Published On 2 Aug 20262 Aug 2026
Harare, Zimbabwe – Harare’s streets have been quieter than usual as residents wait to see whether a call for a nationwide shutdown against constitutional changes would lead to protests.
The first thing that stood out was the traffic.
Cars on the roads leading into the city centre on Friday were fewer than usual. The morning rush hour that normally fills the capital’s streets was missing, and the journey into Harare’s central business district was quicker than expected.
For a normal working day in Zimbabwe, the difference was noticeable.
Police were deployed across Harare as opposition groups and civil society activists called for a nationwide shutdown over constitutional changes. Critics said the amendments could extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s time in office until 2030.
Across the city, the security presence was difficult to miss.
Police blocked access to a popular park where people often gather, making it clear that no one would be allowed inside. Nearby, water cannon trucks were parked in an open space that has been used for previous demonstrations.
By about 8:30am (06:30 GMT), parts of Harare’s central business district were slowly coming to life.
In areas where taxis operate and small businesses line the streets, some shops had opened while others remained closed.
The heavy police presence showed that authorities were prepared for possible demonstrations, which police have banned.
In Zimbabwe, public gatherings require police approval, and opposition groups have repeatedly criticised restrictions on protests.
As the day continued, Harare remained calm.
The shutdown call followed constitutional amendments approved by Zimbabwe’s Parliament and signed into law in July.
The changes move the next presidential election from 2028 to 2030 and extend presidential and parliamentary terms from five years to seven.
They also change how future presidents are chosen, replacing a direct presidential election by voters with a system in which the president would be elected by parliament.
Mnangagwa came to power in 2017 after longtime leader Robert Mugabe was removed from office.
He won elections in 2018 and 2023 and was previously expected to leave office at the end of his second term in 2028.
The amendments have drawn criticism from opposition groups and civil society organisations that argue they could allow Mnangagwa to remain in office beyond 2028.
The government has defended the changes, saying they are aimed at reducing political tensions and creating greater stability.
For Godfrey Gurira, who fought in Zimbabwe’s liberation war, the constitutional changes represent a betrayal of the ideals he fought for.
“When we went to war, we were fighting for the people,” he told Al Jazeera.
“We were fighting for one man, one vote. That’s what we want to see happening. We were not fighting for a dynasty or anything along those lines.”
The ruling ZANU-PF party has governed Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. The party has rejected accusations that the amendments are designed to extend Mnangagwa’s time in office.
Farai Marapira, the ZANU-PF’s information and publicity director, told Al Jazeera that the constitutional changes were intended to address political tensions linked to Zimbabwe’s electoral cycle.
“We have noted that there is a sequence which follows a five-year electoral cycle,” he said.
“Within the first two years, there is contestation of the previous election. In the third year, there is mobilisation for the next election.”
Marapira said the changes would reduce periods of heightened political tension before elections.
Opposition groups disagreed, saying the amendments weaken democratic accountability.
The shutdown call did not lead to widespread disruptions in Harare.
As the day continued, the city gradually returned to its normal rhythm.
More shops opened. Taxis returned to the streets. Traffic increased.
But the constitutional amendments that triggered the shutdown call remain contentious.
Opposition groups and activists are challenging the changes in the Constitutional Court while the government continues to defend them.
By the afternoon, Harare had largely returned to its normal weekday routine. But the dispute that brought police onto the streets and prompted the shutdown call is not over.
LIAM Payne allegedly flew into a drink and drug-fuelled fit of rage in his tragic final hours, according to sex workers who spent the day with the One Direction star.
The troubled singer died after falling 46ft from his third-floor hotel room balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 16, 2024.
Sworn statements from call girls Aldana Serrano and Lucila Goitea were taken hours after the tragic fall.
Now the documents, obtained by the Mail on Sunday, detail harrowing accounts suggesting the singer was on a path to destruction that day.
The pair say they were called to the CasaSur Palermo Hotel by Liam, 31, on the morning before he died and had consensual sex with him.
But they claim that the singer, who was worth £21m, became frustrated when it became difficult to pay for an agreed $5,000 (£3,700) fee as he had no cash.
Read more about Liam Payne
He allegedly smashed his £30,000 gold Rolex telling them he could “get ten of those,” before punching the hotel room TV three times.
After calming down, he is said to have fallen to his knees and asked the women to stay, claiming that “money didn’t make him happy”.
They say that Liam drunkenly serenaded them with his own songs before asking them for cocaine.
A toxicology report taken after his death revealed that the star had cocaine, alcohol and the powerful sedative Klonopin in his system at the time of the fatal fall.
Hotel worker Ezequiel Pereyra, 22, and waiter Braian Paiz, 26, have been charged with supplying the drugs and are awaiting trial.
They spent months in jail but were later released on bail. They deny the charges.
The singer, who had a history of addiction, arrived in the Argentine capital 16 days earlier to wait for his US visa renewal.
He spent the first two weeks of the trip with girlfriend Kate Cassidy and Argentinian businessman Rogelio ‘Roger’ Nores, 38, and was said to be sober for the entire fortnight.
After Kate returned to Miami on October 14 and Roger also left, Liam is believed to have fallen off the wagon.
He was told to leave the plush five-star Park Hyatt after trashing his room and launching into an alleged drink-fuelled tirade at the staff.
Liam then checked into the more modest, four-star CasaSur Palermo, where he reportedly called the two sex workers.
The women, who investigators treated as key witnesses, alleged Liam contacted one of them via WhatsApp after finding her profile online.
According to their statements, he sent photos of himself in bed at the hotel and a video to prove his identity after one of the women struggled to believe she was speaking to the One Direction star.
They say they arrived at the hotel around 11.30am where they showed their IDs to the front desk before being sent up to Liam’s room.
They said there was a communication barrier as the star only spoke English and they only spoke Spanish, so they relied on a translation app.
They claimed he initially tried to pay by international bank transfer, but they were unable to receive the money.
One woman said: “During our time there, we had sex with him, which was consensual sex, only once, and he wore protection.”
After spending around two hours in the room, the pair said they again asked to be paid the agreed $5,000 (£3,700).
Liam instead offered them his £30,000 gold Rolex, according to the statements.
One woman said: “We told him we only wanted money so he took it and smashed it. He told us he didn’t care about the money.
“And then he broke the TV, he punched it. He made us understand that he could smash everything because he knew he could pay for it.”
The women claimed they decided to leave, but Liam followed them downstairs into the hotel lobby, where they told staff he had smashed the television and refused to pay them.
While waiting in the lobby, they claimed Liam repeatedly paced around the hotel before returning to his room and then coming back downstairs.
The pair later returned briefly to collect belongings they had accidentally left behind.
One recalled: “He apologised for giving us a bad time.”
The women claimed they left shortly before 4pm and where Liam continued to act erratically.
Liam fell to his death at 5.07pm.
Aldana and Lucila only learned of Liam’s death after returning home and scrolling on social media, before police arrived later that evening to take their sworn statements.
It is unclear if they ever received the money.
ARE you a stinky food smuggler or perhaps a brazen barefooter? Because how you behave while on your flight this summer could reveal a lot about your personality.
New research by Booking.com has found that two-thirds of Brits treat the aeroplane cabin as a home-from-home, with a tenth admitting they kick off their shoes and go barefoot.
Major bugbears included passengers eating smelly food, watching films without headphones, leaning over fellow travellers to take photos of the sky, and doing manicures.
With more than four million passengers set to fly from British airports this month, The Sun’s Lynsey Clarke asks psychologist Emma Kenny what the most common in-flight behaviours say about you.
Among the biggest pet peeves for people – whether it’s on a plane or on public transport – are space hoggers and ‘manspreaders’.
If your seat is in the middle and you take up both armrests, you may irritate your neighbours, but Emma says: “You probably have a strong sense of what you consider fairness.
“Many people believe the middle seat has earned both armrests, so if you confidently claim them, you’re likely someone who values unwritten social rules.
“Just remember there’s a difference between quietly claiming your space and elbowing your neighbours into submission.”
Reddit threads consistently cite this as one of the most disgusting cabin behaviours and some passengers have even uploaded photos of the so-called ‘barefooters’.
Speaking about those who did this, Emma says: “Comfort is clearly your priority.
“You probably become so relaxed in your surroundings that you momentarily forget you’re still sharing the space with hundreds of strangers.
“It’s less about being deliberately inconsiderate and more about becoming so comfortable that your social awareness quietly checks out.”
If you shun the delights of the cabin crew’s trolley and prefer to order a simple black coffee, then this flight is not your first rodeo.
Emma says: “If you order black coffee you’re probably a seasoned traveller who sees flying as a practical part of the journey rather than the start of the holiday.
“You tend to be organised, forward-thinking and focused on arriving feeling your best.
“Black coffee drinkers often give the impression of someone who’s done this many times before and has their travel routine down to a fine art.”
Do you always book the same seat every time you fly?
Emma says: “You’re probably someone who likes routine, predictability and being in control of your environment.
“Knowing exactly where you’ll be sitting removes one more decision from the journey, helping you feel organised and relaxed.
“It’s a habit often seen in people who like planning ahead and minimising unnecessary stress.”
However, if you tend to skip the seat reservation, and hope others will swap so you can sit with your party, it means you’re a glass half-full kind of person.
Emma says: “You’re probably optimistic and naturally spontaneous, with a tendency to believe everything will somehow fall into place.
“While that flexibility can be one of your strengths, it can also mean expecting other people to accommodate plans you didn’t make in advance.
“It’s a classic example of assuming everyone shares your relaxed approach, which is very rarely the case.”
If you are always up for a good chinwag with the person sitting next to you, it says a lot about you.
Emma adds: “You’re likely highly sociable and energised by conversation.
“For some people, talking also helps reduce anxiety and makes unfamiliar situations feel more comfortable.
“The trick is recognising when your neighbour is equally chatty, or when they’ve put their headphones on for a very obvious reason.”
It isn’t easy being constrained in the seat for long periods.
And if you’re someone who unbuckles before the seatbelt sign goes off and talks through the safety presentation, then you are probably optimistic by nature.
Emma says: “You’re probably experiencing what’s known as optimism bias, the belief that nothing is going to happen because nothing ever has before.
“Familiarity can make us complacent, but experienced travellers know that paying attention to the safety briefing and waiting for the seatbelt sign to switch off before unbuckling is a small habit that can make a big difference.”
If you’re the passenger who keeps your backpack on right until you get to your seat, then you are very goal focussed.
Emma says: “You’re probably so focussed on reaching your seat that you lose awareness of what’s happening around you.
“Psychologists call this attentional narrowing, we become so focussed on one goal that we overlook how our behaviour affects others.
“Unfortunately, the people you’ve accidentally whacked with your backpack are usually very aware of it.”
Some passengers find it difficult to switch off and insist on making one last Facetime call, or filming a TikTok video before take-off.
Emma says: “You probably enjoy sharing experiences as they happen.
“You’re someone who likes documenting life and bringing friends and followers along for the journey.
“The challenge is remembering that not everyone wants to be an extra in your travel content.”
A quarter of Brits drink alcohol in the airport and one tenth admit to ‘getting drunk’ mid-air, according to a survey for the Institute of Alcohol Studies.
Emma says: “For many people, the holiday begins the moment they clear security, so ordering a beer, wine or G&T is all part of switching into holiday mode.
“It often reflects someone who enjoys marking occasions with little rituals and embraces experiences rather than simply getting from A to B.
“For nervous flyers, though, it can also be a way of taking the edge off pre-flight anxiety, although alcohol isn’t the best remedy for that.”
Sandi Smolker/iStock Editorial via Getty Images
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Nations Championship – round three
Argentina (3) 24
Tries: Carreras, penalty try, Piccardo Cons: Albornoz 2 Pen: Albornoz
England (19) 31
Tries: Freeman, Earl 2, M Smith, Feyi-Waboso Cons: F Smith 3
England held on to beat Argentina in a chaotic match in the Nations Championship after the hosts had a last-gasp try controversially ruled out in Santiago del Estero.
With 13-man England leading 31-24, Argentina wing Bautista Delguy scored in the corner with the final play – leaving a difficult conversion to secure a draw.
Referee Angus Gardner had awarded the try on field, but television match official Brett Cronan insisted Delguy was in touch.
While Gardner repeatedly suggested there was no clear evidence to overturn his original on-field call, the try was eventually chalked off.
Henry Slade’s covering tackle on Delguy proved to be the decisive moment, with Gardner surrounded by frustrated Argentina players at full-time.
A combined seven yellow cards were shown in what was a thrilling and action-packed game.
Steve Borthwick’s side looked set for back-to-back Nations Championship wins after Tommy Freeman’s try and two scores from Ben Earl gave them a 16-point half-time lead.
The Pumas, who wore replicas of the football team’s 1986 World Cup kit for the match, scored next before taking advantage of two England yellow cards, but their own ill-discipline prevented them punishing the visitors further.
Marcus Smith’s try in the corner came with number eight Joaquin Oviedo in the sin-bin, before Santiago Carreras joined his team-mate on the sidelines for 10 minutes.
An individual try from Immanuel Feyi-Waboso then silenced the passionate home crowd.
However, England replacements Henry Pollock and Emmanuel Iyogun were next to be sent to the sin-bin, making for a nervy finish.
Justo Piccardo’s late try and Argentina’s subsequent break had 13-man England scrambling, only for a combination of Noah Caluori and Slade to do just enough to force the full-time whistle.
Having gained the backing of the Rugby Football Union after just one win in this year’s Six Nations – England’s worst performance since the tournament’s expansion from the Five Nations in 2000 – this summer’s fixtures were pivotal for Borthwick’s future.
A tough defeat at Ellis Park against world champion South Africa was expected, but wins over Fiji and Argentina have set England up well for November’s Nations Championship games.
Venezuela’s reconstruction is hampered by persistent US sanctions and frozen assets. (Rome Arrieche)
Caracas, July 17, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – A group of US Congress members addressed a letter to President Donald Trump advocating an immediate removal of sanctions against Venezuela in the wake of its recent double earthquake.
“These economic restrictions are severely hampering urgent relief efforts, and will continue to threaten Venezuela’s recovery and long-term reconstruction if allowed to remain in place,” the text read.
The missive was signed by 14 representatives from the Democratic Party, including Jesús García, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. They cited the United Nations estimates of earthquake damage as high as US $37 billion, roughly a third of Venezuela’s current GDP.
“The existing sanctions regime on Venezuela has far-reaching indiscriminate effects,” the legislators continued. “The removal of sanctions will allow state institutions to more effectively coordinate and deliver emergency healthcare, shelter and food.”
The letter was backed by a number of NGOs, including Just Foreign Policy, Demand Progress, and Peace Action.
Venezuela was rocked by near-simultaneous 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes on June 24 that caused widespread destruction in north-central regions. The coastal state of La Guaira was the worst hit, with hundreds of collapsed buildings. The latest official death count stands at nearly 5000.
Since 2017, Washington has levied wide-reaching sanctions against Venezuela, targeting key sectors such as banking, mining, trade, and especially the oil industry. Coercive measures against Venezuela’s all-important energy sector have caused revenue losses estimated at more than US $20 billion per year. The sanctions regime imposed during Trump’s first administration was largely kept in place by the Joe Biden White House.
Venezuela’s GDP contracted by three-quarters between 2014 and 2020, with 88 percent of the contraction taking place under the US economic blockade. In recent days, hundreds of scholars have also demanded the lifting of coercive measures against Venezuela.
Despite pledges of assistance following the devastating tremors, the Trump White House has not entertained any sanctions relief, issuing only a four-month license allowing earthquake relief-related transactions.
However, the US representatives called the measure “entirely insufficient” due to their limited scope and overcompliance from financial institutions.
They urged the Trump administration to “do everything to facilitate Venezuela’s access to its frozen assets abroad.” Venezuelan leaders have called on Washington and its allies to lift sanctions and unfreeze assets for reconstruction efforts. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez penned a letter to UK King Charles III requesting the release of around US $4.5 billion in Venezuelan gold held by the Bank of England.
The US and European allies are estimated to hold over $10 billion in other assets, including frozen bank accounts and roughly $5 billion in IMF-issued Special Drawing Rights (SDR). In contrast, US offers of post-earthquake humanitarian aid have only totaled $386 million.
Since the January 3 military strikes and kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration has seized control of Venezuelan export revenues, particularly from oil sales. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed the acting Rodríguez administration must submit a “budget request” before accessing its own funds.
Trump has repeatedly stated that the US has recouped the costs of the January 3 operation “many times over” from its undisclosed cut taken from Venezuelan oil proceeds. Economist Francisco Rodríguez has found a significant delay in Washington’s disbursement of Venezuelan funds.
The Trump administration also took advantage of the June 24 natural disaster to significantly expand its military footprint in the Caribbean nation. The Southern Command confirmed the presence of more than 900 servicemen on Venezuelan territory by the end of June.
US forces have taken over air traffic coordination, communications, and security operations at the Simón Bolívar International Airport, while two US warships have established a “command-and-control node” at La Guaira port.
Edited by Lucas Koerner in Caracas.
NESTLED in the Scottish Highlands is one of the quirkiest holiday homes in the country.
Eagle Brae is a Scottish hidden gem made up of beautiful log cabins that sit on a remote hillside.
It’s consistently rated as ‘the most unique luxury log cabin resort in Scotland‘ and made an appearance on Tripadvisor’s 2026 Best of the Best Awards this year.
It is part of the worldwide one of a kind category – and came in third on the list overall.
To make the cut, the hotel or holiday home has to be in the top one per cent of over eight million listings on Tripadvisor – so it’s a very impressive feat.
On Tripadvisor, Eagle Brae has 696 five-star reviews – one guest called it the “best place in Scotland” with others calling their stay “magical”, “faultless” and “heaven on Earth”.
The unique stay was described by Tripadvisor as “Hobbit-level cottagecore” thanks to its Middle-earth look.
Eagle Brae is made up of ten wooden log cabins with open-air decks and grass on the roof.
Inside all the cabins it’s very cosy with log burners, comfy sofas, plaid patterned curtains and cushions, with deer antlers hanging on the walls.
The larger cabins can sleep up to six people to suit family stays, smaller ones sleep up to two people – and dogs are welcome too.
The log cabins are self-catered, so each is kitted out with a fully-equipped kitchen.
There’s even a concierge service for anyone who wants a fully stocked pantry before arrival.
Eagle Brae is near Glen Affric National Nature Reserve and the River Farrar so there’s plenty of opportunity to do outdoor activities.
They offer guided canoe trips, black grouse safaris, pony trekking, mountain biking, clay pigeon shooting and even pony trekking.
At Eagle Brae and while exploring the area, you’re likely to spot wildlife like red deer and squirrels, pine martens and perhaps even a golden eagle.
Back at the log cabins, on a clear night, it’s possible to see the Northern Lights.
Rates for larger cabins like Aquila that sleeps six offer short breaks from £1,064.
Rates for Parus, which sleeps two, has short breaks from £833.
According to Tripadvisor these are the most unique stays…
England will make a late decision on whether Declan Rice is fit to start the World Cup semi-final against Argentina.
But there remains optimism the Arsenal midfielder can shake off the effects of an illness to play on Wednesday.
Rice, who suffered with a sickness bug in the lead-up to Saturday’s quarter-final victory over Norway in Miami, was substituted at half-time.
Head coach Thomas Tuchel admitted afterwards that Rice had spent three days in bed before the match, which England won 2-1 after extra time.
It is understood Rice still has not recovered fully from the illness – picked up in Mexico, where England beat the co-hosts 3-2 in the last 16 – but his condition has improved markedly over the past 48 hours.
As things stand, there is growing hope he will be well enough to start in Atlanta.
Rice is almost certain to rule himself fit for the semi-final given the enormity of the occasion.
But given the severity of the illness, England medics are set to make a late call on his availability.
And Tuchel will wait to see how rapidly his condition improves before making a final decision on whether to pick him.
In addition to his recovery from the sickness bug, Rice has also been carrying a neural problem for several months, affecting his lower back and hamstring.
The midfielder, who has 78 caps, has started all but one of England’s World Cup games so far, missing the 2-0 group-stage win over Panama because of an injury flare-up.
PHILADELPHIA — If the Dodgers picked up Tarik Skubal, would that be overkill?
Logan Webb, the longtime ace of the San Francisco Giants, laughed.
“I don’t think they need him,” Webb said, “but you never count those guys out on getting anybody in the league.”
The Dodgers could make a mockery of the National League West by trading for Skubal, who won the last two American League Cy Young awards for the Detroit Tigers.
Then again, you could argue the Dodgers already are making a mockery of the NL West. They lead the division by 11½ games, more than double the lead in any other division.
So, on the day before the All-Star Game, I posed the overkill question to the stars from the other teams in the NL West.
“Would I consider it overkill? It’s a crazy game,” said outfielder Corbin Carroll of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the team that swept the Dodgers over the weekend at Dodger Stadium.
“I don’t think, going into the weekend, that too many people would have expected that. The nature of this game is about you can never be good enough, and you always have to look to keep improving. I think I would just view it in that same light.”
The Dodgers are not about winning the NL West this season. From owner Mark Walter to president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, from manager Dave Roberts to franchise icon Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers last fall loudly and proudly declared their intent to three-peat, to become the first NL team ever to win three consecutive World Series championships.
Their postseason rotation could be so overloaded that All-Star Justin Wrobleski, whose 2.69 ERA compares favorably to NL All-Star starter Cristopher Sanchez (2.62), could find himself in the bullpen behind starters Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ohtani, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow.
On the other hand, Ohtani missed his last start for treatment of a troublesome left knee, and neither Snell nor Glasnow has pitched since May. The Dodgers might not be entirely sure of projecting their October health and effectiveness by the Aug. 3 trade deadline, and the chance to three-peat might never come again.
The Dodgers have the prospects and the money to acquire Skubal, should the Tigers trade him. The Dodgers might or might not have the need, but they have the motivation.
“I wouldn’t blame them,” Colorado Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman said. “They’re trying to win another World Series.”
Said San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller: “He’d help any team he went to. They’ve got a strong rotation, a lot of guys that are going to get healthy and help them out, but I don’t necessarily consider it overkill. Anybody, on any given night.”
If the Dodgers acquired Skubal, the fans of those rival NL West teams would explode in frustration, perhaps even in rage, at the back-to-back champions. Ohtani for $700 million, Kyle Tucker for $60 million per year, and now the rich kids would get Skubal, too?
The owners are trying to channel that level of fan frustration and anger in their push for a salary cap. They say they’re trying to help teams like, say, the Rockies and Pittsburgh Pirates compete more effectively against the Dodgers.
The Pirates have not posted a winning record in eight years and have not appeared in the playoffs 11 years. Surely, a salary cap would help them, right?
“I don’t think there’s any need for a salary cap,” Pirates ace Paul Skenes said. “I don’t know if there’s a perfect answer, but I do know the salary cap would not be a fix-all for parity.”
Parity is in the eye of the beholder, or more accurately in the definition of the beholder. The owners like to note that no small-market team has won the World Series since the Kansas City Royals in 2015.
However, in a league that owners insist demands immediate reform, 23 of the 30 teams are within four games of a playoff spot.
As one of eight players on the executive committee of the players’ union, Skenes is involved in the current collective bargaining negotiations. Salary cap or none, would it be overkill if the Dodgers picked up Skubal?
“They’re trying to win, aren’t they?” Skenes said. “You can’t ever blame a team for going out and doing everything possible to win.”
A group of 17 news organizations that are suing OpenAI for its use of their content to train artificial intelligence models asked a federal court for sanctions because they allege the company lied about its ability to search its own datasets. File Photo by Adam Vaughan/EPA
July 9 (UPI) — More than a dozen news organizations asked a court to sanction OpenAI for withholding evidence in lawsuits filed against the company for copyright infringement.
The New York Times, New York Daily News, The Intercept and 14 other news organizations asked a federal court on Thursday for sanctions against the artificial intelligence company for lying about its ability to provide data showing how it has used copyrighted material to train its models.
The companies had sued OpenAI for violating copyright law by using their content to create a secondary product — its AI models — without paying for it, The New York Times and Variety reported.
In court, the AI company had said it could not search training datasets and output data, but earlier this year one of the company’s employees said during a deposition that the data could be accessed.
“The evidence is in OpenAI’s training data sets and ChatGPT output logs,” the organizations said in the court filing.
“But instead of just producing that evidence at the start of the case and focusing on the merits of its fair use defense, OpenAI chose obstruction,” they said.
In addition to accusing OpenAI of lying about searching for the organizations’ content in its data, they allege that the company deleted data logs, which would violate a court order to preserve relevant evidence.
An attorney for the organizations said in a statement that OpenAI had claimed that searching its ChatGPT outputs was “infeasible, burdensome and invasive of users’ privacy” but then lied about having already done searches.
OpenAI called the news organizations’ allegations in the filing “blatantly false,” and said that its use of their content falls under “the long-established principles of fair use.”
The clamour surrounding the World Cup’s controversy involving US President Donald Trump and FIFA chief Gianni Infantino had barely died down when another arose in the aftermath of Argentina’s controversial 3-2 win over Egypt in the round-of-16 match in Atlanta.
As the defending champions staged a stunning comeback against the Pharaohs in the knockout match on Tuesday, questions were raised about an unusually late VAR call that saw Egypt’s second goal rescinded, followed by a chain of events that led to Argentina’s victory.
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A day earlier, Trump had revealed that he had asked FIFA to review, and overturn, USA striker Folarin Balogun’s one-game suspension for a red card, and the governing body controversially obliged. The matter was dusted off by Belgium as they dumped the hosts out of the tournament with a 4-1 win in the match Balogun was initially suspended from but ended up playing – to no avail.
While the anger surrounding FIFA’s red-card decision was directed at both the football governing body and Trump, Egypt’s outburst was solely aimed at the organisation, which, according to Egypt’s manager, had “wanted to keep the world champions in the competition”.
Head coach Hossam Hassan speculated that match officials had been put under pressure to ensure that one of the biggest names, Argentina’s Lionel Messi, stayed in the tournament.
“Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running,” Hassan told beIN Sports after the match.
“In football, there are sometimes external factors that go beyond the technical aspects. The world champions received support at every level.”
While the tournament has been no stranger to the political spotlight of questionable integrity, experts say the lines between sport and politics have been blurred even further.
“After the Balogun affair, who knows which decisions are legitimate and can be trusted, and which can’t?” Simon Chadwick, professor of Afro-Eurasian sport at the Emlyon Business School in Shanghai, told Al Jazeera.
“If the Trump administration is maintaining a watching brief over the tournament, it’s worth remembering: Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, is a staunch Trump supporter.”
Trump and his Argentinian counterpart share a close relationship. Milei is a regular feature at pro-Trump political gatherings in the United States, and Trump has described Argentina’s far-right populist leader as his “favourite president”.
Chadwick also opined that Hassan’s vociferous support for Palestine at the World Cup could have prompted some officials to “have built-in biases when making decisions”.
Hassan dedicated part of his pre-match news conference on Monday to making an impassioned plea for the people of Palestine, especially those in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Circling back to the VAR call that sliced Egypt’s lead in half and was followed by decisions that conveniently favoured Argentina, Chadwick said the period of play was “unusual”.
He wondered why the referee had not called a foul in real-time that VAR picked up several moments later and only once Egypt scored their second goal.
“There was something distinctly unusual about the goal and VAR decision, something that was amplified when Argentina scored one of its goals,” Chadwick said, questioning refereeing standards in the match.
“In the build-up, an infringement was perpetrated by an Argentina player, which could have been interpreted as a similar offence to that supposedly committed earlier by the Egyptian player. At the very least, refereeing standards during the game were somewhat inconsistent, although critics are clearly making much more serious claims.”
But while many social media commentators and football experts were outraged at the decisions – Portuguese football icon Jose Mourinho reportedly termed the match “daylight robbery” – some football experts said it was a closer call.
“Robbed might be a strong word,” football analyst Ali El Garni said.
“I’d say decisions made by both the referee and VAR could have gone either way, and Argentina benefitted from all the 50/50 incidents.
“The incident leading to the Egyptian disallowed goal was an indisputable foul. The question is how far VAR should go back to check the legitimacy of a goal,” said El Garni, who has extensively reported on European and North African football.
However, he did wonder if VAR would have been involved had the scoreline been 2-0 in Argentina’s favour instead.
“Would the goal have been disallowed had it been scored by Argentina? It’s unlikely,” he said.
“What’s making it worse for Egypt is the fact that a similar incident involving what appeared to be a foul on [Mohamed] Salah took place before Argentina’s third goal, and VAR didn’t intervene,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chadwick questioned why VAR officials had raised the issue if the on-field officials did not call a foul when Egypt‘s Marwan Attia lightly tugged the shirt and stepped on the foot of Lisandro Martinez.
A logical solution to the VAR issue, Chadwick proposed, would be “for fans and viewers to listen to an assessment of the alleged offence, hear the various arguments, and have a clear insight into the basis for a decision”.
Chadwick admitted that although Egyptian players should not have become overwhelmed with emotion, “a sense of injustice was induced by the VAR decision”.
“This technology was supposed to minimise doubt and bring consistency. Instead, its use during this match had significant cognitive and behavioural effects,” he said.
“Indeed, rather than brandishing cards and inflaming the situation even further, the referee should have used his discretion and judgement to defuse the situation.”
While Chadwick dismissed rumours of match-rigging in favour of Messi and Argentina, he acknowledged the pull of the iconic footballer’s star power.
“There is no doubt that Messi is a box office attraction the tournament really can’t afford to be without.”
July 7 (UPI) — A group of more than 1,200 former Justice Department employees signed a letter asking senators to reject the nomination of Todd Blanche as attorney general.
Justice Connection, a nonprofit organization that advocates for Justice Department civil servants, sent the letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. Signees argue that Blanche’s only goal as attorney general is to show loyalty to President Donald Trump, displaying political bias in an apolitical department.
The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to consider Blanche’s nomination is scheduled for July 15 and 16.
“Since his confirmation as Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche has shown time and again that his guiding star is fealty to the president, not the Constitution,” Stacey Young, executive director and founder of Justice Connection, said in a statement.
“That fealty led to the purge of thousands of experienced career employees, a loss that will have a generational impact on the Justice Department’s ability to carry out its mission and maintain credibility with the courts and the American people.”
The letter highlights Blanche’s management of the department, his role in mishandling the congressionally ordered release of the investigation files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and support for Trump’s plan to pay Jan. 6 rioters and other allies.
Under Blanche, more than 16,000 employees have left the Justice Department, Justice Connection says, including more than one quarter of its attorneys. Signatories include civil servants who worked under Republican and Democratic administrations.
Blanche was nominated by Trump to succeed former Attorney General Pam Bondi last month.
“The consequences of Blanche’s attacks on DOJ’s apolitical workforce radiate beyond the halls of Main Justice, affecting the entire country,” the letter reads. “They’ve meant that much of the department’s vital work isn’t being done, or isn’t being done well — leaving communities less safe, Americans’ rights less protected, and our national security more vulnerable.”
WASHINGTON — President Trump did not like what he saw. So, once again, he picked up the phone.
Trump said Monday that he called FIFA President Gianni Infantino after he disagreed with the World Cup referee who gave a red card to U.S. men’s soccer team star Folarin Balogun. The discipline, which Trump called “very unfair” and a “stain” on the World Cup, would have barred Balogun from playing in Monday’s elimination game against Belgium.
“I asked for a review because I didn’t think it was a foul,” Trump told reporters during an event in the Oval Office. “I am good at this stuff. I didn’t think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled.”
Trump said he initially didn’t know “what the hell a red card was” or what it meant. “When I found out, I said, ‘You gotta be kidding!’” he said.
Trump’s involvement in soccer’s disciplinary process created an international uproar.
UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, said FIFA “crossed a red line” with the reversal. Belgium’s football association appealed the ruling, which FIFA denied during a hearing Monday. Belgian coach Rudi Garcia mocked the decision as an April Fools’ joke.
“This decision clearly raises many questions,” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot said in a statement Monday, according to the New York Times.
“If a phone call really is what explains this incomprehensible decision, it would amount to undermining the most basic rules of soccer and sports,” added Prévot, a former soccer referee.
Trump’s close relationship with Infantino also has drawn new scrutiny.
In December, Infantino presented Trump with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize, an award the governing body created after Trump was passed over for the Nobel Peace Prize. That decision is now the subject of an ethics complaint, backed by members of the European Parliament, who argue it compromised FIFA’s political neutrality.
Trump said he did not ask Infantino to reverse the call. But that was the outcome reached by FIFA’s disciplinary committee, which, in 64 years, has reversed a red-card penalty only once during a World Cup tournament.
The episode serves as a reminder of a pattern of behavior the president has exhibited when he doesn’t get his way, regardless of the rules of the game. For Trump, a deal-maker who has described the world as “a casino,” often pushes the boundaries of long-standing norms.
After FIFA reversed course, Trump called the decision “brilliant” and said Belgium can now “be really proud” if they were to beat the U.S. team on Monday night.
“The other way, if they beat us, we’ll say, or I’ll say it was rigged, just like the election was rigged in 2020, but I won’t get into that,” Trump said.
Steven Levitsky, a Harvard political scientist and co-author of “How Democracies Die,” said Trump’s action are “perfectly consistent with how Trump has behaved on the world stage.”
“He has no interest in or no respect for any kind of international rules or norms,” he said.
Levitsky said the events illustrate the Trump administration’s worldview, one that, he argues, revolves around the ethos that “if we’re strong enough, we can leverage our way to whatever the hell we want.”
As examples, he pointed to the administration’s military strikes on boats in the Caribbean and efforts to acquire Greenland, both of which have led to diplomatic tensions.
Trump also has a history of using phone calls to pressure officials to reach an outcome he wants.
In a 2019 call, he asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate his political rival, a moment that became the catalyst of his first impeachment. And after losing the 2020 election, he pressed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes,” the margin he needed to flip the state, a move that ultimately led to a criminal indictment.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino presents President Trump with the FIFA Peace Prize in December.
(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)
Trump defended his call with Infantino to reporters and appeared to downplay how much it may have contributed to the red card penalty being reversed.
“I can’t tell [Infantino] what to do, and I don’t believe he made the decision,” Trump said. “I think it was a committee that made the decision, and they made the right decision, because No. 1, it wasn’t a foul, and you want to see a game with your best players.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who was in the Oval Office when Trump acknowledged the call with Infantino, made reference to the Peace Prize as he thanked Trump for “getting rid of the ridiculous red card” ahead of the knockout game.
“There was a reason the FIFA trophy sat here for as long as it did,” Cruz told Trump.
Infantino, for his part, issued a statement Monday insisting that the decision came from FIFA’s independent disciplinary committee and that he told Trump the case would be decided by the body. Bill White, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, also defended Trump, saying he “would never interfere with the inner workings of FIFA.”
Norman Eisen, co-founder of Democracy Defenders Action, said Trump’s decision to get involved in soccer’s disciplinary process is a “classic example of achieving a right outcome through wrong means.” He added that he believes the Trump administration and FIFA showed to be “two of the most corrupt entities around.”
“Like many Americans who are following the World Cup and rooting our team on, I thought it was a bad call,” Eisen said. “But I would never have chosen to bring that about in this fashion.”
Levitsky argued that given the popularity of the World Cup, which hundreds of millions of people around the world are tuning into to watch, Trump is opening himself up for more scrutiny on the global scale.
“People across the world who don’t give a damn about politics are following the World Cup, and they’re seeing the United States behave this way, taking what it can take at the expense of others unfairly,” he said. “Of course it is going to hurt the U.S. image abroad.”
DETAILS from Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s elaborate wedding have been revealed, including the custom dress the singer wore and who stood beside them on their big day.
The couple exchanged vows on Friday at Madison Square Garden in New York City in an extravagant ceremony.
The U.S. Sun obtained a press release from Taylor’s rep shortly after the nuptials, which revealed some specifics about the special occasion.
Both the bride’s and groom’s looks were created by Christian Dior Haute Couture, designed by Jonathan Anderson, Creative Director of Dior Women’s, Men’s, and Haute Couture Collections, in close collaboration with the newlyweds.
Their shoes were custom-made by Christian Louboutin, and Taylor wore Cartier jewelry, per the release.
Some fans had already suspected that Taylor would wear a Christian Dior gown after she appeared to drop an Easter egg during an outing in April.
Read More on Taylor Swift
Taylor stepped out with a buttercup yellow Dior bag from Anderson’s debut show in the spring, leading many to speculate that she’d chosen him as the designer for her wedding dress.
The “royal wedding” is the designer’s first couture wedding dress for a world-renowned celebrity.
The lovebirds also did not have the traditional bridesmaids or groomsmen; instead, Taylor’s brother, Austin Swift, served as her Man of Honor, and Travis‘ brother, Jason Kelce, served as his Best Man.
It was a day to remember for the pair and their guests, as comedian and friend Adam Sandler officiated the ceremony.
Screens outside The Garden flashed signs that read, “JUST&T MARRIED!” about an hour after the ceremony began.
Fans showed their love for the beloved couple, gathering outside the venue and singing Taylor’s hit song, Love Story.
The reception is currently underway, continuing the three-day wedding festivities with 1,000 guests in attendance.
Rumors previously circulated that Taylor and Travis had already tied the knot in a private ceremony in Tennessee.
However, The U.S. Sun exclusively spoke to a relative of Taylor’s before the ceremony, who assured that the NYC bash would be the couple’s first wedding.
It was previously believed that Taylor’s BFFs, Selena Gomez and Gigi Hadid, were a part of the songstress’s bridal party.
It was also thought that Taylor’s childhood best friend, Abigail Anderson, would serve as her Maid of Honor.
Abigail made a major faux pas with her wedding ensemble when she was seen wearing the exact same $800 Sau Lee dress as Laura Kruk, the fiancée of New York Giants wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster.
Hundreds of other celebrity guests stunned in their “black tie” ensembles, including Ed Sheeran, Karlie Kloss, Bradley Cooper, Dakota Johnson, and Ellie Goulding.
Many of Travis’ NFL buddies and their wives also attended the big event.
The high-profile affair prompted a massive police presence, street closures, and parking restrictions around the venue.
The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed that some NYPD cops expressed their frustrations over the large-scale event taking place during a near record-setting heat wave and the July 4 holiday.
Police have also posted up outside of Taylor’s $50 million Tribeca compound, which served as the headquarters for the wedding day.
It doesn’t appear the chaos will die down anytime soon, as the festivities are expected to continue into the weekend.
No other public events have been booked at the venue until next week.
A brother of veteran NFL star Calais Campbell has been charged with the murder of their mother in her Atlanta home on Tuesday.
Ciarre Campbell, one of the Baltimore Ravens defensive end’s seven siblings, faces two counts of murder as well as aggravated assault, and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony in connection with the death of his 71-year-old mother Nateal Campbell, according to the affidavits for his arrest issued by the magistrate court of Fulton County, Ga.
“We are devastated to share that the Campbell Family has lost its matriarch, Mrs. Nateal Campbell,” the family said in a statement. “While the details of her passing are still being investigated, we take comfort in knowing she is reunited with our father, her beloved Chuck, and in the arms of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We ask for privacy at this time so that we may honor her and share in our overwhelming grief privately and as a family.”
According to the Atlanta Police Department, officers responded Tuesday at around 12:36 p.m. to a welfare check at Nateal Campbell’s address. They found a male, later identified as Ciarre Campbell, 41, who “appeared to have barricaded himself inside the home.”
Nateal Campbell was found unresponsive inside the home and was pronounced dead at the scene by EMS services. Ciarre Campbell was detained by the officers and transported to the Fulton County Jail, where he was held without bond. He waived his initial court hearing Wednesday.
A booking photo of Ciarre Campbell provided by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday.
(Fulton County Sheriff’s Office Via Associated Press)
WSB-TV in Atlanta reports that Ciarre Campbell is being represented by defense attorney Jay Abt, who told the station that his client is innocent.
“We look forward to his day in court,” Abt said. “I’m honored to defend him and, most importantly, the Campbell family.”
In a 911 call released by police, a man said he was calling for authorities to check on his mother at her house. He said he was there with his sister and brother-in-law but they couldn’t get inside. According to the caller, his brother — whom the caller says is “mentally ill” — had been staying at the house and was seen driving their mother’s car, “which is very unusual [because] he doesn’t drive at all.”
The caller said his brother was inside the house and told them their mother had left, even though video footage from a neighbor showed that wasn’t the case.
The affidavit for arrest stated that Ciarre Campbell created “incisions upon the victim’s neck causing her to be nearly decapitated.”
Atlanta police say they have received at least 10 calls for service at that address since September, including one in April reporting arson. According to a police report from that incident, Kimba Blaylock had called 911 because her brother, identified in the report as Ciarrie Campbell, had started a fire to rid the house of demons.”
Firefighters found no one inside the house.
Another police report from May 26 states that police were dispatched to the address on a dispute call. The responding officer wrote that a neighbor told him that her neighbor’s son, identified in the report as Ciarri Campbell, “was acting crazy and putting stuff in her trash and yelling at her.” She told the officer that the neighbor’s son had just been released from a hospital “for mental issues” a couple of days earlier.
The neighbor also said that Nateal Campbell had told her that her son “was a good kid.”
Calais Campbell is a five-time Pro Bowl selection who has played 18 seasons in the NFL for the Arizona Cardinals, Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, Atlanta Falcons and Ravens. He was named the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year in 2019.
“We are incredibly saddened to learn about the passing of Calais Campbell’s mother,” the Ravens said Wednesday in a statement. “We extend our deepest condolences and full support to Calais and his family during this difficult time.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
COUNTRY legend Alan Jackson is preparing to take the stage one final time – but behind his emotional farewell has been a grueling 15-year battle with a degenerative nerve disease that has changed his life.
The music icon was diagnosed with Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease in 2011, but kept it private for a decade before publicly revealing the condition in 2021.
The hereditary disorder causes nerve damage, mostly in the arms and legs, leading to muscle weakness, loss of sensation, balance problems, and difficulty walking.
While it’s not typically considered fatal, it has led to deaths – including 911: Nashville actress Isabelle Tate, who passed away from the disease in 2025.
Behind Alan’s final curtain call is a brutal health battle that has quietly followed him for more than 15 years.
“It’s been affecting me for years,” he said in 2021 while first revealing the diagnosis on the Today Show.
“And it’s getting more and more obvious. I know I’m not going to be able to tour like I have.”
Alan, 67, also revealed the diagnosis runs in his family, explaining: “I have this neuropathy and neurological disease. It’s genetic that I inherited from my daddy.”
The disease affects balance, coordination, and muscle control – making even simple movement more difficult as it progresses.
For a performer known for commanding massive stages and playing live instruments, the condition has made touring especially challenging.
Alan has opened up about his struggles, saying: “I know I’m stumbling around on stage. And now I’m having a little trouble balancing, even in front of the microphone.”
Over the years, Alan has continued performing despite worsening symptoms, though he acknowledged the disease has forced him to adjust.
“I don’t feel comfortable,” he said of performing while navigating the disorder. “It’s going to disable me eventually.”
While Charcot-Marie-Tooth does not always directly impact life expectancy, there is no cure, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease (often shortened to CMT) is a group of inherited disorders that damage the peripheral nerves, which are the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord that control movement and sensation. The condition causes the nerves to send weaker signals to muscles, which can lead to muscle weakness, shrinking of muscles, and loss of feeling, especially in the feet, legs, hands, and arms.
Early warning signs can include:
Treatment typically focuses on managing symptoms through physical therapy, braces, pain management, and mobility support.
Still, Alan said he has refused to let the diagnosis define him, pushing through multiple tours and live shows while accepting that the end of his road on stage would come in the nearer future.
Now, the singer is set for his final full-length concert, Last Call: One More for the Road – The Finale, on June 27 at Nissan Stadium.
The massive send-off will bring Alan back to Nashville – the city where his career first took off – and feature an all-star lineup including Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, George Strait, Carrie Underwood, Lainey Wilson, Little Big Town, Thomas Rhett, Jake Owen, Jon Pardi, and Lee Ann Womack.
The sold-out show will begin in the early evening and rock on all night, with more than 50,000 fans expected in attendance.
And for those who can’t make it in person, the historic farewell will be filmed for an NBC primetime special titled Alan Jackson: The Last Show, before streaming the following day on Peacock.
For the country crooner, it’s a full-circle moment – and the closing chapter of one of music’s most enduring careers.
The Georgia native has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, with a staggering 35 Number 1 hits and 50 Top 10 singles to his name.
He’s won two Grammy Awards, 16 CMA Awards, 17 ACM Awards, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017.
The singer is also a member of the Grand Ole Opry and has long been praised for helping preserve traditional country music through hits like Chattahoochee, Livin’ on Love, Remember When, and Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).
Alan has long credited his family as the backbone of his decades-long career.
He has been married to his high school sweetheart, Denise Jackson, since 1979 after the pair met as teenagers in their hometown of Newnan, Georgia.
Denise famously helped launch his music career after running into country legend Glen Campbell on a flight and passing along Alan’s demo – a moment that helped change their lives forever.
Together, Alan and Denise share three daughters: Mattie Jackson Smith, Alexandra Jane Bradshaw, and Dani Grace Jackson.
As O’Neill throws himself into planning for the new campaign, he has had little time to digest last season’s success.
Celtic secured their 14th Premiership crown in 15 years in remarkable fashion, winning their final seven matches to snatch a title that had at times seemed to be edging out of reach.
“I feel as if, no it hasn’t [sunk in],” O’Neill said.
“If I’d no longer been at the football club, I think I would have more time to digest it and say, oh that was really great, surreal.
“It feels as if you’re just back in again, and so I probably haven’t got the time. Maybe the first league game at Celtic Park, maybe I’ll think about it then, but genuinely, no I don’t think it has really sunk in.”
The gruelling, draining nature of the job and title triumph left O’Neill unsure if he was open to taking the post full-time this summer. But the potential for regrets pushed him back into the dugout.
“It was strange in the sense that if I’d been asked about it a day after we’d done it, I don’t think I would have had the energy,” he said.
“And I suppose deep down really, if I felt okay by maybe late July, August or September time and things had moved on without me, then you think, oh gosh, maybe I would like to have stayed on.
“So I tried to project myself a couple of months further forward.”
The Champions League incentive also played a part. Celtic’s play-off tie is looming large – the first leg takes place on 18 or 19 August – and O’Neill is well versed in the competition’s importance to the club.
Celtic, then under Brendan Rodgers, suffered a calamitous qualifying exit to Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty last summer to set the tone for their turbulent season.
“Absolutely vital,” O’Neill said of reaching the league phase.
“If we’re going to do it, first of all, we’re talking about trying to augment the squad. Secondly, it’s getting players prepared both physically and mentally for those games, and that becomes very, very important.
“The disappointment of last season, not making it into the Champions League because of having a good run the previous year, I think that carried over to league performances. Malaise is far too strong a word but disappointment and concern about everything and as a consequence I think we fell down a little bit but we raised it at the end.
“Now this tie that we will be in, whoever it may be, becomes very important.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is once again dealing with blowback for being out of town when a massive fire ignited.
The fire at a cold storage facility in Boyle Heights began burning Wednesday, hours after Bass departed for the dedication of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.
Since arriving back in Los Angeles around 6 p.m. Thursday, Bass has been to the scene of the fire numerous times, declared a local emergency, hosted five press conferences, met with local leaders and families affected by the fire, and distributed masks and air purifiers.
But her quick return and public appearances have not stopped some from drawing parallels to last year’s Palisades fire. Bass was in Ghana on a diplomatic trip when the deadly inferno spread amid extraordinarily high Santa Ana winds that forecasters had warned about for days.
While the scale of the destruction in Boyle Heights doesn’t compare to the 12 lives and thousands of homes lost in the Palisades fire, Angelenos are having flashbacks as toxic smoke hovers over parts of the region.
Bass, who is running for reelection, said in an interview that she rarely travels and always worries about what could happen when she does — whether it’s a fire or a big car accident. She also said she chose Chief Jaime Moore to lead the Los Angeles Fire Department because she trusts him to handle a crisis like this fire.
“I was in Chicago three hours away, and I was there 24 hours,” Bass said, noting that she was in constant communication with the chief during her brief trip.
Bass’ handling of the Palisades fire, beginning with her absence from the city, has had a long-lasting, negative impact on voters’ opinions of her, with polls repeatedly showing high unfavorability ratings.
A May poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, which was co-sponsored by The Times, found that 57% of likely Los Angeles voters had unfavorable views of Bass, while 35% had favorable views.
Bass, who served in Congress for more than a decade, was designated by then-President Biden to be part of his official delegation to attend the inauguration of Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama. She was captured in photos at an embassy cocktail party in Accra as the Palisades fire exploded Jan. 7, 2025.
Last week, there was no warning that anything was amiss when she left the city. But any echoes of the Palisades fire could damage Bass’ image as she campaigns against City Councilmember Nithya Raman in the November runoff election.
“We’re talking about a fire, and she’s out of town, so it completely and totally reinforces that narrative of January 2025, and that’s not helpful,” said Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.
Guerra said while Bass can do much of her job from another city for a day, a mayor is often faulted for not being front and center during an emergency.
“With today’s tech and instant communication, is it really that different that she’s in Chicago making calls than at City Hall?” he said. “But it has always been the case for executives that, symbolically, it is their job to be at the point of the crisis to assure those that are impacted directly, and the city as a whole, that they have the situation under control.”
Guerra said it didn’t help that Kevin Marchetti, the owner of the cold storage facility operating in the burning building, contributed the maximum, $1,800, to Bass’ reelection campaign last year.
Raman declined to comment on Bass’ handling of the Boyle Heights fire.
The blaze ignited Wednesday at the nearly 500,000-square-foot cold storage facility run by a company called Lineage, beginning on the roof, which caused a partial collapse and moved the flames into the building, where 85 million pounds of food are stored.
Firefighters have been battling the flames for seven days now, and smoke has made air dangerous to breathe in neighborhoods across the Los Angeles region.
Bass’ absence from the city soon caught the eye of right-wingers, with Spencer Pratt, who ran against her in the nonpartisan primary election, and Steve Hilton, who is running for governor, among those critiquing her.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with Karen Bass that she seems to keep leaving the city every time something happens,” Hilton said at a Monday press conference in Boyle Heights.
Pratt, who lost his house in the Palisades fire and came in third in the primary, drew the comparison directly.
“Karen was sipping cocktails in Chicago when the Boyle Heights Fire erupted, just as she was sipping cocktails in Ghana when our Palisades Fire erupted. I warned you all … what happened to us will happen to all of LA,” he posted on X on Sunday.
As she flew back to L.A. from Ghana, Bass repeatedly reminded her staff that she could make calls from the military flight, her text messages showed. But during one call or Zoom with her staffers, she had technical problems, texting, “I am listening don’t know why you can’t [hear] me.”
During the Palisades fire, then-Fire Chief Kristin Crowley publicly accused city leaders of failing to give her department the resources it needed. Bass ultimately removed Crowley from her post over her handling of the fire.
Moore, the new chief, has appeared to be in lockstep with the mayor during the Boyle Heights fire, saying she has been an active partner.
About 30 minutes after the fire began, Moore was on the scene. Ten minutes after he arrived, he was on the phone with Bass, he said.
Over the next day, while Bass was in Chicago, Moore estimated that they spoke six times over the phone.
Moore said her absence was a non-issue.
“Until Mayor Bass goes through our 20-week drill tower, and she learns to fight a fire and she can stand next to me on a hose line, I don’t need her in this city,” Moore told The Times on Tuesday.
“She’s our mayor. She was doing exactly what she needed to do,” he added. “She answered the phone. She provided me exactly what I needed, and that was, ‘Whatever you need to do, you do it.’”
Residents in Damascus rejected US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Syria should confront Hezbollah in Lebanon. They say Syria should avoid being drawn into new regional conflicts. In a rare critique, Trump told Israel to let Syria take on Hezbollah.
Published On 24 Jun 202624 Jun 2026
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Instead of the usual phalanx of cars and buses, Saturday evening traffic on Wilshire Boulevard was replaced by massive balloons, mobile sculptures, gaggles of gallerists and an endless array of elaborate costumes.
The first-ever Los Angeles Art Parade, a collaboration between the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and famed gallerist Jeffrey Deitch, transformed the stretch of Wilshire known as Museum Row into a human-powered exhibition of the city’s dynamic art scene.
About 146 groups, made up of more than 1,400 participants, marched in the parade, with projects ranging from larger-than-life marionette dolls to squads of children in do-it-yourself costumes to mobile re-creations of LACMA’s most iconic art pieces.
The parade followed an all-day block party thrown by LACMA as part of its Grand Opening Weekend, celebrating the new David Geffen Galleries and the completion of the 20-year-long, $724-million campus construction project. Together, the block party and art parade attracted an estimated 60,000 attendees, who swarmed the galleries, danced to explosive DJ sets, and lined the streets to watch the eclectic procession of artists.
People dance during Flying Lotus’ DJ set at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in Los Angeles.
(Ariana Drehsler/For The Times)
According to LACMA Director and Chief Executive Michael Govan, the event was a long time coming and “just the beginning” of how his team plans to use the campus space, which he previously called the city’s “living room.”
“We’re not gonna close Wilshire every weekend, but it’s an example of what we can do,” Govan said. “It’s really exciting to see the building work.”
Following a crowd-drawing DJ set from electronic low-fi hip-hop artist Flying Lotus, Govan introduced L.A. County District 2 Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell. She said the event made her “proud to represent LACMA” and to be a Metro board member, referencing the recently-opened Metro D-line extension, which dropped attendees off a quick stroll from LACMA’s entrance.
“Just seeing you all at this amazing public facility does my heart good,” she said. “This is your local government at work.”
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1. Silhouettes of people watching the parade. 2. A man and woman wearing tulle over them walk in the parade. 3. The crowd at the Los Angeles County Museum of History, Science, and Art (LACMA) Block Party. (Ariana Drehsler/For The Times)
As the party raged on LACMA’s campus, hundreds of parade participants hurriedly prepared for their debuts in the corners of nearby streets and parking lots. One group inflated a giant disco ball, while another smeared themselves with body paint next to a line of rehearsing dancers. Elsewhere, a megaphone-wielding leader herded dozens of black cats in the style of artist Gary Baseman into some semblance of order.
Deitch originally staged the first Art Parades in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood between 2005 and 2008. While those took a more art-world-exclusive approach, Deitch said the Los Angeles version was designed with inclusion in mind. The call for parade proposals was open to “emerging and established artists and creatives of all ages and backgrounds,” according to guidelines, as long as the work was appropriate for all ages and didn’t require a motorized element.
“The New York one was much more oriented toward people in the art community. We didn’t put out this kind of open call,” Deitch explained. “This is very different in its openness and its diversity. There are some famous artists and famous choreographers, L.A. legends. But there are also mothers from the San Fernando Valley with their children. I really love that.”
Artist Jordan Rountree’s rolling woodcut-sculpture called the Devil Jack in a Box with Crocodile appeared in Saturday’s Block Party and Art Parade hosted by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s (LACMA).
(Ariana Drehsler/For The Times)
“It’s just a very open platform, so you don’t have to have an M.F.A. to express yourself as an artist,” he added.
The procession was dizzying in its variety and scale. While many projects leaned into beauty and whimsy, others took a more overtly political approach, displaying anti-ICE messages on T-shirts and signs, sporting trans pride flags, or, in the case of performance artist Amy Kaps, wearing an unraveling U.S. constitution.
Some even referenced local causes, such as the “Boo Boo Bandage Brigade for Safe Streets,” which advocated for fixing sidewalks and increasing accessibility downtown. One particularly moving display by the Pali-Altadena Collective featured participants carrying miniature models of buildings and landmarks lost in the 2025 fires.
Chicana artist Nao Bustamante and Track 16 Gallery brought “Brown Disco” to the streets, which featured a giant gold disco ball and figures from decades of L.A. queer nightlife.
The crowd at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Art Parade.
(Ariana Drehsler/For The Times)
“As a brown, queer person, I think that this really brought a light into our community, and now its presence [creates] an intergenerational conversation,” said Track 16 Assistant Director Steve Galindo. “The nightlife scene is how we come out as queer people, so it’s really special to be in the parade.”
For Joie Mitchell, volunteer coordinator for the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, which recently purchased its permanent Highland Park home, the parade was an opportunity to “show up for L.A. and be involved in the art history of this city.”
“Puppetry has been part of the arts for so many years,” added Daisy Hernandez, the theater’s production manager. “It’s a way that people express themselves, just like every other art form. So that’s what we’re here to do: express ourselves through puppetry.”
CHICAGO — A spate of shootings in Chicago has led to seven deaths and at least 38 injuries since Friday evening, police say, prompting President Trump to renew his call for a military intervention in the nation’s third-largest city.
It is the latest in a series of threats made and interventions ordered by the Republican president against a Democratic-led city, including Los Angeles.
“Why isn’t Governor Pritzker calling me for help. I could make Chicago a safe City in ONE MONTH, in ONE YEAR, it would be one of the safest!!!” Trump said in a Sunday morning post on social media.
The office of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender who has repeatedly rebuffed Trump’s calls for a military intervention, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Under Trump, National Guard troops have been deployed on crime-fighting missions in Democratic-led cities including New Orleans, Washington and Memphis, Tenn.; and Marines and Guardsmen were sent to L.A. last year amid protests over federal immigration raids.
Although Chicago Police Department data show a slight increase in shooting incidents compared with the first half of last year, violent crime rates have generally dropped in the city over the last few years, in parallel with national trends.
Preliminary information shared by Chicago police indicate there have been at least two dozen shooting incidents since 5 p.m. Friday. Those killed by gunfire include a 21-year-old shot in the chest Sunday, an 18-year-old shot in the armpit Saturday evening and a 50-year-old shot in the chest Friday.
At least 12 people in a crowd on a Chicago street suffered gunshot wounds Friday evening after an SUV pulled up and two people inside started shooting, police said.
The eight men and four women in the group ranged in age from 17 to 47. They were being treated at four hospitals. Police said another man suffered unknown injuries and refused medical treatment.
That shooting happened on Juneteenth, a holiday that celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S. Earlier Friday, former President Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama welcomed the first visitors to his presidential center on the South Side.
“What should have been a night of celebration and community reflection for Juneteenth was shattered by a horrific act of violence,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in an X post Saturday. “My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their loved ones.”
“Violence has no place in our city, and those responsible will be held accountable,” he said.
