continued

WASHINGTON — President Trump affirmed that the United States will keep a robust military presence in Poland as he had a warm meeting Wednesday with Karol Nawrocki, the new president of the American ally in Europe.

Trump had taken the unusual step of endorsing Nawrocki in the Polish elections this year, and as the leaders sat side by side in the White House, Trump said the U.S.-Polish relationship has always been strong but “now it’s better than ever.”

Asked by a reporter whether the U.S. planned to continue placing troops in Poland, Trump said that the U.S. would and that “we’ll put more there if they want.”

“We’ll be staying in Poland. We’re very much aligned with Poland,” Trump said.

The visit to Washington is Nawrocki’s first overseas trip since taking office last month. The former amateur boxer and historian, who was backed by the conservative Law and Justice party, was hoping to deepen his relationship with Trump at a fraught moment for Warsaw.

Nawrocki thanked Trump for his support and in a nod to the bonds between their countries, gave a particular hello to the millions of Polish Americans in the U.S.

“Those relations for me, for Poland, for Poles, are very important,” Nawrocki said.

He added that those bonds are based on shared values of independence and democracy.

Trump said he was proud to have endorsed Nawrocki and lauded him for winning his election.

“It was a pretty tough race, pretty nasty race, and he beat them all. And he beat them all very easily, and now he’s become even more popular as they got to know him and know him better,” Trump said.

Trump is increasingly frustrated by his inability to get Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to sit down for direct talks aimed at ending their war. Both nations are Poland’s neighbors.

Trump last month met with Putin in Alaska and then with Zelensky and several European leaders at the White House. The Republican president emerged from those engagements confident that he would be able to quickly arrange direct talks between Putin and Zelensky and perhaps three-way talks in which he would participate.

But his optimism in hatching an agreement to end the war has dimmed as Putin has yet to signal an interest in sitting down with Zelensky.

“Maybe they have to fight a little longer,” Trump said in an interview with the conservative Daily Caller published over the weekend. “You know, just keep fighting — stupidly, keep fighting.”

There is also heightened anxiety in Poland, and across Europe, about Trump’s long-term commitment to a strong U.S. force posture on the continent — an essential deterrent to Russia.

Some key advisors in his administration have advocated for shifting U.S. troops and military from Europe to the Indo-Pacific to focus on China, the United States’ most significant strategic and economic competitor. About 8,200 American troops are stationed in Poland, but the force level regularly fluctuates, according to the Pentagon.

“The stakes are very high for President Nawrocki’s visit,” said Peter Doran, an analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “Trump will have an opportunity to size up Poland’s new president, and Nawrocki also will have the chance to do the same. Failure in this meeting would mean a pullback of American force posture in Poland, and success would mean a clear endorsement of Poland as one of America’s most important allies on the front line.”

When Nawrocki arrived at the White House, Trump gave him a hearty slap on the shoulder and stood with him as they watched U.S. military jets soaring over the South Lawn.

A group of F-16s flew in a missing man formation as a tribute to a Polish air force F-16 pilot, Maj. Maciej “Slab” Krakowian, who died in a crash in Poland on Aug. 28.

“Thank you for this gesture,” Nawrocki later told Trump.

Trump made clear before Poland’s election in the spring that he wanted Nawrocki to win, dangling the prospect of closer military ties if the Poles elected Nawrocki. Trump even hosted him at the White House before the vote.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also traveled to Poland shortly before Poland’s May election to tell Poles if they elected Nawrocki and other conservatives they would have a strong ally in Trump who would “ensure that you will be able to fight off enemies that do not share your values.”

Ultimately, Polish voters chose Nawrocki over liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski in a tight election.

Most of the power in Poland’s legislative system rests with an elected Parliament and a government chosen by the lawmakers. The president can veto legislation and represents the country abroad. Nawrocki has tense relations with the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, an ally of Trzaskowski.

Nawrocki has echoed some of Trump’s language on Ukraine.

He promises to continue Poland’s support for Ukraine but has been critical of Zelensky, accusing him of taking advantage of allies. Nawrocki has accused Ukrainian refugees of taking advantage of Polish generosity and vowed to prioritize Poles for social services such as healthcare and schooling.

At the same time, Nawrocki will be looking to emphasize to Trump that Russian aggression in Ukraine underscores that Putin can’t be trusted and that a strong U.S. presence in Poland remains an essential deterrent, said Heather Conley, a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she focuses on transatlantic security and geopolitics.

Russia and ally Belarus are set to hold joint military exercises this month in Belarus, unnerving Poland as well as fellow North Atlantic Treaty Organization members Latvia and Lithuania.

“The message Nawrocki ultimately wants to give President Trump is how dangerous Putin’s revisionism is, and that it does not necessarily end with Ukraine,” Conley said.

Madhani and Price write for the Associated Press. AP writers Geir Moulson in Berlin and Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.

As a parent I have had to take drastic measures and ban Peppa Pig for good after my daughter continued to repeat and awful word

Those of you who have tuned in previously for my Peppa Pig opinion pieces will already know that I am not the show’s biggest supporter.

I have outlined in the past that I would be switching over to Disney’s family fun show Bluey, instead of allowing my two-year-old to follow the likes of Peppa, George, Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig.

However, there was one occasion since my original statement when we accidentally watched the CBeebies programme. In fairness, it was not intentional, we’d tried desperately hard to find other shows that we felt were more suitable for our toddler. We’d just been watching Justin Fletcher’s Something Special show and before we’d realised, the infamous pigs were next to follow on the channel.

Of course, as Peppa and her family began to chime their snorts in the opening introduction, we were met with a roar of excitement from a toddler – who had not seen the show for sometime now.

I shot a look at my partner, both of us providing a nod of approval that we would make one small allowance – and that she could watch it “just this once”.

What we didn’t realise is that we would pay massively for “just this once,” a mistake that would live with us for weeks to come.

I think it’s worth noting for the record that our daughter, apart from when she’s unwell, is generally a good eater and will chow down most food with minimal fuss. Any way, back to the show and how this all ties together.

We happened to allow our two-year-old to tune into episode 34, of season one, titled ‘lunch”. I would go out on a limb here and say this was probably the worst instalment I’d ever seen and regret deeply ever putting it on now.

In this episode, George, Peppa Mummy Pig and Daddy Pig are visiting Granny and Grandpa Pig, who have collected fresh vegetables from their garden and invited everyone over to sample the goods with them at their table.

As they all dig in, sampling the delicious homegrown produce, George is left looking perplexed. Granny, Grandad, Mummy and Daddy Pig prompt him to try various varieties of salad to which he rudely replies: “Yuck,” and pokes his tongue out, moving his body away from his plate and turning his nose up.

Refusing to try anything put in front of him, he simply tells them: “Yuck,” each time before finally bursting into tears.

Grandad intervene with a clever tactic, turning the salad into a dinosaur, with T-Rex obsessed George eventually lapping up the healthy goods in no time at all.

I can see where the shows creators were going with narrative, that a little bit of creativity goes a long way but to use the word “yuck” in a food environment with impressionable toddlers watching, I simply do not agree with.

As soon as we heard the word “yuck” leave George’s lips, we knew we were in store for trouble. We’re at that age where anything you say aloud will be consumed much like a sponge absorbing water.

Sure enough, even after the episode had concluded, our two-year-old continued to repeat the word “yuck,” finding it utterly hilarious. We’d hoped this would pass but it didn’t.

The next day, we presented our daughter with a homemade lasagne for dinner, a meal I had personally prepared totally from scratch and had probably taken the best part of five hours to cook – over the course of various parts of the day.

As I placed her plate on the table, I was met with the word “yuck,” yet again. I tried to encourage her to eat with playful aeroplane notions and was further shunned as she told me: “Yuck, yuck and yuck,” much like George had done previously during the episode.

It wasn’t just happening in our home and we weren’t the only ones to witness her blatant rudeness. We are fortunate enough that we have parents who help us out with childcare once or twice per week. On a visit, they’d dished up a lunchtime staple, peanut butter sandwiches, but were also met with the exact same response.

On collection, we were left embarrassed as we summarised that George was to blame for her ill-mannered behaviour at meal times. We all mutually agreed that Peppa Pig would now be firmly banned across both households.

Even if Peppa Pig happens to roll onto our screens by accident again, I’ll be lunging for the remote as quicker than Usain Bolt to turn it off because in all honesty, from one parent to another, it’s really not worth the additional stress or red faced apologies.

Peppa Pig currently airs on CBeebies and Netflix.

According to GLAAD’s 13th annual Studio Responsibility Index (SRI), there was a decrease in LGBTQ+ representation in films last year.

The report “maps the quantity, quality, and diversity of LGBTQ characters in films released by the seven film studio distributors that had the highest theatrical grosses from films released in the 2021 calendar year.”

The distributors that the SRI analysed were as follows: The Walt Disney Studios, Apple TV+, Warner Bros., Paramount Global, Lionsgate, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Lionsgate.

The percentage of LGBTQIA+-inclusive films from major studios in 2024 decreased to 23.6%, compared to 27.3% in 2023 and the record high of 28.5% in 2022.

Trans representation was abysmal in the 250 films tracked, with only two major movies featuring trans characters, and both included either inauthentic casting or harmful stereotypes.

When it came to analysing screen time, it was revealed that 38% of LGBTQIA+ characters had less than one minute of screen time, while 27% had over 10 minutes, representing a significant decrease from the 38% in 2023.

In terms of racial diversity among the 181 LGBTQIA+ characters tracked, 115 were white (64 percent), 19 were Black (17 percent), 12 were Latine (seven percent), 18 were Asian/Pacific Islander (10 percent), nine were multiracial (five percent), three were Indigenous (two percent), and two were Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) (one percent).

While the number of Indigenous LGBTQIA+ characters slightly increased in 2024, there was a decrease in Black, Latine, MENA, and Multiracial representation.

LGBTQIA+ characters living with HIV were not included in any of the studied films, and only 4% had a disability.

Amid the troubling data, there were slight wins for the community, with LGBTQIA+ women seeing an increase in representation (50%) – outnumbering LGBTQIA+ men (48%) for the first time in five years.

The report also tracked “the quantity, quality, and diversity of LGBTQ characters in the year’s slate, as well as actions from the studios and parent companies that either supported or harmed the LGBTQ community.”

A24 was the only studio to receive a “good” rating, while NBCUniversal and Amazon were awarded a “fair” ranking. The remaining studios earned either “insufficient” or “poor” grades.

Lastly, under the SRI’s Bechdel Test-inspired Vito Russo Test – which analyses whether the inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters within the narrative actually “matters” – only 18% of the total 250 films passed.

This marked a two percent decrease from 2024 (20%) and a four percent decrease from 2023 (22%).

GLAAD CEO & President Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement: “This year’s findings are a wake-up call to the industry. At a time when LGBTQ people are facing unprecedented attacks in politics and news media, film must be a space for visibility and truth.

“Representation isn’t about checking a box — it’s about whose stories get told, whose lives are valued, and creating worlds that mirror our own society today. When done authentically, LGBTQ representation builds audience and buzz, while humanising LGBTQ people as those in power are actively working to take away our humanity.”

Megan Townsend, GLAAD’s Director of Entertainment Research and Analysis, echoed similar sentiments, adding that the “majorities of LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ 18-24 year olds (93% and 85%, respectively) reporting actively seeking out queer media.”

“The LGBTQ community is a powerful and growing audience with significant buying power and cultural clout that can drive success for a film,” she said.

“More than 1 in 5 (23.1%) Gen Z U.S. adults – a key ticket and subscription buying audience – are LGBTQ. Further, LGBTQ Americans 13-39 are more likely than non-LGBTQ peers to say they are a “diehard fan” of something, rating movies as the top thing they fan over.

“It’s clear that companies who are looking to grow their revenue should be deliberately courting this community with inclusive storytelling, targeted and specific marketing, and merchandise. When studios don’t tell LGBTQ stories, they’re ignoring an audience that represents over one trillion per year in U.S. spending power, and leaving profit on the table.”

You can read GLAAD’s full SRI report for 2025 here.