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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has presented a 19th package of sanctions on Russia, urging members of the European Union to adopt new sanctions on Russia’s exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in an attempt to push Moscow to end its “brutal” war in Ukraine.

“Russia’s war economy is sustained by revenues from fossil fuels,” von der Leyen said on Friday. “We want to cut these revenues. So we are banning imports of Russian LNG into European markets.”

The sanctions must be endorsed by all 27 EU member countries before they can enter into force.

“It is time to turn off the tap,” von der Leyen said, calling on members to quickly endorse the move.

“We want Russia to leave the battlefield and come to the negotiation table, and this is the way to give peace a real chance,” she added.

Russia is showing the full extent of its contempt for diplomacy and international law.

So we’re increasing the pressure.

With our 19th package of sanctions covering energy, financial services and trade restrictions ↓ https://t.co/uW7HuZp3br

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) September 19, 2025

EU sanctions have already targeted more than 2,500 entities, including banks, ministries, energy companies and officials.

Those being sanctioned include President Vladimir Putin, his close associates, dozens of Russian lawmakers and several oligarchs. The measures largely consist of travel bans and asset freezes.

Von der Leyen said the bloc’s existing sanctions are having an effect.

“Russia’s overheated war economy is coming to its limit,” she said, pointing to persistently high inflation in the country.

The EU has so far adopted 18 sanction packages against Moscow, though reaching agreement on new targets often takes weeks.

Russian LNG accounted for roughly 16 percent of the bloc’s total imports last year, with Europe being Russia’s largest buyer of LNG.

Hungary and Slovakia have opposed any phase-out of Russian LNG, creating potential obstacles to further action, and they have been known to use their veto power to gain concessions.

Moscow to ‘pay the price’

In a separate statement, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc was moving up a previous pledge to end all imports of LNG before the end of 2027 by 12 months.

“Our aim is to speed up the phase-out of Russian liquefied natural gas by 1 Jan 2027,” she posted on X.

“Moscow thinks it can keep its war going. We are making sure it pays the price for it.”

Tearing children from their families and deporting them to re-education camps is beyond description.
We will not let Russia weaponize childhood itself.

We are also going to make is easier to sanction individuals involved in the abduction and indoctrination of Ukrainian children.

— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) September 19, 2025

Kallas said the bloc was also looking to “make it easier” to sanction individuals involved in abducting Ukrainian children.

Since 2022, Russia has faced global criticism over the deportation of Ukrainian families, many of them with children.

“Tearing children from their families and deporting them to re-education camps is beyond description,” Kallas posted on social media. “We will not let Russia weaponise childhood itself.”

UK sanctions target Georgian businessmen

Meanwhile, the UK announced sanctions on Friday against two Georgian businessmen over their support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as two tankers carrying Russian oil.

“The UK has announced new sanctions targeting Georgia-linked supporters of Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine,” the UK foreign ministry said in a statement.

“As Russia’s war footing weakens, the Kremlin is increasingly looking to proxies in third countries to support its war and propaganda operations, including in Georgia,” the ministry’s statement said.

Among the individuals sanctioned are Georgian media mogul and politician Levan Vasadze, whom the UK accuses of putting out pro-Russian disinformation.

Otar Partskhaladze, former prosecutor general of Georgia and someone London said had “extensive links to Russia,” was also sanctioned.

In addition, two tankers were sanctioned for carrying Russian oil to the Georgian port in Batumi in violation of Western restrictions.

“Putin’s war machine relies on an international web to spread lies and fund this network,” Minister of State Stephen Doughty said, according to the statement.

“We’re cutting off another lifeline by targeting and deterring those in Georgia who provide support for Putin’s illegal war in Ukraine.”

Sept. 19 (UPI) — Britain’s outgoing spy chief, Richard Moore, warned Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown no intention of negotiating peace with Ukraine because he doesn’t view the former Soviet republic as having its own sovereignty.

Moore made the remarks at the British consulate in Istanbul as he prepares to step down from his role as chief of the Secret Intelligence Service. He has led the organization, also known as MI6, for five years.

“I have seen absolutely no evidence that President Putin has any interest in a negotiated peace short of Ukraine capitulation,” Moore said as he address efforts by Britain and the United States to broker a deal to resolve the conflict.

Putin “is stringing us along,” Moore added. “Because the issue … has always been sovereignty: Putin denies Ukraine’s sovereignty and its very existence as a country and nation.”

Moore said Putin has attempted to portray that Russian victory over Ukraine is “inevitable,” but accused the president of lying to his people and the world.

“He seeks to impose his imperial will by all means at his disposal,” Moore said, adding that Putin doesn’t have the ability to take Ukraine by force.

“Bluntly, Putin has bitten off more than he can chew. He thought he was going to win an easy victory. But he — and many others — underestimated the Ukrainians,” Moore said.

“Indeed, Putin’s actions have strengthened Ukrainian national identity and accelerated the country’s westward trajectory, as well as persuaded Sweden and Finland into joining NATO.”

Moore chose Istanbul for his farewell speech because he said Turkey is of “pivotal importance” to the international community.

“On almost all of the issues that I have grappled with as chief of MI6, Turkey has been a key player,” he said.

Moore spent eight years living there, including four as British ambassador from 2014 to 2017. He also studied in the country as a student and his daughter was born there.

Upon Moore’s departure later this month, MI6’s current technology lead, Blaise Metreweli, will take over as head of the organization. She will be the MI6’s first female chief since its founding in 1909.

WASHINGTON — America’s public health system is headed to a “very dangerous place” with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his team of anti-vaccine advisors in charge, fired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Susan Monarez warned senators on Wednesday.

Describing extraordinary turmoil inside the nation’s health agencies, Monarez and former CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry described exchanges in which Kennedy or political advisors rebuffed data supporting the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

Monarez, who was fired after just 29 days on the job following disagreements with Kennedy, told senators deadly diseases like polio and whooping cough, long contained, are poised to make a comeback in the U.S.

“I believe preventable diseases will return, and I believe we will have our children harmed by things they don’t need to be harmed by,” Monarez said before the Senate health committee.

Monarez describes her firing by RFK Jr.

Monarez said she was ordered by Kennedy to resign if she did not sign off on new vaccine recommendations, which are expected to be released later this week by an advisory panel that Kennedy has stocked with medical experts and vaccine skeptics. She said that when she asked for data or science to back up Kennedy’s request to change the childhood vaccination schedule, he offered none.

She added that Kennedy told her “he spoke to the president every day about changing the childhood vaccination schedule.”

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician who chairs the powerful health committee, listened intently as Monarez and Houry described conversations with Kennedy and his advisers.

“To be clear, he said there was not science or data, but he still expected you to change schedule?” Cassidy asked.

Cassidy carefully praised President Trump for his commitment to promoting health policies but made it clear he was concerned about the circumstances surrounding Monarez’s removal.

Houry, meanwhile, described similar exchanges with Kennedy’s political advisors, who took an unprecedented role in preparing materials for meetings of the CDC’s advisory vaccine panel.

Ahead of this week’s meeting of the panel, Houry offered to include data around the hepatitis B shot that is administered to newborns to prevent spread of the deadly disease from the mother. She said a Kennedy advisor dismissed the data as biased because it might support keeping the shots on the schedule.

“You’re suggesting that they wanted to move away from the birth dose, but they were afraid that your data would say that they should retain it?” Cassidy asked.

Critical vaccine decisions are ahead

During the Senate hearing, Democrats, all of whom opposed Monarez’s nomination, also questioned Kennedy’s motives for firing Monarez, who was approved for the job unanimously by Republicans.

“Frankly, she stood up for protecting the well-being of the American people, and for that reason she was fired,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats.

Monarez said it was both her refusal to sign off on new vaccination recommendations without scientific evidence and her unwillingness to fire high-ranking career CDC officials without cause that led to her ousting.

Kennedy has denied Monarez’s accusations that he ordered “rubber-stamped” vaccine recommendations but has acknowledged he demanded firings. He has described Monarez as admitting to him that she is “untrustworthy,” a claim Monarez has denied through her attorney.

While Senate Republicans have been mostly loath to challenge Trump or even Kennedy, many of them have expressed concerns about the lack of availability of COVID-19 vaccines and the health department’s decisions to scale back some childhood vaccines.

Others have backed up Kennedy’s distrust of the nation’s health agencies.

Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, a doctor, aggressively questioned Monarez about her “philosophy” on vaccines as she explained that her decisions were based on science. Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville said Trump was elected to make change and suggested Monarez’s job was to be loyal to Kennedy.

“America needs better than this,” Tuberville said.

The Senate hearing was taking place just a day before the vaccine panel starts its two-day session in Atlanta to discuss shots against COVID-19, hepatitis B and chickenpox. It’s unclear how the panel might vote on the recommendations, though members have raised doubts about whether hepatitis B shots administered to newborns are necessary and have suggested COVID-19 recommendations should be more restricted.

The CDC director must endorse those recommendations before they become official. Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill, now serving as the CDC’s acting director, will be responsible for that.

“I’m very nervous about it,” Monarez said of the meeting.

Seitz and Jalonick write for the Associated Press. AP writers Mike Stobbe in New York and Lauran Neergaard in Washington contributed to this report.

U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino — the brash agent who led a phalanx of military personnel into MacArthur Park this summer — was called as a witness Wednesday in a misdemeanor assault case against a protester, who allegedly struck a federal agent.

Bovino, one of the faces of President Trump’s immigration crackdown that began in Los Angeles and is now underway in Chicago, took the stand to testify that he witnessed an assault committed by Brayan Ramos-Brito in Paramount on June 7.

Outfitted in his green Border Patrol uniform, Bovino testified that he witnessed Ramos-Brito drag his arm back and strike an agent with an open palm in the chest.

The incident occurred during a skirmish outside a federal building between federal law enforcement agents and locals frustrated by Trump’s immigration policies.

On a cross-examination, federal public defender Cuauhtemoc Ortega questioned Bovino about being the subject of a misconduct investigation a few years ago and receiving a reprimand for referring to undocumented immigrants as “scum, filth and trash.”

Bovino denied referring to undocumented immigrants that way and said he was referring to “a specific criminal illegal alien” — a Honduran national who he said had raped a child and reentered the United States and had been caught at or near the Baton Rouge Border Patrol station.

“I said that about a specific individual, not about undocumented peoples, that’s not correct,” he said.

Ortega pushed back, reading from the reprimand, which Bovino signed, stating that he was describing “illegal aliens.”

“They did not say one illegal alien,” Ortega said. “They said you describing illegal aliens, and or criminals, as scum, trash and filth is misconduct. Isn’t that correct?”

“The report states that,” Bovino said.

Ortega said that Bovino was warned if he committed any instance of misconduct again, “you could be fired.”

More than 40 people have been charged with a range of federal offenses, including assaulting officers and interfering with immigration enforcement, at either downtown protests or the scene of immigration raids throughout the region this summer, the U.S. attorney’s office in L.A. said this week.

Ramos-Brito’s case is the first to go to trial.

The case centers around a protest outside the Paramount Business Center, across the street from Home Depot.

Already tensions were high, with federal officials raiding a retail and distribution warehouse in downtown L.A. in early June, arresting dozens of workers and a top union official.

At the Paramount complex, which houses Homeland Security Investigation offices, protesters began arriving around 10 a.m on June 7. Among them was Ramos-Brito.

Several videos played in court Tuesday showed Ramos-Brito and another man cursing at Border Patrol agents and stepping inches from their faces with balled fists. At one point, Ramos-Brito approached multiple Border Patrol agents who appeared to be Latino and said “you’re a f—ing disgrace if you’re Mexican.”

Asst. U.S. Atty. Patrick Kibbe said that while many protesters were “passionately” demonstrating, Ramos-Brito crossed a line by striking U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jonathan Morales.

“There’s a constitutional right to protest peacefully. It is a crime to hit a federal officer,” Kibbe said.

Federal public defender M. Bo Griffith, however, said Ramos-Brito was the victim of an assault, not the other way around.

Both social media and body-worn camera footage played in court clearly show Morales shove Ramos-Brito first, sending him flying backward into the busy intersection of Alondra Blvd. While footage shows Morales marching back toward the agent with his fists balled, no angle clearly captures the alleged assault.

Aside from Morales, three other agents took the stand Tuesday, but none said they saw Ramos-Brito hit Morales. None of the agents who testified were outfitted with body-worn cameras that day, according to Border Patrol Asst. Chief Jorge Rivera-Navarro, who serves as chief of staff for “Operation At Large” in Los Angeles.

Some of the Border Patrol agents swarming L.A. in recent months come from stations that don’t normally wear body-worn cameras, according to Navarro. He testified that he has since issued an order that led to cameras being distributed to agents working in L.A.

The clash that led to the assault charge started when Ramos-Brito stepped to U.S. Border Patrol Agent Eduardo Mejorado, who said he repeatedly asked Ramos-Brito to move to the sidewalk as the protest was blocking traffic. Video shows Mejorado place his hand on Ramos-Brito’s shoulder twice, and the defendant swatting it away.

At that point, Morales, a 24-year veteran of the Border Patrol, said he thought he needed to step in and de-escalate the situation between his fellow agent and Ramos-Brito. He did so by shoving Ramos-Brito backward into the intersection, according to video played in court. Morales said Ramos-Brito then charged at him while cursing and threw a punch at the upper part of his chest and throat.

On cross-examination, Griffith confronted Morales and Mejorado with inconsistencies between descriptions of the event they previously gave to a Homeland Security Investigations officer and their testimony in court. It was not the first time such a discrepancy affected the case.

Federal prosecutors previously dropped charges against Jose Mojica, another protester who was arrested alongside Ramos-Brito, after video footage called into question the testimony of an immigration enforcement agent.

According to an investigation summary of Mojica’s arrest previously reviewed by The Times, Mejorado claimed a man was screaming in his face that he was going to “shoot him,” then punched him at the Paramount protest. The officer said he and other agents started chasing the man, but were “stopped by two other males,” later identified as Mojica and Ramos-Brito.

Video played in court Tuesday and previously reported by The Times shows that sequence of events did not happen. Ramos-Brito and Mojica were arrested in a dogpile of agents after Ramos-Brito allegedly struck Mojica. There was no chase.

Questioned about Mojica’s case in July, a Homeland Security spokesperson said they were unable to comment on cases “under active litigation.”

Defense attorneys said Ramos-Brito sustained multiple contusions on his face, neck and back and had cuts and scrapes on his body from being dragged across the pavement later.

According to his attorneys, Ramos-Brito’s only prior interaction with law enforcement was for driving without a license.

The case could prove to be a bellwether for other immigration protest charges filed by Acting U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli in a region where many potential jurors have negative views of immigration enforcement, or may be immigrants themselves.

On Tuesday morning, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson had to remove 21 potential jurors from the pool, several of whom said they could not be impartial due to their views on immigration policy.

Many of the potential jurors said they were first or second generation immigrants from the Philippines, Colombia, Bulgaria, Jamaica and Canada.

“I believe that immigrants are part of this country and I’m kind of partial with the defendant,” said one man, a landscaper from Lancaster.

Sept. 17 (UPI) — The main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, the British child missing since 2007, was freed Wednesday from a prison outside of Hanover in northwestern Germany after completing a sentence for an unrelated rape conviction.

Police confirmed that Christian Bruckner, 48, left Sehnde Prison, accompanied by his lawyer, after authorities, who had been desperately trying to find a way to keep him incarcerated, conceded there were no legal grounds for his continued detention.

It was unclear if he would be required to wear an electronic tracker on his ankle as demanded by prosecutors who believe he is responsible for three-year-old Madeleine’s disappearance 18 years ago from a resort in southwestern Portugal, which they are treating as a homicide.

German prosecutors also want Bruckner, a convicted pedophile and drifter who spent much of the early 2000s traveling between different European countries, to have to report to authorities on a regular basis and surrender his passport, citing him as a flight risk as they pursue an 8-year-long investigation.

State prosecutors say they have circumstantial evidence connecting him to the crime, including that his mobile phone logged in the area where Madeleine vanished from a holiday apartment where she was staying with her family, as well as confessions Bruckner allegedly made to three separate witnesses.

However, the evidence so far has been insufficient for an indictment and Bruckner has never been charged with any offense related to Madeleine’s disappearance.

Bruckner was convicted and sentenced to a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence for raping an elderly American woman in 2005 in Praia de Luz, from where Madeleine disappeared 18 months later.

In October, he was found not guilty of rape and child sex abuse charges in a trial in Braunschweig, east of Hanover, after the court ruled there was insufficient evidence and that the prosecution’s witnesses were “unreliable.”

The acquittal had knock-on effects on the McCann investigation and prosecutors’ effort to keep Bruckner in preventative custody beyond the end of his sentence because their case relies on some of the same witnesses.

Forensic searches directed by German police investigators, including the use of divers, were carried out at a remote reservoir Bruckner was known to frequent, 30 miles away from Praia de Luz, two years apart in May 2023 and this summer.

The search in June also focused on a 120-acre area between the Ocean Club resort where the McCann family were staying and a house Bruckner lived in at the time.

Bruckner this week declined to be interviewed by Scotland Yard detectives from Britain’s Met Police, which has also been investigating the case for the past 18 years — although as a missing persons case due to differences in the German and British legal systems.

The Met’s Detective Chief Insp. Mark Cranwell confirmed Monday the force’s request had been rejected, but that Bruckner remained a suspect.

“We have requested an interview with this German suspect but, for legal reasons, this can only be done via an International Letter of Request, which has been submitted. It was subsequently refused by the suspect. In the absence of an interview, we will nevertheless continue to pursue any viable lines of inquiry,” said Cranwell.

Al Jazeera’s James Bays challenged UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres about why he has not referred to Israel’s war on Gaza as a genocide. On Tuesday a UN commission of inquiry concluded Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.

DNA evidence links the suspect in the assassination of the conservative American activist Charlie Kirk last week to the scene of the crime, the director of the FBI has said.

DNA from a towel and a screwdriver recovered from the crime scene both match Tyler Robinson, FBI Director Kash Patel said on Monday.

Robinson, 22, was arrested by police on Thursday after a 33-hour manhunt for the killer.

“I can report today that the DNA hits from the towel that was wrapped around the firearm and the DNA on the screwdriver are positively processed for the suspect in custody,” Patel said in an interview on Fox News’s Fox & Friends.

Patel said Robinson had also expressed his desire to “take out” Kirk in a text exchange with another person, and had written a note detailing his plans to commit the crime.

Patel said the note had been destroyed, but investigators recovered forensic evidence of its existence at the home of Robinson and his romantic partner, who prosecutors have said has been cooperating in the investigation.

“We have evidence to show what was in that note, which is… basically saying… ‘I have the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I’m going to take it’,” he said.

Kirk, the CEO and cofounder of conservative youth activist organisation Turning Point USA and a close ally of US President Donald Trump, was shot dead last Wednesday during a speaking event at a university in Utah.

The killing of Kirk, a polarising figure who was lionised by conservatives and reviled by liberals, has provoked condemnation across the political spectrum, while drawing attention to deep political divisions in the United States and raising fears of further political violence.

The murder has also prompted calls for retribution among the political right, including from Trump, who has promised to use the power of the federal government to crack down on left-wing networks that he claims are driving violence.

On Monday, Trump said his administration was looking into bringing racketeering charges against left-wing groups believed to be funding agitators, and favoured designating the loose-knit antifascist group Antifa as domestic terrorists.

Trump’s pledge to crack down on what he says is left-wing extremism has raised fears that his administration may seek to use Kirk’s murder as a pretext to stifle legitimate dissent.

In an appearance as guest host of Kirk’s podcast, Vice President JD Vance backed a grassroots online campaign to get people who celebrated Kirk’s death fired, urging listeners to “call them out” and “call their employer.”

Numerous employees across the US have been fired or put on leave over their social media commentary about Kirk’s death, not all of whom celebrated or justified the assassination.

Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah said on Monday that she had been fired over her social media posts about Kirk.

In a column on Substack, Attiah said she had been terminated for “speaking out against political violence, racial double standards, and America’s apathy toward guns.”

Attiah included a number of past posts about political violence in her column, only one of which mentioned Kirk specifically.

That posted misquoted Kirk as saying that black women “do not not have the brain processing power to be taken seriously.”

Kirk’s actual comments specifically referred to the intelligence of four black women, including former first lady Michelle Obama and Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Responding to a claim by Vance that “most of the lunatics” in US politics reside on the far-left, Democratic lawmaker Greg Casar accused the Trump administration of weaponising concerns about political violence against its opponents.

“He cannot be allowed to use the horrible murder of Charlie Kirk as a pretext to go after peaceful political opposition,” Casar, who represents a Texas district in the US House of Representatives, said in a statement.

High-profile acts of political violence have targeted figures on both the left and right of US politics in recent years.

They include the killing of a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota in June, two assassination attempts on Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign, and a 2022 hammer attack on the husband of Democratic former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Experts say that politically motivated attacks and threats are on the rise in the US.

More than 250 incidents of threats and harassment against local officials were reported in the first half of 2025, a 9 percent increase from the previous year, according to the Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University.

While little information has been released about Robinson’s suspected motive so far, Patel on Monday affirmed an earlier assertion by Utah Governor Spencer Cox that the suspect espoused left-wing views.

“His family has collectively told investigators that he subscribed to left-wing ideology, and even more so in these last couple of years,” Patel said.

BARRY HEARN reckons Luke Littler has made darts so popular that there aren’t enough days in the year to squeeze in the amount of events needed to meet fan demand.

The PDC chairman has said that “main man” Littler is one of the reasons behind darts‘ incredible growth in recent years.

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Littler, 18, burst onto the scene at the 2024 World Championship and has since cemented himself as one of the best players in the world.

His meteoric rise has seen him be crowned world champion on his second attempt, pocket in excess of £1MILLION in prize money and add over 15 PDC titles to a growing trophy cabinet.

Speaking to Sky Sports about what Littler’s emergence has done for the sport, Hearn said: “It’s [darts] just getting bigger and bigger.

“I’m actually having a problem that there is only 365 days in a year!

“The demand worldwide is so huge that I could fill that twice.”

Adding: “It’s non stop. The players are responding with performances beyond what I’ve ever seen in my life, in terms of averages and checkouts.

“Led by the main man Luke Littler, who is fast becoming a phenomenon.”

The increased interest in darts has meant an increase in prize money too.

Luke Littler prize money breakdown

Here is all the prize money Luke Littler has won so far after being crowned 2025 PDC World Darts Championship winner:

World Championship 2025 – £500,000

World Championship 2024 – £200,000

Grand Slam of Darts 2024 – £150,000

European Tour – £91,000

Player Championships events – £71,500

Players Championship final runner-up – £60,000

UK Open 2023 + 2024 – £17,500

World Matchplay – £10,000

World Grand Prix – £7,500

European Championship – £7,500

(Unranked) Premier League Darts – £315,000

TOTAL: £1.43 million

This year’s World Championship will be worth an eye-watering £1MILLION to the winner – double last year’s jackpot.

While there has been a total increase of £7MILLION across the PDC calendar thanks to a historic Sky Sports £125million five-year TV deal.

Speaking on the changes, Hearn said: “This is the first year where our prize money goes past £25million, World Championship is worth £1million, more European events because of demand in Europe.

“The Premier League is heading out of the UK and going to Belgium, it’s non stop”.

WASHINGTON — Hours after the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, FBI Director Kash Patel declared online that “the subject” in the killing was in custody. The shooter was not. The two men who had been detained were quickly released. Utah officials acknowledged that the gunman remained at large.

The false assurance was more than a slip. It spotlighted the high-stakes uncertainty surrounding Patel’s leadership of the bureau when its credibility is under extraordinary pressure, as is his own.

Patel now approaches congressional oversight hearings this week facing not just questions about that investigation but broader doubts about whether he can stabilize a federal law enforcement agency fragmented by political fights and internal upheaval.

Democrats are poised to press Patel on a purge of senior executives that has prompted a lawsuit, his pursuit of President Trump’s grievances over the Russia investigation long after it ended, and a realignment of resources that has prioritized illegal immigration and street crime over the FBI’s traditional pursuits.

The hearings will offer Patel his most consequential stage yet, and perhaps the clearest test of whether he can convince the country that the FBI, under his watch, can avoid compounding its mistakes in a time of political violence and deepening distrust.

“Because of the skepticism that some members of the Senate have had and still have, it’s extremely important that he perform very well at these oversight hearings” on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Gregory Brower, the FBI’s former top congressional affairs official.

The FBI declined to comment about Patel’s coming testimony.

Inaccurate claim after Kirk shooting

Kirk’s killing was always going to be a closely scrutinized investigation, not only because it was the latest burst of political violence in the U.S. but also because of Kirk’s friendships with Trump, Patel and other administration figures and allies.

While agents investigated, Patel posted on X that “the subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody.” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said at a near-contemporaneous news conference that “whoever did this, we will find you,” suggesting authorities were still searching. Patel soon after posted that the person “in custody” had been released.

Two people were initially held for questioning in the case, but neither was a suspect.

As the search stretched on, Patel angrily vented to FBI personnel Thursday about what he perceived as a failure to keep him informed, including that he was not quickly shown a photograph of the suspected shooter. That’s according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to discuss it by name and spoke on condition of anonymity to the Associated Press. The New York Times earlier reported details of the call.

Asked about the scrutiny of Patel’s performance, the FBI said it had worked with local law enforcement to bring the suspect, Tyler Robinson, to justice and “will continue to be transparent.”

Patel’s overall response did not go unnoticed in conservative circles. One prominent GOP strategist, Christopher Rufo, posted that it was “time for Republicans to assess whether Kash Patel is the right man to run the FBI.”

FBI personnel purge

On the same day Kirk was killed, Patel also faced a lawsuit from three FBI senior executives fired in an August purge that they characterized as a Trump administration retribution campaign.

Among them was Brian Driscoll, who as acting FBI director in the early days of the administration resisted Justice Department demands for names of agents who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. Driscoll alleged in the lawsuit that he was let go after he challenged the leadership’s desire to terminate an FBI pilot who had been wrongly identified on social media as having been part of the FBI search for classified documents at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Trump, while out of office, was indicted for his role in Jan. 6 and the classified documents case.

The upheaval continues a trend that began before Patel took over, when more than a half-dozen senior executives were forced out under a Justice Department rationale that they could not be “trusted” to implement Trump’s agenda.

There’s since been significant turnover in leadership at the FBI’s 55 field offices. Some left because of promotions or retirements, but others because of ultimatums to accept new assignments or resign. The head of the Salt Lake City office, an experienced counterterrorism investigator, was pushed out of her position weeks before Kirk was killed at a Utah college, said people familiar with the move.

FBI’s priorities shift

Patel arrived at the FBI having been a sharp critic of its leadership, including for the Trump indictments and investigations that he says politicized the institution. Under Patel and Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, the FBI and Justice Department have become entangled in their own politically fraught investigations, such as one focused on New York Atty. Gen. Letitia James.

He’s moved quickly to remake the bureau, with the FBI and Justice Department working to investigate one of the Republican president’s chief grievances — the years-old Trump-Russia investigation. Trump calls that probe, which found that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help him get elected but did not establish a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump’s campaign, a “hoax.”

The Justice Department appeared to confirm in an unusual statement that it was investigating former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan, pivotal players in the Russia investigation, but did not say for what. Bondi has directed that evidence be presented to a grand jury.

Critics of the new Russia inquiry consider it a transparent attempt to turn the page from the fierce backlash the FBI and Justice Department endured from Trump’s base following the July announcement that those agencies would not be releasing any additional documents from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation.

Patel has meanwhile elevated the fight against street crime, drug trafficking and illegal immigration to the top of the FBI’s agenda, in alignment with Trump’s agenda.

The bureau defends its aggressive policing in American cities that the Trump administration contends have been consumed by crime, despite falling crime rates in recent years in the cities targeted. Patel says the thousands of resulting arrests, many immigration-related, are “what happens when you let good cops be good cops.”

Critics say the street crime focus draws attention and resources from the sophisticated public corruption and national security threats for which the bureau has long been primarily, if not solely, responsible for investigating.

Tucker writes for the Associated Press.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has hired Mitch Kamin, a lawyer who has fought the Trump administration and provided legal services for underserved communities, to be her next chief of staff.

Kamin, who, like the mayor, is a graduate of Alexander Hamilton High School, will be Bass’ third chief of staff in her nearly three years leading the city — a much more rapid turnover than in previous administrations.

Announcing the appointment in a press release Friday, Bass called Kamin a “seasoned leader and status quo disrupter.”

The Harvard-educated lawyer has decades of experience as an executive at nonprofits and legal services organizations and has served on several city commissions.

Most recently, he was general counsel and chief strategy officer for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, a project of “Star Wars” creator George Lucas that is set to open next year.

Before that, Kamin was a partner at the law firm Covington & Burling LLP, where he helped the firm recruit for its first L.A. office and was co-chair of the global commercial litigation practice group and the entertainment and media industry group. He previously was president of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm that provides free legal services.

“Mitch is a passionate, committed and compelling leader,” former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who was a partner with Kamin at Covington, said in a statement.

Kamin, 58, is taking charge of Bass’ office as the Trump administration continues its immigration crackdown in Los Angeles and across the country. During Trump’s first term, he represented the city in a lawsuit against the Department of Justice that prevented the federal government from requiring cooperation with immigration enforcement as a condition of receiving grant money.

Kamin replaces Carolyn Webb de Macias, who has led the mayor’s office since November 2023. She had been retired and was only supposed to serve in the role for a year but stayed on longer following the January wildfires, the mayor’s office said.

The mayor’s first chief of staff was Chris Thompson, who led the transition team after her election.

Chiefs of staff in recent mayoral administrations often served longer. Ana Guerrero headed the mayor’s office for eight years under Mayor Eric Garcetti, while Robin Kramer served under Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for about four.

Guerrero lost her post in 2021 after revelations that she disparaged elected officials, city employees and others in a private Facebook group. She stayed on with the mayor in a diminished role.

Kamin was appointed by Garcetti in 2016 to serve on the commission that oversees the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. He also served as president of the board of commissioners for the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles starting in 2011.

Kamin was on the board when the agency fired its CEO, Rudolf Montiel. The board drew criticism for providing Montiel with a $1.2 million severance package.

“The basic thing was to eliminate any legal liability … close this chapter and move forward,” Kamin told The Times in 2011.

Kamin will start his new job on Sept. 22, Bass told her staff in an office-wide email.

“Mitch has my full support and mandate to lead this team and to maximize our effectiveness and performance,” she wrote.

Crawford, with 41 wins and 31 knockouts, won his first world title in 2014 at lightweight against Scotsman Ricky Burns. He went on to unify the light-welterweight and welterweight divisions before moving up again.

“This fight is going to be stamped in the history books,” he said, promising to “shock the world.”

Saturday’s bout will be broadcast globally on Netflix, reaching a potential audience of more than 300 million subscribers.

It is the first major boxing event promoted by White alongside Saudi’s Turki Alalshikh, signalling a new, if uncertain, era for the sport.

As organisers hyped up the new partnership as the saviour of the sport and suggested boxing has been suffering for years, one of its biggest stars – and highest earners with a reported $150m purse to collect on Saturday – Alvarez, chimed in.

“Hey, boxing was always bigger, bigger and big. Don’t say boxing is not big enough. You know how big is boxing,” he said.

Alvarez pushed Crawford as tempers flared at in New York in June, but the two shared a nod and handshake to end on a respectful note.

Nearly two decades after the fact, Anna Wintour is finally giving her review of “The Devil Wears Prada,” the 2006 Anne Hathaway comedy built around the onetime Vogue editor in chief’s notorious style of leadership.

And although Wintour is more than fashionably late, she’s showing up in time for the sequel.

The film “had a lot of humor to it, it had a lot of wit, it had Meryl Streep,” Wintour said recently on the New Yorker Radio Hour. “[The cast] were all amazing. And in the end, I thought it was a fair shot.”

The famed editor, who stepped down from the Vogue gig this summer, said she went into the premiere of the original film wearing Prada but not knowing what the movie was about. Wintour said people in the fashion industry had expressed concerns about the Miranda Priestly character, worrying she would be played as a caricature of Wintour. But those fears were unfounded.

“First of all, it was Meryl Streep, [who is] fantastic.”

“The Devil Wears Prada” is based on the 2003 bestselling novel of the same name by Lauren Weisberger, who worked as a personal assistant to Wintour. The film follows a writer played by Hathaway who gets a job at a fashion magazine managed by a highly demanding boss, played by Streep.

The actor who played the no-nonsense editor in chief earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance.

Wintour announced in June that she would step down as editor in chief of the magazine after 37 years at the helm. She will continue to oversee Condé Nast, the global media company that publishes Vogue among other publications including the New Yorker, GQ, Vanity Fair and Wired.

“The Devil Wears Prada 2” is in production with a release date set for May 2026. Streep, Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci will all reprise their roles; Adrian Grenier, who played Hathaway’s boyfriend in the original film, will not appear. New cast members include Kenneth Branagh, Justin Theroux and Lucy Liu.

The European Union will implement new measures against Israel and further raise support for Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said.

In her annual State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, von der Leyen condemned the situation in Gaza as “catastrophic”, announcing plans to cut support for Israel and implement sanctions.

She also noted plans to further raise support for Ukraine, urging EU members – some of which are likely to be unenthusiastic – to rally behind the measures on both issues.

“Man-made famine can never be a weapon of war. For the sake of the children, for the sake of humanity, this must stop,” the EU chief declared.

The proposed “package of measures” includes sanctions on “extremist Israeli ministers” and settlers, a suspension of bilateral support for Israel, and a suspension of the EU’s association agreement with Israel, which gives it preferential access to European markets.

“Europe needs to do more,” said von der Leyen, adding that while she would attempt to move the bloc in unison, EU member states also needed to take “our own responsibility” on the issue.

“Europe’s goal has always been the same. Real security for Israel and a safe, present future for all Palestinians,” she said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar was quick to slam the EU chief and claimed that she was offering support to Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas.

“The remarks made this morning by the President of the European Commission are regrettable. Some of them also echo the false propaganda of Hamas and its partners,” Saar wrote on social media. “Once again, Europe is sending the wrong message, which strengthens Hamas and the radical axis in the Middle East.”

Reparations and returns for Ukraine

Regarding Ukraine, von der Leyen said she was proposing a summit to coordinate international efforts to secure the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.

The use of frozen Russian assets to fund a “reparations loan” for Ukraine was also put forward in the speech, although von der Leyen said the bloc would not seize the assets itself.

The address came shortly after Polish and NATO forces shot down Russian drones that had violated Poland’s airspace. The EU chief branded Moscow’s actions “reckless and unprecedented”.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the EU has imposed 18 rounds of sanctions on it, targeting its economy, individuals and key sectors such as fuel, as well as nearly 140 billion euros ($164bn) in support to Ukraine, including financial, humanitarian, and military assistance.

Von der Leyen said as the EU prepares its 19th package of sanctions against Moscow, it will seek to accelerate efforts to phase out all purchases of Russian fossil fuels, as well as sanctioning the shadow oil shipping fleet used to circumvent such measures and any third countries involved.

Coalition of the unwilling?

However, Brussels is likely to encounter obstacles to such ambitions. Unanimous agreement is required to impose sanctions, and Hungary and Slovakia remain dependent on Russian energy and have blocked previous actions.

The 27-member bloc also remains divided over action regarding Israel’s war on Gaza, which started after Hamas led deadly attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Sanctions and the suspension of the trade agreement would require the approval of all 27 states, and could meet resistance from the likes of the Czech Republic, Hungary and Germany.

Other member states, such as Spain or Ireland, have been calling for economic curbs and an arms embargo against Israel for some time.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said the “double standards” demonstrated by the West over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza threaten to undermine its global standing.

However, other member states have obstructed efforts to take action and continue to supply the Israeli military with arms and equipment.

Ranging into other topics, von der Leyen defended the much-criticised tariffs deal she agreed recently with Washington, saying it stabilised ties with the United States at a time of soaring global tensions and averted trade war “chaos”.

She also asserted that the EU needs a new sanctions system targeting people smugglers and traffickers, adding it should be part of measures allowing the bloc to manage migration “effectively”.

WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday temporarily kept in place the Trump administration’s decision to freeze nearly $5 billion in foreign aid.

Roberts acted on the administration’s emergency appeal to the Supreme Court in a case involving billions of dollars in congressionally approved aid. President Trump said last month that he would not spend the money, invoking disputed authority that was last used by a president roughly 50 years ago.

The high court order is temporary, though it suggests the justices will reverse a lower court ruling that withholding the funding was probably illegal. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali ruled last week that Congress would have to approve the decision to withhold the funding.

Trump told House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in a letter Aug. 28 that he would not spend $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid, effectively cutting the budget without going through the legislative branch.

He used what’s known as a pocket rescission. That’s when a president submits a request to Congress toward the end of a current budget year to not spend the approved money. The late notice means Congress cannot act on the request in the required 45-day window and the money goes unspent.

The Trump administration has made deep reductions to foreign aid one of its hallmark policies, despite the relatively meager savings relative to the deficit and the possible damage to America’s reputation abroad as foreign populations lose access to food supplies and development programs. The administration turned to the high court after a panel of federal appellate judges declined to block Ali’s ruling.

Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge last month that an additional $6.5 billion in aid that had been subject to the freeze would be spent before the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30.

The case has been winding its way through the courts for months, and Ali said he understood that his ruling would not be the last word on the matter.

“This case raises questions of immense legal and practical importance, including whether there is any avenue to test the executive branch’s decision not to spend congressionally appropriated funds,” he wrote.

In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out an earlier injunction Ali had issued to require that the money be spent. But the three-judge panel did not shut down the lawsuit.

After Trump issued his rescission notice, the plaintiffs returned to Ali’s court and the judge issued the order that’s now being challenged.

Sherman writes for the Associated Press.

Paramount has named Kenneth R. Weinstein, former head of a conservative-leaning Washington think tank, to be ombudsman for CBS News, fulfilling a condition of winning the Trump administration’s approval for an $8-billion merger.

The company announced Monday “that complaints from consumers, employees and others” about CBS News stories will go to Weinstein, who will help determine if remedial action is necessary.

Weinstein, who served as president and chief executive of the Hudson Institute, will report to Jeff Shell, who is president of Paramount under new owner and CEO David Ellison.

Weinstein will address complaints about news coverage in consultation with Shell, CBS President and CEO George Cheeks and CBS News Executive Editor Tom Cibrowski.

Paramount buyer Skydance Media agreed to appoint an ombudsman in order to get regulatory clearance for its acquisition of the media company, which closed in August.

The Federal Communications Commission said Skydance agreed to commit to “viewpoint diversity, nondiscrimination and enhanced localism” in its news coverage when the agency announced its approval of the deal.

“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a statement at the time of the approval. “That is why I welcome Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network.”

Under Skydance’s ownership, CBS News has already shown a willingness to respond to Trump White House beefs with its coverage. On Friday the division announced a new policy for its Washington public affairs program “Face the Nation,” which will no longer edit taped interviews.

The policy shift came after U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem complained that her Aug. 31 “Face the Nation” interview, which was trimmed for time, deleted harsh allegations against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man wrongly deported to his native El Salvador. He was returned to the U.S., where he faces deportation efforts.

In addition to his work at the Hudson Institute, where he still holds a chair, Weinstein served on multiple advisory boards including the United States Agency for Global Media when it was known as the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The agency, currently headed on an interim basis by Kari Lake, oversees the funding for government-run media outlets such as Voice of America.

Weinstein also holds a doctorate in government from Harvard University and has taught political theory at Georgetown University and Claremont McKenna College.

“I’ve known [Weinstein] for many years and have respect for his integrity, sound judgment and thoughtful approach to complex issues,” Shell said in a statement. “Ken brings not only a wealth of experience in media and beyond but also a calm measured perspective that makes him exceptionally well-suited to serve as our Ombudsman.”

WASHINGTON — Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday let President Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by Supreme Court.

Trump first moved to fire Rebecca Slaughter in the spring, but she sued and lower courts ordered her reinstated because the law allows commissioners to be removed only for problems like misconduct or neglect of duty.

Roberts halted those decisions in a brief order, responding to an appeal from the Trump administration on the court’s emergency docket.

The Justice Department has argued that the FTC and other executive branch agencies are under Trump’s control and the Republican president is free to remove commissioners without cause.

Slaughter’s lawsuit over her firing will keep playing out, as Roberts asked her lawyers to respond to the Trump administration’s arguments by next week.

The court has previously allowed the firings of several other board members of independent agencies. It has suggested, however, that his power to fire has limitations at the Federal Reserve, a prospect that could soon be tested with the case of Fed Gov. Lisa Cook.

Monday’s order is the latest sign that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has effectively abandoned a 90-year-old high court precedent that protected some federal agencies from arbitrary presidential action.

In the 1935 decision known as Humphrey’s Executor, the court unanimously held that presidents cannot fire independent board members without cause.

The decision ushered in an era of powerful independent federal agencies charged with regulating labor relations, employment discrimination, the airwaves and much else. But it has long rankled conservative legal theorists who argue the modern administrative state gets the Constitution all wrong because such agencies should answer to the president.

The agency at the center of the case was also the FTC, a point cited by lower-court judges in the lawsuit filed by Slaughter. She has ping-ponged in and out of the job as the case worked its way through the courts.

The FTC is a regulator created by Congress that enforces consumer protection measures and antitrust legislation. Its seats are typically comprised of three members of the president’s party and two from the opposing party.

Whitehurst writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Mark Sherman contributed to this report.

Head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, says he hopes for a ‘successful conclusion’ in the coming days.

Talks on resuming International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections of Iran’s nuclear sites have made progress, but its chief warned that there was “not much” time remaining.

On Monday, the director general of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, told the 35-nation IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna, Austria, that “Progress has been made”.

“It is my sincere hope that within the next few days it will be possible to come to a successful conclusion of these discussions,” Grossi said, adding: “There is still time, but not much.”

He did not elaborate on what the timeframe meant exactly.

While Tehran allowed inspectors from the IAEA into Iran at the end of August, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said no agreement had been reached on the resumption of full cooperation with the watchdog.

Following a 12-day war, which saw Israel and the United States bomb cities across Iran, as well as Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities, in June, Tehran decided to change its cooperation with the IAEA.

Iran expressed anger at the IAEA for paving the way for Israel’s attack by censuring the country the day before Israel struck with a damning report in May that declared that Tehran was in breach of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

Fury then followed when the watchdog did not condemn Israeli or US attacks. In July, Iran passed a law suspending cooperation with the agency.

Within the law, any future inspection of its nuclear sites needs approval by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

However, last week, Grossi told the Reuters news agency in an interview that the board was pushing for a deal to inspect Iranian sites, including those targeted by Israel and the US.

Grossi confirmed that the IAEA had no information from Iran on the status or whereabouts of its stock of highly enriched uranium since Israel’s attacks on June 13.

“I believe there is a general understanding that by and large, the material is still there. But, of course, it needs to be verified. Some could have been lost,” he said.

“We don’t have indications that would lead us to believe that there has been major movement of material,” Grossi added.

Late last month, France, Germany and the United Kingdom triggered a mechanism to reimpose sanctions on Iran after a series of meetings failed to reach an agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme.

The three European countries, known as the E3, had been warning Tehran for weeks that UN sanctions could be reimposed by October when a 2015 nuclear agreement between Tehran and major powers expires.

It is unlikely that Venkatesham will rule Spurs with an iron fist. He is a firm believer in a culture of inclusivity.

He’ll lead by example rather than being ultra vocal, sources say.

“He’s a leader – but an understated one,” said one of his colleagues at the Emirates.

When it comes to making football-related decisions it is very likely he will be guided by the expertise of head coach Thomas Frank and technical director Johan Lange.

At Arsenal, it is noted that he generally let Edu and Arteta shape the football operation in terms of performance.

That may sound a given. But ask managers up and down the country – it isn’t.

He is viewed by those who worked alongside him at the Emirates as an efficient administrator, whose intelligence allows him to analyse and understand information quickly.

That strength allows him to make relevant contributions internally and, on a wider basis, it has allowed Venkatesham to expand his influence.

For example, he was a key member of the European Club Association, though he has now relinquished his position with the organisation.

It is said his amiable persona allows him to deal smoothly with characters who perhaps seem more assertive than his exterior suggests he is.

It will be interesting to hear if Venkatesham adopts an abrupter approach as he seeks to lay down a marker in the post-Levy era.

If first impressions are important, then those at the Emirates will tell you that Venkatesham makes a good one. In that sense, relationship building – internally and externally – is cited as one of Venkatesham’s key strengths.

Levy – despite often facing the wrath of irate supporters who pinned the blame for Tottenham’s flaws squarely on him – was liked behind the scenes at Spurs.

He was good to his staff. For instance, when Spurs would travel on pre-season tours, he would ensure the club’s support staff were provided with the same privileges as the players.

But it was Levy’s relationship with rival clubs that often left a sour taste; the now departed executive chairman’s infamous fierce negotiation style left him unpopular in boardrooms across the country.

It will be interesting to see how Venkatesham’s elevation, given his genteel and friendly personality, changes the dynamics between Tottenham and their rivals at boardroom level.

Will his “nice guy” identity be a strength or a weakness in a sport that is cut-throat?