 37, of the deal they had struck prior to the ceremony. As he acknowledged his wife and children, Culkin declared, “I want more.”
“You said ‘maybe,’ if I win! I love you so much,” he told Charton from stage.
Charton confirmed that baby No. 3 was on the way in late September, sharing a cheeky Instagram post that also tapped into her well-documented fan love for “Matrix” star Keanu Reeves. “Saw Keanu Reeves on broadway and now I’m 9 months pregnant,” she captioned her post, which featured photos of her baby bump, “This is very on brand for me.”
She revealed she was expecting amid the debut of Reeves and longtime “Bill & Ted” collaborator Alex Winter’s production of “Waiting for Godot.” She quipped in her caption that she had “made a deal with this baby to let me make it to this [show] before labor, not sure what it wants in return but I’m CLEARLY a woman of my word.”
Snook, the first to break the couple’s baby news, has remained close to her “Succession” co-star since the hit HBO drama concluded two years ago. Culkin and Snook respectively starred as Roman and Shiv Roy, two of numerous potential — ahem — successors to media mogul Logan Roy (Brian Cox). “Succession” aired from 2018 to 2023 and won a total of 19 Primetime Emmy Awards, including acting prizes for Culkin, Snook and co-stars Jeremy Strong and Matthew Macfadyen.
With the arrival of Culkin and Charton’s third child, it’s clear that the “Succession” legacy now extends past powerhouse performances, viral memes and memorable lines. Anyone got a ludicrously capacious baby bag?
Conservative activist Laura Loomer, a Trump ally, says she has a new Pentagon press pass
NEW YORK — With the Pentagon’s press room largely cleared of mainstream reporters, conservative activist and presidential ally Laura Loomer says she has been granted a credential to work there.
Loomer has an influential social media presence and the ear of President Trump, frequently campaigning for the firings of government officials she deems insufficiently loyal to his administration. Some targets have been in the field of national security, including Dan Driscoll, secretary of the Army.
Pentagon officials did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Tuesday. The Washington Post first reported the news of her attaining credentials.
Virtually all Pentagon reporters for legacy media outlets walked out last month rather than agree to a new policy they say would restrict their ability to report news not given approval for release by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Several right-wing outlets have taken their place, although the banned journalists are continuing to work on stories related to the Pentagon.
“I’m excited to announce that after a year of breaking the most impactful stories that pertain to our national security and rooting out deceptive and disloyal bad actors” from the Defense Department, she was ready to join the press corps, Loomer said on X, formerly Twitter. She did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Earlier this year, she criticized Driscoll for publicly honoring a Medal of Honor recipient who had previously spoken at a Democratic National Convention. Separately, Driscoll rescinded the appointment of a former Biden administration official to teach at West Point after Loomer attacked him for it.
Although Trump later downplayed Loomer’s influence, the president last spring fired a handful of National Security Council officials after she had presented him with evidence of their supposed disloyalty.
Still, she’s been a polarizing force among some in the administration, wary of her influence, which has included riding on Air Force One with Trump. Although granted space in the Pentagon press room, Loomer has not received reporting credentials at the White House. Loomer has also been criticized for entertaining conspiracy theories and making anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim posts.
“There is no denying that my investigative reporting has had a massive impact on the landscape of personnel decisions within the Executive Branch, our intelligence agencies and the Pentagon,” Loomer wrote on X. “I look forward to covering the Pentagon and breaking more stories that impact our country and our national security.”
In her social media post, she also reached out to people to alert her to news through “the Loomered Tip Line, the most influential Tip Line in all of DC.”
Phil Stewart, a national security reporter for Reuters, noted on a social media post Tuesday that Hegseth’s new media policy would make reporters subject to having their access revoked for seeking out information from Defense Department personnel that had not been authorized for release.
However, Loomer’s appeal for tips did not explicitly target people who work at the Defense Department.
Bauder writes for the Associated Press.
Top basketball player Tyran Stokes withdraws from Notre Dame High
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame confirmed on Wednesday that 6-foot-7 Tyran Stokes, considered the No. 1 high school basketball player from the class of 2026, has withdrawn from school.
Stokes arrived last season from a Northern California prep school and helped the Knights reach the Southern Section Open Division championship game and the Southern California Regional final.
His departure could produce changes in national TV game plans for Notre Dame. The Knights are still expected to be one of the top teams in Southern California with San Diego State commit Zachary White and top junior NaVorro Bowman.
Stokes leaving Notre Dame makes Sierra Canyon the Mission League preseason favorite.
Packed soup kitchens feed Gaza as Israel blocks entry of aid trucks | Gaza
Palestinians are turning to soup kitchens to feed their families as Gaza is gripped by a crippling food crisis because Israel is limiting the entry of aid trucks, despite the new ceasefire agreement.
Published On 5 Nov 2025
Mamdani says Republicans are scared he may fix affordability crisis | Politics
“You have to deliver on addressing that crisis.” New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani criticised President Donald Trump for not fixing the affordability crisis he campaigned on, adding that Republicans are scared the new mayor may actually deliver.
Published On 5 Nov 2025
Emmerdale fans ‘knew it’ as villain returns from dead – and it’s bad news for April
Emmerdale’s April Windsor is set for worrying scenes on the ITV soap, as a villain of sorts, Callum, ‘returned from the dead’ in a twist on Wednesday, and April has no idea
There was a dark twist on Emmerdale on Wednesday, as a murdered character was confirmed to be very much alive.
It’s bad news for April Windsor to some degree, as she’s been allowed to believe the person is still dead. This will continue too, with her kept in the dark about the character’s true fate.
Last week we saw April left in danger, as drug dealer Ray Walters sent her on a job with a client. When he tried to force her into sleeping with the client to pay off her debt, she was horrified.
When April told Callum, the client, she couldn’t go through with it, he turned on her. Grabbing her and trying to force himself on her, he said there was no escape and he’d “do it anyway” even after her stating she did not want to have sex with him.
READ MORE: Emmerdale behind-the-scenes panic over Marlon death sceneREAD MORE: EastEnders fans fear for ‘missing’ star as they urge show to ‘fix it’
Fighting for survival, April ended up slamming him over the head with a vodka bottle in self-defence. Shaken, she escaped and told Ray and Celia Daniels that Callum was dead.
Ray headed to his home to check on Callum and when he returned to the village, he confirmed to a distressed April that he was in fact dead and she’d killed him. Both Celia and Ray taunted April about her being a murderer and said she’d go to prison.
When she declared she needed to report her crime and threatened to expose them, the criminals made it clear that if April spoke out, she and her family would be in danger. So April is now struggling to come to terms with being a killer.
Of course she has no idea, and fans didn’t either until Wednesday, that Callum isn’t dead. He’s injured but he’s absolutely fine, and survived the attack.
So Ray’s claims that he disposed of Callum’s body and that April killed him are a lie, and he and Celia know it. They’re now using it against April to keep her doing as they say, meaning more bad news ahead for April when she has to stay in line, but also if Callum reveals his fate, he could get her in serious trouble.
In a twist at the end of the episode, Callum was with Ray in his car and he talked about his head hurting. Ray told him to stay silent and take some pain relief, making it clear he couldn’t do anything about April.
Viewers were stunned by the twist but many said they “knew it”, having figured out Ray would lie to April to target her. Taking to social media, one fan said: “I knew it, I f***ing knew it.”
Another fan said: “I didn’t think he would be.” A further fan posted: “I KNEW he wasn’t dead!!!!!”
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
As vice president during 9/11, Cheney is at the center of an enduring debate over U.S. spy powers
WASHINGTON — Dick Cheney was the public face of the George W. Bush administration’s boundary-pushing approach to surveillance and intelligence collection in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
An unabashed proponent of broad executive power in the name of national security, Cheney placed himself at the center of a polarizing public debate over detention, interrogation and spying that endures two decades later.
“I do think the security state that we have today is very much a product of our reactions to Sept. 11, and obviously Vice President Cheney was right smack-dab in the middle of how that reaction was operationalized from the White House,” said Stephen Vladeck, a Georgetown University law professor.
Prominent booster of the Patriot Act
Cheney was arguably the administration’s most prominent booster of the Patriot Act, the law enacted nearly unanimously after 9/11 that granted the U.S. government sweeping surveillance powers.
He also championed a National Security Agency warrantless wiretapping program aimed at intercepting international communications of suspected terrorists in the U.S., despite concerns over its legality from some administration figures.
If such an authority had been in place before Sept. 11, Cheney once asserted, it could have led the U.S. “to pick up on two of the hijackers who flew a jet into the Pentagon.”
Law enforcement and intelligence agencies still retain key tools to confront potential terrorists and spies that came into prominence after the attacks, including national security letters that permit the FBI to order companies to turn over information about customers.
But courts also have questioned the legal justification of the government’s surveillance apparatus, and a Republican Party that once solidly stood behind Cheney’s national security worldview has grown significantly more fractured.
The bipartisan consensus on expanded surveillance powers after Sept. 11 has given way to increased skepticism, especially among some Republicans who believe spy agencies used those powers to undermine President Trump while investigating ties between Russia and his 2016 campaign.
Congress in 2020 let expire three provisions of the Patriot Act that the FBI and Justice Department had said were essential for national security, including one that permits investigators to surveil subjects without establishing that they’re acting on behalf of an international terror organization.
A program known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which permits the U.S. government to collect without a warrant the communications of non-Americans located outside the country for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence, was reauthorized last year — but only after significant negotiations.
“I think for someone like Vice President Cheney, expanding those authorities wasn’t an incidental objective — it was a core objective,” Vladeck said. “And I think the Republican Party today does not view those kinds of issues — counterterrorism policy, government surveillance authorities — as anywhere near the kind of political issues that the Bush administration did.”
As an architect of the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, Cheney pushed spy agencies to find evidence to justify military action.
Along with others in the administration, Cheney claimed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction and had ties to al-Qaida. They used that to sell the war to members of Congress and the American people, though it was later debunked.
The faulty intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq is held up as a significant failure by America’s spy services and a demonstration of what can happen when leaders use intelligence for political ends.
The government’s arguments for war fueled a distrust among many Americans that still resonates with some in Trump’s administration.
“For decades, our foreign policy has been trapped in a counterproductive and endless cycle of regime change or nation building,” Tulsi Gabbard, the director of the Office of National Intelligence, said in the Middle East last week.
Many lawmakers who voted to support using force in 2003 say they have come to regret it.
“It was a mistake to rely upon the Bush administration for telling the truth,” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said on the invasion’s 20th anniversary.
Expanded war powers
Trump has long criticized Cheney, but he’s relying on a legal doctrine popularized during Cheney’s time in office to justify deadly strikes on alleged drug-running boats in Latin America.
The Trump administration says the U.S. is engaged in “armed conflict” with drug cartels and has declared them unlawful combatants.
“These narco-terrorists have killed more Americans than Al-Qaeda, and they will be treated the same,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Oct. 28 on social media. ”We will track them, we will network them, and then, we will hunt and kill them.”
After 9/11, the Bush-Cheney administration authorized the U.S. military to attack enemy combatants acting on behalf of terror organizations. That prompted questions about the legality of killing or detaining people without prosecution.
Cheney’s involvement in boosting executive power and surveillance and “cooking the books of the raw intelligence” has echoes in today’s strikes, said Jim Ludes, a former national security analyst who directs the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina University.
“You think about his legacy and some of it is very troubling. Some of it is maybe what the moment demanded,” Ludes said. “But it’s a complicated legacy.“
Vladeck noted an enduring legacy of the Bush-Cheney administration was “to blur if not entirely collapse lines between civilian reactions to threats and military ones.”
He pointed to designating foreign terrorist organizations, a tool that predated the Sept. 11 attacks but became more prevalent in the years that followed. Trump has used the label for several drug cartels.
Contemporary conflicts inside the government
Protecting the homeland from espionage, terrorism and other threats is a complicated endeavor spread across the government. When Cheney was vice president, for instance, agencies like the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or ODNI, were established.
As was the case then, the division of labor can still be disputed, with a recent crack surfacing between Director Kash Patel’s FBI and the intelligence community led by Gabbard.
The FBI said in a letter to lawmakers that it “vigorously disagrees” with a legislative proposal that it said would remove the bureau as the government’s lead counterintelligence agency and replace it with a counterintelligence center under ODNI.
“The cumulative effect,” the FBI warned in the letter obtained by The Associated Press, “would be putting decision-making with employees who aren’t actively involved in CI operations, knowledgeable of the intricacies of CI threats, or positioned to develop coherent and tailored mitigation strategies.”
That would be to the detriment of national security, the FBI said.
Spokespeople for the agencies later issued a statement saying they are working together with Congress to strengthen counterintelligence efforts.
Tucker and Klepper write for the Associated Press.
WTA Finals: Amanda Anisimova beats Iga Swiatek to join Elena Rybakina in semi-finals
Second alternate Alexandrova had sat on the sidelines all week but her patience proved worthwhile on Wednesday when Keys – unable to advance – withdrew just hours before her match with Rybakina.
The 30-year-old, who has enjoyed a breakthrough year in 2025, received the nod after fellow Russian and first option Mirra Andreeva, who is also competing in the doubles, declared she was not fit to play.
Alexandrova started impressively but squandered three break points before returning a forehand wide to hand the first break and a 5-4 lead to Rybakina.
The big-hitting Rybakina, sporting tape on her serving shoulder, served out the first set to love before breaking early in the second courtesy of a backhand error off her opponent’s racquet.
As Alexandrova’s serve faltered, Rybakina stepped up a gear and she doubled her advantage with a brutal forehand winner on break point, only to immediately lose one of her breaks when serving for the match.
Her struggle to get over the finish line continued, forced to save two break points in her next service game, before eventually sealing victory on her second match point as Alexandrova sent a backhand long.
“Each win gives you confidence,” said Rybakina, 26. “Hopefully I can continue.”
In the doubles, 2022 champions Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens confirmed their semi-final berth with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Italian pair Paolini and Sara Errani.
They join Hsieh Su-Wei and Jelena Ostapenko in advancing from the Martina Navratilova Group.