The EU is launching the Entry Exit System (EES) for UK and non-EU nationals who are visiting the Schengen zone but two countries not affected by the new rules
New rules are coming into force(Image: Andrii Marushchynets via Getty Images)
British holidaymakers will encounter tougher entry requirements when jetting off to the EU next month as fresh regulations take effect across 29 EU nations. Yet two destinations remain exempt.
The EU’s Entry Exit System (EES) launches on October 12 for UK and non-EU citizens making short visits to the border-free EU Schengen area. Brits must now register at borders by having passports scanned alongside fingerprint and photo capture under the updated system.
For departures and future border crossings to or from member countries, travellers need only scan passports and provide either fingerprints or photographs. The programme is being phased in gradually over six months, meaning holidaymakers may or may not encounter the fresh system depending on their chosen destination.
Passport stamping will continue throughout this transition period. The EU states the EES will become “fully operational” from April 10, 2026.
The UK Government has alerted travellers to these updated regulations, which will affect beloved holiday hotspots including France, Spain and Greece. The Schengen zone also includes Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
However, there’s two EU countries where the EES will not be required: Ireland and Cyprus. Neither of these countries are participating in the system as they are not part of the Schengen Area.
This means that even after October 12 Brits can visit them as usual without having their fingerprints or photographs taken. Recently, travel journalist Simon Calder urged Brits who possess an Irish passport to use it when they visit the Schengen Area from next month.
Responding to a question on which passports dual British-EU citizens should use, he said: “If you have the wisdom and fortune to have an Irish passport, use that at all times. It has a superpower no other document has: unfettered access to both the UK and the European Union, with no need to get an online permit in advance.”
Meanwhile British passport holders are warned of longer queues at the Schengen border as the EES is rolled out. In ports such as Eurotunnel, Eurostar and the Port of Dover the EES checks will be completed in the UK.
A government spokesperson said: “While EES checks will be a significant change to the EU border, we are in constant and close dialogue with our European partners to try and minimise the impact on the British public.
“While we have done everything we can to ensure the required infrastructure is in place, anyone who is planning a trip to the European mainland once these checks are introduced will still need to allow more time for their journey as the new EU systems bed in.”
Here’s the full list of countries implementing the EES scheme:
Cleveland Guardians designated hitter David Fry was hit in the face by a 99-mph fastball thrown Tuesday by Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal at Ohio’s Progressive Field.
During a sixth-inning at-bat, Fry was attempting to bunt when the ball missed the bat completely and hit him in the nose and mouth area. He fell to the ground and remained there for several minutes while being treated by medical staff.
Fry eventually was able to walk to a cart under his own power. The 2024 American League All-Star gave a thumbs-up signal as he was being driven off the field. The Guardians later said Fry was undergoing tests and observation, possibly overnight, at the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus.
“He’s getting tested,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt told reporters after the game. “He stayed conscious the whole time. Definitely some injuries there, so I’ll give you an update tomorrow on David.”
Vogt added: “We’re all thinking about Dave and his family right now. Obviously, we’re glad he’s OK, but obviously it’s really a scary moment. So [we’re] thinking about him.”
As the incident took place, Skubal reacted in horror from the mound, immediately dropping his glove, removing his cap and covering his face with his hand. The 2024 American League Cy Young Award winner later told reporters it was “really tough” to see Fry like that.
“I’ve already reached out to him. I’m sure his phone is blowing up. I just want to make sure he’s all right,” Skubal said. “Obviously, he seemed like he was OK coming off the field and hopefully it stays that way.
“I know sometimes with those things that can change. So hopefully he’s all right. I look forward to hopefully at some point tonight or [Wednesday] morning getting a text from him and making sure he’s all good because there’s things that are bigger than the game and the health of him is more important than a baseball game.”
Cleveland won the game 5-2 to pull to a tie with Detroit at the top of the AL Central Division after trailing by as many as 15½ games this summer.
On a recent Friday afternoon in London, Jarvis Cocker, 62, is musing over the suit he’s just picked up from the Portobello Road Market: “I’m quite pleased with it,” he says.
He’s also grabbed some clogs — not to wear but to look at — and he notes that his wife “hates them,” but he’s happily in awe of the pair.
The outing represents a blissful break for Pulp’s leading man; it’s been a little more than two months since the group’s eighth studio effort, which debuted at No. 1 on the U.K. album charts. “More” comes more than two decades after their last project, “We Love Life,” released in 2001.
“I’ve come to realize over 24 years that I enjoy making music,” Cocker says. “It’s a main source of enjoyment. I mean, I enjoy being with my wife and stuff like that. But in terms of creativity, it’s my favorite thing to do.”
When Cocker first started making music — around “15 or 16” — he saw forming a band as a way for him to “navigate the world at a safe distance.”
“I was always quite a shy kid, so it was difficult for me to talk to people,” he recalls. “To talk to people from a stage, rather than to their faces… that worked to a certain extent.”
Though generally considered the “underdogs” of Britpop, Pulp produced some of the most intriguing sounds of the ’90s.
(Tom Jackson)
But the band’s early attempts to make the grade had fallen flat on its face. Unlike some of the group’s Britpop peers, Pulp had been around since the ’80s — Blur,Oasis, and Suede all released their debuts in the first half of the ’90s.
“It” came out as a mini-LP of sorts, under Red Rhino Records, with a short 31-minute run time over eight tracks.
“It was a deafening silence,” Cocker says of its reception. “It really didn’t sell anything at all … We played a few concerts, and then the band fell apart.”
He adds that at that point, he was considering giving up music, shipping off to Liverpool and studying English. He’d been offered entry into a program there, but two months before he was due to start, he got a call from Russell Senior.
“[He] asked me what I was doing, and I said, ‘Oh, I’m giving up music, it’s not working out’” he says. “We had a rehearsal just him, me, and Magnus Doyle [brother of Candida Doyle, Pulp’s eventual keyboardist], and it was exciting.”
Notably, he remembers thinking, “I don’t want to go read English. I’m going to stay in Sheffield and see what happens.”
Though the group would inch closer to what we now know as Pulp’s lineup, the musicians faced similar problems: They “didn’t sell anything” and were “quite ignored.” In fact, it wasn’t until Cocker went off to college to study filmmaking at Central Saint Martins — taking a sabbatical from Pulp and then returning in 1991 — that the band was asked to play a concert in ’92 and gained some traction.
Later that year, Britpop fame followed, as they were asked to play a Parisian festival alongside some would-be familiar faces: Blur and Lush.
“It was like we had some friends at last,” he jokes.
A historic run of releases came in the following decade, with “His ‘n’ Hers,” “Different Class” and “This Is Hardcore” all concocted in a period of four years.
“Having been a real … wilderness for a long time, and feeling very out on a limb … to be considered part of a movement, at least at first, was exciting,” he recalls.
“Once we actually got a chance to become popular, especially after ‘Common People’ had been a hit … then we had to record ‘Different Class’ very quickly to kind of capitalize on that.”
But the grind began to slow down to a halt. He confesses that after Pulp released “This Is Hardcore” in 1998, he began contemplating whether he “should still be in a band.” In the face of growing popularity, Cocker’s image became more well known, and the lens began to close in.
“It just put me into a different kind of social situation that I didn’t really enjoy,” he remembers. “So, I was conflicted.”
Around 2002 — one year after the release of “We Love Life” — the group quietly disbanded. In the more than two decades in between, Cocker positioned himself as a bit of a renaissance man, while pulling away from the Pulp lifestyle and delving into a solo career.
He waded into broadcast media, serving as a host on BBC Radio 6 Music’s “Jarvis Cocker’s Sunday Service,” wrote a memoir titled “Mother, Brother, Lover,” and made a cameo in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” in 2005 as part of the fictional band the Weird Sisters. His bandmates? Jonny Greenwood, Jason Buckle and Pulp bass guitarist Steve Mackey.
“I have written a book, and I presented radio shows, and I enjoy those. But music, to me … it’s a way of me making sense of what has happened to me in my life,” he says. “I write about things that have happened, and I, in a way, dramatize them by putting music to it.”
“I fell in love with music at a very early age, and so it feels like a magical thing to be able to make something that you like so much,” he adds.
In this lengthy love affair with music, it was inevitable that he would return to his first love: Pulp.
“More” returns to the band’s sonic roots, with thoughtful tunes such as “Grown Ups” and “A Sunset.”
(Tom Jackson)
When the band began working on “More,” Cocker’s main concern was that his bandmates would have thought they were “being sentenced to three years’ jail time.”
“I was loath to say to the band, ‘Let’s make an album,’ just because the last two Pulp albums that we’ve done, ‘This Is Hardcore’ and ‘We Love Life,’ had taken so long to record,” he explains.
For further context, “This is Hardcore” took around three years to record. “More” would only take three weeks and was released on June 6.
“There were songs that I knew could be good, but we’d never managed to realize them properly,” he says. “And then there were newer songs, and some songs that I’d done that I tried to play in the band, “Jarvis,” but hadn’t quite worked out.”
“The thing that makes a song good … You can’t control it, and sometimes it works easily, and sometimes it doesn’t work at all … we were just lucky, maybe because we’d left it for a long time.”
He also credits the album’s swift completion to working with music producer James Ford, who previously refined tracks for a seemingly endless list of artists. Some recent highlights include Blur’s “The Ballad of Darren,” Fontaines D.C.’s “Romance” and “Forever, Howlong,” by Black Country, New Road.
“He created a really good environment for us to record in, and everybody felt quite relaxed,” Cocker says. “It seemed like it was ready. So, it was just, ‘OK, it’s ripe. Just pick it from the tree and eat it.’”
Fresh off the June release, Cocker also kick-started a tour with dates across the U.K. and Ireland. In September, he landed in Atlanta for its North American leg, which features two shows in Los Angeles.
In particular, these stand out because Pulp will play alongside LCD Soundsystem at the Hollywood Bowl on Thursday and Friday. Simply put, Murphy said, “We’re playing at the Hollywood Bowl, would you like to come play with us?” — to which Cocker replied, “That would be good.”
It’s all been going relatively swimmingly for him, who simply sticks to his ways. But who is Jarvis Cocker in 2025?
He pauses a moment before speaking.
“It’s hard to put it into words, but I came to the realization that I wanted to live, or attempt to live, more in a world of feelings than in a world of ideas,” he says, thoughtfully. “So yeah, that’s my experiment at the moment. I’ll let you know how it goes.”
Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia have recognised Palestinian statehood, a symbolic response to Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza and territorial expansion in the occupied West Bank.
More states, including France and Portugal, are expected to recognise Palestine in the coming days after the announcements on Sunday.
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Israel has responded in recent days by doubling down.
Shortly before the announcement, Shosh Bedrosian, a spokesperson for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the PM had called the act “absurd and simply a reward for terrorism”.
At an event in occupied East Jerusalem on September 15, Netanyahu promised his supporters that there “will be no Palestinian state”.
While this act by the three states – Canada, the UK and Australia – grabbed the world’s attention and many headlines, analysts tell Al Jazeera that it is a small, symbolic step in the ongoing indignity, murder and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, albeit it one with some weight.
“Recognition matters in this case because close US allies have so far reserved it until the day after a negotiated agreement,” Rida Abu Rass, a Palestinian political scientist, told Al Jazeera.
“It matters because these countries broke ranks. In terms of its impact, Israel finds itself further isolated, and I think that’s meaningful.”
On the same day as recognition was announced, at least 55 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza on Sunday. At least 37 of them were killed in Gaza City, where the Israeli army has unleashed another brutal campaign of violence.
Performative recognition?
Analysts have expressed scepticism that recognition might improve the material conditions of Palestinians currently suffering under Israeli aggression.
Israel has killed at least 65,283 people and wounded 166,575 in its war on Gaza since October 2023; figures that are thought by many experts to be much higher. During the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel, 1,139 people died, and another 200 or so were taken captive.
Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military and violent settler attacks have killed more than 1,000 people, as the Israeli government threatens to completely annex the entire territory.
European solidarity with Palestine has boomed among constituents, analysts say. Here, protesters march in Vienna on September 20, 2025 [AFP]
Israel’s war, which both Israeli and international experts and human rights groups call a genocide, is not expected to subside after Sunday’s actions, analysts said.
“As long as it doesn’t come with concrete actions, such as sanctions, arms embargo, and the implementation of a no-fly zone in occupied Palestine with a coalition of forces from the international community to alleviate the suffering of the people, I remain pessimistic,” Chris Osieck, a freelance researcher who has contributed to investigations from Forensic Architecture and Bellingcat on Palestine and Israel, told Al Jazeera.
Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera that the move is mainly performative.
“I think they’re under increasing pressure from the international community and also from their local populations to do something,” he said.
“This is, I think, their way of doing something or saying that they did something without actually taking substantive action.”
Pressure is increasing on European countries and the UK to take action, including possible sanctions [Burak Bir/Anadolu via Getty Images]
Still, recognition does mean that the three countries can now enter into treaties with the Palestinian government and can name full ambassadors.
For its part, the UK will recognise Husam Zomlot as the Palestinian ambassador to the UK.
Zomlot said in a statement that the “long-overdue recognition marks an end to Britain’s denial of the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination, freedom and independence in our homeland”.
“It marks an irreversible step towards justice, peace and the correction of historic wrongs, including Britain’s colonial legacy, the Balfour Declaration and its role in the dispossession of the Palestinian people,” he said.
Joining international organisations
Much of the world already recognises the State of Palestine.
The recent additions mean that only the United States, a handful of European and Baltic states, South Korea, Japan, and a few other states do not recognise Palestine.
However, even with most of the world on board with Palestinian statehood, the country is still not a full member state of the United Nations.
“[Recognition] brings no new UN privileges, nor does it enable Palestine to become a member of new intergovernmental institutions – not without US support,” Abu Rass said.
“Palestine is currently a ‘non-member observer state’,” he explained. “To become a full member would require the recommendation of the UN Security Council [followed by UN General Assembly vote] – unlikely, to say the least, given US veto powers.”
Still, it could be a first step.
International pressure has intensified on Israel to end its war on Gaza, particularly from Europe. Boycott campaigns are gaining momentum that could see Israel expelled from Eurovision and participation in international sporting competitions.
And the European Union has recently discussed increasing tariffs on some Israeli goods and applying sanctions to some Israeli leaders.
“Recognition has no direct impact on Israel’s actions in Gaza, but it may signal these countries’ willingness to take real measures, which would have a direct impact on Israel’s actions in Gaza, such as two-way arms embargos – meaning, neither selling weapons to Israel, nor buying weapons from Israeli manufacturers,” Abu Rass said.
Leaders ‘saving face’
Analysts told Al Jazeera they believe some Western states, despite discussing Palestinian recognition for months, are taking the step as a punishment for Israel’s aggression on Gaza and the occupied West Bank. This is bolstered by conditional support for statehood expressed by some states.
They say that these leaders are responding to myriad domestic pressures in their own countries, including pressure from pro-Israel groups with ties to establishment parties, at the same time that a growing chorus of constituents is calling for state action and penalties to stop genocide.
“This is happening now because of growing domestic pressures on these centre-left governments,” Abu Rass said.
“Nothing changed, per se [but] what we’re seeing is a slow, cumulative reaction to a low simmer – a growing liberal disaffection – and these steps should be seen as a low-cost way to satisfy constituents’ demands.”
“They’re saving face,” Abu Rass added.
In July, the UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would recognise Palestine unless Israel took “substantive steps” to end its war on Gaza.
On Sunday, Starmer reiterated that recognition comes as a response to the political realities in Israel and Palestine today.
“This is intended to further that cause,” Starmer said on Sunday. “It’s done now because I’m particularly concerned that the idea of a two-state solution is reducing and feels further away today than it has for many years.”
Australia also made its recognition conditional, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying: “Further steps, including the establishment of diplomatic relations and the opening of embassies, will be considered as the Palestinian Authority makes further progress on commitments to reform.”
A special burden
One hundred and eight years ago, the British government signed the Balfour Declaration, declaring its support for a “national home for the Jewish people” in the land of Palestine.
The United Kingdom has been a historical ally for the state of Israel against the Palestinians, so recognition of the state is also, to some, a recognition of the UK’s complicity in the displacement and dispossession of Palestinians.
“Britain bears a special burden of responsibility to support the two-state solution,” UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said during a speech at the UN in July.
Despite the historic symbolism, analysts were not convinced that the future would break from the last 100 years.
“Even if Palestine is recognised by every country in the world, little would change for Palestinians unless the Israeli occupation is dismantled,” Abu Rass said.
“International pressure has a role to play here, but it needs to move further than mere recognition, including sanctions, cutting diplomatic ties, the prosecution of war criminals, and cultural boycotts.”
Officials said people heading to the popular holiday destination could face delays
Tourists have been warned(Image: (Image: Getty))
UK travellers have been issued a warning by the Foreign Office over potential strike action. Updated on September 19 2025, the travel experts note that people may face delays, and it’s best to be prepared.
On the GOV.UK website, under their latest Portugal travel advice, it warns: “Strike action that causes travel disruption, including at airports, can take place.
You may not be able to get to your destination if there’s strike action(Image: Getty)
Strikes were planned for this month, however according to Euronews, this is no longer happening. It explains that “workers called off the strike, stating that the imposed conditions make it impossible to exercise their right to strike.”
It was set to take place across 76 days, ending on January 2 of next year. Local news outlet, publico, revealed that “in a statement, SIMA informs that it has canceled the notice because it understands that the conditions for workers to be able to exercise their right to strike with dignity are not met, following the decision of the Arbitration Court that “resulted in a real attack on the right to strike of Portuguese workers in general and of that company in particular”.
Despite this cancellation, it is still crucial that you keep an eye on the Foreign Office website in case there are more strikes planned, especially last-minute.
As well as theses disruptions, it warns people that there’s an increased risk of wildfires. This season usually begins in April and ends around October when the weather is hot and dry.
Wildfires can start anywhere in Portugal and as we have seen, they can be “highly dangerous and unpredictable.” Because of this, the Foreign Office have said that if this occurs, it’s likely that the Portuguese authorities will evacuate areas and close roads for safety reasons.
The Foreign Office updated their website on September 19(Image: Getty)
If you find yourself abroad when this happens, you should:
It concludes by warning: “Starting a fire, even if it is by accident, is illegal and you could get a fine or a prison sentence. For information about active wildfires and forecasts, visit the Portuguese Met Office website for information on Portugal and Madeira.”
They cited “numerous allegations” of Russia and China using proxy actors to sabotage subsea cables in the Baltic and Indo-Pacific.
They panned Labour’s former telecoms minister Chris Bryant for dismissing their concerns as “apocalyptic”.
The report said: “The Minister (Bryant) suggested that exploring the risks of a co-ordinated attack on subsea infrastructure was unhelpfully “apocalyptic”.
“We disagree. Focusing on fishing accidents and low-level sabotage is no longer good enough.”
The report warned the UK faces a “strategic vulnerability”.
Proper “defensive preparations” could reduce the chances of a sabotage attack, it added.
Russia reveals Putin’s red line for full scale WW3 with West after double drone invasions of Poland & Romania spark fury
Sir David Omand, a former GCHQ spychief, warned Britain would be in Russia’s “crosshairs” in the event of a ceasefire in Ukraine.
He said: “We really must expect the Russians to pick on us.”
Professor Kevin Rowlands, from the Royal Navy’s Strategic Studies Centre, told the committee that Russia’s GUGI had over 50 vessels including submarines that could dive to 6,000 metres.
He raised fears over vessels deliberately dragging their anchors to sever seabed cables and saboteurs armed with axes cut cables on land.
He said: “Dragging an anchor over a well‑plotted cable is easy and deniable.
“Pre-positioning any timed charges is difficult and risky for whoever is doing that.
“Using divers is difficult and, again, is trackable.”
He added: “In the future, one-way uncrewed underwater vehicles are probably a way ahead for any adversary.”
The MoD said it was investing “in new capabilities to help protect our offshore infrastructure, using the latest technology”.
It said: “This includes through the UK-led reaction system Nordic Warden, to track potential threats to undersea infrastructure, the high-tech RFA Proteus and Atlantic Bastion – high tech sensors above and below the seas to track submarines.”
The Sun understands the advice came from lawyers paid by the Ministry of Defence to act on behalf of the SAS and its veterans.
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Underwater fiber-optic cable on ocean floor.Credit: Getty
Ellie Kildunne returns from a concussion suffered in England’s final pool-stage game against Australia a fortnight ago to take her place as starting full-back in the Rugby World Cup semi-final against France on Saturday.
The 26-year-old World Player of the Year sat out the quarter-final win over Scotland, but has come through the necessary medical checks to add pace and attacking intent to England’s back three.
Prop Hannah Botterman, who has been a force in the loose and at the breakdown so far at the tournament, returns at loose-head prop after back spasms, replacing Kelsey Clifford, who scored two tries against Scotland in her absence.
Zoe Harrison’s game management means she is preferred at fly-half to Holly Aitchison, who impressed at times against Scotland, but whose higher-risk game did not always come off in wet conditions.
Aitchison, 28, had been John Mitchell’s regular starting fly-half until Harrison’s form led to her taking the spot during this year’s Women’s Six Nations.
Despite being known for her kicking game and control, since 2023 Harrison’s involvement in tries per 80 minutes is nearly double that of Aitchison at 1.8 to 1.0.
Saracens fly-half Harrison started the World Cup final defeat by New Zealand in 2022 and is now in pole position to do so again if Mitchell’s side make the final.
Abbie Ward is promoted from the bench and will partner Morwenna Talling, whose player of the match performance against Scotland earns her the nod over Rosie Galligan, in the second row.
Holders New Zealand and Canada meet in the other semi-final on Friday night.
Defeat by the Black Ferns in the last World Cup final is England’s only loss in their past 62 matches – a statistic that stretches back to 2019.
However, Saturday’s semi-final is likely to be the Red Roses’ toughest game by far of a World Cup campaign in which they are yet to be tested.
France, who fought back to beat Ireland 18-13 in the quarter-finals, are the side who have come closest to ending England’s record 31-match winning run, losing this year’s Six Nations Grand Slam finale 43-42.
But World Cup hosts England are on a 16-game winning run against Les Bleues – last losing to their cross-Channel neighbours in the 2018 Six Nations.
Mitchell has consistently rotated his side to build depth for the World Cup and now appears to have settled on his strongest matchday 23.
England, who last won the tournament in 2014, have lost the past two finals to New Zealand.
U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino — the brash agent who led a phalanx of military personnel into MacArthur Park this summer — was called as a witness Wednesday in a misdemeanor assault case against a protester, who allegedly struck a federal agent.
Bovino, one of the faces of President Trump’s immigration crackdown that began in Los Angeles and is now underway in Chicago, took the stand to testify that he witnessed an assault committed by Brayan Ramos-Brito in Paramount on June 7.
Outfitted in his green Border Patrol uniform, Bovino testified that he witnessed Ramos-Brito drag his arm back and strike an agent with an open palm in the chest.
The incident occurred during a skirmish outside a federal building between federal law enforcement agents and locals frustrated by Trump’s immigration policies.
On a cross-examination, federal public defender Cuauhtemoc Ortega questioned Bovino about being the subject of a misconduct investigation a few years ago and receiving a reprimand for referring to undocumented immigrants as “scum, filth and trash.”
Bovino denied referring to undocumented immigrants that way and said he was referring to “a specific criminal illegal alien” — a Honduran national who he said had raped a child and reentered the United States and had been caught at or near the Baton Rouge Border Patrol station.
“I said that about a specific individual, not about undocumented peoples, that’s not correct,” he said.
Ortega pushed back, reading from the reprimand, which Bovino signed, stating that he was describing “illegal aliens.”
“They did not say one illegal alien,” Ortega said. “They said you describing illegal aliens, and or criminals, as scum, trash and filth is misconduct. Isn’t that correct?”
“The report states that,” Bovino said.
Ortega said that Bovino was warned if he committed any instance of misconduct again, “you could be fired.”
More than 40 people have been charged with a range of federal offenses, including assaulting officers and interfering with immigration enforcement, at either downtown protests or the scene of immigration raids throughout the region this summer, the U.S. attorney’s office in L.A. said this week.
Ramos-Brito’s case is the first to go to trial.
The case centers around a protest outside the Paramount Business Center, across the street from Home Depot.
Already tensions were high, with federal officials raiding a retail and distribution warehouse in downtown L.A. in early June, arresting dozens of workers and a top union official.
At the Paramount complex, which houses Homeland Security Investigation offices, protesters began arriving around 10 a.m on June 7. Among them was Ramos-Brito.
Several videos played in court Tuesday showed Ramos-Brito and another man cursing at Border Patrol agents and stepping inches from their faces with balled fists. At one point, Ramos-Brito approached multiple Border Patrol agents who appeared to be Latino and said “you’re a f—ing disgrace if you’re Mexican.”
Asst. U.S. Atty. Patrick Kibbe said that while many protesters were “passionately” demonstrating, Ramos-Brito crossed a line by striking U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jonathan Morales.
“There’s a constitutional right to protest peacefully. It is a crime to hit a federal officer,” Kibbe said.
Federal public defender M. Bo Griffith, however, said Ramos-Brito was the victim of an assault, not the other way around.
Both social media and body-worn camera footage played in court clearly show Morales shove Ramos-Brito first, sending him flying backward into the busy intersection of Alondra Blvd. While footage shows Morales marching back toward the agent with his fists balled, no angle clearly captures the alleged assault.
Aside from Morales, three other agents took the stand Tuesday, but none said they saw Ramos-Brito hit Morales. None of the agents who testified were outfitted with body-worn cameras that day, according to Border Patrol Asst. Chief Jorge Rivera-Navarro, who serves as chief of staff for “Operation At Large” in Los Angeles.
Some of the Border Patrol agents swarming L.A. in recent months come from stations that don’t normally wear body-worn cameras, according to Navarro. He testified that he has since issued an order that led to cameras being distributed to agents working in L.A.
The clash that led to the assault charge started when Ramos-Brito stepped to U.S. Border Patrol Agent Eduardo Mejorado, who said he repeatedly asked Ramos-Brito to move to the sidewalk as the protest was blocking traffic. Video shows Mejorado place his hand on Ramos-Brito’s shoulder twice, and the defendant swatting it away.
At that point, Morales, a 24-year veteran of the Border Patrol, said he thought he needed to step in and de-escalate the situation between his fellow agent and Ramos-Brito. He did so by shoving Ramos-Brito backward into the intersection, according to video played in court. Morales said Ramos-Brito then charged at him while cursing and threw a punch at the upper part of his chest and throat.
On cross-examination, Griffith confronted Morales and Mejorado with inconsistencies between descriptions of the event they previously gave to a Homeland Security Investigations officer and their testimony in court. It was not the first time such a discrepancy affected the case.
Federal prosecutors previously dropped charges against Jose Mojica, another protester who was arrested alongside Ramos-Brito, after video footage called into question the testimony of an immigration enforcement agent.
According to an investigation summary of Mojica’s arrest previously reviewed by The Times, Mejorado claimed a man was screaming in his face that he was going to “shoot him,” then punched him at the Paramount protest. The officer said he and other agents started chasing the man, but were “stopped by two other males,” later identified as Mojica and Ramos-Brito.
Video played in court Tuesday and previously reported by The Times shows that sequence of events did not happen. Ramos-Brito and Mojica were arrested in a dogpile of agents after Ramos-Brito allegedly struck Mojica. There was no chase.
Questioned about Mojica’s case in July, a Homeland Security spokesperson said they were unable to comment on cases “under active litigation.”
Defense attorneys said Ramos-Brito sustained multiple contusions on his face, neck and back and had cuts and scrapes on his body from being dragged across the pavement later.
According to his attorneys, Ramos-Brito’s only prior interaction with law enforcement was for driving without a license.
The case could prove to be a bellwether for other immigration protest charges filed by Acting U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli in a region where many potential jurors have negative views of immigration enforcement, or may be immigrants themselves.
On Tuesday morning, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson had to remove 21 potential jurors from the pool, several of whom said they could not be impartial due to their views on immigration policy.
Many of the potential jurors said they were first or second generation immigrants from the Philippines, Colombia, Bulgaria, Jamaica and Canada.
“I believe that immigrants are part of this country and I’m kind of partial with the defendant,” said one man, a landscaper from Lancaster.
MILLIONS of Brits who rely solely on the state pension face having to pay income tax within the next two years.
Rises guaranteed under the triple-lock will push many dangerously close to the £12,570 tax threshold.
State pensions rise each year by the rate of either inflation, earnings growth, or 2.5 per cent — whichever is highest.
With wage growth at 4.7 per cent, the full new state pension will rise to £12,535 a year next April.
That is £35 short of the frozen income tax threshold, meaning OAPs in question are certain to be paying up by 2027.
Despite warnings, the Government has made no commitment to raising tax thresholds or making an exemption for Brits who have only the state pension.
A spokesman said: “We are committed to helping pensioners live their lives with dignity and respect, which is why millions will see their pension rise by up to £1,900 this Parliament.”
They also stated that people completely reliant on the state pension would not have to pay any income tax “this year”.
HMRC is expected to deduct tax directly through pension providers — or send pensioners a Simple Assessment tax bill that they have to work out.
Campaigners last night blasted the news, with ex-Pensions Minister Sir Steve Webb calling it a “creeping injustice” due to “drag millions more into the tax net”.
Rachel Vahey, of pensions firm AJ Bell, said it would force many older Brits to fill out their first self-assessment, and warned that present financial woes made reforms on taxes and pensions unlikely.
State Pension Set to Rise by £562, Sainsbury’s Hikes Meal Deal Price, & Pret to Open First Drive-Thrus – Money News Today
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Millions of Brits who rely solely on the state pension face having to pay income tax within the next two yearsCredit: Getty
For the 79th year, mariachi musicians, waving Mexican flags and shouts of “Viva Mexico,” flooded Cesar Chavez Avenue in East Los Angeles on Sunday for the annual Mexican Independence Day parade and celebration.
But this year, in the face of the Trump administration’s relentless immigration crackdown — recently bolstered by the Supreme Court decision that allows federal agents to restart their controversial “roving patrols” across Southern California — there was a renewed sense of defiance, and of pride.
For many, it was even more important to show up. To stand tall.
“We’re here and we’re going to continue fighting for our rights and for others who cannot fight for themselves,” Samantha Robles, 21, said as she watched the parade roll by. “I’m happy that many people are here so they can raise their flags — just not the Mexican flag, but also the American flag, because we’re both Mexican American.”
Members of the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles hold a Mexican flag at the East L.A. Mexican Independence Day Parade & Festival on Cesar Chavez Avenue on Sunday in Los Angeles.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)
But the parade was also a bittersweet moment for Robles. This year, her grandmother opted to stay home, given ongoing sweeping immigration raids across the region. A new Supreme Court ruling authorized U.S. immigration agents to stop and detain anyone they might suspect is in the U.S. illegally, even if based on little more than their job at a car wash, speaking Spanish or having brown skin. Immigration rights attorneys and local leaders have denounced that as discriminatory and dangerous, and it has stoked fears in Robles, who describes herself as an East L.A. native.
“I have my brown skin, I have my Indigenous features,” Robles said. “I’m afraid not just for myself, [but] for my friends who are also from Mexico and they came here for more opportunities, for a higher education. … I’m afraid for those who are getting taken away from their families.”
The Comité Mexicano Civico Patriotico Inc., which organized Sunday’s parade and celebration, addressed those fears in a press conference on Friday, but decided to move ahead with its celebration of Mexican independence from Spain, as it has done so in September for decades.
That decision seemed to drive a sense of proud resistance on Sunday.
“Aqui estamos y no nos vamos!” (“We are here and we are not leaving!”) yelled Rosario Marín, the former mayor of Huntington Park and the parade’s madrina, or godmother.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass holds TJ’s parrot Pepe Hermon at the East L.A. Mexican Independence Day Parade & Festival on Sunday in Los Angeles.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)
When Mayor Karen Bass rode by the crowd, she read aloud a sign from the sidewalk that said: “Trump Must Go!”
The crowd cheered.
“I was just reading the sign,” she said, with a smile on her face. But Bass reiterated her support for her Latino constituents, and her opposition to the ongoing immigration raids, calling them horrible.
“Our city stands united,” Bass told the crowd. “We are a city of immigrants. We understand that 50% of our city is Latino, and the idea that Latinos would be targeted is abhorrent.”
The Trump administration has insisted its immigration actions are merely an attempt to enforce the law, and has blasted Bass and other city leaders for stoking resistance. But many Latino leaders say the administration’s use of force is an abuse of power, stoking fears that have hurt people and the region’s economy.
Alfonso Fox Orozco wears traditional Mexican dress at the East L.A. Parade & Festival on Sunday in Los Angeles.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)
Such concerns may have affected Sunday’s parade, which seemed less attended than prior years. Anti-Trump and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE signs, lined the street. Organizations such as the United Teachers Los Angeles yelled out “La migra no, la escuela si.” (“No immigration enforcement, yes schools!”)
Jenny Hernandez, a fifth-generation East L.A. resident, held up a homemade sign that read “Crush ICE.” The 51-year-old has been disturbed by the recent raids, many of which have targeted individuals in the workplace.
“What they’re doing is wrong,” she said. “We are not criminals. We’re Mexican, Hispanic, Latino, Chicano, whatever you want to call it…. We do not deserve this treatment.… There needs to be a change.”
La Catrina Andante sits atop a car in traditional face paint at the parade Sunday in Los Angeles.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)
But mostly, the day emanated Latino joy, unseen in recent months. Burnt sage filled the air at one intersection, courtesy of a Danza Azteca group, while attendees — some in traditional embroidered dresses and shirts — relished the cumbia song blasting from a nearby radio.
A young girl, no more than 5 years old, belted out a call for “fresas” alongside her mother, a street vendor. A grandmother sat with her lap covered in a blanket, knitted with the colors of the Mexican flag. Politicians, teenagers, dancers and charros, or men riding dancing horses, shouted, “Viva Mexico!”
Girls dressed as vendors from Patzcuaro, Michoacan, balance on pots at the East L.A. Parade & Festival Sunday in Los Angeles.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)
Other ethnic groups joined the popular celebration, including waves of Puerto Ricans, Bolivians and Salvadorans. Notable faces included Snow Tha Product and Real 92.3 FM radio host Big Boy, who at one point took the reins as an elotero vendor. Space shuttle astronaut José M. Hernández led the parade as grand marshal. , His journey from migrant farmworker to NASA astronaut was detailed in the Amazon Prime film “A Million Miles Away.”
Giselle Salgado, also an East L.A. native, said it was important to see a good turnout from her community, as well as from public officials, though she noticed a smaller crowd this year.
“We’re not afraid,” she said. “This is our tradition, we’ve always come out here. … I’m sure a lot of people are scared, but they’re still here. We’re not going to let fear and intimidation work against us.”
Don’t expect country music stars Zach Bryan and Gavin Adcock to share a bill anytime soon. The two, who have been sparring verbally for weeks, got into a face-to-face altercation at a music festival in Oklahoma on Saturday.
The confrontation happened at the Born & Raised Festival in Pryor, Okla., just before Adcock stepped on stage to perform.
A video, shared by Adcock on Instagram, shows Adcock and Bryan staring each other down and yelling through a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire.
“Hey, you want to fight like a man?” Bryan says in the video clip, calling for someone to open the gate separating the two men. Other clips show Bryan climbing over the barbed-wire top of the fence and Adcock standing back as security personnel come between them.
Text superimposed on Adcock’s Instagram video alleged that Bryan made “death threats” during the spat, along with the comment: “Eat a snickers bro.” He added another insult while signing someone’s cowboy hat later that day.
Adcock, who has 725,000 Instagram followers, released an album called “Own Worst Enemy” in August. He sparked controversy in June when he criticized Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” album on stage, brandishing a bottle while saying “that s— ain’t country music, and it ain’t never been country music and it ain’t never gonna be country music.” (Earlier this year, Beyoncé won Grammys for album of the year and country album for “Cowboy Carter.”)
Bryan, 29, who was in the Navy before reaching fame as country/American singer and songwriter, has 4.9 million Instagram followers. Bryan released his last album, “Zach Bryan,” in 2023. A New York Times profile labeled him “music’s most reluctant new star.”
Adcock and Bryan’s beef dates to July, when Adcock slammed Bryan for being thin-skinned and not doing a meet-and-greet appearance with fans after a show. Later, Adcock added more harsh words in an interview on Rolling Stone’s “Nashville Now.”
“I think Zach Bryan puts on a big mask in his day-to-day life and sometimes he can’t help but rip it off and show his true colors,” Adcock said. “I don’t know if Zach Bryan’s really that great of a person.”
Representatives for Adcock and Bryan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
WASHINGTON — There’s bipartisan support in Congress for extending tax credits that have made health insurance more affordable for millions of people since the COVID-19 pandemic. But the credits are in danger of expiring as Republicans and Democrats clash over how to do it.
Democrats are threatening to vote to shut down the government at the end of the month if Republicans don’t extend the subsidies, which were put in place in 2021 and extended a year later when Democrats controlled Congress and the White House. The tax credits, which are due to expire at the end of the year, go to low- and middle-income people who purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.
Some Republicans who have opposed the healthcare law, known as Obamacare, since it was enacted in 2010 are suddenly open to keeping the tax credits. They acknowledge that many of their constituents could see steep hikes in coverage if the subsidies are allowed to lapse.
But the two sides are far apart. Republicans are divided, with many firmly opposed. GOP leaders in the House and Senate have been open but noncommittal on the extension, and many of those Republicans who say they support it argue that the tax credits should be reworked — potentially opening up a new healthcare debate that could take months to resolve.
Democrats would be unlikely to agree to any changes in the subsidies, increasing the chances of a standoff and mounting uncertainty for health insurers, hospitals, state governments and the people who receive them.
“In just a few weeks, unless Congress acts, millions of Americans will start getting letters in the mail telling them their health insurance costs are about to go through the roof — hundreds of dollars, thousands in some cases,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said last week.
Surging enrollment
Enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans has surged to a record 24 million people in large part due to the billions of dollars in subsidies that have lowered costs for many people. The expanded subsidies allowed some lower-income enrollees to access health plans with no premiums and capped the amount higher earners pay for premiums to 8.5% of their income. It also expanded eligibility for middle-class earners.
With expiration just a few months away, some of those people have already gotten notices that their monthly premiums are poised to surge next year. Insurers have sent out notices in nearly every state, with some proposing premium increases of as much as 50%.
Lawmakers are facing pressure to act from some of the country’s biggest industries, including the insurers that cover people on the marketplace and hospital executives who say they’re already going to be squeezed by the Medicaid cuts in President Trump’s massive spending and tax bill enacted this summer.
“There’s broad awareness that there’s a real spike in premiums coming right around the corner, both Republicans and Democrats,” said David Merritt, senior vice president of external affairs at Blue Cross Blue Shield. “It’s certainly lining up for Congress to have an opportunity to head off this problem.”
Companies have said they’ll need to raise premiums without the subsidies because healthier and younger people are more likely to opt out of coverage when it gets more expensive, leaving insurers to cover older and sicker patients.
In Iowa last month, the state’s insurance commissioner weighed increases ranging from 3% to 37% against a stream of angry public comments. One woman who runs a garden center in Cedar Falls said she was considering dropping her health insurance.
“I am already living as frugally as I possibly can while working as hard as I possibly can, putting in as many hours as I am allowed to at my job, never missing a day of work,” the woman, LuAnn, wrote in a public comment published to the commissioner’s website.
Feud over Obamacare
On Capitol Hill, the issue has become entangled in a larger fight over government funding as the threat of a shutdown looms at the end of the month. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) have said Democrats will not vote to keep the government open unless an extension of the healthcare tax credits is part of the deal. Republicans have said that they want more time to look at the subsidies and potentially scale them back. They will also have to wait for a signal from Trump, who has not yet weighed in.
Jeffries said last week that “we will not support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to rip away healthcare from the American people.”
Republican leaders are eyeing a potential stopgap bill that would keep the government open for a few weeks, but they are unlikely, for now, to include the extension. GOP leaders in both the House and Senate are also under pressure from some members who worry that premium increases will be a political liability before next year’s midterm elections.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has said he wants to see a proposal from Democrats on how to extend the subsidies since they are pushing the issue. “Maybe there is something we can do in the middle as a solution,” he said in a Punchbowl News interview Thursday, adding that his members are divided on the issue.
Still, Thune has ruled out quick action, even as he noted that premium notices will go out soon. He has said a short-term spending measure to fund the government for several weeks while Congress finishes its budget bills is not likely to include an extension of the benefits,
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has said that many of his members would oppose an extension, but he has not ruled it out.
In recent days, 15 House Republicans in competitive political districts introduced legislation to extend the tax credits for one year. “While the enhanced premium tax credit created during the pandemic was meant to be temporary, we should not let it expire without a plan in place,” said Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), who led the effort with Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.).
Middle-class and small-business owners, including many in Kiggans’ coastal Virginia district, will be especially vulnerable to big health insurance hikes if the subsidies are not extended.
Several Senate Republicans also said they’d favor an extension. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said that if Congress doesn’t act, some premiums will “skyrocket, and not by a little bit. We’re looking at massive increases. People will not be able to afford it.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said he thinks Congress should scale back the subsidies for the highest-income people who receive them. “I think we all know that access to healthcare is important and we take it very seriously,” he said.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), whose panel has jurisdiction over the tax credits, said he’s working with his colleagues to find a solution. “There are a lot of ideas being thrown out there,” he said. “I’m trying to find a solution; I’m not telling you what the solution is.”
Others were firmly against it. “It’s costing us billions of dollars,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said.
Open enrollment begins Nov. 1, and people will begin to see “real sticker shock” as Affordable Care Act plan prices are posted next month, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said.
“Timing is important,” she said.
Jalonick and Seitz write for the Associated Press. AP writers Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines contributed to this report.
Following deadly protests across Nepal, the country has appointed former Chief Justice Sushila Karki as interim prime minister. Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride looks at who she is and the challenges she faces.
Callum Makin had to settle for a bronze medal at the World Boxing Championships after a semi-final defeat in the men’s 75kg division.
The 21-year-old middleweight was beaten by Rami Kiwan at the M&S Arena in Liverpool on Friday – the judge scoring all five rounds to his Bulgarian opponent.
Makin’s fellow Liverpudlian Odel Kamara is one of five other British fighters already guaranteed bronze before their semi-finals at the weekend.
Kamara faces Torekhan Sabyrkhan of Kazakhstan on Saturday in the men’s 70kg semi-final after his win over Mongolia’s Byamba-Erdene Otgonbaatar.
Teagn Stott is through to the semi-finals in the men’s 85kg following a second-round stoppage against Semion Boldirev of Bulgaria and will now take on Ukrainian Danylo Zhasan.
Elsewhere, Chantelle Reid will square up against Natalya Bogdanova in the semi-finals of the women’s 70kg after beating Mengge Zhang.
Emily Asquith beat Turkey’s Elif Guneri in the women’s 80kg to secure a last-four meeting with India’s Pooja Rani.
The Greek government is considering extending a ban on short-term rentals. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking at the Thessaloniki International Fair, spoke on the topic of holiday lets
The Greek government is grappling with holiday lets (Image: Iuri Gagarin via Getty Images)
Holidays to parts of Greece may soon get a little trickier if Athens goes ahead with a new crackdown.
The Greek government is considering extending restrictions on short-term rentals to alleviate the strain on the nation’s property market. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, speaking at the Thessaloniki International Fair, said that the possibility of prolonging the ban on new short-term lets in three Athens districts for another year was under consideration.
He also suggested that the ban could be expanded to other regions of the country. To incentivize more property owners to switch from short- to long-term leases, a three-year tax exemption would also be extended in proposed legislation.
“I am open to extending the ban on the inclusion of new homes in short-term rentals outside of Attica, to other popular destinations, and it is something we will decide on in the next one to two months,” the prime minister said.
“The problem has arisen in recent years and is a result of a rapidly growing economy. The problem for the tenant is a benefit for the landlord. We need to see both sides.”
The abundance of holiday lets in the Mediterranean country is causing issues in the housing market. According to ekathimerini.com, official 2024 statistics indicate that the average number of properties available for short-term rentals per 1,000 permanent residents in Greece is 46.
Overtourism is increasingly evident in Greece(Image: Ceri Breeze via Getty Images)
In the Cyclades, this figure rises to 611 per 1,000 residents, while in the Ionian Islands it stands at 340, and in the Dodecanese at 125.
The Greek government has been wrestling with a surge in short-term lets, driven by platforms like Airbnb, and the urgent need for local housing, reports the Express.
When the ban on short-term rental licences was announced in 2024, Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni cautioned that it could be extended beyond a year. The ban came into effect on January 1.
Tourism brings in billions for Greece, with the country’s beaches, hot weather and warm seas attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. During the nation’s debt crisis following the 2008–09 financial meltdown, residential property values crashed by 42%.
They have since bounced back to the extent where homeownership has become an unlikely prospect for some residents trying to climb onto the property ladder. Estate agent Engel & Völkers Germany reports that Greek prices have kept climbing since hitting rock bottom in 2017, with this upward trajectory persisting throughout this year.
The estate agent has noted that Greece still provides “affordable” and “moderate” pricing compared to other European destinations.
Engel & Völkers, highlighting the dilemma facing the Greek administration, indicated that predictions for the coming year stay “positive”. It continued: “Greece is increasingly positioning itself as a safe and value-stable destination for investments in vacation and lifestyle properties.”
In June Mr Mitsotakis made a commitment to address overcrowding and manage the number of visitors on the country’s islands, including limiting the number of cruise ships allowed to dock.
Mr Mitsotakis acknowledged that the Cycladic Islands were “clearly suffering”, amid complaints from locals about the effect on their daily lives and the cost of living, according to Bloomberg reports.
The Greek Prime Minister has highlighted Santorini as the “most sensitive” to overcrowding, with around 800 cruise ships docking last year, closely followed by Mykonos with 750 in 2023.
In April last year, Athens was rocked by furious protests, with demonstrators reportedly shouting: “They are taking our houses while they live in the Maldives”.
The California Legislature on Thursday passed a pair of bills to prohibit on-duty law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from masking their faces and to require them to identify themselves.
Senate Bill 627, written by Sens. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Jesse Arreguín (D-Berkeley), includes exceptions for SWAT teams and others. The measure was introduced after the Trump administration ordered immigration raids throughout the Los Angeles area earlier this year.
Federal officers in army-green neck gaiters or other face coverings have jumped out of vans and cars to detain individuals across California this summer as part of President Trump’s mass deportation program, prompting a wave of criticism from Democratic leaders.
Representatives for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security defend the face coverings, arguing that identifying officers subjects to them to retaliation and violence.
If supported by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the law would apply to local and federal officers, but not state officers such as California Highway Patrol officers. Wiener, when asked about that exemption on the Senate floor, declined to elaborate.
Leaders in Los Angeles County are exploring a similar measure to ban masks despite some legal experts’ view that the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution dictates that federal law takes precedence over state law.
The bill’s backers argue that permitting officers to disguise themselves creates scenarios where impostors may stop and detain migrants, which undermines public trust and ultimately hinders legitimate law enforcement operations.
“The idea that in California we would have law enforcement officers running around with ski masks is terrifying,” Wiener said in a brief interview. “It destroys confidence in law enforcement.”
Wiener’s bill allows exceptions for masks, including for undercover officers. Medical coverings are also allowed. .
Senate Bill 805, a measure by Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Alhambra) that targets immigration officers who are in plainclothes but don’t identify themselves, also passed the state Legislature on Thursday.
Her bill requires law enforcement officers in plain clothes to display their agency, as well as either a badge number or name, with some exemptions.
The unfamiliar road through Big Ten country was not exactly welcoming to USC during its conference debut in 2024. The Trojans blew a fourth-quarter lead during all four of their Big Ten road trips outside of Los Angeles last season, each defeat seemingly more devastating than the one before it.
So as USC sets out on its second swing through the Big Ten, starting with a trip to West Lafayette, Ind., on Saturday, it has tried to address that problem in ways big and small — from replacing the strength and conditioning coach to changing the team’s sleeping and meal times.
Those changes will be put to the test this week when USC crosses two time zones. Part of that new approach includes taking a totally different plane to get there, one with a bit more space to stretch out during a long flight.
“[The players are] gonna like having more leg room,” coach Lincoln Riley said with a smile. “Who doesn’t like more leg room?”
Purdue should make things a bit more uncomfortable for USC than its previous two opponents. The Boilermakers are 2-0 to start under new coach Barry Odom, who brought in 54 transfers to rebuild a team that finished 1-11, dead last in the conference, last season.
Riley may not have much of a handle on Purdue’s personnel, but he should have a pretty good idea what the Boilermakers will prefer on offense. After all, Purdue’s offensive coordinator, Josh Henson, spent the previous two seasons as Riley’s offensive line coach and coordinator at USC.
“He’s going up against us, too,” Riley said. “So those things kind of go both ways. There’s obviously going to be some things that both sides are familiar with because of that. But it’s a players’ game at the end of the day.”
Here are three things to watch as USC takes on Purdue on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PDT (CBS, Paramount+):
The Hollywood sign has been blown up in movies, altered by pranksters to read “Hollyweed,” “Jollygood” and “Hollyboob” and saw Tom Cruise staple some Olympic rings on it to promote the 2028 Games in Los Angeles. Politicians have used it as a prop for commercials and mailers the way they do kissing a baby or eating a taco. Out-of-town goobers and locals alike hike up to various vantage points around it for a selfie or group shot.
But the crown for the worst stunt involving the monument to everything dreamy and wonderful about L.A. now lies with the Border Patrol.
Earlier this week, Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol sector chief in charge of Trump’s long, hot deportation summer in L.A., posted on social media a photo of him and dozens of his officers posing on a patch of dirt in what looks like Lake Hollywood Park. Behind them is the Hollywood sign.
Arms are crossed. Hands are on belts. A few National Guard troops, one with a K9 unit, join in. None of the faces are masked for once. That’s because they didn’t have to be: Almost every one of them is blurred out.
“This is the team. They’re the ones on the ground, making it happen,” wrote Bovino, one of only two in the photo without a blurry face. “The mean green team is not going anywhere. We are here to stay.” And just in case readers didn’t get that la migra is hard, Bovino concluded his post with a fire emoji.
Jeff Zarrinnam, chairman of the nonprofit in charge of maintaining the Hollywood sign, said “we have to stay neutral on these types of things,” so he didn’t offer his opinion on why a man who spent his summer terrorizing large swaths of the Southland would want to pose there. He did say the Border Patrol didn’t request special access to get closer to it as other politicians have in the past.
“It was probably a team-building effort for them, or a lot of them probably hadn’t seen it before,” he said. “It’s a symbol of America. Maybe that’s why they were standing up there. Who knows?”
L.A. Councilmember Nithya Raman, whose district is where the Hollywood sign stands, was not as charitable.
“To see an icon of this city used for an image designed to instill fear in Angelenos is chilling — particularly on the heels of Monday’s Supreme Court ruling which dealt a devastating blow to a city that has already faced so much hardship this year,” she said in a statement.
Bovino is expected to show up soon in Chicago to oversee the Border Patrol’s invasion of the Windy Cindy. His press team didn’t return my request for an interview or my questions about whether the photo was digitally altered — other than the face blurring and the ultra-sharp focusing on Bovino — and what he hoped to accomplish with it. The sign itself looks shrouded in fog, but who knows? The whole photo has a weirdness about it.
Nevertheless, Bovino’s smirk in the group portrait says it all.
This is the team. They’re the ones on the ground, making it happen. The ones not afraid to put in the work. Every person in this photo is part of our commitment to the mission. We don’t stop. We don’t slow down. We keep pressing forward.💪
— Commander Op At Large CA Gregory K. Bovino (@CMDROpAtLargeCA) September 9, 2025
This is a guy who came into town like so many newcomers before him wanting to make it big and willing to do whatever it took. Short, with a high fade haircut and nasal drawl, Bovino quickly became a constant on local news, selling himself as a mix of Andy Griffith (a fellow North Carolina native) and Lt. Col. Kilgore in “Apocalypse Now.”
He starred in slickly produced government-created videos portraying the Border Patrol as warriors on a divine mission to make the City of Angeles safe from immigrant infidels. He claimed local politicians were endangering residents with their sanctuary policies and gleefully thumbed his nose at a temporary restraining order barring indiscriminate raids like those, which the Supreme Court just ruled can start happening again. He was there, a cameraman filming his every strut, when National Guard troops in armed Humvees parked along Whittier Boulevard in July all so Border Patrol agents on horseback could trot through an empty MacArthur Park.
Bovino cheered on via social media when his “mean green team” rented a Penske truck to lure in day laborers at a Westlake Home Depot in August only to detain them. Even worse was Bovino showing up in front of the Japanese American National Museum with a phalanx of migra while California’s political class was inside decrying the gerrymandering push by President Trump. He pleaded ignorance on that last action when Gov. Gavin Newsom and others accused the sector chief of trying to intimidate them even as friendly media just happened to be there, just like they so happened to be embedded with immigration agents all summer as they chased after tamale ladies and day laborers.
Supporters played up his moves as if they were a master class in psyops, with grandiose codenames such as Operation Trojan Horse for the Penske truck raid and Operation Excalibur for the invasion of MacArthur Park. So Bovino and his janissaries posing in front of the Hollywood sign comes off like a hunter posing in front of his killed prey or a taunting postcard to L.A.: Thinking about you. See you soon.
But all of Bovino’s actions grabbed far more non-criminals than actual bad hombres and did nothing to make Southern California safer. Locals have countered his attempt at a shock-and-awe campaign with lawsuits, protests, mutual aid and neighborhood watches that won’t end. That resistance forced la migra to cry to their daddy Trump for National Guard and Marine backup, with an occasional call to the LAPD and L.A. Sheriff’s Department to keep away the boo birds who now track their every move.
Greg: hope you enjoyed your stay in L.A. Congrats — you made it! You’re the star of your own D-level Tinseltown production that no one except pendejos wants to see. You left L.A. as one of the most loathed outsiders since former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. Stay gone. Wish you weren’t here.
Insights
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Perspectives
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Ideas expressed in the piece
The author condemns the Border Patrol’s group photo at the Hollywood sign as the “worst stunt” involving Los Angeles’ iconic monument, viewing it as an inappropriate use of a symbol representing “everything dreamy and wonderful about L.A.”
The author characterizes Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino’s enforcement operations throughout the summer as “terrorizing large swaths of the Southland” rather than legitimate law enforcement, arguing these actions were designed primarily to “instill fear in Angelenos”
The author criticizes Bovino’s tactics as ineffective at improving public safety, asserting that his operations “grabbed far more non-criminals than actual bad hombres and did nothing to make Southern California safer”
The author portrays Bovino as a publicity-seeking outsider who came to Los Angeles “wanting to make it big and willing to do whatever it took,” comparing the chief’s media presence to starring in “slickly produced government-created videos”
The author condemns specific enforcement operations, including using a rental truck to “lure in day laborers” and targeting vulnerable populations like “tamale ladies,” characterizing these as deceptive and cruel tactics
The author views the recent Supreme Court ruling lifting restrictions on immigration enforcement as enabling “state-sponsored racism” and creating conditions where Latino citizens become “second-class citizens” subject to racial profiling[3]
Different views on the topic
Jeff Zarrinnam, chairman of the nonprofit maintaining the Hollywood sign, offers a more charitable interpretation, suggesting the photo “was probably a team-building effort” and noting that the Hollywood sign serves as “a symbol of America,” potentially explaining why Border Patrol agents would want to pose there
Supporters of Bovino’s operations viewed his enforcement tactics as sophisticated strategic operations, describing them as “a master class in psyops” with organized codenames like “Operation Trojan Horse” and “Operation Excalibur”
The Trump administration has argued to the Supreme Court that racial profiling capabilities are necessary for effective immigration enforcement, contending that without these tools, “the prospect of contempt” would hang “over every investigative stop”[3]
Federal authorities and supporters frame these enforcement operations as necessary public safety measures targeting individuals who pose risks to communities, rather than random harassment of immigrant populations[1][2]
The Supreme Court majority, led by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, characterized immigration enforcement encounters as “brief investigative stops” where citizens and legal residents “will be free to go after the brief encounter,” minimizing concerns about prolonged detention or abuse[3]
Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK Government in March 2022 over alleged links to Russian president Vladimir Putin – something he has denied.
He was granted a special licence to sell Chelsea following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, providing he could prove he would not benefit from the sale.
The 58-year-old said funds from the sale would be donated via a foundation “for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine”, which would include those in Russia.
The £2.5bn in proceeds have been frozen in a UK bank account since the sale – Abramovich does not have access to the money but it still legally belongs to him.
In 2023, the BBC reported that leaked documents revealed a money trail linking Abramovich to two men dubbed “wallets” of Putin.
BBC Newsnight, BBC Verify and Panorama partnered with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism to uncover the revelations as part of Cyprus Confidential – a global investigation led by reporters at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and Paper Trail Media.
Abramovich has previously denied any financial relationship with the Russian leader.
In June, the Government threatened to sue Abramovich to make sure the money from the Chelsea sale goes to Ukrainian humanitarian aid – rather than “all victims of the war in Ukraine” as Abramovich had said.
Two months before selling Chelsea in May 2022, Abramovich was said to have suffered from suspected poisoning at peace talks on the Ukraine-Belarus border.
The Russian billionaire, who made his fortune in oil and gas, was reported to have a role as a broker in talks between Ukraine and Russia.
