drops

A new trailer has been released for an upcoming crime drama on Sky that fans won’t want to miss

Sky has unveiled the thrilling first trailer for an upcoming prequel series to one of their best shows.

Gomorrah – The Origins will be released in early 2026 and revealing the startling story of how Pietro Savastano, originally portrayed by Fortunato Cerlino, became one of the most notorious crime bosses in Naples.

The original Italian crime drama aired between 2014-2021 and was one of Sky’s biggest international shows, becoming a worldwide hit after airing in 190 countries.

Now, rising star Luca Lubrano steps into Pietro’s shoes in a six-part origin story kicking off in 1977.

Sky says the gripping new drama will tell “the story of how it all began — how a very young Pietro Savastano will enter a criminal world set against the backdrop of a city in transformation: poor, rough-edged, hooked on cigarette smuggling and about to enter a new era of heroin use.”

Also joining the cast are Francesco Pellegrino as reluctant gangster Angelo ‘A Sirena’, Flavio Furno as charismatic convict ‘O Paisano’, Tullia Venezia as musician Imma, who goes on to become Pietro’s wife, and Fabiola Balestriere as young mother Annalisa Magliocca before she became the notorious female drug lord Scianel.

Supporting cast includes Antonio Buono, Ciro Burzo, Luigi Cardone, Antonio Del Duca, Mattia Francesco Cozzolino, Junior Rancel Rodriguez Arcia, and Antonio Incalza.

The first trailer revealed a fun and fast-paced thriller that will nevertheless delve into Naples’ darker underbelly as fans follow the rise of one of the most iconic characters in international drama.

Based on the bestselling novel by Roberto Saviano, it’s a must-watch for fans of the original series and is also bound to attract newcomers to the franchise who will immediately want to binge all five seasons of the flagship hit.

An official synopsis for Gomorrah – The Origins from Sky reads: “Pietro is a tough city kid who grew up in the poorest parts of Secondigliano.

“He and his friends survive any way they can, riding their mopeds around town and committing petty theft.

“But he has a big dream: to become like Angelo ‘A Sirena, the neighbourhood’s ‘king’. When he manages to get in the graces of the young boss, he finds himself caught in a power game far beyond him.

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“He ends up wondering whether this dark, violent criminal life is really what he wants or if his love for Imma can save him from such a fate.”

The original series overwhelmingly received five-star reviews from fans and, with writers Leonardo Fasoli, Maddalena Ravagli and author Saviano back on board for the prequel, it’s expected to reach similar soaring heights.

One fan raved about the original Gomorrah: “I absolutely adore this show. It’s raw, realistic, and unflinchingly brutal.

“As someone hailing from the North of Italy, I was already familiar with the Camorra, but this series opened my eyes to just how merciless it can be.

“The actors deliver outstanding performances, the script is flawlessly executed, and the storyline is gripping.”

Gomorrah – The Origins premiere in early 2026 on Sky and streaming service NOW.

Of course Luka Doncic made the one that didn’t count.

On a frigid shooting night when the star guard made just one three-pointer on 11 attempts, Doncic swished a 40-footer on a dead ball that elicited a roar from the Crypto.com Arena.

He instead made his impact in other ways.

Doncic overcame his bad shooting to still collect his first triple-double of the season, notching 29 points, 10 assists and 11 rebounds in the Lakers’ 130-120 victory over the Miami Heat on Sunday. Fellow guard Austin Reaves was also struggling with his shot, making just four of 14 three-point attempts, but rallied for 26 points and 11 assists to just three turnovers.

Although their stars slogged through concurrent off nights, the Lakers (5-2) still shot 50.5% from the field. They tallied 33 assists to 11 turnovers. They won their third consecutive game.

“We did a lot of really good things and it could have been even better if me and Luka would’ve made a shot,” Reaves deadpanned. “But supporting cast and everybody around that played really well.”

Forward Jake LaRavia, who turns 24 on Tuesday, scored in double digits for the third consecutive game off the bench, finishing with 25 points — two shy of his season high — and eight rebounds. He’s averaged 21.7 points per game in the last three games.

Doncic, who missed three games with minor finger and leg injuries, scored 40 points in each of his first three games this season. Only Wilt Chamberlain had ever started a season with three consecutive 40-point games. But Doncic was happy to sacrifice the scoring streak Sunday.

“We get a win,” Doncic said, “[it] doesn’t matter how many I scored.”

Doncic and Reaves struggled in the first quarter, shooting a combined two for seven from the field. Yet the Lakers still led by seven as the star duo combined for eight assists.

Center Jaxson Hayes was one of the main beneficiaries in that span, scoring 11 points on five-of-five shooting. He had a ferocious one-handed dunk off a Doncic assist that got Hayes so amped up that he head-butted the basket stanchion in celebration. He sank his first three-pointer since March 27, 2023, stepping confidently into a shot that put the Lakers up 23-13 and forced the Heat to call an early timeout.

Hayes finished with 15 points and five rebounds in his first start of the year as Deandre Ayton was held out because of back spasms. Ayton’s back flared up during the Lakers’ win in Memphis on Friday, causing him to sit out the entire second half. He was available to return in the fourth quarter, coach JJ Redick said after the game, but with the Lakers feeding off Hayes and Jarred Vanderbilt at center, the team didn’t want to risk further injury.

The Heat (3-3) finished the third quarter on a 20-7 run to pull within four points heading into the fourth quarter. Former UCLA star Jaime Jaquez Jr., playing in front of his hometown crowd, cut the lead to two with an emphatic one-handed put-back dunk 58 seconds in the fourth quarter. A hush fell over the Lakers crowd.

But Reaves helped quell the comeback effort.

He stumbled while trying to dribble behind his legs, but recovered to shoot a fadeaway mid-range jumper with 1.6 seconds left in the shot clock that put the Lakers up by six with 5:13 remaining in the fourth quarter. Less than 20 seconds later, Reaves threw a lob from just inside mid-court to a soaring LaRavia, who brought the crowd to its feet with a two-handed dunk.

SACRAMENTO — Jettisoning another apparently losing fight, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has abandoned his yearlong effort to relax rules mandating the number of nurses that hospitals must employ.

His endeavor helped spark the public employee union rebellion that led to the defeat of his special election agenda Tuesday.

Schwarzenegger last November had set aside rules that required hospitals to employ in some wards one nurse for every five patients instead of every six. His administration said it was concerned hospitals could not handle the financial costs involved in hiring more nurses.

But a Sacramento County Superior Court judge rejected the administration’s effort in March, and the ruling was upheld by an appellate court. While the administration continued to try to overturn it, hospitals had to follow the new rules and discovered they were not as burdensome as they had feared.

On Thursday, the same day Schwarzenegger publicly pledged to be less combative with those who had opposed his special election, the administration dropped its appeal. “We had 10 months of experience with the court-mandated ratios and there seems to be no negative impact on the healthcare system,” Sabrina Demayo Lockhart, a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Agency, said Friday.

“Our data shows that hospitals have been able to meet the lower ratios,” she said, “and some hospitals have even signed it into their labor contracts.”

Leaders of the California Nurses Assn., which persuaded a judge to reinstate the rules in March, said they viewed Schwarzenegger’s action as both a “strategic retreat” from a court case that could not be won and an effort to mend relations with those who had defeated the four initiatives he backed on the Nov. 8 ballot.

“The governor did extend the olive branch and we don’t want to be ungracious,” said Rose Ann DeMoro, the union’s executive director. “But as he extends this branch, we will never take our eye off the tree. What we are focused on is that this governor takes his direction from corporations.”

The nurses declared it as a victory in a campaign that saw them hound Schwarzenegger at appearances throughout California, holding 107 protests. At one of the earliest, in December, Schwarzenegger told his audience those “special interests” were angry because he was “always kicking their butts.”

The rest of the public employee unions turned against Schwarzenegger in January, when he also proposed altering the state’s pension system to save money for the state and local governments. Schwarzenegger decided to drop that from his slate of ballot measures after unions discovered it might eliminate death and disability benefits for firefighters and police.

Jim Lott, executive vice president at the Hospital Assn. of Southern California, said the governor’s action in ending his appeal of the staffing rules “will have no impact on what hospitals do because they are already attempting to staff at the more stringent levels.”

Last March, Lott had warned that the rules might lead to the closure of hospitals “on the cusp of closing because of financial burdens.”

Kaiser Permanente and University of California hospitals have stated they have adopted the new ratios. Lockhart said Catholic Healthcare West, the state’s largest nonprofit chain, recently agreed to comply.

At a news conference at its Oakland headquarters Friday, the nurses union said the timing of both the initial challenge to the nursing ratios and the decision to abandon the fight appeared to have political links.

The union said Schwarzenegger decided to challenge the ratios two days after the reelection of President Bush, for whom Schwarzenegger had campaigned. He abandoned the legal case two days after his special election defeat, with his popularity having fallen from its great heights the previous year.

“He has to run for reelection,” said Deborah Burger, the union’s president. “He doesn’t have a choice. It’s like the bully taking away the kids’ lunch money and then expecting the kid to be happy because he invites him to have lunch with him.”

The governor’s office declined to discuss the politics of the decision, but a senior aide said it had been made a month ago.

The nurse-patient ratios were signed into law by former Gov. Gray Davis in 1999 and took effect in January 2004, requiring one nurse for every six patients. This year, the ratio tightened to one nurse for every five patients.

Superior Court Judge Judy Holzer ruled in March that the administration had failed to provide evidence to back up its assertions that the new rules would create problems for hospitals.

The fight with Schwarzenegger has politicized the 65,000-member nurses union, which previously had not been one of Sacramento’s major players. The nurses said they plan to continue to pressure the state’s leaders by lobbying next year for a single-payer healthcare system that would abolish private insurers and for comprehensive campaign finance reform.

HEIDI Klum has dropped a NSFW clue about her highly-anticipated Halloween costume – one week before her exclusive annual bash.

The German model is known for being the talk of Hollywood every October 31 with her over-the-top party and outrageous outfit.

Each year, the star rocks an even crazier Halloween ensemble than the previous year and it seems that 2025 will be no exception.

This year she has been teasing fans with clues about her costume.

But the cheeky star shocked fans with the picture she posted today.

This is because Heidi shared a snap of a plaster cast of her back and pert bottom.

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She posted the NSFW picture on her Instagram grid and simply wrote, “feeling cheeky”.

CRYPTIC CLUE

Over the last month, Heidi has had fans on a guessing game over what her costume might be.

On October 1, she got the buzz started when she dropped a cryptic hint as to this year’s outfit on Instagram.

Heidi shared a 3D mould of a head – likely to be for a mask specially created for the star’s head.

Alongside the hashtag, Heidi Halloween, the AGT judge wrote: “This is just the beginning.”

She further tagged prosthetic make-up artist, Mike Marino, in the post.

GUESSING GAME

It instantly got fans guessing as to what the potential outfit for her big party could be.

Taking to Reddit, one fan speculated that it could be a version of Han Solo from Carbonite.

After being suggested by one user, another said in response: “That’s what I was thinking.”

With another echoing: “Aah! You beat me!”

Another suggestion which gained plenty of traction was that Heidi could be going as Bender from Futurama.

One fan declared: “My first thought!”

Other suggestions included the Engineer from the Alien movies as well as Jim Carrey from The Mask.

HEIDI’S HALLOWEEN DATE

Heidi will likely attend her annual bash alongside her husband, Tom Kaulitz, who she recently gushed over in an interview.

“I just know him so well. We just gel really well,” Heidi spilled in an interview with E! News.

“I just feel like, ‘Finally, I found the one.’ So far so good. I hope it stays that way.”

Heidi also doesn’t hold back when talking about their sex life.

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Speaking about their “bedroom sports”, the blonde stunner told The Sunday Times: “Sport en chambre is my favorite exercise — it sounds better in French.

“I have a younger husband,” she gushed.

Reality television production in Los Angeles declined sharply this summer, leading to a nearly 21% drop in overall TV shoot days, a new report shows.

The total number of shoot days in the greater L.A. area from July to September was 4,380, down 13.2% compared to a year ago, according to data from FilmLA, a nonprofit that handles film permits for the Los Angeles region.

The third-quarter data does not reflect the full effect of the state’s newly bolstered film and TV tax credit program, which was passed this summer.

In the most recent round, 22 TV series were chosen amid a nearly 400% increase in applications, with 18 of those shows primarily filming in the L.A. area.

Projects that received an incentive have 180 days to start production after notice of their award, and it often takes time to commence filming.

Because of that, FilmLA executives were not surprised to see on-location production continue to slip during the summer months.

“Fortunately, we’ve already begun to see early signs of these incentives having their desired effect,” he said. “We’re excited to be taking calls from productions looking to line up their locations and pull permits,” FilmLA Vice President Philip Sokoloski said in a statement.

TV production totaled 1,441 shoot days, down 20.7% compared to the same time period last year. The decline is especially significant because TV is the region’s main driver of production.

Reality TV dropped to 649 shoot days, down 31.4% compared to last year. Other genres of TV production also saw a downturn — drama (down 19%) and pilots (down 34.5%). Production of television comedies, however, was a bright spot with 79 shoot days, up 41.1%.

Feature film production in L.A. also ticked up with 522 shoot days, an increase of 9.7% compared to last year. But commercial production, which does not receive a tax incentive, was down 17.9% to 668 shoot days.

The report’s “other” category, which includes student films, still photo shoots and documentaries, saw a decrease of 9.9% to 1,749 shoot days.

A shoot day represents one crew’s permission to film at a single location in a 24-hour period.

As California voters receive mail ballots for the November special election, which could upend the state’s congressional boundaries and determine control of the House, billionaire hedge-fund founder Tom Steyer said Thursday he will spend $12 million to back Democrats’ efforts to redraw districts to boost their party’s ranks in the legislative body.

The ballot measure was proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and other California Democrats after President Trump urged Texas leaders to redraw their congressional districts before next year’s midterm election. Buttressing GOP numbers in Congress could help Trump continue enacting his agenda during his final two years in office.

“We must stop Trump’s election-rigging power grab,” Steyer said in a statement. “The defining fight through Nov. 4 is passing Proposition 50. In order to compete and win, Democrats can’t keep playing by the same old rules. This is how we fight back, and stick it to Trump.”

Steyer’s announcement makes him the biggest funder of pro-Proposition 50 efforts, surpassing billionaire financier George Soros, who has contributed $10 million to the effort.

Steyer founded a hedge fund whose investments included massive fossil fuel projects, but after he learned of the environmental consequences of these financial decisions, he divested and has worked to fight climate change. Steyer has spent hundreds of millions of dollars supporting Democratic candidates and causes and more than $300 million on his unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign.

Steyer plans to launch a scathing ad Thursday night that imagines Trump watching election returns on Nov. 4 and furiously throwing fast food at a television when he sees Proposition 50 succeeding.

“Why did you do this to Trump?” the president asks. The ad then shows a fictional TV anchor saying that the ballot measure’s success makes it more likely that Trump will be investigated for corruption and that the records of convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein will be released. “I hate California,” Trump responds.

The advertisement is scheduled to start airing Thursday night during “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” The late-night show was in the spotlight after it was briefly suspended by Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC last month under pressure from the Trump administration because of a comment Kimmel made about the slaying of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The esoteric process of redistricting typically occurs once every decade after the U.S. Census to account for population shifts. The maps, historically drawn in smoke-filled backrooms, protected incumbents and created bizarrely shaped districts, such as the “ribbon of shame” along the California coast.

In recent decades, good-government advocates have fought to create districts that are logical and geographically compact and do not disenfranchise minority voters. At the forefront of the effort, California voters passed a 2010 ballot measure to create an independent commission to draw the state’s congressional boundaries.

But this year, Trump and his allies urged leaders of GOP-led states to redraw their congressional districts to boost Republicans’ prospects in next year’s midterm election. The House is closely divided, and retaining Republican control is crucial to Trump’s ability to enact his agenda.

California Democrats, led by Newson, responded in kind. The state Legislature voted in August to call a special election in November to decide on redrawn districts that could give their party five more seats in the state’s 52-member congressional delegation, the largest in the nation.

Supporters of Proposition 50 have vastly outraised the committees opposing the measure. Steyer’s announcement came one day after Charles Munger Jr., the largest donor to the opposition, spoke out publicly for the first time about why he had contributed $32 million to the effort.

“I’m fighting for the ordinary voter to have an effective say in their own government,” Munger told reporters. “I don’t want Californians ignored by the national government because all the districts are fortresses for one party or the other.”

A longtime opponent of gerrymandering, the bow-tie-wearing Palo Alto physicist bankrolled the 2010 ballot measure that created the independent commission to draw California’s congressional districts.

Munger, the son of a billionaire who was the right-hand man of investor Warren Buffett, declined to comment about whether he planned to give additional funds.

“I neither confirm nor deny rumors that involve the tactics of the campaign,” Munger told reporters. “Talk to me after the election is over.”

AMAZON has blindsided shopper with a shock device sale, days before its Prime Big Deal Days sale is due to kick off.

One of the best deals is on a premium Fire tablet, which has been reduced to £69.99 in an epic 53% price cut.

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Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet, £69.99 (was £149.99)

The next big Amazon sale starts next week, running from Tuesday to Wednesday (October 7th-8th).

Tons of prices will be slashed during Amazon Prime Day but only, of course, if you’re a Prime member.

But Amazon has launched an early device sale across its range of smart items, including Echo speakers, Kindles, Ring doorbells, Blink cameras Fire TV streaming sticks, and Fire tablets.

And better yet, these are deals open to all shoppers, not just those with a Prime membership.

The Fire HD 10 tablet (the newest generation) usually costs £149.99, but has now been slashed to an impressive £69.99.

This 10-inch device is now the best-selling tablet on the Amazon website – little wonder, with that enormous price drop.

Amazon’s line of Fire tablets are great, all-purpose devices for browsing and streaming – especially for shoppers who want to stay away from the big bucks of more powerful devices like Apple iPads and Samsung Tabs.

It also doubles up as an e-reader, though dedicated book-lovers should gravitate towards the retailer’s Kindle range.

These will all invariably go on sale next week when Prime Day begins (though a few select models are already discounted).

Read our Amazon Fire vs Kindle tablet explainer if you’re not sure which to buy.

The Fire HD 10 is perfect for watching, reading, and gaming, and it’s 25% faster than the old model.

Basically, its engine got a major upgrade – it now has a powerful processor and 3 GB of RAM, which helps everything run super-smoothly.

You get awesome HD entertainment on a big 10.1-inch screen that makes all your games and shows look great with brilliant colour.

(By the way, if you want something smaller and cheaper, the 8-inch Fire HD 8 is also on sale for just £49.99.)

The tablet has serious stamina: you can binge-watch for up to 13 hours without needing to plug into its charger.

The tablet is durable, too, with a strengthened screen that Amazon claims to to be 2.7 times tougher than the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 (2022) in a drop test.

Need a good device to chat with friends and family? The 5MP front camera is way better for video calls than squinting at your small phone screen.

For storage, it comes with 32GB or 64GB of space, which is expandable by up to 1TB with a separate microSD card.

And this being an Amazon gadget, you can operate it via Alexa – it can help you out with streaming videos, relaying the latest news and controlling other smart devices in the same connected ecosystem.

Amazon Prime Day: early Fire Tablet Deals

• Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet (newest gen), £69.99 (was £149.99) – buy here
• Amazon Fire Max 11 tablet (newest gen), £129.99 (was £249.99) – buy here
• Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet (newest gen), £49.99 (was £99.99) – buy here
• Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Pro tablet (newest gen), £79.99 (was £159.99) – buy here
• Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids tablet (newest gen), £69.99 (was £149.99) – buy here

The Fire HD 10 has already racked up over 2,700 five-star reviews on the Amazon website, with customers heaping praise on the device:

“The Amazon Fire HD 10 is a fantastic budget-friendly tablet,” writes one shopper.

“The 10.1-inch screen is bright and clear, perfect for watching videos, reading, or browsing.

“The battery easily lasts up to 13 hours – ideal for all-day use.”

Another delighted customer added: “Quality item… I can’t get over the size of the screen, it’s 10 inches but looks bigger.

“The tablet is lightning-fast, and it does everything that I expect from an Amazon Fire… Well worth the investment.”

A lot more deals are on the way when the Prime Big Deal Days sale starts next week, and it’s worth keeping in mind that these early device deals might become exclusively for Prime members.

So, while this current deal is marked on the Amazon site as ending on October 14th, it’s not impossible it will only be available for Amazon Prime members soon.

Anyone without a Prime account who’s interested shouldn’t hold off for too long on buying.

Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet, £69.99 (was £149.99)

Make sure you bookmark our best Amazon Prime Day deals page, where we’ll be listing all the top bargains when the two-day sale kicks off.

For our top pick of smart gadgets available to snap up right now, head to our Amazon device deals page.

Amazon Prime Day: the 10 best early deals

The Amazon Prime Big Deal Days sale doesn’t kick off until next week (7th-8th October), but there’s already some early deals to snap up.

*If you click on a link in this boxout we will earn affiliate revenue

1. Blink Smart Camera & Doorbell bundle, £31.49 (was £119.98) – buy here
2. Poounur Fitness Smartwatch, £23.99 (was £129.99) – buy here
3. Hangsun 12L/Day Dehumidifier, £88.38 (was £118.98) – buy here
4. LKOUY Portable Charger, £12.99 (was £59.99) – buy here
5. Slumberdown Feels Like Down King Size Duvet, £21.56 (was £31.19) – buy here
6. Remington Proluxe Ceramic Hair Straightener, £34.99 (was £109.99) – buy here
7. Swan Pump Espresso Digital Coffee Machine, £149.99 (was £299.99) – buy here
8. Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet, £69.99 (was £149.99) – buy here
9. LKE 268W UV Nail Lamp, £16.14 (was £28.99) – buy here
10. EverFoams Women’s Shearling Memory Foam Slippers, £15.97 (was £22.99) – buy here

When the sale lands, you’ll find more top bargains here:

YouTube TV dropped Univision’s Spanish-language networks late Tuesday, a contentious turn in a simmering dispute that has already drawn scrutiny from members of Congress.

“Google’s YouTube TV has refused to ‘Do the Right Thing’ and dropped Univision from its platform — stripping millions of Hispanic viewers of the Spanish-language news, sports, and entertainment they rely on every day,” parent company TelevisaUnivision said in a statement, alluding to its campaign slogan.

The outage began about 7 p.m. PDT, shortly before the federal government shutdown — a newsworthy event that Univision journalists have been covering.

The impasse occurred as another deadline loomed in separate contract talks between YouTube TV and NBCUniversal, raising the possibility of a second blackout. Both Univision and NBCUniversal’s distribution agreements were set to expire Tuesday night. But at the deadline, NBCUniversal granted YouTube TV a short-term extension to allow the two sides to continue working on a new deal.

NBCUniversal owns Telemundo, the other major Spanish-language broadcast network.

Prominent members of Congress, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), have demanded answers from Google executives, including Chief Executive Sundar Pichai.

A major sticking point was YouTube TV’s proposal to shift the Univision network from its basic plan, which is available to all subscribers, and put the channel on a more expensive Spanish-language add-on package.

Univision cried foul, saying the switch would amount to an 18% fee increase for its Spanish-language viewers. The move would also dramatically cut the revenue that Univision receives because YouTube and other distributors pay fees based on the number of subscribers that have access to a channel.

“Google shouldn’t be abusing its monopoly power by forcing millions of Texans & Americans to pay extra for Spanish-language programming,” Cruz said in a message on X. “That’s not right & it’s not fair.”

YouTube is flexing its market muscle. The Google platforms have become the dominant video service in the U.S., according to Nielsen, with YouTube attracting more than 120 million active daily users.

The YouTube TV service has become a major draw with more than 10 million customer homes that receive its traditional TV channel packages that include NBC, ABC, Fox News and Comedy Central.

A YouTube spokesperson downplayed Univision’s departure, saying the Spanish-language company continues to have a massive following on its main YouTube site with more than “160 million subscribers and billions of views across YouTube, where they generate ad revenue from their content.”

However, on the paid service, YouTube TV, the Spanish-language programming “only represents a tiny fraction of overall consumption,” the YouTube spokesperson said.

The blackout comes a month after YouTube avoided a collision with Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Corp. The two companies hammered out a new distribution deal a few days after the August deadline.

NBCUniversal’s talks with Google have also been rocky. The tech behemoth has expressed a desire to fold Peacock programming onto its YouTube TV platform rather than the current stand-alone service. But NBCUniversal has balked because it has spent billions of dollars building Peacock and it wants to remain the conduit for its customers.

YouTube TV launched in April 2017 for $35 a month. The package of channels now costs $82.99.

In a bid for more sports fans, YouTube TV took over the NFL Sunday Ticket premium sports package from DirecTV, which had been losing more than $100 million a year to maintain the NFL service. YouTube TV offers Sunday Ticket as a base plan add-on or as an individual channel on YouTube.

San Diego Democrat and former state Senate leader Toni Atkins dropped out of the 2026 California governor’s race Monday, part of a continued reshuffling and contraction of the wide field of candidates vying to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Atkins told supporters in a letter Monday afternoon that during a childhood in rural Virginia, she often felt “too country, too poor, too gay” to fit in. After building a life on the West Coast, where she found acceptance and opportunity, she worked for decades to build on “the promise of California” and extend it to future generations, she said.

“That’s why it’s with such a heavy heart that I’m stepping aside today as a candidate for governor,” Atkins wrote. “Despite the strong support we’ve received and all we’ve achieved, there is simply no viable path forward to victory.”

Atkins began her political career on the San Diego City Council after serving as a women’s clinic administrator. She became the first out LGBTQ+ person to serve as Senate president pro tem, the top position in the California Senate. She was also the speaker of the state Assembly, making her the first legislator since 1871 to hold both leadership posts.

In Sacramento, Atkins was a champion for affordable housing and reproductive rights, including writing the legislation that became Proposition 1 in 2022, codifying abortion rights in the California Constitution after national protections were undone by the U.S. Supreme Court.

With President Trump and his allies “gutting health care, cratering our economy, and stripping away fundamental rights and freedoms,” Atkins told supporters Monday, “we’ve got to make sure California has a Democratic governor leading the fight, and that means uniting as Democrats.”

Under California’s nonpartisan primary system, the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the general election. Votes on the left could be fractured among a half-dozen Democratic candidates, creating a more viable path forward for one of the two high-profile Republicans in the race to make it to the November ballot.

Atkins picked up millions of dollars in donations after entering the governor’s race in January 2024, and reported having $4.3 million on hand — more than most candidates — at the end of the first half of the year. More recent reports from major donations suggest her fundraising had lagged behind former Orange County-based U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former state Atty. Gen. and Biden appointee Xavier Becerra.

Although well-known in political circles, Atkins is not a household name. Recent polls, including one conducted by UC Berkeley and co-sponsored by The Times, showed her support in the single digits.

Nine months before the primary, the field of candidates is still in flux, and many voters are undecided.

At the end of July, former Vice President Kamala Harris made the biggest news of the campaign when she said she would not run. Shortly afterward, her political ally Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis abandoned her gubernatorial bid and announced she would run for state treasurer.

Some polling has shown that Porter, who left Congress after losing a bid for a rare open seat in the U.S. Senate, is the candidate to beat.

Last week, lobbyist and former state legislative leader Ian Calderon, 39, launched his campaign for governor, calling it the advent of a “new generation of leadership.”

Calderon, 39, was the first millennial elected to the state Assembly and the youngest-ever majority leader of the state Assembly. He is part of a political dynasty from southeastern Los Angeles County that’s held power in Sacramento for decades.

His family’s name was clouded during his time in Sacramento when two of his uncles served prison time in connection with a bribery scheme, but Calderon was not accused of wrongdoing.

LOVE Island bosses are eyeing up a controversial girl from the most recent series to return for All Stars. 

The Love Island spin-off will be back for a third series early next year and producers are working hard to find memorable Islanders to sign up for the show. 

And The Sun can reveal Helena Ford is among those on the wish list and is in early discussions for her second villa stint. 

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An insider told us: “Helena was a huge hit on the last series of the show and her on/off relationship with Harry and her deadpan jokes were a hit with viewers. She’s been in super early talks. 

“Tyrique from series 10 was also in tentative talks before leaving for Love Island Games in the US.”

Helena recently revealed she won’t be able to return to her old job as a flight attendant after her time on Love Island. 

Speaking the Daily Star, she said: “I don’t think they will take me back after that roast I did.

“Plus all the passengers will think, ‘Oh no, I’m going to get roasted now.’ Never say never but I’m not looking to go back at the moment, definitely not.

“I think I need take a break and to do some therapy first – I watched a lot of things back that I didn’t like in myself, so there’s that to work on first.”

Helena paired up with Harry Cooksley on Love Island, but after they split, he started dating another Love Islander Shakira Khan.

Shakira accompanied Harry to the recent NTA Awards, while Helena attended alone.

During her time on the ITV show, Helena became known for her catty comments and not taking any nonsense from fellow contestants, ensuring she became one of the more memorable cast members in recent times.

But despite believing her on-screen antics may have put a return to her old job in jeopardy, Helena is more than happy with how things have turned out.

She said: “It’s been mad since leaving the show.

“I’ve had so many new opportunities and people recognise me everywhere.

“For me, it’s about moving forwards and seeing where this crazy journey takes me.”

One civil service whistleblower told ITV filmmakers he was “disgusted” by amount of profits some companies made

Details of how the Tories presided over one of the biggest government spending scandals of all time are to be revealed in a shocking new documentary.

Eye-watering waste running into many billions of pounds resulted from huge Covid contracts for mountains of personal protective equipment and medical tests.

One civil service whistleblower told ITV filmmakers: “I was disgusted at the amount of money that these companies were making. It was just ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching for them.”

Some companies with little or no track record in supplying PPE landed massive contracts, including many introduced by ministers and key government figures via the high-priority VIP lane.

One firm, linked to Baroness Michelle Mone, is being sued by the Department for Health for more than £120 million for allegedly supplying unusable gowns. But the documentary names other previously unknown corporate winners.

Instead of buying four months of PPE stock as planned, within months of lockdown the government stockpiled years’ worth – including enough goggles to last 15 years.

One million pallets of unwanted PPE ended up being incinerated in what Gavin Hayman, of the Open Contracting partnership, says represents “probably the biggest government misspending scandal in the UK of all time”.

As the UK’s expensive Covid-19 inquiry rumbles on largely unnoticed by the public, new ITV documentary Exposures asks how we went from having almost no PPE to having more than we could possibly use.

The Mirror has previously revealed how thousands of ­ventilators bought for £50,000 each during the pandemic were sold off for as little as £100 via online auctions last year.

We also exposed how the NHS flogged 6,000 unused Nightingale hospital beds it had bought for £13million for just £410,000 as they were not suitable for hospitals. When the country went into lockdown in March 2020, the UK’s hospitals were woefully lacking in supplies of PPE.

Boris Johnson set up a new procurement unit run by Matt Hancock ’s Department of Health, with many of its staff coming from Michael Gove ’s Cabinet Office. The government put out public appeals to help source PPE from new suppliers, and the normal tender and competition rules were suspended.

Under pressure to respond quickly, a secret VIP lane was also set up by civil servants to deal with credible offers coming via ministers, MPs or senior officials.

According to the documentary, this is when things started to go wrong. A whistleblower who was working in the department at the time was exasperated that companies with a background in supplying PPE were being sidelined in favour of VIPs.

The source tells the programme: “It was very frustrating because you’ve done a lot of the background work, taking the time to find out about the companies, see who their manufacturer was, so that we could check the manufacturer had the capability of producing as many items as they said, and then to find out none of your deals have gone through.

“The VIP lane was obviously the Premiership, and all the rest of the suppliers were in the second division.” Mr Gove and Mr Hancock say the VIP lane was created by officials to effectively prioritise significant offers, that ministers were not involved in decisions to award contracts and just forwarded promising leads to civil servants. They say their priority at the time was to “save lives and protect the NHS”.

The ITV film shows how two previously unnamed Covid-testing companies, Tanner Pharma and Nationwide Pathology, both made huge profits thanks to their contracts.

Nationwide made £40million over the pandemic, while Tanner was given testing contracts totalling £1.4bn after it contacted a Department of Health official.

Tanner went from a pre-pandemic loss off £678,000 to a cumulative profit over the pandemic of £193m. Its American owner, Banks Bourne, paid himself a £148m dividend, courtesy of the British taxpayer.

Another company called Innova appeared from nowhere in March 2020. It was set up by Charles Huang, who rain a private equity firm in California.

Innova got its contract after it reached out to Dominic Cummings, who was Boris Johnson’s advisor at the time. By the end of the pandemic, Innova had been paid over £5bn by the UK government despite having no track record in supplying medical goods.

By contrast, Arco is a leading UK supplier of PPE with over 50 years’ experience. It sent 750,000 PPE kits to Sierra Leone during the ebola epidemic. But when Covid arrived, nobody was returning their calls.

Arco chairman Thomas Martin tells Exposure: “We used the government portals, we used all of our existing contacts. There would be 50 or 60 attempts every day to break through, and we were coming up against the closed door. I couldn’t understand why anyone in charge would choose to ignore the expertise on tap.

“The safety industry was not mobilised.” In all, the UK spent around £15bn on PPE. The whistleblower adds: “We had so much, but we were still buying when we didn’t need any more. We weren’t able to warehouse it, and it was getting left at docks.”

By March 2022, the UK had 300 pieces of unused PPE for every person in the country. Companies that were hired to supply PPE were now being rewarded again to store it. Much of it ended up incinerated. The whistleblower concludes: “We were wasting so much money.”

Tanner Pharma said: “Tanner Pharma was selected to provide lateral flow tests because they were determined by UKHSA to have high specificity and sensitivity. We were not referred to the high-priority lane and delivered over 480m reliable, accurate testing kits.”

Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings, Michelle Mone and Nationwide Pathology all declined to comment.

* The Covid Contracts: Follow the Money is on Sunday night on ITV at 10.15pm.

Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.

The political thriller boasts an impressive 90% Rotten Tomatoes score

Netflix has just given thriller fans a glimpse into the ‘catastrophic’ drama set to unfold in its top-rated political thriller.

The Diplomat first landed on the streamer in 2023 and has since gripped viewers with the story of American diplomat Kate Wyler (played by Keri Russell).

Now, the streaming giant has just dropped the trailer for its third season, set to premiere on October 16th.

The two-minute teaser thrusts viewers into the heart of the action following the president’s death, which sparks questions about his demise.

Netflix’s synopsis teases: “Ambassador Kate Wyler lives the particular nightmare that is getting what you want. She just accused Vice President Grace Penn (portrayed by Allison Janney) of hatching a terrorist plot and admitted she’s after the VP’s job.

“But now the President is dead, Kate’s husband Hal (Rufus Sewell) may have inadvertently killed him, and Grace Penn is leader of the free world.”

With the new political head in place, the synopsis adds: “None of this slows Hal’s campaign to land Kate the vice presidency.

“Kate steps into a role she never wanted, with a freedom she never expected, an increasingly complicated friendship with Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison, and an unnerving bond with First Gentleman Todd Penn.”

Following the trailer’s release, Fans could barely contain their excitement. One took to Netflix’s YouTube comments and raved: “OH MY GOODNESS! This is INSANE!!!”

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Someone else chimed in with: “I’M SO EXCITED THE SHOW IS BACK!!”

While a third voiced their recommendation: “People be really sleeping on this show, first season was good, the second was fantastic, can’t wait for the third. While the trailers make it look like a serious political drama, it’s also really funny.”

And a fourth said: “I really liked S01. S02 took my breath away. This next season looks INCREDIBLE!”

Considering its star-studded cast, including Emmy winner Bradley Whitford and British icon Rory Kinnear, it’s no surprise The Diplomat has received rave reviews.

It currently boasts an impressive 90% Rotten Tomatoes score, with season one earning an impressive 84% rating and season two bagging a stellar 96%.

The Diplomat season 3 premieres on Netflix on October 16th.

Walt Disney Co.-owned broadcaster ABC said it is pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live” indefinitely following backlash over the host’s remarks about slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

The move comes after station owner Nexstar Media Group said it is pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live” from its ABC affiliate stations as a result of the comments.

The Irving, Texas-based Nexstar announced Wednesday that Kimmel will be off its stations for the foreseeable future.

“Nexstar strongly objects to recent comments made by Mr. Kimmel concerning the killing of Charlie Kirk and will replace the show with other programming in its ABC-affiliated markets,” a company representative said in a statement.

Kimmel said during a monologue on his Monday program that Tyler Robinson, the Utah man accused in the shooting death of Kirk, might have been a pro-Trump Republican. He said MAGA supporters “are desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

Kimmel then mocked President Trump for talking about the construction of a new White House ballroom after being asked how he was reacting to the murder of his close ally.

“Mr. Kimmel’s comments about the death of Mr. Kirk are offensive and insensitive at a critical time in our national political discourse, and we do not believe they reflect the spectrum of opinions, views, or values of the local communities in which we are located,” said Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division.

Alford said continuing to give Kimmel a broadcast platform “is simply not in the public interest at this current time.”

Nexstar’s decision comes just after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr blasted Kimmel and threatened to take action against ABC. Appearing on the podcast of right-wing commentator Benny Johnson, Carr said one form of punishment could be pulling the licenses of ABC affiliates, which likely got Nexstar’s attention.

Nexstar has ABC affiliates in 32 markets across the U.S., including in New Orleans, New Haven, Nashville and Salt Lake City.

Network affiliates dropping a late-night program over the political views expressed in it is unprecedented. The closest situation goes back to 1970, when CBS blacked out the image of activist Abbie Hoffman when he appeared on “The Merv Griffin Show” wearing a shirt made out of an American flag.

Emmerdale spoilers for next week tease the moment John Sugden is exposed as the police search for Mack Boyd, and injured Aaron wakes up and drops a bombshell on his family

It’s another huge week ahead on Emmerdale with spoilers teasing the moment John Sugden is rumbled.

Aaron Dingle’s fate has been confirmed it seems, after his horror clifftop plunge last week. He was dragged into a gorge by sick husband John, who was taking revenge over Aaron’s fling with his ex Robert Sugden.

John had just been caught out by Aaron who knew he’d done something to missing Mack Boyd, and he wanted answers. John confessed crimes including kidnapping Mack, killing Nate Robinson and drugging Chas Dingle.

Before Aaron could tell anyone though Robert raced to the scene, and a showdown ended with John framing Robert before dragging Aaron off a cliff. Robert is currently in a cell, charged over the attempted murders of Aaron and John, with John lying about what really happened.

Aaron remains in a coma, but that all changes next week according to new spoilers. In what’s no doubt set to be a massive week for the show, some key events happen.

READ MORE: Soap spoilers for next week: Emmerdale Mack twist and Coronation Street Becky falloutREAD MORE: Emmerdale’s John Sugden ‘prepares to kill Aaron Dingle’ in eerie hospital scene

Mackenzie is still left trapped in the underground bunker, chained up by killer John. Having been shot with an arrow, hit over the head, having his ankle broken with a rock and then a scary showdown weeks ago, Mack is a shadow of his former self.

John cruelly left Mack to die last week, giving him a syringe filled with a drug meant to kill him. He told Mack he was never going to be back, and told him when the time came that he couldn’t take anymore he could use the needle to be without pain.

The sick twist saw Mack faced with death once more, and spoilers recently revealed a scene next week sees him inject himself. Mack hallucinates his wife Charity Dingle, but just as some news could save him – will they be too late after Mack uses the syringe?

Aaron wakes up next week, confirming he’s alive. Chas Dingle is there for her son, with Charity and Moira Dingle also there with the police.

It seems Charity fears something is up with Mack, finally, given the spoiler says she is “desperate for answers” and she presses Aaron with questions. It also seems that they know about John or that something is up.

With Aaron awake, does he manage to tell them what John did? Does he even remember? What’s interesting is that Cain Dingle arrives to see his nephew, and admits he’s dropped John off at the cottage.

On hearing this, the detective rushes out – so why are they after John, or at least keen to talk to him? Does this prove he is finally exposed?

Aaron makes a comment about a bunker at the cottage, the one Mack is in, while it’s not stated whether he says anything about Mack. It’s enough to spring Charity into action though, as the spoiler states she isn’t far behind the detective so do they know the truth, and will Mack be found alive?

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

The sound of an Israeli bomb interrupted Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud during a live broadcast as he explained that fighter jets have been striking buildings in Gaza City every 10–15 minutes since this morning. Israel says its forces are “increasing the pace of attacks” on the city.

TORONTO — Welcome to a special daily edition of the Envelope at TIFF, a newsletter collecting the latest developments out of Canada’s annual film showcase. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.

Our photo gallery’s latest includes Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Richard Linklater and more.

But click through for our video interviews, including Mark Olsen’s sit-down with Sydney Sweeney and the crew of her boxing movie “Christy,” which required a total transformation.

Sydney Sweeney in “Christy,” a portrait of boxing champ Christy Martin, having its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

(Allie Fredericks / TIFF)

Here’s a taste of their exchange:

Sydney, people are already really talking about the physical transformation you make in the movie, the training that you did. What was it about the role that made it seem like you wanted to make that kind of commitment?

Sydney Sweeney: I mean, I couldn’t let Christy down, and I also love transforming for characters. That’s the whole reason of being an actor, is to be something different from yourself and to challenge ourselves.

So I had like two months of training. I built gyms in my house and I had a boxing trainer, I had a weight trainer, I had a nutritionist and would work out and train every single day.

And it was amazing. I loved it. Being able to completely lose yourself for somebody else and then have that person there next to your side. It was transformative.

Katy O’Brian, co-star: It was exhausting watching her do it.

Ben Foster, co-star: And in tribute to Syd, we’d shoot a 12-hour day that was dense, we’ll say, that would be a gentle word. She would then go train and choreograph the fights that she would do back-to-back after, one after another.

Sweeney: I’d be put in the middle of a ring and I’d have like nine girls and they would just drill me with all the different fights, one after the other for like two hours after we would wrap.

Because I really wanted the choreography to match the exact fights that she had in real life. So we would watch all the footage from her fights and memorize all the combinations and then implement those into the fight.

So everything you see were her actual fights. And so I’d wrap, I would do that for two hours, and then I would weight train.

David, there is something very unflinching about the movie. Why was it that you wanted to tell Christy’s story in a way that wasn’t afraid to explore these really dark and disturbing moments in her life?

David Michôd, director: In a way, the dark and disturbing was what made me want to make the movie. I had a clear sense that in this really wild and colorful story of a ’90s boxing pioneer was actually, underneath, it was a very important story to tell about how these coercive control relationships function.

And trying to wrap my brain around what keeps them functioning over, in this case, 20 years. And I knew that where Christy’s story went, it was harrowing.

And what the challenge for me then as a filmmaker was just to go, how do I do this being very conscious of not wanting to step into a world of representations of violence against women and all that kind of stuff, but not shying away from the horror that is very much there and is very palpable.

I could see a big sprawling movie that would start almost as a kind of conventional underdog pioneering sports movie and then morph into something that was deeply moving and important.

Sydney, Ben, what was it like for the two of you performing some of those darker scenes in the film and how did you keep some sense of humanity between the two of you?

Sweeney: There were so many conversations around a lot of those moments, and both Ben and I, we don’t like to rehearse and we kind of just want to feel it. And I think we both became very connected to who we were portraying and —

Foster: Listening.

Sweeney: We just listened

Foster: And Dave created a space where we could do that. And we would block it, we did a lot of talk privately, and then we would come in and jam and nudge. But the truth is Dave is quality control and would fine-tune moments.

The day’s buzziest premieres

‘EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert’

Elvis Presley performing live, as seen in Baz Luhrmann’s archival concert movie “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert.”

(TIFF)

How deep did Baz Lurhmann go researching his 2022 movie “Elvis”? Forty stories. That’s the depth of the Kansas salt mine where Warner Bros. had stored 59 hours of unseen recordings from Elvis Presley’s seven-year stint in Las Vegas.

Lurhmann studied it for his Oscar-nominated biopic, which mourned Presley as an artist in a cage and wondered who the curious, music-loving boy from Tupelo might have become if Col. Parker had let him, say, visit an ashram with the Beatles.

This time, the “Moulin Rouge!” director has said that he wants to use found footage to “let Elvis sing and tell his story” — as in, Lurhmann’s own spectacular sensibilities will cede center stage to Presley himself, who can still wow a crowd even during a late-career moment when his own fans feared he had more jumpsuits than ambition.

I’ll definitely be at the premiere to pay my respects to the King. — Amy Nicholson

‘Hamnet’

Jessie Buckley, center, in director Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet.”

(Agata Grzybowska / Focus Features)

You’re going to be hearing a lot of Oscar buzz in the coming months about various movies, along with people insisting that — seriously — this is the one you need to see. “Hamnet” is, far and away, that film, for three specific reasons.

First, Paul Mescal has now done three masterful turns, between this, “Aftersun” and “All of Us Strangers” confirming what a truly special talent he is. Mescal and the “Hamnet” crew came through our TIFF studio.

Clockwise from right: Paul Mescal, Noah Jupe, Jacobi Jupe, director Chloé Zhao, Jessie Buckley and Emily Watson, photographed in the Los Angeles Times Studios at RBC House during the Toronto International Film Festival.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Second, I needed director Chloé Zhao to rebound after the mess that was “Eternals” to the confidence she displayed on “Nomadland” — and she’s done exactly that. Read our Telluride interview with her.

Finally, Jessie Buckley has uncorked one of the year’s most impressive turns: a grief-stricken plunge that elevates her to the level of Casey Affleck in “Manchester by the Sea.” Do not be surprised if, like Affleck, she goes all the way. — Joshua Rothkopf

Move part of broader immigration crackdown as ruling Labour Party comes under pressure from hard-right Reform UK party.

The United Kingdom’s Labour government has said it is suspending a scheme enabling registered refugees to bring family members into the country amid soaring support for the far right in opinion polls.

UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced on Monday that she was “temporarily” suspending new applications to the refugee family reunion route as the government draws up new rules set to be introduced by spring next year.

“The system has to be controlled and managed based on fair and properly enforced rules, not chaos and exploitation driven by criminal smuggler gangs,” she said.

Under the current system, an asylum seeker granted indefinite leave to remain in the country can bring in children under the age of 18, and their partner if they can prove they have been in a relationship for at least two years.

Cooper told Parliament that increasing numbers of family reunion applications had placed pressure on housing across the country, with many applying to bring relatives over within about a month. One of the planned reforms would mean longer waiting periods before applying.

Refugee charities blasted the move. Safe Passage, which supports child refugees, accused the government of “giving in to far-right pressure”, saying that it would leave children fleeing war and persecution in countries like Afghanistan, Sudan or Iran “trapped in danger”.

🚨 SHOCKING: The UK Government has temporarily suspended all new refugee family reunion applications.

The consequences will be devastating for the children we support, who’ve now been stripped of almost every safe route to join their loved ones. pic.twitter.com/YErszylNft

— Safe Passage International🧡 (@safepassageint) September 1, 2025

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “Far from stopping people taking dangerous journeys to cross the Channel, these changes will only push more desperate people into the arms of smugglers in an effort to reunite with loved ones.”

Far right whipping up anger

Cooper announced the move as Labour faced a bumpy return to Parliament after a summer break that has seen anti-immigration protesters repeatedly targeting hotels housing asylum seekers in various parts of England – most recently in Epping, northeast of London, on Sunday.

Facing pressure from Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform UK party, which has whipped up anger over people arriving in small boats over the English Channel from France, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that he will accelerate plans to empty the asylum hotels.

Accused of moving too slowly, the government has been eager to demonstrate it is tackling a problem left by previous Conservative-led administrations by brokering return deals with other nations and speeding up the processing of asylum claims.

Cooper said that the UK and France will start implementing a “one in, one out” pilot scheme later this month, with the former sending refugees and asylum seekers to the latter in exchange for approved applicants.

“Applications have also been opened for the reciprocal legal route, with the first cases under consideration subject to strict security checks,” she said, adding that “family groups” would be prioritised under the deal with France.

The government will also establish a new independent body to deal with appeals as tens of thousands of people in asylum accommodation are currently awaiting a decision, Cooper said.

She added that the current average waiting time for appeals to be heard is 54 weeks.

The number of foreign visitors to the United States continues to decline, as a range of policies put forth by the administration of US President Donald Trump has made tourists wary of travelling to the country.

In July, foreign visits to the US decreased by 3 percent year-over-year, according to recently released preliminary government data.

That decrease follows a trend that has been seen almost every month since Trump took office in late January. For five out of six months, the US has experienced a drop in foreign visitors.

“Everyone is afraid, scared – there’s too much politics about immigration,” Luise Francine, a Brazilian tourist visiting Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera.

Experts and some local officials say Trump’s tariffs, immigration crackdown and repeated jabs about the US acquiring Canada and Greenland have alienated travellers from other parts of the world.

Ryan Bourne, an economist at the Cato Institute, told Al Jazeera that the decline in tourism was tied to both Trump’s rhetoric and policies.

“[The decrease] can be put down to the president’s trade wars and some of the fallout about fears about getting ensnared in immigration enforcement.”

Travel research firm Tourism Economics predicted last week that the US would see 8.2 percent fewer international arrivals in 2025 – an improvement from its earlier forecast of a 9.4 percent decline, but well below the numbers of foreign visitors to the country before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The sentiment drag has proven to be severe,” the firm said, noting that airline bookings indicate “the sharp inbound travel slowdown” of May, June, and July would likely persist in the months ahead.

While the July 2025 figures don’t account for neighbouring Canada and Mexico, Canadian visitors in particular have been plummeting in number. One-quarter fewer Canadians have visited the US this year compared to the same period in 2024, according to Tourism Economics.

In a major U-turn, more US residents drove into Canada in June and July than Canadians made the reverse trip, according to Canada’s national statistical agency.

Statistics Canada stated that this was the first time this had occurred in nearly two decades, except for two months during the pandemic.

‘Visa integrity fee’

Mexico, by contrast, has been one of the few countries to see tourism to the US increase. Overall, US government figures show that travel from Central America grew 3 percent through May and from South America 0.7 percent, compared with a decline of 2.3 percent from Western Europe.

But countries that have typically sent huge numbers of visitors to the US have seen major dips.

Of the top 10 overseas tourist-generating countries, only two – Japan and Italy – saw a year-over-year increase in July. Visitors from India, which ranks second, dipped by 5.5 percent, while those from China dropped nearly 14 percent.

India has seen previously warm relations sour under the Trump administration, amid steep tariffs and geopolitical tensions, while a trade war and Trump’s (since-reversed) broadsides against Chinese students have raised concerns among Chinese tourists.

Deborah Friedland, managing director at the financial services firm Eisner Advisory Group, said the US travel industry faced multiple headwinds – rising travel costs, political uncertainty and ongoing geopolitical tensions.

Since returning to office for a second term in January, Trump has doubled down on some of the hard-line policies that defined his first term, reviving a travel ban targeting mainly African and Middle Eastern countries, tightening rules around visa approvals, and ramping up mass immigration raids.

At the same time, the push for tariffs on foreign goods that quickly became a defining feature of his second term gave some citizens elsewhere a sense that they were unwanted.

A new $250 “visa integrity fee”, set to go into effect on October 1, adds a hurdle for travellers from non-visa waiver countries like Mexico, Argentina, India, Brazil and China. The extra charge raises the total visa cost to $442, one of the highest visitor fees in the world, according to the US Travel Association.

“Any friction we add to the traveller experience is going to cut travel volumes by some amount,” said Gabe Rizzi, president of Altour, a global travel management company. “As the summer ends, this will become a more pressing issue, and we’ll have to factor the fees into travel budgets and documentation.”

International visitor spending in the US is projected to fall below $169bn this year, down from $181bn in 2024, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council.

In May, the group projected that the US would be the only country among the 184 it studied where foreign visitor spending would fall in 2025. The finding was “a clear indicator that the global appeal of the US is slipping”, the group said.

Frankie Muniz — the “Malcolm in the Middle” star turned NASCAR driver — is off the racetrack, for now at least.

The actor is recovering from a broken wrist he suffered after falling from a ladder at his home, he wrote on Instagram on Thursday.

“The phrase ‘FML’ (Frankie Muniz’s Life) takes on new meaning with moments like these,” he wrote.

The accident came right before a NASCAR event at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, S.C., over Labor Day weekend.

Muniz shared that the ladder mishap happened when he was trying to change batteries on a backyard security camera. While he joked about the situation, he said he’s heartbroken to miss the competition.

However, Muniz’s NASCAR career is far from over. He estimates he’ll be back behind the wheel within a few months.

Muniz began his professional driving career in 2006, after the end of “Malcolm in the Middle,” a move that stemmed from his lifelong admiration for the sport.

This isn’t the first time Muniz has found himself on the mend. In a previous interview, the 39-year-old told People that he’s simply “injury-prone,” and broke 38 bones between 2006 and 2017.

Muniz was involved in a crash at a 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway in Arizona. According to reports from a journalist at the track, Muniz was seen limping into an ambulance after a hard hit from behind, but escaped major injury.

Neither that nor his latest fall are as harrowing as his major crash in 2009.

During a race, the then-21-year-old’s vehicle flipped and violently crashed into a wall. He described the crash as “gnarly” and said it resulted in him breaking his back, ankle, four ribs and a hand.

“My thumb was dangling by the skin,” Muniz told People.

In comparison, his recent fall from the ladder was a bump in the road. As the actor-turned-racer recovers, he plans to come back to racing full-force — and probably follow the instructions on his ladder a little more closely.

“Note to self: heed the ladder warning that says, ‘Do not sit or stand on top step,’” Muniz wrote on social media. “In hindsight, a taller ladder would’ve been smarter. While I’m gutted to miss the races, I’m grateful it wasn’t worse.”

Fans don’t have long before it’s released on the platform

Netflix has given fans their first glimpse at a new series penned by the creator of John Wick – and fans don’t have long to wait.

Following on from the success of the Keanu Reeves-fronted franchise, Derek Kolstad has now turned his pen to the first-ever adaptation of the award-winning video game series, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell.

The action movie architect served as the head writer on Netflix’s upcoming animated series, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch which stars Liev Schreiber (The Perfect Couple) as the voice of black ops agent Sam Fisher. Meanwhile Kirby Howell-Baptiste (The Sandman) takes on the role of Zinnia McKenna.

The first Splinter Cell game released in 2002 with the latest dropping in 2013. Eager fans have speculated that the upcoming adaptation is set after the events of 2005’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.

READ MORE: Netflix’s ‘female John Wick’ thriller with 91% score that’s better than Keanu Reeves spin-offREAD MORE: Netflix fans ‘cancel all plans’ over eight part thriller perfect for Harlan Coben fans

Netflix shared the first official trailer for the series yesterday (August 22). The 70-second clip teases plenty of action to come, and gave fans a proper look at Schreiber’s take on the legendary character as he takes on a mission that’s “personal”.

According to the brief synopsis for the upcoming series: “Legendary agent Sam Fisher is drawn back into the field when a wounded young operative seeks out his help.” It is slated for release on October 14, meaning fans have a few more weeks to wait.

One excited fan penned: “So it’s actually real. Feels like I’ve been waiting for this forever. Now all we need are some remaster/remake/sequel games. Would love to see remakes of the first two or three games.”

“The last Splinter Cell game was Blacklist released in 2013. How time flies… But I’m glad Sam Fisher is back, at least in animation,” said a second franchise fan. Meanwhile a third added: “It’s the adaptation we didn’t know we needed but now we need it.”

One John Wick fan quipped: “From the writer of the John Wick Franchise. Say less,” as another shared their surprise at Schreiber’s Sam.

“Didn’t expect Liev Schreiber to play a decent Sam Fisher!” they started. “Def not Michael Ironside but imo it’s better than what we got in Blacklist. Here’s to hoping this show succeeds so Ubisoft will give us another damn game already!”

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch releases on Netflix on October 14