1 of 3 | Canada is dropping many of its 25% tariffs on goods made in the United States, with the change set to take effect on Sept. 1, Prime Minister Mark Carney (L) said Friday as trade talks continue with U.S. President Donald Trump. File Photo by Francis Chung/UPI | License Photo
Aug. 22 (UPI) — Canada is dropping many of its 25% tariffs on goods made in the United States, with the change set to take effect on Sept 1, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Friday.
The two countries have attempted to negotiate a deal, but so far have failed to reach an agreement before a U.S.-imposed deadline of Aug. 1.
A White House official told NBC News Carney’s announcement was “well overdue.”
“We look forward to continuing our discussions with Canada on the Administration’s trade and national security concerns,” the official told NBC.
Carney told Canadians that around 85% of goods being traded with the United States are still tariff-free as they are subject to the US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, which was signed during Trump’s first term in office.
The prime minister said he still hoped to reach some kind of agreement on tariffs with Trump.
The two leaders met Thursday to discuss trade.
“As we work to address outstanding trade issues with the U.S., it is important we do everything we can to preserve this unique advantage for Canadian workers and their families,” Carney said Friday.
A round of tariffs of various levels imposed by Trump on several countries took effect earlier in the month.
On Thursday, the United States and European Union announced the framework of a trade deal that would result in a blanket 15% tariff on EU goods.
Despite claims that they wouldn’t be having a 23rd child, the Radfords have shocked viewers after a clip from the show appears to show Sue experiencing a pregnancy scare
Sue and Noel Radford had previously insisted that they wouldn’t be having more kids
Sue Radford has shocked viewers and sparked rumours of a pregnancy scare after a clip from an upcoming episode of 22 Kids and Countingshowed her panic over a late period and “crazy” hormones.
Sue, who shares 22 children with husband Noel, turned 50 in March, and in the next episode of the reality show documenting the family’s life, we get to follow the lead-up to the milestone. In the promotional clip ahead of the air date, Sue can be seen saying: “My 50th is coming up, I feel like my hormones are crazy.”
In the 30-second video, we then hear a woman telling her: “I think it’s really risky for you to stop the pill.” The clip dramatically cuts to Sue approaching Noel and telling him she needs to talk because her period is “late”. The video ends on a cliff hanger, with both Noel and Sue stating: “Oh my God.”
The couple already have 22 children, who are: Chris, Sophie, Chloe, Jack, Daniel, Luke, Millie, Katie, James, Ellie, Aimee, Josh, Max, Tillie, Oscar, Casper, Hallie, Phoebe, Archie, Bonnie, and Heidie. Their 17th child, Alfie, was sadly still born in 2014.
Sue looked concerned about her hormone changes in the new episode(Image: Channel5_tv/X)
Despite the show hinting at a possible pregnancy scare, Sue and Noel, 54, have previously insisted that Heidie was their last child. The five-year-old went to school for the first time last September, and Sue told the Mirror that she was finally enjoying having some free time with all the kids now out the house.
She said: “But I have to confess I did cry when she went to school. It’s such a big moment – your last baby going to school and you don’t have any more at home. I do also love having the house full and bustling.”
Ahead of her 50th this year, Sue explained that this birthday was a “big deal”, saying: “I said: ‘You know what, because I am turning 50, I am definitely having a whole year of celebrations!’”
The couple were shocked in the clip, prompting suspicions of a pregnancy scare(Image: Channel5_tv/X)
The whole family, including the grandkids, headed to Disney World in Florida, US, to celebrate Sue in the Easter holidays. On her birthday, Noel wrote a heart-warming Instagram caption for his wife, in which he said: “Myself and all of our children want to wish this beautiful, loving, caring lady who we all call Sue and Mum a Happy big 50th Birthday today or as Sue says I’m 49 plus 1.”
Another milestone was celebrated in the Radford house this week, as Max received his GSCE results. The family announced the news of his success online, writing: “We are so incredibly proud of Max he passed his GCSE with mainly 7 and 8’s.”
They added: “He is so incredibly happy, well done Max we knew you would do it, very proud mum and dad moment.”
Worried about a stock market drop hurting your retirement savings?
As someone who’s spent years writing about personal finance, I know how scary it can be to watch investments fluctuate. It’s even worse when you’re just about to retire.
The good news is there are lots of low-risk investment options that can protect your savings while still earning a decent return. Here are four reliable choices.
1. High-yield savings accounts (HYSAs)
If you want to keep full access to your cash while still earning solid interest, a high-yield savings account is a great starting point.
Many top online banks now offer HYSAs with rates at or above 4.00% APY. Key benefits to look for include:
FDIC insurance up to $250,000 per account
No monthly fees
Little or no minimum balance requirements
Because of their flexibility, HYSAs are ideal for immediate cash needs. Whether it’s an emergency fund or short-term savings, your money can stay liquid while still earning a competitive rate.
CDs offer steady, predictable returns, allowing you to deposit money for a set amount of time in exchange for a guaranteed interest rate. That’s especially valuable if you want to protect your savings from market swings.
Many CDs’ rates are also hovering in the 4.00% range, meaning you can guarantee a strong return by locking up your money.
One smart way to keep your money accessible while still earning high rates is to set up a CD ladder. For example, you could open CDs that mature in 3, 6, 9, and 12 months.
This way, part of your money becomes available every few months while the other CDs keep earning. Then you can either use the earnings as needed or reinvest them to keep the ladder going.
Treasury bills (T-bills) are another strong choice if you’re willing to lock in cash for a short period. These are short-term debt obligations offered by the U.S. government, with terms ranging from four weeks to a full year.
Right now, T-bills are offering yields around 4.00%. Retirees like them them because:
They’re fully backed by the U.S. government
The interest isn’t subject to state or local income taxes
You can buy them in increments as little as $100
You can buy T-bills through a brokerage firm for a small fee, or directly from TreasuryDirect.gov.
Finally, a fixed annuity works similarly to a long-term CD, but often offers higher guaranteed returns — currently around 5% to 6% annually.
Like CDs, you deposit a lump sum, earn a fixed interest rate, and then receive payment — the difference being that your payments can be dispersed over time, instead of given in one lump sum. This turns your investment into a stream of income.
Deferred annuities let your money grow before payouts start, while immediate annuities provide income right away. When considering a fixed annuity, check for a death benefit so your heirs can receive any remaining funds if you pass away before the money is fully paid out.
Using a mix of HYSAs, CDs, T-bills, and fixed annuities can diversify your savings and protect it from market drops. They all provide a nice balance of safety, accessibility, and value, giving you the confidence you need to comfortably enter retirement.
So it goes in the United States, where daily reading for pleasure has plummeted more than 40% among adults over the last two decades, according to a new study from the University of Florida and University College London.
From 2003 to 2023, daily leisure reading declined at a steady rate of about 3% per year, according to the study published Wednesday in the journal iScience .
“This decline is concerning given earlier evidence for downward trends in reading for pleasure from the 1940s through to the start of our study in 2003, suggesting at least 80 years of continued decline in reading for pleasure,” the paper states.
Jill Sonke, one of the study’s authors, said in an interview Tuesday that the decline is concerning in part because “we know that reading for pleasure, among other forms of arts participation, is a health behavior. It is associated with relaxation, well-being, mental health, quality of life.”
“We’re losing a low-hanging fruit in our health toolkit when we’re reading or participating in the arts less,” added Sonke, the director of research initiatives at the UF Center for Arts in Medicine and co-director of the university’s EpiArts Lab.
The reading decline comes as most Americans have more access to books than ever before. Because of Libby and other e-book apps, people do not need to travel to libraries or bookstores. They can check out books from multiple libraries and read them on their tablets or phones.
But other forms of digital media are crowding out the free moments that people could devote to books. More time spent scrolling dank memes and reels on social media or bingeing the “King of the Hill” reboot on Hulu means less time for the latest pick from Oprah’s Book Club.
But researchers say there are factors besides digital distraction at play, including a national decline in leisure time overall and uneven access to books and libraries.
The study analyzed data from 236,270 Americans age 15 and older who completed the American Time Use Survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics between 2003 and 2023. [The year 2020 was excluded because data collection was briefly paused amid the COVID-19 pandemic.]
Participants were asked to provide granular detail of their activities beginning at 4 a.m. on the day prior to the interview and ending at 4 a.m. the day of the interview.
Researchers found that people who do read for pleasure are doing so for longer stretches of time — from 1 hour 23 minutes per day in 2003 to 1 hour 37 minutes per day in 2023.
But the percentage of Americans who leisure-read on a typical day has dropped from a high of 28% in 2004 to a low of 16% in 2023.
Researchers said there was an especially concerning disparity between Black and white Americans.
The percentage of Black adults who read for pleasure peaked at about 20% in 2004 and fell to about 9% in 2023. The percentage of white adults who picked up a book for fun peaked at about 29% in 2004 and dropped to roughly 18% in 2023.
The study showed that women read for fun more than men. And that people who live in rural areas had a slightly steeper drop in pleasure reading than urban denizens over the last two decades.
In rural places, people have less access not only to bookstores and libraries, but also reliable internet connections, which can contribute to different reading habits, Kate Laughlin, executive director of the Seattle-based Assn. for Rural and Small Libraries, said in an interview Tuesday.
Although there have been concerted national efforts to focus on literacy in children, less attention is paid to adults, especially in small towns, Laughlin said.
“When you say ‘reading for pleasure,’ you make the assumption that reading is pleasurable,” Laughlin said. “If someone struggles with the act of actually reading and interpreting the words, that’s not leisure; that feels like work.”
As rural America shifts away from the extraction-based industries that once defined it — such as logging, coal mining and fishing — adults struggling with basic literacy are trying to play catch-up with the digital literacy needed in the modern workforce, Laughlin said.
Rural librarians, she said, often see adults in their late 20s and older coming in not to read but to learn how to use a keyboard and mouse and set up their first email address so they can apply for work online.
According to the study, the percentage of adults reading to children has not declined over the last two decades. But “rates of engagement were surprisingly low, with only 2% of participants reading with children on the average day.”
Of the participants whose data the researchers analyzed, 21% had a child under 9 at home.
The low percentage of adults reading with kids “is concerning given that regular reading during childhood is a strong determinant of reading ability and engagement later in life,” the study read. “The low rates of reading with children may thus contribute to future declines in reading among adults.”
Researchers noted some limitations in their ability to interpret the data from the American Time Use Survey. Some pleasure reading might have been categorized, mistakenly, as digital activity, they wrote.
E-books were not included in the reading category until 2011, and audiobooks were not included until 2021.
From 2003 to 2006, reading the Bible and other religious texts was included in reading in personal interest — but was recategorized afterward and grouped with other participation in religious practice.
Further, reading on tablets, computers and smartphones was not explicitly included in examples, making it unclear whether survey participants included it as leisure reading or technology use.
“This may mean that we underestimated rates of total engagement, although … we expect any such misclassifications to have minimal effects on our findings,” they wrote.
Southern Brave beat Welsh Fire after Katie George drops Georgia Adams on the penultimate ball, allowing the visitors to run two and snatch victory with a ball to spare, denying the hosts their first win of this year’s Hundred.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says change upholds privacy of US users.
Apple will no longer be forced to provide the United Kingdom’s government with access to American citizens’ encrypted data, Washington’s spy chief has said, signalling the end of a months-long transatlantic privacy row.
Tulsi Gabbard, the United States’ director of national intelligence, said on Monday that London agreed to drop its requirement for Apple to provide a “back door” that would have allowed access to the protected data of US users and “encroached on our civil liberties”.
Gabbard said the reversal was the result of months of engagement with the UK to “ensure Americans’ private data remains private and our constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected”.
The UK government said it does not comment on operational matters, but that London and Washington have longstanding joint security and intelligence arrangements that include safeguards to protect privacy.
“We will continue to build on those arrangements, and we will also continue to maintain a strong security framework to ensure that we can continue to pursue terrorists and serious criminals operating in the UK,” a government spokesperson said.
“We will always take all actions necessary at the domestic level to keep UK citizens safe.”
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The UK’s climbdown on encryption comes after Apple in February announced it could no longer offer advanced data protection, its highest-level security feature, in the country.
While Apple did not provide a reason for the change at the time, the announcement came after The Washington Post reported that UK security officials had secretly ordered the California-based tech giant to provide blanket access to cloud data belonging to users around the world.
Under the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act, authorities may compel companies to remove encryption under what is known as a “technical capability notice”.
Firms that receive a notice are legally bound to secrecy about the order unless otherwise granted permission by the government.
Like other tech giants, Apple has marketed its use of end-to-end encryption as proof of its steadfast commitment to the privacy of its users.
End-to-end encryption scrambles data so it cannot be read by third parties, including law enforcement and tech companies themselves.
Governments around the world have made numerous attempts to undermine or bypass encryption, saying that it shields serious criminals from scrutiny.
Privacy experts and civil liberties advocates have condemned efforts to weaken the technology, arguing that they treat innocent people as potential criminals and put the privacy and security of all users at risk.
John Pane, chair of the advocacy group Electronic Frontiers Australia, welcomed the UK’s reversal as a win for digital rights and safety.
“Were Apple to create a backdoor to its encrypted user data it would create a significant risk which could be exploited by cybercriminals and authoritarian governments,” Pane told Al Jazeera.
“EFA believes access to encryption technologies is vital for individuals and groups to be able to safeguard the security and privacy of their information and it is also fundamental to the existence of the digital economy. The right to use encrypted communications must be enshrined in law.”
Emmerdale spoilers have revealed the moment removal man Ben makes a jaw-dropping admission to the police about Nate Robinson’s presumed killer Owen amid John Sugden’s lies
New Emmerdale character Ben makes his return to the ITV soap next week leaving Nate Robinson’s loved ones reeling. Fans may recall the character was the removal man who came to collect Nate’s belongings from his wife Tracy Robinson, prior to Nate’s death being announced.
At the time Nate was believed to have moved away and cut off his family, sending removal guy Ben to get his things for him. Now knowing that Nate was murdered, it became apparent to the police that it could not have been Nate who did this, and was likely his killer.
It comes after Nate’s murderer John Sugden successfully framed a patient called Owen for the crime, leaving him to die after an apparent overdose all so he could make it look like Owen was the killer. Next week Ben shows up in the village leaving Tracy stunned, with her and Nate’s loved ones keen to finally see whether or not Owen killed Nate.
Emmerdale spoilers have revealed the moment removal man Ben makes a jaw-dropping admission to the police(Image: ITV)
When an update sees the detective tell Nate’s father Cain Dingle that there’s been some new evidence, the arrival of Ben sparks more intrigue. Now a new preview has revealed the moment Ben is in the shop with Tracy and Cain, as well as Mackenzie Boyd.
The detective on Nate’s case is called there and approaches Ben asking him where he’s been and why he hasn’t come forward. He claims he’s been away and hadn’t heard about Nate’s murder.
It then comes out that Tracy has showed Ben a photo of Nate, and Ben is able to confirm it was not him that booked the service or who he met with to hand over the items. The police are keen for Ben to identity whoever it was, believing this will give away who killed Nate.
As they open up a file, the show him a picture of Owen. Immediately Ben claims that Owen is the guy he met with and who asked for Nate’s belongings, posing as Nate.
With that it appears to confirm to the police and Tracy, and the others, that Owen had Nate’s stuff removed, and that this likely means he killed Nate. But as a viewer, we know full well that this just isn’t adding up, and there has to be something about newcomer Ben.
As they open up a file, the show him a picture of Owen(Image: ITV)
If Ben literally met the person who wanted Nate’s belongings, with him now claiming this was Owen, then he would know it was actually John or someone else. Given John had Nate’s belongings and he burned them, and he organised the pick-up in the first place, Ben would know it wasn’t Owen, the man in the photo.
Owen did not kill Nate, fact, and he wasn’t even in the village until months later. By the time Owen was on the scene, Ben had been and gone and Nate’s death was exposed. So it can’t have been Owen and we, the viewer, know that it wasn’t as we saw the flashbacks proving John did it, and then we saw him burn the items too.
So very clearly here Ben is lying to the police, but why? Unless of course Ben never actually saw anyone, John or not. But that said John wouldn’t have known Owen back then to set him up, so there’s just no way Ben has seen Owen, and therefore his identification to the police is false.
U.S. teenage pilot Ethan Guo pictured beside his Cessna Skyline at Geneva Airport, Switzerland, in August 2024, before taking off for Greece on another leg of his solo round-the-world odyssey to raise money for childhood cancer research. File Photo by Savatore di Nolfi/EPA
Aug. 12 (UPI) — American social media influencer and pilot Ethan Guo, who is circumnavigating the globe to raise money for childhood cancer research, was facing expulsion from Chile’s Antarctic region after charges that he landed on a remote island without permission were dropped.
Guo, 19, from California, was ordered by a judge on Monday to leave King George Island, make a $30,000 donation to a children’s cancer foundation and prohibited from re-entering Chilean airspace for three years.
Setting off from Memphis, Tenn., in May 2024, Guo’s attempt to raise $1 million for the city’s St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital by becoming the youngest person to solo fly to all seven continents ran into trouble in June when he allegedly diverted 770 miles to the island from Punta Arenas in the far south of Chile.
The General Directorate of Civil Aeronautics said Guo amended his flight plan for his Cessna 182 after departing Punta Arenas “without notifying the respective air traffic control centers of the airport” and accused him of providing false flight plan information to officials when he was detained at Teniente R. Marsh Airport.
Regional prosecutor Cristian Crisosto Rifo said at the time that Guo had submitted a flight plan that involved flying over the city of Punta Arenas and that by departing from the route without informing anyone, had “seriously endangered the safety of air traffic to Antarctica and the Magallanes region.”
He was also alleged to have breached international law, with the GDCA saying “the unauthorized operation at the airfield in Antarctica also implied non-compliance with the Antarctic Statute.”
The 1959 treaty governs international relations with regard to the seventh continent.
After having formal charges laid against him on June 29, one of which carried jail time, Guo was freed but ordered to remain in Chile pending the outcome of an investigation.
Guo’s legal team argued that he was forced to make the diversion due to unforeseen complications during what they termed an “exploratory” test flight.
The teen, whose record-breaking feat is being tracked by at least 1.7 million followers on Instagram, TikTok and other social media, had already visited the six other continents before he ran afoul of the Chilean authorities.
Guo launched the fundraising effort after his cousin was diagnosed with Stage -4 blood cancer.
Reporting from Sacramento — The state ethics agency cited the serious illness and death of key witnesses in its decision to drop charges that political contributions were laundered to the 2010 campaign of Assemblyman Roger Hernandez (D-West Covina).
Ending a protracted legal battle that began three years ago, the state Fair Political Practices Commission has also notified Hernandez’s attorney that it will not pursue allegations that the candidate failed to report spending on a mass mailing on the West Covina City Council elections.
“After a full investigation, the Enforcement Division did not find sufficient, reliable evidence to conclude that your client violated the [Political Reform] Act in this instance and is closing the file on this matter,” wrote Zachary W. Norton, an attorney for the FPPC, to Hernandez’s lawyer.
The state agency launched the probe after receiving a citizen complaint questioning loans of $100,000 that Hernandez made to his campaign in 2009 and 2010.
The commission issued a finding of probable cause in January. At that time, an attorney for the state agency alleged Hernandez’s committee filed “an inaccurate semi-annual campaign statement with the Secretary of State, falsely reporting information regarding the true sources of contributions received.”
Hernandez challenged the allegations, and in preparing for an administrative hearing, commission attorneys found “inconsistencies in previous witness testimony” and that key witnesses were not available, Norton said.
“Specifically, one key witness has serious medical issues that would prevent him from testifying and another has passed away,” Norton wrote in the case-closing letter. “The standard for proving a violation of the Act administratively is based on the preponderance of the evidence and, at this point, the evidence is not sufficient to meet that standard.”
The allegation involving failure to report a mass mailer was dropped after Hernandez’s campaign provided information that the campaign staffer who approved it was not authorized to do so, Norton said.
Jimmy Gutierrez, an attorney for the Assemblyman, said the letter provides false excuses for why the case was dropped.
“They had issued probable cause findings with no facts whatsoever and they know it,” Gutierrez said. “There was absolutely no merit to it whatsoever.”
Netflix has just dropped a fresh trailer for One Piece season two, teasing new characters featured in the forthcoming instalment. The live-action anime is set to return for its second series in 2026 and has already been renewed for season three.
A new teaser, released on August 9, introduces fans to major characters, including one played by Bridgerton favourite Charithra Chandran. The action-packed trailer kicks off with Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) narrating: “Everything I’ve done, everywhere I go, is for the One Piece,” before viewers catch a glimpse at the villains the crew will face.
According to the synopsis, this season will feature “fiercer adversaries and the most perilous quests yet.”
One Piece season two premieres in 2026(Image: Netflix )
It adds: “Luffy and the Straw Hats set sail for the extraordinary Grand Line — a legendary stretch of sea where danger and wonder await at every turn.
“As they journey through this unpredictable realm in search of the world’s greatest treasure, they’ll encounter bizarre islands and a host of formidable new enemies.”
Chandran is among the show’s newcomers, stepping into the role of Nefertari Vivi, also known as Miss Wednesday. She dons a blue ponytail in the trailer and looks worlds away from her Regency attire as Bridgeton’s Edwina Sharma.
Fans will also spot Brendan Murray (Devil’s Peak) towering over the Straw Hats as Brogy, while Callum Kerr (Hollyoaks) appears as Smoker, and Lera Abova (Honey, Don’t!) steps into the role of Nico Robin, also known as Miss All-Sunday.
Charithra Chandran plays Miss Wednesday in the new season(Image: Netflix )
The YouTube teaser has racked up over two million views in less than 24 hours, with fans expressing their excitement in the comments section.
“I’M SO HYPED,” exclaimed one fan, with another stating: “I’ve never smiled non-stop as I did for this trailer with any other trailer before.”
A third penned: “As a One Piece fan, who is caught up with the anime, this makes me proud and excited for this season.”
Meanwhile, a fourth said: “Teasing season 3 is in production during a season 2 first look is diabolically wonderful.”
Based on Eiichiro Oda’s beloved manga, One Piece first landed on Netflix in 2023. The series follows Monkey D. Luffy (played by Godoy) and his Straw Hat Pirates crew, as they journey across the seas in search of a legendary treasure known as the One Piece.
The field of candidates for California governor expanded rapidly this year as a growing number of politicians entered the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, but now it’s starting to shrink.
Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, a major Democratic donor and the first well-known candidate to formally launch a campaign for governor in April 2023, said Friday morning that she is dropping out of the governor’s race and will instead run for state treasurer.
Her announcement is the second big development in the governor’s race in the last two weeks. Last Wednesday, former Vice President Kamala Harris said she would not run, creating a vacuum other Democrats in the race are rushing to fill.
Kounalakis said in a statement that as treasurer, she can “make the greatest impact by focusing on California’s financial future.”
The state treasurer manages California’s assets and serves on powerful boards that oversee the state employee pension systems and award financing for affordable housing and infrastructure projects. That role, Kounalakis said, would allow her to focus on “fiscal responsibility, economic opportunity and strategic investment in our state’s priorities — from affordable housing and clean energy to infrastructure and education.”
“This work is critical and I am prepared for the challenge,” Kounalakis said.
Kounalakis is the former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary and the daughter of a wealthy real estate developer from Sacramento. In 2016, Kounalakis was a California co-chair of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, helping raise money and advising on foreign policy.
Her family has deep ties to the well-heeled world of Bay Area political donors and power brokers, including U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) who gave Kounalakis a nod on TV last week after Harris decided not to run for governor.
Her exit from the governor’s race creates an opening for other candidates to build relationships and secure contributions from those donors, some of whom were waiting to give until Harris made a decision.
The other Democrats in the race include Toni Atkins, a former Assembly speaker and Senate president pro tem; Xavier Becerra, former California attorney general and Biden Cabinet secretary; Stephen Cloobeck, a philanthropist and businessman; Katie Porter, a former congresswoman from Orange County; Tony Thurmond, the superintendent of public instruction; Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles; and Betty Yee, the former state controller.
There are two prominent Republicans running: former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.
Early polling showed Kounalakis in the top half of the gubernatorial field, but most voters also said they haven’t made a decision yet and don’t know the candidates.
Kounalakis had raised millions of dollars in her race for governor, most of which her campaign said she will be able to transfer to her race for treasurer.
She will face several other longtime California politicians in that race, including state Sen. Anna Caballero (D-Salinas); the former mayor of Oakland, Libby Schaaf; and Tony Vazquez, a member of the state Board of Equalization.
Kounalakis was first elected lieutenant governor in 2018 and was reelected in 2022. The office is a largely ceremonial post that has been a launchpad for the governor’s mansion in the past: Both Newsom and former Gov. Gray Davis previously served as lieutenant governor.
The feature film will tell an extraordinary true crime story
The creative team behind popular docuseries Don’t F*** With Cats have dropped their brand new title on Netflix about the ‘world’s greatest diamond heist’.
Stolen: Heist of the Century releases on the streaming platform from Friday (August 8). It is produced by the company RAW, not only known for the hit true crime series but also American Nightmare and The Tindler Swindler.
Their latest entry is said to tell the story of the ultimate true-life crime caper, the world’s greatest diamond heist. According to the synopsis provided by Netflix, the Antwerp detectives who cracked the case along with the alleged criminal mastermind are gathered for the first time to give a blow-by-blow account of what really happened.
The feature length documentary is said to reveal the secrets of ‘The Heist of the Century’. Unlike the previous limited series released, this will be a film coming in at around one hour and 35 minutes in length.
The detectives and those involved in the heist will reveal what really happened(Image: Netflix)
On the morning of February 17, 2003, detectives from Antwerp’s infamous Diamond Squad were called to investigate the brazen night-time robbery of an allegedly impregnable vault in the middle of the City of Diamonds.
It is estimated that between $100 million and half a billion dollars worth of diamonds were stolen. An ingenious gang of master thieves from Italy, known as The School of Turin were said to be behind the audacious heist.
Now, after more than 20 years, the world will finally learn how they pulled it off.
Sharing the same director as Don’t F*** With Cats, the new film is based on the book Flawless, which was written by Scott Andrew Selby and Greg Campbell.
Fans were full of praise for Don’t F*** With Cats, with one person claiming it was ‘the best documentary ever made’. Another fan posted online saying: “A really excellent crime and investigation series based on true events, the only downside is that at first it feels a little dry and uninteresting, but if you can tolerate the beginning, this is a masterpiece series.”
Between $100 million and $500 million worth of diamonds were stolen(Image: Netflix)
Someone else stated: “Don’t F**k with Cats” is a gripping rollercoaster of a documentary that will leave you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.”
It means that Stolen: Heist of the Century has been set a high bar of expectations if it is to be as well received. Anticipation has been building for its release ever since Netflix shared the trailer online.
Replying to the teaser on its YouTube page, one user claimed it looked like a real life version of action movie Den of Thieves. Another said: “These guys pulled off something so wild, I thought it was straight out of Grand Theft Auto.”
Stolen: Heist of the Century is streaming on Netflix.
George Skelton and Michael Wilner cover the insights, legislation, players and politics you need to know in 2024. In your inbox Monday and Thursday mornings.
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SACRAMENTO — Former Vice President Kamala’s Harris’ decision to forgo a 2026 run for California governor came as a bit of a surprise, given her impressive winning streak in the state and comfortable lead in early polling. But that’s what makes campaigns so interesting, the unpredictability. It’s also why everyone should view nattering political punditry and campaign handicapping with a healthy heap of skepticism.
So keep that in mind now that the California governor’s race is wide open. The current field of candidates — yes, there’s still plenty of time for folks to jump in — is filled with gubernatorial hopefuls who have a legitimate if not outside chance of taking over for two-term Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is barred from running again.
Four of the top Democrats in the race already have won statewide races — former Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurman and former Controller Betty Yee. One is the former mayor of California’s largest city, Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles. Two were impactful lawmakers — Orange County Rep. Katie Porter and former state Sen. Toni Atkins. And, as always, there are the wild cards: wealthy Democratic businessman Stephen J. Cloobeck; and Republicans Chad Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, and conservative commentator Steve Hilton.
This is Phil Willon, the L.A. Times California politics editor, filling in for columnist George Skelton this week. I’m joined by senior Sacramento reporter Taryn Luna to bring you up to speed on the latest.
The early money
On the same week Harris announced that she wasn’t running, just by coincidence, the latest campaign fundraising reports for the governor’s race were released to the public.
Those financial reports, which cover the first half of 2025, offered a glimpse of a candidate’s popularity and viability, since running a successful gubernatorial campaign in the most populous state in the union can cost tens of millions of dollars.
Campaign fundraising has been a bit frozen; donors were waiting to hear whether Harris was going to jump in the race, since she would have started as the clear favorite.
Kounalakis raised just over $100,000 during the first half of this year, a relatively paltry amount. But she had more than $4.6 million socked away and millions more in her lieutenant governor campaign account. Kounalakis’ father, the wealthy developer Angelo Tsakopoulos, also helped bankroll an independent expenditure committee supporting his daughter’s 2018 campaign for lieutenant governor.
Cloobeck, a Los Angeles Democrat, raised about $160,000 — but on Friday, he made a $10-million contribution to his campaign that he said “turbocharged” it.
Here’s a look at what the other candidates hauled in during the first half of the year and how much money they have in their accounts, since they were busy spending money as well:
Atkins reported having $4.3 million in the campaign, while raising $648,000.
Villaraigosa raised $1.1 million. He reported $3.3 million cash on hand based on fundraising he did last year.
Becerra had $2.1 million in the bank after raising $2.5 million.
Porter reported raising $3 million since announcing she was running for governor in March. She said she had $2 million in the bank.
Bianco reported raising $1.6 million, and had $1 million in the bank.
Hilton raised about $1.5 million, of which $200,000 was a personal loan. Hilton has a little less than $800,000 in the bank.
Yee raised almost $238,000 and had $637,000 on hand.
Thurmond raised about $70,000, and had almost $560,000 on hand.
Although a few seemingly have a pile of money and others look like they are barely scraping by, the reality is that none of them has enough money to wage a successful campaign for governor at this point. So, how much they rake in in the months ahead will be pivotal.
Harris’ next act
Speculation about Harris’ plans for the future is focused heavily on whether she will run for president again in 2028, talk that started almost immediately after the former vice president announced that she wasn’t running for California governor. Harris indicated that she’d remain active in national politics, but just how remains the big question.
Experts in power and political leadership expect Harris’ next move to be something in the public eye, given she is relatively young at 60 and no doubt wants her last chapter in the spotlight to be something other than her humbling loss to Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
“Even if it isn’t the governorship of California, the idea of wanting something else other than the 2024 election to be the last thing Kamala Harris ever did would be very appealing,” said Gregory H. Winger, an assistant professor of public and international affairs at the University of Cincinnati who has studied former presidents’ lingering influence.
Winger said his research showed those “most active in trying to be influential” in their post-White House years were those whose time in office ended on a sour note, such as failing to win reelection.
“It’s kind of a frustrated ambition that then leads into higher activity,” Winger said — and Harris has that.
Harris was careful to leave her options open — framing her hopes for the future around ideals such as “fighting for the American people.”
The Democratic Party is losing support from young men
One of the many takeaways from the 2024 presidential election, including Harris’ defeat to Trump, is that Democrats are losing men — and young men feel particularly unseen by the party.
In his ongoing dissection of how Trump prevailed, Newsom brought Richard Reeves, a social scientist and author, onto his podcast this week and asked what he thought about efforts to speak to male voters.
“The way I think about this is that in politics something almost always beats nothing,” said Reeves, founding president of the American Institute for Boys and Men. “And what there was from the Democrats on issues around boys and men was nothing.”
For a Democratic governor of California weighing a potential 2028 presidential run, there are plenty of political reasons for Newsom to strive to understand why men feel disconnected from his party. Kamala Harris won 55% of women and 42% of men, a 9-point increase in the gender gap compared to the 2020 presidential election.
But Newsom also has personal reasons to ponder, too. The governor has talked about his own 14-year-old son, Hunter, and his interest in MAGA podcasters and influencers, such as Charlie Kirk.
Reeves said Democrats lost support from men in the election because they made a conscious choice to appear as the party that supports women — at the exclusion of men.
“I think that was a fatal miscalculation,” Reeves said. “I also think, honestly, it was somewhat insulting to women because there are plenty of women out there, and we may know some in our own lives, governor, who are simultaneously worried about the issues facing women. Access, for example, to reproductive healthcare, justice at work. And they’re desperately worried about their son’s mental health, and they’re very worried about their brother’s job.”
Trump made a stronger effort to win over a micro-generation of young men “who grew up with terms like toxic masculinity and mansplaining and the women’s movement,” Reeves said.
“The Republicans managed to convince young men, ‘We see you and we like you,’ and I don’t think there’s anything more to it than that, but I don’t think the Democrats did a very good job of making young men feel the same way,” Reeves said. “If anything, Democrats struggle with the idea that men might have problems because too many of them are still convinced that men are the problem.”
Men’s issues are a topic Reeves writes and speaks about often. Compared to women, men suffer from higher suicide rates and a greater sense of disconnection from peers. Men are less likely to attend college and more prone to violence.
Reeves casts the problem as the refusal to address the reality that men are struggling, too.
Ignoring men’s issues creates a gulf that the “reactionary online right” fills, he said, and draws young men to controversial figures such as Andrew Tate, a British influencer who promotes misogyny.
When the podcast with Reeves aired on Wednesday, Newsom announced an executive order that directs various state agencies to make recommendations to address suicide among young men, to improve recruitment of male teachers and counselors, and to increase male participation in state-funded volunteer programs, job training, educational partnerships and behavioral health initiatives.
Newsom said the work of Reeves and others “really is a call to arms.”
Months after stopping all supplies from entering Gaza, Israel has airdropped a few aid cartons and allowed some trucks to enter the Strip, following immense international pressure. Israel says it’s also begun 10-hour pauses in fighting in three locations ‘for humanitarian purposes’, but continuing attacks killed more than 50 Palestinians on Sunday.
July 22 (UPI) — The Justice Department has dismissed a Biden-era lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s law banning gender-affirming care for minors, as the Trump administration continues to attack the rights and medical care of transgender Americans.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that her department’s Civil Rights Division dismissed the lawsuit in a statement Monday that said the Justice Department “does not believe challenging Tennessee’s law serves the public interest.”
Gender-affirming care includes a range of therapies, including psychological, behavioral and medical interventions, with surgeries for minors being exceedingly rare. According to a recent Harvard study, cisgender minors and adults were far more likely to undergo analogous gender-affirming surgeries than their transgender counterparts.
Despite the support of the medical community and evidence of its efficacy, gender-affirming care and this marginalized community continue to be targeted by conservatives and Republicans with legislation.
Tennessee enacted Senate Bill 1 in March 2023 to prohibit healthcare professionals from prescribing puberty blockers or hormones to minors to treat gender dysphoria, which attracted a lawsuit from the Justice Department under President Joe Biden, arguing the law violated the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, as all other minors continued to have access to the same procedures and treatments.
The conservative movement targeting the healthcare of transgender minors has since gained a supporter in the White House with the re-election of President Donald Trump.
Since returning to power, Trump has implemented an agenda targeting transgender Americans, including directing the federal government to recognize only two sexes determined at “conception,” restricting gender-affirming care for youth and banning transgender Americans from the military.
Last month, the conservative-leaning Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against the Biden administration’s complaint to overturn the Tennessee law. The ruling fell along ideological lines, with the conservative justices voting for the law to stand. The liberal justices dissented.
“By retreating from meaningful review exactly where it matters most, the Court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in her dissent.
“Tennessee’s ban applies no matter what a minor’s parents and doctors think, with no regard for the severity of the minor’s mental health conditions or the extent to which treatment is medically necessary for an individual child.”
Bondi on Monday said the Supreme Court made “the right decision.” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said that by dismissing the lawsuit, they “undid one of the injustices the Biden administration inflicted upon the country.”
With Virgin River becoming one of Netflix’s biggest shows of all time and Sullivan’s Crossing following in its footsteps, could a crossover be on the cards?
Virgin River might potentially merge with another beloved small-town romance series, according to claims from this prominent star.
Drawing inspiration from Robyn Carr’s cherished bestselling novels, the Netflix sensation chronicles Mel Monroe (portrayed by Alexandra Breckenridge), a nurse practitioner who relocates to a remote community after experiencing personal tragedy.
Upon arrival, she encounters bar proprietor and ex-Marine Jack Sheridan (Martin Henderson), with instant chemistry developing between them.
The captivating romance has recently concluded filming for its seventh series, anticipated to arrive on Netflix towards the end of this year or potentially in early 2026.
Meanwhile, American audiences have been engrossed in the newest series of Sullivan’s Crossing, which follows comparable themes and draws from another Carr book collection, reports the Mirror US.
Sullivan’s Crossing star Morgan Kohan confirms she’s up for a crossover episode(Image: CTV)
Given this link, viewers have speculated whether these programmes might intersect, and it seems we now have our response.
Starring Morgan Kohan and Chad Michael Murray, this heartwarming romance unfolds in Nova Scotia, centring on Kohan’s character Maggie, a neurosurgeon who chooses to reconnect with her father Harry, known as Sully (Scott Patterson), whilst developing feelings for former solicitor California ‘Cal’ Jones (Murray).
In conversation with TechRadar, Kohan revealed she’d enthusiastically welcome the opportunity to interact with Mel, Jack and the entire Virgin River ensemble should circumstances permit.
“That would be so fun, why not!” she declared when presented with the concept. Despite the considerable geographical distance between the two towns, there’s no reason why Virgin River and Timberlake can’t exist in the same universe.
Interestingly, Sullivan’s Crossing, which airs on CTV in Canada and The CW in the US, has also found significant success on Netflix, much like Virgin River, becoming its streaming home in the States.
The two shows even share a producer, Roma Roth, who is an executive producer for Virgin River and the creator and showrunner of Sullivan’s Crossing.
The Canadian romance dropped a huge bombshell at the end of season 3(Image: CTV)
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Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan.
This lets members watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes hit shows like Stranger Things.
With the Canadian drama gaining momentum and Mel and Jack’s love story captivating millions, could a crossover episode be on the horizon?
Regardless, Kohan has teased plenty of unexpected twists in the newly renewed fourth season of Sullivan’s Crossing, especially with the shocking revelation that Maggie is still wedded to her ex-lover, Liam (Marcus Rosner).
“I hope they can [stay together],” she commented about her relationship with Cal.
“They’ve built such a beautiful foundation, and clearly this is a bit of a bombshell.
“I think it will take some trust to build them back up, and maybe a lot of explaining… but they are so good together.”
As the fanbase for both shows continues to expand, could Netflix surprise viewers by linking the Robyn Carr universe on screen?
Virgin River is available to stream on Netflix. Sullivan’s Crossing airs on CTW and is on Netflix in the US.
T-Mobile announced Friday that it intends to remove its diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The company awaits FCC approval to buy US Cellular. File Photo by Etienne Laurent/EPA
July 11 (UPI) — T-Mobile announced it will scrap its diversity, equity and inclusion policy on Friday, while it awaits Federal Communications Commission approval to buy U.S. Cellular for $4.4 million.
The company, owned by German company Deutsche Telekom, is the second-largest wireless operator in the United States. It’s trying to buy most of U.S. Cellular and Internet service provider Metronet.
“T-Mobile will no longer have any individual roles or teams focused on DEI,” the company said. “T-Mobile is also removing any references to DEI on its websites and will ensure that company websites and future communications do not have any references to DEI.”
The FCC follows an informal timeline of 180 days to review mergers. The T-Mobile/U.S. Cellular deal is on day 253.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr said on X that the move was “another good step forward for equal opportunity, nondiscrimination, and the public interest.”
In a letter to Carr, Mark W. Nelson, executive vice president and general counsel for T-Mobile U.S., said, “Our belief then and now is that skills, aptitude, and a growth mindset are what contribute to exceptional performance — and that merit is how you advance at our company, regardless of who you are or where you’re from. Equality of opportunity, performance-based rewards, and ensuring we’re a place where everyone can win as ‘One Team, Together’ — that’s what we intended through some of our practices that were labeled as ‘DEI.'”
The letter said the company reviewed its policies and is “ending its DEI-related policies as described below, not just in name, but in substance.”
The letter goes on to list the different areas T-Mobile is making changes, including:
Leadership and public messaging
Hiring and recruitment
Career development, mentorship and training
Supplier and vendor diversity, corporate sponsorships and memberships
Employee resource groups
Carr has told Bloomberg News that “any businesses that are looking for FCC approval, I would encourage them to get busy ending any sort of their invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”
Anna M. Gomez, a member of the FCC, disparaged T-Mobile’s decision on X: “In yet another cynical bid to win FCC regulatory approval, T-Mobile is making a mockery of its professed commitment to eliminating discrimination, promoting fairness, and amplifying underrepresented voices,” Gomez said. “History will not be kind to this cowardly corporate capitulation.”
Many companies and organizations have backed off their DEI programs to curry favor with the administration of President Donald Trump. Thursday, the Department of Education launched an investigation against George Mason University and its hiring practices. If the agency determines that the university violated the staff’s civil rights, GMU could lose federal funding.
Love Island fans may be in for a huge treat, as host Maya Jama gave away a ‘huge clue’ that a major twist may be coming to the ITV2 dating show very soon…
Maya Jama drops ‘huge clue’ that something huge is coming to Love Island very soon(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
Yesterday, fans were left in shock when Alima and Ryan were brutally dumped from the villa. However, their dumping was done via text, as host Maya was nowhere to be seen.
It’s not unusual for Islanders to be dumped without Maya in the villa, but when she does rock up, Love Island fans know something huge is coming. The 30-year-old host was last seen in the sleepover villa, as she informed the Islanders that their actions had consequences.
In scenes last week, Helena chose to recouple with Giorgio, and bring him to the main villa, when Maya later informed her that it meant her current partner, Shea, had been dumped from the villa. As the Islanders returned to the main villa, Maya disappeared from screens, but from her Instagram stories – it looks like she’ll be back very soon.
Maya revealed she was back in Mallorca this evening(Image: @mayajama/Instagram)
On Thursday evening, the host took to her Instagram story to inform fans she was back in Mallorca, with some stunning sunset views. Seeing as she has to get back to London by Sunday to host the After Sun show, it’s safe to say she’ll be heading into the villa in the coming days, if she hasn’t already.
Should that be the case, it means the scenes will be playing out on our screens sometime soon – but what could the huge twist be?
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, one fan said: “Maya is going back to the villa soon as she’s back in Mallorca from what i saw on her IG.”
Love Island fans are convinced Casa Amor is round the corner (Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
What she’ll be entering the villa for is currently unknown, but many predict the iconic Casa Amor will be starting soon…
“I smell Casa Amor coming very soon,” wrote one fan, while another said: “Casa Amor is soon and there’s no strong couples… There will genuinely be 30 people in that villa.”
Despite Casa Amor being a fan favourite segment in the show, this year, fans don’t think it will bring the same level of drama. In previous years, the new villa has been known to break up some of the strongest couples.
Fans now predict that due to there not being many solid couples in the villa, more Islanders than ever before will chose to couple up.
This series promises more twists and turns than ever, so is Maya heading into the villa for Casa Amor? Or could it be something else?
Love Island 2025 airs every night at 9PM on ITV2 and ITVX.
Natalie Z. Briones is a concert veteran. She’s been to heavy metal concerts and a punk music festival where she napped most of the time. On Sunday, she attended her first baby rave.
Natalie is a few months shy of two. In the arms of her dad, Alvin Briones, 36, the pigtailed toddler squealed “Hi!” to anyone passing by the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood where the Briones family was lined up to meet Lenny Pearce, the mastermind behind Natalie’s favorite song, “The Wheels on the Bus.”
Natalie Z. Briones, held by her father Alvin Briones, sports rainbow face paint at the baby rave.
(Elizabeth Weinberg / For The Times)
It’s not the classic version most parents sing while slowly swaying and clapping — Pearce’s rendition rages with enough bass to rattle rib cages. Natalie is here for it, and so is her mom, Alondra Briones, who plays the techno remix during her drives to work even without Natalie in the backseat.
“It’s a pick-me-up,” said Alondra, 28, from Compton, before filing into the theater with other parents and caregivers for an afternoon rager with their kids.
In Pearce’s techno remixes of classic children’s music, an unexpected subgenre is taking off — toddler techno — which melds the cloyingly sweet lyrics of songs like “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” with the edgy beat drops associated with music from gritty warehouse parties.
The unlikely musical pairing creates a bridge between parents like Sandra Mikhail and her 6-year-old daughter, Mila. Both dressed in fuchsia at Pearce’s dance party, the mother-daughter duo were there to celebrate Mila’s promotion from kindergarten. In their Riverside home, Pearce’s music is on heavy rotation.
Children squeal in delight at the baby rave at the Roxy as Kuma the money, Lenny Pearce’s sidekick, hypes up the crowd.
“I can handle kids’ music now,” said Sandra, 38. “With the beat and [Pearce] adding that techno touch to it, it makes me able to tolerate listening to it all day long.”
For the last year, Pearce has been hosting sold-out dance parties boldly called baby raves — first in his native Australia — then on the first leg of his U.S. tour, which culminated in a June 29 double-header at the Roxy.
In the afternoon show timed for that sweet spot many parents know well — post-nap and right before the evening witching hours — Pearce pranced, high-fived kids and waved at babies being hoisted in the air.
Lenny Pearce vibes with the crowd at his sold-out show at the Roxy.
(Elizabeth Weinberg / For The Times)
At 34, he’s been an entertainer for most of his life. Over a decade ago, he was dancing in music videos as a member of the Australian boy band, Justice Crew. Now, he’s firmly affixed in his dad era. His dance partner is now a large balloon spider named Incy Wincy.
“I’m just being a dad on stage,” said Pearce in a video interview from New York. “I can make a clown of myself to entertain kids.”
From boy band to toddler techno
Lenny Pearce uses props during his shows, including an inflatable duck.
(Elizabeth Weinberg / For The Times)
Pearce’s journey into children’s entertainment seemed preordained, if only because his identical twin brother is arguably the second most famous purple character on a children’s TV show (behind Barney, of course).
“We’re both in the toddler scene,” said John Pearce, the older twin by minutes, who in 2021 joined “The Wiggles” cast as the Purple Wiggle. “[My brother’s] stuck with it for a long time, and it’s all paid off now.”
At the Roxy, many parents and caregivers said they found Pearce through the Purple Wiggle. Others discovered him on social media: He has more than 2 million followers on TikTok and more than 1 million followers on Instagram.
Before becoming children’s entertainers, the Pearce brothers were members of Justice Crew, a dance troupe that won “Australia’s Got Talent” in 2010. For a few years, the boy band’s future burned white hot with the aspiration to break through in the U.S. — a dream that never materialized.
Lenny Pearce started making what he calls toddler techno music after his daughter was born in 2022. As a dad, he says he’s happy to act silly for kids.
Most boy bands have a finite time in the spotlight, said Pearce. In 2016, he quit the Justice Crew to focus on DJing and music production, but the transition from boy band to toddler techno didn’t happen overnight. For a time, he worked as a salesperson at an Australian electronic store.
“People were like, ‘Aren’t you from Justice Crew?’” he said. “And I’m like, ‘Yeah. Now, do you want this lens with that camera?’”
In 2022, becoming a dad to his daughter Mila changed the course of his creativity. Pearce started remixing children’s songs with “ravey” music and filming himself dancing with her to the songs. Soon, other parents started sharing videos of their kids dancing to his songs, too. In this way, social media allows for ideas to be refined until something sticks.
In March, Pearce released his first solo album aptly titled, “Toddler Techno.”
All along the way, he imagined playing these songs at mini raves. For this generation of kids and their millennial parents, it’s not a stretch, said Pearce. Pretend DJ tables are just as commonly sold in toy aisles as construction trucks.
In the fall, Pearce and his baby raves will return to the U.S. — and, yes, to L.A. — in a 30-city tour. As a solo artist, he’s done what he couldn’t do in a band — he’s broken through to the U.S. and international audiences.
“It’s funny, isn’t it?” said Pearce. “I always felt like I had something to say, but no one really listened.”
But are techno parties OK for kids?
Many attendees at the baby rave were wearing ear covers.
(Elizabeth Weinberg / For The Times)
The roots of techno — in Detroit or Berlin depending on whom you talk to — were always antiestablishment, said Ambrus Deak, program manager of music production at the Los Angeles Film School.
“It was exploratory,” said Deak, a longtime DJ who went by DJ AMB, about techno.
Toddler techno plays with that contrast — an edgy genre made safe for kids. Deak would not attend a baby rave — “It would be very cringe for me,” he said — but sees the appeal.
“I can definitely see a lot of people being into it,” said Deak, 48.
Still, not everyone is sold on the idea of taking kids to a rave — even one held in the middle of the day with a face-painting station. In the comments of Pearce’s social media posts, parents occasionally debate the appropriateness of exposing kids to drug-addled rave culture.
“I know that most people would say, ‘Is this the image we want to teach our kids?’” said Pearce. “What image are you imagining? Because if you think about it, they’re just kids with light sticks, right?”
He gets the concern, but kids don’t know about the darker sides of raves unless they are taught. And that’s not what his baby raves are about.
In the right dose, some experts say techno music and baby raves can be beneficial for kids and parents.
“Parents’ happiness and stress regulation also matter,” said Jenna Marcovitz, director of the UCLA Health Music Therapy program. “Techno can promote oxytocin and boost endorphins. It can encourage joy and play and really support brain development, emotional regulation and really enhance the parent-child bond as well.”
At the Roxy, one man vigorously pumped his fist to the beat of the music.
“Fist pump like this!” he shouted to the child on his shoulders. Both fists — little and big — jabbed the air.
How to keep it safe and sane
Glow sticks were a popular accessory at the event.
(Elizabeth Weinberg / For The Times)
Everything — especially baby raves — should be enjoyed in moderation. The pulsating music, giant inflatables tossed into the crowd and sudden blasts of fog can overstimulate kids.
For the roughly one-hour show, the music is loud. Typically set to 85 to 90 decibels, Pearce said. Having a sensory support plan is key, said Marcovitz, who recommends toddlers wear headphones with a noise reduction rating of 20 to 30 decibels or higher — like this one or this one. Practicing dance parties at home, so your child knows what to expect, is also helpful.
At the rave, look for signs of overstimulation, which can present differently with each child — some might shut down while others might start shoving each other mosh pit-style. At the Roxy show, one toddler sat down, ate half a bag of Goldfish crackers and poured the rest on the floor. Another disappeared into the crowd for a few alarming moments before being returned by a good Samaritan.
Toddlers crawl and lay down amid the crowd at the baby rave.
(Elizabeth Weinberg / For The Times)
“For any child, I would recommend breaks every 30 minutes,” said Marcovitz. “Step outside.”
Because techno hypes people up — even little kids — it’s important to help a child regulate their nervous system back down after the show.
“Lots of cuddles, silence and hugs,” said Marcovitz.
Pearce also starts the party late, so the dance party before the rave can tucker kids out before he takes the stage.
Ashley and Todd Herles drove from Santa Clarita to the Roxy so their son, Oliver, 3, could meet Pearce before the show. They said they bought $120 VIP tickets, which included a meet and greet and table seats where Oliver got to high-five Kuma, Pearce’s dancing sidekick in a turquoise monkey suit. For Pearce’s November 23 show at the Novo in downtown Los Angeles, ticket prices currently range from $48 to $195, fees and taxes included.
Overall, Oliver loved it — until he didn’t.
“[The] meltdown happened around 1:40 so we left then,” said Ashley, 40.
They had big post-rave plans to refuel with french fries. But Oliver was tired.
And, most importantly?
“Our backs hurt,” said Ashley.
Children bopped along to the music from atop their parents’ shoulders during the dance party.
LAS VEGAS — Ilia Topuria continued his ascension up the pound-for-pound ladder with a major statement via a vicious first-round knockout of Charles Oliveira to win the vacant lightweight championship Saturday night at UFC 317.
Topuria used a sharp right hand to set up a devastating left hook that dropped Oliveira to end the bout at the 2:27 mark of the opening round, fulfilling his prediction of a first-round KO while sending the announced crowd of 19,800 into a frenzy.
“I always say I represent the new generation of mixed martial arts,” said Topuria, who closed a -400 favorite at BetMGM sportsbook.
Topuria (17-0), who now has 10 first-round finishes to his credit, moved up to the 155-pound weight class following a successful campaign in the featherweight division last year. He claimed that belt with a second-round knockout of Alexander Volkanovski and defended his title by finishing Max Holloway in the third round of an October bout in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Topuria, who came in ranked fourth on UFC’s pound-for-pound list, joined nine others who have held a UFC belt in two weight classes. He is the first undefeated fighter to become champion in two UFC divisions.
“I think tonight was his big night,” UFC CEO and president Dana White said. “We have a star on our hands.”
Oliveira (35-11), who has the most finishes in UFC history, was hoping to become the first fighter to win the lightweight belt on separate occasions.
Fellow lightweight Paddy Pimblett was in the audience and summoned to the ring, where a heated exchange led to Topuria shoving the eighth-ranked contender and igniting a rivalry from years ago.
“If you’re ready, I’m here,” Topuria shouted to Pimblett before he entered the ring.
White wasn’t happy with Pimblett getting in the ring, knowing the history of bad blood between the two.
The two have been at odds for some time, after they came to blows when Pimblett threw a bottle of hand sanitizer at Topuria’s head in 2022.
“That was a heavy knockout, I’ll give you that,” Pimblett said to Topuria. “But you will never knock me out.”
Replied Topuria: “I’m going to submit you.”
In the co-main event, flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja (30-5) successfully defended his belt by applying a rear-naked chokehold to defeat Kai Kara-France (25-12) at the 1:55 mark of the third round.
It marked the second time the fighters met, nine years after their quarterfinal clash on the reality show “The Ultimate Fighter,” also won by Pantoja, but by unanimous decision.
Pantoja, who closed a -250 favorite and extended his win streak to eight fights, won the title two years ago when he beat Brandon Moreno by decision, and has now defended his title successfully four times.
Ilia Topuria celebrates after defeating Charles Oliveira in a lightweight title fight at UFC 317 Saturday in Las Vegas.
(John Locher / Associated Press)
The 35-year-old Brazilian was joined in the ring after his victory by No. 12 Joshua Van, who put on a show of his own.
Van (15-2-0) defeated No. 1 contender Brandon Royval (17-8-0) in a slugfest in which both fighters displayed incredible boxing skills. Van, who closed a -120 favorite, used an overhand right to drop Royval before closing out the bout with a severe ground-and-pound to secure the unanimous decision.
The 419 combined significant strikes landed were the third most in a UFC fight, and the most in both a three-round bout and a featherweight clash.
Moments after Pantoja’s win, Van challenged Pantoja with both standing nose to nose before exiting the octagon.
Other matches from the main card:
In a lightweight bout, No. 9 Beneil Dariush (23-6-1) survived a first-round knockdown to defeat No. 11 Renato Moicano (20-7-1) via unanimous decision.
In a bantamweight battle, Payton Talbott (10-1-0) used a much-improved ground game to register a unanimous decision over Felipe Lima (14-2-0).
