The annual TV licence fee is set to rise in April 2026
A new petition is calling for major changes to how the TV Licence system works(Image: Getty)
Calls have been made to scrap the BBC TV licence fee and introduce either advertising or a paywall system before the annual price increase in April. A new online petition has urged the Government to make changes to the TV licence system.
The current fee stands at £174.50 and households must pay this if they watch or record live television, or face potential fines. This charge usually increases alongside September’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate, which reached 3.8 per cent.
From April 1, 2024, the UK Government determined the licence fee would increase annually with CPI inflation for the Charter period’s remaining four years. The BBC’s current Charter continues until the end of 2027.
Campaigner David Gilmore contends that “even if you don’t watch the BBC you still have to pay for it”. He continued: “You don’t have to pay for content put on by theatres or cinemas if you don’t watch it so why should you be required to pay the BBC if you don’t watch their content?”
The petition titled “Scrap the BBC TV licence and replace funding with adverts or paywall” appears on the UK Government’s petitions-parliament website. At the time of reporting, it had over 1,300 signatures.
The petition needs 10,000 signatures to receive a written response and at 100,000 signatures, it would be considered for debate in Parliament. The petition can be viewed online here.
Other calls to change the TV licence
Over 15,200 people have signed a similar petition, urging the UK Government to cover the TV licence fee for all State Pensioners and those who reach the current official retirement age of 66. As per the current rules, only those over the age of 75 who are receiving Pension Credit are entitled to a free TV licence, saving them £174.50 on the annual fee.
Michael Thompson, the creator of the petition, argues that “many pensioners live on the breadline with only the TV for company”.
He further stated: “With the cost of food soaring and utility bills ever higher, we feel there is a desperate need to provide all pensioners with at least this concession.”
Mr Thompson added: “We feel it is a double outrage that those who have given their all to this country in taxes and raising children have to pay a TV licence fee and are only exempt if they receive means-tested Pension Credit. Meanwhile, some media figures draw huge salaries.”
The “Fund free TV licences for all pensioners” petition can also be seen on the UK Government’s petitions-parliament website.
HEIDI Klum has dropped a NSFW clue about her highly-anticipated Halloween costume – one week before her exclusive annual bash.
The German model is known for being the talk of Hollywood every October 31 with her over-the-top party and outrageous outfit.
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Heidi Klum has dropped a clue about her Halloween costumeCredit: InstagramThe star sent fans wild when she shared this NSFW pictureCredit: Instagram/heidiklumHeidi previously shared this photo to tease what she could be dressing up asCredit: instagramHeidi is known for her over the top looks at her A-list bash – seen here last HalloweenCredit: Getty
Each year, the star rocks an even crazier Halloween ensemble than the previous year and it seems that 2025 will be no exception.
Speaking about their “bedroom sports”, the blonde stunner told The Sunday Times: “Sport en chambre is my favorite exercise — it sounds better in French.
“I have a younger husband,” she gushed.
What could Heidi Klum be dressed as for Halloween?
WASHINGTON — President Trump is undergoing what he has described as a “semiannual physical” at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday.
The visit, which the White House announced earlier this week, comes as Trump is preparing to travel to the Middle East on the heels of a ceasefire deal in the Israel-Hamas war. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described it as a “routine yearly checkup,” although Trump had his annual physical in April.
The White House declined to explain why Trump was getting a yearly checkup six months after his annual exam. But in an exchange with reporters Thursday, he said it was a “semiannual physical.”
“I’m meeting with the troops, and I’m also going to do a, sort of, semiannual physical, which I do,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I think I’m in great shape, but I’ll let you know.”
The president is scheduled to return to the White House after his visit to Walter Reed, which is located in Bethesda, Maryland.
Trump’s April physical found that he was “fully fit” to serve as commander in chief. The three-page summary of the exam done by his doctor, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, said he had lost 20 pounds (9 kilograms) since a medical exam in June 2020 and said he has an “active lifestyle” that “continues to contribute significantly” to the well-being of the president, who’s 79.
In July, the White House announced that Trump recently had had a medical checkup after noticing “mild swelling” in his lower legs and was found to have a condition common in older adults that causes blood to pool in his veins. Tests by the White House medical unit showed that Trump has chronic venous insufficiency, which occurs when little valves inside the veins that normally help move blood against gravity gradually lose the ability to work properly.
At the April physical, Trump also passed a short screening test to assess different brain functions.
Oct. 9 (UPI) — The White House announced Wednesday that President Donald Trump will travel to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland for his routine yearly checkup — his second health screening in six months.
Trump is scheduled to visit Walter Reed on Friday morning for a planned meeting and remarks with troops, followed by what the White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called in an emailed statement to UPI “his routine yearly checkup.” He will then return to the White House, she said.
The 79-year-old commander in chief last underwent an annual physical physical examination at Walter Reed in April.
After the examination, White House physician reported Trump “exhibits excellent cognitive and physical health and is fully fit to execute the duties of the commander in chief and head of state.”
In July, Trump was diagnosed by the White House physician with chronic venous insufficiency, which was causing swelling in his legs.
Concern over Trump’s health has been repeatedly raised, with the president over attempts to cover apparent bruises with what appears to be makeup.
Leavitt attempted to assuage worries over Trump’s physical well-being, stating the bruises were the product of “frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin.”
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is ending the federal government’s annual report on hunger in America, stating that it had become “overly politicized” and “rife with inaccuracies.”
The decision comes 2½ months after President Trump signed legislation sharply reducing food aid to the poor. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the tax and spending cuts bill Republicans adopted in July means 3 million people would not qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, also known as food stamps.
The decision to scrap the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Household Food Security Report was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
In a news release Saturday, the USDA said the 2024 report, to be released Oct. 22, would be the last.
“The questions used to collect the data are entirely subjective and do not present an accurate picture of actual food security,” the USDA said. ”The data is rife with inaccuracies slanted to create a narrative that is not representative of what is actually happening in the countryside as we are currently experiencing lower poverty rates, increasing wages, and job growth under the Trump Administration.’’
The Census Bureau reported earlier this month that the U.S. poverty rate dipped from 11% in 2023 to 10.6% last year, before Trump took office.
Critics accused the administration of deliberately making it harder to measure hunger and assess the impact of its cuts to food stamps.
“Trump is cancelling an annual government survey that measures hunger in America, rather than allow it to show hunger increasing under his tenure,” Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, said on social media. “This follows the playbook of many non-democracies that cancel or manipulate reports that would otherwise show less-than-perfect news.”
Some investors look for stocks that have good growth potential, while others look for stocks that can provide consistent income. It’s not always an either-or thing as some stocks have proven to do both.
Case in point: energy company MPLX(MPLX 2.05%). Although MPLX may not be a household name like other top energy companies, the stock has been on an impressive run over the past five years. In that span, it’s up close to 186%, while the S&P 500 is up 95% (as of Sept. 9).
No one can predict if the stock will continue growing at its current pace, but one thing’s for sure: Its ultra-high dividend is a dream for investors interested in income stocks.
Image source: Getty Images.
How MPLX’s business works
You can think of the energy industry as three parts: upstream, midstream, and downstream. Upstream companies explore for and produce oil and natural gas; midstream companies focus on storing and processing; and downstream companies refine, market, and sell end products like the gasoline you buy at gas stations.
Some larger companies may operate in two or three of the phases, but MPLX solely operates in the midstream section. Formed by Marathon Petroleum, it owns pipelines, processing plants, storage facilities, and other infrastructure that moves and conditions oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs).
MPLX says it handles over 10% of all natural gas produced in the U.S.
MPLX has a shareholder-friendly business structure
MPLX isn’t structured like your typical corporation. It’s a master limited partnership (MLP), meaning its profits and losses are passed on to partners (investors) to avoid paying taxes on the corporate level, allowing it to pay out more money to its investors.
Its current 7.6% dividend yield is below its 9% average over the past five years, but it’s still more than six times the S&P 500’s average.
MPLX’s dividend payout won’t be consistent like typical corporations because it depends on its distributable cash flow (DCF). However, its DCF has had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.9% since 2021.
MPLX has shown solid financials in recent years
MPLX makes money by charging fees for transporting, storing, and processing oil, natural gas, and NGLs. These are typically long-term contracts, which help provide the company with stable and predictable cash flow.
In the second quarter, MPLX generated $3 billion in revenue, which was down around 1.6% year over year. Its adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) — which focuses strictly on its profits from core operations — was $1.7 billion, up 5% year over year.
MPLX isn’t a company that will typically produce double-digit percentage revenue growth consistently, but what matters most to investors is its DCF because that determines its dividend payout (the main reason many investors invest in the stock to begin with).
MPLX’s DCF in the second quarter only increased 1% year over year to $1.42 billion, but it was able to pay out $0.9565 per share compared to $0.8500 per share in the same quarter last year.
Should you own MPLX’s stock?
An ultra-high dividend yield is great for income investors, especially when it’s as high as MPLX’s. However, that alone shouldn’t be the sole reason you invest in a stock, because it could be a yield trap. Thankfully, when it comes to MPLX, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
MPLX likely won’t experience tech-like high growth over the long term, but it has solid growth opportunities. One of the key ways MPLX grows is via acquiring systems and assets that expand its footprint.
A recent example is its acquisition of Northwind Midstream, which it purchased for $2.375 billion. The company expects this to increase its treating capacity by roughly three times by the second half of 2026 and return mid-teen percentages, which is pretty impressive.
If you don’t mind dealing with the additional tax step needed when dealing with MLPs and their distributions (like filing a Schedule K-1 form), then MPLX can be a good income addition to your portfolio.
China will hold a large-scale “Victory Day” parade on September 3rd, an annual parade marking Japan’s surrender in 1945 and the end of World War 2. The parade is concurrent with a broader rivalry between China and the West, with Beijing strengthening its ties to nations under heavy Western sanctions. Analysts describe the alignment as an “Axis of Upheaval”, a loose coalition of states discouraged by the long-standing Western world order.
What Happened?
Chinese President Xi Jinping will host Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Mlaing in Beijing on September 3rd.
It will mark the first joint public appearance of Xi, Putin, and Kim.
In total, 26 foreign leaders will attend, essentially no Western heads of state will be in attendance. The only exceptions being; Slovakia’s Robert Fico and Serbia’s Aleksander Vucic, both of whom have maintained alignment with the Beijing/Moscow sphere of influence.
Tens of thousands of Chinese troops will march in the parade, doubling as an international show of strength in addition to celebration of a historical occasion.
Why it Matters:
The parade highlights China’s role as a diplomatic hub for sanctioned and otherwise isolated leaders, further enforcing Beijing’s willingness to spearhead an alternative power bloc to the West. By unifying Putin, Kim and others, Xi emphasizes global leadership stature while reinforcing alliances that bypass Western sanctions. The gathering also underscores the immense economic leverage of China, from buying 90% of Iran’s oil exports to sourcing strategic rare earth minerals from Myanmar.
Stakeholder Reactions:
Analysts: Note that the “Axis of Upheaval” provides critical, mutual lifelines to resist sanctions, whether by supplying energy, blocking trade routes, or reinforcing each other diplomatically.
Western observers: Concerned that the absence of major Western leaders contrasts sharply with the presence of sanctioned figures, signaling a deepening divide in global alignments.
Alfred Wu, NUS Singapore: Asserts that XI is projecting strength, showing that leaders he once admired now stand beside him, and in some senses now look to him, symbolizing his rise as a global leader.
What’s Next?
The parade is likely to amplify rhetoric about resisting Western dominance and provide new opportunities for side meetings between sanctioned leaders. As China balances this coalition with its own global economic interests, that still undoubtedly relies on some level of cooperation with the West despite growing tensions. Said growing tensions stemming over energy security, Taiwan and sanctions enforcement are likely to intensify over the years. The event will serve as a visual reminder of shifting alliances and who stands on each side of the contemporary multipolar world order.
Assam, India – Makon Kumar’s wrinkled fingers are covered in dried-up clay. She squats on the damp dirt outside her one-room, bamboo-stilted home and spins a pottery wheel – a palm-sized grey bowl – with her left toe.
Inside the bowl is a lump of newly-bought wet clay, which Kumar slaps, flattens and curves into the pot’s base.
“My grandma and her grandma passed this practice down to us. We are not farmers, we have no land, and this is our work,” 60-year-old Makon said as she pressed her fist into the clay and carved out the pot’s mouth.
Makon belongs to the Kumar community of about 540 people, whose women have been known for their unique pottery work since the 16th century. These women avoid machinery or a potter’s wheel but rely on their toes to spin a plate or bowl with clay.
Makon Kumar sculpts a Tekele, a small sized pot used to carry milk [Ananya Chetia/Al Jazeera]
The Kumars live on Majuli, an island district between the Subansiri and the mighty Brahmaputra rivers in India’s northeastern state of Assam. Home to nearly 200,000 people, which includes people from other ethnic groups, Majuli has shrunk from 1,300sq km (502sq miles) to 483sq km (186.5sq miles) in a century due to erosion caused by annual monsoon rains and floods.
During the monsoon season, which can stretch from May to September, the floodwaters can get more than 1.5 metres (5 feet) high, forcing Makon and the other Kumars to either seek shelter at the highway bordering the village or stay trapped inside their homes.
Last week, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said there were more than 72,000 people taking shelter in 355 relief camps across the state due to the floods, which have also killed at least 24 people this year.
Access to riverside clay denied
During the floods, the Kumars’ pottery business comes to a halt, interrupting their main source of income. Moreover, the lack of flood prevention efforts by the authorities has worsened their condition.
“[Our family] used to get clay from the banks of the Brahmaputra River,” Makon told Al Jazeera.
Kumar men traditionally dug 18 to 21 metres (60 to 70 feet) deep on the riverbank to extract a glutinous, dark grey clay that locals call Kumar “maati” (soil).
The state-run Brahmaputra Board, which supervises the government’s response to the floods and soil erosion, began building river embankments in 2018, preventing the Kumars from digging the riverbank for clay.
“While the Brahmaputra Board deeply respects this traditional craft [of making pottery], extracting clay directly from the exposed riverbanks causes severe soil erosion, hindering the board’s efforts to protect Majuli island,” a spokesperson for the board told Al Jazeera.
The spokesperson said the board provided an alternative to the Kumar potters by making clay available through designated pits or boreholes that could be accessed after filling an application form. The board, however, did not say how many Kumars applied.
Makon said the embankment on the Brahmaputra forced her to buy clay from mainland Assam, increasing her expenses for a business already lacking commercial value or organised marketing.
November is their best month when floodwaters recede and foreign and Indian tourists take a 90-minute ferry from Jorhat, a city in mainland Assam, to Majuli’s Salmora village, where the Kumar women sculpt pots with their hands and feet. The tour brings extra cash for Makon’s two daughters studying in a secondary school.
On other days, the Kumars sculpt and sell pots of various sizes to local vendors. Tekelis, the most popular and smallest pot used for storing milk, is sold for just 10 rupees ($0.12) to vendors, who resell them for 20 to 100 rupees ($0.23-$1.15) at shops across Majuli and mainland Assam.
Salmora has long, narrow dirt roads, with rows of bamboo and concrete houses built on stilts. When the island is not flooded, hundreds of dried tekelis lie stacked on top of each other on a road bordering the village. The men bake those pots and sell them in the market.
‘No money in it’
However, it is not just a dying form of pottery that is under threat in flood-prone Majuli.
Almost 18km (11 miles) from Salmora lies Upper Katoni village, where the silence of the nights is often interrupted by young men and boys singing and thumping hollow drums. They perform a four-hour theatrical production known as Bhaona, mostly performed past midnight. Locals come for the performance after finishing their dinner, sit on the floor, and watch their neighbours, siblings, or friends perform.
The entirely male troupe of actors play characters from the Hindu epic, Ramayana.
A Bhaona actor performs at a Namghar in Upper Katoni, Majuli [Ananya Chetia/Al Jazeera]
“We’ve been rehearsing for the last three weeks,” said actor Jyoti Bhuyan, who plays a king in the dance drama. “Even in the hotter months, we’re able to perform.”
The Bhaona dates back to the 16th century and is performed at Namghars, open prayer houses unique to Assam. The island has more than 384 Namghars, according to a spokesperson from the Majuli District Office.
“I’ve been doing this since I was a young boy,” said Karunav Bhuyan, a Bhaona actor and political science professor at a college on the island. “What doesn’t change is that anyone from any background can come and watch us perform.”
Bhaona actors wear special masks, made from bamboo and a mix of clay and cow dung. The masks typically have wide, almond-shaped eyes; thick, furrowed brows; and a mouth flaunting a full set of teeth or bright red lips. The mask’s sharp, angular facial features, paired with contrasting eye and hair colours, are often displayed inside the houses of Majuli residents.
“At first, no one wanted to make masks because there was no money in it,” 67-year-old mask maker Hem Chandra Goswami told Al Jazeera.
Goswami, who lives in Majuli’s Samaguri village, started making smaller, easy-to-hang masks and has been teaching the art to high school students since 2012. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, in 2023 for promoting the art form.
A Bhaona actor performs at a Namghar in Upper Katoni, Majuli [Ananya Chetia/Al Jazeera]
Traditionally, only men made masks and used them for Bhaona performances. But that is changing.
Brishti Hazarika, a 25-year-old theatre student, is learning mask-making at Majuli University of Culture, an institution dedicated to preserving the local art forms. “Whether we get financial help from the government or not, it doesn’t stop us from putting on shows or enjoying our festivals,” Hazarika said.
The island’s more well-known tourist attractions are the Satras – the cultural and religious centres where celibate male monks, draped in white cotton cloth, reside.
Known as Bhakats, these monks join the Satras during preadolescence and spend their lives worshipping Lord Krishna, unlike the polytheistic pantheon of numerous gods in mainstream Hinduism.
A Namghar at the Kamalabari Satra in Majuli, Assam [Ananya Chetia/Al Jazeera]
But annual floods and land erosion have reduced Satras from more than 65 to just 35 in the past decades, according to the Majuli District Office spokesperson. Worse, not every Satra is properly maintained.
Unlike Makon, the Samaguri Satra is located away from the Brahmaputra River and has, therefore, been spared the devastation caused by annual floods. That explains why Pradip Goswami, another local mask artist and a cousin of Hem Chandra, wishes there were more opportunities to produce the masks commercially.
“The way for mask making to continue spreading is by having a bridge over the river to connect us to the mainland,” he said.
In 2022, the Assam government announced the construction of an 8km (5-mile) bridge connecting Majuli to Jorhat. But the $70m project was halted in September last year after Uttar Pradesh State Bridge Corporation Limited (UPSBCL), a state-run entity tasked with building the bridge, withdrew from the project over payment disputes, according to local media reports.
Al Jazeera reached out to the UPSBCL for its response to such speculations, but did not receive any reply.
In May this year, the Assam government said it was looking for a new contractor to construct the bridge. But Majuli residents say the government has been apathetic towards their lives and livelihoods affected by the floods.
The Majuli Cultural Landscape Management Authority (MCLMA), created in 2006 to oversee the island’s development and protect its cultural heritage, has not held a meeting in more than a decade, alleges MCLMA executive member Sanjib Borkakoti. Even the office where he used to attend meetings twice a year does not exist any more, he says.
“There is no [government] supervision,” Borkakoti told Al Jazeera. He said the Indian government tried at least twice – unsuccessfully – for a UNESCO World Heritage Site status for Majuli, a tag that would have brought “international attention and pushed the local government to protect what’s remaining”.
Al Jazeera reached out to a government spokesperson and Majuli’s local officials for their response to Borkakoti’s allegations, but did not get any reply.
Meanwhile, for Majuli residents like Makon, art goes beyond just preserving a cultural identity. It is rooted in survival.
“We just don’t know if we will have a home tomorrow,” Makon says as she gives shape to a clay pot, using a wooden bat. She spins the pot one last time to check for any bumps and says, “This is all we know.”
This story was funded by a Reporting Fellowship grant from the South Asian Journalists Association.
HIMARS are being used in military drills aimed at boosting the island’s ability to combat threats from China.
Taiwan has begun deploying its newest and most precise strike weapons, high calibre rockets from the United States, as part of its annual live-fire drills to increase the island’s ability to counter potential attacks from China.
On Saturday, two armoured trucks with High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) were seen manoeuvring around the city of Taichung near Taiwan’s central coast, on the fourth of 10 days of the Han Kuang exercise, its most comprehensive annual exercise, according to the Reuters news agency.
Military spokesperson Colonel Chen Lian-jia said it would be crucial to conceal the HIMARS from enemy aerial reconnaissance, satellites, “or even enemy operatives behind our lines” until the order to fire was given.
China considers Taiwan its own province and has long threatened to use force to bring it under Beijing’s control.
Over the past five years, China has increased pressure around the island, staging a string of intense war games and daily naval and air force patrols around the territory.
Earlier this week, China’s Ministry of National Defense said the Han Kuang drills were “nothing but a bluffing and self-deceiving trick”. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs added that its opposition to US-Taiwan military ties was “consistent and very firm”.
On Thursday, Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te said the exercises were being conducted based on “large-scale, realistic combat drills”.
Last year, Taiwan received the first 11 of the 29 HIMARS units, testing them for the first time in May.
The weapons, which have a range of about 300km (190 miles), have the potential to strike coastal targets in China’s southern province of Fujian on the other side of the Taiwan Strait.
While the United States, Taiwan’s biggest supplier of imported defensive weaponry, is bound by law to consider threats to the country as a “major concern”, it remains unclear if Washington, DC, under President Donald Trump’s administration, would deploy forces to counter a possible Chinese attack.
Reuters reported, quoting unnamed senior Taiwanese military officials, that the drills were unscripted and designed to replicate full combat conditions, starting with simulated enemy attacks and invasion scenarios.
The drills aim to show China and the international community, including the US, that Taiwan is determined to defend itself against any Chinese attack, the officials said.
May 30 (UPI) — April personal consumption expenditure inflation was up just 0.1% for an annual rate of 2.1%, according to a Friday Bureau of Economic Analysis report.
“From the same month one year ago, the PCE price index for April increased 2.1%,” the BEA report said. “Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 2.5% from one year ago.”
For the month, PCE inflation met the Dow Jones consensus forecast, but the annual rate was 0.1% lower than expected.
“From the preceding month, the PCE price index for April increased 0.1%. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index also increased 0.1%.,” the BEA said.
Spending on housing and utilities services was up 24.7% in April, heath care services spendingincresed by 20.3%.
Gasoline spending was up 8.1%.
Spending on food and beverages, vehicles, recreational goods, financial services, insurance, clothing, footwear and motor vehicle parts all declined.
The BEA also reported personal income in the United States was up 0.8% in April.
“Disposable personal income (DPI)-personal income less personal current taxes-increased $189.4 billion (0.8%) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $47.8 billion (0.2%),” the BEA said in a statement.
The income increase reflected both compensation increases and higher government social benefits to individuals, according to the BEA.
In April there was a $47.8 billion increase in current-dollar PCE – comprised of a $55.8 billion rise in spending on services partially offset by an $8 billion decrease in spending for goods.
Personal savings amounted to $1.12 trillion in April while the personal saving rate was 4.9%. That rate is saving as a percentage of disposable personal income.
Target has slashed its annual forecasts amid a pullback in discretionary spending due to tariff-driven uncertainty and a backlash against shifts in its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policy.
The United States big box retailer, which reported its first-quarter earnings on Wednesday, relies on China for 30 percent of its store label goods. While it is on track to reduce its dependency by another 5 percent by the end of the year, tariff-driven uncertainty has caused a slump.
In its forecast, the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based retailer expects a low single-digit decline in annual sales. Wall Street analysts expected a marginal increase of 0.27 percent in annual sales, according to the LSEG. Target previously forecasted net sales growth of about 1 percent.
This comes as Bank of America recently forecasted that consumers have eased up on spending as the most recent report from The Conference Board showed a slowdown in consumer confidence, which hit a 13-year low in April. The US economy also showed the first contraction in three years in the first quarter.
Target’s first-quarter comparable sales fell 3.8 percent compared with analysts’ estimates of a 1.08 percent decline. It expects annual adjusted earnings of $7 to $9 per share, compared with its prior forecast of $8.80 to $9.80. Analysts were expecting $8.40.
“Expectations were very low for Target’s first quarter. Even against that, Target’s results came in light,” Michael Baker, a DA Davidson analyst, told the news agency Reuters. Target’s stock has performed poorly, down nearly 28 percent this year, in contrast to Walmart’s 9 percent gain and Home Depot’s 2.3 percent decline.
Target’s stock is tumbling on the news of its disappointing earnings report. As of 11am in New York (15:00 GMT), it was down 2.91 percent from the market open although it is up more than 1 percent over the past five days.
DEI boycotts weigh on sales
Target also said its first-quarter performance was impacted by changes made to its DEI policies in January.
Target ended many of its DEI policies, drawing condemnation as some of its critics noted that its commitment to inclusiveness had helped attract younger, more diverse consumers. The decision generated more attention as it coincided with US President Donald Trump’s executive order to eliminate DEI policies in federal agencies and schools.
The backlash led to economic boycotts, notably from Reverend Jamal-Harrison Bryant, a Georgia pastor who organised a 40-day “fast” of Target stores. He has since called for those efforts to continue in recognition of the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder by police in Minneapolis, Target’s headquarters.
CEO Brian Cornell said the reversal of some DEI policies played a role in first-quarter performance but he couldn’t quantify the impact.
Worse than competitors
“Target’s [results] do nothing to restore confidence in the company. On the contrary, they are emblematic of a business that has made too many mistakes and has lost its way on several fronts,” GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders told Reuters, pointing to issues including poor inventory management and a lack of exciting merchandise.
Target’s forecast contrasts with its bigger rival Walmart, which maintained its annual forecasts last week but said it would need to pass on higher prices due to tariffs. That has drawn the ire of Trump, who said Walmart should “eat the tariffs” on imported goods instead of passing on the costs.
Unlike Walmart, which generates the bulk of its revenues by selling groceries like bananas, milk, toilet paper and shampoo, a majority of what Target sells falls in the nonessential category – largely apparel, home furnishings and beauty products, which it sources from China.
TJX, the parent company of retailer TJ Maxx, also reported its earnings on Wednesday, and while tariffs loom, the company is set to maintain its forecasts. The Massachusetts-based big box retailer expects comparable sales to grow 2 percent to 3 percent during the current quarter.
Unlike Target and Walmart, TJ Maxx, relies on expansive sourcing from middlemen in the US, which limits the impact of any new tariffs on China.
Looming price hike
On a media call, Target executives declined to provide details on potential price increases due to tariffs. Most tariff-related increases could be offset, they said, but acknowledged that raising prices could be a “last resort”.
Cornell said pricing decisions will largely depend on ongoing efforts to source more products from the US and reduce reliance on China.
“That is going to play a very important role,” he said.
Rick Gomez, the company’s chief commercial officer, said Target is working on negotiating with suppliers, expanding sourcing to other Asian countries beyond China, re-evaluating its product assortment, and adjusting the timing and quantity of orders.
“These efforts are expected to offset the vast majority of the incremental tariff exposure,” Gomez said.
With the contract between USC and Notre Dame set to expire and one of college football’s most storied rivalries in serious danger of ending, officials at USC extended an offer to Notre Dame earlier this month in hopes of continuing the historic series for at least one more season — through the fall of 2026 — a person familiar with the negotiations not authorized to discuss them publicly told The Times.
The future of the rivalry beyond that, in the eyes of USC’s leaders, hinges in large part on what happens with the format of the College Football Playoff — namely, the number of automatic qualifiers guaranteed to the Big Ten in future playoff fields. And until those questions are answered, USC leaders agree the best course forward for its century-old rivalry with Notre Dame would be to continue their arrangement one season at a time.
Anything else would be “a strategically bad decision,” a USC source said.
That timeline is where the two rivals find themselves at an impasse. Notre Dame is seeking a long-term extension of the series, and in an interview with Sports Illustrated earlier this week, Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua not so subtly suggested that it was USC putting the rivalry at risk.
“I think Southern Cal and Notre Dame should play every year for as long as college football is played,” he told SI’s Pat Forde, “and SC knows that’s how we feel.”
The two blueblood programs have played 95 times since 1924, when the story goes that the wife of legendary Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne convinced her husband to schedule the series so she could visit Southern California every other year. In the century since, only World War II and the COVID-19 pandemic have stood in the way of USC and Notre Dame meeting on the football field. Between them, the two rivals boast 16 national titles, more than any other teams that play an annual college football series.
They’re scheduled to meet again in October in South Bend. What happens to the historic series after that matchup may come down to who blinks in a high-stakes game of chicken between the two schools.
USC has no plans to budge on its position without clarity over whether the Big Ten will have four automatic qualifiers in any future playoff format, a source told The Times. With nine conference games already built into the schedule and the possibility of an annual crossover matchup with the Southeastern Conference still on their radar, USC officials see no reason to commit long term to the Notre Dame matchup without assurances they wouldn’t be punished for scheduling such a marquee nonconference matchup.
The demands of Big Ten travel have also been a part of the conversation at USC, to the point officials broached the potential with Notre Dame of moving the game to the first month of the season. The hope was to better balance its future slate of travel to the Midwest and East Coast. Last season, in their Big Ten debut, the Trojans lost all four of their Big Ten road trips.
But Notre Dame was not receptive to the idea of moving the game, which traditionally has been played in the latter half of the football season.
The Irish agreed earlier this month to a 12-year home-and-home scheduling agreement with Clemson. But while that deal seemed like a precursor to moving on from the USC series, Sports Illustrated reported this week that it was not expected to stand in the way of continuing with the Trojans.
Uncertainty has loomed over the rivalry since last summer when USC coach Lincoln Riley was first asked about its future at Big Ten media days.
“I know it means a lot to a lot of people,” Riley said. “The purist in you [says] no doubt. Now if you get in a position where you got to make a decision on what’s best for SC to help us win a national championship vs. keep that [game], shoot, then you got to look at it.
“And listen, we’re not the first example of that. Look all the way across the country. There have been a lot of other teams sacrificing rivalry games. And I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen. But as we get into this playoff structure, and if it changes or not, we’re in this new conference, we’re going to learn something about this as we go and what the right and the best track is to winning a national championship, that’s going to evolve.”
Those comments led many to point fingers at Riley for laying the groundwork for the rivalry’s possible demise. But as the two sides now stand at an impasse, a person familiar with the discussion at USC insisted that any decision on the series and its future would come from athletic director Jennifer Cohen.
She’ll have plenty to weigh on that front in the coming months, with both schools likely to dig in their heels for the long haul, slinging mud at one another in the meantime.
A Los Angeles construction worker from Vietnam was among 13 immigrants roused by guards in full combat gear around 2:30 a.m. one day last week in a Texas detention facility, shackled, forced onto a bus and told they would be deported to Libya, two of the detainees’ lawyers said.
“It was very aggressive. They weren’t allowed to do anything,” said Tin Thanh Nguyen, an attorney for the Los Angeles man, whom he did not identify for fear of retaliation.
Libya, the politically unstable country in North Africa, is beset by “terrorism, unexploded landmines, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict,” according to the U.S. State Department. Human rights groups have documented inhumane conditions at detention facilities and migrant camps, including torture, forced labor and rape.
The construction worker, who has a criminal conviction on his record, had lived in the U.S. for decades and has a wife and teenage daughter. He was arrested after appearing at an annual immigration check-in at a Los Angeles office two months ago and then shuffled around to various detention facilities before arriving at the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall.
In the early morning hours of May 7, he was placed on the bus from the detention facility south to what was likely Lackland Air Force Base. From there, he and the rest of the group sat for hours on the tarmac in front of a military plane in the predawn dark, unsure what was going to happen. The men hailed from Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Mali, Burundi, Cuba, Bolivia, Mexico and the Philippines, the attorneys said. None were from Libya.
“My client and the other men on the bus were silent,” Nguyen said in court files. “My client was extremely scared.”
The plane hatch was open. Military personnel bustled in and out, appearing to bring in supplies and fuel the plane. Photographers positioned themselves in front of the military aircraft.
“Suddenly the bus starts moving and heading back to the detention facility,” said Johnny Sinodis, an attorney for another detainee, a Filipino who grew up and went to college in the United States and also had a criminal conviction.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Massachusetts had issued a warning to the administration to halt any immediate removal to Libya or any other third country, as it would violate a previous court order that officials must provide detainees with due process and notice in their own language. Lawyers had scrambled to get the order after media reports confirmed what their clients had told them: Removals to Libya appeared imminent.
Sinodis said his client and others were returned to the detention unit and placed in solitary confinement for 24 hours.
In his declaration, he said his client spoke to a Mexican and a Bolivian national who were in the group. Each had been told that their home countries would accept them, but the officials still said they were going to send them to Libya.
It’s been a week since the incident, and the lawyers said they are still fighting to stop their clients deportations to a third country.
The Trump administration deported hundreds of mostly Venezuelan men to a prison in El Salvador, invoking a wartime law to speedily remove accused gang members. Their deportation drew immediate challenges and became the most contentious piece of the immigration crackdown. Officials have also sent people to Panama who were not from that country.
This month, the foreign minister of Rwanda said in a televison interview it was in talks with U.S. officials to take in deported migrants.
It’s unclear how Libya came to be a possible destination for the immigrants. Two governments claim power in the nation. The Tripoli-based Government of National Unity has denied any deal with the Trump administration. The Government of National Stability, based in Benghazi, also rejected reports that it would take deportees.
The U.N. Human Rights Office said on Tuesday that it had information that at least 100 Venezuelans held in the Salvadoran megaprison weren’t told they were going to be deported to a third country, had no access to a lawyer and were unable to challenge the removal.
“This situation raises serious concerns regarding a wide array of rights that are fundamental to both U.S. and international law,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement. “The manner in which some of the individuals were detained and deported — including the use of shackles on them — as well as the demeaning rhetoric used against migrants, has also been profoundly disturbing.”
Sinodis said his client had already been in custody for months and been told that he would be deported to the Philippines in late April. But that month, he was transferred from the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Wash., to Texas. An officer in Tacoma told him the decision to move him there came from “headquarters,” according to court documents.
On May 5, he was scheduled to be interviewed by two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Texas. He expected to learn of his deportation date. Instead, they handed him a one-page document that said he would be deported to Libya. He was shocked, Sinodis said.
The man asked the officers whether there was anything he or his attorney could do to avoid this. They said no.
Nguyen said his client, who doesn’t speak English fluently, had a similar experience on the same day. The officers handed him a document in English that they said would allow him to be free in Libya. He doesn’t even know where Libya is and refused to sign the document. The officers told him he would be deported no matter what he did.
The next day, Sinodis said, his client’s commissary and phone accounts were zeroed out.
Sinodis finally reached an officer at the detention center who told him, “That’s crazy,” when asked about Libya. His client must have misheard, he said. But his client, who grew up on the West Coast, speaks fluent English.
Then on May 7, as things unfolded, the attorney reached another officer at the facility, who said he had no information that the man was going to Libya, and referred him back to an officer in Tacoma. A supervisor downplayed the situation.
“I can assure you this is not an emergency because the emergency does not exist,” the supervisor told him, according to court documents.
Shortly after noon that day, a detention center officer who identified himself as Garza called and told him he was looking into it, but so far had “no explanation” for why his client was told this, but he also couldn’t guarantee it didn’t happen.
Less than an hour later, his client called to tell him that he had been taken to an air base. He said when he was pulled out of his cell in the early morning, he saw the same two officers that interviewed him and asked him to sign the removal papers.
“He asks the officers, ‘Are we still going to Libya?” Sinodis said. “They said yes.”
