Japan’s protest over Putin’s visit to the Kuril Islands is loud because its response is capped: Tokyo cannot meaningfully sanction the one Russian energy relationship — Sakhalin-2 LNG — it now depends on more than ever, after the Strait of Hormuz closure gutted its Gulf oil access and made that supply a load-bearing pillar of its energy security through at least December 2026.
On August 13th, Vladimir Putin toured a fish-processing plant on Iturup Island, the largest of the four southern Kuril Islands Japan calls its Northern Territories, with Sakhalin’s regional governor at his side. It was his first visit there in twenty-six years in power. He called the islands’ status “enshrined” as a permanent outcome of the Second World War and pointedly invoked the late Shinzo Abe, who spent years personally courting him toward a peace treaty that never materialised. Tokyo’s response was immediate: Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the visit “absolutely unacceptable,” and her Foreign Ministry says an “additional sanctions package” is under consideration. What went unmentioned is that this same government told Washington, in writing, ten months earlier that a full ban on Russian LNG would be “difficult.” That contradiction, not the visit itself, is the story.
The dispute is old: the Soviet Union seized the four islands in the war’s final days, and the missing peace treaty has been Tokyo and Moscow’s unfinished business for eighty years. What is new is the energy math surrounding it. Sakhalin-2, the LNG project sitting directly across the strait from where Putin stood, supplied Japan roughly 3.6–3.9 million tonnes last year — about 9% of its total LNG imports, and enough to make Japan the project’s largest single buyer. The US Treasury sanctions waiver permitting those imports, along with the Gazprombank clearing that finances them, was just extended to December 18th, 2026, pushed back from an original June deadline. Washington’s stated reason was blunt: global supply is “constrained amid the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz.”
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That closure is the piece most coverage of the Kuril visit leaves out. Since February 28th, when the US and Israel launched their air campaign against Iran, the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively shut, with roughly 20,000 mariners and 2,000 ships stranded and Brent crude spiking to $126 a barrel at its peak. Around 90% of Japan’s crude oil and 11% of its LNG normally transit Hormuz. Tokyo has spent 2026 losing its largest energy artery to a war in the Gulf, which means Sakhalin-2 has quietly gone from “one Russian supplier among several” to one of the few pillars still standing under Japan’s winter power grid. Putin picked this year, not an arbitrary one, to make his sovereignty claim visible on the ground.
The waiver renewal is the tell. Washington and Tokyo did not merely tolerate the Sakhalin-2 exemption through the Ukraine-sanctions years — they actively rebuilt it in 2026, in the middle of the Hormuz crisis, explicitly carving out maritime transport, financial clearing, and joint-operations funding through the end of the year. Putin then chose that same window, with that same regional government’s leadership standing next to him, to plant a public flag on the neighbouring islands. He is not testing whether Japan objects. He knows it will. He is testing whether the general logic of sanctioning Russia survives contact with the specific, recently-renewed exemption that keeps Japanese lights on. Compare that to 2010, when Dmitry Medvedev made the first-ever Russian presidential visit to the same islands: Tokyo protested loudly, recalled its ambassador briefly, and moved on within weeks, because no comparable energy dependency was on the table at the time. The script is recognisable. The stakes underneath it are not.
Takaichi’s own words undercut her “absolutely unacceptable” framing before she said it. In October 2025, briefing President Trump on the LNG relationship, she told him directly that a total ban on Russian gas “would be difficult” — an unusually candid admission from a leader now weighing a fresh sanctions package over the same relationship’s home islands. A prime minister who has already told Washington, on the record, that cutting the energy tie is impractical cannot now credibly threaten it without the threat being understood, in Moscow as much as in Tokyo, as theatre. What remains available is a narrow band of symbolic measures — travel restrictions, asset freezes on individuals connected to the visit or the regional administration — that let Tokyo be seen to act without touching a single LNG cargo.
The standard objection is that Japan has options: JERA, its largest buyer, points to a 30–35 million tonne portfolio and spot-market access, and Tokyo Electric-linked utilities cite early-stage interest in the $44 billion Alaska LNG project as a long-term alternative. That is capability, not near-term relief. Japanese firms remain openly cautious about Alaska LNG’s cost and logistics, with no binding offtake timeline in sight, and the global spot market Japan would lean on is the same market already absorbing cargoes redirected from Hormuz-blocked routes — tighter, not looser, than in a normal year. Sanctioning the actual molecules, rather than a list of names, risks the electricity-price and blackout warnings Japanese officials themselves used to justify keeping the Sakhalin-2 waiver alive in the first place.
THE SCENARIOS
Base case (~55%): Japan announces a narrow, largely symbolic sanctions package — individual travel bans and targeted asset freezes tied to the Far East regional government — while explicitly leaving Sakhalin-2 supply and Gazprombank clearing untouched, repeating the 2010 script almost exactly. The December 18th waiver renewal proceeds quietly, folded into the broader Hormuz-driven energy calculus, and Moscow reads the episode as confirmation that its Pacific energy leverage over Japan is durable regardless of who occupies the Kremlin’s chair on any given August.
Downside case: domestic backlash — the same “hardened public sentiment” Takaichi herself warned the visit would produce — pushes her government into a genuine review of the Sakhalin-2 exemption as its December deadline approaches, right as Hormuz remains tight heading into winter and Asian spot LNG prices stay elevated from redirected Gulf cargoes. The result is Japan’s first real taste of sanctions-driven energy pain from the Ukraine-era regime, a burden that has so far landed almost entirely on European households rather than Japanese ones, arriving in the worst possible month of the heating season and forcing utilities into the kind of emergency rationing talk Tokyo has avoided since 2022.
Upside case: Tokyo treats the compounding shock — Hormuz plus the Kuril visit landing in the same year — as the forcing function it has lacked for three years, converting Minister Yoji Muto’s long-stated goal of “steadily reducing dependence” on Russian LNG into actual contracted volume rather than a talking point: accelerated Alaska LNG offtake commitments, expanded US Gulf Coast term deals, and a public timeline for winding down Sakhalin-2 purchases that uses the December waiver deadline as a hard exit ramp instead of an automatic renewal. Even here, the earliest realistic substitution volumes arrive on a multi-year timeline, not by next winter.
THE AFTERMATH
Putin’s flag on Iturup was never really a test of Japan’s territorial resolve — Tokyo’s position on the Northern Territories has not moved in eighty years and was never going to move now. It was a test of whether that resolve has any economic weight behind it at the one moment Japan’s alternatives are thinnest.
Watch for: what actually happens to the Sakhalin-2 waiver around December 18th, not the sanctions package announced this week. A quiet renewal, carved out exactly as before, will tell you Japan’s outrage and Japan’s energy security are now permanently on separate tracks — and that Moscow understands the gap between them better than Tokyo would like to admit.
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s choice for attorney general is facing a tight vote for confirmation in a Republican-controlled Senate nearly halfway through his second term, reflecting mounting doubts about his leadership of the Justice Department as bipartisan concerns over the weaponization of justice intensify.
The confirmation of Todd Blanche hangs on the support of two Republicans who have repeatedly criticized Trump’s stewardship of the department, where Blanche has served as deputy and acting attorney general, roles he assumed after working as the president’s personal lawyer for nearly two years.
Republican senators resisted Trump’s approach to the Justice Department from the start of the presidential transition, rejecting his first choice to lead it, Matt Gaetz, amid concerns he would use the department to pursue political retribution. But after Gaetz withdrew, Trump’s replacement, Pam Bondi, won bipartisan confirmation with the support of the entire Republican caucus.
Blanche is already guaranteed a narrower margin, with Sen. Susan Collins of Maine announcing she will vote to reject his confirmation, and with Sen. Mitch McConnell absent for health reasons. Democrats are expected to be united in opposition against him.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a figure the president has referred to as a “terrible,” “Trump-deranged” “loser” who “should never be elected,” has refused to comment on her plans.
Her staff has said she is reviewing a commitment Blanche made in writing to formally rescind a controversial, $1.8-billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” announced in May to compensate Trump’s political allies, including those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Blanche also said he would limit immunity offered to Trump and his family for future tax audits, although his wording left the door open to negotiating a future deal along similar terms.
“I think certainly the fact that he has signed this order, basically disbanding [the Anti-Weaponization Fund] — that’s a pretty good step,” Murkowski said , adding that she would “like to find out a little bit more about the negotiations.”
Blanche has taken steps to curry Murkowski’s favor in recent months, visiting Alaska and announcing a $400-million settlement benefiting Alaska natives’ healthcare in July.
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the other uncommitted lawmaker in the chamber, said he had concerns that Blanche was still effectively working as Trump’s personal attorney under the guise of public service.
“I am very concerned about so-called lawfare — people being prosecuted not for a valid reason beyond somebody in high office being angry at them,” Cassidy said.
“So, I’ve not made a decision regarding Mr. Blanche,” he added. “I’ve got to be convinced that he is an attorney general who just happens to have once been President Trump’s personal attorney, as opposed to President Trump’s personal attorney who is now the attorney general. I think there’s a big difference between the two.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said that he was still working to secure the votes needed for Blanche’s confirmation.
“I’m hoping we’ll get there eventually,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Blanche became the acting attorney general in April after Bondi was fired. Blanche had previously served as deputy attorney general and has been linked to some of the most controversial policies of the Trump administration.
His connection to the settlement between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service took center stage during his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Blanche said during the hearing that the controversial fund created as part of the IRS settlement was dead.
But Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina refused to vote for Blanche until he issued a more explicit order that killed the fund, which was designed to provide payouts to allies of Trump.
Cornyn and Tillis also demanded that the Justice Department provide constraints to tax audit immunity that was granted to Trump, two of his sons and their business as part of the lawsuit settlement.
The federal judge who presided over the IRS case blasted the proceedings and the agreement as “improper” saying that the two sides — Trump and the IRS — were not truly independent of each other.
The written assurances provided by Blanche were enough to win support from Cornyn and Tillis, though Democrats pointed out that they did not foreclose the possibility that a similar fund could be resurrected in the future.
“The president himself has largely telegraphed that’s his plan,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the committee, said Tuesday before the vote.
Blanche has been the face of the administration’s release of files related to deceased sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein. Bondi told the House Oversight Committee in May that Blanche had overseen the process, which included delays in the release of files and major redaction issues.
Blanche also faced criticism for a July 2025 prison interview he conducted with Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of facilitating Epstein’s abuse.
Shortly after the interview, she was moved from her Florida prison to a low-security prison in Texas where she has reportedly gotten favorable treatment.
Paris and Chamonix, France – Ibrahim Doukanthi prepares to plunge into the Canal Saint-Denis. It is almost noon, and the temperature in the Paris region is nearing 30 degrees Celsius (86F).
He grew up just north of Saint-Denis, one of France’s poorest municipalities, and now lives in La Plaine, hundreds of metres from the Stade de France, the country’s national stadium.
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“The water here is completely normal,” he said. “It’s just that it’s green, so you don’t know what’s in it – that’s what makes it a bit scary.”
He has been jumping into the canal – technically not open to swimmers – to cool off during the recent heatwaves.
Like many residents of Paris’s sprawling, historically disinvested suburbs, Doukanthi had to be creative to beat the heat while living in an apartment building without air conditioning.
“What I do is take the spray bottles – I call them ‘pshit-pshit’ – fill them with water, spray myself down, then sit in front of the fan,” he said. “It cools you off like crazy.”
Ibrahim Doukanthi has been trying to cool off in a canal during France’s heatwave [Phineas Rueckert/Al Jazeera]
Sitting in the shade at a flea market in Saint-Denis, Natifa Segli, a municipal employee, criticised the government’s response to the heatwave.
“I don’t feel like we learned the lesson from the 2003 heatwave. Here we are in 2026, and this heatwave was horrible,” she said. “Even at work, we weren’t sheltered. The temperatures in the offices were very, very hot.”
For Segli, the only consistent solution is to avoid the sun. “We’re going to stay in the shade,” she said of an upcoming heatwave, expected later this week.
‘We really have nothing to cool off with’
In areas like Saint-Denis, access to cooling infrastructure is unevenly spread, Louiza Ammari, a childcare worker who lives in social housing, told Al Jazeera.
In her building, police banned residents from setting up an inflatable pool for children. As renters, her family is not allowed to install air conditioning. Though one municipal pool opened free swimming hours, she could not go because it does not allow burkinis.
“We really have nothing to cool off with,” she said.
Louiza Ammari tries to protect herself from the blazing sun under an umbrella [Phineas Rueckert/Al Jazeera]
In France, there were 2,025 additional deaths during the last heatwave, the week of June 22 – a week-over-week increase of 30 percent nationwide and 62 percent in the Paris region, according to the national public health agency.
Extreme heat highlights existing inequalities, according to Bruno Villalba, a political science professor at AgroParisTech Paris-Saclay, specialising in political ecology and environmental policy.
“The heatwave is merely a symptom of social vulnerability, particularly in terms of housing,” Villalba told Al Jazeera.
Wealthier people can insulate their homes, afford a portable air-conditioning unit, eat fresh produce, or even leave the city for vacation when it gets too hot, options that are unavailable to many others.
“It’s up to the government to step in,” Villalba said.
“They tell us, ‘Stay hydrated, don’t stay in the sun, drink water,’” he said. “The French government did not sufficiently anticipate the acceleration of climate change.”
‘We are not all equally exposed’
There is a pervasive misconception of “universality” when it comes to climate deregulation, noted Mael Ginsburger, a lecturer at Universite Paris Cite focused on inequalities linked to the ecological transition.
Although experienced by everyone, more vulnerable populations have limited resources to mitigate heatwave conditions.
“We are not all equally exposed, just as we are not all equally responsible. There are significant inequalities in carbon emissions,” Ginsburger said. “Not everyone is equally capable of adapting, and there are certain groups that face multiple vulnerabilities linked to poor health, for example.”
Among wealthy households in France, 70 percent consider their homes properly insulated to combat heat, compared with 46 percent of lower-income households, according to Ginsburger’s research. More people report now suffering from heat in the summer – 66 percent – than cold in the winter, 46 percent.
“Overcrowded housing is much more likely to be in poor condition and have extremely poor insulation,” Ginsburger said. “These are populations facing a combination of overcrowding in dilapidated housing located in areas like Marseille and Lyon that are particularly vulnerable to heat.
“We’re sticking with this same approach of small steps rather than a structural approach that would actually require a more far-reaching overhaul of [building] infrastructure.”
For the homeless, the ramifications of heatwaves can be even worse.
“People who are outside don’t have a moment’s respite. They are suffocating in a concrete jungle where there is no simple, effective way to escape the intense heat. On asphalt, the perceived temperature can often rise to 45-50 degrees,” Paul Alauzy, at NGO Medecins du Monde, or Doctors of the World, told Al Jazeera.
He is a member of Le Revers, an activist group that formed during the 2024 Paris Olympics to bring awareness to the conditions faced by unhoused people in the Paris region.
“We’re asking for long-term policies designed to protect as many people as possible and reduce the number of people living on the streets, precisely to shield them from the harsh weather,” Alauzy said. “Once again, the authorities are stubbornly resorting to reactive, weather-dependent management.”
During heatwaves and cold snaps, French officials usually add a few emergency shelters and install temporary water stations.
“This is obviously not nearly enough,” Alauzy said.
Not all parks and natural spaces, essential for cooling down, are accessible to all.
“Trees, which are natural tools for regulating temperatures, have been effectively pushed out of our cities,” Villalba said, especially in deprived areas.
In places like Saint-Denis, schools and other public infrastructure are insufficiently equipped, said Ammari, the childcare worker.
‘Definitely an advantage to be at an altitude’
Even in the mountains, temperatures rose above 30C during the last heatwave, about 10C (18F) above normal end-of-June temperatures.
In Chamonix, the Bossons Glacier above town visibly shrank and conditions along popular routes up Mont Blanc and neighbouring peaks are becoming dangerous due to rockfall risks.
But nights are not stifling, and locals and visitors in the Alps sleep comfortably.
There are forested trails and a river fed by glacial melt that cools the surrounding area.
“In Chamonix, like in many mountain towns, it’s definitely an advantage to be at an altitude of 1,000 metres [3,280 feet] and to have the forest a few minutes from home,” Jean-Michel Bouteille, who recently retired from his role as director of municipal services in Chamonix, told Al Jazeera. “We’re a town of 9,000 people, but we still have nearby green spaces that are free and easily accessible.”
Although the mountain weather is not oppressive, climate change is felt in Chamonix.
“We have temperatures much higher than in previous years, which is leading to significant consequences. The Bossons Glacier is a disaster,” said Bouteille, who has lived in the valley for 26 years.
Emmerdale’s Charity Dingle has confessed all about her baby lie, Dr Todd’s blackmail and sexual assault to partner Mackenzie Boyd in dramatic scenes on the ITV soap
20:59, 25 Jun 2026Updated 21:00, 25 Jun 2026
Charity Dingle has spoken out about her baby lie and sexual assault on Emmerdale
Emmerdale’s Charity Dingle confessed all to Mackenzie Boyd in the latest episode of the ITV soap. The Woolpack landlady, who has been played by Emma Atkins, certainly has had a lot to deal with in recent weeks and finally told her partner everything after weeks of hiding away and suffering a breakdown.
Unfortunately, Dr Caitlin Todd, who had relentlessly bullied Sarah’s partner Jacob when she was in charge of him at the hospital, found out the truth and used it to blackmail Charity into handing over money. This all culminated in harrowing scenes where she sexually assaulted a drunken Charity.
Earlier this week, newcomer Serena Sugden, played by former Wicked star Casey Al-Shaqsy, made Charity see that she needed to expose Todd, even if that meant revealing everything to her family and on Thursday night’s episode, Charity bravely faced the music.
Having candidly informed Mack that Sarah’s baby was the product of a one night stand she had with Ross, Mack stormed out and looked set to tell all to Charity’s granddaughter. But when he returned home, he told Charity that he couldn’t do it.
It was then that Charity told Mack about Dr Todd’s blackmail against her after she discovered the truth about the child in question, and then disclosed that she had been the victim of rape at the hands of the retired medic.
Clearly taken aback by the shock revelation, on top of everything else he had heard that day, Mack (Lawrence Robb) calmly told Charity that the only thing they could do now was to go to the police – even after it seemed that Todd had got away with it all when she previously claimed that everything was consensual.
Charity told Mack: “The only way through this is telling the truth and facing the consequences of what I have done. No matter what.”
“I tell Sarah. And then I go back to the police. If I tell the police about the blackmail, it’s going to open a can of worms and that’s gonna drag Sarah into it. I think that girl Serena was right. I have to see this through.”
However, Mack told Charity that telling Sarah that she is not the mother of her baby might not be the best idea just yet, meaning that the secret could stay secret a little while longer – but he was absolutely convinced that she had to “fight” for justice above all else.
He said: “It’s gonna be a lot for everyone to deal with it, so maybe we cross that bridge when we come to it. What matters right now is that you go to the police.”
“I can be angry with you and still be there for you when you need me the most. Charity, I need you to listen to me for a second here because – Dr Todd is not karma. She’s a rapist who took advantage of you when you were vulnerable. So I need you to get out of that way of thinking because it lets her off the hook.
“You’re gonna fight back, you’re gonna go to the police, you’re gonna get them down here and you’re going to tell them absolutely everything.”
BAKERSFIELD — The southern Central Valley is home to one of California’s few remaining congressional battlegrounds, where Democrats are itching to oust longtime Republican incumbent Rep. David Valadao.
Last year’s voter-approved Proposition 50 redrew the lines of this Latino-majority district slightly in Democrats’ favor. Two top Democratic candidates are battling over who is the best choice to face Valadao (R-Hanford) in November.
Valadao is particularly vulnerable after he voted last year to cut Medicaid spending, a critical resource for many in this poor, rural area. Two-thirds of residents in the district are enrolled in the federally funded low-income health insurance program, and more than 60,000 are expected to lose coverage when work requirements and other federal rules take effect next year.
Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference at the Capitol Hill Club on March 17.
(Tom Williams/Getty Images)
National Democratic infighting has overshadowed a classic moderate vs. progressive primary race since House Democrats’ campaign arm threw its support behind one candidate, Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains (D-Delano), over Randy Villegas, a school board trustee backed by progressives including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
The race was already tense when the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added Bains, a family doctor and two-term assemblywoman, to its “Red to Blue” program, which provides staff and fundraising support to Democrats running against vulnerable Republican incumbents. Local party leaders said they had received assurances from national Democrats that they would stay out of the race, which further angered Villegas and his supporters.
“This is another example as to why people’s faith in the Democratic Party and party leadership is at an all-time low,” Villegas said in an interview with The Times. “In many ways, it’s a badge of honor to not be the insider candidate and to say that I’m actually going to fight for community members here and not D.C. elites.”
DCCC chair, Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, cited Bains’ background as a family doctor and her track record in the Legislature fighting to expand access to healthcare.
Randy Villegas, running for California’s 22nd Congressional District, said his campaign manager wants him to take frequent selfies for their social media while walking neighborhoods in Bakersfield.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
“We only weigh in on primaries when we feel that one candidate stands out as the strongest possible nominee to ensure that we win in the general election,” DelBene said in a recent interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “This is a district that has been devastated by cuts to healthcare, a large Medicaid population, so she’s an incredible candidate and definitely can speak to the issues needed on health care.”
Valadao, who was first elected to Congress in 2012, has been a perpetual target for Democrats, who have held a sizable registration advantage in his district. A moderate Republican, Valadao had emphasized his support for immigration reform, a departure from his party. Still, Democrats ousted Valadao in the blue wave of 2018, only for him to win back the seat in 2020 and remain in office ever since.
Both Villegas and Bains promote themselves as the Democrats’ best option to topple Valadao once again.
Villegas, the son of Mexican immigrants, is endorsed by the House Hispanic and progressive caucuses and has painted Bains as a corporate-backed candidate who would bend to special interests.
Jasmeet Bains, running for California’s 22nd Congressional District, speaks with Mary Jimenez during a campaign canvassing walk in Bakersfield.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
“We can’t just offer that we’re not Trump. The Democratic Party actually needs to stand for something,” he said. “To me that means fighting for universal healthcare, universal childhood education, banning members of Congress from trading stocks, getting rid of corporate PAC money. Those things may make Democratic leadership uncomfortable, and I’m OK with that.”
Bains is campaigning on her experience as a physician in a region known for its poor environmental and health outcomes. After medical school, she returned to Kern County, where she completed her residency and continued working at clinics that primarily serve low-income patients in the region.
“In the Valley, your word is your bond,” she said in a phone interview as she drove the 250-mile journey from her district to the state Capitol in Sacramento. “In the beginning he kept telling everyone that he wasn’t going to vote for it, and I took him for his word.”
Jasmeet Bains brings 8-month-old, Chiquita, as she campaign walks a neighborhood in Bakersfield.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Bains is the daughter of Indian immigrants and was the first South Asian woman elected to the California Legislature. She continues to work weekend shifts at a clinic in Delano.
“I thought the healthcare disparities of people losing their private insurance and having to transfer to Medicaid” was bad, Bains said. “With the trillion dollars cut from Medicaid federally, I’m now in a position where I’m transferring my patients from Medicaid to nothing. The problem in the Valley for healthcare has gotten worse and worse and worse.”
It’s the reason labor unions including SEIU Local 521, which represents workers in public, nonprofit and healthcare sectors in Kern and other counties around the state, are backing Bains.
“Within my own union, the members that I represent in Kern County, in certain ZIP Codes they have a 15-year less life expectancy than my union members living in Monterey County, which is a very similar community” with rural agricultural interests, said Riko Mendez, the union’s chief elected officer.
He said Bains understands the region’s unique health challenges and has used her perch in the Legislature to address them, including pushing for funding to research and treat valley fever, an infection caused by fungal spores in the region’s soils.
“We think her experience, her profile, her message is one that we agree with, and that has the best chance of winning in the runoff against Valadao,” he said.
Bains’ time commitments in Sacramento and working at the clinic leave her little time for a traditional campaign knocking doors and showing up to community events. Some voters backing Villegas have noticed.
Randy Villegas takes a phone call in the shade while walking neighborhoods in Bakersfield.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
“For us, showing up is one of the most important things, and he’s the only candidate who has been doing that consistently,” 18-year-old Vanessa Orozco Romero said after a recent candidate forum in Bakersfield. Though nearly a dozen candidates for various offices were invited, Villegas and two other Democrats running for legislative seats were the only ones to attend.
Orozco Romero called the DCCC’s decision to back Bains “stupid and morally not OK,” especially since neither of the candidates earned enough delegate support to win the state party endorsement earlier this year.
Bains and Villegas have similar backgrounds as children of immigrants who grew up in the southern Central Valley. Though they both went on to earn high-level degrees, each is adamant about staying in Kern County to improve life for its residents.
The district is anchored in the eastern side of Bakersfield, home to California’s once-thriving oil fields, and stretches northward toward Fresno to include swaths of agricultural lands and small farming towns.
While there are more than twice as many registered Democrats in the district as Republicans, Democratic candidates often underperform in the Central Valley and independent voters play a crucial role picking winning candidates. Even under the new Proposition 50 lines that favor Democrats, President Trump would have beat former Vice President Kamala Harris by nearly 2 points.
Though nearly two-thirds of voters in the district are Latino, turnout is usually low among Spanish-speaking voters who are often discouraged by negative attack ads, Democratic activists said.
Save for the 2018 midterms during Trump’s first term, Valadao, a dairy farmer, has frustrated Democrats by continually winning over enough independents to hold onto the seat. Though the three candidates are competing in an open primary, Valadao is expected to advance to the general election as a longtime incumbent and the only Republican on the ballot.
“As he does in every primary election, Congressman Valadao is working hard to earn the vote of all Democrats, Independents, and Republicans,” Robert Jones, a consultant for Valadao’s campaign, wrote in an email. “We trust that the voters of the Central Valley will send the two best candidates to the general election in November.”
A Loose Women panellist spoke about her health problems after rushing for help before the live show.
The Loose Women presenters addressed dentist troubles (Image: ITV)
Loose Women panellist Jane Moore has revealed she rushed to medics for help before a live show.
The panellist joined Christine Lampard, Judi Love and GK Barry on Friday’s programme, where the presenters were discussing dentist appointments.
At one point after a break, Christine teased: “Do you fear losing your teeth as dentists warn they’re overwhelmed?” before jokingly adding: “Jane is here to tell us all about nearly having to rush a dentist onto the studio floor, that was only a couple of weeks ago… it was touch and go, wasn’t it?”
Laughing it off, Jane explained that she had turned up to the studio one morning, and as she was eating, a tooth “fell” into her mouth.
“I thought, ‘What the hell’s that?'” she went on, saying the others had been laughing at her during their morning meeting.
Jane continued: “So I then had to get on a bike and go to the dentist in the middle of the meeting, he was on holiday!
“Anyway, it was a whole thing, so I came back with the tooth, got some gummy stuff and literally put it in.
“People might have noticed – I’m normally quite gobby – [but] I barely said a word. I thought, if I say anything slightly emphatic, my tooth is going to go!”
She added that her loose tooth resulted from receding gums, and she’s now waiting to get it properly fixed after a temporary solution.
This comes after fellow ITV star Kate Garraway made an emergency dash to a dentist after her teeth fell out moments before Good Morning Britain.
She later took to Instagram to explain she’d had an “unfortunate collision” resulting in two front teeth getting cracked.
She said: “Letting you in on the horror behind the scenes on Monday’s show…
“After an unfortunate collision with a taxi window at the weekend I cracked my two front teeth caps.. of course. They then fell out just before going on air.
“All I can say is it’s hard to appear young and cool in front of a whole new team of trendy producers when you are reduced to gluing your teeth on with denture fixative at three in the morning!!!”
Kate continued: “An emergency trip to the dentist means now I have a temporary set of fake teeth … but they are soooo massive.
“Just hoping they hold for @gmb tmrw from 6am with @richardmadeleyofficial – glue at the ready!”
Loose Women airs weekdays from 12.30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
Coronation Street spoilers for next week’s episodes have teased lots of drama, discoveries and a new arrival on the ITV soap, with new romance, and some shocking news
Coronation Street spoilers for next week’s episodes have teased lots of drama(Image: ITV)
There’s some big moments ahead next week on Coronation Street, spoilers have revealed.
Will’s shocked as Sam confronts him, before Will overhears a heartbreaking admission from Ben. Will climbs high up on the shop yard scaffolding, swigging vodka as Megan watches on, but can Maggie talk him down?
George and Christina attempt to bury the hatchet with Todd, while Tracy speculates Danielle is guilty of Theo’s murder. When Todd refuses to attend Theo’s funeral, Danielle accuses him of being the killer, only for Ryan to drop an admission about Danielle.
Ryan tells Lisa what he knows, and Danielle is taken in for questioning. Leanne gives Dylan and Betsy a trial shift at Speed Daal but explains there’s only one vacancy.
Idris arrives, and deals with a situation at the restaurant, while Adam takes an instant dislike to him. Soon, it’s revealed Idris is hiding something. Idris invites Leanne for a drink, but Alya is unhappy to find out they’ve kissed.
Daniel tells Ken that Bertie’s being bullied, as he’s determined to identify his troll. As the police get involved, Jodie tells Daniel it seems the troll has stopped posting, but Daniel is soon ambushed.
Sarah is struggling without Kit and Todd takes a call only to receive some shocking news. Jodie loses her job at the café, and Hope gets closer to Will.
It comes as fans speculated Summer Spellman is not the killer of Theo Silverton. As Monday’s episode heavily hinted she was to blame, she became the prime suspect.
Many fans do not think she did kill him though, and that someone else carried out the crime. While some added that she could be covering for this person, it’s yet to be revealed just how involved Summer is.
Fans think it was Sam Blakeman who killed Theo by accident though. With him experiencing hallucinations and possible psychosis, fans think he might have killed Theo thinking he was Will. A fan posted online: “I’m saying Sam.”
Another viewer posted: “I think Sam killed Theo during one of his mental health breakdowns.” A third fan added: “I think Sam pushes Theo (thinking he was Will), and Summer is covering for him.”
Sharing a similar theory, another fan posted: “Was that scene of Sam hallucinating with the view of the scaffolding an hint to him being the killer of Theo thinking he was Will?” A fan then wrote: “I really think Sam killed Theo.” The suggestion kept on being shared online, as one said: “I think Sam pushed Theo off the scaffolding while he was in a deluded state of mind maybe thinking it was Will.”
